A Spark.

Sky cried out in surprise as a firm but definitely feminine hand grabbed his shoulder and tore him away from his choking teammate. Russell slammed into the floor face first, cracking tiles and mashing his own nose. Sky suffered a similar fate as Ember slammed his skull repeatedly off of the locker, the door dented under the feral onslaught, the locking mechanism failed on the fourth impact. The much abused door squeaked open and Ember took the opportunity to alter her grip, grabbing a fistful of Sky's sweat slick hair and holding his head between the door and the lockers frame. The clanging of metal and cries of pain resumed as Embers gauntleted fist slammed the door repeatedly. Steel met skull until Sky fell limp. Ember tore him away from the remains of the locker and sent his limp body skidding across the tiles as his halberd clattered noisily to the floor.

A disgusting wet gurgle signified Russell's return to consciousness. "Mmba." He spluttered through the viscous blood lining his throat. He retched and spat to clear the obstruction. "Embuh?" He said in utter disbelief with a far more guttural voice than usual as he beheld his saviour, still clothed in full combat attire.

If the redheaded pyromancer heard him she didn't show it. She stepped over the prone form of his teammate and entered the four digit code to her locker. Ember tore the door open and threw her sword inside as Russell managed to push himself up onto his hands and knees before slipping in the small pool of his own blood. She slid her gauntlet off her arm and tossed it into the locker with a hollow clang as it impacted the locker's interior. The clearly furious second year snatched a small clear bag containing a green substance from her locker and stuffed it roughly into one of her body glove's pockets.

Russell wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, leaving a red streak up his forearm. "Embuh?"

She slammed the locker door closed and scowled at him. "If you think this means I've forgiven you, think again asshole." She spat as she stormed out of the room.

Russell reached out to her as she marched past. "Whayt." She continued on her path unabated.

Russell watched her go before pushing himself into a sitting position and resting his back against a nearby locker. He glared at his unconscious teammate. "Whad id ih wid brayken mah fugin nohs?" He tentatively brought a hand up to his face and gently felt out the damage. Taking a deep breath he pinched the bridge of his nose and violently twisted. A sickening crunch was immediately followed by a snarled curse. "FUCK!"

"And fuck you too you junkie asshole." He added almost as an afterthought as he pointed angrily in Sky's direction.

He fished his scroll from his pocket, relieved to find it intact despite the beating it must have endured. His bloody fingers left dark red streaks across its screen as he searched through his scroll's contact list. The list was alphabetical, meaning the name he searched for was right at the bottom.

Yatsuhashi.

He tapped at the name. As the dial tone warbled in his ear Russell took a deep breath and held it before exhaling slowly to calm himself. Finally the dialing tone ended, replaced by a barely audible click as the microphone of the scroll activated. He made out a muted cough before the second year swordsman spoke. "Hello?" his voice was weary and slightly slurred as if he had just been woken.

"Yatsu! Listen man I'm in the locker room, I need help with Sky. He's unconscious and I can't move him on my own." Russell said hurriedly.

A prolonged pause was followed by Yatsuhashi's reply. "Ok I can help, be there in five."

"Thank dust! I owe you big time." Russell gushed.

"No you don't, see you soon." His second year friend replied before ending the call.

Russell let out a contented sigh of relief before pushing himself stiffly to his feet. He rubbed the sore bruise across his neck thoughtfully as he stumbled over to the unconscious body of his assailant. Russell stepped over Sky's prone form, giving him a well deserved kick for good measure and retrieved his teammate's weapon from the floor. With some difficulty he stumbled over to the nearest intact bench, lazily dragging the blade of the halberd across the floor. What did he care if the blade became dull? Hell, if anything, the duller the better since Sky would inevitably, if not literally, stab him in the back for what he was about to do. With that thought in mind he inspected the bottom of the halberd for any signs of a secret compartment. A small, barely noticeable seam denoted an equally indiscernible cap at the butt of the haft. A little re-sealable plastic bag lay within. The bag's surface was ruptured, leaving smooth white pills to rattle freely about the small hollow compartment.

"Jackpot." Russell whispered to himself as he pulled the bag from inside the weapon. His fingertip raked out every loose pill and added them to the few remaining inside the bag. Russell twirled the weapon so the blade was pointing skywards. He shook it vigorously and tapped it against his leg to make sure no pills had escaped his search. He replaced the cap and let the Halberd drop to the floor with a weighty clang. Russell made his way over to his locker, he retrieved a cartridge of burn dust and refilled the red canister in the hilt of one of his daggers. He cycled the weapon's cylinder to select the replenished dust chamber and balanced the bag of Stimms on the flat of the blade. His weapon glowed red for a moment before a flash of light signified the total evaporation of the pills. Russell was careful not to breath in the fumes as he placed both of his daggers into the locker and opened a compact strong box at the bottom of the storage space, within lay two transparent bags filled with a green substance. Russell retrieved the smaller of the two bags, along with some cigarette papers, stuffed it into his back pocket and shut his locker door.

He didn't have to wait long for the stoic swordsman to show his face. The massive second year stooped under the door frame and walked over to Russell who was stood waiting patiently beside his prone teammate who lay amongst a carpet if debris. Shards and splinters of wood littered the floor accompanied by chunks of masonry. His first year friend looked no better than the carnage he was situated in. Streaks and splatters of drying reddish-brown blood contrasted heavily with the fine white coating of pulverised stone dusting his body. "You're looking well." Yatsuhashi said by way of greeting.

"Hnh glad to see you haven't lost your sense of humour."

"Not yet." The swordsman replied simply.

"We need to get moving, someone might have heard the gunshots."

"Gunshots?" Yatsuhashi queried with a stare that screamed suspicion and a raised eyebrow.

"I'll explain on the way." Russell said as he opened Sky's locker and threw the halberd inside. Dove's sword was thrown in its owner's locker a moment later.

Yatsuhashi shrugged and strode over to his locker, after reverently placing his weapon within he closed the door. The mountain of a man scooped Sky's limp body up with little issue. He tossed Sky over his right shoulder and glanced at his friend for further instruction. "Where now?"

Russell placed his leader's mace in its respective locker and slammed the door shut. He took a deep breath to compose himself before speaking. "Dorms." Yatsuhashi nodded and silently followed after his friend.

"So what happened?" Yatsuhashi asked.

Russell sighed. "I tried to take his Stimms. He attacked me," Russell unconsciously traced the mottled bruise across his throat with his fingertips, "would've killed me too but… Ember saved me."

"Ember saved you? Where did she go?"

"She left before you got here. She's still pissed at me. Still don't know why. I got lucky. She only came to get some more grin leaf from her locker. Just happened to be in the right place at the right time."

"If she saved your life, she can't be that angry with you." Yatsuhashi offered hopefully.

"Trust me, she's definitely still mad."

"And you have no idea why?"

"Well… here's the thing, I have a theory." Russell said reluctantly.

"Which is?" Yatsuhashi asked as he stooped beneath another doorway.

"Promise you won't get mad and leave me to carry that useless sack of shit back to the dorm by myself?"

The second year arched an eyebrow. "That really depends on what you've done." The second year answered honestly.

"Well when we found out where Velvet and Cardin had gone I might have said something a little derogatory… "

Yatsuhashi stopped and stared down Russell, who was unable to meet his gaze. "What did you say?" Russell shuffled uneasily from foot to foot, he really didn't want to have this conversation.

"I didn't mean it, it just sorta slipped out in the heat of the moment you know?" Yatsuhashi didn't look impressed, Russell took a deep breath. "Basically I said something like 'I swear to dust if that fucking Faunus gets Cardin killed'."

Yatsuhashi's jaw gaped open in shock. He knew of Ember's hidden heritage, he knew how much such words would anger her. Did that mean Russell now knew Ember's secret too? Russell spoke again, breaking Yatsuhashi's train of thought. "So I'm pretty sure it's because her team leader is a Faunus. I know it was wrong to say, I know I'm an asshole, if you hate me too now because of Velvet I get it man and I'm sorry."

Yatsuhashi winced "No Russell, it's ok, if you were truly still a racist, you'd have let those Deathstalkers kill Velvet, you could have grabbed Cardin and ran to safety, but you didn't. I know you've changed these last few weeks and I'm pretty sure, deep down, Ember does too." He started walking towards the dorms again, still carrying Sky's unconscious body, prompting Russell to follow him. "But that doesn't mean she's going to forgive you… Faunus equality… is really important to her." Yatsuhashi hoped Russell didn't detect the hesitation in his voice, he had to be careful, it wasn't his place to disclose Ember's secret.

Russell let out a frustrated sigh. "urgh, Women."

Yatsuhashi gave a slow, disappointed shake of his head. "I told you your racism would only bring you trouble."

"I didn't mean it though, it just sort of came out."

"But you said it. It hurts whether you meant it to or not."

Russell sighed deeply. "I know. I can't change what I said. But what I need to know is… can I fix this?"

Now it was Yatsuhashi's turn to sigh. "I don't know Russ. It may be better for your life expectancy to give her time to calm down. Ember is a very kind, caring person… but her temper…" Yatsuhashi paused as he considered his words carefully. "...let's just say there's a reason the twins call her hothead."

"Is there any chance at all that she'll forgive me?" Russell pressed.

Yatsuhashi shrugged. "I honestly don't know. There's not much I can really do to help, if I tried to talk to Ember on your behalf she'd be more angry. She's headstrong, independent, she won't appreciate other people getting involved." Russell made a mental note to tell Cardin not to ask Velvet to talk to Ember. "But when you do talk to her, IF you talk to her, be straightforward and truthful. Ember almost always says exactly what she thinks and she doesn't like people who hide their feelings."

Finally, they reached the door of team CRDL's dorm room. Russell opened the door and held it ajar while Yatsuhashi stooped beneath the doorframe. The towering second year slid Sky from his shoulder and onto the bottom bunk. Russell patted Yatsuhashi on the arm and grinned. He turned and made his way into the dorm's bathroom and stood before the mirror, examining his nose. He'd set it straight though there was noticeable swelling and what he sincerely hoped wouldn't be a persistent bump. "Thanks Yatsu." Russell said as he retrieved a plastic bowl from the cabinet under the sink and began to fill it with water. "But I'm going to need one more favour…" He walked back into the main room, careful not to spill any of the bowl's contents on the carpet.

"And what would that be?" The second year swordsman asked as he leaned against the side of one of the bunk beds, his muscular bulk eliciting creaks from the wooden frame.

"Just look menacing." Russell said sidelong over his shoulder as he walked over to his unconscious teammate.

"But why-" That was as far as Yatsuhashi got before Russell poured the bowl full of water over his teammate's face. Yatsuhashi quickly stood a little straighter as he wondered in a panick, just how am I supposed to intimidate someone? He'd never tried to threaten anyone before. He crossed his arms and tensed his muscles. His face spasmed for a moment as he tried out a couple of different expressions. None felt aggressive enough. Should I growl or something? No that's stupid! He ran out of time and settled on a narrowed eyed stare that he prayed would mask his bewilderment.

Sky shot upright coughing and spluttering. "What the fuck!?" He slurred as his mind attempted to catch up with his rude awakening. His eyes widened as he caught sight of Russell looming over him. "You-"

Whatever he was about to say was cut off as Russell socked him square in the jaw. "Yes me, fuckface, and I'm still alive despite your best efforts." Russell snapped. "Burned your drugs by the way." He added casually a moment later. Sky's mouth pulled back in a snarl to retort when he caught sight of the massive second year leaning against the frame of the opposite bunk. The swordsman was unarmed but this did little to lessen his intimidating presence. His sheer stature, combined with the taut muscles of his crossed arms made for a coercive picture. The thing that really frightened Sky though, were Yatsuhashi's eyes. The brown orbs seemed to bore into his soul as they stared unblinking at him. Like an attack dog waiting for instruction to kill or maim, daring him to make the wrong move so it had an excuse to release its barely restrained power.

Russell followed his teammate's gaze to the unforgiving slab of muscle at his back. He turned back to Sky and smirked. "You see that?" he jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "That's my insurance." Yatsuhashi felt a pang of sympathy for the boy on the bed as he trembled. "You try and get back at me, Yatsu here will end you. You even think about taking more Stimms, Yatsu will end you." Russell hooked a hand under the collar of Sky's chest plate and pulled him closer, his voice quieted to a hissed whisper. "You irritate or vex me… guess what will happen?"

"Y- Yatsu w-will end me?" Sky stammered in reply.

Russell smiled and lightly slapped Sky's cheek with his free hand. "We have a winner." Russell relinquished his hold on Sky's armour and let him drop back onto the bed. "Listen Sky, I'm a reasonable guy, you're free to smoke as much Grin as you want, should numb some of the Stimm withdrawal… But no other drugs, this whole Stimms bullshit ends here. Got it?" Sky gulped and nodded. "Good, get some sleep, I've got other stuff to do." Sky nodded again meekly as Russell strolled out into the corridor, gesturing for Yatsuhashi to follow.

As soon as the door shut Yatsuhashi turned to Russell. "Shouldn't you be keeping an eye on him?" He admonished as the two entered the building's stairwell.

Russell snorted derisively. "Nah, he's scared shitless, he ain't going anywhere."

"You know I'm not actually going to hurt him for just irritating you? I kinda draw the line at random acts of violence." The second year stated with just a hint of venom in his voice.

"Oh I know that, but Sky doesn't." Russell said with a mischievous grin as they reached ground level.

"I'd have drawn the line at intimidation but you didn't exactly give me much choice."

"I know man, this shady stuff isn't you at all, I'm sorry for just involving you without really asking. The thing is you may have just saved a life, ended someone's addiction, doesn't the end result justify the means?" The unlikely comrades walked out into the courtyard in front of the dorm building. "You might have just saved my team too, given us a real chance at redemption." Russell added after a short pause.

Yatsuhashi came to a halt and considered his friend's words carefully. He failed to find a hole in his friend's argument so long as his intervention actually paid off. "You're far more intelligent than you let on, you know?"

"Thanks." Russell said sarcastically. "Stick around, you'll be disappointed."

Yatsuhashi smiled. "Are you sure leaving Sky alone is wise?"

"He'll be fine, trust me." Russell said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Besides, I've got more important things to do than babysit a junkie."

Yatsuhashi raised a quizzical eyebrow. "Why, where are you going?"

"I'm going to have a conversation." Russell said simply.

Yatsuhashi nodded knowingly. "Good luck."

"Thanks." Russell said with a sheepish smile as he turned and walked towards Beacon's gardens. "I'll need it."

Yatsuhashi waited till Russell disappeared around a corner. He set off towards the infirmary, as a fine rain began to fall upon him, looking forward to a conversation of his own.

Mercury quietly slid shut the door of his dorm room and turned to see two lanky students walking up the corridor towards him, likely on the way back to their dorm. He muttered a curse, there weren't supposed to be any students walking the halls at this time of night.

"Hey there, Mercury is it?"

The silver haired boy stiffened. "Yeah?"

"Thought so." The tall student beamed. "I'm flint, this here's my twin brother Gray, people say we're identical but I'm clearly way better looking."

"Asshole." Gray muttered under his breath.

"Anyway's…" Flint brushed over his sibling's annoyance "just wondered if you'd mind passing on our thanks to your friend for helping out the medics earlier? Well at least I think she's your friend, green haired girl?"

Mercury visibly sagged with relief, he put on a fake smile. "Oh, you mean Emerald?... Sure thing… buddy?..." Mercury cringed internally at his lack of skill in the art of subterfuge.

"Thanks, so what're you doing up at this time?" Gray asked.

"Uh… just going for a walk is all." Mercury replied, finally recovering some of his wits.

"Cool, well you might want to avoid the gardens, our friend is there and she's super pissed."

"Thanks for the heads up, see you around." Mercury said as he headed off towards the stairwell, desperate to leave the two lanky second years behind. No sooner did he leave the dorm building that a light rain began to drizzle down. Mercury made sure his jacket was zipped all the way up as he stalked off into the night. "Going to be one of those days."

Velvet cracked open one eye, once again finding herself once again in the white starkness of Beacon's infirmary. The first long fingers of dawn crept over the horizon as the sun rose anew, ready once again to assault Velvet's beleaguered senses. The first rays met condensation on the ward's sole window, scattering the light in an aesthetically pleasing way reminiscent of a chandelier. Velvet cracked open her other eyelid and gazed at the ceiling. She spent a few moments like this, steeling herself to move her body, if it was anything like moving her eyelids, it'd be a struggle. She sluggishly lifted one of her lead like arms and reached blindly for the guard rail she knew to be there.

Her hand was seized in the concerned grip of a familiar hand. "Vel you're awake! Are you alright?"

Velvet smiled as her leader leaned over her to look down into her eyes."I'm fine Coco. Is everyone else ok?"

"We're all good, just worried about you." Coco replied kneading the knuckles of her teammate's hand as if she were afraid to lose her.

Velvet's free hand searched for the guard rail, she gripped it firmly and began to pull herself upright. Her leader gripped her other hand more firmly and slid an arm around her back in support. Velvet's smile widened as she met the grins of her other teammate's. The relief on Yatsuhashi's face was palpable while Fox gave her a curt nod and a friendly wave from his uninjured arm. She looked back at Coco but her gaze wandered over her leader's shoulder to the boy sitting upright in the hospital bed to her left.

Cardin nodded at her as a slight red blush spread across his cheeks. Velvet opened her mouth to speak but found her words failed her. She settled for another smile and an awkward nod. There was so much to be said but not in present company, the conversation they both so desperately wanted to have would have to wait.

She turned back to team CFVY. "What happened to your arm?" Velvet exclaimed only now properly registering the sling encompassing Fox's injured limb.

"This idiot tried high giving a Razorwing." Coco chuckled, giving Fox a playful nudge.

Velvet's angelic laugh sounded like music to everyone's ears. The girlish giggle went a long way to assuage everyone's fears for her health. Fox was next to speak. "Hey I'm not the one who wound up in a Deathstalker hive." More laughter, this time from everyone present.

"So you killed the Razorwing?" Velvet asked.

"Nah, team effort really but Port stole the kill." Fox replied.

"At least tales of your heroic deeds will be told to every first year the professor teaches." Yatsuhashi intoned.

Fox snorted derisively. "Yeah right, I bet he tells everyone I curled up into a ball and pissed my pants while he saved the day."

"Isn't that what happened?" Coco teased.

"What is this? Bully Fox day?" The blind second year sighed as he settled back into an armchair.

Velvet glanced over at Cardin who had been noticeably silent. Coco followed her friend's gaze. Cardin was listening intently but seemed hesitant to speak up. The leader of team CFVY decided to make an effort to include him. "Let's not forget that Vel wouldn't be here to help me bully you if it wasn't for Cardin." Coco spoke up, hoping her words would be sufficient to elicit his entrance into the conversation.

"Its a two way street, Velvet saved my ass more times than I saved hers." Cardin said quietly, conscious of Fox's blank gaze boring into him with barely veiled contempt.

"Well now that you're up to speed on our antics, I'd like to hear what happened to you." Coco said, pointing a finger in Velvet's direction.

"Well…" Velvet began, wondering where to start. "When the ship went down the Razorwing came after us. It grabbed the cockpit section and started climbing like it wanted to drop us from a higher altitude. Cardin made it let go and-"

"-I fell off but Velvet caught me-" Cardin chimed in.

Velvet smiled as a slight warmth crept into her cheeks. "So we landed-"

"-Crashed is more accurate-" Coco teased.

Velvet rolled her eyes "-so we crashed into the forest, the cockpit glass shattered and a tree branch went through my stomach and into the seat." Velvet unconsciously brushed her fingertips over the toned stomach beneath her t shirt. Yatsuhashi grimaced at her words. "But Cardin stayed with me he held the Grimm off till I woke up, the he carried me off to the mountain."

"Yeah we saw that part." Fox acknowledged with a curt nod.

Velvet's eyes widened in surprise. "But how-"

"-Rod's semblance." Coco answered. "So who caused the landslide?" She added a moment later, conscious of how red Velvet and Cardin's faces had become.

"That'd be me." Cardin piped up with a sheepish grin on his face.

"Nice." Coco said with a smile. "So at what point did you poke the Deathstalker hive with a stick?"

Cardin snorted but it was Velvet who spoke up. "We… may have poked a Hiveguard with something a little more substantial than sticks…"

Coco let out a prolonged whistle. A small smile followed. "Joint effort again I'm guessing?"

"Yeah" Cardin replied. "We beat it's ass so hard it called for back up… that's pretty much when you showed up."

Coco raised an eyebrow at Cardin's slight pause, he'd missed something out but she wasn't about to press the issue, though it did concern her just what he could be hiding...

Velvet broke her team leader's train of thought with a sudden and loud yawn. She rubbed her eyes and blinked a few times. "Sorry it's been a long day." She said apologetically to her teammates.

"It's fine Vel, you need rest, hell we all do. I'll come by tomorrow with some clothes and breakfast." Coco said as she straightened her back and loosened her neck with a series of audible cracks. "C'mon boys, bedtime." She cooed condescendingly to her two teammates in a teasing manner. Both male members of team CFVY rolled their eyes, Fox gathered his gear while Yatsuhashi scooped up Coco's. "Got em well trained Coco joked with a wink.

Velvet smiled, too drained to comment. The three members of team CFVY each gave Velvet a gentle hug farewell before leaving the room.

Velvet managed to keep herself sat uptight just long enough to gulp down a few mouthfuls of deliciously cool water before reclining back into the alluring embrace of her hospital bed. "Goodnight Birdy." She whispered wearily as her heavy lids finally slid shut.

Cardin smiled and lay down as the sound of Velvet's gentle snoring reached his ears immediately after she spoke. "Goodnight Bunny." He sighed, switching off the lights via remote and allowing sleep to finally claim him.

Mercury sauntered back into the dorm, his silvery-grey hair, shone with moisture and was plastered to his forehead. He strolled purposefully up to his fellow criminal, Emerald Sustrai who sat cross-legged on the floor, and shook like a dog. The green haired girl recoiled and cursed.

Mercury allowed himself a small laugh, a laugh cut brutally short by the sound of a familiar throat clearing itself to gain his attention. Behind him, in a corner of the room he hadn't yet look at since his return, sat Cinder Fall. "O-oh s-sorry." Mercury stammered,

Cinder's amber eyes stared him down for a few moments before returning to the cross-legged girl on the floor. "Please, continue." She spoke with a sultry voice sweet and sickly as red sap syrup.

Emerald shot Mercury a smug glare before continuing. "As I was saying, they killed the Razorwing and destroyed the nesting ground."

Cinder raised an eyebrow in apparent annoyance in a rare display of outward emotion. "This information matters little there are a dozen other nests that will come to aid me in Beacon's destruction. Is this really all the information you could acquire?"

Emerald tensed at Cinder's words. "N- no not at all, apparently they also wiped out the Deathstalker hive you asked me and Merc to scout out on the other mountain too. Those Shamblers you seemed interested in have also had a dent put in their numbers." Emerald reeled off the information she had acquired proudly while also being hesitant of just how Cinder would react.

Cinder remained silent, analyzing the information. This was...problematic… Those Grimm lacked the ability to fly and as such would take longer to travel to Vale when the time came, The number of Grimm that would be close enough to play a part in the initial engagement needed to be sufficiently high or all her efforts, all her planning, would be for naught, She did not share her thoughts with her subordinates, "It matters little, a minor setback at best. Continue to play the part of loyal friend, I require more information on this… Ruby." Her voice deepened upon uttering the name like the bitter taste it left in her mouth disgusted her.

"But why-"

"Do not question." A fire lit up Cinder's irises as she fixed her fiery gaze upon Emerald who flinched back under the withering glare. Her superiors expression softened. "Obey."

Mercury smirked but quickly put his serious and attentive face back on as CInder turned her attention to him. He shivered involuntarily, though whether this was from his superiors assertive gaze or the cold kiss of the sodden clothes against his flesh was anyones guess. "Have you made any progress in finding the Fall maiden?"

"None."

"Every night I send you out to search and every night you come back empty handed. I do not like being disappointed Mercury."

Sweat beaded on Mercury's forehead despite the chill of his damp clothes. "I've searched everywhere boss. Seriously they must have a hidden vault or bunker or something. I've checked everywhere, the maintenance tunnels, the teachers accommodation, even Ozpin's office. Are you sure she's really here?"

"She is here, I can feel her presence The Summer maiden is also here... Look again."

Russell walked through Beacon's gardens, head stooped and shoulders tense in an effort to suppress the shivers that came from the cool midnight chill kissing his dirt engrained skin. A tightly rolled joint dangled from his lips, it's smoke deterring the inquisitive insects of the night from flying straight into his face. The first few drags had played hell with his injured throat but as the numbness gradually set in the smoke he breathed in became far more pleasant. The darkness around him was sparsely illuminated by scattered globe lights on the ground placed sparingly along the winding path as it meandered between the innumerable trees, bushes and grassy verges. Fireflies danced in the periphery of his vision, their faint yellow lights flickering in and out of sight amongst the foliage.

He rounded a bend in the gravel path, a few metres on the path twisted again, ahead of him something illuminated the coming corner every few seconds with muted orange light. Russell took a breath and straightened his battle gear as best he could as the light suddenly went out. A few seconds later the same orange light shone from around the bend in the path, again it soon disappeared. Russell exhaled and forced himself to march those final few feet.

He emerged into a familiar clearing, the gravel path on which he stood circled around both sides of a pond before plunging back into the treeline. Minute ripples spread across the pond as a fine drizzle impacted its surface. Without the tree canopy to shelter him Russell's clothes began to dampen. A lonely bench stood beside the water, its wooden slats darkened by the beads of moisture soaking into its surface. A light mist lent the clearing an ominous quality. To his right Ember stood with her back to him. As of yet unaware of his presence. She did not hear him approach, she focused her attention on a large Hydrangea shrub. The fingers of Ember's right hand pinched the stem just below one of the brilliant blue flowers, with gentle pressure the stem gave way, separating the flower from the bush. Ember turned the flower over in her hand, cupping it in her palm with the utmost care, ensuring no petals were lost. The edges of the flower wilted and turned brown before setting alight. Soon the whole flower was aflame, it curled and shrunk, it's petals flailing as if writhing in pain at the fire consuming them. Ever so slowly she clenched her fist, crumbling the remnants of the flower into dust. Her hand relaxed as she brought it up to her face. A gentle exhale blew the ash from her hand and sent the particles dancing through the slight breeze. Her now empty hand reached up to remove the spent stub of a roll up cigarette from between her lips.

Russell scanned the bush in front of her, it's dark green mass almost devoid of any flowers. Amongst the large teardrop shaped leaves the contrasting stark white pinpricks of multiple freshly shorn stems caught his eye. Russell took a deep drag of his joint before removing it from his mouth and shielding it from the rain under his cupped hand. "It's the wrong time of year to be doing that" he said softly, exuding smoke from his mouth as he spoke.

Ember stiffened, recognising his voice instantly. "Why's it matter?" She replied without turning, picking yet another flower and setting it alight.

"It's a bigleaf mophead Hydrangea, you're not supposed to prune them till spring." Russell explained as he approached, stopping beside her and mirroring her scrutiny of the bush. He could feel the heat radiating from her, the rain did not settle on her skin for long, the moisture soon evaporate, steam shrouded Ember partially and added to the layer of mist blanketing the clearing.

"And just how in the fuck do you know that?" Ember sighed.

Russell's hand came into the periphery of her vision. Cupping the smallest of the remaining flowers in the palm of his left hand and rubbing the petals thoughtfully with his thumb. "Gardening was the family business." Russell said quietly, holding out his right hand in Ember's direction.

After a moment she realised Russell was offering her some of his joint. "If your family business is gardening, what are you doing at Beacon?" she asked as she took the proffered joint and deftly flipped it beneath her own hand to shield it from the downpour.

Russell inclined his head in her direction, still running his thumb over the delicate petals of the Hydrangea flower. "I said was… my dad was a gardener, a damned good one at that, like his father and his father before him and so on. He worked for four or five of Vale's noble families. All spring, all summer, all autumn and part time in winter so he could spend some time with his family, me and my mum and my brother…" Russell tailed off, happy memories of having snowball fights with his dad and older brother on his father's days off.

"So what happened, what made Russell the master gardener go from cutting shrubs to gutting thugs?" Ember asked, masking her curiosity with a half-assed attempt at sarcastic disinterest as she passed him back his joint.

Russell took a long drag, giving him time to think of how best to answer the question. "The Faunus rights revolution happened." Ember's knuckles cracked as she clenched her fists so hard her nails drew blood from her palms, Russell continued on, acutely aware of the heat Ember emanated intensify. "Then a few years later more laws were created, letting them work in areas they hadn't been able to before, letting them start off their own businesses. A few Faunus started off a rival gardening company, their staff would work for far less, totally undercut my dad." Russell paused for a moment to offer Ember the joint she shook her head before he even had a chance to open his mouth.

"So…" he continued, a little uncomfortably. "... These employers, these noble families who my dad had served for so long, these assholes with more money than they could ever spend, abandoned him for the sake of a few Lien. All save one family. The Winchesters. Cardin's uncles hated the Faunus, sure they had Faunus maids and butlers but my family had always tended their pristine lawns and maintained their oh so precious gardens for generations. They moved us into their mansion, charged us not one Lien and in return we continued to serve, poor but proud. My brother Rowan is older so he'll inherit what's left of the family business, so Cardin's uncles trained me up at the same time as Cardin, instilling in us fighting techniques and anti Faunus rhetoric in equal measure."

Russell relinquished his hold on the flower and turned to face Ember, disappointed to find her still facing the Hydrangea. "That's why I'm here at Beacon, that's why I was an asshole and that's why I said what I said during the mission." Ember opened her mouth to snap at the asshole stood next to her but Russell cut her off. "I'm sorry. I understand why you're pissed off with me, I know Rod and Velvet are really important to you. I didn't mean what I said, it's all sort of hardwired into me at this point. I'm an asshole, but I don't want to be anymore. I can be better, just give me a chance."

Ember turned to face Russell, staring into his eyes, searching for the merest hint of deceit. Her fiery gaze softened and Russell suddenly felt goosebumps from across his bare arms as the midnight chill once again became noticeable. The near searing heat emanating from Ember dissipated. She reached out and took the joint from his hand and took in a lungful of the pleasing smoke, savouring the half expectant/half worried expression that Russell couldn't hope to keep from his face. "I'll think about it, come on its getting late." She said before spinning on her heel and walking back in the direction of the dorms.

Russell hesitated for a moment before falling into step at her side. "You'll think about it?"

"Yup." Ember replied with a smile.

"Well you haven't tried setting me on fire yet so I'll take that as a good sign."

Ember's gaze flickered to the smouldering end of the joint in her hand. "With that amount of hair spray," she said nodding to his mohawk, "I wouldn't even have to try." She took a long draw of the dwindling joint before passing the nearly spent stub back to it's owner.

Russell smirked as he took hold of his smoke. He took one last drag before flicking it into the damp soil of a nearby flower bed as they emerged from Beacons gardens and into the open courtyard that sat between the gardens and the dorm building. The pair made their way inside, no words passed between them, Ember seemed content to stay silent and Russell really wasn't sure what to say.

Finally the two students reached the door of Ember's dorm room. Ember turned and smiled warmly at the thoroughly soaked first year stood in front of her. She cupped his chin gently with her right hand and turned his head to the side. She planted a kiss on his cheek and placed her warm lips beside his ear. "It's a good sign." She whispered. Russell went a deep shade of red and tried to stammer out some sort of smooth reply as Ember shot him a parting smile and disappeared into her dorm room.

The door slid closed with a muted click, leaving Russell alone in the corridor. He sighed before making his way into his own room down the hallway. He found Sky, tossing and turning in his sleep mumbling gibberish but decided it best to leave the recovering addict to sleep. He clambered onto his bed and didn't even bother removing his dirty battle gear. He stared at the wooden slats of the bunk bed above him, brow furrowed deep in thought, wondering just who he was anymore.

Ember stalked into the middle of the room and unzipped her maroon body glove. Around her her three teammates slumbered, though had they been awake she still would have taken her battlegear off in front of them. She had made the decision a long time ago that they were going to see her in her underwear at some point, she might aswell get it over with. She let it slide from her aching shoulders and fall to the floor. She strolled to her bed clad only in her underwear and slid beneath the covers. One hand soon emerged from beneath the quilt visible only by the pale light of the moon as she brought it up to her face. Her Faunus claws slid out from her fingertips. Moonlight danced across her shiny, jet black claws. Will he be able to accept what I am?

PLEASE REVIEW!

Hello everyone, E here sorry for my lengthy absence and for leaving you on a cliff hanger for so long. I owe you all an explanation but I don't want to get too much into it so what I'll say is that I was dealing with some relationship issues and I didn't want how I currently feel about relationships etc... to corrupt this story. I also owe you an apology so sorry it took so long and I hope you enjoy. Two more chapters and then things will start getting interesting again. Well that's the plan anyways. Thank you all for your patience.