A/N: A big thank you to my proof-reader, Leviticus Wilkes.

Update 28/9/14 - My wife has kindly gone through and made a host of fixes and improvements throughout the fic, so I've re-uploaded all the chapters.

Out above the forest of Forever Fall were two girls. One was younger, with dark hair, wearing a black dress with red highlights, all of five-two with a boundless supply of energy. Her name was Ruby Rose, and she clutched a heavy scythe across her body, holding on for dear life. The other girl was a little older, but not much the larger, with features like an ice princess, all icy blue, cold and serene. Her outsized rapier was clutched firmly in her hand. She was Weiss Schnee, heiress and student. Together, they were partners, and half of Team RWBY of Beacon Academy. They were also in mid-air, high above the ground, and falling at a rate of knots.

"You know what surprised me the most about life at Beacon?" asked Ruby Rose, yelling to be heard over the whistling of the winds.

"I'm sure I couldn't even begin to guess," said Weiss with a sigh as her combat skirt rippled with the speed of their descent towards the ground.

"The flying," answered the dark-haired girl moments before she summoned up her aura and unleashed a rapid salvo of cross rounds.

Black smoke bloomed from the head of the heavy scythe, Crescent Rose, as it went through several Dust-filled rifle shells. Recoil brought her up to a bewildering pace as she fell through the sky. When the terminal moment arrived, she spun about with exquisite timing to drive the scythe's head down into her target with catastrophic power. Normally all but immune to physical harm, the carapace of the Deathstalker beneath her shredded like paper as the weapon ploughed in point first. One last shot fired in the scythe's rifle barrel as Ruby's feet landed on the weapon haft propelled her to the left and dragged the weapon free. Just in time for Weiss to land a split second after her, Myrtenaster loaded with red dust and brimming with power. The Schnee heiress landed right above the scythe's wound tract and drove her weapon into the deep channel. Dust syphoned out of the weapon to send a torrent of flame surging into the wound. The great Grimm was flash-fried from the inside out. Momentum caused Weiss to skid along the slick carapace as the flames erupted from every opening around her. She quickly summoned glyphs with her semblance, which she leapt upon to escape the danger.

Ruby somersaulted through the air, and then disappeared in a sudden wash of petals that spread across the sky. Weiss made her way gracefully back to the ground, stepping from one glyph to another, dusting off her cuffs. Behind her, the Deathstalker's legs slid out from underneath it and it fell with a rumbling crash, dead before it hit the ground.

"The flying?" queried Weiss in surprise of the empty air, as she looked around for her partner. "You mean the airships?"

"What? No, I mean the flying," explained Ruby as she collapsed her weapon. "This is like the second time just this week we've had serious, serious air time." They both looked up at the young Nevermore that they had hijacked to take them aloft, which was now tumbling slowly to the ground, leaking blood and feathers as it went. "I mean, I'm thinking about changing our name from Team RWBY to RWBY Airlines," she added under her breath.

"Ruby, that's not flying. That's falling and we're supposed to avoid it," corrected Weiss with hands on hips. They stood in a wide clearing in the depths of the Forever Fall, catching their breath after their exertions. The red leaves drifted on the air, borne aloft by strong breezes. Piles of the leaves lined the ground, burying everything in its red hue. Weiss' eyes narrowed as she looked at her partner, who was beginning to tremble with suppressed excitement. "Just let it out, Ruby," she finally said with a sigh.

"That was so cool!" squealed the younger girl. "We came out of the sky, and my sweetheart opened that Grimm up like a tin can and there was teamwork and oh I wish someone had been here to see it!" It all came out in an uncontrolled rush of excitement, with Ruby's arms swinging demonstratively at each step.

Weiss sighed again. "Honestly, you could be fifty-five, Ruby, and I bet you would still be just as childish." She shook her head at her younger partner. It still boggled her mind that Ruby referred to her weapon as 'sweetheart'.

Before Ruby could state the case for the defence, an interruption got their attention. "Hey!" called a voice from the tree line of the forest. "Ruby, Weiss! Where are you guys!?"

The two girls looked to the source of the noise and spotted Yang and Blake break into the meadow, clearly suffering from the hard running she had done to reach them. "Over here, Yang!" yelled Ruby, who waved her arms at the new arrivals. When she saw Yang and Blake change direction towards them, she turned to Weiss and asked, "Do you think they'll be mad?"

Weiss gave her team leader a very sharp look. "What, for the fact that upon spotting that Deathstalker from the hilltop, you grabbed me, hooked us onto an undersized Nevermore, forced the thing to fly us over the meadow, killed the Nevermore, launched us into free-fall and then landed directly on top of a monstrously powerful Grimm without any backup?"

Ruby nodded. "Yeah. About that. Do you think they'll be mad?"

The Schnee heiress stared at the girl for several seconds. "Grimm and Dust," she muttered under her breath. When Ruby cocked her head, she extended an arm towards the blonde tempest, who was burning through dust shells to chew up the distance between herself and her sister. Blake was racing through the leaves in her partner's wake. "Ask them yourself."

Yang bellowed as she ceased her firing and skidded along the leafy meadow for the last several meters, "Ruby Rose, don't you ever bail on us like that again!" Ruby yelped and ducked behind Weiss. "Do you have any idea how far we've had to run? It was absurd!"

The older blonde girl, who doubled as Ruby's overprotective big sister, stalked in like a volcano. She a brawler by nature, tall, long-limbed, strong as an ox and with curves even meaner than her temperament was when her sister was endangered. Her golden gauntlets had been collapsed into heavy bracelets. Ember Celica, as the gauntlet weapons were known, was wickedly dangerous; there were few people in all of Beacon who could exploit even a tiny lapse in someone's guard so to destroy an aura so swiftly.

"I'm sorry, Yang!" placated Ruby from her spot behind Weiss, who was twisting about trying to shoo the girl away. "But there was a Deathstalker and I knew we had to get it first and that Nevermore was handy, and I just thought, hey, seize the day and all and you should have seen how we took out the Deathstalker it was so cool and please stop yelling at me..."

"Took out...?" Yang looked past Ruby's shoulder to the cooked remains of the great Grimm and blinked in shock. "Oh my god, you actually did it."

Behind her Blake arrived, slowing to a walk over the last few feet. "I can't believe that worked," commented the dark haired girl with an amused expression. "I was sure we were going to see a repeat of that initiation mission."

"What, the one with the yelling and the screaming and the being chased by that thing's bigger uglier cousin?" asked Ruby. Both Yang and Blake nodded with feeling. "Oh, come on, guys," said Ruby with puppy dog eyes. "We were perfectly safe. The aim is to get a Deathstalker's stinger and now all we have to do is knock it loose and head home."

Yang folded her arms under her chest and fixed her little sister with a fierce look. "Look, all I'm saying is that if you pull a stunt like that again I am going to tape you to a chair and you can lead the team sitting down." She threw her hands up in despair and added, "This is only a training mission! You don't need to be risking life and limb like that, sis."

Weiss coughed strategically. "Well, in Ruby's defence, thanks to the angle of attack and the momentum of our descent, that may have been the safest option. After all," she said with a long, delicate finger raised, "The Deathstalker never laid eyes on us and didn't manage so much as a single attack. And we had to fight one eventually to get the stinger."

The golden-haired brawler took a step up to Weiss and placed her hands on the slighter girl's shoulders. "Weiss, I appreciate you sticking up for my little sister, but please don't encourage her to make insane aerial assaults on deadly creatures with half of her team nearly on the other side of the forest. It's going to get her killed, and then me and you would have to have a big long talk." The heiress blushed and looked away.

"Yang...," groaned Ruby in frustration. "When are you going to stop embarrassing me?" Yang just laughed at the idea that she would ever stop embarrassing her little sister. She was not just entitled to continue that forever, she was practically duty-bound. Age had nothing to do with it, it was principle now.

The discussion between the four girls was interrupted by a new arrival. "Are you girls okay?" said a girl with a friendly drawl. "We saw you fall from the sky on top of that thing.

"Oh, hey Velvet!" greeted Yang as they beheld the faunus girl, clad in field gear of an armoured tunic and tights. "Where's the rest of your team?" she added, glancing over Velvet's shoulder.

"Oh, they're still off in the forest," replied Velvet. "They just sent me to see if everything was alright. After all, my teammates and you guys...," she trailed off and scratched behind the base of her rabbit-like ears a little self-consciously. "Well, it wasn't a great start to the morning, was it?"

All four members of Team RWBY had a moment's blush.

Earlier that morning, teams Ruby and Juniper had shuffled into a lecture theatre for a mission briefing with Glynda Goodwitch. Relations were good between the two teams and they tended to socialise together, something made easy by the proximity of their dorms. Having come in as part of the same induction group helped as well; the joint battles with the Nevermore and Deathstalkers had created a common bond between the two teams. But the third team that had come in with their induction team, Cardin's Team CRDL, was nowhere to be seen. This suited everyone else just fine, of course, as Cardin's team had remarkably few redeeming features to their name.

"Two team excursion, you think?" asked Blake of Yang as they looked around.

"I guess so," replied Yang as she ran a hand through her hair. "Say what you will about that asshole Cardin, he tends to be on time."

Red-headed Pyrrha Nikos, armed, armoured and resplendent like a living memory of the glories of the classical age, strode over to Ruby's team. There was a maturity about the young woman that commanded respect and attention, and the members of Team RWBY all looked her way as she approached. "Any news, guys?" she asked.

"No, haven't heard a thing," answered Blake. "You guys heard anything about today's mission?"

Pyrrha glanced back at one of her team mates, a young man clad in green who was as smooth an operator as the academy had seen. Leaner than the more sturdily built team leader, Jaune, he was limber, elegant and mysterious. "Lie Ren heard that we would be hunting Deathstalkers. Something about collecting pieces for an anatomy class."

"Because our last encounter with Deathstalkers wasn't nearly enough fun," commented Yang with a dismayed groan.

The armour-clad young woman laughed good-naturedly as she turned to head back to her team. "What's the point of being a Huntress if you aren't going to take on the tough stuff?"

"She has a point, you know," suggested Blake after Pyrrha moved away. "It may be safer going toe to toe with undersized boarbatusks," she said with a sly glance at the Schnee heiress, "But that's not what people really need protection from."

After that exchange, Ruby led her team up their normal seats in the second row, whilst the Juniper students kept to the ground level, near the door. Shortly after they settled in, the door opened and Velvet Scarletina poked her head in. The faunus girl looked about with a harried expression. When she saw fellow students in the room, however, she quickly brightened. "Hey you guys. Is this Miss Goodwitch's class?" she asked hopefully.

"Yes, that's us," answered Pyrrha.

"Ah, cheers," thanked Velvet with a wink, before she turned back to the hallway. "Yeah, it's this one, guys!" She waited for a moment, and then walked into the room with three other girls, all three with friendly smiles on their faces. Two of the girls were twins, sporting jet black hair and eyes green like spring. They didn't have Yang's height or the heartbreaker curves that she sported, but they were still sweetly shaped and taller than Weiss or Blake. On each girl a strapless dress with high flared skirts hugged their forms. One dress was red, the other was white, and both incorporated leather and metal plating into the design in as aesthetically a pleasing manner as could be managed. The fact the dress left no armour over shoulders or collars didn't matter much; nine-tenths of defence for those with strong auras had nothing to do with any physical presence. By and large, when you reached the point where your aura could no longer absorb the blows, no amount of armour plating was going to save your bacon.

The fourth girl had the look of a tomboy. She had a long yellow coat, but she wore it as if it was a cape, tied around the collar, arms hanging unused. Under this she wore a mid-riff baring tank and a pair of three-quarter length pants. Cradled in her arm was a cudgel with a solid club-end. Ruby noticed she had a series of ammunition strips along her belt, so she assumed the cudgel could make use of them. When she took a look at the shells that were visible, they looked like carbine rounds. As far as Ruby could tell, none of the other girls carried shells, although Velvet appeared to have Dust canisters. This was a little unusual, although not all students had complex weapon systems. Jaune Arc and Cardin Winchester had good old-fashioned, uncomplicated steel, yet still managed to contribute. When the two twins took a step forward, both Pyrrha and Nora surreptitiously slid in closer to their male partners. It was a gesture that did not go unnoticed by Yang, Weiss or Blake, who all exchanged amused glances, much to Ruby's confusion.

As Jaune's team was closer, the new girls made that team their first stop, giving Ruby's team a moment to observe from afar. Ruby was pleased, looking forward to meeting new weapons, if rather less interested in meeting those who wielded the weapons. "Look, Weiss," she whispered, "Combat Skirts are taking over."

Weiss gave her a broad grin before turning back to the new arrivals. A thoughtful look was on her face as she considered them. "You know, it's strange," she said. "I swear that the girl without the weapons, in the white dress, is familiar. I know her from somewhere, but I just can't pick where."

"What do you mean the one without the weapons? All of them are armed," corrected Ruby idly. With her nigh-unhealthy interest in weapons of all shapes, sizes and descriptions, it was a very rare occasion for even truly subtle weapons to pass her attention. "The one in white has blades built in to her heels."

Weiss sat up straight. "Oh, I do know her. Heel blades, that makes so much sense. Us girls never could figure out why she never seemed to change shoes..." Ruby threw a quizzical look at her partner. "She used to show up at galas, balls, all the right nightclubs, but only ever on the arm of a boy, whom she always left with," elaborated Weiss. She laughed, and added, "Clears up what she was doing there."

Further along the desk, Yang could recognise all three of the new girls, although she did not have names to put to any of their faces. The two twins had been the heavy hitters of the bodyguard team for an information broker named Junior. They had put up a stiff fight as Yang rampaged through Junior's establishment, breaking bones and hearts. But even outnumbered, Yang's fists, combined with her Ember Celica shotgun gauntlets, had won out comfortably. And as for the third girl, it had been an encounter earlier that day, one she didn't intend to talk about if the girl herself didn't.

"Fair warning of past history," whispered Yang to Blake. "I beat the stuffing out of both of the twins a couple months back. They may still be sour about it. So I'm really not sure how this is going to turn out."

Blake frowned and nodded. "Right. Well, I guess I'll try to stay ready if anything starts. You'll have to tell me the story later."

Yang laughed from behind her hand. "One of the best fights I've ever had, next time we go get dinner I'll spill."

Back along the desk, Ruby had made a decision. "Well, I don't recognise any of them apart from Velvet, so I guess I'll go introduce us. As team leader, of course," said Ruby as she slid her chair back. Weiss was about to agree, when Ruby smirked ever so slightly and decided to mess around a little. Her semblance kicked in and she disappeared in a cloud of petals.

Weiss sighed and rested her chin in her hand. "Show-off!" But after a moment she had to give up and smile wryly.

Ruby coalesced in the midst of the other two teams, next to Velvet. All four members of the newcomer team stepped back in shock at the seemingly instantaneous appearance. "Hi, I'm Ruby!" announced the red-caped girl chirpily. Her smile practically illuminated the room.

The girl in the white dress recovered first and came forward to meet Ruby, making sure to smile, while trying to keep her natural smugness out of her expression, and generally attempt to put her best foot forward. "It's nice to meet you," said the girl smoothly. "I'm the team leader, Melanie; this is my sister Miltiades-"

"You can call me Miltia," threw in the girl in red in a friendly, upfront manner.

"I think you've already met," continued Melanie without skipping a beat, "But this is Velvet, and our tomboy friend here is named Aurea." Her voice, like that of her sister, had a peculiar flat tone, which seemed almost oblivious or vapid. Of course, the two twins were anything but vapid, and one look into their keen eyes would settle any debate on that front. It was, in its way, a dangerous piece of camouflage. "Ozpin called us Team Maven, MAVM."

"Nice to meet you all," reciprocated Ruby in as friendly a fashion as she could. All groups could always do with more friends, and connections, after all, and as a leader she knew it was important to put that front foot forward. Of course, it was often difficult to stay on top of such things when you had her teammates.

"Ah!" gasped Weiss. "Of course, Melanie… Melanie Malachite, isn't it?" she asked.

Melanie, the more confident, arrogant and aggressive of the two Malachite twins, looked up at the bench containing the other three Team RWBY members. When she recognised two of the trio, her eyes went wide and she swore violently under her breath. Velvet blushed as she heard even those faint words. Blake likewise heard them, but studiously froze her features so as not to betray her sensitive hearing.

"Melanie," said Miltiades quietly, turning her head towards her sister. "Who is that girl?"

This got an indirect response, as Melanie spoke with her attention squarely on the heiress. "I think that's Weiss Schnee." Miltia's posture went ramrod straight, knowing the name if not the face it went with.

"Of course," replied Weiss with no shortage of hauteur. "I remember you, you know, although I don't think we ever talked." She rose to her feet and began to descend the stairs.

Melanie sighed inwardly. "We never needed to talk. I wasn't being hired to talk, you probably guessed," she said a little more sharply than intended. Melanie felt the need to assert herself, confronted as she was by a 'social better' who in her opinion was no better than herself at all, spurred on by a mix of injured self-esteem and frustration. "Not many of the girls there seemed particularly worth the time to talk to, either, you know. All of them seemed to belong to the champagne, party drugs and cocktails set."

Weiss brushed off the second half of the comment and replied to the first. "Yes, we all guessed you were there on some sort of assignment when you showed up on a different arm every week," agreed Weiss a little snottily, falling into the sort of bad habits of the high society scene even as she tried to stop herself. Ruby frowned back up at her, not appreciating the way her upbeat introduction was being hijacked by animosity.

Miltia took an aggressive step forward until Melanie put a restraining hand on her arm. Neither twin would listen to imprecations against the other if they could stop it. "Yes, I heard the whispers," said Melanie softly. "I was just a discreet bodyguard, that's all." Her eyes flicked to the side as a new figure entered the fray.

"Hey girls," said Yang with a goofy grin and a smug tone as she walked down to join the quartet. "I'm Yang."

"Yeah, we know," said Melanie with a stormy look in her eyes. "We're looking forward to those sparring sessions."

"Hey hussy, I'm Aurea," said the fourth new girl to Yang with a terrifically fake, unfriendly smile plastered on her face.

"Nice to meet you, Aurea; if you ever call me that again I'm going to break your legs," replied Yang in that same faux-friendly tone. Aurea's jaw clenched nervously at the unyielding reply. She did not like Yang one bit, but she had a healthy appreciation for how dangerous she could be, and didn't want to push her luck yet.

Jaune actually blinked and exchanged glances with Pyrrha before stepping foolhardily into the fray. "Whoa, ladies, no need for that…" The return glares he got would have melted steel, but Jaune withstood it. He was taking his leadership responsibilities more seriously with every day that passed, and it was doing wonders for his confidence and self-esteem. "Okay, clearly there's history here. I'm not the most observant guy, so it must be pretty obvious to everyone else if I can see it." He hesitated and glanced at his team mates, all of whom urged him on with nods and stealthy gestures.

Velvet moved over behind the Malachite sisters and put calming hands on their shoulders. "Hey, Yang and Weiss are good people," she argued, thankfully not noticing the surprised look Weiss shot her. "Let's try to get along, alright?"

"Yeah, like Velvet says," agreed Jaune. "We're about to go out on a training mission; if things go haywire, like at the ruins, are you sure you want the person who has your back to be someone you were swapping insults with back in class?" He leaned in closer. "Just think about it."

Ruby sidled up to her sister and gave her a quiet bump with her shoulder. "Hey," she whispered, "Try not to make me look bad when I'm meeting other team leaders would you?"

The somewhat self-centred nature of the comments broke through Yang's confrontational attitude. Yang took a step back and laughed good-naturedly at Ruby. "Well, I can't have you look bad, now can I?" she asked quietly, throwing in a wink. Ruby sighed at the response, but thanked her lucky stars that at least she didn't get her hair ruffled.

"So, what's the problem with you guys?" asked Pyrrha, folding her arms and looking as stern as she could manage. It was a reasonable effort, with all of the combatants taking a subconscious half-step backwards. "High society galas for girls basically takes the art of being mean to each other and makes a competitive sport out of it, so I can guess at the problem between Weiss and Melanie. But how did you three and Yang manage to get in each other's bad books?"

Melanie and Miltia exchanged a sour glance, with the girl in white giving the girl in red a nod. Miltiades sighed and folded her arms. "We had a sweet job babysitting a nightclub, keeping an eye on the owner, putting some aura behind his guards. And then your friend here tore the club apart."

"Wow, Yang with the killer dance moves!" said Nora, giving the blonde girl a thumbs up.

"I meant that, like, literally," clarified the dark-haired twin irritably, causing a ripple of surprise through the room. Even Yang's teammates turned to give her a look. "The place was shut for a week to rebuild the whole inside of the joint." She sighed and added a little confession. "We both had to spend the night in hospital because she kicked the tar out of us."

"Yang, you were a hoodlum?" asked Pyrrha in surprise.

The blonde girl gave the Mistral girl an admonishing look. "Let's not go there."

"So we think we have the right to be upset with Yang here," argued Melanie defiantly, chin high as she looked at Pyrrha.

"Do you think so?" asked Lie Ren. "It must be aggravating, but those are the risks in the industry, aren't they?"

Melanie bit her tongue for a moment, looking at her heel blades as she tried to compose herself. "I know that," she said after several seconds. "I know that, Miltia knows that. But it's so much harder to translate that into actually feeling that way. We'll work on it, I guess."

Aurea coughed, then nodded in Blake's direction. "I don't think you got introduced," she said. "What's your name?"

"My name is Blake," introduced the other girl. "None of you happen to have a grudge against me, I hope," she added deadpan.

"Of course not," replied Velvet with a friendly smile, although she glanced at the others in her team nervously after she said it. But no one gainsaid Velvet and the others greeted her politely.

The atmosphere was still tense, and Ruby wasn't sure how to return some bonhomie to the confrontation. But when she noticed the collapsible staff that Velvet wielded, she had an idea.

"So, so, so," began Ruby excitedly. "Let's see 'em!"

"Uhh, what are we showing?" asked Miltiades hesitantly, glancing at her colleagues.

Yang laughed and gave Ruby a friendly elbow. "Ruby here is a bit of a gun nut. Always likes to meet new and interesting ways to off Grimm."

Melanie made a quarter turn and lifted her foot up behind her to show off the savage-looking blades worked into her high heels. "I just use steel; you'd think it would be hard to work with the heels, but I've been wearing them almost all my life, so I actually walk easier in heels than barefoot now," she said matter-of-factly. "Of course, it's tricky to use against Grimm, so I actually have a new weapon on order that suits a little more." The girl gave a smile to her fellow team leader. "When I get it, I'll make sure to show you."

"I'm looking forward to it," answered Ruby

The other three girls showed off their weapons; the retractable claws that Miltiades could call on, Velvet's staff that expanded to a solid two metres in length and marked with small dust canisters around a thickened end, as well as the shell-augmented cudgel that Aurea could call on. When they had all shown off their weapons, Ruby wore a big cheesy grin.

"Let me introduce you to my sweetheart: Crescent Rose," she announced proudly.

The scythe burst out from its heavily compacted holding shape and twisted it about in her hands so it landed with the blade resting along the ground, her left arm along the weapon haft. All of the Team Maven girls bar Miltiades jumped at the intimidating weapon. Miltia's eyes went particularly wide as she examined the High Calibre Sniper Scythe, and then she looked at Ruby as if for the first time, taking a step towards her.

Ruby gave the weapon another spin, letting the heavy head of the weapon come up to rest against her shoulder. Miltiades reached up and ran her hand along the crimson metal casing.

"This is also a rifle," observed the young woman after a moment's inspection, her tone making clear it was a statement directed at her comrades.

"Yeah, how'd you guess?" asked Ruby in surprise. The other girl just gave her a small smile and said nothing. Ruby watched the girl inspect Crescent Rose. "What do you think?" she asked after a moment's silence.

"It's really something," replied Miltia earnestly. "You make it look so light when you move it," she praised, as Ruby's wiry figure didn't show well through the dress. "You're quite the surprise. By the way, did you ever spend much time north of Vale City?" she asked. Yang saw the cool look in Miltia's eyes and frowned, feeling that this was again more statement than question. What was she getting at, wondered the protective older sister.

Ruby grinned at the praise. "I did a lot of my private scythe training with Uncle Qrow out in those woods out of school term," answered Ruby. "Did you see me out there?" Behind her, Weiss made her way down and joined them, taking a position at her partner's side.

"Yeah, I saw you a couple times," answered Miltiades in a quiet drawl, watching the other girl out of the corner of her eye as she followed the outline of the scythe's core mechanisms. "Your scythe is terrifying when it's going full speed. But I never got to go say hi to you. Business, you know."

Ruby hesitated for a moment and then replied, "Well, I'd say not, I don't think I'd have forgotten either of you two. You're pretty distinctive!" She added sotto voce, "What with the twins thing and all." She nodded towards the weapon. "It's not as hard to use as you'd think, you just have to be good with leverage, you know? All in how you grip, where you hold, using your body as a fulcrum, and knowing when to use the rifle shot for killing power."

Before anyone could reply, the door opened once more as one Glynda Goodwitch arrived at the lecture theatre and walked inside. The girls and boys all straightened up into their groups.

"Ah, good, you're all here," remarked Glynda brightly. "Welcome to my class, Team Maven. I hope giving you some missions alongside these two teams will help you thrive. Teams Ruby, Juniper, we've switched Team Cardinal with another initiation group to shake things up, see what teams can interact the best." She looked around and did a headcount, and smiled as she reached twelve. "You've all introduced yourselves? Good, I can dispense with that formality."

Glynda proceeded to brief the assembled students on a mission out to the Forever Falls, where they would each collect a Deathstalker stinger for use in an upcoming dissection class. No one was happy with the assignment, especially Ruby and Jaune's teams, as they had considerable bad memories regarding the Grimm they encountered at their initiation. After that, Glynda left first, giving everyone twenty minutes to report to the departure area, and left the students behind.

The three teams each quickly discussed their strategies for the upcoming exercise before they began to head off.

As the teams filed out of the door, Melanie slid up next to Yang and took hold of the larger girl's arm. While Yang blinked in surprise at the contact, the Malachite girl leaned in and whispered something harsh and quick from behind a muffling hand. For a split second Yang went white as snow, and then her eyes went red and she gave Melanie an almighty shove, which launched her into the door frame.

The dark-haired girl hit the frame at speed and knocked the air out of her in a great 'whooof'. She staggered aside and fell to a knee, propped up on a hand. When the stars cleared and she finally looked up again, Miltia and Yang were both being restrained by their comrades as best as could be managed.

"Miltia, leave it," wheezed Melanie. "I had it coming, leave it."

"What is wrong with you guys?" asked Pyrrha loudly, profound frustration coming across clearly in her voice, and she took in both parties in her stern gaze.

Yang took a step back as Miltiades relaxed, causing Ruby to sigh with relief. The brawler turned and tried to think of something to say, but couldn't. Growling in frustration she shook her head and walked away. Ruby and Weiss followed in her wake, but Blake stood where she was, eyeing Melanie speculatively.

As the others helped Melanie back to her feet, Ren approached Blake and whispered discretely, "What was all that about?"

"I don't know," whispered Blake in reply.

Lie Ren frowned at her, sensing that this wasn't the whole truth. "You're holding out on me. There's a history there. You seem to be the only person on your team that they don't have a history with of some sort." Blake looked at the young man with a sharp gaze, saying nothing. Ren forced down a sigh and continued. "Beacon should be a fresh beginning. Look, Juniper is more than happy to mediate if there's a problem. We like these guys a lot more than we liked Cardin's people and we'd like to not run them off, so please, think over the offer."

"I appreciate the thought," replied Blake neutrally. "I'll bring it up with Ruby." After that, she began to walk away, trying not to feel the burning sensation of the other two teams watching her back as she walked away.

Blake had lied when she denied knowing what the scuffle had been about. The faunus girl had been close enough to her partner to hear the muffled whisper that Melanie had meant for her ears alone. And the provocative accusation she had heard sat uneasily inside, like a cold lump in her gut.

"You killed one of Junior's henchmen in that club, you little murderer," she had heard the young woman accuse.

"Yeah... I suppose the morning was a bit tense," admitted Yang awkwardly as she ran a hand through her hair. "But both Ruby and Weiss are fine, they landed on top of the Deathstalker and took it out."

"There's good Schnee Dust in Myrtenaster, burnt the thing to a crisp," boasted Weiss proudly.

Velvet made a nervous sounding laugh as she regarded the Schnee heiress. "Y-Yeah, I bet." The underhanded acts of the SDC were well known among the faunus population of Vale, but it would be a stupid faunus who thought to bring such things up to the company heiress herself.

"You guys aren't really equipped so well for going after Deathstalkers," noted Ruby. "Perhaps after we get that stinger squared away, we can help you out in bringing one down of your own?"

Velvet gave them a look of genuine surprise, taken aback by the gesture. "You would have done that for us?" she asked.

"Yeah, of course we-," began Ruby before being cut-off.

"Why did you just speak in past tense?" asked Blake suspiciously.

The faunus girl twitched uncomfortably. "Oh, uh, ah, well ... that is ... bye!" said Velvet before turning and running full-pelt for the tree line.

A loud crack and a thump from behind them caught their attention. They all turned around to look at the Deathstalker carcass they had left behind them. The stinger had been cut from the tail and even as they watched, Aurea and Miltia were carrying it from either end as Melanie escorted them. All three were running hell for leather for the forest edge.

"Th-they're...," stammered Yang in disbelief as she pointed at the trio.

"I really should have seen that coming," complained Blake as she folded her arms.

"That treacherous little ... oooh!" hissed Weiss in outrage.

Ruby allowed herself a little sigh before she picked a course of action. "Alright, Weiss, you're my partner, you're on me. Sis, you've beaten them all before so you're with us as well. Blake, keep Velvet occupied! I don't want a Dust mage getting the drop on us as we go play with those three."

"Sure thing," said Blake, not particularly happy with having to play hunt the faunus, but accepting the rationale well enough. She turned and raced off through the carpet of fallen leaves to screen the group from Velvet.

"So!" said Yang as she lifted her forearms. Ember Celica expanded down each arm with a whirr and clamour, and finally a sound of the inbuilt shotguns' actions loading a shell apiece. "Ready to reclaim our prize?"

"No treacherous little faunus, or her slimy friends, are going to get the better of a Schnee," hissed Weiss acidly. She drew Myrtenaster and a red glow burned across its length. "Particularly not by a girl whom the whole Vale City social set had pegged as a pricey Escort."

Yang turned to Weiss. "I thought she said she was only a bodyguard."

As they argued, Crescent Rose bloomed out into its full and terrifying visage. Ruby allowed its point to slam down into the ground, anchoring the rifle neatly. She settled into place to work the rifle component with practiced ease.

Weiss frowned. "Yes, well, society boys may lie like the White Fang about their bedroom endeavours... Argh, look, I don't know! I say things I don't always mean when I'm angry, and right now I'm just furious!" She turned to Ruby. "Are we going after them or what!?"

"Hang on," said Ruby as she flipped out her rifle's scope and switched from a cross clip to her regular rifle rounds. "I'm going to stop them carrying the stinger first."

Yang nodded. "Good plan, it lets them know they'll have to win it fair and square, or run for cover. Okay, Weiss, once she shoots the stinger, we go. Ruby can catch up."

"Works for me," said Weiss.

"What do you mean shoot the stinger?" asked Ruby in genuine confusion as she looked down the scope intently. With the four times zoom of the scope enabled, Ruby saw the two carrying the stinger clearly, Aurea was leading with Miltiades behind her. With consummate skill, she tweaked the rifle's shaft over ever so slightly, and her crosshairs settled squarely between the exposed shoulder-blades of the red-clad Malachite twin.

"Uh, what else would you be-," started Yang with an alarmed expression.

The rifle's retort was sharp, loud and unmistakable. Its noise rolled clearly across the meadow. Down-range there was a flash of burgundy aura as Miltiades was picked up and thrown across the leafy meadow.