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With all the speed and vigor of a group of slugs, the exhausted members of team RWBY returned to their dorm room. The events of the past day having taken their toll from the group of teenagers.

"Bed!" Ruby shouted, clambering into her bunk and collapsing on top of the comforter.

"I am very close to agreeing with you." Weiss said, seating herself daintily on her bunk. "But I think it would be prudent to not fall asleep in the same clothes we've been fighting in."

"Sleep~" Ruby droned groggily.

"I can't believe Ozpin took away our summer break though." Yang groaned, sitting on her own bunk "This sucks."

"It's still better than getting expelled." Weiss countered "Also, language."

"I was looking forward to seeing dad." Ruby agreed

"Well, Patch isn't too far away. Maybe dad will miss us and come visit." Yang supplied

"I'm more upset about not being allowed to leave campus." Blake said, lying on her bed with book in hand.

"Well we technically can leave campus." Yang said with a smirk "As long as we don't get caught."

"As displeased as I am with our punishment, I'll stay on campus thank you very much." Weiss said "You and that impulsive idiot may not have a problem with skirting around Ms. Goodwitch's wrath, But I'd rather keep my record from any further trouble."

"After tonight, I don't think you'd have a perfect record anymore." Blake said playfully

"That's why I said any further trouble."

"Psh, stick in the mud." Yang chuckled

"Stick in the mud!?"

"Yeah, it's no fun if there's no risk."

"Have you ever tried doing something that doesn't put you danger?"

"No, why would I? It sounds boring."

Weiss rubbed her face. "You are as bad as that idiot."

"At least she isn't hiding anything." Ruby pouted groggily.

"Hiding anything?" Blake asked

Ruby blinked, her tired demeanor vanishing as she realized what she just admitted.

"I-I mean… nothing! Going to sleep now!"

The crimson huntress flipped over in her bed and played possum. Hoping in some vain belief her teammates wouldn't bother her.

"Ruby~" Yang continued to smirk "Is there something you want to tell us?"

"No~" Ruby said in an airy voice, attempting to emulate the sounds of sleep. "I'm sleeping~"

Yang stood from her bed, crossed the room, and reached up to her younger sister's bunk. With minimal effort and infinite care, Yang ripped her sister from her bunk and held her overhead.

"ACK!" Ruby squawked ungracefully "Yang! Put me down!"

"Not until you tell me what you're hiding!" Yang said, walking around the room while bouncing her sister up and down.

"Stop! Weiss, help!"

"Don't drag me into this." Weiss said "You're the one who said that he's hiding something."

"Oh! So you both know something?" Yang chuckled menacingly

Before Weiss could react, Yang dropped Ruby to her feet. Dipping down, the blonde brawler pulled both her sibling and the white clad huntress into a headlock.

"Ruby, you dunce!" Weiss choked out "Let me go Yang!"

"Not until you two tell the truth!"

"Blake, help!" Ruby struggled "You're our only hope!"

"I'm not getting involved in this." Blake said, continuing to lie on her bunk with her book.

"Traitor!"

"C'mon~" Yang teased "what is it?"

Ruby continued to struggle for freedom.

Weiss struggled with less success.

"Ok! Ok! I'll tell you!" Ruby finally said

With a content smile, Yang released her teammates. "So, what is it? What's the secret?"

Ruby glared at her sister, while she in turn received a glare from Weiss.

"… Six-" Ruby sighed "… might not be who we think he is."

"… ok?" Yang asked confused

"… Do you remember a few weeks ago, during the field trip to the forever fall?"

"You mean the one where Cardin wet himself?" Yang chuckled

"He didn't wet himself." Ruby corrected

"Huh?"

"… do you remember that conversation we had while collecting the sap. About how… weird, Six is?"

"Yea… guess he's a bit weirder than we thought, huh?"

"It's not just that. During the field trip, something happened."

"What?"

"When Cardin was… attacked by that Ursa, he wasn't alone. Jaune was there with him. Weiss and I don't know why, but I don't really think that matters right now."

"Ok…"

"After Jaune killed the Ursa, he said something about leaving him and his friends alone, then headed back to the clearing where we'd been told to stay."

"That's cool, I guess."

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

"But then Six showed up afterwards, Remember how he'd run off into the woods before that? I think Cardin had something to do with that."

"Ok, but what does that have to with Six hiding something?"

"It doesn't, it's just… After Jaune left, Six showed up and knocked Cardin to the ground. Then he started kicking him and threatened to shoot him if he didn't 'straighten out'."

Yang went wide eyed. Blake diverted her attention from her book at last.

"Ok, um, wow."

"But that's not just it. Before that, he said some things, about where he came from. About how he's from a 'wasteland', full of people worse than Cardin. How it'd be 'easy' for him to make it look like the Ursa killed Cardin."

"That's… actually kind of scary." Blake admitted

"But there was something else." Ruby continued "The way he talked about it, he made it seem like it wasn't the first time he'd… You know. He made it sound like whatever the 'Mojave' is, it's some sort of nightmarish wasteland."

"He also mentioned that whole 'burned man' story as well." Weiss added

"Burned what?" Blake asked, receiving no answer.

Yang stared stunned at her sister and teammate. "… So what you're saying is that Six claimed to have killed people and that he might be lying about where he's from… Why didn't you guys say something sooner?"

"… We were worried that you wouldn't be able to keep it a secret." Weiss stated

Yang gave Weiss a look.

"-and maybe not that last part." Ruby said, trying to keep the conversation on track "He never did say what kind of place the Mojave is."

"… He did though." Weiss said, realizing something

"What? When?"

"This morning, when he told us that story." Weiss continued "He seemed to change his mind about something part way through. It was small, almost unnoticeable. But the more I think about it, the more it starts to slide into place."

"So… what?" Yang asked "He wasn't just making up a story to get you to stop being all stuck up?"

"Hey!"

Ruby fell silent for a minute thinking over the things Six had said that day.

"… A wasteland, where only the worst type of people live… That does sound like the place he was describing this morning."

"Barring a better explanation of this story you keep talking about." Blake said, starting to turn her attention back to her book. "That wouldn't change the fact that it's still just a story. None of us know where the Mojave is, or what it's like. Maybe he is lying but that doesn't change the fact that we've got nothing to prove it."

"Then maybe we should start looking into it." Weiss insisted "He keeps bringing it up and dropping it like it's some great big secret. After today, I've had enough with secrets for a while. Maybe we can spend our break trying to find out the truth instead. But tonight, I want to sleep."

"I'd be careful with that." Blake said, turning a page in her book. "If you start digging into his secrets he's liable to… to…"

"Blake?" Yang asked, turning to her teammate.

Blake sat up on her bed and turned to the edge of it. She set the book on her legs and brushed her fingers over something on its pages.

"…What?" Blake asked, staring at the pages

"What is it?" Yang asked, walking to her teammate "You find something juicy in th- whoa."

Yang loomed over the book, staring down at the object of her partner's attention. Her hand landed on the page of the book and retrieved the object.

"What is it Yang?" Ruby asked, moving to get a better look

Held in Yang's hand was a sliver of paper, barely a few inches big. The team of young huntresses congregated around the slip of paper.

Around the photograph they'd discovered.

It displayed a collection of people, all dressed in odd clothing. A red haired woman in rancher wear. A dour looking man in baggy clothing. A young girl, smiling brightly in a frilly dress. A man, dressed like a mechanic, whose skin looked like melted cheese. Another man, wearing a motorcycle helmet and leather armor.

A blue giant dressed in overalls.

A dog, whose brain was exposed through a metal case.

An antiquated robot, that hovered in the air.

The picture was taken at an odd angle, as though someone had been holding it to include themselves in it. They all stood within a pristine lounge, decorated as if it were from some by-gone era.

Beyond it, viewed easily through the massive windows that encompassed the lounge, a world of desolation. Decrepit buildings and crumbling roadways. Craters and sun bleached sands.

A burned world.

The girls of team RWBY stared wordlessly at the image, certain they knew who it belonged to.

"Holy crap." Weiss said

…

I finished drying off and pulled my helmet back on. I'd had to remove my bandages so I could take a shower, but I wasn't worried about that. My wounds were all mostly clotted now and were going to be healed by tomorrow anyway. A good night's sleep and some time in the sun are the best medicine the doctor could prescribe.

Well, not really, a stimpack and a fifth of whiskey would much more appreciated. But beggars can't be choosers.

"-Police are still searching for the one bullhead that managed to escape the docks tonight, following the attempted theft of the recent dust shipment by the Schnee Dust Company. Though they're currently keeping any details under wraps." The voice on my pip-boy said "We'll keep you all up to date as we learn more."

'Bullhead? Is that what these people call those Verti-bird rejects?'

"I think it's time for some more of that chart topping sensation, Casey Lee Williams. Up next is her first major hit, and one we are all very familiar with by this point: 'This Will Be The Day'. I'm Roost Carnelian, stay tuned."

The voice cut out and an unfamiliar instrument took over the airwaves. It was unlike anything I'd ever heard before. It was metallic and angry, deep and rumbling. Like someone had amplified an acoustic guitar in the bottom of Ruby cave. Sharp and shallow drums followed it, playing in tandem with the beat of my heart and throb of my leg. The voice of a girl came in with it, steady and strong.

"They see you as small and helpless. They see you as just a child. Surprise when they find out that a warrior will soon run wild!"

I pulled my pajamas on and walked out of the bathroom. Most everybody was either on their way to bed or already asleep, so the dorm's hallways were mostly empty. For the small amount of courtesy I felt willing to afford everyone, I turned down the volume of the radio.

"Prepare for your greatest moments, prepare for your finest hour! The dream that you've always dreamed is suddenly about to flower!"

I walked down the hall to my closet.

"Weeee aaaaare Liiiiiightning! Straying from the thunder, miracles of ancient wonder!"

I walked into my closet and shut the door.

"This will be the day we've waited for, this will be the day we open up the door! I don't want to hear your absolution, hope you're ready for a revolution! Welcome to a world of new solutions, welcome to a world of bloody evolution! In time, your heart will open minds, your story will be told, and victory is in a simple soul!"

'… This music really isn't that bad, why don't we have anything like this in the Mojave?'

I took a seat on my cot and relaxed for a moment. A lot had happened today and I was ready to go to sleep. But I wanted to try and digest everything first.

"You're world needs a great defender, your world's in the way of harm. You want some romantic life, A fairy tale that's full of charm!"

Blake was a faunus. I killed nine, possibly ten, people tonight. There was very likely an organized crime syndicate of some kind outside of the White Fang planning something sinister for Vale. And I'd been outted as an idiot.

'Psh, what else is new.'

To top it all off. Ozpin still hadn't gotten me anywhere near being home yet. It was going to be close to three months since I'd gotten trapped here soon. If I didn't find a way back soon, I was liable to do something stupid. All I could do was hope the NCR hadn't stormed the place in the time since I'd been absent…

I reached for the box of supplies I kept under my cot. Amidst the cans and boxes of food, sat a litany of other items. Loose shotgun shells, bobby pins, glass bottles, and the like. The only thing missing was that picture I'd lost. The one I'd very much like to get back. Sitting on top of all that though, was the TPPT. The stupid hunk of scientific mumbo-jumbo that had gotten me into this mess.

I pulled it out and held it in my hands.

"Beware that the light is fading, beware as the dark returns. This world's unforgiving, even brilliant lights will cease to burn!"

I pulled the trigger.

"Leeeegeeeennnds Scaaaaatteeerr!"

The device beeped unpleasantly and the tube flashed red. The Error message that had been the start of my tenure in this world scrolled across it again.

"Worth a shot." I grumbled

"Day and night will sever, Hope and peace and lost forever!"

I dropped the TPPT back into the box and settled into my cot. I was finally calling today done. My everything hurt, I was tired, and I wasn't going to feel any better until the sun came up. The only solace I could take was that things couldn't get any worse than they were now. Sure, I was embroiled in some vigilante/monster hunting Brahmin shit that made zero sense to me. But at least I didn't have the troubles from back home breathing down my neck.

"Weee arrrre liiiightning! Welcome to a world of new solutions-"

As far as I was concerned, I might as well have been on vacation right now.

"This will be the day we've waited for, this will be the day we open up the door!"

I didn't have the NCR breathing down my neck, the dam wasn't crumbling around my ears, and the whole of Vegas was a world away. I didn't have to play leader right now.

"I don't want to hear your absolution, hope you're ready for a revolution."

'No remnant legionnaires, no drug addled raiders, not even the occasional rogue brotherhood regiment to contend with.'

"Welcome to a world of new solutions, welcome to a world of bloody evolution!"

I let my eyes slide shut, letting sleep slowly grip my tight.

"In time, your heart will open minds!"

'… perhaps best of all-' I thought with a smile

"Your story will be told!"

'-I don't have the Think Tank breathing down my neck.'

"And victory is in a simple soul!"

'…'

I bolted upright in my cot. I could feel a cold sweat starting to cover my body.

"Oh fffffffuck me, what happened to Dala?"