Team ANTE was dead asleep in their beds, all except Turf. He was already up, showered, and ready to go for the day. As prepared as he looked, his internal screaming prevented him from hearing his own panicked thoughts.

He was sitting against the wall outside of ANTE's room in full Beacon uniform. Most of the students had forgotten about Family Day, but he hadn't. Since the day before was field mission day, the others focused on preparing for that instead. Although he too had worried about the mission, the panic over Family Day far exceeded any worries that the mission brought.

"What's going on, Turf?" Timbre asked from behind the cracked door of the Team ARTS dorm.

He jumped to his feet and attempted to straighten the beanie on his head that had nearly fallen off. If only it hadn't been dark green. It clashed with the Beacon uniform, but it was the only hat that he had. "Just worried. My brothers are going to make today… interesting."

Timbre walked out of Team ARTS' room. She was in her own Beacon uniform, her hair tied back in a ponytail rather than her usual style. A few red strands hung down in front of her face. She sat next to him and smiled, "Good."

Turf shifted, "What do you mean 'good'? You want me to be nervous?"

"No, Turf. I mean 'good' as in 'glad I'm not the only one that's actually nervous about Family Day.'"

He stared at the international celebrity for a moment, trying to process how she even had the capacity to be nervous, "What's got you so uneasy about it?"

"My dad."

"Oh, nice," Turf looked down to the carpet.

"He's a great dad! He's just… overbearing," Timbre managed to laugh.

Turf chuckled from her nervousness, "I've got your back on this if you've got mine."

Timbre held up her fist, "You got it."

"Thanks," Turf tapped his fist against hers. He glanced at the the doors of their dorms, and then down the hall, "Do you wanna go get some breakfast before the crap hits the fan? Grab your team if you want. Mine's asleep, and I'd rather have some time away from Alice."

"I don't blame you. After yesterday-" she caught herself. The middle of the hallway was not the place to talk about what happened in Mikado. That, and she just wanted to catch up with her dad and forget about the mistakes she had made fighting the Kokonatsu, "C'mon, let's go." As they walked down the hall, Timbre turned to Turf, "Wait, I didn't know you had brothers."

"Yeah..." Turf bit his lip, "I'm already dreading Alice meeting them. They're about as annoying and rambunctious as Team Ashes… The best case scenario is that she doesn't see them at all, but I have no idea if I can keep them away for that long…"

Considering how the relationship between Turf and his partner had been since the Emerald Forest, she wasn't surprised he'd want to avoid having his family meet her out of… courtesy? She decided not to ask any further as they went to get breakfast.

Arty was in a deep sleep when Timbre walked out of the room. Shortly after the door closed, he was woken up by a stabbing pain in his chest. A pained gasp squeezed out of him, "Wha-what the heck?!" he sat up, looking around through the glaring sunlight coming through the window. Sepia was standing next to his bed. She looked just as she did the night before when she had thrown him and Roland out of the dorm, furious.

"Sepia, why did you punch me awake?..." he began the groggy process of exiting the sanctuary of his bed. The stench of dead Kokonatsu still clung to him, or at least he felt like it did. Granted, he did usually smell like a mixture of paint, pencil graphite, and stress.

Roland, who was already dressed and ready to go, burst out laughing from across the room. He had the privilege of watching the whole event unfold, "She said that you were snoring all night. Oh, and that she wanted to punch all of the air out of you so that you would never snore again," he explained while straightening his neckerchief in the reflection in the window. He brushed it flat as well as the rest of his Beacon uniform, "Sepia, thank you for more and more reasons to enjoy my time with you and this team."

Sepia gave a thumbs up, but her hand got caught in the massive rat's nest atop her head. Tugging with all her might, she couldn't yank out her hand. It was just like a script that she had made a year previous, where a girl's bedhead had become sentient. The whole thing was based on the true story of her morning routine.

Arty rubbed his sore chest as he looked at Roland incredulously, "And you didn't stop her?!"

"Arty, would you have stopped her if you were me?" Roland asked, "Could you stop her if you were me?"

Arty turned and looked to Sepia, who was still struggling with the wad of chocolate hair that had an iron grip on her hand, "Good point," he pushed himself off of his bed to get dressed, "better get dressed for class, then."

"Arty, we don't have class today. They only reason we're getting gussied up is because it's Family Day," Roland told him flatly, "Sepia and I talked it over a bit. Neither of us have any family coming, so we're gonna go hang out in Vale for a while if that's cool by you. It's cool by you, right?" he said the last bit almost frantically.

"Um…" Arty pulled on his uniform jacket, "Yeah, I don't care… I remember Timbre saying her dad was coming in, so I might go say hi and I might go out and try to find an art store or something."

"You don't have anyone coming either?" Roland asked.

Arty pushed a comb through his spiky hair to try to tame it a little bit, "Uh, no. I'm from Atlas, remember? Kinda hard to get in and out of that massive freezer whenever you want, especially for just a day."

Sepia silently giggled and tossed Arty his scroll. How she got his password was her little secret. 'Look at that.' She signed.

Arty's eyes scanned over his scroll before widening. "No!" He began frantically running around, putting on the rest of his uniform and sloppily tying his tie to complete the outfit, "no no no no no no no!" Before leaving, he pointed at Sepia, "I don't know how you got into my scroll, but…" he groaned and ran down the hall, not even bothering to close the door.

"What'd it say?" Roland asked.

'His mom is here,' Sepia signed, 'You're really getting the hang of sign language.'

'I'm getting there,' he clumsily signed back.

"Dad!" Timbre yelled cheerfully as she ran up and hugged her father.

Amadeus Forté clutched his daughter as if it had been years since he saw her last. His black hair was pushed back against his head, grey streaks running through it here and there. The dark blue jacket over a black t-shirt, faded blue jeans, and black dress shoes that he wore all served to make him seem like a much more relaxed man than he actually was.

After being tackled by Timbre, he had to readjust his glasses. "Timbre! How is Beacon treating you?"

"It's going great, Dad," Timbre stood back and smiled, "better than I could have imagined."

"Well, I'm sure you want to tell me all about how your semester is going so far. I know that I want you to, at least."

Timbre shifted her feet a little bit, diverting her gaze, "Actually dad, can we not yet? I'd much rather hear about what you've been doing."

He gave her a quizzical look, "Is everything okay, Timbre?"

"Yeah, everything's fine! Just, just had a rough day yesterday is all. The farther I can get from Huntsman training today the better."

"Amadeus! Oh my word, you actually came!" Professor Maple jogged over to them from inside the crowd, "It's so good to see you! I have to say, your daughter has been marvelous! She's getting along so well with her team, and she even assisted in her first mission yesterday!" she put an arm around Timbre's shoulders.

"Carmen, stop. You don't need to talk of me so highly…" Timbre said blushing, hoping her tone of voice would get the message across.

Amadeus laughed, "Why's that, Timbre? Isn't it a good thing that your teacher's complimenting your work?"

"Well, yeah, but…" Timbre's voice trailed off.

"You should tell me about this 'mission' over lunch. How about we go to our favorite cafe downtown?" he turned to the old family friend, "I'd be more than happy if you could join us, Carmen."

"I'm sorry, but I do have a little bit of work to do. Alabaster's always got me busy, as you know, but I'll see what strings I can pull," Professor Maple waved and began walking back the direction that she came from, "It was very nice to see you again, Amadeus! Oh, and make sure that Timbre tells you all about the 9-tailed Kokonatsu that we took down yesterday! Have fun!" she snickered. Detention certainly wasn't going to be Timbre's entire punishment. Having Timbre explain what happened to her father's face would be much more effective in the long run.

Amadeus's smile faded as the color drained from his face. "A 9-tailed Kokonatsu…? Timbre, you…"

"Dad!" Timbre held her arms out, "It's not that… Carmen was the one to kill it. I would never go up against something like that this early in my training!"

Amadeus closed his eyes and put his hand to his forehead. After a long sigh, he grabbed his daughter's shoulders, "I just want you to stay safe, Timbre," he hugged her tightly, "I just don't want anything happening to you. I trust you not to do anything rash."

Timbre felt panic welling up inside her.

.

"Oh god oh god…" Arty muttered to himself as he tapped his foot against the tile floor of Beacon's main hall as he waited, "Oh god oh god oh god…" He felt a hand on his shoulder and nearly jumped out of his skin.

"Boo!" His mother grinned from ear-to-ear at him, proud to see him in Beacon's uniform.

Arty clutched at his chest, "Holy crap… Mom! You nearly gave me a heart attack!" he hugged her tightly before looking behind her carefully, "Is dad here with you?..."

Daphne Umber rolled her eyes and smiled, "Hello to you too, son, and no, your father didn't come along. General León has him trying to break up this crazy… Grimm-worshipping cult or whatever back home. Bunch of lunatics, I tell you," she looked over her son, "You clean up well, Arty. You should learn to dress like that more often, and fix your tie," she began tugging at the striped tie of his uniform. "To be honest, I think the Beacon uniform looks much better on you than the Atlas one. Just don't tell your father I said so."

"Mom, stop…" he looked around the room and saw Frost and Rime sniggering before the latter gave him a thumbs up, "Wait, what about Merigold? If dad's on military business and you're here-"

Daphne shook her head, "Don't worry about your sister," she turned to look across the room towards the snack table, "I'm sure she's scarfing down all the sweets the school set out as we speak."

Arty's eyes widened, "You… you brought Meri with you?!"

Daphne giggled, "You don't think I'd leave her back in Atlas did you? All the family friends are Huntsmen and soldiers. I wouldn't dare leave her in their care with all the ammo, guns, blunt objects, explosives and… whatever else that they use just lying around. So yes, I brought her with me."

"Arty!" Merigold sprinted away from the snack table and tackle hugged Arty's leg, "You're here! Did you blow something up again? Does Beacon have a hole now too?!"

"Merigold! We don't talk about that here. That stays in the family, okay?" Daphne knelt down to talk to her daughter, "Now, go on, give Arty his gift."

"Gift?" Arty didn't even expect them to be there, much less was he expecting presents.

"Yes ma'am!" Merigold held out a bright orange pocket sketchbook up to her brother. She grinned, exposing the gap in her own teeth. Her gap, however, was caused by the loss of her two front baby teeth, "Mommy said that you could have fun with it, but that it could also help you out in a fight!"

Arty held the book in his hands. The orange leather matched his own favorite shade of orange. He unclasped the strap holding it closed and began flipping through the paper, "Ah… that's some fine Bristol paper…" he said, running the book along his cheek. He was a sucker for high-quality art supplies.

His mom chuckled when he knelt down to hug his sister.

"Thank you so much, Merigold. I love it."

Merigold hugged her brother tightly. She was happy to please. "Where is your team? You know, Team ARTY!"

"Team ARTS, dear," Daphne corrected.

"Um…" Arty looked around the room, "Roland and Sepia said they were going to go hang out in town since they didn't have anyone coming, but Timbre should be around here somewhere with her dad." Arty spotted the dark black hair with red streaks through the crowd. Timbre was being hugged tightly by a man in a dark blue jacket. He pointed towards them, "Oh, there she is!" he began waving and leading his mom and sister across the room, "Hey! Timbre!"

.

Timbre turned to see her team's leader dragging a woman with the same blonde and orange hair by the arm. Trailing behind her was a little girl. She quickly wiped the tears away before they came up, "Arty!"

"Mom, this is, uh…" He gestured to his teammate. "Well… I'm pretty sure you know he-"

"Timbre Forté!" she lightly punched her son in the arm, "You didn't tell me the T, Timbre in ARTS was Timbre Forté!" she grabbed Timbre's hands and held them in hers, "It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Daphne Umber," she stifled a girlish shriek, "I'm such a big fan of yours."

"Mom, you can stop," Arty rubbed his temples as Merigold jumped around giddily. He pointed to her without looking, "and that little ball of sugar-fueled energy is my little sister, Merigold."

"Haha, it's so nice to meet you two. And it's not a problem Arty. Nobody's really… recognized me in a couple of months," she cleared her throat and gestured to her dad, "This is my dad-"

"Amadeus?!" Daphne let go of Timbre and looked to her father, "No way! It has been so long!" she hugged the man tightly, "I'm so happy to see you! I had no idea that you had a daughter! I never even thought about Timbre Forté being yours! That's great! She's gorgeous!"

Arty and Timbre stood flabbergasted.

"Wait…" Arty pointed between the two adults.

"You two…" Timbre looked just as shocked.

"Know each other?" Amadeus said, still smiling at his childhood friend, "Yeah. We do."

Daphne couldn't help but laugh, "Looks like you two were destined to be friends just like we were! What an incredible coincidence. Even oceans and kingdom borders couldn't keep our kids from meeting, eh Amadeus?"

"I suppose not." Amadeus spoke softly. For a moment, he seemed uncomfortable, but this quickly passed, "You know, a good friend of mine and I talked about running down to that old cafe. She can't come, but, since we ran into you, you're all welcome to come along."

"Oh that sounds great. We'd love to!" Daphne clasped her hands together. She looked down to her son, "Are we, you know, stuck here for a speech or something before we're allowed to go out on the town?"

Arty shrugged, "Eh. I don't know. Honestly, I forgot all about Family Day after the day we had yesterday."

Timbre began moving her hand horizontally across her throat, telling Arty to shut up.

"Right," Amadeus said, "Carmen was saying that these two and their team fought a 9-tailed Kokonatsu yesterday on their mission."

"A 9-tailed Kokonatsu, you say?!" Daphne pat Arty on the back, "That is amazing! I've heard that those things mean business. You know, I've heard that even the General has struggled against one of those before. It takes a Huntsman that's pretty quick on their feet, right?" she questioned while walking her son and daughter out.

Despite his protests that Professor Maple had been the one to kill the dangerous Grimm, Daphne kept rattling on.

Amadeus watched as the three Umbers walked off. Having still gotten no where closer to finding out what exactly happened with the Kokonatsu, he gave up for the time being, "So… to lunch then…?" he held his arm out to let Timbre lead the way after them.

"Yeah… right."

As they were leaving, Timbre's attention was drawn to the corner of the room, where she saw Yamuna surrounded by a group of other wolf Faunus in the same silky formal attire that she normally wore. A large man with long grey hair and a tall slender woman with the same wolf ears as Yamuna stood in front of her. Yamuna's head was hung down, but the two adults didn't seem to be scolding her, but trying to comfort her. Off to the side, Timbre noticed another wolf Faunus leaning against the wall as he watched the family. He was closer to her age, being the oldest member of Team ARTS, but was obviously a few years older. He was dressed in all black, which contrasted greatly to Yamuna and her parents' brightly-colored kimonos.

After the confrontation between her and Alice the night before, Timbre really wanted to talk to her to make sure she was okay. But she felt that having her family there was help enough. She just wondered where Anubis and Hati were.

After their short ride in a transit airship, it wasn't long before the group got to the cafe. They walked down the streets of Vale, taking in the cityscape. It was far different from what the three citizens of Atlas were used to. Still, Daphne led the way to the cafe as if she had never left Vale. The cafe that meant so much to her and Amadeus just so happened to be the same cafe that Timbre had brought Team ARTS to on the night of the team formation ceremony.

"This is just like I remember it…" Daphne gazed around the cafe lovingly, "They haven't changed this place in years. Same rustic look, wooden furniture, just… everything. It's amazing," she tried to hide her face while she wiped a tear away. "You, me, and Naga used to come here all of the time. I've truly missed it…" she kept on looking around while Arty got his, her, and Merigold's orders.

Amadeus looked around the interior of the cafe with a sad look on his face, "Yeah, we did."

Timbre made the order for her and her father, and thanked the cashier for the food. She passed her father's food to him and took a sip of her own tea, "C'mon you two, enough sentimental reminiscing."

The two adults chuckled as Arty began patting Timbre's arm.

"Ow, Arty! What is it?" she questioned him, but he wasn't looking at her. He was looking past her.

She turned and had to cover her mouth to keep herself from laughing. A familiar pair of students sat at a table on the other side of the cafe, one laughing hysterically and the other signing with trembling hands through a fit of silent laughter. She called out, "Roland!? Sepia!?"

Roland looked over in horror, and Sepia jumped out of her chair and darted for the door. He began to follow her, but sat back down, "Woah there, Sepia, chill," he walked over to where Arty and Timbre were sitting down with their families.

'This isn't what it looks like,' Sepia signed, her face red with embarrassment, 'Roland just wanted coffee, and I sort of did too, and we were just about to go do a little shopping because he needed some supplies and so did I, and I thought we could go check out the docks and he said okay, and-' her hands flew about lightning fast, but she quickly tired herself out and slouched in defeat.

"We were getting to know each other a little better, since we seem to fight well together," Roland finally said, though this was in answer to a question that he hadn't even been asked. He just wanted to cover his bases. "That's all."

Daphne leaned over to Arty, "So did they start seeing each other before you guys became a team, or…"

"Mom…" Arty held in his laughter, "they're from complete opposite sides of Remnant… They didn't know that the other existed until after we were launched into the Emerald Forest."

Amadeus looked scared at his daughter's teammate, "What into the where now?"

"We aren't seeing each other…" Roland grumbled and pulled up a chair, "Anyway, yeah, Emerald Forest. We got launched super far into a Grimm infested forest. It was… interesting. We all fought a Minotaurus with four of the other students. That was, what, ten weeks ago now?"

Sepia nodded and pulled up a chair opposite of Roland, 'Yeah! That was so cool! We kicked some serious butt back there!'

"Arty," Daphne looked a little disturbed, "who is this and what is she saying…?"

"Mom," Arty gestured to the pair, "this is Sepia Hughes and my partner Roland Wells." He hid his face behind his coffee mug, "Together, uh, the four of us are Team ARTS."

"Howdy," Roland tipped his hat.

Sepia just sat and waved dumbly.

Amadeus held his hand out to the two of them, "Well, it's a pleasure to meet my daughter's team."

Daphne did the same, "Likewise."

"Mommy, why does that boy have a tail?" Merigold asked.

"I'm a Faunus." Roland said flatly, "Is Atlas that devoid of Faunus…?" he asked Arty quietly.

Arty kicked his partner's shin below the table. "Not now Roland…" he said through gritted teeth.

"So, now that we have all of Team ARTS here, why not tell Daphne and I about yesterday?" Amadeus suggested to his daughter. He certainly didn't look happy, nor did he sound happy.

Timbre knew she couldn't delay the inevitable anymore. "Well… second-year teams were assigned to research a scenario somewhere near the school that could be seen as low-danger level missions if they were put up on Huntsman mission boards. We were teamed up with Carmen and another team and were sent to Mikado Village," she looked to her dad, who nodded in recognition to the name, "and they had a caravan get attacked by raiders. A flood of Kokonatsu started to take hold of the surrounding forest because of the villager's negative emotions. We went in to help defend the town and take care of the strongest Grimm in the area since older Kokonatsu can control weaker ones," she shook her head. "We had no idea going in that there was a 9-tails. We honestly thought it'd be a 6 or a 7 at most."

Amadeus stared at her, "So once you saw the 9-tails, you were the one that went after it?"

"No! Dad, I didn't, Carmen was-" Timbre tried to protest.

"Not exactly," Roland began, "See, Timbre and I were split off with the Rhea twins, two of the members of Team GLXY, and probably the most talented students that I've seen so far."

Arty leaned over to his mom, "One of their Semblances can turn off gravity apparently… I'm jealous I didn't get to see it in action..."

"We held off the Kokonatsu from the village, and it finally seemed that we had them cleared out. We found out that Gavin, Team GLXY's leader, went missing. The other team got attacked, then Timbre ran off to go help. I ran after her to bring her back to the group, but the Kokonatsu saw that as an opportunity to separate another from the group. I didn't have time to type out a weapon, so I got my butt handed to me by a 6-tailed and his buddies. Xannie was forced to take care of me while Lurida held off the Kokonatsu by herself," Roland crossed his arms and looked down at the table. "Of course, I don't know much of that first hand. My aura dropped fast, and I blacked out a few seconds after I got jumped by those Grimm. I'm lucky that the Rhea twins saved me."

Amadeus looked at his daughter for an explanation.

Before he could say anything, Arty spoke up, "But when she caught up to us, she found Gavin and helped hold off some of the stronger Grimm," he looked to his mute teammate, "Sepia got hurt fighting some, so we had to go into the Grimms' lair. Timbre was the one that carried her."

"The Grimms' lair?!" Amadeus almost spilled his coffee, "What were you thinking going into a dangerous place like that, Timbre?!"

Arty went on, "But when the 8-and-9-tailed ones showed up, she helped hold off the 8's while Professor Maple killed them all off. Honestly, I only took out one of the seven Grimm in that cave and that was with her help."

"It would've been a disaster had it not been for Professor Maple, or so I've heard. I wouldn't be here if not for Lurida and Xannie, and Sepia might not have been here if not for Timbre," Roland further explained.

They sat in silence for a moment before Daphne spoke, "Well, it's amazing what you all went through. I'm just grateful Carmen and Team GLXY were there to help you." She looked to Arty, "You'll have to introduce me so I can thank them all later."

Amadeus just shook his head, "Daphne. How can you say that? They almost… they almost died out there!"

Daphne looked offended, "It's dangerous work, Amadeus. I know there are risks, but I'm sure Arty can handle them. His team too. Just from what I've heard, yes, mistakes were made, but they're in good hands. They're getting some of the best training in all of Remnant."

"At what cost, Daphne?!" Amadeus stood up, "Timbre ran off and two of her teammates almost died."

"But we're alive, dad! We did what we had to. We didn't know the extent of what was going on when we went in."

Amadeus pushed in his chair, "Well, to me, it sounds like this Team GLXY messed up and didn't do all of their research."

Arty looked between Timbre and her father, "Sir, they couldn't have kno-"

Amadeus ignored him, "It sounds like had it not been for Carmen, you two would have gotten more than hurt," he pointed to Roland and Sepia, "and others could have gotten injured or killed as well."

"No offense," Roland thought about his words for a moment, "Actually, offense totally meant. You're being way too critical of your own daughter. Give her a break. She's good in a fight, and one of the few of us who managed to not get hurt. Sepia and I learned our lessons and are working to better ourselves, and I guarantee you that Timbre is too," he glared at the man. He couldn't help but think of his step-mother, "She made mistakes, we all made mistakes, but we pulled through. Timbre knew what she was getting into when she signed up, so maybe you should've done more research if you thought that this wouldn't be dangerous."

"Roland!" Timbre yelled.

"No, Timbre, maybe he's right," Amadeus grabbed his daughter's wrist, "I should have done more research into the profession that took your mother away from us."

Timbre yanked herself free, "You don't think she knew what she was getting herself into either?" Timbre gave out a dejected sigh, "This is exactly why I don't call to talk about Beacon…"

Amadeus stopped in his tracks. The half-empty cafe was all staring at them.

Timbre just shook her head, "Why do you think I'm even doing this, dad? I don't want to make the same mistakes she did. That's why I'd rather make them early when someone's there to help me rather than when I'm out there on my own… if I was ever out there on my own..." she turned away from him, "She would have understood…"

"Right, but it's that kind of understanding that got her killed. She got too close to those… monsters. I shouldn't have let you do the same. I can't believe that I was such a foo-"

"Oh come on, is this guy always this melodramatic?" Roland rolled his eyes, standing between Amadeus and Timbre, "She's part of our team and not to mention an adult. She's not going anywhere unless she wants to."

"How dare you…" Amadeus glowered at Roland.

Sepia stepped between Timbre and her dad, holding her arms outstretched and defiantly shaking her head while frowning at the man. Timbre was her partner, and she wasn't going to let anyone take Timbre away. Not even Timbre's father would get away with that.

Arty wanted to say something, but he knew if he acted this way towards his dad he'd be in huge trouble. That's when he felt a small nudge at his leg. He looked over to his mom, who crossed her arms and tilted her head towards the rest of his team, telling him to get up and speak his mind. He nodded and stood with Sepia and Roland.

"Sir, we may have just met and all, but honestly, from how I've heard her talk about things, the whole 'superstar' thing didn't cut it for her. This is what she wants to do and she had to go through that to understand that. Saying that she can't because of the mistakes of others is just… stupid!" he looked back to her, "she's not her mom, she's not Carmen, she's not me, she's not Roland, she's not Sepia. She's Timbre Forté, and her mistakes are her own to make. If she screws up, then we'll be there to bail her out of it. If we can't, then we go down together. Simple as that."

Amadeus pushed past the kids to get to his daughter, "Timbre, you're coming home with me." Under his breath, he muttered, "I don't know what I'd do if I ended up alone…"

"Dad!" Timbre struggled against his grip, "Stop it!"

"Amadeus, enough." Professor Maple leaned on the counter where a cashier watched in confused horror, "I didn't lie to Alabaster about finishing my paperwork to come and see you get all huffy about your daughter wanting to be a Huntress."

The students watched in disbelief as she strode over and stood between him and Timbre. Once again, Professor Maple went out of her way to take care of her students, "This is her choice, not yours. She learned her lesson about letting her emotions get the best of her yesterday, but it looks like you still haven't in the years that I've known you."

Amadeus didn't know how to respond to his old friend. "Carmen… I…"

"Aria wouldn't have wanted you hindering Timbre," Professor Maple said quietly. "Trust me, I fought with her. She didn't change her mind easily."

Amadeus went from angry to nearly sobbing in seconds. He covered his eyes with his sleeves. "Carmen…" he lowered his voice, "I just don't want her getting hurt, too."

Carmen let a slight smile curve the corner of her mouth, She lowered her voice so the others couldn't hear, "Well, I can't say that she won't, but I can say that you can trust her team. Look, Arty's starting to get the hang of being a leader. Roland put his neck on the line just to try and keep her safe. Sepia was willing to bite off more than she could chew to make sure your daughter could handle the fight. She's safe. They won't let anything happen to her, and she won't let anything happen to them. They're a good team together already. Don't ruin that." She put a hand on his shoulder, "And as long as I'm alive, I will give everything to make sure nothing happens to her."

Amadeus went silent. "Fine…" he suddenly hugged her tightly, "just watch after her for me, Carmen." He grabbed his coat and began making his way out. Shoulders hunched and trembling, he stepped outside.

Timbre stood up to go after him, "Dad!"

"Let him go, Timbre." Carmen hugged her student, "He's been through a lot. Give him some time, and he'll come around."

Timbre felt warm tears streaming down her face, "Right…"

After some awkward silence, Daphne sipped her tea, "Well, that was very interesting. He hasn't changed a bit after all these years."

As Timbre let go of Carmen, she gasped, "Oh god! I completely forgot! I was going to help Turf with his brothers!"

Arty tilted his head, "Turf has brothers?"

Timbre quickly drank the last of her tea and crammed her scone into her mouth, "I'm sorry, but I have to go! It was so nice to meet you Mrs. Umber, and you too Merigold!" She dashed out of the cafe and back towards the airship station down the street.

Daphne waved after her as Merigold wholeheartedly flapped her arms to say goodbye.

"Whelp, this is going way better than expected," Turf thought out loud as he waited in the empty main hall of Beacon. Alice, Navy, and Ebon were all off with their own families, but Turf was left to wait on his brothers, who didn't seem to be coming, "Looks like I'm in the clear. Right on," he turned on his heels to leave, but then he heard the cluncking of boots.

"Turf!" Timbre yelled as she ran into the room, "I'm so sorry I'm late, I had a little… whatever. Did I miss your brothers?" She looked around quickly, "Is Alice around?"

"No, and no. I don't think they're coming, which I'm at least a little thankful for. Alice is with her father or whatever. I'm just glad she's not around." Turf looked down the hall, "How did things with your dad go?"

"They went… well…" She smiled awkwardly, "Okay, things went terrible. He almost dragged me away from Beacon, but don't worry! I'm here to stay… for the time being."

"I'm glad." Turf smiled through his apparent disappointment, "Anyway, might as well… oh no."

Alice was just walking through the door, waving and smiling back to someone beyond it, "Okay! Bye Papa!" When she turned back and saw Turf and Timbre alone in the room together, "Aw, did the family not show up?" The animosity in her voice was obviously left over from the night previous.

Timbre stood up with Turf, "I had lunch with my dad, thank you."

"I wasn't talking ta you, Timbre," she said with mock cheerfulness, "I was talking ta the Ace of Spades over 'ere."

"I suppose no-"

"HEY, TURD!" A voice rang out in the main hall.

"Oh no…" Turf shrunk up, "No no no no no…"

Two young men walked up behind Turf, slapping him on the back. They shared the same tanned complexion and shaggy brown hair. They were dressed similarly in jeans and hoodies, one brown and one grey.

Timbre stood there in surprise on the one defining difference between Turf and his older brothers, the fact they didn't wear a beanie similar to his, which she realized she'd never seen Turf without. In any other circumstances, the lack of headwear wouldn't be so surprising. In this case it was, due to the fact that the two men teasing and laughing at a mortified Turf had folded over dog ears sticking out through locks of brown hair.

"Turf…" Timbre pointed back and forth between the two, "are these your… brothers?"

"Clay," the one in the grey hoodie said giving a short wave,

"And Loam," the other said, "at your service."

This was the worst possible case scenario for Turf, and he couldn't stop glancing over at Alice. Her mouth was agape, which, judging from past experience, meant that she was about thirty seconds away from a screaming fit.

"Look, I can explain." he told her quickly.

"Explain what? What you really should be explaining is why you're still wearing that hat." Loam put his arm around Turf's neck and pulled him close, "It makes it harder to give you a noogie!"

Clay burst out laughing, "Hold on! I've got it!" he yanked off Turf's beanie, exposing a pair of identical dog ears.

"Guys! What is wrong with you?!" Turf reached for his hat, but his brothers began playing a game of keep-away. His face went pale as he sensed Alice's rage building. He looked to his leader slowly, "Look, Alice, I don't have any control over what I am… I just… I was going to say something, then I saw how you acted around Yamuna and Roland, and again in McGouran's class…"

Alice just gaped with wide eyes at her partner.

Timbre covered her mouth with her hands, realizing the gravity of the situation.

"What's with the redhead?" Clay questioned.

"She an ex-girlfriend of yours or something, Fido?" Loam laughed, nudging his younger brother.

Alice began shaking her head back in forth in denial, "no… no no no no no. Please, tell me this is a joke. You… we've bunked in tha same room for 'alf a semester an'… no. You can't be a Faunus, Turf." She ran up and began tugging on his ears, "You can't be a Faunus!"

"Woah!" Loam pushed Alice's arms away from Turf, "I don't know who you are to my little bro, but the only people who get to tease him about his ears are us!"

Turf looked solemnly to the ground, "She's… she's the leader of Team ANTE… My team..." he couldn't keep his feet from fidgeting, "and also my combat partner."

Clay looked down to his brother, "Dude... you've been hiding your ears from everybody ever since you got here, because of her…?" He looked around awkwardly for a moment, "Like, even to sleep?"

"Don't forget the shower," Loam said smiling.

"Guys, knock it off!" Turf shouted. They didn't understand what was going on, but it didn't matter in that moment. He shoved his brothers away, "Do you even have any idea what's going on?!"

Clay and Loam looked at each other for a moment before Clay responded, "Why'd you think we showed up so late?"

Loam shook his head, "We thought these two girls were the ones you're always talking so highly of. We didn't know that she was the one who's been making your life miserable."

Clay pointed to his eyes, "Kinda hard to tell tan and red apart when you don't know what tan and red are."

"Guys, just… just back off. Please," Turf caught Alice's gaze again and shuddered.

Alice turned and took out her scroll, "I 'ave ta tell Navy and Ebon. They are not going ta believe that you're a bloody Faunus!"

"I don't think Ebon's really going to care much and of course Navy won't believe it because he's just as prejudiced as you, Alice."

Alice stopped in her tracks and turned to Timbre. "Excuse me?!"

"You know, Alice. I've been all over the world. I've met many different people, some good, some bad, some human, some Faunus, and you know what?" She narrowed her gaze, "I don't think I've met anyone that made me so angry before in my life. If you want to present to Beacon that Turf is a Faunus and treat it like it's a horrible crime against Remnant, and reveal that you were the reason that he hid that part of his identity for the past couple of months, go ahead. That'll just prove to the world who you really are. If you want to tear apart the team Alabaster trusted you to keep together, then so be it."

Alice couldn't get any words out for a minute, "T-Timbre? How could you say somethin' like that ta me?" she gestured to the three dog Faunus brothers, "I mean… look at them! Someone like you has ta understand why I feel this way."

"Honestly, Alice, I don't. I really, really don't."

While Alice and Timbre had their spat, Clay and Loam leaned closer to Turf.

"I like her," Clay whispered.

"Please tell me she's the current girlfriend," Loam added.

"She's not my girlfriend, guys…" Turf murmured as he covered his Faunus traits with his hands, "Now I can't even show my face around my own team… Thanks, guys…"

"Hey, Faunus are Faunus. You can't change that," Loam clasped Turf's shoulder, "it was bound to happen sooner or later. You didn't think you could hide under that beanie for four years, did you?"

"I mean, you couldn't even talk to your own cousin because of this girl." Clay grimaced as if he smelled something bad, "I mean, Alice must be some sort of awful if she made you cut ties with Yamuna while you were here."

Timbre and Alice were torn away at Clay's comment.

"Yamuna's your cousin?" Timbre said surprised before turning back to Alice, "Do you see what you've been doing to him? He was afraid to tell people who he really was because of you! I just don't get it, Alice. Do you feel any shame?..."

Alice looked ready to scream, cry, and punch Timbre, "Why should I?! I'm really the only one I can trust in this world and the less people I 'ave ta rely on the betta! And the few people I'll eva allow myself to trust with anythin' will not be Faunus."

"What's wrong with you…?" Turf finally asked to his leader, "What did Faunus do to deserve this treatment? What did me, my brothers, Yamuna, or Roland ever do to you? Any Faunus for that matter?"

"It doesn't matter what you lot ever did, it's what those that I've heard of growing up did," she retorted quickly, "Savage. Vile. Scum." She turned on her heels and stomped out of the room, slamming the large heavy door behind her and sending a loud crash through the hall. After it dissipated, the room fell silent.

Clay lifted a finger, "Phew! She is some sort of loco, ain't she? Who'd you piss off to get paired up with her?"

"Just go home, guys…" Turf mumbled, "I'll call later," he simply walked away from his brothers.

Loam bit his tongue. He wanted to tell Turf that he couldn't just waste their time like that. He couldn't just let one or two jerks in the world get him down, but he still understood what Turf was feeling. It was something that all Faunus felt at one time or another. Turf felt alone in a crowd of hundreds. He had people around him, but the poor guy was too afraid to ask for help. Finally, he spoke up before Turf could leave through the same doors as Alice, "Hey, you know, Yamuna could really use someone right now. You should talk to her when she's feeling better, for you and her."

Turf didn't say anything else. He just pulled his beanie back over his ears and left.

"Turf!" Timbre yelled after him. She turned back to Turf's brothers, "It was really nice to meet you two, sorry for all of the… drama." She ran out of the room to catch Turf.

"Whelp…" Clay looked down at his boots, "That… went really…"

"Awful, yeah. I know," Loam slapped his brother on the shoulder. He held up a few plastic cards, "I saw a nice-ass food cart over in downtown Vale. You game?"

"Duh," Clay began heading towards the exit. The dog ears on his head were at attention, as if listening for the next source of food, "I'm ready to head out."

Loam looked back at where Turf left, "Right, let's go."

Arty flopped backwards onto his bed. "What a day…" he sighed as he undid his tie. It was dark outside, and the fluorescent lights in the dorm sent sharp light across the faces of Arty and Timbre. Roland and Sepia had split off after the cafe incident to 'go grab some supplies'.

Timbre sat across from him at her desk, absent-mindedly flipping through one of their textbooks, "Yeah…"

Arty glanced over to her. He couldn't see her face, but he could see her slumped shoulders and heard the glum tone to her voice. After the events at the cafe, he didn't blame her, "You gonna be okay?"

Timbre wasn't expecting the question. At first she wanted to just scream "No!" over and over. Thinking it over, she appreciated the concern from her team's leader. "I appreciate the concern, Arty, but… today's been pretty rough for me."

Arty nodded, "Yeah. I can see. But you know what?"

She turned to look to him.

"At the end of the day, you're still here."

Timbre rolled her eyes, "I'm not upset about that, Arty."

He raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean?" he paused, "Did things not go so well with Turf's brothers?"

"Not… exactly. Alice is just…" Timbre let out a frustrated sigh. "Listen, Arty. Turf wants this to stay a secret, but knowing how Teams ARTS and ANTE interact already…" she turned her chair, "Arty, you know how Alice really hates Faunus for whatever reason?"

"Yeah?" A look of realization came across his face. "No way…"

Timbre gave a sad nod.

"Turf's… a Faunus?" he sat back and stared at the ceiling, "Everything makes so much sense now… that whole deal in Forever Fall... I always just thought he was a big Faunus rights activist…"

"Nope…" she began to pace around the room, "he's been hiding it ever since he got here. He wanted to test the waters in a sense to see how people would react to Faunus. Everyone's fine except Alice, and when he got teamed up with her, that only pushed him to hide it until now. He hasn't even been able to talk to his own family here at Beacon because of her!"

"Family?"

"Yamuna's Turf's cousin, Arty… He was in her tour group… and they had to act like complete strangers… When his brothers came in and Alice saw them, and they took off Turf's beanie… she went on a tirade. I just… I don't get it, Arty."

"It's the usual deal, then," Roland entered the room with Sepia close at his heels, "I overheard you a little ways down the hall. Your voice carries, Timbre," he sat on the edge of his bed, but didn't seem too riled up about Alice's treatment towards Turf.

Timbre looked at Roland in shock. She was dumbfounded, "H-how can the Faunus of our team be so okay with this?!" she nearly shouted.

Roland held up a hand as if to tell her to quiet down. This wasn't anything new, "I won't lie, I was already pretty sure that Turf was a Faunus. He wears that beanie all the time, eats a heck of a lot more meat than normal, and hears a lot better than most. That, and you can just kind of tell when you're one of us. Something about how we carry ourselves," he nodded for Sepia to sit beside him without thinking, "Anyway, it's a problem that Turf has to work on himself. He's a Faunus, and needs to learn how to accept that. He needs to be okay with the person that he is, but that's going to take a lot of time and pain. There's nothing to be angry about on your end, Timbre. This is solely his issue, not yours."

After a few moments of silence, Sepia sat next to Roland with a pained expression. Turf was her friend too, after all. She couldn't fathom how much it hurt being in Turf's position.

Timbre looked offended, "You know, I may not be a Faunus, but Turf is my friend. Are you saying I can't feel bad for him?" she shook her head, "Do you even know what empathy is, Roland?"

"Yeah, but I also know when something is out of my hands," Roland glanced to a binder placed right underneath the foot of his bed, and then back to Timbre, "I know full well what empathy is, Timbre, but us being upset over it won't help Turf. When he's ready, he'll ask for it, and we can help him in whatever way that he needs. Until then, speculating on how he must be feeling doesn't help anyone."

Timbre was about to retort when there was a light knocking at the door.

'Sooner rather than later, huh?' Sepia mouthed.

"The leader might want to handle this," Roland glanced over to Arty.

Arty held up his hand in defeat, "Okay," he got up and looked through the peephole, confirming Sepia and Roland's suspicions. He looked back to Timbre before opening the door. There in the doorway, dressed in his pajama pants and a white t-shirt, was Turf.

"Hey guys…" he scratched the back of one of his exposed dog ears, not daring to look anyone in the eyes, "Do you… do you think I could crash in here for tonight…?"