"Well that could have gone better." Weiss said with a sigh as she lazily twirled the last few strands of noodles around her fork.

"It could have gone a lot worse, too." Ruby pointed out, "I honestly wasn't expecting her to acknowledge that forgiveness was the right choice. Not that quickly, anyway."

The two partners sat at one of the food stalls in the bustling festival fairgrounds. Ruby wanted to celebrate their victory with a team lunch, but Yang asked if she and Blake could go off and do their own thing. Knowing that they wouldn't have asked without good reason, Ruby had to give up the idea of lunch for four. That being said, lunch with Weiss sounded just as enjoyable, so everything worked out fine in the end.

Weiss set down her noodle bowl and idly glanced around the fairgrounds. She watched lots of happy people, natives and tourists alike, enjoying the festival's offerings and going about their merry way without a care in the world, "Do you think JNPR is having the same kind of difficulty adjusting?" She asked.

Ruby stared pensively at the remains of her own meal and thought about Weiss's question. The first three months of RWBY's 'tour of duty' were the most brutal, and JNPR was lucky enough to miss out on those. And thanks to Jaune's sacrifices, they only spent a month at most without their Aura. Sure, the war was just as horrific after the introduction of the Ethereals and the Grimm, but a lot happened in those first few months that really changed RWBY.

"I hope not." She finally answered, "It's probably bad enough for Ozpin having one team with anger problems. Let's hope that number doesn't change to two."

Weiss nodded, though the ringing of her scroll interrupted their peaceful moment. Ruby watched Weiss pull it out, glance at the caller ID, and roll her eyes with a groan, "I need to take this. You don't mind if I leave you to finish your meal alone, do you? I don't know how long the call will take."

It was Ruby's turn to roll her eyes, "It's just noodles, Weiss. We're not at The Spaghetti Factory in St. Louis eating a three-course meal or anything. Go take your call."

Weiss offered her partner a smile before heading off and answering her phone. Curious, Ruby used her psionically-enhanced senses to figure out who was so important that Weiss couldn't ignore. The moment she heard the words 'Hello Father,' however, Ruby immediately turned off her supernatural hearing. Ruby didn't know Weiss's father, but she had a rough idea of his personality from the rare occasion when Weiss spoke of him. Whatever he called to talk about, that conversation should definitely remain private. She could ask about it later, and Weiss would have the opportunity to divulge information on her own terms. For now, Ruby had time to kill a bowl of noodle scraps to finish, so she picked up her fork and dug back into her lunch, idly wondering if she'd run into any old acquaintances at the fairgrounds.

Out of all the people Ruby wanted to see, the only one who seemed to be interested in re-introductions happened to be the absolute last on her list. As she continued to enjoy her meal, a lone figure watched from a ways off. After weeks of wondering where Ozpin's favorite freshmen had wandered off to, after their perfect buddies from JNPR apparently found out and ran off too, some of their classmates had written them off as dead when no news or official announcements were made about their absence. Now, they conveniently show up just in time for the Vytal Festival, and they've demonstrated a degree of skill in combat way above what they possessed three weeks ago. Well, even if Cardin Winchester's chances for placing in the tournament plummeted in the last few hours, at least he'd have the satisfaction of finding out where the hell Ruby and her merry band of idiots disappeared to.

Was he overreacting? Probably, though he felt justified in his annoyance all the same. He knew that his own team wasn't particularly impressive in, well, much of anything. The idea that RWBY could disappear for weeks at a time, and then reappear without any explanation or reprimand from Ozpin… it just reeked of favoritism. And since Cardin only approved of favoritism that benefited him in some way, he needed to vent his frustration somehow.

He watched while Ruby and the stupid heiress ate their meal (honestly, the idea that the Schnee had deigned to order from a noodle shack surprised Cardin), waiting for an opportunity to interrupt and get some answers. While Cardin knew that Ruby was a skilled huntress, he also knew that he'd rather take his chances with her over any of the other three: her sister was terrifying, her partner's family would probably send hitmen after him if he tried to pull anything with her, and he just found out that the dark one was a faunus (and, therefore, not worth his attention). At least he could use Ruby's diminutive size to his advantage when the time was right to make a move.

It didn't take long for Ruby to get lost in the flavors of her food again after the Schnee ditched her, and Cardin watched his mark sit back and sigh contentedly with her eyes closed. His hands shook with excitement as he slowly approached the unsuspecting huntress. He played the scenario through his head to figure out how he could make any bystanders think he was just saying hi to an old friend while making it perfectly clear to Ruby that he wanted answers. By the time he reached his target, he settled with dropping a heavy hand onto her shoulder and squeezing like a vice. Maybe he'd feel better after getting a good scare out of Ruby.

"Ruby, my old- oh shit!"

Before he could deliver his totally sarcastic, totally awesome one-liner, Cardin found himself with a very ornate handgun pressed up under his chin. He didn't know where Ruby got it from, but he was more concerned with why her first reaction was to pull it out and jam it into his face.

"Don't shoot! Please!" Cardin exclaimed, voice panicky. He glanced around and noticed several bystanders watching the scene. An armored tower of a man getting schooled by a little girl? This was not going the way Cardin imagined.

Ruby's eyes narrowed, "The hell do you want, Cardin?"

"Just to talk!" Cardin groaned, eyes still glued to the weapon in Ruby's hand, "It's been a long time since you've shown your face around here, and I-"

"Bullshit. I'll say it again: what do you want? Don't make me ask a third time."

Great, now he couldn't even get a word in edgewise before getting cut off by the little twerp. The cold steel of the handgun still pressed against his neck made Cardin wonder just exactly what had… corrupted the annoyingly naive schoolgirl he used to know. Before Cardin could answer, another voice cried out, "Ruby!"

Both students turned to see a wide-eyed Weiss rounding the corner.

"Ruby!" Weiss repeated with a hiss, her eyes glancing back and forth between her partner and the handgun. Ruby followed Weiss's gaze to the handgun, and Cardin noticed her eyes unfocus before she cried out as if she just now realized she had the barrel of a gun pressed up against a classmate's throat. She immediately pulled the gun away and almost tripped over herself as she backed up from Cardin as fast as possible. She saw Blake and Yang out of the corner of her eye, drawn in by the growing commotion.

"I… uh… I…" She fumbled, scrambling for an explanation of her behavior. Yang stepped in front of her sister and glowered at Cardin.

"What did you do to my sister?" She seethed, her eyes flickering red for a brief moment.

"What did I do?" Cardin sputtered, "I wasn't the one pointing a loaded gun at a classmate!"

"And exactly how do you know it was loaded?" Weiss asked, her voice colder than usual.

Good point. Cardin didn't really have an answer for that one, "Well, you know… hunters never… uhm…"

"Just go, Cardin." Yang said, her fists clenching and unclenching.

"This isn't over!" He shouted as he stormed off, glaring daggers at Ruby, "Ozpin will hear about this!"

Yang shook her head and turned back to focus on her sister. Ruby had already put Aureate Mercy back on her hip, and now she was staring silently at her hands, eyes wide.

"I thought he was a Seeker." She whispered, "He just grabbed me, I reacted… and then when I realized it was just Cardin, I got furious."

"It's alright, Ruby. That jackass totally deserved it." Yang said, forcing a smile onto her face.

Blake shook her head, "Cardin deserves a lot of things, but we also have to consider the thoughts and emotions of uninformed bystanders. With so many people in one place, it could be bad if we caused a panic. Ironwood's military fleet is bad enough for morale as it is."

"Not helping, Blake…" Weiss muttered.

"At the same time, I understand what it's like to react… poorly." Blake admitted, "I suspect that memories of the war aren't going to stop haunting us for a long time."

"Well that was interesting." The four huntresses looked up at the new voice and saw a smirking green-haired huntress staring back at them, "Didn't know you had a mean streak in you, Ruby."

"I don't!" Ruby squeaked, "It was just a misunderstanding."

"Cardin's always been a bully for as long as we've been at Beacon." Blake explained, "Anything less than a direct confrontation would have been too subtle to put a stop to it. Believe me, we've tried. Hello…" Blake wracked her brain to remember the girl's name, "… Emerald."

Emerald grinned, "Relax, I'm just pulling your leg. At any rate, I can't say I didn't enjoy watching him squirm. I've only known Winchester for a few weeks, and I'm already sick of him. You gonna be okay?"

Ruby nodded, slightly surprised by the amount of subtle venom she noticed in Emerald's voice and facial expression when she talked about Cardin, "Yeah, I'll be fine. It's just kinda stressful to finally stand up to that jerk, you know?"

"Well good on you for sticking up for the little man. That's not why I stopped by to say hello, though. I wanted to congratulate you on your win." Emerald flashed a smile and gave Ruby a thumbs up, "You guys looked totally awesome out there!"

"I… thanks?" Ruby said. Her team had made Emerald's acquaintance before their adventure on Earth, but that was almost a year ago from their perspective. Ruby couldn't remember how friendly they'd been before the XCOM war, and wondered briefly why Emerald would go out of her way to seek out her team just to congratulate them. Maybe she was just trying to get to know them better, but something seemed off about her smile, like it was too big to be greeting someone she hardly knew. Still, Ruby decided she should be a little more gracious in accepting the girl's compliment, "ABRN put up a good fight, but it wasn't that difficult, to be honest."

Emerald laughed, "Yeah, kinda sucks for them to get smoked in the first round, but that's reality for you. Any idea about who you're gonna advance to the next round?"

"We talked about it a little." Yang answered with a shrug, "I believe we were considering… Weiss and me? Right guys?"

There. Ruby saw it in her eyes for a fraction of a second: she didn't know exactly what dilating pupils meant, but all those buddy cop movies she used to watch with Yang always had one of the good guys pointing out that they could tell the perp was lying because of his eyes. A small voice in the back of her head told Ruby that she could be imagining things, that the reaction could have just been competitive excitement, so she did the only thing she could think of: try to get more clues.

"Indeed." Weiss agreed, oblivious to Ruby's inner struggle, "With your strength and my utility, it should be easy for us to overcome any team composition that we end up facing."

"Why?" Ruby asked, making a show of leering at Emerald suspiciously, "What's got you so curious about our team all of a sudden?"

The only thing that could have made Ruby's act more perfect would have been a fake moustache, but the charade paid off all the same. Not only did her eyes fluctuate again, but Ruby's enhanced vision also zeroed in on the tiny hairs on Emerald's neck standing on end as if electrified. Something was up, and Ruby needed to figure out what. The only option she had left without outright accusing Emerald was tapping into her psionics and trying to sense the huntress's emotions.

Emerald raised an eyebrow at Ruby's ominous words and let out an amused snort, "Well somebody's getting needlessly protective. Just want to know who I might have the pleasure of squaring off against in the next round."

Something in Ruby's brain tingled as she tried to tap into Emerald's surface feelings, though she couldn't quite figure out what. It had been easier to read Blake during their fight, since Ruby already had a pretty clear idea of Blake's personality and how her emotions manifested. Trying to read a total stranger apparently came with its own set of challenges. Still, the back of her mind tickled, like an itch she couldn't quite scratch or the memories of a dream that she just barely couldn't remember. She'd have to ask Annette to help her practice this stuff sometime. While Ruby didn't know if the Major could actually read thoughts, Annette's skills as an empath were generally accepted among XCOM's operatives.

"Ignore her." Yang said with an exaggerated eye roll, "My sister's taking this whole competition thing a bit too seriously."

Emerald grinned, evidently taking Ruby's antics as a joke, "Given that this tournament only rolls around once every two years, who can blame her? Well, good luck out there. Maybe you'll cross paths with my team at some point. I promise we'll put up a good fight. See you around!"

"Bye Emerald!" Ruby said as she waved. Better to drop the 'act' of being suspicious rather than make Emerald suspicious of her own suspicion. Or something. Once the green-haired huntress was out of sight, Ruby turned to face her teammates, "Did any of you find that conversation at all weird?"

Yang laughed, "You mean other than you? She was probably just scouting out the competition. I say let her, since it won't do much good if she does go up against us."

"Yeah, I guess. But it seemed to me like it was more than that? I can't really explain it." Ruby said, a tinge of uncertainty in her voice.

Blake raised an eyebrow, "Sounds like your spider senses are tingling."

"Maybe?" Ruby sighed, "But I'm not even sure if they are. I thought I felt something, but I couldn't really nail down exactly what. Annette makes this kinda stuff look easy." She half-mumbled.

Weiss put a gentle hand on her partner's shoulder. Unlike Cardin's antics from earlier, Ruby felt better at Weiss's touch, "Well your intuition has helped us out of more than one tight spot in the past, Ruby, so I'm not about to write it off because I didn't see anything. What do you think we should do?"

"That's just it, I don't know what we can do." Ruby said, "I know you and Yang are excited about advancing to the next round, and I don't want to take that away because of some stupid feeling I've got."

Yang shook her head, "You don't sound very authoritative, Captain. If you want to make the call, then make it. The rest of us are behind you one hundred percent."

Ruby looked at Yang, doubt in her eyes, "Seriously?"

"Of course." Blake said, "You kept us alive through eight months of hell. Not many people can brag about a team leader with that sort of qualification."

Ruby took a deep breath and nodded, "... Thanks, guys. Yeah let's quietly switch it up and not tell anyone for as long as possible. Maybe we can even get Ozpin's help and figure out a way to make it seem like Freezerburn is still on until the last minute, like one of you got injured and can't compete or something."

"Well, now's your chance," Yang said, looking over Ruby's shoulder, "Because it looks like he's coming this way."

Ruby looked up and saw her headmaster approaching, flanked by a stern Glynda, an impassive Bradford, and a bored Qrow. Her stomach churned as she thought of all the possible reasons why Ozpin wanted to talk to her, "… Oh boy."

Ruby fidgeted nervously as she rode the elevator to Ozpin's office with the rest of her team. Ozpin didn't seem nearly as upset as she imagined, considering Ruby literally put a gun to a classmate's chin only hours after her teammates demonstrated unrestrained aggression in the first round of the tournament. It didn't help when she saw Cardin as she walked with Ozpin, and the smarmy bully gave her the biggest shit-eating grin Ruby had ever seen. Then there was the fact that Bradford hadn't said a word during the entire walk and elevator ride. After nine months of flourishing under his watchful eye, Ruby almost felt worse at the prospect of disappointing Bradford than she did Ozpin.

The elevator finally stopped and the doors opened, allowing the party of eight to file out into the spacious office. Ozpin made for his seat, followed by both Glynda and Bradford. Qrow preferred to remain a casual observer, it seemed, since he hung back and picked a column by the elevator to lean against while RWBY approached Ozpin's table with the other three adults.

"I would offer you a seat," The headmaster started, "But it appears that I lack the furniture to do so. You would think that the headmaster of a school structured around teams of four would have at least that many guest seats in his office, and yet here we are…"

Glynda pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance at the off-topic rambling, "Ozpin, please…"

"You're right, Glynda. My apologies." He took a sip from his mug, organized his thoughts, and tried again, "Ruby Rose, I would like to congratulate you and your team on emerging victorious from the first round of the tournament."

Ruby blinked, "I… thank you, sir."

"The coordination your team demonstrated on the field speaks very well to how tight-knit you have become. Some student teams don't achieve that degree of trust and cooperation until their final year at Beacon."

"Well, it's kind of a requirement if you want to survive in a war zone." Yang said, though she sounded pleased with the compliment all the same.

"That being said…"

Ruby groaned inwardly. She knew that the next part of the conversation was important, necessary even, but that didn't make it any easier for her to stomach.

"Your methods for victory seemed to have… ah…"

"Ruffled a few feathers?" Glynda suggested.

"Pissed off a couple of pompous bigwigs." Qrow clarified.

Ozpin nodded, sighing at Qrow's bluntness, "That is one way to put it, yes. And while aggression in combat isn't that unreasonable, there's also the matter of your run-in with Mister Winchester." The headmaster paused to swirl his mug and watch its contents slosh around for a moment, "To be frank, I'm hesitant to take anything that Cardin says at face value. So I'm going to ask you, Miss Rose: is he telling the truth about the encounter you two had earlier?"

"That I put a gun up to his head without provocation?" Ruby sighed, "He's not wrong."

"Except for the 'without provocation' part." Bradford guessed.

Ruby nodded, "He made his presence known by grabbing my shoulder."

The Central Officer winced, immediately understanding why Ruby reacted the way she did, "Yeah, that'll do it."

Ozpin's eyes adopted a hard look, and Ruby's stomach did another twist, "Do not mistake my casual tone for a lax reprimand, Ruby. While I am not a stranger to the mental stresses of war, the way your first match played out was rather… disappointing." The young team leader wilted under her headmaster's words. Even though he held no malice in his voice, Ruby could still feel the weight behind his words, "Though your team's technical skills cannot be questioned, there is more to a huntsman than the ability to kill effectively. I expect better from you because I know you are capable of better. The feats of strategy and coordination I have heard about from Bradford, that I saw in today's match, indicate that you and your team possess a certain degree of level-headedness."

He paused his speech with a sip from his mug, "A degree of level-headedness that was overshadowed by several bouts of emotion that took place both on and off of the arena floor."

"I know should have behaved better after I realized it was Cardin, sir." Ruby mumbled, "I'm not going to give you an excuse for my behavior."

Ozpin nodded, "Good, because I've never found excuses to help anyone. Self-introspection, on the other hand…" He pondered his next words carefully, "We all have memories and actions that we wish we could change, Ruby. The best we can do is learn from our mistakes and vow not to repeat them in the future. Given the delicate sociopolitical nature of this festival, I must impress upon you the importance of learning not to repeat this particular mistake."

At her headmaster's words, Major Vance's voice entered Ruby's mind, unbidden.

… Honor Biggs, and the rest of the soldiers on the memorial wall, by moving forward and striving to learn from their sacrifice.

Ruby didn't know why that thought rose to the top above all others, given that getting pissed off at a class bully was entirely different from watching a soldier die under her command. Even so, the sentiment did feel similar enough. And if she took Ozpin's (unsettlingly ominous) words at face value, then the two situations were even more alike: learn and adapt, or fail and die. She nodded in agreement with Ozpin's advice, "I understand, sir."

The headmaster, satisfied with Ruby's answer, turned to Blake, "Miss Belladonna…?"

Blake, evidently just as uncomfortable as Ruby about the situation, didn't acknowledge the question until Yang gave her a slight nudge, "… Yes?"

Ozpin stared evenly at his student, "I won't insult you by giving you a pass due to your personal suffering from the war. I'm certain you're just as aware as the rest of your team regarding the importance of professionalism in our trade, and so I expect you will get to the root of what caused your outburst this afternoon and rectify it. To that end, I must ask: is everything alright?"

The hairs stood up on the back of Blake's neck. As much as she hated the thought of admitting weakness, Blake was aware that Ozpin genuinely needed to know her status, just as Bradford would need to know before giving her clearance to join a coalition op. Of course, the question remained hanging over her head. Was everything alright? No, people who are alright don't mistake friendly opponents for bloodthirsty bugs, especially when they've had half a year to cope with the responsible trauma.

But could she say that to Ozpin? She knew him to be an understanding headmaster (although he seemed uncharacteristically tense about this festival), but how would he react to a student with PTSD? Did she really have PTSD? She never experienced episodes like this during the war, so why now? Maybe that's why it's called 'post' traumatic stress disorder. Would she ever be able to really fix herself? Too many questions, and everyone in the room wanted to hear an answer right now. But she didn't want to just open up this can of worms just yet. A better idea would be to take some time to really think about it and find a good way to carefully approach the problem.

"Yes." She answered, "I just got a bit… carried away in the fight."

Ozpin stared at Blake for several agonizing seconds before finally accepting her response, "Very well. In light of today's events, I trust that you and your team will work to resolve any necessary internal issues. But if you ever need to speak to someone in confidence, know that there are people who are more than willing to lend you an ear."

"From both Remnant and Earth." Bradford reminded her. He didn't believe Blake's answer to be true, and he suspected that Ozpin didn't either, but he agreed with the headmaster that openly shaming Blake would do more harm than good. The best he could do was hope that Blake eventually decided to seek out someone like Vahlen before the issue reared its ugly head again.

For now, though, Ozpin seemed content with the resolution of their discussion, "Indeed. Well, I believe that wraps up our meeting here. I believe the next bout in the tournament is due to start soon, so shall we head back to the Colosseum and enjoy the rest of the day?"

Ruby noticed Glynda's eye twitch slightly, which led her to believe that Ozpin had things to do other than watching students fight. However, Ruby also had something on her mind that she wanted to bring up while she still had Ozpin and Bradford in the same room, "Actually… I'd like to talk about something else before we leave."

"Oh?"

Did she really want to do this? Criminal accusations aren't taken lightly, and it would look really bad if Emerald's intentions really were as simple as scouting the competition. Still, she couldn't shake the feeling she got when Emerald talked to her team about advancement. She needed to at least let Ozpin be aware that it sorta-maybe-possibly-might be an issue.

"Are you familiar with a student in the tournament named Emerald, sir?"

Ozpin made a few keystrokes on his scroll, glanced at the result for a moment, then nodded, "Emerald Sustrai?"

"Probably." Ruby answered, "Dark complexion, green hair… yup, that's her." She confirmed when Ozpin slid his scroll across the table displaying Emerald's student profile.

"What of her?"

Now came the tricky part, "I'm not quite sure, to be honest, but she stopped by to chat with our team shortly before you arrived. The conversation was pretty normal, I guess, but… I dunno… I just got some bad vibes from her."

"These 'bad vibes' wouldn't be similar to the kind that most Beacon freshmen feel around our own mister Winchester, would they?" Glynda asked, evidently annoyed that Ruby felt the need to bring up the news of a bully to Ozpin's attention.

Ruby shook her head, "No, miss Goodwitch. It's not really easy to explain, but-" She cut herself off when she saw Bradford raising his eyebrow and tapping his forehead. She nodded.

"-I've just got a feeling." She finished, fully aware of how lame that sounded.

Ozpin, however, seemed to get the gist of her statement, "I can't arrest someone on 'just a feeling,' Ruby. I'm certain you know that."

"I do." Ruby answered, "Which is why I was hesitant to bring it up."

Bradford spoke up, "At the same time, I've come to trust Ruby's intuition. While we can't do anything direct, I was already considering the development of a rotation of operatives to help maintain a quiet presence in Vale. I don't see any harm in asking them to keep an eye out if they encounter this Sustrai. And if the more information does come to light that provides credibility for Captain Rose's concerns, I think I have several individuals who may be uniquely suited to helping us resolve this matter. Discretely."

Ruby smiled inwardly at Bradford's use of her rank. She noticed that he sometimes did that when he felt the need to remind people of Ruby's professional accomplishments. While she certainly didn't feel very accomplished after a messy first round, it felt good to know that Bradford still had had her back. She just needed to prove that she deserved it.

"I think that is a good course of action." Ozpin agreed, "The information we have at this juncture does not allows us to consider more direct options, but at least we can keep our eyes open for anything out of the ordinary."

Ruby breathed a small sigh of relief. For the second time today, a potentially volatile conversation went better than expected.

Jaune sat on the edge of the roof and stared out at the small city of activity known as Beacon. While most people were enjoying the festivities at the fairgrounds or on the Colosseum proper, he still saw students wandering the grounds of the school with friends or giving family a tour of their home for the last year or two. He looked at the mighty tower that stood above everything else, the green-lit sentinel that always served as a backdrop for his training sessions with Pyrrha. He closed his eyes and imagined the clashing of steel, the pounding of footsteps as he and his partner fell into the rhythm of sparring. Maybe after things settled down, they could go back to that nightly routine. Jaune had no misconceptions about his current skill level: XCOM may have given him the confidence he needed to succeed, but he could still learn plenty from the four-time Mistrali champion that he called his partner.

"Thought I'd find you up here."

Speak of the devil (angel, more like). Jaune glanced over his shoulder and watched Pyrrha walk up to take a seat next to him, "Beagle said you mentioned something about a roof. Didn't take long to figure out what you meant."

"Is he still getting dragged around campus by Nora?" Jaune asked with amusement.

"Dragged around? He's loving it." Pyrrha laughed, "One of the perks of passing off as Nora and Ren's adoptive father is that Nora has to do what he says."

Jaune shrugged, "According to Ren, she follows his orders anyway. Chain of command and all that. Besides, I think he likes her chaotic personality, so he probably only reins it in when he really needs to."

"What about you? Felt the need to slip away and be alone for a bit?" She asked.

"Just… reminiscing, I guess." He looked out over the campus again, "We spent a lot of time up here, didn't we?"

Pyrrha nodded, "We did. And hopefully, we'll be able to spend a lot more time up here before we graduate."

"Yeah, when things settle down." Jaune said, vocalizing his earlier musings.

The two sat in comfortable silence, his hand on top of hers, as they watched the world play out below them. The sounds of the festival drifted in from the distance while the Colosseum loomed in the sky. For the moment, Jaune felt comfortable… happy. He was back on Remnant, his team still in one piece, just in time for the world to celebrate prosperity and unity in the face of all the darkness and uncertainty in the world. He wasn't naive, and he knew that trouble would always be just around the corner, but even evil had to take a break every now and then, right?

"How long do you think this will last?" He asked.

"Hopefully long enough for us to enjoy it." Pyrrha answered, catching his meaning, "Then again, we're huntsmen. It's our job to keep the peace so others can enjoy it."

"D'you think things'll get bad? Like Earth invasion bad?"

Pyrrha shuddered, "Hopefully nothing ever gets as bad as the that, but… our history has shown that it's possible. More recently, I doubt you've forgotten about the Breach, even after nine months on Earth. From what Ruby and her friends told us, that wasn't an isolated incident, either. Torchwick's been causing trouble for a while now, and we don't really know the extent of his conniving actions. I don't know if anything has happened for the last two weeks, but I'm certain he's got people on the outside while Atlas pats itself on the back for locking up the criminal 'mastermind' behind that horrific event."

A yell of "Nora, get back here!" from down below drew their attention, and the two partners watched Beagle chase after a gleeful Nora, his Christmas aviators seated firmly on her face. Despite his impressive fitness as an XCOM operative (and as a Rocketeer to boot), he couldn't match Nora's Aura-enhanced athletics.

"Well, at least we've got those guys now." Jaune commented as Nora and Beagle ran rings around the huntsman statue in the center of Beacon's courtyard.

Pyrrha nodded, "I don't think we should lean on them too much for help, given that Earth still has its own set of problems that deserves XCOM's attention, but it looks like Bradford is keen on thanking us for our service in the war."

"Man, I wonder what's gonna happen if people on Earth find out about Remnant, or vice versa. Hopefully nobody panics."

"I doubt that Remnant is as tight of a secret as we think." Pyrrha mused, "There were a lot of people at XCOM, I'm sure some of them tipped off their governments about us. Whether the politicians believe the stories however…? I'm not sure. But I trust Bradford and Ozpin, and I think keeping things quiet for now is the right move."

Down below, Nora took off Beagle's glasses and threw them over his head. A look of betrayal crossed the Captain's face when he turned around to see Ren rocking his sweet shades. Pyrrha leaned her head onto Jaune's shoulder while they continued to watch the playful game of keep away unfold between their teammates and superior officer. Jaune decided that, so long as things were quiet, he better enjoy the simpler things in life.

For all he knew, the world could go to hell in a handbasket tomorrow.

Far from Vale, across mountains, valleys, seas, and tundra… far from any semblance of man-made structures or settlements… the landscape surrounding a very specific patch of dirt looked vastly different from anything witnessed by mankind. Neither civilian nor huntsman had ever seen the twisted terrain of this particular valley, warped over the years by… something. Whether it was Dust, Grimm, or merely geological activity, one thing was clear: the land looked damaged. Poisoned. Rock formations jutted out at odd angles, scarred by massive crystals breaking free from their backs. A noxious mist hung heavily in the air, with neither a gentle breeze nor a heavy wind blowing through the region to clear it away. No flora grew in this fetid wasteland, except for several disturbing strains of weeds and vines that looked more like a twisted mockery of nature than anything that could be seen elsewhere on Remnant. No fauna remained except for those long dead, with the fur, meat, and other viscera eaten away for centuries by the toxic air so that the bones could be bleached by the sun as it struggled to breach the smog.

In this land, the only movement came in the form of Grimm. Not only were such foul creatures able to survive in this land of death and decay, but they thrived here. Goliaths and Boarbatusks wandered the valley floor while Nevermore and Griffons lazily circled overhead and Beowolves sat atop the jagged buttes. Amorphous black matter slithered like some sort of living sludge, occasionally forming itself into a more recognizable form if it somehow found enough soul matter to latch onto. The density of the Grimm, coupled with the sheer inhospitality of the environment, likely made this hell hole the absolute last place on Remnant that any human would ever want to visit.

And yet, atop one of scarred mesas stood a woman looking up into the sky. White hair pulled into a tight, ornate bun adorned with ribbons deep red in color framed an impossibly pale white face. Two eyes, blood red like the Grimm below, stared at the shattered moon hanging above the valley's thick haze. Black lines, seared into her skin like ornate tattoos, snaked along her limbs in complex designs that only added to the eldritch vibe radiating from this woman. Indeed, she projected an aura of unholy strength: the primordial slurry of Grimm essence pooled around her feet and rose like a fine mist as if it were some arcane power for her to command.

She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. Something felt different. For a minute, she couldn't quite figure what change occurred, but the subtle undercurrents in her senses left her without a shadow of a doubt. Her ashen cloak pulled tight against her frame, and she projected her senses out further, trying to deduce what was tickling the back of her brain. It didn't take long before she felt it, and a thin smile spread across her lips.

"My my…" She breathed, eyes open once more as the Grimm essence swirled before her, "Welcome, my brother. It's been a long time in the making, but we are so excited to have you -and her- finally with us once more."

The agitated mist continued to dance around the woman until it finally formed itself not into Grimm, but spectral figures… wraiths that silently floated before her. Her smile cracked into a wide grin, and she swept her arms open into a wide gesture.

"You're just in time for the show to begin."

A/N: Welp. That just happened. As always, please let me know your thoughts on the chapter. I'm especially keen on hearing opinions regarding characterization, since I'm still spending a lot of time trying to get those right. As an example, I originally had a far whinier persona for Cardin before my editor pointed out that there were more interesting options for his personality.