The next morning for Mercury began with silence. Blissful, fabricated silence. Emerald and Mercury went about preparing for the day with mechanical movements, keeping their footsteps muted. Neo stayed prone in her bed, curled up in a ball. Pink and brown hair piled atop her pillow and her face, leaving only her left cheek and mouth visible.

When Mercury checked on Neo, her forehead was coated in sweat and her temperature through the roof. Overexertion of her semblance sent her into a semblance-induced fever. Hypersensitive to light, limbs aching from within her bones, and frigidly cold despite her high temperature. Mercury dimmed the lights and piled extra blankets on top of her.

"Neo?" He lightly tapped her blushing cheek with his fingers as he kneeled by her bedside, frowning at the heat emanating from her. She cracked open her left eye, the color bleeding from white into a rich brown. "Em and I are going to breakfast. Need anything?"

Neo huffed before her arm lazily flopped to the nightstand. She gripped her scroll and brought it to her face so she could type her answer.

{I want all the food. Send Team SSSN with it? I need eye candy to make me feel better}

Mercury chuckled at the note, but it was quickly cut off once Neo's true colors bled away to black, white and green. The colors oozed over her form at a much slower rate than usual, showing her tiredness. "Neo, you shouldn't push your semblance anymore. I can bring your food back, and we can all stay in for the day."

{No, you have fun, spend time with Ruby. This is nothing compared to tangible illusions. That's why it's so easy to stay in this form for so long}

"If you say so." Mercury smiled at the serene elation on her face that formed after he agreed. Neo placed her hands on his shoulders and pulled him toward her in a tired hug. "Okay, Cuddle Bug, save it for Accent Boy."

The nickname earned him a smack in the back of the head, but Mercury hugged her back anyway.

…

…

…

Entering the cafeteria graced him with a sight he expected. Students, hunched over their meals and coffee mugs with varying levels of tiredness in their eyes. The room wasn't even half full. Many of the students opted to eat within their dorms or sleep in. Teams RWBY and JNPR were cluttered at their usual table, with RWBY on the right side and JNPR on the left. SSSN was absent from their group due to Neo's request, leaving just him and Emerald to deal with the students with the new evidence fresh in their minds.

Mercury slid to sit beside Ruby while Emerald sat across from him, next to Jaune. Within seconds of him setting down his tray and claiming his seat, Ruby leaned over to nudge herself underneath his arm and lazily wrap her arms around his torso. Mercury huffed as one side of his mouth lifted up. "Good to see you too, Gem."

"'M'so tired," Ruby mumbled.

He flashed a concerned look at the top of her head at that. He figured that would be the case after the events they witnessed. He wrapped his arm more securely around her as he used his left to hold his fork, and rubbed his right hand up and down her arm. "Stayed up all night thinking about that Neo girl, huh?"

"We all did," Jaune said. "We mostly just talked about what we knew. Ruby saw her right before that train rammed into Vale."

"Yang also fought Neo, apparently," Pyrrha added.

"More like she kicked my ass," Yang grumbled. "She just knocked me out though."

"We are planning to discuss the video with Professor Ozpin after breakfast," Weiss stated, peering at the two newcomers from over Ruby's head. Mercury didn't even have to hide his reaction. He knew the moment Ruby saw the video she would be knocking on Ozpin's door.

"He technically only knows that Ruby is stopping by, but all four of us are going." Blake gestured to her team.

"I'm surprised Sun's team isn't going," Emerald commented, forking scrambled egg into her mouth. "It's their video, after all."

"True, but it's a lot more likely that Professor Ozpin will be more informative if Ruby is there," Blake said. "It's obvious he sees her as a favorite: constant meetings, exchanging of information…"

"Plus I'm more involved in the investigation than Sun's team is," Ruby added drowsily. She tilted her head so her silver eyes caught his. "That aside though, how did you two sleep?"

"Okay," Emerald stated.

"We turned in not long after you hung up," Mercury elaborated. It was also a blatant lie. They sat in their dorm talking in circles about the dangers of Neo's identity, the possible changes to security on campus, and, most terrifying of all, how Cinder would react should she find out from another student what happened. Mercury and Emerald are just used to operating on little sleep. "We didn't have any notes to exchange like you guys."

Ruby hummed. "And Nyx?"

"Turns out, her uninterrupted sleep was because of a fever," Mercury said, a frown on his face. "She isn't doing too great right now."

"Oh, that's horrible," Pyrrha sympathized. She crossed her arms and placed them on the table. "Hopefully it breaks soon."

"Good thing you're moving to the final round and not her, Merc." Yang leaned forward so she could see him. "I can't imagine having to fight while feeling like that."

"I know," Mercury agreed, wanting to move away from the topic of Neo, both in her true form and of her Nyx Peridot counterpart.

They descended into silence at that, with forks clinking against the metal trays. Mercury tried to ignore the growing unease he felt in his chest, tried to ignore his scroll, which was now filled to the brim with the Summer Maiden's files. He didn't have the nerve to go through much else beyond what he knew were safe territories, like the dossiers. Most confirmed what he already knew, with the student's semblances, fighting styles, personalities, etc. He took notice that, the closer the student was to Ruby, the more detailed the dossier was. He wondered if it was just his paranoia, but after all he learned with potential Maiden candidates and Ruby's hidden ability, he figured it was more than coincidence.

There were a few things he didn't know. The name Raven Branwen was not what he expected to see when looking at Yang's dossier. While it only added to the complications in his involvement with Ruby's family, it explained how Qrow was related to the girls. Pyrrha's dossier was also informative, since she was mentioned as a candidate for the transfer. If Emerald's hunch was right, and they really were going with a transfer, Pyrrha would work well. Too well. Pyrrha's semblance was her ace, and with half of the Fall Maiden's powers? Cinder wouldn't stand a chance. While she tried to hide it, Mercury observed her over the years too. After receiving the Fall Maiden powers, Cinder began to rely heavy on them, increasing every day, until eventually, she threw away her swords in replacement for swords she could make out of magic. Her greatest strength and weakness.

The one dossier that he couldn't bring himself to open, was Ruby's. He couldn't explain why. He went through all of her team's, went through JNPR's, but when it came to her, he found himself frowning with his finger hovering over the file. It felt… wrong, somehow. Like he was invading her privacy. Funny, since he knew it was an invasion of privacy, and he still did it to everyone else. He'll admit it: he felt no guilt over it. But the guilt came when he read through all but hers.

Maybe it was because he was closer to her than the others. It took a lot for him to care for someone, and he knew, deep within, that the only reason he cared for the seven other students sitting around and the four in his dorm right now spending time with Neo was because of Ruby.

But then, when he thought about it, he realized how little he really knew about Ruby. Yes, he knew her quirks, her personality, her ideals. Her love for her sister, for her team, her desire to protect others, and her faith in him. But he didn't know of her past. Didn't know about who she was before she came to be the person he cared so deeply for. It bothered him more than he liked to admit.

He knew all he needed to do was ask. Ruby was, more or less, an open book. But he's never asked someone about their history before. It felt weird to, if he was being honest.

At that point, he realized he was staring blankly ahead, warring within his own head while, thankfully, no one noticed. He focused on the warmth seeping into his side and the body pressed against his to ground himself back in reality, and his eyes desperately searched for something to focus on.

Mercury found it in the very girl he was thinking of. He realized that Ruby didn't have a breakfast tray in front of her. All she had was a cup of coffee that was no doubt filled to the brim with sugar. He rocked her with a shoulder nudge. "Gemstone, where's your breakfast?"

"Oh, so you have variations of the nickname now?" Ruby deflected, not moving from her place glued to Mercury's chest.

"Ruby. You gotta eat something."

"Not hungry."

A wave of uncomfortableness went through him when he realized they were attracting the eyes of the others. He pretended to not notice them, keeping his steel eyes on the girl tucked into his torso. "Yes, you are. You don't want to eat because you're nervous. Come on." He speared a strawberry with his fork and held it to her lips. "Got them just for you."

Ruby stubbornly denied the offering… for a moment. She relented with an annoyed sigh and devoured the small fruit in seconds. "Meanie… you know how much I like strawberries."

"Yup. That's why I get them every day, and you eat them every day, along with your portion of strawberries," Mercury informed her with overwhelming levels of snark. He grinned as she mumbled incoherently, and considered it a victory when she began grabbing at the paper bowl of strawberries he put on his tray.

"I don't like it when you're right," Ruby said petulantly.

"Wow." Mercury set down his fork to regard Ruby with a serious look. "I didn't know you were so miserable in this relationship."

"Oh, just shut up and eat your waffles," Ruby blurted out, a sour expression on her face. She fought hard to keep that expression on her face as Mercury pressed a kiss to her temple.

Mercury finally addressed the eyes on them by glancing up with a blank stare. He swept his gaze across the group before his eyes rested on Yang… who was recording the whole thing.

Mercury bobbed his head to the side. "Really, Sun Dragon?"

"As Ruby's big sister, I am allowed to document her relationship if I so please."

He blinked. "That's weird."

"You're weird."

"Oh." Mercury placed his free hand on his chest. "Oh, now I'm hurt."

"The amount of sarcasm this one man can generate is astounding," Weiss commented.

Emerald groaned, "Try living with him. It doesn't get better."

"Let's not start another fight, please," Pyrrha chided the table. "The last time a fight broke out in the cafeteria, Ruby ended up cracking the back wall."

"Yeah, I- What?" Mercury jolted his gaze from Pyrrha to Ruby.

"Uh, well. It's a long story," Ruby said sheepishly, mouth full of strawberries. At his insistent gaze, and Emerald's equally perplexed one, she relented. "Okay, so, only an hour or so after we first met actually, we were having lunch. Nora and Yang have this thing, where they, um-"

"It's a betting game," Yang spoke over her sister. "Nora throws something small, like a grape or something, at me, and for each one I catch in my mouth, she forks over five lein."

"And if Yang misses, she gives me five lein," Nora said from the far end of the table, where she was stealing pancake slices from Ren's tray.

Yang pointed to her chest with her thumb proudly. "I was having a particularly good day with this bet-"

"Much to the impending doom of all of us," Jaune quipped with an obvious look of disdain.

"-so Nora decided to ignore our rule of small food items only."

Ruby's expression was deadpan. "And Nora chucked an entire pie." Mercury, surprisingly, didn't even flinch at the admission, while Emerald's jaw dropped. Her insanity threshold was evidently less considering her lack of exposure to his assigned charge and her company. "A full, untouched, custard pie. Pie tin and everything. Custard was everywhere."

"And it hit me square in the face!" Weiss suddenly shrieked, her annoyance erupting after being held down for so long. "It was mortifying!"

"That… yeah, that is pretty horrible," Emerald agreed, still shellshocked.

"Yeah, it is," Mercury said sympathetically, which drew looks of shock from most of the table, most of all Weiss. Ruby knew him well enough to know there was a twist to his statement: very rare would Mercury drench his words with sympathy. He shook his head solemnly. "What a waste of a good pie."

"Mercury, you dolt!" Mercury broke into a shit-eating grin as he burst out laughing over his tray at Weiss's outrage. She shot into a standing position and pointed her finger at him. "It was humiliating and lead to a full on brawl!"

"I'm not even sure how Nora got ahold of a full pie," Ren murmured. "The staff is told to limit Nora's sugar intake because of her… abundant energy."

"I did get Nora back for you, Weiss," Blake mentioned, folding a page in her book and setting it on the table. "I whipped Nora into a vending machine with sausage links."

Mercury blinked. "What?"

"But Yang pelted two turkey's at me!" Jaune whined.

"...What?!"

Yang scoffed. "Well, Nora used a watermelon impaled by a metal pole to launch me through the ceiling."

"What?!"

Okay, so maybe there was still some bits of insanity he still wasn't completely desensitized to.

"Aha, well, long story, short, I used my semblance to create a vortex and, in doing so, all the various food items, including canned soda and juice, followed me, and the wind also sucked up Team JNPR, and um, well, when I stopped running so abruptly the wind kind of...smashed the wall." Ruby smiled squeamishly.

Mercury nodded his head slowly. He sipped at his orange juice. "You must have really knocked the wind out of JNPR with that move."

Ruby whined and rammed her forehead into his side, while Emerald lowered her head with a barely audible "oh my god," which only made his satisfied smirk grow even wider. The rest of the table, with the exception of Yang, was looking at him with varying levels of irritation, from mild to straight up murderous. Yang just leaned on her elbows and hummed.

"Respectable pun. Not the best of quality."

"The quality of the pun is not the focus," Mercury interrupted sagely, his arm around Ruby suddenly iron. It kept her from drawing away from him in a form of protest, which annoyed her to no end. His free hand tapped her chin so Ruby looked at him. "It's how the room reacts to it."

His wolfish grin and sly wink left her blushing while the rest of the table groaned again. She slapped his hand away. "I'm not awake enough for this."

Mercury chuckled, reaching for her steaming mug of coffee and holding it to her. "Better drink up then. You have a meeting soon."

A meeting that hopefully won't reveal anything until I figure out what I have to do, Mercury thought.

…

…

…

"More and more I find you in my office, Miss Rose," Ozpin observed while pouring himself a cup of coffee. "Though I was unaware your team would be joining you."

"I think it's fair that we all are here," Ruby said, sitting in the chair before Ozpin's chair while her team stood around her. "We all saw the video, and we're all involved with the investigation."

"That is true. Before we begin however, what exactly are you showing me?"

"I'd imagine you have an idea, considering what occured last night," Blake snarked.

"Blake," Ruby warned. She knew of Blake's annoyance towards the Headmaster after she shared her findings (along with Mercury's) with the rest of the team, but animosity wasn't going to help anything here. "We have video of one of the potential agents on Beacon grounds. It happens to be Roman Torchwick's right hand, Neopolitan." Ruby handed over her scroll to Ozpin with the video already up. "In the video there's also another woman, but she isn't easy to make out...mainly because, um, she's uh...a conduit for lightning?"

Ozpin's coffee eyes flicked up to her silver. "Pardon?"

"Uh, yeah, so the woman raised up her hand and just…" Yang scratched at her scalp as she grimaced. "It looked like the lightning was summoned to her or something, and then, she just sorta...explodes."

"I can't comprehend why there were storm clouds when the forecast claimed it was a clear night as well." Weiss placed a hand on her hip while gesturing with the other. "And the storm dissipated almost immediately afterward."

"But we do know one thing," Blake spoke up. "This Neo girl must be one of the undercover agents working for the 'fire lady' since she bolted back for the academy rather than for Vale. And she happened to just disappear. Either she can teleport, or she's in disguise."

Ozpin observed the footage with a neutral face. His lack of a reaction made Ruby's stomach twist and a cold sweat to form on her palms. She watched as he set the scroll down after the video ended, clasping his hands together on the desk.

"We'll notify all faculty and staff about this 'Neopolitan,' but since the second woman cannot be identified, we can't do anything about her, sadly."

"Wh- but the woman survived a full on hit by lightning, and discharged it! I highly doubt she happens to have a semblance like Nora," Yang objected. "You don't have an opinion on that?!"

"That's what we wanted clarification on. We would have just sent you the video if we were only relaying Neopolitan's appearance," Weiss added in a more polite manner.

Ozpin flexed his fingers while they were clasped together in a helpless gesture, something very unlike the Headmaster. "I wish I could clarify for you, but there is much about this organization that we do not know—"

"Liar."

All went silent as Blake spoke boldly. She was scowling, arms crossed and eyes narrowed. "That woman was defending Beacon. Fighting against one of our known enemies. If anything, you know exactly who that is, and that woman was the 'staff' Miss Goodwitch referred to in her announcement."

While bold, Ozpin's lack of a reply told them Blake's statement rang true. Ruby turned back to the Headmaster, expression grave. "Professor, we just want the truth. We want to help. But we can't help your investigation into this criminal organization without trust on your end. I'm sure we can handle it."

"Pretty sure we can handle it, since we've supplied the bulk of the evidence," Blake muttered bitterly, loud enough to be heard.

"Blake, please. This isn't the time," Ruby chided. Blake huffed but said nothing more.

Ozpin's stone mask disappeared as he stared at Ruby for a long moment. Maybe this was cheating, since Ruby was taking advantage of Ozpin's favoritism towards her with sincere words (which she meant) and added a touch of puppy dog eyes, but Ruby was determined to solve this puzzle. She thought this was small at first. She had a linear goal of defeating Torchwick, defeating evil, but people like Mercury have made her realize that it wasn't that simple. The fire lady, Lynae Erin, Tyrian Slate, and all others involved were endangering the lives of her friends that she's grown accustomed to thinking of as family, as well as the rest of the students on campus and the people in Vale. If she had to deploy underhanded tactics to help her reach her goal, then so be it.

Ozpin let out a defeated sigh. "Perhaps you're right. But I must warn you: I never intended to expose any of you to this. You can walk out of here and pretend you didn't hear any of this, should you wish."

The air grew still. The four girls exchanged doubtful glances before turning back to the Headmaster. Yang spoke this time, "We want to know, Professor. We want to help."

"Very well." Ozpin suddenly looked like every single one of his years alive was weighing him down before he turned to the right and stared at one of the pillars around the office space. "I should start by re-introducing someone to you. Amethyst."

Ruby frowned. "We don't know any 'Amethyst' though…"

He pushed his spectacles up his nose. "Yes, you know her under a different name. Amethyst. Please don't make this difficult. Come on, show yourself."

A pregnant silence descended upon them. Team RWBY joined Ozpin at staring at one of the pillars, waiting. A long breath of air was released from someone's lungs. A soft, feminine voice with a similar lilt to Scarlet sounded from behind the pillar. "This is a horrible idea, Ozpin."

"Okay, I definitely don't know that voice," Weiss declared.

"Of course you wouldn't know," Ozpin said. "When called Rai, she uses a different accent."

Ruby blinked. "Rai?"

The woman herself walked out from behind the pillar, looking none too happy. She had a sour expression on her face and crossed arms as she walked toward Ozpin's desk and took her place to stand by his chair. "That would be me. Hello again, Ruby, Blake. Pleasure to officially meet you, Yang, Weiss." A pause. "Well, not quite a pleasure to meet under the circumstances."

"Why is Professor Ozpin calling you Amethyst?" Ruby questioned. Rai's wince was barely perceptible, but noticed by all in such a close proximity. "What's going on?"

Rai and Ozpin looked at each other. After a long look between the two, Rai sighed and closed her eyes briefly before uncrossing her arms and facing the young girls. "The Professor is calling me Amethyst because that's my real name."

"So… you lied about your name?" Yang asked.

"Half-truth, actually," Rai, or she should say, Amethyst, corrected. "Amethyst is my first name, but Rai is my middle name. And Panther… well, that's not my real last name, but it is my faunus classification."

Blake step forward with interest. "Faunus? Where's your trait?"

"You're not the only one that hides it, Blake," Amethyst commented with a smirk. She reached into her mouth and pulled a moulding of teeth away to reveal pointed, carnivorous teeth. "Rai Panther is human. Amethyst is a panther faunus. Also, I think eating with human teeth is much easier. Less chance of mangling your tongue if you bite down on it."

"I-I don't understand." Yang held out her hands. "Why are you under an alias? You're a student."

"Technically? I am a student, but I'm also an undercover agent, as well as… well, I guess you can call it witness protection."

"What Amethyst means to say is, she is under an alias to protect herself," Ozpin clarified. "For good reason, considering she is a woman of considerable power that our enemy wishes to utilize for their own gain."

"You mean...You're the woman that was fighting Neo?" Ruby gaped. "How did you even manage to do that?! The amount of dust you must have used up, it's insane to think—"

"I didn't use dust."

Ruby blinked multiple times as her head reared back. "Um...huh?"

"Not dust," Ozpin repeated, leaning forward in his chair. "Magic."

"Okay, I'm done," Weiss stated, scoffing as she turned to head to the elevator. "Magic doesn't exist, Professor. If magic existed to make that happen, guess what? My father would be out of business."

The crackle of electricity had her turning back.

They watched in fascination as lightning ran through the veins in Amethyst's arms. She cupped her hands and a ball of golden lightning formed in her hands, pulsing and writhing within her palms. "Not real, huh?"

Weiss stuttered, "H-H-How…"

"This power is explained through the old fairytale, of the Maidens." Ozpin smiled gently at Ruby. "I'm sure Miss Rose is familiar with it."

"I remember Yang reading that one to me once before bed, but…" Ruby trailed off.

"Well ladies," Amethyst stated as she took out her green and gold contacts to show her frigid blue eyes that streamed blue fire. She also ripped off her black bob of hair and peeled away the bald cap underneath to reveal pale blonde curls that piled on her shoulders, with the last quarter of hair dyed a rich purple color. "Fairytales exist. Amethyst, Summer Maiden. At your service."

The four girls blanched in dumbfounded silence.

"That… That's AMAZING!" Ruby squealed, jumping up from her seat and grinning from ear to ear. "So you can actually harness elements without the use of dust? How does that affect your aura? Does it affect your aura? How long have you been a Maiden - actually, how are you even a Maiden? That fairytale is a lot older than you are! Oh, wow, this is so exciting! If one fairytale is real, who's to say others aren't?"

Yang clamped her hands on Ruby's shoulders. "Sis. Breathe."

"Oh, right." Ruby bounced on her toes but calmed herself. "Sorry, I just— this is huge! I know someone straight out of a fairytale!"

"Yeah...it's great," Amethyst agreed with obvious disinterest, bordering on disdain. "To answer your questions however, it doesn't affect my aura. Magic is completely different. I've been the Summer Maiden for about seven years now, which is a very long time for a Maiden." She cast her eyes to the ground. "Our job isn't exactly easy."

"Amethyst inherited the power of the Summer Maiden. The original Summer Maiden has long since passed away," Ozpin supplied. "And before you ask, no, it's not hereditary. When a Maiden dies, the power is transferred to the last person in her thoughts. However, the power can only be inherited by young women, so if the last person a Maiden thinks of is not a young woman, the power goes to a randomly selected girl."

"Which makes my job a living hell, and is also the prime reason we even have a problem right now," Amethyst added.

"I— okay," Blake said slowly. Her brain processed the idea that magic was real with a sluggish denial, but kept her cool as she tried to puzzle out what these two were saying. "So, did a Maiden die and not think of another young woman? Are you...missing one?"

"No, we know who the Fall Maiden is. Miss Rose has encountered her multiple times, actually." Ozpin pulled up the blurry photographs of the fire lady Ruby supplied to him before. "This woman is the new Fall Maiden. She attacked the previous Fall Maiden and stole her power. And with her power, she wishes to hurt others."

Amethyst scoffed. "Hardly an official Maiden."

"Amethyst," Ozpin warned.

"I'm fine, I'm fine."

"This is insane." Yang shook her head. "Why does the public think of this as a fairytale if it's true? Why do you not tell them?"

"Look at the way you're reacting right now." Amethyst nodded toward Yang. "Disbelief…" She looked at Weiss. "Denial…" Ruby. "...Odd excitement?" Blake. "...and outrage. Can you imagine the populace reacting on a grand scale with such negative emotions? We'd be up to our ears in Grimm. Not to mention greedy people, like the very person that took the Fall Maiden's powers, would want to use that power for evil. We can't have that."

"I… suppose that's a sound argument," Weiss digressed. "Disrupting the era of peace we've been enjoying would prove detrimental."

"But hiding something this huge from the populace is wrong!" Blake erupted, fueled by the fact of her distrust of Ozpin was proven valid. "You can't just lie to us and expect us to—"

"Do you have any idea how many times my life has been in danger because of my Maiden status?"

Blake clamped her mouth shut at Amethyst's interruption. The woman who transformed from Rai, who wore her clothes but looked out of place in them, stared her down with an icy composure. Ironic, considering she was the Summer Maiden.

"The organization we are up against knows of the Maidens, as you can tell, and want their power to do some very bad things, like, for example, destroy human and faunus alike," Amethyst said dryly, arms crossed and her weight pressed on her left leg. "The only way to get the power? To kill us. I've made 'friends' that were really just snakes that tried to pull the rug from under me. I've had friends killed because of my Maiden status. Even my own mentor, who helped me take control of my powers, turned and tried to take the power away because of jealousy and her sudden switch of sides." She uncrossed her arms and leaned forward with a threatening glare. "So excuse me if I don't feel comfortable broadcasting to the whole world I exist." Blake shrunk at Amethyst's glare, properly chastised. Amethyst then erased her glare and all anger from her form, an emotionless shell once again. "This is a very serious situation, girls. You have no idea how much red tape we are barreling through just to tell you about our very existence. So be grateful to be in the know."

"We are, of course we are!" Ruby chirped, her giddiness from learning about a true fairytale slowly oozing away. "It's just a lot to take in at once, and we don't know a lot about the position you're in obviously, so we don't mean to seem ungrateful—"

"It's fine, Ruby." Amethyst's sharp eyes turned softer at Ruby's stumble of an explanation. "It's just a sensitive subject; it's my life."

"And that is also why I must request that you all keep this to yourselves for the time being," Ozpin butted in. "We cannot risk Amethyst's identity at this moment, and we don't want to raise distress over the truth behind the fairytale. And when I say this, Miss Rose." Ozpin gazed at the squirming Ruby. "You cannot tell Mister Black, Miss Peridot, or Miss Sustrai, nor can you tell team SSSN and JNPR. Should we decide to reveal this to others, we will handle it."

"I didn't want to reveal it now." Amethyst grumbled.

"And of course, I must also ask that you still refer to Amethyst as Rai when in her disguise." Ozpin ignored Amethyst's feeble protests.

"Of course. We understand, Professor," Ruby spoke for her team. "If we find anything else about this Fall Maiden, or about the undercover agents, we'll let you know."

"One more thing." Amethyst held up a hand to stop the group of four from leaving the office. "Last night's fight: I started it because the splinter cell broke into my faculty dorm and accessed my files. Classified files on the students here at Beacon, the Maidens, lots of sensitive information. While that thought alone is terrifying, my autobot managed to get a biological scan on those in the room."

"Autobot?" Weiss perked up. "Wouldn't you also have video footage?"

"Normally, yes." Amethyst sighed. "Unfortunately, Boa was undergoing maintenance so multiple functions were unavailable, the camera being one of them."

"You named it?" Blake asked with slight judgement.

Amethyst stared cooly. "Boa stands for Battle Oriented Autobot. Now may I finish?" She paused for a moment to ensure silence. "Along with the biological signature of Neo, Boa picked up a male and female signature as well. Oddly enough, the male biological signature was melded with mechanical parts. Not unusual, considering the advances Atlas has made, but just so you know. The splinter cell consists of at least two females and one male."

"Good to know." Yang pivoted on her heel to stare at the two. "Before we go… if this secret is so sensitive, and barring the fact that we've been pestering you for more information a lot." Ozpin grinned at that. "Why tell us? We're just first years."

Ozpin leant back in his chair. "Throughout my career, I have analyzed hopefuls that entered the academies to recruit more trusted allies into our notably small fold. Many I find have the ability to protect others, but few are unable to handle upholding this level of secrecy and devotion to the cause. But in you four, I've seen nothing but determination in protecting Vale and eliminating this threat that shakes the era of peace we've managed to uphold. You are first years, but you've done more for Vale than even those in their fourth year of training." He gave them all a coy smile. "The level of effort you've all put into this self-assigned task surpasses even Team STRQ when in their training days." Ruby and Yang's eyes grew wide. "I see you four standing within our circle and fighting for a cause that goes beyond the role of a huntress. Should you accept, of course."

"You mean…" Ruby stepped forward with unsure steps. "Uncle Qrow know about this too? And our parents?"

Ozpin nodded solemnly. "I imagine you all have a lot to think about. Please, try to enjoy this day off. And remember, this is highly classified. You all have a huge responsibility that I never wished to burden you with so soon."

The team of shell-shocked girls floated towards the elevator with thoughtless steps, to focused on their inward conflicts. They clustered in the elevator, with Ruby slipping in last. She pushed one of the elevator buttons and clasped her hands together in front of her.

"Professor?" Ruby called. Once Ozpin's coffee eyes were locked with hers, she managed a small smile. "Thank you. Thank you for trusting us. We won't let you down."

The steel doors slid shut. Ozpin bore a grim smile. "I know you won't, Miss Rose." He then turned to Amethyst. "Miss Laverna, please change into the clothing appropriate for your alias, Amethyst Rai Grendel."

Amethyst moved to stand at the front of his desk. Her eyes were solemn, shoulders hunched due to an invisible, self-imposed weight. "You think it's time?"

"We need a Fall Maiden," Ozpin replied. "And I do hope we will find one in Miss Nikos."

…

…

…

Ruby's dorm room was the quietest it's been since that horrid first week of the semester, where Blake ignored them, Yang fled the room whenever possible to avoid the tension, and Weiss would only shoot icy glares and cold shoulders Ruby's way. She never thought that she would prefer that scenario over anything else that could have happened. But a silence caused by make-believe turning to reality? That's not a silence you can just recover from. Not a silence solved by encouraging words, convincing arguments, and apologies given through sugar-saturated coffee.

Compared to her teammates, Ruby handled the existence of magic better. Her reaction was more of an awed wonder at the limits in this world, how magic affects, intertwines with it. How this magic came to be, or if it just was.

Weiss looked like her world was turned upside-down. It made sense. She would never admit it, but she was a know it all. To be kept in the dark, oblivious to something like this, was earth-shattering. Yang was hiding her reaction through her big sister facade, but Ruby could tell she was just as shaken. And Blake? She scribbled notes and observations into her notebook with frenzied passion, her investigative nature invigorated after the meeting.

Ruby understood Blake's obsession. Witness to all these events that displayed main players in an organization, Ruby wanted to solve it. It frustrated her to no end that the answers kept slipping through her fingers.

"Blake," Ruby called to the cat faunus. Her amber eyes darted up. "You're good at drawing people, right?"

Blake changed her from position of laying on her bed to sitting cross-legged. "Neo?"

Ruby nodded. "Neo. We all have seen her before, but Yang and I have seen her up close. Maybe if we sketch her out, we can figure out who she's hiding as."

Yang parked herself beside Blake on her bed without another thought. "I'm in. You want in on this, Weiss?"

Weiss blinked multiple times at the sound of her name. She sat with her chin in her hand and her legs stretched out on her bed. "Oh… I admittedly didn't get a good look at her when I saw her. You and Ruby would be better suited."

As Ruby sat down at the end of the bed with her legs tucked underneath her, Blake turned to a clean page. She went about collecting her drawing items. "Okay… graphite pencils, white eraser… prismacolor pencils, okay." Blake dumped the supplies on the bed between herself, Yang, and Ruby. "Where's my blender… oh, here it is." She threw a grey blender onto the pile and picked up a graphite pencil. "Okay… where do we start?"

"Maybe we list off things first?" Yang proposed. "Like, she's short. Has heterochromia, but her eyes switch color—"

"Or just turn white," Ruby added.

"And her eyes are kind of slanted?" Yang tried to describe. "It's like, they're wide and big like Ruby's, but they have something about their shape that… makes them look sharp."

"The pink and brown hair, too," Blake mumbled as she wrote Neo's traits as bullet points.

"Mm, yeah! Long hair, too. Kind of pale." Yang tapped her fingers on her boot. "Her eyebrows are brown… I didn't get a good look at them because of her hair."

They kept listing traits, getting more detailed as the session continued. The shape of her face, the body shape, the way she walked. Yang even tried to gauge her weight, since apparently Neo had planted all her weight on her at one point during their fight. Then the sketch. Blake drafted the basic shape first. On one page, she put a full-body humanoid with Neo's form, and on another, a profile shot with a few of the basic guiding lines that artists use to know where the eyes, nose, mouth and ears go.

Slowly, the face formed. Eyes and nose and lips were shaped and shaded, ears drawn to proportion, hair drafted and bangs covering the forehead. Finishing touches, like the slope of the nose, the dip of the cupids bow, the angle of the eyebrows, began. Ruby and Yang were still stuck on the eyes. Their switching colors distracted the sisters from the shape, leaving them to struggle to explain the exact curve of the upper lid.

Ruby tried to think of people who had a similar curve. Mercury had the sharply angled eye, but his weren't large enough to match Neo's. Jaune's eyes were big, but more rounded than cut. How about…? "Oh, Neo has an eye shape similar to Nyx's!" Ruby exclaimed, using her finger to draw an imaginary eye on Blake's paper. "Wide, like this, but the upper lash curves sharp right here—" Her finger went off to the right. "And then curves normal the rest of the way."

"Oh." Blake cocked her head as she corrected the upper line of the eye. "Yeah, I got it. Looks like all I need to do is put some color now. Help me out, Yang? Which shade of pink?"

The partners didn't see how Ruby suddenly narrowed her eyes at the drawing. Now that she thought of it, a good amount of Neo's facial features could be described as similar to Nyx's. The button nose, the small but full lipped mouth. Nyx was shorter than Neo though, much to her amusement.

Ruby moved her head down and to the side in thought. Then again… Neo wore heels, didn't she? Blake drew them. They looked pretty tall. And the bangs sort of fell the same way, on the right side of her forehead. And, actually, Nyx's hair was down during the dance, and it was around the same length as Neo's. But…

No, that's just silly. Ruby thought. Nyx, the adorable ice cream lover, and the munchkin that pushed Mercury and her together? A criminal? No. That's silly. The girl could be vicious if she wanted to be, but she couldn't possibly be working against them. She didn't wield the same weapon and used a vastly different form of combat.

Why was she even considering this? Nyx was her friend. Nyx jumped to help her whenever she asked for it, helped her fend off those damned assassins, comforted her when Lynae was stalking her and Mercury was off hunting her. To think of her as something other than a good friend with a kind heart was a disservice to her. Ruby shook her head, angry with herself.

…but still—

A couple knocks on the door had her standing up and forcing her musings down. "I'll get it, you two keep at it."

Ruby walked to the door and tried to calm the sudden jittery feeling she had. It felt— felt like paranoia. Of course, she supposed she was lucky she hasn't felt paranoid for so long, with all the eyes of the criminal underworld on her, but still. It felt wrong to feel paranoid because of a few correlations between Nyx and Neo. Oh, Oum, even their names sound alike. Calm, Ruby. Just don't think or say their names in the same sentence. Yeah. That'll work.

Ruby turned the brass handle to see her ever-smug boyfriend on the other side, his hand on the doorframe and one ankle crossing over the other in his pose. The harsh smirk turned to a genuine smile once he realized it was Ruby who answered the door. Instinctively, she smiled back at him and rocked on her heels.

"Hey, Angel."

Ruby rolled her eyes. "Hi there, Demon. What's up?" She balled her hands on her hips and leaned forward. "Miss me already?"

Mercury chuckled as he shifted his pose. Instead of leaning on the doorframe with his hand, his left shoulder took its place. "Actually, I figured after your meeting with the old man, you'd need a pick me up. And while I know seeing me brightens your day like no other…" He held out his hands with his elbows bent as Ruby scowled playfully. "Thought you'd be interested in an ice cream run."

"Oh. Um, well, I—" Ruby glanced back at her sister and Blake, who were bent over the near completed, composite sketch. Blake's fingers were stained with grey lead and her bed filled with shreds of white eraser. "I'm not sure if—"

Ruby stopped herself. The ice cream was probably partly for Nyx. And she was having these silly doubts about Nyx. So, the best way to quell those thoughts, was to confront them head on. So, she can accept, take a good look at Nyx to disprove her suspicions, and get some free time with Mercury. It was a win however you spun it.

She spun back to Mercury, who was peering in with a curious eye. "I'd love to go! Um, could you give me a sec to tell Yang?"

Mercury frowned. "Something wrong? You're acting a little skittish."

"Wha— no, no. No! I'm just, my sister, she gets worried sometimes, you know her!" Ruby tried to smile, but she knew her eyes displayed her nervousness.

Mercury nodded his head slowly. "Right… you know, you don't have to come with. I can go on my own—"

"No!" Ruby exclaimed, grasping his hands in hers and bringing them up to her chin level. "I'm just, well I'm— Yang's—" For the love of Oum, Ruby, think! "T-Tummy times!"

At this point, Mercury was noticeably concerned. One eyebrow was dipped downward while the other arched high on his forehead. "…What?" Ruby sighed and dropped her forehead onto their clasped hands. She felt Mercury's fingers untangle themselves from hers and move to grasp her wrists. He pulled her hands down and dipped to her level. "Gem? What's wrong?… is Yang sick?"

"No, not sick, it's—" Ruby leaned forward conspiratorially. She was only an inch away from his face. "She's bleeding."

"She okay? What happened to her?" Mercury questioned. Argh, of course the one time he isn't observant, it's when she has to lie… about something like this.

"Not that type of bleeding. From—" Ruby pointedly flicked her gaze down, towards her lower abdominal region. "You know."

"Oh. Oh." Mercury suddenly went pale. "Right. Yeah. Didn't need to know that. I'll stay out here to avoid… that."

A small, relieved smile reached her lips. "Thanks. Just give me a minute." Ruby pushed the door closed before walking over to Yang and Blake. She nudged both their shoulders. "Hey, guys?"

"What's up, Rubes?" Yang asked. "What did Merc want?"

"He asked if I wanted to go out on an ice cream trip. Probably for Nyx."

"Isn't she sick?" Blake raised a brow.

"She's Nyx." Ruby shrugged her shoulders with a grin. "I'm gonna go with him. Did you finish the sketch?"

Blake held up the profile shot of Neopolitan. Yang picked the exact same shades of color she would have: the dark, chocolate-y hair, the cotton candy pink, the cream jacket. Even the pinch of green eyeliner that oddly worked when paired with pink and brown was the exact shade. Ruby grinned and took out her scroll. "We should all take pictures of this to keep with us, and leave the original hanging up in our room."

"Good idea." Yang nodded.

Weiss spoke for the first time in the two hours that her three teammates were gruelling over Neo's appearance. "Pin it to my corkboard. Is that a good space?"

After snapping a picture of the sketch, Ruby straightened and nodded. She attached the image to an email and sent it to Professor Ozpin before addressing the others, "Sounds good, team. Everyone, keep an eye out. If we want to stop the…" Ruby pressed her lips together for a moment at what she was about to say. She still could hardly believe it. "Stop the Fall Maiden and her cohorts, we have to find them as soon as possible."

Her teammates nodded with serious expressions, their initial shock faded in the face of a serious task. Ruby tucked her scroll away and pulled up her hood.

"Have fun with Mercury, Rubes," Yang encouraged. "Take the hour to chill. Oh, and get me a pint of strawberry sorbet!"

Ruby smiled as her hand rested on the door handle. "Will do! Any other requests?"

"Cookie dough for me," Blake mumbled distractedly.

Weiss looked up from her scroll. "Stacciatella, please."

Yang snorted. "Of course you've got to go with the fancy one."

"Hey!"

Ruby shook her head as she opened the door and slipped outside. It only took her a second to find Mercury, who was leaning against the opposite wall with his scroll in hand. He looked up as she closed the door behind her, and pushed himself off the wall. "Ready to go?"

Ruby smiled and nodded as she walked toward him, knowing that as soon as she got close enough he'd lift his arm and slide it over her shoulders to pull her close. The further along their relationship went, the more he seemed comfortable with lingering touches and loose embraces. The thought made her happy, and she peered up at him from under her hood with a sudden serenity. Magic and Maiden's could wait for just a little bit.

"Yup! Turns out my team is craving ice cream too. I'm the delivery girl."

Mercury laughed. "Welcome to the club." His expression turned serious as he asked, "So, how did your meeting go?"

"Oh, nothing special." Ruby didn't want to lie. But she didn't want to admit to Mercury that she was having these doubts about Nyx, these silly, stupid doubts. And she couldn't tell him about magic. She didn't want to freak him out, not just yet. "Professor Ozpin thanked us for the information and didn't have much else to say… it's scary how in the dark even he is."

Mercury didn't say anything else. He just pulled her a little closer.

...

...

...

I figured after such an intense chapter, I'd give y'all some fluff. Also, is this a deviation of canon I see?! Team RWBY knows about magic!

QUICK ANNOUNCEMENT! I've recently posted another Quicksilver story called 'The Quicksilver Kids.' It's humor and family oriented, and Mercury is confused half the time because of what is going on, and I encourage you to check it out!

To all that voted: Thanks for the votes! Currently, Guiding Light is winning, with Cross a few votes behind and Summertime in last place. If you haven't voted yet and you want to, you still can! Once Chapter 30 is posted, I will announce the winner.

blueanimelover123: Thanks for the feedback! I think I'll go for it :)

IlliterateLibrarian935: Aw, I'm glad! I'm hoping that I can be a bit more consistent in my updates during the semester, and wanted to get as many chapters as I could out this month. Luckily, the announcement of V6 has inspired me to write RWBY again.

TigerVolcano5000: Ha, I surprised you with Rai, huh? Good! She's an intensely confusing person even to me, and I created her!

Filthy: Casul: I'm glad my updates make you happy!

darkvampirekisses: Hehe, Neo certainly was scared for her life too! A one v one with a Maiden really puts into perspective just how powerful they are.

killjoy4life4: Thank you so much! I appreciate it a lot. Also, thank you for the feedback on the Rai-chapter. I'll definitely be taking your points into account.

Antex-The Legendary Zorak: Glad you enjoyed, friendo! Your vote has been counted :)

The Night Whisperer: Of course they'd find out, Mercury's girlfriend and her friends are sharp! XD

Dragon Lord Draco: My lips are sealed, my friend! Anything is possible in the world of Remnant...

Noaccounttoolazy: Thank you so much, you're too kind! I'm glad my story caught your interest.

trickstercast: Thank you, trickster! I've put your vote on both of them.

EternalKing: Thank you, I appreciate the fav! I agree with you there, I look back at the early chapters and cringe at the writing, yikes! That was high school me.

Sorry if I missed anyone, there were a lot of reviews. Everyone who pm'd me there votes have been counted as well. We're getting close to the episode everyone has been dreading... FALL!

Happy writing to all. Lonessa out!