A/N: Wow there's a lot of snow right now. Fun fun fun to be in this weather. Blegh. Still, I debate on whether or not I should venture out and drive now... Eh, we'll figure it out. Anyways, here's the next chapter, I hope y'all enjoy :)

Cinder sat at the dorm desk facing the window, the light streaming in and illuminating her face as she picked up a glass of smuggled wine, sipping it quietly as she waited. It wasn't much longer before the door to the room slid open, revealing one of her subordinates walking through.

"You're late." She said, not even bothering to turn around. It didn't take a genius to know who she was talking to, seeing as how Mercury was already sitting on the bed, a nasty smirk on his face as he waited for something to happen to Emerald.

The two words were enough for Emerald to feel a chill down her spine, and without any hesitation the girl bowed deeply as the door closed itself.

"I'm sorry ma'am," Emerald made sure to be as respectful as possible, not wanting foul Cinder's mood any further. "I was just making contact with the enemy, and it took a little longer than I thought it would."

The woman still did not turn to face her, swirling the wine slowly as she hummed in thought.

"And how did that go?"

"I-I think it went well." Emerald said falteringly, head still bowed, hoping that would be enough for Cinder. Mercury, the delight that he was, stepped in to help.

"You thought?" He asked, derision in his voice. "That doesn't sound very confident to me."

Emerald rose up, her glare sharpening at his words. "At least I'm doing something productive," She snapped, taking a step towards the boy. "How was your day? You finally beat that high score on your stupid game?" The grey-haired boy only laughed, crossing his arms.

"It's cute how you think that means anything. I'm not the one that's supposed to be doing something. I'm staying here so that when Cinder tells me to do something, I'll do it." The boy snorted, shaking his head. "And I won't just think I did it either."

"You ass-"

"Enough."

The woman slowly swiveled around, the single word uttered quietly slicing through the argument, causing the two of them to step backwards and shut their mouths. She waited, watching the two of them to see if either would say anything, to see if either of them were foolish enough to go against her word.

Neither of them did.

Satisfied with their submission, Cinder gestured at them to take a seat, gathering her thoughts as she did so.

"Mercury, please do not antagonize Emerald," Cinder commanded, getting him to cross his arms and nod solemnly. "I don't care to hear it, and it detracts from our mission. If anything starts, I will be the one to finish it."

The silence that followed afterwards was all the confirmation that Cinder needed from the two of them.

"Excellent." Turning her attention towards Emerald, Cinder continued to speak. "While Mercury didn't need to point it out in such a juvenile way, what he has said is correct." Her eyes flashed as she raised the wine glass to her lips. "We are running on a schedule. Make sure you are not behind it."

"Of course, Cinder." Emerald said, swallowing in hopes that it would keep the shaking out of her voice. The woman nodded at the green-haired girl.

"That is all I'm going to say about it for now." Cinder paused, her gaze turning to Mercury, before turning back to her. "Do not disappoint me."

The feeling of doubt and fear that had wormed its way into Emerald's stomach wasn't a new feeling. It followed every time she failed Cinder, or did something that looked like it was going to fail Cinder, or when she thought of failing Cinder.

It was like welcoming an old friend.

Still, it wasn't a good feeling, and Emerald sought to drive it away the next morning by taking a walk in between classes, Beacon giving their students some time between classes to relax and rejuvenate. Or, if you were a procrastinator, hurry up and finish last night's homework then.

The academy's grounds were as peaceful as ever, big enough that even with the dozens of students on it, they were all spread out enough that there wasn't much sound to carry over, lending the grounds with the illusions of a park, only helped with the numerous benches and garden-work. Sitting down on a nearby bench, Emerald relaxed as the sunlight hit her skin, a small smile stretching out on her face.

When she opened her eyes again though, a small frown rested on her face as she looked at everyone else enjoying the day.

What idiots. Weren't they supposed to be the future guardians of Remnant? Didn't they realize how much pressure was going to rest on their shoulders, how many lives they would hold in their hands? How could they just wander around and have so much fun when they knew what was at stake?

Emerald scoffed to herself silently, mentally shaking her head. She wasn't sure why she felt so ashamed of them. Maybe because she knew that in the end, it really wouldn't matter after Cinder had her way with Beacon.

She supposed that she could let them have their days of fun if it meant that things would be easier for her leader afterwards.

Thinking of her leader brought her mood down even further, Emerald giving up on trying to relax and standing up, huffing out a frustrated breath. Tossing her hair back, she headed back into the academy. Just because the students of Beacon were allowed to slack off didn't mean that she could, after all.

After quickly changing out of her school uniform and strapping her weapons onto herself, she went out to find an empty training pit. It didn't take long, seeing as how it was a Friday night, and most students weren't really keen on doing anything by themselves just as the weekend started.

The training room were simple, but efficient in their design. The pit was located in the center of the room, actually sloping down so that it made its own walls, protecting spectators from any wayward effects, like projectiles and Dust. The girl slid across and pressed a button on a panel before jumping down, landing softly on the ground.

Emerald turned her head side to side, a few satisfying pops allowing her to relax as she drew out her weapons, admiring them for a second before falling into a practiced stance, keeping the weapons held in front of her as she waited for the practice routine she had selected a few moments ago to fall into place. Without warning, a target dropped from above her, the only noise it made was a tiny click as it fell.

That was plenty for the girl, who spun around and fired a round, not even bothering to confirm the hit before she spun again, firing off another shot as another target fell. The ground below her shifted as a target popped up, a change in pace that Emerald had accounted for, slashing through the cheap target with ease.

The room exploded into motion as she continued to work on the targets, her body a whirl of motion as she did so, the noise almost harmonious as she made to hit every target that she could sense. She didn't hit all of them, but was very capable of hitting most targets. Still, every time she missed a shot, her hands would falter just a little, missing another target before she gathered up her mind and restart her hit streak.

This went on for another few minutes before Emerald thought she felt movement outside of the ring. Her heart jumped a little at the thought of being watched, her mind racing to try and figure out who would be taking the time to do so.

It could be Mercury, who she didn't get along with, but knew that working together was important and was there to make sure Emerald was still in her top form. On the other hand, it could also be Cinder, who was making sure that she was at the top of her form because Cinder demanded that from everyone who worked under her. Either one helped spur her on further, the girl narrowing her eyes as she pulled out all stops. It... sort of showed, she supposed.

Nevertheless, the exercise finished with a loud ring from the top of the room, Emerald taking that signal to sheathe her weapons, turning to whoever it was that was watching her.

Blue eyes watched her carefully, a small smile framing Jaune in an expression that Emerald wasn't able to place. Jutting out her hip, she cocked her head to the side, ignoring the burning in her lungs.

"You stare at random girls often?"

The words brought a blush to Jaune's cheeks as he reared back, eyes growing wide.

"I-uh, well, I wasn't really s-staring..." Jaune seemed to shrink into himself, glancing away as he rubbed the back of his neck bashfully. Emerald snorted, half in amusement and half in disgust at the display.

Emerald stayed silent long enough for the boy to gather his thoughts and speak in coherent sentences, something that both parties seemed to benefit.

"I didn't mean to stare. I'm just surprised to find someone else training when it's a Friday night." Jaune explained, small gestures accompanying his words. Emerald tilted her head to the side, surprised that the bumbling boy could make such a connection. Even a broken clock is right twice a day, huh? Shrugging in response, Emerald strode out of the pit, brushing past him as she pulled up her score, a small frown forming on her face.

"Contrary to popular beliefs, I didn't really have anything to do today, and a little bit of practice never hurt anyone." Emerald sighed, shaking her head as she turned the screen off, reminding herself to work a little more, knowing that the results weren't up to her standards.

"Oh," Jaune let out a bit of nervous laughter, fidgeting as he stood a few feet away from the red-eyed girl. "Me too. I mean, I'm the same." He ended the sentence with another nervous chuckle.

Emerald wasn't sure what to say after that. The blond boy hadn't really given her an avenue to continue the conversation, and she wasn't really keen on talking with the boy in the first place. She knew that it was her mission and all, but gods he was the opposite of what she found to be interesting company.

Probably a good idea at this point to just cut my losses and leave, Emerald thought to herself. Maybe find a better time to confront the boy. Probably after she could plan her words, and a different personality for herself that would allow her to swallow her brain and pretend to be an idiot.

"Well, I guess I should get going." Emerald gave Jaune a tight smile as she headed out. The girl tensed up when he reached out, grabbing her arm. On reflex, Emerald spun around, her other hand grabbing his wrist and twisting it painfully to the side, making him gasp with pain as he knelt to try and alleviate the intense burning in his elbow and shoulder socket. Emerald let go just as fast as she had latched on, dropping his arm unceremoniously before crossing her arms.

"Sorry."

"I-it's alright." Jaune gasped, standing up shakily. "It's my fault for grabbing a Huntress's arm without any warning right?"

The girl stared at the boy, who was clearly in pain but didn't even think about pinning any of the blame on her. His actions confused her, which didn't really help her mission of trying to understand him at all. He confused her, and that definitely caught her off guard, not really knowing how to respond to the boy at all.

"What do you want, Jaune?" Having had enough of the pussy-footing around, Emerald decided to just go with the straight approach, cutting out Jaune's options to slow down the conversation.

"I was going to ask—but I guess it really doesn't matter. It's just, well." Jaune coughed into his fist, averting his eyes before shaking his head. "Never mind."

Oh. My. God.

Cinder was going to have to face another disappointment.

Because Emerald was going to kill this boy.

"Jaune."

The word hammered through the air, causing the boy to pause, blond bangs partially hiding his eyes.

"What do you want?" Emerald asked slowly, promising to herself that if he didn't answer again she was going to just leave. How could one boy be so different? He had shown a much better coherency on the rooftop. Sure, he was still soft spoken, but the words were clear, his intent was straightforward and honest, and speaking to him was just so much easier.

This Jaune wants to tell her something, but doesn't even have the balls to get a single sentence out.

It was infuriating.

"I just... well," Jaune froze as Emerald glared at him. "I just wanted to see if you were up for doing something is all!"

This time Emerald was the one who froze, surprise written clearly on her face.

"It's just, well, you said you were kind of free, and I'm not really doing anything either, so maybe we could hang out. You know, as friends." Jaune paused for a second, before he continued speaking, not really waiting for her to say anything. "I just thought that we had a good time speaking yesterday, and maybe we could continue... speaking." Jaune deflated, looking away. "You know what, never mind, it was a stupid idea anyway—"

"Sure."

"And I guess doing homework on a Friday night isn't the worst—" Jaune paused, his hearing catching up to his brain. "Wait, what?"

Emerald gave him a simple shrug. "Sure, sounds like fun." It really didn't, but at this point, if she was going to have to be stuck dealing with him, there had to be some information that she could squeeze out.

"Oh. Uh, cool."

Emerald nodded, really hoping that Jaune wasn't going to be so... Jaune if she was going to hang out with him.

"So, you have anything in mind?" She asked conversationally as the two of them left the training rooms. Jaune looked at her sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head, which was a good enough answer on its own.

Emerald put her hand on her face, hoping that Jaune was dense enough not to notice the look of annoyance that crossed it.

"Okay then, how about we just get to Vale and go from there?" Jaune looked at her with hopeful eyes, desperate for her not to leave. The girl sighed and nodded reluctantly.

"What's the worst that can happen..."