I would say "I'm back", but as explained at the bottom that's not technically accurate. Hope people enjoy this anyway.

Chapter 9: The Stray

At the end of the Great War, the Huntsman armies of each Kingdom found it necessary to convert their hostility to a friendly but competitive form. It began with a simple, irregular gathering of Huntsmen and Huntsmen-in-training outside the walls of a Kingdom, with the location varying each time it was held. They fought as teams of four, in pairs, and on their own, just like they had in the field. Special care was taken to ensure all combat remained bloodless, as Aura levels couldn't yet be monitored electronically. After a decade of fighting to the death, it was a change many found hard to get used to.

The first few tournaments were dominated by the same handful of highly skilled adult Huntsmen. To combat this, the main draw was limited to those under the age of 21. This allowed for a new pool of the best and brightest to appear every few years, and ensured that no one stayed in the spotlight for too long. Anyone over that age was relegated to coaching, spectating, and participating in side competitions.

As the Huntsman Academies—founded at the war's end—grew in size and enrollment, the ranks of Huntsmen became increasingly organized and professional. Graduation from an Academy was practically required for the job. With more and more of the tournament participants coming from Academies and more of the organizers being their alumni, it wasn't long before an official integration was considered.

Conveniently, this coincided with the creation of a biennial celebration commemorating the end of the Great War. It had already been decided that a different Kingdom would host the festival each year and that a central event would be needed. With the tournaments following a similar schedule, they made a natural fit and were moved inside the walls for the first time. They became the centerpiece of the Vytal Festival, named for the island where a truce had been reached two decades earlier.

In this official incarnation of the event, new rules were put in place. Attendance was restricted to those attending Academies, which was functionally similar to the previous rules on age. To ease logistics and reduce the amount of cross-Kingdom travel required, preliminary rounds were held at each school. Each Academy was limited to twelve teams—even that of the host city.

The final and most visible change happened a few years later. Advances in Dust technology led to the creation of the Vytal Festival's most prominent landmark: Amity Colosseum. To this day the largest manmade object kept in the air, the famed stadium is kept afloat by sealed cylinders of gravity Dust affixed to its bottom. Being a suspended stadium meant it placed greater demands on aerial shuttle services, but this was offset by its portability and its conservation of precious space inside the walls. Its sheer spectacle justified the hassle.

Beacon Academy and Vale were the hosts of the 40th Festival, and students and civilians alike were brimming with excitement. Banners were hung and shops were tidied up in preparation for the imminent wave of tourism. The Tournament wasn't until early Spring, and Amity Colosseum hadn't even yet begun its month-long voyage across the continent, but enthusiasm was already sky-high. People knew as soon as they saw the first banners raised across the city: the Vytal Festival had begun.

"Why this is simply amazing!" said Weiss. "A celebration of beauty and culture like nothing else in Remnant. Finally, I can see it for myself."

Ruby nodded along as her partner continued to marvel at the freshly cleaned and newly decorated streets of Vale. They would remain that way for nearly four months, but Weiss had insisted that Team RWBY spend their Friday afternoon observing the festivities on the first day they were formally in place. Ostensibly she wanted to gather intel on arriving students, although it had quickly become clear that this objective was secondary at best.

"Yeah, it's really great," Ruby mumbled back.

Blake brought up the rear of the group. She placed each step carefully as she walked, her nose deep in a book. As usual, she was demonstrating her mastery of the art of reading, looking where she was going, and listening to the ongoing conversation all at once. The look on her face suggested the book was subpar, but still preferable to looking at her surroundings.

"Earth to Blake," said Yang. "Don't you want to see the Festival?"

"I've… seen it before."

Weiss turned around and narrowed her eyes. "You have? Where?"

"I mean, I did travel a lot, especially in the last couple of years. I just happened to be near Mistral two years ago."

"That doesn't surprise me. You've told us that you used to move around. Lucky you, I guess."

"I suppose."

Yang chose this moment to enter the conversation. "Hey Weiss, since you seem so interested in this kinda thing, why's this your first Vytal Festival? Were you not in Atlas four years ago?"

"No, I was there."

"But it didn't count?"

"It would, but Atlas doesn't decorate the way—I mean, of course they do. It was fine. I was just too young to appreciate it.

"Uh, guys, come on," said Ruby. "Is it really important if you've been to a festival before or not? Rhetorical question, no it isn't. Blake, you can pay attention if you want to, but you don't have to. It's not like all of this stuff is going away tomorrow."

Yang put out her hand for a high-five. "Well said, Ruby."

The four of them continued their walk about the town. With each window, storefront, and makeshift market stall vying for your attention, an undecorated building was more eye-catching than a gaudy one. Street after street went by, and there was one type of shop that remained consistently unadorned—unless you counted broken windows and a slapdash barrier of yellow caution tape. Crime scene, do not enter, read one of the signs.

Ruby was the first to notice the pattern. The rubble on the sidewalk and shattered glass reminded her of the night from a few months earlier, when she had accidentally run into the famous criminal, Roman Torchwick, robbing a Dust shop. His men—and me, Ruby admitted—had left the premises in a state eerily similar to what these other stores resembled en masse. Robberies were common enough, with high-end Dust emporiums being a frequent target, but this systematic burglary of practically every Dust-related store in the area of downtown was an impossible coincidence. Come to think of it, there had been something about this on the news.

"What's with these Dust shops?" Yang asked. "I know prices are up right now, and so is organized crime, but this is kinda ridiculous. That's what, the fourth one in three blocks? And recently, too. They're all still closed."

Ruby nodded. "I noticed it too. Remember that Torchwick guy they never caught? Maybe he did this."

Yang pulled out her Scroll, scanned it for a second, and then closed it. She shook her head. "I set an alert for him on my Scroll, where it saves any news articles on him for me to read. There's been nothing except a report from six weeks ago that he's still at large, and may have left the city. Seems like you scared him off."

That explanation was enough to dismiss the matter—for about five minutes. After encountering the fifth Dust shop that was closed, even Weiss and Blake had to take notice. This time, there was a car parked at the scene. Two men in button-downs and black trousers were picking through the debris, which looked even fresher than it had at the other sites.

"Excuse me," said Ruby, running up to the edge of the yellow tape line, "are you the police?"

"Police?" said the older of the two. He stroked his beard. "Not the ones you're used to. The police don't have time to clean up every mess. They leave that to us. But with how things have been going, we'll be off to the next crime scene before we ever finish this one."

"Hey Boss," said the other man, "stop talking to the kids. You never let me do that."

"Overruled. We're on break."

"Can you tell us what been happening here?" asked Yang.

"What's there to say? We've got a robbery—this is the eighth Dust shop this week. Maybe the ninth, I can't remember. Every store is on high alert but we don't have the manpower for it to make a difference."

"And all of these are related?"

"Remember Boss, confidential!"

The man turned around and spoke to his younger partner. "Shut up. I decide what's confidential around here. Go check the inside of the store."

"But you said we're on—"

"Do it."

Turning back to face Yang, the man continued. "They're being pursued as related, but we don't know anything for sure. The fact that one industry is being targeted like this is unusual. Dust is a cutthroat business, so I'd almost consider corporate espionage if it weren't for how crudely it's being carried out."

"Anything we can do to help?"

The detective laughed at first, but Yang's expression remained serious. Eventually, he picked up on the unusual weapons strapped to their belts. "Oh, you're huntresses. Student ones, anyway. Leave the investigation to the people whose job it is, but if you see a crime being carried out… You know what to do."

"Great."

Team RWBY was just leaving when the other detective came running back outside. "It happened again!" he said. "The safe is locked and intact. They left all the money behind—and a lot of it, this time. We have the deposit timetables for this store, and they have nearly a week's worth of cash on hand.

The other man clucked his tongue. "Unbelievable."

"It's like they don't even care about the money."

"They're being smart. They know that any currency on site is locked up tight, alarmed, and easily traceable, so they don't take it. That's why we haven't bagged 'em yet."

"Still, who needs so much Dust? It might not be traceable, but the black market for something that's perfectly legal is small. I think whoever did this wants the Dust for themselves."

"You thinking an army? Maybe the White Fang?"

"I'm thinking the two of us aren't being paid enough. Two lowly detectives, exposing a grand conspiracy like this for slave wages and no overtime?"

"That pretty much sums up the job. Ugh, those damn Faunus. A bunch of those degenerates were hollering at me on the street yesterday. Probably wanted to turn out my pockets."

Their complaining and bickering continued. Ruby, Yang, and Blake moved on, but Weiss stayed to listen for a minute. When she returned, she had a fierce gleam in her eyes and a new spring in her step.

"Of course it's the White Fang," she said. "They've been in the news a lot lately, and not for any good reason. Why would anyone expect law-abiding behavior from a group composed entirely of Faunus?"

"They protest," offered Blake.

"So what, they protest. It's all just a front for them to steal, kill, and terrorize. Faunus don't do anything better. Every 'protest' that's happened lately has degenerated into a frenzy of looting and rioting. Even murder."

"Why are you acting like every Faunus participates in that kind of thing? There's several of them at Beacon. And the White Fang isn't all bad."

"Who said it's all Faunus I have a problem with? I just have no sympathy for murderous organizations. They're nothing more than terrorists."

Blake gritted her teeth. "They aren't—weren't supposed to be murderous. Just a force to better the lives and equalize the rights of Faunus across Remnant. In the past few years, some of them have become… misguided, and now that's the only part of them that the public sees."

Weiss was shouting now. "Misguided? They've made it their mission to exterminate humanity!"

"So they're very misguided, then. That doesn't give you the right to pin these robberies on them with no evidence."

"Guys, break it up!" shouted Ruby, stepping between Weiss and Blake before they could come to blows. "Weiss, you might be right, but you shouldn't assume things. Anyone could have done this."

"Hmph. Doesn't change the fact that most Faunus are a bunch of scum. Show me one example of them doing something that isn't lying, stealing, or cheating."

"Why don't you show me one example of them doing any of those things?" said Blake. "Based on what you've been saying, it doesn't seem like you've had the slightest bit of contact with them over in Atlas."

Weiss resisted the urge to fire back. She paused, allowing a faint, dismissive smile to show on her face, then turned and looked out at the water and pointed.

"Then what's that right there?"

Before Blake could look, a series of loudspeakers crackled to life to answer.

"There is a stowaway and suspected criminal hiding on the pier. All dock workers and security should move to apprehend him. Keep an eye out for a blond Faunus with a monkey's tail and red sleeves. He may be in hiding."

"A Faunus?" said Blake.

"A criminal, don't you mean?" answered Weiss.

"Hiding?" asked Ruby, her hands already reaching for her belt.

Down a flight of stone stairs and across three wooden moorings, a muscular boy was running in their general direction. He was dressed in ragged and stained blue jeans, a completely unbuttoned shirt that fluttered behind him, and ordinary running shoes. But most telling were the blond spiky hair, maroon-colored leather sleeves, and monkey's tail that matched the earlier broadcast.

"That's the guy," said Yang. "I don't know why they said he was hiding."

Two workers with hard hats and grease-caked overalls attempted to confront the agile Faunus. They grasped at air as he slipped through their hands and continued down the mooring.

"Thanks for the ride, suckers!" he said, flinging a handful of scraps of paper and banana peels onto the planks. "Have fun cleaning up the mess."

Weiss twisted the base of Myrtenaster, selecting a socket full of ice dust from the ring around the scabbard of her weapon and locking it into place. Blake frowned at the movement, and Weiss frowned back.

"We are stopping him, aren't we Blake?" she asked. "It doesn't matter if he's a Faunus or not. He needs to be held responsible for whatever he's done."

"It's not that," Blake answered. "Look at that emblem on his shirt collar."

"You can see it from this far away?"

"Yes, I can. It's orange and yellow. That so-called criminal is a student at Haven Academy."

That made Weiss pause. Meanwhile, the Faunus boy had reached the bottom of the stairs leading up from the dock. "Perhaps," she mused, "he's stolen the clothes. If he really is a student, why was he on a cargo ship? Why are there no other students? I intend to stop him."

"You do that, then."

"I will. Just watch me."

Moments later, the boy crested the top of the stairs. A gleaming rapier and circle of blue glyphs blocked his way. Seeing them, he did a double take—but only for a moment. Then, he began to shimmer yellow and ran forward.

Weiss launched icy shards from every glyph she had, stabbing with Myrtenaster at the same time. Walls of ice enclosed the shining figure. For a moment, the glow shone through the ice. Then it petered out. The dark blue block trembled for a moment before becoming still.

Letting out a hmph, Weiss lowered her sword. The rest of Team RWBY stood, flat-footed and surprised. In fact, they were so stunned that no one reacted as the boy stepped out from behind the block, flashed a cheeky smile, and ran straight past them.

Weiss's face turned from smugness to shock as she realized what had happened. She whirled around and feebly raised her sword just in time to see the Faunus boy vanish down a side street. For a moment she looked like she might give chase, but even in her irrational state she realized it would be hopeless. Then, she turned back around to investigate the ice block she'd created.

The magical ice, summoned by Weiss's powers, was melting much faster than regular ice, but otherwise seemed to be normal. There was no sign of the glowing figure that had been encased inside and no breaks in the ice where it could have escaped. There wasn't even an impression in the ice to show where the person had once been.

Weiss stalked in a circle around the cube she'd summoned, peering inside and examining each edge. Once she was finished, she loaded Myrtenaster with fire Dust and swiftly melted it. Then she turned back to her team.

"This cannot have happened," she said. "I didn't—don't—miss. I caught that little degenerate when he wasn't expecting it. All of you saw it. Does anyone disagree?"

"Uh, well, Weiss," Ruby said, "you definitely caught someone. But I don't know where they went."

Blake had a small smile on her face from watching Weiss stomp about, but hid it as she stomped up to her.

"Do you have something to say, Blake? I'm sure you're happy he got away, with you defending him and all."

"Nothing to say. Except that you're ignoring the obvious explanation. You didn't miss per se, but he was able to escape using a semblance. Fooled you pretty good for a so-called degenerate."

Yang grinned as Weiss turned red in the face. Blake didn't speak much, but when she did, she was one of the few people that could leave Weiss at a loss for words. Still, there were some hostilities to resolve. The fact that Weiss had shut up for a minute or two didn't mean the argument was over.

"Take a deep breath, guys," she said. "This is the second time we've been distracted by some sort of crime scene. It's not our job. Weiss, you wanted to come here to check out the festival, so let's do that. Things have been going really well lately. Let's all keep it up, and just—I don't know—try to be friends!"

Yang was expecting a caustic response from Weiss, but the voice that answered her was both excited and unfamiliar. "Are you my friends?"

"Who said that?" Yang asked, looking back and forth but seeing no one. She checked behind her, then looked down. Hovering just under her field of vision and a little too close for comfort was a girl Yang hadn't seen before. She took a step back in order to get a better look.

The girl had a head of ginger curls, porcelain skin, and a gaze that was fixed forward, unwavering, even as Yang waved to get her attention.

"Hey, are you doing okay?" asked Yang, crouching slightly to put herself in the stranger's line of sight. "And were you trying to talk to us? It seemed like it."

There was no immediate answer, but the girl's body seemed to unfreeze and she looked from Yang to the rest of Team RWBY. Finally, she said, "Yes."

"Uh, is that a yes to both?"

"Yes."

Yang blinked. "And?"

"I asked if you are my friends. But really, what I should have asked is if you would like to be my friends. It is important for me to make friends while I am here."

"Oh, okay."

Another awkward silence followed. Eventually, the girl's expectant expression faded and she said, "I will say it again. Would you like to be my friends?"

Weiss strode over to Yang and tugged on her arm. "Come on, Yang. I think this girl has lost her caretaker. Like you said, it's not our job. We should be going."

Ruby shot her partner a look before walking right over to the girl. "Hi there," she said. "We can totally be friends. "I'm Ruby, what's yours? Uh, I mean, what's your name?"

Green eyes widened. "My name is Penny Polendina," she said, shaking Ruby's hand vigorously. "It is a pleasure to meet you."

Ruby nodded and turned back to her team. "Well? Aren't you guys going to introduce yourselves?"

Weiss's mouth curled and her hands searched for non-existent pockets in her skirt. Reluctantly, she stepped forward and shook Penny's hand stiffly.

"By the way," she asked, "why exactly are you here? I haven't seen you around before."

"I am here to participate in the tournament, and to make friends. I am combat ready."

Weiss raised an eyebrow. "Really? Huh."

"It was a pleasure to meet you, Weiss."

"Uh, you already said that."

"So I did! It was a very important thing for me to say. Now, I will be very happy if I see any of you again, but for now I have to go. Bye!" Penny walked away before Weiss or anyone else could offer further comment.

"Well, Weiss," offered Ruby, "that's two visiting students now that we've met. Were they how you expected?"

Weiss sighed and searched around for a bench on which to sit down. "Not at all," she said. "I expected well-organized groups of students arriving on official means of transport. Perhaps we made a mistake in coming here so early in the Festival."

You mean, perhaps you made a mistake? Blake thought. She kept her mouth shut.

"Are we ready to go back?" Ruby asked. "It's going to be dark pretty soon."

"No, not yet," Weiss said quickly. "I think we should split up and try to find that Faunus boy. Not to get him arrested, mind you. But I would like to know why he's here. Is anyone with me? We can regroup back at the shuttle."

To everyone's surprise, Blake was the first to answer. "Sure," she said. "I'll check out the street market not far from here." Then she walked away toward a nearby a nearby alley.

"Well, that's settled," offered Weiss. "but where are the rest of us going?"

The market occupied two narrow streets and an entire section of the square by the docks. It was a semipermanent installation, but had swelled to accommodate the influx of visitors from the other Kingdoms. Rows of stalls were packed with people despite the late afternoon chill. A dangling banner proclaimed the sale of "local" goods, but few of them really were. Vale wasn't known for manufacturing, and it sure as hell wasn't a place where you could grow tropical fruits.

Sure isn't stopping them from hawking those overpriced melons, Blake thought. I wonder if anyone knows that they're really grown by Faunus working for their meals, with no wages.

But the dishonesty of the market sellers wasn't Blake's concern. She was there only to satisfy her own curiosity, and maybe to stop a visiting student from getting arrested along the way. Assuming that the mysterious Faunus boy she was pursuing really was one. On the off chance he wasn't… she would deal with that later.

Blake's decision to separate from the rest of Team RWBY, particularly Weiss, was no accident. Having her around would complicate her plan to find the stray student from Haven, given how she'd tried to capture him as he ran by. Blake hoped things would go over better if she went by herself. Of course, that assumed she could actually find him before Ruby, Weiss, or Yang did, however they chose to organize their own search.

One advantage Blake had was an insight into where a Faunus, especially a visiting one, would choose to go. She'd been in that position many times herself, before settling down to go to Beacon. Her team knew nothing of her history except the short, deliberately vague backstory she'd told them. So far, they remained completely unaware that she was a Faunus herself. Weiss knew she had a soft spot for them, and there had been several comments about the ever-present bow that covered the top of her head, but no one had made the connection yet.

Irrational is it might be, Blake couldn't help but view the boy as a natural ally of sorts—even if she'd need to reveal her secret to explain why that was. She'd chosen to search the maze of stalls and storefronts because it was where she'd have gone herself. It would be the most familiar place to any Faunus. Well, at least to every Faunus from Menagerie. But the longer Blake searched for the blond stowaway, the less confident she became in her approach. At least to the best of her memory, there as no one remotely like him on the streets.

On the streets, yes. But what about above them?

Blake cast her eyes up and almost immediately found him. She felt like an idiot. To a Faunus, the rooftops were the second floor of any street. The boy was sitting on the edge of a two-story bakery, his feet and furry tail dangling into the square below. He hadn't made any effort to disguise himself; the unbuttoned shirt, jeans, and protective red sleeves matched his outfit from the docks and made his identity plainly obvious. His head was turned away from her at the moment, but with the view he commanded it was more than likely that he'd already seen her.

In this situation, Ruby and Yang's instinct would have been to run over and holler at the boy to get down. Weiss's response? Heaven knows. But with Blake being alone for once, she was free to choose her own strategy. And right now, her instinct was to level the playing field. There was a convenient scaffold down the street, but climbing it and jumping from building to building afterward would have attracted far too much attention. Instead, she looped around the square through back alleys, mentally keeping track of the weathered brick building that was her target. Sure enough, it had a rusted staircase in its back that led up to the second floor. It was an easy climb to the top from there.

"Excuse me," she called out from the crest of the roof. "Do you mind explaining yourself?"

The Faunus froze in surprise, sending the apple held in his tail tumbling into the street. "C'mon," he groaned as he recovered, "I was gonna eat that, you know." He turned around to look at Blake. "Hey, you were at the docks, right? Why'd you follow me?"

Blake found herself at a loss. Why exactly had she followed him? Sympathy, frustration, an excuse to get away from Weiss, and a little curiosity. But that mixture of reasons wasn't easily explained to a stranger. "Because," she said, "you attracted a lot of attention when you showed up. And not the good kind. For some reason, I think you're in the right in all of this, but I want to hear you out first."

"Okay," the boy said, striding up the side of the roof. "I'm Sun by the way. Proud leader of Team SSSN. Named after the thing in the sky. Nah, you guessed it, it's named after me." He held out his hand. "You do those… handshake thingies?"

"I'll pass. Where are we going to talk? It can't be here. My own team's looking for you."

"Uh, you're asking the guy who just came to town. I only climbed up here 'cause it reminded me of an old haunt. We could find a cafe or something."

Taking his advice, Blake called upon her own fairly limited knowledge of the downtown. She chose a low-key restaurant set off an alley. The two of them bypassed the host and seated themselves in the corner, away from the only window. Even though no one was watching, Blake had to suppress a blush at the seating arrangement. It made them look an awful lot like a couple, something Sun was clearly happy about with his cheeky grin. She was very tempted to ask him to button up his shirt, but that would only draw attention to the fact that she'd been looking at it.

"Let's get this started," he said. "So my teammates and I—that's Scarlet, Sage, and Neptune by the way—all go to Haven Academy. We were all super stoked after being chosen to go to the Vytal Festival. And not just any Festival, it's the 40th one. Taking place in Vale, which is the coolest Kingdom. Other than Vacuo that is."

"Huh."

Sun took a breath. "You're wondering where my team is, right?"

"Sure, but I was more interested in why you were stowing away."

"They're kinda related. So, the original plan was to take the train here, but it's not running right now. We then planned to take a boat, but the whole team wasn't exactly on board."

"So?" Blake said, deadpan.

Sun looked at her quizzically. "Get it? Anyway, the rest of my team will be along. I would have gone with them, but I wasn't giving up on taking a boat. So I pitched the idea to my boys of me scouting ahead. Quasi-legally, of course. Once I told them, all I had to do was hop on the nearest ship going to Vale and pray they had food on board. And here I am."

Blake couldn't help but show a small smile at Sun's story. It reminded her of the rebellious, but ultimately harmless adventures of her earlier years, before things had turned dark. "That's the silliest thing I've heard in my life. Was it too much trouble to get a ticket?"

"I guess it wouldn't have been too hard. And Haven might have paid for it. I don't know, it just wouldn't have been as exciting as sneaking on board." Sun pulled a pair of apples from his pocket. "See, I could have paid for these. They're like, a couple Lien each. But I just took them."

"You're trying to tell me you're a kleptomaniac? That's really not going to help my team's opinion of you, or any Faunus for that matter."

Sun grinned again. "Sure. That's a nice bow by the way."

Blake recoiled, at least partially because of the compliment, but mostly because Sun seemed to be indicating that he knew her secret. Or did he? Was it really that obvious?

"Thank you," she said, letting irritation creep in. "I try not to draw attention to it, to be honest. Are we done now? I've heard your story."

"Hey, don't go yet," pleaded Sun. "I told you all about me. This is the part where you—hold on, I'm thinking of the word—re-ci-pro-cate. Reciprocate. You gotta return the favor."

"No."

"What? C'mon, I used a fancy word and everything."

"Sun, I have to go meet my team now. I'm sure I'll see you during the tournament and I swear I'll tell you more then."

That promise was apparently to satisfy him. "Okay," he said, "but you mean that. You can't just pretend not to know me if your team's around. Work it out with them, say that we met somewhere else if that's easier. How about you add me on your Scroll?"

Blake held back another blush. "Sun, I think you're misinterpreting this. I intended—"

"Pleeeease?" Sun curled his tail and made sad puppy eyes at Blake, who felt herself loosen slightly at his goofiness.

"Ugh, fine. But don't call me."

Ruby, Weiss, and Yang were each occupying their time a different way. Ruby was doing her best to remain upbeat, glancing through her homework and making positive statements, but internally she was worried and couldn't focus. Weiss sat unconcerned, not paying Blake's disappearance any heed. Yang was pacing and growing angrier by the minute.

"I can't believe this," Yang said. "We're going to miss dinner."

Ruby checked her Scroll again. "Still nothing from Blake. Not that she's normally very responsive."

Weiss clucked her tongue. She pulled a mirror from her purse and began to fiddle with her hair. "There's a reason we're supposed to stay with our partners." Spying a Faunus across the street from the shuttle station, she added, "You know, the longer we wait the more I'm convinced Blake found that Faunus and ran off somewhere with him. If she hadn't located him by now, she'd be back already. And she's a total suck-up for their kind."

"Weiss, have you ever thought about why?" asked Ruby.

"Thought about why Blake's always standing up for the Faunus? Not really. My father always said people like her were just being apologists, claiming we're supposed to give them all special privileges just because a few of them were mistreated. Completely ridiculous. It's one of the few things he and I agree on."

"Uhm, Weiss," said Ruby, smiling nervously. "Is it possible there's another reason? Like a way simpler, super-duper obvious one?"

"Like what?"

Ruby took off her school backpack and began to rifle through. She pulled out a crumpled magazine and pointed at the cover. "I was reading about how some Faunus basically have a secret life. Some of them have animal traits that aren't visible, or that they can hide. So they choose to pass as just a regular person. Maybe that's Blake."

"Of course." Weiss nodded slowly. "The strange behavior. The defense of terrorists. And she's never told us about her family. She's probably ashamed of them—and herself."

Ruby's eyes went wide. "Weiss! How could you say something like that?"

Yang tried to defuse the situation. "Ruby, that's just a tabloid. Weiss, knock it off. Let's not make up crazy theories about our teammate behind her back, okay?"

"That's alright, Yang. I'm used to them."

"Blake? Where were you?"

The final member of Team RWBY had arrived undetected, making it impossible to tell how much she'd heard. Her face revealed nothing. "Let's go," she said. "I'll tell you on the shuttle."

Despite what Blake had said, she remained completely silent on the shuttle, glaring whenever Ruby or the others tried to question her. After returning to their dorm and flopping down on their beds to rest for a while, they were finally able to coax some answers from her.

"There's nothing to tell," Blake insisted. "I was just a little late getting back."

"Like hell you were," Weiss hissed, struggling to keep her voice from rising. "You were off with that Faunus from the dock. What else could you have been doing? You clearly never intended to catch him."

"Well, I wasn't 'off with him', but I did see him," Blake lied, weaving in a partial truth to hopefully steady her voice.

"Oh, well I'm so glad you 'saw' him. I'm sure the fact that you 'saw' him will be so useful in a few weeks when he's joined up with the White Fang and blown up a building!"

Blake's own frustration was building. "What would you have preferred I did? Arrested him? You specifically said we weren't doing that. And you're still assuming that every Faunus is a terrorist. Why? Why are you—and your whole family, I read the news—so discriminatory?"

Weiss looked to Yang and Ruby for support, but they both nodded to indicate the allegation was something she needed to address. To Weiss, the realization that the entire rest of her team even considered her possibly discriminatory was a surprising one. It put her on the defensive.

"No," she said. "I'm not. Well, maybe I am. But I have good reason. I'm no garden-variety Faunus hater, and neither is my family. We're victims."

Blake scoffed. "The Schnee family. Victims."

Weiss sighed and looked away, speaking softly now. "Would you like to know why I feel the way I do? Why I don't instinctively trust the Faunus, especially the White Fang? Because they've been at war with my family since before I was born. At first, it was just a war of business. But the more time goes on, the worse it gets. The more violent it gets."

Voice rising again, Weiss paced over to Blake. "It's the biggest joke in Remnant," she said through gritted teeth. "The Faunus all hate the Schnees, ha ha ha. They wish they'd all fall over dead. But it isn't so funny when it's your own relatives getting executed, is it Blake?"

"Weiss, you know I don't mean your family any harm. And neither do most Faunus. You can't just use them as an excuse to be discriminatory!" Blake stood up uneasily, putting space between herself and Weiss.

"I am sick and tired of having to daintily step around what I mean to say," snapped Weiss. "The Faunus in the White Fang are nothing but terrorists and murderers. And for all I know, you could be one of them!"

Blake pulled the ever-present bow from the top of her head. A pair of slightly crumpled, pointed ears poked up in its place. Weiss froze and gaped.

"You're right, Weiss," she whispered. "But at the same time, you're wrong. You know nothing about Faunus or the White Fang. And people like you are the reason we turned violent, the reason I left. I mean, what did I—no…" Blake's voice trailed off. She suddenly felt very, very exposed. Following instincts that had suddenly returned to her, she bolted for the door, hurriedly threw it open, and dashed out.

"She has… kitty ears," Ruby mumbled, stunned. "Kinda cute. They're almost like Velvet's. She never told us."

Weiss, too, was barely coherent. "White Fang," she managed to say. "Right under… our noses. Can't believe—"

Yang had already grabbed her bag and was heading towards the door. "Ruby, Weiss, snap out of it. Our teammate just left and you're both sitting there? We need to find her."

At further insistence from Yang, Ruby and Weiss recovered and the three girls combed the grounds for twenty minutes. Eventually, the came to an agreement that Blake must have gone straight for the shuttle, boarding the final outbound Airship of the evening. Three more Airships were scheduled for later, but they were inbound, suitable for return trips only. The ground route took nearly two hours by car, and in any event, the Friday curfew for off-campus trips was past. There was no way to get to Vale until morning.

In the face of this, the girls had no choice but to wait for the last returning Airship, two hours later. They sat huddled on a bench, none wanting to speak. Slightly before 10 o'clock, the last Airship docked at the edge of the cliff and its side door rolled open. It was empty.

Exchanging glances that ranged from uneasy to fearful, Ruby, Weiss, and Yang stood up and walked back inside.

Sun and Blake will talk again later, even though that is in the episode technically. This Chapter is plenty long as it is.

Originally I said "racist" and not "Faunus hater"... it doesn't sound great but I'm playing it safe on my terminology. Race is probably not the correct term.

I'm a little worried I've mischaracterized Sun here as being too flirty. He's supposed to be the heart of gold, and Neptune's supposed to be the flirty one. But does that mean Sun can't act flirtatiously? I don't think so. It's a different kind, after all. He's not trying to be suave the way Neptune would be. I included it because it always struck me as odd in the episode that he greeted Blake with a blatantly affectionate wink at the docks, only to go completely platonic for a long while after. Consider Sun's flirting to be "the wink, extended".

Volume 6 is really a return to form for RWBY in my opinion, I haven't been this hyped since the Volume 3 hiatus. That would encourage me to write more, but… see below.

Meta time. It's been two years since I started this thing. Two years! My own life was so different then that it feels like a different person lived it, and I am merely the keeper of their memories. I wish I could say this chapter marks my triumphant return, but in reality, it is more of a swan song. I will (barring real life interruptions) adapt and publish the final chapter of Volume 1, Black and White, but after that, I am probably done writing fanfiction.

I would like to make writing, specifically creative writing, my professional career. That is not an easy task. I have the current luxury of being a student, sitting halfway between the threshold of adolescence and adulthood. For the time being I can without being worried about the financial aspects. But there is a depressing side to spending dozens, maybe hundreds of hours (I'm a slow as shit writer) on something that I can never monetize. Not because that's ever the primary reason, but it's enough of a reason. I'm also freakishly busy right now. I nearly derailed my school schedule just by taking a few days to write this, and I don't know how I'll pull off writing Chapter 10. I'll do my best.

On top of that, writing fanfiction is like using training wheels. You can get better, but there are certain aspects it can never teach you. Like writing wholly original characters, worlds, systems, and settings. Rather than try to do those things within the constraints of an established universe, I'd rather just leave it. And that's what I will be doing. Probably.

Thank you for reading.

—Flok