CHAPTER 4

"You sure you're okay now?" your grandfather's tinny voice crackled through the scroll.

You nodded instinctively before realizing—again—that he couldn't see you. Talking over a scroll was such a strange experience, one you were still adjusting to. It felt odd, holding a conversation without being able to see the other person's face, to pick up on their expressions.

You'd finally called him back, albeit a few days later than he had suggested. Embarrassingly, you'd only just figured out how to actually make a call, thanks to Professor Goodwitch's patient guidance. With some free time now, you figured it was as good a moment as any to fill him in on your situation.

"Yes, I'm doing okay now," you replied, though the memory of what had happened still made your cheeks heat with embarrassment. The way you'd run off in tears from your mother's past self was still mortifying think about. She probably thought you were a complete weirdo. "Professor Goodwitch found me afterward. She gave me some advice, and, uh… I stayed on her couch last night."

You hesitated, then added, "She made me soup for breakfast, too. Insisted I have seconds." You couldn't help but smile faintly at the memory. "It tasted nice."

"Glynda? Hah, knew she had a soft side after all!" He laughed. "Do her a favour and don't tell your uncle about this, he'll never let her live it down."

"Uh, noted," you replied. It was still so weird that Uncle Qrow was so laid-back in the past, it was like he was a completely different person from the grouchy old man you remembered. "I don't really see what's funny though."

"So where are you staying now? Back to Team RWBY's dorm?" he scoffed, his casual tone turning furious for a moment. "I still can't believe Ozpin did that to you without any warning, the ass. I understand if you don't want to, you can always ask him for a different room or team to stay with."

You bit your lip in thought. You really didn't like the thought of living with these younger versions of your mother and aunts, the thought of getting your own room or bunking with another team was tempting. But at the same time, Professor Goodwitch's advice rang clear in your ears.

Don't treat them like they're past versions of your former family? Easier said than done. There was also the undoubtedly awkward talk you would would have to have with them about yesterday's events.

Gods, why hadn't you just accepted the spar like a normal person instead of bursting into dramatics like that?

You couldn't ignore them forever, they had been key players during Salem's invasion so many years ago and they would likely be again this time around. But did you really have to stay with them?

You sighed as you made your decision. "I'll stay with Team RWBY."

There was no point avoiding it, you'd run into them sooner or later. Might as well get the pain over with now.

Grandpa made a sympathetic noise. "Ah, well I wish you the best with that then. Ruby puts her foot into her mouth every now and then but she means well, she's probably feeling really crappy for yesterday so prepare for the thousands of apologies she'll give you within a minute."

You grimaced slightly. "I'll keep that in mind," you said, trying to mask your lingering embarrassment.

After exchanging goodbyes, you ended the call and pocketed your scroll.

Reaching for your newly issued Beacon backpack—sleek, compact, and blessedly clean—you slung it over your shoulder and set off toward Team RWBY's dorm. This time, you managed to navigate the labyrinthine halls of Beacon without getting lost. The sheer size of the place still threw you off. For all its vastness, it felt underutilized. With space to spare, the academy could easily house three times the current population if comfort wasn't a priority.

Eventually, you found yourself in front of Team RWBY's door. Class had just ended for the day, so there was a good chance they'd be in their room. Taking a steadying breath, you reached out and gave the door a gentle knock.

Who greets you?

The door swung open to reveal a familiar figure—a young woman with long blonde hair and lilac eyes. She blinked, her expression shifting to surprise as recognition dawned. "Silver?"

Your heart clenched at the sight. Auntie Yang.

She looked almost the same as you remembered. The lack of laugh lines and tattoos on her arms was a bit jarring, and of course, her right arm was still flesh and blood, not the prosthetic with faded gold paint that had become so iconic in your memories, but he was still very much the same woman. The sight was bittersweet, tugging at a thousand emotions at once. Not as bad as seeing your mother or Auntie Weiss, perhaps, but this was still no walk in the park. Honestly, you'd been hoping to run into Blake first. She would have been easier to deal with if her past self was half as calm and quiet.

"Uh, hello," you managed, before Yang's eyes narrowed suddenly. Without a word, she leaned out of the doorway, scanning the hall.

"Hey, wha-," you started, only to be cut off when she grabbed your arm and yanked you inside with a strength that was definitely more familiar. The door clicked shut behind you, the sound startlingly loud in the sudden quiet.

Well, at least some things never changed. It was comforting, in a weird way, to see that Yang had always been this... forward, even as a teenager.

You glanced around the dorm, relieved to find it empty save for Yang. Meeting all four of them at once? That would've been overwhelming.

The room was colourful and brimming with personality, a stark contrast to the spartan, practical spaces you'd grown used to in the forgotten hovels or isolated wilderness camps you'd spent most of your life in. Every corner seemed to hold a story, from the posters with odd names and even odder imagery featuring bands wielding instruments like weapons adorned the walls, to the beds stacked precariously into a makeshift bunk tower in a manner you weren't sure whether to consider ingenious or impractical.

It was messy, loud, and vibrant. It was a space that screamed life in a way you had never really experienced.

Your eyes momentarily landed on a single pillow laid out on the ground because one of the bed stacks, looking rather out of place amongst the relatively cleanliness of the place that Weiss no doubt strictly enforced.

Before you could give it any more thought, Y turned to face you with a wide smile. She was an entire foot taller than you, so you really had to crane your neck to look her in the eye. "Oh wow, You finally came back! We've been looking everywhere for you. For a while we thought your semblance was turning invisible or something."

Oh, you could only wish. That would be a dream.

Yang's face softened. "You doing okay, kid? Yesterday was, uh… a bit rough after all."

Your cheeks burned at the reminder. "Yeah, I'm doing fine now. Sorry about that, I just got..." Sad? Scared? Guilty? "… overwhelmed," you finished lamely.

Yang smiled. "Yeah, my little sister's quite the character," she said, the exasperation in her tone mixed with fondness. "Still, making a boy cry? Never knew she had it in her. Usually I'm the one doing that." She chuckled good-heartedly, the familiar sound enough to cause a small, timid smile to slip past your stony expression.

Yang slapped your shoulder lightly. "So then, Silver, since we're going to be staying together for a while we should get to know each other a bit better. You must be quite the fighter to get in a few years early like Ruby. How old are you anyway?"

You hesitated for a moment, debating whether or not to reveal your true age. Ultimately, you decided being honest wouldn't be too suspicious—it wasn't like you could lie convincingly, especially considering your height. You weren't about to fool anyone with a story about being older. "I'm thirteen."

Yang blinked, her lilac eyes widening in surprise. "Thirteen?" she whistled. "Damn, that's even younger than Ruby! We all thought you were younger, but I figured it was just 'cause you were short or something."

You couldn't help the pout that tugged at your lips. You already got enough short jokes from the real Aunt Yang; you didn't need them from her younger version, too.

It seemed your pouting didn't go unnoticed, as Yang let out a bark of laughter, eyes gleaming as she stared at you. "Hey, c'mon! Don't get offended, I think you're really cute~" She pinched your cheeks, and for a moment, the familiarity of the gesture made your chest tighten. At least it didn't hurt as much with her prosthetic arm missing. "No wonder you've been hiding, huh? The girls are gonna love you."

You huffed, pulling away from Yang's playful pinch, a half-hearted frown doing a poor job to deny how fond you were of the familiar gesture. Yep, definitely Auntie Yang. It was nice to know that some things never changed.

"I'll take your word for it," you deadpanned. "Where's everyone else right now?"

Yang waved a hand toward the door, as if dismissing the topic. "Blake's off doing whatever, and Ruby and Weiss took Zwei for a walk."

Your brow furrowed in curiosity at the unfamiliar name. "Who's Zwei?"

"Our family dog," Yang explained, grinning at the mention. "Dad was busy a while ago and sent him here for a bit." She snickered. "Ruby's trying to delay sending him back for as long as possible. I'm sure he'll like you, he's pretty friendly."

You repressed a wince. The only dogs you'd ever really known were Beowolves, or the hunting dogs bounty hunters used to track you down while you were on the run with the Relic. You could vaguely remember your mother mentioning she had a dog when you were her age, but had thought little of it at the time aside from how it would taste. She had probably trained it to avoid attacking allies, but you figured it was still best to keep your scythes nearby—just in case.

Yang gave you a quick tour of the dorm—pointing out which beds belonged to whom, the hastily assembled mattress in the corner where you'd be sleeping, and the pile of luggage sitting beside it. She also mentioned that shower privileges were first come, first serve in the mornings, which could get pretty competitive at times.

You made some idle small talk after that. Classes would start tomorrow, and Yang mentioned you could sit with her team. You weren't sure if you should feel excited or nervous about that, but you'd cross that bridge when you got to it.

You chose to ignore how Yang's eyes would occasionally flicker to your scar during the conversation. You were used to it by now, though it still made you feel uncomfortable.

As time passed, the tension in your shoulders slowly began to fade. This wasn't so bad, actually. Sure, it was strange talking with the past version of your late aunt, but Professor Goodwitch's advice was working. Treating them as separate people was surprisingly effective. Yang and Auntie Yang had enough differences in demeanor that it made things easier. Yang's laugh was much louder and more genuine, her body language carefree, and, of course, the lack of a missing limb made a big difference.

That thought abruptly came to a screeching halt when you heard the door knob jingle. Ruby and Weiss entered shortly after, with the former leading a small, black-and-grey dog on a leash. They were both in the middle of idle chatter before entering, which quickly faded off in shock as soon as they saw you sitting beside Yang.

You stared.

Ruby stared.

Weiss's eyes flickered between you and Ruby.

Yang cringed.

The dog barked.

You stiffened at the sudden bark of the dog, your reflexes screaming at you to bolt out of the room. But then, sense caught up with you. You'd survived thirteen years in a world ruled by Grimm, running from this wasn't the solution.

Just talk to her like Professor Goodwitch said. You could do this.

You turned toward Ruby, still frozen in the doorway. Her mouth opened and closed repeatedly, as if she were desperately trying to form words but kept getting stuck on the wrong ones. Her eyes darted from you to Yang, unsure what to say next.

Right. This was your cue to initiate. You gathered up as many of Auntie Weiss's etiquette lessons as you could remember; keep it simple, be polite, and make a good first impression. You lifted your hand awkwardly. "Um… hi," you greeted, almost cringing at how it sounded.

Wow, you really were bad at this, huh?

Ruby blinked a few times, still stuck in a state of shock. Before she could say anything, Weiss elbowed her sharply in the ribs, causing Ruby to gasp and snap to attention. She immediately dashed over to you, her form bursting into petals before she skidded to a stop about an arm's length away.

"Oh man, I'm so sorry about yesterday!" Ruby blurted, her voice speeding up. "I was just trying to get you to open up, and I really, really didn't mean to freak you out so badly, so please, please don't hate me or—"

Her words tumbled out in a chaotic mess, a jumble of frantic apologies and half-formed thoughts. You could barely keep up with her, let alone process what she was saying.

You could hear someone facepalm in the background.

Meanwhile, you desperately tried to keep your breathing steady and your face composed because the past version of your dead mother was currently standing right in front of you and what the hell were you even supposed to do in a situation like this or-

Both of you were interrupted when Yang grabbed the back of Ruby's cloak and yanked her back with surprising force.

"Alright, let's try this again," Yang said, her voice bright but strained, a forced smile stretched across her face. She quickly wrapped an arm around Ruby, both to calm her down and to prevent her from launching herself at you again. "Ruby, what do you want to say to Silver? In thirty words or less, please."

Ruby's face turned as red as her cape, her eyes fixed firmly on the floor in embarrassment. "I'm really, really sorry about yesterday. I just wanted to get to know you better since you seemed so sad, and I... I really hate that I hurt you."

Yang gave her a gentle pat on the shoulder before releasing. "Okay, that's a bit better." She cleared her throat and then turned to you. "Now, Silver, what do you want to say to Ruby?"

"Oh, um, It's fine... I didn't handle it very well either... I'd, uh, still like to spar if you still want to?" you slowly replied.

Your soul proceeded to shrivel up and die inside a little more than usual. Your stutter hadn't been this bad when you had woken up beside a stranger in an unknown location without your weapon.

Ruby's face immediately brightened. "I would love to spar later! I've been so curious to see what you fight like for so long!" She practically bounced on her feet, her excitement infectious. Your mother had always been cheerful, but Ruby's energy was something else entirely.

Yang smiled at the two of you before her gaze shifted toward Weiss, who had been standing awkwardly in the doorway the entire time. Without missing a beat, Yang grabbed her by the arm and pulled her into the room, much to Weiss's visible annoyance.

"And this lovely lady is Beacon's very own resident ice queen," Yang grinned. "Weiss Schneeze."

Weiss stiffened, her cheeks flushing with indignation. "Schnee! It's Weiss Schnee, you blonde barbarian!" She quickly straightened up and gave you a more composed smile. "You can just call me Weiss, Silver. It's nice to finally meet you." She extended her hand, which you took after a brief pause.

You gave her a nod. "It's good to meet you."

Whatever Weiss was about to say was cut off when Zwei, the dog Yang had mentioned, suddenly darted over and began pawing at your leg. You barely stopped yourself from instinctively kicking him away.

Ruby burst into laughter. "And this little guy is Zwei!" She scooped him up and held him a few inches from your face, grinning proudly.

You stared into his panting face, forcing a deadpan expression. "Adorable." Your heart was racing, and you did your best to mask the panic surging inside you as every instinct screamed at you to throw the damn thing out the window. It felt silly to be terrified of such a small creature, but your experiences with hunting dogs, especially the memory of their snapping jaws and angry barks at your fleeing back, over the years were still too fresh in your mind.

Ruby, blissfully unaware of your internal panic, beamed at you. "So, Silver Zwei! Stop that!" she suddenly interrupted, pulling him back as he wiggled free from her arms and pressed his nose against your boots.

Zwei sniffed you curiously, his ears flattening as he let out a confused whine, looking up at you with what almost seemed like concern.

Your chest tightened in panic. Did he sense something? Could he somehow tell you were connected to his owner? You glanced between Ruby and the dog, your mind spinning.

Ruby, oblivious to the storm of thoughts in your head, apologized with an embarrassed laugh. "Eh, sorry. He's not usually like that! I must have forgotten to feed him or something."

You gave her a strained smile, trying to steady yourself.

Fortunately, Zwei lost interest after a moment and trotted over to his water bowl, lapping away at it like a man dying of thirst. The tension in your chest began to ease as you let out a breath you hadn't realized you'd been holding.

The rest of the day passed in a blur. The girls were still a bit awkward around you, which, as much as it stung, made sense. You were barely acquaintances after all, and you'd dropped into their lives in the most unexpected way. You settled for pulling out a textbook and idling away the hours in silence in the corner your mattress had been laid out on, but it didn't make the silence any easier to bear.

Blake returned late in the evening. Ruby mentioned that she'd been spending time with some guy named Sun, which felt... strange. Were Yang and Blake not dating yet? You hoped you hadn't unintentionally interrupted something important, some moment that could have led to their relationship. They had been so happy together in the future, after all.

Blake seemed surprised to see you, but she recovered quickly and greeted you with a nod and a brisk introduction. The polite distance hurt more than you had been ready for, especially compared to the way she'd babied you when you were younger. You also noticed she was hiding her feline ears, something you hadn't expected but didn't question at the time. The bow was an interesting touch, though, quite fitting in an elegant way.

After a bit of casual conversation, everyone began settling in for the night. The girls took their beds, and you took the floor mattress. You sighed as you lay there, eyes closed, feeling the familiar, unsettling weight of insomnia creeping in. You weren't surprised. After everything, how could you expect to sleep well in a room full of people you didn't fully know—especially when they were supposed to be the people you once called family?

You turned your gaze toward the sleeping forms of your not-mother and not-aunts. They were so different now. You had always wanted them to stop treating you like a kid, but this? This was something else entirely. They were still family, in a sense, but the distance between you all felt wider than you had anticipated.

Zwei had woken up a little while ago, he didn't do anything but sit across you and stare with a tilted head and uncannily intelligent, curious eyes that looked out of place on an animal.

It was honestly pretty creepy.

With another sigh, you closed your eyes, wrapped your blanket around you tighter, and turned around to face the wall, determined to get whatever winks of sleep that you could.

Your education had been rather unorthodox growing up. Settlements had schools but you couldn't attend on account of your entire family being hunted by virtually everyone in Remnant. You doubted you were missing much honestly, half of it was probably crap about how Salem was the greatest being ever and how you and your family were infidels who deserved to be burned alive at the stake.

Instead, Your father had handled your non-combat education, with Auntie Weiss filling in that role after his death when you were nine. You had learned how how to read, to write, basic mathematics, and a bit about biology, chemistry, and physics in your earlier days.

Your mother, who had mostly stuck to martial lessons, had helped teach you advanced mathematics when you had shown an interest in weapon engineering, but that was mostly covered by Auntie Weiss yet again. Those slingshot glyphs required a rather thorough knowledge of physics and trajectory.

Your lessons had dipped in quality in your prepubescent years, education wasn't exactly important when everyone was too busy fighting for their lives and trying not to starve to death, so you stuck to self-studying for the most part to avoid taking up anyone's time. Not that it was difficult, you had plenty of free time whenever you were stuck in camp all day while everyone else was out and about scavenging and fighting off Grimm.

Shame really, you were always so curious about the 'birds and the bees' talk Auntie Yang had teased your mother about when she thought you were out of earshot. Oh well, it mustn't have been very important if they had waited so long to tell you.

But regardless, you had always been a studious student and tried your damnedest to remember whatever you were being taught. You grew up with the lesson to never waste any resources and you considered learning to be the same.

Which is why you were pretty horrified on your first day of class when the majority of Team RWBY completely ignored the lessons being taught.

Ruby was doodling in her notebook, Blake was reading a novel placed over her textbook, and Yang was using her scroll under the table. The only one actually paying attention was Weiss, who looked ahead at the lecture intently and jotted everything important down into her notebook. You had to fight the urge to bounce in your seat when she nodded in approval at you doing the same.

You focused on the lesson being taught by a portly man with a moustache. He was telling stories about his youth that you really doubted was on the curriculum, but this man was supposedly an experienced huntsman so maybe you'd learn something if you paid attention.

You decide to stay back for now, none of the others were really close to you right now and you didn't want to make things uncomfortable. You had planned to go to the library to get some studying done but you can't resist lazing about in your empty room since everyone left to do their own thing.

A book on Blake's nightstand catches your attention. You recognise the title 'Ninjas of Love' as one of the same books your Auntie Blake had kept. You had found it in her tent while cleaning with your mother as part of your chores, mom had ripped it from your hands before you had gotten the chance to read it. She'd said you were 'too young'.

Well, nothing was stopping you right now.

You laid back down on your mattress and opened it up, giving it an odd look a few minutes in at some of the more odd descriptions and words you didn't understand. Shrugging it off, you continued reading. An hour passed and you had only gotten a few chapters in before the door opened and Blake walked in.

She gaped at you. You glanced at her, and continued reading.

You were a bit surprised when she practically sprinted towards you and snatched it out of your hands.

"Silver! This is- I mean it's not what it-" Blake scrambled for an explanation. "I'm... keeping it for a friend." she mumbled with a pitiful expression.

You nodded. "Oh, okay," That made sense, no wonder she was so worried about it. "Sorry for taking it without your permission."

Blake sagged in relief. "That's uh, fine, just don't do it again please."

"Okay," You gave the book a perplexing look. "There was a lot of weird stuff in it though. What genre is it supposed to be?"

"Oh, it's a romance novel," Blake blushed and clutched the book close to her chest. "A very explicit romance novel. Look, I was curious too when I was your age but you really shouldn't read or watch anything with sex in it until you're older."

You tilted your head. "What's sex?"

Blake blinked, slowly looking down at you with an expression of dread that left you a bit unsettled with its sheer intensity. "I... I think that's a talk you should have with your parents."

"My parents are dead."

Blake actually flinched at that. "... oh, sorry. I, uh..." She cradled her face in both hands and groaned deeply.

Did you do something wrong? Maybe she just needed time to ready her notes or something. Sometimes mom needed to do that when giving you lessons on weapon maintenance. "If you don't want to tell me now can you just tell me later?"

"Yes! Absolutely!" Blake nodded so violently you were genuinely worried she would hurt herself. "I just uh, need a few... months? Yes, a few months to prepare."

Huh, that was weirdly long. Must have been a really complicated thing then, you could count on one hand the number of times you've seen Auntie Blake this distressed. "Okay."

The room fell silent after that and Blake seemed content to let it stay like that.

You did have one more question though.

"Hey, Blake?"

"Hm?"

"In chapter three, why did that guy put whip cream on his-"

"Later."

It was only a few days into your stay at Beacon that you learned its facilities included a fully operational forge that was free to use for students and had weapon materials in fresh, pristine condition. Safe to say that you almost tripped on your own cloak in your haste to get there after class.

Beacon's forge is something out of a fantasy in your eyes, top-of-line equipment, plentiful dust, and on-duty instructors who were assisting students with whatever they asked.

You can't keep your eyes off the student and weapons that you quietly pass by; a tanned man with blank eyes that had elbow-mounted blades, a tall, well-built student with a dust-infused mace, and a red-head in golden armour that was working on an impressive sword-spear hybrid.

You were happy with your scythes, but you had to admit to feeling a bit envious at the weapons around. Mom said that was normal.

You make yourself comfortable at an empty work station, setting Crescent Rose and Harbinger's compressed forms on top and going over some basic maintenance. With how hectic this past week had been, it was nice to just turn your brain off and go through the well practised motions of maintenance.

Halfway through, you noticed a familiar red-form in the corner of your vision.

You turned. "Ruby?"

Ruby jumped from where she was not so subtly peeking over your shoulder. "Oh, sorry, Silver! I don't mean to be creepy I was just looking at your weapons," she eyed the dismantled scythes with wonderment. "I didn't know you were a scythe user! Those are just so rare, the only other one I know apart from myself is my uncle Qrow!"

You sheepishly rubbed the back of your head at the positive attention. How were you supposed to explain this without saying she was the one who taught you? "Um, yeah. My mom taught me everything I know, she was a scythe wielder too and I've always wanted to follow in her footsteps."

Ruby nodded. "Oh, I know what that's like! The main reason I also wanted to become a scythe wielder was because I wanted to be like my uncle Qrow."

You were finished with Crescent Rose so you offered it to her to study while you finished up with Harbinger. You didn't have to worry about her recognising it, with the grey paintjob and extreme modifications it was completely different from its past version.

Ruby gleefully took it and carefully placed it on the other side of the desk to look over. She eyed your weapon's inner workings with a critical eye. "So what are you weapon's names?"

You paused and decided to avoid the separate names for obvious reasons. "Grimm Reminder."

Ruby winced. "Oh, that's... nice."

You shrugged with a self-deprecating smile. "I know, I know, it's a bit much. I was going through some things at the time and settled on a really stupid name that just stuck."

Ruby hummed but was too engrossed with the scythe to reply. "Hey, I noticed that there are some unfinished Dust vents. What's the deal with that?"

Your lips thinned to a straight line. "It was my mother's once, it used to have a Dust infusion mode but I had to scrap it to make room for the fused mode."

That was definitely one of your biggest failures, having to scrap one of the features of Crescent Rose that your mother had been so proud of because you had been unable to figure out how to keep it without sacrificing the joint mode still stung.

Ruby pouted. "Ah, shame. Dust infusion is just so cool, I've been wanting to add it to Crescent Rose for years now but just couldn't figure out how to do it."

Ouch, way to help the guilt there.

"Ooh! Look at the way the recoil buffer was designed," Ruby praised. "Oh man, I actually wanted to do something just like this but I could never get it to work right. Do you mind if I copy some of this for my own baby!?"

You had to repress a laugh at the knowledge that she was asking to copy her own work. "Sure, go ahead. My mother's actually the one who designed it so all compliments should go to her."

"So cool!" Ruby squealed excitedly as she reached into her bag to take her notes out. "Oh man, this stuff is just amazing! Your mom must have been some kind of awesome super-genius!"

You smiled sadly. "Yeah." You trailed a finger over Crescent Rose's blade. "She really was the best."

After completing your weapon maintenance you stayed behind for a few minutes of idle chatter with Ruby regarding her version of Crescent Rose, you already knew everything there was to know about it but listened patiently regardless as she enthusiastically went off about every little detail.

Ruby still had to do her own things in the forge so you headed off alone.

You walked back to your dorm with a skip in your step.

Well, today has definitely been a productive if bittersweet day. You've attended your first class and are well on your way to making things a little less awkward with Team RWBY.

"Excuse me, could you please help us?"

You turned to face the voice from the other end of the hallway.

A young raven-haired woman with golden eyes greeted you, she was flanked by a bored looking grey-haired student and an emerald-haired student with ruby red eyes that was looking at you with a mixed expression. They were wearing dark uniforms that you had been told were the uniforms of Haven students who had arrived for some international fighting tournament that was going to be held in Vale soon.

The raven-haired woman toward you with a rather impractical sway in her hips. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to be a bother but I'm afraid we've gotten a bit lost. Could you show us the way to the first year dorms?"

You tilted your head in thought before nodding in agreement. Why not? You were on your way there after all. "Sure, I'm on my way there right now actually. Just follow me please."

"Ah! We're so lucky to have ran in to you then," She nodded to her team and they began walking alongside side you. "I don't believe I've seen you around before, dear. Are you also a transfer student?"

You repressed a cringe in order to remain polite, you really didn't like the way she called you 'dear'. Still, that was hardly a reason to be rude.

You shook your head. "No, I'm just a late entry into Beacon."

The raven-haired woman hummed thoughtfully. "Hm, you must be quite skilled to have been allowed in Beacon so late. If I may ask, what's your name?"

"My name is Silver Snow," You glanced at her. "What's your name, miss?"

"Oh my, aren't you a polite one?" She tittered musically. "Well, dear, you can call me Cinder Fall, leader of Team CNME."

Roll Intelligence for composure.

Cinder Fall.

Cinder Fall.

Cinder Fall.

You calmly nodded in response.

The rest of the walk was in silence.

When you reached the dorms Cinder separated from her team to stand uncomfortably close you and put a hand on your shoulder, even through your cloak and shoulder pad you could feel it's unnatural warmth. "Thank you for the help, Silver, please let me know if I can ever repay the favour."

You nodded in response, thankful that your cloak hid your trembling hands.

You stared at their retreating figures and only when they had turned around the corner did you release the hidden hold on your scythes. You stumbled backwards and hit the wall, desperately trying to get your breathing back in order.

Ozpin.

You had to tell Ozpin about this right now.

With that last thought you marched straight for his office.

The journey to Ozpin's office was hazy, your mind was in such disarray that you didn't even know when you had entered his office.

"Cinder Fall is at Beacon."

Opzin nodded and calmly sipped his coffee. "I know."

Even your composure broke at that.

He picked up a slip of paper on his desk and chuckled softly at it. "Truth be told, I was rather surprised when her name immediately showed up when I searched it up on the student records, I was expecting it to be much harder then that," He shook his head. "But I suppose that makes sense, I highly doubt 'Cinder Fall' is even her real name in first place. Salem always did have a flair for dramatics."

Your fists clenched at your sides. "If you know who and where she is why haven't you killed her yet!? You know the things she'll do."

The bespectacled man held a hand out in a placating gesture. "Information for one. Salem's not a fool, she wouldn't trust such a crucial job to someone so inept. It would take too long to break her for information."

At your steely gaze he continued.

"The White Fang, Roman Torchwick's robberies, the location and plan for the stolen Dust. Those things won't simply vanish when we capture her," He pushed his glasses up and gave you a sympathetic look. "I understand all the horrors she forced upon you, Silver, but a compromised spy provides a wealth of information. Qrow is watching her and her associates at all times, aside from this illusive fourth member he's been having trouble tracking. She doesn't leave this building without our knowledge. Once we've obtained enough information of her plans we'll make our move and capture her."

You grit your teeth and replied.

"I..." you cut yourself off with a harsh breathe.

Uncle Ren's advice echoed in your head.

"Never let your feelings lead you into an early grave. When you're in the middle of an important decision it's important to separate yourself from them to let logic guide you."

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

"I understand, professor," you replied hoarsely. "I really don't like it but I understand your reasoning."

Ozpin smiled sadly at you. "It both pleases and horrifies me that someone as young as you can see the logic in it. Don't fret too much, Silver, this'll hopefully be over soon enough and she won't be able to hurt you ever again." He leaned back in his chair with a heavy sigh, and for the first time you could see just how unfathomably old he was in that moment. "Now, if that is all is there anything more I can do for you?"

For a moment you contemplated asking him about his insensitive decision to pair you with Team RWBY, but you were just too emotionally drained for such a thing at the moment.

You glumly shook your head and headed back to the elevator without another word.

You returned to your dorm in another haze.

Team RWBY was all present and were settling in for the night. Their greetings halted when they noticed your haunted expression.

Even Zwei let out a little whimper from his pillow at the look on your face.

"Uh, Silver?" Yang began carefully, slowly lowering the Scroll she was using while laying in bed. "Are you doing okay, buddy?"

Your mouth opened to reply with an automatic "I'm fine" like usual but found you didn't even have the energy to do that.

"Not really," You shook your head and went over to your bag to grab your pajamas. "I saw someone that reminded me of..." you paused. "Well, I'd rather not talk about it.

Ruby flinched. "Oh..." She helplessly glanced at her teammates who looked just as clueless on what to do. "... Well, are sure that you don't want to talk about it? That helps sometimes."

You paused on the way to the bathroom.

Glancing at Ruby you replied with monotone voice. "No, thank you." The door shut softly behind you and you locked it immediately.

That night you slept against the bathroom's cold floor. It was much preferable to seeing their familiar faces again.

Ruby was a bit concerned about the behaviour of their newest unofficial teammate.

No, scratch that.

She was very concerned about the behaviour of their newest unofficial teammate.

The official members of Team RWBY had quickly pieced together that there was clearly something terribly wrong with Silver Snow. The fact that he had joined Beacon at a record-breaking age had been considered impressive at first. But his scars, nearly emotionless disposition, and the way he flinched at even the slightest sudden noise or touch painted a very dark picture.

Some believed that Ruby Rose was a naive individual, but that simply wasn't the case.

Ruby Rose was an optimist, not a fool. She knew full well of the dark nature of humanity, she had passed her history classes with decent marks after all. But instead of focusing on the negatives she simply preferred to focus on the positives and on ways to fix those negatives. She saw no point in becoming a cynic and giving up on improving the world. What would that even accomplish? It wasn't like she had anything to lose by trying after all.

But Silver Snow? She didn't know how to fix a clearly broken person.

Silver had been withdrawn from day one, that wasn't even going into detail about the cafeteria incident she was still feeling immense guilty for. On the day of his first class he had seemed to improve remarkably, trying to interact with the team a bit more and even sharing a few details about his past.

But something bad had clearly happened by the end of that day because he had returned to the dorm room with haunted eyes and had shut himself in the bathroom when she had tried to get him to open up about it. He had tried his hardest to avoid them ever since, waking up before them to go to class before they woke and only returning late at night when they had fallen asleep.

On the first day of class he had been studios and listening intently to everything Professor Port had been saying, now it looked like he was zoning out in every lecture.

No one had managed to get him out of his shell.

Yang had suggested inviting him out more but he had politely but firmly declined every invitation.

Blake thought he just needed some time alone but he seemed to be getting more and more despondent every day.

Weiss hadn't the slightest clue in how to help aside from making an attempt at being a bit kinder at him and offering to study together which had resulted in another refusal.

Well, Ruby had enough of all that.

She was the leader so she took it as her personal responsibility to help him out of his recent funk.

Blake had mentioned seeing him in the library during an earlier trip there and considering they hadn't seen him anywhere else that must have been where he was camping out for most of the day.

Ruby would surprise him there, mindful of how careful she would have to be about this. She didn't want a repeat of the cafeteria incident after all.

With that in mind, she would...

Bake him some cookies! Everyone loved cookies, whenever she or someone she cared about felt down she would dig up her mother's old recipes and go to town at the oven to bake some delicious goods.

It always worked in cheering people up, hopefully Silver wouldn't be an exception. So after class she made a bee-line to the student kitchen and got to work.

Soon, she was heading to the library with a wrapped plate of fresh cookies. Food in the library was technically against the rules but whatever, the infamously stern Professor Goodwitch clearly had a soft spot for Silver so she'd probably allow it.

She found Silver in the same spot that Blake had mentioned, a cozy but isolated corner in the library. Small wonders why he chose that location. The dark-haired by was seated beside a large stack of books and seemed to be completely oblivious to the world around him with how engrossed he was in his reading. It kind of reminded her of Blake actually.

Great, two socially inept team members with dark hair and a deep love for books.

Silver perked slightly at the sudden sound of footsteps and glanced at her direction. She tried not to feel offended when his face fell as he caught sight of her.

"Ruby, I'm sorry but I don't want to-"

Ruby plopped down on the seat next to him. "Nope! Not here for that," At his surprised look she continued. "I know what it's like to have a bad day so I just got you a present. Have you ever had cookies before?"

Silver gave her an odd look but nodded. "One time, My mom made me some when I turned eleven," He frowned deeply and looked away. "They were... nice."

Ruby hid her concern at the fact he only had cookies once in his life and smiled brightly at him instead. "Well then, in that case I'm sure you'll love these!" She unwrapped the plate of still steaming cookies and slid it over to him. "The special Rose family recipe! My mom made it for me and Yang all the time when we were younger and she left behind some notes that I used to copy them. Enjoy!"

Silver didn't budge, staring at the place of cookies in front of him like it had just committed a grievous crime against him.

Her smile gradually fell. "Hey now," Ruby murmured with a jokingly offended tone. "My cookies aren't that bad."

He gave her a mixed look she couldn't figure out before hesitatingly reaching for a cookie.

Ruby watched with a bated bite as he slowly took a bite of it.

And then another.

And another.

And soon the cookie was no more and Silver looked down at the crumbs on his gloved hands with a look of wonderment.

Ruby exhaled in relief. An actual victory! Finally!

Sniff

…

Oh no.

Hiccup

Oh sweet Gods no.

Ruby resisted the urge to rip her hair apart as she looked on in horror at his shaking form, tears running down his left eye.

She made him cry? Again!?

Why did this keep happening!? What was wrong with her!?

Ruby approached him warily. "Silver? Hey, c'mon now. I'm sorry, you don't have to eat the rest," She hesitatingly wrapped his arms around his smaller frame in a desperate attempt at comfort. "There's no need to cry. Just talk to me instead. Please?" she pleaded, almost crying alongside him in guilt.

Silver froze up and his crying subsided slowly.

Hope blossomed in her heart when he slowly, as if hesitatingly, wrapped his own arms around her. That hope quickly vanished when his sobbing started anew and even louder as he buried his head into her shoulder.

Ruby panicked. "Silver! C'mon now, did I do something wrong?"

Ruby got no answer, instead Silver gripped her tighter as he simply let go of pent up emotions, his wails growing so loud that they started to echo across the library.

A couple of curious students arrived to investigate but fled quickly at her fierce glare.

Ruby held him tight, sweet comforting nothings into his ear and rubbing circles into his back in what she hoped was a soothing manner. She had never done this before, but Yang and her father had done the same for her whenever she cried so she hoped it was doing something.

She inwardly winced at the feeling of his bony body against hers. The cloak did a good job of hiding it, but he was thin, worryingly so. What had his diet been like growing up to cause that? It was a wonder he could hold that giant scythe of his with how scrawny his arms felt.

He simply continued to cry, unable to speak a word, sometimes going so hard that he broke into a cough which she cringed in worry at. A few minutes passed and Silver's harsh crying eventually died down.

He separated from her and looked away, his head downcast in shame

He sniffed. "I'm sorry..."

Ruby fiercely shook her head. "Nope! You are absolutely not allowed to be sorry just for crying!"

Silver looked up at her with bloodshot eyes that almost matched his already crimson irises. Silver frowned. "But I-"

"Silver! It's okay to cry, alright!? I do it all the time whenever I'm sad and so do most people." Ruby reached under the table and clamped his hands tight with her own. "If you're actually sorry then let's just talk about why you're crying instead of apologizing for something you don't need to be sorry for."

"I just..." He paused to repress another sob. "... I'm scared."

Ruby leaned forward. "Scared of what?" she whispered.

"This place is amazing, it feels too good to be true," Silver shut his eyes and took a trembling breath. "I'm scared that none of it is real or that I'll lose it one day. I'm scared of... scared of losing everyone I care about again."

Oh.

Oh.

Well, this was just about the most heartbreaking thing she'd ever seen.

"I..." Ruby swallowed the lump in her throat. "I-

Ah, screw it.

Ruby gently pulled him in for another hug, wrapping his arms around him and resting her chin atop of his head. This time Silver didn't hesitate to wrap his arms around her.

They clung to each other in silence for almost an entire minute.

"My mom died when I was really young," Ruby whispered against his hair. "Her name was Summer Rose, she was a huntress and the best mom ever. Slayer of Grimm at work and storyteller and baker when at home."

She could feel Silver shift beneath her in curiosity.

"She actually looked a lot like you, y'know?" She chuckled humourlessly. "She had this awesome white cloak that I always thought looked really cool, I actually made my own based off hers and my uncle Qrow's cape."

Silver didn't reply.

"One day she just went out on a mission and…" Ruby sighed. "She never came back."

Silver still remained silent, but she didn't miss the way his arms tightened around her.

"I'm scared of losing people too, that's actually one of the reasons I wanted to become a huntress. I thought if I became strong enough I'd be able to protect everyone else I cared about," she scoffed. "Pretty stupid, right?"

"It's not stupid," Silver mumbled so softly into her chest that she barely heard him.

"Thanks," Ruby smiled into his hair before frowning. "I don't know what happened in your past Silver, you don't have to share it if you don't want to. But I just want you to know that I'm here and I promise that I'm not leaving anytime soon."

After a moment, she felt Silver nod. "Thank you, Ruby."

Ruby nodded back with a gentle expression. "Anytime." With that she separated from him and stretched widely, popping a few joints. "Ah, I'm pooped, I think I'll head back to the dorm now. Wanna come with?"

Silver shook his head softly. "I'll come by in a bit, I'd just like to be alone for a bit."

Ruby nodded understandingly. "Sure."

She began to head off, exhausted and eager to retire to bed to properly process all of this.

"Wait."

Ruby froze mid-step and turned to face him with a patient expression. "Yeah?"

"I, um..." Silver timidly looked up at her, struggling to maintain eye contact. "Can I have another cookie?" he hesitatingly asked as he pointed at the uneaten plate of cookies on the table that she had completely forgotten about.

Oh, as if she thought her heart couldn't break any further.

"S-sure, take as many as you want, Silver." She ignored the own wetness in her eyes and patted his cheek softly, wiping away the lingering tear stains. "I'll make some more for you whenever you want."

In the end, Ruby Rose still didn't know what Silver Snow's deal was. But what she did know however, is that she would fucking murder anyone who tried to hurt him any further.