And I am finally back! Sorry for how large the gap has been since the first story ended, but I wanted to be sure that I had an outline done far enough for the story that even if I hit a case of writer's block down the road I have plenty of existing material to pull from for the full chapters themselves.

That said, I hope everyone is excited for both this sequel, as well as the next season of RWBY in a couple of months. I feel like this sort of thing will go a long way towards filling the gap until then, while also managing to fill in the gaps between episodes when the show itself does start up again. Until next time however, enjoy my continuation to my own AU of RWBY. Make sure to leave any thoughts or questions in reviews following the chapter so that I can either clear up any concerns or just enjoy the thrill I give you guys from writing again.

Frost took a deep breath of the cool winter air as he and Neo trudged along through the empty forest around them. It had been close to a week since Qrow had left from the hospital that Neo and Frost had been recovering at, with the two of them deciding within a few days that they needed to make a move of their own and start to find out about what else transpired as well as find out how Frost's friends and classmates were doing. Without many clues or indications of many students exact whereabouts, they turned to the closest place Frost could think of- Patch.

The trip for the two of them had been mostly quiet, with only the odd run-in with a few smaller packs of Grimm, the two of them taking extra precaution to watch out for larger groups of Grimm given that the two of them alone couldn't handle some of the more unique or powerful Grimm that would likely be drawn to the city proper where those, like Glynda Goodwitch, were presently trying to both keep Grimm infestation under a certain level as well as monitoring the current situation with the Dragon frozen atop the ruined Beacon Tower. The citizens themselves were all safely away from its boundaries, with the exception of those that had been killed in the chaos of the attack.

Frost clenched one fist tightly within his new armored gauntlets, a look of grim determination on his face as he vowed to not let something like that happen again. As much as it was a promise very similar to the one he had made as a child in regards to his home village, he now had the skills necessary to actually do something about the Grimm attacks as well as anything that Cinder or the White Fang may cause. Neo gave him a sideways glance as she caught sight of his fist clenching, her hand not currently occupied with carrying her parasol on her shoulder raising to rest lightly on his arm. He looked over and softened his expression as a show of thanks before they continued on, Neo being the first to break the silence around them.

"You know, even after everything we talked about back at the hospital after Qrow left you never actually explained why we were coming out here in particular."

Frost paused as he turned to face Neo with confusion, a question already coming to his lips the moment after she spoke. "Wait, really?" His look of confusion was only increased when Neo turned to face him completely with a small nod. "Huh, guess I should probably backtrack bit then for clarity's sake."

Neo smiled a cheeky smile as Frost paused to gather his thoughts, "That made help, considering we've been wandering these woods for a few hours already."

Frost shook his head with a small smile as he regarded Neo's expression, "You know I could just say no and keep leading us off to who knows where as far as you know. Wouldn't be that hard considering how often either of us has actually been outside Vale." Frost looked up towards the skies, his hand on his chin. "It's been…what? Over ten years?"

Neo's expression became more somber at that statement, her face turning towards the ground with a look of sadness. "Ever since the village was attacked…I know."

Frost immediately picked up on the sadness in her voice, his face twisting in shock before he delivered a quick smack to his forehead with one hand before reaching for Neo's shoulder with the other. "Hey, that was a bad call on my part; I never should have brought that up." Neo looked up to see the serious expression back on his face. "I should have remembered how much you hate when that topic comes up; after all, everyone recovers from something like that at a different pace." His expression returned to normal as he gave her shoulder a quick pat of reassurance. "I promised since we were kids that I wouldn't let anything hurt you like that again, and I intend to keep that promise. As for where we're headed," Frost said as he turned to start walking, Neo quickly moving to catch up and keep up with his pace. "We're headed to Ruby and Yang's home. If we're lucky Qrow might still be there checking in on them, otherwise we can at least ask about where everyone else is if they aren't staying here with the two of them."

Neo paused for another moment as Frost finished explaining their reasoning for coming out this way. "You said before that Yang is the blonde one of the group, right? The one I attacked on the train?"

Frost noticed the look of hesitation on Neo's face immediately. "Hey, I already told you- Ruby and her team all know about the situation with Torchwick…though I guess the whole story about the drug forcing you to do stuff you didn't want wasn't entirely true, huh?"

"Not really, but it's still reassuring to know that they don't think poorly of me despite what I was involved in."

Frost had a moment of realization on his face as he snapped his fingers in remembrance. "That's right, you wouldn't know about that!"

"Know about what?"

"That Blake used to be a member of the White Fang- from before Cinder recruited them for her efforts with Vale. They already got past that as a group, and I'm pretty sure that they all got past Yang's "attack" on Mercury back during the tournament. You'll be fine. Yang might give you a ribbing for it for a while, but that's just her way of paying it off as okay. Besides, I think it's a little late for cold feet." Frost finished with a smirk as Neo frowned at him.

"Just because you're doing a good job of reassuring me does not mean you're allowed to make your disgusting puns, Cobalt."

Frost feigned ignorance as he turned around with both arms crossed behind his head. "I was just commenting on the situation, I never said anything about the weather, did I?"

"Oh, shush." Neo snapped while struggling and failing to hold back a smile from her face.

Frost silently applauded himself for not wasting a perfectly situation for a joke, but mostly for being able to reassure Neo. She had done enough of that for him after everything surrounding her voice, so it only felt right that he return the favour in what was likely still a dark patch for Neo to be in. The two's momentarily respite was cut short however as they heard a howling sound coming from nearby, before immediately being followed by the sound of multiple bodies moving quickly across the snow-dusted ground around them. After moving back-to-back with their weapons drawn, the two braced themselves as pack of half-a-dozen Beowolves bounds from out of the foliage around them. How they hadn't noticed the pack earlier was strange, however that mattered little as they had to deal with the beasts at this point regardless.

Two of the Grimm pounced almost immediately, both of them with claws raised with the intent of landing the fatal blow quickly as such Grimm were prone to do, only for the figures of Neo and Frost to shatter upon impact, the Grimm now looking around in confusion for the two of them. A moment later their curiosity was answered as a body fell from a nearby tree on top of on the Grimm that hadn't yet attacked with a sickening crunch before its body dissipated into black mist. Frost shook out the arm that had planted itself in the ground before quickly ducking to avoid the swipe of another beast, his other arm moving to place his open palm against the Beowulf's chest with his arm glowing with the telltale mark of his Semblance, a bolt of energy firing through the monsters back a moment later causing it to dissipate like its brethren a moment earlier.

Another Grimm would have been upon him a moment later, were it not for the sudden emergence of a sharp blade through its chest, its head turning to face the culprit as Neo smirked lightly before twisting her body- her heeled boot colliding with its face as it too faded into mist. The remaining Grimm quickly retreated to the centre of the clearing with its two compatriots, their pack number quickly being reduced by what they had originally considered to be easy prey given how clueless they had been to the monster's approach. The three all snarled a moment later before lunging as one group towards the two of them.

Frost turned to face Neo as the Beowolves approached; a smirk on his face as he asked the question on the front of his mind. "Up for a little Guilty Spark, for old times' sake?"

Neo sighed in defeat as she gave Frost a slight nod accompanied by a small glare. Frost cracked his knuckles in anticipation while quickly shutting his eye as Neo teleported away in a bright flash of light, momentarily blinding the Grimm in the commotion. Even as they shook their heads to clear the spots from their sight, it was too late as Frost bore down on them with both arms outstretched and crackling with trace amounts of electricity. Before they could move in a way to defend themselves, it was too late as Frost placed a hand each on the sides of two of the beasts, the electricity he had quickly charged to his arms immediately flowing to the nearest object as the current vaporized the two wolves in an instant. He would have been also had to deal with the third Beowolf; however that was unnecessary- as planned- when Neo's blade pierced through the bony mask on the Grimm's face with a silent ring of metal on metal, its body vanishing a moment later. The two of them stretched their limbs briefly from the short workout before returning to their earlier route after a quick glance at the map on Frost's scroll.

Neo frowned from ahead while Frost carried a knowing smirk on his face.

"What's got you so sour now?" Frost stated matter-of-factly from the back. After a moment of silence from Neo, Frost poked further. "Huh? I didn't catch that."

Neo whirled with an irritated look on her face even as he kept walking. "You know exactly why I'm suddenly acting "sour", as you put it. You know how much I hate that name."

"Hey, we had to find some way to remember some of our more technical tricks back when we were doing some of our heists for Torchwick."

"Did it really have to sound so terrible though?"

"As I recall, it helped us to know when we needed to us it in a certain situation without telegraphing to anyone else. By the way, nice use of the hidden blade back there, considering your aversion to using it back when we did come up with that trick and who we had to use it on a lot of the time."

Neo blushed briefly at the out of the blue praise. "T-thanks, I guess. I just figured this time around since it was Grimm, it might work a bit better to daze or incapacitate them since their body structure is more durable than some of the opponents we've faced." Neo's expression quickly shifted to shock at the realization of what Frost had just done. "Hey! Don't do that when I'm trying to be upset at you!"

Frost turned to give her a sideways smirk as he reached out to push aside some foliage blocking their path. "It worked for improving your mood, didn't it? Besides, looks like while we were conversing we finally arrived."

Neo quickly moved to catch up to Frost's position before looking out through the gap in the foliage Frost had made. Her eyes widened in surprise at the sight before her. "It looks so…plain. How could anyone possibly live out here with the constant threat of Grimm around them in these woods?"

Frost shrugged his shoulders as the two of them made their way towards the wooden door of the cabin in front of them, smoke gently wafting from the chimney on one side of the building. "Maybe it's some sort of weird ward put up by Huntsman, maybe they've killed enough that came too close that they keep their distance. Either way, something tells me they aren't usually out in such huge numbers as they have been lately. That Dragon back in Beacon is probably working them up a bunch and causing those not flocking to the city to just act more aggressive than usual."

"Grimm acting more aggressive than usual? Something about that statement doesn't sound right." Neo said as she reached forward to knock lightly on the door. A moment later an older blond-haired man answered the door with a brief look of eagerness on his face, only for it to disappear the moment he saw who was at the door. "Excuse me sir, is this the Rose-Xiao Long residence?"

The blond-haired man regarded the two of them with a raised eyebrow for a moment before opening his mouth to respond. "It is, why do you ask?"

Frost stepped forward as he raised a hand to wave in greeting. "We're friends of Ruby and Yang from Beacon. We wanted to see how the two of them are doing after everything that happened back at the campus and the city."

The man looked past the two of them for a moment before motioning for the two to enter. "You…might want to come inside to hear about it. The Grimm have been more active lately, and after how far you've come I imagine you could probably use the rest. Might want to brace yourselves though, you might not like what you hear."

Frost and Neo gave each other uneasy looks before moving in past the older man, who stayed at the open door for a moment as he looked outside for a moment longer, a whisper leaving his mouth that only he could hear.

"Where are you, Ruby?"