PART I: Covenant

CHAPTER V: Check This Temper

"Set the foot down with distrust on the crust of the world–it is thin."–Edna St. Vincent Millay.

"She said room 7.877, right?" Tai asked, turning to Summer for confirmation. She nodded, hood up, and Tai turned to the door. It took a while to find because whatever numbering system Beacon used was not intuitive in the slightest.

The entire student body was treated to a meal after the teams were declared. It was a painfully awkward affair for Team STRQ since each of its members were busy being either a) traumatized b) moody c) aloof or d) seated around peers that were one of the above. Sure, Tai attempted several conversation starters, but he could only take so many blank stares, snippy retorts and outright glares in one hour-long period.

It wasn't even a condition unique to Team STRQ. An almost suffocating sense of discomfort and violation wafted around the Dining Hall, and Tai found it too distracting to concentrate on befriending other people.

While they ate dinner, their housing assignments were decided and their luggage was moved into their rooms. It made Taiyang feel vaguely guilty, if for no other reason than his bag was heavier than it looked, and he was perfectly capable of lifting it.

Tai swiped the key card, and the door swung open easily. That was his bag, so this was definitely their room.

He raised an eyebrow at the rather conspicuous…lack of luggage. Looked like each of them had a duffle bag apiece, which was definitely below the average amount per student.

Wait. One apiece meant one apiece, which meant Summer—

Well either she wasn't as wealthy as he'd pegged her, or she was really down-to-earth for a one-percenter.

Remembering his teammates behind him, Tai stepped forward to retrieve his pack, and looked around.

The room was small for four people. It had four twin-sized beds, and arranged wall-to-wall there was just enough room to walk between them. There was one large window, and looking closer Tai decided that had to be a later addition to the original structure, because it matched none of Beacon's other architectural themes. They probably added it when they renovated the rooms to be appropriate student housing.

Aside from the beds, there were four desks that looked like they doubled as dressers and…yeah that was a small bathroom off to the side there.

Raven stooped to pick up her nondescript duffle bag, surveyed the room with a displeased expression, and then threw her bag on the bed farthest to the right.

…yeah he was just going to let her have this one.

He walked up to the window—partly to see the view and partly to let Summer and Qrow arrange themselves in whatever manner would lessen the tension he felt directed at him. Summer didn't really seem to trust anyone—at all, if her behavior during initiation was any indication—and she had been outright suspicious from the get-go, but Qrow…

Qrow's shift in attitude honestly surprised him. He noticed back in the caves, but hadn't really been in a good place to address it. He wondered if the other man knew…nah, he couldn't. Probably just suspected something weird was going on. Nothing he could prove.

That, of course, was more than enough to upset team dynamics. If Taiyang didn't prove himself at least nominally trustworthy in the next few days…well that could be bad.

Step one to getting people to like you: let them control interactions as much as possible.

So, Tai looked out the window while Qrow and Summer arranged themselves. He was pleasantly surprised—it was dark out, but they had a nice view of the courtyard. They were high enough up that it was possible to see beyond Beacon's grounds and the lights in the distance were probably Vale proper.

When the movements behind him settled, Tai turned around.

Summer, probably predictably if he really thought about it, picked the bed on the other wall. He couldn't quite tell due to the hood but Tai got the strangest sense that she was analyzing the bedframe for structural soundness.

Qrow, more surprisingly, picked the bed next to Summer rather than the one by his sister. That meant Qrow clearly perceived Tai as a threat which…yeah that wasn't good. He also seemed to think Summer needed more protection than his own sister, or at least that Raven was more capable of taking care of herself in this case.

Either that or, in the event they needed to subdue him, Qrow wanted to have an ally on either side of Tai preemptively.

…there was a possibility he was overthinking this.

Either way, Tai set his duffle bag down on his bed and rocked a little on his feet. He was nowhere near ready to go to bed yet.

"Anybody want to go explore?" he asked, and the other three occupants in the room gave him a look that conveyed some version of 'hell no' with varying degrees of 'fuck off' thrown in for good measure.

Admittedly, Qrow and Summer were probably exhausted. Qrow especially, since he never really got to sleep off the effects of his aura exhaustion from earlier. Tai was glad to know his little experiment worked though. Definitely worth using in the future.

…assuming of course that he could actually get the others to leave him alone with an injured teammate. Which wouldn't be happening if he couldn't gain at least a little of their trust.

He appealed to Raven, who was now reclining cat-like on her bed. "Really? You're not at all curious about the school?"

Something flashed in Raven's bloody eyes and Tai remembered the suffocating feelings of inferiority and frustration pitted against a nameless, faceless opposition.

He tried not to think about it. Synergy wasn't meant to be used to get to know someone.

For a second she seemed interested. Then she gave a shrug. "Maybe tomorrow."

He wanted to protest, cite some kind of team bonding exercise or something, but Summer and Qrow really did need to rest and also, he wasn't the team leader. So.

He shrugged, and left his duffle bag on the bed. He memorized its location and the position of the zippers out of habit, but he was kind of curious to see if they would resort to going through his stuff. He didn't mind too much—anything important was either on his person or in his head—but it would be a good gauge of just how far his teammates were willing to act on this suspicion they had of him, and a measure of their characters in general. And from there he'd be able to tell how much work would need to go into gaining their trust. Or whether that was salvageable at all without outright addressing it.

For one uncontrolled and honestly embarrassing second, he wondered if Summer could plan something like this, and pull the team together. Then he pushed the thought away, unwilling to examine it further in such close proximity to her.

Taiyang grabbed one of the keycards from the slot by the door, and waved as he walked out, not expecting or receiving a response. He decided to make his way down to the courtyard. The fountains looked nice and he could observe the whole school from there.

As he walked his mind wandered. It was funny, but in all his years imagining himself at this school, and in all the hours he'd worked toward that goal, he almost never pictured himself on a team. And on the rare occasion he did remember to include others in his little daydreams, he was always the leader of the pack. The idea that he wouldn't be for the foreseeable future...well it rankled more than Tai wanted to admit. He didn't like the idea that someone else would have that much input on his goals and how he accomplished them.

To be fair to himself, he usually was the ring-leader in any given group. When the four of them were called up to the floor of the stadium, Tai fully expected Ozpin to name him leader, even if he hadn't consciously given it much thought.

He kind of wanted to know what the criterion for Ozpin's selection were. It didn't…it didn't make much sense.

Tai had little to no opinion of Summer as a person, other than the fact that she was skilled in aura-sensing and clearly had some kind of sordid past that she wasn't very good at dealing with. How Qrow managed to convince her to perform synergy with him was a mystery that Tai honestly wasn't sure he wanted to examine too closely. She'd been on the verge of a panic attack when he and Raven left.

She was clearly intelligent. Pragmatic. Well-trained and probably well-educated, if her accent and general bearing were to be believed.

But she was so aloof—she rarely spoke, she made little to no effort to form relationships with those around her, she didn't even seem to like being in close contact with others. There was little to no sense of authority about her. It was the type of behavior Tai always thought incompatible with leadership. History would seem to agree with him, if the personality profiles he memorized on Remnant's most influential leaders were to be believed. So why her?

Cool air kissed his face as he stepped outside. He took a deep breath and the crisp scent of freshly-cut grass filled his nostrils. The soothing sound of trickling water tickled his ears, and Taiyang reveled in the peace of the evening.

Whoever designed this school meant for the courtyard to be a place of privacy for multiple people at once. Around the complex were concentric walkways with parks and fountains. No matter where he went he couldn't see the whole thing at any given time, even if the school itself was always in view.

He walked up to observe the statue in the middle. It was a likeness of the Warrior King, holding up his famous sword, with his infamous right hand Iola crouching in ready defense beside him. If he stood in the right spot, the sword cleaved the tower in half perfectly. He breathed, letting his senses range out. The school seemed…alive, somehow. Like it had its own heartbeat. The illusion was assisted by the hundreds of people milling around inside.

For the first time since stepping off the airship yesterday, Taiyang allowed himself to ruminate on why he was here. Like stepping a toe into his ocean of grief, he let it fill him for a moment, weigh him down. A useful ballast that fed determination, the motivation for everything he did and the thing that kept him sailing forward. It was not so overwhelming anymore, not like—before. It was more of a longing now, a weary grief that spread through him diffuse and soft, like ink in water.

He let it linger. He watched the lights in the tower of the school, and this time felt no buoyancy.

There were so many things he needed to do, so much he didn't know…but coming here was the first step. Being at Beacon was the best way to accomplish his goal.

A thought sparked in his mind, and his grief welled shut as he grinned a little in response. As a student, he probably had access to more resources than the average civilian. It wasn't anything like the information available to licensed Hunters, but there would be something. Tai had a date and he had a cause of death, and that should be enough to go on. Plus, he had a description of the victim, and he knew for a fact that Beacon had a record of her death. The school was, after all, the one who sent someone to inform Taiyang.

It was the first time in a long time he had a concrete hope of getting somewhere. Despite the lingering melancholy, it filled Taiyang with the insane, giddy thought that he could fly if he wanted to right now. Or explode. One or the other, really.

Something flickered on the edge of his awareness. A group of people—four of them, their auras faintly tinged with mischief. Two were familiar.

Moving carefully, and checking the security of his seals for redundancy's sake, Tai followed the signatures and jogged back into the school. Taking a shortcut, he chased after Ardit and Zilar. And probably their new teammates, if he was guessing correctly. He probably should have paid more attention during the whole team-assignment ceremony. If he thought ahead, he could have committed every one of his classmates' aura-presences to memory, and associated them by team. In his defense, he'd still been shaken by the whole synergy thing. Still was, if he was honest. Everything felt just ever-so-slightly off.

Tai's suspicions were proven correct when he spotted Team ZAFR crouching behind a corner in the front hallway and trying to do…something.

"I'm telling you, the camera's mounted in the corner for a wide-view of the hallway. We can go under it and sneak into the side entrance!"

The whole team seemed very…focused. Tai cleared his throat. All four of them spun around, hands going for non-present weapons on instinct.

Tai gave a short wave and smiled, amused. "Hey."

The strangers looked suspicious but Zilar smiled and Ardit waved. "Hey."

Tai grinned. "Nice night."

There was a flash of amusement in the faunus' eyes. "Clear sky. Nice breeze."

Tai kept his expression level. "Quiet. Peaceful." Then, breaking character, he shifted his stance to a more relaxed position, projecting his honest curiosity. "So. What're you guys up to?"

Zilar interjected. "Team bonding!"

The girl looked like she was considering open revolt. "Is that what you call getting lost?"

Zilar thought about it for half a second. "We're not lost. And yes."

"What're you guys looking for?" Tai asked, heading off an argument before the girl could open her mouth. See how good he was at problem resolution? That was a leadership quality. He had it.

…okay, he was harboring more bitterness about this than he'd realized.

The redheaded guy was the one who answered. "The kitchens. Ferro said she was craving chocolate."

The girl in question glared at her partner. "Why would you tell him that? Now he wants to come!"

"Want some help getting there?" He offered, because he was bored and also because he clearly needed to do something while he sorted out his feelings over being passed over as leader of team STRQ.

The girl looked suspicious and, okay, yeah, he was getting tired of that being directed at him today. "What makes you think you can help?"

Fair question. "I memorized the school's floorplan." He got four blank stares in return. Tai blinked, not quite sure what to make of it. "What? It's public record." He assumed that some things were deliberately left out—the dust stores, for example, weren't on any of the public maps, and few of the rooms were actually named. But it was a historical, publicly owned building, and the blueprints were protected under public domain laws by the Vale City Council—laws that were implemented by the Warrior King, so that the public might police the schools as a kind of default oversight committee.

Taiyang had no idea how Beacon's incomplete blueprints were supposed to help the public affect Beacon's policies, but for the last month he'd been bored at Signal and excited to start at his new school, so. Blueprints.

Ferro's face broke into a grin and Tai noticed suddenly how pretty she was with her orange-gold eyes and dark skin. Her aura glowed with her glee. "Oh I like him."

Well at least that makes one person here, he thought, and wow, he was throwing all kinds of pity-parties today.

"He can come," the redhead declared. Zilar and Ardit, never having put up a protest in the first place, just gave easy affirmatives.

He walked up to join them. "There's another entrance round the back. No cameras." He seriously doubted they'd bother investigating a little missing chocolate, but going through the motions of a break-in was fun regardless.

Zilar grinned, and Tai noticed for the first time that there was a scar under his jaw, trailing from his chin to his ear, like someone tried and failed to garrote him. "Excellent. Lead the way, honorary Team ZAFR member."

Tai pushed open a door about twenty feet down the hall from them. "My pleasure. I don't suppose this comes with any kind of benefits package?"

The bulky redhead—Rust, he remembered, pinned him with a grave expression. "Service is its own reward."

Tai snorted. Ardit equivocated. "We can probably give you some chocolate."

Ferro sniffed, but her aura was playful and Tai relaxed into the banter. "Only if I get my pick of the haul first."

As it turned out, Tai was overthinking it.

She snores, he thought, a little desperate and a lot incredulous, she snores like a beowulf crawled down her throat.

Qrow, who was quietly performing maintenance on his sword, was smirking in knowing, smug victory.

That rat bastard, Tai thought uncharitably. He knew.

Which, of course he did, they were twins, but still. This would have been bearable if he was even one bed away from Raven, because then at least the sound wouldn't be so…concussive. She seemed to have a breathing pattern which required her to quiet for a few minutes before ripping into malfunctioning mech-shift mode. And it startled him every time because she was doing it right in his ear.

Qrow put a few drops of oil in the gears of his weapon. Tai silently vowed revenge, but made sure his seals were tight, because tipping Qrow off would be unbelievably stupid.

Just you wait, he promised, trying not to twitch as Raven snored particularly loudly. It was maybe a few decibels quieter than an airship engine. I'm going to end you.

Qrow either didn't notice or didn't care. He just looked intolerably smug, and used a cheesecloth to wipe up the excess oil as he worked.

Raven woke to an empty room. Having spent most of the previous night awake, and after letting Qrow sleep first—they were being paranoid, yes, but that didn't mean she would be able to sleep if she didn't have Qrow watching her back for the foreseeable future—Raven was understandably pretty tired.

Her forehead wrinkled and she reared back as she noticed something off—there was…a piece of paper? Stuck to her forehead?

She scowled, and blinked the last of the sleep from her eyes as she snatched the note. She recognized Qrow's terrible handwriting immediately.

Went to get breakfast. They're serving something called pancakes? Might want to hurry up. They're passing out schedules at 10:00.

Also? Your partner snores.

Raven's scowl deepened. Yeah, she noticed that when Taiyang finally came back from whatever escapade he'd been on last night. She went to bed not long after him but his snoring had long-since manifested by then. She was surprised she slept at all. He sounded like a drunken lumberjack.

She looked around but didn't see a clock. Judging by the light though—

Raven cursed and flung the covers off, rummaging under her bed for her pack. She hadn't bothered to put her clothes in the dresser-desk. She could do that as she wore the stuff. And if it made her feel a little better to have a go-bag ready, well that wasn't anything she needed to share.

Supposedly they were going to receive uniforms. She could put those in the desk and her important clothes in the bag.

Raven didn't bother going into the bathroom to change. Even if Taiyang walked in unexpectedly, it wasn't like it would be the first time she was naked in front of an audience. Her lip curled as she tied the thin black obi over her red wrap. That particular training exercise was one she never found much justification in.

Fitting her odaichi to her hip, Raven strode purposefully out of the room.

…and had to turn back to grab the remaining key from the slot by the door. She was not used to locking doors. Back home the threat of getting one's head lobbed off should they enter another Tribe member's tent was more than enough deterrent. Not so here, apparently.

The night before she made a point of remembering the way to the cafeteria (always know where to find a food source, tenet of survival #3). She jogged down the hallway and, not having the patience for the elevator, went for the more mundane approach. Honestly, why were the elevators even necessary? Students at a Hunter academy should be able to use the stairs just as easily.

Plus, the elevator was…uncomfortable. Too easy to ambush. Too small to fight in.

Raven was also not a fan of descending seven flights of narrow stairs at high speeds. Dizziness was not something of which she approved. It was still preferable to the elevator though.

The cafeteria came into sight when she reached the bottom. She sensed her team inside. It was just across one of the many courtyards that separated wings of the school. Raven found the fountains and statues unnecessary. They were just a mark of wealth, an artifice of status and history. A beautiful façade for a warrior's training grounds. It served no useful purpose, making the courtyards pretty.

Well, actually, if someone were stupid enough to attack the school, she supposed the water in the fountains could be used to disorient the assailant. And the statues could make excellent projectiles, if one had the right leverage. Breaking them could also provide some ammunition, if one was careful.

The cafeteria was connected to the main building of the school—where all the classrooms were—by a large stone arch that dropped from several stories up to the school's third floor. The hall was one long, large room with door-sized windows shaped like an upside-down shield Raven saw at the Gathering once. The entrance was on the north end, which faced the main building.

Raven scowled at the clock tower as she moved across the courtyard. It was only about 9:00. Her ability to judge time by sunlight was compromised—light looked different in Vale than back home. They were significantly farther north here.

As she entered the cafeteria, two girls exited. Raven was used to people moving out of her way, and didn't bother avoiding them, which is how both girls ended up sprawled on the floor.

Raven looked down at them, eyebrow raised. They were both wearing extremely impractical heels and miniskirts. Raven remembered them from the evening previous, when they were sorted into teams. She didn't make a note of their names though. They seemed harmless.

They both scowled at her now, surprise coloring their features. Raven would have ignored them completely and just walked around, but they managed to fall in exactly the manner which made that impossible.

The girl on Raven's right grunted and stood. Her hair was bubble-gum pink and her white top had sequins sewn on it. Her eyes were pale blue and flinty. Raven disdained of her instantly. The other one followed, her skin a dark color rarely seen in Mistral, and her hair bright blue. Neither had their weapons on them, as per school rules, and Raven would honestly be surprised if they managed to conceal knives anywhere on them. They simply weren't wearing enough clothing.

Raven fully approved of people using their sexuality to defeat particularly stupid enemies, but she did not think that was why these two dressed the way they were.

"Watch where you're going, you faunus freak," the pink-haired girl spat, clearly embarrassed if the spike in her aura and her body language was anything to go by.

Raven raised an eyebrow. "I'm not a faunus."

The pink-haired girl sneered. "Oops, sorry, couldn't tell, what with the hair and all."

Raven didn't really get what the girl was trying to get at. Her hair was fine. And faunus were excellent warriors with proper training—they could see in the dark. The few she'd known growing up were some of the Tribe's most valuable members. "You should learn how to keep your balance better."

The blue-haired girl crossed her arms angrily. "You ran into us."

"You should have moved."

Both girls' hands twitched, like they were ready to grab weapons that weren't on them. Raven's fingers wrapped around the knife hidden in her obi in response.

Then Raven noticed another presence. Light and cheerful and intent on her.

Taiyang walked up to the three of them and threw an arm around Raven's shoulders. Raven hissed and seriously considered putting her knife in him. But actually, with Taiyang here she could grab the knife hidden in her waistband without anyone noticing. Raven settled for scowling and leaning away from him instead.

"Hello ladies," Taiyang chirped. He was far too happy. "I hope my partner hasn't been bothering you too much."

"And who are you supposed to be?" Blue asked angrily. They were drawing a crowd.

"Just an innocent bystander." He flashed a charming smile that actually seemed to set both its targets at ease. Raven wanted to roll her eyes. It was obvious he was playing them. "You'll have to excuse Raven here, if she was bothering you. I think she was raised by wolves."

Despite herself, the comment hit a little too close to home. Especially coming from Taiyang, who had clearly received more opportunities than her, and who probably had a loving family somewhere, or something.

She ignored the memory of aching loneliness and desperate, furious grief.

Taiyang didn't know, probably. He couldn't know who and what she and Qrow were. He couldn't know where they came from.

But she knew how synergy worked. Sharing impressions and memories was something that simply came with the territory. Sure, it would be mostly nonsensical, incomprehensible information, but a person as canny as Taiyang would pick up on the broad strokes and put two and two together.

She didn't want Taiyang to know anything about her.

She elbowed him in the gut and pushed past him and the irritating girls. "What do you know?"

From behind her she heard Taiyang wheeze dramatically. "See what I mean?"

Raven's scowl deepened and she stalked off toward the buffet table. She grabbed some fruit and a couple of pieces of sausage. There were some large, doughy discs and a vat of thick brown liquid, but that looked dubious at best and Raven didn't quite trust Vale's cuisine yet. It was all very…heavy.

For the first time, Raven wished she occasionally ventured away from the Tribe while growing up, like Qrow did. She doubted she would be experiencing quite this level of culture shock if she had.

Food collected, she scanned the room for her twin. She found him sitting to Ardit, the faunus they met by the relics. The rest of the team was gathered haphazardly around that end of the table. On Qrow's other side, and with significant space between them, sat Summer. If she didn't know better Raven would say she was eating alone, which was probably intentional. Like always, her hood was up and she picked at her food with the same enthusiasm Raven might give to schoolwork.

Much as Summer irritated Raven in a general kind of way, at least Summer didn't wear miniskirts. And she knew how to fight. It could be worse.

Raven sat across from Qrow, and raised an eyebrow when she saw his plate. He had six of the dough things stacked on top of each other, and drizzled the brown liquid all over it.

"What is that?" She asked, morbidly curious.

"Pancakes," Qrow told her, and stuffed a forkful of his meal in his mouth.

Raven looked at them curiously. If Qrow liked them, they probably weren't poisonous. Unless they were soaked in sake.

"Let me have a bite," she demanded.

Qrow laid his forearm in front of his pancakes defensively. "My pancakes."

Raven scowled. "I want to try the pancakes."

Qrow cut himself another bite. "Get your own, sis."

Raven scowled deeper, considered heeding his advice and decided against it. She also considered using her many knives to force Qrow into compliance, but acknowledged that Qrow probably had at least as many sharp implements on his person. And pancakes probably weren't worth risking expulsion by revealing her knives.

There was a snort from down the table, and Raven glared at the red-headed perpetrator.

"What?" She snapped. She did not appreciate being laughed at. Especially not by strangers.

The redhead held up a placating hand, and shook his head. "Nothing, just—you guys are definitely siblings."

Raven frowned at him. "Well, obviously."

Zilar grinned at her. "Don't mind Rust, he's got four younger sisters. You two are probably giving him flashbacks."

"Pink dolls make me cry," Rust deadpanned, and viscously chomped down on his fork.

"And this is Ferro Savage," Ardit gestured to the only girl on their team. Ferro waved and went back to attacking her food with relish. "Ferro, that's Qrow's twin, Raven."

Raven was getting tired of being introduced second. This was an uncommon state of affairs for her. Rather than make any further conversation, she picked at her fruit cautiously. She'd never tried blueberries before. They didn't grow in Mistral.

Just as she was about to stab one with her fork—she'd looked for chopsticks, no luck for her, as usual—Taiyang sat next to her, his face split in a broad grin.

Raven glared at him when he sat a little too close and he respectfully gave her an inch. Raven would have liked to deposit him at the other end of the bench, but that was probably unreasonable.

She considered doing it anyway when he turned to her. "I smoothed things over with Roux and Talutah for you."

Raven blinked at him. "Who?"

Taiyang raised an eyebrow. "The girls you ran into? The ones who were about to try and rip your hair out or whatever?"

Raven frowned deeper. "They couldn't touch me if they wanted to."

Taiyang had a slight crease between his eyebrows. "Yeah but—" he paused, clearly waiting for her to get something, and shook his head after she gave him a blank stare. "Anyway, it's fine now."

Raven gave a mental shrug and stabbed her blueberries.

Taiyang turned his absurd grin on Qrow. "Are you a fan of pancakes?"

Qrow shrugged, and surreptitiously fiddled with something in his pocket. Raven wondered if he had soaked his pancakes in sake.

"They're fine," Qrow allowed. Raven raised her eyebrow. There hadn't been a chance for the two of them to speak privately since they got on the airship, but Raven could tell something was off with him. Especially in regard to Taiyang. He was wary. Had been since the night before.

Raven suspected it had something to do with his fast recovery time in the cave. Yes, it was suspicious, but whatever happened, Qrow was fine. She didn't see how it was a big deal.

"I'm glad you like them." Taiyang said cheerfully. Raven wished he would stop being so happy all the time. It was morning. "You guys excited to start classes tomorrow?"

Ardit perked up, his dark brown eyes lighting up under his tawny fringe. "Absolutely! I've never been outside Menagerie before, so It'll be fun to learn about history from the other side."

Raven stiffened a little but no one noticed. Well maybe Qrow, but he didn't count since he tensed too.

"I wonder if we'll share any classes," Zilar mused. He sat to Raven's right, and she realized she may have seated herself between two morning people on accident.

Next time she would sit across from Summer. Maybe way their mutual prickliness would make other people go away.

Raven eyed her team leader while the boys blathered on about classes over her head. On the airship, Raven pegged her as an adept warrior. During initiation, she proved that, and certain leadership traits even Raven couldn't deny. She'd also proven to be an extremely traumatized individual, if the hood and her behavior regarding synergy was anything to go by. Yeah, the experience was unnerving, but one either survived their trials or didn't. There was no use crying about it.

Still, she kept Qrow alive from that massive Deathstalker and got herself concussed to protect his back when he passed out. She also managed to buck up enough to get the relic, so it wasn't like Summer was incapable of dealing with her shit, whatever that was

Raven still thought Ozpin should have picked her for team leader, though. It would have made for good practice.

She speared a strawberry. She liked them better than the blueberries so far. Sweet but not overwhelming.

Taiyang and Rust were reliving some escapade they had the night before. Apparently, they snuck down to the kitchens to get chocolate. Raven only had that once before, and it was terribly bitter. She didn't really see why they would want to get their hands on it. But whatever, maybe Vale had a thing for bitter. Their coffee certainly was. Raven would always prefer tea.

"The schedules are ready," Summer commented, surprising everyone. It was the first time Raven heard her speak since the night before.

Everyone at the table swiveled around to the front, where Goodwitch and a few people who looked like faculty members stood with several boxes filled with yellow-orange envelopes. Goodwitch waved her…wand…staff…thing…and a few sparks ran around the room, instantly arresting everyone's attention.

"Will the team leaders please come up and collect their schedules. You will collect your uniforms from the steward at the time listed in your schedule packet. Your books you may collect from the school's librarian, although some of your reading material may be found via scroll, which each of you will receive along with your uniforms. If you already have a scroll compatible with Beacon's network you may use that. The rest of the day will be yours to do with as you wish, but I highly recommend going through your textbooks. Now please form an orderly, single file line."

It took a moment but the room eventually realized Goodwitch was waiting on the team leaders. Instantly there was a mad scramble as people made their way to the front. Summer, Raven noticed, took in the chaos and sighed just loud enough for her to hear. Raven smirked. At least she knew if Taiyang and Qrow got too annoying she could count on Summer to not irritate her.

When Summer left, Ferro turned down the table. "Does she ever take the hood off?"

Raven stabbed her sausage. "No," she told the girl curtly. She was curious about the hood herself.

By now, Summer was pretty close to the front of the line. Raven noticed the other students were giving her a wide berth, almost unconsciously. Raven wondered if Summer had a semblance that allowed her to project certain falsehoods with her aura. She hoped it wasn't that. Taiyang was more than adept at that particular skill.

"She's going to have to eventually," Taiyang said lowly, just loud enough for her and Qrow to hear. "It's school policy."

If she wasn't Qrow's twin, she wouldn't have noticed how his hand clenched a little around his fork, and then released. Weird. Maybe he saw something when they performed synergy that was making him more protective now?

"She'll get over it," Raven whispered back. People survived or didn't. Dwelling on one's hurts was weak. Qrow knew that.

Summer was coming back now, yellow folder in hand. She sat down next to Qrow, a little closer than where she sat to eat, and broke the seal on the envelope.

She pushed her hood back a little, enough to read without irritation, and her eyes skimmed the page quickly and easily. Raven did not let the hot rush of shame and resentment leak into her aura.

What was wrong with her? She'd never felt a need to gain approval from others before. She'd never felt shame for who she was—only pride.

Maybe it was the synergy. She still felt off, still kept getting hit with recollections of Taiyang's emotional memory. She hadn't pressed too deeply—even she had her limits on what was appropriate when it came to breaches of privacy—but maybe what she did recall was affecting her more than she thought. Making her more sensitive.

She scowled at the thought while Summer skimmed her instructions.

"We meet with the steward in an hour," she told them. "Here." She started passing around their weekly schedules. When she looked at hers, Raven leaned back slightly, so that the boys on either side of her wouldn't be able to see it. Zilar was engaged in his own team anyway, but she didn't want to take chances.

"Do we all have the same schedule?" Taiyang asked, skimming his own leaflet.

"Mostly," Summer told him. "There is one block on Tuesday and Thursday that is different for each partner group. And…" Summer trailed off, glancing between Raven and Qrow. "Raven and Qrow get to take some advanced weapons courses."

Raven saw red.

She knew. She knew and she was covering for them and—

Maybe she should be grateful. Hell, a moment ago she'd been all but hiding her schedule so no one would see. But she wasn't grateful, because Summer knew, and was able to read her and Qrow well enough to know they wouldn't want that information spread around. Summer, who clearly received an excellent education. Summer, who hadn't struggled a day in her life for money, survival, or opportunity.

Qrow looked distinctly uncomfortable. "I don't think—"

"They're not advanced courses," Raven interrupted, nearly vibrating and drilling a hole in Summer's silver eyes. "They're remedial ones."

Qrow looked at her with shock and annoyance written all over his face. Taiyang raised an eyebrow and turned to her. "Remedial...?"

"Math. History." Her face flushed at the next one. "Reading and writing." She saw Taiyang's eyebrows furrow together in confusion, and she leaned in close. "Got something to say about it?"

Taiyang, for once in his life, looked genuinely shocked. "No, I—"

"Good," Raven spat. She stood up from the table, and leaned toward Summer, whose expression was completely blank. "We don't owe each other anything," she hissed.

And with that Raven stormed out of the cafeteria, fully bent on finding a few Grimm to destroy out in the forest before they had to collect their uniforms from the steward.

She got halfway through the castle before she realized that she left her schedule on the table, and that Nemesis was in the armory. If it weren't for the schedule she might have just gone to the forest anyway. It wasn't like she never fought with nothing but a few knives before. But the schedule was still in the cafeteria, and she needed it if she was going to get around this stupid school. And she didn't want anyone else to pick it up and see…

So she turned around, back to the cafeteria, and collided with a blur of yellow and brown.

She kept her balance well enough, but Taiyang wasn't so lucky. She looked down to see him sprawled on the floor, blinking in surprise. When he recognized her, he broke out into a big smile.

"Oh, good, I caught up with you. You left this back there." He held out a sheet of paper and Raven realized it was her schedule. She took it and Taiyang stood, shifting back and forth and projecting all kinds of awkwardness.

Raven didn't quite buy it.

He scratched the back of his neck and looked away. Both nervous gestures. Still didn't quite buy it.

"Look, about the courses." She bristled, and opened her mouth to verbally eviscerate him. "I won't say another word after this, but, if you want help or you want to ask questions, you can ask me."

She didn't believe his nervousness, but she could tell the offer was…genuine. In its own way.

"You're not gonna ask why we need them?"

Taiyang shook his head. "Nope. You can tell me if you want, but I won't ask."

Raven stared at him. Her partner was a mess of contradictions. He was friendly but manipulative, genuine and false. He was curious, but she believed him when he said he wouldn't press.

"Qrow and I didn't have the most…conventional, of childhoods."

Taiyang smiled. "I figured. If it makes you feel any better, I think all of Team STRQ could say the same."

She snorted, thinking of Summer and her clipped Atlesian accent, and Taiyang, with his cargo pants.

Then she remembered Summer's reaction to the very idea of synergy, the night before. The way Taiyang would rather manipulate people into believing him good natured rather than simply showing people who he was.

Maybe, just maybe, Raven was sometimes too quick to judge.

"Thanks for…" she waved her schedule.

Taiyang's grin broadened. "Anytime. So, can I ask—how would you feel about helping me pull a prank on Qrow?"

Raven blinked in surprise, but then she smirked. Taiyang clearly knew how to put her in a good mood. "What did you have in mind?"

Hahahaha Raven attempting to interact with other people is my new favorite thing.

Team ZAFR's theme song is "Snakeskin Cowboys," by Ted Nugent. Team STRQ's theme song is Metallica's "Nothing Else Matters."

Raven is very critical of Talutah and Roux's clothing choices. This is because Raven evaluates everything based on functionality, and she does not see the point in dressing aesthetically. It's why she wears boots, and why she doesn't wear loose or long pants—she doesn't want the fabric to get caught in Nemesis. The one aesthetic thing she allows herself is her hair, and even then she wears it in a way that disguises her shape—when seen out of the corner of one's eye, she doesn't immediately register as human, which is useful. Anyway, the point is, it is not this author's opinion that just because a girl chooses to wear heels, a miniskirt, and a crop top, she's worthless. Raven is just harsh.

If one imagines that a Mistralian diet is similar to East Asian cuisine, then one can imagine that the adjustment to Valian (cough*American*cough) fare would be hard.

Raven tried baking chocolate, which is why she's like "bro, that's gross."

Shoutout to one reader who left me a lovely comment on AO3. I probably wouldn't have finished this until next week if not for him/her/them.

If you liked it, please let me know! if you hated it, tell me what I screwed up! Thanks, and have a great day!