Hello again, everybody! Here to deliver chapter two of the new and re-imagined story. As always, I hope you enjoy it and I'll see you down at the bottom of the page!

Accompanied by their new acquaintance, Ruby and Yang returned to their dorm room to meet up with the rest of their team. The walk back to the room was filled with idle chit-chat although Shiro's experience as a third year was easily the most common topic between the sisters. Their questions didn't bother her in the least and she answered as truthfully as she could, however, there were a few things that she had to conveniently forget to answer. Despite all of this, Yang still harboured some suspicion towards the older girl and made no effort to hide it.

Ruby eventually led the trio off the street and into the student building. She managed to contain her curiosity about Shiro's semblance and weapon just like she was asked to- even if it was a struggle for her. Once she saw their room she stopped, opened the door, and walked inside.

"Blake! Weiss, we're back!" She called out cheerfully as Yang and Shiro trailed inside behind her. "Come and meet Shiro, she agreed to come to the dorm and talk for a bit."

"She's going to treat you like an exhibit, you know that right?" Yang drawled as her younger sister hopped up onto her bed, legs swinging playfully off the edge.

"I'm aware, but I don't have a problem with it." Shiro said with a soft smile as she took her shoes off, "It's amusing."

"Is that so…?" Yang raised an eyebrow before she shook her head and left Shiro's side. As she sat in the chair at Ruby's desk, both Weiss and Blake peaked their heads out of the bathroom.

"Hey."

"Welcome!"

They greeted Shiro quickly before they ducked back into the bathroom. A bead of sweat rolled down the third-year's face but she took their quick greeting in stride. "Pardon me." She said and walked into their small, yet surprisingly cosy room. "So these are the first-year dorms, huh?"

"You say that like you weren't here for your first year?" Yang kicked off the ground and rolled into sight on her chair. She came to a stop in front of Shiro, "Did you transfer in?"

"Eh?" Shiro met Yang's curious stare with wide eyes. "Uh… kinda, yeah. I spent my first two years as an international student in another kingdom, this is actually my first year living in Beacon."

"An international student? I didn't know we did that." Ruby muttered from her top bunk and hopped down shortly after. "What school did you go to? Where was it?"

"Oh, I went to Atlas Academy," Shiro answered quickly. She tilted her head to the side in confusion as both Yang and Ruby sighed. "Uh… is everything alright?"

"Yeah, it's just-" Ruby tried to explain but was quickly interrupted by Weiss.

"Atlas?! You attended Atlas Academy?" With her hair free of its usual ponytail, it hung loosely down her back. "What did you think of it?"

"Ah? Uh… I liked it, I guess? It's a nice Academy and the staff always strived to help students go above and beyond." Shiro pulled away from the suddenly excited Weiss, 'I see. A fangirl.'

Weiss' eyes lit up and she spun to face the rest of the room. With her hands on her hips, she made a proud proclamation, "There! Living proof that Atlas is the best, you can't get any more concrete than this!"

'Actually, you can…' Shiro sweatdropped as Weiss confidently retreated back into the bathroom. Blake quickly left with a rather exasperated look on her face and closed the door behind her.

"You aren't supposed to blow hot air into a balloon that big, it's not safe for anybody." The dark haired girl shook her head and levelled her eyes with Shiro. "It's nice to meet you, I'm Blake. That walking ball of Atlas elitism is Weiss Schnee."

"Of the Schnee Dust Company!" Weiss' voice easily carried through the closed door and echoed into the room.

"...Of the Schnee Dust Company." In a monotonous voice, Blake finished her Weiss approved introduction. "You'll get used to her, everyone does. I hope."

"Nonsense, from what I can see you two get along great!" Shiro grinned and held her hand out for Blake to grab. "Regardless, it's nice to meet the two of you."

"Likewise- Weiss! Shiro says it's nice to meet you!" Blake smiled and shook the older girl's hand before she yelled Shiro's words to the missing teammate. Her reply was quick and to the point, Shiro assumed that she was busy doing something.

"That's the whole gang!" Ruby suddenly chirped and popped up between Shiro and Blake. "So- we had a deal. Whatcha packin'?"

Blake chuckled softly and wandered to her bed while Yang hung her head in the background. From what Shiro could gather this odd fixation of Ruby's was rather common and she used it as an icebreaker with new people. Shiro and Ruby stared at one another for a short time before the older of the two cleared her throat.

"My weapon is in my room, however, I can at least tell you about my semblance." With some distance between her and the girls, Shiro hesitated for a sec frowned. "First things first- nothing you see leaves this room."

"Mmhm!" Ruby nodded emphatically while Blake and Yang gave a calm wave of their hands.

"Alright then, Ruby. I want you to activate your semblance and charge me." Shiro ordered and crossed her arms, "Don't think about it, just do it."

"Huh? A- Uh… Alright!" Flustered, Ruby stepped back and ignored the frantic protests of her teammates. With a deep breath, she crouched down a bit and shot forward in a crimson blur. Both the door behind her and all the furniture to her sides shuttered from the force.

"Ruby!" Yang yelled as her sister hurtled towards the seemingly unprepared Shiro, however, she was anything but that. Instead, she lazily lowered her arms and held them out as if she were waiting for a hug.

As Ruby drew closer to Shiro, she suddenly slowed as if she were weighed down by something incredibly heavy. Unable to catch herself after the sudden drop in speed Ruby fell forward and was caught by Shiro's waiting arms. All the members of team RWBY that were present wore shocked expression.

"My semblance acts as a manipulator of sorts- well, it's a bit different than that but I won't get into the details." Shiro began as she helped Ruby regain her footing, "If I activate it, I can return the area in my line of sight back to its most recent state. It does take a lot out of me though, so I try not to use it often. Besides, it's only temporary."

"No, please explain." Yang interrupted and leaned forward, "I'm curious as to how a semblance that endangers other hunters and huntresses can be used safely. After all, they'll be affected if they're in your line of sight right?"

Caught off guard by the rather direct question, all Shiro could do was look wordlessly at Yang. As the two girls stared each other down, Weiss came out of the bathroom in a huff but her expected complaint was quashed by the tense atmosphere in the room. Unsure of what to do she wandered cautiously over to her desk and watched the scene.

"It can't. That's why I don't use it." Shiro finally answered and immediately dispelled the heavy air. "Even back at the Tower, I didn't use it. The elevator would have closed shut on Ruby if I had."

"I see, so you're telling me that you never use your semblance? You fight the Grimm and other hunters with your normal abilities?" Yang presses further but Shiro didn't crack.

"Not unless I'm fighting by myself, no. If I am by myself, I see no reason why I should hold myself back." Shiro shook her head and put her hand over her heart, "Besides, the more that I manipulate the more my own aura is affected. If I target too much I just crash."

"I see…" Yang narrowed her eyes and sat up straight, "What about your weapon? I know Ruby's the one obsessed with it but I'm kinda curious as well." Even though she changed the topic, Shiro knew that Yang wasn't satisfied in the least.

"I use two short swords." Shiro held her hands at her side as if she were holding the grips of her weapons. "I call them Mukuro and Magatsu."

Blake perked up at the mention of Shiro's sword names but before she got a chance to speak, Ruby swooped in with her infamous barrage of questions.

"Oh! Did you make them yourself? What do they look like? Can they transform? And it's totally okay if they don't! My friend's sword doesn't transform and he's plenty cool!" Ruby rambled on at a speed that rivalled her semblance, each question flustered Shiro more and more.

"Down, girl." Weiss finally joined the conversation as she grabbed Ruby's shoulder and gently pulled her away Shiro.

"Sorry!"

Spared by Weiss, Shiro let out a sigh and thought about how to best answer Ruby's questions. "Well… I didn't make them myself, they're a keepsake from a dear friend of mine. As for their appearance, Mukuro is black from point to pommel. Its edge is silver and the grip is bound with red leather. Magatsu is white from point to pommel, and its edge is dark red. The grip is bound with black leather." In an almost methodical fashion, Shiro rhymed off verbal depictions of her swords much to Ruby's joy. "They don't transform, but they do have a cool little function to them. Though that's a secret~"

"Eh? Come onnn! You can't drop out there!" Ruby pleaded and pulled out her trademark scythe. "This is Crescent Rose! I built it myself and it doubles as a sniper!"

"..." Shiro eyed the red scythe with an emotionless expression although she quickly composed herself and smiled down at Ruby. "I'm still not telling! Sorry, you'll just have to wait and see one day."

Ruby hung her head in defeat and Shiro laughed softly reaching out to pat the younger girl on the back of the head. The two of them wound up talking about how Ruby went about making Crescent Rose and almost forgot that the other three girls were in the room. Even as Yang struck up a conversation with Blake their attention never split.

"Hey- you look deep in thought," Yang whispered as she scooted over to her pensive looking partner. "Did Hitomi finally find Hayate?"

"Yeah, it's- Huh? No! I don't know what you're talking about!" Blake's face flushed red and Yang couldn't hold back her laughter. "I'm just thinking about those names… Magatsu and Mukuro, they're familiar but I don't know why."

"It's one of the native languages of Mistral, right? Why not just ask Ren?" Yang tilted her head as Blake shook her head frustratedly. "Everything about her rubs me the wrong way, so, you aren't alone."

Blake's eyebrows arched up at Yang's confession and she found herself smiling somewhat. "You're just being overprotective. She hasn't done anything to warrant suspicion from us."

"So we're ignoring her totally spacing out when she saw Crescent Rose? That wasn't a look of 'I wanna hear more' and you know it." Yang said as she stretched back in her seat, idly watching Shiro entertain both Ruby and Weiss. "I might be overprotective, but she looked like she recognized Crescent Rose."

Blake bit down on her lip and glanced at Yang with torn feelings in her heart. On one side, she wanted to encourage Ruby's drive to make a new friend. On the other side… her instincts were telling her she was prey. Her feelings eventually boiled over and she stood up. Everyone's attention was immediately drawn to her.

"Shiro- something's been bugging me."

"Hm? What is it, Blake?" Shiro turned away from Crescent Rose and stared up Blake. "You look like you're sick… are you okay?"

"I'm fine, don't worry." With a nod, Blake quickly assured Shiro of her health and proceeded to ask her question. "Your swords, what do their names mean?"

"Mukuro and Magatsu?" Shiro tilted her head and smiled in relief, "Is that all? Mukuro means body, and Magatsu means heart. They're extensions of who I am- both physically and literally after all!" She put her hand down on Ruby's shoulder and pushed herself to her feet.

"Huh? Are you leaving, Shiro?" Ruby asked and Shiro nodded.

"Yeah, I have an appointment with one of my professors." She ruffled Ruby's hair slightly and turned to Weiss, "Feel free to call me if you need anything, Weiss."

"Ah? Y-Yeah, no problem. Thanks for looking at Myrtenaster with me, I appreciate it." After exchanging a confused look with Ruby, Weiss nodded and smiled up at Shiro.

"Yang, Blake- I'll see you two around. Hopefully, we can get closer next time we meet, I'd prefer if we could all be friends." Shiro's bright, red eyes lingered on the two girls for a short time as she spoke.

"Gah- Y-Yeah…"

"Sure."

Both Yang and Blake responded neutrally which prompted Shiro to once again put on her warm smile. Seemingly satisfied she scooped her bag up off the floor and nimbly slipped into her shoes. She hoisted her bag over her shoulder and opened the door preparing to leave, only for Ruby's voice to stop her.

"H-Hold on! How'd you do on your exam? It totally slipped my mind that you got your grade!" Ruby asked innocently as she leaned forward in her spot.

Shiro took a while to answer and I kept her face towards the open door. "They weren't ready yet, I'll let you know when I get them." She finally answered and walked out into the hall, "Thanks for having me, it was fun!" Her cheery farewell was immediately followed by the soft click of the door when it closed. Team RWBY sat silent, puzzled by Shiro's sudden departure. The one that broke the silence was Weiss, who flicked two small balls of crumpled paper at Yang and Blake.

"You two upset her! What was up with the interrogation, huh?" Weiss frowned and glared at Yang who looked away, "As for you Blake… well… you were you, so I think you made her uncomfortable!"

"That's hardly fair." Blake cocked her head to the side while she defended herself. Her attention was drawn down to Ruby, she wore a troubled expression and was staring at the door with narrowed eyes. "Ruby? What's wrong?"

"Huh…? N-Nothing!" The youngest of the girls blushed after getting called out and waved her hands frantically in front of her.

Unconvinced, Blake glanced at Yang before she started to walk to the door. "I'll be right back." Without further explanation, Blake left the room.

"Welll… imma grab a shower! Holler if ya need anything~" Yang drawled and wandered across the room, ruffling Ruby's hair some more before she disappeared into the bathroom, closing the door behind her. "Ruby! You broke the mirror!" Her voice called out from behind the door and the young redhead flinched.

"Sorry!" Ruby quickly apologized and turned to Weiss, who had already occupied herself with her own work. "I didn't mean to!" Yang didn't answer and instead turned on the shower. No longer having anyone to talk to, Ruby got up and retreated to her desk to go over the notes that Blake and Weiss lent her. 'I swear Shiro said she was free this afternoon… did I mishear her?'

Student Dorms, Hallway.

Blake knocked endlessly on the door of their closest friends, the members of team JNPR. Her knuckles eventually begged her to stop knocking and she gave up, even if she wanted her questions answered. Resigning herself, Blake turned away and moved to return to her dorm when the doorknob twisted behind her.

"Who is it…?"

"Sorry Pyrrha, it's just me," Blake answered and faced Pyrrha, smiling slightly. "I hope I didn't bother you?"

"Blake? Not at all! I was studying and happened to lose track of where I was, my apologies!" Pyrrha opened her door and stepped out into the hall so she could properly talk with Blake. "Is there something you're looking for?"

Pyrrha Nikos stood a bit over the head of Blake, even without heels. She had bright red hair that reached her waist, she wore it in a ponytail. In comparison to most girls at Beacon, Pyrrha was taller and more muscular although she never really let that get to her- at least, not visibly. Being a weekday, she was in her uniform just like most other students were.

"I was wondering if Ren was in? I came across a few words in Mistrilian and I was wondering if he could give me the proper translations… I'm kind of lost without them." Blake answered with half-truths and motioned to her door, "It's from a book he lent me."

"I see! Well, Ren isn't here right now." Pyrrha said softly and turned to head to look at the clock inside her room. "He and Nora went out for some training, but they should be getting back in an hour or so if you want to wait?"

"An hour, huh? I have somewhere I need to be, I can't wait around here…" Blake shook her head before she pat the side of her skirt, "Could you ask him for me and then message me whatever he says? I'd hate to bother him with a message right now."

"Of course, that's not a problem at all!" Pyrrha disappeared into the room for a second and returned with a piece of paper, "What did you want to ask?"

With an appreciative smile, Blake recalled Shiro's words for Pyrrha, "Magatsu, Mukuro and Shiro. They're quite common in the story so I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a bit difficult."

"I can imagine…" Pyrrha chuckled slightly and lowered the paper after writing down what Blake said, "I'm guessing you also searched for the translations yourself?"

"Yeah, though the translations I found didn't quite match up with the context which leads me to believe there's more than one translation of them." Blake shook her head in frustration, an action that drew a laugh from her friend.

"Understood. I'll make sure to ask Ren as soon as I see him, then I'll let you know." Pyrrha said as she leaned against the doorframe, her arms crossed. "Was there anything else I can help you with?"

"No, that should be it!" Blake held her hands up and shook her head, "Thank you. I have to get going though, talk to you later?"

"Sure, have a good day Blake." After she pushed off the wall, Pyrrha waved to Blake and returned to her room.

Once the door closed Blake scowled and returned to her own room, not satisfied with her results in the least. 'It's not that I don't want to trust her… I just… can't.' She thought to herself as she entered the dorm room, taking care not to disturb Weiss and her studies… that was something she had learned to avoid the hard way.

A Resonance Between Worlds

South of the student dorms was what remained of a small park that sat on the border of the academy and Emerald Forest. Due to being close to the forest, not many students actually took the time to go and visit it. For those that did, however, they were always treated to breathtaking sights.

The park had a single nature shrine that lay at the centre of four separate stone walkways which connected the park to the main campus paths and other, forbidden, sights deeper in the forest... It was built in the shape of a bird cage out of concrete, and as a testament to its age plant life had taken over the exterior like a natural veil. Within the cage, there were two benches chiselled from stone with words of an ancient language carved into the legs,

A sea of trees encircled the shrine and hid it from prying eyes, only those that actually made the journey would be able to experience the almost unnatural pull that it held over people. There were some, however, that frequented this natural Eden and used it as a sort of escape from the bustle of campus life. Today the shrine had a single occupant- Shiro. After she left team RWBY's dorm, Shiro immediately travelled to the shrine in order to calm herself down.

Seated on one of the stone benches inside the cage, Shiro was totally hidden from passersby. She hung her bag off of a low branch at the front of the shrine and was currently reading through the documents on the scroll she had received from Ozpin.

"Did I do something to make Yang and Blake suspect me…?" Shiro muttered to herself and leaned back on the bench, letting the wall of the cage support her back. "I acted just like the rumours said I did- all of them…" She wracked her brain and ran through her actions during the day. Frustration eventually won over her and she squeezed her eyes shut. "Agh! I'll never get out of my situation like this! It doesn't help that I totally flunked my practical too…!"

Shiro's exclamation rang out in the area around her, some birds fluttered out of their nests and fled with loud cawing. Even though she disturbed them, Shiro was only frustrated further by their protests. All she wanted to do was scream but she knew better than to attract that kind of attention here.

"It would be easier if you just accepted the charges, it's not like you can do anything to stop it."

"..." Shiro grit her teeth and sat up straight looking around, "What time is it…?" She grabbed her scroll and turned the display on. Her blood ran cold when her own reflection appeared in place of the usual lock screen.

"Your struggles are meaningless, nobody really cares about you. Stop trying so hard and give up." Shiro's reflection spoke from her scroll, "All you live is a lie."

"Shut up…" Shiro shook her head and turned the display off, getting up. "You're not real, you never were. I don't care what you have to say to me."

"Running away from your problems, nothing new there. You keep piling lie upon lie until all you can do is run from the truth. Maybe you really were responsible for that village."

Shiro's grip on the scroll tightened as she walked towards her bag, trying her best to ignore the words that rang out in the back of her head. Her heart beat rapidly in her chest as she thought more and more about what was being said. 'Am I really responsible? Am I blaming that girl without reason? Am I even allowed to be here?' Her questions got darker and darker until she found herself motionless by the cage's exit. Her bag was within reach but she couldn't make the move to grab it.

"How's it feel to live so ignorantly in your own world? Free from the trials that so many others face, free from the weight of humanity? You're nothing but a shell… a void in this world."

"I… I said shut up!" Shiro screamed and covered her ears with her hands, her eyes squeezed shut. "I've worked so hard…!"

"And it's all amounted to nothing. You've grasped every straw that was ever stretched out before you and tainted the hands that held them. Nineteen years wasted on a mask."

"Stop!" Shiro cried out as the voice continued despite her attempts to silence it. Soon it grew louder and closer, it sounded as if it drew closer with every passing second.

"All they do is enable you to dig your own grave. Your so-called family want nothing to do with the real you. A killer can't be loved, all others see is the blood that stains their skin."

Shiro trembled under the weight of what the voice was saying, she couldn't help but imagine it standing over her shoulder and the thought made a cold sweat break out. As if she were on autopilot, Shiro spun around and thrust her hands out when she heard an intake of breath. "You don't know me…! You're not even real! Get out of my head and leave me alone… I'm begging you, I can't take this anymore!"

As she screamed she couldn't help but open her eyes. Her sight was filled with the familiar ground of the shrine, and when she looked up she found her hands gripped tightly around the jacket of a familiar face.

"Even him. He can't stand you, he hates murderers. He would be much better off if you were just gone. You're not welcome anywhere… useless people only beget misfortune."

Shiro stared silently at the man before her and tightened her hold on his jacket until the skin around her knuckles turned white. "She's lying… right? I'm not useless… I'm welcomed…" Her own voice felt foreign to her ears, warm tears rolled down her pale cheeks as she forced a quivering smile up at the man.

"He's going to reject you."

"R-Right…?" Shiro asked again, unable to gather the strength to wipe the tears from her eyes. "I can be forgiven, my life hasn't been wasted… not the life you two risked your own for."

Shiro's heart sank when the man failed to respond, but just as she began to lose her grip on his jacket she felt her body get pulled forward. Her face squished into the man's chest and his arms wrapped around her back. "That's right, Shiro. You, like anybody, have only done what had to be done. Nobody thinks you're useless, so ignore her."

"C-Captain…" Shiro muttered and finally lost control. She pressed herself closer to the man, clung to his chest and started to cry. The voice had finally subsided and she could think straight once again, accepting everything that was said to be a lie.

"Seriously, this is why I didn't want Oz telling you about what happened." The man grumbled as he gently rubbed Shiro's back, doing his best to console her. "You're sensitive in all the wrong places."

"That's… hardly comforting, Captain…" Shiro muttered into his chest, smirking a bit as she felt him flinch. "It's fine, I… Ahem… I don't expect much." She said as she cleared her throat, her voice was hoarse now but her cries had thankfully come to a stop.

"That's harsh…" He sighed and wandered over to a bench, sitting down so Shiro could lean into him. "But at least I know that I can't disappoint you, so that's a plus, I guess."

"Yeah…" Shiro nodded and let out a heavy sigh, wiping her eyes with the ends of her sleeve. "You're surprisingly… quiet… today. It's weird."

"Well sorry for having some decency, Shiro. I thought you could use a change of pace from everything going on right now." He shrugged and ruffled Shiro's hair before looking to the branch where her bag was hung. "You didn't take your medicine, did you?"

"Guilty…"

"That explains things." Getting up, he left Shiro's side and walked up to her bag. "My sisters used do the same thing, it's something I don't miss about home." He said jokingly and pulled out a small black container. When he turned back to Shiro he couldn't help but chuckle at the pout on her face, "It's true. Don't act surprised when things go screwy if you don't follow your schedule… especially with her being so close now, you need to be extra vigilant."

"The only thing screwy here is you, Captain. What happened to trying to cheer me up?" Shiro puffed her cheek out as caught the container that he threw to her. She opened it up and shook one of the pills out from inside, quickly swallowing it.

"You called me weird, so I stopped." He answered honestly, though that only served to upset Shiro further. "Hey now! Just be happy that I came to check up on you."

"Yay me…" Shiro said sarcastically and stretched her arms out. "Why did you come anyway? Ozpin said that the rest of the team was out on some big mission."

"Oh please, even without you the three of us are more than enough to deal with a small rampage- they were just low-class Grimm." The man dismissed her with a wave and strolled back to her bag, "I came because Oz said your exam results were released, and I wanted to see them."

"I see…" Shiro nodded before her eyes widened and she scrambled off the bench to stop him from opening her bag again. She reached out and grabbed onto his arm with both hands to pull him away, "That's private! For Shiro's eyes only!"

"Don't refer to yourself in the third person, what's wrong with you?!" He exclaimed and tried to shake her off his arm. Her pale face turned bright red and she quickly shook her head.

"My! I meant my eyes only!" Shiro corrected herself and dug her heels into the ground so that he'd have to drag her to move.

"Nuh-uh. That's not how this works!" His unhindered arm reached out while he dragged Shiro behind him. With great effort, he managed to get his hand inside the bag and grabbed the only folder inside, "Gotcha!"

"Noooo!" Shiro exclaimed and quickly stepped in close to rip the folder away from him, but he held it high over her head. "Captain, Stop! Seriously, this isn't funny!"

"Pipe down… I can't read with you yelling." He said and pulled the papers out from within the yellow folder. Once they were exposed, Shiro stopped all resistance and fell to her knees. "You…"

"Failed. Yeah…"

"Failed? Shiro, you didn't even get a single point. How can you do this bad?" He asked the heap of a girl and struggled to hide his smirk. "Pretty sure you're supposed to get participation marks… they're practically mandatory."

Shiro trembled on the ground before she grabbed her arm and yanked him down. She snatched the papers and folder away before he could react, carelessly stuffing them in her bag. "Look! We can't all be super geniuses like you, alright? It doesn't matter that I failed, so don't question it!"

"Alright, I won't… but you have to do better on the make-up. We can't have our vanguard fail this spectacularly and not be there to watch." He shook his head with a laugh, "I mean… you can't expect him to notice you when you- no that's wrong, he'll notice you with this alright."

"Nng… Captain, just you wait until training…" Shiro grit her teeth and ripped her bag off the branch. "I'm going to bury you in the dirt!

"Bring it on, pasty."

"I will!" Shiro snapped and turned away, her long hair following her movement.

"Good. Now, what time will you be home tonight? Our resident chef wants to know if she's putting a plate out for you."

"I'll be home at five! I want a plate!" Shiro said harshly, "I'll need to be full if I want to beat you, after all."

"Damn right. Now get goin', if you stick around here too long you'll look bad." He shooed Shiro away and leaned against the entranceway. With one final huff, Shiro stuck her tongue out at him and left. "I can't wait to pick on her at dinner. Zero points… still can't wrap my head around it." He shoved his hands into his pockets and walked down one of the stone paths, shaking his head. 'Her symptoms have gotten worse though… we might need to make another transfusion soon. I hope we have the ingredients for it at the house… I really don't wanna go back there yet.'

Washroom, Beacon Main Campus

"You have to be smooth about this, Jaune…" Jaune Arc whispered to himself, wiping some hair out of his face. A thin layer of sweat covered his body and his heart raced nervously, this young man was in the process of one of the hardest decisions in his life. "Do I finally try and escape… or do I sleep more."

Jaune Arc was a tall teen with messy blonde hair and dark blue eyes. He was fairly toned and gave off the impression of somebody that took care of his body. Like most other students, Jaune usually wore the male version of Beacon's uniform, however, he currently wore bunny-themed pyjamas in place of a uniform. His reasons for changing into his pyjamas were all connected to his earlier run-in with Cardin Winchester; a bully.

Once Cardin set his eyes on Jaune, everything simply fell into place. First, they stole Jaune's textbooks. Then, they humiliated him in the library. Neither of these events was enough to totally rattle him on their own, but that's when that struck the final nail to the coffin of Jaune's freedom. Cardin and his goons followed Jaune right back to the dorm building after their last class and then proceeded to lock him in one of the stalls of a washroom.

No matter how hard he tried to figure out how he got locked in the stall, Jaune couldn't come up with a good reason. Ever since then, he had changed out of his uniform and tried to make himself comfortable in the stall- going so far as to even nap to pass time. That is where he was now, having made a makeshift resting area between the door and the toilet. Was it comfortable? No. Did he enjoy it? Not at all.

'Since I'm already changed… guess I'll just sleep for a bit longer. ' Jaune thought to himself as he sprayed some air freshener around him. "Mmm- lavender." The sweet scent helped ease his nerves and make it easier to relax in the stall.

He curled up a bit more to try and fall asleep again, however, he found it to be increasingly difficult to stay still. As he swung back and forth on his hammock, built from his uniform jacket, Jaune shifted his gaze from the ceiling down to the floor by the stall door.

"They've been gone for hours, what am I even doing here? If I'm going to sleep, I'm going to sleep in my own bed!" Jaune exclaimed determinedly and launched himself out of his hammock. He quickly gathered his things and stared at the top of the stall door. "I can make that jump…" After adjusting his bag, he knelt down and leapt up.

Grabbing the frame of the door, Jaune mentally praised himself and then hoisted himself out and over until he fell forward. He hit the ground with a thud and groaned, holding his head as he stood up again. He shook his head and looked back at the door, frowning at what kept him locked inside.

"Geez." He scoffed and shook his head, pulling the handle of the door carefully. "They broke it…" The handle fell from side to side as Jaune inspected it before eventually leaving it alone. "Well, I'll just let the janitor know that it's toast. Tomorrow though! It must be late right now…" A grimace formed on Jaune's face as he imagined what his teammates would say about his surprise, prolonged absence. "I'll head straight back- Pyrrha has to be totally angry."

Jaune shivered slightly and soon felt dread towards returning to his dorm. Despite his apprehension, however, Jaune bit down on the bucket and left the men's washroom. His room, as well as team RWBY's room, was located on the second floor of the student dorm building. He usually didn't think much about it, but he soon came to hate it, since he was certain that random passersby wouldn't be able to see him in his bunny pyjamas and not laugh.

After working up the courage, Jaune stepped out into the open air of the campus and smiled. 'Freedom.' He thought with a grin and crossed his arms, trying to mirror the fabric bunny that was sewn on his chest. "I wonder what everybody has been up to…?" He looked around and let out a sigh of relief. Judging by the sun in the sky, he'd only been in locked in the stall for maybe three hours. No longer anxious about returning to the dorm, he grabbed the strap on his bag and started walking.

Thankfully the campus wasn't too busy so Jaune didn't have to face much scrutiny for his choice of sleepwear. He didn't have the heart to get rid of it though, it was cute, comfy and for men. It was hard to find a triple threat like that in the men's department. Once he found it, he knew on an almost instinctual level that it had a place in his 'Anti-Cardin survival kit', all of which was contained in his bag. After today's incident, he needed to restock on a few key items but unless something drastic happened between now and the weekend he'd be fine.

"Don't we have a class trip coming up soon?" Jaune spoke aloud as he walked, idly nodding at the few other students he came across. "I should probably pick a few things up for that too- Cardin is in my class after all…" He drew his eyebrows together in thought and focused on potential purchases. Being so focused, Jaune couldn't help but let out a loud yell when he looked up to find a small girl in front of him.

With his heart rate through the roof, Jaune cautiously looked around to see if there were any other surprises in store for him. Once he was certain of his safety he turned back to the young girl and smiled, kneeling down. Her eyes followed him and stopped once he was eye-level with her.

"Hey, what are you doing here? Are you in trouble?" Jaune said with a gentle tone and rested his elbows on his knees, "I may look like a fool… in fact, I kind of am a fool but uh… I'll do my best to help you."

The young girl stared unblinkingly at Jaune and slowly raised her arm to him. Aside from her peculiar behaviour, Jaune noticed that she was extremely pale and wore what looked like a tattered, homemade dress. Once her arm stopped moving, she opened her palm and pressed it gently against his cheek.

"What's u-Nng!" Jaune's eyes widened as inexplicable images flashed in his mind, each one made him more and more confused than before. He clenched his jaw and squeezed his eyes shut, unable to move much more than that, trying to lessen the impact of his sudden headache. 'E-Enough…!' He exclaimed in his mind and broke free of whatever trance he was in, quickly moving to slap the girl's hand away.

As his hand swung out, Jaune felt his blood run cold. The young girl was nowhere in sight and there was nothing around him that suggested she was ever there in the first place. He gently shook his head, wincing from the throbbing headache. He couldn't decide if he was supposed to feel relieved or anxious that the girl was gone, however, what he did know was that he just wanted to get to his bed and sleep the rest of the day away. Between this and Cardin's harassment, Jaune was burnt out.

"Dorm. Sleep. Shower." Jaune grumbled and resumed his walk, trying to make sense of what just happened to him. 'Was I hallucinating? I haven't been sleeping properly lately so that would make some sense… it just felt so real. And those images! Grimm? Inside Beacon? What is that supposed to mean…?' He mulled over the images in his mind while he wandered by the gym, staring at the door for a minute.

Ren and Nora mentioned that they'd be training there recently, Jaune thought about going inside to watch them train for a bit but his headache was practically screaming for him to just get back to the room and go to sleep. After a moment of thought, Jaune turned away from the gym and walked the last stretch home. He'd talk to his team about it once he'd calmed down a bit, for the time being, he didn't want to see anyone.

Training Facility, Beacon Gymnasium.

State of the art… was exactly the opposite of what described the Beacon indoor training facility. Unlike Atlas Academy's totally mechanized facility, Beacon's was centred around the development of skills through old fashioned sparring. It wasn't a place where many first years could be found since they were more focused on settling in, however, there were always exceptions. Half of team JNPR was present in one of the rings, Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie.

"Alright, remember you two, if you fail to hit the mark in the field you will most likely die." One of the many trainers said as she tossed the two exhausted first years a bottle of water each. "You did well for first years, but you're weighed down by the clear differences in your respective styles. Grimm will attack in many ways, other hunters will attack in many more, so try to incorporate your attacks together more."

After they opened the bottles of water they drank some and nodded in thanks, which prompted the instructor to sigh and sit down across from them. She had to admit that they were decently skilled for first-years, but that was no excuse to have so many glaring holes in their teamwork.

"Do you… think we could make things work… just by training?" Nora asked, her hammer held loosely at her side. She had turquoise eyes, which were currently covered by her damp orange hair.

"It'll take… more than that… Nora. We need to work outside of the ring too." Ren answered for the instructor and pat his partner on the shoulder. His violet eyes carried a look of exhaustion, and his long black hair was in total disarray. He usually had it tied into a ponytail, though it came loose at some point during their training.

Both of them wore the same skin-tight grey and black suit, which sported minuscule sensors built into the fabric. It was meant to measure the intake and output of the wearer's aura, in order to help them regulate it more efficiently. The sensors functioned at a higher level than what was usually employed during combat training inside classrooms.

"That's exactly right. From what I could gather, the both of you are already emotionally connected in some manner. Finding a way to utilize that and create some sort of symmetry will be both the biggest hurdle and the biggest step in improving yourselves." The instructor held her finger up in front of the two teens as she spoke, "No matter what the situation is, if the two of you can totally trust each other you'll find a way to overcome anything."

"Thank you for the advice," Ren said and leaned forward slightly, bowing his head to the instructor. Nora hesitated for a second before she copied him and lowered her head as well.

"You're very welcome, how about we go another round?" The instructor smiled and hopped back up onto her feet, laughing as both teens blanched. "I'll take that as a no then. You two rest up and recover, I'll see you again next week."

"Yes."

"Yep!"

After the group exchanged farewells, Ren and Nora were left alone by their instructor. Totally drained of energy, they fell back and stared up at the roof in silence. Once they had caught their breath, both of them steadily got up and lazily wandered over to the changerooms.

"I'll wait outside, Ren…"

"Sure."

Ren split off from his partner and walked into the room, heading straight for the locker that he rented from the front desk. Reaching behind his back, he pushed his hair out of the way and unzippered the battle suit he wore. It peeled off of him, sticking somewhat because of sweat, and fell down around his waist. He pulled the rest off of him and folded it neatly into a pile on the bench.

'My… everything… hurts. The personal trainers here are really strong. Nora and I couldn't do a thing to her no matter how hard we tried.' Ren recalled the training session they had just ended, shivering at the sheer difference between first years and full-fledged hunters. 'The two of us need to start employing combo attacks… I don't know how, but we did it as a group back then.'

He slowly dressed in his usual attire, which consisted of a dark-green, long-sleeved tail coat held together by a line of diagonal buttons. Under the jacket, he wore a black shirt along with light-tan pants. His hand grabbed his dormant scroll and turned the display on, quickly reading over the most important messages before he tucked it into his pocket. With both hands he began re-tying his ponytail while he walked out of the changeroom, nodding at Nora, who was patiently waiting for him outside.

"I'm bothered by her saying we don't trust each other enough, Ren. It isn't true." Nora said quietly when she rejoined Ren at his side, "If anything we trust each other too much!"

Ren smiled to himself and shook his head, "I don't think she meant it like that, Nora. The two of us play off of each other's style, and it hinders our cohesiveness. I was thinking we should try to-"

"Incorporate each other more?" Nora tilted her head and looked up at Ren, who chuckled, "I knew it. See? We're totally in each other's heads, this combo fight thing will be a cinch!" She said with a wide smile and pumped her fist determinedly. Like Ren, she changed into her normal clothes. She now wore a black, collared jacket over top of a white sleeveless shirt. The shirt had a heart cut out around the chest, and what most assumed to be it's detached sleeves were farther down her arm. She also wore a short, pink skirt that came down to her mid-thigh.

"Exactly. We'll get past this in no time, all we have to do is come up with effective and applicable manoeuvres." Ren said as he and Nora walked out of the training facility, "any ideas?"

"How about-"

"I'm not riding your hammer."

"..." Nora pursed her lips and looked away, "Note to self… Ren can read minds."

"Hardly." Ren sighed and looked around campus once both of them made it outside. "Let's forget about training for tonight and just head home, we can tackle this problem when we're both properly prepared."

"Alright! Off we go then." Nora said happily and walked contentedly beside her partner. She could tell from a glance that he was deep in thought so she kept herself from distracting him too much. As long as Ren was happy, she couldn't care less about whether or not they talked.

They both thanked whoever designed the campus for putting the dorms and gymnasium so close together, their tired legs struggled to carry them any farther than the steps of their building. Being so close to home, however, they both pulled on all their remaining energy and powered through the last stretch. As Ren opened the door to their dorm, he and Nora practically leapt for their beds just to get off their feet.

"Welcome back, how was training?" Pyrrha asked from her desk, though judging by their lack of energy she already had an idea of how it went.

With a groan, Ren flipped himself over and looked over at Pyrrha. "It went well enough," he said, "But Nora and I came upon a little problem that we have to work through."

"Like you said Ren," Nora called out with her face buried in her pillow, "The two of us will be totally fine! We just have to find some super cool way to combo our moves."

"I see, well I hope it all works out for the two of you." Pyrrha smiled and spun around in her seat to face the duo, "Jaune and I face the same problem, we're competent fighters but there's something missing between us. I'd offer to help you but…"

"It's okay, don't worry about it Pyrrha!" Nora shook her head and swung her body forward so she was sitting up with her legs crossed. "You focus on Jaune~"

"Eh? I-If you say so…" Pyrrha blushed faintly and looked away, "Ahem! Ren, Blake stopped by earlier today. She wanted to ask you something but I told her you were out."

Ren narrowed his eyebrows and sat up with a groan, "What was it? Did she tell you?"

"Yeah, I wrote it down." Pyrrha pulled out the notes she had taken during her earlier conversation with Blake. "She said they're words from a book you lent her, they're in a Mistralian language and she had trouble translating them. She was wondering if you had the proper translations?"

Ren leaned forward and took the paper from Pyrrha, reading over the paper quietly for a second. He then sighed and laid the paper on his bed, "Is Blake home? I can't give a thorough translation without the uh… book."

"I don't think so," Pyrrha frowned and held her scroll up, "Blake told me to text her whatever you said. I can call her if you'd prefer that?"

"Please." Ren nodded and got up from his bed in order to take Pyrrha's scroll when she handed it to him.

In the background, Nora eyed the paper and quickly snuck over to her partners' bed so she could take a look at whatever was written down. 'Shiro, Magatsu and… Mukuro? That's odd.' She tapped her finger against her chin and eyed Ren, "Hey. Ren these are-"

"Yeah, I know," Ren answered before Nora could finish, patiently waiting for the call to Blake to connect. 'I don't know why Blake would know words like these… Shiro is one thing, but the other two…'

"Hello, Blake? Yes, this is Pyrrha." Holding her scroll to her ear, Pyrrha began talking with Blake, nodding slowly in acknowledgement. "Yes, everything is quite alright! However, Ren has gotten home and wanted to speak with you about that book. I think he has the translations." She nodded a few more times and then extended the scroll to Ren, "There you go."

"Blake? It's Ren," He turned away from Pyrrha and motioned for Nora to hand him the piece of paper, "It's about those words before I answer, I want to know where in the book you saw them. They can mean different things sometimes." Ren went silent for a few seconds as Blake explained what happened to him. When she finished, he took a deep breath and cleared his throat, "In this case, Shiro means white, Magatsu translates to twisted and Mukuro translates to corpse."

As Blake spoke, Ren shifted his stance slightly all while nodding along with whatever she was saying. Apart from the rare hum of acknowledgement, he was totally silent. Eventually, he was given the chance to speak.

"Meanings aside, they are simply names. Don't think too hard on it, you'll ruin the real ending if you make assumptions." He spoke slowly and shot his partner a glance, "Think your conclusions through thoroughly." Ren then nodded and hung up.

"I don't remember you having a book like that, Ren. When did you let Blake borrow it?" Nora asked and cocked her head to the side. Her question was answered by Pyrrha after she got her phone back from Ren.

"Nora, Ren didn't lend Blake a book. She lied about it." Pyrrha said with a smile while Nora flinched, "I let her carry on because it was obviously a private matter, and I had no position to pry."

"But now Ren knows, which makes it a team matter!" Nora exclaimed jokingly and quickly waved off Ren's stern look. "Relax~ I'm joking! If Blake wants help, we'll help her."

"Even if you say that…" Ren drawled, "From what she was saying we won't be in a position to lend Blake our aid. Whatever brought this on seems to have affected their teams dynamic specifically."

"Which would mean that our interference could make things much worse," Pyrrha added regretfully, her face was set in a serious expression. "Weiss and Ruby have only recently begun to get along, after all. While I'm reluctant to think this way… it wouldn't take much to spark conflict between them again."

"I-I see…" Nora hung her head slightly and let her eyes linger on the piece of paper, "Well in that case-,"

Whatever Nora was about to say was suddenly cut off as the door to their room was flung open. In the wake of the commotion stood their leader Jaune, who still wore his eye-catching bunny pyjamas. "Greetings, teammates! I have returned!"

"Jaune… why are you in your pyjamas? It's not even three in the afternoon." A lone bead of sweat rolled down the side of Ren's face as he took in the odd sight of their team leader, Jaune Arc.

"The time means nothing to me- I just want to sleep! Nothing wrong with that." Jaune smiled and closed the door behind him, "Isn't it normal to bounce back from a long day with a good nap?"

"I suppose not…" Pyrrha answered after she exchanged a look of concern with her other teammates, "Is everything alright, Jaune?"

"It's just peachy, Pyrrha! Don't you worry about me." Jaune flashed his partner a grin and strode across the room to his bed. "Are you alright?"

"..." Pyrrha narrowed her eyes before she nodded, "Yeah, I'm doing well enough. I was worried though, you weren't in class today. Where were you, Jaune?"

Despite Jaune's attempts to hide it, everyone noticed him flinch when Pyrrha called him out. "That's uh… stomach ache. I was feeling really nauseous so I stayed home this morning and then went to the doctors."

"Is that so…? I must have missed you then since I was only out for class this morning." Pyrrha frowned softly and got up from her seat to approach Jaune.

"Uhh… Ren! Let's go do that thing!" Nora hopped off her bed and grabbed Ren by the hand, "Come on!"

"What?" Ren stared down at Nora and reluctantly followed after her.

"Come. On. Ren."

"That thing, gotcha." With a nod, Nora led Ren out of the dorm room and gave Jaune and Pyrrha some space to be alone.

Without the other half of their team in the room, both Jaune and Pyrrha felt the pressure in its entirety. Neither of them spoke for a good while, however, Pyrrha broke the silence when she sat at the edge of Jaune's bed.

"What's going on, Jaune?" She asked and leaned forward, resting her hand on the blonde's shoulder. "No matter what it is, I won't breathe a word of it to anybody else, you can trust me."

The bed groaned underneath Jaune as he rolled over and pushed himself up into a seated position, "I'm sorry for lying- I'm terrible at it, but I just couldn't put more pressure on you guys." He said quietly with his arms crossed.

"More pressure? What do you mean, Jaune?" Confused, Pyrrha sat up straight and put some distance between her and her partner to try and make him feel comfortable.

"I'm talking about that Macro stuff- I kinda overheard the conversation with Blake earlier, and then again when Ren was on the phone." Jaune blushed a bit while admitting to his eavesdropping, "I don't understand it, but I know you're all worried about it. You don't need my problems on top of that right now."

Pyrrha raised an eyebrow as Jaune came clean and found herself shaking her head. "Jaune, we're are a team. If we can't help each other out in their times of need, well, we wouldn't be a very good team would we?" She said as she looked forward and tapped her fingers on her knees, "Is it, Cardin?"

"Yeah, but don't get upset about it! He has his own problems he's going through, and they're probably a thousand times worse than my own." Jaune nodded, making sure that Pyrrha didn't do anything rash. "I just want to help him in any way I can."

"By being a punching bag?" Pyrrha asked before she covered her mouth, "Jaune- I didn't mean to say that…"

"Nah, it's fine. You aren't exactly wrong, so I can't get upset." Jaune waved off Pyrrha's apology with a smile. "I really don't need help with this though, it's something that needs to be settled between me and him."

"If you say so…" Pyrrha relented at last, much to Jaune's relief. She didn't let him off the hook though, as she suddenly changed topics, "Now about you skipping class today. You'd better have a good excuse."

"Oh! Yeah, I was sleeping in the stall of the boy's bathroom. Cardin locked me in there this morning- but I was prepared with my pyjamas this time!" Jaune said proudly and pat the bunny figure that was sewn into his top. "Last time all I had was a granola bar and a history book- wasn't fun."

Pyrrha gave Jaune a blank stare and lost all of the anger that Jaune's circumstances riled up inside her. She bit down on her lip and tried to stop herself from laughing, but she was too late and quickly devolved into a laughing fit. a

"P-Pyrrha! Are you okay? What's wrong?!" Concerned, Jaune leaned forward and grabbed Pyrrha by the shoulder.

"Nothing! I just find the image of you curled up in a stall wearing… that… to be amusing." She nodded to Jaune's attire and he quickly pulled away in a show of fake offence.

"Hey! I'll have you know Mr Hops has gotten me through thick and thin many times! Between sleeping in a stall or weapons locker, he's made all my claustrophobic adventures cosy!" Jaune exclaimed and pulled down on the front of his shirt to emphasize the bunny print. "He doesn't need you judging him!"

"Yes, yes. I'm very sorry!" Pyrrha said with a smile and finally relaxed, "Mr Hops aside… I'll let you deal with Cardin by yourself for now, but I will step in if I think you can't handle it. Deal?"

"Deal! Thanks, Pyrrha… I appreciate it, really." Jaune smiled and sighed, falling backwards onto Ren's bed. "By the way, what does Macro mean?" He asked and leaned up to stare at Pyrrha, "I didn't hear that part."

"It's Magatsu, and it means twisted apparently." Pyrrha explained after corrected Jaune, "Ren will explain it better once they decide to stop eavesdropping."

"Huh?" Jaune's face flushed red and he turned to the door, "Ren! Nora! You're not out there are you?!" He yelled and got up from the bed, moving to open the door. The door was blown open before he got that chance as Nora burst into the room, almost tackling Jaune to the floor.

"Jaune! I'll beat up Cardin for you don't worry! I'll make it look like a really well-deserved, violent accident!" Nora exclaimed while she crushed Jaune in a hug, "Don't worry Leader!"

"Nora! He can't breathe…" Ren sighed from the door and offered Jaune and apologetic look, "Sorry, but as Pyrrha said… we're a team. Don't be afraid to ask for help if you need it, Jaune. We'll be there for you."

Jaune managed to free himself from Nora's death-grip of a hug and gave Ren a confident nod. "Yeah, but I'll deal with Cardin alone… even if it means being a punching bag."

"There's the confidence of a leader, you got this Jaune!" Nora exclaimed and clapped Jaune on the back, the blonde let out a yelp of pain shortly after. "Ah! Sorry~!"

As he rubbed his back, Jaune felt a weird sense of nostalgia come over him and all of his anxiety was washed away. 'I can do this… Cardin isn't that scary, just you wait!' With newfound confidence, Jaune steeled his resolve and prepared to face Cardin's wrath with everything he could.

Little did Jaune know that he would be locked inside the girls change room after his next encounter with Cardin- an event that cost him more than he could have ever expected.

That's all for now, chapter three is already finished and I will be going over that to edit in the next few days. It should be released before Sunday of next week! I hope you enjoyed, please let me know what you think so far!