Welcome Home

False Reality

I could not believe how late it was in Vale when we returned. Landing the ship most likely woke everyone sleeping in the dorms up. We disembarked Kane's ship and I ordered the Tone and the Scorch over to the other Titans. As the Titans became aquainted to each other, I heard Viper land my ship on the roof. He walked through the door a minute later. "Viper, Kane, do me a favor. Set up the sim pods for tomorrow and give three of them admin rights. We're gonna call it a night," I said.

"Got it. Come back at noon. We'll start pilot training then," Viper informed.

"Great. See you both in the morning."

My team and I exited the warehouse and started walking towards our dorm. I saw a crow cawing above us and tried to keep calm. It seemed to be flying aimlessly and it made no attempt to come down. After I convinced myself it was not Qrow and just a normal bird, I resumed a normal pace. We quietly entered the dorm building, making as little sound as possible. If someone walked through a connecting hallway, Emerald made them think they saw nothing. We entered our room and shut the door quickly. I let out a sigh of relief. "Go to bed now, guys. Pilot training is very taxing on the mind and body, so you need to be well-rested. Training starts at noon tomorrow. You'll have to change into your suits in warehouse before we start. Viper, Kane, and myself will show you how to do everything," I told my team.

I shed my jumpsuit and put on sweats, falling asleep instantly. I hope my team did the same, for their own sake.

—-(timeskip of 12 hours)—-

"Get up, guys. Pilot training starts in three hours," I ordered.

"Five more minutes..." Mercury grumbled.

I shoved him out of his bed. "No. Get changed and we'll head to breakfast. That goes for all of you. And remeber, tell NOBODY. Not team RWBY. Not team JNPR. Not teachers. No one can know you guys are pilots until the IMC strikes. Clear?"

"Clear," Ilia responded, reloading her whip with electricty dust.

"Well, at least it is to one of you. Come on, let's get to breakfast." I attatched my weapons to my back and holstered my pistols. After sheathing my data picks, I opened the door and my team filed out. We walked the short distance from our dorm to the cafeteria and opened the door. It was pretty crowded, for 9:30 on the weekend. We got our breakfast and sat at a table with team RWBY. As usual, my team interacted with RWBY while I stayed silent. I waited for my team to finish eating before we left to meet Viper and Kane in the warehouse.

As we stood up, Ruby spoke. "Hey, wait! Are you guys free later? Maybe we could go into the kingdom or something."

"Sorry, we're kinda booked," Emerald replied. Blake shot her a look of disbelief.

I looked at Emerald with a look as if to say 'you better make up a damn good excuse.'

"We have... a lot of homework. Yeah."

"How is that possible?" Wiess asked. "We have the same classes, and, therefore, the same homework."

"I got assigned those extra readings by Oobleck, remember?" Mercury covered.

"And I need to discuss some things with some friends of mine," I said.

"Ya could've just said 'no,'" Ruby said quietly.

"Sorry, guys. We'll be free tonight. Maybe we could go into the kingdom and grab dinner?" I asked.

"Okay! We'll see you guys then!" Yang exclaimed.