A/N: Sorry this took me so long to get out. I am going back to school and working and that is pretty much eating up all of my time. Thanks to everyone who is still reading and leave comments on what you all think I could do better. I decided to show a couple of close friends this story and pointed out some several mistakes in earlier chapters that I may end up correcting. I am also considering completely rewriting the first and second chapters to make them more coherent. Anyway, enjoy the chapter and have a good one!

A Break and a Promise

"I had to dip into my savings a bit but I managed to get through Coco's wrath." Zelle was currently sitting across from Coco Adel, his first friend from when he arrived here in Remnant. Well, human friend. They were currently at a cafe with several shopping bags all around them. Coco had dragged them from store to store in Vale and bought something from each shop until Zelle was sure that they had bought something from every store Vale had to offer. It was now starting to get late, indicated by the orange sky as the sun descended past the horizon.

"So now that I'm done being your doll and you bought at least thirty outfits, can we talk now?" Zelle said calmly. He had expected this reaction. It's why he had been trying to avoid her for so long. Was that cowardly? Yes. Was he ashamed of it? Hell no. Coco had the most aggressive shopping trips he had ever witnessed. Seriously, he had spent nearly 20,000 lien in a day. That was more than most adults made in a few months! If he didn't have an exclusive contract with the SDC, he would actually be worried about his expenses.

Coco answered by putting her drink down and looking down into its contents as she stirred it. Silence filled the void between them until Zelle got uncomfortable and decided to talk first. "Look, I'm sorry. I was an ass and should have contacted you as soon as I arrived at Beacon. The only reason I didn't later was because I was a coward and afraid to face you." Zelle admitted.

Coco nodded. "Damn straight you are. What's worse, is that I probably would've never been able to track you down if my teammate hadn't told me how you helped her out. Thanks for that by the way."

Zelle was curious about that though. Had he helped someone recently? The only one the came to mind was a rabbit… faunus. Coco also mentioned her teammate being a rabbit faunus several times in messages. Well, to be fair to himself, he wasn't exactly level headed when all of that went down. Angered by Cardin's blatant disrespect of anyone was enough to get Zelle's blood to boil. He also never understood the blatant disrespect and treatment towards faunus. White fang, sure. They were basically terrorists. Then again, it really wasn't that different back on Earth either. However humans there weren't being hunted to the death by what seemed to be a never ending supply of evil incarnate, aka Grimm.

"I'm taking it that the faunus I helped was Velvet then, since Fox and Yatsuhashi seem more masculine." Zelle paused. "Either that or her family has some weird naming sense and named her Fox."

"Pfft, says you. Seriously, I've never met another person with a weird name like yours. Though you are correct in your assumption." The conversation lapsed into silence as the two sipped at their respective drinks.

"I've missed you, you know." The admission was quiet but Zelle still heard it.

"Yeah, I've missed you too."

The conversation afterward became a lot less awkward as each regaled each other with stories of what they've been up to this year. Coco was far more impressed with Zelle's stories.

"Let me get this straight. Not only did you fight a deathstalker and an elder nevermore for your entrance exam, but you can't remember a most of it and were in the medical ward due to some weird aura mishap?" Coco asked.

"Pretty much." It was a small lie, but anything to ease her worried look that he could see past her oversized sunglasses.

"Jeez, and all I had to do was survive a few days in the emerald forest and mow down a few beowolves here and there." The duo had finished their drinks and were making their way through the crowds back to the bullheads to call it a night.

"But it's strange, you never had any issues during your time as Warden, did you?" Zelle shook his head.

"Not that I can recall, then again I only ever had to deal with smaller Grimm. The worse that I dealt with was a hoard of Ursa Majors. I'm just glad it wasn't anything worse like a Queen Taijitu. Then it could've been much worse."

Their talk ended as they finally arrived at the bullheads. Handing her all of bags, Zelle could hear a groan and saw the pilot with his head on the steering mechanism of the Bullhead as he saw his next passenger. Zelle sent him an apologetic smile. He was apparently aware of the walking disaster that Coco was.

"Well this is where we part ways. I have a business meeting here in Vale in the next twenty minutes." Coco nodded. She knew about his experiments with dust and had pushed for him to share his research or at least market his dust. She was glad to learn that he finally got a contract with the SDC.

"All right, just make sure to stay in touch this time." With a quick hug, Coco got onto the Bullhead and stowed away her bags. Zelle watched her head off in silence. As the helipad quieted down, Zelle hopped down the steps and into the streets where he turned and began heading down an alleyway. There, he heard voices.

"He's coming this way, move move!" A female voice reached Zelle's ears. He knew that a group had been following him around for half the day around Vale. He had an idea of who it was too. Might as well figure out what his team was doing.

Zelle sped up and heard what he assumed was Yang attempting a whisper "Shit. He's coming straight towards us. Come on Weiss hurry up!" Zelle hummed. Interesting, he couldn't detect Blake's or Weiss' aura when he noticed them following him. He assumed it was simply the sisters. Breaking into a sprint down the alleyway and summoning Mune, he saw the four figures attempting to climb up and over a fence. With a burst of his semblance he launched himself up and over the fence just as Weiss got over and stood there pointing Mune at the group. They froze and Zelle could vaguely make out the shapes of his team.

He could feel the tension in the air until Yang broke it. "Heh heh. Hey Zelle. Fancy meeting you in this alley." Zelle sighed and dropped his sword as it was caught by a rune and disappeared. Putting a hand on his face and rubbing his forehead.

"You know. It's rude to follow a person around all day." He could practically feel the embarrassed blushes of his teammates as he caught them red handed.

"Zelle, we-"

"Who was she?" Ruby was cut off as Blake asked her question. It was very stressed and had a hint of something underlying that. Something that put Zelle on edge. Zelle saw Ruby's figure turn to look at Blake. Zelle's eyebrows knit together as he pushed his aura forward and felt their signatures. Now that he was closer, he could feel Weiss and Blake's auras. Aura doesn't lie, but that was abnormal for the normally stand-offish girl.

Releasing a sigh, Zelle just turned around and started walking out of the alley and he heard the team following him. "You can ask your questions when we get back to Beacon. I'd rather not be here after dark and miss curfew."

The trip back to Beacon was relatively quiet, if not a bit strange. Blake, while not directly hostile, but was being more reclusive and sharp than usual. Weiss was bagging on Ruby. And Yang. She was simply staring at him, grinning from ear to ear as if she learned the secrets to the universe.

When they finally got back to the room, Zelle pulled up a chair to face the girls as they took seats on their respective beds. "I feel like this has been occurring way too often. I wonder if I would be in these situations with a full male team? ...Probably not. Well, except for me going murder crazy. Even I would need an explanation, though I still don't understand all of what happened myself."

"All right girls, ask away."

Blake started off. "Who was that?"

"Coco Adel. Second year of Beacon Academy and a childhood friend before I became a Warden." Zelle gave himself a pat on the back for that answer. Short, to the point and didn't leave a lot of avenues for continued questioning.

"Why did she drag you off from the training area like that?" This time it was Weiss.

"I guess they weren't close enough to hear our conversation. Makes sense since they were sticking to alleys and areas that were either heavily crowded or concealed."

"Let's just say I've been neglecting to inform her of my stay here."

"How did she find out then?" Ruby asked.

"Well, do you all remember when Cardin was picking on that rabbit faunus in the cafeteria?" He got a round of nods. "Turns out that was her teammate, Velvet. Coco had told stories to her teammates about me and Velvet recognized me, then in turn told Coco. How she found me in the training room, I have no clue."

"Fair enough, what was with the shopping spree though?" Yang asked and Zelle winced. "Oh. That bad huh?"

"Let's just say I am currently 20,000 lien poorer." Ruby, Yang, and Blake all cringed and Yang sent him an apologetic look. Weiss looked confused.

"That's not that much."

Zelle just stared at Weiss incredulously. "Snow White. Not all of us have the full backing of the SDC which mind you is a multi-billion lien company." Zelle said. Weiss took a red hue as she glanced at the rest of her teammates who were sending her similar looks and she looked down and started mumbling about… something.

"Well that's pretty much it. Any other questions, or can I go to bed and try to forget about my empty pockets?"

"Oh, oh! When can we meet her?" Ruby asked, bouncing up and down on her bed. Zelle sweat dropped, he was so glad that he forced them to get actual bunk beds. He would be afraid of the integrity of the bed if she had done that before.

"I don't know. I should be staying in contact with her now that she got her anger out. Maybe we can arrange something with her entire team as I'm interested in meeting them as well? How does that sound Little Red?"

"Whoo! Let's meet our upperclassmen!" She declared.

"You all do that, for now I'm going to hit the hay." She then stared intently at Zelle, followed by Ruby and then the now calm Weiss and Blake. Realizing they wanted privacy to change. Zelle stepped out the window and made his way up onto the roof. The Remnant moon hung far up in the air. He took a deep breath as heard voices

"Your foot is too far forward Jaune." Pyrrha's voice reached his ear. He stopped and extended his aura away from him. Sure enough, the strong aura of Jaune and gentle aura of Pyrrha reached his senses. Climbing up the steps, he saw Jaune practicing katas as he swung his sword.

"Now take a step forward and make a stabbing motion." Jaune did so.

"Your overextending. You need to keep your shield tight to prep a defense. Pyrrha, he's not wielding a spear you know." Zelle spoke up. Both jumped and slowly turned towards the intruder.

"Heyyy Zelle. What are you doing up here?" Jaune asked awkwardly. Pyrrha merely gave him a small smile, as she fidgeted. Why was she so nervous? Was it because he corrected her teaching?

"Not much. I came to get some air as the girls changed and heard you all training. But yeah, you're too far extended. Do it again." Jaune stabbed and dropped his stance. Zelle glanced at Pyrrha.

"You don't mind, do you?" She shook her head, though her body spoke volumes of how uncomfortable she was.

"Once more and hold." He would be quick. Jaune did so and held. Zelle kicked Jaune's leg forcing it to move back a smidge. He then grabbed the shield and moved it closer to him till it was about half a foot from his body instead of being all the way down and bent his knees slightly and pulled back his arm slightly. "You use a shield and a longsword. Whereas Pyrrha is using a spear that has a longer reach, and there aren't a whole lot of weapons with that reach, thus you need to be tight to block or dodge at a moment's notice." With a nod of satisfaction, Zelle began walking away.

"Well, enjoy your training. The girls should be done now so I'm going back." With that Zelle retreated from the couple. "I've never seen Pyrrha that nervous before. I wonder? Nah, I'm probably wrong. There's no way she would be into Jaune… right? Though, I still totally ship them."

Zelle slipped back into the room and headed to the bathroom. He needed to use the restroom before he hit the sack. However, he made one fatal mistake. He forgot to check the beds to make sure everyone was already in for the night. Opening the bathroom door, he took a step in before he met eyes with Blake. She was leaning over the sink slightly, amber eyes wide open as she stared at him in surprise. However, that wasn't the issue. Her body was on full display. Wearing nothing but panties, Zelle got a full view of her creamy skin and what must've been upper C cup breasts. Her panties were black and borderline lingerie.

However, the most surprising feature were the black cat ears on the top of her head. Both froze as Zelle took all of this in and Blake simply stared at him with wide eyes. A solid minute passed and neither moved. Simply staring at each other in anticipation. Without a word, Zelle slowly closed the door. Then jetted toward the window as soon as he heard the sounds of rushed dressing on the other side. He leapt out the window and braced himself has he slammed into the ground. Rolling with the landing to mitigate some of the force. Quickly gathering himself, he got up and began sprinting across the courtyard. He didn't have a destination in mind other than getting out of dodge. His plan was foiled however as he heard footsteps coming in behind him. Risking a glance back, he saw Blake sprinting with a pair of baggy pants and a black midriff shirt. Zelle noted those are her pajamas.

He was unsure of how long he ran, but he got a good estimate when he saw the cliff that they had used for the entrance exam. Realizing he didn't have nowhere else to run, since he didn't want to jump off a cliff tonight. He slowly came to a stop and turned around only to feel a mass slam into his midsection like a freight train. Feeling the wind getting knocked out of him. He rolled with the weight, throwing his arms around the person and hunching forward to prevent them from being too hurt. They stopped quite close to the edge and Blake was sitting on top of him, her arms pinning his with an expression he couldn't quite identify. It was anger, but a hint of fear mixed in?

"How much did you see?" She hissed.

Zelle's face began to flush as he remembered her semi-nude form before realizing there was in fact a very dangerous female on top of him. With the straightest face he could manage, he replied, "all of it." There was really no point in lying when caught red-handed. He could see her face flush red and couldn't help as the blush spread to his cheeks again. Damn, this was embarrassing. Though, Blake had a killer body, so if he died for getting to see it, that would be an acceptable death… Not really, but the thought helped console him in this situation.

They stared at each other for a few moments longer. Blake's eyes trying to hold an intensity that could not be maintained due to her embarrassment and Zelle trying to avoid eye contact. Finally, she got off him and turned away. As she did this, Zelle took a moment to appreciate her figure. He wasn't sure if it was because he just saw her nude form, but she looked much sexier than she had moments ago. Her crop top allowing him a view of her flat stomach and her hair was flat and dripping a little water still. Her face framed perfectly in the moonlight. Bow hastily tied concealing her ears.

Zelle shook his head. Bad hormones, bad. Teammate is having a crisis. Help, then admire later. Standing up as well, he took a position next to her. A moment of silence descended between them before Zelle decided to break the tension in the air. She hasn't run away yet, so that was good.

"Were you ever going to tell us? You being a faunus I mean?"

"Yes. No? I don't know." She said as she grabbed her right arm with the other.

"I guess I was afraid of everyone rejecting me. Everyone treats faunus differently. Especially when you have a Schnee on your team." She chuckled but there was not a shred of humor in it.

"I guess I was just scared." She said lowly. She had no idea why she was being so open with Zelle. Maybe it was due to how tired she was or the suddenness of the situation. She hadn't trusted anyone with her emotions like this since HIM. She suddenly felt an arm wrap around her shoulder and a warm surface meet her side. Looking up, she saw Zelle looking up at the moon.

"Listen, I'm no good with comforting words and all that." Zelle cleared his throat and looked down into Blake's shining amber eyes. "But my best friend's mother is a faunus. Honestly, I sometimes think it would be awesome to be a Faunus." Blake's eyes widened exponentially as she continued to stare at him. "Yeah, I mean you all have excellent night vision and other abilities that your animal traits provide you while the rest of us are stuck just being us." He scratched the back of his head and looked away as he looked in the direction of the dorms. "I guess what I'm saying Blake is that I don't have a problem with faunus and whenever you decide to open up to the rest of the team, I will support you if Weiss gets out of hand."

Zelle was feeling super awkward. He didn't really know how to deal with touchy emotions like this. If he ever got upset, he would typically ignore the problem or relieve some stress in the gym. A faint giggle caught his attention and he glanced back at Blake who had a soft smile on her face.

"You know, I think that is the first time you've used my name."

Zelle chuckled. "You might be right." They sat there in comfortable silence as Blake leaned against Zelle letting the peaceful night rule. Five or six minutes passed before Zelle groaned.

"We should probably get back. We have classes tomorrow and that festival thing that Weiss was talking about to check out." Blake wanted to argue that they could stay a little longer but knew he was right. With a reluctant sigh she moved away from his torso and they made it back to the dorm undetected. Before they entered through the window again, Zelle turned back to Blake.

"Offer stands whenever you decide to cash it in by the way." This caused Blake to give a small smile.

"Yeah, thanks."

With that, they quietly entered. Everyone appeared to be asleep so that was good. Zelle was getting real sick and tired with questions. Zelle hopped into his hammock and Blake hopped into bed. With a sigh of weariness, Zelle closed his eyes and let sleep quickly overtake him.

However, he didn't wake up to the sun announcing it's arrival. Instead he was standing in the inky blackness that he was becomingly irkingly familiar with. He sat there waiting for the blue box and his patience seemed to pay off when suddenly a blue box appeared.

[We need to talk.]

Zelle raised an eyebrow. It appears his assumptions were correct. This system or whatever it is, is conscious. These little ventures were more than freaky realistic dreams then. At least based on his previous encounters.

"About?"

[Saving the future.]

A/N: Scene! Well that was interesting. I'm trying my best to emulate each characters' personality but I'm sure I mess up here and there which is fine honestly. Anyway, let me know what can be improved, what you like, and dislike. And please be critical and not just say you disliked or liked it. That helps nobody. Anyways, see you in the next chapter!