"And these are my teammates." Weiss said, gesturing towards the other three parts of her team. "Ruby, Ren, Pyrrha."

"I'm Penny!" Penny exclaimed, with the same kind of cheerfulness as during her first introduction. If it was someone else, Weiss would conclude that she was glad to meet Pyrrha Nikos, or just huntsmen in person, but this girl just seemed excited to just meet some people.

Penny was... weird. She didn't seem all that bothered about Weiss crashing into her - heck, she wouldn't stand up until Weiss specifically asked her too. What followed was a short, but extremely awkward conversation when Weiss introduced herself and tried to politely apologize for the incident, while Penny simply kept nodding with a stupid grin on her face. She looked... well, not like the sanest person alive.

"It is a pleasure to meet you." Pyrrha declared with a slight bow.

"Yeah, and thanks for catching Weiss!" Ruby said with a friendly smile. "We were really worried for her when we saw her plummet down like that."

Weiss felt an urge to point out that she knew to keep her aura active, that Penny didn't exactly catch her and that the landing was still pretty painful, but she bit her tongue. After getting pummeled into the asphalt, Penny deserved some affability from her.

"I am happy to help!" Penny exclaimed, pressing her hand to her forehead in a salute. She then stood there silently, for several seconds, silence that no one knew how to break.

"Well, as much as I'm glad we've met, I think we should part ways." Weiss tried to be as polite about wanting to leave as soon as possible. "I'm sure you are in a hurry to get back to whatever you were doing before I bumped into you."

"No, I wasn't doing anything." Penny replied.

Weiss blinked. "So you were just walking around for no reason?"

"Yes." Penny nodded. The silence that followed was long and rather uncomfortable.

"So... are you from around here?" Ruby asked, stepping forward where no one else could.

Penny shook her head, her expression unchanging. "I only arrived here a while ago. I'm here for the tournament, you know?"

"The Vytal Tournament?" Weiss cocked an eyebrow. "Forgive me, but you hardly look the part."

"Should I point out the obvious hypocrisy of this statement?" Ren asked.

"We'll do without." Ruby replied. "So, um, Penny, what academy do you represent?"

"I'm from Atlas. I was chosen to represent the academy as a way to test... stuff?"

"Test stuff?" Ruby cocked her head. "Like, weapons? You want to test them against other students?"

"Yes!" Penny confirmed. "I want to test my... swords!"

"You want to test swords?" Ren repeated after the girl, sounding as though he really wanted to be elsewhere at the moment. Weiss could honestly say she shared that sentiment, but something else came to her mind...

"I hail from Atlas, but I never attended the Academy." Weiss said. "Could you maybe tell me something about it? How it looks like, how it feels to study there, what kind of people could you meet..."

Usually, such a direct attempt at scurrying wouldn't pass. No student with a head on their shoulders and concerned about their academy in the slightest would not casually tell their future opponent anything of value. But Penny didn't look like someone very interested in seeing her school win the tournament, or someone scrutinous enough to spot the bait in the first place.

"Alright!" Penny agreed. "I will download a book about the history of the Academy, as well as the official index of students and their appointed instructors. It should take me about a..."

"Not that way!" Weiss grunted, before remembering her manners. "I was thinking we could talk about our own experiences. Have a friendly conversation, maybe in some pleasant cafe."

Penny froze. The smile was washed away from her face and in its place an expression of astonishment appeared. She didn't utter a single word and neither did anyone else, struck by a sudden change in the atmosphere.

Weiss winced. Maybe she was being too direct and Penny caught up after all? Or maybe her invitation simply came off as too intrusive, too forward? She considered apologizing and dropping the subject, but it was the readhead who spoke first.

"Friendly?" She took a step towards Weiss, drawing almost uncomfortably close. "You want us to hang out? Like friends?"

"Well we could become friends in the future, I do not deny that possibility." Weiss suddenly felt sweaty, and not from physical effort. "But if you aren't comfortable with that that's fine, it was merely a..."

"Sensational!" Penny beamed as she grabbed Weiss by the shoulders. "We will paint our nails, try on clothes, and talk about cute boys!"

"Um, maybe we should take it slow?" Weiss suggested, feeling awfully nervous. No, terrified was the word. "Like... how about we go sightseeing tomorrow? Right now I am kind of busy."

"Yeah, we were trying to catch a stowaway just a moment ago." Ruby, thanks heavens for her, came to Weiss defense. "We could... I mean we should resume the chase."

"I can help!" Penny announced."We shall catch whatever rapscallion has slighted you!"

While Weiss admired Penny's range of vocabulary, she did not welcome the perspective of a futile chase across Vale, with the strange girl as her companion. "Actually, I think we will do better job as a team. As in, me and my teammates."

"We can hunt together, in a group of five." Penny offered. "Right guys?"

"Right..." Ruby touched the base of her neck. She seemed to be hesitating between her loyalty to a fellow team member, and a desire to not be close to Penny for any extended period of time. "Um, I think I have to polish my weapon. I can't go hunting without my darling in a good shape, you know?"

Damn her. Having been forsaken by her own leader and with Penny still holding her firmly, Weiss stared towards her partner, hoping for some support from him.

"I have to check what Nora is doing." Ren decided against camaraderie as well. "Better not to leave her alone for too long."

"She has her team with her!" Weiss protested.

"Better not leave her with other people for too long either. On the other hand, I think you will be just fine with Penny and Pyrrha..."

"No!" The champion exclaimed. She then coughed into her fist. "I mean, I'm sorry but I cannot help. I have to... wash my feet." She added, earning some skeptical looks from her teammates. "It's a religious custom. You wouldn't understand."

"You cannot be serious." Weiss uttered, refusing to believe her own ears.

"Don't worry friend." Penny assured. "Together we are just about unstoppable!"

"Well good luck you two." Ruby said, turning around. "We will be waiting for you at Beacon Weiss, if you manage to es... catch that faunus quickly."

"I will have my revenge." Weiss stated, trying to give her teammates the coldest of stares. It probably still looked pleading, considering how desperate she was.

"I will help you avenge whatever it is you want to avenge." Penny promised. "Now onto the chase, friend!"

Weiss gulped.

The arena room in Beacon was empty, save for the four students that just entered through the door. Everyone else probably had better things to do that train indoors - either Team JNBY was among the most dedicated ones, or ones least capable of finding enjoyment outside of combat. It was hard to tell, really.

Right now, Jaune was just glad to find a suitable place to fight. While they were all somewhat tired after their walk through Vale, they were also rather bored and could use the stimulation a good duel could provide. Not to speak of other, even more negative emotions that still hung in the air.

"So, what are the matchups?" Nora, however, seemed to be teeming with positivity. "Partner against partner again?"

"We did that last time, and trying to punch Blake is annoying." Yang protested. "How about you and I fight first, then Jaune and Blake?"

Jaune initially wanted to protest, since having Blake fight him when she still held a grudge didn't seem like a good idea... but maybe it was. Fighting constituted a legitimate method of channeling negative emotions.

"Go ahead." Jaune ruled. "It is always interesting to see you two battle it out."

"Yeah, watch and learn from an expert." Yang smirked, walking towards the arena. "You might match me eventually."

"I threw that fight!" Jaune shouted after her, earning nothing but a snort from his teammate. She didn't seem to believe his claims that he held back during their first duel, for better or worse.

As Yang and Nora prepared for the fight, double-checking their weapons and stretching their muscles, Jaune took a seat in the otherwise empty stands. It was by no means the first time his teammates would fight one another - they had been training fairly regularly and had gone over all six matchups several times each - but it was still an important exercise, one that allowed them to refine their skills without having to give anything away. Yang and Nora were a particularly good pair, as they were quite evenly matched and each had to be clever in hopes of beating the other one. One swing of Nora's hammer could be enough to end the fight, but even Magnhild would do little if Yang managed to get too close.

As he mused about what result to expect, Jaune heard someone take a sit right next to him. Surprising it was, apparently Blake came over to him.

"Um, you got a minute?" The girl asked.

"I'm not exactly busy at the moment." Jaune replied, stopping himself from giving an even more sarcastic reply. "What is it?"

"Well, I just got reminded of something you said." Blake replied. "Not today, I mean. It was way back, after our first combat lesson."

"Are we seriously going back to that fight between me and Yang?" Jaune sighed. "I thought we settled that."

"No it's... something else." Blake clearly did not enjoy the talk, but kept going anyway. "It's nothing important, just something that stuck with me."

"Nothing is too unimportant to talk about." Jaune ruled. "Go right ahead, if something bothers you."

There was a long pause, during which Yang and Nora finally got to fighting down on the arena. They opened as expected, With Yang jumping just outside of Nora's range, ready to attack at the earliest convenience. They were both being careful now, but once they started actually having fun, they would no doubt go all aggressive.

"You once said that no one really wants to be equal." Blake finally said. "That everyone just wants supremacy."

"I may have said something like that. What of it?"

"Is that how you view the White Fang?" Blake was seemingly ignorant of the way Jaune tensed hearing the name. "Do you think they don't actually want equality, or that they ever wanted?"

"Frankly, yes." Jaune replied sharply. Perhaps sharper than he meant. "Their actions speak for themselves."

"I get they are radicals, but... don't you think that maybe they just went too far pursuing something good?"

"What are they hoping to pursue by killing people?" Jaune retorted? "By setting fire to shops, hijacking trains... they want people to fear them, or maybe they simply enjoy violence for its own sake. Doesn't make much of a difference to me."

"White Fang used to be peaceful!" Blake protested. "They tried to do things the right way, but they weren't getting results and so..."

"You don't resort to terrorism just because things aren't going your way." Jaune cut in, his voice harsher and more firm. "I do not take that as an excuse, sorry."

"Well if people like... if people actually cared back when the White Fang was trying to be peaceful, this wouldn't be an issue!"

"That's..." Jaune wanted to retort, but thought better of it. He could see that that argument was going nowhere and that maybe it would be better to concede a little bit. "That is a fair point. But I still don't condone what the White Fang is doing, and I'll be lying if I said I sympathize with them."

"I get that." Blake sighed. "It's just... the world can be harsh for the faunus. People genuinely try to make it better."

"True." Jaune shrugged, even though he was actually quite tense. He formed his words carefully, keeping in mind Blake's irritability and her identity as a faunus. "I never denied that faunus have it rough. They are limited to being the underclass in one of the human kingdoms, or living in that mess of an island they've been given."

"You mean Menagerie?" Blake raised an eyebrow. "Is there something wrong with it?"

"Geographical location is certainly not the best, and it's said that fauna can cause some trouble." Jaune responded, grateful for a chance to use concrete knowledge. "But the real problems are political in nature."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you know how every Kingdom is governed by an elected Council? Menagerie has a chieftain. A single person responsible for most major decisions, with a title more fitting for some tribal warlord than a leader of a civilized state."

"But... if that's how the faunus there want to be, then what's the problem?" Blake protested, strangely upset once more.

"I'm not exceptionally knowledgeable regarding the subject..." Jaune slowly said. "But from what I've heard the system does not work very well. I remember reading that the last time Menagerie had to face a horde of Grimm, there were literally people on the streets trying to get the citizens to sign up for militia. There is not having a standing army and there is just being..."

Jaune only paused to watch Yang fly over his head, soaring through the air at high speed only to crash into the tribunes with staggering force. She scrambled up a moment later - fortunately she looked unhurt and not particularly bothered, aside from looking somewhat annoyed.

"That was a cheapshot." Yang grunted. "Can't you win any other way than by ringout?"

"Sorry, Magnhild packs a bit of a punch." Nora shrugged, a satisfied smile on her face. She then raised her voice further. "Next pair, please!"

"Yeah, let's see if you two got rusty." A smile entered Yang's face. "Onto the arena."

Jaune wanted to ask for time, to maybe finish talking and dispel any lingering malice between him and Blake before they started fighting , but Blake would have none of it. She stood up, hand near her weapon, looking quite anxious to begin.

"I'm ready." She said, her voice sharp and serious, and then made her way down towards the ring.

"What's up with her?" Yang asked, moving over to Jaune. "Did you piss her off again?"

"Apparently." Jaune replied, though he couldn't see why Blake was mad either. She mentioned being raised outside the kingdoms once or twice, but that didn't mean she was from Menagerie... was she? "Just set up the screens properly. I want to know that we don't end up fighting to the end."

Yang nodded, understanding what her leader meant. Most mock fights ended once one of the combatants lost enough aura, but before it could actually break. In friendly spars like that they would often forgo that rule and just fight until someone lost their aura or surrendered but now... it wouldn't be a friendly spar, exactly. It was wise to have safety measures in place.

As Jaune made his way to the arena, Yang went on to activate the relevant systems. A holographic screen above their heads flashed to life, displaying the bars that symbolized the amount of aura Blake and Jaune had. During the fight, these would gradually dropped, until one of them would be registered as the victor.

Jaune reconsidered if he wanted to win this fight. Letting Blake win seemed like an obvious way to calm her down, but she would probably be able to tell if he held back, and that would only annoy her even further. It was probably better to just fight fairly, even if that wasn't the best option either... having to appease Blake was getting more burdensome by the minute.

After a few moments, both of them were within the bounds, each holding their blade in hand. Gambol Shroud was a cleaver, held by its wielder in both hands, while Crocea Mors was... well, what it always has been. A double-edged longsword with few cracks, but nonetheless a dangerous weapon. Dangerous enough, hopefully.

"Ready to begin?" Yang asked from behind the console. Neither of the fighters below answered - they just nodded, Blake somewhat more confidently than Jaune.

And for a good reason. The very moment the screen flashed, indicating the start of the fight, Blake was already on the attack. It didn't take her a full second to close the distance and a split second later she was swinging her weapon at Jaune, a wide strike that was bound to cause serious damage in case it connected.

Luckily, Jaune had a way of preventing that. He managed to unfold his shield and raise it in time, the blow merely clanking against the hardened metal. For the briefest moment, the two of them stood still in the middle of the ring, before Blake jumped back as to not give Jaune any chance for a counterstrike.

Not that there would be any. For all his skill and tricks, Jaune wasn't particularly fast, certainly not fast enough to keep up with Blake. And even if he did connect, the girl could probably negate the blow with her semblance. Jaune could only hope to keep defending like he just did, but even that wouldn't work if...

With practiced ease, Blake unsheathed her weapon, giving up on larger yet clumsy cleaver in favor of a katana. Made of a dark-grey metal and sharpened meticulously, it would only inflict a little less damage in exchange for greater speed of attacks.

In time like these, Jaune really regretted not having a proper mecha-shift weapon, or a semblance he could use to even the odds in situation such as this one. As it stood, he could only try to block again as his teammate charged towards him once more.

It didn't work. Blake ducked under the shield, a risky maneuver but one that momentarily surprised Jaune. That moment of inattention was all it took for Blake to slash with her sword at Jaune's hip, a painful strike that cost a lot of aura to absorb. Ignoring the pain, Jaune attempted to strike back with his longsword, but the blade only hit shadows as the real target jumped back, far out of reach.

"That was quick." Jaune said, assuming a defensive stance once more. "Still, you needed to use your semblance to dodge. That means your footwork is imperfect."

"Perfect or not, I at least have a semblance to use." Blake quipped back. "Can't say the same about you."

Somehow, that did it.

It wasn't the worst thing Blake had said to him, not even on that very day. Not by a longshot. But like a straw breaking the camel's back, being reminded of not having any semblance to fight with, of this... deficiency, made Jaune burn with anger, all the frustration from having to constantly try not to offend his own teammate finally bursting out in a rush of controlled fury.

Screw everything. I'm winning this fight.

Jaune did not reply verbally. Instead he assumed a defensive stance once more, sword and shield ready, and waited for Blake to attack. After a moment she did, once more scoring a glancing blow and jumping back just far enough to dodge Crocea Mors being swung at her.

This repeated several times. Jaune was able to parry a strike or two, but never properly strike Back - Blake was too quick for that, her reflexes too good and her semblance too convenient. Her aura stayed practically untouched as Jaune's absorbed blow after blow, slowly going from green to yellow, then starting to approach the red zone.

It was an amazing thing, aura. It allowed one to stay alive after receiving countless otherwise lethal blows, but that was only a small part of its functionality. It strengthened the blows of the user, determining the force of the attack far more than sheer muscle mass did, protected against cold and heat, healed whatever small wounds one sustained, enhanced senses when used correctly and, of course, provided fuel for the semblance which opened a whole new range of possibilities.

However, it didn't do everything. It couldn't provide your body with any extra energy to actually function - a trained huntsman still needed to breathe, eat and sleep - and it didn't make one's lungs any larger. Swinging at your opponent repeatedly tired you out all the same... especially if you were a slim girl who had just recently returned from a long walk across heated streets and who was too angry to properly conserve energy.

"Maybe you can give up already?" Blake offered, in-between swings. "I think both of us would benefit."

"Don't think you can finish it?" Jaune quipped in return. It was a childish goad, one that wouldn't work had Blake been more rested and more calm, but right now, the girl probably really wanted to end the fight. Without another word, she raised her weapon again and charged at Jaune yet another time.

And Jaune, as per usual, raised his shield in defense. Blake, nicely enough, swung with her blade directly, perhaps hoping to provoke a counterstrike, or maybe just hoping to do some damage with sheer force of the attack. It wouldn't end up mattering in any case.

Just a split second before Gambol Shroud struck the metal, Jaune pressed a switch and folded the shield back into its passive form, a mere sheathe grasped within his hand. Carried by the force and surprised by the move, Blake kept swinging forwards, the sword merely brushing against Jaune's shoulder. She was off-balance, if only for that short moment.

And then Jaune punched Blake in the face.

The attack didn't do much damage, aura-wise – Jaune wasn't a particularly strong puncher and Blake's aura wasn't exactly weak. But it was unexpected and, regardless of the force involved, the sensation of having a fist impact one's face tended to be disorienting. Jaune hurried to make the best of the moment, stepping forwards and inside what would normally be Blake's guard.

Blake recovered fairly quickly and, as though driven by pure instinct, attempted to jump away. That didn't do much good though - before she could put any distance, Jaune grabbed one of the strands of her long, freely flowing hair. It was a tactic he worked out years ago, as he sparred with Weiss over and over again, and it worked just as well.

"Let..." Blake didn't even begin to form a plea before she was pulled towards the ground, a yelp escaping her lips. Jaune fell with her, intentionally, knowing that in order to win he had to... simplify the fight a little bit.

"Get off me!" Blake snarled once she was pinned to the ground, the much heavier body of her teammate preventing her from getting up, or moving at all for that matter. She wasn't in a good position to strike, but she attempted to do so anyway, gripping the hilt of her sword and...

A fist struck Blake in the stomach. It didn't do much damage in terms of aura, but it drove the air out of her lungs all the same. Jaune used the moment of distraction that bought him to swat Gambol Shroud away, putting it firmly out of Blake's reach.

"You may consider giving up." Jaune said, calmly but with a sharp edge. He was a little surprised at how his own voice sounded, but he paid it little mind. "I think both of us would benefit."

"Shut up." Blake spat back. "You'll have to beat me to a pulp before..."

The fist struck again, in more or less the same place. This time Blake was better prepared, tensing her muscles to soften the blow, but she still winced from the pang of pain.

"You think I'll mind?" Jaune growled. "You've been an annoyance since the very start. You'll ignore everything I say, ignore your entire team, do your own thing and then act like I'm doing something wrong. You're really selfish, you know that?"

"You think you're not?" Blake replied once she caught some breath. "I don't think you care either. About me, about your team, anything that doesn't immediately help you."

"Do you really think..." Jaune couldn't finish, as a boot impacted his ribcage and sent him flying backwards with aura-amplified force. Blake had to be really nimble to score a kick from that position, but Jaune should have expected that. He only had himself to blame for not being attentive enough.

The moment she was freed, Blake rushed to grab her weapon. She managed the quickly and handily, but not before Jaune gripped his own blade and rushed forwards with Crocea Mors raised and ready to slash. It didn't work before, but now he had a moment's advantage and with all his strength one blow should be enough to...

Jaune was knocked back by sheer force, a shockwave born out of some kind of explosion. The force almost broke his aura, stronger than any single blow Blake employed. Speaking of the girl, she was currently invisible to Jaune through the cloud of smoke. Smoke that, Jaune noted, had a rather distinct pink coloration.

"Alright, that's it!" Nora shouted, walking onto the stage with her grenade launcher placed on her shoulder. From what Jaune could see, she was rather angry and confrontational, whereas Yang was looking over them from the stands looking more horrified than anything else. "I'm calling it a draw. Stand aside before one of you kills the other."

"We were obeying the rules, Nora." Jaune protested, somewhat annoyed with his partner interfering in a fight.

"Not in spirit, it seems." Nora growled. "It's supposed to be an exercise for brother gods' sake! You are just doing everything you can to win."

"I didn't do anything." Blake objected. Jaune could see her through the smoke now and she didn't look very happy either. "I wanted it to be just a swordfight, he started beating down on me the moment he got the upper hand."

"Sorry, no tolerance rule applies." Nora replied. "Also I'm pretty sure you provoked it."

"Well I'm not the one who just shot a grenade at us." Blake shot back, causing Nora to flinch slightly. A small victory. "And the first thing I'm doing tomorrow is going to Miss Goodwitch and telling her that..."

"Are you going to tell her your little secret too?" Jaune cut in. Words were coming out of his mouth almost automatically, formed and voiced in the same instant. "Or are those ears behind your ribbon to stay hidden?"

"You..." Blake was taken aback. Her ears twitched, not strongly, but enough to "Were you spying on me? Did a background check or something?"

"You are just bad at disguising yourself, that's it." Jaune shrugged, though he was still fully tensed. "Is that why you like the White Fang so much? You think it's your racial duty? Do you just need to side with your species, even when they're terrorists and murderers?"

"I'm not..." Blake's voice shook, but soon turned steady once again. "Well what if I am siding with them? Who else is there to side with? Is your kind any better? Are you any better?"

"Are you kidding me!?" Jaune no longer made any effort to appear calm. "Is there something you're not getting? How can you possibly support those scum? After all they did, after what you saw they did..."

"Well maybe we were just tired of being pushed around!" Blake exclaimed, her words echoing off the walls around the arena.

"What do you even mean by that?" Jaune asked. Then, as the words settled in, he blinked. "Really, what did you mean? I don't understand." His anger gave way to confusion. Judging from Nora's expression, she felt much the same way.

"I..." Blake didn't seem angry either, but in her case, the emotion was replaced by embarrassment. No, that wasn't it. It was fear. It was terror. "I need to..."

Blake then bolted out of the room. She didn't just walk out, she didn't even run - she dashed as quickly as possible, dispatching a clone to boost her as she rushed towards the exit door. Jaune could not stop her - none of them got as much as a chance to shout after Blake before she disappeared behind a corner.

"What just happened?" Yang asked, only now coming down to meet her teammates. "Why did she just... made off like that?"

"I'm not sure." Nora replied. Jaune couldn't help but notice that she didn't say 'I don't know' or anything like that. Because while nothing was certain, there was a certain explanation that made... a frightening amount of sense.

Blake was a faunus. That was beyond a shadow of a doubt. Perhaps by 'we' she meant all the faunus as a collective, but it didn't really sound like it and it wouldn't explain her running away. Innocents never ran.

She possessed advanced combat skills, different than the ones they usually taught in combat academies. She never explained where these came from. She had to be trained by someone and for a reason.

She hated the Schnee family, hated them more than someone without personal experiences would.

She was very emotional whenever White Fang was mentioned. she wasn't wholly supportive, she rather seemed conflicted, torn. Maybe regretful.

She rarely opened up, let alone openly spoke about herself. Never spoke about her past. She hid her identity as a faunus, hid her reasons for disdain towards Jaune and Weiss, hid her reasons for even being at Beacon.

Given all that, who was she? There was an obvious answer. One that Jaune should have figured out a while ago.

"Where are you going? Jaune?" Nora asked, seeing her partner walk towards the exit. "Are you going to chase after her?"

"No, I don't think I will." Jaune replied. "That might be unwise. Maybe."

"What do we do then?" Yang asked, her voice much less confident than usually.

"I don't know." Jaune kept on walking. "I need to think. I need to form a plan. Something like that."

Jaune didn't want to let his teammates know how confused, how downright scared he felt. It wasn't just that he didn't know what to do - it's that he didn't know how to form a plan. He didn't know whether he should even bother planning. Maybe he should just chase after a terrorist in disguise? Or alarm the authorities? Was that the right thing to do? Would his teammates approve? If they kept asking him for guidance, what was he supposed to say?

Luckily they did not. Neither Nora nor Yang had anything to say, they just both followed him towards the exit, leaving the arena empty, the screens blank now that there wasn't anyone in the ring to trace. It seemed like his teammates were just as shocked as he was and didn't know what to do either.

For that, at least, he was grateful.

Ruby flipped the page of the weapon magazine she was reading, closing the section about metallurgy and opening a list of currently popular types of ammunition. That part wasn't as interesting as all the ways of forging weapons were, but it was more practical - Ruby wasn't planning on constructing a new weapon any time soon, but some specialized ammunition would be nice.

"Ruby?" Pyrrha could be heard saying, uncertainty in her voice. "Don't you feel a little... bad?"

"Why would I?" Ruby looked at her partner from above the magazine. "I feel pretty good at the moment, in fact."

"I just think it was... rude of us to just leave Weiss alone with that unusual girl. She is our teammate after all."

"She's also not made of glass. She can survive with Penny for a while." Ruby brushed off. In truth she also felt a little bad about leaving Weiss behind, but then again, the girl needed to socialize a little with normal... or rather casual people. "Besides, don't you have to wash your feet?"

"I needed some excuse..." Pyrrha slumped on her bed. At the moment there were only two of them in the dorm, Weiss still away in Vale and Ren studying in the library. Ruby usually liked spending time with just her partner like that, though right now it was a little awkward. "Do you think Weiss will be mad at us when she comes back."

"Look." Ruby sighed, putting down the magazine. "Weiss will be fine. She might chew us out, because Weiss, but I bet she won't be furious or anything. Maybe she even enjoyed the trip?"

In that very moment, the door opened and another person entered the room. She had green hair and a contrasting white dress, with heels that added a little to her meager height. She looked in many ways like Weiss, only she was...

"You look tired." Pyrrha said concerningly. It was a bit of an understatement, since Weiss looked absolutely exhausted, complete with an absent expression and bags under her eyes.

The Schnee heiress paid her teammates no attention. She strolled over to her bed and, uncharacteristically for her, fell onto the mattress flatly and without an ounce of grace, burying her face in the pillow.

"Are you alright Weiss?" Ruby got seriously worried now as well. "Did something happen? Something bad?"

"Penny." Weiss said, her voice somewhat muffled by the pillow.

"What about her?" Ruby kept asking.

"Penny happened!" Weiss raised her voice. "Just... everything about her! Every little thing!"

"She seemed friendly..."

"That she certainly was!" Weiss snorted. "She dragged me through Vale, stopping every minute for the smallest thing. Statues, stalls, malls, bookstores and once she stopped to study a trashcan she found interesting! She acts like she had never seen a city before!"

"Maybe she's from somewhere rural?" Pyrrha suggested. "I mean, she struck me as somewhat unusual..."

"At one point, I led her to an ice cream booth just so that we could slow down for a while." Weiss went on, as though talking more to herself than any of her roommates. "I was hoping to talk with her, excuse myself somehow, or maybe just tell her off because I was that annoyed. But she wouldn't pay attention to me, only to a damn ice cream cone! She didn't even eat the thing, she just sort of... analyzed it like it was the weirdest thing ever."

"That does sound kind of weird." Ruby admitted. "But you did lose her eventually?"

"By the time we circled the entire city, yes." Weiss replied. "She said that it was really late and that she needs to annoy herself or there might be trouble."

"Annoy herself?"

"She said she needed to 'grind her gears'." Weiss elaborated, making quoting marks with her fingers. "Who cares? I'm just glad to be away from that freak."

"You mean she isn't coming over to Beacon?" Pyrrha raised an eyebrow. "I thought the exchange students are going to sleep with us."

"She is staying somewhere else. Wouldn't tell me where, not that I would care." Weiss sighed. "It looks like I won't have to deal with her anymore."

"I mean, we will meet her at the tournament." Ruby pointed out. "Perhaps we will even get to fight her team."

"If we do, make sure the fight ends up quickly." Weiss looked at Pyrrha. "Take her out as quickly as possible, don't even try to make it a fair fight. Maybe if she loses by a landslide she will feel bitter and won't talk to me anymore."

"I suppose we can hope." Pyrrha replied. "I gather you didn't catch than stowaway after all?"

"Of course not. And frankly, I no longer care. Though since he shares the blame for this mess, I swear to kill him if I ever see him again. And I will demand your help."

"I don't think we are supposed to kill people, Weiss." Ruby objected. "We are huntresses, you know?"

"I'll just call a favor with Team JNBY then. I'm sure they will gladly kill someone."

"They're not killers, Weiss." Ruby pointed out. "I think you're being kind of unfair to them. And definitely tired. You should just rest right now."

Weiss mumbled something. It was not very coherent, but it sounded like an agreement.

"Has anyone checked on them?" Pyrrha asked. "Team JNBY, I mean. We haven't seen them since we parted ways back in Vale."

"I'm sure they're fine." Ruby replied reassuringly. "I mean, what could have possibly happened in a few hours?"

Blake ran.

It was the only thing she was good for, it seemed. For all her training, skill and powers, running away usually ended up being the best solution. When threatened in combat, just dispatch a clone and run off. When you want to turn your life around, just turn against your former comrades and run away from the past. And when your past comes up, just run away even further.

She really didn't know where she was running to. There was no destination in mind, no plan, not even an inkling of what she was supposed to do next. She was just dashing through Beacon's courtyard, wishing to get as far away from... everyone really. She needed to be alone, to collect her thoughts, to figure out what to do next.

For now though, she had to catch her breath. Running from one end of Beacon Academy to another was an exhausting feat, especially right after having fought a long battle. Her legs ached, sweat covered her brow and she longed for air like nothing else. After looking around and making sure no one was around, she stopped in the middle of the courtyard, near a large statue that adorned the piazza.

It was an impressive thing. Two figures, both carved from the same grey stone, stood side by side on a small hill. A man and a woman, the former holding a sword high in the air as though in a gesture of triumph.

Huntsmen. Brave, powerful, larger than life figure united in their fight against the darkness. It was what they, as students, were supposed to aspire towards. It was what Blake was hoping to eventually become, to leave her old life behind and join a purer, more admirable cause.

What an idiot she was to think this would ever work. From the very start she was struggling to fit in, to work with the people that should be her teammates. But instead of a coordinated team, they were a mess of a group that couldn't even stop infighting. Instead of fighting injustice they fought other students, be it on the arena or outside of it. And, though it was petty to be bothered by it of all things, she wasn't able to win against her own teammate, even holding every advantage and trying her hardest against someone she despised.

Jaune Schnee. That, at least, she could not have predicted. It was a twist of fate, a mockery really, that she would end up on a team with a Schnee of all people. It could never work out and if anything, Blake was surprised how long it took for the two of them to come to blows. Maybe Jaune was right and the conflict was her fault, maybe it was his, but it didn't truly matter. There could never be peace between them given her past.

Her past... right now it was a secret forfeit. Her teammates knew that she was a faunus, and she all but told them that she had fought for the White Fang in the past. She could try to deny it, but it wouldn't do any good. They would probably just hand her over to someone in power, or maybe try to hand out justice themselves if they felt angry enough. In any case they wouldn't trust her ever again.

Having calmed her breathing a bit, Blake took a look towards the Beacon proper. The grand castle, inside of which her teammates likely sat and tried to decide what to do with her. Assuming they were not chasing her, which was all the more reason to leave this place.

Blake sighed. It was regrettable, but she could see no other way. At least now, selfishly or not, she was doing something she was good at.

And so she resumed running.