This place reminded her of home.

It wasn’t because of the Grimm or Bob or the endless expanse of emptiness. Rather, it was the stillness that enveloped her. It held her close like her mother used to do and she let herself rest for a while, reminding herself that her life wasn’t always like this. Her life wasn’t always about wanting to save the world from itself. She hardly even knew the world a year ago. All she had was her family, her neighbors and some friends. She grew up in a small place – so small that no one even bothered to name it on a map. It probably wasn’t even drawn on a map in the first place.

But it was still home to her, where people were just people. Some had tails, sure. Others had horns or tusks. One of her friends had bunny ears that drooped in the cutest way and she always couldn’t help but pinch his cheeks to express her utmost delight whenever she saw them. It wasn’t just because of the cute bunny ears. She actually did like the person that he was.

She ran away from all of that and for what?

She sighed as she leaned back on the griffon’s folded wing and it cooed into her ear as if it was comforting her. Or at least she wanted to think that it was.

Come morning, there would always be a plate of well-done egg whites with the yolk cooked to a crisp sprinkled on top waiting for her at the dining table. Her mother would call her downstairs and she would stumble out of bed and follow the scent of her mother’s cooking. Then she’d be at the seat beside her father, getting ready to eat.

For as long as she could remember, things had been that way. Life was simple. Life was just her family, her neighbors and some friends.

“Sunny-ah, please don’t leave us,” her friend said, his bunny ears drooping to eye level as he pleaded.

“I’ll be back, Sungmin-ah,” she replied with a smile. She really did mean that at the time. “Take care of yourself until I get back, okay?”

Sungmin shook his head while he stuck his lower lip out. “You shouldn’t leave at all. Aren’t you happy here with us?”

Of course she was happy. They were her life. They were her home. But she had always been the more curious one, eager to find out more about every place that wasn’t the small island where everything seemed perfect. “Please don’t think that I’m not happy with you guys. Of course I am. I just want to know what’s out there because I have a feeling that I’ll regret it if I don’t try.”

The argument that was supposed to brew didn’t start. Instead, it got lost somewhere in between the hugs they shared before parting.

She said goodbye to her parents next and, naturally, they tried to talk her out of leaving. She told them she would come back for her mother’s cooking and her father’s bear hugs, and the three of them laughed as if she was only leaving to go to the store to buy some milk. Her parents knew it would be farther away than that and they understood her resolve. She had always been adventurous as a child, and even more so when she discovered her semblance and started learning how to defend herself. There wasn’t any need for it on the island but she wanted something to keep her preoccupied on lazy afternoons. Because of this, her parents knew deep down that they should’ve expected her to keep being her curious self as she grew older. So they told her to stay safe and to return the moment she starts missing them.

“I will,” she said.

But come the following months out in the world that she confidently set out for, she started to lose sight of home. It wasn’t because she didn’t want to come back anymore. It was because she wanted everyone else in Remnant to have the kind of home that she had. She wanted that for them despite their greed, and their pride, and their murderous nature. They probably didn’t deserve it but she knew that the world would cease to exist if she didn’t do anything to change the minds of its inhabitants, that if she let them go on as they were, pointing fingers at each other come every conflict and discriminating against each other because of irrational social standards, those who turn out to deserve better will end up getting nothing.

She couldn’t stand for that. It might have been selfish of her to meddle with the status quo in order to bring her goal to fruition but she grew comfy with the idea the longer she tried to make it happen.

And there was one person who supported her through and through.

“What is it that you wish for?”

She peered out from inside the make-shift tent that she put up in an alley way, holding her buckler close to her chest. She was too trusting when she first arrived in Vale and she learned the hard way that most people didn’t care. It was obvious that she wasn’t from around here and they had better things to do than waste time trying to answer her questions.

But now there was someone who was asking the questions for a change.

“I saw you the other day when those cops tried to put you down for stealing something that no one even owned,” said the male, now crouched down to meet her eyes. He was pertaining to the apples that she picked from a tree in the park – her only meal in days. “You’re invincible, yes?”

She shook her head.

“Then your shield is impenetrable?”

She shook her head once more.

“I see. Let’s go back to the first question then... What is it that you wish for?”

She didn’t answer immediately but she did answer. Her trusting nature betrayed her. Or maybe it was the loneliness. “Peace,” she said. She saw him smile and she took the hand that he held out.

“I want peace too,” he replied.

The griffon flexed its hind legs as it stood and Sunny almost fell over, no longer having the folded wing to lean on. She looked up from the ground like she did when she first met Bob. It was far too much like déjà vu.

“Your friends are here, Soonkyu. Don’t you think they deserve to be welcomed?” Bob rubbed a thumb on his chin.“Maybe something fitting for getting in our way.”

She didn’t answer immediately but she did answer. “It’s Sunny.”

Bob let out a laugh. “You’ll hear that name more than you care to once your friends get here. They’ll be begging for you to stop whatever it is you’re doing. To come back to them. To trust them. Is that what you want?”

She shook her head. “Fine. I’ll go,” she said through gritted teeth. She grabbed onto the griffon’s neck and was about to straddle its back when Bob tugged on the buckler hanging from the belt around her waist, pulling her back down. “What now?”

“Take a dragon if you really want to get rid of them.”

“I don’t.”

“Take it anyway. You might change your mind.”

Never, she thought to herself. The dragon that was perched on a large rock behind them spread its wings, signaling that it was prepared for flight. Sunny walked over, grabbed hold of the scales on its back and pulled herself up. After it pushed off from the rock, they were airborne.

She leaned forward as much as she could and held on tightly while her feet dangled against the clouds… if clouds could even exist in this desolate, god-forsaken place.

+

Their scrolls blinked silently, signaling the arrival of midnight. Not that they noticed. It looked like midnight all the time in Grimmland. There could at least have been a moon to look at and they could wish for it all they wanted but they knew they were far from home where they left the moon that they knew and the stars that they missed.

“She hasn’t answered yet?” Ruby asked Seohyun who was pacing with her scroll in hand.

“No. I’m getting worried. I tried calling too but the signal is too weak. How about you?”

Ruby shrugged. She already sent more than ten messages to Weiss and Blake, and twice as much to her sister over the past few hours but there wasn’t a single reply. “Maybe the tower was moved and they’re not receiving our messages.”

Seohyun sighed. That was a rational explanation. She liked rational explanations. But not when it came to Yoona. She didn’t care if Yoona’s reply had to come from outer space or a rip in the space-time continuum, which would make no sense at all in this universe. She just wanted to know that Yoona was safe.

“Uhm…” Ruby didn’t know what to say. She didn’t know Seohyun that well but she knew when someone wasn’t feeling okay. “Do you want to go back to your teammates? Maybe rest a bit more?”

“No,” Seohyun answered, shaking her head. “I think we should take a walk. The signal might get better.”

Ruby nodded as she gripped Crescent Rose in its rifle form and started walking after Seohyun, leaving Taeyeon and Tiffany near the small fire they made.

“Hey,” Tiffany said, breaking the silence that they shared for far too long while Taeyeon recovered from her fall. “Are we ever going to talk about what happened back in Beacon?”

Taeyeon knew what Tiffany was pertaining to their kiss the moment she heard ‘talk about.’ She had been avoiding precisely that for weeks and she wasn’t ready to stop now. “Maybe after all of this is over?”

“If you’ll be ready to talk about it by then, then okay. Just promise me that you’re not going to do anything stupid that might get us killed out here.”

“I already promised your parents, remember?”

“That’s not the same and you know it.”

It really wasn't and she knew it. She nodded even though it didn’t do anything to get rid of the frown on Tiffany’s face. “Fine. I promise,” she said, telling herself that she had time to worry about her feelings for Tiffany at a much later time.

+

A tiny bark sent poor Blake scurrying up a tree much to Sooyoung’s amusement. Bori happily chased its tail by the said tree, waiting for Blake to come down and play.

“Play with the doggie, Blake~”

“Ugh. Can you not do this to me right now?!”

“Soo, stop teasing her like that!” Hyoyeon slapped her partner’s arm but it did nothing to convince Sooyoung to call Bori back into her shadow. Sighing to herself, she held Sooyoung’s snacks out and waved the bag around. “Stop being an or else these go down the cliff over there!”

A loud gasp escaped Sooyoung and almost instantly, Bori disappeared, leaving behind only another one of its tiny barks. Blake heaved a sigh.

Laughing at the turn of events, Krystal was about to walk over to join Hyoyeon in teasing Sooyoung when her scroll beeped. It was a message from Jessica: “We ran into a dragon. Be careful. Another one might attack you guys.”

She was alarmed by the thought of having to face a creature that she only read about in books but if her sister got through the ordeal then she figured she could too. “Let me guess. Yuri unnie protected you, huh?”

“It’s more like the other way around, sis.”

“Awww… you’re whipped AF! You guys are okay though, right?”

“Yeah… for now. I’ll send a message later. We’re on the move again. Stay safe!!”

+

Jessica pocketed her scroll, thankful that her sister managed to reply to her messages. That was one thing she could get off of her mind for the time being, at least. She turned to Yuri who had just woken up but didn’t want to get up from her lap just yet.

“How’re you feeling?” Jessica asked as she ran her fingers through Yuri’s hair until her hand settled on Yuri’s cheek.

“Like I ran a marathon forever,” Yuri said with a yawn. She already had the feeling in her body back, which was a huge improvement from hours ago, and the wounds on her hand had already healed, leaving only a few calluses as a reminder.

Jessica smiled out of relief and because she thought Yuri was beautiful beyond reason at this moment despite being beat up and injured. “No matter how bad you feel right now, it doesn’t show.”

Yuri sat up slightly, just enough for her lips to be near Jessica’s. “Really now?” she said in a whisper and before she could close the tiny gap between their lips, Jessica leaned down and kissed her. She returned it, although still a bit drowsy, and then she heard a loud whistle from behind.

“Oh don’t mind me!” said Yang, trying to hold back the giggles. “Make out while you still can!”

Jessica turned away, letting her hair fall in front of her face to hide her bright red cheeks while Yuri just laughed and threw a small rock at Yang.

“Yuri, you big meanie—Woah!”

Weiss grabbed hold of Yang’s arm and started to drag her away before she could continue teasing Yuri and Jessica. “We’re going on ahead, guys! We got a message from the professor just now and there are more refugees that need to be evacuated. Are you sure you’ll be fine on your own when you go looking for Sunny? Watch your backs!”

“We’ll be fine! Thanks for helping us out, Weiss!” Yuri yelled with a big wave of her hand as the two started getting further away.

“Hey! I helped too!” Yang yelled back over her shoulder.

“You stole the last blow from me! Get outta here!”

“Only because you were making kissy-kissy faces at your girlfriend!!”

Yang’s voice was barely an echo when it reached Yuri’s ears and she just laughed off whatever it was that Yang was teasing her about. Then she turned to Jessica who still opted to stay silent. “Don’t mind her. She’s always like that.”

“I know,” Jessica answered, a bit peeved that Yuri and Yang got along so well without trying. She let out an obvious sigh.

“You’re not jealous of Yang, are you?” Yuri asked as if reading Jessica’s mind. Then again, that scowl on Jessica’s face gave her all the clues she needed.

“What?! I’m not—”

“Unnies! Get over here, quick!!”

Yuri was on her feet faster than she could breathe when Yoona called out to them. She and Jessica found Yoona with her scroll in hand, looking like she had just finished taking a call – probably one from Seohyun. “What’s the matter, Yoong?”

Yoona pressed a finger to her lips and gestured for her teammates to follow her past the thicket of vines from where a familiar scent lingered, mixed with the crackling sound of firewood burning.

“It’s… It’s her, isn’t it?” Jessica asked with a firm grip on Yoona’s shoulder. She felt her dongsaeng try to lunge forward into the clearing and she quickly pulled her back by the sleeve of her uniform. “Wait. She might not be alone. What if she attacks—”

“Sunny unnie!!”

Jessica and Yuri immediately jumped out of cover and tried to hold Yoona back but they were too late. Their dongsaeng was already by the fire and right next to that was their former teammate.

“You still remember the first time we met, don’t you, Yoona?”

Sunny’s voice and these roasted marshmallows were just as Yoona remembered. She wanted to tell Sunny that but when Yuri and Jessica appeared by her side like they always did, she was reminded that Sunny did the opposite. “Why are you doing this, unnie?!”

Why indeed, Sunny asked herself. She could’ve threatened them with the dragon by now or even earlier when they were still vulnerable. But instead she had the dragon huff a small flame against the gathered firewood then had it wait at a nearby cliff while she roasted marshmallows. Why she still carried some around was for her alone to know, but it seemed that Yoona also still knew why.

Meeting Bob changed her life and she thought that was a good thing. They were going to change everyone else’s lives too. For the better, she once thought. But then she wondered how they would accomplish that all by themselves.

“I enlisted some help,” he told her one day.

She knew of the White Fang at this point and, as much as she supported their initial goal to eradicate discrimination against the faunus, it left a bitter taste in once she found out that they had started harming people who got in their way. She was back to square one again, fearing the worst for the world while she couldn’t do anything about it and the person whom she thought could help was starting to lean farther from their goal.

So she ran away.

She somehow made it to Beacon Academy’s waitlist after taking the exam. She disclosed that she didn’t have any money for any required tuition but they took her in anyway, saying she had combat skills that had potential. Next thing she knew, she was going through initiation.

How was she supposed to find a partner in some stranger who’ll just happen to look into her eyes? She thought about it for a moment while she roasted marshmallows. Her partner would have to understand her and what mattered to her. She needed a friend.

She suddenly remembered Sungmin from home and she pinched the drooping bunny ears atop her head. It was just a prop but it had to do. Whoever her partner was destined to be, she hoped that they would see past the faunus ears.

“Uhm… Hello?”

She saw a girl peeking from the bushes and she tried to wave her over. “Hello? Anyone there?” she called out again. She stomped out the small fire she made and held the roasted marshmallows out. “Do you want some? I can share.”

The figure slowly emerged and dusted herself off. She reminded Sunny of a wounded animal that was shown kindness for the first time. She understood that feeling well. She offered the marshmallows again and the girl took two pieces at once. “You can take more. It’s fine,” she said.

The girl nodded and took two more. She lifted her head as she chewed and that was when their eyes met. Sunny didn’t realize what it meant until the girl extended a hand toward her. She took it and they shook hands.

“Thanks for the snack, partner,” the girl said with a wide smile. “My name’s Yoona.”

“I’m…” She always thought that ‘Sunny’ was a nice name. Some of her friends back at home used to call her that. This was probably her chance to be that person again. “I’m Sunny. It’s nice to meet you, Yoona.”

They talked while finishing the rest of the marshmallows and she didn’t see Yoona look up at the bunny ears all throughout, much less ask about them. Not even once.

+

“Why are you doing this, unnie?!”

Sunny still hadn’t answered the question and it seemed that it didn’t matter because she saw Jessica already reaching for her weapon.

“My, my. Someone’s in a hurry,” she commented, meriting a deep scowl from Jessica.

“I don’t have the patience right now to deal with your games, Sunny. We’re here to end this.”

“What a coincidence! I am too!” Sunny said with a hand on her chest, teasing Jessica with her sarcasm on purpose.

“Sunny unnie, please!” Yoona raised an arm to her side to hinder Jessica’s movement while she stared Sunny down, hoping to get through somehow. “If it’s possible to end all of this fighting and get you to come back, please tell me how! I’ll do anything!”

“And if I say that you have to kill me to stop the fighting?”

Yoona held her next breath. She felt Jessica already pushing against her arm and she saw Yuri already taking a step forward with raised fists.

“Stop playing with her feelings, you !” Yuri screamed. She hadn’t forgotten how bad she felt when she found out that Sunny was partly responsible for this war but Yoona was more important. She could mourn their friendship with Sunny all she wanted and it still wouldn’t change anything. So what was the point? “You wanna die so badly?!”

“Yuri unnie, no!!” Yoona stumbled forward when Yuri hurried past her with increased speed and headed right for Sunny. Jessica went missing by her side a second later and before she could get to either of them, something from behind the tall trees behind Sunny surfaced. She recognized its cry right away. “It’s another dragon!!”

“.” Yuri changed targets fast. She ran past Sunny instead of attacking her as planned and she saw the latter smirk. Whether it was a taunt or out of relief, she didn’t know. The dragon roared in her direction and all other thoughts took a back seat in her mind. She already knew that sending burning force through its body wasn’t going to kill it. She would just burn herself again in the process. Punches weren’t going to cut it either. Not with those thick scales covering its body. That left her with Jongkook’s pointers.

“Somewhere vulnerable… somewhere vulnerable…” she chanted under her breath as she circled the creature. It followed her movement and tried to sweep her off of the ground with a swing of its tail. She jumped in time and managed to land on its back. She sensed the wings rising, preparing for flight and that was when the idea came to her. She saw a cliff close by and whatever couldn’t fly, couldn’t survive the fall. “I hope this works…” She crouched down and held on to a hard scale while she held the other palm out and adjusted her aim. She focused on making the force as dense as possible, visualizing it as a bullet as she sent it forth. It hit the bend of the wing, the part that was similar to a person’s elbow. She expected the wing to start sagging from the impact but the dragon remained upright as if nothing happened.

“Yuri-yah! She’s shielding it!”

Jessica’s warning came a second too late, just when Yuri was taking aim again. Startled by the revelation, Yuri lost her balance and tumbled down the dragon’s side when it flapped its large, leathery wings.

“Goddamn semblance,” Yuri muttered under her breath as she recovered from the fall. The dragon was above them now, making it hard for them to damage it. Yuri wished that they hadn’t let Weiss leave. They definitely needed her glyphs.

Jessica checked on Yuri one more time before turning her attention back to Sunny who was holding her buckler up to her chest. As she expected, her attacks were ineffective as long as Sunny had enough aura to use her semblance. She called out to Yoona who hadn’t left her spot.

“The fighting has to stop, unnie!”

“It won’t if you just keep standing there!”

“But—”

The dragon swooped down and landed behind Sunny with its wings spread to its sides. The shock from its landing swelled across the ground and knocked Yoona off of her feet. She hit the ground hard and coughed from the impact.

“Get up, Yoona!” Sunny yelled. “Fight me! You know you want to!”

“But I don’t have to!” Yoona tried to scream back while holding her side. “You can stop by yourself!”

There was no reply.

Sighing to herself, Sunny watched Jessica come at her with the sharp edge of her blade. She let the slash land on her body but she felt nothing. Another slash then a . Still nothing. The dragon behind her lifted its hind leg and brought it down again, causing another tremor. Jessica stumbled backward but she lowered herself on one knee and held that position until the shaking stopped. From the corner of her eye, she saw Yuri speed past toward the back of the dragon. “Be careful!” she shouted, hoping Yuri heard her.

“How sweet~! So you two are finally together, huh?” Sunny said with a grin.

“That stopped being your business when you left!!” Jessica plunged her kotatsu into the ground and channeled her semblance from its handle to the tip. The ground started to freeze up, its black shade changing into a murky grey sheen.

“Don’t waste your aura, Sica,” Sunny said with a sigh. “You know that this isn’t gonna work—”

“Yuri-yah! Now!!”

Yuri came from high above with a palm held out. A large wave of force came forth from it and collided with the ground, creating a tremor as large as the ones the dragon made. The shards of shattered ice rose after they broke off, piercing through everything in their path.

Sunny lowered herself slightly to the ground and widened her stance to keep her balance while focusing part of her aura on the dragon that protected her in turn with its folded wings. She felt another wave of force come down and another hail storm of ice rose from the ground. “Tsk. These lovebirds…” she mumbled through gritted teeth.

The dragon howled after the third wave, now showing signs of injury. It continued to shield Sunny with its wings but even those weren’t enough anymore. The jagged ice already tore through them and it was then that Yuri and Jessica figured it out.

Sunny’s semblance wasn’t the ability to create a dome of absorption. It was the ability to create a net of elusion.

Yuri left the dragon to Jessica while she ran past Sunny repeatedly and hit her with slim amounts of force as if attacking with needles. She aimed at different spots, some close to each other and some at random. She was bound to find a gap in the defense somehow—

“ARRRRGGHHH!!”

“Gotcha.”

Yuri took note of the spot near Sunny’s kneecap. That was one.

Sunny fell on the uninjured knee and exhaled as she clutched the other, her buckler dropping to her side. The pain came in ripples as if her nerves were being skewered and she tried her best not to pass out from the intense sensation. She lifted her head and saw Yuri still running in circles around her, probably still worried that she had a counterattack up her sleeve. Oh how she wished she did. She didn’t expect them to figure her semblance out but here she was, knocked down and vulnerable. The dragon was farther from her now too, struggling to get away from Jessica’s blade with torn wings. She felt sorry for it but the pain that soon shot up her head made her forget that she ever felt that way.

Yuri had just managed to get through again, this time hitting just above Sunny’s nape. That was two.

All Sunny could do was refocus her defenses, moving the net around as needed. That and…

Yoona. She scanned the area for her former partner and saw her just standing by, gripping the stem of her naginata with a shivering hand. If I beg for her help, will she even believe me? She considered it but couldn’t bring herself to say the words. A loud shriek escaped her instead when another one of Yuri’s attacks got through. The pain came from her back this time, near her spine. She fell on her front, now unable to move because of Yuri’s critical hit. She heard footsteps next until Yuri was standing over her with a palm held out. She couldn’t see but she felt it in her bones. Yuri wanted to kill her.

“It’s over, Sunny!!” Yuri aimed for the center of Sunny’s back. This would be the fourth hit. And it was all she needed to end this.

Sunny closed her eyes, thinking to herself that things would’ve been different if she changed her mind like Bob thought she would when he told her to take the dragon along.

Or if she attacked instead of defending like she always did…

If she tried to explain her side…

If only she told herself that she didn’t still love her friends…

A lot of what ifs. She kept her eyes closed and breathed while she still could.

She was happy being Yoona’s partner. Sure, she had a bottomless pit for a stomach. But Sunny didn’t mind. When they were introduced to two more teammates, she didn’t know what to expect or how to feel. Yuri was accommodating enough while Jessica kept to herself and interacted only when she had to. She managed to work with both throughout the following months even though they went through rough patches as a team.

Contrary to popular belief, she handled Jessica better than she did Yoona and Yuri. But that was only because the two were so concerned about how to make things work with Jessica while she wasn’t.

“Ugh. She still won’t talk to me, unnie!” Yoona shook Sunny by the shoulders and the latter could only sigh. “Seriously, how do you do it? How do you feel okay with her not talking to you? Is it because you hate her? Is it because you don’t care?”

“Of course I care,” Sunny said immediately. “And I don’t hate her. Maybe she hates me or you or maybe even Yuri. What can we do about it though? It’s not like you can force a person to like you back. I admire her for being the way she is but that doesn’t mean she’s obligated to admire me too. Do you understand?”

Yoona shrugged, far too upset to attempt to process what Sunny just said.

“You and Yuri are way too alike. She tells me about her Sica problems too. I dunno if any of the things I say get through to her though. She’s like you in that way too. ”

“Hm? Like what?”

“Like—Ugh. You weren’t listening again! This is what I’m talking about.”

“Oh unnie~~”

“Yah! Don’t use that squeaky voice on me!”

“Yuu wussh eet ohsha twaym!”

“No I don’t!”

“Yuu duu~!!”

Yoona could’ve gone on for hours using that annoying voice if Jessica hadn’t come into the room and changed the atmosphere completely. Yoona shied away while Sunny greeted their teammate with a tiny wave of her hand.“Back with more books, I see.”

“Uh-huh,” Jessica replied flatly.

Sunny and Yoona glanced at each other and shrugged. That was as far as the conversation went.

Despite their dysfunctional dorm life, Sunny was adjusting well to Beacon. Her grades were pretty high and her missions with her teammates almost always ended quickly because Yuri and Yoona were too reckless for their own good, always charging headfirst into danger. She often had to babysit them because Jessica was too committed to her independence to do anything about it. That and she could be lazy as hell.

“Uh, Sica? Shouldn’t you be attacking right about now?” Sunny asked once when they were having a training session.

“Oh it’s fine. Those two get enough training just fighting each other,” Jessica replied, pertaining to Yuri and Yoona who were sparring in the middle of the room.

“Yeah but the point is to challenge them. The more attackers the better.”

“Right. ‘Challenge’ them not ‘beat them senseless.’ That’s what’s going to happen if you put me in there with them. So just let them play. That’s all they do anyway.”

Sunny knew that Jessica had a point. Yuri and Yoona really did have that stubborn habit of not taking things seriously. Especially when it comes to training. So she sat down next to Jessica and tried to continue their small talk. But before she could speak, she saw that Jessica had already started napping. It was then that she felt that she was starting to get to know Jessica a little bit better.

On the other hand, things with Yuri were less complicated. Yuri was almost like Yoona, only more impulsive. Despite that, Sunny found a deeper layer and she got to thinking that things with Yuri could be complicated too but not in a bad way. She first noticed this when she saw how much Yuri pushed herself to become better. Yuri didn’t have the best grades and even though she could hold her own in a fight, she always tended to do something stupid that got her hurt in the end. That was why there were times when Yuri would work all night to make up for her mistakes.

“Take a break, Yuri. Your homework will still be there tomorrow,” Sunny said one Tuesday night when she saw Yuri bingeing on coffee to stay awake.

“Can’t. Already failing this subject,” Yuri replied in a rushed breath. She gulped another cup of coffee then refilled it immediately.

Sunny saw her teammate’s eye starting to twitch. “Okay, that’s enough coffee for you. You’re going to get sick if you down whole cups like that.” She grabbed the cup and the thermos and moved them to her desk on the other side of the room. When she got back to Yuri, the latter was slumped forward on her desk. “See? Now you’re sick. Does your stomach hurt? What’s wrong—”

“I’m not sick but I feel bad,” Yuri said in a mumble.

“Hm? What about?”

“Nothing. Never mind.” Yuri sat up straight again then flashed Sunny her usual smile. “Thanks for checking up on me, Sunny. Yoona’s lucky to have you as a partner. Thanks for putting up with us.”

Sunny returned the smile. She wasn’t ‘putting up’ with anything. She was just being their friend. It was easy.

But that was put to the test after the Grimm invasion.

She fought for Beacon Academy and for her friends. She fought for her new home. She was doing fine until she saw the White Fang because that meant that Bob wasn’t too far away. She hoped that that wasn’t the case. She kept on fighting, telling herself that she was doing this for something worth it.

That is, until Bob appeared before her and reminded her of what she wished for the most.

“I came here to get you back, Soonkyu.”

“Shut up! How could you do this? A lot people got hurt!”

“And more will continue to get hurt if we don’t accomplish our mission. Do you remember it, Soonkyu? Our wish for peace?”

Of course Sunny remembered. She still wanted peace and all the more now because she saw that inequality between species reached even the most respectable of places, and that Beacon Academy was no different. Not everyone was as accepting as her friends. She still encountered faunus who were bullied without reason other than the fact that they had a tail or cat ears. She still wanted to make things right but no longer as a vigilante but as a huntress. She told Bob that and he just laughed.

“How naïve. Soonkyu, don’t you see? Huntsmen and huntresses can’t do anything. All they do is fight Grimm. That’s their only purpose. Is that what you want? To fight Grimm all your life? Or is it to fix the world order and call for equality? Think about it, Soonkyu. Then come find me. I will always welcome you back.”

She watched him leave, confused as to what she really wanted at this point. Had she been blinded by her training as a huntress? Was it because of her friends? What was more important to her? Her vision of peace or the happiness she found with her friends in this new home?

Having to choose became all the more difficult the longer she stayed in Beacon after the invasion. It was one thing to have to deal with the aftermath of the invasion and it was another to have to pretend in front of her teammates that she was doing just fine.

“Hey, Yoona?”

“Yes unnie?”

Sunny watched as her partner fluffed her pillows and got ready for bed. “Do you think Remnant will ever change? Not the world as a physical thing. Just… do you think it’s possible for it to be peaceful?”

Yoona leaned back on her bed’s headboard and bit her lip as she thought of an answer.

“I want the world to change,” Sunny continued while Yoona was still thinking of how to reply. “I want everyone to get along. No wars. No discrimination. No wasted lives.”

“That sounds like paradise, unnie,” Yoona finally said. “Right now, it’s hard to imagine.”

Sunny nodded. Yoona was right. Paradise was hard to imagine at this point. But that didn’t make it impossible to attain. She held on to that and left the following week, not knowing how much pain she caused. Then again, her teammates knew nothing of her pain, either.

Even now they knew nothing of it. Not this physical pain that coursed through her body and made her slip in and out of consciousness. Not this emptiness in her heart that she tried to ignore ever since she left them. And definitely not this crushing weight of disappointment for failing to attain the peace that she worked so hard to reach.

All she could do now was wait for Yuri to finish her off.

“Stop it!!”

“Yoona! Get out of the way!”

Yoona rushed to Sunny’s side before Yuri could attack. She held her naginata diagonally in defense and forced the space surrounding Sunny to distort, trapping her in an invisible box made of fast, whirling air. “No, Yuri unnie! I’m not going to let you kill her.”

“She’s not your partner anymore! She’s the enemy!”

“Are you listening to yourself right now? You already beat her down. What good will it do to kill her, huh?”

Yuri clenched her fists, her nails digging deep into her palms as she did so. She took in a new lungful of air and released it slowly. She needed to calm down.

“She’s already weak,” Yoona said, still trying to convince Yuri that Sunny was no longer a threat. “We can take her with us. Maybe she can talk to that guy controlling the Grimm.”

“And then what?” went Jessica’s voice from meters away.

Yoona watched as Jessica approached, now done with her fight with the dragon. It put up a good fight despite its torn wings but it didn’t stand a chance once Jessica froze the ground once more and slashed at it so hard that every strike came down with a gust of wind that pushed it off of the edge of the nearby cliff. Its panicked cries should have been enough to assure her that it was plummeting to its doom but she sent a torrent of needles down with it just to make sure. Then she headed over to where Yuri was and found Yoona defending Sunny.

“Yoong, what do you think she’s going to say to that guy? Do you think she’ll tell him to stop? ‘Cause she hasn’t even decided that for herself. Right now, she’s a threat,” Jessica said. It didn’t feel good to speak of their former teammate this way but Sunny wasn’t giving her much of a choice.

“But Sica unnie! She didn’t fight back! Didn’t you notice that? If she wanted us gone then she would’ve attacked! Or she would’ve let that dragon attack while we were still resting with Yang and Weiss! She didn’t! And it’s probably because she still cares about us.”

“Yoona…”

“No! I’m not letting you guys hurt her anymore. We’re taking her with us and that’s that! If she attacks us again then I’ll let you say ‘I told you so’ and I’ll fight her myself. Please, Sica unnie. Please.”

Jessica opened to speak but couldn’t utter a word. She felt Yuri’s hand on her shoulder a second later.

“Let her do what she wants. She said she’d take responsibility for her decision. Let’s leave it at that.”

“But Yuri—”

“Thank you, unnie,” Yoona cut in with what little courage she had left. Yuri gave her a slight smile and she took that as a sign that everything would be okay between them. She turned to Jessica next. “I know you’re worried about me as usual but please trust me. I’ll be careful. I promise.”

Jessica couldn’t say no to that no matter how much her worry for Yoona grew the longer Sunny remained with them.

So they agreed amongst themselves and set up camp. They contemplated sending a message to BoA about Sunny’s capture and later decided to put it on hold until Sunny woke up from pain-induced slumber. She deserved that at least.

HEADS UP, GUYS! We won't be posting updates for the whole month of November because we have major exams that we have to kick in the . We'll post one more this October then we'll be back by December! The story is almost over so bear with us. And, as always, thank you for the comments! :)