Hey! Guess what guys! I'm not dead! ^_^

Sorry about my hiatus, once again. You know how busy school gets at the end of the semester, but I'm sure that you'll be happy to hear that I'm taking the summer off, so you can fully expect faster updates for the next three months! Now that I have all the time in the world, unless I get a summer job, I will be making sure to make up for lost time and will update more frequently as thanks for being so patient with me. THANKS GUYS!

Now, without further ado, let the story commence!

"TURN AROUND! TURN AROUND RIGHT NOW!" Blake screamed frantically with a scarlet stain in her cheeks as she tightly folded her arms to shield the view of her busty pale breasts, and crossed legs with her new tail in between her legs to shield the rest of her shame. Jaune couldn't move the slightest of muscles as he stared gapingly at his savior, one of his best friends, and most shockingly his cat. He still could barely believe the sight before him, no one could blame him, but his eyes fell to her side to observe the blatant scars on her side; undeniable proof the woman before him was his kitten. Seeing is believing, but he was still internally debating on whether or not that what he was currently seeing was a hallucination from being stabbed in the gut.

Whether it was a hallucination or not, there was one thing that he could not deny at the moment: he was seeing the sight of his crush in all of her buxom glory, and that vision was forever burned into his mind as the color of his face matched that of the embarrassingly nude Faunus before him.

"I said turn around you pervert!" Blake shouted as she ducked behind a trash can and threw a large stone at Jaune to enforce her command. The thrown object was merely intended to snap Jaune out of his vacant, blushing, and drooling hypnotism at the sight of her body, but for some reason she was a tad bit stronger than usual, another possible side effect of her unusual transformation. Instead of lightly smacking Jaune to bring him back to reality, the stone made strong and direct contact with his forehead, and with an audible thunk Jaune fell to the floor unconscious and still blushing deeply with a gaping mouth. Blake felt incredibly guilty for just accidentally knocking him out, but at the same time relieved that she wouldn't be giving him a show anymore…and maybe a little disappointed?

"NO NO NO!" Blake internally shouted as she violently shook her head back and forth, trying to shake away the perverted thoughts from her mind and instead focusing on the condition of her friend. She quickly padded over to him, only stopping once to flinch at the sensation of her bare feet meeting small glass, and bent over him to inspect his stab wound. Thankfully, the knife didn't penetrate him too deeply and missed his vitals, so it was just a painful flesh wound that didn't jeopardize his life, but it still needed to be tended to medically to avoid infection. He didn't need a hospital, so that spared her the horrific embarrassment of carrying him to the hospital in the nude, but she would have felt better if she could leave him in the care of Ren, having seen his first aid skills first hand. Unfortunately, she has never learned where Ren and Nora lived, so she wouldn't even know where to look for them, and calling them on Jaune's Scroll would only complicate her already difficult position. With no other options, she swallowed her embarrassment temporarily and gently hefted the boy she loved over her bare shoulders, then took to the roofs again to rush back to his house.

She made sure to stay out of sight as usual while speedily leaping from roof to roof, but she was considerably surprised by her current speed. It's not as if she wasn't always quick on her feet, and it was highly possible that it was just her concern for Jaune fueling her pace, but she couldn't help but think that her increased speed was also a side effect of her new features. Nothing like this had ever happened to her before, and it wasn't something she could ask other Faunus for an educated opinion since to this day she was still the only Faunus she knew that could transform into an actual animal, so she was completely at a loss of what to make of it. It mattered not at the moment since it was the last thing on her mind right now. Jaune's health was her primary concern at the moment; she could figure out what was wrong with her body another time.

It didn't take long to slide into their house through a window undetected by their neighbors, and after Blake made sure that she closed all of the curtains to ensure privacy, she carried Jaune upstairs to his room and gently laid him down on his bed. She made sure that he was as comfortable as possible before walking to his bathroom and proceeded to dig through his cabinet for medical supplies. Luckily for him, he was still stocked well from treating her wounds, so she had all she needed to clean his wound for him. After collecting what she needed, she gently sat down next to him and carefully pulled off his hoody and his t-shirt so that they wouldn't interfere with her disinfecting his wound. She wasn't used to doing this, the only time she really did this was during the few times she accidentally cut Yang during their sparring matches, but she knew enough to ensure that Jaune's stab wouldn't become infected. She frowned as Jaune winced in pain from her cleaning, and she couldn't help but feel somewhat guilty that he had been stabbed while looking for her. It made her wonder what exactly happened to initiate the confrontation with the thug, but she didn't care. Jaune was alive and safe now, but she had what felt like a years worth of explaining to do.

After bandaging the wound and nursing the bump she had inflicted on his forehead when she accidentally knocked him out, Blake rose from the bed and dug into his closet to borrow a white t-shirt and a pair of black jogging pants to wear, of which was a little more difficult to wear now that she had her tail, and slid them on to avoid being nude. She didn't want a repeat of what happened in the alley way…or did she?

She blushed hard as her thoughts took yet another turn into perverted territories and tried her best to avoid thinking that way again as she gently sat back down near him and patiently waited for him to awaken.

Now that the blonde was resting and healing, Blake's mind was now at rest, but it allowed a disturbing thought to make itself know in her head as she gently rested her hand on his bandaged stab wound. She had been so close to losing the boy that she loved; if she had arrived even a second later, if she had been even the slightest bit slower in making her way to Jaune to save him, he would have been murdered by that scumbag. She would have lost another loved one, and that would have killed her. This thought left her eyes cloudy from restrained tears as she rested her head against his abdomen as she gently kissed his bandage. Life was too short, and Jaune's near death experience was a depressing reminder of this. When he woke up, it would be best to come clean with him concerning her feelings, because if he had died only half an hour ago, she would have never had the chance to tell him. She was alarmed by Jaune's moaning as he began to awake from his unconsciousness and shot up from kissing his bandage with a blush as she straightened herself and prepared to face the music. She only hoped that he wouldn't be too shocked by what their impending conversation.

Jaune had a slight headache as he peeled his eyes open with a groan and lowly moaned, "Uhh…what a weird dream…"

As he rose up from his comfortable position on his bed, he instantly flinched with a sharp gasp as he felt the sting of a wound on his abdomen. He was even more surprised by the presence of his beautiful Faunus friend, and completely woke up as his shocked gaze met her nervous one. "It wasn't a dream?" he asked, yet already knowing the alarming answer.

Blake swallowed the air trapped in her throat before sighing in resignation, "No…it wasn't."

The room was filled with a pregnant silence as both teenagers could barely find the words to begin the conversation that would change their relationship forever.

The silence continued for what seemed like forever without any signs of being disrupted by either of them until Jaune completely rose out of his lying position and situated himself next to his friend as he stared nervously at the floor, finding it very difficult to make eye contact with her now that he knew her secret.

"I'm so confused." Jaune began as he slowly looked towards Blake while still retaining his look of puzzlement.

"I…know. I…don't even know…where to start." Blake hesitantly replied as she looked back to her friend with a conflicted look that showed the difficulty of trying to even begin her explanation.

Blake was surprised greatly as Jaune immediately rebounded from his puzzlement to tenderly place his hand on her shoulder and give her a comforting smile of understanding. "There's no rush Arryn. You can start out small, so take your time. I'm not going anywhere."

Blake could only stare at him with a look of pure disbelief as she herself was confused by Jaune's capacity for patience. He acted as if he was no longer completely bewildered by the revelation that his pet and one of his best friends were one and the same, and was treating her as if she hadn't spent months deceiving him and as if nothing had changed between them. It was both stunning and heartwarming, to say the least.

"Jaune, aren't you at the very least shocked by any of this? Aren't even angry at me for deceiving you all of these months?" Blake asked as she put her own hand on top of his on her shoulder as she tightly gripped it out of a need to understand him.

Jaune looked back to the ground with a small chuckle, taking a moment to contemplate his own answer before replying, "Shocked doesn't even begin to describe how I'm feeling right now. To be honest, I don't even know if I'm still dreaming or not, but I could never be angry at you Arryn. I'm sure you had your reasons for keeping this a secret. But I would like to know what's going on with you, and why you've been pretending to be my cat, and a lot of other stuff I'm confused about, but I'm willing to go at a pace that you're most comfortable with."

He looked back at her with an accepting and understanding smile as he laughed a little, "But we are gonna talk about you scratching and biting my butt."

Blake's nervousness was eased as she couldn't help but reciprocate her own smile at his attempt to break the ice, and she allowed herself to share a few chuckles with him as she smiled warmly at him. After they shared their short spurt of laughter, Jaune resumed his questioning facial expression as he allowed his hand to fall back down from her shoulder, and said, "How about this then, can I get you started by asking questions?"

Blake nodded as she situated herself on the bed to get more comfortable, knowing that their impending conversation was going to be emotionally and mentally taxing.

"What…are you? Are you a Faunus? Are you a cat? Or are you something entirely different or what?" Jaune asked, still a little shook up from the revelation of his pet's identity.

"I'm a Faunus Jaune, make no mistake about that. I just have a… "gift" that allows me to take the shape of a cat."

Jaune raised an eyebrow at her cryptic answer, but didn't push the subject just yet.

"Why have you been posing as my cat all of this time? Why were you hurt so badly in that dumpster that night? Why didn't you just leave me when you had the ch-"

Jaune's rapid series of questions was ceased as Blake gently grabbed his lips and pushed them together to silence him.

"Jaune, one question at a time please. I promise I will answer your questions to the best of my ability…" Blake sighed as she realized that she would have to reveal more than what was considered safe, but he had the right to know after months of deceiving him. "But before I do that, I must ask one thing of you Jaune."

She released his lips and gave him a serious frown that showed that she would accept nothing less of satisfaction if she were to enlighten him.

"You have to promise, swear to me, that anything and everything I say to you in this room stays completely between you and I. You must not tell anyone what I am about to tell you. Not Ren, not Nora, not your parents, not anyone, or there will be serious consequences for us both. Do you understand?"

Jaune was taken back by the sheer severity of her tone and the hardened glare she was giving him that he had never seen on her face before. If she was being this serious about keeping this secret, then it must be ridiculously important that he doesn't speak a word about this conversation. With a nod and his own serious look, he calmly and honestly pronounced with his hand raised, "I, Jaune Miles Arc, swear to you that I will never speak of this conversation or any of its information to absolutely no one. I make this promise as a man, and as an Arc." He flawlessly recited the words his father would dictate when making the most serious of promises on the rare occasions he was serious, and he had made sure to drill those words into his head as a child. A man was only as good as his word; a lesson that he made sure that Jaune understood and adopted, and Jaune took his promises as seriously as a heart attack.

Satisfied with his answer, Blake's face softened as she decided to start from the beginning. "There is far too much to explain to you in one sitting Jaune, but the most important thing that you must know is that there is a war raging underneath the public eye, and it has raged on for years without the populace ever being aware of its existence."

Jaune was still and speechless from the grim tone of her voice as she revealed the chaos and turmoil that has endured and thrived without the world ever knowing. To think that something as awful and dangerous as a war has existed for so long without anyone noticing; it was almost fictitious to Jaune, but he would soon realize that there were far more unbelievable events transpiring under his nose.

"But why? Why does this war exist?"

Blake snorted in false humor before bitterly replying, "Because of the greed and ignorance of society that has allowed and fostered the suffering of the Faunus. The history books would tell you that the last Human-Faunus War ended decades ago, but that is nothing more than an ignorant conception. The war still continues on in today's time, only it is now fought in the shadows and underneath society's nose. You could say that the participants in this war live in an entirely different world than that of the one in which normal society exists. They live in a world where they are granted powers and abilities that far transcend that of normal man's, and that is how they are able to keep this conflict a well kept secret."

"But…what about you? Do you have these powers?" Jaune unsurely asked, already knowing the answer but still feeling it necessary to ask anyway.

"Indeed." Blake confirmed before channeling her Aura to slightly reverberate off of her body and as a result making it glow an enchanting shade of bright purple. "Aura: it is the essence of all living creatures that have a soul. It is the very power and ability of your soul given direction and form, but most importantly, it is the very life blood of my world. I live in a world dominated by powerful individuals who have learned the ways of Aura and have used it as a tool to fight for what they believe in and make the impossible possible."

"You're telling me…" Jaune thought as he rubbed his head feeling a slight headache coming. "This sounds like complete fiction." He commented with a groan.

"It is anything but fiction Jaune. You've seen firsthand what my Aura can do, and I'm still technically a novice in the world of Aura." She replied with a small grin, slightly amused by Jaune's confusion as she allowed her Aura to settle down.

He looked back to her with a nervous jitter at the mention of what he has seen today. "Right…about that, so this Aura can make people turn into animals?"

"Aura can do many things depending on the individual using it. Every individual has an ability that they can use that comes to them naturally when using their Aura, and this is defined as a Semblance. There are persons who can control the elements of Remnant, there are persons who can perform super human feats like super speed or strength, and there are even people with Semblances so powerful that they can easily defy the laws of reality." Blake uneasily answered as she contemplated how to explain the subject of her transformation that even she didn't fully understand. "I have my own Semblance, but it is not my transformation. Ever since I was a little girl when I first tapped into my Aura, I have been able to assume the shape and characteristics of a feline. I don't know why and I don't know how, but I am the only one I know with this ability. I don't fully understand it, and I've never tried to because I dislike this ability."

Jaune tilted his head in confusion at her obvious resentment for her ability and asked with a small smile, "Why would you hate it. You look so cute as a little fur ball." Blake blushed ever so slightly at his coy compliment and looked away from him slightly to avoid his gaze for a little bit. "Thank…you, Jaune. However, I dislike this ability because of many reasons, the primary being that I become a slave to my bestial instincts in my cat form and do the most embarrassing of things without realizing it until it is too late."

"You say embarrassing; I say adorable." Jaune commented back with a wider smile, recalling the time he saw his kitten become invested in a ball of yarn he bought her for Christmas.

"You don't understand Jaune. You find it cute, but the racism maintaining a stranglehold on today's world says otherwise. Every time I turn into a cat and lose myself to my instincts, every time I repress my human side to shift even further into my bestial, all I'm doing is proving society right; that I'm nothing more than a stupid animal in human clothing. How can I deny these hurtful accusations and opinions about my people if I am a literal example of them?" Blake asked somberly as her head dipped down to the floor. Once again Jaune pulled her out of her negativity by securely grabbing her by her shoulders and pulling her face close to his so that blue and amber could engage one another in a hard and meaningful confrontation.

"Because those statements are nothing more than slander created by an unjust fraction of today's world. You may be an animal Blake, a Faunus is definitely a blend of man and animal and we can't deny that, but you are not a monster. There's a difference, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

Blake appeared less and less somber by the subject of her transformation as she absorbed Jaune's words. Even if deep down in her soul she had already known that monsters and animals were not the same thing, it was only now that the message fully sank in. Perhaps it took an unbiased opinion from someone who wasn't jumping into gunfire to really show her this, or maybe after years of suffering hateful slander she had finally broke and began to believe the cruel words herself. Either or, Jaune's words had worked their magic, and it made Blake begin to reconsider whether or not her gift was a blessing or a curse.

"Which brings me to my original question…" Jaune cautiously added as his face reverted back to the usual look of confusion and nervousness. "Why have you been keeping this from me?"

And now they reached the real meat of their conversation, the juicy center of her confession about her identity that was going to either make or break her relationship with her blonde friend, and it sent Blake back into emotional turmoil as she tried to pull the words out of her throat, but found it difficult to do so.

"Jaune…you have to understand, my world is supposed to remain a secret. Could you imagine the panic, the sheer pandemonium, that would engulf society if they found out that a war between factions with supernatural abilities was being waged right under their noses? It is very imperative that the people of my world keep this a secret to preserve the peace. Also, the faction that I'm a part of strictly forbids us from exposing this, and there are severe punishments involved if we do."

Jaune frowned at the prospect of her suffering these punishments, feeling slightly guilty that she could get in trouble for transforming and saving his life, but it was all the more reason to not speak a word of this to make sure that she wouldn't suffer the consequences. But still, there was one thing that he couldn't understand about her that she had yet to explain.

"If you were afraid of being punished…then why would you put yourself at risk being my cat…being my friend? You could have just left while I was asleep and I wouldn't have known any better, you could have just left me alone and never spoke to me again to make sure that you wouldn't accidentally expose yourself to me…but you didn't. Why?"

"Well…no turning back now." Blake mentally sighed before she reluctantly continued to explain herself. "There were a lot of reasons why I couldn't leave. Before you found me in that dumpster, I failed a mission that I was assigned and was horribly wounded by an enemy. As I'm sure you're aware, I was far too injured to leave at first, so even if I decided to leave I wouldn't have gotten far and there was always the possibility that I would have ran into an enemy again in my weakened state. The second reason is that the headquarters for my faction is very elusive and is always changing locations, so I wouldn't have even known where to look to go back home. And lastly, the third reason I didn't leave..."

Blake's throat froze up again as she found it difficult and apprehensive to reveal the biggest reason why she couldn't bear to leave him sooner, and Jaune picked up on that as he gently grabbed her chin and rose her head back up so that he could look her in the eye again. "You can tell me anything, you know that, right?" he softly questioned, though with a slight tinge of fear that she didn't trust him enough to come clean with him.

Nothing could be further from the truth; Blake trusted Jaune with her life and she wanted to make that clear.

"…it's you." Blake finally admitted after forcefully swallowing her anxiety down like a bitter pill.

Jaune let his hand fall from her chin and back into his lap as he tried to understand her short and incredibly vague answer. "I…don't understand."

It was times like these when Blake truly wished that the adorable, yet naïve, blond could take a hint, but it would seem that she would have to be more thorough in her answer.

With for what seemed like the hundredth time she's sighed, she elaborated on her answer as her cheeks began to redden and she began to play with her fingers to distract herself from her own nervousness and embarrassment. "I didn't plan on staying with you this long. To be perfectly honest, I had healed enough to fend for myself a long while ago…but I couldn't bear to leave sooner because I did the one thing that I swore I wouldn't do when you took me in; I got attached to you. As you nurtured me and began to show me the kind of person you were, I eventually found myself beginning to care for you as a friend. You were in so much emotional pain, and you needed someone to help you, someone who had an idea of what you were going through, so I vowed to be that friend you needed to help you recover from your pain. That is why I decided to become more than just your pet and meet you outside of the house in my true form. I was glad that after weeks of getting to know you even more and helping you cope with your pain, you were finally showing signs of healing emotionally…but something else happened as a result of getting to really know you."

"No way…" Jaune thought in disbelief as he came to a preconceived assumption as to why she was acting so fidgety and blushing so embarrassedly, but it seemed too good to be true.

"The more time that I spent with you, the more that I cared for you in return. Eventually, I cared for you so much that I slowly began to care less and less about how quickly I returned home because I wanted to savor every last moment I had with you…because…because…"

"Could it be?" Jaune thought as he desperately wished that she would finish her sentence, even if she was sweating and blushing profusely.

Blake swallowed another gulp of air and saliva as she gave one more forceful tug at the words lodged in the recesses of her throat. "…because I grew feelings for you…" she mumbled lowly as she found the ground to be the best thing to observe at the moment.

The words that left her mouth were small and barely audible, but Jaune heard them clearly and they ringed and echoed throughout his brain as he felt his spirits soar to unimaginable heights. The girl that he liked, the girl that wormed her way into his soul and repaired the damage done to it, the girl that healed his sense of self-worth, liked him back. It was the most wonderful and fulfilling sensation he had ever felt in his life, and he could still barely believe that it was true.

"You…like me?" Jaune asked, just to make sure that he hadn't somehow misheard her. If he had misheard her he would be so destroyed by disappointment. Please don't let him have misheard her…

It wasn't as if Blake was afraid of rejection like most other people in her position; Jaune had made it clear that he had these feelings for her in return, but she was still trying to come to terms with them herself. To openly admit to the object of her affections was a difficult step for her, and as honest and true her feelings for him were, she was still afraid to act on them despite Ren's inspiring speech hours ago. It hurt that even if they were to become involved in a relationship, she would still have to go back to Beacon and leave him behind, but she wouldn't let that stop her from loving him if they did become involved with one another.

She nodded her head silently at his question as she rose her head to him so that he could see the unadulterated truth gleaming in her golden eyes.

Jaune could only stare at the beautiful eyes of his crush, feeling nostalgic and remembering the first time he met her in the streets when he accidentally ran into her. To think that the entire time he had been caring for the kitten he found in the dumpster, he had also been gaining the affections of the most beautiful girl he had ever met in his life. There really was no such thing as impossible.

He smiled with a small chuckle as he rubbed his head for a few seconds, confusing Blake greatly as his chuckles continued to reverberate through his throat as he continued to ruffle his own hair. Before Blake could ask him if he was alright, he took her completely off guard as he leaped on top of her and rolled her over closer into the center of the bed as he positioned himself over her.

"Jaune! What are you doing?!" Blake asked alarmed as her ears twitched sporadically and her new tail curled and coiled frantically as it responded to her momentary surprise, but she immediately calmed down when Jaune began to lovingly rub his forehead against hers. She had no idea what he was doing, but damn if it didn't feel good to feel the sensation of his skin tenderly brushing against hers. To her slight embarrassment, she began to purr from the physical contact as she began to reciprocate the affection and rub her forehead against his as well.

"Is Arryn your real name?" Jaune asked as he closed his eyes and continued to rub the girl he had fallen for.

It was a perfectly sensible question, a question that she had no problem answering, even as she was thoroughly enjoying the attention he was giving her.

"Blake Arryn Belladonna." She purred, only making Jaune think that she was even cuter because of her Faunus heritage.

"Blake Arryn Belladonna…" he recited, enjoying the way it rolled off his tongue even more so then the false name she had given him before, even if it was simply a matter of adding her real first name in front of it. He opened his eyes so that he could gaze deeply into the glorious pools of gold and the feline pupils floating atop them. "Will you be mine?" he requested longingly with nothing but the utmost of adoration in his silky smooth voice.

She frowned at him sadly as she restrained herself from shouting "YES YES YES" at the top of her lungs. She wanted so badly to agree to the request, but before she could allow herself to release the words from their cage as they slammed desperately against the bars, she needed to know that he realized that this heaven couldn't last forever, and wouldn't.

"Jaune…you know we can't be together forever…right?" Blake asked sorrowfully as her ears dipped down in a depressed manner. "As much as I would like to be with you for as long as I wanted, I simply can't. I have responsibilities back home that I can't run away from, and I will have to return home sooner or later. When I go home…I'll have to leave you, and there is a high possibility that I will never see you again. Do you understand?"

Jaune just continued to smile at the adorable kitten beneath him as said, "I don't care Blake."

Blake's frown became more curious than sad at his answer.

"Love is the most precious and heavenly of bonds that anyone can possibly dream of having with someone in this world, and if you've found someone that you feel that you can have such a bond with, even if it was only temporary, than you should do whatever you possibly can to pursue that bond. – Lie Ren. Good words to follow…right?" Jaune asked with a twinkle in his cerulean blue eyes.

Blake was at a loss of words as she listened to Jaune flawlessly recite the words spoken to him by his best friend hours ago. Her heart fluttered at the twinkle in his eyes and the affection laced in his voice, and she could feel one lone tear slide down her cheek as she felt her soul reach out to the boy above her.

Love was so rare and precious, even if it was temporary.

As she smiled fondly at the blonde knight staring lovingly down at her, she wrapped her arms around his chest and mewled preciously at him, "I'm yours for however long we may have Jaune."

Jaune smiled even more happily at her as he closed more distance between their faces so that they were only centimeters away from each other. "Please, say that one more time."

She reinforced her statement as her legs matched her arms as they wrapped tightly around his waist and pulled him more closely against her. "I'm yours. For as long as my stay here continues, I want to be yours and only yours. So please…have me?"

Jaune couldn't have interlocked their lips any more quickly as he eliminated any distance between their lips and gave Blake the title of "His First Kiss", and sucked the air out of her mouth and lapped his tongue against hers. Blake gave no resistance to the kiss and happily fed into it as she allowed Jaune full access to her mouth and every nook and cranny inside as he wrapped his arms around her to gain even more depth into the kiss. They swapped saliva vigorously as they moaned into each other's mouth, and they were completely lost inside of their own heaven as they enjoyed every second of their first kiss. Eventually, they separated their lips with an audible pop as they were still connected by a thin strand of their combined saliva.

"Wow…that was…amazing." Blake moaned ecstatically as she stared euphorically into Jaune's eyes, licking away the spit around her lips not unlike an actual feline.

"So cute…and she's mine." Jaune thought happily as he was doing cartwheels inside of his head. "Enjoy it kitten." He suavely said in an attempt to impress his new lover.

Blake smirked with a giggle as she replied, "Don't try to act so smooth you dork. It's unbecoming of you."

"Don't try to act like you don't love it, furball." Jaune shot back with an equally mischievous grin.

"Don't make me bite your ass again." Blake warned challengingly as she purred dangerously and her grin widened ever so slightly.

"Well it's better than you scratching my d-"

He was abruptly cut off in the middle of his crude retaliation as Blake forcefully grabbed him by his chest and threw him off of her into the head board of the bed. Jaune dizzily shook his head to get rid of his momentary double vision, but as soon as he regained his normal vision he was slightly intimidated by the sight of his newly christened girlfriend. She was standing on all fours as her strong looking muscles coiled and bended, almost to warn him that he was about to be pounced like a helpless mouse, her ears were flattened against her head to enforce that warning, and finally her eyes were glowing with a predatory gleam that promised domination.

All of a sudden, Jaune didn't feel very confident and manly when he fearfully stared at the ravenous looking Faunus about to pounce on him.

"Um…nice kitty…who's a pretty kitty? You are…y-you are." Jaune fearfully stuttered and cooed in an attempt to calm down his predatory kitten/lover.

His fear tripled as she purred back in a smooth, yet rumbling, voice that he had never heard escape her mouth before, "Damn straight."

"…meep." Jaune whimpered right before his girlfriend leaped at him with her claws extended.

And thus began the start of a wonderful, beautiful, and somewhat painful relationship between the Knight and his Black Cat.

(Beacon)

"Why don't you go suck a dick?!"

"Why don't you suck TWO dicks!"

"Why don't you suck FIVE dicks!"

Sun slammed his 3DS on the table as he shot out of his seat to glare at his fellow blonde face to face and shouted at the top of his lungs, "BITCH YOU'RE SUCKING EIGHT DICKS FROM EIGHT DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS LIKE AN OMNI-DIRECTIONAL DICK SUCK FEST!"

"You son of a bitch!" Yang shouted angrily as she leaped over the table, after slamming her own 3DS down, and tackled Sun with the ferocity of a rabid bear as they tumbled into the floor is a dust cloud of violence and angry cursing.

Neptune sighed with a face-palm as he put his own handheld back in his pocket as he shook his head at the immaturity of his blonde friends. They chose to spend Saturday playing Pokémon on their 3DS against one another in Sun's and Neptune's room, and their last game was a double battle between "SunFire" and "WaterLily". Neptune and Ruby had respectable teamwork, but Sun's and Yang's teamwork was positively atrocious and they often forgot to take into account moves that would also harm their partner's Pokémon and would often completely knock each other out during battles. Eventually the anger and frustration between them escalated into the current brawl that they were engaged in with each other.

"I guess that's enough Pokémon for one day?" Neptune rhetorically asked as he scooted away from the fight and towards Ruby so that he could watch from a safe distance.

"Yep." Ruby unenthusiastically replied as she sighed and put her 3DS in her pocket. She lied her head on her fist as she watched the battle between the dragon and the monkey with a bored demeanor, almost as if she wasn't even really watching the fight but deep in thought about another subject. It didn't take a genius to know what that subject could be.

"You and Weiss still not talking?" Neptune asked as he slid her the glass of root beer among the other three glasses full of alcohol on the table. Yang wouldn't let a drop of alcohol touch her baby sister's lips until she was sixteen, and that was still months away not like she'd drink a drop anyway if the smell had anything to do with the taste.

Neptune had his answer when Ruby's forehead dismally met the table with a small thud as she groaned slightly. Whatever had happened or what had been said between the two when Ruby took Weiss out for a walk yesterday had obviously had a negative effect on their already shaky relationship. Ever since the Ice Queen had been staying with them, the relationship between her and the little red wolf had always been somewhat strained, but despite that Ruby was the only one whose presence Weiss would tolerate for a long period of time out of everyone in Beacon. Ruby liked to think of them as friends or at the very least "friendlies", but it was unclear to them if Weiss felt the slightest bit the same. They could take an easy guess when Ruby came back with tears in her eyes almost a full hour before Weiss returned and angrily stomped back in her hospital room with a few tiny tears of her own. Yang wanted to go into Weiss's room and have a "friendly chat" about the ramifications of making her little sister cry, but Ruby talked her out of it barely. For the rest of yesterday and today, Ruby had chose not to visit Weiss as she usually did everyday and asked One for a few days off from watching her, a request that One happily fulfilled. Whatever happened between them had hurt Ruby deeply, for she was acting rather depressed for the past two days. Yang had tried to cheer her up, but she herself found it difficult to cheer herself up these days since she had yet to find any leads on the whereabouts of their still-missing "Kit-Cat", so she wasn't the best at the moment for a pep talk. Today was the first time in a few days that she actually smiled.

Neptune wished he could offer her comforting words of consolation, but they would be empty and meaningless considering that he had no idea how to make Ruby feel better about her situation, so he did what little he could and hoped for the best. "Why don't you go take a small nap? It'll help clear your head a bit." Neptune advised gently as Ruby downed her soda in a few gulps.

Ruby thought about it for a few seconds before shrugging her shoulders and slightly nodding her head towards the bluenette and silently walking out of the room, deciding to watch the fight later as she was sure that Neptune would be recording it for shits and giggles later. She walked down the hallway and past many other rooms inside it, including the unoccupied room of their missing friend. She was almost positive that Blake's bookshelf was dusty from lack of attendance; maybe Ruby could convince Yang to help her clean it to help her reinforce her hope that Blake will be back any day now.

After entering hers and her sister's room and closing the door behind her, she placed her Scroll on her nightstand then ungracefully fell upon her bed before burying her face into her pillow. As much as she hated to admit it, a few of the things that Weiss had said had bothered her and made a considerable dent in her usually impervious resolve. It was so easy to believe that with enough effort and spirit, one could end a war of hatred and darkness, but when you see a victim of that war that proved that it wasn't that simple, it really made one rethink their philosophy. She still wouldn't resort to ever killing her enemies, she still believed that it would only do more harm than good in the end, but she did feel less confident that Humans and Faunus as a whole would ever coexist in the way that Beacon has. And if they ever could, how would that come to fruition? All Beacon could do at the moment was prevent the Order and the White Fang from making things worse since Beacon was so low on forces at the moment, so what could they really do against an entire country, hell an entire world, rampant with the hatred they were trying so desperately to fight.

What if Weiss was right? Were they really fighting a lost cause?

Her depressing thoughts were temporarily disrupted by the ever familiar green flash that shot out of her Scroll. Interestingly, there wasn't a cheery "Saaaallluuutaaations!" that usually followed it, there were no animated requests to play Xbox with her, and there were no caring questions as to how her day was going. Ruby turned her head to the hologram of her old friend and was slightly surprised by the frown on Penny's usually exuberant and cheerful face.

"Hey Penny," Ruby greeted as she managed to pull her lips into a smile for the A.I, "What's wrong?"

"I could ask you the same thing Ruby." She replied sadly as her hologram rematerialized on her bed and sat down in front of her.

Ruby sighed as she rolled over onto her back and sadly looked back at her friend, knowing that she probably wanted to speak with her about her depressed state.

"Ruby, what's wrong? Talk to me." Penny asked sadly as she crossed her digital legs and gave Ruby her full attention.

Ruby knew that Penny wasn't going to leave until she was satisfied, and she knew that Penny knew her well enough to tell when she was lying, so she didn't even bother trying to lie her way out of the conversation by saying she was fine, so she just resigned herself to speaking with her friend about what her problem was.

With a deep breath to prepare herself, she reluctantly replied, "It's Weiss…"

Penny nodded her head and gently held her hand out to beckon the Faunus to continue.

Ruby curled up and hugged her knees as she continued. "I brought her out to the cliff where I always go to calm down because I wanted to help her nervousness about her meeting today…but it didn't really end well."

Penny wasn't surprised at all since she was well aware of how Ruby and Weiss didn't always get along. Ever since she heard that Ruby was to be watching the daughter of Arcticus Schnee, she had been watching them closely from Ruby's Scroll and Beacon's security cameras to make sure that Weiss wasn't a threat to Ruby, but eventually she came to the same conclusion as Ruby that Weiss wasn't an evil person, just misunderstood. The only reason that she hadn't introduced herself by now was because she had been ordered by the Council not to. They still didn't fully trust Weiss yet, so they were unwilling to reveal that Beacon had something as valuable as an A.I. to an ex-Order agent, but that didn't stop her from watching how she and Ruby interacted.

"She finally exploded from your attempts to be her friend, did she?" Penny asked, deducing what had happened to make Ruby so sad.

"Yes…" Ruby confirmed as her frown deepened ever so slightly. "But I'm not even sad about that; I'm sad because I finally see how damaged she is now…and I'm starting to doubt if there's really a chance of winning this war."

Penny's hologram fizzled as she felt a stinging sensation in her soul. She never thought she would see the day when Ruby would start doubting their goals, but Ruby's vigor and spirit had evidentially taken a hurtful blow.

"I'm shocked Ruby. You've never doubted our success before." Penny commented sadly, wishing now more than ever that she had a physical body to hug and comfort Ruby.

"I know and it hurts to say that, but Weiss really got to me before she left me at the cliffs." Ruby said as she snuggled deeper into her bed for comfort. "She said that we aren't friends and we never will be because Humans and Faunus have never been able to live in harmony outside of Beacon, and it really made me question if what we're doing really matters in the end. It seems like we haven't made a dent in making our goal a reality, and we've lost so many people trying…like Mom." Ruby wiped away a tear before it had the chance to fall down her cheek, and this hurt Penny to see her so depressed.

Ruby looked back at Penny with slightly watered eyes as she asked, "Penny…do you think we're fighting a lost cause? Do you sometimes feel that there's no hope?"

"More than you know." Penny thought with a frown as she stood up and materialized closer to Ruby lying down next to her so that they could see each other eye to eye.

"Ruby, I'm going to tell you something that my best friend once told me: 'There's no such thing as a lost cause. No matter what the cause is, no matter how slim the chances are, and no matter how hopeless it seems, there's always a chance to make it a reality. Nothing's impossible, right?'"

Penny continued to speak her thoughts as she looked up towards the ceiling with a small spark of encouragement in her electric green eyes and continued with, "Look at what we've accomplished Ruby. Despite the odds and damage done to society by the rampant racism and violence corroding it, we were able to build a community in which both Human and Faunus are equal, a community that has withstood the test of time and has only grown stronger with time. Sure, we may not be as powerful as the Order, and we might not have the numbers of the White Fang, but despite that we've managed to overcome the odds and always pull through when we needed to. We've provided a safe haven for the victims of the last Human-Faunus War, we even had a hand in stopping it, and thanks to us more lives have been saved than if we would have never fought to begin with."

The A.I. turned towards her Faunus companion with a small smile gracing her lips as she asked, "After all of that, do YOU think it's a lost cause and hopeless?"

A pregnant silence took control of the conversation as Ruby allowed Penny's words to sit inside of her mind and soul, and after briefly contemplating the matter a bit more, Ruby wiped her tears before allowing herself to smile at her digital friend. "Thanks Penny, I needed to hear that."

"You're welcome Ruby." Penny replied as her own smile increased in width. She was relieved that Ruby wasn't as sad now, and she was also happy that she was able to make Ruby feel better, even if it was only temporary.

Ruby's smile didn't last long as her gaze shifted to the ceiling unhappily as she recalled her argument with Weiss. "I just wish that I could make Weiss see that. She's completely convinced that there's no room for peace in this world, not that I blame her too much."

Penny tilted her head curiously as she asked, "Did she tell you why?"

"Not exactly…but before she left she could tell that I had lost plenty to this war just like her…she was crying when she left, I could smell it." Ruby explained solemnly as she recalled how the disgraced heiress left her. "I just don't understand it Penny. I think…no…I know that she wants there to be peace between Humanity and Faunus, but she refuses to give it a chance." She buried the back of her head further into her pillow frustratedly as she groaned at the oddity that was Weiss Schnee, then turned her head back towards Penny and asked, "What do you think Penny?"

Penny's digitalized voiced hummed under her artificial breath as she thought on the subject of Weiss. Penny knew enough about her to know what could be done to prove to her that Beacon's goals were feasible and not just a hopeful fantasy, but she was trying to find the words to make Ruby understand. It was funny how she could formulate ridiculous amounts of battle strategies in mere seconds, but when it came to communicating a difficult thought she had the most trouble; another trade off of being an A.I. most likely.

Eventually Penny came to the conclusion that Ruby would better understand if she provided an example, and replied back to the hooded Faunus, "Now that I think about it Ruby, I recall another person we both know that used to believe that there was no chance of true peace."

Ruby had a feeling that she already knew who she was referring to, but it didn't hurt to ask.

"Are you talking about Blake?" Ruby asked unsurely.

A simple nod and a small smile was her answer before she continued in giving her opinion. "You remember how she used to be, right? There was a time that we used to call her an enemy, a time in which she was nothing more to Beacon than a dangerous White Fang agent who wouldn't hesitate to shoot one of us down; a time when she and Yang clashed against each other both in combat and ideals."

Ruby nodded as she shivered at the memories of her friend before she could be called as such. "Yeah, the first time I fought her I couldn't believe that she was that shy, but a very nice, girl that used to be Yang's best friend before she disappeared for years. She was…scary."

"And do you recall the reason as to how she began the change from "enemy" to "close friend" over time?" Penny quizzed.

How could she not? Ruby was related to the reason by blood and bunked with her for years.

"It was Yang." Ruby answered with a small smile. "Ever since Yang found out that Blake was still alive and working for the White Fang, she made it her personal goal to save her and show her that she was on the wrong path. She intercepted a lot of mission's that Blake had and always tried her absolute best to show her that she didn't have to be a White Fang to bring about change, and no matter how many times Blake attacked her or tried to kill her or denied Yang's offers of another chance, Yang never gave up on her, even when the rest of Beacon did. Eventually her efforts paid off, and one night Blake came to Yang begging for forgiveness and accepted her offer."

"Precisely." Penny confirmed happily. "Yang always extended a hand of friendship and salvation to her distressed and warped friend, and she never retracted it or denied Blake access to it. She always kept it out to Blake, and she never pulled it back until Blake took it."

"Penny, are you going somewhere with this?" Ruby asked, wondering how Blake was involved in this.

Penny nodded again before elaborating on her point. "In some ways Ruby, Weiss and Blake aren't so different. They were both almost completely shaped by the hateful ideals of both our enemies, and both firmly believed that there was no such thing as peace. They were trapped; trapped in their own worlds of hopeless darkness, without a single speck of light to be seen."

Unbeknownst to Penny, her voice had shifted into a somber tone that unsettled Ruby greatly. The sad hologram slowly raised her hand level with her eyes so that she could stare into it. Every microscopic beam of light that comprised her "body" sparked mockingly at her as she lowly spoke, "One spends so much time living in darkness that they can even forget that there even is such thing as light…"

"Penny…are you alright?" Ruby asked concernedly, not liking how dismal her green companion sounded at the moment.

Penny either didn't hear Ruby or chose to ignore the question as she turned her gaze back to Ruby as her smile returned slightly. "That is, until a light shines directly in front of you."

Ruby still didn't exactly understand Penny's metaphor, but just remained silent so that she could continue.

"Weiss has forgotten that light still exists in this world, just as Blake once did. She's confined herself into the only world she's ever known, a world of darkness. She just needs someone to show her that there is a way out, another path that is available for her leads into the light, should she choose to take it. She needs her own "Yang", just as Blake did."

It much elaboration on Penny's part, but Ruby finally understood what she meant. If Ruby was to convince Weiss that there was still such thing as hope, or "light", she would need someone to push her towards it. Ruby would have to play the part as her guide and lead her to it, just as Yang did for Blake.

Easier said than done, Weiss was perhaps the most stubborn girl Ruby had ever known.

"Penny, I get what you mean, but how am I supposed to do that? She hates me, and she won't listen to me. She's WAY too stubborn." Ruby complained with a annoyed sigh.

Penny's response was a light laugh. "I never said it was going to be easy Ruby. At least you have the hard part out of the way already. You've got her attention, and more importantly her respect. If she truly hated you, she wouldn't have put up with you these past weeks. She's just afraid to let anyone get close, especially someone she used to call enemy."

"I guess…" Ruby reluctantly admitted as she lied on her side to look at Penny more clearly.

"For what it's worth Ruby, she's not far beyond saving, at least compared to how Blake was, and I haven't a single doubt that you'll be able to save her. You just need to keep trying, that's all."

Ruby frowned without any of the confidence that Penny had for her as she scratched her right furry ear. "I don't know Penny. Saving people from getting physically hurt; that I can do, but saving someone's soul is completely different. I'm not Yang, I've never saved someone from darkness before. I don't even know if I can…"

Ruby almost leaped out of her spot on the bed as she was surprised by the sudden and unexpected flash of green in front of her face as Penny gave her a determined and forceful look that strongly disagreed with her statement. "Don't ever say that again Ruby." She commanded with a tone that left no room for argument. "You can save someone from darkness; you already have." The A.I's gaze depressively fell back to her holographic hands, confusing Ruby even more. "More than you know…" Penny finished sadly.

"Who have I saved before?" Ruby asked gently as she sat upright and bent forward slightly to establish deeper eye contact.

Penny seemed apprehensive before answering, as if it hurt her soul to recall certain memories that arose her previous statement, but she eventually found the strength to respond to the red Faunus, and left her with even more questions than enlightenment.

"Me…"

That…was certainly not an answer she could have ever guessed. Ruby could barely believe her ears, but she knew that she hadn't misheard her friend.

But still, it was both shocking and confusing to hear Penny say that.

"Penny, what do you me-"

"BEEP" A loud sound echoed out of Ruby's Scroll and cut her off in the middle of her sentence, and she fully intended to ignore it since she was in an important conversation, but Penny already knew what message had been sent since she was currently inside the Scroll. "Ruby, the Council has requested your presence in their chamber. We will speak of this another time." Penny declared professionally, but with a slight hint of sadness in her voice.

"Wait Penny!" Ruby called out futilely with an outstretched hand, but Penny had flickered away and off somewhere else, officially ending their conversation.

Ruby lowly cursed under her breath as she dropped her hand and rose up from the bed with a stretch. The Council had the absolute worst timing, she really wanted to question Penny and ask her to elaborate on her puzzling question, but it wasn't meant to be yet. Hopefully she would be able to speak with her again soon, but she had duties to fulfill at the moment. If they were calling her specifically then it most likely had something to do with Weiss.

Hopefully she would be willing to speak with her by now.

(Elsewhere)

If there was one thing that could be said about Weiss Schnee, it was that she had a full capacity to be patient. She had patience that far exceeded that of the most wizened of Agents, she could wait any amount of time it was necessary and it has proved to be one of her redeeming qualities. However, today was the exception to her endurance, because today was the day that the enigmatic Council would decide her fate.

This morning, at about five in the morning, she was gently awoken by Dr. Scarlatina and advised to get dressed early today; it was time to meet the Council. Weiss could tell, for whatever reason, that Dr. Scarlatina was fearful for her. Perhaps she had grown fond of Weiss as part of a "doctor-patient" bond she had unintentionally established, and although Weiss admitted that the kind doctor had treated her with nothing but the utmost kindness and respect, she still couldn't be called a friend. Faunus and Humans can't co-exist, it's just simply impossible.

Weiss inwardly flinched at the topic that had instigated the argument she had with her red acquaintance yesterday, and immediately shook off the thoughts to get dressed, and as soon as she slipped on her second high-heeled boot the door opened to reveal her three escorts; an agent with bladed gauntlets and two soldiers with lethal looking assault rifles. She had felt the rifles trained on her back as she followed the agent as he led her through Beacon, as if the soldiers were daring her to try anything so that their itchy trigger fingers could achieve satisfaction. Weiss wouldn't be giving them the satisfaction; at this point she could care less if they shot her.

The agent led her into a poorly lit room after taking the elevator many floors down, more floors than Ruby had ever took her, and led her down a poorly lit hallway into an equally dim room, but not before ordering the soldiers to wait outside the door. All that was in the room were a metal desk in the center that was lit up by a single light above it and two chairs on opposing sides. Whoever had designed the room obviously had an appreciation for the classics, this room was not unlike that of every cliché interrogation room in movies. The agent ordered her to sit down in the chair farthest from the door, facing the door and the opposing chair, but before she sat down the agent firmly clasped a pair of handcuffs on her wrists, and she could feel her Aura being blocked off from her control.

"Alright Schnee, one of the Council will be here to speak with you, and for some reason they requested that you be alone without us here, but I'm not taking any chances with you. If we see you outside this room without authorization, we will destroy you, and you won't be able to fight back, so it would be in your best interests to be a good girl, got it?" the gruff voiced agent said icily as he sat her down.

"Whatever." Weiss uncaringly responded as she uninterestedly and nonchalantly rested her elbows against the table and kept her gaze trained on the door.

The wizened agent gave her a slight "hmph" before replying, "For your sake, I'll take that as a yes." The agent then left her by her lonesome after slamming the door shut and locking it, just in case she did try something.

Now here she was, bored out of her mind as she was waiting for someone to walk through the door to end her impatience for what seemed like hours. Whoever these Councilmen were, they were making a bad first impression on her by making her wait this long.

Just as she was about to rest her head on her folded arms for a small nap, the door clicked and opened on cue before a figure shrouded in a black hood walked through carrying a thick manila folder. Interestingly there was a large Roman Numeral for the number one printed on the front of the hood.

"You're late." Weiss grumpily informed after sitting back up straight, ready to get this over with.

The figure certainly wasn't emotionless as she was expecting, and lightly chuckled in a distorted voice that made it impossible for her to judge whether or not the Councilman was male or female. They were going through great lengths to conceal their identities apparently, a wise choice that many could learn from. "My apologies Ms. Schnee, someone pressed all of the buttons in the elevator on the way down here…it wasn't me."

Weiss's eye twitched in internal aggravation as she could clearly recall Ruby using that same exact lame excuse a week ago. This Councilman was obviously just joking, at least she hoped they were.

The Councilman reeled their small laughter back in to compose their self as they reached for the manila folder and opened it to gaze upon the sheets of paper inside. "As you can plainly see, my identity must remain a secret, so you may call me 'One'." After their short and brief introduction, the shrouded leader sat down in the seat opposite of the white Dust-user as they read the file. "Weiss Kara Schnee. Rank: B+, Mission Success Rate: 92%, Semblance: Glyphs, Known Teammates: None. Graduated top of her training division and became an agent at the age of thirteen." One rose their head up from the folder as they stopped reading from the folder momentarily. "You have quite the impressive record." They complimented respectfully.

"Not impressive enough, evidently." Weiss bitterly replied, still very sore from her betrayal, but she reeled in her pain and beat it into submission before rising her gaze back up from the files and to the shadowed and indiscernible face of her "interrogator".

"They lost a good comrade, and you have my sympathy. Betrayal is the worst kind of pain." One replied empathetically in an attempt to comfort her, but they knew it would have little effect coming from a stranger. "I know you must be feeling slightly agitated at the moment, but I would like to ask you a few questions."

Weiss sighed as she interlocked her fingers and rested her hands on the table as she gave One a slight nod. The shrouded figure appreciatively nodded their head at Weiss's cooperation as they pulled a few select files from the folder and placed them on the table so that they could see them. "Tell me, do you have any idea why they would betray you?"

Weiss's frowned deepened as she recalled Frostbites heart wrenching words that night before he stabbed her in the chest. Even months afterward she could still barely believe it, but she knew without a doubt that he spoke the truth. "Apparently they saw me as a potential traitor because I didn't blindly follow the Conclave, the group that controls the Order. I disagreed with them on many subjects, but I knew my place and didn't speak out against them, but apparently I had earned enough of their ire for them not to trust me."

Weiss suppressed a growl that almost slipped past her gritted teeth as her left hand tightened balled into a pale fist. "My father assigned me to that mission at the docks as part of a test to see whether or not I was worth keeping around, and apparently I failed, so he hired an assassin to skewer me dead, an agent wearing white, light armor, who could control ice and called himself Frostbite." Her anger was momentarily disrupted by the shiver down her spine as she recalled the memory of the intimidating agent that almost took her life.

"I see…I am very sorry to hear that. I had always known Arcticus was ruthless…but to do that to his own flesh and blood…it is unforgivable." One said as its androgynous voice that was tinted with the slightest trace of anger. They obviously had no idea that her own father orchestrated her attempted murder, and it only further proved how far he was willing to go to accomplish his goals. He needed to be stopped, but that wouldn't come to be for years possibly. He was a very powerful man who was well protected and a zealous politician, taking him down was going to be problematic, especially if he commanded agents such as this "Frostbite".

"My reports tell me of an unusually kind of Dust that was the primary objective of that mission. What can you tell me of it?" One asked, both needing the information and using it as an excuse to change the subject that was distressing Weiss.

"I wasn't told exactly what it was; I was only told what it was capable of. From what my temporary "teammates" and Roman Torchwick told me, it is an invaluable gem that is an advanced form of Dust, but there are two extreme differences between the two. The first is that it is much more potent than regular Dust. The fire at the docks, it was caused by Roman's use of the gem."

"As I was told in Ms. Xiao Long's report, but the fire was not any more powerful than that of a normal Dust fire, to my understanding at least."

Weiss nodded her head once in response to his statement. "Yes, but as you know, Dust's abilities are activated when someone feeds Aura into it. In order to create a fire that large, one would have to use a decent amount of Aura. I have the ability to sense Aura, and I know without a doubt that Roman only used a small sliver of Aura to create that fire. That's how powerful the gem was."

"And the other difference?" One hesitantly asked, somewhat put off that the Order now possessed something this dangerous. What else could this Dust do to make it any more dangerous?

"The Dust is inexhaustible. No matter how much it is used, it will never lose its power." Weiss finished.

One's gloved fingers met their invisible temples as they sighed and massaged them, feeling an imminent headache from the information. "The fools. Nobody should possess that kind of power."

Weiss nodded her head as she replied, "Agreed. I said the same thing, and that was another strike against me during the mission."

"Then you are far wiser than even the most powerful of our enemies." One sighed complimented as their hand left their shrouded face. "Which begs the question: Why did you fight for them if you disagreed with them so often."

Weiss scowled slightly in response to the question. "Because even though the Order is only concerned for the well-being of Humans, they were more preferable than the White Fang, or even Beacon. At least they used to be."

"I can understand your grievances against the White Fang, but what of us? You do not agree with our goals?" One asked curiously.

"It's not a matter of me agreeing with your ends. It's a matter of me acknowledging that Beacon is fighting a lost cause. If it were possible I would fully condone your actions, but I've long stopped believing in any chance of peace between Humanity and Faunus. It's never been feasible before and I don't believe it ever will be." Weiss answered bitterly, but not aggressively.

One leaned back in their seat slightly as they hummed in thought and observed Weiss carefully. A stagnant silence filled the room as One stared thoughtfully at the disgraced ex-heiress, and this unsettled Weiss slightly. What were they thinking so intensely about?

"So, you have been betrayed by the organization that you have dedicated your life to, you have no home or support anymore, you are almost completely alone now. So, what will you do now?" One leaned forward again, only much more closely in a slightly intimidating manner. "What are WE to do with you?"

Weiss, to be frank, was scared of the figure before her, even though she would never admit it, but she stood her ground with a tiny swallow before calmly replying, "Well, the way I see it, there are four options available to you. The first option you can take is to continue as you are doing now and keep me prisoner, but that would just mean an unproductive mouth to feed for you. The second option, and most beneficial for you, is to Purge me and destroy all of my memories of the war, and most importantly Beacon, then dump me back into normal society, thus getting rid of me and eliminating any chance of me disclosing any information about Beacon. However, this will inevitably lead to my death because when the Order finds me, and trust me, they will find me, they will kill me and I will not be able to fight back without my memories or abilities."

"As far as they know, you are dead; burnt into ashes to never be seen again. Why would they pursue you?" One asked curiously.

"Because you know that the Order has informants in many places. It would only be a matter of time before they become aware of my survival while I would be on the run." She replied before continuing listing One's options on how to deal with her. "Your third option is to take a great risk by trusting me not to disclose any information about Beacon and allowing me to leave with my memories, thus giving me a chance against any pursuers, but this will end just as badly for me as option two. If they truly want to make sure I'm dead, I will have no chance of survival."

Weiss sighed as she found it surprisingly difficult to state the last option possible.

"And the final option is to cover all of our tracks and save the Order the trouble by executing you, correct?" One easily and unperturbedly asked without any difficulty, unlike Weiss.

With a somber sigh and her eyes closed, she responded with a gentle, yet sad, "Yes."

One's gloved fingers drummed across the table temperately in a relaxed manner for a few seconds before they replied, "I don't believe for a second that we would come to a deciding vote to kill you, but I'm afraid we can't allow you to leave with your memories of us intact. That being said, option two would be the most appropriate choice."

Weiss sighed as she calmly stood up from her seat and dejectedly, with slight anger, said, "Then let's get this over with then."

One swiftly raised their hand to stop her prematurely before surprising her with the declaration, "However, there is a fifth option, Weiss Schnee."

Weiss blinked questioningly at the shrouded figure as she asked, "And that is?"

She could have never anticipated the words that left their concealed lips.

"Join us Weiss. Become an agent of Beacon."

And yet, even after she clearly understood those words, she still found it almost inconceivable that they would extend the option to her. Weiss's mouth lightly opened then immediately shut closed as she tried to form her own words, but all that could slip past her pale lips was an unintelligible "What?".

"You're fifth option is to join us and become one of our agents Weiss. You do not have to die or be cast out into the world on your own. You can stay here so long as you swear loyalty to us and fight the very ones who betrayed you. A fair trade for saving your life, wouldn't you agree?"

Weiss finally regained her ability to speak as she confusedly replied, "Why in Monty's green world would you offer me this? I've already told you that I don't believe your cause is within the realm of possibility and that I don't believe that Beacon can accomplish much. Why would you want me on your side despite my utter lack of faith in you?"

She could hear the slight flutter of One's voice as they chuckled under their breath and replied, "Weiss, I think that you have more faith in our goals then you believe you do."

"How do you figure?" Weiss asked skeptically.

"As much as you say that our goals are impossible, you have failed to take into account our affect on you during your stay here. When you first arrived here you showed blatant distrust and aggression to anyone that you made eye contact with, despite the fact that we saved your life, but I've been carefully observing you as you spent more time with Ruby and her friends."

The edges of Weiss's mouth twitched down with an instinctive frown at the mention of the Faunus she had such a falling out with yesterday, but she didn't let One see it.

"Did you not wonder why you were allowed to leave your room in Ruby's company, why you were allowed to play with your acquaintances during Christmas, and why you were allowed to go with Ruby to the edge of Beacon?"

Weiss's eyes showed a spark of surprise before she unbelievingly answered, "You were testing me?"

"Precisely. I wanted to see if you were worth saving from the Order, and I am very satisfied with how you've behaved. You had so many opportunities to harm my subordinates while you were playing with them, you had the opportunity to leave Beacon at the cliff and kill Ruby in the process, maybe even trade information with the Order for survival, but you didn't. You might think that you chose to discard hostilities with them because you had no choice, but if that were true you wouldn't have been so cooperative with this interrogation and you wouldn't have opened up to anyone here in the slight manners you have."

One leaned forward and surprised Weiss even further by placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. "A friend of mine watched you as you played with Ruby and her friends. You smiled, truly smiled, for the very first time since you've been here, and you were happy. You were happy in the company of Faunus and you shared a joyful memory with them. If we can have such an effect on someone as emotionally guarded as yourself, a human who has been exposed to the darker side of this war and has been raised to never do what you've done during your stay here, isn't that proof enough that our goals are not COMPLETELY impossible?"

Weiss would have like to deny One's analysis of her and disprove their deductions, but proved to be impossible for her as her gaze slowly descended to her hands. It was all true; she should have continued to hate Beacon, to never show them any type of compassion if she was completely dedicated to the idea that there couldn't be peace, but she had contradicted herself the longer she stayed in Beacon. Despite all that she said to Ruby yesterday, the red Faunus had been the closest thing to a friend she has ever had, even when Weiss refused to call her so. She still didn't consider them real friends…but they were definitely not enemies, not anymore thanks to her time in Beacon.

"I do not blame you at all for continuing to be cautious with us, it's only natural considering your upbringing, but if you truly believe that our goal is impossible despite the proof in front you, then help us make it possible. You've already started by befriending a Faunus, so why not go all the way?" One gently said as they retracted their hand and interlocked their fingers patiently, waiting for the her answer.

The silence returned as Weiss gave the subject serious thought. Her thoughts were indeed swayed by One's words, but she still withheld that small shred of doubt that interfered with her ability to answer to their offer.

After a full five minutes of thought, Weiss's icy-blue eyes finally rose up from their descent and met the darkness shrouding One's face.

She couldn't see the grin obscured by the hood, but she could feel it directed at her as she finally gave her answer.

"I accept."

(Elsewhere)

Adam was a man that possessed many things.

He possessed power and skills that made him a dangerous adversary on the battlefield. He possessed drive and determination that were almost indomitable in any situation. He even possessed a fearsome reputation for his brutal, yet oddly graceful, fighting abilities that made lesser skilled enemies cringe at the sound of his name.

Patience however…was not something he possessed.

"Do you want to die here today?" Adam questioned forcefully as he kept the Order soldier painfully pinned to the wall with his right forearm.

"No please! I don't want to die! I want to live!" the soldier cried pitifully as he kept his head against the wall, trying his best to keep the crimson sword in Adam's hand other hand as far away from his jugular as possible.

"Then it would be in your best interest to cooperate." Adam replied without loosening up on the terrified soldier.

It was just supposed to be a routine day in the small base. Due to them being outside the city limits, there was almost no chance for any White Fang or Beacon agents to happen across it. Unfortunately for the soldiers at the base, their peaceful day of work was painfully interrupted when the front door exploded outwards, and a menacing Adam Taurus zipped through the smoking hole in the wall before brutally attacking everything with a pulse inside. The soldiers inside didn't stand a ghost of a chance against the brutal swipes of his sword despite their numbers.

That was the distinct difference between an agent and a soldier. Soldiers did indeed have the advantage when it came to numbers, but agents usually made up for their lack of quantity with their sheer skill, and Adam supplied the enemy soldiers with a painful reminder of this statistic. Not one single bullet fired from their guns so much as scratched the menacing agent, and after a short battle that was over before it even started, the entire base was littered with badly bleeding soldiers lying on the floor unconscious, all except the one that he was currently interrogating.

"Where is Blake Belladonna?" Adam questioned with a dark tone in his voice that promised pain and misery should he not give him a satisfactory answer.

"Blake Belladonna? The White Fang's-"

"Correct. I know you know where she is because this is a remote facility that receives captured individuals from Vale." Adam interrupted the sweating soldier that looked like he was ready to piss himself.

"But we never captured her! She got away the night she stole our property!" the soldier fearfully replied.

"I know this already piss ant, but I know that this base receives more valuable information than the other bases since it is less likely to be discovered by your enemy and it is where you transported a large fraction of the Faunus you've captured. Quit dodging the question and answer me, or I will be the last person you ever see." Adam threatened as he increased the pressure and allowed his sword to scratch his throat slightly, leaving a very shallow and slightly painful cut on his throat to reinforce his threat.

"She's still in Vale! We've been keeping a close eye on her at her hiding spot!" The soldier whimpered loudly in a desperate attempt to survive.

The soldier couldn't have been more relieved as Adam sheathed the gleaming blade then ordered, "Continue."

"We found out where she was hiding after she was injured and have been spying on her. She's been staying with a kid as she recuperated from her wounds that night Roman Torchwick almost killed her!"

Adam frowned slightly at the information, knowing that the soldier wasn't lying, but still finding it hard to believe that Blake would do something so reckless.

"Why is she staying with this kid?" Adam questioned.

"She transformed into a cat somehow and the kid found her and nursed her back to health! We think she has been trying to get back in touch with Beacon, but we don't know how! The higher ups have elected to leave them be until they are prepared to capture them both!"

"Why are your superiors so interested in Blake and this kid, and who is he?" Adam questioned, finally happy that he was finally going to be able to find his friend after months of searching.

The soldier was close to answering his question, but he froze with a look of terror etched on his face as he stared directly behind the menacing Faunus.

"I'm afraid that is all the information that you will be getting today." A dark, metallic voice said from behind him as they calmly walked closer to him.

Adam immediately abandoned the soldier and jumped far to his left before turning around with his hand on the hilt of his blade, slightly surprised to see a figure in white armor walking calmly towards the soldier Adam dropped onto the floor.

"Frostbite?! Uh, sir, I d-didn't know you w-were coming. Thank…you." The soldier nervously stuttered as he quickly rose to his feet and saluted the ominous white assassin. His expression of gratitude was slowly halted to an uneasy end as the armored agent stood forebodingly over him.

The soldier could feel the air grow cold as Frostbite replied, "Why are you thanking me? I am here to destroy this base, as well as any factors that could contribute to a leak in information."

Frostbite's head inched closer to the soldier's face darkly as he sent shivers down his spine with his following utterance. "And you, little weakling, definitely qualify as a factor."

The soldier gasped horrified as he shivered and asked, "What do you mean sir?! I don't underst-"

He was cut off as his throat was violently and forcefully constricted by the agent's icy-cold grip around it, and as he was rose up into the air he could feel the dark, cold Aura coursing its way through his body.

"You almost gave this agent classified information concerning a vital subject. You are supposed to be a soldier; a pawn of your superiors whose purpose is to die fighting for the progression and actualization of their plans. But instead of fulfilling this role assigned to you, you allowed cowardice to overcome your sense of loyalty, and you almost jeopardized our plans, all out of a selfish desire to live. You are weakness that needs to be eliminated." The cold agent explained as his grip tightened with every word.

As the blue faced soldier desperately tried to pry the metal-covered digits off of his constricted throat, he wheezed painfully, "Please…I was…going to…die…I'm…sorry."

"Was?" Frostbite asked questioningly.

Adam could only stare with a slight grimace on his face at the brutality of the soldier's death by the merciless agent's hand. As soon as he questioned the soldier's wheezed words, he tightened his grip and channeled his Semblance into the poor man's body, and his death was slow, cold, and terrifyingly painful. Over the course of ten seconds, the soldier's body was completely robbed of all warmth and infused with blood freezing Aura that reduced his body to a human shaped icicle.

With no respect for the dead, the agent dropped the frozen corpse onto the ground, and as soon as it hit the floor the corpse shattered into a pile of dust-sized ice particles.

"Am." The agent corrected as he turned towards the gawking Faunus.

Adam, for the first time in years, felt fear as he stared disbelievingly at his enemy as he turned towards him, sending him a clear atmospheric message that the Faunus was next.

Adam was no saint, he would be the first to admit that. He had plenty of kills under his belt, and he was not bothered by that fact at all, but never had he killed anyone so brutally like the agent before him just did. Whenever he killed someone, they were always both an enemy and a threat, and the kill was always quick and as painless as possible.

He was a killer, but he had honor. He would never do something as despicable as kill an unarmed man, even if they were a coward on his side.

This agent, Frostbite, instantly earned his ire as he carelessly swept the remnants of the soldier off his armored feet and took a few steps forward.

"What…in the several levels of hell are you?" Adam growled as his bright red Aura glowed angrily around his body.

"I'm an agent, Adam Taurus. I am a proprietor and representative of my superiors' will, a means to an end for the betterment of my faction and their beliefs, just like you." The agent calmly answered as he reached onto his back for the longsword attached to the chest plate of his armor.

"Don't compare us like you know me. That is the only similarity you and I have." Adam growled as he kept both hands ready to draw his katana for the impending fight.

"I know more about you than you think. I know that you and Belladonna are both ex-White Fang agents that were directly under the command of the Alpha, I know that you only joined Beacon because you value Belladonna like a little sister and not because you believe in their cause, and I know that you have no internal quarrels killing a dangerous enemy on the battlefield unlike most of your fellow Beacon agents." Frostbite informed with the clear intent to both inform and taunt his enemy.

Adam narrowed his hidden eyes at his enemy as he angrily replied, "You're well informed, but you've yet to state anything we have in common."

"Then let me start now; you are a realist, like me. You are not under the false impression that one wins this war with pathetic policies like mercy. You identify a threat, then you kill it, and you know better than to believe that Humanity and Faunus will ever build the society that Beacon strives for. Blake Belladonna is the only thing that keeps you at Beacon, and I know without a doubt you would still be under the Fang had she not left."

"SHUT UP!" Adam growled menacingly as his grip on his sheath increased to knuckle bleeding pressures. "I left on my volition, not Blake's! I left because the Alpha wasn't accomplishing the goals the White Fang stood for, not because I was following Blake like a lost puppy! She was just the trigger! I'm my own man damn it!"

"Oh, is that so?" Frostbite tauntingly and sarcastically asked before following up the mocking question with another.

"Then why do you still wear your White Fang mask, Faunus?"

That was the straw that broke the camel's back.

The question echoed mockingly inside Adam's ears, finally shattering his already short temper and motivating him to initiate the battle by pulling the trigger on his sheath. His blade blasted speedily out of his sheath and penetrated the very air it sailed through before Frostbite skillfully blocked it with his own blade. The surprise attack surprised the white agent, and he barely had time to block the second strike from the black blur that caught the deflected blade out of the air and attempted a slice at the Order agent's head.

"The element of surprise; a powerful weapon in the hands of the subtle." Frostbite commented as they locked blades so tightly against one another that sparks spurted off the points of contact between them. "But as effective in battle as a ceramic sword in the hands of the easily irritable."

Adam had enough of the armored agent's taunts and attempted to sweep his feet out from under him, but the white assassin leaped up to dodge the kick and landed on the kicking leg and kicking the Faunus a few feet back in the chest.

"As I said; easily irritable. I can expect nothing less from a bull." Frostbite insulted before his sword mechanically shifted into a sniper rifle.

He fired his rifle constantly at the Faunus, but all the bullets were either swatted away by Adam's sword or expertly dodged. Adam was so focused on planning his counter attack that he didn't anticipate the alarmingly speedy round house kick into his face by the agent that blurred in front of him with speed that was superior to his own.

The kick was as powerful as it was speedy, and it sent Adam flying destructively through the wall of the room and onto the floor of the hallway outside.

"Damn it…" Adam growled as he got up from under the debris of the destroyed wall.

"You were confident in your speed, and while I do admit you have reason to believe yourself to be quicker than most, you didn't even plan for the possibility that I was quicker than you." Frostbite verbally analyzed as they casually walked through the hole in the wall. "You're arrogance has blinded you to that possibility."

Adam almost flinched at the sight of his enemy's body as it gave off a pale blue color, a clear sign that he was preparing an attack.

"Dodge this with your speed, Bull." Frostbite icily commanded before shooting his right hand out at Adam.

As soon as his hand extended, the Aura around him fired at Adam in the form of a concentrated beam that instantaneously hit Adam. If Adam had been even the slightest bit slower, the beam would have surely hit him square in the chest, but his reflexes and speed were honed enough for him to block the beam with his blade.

The beam was continuous, and it continued to push against his blade as Adam struggled to keep the beam from overpowering him. He felt cold, and his sword was being coated in more ice the longer he resisted the beam.

"Cease your fruitless attempts at resisting this. It's only a matter of time before my Aura Beam overpowers you and reduces your body to an ice cube. Face it; you've lost." Frostbite demanded in an attempt to demoralize his adversary.

He could have continued to allow his beam to fire for as long as he wanted, but he decided against doing so after Adam proved this strategy to be inefficient.

With no other option available when he realized overpowering the beam was out of the question, he activated his Semblance.

His blade glowed the same intimidating gleam of his Aura as it absorbed the beam of ice, and after Frostbite realized what he was doing he halted his attack and cut the beam off. After his blade absorbed the attack, Adam's hair, body, and the designs on his clothes glowed with the same angry red light of his blade, and a confident smirk found its way on his face as he assumed an offensive stance.

"So, this is your Semblance. You absorb Aura using your blade as a conduit and combine that energy with your own to improve your fighting abilities. Against someone who relies too heavily on their Aura attacks you are almost unbeatable. Impressive." Frostbite complimented as he trailed the sharp fingers of his armored hands along his blade as he activated his own Semblance. As soon as he channeled his Semblance into the conductive metal of the blade, a thick layer of ice coated it and doubled its size and sharpness, making it twice as lethal despite its lack of long range capability in its current state.

"It's an effective ability, but it's not my Semblance. However, it'll be more than enough to take you out." Adam growled before dashing towards his enemy in a bright red streak. His enemy did the same in a pale blue streak, and as soon as they met the entire hallway was filled with a rapid series of red and blue sparks and the sound of metal hitting against ice.

If one were to observe the raging battle, they wouldn't have been able to see the two enemies past the series of blinding lights that gleamed off of the blades with every swipe.

Adam attempted a diagonal swipe at Frostbite's chest with his blade that was, ironically, heated by the energy he had absorbed, but Frostbite finally landed another hit as he blocked it and used it as a center of balance as he swung his body into a kick.

A loud resounding thud echoed across the base as the counter-attack met its mark and forced Adam to reel back, but he immediately recovered from the hit and delivered a swift, but very powerful, slash across Frostbite's chest that both left a clean hot scratch on his chest plate and sent him careening through the air into the wall, but before he hit the wall the agent twisted his body and skillfully rebounded off the wall to plant his armored feet on the surface and blasted back at the Faunus with his longsword ready. Normally Adam wouldn't have been able to dodge the attack and counterattack, but thanks to his increased speed allowed him to duck under the swipe at his head and forcefully bring his foot up to kick the armored menace up into the ceiling.

"DIE!" Adam venomously roared as focused his natural Aura, as well as the Aura he had absorbed from Frostbites beam of ice, and released it all out of his blade in a Aura attack of his own, only his was a crescent beam.

"ARC BLADE!" Adam screamed as he fired his attack at his enemy.

"Damnation!" Frostbite exclaimed as he blocked and pushed back the beam with both his ice-coated longsword and the sheer force of his own Aura, but he found himself in the same position his adversary was in as he continued to struggle against the attack.

Adam wasn't about to let him possibly deflect the attack; he was going to end this fight now.

With another angry growl that communicated nothing but murderous intent, he swung his blade once more to release an additional Arc Blade, only much smaller and less lethal. It served its purpose despite its size, for as soon as it made contact with its much larger sibling, both beams exploded destructively in a bright dome of crimson energy with heat so intense inside that the chances of survival were incredibly low for his enemy.

Adam released an exhausted sigh as he dug his blade into the ground and used it to keep himself steady so that he could rest for a minute. An Arc Blade was a technique that required a lot of Aura and an even greater amount of focus to perform, and he had just performed it twice in a row. He was feeling the effects of its use now, but it mattered not. He had triumphed over his enemy, and that was worth a small amount of exhaustion.

At least that's what he thought before he noticed that the familiar crimson glow of the dome above him slowly shifted into the pale blue color of his enemy's Aura, and as he began to feel the temperature around him drop drastically as the pressure of the dome only increased.

"You've got to be freaking kidding me." Adam growled as he yanked his blade out of the ground and began sprinting away from the sphere, and as soon as a safe distance away from his own attack it dissipated and burst outwards with twice the ferocity as before in an icy blizzard accompanied by Frostbite's powerful shout and a bone-tingling surge of his Aura.

Adam was sent tumbling into the wall by the unexpectedly powerful blast of ice that completely shook of his attack, but he immediately jumped up to his feet ready to continue the fight that he had wrongly assumed was over.

The surge of power that erupted from the dome finally began to dwindle down, and very soon it ceased to exist as Frostbite landed on the floor without a scratch, or any other type of indication that Adam's last attack had done any harm to him.

"Ah yes, the "Arc Blade"; one of Beacon's trademark techniques that only the most skilled of their agents can learn. If I hadn't possessed such large amounts of Aura you possibly could have ended me with such a lethal technique." Frostbite said as his white armor began to frost over by the effects of his Semblance. Much like his blade, his armor was further strengthened by layers of ice, but the most eye catching effect of his Aura were the jagged wings of pure ice that extended out of the back of his chest plate. They were not still and motionless as ice should be, they were fully mobile, and Frostbite demonstrated this as his armored feet gently levitated above the floor with every flap.

"Goddamn it." Adam growled under his breath as he channeled his Aura again, ready to battle against the renewed strength of his adversary.

"The real fight begins here, Adam Taurus." Frostbite icily growled as he speedily flew towards his enemy and fired a wave of penetrative iceicles with a wave of his longsword.

With a mighty roar, Adam met the challenge head-on as he blasted towards his enemy with the intent to kill. After swatting away any icicles he didn't swiftly dodge, his red hot sword destructively met his enemy's ice-cold blue blade, resulting in an explosive eruption of power and steam that destroyed much of the building around them.

The battle that raged on between the two powerful agents was savage and focused; so fierce that they didn't even notice the third occupant of the building as they entered.

(Beacon)

Ruby and Yang felt very uneasy as they stood ready and alert in the center of the half-circle the Council's desks formed around them. They wasted no time dropping what they were doing to come here as their orders commanded, but strangely enough One was missing from the roster of their superiors, and Three said that they would begin the meeting as soon as One arrived with the last person required for this meeting.

Now they were silently and patiently waiting for the last two persons so that they could discuss the important matter that, for some reason, required the presence of Ruby and Yang.

Well…Ruby was waiting silently and patiently. Yang…not so much…

"Geesh, why the hell is One always so late?" Yang complained/whined as she used the top of her younger sister's head as an arm rest to lean on.

"A very good question Ms. Xiao Long, for once." Two growled grumpily from their seat as the grip on their folded arms tightened angrily. Two was usually a hard ass when it came to tolerating One's "interesting" mannerisms that included often being late, but Yang and Ruby could tell that something else was bothering the no-nonsense superior. Did it have to do with the purpose of the impending meeting?

Yang pouted slightly at the slight insult from Two and whispered to her sister, "Somebody's mad bro. Who pissed in their cornflakes?"

"I CAN STILL HEAR YOU!" Two hissed angrily with a pulsation of Aura that made both Yang and Ruby flinch in momentary fright.

Ruby swiftly swatted her sister on the back of the head as she apologetically said, "I apologize for my sister, she'll shut up now. Right Yang." She angrily growled the last two words of her apology at her older sibling as the blonde continued to pout and rub the pain on the back of her head.

"They started it…" Yang immaturely grumbled under her breath, resulting in an audible groan from her sister, Two, and Three as all three facepalmed. Four, interestingly enough, just chuckled under their breath at the unusual hilarity that was a foreign and rare pleasure within the Council's office.

"Ms. Xiao Long, that is no way to speak to a superior and you would do well to exercise professional language when speaking to one, and Two, quit pouting immaturely about One's decision. You're acting like a five-year old that was denied candy." Three chastised, slightly fed up with the unprofessional behavior of both Beacon.

Both of the sisters jumped slightly in response to the booming sound of Two's fist meeting their desk as they angrily replied, "Well excuse me Three, forgive me if I'm a little testy about letting such an untrustworthy individual free within our walls where we sleep!"

"If all individuals looking for a second chance in life were as untrustworthy as you say they are, Beacon wouldn't have a large fraction of their agents and soldiers. You just refuse to look past labels and names to see a person's individual merit outside of those, and that's called "profiling". In case you've forgotten, it is behavior like that which incites the very racism and conflict we're working to end." Three icily replied with a flare of their own Aura.

"Profiling is a necessary attribute for those who work with logic instead of faith, and from a logical point of view, if we wish to continue working towards that end, like you so desperately want to, then we can't pick up every damn stray that we come across, especially strays with such disconcerting backgrounds." Two growled in response as the air between Two and Three was more thick with their aggressive Aura than any armor possible. It was clear that Two and Three disagreed severely about something, but what it was completely escaped Ruby and Yang.

"Are we caught in between some weird type of lover's quarrel?" Yang asked her younger sister without even bothering to whisper it.

"SILENCE!" Two and Three commanded forcefully to their blonde subordinate.

"Yes sirs!" Yang whimpered obediently with a salute as she hid behind the hooded meat-shield that was her facepalming sister.

"So what is so important about this meeting that we had to be here?" Ruby asked Four, who was the only Councilman in the room that wasn't agitated at the moment.

After making sure that Two and Three weren't about to leap across their desks to kill each other, the currently more level-headed leader turned towards the Faunus and replied, "It has been decided that a new agent will be joining Beacon, and that this agent will be assigned to be your new teammate."

Yang frowned disapprovingly at the answer as she asked, with a slight tint of anger in the back of her throat, "The third member of our team is Blake, and it should stay that way." The blonde brawler wasn't angered by the fact that they would be getting a new teammate, but by the possibility that the Council had decided to give up on Blake and replace her, and that thought both angered and disturbed her.

"Ease yourself Ms. Xiao Long," Four gently advised with a slightly raised hand. "We are not replacing Ms. Belladonna, nor have we forgotten about her, we are simply adding to your team to make up for the lack of manpower. She will not be transferred to another team when she returns, you have my word."

Yang's visible signs of anger diminished as Four eased her worries with their soothing explanation. She just hoped that this new teammate would be a tolerable individual, or better yet friendly so that she could get along easier with them. She would hate to have somebody like Adam around her more than necessary, the mere thought sickened her.

Ruby was more excited than worried about a new teammate, and she wasn't subtle about as she gave a slight and giddy squeal under breath as she quickly clapped her hands. "Oh I can't wait to meet our new teammate! What are they like? Are they a boy or a girl? What kind of Semblance do they have? What kind of weapon-"

Ruby was cut off during her series of rapid and relentless quest