"Looking forward to seeing your girlfriend again, sister?"

Her brother's words brought Weiss's thought's back to where she was with a jerk. Whitley just smirked at her smugly, knowing he'd caught her daydreaming. The worst part about it was, his words had been right on target.

There had been a three-day weekend at Beacon Academy, and Weiss had looked forward to spending it with Ruby. Vale Community College was putting on a horror film festival, and the two of them shared a love of classic horror films. Slasher flicks were a definite 'No.' But instead Weiss' father had hauled her back to Atlas for the weekend, taking her and her brother on an inspection tour of the construction site for their company's newest plant. Weiss had told Ruby to go to the film festival without her but she'd refused. At least until Weiss had told her that one of their favorite old-school directors was not only still alive and in Vale, but was planning on attending. Then Weiss had oh-so-sweetly asked Ruby to get her autograph on Weiss's vintage poster from the director's first film.

Ruby's resistance had crumbled instantly.

They'd called every night, of course, but this was the furthest and longest they'd been apart in over a year, and it just wasn't the same. The net result left Weiss seriously missing Ruby. A shiver ran up Weiss' arms as she remembered the last kiss Ruby had given her just before she got on the plane. They had both lingered in that kiss, neither one of them wanting to be apart, but eventually, it had been Weiss that yielded to the growing impatience she could feel practically rolling off her father and pulled away. Whitley had used it as an excuse to tease Weiss mercilessly the entire weekend.

Well, it was time for some revenge of her own, if a touch petty. Weiss dipped her hand into her carryon bag, pulling out her Switch and turning it on. Ruby and she were on a competitive achievement hunt, and Weiss had committed herself to earning the 'Not a Scratch' achievement on a particular boss. At maximum difficulty.

"Weiss."

She stopped, headphones in her hand, to look at her father. "Yes, Father? What is it?"

"Before you put your headphones in, I wanted to ask if you've heard anything about those wretched pictures. Has Detective Port reported any progress to you?" Father looked up from the tablet he was reading on, one eyebrow raised.

"Sadly, no. He's either playing this fairly close to the chest or he hasn't made any progress. I do know that the items from Ruby's locker were delivered to one of those package stores, the kind where you rent a mailbox and they'll accept small packages for you. He asked where I was when they were picked up, and if I knew where Ruby was." Weiss swallowed nervously. "It was the day of the exhibition, but by then Ruby and I had left at her house. He showed me a picture from the package store's security camera, but the woman was wearing a hoodie with the hood pulled up and I couldn't recognize her. I do know the clerk at the package store said the woman had dark skin and red eyes."

"Red eyes," Jacques muttered, thinking carefully. "That's rather uncommon, if not quite as rare as Ruby's silver."

"I know a dozen or so people at school with the trait," Weiss replied. Including one girl in particular who'd have an excellent reason to plant the items in Ruby's locker. "I do know that the images are being posted more frequently and they're getting more… daring."

"Daring?"

"The acts being depicted are more extreme, and pictures featuring my likeness are being added as well," Weiss answered with a laugh. "Sadly, the quality of the work continues to be poor. Beacon's photography club is having a field day pointing out the flaws. Unofficially of course." She took a deep breath. "I do have a… limited window into the VBI's investigation. The pictures are being posted from a pre-paid cellphone, either from Beacon Academy or somewhere very nearby, and the phone is taken off the network when not being used to post pictures, probably by removing the battery."

Her father's face hardened. "I don't like that they're adding you to their list of targets, Weiss. I hate asking this of you, but… it might be appropriate to distance yourself from Ruby until this matter is settled."

"No." The word slipped out, harshly enough to make Father blink. "I will not abandon her. Not for this. Not when she..." Weiss trailed off, turning her head to look out the window at the moonlit clouds below, not wanting her father to see the tears in her eyes.

"Not when she what?" His words were quiet, lacking either the harshness or false joviality she'd come to expect from him, and the difference startled Weiss enough that she answered him without thinking about it.

"Not after Ruby was there for me, after mother… did what she did."

If her father's face had been hard before, now it was carved from granite. A little over a year ago, Willow Schnee had taken her own life, leaping from the balcony of her third-story bedroom to land on the tiles of the patio, killing her instantly. "A dark day for us all," Jacques murmured, and for once, Weiss thought she could hear a tiny sliver of pain in her father's voice. "Your mother had been unwell for some time, and I had hoped she was getting better, healing, And then..." He shook his head. "A dark day for us all," her father repeated, turning his attention back to his tablet.

For once, Ruby was the one waiting at Beacon's gates for Ruby. "Weiiisss," Ruby wailed, glomping onto her girlfriend. "You don't know how much I missed you."

"Dolt," Weiss snapped as she futilely tried to disentangle herself from Ruby, but there was little force behind it. Weiss was still uncomfortable with touching and being touched, but she reveled in every moment of contact with Ruby. "Probably about as much as I missed you. How was the film festival?"

"Great!" Ruby's excitement flashed in her eyes for a moment, then collapsed when she remembered that Weiss hadn't been there. "I wish you could have been there. Oh! I got your poster signed, and it's back in the frame. I left it at home because I didn't want it getting damaged."

"Thank you," Weiss said, smiling as she tenderly brushed a stray hair out of Ruby's face. "I've got a surprise for you too. Father let me drive myself to school today. And," she added, drawing out the moment, "he said he'd understand if I wasn't home until late tonight."

"Wow." Ruby whistled. "Really loosening the leash, isn't he? I'm still betting on some sort of head game or trap, though."

"Mm. He did raise suggest that I distance myself from you for a while, because of the pictures."

Ruby stopped, looking up at Weiss with fear in her eyes. "You-you didn't-"

"I refused." Weiss pulled Ruby close, meeting Ruby's silver eyes with her own pale blue, letting her see the resolve there. "You held me close when I wanted to close myself off, curl up in a corner and wait to die. And you didn't ask anything, you were just there, letting me know you'd be there as long as I needed you. That means more to me than you can ever know."

"Heeey lovebirds." There was a forced cheerfulness in Yang's voice, and the wide grin on her face didn't reach her eyes. "Now now, there's school regulations about public displays of affection. Wouldn't want the queen of the school to lose her crown in her last year."

"What-?" Weiss started to ask, but Ruby just shook her head. "Her and Blake had a fight."

"About?" the white-haired girl asked, dreading the answer she knew was coming.

"The usual," admitted Yang, her cheerful false front collapsing. "Blake still hasn't told her parents about us, and I'm tired of hiding it around them." She grimaced. "Look, it's been, what two years, and my dad's known the whole time. Just doesn't feel right, you know?"

Weiss and Ruby shared a look. "Yang," Ruby said slowly, "how many times have the two of you had a fight about this? Especially since school started?"

"A lot," Yang replied, looking away.

"And what always happens?"

Yang shrugged. "We don't talk for a couple of days, then she sits down next to me at lunch or something and it's like nothing happened."

"So," her sister said, poking her in the chest, "stop bringing it up. She's not ready, Yang."

"But what if she never is?" Yang answered nervously. "I mean, she means so much to me, and I just hate hiding it."

"Then try something simple."

"Huh?" Yang was confused.

"Try telling her how you feel. With three magic words." Ruby reached out and took Weiss' hand, a flush rising in her cheeks. "Weiss and I say it a lot, but I don't think I've ever heard you say it to Blake."

"But she knows-" Yang stopped, her brain finally finding first gear. "I… don't think I've ever said it to her. Not like that. I just kept assuming... I gotta go, find her." Yang headed off, making a beeline for Blake's locker, hoping she could catch her girlfriend before class.

Blake was just reaching into her locker for the books for her first class when a quiet, familiar, "Hey," came over the chatter in the hall. She looked over to find Yang standing a few feet away, looking nervous. Frowning, Blake turned back to the locker, only for Yang to interrupt her again. "Listen, I know you probably don't want to talk to me right now, but I got one thing to say, and then I'll leave you alone till you do, okay?" Blake stopped, a book in her hand, not looking at Yang. "I love you."

Movement in the corner of her eye made Blake turn her head just enough to see Yang turning to leave. "Wait." Blake swallowed, not sure what she wanted to say. "I… know you don't like hiding from my parents, but… my mom and dad, they both came from big families, and they wanted a big family of their own, but they just got me. And they've both been pushing me to, you know, settle down and have that big family they couldn't." Blake gave a small, sad sort of chuckle. "Guess the joke's on them, isn't it?"

"Uh," Yang reached up and scratched the back of her head nervously. "There's still ways, you know. Adoption, things like that. It just gets a lot more complicated. If, if you want that."

Blake turned around and put her back against the locker, sagging in relief. "So, so you're good with kids?"

"Yeah, yeah I am, I guess." Yang seemed surprised by her own answer as she leaned up next to Blake, taking a deep breath. "I mean, I hadn't really thought about, you know, long-term stuff, but I think we'd make great moms. Just not right away? I mean, I'd like you to myself for a few years first."

"I think," Blake took a deep, slow breath, "I think maybe it's time we started talking about that long-term stuff."

"Hey, Weiss," Jaune said, jogging up to Weiss as she and Ruby walked to Ruby's class, hand in hand. It was amazing, how much better just being near Ruby made Weiss feel, how much more certain of who she was and what she wanted. "Have you seen, um the latest photos?"

"Yes, thank you," Weiss said abruptly, then realized what she'd said and who to. "I'm sorry, Jaune, but I haven't seen Ruby in three days, and to come back to this-! It's frustrating. You'd think whoever is responsible would get bored."

"I got it. Buut, I've got a new toy." Jaune reached into the pocket of his uniform. "Ta-da!" he said, unlocking the screen.

"I thought you weren't supposed to have a phone," Ruby said, puzzled.

"Eh, I figure this is a case of forgiveness being easier than permission. Besides," Jaune shrugged, "the phone isn't the nifty bit. I put together a sniffer app. It looks for hardware with specified MAC or IP addresses on a local network."

"Jaune," Weiss said slowly, a hint of irritation in her voice, "say that again in common English, not high technobabble."

He blinked. "I built an app to listen for the shutterbug's phone using its unique electronic fingerprint. So if our shutterbug friend decides to post again, we'll know it and be able to get a fix on them. Here, I'll send both of you the app." Suddenly Jaune's phone made a sound like a sonar ping, startling Jaune so bad he almost dropped it. "I got a hit! Guess they decided to throw you a welcome-back party!"

Jaune took off through the crowd, bouncing off a girl with dainty horns and knocking her to the ground with barely a shouted "Sorry!" before heading for the stairwell and vaulting over the railing to the level below, the yelling from people he almost landed on unheard as Jaune took off again down the hall. Ruby and Weiss barely glanced at each other before taking off after him, if a bit slower and not quite so acrobatically. All three of them knew the description the clerk at the package store had given, and of the students and lone faculty member at Beacon fit that description, there was one name that topped their personal list. And they all knew where her locker was.

Emerald had her back to her locker, eyes darting back and forth between the phone she was trying to hide in her hand and the crowd around her. "Come on, come on, why is this taking so long? Stupid phone," she growled, clutching it tighter as if by squeezing the phone she could make it work faster.

"Actually, I think I might have something to do with that," Jaune said as he skidded to a stop next to her. "I hacked the local cellphone towers so that when you went to upload your pictures, it'd go slower. Not so slow as to make you quit, but enough to be frustrating. I'll take that," he finished, reaching for the phone.

Emerald bolted, running down the hallway toward a nearby stairwell, Jaune, Weiss, and Ruby in pursuit. Students around them yelled, but neither the pursuers or the pursued paid the protests any attention. Ruby was the fastest of those chasing Emerald, but Weiss was better at dancing her way through the crowd.

Suddenly Weiss' foot slid out from under, sending her sprawling across the floor just as she was reaching for Emerald's arm. Frustrated, she grabbed at Emerald's ankle, hoping to at least slow her down. Instead, she snagged Emerald's shoe, sending the green-haired girl to the floor.

The phone flew from Emerald's hand sliding across the floor, coming to rest against someone's shoe. Looking up, Weiss' heart sank when she saw the boy look down to see what had hit his foot. "Mercury, smash it!" Emerald yelled.

Frowning, Mercury reached down to pick up the phone. Letting out a low whistle, he walked slowly over to where Weiss and Emerald were picking themselves off the floor. "I suppose this is what all the fuss is about?"

"Smash it, please!" Emerald yelled again, desperation creeping into her voice. Her pursuers held their breath, waiting for a response.

Mercury tilted his head in thought before shaking his head. "Nah, I don't think so. See, I've figured out a few things that still haven't sunk into that pretty little head of yours." He thrust the phone into Jaune's chest, hard enough to make the blonde boy stumble. "We're even now, right, Arc?"

"You don't owe me—R-Right, even," Jaune said as Mercury glared at him.

Now Mercury turned his glare on Emerald. "Two things: One, stay put. I hear you ran off, you don't want it being me that catches you. Two," he leaned close, almost whispering in her ear, "she is never, never going to give you what you want." Whistling, he grabbed a couple of books from his locker and made his way down the hall.

It seemed like half the school was crammed into the hallways near the headmaster's office as Emerald was lead out in handcuffs. Jaune had managed to keep her phone unlocked, and the pictures were pretty damming. All Weiss could do was shake her head. "She keeps insisting that she acted alone, but I'd be willing to bet Cinder was helping her. Or at least giving Emerald her orders."

Ruby shrugged. "The only 'help' I've ever seen Cinder give is orders. Betcha Cinder doesn't even have the decency to show up as they walk Emerald out the door."

She would have lost that bet. Cinder had taken up position by the front doors, waiting as if a queen seeing the condemned walked to the gibbet. As Emerald came closer, she started screaming at Cinder, "It was for you! It was all for you!" over and over again.

"Oh be quiet," Cinder said imperiously as if Emerald's ranting was the least important thing in the world. "I honestly don't know what you could ever have hoped to gain, and I'm rather ashamed I ever called you a friend."

Weiss snorted as Emerald collapsed at Cinder's words, sobbing. "'Friend?' 'Lackey' or 'tool' is more like it. Cinder doesn't really do 'friends.' And it looks like she's got a new tool already. That's the new girl, what's her name?"

"Neo," Blake said, her fingers sliding into Yang's. "Neo Politan. Doesn't talk, uses sign language or a whiteboard. She seems friendly, but something about her gives me the creeps."

"So," Pyrrha said, wrapping an arm around Jaune's waist, "that was some pretty slick work. You're not going to get in trouble for that, are you?"

Jaune shrugged. "Maybe, but I figure I can get out of it if I promise to explain how I did it. Some kinda tricky stuff there."

"And what, pray tell do you have on Mercury that he was willing to turn on Emerald like that?" Weiss asked, giving the blonde boy a questioning look."

Jaune just crossed his arms. "Not telling. I promised."

"Jaune," Pyrrha said, whispering in his ear, "you'd tell me, wouldn't you? If I asked nicely."

"Nope. Not my story to tell. And I really, really promised, and you know how I am about promises."

"Huh. Well some answers, anyway." Ruby looked at the clock on the wall. "I've got a math test next period. Meet up after school for milkshakes? Weiss is buying."

"Hey!"