Notice: Of course, I do not own either Attack on Titan/Shingeki no Kyojin or RWBY.

Update: Updating and improving some chapters, and trying to correct some mistakes/typos that I made.

I'm sorry if the story starts out kind of rough. I'm writing this as if I would imagine this animated, so bear with me, please. However, I would advise you to at least give this story a chance and read on regardless. My writing style and quality of the chapters will hopefully get better as the fanfic progresses. Just please bear with me on this.

Also: Please do not accuse me of stealing this beginning chapter from Snowflames' Attack On! RWBY fanfic. Yes, I did take a bit of inspiration from their beginning chapter, as I wanted to have some way of Team RWBY coming into the AOT storyline as logically as possible, but I did make this with enough originality for you to differentiate between their story and mine. I'd also like to point out that my story takes place after RWBY Volume 2, while Snowflames' story takes place after Volume 1. You can go and read it for yourself if you haven't already.

Looking back, maybe it had been foolish to think their troubles in regards to him were over.

After all, they should have expected that Roman Torchwick didn't know when to give up. Maybe the fact he had already been apprehended didn't even matter to him, seeing as he'd already had someone to bail him out this time. Maybe the reason he'd been so calm upon arrest, even taking a sarcastic tone with his captors, was because even then, he'd already formed a plan of escape.

Although pure speculation, these theories of which everyone that had heard the news had formed seemed likely. Given his reputation as a criminal, that is.

No one had predicted his escape from his prison cell; at least, not so soon after his arrest. General Ironwood had probably been the only one who hadn't expected this turn of events at all, somehow. Team RWBY, in particular, Ruby and Blake, were speechless when they first heard the broadcast the night before last.

More news broke early the next morning: a valuable and precious artefact – of unknown importance to Professor Ozpin – had been stolen with the assistance of the White Fang. Very few doubted Torchwick was the culprit responsible. When the team heard that Professor Ozpin had been anything but calm ever since the artefact went missing, they'd spent the rest of the day pestering Professor Goodwitch to let them partake in a mission to reclaim the object, if only for their headmaster.

Eventually, when she'd come across Weiss, Ruby, and Blake late in the night, she'd reluctantly agreed with a shake of her head and an exasperated sigh, and then scolded them for missing hours of sleep and neglecting their health. And then she approached them this morning, assuring them that Ozpin had given them permission to go, but since their last mission on Mountain Glenn ended up with Grimm climbing out of a man-made explosion in the middle of the town, Ozpin had entrusted Professor Goodwitch with their safety, which meant that she'd be going with them to retrieve the artefact, whether they liked it or not.

Only Ruby and Weiss had been pleased, though for entirely different reasons. For Ruby, she got to work alongside a professional huntress that would actually fight alongside them throughout the entirety of the mission instead of teaching them a majority of the way and then using her dog as a cannonball, despite how impressive Doctor Oobleck's style of fighting was. For Weiss, she was just glad that an actual adult would be there to aid them and keep them in line so that she wouldn't have to do all the work.

Late in the night, roughly after midnight to ensure everyone was sound asleep, Team RWBY gathered by the Bullhead stationed behind the statue in front of the entrance to the school. And they'd waited, and waited, and then they'd realised that they'd waited for just over four hours and Professor Goodwitch still hadn't shown up.

Blake's foot tapped the ground quicker with every passing minute, her frown growing increasingly vicious until her face had scrunched up and her mouth had twisted into a nasty scowl. She glanced over her shoulder and tilted her head at an angle, staring at the Bullhead behind her. Its nose faced the statue, and the door on the left side of the Bullhead was open. An extended ramp led into the interior, where Yang's motorcycle by the name of Bumblebee had been strapped in. The interior also led through to the Bullhead's cockpit.

After checking the time on her small Scroll and discovering nearly 45 minutes had passed, Blake snapped.

"I can't stay here and wait for a no-show, teacher or not. Who knows what Torchwick's doing with that artefact he stole?!" She spun on her heel and jogged away from her teammates, towards the open door on the left side of the Bullhead. She bared her teeth as she raced up the ramp and climbed into the cockpit, sitting herself down in the pilot seat. "We're nearly ten minutes away from it being five in the morning!"

Ruby was the first to follow Blake up the ramp, but stopped once she was in the interior of the Bullhead. Then, when Yang caught Ruby hurrying into the Bullhead and noticed that Blake had disappeared, she patted Weiss on the shoulder and pointed with her thumb over to the Bullhead. She and Weiss shared an alarmed look before they turned and sprinted up the ramp. Once in the interior, Weiss stopped next to Ruby, who held onto one of the handles on the handrail, while Yang stuck herself in the entrance to the cockpit.

"Do you even know how to fly this thing?" Yang asked, resting her forearms on the walls of the entryway.

Blake sighed. "You'd think I would be, as an ex-member of the White Fang and all." She eyed the control panel while one of her hands found the control stick.

"I'm sure she's probably caught up with work. Knowing our luck, she might just come out of those doors as soon as we leave." Weiss attempted to reason, sticking her head through the entryway. Yang glanced at Weiss, seeing the heiress' head almost on her shoulder, and then carefully moved to sink into the pilot seat beside Blake.

"You're already on this with us, don't try to back out now," Ruby told her, prompting the heiress to glance over her shoulder at her.

Leaning her back against the wall on her left-hand side in the entryway, Weiss crossed her arms over her chest and sighed, before reaching into the pouch attached to the back of the sash around her hip. She pulled out her small Scroll. Pulling open Pyrrha's contact, she began typing a message to Pyrrha. She quickly detailed what had happened over the past two days and how she and her team were going on an unofficial mission, and that if they didn't come back by morning (because they were dealing with Torchwick, the White Fang, and likely also Neo) and there had been no word from them to explain their absence, she needed to show her message to Professor Goodwitch and Professor Ozpin and hopefully figure something out from there.

"Besides, if you're right and she is caught up with work, then the only reason she would come out is because she'll have heard us take off and realised that we were serious about getting back Ozpin's artefact." Blake snapped, pausing her activation of the engines in favour of glaring in Weiss' direction.

"Yeah, yeah. I left a text for Pyrrha that explained everything and asked her to show it to Professor Goodwitch and Professor Ozpin if anything happens to us. You know, just in case." After hitting send and making sure her message had been successfully delivered to Pyrrha's Scroll, Weiss shoved her own Scroll back into her pouch.

"What makes you think we won't make it back?" Yang frowned and twisted in her seat halfway, staring quizzically at Weiss.

"Last time I checked, we don't have a very impressive track record for taking care of Torchwick and the White Fang. And if I had to bet, I'd say that little Neo lady is gonna be there too. You remember what she did to you last time, right, Yang?"

Yang turned back and stared out of the windows. "Yeah. Don't worry. I'll get my payback one way or another."

"We all will!" Ruby piped up.

Blake turned her head away to hide the smile that her leader's hopefulness brought to her face.

The shattered moon, high in the night sky, cast its light across the quiet streets of Vale. The moonlight shone down on the Bullhead, the silhouette of the aircraft casting a shadow over buildings as it flew by. A couple of blocks away from the warehouses in the industrial district, Blake managed to spot a building with a flat rooftop that had more than enough space to land. The Bullhead slowed and lowered until it steadily and smoothly came to a stop above the rooftop, where it hovered while the four legs for the landing gears extended out and touched down, allowing it to land with ease. Once the engines were off, the ramp extended horizontally out of the bottom of the open door, before tilting downward until it hit the concrete of the roof.

"I'll take the streets," Yang offered as she immediately rose from her seat. She headed into the cargo bay and unstrapped her Bumblebee, before walking it over to the top of the ramp and climbing on it. After putting her helmet on, Yang glanced back at the other girls. "I'll take the more direct approach. See if I can provide a distraction."

"Blake and I can camouflage ourselves in the darkness better than you guys can anyway." Ruby shrugged and turned her head to Weiss. "Weiss, you can keep them from escaping, because chances are, they'll have their own one of these to use as an escape vehicle, since they use these for their operations anyway." She patted the wall of the interior.

"Us three will come in from above. Going over the rooftops would be a blind spot in their defences. We can get the drop on them even if the moonlight gives us away, as they'll be expecting an attack from only three of us. When Yang shows up alone, it'll throw them off even more." Blake added, standing up from her seat and exiting the cockpit. She stood in the entryway with her arms folded.

"Got it. See you girls there!" Yang waved before revving up her motorcycle with a grin and gliding down the ramp. She flew off the edge of the roof, skidding in a half-circle when her wheels hit the road. A smooth roar erupted from Bumblebee when Yang's back wheel kicked up some dust and sped off in the direction of the warehouses.

"We'll keep to a triangle formation," Weiss suddenly declared, grabbing Ruby's and Blake's hands. She pulled them down the ramp and stopped at the foot of it, before pushing them in front of her. "You two stay in front of me, while I stay at the back."

"Why?" Ruby scratched the back of her head, eyeing Weiss with a puzzled expression.

"I want to keep an eye out for Professor Goodwitch, so I can warn you if I find her chasing after us."

"Oh." Blake and Ruby simultaneously responded, sharing an understanding look.

Ruby and Blake rolled their eyes and turned to their right, and they set of in a sprint. Weiss hurried along behind them, behind the gap Ruby and Blake were keeping between them. Ruby and Blake hopped from the edge and onto the roof of the next building, quickly followed by Weiss, who bounced from a glyph and rolled as she landed. She smoothly came out of her roll, instantly resuming her run, keeping the same pace.

When they'd passed a few buildings, Weiss glanced over her shoulder. No sign of Professor Goodwitch. After coursing across several more rooftops and wondering if Blake even remembered where they were going, Weiss shot another look over her shoulder. Still no one was following them. Weiss never thought she'd feel so uneasy about the lack of a presence following her with haste born from exasperation.

Meanwhile, a petite woman named Neopolitan – Neo for short – hid in the shadows. Despite only standing at around 4'10" in her heels, she possessed a strength not many would think she had. Additionally, her admittedly diminutive frame allowed her to be stealthy and swift in her movements. All three of them combined, along with her flexibility, gave her an intimidating level of undeniable skill in battles, of which she usually left as a winner and the only one left alive.

More often than not, at least.

Neo had been tasked with capturing the heiress, Weiss Schnee. However she would do so had been left up to her, as long as no particularly serious damage was inflicted, with an emphasis on serious, which Neo assumed must've referred to any injury worse than the scar running down the heiress' eye. Anyway, upon Weiss' inevitable capture, Neo was then to take her to Torchwick, who remained at the warehouses, waiting for the rest of Team RWBY. He'd divulged that if all went well and even one of the girls asked why he'd taken Weiss, it was because he needed Weiss to help him activate the artefact he'd stolen. Of course, Neo knew it wasn't true, but she was sure those girls would believe it if they only saw the artefact; if they knew what Neo had discovered about it.

The artefact in question had apparently been filled to the brim with Dust, powdered Dust, all of it inside some type of technology previously unseen. Of course, in Torchwick's eyes, this only increased its worth. If their plan to get rid of Team RWBY ended up working once and for all, at least they could still reap the benefits of the otherwise useless artefact they'd stolen. But anything good for Torchwick was good for Neo too, even if she didn't really care too much about how much someone would pay for the artefact and merely did what was necessary of her in order to help Torchwick and his associates in his plans. The only reason she knew so much was because she couldn't help being curious from time to time, and so after the artefact had first captured her intrigue, she'd listened to Torchwick gloat about it.

Regardless, Neo wasn't one to disappoint. And although Torchwick didn't necessarily need Weiss alive for this plan to work, he'd rather not be hunted down by the Schnee family, other huntsmen from Beacon, and the Atlas Military if she ended up dead by his hand, so to speak.

Neo blinked, realising just in time that she had to move again. With her Illusion Semblance, she hopped and a light pink wave eclipsed her form, allowing her to disappear from that place and reappear on another rooftop. She stepped further into the shadows, refusing to allow the moonlight to expose her location by casting a shadow of her.

Blake and Ruby passed her, sprinting to the edge and hopping effortlessly onto the next building. On the other hand, Weiss' pace slowed as she came into view. She stopped only feet from the edge and her hands grasped her bare knees. Neo could hear her panting, out of breath.

Neo couldn't help but smirk, knowing that Weiss stood a metre or two away from her hiding place, and that she'd left herself open to attack, whether the heiress knew it or not.

She'd exploit that defencelessness ruthlessly.

When Weiss straightened back up and opened her mouth to call out to the rest of her teammates, Neo took her chance and dashed from the shadows. She clamped her gloved hand over the heiress' mouth. Then, she kicked Weiss' lower legs out from under her while she removed her hand from the girl's mouth. As the heiress fell face-first into the concrete roof, Neo lifted her leg up and slammed her foot down on the centre of Weiss' back. But to Neo's surprise, Weiss recovered faster than she expected and rolled over, onto her back, before she swung her legs up and sprung from her fingertips. Neo caught her equipping her rapier weapon, named Myrtenaster, while she performed her backflip and stuck her landing with grace. In turn, Neo twirled her umbrella and let it settle on her shoulder.

Immediately, a glyph spawned and spun under Weiss' feet. She dashed toward Neo, aiming a direct stab at the smaller girl with no apparent hesitation. Neo countered by sidestepping the attack calmly and then kicking her leg up, sending a heavy hit to Weiss' abdomen with just her knee alone. And yet, as weak as Weiss' stance was as soon as she hopped back a few feet, her expression of pure determination, no, absolute defiance, wasn't something that Neo could throw pity on.

Neo's smirk grew and she bared a bit of her canine tooth. The thought of taking down a Schnee gave her such a thrill. And not just any Schnee – the heiress herself! She couldn't help but wonder what fighting the eldest Schnee sibling, Winter Schnee, would be like.

She'd bet her life on Winter putting up a better fight than Weiss, though.

Weiss pointed her index and middle fingers directly at Neo and summoned a black glyph, suspended behind Neo's back. Neo couldn't help but glance at it over her shoulder for a split second, giving Weiss the chance to launch herself at Neo, before she somersaulted and twirled and delivered a hard kick to Neo's abdomen with both feet. She shoved Neo through the glyph and watched it shatter as if it was glass.

Neo swiftly recovered, springing from the tips of her fingers before performing multiple backflips. When she realised she was nearing the edge of the rooftop, she halted her acrobatic movements, skidding to a stop by digging her heels into the concrete. She caught a glimpse of the ground below. The seed of a plan slipped into her head, increasingly more welcome as it grew, granting Neo with enough confidence to believe it'd work. If she executed this attack correctly, she'd be able to use the height of the roof to her advantage. The fall wouldn't kill Weiss, even Neo knew she'd survive, but it would do enough damage to leave her incapacitated. Her Aura's defence wasn't that strong, after all.

Now this got Neo's blood pumping!

Nine glyphs spun as they spawned around Weiss' figure. Ice shards materialised and came together, a sword forming in the centre of each glyph. With a flick of her index and middle fingers, all nine ice swords shot from the glyphs, aimed directly at Neo.

Oh, now this was too easy!

Neo pointed the tip of her umbrella at Weiss and opened it. All nine of the ice swords shattered as soon as the tips struck the canopy of her umbrella. Small shards of ice dropped at Neo's feet.

Although still pretty pitiful, the heiress put up a better fight than the blonde, Yang, had done on the train. However, testing Yang's patience by taking advantage of the disadvantages of Yang's fighting style was much more amusing, mostly since Yang had never been able to hit her during their brief fight.

With a low, agitated growl and her teeth baring, Weiss dashed forward, aiming another direct jab at Neo, the blade of her weapon glowing scarlet. This time, Neo didn't sidestep the blade, but instead, she narrowly bent backwards to evade the tip of the rapier and duck under the blade entirely. Balancing on the tips of her fingers again, Neo pulled her legs to her chest before she jutted her feet out. Once the soles of her boots had found purchase, slightly digging into Weiss' abdomen, Neo pushed herself up by her arms and thrust her leg high, jolting Weiss over the edge of the roof with a sharp intake of air. In the same manoeuvre, Neo stretched her legs downward and flipped her body upright.

She pivoted in place and hurriedly stepped over to the edge of the roof, where she watched Weiss' arms flail and her hands fail to reach the rooftop, her fingers barely missing the edge of the concrete. But when Weiss performed a somersault and her feet landed on a glyph, Neo's eyes widened for a split-second, then narrowed.

Huh. So, she'd need an extra push.

Neo hopped from the rooftop.

The soles of her boots harshly struck Weiss' face and caused the girl to bend backwards. Neo hopped off her face and opened her umbrella, jabbing Weiss in the abdomen with the tip of her umbrella, shoving Weiss downward as she crashed through her glyph, the glyph shattering like glass. Bearing a sinister grin, Neo snapped her umbrella shut and briefly discarded it to the night's soft wind. Her gloved hands grabbed Weiss by her jacket. After performing a twirl for the sake of style, Neo lifted Weiss over her head and launched the heiress toward the ground with as much strength as she could muster up. Weiss nosedived face-first into the concrete and her body appeared to go limp as the rest of her front hit the ground. Neo pulled her thighs up to her chest before sticking her landing on Weiss' back, working Weiss further into the concrete with her two feet. And adding one strong backflip to add insult to injury, Neo's feet hit the back of Weiss' head and she kicked her upward, throwing her out of the small crater that she'd created upon her initial impact with the ground. Fragments of the pavement accompanied the heiress as her body smacked down.

Weiss didn't make a move after that.

Neo caught her falling umbrella by its handle and rested it on her shoulder. She strolled over to Weiss. She stopped beside Weiss and crouched down, resting her elbow on her knee, and pressed two fingers to Weiss' neck. Her pulse remained as steady as it could be for someone recently incapacitated.

Her plan had worked splendidly.

With a smile, Neo grabbed Weiss by her ponytail and tossed the heiress over her shoulder, planting her hand on Weiss' back as a way of securing her hold.

Only a few blocks away, the wheels on Bumblebee skidded across the ground while Yang rounded the last corner, where she found herself facing a row of warehouses, a dozen White Fang members, and only one Bullhead, sat stationary in front of the second warehouse closest to her. The Bullhead's nose faced the warehouse, with Yang quite a few metres away from the cargo bay door under the wing on the left side. She slammed down on the breaks and parked her motorcycle facing the left side of the Bullhead.

Six White Fang lackeys that stood guarding the first warehouse immediately noticed her presence. They raced towards her whilst they equipped their swords and guns and Yang took off her helmet, resting it on the handle of her motorcycle. The six lackeys huddled in a semicircle around the front of Bumblebee, three with guns aimed at her, and the other three with swords pointed at her throat in particular.

Yang pulled her legs up and propped herself on her bent legs, balancing her feet on the seat, and then she leapt high into the air, performing a backward somersault as her Ember Celica extended and her fist erupted in golden flames. Her lips curled into a grin. She launched herself towards the ground, aiming for the space in front of the middle two lackeys. Yang's fist struck the ground, creating a crater around her gauntlet, the ground having been torn up by the blast of flames and embers, which surrounded Yang's figure while all six of the White Fang lackeys skidded on their backs across the concrete after being blown away.

Yang lifted her head and glanced to see if any more of them were approaching her. Then, her head snapped towards the doors of the first warehouse when she heard the metal doors shuddering as they opened. When the doors fully opened and the shuddering noise stopped, Yang heard the sound of a chainsaw roaring to life, and rose to her feet while she watched another White Fang operative stroll out of the shadows in the doorway. If his appearance and weapon were any indication, he wasn't a garden-variety goon, but instead possessed a higher position in the organisation. Yang guessed that he was likely sent out to fight people that weren't strong enough to handle any of the operatives higher up but were still strong enough to make light work of the goons lower down the chain.

Then she remembered Weiss telling the story of her fight with the White Fang Lieutenant back on the train.

When she landed on top of the building on the other side of the first warehouse, Blake skidded on the side of her left leg, but managed to soften the impact by jutting out her foot and tearing up the roof with the side of her boot. She slid into a kneeling position before laying on her front at the edge. Ruby soon stuck her landing beside Blake and crouched down on one knee. One of her hands held her weapon, Crescent Rose, which was currently in its rifle form, while her other arm rested on her knee.

"Looks like Yang's distraction hit a good start," Blake remarked, resisting the urge to breathe a sigh of relief. "Do you know anything about this artefact we're trying to get back?" she suddenly asked, turning towards Ruby. "Because I don't know all that much. I only know what it looks like, and that's only from the news report we saw."

"Don't tell anyone, okay?" Ruby hunched her shoulders, bending lower as she looked at Blake. Blake pretended to zip her lips shut before she nodded her head. Ruby leant closer to Blake. "When I first heard about Professor Ozpin losing his cool over this thing, I asked Sun to help me eavesdrop on one of the conversations he had with General Ironwood and Professor Goodwitch in his office. I managed to hear everything, but I don't think Sun heard much. Anyway, apparently there are two of these artefacts in total, and they have to be managed with things that aren't connected to Aura or by people who don't yet have Aura, for some reason."

"Are they fragile?" Blake tilted her head.

"I don't think so. In fact, I heard Professor Goodwitch saying they were incredibly durable. The technology it's built with can endure more than a Bullhead could, but they do have crystals on them that are probably only as strong as uncut Dust crystals."

"There a story behind them? Like a family heirloom or something?"

"They're not a family heirloom, but there is a story to them. They were found when professional huntsmen were called on a mission to a village on the border of the kingdom, up north somewhere. On the coast, I think. As the story goes, a couple of years ago, a Grimm all of a sudden came out from the water and destroyed the village. A few of the residents were killed while the rest hunkered down in the basement of a local inventor. One person decided to write a journal that detailed their last moments before they disappeared."

"Was it ever determined how they disappeared?"

"Yeah, the artefacts made them disappear somehow. To be specific, the journal said the inventor put on a pair of gloves made with the same technology as the artefacts and got a box off one of the shelves in his basement that had the artefacts in it. He told them that the artefacts would transport them somewhere else, and then the entry ended there. The huntsmen who went there ended up killing the Grimm, recovering the few people who died and found the journal and the artefacts."

"Sounds more like a teleportation device," Blake muttered, turning away from Ruby. Her eyes trailed over to Yang, who fired countless explosive rounds from her Ember Celica at the White Fang Lieutenant, prompting Blake's eyes to widen. "I didn't think he would've come out of Mountain Glenn, after the explosion on the train."

"Who?" Ruby asked as she blinked and followed Blake's gaze. "He looks more important than the usual guys."

"He's supposed to be. He's the Lieutenant. And for good reason. What he lacks in speed and finesse, he makes up for in brute force and durability." Blake glanced at Ruby. "He doesn't need a weapon with secondary or tertiary functions, or any subtlety in his fighting style. His incredible strength and endurance works well enough with his chainsaw." As Blake blinked, a memory resurfaced, and she found her mind flashing back to only a couple of days ago, on the train, where she'd last seen the Lieutenant. She'd had her foot on Torchwick's chest to pin him to the floor while he taunted her with his acknowledgement of her cat ears, her Faunus heritage. Then the door had opened and Weiss, momentarily unconscious, was thrown through. Then the Lieutenant had strolled through, his chainsaw in hand. "Hey," Blake called, opening her eyes and blinking rapidly, before she shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose, "Weiss, wouldn't you know? You fought him on the train—" She glanced over her shoulder as she spoke, but stopped when she didn't see Weiss behind her.

"What is it?" Ruby asked as she briefly turned to Blake. She glanced over her shoulder, her eyes following every direction Blake's eyes were darting to, and then her eyes widened. "Where did Weiss go?" She and Blake shared a look of concern. "She would've told us if she was leaving our side."

How could they not have noticed that Weiss had disappeared? It wasn't particularly easy to miss her: her entire appearance would stick out in these surroundings like a star in the night sky.

"I should've realised it was a bit quiet when you admitted you got Sun to help you eavesdrop on Professor Ozpin."

"Does this make us bad friends to her?" Ruby asked, turning her head toward Blake.

"I think we'd be on pretty thin ice if she found out that we didn't notice her missing," Blake deadpanned, her shoulders slanting as a frustrated sigh slipped past her lips. After she smacked her forehead on the concrete of the roof, Blake lifted her head again, only to catch a glimpse of Torchwick's new henchman, named Neo, if she remembered correctly, strolling along towards the Bullhead with an incapacitated Weiss slumped over her shoulder. All while Yang's back was turned, too distracted by the Lieutenant. "Looks like it's not our fault though. Look who's got her." Blake nodded her head towards Neo.

"Huh?" Ruby turned away from Blake and tilted her head in the direction of the Bullhead facing the second warehouse. Then she saw what Blake was referring to: Neo, with Weiss laid on her shoulder, unconscious, walking towards the Bullhead, only feet away from Yang's motorcycle while her sister's attention was diverted.

Ruby struggled to make sense of what she was seeing. Why would they need Weiss? Maybe as a hostage, but Torchwick had never really struck Ruby as the type to actively waste his time snatching up people close to or in Team RWBY, even if he wanted to provoke them. Ruby knew from personal experience that the only hostages he took, at least since he partnered himself with the White Fang, were the ones that happened to make themselves hostages by just being there or ending up in the same place. Anyone that just so happened to fall into the palm of his hand. Ruby couldn't recall any incidents where Torchwick had planned to take a hostage or sent someone else out to take hostages themselves.

Then the cargo bay door on the left side of the Bullhead, the only side they could see, opened upward. It stopped rising when it reached the wing, holding itself directly underneath the wing root. A ramp extended out from the bottom of the door and tilted downward until the foot of the ramp hit the ground. After a brief moment, Blake and Ruby leant forward, watching Roman Torchwick himself saunter out of the interior, cane in hand. Neo had stopped where she was, only a few feet in front of Yang's Bumblebee, and waited for Torchwick to make his way over to her.

When he'd barely made it a metre away from Neo, Ruby refused to wait any longer. She sprung from the rooftop while Crescent Rose unfolded into its full scythe form. After sticking her landing at the foot of the building, she blasted off with a burst of speed, dashing past Yang and intentionally slicing at the Lieutenant as she slipped between them, before she charged at Torchwick. She jumped onto Bumblebee's seat and launched herself over Neo's head. With a wide swing of her sniper-scythe, Ruby viciously cut across his front, his Aura being the only thing preventing her from slicing him open.

Torchwick stumbled backwards while Ruby landed, ready to strike again. Ruby pulled her scythe back and swung it at Torchwick again. With Torchwick acting as a distraction, Neo set off in a sprint, towards the cargo bay.

Only for Ruby to notice her the moment she passed by.

Ruby paused mid-swing. The tip of her scythe's blade abruptly halted at Torchwick's collar. Crescent Rose shifted into rifle form and Ruby fired a charged shot at Torchwick, which struck the centre of his torso and left him tumbling onto his back.

She hopped over Torchwick and began to chase Neo. She pulled the trigger several times, aiming Crescent Rose's muzzle directly at the back of Neo's head. But just when the first shot was about to reach her, Neo opened her umbrella, partially blocking Ruby's view of Neo and Weiss as it rebuffed her shots, from the first shot to the last. And Ruby could tell from the direction of Neo's feet that Neo still had her back turned to Ruby.

Neo was toying with Ruby – with Team RWBY. She had to be!

While Ruby bared her teeth at Neo, Torchwick rose to his feet behind her, and Blake darted across the pavement. Torchwick aimed his cane at Ruby, the girl's head in-between the crosshairs. He fired. Ruby's head turned as soon as she heard the shot, only to see Blake drift around Torchwick and skid to a stop in front of Ruby, the sheath from her multi-form weapon, Gambol Shroud, raised to block Torchwick's shot. Once the smoke from the explosive round began dispersing, Blake glanced over her shoulder at Ruby and both girls nodded at one another. Once the smoke cleared, Blake turned back to Torchwick, only to not see him standing where his shot had originated.

"I know this trick!" Ruby immediately grabbed Blake by the hand and spun on her heel. She pulled Blake along as she sprinted towards the ramp that led into the interior of the Bullhead. "He'll already be trying to airlift out of here!"

When they saw Torchwick again, Ruby had been right. He'd already escaped with Neo into the Bullhead. They presumed he'd already set off before his shot even reached them.

Torchwick stood in the interior, Neo by his side, with his eyes narrowed and an arrogant smirk plastered on his face. Weiss' slumped form lay flat on the floor in the far corner beside the entryway to the cockpit. Ruby assumed, from the position Weiss' body was in, that she'd been carelessly thrown back there. Both Ruby and Blake were glad that the door on the right side of the Bullhead, at the back, happened to be closed.

Ruby let go of Blake's hand as soon as the engines began to roar. When the engines on the ends of the wings began to light up, coming to life, she drifted across the concrete with a burst of speed, allowing Crescent Rose to extend into scythe form again. The jet engines swivelled and aligned vertically, propelling the Bullhead off the ground, albeit slowly. Ruby began to panic when the ramp began to tilt back upward.

Ruby leapt high into the air, forgetting Blake and Yang on the ground as she focused on getting Weiss back, regardless of whether the artefact was in the cargo bay with Weiss or not. With an uncharacteristic scowl, Ruby spun and fired a round from Crescent Rose, and in coordination with her Speed Semblance, she launched herself several feet above the Bullhead. She twirled – rather gracefully, she thought – during her quick descent and swung her scythe. The blade pierced the topside of the ramp, finding purchase in the metal, and the ramp stopped tilting, instead locking itself into a steady, horizontal platform.

On the ground, the remaining six of the original dozen White Fang members scattered around outside surrounded Blake, drawing their swords and guns as they came to form a circle around her.

Blake's katana folded over onto the hilt, forming the ballistic chain-scythe form of Gambol Shroud. Spinning on her heel, she cast the chain-scythe out towards one of them, and watched as the scythe and the ribbon attached to it, which acted as the chain, wrapped around his midriff. With a mighty heave and a wide spin, Blake majestically swung her arms and hauled the lackey off the ground, dragging him through the air and forcing him to collide and crash into the other ones, knocking them into each other like a line of dominoes while her foot drifted across the ground, steadying her spin. Once all six of them were laying on the ground, Blake released her chain-scythe and swivelled, tossing it towards Ruby. Her chain-scythe enveloped Ruby's midriff and secured itself in place, though the slight pull while it settled almost made Ruby's grip slip on Crescent Rose, causing Ruby to tighten her grip on her weapon.

Yang's fist collided with the cheek of the White Fang Lieutenant, throwing him off-balance. As he stumbled backward, holding his chainsaw low, Yang crouched and then lunged forward, throwing a rock-hard punch under his chin, and with the force of her punch, she launched him off the ground, making him drop his chainsaw in the process. And before he could hit the ground, Yang spun and fired an explosive round at him, which hit its mark and left Yang satisfied when she watched him fall through the smoke from the explosion and smack down on the concrete.

"Yang!" Blake called out. Yang's head snapped in Blake's direction. Blake pointed up at the Bullhead, with Ruby dangling from it. "They've got Weiss. Help me up there and I'll help Ruby while you keep this thing on the ground."

Without any hesitation, Yang nodded rapidly and rushed to stand behind Blake. Her left gauntlet glinted, the shine of a few small, golden flames dancing across the surface in waves. "Jump!" she yelled, and Blake leapt from one of her shadows. Yang jutted her fist out and launched a round at Blake.

The explosive round hit Blake's back and blasted her upward, aimed at the open door of the Bullhead and approaching it with incredible speed until she ended up flying above the platform. She somersaulted and bounced from the underside of the wing, landing smoothly with a slide on the platform, her sheath grazing the metal.

The moment she hopped to her feet, the bottom of Torchwick's cane flipped up and he fired at Blake.

The glowing bullet hit the centre of Blake's torso and sent her flying off the platform with an explosion, some black smoke, and a split-second gasping shriek. She was thankful her grip on Gambol Shroud's ribbon was strong and quickly recovered by hanging below Ruby, her chain-scythe still encased around her leader's midriff.

Yang leapt from the ground and fired a round from both gauntlets behind her, shooting herself upward, toward the nose of the Bullhead. After another blast from Ember Celica, Yang twirled and flipped onto the nose, her fist bashing into the metal to secure her landing. Standing up, Yang cocked her gauntlets and shot at the windows of the cockpit. The glass shattered and she fired again into the newly created space. An explosion erupted inside the cockpit and smoke began to filter out from the large hole in the windows, coupled with embers.

"Give Weiss back!" Ruby yelled, trying to aim a sharp glare at Torchwick.

"You mean that?" Roman asked, mocking Ruby in his tone, and pointed at Weiss with a quirk of his thumb.

Ruby pulled herself higher on her weapon and angled her head to see into the interior better. She caught Neo grabbing Weiss by her ponytail and tossing her towards the start of the platform, Weiss laying only feet away from Ruby's face. Clasping her hand around the tip of her umbrella, Neo approached Weiss, pulling a thin blade out from inside the staff. But as fascinated as Ruby was by Neo's weapon, she couldn't help but aim an even fiercer glare at Neo when she grabbed Weiss by her scalp and held the tip of her blade against Weiss' throat.

Then Yang's golden hair, alit with raging flames, entered her field of vision.

Yang slid across the top of the Bullhead while firing a number of explosive rounds along the length of the wing above them. The aircraft dipped, then rocked, and then performed a half-turn. Ruby winced when Blake's ribbon tightened around her, knowing how much Blake must be worrying about the Bullhead crashing into the ground below. Still, at least Ruby managed to catch Torchwick almost loosing his footing, but much to her chagrin, he managed to regain his balance just before Yang somersaulted overhead and dived towards the jet engine, her hair and fists creating trails of fire in her wake.

She struck the side of the top of the jet engine. Ruby and Blake watched as the resulting explosion swallowed Yang up in a bright flash of yellow, orange, and red. A brief trail of smoke followed Yang when she shot out of the blast. After Yang somersaulted onto the very top of the jet engine, she clasped her hands together before throwing them down to bash the metal. After creating a dent in it, Yang released her hands and slammed the metal with punch after punch after punch, each punch packing more firepower than the last. Eventually, she locked her arm back and thrust her flame-encased fist down on the metal. A wave of fire spread upon impact and dispersed into embers while a strong vibration rocketed down the engine. Then they all heard cracks snap open.

Yang slowly lifted her fist from the crater it had created and watched as large cracks grew and spread across the metal framing the engine, starting from the crater and eventually cracking at the bottom, disrupting the engine enough to cause an explosion in the underside.

The Bullhead proceeded to throw a wild, violent fit. The left side, their side of the Bullhead, dipped all of a sudden. The Bullhead spun once and then managed to reach halfway on its next spin when the aircraft tilted to the right, levelling the Bullhead. However, the Bullhead still shook, unsteady due to the damage done to both the wing and the engine.

When the Bullhead shook for a moment too long, Ruby gripped and pulled on her scythe more than she probably should have. Crescent Rose lost its sturdy grip on the platform and the blade sliced and slipped through the metal. Ruby and Blake fell from the aircraft.

Blake's chain-scythe unwrapped around Ruby, and in its place, Blake wrapped her arm around Ruby's midriff. Holding Ruby under her arm, Blake twirled and cast her chain-scythe at the underside of the open cargo bay door, watching the blade instantly find purchase in the metal. Blake leapt from her and Ruby's combined shadow, almost reaching the underside of the damaged wing.

Just before they landed on the platform, Blake let go of Ruby. Ruby's boots skidded on the metal while Blake steadily rolled onto the platform. They'd barely made it to their feet when they were attacked by Torchwick.

The first shot from Torchwick hit Ruby and sent her banging on the metal as she rolled, before she sprung off her fingertips and hopped to her feet, only half-way between the interior and the end of the platform. Meanwhile, the follow-up struck Blake's centre again and she crashed onto her back, but she managed to bounce off the palms of her hands and backflip into a standing position. Both girls dug their heels into the metal and stuck themselves there. Blake tugged her chain-scythe out of the metal of the open door and gripped the hilt so tightly her knuckles turned white. Ruby's hand tightened around the bolt handle on Crescent Rose.

Yang glided along the top of the Bullhead and slid through the broken windows of the cockpit, where she found a White Fang member half-hiding under the control panel while still keeping his grip on the control stick. With one hand on the control panel, she ducked down, before pulling her arm back and delivering a solid punch that made the back of his head bounce off the back wall underneath the control panel. Both hits were apparently enough to knock him clean out.

Satisfied, Yang stood back up and searched the floor for any large pieces of glass. She found three shards, all as long as her forearms, two of them thin and reminiscent of the blades of small swords, with the other one having more of a triangular shape. She picked up the two thin shards that looked like blades and held one in each hand, before she leapt back through the windows. Once her foot hit the metal of the nose, her foot twisted and she spun with it, hopping onto the top of the Bullhead and racing across it. She swerved onto the wing and slid along the topside. Then, she slammed her foot down in front of the engine and jumped, somersaulting over the top of the engine. She stabbed her glass shards through the gaps in two of the cracks, using her Aura to increase the durability and strength of the glass, which would allow her to use them as if they were actual blades.

With the muzzle of Ember Celica aimed towards the sky, Yang fired, launching herself downward at a rapid pace while she dragged the glass shards through the metal that ran down the side of the engine, tearing through it like a knife slicing through cake. Then when she reached the bottom, she viciously tore the shards through the underside, cutting into it before firing a round at the centre of the part that glowed.

The Bullhead dipped and spun again, no, twice—three times?!

Meanwhile, the fits and shakes grew more violent with each spin.

During the second spin, Blake lost her balance and tripped over her own feet. Her hair obscured her eyes and she instinctively clawed and waved her weapons at whatever was there in order to save herself, only to realise she'd failed when she felt herself drop from the platform. Ruby instantly closed Crescent Rose and clipped it onto her belt, scrambling, falling, and skidding on her front, before she caught Blake by the wrist. Ruby narrowly avoided falling from the Bullhead herself, the top half of her body hanging off the edge of the platform. Her heart raced a little when she heard something clatter, but when she turned her head to see what had caused the noise, she found that Neo had merely dropped her blade and now had her arm hooked through one of the handles on the handrail, her other hand now holding Weiss by her ponytail. Torchwick and his cane were nowhere in sight.

"YANG, BE CAREFUL!" Blake bellowed, hoping Yang could hear her, even amidst the chaos.

The Bullhead seemed to calm down from its most recent fit and the shakes stopped gradually. Ruby noted that they were a bit closer to the ground now than they had been, and the Bullhead was now tilting a bit to the right, not particularly noticeable if she hadn't observed the change. The Bullhead was most likely depending on the right wing and jet engine in order to stay in the air. But thankfully, they weren't getting any lower. Then she'd be worrying.

Then Ruby heard deliberately slow, noticeable footfalls gliding along the platform, heading towards her. She lifted her head, eyeing Torchwick over her shoulder as he approached her, cane aimed directly at her head. "I can't believe the stupidity I'm seeing," he remarked with a shake of his head. Ruby's right-handed grip on Blake's wrist tightened whilst her left hand subtly crept under her cape to hold Crescent Rose. "A little word of advice, Red. Don't try and play the hero to save someone who could've saved themselves. Otherwise," the crosshair cover on his cane flipped open, "you'll learn to regret it."

A click from her weapon and a flap of her cape and suddenly Ruby had the muzzle of Crescent Rose's rifle form pressed against Torchwick's abdomen, her index finger laid on the trigger. Torchwick's eyes widened, momentarily taken aback. Good. Ruby used his moment of shock to switch targets and fire a charged shot at Neo, who'd just dropped down from the handrails after recovering from the Bullhead's fit. The shot hit Neo directly in the chest, which sent her crashing into the far corner of the interior, prompting her to drop Weiss. As soon as her back hit the corner, she shattered into glass, reappearing when she skidded out of the cockpit and halted in the interior.

After throwing a glance back at Neo, Torchwick bared his teeth at Ruby and pulled his arm back, about to hit her with his cane. Crescent Rose folded open and she whacked Torchwick's legs with the staff during its shift into scythe form. He stumbled backward and staggered into the interior while Ruby took the opportunity to pull Blake's hand up.

"Hold on to the door and don't let go," Ruby told her. Blake nodded and blew her hair out of her eyes. With one hand, Blake stabbed the blade of her katana into the topside of the platform and rested her other arm, with the sheath, on the metal.

Ruby hauled herself away from the edge and swiftly dived into the interior with a burst of speed. She grabbed Weiss and bounced from the closed door on the far end of the interior, the right side of the Bullhead, and with Weiss on her shoulder, she spun into a red blur and shot past Torchwick, dodging under his arm when he swung his cane at her. She burst out of the blur and skidded to a halt near the edge of the platform, leaving no time for her to react when Torchwick launched a single merciless shot at her.

The shot hit her chest and she blasted off the platform, flying away from the Bullhead in a brilliant flash of smoke, embers, and rose petals.

Blake dislodged her katana from the metal and tossed it towards Ruby while the blade folded over. The ribbon wound steadily around Ruby's midriff again before the scythe secured its hold. As she pulled Ruby towards her, she stabbed her sheath into the metal, in lieu of the katana. Ruby hung below Blake, carrying Weiss on one shoulder, her scythe in her other hand.

When the Bullhead suddenly tilted more to the right for one moment, the edge of the platform pressing uncomfortably against Blake's abdomen. Both Ruby and Blake shared a fearful glance and hoped Yang wouldn't end up killing them all in her rage. Then they heard a series of bangs, something strong repeatedly clashing against metal, enough to crack the metal several times over.

Yang slammed her fists down on the middle part of the wing, forming fist-sized craters littered in cracks with each punch. She thrust her fist down on one of the craters, her eyes widening when her fist crashed through it, into the metal. Then her eyes narrowed and she grinned. She pulled her fist out and cocked her Ember Celica before she fired into the hole she'd made.

A large explosion occurred on the right side of the Bullhead. Blake's and Ruby's eyes widened when they saw smoke and embers rising from the right side of the Bullhead, coming from the direction of the wing.

The Bullhead suffered a frenzy much worse than anything that had come before it.

It started when the Bullhead suddenly dipped, forcing Neo and Torchwick's feet off the floor of the interior. Ruby gasped while Blake internally panicked, pulling her leader closer to her. Then, before Neo and Torchwick would have hit the floor, the Bullhead violently spun and threw itself left and right, bashing the duo between the entryway to the cockpit and the back wall of the interior. Then the Bullhead rolled in the air and Ruby and Blake let out simultaneous gasping shrieks as they spun with it. Neo and Torchwick were thrown in circles, smacking against the walls, the floor, and the ceiling as if they were clothes in a washing machine.

Then, a black box with faint streaks, which gave the appearance of veins, clattered along the floor of the interior, towards the platform. The clasp that kept the lid sealed shut seemed to be coming undone, and when it hit the platform, the clasp broke and the lid opened. Blake's eyes widened when she recognised the device that rolled out of the box and onto the platform.

The artefact.

It matched Ruby's brief and somewhat vague description, to a degree. It was a small black cube, which didn't seem painted, with white veins and crystals of various colours. Powdered Dust filled the veins to the brim, Blake was sure of it. A small, circular-shaped crystal decorated each face of the cube, each crystal a different colour. They were Dust crystals, no doubt, personally cut, with the centre of the faces carved to fit them in and a gold brace surrounding the edges of each crystal in order to secure them in. The cube itself – not counting the Dust veins or the crystals – had been built with some kind of technology, like Ruby had said, but Blake didn't recognise the type.

The Bullhead shook and dipped again, this time towards the left. The artefact bounced across the platform and sprung away from the Bullhead, over Blake's head and in the middle of Crescent Rose's wingspan. Slight panic ensued when Blake and Ruby realised neither of their hands were free to catch the artefact, nor could Ruby run the risk of potentially damaging it by trying to catch it on her scythe.

When Neo and Torchwick realised the box was open and the artefact was gone, Torchwick's eyes bulged and he moved as if to sprint out of the Bullhead, but Neo stayed calm. She swiftly stuffed her blade back into her umbrella and pulled him back, holding her arm out in front of him. She had better chance of catching that artefact than Torchwick did. She knew so herself. So, Neo left Torchwick's side and made her way out of the Bullhead, making a point to stomp on Blake's hand, holding her sheath, when she jumped. But, as soon as she opened her umbrella to slow her descent, she suddenly caught a glimpse of Yang's appearance in the corner of her eye, the girl propelling herself towards Neo from the end of the Bullhead. She knew she had no choice but to utilise her Illusion Semblance. And so, as soon as Yang swung her fist at Neo's face and struck her, Neo's image shattered and shards fell out of the air.

Yang didn't mind, nor did she care. If she'd learnt anything from her previous encounter with Neo on the train, Neo had a habit of using her illusions to escape a fight, so it wasn't unexpected.

And then she twirled uncontrollably and started plummeting toward the ground below.

"Yang!" Blake called out to her as she stared at Yang's falling figure. She pulled herself up and crawled onto the platform, turning her head back to the Bullhead to see if the box was still in the same place as before. Instead, she found Torchwick holding the now closed box in his other hand while he had the muzzle of his cane aimed directly at her face. When she lifted her head, the barrel sat only an inch or two from the skin between her two eyes.

He fired.

She'd never been more thankful for her Aura.

Blake's sheath sliced through the metal as she shot from the platform, sheath gripped iron-clad. She blinked rapidly when she found herself twirling, but recovered just as she started a nosedive. In haste, Blake yanked Ruby towards her and moved her onto her shoulder, releasing her chain-scythe again and instead casting it at Yang, her chain-scythe securing itself around her team partner's torso. She pulled Yang towards her.

Blake and Yang collided with one another, Blake feeling her back hit Yang's bosom whilst one of Yang's arms wrapped around her waist. Ruby closed and clipped Crescent Rose onto her belt before she hooked both of her arms around Weiss' back. In the process, she felt the fingers on her left hand graze the corner of what felt like a cube, if only for a split-second.

When she realised she'd touched the artefact, she didn't waste a second in grabbing it. Though, she'd be lying if she said she didn't immediately regret it, especially when her left-handed hold on it appeared to make it malfunction, if she were to guess.

The artefact started to emit multiple colours through the gaps between Ruby's fingers. Rays of different colours, reminiscent of the varying types of Dust, shone over the yard and the buildings surrounding the warehouses. The rays of colours reminded Yang of lights at a disco or nightclub.

But this was neither.

Ruby, Blake, nor Yang could describe exactly what happened to the artefact next: only that a white veil enveloped it and a blindingly white light radiated through the gaps of Ruby's hand and it sparkled with silver embers and miniature snowflakes. Then the white veil morphed and curved and flashed brighter as it grew big enough to encompass all four girls. Silver sparks of electricity sputtered across the surface of the apparent sphere as the light swallowed up each member of Team RWBY.

Eren Jaeger

"What?! The hell you mean you're joining the Scouts?!"

It was a beautiful last day of training for the 104th Cadet Corps, with the sunny weather and clear skies always being a treat for anyone on duty on the walls. Today, everyone that stood atop the wall had been tasked with cannon maintenance, though some were daringly shirking their duties in favour of making conversation with one another.

Eren was one such cadet who'd paused his routine cleaning of one of the cannons. The sudden confession of his friend Connie had been quite a shock, to say the least, and he stared at the shorter boy beside him with widened eyes.

"What happened to the MP? That was your whole thing!" Eren inquired, putting down the cleaning stick he'd been using to clean the inside of the cannon. He stepped out from behind it, figuring he'd get back to his task later, but for now he'd lost all interest in the cannon and needed something to sate his boredom. Plus, he needed to know why the hell Connie had decided to join the Scouts along with him. He didn't recall Connie being as 'suicidal' as himself. In fact, throughout the three years of training they'd endured since they met, Connie had been much on the opposite side, yet he'd never really judged Eren about his desire to join the Scouts or treated him the same way Jean did because of it.

As it stood, only the top ten graduates from each Cadet Corps could join the Military Police. Connie had come 8th in the top ten. Eren himself ended up in 5th place. On their first day of training, three years ago, Connie was one of the many cadets who'd shamelessly admitted his desire to join the MPs and live within the safety of the remaining two walls, Wall Rose and Wall Sina. Particularly Wall Sina, since that happened to be where most of the MPs were stationed. Wall Rose tended to be more-so the territory of the Garrison and Scout regiments.

"Don't worry about it. A guy's allowed to change his mind, okay?" Connie attempted to play off as he tilted his face even further away from Eren.

"I think your speech yesterday lit a fire under him." Mina approached the two, holding her hands together. She stopped behind Eren, to his right, with a small smile on her face.

"Ain't nobody talking to you! His temper tantrum had nothing to do with it!" Connie retorted while he turned his head to face Eren and Mina. His cheeks were slightly puffed out and painted with a light blush.

Eren blinked, his brows raised. He didn't see that every day.

"Take it easy," Thomas called out when he arrived on the scene, "it's not like you're the only one." he mused with a slight chuckle, scratching his cheek with his index finger. A spot of pink dusted his cheeks as well.

"What? Are you serious?" Eren asked, unable to comprehend why, just why, they would have listened to him. After all, he earned the nickname Suicidal Bastard for good reason! Well, not true reason, but good reason, if he looked at it from everyone else's perspective. Some called him brave, some attested to his courage but then added words like reckless, crazy, and stupid, and some accused him of having a death wish because they very seriously thought his life's aspiration was really to end up as Titan food.

Well, at least it would prepare them for the day he actually ended up in a Titan's stomach, but hopefully that day would never come.

Eren didn't get a response from the others. It took him an extra second to realise that they had been interrupted by Sasha's arrival.

"Guys, can you keep a secret?"

While they stared at Sasha expectantly, Eren noted that a bit of saliva hung at the corner of her lips. She held something close to her chest, her other hand gripping her jacket, trying to hide whatever she had in her hand. Her breaths were faint but deep and a dark shade of pink stained her cheeks. Eren found it likely that she'd been exerting herself without her ODM Gear. Either that, or she'd experienced a bit of a high upon retrieving whatever she was holding under her jacket, and the high hadn't worn off yet. Or, knowing Sasha, perhaps both were the case.

"'Cause I totally just helped myself to the officer's pantry." Sasha pulled her jacket open and unveiled a bundle of meat wrapped with string.

Their jaws dropped. Eren heard a few horrified gasps, including one he let slip from his own mouth.

Meat was a rare delicacy inside the walls. Only the rich and the otherwise privileged would have access to it, and even then, they wouldn't see meat regularly on their plates either. The cadets did get to eat meat themselves sometimes, but that was only during special occasions such as festivals, or when anyone had enough free time to go hunting for animals and make dinner for themselves.

If someone found out that Sasha had stolen the meat from the supplies, then not only would she be in trouble, but everyone else caught helping themselves to a bite along with her would suffer similar punishments.

"Sasha! They could throw your butt in the clink for that!" Eren was the first to scold her.

As willing as Eren was to admit that Sasha had guts, she'd proven herself time and time again to be quite reckless and horrifyingly daring whenever food was involved in any situation. Ever since their first day, when she'd been caught eating a potato during introductions, she'd struck Eren as the type that lived by her own instincts and damned the consequences. And for the most part, especially on occasions like this, she really didn't help her case.

"Seriously, what is wrong with you?" Thomas asked, seeming rather exasperated.

"What isn't wrong with her?" Connie rose to his feet, having previously been kneeling beside another cannon.

"It'll be fine. I'm willing to share," Sasha said, and Eren would swear he noticed a shiver travel along her body. "Oh... can you imagine the sandwiches?" She giggled with euphoria, her hyper state causing her to tremble.

"Put it back!" Connie demanded as he edged a foot forward.

"Yeah! Do you have any idea how rare meat's been since the Titans took Wall Maria?" Mina inquired, though she sounded more like she was simply shouting.

If Eren recalled correctly, as much as meat was a delicacy, there really wasn't much of it to go around, especially after the Colossal Titan first appeared five years ago outside the Shiganshina District, Eren's former home. After the inner gate that led inside the rest of Wall Maria had been shattered to little more than rubble by the Armoured Titan, the whole wall had been left behind, as was everything and everyone that couldn't be saved. Farms and cattle were among the losses, along with the entire stretch of land inside Wall Maria. Additionally, there weren't as many farms inside Wall Rose as there had been inside Wall Maria, and there were less farms inside Wall Sina than in Wall Rose, due to the lessening amount of space between each wall. The lack of space meant less farmland and areas for animals and crops to be developed, and thus, meat became somewhat of a rarity.

"Um, little bit, yeah." Sasha nodded her head. She headed over to an ammunition crate that sat in-between two of the cannons and knelt down in front of it. Opening the lid, she carefully placed the bundle of fresh meat inside. "Just look at it this way: pretty soon, we'll take back all the room we need for livestock."

There was a moment of silence from the rest of them as Sasha closed the lid and patted the wood with her hand.

Suddenly, the air picked up around them, and Eren felt some kind of static originate around him. Glancing at everyone else, he caught one of Thomas' hands twitching and a slight breeze appearing to blow through Sasha's hair and filter through Mina's.

Above their heads, silver bolts of electricity flickered in a sort of spherical pattern, followed by silver embers and flames, spinning as if creating a sphere around something that didn't seem to be there. Then, small snowflakes sparkled and formed a pattern on the surface that looked like lace, and then more snowflakes appeared and joined the embers as they headed towards the centre and collided endlessly while a translucent white sphere formed, flickering as it grew bigger. Then, rays of varying colours seeped through the outside patterns of snowflakes and electricity and flames and embers, tracing random sequences of colours across the wall, creating somewhat of a spectral sight as the rays shone down in every direction – most notably, on some of the cadets, across the Trost District and along the land and the Titans outside the walls.

"What the hell...?" Eren asked, arching a brow as his upper lip twitched and his eyes narrowed. He raised his hand to shield his face when a scarlet ray shone over him. When it passed and he lowered his hand, he found that the sphere had grown to the width of the wall, big enough to fit him and the other cadets with him inside it and still have enough room for a few more people. What is that?

Mumbles escaped the mouths of the recruits around him, but he couldn't hear them well due to the static surrounding him and his friends. And even then, he'd already drowned out their somewhat muffled words in favour of discovering what this spectacle had to offer.

He inwardly cursed himself for his almost insatiable curiosity when he found himself reaching out his hand to touch the lace-patterned surface of the sphere. To his surprise, his hand slipped through, almost as if the surface didn't exist. He paused for a split-second, then slowly moved his hand further into the light in the centre, watching as his fingertips disappeared into the light, then his entire hand. But when he felt a smaller and more feminine hand grab his, their fingers interlocked, and he reflexively yanked his hand all the way out of the sphere.

Four feminine figures dropped out.

One girl, with one of her hands holding Eren's, dropped on him, causing Eren to lose his balance as he tried to catch her with his other hand and failed. He toppled backwards and landed on his back, almost winding himself as his back hit the concrete.

"Ow!" she muttered, her voice somewhat high-pitched but not unpleasant.

She wasn't heavy, but she also wasn't quite as light as her diminutive frame would've led him to believe. She shuffled in place for a second, her hips and somewhat wide skirt lightly hitting his ODM Gear. She mumbled something into the leather covering his shoulders that muffled what she'd said.

"Can you please get up? It's kinda hard to breathe with you almost crushing my chest," Eren told her, admittedly a little more demanding than he wanted to sound, in spite of being short of breath.

She froze at the sound of his voice, then raised her head, lifting her face from where it dug into his shoulder, and she blinked rapidly before her gaze settled on his face and their eyes met for a brief, awkward moment. After she released her hold on his hand, she planted her palms on the ground by either side of his chest in order to prop herself up. Glancing away, she moved off Eren and knelt in front of him, while Eren planted his palms on the concrete and pushed himself into an upright sitting position. He stopped and leant on his hands when he heard her suddenly hit the concrete. He looked up to find that she'd propped herself up on her right hand, leaning on it for support while she sat there, unmoving for a moment.

Eren took the moment to examine her appearance. Of course, just so he could gauge exactly how much different they looked. And because he was curious to see exactly what she was carrying and how much her style would be better than his when he didn't have to wear his military uniform.

Her short black hair with faint crimson streaks contrasted her pale white complexion and her silver eyes, which reminded Eren of Captain Levi, Humanity's Strongest Soldier, who happened to have a similar eye colour as far as Eren had seen of him. Her black turtleneck blouse appeared to have a ruffled crimson collar protruding from underneath, and hugging her midriff over the top of the blouse was what looked like a black corset with red lacing crossing down her abdomen. Crimson frills adorned the ends of her long sleeves, surrounding her wrists. A dark grey belt, fastened around her hips and resting at the top of her skirt, carried a pouch and a silver emblem that looked like a rose. Crimson trimmings that struck Eren as being reminiscent of rose petals decorated the edge of her skirt and underneath the skirt as well. A pair of black boots coated with red on the soles reached her calves, red lacing crossing down the front and a crimson silk-like fabric adorning the rim, with black tights comforting the length of each leg. The last thing Eren noticed was two small silver crosses on her shoulders that held in place a crimson cape with a hood, the cape wrapped around her shoulders.

As otherworldly as her outfit was, though, it didn't really compare to the large metal object that laid on the ground beside them, at least when he realised it was there. The frame of it was coated rose red, apparently painted and somehow in pristine condition, with black trimmings to add. It also seemed to be quite big, which was rather unnerving, given that it seemed to be hiding something within it. If Eren had to guess, this hunk of metal could most likely transform or unfold into something bigger, and he'd bet on it being a large weapon. And even if he didn't know that, the object still gave Eren the distinct impression of being heavy to hold, and he discovered he was correct when his hands reached for it and he grabbed it, using a bit more effort than he was willing to admit he needed to lift it off the ground. His arms trembled with the weight as he held it out to the girl.

"Hey, did you drop this?" Eren asked, watching as her head snapped upward. She blinked at Eren, then her gaze lowered, settling on the sight of the hunk of coloured metal in his hands.

Her eyes brightened and she looked up at Eren and nodded somewhat happily. Then, without saying so much as a word, she pushed herself to her feet and grabbed the weird hunk of metal, lifting it out of Eren's hands with surprising ease. Eren watched while she gently clipped it to the back of her belt, underneath her cape. "Thanks. I thought something was missing from me. Didn't realise I'd dropped it," she admitted as she braved a slight smile. Her voice wasn't as high-pitched as he'd expected it to be, in comparison to how she sounded only moments ago. "Anyway, I'm really sorry about landing on you and all. I didn't hurt you, did I? Besides almost crushing your ribcage, I mean." She leant forward, holding her hand out to Eren, offering to help him up.

His eyes trailed from her face, to her hand, to her face again, and then back to her hand before his hand clasped around hers. "Uh, no, not really," Eren answered once she pulled him to his feet, finding the girl to be around 5'2", roughly five inches shorter than him. Not that it mattered, though; it was just an observation. "What was that, anyway?" he asked after she let go of his hand and he dusted himself off.

"I think that might've been my fault. My team and I were on a mission to get back a stolen artefact, and something went wrong and last I remember, I'd caught it, it was in my hand—" She cut herself off when she seemed to realise something important, and she held out her open hands and glanced between each one. Then her head turned and she examined her person in haste. She pivoted in many directions as her eyes scoured over her surroundings. "I could've sword I had it. I watched it malfunction when I caught it," she muttered to herself. Eren watched as she then blinked and her face scrunched up in confusion. Her brows furrowed while she pursed her lips, turning her body to face the Trost District, and she cupped her chin between her finger and thumb. "How did we end up here? Surely a malfunction couldn't have teleported us to a place like this. Places like this aren't part of Remnant's architectural structures, not even from the past. And—"

"Are you okay?" Eren edged forward a step, but stopped when she carried on as if she didn't realise he was still there.

"—knowing that, it's possible we aren't in Remnant anymore. But why would that artefact send us here, of all places? Unless—"

"Hey." Eren surprised himself with how stern he sounded, and he felt guilty about spooking the girl as soon as her head snapped up again and her widened eyes met his. He attempted to disregard the feeling. "You said you had a team, right?" he asked, trying to distract himself, and hopefully distract her along with him.

She blinked and her jaw opened and closed and she almost jumped out of her skin upon her realisation. "Oh! Yeah, you're right, sorry." She suddenly spun on her heel, turning her back to Eren. Eren stepped forward, standing beside her, and followed the direction of her gaze.

The sphere they'd dropped out of seemed to be losing control. The lace-like patterns on the surface sped up and Eren didn't know how he'd missed that the rays of colours had disappeared, as had the static sensation that had surrounded him when the strange sphere first appeared. Bright rays of light suddenly shone through the surface rapidly until the sphere seemed to burst, creating a sight reminiscent of a firework display. Snowflakes sparkled while embers spread in all directions. Then, the snowflakes and embers dissipated.

"Whoa..." Eren and the girl beside him simultaneously breathed out.

"Oh, right, my team." She suddenly jumped.

Eren nodded and looked back down, his gaze coursing across the top of the wall. He found the other three girls that had dropped into this world, each on top of a cadet. One on Thomas, one on Connie, and one on Mina. They all seemed to be dressed equally as weirdly as the girl stood next to him, but their clothes were still more vibrant than the dull and boring colours of his uniform. Maybe he should take some pointers now that he had the chance and see what he could pick up from their various styles.

The first thing Eren noted was that the girl on top of Mina seemed to be unconscious, but even so, she gave off a vibe of elegance. Her pale complexion matched her abnormally long white hair, which, despite being tied into a ballerina bun at the side with a ponytail poking through the centre, still reached past her hips. A piece of silver that looked like a tiara with icicle-shaped points held her ponytail in place inside the bun. Eren also noted a crooked scar running down her closed left eye. Her dress reached her thighs and seemed to be strapless, with a faint colour gradation from white to pale blue at the hem, where Eren could also see the white frills of an underskirt. Over the top of her dress she wore a bell-sleeved jacket left open down the front, with the same colour gradation of white to pale blue from shoulder to wrist, lined in red with a ruffled collar and a crest reminiscent of a snowflake embroidered in white on the back. A thin white sash, wrapped around her hips, had a silver pouch attached to the back, and on her left side, she carried a rather fancy weapon with a revolver chamber that appeared to hold the same colours as the rays that had previously been shining. Some sort of trigger sat beside the crossguard, too. Additionally, her silver boots with wedged heels were lined in red.

The fair-skinned young woman laid on Connie seemed to be barely waking up while a black bow strangely twitched atop her head. Wavy black hair cascaded down her back, ending near her hips. She narrowly opened her eyes, revealing golden irises, while faint lilac eyeshadow decorated the upper corners of her eyes. Her neck was wrapped with a small, loose black scarf, which seemed to rest on her high-necked and cropped white undershirt. On top, a black vest with coattails, with a grey magnetic backpack strapped to her back, partially hidden under her hair. A zipper trailed down each leg of her white shorts, and her full stockings had a more distinct colour gradation of black to purple at her ankles, where Eren found her wearing black low-heeled boots on her feet. Below the edge of her shorts, Eren also noticed what appeared to be a belladonna flower embroidered in white on the outside of each leg. Black ribbons wrapped around both of her forearms and wrists and even covered the backs of her hands, while a silver cuff on her bicep held a detached black sleeve in place on her left arm. Additionally, in one of her clenched fists was another black ribbon that led Eren's eyes to the other young woman laid on Thomas.

The young woman laid atop Thomas was also quite fair-skinned. Her head of bright golden hair, although worn loose, cascaded like a waterfall down her back, and her lilac irises were strange to Eren, as he'd never seen someone with such an extraordinary eye colour before. Her orange scarf rested above a low-cut yellow crop top with a black crest resembling a burning heart on her left breast, partially hidden by a tan jacket that exposed her midriff, with short puffy sleeves with black cuffs. Eren found the rest of the black ribbon wrapped around the blonde's waist. Fastened around the blonde's hips, her brown belt carried a brown buckle, pouch, and a small banner that hung near the side, with a pleated brown skirt attached around the back and an asymmetrical white back skirt that draped down to her right knee. A pair of black mini-shorts hugged her pelvis and the start of her thighs, while her feet sat in brown knee-high boots and two orange over-the-knee socks that were mismatched, with her right sock pushed down just below the knee and a purple piece of fabric tied around her left knee. Then, Eren noticed a pair of yellow gauntlets covering her wrists and forearms, which quickly transformed and folded into two golden bracelets and revealed that on her hands, she wore fingerless black gloves.

They were otherworldly, alright. No-one in this world would wear such outlandish clothing and carry such bizarre weaponry without fear of it getting stolen, meaning he'd probably expect them to be a bit more subtle with their arsenal and accessories. And given that the remainder of humanity were cooped away behind Wall Rose, Wall Sina, and down in the Underground, the thought that they had been from some part of the world outside the walls, perhaps another country given what the girl next to him had said about a place called Remnant, was quickly dismissed. After all, the entire world – or so they say – is populated with hordes of Titans. Has been for over a hundred years. Eren doubted any sort of idea that these girls originated from across the oceans far outside the abandoned Wall Maria.

Yet, what had caused of the appearance of that strange sphere of light?

And why were these girls dropped here, of all places?

The more he thought about the situation, the more questions he ended up with and the less answers he had. He couldn't understand. But he did know that the girl seemed to be wondering the same things and asking herself the same questions.

"Weiss!" Eren jumped out of his skin upon hearing the girl beside him softly shout. Glancing towards her, he realised that he still hadn't asked for her name, nor had he introduced himself to her. He blinked and his eyes widened when she put a step forward, about to move towards the unconscious girl laid on top of Mina.

"Wait!" Eren reached out and grabbed her upper arm. She stopped and turned her head, angling her head upward as she stared at him over her shoulder. But in spite of the awkwardness he'd caused, he didn't let go. "Sorry, it's just that I realised we don't even know each other's names yet. Who are you, exactly?" Eren inquired, trying to keep his tone gentle to avoid scaring her.

They were interrupted when the unconscious girl, apparently called Weiss, started to stir, mumbling incoherently. Her eyelids fluttered and opened to narrow slits, revealing a pair of striking blue eyes that reminded Eren of his friend Armin. Weiss groaned and held her forehead, before shaking her head and baring her teeth, her mouth set in a slight scowl. Her eyes snapped wide open and her upper body shot upright: "NEO!"

Don't lose focus. The girl in front of you, what's her name?

Eren's eyes trailed back to the girl, whose arm he still had in his grasp, and was somewhat relieved to see her eyeing him. Their eyes met and she stood there for a second, unmoving, before she blinked once, twice, several times, and her mouth dropped open. "O-Oh! My name's Ruby. Ruby Rose," she answered, pivoting to face him fully while he let go of her arm. "But you can just call me Crater Face—" Ruby paused and scratched the back of her head. "Actually, just call me Ruby..." she trailed off, lowering her head and averting her eyes.

"Okay..." Eren drawled. To hell with it, he may as well tell her his nickname too. It was only fair, and would probably make them both feel less awkward. "Well, my name's Eren Jaeger, although some call me Suicidal Bastard." Eren divulged with a careless shrug of his shoulders.

"Ah..." Ruby's lips curled into an insecure smile as she breathed a sigh of relief. "Nice to meet you, then." Ruby nodded at him, before throwing a glance over her shoulder at the young blonde woman and the one wearing the bow. Then her eyes met Eren's again. "You don't mind if I help Weiss, do you—?" With a quirk of her thumb, she pointed towards Mina and Weiss.

"Huh? Oh, her—yeah, no, no, go and see how your friend's holding up. Don't let me stop you."

A dry laugh left Ruby's lips and she smiled, nodding her head. "Thanks!"

In the blink of an eye, Ruby shot off in a crimson blur, leaving red rose petals in her wake, along with a breeze. Eren waved the rose petals away from his face. When he saw Ruby again, she sat crouched beside her friend Weiss, one arm wrapped around her shoulders while she hooked her other hand under Weiss' legs. After Ruby lifted her off of Mina, she set Weiss down again on the concrete and pulled her arm out from under Weiss' legs, instead opting to rest her hand on the back of one of Weiss' hands.

Weiss slowly tilted her head, blinking at Ruby almost as if she was in a daze. Ruby moved her arm behind Weiss' back to keep her steady. "Ruby...? Where are we?"

"I don't know yet. But... but you're safe now, okay?" Ruby's smiled and tilted her head, rubbing circles into Weiss' shoulder with her thumb.

Weiss sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, shaking her head. "I remember getting knocked out by that..."

"You're safe now, Weiss," Ruby repeated just as reassuringly, but her smile soon faltered. Her eyes flicked toward Eren. "Hey, Eren, can you tell us where we are?"

Weiss followed Ruby's gaze and her eyes met Eren's.

His shoulders hunched.

Those eyes pierced through him and left him frozen. They intimidated him, judged him for things he didn't even know he'd done or not. He averted his eyes, trying to look anywhere else but Weiss, and instead his gaze landed on Ruby. She smiled at him, slightly more secure than before.

A thought, more like a realisation, hit him. And it seemed strange to him. It would seem even stranger to anyone else if he'd said it aloud, but Eren had come to be weirded out by it, and yet comforted at the same time.

He'd only just met Ruby, but already he could see that she didn't seem to want to cause him any harm, despite the fact that she was an outsider. A literal otherworldly stranger. By all accounts, any outsider who'd just ended up in a foreign place would have likely attacked them, maybe attempt to overpower them as they tried to gain information about where they'd ended up. Like in some of the books that Armin reads, or used to. A lack of understanding probably would've caused a fight by now, maybe even casualties given the weapons these girls had, which could easily slice and dice them.

But he trusted his judgement of character. If Ruby didn't seem to be a threat, and neither did her teammates, why outcast them?

He made his way over to Ruby and Weiss and extended his hand towards Ruby. "Well, sure, I can explain as best I can. But before I do, can you tell me where you're from first? You mentioned a place called Remnant while you were talking to yourself earlier."

"I guess that would be kind of important to know, huh?" Ruby's eyes darted between Eren's hand and his eyes. Once she met his eyes again, she continued: "Remnant's not so much a place, rather it's the name of the world we came from. Specifically, we were previously in a part of Remnant called Vale." Ruby explained as her hand, which had been resting on Weiss' shoulder, moved into Eren's open hand. He slowly and carefully pulled them up from the ground. When they got to their feet, Ruby still continued to hold Weiss, even though she seemed fine enough to stand on her own. "Until now," Ruby carried on, "we were on a mission to get back a stolen artefact, as I said earlier. And then, while we were on our way to get it—"

"Neo separated me from the group when I got tired. We fought, she beat me, then kidnapped me." Weiss cut in, glancing at Ruby.

"Then, when we got to the place where the operation was and we saw that Weiss had been kidnapped, Blake and I might've gotten a bit angry and decided to go after Torchwick and Neo, and then we had a battle in the air because they were in an aircraft with Weiss and the artefact. And then Yang destroyed one of the engines and then wrecked the other wing and the whole plan went downhill from there."

"That's what happened?" Weiss asked, her tone rather curt. Blunt, even.

Ruby blinked a few times before she nodded her head. "Yeah. I'm pretty sure Blake and I even forgot about the artefact until the box Torchwick had kept it in opened and it fell out."

"Of the box or the aircraft?"

"Both."

Weiss shook her head and pressed her palm to her face. "Should've known."

Eren would be lying if he said he understood half of that, but he didn't want to test Weiss' patience any more than the outcome of Ruby's story appeared to have done, so he kept his mouth shut. At the very least, he'd managed to put two and two together and realised that Blake and Yang would be the other two on top of Thomas and Connie.

Then in his peripheral, Eren noticed Mina get to her feet and stand beside him. Both girls looked towards her and she smiled as she faced them. "Since you've already met Eren and you're stuck here with us now until you can find a way back to your world, it'd probably be best for us to get to know each other. My name's Mina Carolina," Mina gladly introduced herself with a polite smile. "I'm the one you landed on, if that helps you remember me." Eren saw Mina's eyes flick towards Weiss.

"That was you? Sorry about that." Weiss averted her eyes for a second, but met Mina's eyes again with a smile. "Well, this girl is my team partner, Ruby, and I'm Weiss Schnee, heiress of—"

"Ow..." one of the two young women groaned, cutting Weiss off. Craning his neck, Eren looked towards the origin of the sound and caught a glimpse of the one wearing the bow shaking her head and placing a hand on her forehead. She pressed her palm between her eyes and briefly stayed like that, wincing at the pain, until she opened her eyes again and realised the position she'd ended up in. Connie's ODM Gear softly smacked against her hips and her arms laid next to either side of his head. Her chin sat on his shoulder. His hands were gently grasping her shoulders as he muttered incoherently. With a gasp, she scrambled to her feet and stumbled back a few steps. "I'm sorry! I didn't hurt you or anything, did I?" She asked, holding her hand out for Connie as an apologetic look adorned her face.

"N-No, no—it's—it's okay!" Connie stuttered helplessly, his face illuminated scarlet. Hell, he almost looked like he was glowing! He shakily took her hand, allowing her to pull him to his feet.

"Blake!" The blonde waved her hand high. Her voice sounded rather strained, almost as if she was holding her breath or unable to breathe. "A bit tight on the waist, don't you think?"

"Oh—uh, sorry about that, Yang," responded the one wearing the bow, now identified as Blake. With only a slight tug, the ribbon unwrapped from the blonde's, Yang's, midriff, and something that looked like a weapon landed in Blake's hand. To Eren, the weapon looked like a some kind of gun with a blade on top, the blade almost giving the weapon the look of a small scythe. However, the blade unfolded and shifted upward to form a thin sword, black in colour, with the gun acting as the hilt. Blake then proceeded to slip the sword inside what Eren assumed was a sheath, which formed a bigger sword that Blake planted on her back. She turned back to Connie, only for him to immediately tense up under her gaze. Blake's lips curled into a small, soft smile. "Again, sorry about that. My name's Blake Belladonna. What's your name?"

"Uh—C-Connie! My name's Connie Springer!" Connie immediately bowed in front of Blake, which appeared to take her off-guard. She took a step back and raised her arms halfway, her palms flat out and aimed at a downward angle, toward Connie's boots. Sasha chuckled at the sight.

"Well, uh... nice to meet you, Connie..." Blake's eyes wandered away from Connie, Eren's gaze briefly meeting hers. She shared glances with Ruby and Weiss, her smile widening. She dropped one arm by her side, raised her other arm and waved at them, which only Ruby returned with a wave of her own. Connie seemed to have regained his composure as best he could, which Eren guessed Blake noticed. She blinked, briefly eyed Connie over her shoulder, and then turned her head away, observing her surroundings. And when she seemed to have taken in as much as she could, her gaze wandered and landed on Sasha, who stood beside Connie as she tried to stop herself from giggling, amused by the look on Connie's face every time they took quick peeks at one another. "Um..." Blake pursed her lips, glancing questioningly at the portion of stone directly beside her foot. Her eyes met Sasha's. "What's your name?" She attempted to smile with a tilt of her head.

"Oh! Sasha! I'm Sasha Braus. It's a pleasure to meet you!" Sasha nearly shouted, straightening her posture like Connie had done.

"Please, relax. There's need to stand like that for us. You act like we're people of authority," Blake mused but waved her hands reassuringly. "Anyway, if we're introducing ourselves, over there is my team partner, Yang Xiao Long, and the two talking to your friends are Ruby and Weiss."

Eren's eyes trailed over to Yang and he watched as she crawled off of Thomas and knelt on one knee beside him. She planted her hand on her knee. "Hey, sorry if I almost crushed you when I landed," she said with a smile.

Thomas seemed quick to raise his hands, palms facing Yang as he shook his head. Though, despite Yang's admittedly blessed figure, Thomas had better luck at controlling how flustered he ended up than Connie had with Blake. While his cheeks burned scarlet, he managed to keep his composure and not follow Connie's lead. "No, no, no! I can assure you, I'm absolutely fine."

"That's good, then!" Yang pushed herself up and held her hand out for Thomas. He – rather gladly, Eren thought – took her hand. With an effortless tug, she pulled him to his feet. "So, what's your name?"

Thomas let go of Yang's hand and rubbed the back of his neck, his other hand on his hip. "My name's Thomas Wagner. And from what your friend, uh, Blake—what Blake said, you're Yang?"

"Yep! Yang Xiao Long," Yang pointed over her shoulder, her thumb aimed at Ruby, "and the girl in the red hood is my little sister, Ruby. Weiss over there is my teammate." Yang and Eren briefly held eye contact, prompting Eren to give her a polite smile. Yang returned his smile with a beaming one of her own, then winked at him.

Ruby peered over her shoulder, following Eren's stare. In his confusion, Eren caught a glimpse of Ruby rolling her eyes and turning away from Yang with a smile before shaking her head. "Don't mind Yang, she does that sometimes. Sometimes she even does it before slamming someone with a punch."

"Wait, really?" Eren's eyes bulged and his shoulders hunched.

Ruby jolted forward. "Oh, no, I didn't mean she'd do that to you! She has no reason to!" She relaxed when Eren sighed, thankful his worry was for nought. So, as long as he didn't give her a reason to hit him, she wouldn't. At least he had that cleared up. Ruby tilted her head, a smile tugging at her lips. "By the way, you said you would tell us where we are, didn't you?"

"Oh, uh... right." Eren's shoulders hunched again as he nodded. It wasn't every day Eren got so much attention from girls, unless they were Annie or Mikasa – particularly Mikasa. Not to mention, Weiss struck him as a fairly intimidating lady. He wouldn't admit it, but he was somewhat glad when Mina led Weiss away, since he knew Mina could explain everything better than he could anyway and probably wouldn't feel like Weiss was judging her for how well she conveyed the information. That left him with Ruby. Eren preferred Ruby, since they were as awkward as each other and she didn't look like she'd grill him alive. "Well, for starters, this is the top of Wall Rose. This wall is designed to keep humanity safe and cooped up behind it, so to speak. It acts as a barrier to keep the monsters we know as Titans outside."

Ruby blinked and furrowed her brows, cocking her head at an angle. "Titans? So, I'm assuming these walls were built because the Titans are a threat to the people that live within?"

"Yeah—" Eren squinted as his eyes flicked toward the outer edge of the wall, his lips pressed together—"well, sort of." Eren's head dipped to the side before he nodded. He beckoned Ruby over to the outer edge of the wall with a wave of his arm. When he got to the edge, he stopped and peered down, glaring at some of the smaller Titans scratching at the walls. In his peripheral, he observed Ruby leaning forward with her hands on her knees. Eren folded his arms. "See down there? Those are the Titans. Cadets like us train to fight and kill them. We get to study them through reports and, in some cases, experiments."

"They look really small for what you said were Titans," Ruby commented, her eyes narrowing.

"The Titans vary in sizes. They look small from up here, but once you see them up close, you'll find that they're a lot bigger than you and I and even the biggest of people we've ever met. Some are even as tall as your average family home, if not taller." Eren's forehead creased. But as soon as his eyes met Ruby's, the creases disappeared and he gave her a barely-there smile. He grabbed her shoulders and gently pulled her a step away from the edge. "They typically reach up to fifteen metres tall. Our usual run-of-the-mill ones, that is."

Ruby straightened her stance and cupped her chin between her index finger and thumb. "That's bigger than most Grimm," Ruby mumbled as she stared downward, toward the concrete, "except maybe a Nevermore and those Goliaths back at Mountain Glenn."

"Do you talk to yourself a lot?" Eren couldn't help but ask, bearing an amused grin.

"Huh?" Ruby's head snapped towards Eren, her eyes slightly wider than normal. She blinked: "Ah—sorry!" She rubbed the back of her head with an awkward smile. "Yeah, I tend to think out loud sometimes. There have been times when I've been shouted at for doing it." Ruby looked up at him and smiled.

"So, what are Grimm, if you don't mind me asking?" He turned towards Ruby, his hands on his hips.

"The creatures of Grimm are like Titans here, in the sense that they're the monsters we fight on our world, hence why we carry weapons on us. The legend goes that they're born from darkness and don't have souls, meaning they don't have Aura, so they're pretty easy to kill most of the time. My team and I are among many who train to fight and develop abilities unique to each of us, and with them and our weapons, we protect the people of our world from the Grimm." Eren didn't know what kind of expression he held that would make Ruby think he didn't believe her, but he knew from her sigh that he probably looked pretty sceptical: "You can ask my teammates if you don't believe me. It's common sense for us to know these things."

"Wait, no, I believe you."

"Oh, I thought—" Ruby's mouth twitched. "You looked like you thought I was exaggerating."

A dry laugh escaped Eren's lips. "Believe me, I was surprised you didn't look like you thought I was exaggerating when I told you about the Titans."

A sigh of relief escaped Ruby's lips, followed by a quiet chuckle. After shaking her head, she folded her arms. "Anyway, you said that this wall protects the land from the Titans, right? So, are there people dedicated to going outside the walls to fight them?" She pivoted to face Eren, and poked one of boxes carrying his blades. "I mean, after all, if the walls keep you safe, then why would you need this gear and have to learn to kill Titans? Even though, I mean, it's pretty impressive. But isn't it a bit constricting to wear? Or heavy, at least? The boxes and the canisters and the emission thing on your back just look like it would weigh you down a bit, is all."

Ruby's seemingly endless curiosity and clearly informed opinion regarding the ODM gear surprised Eren. And glancing at her teammates, they all struck Eren as being just as open and honest as Ruby. Being fighters, they could have overpowered the cadets easily, but they hadn't: in fact, Eren doubted they'd even thought of that, which he figured said a lot more about him than it did about them. But with their training and experience on the battlefield most likely outclassing all of the cadets, perhaps even some of the Scouts, Eren couldn't help but think that they'd be able to help the soldiers fight the Titans. And they gave him a particular vibe that made him just know that they would be down to help as best they could. They also seemed like they'd be more inclined to join the Scouts than any other regiment, given the chance. Their intuitive minds and fresh eyes would notice flaws and gaps in their strategies and gear that they hadn't noticed and instead form better plans and design more effective gear. Ruby and her team could better them and, most importantly, keep more soldiers alive.

Eren's eyes flicked back to Ruby, the seed of an idea being planted in his head. "Yeah, there's a regiment alright. They're called the Scout Regiment, or the Scouts for short. Remember how I told you we try to study the Titans and learn more about them through reports and experiments?" Ruby nodded her head. "The Survey Corps and the Scouts are responsible for that. They often go on recon missions and expeditions to drive out the Titans inhabiting an area and reclaim it, but if they can, they often have equipment ready in case they decide to capture a Titan and study it."

"Speaking of the Scouts, Eren's planning on joining them. Hell, he's so passionate about it that his temper tantrum at last night's dinner convinced Connie and I to follow him," Thomas joked with a hearty chuckle as he approached Eren and Ruby and patted Eren's shoulder. "When he told people on our first day of training, we called him Suicidal Bastard because we all thought that anyone that wanted to take the fight to the Titans wanted to be Titan chow."

"I still don't know what you or him were thinking when you decided that." Eren crossed his arms and turned away, his cheeks puffed and heated.

"Were you just saying that or do the Titans actually eat people?" Ruby glanced between Eren and Thomas. "When you said he wanted to be Titan chow, I mean."

The two boys shared a look before Eren gulped and spoke up. "Yeah. Yeah, they... they eat people. That's how they kill."

"Huh," Ruby said simply, prompting Eren and Thomas to share a glance and stare at her quizzically. Ruby lightly shrugged her shoulders and looked between them. "I was just thinking, their method of killing sounds a lot like the bird types of Grimm. They eat people too," she divulged, her eyebrows raised. "I suppose that's all they can do, to be fair." Ruby averted her eyes.

Thomas stumbled over his words, then stopped, before he tilted his head. "You asked, earlier, if we should be safe behind these walls, right?" he asked, and Ruby nodded. "Well, see, in all honesty, 'safe' would be a rather relative term," he began to explain, before he and Eren caught Yang and Blake jogging towards them, likely to join the conversation. Thomas smiled at them for a split-second as they approached, then turned back to Ruby. "If Eren hasn't told you yet, the remainder of humanity live behind these walls. When the Titans first appeared over a hundred years ago and slaughtered a countless amount of people, the ones remaining built three walls: Wall Maria; Wall Rose, the one we're currently standing on; and Wall Sina, the innermost wall. But even though they've been standing for over a hundred years, things changed five years ago."

"Really? What happened?" Blake asked as she came to a stop at Ruby's side. She must've noticed Eren's brows furrow and the scowl on his face, as she then folded her arms under her bosom. "Oh." Her shoulders slanted, and her eyes trailed over to Thomas. "It was worse than anything you could've imagined, wasn't it? Are you alright with telling us?"

"Well, you're here now, so it's only logical that you should be aware of... of why we only have two walls left." Eren crossed his arms over his chest.

Blake's eyes flicked over to him and he caught her aiming an expression of concern at him. She looked away and nodded her head. "Okay."

Thomas' expression briefly turned grim before he attempted a reassuring half-smile. "Wall Maria ended up being abandoned after two specifically abnormal Titans first appeared. We've come to know them as the Colossal and the Armoured Titans, given their names because the Colossal was taller than the wall, and the Armoured one shrugged off cannonfire like it was nothing and charged through the inner gate of Shiganshina, which was Eren's home at the time, and into the rest of Wall Maria.

"After Wall Maria was abandoned, only Wall Rose and Wall Sina still stood between humanity and total annihilation. These two walls are all we have left to keep us safe and protected from the Titans. Still, though. Before Wall Maria fell, we'd felt safe, blissfully ignorant that the walls probably wouldn't hold forever. Since then, I'm fairly certain most of us live everyday with the same paranoia that the Colossal and Armoured Titans could show up again to cause the same destruction for a second time."

It appeared clear now that Thomas seemed to think along the same lines as Eren: learning about Ruby and her team could prove beneficial for the cadets, perhaps even the rest of the military, but they'd still have to provide the team with all the information they have and will gain so they could work out how to help them. And knowing that, Eren hoped Thomas also thought that the soldiers – particularly the Scouts – could learn from the team's experiences on the battlefield. Whatever knowledge they had and could teach them would surely help the soldiers to counterattack the Titans; maybe even wipe them out altogether!

And yet, he doubted that keeping the team around in order for them to reap the benefits of their presence would be simple. If they ended up in the spotlight too much, the military would certainly have their fair share of trouble. An uncomfortable feeling of anxiety settled in his gut when he thought about the potential dangers of any of them going out alone, most of the scenarios being conjured in his head depicting human traffickers kidnapping Yang or Weiss, or Blake and Ruby being taken and tortured for information by the Military Police. He even begun to fear the possibility of the Wall Cult throwing themselves towards the belief that three of the four were incarnations of the so-called 'goddesses' that made the walls. And what exactly would the Military Police do in order to gain the information they had? They wouldn't go to the extremes of torture or taking them to court, surely.

But then again, what did Eren know?

Ruby mumbled a question under her breath. Eren wasn't able to hear the entirety of what she said, but from what little he did hear, Eren could tell she'd asked about the land outside the walls. He watched her step toward the outer edge of the wall and peer down, eyeing the Titans below. Then her eyes widened, her body shuddered, and she took a few steps back. Eren's hands caught Ruby's shoulders and he stabilised Ruby's frame.

"Be careful," Eren warned her, surprising himself with how motherly he sounded.

"Sorry," Ruby said as her eyes flicked towards Eren.

Eren let go of Ruby just as Thomas stepped closer and planted a hand on Eren's shoulder, his gaze shifting to Ruby. "These walls are fifty metres tall. The only Titan taller than these walls is the Colossal, which we think is around sixty metres tall. Anyway, everyone that comes up here has to be careful with their footing, because it means certain death on both sides if anyone were to fall."

"So, what about the land inside the walls? Can you tell us about, say," Yang's eyes scoured her surroundings, "that village down there?" She turned back to Thomas and pointed her thumb in the direction of the Trost District.

Eren spun on his heel and jogged past the group, over to the inner edge of Wall Rose, his ODM Gear trembling until he stopped and waved his hand, beckoning the others over to join him. He turned to Yang as soon as she stopped beside him. "This place in particular is the Trost District. There are a number of districts like this one that are located along the borders of all three walls."

"So this is the Trost District..." Ruby rushed over to Yang and gazed at the landscape, her silver eyes widening and sparkling with wonder and awe. "If a district is this huge, then how big is the rest of the land?" she asked, pivoting to face Eren.

"The size of the districts don't even compare to the land behind the inner gate," Eren answered as he rested his hands on his hips. "And the real kicker is, we'll have more land to call home soon. Once we drive those Titans back to hell, we'll be free to reclaim the land they stole from us and take back the rest of our world," he boldly declared. He watched Ruby's smile fade as she tilted her head. Eren smacked his lips shut and stared, deadpan, at Ruby through half-lidded eyes. "What?"

"Uh-oh. Here we go..." Yang sighed under her breath. Blake's face held a gentle knowing look while she softly stared at Eren and Ruby from the corner of her eye.

Ruby blinked, and then smiled, averting her eyes as she scratched the back of her head. "Sorry, I was just thinking. I'm not knocking you or your drive or anything, don't worry. In fact, I actually admire it. Your gear just seems a bit... weird, that's all. Although, that's coming from someone who's obsessed with weapons." She offered a small shrug of her shoulders, as if she was struggling with what to say. "If these Titans are as threatening and deadly as you say they are, shouldn't you have better weaponry to counter them? Your gear looks impressive, to a degree, and maybe it looks awesome in action, but I can't help feeling that it would hinder your goal of killing the Titans in order to get back your land. It looks like it's fiddly to equip, and also pretty simple and complicated at the same time."

"Hold on—wait—what do you mean? How is it simultaneously simple and complicated?" Connie piped up beside Eren, causing the boy to jump out of his skin yet again and internally cuss himself to hell and back for waking up today with less spatial awareness than usual.

"It's got a bit too many connected variables, for my taste at least. Like the canisters with that emission thing, and how both connect to those holder things that I'm assuming you use to hold the blades. That would make it complicated and equipping it would be a hassle, because you'd have to manually connect the parts together with the wires in order for everything to function, and if something were to happen to those wires, the gear likely wouldn't work. In fact, now that I said that, it actually seems more like a potential flaw. Sorry." Ruby's shoulders hunched. "The way it fits on the body is the part that's simplistic. I mean, those boxes are pretty long, and that's just in order to fit the blades in. But that's probably because the blades don't transform, I'm guessing?"

"No, they don't..." Eren shook his head.

Ruby nodded her head as she folded her arms. "What I'm trying to say is, why would you get complacent with what you have when if you put in the time and effort, you could've made yourselves better off by developing better equipment. And it goes for the cannons as well. You've spent over one hundred years behind walls and the most impressive thing you've managed to develop is probably that gear, while the cannons are nearly ancient and likely worn down by age. The cannons even look like they've lost their efficiency. They would need to be upgraded with the same effort you put into maintaining your gear. I'll bet that's why the Armoured Titan wasn't affected by cannonfire, and I would also think the same remains true for the blades. If you need so many blades, I'm assuming they get dull pretty quickly, right? And I'm betting they break pretty easily as well. I'm surprised no-one's thought of forging them with a stronger metal." Ruby dropped her arms by her sides. "If I was allowed, I could design better equipment given twenty-four hours, maybe less—"

Weiss suddenly appeared behind Ruby as if from thin air and smacked the smaller girl upside the head, cutting off her rant. Ruby winced and clutched the back of her head, her eyes scrunched closed. Eren turned upon hearing Mina's footfalls heading towards his side, and saw her stop beside Weiss with a nervous smile and her hands clasped together behind her back.

"Still, it's nice to see that you're ambitious," Yang smiled at Eren after a brief moment of awkward silence.

"Yeah," Blake drawled, lightly shrugging her shoulders. "I think it's good of you to help regain everything you guys lost. Well... despite the apparent flaws in your equipment, that is." She offered an uneasy but kind smile, which faltered when her bow twitched. She blinked and turned her head, sending a questioning glare over her shoulder, not that Eren could see what she'd aimed it at.

"I mean, I wasn't saying that specifically, but... yeah. I just like his determination. Really strikes me as the feisty type..." Yang trailed off as she folded her arms under her bosom, her lilac eyes following Blake.

"Thanks. I don't get a lot of credit." Eren deadpanned.

"No problem..." Yang muttered absent-mindedly while she turned halfway around. "Are you alright?"

"I'm not sure..." Blake's hand clasped around the hilt of the sword on her back and gripped it tightly, her knuckles turning white.

Eren and the other cadets couldn't help but watch. Meanwhile, Ruby had been quick to grab the hunk of painted metal that laid on the back of her belt and unclip it. A black staff handle extended from the back of the object, with a trigger mechanism on the underside, and a scope with a rose red frame sat on top of a metal plate painted the same colour. In front of the scope, a bolt, the kind he'd find on a rifle of some sort, had been built in, with a bolt handle on the far end, all painted rose red as well. At the opposite end of the object, on the front of what Eren thought was a black-painted piece of metal between two red metal plates that framed the sides, was a hole that Eren thought must be the muzzle.

"I heard something, I know I did," Blake muttered to herself. She pulled her sword off her back and unsheathed it, holding the sheath in one hand and her smaller sword in the other. "Call me crazy, but I can just... I heard something from over here, down the wall, I'm pretty sure, and I have a bad feeling about it. It sounded like fabric flapping in the wind, which would happen if someone was falling."

"Well, you were just fighting Torchwick and the White Fang before we ended up here. I wouldn't be surprised if you were still jumpy. It could just be a bird's wings flapping." Weiss fidgeted. Although she'd tried to dispute Blake's sense of what sounded like incoming danger, the fact that her left hand came to rest on the handle of her weapon proved that Weiss didn't trust her own reasoning here. In Eren's eyes, she had more faith in Blake's concern for a potential imminent threat.

"I'd believe you if I didn't know the difference between the sound of a bird's wings flapping and the ruffling sound a person's clothes make when they drop in the air." Blake wandered toward the outer edge of the wall and stopped as she leant over the edge, peering downward to find the source of what she'd heard.

A bright flash of familiar yellow lightning struck the ground only a few feet in front of Wall Rose. Blake instantly hoisted her arms in a defensive position, her arms bent in front of her, but ended up being cruelly thrown to the ground with a gasping shriek, landing flat on her back. Yang called out to Blake as she stepped forward, with a clear aim on helping Blake, before she stopped dead in their tracks.

In mere seconds, the head of the largely feared Colossal Titan peeked over the top of the 50-metre wall.

Ruby and Weiss were visibly holding their breaths. As soon as Blake began to prop herself up on her forearms and lift her upper body from the ground, she stopped and sat there with widened eyes and her jaw agape. Yang gulped and a shiver slithered down her back. The cadets themselves simply stared.

Eren felt as if the moment had happened in slow motion.

No one dared to utter a word while the cadets each came to a horrifying realisation.

The Titans were back to drive humanity to extinction once more.