So I'm saying my goodbyes, goodbye to my good side. It only ever got me hurt, and I finally learned, it's a cruel, cruel world.

Ozpin paced back and forth, mind a whirling mess, not that it would be all that apparent to those who saw him. He tempered his expressions with very precise action, of course.

No matter his life experience or tempered expressions though, he couldn't fathom the reason behind Glynda coming to Beacon for his help.

"I'm sorry, Glynda, can you ask me again? I feel as if I missed something crucial."

"I'm requesting that you deploy Beacon as a special force in the upcoming, inevitable conflict with Atlas," Queen Glynda Goodwitch repeated.

Ozpin sat back down in his chair, barely a hint of a frown on his face. "Beacon does not house soldiers, Glynda. You know that as well as I."

Glynda shook her head. "I'm not asking for soldiers, Ozpin. I'm asking for weapons."

The man poured himself a cup of a cold liquid, his hand waving over it, coming away steaming. "You want me to direct these children into a warzone, with no regards for casualties?"

The queen nodded her head. "Yes. If they kill some Valean soldiers, the cost is more than justified. Just, do try to keep them away from Valean forces. Justified does not mean wanted."

At that, Ozpin cracked a small smile. "We'll just have to see how the tide of battle ebbs and flows, I suppose."

"War?!" Jaune exclaimed, concern etched into his face.

The common room that they all sat in was filled with people that shared his expression.

Ruby was sandwiched between Jaune and Blake, the two having claimed the couch as unofficial protectors of the newest member of Beacon. Behind the couch stood Pyrrha, one hand clutching Jaune's shoulder. Ren and Nora sat on the other couch, expressions grim, and Weiss, the last of the group in the common room, stood by the fireplace, the roaring fire doing nothing to warm her cold demeanour.

"Yes, Jaune, we've been over this already," Weiss said with a frown, staring at the blond boy.

"Yeah, I know, but why?" Jaune asked, mind spinning.

"I wouldn't know. There has been no announcement, no news, and Ozpin has said nothing in regards to the situation. Until he does, I doubt any of us can figure this out ourselves," Weiss explained, like one would to a confused child.

"Speak of the devil," Blake muttered under her breath, and a moment later the door to the common room swung open, the grey-haired man stepping through, cane in one hand, mug of hot drink in the other.

"Well, it's good to see you've all gathered. That does save us some time. Ms Rose, how are you feeling?"

Ruby nearly jumped out of her seat at the shock of being addressed. "I-I'm fine, sir! Just a little worried."

"Hmm, as I'd expect you all to be. I've just spoken with Her Highness, and she has told me a little of what is happening," The man said, stepping next to the fireplace, adjacent Weiss, who quickly moved, standing behind Ren and Nora. "According to the Queen, Atlas, under the direct orders of Emperor Schnee, declared war on Vale last night, citing the reason as 'the murder of Imperial Princess Weiss Schnee by Valean Anti-Magics' as the sole excuse for the war. To me, and many others, we realise that this is a shallow excuse for a territory grab, so no, Ms Schnee, revealing yourself to be alive will not assist us in solving this problem."

The man took a sip of his drink, before continuing. "As such, Queen Goodwitch has asked me to provide Beacon's services in the war, as a specialist force to be deployed in enemy occupied territory. There are some ground rules I will establish, but that won't be until we are needed. As such, there are others I must inform. Understand that your duties have not changed, and I will inform you of any such changes as per usual. Thank you for your time."

With that, the man left the room in a dull silence, the door creaking slowly closed behind him.

"Well, that answers my question, I guess," Jaune quipped, trying to lighten the situation.

"Well, you heard Ozpin. Usual duties, so let's get to work, please," Pyrrha said, giving Jaune's shoulder a squeeze before releasing her grip, heading for the door.

"Pyrrha's right, as usual. Come on Ruby, Blake and I are in charge of your training for the time being," Jaune said, himself standing and walking towards the now open door, Pyrrha having left it open.

Blake led Ruby alongside the blonde boy to the training yard.

Training was about to begin.

Training was gruelling. The girl bent double, heaving and panting as sweat drenched her clothes, but she was nowhere close to giving up, not by a longshot.

"Again!" The voice called, and she shot forward, fists bared, throwing a heavy swing at the opponent she faced.

The boy, her opponent, took the punch with the grace of a beheaded horse, collapsing in a bundle of lanky limbs as she shook her fist, wiping the blood off.

"Up, boy!" The voice called, but the boy did not stand. "Bah. Healer!"

Yang watched as one of the healers ran out onto the dirt patch, grabbing the boy by the shoulders and unceremoniously dragging him towards the small tent set up by the edge.

"Good showing, girl. Take a break, you're done for the time being," The voice said, and Yang wasn't one to refuse, grabbing her kit and heading for the communal bathing area, which was just a fancy way of saying a small stone building with buckets of water.

She was far too tired to care about the other recruits that ogled her, simply ripping her sparring top off and tossing it to the side, grabbing a sponge and sinking it into the bucket, before dabbing and scrubbing away at her body.

She heard a wolf-whistle emerge from the quiet murmurs, but she could barely bring herself to care. They weren't here to have a good time, and most of them would be dead by this time next week.

War approached fast when facing Atlas, or so her commanding officer had said.

And, unsurprisingly, she, a lowly grunt in the Valean army, was expected to train her ass off, only to go practically throw herself at the enemy.

Of course, she was putting her all into it. She didn't have any way of knowing who could be watching at any given moment, so she wanted to impress, but at the moment, she was being watched by a group of recruits who were most certainly impressed.

"Yo, Xiao Long, give us a smile!" One of the recruits with more courage than sense called out, a jeering smirk on his face.

Yang decided she didn't like that all too much, and she'd had enough.

She didn't even bother with covering herself. They were about to remember something significantly more important than her chest.

One foot in front of the other, she paced close to the one who'd called out, a demure smile on her face.

"You want me to smile? Aw, sure, but only for you. How about we do something that only you get, though?" Yang said, lacing her words with pure seduction.

The recruit was caught off-guard, but he nodded vigorously at the suggestion.

"Well, c'mere, lemme give you something to remember me by," Yang said, beckoning him to lean closer.

The recruit did so, leaning close, and Yang got within a hair's width away from his lips before her knee shot up into his crotch with unrivaled power and speed.

The only thing protecting her knee from his flesh was the towel he was holding, which the poor recruit dropped with a squeal of agony, like a pig being butchered.

"Fuck off, unless you want some yourself," Yang spat at the rest of her audience, before turning on her heel and returning to her bucket and sponge.

The pale faces of the terrified recruits wouldn't make her any friends, but that wasn't what Yang was here for.

No, at the moment, she was here to finish cleaning up, and so she did, dressing back in her kit as she stepped out of the bathing area.

One of the healers stepped past her as she left, leveling a stare, but Yang ignored it, heading towards the mess. She'd just trained, she deserved a good lunch. Having a little extra time to have it was going to be nice, too.

Of course, Yang needed to stop jinxing herself.

"Recruit Xiao Long!"

Yang spun to attention, saluting the man who had called out her name. "Staff Sergeant, sir!"

"At ease, recruit. There is an officer who wishes to speak with you, in regards to your recent results," The Staff Sergeant said. "Follow me, recruit."

"Yes, sir." Yang followed the man as he led her to a tent, stopping outside and motioning for her to enter.

Once she did, she once again snapped to attention. "Sir, Recruit Xiao Long reporting as requested!"

"At ease, Xiao Long. I'd like to speak with you. Take a seat."

The officer was much more lithe than Yang had been expecting, with brown hair flecked with grey and an easy smile.

"I'm Master Sergeant Cross. I'd like to speak to you about your past. Specifically, the incident a month ago."

Yang, sitting in the chair, gripped the armrests, knuckles going white. "What about it, sir?"

"According to the incident report, you stopped the perpetrator with the use of advanced Anti-Magic capabilities. Is this true?"

Yang answered, forcing the words through her grit teeth. "Yes, sir. I was taught by my father and uncle for a number of years."

"And, according to the incident report, the culprit was your younger half-sister, was it not?"

Yang nodded, this time not even able to form words.

"And, as according to the incident report, your half-sister, Ruby Rose, was executed for her crimes, in accordance with the laws. Am I correct?"

Yang nodded again, trying her damnedest to rid her eyes of the tears that pooled in the corners.

"Well, recruit, I have two First Sergeants constantly telling me that it would be a shame to waste such potential, and I have to agree. How would you like to take the fight to those who wrote that damned law that got your sister executed?"

Yang's head shot up, lavender eyes meeting brown as Cross gave a smirk. "With all my heart, sir."

"I thought you might. Welcome to Anti-Magic Squad Dragon, Private First Class Xiao Long."

"I spoke with Ozpin, Jaune. We might be in some serious trouble."

Jaune looked at Pyrrha with a sad smile. "We won't be, Pyr. It's Ruby I'm worried about."

Pyrrha closed the distance between the two, pulling the covers of their bed in tighter as she wrapped herself tighter in his arms.

"She's doing great, training wise, but it's only been a week of the basics. She's going to be in for a real trial by fire, more than any of us ever had to deal with."

Pyrrha hummed in agreement. "Is there anything we can do to help speed her along?"

Jaune shook his head slightly. "I don't think so, unless we can somehow teach her not to cave in to the guilt of war. Hell, I've barely done any more than fight bandits. At least I'm to busy being worried about her to be worried about myself."

Pyrrha thought for a moment, before coming to a decision. "Let me train her alone, tomorrow. I'll see what I can do. As for now, though…"

Pyrrha pushed herself further into Jaune, face heating up.

Jaune gave her a small chuckle, as he reached his hands down.

Sleep would come easy, but not for a little while yet.

Sunrise meant waking, and despite the fact that Ruby felt as if she'd been hit by an entire castle, she still stood herself up, aching muscles doing their best to make her actively hate every moment.

Blake was already awake, the girl shuffling through her belongings in search of something to wear, or at least that was what the rational part of Ruby's mind came up with.

The irrational part, which, this early in the morning, was most of her mind, was far to busy focusing on the beauty of the figure that stood with her back facing her.

Curves, muscles, lithe and flexible but strong and fit, all of it made Ruby blush.

Blake turned to face Ruby as Ruby turned to face anywhere else, trying to conceal her expression. "Morning, Ruby."

"M-morning, Blake…" Ruby replied, trailing off.

The conversation seemed to stagnate, not that Blake minded. "I'm headed to get some breakfast, care to join?"

Ruby shot up to her feet, grabbing her clothes and rapidly dressing. All traces of prior thoughts were erased at the prospect of a good breakfast before the inevitable training made her wish she actually had been executed.

"I'll take that as a yes, I suppose."

Breakfast was, as it tended to be at Beacon, a mild affair. Nothing complicated, nothing extravagant, just good, filling food.

"Morning Blake, Ruby," Jaune said, taking a seat on the opposite side of the table as the two girls. Pyrrha joined him, looking much worse for wear than he.

"Sleep well, you two?" Blake asked with a knowing smirk.

"Blake, one of these days, I'm going to find more things to use against you, and then you'll see what it's like. Ninja's of Love is only so embarrassing," Jaune replied without missing a beat.

Pyrrha and Ruby both blushed at the implications, though for different reasons.

"Now, as scintillating as this conversation is, Blake, today you and I are taking a step back from training. Pyrrha will be handling today's training herself," Jaune explained, taking a bite of his breakfast.

Pyrrha managed to recollect herself. "You've been getting the basics down really well, or so Jaune tells me, but he's asked me to talk to you about some more… specific subjects. Things we'll go into more detail when we get to them."

Ruby nodded, as she ate her breakfast, listening intently.

"Morning, all!" Nora cheered as she stepped through the door to the dining room, a smile on her face.

The chorus of greeting was the usual, and whilst Ren was already in the kitchen, having been rostered for this mornings cooking, the only one missing was Weiss.

Weiss had a reputation of being a heavy sleeper. Of course, Ruby did too, but it wasn't like she was given much of a choice regarding her sleeping habits lately.

So when Weiss bust through the door with a worried expression on her face, it was easy to tell something was wrong.

"We have a situation!"

Well, that was a fun little middle-arc chapter. We're seeing some more about characters, a few tidbits of information, a few hints to future plans, and a couple more little things. I'm trying to be all artsy with the song lyrics at the start of the chapter, too... Song is Cruel World by Phantogram, by the way.

This chapter's pretty short, though, but I think it fits rather nicely. It's the calm before the storm, I suppose, and establishes a few things. We'll be getting into the war pretty soon, though, so this kinda chapter was needed to pace it out a bit. No sense rushing right in without the right buildup.

I'm glad all of you are enjoying this, so far the feedback has been excellent, thanks for all of your reviews! Yes, there will be pairings, and as for Salem... wait and see.

Also regular spoiler rules exist for Vol 6. If it's publicly available, its free game to talk about, but not if it's still first only.

I'm also on Pa Treon / AFatFlyingWhale so if you wanna support me, please feel free.

And, as always, see you next chapter
~AFatFlyingWhale