A Parallel Reality - RWBY

Chapter 5: Soon to be Vytal

- Forever Fall, some time later... -

An overhead shot of a forest bustling with red leaves and gray trunks is seen as the camera descends and shows Glynda leading teams RWBY, JNPR, and CRDL through the area, with team MGMW trailing behind.

"Yes, students, the forest of Forever Fall is indeed beautiful. But we are not here to sight-see. Professor Peach has asked all of you to collect samples from the trees deep inside this forest, and I'm here to make sure none of you die while doing so." Professor Glynda told the students.

"Forever Fall... It's been a while." Wisteria said to herself with a tone of melancholy.

"You've been here before?" (Gareth) asked Wisteria who nodded.

"Yeah. Quite a bit, actually." Wisteria said, confirming. "This is where my biological mother used to train me and where my adoptive mother educated me. It's also here where I learned a lot about Grimm." She added.

"Wow. You must have a lot of practical experience with Grimm, huh?" Millaray commented.

"Not really. More like controlled experiments." Wisteria said absentmindedly which caught the attention of her team.

"Experiments?" (Gareth) inquired, confused at her choice for a word. Wisteria's eyes briefly widened before she quickly recomposed herself.

"Oh, it's nothing. Terrible analogy." Wisteria waves it off as she walked ahead of the team. The three looked at each other, but said nothing before following behind.

"Each of you is to gather one jar's worth of red sap. However, this forest is full of the creatures of Grimm, so be sure to stay by your teammates. We will rendezvous back here at 4 o'clock. Have fun!" Glynda instructed the teams. Team MGMW take out their borrowed jars.

"Alright. Let's get to work." (Morado) said to the team who agreed.

With their assigned tools, the various teams in the field trip start to gather the sweet sap from the trees. They try to find the suitable trees for harvesting the viscous liquid and once they have found their ideal tree trunks, they immediately got to work, with some of them finishing quickly due to the amount of sap that their particular trees excreted.

Team MGMW somehow got the short end of the stick, however, as their chosen trees were slow to grant them the sap. All but Wisteria, that is. After the purplish-blue haired girl closed her full jar, she looked behind her and noticed that her other teammates were going slow — not that it's their fault. Wisteria just giggled to herself.

Suddenly, something called out to Wisteria. She turned to look towards the source and while there is no one there, she knows that she is there. No one but only she heard it through her mind.

Setting her jar down, she silently went further the forest on her own and without informing anyone. She slipped past everyone before disappearing into the trees.

(Gareth) finally finished filling up his jar after an agonizing amount of time, not noticing that his partner left. He closed his jar just as he noticed Glynda walking towards them.

"Professor Goodwitch." (Gareth) greeted her. Glynda stayed silent, observing his team for a moment before speaking.

"Hmm... I don't see your partner anywhere." Glynda said, confusing him.

"What? She's—" (Gareth) pointed towards where he last saw Wisteria only to find no one there. "... right there. Huh?"

"I trust that you and your partner are on good terms, Mister Lionel?" Glynda questioned (Gareth), thinking that they may not have been in good terms for Wisteria to leave so abruptly and without notice.