It was around noon when Weiss was finally released from class. She had three classes lined up back to back, so she never really had breaks. This didn't bother her usually, because she liked to get things done early so she wouldn't have to worry about them later on.

Unfortunately, today was one of those days where she wished she'd just stayed home altogether. Her early morning encounter and the ramifications of said encounter had earned her a slightly embarrassing "walk of shame" when she entered her first class right in the middle of a quiz, and the subsequent annoyance that lingered over her head the day thereafter.

First to the door, she all but slammed it open, scaring the students who were waiting outside the lecture hall to attend their class next. She slung her bag over her shoulder and checked her phone, typing in whatever reply she'd left for the end of class. Weiss would usually meet Blake after their lectures since they got out around the same time, so she headed towards the center of campus, to the large, dynamic fountain. Students often had lunch around this area, and it also served as a pseudo-date spot for when you meet someone cute and you wanna sorta hang with them before class.

Blake was already waiting for Weiss, one leg propped over the other, phone in hand. She of course had heard Weiss coming and picked her head up to greet her.

"So, explain the text you sent me in the middle of class that reads, 'I AM LATE.' I mean, it was funny, but did you have to let me know?" The Faunus started, standing up to meet her companion.

Weiss let out a sigh, recounting the tiring events, "I tried to take a shortcut through an alley, and—"

"Alley? You?" Blake interrupted, not believing that the Weiss Schnee would set foot anywhere near one of Vale's alleyways.

"I know, right?! Freaking crazy. Anyway. I took a shortcut, got a little.. turned around, and ran into an insufferable idiot that would not tell me how to get out of the place. She's the reason I was late, and it's been bothering me the entire day!"

"It's unlike you to let someone get to you like that. What sort of person was she?"

The pair crossed campus, dodging students left and right. It was primetime right now, the time when most of the university had class, and the time when everyone was trying to get something to eat. Rolling her eyes at the crowding, Weiss continued.

"I don't even know the answer to that question. What she was doing, was spray-painting a wall, hanging off the roof of the building. It was insane."

Blake's ears twitched slightly, "Was she now? That's.. interesting."

"If I never see that heathen again, it will be too soon, Blake. Too fucking soon," Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration.

Blake tugged on Weiss' coat sleeve to comfort her, "Hey, it was a one-time thing, right? Just try not to take so many shortcuts this semester. Either that, or don't get coffee when you know you might be late, stupid."

Weiss looked at Blake with a stoic face, but couldn't hold it together once she saw the raven-haired girl smile at her. She playfully pushed Blake's shoulder with a laugh, and their hands brushed together briefly. Blake looked away and pretended to check her phone, suddenly feeling like she stepped over some imaginary line.

Weiss noticed this, but didn't press. She simply took out her phone as well, to lighten the air around them. "Would you like to grab dinner later on? Before your night shift, that is."

"What? Oh, I'd.. I'm sorry, I already promised dinner with extended family," Blake let this piece of information out reluctantly, internally cursing herself for her plans.

"Extended family?" Weiss questioned, tilting her head slightly. Blake always thought it was sort of cute the way she did that. "I wasn't aware you had any. Have I met them before?"

"No, you haven't, but I'd like for you to meet them someday. Today's just not that day. I believe we're celebrating a special occasion, I just can't think of it off the top of my head," Blake pressed the back of her hand to her eyes for a few moments before suggesting to Weiss, "Do you think we could do dinner another night? Or, I could… you know, make you dinner instead."

"I finally get to taste some of your cooking? Blake Belladonna is offering to cook me a meal?" Weiss pressed her fingers to her chest and fluttered her eyes, "How could I possibly refuse?"

"Hopefully my skills are up to par with your refined palate. But hey, I'll text you, yeah? I've got to get going," Blake said, tucking stray strands of hair behind her ear.

"No problem. I'll just go home and try and compile some notes from today. Maybe start on those discussion boards in a bit," Weiss turned to take her route home, before turning back to Blake for a moment, "Have fun with your dinner tonight."

A sincere smile later, both women were on their way.

Now, it wasn't that Weiss wasn't trying to go home and get some studying done. Really, she was. The problem here was that the route she took home had her pass the very same area that caused her trouble earlier this morning.

Walking along the bridge, she eyed the red bricked wall and the dingy rooftops where she knew that riffraff had laid claim to that poor, unsuspecting wall. She tried not to make eye contact with the edges of the roof, the stray antennae that were crooked in various spots, and the occasional power generator that probably didn't work anymore. The more she looked away, the more she ended up looking back. It was infuriating, the way a few mere buildings taunted her!

Her heels clacked along the concrete, eager to get to her destination before curiosity gets.. Gets the better… The better of…

'Ooohhh! I can't stand this.'

She'd finally let herself succumb to her thoughts, and she made her way back to that little alleyway she'd first come across when her coffee was still hot. Coming back to the passage, nothing had changed of course, and the journey to the empty lot was still as messy. Weiss wasn't even sure why she'd been so compelled to come back and check on the place. Perhaps she'd really just wanted to give that girl, if she was there again, a piece of her mind. Some sort of reprimand for making her late to her class that morning. She did have her honor to uphold, after all.

After squeezing through the passage and into the grassy patches, Weiss looked around quickly while brushing herself off.

Her eyes scanned the premises, and something fast and brown caught her eye. Near the abandoned swing-set, she could have sworn she'd just seen someone disappear beneath the ground!

"Hey, wait!" Weiss called after the figure, not even really sure it was a person to begin with. Cautiously, she walked over to the spot where the flash of brown had vanished, and what she found piqued her interest immensely.

Right beneath the swings was a type of metal covering, perhaps something akin to a manhole. It looked like it lead right into the sewer, so Weiss was deeply confused as to why a person(?) would be crazy enough to venture down there.

Weiss shook her head slowly as she checked around for any more people in the area. "Why must I be subject to live in a city that has such a high number of weirdos and so much odd behavior?" She says that as disclaimer, but she was very close to doing something she'd never live down.

Weiss Schnee paced back and forth. Forth and back. Across the grassy patches, around the swing-set, even along the chain link fence, she paced. She wanted to leave. She so desperately wanted to leave, go home, make a fresh pot of coffee, and get some work done.

But no! This strange little piece of land, with this strange little metal hole had presented themselves to her, and far be it from her to leave such things uninspected. There had to have been some sort of city regulation on this, she told herself as she paced. There was no way the authorities didn't know about all this, she half-convinced herself.

"I mean, is it really any of my business? Despite the fact that I should actually know what's going on in Vale, all things considering, do the reaches of the underground truly matter to one such as myself?!" The company heiress was in a dilemma. To venture, or not to venture. That, was the million dollar question.

… Shrreeng, clang. The screech of metal could be heard echoing in the lot as Weiss dragged the cover over to the ground, revealing a large, dark hole beneath.

"I can't believe I'm doing this. Ew, ew! Oh, what is this, a ladder? Great. At least some shred of decency remains…" Her voice started to reverberate as Weiss descended into the darkness, not knowing what compelled her to make the journey.

Further and further the ladder went, until finally, the company heiress touched the floor of the tunnel with a tentative foot.

The air was cool and the atmosphere was dingy, though it wasn't wet or slimy like Weiss had originally expected. Thank goodness it wasn't wet or slimy.

"… Hello? Are there any people down here?" She called out aimlessly, waiting for a reply. None came, and so she started down the darkened tunnel. Fortunately there was light spilling out at the far end, so she was completely blinded. Upon approaching the light, Weiss started to notice something about the walls. As she went deeper, the walls of the tunnel increased with the amount of graffiti on them, ranging from small scrawls of the hand to larger tags, colored and outlined.

"What is going on in this place?!" Her confusion was growing quickly, though her pace remained steady. She simply walked toward the light at the end, at which she realized was actually a T-intersection, rather than an opening. Both sides had light pouring from them, and she could hear some noise. Was it.. talking? Movement? Whatever it was, Weiss had tried her best not to seem as nervous as she really was.

She decided to take a left turn at the intersection, and she found herself in another small series of tunnels and dead ends. A few more moments of walking, and our company heiress finally stumbles upon something that looks like it could be a way out. Before Weiss was a large, vault-looking door. Its metallic surface shone brilliantly as rays of light leaked through the cracks in the opening.

"I'm guessing this is a way out," she stepped toward the circular door and grasped its handle firmly, "and with this, I'll.. I'll be.. urgh.. I-I'll be on my—" Weiss tugged and tugged, but the door would not budge. She released the door handle with annoyance and stepped back to look at the door in full. She huffed and folded her arms, "Are you kidding me? Why even have this useless fake door here?!"

"I knew I'd see you down here, cutie pie," a woman's smooth voice rang out from behind Weiss.

She spun around to face the same blonde-haired tagger from earlier this morning, leaning one arm on the edge of the tunnel, and one hand on her hip.

Weiss scoffed and took a defensive pose, "I should have known it was you that lured me down here. Is this all part of some type of plan to ruin my day entirely? Making me late this morning wasn't satisfactory enough for you?"

The girl was slightly taken aback, but more intrigued than anything else, "Whoa, slow down, Klondike bar—"

"Klondike b—?!"

"Now I didn't hatch any sort of scheme to get you down here, drug you and have my way with you if that's what you were thinking," the blonde pushed past Weiss to inspect the vault door, checking the sides to see if there were any breaches, "I mean you're cute and all, but c'mon."

"You literally just said you'd known you would have seen me down here. If that doesn't spell 'planned' then I don't know what does," Weiss took to the entrance of the small tunnel, effectively switching their places.

"That's because I knew you were curious. Just sort of thought you'd wander in one day… Why exactly are you here?"

"There was a person coming down here! So naturally, I had to find out what was going on, of course," Weiss eyed the girl suspiciously before curtly asking, "Are you smuggling drugs?"

"Only ecstasy, I'm afraid," the tagger joked as she turned to Weiss and proceeded to herd her in the direction of the other tunnel, "But now that you're here, I'll have ya meet the gang!"

She couldn't help but try and hold her ground as the insistent girl used her taller frame to push Weiss along the sewers, "W-Wait a minute, you're really smuggling down here?! I don't want to meet any gang, get away from me!"

More of Weiss' objections could be heard further down the sewers as the mysterious girl led her to the other side of the T-intersection from earlier. Weiss eventually ceased her struggle, instead composing herself and walking along the girl properly, feeling uneasy as they approached even more noise. She figured that it might be best to stick close to someone who actually knew what was down here. Well, not close. More like as far away as the tunnel would let her be.

A few more turns here and there, and eventually a small crowd of people appeared before the two, leaning against the sewer walls, chatting amongst each other. Weiss' brow furrowed at this, trying to fathom how there could possibly be an actual number of people, spending their actual time down here.

The blonde turned to her and whispered, "Don't be so nervous when we walk past. They can tease, but they're all harmless," she turned to the small group of people as they approached, "Hey guys!"

A chorus of "Hey"s and "What's up, Yang?"s rang out through the tunnels, all of them in a rather good mood.

"Yang, who's the cutie?!"

"Ohh, ya girl brought another one down here, didn't she?"

"Shiiiiit girl, I'd like a piece a that when you're done"

Before Weiss could retaliate politely, as she usually does, a protective arm made itself known in the space in front of her, and she heard the tagger spit out, "Aye aye, none of that. You bastards don't know when to control yourselves, don't you?"

Though slightly offended by the crude remarks of the tunnel's hosts, Weiss managed to choke down the list of comebacks she had at the ready, and traded them in for a more arbitrary comment, "So your name is Yang."

"Sure is. But you already knew that, didn't you?" Yang met her with a knowing look.

Weiss looked away disgruntled. "What exactly is this place? Why are there people down here? Why do they insist on treating me like I'm a piece of meat?!"

"You ask a lot of questions for someone who seems like a know-it-all."

"Wh—I am NOT a—oooh, you are such an annoyance," The heiress brought her hands up to her arms and rubbed them along her coat sleeves, "I just want to know the reasoning behind this place, and all of you people."

"Should there be a reason? Dairy Queen, I get that you're all proper and everything, and stuff's gotta have a 'why' and a 'how,' but this sort of place isn't like that. It's just a community that's.. open to whoever's lucky enough to find it!"

"I do have a name, you know. It's Weiss."

The tagger eyed the heiress with a sly smile, "I know your name."

Weiss flicked her head to meet the girl's face, "Seriously?! And you just let me believe you didn't, this whole time?! How do you even know it?"

"Like I said before, I just wanted to have a little fun with ya. There aren't too many with eyes and ears that don't know of the famous Schnee family."

Weiss was taken aback by the surprising bit of information. Her family's name reached even the depths of these rugged, cement walls.

The pair walked further down the tunnel, which was brilliantly decorated with art by this point, something Weiss silently appreciated, as much as it pained her to do so. Nearing the end of this route, Weiss noticed that the next area looked like it could be another room. She could hear plenty of voices at this point. Right at the opening to the area, there was a Faunus girl with long brown hair and bunny ears squatting down, checking her phone… Weiss was baffled at this, how could there be reception in a sewer? Vale was home to a large network of underground travel systems, but the signal was solely dedicated to these facilities alone. She decided not to say anything about it just yet.

Yang walked up to the brown-haired girl, who immediately stood at the sight of her white basketball shoes. "You seen my sister around?"

The Faunus folded her arms in front of her, the leather on her jacket tightening at the force. She smirked before answering, "She's in The Cozy. Hiding from you."

Yang brought her head up to the entrance of room and shook her head a little, "Of course she is." She started toward the center of the room immediately, and Weiss tried to follow closely behind, not wanting to be left to her own devices in this sort of environment.

What Weiss saw almost stopped her dead in her tracks. The area they were now in was a large room with multiple entrances and exits, none of which Weiss could distinguish by herself. Past this room, where Yang was storming into, was an even bigger underground space. Two gigantic staircases led from the upper level they were at, down to a large platform that gave way to various bridges, stairways and walkways that stretched out over an almost unbelievably expansive amount of square feet. The walls were absolutely covered in more graffiti, not much to her surprise at this point. There were a lot more people, dressed from head to toe in similar clothing as Yang was, some of them donning the same types of respirators on their hips, around their necks, or even slung over their shoulders. On every other platform or so, there were what looked like stalls, the type you would see at a festival, or a street-fair. Their wares varied, from food to little trinkets, clothes, and even paints and the tools that go with it. It was as if there was a bartering business going on down here, and Weiss was trying to wrap her head around it.

"What… What is all this?!" She yelled out after Yang, who was sliding down one of the railings to a central plaza, which was home to… were.. were those.. pillows?

The plaza had a large pit of what seemed to be made up of entirely pillows. Pillows with various sizes and colors, all looking quite comfy. Surrounding this pit was a ragtag circle of sofas and couches, and people made it no secret that they quite enjoyed lounging on them amongst the bustling of the people just levels above them.

Yang hopped off the railing and made her way to the pillows and couches, stopping right before the pile of cushiony goodness. She folded her arms over her chest and waited.

A head of brown and red hair popped out of the pillow pile, but it was facing the couches. A cheery but urgent voice could be heard from the girl, "Have you guys seen her yet?!"

The people on the couches simply giggled and flit their eyes to Yang, hinting for the girl to turn around. The girl in the pillows froze momentarily before turning her head slowly to meet Yang's gaze. Weiss could see that the girl had a pale complexion, a soft face, in stark contrast of many of the people she's already seen down here. She was definitely cute. Almost too cute for the sewers.

"Heh heh… Hiya, sis. What brings you here…?" The apprehension in her voice made her guilt all too noticeable.

Yang's stance stayed unchanging, but she tilted her head at her sister, "Ruby, what have I always told everyone about coming down here?"

"To bring you food?"

"The other thing."

Ruby shifted her eyes to a red pillow next to her, "Don't let anyone see you."

Yang smiled and stepped to the side and stretched out an arm to reveal Weiss, standing in a demure stance, though she was now looking around and wondering why she was being displayed. "Guess what you brought down here by accident?"

Ruby's eyes lit up at the arrival of the new guest, and she hopped out of the pillows to greet her, "Hi! I'm Ruby!" She took Weiss' hand and shook it excitedly.

Weiss let her shake her hand for a few moments but slowed the action and retracted her hand to her sides, "I'm Weiss, and it's a pleasure to meet you, but please don't touch me without asking. Is this brute your sister?" 'Oh lord, she's just like a puppy!'

Ruby glanced to Yang, and back to Weiss, "Yep! She is. How'd you guys meet? Was it really me you saw come down here? Are you the super cute girl she told us about today? You probably are, you're like, really pretty and she doesn't usually mmph—!" Ruby's mouth was sealed by a strong hand before too long.

"Alllllright, enough outta you. Sorry Weiss, Ruby can be a—HEY!" She let go of Ruby's mouth and pushed her into the pile of pillows, but the girl simply fell into them with glee, her tongue sticking out playfully.

"What just happened?" Weiss asked, watching Ruby laugh up a storm.

"The little nerd licked my hand!"

Weiss let out a short laugh, but cleared her throat to regain composure, "One such as yourself should be used to the feeling of moisture on your hand, considering you hang out in a sewer system. Shouldn't any of this.. all of this be illegal? And how exactly do you remain undetected?"

Before Weiss could finish her list of questions, she felt a fairly strong slap, right on her behind.

She jolted, "H-Hey! Excuse me, rude! Come back here right now and apologize to me!"

The guilty party, in the form of a girl with short hair with one colored strand, simply waved Weiss off as she accompanied the brown-haired girl from earlier, "You better apologize to me, for having such a nice butt. Can't believe I haven't seen you around before, darling."

Weiss was completely infuriated, and having pushed aside much prejudice to stand even being around this.. this company, her patience has completely been ripped to shreds. "I'm leaving." With that, she turned around to leave, but having no idea which way she could leave, she paced back and forth before deciding to try the very way she came from.

"Wait, wait a sec!" Yang ran up the stairs after Weiss, matching her quick pace, "Hey, don't let these guys get to you like that. Sure they're, uh.. they're a little rough around the edges, but they mean well!"

Weiss snapped her head to Yang as she tromped through the first large room they'd come through, "Do they?! I'm sorry, I'm sure your prairie-dog life of vandalism and questionable trading practices is great and all, but I think I really need to leave, before I call the police."

Yang stopped Weiss by grabbing her shoulder, though she took her hand away once she saw that deathly stare on the heiress' face right after, "Look, I'll lead you to another exit. It's quicker."

Weiss stared at Yang. She stared daggers at this girl, whom completely ruined their first meeting by being both annoying and making her late, and now she has effectively ruined her evening by consequently letting her sister lure her into this strange, legally malleable existence of people using the city's resources to make a place where they could "hang out." Granted, Weiss was actually the one who was overtaken by curiosity in the first place, but STILL.

… The look on Yang's face said she was legitimately sorry for her people, if you could call them that, and their very apparent lack of manners.

Weiss let out a tired breath. "Fine."

Yang's expression shifted to something more joyful, "Awesome. C'mon."

Yang led her through another tunnel from the upper level, and within minutes of walking, they were at another small ladder. Weiss wasn't sure just how this system of tunnels hadn't already been demolished, or even put to use, but the day had been long, and she decided that she really just did not care right now.

Yang reached up and opened the manhole for Weiss, stepping aside to let her climb up the ladder. Once she was out, Yang propped herself over the opening, "Hey. I know this all must seem really, really weird to you. It's great messing with you, but I definitely didn't want you to feel totally.. corrupted, or whatever," Yang pursed her lips and scratched her cheek, "Sorry, princess."

Weiss wanted to walk away, badly. So dearly did she want nothing more than to forget what she just went through, but this unknown world... this unknown girl intrigued her so much, she almost had no choice but to exaggerate a sigh/groan combination and turn back to Yang, kneeling down to speak with her more.

"It was a lot to take in. I believe I have come across literally one thousand things that I've never even imagined before today, and frankly, I'm surprised I'm as calm as I am. I think I'm in denial, if anything. I am still in a daze, but rest assured, I'm going to go home and scream into my pillow," the sarcasm in her voice was clear.

Yang chuckled, "Today has been pretty weird, even for me. No one has ever come down here without really wanting to, nobody really knew how to react to someone like you."

Weiss made herself more comfortable on the grass, playing with a few of the blades, "So are you some type of wannabe graffiti gang leader, or what? And how did this sewer system escape the city planner's eye? You don't seem like the type to be able to organize a structure like this."

"Ahaha, well, uh, I don't really see myself as their leader, but they all sort of look at me that way, so I try my best to play the part. As for how we scored such a sweet hang-out, one of our gals is super smart and knows the city blueprints and stuff like that. She said it was abandoned and there were no current plans to demolish the tunnels because the plans were destroyed in a fire or something, so no one really knows they still exist. Pretty cool, huh?" Yang studied Weiss' face as she spoke, trying to get just a little bit more of those ice blues into her system before their eventual goodbye.

"Cool isn't quite what I'd call it, but it's.. impressive. Innovative, I suppose," Weiss looked up from the grass to meet Yang's inquisitive lilac eyes, "I should really despise you right now, for making me late to class and for overwhelming my sense of security with a massive sub-level community for runaways and hoodlums."

"We're only hoodlums on the weekends, sweetie." Yang locked her gaze with Weiss' for a few seconds before she was hit with an uncomfortable sensation that she's rarely ever felt in the past: bashfulness. "So, uh, hey listen, if you weren't completely turned off by what you just saw, and if you weren't doing anything tonight, we'd all really like it if you came back for—"

"Who exactly is 'we'? And what in the world would make you believe I want to come back?"

"Damn girl, let me finish, alright? There's a dinner we're having, it's actually the anniversary of when this place was discovered a while back. Sorta silly, but we figured we needed something to unify us. 'We' is the people you just saw. Believe me, they're chill! They just get carried away with newcomers. Whaddya say?"

Now, Weiss Schnee wasn't one to stand for third strikes. Coming back to this little hole in the ground would definitely spell out trouble, and she knew damn well that in some shape or form, she'd be annoyed, insulted, maybe even violated at some time through the night. But some dastardly force in the universe made her look back at this blonde idiot's face, and her crooked smile, and her big, bright eyes, and it had prompted her to forego any sort of common sense and…

Just give in.

Weiss threw a hand up in the air, as if to signify she was releasing everything her family stood for, "Sure, why not."

"Wooo!" Yang celebrated, doing something akin to a little jig, while still hanging over the opening like she was. "Just come on back around seven. Do you need an escort, o honorable one?"

"I'll be fine, thank you very much. I can take care of myself, believe it or not." Weiss stood up finally and looked at her watch, which read 3:09. "As splendid as this encounter has been, I've got to go catch up on school work."

"Alright, cutie. I'll see ya tonight," Yang started to retreat back down the hole, but realization hit her before she missed this chance, "Is it cool if I get your number?"

Weiss turned to look at her questioningly, "You have a cellphone?"

"'Course I do! It's 2015. I don't live underground all the time."

"Forgive me, your image suggested that you reject most forms of modern electricity, so I could only assume. But… Sure."

Yang slipped a rectangular smartphone out of one of her pockets and handed it to Weiss, who entered her number in after getting past a lock screen of a half-naked woman, but astonishingly enough, a home screen of Yang and Ruby. Weiss handed back the phone, stood up once again and walked a few steps before giving Yang one last piece of advice, "Tell your friends to find some manners before tonight."

"No can do!" With that, the sound of a manhole covering could be heard, and the angry steps of a tired Schnee resounded in the grass.

"Omfg, Blake. Looks like I have a dinner of my own to attend tonight -_-. I'll tell you all about it another time, today has been crazy, uughhhh skjflds why is life this way"

"Lol. Okay. Are you getting ready for it right now?"

"Mhm. Lmao it's so dUMB. Anyway. Yeah I'll just text you if it goes bad or whatever. You getting ready too?"

"Yes, I am. Haha, well just let me know. Maybe I can come rescue you if it all goes to shit."

":/ Have fun."

"ay girl"

"What do you want?"

"wow, you dont even know who this is yet"

"Oh I know who it is. Stop bothering me! I'm trying to get ready for your dumb dinner.

"wtf lmao theres nothing to get ready for? just wear whatever. or wear nothing at all, either will do"

"GoodBYE, Yang."

A/n: After a long absence, it is here. ... ... Again, I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter, but as long as you guys enjoy it, I've not much to say.

I tried to make the texts something like how the iPhone formats it, but considering FF's restrictions, it looks really ugly and I might just change it later LOL.

Let me know how it is! The whole underground community thing was really.. It... I feel like it wasn't even necessary so I really had reservations about it, but it's cool, right? So we'll just leave it there.