Hey guys sorry it's been so long, prepare to be disappointed, this is mainly a set up chapter. I'm really sorry that it isn't as intense s the last few chapters, hopefully a couple of you will still enjoy it.

A long time reader and fellow author (Henta1Rampag3) has just published the first chapter of his new RWBY fic (Like Candlelight) and it's bloody excellent, easily in my top ten most liked stories, so stop reading this garbage and go check his awesomeness out!

s/11788344/1/Like-Candelight

Please leave a review

Picking Up The Pieces.

The rest of the journey passed with little incident. The students, with the exception of Nora, were far too tired to shout over the wind that roared past the open side of the crew compartment.

The Bullhead finally landed at Beacon's docks an hour after midnight. The journey had taken twice as long as usual because Glynda had to limit the airship's speed. If she'd gone any faster she would have run the risk of the students being snatched from the crew compartment by the undiscriminating air current.

Within seconds of the landing gear making contact with the ground, the ship was ambushed by the medical teams she had summoned via radio. A combination of fully fledged medics and partially trained student volunteers swarmed the craft under the direction of professor Peach and surgeon White. The medical staff wore the white coats typified by their trade, while student volunteers wore black pants and plain white shirts. The sole splash of colour upon their left bicep was a blood red band adorned with a white cross.

Weiss sighed and shrank back into the crew compartment when she caught sight of a green haired girl amongst the student volunteers.

Professor Goodwitch and Port immediately excused themselves to personally report to Ozpin.

A groaning Dove was placed onto a stretcher and carted away by Ren and Jaune. Velvet and Cardin followed on stretchers of their own a moment later. Yatsuhashi and Coco hefted Velvet's stretcher between them, while Fox followed close behind, unable to be of much assistance due to his injured arm. Russell made to lift Cardin's stretcher with Sky but something in his ribcage exploded with white hot pain. He fell to his knees beside his leader and wrapped his arms around his chest. Ruby crouched beside him, accompanied by her silent teammate. "I'm good, just give me a minute." He croaked.

Ruby pouted and shook her head. "Nope, we're getting you to the infirmary."

"But-"

"Nope."

"I can-"

"Nope."

"I'm not going to win this one am I?" He asked with a smile.

"Nope." Ruby replied with a grin of her own. She and Weiss helped him to his feet and wrapped their tiny arms around his waist for support as he in turn draped an arm over each of their shoulders. Yang and Blake gathered up team CRDL's weapons and followed along with the rest of team JNPR.

Russell watched his team leader's stretcher, now carried by Sky and Rod, round a corner ahead. "Will you let me win the next one?" He asked Ruby.

The red reaper paused as if deep in thought, for a moment Russell wondered if he would actually get the answer he expected. "Hmmm… Nope."

Damn.

Ember watched Russell leave. Her arms were crossed and faint whisps of smoke flowed into the air around her. Her eyes burned with barely restrained anger. The twins flanked her on the landing pad, silent yet supportive. Their presence was enough, Ember knew she could count on them for anything.

She began to walk back to team RFGE's dorm room, a joint would do her some good. "You ok?" Gray asked quietly as the twins followed a step behind, conscious of giving her space while being there if needed.

"Yup."

"You sure? Flint pressed. "Because you're ruining the courtyard."

Ember glanced back with a perturbed expression, confused as to what the elder twin meant. Her eyes widened as her gaze fell to the floor of the courtyard they were situated in. Blackened patches littered the white paving stones at semi regular intervals. Ember realised her footsteps had scorched the stone. Such fury blazed inside her that its raw heat was radiating out from her very body.

A sad smile gradually formed in her features. "I'm sorry." She sighed.

Gray shook his head. "No, you have nothing to be sorry for." He soothed.

"Yeah, you deal with this how you need to hot head." Ember smile widened slightly at the use of Flint's pet name for her. "If you need to be alone with your thoughts that's fine. If you need to talk to us about it that's fine too. Hell if you need to take it out on Gray and set him on fire I ain't gonna argue-"

"-Hey!" Gray complained.

Ember's smile grew again. The wisps of smoke above her head dissipated and the heat that had been radiating from her body faded away. "Thanks guys. You're the best."

"We know." Flint replied with a playful wink as the trio resumed their journey to their dorm room.

Velvet was the first to be rushed into the surgical theatre. She had priority as her wounds were by far the worst. Professor Peach followed the young Faunus into the operating room, reeling off required supplies with an urgency that took the rest of team CFVY's concern to previously unknown heights despite a nurses assurance that everything would be fine.

In the room that had previously been Cardin and Velvet's prison and the start to their budding relationship, beside his lover's team, Cardin lay face down on a hospital bed. He was stripped from the waist up, exposing the pale, near-bloodless flesh of his torso. A half empty blood bag hung from a stand just to his left, feeding down the tube and into the needle that a young nurse had stabbed through the skin of the crook of his left arm which dangled limply over the edge of the bed. This already part expended blood bag was his second transfusion. Despite professor Port transferring him some aura energy, the deep gouge in his back had yet to fully heal, so a nurse had cleaned the wound and administered a liberal amount of healing dust before taping a bandage over the area. She had expressed her shock at how he was clinging to consciousness at all.

Russell sat hunched in a chair at his leader's bed side. He was also stripped from the waist up, shivering in the chill of the cool night air. A mottled purple bruise spread from his navel to his shoulders. His back was also injured, a multitude of cuts and scrapes littered his flesh in addition to being similarly bruised. A grey haired nurse had already applied a healing salve to avoid infection and speed his healing process and was now busy with wrapping his torso in bandages. Russell winced and took in a sharp intake of breath as the nurse's hands brushed against a particularly sore part of his back. "Please tell me I won't have to stay in here?" He asked hopefully.

The elderly nurse shook her head. "No, you have two fractured ribs but your aura should be able to fix them within a few days. However I must insist that you avoid any strenuous activities for the next week."

"No arguments from me, but professor Goodwitch won't be pleased with me missing combat classes." He sighed.

"If professor Goodwitch's tries to make you fight, I'll fight her." the nurse retorted, though her stern tone made it hard for Russell to tell if she was joking. He smiled anyway as the image of the elderly nurse doing battle with professor Goodwitch solidified in his mind's eye.

The nurse finished her ministrations and bade her charge farewell, giving him one last stern reminder to give his body time to heal. Despite Russell's multiple protests, Ruby insisted on helping him back into his green jacket. "You need any help carrying your team's stuff back to the lockers?" The young team leader inquired.

"Nah, me and Sky can manage, thanks Ruby." Russell answered, unable to meet her gaze, though he was grateful, having to need help left him feeling uncomfortable.

"No problem, take it easy Russ, get well soon." She said by way of goodbye as the rest of het team followed her out.

"Russ…" Cardin rasped, the volume of his already quiet voice, lessened even further by the soft mattress he lay upon.

"Yeah?" His teammate replied, leaning forward in his seat and inclining an ear to his leader.

"How long have you known? When did Sky end up back on Stimms?" Cardin whispered.

Russell's blood ran cold, with his mind occupied by the Ember situation he'd forgotten Cardin had found out about Sky's relapse. It was time to come clean. "I've known since the twins dropped the unconscious bastard off at our dorm. He took them the morning after you ended up in here." He replied quietly, gesturing with disdain around the infirmary's primary ward. He really didn't like hospitals.

Cardin made it halfway through a stiff nod before a horrendous cough wracked his pale frame. Blood flecked spittle stained the formally white sheets of his bed. He took a proffered tissue from Russell and a few deep breaths. "Who else knows?"

"Just RFGE and CFVY."

Cardin strained and reached for his scroll, Russell worked out what his leader was after and passed it over from the bedside cabinet. Cardin's eyes narrowed in concentration as he tapped away with the thumb of his right hand, this was no easy task as the thick bandages that bound his injured palms limited his movement. "Can't trust them, they'll get Sky kicked out." A minute passed in near silence only the murmurings of team CFVY and the irregular yet persistent taps of Cardin's fingers on his scroll screen could be heard. "I've told Sky and Dove you're in command till I get out of here."

"But I don't want to lead, they won't listen, I-"

"Make them listen." Cardin hissed.

"I can't-"

"-You have to, or our team is fucked. If the teachers get proof of him being an addict we're all fucked. How do you think they'll treat the rest of us when we obviously knew about the Stimms? Dove could have died because of that asshole's addiction. We need to stop this."

"We tried last time, we found all his stashes. We watched him in shifts to make sure he didn't get hold of any more." Russell replied, pointing out there was little else they could do.

"If he got high during the mission then clearly he's got the Stimms on him. Take them, by force if necessary. This ends now and it's up to you to end it." Cardin's tone made it clear that there was no room for debate.

Russell sighed in defeat. "When and how?" He asked resignedly.

"As soon as possible and as brutal as you need to be. Don't fuck this up Russ, I'm counting on you, team CRDL is counting on you."

Russell rose to his feet and nodded to his leader. "Understood."

"I'm sorry that it's on you, if I could deal with it I would. I know you have other stuff to deal with. I'm sorry about Ember. I'll talk with Velvet, they're close, maybe she can get Ember to talk to you." Cardin said, adding a little incentive never hurt.

Russell stuffed his hands in his pockets and didn't meet his friend's gaze. "Thanks man." He mumbled. He looked up, Cardin had finally succumbed to his injuries and fatigue and lay unconscious on the hospital bed. "Nurse?" He called with a voice tinged with concern.

The elderly nurse who had tended to his wounds earlier bustled over. She scanned Cardin with her scroll while deftly sliding a plastic clip onto his finger and flipping the switches on a monitor. "Vitals dropping slightly." A few seconds passed, the nurse's eyes darted over his prone form, as if she didn't trust her instruments. Her frown deepened as she redirected her attention to the wall mounted monitors. Multiple numbers and symbols fluctuated across the screen, some numbers were falling, others rising. Russell couldn't make sense of any of it but it didn't stop him assuming the worst.

Cardin didn't stir. The serene expression on his face worried Russell, as did the slow beeping of the vitals monitor, it was like a clock ticking down to zero. Still Cardin rested. The nurse let out the breath she'd been holding and smiled at Russell. "He's stabilised. Should be fine now." She said, patting the boy with the peculiar hairstyle on the back.

Russell smiled back sheepishly and turned to leave. "Remember, no fighting." The nurse called after him.

He turned and nodded before leaving the room. "No promises." he murmured as he made his way to the ward where Sky would inevitably be at Dove's side.

Professor Peach rolled up his sleeves and snapped a pair of surgical gloves onto his well manicured hands as he walked briskly alongside the gurney. Surgeon White mirrored his actions on the other side of their patient. The double doors to the surgical theatre were held open by a pair of orderlies, a surgical assistant on loan from West Vale medical school monitored Velvet's vitals as a third orderly pushed the gurney through the open doorway. Velvet lay between them, already unconscious thanks to the anaesthetic they had administered. Her head lolled weakly side to side as the gurney came to a stop, the oxygen mask tied over her face made ugly sucking noises at every pained breath of its wearer. "Her vitals are dropping slightly." The assistant surgeon informed them, his voice muffled by his surgical mask. Peach and White placed surgical masks over their own noses and mouths. "Wait, scratch that they've stabilised, low but stable." The surgeon corrected himself with a confused expression that his surgical mask couldn't hope to hide.

Professor Peach quirked an eyebrow as he looked back at the door they had just arrived through. "Interesting." He mused, glancing at his watch 01:13 AM read the digital screen.

Surgeon White nodded in agreement. "I share your suspicion." He confirmed as all male staff turned away from their patient out of courtesy while two female orderlies gently stripped Velvet and dressed her in some sterile, stark white underwear.

The surgical assistant cleared his throat and leaned over Velvet's unconscious body, assessing which injuries needed to be seen to first. He prodded at the slightly shiny pink line across Velvet's trim stomach. "Recent scar tissue, very recent. She must have used healing dust to seal the wound."

The younger of the two female orderlies spoke up. "There's a similar wound on her back."

Professor Peach and Surgeon white gently rolled Velvet onto her side. Sure enough a near identical line of recent scar tissue mirrored the one on her front. "Holy Dust, she must have been impaled. How was she even still standing when she got off the airship?" The surgical assistant stammered.

"Scan it." Surgeon White instructed. The assistant complied.

"Internal bruising, blood pooling in her abdomen due to internal bleeding." He scanned carefully around the affected area. "Healing dust must have sealed up the wounds, whatever went through her must have missed anything vital." The doctor in training's tone shifted to a more unsure, questioning one. "I'd recommend draining the blood in her abdominal area via syringe and putting her on a course of anti infection drugs, double dose?"

"Your assessment is correct surgeon." White nodded. A small smile crept onto the surgeon in training's face. Peach began to drain the fluid, his face a rigid mask of concentration only his eyes moved, flickering between the screen showing a real time MRI of Velvet's abdomen and his own syringe wielding hand. "Continue your assessment." White instructed.

"Uh…" The surgical assistant stammered as his eyes surveyed Velvet's other injuries. "The leg next?" He asked nervously, hoping to continue his streak. Surgeon White nodded. "Ok… wound still open on left thigh. He prodded the wound with his finger, grimacing at the ash and dirt that adhered to his glove with the aid of his patient's blood. "I need to clean the wound and apply antiseptic bio foam." He said confidently.

"Right again." Peach praised as he slapped a pair of surgical scissors holding a sterile wad of cotton into the assistant's hand. He stepped aside to let the assistant perform the aforementioned actions. It broke his heart to see his favourite student lying wounded with her life blood leaking away for the second time in as many weeks. The gurgling sound emanating from her oxygen mask grew louder as if in protest to the latex sheathed fingers that probed at her still open wound. Soon after, biofoam plugged the hole with a muted hiss. The assistant followed up by doing the same to the deep cut in the calf of her other leg. "She also has some tendon damage to this ankle." He stated. "When she wakes up she'll need to take some anti inflammatories." Once he'd finished giving his patient a final looking over he straightened his back and looked over at Peach and White and snapped off his gloves. "How'd I do?"

"Very well." Peach commended with an appreciative nod. A smile crept onto the surgeon in training's lips.

"You missed her two broken ribs." Surgeon White added. The surgical assistant winced and his smile faltered. "Not to worry, there's not much we can do about them anyway. With her aura pool they should heal naturally by the end of the week. You did fine, you stayed calm, you'll make a fine surgeon some day." White said encouragingly.

The surgical assistant opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by a quiet knock on the door. A senior nurse peered through the door's plexiglass porthole awaiting permission to enter. "Come in." Peach called.

"Sorry to bother you sirs but Cardin's vitals dropped slightly a little while ago, he's stable now but I haven't been able to determine why they dropped in the first place."

"What time?" Surgeon White exchanged looks with professor Peach as he spoke.

"01:13 sir, I made a note of it."

"The same time as Velvet's vitals dropped." Peach said with a knowing smile.

"Sorry but I don't understand?" The assistant spoke up.

"You haven't worked on many huntsman before have you?" Peach asked softly.

"Only one, a veteran with a nasty leg wound. Awfully strange man, he told me to grant him access to the rubbing alcohol. He kept insisting it was a matter of Kingdom security…"

Professor Peach blew a raspberry and allowed himself a short snicker. "Did this huntsman happen to be called Qrow?"

The assistant's eyes widened as he nodded. "You know him?"

"Only in passing, he's a very good friend of Ozpin." Peach explained. The assistant's jaw gaped open. "Take Velvet back to the ward where Cardin is situated, their vitals should improve then." The orderlies nodded and complied with the order. They wheeled Velvet down the corridor accompanied by the elderly nurse. Peach snapped off his gloves as the double doors of the surgical theatre swung shut, then he removed his surgical mask.

"Why would their vitals improve when they're in close proximity to each other?" The assistant quized.

"Auric harmony." Peach answered.

Surgeon White pushed his thick rimmed glasses up his nose, closer to his watery blue eyes. "It's a phenomenon among people with a larger than normal aura pool. When huntsman bond, their auras become somewhat linked. There are many ways in which this can happen. Either through time spent together, overcoming a particularly difficult event or even on a mutual emotional level."

"So what does this auric harmony do exactly?" The assistant interjected, his thirst for knowledge getting the better of him.

Peach spoke up this time. "Apart, nothing. Their aura's operate in exactly the same way. Together, they become so much more. Aura regeneration rate increases, sometimes even doubles. Aura energy efficiency can also increase. Pain tolerance improves dramatically, which is why she was able to walk out of that airship unaided. Together they are far stronger, faster, and more deadly than they could ever hope to be apart."

"A welcome benefit in combat, I suppose." The assistant observed. "But why does it happen?"

Surgeon White tackled this question. "Auric harmony is not an exact science, the field is still in its infancy. Several worthwhile theories have been put forward." He paused to push his glasses back up his nose. "Some believe it is simply a manifestation of our inner soul's need of social interaction. Others theorise that it is a more primal survival instinct beyond our control. Although the how and why is still much disputed, many hunter academies place their students in teams and have them share dorm rooms to encourage the bonding required for the phenomenon to take place."

The assistant nodded, making a mental note to research the phenomenon himself later. "And which prerequisite for bonding do you think this case of auric harmony is?" He asked.

Surgeon White flashed a smile and rubbed the smattering of white stubble on his chin. "Well they were confined to a ward together for more than a week. So bonding over the amount of time spent together is plausible. However they did survive a life threatening mission together and I personally believe this to be a more likely reason for their bond."

Peach smirked and shook his head. "I take it you disagree with surgeon White's assumption?" The assistant quizzed.

Peach ran a hand through his short blond curls and smiled. "I assure you, the answer is far, far less boring." Peach teased as he opened the door to the corridor. He turned back and flashed yet another smile at the assistant.

"They're hopelessly in love."

Emerald and Sky waited alongside team JNPR in the secondary ward. A nurse had already cleaned Dove's wound, sprayed it with bio foam and given him a dose of painkillers upon the first year's request. The green haired girl pushed herself out of the chair and cleared her throat to get everyone's attention. "I'll get a nurse to see if there's anything else to be done for Dove." She announced.

"Good idea." Nora said. "I'm getting sleepy, who knew hospital beds were so comfy." She added with a yawn as she stretched out across the vacant bed opposite Dove's.

Emerald walked out into the corridor and disappeared from sight. She came back into view a moment later, though her entrance was far more hurried than her exit. "She said we shouldn't be in here, apparently even breathing near him triples his chances of infection." The green haired girl quickly explained.

At first Ren thought Nora had gasped in surprise but was dismayed to discover she had in fact taken in a deep breath and was straining to hold it within her puffed cheeks while frantically grabbing her stuff. Ren shook his head and let out an exasperated sigh. "REN! Stop breathing on him! You're wearing green!"

"So?"

"He could get gangrene!"

"Nora… I don't think that's how gangrene works."

"We need to go." Pyrrha interjected, tugging on Ren and Nora's arms.

Jaune and Sky leapt from their seats and hurried out the door, closely followed by the rest of team JNPR. Sky scooped up his friend's sword and the bag containing his armour on the way out. The scraggly blond boy muttered a curse as the group made it halfway down the corridor. He span on his heel, sprinting back towards the ward and hurled himself back into the room. The now present nurse rounded on him as Jaune skidded to a halt. "What are you doing? Get out!" She screeched.

Jaune skidded to a halt, the young blonde nurse in the skimpiest uniform he'd ever seen stopped him in his tracks. He recovered his wits and snatched Crocea Mors from a side table before sprinting headlong from the room chased by the nurses shrill rebuttals. He rejoined his peers at the end of the corridor, noticing a member of their party was missing. "Where's Emerald?" He panted.

Nora spoke up in response to his question. "Pfft that mean lady probably scared her off too." She practically shouted.

"Ssshhh!" Jaune hissed waving his hands. "If she hears you she'll start scolding us again, C'mon let's get back to the dorm room." JNPR whispered hushed farewells to Sky and tip toed down the corridor lest they risk the wrath of the nurse again.

"Anyone think that nurse was dressed a little strangely? " Jaune asked once he was sure they were out of earshot.

"What do you mean Jaune, only you saw her?" Ren asked.

"Well, uh… she wasn't dressed like the other nurses. Her outfit was way… smaller…" his voice cracked on the final word, it felt like an incriminating detail.

"Were you eyeing her up? Nora asked painfully loudly.

Jaune's face reddened as he stuttered. "No I- I just saw -I mean I was trying to say-"

Nora's lips curled into a predatory grin. She had Jaune right where she wanted him. The most rambunctious member of team JNPR sidled up alongside her redhaired teammate. She leaned in close and cupped a hand between her teammate's ear and her own lips. "Hey Pyrrha," she said, in what had to be the loudest whisper of all time. "Jaune likes a women in uniform, we could get you an outfit from that store downtown. You could be a naughty nurse, or a sexy cop, or a saucy maid." She waved a hand in front of Pyrrha excitedly as if she didn't already have her teammate's full attention. "Oh, or a kinky mmph-"

Her last thought was cut short by Ren's hand being placed over Nora's mouth. He shook his head at Nora disapprovingly. "I'm so sorry."

But it was too late, the damage was done. Pyrrha's face was about as red as her hair and Jaune's blush had somehow gotten worse. Even as Ren uttered his sincere apology he felt Nora's smile grow wider against his palm and couldn't stop a small grin from creeping onto his own face.

Jaune glanced around the corridor, desperate to look anywhere but Pyrrha's eyes. "Pyrrha I didn't mean that, uh, I mean its not that you wouldn't look good in those outfits, I mean you would but…"

Jaune tailed off as he caught a still silenced Nora out of the corner of his eye miming the exaggerated use of a spade. She was right, he really was just digging a hole for himself here.

Back in the secondary ward, Dove was having equal trouble getting his words out. The nurse had dropped her hostile edge as soon as everyone else had left the room. She was currently making a show of checking the instruments, which afforded Dove a great view since the nurse was dressed in a far more alluring way than any he'd ever seen. Her white, form fitting dress clung to her curvaceous figure, barely containing her large breasts and just barely concealing her behind. A pair of slender yet shapely legs were the icing on the cake. And the face… why this woman had chosen to go into nursing rather than modeling he'd never know. So enamoured with gazing upon her was Dove that it took a couple of seconds for him to register that she'd turned around and started sashaying towards him. The first year looked away as a slight blush crept into his cheeks.

When Dove finally worked up the courage to look at her again he found her sitting in a chair at his bedside. "You were in here before weren't you? Pretty recently?" She asked in a lusty voice, like damp silk.

"Uh… yeah…" Dove just about managed to reply.

"And then you went out on this mission, fighting all those Grimm? Wow you must be ten different kinds of tough."

Dove beamed at the compliment. "Yeah I'm pretty strong I guess." He answered as his ego was stroked.

The nurse smiled, twirling one of her blonde bangs with the lazy spirals of her finger. "Tell me about the mission." She cooed seductively. "Its not often I get to hear stories from such a strong, powerful warrior." She added, leaning forwards in her seat, giving Dove a tantalising view of her generous cleavage.

Dove's smile grew wider and his cheeks got redder. He finally regained his composure as she sat back. "There were loads of Grimm. We were sent in to kill a Razorwing, that's a male Nevermore by the way." He clarified, the nurse nodded but didn't take her heavily lidded eyes from his, Dove had her full attention. "It was huge, took our airship right out of the sky. So we had to climb a mountain to get payback. We destroyed the nest and killed the bastard."

"You killed the Razorwing?"

"Uh… yeah totally. Almost single-handed, Port and Yatsuhashi helped a little." He lied.

To his relief the nurse bought it, her eyes showed no signs of doubt or suspicion. "Wow you really are strong, stronger even than the professor I bet." She praised, wide eyed. "So then what happened" She purred.

"Well when the ship crashed we got separated from my team leader and this other girl. I said we needed to look for them, there was no way they would survive on their own since they aren't as strong as me."

"Is that the two in the other room?"

"Yeah, turns out they went to the wrong mountain, ended up disturbing a Deathstalker Hive. So we headed in to save them, killed a metric fuckton of Shamblers on the way. So we were surrounded, running out of options. The others were scared but I kept them together. Team RYNBW and JNPR showed up to help but I had it all under control. The Broodqueen wounded me but I killed it anyway." He lied, adding more strings of bullshit to the already tangled web he had created.

"Wow I bet your teammates are all really jealous of you."

"Ah, they keep calling me a hero but I like to stay modest."

"Yeah I can tell." The nurse replied, struggling to keep sarcasm from creeping into her voice, a fact that went unnoticed by Dove. She checked her watch and rose from her seat. "Hey, I have to go now but I might be back. I'd love to hear more of your stories. See you around, hero." She said with a seductive wink.

Dove gave her a farewell in return and watched the mesmerising sway of her hips as she left the room. He sighed contentedly and leaned back into his pillows.

The gorgeous young nurse sashayed down the corridor past Sky. She shot him a playful wink as she turned the corner into the stairwell, leaving the first year alone once again. As the widowless door slid closed her dim surroundings became apparent. A broken bulb had left the landing poorly lit. A snicker from the shadows caused the nurse to spin on her heel and enter a combat stance. Mercury Black emerged from the darkness and looked her up and down. "You look like something out of a low budget porno." He teased.

Her illusion disappeared, revealing a scowling Emerald. "Well it worked didn't it? That's all that matters."

"Really, they fell for that disguise? These kids are idiots!" He laughed, wiping a nonexistent tear from the corner of his eye. "So did you get what we needed?"

"Yes." Emerald replied. "Cinder is not going to be happy."

Sky wasn't alone for long, Russell came down the corridor. "Hey man, Cardin put me in command and-"

"-yeah I know." Sky said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Already checked my scroll."

"Can you help me carry all the weapons back to the lockers then?"

Sky rolled his eyes as he tucked his halberd and Dove's sword under one arm and hefted the bag containing his teammate's armour over his other shoulder. "Urgh, fine but if I ever get made leader, you're gonna be ordered to do all my coursework." He joked. Russell forced a laugh but didn't reply as the pair meandered down the corridor and into the primary ward.

The rest of team CFVY stood a grim and silent vigil around their wounded comrade. In the bed beside Velvet's, Cardin was exactly as Russell had left him, the only indication he was alive at all being the slight rise and fall of his chest and the somewhat irritating beep of the heart rate monitor.

Coco turned and nodded a greeting at Russell. Yatsuhashi couldn't tear his eyes off of his unconscious teammate while Fox's only acknowledgement of Russell and Sky's entrance was a blank but somehow hostile glare. The leader of team CFVY shuffled over, clearly exhausted. As she closed the distance it became apparent to Russell just how strung out she was. Her reddened eyes shone with tears yet to be shed. Her normally impeccable mascara was smeared slightly down her cheeks, while her creased beret lounged slightly out of place on its bed of more unkempt than usual hair. She cleared her throat. "Hey Russ. You doing ok?"

"Been better." He replied with a shrug that hurt his ribs to perform. "How's Velvet?"

"Peach says she'll make a full recovery, but it's just hard you know? She only got out of here a few days ago."

Russell nodded in understanding. "She's strong, she'll get through it."

Coco nodded, "Cardin still hasn't woken up. Peach says he'll make a full recovery though. His gear's over there." She said gesturing to the sack in the corner with Cardin's mace on top.

Russell winced as he swung the bag onto his shoulder, tears welled in his eyes as the sack put pressure on the still tender bruises of his back. He cursed his leader for wearing such ridiculously heavy armour as he picked up the mace with his free hand.

He bade farewell to the three conscious members of team CFVY and turned to leave. His gaze lingered on his injured leader for a moment before he made his way out of the ward.

Russell followed Sky down the corridor and into the elevator, the doors slid shut with a muted hiss. Goosebumps formed on his flesh from the frigid silence as the elevator descended. Finally the doors slid back open. The staccato taps of the receptionist's fingers against her terminal's screen broke the oppressive silence. She smiled warmly at the pair of heavily laden first years as they strolled out the front door.

The next ten minutes were spent traversing Beacon's multitude of white paved courtyards and walkways. No words were exchanged, both exhausted students concentrated solely on putting one foot in front of the other. Sky took the lead, Russell did his best to keep up despite his ribs screaming in protest at the weight of his teammate's gear putting pressure on his injured torso. He used Cardin's mace as a cane, lazily scraping the head of the weapon across the cobbles. In front of him Sky was using his halberd in a similar fashion, though he seemed to possess the energy to lift the weapon between each step. There was the familiar, almost rhythmic clack of steel meeting stone but Russell's ears picked up on another, stranger sound. With every impact, a muted sound reminiscent of a maraca could just about be heard.

Russell couldn't give the origin of that strange sound much thought, he had to psych himself up for the coming confrontation. His stare bore into his teammate's back as they finally entered the building where the lockers were situated. Sky shouldered the door to the first years locker room open and held it with the toe of his boot for his teammate to squeeze past him. "Thanks." Russell mumbled, unable to meet his teammate's eyes.

Two near identical aisles of lockers stretched down the relatively long, narrow room with high ceilings and arched windows. In the middle of both aisles a row of worn and squat wooden benches lay. It was on one such bench that Russell set down Cardin's mace and armour. Sky mirrored his teammate and laid his halberd and Dove's sword and armour down beside it. "Uh, what's Dove's locker combination?" Russell asked.

Sky rolled his eyes before replying. "It's not hard to remember, it's just his birthday."

"And I would know that because?..." Russell prompted.

"Pfft some leader you are." Sky teased, grinning at his teammate, Russell returned the grin with a thin smile. Sky ambled past his teammate to the locker and began typing the passcode into the keypad.

Russell moved while his teammate's back was turned, placing himself between Sky and the pile of weapons. It's now or never…

Dove's locker slid open. "Sky." Russell said in a harsh tone, Sky froze.

"Give me the drugs."

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I hope that maybe some of you enjoyed this.

Thank you to the Beta reader Nemris for being awesome as all hell. He just put up a story on here called Chaos is the prize, it's a warhammer/RWBY crossover but if you don't know anything about 40k lore you can always read it as an elaborate OC centric story, so stop reading this and go look at it damn you!

s/11599330/1/Chaos-is-the-Prize

Thank you to MechaG11 of deviant art for the new cover art and for being absolutely amazing, go check him out he's super talented.