Vale had undergone an impressive transformation. Some portions of the city certainly looked different with all their decoration and stalls, but that was only part of it. The city was alive. The Vytal Festival was a celebration of life's continued existence on Remnant, a coming together of the four great kingdoms of the world. Though now it was more localized as other cities began smaller festivals, this was still the greatest. The bulk of the tourism came from the neighboring kingdom of Mistral, as ships could easily cross the sea between the two. The docks held a great ocean liner from Mistral, carrying a number of people and products. However, there were also people from Atlas and Rakuen, coming in largely through the maiden voyage of the two Aurora-class airships. Monuments to Schnee engineering, the great airships were so colossal they were incapable of landing at the busy shipyard of Vale. Massive reservoirs of blue dust held them aloft, and for the week they would hang over the city, awaiting the return of their many passengers. Each held an exhibit themed for their resident cities of Atlas and Rakuen, bearing a matching sigil of the Schnee Dust Company and Shizine Order respectively. Small fleets of tiltjets flew through the air, connecting them with the city below. The docks of the industrial district gave way to bannered streets where people flooded in like sardines. The noise of people celebrating echoed throughout the city, inescapable even during the night. This was the biggest party of the year, and it made sure you knew it.

It was quite a thrilling thing to be here in Vale at this time. Vili was glad he was here to enjoy it. At the moment, he was laying on the roof of the highest tower of Beacon, staring down at all the festivities across the city. It was the morning of the first official day of the week long holiday, the Academy having the last sessions early yesterday before ending for the weekend. He'd woken up early, leaving Sun for a predawn flight around the city. It was really the only time he could manage to do so – if the air traffic over the city normally made flying difficult, the festival made it impossible. Around the docks was the worst, as that was where they were ferrying people between Vale and the two airships that had arrived yesterday morning. Even as the day just began, aerial tours, transports, and other recreational flights clogged the skies above the oldest city on Remnant.

Checking the position of the sun while considering how long he'd been gone, he decided he would need to leave soon. The flight back would be far too much of a nuisance if he stayed much longer, and he'd likely end up in some form of legal trouble. He knew it couldn't yet be noon, but it would be soon approaching. Looking more directly down, the campus was already aflutter with activity, the first signs appearing when he'd taken to this spot to rest. Students, teachers, and tourists all wandered throughout the grounds. Though the Academy wasn't as dressed up as some regions of the city, it had been cleaned up to be presentable. Those with the money or the pull to gain access to one of the tours now walked the halls among the students who now sought to journey down to the city. It was as though they were trading places, each wanting to see what the other undoubtedly took for granted.

He wondered if those girls were somewhere down there, but he suspected they'd long since left. Sun had been out with them last night, but he supposedly had plans to meet them for a day out on the town today as well. Though he'd opted out of their company yesterday while he followed up an interesting message he'd received, he'd been invited once again. Seeing no reason to decline, and being somewhat curious about the group of huntsmen and huntresses Sun normally spent his time with, Vili had accepted. He imagined by now they were on their way to rendezvous at Sun's apartment before going on with the planned agenda.

Vili stood up with a stretch, his back cracking. His aura slowly became active as Alas De' Luz began to extend over his hands and feet. As he walked off the spire, his semblance activated. White flames burst out of his metal covered limbs, suspending him. With an exertion of aura and a repositioning of his limbs, he flew over the Academy toward the city proper. In this form, actually flying the distance instead of flinging his aura toward his destination, it would take some time to get to Sun's apartment. Thankfully, the residential district began in the shadows of the rise Beacon sat upon. He'd literally be flying over the entire kingdom if it were somewhere like the docks of the industrial district or the residents of the government district.

His mind turned to the upcoming day. Sun had introduced him to the girl Penny, which had been pleasant. The alterations done to her made her quite intelligent, and the two had quickly begun to bore Sun with talk of historical trivia. Beyond that, he'd had an opportunity to look into her. As he'd suspected, her aura showed signs of being artificially altered. It was almost made from a template – which implied the same could be said of her soul. Whatever was going on at the Sostituire Corporation, he imagined it had a lot of potential to change how the world thought of warriors. His mind wandered to how they came to acquire such technology, a looming form briefly appearing in his mind.

He had told some of his past to the two, mostly in terms of his teachings. He didn't know much of how he had come to be on Asylum. Apparently, no one knew who his mother had been. For the longest time, Yasha had been the only one he ever encountered on a regular basis. The "palace" of the city was largely empty, with customized AK-130s tending the grounds under Yasha's rule. Occasionally a few of the more affluent of Asylum would visit the grand building at Asylum's center, those who survived to his teenage years becoming people he would work closely with under Yasha. None could remark on ever seeing a woman associated with the man. One day, it had suddenly turned out that Yasha had this young child in his care who he claimed was his protégé. Even when he'd questioned Ozpin several years ago he had gotten the same response. No one knew who he was or where he'd come from. He'd done digging, but found nothing concrete. He had his theories, but he did not divulge them to Sun and Penny.

He had instead moved on to his training under Yasha. He'd heavily sugar coated it, but they'd gotten the idea that was no cake walk for him in Asylum, even as the most privileged within its walls. Though he knew the old man cared for him in his own way, he was incredibly harsh. …Nobody does that out of the kindness of their heart. You need to be worth something to them. Vili was bright as a child, quickly learning language. As soon as he could understand Yasha, the man had told him to prove he had the ability to endure and adapt. He'd found himself dumped in the streets of that horrid city, alone like so many other people. He found communities of homeless, people of all ages that were lonely and yet not alone. He knew what it was like to use the steamy exhausts of a city so you wouldn't freeze while sleeping. He knew what it was like to fight rats for garbage – and he knew you were lucky if you managed to kill one that wasn't too sick to eat in the process. He knew to look for canned goods, but to be wary of swollen cans. He knew to gather only certain trash for fires, to take discarded fabrics to layer into clothing, and the value of both cooperation and backstabbing (sometimes literally) to survive. He wasn't sure how long he'd lived like that before he dreamt of shadows creeping forth and to take him back to the palace. He'd awoken back in his room, the old man pleased with his survival. From then on, it had gotten both better and worse. Sure, he was well taken care of, but the lessons, training, and tests Yasha put him through had been horrible. However, it had all paid off. When he first began to see tests against live foes, they fell easily. In Asylum, he was undefeated. He'd become just as much a monster as his towering mentor, a nightmare to the pitiful denizens of that city.

He retracted Alas De' Luz as his semblance had his body fall into feathers toward the apartment building below him. He materialized as the feathers came into the open window of Sun's apartment. He took in the sight of Team JNPR staring in shock at him, Sun and Penny looking on with amused expressions. These two were sitting on the couch, the four bar stools from the kitchen in an arc before them, bearing the gaping team. The sat like that for a moment, staring at each other.

"He actually turns into feathers!" Nora suddenly yelled out, breaking the silence. This caused Sun to burst into laughter while Penny took on a full on smile.

"We were just telling them what you told us about you. I only just finished," Sun explained. "They seem willing to give you a chance, but they were still skeptical about the feathers thing."

"Ah, that's good to hear. It's a pleasure to meet you…?" Vili said, drifting off as he realized he didn't know who was who. There was a brief pause.

"Pyrrha Nikos," the red haired girl said. He'd actually recognized her as the star of the Mistral kingdom. There had been many things in Mistral advertising her victory of the Vytal Tournament last year as well as her past victories of the Mistral Regional Tournament, telling people to come see her defend her title. Sun seemed to surround himself with the best and brightest of this up and coming generation.

"Jaune Arc," the blond stammered out, as though suddenly realizing what Vili wanted. He had not heard of Jaune before, but the name Arc rung a bell. Wasn't that the name of the peasant family of career huntsmen who'd become known as war heroes?

"Lie Ren," the guy with a pink streak in his hair stated. Though the Lie name did not ring a bell, the formal dress and naming convention suggested an upper class family from Rakuen. Coming to Beacon seemed an odd choice if he was the eldest or an only child.

"And I'm Nora! Is your hair still feathers? What's it like when you're feathers? Oh, can you see? What about hearing? Does the vest have anything to do with it?" the pink themed warrior responded. She quickly closed the distance, going from inspecting his hair and then his vest. In terms of first encounters, it was like a hyperactive Penny, who had also gotten quite close and layered him with questions. He averted his eyes to the rest of her team, somewhat taken aback by her. After a moment of hesitation, he turned back, finding a look that clearly said he was on his own on their faces.

"Uh, no, light and airy, yes, yes, and… kind of?" he responded, running through her quick string of words in his mind. She backed away, still looking excited.

"That's so cool! I wish I could do it!" she said, taking a dreamy quality in her voice.

"Um, you can, if you want," he said somewhat absent-mindedly, still wondering what her deal was.

"WHAT?!" was the collective response. He flinched at the noise.

"What do you mean she can if she wants?" Pyrrha asked, seeming genuinely intrigued.

"I can turn others into feathers as well. I would be in control of the feathers, but she could walk around the apartment for a bit," he responded, happy that there seemed to be little hostility. He had been worried when Sun told him about her response to his home and status as a rogue. Team JNPR seemed much more accommodating of him in that regard. Though, to be fair, it seemed like Team RWBY had responded that way because he knew things he probably shouldn't have. He couldn't really fault them for their caution. He realized there was quiet in the room.

The six others were staring among each other, seemingly thinking the same thing. It looked like they were bursting with curiosity but struggling to voice their question. With a feeling of dread he realized what they wanted.

"Now, wait a minute…" he began, but was cut off by six outbursts.

"Why didn't you tell me that?!" Sun exclaimed.

"Can you transform me after Nora?" Penny asked.

"Is it possible for you to turn all of us?" Pyrrha put forward.

"You have to turn all of us!" Jaune amended her proposal.

"Would turning us be a problem?" Ren asked, mirroring Pyrrha's restrained excitement.

"Ren, we're going to be turned into feathers!" Nora cried out, hugging the boy.

"Hey now, I haven't agreed to anything yet!" Vili shot out, estimating their combined mass.

"Aw, but it would be so cool!" Nora whined. "Think about it! We'd all be made of feathers!" Not quite, he thought.

"Oh, could you turn all of us at once? Or would that be too exhausting?" Penny jumped in.

Could I? Yes. Would it be too exhausting? Probably. "I could turn them all at once…" he murmured out during his thinking. He realized his mistake instantly. Mouth, what the hell are you doing?!

"Marvelous!" was Penny's response. "How does it work? What do we have to do?"

Vili sighed. He decided to go through with it, it wouldn't be too bad. It's not like he'd have to worry about being fully energized today, they'd just be enjoying a day at the festival.

"Okay, it's not too much of a problem, but you absolutely must do as I say, got it?" he said, staring each of them in the eyes. Nods of assent and a few cries of affirmation met them.

"Okay, so first, flare your auras," he said, flaring his own. He noted the curiosity of the startling darkness in his aura. It was something he'd taken note of during his encounter with the girls. That hint of fear lay beneath it. It seemed even for those ignorant of who he was, it still had that effect. "Second," he continued as they obeyed, "you are going to feel something." He grabbed the nearest person's hand, being Sun.

"Hey, what are-" Sun began, but stopped as Vili gave him a sharp glance.

"This," Vili began, directing his aura into Sun's, "is me." Moving on around the circle, he allowed each of them to feel his aura in their own, to feel him with their soul. "Do not reject it, do not – and I repeat, do not – push it out while in the form of feathers."

"W-why? Is it dangerous?" Jaune stuttered, seemingly becoming worried.

"Will we fall apart, stuck as a pile of feathers forever?" Nora put in.

"Not in my apartment, you're not," Sun responded, seemingly annoyed by the prospect of cleaning up a human sized pile of feathers. Vili gave a slight chuckle at the thought. Sun had nothing to worry about – or at least, Vili was pretty sure he didn't.

"It's not dangerous, per se. Painful maybe, but not dangerous. You should just reform, but it'll mess with your aura and you might end up down for the count, so to speak," Vili explained. "Do you want to back out?" Some hesitation was shown by Jaune, but the others immediately shook their heads. "Good. Ready? Here we go."

Vili called upon his semblance, feeling the familiar pull on his aura. It quickly drew upon more than usual, catalyzing a change in their auras and body. He could feel it as their bodies became one with their auras and then turned into his characteristic black feathers. Though their aura was their own, he was now in control of it – borrowing it really. Their recognition of the change was interesting to see.

"I'm so light, I feel like I could jump through the cei-" Nora began, as she jumped. She did just as she said, her words cut off as she went beyond the ceiling.

"She just went through the ceiling," Sun said in a monotone, staring at the spot she'd gone through. His staring was accompanied by the others as well.

Vili sighed, something he heard from Ren as well. He knew he should have kept them solid until he explained it. He turned Nora completely intangible, seeing her quickly fall back through the floor. He made her solid again, catching her as she fell.

"Oh, I'm back. That was awesome!" she cried as he put her down. She immediately noted the return of her weight. "Aw, Ren, I'm fat again," she whined. A groan escaped his lips as his face hit his hand. Vili took it in curiously. This one was something, huh? He smirked. Well, at least she'd keep things interesting.

"Er, kind of? I'm keeping you high density for the moment while I explain it to you. So, as you've seen, you are very light and largely intangible when low density. Now, I'm not going to bore you with the details of that, since I'll be managing it. The point is I'll only be keeping the soles of your feet high density so you can walk, but the rest of you will be intangible. You can feel things, but they won't stop you – you have to stop yourself when you feel it. On second thought, I'll make your palms high density too, so you can actually touch stuff. Now, in my experience, you don't get any problems from having something in you while low density, but I would keep it to a minimum in case something happens so we don't have any nasty accidents. Got it?" he said, feeling his energy steadily drop from the strain. He gave it a few minutes before it would probably start to hurt. "Also, I can't keep this up long, so enjoy it while it lasts." With that, he did as he said.

They scattered throughout the apartment, enjoying the airy comfort of their new forms. He took the emptied seats of the couch, lying down as he felt them move throughout the room. He would need to conserve his energy for this. As he allowed his body to rest as exhaustion began to manifest, he took note of them through his aura perception. It was quite easy at the moment since it was his own aura he was reading.

"This is incredible. I wish I had a semblance this awesome," Sun said, the expert parkourist making his way around the apartment with a startlingly fluid speed. His feet didn't seem to be touching the ground, judging by Vili's senses of location. Nora was his main competition, herself hopping about with a terrifying speed – it was almost as though she were teleporting about the space of the room.

Still close by, Penny, Ren, Pyrrha, and Jaune were less mobile. Jaune and Pyrrha were slowly guiding each other in a floating waltz, only one actually touching the ground at a time. Unknown to Vili, neither were aware of the appearance of this act. Ren was taking it in stride, seeming to be testing how it affected his aura usage and if he was really intangible. Penny was the most entertaining. He felt her do a flip, landing on her hands with her head through the floor. A scream was heard from downstairs, and he could just make out the sound of Penny asking what was wrong and if she could help. He didn't know what happened after that, but she quickly popped back up. She seemed to be taking advantage of her lessened weight before suddenly stopping. He felt her walk over to him, and saw her staring down at him when he opened his eyes. He raised an eyebrow in inquiry.

"You aren't made of feathers right now. Are you hurt?" she said.

"I'm quite alright, Penny. Thanks for asking," he replied. She seemed unconvinced.

"Then why don't you join us?" she followed up. There is a problem with that idea, he thought.

"It's actually quite taxing to maintain this many people in this form, so I think I'll pass for now. After all, I do it all the time," he said instead. She considered his words for the briefest of moments before responding.

"Well, I hope we aren't being an inconvenience to you. Should we stop?"

"I can still manage for a little I think, but after that it would be for the best if I had you return to normal."

"Nah, it's cool. I had something I wanted to talk with you all about before the girls show up," Sun said, sailing over the couch and catching himself on a stool. Vili felt the subtle inquiry, and released Sun's aura. The faunus was solid once more.

Vili sat up as the others gathered around. He found himself next to Penny on the couch with Pyrrha on the stool to his right. Jaune sat beside her, Sun on this other side. The last stool was taken by Ren next to Sun and Nora brought over another by Penny. They all became solid again, Vili finding relief in the slow stop of his auras fading. It was actually low enough that the faint drain was notable. It seemed it had grown a little, but he couldn't be sure. Haven't you had enough? he thought. A sickening chuckle was heard. Never. What's yours is mine...

No one reacted to the exchange, despite how loud it seemed. Sun seemed to take on a grim face, looking at Penny. She nodded in confirmation. He raised his eyebrow again, looking between them. Sun answered by beginning the conversation.

"So, when I first met Vili a few days ago, we talked about some things. Now," he hurried to amend, "I probably shouldn't have said some things that I said. That's in the past now. What I want to say now is about something that I began to consider because of our conversation." Ah, now it was clear. He'd brought this up again yesterday, but he hadn't known he'd planned to bring in Penny and Team JNPR. "Vili pointed out some things about what we've been told about our friends' involvement with Cinder Fall. Specifically, it's about that last night."

"What kind of things?" Pyrrha said. She turned to him, voice accusatory, "What did you tell him they did?"

Sun went to speak, but Vili held up a hand, keeping his gaze locked on Pyrrha. "I didn't tell him anything. I just pointed out how certain aspects of what he told me did not make sense. He is the one who came to the conclusion that they may be hiding something. I'm sure someone is, but I was leaning more toward the government – which I can guarantee is hiding something."

"What makes you think the government is corrupt?" Pyrrha responded almost automatically. He met her green eyes with a dead stare. For extra measure, he did respond.

"Care to tell me what news reports the name Cinder Fall?" he said, knowing there was none. Rogues were against the idea of the government being the sole power, the sole salvation. How could one of their agents leave service? Even the banished and blacked out of history Yasha continued to serve when called upon. She wasn't even old enough that she was completely written out – if you looked hard enough, you could still find some mentions of her.

"Alright, but that's protocol. What else seemed odd?"

"That wasn't what was odd. I didn't expect for them to report who was behind it. The issues are other things that even you know that don't match up. For example, there are things about Cinder's supposed fight with Ruby. I've seen the girl, and while her aura is impressive, I can't imagine her holding her own or surviving against Cinder and those other two rogues. Even if they did fight, where did all the blood come from? You're going to say Ruby, but most of it was outside, and that wouldn't make sense. If she bled that much outside, she would have been dead out there, not fighting for her life inside. Two of the girl wouldn't account for that much blood. From my understanding, she didn't kill anyone that night – that's what Sun has told me. If so, then her story doesn't check out. Even if it was Ruby's blood, burns don't bleed, not from Cinder. Her semblance is heat – I've seen her melt steel on contact. That fire ball trick of hers? It's her heating the air into a miniature sun in the palm of her hand. The blood would boil away instantly. The point is that in hiding the existence of rogue huntsmen and huntresses, they prove they are willing to deceive their citizens," Vili threw out a few of his old points in a torrent.

He watched as the Mistral native considered his words. He could see some of his arguments were working. Looking around, he noted the others thinking. Nora frowned, brow furred in thought. Ren seemed calmly contemplative. Jaune seemed shocked by the premise, staring at the ground with a flickering gaze that revealed the turning of his mental gears. Looking to Penny, he saw only a sad expression of regret. He'd assumed that Sun had told her by the glances, but maybe not.

"What do you think, Penny?"

"It isn't news to me. I already noticed what you spoke to Sun about," she said, surprising Vili. "I already suspected deception on the girls' part, but I decided to trust their judgment. If it was really important, I figured they'd tell me – tell us – eventually. However, you suspect they are being manipulated beyond that, and that we are not the only ones being lied to. If you are right, then someone may be trying to hurt them, and I won't let anyone hurt my friends." Her gaze had been set into his own. "I'll help you, since they've agreed to help you."

"So, you don't think they're double crossing us or something?" Sun asked. The ginger shook her head.

"My first impression was that someone else was involved with the battle, and the most obvious assumption is her teammates, but I still don't think that would be enough," Vili put forward.

"So you think there was someone else besides Ruby?" Jaune inquired, his curiosity piqued.

"You said yesterday one of your concerns was how Ruby ended up there anyway. You thought it was odd how Torchwick told her how to get there or something like that?" Sun said again.

"Wasn't it a trap so they could kill Ruby?" Nora put forward. Ren shook his head by her, making her frown.

"I know that's what they said, and at first that seems like the truth. But based on all their encounters with her prior, they would have no reason to expect her to come alone. Did Torchwick even tell her to go alone?" Ren asked. Vili couldn't be sure, so he turned to Sun and Penny.

"No, not really. The note was just the address and a vague location for it in the city. Ruby told me what he said once… it wasn't something that sounded like Torchwick," Penny answered.

"Why not? What did he say?" Jaune said, sitting almost literally at the edge of his seat.

"Apparently, he said something like, 'Maybe you might be able to save her,'" Penny answered, clearly confused by the statement. Vili found himself sharing the response – that certainly didn't sound like the "big little man of Vale" at all.

"What could that mean? Did they have a hostage or something?" Sun asked.

"What do you mean? It was clearly an attempt to draw Ruby in – he knew she would always try to save someone, even without knowing who," Pyrrha said.

"Did Ruby know what he meant?" Ren asked, focusing on Penny.

"Well, I asked, but she said no. Though, she did hesitate…" Penny replied, troubled by the possibility of incriminating her first friend.

"Maybe he was undercover or something and that was why he was let off with lesser charges?" Sun offered. Vili shook his head.

"You've only been in Vale for a little while, so I suppose you may be unaware, but Roman Torchwick has been a major player in the criminal underworld for years now, with a massive influence in terms of Vale. The evidence against that is that they have never followed through on him. Roman would have enough dirt to take any number of people down if he were with the law," Vili explained. Though he himself was not a native of Vale, he knew various aspects of the criminal world. In that world, everything came back to Asylum. It was impossible not to know major people like the "little big man of Vale," Asylum's "King of Shadows" or the White Fang's "Demon of the North" when you lived there. Even more legitimate people had echoes within that world, recalling that Yasha was known to have had meetings with the CEOs of both the Sostituire Corporation and the Schnee Dust Company.

"So, do you think Ruby has some other connection with Roman?" Nora cut in. "Maybe it was a big scheme to get her into Beacon?"

"I don't think so, no," Vili responded, amused by the thought. His look at the girl a few days ago told him she was sincerely kind and good. "However, she may have found herself fooled or otherwise tied up in something too big for them. I told you, I'm not accusing them of doing anything – not intentionally anyway. Penny's probably right; they likely have their reasons for not telling you. I'd imagine it's to keep you out of it. They seemed reluctant to help me because of the prospect of Ruby getting heart again, and I'm sure that extends to you as well."

A knock was at the door. Checking the time, it was getting toward noon. With a flick of his ears, he picked out the voices of Yang and Weiss arguing, though he couldn't make out the words. The circle looked at each other, seemingly caught by surprised.

"We'll have to pick this up later, but for now, this conversation never happened," Vili said, an emphatic support coming from Sun.

"Yes, this never happened. I'm on thin ice with Weiss anyway," Sun said, hopping up to get the door. They all agreed, Nora making a zipping and tossing motion. Penny seemed unpleased about the idea however. Vili stood to offer his seat as Sun allowed them in. He noted that only Yang, Weiss, and Blake entered.

"I'm telling you, she'll be fine. My baby sis is going to kick all kinds of ass in the tournament," Yang was heard saying to Weiss.

"Joke all you want, her wound is no joking matter. She still falls to bouts of sickness and pain, and we're lucky we've made it this long without her having one. I don't understand how you can be so calm about this when you were just angry about her going off on her own for a little while," Weiss replied with the familiar coldness, though it was noticeably less hostile than when he'd heard her previously.

"While I have faith in Ruby's skill, Weiss is right. You should still show some concern about her injuries. Maybe having her sit out another year wouldn't be such a bad idea," Blake put in.

"That's ridiculous, she's been looking forward to this for months," Yang replied. She turned to everyone else, smiling brightly. "Hey everyone, how's it going?" Then she saw him. "Oh, right, you're living with Sun. Are you going to hang out with us today?"

"Yep. As long as it's not a problem, of course," Vili responded with a smile of his own.

"Of course not, the more the merrier. I can give you the full Vale experience. I know all the coolest places, today will be greatest day of your life," Yang responded instantly.

"What happened to 'I'll kick your ass to the moon and back'?" Weiss said with a critical gaze and a raise brow meeting the lilac eyes.

"And don't forget: 'that will just be the warm-up,'" Blake added, an almost imperceptible smirk on her face.

Yang seemed unaffected by their accusations. "That was business. This is the Vytal Festival. There's awesome stuff for sale, fun games and shows, a city full of foreign hotties," she winked at him with a subtle growl inserted into her rant, "and an incredible nightlife with the best clubs in the world! And next week we have the crowning moment of kickassery, where we'll finally all get a chance to kick some ass, take some names, and – most importantly - finally settle who the best fighter here is. Of course, we all know who that will be," she said, striking a pose. Vili barely suppresses the urge to burst out laughing at the blonde's speech. This would certainly be an interesting time with both Nora and Yang.

"You lost," Weiss said with another stare. "Twice."

"That was bull, and you know it, Weiss. Stupid technicalities – I make it all the way to the finals each time and they get angry because I started a little fire. Did you see what Penny did? She blasted a hole in the ceiling! But did she get disqualified? No!" Yang fired back.

"Did you call that fire little? You nearly burnt down the whole district!" Sun shouted out.

"Twice!" Weiss amended his claim. "They've even built the new stadium out of stone in the bay specifically because of you!"

"I know! And they wouldn't even name it after me!" she replied, seemingly serious. Vili wasn't sure how to react – laugh at her ridiculousness or praise her apparent combat ability. He wanted to doubt the claim, but was genuinely surprised when he looked into her aura. He'd been focused on Weiss and Ruby, and later Blake, but hadn't really looked into her aura. It revealed an incredibly compassionate and powerful woman with an undeniable love of combat. She was a huntress through and through, someone who cared for her fellow creature and loved to fight for them – if not fight in general. He was very curious about how she would do in this tournament, especially in light of yesterday's events.

"I know! That would have been so cool! I can't wait to see us all finally compete this year – we even managed to get Jaune to enter!" Nora said, jumping the unprepared teen. The two fell over as the stool tipped. Jaune's wild flailing nearly brought Pyrrha down with him as he tried to hold himself up. Sun immediately freaked out about his wooden floor. Pyrrha tried to help the two up, aided by Ren, while Penny asked if they were alright.

"I think I'm alright," Jaune said, pulling the stool back upright.

"I'm great! Sorry, Jaune," Nora replied, hopping back up and going back to her seat.

"I forgot about that. Everyone here will be in the tournament," Sun said, seeming satisfied with the lack of damage to his floor.

"Well, not quite," Blake said, glancing toward Vili.

"Actually…" he said, pulling out his scroll. "I got this message yesterday morning. I was busy looking into it while you all were out on the town. I don't know who it's from, but apparently they reserved me a seat in the Vytal Tournament."

"How? You've only been here a few days; did they know you were coming before hand? All the seats have been filled for awhile now," Blake replied, apparently puzzled.

"Scalper. Apparently someone bought him out of a deal for it – more money than he'd ever gotten before. The message told me they bought my seat and that it was awaiting pickup with the guy. The only signature was this symbol – anyone know what it means?" Vili said, zooming in and showing the scroll to everyone. It was the face of a barn owl, as far as he could tell. He didn't have any idea what that symbol meant, however. He watched the others react. There was recognition in the members of Team RWBY.

"Well?" he asked.

They looked at each other, a look of apprehension apparent on their faces. It seemed they were deciding whether or not to tell him. He feared they'd stay silent, but then Yang went to speak.

"That's the symbol of the Albas, the most powerful family in Vale," she said slowly.

"The most powerful family in the world, actually. They're the only ones with more power than my family," Weiss corrected her.

"Alba was the name of the man we met after what happened with Ruby," Blake added, Vili noting a slight hesitation when it came to "what happened with Ruby." She had been going to say something else, but what?

"Ah, them. I've heard of them before, but I'd never seen their symbol," Vili spoke out loud. His mind was whirring with thoughts, but he daren't voice them – not to them. "Who was the man you met with? What was he like?"

"There's only one of them left in the family. His name is Tytus Alba, member of the Vale Grand Council," Weiss put forward again. "This city is essentially run by him."

The girls seemed to take a sudden interest in the scroll, trying to read parts of the message. This was not something he wanted them to see. He pulled it back, staring at the screen while pointedly ignoring the stares of the others in the room. He needed a distraction.

"Hmm. Well, that's interesting. We should get going though, it's already past noon. Where's Ruby?" Sun said, saving Vili by distracting the girls.

"She went off somewhere on her own for a bit, she said she'd meet us at the first stop," Yang said, obviously sour about the decision.

"Alright then, let's go. Last one out, hit the lights," Sun said, walking out the door. The others followed. Vili hung back as he considered the news from this morning.

Vili didn't like the sound of this turn of events for a few reasons. The first reason was that someone like that almost certainly knew about Yasha. The second was that someone like that likely knew about his relation to Yasha. The third was how he was referenced in the message: "Vili Schwarze, the Prince of Darkness." However, he didn't want to talk about that with anyone here – at the very least the members of Team RWBY. It would have to wait until later. Even so, his mind still drew forth questions. What kind of man was Tytus Alba, and what did he want with Vili?

He stared at the paper on his desk, not really reading it. It held reports of some kind, but he wasn't really interested in that right now. He always hated the management side of things. It just wasn't his style. He preferred to be out in the field, working and doing things himself. However, with great power came great responsibility, and that usually meant spending some time doing the boring paperwork. Sunlight shone through the window, split into pillars of light by the metal security bars. He stared at the dust motes floating through the air. It wasn't like he could go out in the field right now anyway. The door opened and he turned to face it, seeing the usual servicemen.

"You have a visitor," one said, their uniforms immaculate as ever.

He rose up, following them out. It had been some time since anyone had come to visit him way out here. He wondered who it could be, what it could be about. Probably not anything good, he thought sourly. It almost never was. He noted the lack of surveillance and low security detail. Was it an off the books meeting? It couldn't be her again, could it? He brightened a little – maybe this wouldn't be as bad as he thought. As the serviceman opened the door to small room with its small chair and glass wall, he saw his visitor.

"Oh hey, Red! It's been awhile since you last visited me here in the big house. How's life out in the free world?"