Indeed it was, in fact, the best kind of movie.

At least I thought it was anyway. Weiss seemed displeased by the whole thing, but that's par for the course. It lasted about two hours and was something I was going to remember for the rest of my life. After the reel ran out we left the theater and meandered over to a restaurant called a 'Pizzeria'. I didn't bother trying to make a run for it this time. At this point Yang had basically made it clear I was either going to make it up to Ruby or get the shaft.

So we went to eat.

We stumbled across one at a street corner. A small brick building rimmed with windows and neon lights. We'd gone in, sat at a round wood table, and placed an order. Before they got the food to us they delivered a drink order. Though they didn't serve alcohol, not that they'd let us buy anyway, there were at least a few other beverages on tap. They also didn't serve sarsaparilla apparently, but it didn't matter too much. I wasn't going to be eating or drinking anyway. Though I was liable to regret this decision given the array of delectable scents that wafted through the filters of my gas mask.

As we waited for the pizza, we had a chance to discuss the movie.

"That… wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be." Weiss admitted sheepishly

"It was better than I was expecting." Blake agreed "I still want to see the Scroll though"

"We'll see it next time." Ruby said with a nod "so far, I'd say this has been a success."

I nodded in agreement with this. I wasn't saying it but I literally loved every second of it. If old world movies were anything like that I needed to track down any remaining reels ASAP.

"What'd you think Six?" Ruby asked

"I think it's one of the greatest things I've ever seen." I say absent mindedly

"I wouldn't go that far." Yang said "It was kinda cheesy."

"Really, you thought it was cheesy?" Weiss asked skeptically "You were the one that wanted to see it."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I thought it was perfect."

"Perfection is based on taste." I continue without thinking "When you've got no prior example even something mediocre can leave an impact."

"So, what, you've never seen a movie before?" Weiss asked

"Nope, not much room for movies out in the Mojav- Frontier."

At the last second I caught myself before I said something that might put me in a less ideal situation. I needed to bury my current star-struck mindset if I was going to avoid further trouble. The four girls looked at me strangely as I silently hoped none of them noticed my slip-up.

"The Mojav frontier?" Ruby asked in confusion.

'Not good, not good.'

"J-just the frontier." I say, carefully trying to backpedal without them noticing. "The Mojav is just something from my area."

"Oh, well where would that be?" Ruby continued curiously "The frontier's pretty big."

'shit, shit, Don't say west. Don't say west. Don't say-'

"To the east a ways."

'Idiot! That's not any better!'

"Ok… where?"

'… ok, need to think of a plan, this is going worse than when Ozpin and I had that chat… wait, that's it!'

"Y'see, the thing is… I couldn't tell you, sorry."

The four girls looked at me, unamused.

"Hey, it's not like I don't want to, but the truth is I really don't know."

"How could you not know where you're from?" Weiss asked

"Because my parents were a couple of idiot loners who kept me stuck in the mountains."

The girls were now much more interested in what I had to say, it at least seemed like I was telling them the truth. Which was what I needed right now.

"My parents kept me cooped up in this small compound they'd built." I continued my lie. "They home schooled me, made sure I at least knew a few basics. Didn't bother teaching me how to read a map though."

"Mhmm" Ruby continued, confused

"After a while, I got tired of being stuck in the mountains. So I packed a bag and decided to take a walk."

"Just like that?" Weiss asked

"Yes, just like that." I say "Anyway, I start walking and keep walking for a while. After a few days, I realized I had no idea where I was and had no clue where my home was."

A look of worry suddenly washed over each of the girls. They seemed to be guessing where my lie was heading.

"So, I kept walking. I figured eventually I'd find something that could point me the right way… never did, so I just kept wandering."

"… is that what you meant?" Ruby asked

"What do you mean?"

"When I met you with Jaune the day before initiation, you said you traveled a lot. Are you still looking?"

'She's buying into it, sorry Ruby.'

"Nah, I stopped looking a while ago. Figured If I ever found my way home it'd happen. Just been traveling since then."

"What about combat school?" Weiss asked "You couldn't have gotten into Beacon without it."

'-and there's the kicker, gotta say something believable.'

"Well… I'm something of an odd case. I jumped around to a number of them while I was traveling. You know, get a roof over my head for a while and keep learning. Every time I moved on I'd just take some records with me and fill in the blanks wherever I wound up next."

The girls all looked a bit sad now. With the power of one, shakily, constructed lie I'd managed to ruin the night's entire mood. Wonderful.

"I-I'm sorry Six." Ruby said

"Don't be." I say, trying to carefully move topics away from my lie now. "Honestly it hasn't been all bad, I've gotten to see a bit of the world at least, even got to cross an ocean."

'… wait, why did I add that last part?... screw it, too late to go back now.'

"Ocean?" Blake asked, finally speaking up.

"Yeah, I'm very lost. But I figured If I'd gone this far might as well keep going."

"So where would you be from then? Mistral?"

'That's an out, I'll have to remember it for later but I'm taking it.'

"Probably, though I don't really know for sure. I never bothered remembering too many of the names."

"What about that thing on your arm?" Yang asked

"What about it?"

"You said it has a map built into it, why don't you use that?"

'… oh crap, I forgot she knew that now.'

"I- I didn't have it when I left home. This thing will make markers for towns and cities if I find them, but only if I have it with me or have a map of the area."

"Yeah but that doesn't mean you wouldn't know the names of the cities you've been to, wouldn't it-"

"Sorry for the wait." A server interrupted, placing what I assume were the pizzas on the table. "Enjoy."

Before Yang could finish that line of thought, our food finally arrived. Two large circles of flatbread smeared with a red sauce, cheese, and coated with various toppings. Small red discs of meat, small fish, gray mushrooms, and chunks of pepper dotted the pizzas.

The girls shifted their attention to the pizzas and I took advantage, it was time to put this conversation to bed.

"Look, we're not here to talk about my past. We're here to have a good time. Let's just eat, it's my treat after all."

The girls looked at me for a moment then back to the pizza before finally letting the topic go for now. I was going to have to watch myself from here out. I'd just weaved a very complicated lie that I knew was going to bite me if wasn't careful.

Then a thought occurred to me. This was perhaps the longest length of time I'd actually spent with my present companions. Back during the first night I'd pretty much left the first chance I got and settled into my closet. I only really spent time with the four of them when I didn't have a choice, like classes. This was probably the longest stretch I'd been with them even semi-willingly. Perhaps their curiosity was stemming from the fact that they really didn't know much about me.

"Soooo…" Yang said, apparently picking up what I was thinking. "Different question: Is Six your real name?"

"… 'Closest to one I got to one, yea."

"That's… cool?"

'Ah, wonderful. The return of small talk. Just what was missing from my day. Beats complicated lies I guess.'

"…What's with the weird mask?" Yang continued.

"Yang!" Ruby squeaked.

I fixed the blonde with a look. Well, that was blunt like a supersledge to the shin. Clearly tact was a word missing from her vocabulary. Even after a conversation like the one we'd just had. Fortunately for her, Foot in mouth syndrome is my specialty. Time to teach a lesson.

"It hides my horns." I say with a raspy growl.

All of their eyes go wide and silence returns to the table. Not sure why but they all got very rigid at my jab. Ruby's face paled, a flare of anger shot through Weiss's eyes, Yang looked like she just stepped on a bottle cap mine, and Blake just kinda stared with her mouth open. Though for some reason her bow seemed a bit… perkier, maybe?

"…R-really?" Yang asked uneasily.

"Oh Yeah. It also helps to hide my glowing red eyes and scaley skin. Not to mention the wonders it does for my forked tongue and fire bre-"

Ruby hocked a balled up napkin at my head. I couldn't help but smirk a little at that reaction.

"That's not funny Six." Ruby pouted

"Mmm." I rolled my eyes.

"It's not." Blake reiterated in a very heated tone.

I looked at the girl in black and could tell by the look in her eyes she hadn't liked my joke. You'd think I just insulted her or something.

"… does it matter?" I ask shifting topics back to my helmet. "It's nowhere near as odd as the stuff you ladies are wearing."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Weiss scoffed

"Not much, Ms. Petticoat. Though I must say, those wedges are to die for."

I heard Ruby snickering and turned my attention to her. "Oh don't even get me started on you, tiny."

"Me!?" Ruby asked

"Yes, you. A miniskirt and cape? What are you, some kind of teenage superhero?"

"Hey, leave my sister out of this!" Yang cut back in.

"Oh don't think I've forgotten about you." I turned to Yang "You're probably the worst offender here!"

"Oh really?" Yang said with a challenging smirk.

"Yea, you're dressed in Booty shorts and a friggin' corset!"

Yang looked down at herself and adjusted her top slightly. "What's your point?"

I stare at her for a moment. "… Do your parents know you go out dressed like that?"

"Ok, you know what?" Ruby said, trying to quickly defuse the bomb I was probably making "Can we just enjoy dinner? Please?"

"… Y'know what? I've got a question for you two." Ignoring Ruby's request. "If you two are sisters, why do you look like polar opposites?"

The look Yang gave me made it clear I definitely just armed that bomb Ruby had been trying to stop. She opened her mouth to say something, but never got the chance. Whatever she was planning to say was cut off as the wail of police sirens pierced the walls of the restaurant. Peering through a window, we watched as police car screeched around a corner, raced past the restaurant, and careened around another corner out of sight.

"… So I guess dinner is over?" I ask, getting this sinking feeling in my gut.

The only response I got was as my team's fearless leader bolted from her seat, a slice of pizza dangling out her mouth. She dashed out the door and after the cop car.

"Wonderful" the rest of the team took off after Ruby as I remained at table. One of the servers noticed this and approached me. "Check, please?"

…

Our server was kind enough to box up the remaining pizza for us. I left them a nice tip and followed after my teammates. It wasn't too hard, there were at least two other cop cars chasing after the first one. All I had to do was follow the sirens. It took me a few minutes but I found them. They were sitting out front of a store. The windows were blown out, the doors were ripped off the hinges, and the place looked like it was given a good whack with the ugly stick. Dozens of police were cordoning off the area, I found the girls standing near the yellow and black ticker tape. I approached, two cardboard boxes filled with pizza in hand. The girls took note of my presence as a pair of men wheeled a sheet covered body out on a stretcher. Obvious bloodstains dotted the otherwise pale sheet as the stretcher was loaded into an ambulance. The entire scene looked like a massacre. There were other bodies being loaded up and the whole place looked like something out of an Omerta 'house party'. It looked like a fiend had mixed psycho and slasher before deciding to try knocking over the Thorn. Trying and failing, that is.

The one body that hadn't been covered up yet was dressed in a black suit with a red tie, sunglasses, and a hat. There was giant hole in his chest, like someone had blasted him point blank with a shotgun. He looked like some dumb thug the Omertas would've hired. Given he was holding some sort of cleaver in his hand my guess about what happened probably wasn't too far off.

I began to hear murmurs from the crowd that was gathering around us.

"Another robbery."

"Looks like the morgue is gonna be full tonight."

"They blew the dust up"

"There are so many dead bodies."

"Do you think it was the white fang?"

"Fucking Faunus, they should just go back to Menagerie!"

"Fucking animals."

"They should've just taken the money."

"This used to be a safe neighborhood."

"Who's going to be next?"

"We should just kill them and be done with it."

'...Yikes' I might not have a lot of perspective about this world, but what these people had to say wasn't painting it in a very good light.

"This is horrible." Ruby said, surveying the carnage, visibly upset. "Who could've done something like this?"

"It probably was the White Fang." Weiss answered, looking over the scene angrily. "Something like this would probably be second nature to criminals like them."

"It wasn't them" Blake spoke up "Look at the guy in the suit, I get the feeling he wasn't some bystander in this."

"For all we know they could've hired someone to do it." Weiss seemed to be getting angrier the longer we lingered on the topic of this 'White Fang'. "They're nothing but a bunch of thieves and murderers anyway."

"The White Fang didn't do this." Blake said, growing equally heated. "They wouldn't resort to working with criminals for something like this."

"Guys, Guys!" Ruby said, trying to de-escalate the situation. "Does it matter who did it right now? They could still be nearby and we should do something."

"You can do something." Blake growled angrily. "I think I've had enough for tonight."

With that, Blake turned and began to walk away. To where I do not know, but she clearly wanted to be any place but here. In an instant she'd vanished amongst the crowd.

"Blake, hold on a second-" Yang said, following after her partner. Soon she'd disappeared into the crowd as well.

"I'm going back to beacon." Weiss huffed angrily. "Tonight's been nothing but a mess."

'You weren't saying that fifteen minutes ago.'

Ruby tried to stop Weiss as she walked away, but the little girl in red held no sway over he partner. Now it was just me and her standing at the crime scene, holding bags of clothing and pizza.

"What about you Six?" she said, clearly hoping I'd side with her

"Sorry Ruby, not gonna happen." I say motioning to the items I was carrying. "My hands are full, plus I'm unarmed right now. I don't know about you, but chasing after armed robbers with just a few boxes of pizza and bags of clothes doesn't seem like a good idea."

"Oh, ok." Ruby was crestfallen, the last person who might be willing to help right now having turned her down. "I guess tonight was a bit of a failure."

"Meh, only at the end there. Things seemed to be going good otherwise."

"You think so?"

"Yeah, I mean you did manage to corral all of us together. It at least looks like you took some of the advice I gave you."

"I tried" she said with a sheepish smile "Guess it didn't really work out though."

"I wouldn't say that." I began to walk away from the crowd with Ruby "You can't expect everything to work out on the first try anyway."

"… You're right." Ruby said, her confidence clearly not as bruised as she'd made it seem. "There's always next time."

"Indeed, assuming these robberies kee-"

Before I could finish that sentence there was a low grinding sound. One I recognized almost instantly. I wasn't the only one to hear it either, considering Ruby looked at me in confusion.

"What was that?"

"… hold this for a sec, would ya?"

I handed the pizza off to Ruby and looked at the screen of my pip-boy. Flicking over to the data screen re-instated the sinking feeling I'd had in my gut. At the top of the 'quest' section was a new heading.

When The Dust Settles

- Investigate the robberies occurring around Vale.

'… Should've figured this thing would try and rope me into I trouble eventually.'

"Everything ok Six?" Ruby asked

"Uh, yeah, just needed to check something that came up. Nothing big."

I clicked off of the data section and took the pizza back from Ruby. We continued down the street, not quite sure what else to do with our night now.

'I'm not getting wrapped up in this. Especially not right now… meh, I'm sure I'll forget about it and remember again in two months anyway.'

…

The rest of our weekend was pretty uneventful. After returning to Beacon I kept to myself, as per usual. I looked over the few assignments the instructors had handed out, but not knowing how to answer questions written in a foreign language made it pointless. So I bid my time the way any other wastelander would. I explored most every part of the school grounds I had access to. There were a few places I technically wasn't allowed in, but that was only a matter of time. After that got boring I did a few short rounds of P.T.. I've done some Intensive Training in the past, tried to make myself as fit as I could after my stint in the dirt. I feel like I could do more if I pushed, now especially if youth was actually on my side. But I didn't quite have the drive for it yet. I got the distinct impression, however, it would be something I picked up with time.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

After I finished that I caught up on some reading. I'd had a collection of old world books that weren't completely ruined and somewhat legible. I always kept one or two on hand in case I got bored of caravan while traveling. The rest were back at the 38.

Overall, my weekend was quiet. It continued that way through most of the week too. I took notes, tried to retain my sanity, and even took a 'test' Port had planned. It was easy, all I had to do was draw dots on a piece of paper. If that is what this world considered a challenge, then they seriously needed to up their standards. This place was quiet compared to the Mojave. Too quiet, almost.

I'm used to spending days running around, solving problems and fighting irradiated mutant freaks of nature or Gecko shit crazy humans. This place is nothing but paper pushing and doing what you're told. It was like work but without the paycheck.

Presently, I was sitting in Port's class. It's been a few days since we'd taken the test and we were in the middle of…

"-With a mighty leap I closed the distance between myself and the Nevermore, severing its head in one fell swing, Ha ha!"

… Another riveting tale.

Mercifully, class was almost over. Just needed to wait a few more minutes, then I could go about the rest of my afternoon. Port began to wrap up his tale and returned to his desk.

"As I was saying, it is important to know one's shortcomings and when it is time to ask for help." He grabbed a small stack of papers and began to hand them out. "Though you may believe you can do everything, you all still have much to learn."

The papers trickled around the room. I could hear some people murmuring happily while others were… less enthusiastic. I don't know how you could fail a test that was just filling in dots, but apparently people did it. The papers reached my team and If the faces my teammates made were anything to go by, they were at least pleased by how they'd done. Being unable to read the language, I had no clue how I'd done.

"With that, I shall see you next class. Remember, stay vigilant!"

The students began to disperse from the room. I collected my stuff and began to file out with team RWBY. Team JNPR joined us as we walked out the door.

"What'd you guys get?" Ruby asked

"I got a seventy five" Jaune answered nonchalantly

"Eighty Six" Ren added in his usual fashion.

"Sixty six" Nora answered proudly

"Ninety five" Pyrrha said with a small smile.

"I told you it wasn't going to be simple" Weiss said with just a trace hint of satisfaction.

"What about you guys?" Jaune asked

"Ninety eight." Weiss said with a triumphant smile

"Seventy Seven" Yang answered in satisfaction

"A hundred." Blake answered in slight disinterest. Earning a small glare from Weiss.

"… Sixty five" Ruby answered softly. No sooner had the words left her mouth than Weiss shifted her gaze to the tiny girl in red. An unsurprised and nonplussed look on her face. "… heh heh, sorry."

Weiss sighed, it seemed she was trying to keep good on her promise to give Ruby some slack. "Please try and do better Ruby."

"Cut her some slack snowflake." I say "It was the first test, this is the part where you work the kinks out."

'Hopefully anyway.'

"Oh? Then what did you get?"

"Me? Well…" I carefully began tucking my test out of sight. I didn't know what was on it, and had no intention of letting them find out. "… I did alright, I guess."

"Aw, don't be like that Six." Yang said, getting a little too close for comfort. "So what if you did bad? You can tell us."

"I did fine. It's none of your business regardless." I tried to put some space between me and the blonde.

"We're just curious, besides-" Yang peeled away from me and revealed a small set of papers. "It's only fair." She gave a small smirk.

I looked at the paper she'd just snatched from me and patted the pocket I'd put my test in. It was gone.

'What sadist taught this girl how to pick pocket?'

She flipped the test around and began to examine it. The smirk that was on her face melted away as she scanned the page.

"Oh… wow."

I moved to try and get the test away from her but she slipped away from me. She rejoined the rest of Team RWBY and JNPR and everyone else got similar surprised looks on their faces.

Weiss's then promptly morphed into a look of annoyance.

"HOW!? How did you manage to get a zero!?"

'Oh, I did that bad'

"I- uh… got a few wrong?" I ventured

"A few!? It was a multiple choice test! You had a one in four chance of getting any of them right!"

'Ah, there's the bad luck, wondered where that went.'

Before anyone else acted, Weiss grabbed my arm and attempted to drag me down the hallway. I say attempted because the moment she went to pull she practically flopped onto her back because physics was not on her side.

"Uh, what're you doing?" I ask, still playing anchor

"Taking you to the library." Weiss said, still failing to pull me forward. "You need to study, because I am not letting your grades affect mine."

"… That works how exactly?"

"Teams get an averaged out grade to re-enforce teamwork." Blake said, still examining my test "It makes sure we actually work together even if we don't want to."

"I can handle Ruby barely passing, But I'm not standing for this." Weiss said, still struggling "You're going to the library and studying now."

"Uh… yeah, nah, I'm good."

I continue to stand like a statue as Weiss begins to tire of trying to move me.

"… Going to the library to study doesn't sound like such a bad idea, actually." Ruby said "I think it would help all of us."

'Except Blake'

"Do you mind if we join you?" Pyrrha asked, stepping up for Jaune. "I believe we could benefit from this as well."

"Of course." Ruby smiled

"-With that, I bid you all adieu." I say, finally having enough.

I turn and begin walking the other way, dragging Weiss behind me as she continued to fail.

"Aw, c'mon Six, It'll be fun! It'll be like a team bu-"

At the mention of the word team I immediately began pulling harder, prepared to sprint away again. Unfortunately, my current bit of dead weight slowed me down. So much so, that before I could even put five feet between me and the group Yang turned and socked me in the gut as hard as she could.

She hit hard.

I promptly stopped moving and buckled to a knee.

"-ilding exercise." Ruby finished, a smirk on her face.

"… Yeah …ok." I wheezed

'Don't try same tactics twice. Got it.'

…

I haven't been to many libraries. Mojave didn't have too many that were still intact. Quite frankly, I don't know how many it actually had pre-war, given the nature of Vegas. The only real place of learning I can recall was the school house in Goodsprings. That place certainly didn't have a library either. The only places that were close to having libraries were the Follower's fort and the Brotherhood bunker. Even then the Followers' was just barely a ten by ten concrete cube and the Brotherhood had everything digitized.

But this place's archives made them both pale in comparison.

It was a pretty ridiculously sized room, had to be close to over a hundred feet in length. The Ceiling was easily arched half that distance over our heads. The shelves and racks of books were so huge they needed a second floor just so people could easily access them. Small study tables dotted the expanse of the room and the smells of worn paper and ink filled the air.

My companions and I took a few tables in a corner of the second floor. The place was relatively quiet, relatively because such a large room had a nasty tendency to create echoes. None them so loud as to be distracting, but still notable. The table we were seated at was piled high with books and papers. Yang and Blake were playing a board game while Pyrrha, Ren, and Jaune were looking over some books. I sat next to Ruby and Nora as Weiss stood across the table from us, reading from a book. There were a set of sheets in front of the three of us. A 'pop-quiz' Weiss wanted us to fill out as she literally read the answers off in front of us. Ruby didn't have any trouble with it, ticking off answers as Weiss spouted them. Nora was furiously scribbling on her sheets, I don't think most of it was for the answers. I, on the other hand, just stared vacantly down at the sheet. I listened to what she was saying and made mental notes of seemingly important information.

"Aside from its softened underbelly." Weiss concluded "The boarbatusk is known for its simplistic attack patterns and unarmored sides. It'll sooner charge you and retreat, rather than wait and continue its assault."

She closed her book and looked at the three of us. We slid our sheets forward. She looked over them with a keen eye. She must've seen Ruby's first because she seemed pleasantly surprised. Then she saw Nora's and her expression sank a little bit. Something told me Nora wasn't the greatest artist. Then she flipped to the last sheet, glanced at it, and glared at me.

Something told me she was looking at mine now.

"You have got to be kidding." She sighed in annoyance. "Are you even trying?"

"Totally, I just wrote my answers in disappearing ink."

"… I gave you the answers and you couldn't be bothered to actually answer the questions."

"I'm sorry teach, maybe you ought to try again." I teased "this time I'll draw you a pretty picture to go with it."

"Six, please be serious." Ruby asked "Weiss is only trying to help."

"Yeah, I know Ruby, but I don't think having someone spew answers at me rapid fire is going to help me learn any faster."

'Need an example? Try Oobleck, the guy speaks so fast I haven't even bothered taking notes. Which makes not being able to read even worse.'

"You refusing to answer any of the questions isn't going to help you learn at all!" Weiss almost shouted. She was promptly shushed by everyone else present.

"Well excuse me, snowflake. But you rattling off information isn't going to help either. Hell, I already knew most of what you were spouting anyway."

"Language,-" Weiss insisted "-and if that were the case, you wouldn't have gotten a flat zero on the exam."

"Oh really? You sure about that?" I asked, feeling a little agitated

"Yes." Weiss said, now getting snippy

"Alright, ask a question then."

"I did, the entire sheet-"

"I mean actually ask me a question."

Weiss stopped for a moment and looked at me strange. In my peripherals I noticed that our little argument had started to attract the others' attention as well.

"… An elder Beringel has a bite strength of?"

"Thirteen hundred psi, plus an additional grip and grappling strength of over eighteen hundred pounds."

"How fast is the average beowulf?"

"The average Beowulf is capable of cantering at just under fifteen miles an hour, and maintaining it for extended periods with no notable loss in stamina."

"What was the size of the largest recorded Ursa?"

"Trick question: Ursai are not native to any particular region, with various hunters claiming to have encountered the 'largest' Ursa."

Weiss stopped asking questions and looked at me, confused. I got similar looks from everyone else present.

"… Those were the first three questions on the exam and you answered them perfectly."

"Hard to believe, huh? That I'm not an idiot."

"Then why did you fail!?" Weiss shouted angrily

She was shushed once more.

"… I'm a bad test taker." I answer lamely "I don't always do well under pressure."

"But what I gave you before wasn't a test. It was a study guide." Weiss said irritably. "You were supposed to fill it out so you could look it over later."

"Oh…"

Weiss looked at me strange. Her eyes a mixture of confusion and scrutiny as she tried to figure out if I was just screwing with her. To be fair, I only half was. Not being able to read was biting me in the ass again. Though I was getting uncomfortable with everybody looking at me.

"… If you already know the answers, why don't you help us with homework?" Nora asked suddenly

"Huh?"

"Yea!" Ruby said in agreement. She pulled out a sheet of paper with blank lines and what I assume were questions on it.

"I thought we were studying?" Weiss asked in agitation.

"We're doing homework, it's technically the same thing."

"What's the answer to the first question?" Nora asked excitedly, probably happy to have an easy out for homework.

"Uhh…" I answered, staring down at the sheet of paper.

'… welp, they've got me in a box now. Shit.'

I sat there for a second, quickly scanning the line of alien symbols and hoping by some miracle they'd magically translate into English. Unfortunately, I'm not that lucky.

"Everything ok Six?" Ruby asked

"Y-yea"

'ok, think, there's got to be an easy solution out of this. Don't panic. The answer is… is… 42?... No, that's just fucking stupid. This is biology, not math.'

I sat there for a small stretch of time. Trying to come up with an answer.

"Uh… Nevermore have a flight speed of 15 knots?" I venture

Ruby and Nora looked at me confused.

"Six this is a question about the toxicity of deathstalker venom." Ruby said, giving me a questioning look

"Oh… deathstalker venom contains a sodium based neurotoxin compound that becomes less effective as the beast matures. Which is balanced by the creature's massive size increases."

"Ok…" Ruby scribbled that down on to the paper. "… Why did you answer for a Nevermore before?"

"I was- uh- looking at the next question down." I said

"That one's about the common deathstalker habitats…"

"… I meant the next one dow-"

"Six, this entire assignment is about deathstalkers."

"Ah… well, guess it was just a slip of the mind?" I offered meakly.

Everyone present at the table was now looking at me strange and it was making me uncomfortable.

"… Y'know what? I'm gonna go for a walk."

I started to rise from the table and pull away from the group. They made no motions to stop me, thankfully, but they did seem to watch me as I went my own way. As soon as I broke line of sight I booked it downstairs and hid myself among the bookshelves. My eyes scanned the book spines through the tint of my gas mask. There was nary an English word to be found in my current standing. Which was infinitely frustrating, considering I knew full well English was in this world somewhere.

With a frustrated sigh, I pulled a leather bound book from the shelves and opened it. The format seemed similar enough to most Old World reading. But there was nothing else recognizable about it.

'Maybe I can ask whoever runs this place if they have anything for English?... no, that might not work. I don't even know if it's called English here. For all I know it could be called something stupid like Beaconese… or French.'

…

The study session passed without further incident once the courier had left the teens to themselves. Nora and Ruby made decent strides in their studies, despite their hyperactive nature.

Having grown weary of studying though, the two team's study session began to devolve into a session of 'who can cheat better than the rest at Lienopoly'.

"No fair." Ruby pouted as Weiss claimed another of her properties. "You've totally been double dipping from the bank."

"I most certainly have not." Weiss defended "I just know better than to buy property before utilities."

"Yeah, I'm sure all those hours of home tutoring taught you how to be the best at board games." Yang said with a grimace.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Weiss then promptly bought out Yang's last remaining property. "And, you're out."

"Ugh, no fair! I want back in!"

"Sorry." Weiss said with an icy grin "That's the way the game goes."

"Tch, this blows. I'm going back to the room." Yang grumbled, getting up from the table.

The blonde brawler stalked away from the table in a huff. Her smaller crimson sister soon joined her.

"I think we've all had enough of this game for now. How about we go play some videogames or something? We've got a little while longer before dinner starts anyway."

"Hmm, I suppose that's alright." Weiss agreed, packing the malefic board game away.

"Good." Yang said with an aggressive smirk "I'm going to mop the floor with you in Lethal Insight"

"You guys want to join us?" Ruby asked the other team

"You bet!" Nora near shouted "I'm sick of books! C'mon Ren!"

Before the stoic boy could voice an opinion, Nora grabbed him by the collar and took off after Yang. Jaune, with slightly less enthusiasm, rose from his seat and followed after them. Rubbing his neck in embarrassment.

"I will be along shortly." Pyrrha said with a warm smile. "I just need to make sure these books are returned first."

Ruby gave a nod and looked to her remaining teammate, who lingered silently at the table.

"You coming Blake?"

"I think I'll stay here." Blake said, nose buried into an almost finished book. "I'm planning to keep studying and pick up another book. I'll see you at dinner."

"Ok then…"

Ruby gave a small wave and hurried after her sister. Soon only the flame haired warrior and the ebony haired recluse remained. Pyrrha piled the various leather bound tomes and assorted texts into piles to carry back. She could've asked for their assistance, but knew it wasn't needed. The number of books they'd needed wasn't substantial enough, in her mind, to warrant it. Blake thumbed through the few remaining pages of her book. She was speed reading at this point, more just finalizing the detail in her mind. She'd already read through the book twice prior by this point and was ready to move in search of something new.

In near synchrony, Blake flipped the book closed as Pyrrha collected the last text. Blake rose from the table and began moving towards the stairs. Before doing so, however, she took note of the piles of books that were left behind. Pyrrha looked at them and gave a nervous chuckle, she'd over estimated just how many they'd used.

"Would you like a hand?" Blake asked, eyeing the stacks.

"Yes, it would be appreciated." Pyrrha chuckled.

Dividing the books amongst themselves, the two huntresses carried the various books back to the return bin.

"Did you get to finish your book?" Pyrrha asked

"Yea, I'd actually finished it a few days ago and was just re-reading it. It was pretty good."

Ah, I see. What was it about?"

"… It was about a man with two souls, each one fighting for control over their body."

"Oh, you mean the tale of The Alchemist Henry Jade and Edward Honeydew?"

"Yes, actually, have your read it?"

"In a way, my mother read it to me when I was younger. I thought it was enjoyable."

"… You're mother read a book like that to you as a kid?"

"It was a bit odd." Pyrrha chuckled "But I still thought it was good. It certainly left an impression."

"I didn't think it was the type of book you'd read to your kid though."

"She wanted to make sure I had a good education. She read to me every chance she got and I read every chance I had."

"... I think I can understand that."

Blake thought back to her own parents for a moment. Her mother had been the same way. Her father too, though he'd always been busy. They both took every chance they could to support her, to teach her, make sure she had a brighter future than they'd been handed… She hadn't seen them in nearly two years.

Blake took a breath and calmed her thought. She didn't want to think about that right now. She was trying to change, set things right. Now wasn't the time to go down that road. Though she feared it would soon drag her back.

The two huntresses reached the library's main desk and returned the borrowed books. It took no more than a few minutes, all told.

"Thank you for your help." Pyrrha said

"Not a problem, I guess you'll be heading back to the dorms then?"

"Indeed, I don't believe there is any reason for me to stay here."

"Well, I'm sure I'll… see you at…" Blake trailed off.

Blake looked beyond Pyrrha, a look of surprise on her face. Curious, Pyrrha turned to see what had grabbed her friend's attention. It wasn't hard to find. Behind them, they watched as the lanky form of Six walked toward a secluded section of the library. Under each arm were several book.

"That's strange-" Pyrrha said "I thought he said he was going for a walk."

"He did." Blake agreed, her curiosity piqued. "But what does he need all those books for?"

…

"No, that's not right either." I grumbled to myself.

I tore another scrap of paper from my notebook, crumpled it, and chucked it away. It took no small bit of effort on my part to find a thesaurus with even a small degree of English in it. It took even more to find books that even sparingly used English. I'd set myself to pouring over them, looking for overlaps, learn which symbols translated to what. If I could even gain a basic grounding in the written script then I could easily figure the rest out. Maybe.

So far though, it was going worse than the time Raul tried teaching me Spanish.

Nothing matched up evenly. I'd think I'd be onto something, then about three or four syllables in everything would go to pot.

'How could a language be spoken with less syllables than it takes to write a single word!? That makes no graham damned sense!'

I took a deep breath and tried to focus, I began scratching at the paper with my pencil again. The symbols were crude compared to their printed counterpart, but I wasn't going for penmanship. I wasn't going to let some dried ink beat me. I'd beat things that were tougher than this. I've hacked dozens of computers, I've healed countless wounds, I've repaired fucking nuclear reactors with tin cans, I've… I've-

"I've got no clue what I'm doing." I say in defeat, tearing off another page and tossing it away.

"Hey! Watch where you're throwing things."

Before I could begin again, I was interrupted by a familiar voice. I looked up and took note of the two girls approaching me from beyond the bookshelves. Blake looked at me sternly, having just caught a ball of wadded paper to the face. Pyrrha walked beside her, a little amused at Blake's annoyance.

"Hello again." Pyrrha said with a small wave.

"Uh… hey." I said, suppressing any unconscious motions to hide what I was doing. Last thing I needed was to look guilty for no reason. "… What're you doing here?"

"We were returning books." Blake said, eyes scanning the books on the table. "We saw you and wanted to see what you were up to. I thought you were going for a walk?"

"I- uh- did. But I got bored and figured I should do some studying."

'… wait, no, that's a bad li-'

"But I thought you already knew what you were talking about?"

"I do, it's just- it's just that I wanted to be prepared."

Blake looked at me for a moment then scanned the closest book before I could make an effort to cover it.

"Ok, but what does advanced botany have to do with Grimm biology?"

"Oh, well, I picked that one up by accident."

"… What about the one next to that then, 'metallurgy and you'?

"uh-"

"The one after that is a thesaurus." Pyrrha chimed in helpfully

'You stay out of this!'

"… Ah, well-" I say, getting up from my seat. "I made a string of silly mistakes. If you'll excuse me I should return them an-"

Before I could step away from the table Blake held up her hand. The look she was giving me screamed 'You're joking right?'.

"… You're not buying this, are you?"

"Nope." Blake answered simply. "I'm not going to mince words Six, what's going on?"

I looked at the two girls through my gas mask, weighing my options. On one hand, I was caught and there wasn't getting out of this without some convoluted explanation. Probably involving invisible grimm and a rabbi. On the other, I could give them some truth. Not the whole thing, but cherry picking could make suffering a little easier for at least a little while.

'… Screw it, I don't have the energy for this.'

"I've… got a problem." I admit, absent mindedly scratching my helmet.

"Oh?" Pyrrha exclaimed

"That's putting it mildly." Blake said under her breath

"I heard that miss catty." I say with a bit of a growl.

For a fraction of a second, Blake looked surprised again. Like she had in the restaurant. But it passed just as quick.

"This ain't easy for me either." I continue

"Well what exactly is the problem?" Pyrrha asked

"It's… hard to explain. I also feel like an idiot for trying to explain it."

"There's no need to feel like that." Pyrrha answered "I'm sure that whatever you-"

"I can't read."

Both of the girls stopped talking and looked at me.

"… You can't read?" Blake reiterated

"Yes, in a manner of speaking."

"… I'm afraid I don't understand." Pyrrha said in confusion. "You wouldn't have been able to enroll here unless you had the proper grades. Which means you have to be able to read."

"Well… yea, but it's… complicated."

"You're doing a very poor job of explaining." Blake summarized

"I told you it was hard to explain." I reiterated in annoyance. "… it's not that I'm completely illiterate. I do know how to read. It's just that what I've read has been different."

"You mean a different language?"

"You'd think so, but… no. If it was a different language, odds are we wouldn't be able to have this conversation right now."

"So you learned a different script?" Pyrrha offered

"Yes!" I say, snapping my finger at the flame haired girl. "That's probably the best way to describe it."

A look of understanding crept over the huntress's faces as they scanned the books on the table. It wasn't hard to imagine that one or two things were starting to click together.

"Is that the reason you failed the test?" Pyrrha asked

"That, and a serious bout of bad luck."

"Why haven't you said anything then?" Blake asked "We'd all have been more than willing to help you if you'd said something."

"Because swallowing your pride is a tough thing to do. The only reason I'm doing it now is because I'm too tired to fight for something this petty."

'Another technical truth'

"Perhaps we can help you then." Pyrrha offered "It shouldn't be too difficult to help you learn to read if you just need to translate."

"Indeed, it would make things a lot easier. Though I'm not sure if you'd be entirely able to read what I do."

"Well, there's only one way to find out." Pyrrha smiled "Do you have an example for us to work with?"

"I do actually, hold on a tick."

I reached into the blazer of my uniform and withdrew a book. It was a pale sky blue with a dark binding. The surface was scuffed and had clearly seen better days. But given that it was an intact pre-war book, I don't think I could ask for much better in most cases. I thumbed through a few pages and showed it to them. The two huntresses scanned the book, a look of confusion growing on their faces.

"This… this is old Sanusian." Blake said, looking up from the book "Why do you know how to read this?"

'English is called "old Sanusian", got it.'

"My parents taught it to me, claimed it was the 'true' language or some b.s. like that."

"It was the language of Vale and Vacuo prior to the great war." Pyrrha said, shifting her gaze to me. "One of the conditions following the war was the introduction of a standardized language, Vytalian."

"Which is the symbols written in all of these books?"

"Yes, though you do occasionally still see Sanusian around. Some people who were taught it still prefer it."

'Which explains why I have seen it.'

"It shouldn't be too hard to teach you Vytalian. That is, if you'd be willing to let us help."

"I couldn't ask that of both of you." I say honestly "You sure you don't mind?"

"Of course not" Pyrrha said with a warm smile "I'm more than happy to help a friend."

"-and you're on my team." Blake said with an uncharacteristic smirk "I can't let you undo all my hard work."

I gave a mirthless chuckle. "Well, where do we start then?"

…

"- and this symbol here-" Pyrrha said, tapping a symbol in the thesaurus "- is a consonant."

"I see." I say with a nod "That's why I couldn't match everything up right."

We were there for close to two hours. The entire time the two huntresses had dissected the words with me as I fumbled to read through basic words. I had made astounding progress, apparently, but was still unlikely to be reading perfect anytime soon. If nothing else though, they'd given me a basic grounding. Something I'd been in desperate need of.

I stared at a small string of symbols, scanning them through the lenses of my gas mask.

"… See... Rain… run?" I ask, hopeful

"Almost." Pyrrha said with a smile. "It's 'see Jane run'."

"tsk. Almost had it."

"I've gotta say-" Blake spoke up "You've made some amazing progress, we only started a few hours ago and you've made some impressive strides."

"Eh, learn one language and you can learn any. Still though, I'm not going to be up to snuff for at least a while longer."

"True, but at least now you have a place to begin with."

"And if you need help, you can always ask us." Pyrrha finished

"There is very little doubt I will." I say, a smile beneath my mask. "So, I suppose I owe you both then?"

"Oh no, you don't-"

"No, no, Pyrrha I do. You've both done me a great service and not finding a way to make it up to both of you would be selfish."

The huntresses shared a look, shrugged, then turned back to me.

"Well, if you insist."

"I do, believe me. As it stands I now owe you both a favor. You ever need help with something you can't tell the others about, you just have to ask."

I wasn't in the habit of putting myself in other people's debts. But for something like this, I think I could make an exception. As far as I could tell they were trustworthy and probably wouldn't ask anything too big of me anyway.

"Very well, then I suppose we should start to return these books? We should be meeting up for dinner shortly."

"Sounds good to me."

I got up from the table and began to collect the few books that were lying about. It didn't take much before we were basically packed and heading out. I was going to split from the girls soon. I didn't feel a need to sit in a noisy cafeteria, where I wouldn't be able to eat but be stuck smelling and seeing food. I'd probably sneak through later and snag some anyway. As we placed the books into the return bin, Blake began to separate from us.

"What's wrong?" I asked

"Nothing, I'd just been planning to find another book before we bumped into you."

"Ah, then I suppose you'd be wanting to go look for one then?"

Blake gave a nod. She then narrowed her eyes and she looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Actually, I have a small question for you."

"Oh? What about?"

"That book you showed us earlier, I didn't recognize it. What's it about?"

I cocked my head to the side a little in surprise, this hadn't been something I was expecting.

"It's… a fantasy story." I lied, knowing the contents of the story were slightly different.

"Ok" Blake urged me on.

"… It's about a boy who runs away from home. He goes on a number of adventure while rafting down a river with a runaway slave… He learns a lot about life from it and it makes you think, just a bit."

Blake had seemed interested before, but by the look she had now I could tell she wanted to read it.

"Do you mind if I borrow it?"

"Hmm, I don't know. It's written in Sanusian, and on top of that it can be a bit hard to understand."

"Well, what do you think of it?"

"It's… pretty good. I've read through it a couple of times now and I always get a kick out of it."

"Do you mind if I borrow it then?"

I stared at the dark haired huntress for a moment, weighing the impact letting her read the book could have. To her, the names and places mentioned in the book were nothing but a fantasy. She wouldn't know how much of it was actually real at one point. I honestly couldn't think of how much harm I could do by letting her read it.

"… Yeah, ok."

I handed her the beat up book and she gave me a small smile.

"I promise to take care of it." She said jokingly

"You best, it's older than both of us put together."

She gave a small laugh as we began to leave the library.

'If you only knew.'