~ Not Scary ~

Narrator POV:

"You what?" Blake says loudly.

She and the rest of team RWBY are in their dorm room. Blake is sitting with her arms crossed.

"We want you to go to the dance!" The leader says what the other two are thinking.

"That's ridiculous" But the Faunus is stubborn.

"Blake, we're worried about you. This investigation is starting to mess with your head" Yang says worriedly.

Weiss starts counting the facts on her fingers as she speaks "You can't sleep, you hardly eat, and to be honest, your grades have been suffering"

"Grades? You think I care about grades?" Blake shrugs and then gestures out the window "People's lives are at stake!"

Yang puts her hand on Blake's, lowering it "We know, and we're all still trying to figure out what Torchwick is up to"

"Thanks to you and Sun, we know they're operating somewhere outside of southeast Vale" Ruby adds.

"And, the Schnee company records singled out Vale as the primary target for Dust robberies over the last few months" Includes Weiss.

"Don't forget about their missing military tech too" Yang also mentions.

"But there are still unanswered questions! And I bet that Crystal could answer them, at least some of them" Blake says not having any of it.

"How do you figure that Crystal could answer them?" Yang asks.

"Oh?" Blake blinks tiredly "Ah, back when I 'ran' away from the team, me, her and Sun were fighting the White Fang and Torchwick, the two talked to each other as if they knew each other. So I think they are some sort of acquaintances, but now? There's no way that Grimmerin would let anything out"

"Blake, you won't be able to find anything if you can't even keep your eyes open! And hey, we can even try to ask Grim later if she does know something, but only after you have taken some rest" The leader states.

"Wait, Grim, since when did you start calling her that?" Weiss asks their leader.

Ruby breaks her gaze on Blake and looks at Weiss "Eh... It slipped? Also, her name is super long" There's a brief silence with everybody looking at Ruby, which Yang breaks.

"Anyways, all we're asking is that you take it easy for one day"

"It will be fun! Yang and I will make sure of it" The Schnee says, having already moved on from the topic of Grimmerin.

"Yeah! We're planning the whole event!" Yang pumps her fists which causes the bed to bounce Blake.

"Excuse me?" Questions Blake

"Team CFVY's away mission lasted longer than expected" Answers Weiss.

"So, Weiss and I were asked to pick up where they left off. And now we can make sure you have the perfect night" Yang continues with that answer.

"And once it's all over, we'll return for our search, rested and ready" Weiss finishes the answer.

"So what do ya think?" Ruby asks after.

"I think this is a colossal waste of time" Shuts down her friends' attempts and walks away from the group, she opens the dorm door and says "I'll be in the library" And with that she walks out of the room.

"Great" Yang lets out.

"She can't keep going on like this" Weiss says with irritated worry in her voice.

There's a knock at the door and Weiss approaches and opens it. Behind the door, stands Jaune with a guitar.

And he starts singing "Weiss!"

Weiss slams the door in his face.

"Oh, come on, open the door! I promise not to sing" He whines behind the door.

Weiss opens the door, albeit a little bit reluctantly.

"I lied!" He sings and continues to do so "Weiss Schu-nee, will you accompany me, to the dance on... Sunday!?"

"Are you done?" Schu-nee asks unimpressed.

"Yes?" Jaune answers with a shrug.

"No" She shuts the door in his face. Turning around, she sees the others staring at her "What?"

Both girls are standing precariously, Yang says "And that is why they call you the Ice Queen" And as Yang says that, Ruby finally collapses.

"All my life, boys have only cared about the perks of my last name. Besides, I already have a date in mind" Weiss states.

"Date or no date, none of this will matter if we can't get Blake to go" Ruby states, getting up.

And again, there's a knock on the door. Weiss' eye twitches a little "I already told you, no!" She shouts opening the door, only to see Grimmerin standing behind it.

"Schu-nee doing Schnee things I see, shouting for no reason. And what a way to turn down a guy, smacking a door at his face" Grim says looking straight at Weiss, who's trying to hide some of the embarrassment rising up, with a statement of her own.

"Grimmerin doing Grimmerin things, appearing near team RWBY for no reason, didn't you hate us or something, why follow us like a puppy?"

"Ooh, you grew some theoretical balls, because if I remember correctly, you were fearful of Crystal, yet you have the willpower to talk like that with me? Besides, I don't hate any of you, I don't like you that's for sure, for you're a Schnee, Crystal's the one that hates you and she doesn't like Ruby a little, that's all, the other two are fine with her, she forgave Yang real quick, once she thought about the situation a little. And there's no way she could dislike Blake. Oh and I am a fox, not a dog"

"Yeah, I know" Weiss says as if it were obvious, with an added eye roll.

"Do you? Last time I've heard, from your own lips, mind you. Crystal was an 'animal', 'filth' and apparently now, a 'puppy', but I guess that one's on me, not once have we heard you speak of us or to us as if we were a Fox"

"I am sorry for that, by the way"

"While it's satisfying to hear you lower your baseless pride and apologize, even if it was a weak apology, it's still one, however, I am not the one you should be saying sorry to, unfortunately, Crystal's not here, so you're going to have to wait and do that again" Grimmerin finishes saying, to the displeasure of the Schnee girl.

"Grimmerin" Yang seeing the tension between the two, breaks them up "Last time you were here out of 'boredom', so, why are you here now?"

"I'm glad you asked, I was just walking around and heard several things that led me here. Blake was right in thinking that Crystal knows Torchwick, she even has his number in her scroll"

"How... Do you know about that?" Yang asks perturbed.

"And what a guy that Jaune is, goes for someone when there's already somebody going for him, it's quite sad really and pretty funny as well" Grimmerin ignores Yang's question, by stating something else.

"What do you mean?" Asks Weiss.

"You haven't noticed? Pyrrha has the hots for him"

"She does? But what's there to like about him?"

"Wow, just because you don't like him, doesn't mean that the guy is worthless, Schu-nee"

"No, I didn't mea-" Weiss' explanation gets interrupted.

"But I do have to agree, why even waste your time with a man. Not that she's going to get together with him anyways, or at least that's what I think"

"They would look great together, why do you say that they can't happen?" States Ruby.

"Yeah, what Rubes said" Yang agrees.

"Well, I wouldn't expect virgins to know, but for some unknown reason Hermaphrodites just don't go well with Males, in my experience... Or I should say, Crystals' experience, males tend to dislike and/or hate Futas, there are rare instances where they can be neutral with them, but that's mostly if they are their children..." Grimmerin sees Yang cringe a little at what she said and Ruby throwing a worried glance at her sister, but doesn't pay much attention to it "So what I am saying is, if Pyrrha is packing heat down below, their relationship is never working out"

"But that makes no sense, that can't be true, gender should have nothing to do with that" Weiss states.

"Oh wow, never thought you'd say that, as a Schnee, here I thought you'd be calling them freaks as well, but I suppose with you it's how one looks on the outside, not what they pack on the inside"

"Can you stop with that? I've already learned my lesson and I'm trying to be better"

"No"

"Ugh!"

"But back to the topic, you saying that it can't be true, well it is. I have no idea what's actually happening, but I and Crystal haven't seen a single male be in a relationship with a hermaphrodite, not even for one-night stands, people tend to talk their feelings out post-coitum, that's when all of the information goes loose, Crystal eventually started asking every futa partner she was with if they have ever been with a man and the answer was almost always the same 'no'. One person, two people, it could be a coincidence, but when it's multiple dozen, it's not, there's something amiss"

"It can't be that bad... Can it?"

"The women Crystal has slept with, would tell her bunch of stories, some of them most likely lies, some may true, but that's the one conversation that was practically the same, no matter how hard they'd try, men just wouldn't be with them for anything. If they tried to have sex, men would freak out when they saw their weapons of pleasure and would leave, some would react less negatively, but still, be turned off, and apparently one even got the point of vomiting... And seeing as you don't believe me, Schnee, that basically tells me that you're female but without the male part involved, I am 99% certain of that"

"Wha-"

"Yeah, you have parental issues, but if you also had a dick, your issues would be tripled" Grimmerin says even to the discomfort of the Schnee, she also looks at the two sisters "Is there anything you two would like to add, Yang, perhaps?"

"N-no" Yang awkwardly replies.

"Well, alright, anyways, Ruby when did I give you permission to call me 'Grim'?" Grimmerin skips over to the next topic.

"Uh... Can I say 'Grim' from now?"

"No"

"Please?"

"No"

"Pretty please?"

"What don't yo-"

"Pretty, pretty please! Your name is veeery long" Ruby cuts Grimmerin off by continuing to plead.

"Seriously, all of you just stopped being scared of me or something"

"But you're not scary" Ruby says nonchalantly, making her sister, Schu-nee and Grimmerin herself choke on their saliva.

While the three women look at the youngest in silence like she was crazy, the leader of RWBY continues to ramble "Yes, you're a little mean, perhaps arrogant and commanding... Aaaand very, very confusing at times, but you're not scary"

The silence persists as Ruby finishes speaking, she looks at her friends and Grim "What?"

"I'm not scary...?" Grimmerin asks mostly herself out loud very confused, but Ruby still answers it "Nope"

"Did you forget what happened when we've met? I hit your sister into a wall"

"She's tough, she can handle it"

"I practically broke your arm"

"Oh yeah, that... I mean, as I said, it was a mean thing to do, but it wasn't scary... It was more confusing than anything. Like one moment I am trying to grab your shoulder and the next moment I am on the ground with a hurting hand... Really disorienting"

"I stole your sister's motorcycle"

"Yeah, wasn't a nice thing to do, you should give it back, Yang likes that bike"

"I literally KILL people"

"I know that Crystal told us before and in time I came in terms with it, so now I am somewhat okay with that fact"

"No, I mean, I seek out people to kill, she just does it when she's attacked"

"Hmm... You should stop doing that, they also had lives to live"

"Stop? STOP?! You... I..." Grimmerin's mind short-circuited for a moment "And people call Crystal weird..."

"So anyway, can I call you Grim?"

"... What are you?"

"Ruby, leader of team RWBY"

Grimmerin blankly looks at the smiling girl before her "Fine, whatever, call me Grim"

"Yay, thanks, Grim"

"Whatever, I am not in the mood right now, so as Blake said before, I will not say anything about Torchwick, good try on getting her to the dance though, very persuasive"

"Seriously, how do you know about that?" Yang asks again.

"That's for me to know and for you to preferably, never find out, bye, I need to go and let off some... steam" With that Grimmerin leaves the room.

"Bye Grim" Ruby yells out as Grimmerin closes the door.

"Ruby, what was all that about?" Weiss asks their leader.

"What do you mean?"

"...Nevermind"

That night, Pyrrha and Jaune are sparring at their spot on the roof. Jaune appears to gain the upper hand until Pyrrha sweeps his legs out from under him.

"Well done! Your swordplay's improved immensely" Pyrrha compliments chuckling and helping Jaune to his feet.

"I couldn't have done it without you" He says back.

"So, are you ready to move on to Aura?"

"I'm actually thinking maybe we just skip Aura for tonight? Might go on a jog or something"

"Come on, I know you get frustrated, but you must keep trying. I'm sure you'll discover your Semblance any day now"

"That's not it. It's just..." Jaune hesitates for a moment "It's dumb"

"What is it?" Pyrrha approaches Jaune and places her hand on his shoulder "Jaune, you know you can tell me"

"It's... Weiss"

"Oh. What about her?" She says half-heartedly, her enthusiasm has died down.

"I asked her to the dance and she shot me down" He chuckles in spite "Big surprise, right? Also, Grimmerin most likely heard how it happened, so that's embarrassing, she also... touched me"

"She harassed you?!"

"No, no, she just pat my shoulder, ruffled my hair, touched my back and my arms, if I didn't know some of how she is, I'd say she was trying to comfort me... But that doesn't really fit her"

"Phew" Pyrrha heaves a sigh of relief, but instantly remembers what they were talking about and her mood sours again "Well, I believe the saying goes: There's... plenty of fish in the sea"

"That's easy for you to say. You've probably got guys clamoring over each other just to ask you out"

Pyrrha chuckles half-heartedly "You'd be surprised..."

Jaune dismisses the thought immediately "Oh please. If you don't get a date for the dance, I'll wear a dress. Heh"

He walks away. Pyrrha drops her smile and looks rather upset, but that solitude doesn't last long as Pyrrha hears a whistle from the side, turning around to see none other than the aforementioned Faunus.

"Well, would you look at that, the amazing Pyrry is seemingly horrible with romance, how about that"

"What do you want, Grimmerin?" Pyrrha jumps right over the shade which was thrown by Grim.

"I didn't want anything at first, but you see, I was going on my way to let off some steam... Because of reasons and just so happened to overhear the whole conversation... You know, by coincidence" Grim steps closer to the red-haired girl.

"So? Got something to say? Tips to give? You're such an expert after all, aren't you?"

"Oooh, love the spunk, maybe use some of that in getting yourself a man"

"Why are you talking? You don't even like mal-" But Pyrrha's retort gets cut off by the Faunus, who's now looking at the Broken Moon.

"Answer me this, do you have male bits under that armor?"

"What?" Pyrrha gets completely thrown off by the intention of such a question, it also made Grim stop looking at the moon and throw her gaze back to Pyrrha.

"Seriously, is it that difficult to understand... Do you have a dick or not?"

"...Why would I answer that?"

"Just do it"

"No"

"Is that no to answering, or to the question?"

"To the first one"

"So a refusal to answer, fine keep it to yourself because that's all you're going to be doing for the rest of your life... Or what remains of it" With that Grimmerin starts walking past her. But as she steps next to her, Pyrrha stops her.

"I do, I have it, happy?"

"Immensely, but for other reasons... Good luck with Jaune... But let me tell you something, it will never work out, so try to get over it as quickly as possible, that's advice from Crystal not from me, if you get stuck over one person for too long, you will miss... How did your advice go? The plentiful of fish out there or something like that" And while Grimmerin was saying that, she pats Pyrrha's shoulders several times, alongside her back.

With that Grimmerin walks away, but not before stopping to ask one off-topic question "By the way, where's your shield?"

"... I've sent it for repairs since somebody here destroyed it"

"Ah... Good times"

"You do realize, I would've probably died and if not, barely survived, if my shield didn't hold your attack"

"Oh, yeah, definitely, but I don't really care and as long as Crystal doesn't care, to me, it's all the same"

"But if something did happen to me, you would've been in trouble, if not with professor Goodwitch or the authorities then with headmaster Ozpin"

Grimmerin laughs out loud at that, throwing Pyrrha off yet again.

"Why are you laughing?"

"Pyrry. look, Glynda, Authorities, or anybody else, especially Ozpin. nobody can touch me, nobody can do anything to me..."

"Your confidence in your ability, or your Semblance to be more exact and arrogance will be your downfall someday" Pyrrha comments thinking that she got the reason before it was explained.

"Perhaps, but that's not what I was referring to"

"You... weren't?"

"Want to know the real reason why I and Crystal can do anything we want?"

"I do, but you were about to tell me either way, right?"

"You'd be correct, anyways the reason is simple, this might not mean anything to you now... Or probably ever, but there's one simple fact in this world, I and Crystal are untouchable purely because Crystal is her Wifes' wife"

And with that, the Fox Faunus finally walks away while darkly laughing to herself while leaving Pyrrha more confused than ever.

Meanwhile, in the dorm of the 'Villains'.

"And finally, Pyrrha Nikos" Says Emi.

Cinder is sewing a black dress as she sits on one of the beds. Emerald is sitting on the floor while looking at her Scroll, and Mercury is lying on the ground and reading a comic book.

"Ah, the invincible and perfect girl" Cinder wonders out loud.

"She's smart, but I wouldn't say invincible"

"Do tell"

"Her Semblance is Polarity. But you'd never know just by watching" Emerald starts first.

"After she made contact with my boots, she was able to move them around however she wanted. But she only made slight adjustments" Mercury says second.

"Just enough to make it look like she's untouchable. She doesn't broadcast her power, so it puts her opponent at a disadvantage" And thirdly, Emi finishes.

"Hmm... People assume that she's fated for victory when she's really taking fate into her own hands. Interesting. Add her to the list"

"You should be able to take her no problem" Mercury comments.

"It's not about overpowering the enemy. It's about taking away what power they have. And we will, in time"

"I hate waiting"

"Don't worry, Mercury. We have a fun weekend ahead of us"

Cinder's scroll rings, she takes it out and picks up the call.

"What is it, Grim?"

"Want to come with me this night? I am going on a hunt for some... Atlesian soldiers"

"Again? Why so soon?"

"Well... I got an itch to scratch because of somebody, it got me annoyed, so you in?"

"Hmm... Well, I am more or less finished here, so... Why not, but we go low on numbers, okay?"

"No more than six"

"Good"

"Indeed, I will be waiting just outside of Beacon"

"I will be there in several minutes"

"Don't keep me waiting... Oh and you could've just asked me about Pyrrha and others, I could tell you their powers and other things, I even have some romance drama happening, Crystal's been here for a while, so I know their strengths and weaknesses"

"...How?"

"Girlfriend, I've left Crystal's bag and belongings in your room... How else?"

Emerald and Mercury see Cinder's mood go poor.

"But don't worry, that rule on Emi keeping the training to herself was a joke, I wouldn't hurt her... Well, at least not any time soon, I do need her for training after all. But don't tell that to her, I'd like to see if I can catch her in a lie. Oh and to save you the trouble, so you wouldn't get the bright idea of setting Crystal's bag on fire, the five microphones are in three different parts, two smallest pockets and one hidden in a small hole of the holster. Also get me my stealth outfit for me, since I can't actually show myself in any way if I am doing this with you. Bye-bye, see you in... You said several minutes, but now with the bag problem... Well, whatever, you'll be here when you will get here"

And just like that, Grimmerin canceled the call, Cinder sighs and rubs her eyes with her fingers. She gets up from the bed and picks up the bag.

"Cinder?" Emerald calls out.

"Grimmerin called me, I am going to meet her, taking the bag with me to the bathroom, she wanted something brought over"

"Oh... What are you going to do?"

"Adding more numbers to the ever-increasing score of Atlas victims to Grim's pallet"

In a random part of the city of Vale, horrific screams can be heard, which probably has woken up quite a lot of people from their peaceful slumbers.

"Not scary, can you imagine, me, ME?! How can I not be scary, I am the scariest bitch in this city, people should be afraid to even think of me, because by the Grimm help them, if their prayers don't find me instead" Grim rants to herself and the few fresh corpses around her, oh and the one still alive individual, being forced to look at all of it all, incapacitated in various ways.

Grim hears gurgling noises from the soldier, which causes her to look at him "I know, right? The audacity to say such a thing to my face"

Cinder jumps from the roof down to her, having dealt with two soldiers herself.

"And they aren't dead for saying that to you? That's a surprise" She quips, looking at the not-so-pretty sight around them.

"It was little Rose that did it" Grim answers her, still looking at the soldier, whose nose is bleeding, too little for her taste.

"Oh... You didn't rough her up even a small bit?"

"No, and you know why"

"I do, but..." Cinder trails off, not finishing her point.

Grimmerin finally stops looking at her victim and gazes at her accomplice instead.

"But what?"

"Nothing"

"But what?" Grim repeats herself.

"Fine, but you wanted to know, so don't blame me"

"Yeah, yeah, just tell me"

"I have a hunch, that you've changed somehow, since the last time you were out and about"

"i... Changed?" Grimmerin blinks in slight confusion, before shaking her head to get out of it and asking Cinder another question "How so?"

"Well, I know why you don't want to seriously hurt Ruby, but in the past, she would've not gotten away free with telling you that"

"Hmm... So what are you trying to say?"

"Tha-"

"That I've become soft? That I've become weak? That Crystal's little school adventures and my long break of not coming out made me tame?"

"Yes" Cinder states without a shred of fear in her voice.

"Nonsense, I mean, look at where we are right now, deep in blood, with bodies and their parts everywhere" Grim says turning her gaze away from Cinder and back at the victim.

"That's because all of them were strangers, nothings, but the few people from Beacon, have gotten themselves rooted, somewhere inside you and I don't mean Crystal, that's obvious, but you specifically"

"There's no way that's tru-"

Grim gets interrupted by Cinder "Have you noticed that you actually smile more whenever you're around them?"

With that question, Cinder receives only silence, so she continues.

"Now, of course, that's not because of 'good' feelings and such, but because you're not bored when with them, you're having fun. I bet that you haven't said that you're bored even once"

"But I don't care about them at all, if they died, I wouldn't bat an eye"

"Oh, absolutely, I believe that. But you don't go and actively try to hurt them, now do you? You can even take me as an example, just now I interrupted you, but you didn't even comment on it, the past you, would've at least told me off, if not just slap me, to begin with"

"I... That's because of Cry-"

"It isn't and you know it" Cinder interrupts Grim again, this time actually getting a glare from the Faunus, but it's not because of the interruption, but because Cinder didn't agree with her.

"If it were because of Foxie, you would've changed long before coming to Beacon, at least when it comes to me"

Cinder again is met with silence, but this time she decides to stop, not wanting to go too far, she was pushing it already.

"Anyways, you've said six people dead tonight, that has been arranged already, let's go" Cinder turns around preparing to go.

Grimmerin is still kneeling before the soldier, staring off to space, deep in thought.

"Not scary... Huh?" She mutters to herself "Oh, Crystal, you're awake" But she suddenly says loudly, snapping out of her daze. Cinder stops in her step and turns around.

"Oh, nothing much, me and Cinder are just here... Well, you see already, making some Atlesians disappear, just another night. Why? Because the Little Sister told me I am not scary, so I came out here to prove that statement wrong" To other people, if they were here, it would look as if she was talking to nothing, to somebody imaginary, but she's having a conversation with Crystal, who has finally gotten better, good enough to actively talk with Grim and not just make her head uncomfortable if she disagrees with something.

"What do you mea-" Grimmerin immediately stops talking to Crystal as she feels an arm grab her hand and a voice interrupting, her tails standing up straight.

Cinder seeing what happened can only shake her head and sigh, she turns around and starts leaving.

"P-p-ple-please... K-kil-" The Atlesian soldier tried to beg for death, only to never finish the sentence, as in quick movement, well, three of them which happened at the same time, he was gone, so he got his wish granted.

First, one of the tails grabbed his hand, quickly broke it, and bent it the other way. Second, Grim's hand, the one that wasn't touched and holding a knife, which went straight through his left eye, and third, the hand that was touched, grabbed the soldier's throat, squeezed it and just ripped it out.

"Do not interrupt me and more importantly. DO NOT TOUCH ME" Grim says darkly to the now seventh dead victim.

"It broke... Oh, well" Grimmerin says to herself and finally gets up to follow after Cinder, getting back to her quickly.

"It was supposed to be six" Cinder mentions.

"What can I say? Plans sometimes go awry"

"Mhm, so Crystal is finally okay?"

"Yes, more or less"

"Good"

The two jump on roofs, hiding in the dead of night, as a commotion finally starts surrounding their work, they almost were seen, usually, that wouldn't even be close to happening, but normally, they don't talk so much during it.

As the two are jumping over the roofs on their way back to Beacon, the calm silence gets broken and Cinder hears Grimmerin talk to her.

"I will think about it, what you've said earlier"

"Mhm, at least I know one thing that will most likely never change with you"

"Oh, yeah? And what's that?"

"Others getting their limbs broken when touching you without your permission"

"Ha, funny. You'd know all about that"

"Indeed, but at least you had the decency to only break one finger, not the whole hand"

"So true"

~ End of Chapter 26 ~