Other than the sound of Hyoyeon’s booming voice being carried over in echoes, Seohyun could barely hear what was happening at the other end of the tunnel. She tried to send another message to Taeyeon, advising her to fall back with the others, but there was no guarantee that she was still getting anything through her scouts. She dropped to the ground next to Yoona, knowing her aura was nearly depleted. She checked her scroll and it blinked in confirmation.

“Taeyeon unnie… please tell me you can hear me—”

“I’m right here, Seohyun!”

Finally, like an answered prayer, Taeyeon appeared. The others rushed over a few minutes after. Sooyoung and Hyoyeon were indeed with them. After everyone took a second to catch their breath, they explained to Seohyun and Yoona that the shorter woman and the pink pig retreated after Sooyoung and Hyoyeon joined the fight.

“Okay, wait.” Jessica held a hand up, signaling for everyone’s attention. “I thought this was only a mission for the three of us. What are you all of you guys doing here?”

“Oh please!” Taeyeon scoffed. “Did you honestly think BoA would let the three of you go without asking Seohyun and I to shadow you? And it’s a good thing she was right. What would’ve happened if we hadn’t come along?”

“Well…” Hyoyeon rolled her eyes to the side, avoiding Taeyeon’s. “They still lost even with you guys here.”

“What the hell did you say?!” Taeyeon caught Hyoyeon’s school uniform by the collar and almost shoved her against a nearby wall until Sooyoung stepped in.

“Hey, hey! When we got here, all of you were getting your asses kicked. If we hadn’t come along they wouldn’t have retreated! So let’s go after them! They’re clearly outnumbered!”

Taeyeon loosened her grip on Hyoyeon’s collar and took a step back. “Why are you guys here in the first place? Did the professor send you?”

There was no immediate answer. Sooyoung and Hyoyeon glanced at each other and then at the ground.  “Uh… we sort of hijacked an airship,” they admitted.

“YOU WHAT?!” Seohyun’s voice overlapped with Taeyeon’s as they replied in disbelief.

Sooyoung and Hyoyeon were quick to avoid explaining themselves. They drew their weapons and turned to face the direction where they last saw the shorter woman and the pink pig. “Anyway, let’s go after the real bad guys here, okay?” Sooyoung took a step forward, hoping everyone would follow.

Only Hyoyeon and Taeyeon seemed to be interested.

“I’ll pass.” Yuri’s shoulders dropped as she sighed. “Let’s go home. I’m beat.”

“Oh come on!!” Sooyoung stomped her feet in protest like a child throwing a tantrum. “We just got here!” Hyoyeon added.

“I can go with them.” Taeyeon spun a dagger in each hand then pushed them down into their respective sheaths. “I think I still have a few moves left. And if things get ugly, I can just teleport outta there.”

“We’re the ones on an official mission here.” Jessica spoke for her teammates who didn’t seem to be in the mood to argue. “None of you get a say about what to do next. Let’s just go home!”

“I agree,” Seohyun chimed in. “Everyone’s aura levels are dangerously low except for Sooyoung unnie and Hyoyeon unnie. We still won’t stand a chance at this rate.”

“But Seohyun—”

“No, Taeyeon unnie! I heard you flirting with the pink pig all throughout the fight! Are you insisting on going because you want to keep hitting on her?! I’m already very disappointed in you and if you keep insisting on going, I have no choice but to start thinking that you’re a ert!”

“Well… that’s not exactly—”

“Tsk tsk tsk…” Yuri shook her head at Taeyeon, thinking this was a good time to get back at the latter for all of her teasing. “And here I was thinking you’d be more reasonable given that you’re the eldest here. But nooooo. Here you are, seduced by the pink pig! I know her made more than a physical impression on you when she landed on your face but come on! Let’s just get out of here and recover!”

“You recover!!” Sooyoung lazily pointed her axe at Yuri. “We’ll go kick some !”

“Everyone shut up!” Yoona was finally on her feet. She wanted this conversation to end. All she could think of was going back to Beacon and forgetting that she ever went on this mission. “This was a trap!! They said so! So what do you think is gonna happen if we go after them now, huh?”

“We won’t know if we just stand here doing nothing!”

Yoona was just about ready to knock Sooyoung over along with anyone else who insisted on going with her… until Seohyun spoke up again.

“Unnies, please reconsider. If you were in our shoes you’d also want to go home and feel the tiniest bit safe rather than rush into battle. We clearly don’t know how to beat them much less cause a dent in their defense. Not to mention, the Grimm might come after us if they sensed the fight.”

“But we’re already—”

“Taeyeon unnie… please?”

Taeyeon couldn’t say no even if she tried. She nodded and that was that. Sooyoung and Hyoyeon reluctantly led the way to the airship they stole.

+

The entire trip was silent except for the humming of the airship’s engine and the occasional sighs from the passengers. When Beacon came into view, Yoona left her seat and she didn’t even wait for the hangar door to open fully before she jumped out and started making her way inside the academy.

“Is it okay if I go after her?”

Jessica and Yuri didn’t see a reason to deny Seohyun’s request.

After the rest of them got off of the airship, Professor BoA walked over to meet them. She had been waiting at the landing bay after it was reported that an airship took off without authorization.

“I’ll deal with you two later,” she told Sooyoung and Hyoyeon before she dismissed them. They walked off with their heads hung low, leaving the professor with Taeyeon and Jessica.

“Wait—Where’s Yuri?” Taeyeon searched their immediate surroundings and so did Jessica.

“Let her go for now,” BoA instructed. “She’ll deal with things in her own way.”

Jessica knew that Yuri was that kind of person, but what worried her was that ‘Yuri’s own way’ almost always involved doing something dangerous. As much as she wanted to rush after her partner, the professor needed her for the mission report.

“Is everyone alright?” BoA asked. “Physically, I mean. Judging from everyone’s demeanor I can already sense that they’re demoralized.”

It took Jessica and Taeyeon a few seconds to answer while they recalled what happened in the underground tunnel. They confirmed that the cloaked woman was indeed there and that was why their aura levels dropped quickly during the fight, and that their former classmate also made an appearance.

“I heard them say that it was a trap, professor,” Jessica added. “But other than attacking us, they didn’t appear to have any other agenda in the area.”

“And what of the White Fang?”

“It was only the two of them there. If there were any White Fang members, we didn’t run into any of them.”

“We didn’t see any, either,” Taeyeon confirmed. “The place was deserted when we were dropped off.”

Jessica tuned out for a second. She didn’t mean to. It might have been the exhaustion or the question that had been on her mind throughout the fight and during their trip back. Before she knew it, she heard herself out loud: “Professor, about Sunny’s semblance…”

The name barely made it out of . She had gotten so used to blocking it out for Yoona’s sake that she thought she had forgotten how to say it.

“Her absorption you mean. What about it?”

“How do we get past it?”

BoA’s brows met, a bit worried about where this line of questioning would lead to. “I believe the same goes for any opponent, Miss Jung. You need skill to damage her so her aura levels will drop and she won’t be able to use her semblance.”

“But that’s just it, professor!” Jessica’s clenched fists rose to chest-level without her noticing. “She just takes in everything we throw at her! It’s not that shield of hers that does the defending, either. We tried hitting her exposed parts but our attacks never reach her. Is there any other way to nullify her semblance?”

“When she runs out of aura then her semblance goes with it. It might seem that she’s not taking any damage but to absorb damage she needs her semblance. And to use her semblance she needs to expend portions of her aura. What we don’t know is how much of her aura is needed to keep using her semblance. That is, until she just runs out of it.”

Sunny was impenetrable until her aura runs out. That was what the professor was saying. That much Jessica understood. There was still one thing she had to be sure of. “What if… What if Yuri uses her semblance? Can Sunny still absorb it?”

Jessica didn’t know why but she had a feeling that she already knew the answer.

“Yes she can.”

There was little information that Taeyeon and Jessica could add to what they already reported. BoA advised them to get some rest and assured them that she would notify them should there be another lead regarding Sunny and the cloaked woman. They thanked her once more and excused themselves.

So there isn’t a way to beat her unless she lets us. But why do we have to fight her in the first place? What’s the point?

Lost in her thoughts, Jessica almost forgot that Taeyeon was with her. Curious as to why Taeyeon was so quiet, she nudged the dagger-wielder’s side. “Pink pig got your tongue?”

Taeyeon didn’t appear to understand that Jessica was joking. “Sica, I’m sorry.”

“Huh? For what?”

Taeyeon fiddled with the hem of her skirt then looked away for a second, embarrassed that she felt guilt eating away at her from the inside. “I’m sorry for being reckless during the fight. I didn’t think they would be that strong. I told Seohyun that we should stick with a hit-and-run strategy because I thought it would be a good distraction. But it didn’t work so well, did it? We were supposed to be your backup but we couldn’t do much to help. I’m sorry.”

Jessica admitted that the fight could’ve gone better if Taeyeon was less obnoxious but she knew that Taeyeon meant well. “It wasn’t all bad. You still saved Yuri from the pink pig. If you guys hadn’t come along then Yuri’s aura could’ve been drained in an instant and we wouldn’t have lasted as long as we did.”

“I know but I’m still sorry. I know how much you guys wanted to talk to Sunny. You could’ve forced some answers out of her if we managed to beat her, but that just wasn’t possible.”

Jessica’s gaze moved from Taeyeon’s toward the stretch of land and sky that was beyond the landing bay. For months, Sunny was somewhere out there while the rest of them were left here wondering why. “Honestly, part of me doesn’t want the answers anymore.”

“And the other part?”

Jessica knew the answer to that one, at least. “The other part wants to sleep forever.” She laughed and Taeyeon did too. “Anyway, I better look for Yuri and Yoona now.”

“Seohyun is with Yoona.” Taeyeon held out her scroll. “She sent me a message. They grabbed something to eat at the cafeteria. I think I’ll go join them.”

“Way to be the ing partner, Taeng.”

Taeyeon’s gasp ran so deep it sounded like an airship’s engine. “Shut up! There is nothing to ! There are no in the first place!!”

They went their separate ways after Jessica laughed once more in Taeyeon’s face and the latter mumbled profanities to herself – probably with Yoona in mind.

The dorm room was deserted when Jessica arrived. Not that she expected anything different after Yoona just stormed off and Yuri disappeared from her side without a word. She had no second thoughts about dialing Yuri’s number on her scroll. The call went through after the first ring.

“Don’t worry. I didn’t run away or anything.” It was definitely Yuri’s voice on the other line. “Where are you?”

“In our room,” Jessica answered, her eyes moving from her bed then toward Yuri’s.

“Um…  can you please say that again?”

“Huh? Didn’t you hear me? I said I’m in our room.”

“I heard you. I just wanted to hear you say it again.” For a second or two, all Jessica could hear was Yuri’s breathing. “I needed a reminder of where to come back to.”

Then it was Jessica’s turn to ‘just breathe’ through her scroll, unsure of what would be an appropriate reply. “Just get back here soon.”

She ended the call after that. She had the room to herself for the time being. She could take a shower and not worry about anyone waiting for their turn. She could sleep for as long as she wanted to without earphones on because no one would be talking. She could read a book without looking up from it because there would be nothing moving in the room to distract her. She could do all of these things one after the other.

But she just sat on the floor next to her bed and waited for someone to come back.

+

The lampposts in the courtyard lit up one by one in response to the setting sun. The shadows they cast stretched far past the cobblestone steps, far past her own shadow, and toward the benches where two familiar figures sat, waving at her to come over.

“Yuri-yah! Over here!”

Yuri waved back slightly then walked over to where Sooyoung and Hyoyeon were. She sat down in between them and slouched against the bench’s backrest.

“So… we got into trouble again,” Hyoyeon started. “Professor BoA seemed really mad this time. She hasn’t given us a form of punishment though.”

“Yeah, but that just makes it scarier!” Sooyoung popped another piece of candy in then sighed. She offered for Yuri to take some but the latter waved it off. “At least you and your team had a chance to go out and fight. We didn’t even get in on any of the action. How boring…”

“You want a fight?”

Sooyoung and Hyoyeon leaned closer to Yuri who seemed to have muttered something that they couldn’t make out.

“You want a fight?!” Yuri said once more as she stood up. Sooyoung and Hyoyeon only blinked in reply. “If you want a fight then hit me!!”

“Woah, that’s not what I meant.” Sooyoung stood up next and placed a hand on Yuri’s shoulder—

“Isn’t it? You guys wanna beat someone up so badly? Well, come and get me! I won’t even block!”

Hyoyeon stepped in next, being careful not to provoke their friend further. “Yuri, it’s not you we’re after—”

“I don’t care! If it’ll shut you guys up then you can take your frustration out on me! I can at least be of some use that way!”

Hyoyeon took a step back and gestured for Sooyoung to do the same. She drew her chained blades and prepared to strike—

“Hyo! What are you doing?!” Sooyoung rushed forward to shield Yuri from the oncoming attack but Yuri shoved her aside and gestured for Hyoyeon to take the shot.

“Let’s just beat her up like she wants us to, Soo.”

Sooyoung picked herself up from the ground, axe at the ready. “I’ll beat her up, alright! She pushed me!!”

Yuri stepped back until she was in the middle of the courtyard and waited.

Hyoyeon charged at Yuri first and brought both of her blades from her hip in an upward slash across Yuri’s torso, causing Yuri to stumble backwards but she was still standing. Sooyoung caught her from behind with the of her axe then it into her back. Yuri fell on her knees and coughed from the impact, holding herself up but only barely.

“That’s for pushing me, you idiot!”

Yuri wobbled to her side as she stood back up. Hyoyeon came at her again, this time slashing with one blade after the other. She fell once more but scrambled to get up. She was barely on her feet when Sooyoung swung her axe from underneath and swept her off, flinging her a few feet above the ground before she fell on her back.

“I think that’ll do—”

But Yuri wasn’t done. She rolled on her side then propped herself up on one knee and then the other until she was on her feet again, although now staggering as she returned to the middle of the courtyard to await another attack.

“It’s okay to stay down, Yuri-yah.”

“I’ll stay down when you knock me down!!”

“But—”

Hyoyeon patted Sooyoung’s back and shrugged. “All we can do is knock her down then. You know how stubborn she gets. She won’t listen.”

Sighing, Sooyoung gripped her axe and got ready to charge. Hyoyeon went on ahead and brought her blades together into its claw form. She hurled it toward Yuri and it latched onto the latter’s leg. Hyoyeon pulled and Yuri fell over. She broke into a sprint as she pulled, dragging Yuri from the middle of the courtyard and toward the trajectory of Sooyoung’s charged attack. When they finally met, the length of the axe’s handle collided with Yuri’s abdomen and the chain from Hyoyeon’s weapon wound around the same spot tighter than she intended. Yuri gasped for breath but didn’t cry out. Hyoyeon pushed her down and, with the chain restraining her movement, she couldn’t stand back up.

“There. Now that that’s done…” Sooyoung swung her axe over her shoulder and caught her breath. “Who wants dinner?”

+

Jessica fell asleep while waiting for Yuri in their room. When she opened her eyes she half-expected to see Yuri staring back at her.

But she was still alone.

When she checked her scroll there were no messages or missed calls. She thought of calling Yuri again and even Yoona but she figured she should give them some space. She made her way to the cafeteria instead and ordered herself some noodles. She was sipping the soup out of the bowl when the cafeteria doors opened and in stumbled three females who obviously got into a fight.

“There you are!” She rushed to Yuri’s side and helped her walk to where she was sitting. Sooyoung and Hyoyeon followed. “Oh my—What happened to the three of you?!”

Hyoyeon pressed a finger to her right temple. “Why don’t you ask your puppy partner what happened?”

Jessica turned to Yuri who was slumped over the table, her hair covering her face. She tucked a few strands behind Yuri’s ear and ran the back of her finger down the now-exposed cheek. “What happened to you?”

Yuri’s eyes fluttered open as if waking up from a nap. She let out a few coughs before answering. “We were just talking about what happened earlier and then—”

“Then this monkey asked for a fight to blow off some steam!” Sooyoung threw a piece of candy at Yuri’s face but she missed on purpose.

“Tsk.” Jessica threw Yuri a glare – one that looked enchanted with ice, if that was even possible. “We’ll talk about it when we get back to our room.”

“Oooooh!” went a mocking sound from Hyoyeon. “Seems like they’ll be blowing off some steam later by ‘talking.’” She added the air quotes, of course.

Sooyoung caught the joke and decided to add to it. “I know right! I guess we better leave them alone now so they can start ‘talking’ in their room.” She added the air quotes, too, and a loud snicker.

“What the hell?” Jessica raised an eyebrow at the two. “Stop putting words in my mouth! I’m warning you!”

“Why? Would you rather have something else in your mouth, Sica?”

“What does that even mean?! Shut up!”

“Guys…” went a strained mumble from Yuri. “Stop it. Or else you’ll regret it later.”

It was either Sooyoung and Hyoyeon didn’t hear Yuri or they had a death wish.

“Hm… I wonder what else they do inside their room whenever Yoona’s not around,” Hyoyeon continued her conversation with Sooyoung, pretending Yuri and Jessica weren’t nearby. “You know… besides ‘talking.’”

“I dunno, Hyo. Maybe more oral activities?”

The two laughed at their own jokes, exchanging high fives—

And they were stuck that way after Jessica froze them in place.

“There. You two can stay here and we’ll go back to our room now. Bye.”

Jessica helped Yuri stand and wrapped an arm around her shoulders from behind. They left for their room with Yuri thinking all the while: I can’t believe I’m best friends with those idiots!

+

Meanwhile, down another hallway at the opposite side of the academy, two figures paused from what felt like days of endless walking. The silver glow of the early evening moon reached their feet through an open window.

“Leave me alone.”

“Do you want to be alone?”

Yoona didn’t know what she wanted at the moment. She would tell herself one thing and then deny it seconds after. I want Sunny unnie to come back, she’d often think. But after today she didn’t know. “If I was alone, there would be no one to betray me. I’m sick of feeling like I’ve been abandoned.” She shifted to her side then started walking again. Seohyun followed.

“Why are you still following me, Seohyun?”

“Because you want someone to follow you,” Seohyun said bluntly. “Don’t you?”

Yoona paused once more then stared at her feet.

“But I’ll leave if you want me to leave.”

Yoona lifted her gaze although with a bit of reservation. She met Seohyun’s eyes anyway. “Do you want to leave?”

“No, I don’t,” Seohyun answered.

The moonlight had followed them here, bringing with it the stillness of the evening that enveloped them and stole their ability to speak. Yoona could only sigh. Seohyun didn’t move save for her eyes which danced around Yoona’s, impatient for a response.

“You can be a stubborn one, too, huh?”

It wasn’t quite the reply that Seohyun hoped for. She could tell that Yoona was avoiding the real talk. And that’s what she felt she was here to fix. “It’s just that, deep inside, I know that no one wants to be alone.”

“Even though that’s true, there are times when I feel the need to be alone just so I can hear myself think.”

“I understand. Just know that I will agree to distance myself from you in terms of physical space, but I will never leave you alone. I hope you understand that there’s a difference.”

Without a word, Yoona watched Seohyun ‘distance herself in terms of physical space’ from where they stood and she finally had enough strength to smile. She’s probably the only one who can make something nerdy like that sound almost-sweet.

Note: we exchanged Jongkook's character with Hyun Bin. The previous chapters have been edited to reflect this change. Jongkook is still in this fic but as a different character from RWBY. :)

Also, sorry for the delayed update. We'll make up for it by posting another chapter the day after this one.