Saturday, the 8th of August, 79AGW.

Haven Academy, Mistral.

Walking through the Grand Hall made him feel like an ant, which in turn made him feel like he was about to be squished. The massive statue that dominated the hall was impressive, though—a tall woman stood with her hands holding something up, golden chains trailing away from her wrists. The artist had rendered her with a beautiful flowing dress, a golden chain belt that looped around her hips, and a series of matching jewellery.

"Damn," Lima said, impressed. "Everything big at Haven, huh?"

"Sure you don't need some alone time?" Sage said as they moved towards the stairs the statue was holding up. "I'm sure Claire will understand—it is just a statue, after all."

"Fuck you, firstly," Lima said, scrunching his face up. "Secondly, fuck you."

Sage gave a bark of a laugh at the cursing and clapped him on the back hard enough to send him tripping up the stairs. Lima caught himself with his hands and then had to scramble in order to catch up with him.

"Sir," A girl said just as Sage crested the stairs. "I didn't realise you were back already."

"Ahah," Sage said, clapping his hands. "I was hoping I'd run into you while we were up here, Atlan."

Lima stepped up onto the platform, clearing the banister, and then turned to look at who he was speaking to. It was indeed a girl, about the same height as Lima, which put her a few inches short of six foot, dark-skinned and with a tuft of wavy platinum blonde hair framing her head. Lima's appearance caught the girl's attention, and she glanced down at his clothing, no doubt noting the lack of uniform.

"Considering his lack of uniform and the fact that he is accompanying you during the break," Atlan said, eyeing him for a moment. "This would be the son you spoke of, Lima Morta."

That was the second time that someone had called him Sage's son today, which meant that that was how the man had been talking about him in his absence. That sent a flash of something through his chest and left him scratching his cheek for a moment before he managed to regain his cool.

"Whatever he's told you about me is a complete lie," Lima said, clearing his throat. "Seriously, you can't trust anything that comes out of this guy's mouth—"

Lima reached up to cradle the back of his head as Sage smacked him with his open palm. It wasn't even hard enough to register against his Aura, but he made a show of holding his head in an effort to make the man look bad in front of his student.

"Ignore him; he fell on his head a lot as a child," Sage said, clearing his throat. "We're actually on our way to see Lionheart, but if you're still interested, I'd like to see the two of you have that sparring match we talked about—I'd say in about an hour?"

Atlan turned to give him another look over before nodding her head.

"Of course, sir," Atlan said, "I was actually about to go find Bolin and Reese—would you object if I brought them along?"

"That's fine," Sage said, bringing his hand down onto his palm with a clap. "Who else is up here right now? Shiko?"

"No sir, I believe he's returning in three days time," Atlan said, brushing a hand over her checkered skirt. "I saw Sun and Neptune earlier; should I bring them with us?"

Lima blinked at the absolute deluge of namedrops. Neptune was one he remembered from the forms, though, a guy with blue hair.

"That Wukong's a bit flighty, isn't he? You might have a bit of trouble roping him into anything," Sage said, scratching his chin. "Eh, see if they'll go for it—don't bother bringing any weapons or gear though."

"I understand," Atlan said, nodding. "Excuse me, sir, I had best start looking."

Sage waved her off, and they watched the girl start down the stairs they'd just come up. Lima tugged on his ear for a moment, considering her unrushed and steady descent—she certainly carried herself well, and judging by what he could see of her well-developed muscular, she looked dangerous enough.

"Shouldn't you be trying to help your son win the Vytal Festival Tournament?" Lima said, voice dry. "Why are you trying to give them a heads up on the competition?"

Sage ignored then his use of the word 'son' completely or possibly missed it entirely.

"That goes both ways, you know? You'll get an eye on at least one of the ones to watch out for," Sage said, starting forward again. "Besides, you got a look at those forms earlier, didn't you? Seems fair to me."

"I guess," Lima admitted. "I think I'm more worried about fighting Pyrrha Nikos than anyone at your dinky little school, though."

Sage barked out a laugh as they came to a stop outside of a massive ornate door, covered in a spread of lines that might have represented a set of wings or perhaps a tuft of grass, he wasn't quite sure.

"I wouldn't say that in front of Lionheart," Sage said, lifting one of the oversized balls of meat the man called hands and knocking on the door. "He might end up giving you a lecture—he's pretty proud of this place."

They heard a muffled voice call out, and although the words weren't exactly decipherable, the tone was enough that Sage pushed the door open. The Headmaster's office was surprisingly less spacious than Ozpin's had been back at Beacon, although it couldn't be called a small room by any stretch of the imagination. A series of tall, thin windows kept the room bright, and a large wooden desk sat directly across from the door. Above it, there was an odd platform, held aloft by two pillars, stacked high with hundreds of books, boxes and pictures.

Leonardo Lionheart sat behind his desk, eyebrows raised in what looked like a pleasant surprise. The man was tall, with broad shoulders. His head was covered in a neat mane of brown hair, edging into the territory of grey as the years seemed to be catching up to him—he looked more like a big teddy bear than the evil, villainous man Ozpin's message had brought Lima to imagine.

"Damn," Lima said, impressed. "That's the best beard I've ever seen."

Lionheart looked entirely amused by the comment, but he never got an opportunity to speak as Lima stumbled forward with a squawk as Sage pushed him fully into the room. By the time he'd righted himself, the door had clicked shut behind them, and he caught his balance.

"Stop pushing me over, you old bastard," Lima insisted, stabbing a finger at him. "The next time you do it, I'm going to kick your ass—for reals."

"Lionheart, sorry to burst in on you," Sage said, striding past without ignoring a single thing Lima had said to him. "I've been giving the kid here a tour, and I thought I'd bring him in to meet you—not every day you get to meet the Headmaster of Haven, you know?"

"That's quite alright, Sage. Although I could have sworn, I asked you to call me Leonardo last we spoke," Lionheart said with good-natured cheer. "Lima, it's a pleasure to meet you. I've heard only good things—Sage believes we've suffered a great loss when you chose Beacon."

Lima scratched the back of his head as he approached the desk to stand next to Sage, feeling a bit sheepish. He really wasn't anything like he'd been expecting, and it was kind of throwing him off a bit—maybe this was some big bizarre misunderstanding.

"Yeah, I kind of ran away for a bit there," Lima admitted, looking around at the bookshelves. "I like your office better than Ozpin's—too many moving things there; I kept thinking everything was going to come crashing down on my head."

Lionheart raised an eyebrow at the comment, although Sage was the one to speak.

"Why do you even know what the Headmaster's office looks like?" Sage said, bemused. "What did you do to get called in there?"

Lima gave an awkward laugh when he realised he'd drawn so much attention to the connection there.

"I saw this kid bullying a Faunus girl for her bunny ears, and then I kind of destroyed half the cafeteria in the process of beating him up—I was in detention for weeks, man, it was pure torture," Lima admitted, wincing. "Ironically enough, the guy I beat up is kind of my friend now, while the girl hates me—I still haven't figured out why, though."

Lionheart looked far too amused at the story, and it made Lima wonder if the man was just happy that Beacon was causing trouble at and not Haven.

"Yes, well, these things happen, don't they?" Lionheart said, nodding empathetically. "It's always sad to hear about the unfortunate relations between Humans and Faunus—I've spent a lot of years dealing with that myself."

Lima gave a kind of up-nod at the comment to show he was listening. He hadn't realised that the man was a Faunus, though; whatever features he possessed must have been hidden amongst his bushy hair or beneath his coat.

"Yeah, I get it," Lima agreed, "Sanctum had all these elitist pricks who picked on the Faunus kids as well; I guess they learn that crap from their parents—what's it like here?"

Lionheart seemed a bit cagy about admitting to Haven having a bullying problem, but Sage was far blunter.

"There are a few bad eggs here, but I haven't caught any amongst the first years yet," Sage said, punching his hand into his palm. "I reckon some motivated training is enough to sort them out."

"Yes, well," Lionheart said, clearing his throat. "We have zero-tolerance for racism at Haven, and the students are encouraged to report any incidents to the staff—I make sure to deal with these incidents personally when they come up."

Lima nodded at the two very different answers; he wasn't exactly sure which one was the better approach. Considering most of it was learned behaviour from their parents, and they were immediately thrust back into that environment the moment they went home, it was a hard problem to handle permanently.

"Lima here is in the same class as the Invincible Girl," Sage said with a laugh. "Turns out she ended up going to Beacon in the end."

"Yes, I reached out to her mother at the start of the year when I realised I hadn't seen her enrollment pass over my desk," Lionheart sighed, "Ms Nikos has managed to acquire an impressively large amount of fame amongst the populace of Mistral, a lot of people were very disappointed that she chose to attend Beacon instead."

Lionheart actually looked a bit weary at the topic, and Lima wondered if he'd received any backlash for it. A Faunus Headmaster in Mistral must have made me pretty unpopular amongst the older families, and considering the petty crap their kids got up to at Sanctum, the parents were probably just as bad.

"Yeah, " Lima said with a laugh. "It's pretty funny seeing her beat everyone else up during our combat classes, though."

Lima's eyes settled on a familiar-looking object wedged between the paperweight and the raised-up section in the middle of the man's desk, and the smile on his face suddenly felt far more strained. A tiny bronze orb made up of a series of intricately placed gears, cogs, and glass glinted in the light from the window.

"I see," Lionheart said, amused. "Ms Nikos is certainly in a league of her own."

When Lima managed to lift his gaze back up, he found Lionheart had followed his line of sight and was now staring at the orb with an odd expression on his face. A thrill of unease washed through him, and rather than let things spiral out of control, Lima did what he always did when he was feeling pressured.

"What the heck is that, and where can I get one?" Lima asked.

Lima leaned forward until it was clear to everyone present what he was referring to—the clockwork orb. Lionheart opened his mouth for a moment, paused, and then tried again.

"I picked it up in Argus, actually, about three days ago," Lionheart said, smiling now. "It was sitting on a shelf in a thrift store."

Lima had a moment of incredible dissonance as he experienced somebody outright lying to his face without any kind of tell to give it away, while at the same time knowing that Lionheart had killed a smiling woman in Mistral Below and then taken it from a small, black-lacquered stand.

"Damn," Lima said, impressed. "My—uh—teammate has a little gear necklace that's almost the same colour—she'd love something like that."

"Not your girlfriend, huh?" Sage laughed.

"Shut up, you old bastard; she's not my girlfriend," Lima said, scrunching his face up. "Gah—can I get the shop name? I think Pyrrha is still in Argus; I can probably bully her into buying me one while she's there."

It occurred to him almost immediately that in his attempt to play it off, he'd accidentally put the man in an impossible spot. The shop obviously didn't exist, and if he made up a fake shop, it would become obvious through Pyrrha's inability to find it. Nothing showed on the man's face, though. Instead, the smile on Lionheart's face changed slightly in a way that Lima couldn't quite understand—a shade of something almost sad now present.

"I'm afraid I didn't even read the sign above the shop," Lionheart admitted, reaching over to pick up the orb before rolling it around in his fingertips. "I'm not quite sure why I brought it either if I'm being honest—here."

Lionheart flicked the orb up into the air, and Lima snatched it out of pure reflex before he'd even realised what had happened.

"Keep it," Lionheart said, smiling. "I'm sure it will find a far more befitting use as a tool of courtship than as a paperweight on my desk."

"Sir?" Lima said, absolutely stunned at the audacity of the man in front of him. "I—thank you, man."

"Careful, Lima," Sage barked out a laugh. "I don't want to get any calls from Beacon about you knocking some girl up."

Lionheart gave a startled laugh at the comment, somehow looking relieved at handing off what could only be described as a trophy of murder to a teenager.

#

Lima followed Sage down into what he'd called the 'fighting pit' and towards the small group of teenagers that were sitting around the edges of a raised platform. Lima felt sick in a way he never had before, the smiling woman's face stuck in his mind, unable to be dispelled so long as the clockwork orb burned a hole in his pocket.

The contradiction of seeing such a polite, pleasant and happy man sitting in that office while knowing it was a façade managed to make his skin crawl. He wanted to pull Sage aside, shake the man, and then convince him to—Lima didn't even know what he wanted to convince him of.

The orb was proof that Lionheart had killed Ozpin's contact, and that meant he was trying to cover up the massive loss of Huntsman and Huntresses occurring across Anima. But Sage had known about that as well, and even Lima had agreed that they shouldn't tell the general public to avoid causing more Grimm attacks. But that didn't mean Lionheart should be fucking killing innocent people—Ozpin informants or not—in order to avoid spreading the information.

Lima kept coming back to the warning in Ozpin's message to avoid speaking of his true intentions out loud and the threat of 'extreme risk to his life.' Was there someone listening in, or was it general advice to avoid the slim chance of someone overhearing and reporting it to Lionheart?

Sage clapped him on the back again, startling him out of his thoughts, and he realised they were now standing beside Atlan and her companions. The blue-haired boy that could only be Neptune sat with one hand stretched out behind him, leaning back with a cool smile on his face.

Beside him sat a blond boy with short shaggy hair, and who was the only person in the entire school who'd struck out and avoided the dress code entirely. Instead of a uniform, he wore an unbuttoned white, high collared shirt and a pair of light blue jeans, rolled halfway up his shins—a golden yellow tale waved into view behind his back, placing him as a Faunus of some kind.

On the other side of Atlan, a tall, broad-shouldered boy sat cross-legged, dark hair hanging down past his chin. The last member of the group was a girl with bright green hair, cut short into a pixie cut, with her long fringe sweeping down past her chin—a pair of tattoo's lined her face, two thick black bars bisecting her cheeks.

"This is Reese Chloris, Bolin Hori, Arslan Atlan, Sun Wukong, and Neptune Vasilias," Sage said, waving his hand at each in turn. "This is Lima Morta."

"Yo Sage," Sun said, leaning forward to rest his wrists on his knees. "Do we really get extra credit?"

"Absolutely—not," Sage said, laughing. "If you can't perform in class, then I'm stamping you all out."

"Boo," Reese said.

"You scammed us?" Sun said, shocked. "I can't believe this."

A smile grew on Arslan's face, but she said nothing in response as she rose to her feet. Lima watched as she made an effort to dust off her legs and skirt. He still didn't feel anywhere near as up to this as he had earlier, but he managed to give them a wave.

"Hey," Lima said, "Just so we're clear, Sage bullied me into this."

"Making excuses already?" Reese said, smirking. "Sounds like you already know how this is going to play out."

Lima shrugged, making an effort to dump everything in his pockets out on the floor to avoid anything getting broken. He tried not to look at the orb as he wedged it between his wallet and Scroll, so it didn't roll away.

"If you do not wish to engage in a spar today," Arslan said, glancing between Sage and Lima. "I'm quite willing to wait until a more convenient time."

"Nah," Sage said, speaking for him. "He's just cranky cause he hasn't had a nap today."

"Fuck you," Lima said, incredulous. "I don't even take naps."

Neptune started choking on his water, and Sun started smacking him on the back in an attempt to save the guy's life. The rest of them tossed a surprised look up at Sage, perhaps expecting some kind of reprimand, but the man just crossed his arms and jerked his head towards the platform.

A bit heated because of the man's annoying penchant for causing him grief, he kicked his shoes off on the ground beside the platform and vaulted up. Arslan hesitated by the platform, looking down at his discarded shoes before vaulting up.

"Rules are simple; Aura Depletion at twenty percent, surrender, or ring out," Sage said, "No semblance, weapons or equipment. Lima—none of your cuddling shit, please."

"Cuddling?" Sun wondered, glancing around at the others. "Any idea what he means by that?"

"Grappling, perhaps?" Bolin offered.

Lima grunted at the absolute besmirchment of his fighting style but said nothing in response, far too used to the man's rules. Arslan settled in a couple of meters away from him, eyes sharp as she rolled her shoulders back. They had a monitor like Beacon did, only there was set into the wall beside the arena instead of above it.

"It's a spar, so keep it non-lethal, and stop if there's an Aura break," Sage said before clearing his throat. "Start."

Arslan remained in place, one arm held out in front of her, legs planted shoulder-width apart, and Lima waited all of five seconds before he decided she wasn't going to move. He started forward, keeping to a walking pace, and then slipped to the side as she burst forward, palm striking past his face. Lima watched her wrist pass by his face and barely managed to stop himself from latching onto it out of reflex.

He stepped backwards as she drew her arm in and spun, her hand arcing up above her head, gathering speed as it went, and then it crashed down against his raised forearm. Lima deflected it to the side, which she turned into momentum for a second windmill strike, and then a third in turn, each faster than the last. Lima hopped back out of range as she spun into a blistering roundhouse that would have been impossible to block without taking significant damage to his Aura.

Arslan drew her leg in tight and stomped down, sending herself forward after him—she was clearly growing more comfortable with the fight. The more she attacked, the more fluid she became, and her style seemed to revolve almost entirely around generating increasing momentum with arcing attacks.

Three exchanges later, Lima went on the attack for the first time, targeting her at the weakest point of her chain—the initial attack. Skirting the edge of Sage's ruling about no cuddling, he moved into her next attack, catching her wrist and stopping her from turning it into a circular force. He crashed into her, forearm against her chest, a few inches above her breasts and hooked his leg under her own.

Arslan scrambled to get her foot back under her, but by then, the weight of his forearm was pressing her down too quickly. Lima didn't follow her all the way down because Sage would be a bitch about it, and instead, he struck down at her from his standing position. The first hit sent her Aura flaring into existence as he hit her hard enough to bounce her head off the floor; the second hit turned her face sideways—and then he was falling.

Lima threw his body weight backwards, adding to the force of her leg sweep, and managing to plant his hand down behind him before flipping back up to his feet. He pushed straight back towards her, reaching her position just as she got to her feet. He reached forward, underneath and past her high guard and caught hold of the neck of her shirt.

Arslan smashed her elbow down on top of his rising forearm, but the angle was wrong, and she couldn't generate the force necessary to break his grip as he bent his elbow up, choking her with the collar of her shirt. He caught her wrist as she tried to do it again, and then as she attempted to pull her trapped hand back, he let go of her shirt and snuck a hit upwards, smacking her in the chin.

Lima managed to catch her sudden panicked kick against his hip, pushed forward to ruin her balance, and her last standing leg lost contact with the ground—

"Bzzt," Sage said, loud enough to catch their attention. "Disqualified for cuddling."

"Oh, come on," Lima complained, still holding Arslan up by the neck of her shirt. "This isn't even a real hold."

"What the heck is going on right now?" Reese said, alarmed.

"I—don't know," Bolin admitted. "But he's good."

Arslan hopped until she had her standing leg back underneath her, and he let go of the thigh he'd trapped against his hip. Lima scrunched his face up but stepped back as she righted herself, fingers uncurling from her uniform.

"I was going to knock her down again," Lima insisted. "I wasn't cuddling—"

"Boo!" Sun called, hands cupped around his mouth to amplify the words. "No cuddling!"

Lima flapped his hand at the guy, unable to believe the disrespect he was getting.

"Striking only. Any contact that lasts longer than a beat is a foul," Sage said, clapping his hands. "Reset, and start again."

Lima blew a breath out of his nose and then turned to face his opponent again. Arslan was already back in her stance, but now she was looking at him like he was some strange creature that she'd never seen before.

"Start," Sage called.

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