Team BAI (No longer getting updates) - Prollywontfinish (2024)

Chapter 1: Volume 1

Chapter Text

The doorbell rang as both Angus and Ben left the dust shop. Angus was rapidly attaching the small, silver, nearly white suitcase on a small holding meant for it on his lower back, "I regret not buying dust before we came here."

"I told you it is more expensive."

Angus whips his head back around to Ben, feigning tears, "I didn't think It would be that much! And they had so few options!"

"L."

"Anyways….. wait- where is Beacon?"

"We are heading in the right direction, don't worry."

"How can you tell?"

"The ships."

Angus looked up to see airships heading in the same direction as they are, "Oh."

The two kept walking through the town, Angus trying to ignore the eyes that he knows are from his black, cat ears and tail. Ben on the other hand is getting stares from people trying to figure out if he's a man or a woman. He's used to it.

"Hey! What are you doing?!" Came a desperate voice.

Angus' ears both shot in the same direction, "I think someone needs help."

Ben turns to Angus, "Where?"

Angus starts running with Ben following behind him. The cat Faunus ducks into a nearby alleyway before entering a new street. He stops to listen for a moment before following the continued sounds of struggle. He takes a left and heads down a different alleyway, stumbling upon two men cornering an older man laying on the ground injured.

Both Angus and Ben took out their weapons; Angus pointed a spear, and Ben switched his scythe to its gun form, unable to fight well with the full size of his scythe in this small alley.

Ben ended up speaking first, "Back away from him!"

The two guys turned around. They looked angry. The left one was holding an old ragged bag, probably belonging to the older man. The right one holding a knife. It looked tinted with red though.

Ben quickly analyzed the knife. That's not a normal knife…. It has-

Angus leaped towards them with the spear pointed at the guy with the knife, "I got this Ben!"

"WAIT!! That knife has dust on it!"

The warning was too late though. The knife and the spear collide with a clang and a bang. The cat boy's vision was full of a millisecond of red then pure white.

Ben watched as the alleyway was covered in a blanket of sharp white, hurting his eyes. Along with a yelp from Angus.

When he was able to see again A woman with blonde hair holding a crop, was standing in the alleyway. A purple sigil standing in the air in front of her faded away. Behind her lay the old man and both aggressors incapacitated on the floor.

The man behind her grabbed his bag and gave a nod of thanks before running out of the alley on his merry way.

The woman cleared her throat and adjusted her glasses. She crossed her arms looking at Ben, "You two are students and have only just gotten here. I would let punishment reach you, but luckily Ozpin knew this may happen with the influx of new students. Count yourselves lucky. Get to the Orientation, you have thirty minutes."

"Thank you…"

Ben turned putting his weapon away, before just finding Angus on the ground next to him holding his head from the impact. Angus looked up with a dumb smile on his face, "Whoops."

Ben sighed, "You okay?"

"Yeah… not my first accidental explosion."

"I know… I was there for all of them."

The human helped the Faunus up from the ground. The cat boy dusted himself off before grabbing his weapon and putting it away, "Could have been worse, could have lost all the dust crystals I just bought."

Ben sighed again, "Let's go."

The two walked off to their original destination; Beacon Academy.

They arrived sometime after the airships did. Most students were already on their way to walking inside the building. Some were left walking around talking to friends. The building was very tall with the academy grounds adorned with tons of flowers and beautiful white stone paths.
Angus stared at his surroundings, stopping when he heard a small explosion and an argument about dust. Ben grabbed his right wrist, "No more solving conflicts for you today."

"It's not my fault that guy put dust on his knife!"

"You still caused an explosion…"

Ben proceeded to drag Angus away from a girl dressed in red and a girl dressed in white as the cat boy whined about wanting to help.

"Also," Ben started to speak again after getting way out of earshot of the two girls pulling his hat slightly down as he does, "That girl, the white one."

"Yeah?" Angus was letting himself be dragged at this point.

"That's Weiss Schnee."

"Sounds very familiar."

"It should. Her family owns the Schnee dust company. They are the source for the dust in stores."

"Oh….Think she'll give me a discount?"

"……Absolutely not."

The two got inside the building and got into the orientation room, waiting with a ton of other standing students. They stood near the back of the crowd of students, slowly getting enveloped by the crowd and new people coming into the room.

The woman they encountered before started walking on the stage. The clicks of her heels slowly shushed the crowd of students.

A man with white hair and a cane walked in the same way, however, he stopped in the middle of the stage in front of a mic. At this point, every student was quiet and watching.

The man pushed up his glasses and started his speech, "I'll keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge. To hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you finish, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you and all I see is wasted energy."

Angus' leaned over to Ben and whispered, "Rude."

Ben gave a little huff, he found it funny but unlike Angus' he kept his attention on the man with the mic.

The cat boy looked back to the man, intending on paying attention to him, but continued to be distracted. Feeling his tail get yanked, he stifled a pained squeak. He glanced behind him, a tall guy with brown hair was standing directly behind him. This guy was facing forward, focused, completely ignoring the, when compared to him, way smaller cat boy. Angus turned back around but was suspicious of this guy. Before he could figure out what was happening his tail gets yanked again, this time, a small squeak does manage to get heard by some people around him. They glance to him and even a few whispers started.

Ben leans over and whispers, "You okay?"

Angus whispers back, "This guy behind me keeps pulling my tail."

"Switch places with me, get to my left side."

Scooting in front of Ben, the two switch places. Finally, Angus can listen and focus.

"That is all," The man leaves the mic, leaving the stage entirely.

The cat boy sighs as Ben leans back over, "I caught everything, I'll tell you later."

Feigning tears again, "Thank you."

The woman steps up, "Everyone will be sleeping in the same area tonight. The dorms will be decided tomorrow. Remember to get rest for your true initiation tomorrow."
Students started leaving the area, and the volume increased again. Ben and Angus managed to leave together in the crowd, the entire time the cat boy kept an eye out for the guy from before so his tail didn't get pulled again.

*

Angus rolled over to Ben in a red sleeping bag. His face being the only visible thing, "Oh, so tomorrow is just where everything actually begins."

"Correct," Ben took off his glasses and started cleaning them, "don't use all your dust though please."

The cat boy gave a mischievous laugh, "I'll try not to~."

"Please…. Angus… we don't have the money."

Ben looked up after a moment of silence, putting his glasses back on. Angus was already passed out. Feeling eyes, he looks up to a girl with black hair and yellow eyes. She was looking up from her book to Angus. The two pairs of eyes meet, and she shortly goes back to reading her book. Ben keeps a lingering eye on her before the red girl from before starts to talk to her. He looks away and goes to sleep.

*

The sleepy cat boy rubbed his eyes. Despite sleeping before Ben he was exhausted. Probably from suffering the impact of an explosion.
He stood next to Ben, side by side, along with a ton of other peers on a stone platform over a cliff.

"For years you have trained to become warriors," The white-haired man from yesterday spoke, "and today your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald forest."
Angus looked to the forest below the cliff, it stretched out for miles.

"Now", The blonde woman took over, "I'm sure plenty of you have heard the rumors about the assignment of teams. Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates...today."

Surprised and concerned the cat boy looked at Ben. It seems being on a team with his friend is going to not be guaranteed, which is a pain.

The white-haired man continued to elaborate about the teams for the blonde woman, "These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is best to be paired with someone so that you can work well."

Angus glanced to Ben, and he noticed.

The man continued, "That being said the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."
Ben whispered," If you see someone you don't recognize, make sure they don't see you and get away from them as fast as you can."

Angus nodded. Run fast, He's good at that. It'll be fine.

The cat boy listened to the man's directions again, "-make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path...or you will die."

Ben sighed knowing that, all those crystals Angus bought are all going to be used today.

"You will be monitored and graded for the duration of the initiation. Our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. You will guard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?"

In the distance, a small male voice could be heard, "Yeah um-"

He interrupted, "Good. Now take your positions."

Ben pulled out his scythe, holding it in front of him, blade pointed down. The blue dust resonated off of the bottom side of the metal blade. The particles get caught and dragged by the wind. He bent his legs, prepared for battle.

Angus did the same, his weapon in its spear form pointed downward, his legs bent and more spread than Ben's.

Ben glanced to Angus, "Don't rush too far ahead so we can meet up."

The cat boy nodded.

There was a moment of tense silence before one by one students were launched into the air and each used their very own methods of transportation to get farther and to the ground.

Angus watched as the yellow-haired peer next to him put on sunglasses and launched. Then he heard his own platform rapidly click. He was thrown into the air. Not wanting to use the expensive dust crystals yet, he let himself fall without using any of his tools. He watched the trees get closer and closer and less blurry before he broke through the layers of leaves. Then came the blurry ground. He stabs his spear into the tree, only just barely stopping himself from hitting the ground.

He places his feet on the ground, pulling his spear from the tree. Letting himself take a breath and patting himself on the back for not accidentally dying from misjudgment.

"Okay," He spoke to himself, "Now that I'm still alive… time to find Ben."

Ben watched Angus launch way farther than his other peers before his own platform activated. He was thrown in the air, "f*ck… he's so far ahead."

When he fell through the leaves he hooked his scythe around the tree, causing him to spiral around the tree before the blade gets tucked in far enough for him to stop. Ben pulls out his weapon before landing safely on the ground beneath him. He starts running, angling his weapon. He puts The curve of his weapon resting a few feet above his shoulder.
Every moment he can't get to Angus is a moment where either he or him will run into someone. Or explode, Angus is an explosion magnet.

He heard the sounds of an Ursa grim, he ignored it and kept going. He heard bullets behind him, someone is fighting the bear.

He was running so fast that he couldn't stop himself when someone he didn't see before stepped into his vision. He crashed into them. Both parties collapse to the ground.
Ben sits up, grabs his blue baseball cap off the ground, and puts it back onto his head. The other person was profusely apologizing and handed back his glasses. He takes them with a 'thanks' and puts them on his face. Trying to not look at the other person he stands and grabs his weapon.

"Hey…. Does this make us teammates now?"

"Sorry." Ben bolted. That was a close one. He kept going.

Meanwhile, Angus has been slowly walking around the forest waiting for Ben, "I haven't seen a single person since I've landed…. I think that's a good thing?"

He shrugged and started picking flowers, he could try making Ben a flower crown. He doesn't know how to actually make one but he'll see if he can figure it out.
His flower picking got shortly interrupted by the sounds of a grim. The cat boy turned around to see an Ursa bear had found him, "Oh…. Hi?"

The bear swiped at him and Angus dodged and attempted to stab the hand, he misjudged and missed.

The bear then proceeded to leap at him. He yelped and rolled out of the way, dropping all the flowers he spent time picking. The flowers got crushed, "Damn it…."
He ran to the back of the Ursa, stabbing it in its back. It roared in pain and tried shaking the cat boy off. He held on tighter, "Okay, clearly, I can't just stab you to death….. but I'll have to if I don't wanna use my dust crystals yet."

He watched the bear continue to try to get him off but to no avail. He twisted the spear farther into the grim as it struggled. Angus did his best to wrap his legs around the large grim's body before pulling out the spear with a battle cry. He continued to hold on for dear life as he rapidly stabbed, twisted, and pulled out the spear. Over and over.
He only stopped when the grim lay unmoving and started disintegrating beneath him. He fell through the grim, and just sat there getting his breath back.

Normally, he wouldn't be so tired but, he did get hit with a point-blank explosion yesterday and Ben wasn't here to help him.

He let himself slump over, "Man… I'm weak."

His ears flick to his right. Footsteps. A bush rustle. Ben?

He sat up a little with predetermined happiness. But his eyes locked with not Ben…. But the guy that was pulling his tail yesterday. The happiness and his smile immediately went away, "Absolutely not."

The brown-haired guy turned his back to Angus, "Yeah I don't want to either. Who would want to work with a thieving Faunus?"

The guy walked away, "f*ck Ozpin's rules. I hope you die out here."

"…Whose Ozpin?"

"…He's the principal."

"Oh…"

"Are Faunus f*cking stupid too?"

The Faunus in question stood up, using his spear to help him. He can tell his patience is going to run thin very quickly, "If you don't like me then go away."

"No, a Faunus isn't gonna order me around," He started walking angrily towards Angus, and shoved a finger into the cat boy's chest, nudging him, "you're lucky. It will look bad if I hurt you today."

The angry human turned and walked away from Angus, "Until then, f*ck off."

Angus watched as the human went back into the forest.

Ben broke through a clearing of trees. He saw the Black-haired girl from last night and a yellow-haired girl Pick up a random relic shaped like chess pieces up from one of the short stone platforms. The relic she picked looked like a knight.

He glanced around. No cat boy. Despite being shot so far forward, he's still behind. Did he run into a grim? He sighed and went to go grab a relic. No point rushing back in, he will come out at some point.

Ben picked up a bishop piece and leaned against the short pillar the relic was sitting on, taking a break.

His oh-so-relaxing break was interrupted by high pitch screams. The yellow-haired girl called out, "Some girl is in trouble!"

A bird roar can be heard from the sky. Ben looked up to see the red-haired girl from yesterday falling from a nevermore, "What the f*ck."

He was only met with more confusion as he watches a blonde boy fly across the sky and hit the girl. The two go flying back into the forest.

"Did your sister just fall from the sky?" He heard the black-haired girl ask a yellow-haired girl.

Right after the question was asked an Ursa popped out of the forest, a girl ridding its shoulders until it fell dead. If Ben couldn't see them, he would have confused this with Angus.

An Asian guy appears from behind the dead grim, out of breath, "Nora, please don't ever do that again."

But Nora already zoomed over near Ben grabbing a piece from the platform next to his. Ben ignored her singing about being the queen of the castle.

"I can't take it anymore! Can everybody just chill out before something crazy happens again?!" Yells the yellow-haired girl in unexpected anger.

Ben got off the pillar, too much was happening and it was probably attracting grim. Ben sighs, as Pyrrha Nikos flies across the ground, crashing in front of the yellow-haired girl's feet.

"Great," she says sarcastically, "Now that the gang's all here, we can die together."

Just as he was about to bolt back into the forest, the cat boy he was looking for walked into the clearing.

Angus was immediately excited seeing Ben's face and ran to him with more energy than before, "Finally found you!"

Ben sighed relieved, "Finally."

The roars of the nevermore echoed across the area and it shot down its feathers that were larger than any adult human. They pierced the ground around all the students. Ben moved out of the way as it landed between him and Angus. Ice dust could be heard being used and both Ben and Angus turned to see the scorpion grim that chased around Phyrra being temporarily frozen in place.

Ben walked around the feather in front of him, "We need to go."

Angus nodded, looking at the scorpion slowly breaking its way through its ice prison and then the bird.

All the students start running for the cliff. The nevermore flying overhead and circling around the ruins that still Stand next to the cliff. It sits on what's left of a tower, releasing another echoing roar. Everyone was forced to hide behind pillars left standing, parallel to the clear path leading to the stone bridge. At least until the scorpion caught up to them, making everyone move.

Angus jumps over a feather that was going to hit him and continues running next to Ben, "Where to?"

"Follow everyone else, we are going across the bridge."

Angus and Ben run past Phyrra shooting the Scorpion before she gets up as well following the others on the bridge.

Angus looked to his left, "Hey Ben?!"

Ben looked to his left too and saw the nevermore flying towards the bridge. The nevermore crashed into the bridge breaking it, sending everyone flying in different directions.
Ben managed to make it across the bridge. Ben quickly looked around, but no cat boy. He glanced over the edge to watch the black-haired girl from yesterday use her weapon to swoop down and grab the falling cat boy.

Angus felt himself get grabbed by the black-haired girl, "thanks."

As she swung back up she responded, "We need to talk after all of this. Don't tell anyone."

Angus was swiftly put back down, and it left him in confusion.

The sounds of slicing, animal cries, and bullets filled the air, as students were fighting both the scorpion and the nevermore.

"It's tougher than it looks!" Yelled out the girl that saved Angus.

"Then let's hit it with everything we got!" Yelled back the yellow-haired girl.

Angus and Ben switched their weapon forms. Angus' spear split itself, folding back into a bow and Ben's Scythe, closed back up to form a sniper rifle.
Angus reached a hand back, clicking a button on the small suitcase on his back. The suitcase flips open and he grabs one of the secured dust crystals and readies It on his bow. He fires it along with everyone else's projectiles, creating an explosion as it mixes with Weiss Schnee's dust attacks.

The attack blinds the bird as it crashes into what's left of the tower, causing everyone to once again scatter.

Ben puts his weapon back into its scythe form and launches himself up with the fall using the recoil of his bullets. Angus manages to run across the falling debris on all fours, just managing to jump to safety, scraping his limbs as he does.

The red girl turns to Ben, "I have a plan!"

He nods, as she turns to Weiss, "Cover me!"

The yellow haired girl manages to distract the grim enough to make it crash into the cliff. Weiss freezes its tail feathers before it could fly away, and the Yellow haired girl and the black-haired girl use her weapon to stretch across, creating a band of sorts.

Ben and the red girl use their scythes and land on the band, and Weiss uses her dust to pull back the band, keeping it in place, "Of course you would come up with this idea…"

The other girl responds, "Think you can make the shot?"

Weiss smugly says, "Can I?"

"Can y-"

"Of course I can!"

Ben and the other girl get slingshot off the band and fly through the air. They shot their weapons to keep momentum. The other girl is also doing something else to gain speed. Ben guesses maybe semblance.

They land against the wall, the crook of both scythes into the nevermore's neck. Before either could fall, sigils appear on the wall from Weiss, keeping them up. They start running up the wall. Ben is quickly falling behind though, her semblance beating his normal speed. Instead of committing, using the dust off his scythe, he freezes the bird grim's neck and hops back down.

He lets the girl take care of the rest while he walks back to the tired Angus who's holding up his bow. He watches as the cat boy launches another red crystal. Ben's eyes follow the crystal as it explodes. The girl uses the force of the explosion to help slice the grim's neck.

Everyone watches as she lands on top of the cliff unharmed. The grim's body slowly falls back down, slowly disintegrating.

Ben glances to the other side, noticing the other group of people managed to kill the scorpion. He looks back down to Angus who sat down, holding out a hand, "Let's go."

The cat boy takes his hand.

*

The two watched the ceremony of all the other teams before theirs was announced. Angus gave a glare to the student named Cardin, who was the one bothering him this entire time.

Unlike Cardin's team, or really any other team for that matter, Angus and Ben are the only two members. Team 'BA', led by Ben.

Angus stood next to Ben smiling as Ozpin leaned forward and whispered to Ben, "Your team may gain new members later."

Ben nodded in response. Makes sense, why would a team only have two members?

After the ceremony, the two walk to their dorm room.

"Hey Ben," The cat boy was excited, "Does this mean we get the room space of four people? But for two?!"

"Not sure but maybe."

When they get to the door, Angus slams it open, "It is!"

Ben follows him inside.

"I don't have a lot of stuff though, so I don't really need the room.."

"Then just get more stuff."

"Oh you're right! You're a genius!"

"Not really."

Angus shoved a finger into his face with determination, "Take the compliment!"

Ben smiled, "No."

"Take it!"

"No."

"Yes!"

"What if I don't want to?"

"Take it!"

"No."

The back and forth would have continued if the black-haired girl, who they found was named Blake from the ceremony, didn't knock on the wall outside the room to get their attention, "Sorry to interrupt, I need to talk to one of you."

Angus pulls his finger away, "Ah, that would be me. I'll be back, Ben."

Ben watched as the cat boy left the room, and down the hall with the girl. He turns back to the rest of the nearly empty room. He didn't have much stuff either. He can't blame them, it's not like they had much of an option.

Ben set down what he did have; his weapon, and his scroll.

He sat down on the right bed, leaving the left for Angus. He waited for him to come back while he looked at the scroll's functions. They were given them by the school. He ended up pulling up a meme page, saving ones that he thought Angus would find funny.

Angus ended up coming back what felt like just a few minutes later to Ben, but it was actually a good 20 minutes.

Angus closed and locked the door behind him, his ears were drooped.

"What's wrong?"

Angus' ears perked back up, and he turned to Ben, "Oh... I was just thinking back to my days in the White Fang."

"White Fang?"

"That girl… Blake. She is who Adam is looking for."

"Adam is the leader, right?"

"Yeah… I don't think we are quite out of the woods yet."

"This school is full of learning hunters and huntresses, plus the professors. This is probably the best place to be for now."

Angus yawns, "See you are a genius."

"Not really."

Angus crawls into the other bed and under the blanket, "Yes you are."

"Nah."

"Yes."

"Absolutely not."

Ben waited for Angus to Say yes, only to hear soft snoring, "…. Good night champ."

*

Angus was rapidly descending wooden stairs, his hand in Ben's. His vision was full of embers and flames. A mask was over his face making it harder to see. With his free hand, he frantically used his claws to pull off the mask, chucking it into the flames. He watched as the White Fang mask landed on the fire.

An angry voice boomed through the building, "Don't let them leave alive! Kill the traitor!"

Angus was startled awake by the back of his ears being lightly scratched, very quickly he was at ease. After a few more seconds Ben pulled his hand away. The cat boy looked at his uniform, as Ben spoke, "We have class in ten minutes, you should get up."

Angus leapt out of bed, "Why didn't you wake me earlier!"

Ben turned away to let Angus switch clothes, "I tried. You were under one of your deep sleeps, so I let you rest."

Angus rushed past Ben hopping trying to put on his shoes, "Thank you, but-"

Angus released a frustrated noise.

Ben followed him out the door to class.

Angus entered the classroom first, and the doors being slammed open alerted everyone else in the classroom. He got stared at by nearly everyone in the room, including the professor. A moment of awkward silence passed before Ben caught up with him.

The professor only spoke a second later, "Come in and take a seat. Remember to come earlier next time."

The two end up sitting behind team RWBY, with Ben behind Weiss, and the Cat boy behind Ruby.

*

Ben sat listening to the professor, "Monsters, demons, prowlers of the night. Yes, the creatures of grim have many names. But I merely refer to them as prey. Ah ha!"

The professor laughed at his own… joke?

The human glanced over to Angus, noticing him sketching away on his paper. He leaned a tad closer, unlike his other drawings full of original characters, this was clearly an object. It was still too early to tell what exactly it was though.

He turned back to the professor, "And you shall too upon graduating from this prestigious academy. Now as I was saying Vale, as well as the other three kingdoms, are safe havens in an otherwise treacherous world."

Ben heard Angus huff a little at the professor's remark. He understood the irony all too well as well.

"Our planet is absolutely teeming with creatures that would love nothing more than to tear you to pieces… and that's where we come in; huntsman….huntresses."
Everyone in the class witnessed the professor clicking his tongue towards Yang and giving a sly look. No one said anything in awkward uncomfortable silence.

"Individuals who have sworn to protect those who cannot protect themselves. From what you ask? Why the very world!"

"Hi-Yah!!" A random guy stood from his seat with a hyped-up war cry. People stared at him in silence. Angus' ears flicked over to him, but he otherwise ignored it.

Ben glanced to the guy then back to the professor, "That is what you are training to become. But first a story. A tale of a young handsome man- me! When I was a boy-"

Ben glanced back over to Angus' drawing again. Farther along, Ben can finally identify it as a concept for a weapon, one that also has a gun function. The human guesses by how many close calls the cat boy had yesterday, that this was definitely needed.

"-Despite smelling of cabbages my grandfather was a wise man, 'Peter' he told-"

Ben was distracted by Ruby and Yang quietly laughing at something Ruby drew.

"In the end, the Beowulf was no match for my sheer tenacity, and I returned to the village with the beast in captivity and my head held high, celebrated as a hero."

The professor bowed, sharing that the story was over, "the moral of the story? A true huntsman must be honorable. A true huntsman must be dependable. A true huntsman must be strategic, well-educated, and wise."

Angus bumped his elbow into Ben and whispered, "That's you."

Ben looked at him and whispered back, "Nah. That's just not true."

The professor looked across all the students, "So who among you believes themselves to be the embodiment of these traits?"

Ben watched as Weiss' hand shot up, and felt his hand get dragged up. He glanced over to a smirking cat boy who did this from him not accepting the compliment.
The professor pondered between the students, before looking and motioning to Ben, "Let's find out."

The professor looked over to the shaking cage to the left side of the room. It is surely holding a growling grim, "Step forward, and face your opponent."

Ben sighed as he stood up, shooting the mother of all death glares to the snickering Angus.

*

Ben stood, knees bent, scythe prepared to destroy the grim in the cage. He listened to the leader of team RWBY and Yang give him excited encouragement. Blake said supportive words but was mainly drowned out by the other two. Weiss sat in the middle giving him judgemental eyes. He pushed his glasses up and ignored her.
The professor stood left of the cage with his weapon in hand, blade out ready to release the monster.

"Let the match…" The professor slammed down his weapon, the axe blade destroying the lock holding the creature, "Begin!"

The front fell, revealing the boar grim. All four of the boar's eyes stared down at Ben as if it wanted blood. It ran directly for him. Ben stepped out of the way, letting the over-large pig skid across the floor, almost hitting the wall. It turned back around.

The professor commented, "Weren't expecting that were you?"

Ignoring him Ben raised his weapon as the boar bolted to him. He pulled down his weapon, only scraping against the boar's horns as it slammed Ben away.
Ben quickly got back on his feet grabbing his weapon right next to him as the boar was revving up, turning into a spinning ball of boney armor.

He heard Ruby call out, "The belly has no armor!"

And then he heard Weiss complain to Ruby, "Don't help him!"

Using the dust off his weapon, he slashed the air, immediately stopping the grim. Making its head stuck to the floor. Before the boar could break the ice, he jumped over it, slicing into its exposed belly. The grim squealed in pain before it went limp, unmoving.

The professor spoke as it started to disintegrate, "Bravo bravo! It appears we are indeed in the presence of a true huntsman in training."

He and Ben turned back to the rest of the class, Ben's eyes landed on a happy and smug Angus as the professor continued, "I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today. Be sure to cover the assigned readings, and stay vigilant class. Class dismissed."

Ben started heading out of class. The cat boy scrambled to catch up to him.

The cat boy managed to catch up to the human in the hallway, who was annoyed and waiting for him, "Ben! You did it-"

Angus grunted in pain as Ben smacked the back of his head, "Don't ever do that again."

The cat boy still laughed a little, "Okay. It was kind of funny though."

He glared silently at the still-laughing Angus. It took a moment before Angus could finally stop laughing, "Time for next class."

The two walked down the hall, once again joining the small crowd of students scattered about.

*

Two months later The two sat next to each other and silently watched the fight unveil in front of them. Cardin was fighting Jaune from team JNPR. The bully from before was beating down Jaune's aura with his mace as the blonde kept missing and getting hit.

Despite the very clear winner, Angus held fire in his eyes as he silently cheered for Jaune.

Juane fell to the floor, dropping his sword and shield with a clang. Cardin raised his mace above his head, only for the lights to turn back on signaling the end of the fight. Ms. Goodwitch, who was the woman who excused Ben and Angus from the ally way fight, stepped out in between them saying "That's enough" for an added measure.

Cardin stepped back, pulling back his weapon as the professor pulled out her scroll, "Students as you can see Mr. Ark's aura has now dropped into the red. In a tournament-style duel, this would indicate that Jaune is no longer fit for battle, and the official may call the match."

She turned to Jaune who sat up from the floor, "Please try to refer to your scroll during combat to guide your aura. It will help you decide when it is appropriate to attack or when it is better to move to a more defensive strategy. We wouldn't want you to be gobbled up by a Beowulf now would we?"

Cardin hefted his mace over his shoulder as he went to leave the stage, "Speak for yourself."

Angus growled quietly at his remark. Meanwhile, Ben had his scroll out and finally found the function Professor Goodwitch was talking about as she continued to speak, "Everyone the vital festival is only a few months away. It won't be long before students from the other Kingdom's start arriving in vale. So keep practicing."

Excited whispers started in the crowd. Ben felt like an idiot for only now just figuring it out. He looked at the aura meters for both him and Angus. His picture and meter was listed larger and at the top, while Angus' was smaller. Both bars were in the green.

"Those who choose to compete in the combat tournament will be representing all of Beacon. Class dismissed."

Everyone stood up and slowly left the room with continued chatter about the festival. Angus followed behind Ben, looking over his shoulder at his scroll, "Oh you found it!"
"Yeah, here I can show you how to get into it."

Ben clicked back into the home screen, then he clicked into the beacon app. Angus watched his fingers move across the screen before he finally showed the team screen.
Angus pulled out his scroll and copied him, "Oh cool!….. I'm going to forget all of this."

"It'll be fine."

"Wanna join team RWBY and JNPR for lunch?"

"Eh… sure."

The two walked into the lunch room, spotting both of the previously mentioned teams just beginning to sit down at one of the long tables with their trays of food. After choosing and grabbing their own food, they sat down too. Angus sat next to Ruby, across from Ben who sat next to Jaune.

Angus listened to Nora's story with great interest while Ben was just casually eating his food, "So there we were in the middle of the night."

Ren corrected, "It was day."

Nora ignored him and continued, "We were surrounded by Ursa."

"They were Beowulves."

Nora pushed her hands against the table, standing up in excitement, "Dozens of them!"

"Two of them…"

"But they were no match and in the end. Ren and I took them down and made a boatload of Lien selling Ursa skin rugs!"

Ren sighed as she sat down, "She's been having this recurring dream for nearly a month now."

Just as Ren stopped talking, Phyrra turned to Jaune, switching Angus' attention to something new, "Jaune are you okay?"

Jaune snapped out of his thinking, "Huh? Oh yeah, why?"

Ruby also shared her concern, "It's just that you seem a little…. Not okay."

"Uh guys, I'm fine. Seriously. Look." He held a thumbs up and put on a pathetically fake smile.

He immediately after looked to Cardin at a farther table, with his team. They sat around a bunny Faunus girl, teasing and bothering her. Angus followed Jaune's eyes and started growling into his sandwich at the sight.

Phyrra continued, "Jaune… Cardin's been picking on you since the first week of school."

Just as the name alone Angus' blood started to boil. In the meantime, Ben was just listening, finishing up his food.

Jaune looked back to Phyrra, "Who? Cardin Winchester? Ah- He just likes to mess around you know? Practical jokes."

Ruby lightly snapped back, "He's a bully."

Angus slammed his fist into the table, grabbing everyone's attention, he quickly and angrily mentioned, "He pulled my tail!"

Phyrra turned her attention back to Jaune as Ben started head patting the pouting cat boy, "Jaune you know if you ever need help, you can just ask."

Nora stood up from the table again, "Oh! We'll break his legs!"

Angus also stood up with equal passion interrupting the headpats, "Yeah!"

Ben sighed as he realized Angus was already too riled up. Jaune stood up with his tray and started walking away, "Guys, really it's fine. Besides, it's not like he's only a jerk to me. He's a jerk to everyone."

Everyone looked over to the sound of pain. The bunny faunus was standing with her tray. She was trying to leave the table but Cardin grabbed the girl's brown ears, while his teammates sat and laughed.

"Please stop." The girl pleaded.

Cardin turned and looked at his teammates, "See, I told you it was real."

Angus overheard one of his teammates comment, "What a freak."

The bunny girl finally managed to pull away. She turned around with her tray, her head held down. She attempted to cover her face as she walked past.
It was at this moment Angus glared at Cardin, and they locked eyes. Angus could hear Phyrra as the bully visibly scoffed at him, "Atrocious, I can't stand people like him."

Cardin broke eye contact as Blake agreed, "You're not the only one."

Ben tugged on Angus' sleeve to get him to sit down. After a few seconds, he complied and sat. His ears pulled back from how pissed he was.

"It must be hard to be a Faunus." Angus' ears flicked in Yang's direction.

He leaned forward past Ruby, "What am I? A roach?"

Yang looks over and frantically waves one of her hands, "Oh, no! Sorry! I forgot you were here."

Angus stared, both annoyed and defeated.

"It's not like I'm the only-" Angus noticed Blake subtly shaking her head no, "Gah! I just hate Cardin!"

Ruby leaned forward to match Angus, " You said he pulled your tail?"

Ben jumped in, "He pulled his tail, insulted him to his face, trapped and harassed him in the bathroom, sprayed him with water, stole his scroll and homework before, and tore his uniform, all in the span of two months."

At the mention of his uniform, Ben pointed to the stitching he did on the left sleeve, and others noticed it. Ben caught a judgmental look to Angus from Weiss as the cat boy also looked at the stitching.

Angus continued to complain, "And he's in my next class."

"Speaking of which," Ben looked to his watch, "We gotta go if we are to make it to our respective classes."

"The worst of it is, I'm left alone in class."

"He hasn't bothered you in class before, I doubt he would start doing it now."

Angus gave a defeated sigh.

*

Angus sat to the right of Blake with Phyrra on the other side of her. He's not completely sure why he chose to sit next to her. Maybe it was the comfort of being next to another Faunus. Either way, he didn't feel as alone and didn't have to deal with Cardin, who sat in the other set of seats, parallel to Phyrra and above Jaune. He wasn't paying attention and had his legs crossed over the desk.

Blake noticed Angus looking at Cardin and whispered, "Don't worry about him."

Angus looked to Blake and nodded. She was right, no point in worrying about what that prick will do. He turned back to the professor zooming around the room with how much coffee was infused into his bones, "Yes, Yes, prior to the Faunus Rights Revolution, more popularly known as the Faunus war, humankind was quite- quite adamant about centralizing Faunus population in Managerie. Now while this might feel like ancient history to many of you, it is imperative to remember that these are relatively recent events. Why the repercussions of the uprising can still be seen to this day."

He zoomed and stood in front of the bunny girl from before and looked around the room, taking a sip from his coffee, "Now, has anyone among you been subjugated or discriminated against because of your Faunus heritage?"

Angus didn't bother answering as he watched the bunny girl go to slowly raise her hand. She got interrupted by the speedy teacher, "Dreadful. Simply dreadful, Remember students, it is precisely this kind of ignorance that breeds violence. I mean- I mean, just look at what happened to the White Fang. Now which one of you young scholars-"

Angus didn't bother listening to the man as he thought back to his days in the White Fang. He remembered the hard-to-see-through mask and the way the uniform felt on his skin when he hid his identity. He remembered the three seconds he spoke to his- the leader… Adam, and seeing a slightly younger Blake sitting next to him.

Angus came back to reality when he overheard Weiss behind Blake, answering a question the professor must have asked, "The battle at fort castle."

The professor was now behind his desk, excited by the correct answer, "Precisely! And who can tell me the advantage the front has had over general lagoon's forces?"

"Hey!" He looked to Juane who looked like he had just woken up and realized where he was.

The professor zoomed over, further surprising Jaune, "Finally contributing to class, this is excellent! What is the answer?"

"Uhh….. the, uh, advantage… the Faunus had… over… that guy's stuff…." He looked over to Phyrra attempting to motion to her eyes, "Uh- binoculars!"

Phyrra sighed and face palmed as Cardin laughed. His laugh was like a dog whistle to Angus' ears. He hated this man with a passion.
The professor zoomed away to his desk, "Very funny Mr. Arc… Cardin perhaps you would care to share your thoughts on the subject?"

Cardin glanced to Angus, "Well I know it's a lot easier to train an animal than a soldier"

Phyrra noticed his glance, "You're not the most... open-minded of individuals are you Cardin?"

"What you have a problem?"

"No," She turned to look at the teacher, "I have the answer. It's night vision. Many Faunus are known to have nearly perfect sight in the dark."

Angus noticed Cardin get frustrated by being shown up. Even if it was only a small slap in the face, it pleased Angus to see this man look like an idiot.
Blake hopped in and continued for Phyrra, "General Legume was inexperienced and made the mistake of trying to ambush the Faunus in their sleep. His massive army was outmatched and the general was captured."

Blake turned towards Cardin, "Perhaps if he'd paid attention in class, he wouldn't have been remembered as such a failure."

He held his fist up to his face, turning in his seat, trying not to make a sound as the cat boy enjoyed Cardin being roasted. Cardin stands up angrily, looking to the three of them but before he could do or say anything the professor comments, "Mr. Winchester please take your seat."

Jaune made the mistake of laughing as the teacher zoomed back up to him, "You and Mr. Arc could both see me after class for additional readings."

He stopped laughing immediately. Just like Angus, he couldn't get a break.

*

Angus walked next to Phyrra down the hall. When they entered the next area, she stayed back and leaned against a pillar. Angus whipped around to face her, "What are you doing?"

"Oh, I'm going to wait for Jaune."

Angus turned back around and started to walk, "Oh, okay. I'm gonna meet back up with Ben."

"A-actually…"

The cat boy stopped in his tracks, his ears flicking to her when she went to speak again, "Could you do me a favor? I know Cardin has bullied both you and Jaune… but unlike you, Jaune's not admitting to it. Could you help out Jaune when possible? And tell me anything that happens?"

Angus thought about it for a moment, "Yeah, I can do that."

It's the very least he can do to watch such an entertaining moment, live and in class. He continued to walk away, smiling and replaying the moment in his head. He had to tell Ben about this.

*
Ben lay in Bed finishing his homework while Angus told and reenacted what had happened in class, "-And he was so mad. I f*cking love Phyrra dude."

"She's nice. She's a good ally to have."

Angus noticed he was sweaty and went to open the window to get the cool night breeze, "What do you mean? Besides hurting Cardin's pride a smidge."

"She's well known, not just in this school, but the world for her huntress knowledge, morals, and fighting capability."

"Huh… that's kind of co-"

Angus went silent holding up a finger to Ben for him to wait a moment, as he heard Jaune and Phyrra talking. Ben noticed and focused more on his homework to let the cat do whatever he was doing. The cat boy stayed next to the window, listening to Phyrra talk to Jaune about giving extra help, but the conversation took a turn, "You made it to Beacon. That speaks volumes of what you're capable of."

"You're wrong. I don't belong here."

"That's a terrible thing to say- of course you do!"

Juane got louder, "No I don't!…."

A moment of silence passed before he continued at a normal volume, more somber than before, "I wasn't really accepted into Beacon."

"What do you mean?"

"I didn't go to combat school. I didn't pass any tests. I didn't earn my spot at this academy- I lied. I got my hands on some fake transcripts… and I lied."

Angus shrugged, that's what he and Ben did too.

"What? But why?"

"Because this is what I've always wanted to be. My father, my grandfather, and his father before him were all warriors. They were all heroes… I wanted to be one too. I was just never good enough."

"Then let me help you-"

Jaune was loud again, sad but angry in a way, he was conflicted, "I don't want help! I don't want to be the damsel in distress! I want to be the hero!"

"Jaune I-"

"I'm tired of being the lovable idiot stuck in the tree, while his friends fight for their lives- Don't you understand?! If I can't do this on my… then what good am I?"

There was a moment of silence and a footstep, Jaune quietly demanded, "Just… leave me alone… Okay?"

"If…. That is what you think is best."

Angus went to leave the window, seeing as the conversation ended. But that was before he heard movement from the window next door and an irritating voice, "Oh Jaune."

"Cardin?!"

Ben watched the cat boy climb outside the window out of the corner of his eye before he set down his finished work, and grabbed a new sheet for another class.

As Angus peered over the roof, he saw Cardin walking slyly, closer to Jaune, "I couldn't help but overhear you two from my dorm room. So you snuck into beacon huh? Jaune, I never expected you to be such a rebel."

Jaune backed away, pleading, "Cardin, please don't tell anyone."

"Jaune, come on I'd never rat out a friend like that."

Cardin got closer and Angus pulled himself onto the roof as Cardin wrapped an arm around Jaune. Both were surprised by seeing the cat boy seconds later.
Juane was the first to say anything, "A-Angus?"

Cardin loosened his grip on Jaune, "Oh…. The Faunus."

Angus pointed to the two, "Let go of Jaune, Cardin!"

Ben overheard Angus speaking as if he were an anime protagonist. He'll be fine…

… Ben moved a tad closer to the window, his scythe next to him if he needed to jump in.

Cardin smirked, "Why? We are just a couple of friends hanging out. Right, Jaune?"

Angus watched as Jaune looked contemplated before defeatingly saying, "Yeah."

The cat boy wasn't having it, "You want to be a hero right?!"

Juane eyes widened in surprise, it was clear it was from the fact that Angus overheard him too.
Despite the lack of answer, Angus continued, "Well heroes don't get pushed around by their enemy. So stand up for yourself idiot! You're the only one who can do that!"

Cardin dropped Jaune and started walking towards Angus, "I said, we are just a couple of friends hanging out. So go home, kitty."

Angus didn't budge and stood his ground, and Cardin got closer, "So what's it gonna be? Are you gonna continue to let him bully and use you?"

Cardin got closer to the point he was only a handful of inches away. He towered over the tiny cat boy. Cardin blocked the moonlight making Angus' red faunus eyes look a tad as if they were glowing, "Go home. Back to the pound."

The second Angus bared his teeth he got punched in the gut. He fell to his knees holding his belly, surprised that Cardin would attack him when they were both so close to the edge. Juan yelled out a concerned," Angus!"

Ben put down his homework entirely, one hand slowly curling around the handle of the weapon as he contemplated dealing with the situation.

Angus shoved Cardin back with both hands before he stood up, "Answer my question Jaune."

Cardin grabbed and lifted him from his collar over the edge, although it wasn't intentional, "One last chance before I turn you into my little pet. f*ck off."

Angus wrapped his arms and legs around Cardin's arm, adding extra weight, "I know, I'm not gonna let him."

As Cardin started leaning too far, unable to stop himself, he loosened his grip. Angus slips out from his hand and lets both of his feet land back onto the ground. His legs bend, dealing with the impact as he continues to hold Cardin's arm, making his body fall at an angle. The force of his fall makes him fall onto Angus' back. Angus stands up quickly, ignoring how heavy he is before using all his strength to throw him farther onto the roof safely.

Cardin sat up angrily, yet confusingly rubbing his head. Angus walked over to him, now being the one to tower over the human bully. Shortly after Juane ran over, "Are you okay?"
Angus nodded and went to walk past him. He stopped midway and put a hand on the blonde's shoulder, "Transcripts don't mean sh*t. Improve and prove you are worthy, instead of worrying about not being good enough."

Angus kept walking back towards the edge of the roof as Jaune asked, "You're not going to tell anyone?"

"I mean, I didn't get here legit either." Angus jumped back down into the window as he heard Juane's surprise.

Ben looked to Angus, "Everything good?"

Angus nodded and closed the window, "Cardin hopefully shouldn't bother me or Jaune as much anymore."

"That's good. Hey, you know history homework is due tomorrow right?"

"Let me copy?"

"No, you won't learn sh*t. Go do it."

Angus groaned as they sat down in bed, pulling out their homework.

*

"Yes students, the forest of forever fall is indeed beautiful, But we are not here to sightsee." Glynda Goodwitch leads the group through the red forest.

Everyone was in their hunter and huntress gear, weapons away. Angus held his bow to the side since he didn't have anywhere to really store his weapon. Ben had his on his back and walked next to Angus, "I don't think we are expected to get into any fights."

"Oh, that's a good thing."

"Dust crystal prices have gone up yet again."

"That sucks- wait why are you even mentioning-"

"So don't f*cking use them."

"Oh."

The professor cleared her throat to indicate she wanted their attention. They silenced as she continued, "Professor Peach has asked all of you to collect samples from the trees deep inside this forest. And I'm here to make sure none of you die while doing so."

Angus leaned over to Ben and joked, "I have at least 3 more lives."

The professor stopped and glared at him. Angus squeaked before going complexly silent. He got a bunch of stares, making him embarrassed as the walk continued.
Ms. Goodwitch held up a jar filled with a red sort of pink-looking sap, "Each of you is to gather one jar's worth of red sap, however, this forest is full of the creatures of grim. So be sure to stay by your teammates. We will rendezvous back here at four o'clock. Have fun."

Everyone grabbed a jar and split off into groups, that all stayed sort of nearby. Team RWBY was closest to Glynda, while JNPR was near them, and CRDL was farthest away, just barely near JNPR. Ben and Angus hung out between RWBY and JNPR. Of course members of each group mingled with each other.Ben pushed the tap into the tree. The outside was hard, but once you pushed through the outer shell, it was weirdly soft. When the tap looked far enough and secure, Ben turned to grab one of the two jars from Angus, who wasn't particularly paying attention. He kept looking in one particular direction, with his ears that kept flicking in that direction. He turned back to the tree, holding a jar in his left hand. He held it under the tap before pressing on it.

As he watched the red sap spill into the jar, he went ahead and asked, "You keep looking over there, and I haven't heard you make a ‘your mom’ joke yet. What's up?"

"I think I hear… wasps?"

"Sounds normal enough."

"But I think I also hear a grim."

He let go of the tap, letting the last bit of the sap dribble into the jar before he capped it with a lid, "How far?"
Ben handed back the jar and took the other one as Angus took a second, "About 400-500 feet. It's hard to tell with all the buzzing."

He held the other jar under the tap and pressed it again, "It should be fine as long as no one screams or anything."

Angus beamed, "You're so smart."

"Nope," He capped the second jar, "anyways, our jars are filled."

"Just like your mom."

Ben smiled and stood up. Right as he did, however, Angus caught the sound of pain in the distance. Then another.
Ben watched as Angus whipped around, looking at all the teams. He turned back to Ben, "I think Jaune is in a fight."

Ben grabbed Angus' jar and walked to Ren and Nora, "Ren, Nora, can you watch these jars for us?"

Ren turned around and gave a nod, then a glare to Nora who consumed another jar full of the red sap. Ben put down the two jars before walking back to Angus. When he and Angus started to run towards the sound, Ruby noticed, "Hey! Where are you guys going?"

Ben only replied with, "We will be back!"

The two rushed to the fight, Angus informing Ben along the way that the grim is coming closer fast. Both of them broke into a small clearing, weapons at the ready. They watched as Jaune got punched into the ground by Cardin. Unlike the night Angus found him on the roof, his eyes were full of determination. He's finally going to become the hero.
The rest of Cardin's team watched excitedly. Of course, some of that excitement disappeared at the sight of the new audience. Angus leans to Ben, "I think we need to let Jaune handle this."

Ben leans back, "Are you sure?"

Jaune gets up, "I don't care about whatever you do to me. You're not going to mess with my team."

Cardin grabs him by the collar holding him up, "You think big talk like that makes you tough?!"

Jaune laughs to himself before he gets a direct punch to the face. Of course, the punch never met the blonde. A white flash comes from him, blinding everyone in the vicinity.
Ben's vision comes back watching Jaune glow white for a moment before it went away. Meanwhile, Cardin was on the floor, bewildered by what happened.
Everything looked as if it went to its natural conclusion until the Ursa bear that Angus had been keeping track of bursted into the clearing. Its nose twitched, smelling for something, before it turned towards Ben, who had just been dealing with red sap just moments ago.

It rushed towards Ben head-on. As it did, Angus managed to shove his spear into the beast, deterring it from swiping at him immediately. This gave Ben enough time to dodge out of the way and slice upward with his scythe, although something felt off as he did. He ripped the head off of the Ursa. The fight ended just as fast as it started.
Ben looked to Cardin, still on the floor weak, then to Juane, standing strong. Adjusting his glasses, he said, "I will let Juane be the one to deal with this."
He looked to Angus who was grabbing his spear off the floor, "Let's head back."

Angus nodded and started walking back towards the others, "That's the fastest I've ever seen you kill a grim! You're such a badass!"

"No, I'm not."

"You are though."

Angus must be very distracted as Ben saw Phyrra's red hair as she ran past them in the distance, Mainly hidden by the trees, "No…. I'm not."

*

The doorbell dinged as Angus and Ben left a dust store. Angus carefully put the newly acquired dust crystals in his newly fixed case, "Despite going to a different store, the dust is so expensive."

"I warned you not to take your case with you. The latch was broken, and a bullet could hit the crystals. And guess what happened in your class skirmish?"

"Not my fault Yang's explosive shotgun bullets managed to hit it."

"But you did take the case and the crystals…."

"…."

"…."

"Why's the town more lively than normal?"

Angus looked away from Ben, looking at all the decorations being put up.

"The vital festival. You already know about this."

"Eh, I forgot."

"Oh yeah, that's right."

"Huh?"

Ben held up his scroll and aimed the screen more towards the cat boy, "Look."

On the scroll was the team mana page. Under Angus' name was someone by the name of 'Ink', but with no picture.

"Whose Ink?"

"New teammate. We should be meeting them soon."

The two further walked down the town. Today was both of their days off, so they planned on being more out and about. Especially since Angus' cat brain was going crazy from the tests and started ripping the window blinds with his claws. Ben is going to have to repair that later.

"Oh look!" Angus pointed to team RWBY. They didn't notice Angus or Ben as they were walking away from them.

Ben followed after a running Angus trying to catch up with the previously mentioned team. By the time both managed to catch up, all of them were standing at a dock.
Ben looked out to the sea listening to Yang ask Weiss, "Remind me again why we are spending our Friday afternoon visiting the stupid docks."

Ben turned to Weiss as she said, "I've heard that students from Vacuo will be arriving by ship today and as a representative of beacon, I feel as though it is my solemn duty to welcome them to this fine kingdom."

He and Angus further walked along with team RWBY, as Blake shared the real reason Weiss is doing this, "She wants to spy on them so she'll have the upper hand in the tournament."

"You can't prove that!" Weiss got defensive.

Everyone turned to look down the street. The dust shop That Angus and Ben visited on their first day in Vale was surrounded and covered in caution tape. Broken glass from the windows was scattered all around the poor shop. Two well-dressed men were beyond the caution tape looking at the mess. Probably detectives.
Team RWBY and BA walked closer. Angus ran ahead of everyone. Ben heard him ask desperately, "What happened to the dust store?!"

The detective writing on his tablet looked up to Angus, "Robbery. Second dust store to be hit this week."

The detective walked away remarking, "This place is turning into a jungle."

The other detective spoke to the first guy, "They left all the money again.."

"It just doesn't make a lick of sense. Who needs that much dust?"

"I don't know… an army?"

"Are you thinking the uh… White Fang?"

"Yeah, I'm thinking we don't get paid enough."

Ben turned to team RWBY as Angus mumbled to himself about "All those poor crystals".

He overheard Schnee pondering, "Hmmm…. The White Fang, what an awful bunch of degenerates."

Blake took offense, "What's your problem?"

Weiss turned to Black haired girl, "My problem is I simply don't care for the criminally insane."

"The White Fang is hardly a bunch of psychopaths. They're a collection of misguided Faunus ."

"Misguided? They want to wipe humanity off the face of the planet!"

"So then they are very misguided. Either way, it doesn't explain why they would rob a dust shop in the middle of downtown Vale."
Ruby agreed, "Blake's got a point."

Ben jumped in the conversation as well, "I second that."

Ben saying something finally got Angus to stop talking to himself and tune into what was going on.

Ruby continued, "Besides, the police never caught that Torchwood guy I ran into a few months ago… Maybe it was him?"

Ben looked to Ruby, "Whose that?"

Weiss ignored the questions and continued over him, "Still doesn't change the fact that the White Fang are a bunch of scum. Those Faunus only know how to lie, cheat, and steal."

Ben secretly glanced to Angus. The cat boy was not very amused. He looked back to Ruby and her team members.

Yang disagreed with Weiss, "That's not necessarily true."

Everyone turned to the sound of a man yelling, "Hey! Stop that Faunus!"

Everyone rushed back to the dock to watch a blonde man with an unbuttoned white shirt, jeans pants, yellow shoes, and a monkey tail jumped off of a ship onto the wooden docks.

The man on the ship yelled once again, "You no good stowaway!"

The stowaway held himself upside-down on a lamp via his tail. He opened a banana, "Hey, a no-good stowaway would have been caught. I'm a great stowaway."

Everyone watched as he dropped a banana peel onto one of the detective's faces that came down from the dust store, before jumping off the lamp and bolting down the rest of the docks and up the stairs. They all watched as the monkey Faunus ran past Blake, giving her a wink. He continued into the town.

"Well, Weiss you wanted to see the competition," Yang remarked, "And there it goes."

Weiss started running after him, "Quick we have to observe him!"

The entirety of team RWBY followed the detective following the Faunus. Ben turned to ask Angus if he had anything else to do while they were out, only to lose him. He looks around for a moment before finding that he also went after Faunus.

He sighed and went to go follow the cat boy but overheard the guy on the ship, "There's another one!"

Ben turned around to see a black-skinned Faunus with white fox ears and a white fox tail running from the ship on all fours. Their animal fur had hints of grey and black on top of the tail and behind their ears.

This Faunus ran halfway down the block before spotting Ben. Ben locked eyes with them for half a second before the fox Faunus broke away from the eye contact and ran up the stairs.

Ben was left a tad confused as they ran towards him despite no one chasing him like the previous Faunus. The Faunus ran closer and closer. Ben took a step back before feeling sharp teeth bite into his shoulder. He hissed in pain as the Faunus got off of him and started running away.

Very annoyed, pissed even, he started running after the Faunus that bit him.

Meanwhile, Angus stops behind Yang, nearly running into her. He peers around and noticed Weiss ran into someone and now they were both on the ground. Weiss, ignoring the person, looks to the monkey Faunus jumping away onto a building, "No he got away!"

Yang pointed to the person Weiss ran into, "Uh… Weiss?"

Weiss yelped and stood up from the girl. The girl simply waved with a smile, "Salutations!"

Everyone grew confused as the girl continued to lie there. Ruby gave a "Hello" back to her.

"Are you… okay?" Asked Yang.

"I'm wonderful! Thank you for asking."

Everyone looked to each other unsure of what to do. Angus could hear something whir inside her. Electricity maybe?

Yang questioned again, "Do you want to get up?"

The strange girl nodded, "Yes."

She launched herself back up onto her feet using both of her arms. Team RWBY all took a step back from her a second later.

The girl didn't seem to catch the awkwardness as she decided to introduce herself in the same chirpy manner, "My name is Penny, It's a pleasure to meet you."

Everyone else one by one introduced each other.

"Hi Penny, I'm Ruby."

"I'm Weiss."

"Blake."

"Are you sure you didn't hit your head?" Blake elbowed Yang, "Oh- I'm Yang."

"My name is Angus."

Penny looked to each person, "It's a pleasure to meet you!"

Weiss responded with, "You already said that…."

"…So I did!"

Weiss and the rest of team Ruby went to turn away as Weiss said, "Well, sorry for running into you."

Ruby waved, "Take care friend!"

Everyone started to walk away, back to where they ran from. Angus realized silently that Ben didn't follow him. He must still be at the docks…. Or maybe he went back to Beacon?
"She was weird…" Yang remarked.

Angus felt like sharing, "She sounded like electricity?"

"Now," Weiss started, seeming to already ignore that entire interaction with Penny, "Where did that Faunus riff-raf run off to."

Everyone suddenly stopped as suddenly Penny was in front of them again, "What did you just call me?"

Yang started apologizing, but was interrupted by Penny walking past her to Ruby, "You called me friend, am I really your friend?"

Ruby glanced past Penny to everyone on her team silently saying 'no', while the cat boy that tagged along gave a thumbs up. Ruby looked back to Penny, "Yeah sure, why not?"

Her team looked defeated as Penny cheered, "Sensational! We can paint our nails and try on clothes and talk about cute boys!"

Ruby whispered to Weiss, "Was I like this?"

Weiss whispered back, "No, Penny is far more. Coordinated."

Angus mumbled to himself, "I wanna do that."

"So," Yang struck up a conversation, "What are you doing in Vale?"

She happily responded, "I'm here to fight in the tournament!"

Weiss was bewildered, "Wait, you're fighting in the tournament?"

Penny saluted, "I'm combat-ready!"

"Forgive me, but you hardly look the part…"

Blake quickly remarked, "Says the girl wearing a dress?"

Weiss defended herself, "It's a combat skirt."

Ruby agreed, "Yeah!"

Weiss came to a realization a second after, "Wait a minute. If you're here for the tournament, does that mean you know that monkey-tailed rapscallion?"

Angus was starting to get annoyed and watched as Blake got even further annoyed to the point of being pissed.

Penny responded, "The Who?"

"The filthy Faunus, from the boat!"

Blake snapped, "Why do you keep saying that?!"

Weiss was confused, "Huh?"

"Calling him a rapscallion. Stop calling him a degenerate. He's a person!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, would you like me to stop calling this trash can a trash can?" Weiss waved a hand towards a trash can before pointing at a street lamp, "Or this lamp post as a lamp post?"

"Stop it!"

"Stop what? He clearly broke the law! Give him time, he'll probably join up with those other Faunus in the White Fang."

Angus' ears pulled back in anger. He growled softly. Penny looked over as she picked up the sound. Angus ignored her though. He's completely agreeing with Blake right now. Why would you say these things? She is just being a bitch for no reason. Plus she has no right to say this about the White Fang when her family caused so much pain and- Angus shook his head.

No, Those were thoughts he used to share in the White Fang. He's not a part of them anymore. He refuses to be. He's just mad because Weiss is very inaccurate about the poor people involved.

Blake curled her fist, "You ignorant little brat!"

Team RWBY, Penny, and Angus watched as Blake walked away angrily. Probably to go cool her head. The idea didn't last very long though.
Weiss yelled after her, "How dare you talk to me like that! I'm your teammate."

Blake stopped and the two stood across from each other, "You are a judgmental little girl."

"What in the world makes you say that?!"

Yang spoke to Ruby, but it also directed at Angus, "I think we should probably go…"

Penny stuck her head between Ruby and Yang as the two other girls were bickering, "Where are we going?"

Angus didn't want to be here either. Being around Weiss kept reminding him of the thoughts, actions, and views he used to support and even fight for. It made him kind of sick. Sick with anger. Sick with guilt.

"-Soley based on his species makes you just as much of a scoundrel as you believe him to be."

"You admit it! The White Fang is just a radical group of terrorists!"

Angus clenched his fists, his nails digging into his palms. He glanced to Yang and Ruby, who just sat there watching. He wanted them to leave so much so he could walk with them. He didn't want to be left alone thinking about these things. He's left them. He wants them out of his life. Talks. mentions. everything.

"That's not what I meant and you know it!"

"I don't understand why this is causing such a problem!"

He just wished Weiss would shut the f*ck up. He felt a hand on his shoulder from Ruby, "Angus?"

"That is the problem."

"You realize you're defending an organization that hates humanity, don't you? The Faunus of the White Fang are pure evil."

He appreciates Ruby's concern. But his anger, despite him trying to bottle it, was about to explode. And he did not want Ruby to be the one hit but it. He ignored her. He could feel the sun setting behind him.

"There is no such thing as pure evil! Why do you think they hate humanity so much? It's because of people like Cardin, people like you, that force the White Fang to take such drastic measures!"

"People like me?"

"Your discriminatory!"

Angus turned to Ruby, swallowing up as much anger as he can, "Yang is right, we should go."

"I'm a victim!"

Angus stood there listening about Weiss' childhood and her family's company's war with the White Fang as he watched Yang and Ruby unsure about how to handle the situation but also intrigued. He decided to walk to Blake. He can try pulling her away, and maybe we can all just go home. He put a hand on Blake's shoulder when Weiss started yelling, "No! You want to why I despise the White Fang!? It's because they're a bunch of liars, thieves, and murderers!"

Angus felt himself being hit with those words. He couldn't bottle it anymore.

"Well, maybe we were just tired of being pushed around!"

Angus also responded and spoke halfway through Blake with the same anger, "You weren't there!"

Everyone went silent for a second. Angus felt Blake pull away from his hand and start running. Not knowing what to do, he followed after her. As he ran he could hear Weiss claim, "Members of the White Fang! Right under our noses!"

*

As the sun set, Ben continued running around looking for the Faunus that bit him. Every time he got close, the Faunus noticed and started running from him again. The lamps started turning on from lack of light.

Ben wiped the sweat off his forehead and turned yet another corner, "I'm gonna f*cking kill that fox."

Although he said that, he very much doubted that he would. At the very least he's making the fox explain himself…. And punching him.

As he continued down the street, he heard wheezing from nearby. He turned into a nearby alleyway. He quietly stepped closer to a dumpster, the only thing in the dark area, as he did the sounds of wheezing increased. Then he heard clattering movement as if whoever was there was trying to grab something. He quietly stopped in front of the dumpster, listening to a familiar sound that he remembered from before he trained to become a fighter. It was the sound of an inhaler.

Ben grabbed the lid and quickly flung it open, surprising the fox sitting amongst the trash. The Faunus went to jump out of the dumpster, but his feet slipped on one of the trash bags below him, making him run into the dumpster wall with a loud clang.

Before he could get his bearings, Ben grabbed him by the back of his white collar and pulled him out. The Faunus for some reason went sort of limp, letting his captor slide him against the alleyway floor, "Stranger danger!"

Ben made the fox boy turn to him and switched to holding the front of his collar, "Why did you bite me?"

Ben glared at the silent Fox trying to come up with an answer. After a second he responded, "Um…. I don't know...you looked…biteable?… Can you let me go now?…. I won't run away."

Ben doesn't let go, "that's nowhere close to a satisfactory answer…"

The fox glares at Ben, "well I gave you a response. That was an answer…"

Ben felt the Fox trying the wiggle his way out. He held on tighter, not letting go, "Why did you decide to bite me?"

"…..I have a biting problem…" The Faunus said before biting into Ben's arm.

Ben dropped them in pain. The Faunus ran out of the alleyway before Ben could grab them again. He sighed and looked at his injury. It bled a tad.
Ben stood up and glanced into the dumpster, his guess was right. He grabbed and pocketed the inhaler the Faunus left behind.
He walked out of the alleyway checking the time on his scroll, "Angus and the others probably went home by now,.."

He walked home, giving up on this chase. When he made it to his dorm, he opened the door expecting a sleeping Angus and a night light lighting up his side of the room. Instead, the room was completely dark, and when he flicked the light switch on, there was no Angus to be seen.

He pulled out his scroll, messaging Angus, "Where are you?"

He got back a very hastily typed, "be back soon. With Blake."

"He will be home later." Ben said to himself before curling into bed.

He was running fast, weapon in hand, as if his life depended on it. Dust and ash filled his lungs. He hid behind the wall of a destroyed store, taking his inhaler. He could hear the roar and stomps of a grim grow closer. He checked his scroll, he only paid attention to his aura in that moment. It was flashing red. Even stubbing his toe could break it.
He overheard his name being screamed from maybe one street over. It was a blood-curdling scream from his cat friend, Angus.

Ben snapped awake. He sat up in a sweat. Despite it being a dream, it felt so real. He glanced to see a still empty bed next to him before He looked to his scroll, the morning sun making the screen a tad harder to see. No new messages.

Before he could message Angus, he received one from Ozpin. He clicked on the notification to read it, "Good morning, today you get to meet your new teammate, Ink. Please come to my office when you have the time."

Ben glanced at Angus' bed again as he got out of his own.

He entered Ozpin's office not expecting to be absolutely assaulted by sunlight. Most of his office was a f*cking window. Ozpin was sitting behind his desk but got up as soon as Ben came In.

Ozpin walked around his desk, "Welcome your new teammate Ink. They transferred here from Vacuo. I hope you two will work well together."

Ben watched as the student turned around and sat up. Ben's face immediately turned sour as he realized it was the Faunus that bit him last night. The fox, Ink, was biting into a sky-blue chew toy. The human watched him wave as if nothing happened.

"They have a bit of a biting problem so their last school did me a courtesy by sending a chew toy beforehand," Ozpin explained.

Ben kept the same face, not caring about the chew toy. He already disliked Ink very much.

*

Angus sat in an extra chair he pulled up next to Blake and the Faunus from yesterday. The Faunus in question was named Sun. All three sat on the cafe's Balcony drinking tea. Blake and Angus used their hands while Sun held his with his tail. The morning sun shone brightly.

Blake took a sip of her tea, "So… you want to know more about me."

Sun held his arms up in victory, "Finally, she speaks! Two days and both of you have given me nothing but small talk."

He motions to Blake with his tail, "And this one keeps giving me weird looks."

She glared at him.

"Yeah like that!"

She rolled her eyes with a smile. The smile went away quickly though, "Sun, are you familiar with the White Fang?'

"Of course, I don't think there's a Faunus on the planet who hasn't heard of them. Stupid holier-than-thou creeps that use force to get whatever they want. A bunch of freaks if you ask me!"

Angus took a sip and waited for Blake before he gave a response of his own.

She took a sip and looked back up to Sun, "Me and Angus were once members of the White Fang."

Sun nearly choked on his tea, "Wait a minute you guys were members of the White Fang?!"

Blake nodded, "That's right, I was a member for most of my life actually. You could almost say I was born into it."

Angus listened to Blake explain the White Fang, its history, and her inclusion while watching Sun's face for his reaction.

"So I left. I decided I no longer wanted to use my skills to aid in their violence. And instead, I would dedicate my life to becoming a huntress. So here I am, a criminal hiding in plain view. All with the help of a little black bow."

The cat boy watches her wiggle her ears under her bow.

Sun glanced to Angus, "What about you?"

"Same thing really," he shrugged, "I'm a Traitor to the White Fang. Unlike Blake though, I'm sure they would kill me on sight."

Sun looked back to Blake but was still talking to both of them, "Have you guys told your friends any of this?"

Blake stayed silent, while Angus responded, "My teammate knows. Well so do you and Blake."

*

Ben held a hand out to a quivering Ink, sitting weapons up in the corner. They looked like they were having a panic attack. Ben and the Faunus were both out of breath, surrounded by debris and flames. The tears on Ink's face stuck more dust to it.

Ben coughed, "C'mon we need to go. We can't stay here."

Ink took his hand, as bright white light quickly took over his entire vision.

Ben sat up, once again in sweat, this was the second day in a row he's had a nightmare. He looked over in disappointment as the fox Faunus he was forced to be with was gnawing one of Angus' bed's legs.

Ben sat up immediately, grabbing a squirt bottle from nearby and squirting the fox from across the room. Fox stops and starts catching and eating the water from the squirt bottle.Annoyed, Ben got up and walked over to the Faunus. He proceeded to hit the top of his head with the bottom of the bottle. Ink held his head in pain and finally stopped eating or trying to eat sh*t.

Ben turned away putting the bottle on a desk before pulling out his scroll. Still nothing from Angus. He hasn't responded in two days. Did his scroll die? Did he lose it? Did he forget he had it? Ben thought about it for a moment…. He definitely forgot.

Ben sighed and went to switch clothes.

After he switched clothes he went to the dorm room next door, which happened to be team RWBY. He went to knock as Yang was opening the door, "Oh, hello."

Ruby peaked up from under Yang's arm, "Hi Ben."

He heard Weiss from farther in the room call out, "Good morning, Ben."

He didn't hear Blake though. He didn't worry about it though and got straight to the point, "I haven't seen Angus since he went after that Faunus with you guys and he's not picking up his scroll."

"About that," Ruby started sheepishly, "Weiss and Blake got into an argument about the White Fang.-"

"I'm right though!" Weiss interrupted.

Ruby continued, as Yang fully opened the door, "And it kind of exploded. Blake ran off and Angus followed. We haven't seen either of them since. We are going to look around town today. Wanna come with?"

Ben nodded.

"Does your friend want to come along too?"

Ben whipped around and was face to face with a completely tame Ink. He glared at him, and Ink looked to Ruby and nodded.

"Cool, c'mon!" Ruby motioned to follow her and everyone did.

*

Angus walked behind Blake and she walked next to Sun down the sidewalk. Sun had his hands behind his head.

The monkey Faunus looked to Blake, "So what's the plan now?"

Blake responded, taking the initiative, "I still don't believe the White Fang is behind these robberies. They've never needed that much dust before."

Sun pulled his hand back in front of him, "What if they did? I mean the only way to prove that they didn't do it is to go to the place where they would most likely go to if they were to do it and not find them there. Right?"

"Huh?" Angus got confused.

Blake understood though, "The only thing is, I have no idea where that would be."

"Well," Sun said, "while I was on the ship I heard some guys talking about offloading a huge shipment of dust coming in from Atlas."

"How huge?"

Sun held his arms open wide, "Huge. Big shiny company freighter."

"You're sure?"

*

About an hour ago Ruby split off with Penny to cover more ground. Ben ended up staying with Yang, Weiss, and Ink. It's not particularly his problem but he didn't want the fox goblin to go bite more people. The four of them left another store.

"This is hopeless…" Yang said defeatedly before looking to Weiss who looked unfazed, "You don't care if we find her do you?"

Weiss looked back to Yang, "Don't be stupid. Of course, I do. I'm just afraid of what she'll say when we find her… The innocent never run Yang."

Weiss started leading the group. Ben kept his hands in his pockets when he decided to correct Weiss moments later, "That's not true."

"Hm?" Weiss glanced to Ben but kept walking.

"The innocent can run."

"For What reason do the innocent have to run? What do they have to hide?"

"If it's for safety… everything."

*

Angus laid next to Blake, he was starting to doze off just watching the shipping container. Didn't help that it was night. This is exactly when he goes to sleep.

Sun jumped down, his arms full of fruit, "Did I miss anything?"

The sudden sound in an otherwise soundless fifteen minutes startled Angus back awake.

"Not really," Blake said to Sun, "They've offloaded all the crates from the boat. Now they're just sitting there."

Angus yawned, "And I'm getting sleepy just watching them."

Sun held out an apple for either to grab, "Cool, I stole you guys some food."

Blake raised an eyebrow, "Do you always break the law without a second thought?"

"Hey, weren't you guys in a cult or something?"

Blake glared at him while Angus painfully agreed.

Before anything else could be said the lights from a helicraft highlighted around the area as it swooped closer to the clearing between all of the massive crates. It landed quickly, a platform sliding out immutably hitting the ground. Angus and Blake watched as a White Fang member walked out.

Sun leaned to Blake, "Is that them?"

"Yes. It's them." Blake said disappointedly as more members walked out in Sync.

The general of them stood in the ship still but was visible. He held a gun, unlike the rest, "Alright, grab the tow cables."

Sun and Angus looked at Blake and the monkey Faunus spoke, "You really didn't think they were behind it, did you?"

"No, I think deep down I knew. I just didn't want to be right."

Angus looked back to the White Fang members Remembering his past role before he heard a new voice, "Hey what's the holdup?!"

The three watched as a well-dressed human with a white jacket and a cane walked out of the back of the ship, "We're not exactly the most inconspicuous bunch of thieves at the moment. So why don't you animals try to pick up the pace?"

"This isn't right," Angus watched as Blake stood up, "the White Fang would never work with a human."

She pulled out her weapon, "Especially not one like that."

Sun was the first to ask Blake, "Hey! What are you doing?!"

The two watched as Blake jumped to the ground and ran towards the ship and the White Fang members. She hid behind a crate.

Angus pondered whether to stay where he was or to follow. He didn't exactly have his weapon with him. It's not something he can just store on his body. He sighed knowing that he needs to stop putting off getting a new weapon or upgrading his current one. The only thing he did have was his case of dust crystals on his lower back.

The cat boy watched as Blake snuck up behind the human guy, putting a blade to his throat. She proclaims to the White Fang members, "Nobody move!"

The White Fang members took out their weapons and started to circle Blake.
She threw off her bow in response, "Brothers of the White Fang, why are you aiding this scum?!"

They looked at each other before lowering their weapons for a moment. It didn't last long, and Angus couldn't hear them anymore as suddenly two other helicrafts swooped in.
Angus spoke to himself, "Oh no. This is getting worse."

A second later, although Angus couldn't see where it came from, he saw the explosion and how it threw Blake back, making her fall to the floor.
Sun didn't move his sight off Blake as he spoke to Angus, "Nah, we're goin' in. Come on cat boy!"

Sun quickly lept down as Blake was trying to escape the barrage of explosive bullets coming from the human's cane. He watched as he stepped on the man's hat, pushing his hat down onto his face. Angus quickly stood up and followed in Sun's steps, also jumping onto the man's head before he could fix his hat. Angus rolled on the ground, quickly getting back up.

Sun proclaimed to the human, "Leave her alone."

More White Fang members jumped down from the helicrafts above surrounding the monkey Faunus and the cat boy, along with the human.

The members start running towards the two. Angus was able to watch Sun punch a member's sword away before he had to focus on the members going after his ass.
Angus ducked under a sword swipe before bouncing back up, the top of his head hitting the enemy's chin. As he did, he heard one about to attack from behind. He spun around, claws out scratching the guy's hand holding the sword, making him drop it, before kicking him in the nuts.

By the time Angus dealt with them and turned around Sun had his weapon out and knocked down the rest of the members in front of him. The cat boy watched in awe as the blonde kicked away the last member.

The human attempted to shoot an explosive bullet at Angus, but Sun slipped in front of him, spinning his staff. The smoke from the shield explosion covered both of them, Blake jumping over them to get to the well-dressed human, "He's mine!"

Angus clicked the button on his case as Blake rushed forward fighting the man, one on one. Angus assumed she was using her semblance as she managed to look like she was leaving a small shadow of herself behind and appeared not even a second later at the other side of him. The man was still deflecting it with his cane though.

His cane…. Aw yeah, everything is coming together for the cat boy.

When the human was gaining the upper hand and started managing to land hits on Blake, Sun took her place and hopped in. His pole, split into a set of shotgun nun' chucks. Sun started raining a wall of spinning bullets on the human. The human was still managing to deflect the bullets though.

While the human was focused on deflecting, Angus rushed in grabbing the man in a bear hug. It startled the man, and he attempted to do what he did earlier to Blake. He shot the ground by Angus' feet. Which was exactly what the cat Faunus wanted. The explosion ends up hitting the red crystal he hid in his shirt, creating a double explosion. It forces both parties to fly in different directions. The human was farther away, hitting his back against the ground. While Angus fell to his side on the ground, sliding towards Sun and Blake.

Before either could move or check to see if he was okay. The human got up and shot at a crane over them. The explosive broke one side of the cable holding up a massive crate. It comes falling down. Sun rolls forward, while Blake grabs Angus and uses her semblance to go back before the crate could hit any of them.
The human pointed the end of his cane to Sun's head, with no one to help as the crate separated Blake and Angus from him.

At least until everyone heard Ruby yell out, "Hey!"

Everyone looked over to her standing on a nearby roof. She spins her red scythe before lodging it into the roof next to her. In the silence, Angus can just barely make out the sound of mechanical whirring. Is Penny here?

The human the three were fighting before merely waved to her, "Oh hello red. Isn't it past your bedtime?"

Angus could hear Penny ask Ruby about something. Ruby turned away to tell her to stand back, but as that was happening, The human man lifted his cane and shot at Ruby.
Angus yelled out the Ruby, "Ruby! Move!"

Ruby turned only to get hit by the explosive. The cat boy watched as she was flung back out of view, along with her weapon.

A second later Penny came into view. Angus listened to the massive amounts of mechanical whirring as a set of blades appeared out of her back. They unstack from each other evenly and looked as if they were floating behind her. She launched herself off of the roof, cracking it a tad as she flipped through the air.

By the time She reached the ground, new members of the White Fang did as well. They didn't last very long as she whipped around them, her blades acting as an untouchable spinning circle of death. She even knocked down a bunch of them like she was bowling.

The cat boy looked at the new airships, coming to join the fight. He became stunned as giant green lasers cut through both of them. Both said ships split into two, falling apart. They ended up crashing into the ocean nearby.

One last new ship survived but Penny made quick work of that one too as she stabbed her blades into it, pulling down the ship.

Angus glanced to the enemy human. He turned and was running back to the ship he came in from. Sun, Blake, and everyone else weren't paying attention.

He ran towards the man, using both hands to pull two different crystals from behind him. As the man got into the ship, it started to lift off. Seeing this as his only chance, He chucks a blue crystal, and a red crystal almost at the same time.

The crystals collide in the air, creating an icy blue explosion. It ended up larger than his normal attacks. It caused the ship some turbulence, but it still flew away almost without issue. Penny was too busy recovering from destroying the last ship to go reach the leaving ship.

Everyone watched as it left.

*

Ben, Ink, Yang, and Weiss arrived to police cars and police scattered about around the dock area. They all made a beeline for Sun, Blake, Angus, Penny, and Ruby sitting on a bunch of small wooden crates.

Angus heard and noticed Ben, standing up to give him a hug. He did not give him a hug, instead, he smacked the back of his head, "I was worried about you for two days!"
The cat boy laughed sheepishly before meeting eyes with Ink.

"Oh yeah," Ben motioned to Ink, although not super amused, "This is Ink. Our new teammate."

Yang jumped in, "They used their nose to sniff you out. "

Angus shared the excitement with Yang, "Oh! That's really cool! Nice to meet you, I'm Angus!"

Ink leaned towards the Cat boy's ear as if sharing a secret. Angus listened to the Fox boy whisper, "Take a shower."

Angus whined a little, pulling away.

Weiss approached Blake, Ruby rapidly tried explaining Blake being a Faunus to her but it was ignored. Blake ended up interrupting Ruby and spoke for herself, "Weiss, I want you to know that I'm no longer associated with the White Fang. Back when I was-"

"Stop," Weiss started, "Do you have any idea of how long we were searching for you and Angus?…. Twelve hours. That means I've had twelve hours to think about this. And in those twelve hours. I've decided…"

She glanced to Ben before continuing, "I don't care."

Blake was surprised, "You don't care?"

"You said you weren't one of them anymore right?"

"No, I haven't been since I was-"

Weiss waved her hand, "ababbababa- I don't want to hear it. All I want to know is that the next time something this big comes up, you'll come to your teammates and not some…"

Weiss glanced at Sun, "Someone…"

Blake smiled, wiping a tear away, "Of course."

"Angus," The cat boy's attention was turned back to Ben, "What happened to your shirt?"

He looked down at his skirt, or at the very least, what was left of it. The crystal he put into his shirt earlier must have torn through his shirt. His entire chest down to his pants was exposed. The only thing left was the back and his sleeves. He looked back up to Ben, "I can elaborate more later but…. We aren't going to be out of the woods for a long time."

Ben sighed and nodded, "When were we ever?"

Chapter 2: Volume 2

Chapter Text

“Whatcha doin’?” Yang slid into Blake.

She closed her book, “Nothing, just going over notes from last semester.”

Yang focused her attention on catching a grape Nora launched at her, “Lame.”

Teams, RWBY and JNPR sat at different tables RWBY was opposite of JNPR. Team BAI sat with team RWBY. Ink sat opposite of Weiss and next to Angus. Ben sat in front of Yang and on the other side of Angus.

Ink was scarfing food down as if it was the only pasta left in the world and he was starving. Ben however ate his sandwich normally. Angus wasn’t eating at all, his food was left untouched, and instead he was napping.

Ruby slammed a very thick white book onto the table, it almost made Ink choke and it startled the cat boy awake.

Everyone looked up to Ruby, “Sister! Friends!” she motioned to Weiss with less excitement, “Weiss…”

Weiss shared offense, “Hey!”

Ruby continued, “Four score and seven minutes ago, I had a dream.”

“This Oughta be good.” Yang remarked before catching another flung grape.

“A dream that one day, the four of us will come together, as a team, and have the most fun, anyone has ever had, ever!”

Weiss looked to the book, “Did you steal my binder?”

“I am not a crook.”

Blake got to the point, “What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about kicking off this semester with a bang!”

“I always kick my semesters off with a Yang!” Yang looked around to see if anyone liked her poor dad joke. She got booed by Nora and got hit by an apple.

Ruby continued, “Look guys, it’s been a good two weeks, and between more exchange students arriving and the tournament at the end of the year, our second semester is going to be great! But classes start back up next week. Which is why I’ve taken the time to schedule a series of wonderful events for us today.”

Ben thought about it, he didn’t really have much to do. So far he stopped Ink from eating more furniture and had a quick battle with Angus earlier. Thinking about it, it was kind of like dealing with two pets. Wait- they’re both faunus…. Was that racist?

He looked to Weiss as she spoke, “I don’t know whether to be proud or scared of what you have in store…”

Ben leaned out of the way as Yang aggressively threw an apple back to Nora.

Blake shared that she was unsure, “I don’t know, I think I might sit this one out.”

Weiss shared her feelings, “Sit out or not, I think however we spend this last day we should do it as a team.”

Ben heard Nora call out from the table behind him, “I got it!”

Weiss stood up, “I for one think that-”

Everyone was thrown back a little in surprised silence as Weiss had pie thrown at her face. The pan slid off, leaving the creamy filling behind.

Ben turned to look at the shocked faces of team JNPR. Nora pointed to a face palming Ren.

Weiss got angry and threw food back, which only hit Phyrra, And very soon Ben was in the middle of a giant mess.

Food between both teams was going back and forth, hitting more people and getting more aggressive. Ink would sometimes be able to jump in and grab the food in their jaws mid-air.

Ben quickly slid out of his seat when Jaune got thrown against the window. He crouched on the floor, and grabbed his whole team, making them do the same, “Alright let’s go.”

Ben led the other two like waddling ducks, as screaming, frightened, students and food ran and flew past them. He stood up when he got to the door. He looked to the smiling monkey faunus from before and his blue-haired friend terrified next to him.

The team leader turned around noticing only Angus followed him. He glanced to Ink only to have pasta hit his face. He felt the noodles slip down off his face onto the floor, leaving a residue of tomato sauce streaked all the way down his face and uniform.

No, he’s not letting Ink go scot-free. The cat boy quickly moved out of the way.

He heard Nora sing about being the queen of the castle, but he stood still staring down Ink.

Food of all sorts was scattered amongst the tables and the floor. The tables themselves, at least until they get to team JNPR, stayed in their rows. As for team JNPR, there was a “castle” of tables stacked precariously under Nora.

Ruby stomped her foot into a table, launching the plates and glasses near her, “Justice will be swift! Justice will be painful! It will be delicious!”

It signaled the start of a battle, Ben followed it too. He rushed forward to Ink, along the way grabbing a surviving melon off of a nearby table. He looked up to see Ink has equipped himself with very long sausage links but otherwise didn’t move.

Ben chucked his melon. Ink dogged out of the way of his, while Ben evaded a few recklessly thrown off a table by Nora. When the melons landed, they cracked open to the sweet tasty red filling inside.

Ink finally came forward, whipping around the links like a chain. He spun it around him. One managed to whip Ben away, but he managed to grab the other one and yank Ink forward. Ink stumbled a little, giving Ben enough time to jump in and punch Ink in the gut.

Before Ben could do anything more, Ink rolled away under a table and crawled out on the other side. Ben kept his eyes on the faunus as he slid himself over the table, grabbing a hard baguette as he did.

Ink managed to grab a baguette as well of equal hardness. Ben ran forward, slamming the bread down only for Ink to block it with his own. Ink was short to Ben, so the human kept leaning on the Faunus, intending on him falling. Instead of falling though the Faunus turned his body 90 degrees. This makes Ben stumble but he quickly regains his footing and the two continue to attempt bread strikes. Each missed or was blocked by the other before Ben broke Ink’s in half.

Panicking a tad, Ink continued to mainly dodge his leader’s strikes. A few managed to make contact, throwing him off balance. Ink managed to regain his own footing when Ren slid through a bunch of tables. The tables, food, and dishes explode all around the room, Making both focus more on dodging debris rather than each other.

When they were both safe from falling tables, they went back at it. This time on top of one of the tables. Ben grabbed this time two hard baguettes, while Ink didn’t have anything but apples near him.

Ben blocked and deflected the onslaught of various colored apples being pelted at him by the desperate Fox.

When Ink ran out, he went on all fours and ran to Ben. Ben threw the Baguette, almost hitting Ink, but instead it hit the table, making it break instantly from the force. Ink jumped over Ben, grabbing his other baguette in the Fox’s mouth.

Ben turned to face the newly weaponized fox with nothing in hand. The fox stood, grabbing the bread from their mouth. Before Ink could do anything though, the force of Nora’s attack to Weiss proceeded to flip over and push the rest of the standing tables. This makes the two jump more to the middle of the room away from the pile of tables.

Ben glanced over to watch a broken pillar slam into the wooden table pile as Ruby held Weiss faking crying. He turned back to Ink who managed to find leeks. The faunus rushed in, trying to stab the human with the green plant. He managed to get one hit before Ben kicked half of a baguette into the fox’s face.

The fox pulled back as Ben continued to throw and kick whatever was around him. The fox spent his time deflecting plates and apples, before throwing the leeks. One smacks Ben in the head making him stumble back.

He looked to the air as the fox jumped up, holding a tin of survived pie. He jumped out of the way as the fox threw it down as hard as possible. It splats against the floor as ben glances for another weapon. He picked up a tray as he was running out of options.

The fox threw a fist at Ben, he merely blocked it with the sheet of metal. The metal bends as a hand imprint appears. He glanced behind Ink, Nora threw a soda can. He watched as the soda can exploded against the floor in a pretty purple hue.

Using the tray, he knocks Ink onto his ass before retreating to the entrance of the room. Before Ink could completely get up and run after his leader, suddenly a wave of cans flooded the room, exploding on every surface they could. The floor, the tables, the food, the people, everything was exploding into vibrant sticky soda colors.

Ben stood by the entrance and noticed a surviving key lime pie to his right as Ruby used the force of her semblance to drag everything she was running past, including Jaune, Ren, and Ink turning into a sideways tornado. It slams team JNPR and Ink against the far wall, hitting them with almost every leftover piece of food, dishware, and soda cans that didn’t explode.

They all peeled off the sticky wall and fell to the floor. As Ink stands back up, Ben spins around, preparing more force as he launches the pie from all the way across the room. It hits Ink in the face and knocks him back down.

The battle is over, Ben has won, “Get keypied idiot.”

Realizing the lack of Angus, he turns to the cat boy sitting next to him, eating a sandwich off the floor in between the perfectly fine Sun, and a soda-covered person next to him.
Angus looked up to Ben, mouth full, “What?.... I was hungry.”

Everyone turned to the entrance as an angry Glynda Goodwitch slammed both doors open. She stomped in and used her abilities to magically put all the tables back and repair the building damages. The floors were wiped clear of any dish, making it look as if a battle had never even happened.

Glynda pushed her glasses further up her face as she huffed, “Children, please. Do not play with your food.”

Team RWBY and JNPR sat or stood near or on the tables with happy smiles on their faces and uniforms ruined by the amount of food stains.

Ben smiled too, he enjoyed the fight, and getting revenge on Ink. Speaking of which… he looked down, just managing to stop Ink from biting his ankle, “The key lime pie won’t be the last of it if you bite me again.”

Instead of a full bite, Ink lightly nom’d playfully.

Everyone was startled when Yang crashed back into the building.

Ben watched as Ozpin walked in and put an angry hand on Ms. Goodwitch’s shoulder, “ Let it go.”

She let go of her anger with a sigh, “They’re supposed to be the defenders of the world.”

“And they will be. But right now they are still children. So why not let them play the part?”

Ozpin turned away and went to leave, “After all, it isn’t a role they will have forever.”

*
Ink was heavily breathing. Tears rolled down his face. He was sitting in a corner, his limbs pulled to himself. Ash and dust from the fallen building next to him, covered him and slowly filled his lungs. His inhaler wasn’t going to help here. His weapons lay on the ground next to him, still in range there was a grim. He could hear distant bullets and grim cries.

He had his scroll open on a video call with Angus. He watched Angus’ heavy breathing. Blood covered his forehead, along with sweat. He cried and grunted from pain. He was stuck under heavy debris. Angus’ head and both arms were the only thing left unstuck. He could hear a grim cry from the cat boy’s side. The cat Faunus’ hands and arms shook in pain and fear, it was very obvious since the video was shaky.

Ink couldn’t hear him very well since the connection was very bad, “Ink-…….. I’ve called-…….. coming for you-….. I’ll be- I’ll be oka-..”

He watched as a grim knocked the cat boy’s scroll out of his hands seconds later. He could only see the night sky and the black fur of the grim. Ink listened to the painful crunches and screams of his friend. The screams were cut short by one final loud snapping noise.

The fox sat up from the floor and looked at his bed. His pillow and blankets were scattered about. He must have fallen down in his sleep.

This wasn’t the first time that Ink woke up from a terrifyingly realistic dream, but it didn't make that one any better. That one was the longest and most terrifying to sit through. Most of the other realistic ones only lasted for a few seconds and were of tame moments. Like the one time he dreamt of a pie flying to his face. Weirdly enough he could feel the violence in that one. Deja vu.

He stood up from the floor and looked out the window as he walked closer to Angus’ and Ben’s bed. It was becoming dawn.

Ink looked to the sleeping Angus, watching the cat boy’s chest puff out a little before coming back down. The cat was breathing.

The fox released a sigh of relief he didn’t know he was holding.

He spent a moment thinking back to the dream, trying his best not to think of where-

He shook his head. The areas that he and Angus were in looked familiar. Dreams take from reality sure, but those locations…. They looked too real.

He walked up to Angus and started pawing at his shoulder and whined. No way would he attempt waking up Ben early. After a good ten seconds, Angus raised his head drowsily and looked at the fox confused and half asleep.

Ink spoke in the same tone as a little kid going to their parents from a bad dream, which it was, “Angus…. I had a nightmare.”

Angus already looked like he was going to pass back out, he made an unintelligible sound and nodded with his eyes already closing.

Ink continued, “So I’m going out. I don’t know when I’ll be back.”
The cat boy said something about an adventure before putting his head back down on his pillow.

The fox went to quickly switch clothes before heading out.

*

Angus sat bored looking out the windows next to Ben. Ink was out before either of them woke up, so he couldn’t ask to come along on whatever adventure they were having. So his only option to not be alone was Ben, who came to the library to read and study. Ben was reading a book about dreams, which is unlike what Angus usually sees him reading.

The two sat at a table separate from team JNPR and team RWBY. Most of JNPR was reading or studying, with the exception of Nora as she was sleeping, while RWBY was playing a board game together.

Angus would have joined in playing the board game but it was a four-player game. So no room for him.

He continues looking out the windows. There were a lot of large airships flying around. More than normal. That was the only thing keeping the cat boy from falling asleep of boredom. Don’t get him wrong, he likes reading, but he just didn’t feel like reading anything he found or saw.

He listened to Weiss stand from her chair, telling everyone to fear her forces for she’s going to take over all remnant. Only for Yang to immediately beat her.

Blake looked unfocused, and like she didn’t want to play. Angus stood up, maybe he can take her spot in the game. Jaune was already ahead of him and asked to join the game.

Weiss held her cards closer to her, “I’m not trusting you with the good citizens of Vacuo!”

“Why not? You’ve trusted me with way more important stuff before! I mean you told us all that Blake is secretly a F-“

Phyrra ran over in under a second as if, if she didn’t the world would end, “Fun-loving person whom we all admire and respect!”

Blake gave a glare to Juane, Weiss, and Phyrra. She wasn’t immune to their bullsh*t and already knew exactly what he was going to say.

Juane sheepishly held the back of his head, “Right… that…”

Juane bowed, “Ladies… enjoy your battle.”

“‘Sup losers?” Sun came to the table with his blue-haired friend.

Ruby returned a ‘hello’ before Sun went to introduce his friend, “Ruby, Yang, Blake, Ice queen…”

Weiss was offended and confused, “Why does everyone keep calling me that?!”

Sun continued, “I never got the chance to formally introduce you to my old friend.”

“Uh…. Aren’t libraries for reading?” His friend pointed out.

Ren turned to him shooting his hands up, “Thank you!”

This woke up Nora as she quickly shouted out something about Pancakes.

Sun looked to his friend, “Shut up. Don’t be a nerd.”

“Intellectual. Okay. Thank you.”

The blue-haired guy turned back to everyone else, “I’m Neptune.”

Weiss was the first person to ask him about anything, “So, Neptune, where are you from?”

“Haven, “He walked over to Weiss, “… And I don’t believe I caught your name, snow angel.”

Weiss was flustered, “Um… I’m Weiss.”

Oh god, he’s watching a romance novel unfold in front of him.

Juane responded but was ignored, “Are you kidding me?!”

Even worse- It’s a love triangle! Angus softly groaned. Laying his head against the table. He kept listening though.

He heard Sun ask Blake, “I never took you as the board-game-playing type!”

Blake agreed, “Right…”

He heard her stand up, “Well I think I’m done playing, actually. I’ll see you guys later.”

The cat boy immediately sat up. He could ask to hang out with her! He got up from his chair and quickly, and quietly, left the library after her. After exiting the library though… he immediately lost her.

Whether or not it was intentional didn’t matter to the cat boy. It reminded him of hide and seek, “Alright, I’ll see if I can find you…”

*
Ink sat outside a cafe. The seats and tables were next to the sidewalk. People were lively, walking around and talking. Some of the other tables near the fox were full of talks about the festival. But he wasn’t here for coffee or gossip…. Despite how much he wanted coffee.

He looked over to a building diagonal from him across the road. The walls reminded him of Angus in his dream. Despite not wanting to think about it, the sounds he heard would occasionally replay in his head, reminding him of dream Angus’ death.

He shook his head, any more of that and he’ll do something even more drastic like piss on his territory…. Wait, he already does that.

He spent hours finding this one wall. It’s in perfect condition. Even if the dream could happen… what could cause that?

He couldn’t handle it anymore. He stood up and walked inside the cafe. He’s getting coffee to further fuel his addiction to caffeine… and maybe a few of those little dog treats.

*

After a few hours, he gave up and walked his way to his dorm. Disappointed from not finding her. In the hallway, he watched as Ruby ran into a student with light green hair. She was with a guy with grey hair, and another girl with pretty black hair. They all wore black and grey uniforms. They must be some of the students that came over for the festival. Or more exchange students.

Ruby looked up and asked the girl she ran into if she was okay. In response, The girl lended her hand, “I’m fine. Just watch where you’re going.”

Ruby took her hand and the green-haired girl hoisted her up, “Oh… Right… Sorry…”

The cat boy decided to continue to listen in, especially since he would have to walk past them to get to his room anyways. As he stood though, the black-haired girl glanced to him with her orange eyes. She knew he was there despite being so quiet. Looking to his eyes made him feel a sense of unease. He couldn’t pinpoint why though.

Ruby introduced herself, “Um… I’m Ruby! Are you… new?”

The girl haired moved out of the way, the ominous girl steps forward, looking away from Angus, “Visiting from Haven, actually.”

Angus watched as Ruby analyzed her face. Maybe she was getting the same feeling?

Ruby pulled out excitement, “Oh! You’re here for the festival!… Oh- but exchange students have their own dormitory.”

The gray-haired guy spoke, “I guess we just got turned around.”

“Don’t worry, happens all the time!”

Listening to these three exchange students reminded him of the sly voice of Adam. He shook the thought out of his head.

The students walked ahead as Ruby said, “Uh, your building is just east of here!”

The ominous girl thanked her, “Thanks. Maybe we’ll see you around.”

“Yeah, maybe! Oh, and welcome to Beacon!”

Ruby continued running down the hall, waving to Angus as she does. He waves back but snaps away when he hears the faint sound of something…. Burning? Or sizzling?

He sniffed the air in the empty hallway but there was nothing. He stood as still as he could, slowing his breathing. He didn’t hear anything else. It must have just been him.

He goes to walk past team RWBY’s dorm. But since Ruby left the door open, he saw the cat girl he was looking for the entire time.

He pointed to her, “Found you!”

The attention of the remaining RWBY members was directed to him.

Blake pointed to herself as she continued to stand almost in the middle of the room, “Me?”

Yang stood next to Weiss, “Oh yeah, the last time I saw you, you headed out right after Blake left.”

The cat boy nodded with a smile.

“That was over three hours ago!” Weiss pointed out.

He shrugged, “Looking for her kept me entertained.”

“E-Entertained?” Weiss looked at him like he was deranged.

“Yeah, I treated it like a game of hide and seek… as childish as that is…”

“Why were you looking for me?” Blake asked.

He itched the back of his right ear, “Oh, I was just bored. I was just sitting there in the library with Ben. I would have gone with Ink, but he was already off on their own adventure so I couldn’t join him.”

“You could have just asked…” Said Yang.

“I was going to ask to hang out with Blake,” he said with yet another shrug, “plus it doesn’t matter. I already made the decision to play one-sided hide and seek.”

The cat boy changed the direction of the discussion, “So what are you guys doing tomorrow?”

Angus’ ear flicked to the stepping noise behind him before an arm slung around his shoulders and chest. He saw the arm holding an open book with pages about the meaning of dreams. Ben’s voice spoke from behind him, “We are doing class tomorrow.”

Angus pouted as he was dragged away by the responsible one.
*

Ink didn’t know why he was spending so much of his time and energy doing this. It was only a dream, more of a nightmare really, but there was a feeling he couldn’t explain.

He continued walking along, drinking coffee and eating dog biscuits. He felt looks but he didn’t care. He dipped one into coffee to try it as he stopped in front of yet another building. Not this one.

No matter how hard the fox tried to remember or how much he looked, he couldn’t find anywhere that matched where he was sitting. The area he remembered was probably too damaged to identify.

So, he gave up and started heading home. Wasn’t a total loss though since he got treats out of it.

*

Angus walked along with Ink and Ben back to their dorm thinking about class earlier. Jaune getting ignored by the Ice queen was certainly funny at first…. But now it’s getting sad.

Ben opened the door while Angus’ ears flicked to team RWBY’s door.

He overheard Ruby say, “Today’s the day the investigation begins!”

Something interesting? He went to step closer to their door.

Ben caught him trying to eavesdrop very quickly, “What’s up?”

He turned to Ben And Ink decided to bite his ankle. He winced but with his semblance, it didn’t hurt as bad, “Team RWBY sounds like they are doing something…”

Angus continued to overhear Team RWBY talk about their plan. Interest in whatever they were doing only grew at the mention of dust Robberies, and more importantly…. Infiltrating a White Fang faction meeting.

He looked at Ben with wide eyes. The White Fang? Again?

Something about Blake going made him want to come along. Maybe it was their similar circ*mstances.

“You always want to help someone…” Ben walks over and knocks Team RWBY’s door, “That’s not a bad thing. Just remember to ask me first.”

Angus nodded as he heard Ruby whisper, “Shh- everyone be quiet. Maybe they’ll think we aren’t here.”

Angus shouted back, “I can hear you!

And from the floor Ink joined in, letting go of the cat boy’s ankle, “And I can smell you!”

Ben shrugged, “I’m here too.”

Yang opened the door and all of Team BAI got to see their new outfits. They all looked beautiful in their new casual wear. Behind them were Sun and Neptune. The cat boy did not originally hear them in the room. Maybe they climbed in through the window? Nah that’s stupid, there’s a door right there.

Ben went ahead and said, “We want to help with your plan.”

Ruby looked at him, “Sorry, Ben, we really don’t want to get any friends involved.”

Ruby followed Ben’s gaze to Sun and Neptune.

*

Ruby pushed Sun to Blake and Neptune to Yang. Ruby looked to Team BAI before directing Ben to Weiss, Ink to Yang, and Angus to Blake. Ruby patted herself on the back afterward.

“Actually, Ruby,” Weiss started, “Why don’t you go with Yang? I mean she is your sister after all.”

Ruby turned to Weiss, “Who would go with you then?”

Weiss faked not caring, “Well, I guess Neptune could come with me.”

Ruby laughed, “Nah!”

She proceeded to drag Weiss out the door as Ben followed. Before he left the room entirely, he glanced to Angus and Ink, “Stay safe.”

*

Ben walked next to Weiss and Ruby outside of a large tower. Ruby looked up to it in awe, “I forget how big the transmit tower looks up close.”

Weiss glanced to Ruby, “You should see the one in Atlas.”

“That was the first one right?”

“Correct,” Weiss cleared her throat before sharing more about it, “Atlas developed the cross-continental transmit system to all the four kingdoms to communicate with another. It was their gift to the world after the Great War.”

“Oh look at me, my name is Weiss I know facts. I’m rich.” Ruby mocked teasingly.

“Don’t be a pest.”

In a way, this reminds Ben of his relationship with Angus. Maybe it’s the slightly more mature one paired with the tad more childish one.

“Besides,” Weiss continued, “the only reason we’re here is because you like the tower so much. We could have just easily made a call from the library.

“I know but It’s so cool,” Ruby went to grab her scroll, “oh, I’m gonna take a picture.”

Ruby dropped her scroll on the ground. Ben attempted to catch it but failed. He went to go pick it up anyways, but didn’t need to as an orange-haired girl with green eyes already picked it up. Although she did it weirdly mechanically.

She looked up to Ruby, “You dropped this.”

Ruby immediately responded, walking over, “Penny?”
“Uh…”

Weiss and Ben followed Ruby, although Ben. Had absolutely no clue who this was. She was defiantly a tad weird just from her motor movements.

“Where have you been?! We haven’t seen you since the night at the docks!”

“Sorry, I think you’re confused,” She hiccuped, launching the scroll back into Ruby’s hands, “uh… I’ve got to go.”

The three watched as the girl, apparently named Penny, quickly walked away.

Weiss turned to Ruby, “What was that about?”

Ruby looked to Weiss, “I don’t know… but I’m going to find out.”

Ruby started walking away to go after Penny, “You guys go make that call, I’ll meet up with you later.”

Weiss started saying something to stop her but scoffed and changed her mind a second later. Ben watched Ruby catch up with Penny before he turned around to follow Weiss into the tower.

The tower was pretty quiet besides the people making the calls, which there weren’t very many of on the first floor.

The two walked around them to the elevator. The elevator doors closed after they entered.

A voice came from a long, silver, metal panel full of blue, evenly placed, dots, “Hello, welcome to the CCT, how may I help you.”

Ben stood silently as Weiss responded, “I would like to go to the communications room, please.”

“Absolutely, could you please place your scroll on the terminal to verify your identity?”

Weiss pulled out her scroll and did what the elevator said, “Perfect, thank you Miss Schnee.”

Ben watched ‘Miss Schnee’ practice smiling while the elevator went up. It didn’t take very long before both left the elevator. Ben glanced around the room, there were a lot of holograms and seats in front of them. Little walls protected the privacy of each from the one next to it.

As the two walked closer, Weiss in front and Ben behind, to the front desk, a hologram of a working woman appeared, “Welcome to the Beacon Cross Continental Transmit Center. How may I help you?”

Weiss was very direct and to the point, “I need to make a call to Schnee Company World Headquarters in Atlas.”

“Absolutely, if you could head over to terminal three, I’ll patch you through.”

Weiss put on the most sincere looking smile, “Thank you.”

“How about you young lady?”

Ben sighed, “I’m with them.”

“Oh alright.”

Ben walked with Weiss. He ended up sitting in an empty seat next to her as she looked sadly to the offline screen. Weiss took a breath before putting on another fake smile. The screen turned on, with an Atlas Schnee company worker popping up, “Thank you for calling the Altas- Oh! Miss Schnee, good afternoon. Would you like me to patch you through to your father? I think your sister Winter might be here as well.”

Weiss shook her head, still keeping the smile, “No thank you. I was actually wondering if you could find some files for me. I’ve compiled a short list.”

Weiss pulled out her scroll and placed it into a slot near the monitor.

A second passed before the worker raised an eyebrow, “I see… If you don’t mind, what, may I ask, is this for?”

Weiss shrugged her shoulders slightly, “School project.”

“Um… there are some sensitive documents on this list ma’am.”

“Well, then I’ll be sure to treat them with care.”

“Right. Very well. It’s being transferred to your scroll now.”

“Wonderful! That will be all then.”

“Are you sure you wouldn’t like me to patch you through to your father before you go?”

Weiss’ smile faltered for a moment, “Yes. I’m sure.”

“Well then have a nice day.”

The screen slowly faded to black, indicating that it was off. Weiss dropped her fake smile. Her face showed a more sad look.

A moment of silence passed before Ben asked, “Are you okay?”

Weiss glanced startled as if she forgot he was there, “Oh! Yes… I’m…. I’ll be okay.”

“It’s good that you will be, but are you okay right now?”

She contemplates before shaking her head, “However, I would rather not talk about it here.”
He nods. Makes sense there are too many people here.

The two get up, preparing to leave.

*

Yang drove up to a building’s parking lot on her yellow motorcycle. Ink sat with his arms around Neptune, while Neptune had his arms around Yang. Along the way, Ink has been trying to bite Yang from behind Neptune. Sort of crushing him in the process.

Yang parked her motorcycle with the fox still trying. Neptune glanced to behind him, “We are here, can you stop crushing me?”

Ink looked up briefly. He stopped for a moment with innocent eyes…. Before continuing to bite faster and crushing him even more.

Yang got off her bike, taking off her helmet as she did, finally letting the blue-haired man breathe. Ink merely crawled over him to get off the bike and he grunted.

With his feet on the ground, he runs over to Yang putting her helmet on her bike. He leaps a little and bites into her forearm. She stumbles back and hits Ink on the head. He looks up looking offended by her hitting his head.

The two stare at each other for a moment with Yang confused and startled, and Ink pouting.

A moment of silence passes before Yang continues, “Anyways…. C’mon, my friend’s right in here.”

Neptune and Ink followed behind their designated driver inside. Of course, Neptune took a few extra steps to keep himself away from the feral Faunus.

Two well-dressed men wearing Red sunglasses stood in front of the entrance as bouncers. However, they weren't doing a good job since one look at Yang sent them both running inside.

Neptune remarked, “I guess we look scary.”

The blue-haired man and an Ink on all fours met eyes, “I can see it.”

The bouncers attempted to close the doors tight, but Yang used her gauntlets to explode them back open. Not expecting it, Ink flinches massively.

Yang lets herself in and calls out to everyone inside, “Guess who’s back!”

Almost all of the men in black suits, and red sunglasses pulled out their guns on Yang. Holding her at point-blank gunpoint.

Neptune leans to Yang, “Yeah, so could you define ‘friend’ for me?”

Ink waddles in and pulls out his penis to pee on the floor. He looks up as everyone stood in silence, he made direct eye contact with one other of the well-dressed man. He can see the awkwardness and disgust on their face despite their opaque red sunglasses.

Everyone slowly goes to look at Ink.

Liquid noises echo around the empty club as Ink keeps eye contact with innocent eyes as he starts lifting his penis. The stream of yellow piss slowly changes target until he pisses on that guy's shoes.

A man's voice cuts through the silence right as the stream of liquid gold ends, “Stop! Stop! Nobody shoot!…. And someone clean up the floor!”

The man cuts through the crowd of men with guns, adjusting his red tie as he does, “Blondie!…. You’re here…. Why?”
Yang turns her attention to him, “You still owe me a drink.”

She grabs her ‘friend’ by the arm before dragging him to the bar. The other men pull away, putting down their weapons. A new one of the well-dressed men comes close to Ink and the puddle holding a mop. Despite the glasses, they look dead inside. Ink steps away as the man starts to mop up the yellow puddle. The fox watches him work.

*

Sun stood behind, Blake, and Angus stood behind Sun. Blake was peering past a wall covered with White Fang’s signature marks. Blake turned back to the boys, “This is it.”

“You sure?” Sun asked as he was slowly getting a glare from her, “Y’know, I’m just gonna take your word for it.”

The three of them went to go walk into the alleyway, Blake removed her bow as she did.

Blake handed Angus and Sun a mask. The cat boy’s eyes stayed on the white mask, staring at the fours slits as the monkey Faunus spoke, “I don’t get it. If you believe what you’re doing is right, why hide who you are?”

Blake answered, “The masks are a symbol. Humanity wanted to make monsters out of us, so we chose to don the faces of monsters.”

Although it wasn’t the same mask. Looking at It reminded him of the fire. The mansion was covered in blood, bodies, and embers from the screaming fire consuming everything in its path.

The day he abandoned the White Fang. The same day he met Ben, and the same day he realized the lack of humanity the group actually had.

The members chased him out of that country. Every waking moment he held then, he feared for his life. What if they had found him? And now although he dropped those morals and thoughts of them. He has to wear a mask that originally meant those things.

A hand touched his, pulling him back out of his thoughts. It was only then he noticed his hands were shaking and his more shallow breathing. He heard Blake's voice before he followed her hand up to her face, “You don’t have to do this. You can back out now and go meet up with Yang.”

Angus took a long breath before quickly sliding the mask on, “I’ll be okay. Let’s go.”

Sun once again asked, “Are you sure?”

The cat boy nodded. He wants to help, he even dragged Ben and Ink into this. He’s not leaving, not until Blake and Sun do. Until then he’ll just have to push through it.

The three continued, and walked through an inconspicuous door, guarded by a buff, sleeveless, White Fang member.

The room size was the equivalent of a large theater. Most of it was taken up by members standing the same uniform, standing the exact same distance apart, focused forward. Everyone else was squished to the right as normal citizens, the only difference being the masks.

There was a raised stage area with one member motioning for the new people to move closer to fit everyone, afterwards he continued to walk around the stage. He had a different uniform compared to the others. Angus remembered taking orders from him. A man with a mask that resembled a nevermore. His jacket didn’t process sleeves or a hood like the others.

He spoke in a loud voice, “Thank you all for coming.”

Angus ended up standing behind Blake towards the front with Sun right next to her. To his left the rows of White Fang members. It took everything in his being not to turn and look at them. He remembered standing in line like that for a meeting like this.

The White Fang on stage continued as Angus was shoved further into memory lane, “For those of you who are joining us for the first time tonight, allow me to introduce a very special comrade of ours.”

The human the three fought at the docks, walked onto the stage as the White Fang member continued, “I can assure you, he is the key to obtaining what we have fought for, for so long.”

The human smiled as the crowd booed, “Thank you, thank you! Please, hold your applause.”

A Faunus with deer horns In front of Sun pointed to the human, “What’s a human doing here?”

“I’m glad you asked, dearie. Now I’ll be the first to admit, humans are the worst.”

Angus couldn’t help but glance to the member next to him. Do they still have the order to kill him? Are they still looking for him? Maybe he should move closer to Blake and Sun.

His attention was brought back to what was going on when the giant White Fang banner was thrown to the side sharing an offline metal robot equipped with guns.

He overheard Sun say, “Uh, that’s a big robot.”

Then Blake responded, “How did he get that?”

The human explained the robot, “As some of you may have heard, this right here- is Atlas’ newest line of defense against all the scary things in the world… And thanks to my employer, we’ve managed to snag a few before they, uh, hit the shelves. Now, many of your brothers have already moved down to our new operation in the southeast. If you would rather stay within the city, that’s fine. But if you’re truly ready to fight for what you believe in, this is the arsenal I can provide you. Any questions?”

The White Fang brother, right of him, raised his arm unexpectedly to cheer for the human. His elbow brushed against The cat boy’s skin, making his breath hitch. All signals in his brain are telling him to run. That his life is in danger. He’s not here for a death wish, but his body is starting to tremble a tad.

Cheers quickly erupted from the rest of the room, but he was not cheering. Far from it. He pulled his arms closer to himself. This time he was glad he didn’t have his weapon since Ben took it to a shop to get upgraded earlier in the morning. He didn’t want to accidentally pull it out by instinct, yet at the same time he felt like he was going to die in here.

Blake turned enough to whisper to him and Sun, “We should get out of here.”

The White Fang on stage called out to all the new members, “Will all new recruits please come forward.”

Angus felt as someone pushed past him, shoving him against the White Fang member he’s been standing next to. He froze as he felt them look at him. More new members pushed past the fear-stricken cat boy as he stood looking to the floor. He was begging in his own head that he wouldn’t be recognized. He glanced to an unmoving Blake and Sun, the three were getting suspicious.

*

Ink overheard Yang’s ‘friend’ yell out, “I don’t know!”

The fox Faunus watched as the well-dressed janitor finished cleaning up the puddle. The two met eyes before the Faunus ran off to another part of the club.

Neptune and Yang stood together at the bar unknowing of Ink’s antics as the well-dressed janitor asked his dreaded question to the fox, “Are…. Are you going to piss again?”

The Faunus looked with innocent eyes and shook his head. The janitor turned to leave, only to stop to the sound of more liquids being released onto the floor. He turned to a new puddle, and the fox still looked to him with innocent eyes, as if he didn’t do anything. The puddle was occasionally highlighted by the flashing red and white lights.

Yang turned from the bar with Neptune, she motioned to Ink to follow and he did, “Well, we got everything we can. Hopefully, the rest of the team is having better luck.”

*

Angus made his way closer to Blake and Sun, of course still suffering from the gaze of the White Fang. His eyes glanced to the human on stage. He was watching them.

Sun looked to Blake, “He sees us.”

Blake looked around before coming up with an answer, “He can’t see in the dark.”

Blake whipped out her weapon and shot an electrical box from across the room. Instantly the room fell into darkness.

The human on stage yelled out to the White Fang, “Don’t let them get away! Urgh!”

Angus’ eyes glanced over to all of the members turning to him, Blake, and Sun. He could feel the fur on his ears and tail possibly standing even more.

He started running with the other two as if his life depended on it. Which to him, it was.
Blake jumped up, “The window!”

He and Sun followed her through the window as the cat boy heard possibly that robot turn on. The glass shattered all over the ground outside as the three landed outside. Angus landed on all fours and kept running that way. They all kept running as they heard the robot crash through the wall behind them. They were being hunted down by it.

The three jumped across the roofs of buildings as the robot took to the main road.

Sun yelled out to Blake, “You wouldn’t happen to have…. Oh, I don’t know… some form of backup?!”

Blake pulled out her scroll, “Got it!”

*

Ben and Weiss left the elevator. Despite not wanting to share here, she did share tidbits about her life with her father. The two stayed for a while there just to talk. It reminded Ben of his memories of when his family was alive and friends with her’s.

Weiss’ scroll rang, and she put away her somber face as she took the call, instead, she was curious.

Blake’s panicked voice spoke, “Everyone! If you can hear me we need back-“

Sun's voice cut through yelling, “Help!”

Angus went ahead and helped identify the problem, “They have a robot! It’s really big and after us!”

Sun continued, “Torchwick is in it! I think he’s controlling it somehow!”

Weiss and Ben ran out of the building together to get their faunus friends.

*

Ink, Yang, and Neptune were back on the yellow bike listening to Yang’s scroll. They listened to the others yelling for help as Ink was lightly teething on Neptune’s shoulder. Although the blue-haired man was trying to swat him away, he wasn’t stopping.

Yang leaned into the scroll and asked, “Where are you guys!?”

All three turned to watch Two cat Faunuses and a monkey Faunus run past a road behind them. They were being chased by a giant robot equipped with guns. It broke the road with each step.

Ink sniffed the air, “That’s them!”

Yang whipped the bike around, Ink’s claws went into Neptune’s sides as he held tighter. Neptune nearly falls off since he wasn’t holding Yang. She zooms down the road after their friends.

*

Sun, Blake, and Angus made a large jump up onto a highway road. They launched themselves from car to car. Blake took the left cars, while Sun took the right. Angus jumped between both following after the two.

The robot merely ran past the cars, knocking them out of the way.

Yang’s bike zoomed down the highway, passing cars that spun to a stop. The robot was straight ahead.

Yang commented to Ink and Neptune, “We’ve gotta slow it down!”

Neptune slowly sat up taller, grabbing his weapon, “On it!”

Ink still held on and started licking his jacket, trying to reach his neck. Not having the time to worry about it, Neptune just tries to ignore it.

The robot noticed them and started flinging cars at them as Yang drove. She starts swerving to avoid the cars, each car a closer chance of a hit than the last.

Once the cars stopped raining, Neptune was finally able to pull out his gun and shot electricity-filled bullets into the robot's back. It doesn’t do very much so Neptune stands up from Ink’s grasp. The fox let's go, but that is only because the target of his mischief has changed in his eyes.

Neptune switched his weapon’s forms to fit something more akin to a spear, just like the bullets, the blade was covered in a field of shaking electricity.

Neptune launched himself into the air, stabbing his weapon into the back of the robot. He held on for dear life as the robot started trying to knock or shake him off.

Ink also leaped onto the robot, sinking his teeth into a metal plate.

Sun stopped and turned around in front of Angus. Blake also stopped and turned on top of the car next to them.

Sun called out to his friend, “Hold on Neptune!”

Sun put his hands together, making two transparent golden versions of himself. They ran through Angus, jumping to attack the robot. As they did, they evaporated into golden dust.

After that Sun jumped, pulled out his weapon, spinning it before going to land a hit on the robot. Halfway, however, the robot managed to spin Neptune off of him. His weapon slides out and Neptune is thrown at Sun. The two collide and go flying past the highway barrier off the highway.

Ink, however, still held strong, the metal plate he was holding being the only thing about to come off. He pulled out his sickles. A long chain was attached to the bottoms of both handles. The fox threw one sickle around the right arm of the robot. The chain wraps around the arm twice before Ink grabs his sickle back. He pulls his teeth out of the robot and went to slowly climb the robot using the sickles that he stabs into the robot.

Angus watched Ink as he pressed the button on his case. He rips the White Fang mask on his face and throws it onto the highway. And He grabs a blue crystal before launching it into the robot's right arm. It explodes into ice. It covers the right arm and acts as extra security for Ink to stay on.

Meanwhile Weiss and Ben jump onto the road in front of the robot's rampage. They have their weapons at the ready waiting for it to come closer. When it does Weiss stabs her sword into the ground as Ben jumps, avoiding the sheet of ice she made under her. Ben slashes his scythe through the right arm of the robot before it runs and slips on the ice.

The arm falls onto the road and the robot ends up rolling off the highway with Ink still attached. Ink screamed like a squeaky fox as he fell holding onto the robot for dear life.

The robot landed back on the ground below, face-to-face with Ruby rose.

The fox Faunus, from the force of the robot's landing, ended up falling to the ground. His sickles left lines from where he scratched through a metal plate. He was so close to the head of it. The Faunus groans in pain. Despite that pain though, he felt weirdly stronger.

Everyone else hopped down in front of it battle ready. Ruby called out to her team, “Freezerburn!”

Ben looked to Angus next to him, “Do what you do best.”

Angus glanced to him confused pulling out two crystals, one blue, one red, “Huh?”

“Explode.” Ben zoomed off as Yang punched a sheet of Ice Weiss made. It turns into a white mist that blinds the human in the robot as well as everyone else on the field, but the robot stood taller than the mist so no one was worried.

Lasers came from the robot, searching for anyone it could land on. Everyone dodged it and its lasers as it walked.

It shot the road behind Yang as the lasers caught her movement, but the lasers got confused with the movement switching to Weiss, then Ink. Blake and Yang ran past each other making the robot shoot the ground where they were. It explodes the road into dust. Ruby and Ben use it as an opportunity to jump to it directly. They attack it together. They disorientate it a tad.

Ruby jumps back calling out, “Checkmate!”

Weiss, Blake, and Ink rush forward attacking the legs of the robot. Weiss jumped up, stabbing her thin sword into a laser, this managed to turn off all of the robot's lasers. They all jumped back as flaps of metal at the shoulders of the robot flipped open and shot out missiles.

Weiss and Blake flipped backward and avoided the missiles as they crashed into the ground that they left behind. It exploded the ground into a further mess. Ink on the other hand did dodge most of them but ended up getting hit by two at the end. Once again the Faunus felt hurt…. But stronger.

Weiss gets hit by electric projectiles. As she gets flung away she casts dust on Blake. Blake suddenly is able to slash her weapons, destroying all of the extra missiles before they landed or did anything.

It was a dance of attacks. With Blake, Ruby, Ben, and Ink dancing around the robots attacked as they attacked its legs. Everyone moved out of the way when Yang landed on the head punching and shooting it. Ink leaps onto its black quickly crawling to the head to join Yang in attacking.

Ink managed to stab one sickle through the protective glass before the robot started slamming its own head through pillars. The pillars cracked and broke away as both Yang and Ink were slammed against them.

The robot went to punch the two through one more but Angus jumped in front of the flying fist, clapping his hands together as quickly and hard as possible. The crystals in his hands collide creating an icy explosion. The ice shoots like daggers into the robot, ground, and into the air. The explosion itself blasted the robot’s fist away, along with himself. The cat boy blasted himself against the pillar. His head slams against the concrete knocking him out.

Ink and Yang land on the ground next to an unconscious Angus.

Ben called out, “Angus!”

Ink glanced to Ben as Yang slowly stood up. The fox looked back to Angus before standing up as well. He listened to Ruby as he felt determination fill his veins, “Don’t worry! With each hit, Yang gets stronger, and she uses that energy to fight back!”

Ink stared down at the robot. So that was why he was feeling this way. Cool.

The robot threw a punch specifically to Yang, and she caught it. Using her weapon she punches the arm. It crumbles into millions of tiny mechanical pieces.

Before Yang could get kicked away, Ink ran around a leg with his weapon, he threw one of them and caught it at the other side. Using his strength he pulls against the leg as hard as possible. Just like the arm, it breaks off crumbling into pieces.

Ben, Ruby, and Weiss shot ice dust into the robot to help prevent it from moving. Yang pulls back a fist before jumping and landing it into the torso. The robot once again rolls against the ground, this time breaking apart like lego pieces. The man that was controlling it lands on the ground.

The human man stood up dusting himself off and looked to Yang and the others. Yang shoots an explosive bullet but out of seemingly nowhere, a short girl with pink and brown hair jumped down holding out an open pink lace parasol. Surprisingly the parasol defended them both against the explosion.

The human man spoke as If he was saying a goodbye, “Ladies. Faunus. Ice queen. That guy.”

Weiss got offended, “Hey!”

Ben didn’t mind or care, at least he was referred to as a man this time.

The orange-haired man waved, “Always a pleasure. Neo if you would.”

She bowed and stayed in place. Ink didn’t smell them anymore. Yang rushed forward to punch her, Only to physically shatter an illusion. Everyone watched as a helicraft flew off, holding their enemies inside.

Yang spoke first, breaking the silence, “So, I guess he got new henchmen.”

Weiss turned to everyone, “Yeah, I guess she really made our plans… fall apart?”

There was a moment of cringed silence.

“No… just no.”

“What? But you do it!”

“There is a time and a place for jokes.”

“Was this not it?”

“No, it just wasn’t very good.”

“Well, at least I’m trying.”

Ben put his weapon away as he walked to Ink and Angus. Ink was crouched over Angus holding and licking the cat boy’s hand. Ben crouched down too and pressed the button on the case, closing it completely. He looked to Ink, “Ready to go home?”

Ink stopped licking for a moment looking to Ben. He doesn’t answer and continues licking Angus’ hand.

Ben grabs Angus and throws him over his shoulder like a rag doll. Ink follows Ben as he starts heading back to Beacon.

*

Angus, Ben, and Ink sat next to the gray-haired man and the green-haired girl that Angus met the other day. They all sat behind Team RWBY. Everyone watched as Phyrra fought and defeated all of Team CRDL by herself. Angus enjoyed every moment of her beating Cardin’s ass.

Ben on the other hand was thinking back to the dream he woke up from. He was sitting at a dining table eating what looked to be homemade food. He could see Ink and Angus laughing as they ate.

Ink and Angus looked older, both had longer hair. Angus had his tied back into a tiny loose ponytail, while Ink’s looked messy and curly. They were also dressed differently too. The cat boy wore a black turtleneck with a dark leather harness surrounding him above and below his chest. I couldn’t see it very well but when he turned his head to say something to Ink, there was some sort of metal thing attached to the back of his neck and it trailed down. While Ink wore no shirt. His chest and arms were out. Ben could see the muscle of his arms. On Ink’s right arm, there was a leather strap. He could see the Fox wore a harness as well, but he couldn’t really see it as the table covered it.

What was weird wasn’t how happy and real they looked nor the way they looked. In fact, only one thing bothered him about this realistic dream… he could only see out of his right eye. The left was left completely dark. That wasn’t the only thing, he saw a man he’s never seen before. He was a scrawny man with glasses and blue hair. He wore a lab coat with a printed tee underneath it. He didn’t look like a huntsman. He was laughing along with his team as well.

He broke out of thought when he noticed the battle was over.

Professor Glynda walked in-between Phyrra and a fallen Cardin, “And that’s the match. Well done miss Nikos. You should have no problem qualifying for the tournament.”

Phyrra thanked her before Miss Goodwitch continued, “Alright, now I know that’s a tough act to follow but we have time for one more sparring match. Any volunteers?”

Ben watched as Angus’ hand was the first to shoot up. He knows the cat boy has been wanting to spar ever since he got his weapon back from the shop. The human didn’t completely know all the changes, the only one he really knows is now Angus can store it on his person.

The professor however looked to Blake, “Miss Belladonna? You’ve been rather docile for the past few classes. Why don’t you-“

Another hand was raised. The hand belonged to the gray-haired exchange student, “I’ll do it.”

Glynda adjusted her glasses, “Mercury is it? Very well. Let’s find you an opponent.”

Angus raised his hand higher, nearly jumping.

“Actually,” Mercury looked around the room, the cat boy’s eyes lit up, “I wanna fight…. Her.”

Angus sat defeated as Mercury pointed to Phyrra. He had hope from the professor recommending he choose someone else since she just fought. But it was short-lived as Phyrra shared that she was okay with it.

Angus suddenly grabbed Ink’s hands, interrupting him from eating snacks that he wasn’t supposed to be eating in the class, “Will you spar with me later?! Please?!”

“Yeah.” Ink pulled his hands away from Angus to continue eating.

The cat boy cheered silently as if he just beat a hard level in a video game.

Ben glanced over to the green-haired girl who was staring at his teammates. She went back to watching Mercury and Phyrra prepare to fight. His eyes lingered on her before he did the same.

Everyone watched as Mercury fought Phyrra with mainly his shotgun boots. She kept blocking his attacks with her shield. Most of the battle was the two dodging each other.

Ben overheard Ruby comment to the green-haired girl, “Hey, your friend is pretty good!”

Ruby got a smile and a nod in response, but Ruby turned around before she could see the real reaction. Ben caught the eye roll she made though. He turned back to the battle.

The battle ended shortly after Mercury managed to knock away Phyrra’s weapon. The student stood and turned to the professor to tell her he forfeits.

Phyrra questioned him, but he responded pessimistically, “What’s the point? You’re a world-renowned fighter, We’re obviously leagues apart.”

The professor walked onto the battlefield again, “In that case, Phyrra Nikos is the victor of the match, again.”

Ben gave one last glance over to the girl, She held a smirk. Maybe she wanted to see him lose…

He turned to his teammates. Ink was double-checking that he ate all the Slim-Jims he brought with him, while Angus was complaining to himself how “Mercury was clearly faking!” In reality, the cat boy was butt hurt that the guy forfeited when he also wanted to have a skirmish.

Glynda continued to speak, “That is all for today. And remember the dance is this weekend, but you all have your first mission on Monday.”

Angus very quickly became excited, and forgot about the fight, “Oh! What do you think we’ll end up doing?”

Ben stood up with a smile, “I don’t know, we’ll just have to find out.”

Ink stood up then Angus. The fox balled up all of his wrappers, “I hope the mission is to f*ck your mom.”

Ink laughed maniacally as he left the room. Ben and Angus followed. Ben watched the green-haired girl waiting by the doorway as he passed her. Something about her was off to him. He didn’t know what though. Maybe these dreams are f*cking with him. He looked away from her and back to her teammates.

As they all walked outside Ben watched as Sun attempted to ask out Blake to the dance. She responded harshly as she walked away, “I don’t have time for a stupid dance. I thought you of all people would get that.”

Angus commented on it after they were far enough, “Ouch. Imagine being turned down that hard. Skill issue….. she didn’t really look okay- oh yeah!”

Angus started walking backwards with a mischievous smile aimed to Ben and Ink, “So….”

A second past before Ben responded with a raised eyebrow, “So?”

“Who you guys going to the dance with?”

Ben immediately responded, “Not going.”

“Aw…. Why not?”

“No one that I like.”

“You could go with friends! Like me! I’m not going with anyone either.”

“Still a no from me.”

Angus stuck a tongue out, “Team leader not going? Yeah, no way I’m letting you get away with that.”

The cat boy looked to Ink, “How about you?

The fox looked to the cat before shrugging, “Maybe Neptune.”

“Oh really?”

“Yeah his reactions are funny.”

It became very apparent that Ink just wanted to harass the poor man. Angus already felt bad for him.

Two seconds later Ink bit Ben again. This time it was the hand. Ben used his other hand to hit the fox on the head, “God damn it!”

*

Ink was walking next to Angus, as the sun was starting to set. He was holding a coffee cup and a small paper bag full of those dog biscuits he liked. Both he and the cat boy were holding at least one shopping bag. Angus looked at the fox with a smile. He was going to say something but-

Ink opened his eyes to the face of an excited Angus, “Wake up! I wanna go shopping with you!”

The fox rubbed the sleep out of his eyes as he sat up, “Why not Ben?”

“I already tried Ben…. He uh…. He said no.”

Ink looked over to Ben’s bed. He was staring at him and Angus with an angry tired glare. He looked back to Angus, “Yeah, sure.”

When the two left, Ben curled back into bed and let the Faunus do their thing.

Ink led the way as Angus shared his awe, “I’ve barely seen you come into town but you already seem to know where most sh*t is. I struggle to find anything that isn’t a dust shop.”

The fox stared into the cat boy’s eyes silently as if he'd seen war and bloodshed.

Angus didn’t know how to take this reaction, “Uh…. You okay?”

“I found a pizza in the dumpster.” Ink pulled out a pizza slice he forgot he had in his back pocket until this moment, “Here. I saved you one.”

Angus took it, but stared at it unsure of what to do with it, “Thanks?”

Ink and Angus lock eyes. The more the cat Faunus stared the more the fox drooled, slowly opening his mouth. The cat became increasingly concerned.

Like a trap being set off, Ink puts his mouth around the pizza and partially Angus’ hand. Angus screams in fear as Ink was choking on the pizza, but locked his jaw closed around Angus’ hand.

The cat boy put his other hand on the fox’s head, pushing him back, “Let go! Let go!”

The two grabbed the attention of everyone in the area. Most people kept walking or walked away faster. Some stopped to watch the confusing and concerning sight.

Angus shoved his hand further into Ink’s mouth. He finally lets go choking. Angus held his saliva-covered hand while Ink coughed.

After a few seconds, the fox wipes his mouth, “Clothing Shop is this way.”

The cat boy hesitantly put his hand back down before following him to the shop. He was confused by the fox’s actions. Even more so by him being somehow able to eat the pizza slice. He wiped his hand against his pants, most of the spit and blood being wiped away.

They entered the boutique. It was full of racks upon racks of clothes. A few people were looking around or holding clothes they wanted to try or buy. Compared to what just happened outside, it was relatively quiet. A record playing in the corner of the shop. It was softly playing jazz.

By the time Angus took in the atmosphere of the store, he looked to Ink, who already walked off and found a dress suit. Ink held it up. It was a pretty dark green color. The cat boy watched as the fox grabbed a fancy button up shirt from a nearby stack of clothes, and a black bow tie.

The cat boy watched as the fox walked to the changing room. Angus started looking around him for anything that he liked. It was hard to find anything that would suit him and that matched his red eyes. He found a lot of white dresses but they weren’t to his taste.

“What do you think?” Angus turned around to see the clothes Ink picked out on him, “ The bow was a bitch to get on.”

“I think you look nice. You found what you wanted very quickly…”

The fox shrugged, “Sounds like a skill issue.”

Ink walked back over to the changing rooms while Angus walked to the cash register.

The cat boy waited for the older woman to turn around from more clothes hung up. When she did she gave a smile, “How may I help you today young man?”

“Uh… do you happen to know what color would work well with my eyes?”

She looked to his red eyes, “Well, you could wear black to make your eyes pop. Honestly, you’re better off with dark cooler colors like purple and blue. I think we have some dark suits back there if you want to look around.”

“Ah- no- I was thinking about possibly a dress? I have a dance tomorrow and I haven’t really worn a skirt before.”

“Oh, we keep a lot of shorter dresses in the front but if you don’t want any of those we do keep longer dresses in the back. We don’t like the dresses dragging on the ground out there. They tend to get stepped on.”

Ink surprised Angus by slamming lien on the counter next to him. The cat boy jumped a little and the fox said, “Take my money.”
The woman happily did and bagged his clothes for him. Ink swiped the bag off the counter as Angus said, “Yeah, I want to wear a long dress. The elegant and flowy kind!”

The woman lifted a part of the counter to let him in, “come this way.”

The cat boy followed the woman to the back while Ink followed him. A large window shone in sunlight, letting all of the pretty dresses be visible. There were all sorts of different colors and dress types. The woman moved out of the way and motioned to the room, “Have fun. The changing room is in that right corner and just like outside the price tags are on the sleeves or inside the collar. I’ll be out there if you have any questions.”

With that, she left the two to explore. Ink kept throwing dresses for Angus to try. He of course does.

A pink mermaid tail skirt? Nope, too tight. A light blue asymmetrical dress? No, he feels like his co*ck could just fall out. A yellow baby doll dress. f*ck no. He didn’t even put that one on. Ink attempted to hand over a very voluminous dark blue-purple ball gown dress, but it was just too large. He could hear Ink growl at it as if he were fighting it. The color was right though.

He yelled from the changing room, “See if you can find something else that has that color.”

“Okay!”

Ink threw over a Halter neck dress. It had a cross wrap neck that crossed down the chest before flowing out into the long skirt. An almost transparent blue-purple fabric also covered the skirt and stuck out longer than the actual skirt, which was already dragging against the floor with him wearing just his tennis shoes. The fabric also stemmed from the cross wrap creating a set of loose fake sleeves that draped down his arms. It had no back to it.

He smiled to himself in the mirror. It looked very pretty and went well with his eyes.

He stepped out letting the sun share to Ink all of the folds as the dress set in place from the cat boy stopping.

Ink’s eyes widened, “Prebby!”

“Thank you!” Angus took a small spin. It felt freeing in a way. However the dress was just too long, he would need to wear heels or shorten it.

The two left the store. Each held a bag with clothes that they would wear tomorrow.

This kind of store adventure would continue in the shoe, jewelry, and makeup store. Although neither ended up buying any jewelry as it was so expensive.

The sun was starting to set as they both left the local cafe. Ink was holding a coffee cup and a small paper bag full of those dog biscuits he liked. While Angus was finishing eating a cookie he bought. The two were on their way home.

The cat boy turned to the fox, “I can’t wait for tomorrow! I’ve never been to a dance or anything like it really!”

Ink was hit by deja vu before he asked, “Same. Well… actually I’ve been to one at my old school, but I didn’t stay long as people were scared of me biting their ankles.”

“What is it with you and the biting?”

“Eh, trauma.”

“Oh…..”

“I mean I bit someone before the muzzle but still.”

Angus didn’t know how to react to that. Then again that’s how he feels about a lot of stuff Ink does.

Ink leads Angus down a quiet alleyway as a shortcut, “What about you?”

“Huh?”

“I keep overhearing you and Ben talking about sh*t about the White Fang.”

Angus was surprised he knew. The fox caught his reaction, “You're not the only one with ears.”

He wiggled his white and black fox ears for emphasis. The cat boy unintentionally mimicked. They both wiggled their ears at each other. They stop and an awkward moment of silence passes.

Ink mentions it again, “So what’s up with the White Fang? Are you guys secretly trying to take down a terrorist group without me?”

“Not really, you helped defeat that damn robot.”

“Wait, that was connected to the White Fang?!”

“You didn’t see the symbol on the side?!”

“No?!”

“Who do you think the robot belonged to?!”

“I don’t know?!”

Ink pushed the conversation back onto its original topic, “So why do you guys talk about them then?”

“Trauma.”

“Heh, loser.”

“Wha- you said you had trauma too!”

“Where’s the proof?”

Angus sighed and they continued to walk home

*

Ink stalked Neptune in the darkness on all fours as if he were hunting prey. The blue-haired boy had just turned down Weiss and went to continue walking to the exchange student dorm.

Neptune stopped and quickly turned thinking he saw something move. Well, he did but he shook his head three seconds later, “I need to get some sleep…”

He turned back to the direction of the dorms only to scream as an Ink launched himself off the ground onto Neptune. He fell back onto the floor with the fox on top of him.

Ink felt the rushing heartbeat of the man under his hands. The fox wags his tail, “Will you go out with me to the dance?”

Neptune looks to the fox bewildered, “Uh….. “

Ink shoves his face closer to the poor man, his eyes excited.

Neptune was scared to answer but he did, “No… thank you?”

Without hesitation, Ink bites into the squirming man’s shoulder. He yelps again, this time in pain, “Okay! Okay! I’ll go with you! Stop biting me!”

Ink lets go and pulls his head back. He meows before scampering on all fours back into the darkness. Neptune sits up terrified as if he saw and almost met death.

*

Ben opens the door before all of Team BAI and Neptune walks into the decorated room.

The chandeliers on the ceiling had pink ribbons attached to them that loosely connected to the pillars. The pillars all held bundles of pink and sky-blue balloons wrapped by ribbons. Fancy white chairs and tables aligned the back of the room. The punch and snacks table was near the front.

Yang stood at the podium at the very front near the door to greet all the guests. Most of the guests were already dancing together with their friends or partners in the back. Some poor Souls sadly drank punch alone or sat in the chairs watching everyone else.

Yang excitedly commented on the team's clothes, “Oh you all look so beautiful!”

Ben nodded although he doubted it. He wore a plain black suit and dress shoes with a black undershirt and white tie. He ditched his hat for the event but kept his glasses. How else was he supposed to see? He was going to leave his hair as normal but the two Faunus sat him down and forced him to let them braid it. Well, to let Angus braid it…. Ink was just chewing the end of his hair.

Angus shared Yang's excitement in a strange way, “I’m gonna get f*cked in this dress!”

All five of them went silent. Yang was the first one to speak again, “Oh…. Nice.”

Team BAI continued to the rest of the party. Ben sat down in one of the chairs with a cup of punch. He watched as Angus danced by himself, and Ink forced Neptune to dance with him. The poor man is being turned into a toy.

Ben took a sip of the punch and analyzed the taste without swallowing it. A precaution he learned from his family when they also attended large balls and banquets. It tasted like regular fruit punch. He swallowed it seeing nothing wrong with it.

He overheard the doors open. Yang welcomed the new guests, “You guys are just in time!”

He watched as the green-haired girl and Mercury walked in together. He turned his attention back to his teammates only to see a lack of Ink and Neptune. Eh, they’ll be fine.

Angus wanders back over to Ben, walking perfectly fine in heels. The cat boy sits next to him sweating.

Ben goes ahead and asks, “I’ve never seen you in heels, how are walking perfectly fine in five-inch stilettos?”

Angus lifted his dress to show the dark purple heels, “When I do quadrobics I run on my toes. Kind of like the equivalent of if you walked on your tippy toes. I guess that’s why I might be able to walk perfectly fine.”

“Quadrobics?”

“Yeah, it’s when me or Ink walk or run on all fours.”

“Oh, I honestly didn’t think about if it had a name or not. I just call it ‘running on all fours’.”

“Fair enough.”

“Taking a break from dancing?”

“Yeah, too many people in here. I got sweaty real quick.”

He noticed the cat boy looking around. He looked to Ben, “Where is Ink and that guy?…. Wait, what was his name again?”

“Ink and Neptune ran off somewhere. I don’t know, I didn’t see them leave.”

Angus bleb’d. His face slowly turned mischievous. Ben already knew what he was thinking, “I’m not dancing with you.”

“Damn it!” Angus stole his cup to drink the remaining punch before putting it back into his hands. The cat boy leaps up to go back into the crowd.

Ben looked into his cup before he stood up. He walked back over to the punch bowl near the front. Ruby and Jaune were hanging out near the punch bowl as well.

He overheard Ruby as he spooned himself more to drink via the ladle, “Sorry things didn’t work out with Weiss.”

Juane responded surprisingly well, “Meh, It’s fine; Neptune’s pretty cool. I get why she went with him.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, come on, not many people can pull off blue hair.”

“No, I mean Weiss came to the dance alone.”

Ben walked over to them while Jaune choked on his drink, “Uh, what?!”

“Yeah, she said she had too much to focus on to worry about boys.”

Ben also chimed in, “And Neptune came with Ink. Although I doubt willingly not gonna lie.”

Even though he said that Jaune still looked pissed and like he was gonna go find Neptune anyways. He held his drink out for Ruby or Ben to grab, “Hold my punch.”

Ruby took it before the blonde stomped off into the crowd. Ben watched her take a sip from it.

The two watched Jaune dancing with his team in a dress. It looked choreographed and like they practiced this. After that event ended, he watched as Ruby made her to the entrance to leave. He was left alone by the punch bowl.

He refilled his cup and glanced outside. He had to take a double take though as he saw someone. He watched a figure dressed in black traverse over roofs. They did it quickly as if they were trying to hide what they were doing.

He pulled out his scroll to message both the dancing Angus and the missing-in-action Ink, “I’ll be back, I’m going to go check on something.”

He rushed past other students and professors. Even a glancing Ozpin.

He made his way back to the communications tower he visited before with Weiss and Ruby. And speaking of Ruby he ended up catching up with her. She turned to him, “What are you doing here?”

“I’m assuming we are both here because we saw someone suspicious?”

She nodded and gasped when she saw an unconscious soldier in the bushes.

Both of them pulled out their scrolls to call their rocket lockers. They arrived very shortly after, landing into the ground at an angle. The doors opened showing their secured weapons.

They both snatched their weapons, unfolding them into their scythe forms. They ran inside the tower.

*

Angus danced his ass off. He was having so much fun. Who knew he needed this? He had just found out today he loved to dance.

He slowed as his ears flicked to the green-haired girl and Mercury.

The girl looked to the door, “Ironwood.”

Her partner looked over to, “I guess the generals had enough fun for one night.”

The cat boy went to go back to dancing until he heard Mercury say, “Should we intervene?”

With the two not saying anything else the cat boy hesitantly went back to dancing.

*
Ruby stepped out first with Ben following. It was dark except for the holographic screens shining bright green all over the floors.

Ruby stumbled a little in her heels before calling out, “Hello?”

Ben whispered to her, “Take off your heels.”

She stepped forward, sliding her feet out of her heels as she does, “Is anyone there?”

Ben and Ruby walked closer to the front desk which was empty and offline. A feminine figure wearing black clothes slowly stood from behind it, facing away.

Ruby remarked to her she turn, showing her black mask, “Excuse me. You know, it’s not a masquerade party, so why don’t you take off that-“

She pulled out a container and swiped it across the air, releasing the dust contents. The dust quickly forms a handful of glass shards. She used some kind of force to make them shoot forward.

Ruby spun her weapon around blocking the dust and breaking it back into power. Ben rushed forward to attack as Ruby shot her weapon. The woman blocked it with an invisible force. Her costume and her eyes lit up with orange. She did this a second before spinning, both blocking Ben’s attack and summoning two black blades. Her costume lit up again.

The woman backflipped away as Ruby rushed in to join Ben. The scythe wielders continued to throw attacks at her together. She dodged all of them and flipped into the air. She merged her blades together and somehow summoned three arrows. She loaded them all while she was in the air and released them. They impacted the ground in front of both of them and exploded. It bounced back both of them. Both Ruby and Ben glanced to the elevator as they heard it open.

It was a man dressed in white. He stepped out of the elevator and glared at both of them. Ben looked back to the woman, but the woman wasn’t there. He glanced to Ruby and noticed she had the same confusion.

*

Angus has kept a secret eye on the two suspicious exchange students ever since he first heard them.

His ears heard something and with a sight flick of them he turned to face the door at the back of the building. He was too slow to see who initially entered. He did, however, see two guards bust in through the same door. They both looked confused as they realized they rushed into a party. Most other party guests were unbothered and kept dancing.

Angus slowly looked over the whole building. He couldn’t find anyone out of the unordinary. He did notice that Ben was gone.

*

Ben sat in a seat next to Ruby in the tower. They had their weapons confiscated by, as Ben found out, General Ironwood. Ben looked over to one of the holographic monitors. It had just turned twelve And a 2D black image of a queen chess piece appeared on it.

*

Ben stood next to Ruby in an elevator heading up to Ozpin’s office. It was the next day and now they were both in their normal wear. She had just pressed all of the buttons just moments ago. The two stood in silence. Ben knew what this was about, especially since they were both called here. They had answered Ironwood’s questions yesterday, but clearly that wasn’t enough.

Ruby tried breaking the awkward silence, “So, uh… did you have fun at the dance yesterday?”

“I had about the same amount of fun as you. I did enjoy seeing my teammates have fun though.”

“Oh, that’s good. I’ll be honest I wasn’t expecting Angus to walk in with such a pretty dress.”

Ben shrugged, “He wanted to wear one I guess.”

The elevator stopped and beeped as the doors slid open. Ben and Ruby stepped out into Ozpin’s office. Ozpin himself sat behind his desk, while professor Glynda and general Ironwood stood in front of it. Those two turned to face Ben and Ruby.
Ruby apologized for their lateness, “Ah! Sorry we took so long. Someone accidentally hit all the buttons on the elevator on the way here.”

A second passed before Ruby clarified, “It wasn’t us.”

The two stepped closer to Ozpin as he spoke, “Thank you two for coming. How are you both feeling.”

Ruby shrugged, “Okay, I guess.”

Ben responded with, “Fine.”

Ruby tried making a self-deprecating joke, well it wasn’t much of a joke, “I’d feel better if my bad-guy catching record wasn’t 0 for 3.”

She gave a slightly nervous chuckle. Oh, Ozpin already knew about all of the other times? Maybe that’s why they were here.

None of the three adults broke from their very serious looks.

“Okay so that’s the tone we’re going for… got it…” ruby said meekly.

Ironwood stepped forward looking between the both of them, “Ruby, Ben, I feel it’s appropriate to let you both know that I think what you did last night is exactly what being a huntsman is all about. You two recognized a threat, took action, and did the very best you could.”

“Thank you sir.”

Ben also gave his thanks.

Ozpin stood from his seat, “Now, the general here has already informed us of the events that transpired last night. But now that you’ve rested we were wondering if you had anything to add.”

Glynda gave them some example questions to answer, “Was anyone else with her? Did she look familiar to you at all?”

Ruby shrugged and sighed, “I… I don’t know. She was wearing a mask and she never said anything to me, but I know she fought with glass. I don’t think that was her semblance though. Her clothing lit up whenever she attacked.”

“Save for the glass, that sounds like the woman I fought the night we met Ruby.”

Ironwood shared his views, “Embedding dust into clothing is an age-old technique. It could have been anyone.”

Ben spoke up, “The clothing looked new. So it was something that had to have been made recently. Whoever that woman was clearly bought it from somewhere or had a lot of time on her hands. She also had black or dyed black hair. “

Ruby asked the adults a question after Ben shared his observations, “Wait, you think this girl is connected to Torchwick and the White Fang?”

Everyone looked to Ozpin. He stroked his chin, “It’s possible. But we still lack the required evidence to link the two together.”

Ruby came up with a lie, “Actually, I-I think I remember her saying something about a hideout… or something… in the Southeast. Just outside the kingdom.”

Ben noticed Ozpin’s smirk while he stayed in his own confusion. Why would she lie?

“Interesting.” Came from the man in charge.

Glynda was about to question her claim before Ozpin stepped in front of her, “Thank you for your cooperation, Ben and Ruby. Why don’t the two of you spend some time with your respective teams? You have a big day ahead of you.”

Ruby walked away with a pep in her step, “Anytime!”
Ben went to turn away as well.

Ozpin said one last thing, “And the both of you, please try to be discreet about this matter.”

Ben nodded to him as Ruby gave him a, “Yes sir.”

The two left into the elevator. On the way back down Ben kept thinking about what they talked about, the increase in military, the dust robberies, and the White Fang.

Something big is unfolding.

He went back to his dorm. When he opened the door Angus was standing looking down to an Ink holding the cat boy’s ankle. The fox’s head was looking to the ground, “Angus- my ass hurts!”

Angus looked up to Ben, “Oh hey, was everything okay?”

He stepped into the room and closed the door behind him, “Yeah, it was exactly what I thought it was.”

“Because you're so smart!”

“No,” Ben looked to the complaining Ink, “Anyways why is he on the floor like this?”

The cat boy also looked down to the fox, Their teammate was groveling in pain, “So apparently when Ink ran off yesterday-“

Ink lifted his head in almost tears, “NEPTUNE f*ckED ME!!”

Ben listened to him cry for a few more seconds, “Put an ice pack on it…. Not my fault you had sex knowing we had a mission today.”

The three were interrupted by professor Glynda over the P.A., “Will all first-year students please report to the amphitheater.”

*

The three entered the room and set their supply bags with the rest of the bags. All of the first years stood looking to Ozpin on stage, “Today we stand together, united. Minstral, Atlas, Vacuo, Vale, the four kingdoms of remnant. On this day nearly eighty years ago, the largest war in history came to an end. It was a war of ignorance, of greed, and of oppression. A war that was about much more than where borders fell or who traded with whom, but about the very idea of individualism itself. We fought for countless reasons, one of which being the destruction of all forms of art and self-expression. And as you all are well aware that was something many could not stand for.”

Ben glanced over and watched Ink start leaning on Angus before he turned his attention back to Ozpin, “As a result, those who opposed this tyranny began naming their children after of the core aspects of art itself: color. It was their way to demonstrate that not only they would refuse to tolerate this oppression, but neither would the generations to come. And it was a trend that is held to this very day.”

Ozpin looked around the room full of all the different students, “We encourage individuality, expressionism, and unity through diversity. As I have said, today we stand together, united. But this bond cannot exist without effort. Which is why today while the rest of the world celebrates peace, huntsmen and huntresses will work to uphold it. As first year students. You will be tasked with shadowing a professional huntsmen or huntress on a mission. Some of you may be taken out of the kingdom for several days. Others may work within the walls for the rest of the week. But no matter which path you choose, remember to be safe, remember your training, and remember to do your very best.”

The students dispersed as he went to leave the stage. Ben turned to Angus walking up to him with a distraught Ink holding the cat boy’s arm, “Hey, Ben, I don’t think Ink can do a mission like this.”

Ben sighed but he was thinking that too, “Ink, do you think you can do whatever mission we end up choosing from the mission list?”

Ink shared a fox squeak of agony, “I don’t know.”

Ben turned and walked over to the mission list, he scrolled through but all of the mission details were too vague to assume if Ink would be fine participating.

He turned to face his team but was instead surprised by the sight of Ozpin himself, “Having any trouble?”

Ben glanced to Ink struggling to walk before looking back to the principal, “I don’t think my team can do a mission today.”

Ozpin tilted his head, “And why is that?”

“One of my members is injured and struggling to walk. I would rather not leave them behind knowing that leaves only me and Angus.”

Ozpin turned to look at Ink himself as he took a sip of coffee. He turned back to Ben shortly after, “Alright. I will personally excuse you and your team from this, this time. Just remember, a huntsman may have to fight despite the injuries. Your enemies aren’t going to wait for you to get better after all.”

Ben nodded and he watched Ozpin turn and walked away towards team RWBY trying to get into a restricted mission.

The human turned to his team, “Well… unless we get told otherwise, we are free for a few days.”

Angus showed the confusion on his face, “Huh?”

“Ozpin pardoned us.”

“Because of Ink?”

“Yeah, now he gets to lay down and get his ass to feel better.”

Ink gave a pained, “Yay.”

The three took a trip back to their dorm, of course for Ink it was the most painful five minute walk he’s ever had in his life, “I’m biting Neptune the next time I see him.”

Ben opened the door motioning for Angus and Ink to enter, “Leave the man alone. Stop biting people.”

Angus nearly dragged Ink inside, “He f*cked me!”

“Stop biting people!”

Angus helped Ink into his bed. The cat boy was saddened by being unable to go on the mission, but he’ll just make Ink spar with him when he gets better to make up for it.

“My ass hurts though!”

Ben closed the door, “So?! Stop biting people!”

Angus sat on his own bed and pulled out his own scroll to read fan fiction.

*

Ben slashed ice dust toward Angus. The cat boy spun his spear, blocking his attacks before jumping back from the human who pierced his weapon down into the ground right in front of him.

The two were fighting outside on Beacon grounds. The sun shined brightly, the light bouncing off of their weapons gracefully.

The cat boy fell to the floor after Ben managed to finally hit the cat boy.

Ink sat on a bench and called out, “Red!”

The human put away his weapon and held his hand out to the sweaty cat. Angus took it and Ben helped pull him back onto his feet, “Have you ever noticed that every single time you fight me I win?”

The cat boy dusted himself off, holding his spear like it was a cane, “That’s just because you’re so good at fighting!”

“Hm… no.”

“Yes!”

“Nah, you’re just kind of reckless.”

“What do you mean?”

Ben went to sit down next to Ink, “You always go straight in without much thought.”

“I do?”

Ben took off his hat to wipe the sweat off of his forehead, “Yes. In every. Single. fight.”

Angus stuck out his tongue before looking to Ink on his scroll, “Hey Ink, remember how you promised me that fight? Since your ass is feeling better we can fight now!”

The fox looked up, “Huh? But your Aura is in the red?”

Angus punched his hands together with adrenaline, “Just because it’s red doesn’t mean Ben broke through it! So come on! I’ve got one more good fight in me and I’m gonna make it last!”

“Nah.”

Angus deflated a little, “Okay….”

“Plus I don’t want to hurt my ass again.”

Angus sadly put his weapon away, it sits on his case via a magnet. He’s so glad he can do that now.

“Do you ever do anything that’s not go-go-go?”

“Hm?”

Ink changed his sitting position to be half laying on the bench, His feet on Ben’s lap, “I mean today is a good day to bask in the sun.”

Ben slips out from underneath the fox’s feet and he stands up, “True, we finally have a day of some goddamn peace. Let’s just relax today.”

Angus decided to sit right where he was, criss-cross applesauce. He silently felt the breeze against his ears and listened to the grass move. He and Ben didn’t have the luxury to do something like this for a very Long time. It felt nice.

He shared those feelings, “I haven’t sat down like this for a very long time.”

Ink shrugged, “I just kind of thought you had ADHD like me, or that you were born from the womb running around.”

“Not exactly. But I have been running around for a long time. I think the last time I sat like this outside was when I was a kid.”

Ben sat down on the ground too, “I remember sunny days like this too. Although they were rare and I usually had to stay inside.”

Ink’s ears flicked over, “Why? Just walk outside. Simple.”

“Just how I was raised. I come from a rich family with many connections, so because of that, I was told to stay inside to be safe. Even had some servants follow me sometimes just to make sure I wasn’t doing anything to put myself in danger or anything.”

“Hah, loser. I was always outside.”

“Always?”

“Yeah, I moved to Vacuo when I was younger but before I moved I helped my parents as they worked.”

Angus shared interest, “What did your parents do for work?”

“They used to work in dust mines.”

A moment of silence passed with the wind making the grass dance. Everyone knew of the rumors and events that could happen in dust mines. And to bring a child. Just, why?

Ben looked over to Ink, “What do they do now?”

“They don’t do anything anymore. They died in the mines.”

Both Ben and Angus apologized for their loss.

“Nah, I’ve had time to grieve. It’s okay for me to talk and remember them now. What about you Angus?”

The cat boy shared a confused noise.

“Your parents. Or your childhood.”

“Oh, I don’t know how my parents are doing now…. Or my brother. I found out about the White Fang when I was very little. I’ve always had a sense of justice and at the time I thought that was what justice was. So one day I ran away from home to join the group. The White Fang half-raised me since I refused to go back home to my family who wouldn’t do anything. Looking back now, I was a very stupid child.”

Ben shrugged, “I was too.”

“I doubt it. Ben is very smart.”

“….I was though,” He looked over to Ink, “My parents are deceased too.”

Ink held a fist for a fist pump, “Dead parents club!”

Ben smiled a tad and bumped his fist against the fox’s. Angus tried joining in too but was denied entry by Ink, “No-no-no. Your parents aren’t confirmed dead, you don’t get to join.”

Angus’ ears drooped a tad from being left out.

“Don’t be sad that your parents are alive!” Ink laughed.

Ben and Angus end up laughing along as well.

Once they all finally stopped laughing, Angus went ahead and asked a new question, “What made you want to become a Huntsmen, Ink?”

Ink thought about it for a moment and shrugged, “I’m not sure. I think my parents wanted me to become one. I’m not doing this for them though. You?”

“I wasn’t planning on becoming one.”

Ben jumped in, “Same. Although I had already been learning some self-defense when my parents were alive, I became one out of necessity. Me and Angus.”

“Yeah, I knew how to fight a little while I was in the White Fang, but not well enough to apply to a school normally.”

Ink tilted his head, “You guys can fight pretty well though? Well… Angus mainly explodes, but Ben you fight pretty well.”

Angus pouted at Ink as Ben spoke, “Thank you. Me and Angus, while we were on the run, we met this guy. We traveled with him for a while and he taught us how to fight. He also helped us come up with a plan on where to go and told us Beacon was safe. So far he’s been right.”

Angus turned to Ben, “So far?… Also, wait a minute! So you accept Ink’s compliments but not mine?!”

“Yeah, I mean yours just aren’t true.”

“…. You're good at fighting.”

“That’s just not true.”

Angus proceeded to flail around like he was having an Aneurysm. Ink and Ben laughed together at the cat boy’s reaction.

The three continued to mess around and talk until sunset.

*

It was another dream where he couldn’t see out of his left eye. He was walking next to the blue-haired man from a previous dream. They were walking through a forest. He could see Ink and Angus on all fours chasing each other. He could see the metal thing down his back more clearly.

The blue-haired man rubbed the back of his head with a shaky hand, “How did you know I was a doctor from Atlas?”

“I didn’t, I thought you were a scientist because of your coat initially.”

“Oh, how did you find out then?”

Ben was about to speak but Ben woke up from the sound of a siren.

He quickly looked over to his teammates who were also scared awake.

This siren. Grim. Grim have invaded Vale.
*

By the time team BAI arrived most of the grim were being dealt with by Atlas soldier robots, or other huntsmen and huntresses.

They split up to deal with the few loose grim left behind.

Ink leaped off the ground to put an end to a large Ursa grim. He made the chain between his sickles form an ‘O’ before putting it around the monster’s head. The grim tried clawing off the fox but failed miserably and the fox quickly climbed around its shoulders.

He pulled his sickles away from the Ursa as hard as possible. The chain started choking the creature. Ink stayed there like that until the grim fell over dead. Just in case Ink stabbed both of his sickles into it’s head.

Angus had climbed onto a rooftop. He stared down a few small flying grim. They noticed him and started heading down as if to feast.

“Alright, let's go!” Angus pulled out his weapon. The bow unfolds into its proper shape in his hands.

He quickly clicked his case open and grabbed a red crystal.

As the grim got dangerously close he shot them. The crystal hit the second flying enemy but the blast was large enough to hit the entire flock. It blew Angus back but he recovered without much problem.

Ben had his gun form out. He pierced his scythe into the ground and was shooting icy bullets into a few raptor looking grim. It froze them into place as it alerted more. Ben kept reloading and shooting his weapon. Each shot created a flash reflecting off of the windows of the abandoned street buildings.

He would shoot other grim he’s already shot to shatter the ice and kill them. As there grew too many he pulled his weapon out of the ground and ran forward slashing his weapon wherever he saw movement. To an outsider, the way he was moving to kill them looked almost like magic.

When he got to the end of the street he turned around and saw the corpses of every grim he’s just slain.

*

They had met back together and started walking home. The sun was continuing to pull itself up from the horizon.

Angus stretched, “I wish I had a battle to wake myself up every morning.”

Ink looked at him and yawned, “Speak for yourself, I’m going back to sleep. I was having a nice dream before that siren woke me up. I was chasing down talking mice.”

Ben stayed silent and thought back to the sight of Torchwick in cuffs. Although he was pulled away by two robots for his crimes, something told Ben that he was far from the last of it. Or maybe these dreams were really starting to get to him.

Ben was shaken from his thoughts when Ink bit his shoulder and started running off on all fours cackling. He started running after him, “Ink! Stop f*cking biting people!”

Angus laughed as he joined in the running after Ben.

Chapter 3: Volume 3

Chapter Text

“Is anyone else starving?” A tired Ruby asked.

Team BAI had joined up with team RWBY at the festival grounds after their tournament fight. Team RWBY won their match.

Blake had her hands behind her head, “I may have worked up an appetite.”

“Me too.” Ink rubbed his belly.

Ben looked over to him with an eyebrow raised, “You were only watching the fight.”

“They fought so hard it Made me hungry.”

Weiss crossed her arms, “Gee, if only there were somewhere on campus to get food around here.”

She motioned to the fair found stands all around them. “Oh, wait.”

Angus laughed as Ruby turned to Weiss, “It’s okay, Weiss. I forget about the fairgrounds too.”

She rolled her eyes, “I was being facetious.”

Ruby threw her arms into the air, “Wh- Well, if you were hungry, why didn’t you say so?!”

Angus looked around at all the different stands, “Which one should we eat from? There are so many.”

Ink was drooling all over the fairground grass, “I wish I could eat all of them.”

Yang started walking, “C’mon everyone! I know just the place.”

Everyone followed Yang as Weiss’ scroll rang. Ben noticed she ignored a call from her father.
“Hey!” Called out a girl from behind them, “Might be hard to eat without this!”

Everyone turned to see the green-haired girl. That wallet looked familiar. Ben checked his pockets before grabbing his wallet back out of her hands, “Thanks.”

Yang walked over to the girl he said thanks to, “What’s up Emerald?”

“Just let the stadium after watching your amazing fight. You guys were awesome!”

Ruby was very flustered by the compliment and she responded in mostly fast mumbling.

Blake looked to Emerald, “I heard your team progressed to the next round, too.”

“You know, I feel like we never see your other teammates,” Weiss commented.

Ben thought about it as well. Other than the fight he saw earlier, he had never personally seen all four members.

“Why don’t we all go out and get some victory food together?” Ruby suggested.

The green haired girl thanked Ruby for the offer, “Oh! Gosh, that’s so Nice of you, but my teammates are kind of…. Introverted.”

Everyone looked over to watch Mercury sniff the inside of a boot.

She further whispered, “Really socially awkward.”

Yang responded, “Oooooh, yeah. I could see that.”

“So yeah. Looks like Merc and I will be moving to the doubles round. What about you guys?”
Ruby put her hand on her chin, “Well as leader of this team, I thought long and hard about this decision.”

Weiss jumped in to correct Ruby, “We put it up to a vote.”

“Uhh- yes, but I decided that we should put it up to a vote.”

Blake motioned over to Yang and Weiss, “We voted for Weiss and Yang.”

Weiss bowed, “I will happily represent team RWBY.”

Yang smashed her fists together, “Yeah, we’re gonna kick some butt!”

Emerald chuckled, “ Well, if Mercury and I see you guys down the line, don’t think we’ll go eat on ya.

Yang crossed her arms, “Wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Ben smirked as well, “Pretty sure that’s exactly what Angus wants.”

Emerald waved goodbye, “Alright, well we’re gonna go catch some more fights.”

Ruby waved back, “Have fun!”

She turned to Ben, “Oh yeah, Ben is your team able to fight?”

Ben shrugged, “Sort of? They’ve allowed us to fight but only in the doubles matchups since we don’t have enough team members. Either way, we are treated more as an extra match than anything. Even if we win we can’t progress up the bracket.”

Yang patted him on the shoulder, “Damn that sucks. Who in your team is going?”

Ben went to turn back around so they all can keep walking, “Angus and In-“
He stopped when he noticed his team was gone.

“They ran off after we stopped moving.” Blake mentioned.

Ben sighed, “I’ll go find the hungry f*ckers. You guys enjoy your meal.”

*

Angus and Ink kept walking and talking about all the different foods they’ve never tried.

Angus pointed to a sign, “Ohhh I wanna try a donut burger!”

Ink glanced at a sign opposite of the one the cat boy was pointing to, “What the hell is fried bubble gum?”

The cat boy turned to see the sign Ink was looking at, “I wanna try that too!”

Ink stopped to look at Angus, “You wanna eat everything….”

Angus had stars in his eyes, “Absolutely!”

Angus glanced behind him because of how quiet everyone was. Only to notice no one else was behind them, “Oh…”

Ink turned and noticed too, “….”

“Can you smell them?”

“Too many smells. Can you hear them?”

“Too many sounds.”

They both sighed. Angus perked up really quickly, “I’ll eat food in his place!”

He grabbed Ink by the back of his collar and he walked off dragging the poor fox behind him, “Let us go!”

*

Ben ran around looking for them for so long that he heard a professor's voice come over the P.A. asking for team JNPR to come to the tournament that they were supposed to already be at….. ten minutes ago.

He stopped and put his hands on his knees. At this point, they probably got food without him.

He turned to the food stand beside him and looked at their menu. There were all sorts of strange fair foods. None of these things he’s ever eaten before. Deep-fried gator. Deep-fried butter. Deep-fried bacon. There was a lot of deep frying.

He sat in the stool as a man in an apron came up, “What would you like?”

Ben looked up the man, “I’ll have an order of whatever an elephant ear is.”

The man nods and takes Ben’s lien, “Coming right up!”

The man runs back into the kitchen as the team leader looked to his right.

He shared direct eye contact with Angus who froze as he was eating an ice cream burger. Ink leaned forward, making himself visible to Ben. He was going absolutely savage on an overly large turkey leg.

Angus swallowed what he had in his mouth, “Hi Ben.”

Ben glared at the two for a second, his grumbling belly interrupts him, “I’m too hungry to be mad right now.”

Angus looked to the TV, “Oh! The fights about to start!”

Ben looked over to watch as team JNPR and a team he didn’t know or care for stood in the middle facing each other. He watched as the terrain was being randomized. One side ended up becoming a forest, while the other side became a stormy mountain.

Ben watched the fight while he ate his elephant ear. His team didn’t say anything else until Nora was getting shocked by an opponent’s weapon. One of the professors narrating the event explained why Nora wasn’t moving away, “Oho, looks like one of my favorite students, Nora Valkyries is charging up to use her semblance!”

The history professor elaborated on her semblance, “Yes, Miss Valkyrie's semblance lets her produce, as well as channel, electrical energy straight to her muscles. This allows her to jump explosively into the air, wield her mighty hammer, or in this case, absorb Nolan’s attacks and send the young man flying.”

“Oh, cool.” Ink called out before the man was sent flying via a hammer to his balls.

Ben and his team felt sympathy for his nuts.

The fight ended shortly after by Nora hitting all of the enemy team with his hammer at once. Team BAI stayed at this stand for team SSSN before leaving.

Ink mischievously laughed, “I might be able to fight Neptune.”

Angus sighed, “That man will never be safe.”

They head back to Beacon.

*

Angus stops walking as Weiss runs past. Ruby follows her, “Weiss, what is the big deal? Who is it? Who is she?”

Ben stops as he notices the cat boy stopped following. He held a hand out grabbing Ink’s collar. The fox goes limp in his grasp. Ben isn’t losing his team again on the same god damn day.

Ben turns and follows the curious cat.

Angus stops next to Weiss and Ruby as Weiss calls out, “Winter!”

Angus tilted his head and Ben caught up with Ink, “Whose Winter?”

Ruby shrugged, “That’s what I’ve been trying to get her to tell-“

Ruby and Angus turned to watch a woman with white hair in a bun and a white coat exit a ship. Both human and robot guards followed her out.

Ben noticed that the coat reminded him vaguely of General Ironwood.

“…Wait,” Ruby started, “Your sister is-“

Weiss called out to her again, “Winter!”

Weiss and Ruby ran up to her. Angus and Ben holding the fox run up after them.

Weiss' excitement came through her words, “Winter! I’m so happy to see you! Oh, your presence honors us.”

Weiss bowed to look professional.

Winter spoke glancing to Beacon behind all of them, “Beacon, it’s been a long time. The air feels…. Different.

“I mean it is fall so it’s probably colder…” Ruby started saying before Weiss punched her to shut up.

Weiss continued as if she didn’t just punch her team leader, “So, what are you doing here?”
Winter didn’t look to her as she responded, “Classified.”

“Oh, right. Well, how long are you staying?”

She looked to Weiss, “Classified.”

“Of course.”

Ruby stared at the two of them as the awkward silence enlarged with eat second, “Well, this is nice…. I think.”

Ben finally let go of Ink. The fox stood up watching Winter.

Weiss exploded into excitement, “You’re going to love it here! I know you travel a lot, but so much of Beacon is different from Atlas! Vale too. The government and school are completely separate! Can you believe it? I-“

“I’m more than familiar with how this kingdom handles its bureaucracy. That is not why I came.” Winter said sternly.

“Right! I’m sorry.”

“Nor did I come here to watch my own blood fail so miserably in battle. But it appears I have no choice in the matter.”

Ink and Angus both tilted their heads in the same direction. Did they all watch the same fight?

“But we won.”

“Only a novice would refer to that as a victory. I counted at least three strikes missed.”

She put her hand up, “Leave us.”

The robots right behind her stepped back a little.

Winter sighed, “How have you been?”

Part of Weiss’ excitement came back, “Oh, splendid! Thank you for asking. I’m actually in the very top ranking of our sparring class. The rest of my studies are going wonderfully too. I’m-“

Winter smacked Weiss in the head, “Silence, you boob!”

Angus almost laughed instantly at the mention of boob. Ben shoved a hand over his mouth.

Winter put her hands back behind her back, this time she spoke with true care, “I don’t recall asking about your ranking. I asked how you’ve been. Are you eating properly? Have you taken up any hobbies? Are you making new friends?”

Weiss motioned to Ruby, “Well, this is Ruby.”

Winter looked to Ruby, “I see. So this is the leader you wrote of. How appropriately…. Underwhelming.”

Ruby didn’t know what to say back, “Uh, thank you?”

“Greetings Ruby Rose.”

Weiss motioned to Team BAI, “And this is team BAI; Ben, Angus, and Ink.”

Winter looked to them. Ben uncovered Angus’ mouth as the cat waved, “Hello!”

Winter looked between the three of them, Ink hiding a little behind Angus, “They must be the outliers you were talking about. The only team to have only a measly three members.”

She looked between team BAI and Ruby, “I wish to thank you all for taking an interest in my sister.”

“Oh, yes, of course! The honor is in my… court.” Ruby tried speaking more ‘fancy’ and failed.

Ben looked to Winter, “From me and my team; you’re welcome.”

Winter went back to being stern, “I have business with the general and your headmaster. But seeing as I’m early, why don’t you take me to your quarters?”

Weiss gasped, “Really?”

Winter started walking between Weiss and Ruby with the two robots back to follow her, “Yes, I wish to inspect them and make sure they’re up to my personal standards.”

“Of course.”

Winter walked with Weiss, as Ruby stayed behind with team BAI.

Ben could overhear Weiss mentioning something about the bunk beds.

Ruby turned to Team BAI, “She was a little scary.”

Ben shrugged, “When it’s family you get used to that kind of treatment and conversation.”

Angus jumped in, “Well I thought she was rude!”

Ink shared their feelings, “I’m with Ruby, I was scared she was going to yell at me.”

Angus’ ears flicked of to the sound of a crow. He watched it fly off of a lamp post before his ears flicked over to a more concerning sound: The sounds of mechanical crushing.

He watched a drunk-looking man destroy more robots with his bare hands as he made his way to both of the Schnees.

The cat boy's eyes widen as he repeatedly slaps Ben’s arm, “Ben. Ben. Ben.”

Ben snapped his attention over to Angus, “What?”

Angus pointed to the man and Ben’s eyes followed. His eyes widened too. Ink looked at both of them confused before looking at the robot remains, “What the hell is that guy doing?”

Angus and Ben started to quickly walk towards the man. Once again Ink was thrown out of the loop of what was happening.

The drunk man yelled out to the Schnees, “Hey!”

Weiss and Winter turned to face him.

He continued, “Yeah, I’m talking to you Ice queen.”

Robots started to walk to the man but Winter called out for them to stop. The robots freeze in place.

Weiss stomped forward to the man, “Excuse me, do you have any idea who you’re talking to?”

Angus glanced to Ben, “Is that him? It sounds like him.”

Ben didn't answer. It does sound like him. But what are the chances of ever seeing him again?

Angus started running and Ben followed. Ink started running to, “Can you guys tell me what’s going on?!”

The drunk man put a hand on Weiss’ head and shushed her slurring, “Shhhh! Not you.”

He pushed her out of the way as Weiss cried out, “Hey!”

He walked more towards Winter before stopping. Winter and the man locked eyes.

Ben and Angus stopped a yard behind him and listen to him say, “You.”

A moment of silence passed. The only noise came from the crow that was still around.

He continued to stare down Winter, “Saw that gaudy ship of yours in town. I guess you’re here too.”

“I’m standing right before you.” She responded sternly.

He leaned forward squinting, “So it would seem.”

“You realize you just destroyed Atlas military property?”

He looked down to the dismantled robots, “Ohhhh I’m sorry. See, I mistook this for some sort of…. Sentient garbage.”

“I don’t have time for your immature games, Qrow.”

Angus beamed, “Ben it is him!”

Ben was flabbergasted but was happy to see him as well.

Weiss walked back to Winter, “Wait, you too know each other?”

Qrow continued, ignoring Weiss and Angus, “Geez, you Atlas specialists think you’re so special, don’t you?”

Winter continued talking to him, “It’s in the title.”

“Well, you know what you really are? A bunch of sellouts. Just like your boss.”

“I’m not sure what you think you’re implying, but I’ve heard enough.”
Despite being happy to see him, It was very clear he wasn’t around to catch up. Ben looked over to the still-excited Angus. From lack of explanation, Ben felt Ink bite his arm. He yelped and swatted away the fox, “God damn it Ink!”

Qrow continued to agitate Winter, “Oh, I heard too. I heard ol’ Ironwood finally turned his back on Ozpin.”

Weiss looked up to him questionably, “Ozpin?”

She wasn’t the only one though, all of team BAI were left confused by his statement. For Ben though, he was confused and in pain.

Winter motioned Weiss to leave, “Weiss, it’s time for you to go.”

“What?”

Qrow agreed but only slightly, “Listen to big sister, Weiss. She’ll protect you. Just like Atlas is gonna protect all of us, huh?”

Ben was receiving more information from Qrow than he was expecting.

Winter snapped, “If you won’t hold your tongue, then I’ll gladly remove it for you!”

Winter pulled out her sword, pointing it to the man bothering her.

“Alright then,” He smirked and slicked his hair back, “come take it.”

Everyone watched, including other students walking by. They watched as Winter seemed to teleport to Qrow and start attempting to stab the man in the face. In response, he dodged with equal speed. He bowed and Winter went to slam her blade down. It only slams against his weapon. One that both Angus and Ben missed seeing.

Qrow pulled out his sword playfully as if he wasn’t taking this seriously. But only seconds later he started attacking her viscously. She dodged out of the way by flipping backwards.

Two continued to fight a relatively even battle. They fought as if they’ve fought before.

The cat boy could see Ruby at this point walking back up to Weiss from where he was, “What’s going on?!”

A pissed Weiss responded, “Some crazy guy just started attacking my sister!”

“Oh no! Who would do such a th- aaaaat is my uncle!”

“What?!”

Angus looked to Ruby, “Uncle?!”

Ben turned to Angus, “Our teacher is Ruby’s uncle?!”

The two looked at each other flabbergasted.

Ruby cheered out, “Kick her butt, uncle Qrow!”

Weiss also cheered out for her sister, “Uhh, teach him respect, Winter!”

The two continued a very fast pace dance of death. At least it would be if their attacks ever landed on anyone. Eventually, Winter slapped Qrow in the face with the grip of her sword.

He responded with a strong attack that, when Winter dodged, destroyed the ground. It left a moderately sized creator under him.

The two zoomed off to battle all around the school. It made watching it, at least for Angus, pretty hard.

The battle ended when they were both back onto the ground where they were before. Both prepared for a massive attack. Winter had a large sigil starting to summon something behind her, while Qrow’s weapon started to transform. He stopped and put his weapon away as soon as he saw Ironwood. Winter didn’t see the general and went with the attack anyways after Qrow taunted her one last time.

Her stopped almost at his throat. She stopped as soon as she heard Ironwood call out her last name sternly.

She turned to him in a panic, “General Ironwood, sir!”

Ironwood stepped up to her with Penny following behind him, “What in the world do you think you’re doing?”

“He started the altercation, sir.”

Qrow leaned into Ironwood’s view, “That’s actually not true, she attacked first.”

The general looked to him, then Winter, “Is that right?”

Unable to excuse herself, she looked down in aggravated shame.

The general looked to the battle field and the students before back to Qrow, “And you.”

Qrow pointed to himself questionably as Ironwood walked closer to talk to him in a near whisper. Oh course Angus could still hear him say, “What are you doing here?”

“I could be asking you the same thing” He responded back with.

“I-“

Ozpin interrupted them, “Now, now everyone. There is a sanctioned fight happening just around the corner at the colosseum that I can assure you has better seats. And popcorn.”
Glynda, who had came out with Ozpin, snapped at the crowd, “Break it up, everyone! We will take care of this mess.”

Ironwood adjusted his tie looking to Winter, “let’s go.”

Ironwood, Winter, the robots, Penny, all started making their way inside of Beacon. Qrow stood watching them leave.

Ruby zoomed over to Qrow, ”Uncle Qrow!”

Team BAI watched as Ruby jumped onto his arm. He lifted his arm, looking at her swinging off of it. She excitedly talked to him, “Ahh, it’s so good to see you! Did you miss me? Did you miss me?!”

He smiled and jokingly responded, “Nope.”

Angus was the first one to start making his way to him through the crowd. Ben followed the path the cat boy took.

Qrow patted his niece's head before putting him arm back to his side, effectively moving her there too.

Ozpin called out to him, “Qrow. A word, please.”

Ruby slid off of his arm falling to the ground while Professor Goodwitch was fixing the damage done to the place by Qrow and Winter.

Angus finally managed to break through the crowd and started running over to the man who helped them. Ben followed shortly after him.

Qrow leaned over to Ruby, “I think I’m in trouble.”

Ruby shrugged and reasoned, “You did kinda tear up our courtyard.”

“Yeah, I did,” He winked, “Catch you later kid.”

Angus ran to stop next to Ruby, watching the man follow Ozpin. Ben stopped on the other side of Angus.

Not knowing when it would next be possible to talk to him, the cat boy yelled out to Qrow, “Thank you!”

The man, without paying attention, held a thumbs up as he walked. Angus smiled, satisfied.

Ruby looked over confused, “Huh?”

Ben turned to Ruby, “Your Uncle helped us two years ago.”

Weiss walked up to Ruby, “And suddenly your recklessness makes sense.”

Ruby gave a smug look to Weiss in exchange, “You’re just mad ‘cause he whooped butt.”

“That was a draw at best.”

Ben jumped from the sound of a massive crunch right next to him. He turned to an Ink who got another turkey leg from the vendors as the fight was happening.

Ink took another bite, “So you guys gonna tell me what’s going on now?”

*

“You’ll never beat me old man!” Cried out Ruby

“Your nothing but talk kid!” Qrow responded.

Yang cheered, “You can do it, Ruby!”

Ben commented, “I don’t think she can…”

Qrow proceeded to defeat Ruby in a fighting game. He looked over to Ruby, “By the way. Don’t ever call me ‘old’”.

Yang shoved Ruby out of the way and stole the controller, which was really the scroll hooked up to a hologram, “My turn!”

“Now, where was I?”

Ruby popped up from behind the two of them, “You were telling us about your last mission!”

Qrow proceeded to tell a story that ended with him being defeated by the sight of a short skirt on a pretty woman. They all laughed about it as Ben stood in the corner watching. This warm feeling watching another family. It reminded him of his own. His sister used to tease him and share dumb jokes. He even missed her accidentally running over his feet in a wheelchair. His mom and dad were constantly busy, but he did miss family meals with them.

Ben was broken out of his thoughts when Ruby asked him, “You wanna play?”

Ben shook his head, “No thank you.”

Ruby shrugged and started a new game with his uncle, “So, Uncle Qrow, did you get in trouble with Ozpin?”

Qrow kept playing, still kicking his niece’s ass, “Nah, me and Oz go way back. We’re cool.”

Yang scoffed, “Cool for an old guy.”

Ben spoke allowed, “So that’s how you did that.”

It made sense that through connections he and Angus would be able to get in. They weren’t supposed to be there, yet Beacon never did anything about either of them.

Ruby asked Qrow a question as she lost again, “Hey, so, what are you doing here anyway? I thought Dad said you’d be away on a mission for, like… ever.”

Qrow sat up a little more, “Well, a professional huntsman like myself is expected to get results, as soon as possible.”

“Yeah, I get that,” Ruby started to brag, “We’re pretty much pros, too.”

“Oh really?”

For some reason Qrow saying that gave Ben a sense of deja vu. Maybe it was because of a dream he had recently.

Yang looked to Ben’s teacher, “Pssh, yeah! Read the news sometime. We totally saved Vale while you were gone.”

“Funny, because I heard Vale suffered a Grimm attack after you almost managed to stop a train. But they don’t give out medals for ‘almost’.”

Ruby pointed out, “They do, and they’re called Silver!”

Yang tried mentioning more stuff they have done, “Well, we helped take down Roman Torchwick. He’s locked up in Ironwood’s ship and crime’s been down ever since. That’s basically a bounty mission.”

Qrow spoke mainly to Yang and Ruby, but Ben took in his words too, “Sure, you may be acting like huntresses, but you’re not thinking like one. You really think four girls and their friends could end all crime in a kingdom?”

Ruby put her fingers together and pouted, “I mean, I did until you said that.”

Qrow continued, “Violence hasn’t dropped since Roman got nabbed. It’s stopped. Completely. No White Fang activity anywhere around the city. You cut off the head of a King Taijitu, but now the second head’s calling the shots. That’s what Ironwood can’t get through that thick, metal head of his.”

Ben thought about it. Qrow was right, he hasn’t heard or seen anything. Not even anything suspicious. Whoever is in charge is either waiting for the right moment or is secretly putting things into motion under everyone’s noses. What exactly is the White Fang doing?

Yang raised an eyebrow, “You know the general?”

“Hey, I know everybody to some extent.” He looked to Ben, “I’ve even met some of your friends before you did.”

“Huh? You knew Ben?”

He turned back to his family, “Remember, you’re talking to a member of the coolest team to ever graduate Beacon!”

He pulled out an old photo, “Team STRQ. That’s when I met your parents. We were pretty well known back in the day.”

All these talks of family is starting to make him regret coming to hang out. Well, less hanging out and more, waiting for Qrow to be able to answer his questions.

Ruby commented, “Well known for crummy fashion sense.”

“Hey, we looked good! I have a number of inappropriate stories that’ll back that up. But I’ll save those for when you’re older.”

“Ew gross.”

Ben pushed up his glasses, “No one cares that you’ve f*cked before.”

Qrow stood up, “Anyway, I’m too old to be hanging out with a bunch of kids. You’re gonna cramp my style.”

He stopped by the door, “Look. Just remember that you’ve still got a long way to go. And don’t think for a second that graduation means you’re done. Every day out there is worth a week in this place. You guys are gonna go far. But only if you keep learning. If you never stop moving forward.”

Ben followed the man out of the room, and closed team RWBY’s door. He watched as Qrow took a swig of alcohol from his flask. He knew Ben was there, “What’s up kid?”

“With what’s been happening. A war is going to start, is that right?”

He capped his flask and put it away, “You always were the smart one. The honest answer is… I don’t know. But with the way things have been going?…. Probably.”

“What should my team do?”

“You mean you and Angus.”

Ben was silent. Qrow wasn’t wrong. But it wasn’t just him and Angus anymore.

Qrow kept walking, “I don’t know when sh*t is going to go south, so just keep your guard up and continue your school life. I don’t know for much longer you're going to have it so enjoy it while you can.”

Qrow walked away down the hall as Ben stared after him.

*

The crowd cheered as Sun and Neptune stood in the center stage. Across from them stood Angus and Ink. Angus waved to the both of them, excited to fight while Ink was foaming at the mouth like he had rabies. His eyes stared down his boy-toy. Neptune was unnerved by the fox.

Sun waved back to Angus but the blue-haired boy was too scared by the creature in front of him to react to the cat boy.

Ink spoke to Neptune as the holograms above the four quadrants started to spin, “Remember how you f*cked me big boy?!”

Neptune didn’t respond, he held his weapon closer to himself as comfort.

The biomes changed behind all of them. The quadrant behind Neptune ended up being the ocean. Behind Sun was the desert. Angus; a mock abandoned city. And lastly Ink; A field of hot geysers.

The announcer started to count down, everyone prepared their weapons, “Three!”

Angus reached one hand back, clicking the button on his case.

“Two.”

Ink lowered himself more to the ground, letting his sickles scratch against the ground. They created tiny sparks. Ink looked to Neptune as if he were death, “LET ME RETURN THE FAVOR!!”

The announcer called out ‘One’ and the battle has officially started.

Ink launched himself forward with immense speed. Neptune screamed and jumped out of the way. The fox landed in the ocean biome behind him.

Angus dodged as Sun immediately jumped and slammed down with his bow staff right where he was standing. Angus spun his weapon in its spear form as Sun split his staff into his signature shotgun nunchucks. The bullets Sun shot were being deflected by Angus.

Neptune tried to make his way to the water without touching it to stab the water as he did before but Ink already swam over and bit his ankle. He yelped and raised his ankle but accidentally let his weapon touch the water. The electricity from his weapon flowed into the water, Ink, and Neptune. Ink bites harder as they both get electrocuted. After a few seconds Neptune managed to pull his weapon out and fell onto his ass outside of the water.

Sun stopped his bullet barrage as soon as he heard Neptune scream bloody murder. He jumped onto Angus before launching himself off toward his blue-haired teammate. Angus crashes into an already broken wall in the abandoned biome. Dust from the concrete puffs into the air.

Sun had put his weapons back together and slammed it down between Neptune and Ink. Neptune flipped back out of the way back onto the center stage. Sun called out to Neptune as Ink leapt out the water, “Deal with Angus, I got this one!”

Ink pulled down both of his sickles at once. It clanged against Sun’s staff.

Angus had just loaded a blue and red crystal on his bow together as he stood at the topmost building in his area. A blurry Neptune shot at him from down below. Angus dodges all of them using a broken wall as coverage. No, he needs to get creative. He’s more vulnerable when he’s loading the crystals than anything else. He could hear Neptune climbing his way up. The cat boy looks down to the old dusty concrete below him .

Sun and Ink are locked together in a battle. The two dodging and attacking.

Ink flipped back yelling at Sun, “I wanna fight Neptune, not you!”

When Neptune made his way up and turned the corner and was hit with a face full of concrete dust. Angus moved out of the way as despite being blind, he shot his weapon and was almost on target. As he jumped back to the ground the cat boy threw a red crystal. Since The the poor guy was still shooting he hit the crystal. The crystal caused a fiery explosion that blasted Neptune into the desert.

Ink watched Neptune fall into the new biome and jumped off of Sun. The monkey Faunus grabbed ink’s foot, negating the entire jump. The fox was getting fed up and went absolutely feral on his ass. Sun screamed as he tried getting the beast off of him but Ink kept biting him and clawing at him squirming.

Meanwhile, Neptune’s started shooting at Ink from a distance, Not that the fox made it easy. Angus jumped over spinning his spear, which he transformed on the way over, and started deflecting more of Neptune’s bullets.

Sun managed to finally fling the creature off of him. Ink flew into Angus, and more importantly, into the semi-open case of dust crystals.

The impact knocked some of the crystals together. The two immediately exploded. Both Neptune and Sun watched as dust particles filled the air where the two were. They were no longer visible.

Angus leapt out of the dust cloud towards Sun as one of the professors pointed out the cat boy’s semblance to the watching crowd, “Oho! Angus Beef! His semblance is much like Yang’s-“

Before Sun could move away from the fast Faunus, Angus slapped his hands against Sun’s head with two red crystals in hand. The professor continued as they both exploded, “He can take more damage than anyone else on the field!”

Both members slid against the ground. A sound from the scoreboard signaled Sun Wukong was out.

As this was happening the explosion from Angus actually launched Ink into the air at high speeds. Ink has his eyes locked onto a panicking Neptune trying to find where he or the cat boy went.

Ink put his sickles together, the ends clicked together turning his weapon into a boomerang. He threw it down aiming for the blue-haired boy before putting his hands together and closing his eyes. Despite his starting to hyperventilate, he summoned two shimmering pastel green versions of himself.

The Boomerang hit Neptune in the head disorientating him as the two green Ink’s came down to bite him. He shot one with his gun but the other still knocked him down.

The other professor spoke as Ink landed on Neptune catching his weapon, cracking the sandy desert ground beneath the both of them, “Ink Demi just showed us a beautiful display of his interesting semblance. You see- he can bite others with his powerful bite and then copy the semblance of the person he bit!”

Ink punched Neptune in the face to finally knock his aura into the red. A large buzzer sound went off sharing he was out. Ink laid down hugging onto his boy toy having a panic attack. Neptune confusingly held him and patted his back.

Angus managed to pull himself up as the professors shared the victors, “The winners are Angus Beef and Ink Demi from team BAI!”

The crowd cheered and booed at them. To the cat boy, their reactions didn’t matter. He held up his spear victoriously and looked to Ben clapping for him in the crowd.

*

Team BAI sat in the red lush seats in the crowd. Ink was barreling his head into a bucket of caramel candy on Ben’s left, while on his right sat a cheering Angus.

When Yang was announced the winner of the first one on one fight Angus leapt up from his seat, “Yeah!! Yang!!”

All excitement from the entire crowd disappeared instantly as Yang out of nowhere punched Mercury’s leg breaking it. Robots and human guards from Atlas quickly run onto the field surrounding Yang, all guns pointed at her. The cat boy sat back down bewildered. He turned to Ben, “Why did she do that?”

Ben shrugged, “I don’t know. Adrenaline maybe?”

Despite the event, Ben wasn’t thinking about that. He kept thinking back on everything he knew about the White Fang, Torchwick, the past missions, what Qrow said, all of it. He can tell he is missing something, but what?

People in white came onto the field and put Mercury on a stretcher before running off.

*

Ben sat in the crowd next to his teammates. The world-renowned fighter Phyrra was fighting Penny. Penny had her seemingly floating blades attacking Phyrra. This was a normal tournament fight… at least until a burst of energy came from a terrified Phyrra making Penny’s blades fly back. The metal wires that the blades were attached to wrapped around Penny’s body. Everyone watched in horror as Penny’s metal body was torn apart by her own weapons. Everyone in the crowd started screaming.

Ben woke up from his nap in a sweat. He yelped and punched an Ink that was three inches from his face. Ink fell to the floor with a grunt. Ben sat up and got up from his bed with a sigh.

Ink looked up to him from the floor as if Ben had insulted his whole dead family, “What are you worried about by the way?”

Ben looked down to him, “Huh?”

Ink rolled his body on the floor, “You’ve been staying up more since I think a few days ago. Angus says it’s because you're smart and you're thinking about a plan for something or figuring out a really hard problem. But I doubt that.”

Ben looked around the dorm noticing that Angus was out. He was probably hanging out with team JNPR or team RWBY. He looked back to Ink, “Where is Angus?”

Ink rolled his body to Ben and bit his ankle. Ben attempted shaking him off, “What the f*ck! Get off!”

Ink lessened his grip but stayed on. He spoke through his teeth, “You're not getting away from me, you f*cker!”

“What do you mean?!” He managed to finally get the fox off of him.

Ink stood up from the floor, and put his hands on the human’s shoulders, “What’s wrong?”

Ben’s glared at him, “Nothing is wrong.”

“Bullsh*t! You're not staying up thinking of a plan! So tell your team what’s wrong. What’s worrying you so much that you can’t sleep at night?!”

Ben sat back down on his bed, “The White Fang.”

Ink sat next to him, “What about them?”

“All crime has stopped. No robberies, no nothing.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?”

“No… it means something else is happening. I just don’t know what.”

Ben was honest but kept everything else Qrow said to himself. He wants his team to continue their lives in ignorant bliss. At least as much as possible. He will let himself be the one burdened by the knowledge that something is coming and disrupt everything as they know it in mere seconds.

“Is it worth worrying about? Especially by yourself?”

“Huh?”

Ink shrugged, “More people means more ideas.”

The fox let himself fall to the floor. He went to attack his chew toy.

Ben stood up, assuming his interrogation was over. He opened his dorm door and looked down to see most of team RWBY talking to team JNPR. Yang was the only one not with them.

Juane was the first one Ben heard, “She doing okay?”

They were probably talking about Yang.

Blake responded to Jaune, “She’s doing the best she can.”

Ruby shared more info, “I hear Mercury and his team rushed back to Haven to be with his family. So, until they land, no one can really question him about what happened.”

“If there’s anything we can do, please don’t hesitate to ask.” Ben heard Ren offer.

“Alright then… if that’s the case… Phyrra? You be sure to win one for Beacon, okay?”

Weiss nodded her head in agreement, “It’s what Yang would want.”

Phyrra responded a Second later, “I’ll do my best.”

Ruby walked into team JNPR’s room, “I’ll be sure to watch tonight in case you’re picked!”

Blake turned to Weiss, “Sorry, I think I’ve had enough fighting for a year.”

Weiss nodded again, “Ditto… coffee?”

Blake smiled at her offer, “Tea.”

Blake, Weiss, and Ruby turned to leave team JNPR be to go get beverages. Ben stood back as they passed his door. He tapped Ruby on the shoulder. The others turned to stop with her but Ruby waves to them, “I’ll catch up with you guys in a bit. Go ahead.”

Blake and Weiss nodded before continuing.

Ruby turns back to Ben, “What’s up?”

Ben closes the door behind him, “What’s your sister’s perspective?”

Ruby rubs the back of her head, “She says she saw Mercury attacked her, and she is sticking by that. We all believe her but-“

“But everyone saw her attack him..”

“Yeah.”

“Thank you, Ruby.”

“No problem… do you want to get coffee with us?”

“No, thank you. I have something I need to do.”

Ruby waved goodbye before running after her teammates to catch up to them.

Ben opened his door and went back inside. He closed it behind him as he went back into thought. In his dream, Phyrra attacked Penny as if… her life depended on it. It reminded him of what he saw from Yang as she punched Mercury. Wait, what is he doing? He shook the observation from his mind. Dreams and reality are different, there is no reason to compare the two.

*

Team BAI once again sat in the area seats, this time watching Phyrra and Penny stand on the center stage as it lifted into the air.
Ben didn’t show it but was startled by hearing that Phyrra and Penny were going to fight each other. They even stood at the same sides like in his dream. It was just a coincidence. A really strange one, but nothing more.

When the countdown for the fight ended Penny pulled out her blades from her back like magic. Ben leaned forward trying to figure out if they were controlled by metal wires. Ben threw himself back into his seat when he realized he was still trying to tell if his dream was accurate.

He noticed Angus looking over to him confused. He ignored the cat boy.

Phyrra dodged a wall of blades her opponent shot from across the stage. The two got closer and sent each other attacks and blocks.

These attacks looked familiar… No! Ben shook his head again. It’s impossible, it doesn’t make sense.

The battle continued and Ben was fine, until he watched as Penny used her weapons to knock Phyrra’s shield and weapon across the field. It was when he saw her attempt to pick it up with her semblance that Ben stood up from his seat. No way. But it has to be. His dream. It’s the exact same.

His teammates looked at him confused as he jumped over the seat in front of him.

Angus called out, “Ben!”

“What are you doing?!” Ink called out in equal confusion.

Ben kept making his way to the front-most seats over angry spectators. His teammates ended up following him, Angus apologized as he did while Ink just launched himself off of people’s heads.

Ben stood in front of Juane. Jaune leaned past Ben to watch but shared his concern, “Uh, Ben you are in my way.”

Ben ignored him as he pounded his fists into the forcefield that was meant for protecting the crowd from stray bullets, “PHYRRA!!”

Ren, and Nora shared the same concern as Juane. They watched as Angus and Ink hopped down to join him. The cat and the fox also joined Ben and pounded against the force field.

Ben yelled out again as loud as possible, “PHYRRA DON’T IT’S NOT REAL!!!”

But Phyrra couldn’t hear him and a burst of black energy from her semblance exploded from her. It caught and flung back Penny’s weapons, and just like in his dream, he watched as the poor robot girl got ripped apart by her own weapon.

The crowd yelled in horror and everyone watched Phyrra stand shocked at the unmoving robot that was once Penny.

The center stage lowered with one person left standing. A new voice appears over the Televisions and the coliseum P.A. system, “This is not a tragedy. This was not an accident. This is what happens when you hand over your trust. Your safety. Your children. To men who claim to be our guardians. But are in reality…. Nothing more than men. Our academies’ headmasters weird more power than most armies, and one was audacious enough to control both. They cling to this power in the name of peace, and yet what do we have here? One nation’s attempt at a synthetic army, mercilessly torn apart by another’s star pupil. What need would Atlas have for a soldier disguised as an innocent little girl? I don’t think the Grimm can tell the difference. And what, I ask you, is Ozpin teaching his students? First a dismemberment, now this? Huntsmen and huntresses should carry themselves with honor and mercy. Yet I have witnessed neither.”

Ben stood in silence taking in all the words. Then it hit. This was it. No, this was the start of it. They wouldn’t just use this as a display to show the world what they hadn’t seen. With all the stolen dust… There is more. He grabbed the attention of both of his teammates by holding their shoulders tightly. They turned to face him. He didn’t say anything as he turned to leave the coliseum. He didn’t need to as his teammates followed him.

They all started running as they continued to listen to the mystery woman, “Perhaps Ozpin felt as if defeating Atlas in the tournament would help people forget his colossal failure to protect Vale when the Grimm invaded its streets. Or perhaps, this was his message to the tyrannical dictator that has occupied an unsuspecting kingdom with armed forces. Honestly? I haven’t the slightest clue as to who is right and who is wrong. But I know that the existence of peace is fragile and the leaders of our kingdoms conduct their business with Iron gloves. As someone who hails from Mistral, I can assure you; the situation there is… equally undesirable.”

Ben, Angus, and Ink made it outside into the quiet still darkness. Ben took a moment to think as his teammates threw questions.

Ink was the first to ask, “What are we doing?”

Angus asked follow-up questions, “What is happening? How did you know that was gonna happen?”

Ben ignored their questions as paced, he listened to the woman’s voice from outside, “Our kingdoms are at the brink of war. Yet we, the citizens, are left in the dark. So I ask you… when the first shots are fired… who do you think you can trust?”

The feed from the woman went to static before cutting off seconds later. A loud siren started to play. It signaled for the breach of Grimm, “Alert. Incoming Grimm attack. Threat level: nine. Please seek shelter in a calm and orderly manner.”

Suddenly, team BAI turns to the sound of screaming citizens starting to leave the arena, and join them outside, along with the sounds of a giant nevermore landing on top of the arena.

Ben observed his surroundings before looking to the cat and fox, “Call your lockers. We are getting our weapons and we are getting out of here.”

Ink pulled out his scroll, “Don’t need to tell me twice.”

Angus didn’t, “What about the people?”

Ben turned and pointed to the arena full of hunters and huntresses, then the airship coming to pick up citizens, “Everything here has been or is being handled. We on the other hand need to get down to the city.”

Angus managed to jump out of the way of a landing locker. The door opened revealing Ink’s weapons. Ink grabbed them as Angus grabbed his scroll. Ben proceeded to pull out his scroll as well.

He called his locker as he watched an Atlas airship in the sky turn to the one near it and shot it down. It ended up falling onto another ship. They both exploded.

Everything. Everything was falling apart. This was it. Their peaceful school life was over.

Ben and Angus grabbed their weapons right as a handful of aircrafts docked and opened their doors. Grimm came out to feast on the citizens not yet picked up.

Ben looked to Angus, “Don’t use any dust! There are too many people!”

Angus nodded and pointed his spear to the first Grimm in his sights. The cat boy ran off on a mission to stab an Ursa bear to death.

Ben turned to Ink, “Your fast, focus on Grimm that are getting too close to the people.”

Ink nodded before running off in the opposite direction on all fours.

Ben adjusted his glasses before slashing a bunch of raptor Grimm in front of him.

The three attacked Grimm surrounded by screams, roars, and bullets from Atlas robots.

It didn’t take long to handle the Grimm. Especially with Ink’s speed and Ben’s fierce attacks.

The hunters and huntresses from inside finally came out, weapons in hand. Ben watched them all run up to Ironwood.

“What’s going on?!” He heard Ruby call out to Ironwood.

Ben joined up with them to hear the situation. Ironwood looked to all the students, “Grimm are crawling all over the city, The White Fang has invaded Beacon and to make matters worse, some -Vagabond has seized one of my ships. Until we regain command, the skies are out of our control. So I’m going to take it back.”

The general went to turn around to walk onto a small ship. Juane’s question stopped him halfway, “What should we do?”

He turned back around to answer he question for everyone, “You have two choices: Defend your kingdom and your school… Or save yourselves. No one will fault you if you leave.”

The general got onto his ship and flew off.

Angus and Ink joined back up with Ben as Juane said, “Come on we can take a ship back to Beacon!”

Ben motioned for his faunus’ to follow. They did without question. Well, except for one question from the cat boy, “Are we running?”

Ben turned to him, “If we want to get out of here… we should. Do we?”

“I don’t think we should. Sure we came here as a temporary safe place but…. I really don’t want to lose this place.”

Ink jumped in, “I don’t really want to lose this place either. I really liked that coffee shop and the food stand…. And our dorms… this place had people that for the first time… accepted me. I refuse to let that go.”

Ben nodded, “Then let’s do our very best.”

Team BAI got onto a carrier ship with the other hunters and huntresses. The ship was very quiet. Everyone was terrified and nervous, but determined. Ink held Angus’ hand for comfort. The cat boy didn’t mind, it gave him a sense of comfort too. Ben kept an eye outside and watched as Ironwood’s ship went down.

Ruby gasped and started running. Sun turned to her back, “Ruby! What are you doing?!”

Ben watched her leave before turning to his team. Angus, despite his answer, looked unsure. The human squeezed his shoulder, but directed his comment to both of them, “At any point, if one of us can not fight anymore, or become too scared, call me on your scrolls. If you tell me where you are I will come to get you and we’re getting out of here.”

The cat boy nodded with determination.

*

The cat boy was destroying Grimm left and right, unlike a lot of his fights, it felt like he was doing more. He was still wary of using his dust around other huntsmen but otherwise was able to attack normally.

His spear stabbed into the belly of a boar grim. He swiftly turned around and noticed Ink slashing an Ursa bear to death with his sickles. Angus threw a light blue crystal towards a beowulf trying to ambush the fox. It froze one of the monster’s legs. The cat boy let other hunters handle that one.

He turned to robots pointing their guns at them. Angus knocked them down with his spear before stabbing each and every one of them. The cat asked Ben when they got “off" but he didn’t have a solution to the robots turning on them. The cat boy was only told that their enemies may have taken control.

He wiped the sweat off of his forehead and took a breath before following a small pack of grim chasing down a few civilians in the town streets.

He switched his weapon to its bow form. It's messy and risky but he loaded it with a red and blue crystal. He aimed at the pack of Beowulves. And mentally prayed he wouldn’t hit anyone.

The ground started to shake, throwing off his aim, but he already released the crystals. The crystals He hit and harmed one grimm while the other crystal hit against the ground. Although it didn’t destroy the grim, it wasn’t his goal. All of the surrounding Grimm turned to Angus with an angry stare. They looked as if they wished to kill the cat boy and feast upon him..

They started running to kill Angus, forgetting about their innocent snack. Angus reloaded and shot up a red crystal. He managed to somehow kill two at once.

It left one standing. Angus started running to it, switching his weapon back to a spear. It starts running at him head-on. At the last second the wolf went to hit the cat with its clawed hand but he jumped over it slamming the spear deep into the Grimm’s chest. The cat boy killed it.

He let the monster slide off his weapon disintegrating.

The ground still rumbled. The cat boy’s ears flicked over to cracking noises. Before he could move or even just turn to see behind him he felt something hit his back and knock him down. The ground continued to shake with more heavy debris pouring over the back of the cat. With his still-free arms and head, he attempted to pull himself out from under the fallen building wall as the ground continued to rumble but he only made it worse.

He heard the roar of a Giant Grimm in the distance, the roar grew closer as if it were flying. But it didn’t sound like a nevermore or a Griffin. It sounded like something much more horrible.

The cat boy glanced above seeing a massive Grimm with large red wings and a long tail. It flew past him.

*

Ink had made it to a corner between two buildings. He was chasing down a grim when a gas stove exploded. It killed the grim and sent him directly into a panic attack.

He pulled his weapons closer as he curled more in on himself. Fire affected nearby areas making both ash and dust slowly cover the fox. His breathing started to go shallow as he felt himself suck in sharp breaths covered in dust.

Call. Call. He needs to call Ben. Tears started to roll down his face, only further sticking the ash and dust to him.

He shakily pulled out his scroll and ended up clicking the first name that popped up in his contacts. It rang and took a short amount of time before Angus picked up. The fox didn’t mean to call him, but it was already too late. He could hear pained struggling noises from the cat boy, “You okay Ink?- urk!”

Ink continued to cry and struggle to breathe as the cat boy continued, “I can hear you… I think? I don’t know, I’m going to assume you meant to click on Ben and not me. Can you tell me where you are?”

Ink tried to respond in a shaky voice but Angus couldn’t hear him. Ink saw a button that requested to turn this into a video call. Ink swiped yes.

Ink saw a struggling Angus stuck under debris. His video was laggy, and his voice would skip sometimes, “Sh-ow… -where you are.”

Ink flipped the camera and showed Angus the street he was sitting in. Angus spoke so softly, “Okay, I-…. Going to tell Ben- …. You should try getting out-…. -Can’t stay there.”

Ink shook his head, he can’t move right now. Seeing Angus under the debris made him hyperventilate. This. He dreamt about this. Angus- he’s going to die.

Angus waved, “Im-… call you back. Oka-“

Ink watched as one of the cat boy’s fingers hit the end call button. The foxed panicked when it ended. He’s going to die. His friend, his teammate. He started to cry harder. He could hear the screams of civilians. He felt himself tremble.

*

Ben ended the life of a robot as his scroll rang. He picked it up and answered as he froze a grim trying to ambush him from behind, “This is Ben.”

He could hear his teammate struggle a little on the other end, “I know! I clicked your name!”

“It’s just formalities. Are we going?”

“Yes, you need to get Ink.”

Ben looked around as he switched his weapon into its gun form, “Where is he? Is he hurt?”

“He’s having a panic attack and won’t move.”

As Angus lists the street name, Ben shot Grimm to death from a distance. He heard Angus hiss in pain. Ben changed his direction of concern, “What about you?”

“Just get Ink first! I’m fine!”

Ben started running over in Ink’s direction as Angus ended the call. He switched his weapon back into a scythe, destroying Grim and robots along the way.

When he reached Ink’s location the fox was quivering in a corner having a panic attack. It was an unusual and sad sight to see. The arrival of Ben calmed down the fox, but only a tad.

Ben stepped closer and held out a hand to the faunus. Ink looked at it and slowly reached a hand out to grasp his. Ben hoisted him up.

The human coughed from the ash, “C’mon we need to go. We can’t stay here.”

This. This was a dream he’s had. No- he needs to worry about Angus and Ink right now.

He watched as Ink took his inhaler. It didn’t help him breathe better completely, but It was steadying. Ben glanced to his scroll, his aura was in the red. Even stubbing his toes could break it.

He needed a plan. He lifted the collar of his shirt over his mouth and nose and made Ink do the same. There is a safe area back in Beacon, but it may be too much time to get there and back if Angus is in danger.

He looked to Ink’s aura, although more than halfway down, it was still in the green. If he’s fast, they can find Angus and head back to Beacon.

He turned to the fox, “Do you know where Angus is?”

The fox pondered then hesitantly nodded.

“I need you to lead to way, don’t worry about the Grimm, I’ll shoot them down.”

Ben switched his weapon to its gun form. The fox silently nodded and rubbed some tears out of his eyes. The human can tell he still wasn’t okay. He didn’t expect him to be. But they don’t have much of a choice.

The fox started running on all fours leading the way through broken streets covered in blood, dust, and ash. Ben followed keeping his word. He shot down every threat in sight. He couldn’t risk not being accurate.

Along the way, they heard the blood-curdling scream of the cat boy, “BEN!!”

They both ran faster. A turn later and down the street past the local coffee shop, they can both see Angus under the heavy concrete debris. On top of him was a large Griffen. Ben shot the creature before it could wrap its mouth around the fighting Angus.

It changed its target and screeched at Ben and Ink. He stepped off the debris on top of the cat boy, reducing the weight he carried on his back.

It flew towards Ben and Ink with Its beak open and talons outstretched to grab them. Ink dodged the right set of claws while Ben deflected the left set with his weapon. Ink slashed it’s nearest wing with his sickles. The Grimm backed down for a moment leaving Ben just enough time to switch his weapon form and Ink enough time to pull away.

When the monster went to attack again, Ink ran and jumped off of Ben’s back. The fox landed on its neck as Ben flashed and froze its injured dragging wing into the ground. Making it unable to escape.

Ink tried to wrap the chain but the Griffen’s neck was long and flexible. It turned its head and went to bite the faunus. In defense he shoved one of his sickles down its mouth and shoved it as far a possible, tearing its neck right open. Ben slashed his weapon from the outside.

The Grimm struggled before falling over, Ink rolled off of the disintegrating monster’s back towards a now unconscious Angus.

Ben observed Angus as he started pulling debris off, “He is suffocating! The debris is restricting his ability to breathe!”

Ink put away his weapons as he started pulling on the cat’s arms. He was very stuck and didn’t move no matter how he pulled. He joined Ben in pulling off the weight. Unlike Ben though he turned around and started kicking it off with his legs. He was faster and more efficient for this.

When enough weight was pulled off Ben grabbed Angus’ wrist, bruised from Ink’s earlier pulling, and pulled. Angus’ body slid out from underneath covered in gray concrete dust and open bloody wounds. Ben flipped in over so he was facing up. He knew from grabbing his wrists that he still had a pulse.

Ink watched with his ears drooped as Ben held up the cat boy’s back, making his head tilt at an angle. He could see where tears rolled down his face.

He quickly glanced up to the concerned fox, “I need to perform CPR, cover me.”

The fox pulled out his weapons again as Ben wiped dust, blood, and ash away from the cat boy’s nose and mouth with his sleeve.

Ink turned around to keep his attention on any enemies. Despite the tears, he wasn’t giving up.

Ben pinched Angus’ nose and put his mouth against the cat boy’s mouth. He breathed into his mouth. He waited and watched for if his chest rose. It didn’t but he tried again anyway. He did a few chest compressions. He repeated these steps a few more times.

Ink heard the sounds of those Atlas robots. He combined his sickles together via the ends of the handles.

Angus gasped, breathing, but they were pained breaths. Ben looked to Ink as he threw his boomerang down the street, “He’s breathing!”

Ink looked back after his weapon flew back to him, “Is he okay?”

Ben stood up and threw the cat boy over his right shoulder, “No, far from it. He needs medical help as soon as possible. Let’s go!”

Ben ran, unable to use his weapon one-handed he put it away on his back. Ink ran on two legs behind Ben. The fox looked to the cat, Angus was struggling to stay awake. He looked dazed and unfocused.

Ink ran ahead on all fours and they all ran as fast as possible. Ink would throw his boomerang to any robots that appeared and any grim that was too close.

Ink stopped and stood up at a 4-way street. It looked clear of any enemies. Ben followed and directed the fox, “We need to take a left from here.”

Ink ran forward before stopping immediately, he smelled another faunus, and it wasn’t Angus. He turned around right as he watched a bright white bullet whiz through the air. Ben was too slow to move.

Ben screamed from the searing pain. Ink, with the full speed equivalent to a cheetah, ran and chased down the White Fang member who shot his leader.

Ben dropped to the ground on his knees, he still held Angus with his right arm. He hissed and groaned in pain as his left hand went to cover his left eye. He couldn’t see anything from it and he felt a warm liquid. He pulled his hand from his face. Blood and a lot of it, plus some glass from his glasses. The bullet must have broken them.

He called out for the fox, “Ink!”

Ink came back shortly, he and his weapons were covered in blood. He put the sickle from his left hand into his right. The fox held out a hand to his human leader, “Like you said, we need to go.”

Ben removed the hand from his eye and grabbed Ink’s hand. Blood on both of their hands mixed together. The faunus pulled Ben back onto his feet and they ran the rest of the way to Beacon.

*

Ben sat on a box as an emergency doctor from the tournament dealt with his eye. He watched with his other working eye as Angus was put on a gurney. Two other emergency doctors from the tournament started rushing him to a small emergency medical air ship. Ben could hear one of them say, “I don’t know how he’s still alive!”

Ben put his hand up stopping the doctor from working on him, “Wait, that cat faunus-“

The doctor went back to work, “Your friend will be fine, focus on yourself right now.”

Ben stood up, “No wait where are they taking h-“

The doctor pulled his arm, bringing him back down, “He’s getting the medical attention he needs. I’m almost done with your eye. Please sit still.”
Ben watched as the ship flew off. He didn’t know where Angus was going. Ink was slumped next to the box the leader sat on. The fox was sleeping. Hunters and huntresses were heading onto a ship to also take them out of here.

The doctor pulled away, “When you get to a safe place please go to an actual hospital for them to check out your eye.”

Ben nodded and felt his eye, they used a few layers of cotton covered by medical tape.

He tapped his foot against the sleeping fox. They needed to get out of here. Even the White Fang is leaving with the existence of that dragon Grimm on top of Ozpin’s office.

The fox woke up after a light few kicks, he instantly stood up when he remembered where he was. Ben grabbed his hand still covered in dry blood, “… Let’s go.”

The fox and the human gave one last look to Beacon before getting onto the ship. As the ship started to fly away Ink looked to Ben, “Where is Angus?”

Ben thought about it, “I think I have an idea of where he’s going. He’s getting medical help.”

“Will he be okay?”

Ben thought about his dreams… then nodded, “Yeah, he’ll be okay…”

“How do you know?”

“My dreams, my semblance is dreaming of possible futures.”

Ink stood up from his seat and pointed accusingly at Ben, “Motherf*cker! You’re the reason I’ve been getting traumatized by nightmares!!”

He put a tired hand on the fox’s shoulder, “I’m sorry…”

Ink had never seen or heard his team leader like this. The faunus leaned closer resting his heavy head and eyes on Ben’s shoulder, “I have a place in Vacuo…. “

He gave the fox a pat on the head, “You did a good job…. You can rest now…”

Only a few seconds later Ink fell asleep. Ben looked out the window.

A bright flash of white came from the top of Beacon, it blinded everyone, even those who didn’t look at it.

Chapter 4: Volume 4

Chapter Text

Ink and Ben walked along the streets of Vale with bags of supplies they just bought on their backs.

Ink’s hair was a longer curly mess. Around his neck was an olive green bandana. The fox ditched the shirt and let out his chest and large round belly. A dark leather harness lined around his man boobs stretching down to two horizontal straps that rested under them and over his belly. A leather strap wrapped around his right arm. It looked like it might pop off with how much muscle he had. His pants flowed down because they were baggy. They were rolled up at the very end making the bagginess end a little less than halfway down his shins. He wore nothing on his feet.

Ben on the other hand wore a black leather eyepatch under his newer glasses. He kept his blue baseball cap, however now it was more frayed. He wore leather shoulder pads on his left shoulder and forearm guards on both wrists. His right shoulder was equipped with an iron shoulder pad. Under those was a black button up shirt, with the sleeves and collar down and a dark blue vest with black embroidered roses. Although Ben considered rolling his sleeves up with how hot it was. He wore the same stretchy jean pants as he did before. As for his shoes though, he recently had to buy a new pair of sneakers.

Ben’s hair, which was now down to almost his knees, was flowing in the wind. Ink was batting at it with his hands like it was a toy, “Are we finally done with Vale?”

Ben continued walking, completely used to the fox’s tomfoolery, “Yes. We are soon going to get onto a ship.”

The fox started nipping at his hair, “Are we finally heading Atlas?”

“Yes. But we have to take a longer route.”

“... What? we go the shorter route and I get a tummy ache, blind man?”

“You actually do. And then die from lethargically being snatched by a large hungry sea grimm. Or die from not being able to smell the sea grimm. I dreamt of the event twice.”

“Oh.”

“Also I'm not blind, I still have one working eye.”

“You want to know what that makes your other eye?”

Ben didn’t answer.

“Blind!” Ink said before grabbing Ben’s hair with his teeth.

“Ow!”
Ben turned and bonked Ink on the head, “Stop biting my hair.”

“Let’s eat before we go- wait nevermind….I might get a tummy ache.”

Ben shook his head to the fox before turning back around and continuing to lead the fox to the docks.

The fox continued to talk, “I can’t believe it took us this long to get onto a ship though.”

“You wanted to hangout with your boy toy when you were both visiting Vacuo.”

“Man, Ben I can’t believe you caused us to be two years late.”

“I’m going to hunt you for sport.”

“That’s racist. Ben, you’re racist.”

Ben sighed, as he looked out upon the ship they will be traveling on. It was nowhere near new, and it must have gone on at least a thousand trips. It was a large ship meant to carry a lot of people. He could see a small family walk on board.

The two walked on board as well and hung out by the railings at the stern of the ship. Ben listened to the sounds of two kids chasing each other around the ship.

Ink snapped his head over to the direction of the deck, “I smell.”

Ben raised an eyebrow, “Smell what?”

Ink walked real close to him and whispered into his ear, “You’re mom.”

The fox pulled away laughing. Ben smiled and shook his head, “Have fun, this is gonna be a long trip to Menagerie.”

Ink tilted his head, “Why Menagerie?”

Ben slowly turned to Ink, “This was the only available trip for the next month. We would be making more progress just going to the island.”

“Oh… I’m gonna explore.”

“Don’t break anything.”

Ink started to walk off, “No promises.”

Ink had been doing quadrobics around the ship for a few hours now. He was getting very bored. There is only so long you can run around looking at the same things feeling the wind in your hair. He ended his latest and last lap next to Ben.

He stood up, “Ben, I’m bored.”

Ben looked over to him and pulled out the blue chew toy Ozpin gave Ink from his pocket, “Wanna fetch? I’m getting bored myself.”

Ink went back to all fours but with much more energy than before and His tail wagged fast, “Yes!”

Ben smiled and stopped leaning against the railing around the stern of the ship. He held the chew toy similar to how you would a baseball. He spread his legs and bent his knees. He pulled the hand holding the toy far behind him and lightly flicked at his baseball cap with the other.

Ink started running past people towards the front of the ship as Ben revved up his throw.
When the human felt ready he released a small battle cry and threw the toy forward with as much force as he could manage.

Ink kept his eye on the “ball” and watched as it was going to fly past him. He launched himself at an angle from the slick floorboards. The fox’s jaws snapped around the toy before he started to fall.

He fell right down onto someone else. The person below Ink yelped as they fell to the ground. The fox quickly got off the stranger, toy still in mouth, “sorry.”

The person turned and sat up from the floor. The rebecca purple hood of the stranger slipped off revealing her almost pure white deer horns and dark brown hair. She looked to Ink with her yellow eyes flabbergasted.

Ink squeezed the toy, making it squeak before licking the bewildered woman's face.

She quickly pushed the fox away and stood up, “What’s wrong with you?!”

She rubbed the saliva off of her face with the back of one of her hands. Ink whined from the sight and turned to go to Ben but he was already behind him. He ran to the fox after he fell on the woman.

The fox whined again, “Beeeeeen! She pushed me!”

Ben ignored the fox and looked to the woman, “I’m sorry for my teammate’s actions.”

The woman glances at the fox then at Ben with a sigh, “...It’s…okay… just be careful where you throw that toy of yours.”

Ben nodded and grabbed the back of the bandana around the fox’s neck. Ink went limp except for his jaws still holding the chew toy. The human went to leave the deer faunus and head back to the back of the ship. Before he could start walking though, the woman commented, “Wait… you’re both huntsmen.”

Ben glanced to her, “We are.”

She pointed to the fox faunus who was squeaking his toy, “I think I recognize you now….. Did you participate in the Vytal Festival tournament?”

Ben spoke for him knowing he was too busy playing to pay attention, “He did. We are Ben and Ink from team BAI.”

“That’s what it was! Thanks. I remembered how entertaining that fight was.”

Ben thought back to Ink getting electrocuted and having a panic attack and Angus exploding…. Twice, “Uh… Thanks.”

“I never thought I would ever encounter any of the teams from the tournament, let alone two of them! I only see two of you though. Where’s that cat faunus from the doubles round?”

“We are heading over to him.”

The woman smiled, “Ah, I see. You're visiting your friend!”

The human didn’t feel like explaining the situation. He shrugged, “Sort of.”

“I guess huntsmen and huntresses just really wanted to visit Manangerie today. ”

“What do you mean?”

“Oh you haven't seen them yet? I saw at least two other huntsmen on this ship. One was wearing a cloak like me but the other was also from that tournament.”

Ben quickly glanced around but couldn’t see any one of suspicion from where he was. They might be on the other side.

The woman held her hand, “Nice to meet you, my name is Lesh. I am a recent huntress for hire. I’m heading to Menagerie to look for more work.”

Ben shook her hand with his free hand, “Leader of team BAI, Ben.”

Ink finally came back to the conversation. He spoke with the toy still in his mouth but he was too quiet for anyone to hear.

Ben raised the fox in his hand, “And this is Ink.”

He let go of the fox hoping he would actually stand on his feet, but he didn’t. Ink fell to the floor and quickly ran off. Probably zoomies.

Lesh waved goodbye shortly after and left to go back into the ship's cabin and Ben leaned over the edge to continue watching the water flow past.

Some time later The sun was starting to set from the long voyage. Ben was going to walk back into the hull of the ship following Ink, but Ink stopped midway. Ben stopped as well to watch the faunus sniff the air.

Ben crouched down to the fox, “What is it?”

He gave one last sniff, “A familiar faunus smell.”

Ink ran off as a string of hope struck Ben. Maybe it was Angus? That doesn’t make sense though…. But what if?

He stood up and followed Ink. They turned the corner and there leaning against the railing was in fact… Blake. The string of hope broke in Ben. He should have listened to his gut.

The bowless Blake looked over to the fox trotting up to her. She glanced up from him, catching that Ben was here too before looking back at the ocean.

The fox stood up sniffing her heavily, then patted the cat girl on the head as she glared at him, “Hi! You smell different.”

Ben facepalmed and caught up with them.

Blake gave a hesitant response to Ink, “....Thanks.”

Her ears flick to a sound behind her. Ben didn’t hear the sound, it must have been very quiet. She whipped around and pulled out her weapon, “Who’s there?!”

Everyone looked up to someone wearing a brown cloak standing upon the upper deck looking at Blake. After being noticed they turned around and walked away.

Ink leaped to the upper deck to follow the cloaked figure excitedly as large waves started hitting the ship.

Ben held onto the railing and Blake braced herself for the second wave rocking the ship. The shadow of a creature lurked over the huntsman as it grew. Blake and Ben turned to face the massive grimm sea dragon as it released a roar.

A sailor called out from an area above the upper deck, “Red alert!”

Ben followed in Blake’s footsteps and pulled out his own weapon.

Ink heard the roar but didn’t care since he had his eyes locked on his target. He used his teeth to bite the end of the mysterious figure’s cloak. He sniffed it as he played tug of war. This smell was also familiar. Another faunus.

Ink stood his ground and yanked the cloak off. The faunus in question was an out of breath Sun, “Oh- uh- Hey Ink!”

“Oh hello fellow stowaway!” Ink wagged his tail.

Sun waved then pointed at the fox with finger guns, “So uh, you gonna keep me secret from Blake?”

The fox continued to wag his tail, “Nope!”

Ink started running away from Sun as Sun yelled back, “Wait! No! Come back!”

The fox laughed as he came back to his leader. Ben had his scythe out staring up to the massive grimm before the ship.

He could hear the captain call out to the other sailors, “All hands to battlestations!”

Blake jumped off the front railing of the ship and used her own semblance to throw herself towards the grimm. Ben jumped off the front as well and started shooting his scythe to propel himself to the dragon. Ink…. sat down with his feet out. He didn’t have a good way to get to the dragon. He was waiting to tell Ben and Blake who he found.

Ben slashed his weapon at the dragon’s face as Blake shot her weapon at its face as well. It only made the monster more angry and it swam around the water trying to throw the human off of its face. Ben held on for dear life as his weapon was shoved deep into its chin.

Ink watched as the dragon jumped over the ship heading back into the water. He listened to canons being pulled out.

When the dragon popped back up onto the surface near the ship, Ben was holding his soaked hat. Well all of him was soaked. He pulled out of its chin and landed back onto the ship as Blaked whizzed past him to shoot its face again.

Ben listened to the captain yell to his crew, “Get the heavy cannon loaded!”

Planks of the ship moved and right next to where Ink was sitting appeared a large mounted gun.

Ben turned to see the dragon’s wings being pulled out from inside its body. Great…. Now it can fly. The grimm flew out of the water and flapped its wings hard to throw the force of the wind against the ship. The force made Ben fall back onto his back.

Ink pointed at him and laughed. The human glared at the laughing faunus. The fox stopped laughing when the cannon went off right next to him. He yelped and held his ears as he got up and moved away from it. He quickly got excited again, forgetting about the loud sound as he made his way over to Ben who got back onto his feet, “Oh! Ben!”

Ben glanced to him as he switched his weapon into it’s gun form, “What?”

Ben aimed his weapon following the dragon’s movements as Ink continued, “That guy with the cloak? It’s actually-”

Ben and Ink were interrupted by the sight of Sun flying through the sky. He let his cloak fall off as he used his semblance. The monkey faunus landed on the dragon’s face as his duplicates pulled back the grimm’s two long large whiskers. This pulled back the head of the dragon as it was charging it’s attack. It ended up shooting it’s electricity beam through the sky.

After missing, the dragon proceeded to fly around in attempts of getting it’s attacker off. Sun held on to the whiskers tight. Ben followed him and the dragon through his scope.

He shot the monster with an icy dust bullet. The impact hit the monster’s face directly… but it also threw Sun off making him rapidly falling to the ocean. Ben sighed, “sh*t.”

He didn’t have to worry about the monkey though as Blake launched herself and caught Sun. She landed on some nearby rocks.

The ship shook as the grimm managed to clip it with a beam of electricity. Ben shot the dragon again, making it’s head move as it attacked. Unfortunately the dragon caused the heavy cannon to be rendered unusable. Sun and Blake landed back onto the ship shortly after.

“Huntsmen!” The captain called out, “If you can clip its wings and draw it towards the bow, we can take it!”

Sun looks to the others, “I mean… you guys are the ones with swords…”

Blake huffed as Ben glanced to the fox, “Ink! You’re up!”

Ink stood up pulling out his weapon immediately. His tail wagged with excitement as Ben changed his weapon to it’s scythe form. Ben readied himself and watched the dragon while listening to the fox run to him.

Ink hopped and landed on the human’s weapon. Ben quickly spun around with as much force as he could manage and shot his scythe twice at the last second making it the fastest he could be. He sends the excited fox into the air barreling towards the monster.

Ink laughed as he let his tongue out similar to a dog sticking it’s head out the window of a fast moving car. He flew way above the dragon and looking over he can see Blake was launched up as well by the monkey faunus.

The cat and the fox prepared their weapons as they dived back down avoiding the laser beam attacks as they did.

Blake ran down the red wing dragging her blade down with her. It sliced through the wing as if it were merely paper. Ink on the other wing did the same except he let himself fall rather than run. His sickles pulled through the wing as if he were opening a letter.

The dragon's wings were now clipped but now a new problem arrived. Ben watched as both the cat and the fox fell off the dragon rapidly descending towards the rocks below them.

Blake was fine as Ben watched Sun zoom off to catch her. Probably to repay her for catching him. Ink didn’t have anyone catching him though.

He’ll be fine. Ben continued to watch the fox flail. He’s fine, he’ll land by himself. He’ll have a landing strategy.

The fox was still flailing.

…. Ben used his scythe to launch himself to the nearby rock islands. When he landed he put away his weapon and ran to where Ink was going to fall. At the last second he caught the whining Ink. It dented the ground below him.

Ink looked to Ben, and gave a hug, “My hero! Yippee!”

A second past before the fox’s energy changed, and his face turned to disgust, “Ew- you're wet!”

Ink squirmed out of his arms whining.

Ben and the fox faunus look over to the dragon following Blake. The grimm crashed through the pillars of rocks before stopping. It had cornered Blake and Sun.

Ink and Ben ran after to follow them to help… but the ship already rammed its bow through the grimm impaling it. The creature squirmed but to no avail as the heavy cannon went off exploding its head. Its body went limp as it started to disintegrate.

Ben could hear the cheers of victory from the ship’s crew as the two made their way back. They managed to get back before Blake and Sun, landing on the wood floors as people started coming back out of their cabin’s to either figure out what happened or share their excitement for the battle that they just watched inside.

The deer fanus they met earlier, Lesh, ran up to them, “Woah! You guys made relatively quick work of that grimm…. Although it seems your landing is uh… left to be desired.”

Although she didn’t say who Ben knew who that last comment was directed to. He glanced to Ink as the fox puts his elbow on the human, leaning on him, “Yeah Ben, you should work on your landing strategy.”

The fox whined a second later and reeled away again as he forgot Ben was wet from sea water. Although the water he obtained was starting to dry at least.

Lesh chuckled at the interaction, “I meant you, Ink.”

Ink’s face soured as he snapped, “Why don’t you land from that height?!”

Ben patted the now pouting fox as he clarified, “He’s insecure about his landing strategy…”

The deer looked to Ink, “Mastery comes from practice, so I'm not saying you did badly, I'm just saying you could do it better.”

The fox continued to hold a pout as he basked in Ben’s petting.

The older huntress switched topics, “You should come to my room so you can dry off and get warm.”

Ben shook his head, “We can just go to ours. I’m sure all the rooms are equipped with some sort of furnace.”

“Oh- That’s true but I have the fire burning already at my place. Please, I insist. Take a break from being little heroes.”

Seeing no problem with it, the human nods and follows Lesh, dragging Ink along with him.

Ben sits in front of the fire on the edge of the Deer’s temporary bed as the fox curled up around his feet and passed out. Lesh was definitely nice but the human wasn’t sure he trusted her enough to pass out like that. It’s okay though, he’ll just pick up the sleeping faunus and head to their room after he’s done hanging out with the older deer.

Lesh hangs up her cloak on a hook on the wall along with a belt holding her weapons. She turns towards Ben to walk to her bed. At this angle he can see her whole outfit. Her shirt was white with puffy sleeves that almost reached her elbow before ending with ruffles. The black choker on her neck that held a yellow hanging jewel, was actually connected to the rest of her shirt. It made it look as if it was the only thing keeping her large boob window to be only a boob window and nothing more. Her purple skirt hung down all the way to her ankles. A dark leather strap with a gray button kept the right side of her dress pinned up. Probably for easier movement. It was also through this that the second layer of white fabric can be easy seen.
Her ensemble of beautiful, layered clothes definitely made her prepare for a future winter. However they weren’t good for airborne or close attacks. Maybe she’s mainly a long ranged gun slinger.

The deer slipped off her tall boots next to the bed, which revealed that those were the only reason her skirt didn’t touch the floor. The human could see more clearly her black thigh high stockings held up by a garter belt.

Lesh sat down next to Ben in front of the fire, “Been to Menagerie before?”

Ben glanced to her, “Hm?”

“Just a conversation starter. For me, despite my heritage, it’s my first time visiting.”

“Oh,” He looked back to the crackling fire, “No, this is also my first time visiting.”

“You should prepare for weird looks, “ She half-joked and pointed to Ben’s hat, “Unless you got little ears under there.”

It took only a second before Ben understood. He was a human heading to an island full to the brim of Faunus. Unlike Beacon and Vale, he’ll be the minority. It didn’t bother him much though, “Wouldn’t be the first time I've gotten looks. It’s relatively normal for me.”

She leaned forward sharing interest in the conversation. Ben noticed and further explained, “I have long hair. People would stare at me trying to figure out if I'm a man or a woman. I'm used to the occasional misgendering.”

Ben looked to Ink and thought back to Team BAI getting ready for the dance together. How he was forced to sit down and Angus excitedly braided his hair while the fox hungirly tried eating it. It was a small moment and he didn’t like Ink doing that… but he cherished that moment. He felt himself smile from the thought.

Ben felt her gaze shift to his hair, “Your hair is very pretty.”

“Thank you.”

She switched topics since the conversation was at a close, “How did you meet your teammates for the first time?”

He really didn’t feel like bringing up past trauma and the fox chase Ink sent him on. He decided to bounce the question back to Lesh, “How about you? Do you have teammates?”

She thought for a moment before responding, “When I was in school I did, but right after we all graduated we all split up and did our own things.”

“Oh, sorry.”

“Not your fault. Plus, We were never really well connected with each other so it was bound to happen. I’m not personally put down by it. Teamwork definitely helps but I’m perfectly fine on my own.”

Ben nodded in acknowledgment, “I am the same. I can fight on my own.”

She shrugged, “The way you sprinted after your teammate says otherwise.”

“Hm?”

“You give me the vibes of a protective mother. You can physically fight on your own but I think you’ll be worrying about your teammates the whole time. So you’ll not be fully mentally in the fight.”

He glanced back down to Ink, only to be surprised by the fox's wide mischievous eyes staring back up at him, “...Mother.”

Ben immediately stood up, and stepped out of the fox’s grasp, “No.”

The fox whined and complained as if the human had kicked him. Ben rolled his eyes as he patted his now semi-dry clothes.

Lesh giggled, “Among jokes the truth reveals itself.”

Ben shook his head. He was protective of his team, sure, but motherly? Absolutely not.

Ink changes the trajectory of his eyes to face the older huntress and seemingly out of nowhere he leaped from his resting place. He opened his jaws to bite the woman but Lesh threw one of her hands up. His snout hit against her hand and he fell back down to the floor squirming and making angry hurt fox noises as if she betrayed him and stabbed him in the back.

Ben motioned a finger to the naughty faunus like a stern mother scolding her kid, “Stop biting people!”

Ink shared an innocent look for a moment, “No.”

The fox launched himself at Ben's ankles and ended up biting one. Unlike the experienced huntress for hire, he still didn’t have fast enough reflexes for the faunus’ animalistic tendencies. Ben grunted and thwacked the fox on his head. The unpredictable creature reeled back and sat on the floor criss-cross applesauce as he further whined from his treatment.

The human looked at his ankle. It bled a little but it wasn’t quite enough for it to scar. Lesh quickly got to the floor to also observe the man’s ankle. She got back up shortly after, “At least he didn’t bite too hard. You’ll be alright.”

Ben nodded before looking to the pouting fox. He pulled the blue squeaky toy from his pocket and chucked it at the fox. Ink’s attitude immediately changed to a more playful mood as he caught the toy in his mouth. His tail proceeded to wag as he vigorously squeaked the poor toy.

The deer seemed to be enjoying the two’s company. Ben stood silently taking in the honestly, weirdly peaceful view. This would have been something much like team BAI hanging out together before the Fall of Beacon. He missed that serene yet chaotic time despite how temporary he knew it was.

He shouldn’t have waited this long to get Angus. He shook his head. No, Ink would have been too stubborn to leave Neptune and he wasn’t willing to leave the fox behind. Plus his dreams reassured him that he was very likely to find the cat boy.

Speaking of dreams…

Ben faced Lesh, “We should really get to bed.”

The huntresses nodded, “True, it is late and you two did fight off a grim earlier. Have a good night huntsmen, I’ll be in my room if you need any help. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Ink, upon hearing this, stopped squeaking the toy and immediately barreled under Lesh’s bed before anyone could stop him.

“Ink!” Ben called out with an apologetic look to Lesh. They didn’t know this woman very well so the human didn’t want to bother her.

Ben leaned down enough to see the fox boy’s yellow eyes glint in the darkness, “It’s time we go to our cabins.”

In response he got a toy squeak. This was like dealing with a feral toddler. He took a deep sigh and crouched. Now he could see Ink a little more. He simply held out a hand and motioned for the faunus to come out.

Ben stayed silently in that position until suddenly the fox boy’s hand flung out from beneath the bed and gripped his ankle. The human looked at his hand, “....So are you going to come out?”

With no response the team leader stood up and started walking away. This slowly dragged the fox faunus from beneath the cabin bed. Besides from holding on, the only other thing Ink did was continue to occasionally squeak the toy.

Lesh laughed at the silly boys as Ben dragged Ink out of the room one step at a time.

It was an awfully long walk to their cabin in the small hallway. He was lucky that most passengers were probably asleep by now. He swung open the door and with a few more painfully long steps he pulled Ink into the room.

He closed the door and looked down to the fox that was still holding on, “We are in our room now…. You can let go.”

Ink looked up to him innocently but didn’t release his grip from the human’s ankle.

Ben sighed and was too tired to deal with this. He took another step and flopped the top half on his body over the provided bed.

Ink curled up by his leader’s dangling legs and went to sleep along with the semi-annoyed Ben.

*

Angus’ eyes struggled to open. He saw a blurry figure wearing white, but couldn’t open his eyes wide enough to see. So he closed his eyes and let his body take him back to sleep.

He’s not sure when he woke up from there but when he next came to, his eyes were equally heavy. No, not just his eyes, his whole body felt heavy. He fought against his eyes trying to bring him back to sleep but failed.

The very next time he was able to open his slightly less heavy eyes He was eventually able to win and the blurry room he saw before was now clearer. Although not before the bright white lights attacked his eyes.

The room had nearly white walls. To Angus’ left, which he was already looking at, there was a chair, a table full of medical do-dads and holographic monitors holding all sorts of information. One of the monitors was paused on a recorded fight of the doubles round of team BAI vs SSSN and he could hear a machine beep every so often. This didn’t look like any room he’s seen before.

He turned his attention to himself, he was under a soft white blanket. There was also something on his face, after a second he realized it was forcefully supplying oxygen.

He lifted one of his heavy arms to touch the gray plastic. He whined to himself. He wanted it off. He lifted his other arm to do the same. In a struggle to get his strength back, he was fighting the mask for a pathetically long thirty seconds. He managed to eventually overpower the damn plastic and he threw it to the floor. It made a tiny clank sound against the floor, but it scared the cat boy because he forgot how quiet the room actually was.

He went to sit up. As he raised himself ever so slowly he could feel something move with him on his back. It seemed to be stuck to him. Maybe it was another medical do-dad. After sitting up completely the blanket slid down revealing the dark gray and blue hospital gown he was wearing instead of his normal clothes. Ignoring that he put a hand behind his back feeling against the metal thing past his long hair. He could feel his back’s soreness when he touched it. It started kind of like the start of the letter ‘T’. The vertical portion extended all the way down his back and ended right above his tail. It feels weird. The faunus fidgeted with it trying to find a good corner to grab. He failed to find one and shortly gave up.

He looked to the room again, the bed he was sleeping on was pushed against the wall. Across the room to the left was the door. An exit. Leaving. Beacon. Wait- Beacon. What happened? Where’s Ben and Ink? Where is he?

His mind started to spiral as he slowly remembered. Ben…. was he hurt? Did Ben ever find Ink? What if they didn’t and he was the only one who somehow survived? Where is he? Where are they? What happened?!

He shook his head but he only kept thinking about his teammates. He needed to find them. Maybe they are around this place?

He looked back to the door, and slowly went to move his legs. The left one slid down touching the cold tile floor then the other. The cat boy took a breath. Just moving his body was taking all of his energy and he didn’t feel used to being on his feet.

With some mental preparation he quickly pushed himself off of the edge of his bed and stood up. He had a good second before he felt something was wrong. He felt as though some of his spine’s vertebrae collided and slid unexpectedly. He keeled over on the ground with a scream ripping through his unaccustomed throat. His back felt as if it was burning but not by fire. The pain only bloomed and continued as the scream eased and was replaced with pained whines and grunting.

His forehead touched the floor as he wrapped his arms around himself subconsciously. Maybe as a sense of comfort despite the increased pain from pulling on his back. He knew this familiar pain.

He shaked remembering being stuck under debris. He couldn’t move no matter what he did. He couldn’t breathe no matter how hard he tried. All he could do was lay there as the weight increased and pain grew. He remembered being under the feet of grim preparing to consume him as it’s next meal.

He could feel it all over again. His breathing picked up. He couldn’t breathe. He gripped his throat with his eyes widening. He panicked and started to cry as he attempted to make himself breathe again. But it wasn’t working. He can hear himself hyperventilating. It wasn’t working. Nothing was working! Why can’t he breathe?!

He cried out again from fear and pain as he heard a mechanical noise from the direction of the door. He felt tears start to fall as someone ran over and grabbed his shoulders. Ben?
Angus was lifted up by these arms. He yelped in pain as his spine moved with the rest of his body. His eyes met with the concerned green eyes behind rectangle framed glasses. He had blue hair and a long white coat. This wasn’t Ben.

This man proceeded to hurriedly grab a medicine bottle from his coat pocket and pop the lid off with his shaky hands, “Here, take this. It should help with the pain.”

He handed over a white pill. Angus looked to the pill hesitantly. Who is this man? Why is he giving him random pills? Is he a doctor? If Ben were here… he would know.

With the increasing pain, the questions started to matter less and less. He snatched the pill and swallowed it down as fast as possible. He still breathed heavily but was put a tad more at ease with the idea of not feeling as much of this familiar pain.

The man smiled, “I’m sure you have a lot of questions… but uh… ”

He slid over to the cat boy’s left, sat next to him, and quickly pressed something on the metal thing on his back, “What do you see?”

Angus choked a little on his tears as he felt his vertebrae slowly move, “H-huh?”

It was still painful but something was pushing his spine back together. The cat grunted a little.

“Name some of the things that are around you.” his savior continued.

“What?”

The doctor pointed a shaky finger to the mask Angus threw onto the floor earlier, “For example, I see a gray oxygen mask.”

Clarification wasn’t actually what he was looking for. He wanted to know what the bluenette did to his back, but didn’t feel like fighting the natural conversation. Despite only just waking up, he was exhausted.

“I- uh,” The cat boy looked around the room unable to identify much, “I see the floor.”

“What’s it made of?”

“It’s made of f-floor… Cold tile, I guess.”

“Alright, now name something else.”

Angus looked around the room, before his eyes landed back onto the monitor he saw earlier, “I s-spy with my little eye Team BAI vs SSSN. It’s a paused recording.”

“That fight… was it fun?”

“Hm? Yeah, it was.. I-I remembered being proud…” The cat wiped his eyes with his hands and laughed a little, “I also remember exploding twice.”

The conversation continued for fifteen more minutes on the floor between the two. By the end of it, the cat boy stopped having a panic attack and was breathing normally. Plus the bonus of not being in pain anymore. Thank you, medicine.

The doctor stood up adjusting his glasses. He held out a hand for the faunus to shake, “My name is Dr. Indago Sunshine. I’ve been assigned as your caretaker and general doctor until you make a full recovery.”

Angus hesitantly grabbed the Doctor’s hand, “Uh… Angus.”

Dr. Indago hoisted the cat off the floor. Angus almost fell back over but the doctor grabbed one of his shoulders again and slung the other behind his back to evenly plant him against the floor.

The faunus pulled away from the human’s hands, “Where are we? What’s with my back? W-Where’s my team?”

It wasn’t that the cat didn’t trust the man, he just needed quick answers and to get back to his team ASAP. f*ck recovery.

“You are currently within Atlas walls.”

“A-Atlas?! How the f*ck?! Is my team here at least?”

“No, currently the whereabouts of your team are unknown to everyone in Atlas. They are not here.”

Angus held a half defeated look for a moment before a look of determination took over. He looked at the door and started walking. After a second, all of a sudden, he was looking at the floor and the doctor caught the back of his hospital gown to prevent him from falling to the floor completely.

The doctor pulled him back up to a steady standing position, “I understand you want to find them, but how do you expect to get to them when with your current condition? you can barely walk.”

His cat ears flicked over before his eyes, “What even is my ‘condition’ exactly?”

Dr. Sunshine led the fanus back to his bed, and the cat boy sat down without a fight, “I don’t know a lot of the specifics, especially since I was assigned to you after the surgery.”

Angus’ eyes widened as a hand flew to his back to touch the metal thing.

Indago nodded, “Recognize your back doesn’t hurt as much anymore?”

The cat boy nodded. Now his back doesn't really hurt, it just feels a tad weird and tingly, like something was trying to tickle his spine.

The doctor continued, “For most people or even experienced huntsmen, they would have died under your circ*mstances; spine crushed, suffocation, but that was of course if you can survive the lungs and other organs popped from the weight. But against all odds, you survived.”

Angus watched as the Dr. Indago leaned closer with curious enlightened eyes, “But I have a theory for why.”

As if seeming to be forgetting he was talking to a patient, the human’s face lit up and he continued to pace the room as he excitedly explained his theory, “As I observed from your fight during the tournament, the announcers explained that your aura allows you to take a ton of damage. Of course this was why you survived two point blank explosions with less taken aura damage. And- oh- I’m getting off track…”

Indago stopped pacing and turned back to Angus clearing his throat a tad embarrassed, “Your semblance prevented you from dying, but did not prevent you from taking damage even when your aura broke. I’m sure if I just asked someone who did the surgery they would confirm it for me.”

Angus itched his chin, “You… uh, still didn’t explain my condition…”

Dr. Indago Sunshine rubbed the back of his head, “Oh… yes, uh… your spine got pulled apart by the vertebrates. That technology in your back, when turned on, uses gravity dust and magnets to pull them back together.”

The human used his hands to motion the vertebrates coming together, “But of course this technology was not immediately available so it took a while.”

The catboy tilted his head, “So I was able to just survive my spine being pulled apart? That’s kinda badass.”

“Uh- not exactly. You needed immediate medical attention but we didn’t have anything at the time. I’m not sure how but they put you in like a uh… cryostasis… if you’ve ever watched Star Wars.”

“Huh?”

“Uh- oh that’s right! That movie only came out last year, you wouldn’t know of it. Basically you were frozen but stable.”

“Is that why I feel so… sluggish?” The fanus moved his arms up and down for emphasis.

The doctor stepped back and sat down in the black swivel chair in front of the monitors, “Maybe. Sleeping for almost two years and going through surgery immediately after will do that to you-”

“What?!” Angus leaped up to his feet in response, which was a poor decision as he almost fell to the floor again. He quickly sat back down before he actually fell over.

The doctor turned in his chair to the monitors, “I know you might have questions… so if you have any, throw them at me.”

The cat was quick to take the offer, “When can I leave?!”

The doctor started moving his hands across his keyboard typing something out, “Depends on your recovery process.”

“How do I recover?”

“Get you used to walking, running, and easing into your new life with the mechanical support.”

The faunus lightly held his own fist, “How is Beacon?”

Dr. Indago Sunshine’s fingers stuttered along a few keys, stopping for a moment before he continued writing, “Beacon is…”

Angus knew something had to be wrong if the human had to think of the words.

The doctor pressed one last key signaling something was sent before spinning back around to face the cat boy, “Don’t worry about Beacon for right now.”

The fanus let his body slump, “Bruh.”

“What?”

“Has ‘Don’t worry about it’ ever worked on anyone you’ve talked to Doctor?”

Indigo grew flushed with embarrassment. It looked as if the man shrunk in his chair a little, “I- uh… I guess not?”

“What happened to Beacon? … Is everyone safe?”

“Well I don’t know of anyone else from Beacon that needed to come to Atlas. Beacon itself though is… no more.”

The cat boy’s eyes widened once again from knowledge. He silently pondered about the safety of his friends… Team JNPR… RWBY… and then about his own team; Ben, and Ink. They were all strong warriors but…. There was a feeling. Call it a gut feeling or Intuition, but something happened to them all, he knows it.

The doctor suddenly stood up and switched topics, “Any other questions? Oh- Are you hungry?”

“I can’t think of any other questions… also no, not really. If anything, I feel tired.”

Indago nodded in acknowledgement, “Understandable, your body isn’t used to waking up and moving around yet. Take a nap I’ll wake you later for food. Although be warned the cafeteria is closed and I only have cup noodles.”

The doctor waved and took his leave through the door. The cat boy curiously watched the door slide open, then closed. Maybe it detects movement and moves?

Angus shook his head and decided how the door worked didn’t matter. What did matter was his friends. A lightbulb seemed to go off in his head… only to fizzle out seconds later. He could have asked his doctor if he had his scroll… but the doctor already walked off and he’s not sure when he’ll be back.

He sighed but another lightbulb went off: the computer! He looked at the green and semi-transparent screens. He could pull up Beacon’s Team Aura app!

…Wait… what was the password?

Angus groaned annoyed as he flopped against the bed. He ignored how the metal pushed into his back as he bashed himself in his head for never remembering his damn passwords. Normally Ben would remember for him… but he doesn’t have Ben right now does he?!

He sighed and then yawned. But… in a situation like this… he knows Ben would rather he rest then fight. He curled up upon himself getting comfortable. He’s already determined to get back to him and Ink. He closes his eyes and thinks about them until he goes to sleep.

*

The bright sun shone upon the human and the faunus walking off the ship onto the pier of Menagerie. The village bell tolled at it has just hit noon.

Ben was thinking about his dream as he walked. He was by himself shoveling through old crates and empty boxes. He was clearly looking for something but he didn’t know what. A small glimpse at the window suggested that it was at least snowing outside. Winter? That’s a while away. The building itself from what he remembered felt bleak and old. What was he searching for? And so urgently?

With no determinable answer, he supposes he’ll just have to wait for an alternate future of that moment to play in his dreams.

Ink excitedly ran to Blake and Sun who were in front of Team BAI talking to each other. He jumped and landed on the unsuspecting Monkey fanus. They both fell to the floor with the heavy fox sitting on top of Sun, “Hey! Hey! where’s Neptune?”

Sun managed to get up from underneath Ink, leaving the fox to sit on the platform, “Sorry Stowaway buddy, he’s not here.”

Ink tilted his head,” But your here….”

Blake, who had been standing nearby waiting for Sun, answered for him, “Neptune is scared of water, remember?”

The fox deflated a little as he pouted. No boy toy.

Ben finally caught up with his walking speed and stood behind Ink, “We should all finish getting off, we are blocking other people.”

Ben jumped a little as Lesh spoke from behind him, “Yeah, it would be rude to everyone else.”

The human turned to face her, he was unsure how he didn’t hear her. The fox pointed at him and laughed, “Hahahaha! f*cking puss*!”

Ben glared at him, “Get up, let’s go.”

The fox got on all fours and trotted off the ship before everyone else. He sat and waiting for the others. Blake, Sun, and Ben all got off around the same time with Lesh following after Ben.

The human leader turned to the cat girl and monkey boy after everyone was out of the way, “How are you guys? Me and Ink slipped away before we could ask.”

Sun pointed at Blake with a sh*t eating grin, “following Blake.”

At the mention of her name she rolled her eyes at him and kept walking. Everyone followed in response except Lesh who went off to investigate a vendor.

Sun, Ink, and Ben all looked around as they walk to the various people and the tropical vibe everything gave off. Ink and Ben did get some wondering eyes looking back at them but it was due to Ben being human and the fox was on all fours.

Sun spoke about all the people first, “I’ve never seen so many fanus in one place!”

“This is the one place everyone can feel safe, no matter who or what you are.” Blake said.

Ben assumed that last part was specifically said for him in case he felt weary about the eyes. He didn’t but appreciated the notion.

Sun continued in awe, “Wow… sure is crowded, huh?”

Ink semi drooled, “So many biteable people….”

Ben looked to the fox with another glare, “Don’t.”

Blake sighed, ignoring Ink, “Yes. Yes, it is.”

Sun avoided bumping into someone holding a crate, “Is it always so… cramped?”

“Well, when you try and take an entire species and put them on an island that’s two-thirds desert, yeah, it tends to be cramped.”

While Ben enjoyed the historical and geographical reminder he wanted to ask Blake if she knew where they could stay until they got on another ship.

Before he could say anything, Sun continued the conversation, “You guys have that much more space? Why waste it? A little desert never hurt anyone!”

Blake quickly informed him, “It’s not like the desert in Vacuo, Sun. The wildlife here is more dangerous than most other regions.”

“So, they gave us a terrible island in the corner of Remnant to try and shut us up…” Ben was sure Sun meant it as a question but it didn’t come out like one.

“That’s a pretty good summary, yeah.”

Ben was finally able to cut in, “Blake, do you know where me and Ink can stay for a few nights?”

Everyone went up a set of wide concrete stairs as she pondered for a moment, “I haven't been home in a while so I’m not sure.”

Everyone made it to the top and was able to see all of the beautiful architecture and landscape. Sun was struck with awe, “Whoa. I take it all back. This place looks great! Why would anyone want to leave?!”

The cat shook her head, “That’s not the point Sun! We asked to be equal, to be treated just like everyone else. Instead, we were given an island and told to make do. So we did the best we could. We came together and we made a home where any faunus could feel welcome. But this island, this town, will always be a reminder that we’re still not equal. That we’re still second-class citizens.”

Sun put a hand on her shoulder in response to her disappointment, “Well, hey, this guy’s feeling pretty at home.”

Blake looked ahead, “Well… time to go home.”

Sun pulled her closer, “Oh, yeah? Which one’s yours? Can you see it from here?”

“Kind of.”

Sun started pointing around, “Is it that one?”

Ink’s eyes locked on a target and he started bolting cackling.

Sun pointed to another and Ben started running after the fox, “What about that tiny one down there?”

Ben yelled out to his teammate, “Where are you going?!”

Ink loudly proclaimed his schemes, “I’m gonna piss on someone’s house!”

“NO!” He continued bolting after the childish fox.

He looked around at all of the other buildings. Knowing the fox he would probably go for the largest or most beautiful house. Only one house fits that description the most. Directly ahead down the concrete path was a large white house. In fact It was the only white house. Oh god if he pisses on it it’ll be yellow. He wished he could run faster than the feral creature.

Half way down Blake must have realized what Ink was doing because she yelled out, “Don’t piss on my house!”

This only made the fox somehow run even faster. He ran up the wooden porch steps and went to whip out his dick right in front of the large wooden doors.

Ben shortly caught up to him and wrapped his arms around Ink before the fox could release his stream of liquid gold. He leaned and hefted the feral one back and they both fell down the steps. Blake and Sun caught up shortly after.

Ink squirmed and made whining fox noises in Ben’s arms. He growled a second later, “I WANT TO PISS ON THAT HOUSE!!”

Ben held on tighter and threw him away from the house, “No!”

Blake glared down at the faunus and repeated herself, “Don’t piss on my house!”

The fox continued to whine very loudly as if he was a toddler and you just took his favorite toy. Sun started shushing Ink, “Shh! Shh! It’s okay!- Uh- I’ll let you piss on Neptune’s house!”

Ink stopped whining and stood up immediately, “deal.”

The fox whispered to himself, “Then… the moon.”

Ben stood up and bonked him on the head very annoyed, “Would you put your dick back in your pants?”

The Faunus pouted as he put his weiner away in front of everyone.
Everyone turned to the sound of the large door being opened. An older cat women leaned out from beyond the door, “What the hell is-”

Her yellow eyes went wide as they landed on Blake. The woman stepped out fully and stepped forward, “Blake?”

Blake’s ears dropped as she awkwardly waved, “Hi, mom.”

Blake stood with slight tension as her mom came even closer and wrapped her arms around her daughter in an embrace, “Oh, my baby girl.”

After a stunned second Blake hugged back.

Everyone heard a larger masculine voice boom from inside, “Kali, who is it?”

Ben noticed the man looked kinda human besides the unnatural amount of fur growing upon his bare chest. He looked intimidating, but the look on his face softened into surprise as his eyes landed on Blake. His face twisted into a loving smile, “Come inside.”

Kali, Blake’s mom, turned to Sun, Ben, and Ink, “You guys as well. Come in and be our guests.”

*

They all sat around a low square wooden table on mats. Due to the amount of people, there were too many for everyone to have an equal side of the table. Blake’s mom sat closer to who turned out to be Blake’s dad and Blake sat closer to her mom, Sun took the space on the other side of Blake, And finally Ben prevented Ink from sitting next to the father. He absolutely refused for the fox to start his tomfoolery in front of who Ben suspected to be a very important person.

The mother put down her cup of tea, “We were horrified when we heard the news. The Kingdom of Vale wasn’t perfect, but it certainly didn’t deserve what happened.”

Ben noticed Ink was drinking the tea but holding it up to his mouth and using his tongue to pick up the liquid. The fox was surprisingly calm and collected… which meant the human had to keep an extra eye on him.

She took a relieved sigh, “We were both so worried.”

The father crossed his arms with a laugh, “Please, I knew she’d be fine!”

Kali immediately shut down the idea, “That isn’t the slightest bit true. You should’ve seen him pacing.
Sun reassured them, “You guys have nothing to worry about. I’ve seen your daughter in action before! And trust me, she’s got some moves!”

Blake almost spat out her tea and Ink snickering was muffled by Ben’s hand, other than that a stage of silence passed before anyone said anything.

Sun didn’t notice that he said anything off or wrong until Blake’s dad leaned more towards the monkey’s direction, “And what exactly do you mean by that, Mr. Wukong?”

Sun put a hand on the back oh his head while he clamored for how to explain himself, “I, uh… well, you see, sire, it’s just that… you know, she’s such a good fighter and all, uh, and as a fellow fighter, i have a lot of respect for her. And her fighting- but also her.”

Ben caught Kali leaning closer to her daughter, “Why are they all here again?”

Blake shrugged, “They all just kinda followed me home.”

Ben had to keep his hand over the fox’s laughing mouth despite the pawing at his hand by the creature. The two watched and listened as Sun kept digging his hole deeper and deeper with every word until he finally stopped and poured himself some more tea to change the topic, “This tea is really good!”

Ben smiled. He thought this was funny too. He wanted so badly to say ‘L’.

The funniness ended when a loud knock echoed into the room.

The father curled a fist, and slammed it against the table, “Darn it, I completely forgot about the meeting!”

The mother putting a soothing hand on top of his fist, “Ghira…”

Ghira looked up to her, “Give me a moment.”

The man stood up and started walking over towards the door. Ink watched and was ready to follow him but Ben grabbed the back of his bandana.

Blake looked to her mother, “Is everything okay?”

She responded with a bit of a forced smile, “Yes, dear, just poor timing. He can reschedule. It’s just been hard dealing with them lately.”

“Dealing with who?”

As if nothing was wrong the mother responded with, “The White Fang.”
Everyone jumped up from their seats with an audible response. Both Sun and Blake called out, “What?!”

Ink growled, placing his right hand on the handle of one of his sickles. The fox remembered the rage he felt when his leader’s eye was shot. He remembered chasing them down at a speed he had never gone before. He remembered the pleading screams of the member just to say he was on his side while he drove his sickles repeatedly into his flesh until he flopped over dead. He remembered how quickly the warmth of the enemy faunus disappeared while he and his weapons basked in the victory blood from the revenge killing. If they were under threat of the White Fang again, he wouldn't hesitate to kill them.

Ben called out, “sh*t!”

The human turned to face the direction of the door with a hand hovering over his scythe resting on his lower back. It was probably just his subconscious but he thought he felt something in his blind eye. He couldn’t help but remember back to the Fall of Beacon and the destruction that arised.

Blake’s mother’s face was full of concern and confusion, but Blake and Sun ran out of the room to reach the front door. Ben and Ink followed.

“Dad!” Blake called out.

Ghira turned away from the door and two White Fang members dressed in different clothing than either Ben or Ink were familiar with. It looked a lot more like religious or cult wear.

The father looked to his daughter concerned, “Blake, what’s wrong?”

Upon seeing her the white fang members put their hands together and bowed. The left one acknowledged her, “Miss Belladonna.”

The other one continued, “We had no idea you’d returned.”

Blake stopped next to her father, “What are you doing talking to these people?”

Her dad motioned to them, “This is Corsac and Fennec Albain. They represent the White Fang here in Menagerie now.”

Sun put his hands on his head, “Those psychos are here, too?!”

The fox’s growls grew.
The second member spoke in a calm voice, “Young man, I’m not sure what you’ve heard of our organization, but I can assure you we’re not nearly as ferocious as the media would have you believe.”

Blake was bewildered and angered by this response, “What we’ve heard?!”

Ink held direct eye contact with the second member, Fennec Albain, as his growl turned into snappy bites, “Liars!”

Blake continued sharing similar anger, “We’ve seen firsthand. Your fanatics slaughtered people!”

Ben wanted to observe Corsac and Fennec more closely but with an out of character reaction, Ink stood in front of him protectively.

Ghira turned back to the two faunus men, “What are they talking about?”

The first one, Corsac continued speaking calmly, “Precisely what we came to discuss with you, your Grace.”

Your Grace? Ben was right in assuming Ghira was important then. However, the human lost trust with every word the White Fang members said.

Ben heard footsteps approaching before the mom’s voice, “Is everything all right?”

Sun was now the one that was bewildered, “Wait, you guys seriously don’t know?!”

Ghira turned to Blake, his eyes glanced at the other huntsmen but went back to his daughter, “Know what?”

Blake clenched her fists, “The White Fang was at the Fall of Beacon.”

Ben could sense the Fox’s silent bloodlust. He continued to listen to Blake as he kept an eye on the enraged Ink, “They attacked innocent civilians and they released Grimm into the school.”

The feral fox went to leap at the second member with his hungry jaws wide open. Ben grabbed Ink’s bandana and pulled him back as Ink shared his feelings, “They took Ben’s eye!”

The fox went limp but still glared at the White Fang members with animalistic eyes.

Ink’s sudden outburst made everyone sit in a tense silence. Blake’s dad turned to the Albain brothers, “Is this true?”

Ink started yelling at his leader from the floor, “Let me at ‘em!”

Ben shook his head. He needed information. He understood the sentiment though. He would also rather that the White Fang didn’t exist.

Fennec tilted his head down disappointedly, “Sadly, Your Grace, it is.”

Blake went to step forward, “Don't act like you’re s-”

Her father put out a hand in front of her, “That’s enough…. Explain yourselves.”

The brother’s turned to look at each other before looking back to Ghira. The left one spoke, “Though it pains us to admit it, it has become apparent that the Vale branch of the White Fang is no longer operating under the orders of High leader Khan. Rather, they’ve elected to follow the rule of one Adam Taurus. I believe you’re all familiar with the young adept and his… extreme philosophies.”

“You know, Beacon wasn’t the first time the Fang started shooting up Vale!” pointed out Sun.

The other brother responded, “The High council had their suspicion of a splinter group, but they could not prove nothing until this latest incident.”

Ben thought back to when he first met Angus. If these men were being genuine, that would mean Adam had been in a way following him and the cat boy ever since. Of course there could have been other reasons… This could just be a coincidence.

Blake spoke with venom, “‘Incident’? People are dead!”

“And it is a tragedy. Your Grace, we came to assure that Brother Taurus and his followers do not represent the will of the White Fang.”

Her father got to the real question, “And how can I be sure of that?”

Corsac answered for his brother, “We understand if you bear any skepticism towards these claims. The White Fang’s tactics are admittedly more aggressive since you stepped down as High Leader and became Chieftain of Menagerie.”

Ben glanced at Blake's dad. High leader? Ghira was leader of the White Fang?! He shook his head. No, he probably stepped down years ago. He’s not a threat. Far from it.

Another moment of tense silence passed before the first brother continued, “But this… this is no way to make our message heard.”

The other Albain spoke, “We have ample documentation from the council meeting as well as several strategies to apprehend and punish these strays if you'd care to review them.”

Ghira simply responds, “I will.”

He glances to his daughter, “Another day… I’d like some time to reconnect with my daughter.”

“But of course, your grace. We completely understand. It was a pleasure to see you again, young Blake. We were saddened when we heard of your departure from the White Fang but understand if you can no longer support our cause.”

The other brother jumped in, “It is a wearying fight, after all.”

The cat girl’s ears folded down as she gave one last step forward, “Who says I’m done fighting?”

“Hmm…. If you ever do wish to return, you need merely to come find us. Sister Illia would be elated.”

The Chieftain of Menagerie grabbed both doors and quickly went to bring them to a close, “Goodbye, gentlemen.”

The door closed and Ghira turned to his wife and daughter.

With the members no longer being in front of him Ben let go of the fox. Ink immediately scratched at the door like an angry feral animal. The growls and his actions for a moment made the team leader believe that maybe he was. He gently put a hand on his head and lightly ruffled his hair, “Ink…. It’s okay they’re gone.”

A second passed before the fox calmed down a tad. He was still very clearly angry but he basked in the petting.

Sun looked around to everyone, “So… that was weird. Those guys were creepy.”

Ghira turned to Sun in response, “I really don’t like you.”

Ben noticed Blake give him and Ink a questioning look. He answered the unspoken question, “Trauma…. Don’t worry about it. We will be fine.”

They will be even more fine if he can put a newly made plan into action. He’ll need to find the White Fang but he could ask or pay for Lesh’s help. No matter if the faunus at the door were honest, if he can find evidence of Adam’s whereabouts then he’ll know where to avoid going on their journey to Angus. They might not remember Angus very well after all this time, but they may remember him being the last survivor to an important family. One that treated Faunus like animals and was the number one Sponsor for the Schnee Dust Company.

*

Ben walked along with the two curious faunus. Sun kept looking at all the market stalls and asking questions or complimenting the vendors, while Ink kept almost eating various products. Ben had to pull him away each time the fox’s jaws were about to nab a fruit or knaw on furniture. Each time the fox would squirm and whine like a toddler.

Ben grabbed him by his bandana again right as Ink was about to nab a green apple, “Okay… Ink, are you hungry?”

Sun lightly smacked his belly overhearing the one-sided conversation, “I could actually go for some food too. What are you guys thinking? Oh- I think I saw a sushi place nearby if you guys wanna try that!”

Ink stopped trying to grab the fruit and looked to Sun, “Sure I can eat sushi.”

“Oh cool-”

The fox’s eyes felt soulless and as if there were years of traumatic history and experience, “But only once….”

“... alright… so I guess uh… no sushi then.”

Ben observed his surroundings, and Sun joined him. A cafe. A smoothie shop. An outside bar. There were a few drink places. His eyes finally landed on something that was an actual place to sit and eat. He could smell the chicken dinners and tasty steak and so could Ink who was drooling all over the ground.

Sun nodded, to the building, “Sounds good to me!”

The trio quickly made their way over, their speed was fueled by their hungry bellies.

Ink zoomed to an empty table before the waiter near the front could. Ben was going to follow the fox but he felt Sun grab his shoulder, “Look, the White Fang wear masks here too.”

Ben simply glanced at the White Fang member passing a vendor. If the White Fang are not seen as a terrorist group here, then one being able to walk around in the open like this would make sense.

He nodded to Sun and pulled away. The human proceeded to walk to Ink’s table.

The fox was rubbing his body all over his chair. It gained a few curious or confused looks from nearby tables.

The Team Leader pulled his seat out and sat next to the fox. Sun sat across from Ink and immediately went to start a conversation, “So are you and Neptune like… a thing?”

The fox shrugged and started gnawing on the table as a waitress came by and handed out menus, “Hello, my name is Lilo and I will be your waitress today. I will give you some time to look at our menus. What would you all like to drink?”

Ink looked up to the waitress and randomly pointed at a listed item, “this one.”

The serving faunus leaned over to read where Ink pointed, “Uh… sir… that’s our sauce selection…for the ‘build your own pasta’.”

The fox tapped on his choice again, “Alfredo.”

“Uh,” The poor woman thought for a moment before turning to Ben, “What would you like to drink?”

Ben glanced at the drink options before looking back up, “Root beer, please.”

She happily nodded and wrote it down on a small notebook before looking to Sun, “And you?”

“I see you got smoothies here. What’s your favorite?”

The waitress pondered, “Well, I think I really like the strawberry banana smoothie.”

“I’ll have that one then.”

She wrote down his order and looked back to Ink, “What would you like to drink?”

The fox looked to her, “Alfre-”

Ben quickly put a hand over the fox’s mouth, “He would like water-”

Ink bit his hand in response. Ben grunted a tad, “With a side of Alfredo sauce.”

The waitress accepted this answer and wrote it all down on her notebook, “Alright, I’ll be back with your drinks in a moment.”

The waitress walked away as Ben pulled his hand away, “Won't be my fault if you get nightmares tonight…”
The fox pouted, “Alfredo…”

Ben sighed and looked at the menu, but he looked back up shortly after as Sun asked, “I think the last nightmare I’ve had was Blake and Neptune trying to force feed me an old banana. It was squishy- and overall horrific.”

The human looked back at the menu and mentally finalized his choice before putting the menu down completely, “I haven't had a non future related nightmare in over two years.”

“Whoa. That’s manly.”

Ben shrugged, “Eh, mainly just my semblance.”

“Huh? Oh yeah- what is your semblance? I don’t think I remember you using it in battle.. Unless you secretly were. I wouldn’t put it past a cool guy like you to be mysterious. I mean you kinda already are. You're the mystery man!”

Ben raised an eyebrow, “I am?”

“Yeah man! I legit know like nothing about you. I don’t even think the other guys even know much.”

“L.”

Out of seemingly nowhere Ink grabs Sun’s nearest hand and bites into it. The monkey faunus starts aggressively shaking his hand, “Ow! Ow! OW!”

Ink lets go a second later and goes back to sitting peacefully. Sun looks to the fox confused and bewildered, “I know you bite but what was that, stowaway buddy?”

The fox licked his hungry lips, “I don’t want nightmares and I hunger.”

Despite the fact that he pulled away he stared down Sun with hungry eyes as if he wouldn’t hesitate to do it again.

The waitress walked up to the table and gave everything their respective drinks, she was a tad grossed out by giving Ink a small glass of Alfredo sauce to go with his water but she said nothing about it. Ben noticed the fox immediately trying to lick out the sauce. Sun’s limbs looked to have been saved for another day.

The waitress pulls back and holds out her notebook ready to write down everyone’s orders, “Is everyone ready to order?”

Ben and Sun nodded. Ink didn’t but he held a thumbs up.
The waitress turned to Sun first this time, “What would you like?”

Sun smiled at the working faunus, “I wanna try Prawn curry with pineapples.”

She wrote it down and looked to Ben, “You?”

Ben simply said, “Caribbean jerk chicken.”

She wrote it down and looked at the last person, “And lastly?”

Ink drooled all over the menu as he spoke, “Nachos~.”

She quickly wrote it down. She slipped her notebook away, “Okay, may I have your menus?”

All three gave back their menus, however The waitress held Ink’s saliva covered sheet by the corner, “Okay, I-I’ll put in everyone's orders.”

She gave one last glance to the fox before walking away disgusted by the menu. The fox wagged his tail excited for future food.

Hearing the door open, Ben looked over to see Lesh walk in. Unlike their group, Lesh had a waiter lead her to a table. She was across the restaurant at a two-seat table. The faunus was too busy reading the menu to look at her surroundings.

This was his chance. Ben stood up from his seat as Sun asked, “Where you goin’ man?”

Ben kept his eye on Lesh, “To talk to someone.”

He walked away from the table towards Lesh. It was only when he pulled the seat across from her did she look up from the menu, “Oh, hello again, Ben!”

The human sat down, “I wanted to hire you for something.”

“Oh?”

Ben put down a small bag of Lien on the table, “I need you to investigate the White Fang for me. I need evidence that either the White Fang are lying about who they are here in Menagerie, or evidence to show Adam Taurus’ whereabouts.”

“What do you mean by lying? I thought the White Fang, although a tad sketchy, were just a group fighting for rights?”

Ben shook his head, “At least those led by Adam are not who they say they are. He changed the Vale branch into a terrorist group.”

Lesh took the money bag and looked inside, “Terrorist group? Are you sure you don’t want me to try taking them down? I am a full fledged huntress… uh, no offense.”

“None taken, and yes, I’m sure. If I'm correct in my thinking then taking down one head will just sprout another. I just need to know where Adam is.”

Lesh nodded, “Alright, where do you want me to find you after i get your information?”

Ben thought for a moment, “Ghira’s house. He let me and my teammate stay there as guests.”

The deer once again nodded, “Understood, I will get your information as soon as possible… after my meal.”

Ben nodded in response and then immediately stood up as he heard a commotion. He turned around to find Sun laying on the floor trying to defend himself from the playfully nipping fox.

He turned back to Lesh, “Enjoy your meal.”

He saw her give a small smile before he turned and walked back to his table. He grabbed Ink from his bandana and dragged him back to his seat. Ben sat back down next to him.

Sun got up from the floor and sat back down onto his chair. He looked to ink, “What was that about?”

The fox laughed playfully but said nothing in response to Sun, instead he looked up to Ben expectantly. Ben sighed and pulled out the squeaky toy and gave it to him. Ink grabbed it with his teeth and gave the toy hell.

The monkey faunus watched the squeaky massacure for a moment before turning to Ben, “So… uh… Who was that, mystery man?”

“A huntress, me, and Ink met on the trip over here. Also stop calling me that.”

“Stop being so mysterious then!” The monkey faunus laughed.

Team leader sighed knowing this new nickname wasn’t going to be dropped for a while, if at all.

Their waitress, Lilo, came back once again, this time not holding anything new other than information, “Excuse me, other customers are sharing complaints about the noise. Could you please keep it down? Or we’ll have to ask you to leave.”

Ben glanced at the whispered customers before slowly turning to the fox who was clearly not listening. The toy bounced in Ink’s jaws as Ben went to reach for it. The human held it still, creating a brief moment of complete silence, “Ink, stop squeaking it or we won’t be able to get food.”

The fox gave the toy one last sad and long squeak from the toy before putting it in his pocket. His leader gave him sympathetic headpats as the waitress walked away once again.

Sun shared his sympathy, “Man, the customers want no fun huh?”

Ink whined and placed his head onto the table next to his tiny empty cup of alfredo sauce. His tongue sadly lapped over the glass again even though there was nothing left.

With that Sun turned to Ben again, “So, planning on taking down the White Fang?”

Ben raised an eyebrow, “The White Fang?”

“Yeah, you got a plan to take them down, mystery man?”

He shook his head. Why would he? They nearly killed him and his team time and time again. He survived by pure luck last time, and he doubts lady luck can do that for him again.

“Wait-wait-wait…. You're not going after them? They took your eye!”

It felt like something snapped. The human slammed his fist on the table, surprising both faunus’, “Ink will die!”

The two looked concerned and bewildered. Nothing was said for a few seconds as Ben unraveled his fist, “...If we attack them now… Ink will die. So no…. We’re not going after the White Fang.”

Ink looked up to the asian, “I’m not a puss*.”

“... I know… that’s the problem.”

Ben didn’t remember the whole dream but he did remember Adam, leader of the White Fang, slinging his sword through the fox before letting his body slide to the floor. His dreams have helped protect him, but he hated remembering them. They were almost always awful.

Lilo came over moments later delivering delicious plates of food to the now quiet table. Besides Ink and Sun talking to each other between bites, no other conversation was had. Ben made himself eat despite his now lack of appetite.

*

The cat boy’s eye cracked open and unlike the expected onslaught of light from the room he had faced before… well there was no light. A quick look to the ceiling shared that the lights were in fact off.

His eyes continued to bounce around and take in his surroundings again. The monitors he had seen before looked different too. Besides a faint green glow illuminating the otherwise dark room, nothing else was displayed. And directly to his left on a mini table that wasn’t there before was an open cup of cup noodles. Next to it was an unopened pair of chopsticks.

One glance at the noodles made his stomach give a mighty growl and not even a thought passed in his mind when his hands grasped the cup. He went to pull the cup to his face but didn’t compensate for his weak hands. The cup slipped away landing on the floor spilling the otherwise cold noodles across the even colder tile.

Immediately tears started to well up. He was very hungry. Even a small whine managed to escape from his lips.

Not giving a sh*t about dirty floors and hygiene he leans over the side of the bed ignoring the soreness of his back and using his hand he scoops the wet noodles into his mouth. Despite the circ*mstances it was the best thing he’s ever tasted. He kept eating the noodles like this until every single noodle made it into his mouth.

After a full and satisfied belly he rolled back onto his back. What now?

His eyes glance around the room again. It must be night out or something if his Doctor isn’t here and the lights are off.

His eyes once again landed on the door. Well, Indago wanted him to recover right? Surely stretching his legs and walking around will help.

With a mischievous smile he pushed his upper body up from his bed. His spine and metal support bent and followed his movement with a slight whir. Unlike when he was talking to Dr. Sunshine his spine felt weaker or less intact. Was something wrong?

Nah, he just wasn’t used to it… yeah.

Angus slid his feet off of the bed one by one. Each stepped onto the floor carefully avoiding the noodle juice that had seeped into the tile cracks. With extra preparation he pushed himself off of the bed onto his feet. The cat stumbles a tad since he’s not used to his feet before being able to stay up completely. Well as complete as he can when he’s undesirably hunched over and almost at risk of falling to the floor at every second with wobbly legs.

With will power and determination he waddled his way over to the door. Each step made his spine shift uncomfortably. He was still under the pain pill but the faunus could tell the effects were waning.

By the time he had reached the door he was about to fall over. He placed his hands against the door for support but all of a sudden he heard a quick bzzt and he fell to the floor anyways. He looked up from where his face met the tile and found the door opened automatically. Huh, kind of funky.

His used his arms once again to help push himself to his knees before once again using the wall to help hoist him up.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Came a voice down the hall.

Angus’ ears flicked over first before he faced them. The man wore a white and blue uniform much like the Atlas guards that helped fight against the monsters during the fight at Beacon. He held his gun angled downward, with one hand holding the handle and the other with the barrel.

The guard started stalking closer, “What are you doing out of your room?”

Wait, were there guards meant specifically for guarding his room? Why? He’s just a patient. Wait- no will this guy prevent him from leaving? The cat growled at the thought of being stuck in that room all… day? Night? What time was it? Didn’t matter, doesn’t change his goal either way.

Taking a breath he pushes himself off of the wall he was using for a little boost before doing his best to run down the hall away from the guard. Angus could hear the guard yell out, “Come back! Get back to your room!”

“No way in hell loser!” The faunus laughed as he continued down the hall.

He made a turn as he heard the guard from before talk into something, “Project E.D.M.E. has left their room and run off.”

He continued down the next hall only to slow from his spine. It felt like whatever was holding his back together was dissipating. Maybe it was the dust inside, who knows. Whatever it was, it was clearly an important component. He grumbled and wrapped his arms around him at some half assed attempt of supporting himself.

All of a sudden he can hear the slight rush of a group of guards from the other end of the hall behind the corner. Uh oh they are going to find him.

He quickly looked around for somewhere to hide. Unlike his room, the room next to him had large windows. Inside an old woman laid upon a bed seemingly asleep. Well they wouldn’t expect him to hide somewhere with windows like these. It’s perfect.

With waning energy and pain starting to threaten to come back, he hobbled his way to the door. He leaned on it only this time only his shoulder. The door slid open seconds later and he was able to fall into the room. The door closed quickly after.

The door apparently closed just in time as the Faunus’ ears picked up the guards coming by. He was right, they didn’t even give a glance to this room. He silently cheered to himself, enjoying his small victory.

But now what? The pain was starting to bubble up and he was just laying on the floor of some random woman’s room. He wrapped his arms around himself with a small hiss. He rolled over onto his back. Maybe if he laid flat like this it would hurt less?

“Are you alright?” A gravely feminine voice came from behind him.

He flinched as he was caught off guard. He thought the woman was asleep. He looked as far back as he could and from here he could see the old woman look at him with a kind and curious face. She asked another question, “You're not supposed to be here, are you?”

“Uhhh…” His voice trailed off, “...You're not gonna snitch on me are you?”

The old woman gave a weak laugh, “No little one, I won’t.”

Still holding onto himself he rolled to his side before using his head to get to his knees. He attempted to stand but his spine collided and he yelped in pain. He fell back down to his knees and he pressed his forehead back into the floor.

“Are you the cat Faunus Winter was talking about? You look far more hurt than she let on.”

Winter? Why does that name sound- oh! Winter! Weiss’ sister. Wait, why was she talking about him?

He once again used his head to push himself to his legs. He fell again but this time he flung out his arms and his nails gripped onto the end of her bed. Ignoring the pain and using pure determination he released a pained battle cry as he hoisted himself on the edge of her bed leaving claw marks behind.

Once he succeeded he flopped over with his hands and knees against the bed just left of his covered legs. He was taking breaths and suffering under his tears and sweat. He could feel the old woman pat his head gently. It was as if she was saying ‘good job’.

After a minute of just getting his bearings he looks up to her best he can without moving his neck very much, “Why does Winter talk about me?”

The old woman stops patting his head and pulls her hand back down, “It was on her mind. Plus it helps me get to know her.”

With his arms weak he ends up flopping over onto his side. The pressure on his spine makes him hiss in pain but he asks another question anyways, “Why- hiss ….Why was I on her mind?”

“She was worried is all. It’s not often a friend of your sibling’s gets hospitalized.”

Wait, he was Weiss’ friend? He thought she didn’t like him or at least just tolerated him. Then again they did hang out more before the monster party at Beacon.

Angus decided to change the subject, “What’s your name? Why are you here?... No… uh…. No offense but you just look old to me.”

She gave another hearty yet weak and pained laugh, followed by a series of coughs. His ears folded as he listened to her poor body weaken. She cleared her throat and responded seconds later, “My name is Fria. I am here under government orders. How about you little one?”

He pouted a tad, “I’m not little. I am a big boy named Angus Beef! And I’m a great huntsman!”

She chuckled, “Like the cow?”

He opened his mouth to give a good comeback…. But she wasn’t wrong. He grumbled as she laughed again, “Yeah, sure… like the cow…”

“Ironic considering you're a cat faunus.”

He smiled, “Eh, blame my parents.”

“...And where are you parents Mr. Great Huntsman?”

He sat in thought for a moment, “I don’t know. I don’t know where anyone is honestly. I was dragged here after the fight at Beacon and I woke up… uh… recently? I don’t have any idea of time right now.”

“Well, I’m sure you’ll find them eventually.”

“Yeah… hopefully- wait you said you were here under government orders right?”

She nodded, “For my safety, and for the safety of the people.”

He slightly tilted his head, “Why?”

Out of nowhere he felt all of the magnets stop pulling at once and his spine was no longer being supported by the metal brace in his back. He screamed as all of the pain hit him at once like a broken dam. The scream and surprise shifted his back more causing his agony to continue. Tears made their way down his face as he tried curling up on himself. No matter what he did the pain continued like hell inside his body.

He could feel the old woman’s hands slowly guide him over to her lap and he followed searching for anything to take the pain away. He wrapped his arms around her and clenched onto the backside of her dress as he shoved his face into her belly. It was a desperate plea of comfort even though he knew she couldn’t do anything. He screamed and cried his unending pain into the front of her dress as one of her hands pat his head. Her other hand was lightly going up and down his back to the left of the iron ‘T’. After a few seconds wherever her hand lingered felt more chill, cold even.

Just faintly over his waning wailing he could hear the door open. The cat boy didn’t care if it was a guard who had found him or even his doctor. The pain was unbearable and no other problem or solution mattered right now unless it was going to make the pain stop. What must have been Fria’s semblance was helping the pain just slightly. The chill would wash over the pain in a specific area for a moment as she moved her fingers to another, only for the bubbling searing heat to come back again. His cries turned to hiccups and moans at this point. His voice was surely dying.

Only just barely could he register a familiar voice, “So you wandered here…. Glad to know the intruder was just you.”

An even larger hand patted his head, replacing Fria’s, “Winter, turn the E.D.M.E. back o-”

The pain was too much and he was met with darkness.

*

Ben, Ink, and Sun sat around the little square table again, once more hanging out and drinking tea. Unlike last time though, Ghira and Blake were nowhere to be seen. Instead they talked only to one Belladonna; Blake’s mom.

She took a sip of her tea, “So, boys, what do you think of Menagerie?”

Sun and Ink both responded at the same with Ink saying, “I crave more nachos as a sacrifice” and Sun saying, “This place is great!”

Ben merely nodded as an agreement. Well, an agreement more to Sun than Ink.

Sun kept the conversation going, “The food here is delicious and the stuff vendor’s sell is awesome! People being able to walk around with White Fang masks was a little off putting though.”

Blake’s mom co*cked an eyebrow, “White Fang don’t wear masks around here.”

…What? That’s strange. Something isn’t right.

Sun shared the same sentiment, “They don’t?”

The cat faunus tilted her head as she took another sip of her tea.

The monkey looked to both Ink and Ben with a serious look before bolting out of the room, “C’mon guys! We gotta tell Blake!”

Before the team leader of BAI could say anything, Ink ran after him on all fours barking. He sighed and looked back at the confused woman. He got up from the table as he excused himself, “Sorry about this. Thank you for the tea.”

The human went to follow the troublesome Faunus’. By the time he had found and met up with them outside on a balcony, Blake was smacking Sun, “No concept of privacy! No respect for personal space!”

Blake looks down to Ink sitting on the floor by her feet, “You too! You followed him!”

Ink pouted before biting her ankle as revenge for being yelled at. She grimaced in pain and used her semblance to get away with an aggravated grumble.

Sun continued pleading his case, “Look, I promise it was important! We needed to find you so we could talk to you!”

Blake glared at him, “What, Sun? What could be so important that I can’t hang out with my dad?! What could be so important, Ink, that you bit me!?”

Ink shrugged, “I bit you because you yelled at me.”

She glared at the sitting fox before turning her attention to Sun as he spoke, “We were talking to you mom and she said something about the White Fang!”

She shook her head and walked forward holding up a finger, “Stop right there.”

“But-”

She started to mellow out, rather than anger … it was a sense of sadness, “I’m not here to fight the White Fang, Sun. In fact I’m not here to fight anyone. I’m here to figure things out and to see my family.”

In a weird way it hit Ben. He himself was never able to “figure things out” or see his family again. Instead he was forced to hide who he was and figure out new problems as they happened. The last time he was with his family was the night they died. His parents were talking to the head of the Schnee family and he was talking with his sister about how much banquets suck. He regretted saying that. He wanted so much to go back to being able to go to a banquet with her. He missed the rare occasions where they all sat down and played a game together. But once again these thoughts weren’t important to the task at hand. He pushed the thoughts of his late family away as far as he could.

Sun continued to share his point despite her pleads, “Your mom said White Fang members don’t wear masks in Menagerie, but we saw one at the market Yesterday! Ben can confirm for me!”

Ben looked over to Ink who started sniffing the air.

“Sun-”

He turned to face the dark forest he was sniffing at, but it was too dark to see anything with his human eyes.

“Look, I'm trying to help! Ben tell her-”

She was beyond pissed, “I don’t want your help!”

Ink growled, “Someone is watching us!”

A slight gasp sounded from the mysterious onlooker, and it stopped Blake and Sun’s fight immediately. Everyone faced the forest searching and listening for them. Blake gasped a second later, signaling to Ben that she had seen whoever it was.

He didn’t have to struggle for much longer though as a dark figure wearing a White Fang mask jumped up from the trees into the moonlight before jumping across more trees. It seems they were trying to escape after being caught.
Sun was bewildered, “A freaking Ninja?!”

Blake gripped the wooden banister, her claws scratching it, “A spy!”

“But why would-”

Blake leapt off of the balcony to go after them. Despite being against fighting them, she was the first one to go after them. It was ironic. Although, Ben too wished to go after the ninja. Lesh hasn’t contacted him yet. Maybe through this spy he can find Adam’s whereabouts faster?

Ben leapt after Blake, “Stay here Ink!”

“Wait!” Sun called out. But it was too late, the broody cat and the human already ran off.

Sun groaned and went to look over to Ink… but the fox had already jumped off of the banister clearly ignoring Ben’s order, “Oh C’mon!”

Unable to see through the forest Ben carefully followed Blake’s white jacket and followed her path. At least up until they reached a more clear area. Both Blake and the spy had stopped running, holding onto their respective trees. He hopped to the ground immediately pulling out his weapon. The blue dust slightly illuminated his surroundings. He prepared for a fight.

Out of seemingly nowhere, Ink jumped down from the leaves of the tree the White Fang ninja was hanging out on. They jumped away before the fox could land on them, however he fell directly onto Ben.

Ben wheezed for air as he was pushed onto his back. Ink’s paws pressed against his weapon, shoving it further into his chest. Ink’s tongue fell out of his mouth and his tail wagged. He hopped off of Ben and ran after the ninja following Blake and a Sun who was trying to catch up. Ben groaned as he pulled out his inhaler.

A hunt. Prey! It’s been so long since he’s chased down something like this. It was like a game of tag, except the game would end after he caught the sneaky faunus. Well, clearly not sneaky enough if he was able to smell them. Ah the rush was amazing!

His hands and feet collided with the dry dirt ground, kicking up the equivalent of dust as he ran. He looked up to Blake chasing the spy on top of buildings and followed them to the best of his ability. Whenever he lost them he merely sniffed for them.

Eventually the two stopped on top of a building and Sun jumped onto the building behind the spy. The fox quickly looked around for a quick way up as he stood back up.

“Why are you watching me?” He heard the cat faunus ask.

Ink jumped and clawed his way to the roof as Sun called out to the quiet White Fang member, “Give it up! I’m not above hitting a girl you kno-”

Ink got up just in time to watch the woman’s sword turn into an electrifying whip. Sun dodged it and now all three surrounded her.

The almost human looking faunus (the fox couldn’t see ears or a tail) quickly spun around launching her whip as anyone in her vicinity. Sun was struck and shocked by the very end of it as Blake stepped back and Ink fell to the ground, quickly pulling out his weapon as he did.

The fox noticed that Blake didn’t pull out her own weapon. No matter, just means more playtime for the hungry fox. Ink leapt forward off of the floor swiping up with a sickle.

The enemy faunus merely shifted her weapon. The whip coming back together to form a sword. Ink hooked one sickle around the weapon and was intending on flinging it out of her arms however as soon as it hooked she pulled the trigger.

Ink felt his body spasm and teeth chatter as electricity flowed through his body jolting every organ. Angry and still being electrocuted he bit her arm before falling back and regaining his footing. Well as best as he could when her weapon reminded her of the start of the dust explosion he witnessed.

Sun from the floor pulled out his semblance and all four shimmering fake Suns leapt to tackle her down. Right as they did though a stray bullet out of seemingly nowhere shot through the spy’s mask and destroyed a fake Sun. This gave her just enough wiggle room to destroy them with her weapon.

Ink went to sniff the air as he put his sickles together. Unfortunately being electrocuted made it so he could only smell burnt fox. He pouted and as he threw his boomerang he noticed his hand was blue. Distracted and confused he looked down to himself. As he did his color shifted to purple.

Meanwhile the enemy was being bonked in the head by the boomerang, knocking her mask to the ground.

Ink looked up to Blake glaring at the unmasked enemy, as his boomerang came back to him, “...Illia…”

Sun, out of breath, pulled himself off of the ground, “Wait, you know her?!”

Pulling his attention back to the battle the fox pulled his sickles apart and tossed the chain at her. She steps away and whacks him with her weapon. He’s electrocuted once again, this time causing him to slip and fall off of the roof.

Too late to catch himself, he falls onto his head and brutally goes night-night.

*

The cat boy’s eye cracked open once again to see the familiar ceiling. Luckily it seems he’s getting used to waking up.

“Good morning, Angus.”

The faunus turned his head so fast he probably could have broken his neck. He looked to the surprise visitor, “General…. General…. What’s your name again?”

The general gave a slight laugh that showed how tired he was, “Ironwood. I’m General Ironwood.”

“Oh.”

The cat stared at him awkwardly not knowing what to say from here. Does he say anything? It’s not like he knows him very well.

“Excuse me General,” Indago came out from behind the general and came closer to Angus, “how are you doing?”

The Dr. crouched down to his level, “I know you and your body went through a lot when your support…”

Without turning his head he gave a side eye to the general, “failed on you…”

What? What did that look mean?

The faunus used his arms to push himself up, Dr. Sunshine helped him, “Well, I guess I’m better? I can tell the ‘E.D.M.E.’ is back on. Whatever that means.”

General Ironwood took another step forward, “The E.D.M.E. is a glorious piece of technology. It stands for Electronic Dust Magnet Exoskeleton. Developed just for you. Glad to see it working.”

Angus raised an eyebrow.
“Mostly working.” The general tacked on.

The cat boy still gave him a judgemental look but didn’t say anything as Ironwood kept speaking, “I’ve come to tell you to not rush your recovery. You and your semblance is strong, and you helped quite a few civilians with your time at the Fall of Bacon. Even if not the most notable you hold a lot of qualities of a great huntsman. Right now your job as a huntsman is to get back onto your feet. Your energetic escape despite the unease and pain showed me that you're committed. So, I had Dr. Sunshine create a schedule for it. Follow it and you should be up and about in no time!”

The faunus couldn’t help but smile. Despite the half-back handed compliment, he and his skills were acknowledged by a general of all things?! And he’s going to help him recover faster?! This is f*cking awsome!

Angus nodded, “I’ll recover as fast as possible General!”

Ironwood smiled a tad, “Good. I must take my leave now, but don’t enter areas you're not supposed to be in, okay? You won’t be excused next time.”

The faunus saluted, “Aye-aye captain!”

The General left shortly after and the cat boy exploded with excited giggles. The faster he gets better, the faster he can find his team!

…. Wait, he entered an area he’s not supposed to? Does he mean Fria? He’ll ask him next time.

He turned to his Doctor, only to find him not sharing the same excitement. Wouldn’t he be excited for a patient to get better?

The cat boy tilted his head, “Doctor?”

Indago sighed and opened the folder he was holding, “You will start doing stretches and exercises later today at 2 PM.”

“Oh, what time is it?”

“10 Am.”

Uh oh, the doctor isn’t talking a lot or acting like a nerd. Something must be wrong.

“Uh… Dr. Indago?”

“Yes, Angus?”
“Is everything okay?”

He gave a slight laugh, “I’m pretty sure that’s something I have to ask you. I am the doctor after all.”

His face grimaced after saying that. He’s not okay.

“Is there anything you need, Angus?”

“Uh…. no?”

“Alright, you can get up and start moving around a little is you want to wake up your legs, I’ll be back later when it’s closer to 2.”

“Oh… okay…”

The cat boy watched as his personal doctor left the room with none of the energy he normally carried. What happened? Was it about his position as a doctor? Or him as a patient? That doesn’t sound wrong, but he doesn’t know enough.

Deciding to do as Dr. Sunshine suggested he swung his feet off of his bed and carefully started walking around the room.

*

“Owie.” The fox opened his eyes and immediately felt a pounding headache. He sat up slowly holding his head.

Across the room he could hear his leader’s voice, “Feeling any better?”

The fox pouted before looking at Ben standing next to a sitting Blake, “My head hurts.”

The human merely shrugged, “You want pain killers?”

The fox happily nodded, “Yes, I would.”

Ben was taken aback by the fox turning yellow, “I- What?”

Ink looked down to himself before looking back up, “You are what you eat.”

“Who did you bite?”

“White Fang lady. She turns prebby colors. Now I AM PISS.”

Hearing someone wake up the fox turns to Sun laying on a couch across from him. The monkey’s shirt was off and a once white patched laid over his left shoulder, now starting to seep with blood.

Sun looked up and immediately identified the brooding cat, “Blake?”

Ink looked over to Blake as well as she spoke, “This is why, Sun…. This is why I left them all behind.

Sun looked over to Ink then the room, “Wait… where am I? Are we at your parents' place?”

Blake didn’t answer as she stood up and walked closer to him, “I am done seeing my friends hurt because of me.”

“Blake-”

“Shut up!”

Somehow the room felt more silent than before. Only this time heavy with despair.

Blake continued after a few seconds, “Do you think I like being alone? Every day… every day I think about them! Ruby, Weiss, Yang, team JNPR, Angus…. They were my friends! And my team…. I loved them like- I…I love them like i’ve never loved anybody.”

Another second passed before she tacked on, “And I hope they hate me for leaving.”

Sun went to fully sit up, “You don’t mean tha-”

“Yes I do! Everyone thinks that they can help me but they can’t! You saw Illia last night! And she’s not even the worst! …. No, no more. They’re better off without me. I made my choices and I’ll deal with the consequences because they belong to me-”

“You’re not a seer…” Ben interrupted her.

“I… huh?”

Sun joined back in, “You think you're being selfless, but you’re not.”

“Yeah! I got hurt because I was too close to the edge. And I’d do all of that again! It was fun- It’s been a while since I’ve gone on a hunt!” Ink shared with a smile on his face as his fur started turning orange.

Ben walked over to her placing a hand on her shoulder, “I’ve seen the future… and there’s not a single one where your friends abandon you. In fact they’d help you… not because they were forced to but because they love you and they choose to.”

“But- I-I… Yang… she lost her arm because of me…”

“...And I lost my eye because of Angus… but I don’t care. I care for him and even now… the whole reason me and Ink are traveling is so we could have our friend and teammate back. Huntsmen take all sorts of risks.”

Ben leaned down so Blake could see his face, “Blake, we choose this.”

“I know Yang would say the same…” Sun tacked on, “So don’t push us out! It hurts more than what any bad guy could do to us.”

Blake smiled at the words as tears started to well in her eyes. It seems she understands now.

Everyone jumps as the door to the room fell with a massive THUNK. Everyone looked over to see Blake’s parents. Kali lying on top of the door she was probably leaning on and Ghira standing normally looking down to his wife.

Blake’s mom gets up immediately and brushes it off like the door never fell, “Oh! Oh dear! Look at that, they’re all awake! Thank goodness!”

Blake’s dad facepalms, “Kali… please.”

Blake stands up annoyed by the intrusion, “Mom! What are you doing?!”

Kali puts her hands together, “Well, sweetheart, your father needed to talk to all of you.”

“Huh?”

Everyone was brought to Ghira’s office. Blake and Sun sat while Ink and Ben stood. Well… Ben stood, Ink went in little zoomie circles while rapidly changing to every color in the rainbow.

Ghira placed a scroll down on his desk, “A huntress by the name Lesh dropped this off to me. That spy last night, Lesh says they had dropped this running away.”

Ah, that’s why he never saw her today, because she had already completed her mission. Glad to know she managed to find information.

“And I’m afraid you were all right to be suspicious.”
Blake tilted her head, “What do you mean?”

“Adam Taurus is planning to overthrow the leader of the White Fang and stage a full-scale attack on Haven Academy. It would be the fall of Beacon all over again.”

Hearing his name made him flinch. Was that close? He had spies in Menagerie? He was planning to attack Mistral? Where both him and Ink were going to head to tommarow? Were they that close to him the entire time? His grip tightened in his crossed arms as his expression grew grim.

He wasn’t the only one though as Sun said, “Not if we destroy the White Fang once and for all.”

Blake stood up correcting him, “No… we're not going to destroy the White Fang. We are going to take it back!”

No matter her response, it didn’t matter to the human. They were leaving and going to take the shortest route through Mistral. He looked over to Ink. Yes, that will be the plan.

*

Angus was fine doing the stretches and the exercises, in fact it was awesome considering The Ace Ops, who were apparently the best team of huntsmen in Atlas, were even joining him and helping him go “all the way” as one woman put it.

However when his limbs were exhausted, and burning. When the E.D.M.E. was running low on dust again and it started to make his back hell. They still pushed him. When he was on the brink of collapse they kept going, they kept pushing him.

It was only when the Ace Ops were called away to deal with something that he was able to slip away and make his way back to his room using the wall as support.

He entered his room and midway to his bed his legs finally gave out and he flopped to the floor. Despite how dirty it definitely was, the cool tile felt very nice against his otherwise burning and sweating body.

He knew General Ironwood wanted to help him but at this rate it might be worse for him. He sighed and rubbed the side of his face on the floor. At least if the E.D.M.E. deactivates again he’s not planning on moving anywhere.

His ears flicked over to the door as it moved open. Feeling unable to move the cat boy simply asks, “Who is it?”

No answer. Only shuffling footsteps and something being put onto the floor. At least until Dr. Indago comes into few. He looks shaky and more anxious than normal.

The cat co*cked an eyebrow, “Doctor?”

He kept glancing to the door as he leaned down and helped a very exhausted Faunus back to his feet, “H-How far do you think you can walk?”

“The Ace Ops ran me to the ground, I’ll be lucky if I can ever walk again!” The patient laughed.

But Indago didn’t react to the joke. Oh no, something is seriously wrong.

Dr. Sunshine put a hand behind the cat’s back as extra support as they both stood, “Think you can carry that box?”

The cat tilted his head as he peered to the box, picking it up, “Is that… my weapon- is that my stuff?”

“Yes it is. I know you just worked out but I need you to carry that, I need you to stay quiet, and I need you to move quickly.”

“I- huh? Doctor?...What’s goi-”

The doctor quickly shushed him as he led him out of the door. He did as the doctor said as the doctor led him through various hallways he had never seen and carefully evaded the sight of guards or other Atlas personnel.

It was only when they managed to get outside that the Faunus realized he was being taken to a car. That was when he had to run the hardest to evade any peering eyes.

Inside The doctor helped him into the backseat before pulling out his scroll to call someone. Angus let himself catch his breath that he had been trying to catch ever since his workout as the doctor got into the driver's seat.

Indago was the first one he heard talking, “Yes, I made it with the patient.”

“And are you sure you want to do this? You remembered what we were told? You won’t be able to come back Dr. Sunshine.”

Angus buckled his seat and set the box on the floor before laying across the entire backseat. He was preparing himself for what he knew would be harsh back pain.

Indago managed to finally turn the car on as he responded, “Dr. Polendina you’ve been a great friend a-and coworker. Don’t worry… I won’t need to come back. Take care okay?”

“Goodluck. Goodbye Indago.”

“You too. Good luck on your daughter.”

Dr. Sunshine hung up as he started to drive away, “You can talk now but only when the car is moving. I-I don’t want anyone looking inside wondering who I’m talking to. Especially Government Atlas workers.”

The cat watched Indago’s brows furrow in the rearview mirror, “Where are we going?... You're making me anxious over here bro.”

The cat let out a slight nervous laugh which ended up as an emphasis.

The Doctor’s brows unfurrowed as he made a turn, “We are leaving Atlas.”

“Why?”

“You want to see your teammates again… right? That’s the whole reason you want to get better in the first place.”

“I-I do! I’d do anything to be a part of team BAI and have Ben and Ink again!”

Both went silent as the car sat through a red light. It was only after they started moving again did he respond, “General Ironwood is planning on closing Atlas borders and enforcing a stricter hold on Atlas personnel within the next two weeks. It’s better to leave now when he’s not thinking to double check where I am.”

“W-What?! Why is he doing that?!”

“...I…I don’t know, but I do know that my job as your doctor is to help you feel better. And I know that if you stay here, you’ll never truly get better.”

Angus stayed there thinking over the situation and his words until the car was officially parked. The doctor quickly got out and opened his door, “Grab everything, because we are not coming back.”

The faunus nodded as he forced himself to sit up. He didn’t have time for his back to reject his choices. He got out with some help from the blue haired man and the two started walking over to a lone aircraft with an Atlas pilot leaning next to it. He looked up from the lien he was holding, “They’re they are, I was about to start going without you. Got your money?”

Indago fished out his whole wallet, pulled out most of the lien in it, he placed it into the pilot’s open hand, “I do.”

The pilot quickly counted before nodding, “Alright get in. Remember I’ll take you as far as I can, but if we get caught your on your own.”

The doctor nodded back, “I know… thank you.”

The pilot turned around and started heading for the driver’s seat, and Indago led him to the back of the ship. The cat boy’s eyes widened, “Weiss?”

The ice queen sat on top of the boxes and shared the same look, “Angus?”

Indago continued getting him inside, and it was only when the ship’s cargo door closed did anyone continue to speak.

The cat walked closer to the girl, “What are you doing here?”

“I was going to ask you the same thing! … And why are you wearing…” She motioned to the hospital gown, “That?”

He looked down and gripped it, “Ah… I was hospitalized.”

He smiled up to her, only for his body to give out on him. Indago caught him before he fell to the floor.

“Are you okay?”

Angus waved a hand, “Yeah, just ship turbulence.”

“I meant the hospital…”

He moved out of the doctor’s arms and placed his box down, “Yeah, just accidents you know?... Hey Doctor, do you think they salvaged my clothes?”

He didn’t need an answer as he shuffled between jars of gravity dust and pills, and pulled out a button up shirt ripped to all hell covered in dry blood. The cat boy had never smiled so much since waking up.

He quickly threw off the hospital gown as Weiss yelped and looked away. He scrambled to put all his limbs into his clothes as fast as possible before sitting himself on top of a box, “There… real clothes.”

In reality The once white shirt was now yellowed, with particularly whatever was left of the back was covered in dry blood. His scar covered back was completely visible if not for his long hair covering most of it. His black pants were luckily not much in the same position. They were torn in places sure, but his ass was covered and because of the color the dried blood wasn’t as visible. Both pieces laid upon him semi-loosely from all the weight he lost. He still walked around barefoot though as he was never given shoes and his old shoes weren’t in the box. Maybe they weren’t salvageable. Who knows.

The cat boy puffed out his chest with confidence, “How do I look guys?”

Indigo grabbed a container of gravity dust and made his way over to his patient, “Well… uh… you look….”

“Abysmal” Weiss finished for him, “When we land in Mistral you're getting better clothes.”

Indigo sat himself on the box with him and made the faunus move slightly so he could access his back. He moved Angus’ hair out of the way and the cat can feel the doctor pop open a panel. Maybe he was fixing or refueling the machine?

He was proven right when he heard Dr. Sunshine pop the cap and starts pouring the contents inside the E.D.M.E.

Weiss decided to finally call out the elephant in the room, “So… who is that?”

Angus’ ears perked up and he connected the dots very quickly, “This is Dr. Indigo Sunshine. He’s a doctor from Atlas.”

“What’s he doing to your back?”

Oh. Does he share that he’s permanently crippled? Does he share what the E.D.M.E. is and how it works? Would he be seen differently by everyone? Even now slight pain rocks up and down his back and everything in his body is telling him to lay down and sleep. Is this what Jaune felt? Fear of being treated as the weak link? … Is he the weak link?

“He’s fixing my back brace. I got hurt in battle, who would have thought?”

She rolled her eyes, “Isn’t your thing to always get hurt in battle? Clearly it’s caught up with you.”

He rubbed the back of his neck as he tried not to make his laugh sound as nervous, “Heh, y-yeah… It showed me that I needed to stop exploding as much.”

Indago closed the panel shortly after and put the half empty jar back into the box. As he did the cat flopped onto his side, “How long do you think this trip will be?”

Weiss glanced out the cargo window with a sigh, “A while.”

The faunus curled up more on himself, “Cool, I’m gonna nap.”

Indigo looked over to see his patient immediately passed out on top of dust crates. He wasn't sure how he could be so comfortable but then again he’s been through a lot today. Plus he’s a cat. Maybe that has some sort of impact on his ability to sleep in places like this. One could only wonder.

He adjusted his glasses and fidgeted with his hands. What now? He just left his home, his secure job, and all of his friends. Not that he had very many but still. He had already committed but… was this worth it?

….

Yeah, Pumpkin would want this for him. She would want him to be free and be able to do what’s right.

He looked back over to the sleeping cat and smiled slightly. He replaced the image of his patient with instead an exhausted huntress sleeping on his couch. Her orange tail swaying back and forth as she nuzzled her face into his pillows. Her weapon dropped upon his carpeted floor, forgotten for the moment.

He still remembered when the faunus left on her last trip. She had told him that it was very important and she may be gone for a while, but she would send letters when she could. He would appreciate every letter she had gotten. They all described her day. She would often leave out any gory details of classified info, but he enjoyed them nonetheless.

One day though… he sat waiting for the next letter that never came. That was over a year ago. She went silent, and never came back home.

His right hand flew to his pocket, patting it to feel if her last letter was still there next to a small tube of dust and minor pain pills (he got a lot of headaches). When it was, he was put at ease and he pulled his hand away. If something had happened to it, or if he had left it behind, he didn’t know what he would do.

He pulled himself out of his thoughts and sat down on a separate stack of dust cases. Maybe he could take any gravity dust that was in it…. Nah. They already don’t have much of a way to take stuff with them. No point trying to carry more dust when he already filled the box with all the spare dust he could shove inside. That’s not even considering Angus’ weapon, dust case, and pain pills.

“What happened to Angus?” The doctor was surprised to hear the girl’s question.

He went into thought. Angus didn’t tell her the truth about his health and wellbeing. Does he also hide it? …Patient confidentiality is a thing… Does that apply here?

“He had gotten himself into a battle. From what I can assume, his body didn’t like the fact that he took on three massive explosions at once.”

“I hope he gets well soon then… Why was he in Atlas? I thought he would be with his team?”

Uh oh. That’s what this was.. This was to get information. Was it because he was an Atlas doctor?

“I don’t know, he never told me. And I’ve never seen his team, only him.”

She hummed, “I guess I’ll have to ask him when he wakes up… he needs the rest. I’m getting tired looking at him.”

The blue haired man laughed slightly, “Me too… You should rest as well. Who knows when we will reach Mistral.”

She nodded but shook her head shortly after, “No… I’m not tired right now, plus I feel like I need to keep an eye out if something happens.”

He nodded. He understood it. Pumpkin would do the same if they ever went traveling together long distances. Those trips were fun… even if they were for his job.

He glanced one last time to Angus before joining Weiss in sight seeing.

Chapter 5: Volume 5

Chapter Text

Indago rubbed his eyes as he looked away from the floating islands outside. He had taken a nap earlier but he wasn’t Angus who could sleep through anything apparently. Weiss had been awake the entire time, continuing to sit where she was the entire time; on top of a crate, looking outside silently.
He himself was considering trying to take another nap despite the possible inconsistent turbulence and the uncomfortable surroundings.

All of a sudden she moves! The White haired girl he’s been sharing an awkward silence with got off the crate and moved towards the front of the ship. The back doors behind the pilot slide open upon detecting her presence.

She looks to the pilot in his seat and very quickly asks, “Where are we?”

Indigo, also curious, trudges forwards to stand next to her.

The otherwise quiet pilot glances over his shoulder to Specifically the girl, “Nowhere good. Passing by some of Lake Matsu’s floating islands. The gravity dust that forms these things is giving us a little turbulence. Nothing I can’t handle, but the islands sometimes hide some nasty Grimm.”

Maybe that’s why the faunus is sleeping so well? Nah, that’s a stretch.

Weiss started walking up to him as Indago stayed put where he was. Something orange grabbed his attention as the pilot continued speaking, “I’m betting on our friends in distress keeping them preoccupied.”

The doctor quickly identified the orange thing coming at them as the so-called “friends in distress”. The ship was on fire and coming at them fast.

Weiss ended up being the one to yell out to the pilot, “Look out!”

At the last second the pilot jerked the ship to the side and upwards. The doctor fell backwards against the floor as Weiss held herself steady using the captain’s seat.

The sudden turn also moved the boxes. Indago looked over to notice the crates toppled over a tad throwing Angus to the floor. His patient was rubbing his head confused by the sudden rude awakening.

The doctor could hear some sort of distress call coming from the ship's communication system as the ship itself evened itself out. It was too garbled from him to hear it though from this distance.

Angus did though as he immediately brought himself to his feet, “They lost one, but they still have another! They need help!”

The faunus went to his box and immediately pulled out his folded weapon and a white case.

The captain heard the cat, “There’s nothing we can do! We have to get out of here!”
The cat ran over to the window that Weiss had been sitting next to and revving himself up, he threw a punch through the window. The glass shatters and wind rushes in at high speeds, bullying everyone’s hair and pulling at them.

The doctor could tell the captain said something but it was drowned out by the wind. He was going to get off the ground but was entranced by his patient’s bow opening up fully as he clicked something on the case sitting on his back at an awkward angle. Most likely due to the E.D.M.E. poking out of his back.

The cat pulls out two dust crystals as Weiss makes her way over, “What are you doing?! You’ll miss the grimm from this distance!”

The faunus ignored the white haired girl as he loaded the bow with the crystals. Weiss didn’t move to stop him though, probably also hoping that Angus can help the other ship from here.

Mere tense seconds passed before suddenly the crystals weren’t in his bow. The only thing left was a dark purple shimmering in the path the crystals left behind. Wait. Purple? The crystals were red and blue. Mixed together they could be purple. But there was no way for them to mix.

The doctor came to a realization and looked directly at the box. His suspicions were correct. An empty jar rolled around bumping in the box. Angus had covered the crystals with gravity dust.

Dr. Sunshine scrambled from the floor to peer through an intact window next to the broken one. The crystals zoomed through the air, hitting a large wasp grimm preparing to send out its stinger to stab into the poor desperate ship. The crystals explode into an icy-fire abomination. It affects all nearby grim, wiping them from existence. The gravity dust activated during this as well, forcing the ship away from any stranglers, giving them a chance to escape.

Weiss, Indago, the pilot, everyone was stunned into silence from the sight. He had done it. Angus had made the hit. The cat shortly turned around rubbing the back of his head, “Uh… did the uh, ship get away?”

Weiss was pulled back in from her silence, “You saved them! I didn't think it was possible!”

Angus pressed another blue crystal against the frame of the window, it freezes up the opening, forcing the wind to stop assaulting everyone and their ears.

He turned back around to Weiss, “What’d you say?”

“You had to attract Lancers, f*ckin’ lancers!” The captain could be clearly heard now.

The three in the back all looked through the still intact window. Angus may have saved the other ship but it made all of the remaining wasp grim angry. All of the stragglers turned and started making their way to their ship, their red eyes glowing with wrath.

The cat let out a nervous laugh, “Whoops?”

“Buckle up!” the pilot warned.

Weiss grabbed her weapon somehow still leaning against a crate and made her way to the back of the ship.

“What are you doing?”

“What I should’ve done in the first place! You’re carrying dust, right?”

“Officially? No. Actually? Yes.”

The doctor and the cat followed the human girl and watched as she cracked open a case. The Schnee logo was under the lid hovering over the various bullet canisters of dust nestled carefully next to each other. The colors ranged from purple, yellow, blue, to even red.

Angus slapped his hands against either side of his face, “You telling me I was sleeping on top of this sh*t?! I could have refilled my case!”

The doctor stood awkwardly as his patient cracked open another case of dust. This time the dust was in crystal form. The cat had stars in his eyes as a smile reached as far as it could on either side of his face, “Jackpot!”

Indago looked back over to Weiss. She was loading her weapon with the dust she had found, “When I tell you, open the rear door!”

Everyone stumbled as the ship faced more turbulence. It was clear the captain was attempting to move as fast as possible without crashing.

“Make it quick!” The pilot yelled back.

Dr. Sunshine turned back to his patient only to find the cat in his face, “What are you going to do? Do you have a weapon?”

Indago shook his head, “I-I’m not a huntsman. Never have. I can’t really help here.”

The cat shared a devilish grin, “Yes you can~.”

Angus grabbed his hand and pulled him over to another open crate still full of dust crystals, “When the door opens I need you to keep handing my crystals. It would take too long for me to reload otherwise.”

Anxiety picked up for the blue haired man, “O-Oh… okay.”

He was expected to constantly fuel ammunition? What if he runs out? What if he’s too slow? What if he-

And the door drops open. Winds rushes in and Indago looks to the two huntsmen standing their ground. Weiss used gravity dust to stay inside while Angus had frozen his bare feet to the ship. The doctor on the other hand stayed as close to the ship's floor as possible. While crawling around on his hands and knees, he hands over the first crystal to faunus’ outreached and waiting hand.

He loads the yellow crystal in the bow and releases it as Weiss creates a wind attack. Electric jolts get carried by the wind and they simultaneously push the Lancers back and electrocute them. It wasn’t enough as the grim brush it off and keep coming.

Indago is faced with the cat’s hand again and the doctor hands him a blue crystal.

This time when the huntsmen attack, Weiss releases fire bullets, knocking away or killing some of the grim, while Angus freezes them. The gravity dust on the islands keeps the frozen grim from falling into the waters below.

The doctor hands him a fire crystal next. This time the roles are switching. Weiss shoots out icy bullets while his patient catches fire to a small group of them. This time he disintegrated some.

The pilot yells out, “Hold on!”

Before Indago could really readjust the ship violently shifts as to avoid being caught by lancer stingers. He slips and starts tumbling to the open door. Angus throws out his hand to grab the doctor but he misses.

Oh. He’s going to die. This is where it ends. He either falls and his body smacks itself into pieces upon hitting the water, or the grim get ahold of him and tear him appear with their mouths and stingers.

But suddenly the doctor's hand did end up in Angus’.

What? How?

He looked to his patient as he added his other hand to help hang on. Both were bewildered by what just happened. The cat visibly shook the look off his face as he used the strength of one hand to pull the doctor close as Weiss continued to throw attacks to the grim.

The ship suddenly shook again. This time it wasn’t the captain, “We’re hooked!”

Indago looked into the ship as more and more stingers hooked through the hull of the ship.

With no more dust in hand, Angus just kept holding onto the doctor to ensure he didn’t fall out of the ship again.

“I got an idea!” The pilot called out, “Hold on!”

The ship started going faster. Dr. Sunshine gripped into Angus’ arm a bit more.

Shortly the ship made a 90 degree angle and started diving down. Indago screamed for dear life and hoped to God that he and Angus could keep him on the ship.

After Weiss suggested flying between two islands the ship continued to twist and turn. Eventually the doctor stopped screaming merely because he couldn’t scream anymore.

Rocks from the islands tumbled off killing the rest of the wasps that were following him. The ship shot out from the islands it was between. The captain called out with pride in his voice, “We’re in the clear!”

Seeing no more reason for Indago to be latching onto his patient, he pulled away and sat back down by the open dust crate still somehow half full of dust. Weiss, Angus, and him all shared victorious laughs. They live to see another day!

Except. There was still one more grim.

Since Angus and Weiss were turned he saw it first. He grabbed a red crystal from the crate and shoved it into the cat boy’s hands, “Look out!”

Weiss turned around immediately, “It’s a Queen Lancer!”

Angus turned around and immediately loaded it into his bow. They weren’t out of the woods yet.

Weiss shoots out her ice bullets. It did seemingly nothing. Angus releases the crystal and it explodes into a ball of fire against the Queen. Nothing.

In response the overly large wasp; larger than all of the other wasps, Larger than the height of the ship even, shot back with its own bullets. The bullets were mini stingers that shot from its abdomen and two tube like holes at the sides of its head.

The stringers embedded themselves all over the ship. Weiss used dust she had on her to create a wind shield that kept away the onslaught of stingers, Indago was just barely saved by the cover of the crates, but Angus dealt with every single one head on.

The cat boy had raised his arms so they didn’t reach his face, otherwise they had pelted him and his aura down. His aura was still strong enough to deflect all of the stingers. But the doctor already knew that in his current condition, he couldn’t do that again.

With no other options Weiss used her sigils to jump behind all the crates, “Move!”

Indago grabbed a fire crystal before chucking it at Angus’ feet. It caused an explosion, yes, but he needed the faunus to move. Angus gave him thanks, pulling he feet from the melted ice, before grabbing his hand. The patient dragged Dr. Sunshine to the back past all the crates.

When they were ready Weiss cut the rope holding all the crates to the ship before using dust to push out all the crates at once.

With one last use of the life-saving dust, Weiss forced all the dust inside the creates to activate. It created an elemental explosion of fire, ice, electricity and more. A cloud of smoke covered the wasp.

But they still haven't won.

The Queen Lancer made her way through the smoke and looked unaffected by Weiss’ actions. Even worse was the fact that they were officially away from the floating islands. They had no more cover.

“I can see the shoreline! Gods, we’re not gonna make it!” The captain called out.

Indago and Angus could do nothing more than watch the human girl kneel to the floor, pointing her sword down. Sigils appeared in front of her on the floor and ceiling of the ship. They spun fast as an equally kneeling knight seemed to appear from nowhere. It didn’t look like some manifestation from dust though. Not that that was possible to his current knowledge. Was this her semblance?

Weiss yelled back to the pilot, “Pull up, now!”

All of a sudden the ship flipped over upside down. Indago and Angus fell onto the roof as the knight Weiss summoned ran out of the ship.
When the ship turned back over and leveled out the doctor and the cat fell back down to the floor. Indago sat up with Angus’ leg in his lap. He ignored that though and glanced to the girl saving their asses. She was still kneeling, using dust to stay where she was. Her eyes were closed and she looked incredibly focused.

The doctor pulled himself to his feet and looked out the window just in time to see that the Queen Wasp committed herself to one last attack. Her stinger rammed into the very needed engine. It left an explosion shaking the whole ship. The doctor stumbled from the impact and fell back onto the floor.

Alarms started ringing all throughout the ship as it started falling. He looked up to the huntress and she was focusing once again. It seems she had at least one last idea.

With only hope left he turned to Angus. But the cat was not okay. In fact he was gritting his teeth and had his arms wrapped around him. The cat noticed his worry and he gave a shaky thumbs up, “Weiss will get us all out of this. I believe in her!”

And with that, they were no longer in the sky. Indago felt his head hit the floor, and everything went dark.

*

Ben was double checking he had everything as Ink squeaked his toy. They were outside behind a giant crowd listening to Blake’s father give a speech to the people. He shared the White Fang’s plan and who they really are.

None of the words mattered to him. He patted the fox’s head, “Let’s go.”

Ink tilted his head but followed Ben on all fours. He occasionally squeaked his toy as they drew further and further from the crowd.

“I’d like to invite my daughter to come and share her story,” He heard Ghira say from behind him, “Not only as a former member of the White Fang, but also as a survivor of the Fall of Beacon.”

Ben stopped in his tracks as a familiar woman with white deer horns drew closer, “Hello, Ben and Ink.”

He gave a similar hello back. As Ink trotted up to her and bonked his head into her shin, she didn’t budge but did pat his head. The fox circled her happily. Lesh kept her smile as she looked up to him, “Where are you going?”

“We are continuing our journey.”

“You're not going to stay and help?”

“No… It’s not our fight. Plus we have more important things to get to.”

“More important than the lives of innocents?”

Ben opened his mouth but closed it shortly after. It’s true Angus wouldn’t like his decision but strangers were not important to him like the cat was. However… What would Angus do if he found out?

Lesh continued despite not receiving an answer to her question, “You're a huntsman.”

“...I am.”

“So please, don’t walk away from people in need.”

The human sighed and went to keep walking, but yet another thing interrupted him. A feminine voice called out from the crowd, “Traitors! Cowards. After everything the humans have done to us, everything they put us through, you're asking us to help them?!”

Ben turned on his heel to see the White Fang member in the crowd. Most of the crowd, like him, had turned to face her instead of the Belladonna family.
It was just a heckler, he had heard them many a time when he was a kid. This was no different than the people that came to banquets to take free drinks as they insulted his family to their faces.

Besides he knew he and his family weren’t saints. Even if he wasn’t directly involved, his family had indirectly killed and abused so many Faunus. Supported it even through money donations to the Schnee family.

And yet. And yet. His blood boiled with anger. Call it childish, call it immature, maybe he was, he didn’t care.

“Where was their help when the dust companies treated our people like slaves?! Where was their help when the kingdoms hunted faunus for being who they are? Where was my help when my parents died in a dust mine?!”

Ben heard Ink skid to a stop. It seems the fox was listening. That was enough for the human to stomp his way back to the crowd, “The White Fang don’t get to plead for help!”

The woman in the mask turned around, clearly agitated from his interruption. Or for being human. He wasn’t sure, but it didn’t matter. He continued to speak, letting all his anger come out through his words, “They killed innocents! Destroyed homes and ripped families apart! During the Fall of Beacon they hunted down my classmates to kill them!”

She gritted her teeth at him, “A human! Among us! You don’t have a say in this!”

Anger grew. She dares saying that despite knowing nothing about him?! Ignorance!

Ben raised a hand and gently pulled his eyepatch away. What was left was a scar over the eye that had lost all ability to see, “A member of the White Fang almost killed me, and left blind in one eye!”

He put it back on shortly after, “I may be human… but that doesn’t mean anything. Why would you treat me differently for being human? Wouldn’t that put you on the same plane as those who treated you as such?”

He said nothing more, feeling better to share how he felt. Is this what it’s like for Angus? To stand up and share your thoughts?

The crowd started to whisper unsure of who to listen to. Ben turned around to go to Lesh. This time he’s the one to stop. He watched her smile like a parent proud of her kid. He ignored it, “I’m staying…. To help. I can’t exactly back out after saying all that can I?”

She said nothing as she patted Ink again who ran back to her.

… Angus will be fine. He’s at Atlas. The cat can wait a little longer.

*

Indago opened his eyes and slowly lifted his pounding head off the ground. He went to go hold it but couldn’t. He quickly looked down. His hands were tied.

He snapped his attention to a new feminine voice, “Looks like your friend is awake.”

Finally taking in his surroundings. He was in a cage and outside of it was a woman with short hair. She held a co*cky tone as she spun Weiss’ weapon in her hand, “Anyways, don’t make this complicated.”

Then he turned to see Weiss standing next to him and responded to her, “What’s going to make this complicated is when my sister finds out I didn’t make it to Mistral.”

After a second Weiss continued, “You know my sister, don’t you? Special Operative of the Atlas Military? She’s in Mistral now, and when she hears I’m missing, it won’t take her long to find me…and you.”

Oh that’s right. She must be Winter’s sister. He had talked to her before. Nothing but seriousness he got from her though.
He heard laughter. The doctor looked at two… huntsmen? No, that didn’t sound right. Two men behind the woman outside of the cage started laughing and Weiss’ statement.

Weiss didn’t find it funny and she continued to hold her demanding demeanor, “What’s so funny?”

The woman ended up laughing as well, “I don’t know if it’s more funny or sad, but you're clearly out of the loop. Your sister isn’t in Mistral anymore. In fact, no Atlas personnel are in Mistral anymore. General Ironwood closed off the borders and recalled all of his little troops and tin cans.”

The woman came close leaning down and was condescending to the white haired girl, “No one is coming to rescue you.”

The men nearby laughed again as the woman turned around and walked away.

Weiss looked stunned and then saddened. She looked down to her hands.

Not knowing what to do, he stood up and rested his trapped hands on her shoulder. He whispered to her now understanding mostly what’s going on, “It’ll be okay. None of us are going back to Atlas…”

She smiled a tad, “I won’t let them.”

He nodded and pulled away seeing as she wasn’t as let down as he thought. Maybe it was her sister? Maybe he shouldn’t ask right now.

He proceeded to turn around. Angus was the only other person in the cage, only he was still laying on the ground. Was he sleeping again?

The doctor went to stand on his knees and shuffle closer. He found very quickly that the cat boy was awake. Very awake.

Angus had curled up a tad on himself with his face facing the back cage bars. His arms wrapped around himself in a comforting sense. Well the best they could since he was bound too. The doctor couldn’t see most of his face due to his long brown hair but he could tell he was biting his lip as if to distract himself from other pain. His ears were flat on his head, in airplane mode.

The doctor quickly moved the faunus’ hair out of the way to access the panel on the E.D.M.E. as it was most likely in need of a dust refill. Even a simple click to pop it open made the cat boy whine.

As if somehow forgetting she was here, Weiss’ voice scared him, “Is he okay? He looks very hurt.”
He reached a hand into his lab coat pocket, “Yeah, he’ll be okay, he just needs-”

Dr. Sunshine froze. He quickly felt around his other pocket. His letter was there but not the extra tube of gravity dust. He would give Angus his headache meds because at least that's something, but no! They took that too!

“What does he need? Did the crash hurt him?” Worry showed in her voice as she picked up something was wrong.

“I-I…”

What does he do? Can he even do anything?

This time she put her hands on his shoulder. She leaned forward and whispered to him, “I’ll work on getting us out of here, you focus on helping Angus anyway you can.”

He nodded. He doesn’t have the dust or pills, but that doesn’t mean he can’t help.

As Weiss pulled away he grabbed the Faunus’ arm, “I need you to lay on your back.”

Angus didn’t move and only got more tense.

“Please. It’ll help your back.”

The cat boy finally moved and with the help from the doctor he laid against the ground on his back. The faunus did release a hiss of pain but otherwise didn’t find him. In this position he can see the cat’s dirty face was wetted and a tad swollen from tears.

Not knowing what to do he patted the cat’s head and glanced over to Weiss who had sat down. A tiny knife, the size of his index finger was stabbed into the ground behind her. It looked similar to the knight she had summoned earlier. She was rubbing the binds against the knife.

A smart idea.

*

Ben knew that he had to stay and help due to what he had said, but he really wasn’t expecting to have to stand outside and gather signatures from other people who wanted to help. With him, Blake, and Sun all out, it was originally expected to be easy to gather signatures. Especially with what he had said earlier that day.

However, after wandering around by himself for hours, he had only gotten three signatures. Even so, most people avoided him. Maybe it was because he was visibly a human by himself. He was 99% of the time with a faunus.

Either way it didn’t matter. He rubbed the tiredness out of his eye as the sun continued to pelt him with rays for existing.

He thought about what Ink could be doing. Ink refused to just wander out only to get signatures and wanted to join his new friend Lesh. In reality he probably wanted more pets from her.

Lesh… she wore a dark and heavy cloak all the time, and that’s not even considering her multi-layer skirt. How was she surviving this heat?

He was pulled from his thoughts as he noticed Blake and Sun near the docks. He changed his path and went to join them.

Blake, like him, looked exhausted, “How many signatures did you get?”

Ben shrugged and showed his scroll, “Three.”

She sighed, “Better than me and Sun. No one signed ours.”

They all went to sit down after Sun had ordered beverages for them all. The monkey slammed his coconut onto the table, the milk inside almost spilling out, “I don’t get it! How can they just sit around and do nothing with the White Fang getting ready to attack?”

Blake was the one to answer, “Because not everyone is like us. The faunus here in Menagerie, the ones that weren’t born on the island, moved here because they were tired of fighting, of having to struggle constantly. Menagerie is filled with people that just want to be left alone. And here we are, asking them to put the rest of the world before themselves.”

“Conflict of interest,” Ben tacked on for her.

Sun sighed, “I guess I never really thought of it like that…”

Blake’s eyebrows furrowed, “The problem is, whatever happens at Haven is going to affect them whether they like it or not. If Adam gets his way and Haven falls, it’s only going to make things worse for the Faunus… Everywhere.”

“Not just faunus…” Ben corrected, “If another ‘Fall of Beacon’ happens, the world will be in turmoil.”

Sun changed the topics, “Adam… He’s the guy you used to work with?”

Blake gave him a dead look.

“Sorry! Forget I brought it up.”

She lightly shook her head, “No, It’s okay… have you ever met someone and thought to yourself, they are the personification of this word?”

“Huh?.... Oh you mean how like Ben is the mystery man?”

Ben put down his drink and facepalmed.

Blake nodded, “Yeah.. I see Ruby as the embodiment of purity, while Weiss was defiance, and Yang was strength.”

Sun’s tail picked up his drink, “How do you see me, and Ben.”

She smiled, “Jury’s still out for you, although I’m leaning towards earnest. As for Ben…”

She looked at him quickly analyzing his face before turning back to Sun, “I think you said it best.”

Ben felt himself die a tad inside.

Blake’s face turned more serious as she went to answer the monkey faunus’ question, “At first I thought Adam was justice.”

He felt himself die even more. Justice was the word he was thinking of associating with Angus…. Well or reckless. Still he didn’t like to think about how at one point they would have both been considered that. It left a gross feeling in this body. He tried his best to ignore it as he drank his soda.

Blake continued, “Then I thought he was passion. But over time I realized I was wrong. He wasn’t any of those things. He was spite. Not hatred, not rage, spite. He won’t accept equality… only suffering for what he feels the world did to him. His way of thinking is dangerously contagious. That’s what worries me about Illia. She’s not like Adam. At least not yet.”

“Who is Illia?” The human asked.

“Oh… she was a friend I had made in the White Fang.”

Ben nodded and thanked her for the information.

“Her chameleon traits meant she could pass as a human. She could’ve lived a normal life if she wanted, but she didn’t. I always admired that…. She had lost her family in a mining accident when she was young and joined the White Fang.”

Ink lost his family too… It’s strange to think the fox could’ve been part of the White Fang too. Ben was glad he never was.

He finished his soda and as the conversation started becoming even more personal, he left to get more signatures. As he did, he thought about the White Fang and his own connection to it. He wasn’t out of the woods. He wouldn’t be until the White Fang was gone completely.

*

If he screamed would it make it better? No. Did he want to anyways? Yes. But he didn’t. The last time he did that the guards yelled at him.

Angus continued to lay on his back. He wasn’t sure when, but he apparently bit his lip open with how much he was doing it. With no good way to fix it the Doctor merely wiped it away and held the cleanest part of his lab coat to it until it stopped bleeding.

He had been trying to ignore his extreme back pain by focusing on literally anything else. He was focusing on trying to identify what some of the… well, probably bandits were talking about. It was an interesting challenge considering how many voices spoke and how many different conversations there were.

But suddenly the entire area went silent. The cat boy opened his eyes and trying his best not to move his head he went to see what was going on. Not being able to he went ahead and asked Indago and Weiss, “W-What’s going on?”

A few seconds of silence before Indago responded, “I… I don’t know.”

“The guards… left?” Weiss added.

The faunus tried as hard as he could to pick up any sound. Besides the rustling trees from the wind, he could only identify that people were walking. Maybe four? Although it was debatable.

Then cutting through the silence was a familiar voice, “Mom…”

Angus grunted and hissed as he went to sit up but Indago pushed him back down, “Whoa, whoa, whoa. What are you doing? Any other position will hurt more.”
Through his tears he hissed out, “Yang- I hear Yang.”

“Yang?” Weiss repeated, “Are you sure?”

The cat boy closed his eyes and focused on sound once again. A new voice called out Yang’s name, confirming his suspicions. He opened his eyes again, “Yeah, she’s here!”

Angus at this angle could see the doctor's confusion, “Whose Yang?”

The cat boy smiled just slightly. “Friend from school.”

He went back to closing his eyes, “Be quiet… I wanna hear. She’s… talking to someone. Her… mom?”

“What?” Weiss was bewildered. He shushed her quickly.

The other two did as he requested and he went ahead and repeated what the other woman said, “So, after all this time, you finally decided to visit me.”

After a second of silence he repeated Yang, “You know that I searched for you. I spent years looking for you.”

Her mom immediately responded, “And you found me. You were patient, determined, and strong enough to make your dream a reality. Well done Yang. But did you have to be so rough with my men?”

Weiss came to a realization, “Did Yang’s mom kidnap me?!”

Angus didn’t answer as he focused on Yang’s response, “I didn’t want a fight. They started it.”

Then Yang’s mom, “Well you certainly finished it.”

There was a moment of silence before she continued, “Right… I;m sure this is all very overwhelming. But I must admit that you’ve proven yourself. So any questions you have I’ll be happy to answer. You can stay with us tonight. I’ll even have the cooks whip up something for you.”

Angus tried his best to emphasize how Yang but due to the pain he could really do it, “That’s not why I am here.”

“What was that?”

“I’m not here for you. Ruby is somewhere in Mistral. She’s with Qrow, and she’s going to need my help. I just need you to take me to her.”
His teacher… Qrow. He could see him again. The thought made him happy.

“Why would I do that?”

“Because we’re family.”

“Family. Only coming around when they need something… I have to say I’m disappointed. After all, you found me, didn’t you? Why not take that drive and use it to find your little sister if she really means that much to you?”

“Because you're going to save me time. Ruby was heading to Mistral, but there's no guarantee she’s made it there. Looking for her in Anima could take ages. But, dad told me how your semblance works.”

Angus strained his ears but he couldn’t pick up what the other lady had whispered so he went back to Yang, “You can bond to certain people. And when you do, you can create a portal that takes you straight to them. You’ve got one for dad. One for me. And.. you’ve got one for Qrow. He promised me he’d watch out for Ruby before he left. And I trust him. So, make a portal to my uncle and sister, and I’ll be on my way.”

“Wait,” Weiss started, “hold on, I’m almost out. We can join Yang.”

Indago agreed, “I’d be happy to get out of this cage. What about Angus tho?”

“Don’t worry, we can carry him.”

All of a sudden The cat boy opened his eyes to see a knight. The one he had seen on the ship growing larger and larger. Just by growing alone it destroyed the cage from the inside.

Then he felt arms under his shoulder pull him up to his feet. The entire time his back burned with bubbling pain. He let out a large yelp followed by hisses and grunts. Without warning tears fell.

Indago put his left arm under his right and Weiss put her right arm under his left. He wasn’t sure when Indago and Weiss were unbounded but he didn’t worry about that. He worried more about how his spine felt as if he was actively being snapped in half. He wasn’t actually but it sure felt like it.

As the two half dragged him against the ground making their way to Yang, the cat boy realized he needed to at least try to walk. So he did. Sorta. When he could he would flatten his foot against the ground and try to take a step. He couldn’t complete a step but when he wasn’t dragging his legs they managed to move faster.

In front of them trudged the knight. It crushed a poor tent under its form before readying its sword to attack anyone who dares come close.

Yang had finally seen them since the tent was removed. She had her fists up as if ready to fight, but she had lowered them a tad upon seeing familiar faces. She was still in battle-mode. She looked… different. But not just her clothes. Something was off… but the cat boy couldn’t identify it yet.

Maybe the faunus had missed something as his eyes bounced off of everyone that lived in this camp. They had their weapons out prepared to attack Yang, and now them.

Yang turned with her back to the three of them, “Weiss, what is that?”

Weiss glanced at her knight, “Don’t worry about it- we need to get out of here!”

“We will as soon as my mom takes us to Qrow.”

All four of them turned to Yang’s mom. She was a very pale woman with black hair and red eyes. She also wore only red and black, with his weapon still stored away, resting on her hip.

The woman groaned upon the situation.

“Well your mom kidnapped me.”

Yang’s eyes widened before almost glaring at her mom, “You kidnapped her?!”

The crowd of possibly bandits grew enraged. They were scared of the knight but wanted to attack. In any second they would. Yang and Weiss prepared for battle. The knight and the yellow haired girl ran ahead intending on getting the first hit but they were stopped by a thunder bolt hitting the ground in front of them. It blew dust in everyone's faces and left everyone stunned.

Another woman, near Yang’s woman yelled out, “Enough!”

And just like that, everyone stayed silent. Well mostly silent. Despite not really moving (in reality it was Weiss and Indago not moving) Angus could still feel his back shift. He tried his best to stifle any noise but tiny grunts and hisses of pain still made their way out of his mouth.

Yang’s mom spoke, reeling everyone back in, “If you people don’t keep it together this place will be crawling with Grimm.”

She then turned to the girl near her, “Give that girl her weapon back.”

The other woman gave her a bewildered look before chucking it back to Weiss. Unfortunately the cat boy accidently releases a yelp as she catched it. After words Weiss immediately whispers an apology.

“It’s okay…” Angus whispers back through gritted teeth.

“You four, in my tent. Now.” demands Yang’s mother.

Yang asks the very important question everyone had on their minds, “Why?”

“If you're really going after your sister, then you need to know the truth.”

And then, she walked off back into her tent. She wasn’t the only one though as the faunus picked up the footsteps of everyone walking away.

Yang looks to the three of them, “I’m sorry about th-”

Weiss hooks her arm around Yang in an awkward hug, “I missed you so much.”

Yang gave a heart warming smile, “I missed you too.”

As Yang wraps an arm around Weiss’ head it finally clicks and without thinking the faunus opens his mouth, “Your arm…”

Like him, she had a permanent scar that forever affected her.

The yellow haired girl looks to him before her arm. She pulls away from Weiss, “That's… right. I don’t remember seeing you during the Fall of Beacon.”

“...I-...I’m sorry if I’m pulling up bad memories.. You don’t have to- Guh!”

He didn’t have the strength. His head fell to his chest. His spine was done playing games with him as he could do was give shuddering breaths. Pain felt as if it was threatening to consume his whole body. Sweat sprouted from his skin, or was it always there? He didn’t know, he didn’t care, he just wanted it to end! He felt like screaming. Could he scream?

Focus. He needs to focus on something else. It worked before, didn’t it? He can do it again, no problem.

He closed his eyes tightly and just listened.

“What’s wrong with him?” He could hear Yang Call out.

“He needs medication or gravity dust as soon as possible!” His doctor responded urgently.
“Gravity dust?” Weiss questioned.

“Yes… but you keep yours, whatever amount it is, it won’t be enough.”

God… it hurts. All he has done is be hurt. No! He can handle this! He has before, during the Fall of Beacon, or even with the roughest of explosions. Explode is what he does best! Ben even said so one time! What is he if the explosion magnet can’t handle this much?

“We need to head inside,” Yang had decided, “We can ask if she has anything that can help.”

“Do you think she will help?” Weiss had questioned.

“All we can do is hope.”

All of a sudden, two arms had grabbed his legs to prevent himself from dragging against the ground. Yang probably. All three of them proceed to move simultaneously. No matter the efforts the vertebrae still collided before sliding away.

What did that one guard call him? “Project E.D.M.E.”? Maybe he was still incomplete. Maybe his support was just an unfinished concept they had thrown upon a broken boy because what did he have to lose?

No thought brought him any sense of peace as he was pulled inside the tent.

He could hear Yang’s mom comment on his condition, “What’s wrong with him? He doesn’t look so good.”

But she wasn’t worried, not even curious. It was as if it was nothing more than a simple conversation starter.

After no one responded she spoke again, “You can lay him there. He’s not sick is he?”

“No,” Dr. Sunshine responded, “Just hurt. P-Please if in any way possible- I had a pill bottle and a large vial of gravity dust in my pocket. Please, if you took it- I-We- he needs it. As soon as possible.”

He felt himself be laid on some carpeted floor as gently as possible as the bandit leader spoke to someone he couldn’t see, “See if you can find what he's requesting. I'd rather not have anyone die in my tent while I’m talking to my daughter.”

He heard only a step of footsteps leave in response. Then a click of a cup being picked up. Once again, Yang’s mom spoke, “You know the tea is better hot.”

“So,” Yang started in a cold tone, completely different than when she asked about his health, “What’s the truth?”

“The truth is that the truth is really hard to come by. A story of victory for one person, is a story of defeat for someone else. … And now your uncle has surely told Ruby and her friends plenty of stories.”

“Well he’s never given me any reason for me to doubt him before.”

“That doesn’t mean those reasons don’t exist.”

Reason to doubt Qrow? He and Ben’s savior? The kind man that helped teach them how to fight better? Their teacher? His teacher?

“You know, “ She continued, “You and your team mates might as well be the poster children for huntsmen academies. You all joined for different reasons but you all enrolled to make the world a ‘better place’.... It’s adorable.”

“It’s what huntsmen and huntresses do.”

“Not all of them. Some people are just in it for the money and the fame. But there's even more just looking to grow stronger. Your uncle and I didn’t attend Beacon to become huntsmen. We did it to learn how to kill huntsmen.”

Everyone was silent with two people gasping. Sounded like maybe Yang and Weiss.

No. That’s just not true. That’s all a lie! She’s a liar!...Right? Yeah, a liar! Qrow would never hurt them. He just wasn’t that kind of guy.

“Daddy and uncle left that part out? Hm?” She teased.

Then she continued, “Besides from Grimm, huntsmen we’re the only ones capable of ruining our raids and hunting us down. Our tribe needed a counter force.”

She was a bandit. He knew it. f*cking bandit and a liar.

She took a sip from her glass cup before adding to her story, “And Qrow and I were the perfect age. The entrance exams were child's play compared to what we had already been through. We were good. So good that we caught the attention of Beacon’s very own headmaster… Professor Ozpin.”

Yang’s mom stood up, but didn’t stop talking, “Even after we were put on a team I could tell he was keeping his eye on us. Back then, I thought it was because he knew… but it was team STRQ he was interested in.”

“What do you mean by that?” Yang asked.

“Constant attention, extra training missions, turning a blind eye whenever we happened to break the rules didn’t get into as much trouble as we should’ve… sound familiar?”

Angus thought back to all of the missions team BAI had joined on with team RWBY, even if they weren’t meant to be missions in the first place. He did remember that he had never gotten in trouble and even Ben, who had to talk to Ozpin at one point, came back no problem. In that sense, he guessed she had a point? Maybe?

“What’s your point?”

“How much do you know about professor Ozpin? About his past?”

Weiss decided to answer rather than Yang this time, “He was a prodigy, one of the youngest headmasters to be appointed to a school.”

Before Yang’s mom could continue a set of footsteps walked in and towards the cat boy. Everyone was quiet as he felt two items be placed into his open hand laying against the floor next to him. The footsteps shortly left and he could hear his doctor scramble to him in their place.

The cat boy’s eye flew open as Indago was pulling him to sit up, “Sorry-sorry. I’m sorry, the pain will go away soon.”

Angus looked to Indago grabbing the two items from his hand before he looked around the room. It was covered with mismatched tapestries and carpets. Everyone sat around a low table with their own glass cups. Surprisingly the little blue tea set was matching.

His eyes locked with Yang’s mom as she showed disinterest. She turned back to her daughter as Indago popped tha E.D.M.E. panel open, “Because that’s how Ozpin planned it. Because the man you know as Ozpin designed those schools and has followers inside every academy on remnant that are loyal to him and no one else.”

Yang shook her head, “That doesn’t make any sense! How could he have- no, why would someone even do that?”

“I agree,” Came the cat boy’s own cracked voice, “your story isn’t making much sense. Ozpin was old, but he wasn't that old.”

Indago finished pouring the large vial of dust inside and closed the panel.

Yang’s mom looked between the two, “Well, old man Oz has a great and terrible secret. One that could spread fear across the world. One that he eventually entrusted to our team. Once I knew, there was no going back.”

The cat’s ears flicked over to the sound of a medication bottle opening but kept his attention to the woman in front of him, “I needed to know more, but with every new discovery I made, the more horrifying the world became.”

He knew what that was like as an ex member of the White Fang. Finding out that instead of justice they were only killing humans as revenge certainly shook his world view. The group he once supported and even supported him, was now what he feared. And was nothing more than a terrorist group of “misguided faunus” he had heard Blake call them before.

His attention was pulled away as he watched Indago take his hand and put two pills inside of it.

“It’s not a lot,” His doctor started, “but it’ll help the pain at least a little bit. Headache medicine is all I have right now, unfortunately.”

The cat boy still smiled and took it. He placed one pill in his mouth before crunching down on it with his teeth. He forced his eyes shut and tied his best to ignore the pain as he turned the pill into goopy dust in his mouth. After swallowing it down he grimaced from the taste but put the other one in his mouth too. He repeated his steps and opened his eyes to his doctor looking bewildered holding a blue cup.

The blue-haired man shook his head and pushed the cup towards him, “We will talk about that later- here, take this. It’s tea.”

The faunus took it and downed it all immediately. It washed the taste from his mouth and satisfied his dry mouth. He placed the cup onto the table and realized the doctor wasn’t the only one giving him a weird look.

Yang’s mom had given him a slightly disgusted look but didn’t comment on it as her face went back to her apathetic neutral. Weiss also looked grossed out. Yang didn’t even focus on him as her eyes stared down at her mother, “Okay… Then tell us. What’s the big secret? What’s so crazy that the rest of us don’t know.”

Her mother turned her back to look at a tapestry of remnant, “The creatures of Grimm have a master named Salem. She can’t be stopped, she can’t be reasoned with, and she will not rest until humanity crumbles at her feet.”

The Grimm have a master? She has to be pulling his tail. Grimm have existed since the start of time, why, or better yet, how would they have a leader?

Yang was confused, “What?”

Yang’s mom turned around and looked at the cups the huntresses left untouched in front of them, “You know you two haven't even touched your tea. At least your cat friend drank it while it was warm.”

The bandit woman took another sip from her own cup as Yang stood up, “Why should we believe you? Why should we believe any of this?”

“Now you're catching on,” despite saying that the black haired woman didn’t sound proud, “So far you’ve done nothing but accept what others tell you.”

She walked back to the table, putting down her empty cup before walking up to Yang, “But you need to question everything.”

Yang merely glared at her and the older woman took the hint and shortly turned around again, “Otherwise you’ll end up just as blind as Qrow.”

Qrow’s not blind! He’s a great man that saved his life! His teacher! He gritted his teeth and growled softly.

The cat boy watched Yang also grit her teeth as her mom tacked on, “And your fool of a father.”

Very quickly, so quick he barely saw it, Yang had punched the table with her gauntlet at the ready. Where it once stood the table was nothing more than broken parts. A single cup mange to survive and clink its way towards the red eyed bandit before stopping near her feet.

Said bandit turned to face her daughter again as Yang shared her anger, “Don’t you dare talk about my family like that!”

Angus also shouted out, “Stop being a bitch to Qrow!”

The sound of a weapon being raised caught everyone's attention. It was the woman who gave Weiss’ weapon back. When did she come back in? His cat ears didn’t even pick up her steps. She held a weapon pointing to Yang, but it looked more like a cautionary measure, “You need to calm down.”

Weiss grabbed Yan’s hand, “Yang… please.”

“Listen to your friend Yang,” spoke the bandit mother, “Your teammates never let you down before.”

Yang kept going, “You don’t know the first thing about my teammates! About me! You were never there, you left us!”

Her anger started turning into sadness, “Why?’

“I know more than you realize. Not just about you, and not just what I’ve been told, but things I’ve seen with my own eyes. I know the Grimm have a leader. I know people who can come back from the dead. I know that magic is real… and I can prove it.”

Weiss also stood up from her seat. Seeing that everyone else was standing up, Indago did as well. Angus stayed sitting. The pain was lessening but he did not want to get up yet.

Yang’s mom looked over them all before landing her eyes back onto Yang, “You said Ty told you all about my semblance. … But I doubt he ever told you what Oz did to my brother and me.”

Qrow? He doesn’t remember hearing or seeing anything wrong with Qrow…

She lifted a tapestry of the far tent wall before slipping back outside.

The four looked to each other unsure whether to follow.The cat boy especially didn’t want to. She was just a liar. Plain and simple…. But curiosity was getting to him.

“Go see for yourself.” The woman behind Yang had put down her weapon and turned to leave the tent through a different opening.

Without any more thought Yang ran outside, following her mom. Weiss followed to keep up with her friend.

Angus sighed. He had to get up now didn’t he. He looked up to Indago who was also looking down to him. His doctor didn’t focus on the bandit though, “Feeling any better?”

He shrugged then winced, “Kinda? The pain is still there but it doesn’t feel as debilitating as before…. Hey, I-.... nevermind.”

“Hm?”

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll ask about it later. When we’re not in some bandit camp.”

The blue haired man tilted his head but nodded, “Do you want to follow them?”

The cat boy sighed, “Yeah… I do.”

His doctor held out a hand and the cat boy took it. Indago helped him to his feet before they both made their way outside after the huntress girls.

The cat boy was just in time to pick up Weiss saying, “There is no such thing as magic.”

He made his way down the stairs to join them. He went to agree but a bird sounded in the surrounding forest catching his attention. He looked up to see a black bird cawing as it circled around them. A crow?... A raven? He was not good at identifying birds.

But luckily he didn’t have to as Weiss questioned, “A raven?”

Yang was hesitant, “I’ve…. Seen that bird before.”

“Maybe it belongs to your mom?”

A pet raven? That sounds kinda badass.

Indago, for the first time, joined in the discussion, “Ravens are very intelligent. I can see why a bandit leader would want one as a pet.”

The bird circled around one more time before swooping down past some trees. Behind the very last tree, it wasn’t the bird that came out the other side… It was Yang’s mom. She lands on the ground in a crouch in front of the group, before standing back up.

What? How? No- this was some sort of trick. Maybe her semblance? No, her semblance is wacky bond portals. Dust couldn’t have done that either. This had to be a trick somehow. There is no way magic is real and she can turn into a f*cking bird…. Right?

Everyone stood in stunned silence. Yang was the first one to break it, “H-How? How did you do that?”

Yang’s weird wacky mom held a smirk, “Well… I could explain it to you…”

He pulled out her sword as she turned around, slicing it down the air behind her. What was left was a red, glowing opening caused by her semblance, A portal, “Or.. you can ask your uncle.”

Yang was bewildered, “You're letting us go?”

“I’m giving you a choice.”

She turned around to face her daughter as she put her sword away, “Stay here with me, and I’ll answer all of your questions and more. We can have a fresh start.”

Yang stayed silent as he mother moved to the side and motioned to her portal, “Or, you can go back to Qrow and join Ozpin’s impossible war against Salem… and meet the same fate as so many others.”

A war? Is there a war? Well she did turn into a- no! That was a trick, remember?! She’s a liar. A lair bandit. That’s all she is.

“But can you really go back to trusting someone that’s kept so much from you?” She added.

Angus noticed Weiss look over to Yang with uncertainty, but the yellow haired girl did not waiver, “All I care about is making sure my sister is safe.”

Yang’s mom let out a slight groan. It was clear all her attempts to sway her daughter into staying didn’t work.

Yang turned on her heel, “I’m getting my bike and we are leaving… All of us.”

Her mother only stared in defeat as her child walked away.

In the mean time the cat glanced over to the doctor. Indago was looking towards the ground, his eyebrows furrowing then unfurrowing. He would say something under his breath then shake his head. The Atlas doctor was thinking and it was clear he was lacking an answer… or maybe whatever one he got wasn’t the one he had wanted.

This time the cat placed a hand on his shoulder, knocking Dr. Sunshine out of his thoughts. He looked up to him pushing his own glasses further on his face, “Hm?”

The cat tilted his head, “Are you okay?”

He pondered, glancing to the black haired bandit before turning back to him, “I still don’t believe in her claim about magic…. But I’m struggling to disprove it or come up with another answer.”

Weiss turned around to face them, it was clear she was thinking about it too, “Well, when we get to Qrow, we can ask him about it.”

“You all know Qrow… I feel like there is a larger narrative I’m missing here,” The doctor half joked.

Shortly after, The rumbles of Yang’s motor bike could be heard as she drove back to them, “Who wants to be the one to sit with me?”

Weiss immediately pointed to Angus, “He does.”

He whirled around to her, “But I did-”

“Angus does,” Indago joined in.

“Wha-”

“Alright, get on,” Yang patted the seat behind her.

Not having the energy he sighed and made his way over to the motorcycle.

“Put your hands around me,” Yag instructed, “We won’t be going fast but it’s a habit I want you to have.”

He did as he said and held onto her. He was careful to avoid touching her boobs on accident. He would rather die than live with the embarrassment of doing that.

Shortly after, Yang started to drive side-by-side to Dr. Sunshine and Weiss towards the portal. The yellow haired huntress stops as the sound of her mothers voice, “Yang… Just know that if you side with your uncle, I may not be as kind the next time we meet.”

Yang continued to drive, “You weren’t kind this time either.”

All four went through the ominous red portal together. It was strange. The temperature was suddenly different, the wind was blowing. It was like suddenly stepping into another world. But as they made it through he didn’t focus on that. Instead his eyes focused on the man in front of him. The familiar alcoholic stood by a concrete railing. The stars and moon light shone against his black hair and his red eyes stared at them all in surprise. The cat smiled. It was his teacher, Qrow.

*

Ink yawned. All he wanted to do was nap but at the same time he wanted to stay up. He wanted to go hang out and do something but everyone was busy. Lesh had gone to go talk to Kali, Ben and Sun had gone out to recruit nocturnal faunus, Ghira was scary, So that left only Blake.

He remembered that Blake was to also go recruiting but she wasn’t going to talk to anyone. He had stalked her the entire night, he would know!

The fox hid behind a box when Balke stopped to turn around. Uh oh she was getting suspicious.

When she kept walking he kept going on all fours, close to the ground. He was a hide and seek champion, he would never allow her to spot him.

He followed Blake down another street. This time he hid behind a closed stall as Blake stopped. This time however, she didn’t keep going or turn around, “Illa?”

A feminine voice came from the darkness, “I’m here.”

Wasn’t Illa the person he was hunting down the other night? He sniffed to double check. It was. Hehehe, she made him turn into colors.

His ears shortly picked up that someone was pulling out their weapon.

Blake sounded happy to see her, “Illa, I know you’re scared but you don’t have to be. My family and I, we can keep you safe.”

Heh, not safe from him though. He wants to turn pretty colors again. It was fun.

But Illa only responded with a very quiet, somber and regretful, “I’m sorry.”

“You can make it up to me by helping us stop Corsac and Fennec.”

Oh.. those guys were the White Fang at the door. He wanted to growl. He didn’t like them. He could forgive Illa as someone who also lost his family in a dust mine (and made him turn pretty colors) but he would never forgive those two. Why? Because they suck.

“No,” Illa corrected, “I’m sorry.”

Blake gasped as rapid footsteps sounded. Not even a second later he heard the cat faunus get pushed to the ground.

Heh? Huh? He sniffs. Three other faunus have appeared.

Ink slowly goes to peak his head above the stall he was hiding behind. One noticeably had bat wings. He found out a second later by webs wrapping around Blake that another one was a spider. The third one was unknown but it was very clear that Blake was being captured.

“Illa!” Balke called out to her, “What are you doing?!”

“I tried to warn you blake, I’m sor-”

“Don’t tell me you're sorry!”

“But I am. I am sorry it has to be this way but you and your family are holding the faunus back. But your family won’t be for long.”

The fox pulled out his sickles and put them together. He threw the boomerang before leaping out from behind the stall. He runs on all fours before leaping with open jaws. He lands on the back of the unsuspecting bat faunus and shuts his jaws around a wing. The bat faunus yelps in pain and turns to get rid of him.
The spider faunus goes to help but the boomerang hits her in the back of the neck, incapacitating her. Her and the boomerang fall to the ground.

“Ink?!” Blake calls out to him as she struggles with her web binds.

The fox doesn’t answer as he starts tugging on the wing. He wants blood. The fox claws into the bat’s wing.

They took Ben’s eye. They are trying to capture Blake. They are the reason Angus isn’t standing with him right now!

In an attempt to get away the bat man goes to fly into the air. The fox does fall but onto Blake. The cat girl grunts brom the pain as Illa walks around, “Yuma, with me, The others can handle that one.”

Yuma looked unsure but the two ran away anyway.

“Ink!” Blake managed to say, “Get off me!”

He laughed before rolling off and getting back onto his two feet. He quickly snatches his boomerang off the ground as the other faunus that was there went to pull out a knife. Blake, who had found a way out of her binds, punched him in the face. This was enough to knock the man unconscious.

Ink got up right in time for two familiar faces to enter the street, both sporting their weapons at the ready.

“You okay?” Sun managed to ask first.

“No- I think my family is in danger! Call the police and let’s go!”

Everyone ran together following Blake with Ben being the one to pull out his scroll to talk to the police.

*

Lesh and a bunny faunus guard quickly flipped the table to the side, completely knocking off the tea set that was just there. Just a few seconds ago Lesh and Kali were just talking and having tea. Now she was trying her best to keep everyone safe.

“Get down!” The guard said as Kali went to hide behind the table.

Lesh grabbed her swords and clicked them together. They form a single barrel gun. She quickly loaded it before joining the bunny faunus in attacking back. When she raised her head and gun the guard managed to shoot down one of the White Fang members. She shot back but not before the guard became hurt. The other White Fang member fell to the floor and she quickly ducked back behind the table to check on the bunny.

She crawled over and looked over the bullet wound. It was in his shoulder- no… it was his torso. This man didn’t have a life to live much longer.

She sucked in a breath and told the man the truth as more White Fang members rushed in to shoot at the table, “I don’t think you’ll recover from this…”

The guard just gritted his teeth, “I don’t care! Just-... just get Mrs. Belladonna out of here!...Please…”

The huntresses merely nodded as the man’s eyes slowly went to glaze over. It was never easy. Every new death added a new tiny weight on her shoulders. But she didn’t have time to think about it right now.

She turned to face Kali right as the cat woman picked up her guard’s dropped gun. Mrs. Belladonna raised the weapon and her head and shot back at the intruders, “Get out of my house!”

The huntress for hire quickly pulled her back behind to the table before she could be riddled with bullets.

“Ghira!” Balke’s mom called out, “I need to get to my husband!”

The deer faunus could feel the bullets wizz past her white horns that were too large to hide behind the table with her, and through the wood where the table was weakened. This table won’t last forever, they need to move.

Lesh put a hand on Kali’s distressed shoulder, “We need to move. More will keep coming.”

The cat faunus nodded in agreement as the deer’s hand released a slight glow.

She had to keep her alive. It was her goal. Using her semblance to bind the older cat lady with her would surely help them both get out of this.

They both quickly got up and rushed from the table towards the next room. The licensed huntress pulls her blades apart and deflects most of the bullets coming their way. Any she missed the deer allowed to hit her aura rather than the woman she was protecting.

They pushed through into a circle room with 4 marble columns and high windows along the walls. Luckily other guards were in here too, although they looked out of ammunition. As the woman entered and was pulled behind a column by one of the estate guards the huntress clad in purple turned putting her swords back together. As soon as they clicked she pulled the trigger, knocking down another member of the White Fang.

Then before the huntress could go back inside the previous room she heard glass break and shatter behind her. She whirled around pointing a gun to a bat faunus holding down an unarmed guard.

sh*t. So many people to deal with.

She bolted across the room pulling her swords apart again with eyes focused on the intruder as she came closer and closer.

Only she didn’t get to him first. Kali, using a discarded platter, smacked him in the back of the head. The bat fell to the floor very quickly.

The deer faunus turned to Blake’s mother, “Did you run out of bullets?”

The other woman nodded, “Have any better ideas?”

Lesh shrugged, “Whatever works. Let’s get out of here.”

Kali once again nodded but also grabbed the unconscious bat by his hair, “With a shield of course.”

“You… are ruthless.”

The cat lady smiled, “Thank you.”

Walking alongside the purple clad huntress they made their way down a hallway. The smell of smoke and the sounds of crackling fire grew. Did the White Fang intend on flushing them out?

Lesh ran ahead and pushed the doors open. It was Immediately obvious how bright with reds and orange the room was. Fire aligned the top banisters where plants and bushes used to be. It also took over most of the furniture in the back and the fire was only growing stronger.

One glance around the room shared that everyone was here. Ghira was sitting on the floor without his cloak leaning against one arm. His pained face turned to relief upon seeing his wife. Behind him stood an exhausted Blake and Sun and behind those two was Ben and Ink. Ben had his weapon out in one hand, It was a large metal scythe with blue dust radiating off of the edge. While his other held the back of Ink’s green bandana. The fox was sat against the floor and while not close enough was trying to nip at the fire.

“Mom!” Blake called out.

The huntress merely watched as the woman dropped her ‘shield’ on the floor before running towards her husband and daughter. Blake met up with her first as they held a hug.

Suddenly everyone turned to a White Fang member standing from the floor, “You…ruined everything. Everything!”

Very quickly everyone prepared to fight again. Blake quickly swiped her gun from the floor and pointed it at the enemy while Sun changed his footing. Ben had let go of the fox and changed his stance as well. Ink growled as he stood to his two feet holding his two sickles at the ready. The deer merely watched, seeing as it was unlikely she would need to join into this fight.

The enemy faunus rushed forward but a whip struck out from behind and wrapped around the angry wolf. It electrocuted him, making him fall to the floor.

The ‘hero’ stood and shortly after cried her tears. It was the White Fang member that interrupted the speech. She falls to her knees continuing to release her anguish.

*

Ben and Ink waited outside awkwardly. An entire crowd, possibly the entire village had gathered in front of the house wanting to either help or know what’s going on. Guards stood at the ready ensuring that others have gone inside to help and that everything will be fine.

While the problems had been dealt with, the leader of team BAI still had to hold the back of the fox’s bandana as Ink was still trying to nip at the fire.

He sighed,” The fire has probably gone out by now and we are outside, why are you still trying to bite it?”

The fox slowly turned to look up at the human and even more slowly frog blinked, “Fire.”

Ben shook his head and looked to the doorway. It didn't take long for Ghira, Lesh, and all the others to come out holding or helping guards and the White Fang that were still alive.

The one Illia had taken down was cuffed and forced to sit on his knees. Another guard with a large scar on his face came close, “Was it worth it?”

The Corsac brother left alive said nothing in return.

Everyone stood in exhausted silence. Running around all day and night then getting into a fight can do that to you.

Ben watched as the huntress he had hired previously came closer and petted Ink’s head before laying a hand on his. He gave her a slight glare and pulled away from her arm. No head pat. No.

“Humans didn’t do this…” His head snapped to view Blake standing half way down the steps overlooking the crowd.

Her arm was pointed back to her still half burning home, “We did this. Faunus. We did this to ourselves!”

A left a moment of silence for everyone to take in her words before she continued, “We are just as capable of the hate and violence as the humans, but I don’t think any of us would jump at the chance to point that out. So why are we letting Adam do it for us?! By doing nothing and staying silent, we let others speak and act in our place. And if we aren't proud of the choices they make, then we have no one to blame but ourselves. This is the message Adam Taurus will bring to the world if no one stops him- but we can stop him! You have to understand that all of you are looking for simple answers for a very complicated problem. And I can’t give that to you.”

Then it clicked to Ben. This is what her people needed to hear. Not from a foreign human with blights and issues that seem from another world, but a faunus who understands them and can relate their world of Menagerie to a far bigger problem.

Blake shook her head, “I don’t know how to make hate go away… I don’t. But I know that this kind of violence is not the solution. I understand that to ask you to leave your homes and protect Haven Academy is asking you to put your lives at risk, but that's. What’s At. Stake. So I’m going, and I’ll stand by myself if I have to.”

Almost immediately Illa walks out and everyone turns to her as she yells out, “I’ll stand with you!...If-If you’d have me…”

The crowd started to wonder about the girl as they started to whisper about her corlations to the White Fang.

Blake smiled at her. As Illa went to come closer a guard put his hand out and grabbed her, “You're not going anywhere!”

But Blake disagreed, “Let her come.”

“Huh? You're just going to forgive her? After everything she did?”

The guard wasn’t wrong… she’s affiliated with terrorist plans and that’s not even talking about the assault, stalking, and inclusion with the attempt to massacre everyone inside of the Belladonna estate.

And yet, Blake nodded, “I am.”

With an extra nod of affirmation from her father, the guard lets her go.

Ben’s hand tightens on Ink's bandana as the fox suddenly starts trying to need the ex White Fang girl as she past them down the stairs.

Suddenly a voice yelled out from the crowd as a ram faunus came forward, “I’ll go.”

Then another. Then another. Like rapid fire suddenly the entire crowd throws there hands up ready to join the fight for Haven.

Sun started heading down the stairs along with Blake’s parents. It didn’t take long for Ben, Lesh and Ink to join them too.

Sun stared down Illa, “You stabbed me…”

The girl looked guilty and didn’t know what to say but she didn’t have to as the monkey leaned over and pinched her, “There… Now we’re even.”

“We have about two weeks before Adam’s attack on Haven. We’re going to need shields, and training- whatever we can do to protect as many people as possible.” Ghira spoke facts.

“We need transportation too, for everyone.” Kali tacked on.

Ben’s grip was starting to slip from the green fabric as Blake offered an answer to one of the problems, “We know a captain that owes us a favor.”

Then the fox slipped from the human’s grasp. He leapt onto the unsuspecting chameleon girl and bit her shin. She yelped and almost fell over. She panicked trying to shake him off and shortly after she did manage to free herself. The fox rolled down the rest of the stairs maniacally laughing as he started immediately shifting all sorts of colors.

*

Angus, Yang, Weiss, and Indago followed Qrow as he pushed the door open, “I’m back.”

The smell of tasty food wafted into the cat boy’s nose as a smaller voice responded back, “I’ll be right there!”

They all made their way inside. God, that food smelled delicious…and he was so hungry. Maybe it was because he hadn’t eaten anything since the noodle cup. How long ago was that? He didn’t know, too much happened too quickly. After finally having a moment where he wasn’t drowning in pain his stomach grumbled in starving defiance.

“Hey uh Ruby…” Qrow attempted again.

“I’m coming!”

The cat looked around. They had all immediately entered the living room. It was simple without much furniture but there were two decent red couches and armchairs. In the distance he could see familiar people in the kitchen. Kitchen. Food. Want.

The faunus could feel himself starting to drool, it was interrupted as Ruby walked towards them with a wood platter. On top was a teapot and two cups. The little knock off red riding
hood was looking to what she was holding, not paying attention to those in front of her, “So, we didn’t know how many people were coming so we just cooked all of it.”

When she looked up she immediately gasped and dropped the platter. The teapot and the cups shatter against the floor. The cat boy winced from how loud it was but was more curious as to why she looked so… scared?

Ruby’s face warped from terror to guilt. She held her arms close and in front of her. She looked scared of a confrontation. Why would she? It’s just them.

Just then Yang stepped forward silently. This was enough for Ruby to panic and open up, with tears flowing, “Yang I- I’m so sorry! I-I’ve should have stayed- and I should’ve talked to you more- I - uh- I just, wasn’t sure if-if you want me around and…”

Yang interrupted her and hugged her close, “I love you.”

Ruby hugged back, “I love you too.”

The two continued to hold onto each other as familiar members of team JNPR made their way from the kitchen to the living room. Everyone looked so different. Juane has armor now, Ren has longer hair and Nora…. Was still Nora. She mainly stayed the same.

Everyone shared smiles to each other, well not to Indago, not really. But that’s probably because they don’t know who he is. The cat couldn’t blame them. Strangers are strangers.

Then came the young face of a boy he had never seen before. Angus tilted his head as the tan boy walked into the room. He had messy dark hair with green eyes. His clothing style reminded the cat a lot of a farmer. He noticed the situation and looked almost as if he should turn back, but he didn’t. He too shared a smile.

Yang and Ruby pulled away and looked to the ice queen. Ruby and Yang both held out a hand. Ruby was the one to speak though,“Weiss….”

Without hesitation the white haired girl ran into the arms of her friends and they all shared one big hug.

It didn’t take long for Angus’ belly to once again announce itself. This time it was heard by everyone in the room. Ruby laughed as she said, “Well luckily we have people to eat all this food we made.”

Jaune went ahead and turned around to face the kitchen, “Yeah! It’s almost done.”

Everyone but Qrow and that boy he still didn’t know, came to the dining table and sat down. Everyone was already in full blown conversation, just enjoying everyone's time with each other. It didn’t take long for Jaune to come back with a giant pot of ramen. Shortly everyone had a bowl of ramen in front of them.

Angus and Indago ended up sitting at the end of the table next to Ruby and Yang. Indago was eating at a normal pace as the cat boy ate as if he hadn’t eaten in a week.

The doctor smiled listening to everyone talk like old friends. He didn’t really join in since well…. Who are these people? He knows Angus, and he knows the names of Yang, Weiss, and Qrow…. But no one else.

“Oh yeah,” Came the voice of the girl in red next to Angus, “My name is Ruby Rose.”

He looked to her and noticed she was talking to him, “Oh! Uh-Uh My name is Dr. Indago Sunshine. But… call me Indago.”

“A doctor, huh?” Yang commented.

Ruby ignored Yang to ask him another question, this time with far excitement, “Oh~ A huntsman doctor? Do you have a weapon?”

He shook his head, “I’m just a regular doctor… sorry to disappoint you…”

An orange haired girl in the back leaned forward and observed him with her blue eyes, “Like a doctor-doctor? Like the unintelligible writing doctor? The certified kind?”

Indago adjusted his glasses, “Yes.”

She looked shocked, “WHAT?! But you look our age?”

She slammed her hands on the table before pointing at him, “What’s your secret?”

He gave a small laugh, “I am your age…. I think. I’m currently 19 and the youngest certified doctor in Atlas.”

Everyone at the table gave their sense of awe. The blond man next to Weiss held a thumbs up, “It’ll be good to finally have someone with medical knowledge on the team.”

The man with long dark hair on the other side of Ruby responded, “We shouldn’t assume he’s joining us, I’m sure he has his own journey to take.”

Full from the ramen, Indago puts his chopsticks down. He looks over to Angus, “Actually my journey is with Angus. Wherever he goes I’ll go. At least until my duty as his doctor is finished.”

Ruby looked concerned, “Angus needs a doctor?”

Weiss went ahead and answered for her while also asking the blue haired man her own questions, “You said Angus had gotten into a bad fight and he needed medical help. How much medical help does he need, exactly? You said he’ll be fine..”

The doctor hesitated and glanced at his patient. Angus had stopped eating to look at him. The look said, ‘don’t say anything’. Does he lie? Or does he go against the cat boy and state the truth? From how it sounded these guys were all a collective team made up of other groups. They are huntsmen together. Angus is a huntsman… What happens if something happens in battle and no one knows how to help him? But patient confidentiality….

The doctor’s eyes furrowed as he looked upon everyone. They all shared the same curious but concerned look.

He finally opened his mouth, “I am legally not allowed to share any specifics that I know… however, the patient himself is free to share however much he wishes.”

He looked back to Angus. He got glare and a small growl. His ears went down, reminiscent of ship wings.

Yang was the first one to ask Angus directly, “Back at that camp… you were being held up by Weiss and Indago… you couldn’t walk. And when you talked to me, whatever you were going through suddenly became worse. What… What was that?”

He merely continued eating as his growling became louder, “It’s fine now, so don’t worry about it.”

Everyone continued to look at him, concerned, but the dark haired fellow in the back went ahead and told everyone, “He may not be ready to share it, Whatever it may be. Allow him some time.”

Everyone silently agreed and shortly after conversation went on as normal. It didn’t take long for stories of everyone's journeys to be thrown around. At one point Weiss shared that her summoning was her semblance and that she was finally able to do it.

“No way,” The girl, apparently named Nora, crossed her arms, “I don’t believe it.”

A mere second later and a white wasp grim, much like the ones she had faced earlier, chittered right next to the orange haired girl. Upon sight she leapt from her seat almost crashing into who turned out to be Ren.

At some point Yang stood up from the table sharing her prosthetic arm, “It’s not a replacement for the real thing, but i’ll make sure to make good use of it.”

Yang bent to her arm and showed its mobility. The doctor glanced to the corner of his vision, Angus was looking at her with stars in his eyes. Maybe from appreciation? Relatability? But Angus wasn’t the only one. He turned to Ruby with even larger twinkling eyes holding her hands together, she gave a long gasp before wizzing over to who turned out to be her sister.

Ruby held up her arm analyzing it, “And it’s just as strong?”

Yang nodded, “Sure is!”

Once again Indago’s attention was brought to the table. Nora slammed her elbow down onto it with her hand open, “Wanna bet?”

“Nora, Please,” Weiss started, “now's not the ti-”

Before the poor girl could finish Yang was already sitting back down with her prosthetic hand in Nora’s. Nora let out a war cry as they started to arm wrestle.

Suddenly everyone was cheering on the girls. The blonde man, Jaune, along with Ren were cheering on Nora. While Ruby, Weiss, and Angus cheered on Yang. The doctor merely sat and watched the fight. For a long while they were equals at a stand still.

“Definitely feels like the original, I’ll give you that.” Nora said through gritted teeth and a competitive spirit.

“Yep,” Yang equally gritted through her teeth, “But it does come with some new features.”

The orange haired girl gave a light scoff, “Oh yeah?”

There were a few clicking sounds before suddenly Nora was launched across the room, only stopped by the wall. In the girl’s hand was her competitor’s arm.

Jaune looked between the two, “Did Yang… win?”

After coming to her senses and realizing she had the prosthetic hand in her’s, she screamed and threw it back to Yang. Although the throw didn’t look very planned.

Yang laughed so cheerfully when she caught it in her only hand.

She wasn’t the only one, everyone had enjoyed the fight. It didn’t take long for Nora to join in with the laughs too.

*

Jaune put all the empty bowls in the much larger empty pot before picking up said pot, “We ate it all… Oh- I think I’m gonna be sick.”

“Easy there vomit boy,” Yang teased, “I believe in you.”

He rolled his eyes, “Oh, we’re doing nickname throwbacks now.”

He turned and walked past the corner, “Wonderful….”

Angus glanced over to a giggling Weiss. Nora laughed as well, “I mean, the Ice Queen seems to like it.”

Ruby immediately busted out in a cackle as The white haired huntress rolled her eyes, “I so did not miss you people.”

Nora put her hands on both sides of her head as she feigned a gasp, “Oh my gosh! She really does like it. What went a warmed your heart while you were gone?”

“Hey! You make it sound like I used to be terrible.”

“Nah, just a lot to deal with at once.” Yang corrected.

“Hmph.”

“It’s been a long time,” Ren started, “We’ve all grown in our own ways.”

“You really think so?” Ruby wondered.

“Well, think back to when we were all at Beacon, would you say you ever did anything foolish or embarrassing? Or do you think you were perfect?”

What did he think of himself from Beacon? … He wasn’t fully sure. Well, there were a lot of mistakes he had made sure… but not anything memor-

He wasn’t paying attention… when a wall collapsed on top of him. He can still feel how the weight felt as his spine pulled apart piece by piece. His semblance was the only thread of safety he had for his body, yet it made waiting for help absolute hell. His semblance was a blessing and curse that made him endure the torture.

He shook his head and cleared his throat. He’d rather not remember that right now.

The other certainly changed as the Ice Queen came to a realization and put her face in her hands embarrassed. Yang, on the other hand ,mentioned how she was ‘a little too gung-ho’.

“Heh, you?” Ruby started after Yang, “I tried to 1V1 a scorpion grimm on the second day of school.”

The cat boy’s ears flicked over to Jaune, “Yeah, well, don’t even get me started.”

Ren spoke once again, “Well that embarrassment, that desire to go back and tell yourself not to be so stupid, that just proves your not the same person you used to be. You’re smarter, kinder, or stronger, and your not done growing yet. None of us are.”

Compared to the others, he had only just woken up in this changed world two years into the future. Did he really change? Did he ever grow? Probably not yet.

After a moment of silence Ruby spoke up again, “Yeah, turns out Ren gets real deep when he feels like talking.”

Everyone laughed a second later but within that laughter the cat boy heard the doctor say, “Nicely put, Ren.”

Ren gave a slight, closed eye smile.

Nora stood up with a thumb pointing to herself, “I thought I was pretty great in school!”

“I think out of all of us Phyrra is the greatest, “The cat boy laughed, “She was always such a strong badass and I’ll never forget when she showed Cardin his place! Where is she anyways? Did she go home after Beacon?”

Everyone went deathly silent and once again the atmosphere was immediately tense.

What happened? Why did they all look at him with guilt, or sadness, or fear? He didn’t like this. What did he say wrong? Was Phyrra hospitalized like him? What happened?

Angus gave a nervous laugh, “Is uh, she okay?”

He watched as suddenly Jaune ducked back behind the wall. His ears picked up that he was walking away.

Ruby reached out a hand to the blonde boy from her seat, “Wait Jaune-....”

Ren looked to Ruby, “Let him be….”

Yang gave the cat boy a look of disbelief, “Do you seriously not know?”

He felt himself shrink in his seat a little, “I-I…. no? I don’t…. “

“Phyrra is….” Ruby started but her voice wavered and she stopped.

The cat glanced around and even noticed his doctor carried a sympathetic look. What did he know that Angus didn’t?

The silence was killing him. Curiosity begged him to know, but something inside of him said that… maybe he didn’t want to know. All he knew was that something was wrong.

“I…” The cat boy started. He took a breath gathering all his courage before he let himself admit one single thing, “I-I…I’ve been in basically a coma for two years… a-and I only officially woke up for the first time a-a few days ago…. S-So no. I don’t know anything so please….”

With a shaky voice he finished, “What happened?”

He had expected someone far more collected like Ren to answer but instead Ruby did, “During the fall of Beacon… Phyrra was fighting a woman named Cinder in Ozpin’s office. By the time I got up there- I… I watched her.. I watched her die. Cinder killed her.”

It hit him like a truck. Phyrra the badass prodigy. Phyrra an open minded women that didn’t care if someone was human or faunus. Phyrra a woman that had asked him to keep an eye on Jaune. Someone he had thought untouchable.

“O-Oh….” The cat boy felt nothing but sadness and regret. He shouldn’t have said anything about her. He should have let the others continue their-

“Afterwards my silver eyes glowed and turned to stone every grim around Beacon.. Actually I think I might even have reached into Vale.”

“Huh?”

Glowing eyes? Her eyes are a weird color compared to everyone else’ he supposed. But… Phyrra….

“When did you leave Beacon?”

“H-huh?”

When he left?

Weiss leaned forward wiping the developing tears from her eyes, “We can fill you in on everything we know from the Fall of Beacon.”

They told him everything they could; the dragon grim, who the hell Cinder was (to think he was so close to her at one point), Yang’s arm, Blake is still alive… everything.

He honestly wasn’t expecting them to just give him everything. Tidbits? Sure, but not everything.

Ruby pondered for a moment, “So yeah… I think that’s everything? Any questions?”

Nora raised her hand.

“Any questions from Angus?” Ruby had corrected.

Nora grumbled a tad as she pulled her hand back down.

The cat boy thought about it, “How were you so ready to tell me all of this?”

“Well…. Once you knew about Phyrra it just… felt right?”

The leader of Team RWBY had glanced around and everyone just sorta agreed with her.

They told him all of this… Does he share his spine? It would be the right thing, especially after how much they trusted him to tell the cat faunus all of that.

The faunus went to open his mouth but he shut it closed biting his lip. What if they think he’s weak? What if he’s not good enough anymore?

He looked up from his lap, which he didn’t even know he looked down, and noticed everyone seemed to be waiting patiently for him. They can tell he wants to say something… so they’re waiting for him. Why? Maybe they were all a lot closer to each other than he remembered?

He shook his head. Focus! He can do this! It’ll be fine, he’s not the only one who was affected by it! Yang was able to share her prosthetic, so can he!

He took a breath, “It feels right to tell you about my injury…S-Since you guys told me all of that.”

Nora leaned a lot more closer with interest otherwise everyone sat sorta the same. He felt a comforting hand on his shoulder from Dr. Sunshine.

The cat looked down to his lap as he spoke,” D-During the Fall of Beacon I… messed up. I wasn’t paying attention… And-and a wall fell on me while I was fighting grimm.”

He paused for a moment and waited for anyone to say anything, but they never did. He continued, “I’ll be honest I don’t fully remember anything else but the pain, I, uh, remember the pain way too well- oh.. I do remember Ink had called me at some point?”

The faunus paused to think about the event a little more, “Yeah… Ink had called me- he was having a panic attack and couldn’t fight anymore… So I told him I’d tell Ben where he was. And I did, I did call Ben-....”

Oh… that’s right… he brought this upon himself.

He gave a small scoff to himself, “I-I was such a dumbass…. I told him ‘I’d be fine’.... Instead the next thing I knew I woke up in Atlas with-...”

He slowly turned to face the wall, pulling all his hair in front of his shoulders, “with this thing in my back… Apparently my semblance saved my life, but I didn’t leave unscathed. Like Yang I have a permanent, irreversible scar.”

Getting uncomfortable with his back to them like this he turned back around, this time looking to the table, “It’s called the E.D.M.E., without it I wouldn’t even be able to walk…. But it doesn’t always work all the time and too much physical movement uses up the dust inside really quickly…”

He went silent. He didn’t have anything more he wanted to share. After a moment he looked up and realized no one looked different from when he started talking.

Yang was the first to break the silence, “So, back at the camp, was that what that was?”

The cat boy nodded and looked back down to his lap. A second later something started patting his head. It wasn’t warm though and it felt like metal. He looked up to see Yang using her metal arm to pat him, “I’m pretty sure if Phyrra saw you now, she’d also call you a ‘strong badass’... but, the explosive kind.”

His eyes watered. He didn’t know he needed to hear those words. Angus lifted his head and once again glanced around. Just by their faces alone they seemed to agree.
“...I was curious what made the noisy kids quiet…” Qrow walked in, “Anyways come to the living room… and grab Jaune, wherever that one is.”

Just by sight alone the cat boy grew even happier. Even if he still didn’t know who that farmer boy next to his teacher was.

*

Everyone gathered in the living room and sat upon the red seats. Ren sat in one of the arm chairs next to Nora, Jaune, and Ruby on the couch. Next to them sat in the other armchair an unnamed boy holding a mechanical staff between his legs. In the last couch next to him was Indago, Weiss, and Yang, with Angus leaning on the arm rest next to the doctor.

Dr. Sunshine had insisted for his patient to sit down in the last space but the cat boy gave him a disinterested look and pushed him into his seat, “Just sit you f*cking nerd.”

And so he sat next to the ‘Ice Queen’ and the arm rest.

Qrow was the only one standing and he took a swig from his flask, “Before we begin, this is your guys last chance to leave. Once you know there is no going back. Once you know, you know.”

The doctor glanced around. Should he be here? This sounds like special huntsmen stuff.

The older man put his flask away, “Especially you, blue-hair.”

Blue hair? Was he talking to him?

Indago pointed a finger to himself,”M-Me?”

“Yeah, you. This will be extremely dangerous, especially for non-huntsmen.”

The doctor thought back to the ship. He almost flew out of the ship. His life had almost ended. But it didn't, thanks to the faunus. Does knowing whatever information this is mean that he’s stuck helping them?

He glanced over to Angus and got a head tilt in response. He had already left his home and committed himself to his doctor job at the age of eighteen. He had already passed the line to go back.

The former Atlas doctor turned back to the pale man, “I’m already this far… I’m not going back now.”

Plus, he already knew what the risks were. Pumpkin never came back from her mission. Maybe along the way he can find her? ….If she’s still- she has to be still alive! She’s too strong not to be.

The standing huntsmen nodded, “Alright… you three?”

The doctor glanced over at Weiss' and Yang’s determined faces before Angus gave a verbal response, “My curiosity is killing me, I have to know.”

Qrow’s red eyes looked over the four of them, “Alright…. Let’s see, where do I start?”

After a moment Ruby suggested, “You started by telling us about the maidens…”

Maidens?

“Ah, right, the maidens. You kids know the story of the four maidens?”

Yang crossed her arms, “The children’s story to explain the seasons?”

“Yeah, it’s a children's story…. Four maiden girls represented the seasons giving the old man a gift.”

Where… is this going? The four maidens is just an old tale that used to explain summer, winter, spring, and fall. Now it’s nothing more than a bedtime story for kids.

The scruffy man took his flask out but didn’t open it, “What if I told you it was true?”

Huh? What? No, no, that's ridiculous.

The cat boy tilted his head with disbelief equivalent to the doctor, “Huh?”

Dr. Sunshine pushed up his glasses,” W-Well… I mean, the seasons are certainly real.”

“No, the girls. The maidens themselves, they are real.” Qrow corrected. The man’s fingers continued to dance around the cap as if questioning whether or not he wanted a swig. He finally comes to a conclusion and pops off the cap, taking a sip. Afterwards he caps the flask again, “The four maidens were granted powerful gifts that correlated with their respective seasons; magic.”

Yes, but magic isn’t real-

He thought back to the raven from the bandit camp. He was still unsure how Yang’s mom had done that. But there must be a reason not related to magic, right?

After no response The man continued, “And they still exist. Their power at least…. No matter what, all four always exist, but only in women. Now don’t ask me why the magic is sexist ‘cause I don’t know, but what I do know is that whenever a maiden dies it goes to whoever they are thinking of last. Unless it’s a guy, in which case it goes to someone random. Any questions?”

Angus beat him at raising his hand, “I have a massive question, teach’.”

“Yeah, kiddo?”

The cat boy cleared his throat before swinging his arms out, “What the f*ck?”

That was Indago’s own question simplified.

Qrow gave a slight laugh, “Yeah, It’s a lot and that’s not even the start to all of it.”

“There’s more?!”

The huntsmen laughed again, “Yeah… unfortunately.”

Dr. Sunshine raised his hand with a new question in mind.

The dark haired man put his flask away once again, “You guys don’t actually need to raise your hands, we’re not in school…”

The former Atlas doctor pulled his hand back down, “While we’re on the topic of magic, something is still bugging me. Before we came here a-at the bandit camp we saw this bird…”

“My mom… she turned into a bird. Then she told me to ask you about it.” Yang ended up finishing his sentence. Kinda.

Qrow slipped a hand through his hair with a sigh, “We’ll get to that…. But that does bring me to my next point; Ozpin.”

Yang’s mother has mentioned his name, right? Headmaster of Beacon?

“If you don’t already know, Ozpin died at the Fall of Beacon. But he’s not gone, far from it.”

The man motioned to the unnamed boy, “And this is Oscar…”

Well that was a change in topic… The young doctor leaned forward to peer past Angus. The boy, Oscar, waved his hand to them all before straightening his back and closing his eyes. Suddenly his body jolted a tad.
He folded his hands together over his staff with a different demeanor than before. It was as if he held himself differently. His eyes fluttered a tad before opening again. Were his eyes glowing? Were they yellow? Oscar’s eyes looked over the confused teenagers.

When he spoke it was as if two different voices were trying to speak at once only with a slight offset. The deeper voice seemed to lag behind just a tad, “Hello, students, and doctor.”

What?! Huh?! How?!

Angus moved so fast Indago didn’t even register the movement. The cat boy was on all fours managing to stay up on the back of the couch behind Weiss and Yang. His claws were out and clenching into the couch as he slightly growled. It wasn’t anger though, he was frightened. Maybe it was just the doctor’s eyes but it looked like the cat boy’s hair was slightly raised.

Weiss’ jaw dropped and Yang looked to the floor as if she was contemplating something.

Oscar(?) continued after a quick laugh, “You all look as if you’ve seen a ghost… Well you're not wrong. My body has died… but not me.”

It was strange, nothing was making sense. Why wasn’t it making sense?! What happened to the bird?! What the hell happened to Oscar? Science and knowledge has covered him for years, and for the first time ever he’s stumped. How was this possible?

Oscar turned out to be Ozpin… but only sometimes? Either way as the boy/man spoke Dr. Indago felt like everything he said was true. His mind wanted to reject it, the reasonable thing would be to reject it. Magic isn’t real, and yet he couldn’t debunk it. The more the deceased man spoke, the more it sounded real.

So he’s one of two people that are considered immortal. Salem is the other one and she made all of the grim, she leads them. It’s a story that matches up with what Yang’s mom said. The four maidens- the others could confirm that the woman, Cinder, had the power of the fall maiden. There were relics behind doors that could only be opened by said maidens and the relics also do magical sh*t.

He was gonna lose it. Maybe he already has. Maybe he’s gone crazy and he was still in Atlas- or maybe, this is some weird fever dream and he needs to change coffee brands.

The doctor held his head, “I-I, no, none of this makes any sense!”

The older huntsmen shared his feelings, “I didn’t believe it either at first. I thought it was ridiculous. But it’s all true.”

Ozpin looked over to Yang, “Miss Xiao Long, is this more or less what your mother told you?”
Weiss started to answer for her, “For the most part-”

“You forgot something…” Yang corrected, “You forgot to tell everyone what you did to Qrow and my mother…”

That’s true… they never got their answer about the bird.

“What is she talking about?” Ruby innocently asked.

“That’s not a secret I thought she would give up so easily, “ Ozpin admitted, “Your mother must trust you a great deal.”

Yang wasn’t amused.

The dead man sighed, “My ability to reincarnate, through a curse, isn’t without a few key benefits. Much like the maidens, I, too, possess a certain magical power.”

Oh course, everything is f*cking magic!

Ozpin stood up with an arm behind his back with the other moving his cane along as he walked around, “Using this power, I was able to gift the Branwen twins the ability to see more, to move more freely, and be unburdened by their natural bodies.”

He stood next to Qrow, “I, well, gave them the ability to turn into birds.”

So the bird was never a trick. It was never an illusion, nor a pet. Yang’s mom was in fact a raven.

He should have turned back.

The reincarnated man laughed to himself again, “Rather ridiculous sounding out loud, isn’t it?”

Everyone looked at him silently with all sorts of different emotions. Most of them were of disbelief.

“You… turned them into birds?” Ren asked.

“Alright,” Nora spoke up, “Now you're just messing with us.”

So they believe maidens, magic, Salem, and magical objects but draw the line at shapeshifting? That bewildered the doctor the most.

“He’s telling the truth,” Weiss reassured, “We saw it. Yang’s mom changed right in front of us.”

Everyone continued to hold the silence as Yang shared her frustrations, “Why would you do something like that? I mean, what is wrong with you?!”
“Yang,” Her uncle raised his voice, “That’s enough! We made a choice. We wanted this.”

The yellow haired girl lost her anger and she backed down.

Ozpin looked to the shapeshifter, “May I?”

Qrow nodded and the reincarnated man came closer to the concerned huntress, “Granting this power to them was no trivial task, and I can assure you it was not done frivolously. I required assistance in gathering information on Salem’s plans, as well as searching for maidens when their hosts became unclear.”

“Okay, so, have you done this with others?” Ruby asked, “Like General Ironwood or Professor Goodwitch?”

“As helpful as that might be, unfortunately it’s not that simple. My power is finite, and if I’m being honest, dwindling. The amount that I gifted to Qrow and Raven was, all things considered, rather minuscule. You see, centuries ago, I sacrificed a great deal of magic to four young women, who I hoped would use my gift for good. They were the first Maidens…”

He turned to Yang, “Miss Xiao Long, it was never my intention to lie to you.”

He glanced to everyone else in the room, “To any of you. There are just some matters that I prefer to play close to the chest…”

He turned to Qrow once again, “I believe that’s how you phrased it?”

The black haired man gave a slight huff reminiscent of the start of the laugh, “Yeah”

Satisfied, Ozpin turned to everyone else once more, “Everyone has a choice. The Branwens choose to accept their powers and the responsibilities that came with them. And later, one of them chooses to abandon her duties in favor of her own self-interest. Now all of you have a choice. Now knowing all of this, if anyone wishes to leave, now is the time. There’s no shame or disgrace in abstaining, only in retreat.”

Dr. Sunshine adjusted his glasses as he looked around. Everyone else was also looking at each other, seeing if anyone would leave. His eyes lingered on the cat faunus. How committed was he? He was a determined doctor, but this fight he’s about to enter ... He's only just been told the rules, now he might be expected to be in the ring. Does he follow his patient and possibly risk his life? Well… at the very least, either way he had one question left.

He reached a hand into his pocket, finding comfort in feeling that the letter was still there.

He turned to the wise man in the body of a child, “Have you met or seen an orange cat faunus named Pumpkin? She’s a licensed huntress from Atlas.”

“I’m afraid I have not. Is she missing?”

He nodded, “Yes, over a year ago she said she was on an important mission. She’d send me letters every now and again throughout the months. Her last letter was over a year ago….”

“I might have met her,” Qrow answered.

Indago’s eyes grew wide as he snapped all of his attention to him. The shapeshifter rubbed the back of his head, “It was a while ago and I was half-drunk but, I’m sure we shared some drinks together in Vale over a year ago. I don’t remember any of our conversations though. Sorry kid.”

The blue haired teenager shook his head, “Don’t be, even something as small as that helps me a lot.”

That settles it. He’s staying. He’s more likely to find her if he explores with a group of huntsmen.

Everyone went silent again and after a good few seconds Yang stood up, “If Ruby sticks around, then I will too. If there’s one thing I know about her, it's that she somehow always knows the right thing to do… But if we’re going to help, if we’re going to keep risking our lives…”

She turns to Ozpin, “No more lies. No more half-truths.”

The dead man glances to Qrow, who shrugs at him, before looking back to Yang, “Understood.”

“So, what now?” Juane asks, “I mean, what can we do?”

“That is a difficult question,” The man admits, “One that I believe is best to answer tomorrow.”

“What do you mean?”

“The road ahead is undoubtedly filled with hardships and peril. However, It's been far too long since you have all been together. Please, take tonight, enjoy this moment.”
The boy’s eyes flashed yellow and suddenly Ozpin was gone. Instead the original owner of the body, Oscar, was back.

Nora gasped and all eyes shot over to her, “Raven? Qrow? They’re birds!”

She put her arms behind her head and leaned back into the couch, “Cracked it.”

Everyone laughed. Suddenly the serious energy that once laid upon all of them was lifted.

Angus finally made his way back to his original seat on the arm rest, “So… I guess that’s that. My mind is blown and everything I know is a lie… but anyways what do you guys want to do?”

Oh man, did Dr. Sunshine feel that.

The cat boy adjusted his sitting position again and decided to sit pretzel style with his right foot almost touching his lap.

The doctor grabbed the faunus' ankle and carefully pushed his foot away. “No thank you. You can keep your dirty feet.”

Angus shared a mischievous smile before attempting to shove his foot in the former Atlas doctor’s face. Indago yelped and pushed him away. Angus slipped off and hit the floor with a THUD.

Everyone laughed again. Ruby was the first one to point out mid cackle, “Where are your shoes?!”

The cat boy poked his head out from between the couch armrest and the red chair, “Shoes? Nahhhhhh.”

“Did you come here without shoes?!”

Angus waved it off, “I’ll be fine, it hasn’t stopped me yet.”

Ren once again gave his words of wisdom, “Footwear is important. You never know what kind of terrain you may be running on or the kind of battles you’ll face.”

“Uh, yeah we do. The ground! Duh.” Nora… corrected?

Jaune agreed with Ren, “Yeah, you should get some shoes.”

Angus lifted his feet and wiggled his dirt covered toes in the air, “Teehee.”

Qrow took a swig from his flask before pointing to the faunus, “Get. Shoes. We’re not having another glass incident.”

“That was one time!”

“Yeah, and I walked in to watch Ben pull more than twenty shards of glass from your feet. Get shoes kid.”

The cat boy pouted. It seemed he couldn’t deflect or defend himself from that one.

“And your clothes…” Weiss added, “You look like you came from a warzone.”

The cat looked over to her with a poignant glance, “Weiss… I woke up from a warzone.”

“Still, you need a wardrobe upgrade.”

Ruby hopped up from her seat, “Shopping trip!”

Nora copied her, “Shopping trip!”

Qrow turned to leave, “Alright, you kids have fun…”

Oscar went to follow him as well but the bird-shifter stopped him, “That’s you too.”

The farm boy was confused, “But I don’t ne-”

“Go with them. Have fun.”

Angus hopped to his feet and grabbed the boy’s hands, “New victim~”

The boy looked around either as a sign of help or general awkwardness, “Uh…”

*

Although most businesses were closed around this hour, there were still shops and stores specifically for huntsmen and huntresses. And luckily in Mistral there were quite a lot of them.

Everyone stayed relatively around each other. Ruby would zoom off in excitement and look into the windows of shops selling all sorts of weapons, while Jaune, Nora, and Weiss would talk about where to go with occasional inputs from Yang. Indago, Oscar, and Ren followed along somewhat quietly. Indago because he had nothing to add, Oscar because he was awkward and didn’t know what to say, and Ren because he’s just like that.

Jaune stalked ahead of the group, turning to them, “We should get Angus shoe’s first… then maybe some armor?”

Weiss stepped next to Angus, “I agree… but I don’t think he’ll look good in armor.”

“Pink!” Nora called out, “I think he’d look good in pink.”

“Uh, Nora,” Yang informed her, “That’s because you think pink looks good on everyone.”

Nora motioned to Ren’s gloves and the streak in his hair, “That’s because it does!”

Ren gave a small nod, “Thank you.”

The orange haired girl put her hands on her hips with her head held high, “Your. Welcome.”

Angus thought about it as he felt the concrete beneath his feet. What does he want to wear? It’s been a while since he was really given the opportunity to have that choice. He wore the same uniform everyday in the White Fang. Then when he and Ben escaped from them he stole clothes from a clothes liner. They didn’t fit the best but they made do. Then Qrow gave him and Ben an opportunity to buy a set of cheap clothes to hide as a normal citizen. They ended up keeping those up until the Fall of Beacon. Well… what did he like when he was a kid? He liked pretty colors, sure but what else?

Juane’s hand landed on his shoulder shaking him out of his thoughts. The armored boy pointed to a blurry sign up ahead, “Shoe store up ahead!”

The cat boy squinted to read the sign but he couldn’t from this distance. He did notice out of the corner of his eye the doctor analyzing him. He looked over to him while he was being guided by the others, “Dr. Sunshine?”

The doctor looked as if he was thinking, “What’s that shoe store sign say?”

What a weird question.

The cat boy turned back around to look at the brown sign. Now that they are closer he can kinda see some of the letters better, “Uh…. ‘The….”

He paused for a long while, “...Shoe store’? I don’t know, we’re not close enough.”

Nora laughed, “Pfft! It says “The Huntsman Boot’ silly!”

“Oh… You have really good eyes.”

“Uh,” Jaune scratched his chin, “We all are able to see the sign.”
Huh? What? Huh?

Angus stopped walking and whirled around, “Wait, you guys can all see the sign?!”

Everyone kind of nodded. Weiss put a hand up to her temple, “Well… there’s another thing to add to the wardrobe.”

“Huh?! You guys are joking me! I’m not the only one, right?”

Suddenly the cat boy felt something being shoved onto his face as he heard the doctor's voice, “How do things look with this on?”

Whoa…. Suddenly the whole background behind the group was a lot more clearer. He turned around to look at the sign. Nora was right, it was called ‘The Huntsman Boot’.

He slumped a tad. This means he’s blind like Ben. All those times of calling him a nerd for his glasses were coming to bite him in the ass. He went ahead and kept walking with a sigh.

Indago must have seen his reaction as when he took his glasses back he went ahead and said, “Well, if we can find any stores for glasses, we’ll have to keep an eye out for that too.”

The cat boy waved him off, “Nah, i’ll be fine. I have been so far.”

Ren once again came in clutch for Angus’ health, “Poor or obscure vision can impact your ability to fight in combat and your enemy can use that against you. It is unwise to not use outside assistance to help your senses.”

The faunus groaned as the front door to the shop was in reach, “Ren, why you gotta always be wise and smart and right?”

The cat’s ears flicked over to hear the man shrug. Angus sighed once again as he pushed the door open.

The shop itself was relatively quaint, and quiet. Shoes lined shelves all around including shelves in the middle of the store. All around were shorts seats meant for when people are trying on shoes. A counter laid to his right with a tired plump man behind the cash register. Upon seeing potential customers though he put on a happy smile, “Welcome to ‘The Huntsman’- Woah! That’s a lot of you! Are you all looking for new footwear?”

“Not exactly,” Ruby said before pointing to Angus, “We’re looking for new shoes for him.”

“Ah, I see. Well, as you can see I have a large selection of boots, shoes, battle heels, and more. If you have any questions, I’ll be right here.”
What did he want to wear?

Before he could answer that himself he felt as Ice Queen grabbed his wrist and guided him over to one of the seats. After he sat down the white haired girl put a set of boots into his lap,”Here, try these.”

He picked them up and looked them over. (insert boot description)

He glanced up to Weiss, “Uh…. no offense Weiss… but I’m not going to try these ones.”

Juane picked them up from his lap and replaced them with another pair, “How bout these?”

(more shoes.)

(etc.)

Everyone had split off to go find shoes, at this point they were pulling anything and everything off the shelves. He was starting to feel bad for it. They came along to help and he’s denying them all.

None of these really fitted what he wanted. They looked nice and some had good traits that would be really desirable, but none felt like… well, him? What was ‘him’? During his White Fang days he wore boots that went along with his uniform. They were simple black boots with small heels. But… he didn’t like them. Maybe it was because of the White Fang? Alright, poor biased example. What else did he wear? In Beacon he either wore the dark brown, mandated uniform shoes, or his sneakers….

Well, he wore those cause he had too and he had no other choice. Gah! Why is picking something hard!? Just pick something!

“Hello,” The cat boy was surprised to see the cashier standing in front of him, “You look like you're struggling.”

Angus shrugged, but then nodded, “Yeah, I am.”

“What seems to be the problem?”

“Well, I’ve never really picked out my own shoes before…. I don’t know how to find one for me.”

“Oh? Like your shoe size?”

“No-no! My shoe size is 24.1 centimeters- wide... 24.1 centimeters wide.”

“Hmm… ah! You mean you can’t find one that matches you?”

The cat boy nodded.

The cashier grabbed a nearby seat and pulled it in front of the customer before sitting down, “Alright, how do you fight in battle?”

The cat boy pulled out his spear making it fold open, “I mainly use this in close range.”

Then the faunus makes his weapon split open to form a bow, “And this for long range attacks.”

He pretended to grab a dust crystal and load it, “And I use dust crystals as ammunition. Or sometimes I clap the crystals together- oh don’t worry though, I can handle it.”

The cashier nodded, “Well, that helps pinpoint a little bit.”

The cat tilted his head, “Only a little?”

“Yes, your weapon does influence how you fight… however it’s the user that decides what to do with it. Although sometimes your actions in battle aren't decided by your weapon at all.”

The cat became further confused. What the hell is this guy spewing?

He looked up as Ren came back, unlike the others he did not pick up a single pair of shoes, “I think what he means is, what normally happens in your battles?”

Huh? He fights?

He motioned to his weapon again and both of them shook their heads. The cat boy folded his weapon before putting it away, “I’m so confused.”

The cashier pulled out a pen to fidget with, “Tell me about a battle you’ve been in. What happened?”

“Hm… Well recently I fought a bunch of Lancers… I was with two others in the back of a ship. I wanted to save another ship so I broke a window to shoot crystals at the grim.”

“Didn’t that hurt?”

“I mean my aura and semblance dealt with it but…. Yeah, it hurt a lot.”

“Did you not care that it hurt?”

“At the time? Not really. I just wanted to save that other ship- of course I made the wasp boys angry and they came after us instead….”

“And how did you deal with that?”

“Me and someone else stood our ground and fought back while the ship was flying.”

“How? Aren't you inside?”

“Oh, yeah! But the back was open.”

“How did you stay inside?”

“I threw an ice crystal at my feet. It froze them onto the ship.”

“Didn’t that hurt?”

“I mean yeah but it didn’t matter to me at the moment. And then-”

The cashier clapped his hands, “Hold on, I have the perfect pair of shoes for you.”

The cat was bewildered and sputtered because he was interrupted, “I- uh, okay?”

Angus took a quick glance to realize the others, like Ren, also didn’t have shoes in their hands anymore.

He tilted his head, “Couldn’t find anything?”

Ruby nodded, “We did but-”

“You kept saying no!” Nora finished.

The cat slumped, “O-Oh… sor-”

Nora ran up putting a finger to his lips, “Nope!”

Oscar stepped closer, “We all eventually realized we couldn't pick them for you, because we weren’t you. It wasn’t our choice to make.”

Yang stepped over and ruffled the farm boy’s hair, “Yeah, and then Weiss kept picking up boots with ruffles and sh*t.”

“They were cute!” Weiss defended, “Plus, what if I wanted them for myself?”

Yang raised an eyebrow.

“Okay, fine… I didn’t.”

The cashier came back holding a pair of boots as Ren said, “No one can tell you what you want or who you are. It’s up to everyone what they choose or when they find out who they are.”

“Ren… this is like the third time today you’ve said sh*t like this.” The faunus joked.

In response he got a closed eye smile.

The cashier put the boots in the cat boy’s hands, “Here you go, see how you feel about these.”

The boots were interesting. There was a thin layer of leather covered in a layer of tiny intricate wovenings of metal, Chainmail, that ended before the toes and was merged with the leather. The most interesting part was the heels themselves, they were clear and there was a panel to open them. From the way it was built it looked like it might be for holding dust.. To others it would be ugly… because it kinda was. But out of everything it felt the most right.

He slipped his feet inside. Yeah, it was almost right.

He looked up to the cashier, “These almost feel right… but I’ll take them. I’ll figure out what I don’t like on my own.”

The cashier nodded, “The shoes should last you a while, they are built for melee dust users so it’ll survive a ton of dust attacks.”

It didn’t take long for the cat boy to pick up his bag. Unlike with the dance… this felt different. It wasn’t choosing something special for a special event… this was for normal, everyday him, outside of the dances and special events. Angus nearly smiled from ear to ear.

From then on, the others let him explore and pick his clothing. They traveled from store to store and slowly but surely, he had what he felt was most ‘him’.

Everyone was absolutely exhausted but waited in the living room to see the new ensemble put together.

The cat boy left the bathroom wiping any loose cut hair from his shoulders. He had cut most of it down But he didn’t want to go short-short. He had stolen a spare gray hair tie from Weiss and tied up what he could into a tiny ponytail sitting on his neck. What he couldn’t tie back sat on either side of his head.

His clothes over all were pretty simple. A matte stretchy black turtleneck started from his neck and ended at his hips. The sleeves ended where they just graced the start of his palms. His pants were the same color and hugged his body the same way. Covering his hands were gray, dust resistant gloves that didn’t retain any dust residue. A black harness went horizontally above and below his chest with vertical straps holding it up by his shoulders. His feet were adorned by the shoes he had bought earlier. To top it off, silver rimmed glasses sat upon his face framing his red eyes.

It felt great, especially when he altered it for the E.D.M.E. The metal brace stuck out from the fabric allowing easier access.

“You look great!” Ruby was the first to say anything as she hopped up from her seat.

“Yeah, you look like a whole new person!” Juane added on.

“Look like you can kick some ass even!” Yang joked.

Nora put her index finger and thumb against her chin,”I still think a little pink would pull everything together…”

“You finally look like you left a warzone…” Weiss… complimented?

Indigo held a thumbs up, “You look a lot better than you did earlier.”

Angus looked down at himself with a smile. It was strange, this all felt mainly right, yet he yearned for his Beacon uniform. Maybe that was because he knew he couldn’t go back. That chapter of his life came to an end albeit suddenly. It was a short period of mainly peace, but now he’s back out into the wild. He wasn’t out of the woods yet, but upon finding some of his friends and his old teacher, maybe the path to getting out would be easier.

*

Indago lightly rubbed one of his hands against his lab coat to get rid of the remaining dust he had spilled onto his hands earlier as he walked along with the others. Just minutes earlier he had made himself some coffee and was trying to help guide his patient on how to refill his E.D.M.E. with dust. It led to a slight accident that covered his fingers, but all in all it wasn’t an awful mess. When Ruby had run in claiming that Qrow said everyone needed to wake up and come with him to the main hall of Mistral Academy, The doctor had to quickly refill the E.D.M.E. for Angus since they suddenly didn’t have time.

So now here he was, walking alone quietly sipping warm coffee next to even more silent huntsmen led by Qrow. By glancing at others it was pretty clear everyone didn’t quite get their beauty rest. Such as Ruby rubbing the tired from her eyes, Nora nearly sleep walking, and a yawn from Juane that quickly traveled amongst the exhausted huntsmen and huntresses.

Iit was only after they had entered the great main hall that the silence was finally broken, “Why, hello.”

The doctor looked up. There were centralized stairs that started from either side that went up to a standing before going up so more. The man who had said ‘hello’ leaned upon the extruding banisters. The banisters were held up by a gorgeous marble statue of a woman with chains on her wrists.

The man spoke again as his lion tail swayed, “Thank you for, uh, coming.”

He looked upon them all nervously, “There seem to be more of you than last time.”

Last time? Qrow and some of the others must have held a meeting with this man before, but why was he nervous? Not a public speaker?

“Eh, you know what they say: the more the merrier.” Qrow responded, “So, what’s going on with the council?”

Council? Ah, Qrow and the other huntsman must be here on mission business that relates to helping this man. Hm, no, he recognized him now, this man was the headmaster of the academy. What was his name again? Indigo was never particularly interested in this kind of stuff before… but also at the time he didn’t really have to.

The man’s nervousness spiked up, “Why did you bring your weapons?”

What a strange question.

The shapeshifter was bewildered, “What? Leo, we’re huntsmen. You okay?”

“Of course!- of course… just uh, haven't had my evening coffee..”

That response was way too fast. Something is off, very off.

“Look it’s nice to see you but we’ve got work to do and sleep to have. Are we getting support from the council or not?”

“Mom?” Yang called out curiously.

The doctor’s head snapped over to the banister as Qrow shot at the bird in the blink of an eye. He didn’t even see him pull out his weapon!

Yang’s uncle switches his weapon into it’s sword form as everyone watched Raven move behind the academy headmaster. She stepped from behind him with a human form and a menacing mask on her face. It was white with red eyes. It looked purposefully reminiscent of grim.

“Raven…” Ruby dropped her name with venom that surprised the former Atlas worker.

Nora instead held a fearful surprised reaction, “They… they really are magic.”

Dr. Sunshine kept his eyes upon the woman. A second later and she pulls off her mask, “If you're going to shoot me, shoot me. That was insulting.”

The doctor’s eyes drifted to the only legal huntsmen on the team. Qrow’s stance said he was ready for a fight, “What are you doing here?

Raven made her way down the stairs, “I could ask you the same thing. You’ve been scheming little brother… Planning to attack your own sister.”

Instead of responding to her, her changed the target of his anger and confusion to Leo, “Leo, what have you done?!”

The man at the top looked at a loss for words, or an excuse. Either way, tensions were getting higher. What exactly was happening? Or maybe more accurately, what was about to happen?

“Leo did what any sane person would in his position. He looked at all of the information he had in front of him, assessed the situation, and made a choice.”

Raven made her way to the front of the statue, staring them all down with a hand on her hip, “And it seems you all have too.”

“...You have the spring maiden.”

What?! He wasn’t told about that!

“I do.”

Qrow put his weapon away, “Then hand her over and let's work together! We can beat Salem!”

“All that time spent spying for Ozpin and you still have no idea what you're dealing with. There is no beating Salem!”

“You're wrong,” Ruby jumped in, “We’ve done things that most people would call impossible, and I know that the only reason we were able to do it is because we didn’t do it alone! We had people to teach us. People to help us. We had each other. Work with us. At least I know we’ll have a better chance if we try together.”
The young huntress held out her hand to the bandit leader, “Please.”

Raven’s red eyes glance down to her hand before looking back up with an unamused stare, “You sound just like your mother.”

There was even a second of breath before the woman pulled out her sword to open a portal. He barely registered the fire ball shooting out to knock down Ruby. The girl slid across the floor in between Juane and Yang.

He immediately started running over as his instincts told him to check up on her, but his ears weren’t immune to hearing a new person enter the room, “Hello boys and girls.”

He stopped right besides Ruby with Yang already kneeling near her. His eyes caught what his ears didn’t. There were four people that came through; a woman dressed in red, a bandit he had seen Raven order around before, a girl with green hair, and a guy with gray hair.

The doctor grabbed Ruby’s hand as she looked to the woman in red with malice in her eyes, “Cinder…”

The room was silent for a moment as Yang’s mom’s portal closed. In the meantime Indago pulled Ruby back onto her feet. No one looked to the new faces with anything else but weariness and anger.

“C’mon guys, is that anyway to meet your old friends?” The gray boy said with a sly smile.

Ruby pulled away from his grasped and briefly dusted herself off, Yang on the other hand looked ready to murder someone.

Qrow glanced to the rag tag team of huntsmen and huntresses, “Everybody stay calm.”

A conflict. It could develop into a battle if not treated correctly. Then again the others had weapons, experience and skills to carry themselves so even if they fought, they wouldn’t have as much to worry about. But what about him? What does he do?

The over-large doors they had initially entered suddenly swung open. Everyone glanced behind them to find another man entering the room. The very large man with the green coat pushed the doors to a close once more, “The White Fang is prepping demolition and securing school grounds.”

He turned to face them all, “No one’s getting in, but no one’s getting out.”

What?! His first technical adventure had already potentially become more dangerous than he had predicted. The White Fang?! Demolition?! Maybe the poor doctor had overestimated his capabilities.

“This was all just a trap?!” Weiss asked no one in particular.

Even so, Ren answered, “Appears so.”

Qrow’s patience was wearing thin, “Raven, tell me, how long have you been with them?”

The woman and red stepped forward with tease, “Aw, don’t take it personally little bird. Your sister was a recent addition. The lion on the other hand… Entrance into the Vytal festival was a real treat. But Leonardo’s been sending Salem all sorts of information for a very, very long time. Isn’t that right professor?”

Said Lion cringed a tad with guilt upon his face, “Stop it.”

Dr. Sunshine pulled his eyes away and started looking around, maybe for an escape or something, he wasn’t sure. A second later though what Qrow said brought him back to the current situation, “It was you. You sit on the Mistral Council… you had information on every huntsman and huntress in the kingdom. And you gave it all to her.”

…What? Were his ears hearing right?

The headmaster went to speak but Qrow didn’t let him as both the bird’s anger and desperation grew, “I couldn’t find any of them, because you let her kill them!”

The word kill in the huntsman’s sentence felt like a bomb dropping. Even seconds later he couldn’t tear himself away from his spiraling thoughts. He never knew exactly where Pumpkin went. What if she came to work in another kingdom- this kingdom! What if she couldn’t escape, what if she’s dead?! No- but what if? He has nothing! Only a single letter still lives within his grasp, and it only shares small things like what she ate for breakfast. No leads, so any possibility. Anything could have happened. Salem could have killed her.

He was only knocked out from his thoughts when a hesitant hand reached his shoulder. It was Angus. Indago noticed immediately how his other hand looked ready to grab his spear from behind his back at any second. They shared no words but they both understood that the danger was high. Tensions were becoming suffocating.

His eyes, which he didn’t realize were becoming watery with threatening tears, focused on Juane’s anguish,”How can you be so broke inside? To take so many lives, and then come here and rub it in our faces like its something to be proud of.”

The blonde huffed breath as angry tears flowed down his face, “All with that damn smile on your face!”

Dr. Sunshine clenched his hand tighter around the coffee mug handle as Yang and Ruby both pulled out and prepared their weapons.

Qrow once again motioned to everyone, “Everyone stay calm.”

It fell on deaf ears as Jaune threatened them, “I’m going to make you pay for what you did. Do you hear me?!”

Everyone pulled out and readied their weapons. It was at this point Angus pulled his hand away and opted to hold his spear in both of his paws.

Okay, now he really needs to figure out a plan for his safety here. But with the big man behind them and these people in front of them, was there anywhere to go?

Qrow’s hold on the young huntsman and huntresses was slipping,” Kid-”

Jaune continued, “Well, say something!”

Their enemies stayed silent until a second later the woman clad in red merely looked at the blonde boy as a stranger, “Who are you again?”

That was the last straw. Juane released a battle cry as he charged in with his sword. His opponent, Cinder, also pulled out a sword but unlike him it was created or manifested. Jaune swung down while she swung up. The woman with a sly smile on her face blocked the huntsman’s attack.

Now the enemy team was preparing for a fight. The green haired girl swung her guns down and blades came out from the bottom, reminiscent of a praying mantis.

Ruby called out for Jaune before launching herself into the air. Her weapon turned from the gun to the scythe, but it didn’t matter as the green haired girl shot the blades from her weapon. The green knives with chains attached wrapped around Ruby before the enemy pulled her to the ground, “You're not getting near her.”

Turning her weapon into a spear, Cinder knocked back Juane before leaping forward to keep attacking.

Suddenly Yang rushed forward as well only to be stopped by the gray boy.

“Take out the Aeris. Don’t bother wasting your power, she’s not worth it.” Raven told her fellow bandit.

Qrow rushed forward and the shapeshifter’s blades clanged together.

The doctor instinctively stepped back despite not being close enough to the two. If Qrow was fighting, that means there is no way to salvage the peace. Everyone started fighting someone. Angus ended up zipping off with Ren and Nora to face the large man, Weiss was in a 1v1 with the bandit grunt, and everyone else had a “dance partner”... except for one.

His eyes glanced over to Oscar, trying his best to sneakily make his way towards the left side of the stairs. The doctor glanced around before starting to follow his boy in his footsteps. The Atlas doctor had to get out of the way of the fights.

The cat boy stepped towards the unknown man. The man did not look like he was here for a fight. He didn’t have a weapon out, nor carried the same battle-ready attitude like their other enemies. The man confirmed his thoughts, “I don’t wish to fight any of you….”

Ren pointed his guns, “Nor I you.”

“But we will in you’re with her!” Nora proclaimed with malice.

The man cracked his spine and his knuckles, “Very well then.”

The man stalked closer but still with no weapon. Why- why wasn’t he pulling out a weapon? Angus went to click his case but stopped. Since Ren and Nora are fighting too he’s have to not hit them with explosions. He pulled his hand away and instead bent his knees with both hands wielding the spear.

Oscar and Indago made their way up the stairs. But unlike the doctor who was only planning on getting out of the way the farmer boy kept his eyes on the headmaster. Leo turned and noticed them both, “Young men, I don’t know who you are but for your sake, I suggest you leave. Now.”

The lion started messing with his brace on his left wrist. It had elements like everyone else's weapons.

The former Atlas worker stayed where he was on the landing as Oscar made his way to the frightened faunus.

“I’m warning you!” Leo called out pointing his weapon to Oscar.

Oscar went to grab his mechanical cane but the lion spun something on his shield-brace-thing, “That’s enough!”

Suddenly a large fiery rock made from dust was thrown at the young tanned boy. Despite not being the target, when the rock collided with the farmer it broke apart and the doctor was whacked by a small piece of it. The doctor’s mug was destroyed with the rock. Indago held his forehead where the rock hit but kept his eyes locked on Oscar.
He watched as the boy’s aura broke with green dying rippling lights. Yet despite that Oscar stood tall and finished walking up the stairs to the cowardly lion. When he was at the same landing the doctor watched as he pulled out the folded up cane. With the press of a button it unfolded.

Just by the cane alone Leo’s eyes went wide, “Ozpin?”

Oscar ran towards him, cane held like a sword, “Not quite!”

Dr. Sunshine watched as the young boy fought the way older man. As Leo was being beaten he shared his surprise, “This can’t be, I knew you’d be back, but you made it here, you found Qrow. How?”

The doctor stepped closer and heard Ozpin come out, “Leo, what happened to you?”

Indago didn’t focus on their conversation. Instead he ran up to put his hands on the banister and peered over everyone. Oscar was already susceptible to lethal injuries, he had to keep an eye out for everyone’s auras. He wouldn’t be able to do much if they did get hurt right now but his expertise is better than nothing.

The hardest one the currently keep and eye on was Weiss, she zipped all around the room creating temporary platforms to stand on before moving around to the next one. All to avoid the pretty accurate bullets from the bandit woman from the camp.

The doctor ducked behind the wooden banister as a bullet passed over where he was standing. Holy sh*t that was a close one. He had his aura on but it wasn’t as strong as the others. He’s probably able to handle one bullet before he's just as vulnerable as Oscar.

He pulled himself back up in time to watch Weiss created an ice wall between her and her opponent.

His eyes didn’t linger though, he glanced around the room. Juane was knocked down by Cinder. But he got up just as quickly, getting back into the fight. Ruby was still fighting the green haired girl and was somehow… knocked off her feet. How? The girl was clearly in front of her. No, it doesn’t matter.

His eyes continued to move around, then he caught it. Weiss screamed as the woman she was fighting shot lazer like bullets into her at point blank. Ice Queen’s aura flickered white before fading away. Her aura was broken.

Alright time to keep that in- the room suddenly became white as Ruby screamed as well.

The light shortly faded and suddenly the red headed girl was on the floor unconscious. He needed to get her away from the warzone.
He started running down the stairs he had just come up from, he couldn’t do much but damn it he was gonna try.

Angus had seen the light, or more accurately had been temporarily blinded, but he couldn’t focus on that. What he did have to focus on was fighting this f*cking huge ass man. He was right to be suspicious of him not having a weapon, because with his goddamn bare hands, and bare hands alone he was holding back three huntsmen.

Nora leaped into the air planning on slamming his hammer down but he grabbed it and threw her to the side across the floor. He ran in while he was doing that to jab his spear but the enemy grabbed that too, only to slam him against the ground across the room.

He rolled across the ground, with his spear falling out of his hand. The cat boy propped himself up and shook himself back into focus.

It didn’t matter that he was a tad dizzy or that he might have started burning through the dust in his back, he needed to get back into the fight. Once they take down this man they won’t have to worry about him and he, Ren, and Nora can help the others.

The faunus looked over to where his spear lay. He reached a hand out to grab his weapon but it was a tad out of reach. Before he could go to crawl over or stand up, suddenly his spear was pulled into his grasp.

What? Huh? It happened again?

He shook his head again and used his weapon to help get himself back onto his feet. He’d figure that out later, he needed to get back to fighting.

Indago was on the floor of the battlefield and halfway to Ruby when Juane screamed out to Weiss. The doctor whirled around just in time to watch as the kneeling Weiss was stabbed through by a glowling, glassy spear. His eyes widened. It hit her torso on the right.

Indago ran as fast as he could as the spear disintegrated into thin air. In all honesty he didn’t even know he moved until he caught Weiss from falling forward and hitting the ground. Mere seconds later Jaune ran over as well with tears pouring down his face with his hands hovering over her.

Angus, Angus had just come back and yet he watched as another friend was gravely injured. He wasn’t the only one stunned by the injury, everyone on the battlefield stopped to watch as his doctor and the blonde made their way to the Ice Queen.

The cat boy’s eyes were only pulled away when he heard the young farmer call out, “Ruby, get up! Get up! We need you!”

He turned and ran over to join Oscar and Nora over a passed out Ruby. Nora was attempting to shake her awake via her arm, it didn’t work as the poor girl continued to lay there. Even so, that didn’t stop the farmer boy from joining into the attempt and also trying to wake her.

The cat boy stood over her. What can he do? Was She asleep or out from battle? Well… he might have a way to wake her.

He clicked the button on the white case on his back to open it and grabbed the first of the crystals he had just restocked. He held it in front of him as he crouched down. Then proceeded to rub the yellow crystal against her hand. After a few seconds he rubbed a tad more vigorously. Then he was getting the effect he wanted, as he felt his own hair start to stand up with static electricity, the crystal shocked her hand.

Ruby sat up with a jolt. She was confused, surprised, bewildered and didn’t know where she was for a moment. Her hair also stood up and in a strange way reflected her emotions on her face, “Huh?- What? Where am- oh…”

The girl looked weak and out of it, but she was awake.

The catboy would have smiled had he not remembered Weiss’ condition. Plus a new problem arrived. The man he was fighting earlier stepped closer with anger, “Ozpin!”

Oscar stood up as the man ripped off his green jacket and pulled out four yellow dust crystals from his leg pouches, “You’ll pay for what you did. You’ll die over and over again!”

Then the man plunged the sharp ends of the dust crystals into his forearms. Almost immediately the cat could see the yellow glow as the dust entered his blood stream. The man’s eyes glowed yellow as electricity seeped through his body, he gave a war cry as if he demanded blood before leaping forward towards Oscar.

Instantly Qrow pulled the farm boy out of the way and turned his weapon into a scythe.

Angus faced the man with his spear at the ready. His ears flicked over towards Cinder, “Leo! Open the path to the vault!”

A vault? Isn’t that what the maiden relics-things-stuff is behind?

The cat boy turned and caught eye of the lion faunus placing a pocket watch into the engraving of an empty circular pendant along the chain around the statue's waist. The head master ducked out of the way as the statue began the shift and sank into the floor.

Nora looked over to Yang, “Stop them! we’ve got your team covered!”

The yellow haired girl turned to stop them but Mercury kicked her down.
The cat boy growled. He remembered when he framed Yang and tricked everyone in the audience. As Emerald joined him, the cat boy pondered whether to help Yang or stop whatever the f*ck was happening at the statue. As Yang got up, she locked her purple eyes with him and nodded. It wasn’t much but it was as if she understood his dilemma. The nod meant ‘I’m fine, go’.

And so the cat boy turned to the statue, or at least where it was. The platform that was lowered from the statue kept lowering past the ground as Cinder, Raven, and her side hoe all stepped upon it.

His grip tightened on his weapon and he grabbed a crystal.

Meanwhile Indago had at this point laid Weiss on her back. Her breaths were getting shallower by the minute. He paid no mind to Ren holding her hand and feeling her pulse. The doctor’s jacket was still dirty from the bandit camp but he couldn’t come up with much else to use. He stayed in thought as Juane was pressing his hands against her wound. Well, one of them. If this isn’t taken care of soon the poor girl will bleed out and die.

The Atlas doctor glanced up, he wasn’t sure how clean that discarded jacket was but honestly anything was helpful. He glanced to the dark haired huntsmen, “Ren, see that green jacket on the floor? Get it, we need something to press against both her wounds.”

Juane looked up as Ren nodded, “Talk to me, how is she?”

Indago gave a shaky sigh, “She’s not doing well right now.”

Ran stood up and left to retrieve the jacket from the battlefield. Juane on the other hand looked panicked, “No-no-no-no. No-no! Not again! Please! Weiss, c’mon, please!”

A sweat dropped from his forehead. Weiss needs help and she needs it fast.

Ren came back shortly since all of their enemies were currently busy. He handed the doctor the jacket. Luckily upon quick observation, it wasn’t very dirty. This’ll do.

Dr. Sunshine started ripping the jacket or at least trying to. Ren ended up pulling out his weapon and using the blade to cut the fabric. He took the giant rope of… well what was left of the jacket and started to wrap it around her, “Jaune pick her up.”

He did as the doctor said with tears in his eyes. Indago finished wrapping it with the knot against the entrance wound on her back. The blonde put her back down shortly after and continued to press his armored hands against her exit wound.

The doctor looked to the large front door,” She needs more help than I can provide… but we can’t risk moving her right now.”
Juane looked up from his injured friend, “What do we do?!”

The doctor was at a loss. What do they do? She needs help but the White Fang are outside setting up explosives. If someone goes out to attempt to bring back help, it might be too late considering the possible fight.

The blonde bit his lip and looked back down to her.

As the platform acted as an elevator and brought the women down that left only one possible person in Angus’ way: Leo. The guilty and scared lion aimed his strange weapon contraption to the cat boy, “Don’t do this…”

The cat didn’t even give him an ear before attacking the man. The man attempted to shoot a creation of rock and ice but the cat boy dodged it and knocked him to the ground with his spear hitting the back of his knees.

No even giving him another glance Angus looks down the hole. The platform had lowered itself as fall as it could and the three were already moving off of it. The faunus opened his spear to its bow form before loading the red crystal he had been holding. He aimed at the platform. Does he shoot? He’ll lose the element of surprise- wait… no he’ll still have it.

He released the crystal and it whizzed through the air down the vertical tunnel. Waiting only a second the cat boy jumped down after it. The fire crystal collided against the ground creating an explosion of smoke and flame right as his legs hit the bottom. His feet collided with the ground first and the rest of his body collapsed on itself hitting the ground or his own bones. His semblance managed to absorb all of it as he suppressed a yelp of pain. And within seconds he jumped from past the fire and smoke with his arms outstretched and spear pointing forward.

He couldn’t see which target he was going to hit or if he’ll hit one at all. It was a risky decision and he went all in with it. Now it was time to see what hand he got in this game of poker.

As he cut through, his spear clinked against metal as he was able to see Raven’s sword in front of her second hand that he was about to attack.

Using the force of his momentum and his weapon against the shapeshifter’s Angus launched himself in front of the three. He turned his back to the glowing tree and once again got into a battle stance. This wasn’t the best place to fight, especially considering there was a simple bridge and he couldn’t see the bottom of this cave, but it wasn’t like he was able to choose.

Was the relic the tree?- didn’t matter! Keep them from it, that was his mission.

Ravan scoffed, “I thought your little minions were handling it.”

Cinder rolled her eyes, “Yes, well clearly this one avoided them…”
The sly woman summoned another one of her glass swords, “Are you sure you want to play like this? I’m sure the White Fang would be devastated to know that an old, faithful member of theirs is trying to stop us from helping them grant their freedom from humanity.”

The cat boy was stunned. What? How did she know about his past affiliation?! Does that mean the White Fang still remembers him?!

The was all his opponent needed to shoot a fireball at him. When it hit him he slid across the ground with his E.D.M.E. scratching across the concrete under his turtleneck. He held on tight to his weapon though.

Suddenly within an instant Cinder was on top of him and went to plunge the blade she was holding into his chest. Out of a panicked urgency the faunus rolled out of the way before jumping back onto his feet. Her blade merely met the concrete he was just laying on.

He took a breath as he readied himself again and rushed forward, this time only one hand on his weapon as the other went to swipe another crystal from his case. He swung his spear to her from his side as it was opening to turn into a bow. Her blade clanked against his weapon, “You really want to betray your brothers and sisters in the White Fang?”

His ears picked it up but the same trick won’t work twice. It felt like an instant; he pulled up his other hand holding another yellow crystal and loaded it with the same hand. Before Cinder could fully kick him away he released it, sending it hitting her point blank.

Angus fell back down to the floor feeling a slight jolt from his own attack. Well, slight is one way to put it. He flung his limbs out, convulsing on the floor as his E.D.M.E. flickered between on and off. Luckily by the end of it his back was still online and he was able to see Cinder was affected similarly, only she was still standing and… didn’t have back problems.

Before he could celebrate his small victory Cinder shook it off and prepared to attack him again. But this time, out of the corner of his eye, there was movement. He was so caught up with fighting Cinder he couldn’t keep an eye on the other two. A red sword knocked him to the side hard. He nearly rolled off but gripped on the edge with all of his might.

Raven looked down to him, “Don’t make me stay here any longer than I have to.”

She turned away and so did Cinder but not before kicking his spear down.

The cat boy risked letting one hand go just to grab his weapon. Once he did let go to grab his spear Cinder turned away with a self satisfied ‘hm’ As his left hand carried all of his weight, and his claws came out to hold onto the platform the best he could, his right hand missed grabbing the spear. That was her goal, it was out of his reach.
He needed the spear. It was his only weapon- he can’t let them do whatever they are planning! Even if he gets up now he only has dust crystals and these guys can move faster than he can see sometimes!

He thought back to when his weapon came back to his hand as the weapon fell further and further.

He needs it!

Suddenly despite the far depths his weapon has traveled it rapidly started coming back up. A large open smile graced the fanus’ face as it went into his outreached hand.

As his grip was struggling as he stabbed his spear into the platform. He switched his holding to his weapon’s shaft before he could almost drop into the void-like depths below. With a breath of relief he swung himself up to the platform before pulling his spear out to join him.

*

“She’s hardly breathing.” Ren pointed out in fear.

It was too late to come to a decision and he knew it. Their last chance passed eight minutes ago when she had first fallen. She was just losing too much blood.

Indago closed his eyes, “I-I don’t know what else to do.”

He had failed to help her….

“No, it wasn’t supposed to be like this!” Jaune cried, “Please! We can’t lose anyone else.”

The blond closed his eyes as tears continued to fall. But instead of waiting for her to silently pass away, Indago looked down in surprise and awe as her aura spread over her body. Her aura? That’s not right, her aura broke! There hasn’t been enough time to regenerate it!

And yet, it made Weiss take in air. She gasped for it.

Everyone including Juane was bewildered when this aura light was also surrounding the blonde’s hands.

What the hell? Indago lightly picked up his hands just enough to see under. The doctor’s eyes widened. The wound was closing. He was healing her! Weiss has a chance! She can live!

“I don’t know what you're doing Jaune,” Dr. Sunshine admitted, “But keep doing it!”

Maybe it was a semblance. Most likely was but either way the former Atlas worker was glad it happened when it did.

*

He turned towards the tree preparing to fight again but the other three were at the tree already. Angus went to rush forward but stopped in fear. Raven was frozen solid, looking as if she were trying to pull out her weapon and fight but never succeeded. In front of Raven was Cinder pinning the other bandit to the glowing, golden tree door.

It wasn’t the violence that bothered him, it was how Cinder was pinning her down. The woman was stunned and in shock as a skeleton-like grim hand had pierced all five of its fingers deep into her abdomen as blood blossomed across her clothes. The hand was attached to Cinder and was extremely long and It stretched yards in front of her.

It was attached. She was an amalgamation of grim, maiden, and human. It made the cat boy feel sick. What can he do? Could he save the bandit? He should try!

He went to move his feet but they felt frozen. He looked down, his feet weren't stuck on anything. Why can’t he move? He needs to move! … but he was scared.

Cinder walked closer and the arm shrank as she did, “Nothing personal, dear. You’re just not worthy of such power.”

She stopped right in front of the bandit woman, “... but I am.”

It was when the woman fell to the ground screaming in pain that Angus finally moved. Instead of rushing forward and attacking them like he wanted, he instead grabbed a red crystal and shot it at the frozen Raven as he ran forward.

The crystal hit blasting Yang’s mom out of the ice cocoon she was trapped in. Like the cat boy had predicted the woman was not concerned with him at all. Instead the bandit leader rushed forward and within the blink of an eye she slammed her sword down. Cinder summoned a sword made of her usual glass in her human hand, before blocking the attack.

The cat boy continued to rush forward but with caution. It’s true the bandits are a bunch of assholes, but no one deserves to die here like this!

He needed to get closer. Just a tad closer. Just a tad longer- the bandit’s hands fell and she laid onto the ground.

No! He still has time! She can't be gone yet!

The cat boy slid against the ground and he went to a halt. Immediately without question he stabbed his spear into the grim hand. Cinder yelped in pain before pulling the hand from the woman’s chest and slapping him to the ground.

Gritting his teeth he felt his aura break. Everything was a risk now. He glared up to the mismatched woman only to find her attention trained on someone else. Cinder and Raven shared a few blows and deflects with their swords.

“Where is it! Where is the power?!” Demanded Cinder.

No longer caring for him or the dying woman, Angus quickly grabbed the bandit and pulled her closer to him, away from Cinder. Just one look said she wasn’t doing well. He felt her pulse… it was almost gone.

Her ears flicked over to Raven, “you won’t find it, because Vernal’s not the spring maiden.”

Vernal? Was that this lady’s name? Either way she needs help and he can’t help her down here. He rapidly taped her face to get her attention but her eyes merely fluttered a tad. She was almost gone. Quick! think! What does he do?!

His ears picked up Raven throwing her mask to the ground, “I am!”

The cat boy looked up to see Raven’s eyes burn with a red flame. Oh no. Wait… flame…

He snapped his attention back down to her bloody wound. Did the claws rip her organs? He cringed thinking about it but ended up peering closer anyways. All he could see and understand was the torn skin and blood everywhere.

Okay, this was a doctor thing…. Indago. He needs to get this woman to him.

With a decision made and a goal in mind, the faunus folded up his weapon and placed it upon the case before picking up Vernal bridal style. His back was starting to protest after everything he had just been through, but he didn’t care. He got to his feet and bolted past the two angry women glaring at each other.

When he reached the platform the two women were fighting each other with a combination of their normal capabilities and their magical maiden powers. Fire, ice, wind, every move was an ablaze of elements more strong and more ruthless than the last.

When the platform moved he wanted it to go faster, not only to save the woman he was holding as her life expectancy was rapidly ticking down, but also to avoid any stray attacks. If he were hit even once Angus was sure he would die on the spot.

*

At this point Ren had run off to join Oscar, and Qrow in the fight against the big man. Nora had come to stand guard of Juane, Weiss, and him. Indago wasn’t sure how long they were at this now, but the Ice Queen was getting rapidly better compared to earlier.

Nora glanced over her shoulder, “You guys doin’ okay?”

“I-I think so?” Jaune stuttered out, “She’s coming to.”

The doctor smiled, Weiss wasn’t going to die today.

“I just wished this would go faster.” Jaune admitted.

“How about you be thankful that you unlocked your semblance when you did.” Nora responded.

“My semblance?”

Indago agreed with Nora, “It would have to be, especially if you didn’t have one before.”

“How else do you think you're healing her dummy?” Nora tacked on.

“No, I don’t think I’m healing her, “ Jaune Disagreed, “Our aura heals our bodies. It feels more like my aura is amplifying hers.”

Amplification? Interesting. How would that affect-

And then Weiss’ eyes fluttered open, “Jaune?”

The doctor smiled again, she was finally awake.

He glanced up to the battlefield no longer as worried about the health and safety of the Ice Queen. It was starting to get brutal, that big guy just electrocuted Ren.

Nora called out for him and Jaune told her to go help him and so the bodyguard hopped back into battle. Weiss looked confused, “Jaune… Indago? What’s happening?”

The blonde responded immediately but the Atlas doctor wasn’t listening, instead as his eyes scoured the battlefield once more.

Qrow and Ren were both knocked down as Leo and the large man were both attacking Oscar. Then as Oscar fell to the floor Nora let out a battle cry and went to hit the large man with the hammer. She didn’t land the hit though, the large angry man merely stole her weapon and tossed her to the floor. He chucked her weapon before coming around to her and grabbing her head. Using the dust stabbed into his arms he brutally electrocutes the girl.

No- Dr. Sunshine, he should help them! He went to grab his glasses as he stood up.

Once he stood he found that Nora was somehow being supercharged by the attack. She chucks the man to the ground with one swing. Was this her semblance?

Indago put down the hand holding that was going to pull off his glasses.

“His semblance, “ The doctor overheard Oscar say, “He can block out the pain. That’s why he can handle injecting so much dust into his body.”

Nora shook her head, “I don’t need him to hurt. I just need him to go down!”

The man gave a battle cry before running to the orange-haired girl, and like a batter she gave a great swing. When it connected with the man he flew across the room. No, not just the room, he body broke the front wall as he was sent outside.

With the man outside and Leo too much of a coward, everyone took a brief look around. Oscar and Qrow just barley stood back up as Nora was seeing to Ren. Yang was exhausted as Ruby stood next to her but they got back up to fight the green haired girl and the gray boy.

Then came Angus. The platform was rising again and Indago only saw his head at first but the cat boy jumped his way to the floor from it, being careful with- was that the one bandit? The faunus made eye contact with him and made a bee-line to him.

When the cat boy got close he frantically put her down, “I-I saw her- she’s dying! Her name is Vernal- Her aura broke and-and she's dying!”

Indago gave a brief look at the injury. Her abdomen was torn and bleeding. Not just that, the puncture wounds, with how deep they are, probably made it to her organs. Dr. Sunshine noted the lack of breathing and checked her pulse. Nothing. This woman, Vernal, was gone.

He looked up to the cat’s face giving his a desperate plea with his eyes alone. The doctor shook his head, “She’s gone.”

Tears welled in Angus’ eyes. Why did he care so much? Wasn’t she his enemy?

*

Ben, Ink, Lesh, and Sun led in half of the army of armed faunus citizens from Menagerie as Blake spoke to Adam. As expected though he merely taunted her about coming back to him, and refused to stand down.
A guard noticed the other half led by Ghira and demanded to know who was there. The smart man responded, “Your brothers and sisters.”

Some of the guards were already hesitant to attack, simply due to the people they knew, standing with weapons and shields on the front lines.

Ink hated working on those. He had to keep painting the same yellow logo on each shield handed to him, simply because he was one of the ones that “had a better hand”. He wanted so much to draw other creatures, or animals, maybe some furries in so many colors other than yellow. But no, the same yellow wolf head with a circle around it.

The fox looked to adam. He wanted to bite that guy even more. Not even just for fun, just simply because he was the reason he had to draw that many wolf heads.

Adam stood his ground, “Make no mistake brother. These are our enemies! And we will not let them ruin-”

Then just as planned a ship with search lights came over the school. The lights landed on Adam and the surrounding White Fang members as a woman’s voice spoke, “Adam Taurus, this is the Mistral police force. Lower your weapons and surrender peacefully.”

That wasn’t the only ship though. Two others floated above with the same searchlights.

*

Everyone paused, surprised by the police lady’s voice and the lights pouring through the windows.

“What’s happening?” Weiss went to sit up.

“Not sure,” Jaune admitted, “How are you feeling?”

The Ice Queen looked at the dead woman already losing color next to her, “Better…”

Then the girl looked to her hand, A sigil spun around fast as it sat above her palm. it seems she had enough strength to use her semblance again. She looked to the blonde, “Keep it up.”

Indago smiled knowing she was already going to be back on her feet. He turned to the cat boy who looked outside with both fear and interest, “Are they going to arrest Adam?”

*

Adam demanded to know how Blake did all of this, instead of answering Lesh heard her as she shook her head, “Adam it’s over.”

The man in question looked around to all of his enemies bewildered before pulling out what must have been the switch for all of the explosives, “Then it’s over for all of us!”

His own little team of White Fang members gasped as he went to click it. When nothing happened he clicked it a few more times.

A member standing with him looked to him, “What are you doing?! Trying to get us all killed?!”

The deer patted her weapon sheathed away as Adam grabbed the member who talked back to him via his collar, “I am making humanity pay for what they’ve done!”

Lesh had seen many die, faunus or not every single one that died didn’t look ready to go. They had one last goal, a dream, a family, but they were all taken before they could complete it. Seeing someone actively and selfishly attempting to rid the lives of others for their own narcissistic gain like this angers her. To do all of this, to hurt and kill so many people, to use them, and for what?

“Went sent someone over to confirm your explosives.” Blake started, “And once we did, she disarmed them.”

Illa, the faunus girl that was previously their enemy, stepped out from the shadows from a nearby roof. Her skin changed to make herself visible and she held up the wires from what would have been explosives.

Adam turned to say something to a large man covered in dust she had noticed earlier but had not said anything or moved, “What do we do?”

The man cracked his knuckles, “This is your business, not mine. Fix it.”

“I told you Adam,” Blake spoke to him again, “It’s over.”

Adam out of anger ran forward and pulled out his blade in an instant, intending on swiping Blake in half. He only swiped through a shadow of her as she moved out of the way and using both hands she hit him to the ground.

And yet, on the ground he still held authority, “Kill them!”

The group of White Fang members held up their swords and guns and started fighting. They weren’t the only ones. Soon everyone was fighting.

The first one to attack back was noticeably Ink as he ran and bit the leg of a member before using the chain of his weapon to choke them out and hold them as a shield.

Then Sun and Ben. Sun would hop on the heads or shoulders of their enemies, dodging bullets while whacking them with his staff. Ben would spin his scythe to deflect the bullets instead and use the blade to knock them off of their feet. While they were on the ground he would smack them in the head with the blunt side of his weapon.

Now was her turn. Lesh rushed in, pulling out her curved blades, blocking both stray bullets and oncoming ones. While in the middle of the battle field, she clicked the blades together forming her gun. It didn’t take long for her to whir around in a circle shooting down every noticeable enemy in her sight. She made careful shots as to avoid shooting any allies.

Her spinning came to a halt when her sights rested on the large man from before. Was he an enemy? Adam asked for guidance but he didn’t give him any. Coworkers?

She didn’t have to think for long as a white… blade? A white blade came through the hole in the wall. It stabbed through the man before pulling him inside through said wall.

*

The cat boy watched as Weiss got to her feet and summoned a Queen Lancer. The same one they had fought against on their way to Mistral. Without a second thought the stinger shot out and dragged the large man he had been fighting earlier back in.

Then everyone, particularly of team RWBY one by one stopped with a gasp as they turned to the hole in the wall.

The black haired, broody, cat girl stood wide eyed, “Yang?”

But with no time to waste, as everyone, including their enemies, was distracted Ruby pointed toward the platform, “Yang, go!”

Emerald had missed Yang as she ran by and Mercury grabbed her arm. Instead of being stuck in a fight, she kept running as the boy held onto her prosthetic arm.

The two ran after her but Weiss put up an ice wall.

Blake and Ruby exchanged understanding nods before Blake ran back outside.

Team RWBY have all met back up again. It brought another tear to the cat boy's eye. Of course… in a way he felt envious and saddened. The last missing member of team RWBY was found again, but he had not seen any of his team mates once. He deeply missed his leader, a trauma buddy Ben, and his wild faunus friend Ink. Would he ever see them again? He has to… at least at some point? But how long would that take?

He shook his head and turned to their remaining enemies as he stood up and pulled out his spear. His aura may be broken, and his back pain was increasing, but he won’t let that stop him from fighting.

*

Ben and Blake were on either side of Adam as he held his weapon towards the human. He was going to spare a glance on the others and see how they are doing now, but he knew they could all handle it. Besides, this man was dangerous, one look away could give him the upper hand.

Blake may not have had her weapon out but he wasn’t going to risk it. He had his scythe out and prepared. This man caused the death of his family, the trauma of his friends, and the loss of his eye. And now, finally he’s going to be stopped.

Adam spoke to Blake with piercing venom, “I’m going to make you regret ever coming back.”

He then spared a glance to Ben, “and Don’t think I don’t remember you. I’ll let you join your family.”

The asian gritted his teeth but didn’t move to attack. He wants to attack him. He shouldn’t give the terrorist what he wants.

Blake ignored his antagonizing words and gave him the truth, “More police are on their way, Adam. Huntsmen too.”

He laughed, “Still afraid to face me on your own?!”

“I’m here for Haven, not you.”

That angered him enough to pull his weapon in two, the blade towards Ben and the gun towards Blake. In response Blake did too.

Adam continued his monologue, “You're still afraid, and you should be. I’ve made powerful friends while you’ve been away.”

Then Ben heard Sun’s voice and the monkey Faunus approached to join them, “Oh yeah? Where?”

He looked to Sun and Ben, “Tell me, does Blake make all of her classmates fight for her?”

The monkey shared almost his exact thoughts, “Nah it’s a volunteer gig. Just sayin’, for someone who claims to have such great friends, there doesn't seem to be a lot of people here willing to fight for you.”
The leader of team BAI kept his eyes upon the terrorist leader as he glanced around. Seconds later a spotlight shined on him again.

“You can try and make me regret coming here Adam, “The man in question turned his attention back to his ex, “but honestly, I’ve got more important things to deal with.”

He finally retaliated out of anger. He gave a yell of frustration before going to swing his sword down. Sun quickly turned his staff into his shotgun nunchucks and shot back as Ben used his scythe to knock the trajectory of the blade out of the way.

Suddenly it was three and against one. Adam deflected Sun’s bullets but he couldn’t as easily deflect Blake’s and his blades. The White Fang leader pushed Blake back before Ben swung his scythe, managing to knock down the man.

The human went to swing his weapon down again but Adam rolled out of the way making his blade crack the concrete instead. The terrorist got back to his feet and ran off as the spotlight still followed him.

Ben ran to follow him and noted the monkey coming along too.

Yet, despite having the upper hand Blake called out to them, “No- Ben, Sun, wait!”

Ben didn’t stop running but Sun did as he responded to her, “But he’s getting away! We can take him!”

It was only as Blake spoke again that he stopped following the terrorist through the bushes, “No. We can’t. He wants to lure us away so he can pick us off. We need to protect this school and the people here. Besides now he can see what it feels like to run away.”

The human hesitated but as he tried to peer into the dark forest he had lost Adam. If he followed him now, he would absolutely be joining his family. He turned and walked back to Blake, finally glancing to Lesh, and Ink.

Citizens of Menagerie were backing up, along with the White Fang members in cuffs. Ink, and Lesh made their way to him as Sun pointed to the building, “I think there's a few people in there that could use your help.”

Ink nearly leapt on him, “Ben!”

Team leader stumbled back, “Good job taking down the White Fang.”

But the fox didn’t focus on that, instead his tail wagged as he excitedly shared, “I smell a smell!”

“Huh?”

The fox turned around and ran off towards the building with the fallen wall. Wait… he squinted his eyes. Was that the rest of Team RWBY? And Jaune, Ren, and Nora? And A giant white Queen Lancer?!

Lesh tugged his hand a little as if trying to get him to move. Then he nodded and ran after the fox towards the battle in the school.

*

Everyone was scattered all throughout the room. There were only four people but everyone, including their aura, was getting exhausted. Angus got thrown down again and shimmed behind a pillar next to Oscar before either got hit with a fireball.

Qrow also passed by the pillar but only to transform from bird to man, “He’s sheer willpower…”

Big man was difficult to deal with, especially as the cat boy was trying to avoid further damage. He wiped blood off his face from where one of Emerald’s bullets nearly killed him as Oscar responded to Qrow, “We just need to get him to his limit!”

Angus peered to the battle field right as the big man released a large fire attack destroying Weiss’ summoning. sh*t, that was the thing helping them the most.

Luckily though, he didn't need to worry about that as Blake came back into the room jumping on the large man and knocking him down before landing with Ruby and Weiss.

She wasn't the only person to join in either. Next was a fox faunus rushing in on all fours, followed by a human wielding a large black scythe and a purple hooded woman with curved blades.

Wait. The catboy’s eyes widened. Is that Ben and Ink? Is that his team?! Are they here?!

An uncontrollable smile reached his face as he watched his friends and the new deer faunus, fight alongside everyone else.

It didn’t take long for the new help to help stop Emerald, Mercury, and the big man but it did feel forever since he felt it was best to continue to hide behind the pillars than to become a corpse to go alongside Vernal. He did shoot out crystals when he could, but they were very far and in between since he had to avoid hitting the others.

Everyone had their weapons pointed towards Emerald, Mercury, and the big guy. Their enemies could no longer fight. They were exhausted and for the most part out of resources.

“That's enough!” Ruby said, although out of breath, “Just give up!”

“It's not over!” Proclaimed Emerald, although it sounded more like a desperate plea, “Cinder will come back, she’ll have the relic, and she’ll stop all of you! She won’t let us down.”

Almost instantly, the platform came back up with Yang holding a golden item with glowing blue. It looked a lot like a lantern. Was that the relic?

Either way, there was no Cinder like Emerald had claimed. They had lost. The green haired girl fell to the floor in tears as her allies took steps back.

The girl looked up frantically and looked around the room before holding her head screaming.

Suddenly the room was dark and they were gone. In their place was a shadowy void that had built up and formed a white woman wearing black. Her arms twisted and snapped before her jaw unhinged and opened further than it should. Her black eyes with red irises stares into everyone in the room before she gave a terrifying echoing scream.

Angus leapt back from the terrifying sight. The woman’s dark veins only grew thicker and darker with each second, as if they would at any moment pop and spill their contents everywhere. The cat boy was filled with fear as she swooped down to either eat or grab everyone. He didn’t know which it was but either way he raised an arm to cover his face.

When the faunus pulled his arm back down, the nightmare fuel of a woman was gone, and so were three they were all fighting against.

Blake was the first one to say anything, “W-What was that?!”

Oscar held the answer, “An illusion…. But an accurate one. That… was Salem.”

The cat boy watched as Ben folded his weapon and put it away, “Who the hell is Salem?”

Qrow waved away his question from where he sat on the floor, “We’ll fill you in later.”

Seeing no more danger Angus put away his weapon as he ran from behind the pillar. His eyes locked onto Ben. His heart was pumping faster than it should via excitement. He threw his arms open, “Ben!”

His leader turned away and instinctively put out a hand to stop him from getting closer. The cat boy’s forehead went into his palm but he continued reaching for his leader, “Its been so long, I missed you and Ink so much!”
The human’s eyebrows furrowed as is he didn’t believe him, “If your Angus tell me something only he would know.”

“Easy! Your family died.”

“Basically public information.”

“I copied your homework, which was the only reason I passed math!”

“Too easy, say another.” Despite saying that a smile started to grow on his face.

“I was the one that accidentally broke your bed from pillow fighting with Ink too hard!”

Ben finally put down his hand but before Angus could finally deliver a hug something leapt onto his back. The cat boy fell to the floor with a yelp as he felt Ink give him all sorts of bites, nips, and licks. The fox’s whole body wagged from how hard his tail was going. It was as if any second now Ink would be lifting off.

The cat boy laughed with glee and hugged Ink despite the bite in his shoulder. When Ink finally got off of him Ben lent out a hand, the cat took it and he pulled him to his feet, “You look so different, I couldn’t tell. Also… didn’t you used to call me a nerd for wearing glasses?”

The cat boy laughed and quickly changed topics, “What happened to your eye?”

“Beacon.”

The cat boy stopped laughing, “Oh.”

Nobody lingered on it for long as Ink, who stood behind him, now asked a question, “What does this button do?”

Suddenly Angus fell to the floor face first as his body went limp. He released a groan of pain, “That would be the ‘off’ button.”

Ben lent out a hand again but the cat boy didn’t grab it, “I… uh… need someone to turn it back on… I can’t get up.”

Ink pressed it again with a giggle, “You're like a slug.”

Then the fox gasped, “A SLUGCAT! Like Rainworld- My favorite game!”

The cat grabbed Ben’s hand again and he was helped up but this time he got a concerned look from Ben. Angus knew what he was going to ask, “I’m okay, Beacon just hurt me too.”

The cat faunus turned to face his back towards Ben, “This is my E.D.M.E. It’s basically my back brace. It uses dust, magnets, and probably more scientific medical bullsh*t. Speaking of which… I need to get a refill from Indago.”

“Indago? Whose that?”

As if summoned Indago walked up to the group, “Correction… I uh… don’t have any gravity dust on me…”

Ink immediately walked up to him and gave the doctor a great and deep sniff, “You smell like coffee and regret.”

Dr. Sunshine didn’t know how to respond to that so he just gave a nervous laugh as he took steps away from the fox. The fox followed though and in a threatening voice he tacked on, “I love coffee.”

Ignoring Ink, Angus motioned to the Atlas doctor, “This is Indago Sunshine he’s a-”

“Doctor from Atlas.” Ben finished for him with wide eyes, “So its you…”

“....huh?”

Even the doctor was bewildered, “E-Excuse me? I mean… your right… but…”

Ben turned to the cat boy, “I found out what my semblance was while you were gone.”

He paused and glanced around, “I don’t think a battlefield is the best place to catch up though.”

The purple clad deer woman he had seen earlier overheard and came closer, “I agree, we should all rendezvous somewhere else. Maybe a base of operations, or a tavern.”

Ben motioned to the huntress, “This is Lesh, she is a licensed huntress for hire that decided to tag along.”

“With what I just saw in that battle… I think I’m going to continue to tag along for now. I don’t know what or who Salem is, but I want to help.”

The cat boy nodded as Indago was running around them in circles at this point to avoid the fox, but the fox kept following the poor doctor.

They all needed rest first and foremost. Despite being exhausted, he couldn’t help his smile that wouldn’t leave. His team was here. They were together again.

Now getting out the woods would finally be easier.

Chapter 6: Author's note

Chapter Text

This work, while I absolutely loved writting it- needs a lot of rewriting. Keeping this up in case anyone wishes to read or reread the old version but shortly in the future (most likely the same day I post this chapter) I will have a new version that will actually come out in chapters that will be in my eyes better.

Thank you for reading though if you got this far.