A/N: Howdy folks. This is my 2nd project and my first dive into writing a RWBY fic. Monty Oum, the creator of RWBY, left some giant shoes to fill. It ain't going to be me, not by a long shot! Plus this area of fanfiction is insanely active with a lot of talent around. So it is a bit nerve racking to toss my own effort into the ring ;)

First of all, I am not a casual writer. I'm a high-functioning autistic with ADD (and proud of it). Yeah, projects are given obsessive attention. Most of my chapters are between 15k-20k words long and with perhaps up to a hundred hours or more put into a single one. More than a full time job in a single month. Plus while my health is stable, I do struggle with a number of conditions effecting how much effort I can muster. Please, don't expect weekly or even monthly updates. They come when they are ready and when I am able. But when I start a project, I don't do so lightly and I endeavor to see it to the end. Eventually. Someday.

I also try to write with younger audiences in mind, even if the subject matter becomes more mature. I also am very bad about thanking reviews via PM, given that I am in "recovery mode" when they usually come in. But I do save them all, and I always make a thanks as a public mention since they took the time to share their thoughts publicly. If there is a blindingly obvious error because I was too sleep deprived to notice it, I appreciate that being pointed out so I can fix them ASAP.

So as to the story, it branches off directly after "The Breach" at the end of Volume Two and assumes that the reader is familiar with the world of RWBY. There probably will be some environmental differences between here and cannon due to the inconsistencies between the "Attack on Titan" or "Aliens" level of threat the Grimm are supposedly capable of being and the world of RWBY we see. For example, ever compare the Map of Vale geography with the Map or Remnant? The city is practically the size of Australia, yet our heroines are able to scoot around in an evening! I'll just be trying to find balance where there is some of that sort of thing. I will also be typing Team RWBY in narration and "Team RUBY" in speech because that is how they talk.

For those followers who are unfamiliar with RWBY:
RWBY is pronounced RUBY. JNPR = Juniper. CVFY = Coffee. STRQ = Stark. Grimm are like a variety of rampant wildlife, only mutated monster versions of it. Life with no soul, only darkness driven to snuff out light. Beowolves get mentioned a lot in RWBY fics, and are like semi-humanoid wolves between 6-12 feet (2-4m) tall. Ursa are like bears, Nevermore are like giant ravens, ect. They are all jet black in color with white bone plates over their faces, and large white spikes and armor plates at various joints and along spinal columns.

A Long Winter's Journey

It was one of those moments where everyone would remember where they were when it happened. For Professor Ozpin, it was standing before the large window pane in his tower office high above the gardened campus of Beacon Academy and overlooking early morning Vale. He had been sipping from his ever present coffee mug, waiting for developments as the sunrise gave way to blue sky.

He had eventually concluded that Team RWBY had unknowingly been following a similar trail that Qrow had disappeared into the depths of society to unravel, yet had only been able to return a single cryptic phrase of text. A trail that he himself along with Ms. Goodwitch, General Ironwood, and the aforementioned Qrow, had been pursuing quietly for even a longer period of time with even scantier results. On the other hand Team RWBY, while relatively infrequent, had a suspicious tendency to appear at critical junctions of criminal or White Fang activity and at least partially disrupting or interfering with what their mysterious enemy's objective was at the time. Not to mention just how exactly did these students discover that there was a major terrorist hideout southeast of Vale? No one else had been able to uncover anything beyond Torchwick, and that criminal wasn't exactly known for being modest nor discreet.

Ozpin had also known that those girls were not going to stop their extracurricular 'hobby' regardless of how much he nor Beacon's staff tried. Yang Xiao Long was adventurous and confident. Ruby Rose had the pure heart of a people's champion and the bright soul of a huntress determined to protect them from the darkness. Not to mention the innocence and youthful energy to do what was 'right' regardless of circumstances or appropriateness. Blake Belladonna was subtle and understated, familiar with life's dangers and skillful at eluding unwanted attention, but driven and passionate about what she believed in. Hiding her heritage and troubled by a past life as a Faunus that she would barely even hint at. Weiss Schnee was an overly structured and analytic planner combined with an unadmittedly tarnished High Family reputation to uphold. An heiress isolated by her status for most of her life who had grown into her team. Who had access to unimaginably immense resources and connections if the girl had the whim to make so much as a call on her Scroll.

The Kingdom of Vale needed someone to scout out the location of this criminal site. To quietly discover key information and bring that key back for those qualified to use it. Team RWBY was going on their own initiative regardless of whatever obstacles he as Headmaster of Beacon Academy could have put in their way. So he had played along with their little conspiracy. Lamenting with obviously false regret how he would probably never get to the bottom of what Team RWBY had been up to, and covertly advertising the arrangement for a respectable undercover Grimm eradication assignment in Mountain Glenn. After he had briefed Doctor Oobleck in his potential assignment as supervising Huntsman for this reconnoiter, of course.

Professor Ozpin had also not mentioned anything about three of General Ironwood's Air Cavalry gunship squadrons and supporting Air Cruisers that just happened to be patrolling the southeast areas of Vale's walls and perimeter defenses at the same time.

Those girls were determined to do their part, even if they had to do so alone and without anyone else the wiser. It was better that they didn't take that route. Honestly he was quite proud of them, seeing how one day they would make fine Beacon graduates and future Huntresses. Much like Ms. Xiao Long and her little sister's parents a generation ago.

Then the Grimm-Raid sirens around Vale began to drone out their low toned wail. Followed quickly by those surrounding Beacon Academy. In the distance black smoke curled its way high up into the sky from among distant urban cityscape.

Deep down he knew something had gone very wrong and it was related to far off Mountain Glenn.

Professor Ozpin's first response was toward his more local students. He calmly set down his coffee mug and used his own oversized Master Scroll to override the team-only protocols of those belonging to the children who attended his academy. On the holographic display projected above his desk behind him, several hundred picture icons representing each student popped up on a large two dimensional map of the academy, showing the location and aura level of most of their owners. An instant overview of if any of his charges was in distress.

Before he could turn his attention however, Professor Ozpin's eye focused on the three landing pads that lay before the campus and overlooking the cliff that separated Beacon from the rest of Vale down below. One Bullhead tiltjet was loading up with small figures even as its engines spooled up straight from a cold start with a distant scream. The loading ramp not even managing to close before it was airborne. More figures were running in that direction as the two other Bullheads started up their Dust burning turbines.

Ozpin turned away with pride in his students. It hadn't even been twenty seconds since the first sirens awoke and already the few students that had been up early to depart for their off-campus assignments or out on their morning routine were taking the initiative. Reassigning priorities and aborting previous ones on their own authority. Responding without a command regarding what they should or even could do. Acting as the Huntsmen and Huntresses, the future defenders of the world, they were training to be.

The grey haired Headmaster quickly scanned the holographic map outlaid on his desk. Most of Beacon's students were either away and beyond a mere Scroll's signal range, on assignment along the city boundary and other strategic locations, or shown as still in their dorms. It wouldn't do to have everyone still on campus to rush out in an armed but uninformed and disorganized mob, however. Whatever was going on, his immediate responsibility was the security of Beacon Academy and this might only be a beginning move. He would leave others to their own share of responsibilities.

He pressed a highlighted button on his large Scroll, calling every unit that had been issued at Beacon and those on campus. The man searched for and eyed the icons for Team RWBY and Doctor Oobleck still waiting along the display's border along with the other off-campus students. They shouldn't be within range but four of those icons showed status update symbols, resynchronizing with Vale's communications network.

Ozpin spoke with a calm but authoritative voice. "Students and Faculty of Beacon Academy. Remain calm, but understand that this is not a drill. The City of Vale is currently dealing with some form of event. Until we receive reports on the nature of this event and respective authorities can ascertain how we may best be of assistance, all students currently on campus will prepare and assemble according to emergency drill procedures. Await further instructions at your designated assignments."

Ozpin's eyes never left the map while he finished speaking. But a flashing blip brought his finger up to the ghostly surface and commanded the display to zoom over to the indicated position. The icons representing Team RWBY's scrolls were not only within signal range of the city network, but suddenly popping up fifty miles within the city itself as they finished synchronizing with an apparently overloaded local array and updated their status. Their aura levels, that the team's Beacon issued Scrolls monitored as a battle management tool and was available to staff as a supervisory aid in training, were low. In fact Ms. Xiao Long's and Ms. Schnee's auras were practically non-existent. Slowly, painfully recovering and indicating they had already fought hard and with all they had. Most likely taking injuries. Signs of Doctor Oobleck were nowhere the city network could find.

Then to his muted dismay, automated computer icons to all city citizens warning of Grimm intrusion appeared around them. Instructions informing the public to stay away from that area and evacuate into underground shelters.

Professor Ozpin zoomed the map out and manipulated the display further. The icons of an unsupervised Team JNPR, Team CVFY with Professor Port, and a group of visiting Haven students aboard three Bullhead transports were moving across the map directly toward the threat. JNPR was far ahead and would arrive first, but the City of Vale was large. Two hundred miles across at some points if one counted the industrial, agricultural and woodland districts, and home to almost fifteen million people who were starting their day. Spread out across a landscape isolated from the rest of a dangerous world by dense mountain ranges, cliffs, deep water channels and massive walls or other defenses. A natural and expansive citadel that made the Kingdom of Vale and its developed city one of four remaining oases of protection for mankind since early recorded history of bloody conflict with Grimm. But this deep into the city it would take time for any fully trained and equipped defenders to arrive. Meanwhile the monstrous creatures of Grimm would be ravaging, maiming, destroying and killing their way through the city streets.

Professor Ozpin pressed another icon on his oversized Scroll and spoke toward the military face that appeared on the screen. "James?"

"We've already got the alert." The General on the other end spoke urgently. "My reserve gunships are already en route along with the Morning Star, but my main force is out of position." He didn't need to say why.

"Our scouting team appeared on site," Professor Ozpin informed the other, "but they've been fighting for some time already, are currently unsupervised, and the area is overrun. Three more teams are on the way to assist. Everyone else close by will be tied up with evacuation. I know they will do what they can but our scouts won't last long. After that-"

"Understood. No time to set this up by the numbers. We'll deploy fast and dirty."

"James-" Ozpin said warningly. There were already many civilians in the target area in close quarters with monsters impelled to slaughter them. Ordinary people who had simply been opening up their shops or preparing for just another day of employment in Vale.

"Don't worry, Ozpin," General Ironwood said with a smile of reassurance. "My troops are good. We can shoot targets off their backs in a crash dive if we have to."

Professor Ozpin cut the connection and sent instructions to Ms. Goodwitch. Then he turned back to that office window overlooking the City of Vale, the smoke rising into the sky. In the back of his mind, underneath the calm veteran management of an emergency, was the promise he had made to Qrow when he took that unofficial mission to disappear and gather intelligence on who was really behind all that was going on behind the scenes. The hope that the promise to look after his nieces when they earned their place at Beacon hadn't been a lie. Another mistake to be added to an already great collection.

Those girls would protect the people caught in the fighting. The only questions were how and what the cost would be.

The previous generation made up of Team STRQ had already paid heavily. Unlike most student teams after graduation, they had stuck together and even had become a real family.

Regrettably, Qrow Branwen was now a functioning drunk. His sister Raven vanished and had not been seen since giving birth to Yang. Summer Rose had filled the void; helping the family and then becoming part of it. Accepting baby Yang as her own daughter and then giving her a little sister. She had been killed at the edge of a cliff overlooking one of Patch's deep forest valleys; unrecognizable fragments of bones from dozens of Grimm flaking away at the rocky bottom but her own body never recovered. Leaving a cherished adopted daughter and her own toddler Ruby behind with their father.

The strain and loss of history repeating itself, losing his beloved spouse relatively soon after bearing their child again, had left Taiyang Xiao Long with an unhealed spirit for over a decade; in the early days depending on his brother-in-law Qrow to help care for his surviving family. His recovery more focused on the demands of a working single parent than the soul. Self-retired from missions in favor of an island classroom full of children waiting to be taught how to survive.

Team RWBY's mission had clearly gone south. Ozpin would never play favorites, nor shield them, nor jump in to save them. He would put those girls in harm's way just like any other student. Even mortal danger. But danger students worthy of attending Beacon Academy could handle. Let them face perils and grow from the experience. Walk the path that lead to protecting the people of Remnant as Huntsmen and Huntresses. A path that might very well one day cut their own time on Remnant short.

But no teacher worthy of his title would willingly order any student team or even a group of teams to assault an outpost full of hardened terrorists and murderers or face absolutely overwhelming waves of Grimm during a migration. Not if there was any other option.

Professor Ozpin took in a cleansing breath and let it out. Today was just getting started. Best focus on the tasks at hand. Emergency services could end up being swamped as Grimm spread out from the breach, and his students would be needed soon. To establish containment barricades. To track down stray Grimm once the main threat was turned back and eliminate their presence in Vale entirely. To patrol the streets and put the public at ease after Grimm had managed to run rampant through the heart of the city for the first time in two centuries. To help search for people in the upcoming wreckage. To help carry the inevitable wounded. To assist in reuniting separated loved ones.

To help bury what was left of those loved ones if necessary.

Ruby Rose, Yang Xiao Long, Weiss Schnee, and Blake Belladonna walked tiredly down Beacon Academy's main path followed by their canine shadow Zwei, and past the stone statue of the two unknown hunters that stood before the towered architecture. After Ms. Goodwitch caught up to them at the market plaza and the situation brought under control, she had ordered them back with such a glare that left no doubt as to the inadvisability of such a thing being questioned.

But honestly, they had been fighting and tracking and failing to sleep for two days now. They were sweaty, filthy, dusty, their clothes even a tad greasy from the fight on the dilapidated underground train. Not to mention the train wreck they lived through as it crashed through the long forgotten barrier within Vale's borders. It was past time to stop even though more needed to be done in the cleanup. They had stayed just long enough to reunite with their friends that had come to their aid, let them ensure that they were all still alive and okay, and watch Torchwick get hauled away for hopefully a very long time.

The shuttle had dropped them off at the landing pad but hadn't stayed, leaving them to take a small break at the edge of the tall cliff overlooking Vale. The sky now empty of smoke and wailing sirens, replaced with guardian Airships of both the Atlesian Air Fleet and Vale's Coast Patrol. The long walk down that straight, wide pathway through the cultured fountains and garden lawns of the academy encouraged a small siesta in the midday sun.

After deciding that actual sleep would be the next team activity for the day, the four girls and their dog slowly picked themselves up and made their way down that path that was just so long.

They were quiet most of the way, baring Ruby's idea that the campus needed motorized walkways. Beacon felt almost deserted except for the cheerful tweets of birds, the occasional squirrel and peaceful gurgle of water from a fountain. The girls barely noticed, their eyes only looking toward those wonderful waiting beds up in their dorm. Turning along the curve of the path to the awaiting and somewhat imposing amphitheater doors that lead to other wings of the grand construction, a tall figure wearing a dark subdued green suit over a far more vibrant green turtleneck shirt stood waiting for them.

"Good day, girls," Professor Ozpin greeted them as they approached. He gave them a quick study, and then the tri-colored Corgi following them with its little legs.

Which barked, wagged its tail, and promptly threw up what appeared to be metal bolts as if presenting the Headmaster the spoils of war.

The Professor eyed the pool of bile and lumps of metal at his feet which starkly contrasted with the fine landscaping and décor of the immaculate Beacon campus.

"Zwei!" both Ruby and Yang yelled as Blake subtly sidestepped away as if to separate herself from the group. Weiss merely palmed her eyes.

"Girls. Is that a pet?" Professor Ozpin asked, taking a sip from his ever present coffee mug and completely ignoring the fact that the friendly animal had just regurgitated machine parts.

Ruby spoke for her team. "Uh… would you believe me if I said Zwei was a mutated transfer student?"

Ozpin took another sip from the mug. Ruby's companions groaned.

"How about if we said he was a class project on how to build a dog- yeah that won't work."

Yang, Weiss, Blake and even Zwei were now slowly backing away from their leader.

"I know!" Ruby exclaimed. The short girl waved her hands up before the tall Headmaster and spoke in a mysterious voice. "You do not see a doooooog."

Yang spoke up, pointing a finger at her sister. "Just so you know, Professor. We're not with her."

Zwei barked an agreement.

Ruby put on her best 'stabbed-in-the-back' face. "Traitors!" she scolded the deserters over her shoulder.

Ozpin patiently took yet another sip from his mug, looking down at the five before him.

Weiss stepped forward, unable to bare the insults to human intellect any longer. "Professor Ozpin," she spoke in her formal High Family voice. "Ruby and Yang's father left home for a few days, and sent his dog for us to care for while he was away. It was quite sudden and we didn't have time to do anything about it before our mission departure."

That seemed to draw a reaction from the Headmaster, but the facial expression lasted but a moment. "Ms. Rose, Ms. Xiao Long. Your father left the island?"

Ruby ran her hand through her dark red hair. "I guess so. Our floor is covered with cans of dog food so it might be for a long- Ooh! I hope they didn't go bad."

"Girls, you know the rules. No animals are permitted in the student dorms. No exceptions unless it is legally required by Vale Disabilities-" the Professor recited before he was interrupted.

"But Zwei is doing that!" Yang protested with a light hearted smile. "Weiss here has a terrible case of Silverspoonus Upper-"

"Yang!" Ruby vanished in a swirl of aura manifested rose petals, reappearing instantly from her speed semblance on top of Yang's back, her hands covering Yang's mouth before she could finish the ill-timed jest at Weiss' expense.

Professor Ozpin sighed. His students had performed well despite whatever had gone wrong. Hundreds of lives had been saved and the Grimm contained because they held their ground alone in the maw of the breach. Had held the main concentration of the monster's attention upon themselves instead of the fleeing civilians. Regardless of fatigue, depleted aura strength and Dust munitions, injury, or the great danger to themselves. They held their ground until help arrived and kept on fighting until the breach had been sealed.

Even though Beacon was the most prestigious and renowned training academy in the world of Remnant, Team RWBY had done the school proud before they had even completed their first year.

"I'm sorry, Girls. Rules are rules. However, given that we are all far too busy to deal with such trivial matters as unauthorized animals, I suggest you ask your Headmaster and inquire if he is willing to 'babysit' your father's dog for you. Just move him in with Ms. Goodwitch's horse in the landscaping shed for the time being."

The students before him were too stunned to speak for a moment. Then all spoke at once.

"There is a horse on campus?"

Ozpin took a simple sip from his mug. It was almost time for a refill. "What else would she use in the senior's horseback riding elective? A cow would make no sense, although the milk would be nice."

Weiss had stars and horses in her eyes, then shook her head to focus. However she quickly stopped with a strange expression on her face from the movement. Yang was looking like she was trying to say something, but was too confused to do so. Ruby was looking around for the unseen supply shed and mumbling about how she could convince her team to alter their dorm assignment. Normal behavior for her.

Blake spoke up. "Uh, Professor Ozpin. There is no horse on campus. We all would have smelled it at some point in the past year if there were one."

"Correct. Ms. Rose, you are all just about ready to drop from the looks of it, but I'm afraid I have another task for you as leader of your team. After I confiscate the dog for the time being, of course."

"Aw, Professor!" a tired Ruby protested with slumping shoulders and not knowing how to convince her Headmaster into letting Zwei stay with them without getting expelled by Ms. Goodwitch. "We were really looking forward to sleeping through the next century."

"Very well. All of you hold out your hands."

Confused, the four girls did so. Each of their hands trembled in the air.

The Headmaster looked closely at them one at a time for a few seconds. "Ruby, your team is both exhausted and have so much adrenaline still flooding their system that none of you are able to take proper stock of yourselves. All of you are suffering from significant aura fatigue and cannot even feel it. Both your sister and partner have contusions manifesting themselves and it has gone unnoticed. Not to mention I suspect they are also both suffering from some sort of concussive head injury, judging from their responses just now. So I am requiring you as leader to take your team to the infirmary for a detailed evaluation before you do anything else."

Groans went out from all four girls. The Headmaster looked down at the Corgi.

"What do you think?" he asked.

Zwei barked once sharply.

"There you have it, girls. The dog has spoken. There is nothing more I can do."

"I feel like I'm wearing a cocktail napkin," Yang complained as she sat on the infirmary bed and plucked at the unflattering hospital gown she wore. "I swear they make these just to settle bets on who is gullible enough to wear one while parading past future employers holding a cup of pee."

Blake sat quietly on her bed with her back to the wall, reading some pamphlet and discreetly hiding the backless part of her own papery gown from her teammate. The ever present black bow decorating her raven hair still performing its duty in hiding her feline ears for the insecure Faunus. "Uh huh," she absentmindedly replied.

The academy infirmary was fairly simple in design but well equipped to deal with various injuries that a student being trained to fight Grimm might face. Defensive use of one's aura and close supervision prevented most real injuries, especially penetrating trauma. But aura use was a skill that required both teaching and practical exercise that could be a bit rough on the student in question. It depleted with use, and could sometimes lead to mental or even physical exhaustion, just like the human body did when running out of breath. Not to mention there were the occasional flu's and colds to keep from spreading and cuts could still lead to infection. Or that aura didn't stop things from happening within the body, such as a brain rattling around inside one's skull during a bad fall.

Common sense stuff, but still something for Blake to read. It helped to keep her inner thoughts from coming forward.

The flimsy curtain to their partition was wide open. Two beds to a partition allowed recovering students some peace and quiet that their teammates and dorms might not provide. Blake had already been quickly examined, checking vitals and other signs. She hadn't taken excessive blows in their battle, so the nurse spent only a couple of minutes with her. However, she knew Weiss had been terribly stunned and unable to function beyond not losing her grip on her rapier, Myrtenaster, for a few minutes at least. She didn't know about Ruby or Yang.

"AAAGH!" came a cry from their leader in the examination room down the hall.

"Oh quiet, you baby!" came Weiss' response from the bathroom at the other end of the hall where she was taking a long time to change out of her less than spring fresh clothes. Probably horrified on a moral level at what she was expected to wear and stalling for time.

"So no one really checked to make sure your sister's booster shots were up to date when she was accepted into Beacon?" Blake asked.

Yang reached around herself, trying to retie the strings behind her loose gown. "Guess so. Ruby's acceptance two years early was kind of at the last minute, and that usually got checked at the beginning of the last year at Signal. Hey, Blake? Can you give me a hand with this? I think someone increased the difficulty level on these strings."

Blake set down her pamphlet on aura and swung her legs off of the bed to attend to her partner. Yang turned her back and pulled her long, blonde and unwashed hair out of the way. Blake stood over the other girl and quietly pulled the strings, adjusting the papery gown to Yang's mature form and adding to her backside's modesty. She glanced at her partner's face while Yang's thankful expression was visible over her shoulder. A bruise seemed to be trying to form just above her eyes and back along toward the left part of her forehead. Aura could help heal and prevent major bruising or shallow cuts fairly quickly, which indicated just how much exhaustion and injury Yang was trying to hide.

"I have to pee!" Ruby's whine echoed through the hall. "I really-really-really do! Honestly- GAA! I helped save the day! I should get a free pass! YANG!"

Blake calmly ignored the commotion generated by their childish leader to focus on her partner. "How are you feeling, Yang? Honestly."

Yang shook her head and slightly grimaced at the motion. "A little dizzy now," she admitted quietly so no one would overhear. "Physically? I got knocked out for the count back there, but after I got back on my feet I felt fine for a while. Just a headache; nothing major. Now something is kicking in so maybe Professor Ozpin was right. But emotionally? Back on that train I couldn't even land one hit on that 'Neo' chick. She took me out and I didn't even put a scratch on her. She was gone when I woke up, but I think I was hallucinating a little for just a second. That part is still a bit fuzzy and I'm kind of catching up. So I guess somewhere between relieved it's finished and angry I can't go for a rematch."

Blake sat on the edge of the bed and turned Yang carefully toward her. "Yang, that is very serious. You have to go next, alright? Don't try to brush this off to the nurse and pretend this is nothing like you and Weiss are doing."

Yang wanted to turn away, so the Faunus girl reached over and pulled her chin to make the blonde brawler face her. "Yang, I mean it. I knew people who figured they could shrug it off and they seemed fine. Then days later slipped into a coma and died because we couldn't smuggle them a hundred miles to a city hospital just to see how bad it really was. They never mentioned anything about hallucinations either. You just did."

Yang looked into those amber eyes of her Faunus partner and the remembered sting hovering within them. Blake rarely spoke of her life before Beacon and growing up among Faunus outlaws. The three times she briefly did revealed only adversity and heartache. But these two recent occurrences revealed a bit of treasured trust and care as sharing anything of her insurgent past must be terribly unnerving for Blake.

The brawler let out a soft chuckle, escaping the grip Blake had on her chin and stretching out on her bed. "Okay, Blakey. I was going to take a nap-"

"No!" Blake scolded. "Don't even joke about this. Not after what you told me about your family. You go to sleep and you might not wake up again. We wouldn't know anything was wrong for hours if you developed an aneurysm or hematoma. Think about Ruby and your father."

"Blake?" Yang asked, sitting herself up on her elbows.

Blake shook her head, her black hair waving in the air. "We already almost lost Weiss today. You were busy already, but there was the Lieutenant I saw back when I infiltrated that rally. I knew of him from… before. Weiss thought she could handle him and she told me to go ahead. So I did. Then when that door closed behind me I heard- he was…just…was looking forward to killing Weiss. As a trophy. He- he wasn't even pretending anymore."

Blake rubbed her tired eyes of accumulated stress. "We had to stop the train, and there wasn't any time to worry about her. I almost reached the engine but Torchwick was there. By the time I got done with him that Lieutenant was throwing Weiss' body into the car like a cat bringing a mouse to its master. He could have finished her off instead and for a moment I thought he had. I was barely able to snatch Weiss and run away."

Blake finally took a deep breath. "Now you tell me- Yang, I'm not like the rest of you. I don't have anyone else. Just you, Ruby and Weiss. Everyone in my past either died or turned into murderous radicals entirely consumed by hate. I know it's only until we graduate, but-"

Yang pulled her partner into a comforting embrace and rubbed her shoulder to let her partner know it would be alright. Ruby sometimes needed the same thing when she was younger and Yang had gotten hurt. Blake may be quiet and reserved most of the time, yet that was because she was deep like an ocean and had been hurt by life too often. Not because she didn't feel much or wasn't truly interested. And like an ocean, when something disturbed those depths it rose up like a tsunami. An internal pressure Blake couldn't control very well.

"You mean a lot to us too, Blake Belladonna." The tough brawler using her 'Mama Yang' voice spoke quietly into the bow on top of her partner's head. "And it won't be just until graduation."

Ruby's voice zoomed down the hall along with the sound of bare footfalls. "Gotta-pee gotta-pee gotta-pee gotta-pee." Which was followed by a door being flung open and a sharp cry of pure outrage from Weiss who apparently was still in the bathroom.

The younger sister blasted into their partition with a burst of red rose petals and a confused look on her face.

Yang laughed and lightly elbowed Blake, encouraging her to let in the lightheartedness of their circumstances and chase off the shadows. "What's the matter, Sis? Get a good look at some high class Schnee butt?"

Ruby completely missed the alleged wittiness of her sister, and the young girl's voice had a confused tone to it from whatever she saw. "Yang, do people normally put makeup on their behind?"

Weiss made her appearance using her angry waltz mode of travel. Her face spoke of pure embarrassment and outrage, right hand clutching behind herself to hold the gown she was wearing closed. The left was holding a partially open compact.

"Oh my gosh, you WERE?" Yang exclaimed. "I knew you Schnee's were vain, but prettying up your butt? Is the nurse a cute guy?"

"Shut up! SHUT UP!" Weiss shrilled through her teeth, zeroing in on her young leader and apparently suffering from sensory tunnel vision. "Ruby, if you saw anything I will tear apart Crimson Rose, put each piece on a separate Schnee freighter and sink the whole lot into the seven corners of Remnant!"

"But- but- but-" Ruby tried speaking, and that particular word repeated over and over wasn't helping.

Weiss was now beyond a mere mortal's outrage and had Ruby trapped in a corner. Both hands now positioned to reach out and forcibly apply concealer to Ruby's brain. Her back toward the other two teammates. "It's a birthmark," she hissed violently. "NOT where they cut off a tail. GOT IT?"

Ruby mumbled weakly, trying to merge with the thin partition behind her. "I- I only thought I shouldn't be seeing your bare tushie. Honest."

There was silence for a moment as an irate Weiss breathed heavily down onto Ruby.

"Weiss?" Yang's voice slowly inquired. "Did you say 'tail?' That blotch on your little tailbone there?"

The Heiress slowly turned her head around to face the other two occupants of the partition, blind fury only now clearing. Her face as pale as Death himself in mortification, visible cotton panties not exactly pulled all the way up and allowing the two teammates behind Weiss a peak through the backless gap that made hospital gowns infamous.

The short, squat female nurse in her white uniform appeared in the hallway with a clipboard. "Okay, who's next?"

"I don't like this," General Ironwood stated flatly.

He stood before the clockwork table that Professor Ozpin sat behind. That the aged man appeared as passive as ever was getting to the military officer more than usual. Of course that appearance was not really the case.

It was dark outside, late evening with Remnant's broken moon just now coming over the horizon. Preliminary reports were still coming in. Huntsmen supported by Vale Security and an infantry company of Atlesian Knight androids continued their sweep of the forgotten train tunnel that had long ago been a lifeline to a besieged Mountain Glen and then had become the world's largest tomb. A tomb that had claimed more lives today as Grimm once again swarmed through them on their way into Vale. Not that anyone was shedding any tears over those fallen henchmen.

Other Huntsmen responding to the urgent recall were securing the breaches further up the line toward Mountain Glen with gunships screening the area. Grimm activity was light as most of those in the immediate vicinity when the event occurred had been wiped out in their morning stampede into the City of Vale. But with tensions among the populous high, Grimm would be attracted to the city boundaries for several days at least. Drawn to the negative emotions until the public's nerves settled down. A trail leading straight into the heart of Vale was completely unacceptable and had to be resealed at both ends before they were forced back and Grimm repopulated the area.

Fortified villages outside on the Kingdom's perimeter would need to be alert and wary. But with their incomparably tiny populations and often located in the eastern mountains while the main Grimm migrations came from the southern passes and northern coastal lands, and not dealing with the cumulative emotional dinner bell of millions finding their city being violated, they had little more to fear than usual from Grimm.

"We're finding Paladins down there in the wreckage with White Fang markings. Sixteen units. A whole Mechanized Armor Company! I had one of my men send Specialist Schnee an update. They may not be on speaking terms, but with the Schnee family name involved with the Paladin line she will pass this on to her father. Heaven help anyone who gets in his way of finding out how any Faunus got their hands on even one. Let alone the White Fang! But this? Grimm? Ozpin, they have to be insane."

"Perhaps," the Professor quietly replied as he poured himself a mug of coffee. He offered the other man a refill of its empty companion. It was a long day and going to be a long night. Demonstrating that the public was safe and that answers were forthcoming to keep the populous' well founded fears from becoming unmanageable hysteria took a great deal of deliberation, cooperation and manpower.

Ironwood continued speaking. "This is far too big for us to hush up as an accident, and they have to know the people will absolutely turn on them when they find out. Human and Faunus alike. Even the most sympathetic wouldn't dare support an organization known to lead an entire Grimm horde inside a city to attack a civilian population. They'd be facing lynch mobs if it was ever found out. If the White Fang wanted to shoot themselves in the foot, I can't think of a better way they could have done it."

The General started pacing back and forth across the tower office. Ozpin spoke up finally. "The White Fang cells are certainly a problem. However they are minor pawns and disposable manpower, not key figures. A tempting sacrificial piece for us to focus on while the endgame remains hidden." The aging huntsman and mentor gestured with a hand at the spinning gears that populated his office overhead. "Wheels within wheels, James. That being said, today was a setback and not within their overall timetable."

"No, it wasn't," Ironwood agreed. "Someone clearly jumped the gun and we got lucky all things considered. If this had been during main business hours or heaven forbid during the Vytal Festival while we were out assaulting an empty staging ground-" The man didn't finish the sentence. "But we don't exactly have any worthwhile prisoners to interrogate and pursue this up their chain of command. Torchwick is a fool. Skilled hoodlum, but a fool. The only thing that will come out of his mouth serves to inflate his own ego. A useless dead end to us."

Ozpin grew very quiet.

"What's wrong?" the General asked.

"You saw the last report. A state-of-the-art Mechanized Armor Company and possibly upward of two hundred personnel. My students fought them on a runaway train being pursued by Grimm, and as far as we can tell, the sole survivor to be rescued was Torchwick. We recovered the locomotive's black box. The train was antiquated to begin with, so their underlings either never recognized the old monitoring systems or figured they were no longer functional. We have much of the conflict recorded."

James Ironwood waited for Professor Ozpin to get the rest of the weight off of his chest.

"I haven't seen it yet, but with a Grimm intrusion of this nature the council will demand answers and the investigation will have to go over every tiny detail. Those four girls will have to be debriefed on what they've been doing this past year and explain the footage. This whole operation went wrong on both sides, and besides Torchwick they are the only witnesses from start to finish. They may have to watch themselves send their opponents off that train and into the oncoming Grimm."

The General nodded in empathy. "Maybe. Maybe not. A verbal account will probably be good enough… take some of the strain off-"

Ozpin waved him silent. "You don't understand. Doctor Oobleck already gave me a summary. What disturbs me is that those girls were there. The leader, Ms. Rose was with Oobleck most of the time as their rearguard. By the time Ms. Rose rejoined her team, only two of your hijacked Paladins were left. Out of two hundred people. She was there and had to finish them directly or see them fall into the path of the Grimm."

The Professor clasped his hands over his desk and intertwined his fingers. "The concern is they saw Torchwick alone being arrested and loaded onto a single shuttle, yet the entire team is absolutely convinced that those people in the tunnels were somehow recovered and taken into custody. That they weren't killed in that bottleneck as the Grimm passed through.

"It was only supposed to be a disguised reconnoiter. It went sideways and they performed astoundingly. Doctor Oobleck says they made every correct move and decision, and then kept going to save hundreds of lives. But Ms. Rose? She alone had a hand in the death of perhaps a hundred people by the time most girls finish breakfast. You saw what an innocent spirit she is. They are in denial and we are going to have to pull the truth out of them.

"James, you just discussed how people will feel about the White Fang's failure to unleash Grimm onto others. Hardened terrorists and criminals practically feeding people to the waiting Grimm. And you are quite right. But how will they feel when those four girls realize they succeeded in doing the exact same thing to those terrorists and criminals? Things we would call monstrous and depraved if committed by the other side?"

Ironwood just stood there for a moment, not knowing what to say. As both General of the Atlesian Armed Forces and Headmaster of Atlas Military Academy, he understood. He had young students under his care as well. The complications of navigating such ethical and philosophical dilemmas couldn't be covered in just a first-year curriculum. Not without turning their young students into psychopathic killing machines with no conscience.

Doing what needed to be done in the heat of battle because there was no other choice with civilian lives at stake, and processing it afterward when a person had time to digest what had happened were two very different beasts to prepare a upcoming Huntsman to face. Even veteran Huntsmen could struggle with a mission gone wrong.

The man sighed, not wanting to burden his friend and mentor any further. Nor get into another endless debate over Atlas' technological focus on unmanned combat units and military androids (actual killing machines according to some) to protect the people. "Oz, I didn't want to bring this up before all the evidence was sorted, but I did see the footage. At least the end of it. One of my on-scene analysts brought it to my attention since I put a gag order on the forensics already. I said I'd let you deal with it since it's your jurisdiction. But it is relevant."

Professor Ozpin motioned for him to continue.

"The one who subdued Torchwick, the black haired one with the bow?"

"Ah, yes. Ms. Belladonna. I wasn't aware she had apprehended the criminal."

"That particular car was the Dust bunker leading to the locomotive. High security, so we have everything that took place inside. He had a few things to say to her. Mind game stuff. Nothing explicit, but he was definitely implying some things. She didn't deny anything even though it was just the two of them."

Ironwood paused for a moment before continuing. "Torchwick recognized her at their rally. A White Fang rally. The rally. Singular. We've had volunteers try for months and get little 'need-to-know' Intel. A few just disappeared, and your Ms. Belladonna makes a beeline in there and manages to get a rough location of a major staging area for a critical operation like this? He implied that she was one of them and she didn't deny it. That is how Ms. Rose knew where the base was."

Professor Ozpin simply nodded. "Yes, I can see how that could be the case. However, I take it she did not admit to anything either."

The General held up his hand. "I'm not saying she is an infiltrator, a collaborator, not even simply coerced. More than one have deserted since they radicalized and she is very young, Oz. Now, Ms. Rose couldn't identify the suspect she witnessed in the CCTS, and that girl is such a bad liar I know she wasn't covering for anyone. Belladonna saved Ms. Schnee's life from a White Fang Lieutenant's grasp when she could have walked away with no living witnesses. She fought hard. Angry even. But Ms. Belladonna is familiar with the White Fang. Far more than someone her age should be."

The Headmaster nodded. "Perhaps. But you are not mentioning the most important thing. If Ms. Belladonna indeed was the one to uncover the base's location at a supposed White Fang rally, then she informed her human team about it. And neither Ms. Rose nor any of the others including Ms. Schnee, whose family name is almost synonymous with racism and unbridled hatred for the White Fang, ever disclosed anything of the kind. They all must know something and have been trying to be honorable huntresses while safeguarding their comrade. From us. From their classmates. From criminals, from their families, from everyone. Not to mention Ms. Belladonna must trust them enough to open up about it. Heaven knows I've tried to get her to open up about just being a Faunus... if anyone pushes too hard we could lose her. Scared people run too, James. Not just the guilty."

Ironwood ran his hand through his short black hair. "This is not going to be easy to get them to talk without risking some kind of lasting damage. But we can't just let this go. People need answers." The General contemplated for a moment with a tired sigh. "I would suggest close and trusted people to handle the debriefing on the girls' home turf. Encourage them to feel safe and with people who are on their side. Family like Qrow-"

"I concur, James. But Qrow is out of touch and I have the suspicion that he dragged Taiyang into whatever he is pursuing. Ms. Belladonna has no family. Schwarzwald survivor."

The General winced in sympathy, then a thought came to him. But that would mean- A Schnee and a Belladonna survivor fighting together? That would explain why the girl was familiar with the White Fang. How the team had pieced together Torchwich, the White Fang and the Dust robberies. Why Professor Ozpin, curse him and his wheels-within-wheels brain, didn't seem fazed by any of this regarding his students. Surprised perhaps, but not fazed. The man always had some discreet piece of insight up both sleeves, his pockets, and probably his socks too. Not to mention the gall to put together an otherwise insane combination and turn it into a potentially invaluable asset and potentially start riots at the same time.

"Right. I should contact Specialist Schnee myself anyway. Courtesy call to let her know how her sister is doing. Maybe feel her out. I'd hate to use her. She's a good soldier but too much Drill Instructor and not enough human being. However, she knows a thing or two about burdens. Poor girl practically spent the first week of Military School in detox."

There was a knock on the door. Weiss turned her eyes as she lay on the hospital bed, her head elevated by the motorized contour design and the girl's customary off-center ponytail draped over her shoulder. Her silver tiara in safe keeping back at Beacon. The proud girl still wore the horrible patient garb and cursing the neck brace she wore. Stupid 'precautions.' Then there was the IV running into her arm that was dripping muscle relaxants and mild neuro-stimulants into her veins. Encouraging her muscles to rest and helping her mind to remain awake despite the alluring desire for sweet, blissful sleep.

The room was almost as dark within as it was outside with the beeping monitoring devices above her head offering some dim illumination. She considered telling whoever it was to leave her be. Waiting for her exam back at the Beacon Academy infirmary and Ruby's intrusion was bad enough. Then there was being carried out on a stretcher and strapped in securely for transport, wearing this thing. About the only reason it didn't look like a Schnee was being carted away as a mental case was the neck brace and padded helmet she had been forced to wear. That, and Yang being carried out along with her.

That school nurse had nearly panicked over the silly bump on the back of her aching head. Skull deformation indeed! Something like that would have left her comatose at best. Not walking around, dressing herself and then arguing with the clearly incompetent nurse! Then there was calming Ruby down from a completely unnecessary, and thankfully momentary, panic that would have resulted in a smothering if Blake hadn't restrained the team leader.

Then there was the hospital staff nitpicking about paperwork and insurance. Giving her weird looks when she declared someone of her stature had no need for paltry health insurance; to just charge their expenses to her Schnee credit card and rattling out the numbers from memory. The nerve of her team critiquing her about how this was not a restaurant, that not having insurance was not usually something to brag about, and asking if this was the first time in a public hospital. Granted it was, but still! She was covering both Yang's and her own medical expenses and keeping the stay out of the public limelight. Every member of the High Families knew the vulture-like nature of the dumpster diving and bribing 'journalists' of ill repute and how to use them to publicly disgrace other High Family scions. Surely Blake could understand the need to keep things quiet!

Then there was the probing and prodding, scans of her skull, and the sponge bath of horror. As if she couldn't be trusted to clean herself like the nannies had drilled into her as a small child. Blah blah liability blah blah. The hospital nurse giving an 'oh poor girl' look when the concealer on her wrists was wiped away and clearly visible on the damp white washcloth, the small circular scar on each wrist made apparent. Something for the ignorant to mistakenly connect with the widely known long facial scar that ran past her left eye.

After the shift change the nurse probably went to see if that story was worth anything to the gossip columns. Weiss could see the headlines now. 'Schnee patriarch punished Heiress with heated fire poker. Could it be true? Hospital nurse discloses what she witnessed!' Of course by the time such a ridiculous thing came to print her family would own those involved in retribution.

Well, at least the concealer on her hindquarters was still in place. 'Of all the unfortunate places to have a birthmark!' the girl thought to herself for about the millionth time in her life. The gossip columns would have a field day with that, and Father would be… upset… at the very least. Weiss didn't really fear that she would get disowned as a liability, given that she was the last body heir her father had within their family. However, the Family Name-

'Oh, my aching head!'

The knock on the door repeated itself, followed by Blake's voice.

"Weiss? It's me. Ruby and I got back from Beacon with some necessities for you two. She's with her sister right now. Ruby was… kind of afraid you'd yell at her some more. Plus Yang said they needed some alone time."

Weiss sighed, pushing away negative sentiments. Deep down Ruby was a good kid. Even if she was two years younger than the rest of their classmates and still retained a severely childish disposition. Yang on the other hand would no doubt use the earlier discovery as a jabbing device to annoy her. The uncouth brawler's sense of humor was low-borne and the puns were without mercy on those who had to hear them. But Yang was 'good natured' about it and never used her humor as a weapon. She would never gossip about the birthmark. Blake was probably the safest out of her teammates. The Faunus had real features to hide. Not just something that could be misrepresented in a false scandal. Blake would understand all too well. Not that she socialized much in the first place.

The Heiress smoothed out the sheets covering her and called out to her teammate standing outside. "Come in."

The door cracked open and then widened to let Blake inside, wearing her school uniform and carrying a suitcase plus a shopping bag made of green fabric. Cheap material, but reusable and could be used to tote around those books she kept bringing home.

Home. When had the dorm become home?

"We brought you your nightgown, some spare clothes, your toothbrush, some toiletries, and a few light books. The nurse said you turned your nose up at the hospital food, so I smuggled in a salad and Ruby got you an apology offering of super-duper fudge ice cream. You haven't really eaten much and Ruby insists you need the calories to heal. And before you protest, she's not wrong. Then coffee for us since the nurse says you two can't have any and someone should stay up with you two. Oh, and Teams Juniper and Coffee sends their best wishes since visiting hours are over."

Blake eyed the IV held on the stand next to Weiss' bed.

"How are you feeling?" she asked, as if unsure if the other girl would find it acceptable or an intrusion. One could never tell if they would be asking Weiss or her 'Ice Queen' persona.

"Like my body is getting the sleep I want and my brain forced to watch," Weiss grumpily answered. Then she let out a sigh and spoke slightly more softly. "But the pain relievers help. Two bruised ribs and a mild concussion. Maybe some mild whiplash. Not too much to worry about but doctors are a bit paranoid about getting sued. Nevertheless they want my nervous system to heal naturally before I use my aura again. Which I get. But it means overnight observation, a week of mental rest and no training for three weeks. We had better get that extra credit for today because my grades are not going to suffer because of this."

Weiss pulled the hospital sheets away and swung her legs out of the bed. She grabbed the wheeled IV stand with one hand, then looked at Blake standing there in the darkened entryway. "Can you hand me my pajamas and walk me into the bathroom? I really hate this gown."

Blake answered by setting down the bag containing packages of food and what looked like four tall cups of coffee, then opened up the suitcase to retrieve Weiss' simple cotton nightgown. She walked over to help the injured teammate on her feet and guided the girl over to the side door leading to the toilet. Ready to catch the white-haired girl if her relaxed leg muscles caused her to stumble.

Weiss disappeared inside along with her clothing and the IV unit, clutching the hand rails mounted on the walls with one hand and closing the door.

Blake stood next to the locked entry, waiting to help the Heiress back to her bed. Basic combat first aid class covered what to do for common wounds that would stabilize a comrade until help arrived. It also covered what to never allow for other injuries. Number one was to not use aura to force heal a suspected brain injury. Despite scientific advances and knowledge, the brain was still quite mysterious. Especially as the central nervous system generated and manipulated aura, the manifestation of one's soul. Without aura, and especially Dust activated by aura and acquiring nearly magical appearing displays, a Huntsman was crippled. Unable to use it as a shield to diminish or deflect blows, claws, spikes and bullets. Softening impacts from being thrown, dropped or smashed. Amplifying jumps, kicks and punches. Heal minor injuries and the strain of combat to allow the body to keep fighting. Let alone the more spectacular semblances that were unique to each individual.

Conscious aura use did wonders on the macro scale over time and depending on ability, but didn't work well on a microscopic level. One could force heal a general wound because the body already knew how to perform the task. The flesh could absorb the stress of forcefully accelerated cellular growth to a certain degree, but an aura user could not selectively and purposefully repair individual blood vessels or specific nerve endings. The brain was infinitely more complex, with distinct neurons forming tens of thousands of unique connections to other neurons. That didn't even take into consideration what happened inside those neurons or how they formed awareness. Sentience. Personality. Memory. Reasoning. Everything that defined a person. Made them what they were. How they manifested that soul with aura.

Forced healing with aura on such an immensely complex structure would be like using a wrecking ball to nail down loose shingles on a house. Only negative outcomes could be the result.

Weiss' voice echoed out of the bathroom. "How are Ruby and Yang doing?"

Blake didn't speak for a minute. They had all taken spills and tumbles. A few bumped noggins. This time, however, the fight on the train and the breach into Vale had been different.

"Yang… she's worse off. Repeated concussions. They are worried about complications. If there are they most likely will have to resort to surgery. They say they will know more after forty-eight hours. The hospital has been trying to contact their father or uncle, but so far nothing. Ruby is toughing it, but she needs to be with her sister right now."

"What about their mother?" Weiss asked as she changed behind the closed door. "Ruby talked about her a little bit."

Blake paused for several long moments.

"Blake?"

The Faunus took a deep breath and let it out before she spoke. "Yang's birth-mother… Well, she abandoned Yang and her father. I'm not even sure she went home after Yang's birth. She just vanished and they haven't seen or heard from her since. Summer stepped in that day to help raise Yang, even became a real mom to her. Then they had Ruby. She was killed during a mission when they were very young. I guess Ruby was only two or three at the time."

"Oh." Weiss didn't know what else to say. The sisters didn't speak much of the woman who had a share in raising them. Only rarely and mostly of things Ruby treasured. Even if they had spoken in the past tense, the way they spoke was as if she was still alive. They had never shared many details, but given what Blake had just told her it was not surprising.

Blake spoke toward the closed door again. "Weiss. Ruby is going to need our support for a while. Yang isn't just a sister to her. She once told me that after Summer died their father… had difficulties with his grief. Yang had to fill in for Ruby's mom and it didn't sound like she ever stopped. I think they've had a mother/sister relationship for almost Ruby's entire life. They need to be… close right now. Ruby might start to blame herself. Especially if something happens."

Weiss opened the door, now properly clothed in her plain bluish cotton nightgown. Her snow-white hair simply falling straight down her back rather than the daytime's asymmetrical ponytail with its silver tiara. The girl's only habitual departure from her fancily tailored clothes and crafted appearance during waking hours. Bedtime was the only occasion Weiss looked like an average girl. At least until she opened her mouth.

Blake reached out an arm to guide the Heiress back to her bed. Weiss simply nodded her understanding about their younger leader, then let herself be led across the room.

Once she settled herself onto the mass produced mattress and pulled the sheets back over herself, Weiss raised the bed with the remote further up into its full sitting position. Blake pulled a tray over the bed and set the packaged salad, small ice cream container, and a plastic Spork out for her.

"I'll turn the lights on so you can eat," Blake stated.

"Don't." Weiss brashly commanded, then brought her voice back down to a normal tone. "Apologies, Blake." A former White Fang member wouldn't take kindly to being mandated by a High Family scion. Let alone a Schnee scion whom she was making an effort to help. "My vision has become a little blurry and the light makes my head hurt a lot more. The monitors provide enough, and my night vision has adjusted by now so I can manage."

Blake nodded. The Faunus quietly stepped over to a chair in the dark corner, bringing out her four coffees and a book.

Weiss started on the salad first, being the sensible and refined thing to do. After that she opened up the ice cream, taking properly small samples. Both for her distinguished manners and to prevent brain freeze, which was about the last thing she wanted. Blake read her book in the even dimmer corner using her Faunus night vision and started on her first coffee. Then her second tall cup.

Weiss was about halfway through the container of sinfully good dessert before either of them spoke again.

"It's not like I don't care about Ruby and Yang," the Heiress spoke unexpectedly and defensively. "I am just not versed in conveying… certain things like they can."

Blake turned a page. "We know, Weiss. You don't have to for us to know. You show it in your own way."

There was several more minutes of silence as the Heiress neared the bottom of the chocolaty guilt offering provided by her leader.

Weiss leaned back against the tilted mattress. Careful to lightly rest into the pillow and minding the bump on the back of her head or starting another wave of dizziness that had increased in the hours after her… injury.

"Blake, I never thanked you. For saving my life today. I was barely conscious and I don't remember much. Just the sound of that chainsaw as it came closer. The footsteps. Then someone pulling me away. If it wasn't for you I wouldn't have just been killed in a fight. I would have been murdered. A dreadful one at that."

The Faunus didn't say anything for a few moments. Unsure of how to respond without revealing too much. "That's how I grew up," she said cryptically.

Weiss continued. "You're still here too, instead of with your partner."

"Ruby needs to be with Yang, and you should have someone to make sure you stay awake too. We're a team." Blake lowered her voice. "Plus Yang reminded me how I can get all…"

"Blakey?" Weiss filled in the pause with the nicknamed phenomenon. Blake didn't just become moody. When she had the sense that something was terribly wrong about something she cared about, the introverted girl could obsess and stew within her own need to do something when there was nothing that could be done. Neglecting her own needs in a futile emotional quest for a rational answer that just wasn't available.

The Faunus girl scowled, having to put up with that nickname for herself more than she wished to. "Yes. That."

Weiss just nodded, looking up at the boring ceiling. Listening to the beeps of the monitors and the slight humming of the air vent in the ceiling.

"Thank you for the Dust rounds you gave me. They were very useful."

Weiss looked back at her teammate. "It was nothing. Just a little something for Gambol Shroud."

Blake set her book aside. Every Huntress' weapon was customized and unique. Often made by and becoming an extension of the person wielding it. Her personal weapon was part Katana with a semi-automatic pistol action hilt, its sheath doubling as a heavier cleaver blade that could simply add mass for splitting blows or be duel wielded. A far departure from Weiss' multi-action Dust Rapier and its rotating dust cylinders to charge its blade to generate various effects and abilities.

"Custom designed rounds made of a variety of atomized contact reactant dusts shaped with a G-shock resistant binder, jacketed in dust inert non-penetration casings, and shaped to the exact caliber of someone else's weapon? Probably forged by a master weaponsmith, knowing you. But it wasn't the bullets. You really went out of your way in secret to have those made for me. Something special. Something without words that said you accepted me. Despite my being a Faunus. Despite my past. Despite the things you probably imagined I must have done."

The Faunus paused for a moment. "That I'm your friend. Even if we are more like silent Ren than expressive Nora."

Weiss was silent. Her body tense. Or at least trying to be tense given the medication she was on. But there was fire in her now far less fatigued and wintery blue eyes.

"We are NOT friends."

Blake could only stare at the Heiress. She had made a very bad mistake. Assumed too much.

Weiss sat up straight, her back lifting off the elevated mattress as she warmed up into her tirade. "You know what a friend is, Blake? A friend is someone who goes to your birthday party, not because out of fondness or because they care, but because attending a Schnee social will enhance their public standing. Maybe as a bonus the birthday girl will do something embarrassing that they can spread around the next day. To tear you down so they can be elevated. That don't care that you've attended memorials of family associates so many times you don't feel anything anymore. Yet, always wondering who is going to be next. A friend is someone who goes through the motions to have their name associated with a Schnee in order to gain access to fancier venues and exclusive events. Who see you as nothing more than a stepladder in their game of climbing the social hierarchy. A friend is someone who tries to get close to you to accept your secrets and sell you out to the media the first chance they get. A friend is someone who decides the risk of kidnapping, assault or even death is worth the money, prestige or power they hope to gain for their own family and wouldn't mind seeing yours tumble from their position at the top.

"As the highest of the High Families, you must be perfect or they will broadcast your flaws for the whole world to see in order to advance their family and personal status above yours. Perhaps even out of simple boredom. Nonetheless you have to go through the motions too. Because perfect expectation, perfect appearances and the outward impression of social responsibility define every aspect of your family at the top of the social food chain. That is how you survive. Anything less than perfection is a threat. Weakness an opportunity for friends to ruin you. Those are my friends. Enemies are even worse because at least those human friends have some morals and wouldn't cut a child's throat in her sleep just like they nearly eviscerated my sister. She was just a child too-"

Weiss cut herself off from the loss of control. Sleep deprivation and bruised neural tissue that could temporarily impair cognition, instigate depression or mood swings, and fed by reminders of real childhood fears and anxieties of the past were no excuse. Yet she had also been the most vulnerable a human being could find themselves; helpless at a murderous brute's feet who relished at completing the task. Snatched away from fate by the girl next to her. Unlike everything Weiss had been taught or feared in the past, Blake was the opposite of all that.

The girl to which Weiss owed her very life was still here, next to her bed. A warden keeping her safe by being there in case a nurse had to be called in right away, while Blake forfeited needed sleep as well. Surely it was permissible…

The adolescent stared indignantly into her lap, hands folded properly below her torso. "None of you are anything like those friends. You are my-" She sniffed the anger away. "-teammates."

Blake nodded an acceptance. Weiss' definition and perception of the term 'friend' could very well be incredibly warped. It was almost a title inciting wariness that had nothing to do with an actual relationship. 'Teammate' was the closest and most trusted relationship the Heiress probably had other than her sister. One Weiss had learned only after coming to Beacon Academy. She probably had to invent her own labels and definitions to compensate under that kind of continuous pressure as a child and then experiencing an entirely different culture upon arriving at Beacon. One where even rivals learned to trust each other with their very lives.

Weiss forced herself back into her composed self, but Blake caught on to it. Everyone knew the outward appearance that the "Ice Queen" wore. Yet underneath that was something else. Something the Schnee Heiress slowly revealed to her team in their training bouts and the past encounters with adversaries.

Yang was a fairly selfish fighter, often losing herself in her own emotions and using them to fuel her attacks. Getting up close and hammering away at opponents with her fists and shot gauntlets. Focused on bashing down the foe until someone lay on the ground.

Ruby was just downright frightening if Grimm were involved, exposing a dual nature of the sweet, innocent, childlike adolescent. She became the Reaper of Grimm, or perhaps even an Anti-Grimm if there ever was such a thing. Exterminator of any living thing lacking a soul, slicing up entire packs of Beowolves with that scythe in a style that could only be labeled as 'industrial.' Like a lawnmower happily plowing through a tomato patch while wearing that warm yet determined smile. But unlike most people, Ruby didn't do it out of hate, or fear, past tragedy or obligation as a Huntress. Not for the thrill, the rush, or excitement. Deep down Ruby serenely slaughtered Grimm out of love. Love of family. Love of friends. Love of strangers she'd never meet.

But Weiss? Weiss was the supportive one. Using her aura and semblance glyphs to support her team while simultaneously using agility and fencing skill against her own foes to stab or parry. Those ghostly symbols of her glyphs lighting up in the air or on the ground to push them out of danger, lend a platform to launch themselves off, or add aura qualities to their projectile strikes on their opponents.

In fact despite the Heiress' earlier firm prejudices against anything Faunus, and White Fang in particular, Blake herself was probably the one whom Weiss pulled out of harm's way the most using those glyphs. Probably because Blake's inner need to put a stop to the White Fang's plan, and the corruption of the only 'family' she had known for most of her life, had made her more belligerent in these past few confrontations. Nor had Weiss ever sat out of her team in all the times she had insisted that they were not ready for what they were tackling. Not even when she disagreed with the rest of the group in other less refined mischief. The 'Ice Queen' kept a lot hidden, and her rant had given a rare glimpse of why.

Blake found herself looking down into her lap as well. She had been one of those enemies of the Schnee family. Had played a part in adding to Weiss' burdened, if privileged, childhood. The Heiress' rant had exposed more of a glimpse into what her upbringing was like. Growing up in the White Fang, Blake probably had experienced more care and concern than Weiss ever did.

"I'm sorry," Blake truthfully spoke. "About your sister. Is she-"

The Faunus lifted her head to see Weiss nod her own in acceptance as she softened her expression.

"Winter is fine, thank you for your concern. I also know you had nothing do with it, Blake. It happened before either of us were born. My family never spoke of it, but one day I saw the scar across Winter's belly when she was reaching for one of my toys. I overheard a servant tell one of the maids that some Faunus got to her when she was a few years younger than Ruby is now. She had her problems afterward though; angered Father even more than he usually was with her 'unsuitableness.' Enough that my sister was finally sent to the Atlas Military Academy to straighten her out. Of course I don't think Father expected Winter to take to it so well and renounce- Well, never mind."

There was several moments of quiet as Weiss reassessed the last few minutes. This was just not acceptable.

"Now it's your turn, Belladonna," Weiss told the Faunus with authority. "You never talk about your family or where you came from. In fact other than being part of… you know… you've never said anything. That will not stand!"

Blake grew visibly timid, now staring at the third cup of coffee she was about to sip. She didn't say anything for a while.

"They all- I don't want to talk about it."

"Blake?" Weiss asked, trying to speak softly but failing miserably. "You remember back in Mountain Glenn when we were talking? You were upset about how you always run away. So stop it. Plus if you sit there silent I will get bored and fall asleep. If I lapse into a coma I'm blaming you."

Blake didn't seem to be going for it, even with the attempt at being somewhat humorous. Weiss tried to sweeten the deal. "I'll even let you brush my hair."

The Faunus just looked at the Heiress with narrowed eyes as if the Heiress thought serving her was a privilege.

"Hey! Don't look at me like that!" Weiss complained. "I'll have you know my sister never allowed anyone to brush my hair. Even my closest nanny would have been fired immediately!" The girl dropped her tone into something much softer. "Winter was a lot older than I was, so we were in very different phases of our lives. Plus we were often busy with the tutors Father hired for us and the nannies caring for me. But that was one of our special times my elder sister set aside for solely for us. At least until she was sent away to the academy. No one else has brushed my hair since."

Blake sighed, then nodded. The earlier attempt of a jest making it a little easier. Weiss Schnee was a shrewd negotiator, and Blake couldn't refuse without appearing to be a jerk in rejecting an offered olive branch. No doubt another trait the girl picked up during all those social maneuverings in her early youth. Plus the girl was trying to improve in letting down that 'Ice Queen' image she habitually wore like a second skin.

She put her third cup of coffee down next to her book and climbed out of her chair in the corner. She walked the few steps over to the suitcase sitting at the foot of Weiss' bed.

"Is my brush okay? We know how you are about Ruby and Yang going through your things, so I didn't go digging around."

Weiss wasn't about to let herself be defeated by such a gambit of the wrong brush being conveniently the only one available. "That will be fine, Blake."

Blake recovered the hairbrush and found Weiss sitting on the edge of her bed. She looked as nervous as Blake felt. She hadn't been kidding when she had said no one else had ever brushed her hair and that it was reserved for her sister. For Weiss it was almost a bonding ritual as it was a treasured childhood memory she didn't want tainted by something less special.

The Faunus sat into the space provided by the other girl, who had turned her head to allow access to the white flowing strands. Blake carefully began with a few strokes of the hairbrush, running her hand along with the instrument to smooth it along.

Blake Belladonna, it's time to stop running, she told herself.

It was perhaps another dozen strokes or more, lost in thought, before Blake had the courage to speak.

"I never met my parents. I was left with my grandparents in a company town for Faunus workers. Back before they were outlawed."

Weiss nodded. Company towns were a remnant from Great-Grandfather's time running the Schnee Dust Company and had been abysmally slow to be phased out. Many other corporations practiced this as well before being publicized and banned by the Kingdoms. Some were model business investments close to the borders and often populated by skilled humans. However, too often the isolated prospecting camps far outside the Kingdoms had been something else for Faunus laborers. Minimal investment was 'a sound business decision' for merely investigating resource potential that might not exist.

Pay for unskilled labor was kept low and isolated workers were forced to buy all their necessities from the company store at exorbitant prices. Travel into an isolated work camp was done on credit; travel back to the city unaffordable in any practical sense, and requiring debts to be repaid with interest. Always with stated reasons due to problems related to their isolated location and the hazards of Grimm. Which led to Faunus smugglers who ran the high risks of land travel through the mountain passes, sneaking in supplies and impoverished souls out. They became isolated populations under the emotional toll of oppression. Despair, anger, frustration. Attractive to Grimm.

But security was always a priority. Huntsmen patrolled the outskirts and such towns that discovered valuable resources such as minerals or dust deposits became affluent villages. Even fortified towns. Those that didn't were relocated to try again elsewhere.

"My grandparents once told me my father died before I was born. He left as a teenager with the smugglers to try for a better life. I suppose he never made it. They only saw my mother once. The day she left me with them. It was the middle of the night. She didn't come inside and wore a poncho to cover herself, so they never really saw her. Only enough to see she was barely more than a child herself. Too young to raise a newborn. How could she in that kind of place? My grandparents always told me she was going to come back for me when she was able. Each year my mother left a birthday gift in the shrubs next to our door for me to find."

Blake's tone had been almost happy. "It wasn't bad. My grandfather helped with the timber harvesting and could hunt game as well. He was able to bring in food to sell to other Faunus, helping them save Lien to pay their debts. My Grandmother served our community as an herbalist. Our foreman was one of the 'mean humans' and tried pulling surprise inspections to catch us with smuggled contraband. He wasn't, you know, awful. But it happened a lot. Anyway, I had a few toys to play with. Books from the company store that my grandmother used to teach me to read with. But I never knew anything else other than that little world."

Then Blake's tone went unnaturally flat and neutral. Matter-of-fact and devoid of emotion.

"I was six years old when the Schwarzwald Work Camp was hit by a freak migration of Grimm. One of maybe four dozen children trapped in a collapsed shelter for seven days. Freezing, barely alive, not realizing we were dying of thirst. Too small and afraid to dig our way out. First by the Grimm outside, then by the cave-in from the bombings."

Weiss tried to mask the intake of breath at the name of the world famous disaster. Schwarzwald, or 'Black Forest,' had been a massacre waiting to happen. Uninterested home office administrators pushing subsidiary project managers to uphold contradictory priorities and skimping everywhere possible. Located opposite of the Kingdom of Vale on the eastern coast to form a temporary supply port for local prospecting expeditions that regularly found nothing. Small ocean freighters bringing in supplies perhaps twice a year and lumber Atlas needed out, but the geography and layout leaving the company town with their backs to the sea. Isolated not just by long distance, but also the same dense mountain ranges that protected Vale from the annual Grimm migrations coming in from the southern hemisphere.

Rotating Huntsmen patrolling the thick forested outskirts normally would have been enough, and had been for over several years. However, one evening three thousand Faunus workers and a hundred Human supervisors faced what Huntsmen called a 'freak migration.' Not just several packs or groups of Grimm moving along the foothills as they migrated from one territory to another, but perhaps hundreds, even a thousand or more of those black creatures in a dense stampede for no apparent reason. None had any warning that the monsters were coming.

Embedded journalists riding along with the military had captured the aftermath days later during cleansing strikes to deal with the monsters. Airships dropping three ton dust-air bombs made of fire, ice and lightning dust into heavily forested valleys sloping down toward the town before the overwhelming throngs of Grimm could keep going and hit villages in the tight mountain passes leading to Vale. Security footage had been recovered amid the flattened and charred ruins and quickly leaked to the press.

Three thousand unskilled Faunus laborers, armed with simple forestry tools with no escape route, wiped out in nine ungodly minutes as they tried hold off the tsunami of Grimm already flowing over the timber walls in the vain hope that some of their loved ones and the few children in camp might have time to flee inside the inadequate shelter or find a haven within storerooms and attics. Rough timber warehouses set ablaze by humans to form an intense fiery moat to save the single subterranean brickwork shelter in the center of the apocalypse.

The disaster had been publicized with the Vale council proceeding to a public inquiry against the foreign corporations; the media blitzed by Faunus protests outside going nearly berserk over their martyrs demanding an end to the 'Bait Towns.' The Schwarzwald Massacre was the direct cause of company towns finally being outlawed throughout Remnant, and a major victory for the Faunus rights movement.

Worse, the Schwarzwald Camp had been a site under contract to the Schnee Dust Company. A powerful lesson Weiss' father had learned in managers leaving the Company open to liability, bad press, and the costs of damage control. Lessons he had passed on to his Heir. Dryly presented, tainted by stern prejudice and dogmatic beliefs. Buried along with the myriad of other necessary tidbits she had to learn as the Schnee Heiress. But her experience at Beacon had shed new light into view.

Weiss was speechless. She knew Blake had underwent trials, but- and- everyone-

And Blake still was brushing her hair. The hair of the Heiress to the company responsible.

Blake continued. "I was little, and it happened so fast that I don't remember much. Mostly being scared. But the people who dug us out were smugglers, Faunus Activists, who arrived after the bombing and started looking for survivors. They only found us children, and we were evacuated by wagon three hundred miles to Vale. They had to keep me because an orphanage was a good way for me to wind up with a human farmer who figured adopting a Faunus kid to work was cheaper than paying a farmhand."

Weiss finally found her voice. "So you never really sought out the… you know." Neither of them wanted to mention Blake being connected to certain terrorists in a public building.

Blake shook her head. "No. They were the ones who looked after me. Especially my mentor, Adam. I guess he became sort of an image that I pictured my father might have been. He taught me to fight, provided me with books, an education despite living outside the kingdom. Protected me during the protests when police turned fire hoses on us or just started swinging clubs and saying 'the animals' started it. He became the closest thing I had to a family for most of my life. He and a few trusted others."

Blake paused in her brushing. "I know you hate them, Weiss. I don't blame you. But it pains me, you know? Seeing what those people who once rescued both Human and Faunus orphans, who took me in as a child even though no one person had enough to spare, have turned in to. How callous and hateful and heartless and malicious they have become? Not only that, but today I betrayed them all to protect innocent people. To stop a conspiracy we still don't have answers to."

The girl resumed her brushing, carefully and calmly. Weiss couldn't understand it.

"Blake? Don't you have anyone left? Distant relatives? Cousins? People?"

"No. Other than Ruby, Yang, and yourself I don't have anyone."

"With all that, losing your entire family, how can you not hate me? How can you include me? After all my family has done to you-"

"I've done things too, Weiss." Normal emotion was coming back into Blake's voice. "I have hated. I have fought. Just because I believed hurting innocent people was wrong didn't mean I never hurt anyone."

Blake kept up the brushing. "You want to know why I say people are 'misguided' instead of… the awful things they believe? Because that day when the Grimm came that lousy foreman grabbed me. He carried me over his shoulder and ran to that shelter, telling me mommy asked him to make sure I was safe. Then he threw me inside the shelter and sealed it behind me. He died wielding the door shut so the Grimm couldn't get in. He hated Faunus, caused us nothing but trouble and enforced our difficult conditions. Harassed us about stupid things. But when the time came it didn't matter that he was Human and I was a Faunus. I was a child he could save and he died making sure I had a chance. Let me know my mother had loved me.

"I know that fairy tales are just that. Stories. Fantasy. I know how the world really works. I am not like Ruby, and I hope she never becomes like me."

Blake had started near the ends of Weiss' long hair and had been working her way up. Now her ministrations were nearing the other girl's neck and head. She began to slow down, taking extra care not to aggravate the very sensitive bump on the back of Weiss' head.

"Weiss. Can you tell me about the train?"

Weiss turned her head slightly to get a look at Blake. "What do you mean? You were there today."

Blake shook her head. "No. Back when you learned I was a Faunus. You were ranting about the things the Faunus had done to your family. About being at war. Bloodshed. People going missing. Then you mentioned a train. Like it was one of the worst things to include along with kidnappings and murders."

Weiss didn't speak.

"Please. The train today brought up a lot of things I'd rather not think about."

Weiss sighed. What did she have that could compare with what Blake had related? She was a spoiled rich girl by comparison as well as in reality. But Blake also included her in the only three people she had in the whole world, and what had she done to earn that? Not cling to the anti-Faunus prejudice of her father and try to improve herself? Not hold being raised in a revolting organization against Blake when she had the courage to leave it and apply herself to becoming a noble huntress? For striving to be the best teammate in the school because a Schnee was supposed to better? What had she done for Blake as a person to deserve this?

"While you think about it, I'll turn the bed lamp on. I want to be careful around your head. So close your eyes for a minute."

The Heiress did so. She felt Blake rise and a light blinked on through her eyelids. Weiss cracked her lids open, letting her eyesight readjust as Blake resumed her position.

The Faunus started speaking in a painful whisper. "My partner is hurt and it could become worse. She actually asked me to take care of Ruby in the off chance that something happens. You were almost killed. When I pulled you out of there, that Lieutenant could recognize me. He knew who I was, that I wasn't on a secret assignment but was fighting against the White Fang. Siding with a Schnee. 'A traitor to The Cause.' If he's alive he will either tell the authorities who I am or get word back to the others. Weiss, I am trying really hard not to go to a dark place right now, deep down hoping he's dead and that I won't be discovered. This is helping."

Weiss took this in. That Blake has been recognized when she had saved her. It never occurred to her that it could happen. If the White Fang hated the Schnee's with a blood feud's passion, they would loathe Blake Belladonna even more. The only family she had known growing up, who had practically dug her out of a grave as a child and then took her in so she would be protected from exploiters. Now a traitor siding with their blood enemy? They would want to make a very, very ugly example out of her teammate.

Weiss thought back on her own struggles with her father. The covering up of marks that no one knew about, stuck in the need to maintain appearances like she was taught. She suddenly felt very much like a coward. Blake carried much inside and tried to keep it there where no one would see because a single detail could reveal Blake's heritage and past to others. She may be injured, but Blake was suffering and had been holding it in.

"Blake, I never had a mother."

Blake was confused. However, she said nothing and resumed brushing Weiss' hair. It looked much cleaner now, instead of having spent two days outdoors within a ghost town.

"It can be hard to truly comprehend what the rest of you had. My father isn't exactly what you would call a family man. I am a First Family Body Heir first, and daughter second. My father joined my mother's house during the last Long Winter after my grandfather passed on. She didn't have the mind needed to run the company and needed Father. Then she died delivering my older sister, and to ensure the family line was secure with only one descendant, her ovum was frozen until a... replacement was deemed warranted."

Blake almost sputtered her next words while trying to hold them back. "You mean you- I mean- what does this have to do with a train?"

Weiss shook her head, and grimaced from the mild vertigo. "You, Yang and Ruby. Everyone at Beacon was conceived out of love. Wanted. I was a business arrangement to secure the family line. Conceived in a lab. I am so rich that a servant was hired on as my incubator until my birth, and paid enough to retire in luxury for the rest of their family's life. My older sister…something happened to her and she had problems. So I became the Heir when she renounced her title and told everyone she wanted nothing to do with the company. But I came with… some minor anomalies. Bone spurs. On my wrists. You know the scar over my eye? Everyone speculates that my father did it or I was injured because he was pushing me too hard. The truth is I scratched myself in the womb and was born this way. I needed corrective surgery so I wouldn't damage myself further as an infant."

Blake automatically looked down at Weiss' exposed wrist. The light was soft, but Blake had her grandmother's eyesight. Able to see very well in the dark, let alone soft lighting. It may as well have been displayed in direct sunlight. There on the Heiress' inner wrist was a small circular scar. Very feint, but plainly visible.

"Anyways, I wasn't the perfect Schnee I was supposed to be. After Winter abdicated, I had to try very hard to measure up to the lofty Schnee standards. It was… challenging, I admit, but nothing beyond my reach. Of course Father provided me with anything I needed. But he was also had an angry and exacting personality. He tried. I know he did, because I was 'still a Schnee.' But sometimes he would look at me like I was... defective merchandise. Something he paid for and couldn't return. I'd keep my proper composure until he was finished with his instruction, then when I was back in my room I'd call Winter and… talk about it.

Dammit, Weiss! Blake thought. Even now you can't admit you can be weak. That you can cry from being hurt.

"Other times he would come home after the Faunus had done something. He would have this look in his eye and it scared me. I could never understand it. I'd try to help him feel better, but he would just snap at me. Tell me 'A Schnee is stronger than some low-bred Faunus.' I... learned not to after a while.

"I know it seems petty, but the train was a serious blow to my family's prestige. An entire train shipment of dust stolen! Not just the cargo, but the actual train. The engine came rolling into the station and most of it was missing! As if we were a laughing stock. When Father got home he was beyond just angry. Beyond infuriated. I was there to greet him when he came home from work like I did every day, and he just looked at me. I knew being a daughter of a First Family came with sacrifices. That I wasn't like other children, that more was expected of me and that sometimes I didn't meet those expectations. But I had never seen hate in my father's eyes when he looked at me. My father could hate me."

Blake suppressed her own inner response. She had been subjected to plenty of hate and prejudice in her life as a Faunus. One of the many reasons she hid her feline ears under her black bow. But even she had known the love of family. Even in the White Fang there were those who had once cared about her. But this part of Weiss' life was caused by something she had done directly.

"My sister was on a home visit as well. She had been doing better after military school and had just gotten a promotion in the Atlesian armed forces. My sister appeared to have had a relapse in her celebration and walked in drunk, just like she used to. Splashing Father's hundred-year-old cognac all over the floor with one bottle and swinging an empty one with the other hand. Stumbling around and yelling. About how she hated him and everything he stood for. That if she hadn't broken because of him she would have taken me with her to Vacuo long ago. How she'd forgive certain Faunus before she ever forgave him."

Weiss paused for a while, taking comfort in the attention her hair was receiving. Almost as if reliving happier memories before she continued further. "I ran all the way into my room before my father could respond and hid in my bed just like when I was a small child. There was a lot of noise and crashing. It went on for what seemed like forever and I wondered if my father was going to kill her. After a while it quieted down and someone came into my room. My sister lifted up the blankets and crawled in with me, holding me. She had black eye and a split lip that got past her aura. My sister held me like she did when I was little and afraid of the things in the night. She kept saying 'It's going to be fine, baby girl. You're safe now.' That was when I realized that my sister had been provoking my father in those early years to take the focus away from me. From my blemishes. That no matter how much he tried he that is what he would see."

"Weiss," Blake carefully spoke. "That train was a trap. Very elaborate, incredibly dangerous, and straight out of research and development. You father probably spent enormous sums on it. Far more than what the rest of the cargo was worth. Invested not only his company's pride but his own ego. Even an experienced raid team would have been slaughtered. Yet it failed."

Weiss' head turned around to stare at the Faunus, the movement pulling her hair away.

"How can you know that? It was hushed up before the other Families heard about it, let alone the media."

Blake found herself not wanting to answer the Heiress now. Part of her instinct telling her to once again run away. Stop running away, Blake.

"That was the day I left. When I realized what my mentor had become. What the cause had slowly mutated into. What I had been a part of."

"No." Weiss said forcefully. "You asked me about this. Specifically this. You-"

"I was there!" Blake exclaimed, unable to meet the other girl's eyes anymore. "It was just supposed to be a demonstration. That dust being mined by exploitative Faunus labor practices wasn't going to profit the mining companies. We were just supposed to be drawing attention, but it all went wrong."

Weiss sat back, stunned. Deep down she had known Blake had probably done some things beyond the protests she had mentioned being a part of as a little girl. But none of it connected with anything personal between them. Not directly. Nothing major. Blake was young and reserved. Not one of those overgrown brutes.

"Weiss. I wasn't a member of the ordinary rank and file. I was… a guerrilla. One of their aura fighters in what you'd call High Profile Operations. The train was a trap specifically for someone like me because we were such a thorn in their side. Some cars were full of military androids and something I had never heard of before. Some sort of spider droid but it had an impossibly small Hellbore Cannon. Smart. Fast. It blew apart whole sections of the adjoining cars it rode in trying to kill us. If I had been alone I would have been killed.

"When it was over we were supposed to plant charges to destroy the shipment. That was the plan I was told. When the cars were secured I asked about the crew. My partner, my mentor didn't care. Didn't care that there were people on board. That they had nothing to do with our fight to be equal. Didn't even care that he didn't know if they were Human or Faunus. A side to him that had crept in over the years. I had listened to his excuses at first. That none of it was intended. Accidents, bad luck, circumstances gone bad. I believed in him until he finally stopped pretending. So I was the one who 'stole' the train. I put myself between him and the crew further up the line and severed the connections to the cars so he couldn't hurt those innocent people. I saw what they were grooming me for and I ran. That was the last I ever saw of any of them."

Blake looked up with sorrowful eyes into the other girl's wide ones. "Weiss. I tried to say something when you all found me after I ran away. That I wasn't part of them anymore. That I regretted so much that had happened. But you didn't want to hear it. Just decided not to care. But I care, Weiss. I have to live with it. I wanted to know. I wanted to know the hurt I caused you because I care."

Weiss turned her face away from the Faunus. "I think we should stop talking now," she said in a gruff tone.

There was a burdensome moment of unnatural silence. Blake stood up to walk away. "Maybe I should go. Maybe this was a mistake."

"Maybe you should stop running away from all your problems, Belladonna," Weiss returned coldly. "Plus I never said you could stop brushing. I won't have my hair left half done and looking like I was too incompetent to complete such a simple task."

Blake nodded her head, tears threatening to escape the deep well inside her. She sat back down and held up the hairbrush.

"It was a tough day, Blake. We're both sleep deprived and have not been ourselves."

"Yes. It was. A tough day," Blake replied. Agreeing without spoken words to the equally unspoken offer of respite. Something they both sorely needed and wanted even more.

The brush carefully traced down her scalp. Scratching at places Weiss hadn't realized needed scratching. A soft touch of a hand smoothing down her hair following the brush. Something she hadn't experienced since her sister had been sent away. Weiss cleared her overworked mind and let it wander freely. Focusing on her senses to clear her currently less-than-optimal mind. Taking in what she had learned tonight and placing them into the back of her thoughts. As difficult as bringing up the past could be, they were living in the here and now. Blake had saved her life, possibly at great expense to herself. Not because Blake wanted something from her, but because they were teammates. If her family hadn't been lost, Blake would not have been found by those criminals. The Schnee Family owed Blake Belladonna a debt. That was what was important. The rest could be digested later with rational and unimpaired faculties.

Several more silent minutes went by. Blake paused at times to empty her coffee cup and start on the fourth.

"Did that hurt?" Blake asked suddenly.

"Did what hurt?" Weiss asked, confused. Blake hadn't been running that brush around the swollen part at the back of her head, but her scalp and bangs.

Blake shifted her position into a kneeling one upon the bed. "You have some… I'm not sure. Right here," she said, lightly tapping the low area in her scalp with the brush.

Weiss let out a grumpy huff. "Oh, don't you get started too! First that nurse rambling about a dented skull, and now you? My scalp is normal and always has been! I swear if one more person makes a fuss about it I am going to-"

Blake tuned the rest of the threat out. She looked down from behind the Heiress. She was letting her body relax again, arms crossed precisely over her stomach. It allowed Blake a look at the blemish on Weiss' wrist in the soft light. A look a human might have trouble with but her own eyes could manage. There was a scar on each wrist. Symmetrical ones.

Blake ran the brush again over that white hair, this time running her hand over that weird spot on the top of Weiss' head. Two spots. Not round, but like a slight depression where she rubbed her own temples when Yang sang in their dorm's bathroom and knew everyone else wanted to sleep in.

"What are you doing?" Weiss asked warily.

"I think there is something in your hair."

"Well? Is there or isn't there?"

Blake leaned over and used the brush to peer through the white hairs. It was very difficult to see, given that white hair and very fine white skin blended together very well. But what didn't blend was a very thin, but unnaturally darker line. Did Weiss have brain surgery at some point? In fact there were two. One running across each side of her scalp at the base of those slight indentations-

Oh dust, no. No. Oh, gawd.

"Did you get it out?" Weiss asked.

"Uh, yeah. It was nothing. You're good to go now, and I need to use the bathroom."

"Well, drinking four large coffees that fast will do that to you," Weiss replied. "It's going to be a long night and you should pace yourself, Belladonna."

Blake carefully vacated her position and Weiss cautiously lay herself back into the bed, lowering the motorized hospital bed down to a more relaxed position but still keeping her head elevated.

"I'll be right back," Blake called quietly over her shoulder as she walked a few steps away.

She didn't wait for a response before shutting herself in the small enclosure and sat down on the toilet. Her hand covering her face and mouth.

I didn't want to know this. I'm sorry, Weiss. I am so, so sorry.

Blake's mind, trained by binge marathon reading into the wee hours when everyone else was asleep, couldn't unstick the pieces fitting together. Couldn't unsee the puzzle pieces snapping into place.

The young Faunus girl pulled her hands away from her face and looked at her own wrists. The small points where vestigial dewclaws had been removed before they could be ripped or torn away.

Weiss had multiple birth defects, which somehow had been missed in early exams by health care only a First Family could afford.

Weiss had spurs on her wrists that had to be removed.

Weiss had a birthmark on her tailbone.

Weiss had scars where Blake's own feline ears sat underneath her bow.

Oh heavens, no. Weiss-

Her father had anger problems often directed toward the younger daughter.

Winter provoking her bigoted father to protect her sister.

A young adolescent's age difference between the two sisters.

The older sister had behavior and substance issues after something had happened.

Winter had a non-fatal 'disemboweling' scar across her belly.

Winter had been 'gotten to' by Faunus the belly scar was a result.

Weiss' mother had passed away over a decade before she was born.

Weiss hadn't been conceived in love. That was probably the only true statement that made up her teammate's entire existence.

The Heiress of the Schnee Dust Company, raised by the dogmatically Faunus hating Mr. Schnee, was Faunus. Mutilated, isolated, and conditioned to pass as human. Weiss Schnee didn't have an older sister at all! She had a mother who had cared for her, whom had been forced to care about her Faunus daughter as a human sister to cover up the incident.

For the Schnee's, the truth getting out would have been a disaster. Their precious High Family bloodline 'polluted' by Faunus genes which would be dominant for generations. Weiss' 'Father?' Blake just couldn't bear to think about that. Didn't want to think of just how difficult Weiss' childhood actually had been.