As with any school, rumour of what had happened to Nora had spread through the Beacon campus quickly, prompting as much fear and suspicion as would be expected. While it was thought to be fact that she had been attacked by a rogue Grimm, the sheer thought of that sowed the seeds of panic amongst the students. To his credit, Ozpin had taken the blame, scorn and concerns from his pupils well, his often sage advice had calmed some of the initial panic, but even Weiss could see the cracks starting to appear.

She sat in the Mess Hall, gritting her teeth at the pain the sound of conversation was causing her. She did her best to hide it, for the sake of not only herself, but also of her friends. Blake and Phyrra had placed themselves in charge of looking after Ren, the young man's face stained with near-constant tears. Yang, Ruby and Jaune sat in silence, white knuckles wrapped around their cutlery. Out of everyone, Weiss could tell that they had taken the whole thing worse than the others; Ren included. Those three in particular lived to be the hero, to protect their friends and the people around them. The fact that they couldn't do anything was tearing them up inside, a fact of which Weiss fell completely guilty.

The heiress kept telling herself that she wasn't sorry, that what she did was out of survival and that Nora was going to live; that she didn't do permanent damage. But the truth was that she wanted to cry; to tell the truth and accept every punishment that was owed to her. But she would never do it. Fear of the truth was the only thing that stopped her. But what was worse; she knew that it could very well happen again. The medicine that supressed her Grimm-born powers had still yet to arrive, the shipping company having run into problems involving ice around the Vale docks, making it impossible for them to land and unload.

Weiss rose from the table with a start as the morning bell rung, signalling the start of morning classes. Her friends all lazily rose to her feet, motivation erased and replaced with sadness and rage. Ruby flipped her red hood over her eyes, obscuring them from the world and Yang's eyes had not been their usual violet since the attack two days earlier.

Even the curriculum had changed, Professor Port's classes now being all about protecting yourself and even entire villages from ambushes by hordes of Grimm all the way down to a single one. Weiss could tell that it was making everyone uncomfortable and Ren had even excused himself almost immediately. She knew the reasoning behind it all, for the school to present itself as safe and on top of the situation, even to the point of treating the attack as some kind of test. Weiss rubbed the tiredness from her eyes, her thumb brushing gently over the skin of her scar.

"Yes Miss Schnee?" came Port's voice from the front of the room. Weiss snapped out of her trance to discover that her hand was raised. Apparently the questions clawing at her brain could not wait to be asked. She swallowed the lump in her throat, lowering her hand quickly.

"W-Well Professor, and I'm sorry to interrupt mind you. But I had a question about types of Grimm," she stuttered, clenching her fist. The rotund Professor raised a questioning eyebrow, but nevertheless nodded.

"Is there a particular type of Grimm you would like to discuss, or are you being more… general in your inquiry?"

"I um… I want to know if there are Grimm that… That drink blood." The class stopped, a single held breath between the students. Weiss was certain she heard a pencil drop somewhere. Port stroked his moustache as he moved to the front of his desk, leaning against it.

"That is an oddly specific question Miss Schnee, might I inquire as to why this came to mind?" asked the older man. Weiss' eyes were on the verge of tears, a confession on the tip of her tongue. In her periphery, she could see Yang gripping the wood of her desk so hard that she was leaving visible cracks.

"I-I uh… Well it's kind of embarrassing," said Weiss, the cunning lie spewing forth from her mouth, absent of her mind. "But I remember old fairy tales from Atlas talking about such a beast. They've always intrigued me, the idea of them. But I've never been able to find anything about them in our textbooks, that's all." Weiss scratched her head, a subtle way of wiping the sweat from her brow. She could endure the snickers from her classmates. The alternatives were worse.

"Ah, I see!" Port laughed, his large belly shaking and his voice booming. "I too remember those majestic tales. They were some of my favourites as a young man! But, to answer your question. Yes, there are some rare Grimm that feast on human and Faunus blood. This, as you know, makes them unique, since they are the only known type of Grimm to actually eat any part of a person. Usually, Grimm only attack us for the sake of killing, which makes these beasts quite the fearsome fellows."

"What are they called?" she asked, trying to mask her fear behind curiosity.

"These Grimm are native to Atlas, one of the few breeds to only nest in one kingdom. We call them Orescreech…" The professor continued to ramble, stories of his boyhood and the tales he heard as a child spewing forth from his mouth. But the heiress was no longer there, she had drifted away, memories of Nora's delectable blood cascading through her. But she could not help but dwell on one idea; she knew what form her Grimm-born blood had taken.

Class ended before her trance had faded. Weiss' body running autonomously as she followed her friends through the grand halls of Beacon. People were talking, but it sounded muffled, as though she was listening to it from underwater. Suddenly she was shunted to the side, colliding with a bench seat against a wall, she gritted her teeth against the pain in her shin, shooting a dark look at the culprit; Yang Xiao Long.

"Ooh, sorry Weiss. I was just trying to snap you out of your little day dream," she said apologetically.

"You could have just called my name or something," grumbled Weiss.

"We did, all of us separately," Phyrra told her, causing Weiss to blush with embarrassment. But it was more than that, she scolded herself. She was fearful that her behaviour would display guilt to the more clued-in members of her group. She was especially worried about Blake and Phyrra; out of anyone, they seemed to have an uncanny ability to read a person's feelings.

"Sorry everyone, I'm just a little-"

"It's okay Weiss, we understand," Ruby said, offering her partner a comforting smile. "We're all a little on edge. Which is why we're going to go and visit Nora in the medical ward."

Weiss paled, voice caught in her throat and fists clenched tightly.

"I-Is she awake? I hadn't heard!" she exclaimed, trying not to sound as horrifyingly surprised as she actually was. Ruby shook her head, sighing.

"Uh, no, she hasn't woken up. But Ren talked to Professor Ozpin after he left class and he said we could go and see her," Ruby explained and Weiss couldn't help but notice the fact that her partner's red cloak was slowly being wrapped around the younger girl.

"Okay, let's go see Nora," Weiss said, forcing a small smile, while the voice inside her head screamed; 'More like; let's go see my victim,'