Weightless.

Vi awoke, floating in an endless black void. Looking over herself, she saw that she was adorned in her battle gear, the clothing that was the most her. Everything was there, her dark gray pants, the red vest over her white dress shirt, and her narrow chestplate. On her hands already were her familiar Nova Talons, her precious little slashing fingers. Sliding the fingers back and forth even made them rasp like she remembered. Bringing them close, she examined the tips. "Yep, still sharp." she joked to her self. The sudden sound of her voice would have made her jump, if she could. When the sound died out, she could hear the sound of nothing. All around her was nothing; nothing to see, nothing to hear, nothing to feel. Vi couldn't even make out which way was up.

Where am I? she thought. I feel like I did something amazing, that I was happy. I remember fire, lots of fire, and then black. Am I dead? I can't be dead... no, I can't. Her mind wandered until it fell on her team. Erol. Olivia. Dorren. My best friends, are they dead, too? Images of their twisted and broken bodies forced their way into her mind, a nightmare she'd had more than once before. She couldn't hold back the tears, and little droplets freed themselves from her eyes to drift slowly away into the nothingness before her.

The void shifted. There was still nothing, but it felt like a different nothing, as if she was gaining perspective on this space. Her feet alighted on an invisible step and she stood on nothing, overlooking nothing. Empty void above her and below her, she took a step. Her foot found the same hard emptiness that she had landed on. Beneath her step, a white circle burst from under her foot and rapidly expanded to be a white floor that seemed to stretch infinitely.

Before her, she saw a pair of red eyes open from within the darkness. Vi looked around her new space, surrounding her were several other glowing pairs of eyes staring back at her. Clawed paws stepped out of a black haze, followed by the head, torso and legs of a Beowolf. The other pairs of eyes had all done the same, and Vi found herself surrounded by a pack of Beowolves. She took the initiative and charged at the one directly in front of her. En route, she called for her fire, only to find nothing. She peeked down at her wrists, all of the dust canisters housed in her Nova Talons were utterly dry. This isn't good at all... she thought.

Committed to the charge, she pressed on toward the Beowolf. The Grimm tried to crouch back defensively and take a swipe at her, but she ducked aside and made a swipe of her own. Vi's clawed gauntlet connected with the base of the Beowolve's leg, leaving the nearly severed limb dangling uselessly. She turned to face the rest of the Grimm, now all charging at her. The first, she parried its paw away with an armored hand and slashed back at its face. She hadn't recovered her stance when the second charging Beowolf came, and it raked its claws across her shoulder and sending her tumbling. She moved to get up, but her left arm was hardly responding. She turned her head to see the deeper red soaking through her vest and shirt, and she now felt the pain her body hadn't noticed.

The Grimm had already caught up with her before she could get up. One drew near and leapt into the air, claws and teeth bared. All she could do was raise a hand to try and intercept the worst of it. The Beowolf landed on her, one set of claws stopped on her breastplate and the other digging into her stomach. Continuing the motion, its head aimed for her neck only to be stopped by her gauntlet. It thrashed from side to side, trying to slip past the barrier. The Beowolf suddenly ducked its head and was free of her hand. As she felt its fangs clamping onto her throat, all of the Grimm dissolved into dust and she fell through the floor. As she passed through the plane of the floor, her injuries disappeared.

Once again, she was floating in the empty void. All dimension was gone again, there was no sense of direction or distance. Failure? she thought. I... I can't do it. Not without dust. What hope do I have without my dust? The tears came again, she might as well be unarmed if there were that many Grimm and she didn't have any dust.

The space shifted again, and she felt her weight come to rest on the same immaterial platform. "No, not again..." she said to herself. Several seconds passed, but the floor did not form beneath her. Soon she felt the same sensation of falling as she passed through the invisible ground beneath her.

"She's not doing well," said the doctor. "When she arrived, her Aura was basically gone, almost nonexistent. She has extensive internal lacerations and bleeding. Her body is trying to heal itself, but its only able to slow her degrading condition. She's just NOT regenerating her Aura, and it's all we can do to treat her injuries. We haven't seen anything like this before. I'm... sorry we can't say much more with confidence."

"Well, what can you say without confidence?" inquired Dorren.

"We... think that the state of her Aura is caused by the crystal that she consumed." the doctor offered.

"But she didn't-" Dorren began.

The doctor held up a hand. "I know, it's the medical term. Ozpin has filled us in on some of his and the staff's conjecture for the sake of her treatment. We are under the assumption that the crystal drains the user's Aura for some purpose. When she consumed the crystal, it was integrated into her body beginning at her hand and then spreading while draining her Aura. When she used the fire dust and the unknown dust, it burned throughout her body. She only had so much Aura, so the crystal drained all that it could. She must have held it back from taking her life. We believe some of the crystal did not absorb any of her Aura, and thus remained in her body and is now stealing the very Aura that trying to repair her body. She has to either sate the dust outright or deny it her Aura until her body has better recovered, but one of those requires conscious effort."

"So all we can do is sit around and wait?" Dorren asked.

"Correct, that and be prepared for any emergent problems." answered the doctor.

Olivia and Erol could both see their leader's mounting tension. Even if there was something they could do, he hated being told to sit on the sideline while his friend fights for her life. Olivia reached out to him, "We're going, staying won't help anyone." Dorren sat for a while longer, but eventually agreed.

Leaving the infirmary, they walked the halls back to their room. The worried team had visited Vi as early as they could. Ahead of them, Ozpin rounded the corner. "Good morning, students," the Headmaster greeted.

"Good morning, Professor Ozpin." the three responded.

"I was on my way to visit your teammate myself and check on her personally," Ozpin explained. "I trust you were brought up to speed on her condition?"

"Unless something has changed in the last minute." said Erol.

"Not in the last minute, but our observations suggest that her Aura could take weeks to fully recover, the staff should be duly prepared." the Headmaster reported.

"Weeks? What will we do..." Dorren wondered aloud.

"That has already been taken care of, someone is waiting for you at your room..." Ozpin checked his watch, "about now. I presumed you would be heading back."

"We... already have a stand-in?" the leader asked pointedly.

"Yes, you do," Ozpin stated. "And yes, it does sound heartless, but I hope you will see things our way. I've been where you are now, and the worst things to have at times like these are idle hands. It is a cruel kindness, but you will be expected to conduct your patrol next week. Oh, and before your patrol, you will need to bring your new friend up to speed on how you all will work together. I'll be off." With a gesture of his cane, he walked past and left the three standing in the hallway.

"It's all happening so quickly." Olivia spoke up.

"Yeah, I wonder what the replacement is like. It'll be hard to replace Vi." said Dorren

"Let's not keep 'em waiting." suggested Erol.

The three turned down their dorm hall and saw a short, fair, sandy haired girl waiting outside their door. Other than her uniform, she wore a royal blue cape with a striking yellow pattern drawn over her shoulders, and her hair was held in a lopsided ponytail. She saw them coming out of the corner of her eye and put away her scroll. The girl brushed her cape to rest fully behind her and brought a straight hand up in mock salute, "Celia Fuller, leader of first-year team CTIL ("Steel"), reporting for duty!" her high voice rang out. The three perked up when they heard her, her voice carried an energy they had been lacking for the last day.

Dorren introduced himself first, "Dorren Alistar, leader of second-year team DOVE and heavy weapons, pleased to meet ya."

Olivia spoke up next, "Olivia Fletcher, sharpshooter," she said simply.

There was a short pause, and then Erol realized he came next, "Erol Markov, I don't know, close quarters?"

"So it's V..." Celia said sadly.

"Yeah, she saved all of us, but it cost her a lot, Ozpin thinks she may be out for weeks," Dorren hurriedly explained, his voice tense.

The little one made a short gasp, she had never heard of someone being down for that long. "What... what is she like?"

"Vi Solaris, she's... a different one." the leader said thoughtfully. "She is always cheerful, kind, energetic, and she's a little eccentric, but she keeps us on our toes. If you want more than that, you'll have to stick around and talk to her yourself."

"You never said what you do," Erol said.

"Oh, right, I use dust, but I'm a lot better at supporting than actual offense." said the new one sheepishly.

"We'll have to change some of our strategies..." the leader sulked. When he saw their new teammate sadden, he added, "but that also opens up doors for new ones. This will be good experience for all of us."

"That's right!" Celia spoke up. "Professor Ozpin said that this would be a great learning experience for me! He said that as a leader it would be helpful for me to know what not being the leader is like, and so would working with a different team."

"Speaking of," mused Doren, "what about your team?"

"Well, Ozpin had recommended I hang out with you guys mostly for a few days and later just split my time evenly." As she spoke, her words came faster with her mounting excitement. "The rest of Team CTIL is on standing orders to work hard, because I'm gonna learn a lot from you guys! Oh, I'm just so excited to work with Team DOVE!"

"Hold on there, I didn't expect actual excitement" jested Erol.

"What's not to be excited about!? Team DOVE has one of the most diverse set of weapons and strengths in its class!" Celia spat out. "Dorren is arguably the strongest in the class, while Erol is the only one who can hope to withstand the full weight of his blows. Olivia's marksmanship is unmatched, and Vi's casting is just spectacular!"

All three made a point of looking around the hallway, each trying to mask their pride. While each had their exceptional characteristic they hadn't stopped to consider that some may admire them. Though not the strongest second-year team, its members were known by what they did best.

"I mean it's going to be really cool seeing how Team DOVE functions together," the new one finished.

"Not so fast, there. We're going to need a new name." said Erol.

"Hah, that's right, she is a part of the team now." said Dorren.

The four thought hard, until Olivia spoke up. "We have D-E-C-O, if we add an extra D and E we have Decode." All around their circle came nods of approval.

"All in favor of Temporary-Team Decode?" said Dorren as he raised a fist in front of him.

The other three responded with an enthusiastic "Aye!" and raised fists, Celia and her short stature had to reach high to match their height.

"Second order of business, what's next?" said the leader, now turned to Celia, offering her the first decision as a guest. In her "Ummmmm…" that followed her stomach growled loudly. The elder three exchanged looks as smiled cracked on their faces and they burst into laughter. Celia felt embarrassed, she had been so nervous this morning when Ozpin called her to meet him and later her second team that she lost her appetite, and now it was catching up with her.

"So lunch, then?" asked Dorren, still recovering.

"That would be… very much appreciated." replied Celia eagerly. Looking upon her new team again, they seemed a bit brighter. I guess my second assignment is going well so far, she thought. As they walked to the cafeteria she recalled her meeting with the Headmaster just earlier that morning.

She had timidly opened the door into his office and greeted him with a shaky "Good morning, Headmaster." Ozpin sipped at his coffee and assured her that there was no cause for concern and asked her to take a seat. The Headmaster's office was interesting to say the least, it was very... him, gears turning under the floor, above the ceiling, and within the very walls. Even his desk and chair featured the same glass and gears motif that comprised the room.

He began in his usual cryptic manner that all of the students had quickly become accustomed to. "I cannot divulge all of the details, some you will eventually come to know but others are best kept to as few people as possible. A second-year team, Team DOVE, if you're familiar with them, is in dire straights as of yesterday. I... They need your help now. As we speak, they are on track to lose one of the most important battles of their lives."

"What can I do? If it's a battle, I'm only a first-year student!" she exclaimed.

"The one I am referring to is a different kind of battle. While your participation in their weekly patrols is expected, the battle I'm more concerned about is one of morale. I've watched them since they returned yesterday, and it's not good. Since the near-death of one of their own, the team has taken a turn for the worse. The leader who is normally rather calm has become… volatile. The quiet one, Olivia, has only become more so and the last one may well train himself to death. They desperately need someone to enter the team and reset the team's demeanor. You fit the bill as a very capable dust user and possess the cheer and brightness in spades that they gravely lack. Your special assignment is twofold: accompany the team on their missions and patrols for the duration of Vi's recovery and to make those three as happy as you possibly can."

"I'll… do the best I can." she replied.

"That's all I can ask for."

The Headmaster was seated at his desk in the Beacon clock tower, the turning gears mirrored those spinning in his mind. He sat hunched over the desk, his clasped hands formed the support on which rested his head. He stared blankly ahead, his face pensive. As Ozpin awaited the call, he pondered what information, if at all, he should divulge to the group. I should surely not pass any information about Vi and her condition, he thought. What we discovered by necessity the others will have to determine experimentally, which will take much longer. Atlas has and will always be a concern.

He did not bat an eye when the hologram screen sprang up from his desk with a true to size video feed of the secretary only inches from his face. "Good morning, Professor Ozpin. You have a secure conference call request, would you like to be connected?"

"Thank you, please connect me immediately." he politely directed.

"Yes, sir," she replied, and her voice was soon replaced by a dial tone. The Headmaster sighed heavily, no more time to rehearse. Three black silhouettes appeared on the screen, each for an emissary of the other three kingdoms.

"Greetings, everyone." said Ozpin.

"Ah, Professor Ozpin, so glad you could join us," came the gruff voice of Commander Cobalt. Ozpin could pick his low, rough timbre anywhere. Easily the strongest man Ozpin could think of, his Atlesian commander's uniform was the tightest of them all, even more so than Headmaster Ironwood of Phalanx Academy.

So, we have the Atlesian commander. Who else?

"Thank you, Cobalt," said Azalea in her cool, rich voice. Azalea, the beautiful Headmistress of Mistral's Academy, had made a name for herself with her unusual, albeit effective weapon and impeccable aim. Ozpin had spoken with her on multiple occasions, while not necessarily friends, he knew he could depend on her later.

"That makes four," said Headmaster Rorek, his voice as dry and dusty as his signature cloak and hat. Rorek, the eccentric Headmaster of Vacuo's Tempest Academy, was as haphazard and wild as the kingdom he calls home. He was always accused of being unkempt; his frayed brown cloak seemed to have a perpetual layer of dust and his matching pointed hat cast a wide round shadow almost completely over his shoulders. Not much was known about his fighting style except that his Dust use was as odd as he was.

Interesting, thought Ozpin. I must have gotten thrown into this mess because I responded to the incident in the first place. Everyone here was likely the first to actually do something about yesterday's event.

"I guess I shall get us started, then," began the Commander. "Yesterday's… event… we know that several pieces of our moon fell down upon Remnant. We know not the significance of these events yet, but desire to preemptively build cooperation for the sake of academia. I don't expect there is anyone in opposition?" He let his words hang, and took their silence as an affirmative. "Good. Now, has anyone made any progress regarding these stones?"

This isn't good, Atlas is pressing for information. "Not much so far. We have a few pieces that landed within our borders." said Ozpin. "One has been retrieved, but it required great effort. The impact gained the attention of Grimm for miles, we were hard pressed just to secure the area."

"Good to know..." Cobalt trailed off.

"We weren't aware this would be a big deal," offered Rorek. "I guess we shall go get our rock and see what we can find."

I do remember Vacuo only receiving one within their borders, unfortunate. Ozpin recalled.

"We already have our sites mapped. As soon as this conversation is over we will move forward with recovery," stated Azalea.

"With that, I think we should give this some time." said Cobalt. "I think we all know who is involved, despite this pitiful guise of anonymity. Unless someone comes up with something interesting, we should meet again to discuss in... Two weeks would be suitable I think."

The impromptu committee agreed and adjourned. The three black figured departed Ozpin's screen. The Headmaster tapped a button, and the screen retracted back into his desk. He leaned back in his chair and gazed into the machinery of his office.

If our models are correct, Atlas has as many stones as the rest of us combined, thought Ozpin. It would be safe to assume they have at least accomplished as much as I told them that we did. As for Atlas, I need to start making connections.

The Headmaster sighed and called his screen back. He began typing.

Greetings Headmasters Rorek and Azalea.

These are… most unusual times. We find ourselves standing at a precipice of something much greater than ourselves. As I write this, the Atlesian machine inches closer to discovering what we at Beacon have discovered by necessity. In our current "cooperation" of the kingdoms, I fear the benefit will be rather one-sided unless we form a faction for complete sharing of information. Doing so would simultaneously swing the balance of power to near-equality and calm our fears of Atlas' concentrated power. I hope in earnest to hear from each of you soon.

Best Regards,

Ozpin

Headmaster at Beacon Academy

Author's Note

Hiya guys, Digi here! I haven't heard much from the readers and would really appreciate some feedback, even just a couple of sentences for parts you liked or could use work. I've been away for a while, a lot of my down time a result of being sick. I'm glad to be back in action, hope you enjoyed my latest chapter! See you soon!