As a slight creak of strained wood and fabric reached his ears, the tailed faunus eased open an eye. They had finally managed to get onto the campus and make their way to the girls' dorm room. It was now late in the day, and he had expected to find at least one of the girls in the room. However, it had been empty, looking as though it had been abandoned in a rush this morning – at least if Yang's disheveled bed and night clothes strewn across the floor were anything to go by. What he had heard was Penny swinging on Ruby's abomination of a bunk bed.

Sun stared with shock at his red haired companion. She was humming quietly, a faint tune he couldn't quite make out. Her legs slowly pumped back and forth, sending the large bed along the arc in the air. In her hands was one of Ruby's Weapon magazines. Shaking his head at her daring, he focused on the magazine. It was an old issue, released shortly after the Vytal festival last year. It was surreal to see the Hellenic warrior who lived just across the hall on the cover. They had interviewed her after she secured the championship last year, featuring Miló and Akoúo in a large centerfold. As the champion of the Mistral tournaments and proving her worth last year in the Vytal tournament, she was really an inspiration to huntsmen- and huntresses-in-training everywhere. It was a wonder how he had come to be friends with the girl over the last two years.

He involuntarily chuckled at a realization. Here he was being somewhat star-struck by Pyrrha being the main attraction in a magazine when he was surrounded by such amazing women. Her teammate, Nora, was frightening in her nearly endless bounds of energy – both on the battlefield and off. Penny was a cutting edge prototype super soldier, involving more lien to "create" than what most people would see in their lifetime. She was sitting on the bed of a girl who stopped a major terrorist and had the thanks of the Vale government. The bed below that belonged to the heiress of the biggest company in the world. Looking to the more stable bunk formation to his right, his thoughts turned to the BY of Team RWBY. Though they were not recognized in a worldly sense, Yang and Blake were likewise amazing women. Yang was arguably the most powerful huntress in the academy – especially if something happened to her hair first. Blake was no push over either. Though she never made herself stand out much now, he felt like she had once been pretty high up in the White Fang before leaving. He had seen her strength in their battle against Torchwick and the White Fang.

He heard noise coming from outside. Noting the excited voice of Nora, he recognized it as Team JNPR coming back to their dorm room. Wondering if they knew where the girls were, he rose to open the door. He was surprised when the door revealed Jaune and Pyrrha. They held two extra bags each, recognizable to Sun as Team RWBY's. They also looked surprised.

"Sun! What are you doing here?" Pyrrha asked.

"Oh, just dropping in. Penny just got back today and wanted to see everyone," he answered, nodding to Jaune's small wave.

"Salutations. How have you been?" Penny said, having jumped down to come over.

"We've been alright. It's been a little hectic with the tests and projects, but it's nothing we can't handle," Pyrrha said.

"Speak for yourself," Jaune muttered, "I think Professor Goodwitch's paper will kill me."

"Jaune, we have a week left before it's due, and we all made sure to start earlier. You'll be fine."

"That has to be one only reason I'm fine with being kicked out of school – no more classes," Sun cut in.

"The only reason?! It's not fair! You even have an easy job with awesome pay and an apartment," Jaune said.

"Eh, I suppose I have it pretty good. So, I take the girls are coming in later?" he said, motioning toward the bags in their hands.

"Oh, yeah, I guess you could say that," Jaune replied, lifting the bags. "They asked us to bring their stuff back."

"Let me take them, I'll put them in the room," Penny said. Jaune and Pyrrha nodded, glad to be rid of the extra burden. As Penny carried each bag to the appropriate girl's dresser, Sun turned back to Pyrrha and Jaune.

"So, what are they doing? Will they be long?" he inquired.

The two shared a look as their faces seemed concerned. A silent conversation seemed to pass between the two. They nodded and turned back to face Sun. Pyrrha looked ready to speak as Jaune scanned the area nervously. What was this about?

"A strange man visited the Academy today. He came to us at dinner and asked about what happened back when we had our run-ins with Cinder Fall. They all jumped up in front of Ruby and they resisted him. When everyone started staring, Weiss led them off to talk in private," she said.

Sun was reminded of his encounter last night. He had told Vili about their involvement with the incident. Remembering how Vili had visually reacted to the mention of Goodwitch, he had a thought.

"This man, did he have tanned skin, black hair, and a vest of black feathers?" he asked.

"That's right; he did say he talked to you. I had forgotten with all the commotion. Do you know anything about him?" Pyrrha said.

"Not really, just that he said he was a traveling huntsman from Asylum."

Pyrrha looked shocked while Jaune seemed lost. "Asylum?!" she exclaimed. "As in the city of criminals?"

"The city of what?" Jaune asked, looking confused and worried.

"Asylum is a city located somewhere in the south oceans. It is a kingdom separate from the four kingdoms or Menagerie, founded sometime in the last century. Asylum claimed to welcome all the people of Remnant, human and faunus alike. Anyone seeking somewhere to live outside Menagerie or the four kingdoms could live there – if they could find a way in. Its location is unknown, as the southern oceans are riddled with powerful storms that make ship travel incredibly dangerous. Whether it truly began with altruistic intentions is disputed, but it quickly became a haven for exiles of the four kingdoms and Menagerie, making it a wild and lawless place full of miscreants. It was for this reason that it became known as the city of criminals, a nightmare made real," Penny recited to him, coming back to the door.

"A place like that actually exists? How come I've never heard about it?" Jaune said, still seeming perplexed.

"Asylum is considered an affront to the world government. It stands separate and opposite of everything the four kingdoms represent. It isn't necessarily a secret, but it isn't spoken of among common folk because it's considered beyond their concern, kind of like aura and semblance. Some people don't even believe it is real – I always kind of wanted to think a place that bad couldn't exist," Pyrrha explained to him. Turning back to Sun, she continued in worry. "Are you okay? Did he torture you for the information?"

"What?! No! Look, you've got it all wrong, Vili's cool. He didn't do anything illegal – er, well, he broke into my apartment, but…" Sun sputtered out.

"He broke into your apartment?! Where is this man, I want a word with him," Penny cut in. "Nobody messes with my friends."

"No, no, no, he is a friend. I mean, he seems like one to me. He was fine, I'm telling you. He said he recognized me as someone from Rakuen and wanted to know how I ended up living in Vale. I told him about everything up to getting my job at the Sostituire Corporation."

"Isn't that supposed to be a secret?" Jaune put in.

"It is," Pyrrha said, her concern fading into anger. "You just told some man you just met something the government wanted a secret? I know you don't always find it necessary to follow the law, but this was for the girls' protection. This man is from Asylum, they could be in a lot of danger."

Sun considered her words. Sure, he'd only met Vili just last night, but he'd always been an easy person to get along with. Hell, the reason he ended up knowing these two was because he decided to hang out with a girl he'd just ran past earlier in the day. Vili had seemed like a nice enough guy, maybe having had some run-ins with the law like him. So what if he was from the city of criminals? Blake had been part of a group of faunus who wanted to be the only intelligent race on Remnant, and she was one of the nicest people he'd ever met. He just couldn't imagine Vili being that bad of a guy. He voiced his thoughts.

"I'm sorry, Pyrrha, but he seemed nice enough to me. So what if he's from Asylum, it doesn't mean he's a monster. I'm a thief, I'll admit it. Jaune here faked his way into this school." Jaune's eyes widened in shock as he looked around in panic to make sure no one was around. Sun gave him a smile, but continued. "Blake was a member of the White Fang. We all have things that we aren't proud of, but that doesn't mean we aren't decent people otherwise."

"He also talked to Professor Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch, so he can't be that bad, right?" Jaune said.

It seemed like the words worked. Pyrrha looked ashamed, her stern look softening. However, she didn't back down.

"You may be right, but that was still supposed to be a secret. Even if – Vili, was it? - isn't a problem, I'm sure there are people who would come after the girls because of what they did back then. You shouldn't have told him."

He had to give her that. He was known to be too open when he decided to trust someone. It was something he was trying to stop doing, and this was obviously a failure in that regard. That had been information that he'd been told not to go sharing with anyone, and he'd done just that. He'd just felt so comfortable talking with man, and it had just poured out.

"Okay, you're right, I messed up. But I honestly feel like we can trust him. I'm willing to call him a friend," he said.

"So, he didn't hurt you?" Penny asked.

"Nope."

"Splendid, I can't wait to meet him," she said.

"Why?" he asked, worried what she could be thinking.

"So we can become friends. If he's friends with you, I want to be his friend too."

Sun laughed. Of course that was why. Penny was always looking to make more friends after they'd met back then. Since it had proven so easy with Ruby and she had had so few, it seemed she'd adopted the idea that she could make friends with anyone who crossed her path. Unfortunately, her eccentric tendencies would scare most people away – including everyone she currently counted as friends. At first, she often found herself only with Ruby or alone in Vale. Deciding she shouldn't be lonely down in Vale while everyone else was up at the Academy, he'd sought the red head out. It had only been Ruby's and then his own tolerance for her that had made everyone else come around to the strange but polite warrior.

"I don't know how much longer they will be, but they should show up soon, Sun. Come on, Jaune, we need to get some rest. We've still got tests to take," Pyrrha said, turning around.

"Just when I forgot about them," Jaune said with a sigh as he followed her. "Good night."

Sun and Penny returned the farewell as Pyrrha tossed one out. From inside, he heard Nora yell out. It was shortly followed by a reprimand from Ren, but then he also yelled out a farewell. Then Pyrrha shut the door and Sun and Penny were left alone. Penny went back to the bunk, scaling the death trap with a grace Sun could only explain from her being a warrior. He found himself staring at her as she returned to her reading, taking in the freckles on her cheeks, her bright green eyes, and her pink bow sitting atop her fluffy orange hair. Remembering that night against the White Fang and her dominance in the tournament shortly after, it was crazy to think this was the same girl.

"Sun? What are you doing here?"

Glad to hear the familiar voice, he turned. Coming down the hall were Ruby and Yang, the blond waving wildly. She'd been the one to call to him. He returned her wave with a wave of his tail. That elicited a giggle from the sisters.

"I've got a present for you, straight from Mistral," he managed out just in time.

"Ruby! Yang!" Penny called out as she ran to stand by Sun.

"Penny! You're back!" Ruby said, coming to a stop outside the door as the girl hugged her.

"Can we please go inside," Weiss said, having walked up behind the sisters. They hurried to squeeze into the door with Penny. Sun stepped aside with a slight bow as his tail motioned inward. Weiss made no recognition of his courtesy, walking by with an annoyed mutter.

"There goes any chance of me studying for that test."

"Good to see you too, Weiss" Sun said sarcastically.

"Oh it won't be. Come in, shut the door, and get in the chair; I want a word with you," she said as she pointed to a chair. She continued to make her way to her corner of the room without so much as a glance his way, but he knew she had a glare on her face.

He glanced along the hall, seeing no sign of his favorite cat faunus. Wondering where she was, he turned to the room. He knew he was in for it if Weiss was this angry – and rightfully so if he was being honest. He had no intention of being honest with the heiress, though. He enjoyed playing with her when she was angry. He was past thinking she'd ever follow through on anything, seeing she had become all bark and no bite over the years.

Sitting in the chair she'd pointed at, he found himself with his back to a desk facing the opposite wall. The beds were to his left and the door to his right. He leaned back against the desk and rested his arms behind his head as she gathered her materials and entered the bathroom. He closed his eyes as Penny talked with Ruby and Yang about their encounter with Vili. He picked up bits and pieces as he waited, learning about their agreement with him and how Blake was supposedly at the library. He gave a smirk at that – he knew that was a likely place but not right now. She was tailing Vili and you weren't going to convince him otherwise.

As he heard the bathroom door click, he wiped the smirk off his face and opened his eyes. Weiss quickly found her way into his vision, her white hair now hanging down and her uniform traded for the nightgown. She adopted a posed that suggested she was looking at vermin, her arms crossed. As he'd known, she was glaring at him. He hadn't thought someone in sleep wear could look so intimidating.

"What the hell were you thinking?" she began icily.

She was swearing. That was the first sign that she wasn't in a joking mood. However, Sun was still set on calling her bluff. At least, he hoped it was a bluff.

"I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about, princess" he said. Her white aura flared in suppressed anger - suppressed in that she didn't look any angrier. She hated it when he called her princess. It was a guaranteed way to set her off if your name didn't start with Ruby and end with Rose. Interestingly enough, Ruby was the one who taught him that, before she managed to worm her way into the solid block of ice he still suspected lived in the girl's heart cavity. He noted that the conversation by the beds had stopped.

She leaned in towards him. Her aura reflected within her blue eyes, turning them into glowing blue daggers as they narrowed. She was starting to worry him.

"Did we not tell you that you were not to discuss what happened back then with anyone? I had thought we had, but I'm failing to see why that man would know about us if that were true."

She was really starting to worry him. He decided to push anyway. "What man-" he was cut off as he felt the air leave his lungs and the world suddenly shift. The chair, which had been leaning back against the desk on two legs, was now seated on all four legs. A black glyph was underneath them, the chair creaking from the increased weight caused by it. His arms had been ripped from behind his head and slammed into the arms of the chair, causing them to snap. From a bowed state, he looked up to find a surprised Weiss. The pressure vanished almost instantly as the girls cried out. Weiss began to crumple, looking immediately exhausted. He lunged forward, catching her before she hit the ground.

"Sun, are you okay?" Penny yelled out.

"Weiss, what was that?!" Yang shouted angrily.

Ruby was instantly by his side, softly calling the heiress' name. She seemed to have briefly lost consciousness, but now was just groggy and confused. He moved her so she was lying on her back, her head in his lap. Her white aura had faded from her when she fell, and she called it forward suddenly. A glyph formed in the air above them, this time the basic white one.

"Why?" she mumbled. "Why was it a gravity glyph?"

A gravity glyph? It would explain why it had been black, not to mention the pressure he'd felt. He could have sworn she couldn't do that without Myrtenaster, though. Did that mean she hadn't done it on purpose?

"Sun, I said are you alright?" Penny asked again, giving his shoulder a nudge. He turned his attention from Weiss, Ruby helping the heiress up.

"Yea, I'm fine," he said, cracking his neck a little. It had been a strong pressure pulling him downward and his neck had taken it at an angle. The rest of him was in a similar condition and he had the rising suspicion that he was going to wake up very sore tomorrow.

"What were you trying to do to Sun? I know you never liked him, but that was too far," Yang said to the unsteady girl.

"I didn't mean…" she said quietly, holding a hand to her head. "I… I don't know what just happened."

"So you didn't do it on purpose," Yang said, not quite sounding convinced.

"Of course not. I may not like him but that doesn't mean I want to kill him," she said. Well, she seemed back to her normal self. It's not like I caught you or anything, he thought.

"I think we'll need to pick this up later, I think Weiss should get some sleep," Ruby said, looking at the girl with concern.

"No, I'm fine. Just let me have a few words with Sun and then we'll call it a night," Weiss said, glancing at the chair as she walked to the door. Stepping into the hallway, she motioned for Sun to follow.

Ruby hesitated, as though she were going to argue, but then acquiesced. She turned to Penny, aiming to give a fair well. Yang looked on for a moment longer, but then joined her sister in talking to Penny. Sun moved to follow Weiss.

"I'm sorry," she said as he came out, "and thanks for catching me."

His face froze in shock. The ice princess was giving an apology to him? And showing him gratitude? In the same sentence? This was a moment for the record books. "Did… did I just see a heart?" Sun said. "I must be dreaming."

"Don't push your luck, monkey boy. I may not know what happened in there, but I don't mind trying to do it again – and this time you won't have a chair to catch you." She sounded angry, but her cheeks were red with embarrassment.

He held his hands up in surrender. "You got me. So, were you just trying to make sure no one would believe me when I tell them you were nice to me or is there actually something specific you wanted to talk about? Or maybe you just want to finish chewing me out?"

"A little bit of everything, actually. First and foremost, I want you to promise that the next time some stranger comes along, you won't tell them any secrets. Or at least our secrets," she said. He nodded. "Second, what do you actually know about this Vili person?"

"Nothing more than you, from what I heard Ruby and Yang telling Penny," Sun said as he thought. She frowned in response, obviously not liking his answer. "Uh, well, it isn't so much something he told me, but I noticed something weird about him when he left."

That caught her attention. "When he left, he went out onto my fire escape. Then he looked like he turned into a bunch of feathers and flew up them out of sight. They looked like the same kind that made up his vest, and they looked like they glowed with aura."

"That's… interesting," she said, seeming skeptical. He couldn't blame her, but after seeing what he'd seen he wasn't much of a skeptic anymore. "Anything else?" she asked.

"Nope. I, uh, I did most of the talking during our little encounter. He seemed like a good guy, though. Hey, Ruby mentioned you got his scroll identification – do you mind giving it to me."

She gave him a look. He thought she was going to say no, but then she produced the scroll from within the top of her nightgown. Where had she been keeping that? There's no way that thing had pockets.

"If you keep staring, I'm really going to try and smash your face into the ground with a glyph," she said with annoyance, giving him a hard stare. His gaze had drifted to her chest as he'd been thinking. Oops.

"Oh, no! There's no way I was ogling you! It's just you pulled out the scroll and I was thinking there's no way that thing has pockets, so then I thought you kept it in your bra or something…" She was giving him an extremely judgmental look, a single eyebrow raised as though daring him to keep going. "I'm just going to shut up now."

"I think that's for the best – any further and your stupidity would have buried you in that grave you were digging."

He silently took the proffered scroll and copied Vili's contact information into his own, his head slightly hung in shame. He'd kind of messed up today with the heiress. Thankfully, he had two years of progress to fall back on – not to mention the thanks he just received. Finishing up the task, he handed back the scroll, which promptly returned to wherever she kept it. He kept his gaze locked on her eyes this time, the amused stare he got back telling him she caught on.

"Anything else?" he said, moving the scroll into message mode.

"Well, as long as Ruby's okay, no. I just wanted to ask you about one last thing. Do you know how easy it is to falsely convict a faunus?" A slowly shaken head was received. Where was she going with this? What did she mean as long as Ruby's okay? "Unfortunately, it is very easy. The faunus would never see the light of day again, lost to the bowels of the highest security prison. I'd bet they wouldn't even feed them all the time, let alone allow any visitors. It would be a very sad existence, don't you think? I'd hate for it to happen to anyone I know," she said. Ah, now he got it.

She was being a noble again. It sent a chill down his spine when he got to see her like this. Nobles were all about subtle intimidation, and it showed when Weiss was serious. This was the result of her recent training to take over the family. It was like a wolf smiling at a naïve little fawn. It sounded sweet, but you knew something bad was about to happen. Of course, there was nothing that would ever hold up in court.

"Oh, yea, I think I knew about that. But it'll never happen to any of us, right?" he said with a nervous laugh at her humor. "I mean, that would just be ridiculous." She was kidding right?

She just gave him an innocent smile as she walked back into the room. Weiss didn't smile – at least not at him. Oh dust almighty, she wasn't kidding was she? No, she had to be. She wasn't that cold hearted? I mean, she'd just thanked him. Right? He shook his head. There was nothing he could do about it now, besides make sure Ruby didn't get hurt. His face hit his palm. This was Ruby he was talking about; he might as well go plead guilty to treason right now.

He ignored the lightly veiled threat for now. Looking at the message on his scroll, he prepared to send. It was telling Vili that he'd seen him this morning and inviting him to the couch in the apartment if he wanted it. It also told that Sun intended to be out until the morning. He intended to spend the night at the Sostituire building with Penny. Deciding there wasn't anything else to add, he sent the message.

"I'm ready when you are, Sun," Penny said, coming out of the door. She was followed by Yang.

"We'll just be a minute, Penny," Yang said, coming to stand before him. "Are you actually okay?"

"I promise you, I'm fine. Huntsman's honor," he said, adopting a pose with a hand over his heart and the other raised.

"I don't know what she was thinking, she could have hurt you really bad – I've seen what she can do with that gravity glyph when she wants to," Yang said, showing anger again.

"Cut her some slack. You heard her, she didn't know what happened. I didn't even think she could do that without Myrtenaster, and it sounds like she didn't either. I'm guessing she just wanted to shake the chair, knock me onto my feet or something. I was being… well, I was being childish, let's go with that. And it's not like the Little Mama Bear didn't have reason to be angry anyway," he said.

"Little Mama Bear?" Yang said with a laugh. "Why Little Mama Bear?"

"Oh, heh… well, she's like the smaller caretaker of the group… and Ruby," he muttered out slowly. He hadn't meant to call her that out loud, especially not to Yang.

"The smaller one?" she repeated slowly. She took on a sly look. "So, am I the Big Mama Bear?" she asked. This is why he shouldn't have said it to Yang, of all people. The girl was smarter than anyone gave her credit for.

"Um, yes? Look, I'm sorry, that was just how I started thinking about you two at some point."

She brightened with her signature smile. "I like it! Why does it have to be bears, though? Couldn't it be something cooler?" she asked.

"I don't know; that's just a thing. Bears are very protective of their cubs. What do want instead?" he responded, confused.

She pouted, her head tilted and arms crossed. "I don't know, I just don't like bears." She seemed lost in thought for a moment before the smile returned. "I got it! How about dragons? They're really protective of their gold treasure, and we both really treasure our team and Ruby. Then I can be the Big Mama Dragon and Weiss can be the Little Mama Dragon!" she burst out.

Sun's eyes widened from shock at her shouting. "Are you crazy?! Quiet down, I don't want her to hear that! She already hates me enough as it is, I don't need to give her another reason," he said in a hushed panic.

"Oh, right. Sorry," she said sheepishly. "I think Ruby was having her get into bed though." She peeked into the room. She came back with rocker hands, boasting a wide smile and a hanging tongue. "She's out cold. We're in the clear." Her face grew serious again. "And she doesn't hate you; she just… doesn't like you?"

"Well, that's a relief," he said sarcastically. "I suppose your right, she did just apologize to me – and even thanked me for catching her."

"No way! She was actually nice to you? Oh, she's never going to hear the end of this," Yang said, rubbing her hands together as her lilac eyes took on a mischievous gleam. Again, something he probably shouldn't have told to Yang, of all people. Oh well, today was just the day he screwed up with Weiss. He'd live. Then he remembered what had just happened. On second thought, maybe he wouldn't.

Officially counting this as one of the worst days he'd had, he checked the clock to note the late hour. "We should get going. Sneaking off campus will be a problem once the security goes up for the curfew," he said, going toward Penny, who was waiting patiently some ways down the hall.

"Oh yeah, how'd you guys get on campus? I thought we were on alert or something?" Yang said, confusion showing on her face.

"It seemed like they kept getting reports of miniature Nevermore feathers across the campus and thought the mother would come looking for it, apparently. At least that's what the teacher who chased us off campus said. We had to wait until the search calmed down so we could sneak in," he elaborated.

"I think I did hear some people talking about that. Glad you managed through, you saved me from the princess' study session. Good luck sneaking out," she said, closing the door into the room.

He nodded, coming to stand by Penny. Motioning for her to follow, he made his way toward the exit of the building. It wouldn't be that hard as long as the curfew wasn't in effect yet. He'd snuck onto the campus enough in the last two years that it was basically an automatic process. He did wonder how the Grimm hunt had turned out. He'd assumed they'd caught it or it had been a false alarm, since it seemed like they had stopped by the time he managed to sneak in. He guessed it didn't really matter, there wasn't a chance it'd be a problem for a whole school of people trained to kill them.

As he neared the campus walls, he gave one final glance back. He decided to let the girls finish the week without distractions, so it would be a few days before he'd make his way back. Hopefully by then he wouldn't have to sneak in. Looking further in time, he wondered what he was getting himself into with his new roommate. He hadn't managed to talk with the girls about the conversation with Vili, but their willingness to work with him suggested they thought he might be right. Thinking about Weiss' anger, he had previously found it surprising that they bothered to tell him secrets at all. Now he wondered if the reason she was angry wasn't that he'd told their secrets, but because now their real secrets would be uncovered.