So first things first- I apologize for the extended wait between the last chapter and this one, hence why I went for a longer chapter to stem things a bit. Also I hope this chapter is okay since I was doing part of it late last night and may have either missed some details or made some errors in the way I typed things out.

On another note, I've had to choose to alter a bit of how the story was originally going to go following a few more chapters given recent events in the show and such. I may also slow down my pacing a bit so that way I give the show some time to play out a few things and see where I can go off of due to my decision to involve Volume 3 in this story.

Hope you all have been enjoying your New Year so far!

Three weeks.

That was how much time Frost had now spent at Beacon following his ordeals with his escape from the pier, his run-in with Blake and Yang, and everything else leading up to him now residing in the same dorm as Team RWBY as a temporary measure until more news was delivered from Ironwood. Due to the fact that in a few short weeks more students would be arriving from other schools for the Vytal Festival, the General had been unable to focus more of his attention to finding out about the location of the White Fang or any leads in regards to them.

This had not been without some effort on the part of Team RWBY themselves however, as they had all offered suggestions as to ways they could try and either draw out the rogue Faunus group or anyone supporting them. These requests had been refused by both Ozpin and Ironwood, the latter be much more aggressive in his refusal of assistance by the girls. After their own encounters in the city itself on a number of separate occasions, as well as the situation with Mountain Glenn, Ozpin was refusing any sort of endeavors by the girls that fell into that sort of territory for the time being.

Frost had at first thought that due to this he would start to get bored being stuck on Beacon grounds with nothing to do while the others went to class. He had even spent some time talking with Team JNPR during the quieter times of day where the girls of Team RWBY seemed occupied with their own tasks. He never chose to say much or even interact a great deal for that matter, but he chose to at least get to know more people since it was starting to look more and more like he was going to be at Beacon for a while waiting for something to happen. So far, he had been able to at least find pleasant company with Team JNPR, but he was still hesitant to really consider anyone at Beacon a friend after his last few months and what had happened to Neo.

It was a few days following his spar with Ruby in the training centre that Frost had been asked to return to Ozpin's office. Frost had looked up from his scroll with an expression not out of place on a child entering a candy shop as he immediately shot off the cot he was lying on and sprinted off to the clock tower for the meeting that had been deemed urgent and of the utmost importance by Ozpin himself.

What he had instead discovered was that Ozpin had enrolled him in a bunch of classes at the school, both as a means to keep him occupied while he was here as well as to further the training he had with his Semblance and fighting styles. As it turned out, Frost was at least proficient in hand-to-hand combat due to his original method of training with Neo's illusions when he had no weapons to speak of, but was still more familiar with actually fighting a realistic opponent with his sword instead. That wasn't to say he spent all of his time in the arena however.

Due to him growing up in an orphanage but still expected to eventually be a functioning member of society, due to Frost and Neo's extended stay at the home they had been home-schooled in a sense on the more important things in Remnant that they then even taught to the younger children themselves on occasion. Neo was always the better teacher for the young ones due to her more maternal nature when she wasn't sparring with Frost or enduring his jokes- sometimes at the same time- while Frost was more of a hands-on kind of guy, showing a lot of the kids how to do things like cook, fix things, or even mock-fight in the rare scenario that the matron let them set up some mattresses for the kids to play on.

It had been a fun upbringing for Frost, living in that home.

School at Beacon however was a bit more…tedious than Frost had been given the impression of growing up, however. He'd never had to deal with the writing assignments to the same degree or fight in a much more serious fashion, aside from the odd spar with White Fang soldiers or bouncers hired from Junior's club that Roman insisted they keep fresh with by constantly fighting. It wasn't to say that he didn't like it though, on the contrary- he liked it quite a bit!

Between Oobleck's history classes, Port's Grimm lessons, or the occasional lesson from Glynda as well as her oversight of the sparring matches between students as a part of regular classes. Frost does start to notice certain things about different classes, given time. Such as how in Port's classes, as interesting as his tales of the Grimm may be, some seem a little far-fetched if not entirely impossible for the older man to have performed. He also notices that Oobleck, while very aware of the goings on in his classroom unlike Professor Port with how many students fell asleep sometimes, was incredibly energetic almost to the point where Frost had to ask if the mug he constantly rank from was filled with coffee between classes or something akin to that. Glynda, on the other hand, had a very no-nonsense attitude when it came to her lessons/matchups, and he quickly learned to avoid any snarky comments after seeing the odd look she would give to the class jokesters- a fair amount of time these looks being directed at himself or Yang, not to anyone's surprise though.

After Frost had started to figure out the teachers, he also started to notice things about some of his classmates that he hadn't been paying attention to previously. One group of students in particular caught his attention within the third week of him attending classes. The boys of Team CRDL, or more specifically, their leader Cardin Winchester. His arrogance and cock-sure attitude were plain as day once Frost noticed it, and since then he had always kept the odd eye on them due to the similarities that kind of attitude held with Frost's previous acquaintances before coming to Beacon.

It was on his most recent day of classes that Frost would have a few enlightening conversation with some of his classmates.

"…and based on recent advances in scientific development, what sorts of examples can students give me for practical applications of Dust?" Glynda asked the class as she paced slowly behind her desk at the foot of the amphitheater. Her gaze slowly panned across the room before resting on a student that didn't seem to be paying close attention to the current discussion. "Mr. Winchester."

The utterance of his name resulted in Cardin shifting abruptly to lessen the slouch he had been in before Glynda continued. "What current uses are there for Dust in today's society?"

Cardin scratched his head for a few moments as a few students rolled their eyes at the display, at this point used to his antics, before smirking as he gave his reply to the question. "Hunters using it to fight Grimm."

After a few moments Glynda raised her eyebrow with the expectation of a more lengthy response. "…Was there anything else you would like to add to that Mr. Winchester? Or was that all that you studied last night in preparation for today's lecture if you even read the source material at all?"

Cardin gave a half-hearted shrug while he continued to smirk as he gave his response. "What else could it be used for? All we care about is taking out Grimm anyways when we go out on missions."

Glynda sighed as he placed a hand on her face while she shook her head. "For one thing, Huntsmen do not simply fight Grimm as much as many people are lead to believe. That will be a discussion for another day however." Glynda paused for a moment as she looked about the room once more before continuing. "Now can anyone please inform Mr. Winchester how his answer was wrong?" She was barely able to hide a small smile as she saw Weiss immediately raise her hand anxiously. "Miss Schnee, if you would."

Weiss cleared her throat briefly, to which Yang chuckled as she elbowed Ruby in the side slightly with a motion of her head towards Weiss, causing the young leader to giggle slightly as Weiss started to speak. "While there are numerous applications of Dust in the field of weapon and combat, both for fighting Grimm as well as other types of fights, there are other applications of Dust in day-to-day life for everyone in Remnant. Many studies have yielded results in using Dust as a power source for a number of household appliances as well as managing to find ways to use it in medicinal practices as well as a fuel source for many vehicles for the purpose of travel and leisure." Weiss finishes her almost robotic statement with another petite cough to clear her throat as a few students chuckle slightly as the practically recited lecture that Weiss had given, with Cardin fuming slightly on the sidelines from what Frost could see.

Glynda nodded approvingly as she turned back to the board to write out some notes for students to take down. As Frost opened his own notebook that had been given to him by the school, he didn't miss the fact that Cardin seemed to keep a lingering gaze on Weiss throughout portions of the rest of the lecture, his frustration as plain as day without any sign of relenting as time went by. It seemed as though Cardin being steamed up was a normal occurrence however, but that didn't mean that Frost would ignore him altogether.

A little while later, the class was eventually let out to give them some time to take any breaks between this one and their next set of lessons. It was closer to the end of this time that Weiss realized that she had left some spare Dust in her locker for Myrtenaster for one of their sparring classes later that day and hadn't grabbed it until now. As she went back to the lockers at a more brisk pace, Frost noticed Cardin break off from his usual group a few moments later before heading down the same hallway Weiss had just finished going down. He then motioned to the others to go on ahead while he gets a quick drink. He politely refuses them to wait for him, stating that he has a tendency to take his time when having a drink to pace himself. This got him a few odd looks before a few of the others shrugged as they started to head off to their next class.

Frost carefully started heading down the hallway he had seen both Weiss and Cardin travel down, keeping his senses alert for anything as he came upon the corner that rounded to some of the student lockers. This proved to be a smart move, as he had to suddenly fit himself against the corner as he heard a slam come from down the next hall, almost like a person's hand meeting the metal surface of a locker.

Weiss hummed quietly to herself as she reached the locker that had been designated to her by the school, her meticulous organizational skills coming in handy as she deftly plucked a few vials of Dust before slipping them into one of her uniforms shirt pockets. As she went to close the locker itself however, she was interrupted by a large hand slamming onto the open door, forcing it to stay open for the time being while the hand resided on it. Weiss sharply turned around with a look of displeasure at whoever was interrupting, only to forget the words she had been going to say when she came face-to-face with Cardin Winchester only inches away from her, a look of unbridled rage and fury apparent on his face.

Weiss was able to eventually come up with a few words, though they came across as very weak and defensive- much to her chagrin. "W-what do you want, Cardin?"

The orange-haired boy smirked as he reached past Weiss with his free hand, picking up a vial of powder-blue Dust from one of the organized shelves as he twirled it slightly. "Nothing much, just coming to give a fellow Beacon classmate a friendly warning. That's all."

Weiss' expression hardened at these words before she began her retort. "Just like how you gave Jaune a warning? We all know what you're really like Cardin." Cardin's mock smile fell into a frown as Weiss continued. "All you ever do is fail at your fights since you just swing around your mace wildly, and clearly you don't even take being a Huntsman seriously considering your poor grades and lack of care about society."

Cardin snarled slightly as he moved his hand away from the locker door it had been held against, though Weiss avoided moving to close it due to Cardin's close proximity. "You think you're so precious, don't you Schnee?" Cardin snapped as Weiss looked at him with a renewed sense of fear in her eyes. The way Cardin said her given name reminded her too much of the White Fang member with the chainsaw Greatsword from the train a few weeks earlier. As much as she tried to put on a mask of determination and fearlessness, some things still were able to worm their way beneath her practiced shell of emotions.

"You think just because you're some heiress to a big-time company that you can go around spouting off whatever you like to whoever you want?" Cardin said as he clenched his now free hand at his side before cocking it back slightly. "No one here likes you, not even those so-called teammates you call friends. All they want is your money and influence so that they can get themselves further while the rest of us get to wait in the back for our turn to get a chance. So why don't I just do everyone a favour and show you just how much your name is worth?!" Cardin then tensed his muscles in his arm as he began to swing his free hand towards Weiss' face, the latter covering her face out of self-defense in preparation for the inevitable contact…that never came.

"God I hate meat-heads like you."

Both Cardin and Weiss' eyes snapped to attention as they both turned to face the voice coming from behind Cardin that hadn't been there previously. It was then that they both noticed Frost standing with one slightly glowing hand holding Cardin's arm back as it twitched slightly, Frost's steely expression akin to a disappointed parent after catching their child rummaging through things they shouldn't.

"Give me the Dust, Cardin." Frost stated as he placed his open palm beside Cardin's hand holding the Dust at the same time that he whipped Cardin's restrained arm into a lock behind Cardin's back, the bully grunting slightly at the sudden adjustment of his limb. "Now."

"You know what, fine." Cardin practically spat as he nearly slapped the vial into Frost's waiting palm before he was released from the arm lock and swiftly put some distance between himself and the other two present. He massaged his arm a bit as he glared at Frost, who was currently standing with his arms crossed while Weiss gently closed the locker. Frost then moved his mouth a bit as he whispered something to Weiss that Cardin couldn't hear before Weiss nodded lightly and started briskly waking around the corner towards their next class.

Frost watched Weiss go for a moment before he turned back to Cardin, letting his arms drop to his sides limply as he did so. "So what exactly did you plan on getting out of bullying Weiss, you dunce?"

"Excuse me?" Cardin stated dumbly as he gave Frost a confused look.

"You heard me; don't keep pretending to be dumb…unless it's actually not an act in which case I really feel bad for you." Frost continued as he appeared to casually stretch his arms a bit, much to Cardin's continued confusion and eventual frustration.

"Look, I don't know what you're playing at," Cardin began after shaking off his momentary confusion, "but if you just give me that vial and walk away, then you can walk away with your face intact."

"Really now?" Frost coolly stated as he turned to glare at Cardin mid-stretch, his casual attitude suddenly gone to the wind. "Because I was about to recommend the same thing to you, minus you leaving with the Dust at least. Besides, who overpowered who just now?"

"You used your Semblance to do it, which I bet one of the prof's would love to hear about a student using their Semblance on another outside of a fight." Cardin smirked as he crossed his arms, confident in his victory.

"I bet they would, considering I did it to stop someone else from being punched in the face when they wouldn't back down from a lowlife like you." Frost paused for a moment with a finger to his chin before back-tracking slightly. "Scratch that, calling you a lowlife is insulting to the actual lowlifes. It'd be more accurate to call you a pest, or even a wannabe, considering how hard you try to give off this macho-man attitude that everyone sees through at this point."

"Listen you," Cardin snarled as he started pacing menacingly towards Frost. "I don't know where you came from or who you think you are, but anyone who messes with me learns pretty fast that I don't appreciate take kindly to shrimps like you talking back to me."

"You know what?" Frost asked calmly as he waked over towards one of the windows lining the hallway before opening it to the campus courtyard. "Maybe neither one of us should have this Dust. Maybe we should just get rid of it and walk away. Besides," Frost began as he turned to face Cardin, the vial of Dust resting in his now open hand, "what were planning on doing with this Dust anyways? Students can easily get extras from the school when going on missions and the like, so why this one in particular?"

"To prove a point, you idiot." Cardin snapped as he started walking towards Frost once more, a determined glare set on his face as he approached Frost. "People'll learn to not talk back to me if I can frighten a Schnee or someone else that won't learn their place easily. And if they don't then I beat some sense into them." Cardin cracked his knuckles as he got closer to Frost, a wicked glint now apparent in his eyes. "Just like I'm about to do to you."

"Cute…" Frost stated before cocking back the arm holding the vial before launching it through the open portal over the courtyard. Cardin froze at this action, more confused than anything why we would throw such a volatile substance out into open ground like that. He was barely able to see the focused expression on Frost's face as his other hand began to glow with his Semblance, a blast of energy suddenly lancing out of it and colliding with the vial in midair- igniting the Dust inside and releasing a large amount of snow and ice that gently fell towards the ground before evaporating in the warm air.

Frost then turned back to Cardin with his arms now crossed in front of his chest before speaking once more. "…Because I was about to say the same thing to you. Slightly different choice of words and all, but essentially the same point you were trying to make." His expression was like cold metal as he glared directly at Cardin, his previous carefree attitude entirely gone and in its place that of a person that had crawled out of the darkness for the first time. "I could snap you like a twig right now if I wanted to; the fight wouldn't even be fair with what I'm capable of next to your fighting style. Your attacks are clumsy and slow, as well as your tactical sense being something to be desired. I've done things that would make your skin crawl and seen things that might make you break. So before either of us goes down this path, ask yourself one question: Is it worth it?"

Cardin's face had paled as Frost unleashed the darker side of his personality at him all at once. He quickly turned and started sprinting down the hall back to the classrooms while Frost lowered his head with a remorseful sigh. He then straightened his posture before moving over to the open window and gently closing it. As he finished, he turned slightly so that his body was facing towards the corner that followed the hallway that Weiss and Cardin had both retreated down before clearing his throat.

"You can come out now, Weiss."

The white-haired girl strolled around the corner with a look of displeasure before facing Frost with her cold gaze. "What was that all about?!" She snapped as she approached Frost with a brisk pace. "I appreciate your intervention with Cardin, but there was no reason to talk to him or treat him like that. You may have had a less than pleasant childhood before coming here, but that's no reason to take it out on someone like him!"

"I know."

"And for ano- wait, you do?" Weiss paused mid-sentence with a perplexed look on her face before turning to face the white-haired boy who now had his arms crossed in front of him. As she looked at his face, she didn't see the look of someone proud of their actions, rather, she saw the look of someone that had made many poor choices and was still living with them even now. "Is…something wrong?"

"You could say that." Frost stated simply.

Weiss waited for a few moments, expecting a response from the quiet boy. When no further comments came, Weiss chose to interject her own thoughts. "I really do appreciate your help. But if something else is bothering you, maybe you should tell someone about it to clear your chest." Weiss looked down for a moment as she recalled some of her own experiences while at Beacon. "I've had a few situations where simply talking to someone helped to alleviate some of the issue and help me to move forward and be a better person."

"I wish it were that simple, Weiss, I really do." Frost began as he turned his head slightly to face the girl from the corner of his eye. "But after some of the things I've done, I don't think it's simple enough to just say a few words and a sorry or two to get to where I'd like to be. I've made too many mistakes."

Weiss huffed with a stomp of her foot before walking forward and turning Frost to physically face her. This action threw Frost off-guard as he looked at Weiss with a bewildered expression. He opened his mouth to continue, but Weiss raised a hand to silence him before pointing a finger into his forehead, much to his discomfort.

"Now you listen here, mister." Weiss began as she started going into her lecture-mode. "You can feel sorry for yourself all you want, but no one wants to help someone that's always causing a scene for everyone else or acting as mopey as you've been over these last few weeks. So either you tell me what's bothering you right now, or I'll find another way to find out the truth about what has you acting like this!"

Frost sighed as he carefully placed both hands on Weiss' shoulders and pushed her back a bit, albeit gently. He then looked at her with a tired expression as he began to speak. "Do you really want to know that badly? I don't know if you or the others will be able to treat me the way you have these past few weeks if you know the truth."

"Surprise me."

"Fine." Frost took a deep breath before he began his story.

"Before I ran into Blake and Yang, before I even had to work for Torchwick for that matter. I was living at one of the orphanages in the downtown part of Vale. I lost my parents at a young age when a bunch of Grimm invaded out village and killed a number of people, my parents among them. If it wasn't for some Huntsmen that had been patrolling the local area due to village's close proximity to Vale, a lot of us may not have made it out of there. They helped all of us find shelter or temporary lodgings in the city after they had dealt with the Grimm, and during that I had been placed in the care of the orphanage due to what had happened. It turns out I wasn't the only one that had lost family in the attack though. There was a girl about my age that had been living with her single mom during the attack, and her mother had also been caught up in the carnage."

"The two of us somehow managed to bond over that instance and began to consider each other a sort of family by bond rather than by blood. Over time we both hoped that we would be picked up by another family, but between my attitude when I was younger and the…interesting look she had, neither of us was ever chosen for adoption. After a while we started to help look after the younger kids when we got older, and I eventually discovered that I had a Semblance of my own when I got a little too worked up watching a TV show one day and accidentally fried the television. Turns out having an active temper and an energy-based Semblance don't mix well with electronics." Frost gave a small smile for a moment while Weiss attentively listened to his tale.

"A few months ago, we were training as usual since we found she had a Semblance of her own. I got too worked up again, and managed to dislodge my first actual projectile of energy without having to be touching the surface of something to release any energy. Frost paused as he looked at Weiss with a moment of realization. "Do you watch or read the news very much?"

"I do from time to time, but not very often, no. Why do you ask?"

"Do you remember anything about an incident involving an old warehouse and a bunch of crates of stolen Dust?"

Weiss' eyes widened for a moment as she remembered reading something about an incident similar to that around the same time he mentioned. "I do, but…that wasn't you, was it?"

"It was." Frost nodded his head gently before turning to face out the window. "The energy I discharged managed to make some of the Dust that had been lying near the point of impact go active. Turns out that crates of compressed Fire Dust really don't do well in enclosed spaces since the building immediately went up and started to fall apart almost immediately. When the two of us went to investigate, we had a run-in with Torchwick without realizing who he was before he shot some debris that had been hanging above the girl I mentioned before. I was barely able to jump to her and block the rubble with my back before we both blacked out."

"So that would explain the scarring Ruby noticed on your back on the first full day you were here. But if your Semblance is energy, shouldn't your Aura have been able to heal the damage without leaving any scars?" Weiss asked with an inquisitive look in her eye.

"You would be right in that guess, but even though it can do that, I didn't let it. Since I felt responsible for that and for the pain I caused her, I refused to let my Aura heal my back. I wasn't able to fully control my Semblance then, so some of the damage was still repaired, but once I had a better connection I stopped the flow towards the scars to leave them a symbol to myself of what careless attitude about both your abilities or Dust can lead to. That's why I responded the way I did to what Cardin was doing. The less people cause accidents because of their ego's the better off people will be."

"You mentioned something about the pain you had put the girl through." Weiss pointed out after a moment of thought. "What exactly happened to her?"

"We had been trapped in that burning warehouse for who knows how long with both of us inhaling Dust-laced smoke from the fires for at least a while. My Semblance healed my throat as things went on, but she wasn't so lucky. The burns on her throat were mostly able to be treated, but between her struggled talking and her fits of coughing she eventually lost her voice to the burn injuries. If we had been going to school or still had families we might have been able to afford the treatment to get the remainders of the Dust out of her system. By now it's probably too late to even get her voice back at all even if I do get to try again." Frost shook his head slightly before turning to face Weiss as he started walking towards the corner that would take them to their next class. "But enough of me yammering on, we should probably get to class before we're late."

"Very well." Weiss stated as she started walking in the same direction.

The two calmly walked down the school hallways in silence, the only sound being that of their footsteps echoing off of the walls since everyone else was already likely at the classroom by now. Weiss looked towards Frost to see him once again in his brooding state, his head hung slightly with a sad look on his face. Weiss reached over to him before flicking him on the forehead with two fingers, causing him to straighten suddenly and give Weiss a look of equal parts confusion and pain.

"What was that for?" Frost asked as he rubbed the spot on his forehead slightly.

"For starting to get like that again." Weiss stated matter-of-factly. "Now that you're here at Beacon, you can stop obsessing at that friend of yours. You'll have another chance to see her again once General Ironwood is able to locate the White Fang forces and track down whoever else is behind Torchwick's actions. So get over it and enjoy the second chance you got."

Frost shook his head after a moment with a small smile as he looked down the hall towards the classroom door they were fast approaching. "Maybe your right. I have been a little gloomy lately, but you'll have to forgive me if I relapse a bit from time-to-time. Things that like don't just leave you on a whim."

"Understandable."