Weiss watched with some trepidation as the Schnee airship landed in the nearest clearing. "So Blake, do you think that my father bothered to come himself, or do you think he only sent his servants?" Weiss' voice was dripping with distaste for her father. Blake remembered when Weiss was proud of her father's company, if not her father, but the years had turned that pride into annoyance and then disgust, leading to an escalation of her conflicts with her father. They hadn't spoken in nearly two years, since a couple months after Weiss first entered Beacon Academy. Even during vacations, Weiss had opted to instead join Blake in visiting Yang and Ruby's home, and their father. The sisters' father owned a large house, settled in an enormous plot of land covered in a huge variety trees and flowers and other foliage.

Velvet looked over at Weiss, asking "You don't get along with your father?"

Blake actually laughed out loud for a breath. "That's an understatement. The last time they talked two years ago was a fight to remember, and that that was only over a scroll. I can't wait to see what happens in person."

Weiss rolled her eyes. "Thanks for your support, Blake."

Blake gave Weiss a small smile. "Oh, you know I'm here if you need me, Snow Angel." Blake knew Weiss resented Yang's nickname for her.

Any further conversation was cut short as the side door of the ship opened, allowing a duo of well dressed men in fine butler's attire to exit trough the doorway. Following behind the two was a man in a crisp, light grey suit, with short, silvery hair that was slicked back cleanly. He was just a hair under six feet tall, with a hard face and lightly tanned skin that was only just beginning to show signs of aging with the start of some wrinkles around the eyes. Blake and Velvet assumed that this man was Weiss' father, owner and CEO of the Schnee Dust Company, and glancing at Weiss and seeing her glare was enough to support their assumption- this man was Kälte Schnee. Kälte scanned the crowd as his two servants situated themselves behind and on either side of him, ready to act on his wishes. His eyes soon found Weiss, and he directed one of his attendants towards her as he waited next to the now landed airship. Blake would've had to been blind to not see Weiss' nostrils flare in anger as the servant approached, the gathered crowd parting to make way for the approaching young man.

The servant stopped in front of the trio of girls, before bowing at a precise thirty degree and placing one hand over his heart as a salute. "Lady Schnee, your father requests that you accompany him back to Schnee Manor." He maintained his bowing position, waiting for Weiss to begin walking so he could follow behind.

Weiss couldn't see herself, but she was certain that if she could see herself she would have steam coming off of her in her rage. "Well," Weiss began, "you can tell my father that if he wishes to request something of me, he can come request it in person." Weiss' voice was ice by the time she was done speaking. The servant glanced up nervously, unsure of how her father would take such a response. "Well? Get on with it."

"…of course, my lady." The servant straightened up before walking briskly walking back towards his employer. As he arrived and conveyed Weiss' words, her father's composed face of a businessman reddened in anger. Looking up from the servant at Weiss, he strode purposefully towards his daughter, the two servants falling into place behind him and following along. The crowd gave the glowering CEO far more room than they did than when the servant had passed earlier. Weiss took up a defiant posture with her arms crossed, shoulders back, weight shifted mostly onto one leg.

"Weiss." Her father stopped in front of the heiress, looking down at his daughter and desperately trying to ignore the two faunas to her side. "You're coming home with me. Now."

"Good afternoon to you as well, father." Weiss replied. "And I'll be staying here. I have training to complete and a war to fight, for your information."

"You are the heiress to the Schnee name and company, and I cannot afford to have you off fooling around in some camp pretending to be a soldier." Kälte reached down and grabbed Weiss, yanking her by the wrist towards him.

Before he could take a step and start dragging his daughter along, he felt a sharp pain in his wrist, causing him to reflexively let go to cradle his wrist with his other hand in an attempt to soothe the blooming pain. He turned and looked back at his daughter, only to find Blake standing in front of her protectively. "You would dare attack me, animal?" Kälte raised a fist to strike out at the faunus girl standing in front of him.

He was forced to stop though, lest he impale himself on the point of Myrtenaster, the weapon's point suddenly uncomfortably close to piercing his throat. Weiss' voice was no longer ice as it was just moments ago; it now came out as fire. "If you raise a hand against my friends again, I will show what the Schnee heiress can do." She pressed her weapon forward, forcing her father to step backwards with it as he lowered his hands. "You come and speak to me after two years, not worried as a father, but as a businessman. Wouldn't want the family to lose the business, right?" Weiss continued walking her father backward. "In less than twenty-four hours, I've lost my home, my classmates, my friends. I am not going off to play soldier. I want revenge, and to fight for my home and loved ones." Kälte was having trouble backing up as fast as his daughter was walking forward. "But of course, what would you know of loved ones? Mother left you years ago, and you probably wouldn't have noticed if the divorce hadn't cost you money. And despite my best efforts, you've managed to drive me to hate you too. It's impressive, your dedication to destroying your own family, it truly is." Weiss had driven her father all the way back to the airship he had arrived in, causing him to trip and fall into it because he was too worried about Myrtenaster to worry about watching where he was going. "If you don't mind, I have to get cleaned up. It would be much appreciated if you didn't bother us here again. Good day, sir." Weiss replaced her weapon at her hip and turned to the two servants who had been quietly following along, unwilling to interrupt the argument between the two Schnee family members. "And you two, excellent work. Please be sure to escort my father away from this encampment. Or at the very least, away from me." Turning on her heel, Weiss strode back to her friends. "I'm sorry for that… scene, there." Weiss tried to flatten some wrinkles out of her skirt. "Would you mind showing us where we could clean up, Blake?"

Blake nodded, a smile on her face. "Sure thing. Let's go find Pyrrha and Nora then grab a change of clothes first."

Kälte Schnee could only stare in shock as his daughter left him behind, an entire crowd of students and soldiers staring at the two. He stood up numbly, and motioned for the two servants to come aboard the ship and close the doors. The ship didn't take off though, only sat in the landing zone, door closed, hiding Kälte Schnee and his servants away from onlookers.

"That was certainly a show." Professor Ozpin had heard the airship landing and wandered outside to discover who it was, only to find Kälte and Weiss Schnee engaging in an argument.

"They could've handled it better, certainly, and maybe in a less public place." Glynda responded, having walked up beside Ozpin during the argument.

"Did I miss something interesting?" Both professors turned to find their colleague, Professor Oobleck, standing behind them.

"An interesting argument. Interesting, but not important." Ozpin answered while handing over a cup of coffee to Oobleck. "I need you to find Ruby Rose, by the way." Both the other professors looked at him curiously.

"Is she missing from camp?" Glynda asked.

Professor Ozpin nodded. "I've been given reason to believe she kidnapped and killed team CRDL in the forest, then fled and is now on the run." The matter-of-fact tone of his explanation conflicted with the severity of the news.

"Good for her. I never liked them anyways." Oobleck muttered as he sipped coffee.

"Professor!" Glynda exclaimed. Oobleck held up his hands in an attempt to avoid a scolding.

"Well, regardless of our feelings on the matter, I need you to look for her." Ozpin interjected.

"Yes, yes. I'll leave after this cup of coffee." Oobleck assured the others.

"Excellent. And Glynda, I need you to make some calls to bring I more experienced huntsman and huntresses to train the students who are staying." Ozpin said.

"Any in particular, or whoever is available?" Glynda asked, pulling out her scroll.

"I have a list in the tent."

"I'll go work on contacting them then." Glynda turned and entered the tent.

"Well, I'll begin searching for Miss Rose then." Oobleck added, taking one last swig from the coffee.

Ozpin took the empty cup back from Oobleck, and ordered "Search as much as you can, but be back around or before sundown. I have more I wish to discuss with you."

"Of course, headmaster." Then Oobleck disappeared into the direction of the forest, nothing more than a blur to most who managed to glimpse him.

Blake was leading the group of girls through the edge of the forest towards the creek she had bathed earlier that morning. Pyrrha had wanted Jaune to come along to bathe farther up the creek, but had been overruled by Weiss, Velvet, and Nora. As they neared the creek, Blake pointed forward. "It's just past the last bit of trees, over there." Moments later the group passed the last line of trees and they found themselves standing at the edge of a gently burbling creek, its shining surface reflecting the afternoon sunlight.

"It's pretty!" Velvet exclaimed as she admired the water. The water was shallow, barely coming up to their waists if they were to wade in. Velvet knelt down, running her hand through the water. "And it's not too cold, either." Velvet sounded gleeful.

Weiss spotted Blake's normal attire hanging off a long tree branch over the creek. Looking around, she found other branches they could use to hang up their clothes if they chose to wash them. Which of course Weiss did. After a bath. Walking down to the water's edge, Nora promptly began undressing and laying her clothes on a large rock. Weiss opened her mouth in shock. "Nora! Have you no decency?"

Nora looked back at Weiss, confused. "What's the problem? We're all girls here. This is just like a locker room shower. Without stalls. Outside." She Weiss up and down, pointedly staring at Weiss' chest for a few seconds before looking back up at her face. "Or are you embarrassed?" Nora finished with a smile.

Weiss brought her arms up to cover her chest. "Of course not you barbarian!" But her flushing face betrayed her, as the rest of the group giggled around her, the much needed laugh finally allowing them to release some of their built up tension.

"Come on Weiss, Let's just get clean." Pyrrha said with a smile, leading Weiss by the arm. Weiss huffed, but obliged and allowed herself to be led.

"I'm going to be over there while you guys get cleaned up, okay?" Blake informed the group while pointing past a bend in the creek. "I'll leave your change of clothes on these rocks here." She set down the clothes that she had been carrying in a bag at the base of one of the larger trees, before she started off towards the bend.

The others all thanked her as she walked away and they were all undressing and wading into the creek to begin their ministrations and cleaning. Seeing everyone without their clothes provided Weiss a view of more of the injuries they had been hiding beneath their clothes. Weiss herself had only some bruising and minor cuts, and was relatively undamaged compared to the others. Pyrrha had bad bruising in many of the areas her armor covered, likely an unfortunate effect of protecting her from attacks and explosions. Nora had scrapes and cuts covering much of her body, and her back had two large, painful looking bruises that looked suspiciously uniform, which made Weiss realize they were probably bruises from when Ren had pushed her out of the way of the collapsing ceiling with great force. Velvet had a surprising amount of damage, more than Weiss had initially thought; Velvet was not only the missing portion of one of her rabbit ears and few bandages Weiss had seen earlier, but nearly the entire left side of her torso, upper left arm, and upper left leg was covered in bandages. Everyone was shocked, and immediately asked her what had happened.

"These are all burns." Velvet explained. "I got caught in an explosion. I can't get in the water, because I'm not supposed to get these wet." She sat down on the edge of a rock, dangling her feet in the creek. "Could someone hand me one of those towels so I can wash myself?" Velvet asked sweetly. Weiss handed her a towel and the one soap bar they had, and saw Velvet wince as she reached up with her arm to grab the cleaning materials with thanks.

Nora didn't miss the wince, and offered "Velvet, just relax a moment and once I finish up really quick I'll help you wash so you don't hurt yourself, okay? Just lay back and relax."

Velvet blushed slightly, and Weiss saw her look in the direction Blake had walked, obviously preferring someone who had already been physically close to her to assist her. Seeing this caused Weiss to blush again. "Um, uh, okay. Thank you, Nora." Velvet saw Weiss blushing. "Are you okay Weiss?"

Weiss nodded, and then gave her head a vigorous shake to clear it. "Uh, it's nothing. Just remembered something." Weiss walked into the water before Velvet could have a chance to question her about it. Nora finished bathing and washing her clothes in just a few minutes, after which she waded over to Velvet and began using a towel to wash the areas Velvet had trouble reaching due to her injuries. Velvet began blushing furiously and closed her eyes, fully aware that Nora had elected to not clothe herself before assisting her. While Nora washed Velvet, Pyrrha grabbed Velvet's clothes and washed them for her, hanging them up next to her own.

Just a couple hours later, the girls had all finished bathing and washing clothes, and had hung them up to dry, dressing in the fresh clothes they had brought from the supply tent. Weiss had grabbed a pair of white slacks, with a very light sky blue blouse with shorter sleeves. Pyrrha was wearing blue jeans with a golden-yellow men's dress shirt, the top two buttons undone and sleeves rolled up to her elbows. Nora had elected for pink short shorts and a forest green tank top, reminding Weiss of a watermelon. Velvet had chosen of a pair of black sweatpants with a loose sweater, explaining that tighter clothes were painful to wear with her current injuries.

Once everyone was dressed, Weiss asked everyone "Has anyone seen Blake?" Everyone shook their heads. "She's probably still somewhere around the bend then. Let's go find her, okay?" The group of girls started walking along the edge of the creek in the direction they had seen Blake walking. They had only been walking a few minutes when they came across the adorable sight of Blake napping in a small patch of sunlight, curled up into a ball next to a stone protruding out of the ground with some blue and purple flowers on top. As they approached, Velvet reached out to stop them, pointing. Weiss thought at first that Velvet was pointing at Blake's twitching ears, but then Weiss saw that engraved carefully and neatly into the stone was the name "Yang Xiao Long." The group stopped walking, unsure of how to approach, but Nora continued walking forward toward Blake. Kneeling next to Blake, Nora gently tapped her shoulder, waking Blake up. Weiss could see faint lines shimmering on her face from the sunlight around Blake, the shining trails the only signs that tears had recently made their way down her face.

"Oh, is everyone done? I'm sorry, I fell asleep." Blake apologized as she sat up and wiped her face with the cuff of her kimono.

Nora hugged Blake, saying "No worries, we just finished." Nora then whispered something into Blake's ear that Weiss didn't hear, but Velvet must've heard her because her eyes widened slightly and her ears twitched.

Weiss leaned over, "What did she ask?"

Before Velvet could respond though, Blake had answered Nora's whispered question. "Of course, there's a bunch just over here." Blake led Nora to the water's edge nearby, and Nora jumped around, looking at large rocks. Picking one quickly, Nora bound back up to the rest of the group, laying her stone in the same patch of sunlight where the other one rested. She used another, smaller rock and began scratching something into the stone as she crouched over it. A few minutes later, she stepped back, and the rest of the group could see that this new stone had the name "Lie Ren" scratched into it, much less elegantly than Yang's name had been, but with no less love.

With small smiles on their faces, everyone bowed their heads in silence before the two stones, paying their respects to their fallen friends before leaving this idyllic piece of nature they had found to make their way back to their camp.

Professor Oobleck was standing in a forest clearing, looking at the multitudes of bloodstains and scraps of armor and clothing on the ground around him. The blood looked like it had only been here for a few hours, mostly likely spilled this morning as the headmaster said. The ripped and torn clothing wasn't consistent with damage that Crescent Rose inflicts though, which seemed to contradict the information he was given about Ruby Rose killing team CRDL. On the other hand, there were scraps of rope intermingled with everything else, supporting the information that the young huntress had kidnapped the four boys. "But if Miss Rose didn't kill them…" He heard skittering and hissing noises coming from the nearby cave, and turned to look at the source of the easily recognizable noise, and was rewarded with an emerging Deathstalker. Oobleck examined the Deathstalker as it charged, and noted the bloodstains and ripped clothing decorating its mouth and pincers. "Ah, there we go. Problem solved."

As the giant scorpion lunged with its claws at Oobleck, he vanished in a blur, leaving the pincers grasping at air. Before the Deathstalker could register the lack of prey in its grip, and blur of movement slammed into one of its legs on its right side, destroying the exoskeleton and buckling the leg. The Grimm scorpion responded by lashing out with its tail as it turned, hoping to smash and impale its attacker. The Deathstalker only managed to drive its stinger into the ground, momentarily trapping the tail. As it struggled to pull its tail back out, it felt its prey slam into its leg again, this time on its left, and then another one of its legs on the same side again before it could extract its tail and attempt to defend itself. Backing away clumsily, the Deathstalker was more interested in retreating from this unarmed yet terrifying huntsman than attacking him anymore.

Not interested in letting up his attack, Oobleck dashed forward before the Deathstalker could get its guard up and drove his clenched fist through one of its many eyes, burying his arm up to his elbow. With a wild screech, the Deathstalker brought its claws in front of it in an attempt to catch Oobleck, but he had already disappeared in a blur. Holding its claws in front of it to prevent further damage to its eyes, the Deathstalker continued backing away towards its cave. This only gave Oobleck the opportunity to attack the joints in the Deathstalker's arms without reservation, shattering the first joints as he repeatedly slammed his fists into them at high speed, shattering one and then the other, leaving them hanging limp and dragging on the ground as the Deathstalker continued to try to back away on its three remaining legs.

With the destruction of the Deathstalker's arms, Oobleck finally had a clean opening to attack the Deathstalker head on. Reinforcing his body with his aura, he smashed into the scorpion's skull plate, fists leading, and caved in the Grimm's skull. Oobleck pulled his arms back and took a few steps back as the Deathstalker convulsed on the ground. "Disgusting, truly disgusting." He shook his arms in an attempt to dislodge some of the scorpion's fluids and innards off of his arms, reluctant to wait the few minutes it would take for the Grimm's body to naturally dissolve away into nothing. The entire fight had taken only seconds, but to Oobleck's skewed sense of time it felt as if much time had been wasted. Returning to the clearing he gathered up what pieces of armor and clothing he could find and places them into a bag, and slung it over his shoulder. "Now to try and see what direction Miss Rose went." Oobleck started off into the woods, trying to find any sign of someone departing in a different direction.

Weiss was sitting in the mess tent with the others, cleaning her nails. She didn't have the proper materials earlier, but going through the donations from the city had proved fruitful and she was able to find what she needed to maintain her nails. The other girls were still eating, making idle chatter. Jaune had gotten directions from Blake on where to go to find the creek to clean since Pyrrha refused to let him hug her until he cleaned up. He would be back soon, but until then it was just the girls. Weiss blew on her nails, examining them; there were still a few spots she could clean up with better tools and more time, but for now what she had done would suffice. Some movement at the corner of her eye caught her attention, and Weiss looked up at Pyrrha to see her waving over a now clean Jaune, who had just entered the tent. Weiss and Pyrrha scooted over to make room for Jaune to sit next to them, but he stood behind Pyrrha instead.

He bent over slightly to place a quick kiss on Pyrrha's head. "Hey guys. You see the commotion outside?" Pyrrha snaked her arms up towards Jaune's, holding his arms affectionately as h placed his hands on her shoulders.

"What's going on outside?" Pyrrha asked as she held Jaune's hands.

"A bunch of big shuttles or buses or something are parked at the edge of camp. Professor Goodwitch is over there too." Jaune explained.

"Professor Ozpin did say some of our parents were coming, maybe they took transport from Vale?" Blake suggested.

"True. Should we go take a look?" Pyrrha stood up and took Jaune's hand, leading the way.

Blake looked at Weiss and shrugged. "You wanna go to support them? I know it's not like our parents are going to be there for us to meet." Weiss shrugged along with Blake, and then nodded.

"You don't think your parents are coming Blake?" Nora asked as she stood up to leave with the rest. "I think my father will definitely be out there, he's always been too overprotective of me."

"My parents passed away when I was a child." Blake explained. "So I'd be very surprised if they showed up, for more than one reason." Blake finished with a chuckle.

"Oh. Sorry."

"No worries. Shall we?" Blake led the remaining members of their little group out of the tent.

Upon exiting the tent, the small group could see a crowd of adults gathered outside of the shuttles, standing in a line in front of Professor Goodwitch, who was taking the names down to confirm identities of the parents. The parents that had already been cleared were standing apart from the rest, searching the camp for their children. Some had wandered away from the buses to search elsewhere, but it looked like most chose to remain near the buses, using it as an easy to find landmark for their students. One man stood above the rest, and Weiss, Blake, and Velvet felt that using the word "mountain" was an entirely accurately description for this man. Everything about this man just said big. He was nearly seven feet tall, with wide shoulders and bulging arms and had biceps thicker than Weiss' waist. His legs looked liked tree trunks, barely contained in the jeans covering them, and his feet left deep imprints in the ground when he walked. They could also see that he had a long, thick, tangled mane of hair and beard which was a mix of red and orange with hints of grey coming in. Both the hair and beard spilled down over an enormous belly that threatened to break the buttons of his flannel shirt making it difficult to see where one ended and the other began. His mountainous build made him a center of attention, with many students stopping to gawk at the giant of a man, who was searching the crowd frantically.

"Seeing him makes me feel like less of a man." Jaune commented, rubbing his hand across his hairless jaw. Pyrrha only giggled, commenting that if Jaune ever grew a beard she wouldn't kiss him until he shaved it back off.

Nora, who was busy looking at the line of parents behind Professor Goodwitch, turned to see who Jaune was referring to. Her eyes brightened upon laying her eyes on the giant, and she exclaimed "Father!" Then ran off in his direction.

Jaune's jaw dropped, accompanied by the jaws of the rest of the group. "That Nora's father?"

"I guess she must take after her mother." Velvet commented, noting the vast ocean of a difference in sizes between the father and daughter.

Nora's father heard his daughter, and his head darted around even faster, beard and hair flying every which way. "Nora! Where are ye, me girl?" Nora's father's voice boomed out above the crowd, loud as a war horn. He then saw Nora running at him, and opened his arms wide as she leapt into the air, then latched to his chest and buried her head into his beard as he wrapped his arms around her to hug her tight. "Nora, me girl! Tis' great to see you safe." He held her out at arm's length and turned her side to side, giving Nora the appearance of a doll in her father's hands. "Ye're not hurt are you?"

"No father, no bad injuries." Nora hugged him tightly again as he brought her back against him. "Um, are Ren's parents with you?" Nora asked nervously.

Her father looked down at her, worried at the change he heard in her voice. He set her down and turned around, and pointed a thumb at a shorter couple standing behind him, hidden behind his massive bulk. The couple, while not short, was dwarfed by Nora's father. They wore very traditional looking robes of very earthy colors, mostly browns and greens with some stitched lotus designs that Nora's friends immediately recognized as the symbol Ren used as his family crest. Ren's father had his waist length hair intricately braided, with rough, lightly tanned skin. Ren's mother styled her hair into a loose bun with a silver hairclip, her skin smooth and pale. Ren had looked so much like his parents that even had it not been pointed out to them, Weiss and Blake would've immediately recognized them as such. Both parents were looking around behind Nora, expecting to find their son with or near his fiancée.

Nora walked slowly up to them, and as she approached them their eyes stopped searching and focused on their future daughter-in-law. Nora clasped her hands in front of her, intertwining her fingers, and spoke more seriously and sadly than any of her gathered friends had ever heard her speak before. "Lie Zhànshì," she spoke, looking at Ren father, "Lie Huā," she spoke, looking at Ren's mother, "I'm sorry." Nora fell to her knees, and bent over at the waist to put her forehead to the back of her hands on the ground, bowing in front of her future in-laws. "Ren was protecting me," Nora sobbed, still bowed. "And he didn't make it. I understand if you don't forgive me. I'm so sorry." Nora kept her head down, still crying against the grass under her.

Ren's parents looked down at her, their gazes unaffected, as if Nora had just told them that Ren was just out getting some food. For another few moments they stared, before their exteriors began to crack- a tear flowing down Lie Huā's cheek, a trembling in Lie Zhànshì's shoulders. Both parents kneeled and gently sat down on their knees in front of Nora. Ren's mother reached out and grabbed Nora's shoulder, lifting her from the ground into a sitting position. "He died protecting you?" She asked, looking Nora in her eyes.

"Y-yes. When we were trying to escape from Beacon." Nora managed to still speak through her tears.

"Then he died well." Huā pulled Nora into a hug, letting Nora cry into her shoulder. "We are proud of our son." A few more tears fell down Huā's cheeks as she held Nora tight.

Nora's father walked up to Zhànshì, and placed one of his enormous hands on his back and shoulder. "I'm sorry, old friend. Ren was a good lad." Ren's father nodded his head in appreciation as he attempted to keep his emotions in check, unwilling to let his feelings show in this place.

Zhànshì knelt down to lift Nora and his wife up off the ground, embracing them both. "There is nothing to forgive Nora. We trust our son knew what he was doing." He released the two women from his embrace. "You're not hurt then?" Nora shook her head. "That's good to hear." Ren's father turned to Nora's father and said, "Thrym, would you care to join us for a drink? My wife and I must perform our family's ceremonies for our son, and your company would be appreciated."

"Of course, of course. It shall be me honor." The giant of a man pounded a fist against his chest along with his response.

Nora finally separated from Huā, and said to the two fathers, "I already set up a place for a small shrine where we can do the ceremonies." The parents nodded, and waited for Nora to lead the way. Nora ran over to Blake first, and asked, "You don't mind if they see that spot, right? It'll just be for today, then-"

"Of course it's okay Nora." Blake said. "Go on, I'm sure Yang doesn't mind." Blake finished with a smile.

"Thank you so much." Nora hugged Blake before leading her father and Ren's parents off towards the creek in the forest where she had built a small memorial for Ren, next to Yang's.

Weiss turned away from the saddening scene to Blake, deciding that discussing the fact that many parents would be receiving bad news today was not necessary, given what they'd already been through. "I'm fairly certain Nora's father could've carried all of Beacon Academy oh his back." Weiss opted to try for a little humor instead.

Blake laughed. "Most likely. I've never seen such a giant of a man." Blake looked around until something caught her gaze. "Oh my, it seems Jaune has quite the large family." Weiss and Velvet followed Blake's gaze, and saw that at some point during Nora's encounter with her and Ren's parents, Jaune's family had shown up, and Jaune had gone with Pyrrha to meet them. Blake's observation was right on the nose, with what appeared to be nearly a dozen people of various ages, ranging from young children to adults to older relatives, all startling blond. Jaune appeared to be introducing Pyrrha to his family for the first time, as they were all asking her questions as she blushed and stuttered her responses. "Poor girl."

Velvet ears were twitching, and she looked around searchingly. "Is something wrong, Velvet?" Weiss asked.

"I think I can hear my mom." Velvet replied, looking around. "Over there, in line." She turned to Weiss and Blake, asking "I'm going to go talk to her, alright?" Weiss and Blake smiled and nodded their understanding as Velvet jogged off to meet her mother.

With the rest of their group off meeting their own parents, Weiss and Blake were left standing alone. "Shall we go back to our table? I can do your nails with the tools I found." Weiss offered.

"Sure, why not." Blake laughed.

As the two girls walked back to their mess tent, they heard a man's voice coming from behind them, towards where the parents were gathered. "Blake! Weiss!" Weiss didn't recognize the voice immediately, but Blake immediately froze up and stopped walking. Weiss turned around, looking for the source of the voice, and was greeted by a tall, fit man with short, dark blond hair. He was wearing black slacks and a white, long sleeve shirt, over which there was a long, brown, worn leather coat flapping behind him as he ran towards the two girls. Weiss didn't recognize the voice like Blake had, but seeing the man she recognized him as the father of Yang and Ruby, Jīn Long. Weiss immediately panicked, not sure if she was able to handle telling another person that Yang had died, and now with Ruby being a murderer on the run on top of that. "I'm so glad to see you two! I've just gotten off the shuttles." He stopped to catch his breath. "You two aren't hurt right? That's good. Do you know where my daughters are?"

Blake had finally turned around, and directed her gaze at Weiss, her eyes filled with the same panic that Weiss was sure was in her eyes. Blake broke their gaze first, looking at Jīn Long, and said "Why don't we come this way? So we can have a seat."

Jīn Long didn't move. "Blake?" He looked between the girls. "I know you well enough to see something isn't right. What's happened to my daughters?" His eyes darted between the two, clearly distressed. "Weiss?"

Weiss looked at Blake, who reached over to grab Jīn Long's hand. "Mr. Long, I'm so sorry. Yang didn't make it out of Beacon." Blake had tears leaking out of her eyes again, but she kept her gaze strong as she looked at the blond man she had grown to see as her own father over the last couple years. Weiss could see the light behind his eyes start to fade as he heard the news. "I'm so, so sorry. She saved everyone, but didn't make it, and..." Blake couldn't finish her sentence, with nothing to say to ease this man's pain.

Jīn fell to his knees in front of Blake, still holding her hands in his. "Yang is gone?" His back straightened as he began looking around. "Ruby? Where's Ruby? She needs me, Without Yang she won't be in good shape."

He made to move away, but Blake stopped him. "Ruby isn't here either," Blake started, "she blamed another team of students for losing Yang, and she killed them. She's on the run, and we don't know where she went."

What little light and hope that Weiss could see in the father's eyes faded away with abrupt finality. "Both my daughters are… gone?" Weiss couldn't imagine what this man was going through. Ruby had told her about her family history one vacation at their home, while going for a walk through their property. Jīn Long had married a woman, Yang's mother, and had a happy relationship until she had gotten pregnant. She didn't want the child, but Jīn had convinced her to keep it. After giving birth, she had tried to love the child but just a couple months in she couldn't bring herself to love her child and had left the family, divorcing yang's father at the same time. Jīn Long was devastated, but had made it through by focusing on being a great father to Yang. Soon after that he had a whirlwind romance with Summer Rose, Ruby's mother, which resulted in their marriage and with Ruby's birth soon after that. For years they had lived happily together, until death claimed Summer Rose. Weiss wasn't sure of the details of Summer's death, but knew that it was devastating to the family, Jīn having lost a second wife, and Yang and Ruby losing their mother. And now, Jīn Long was being told that one daughter was dead, and the other gone and a murderer. In just seconds had lost what was left of his family, and was alone in the world.

Blake picked up the man and lifted him to his feet, hugging him close. Weiss joined them; she was not as close with him as Blake was, but still liked and felt sorry for the man regardless. "Come on," Weiss said, "let's go sit down." Weiss led his open but unseeing eyes to the mess tent, back to their table. Sitting him down, Weiss tried to comfort the man who had been broken beyond tears, but couldn't find the words to say. "We'll find her, and bring Ruby back to you, okay? She won't be gone forever."

He sat in silence for a long time, just staring at the table in front of him. Weiss and Blake sat with him, not willing to interrupt his thoughts. Blake was holding his hand in an attempt to comfort him, but if he noticed he gave no indication. Eventually, he blinked his eyes and looked at the girls around him. "I'm sorry for my… breakdown. You must be hurting too; this is no time for me to do this." He turns and looks at Blake, saying "It is especially unfair to you. You are my daughter-in-law, after all. I should be here for you, not the other way around."

Blake blinked in surprise. "Daughter-in-law?" Weiss was also confused. Was he associating Blake dating Yang as marriage?

He smiled a sad smile. "Yang isn't very good at hiding things. I found the paperwork when I was cleaning her desk after you two left this summer. I know you two got married."

Blake giggled as some more tears fell. "I knew something like this would happen. We wanted to wait to tell people until we had time for a ceremony."

Weiss was shocked. "You got married and didn't tell me?"

"We didn't tell anyone, including you and Ruby. It was going to be a secret until we graduated."

Weiss felt a little less left out, but was still annoyed she didn't know. "Oh. I guess I can understand that."

Jīn Long stood up from the table. "I should get going. I need to set up a funeral, search for Ruby…" He stopped as Blake gave him directions to the small memorial tombstone she made for Yang, if he was interested. "Thank you, Blake. I'll go pay my respects before I leave." He hugged Blake, "and you too, Weiss. I know Ruby was very fond of you." He hugged Weiss as well. "You both are welcome at my home anytime. I'll be going now, stay safe girls."

Blake and Weiss watched and Jīn Long left, walking back towards the buses, boarding one leaving back for Vale. "Father, huh?" Weiss said. "I guess you have family now, right?"

Blake smiled again. "Yeah. I guess I do." She wiped her cheeks and eyes to clear her tears. "Would you mind if we went back to our tent? I'd like to lie down."

"Yeah, sure." Weiss replied. As they walked out of the tent, Velvet came up to them, holding a small paper bag. "Hey, Velvet. How was your mother?" Weiss asked.

"She's good. She wants me to leave, but I told her I was staying." She held up the paper bag. "She brought me snacks though! Let's share them later." She looked over her shoulder in the direction that Jīn Long went. "Did you know that man? I saw you with him but I didn't want to interrupt."

"He's Yang and Ruby's father." Blake explained. "He didn't know what happened."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have pried into it."

"It's no problem." Blake replied with a smile. "We're going back to our tent; would you like to come with us? You can move your things into our tent."

"That sounds good. I'll go get my stuff and meet you there, okay?" Velvet said before she jogged off.

Weiss and Blake walked in silence back to their tent, and began organizing their sleeping supplies for sleeping and resting the rest of the day. Velvet joined them soon after they began and moved in her own supplies, assisting with the cleanup, making small talk.

"What do you think our orders will be?" "Remember that time when…" "How do you think we will be trained?" "Do you think we'll still be fighting Grimm too?"

Most of their questions were just small talk, jokes, speculation, with a hint of snacking, but all this was necessary noise to fill the silence as they worked the rest of the daylight away. Once they finished setting up, they all settled under the covers, cuddling up next to one another, sharing their warmth and company. As they lay in silence, they began to feel a weight settling on them as the events of the last couple days began sinking in. Beacon, their teammates, their lovers, their friends, their parents, their new duty, everything. Finally having a chance to think about everything was daunting, as they realized the magnitude of what was happening around them in the world.

Velvet was the first to speak up in a whisper. "Everything's going to be different now, isn't it?"

"…Yeah." Blake replied softly.

"The world changed today." Weiss continued. "And I have no idea what's coming next."

"I don't think any of us do." Blake added.

Velvet curled her back up into Blake's front, looking for comfort and warmth that she needed at this moment. Blake put her arm around the rabbit faunus in an effort to comfort her as Weiss contemplated what to do. Weiss was normally unwilling to look so weak as to need comfort in front of others, but gave in when Blake reached over to pull Weiss' arm around herself, causing the heiress' arm to wrap around Blake's stomach as Blake in turn curled up against her. Like this, the three girls slept and hoped that tomorrow would bring some comfort and order back into their lives.