Chapter IV: Change of Plans

"I wonder if Luke and Jack have this game on their world. You think it's called 'Earth: the Game' or maybe something else?" Ruby asked as she looked at the cards in her hand.

Weiss shook her head, "Ruby, even if they did have a game like this in their world, I doubt they had the time to play it, so how would they know?"

After their new earthling friends had their aura unlocked and seen their rooms, teams RWBY and JNPR decided to all go to the library so that their new friends and teammates could all bond together. Although, the brothers in arms decided to check and see if Nexus, the deity that brought them to Remnant, had left any of his small gifts for Jack as well as Luke. So, at the moment, they were sitting in the library, playing "Remnant: the Game" and reading silently. When they did talk, they mostly talked about their friends from another world and how they were going to adjust their team moves.

"What I'm trying to figure out is how they have such high aura levels and reserves when they aren't even from our world." Pyrrha decided to pitch in on RWBY's conversation.

"Maybe it's a sign of what they say about guys with massive amounts of aura." Nora joked with a smug grin.

All of RWBY, except for their confused leader, nearly fell out of their seats in surprise at the statement, making Nora howl in laughter and her team shake their heads at the shenanigans, "What is she talking about?"

Jaune looked at his fellow leader and saw how confused she was, though he decided she should not have that knowledge just yet, "It's complicated Ruby."

The little red reaper pouted and went back to looking at her cards, "Stupid older people and their jokes I don't get…"

Yang chuckled at her sister's innocence, though she was almost immediately stopped in her tracks when the heiress made herself known, "Well, I do know a certain someone who would like to find out for herself."

The blonde choked on air while Weiss and her partner giggled at the reaction, "Oh yeah, like you weren't giving that hunk the 'bedroom eyes' when you saw him back in the forest."

It was the Schnee's turn to begin choking on the air she breathed, eliciting the tiniest smirk and remark from the ravenette Faunus, "She does have you there Weiss. What were the words that were muttered again, Yang?"

"Oh! That's just the thing Blakey! There were no words, our little heiress here was rendered speechless!" Yang giggled in return.

Weiss, the tables efficiently turned on her, groaned while she placed her face into her hands, causing everyone around to laugh at her expense. It took another minute of giggles before the heiress picked herself back up, "Very well, I admit, he is quite handsome, as well as his friend. He's even proven to be quite the gentleman, be careful I don't steal him, Xiao Long."

With that, the whole group fell over with laughter at the blonde's incoherent babbling, a sight which none of them had ever seen and were enjoying immensely. If the sight of the speechless brawler was not enough, the fact that it was Weiss who even put her into that state made the laughter even worse. The howling wolves were eventually put down when the librarian and a few other students came over and shushed them, though there were still a few chuckles passed around the brawler. Nearing the end of the small laughs, however, the blonde raised her head, realization clear and evident on her face as she met her partner's, "Hey Blake? You think it would be alright if we involved them in… you know?"

Faster than the snap of a finger, all sound drowned out, and all of RWBY turned back to their Faunus kunoichi. Her face did not leave the page in her book, but her teammates could tell that she was thinking hard from the way her hands were choking the front and back covers as if it were the throat of a man who insulted her family. Jaune was thinking about coming over and asking to play the board game with them, but he noticed the atmosphere around the other team and decided not to. It took some time, but eventually, Blake let out a heavy sigh and removed her face from the book's pages, "I… I don't see why not… so far, they've seemed to be more than supporters of Faunus, but I think we'll have to tell them back in our dorm, not here."

Her team nodded, and after a few more minutes of silence and playing the game; they heard a commotion in the doorway. They turned to see their otherworldly teammates talking with a familiar looking monkey Faunus and a blue-haired teen, "Ok, I'll admit, after seeing your scrolls, I believe you when you say that the massive pressure we felt earlier was the two of you, but I'm not sure I believe this whole 'other world/universe' stuff."

Jack started grazing through his scroll while Luke looked to Sun understandingly, "Yeah, I don't blame you. The fact that Jack and I are even in another world ourselves is something even we are having trouble wrapping our heads around."

"Alright then," Sun crossed his arms, "Tell me something about your world can back up what the two of you are telling us, and I'll believe you."

Before Luke could say something, Jack walked over with Neptune and pulled out his scroll, showing it to the two Haven students, "... I've never seen a city like this before, what the hell kind of city has buildings and streets like that?"

Jack smirked, "The kind that never sleeps."

The other earthling grabbed the scroll from Sun's hands and looked just as confused, "Do both of our scrolls have pictures of places on Earth?"

Hell shrugged, "Probably."

"Hey, you guys! Over here!" The four new occupants of the library turned to see Ruby waving her arms around, trying to get their attention.

Luke smiled before he turned to the other two Remnant kids, "Well, how about you hang with all of us? That way, everyone will get to know everyone better."

Sun nodded while wearing his smile, "Sounds good. You two seem like some really cool guys, I definitely wouldn't mind getting to know you better."

They all nodded to each other and walked over to the two Beacon teams, the red reaper smiling at the other company, "Hey Sun, what are you doing here?"

The monkey Faunus smiled, "I came by the first year dorms looking for all of you, then we met your new teammates here, and we started talking on the way over. I didn't think they were telling the truth about them being from a different world, but then they showed us some pictures of it on their scrolls."

Ruby's eyes sparkled as she shot over to Luke, grabbed him by the collar and put her feet on his chest, "You guys have pictures of your world?! WHY DIDN'T YOU SHOW US?!"

While Sun and his partner blanked at the scene, Jack was starting to laugh his ass off again, knowing he was going to like this place, "We didn't know we did until we were sorting through our stuff in the bag and our scrolls. Heck, we've even got music from our world on these things, and it's awesome!"

That caught the attention of the Haven students, Neptune being the one to speak up, "First off, I'd love to hear some of that music later. Second, aren't libraries for reading?"

Ren shot up from his position and threw his arms up in exasperation, "THANK YOU!"

"PANCAKES!"

"SSSHH!" Everyone looked around in embarrassment when Nora's outburst caused the rest of the library's occupants to quiet them down.

"Ooookay…" Jack started an attempt to break the silence, "Well, here we are, so how about all the new people introduce themselves."

Sun grinned and forcefully patted the back of his partner, "Great idea, let's start with the nerd over here."

"Ah ah ah! Intellectual! Well anyway, my name is Neptune, Neptune Vasilias." He looked over to Weiss and gave a smooth smile, "And I don't believe I caught your name Snow Angel.~"

The heiress started to blush, but grew a small smile, "M-my name is Weiss, it's a pleasure to meet you, Neptune."

"Oh come on!" Luke and Jack looked over to see Jaune looking downtrodden at the interaction.

"Believe me; the pleasure's all mine.~" Neptune's teeth began to practically sparkle when he showed them off again.

Luke shook his head in disappointment. Sure, he learned how to flirt, seduce, and all that "James Bond" bull when he was in the program and even while on the run, but he never liked doing it. He made sure that whenever he and Jack flirted or seduced, it was when they had no other choice. They could never do it in the early years of being on the run, but as they grew up, they found that, when trying, they could look and seem far beyond their years. By the time they were fifteen, they had the appearance and voices of freshmen in college, and it only grew even more difficult to tell when they began to grow facial hair. At least with Yang, flirting was just another form of teasing or joking, all of it in good fun.

Jack looked to his brother and let out a sigh, "Well, now that everyone's met everyone, how about we all talk about what happened back at the dorms and everyone can ask us some more questions?"

Everyone except for Blake, who gripped her book tightly and glared at the pages, smiled and nodded, but Luke held up his hand to stop them from saying anything, "While we know that we should get to know you all most, maybe we should let our new friends go first. Sun said that he was looking for all of you to introduce his partner anyway."

The monkey Faunus in question rubbed the back of his neck as he laughed, "Yeah, well, honestly I think I've already done that. Heck, I've even gotten to meet people from another world, I'm actually feeling pretty satisfied right now…" he trailed off as he looked over to his fellow Faunus, "Although I still gotta say that I didn't really think of you as the board game type."

Blake groaned and forcefully got on her feet before turning back to the door, "Well, I'm not, and I think I'm pretty much done with this. I'll be in the dorm."

All the occupants watched her go, their faces ranging from confused to concerned until Jack looked over and saw Sun's dismay, "I may not know what that was about, but I wouldn't worry too much man."

Sun looked to the earthling whose hand was on his shoulder and gave an appreciative smile in return, "Thanks. Well, I guess I'll go ahead and get out of all of your hair. Luke, Jack, call us up if you ever want to hang sometime. Cool guys like you are always welcome!"

Once they said their goodbyes or one-liners in Neptune's case, the two Haven students headed out from the library, leaving the Beacon students on their own to be questioned by their earthling friends, "What the hell's going on with Blake? Is there something that we should know about?"

Jack nodded as he picked up his time for questions, "Yeah, I thought we were just going to sort whatever Luke got from Nexus out and then we'd all bond together here."

Blake's leader closed her eyes and gave a sad sigh, "Well, we were, but it looks like that'll have to happen over the next few days. Right now, RWBY has some stuff to take care of. That includes you, Luke."

The fact that Ruby was even able to say something in a serious tone took Luke by surprise, but he began to worry what such a bright and childish person could be concerned about, "O-ok then. Lead the way, Ruby."

The little red reaper smiled and moved to the door, with Weiss following a few steps behind. However, Yang stayed behind and grabbed Luke's arm, the earthling in question looking to find a confident smile but a mixture of care and concern in her eyes, "Don't worry too much, all that will be explained in a bit."

'... She didn't flirt or make a pun, and she's hiding concern and worry behind her confidence… This is serious.'

"Yang, are you sure?"

Luke's genuine concern brought a red tint to the blonde brawler's face, made only worse when the heat of the moment pushed her lips to his cheek in a chaste peck, "I'm sure. We'll be waiting for you."

She rushed out of the library before anyone could comment on what had just happened, the receiver of the kiss caught off guard and raising his hand to the cheek. Minutes had passed before Jack had enough and prodded his dumbstruck brother, "Come on Romeo, go find Juliet and the rest of the Capulets."

The words barely registered in the flustered teen's mind, "I… did she just… Jack, what do I do?"

Before JNPR's earthling answered, he put his hands on Luke's shoulders and stared deep into his eyes, "Luke, I need you to listen to me. You and I have been through a lot, we've seen a lot, and we've done a lot. Throughout these years together, I've had to watch helplessly as you broke yourself down, piece by piece, with the guilt of everything horrible that has happened. I know you, Luke, I know that right now the thought going through your head is something stupid like 'what the hell is she thinking?' or 'how could I possibly deserve this?'. Well, I need you to get this through that head: it is not at all a question of deserving or thinking, but a matter of feeling. What are you feeling right now?"

"..." it took a while before Luke could answer, "I feel scared. You know what happened the last few times I thought I could have something like that. What if it's just how someone like me lives? What if I try and it ends the same way?"

"Then it will. Look, Luke; there have been hundreds of thousands of girls and women who've looked at you and filled themselves up with lust, then there have been the few that genuinely cared for you once they got to know you." Jack sighed before he resumed, "I know that she seems like she's just the kind of girl who teases and jokes around, but deep down, I can tell that she genuinely feels something towards you. Maybe she knows it's love, maybe she thinks it's a crush, I don't know, but what I do know is that she feels something good about you. And from what I can tell, you feel something in return."

Seeing surprise on his brother's face for the first time in a long time from something Jack said brought a chuckle out of his throat, "Come on man, I told you I know you. Every time some hot girl has flirted with you or something like that, you kept your head on straight and were able to talk without any feeling in your voice or on your face. Until now. You're showing feelings and emotions, but rather than suppress them and trying to go on like a soldier, be like a human. You don't have anything to be afraid of anymore."

It was true. Back on Earth, there was only one thing, one person, that Luke feared. Terrified enough of it him that the fear of what he could do to get to Luke kept him from ever thinking that he could have any loved one or family outside of Jack. Except that was back on Earth, another planet in another universe, and now both of the earthlings had a chance to live lives without fear of what the devil they spent their lives running from. That idea of living like that was one both of the earthlings had thought about forever, but now that they were living it, it felt almost too surreal to be true.

It was their new lives, and that fact brought a smile to Luke's face, "You know what, I'll think about it. Maybe you're right, but either way, I guess now it's worth a try."

While it was nice to see his brother smile because of him, Jack still couldn't help but feel shocked from how quickly he was able to convince his old friend. Last time he tried to persuade him to do something, it took Jack nearly a month before he made any real progress. This new world and a new feeling of belonging had a significant effect on Luke, and Jack almost couldn't be happier about it. "Good, just remember 'no glove, no love.'"

With the brotherly moment completely ruined, Luke had no choice but to reintroduce his palm to the back of his brother's head, "God damn it Jackass."

The laughing jester shrugged, "Ay, fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly, and I gotta be me. You should know that better than anyone."

Luke could only shake his head at the typical antics of his old friend, "Alright, well I'm gonna go see what's going on." he then looked past his brother towards a close by bookshelf, "How about the rest of you stop hiding and eavesdropping, then maybe we could all hang out as we head back together."

Almost immediately, a crashing sound and the next thing the earthlings saw was a pile of bodies on the floor with panic on their faces, "How-"

"Just like in the forest, you guys suck at being spies."

"I dunno Luke, maybe it isn't that they're terrible spies, maybe it's just that we're too good to be caught off guard."

Light chuckling followed as embarrassment washed over the faces of team JNPR, who picked themselves up and began to walk with their other-worldly friends back to their dorms. There was nothing significant or essential discussed, just a bunch of small talk and everyone getting to know one another. Although, Luke made a mental note to talk with Jack after he figured out that he told Nora about her Norse God counterpart, already having an idea on how much chaos that knowledge could cause for the rest of the team. Five minutes later, they reached the doors to the dorms, but the earthlings decided to talk for a bit before they headed back into their respective rooms.

Jack leaned on the wall with his hands behind his head as he smirked, "So, after whatever your team's got in store for you, you let me know when the first date is?"

Luke scoffed, "Yeah sure. I'll even tell you where so when I get you a girlfriend, you'll already have a place in mind."

Now it was the other earthling's turn to scoff, "Yeah like that's gonna-"

"Excuse me?"

When the aliens turned, they found themselves looking at another girl with raven hair and amber eyes, only without a bow, a green-haired girl with red eyes, and a guy going by a theme of grey. "I think you might be in the wrong place."

Jack's natural grin was replaced with a neutral line across his face as he glanced over at his brother, seeing if he was getting the same off feeling that he was, "What makes you say that miss…?"

"Cinder. Cinder Fall and these are my teammates, Emerald and Mercury. To answer your question, it's because I don't recall seeing you two when we got here." Cinder shifted her body, "Would you like to explore with us? We happen to be as well. We're students from Haven academy, here for the Vytal Festival, and we were merely exploring the place."

Luke's fingers twitched. The sultry tone of voice, the way she stood in the hallway like some model posing for a photo, her batting eyelids… she was fishing for something. Neither of the earthlings knew what, but they knew she was, now the only question was where to go from there with that knowledge. "Thanks but no need. We're newly accepted students of Beacon, and our dorm rooms are right here. We only just got our auras unlocked."

Cinder was caught off guard, both by the deep, authoritative voice and by the new information. "Really? By any chance, was your aura being unlocked the cause of those waves of pressure the school felt?"

Jack decided to make their apparent position of power known, to see what reaction that might cause, "Yep. That was us. Apparently, we've got larger amounts of aura and reserves than anyone has ever seen. Kinda strange considering we're not even from this planet."

For the second time, Cinder was caught off guard, but she was not the only one, "The hell do you mean you're not from this planet?"

Luke stood firm and looked directly into Mercury's eyes, "It means we're not from Remnant. We're from a completely different planet."

The boy in grey scoffed, "Yeah I'm gonna call BS on that."

"Believe whatever you want." Luke challenged, "Either way, it doesn't matter. We're here now, and it seems we're here to stay."

He began to turn around to his dorm when he felt soft and unusually warm hands latch onto his arm, "Ignore Mercury, whatever it might be worth, I believe you. How about you and I spend some time together over tea? We can get to know each other, and you can tell me about your world~."

Before Luke could subtly tell Cinder to back off, Jack put his hand on the shoulder opposite of the arm she grabbed, "Sorry but, my brother here had a bit of a long day and is kinda tired, just looking to get some rest."

Luke was thankful he had Jack to help him with getting out of spots of trouble, but he was not quite as good as his brother when it came to making excuses, so he built off of that, "Right. Sorry to put you down like that, although he's open to talk with at the moment."

When they were first starting their years of survival, Jack would have called Luke out when he found himself in a situation with some woman with hidden intentions, but experience taught him much, including the knowledge that Luke was only suggesting that to seem ignorant, "Yeah he's right, I'm here if you want to get to know someone."

Much to their hidden relief, Cinder let go of Luke and disregarded anything about Jack's being single, her focus being solely on Luke, "You two are brothers? I guess that makes some sense, although you two don't look exactly like each other."

"Well, we're not brothers by blood, but in spirit."

The seductress nodded, but stopped her two targets just outside their dorms, "One moment! You have my name, and it's quite rude not to give yours in return."

"Jack Hell."

"Luke Silver. Now if you don't mind, we'd like to go back to our rooms, maybe you should do the same."

With that, the two earthlings finally made it into their rooms, leaving a contemplative spy and her lackeys in the hallway, "Hm… interesting…"

Mercury turned to his leader with a small amount of shock, "You don't actually believe the whole 'other world' thing do you?"

Cinder smirked, "Whether or not their story is true, it doesn't matter. One thing I do know is that both appear to be very powerful, and they seem to be part of teams RWBY and JNPR. The very same teams that we have our eyes on."

Emerald decided to ask the question, "So what should we do? If they are as powerful as they say, should we change the plan?"

"I'm not sure at the moment. Let's just keep a close eye on them and keep watching their teams. Watch Silver specifically though."

"Why?" the hidden cripple scoffed, "Because you gave him bedroom eyes and he turned you down?"

The fallen maiden's glare was in danger of firing lasers and putting a hole through her henchman's head, "Because it seems he is like me. He has a darkness inside of him, I can tell, and if that's true, then I want to know how we can bring it out."

"WHAT IS WRONG?!"

"I just… I don't understand how everyone can be so calm."

"... You're still thinking about Torchwick?"

"Torchwick, the White Fang, all of it! Something big is happening, and nobody is doing anything about it!"

"Ozpin told us not to worry, between the police and huntsmen, I'm sure they can handle it."

"Well, I'm not! They don't know the White Fang like I do!"

Luke had only just stepped in and found himself watching a giant argument like a man in a private theater. They were so absorbed in their fight they didn't even notice him come in until he coughed for attention, "I may not know who or what Torchwick or the White Fang are, but I can tell that whatever they are mean a lot to you, Blake."

The Faunus was about to agree before he quickly cut in with a sharp glare, "So there's absolutely no way in hell you should involve yourself."

A tone of almost military-like authority put pressure in the room, and everyone began to sweat bullets of worry, but Blake was not so easily deterred, "What the hell do you mean I shouldn't get involved?! I'm the only person here who knows what this is and the gravity of it!"

But the earthling would not back down, "Rule ten: 'Never get personally involved in a case or mission'. You seem to be pretty personally involved in whatever this discussion is about."

Blake was almost fuming with rage, the likes of which no one on team RWBY had seen, even when she and Weiss were arguing for hours only a couple weeks before, "You may have some stupid rule against being involved in things, but that doesn't mean we have to follow them! How would you even know what's best for me?!"

"It's not about you, Blake, it's about the people you're gonna get hurt if you keep going after whatever is making you like this. Trust me, I know…" if Luke hadn't such a vast supply of aura, his nails would have been drawing blood from how deep they were digging into his shaking fist.

For a second, Blake kept herself from lashing out again long enough to notice the action, and it made her pause in her rage. Turning her head, she could see the worry and concern that adorned her teammate's faces directed at her and her outburst, and that burning rage was replaced by guilt from making her team like that. Her head lowered in shame, and she started thinking she was about to shake and break down into tears, but the sudden feeling of a hand on top of her own made her look up to see Luke. His eyes not filled with concern, worry, or anger like she was afraid of, but understanding. "As I said, I may not know exactly what has you like this, but I know it's deeply personal. So tell me what it is, then I could maybe help instead of push you further."

The Faunus blushed from the soft tone his voice had taken and just barely managed to stutter out a response, "O… ok…"

Luke nodded in confirmation and gave his raven-haired teammate some space, walking over to the rest of his new team, "Seeing how personal this is for her, she'll probably say something different, but for now, can you guys explain what it is that's gotten her so worked up?"

Yang nodded and had him sit down on Weiss' bed while the three huntresses in training stood around him, "You know Blake is a Faunus."

"Yeah, and she hides it in fear of being discriminated by other students because Faunus people are discriminated because of their extra appendages right?" Luke pushed the explanation along.

"That's pretty much it. Yeah." Ruby summarized.

"So what's 'Torchwick' and the 'White Fang'? Sounds like some stupid boy band from my world." Luke tried to lighten the atmosphere like Jack always did.

He managed to get the three to giggle, so it seemed to work, but Weiss quickly went back to her neutral businesslike face, "Unfortunately no. Roman Torchwick is a highly dangerous criminal who plays a big part in Vale's underworld. We've had the misfortune to run into him a couple of times and become a problem for him and his plans. Ruby was the first. She was in a dust shop when Torchwick and some thugs walked in to rob the place until Ruby and miss Goodwitch stopped him."

After that new piece of information, a far more clear look of surprise found itself on his face as he turned to his new leader, "You stopped a whole group of criminals from stealing dust all on your own?"

Usually when someone asked her about that, Ruby tended to get defensive about it, but instead, she just rubbed the back of her head, feeling awkward that she was in the spotlight, "Ehehe… yeah… Torchwick got away though."

"... Ruby, you really are something else." Luke smiled as he shook his head in disbelief, "It doesn't matter that he got away, what matters is that he was stopped and you weren't hurt. That's something to be proud of."

The little red reaper smiled at the praise, hiding the toll it was taking to keep herself from rushing over to him and giving the earthling a big hug of appreciation, "Thank you, Luke."

Her new teammate merely nodded in return before turning to his leader's sister, "I'll bet she gets that tenacity from someone."

Then it was Yang's turn to blush at the sudden compliment, though she was able to shake it off rather quickly, "I dunno about that, but yeah she's someone to be proud of."

Luke chuckled at the exchange of blushes before he turned back to the heiress, "I'm sorry about that, you were saying?"

Weiss waved her hand, "It's quite alright, but honestly that's everything we know about Roman Torchwick."

"Then there's the White Fang." the occupants turned to see their kunoichi teammate with a far more calm yet saddened look on her face.

It was the saddened part that Luke took notice of, "I'm guessing it's the White Fang that's the personal part, right?"

Blake nodded in confirmation, "Yes. You see, the White Fang is a group of activists who advocate for Faunus rights, although their activities to move forward with that goal have become… misguided."

The earthling sighed and closed his eyes in sorrow, "They went from peaceful protesting and other non-violent forms of activism to more violent and lethal approaches."

She wanted to, she really did, but ultimately, Blake couldn't find a way to deny the statement without sounding desperate, "... Yeah…"

Luke nodded, "It happens. A lot. But that doesn't mean that's the end of all the movement's good. If it's redemption you want, then you're going to have to restart the group from the ground up."

Blake looked surprised at the sudden wisdom, "You sound like you know that from experience."

"Yeah. There are many… trying things that Jack and I have experience with. Too many…"

Another inkling of shame returned in the Faunus' heart, but she took a breath to contain it so she could continue, "I admit, I probably, no, definitely turned a blind eye to the changes in the Fang. I only let myself see what I wanted to see, or at least imagine I saw it."

"I get it. I really do." Luke looked up to his ninja teammate, "It's just human nature to let ourselves see what we want and ignore the danger that rises all the while. Before you say anything, as far as I'm concerned, the only difference between Faunus and non-Faunus is the animal traits. Faunus are just human beings with non-human appendages, that's the only difference to me."

Again, Blake wanted to disagree, but she couldn't. Not because she would sound desperate if she were to oppose, but because she knew that he was right. 'If only everyone could see us the way these people from Earth see us.'

After his declaration, a small moment of silence spread itself throughout the room, until the earthling looked around the room to all of his teammates, "You're all thinking about going after them and stopping them, aren't you?"

No one responded, but it was easy to tell what their answer to the question was going to be, "I'm not deciding whether to help you or stop you until I hear a plan, so please, what's the plan?"

"There isn't one." Weiss spoke up, bringing everyone's heads to her, "Because we just can't do this, we're students. We're not ready!"

"We may never be ready!" Blake countered the heiress, "Our enemies aren't gonna sit around and wait for graduation day. They're out there, somewhere, planning their next move, and none of us know what it is."

"You don't even know what your plan is. Knowing that, there's no way I can't ask this: what do you think you'll do when the time comes when you're going to have to kill, and I don't mean Grimm, I mean a person?"

That question was so far in the back of the teens' minds that they were shocked to silence and wide eyes from hearing it. "Why would we have to-"

"Blake, be quiet for a second and answer me this." the Faunus was shushed almost immediately at the deathly serious tone of voice, "If you go down this road, and you end up in a place where one of us found ourselves out of aura and had a gun to our face. That gun being held by a White Fang Faunus, the kind of person you want to defend to your dying day. Would you be willing to kill your fellow Faunus to save the ones who volunteered to follow you on this path, or will you hesitate and risk not being able to save your friends in time because of your stubborn optimism for the White Fang?"

For what felt like the hundredth time in the past few minutes, Luke's words brought pause to all in the room, until Blake let out words that shook like her body, "H-how c-could you… ask me that?"

Luke's head hung solemnly, "Because it is something that you need to think about for something like this. Trust me, I've been down this road as well, and I had to make the same choice."

Yang's eyes were close to watering as she pleaded to know more of her new friend's pain, so she could figure out how to help with that pain, "Which choice did you make?"

The Earth boy's sullen eyes locked with the brawler's as he answered, "The one that resulted in Jack and I living long enough for Nexus to put us here."

He may not have said the exact words, but it was clear which choice he meant. Even with the considerably little knowledge of what their two new friends had gone through on Earth, all of RWBY had to admit that the revelation should not have been such a shock. Hearing the words first hand had given them the feeling of being weighed down heavily by the choices they made, like what Luke and Jack must have been feeling with every minute. They knew little to nothing of what the two earthlings had gone through back on their home planet, but it was enough for them to understand why they were so adamant to even think about it.

Though everyone felt an immense weight on their shoulders and in their hearts, a certain raven-haired Faunus felt as though it kept her from moving, "I… I…"

Before she could let out a complete sentence, Luke lifted his head towards the silent girl, "You don't know yet… I get it. Just tell me that you understand, if you all go down this road, there will be a huge chance that you'll be put in that place. Tell me you know and understand that, please."

At that moment, Blake found herself back in time, the time when she had another partner, one who killed as well. Except that in the times when she and her old partner talked about killing, both his killings and just the act of taking a life in general, she could sense that deep down, he had enjoyed it. She could tell that when he said he had no choice, he knew there could have been another way to pull off the mission without killing, but he chose to kill; yet she allowed herself to look away and keep herself from doubting the partner she looked up to. All this time later, the Faunus ninja found herself back in another talk about killing, but it was not some attempt to defend the action, it was all coming from a place of concern and care. Luke didn't feel any joy from the decisions he made, experience had taught him that it was painful, and the last thing he wanted was someone he cared about to feel the same pain he felt. He did not want anyone to die, but he knew that sometimes, there was no other choice, and he wanted to make sure his teammate knew that that kind of situation was possible.

Keeping that knowledge of Luke's intention in mind, the Faunus kunoichi looked back to her teammate, a mix of understanding and resilience burning in her eyes, "I understand Luke, but I also need to believe that there will also be times where there's another choice… I hope you can too."

Luke shifted his eyes back to the floor as he took in the girl's words, then he looked back up and gave her as warm a smile as he could muster, "I believe that I'll do whatever it takes to make sure you won't have to make that choice."

He wanted to say something more, but Ruby shot into his gut with her semblance and proceeded to cry into it while hugging him like a teddy bear. After a few more seconds, the earthling found himself stuck in the center of a group hug as Yang, Blake, and eventually, Weiss joined in. While he had been hugged before, the last time he found himself in such heartfelt embraces was a time he could not recall, so he had absolutely no idea what to do, except start his brain back up from its sudden shutdown and hesitantly hug back. They all stayed in the position for a minute, everyone just needing that moment of being together and comforting one another. Once they were all thoroughly soothed, they separated with variously sized smiles.

Luke decided to be the one to break the comfortable silence as he coughed for attention, "First off, thank you, seriously, thank you all. I couldn't be happier that I let myself have friends like you four."

The smiles shined even brighter, "Second, I am really and truly sorry about bringing the whole 'save the world' plan down to some dark levels and ruining it."

Yang just grabbed the sides of the boy's head and brought it across from hers, "No. You didn't ruin anything. You gave us a taste of reality that we all really needed to hear. So don't think for a second that you ruined anything, you probably just saved us instead."

Everyone else in the room smirked as they waited for the two to realize just how few inches separated their faces, who were well satisfied when both looked down to the other's lips before blushing and the earthling slipped out of the brawler's grasp, "And third… what's the first step?"

Serenity was then replaced with confusion, which Luke quickly remedied, "I think we all know you four aren't gonna just back away and stay out of whatever's supposed to come. So if you're going to do this, there's no way in hell I'm leaving you to fend for yourselves, even if I don't know much about this world."

Ruby was ecstatic, and everyone was on board- "On one condition!", or not…

Luke couldn't help but chuckle at the sudden dropping of Ruby's body, "Relax Ruby, I was just going to say that we involve Jack and team JNPR. Otherwise, I'm never gonna hear the end of it from Jack if I leave him out of something again."

"Okay, sounds fair." before she spoke again, the little red reaper brought in a large breath, "AllinfavorofbecomingtheyoungesthuntressesandhuntsmentosinglehandidlybringdownacorruptorganisationconspiringagainsttheKingdomofValesayaye!"

"YES!" the blonde brawler stood up and cheered, "I love it when you're feisty!"

The earthling figured if he were in some anime, he would have sweatdropped at the brawler's declaration, 'Dear God… I have a crush on a female Jack… I just can't get enough of bad jokes and overconfident optimism can I?'

"Well, I suppose it could be fun." Weiss attempted her version of lightheartedness, making sure there was no more sorrow in the room.

"... None of you said 'aye'." Ruby complained.

Luke smiled as he lifted his hand in the air, "Aye."

The scythe-wielder smiled widely at the action before her eyes widened and she groaned loudly, "GUUUH! I left my board game in the library!"

"We're doomed." the heiress said, her knuckles resting against her forehead.

Ruby rushed back out into the hallway to get the game back from the library, only to run into a girl… with green hair and blood-red eyes, "Owie, sorry about that."

Emerald flashed a fake smile as she held out a hand to pick Ruby up, "I'm fine, just watch where you're going next time."

"You must be more careful; you never know what you can run into without looking forward."

'What the hell?' Luke recognized the voices as he and the rest of the team went out to the hall, 'I thought they went back to their dorms.'

"Hello, we're students from Haven Academy." Cinder began to introduce herself until she caught sight of the earthling and smiled as her eyes fluttered, "Oh hello there Luke. It's nice to see you again."

Blake looked between the ebony-haired woman and her new teammate, "You two know each other?"

Luke thought it best not to let Cinder respond first, "Yeah… we just met while Jack and I were walking back from the library. It's, uh… Tinder, right?"

For the briefest of seconds, the eyes of the hidden maiden flashed with annoyance before returning to their fake lust, "Cinder. Cinder Fall and you remember my teammates, Emerald and Mercury, right?"

"We can't be that hard to forget," Mercury scoffed, "I mean, we may not be from some other world or whatever, but I don't think we're that forgettable."

Emerald grinned like a shark about to lunge at its prey as she turned to the assassin, "Not all of us at least."

"Enough you two." their leader reigned them as she took a few steps toward Luke, "Looks like you aren't tired anymore. What do you say you and I get that coffee I suggested, get to know one another~?"

Yang's fists began to tighten, but Luke kept trying to get him and his team out before her hair could light on fire, "Sorry again, but I just came out here with my team because we forgot something in the library. Once we get what we're looking for, I'm planning on going straight to sleep."

It still was not enough as Cinder kept moving forward until her body was a hair's width from his, "Well, perhaps not today, but maybe sometime this week? Say… Friday? We explored Vale for a bit before arriving at the school, and we had found a nice little cafe~."

Still seeing she was not getting anywhere, the seductress decided to go for broke and began to bring her hand to his face, only for it to be grabbed by an almost burning hot hand, from a red-eyed brawler, "Sorry, honey, but our team here has some bonding and exercises to do that day. Especially since Luke only just became a part of our team."

Cinder looked back to the brawler with annoyance, but when she turned back to the earthling, his eyes were still hardened and unmoving, a sure sign it was time to retreat for now, "My apologies. I didn't mean to intrude on anything or disrupt your team's schedule."

She would not retreat without one last surprise attack, however, which came in the form of her finger trailing down his chest and leaning so that her breast could be visible, "Another time then. I'll see you around, Earthling~."

With that, the fake students turned and began to walk back to their dorm room, a mysterious and evil smirk on the leader's face. Once he could see they were long gone, Luke let out a small breath of relief as he stared down the hallway. 'There is definitely something off about that girl… and yet it feels like something familiar… better make sure my teammates and I keep our distance.'

Ruby did not notice the hardened stare from her new teammate when she turned with a smile, "Wow Luke, looks like you're getting around here just fine if you've met all these people on your own."

The earthling didn't turn to face his little leader when he decided to respond, "Yeah, I guess."

It was only after his response that the rest of the team noticed something off, the heiress deciding to ask, "Luke? Is something wrong?"

That was when he decided to turn and face his teammate, "Yeah, I'm alright, I just… I don't know. I feel like something's off with those three."

"What do you mean?" Ruby was confused, "They seemed pretty nice if a bit strange with you."

Luke scoffed at his leader's innocence shining through, "Yeah. Strange."

Deciding to leave that discussion for later, the team began to walk back to the library, but the earthling grabbed onto Yang's arm before she could start walking, bringing her focus back to him, "Thanks for that. Seriously."

The brawler smiled teasingly, her eyes gone back to their natural lilac, which Luke was glad about, "We are teammates, handsome, we always gotta be there for one another."

"Very true." the earthling agreed as he brought his head down and gave the brawler a chaste kiss on her cheek, "Thanks again, Goldilocks."

For the first time in a long time, the blonde brawler of team RWBY was left speechless and unable to move. She brought her hand up to her cheek and felt it burning up like her hair did when her semblance activated. Shaking her head out of her stupor, she doubled back to the rest of their team as they made their way to the library, her brain however still running rampant, 'Does… does he…'

However, she was not the only one deep in thought, 'I've only been here for a day, and already I've made friends with some awesome people, attracted the attention of someone suspicious, and even develop feelings for someone. No doubt about it, there's definitely something there when I think about Yang, just like how there was a connection when I first met Jack, and look how close we've become. Even more, to add to that, she feels something for me. Whatever it is that we feel for one another, it can't possibly be love yet. It hasn't even been a full day since we first met.'

Luke looked up to see that the brawler caught up to him and passed him, smiling when they made eye contact, 'One thing's for sure… I care about her. I care about all of them already, but there is something special about her. But we're about to go on some save-the-world mission that could go very wrong in so many ways.'

He stopped walking and looked down to his feet, "I can't change who I am. I can't think differently. I can't let myself fall into some relationship when I'm about to go to war."

Maybe it was just his "training" from the program back on Earth, perhaps it was his paranoia from so many years on the run, but neither of those was the case, and he knew it. It was his instinct. It was that which kept him and his brother alive for the last seven years. Something big was about to happen, but even Luke had no idea just how big it would be.

A/N's: IT'S STILL ALIVE! I mean, come on, this was and is my first story, I don't want to leave it unfinished. After all, I've got so many awesome plans for the future of this one. As for when you'll be seeing that future... all in due time, my friends... all in due time. Anyways, update times are still going to be sporadic, on account of, well, life. But you have my word, I will try and update this story as regularly as I can, so long as I post chapters of good quality to keep you guys satisfied. With that, special thanks go out to SunWukongMogar and BlackLight181 for being the awesome beta-readers they are. Be sure to let me know what you think, leave some comments, suggestions, constructive criticism, it's always welcome!

Also, some questions for you guys to answer:

Flashbacks of Luke & Jack on Earth - Yes or No?

With my plan for my other story, Hidden Kingdom, I've pretty much decided I won't talk about what we have so far from Volume 6 unless absolutely necessary since, well, the story takes place in another kingdom outside of the canon story. However, should I take what we've learned from episode 3 and integrate that into the story when the time comes, or make my own version of the origins? I wouldn't be ideal for what I've got planned, but I can definitely try to work around it.

Be sure to let me know what you think about the questions up top, I'd really appreciate it.

'Til next time!