By the time Nora and Pyrrha reached the restaurant, the taller girl was more than ready to return to her dorm room. She was drained, both physically, mentally, and emotionally. Their walk was in complete silence, though Pyrrha could just sense that Nora wanted to talk with her. Nora did see what happened to her at the end, but Pyrrha could only assume that Nora understood why she didn't feel like talking.

Nora held open the door for Pyrrha, who gave her as much of a smile as she could muster. The restaurant was starting to get packed, as there were people waiting up at the front for a table to become available. She looked at the tables, hoping to find Jaune and Ren as soon as she could. Once she did, the two women walked over to the table they were situated at and took their seats.

"Hey, glad you guys could make it," Jaune said once they sat down. "I'm glad that we got here when we did. I don't think we would've gotten a table otherwise. So did everything go well with your interview?" Pyrrha looked up to Jaune and elected to shrug instead of giving him a verbal response.

"Everything alright?" Ren asked. "I hope you didn't mind us making our way over here while you had your interview going on. If you did then we apologize for our actions."

"It's not that," Pyrrha finally said, speaking for the first time since she walked away from that interview. "It's just been a long few days and everything is getting to me."

"Well, hopefully we can help cheer you up a bit, how does that sound?" Nora chimed in.

Pyrrha wanted to believe what Nora was saying, but for some reason, part of her was doubtful. 'It's not like they could possibly understand what I'm going through. I couldn't explain it to them, even if I tried to,' she thought to herself. 'I know I would only be thinking about this and their efforts would be wasted on me. Maybe it'd be better if I was just alone for the weekend.'

"Honestly, I think I might just need a bit of time to think things over on my own," Pyrrha said. "Not that I don't think you want to help, it's just, it's something I need to do on my own." Pyrrha stood up from her seat. "I'm sorry to ruin everyone's fun." Leaving it at that, Pyrrha walked out of the restaurant before anything else could be said.

She made her way back up to the docks for the airship that would bring her back to Beacon. The entire trip she had this nagging suspicion that her teammates were going to keep worrying about her the entire time. Pyrrha put it in the back of her mind and thought of what she could do to help clear her own head.

'Maybe I just need to spend the weekend away from it all, go out to the forest and leave all my troubles behind,' Pyrrha thought to herself as she took a seat on the airship before it took off.

Once the departure began, Pyrrha started to notice something peculiar. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a mess of orange hair, similar to that of her teammate, Nora. Giving it more attention, she could hear the telltale mumbling that came from her teammate. Pyrrha closed her eyes and let out a soft sigh. 'I should've known that someone would come follow me, at least it's Nora this time,' Pyrrha said within her mind.

She decided to wait until the two of them were alone before she let Nora know that she'd been found out. Maybe then she could get this off of her chest. While they were walking, at the restaurant, she couldn't say anything because of how many people were around. A conversation like the one she needed, it couldn't be just out in the street.

The ride on the airship however took longer than Pyrrha would've liked it to. Once they had landed, Pyrrha made her way back to the dorms, hoping to catch a moment where she could have a conversation with Nora along the way. Given that it was a weekend, she figured that most of the other students would be out on the town or doing something outside of classes.

As she was walking down one of the halls, Pyrrha kept a close ear out to see if Nora was still following her. She wasn't surprised to find that Nora was indeed still following her after all of this time. Taking note of what was going on around her, she saw that the only two people there were herself and Nora. She let out a sigh as she stopped walking and waited for a few seconds.

"I know you're there, Nora," Pyrrha called out to her teammate. "There's no point in hiding anymore."

"How did you know I was behind you?" Nora pouted, she had hoped that Pyrrha wouldn't notice her throughout the journey.

Pyrrha turned around as Nora walked up to the taller girl. "You don't remember what it is about me that only you know?"

"Wait you mean...er…" Nora paused as she looked around to see if there was anyone around to hear them. Not taking any chances, she leaned up closer to Pyrrha, trying to reach her ear so she could whisper into it. "You mean the part about you being a Faunus?"

Pyrrha was glad that Nora was doing her best to try and keep it a secret as much as she could. "Yes, that's what I'm referring to, Nora," Pyrrha replied. "That's how I knew you were following me." Pyrrha then continued to make her way back to their dorm with Nora keeping stride as well. "I'm sorry that I ruined this night for you guys, but with what happened earlier today, I just wanted to be left alone. I would've only ruined the night for you guys, and I didn't want to do that. Guess it ended up happening anyway."

"What happened back at that interview anyway?" Nora asked. "I only saw the part where that one lady decided to yell at you and thought you were human."

That's what's been giving Pyrrha trouble, the fact that she didn't want to be seen as Faunus. Combining that with her fame, there was a lot that she could and couldn't do. She couldn't truly take a stand without having so many repercussions. At least, that's what she thought within her own mind.

"There isn't much that I can really do for the Faunus," Pyrrha whispered, hoping that Nora caught what she had said. "I mean, I'm a publically known figure for pete's sake, I should be able to help them as much as possible. Unfortunately, people aren't known for being compassionate, and anything that I may try would either be cast aside as a publicity stunt or, worst case scenario, people would turn on me and what I do have will be taken away from me out of spite."

"So that's what this is about?" Nora asked. "You're upset because you're stuck with not being able to help your people?"

"Pretty much," Pyrrha replied.

Nora really didn't know what she could do to help her friend out. "Man, that really sucks for you," She eventually said to Pyrrha. "I wish that there was something I could say that could help you out a bit."

"That's why I honestly want to just be left alone for this weekend," Pyrrha said as the pair reached the door to their dorm room.

"What do you mean by that?" Nora asked as they entered their dorm room.

Instead of giving Nora a response right away, Pyrrha walked over to her bed and pulled a bag out from underneath. Inside of it she had a cache of supplies that were pre-prepared for moments when she would elect to go out into the woods on her own. In pulling the bag out, she had decided to take a trip on her own for the weekend.

"I think I'm just gonna go get some time away from the school for the weekend," Pyrrha replied as she placed the bag onto her bed and opened it up. She pulled a few of the items out so that she could inspect them and make sure they were still in good condition.

As Pyrrha was doing this, Nora walked up behind her and turned the taller woman towards her. "Do you want the rest of us to come out with you?"

Pyrrha really didn't want to tell the shorter girl no. She didn't want to hurt her friends any more than she already had today. "It's not that I don't want you to go out with me, but I just need some time alone," Pyrrha finally answered after a few seconds. Once she did, she packed a couple changes of clothes in the bag, along with any other small provisions that she kept to the side as well.

"Wow, I didn't realize you were into me that way," Nora teased, taking Pyrrha's wording and trying to make light of the situation.

It took a second for Pyrrha to catch onto what Nora meant, but once she did, a small blush appeared on her cheeks. She immediately turned around in an attempt to hide her blush from her teammate. "N-now hold on just a second," Pyrrha stammered, before Nora started to chuckle.

"I was just messing with you," Nora laughed before she got herself back under control once more. "In all seriousness though, you don't have to go out there alone. We want to make sure you're fine after all."

"I know," Pyrrha sighed as she got back to packing. "But like I said, I just need to spend some time alone so that I can clear my head. I hope you understand that."

Nora looked down at the floor and held herself. "I guess I understand," Nora dejectedly said. "But promise me you'll keep in touch with us while you're out doing your thing."

By that point in time, Pyrrha had finished gathering everything she needed and was ready to head out. "I promise," She said to Nora as she threw her bags over her shoulder and took her weapons in hand. "Let the others know what I'm doing?"

"I'll be sure to do so," Nora said as she watched Pyrrha leave the dorms. 'Though I may decide to do more than just that,' She thought to herself once Pyrrha had left the room.

Pyrrha's journey into the Emerald Forest was a relatively easy and short one. Any encounters she had with the Grimm were small and trivial for her. She made her way deeper into the forest, hoping to find some kind of place where she could safely rest for the weekend. Pyrrha also managed to find some relief in the fact that she could walk around with her tail out and not worry about what was around her.

As she was walking into the forest, she happened to notice a waterfall that was off in the distance with what looked like a clearing near it's base. That was her first destination, though she kept track of where she was in case it turned out to be a bust. As she was walking, she took note of other locations that would have served her purpose, but had their flaws.

Fortunately for her, she didn't need to worry about it. Once she reached the base of the waterfall, she saw a perfect place to set up for the weekend. The waterfall fell into a basin that was surrounded by cliffs. An oasis within the Emerald Forest with plenty of trees as well as a small pond to keep it's beauty evident. There was enough space that Pyrrha could set up a makeshift campsite, and so Pyrrha got to work setting up a fire for the night. Along with that, unless they came from above, there was only one point of entry into the encampment, through a small cave that the river from the waterfall flowed through.

Once she had a fire going, she got to work on setting up a hammock to sleep in. Pyrrha never liked the idea of sleeping in a tent, and she would often sleep up in the trees whenever she was out in the woods. They provided her with a natural shelter, and given her faunus nature, were more comfortable to her than sleeping in a tent on the ground.

She found some vines and started to make her way up towards the top of the trees, stopping midway up. Once she was there, she started to wrap the vines to a few of the trees that were within close proximity to each other and weaved together a makeshift hammock out of them. It was wide enough for her to sleep on it comfortably, so she was more than happy with how it turned out.

All the while, Pyrrha was starting to miss the companionship of her teammates. She had marveled at the sight before her once she first arrived, but had no one to share it with. Part of her desired for her teammates to be there, but another part of her was grateful for the peace and quiet that came with being alone.

Pyrrha started to climb her way back down to the floor when she heard a noise coming from a little bit outside of her encampment. She immediately summoned her weapon into her hands, wrapped her tail around her waist once more, and started to make her way to where the noise came from. Pyrrha quietly stalked through the trees, climbing up them to get a better view of her surroundings.

She checked the ammo that she had and noticed she accidentally grabbed one of her mags filled with paint rounds. While the rest were her normal ammunition, she was cursing herself for being so careless and grabbing something that wouldn't be of any use to her in a real fight. While doing this however, Pyrrha heard the distinct sound of people speaking to each other. What piqued her curiosity even further was who it was that was talking in the first place.

"Nora, are you sure that she's over in this direction?" Pyrrha heard Jaune ask her teammate.

Pyrrha was confused as to why her teammates, her friends, would come out to the forest. Nora had probably convinced them to take up on the endeavour in the hopes of cheering the tall redhead up, despite said redhead's desire to remain alone during the weekend. The part of her that wanted to share this time with her teammates started to well up again, and she started to ponder if she should bring them with her.

"I'm almost positive of it," Pyrrha heard Nora reply to Jaune. "I saw the smoke coming from this direction, so if she isn't there, then I don't know where she'd be."

"You still haven't fully explained why we're out here in the first place," Ren stated next. "Pyrrha told you herself that she wanted to spend some time alone, so we should respect her wishes."

"I know, but I just can't stand by and let her be all mopey and sad by herself," Nora said in response. "We're her friends, I just want to show that we're there for her whenever she wants or needs it."

"Hopefully she understands your reasoning," Ren finished before continuing to follow behind Nora.

Pyrrha heard what Nora had said and she felt awestruck by how devoted her friends were to her well being. She decided then and there that she wanted to have them around after all, just so that she can enjoy some time with her friends. But first, Pyrrha decided to play a little bit of a prank on her teammates while she had the chance.

Remembering the paint ammunition she had, Pyrrha was starting to feel grateful that she grabbed it in her haste. She quietly pulled back on the mechanisms of Milo and unloaded the mag that was currently loaded in. Once it was out, she placed the paintball rounds in, and loaded the first round into the firing chamber. Once that was done, she got into a position above her teammates and waited for them to walk underneath her.

"Man, how far in do you think we are right now?" Jaune asked. Unfortunately, his teammates didn't get the chance to reply to him. Pyrrha dropped down on Jaune, knocking him down onto his back and landing on top of him. Hearing their leader's groans in surprise and pain, Nora and Ren turned around, only to each be shot by Pyrrha with the paintball rounds she had previously loaded into Milo.

Realizing what had happened, Nora decided to just run with it and give Pyrrha a good laugh. "Goodbye, cruel world, I'll never forget your deliciousness," Nora said before dramatically falling to her knees as if she was in pain, and eventually lying down and faking death.

"Hahaha, get up, Nora," Pyrrha chuckled as she stood up and off of Jaune. She helped her leader to his feet before putting her weapon away. "I do appreciate the laugh, but I think we can save it for when we're back at my camp."

"Wait, how did you know we were searching for you in the first place?" Ren asked.

"How do you think I knew both where to find you, and get the drop on you guys?" Pyrrha asked. "You weren't exactly being quiet, and I heard you guys coming from quite a ways away."

"Jeez, that's some really good hearing you have there," Jaune groaned. "Though next time, can you please not land directly on top of me. I don't know how many times my back will be able to take that."

"You're not the first person I've done that to, Jaune," Pyrrha said, though she gave a sidelong glance in Nora's direction. "Now come on, we should make our way back to my camp so you guys can give me the full reasoning behind why you're out here. I heard part of it, but I figured there's more to explain."

"Lead the way, el capitano!" Nora cried out as the secret faunus led her teammates through the woods.

AN: I know it's been a while since I updated this, but things have been hectic for me the past few months. Hopefully I'll be able to get more out for this story soon, as well as my other stories. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy the chapter!