Disclaimer: RWBY Characters, places and terminologies with the exception of the Original Characters, belongs to Rooster Teeth Productions.

Three months passed since Beacon Academy was destroyed by hordes of Grimm by unknown causes. Some students survived the attack and succeed to escape from a tragic end while the rest fell victims from one of the most tragic events ever occurred in Remnant's history. Some teams were disbanded while others kept sticking together to help people. Without a clue of the former Beacon's headmaster, Professor Ozpin, the surviving students ended up doing huntsmen jobs like exterminating Grimm or helping defenseless settlements and villages.

Team CFVY was working together on the kingdom of Vale despite their odds. They were protecting a small town named Tint Hills which was inside of the Forever Fall region. Samsara, one of the most populated settlements was on the center of that region and the only place where is connected to other larger settlements through the use of the train owned by the Schnee Dust Company.

After two days of resupplying at Samsara, team CFVY was using the famous railway line to travel back to Tint Hills in the shortest amount of time while discussing the mysterious attacks occurred there for 2 weeks. Velvet Scarlatina, the bunny Faunus of the team, was sitting next to the window while admiring the bright colors of what Forever Fall is known for. Coco Andel, the fearless leader, was sitting right next to her while the other two male members: Fox Alistar and Yatsuhashi Daichi were sitting on the opposite side while guarding their supplies. Those two were always the Coco's mules to carry anything she buys, whether if it was her shopping bags or important equipment what they were in charge of.

"How long is gonna take us to the station? I skipped breakfast this morning." Fox communicated telepathically to his team. He lacked the energy to even talk.

"30 minutes left until we meet our destination," Yatsuhashi replied to his starving comrade.

"Mhh, I can't take any longer. Does this train offer snacks or something?"

"No, but I have a bag of chips with me. Want some?" The big guy pulled out his potato chips bag to share with his teammate.

"I guess that would do." Without complaining, Fox took some chips from the bag, but it wasn't nearly enough to satisfy his hunger. "Ugh, I will need more than that."

"You can take the whole bag; I have more in my backpack." Yatsuhashi gave the potato chips to Fox. He didn't mind to give a whole pack to a friend in need.

"Now that you are done talking about snacks, we still need to discuss those mysterious attacks from that place." Coco was the first one to speak about their job.

"I have to agree, it is quite intriguing that there are no signs of Grimm assaulting the area." The tallest member commented on his thoughts on the matter.

"What makes you think the attacks weren't caused by Grimm?" The Faunus girl asked about her teammate's theory.

"No Grimm would be that smart enough to attack without causing any major damage and leaving without people noticing them. Those things are nothing but beasts." Fox remarked about those creature's intelligence.

"Yatsuhashi and Fox are right, it is impossible for those monsters to be the cause of the attacks. I can assume that either bandits or the White Fang would be responsible for all that mess." The leader was thinking about other possible causes.

"I doubt it was the White Fang because the reports about them inside the area were faint, also because there are Faunus people living in that town as well." The rust-colored member was handed a notebook about the Intel he got.

"These kinds of tactics are different than the usual ones they pull off. I don't see the purpose of attacking a humble town without any political influence to hold on with, that doesn't make sense." Velvet was lost in thought for a moment.

"My money is on the bandits. Those guys love to cause trouble wherever they go." Fox spoke with confidence.

"With higher Grimm activities on the last couple of months, bandits refused to leave their nests in order to protect themselves. They only sent hunting groups for food or ammunition." Yatsuhashi commented while reading Fox's notebook about the info.

"So we are still going in circles, huh?" Velvet and everyone else on the team fell silent without any more clues or ideas about the real reason for the attacks. That wasn't an easy task despite they promised to Tint Hills inhabitants about solving this mystery.

"Mhhh I guess there's no reason to think about this for the moment. We will keep investigating once we arrived there." Coco looked out of the window to see how close they were to reach their destination. "We are almost there, everyone!"

"I hope none of you forgot to recharge your Scrolls because of the trip from the station to Tint Hills in an hour longer." Yatsuhashi did a reminder to the other members about always checking their devices for emergencies.

"I didn't forget mine, this time at least." Velvet sounded a little embarrassed.

"Oh come on! That was just once I forget to recharge it." Fox looked annoyed at that statement.

"And that one time we thought you died when we tried to communicate with you," Coco commented in her usual deadpan tone.

"It wasn't my fault I was stuck in a cave when an Ursa pack chased us during our first mission!" Fox tried to defend his point.

"Sure, it wasn't," Coco replied with the same tone.

Everyone carried their belongings while leaving the train. The road from the station to Tint Hills was about an hour or so of walking. Lucky for them, they bought a wagon to transport their supplies without much difficulty. The downside is using the male members to pull the wagon while the females walk or sometimes sit on there. They brought food, ammunition, Dust, equipment and replacement part for their weapons, and Coco's new clothes.

"Is necessary all those clothes, Coco?" Fox asked his leader while raising an eyebrow.

"Of course it is. If we don't know how long we are going to stay until we discover the cause of those attacks, minus well bring more clothes with me."

"I don't think you need THAT many."

"Keep saying that or you will be the only one carrying everything until we are at Tint Hills." Coco lowered her shades while staring at Fox with a menacing look. Fox didn't say a single word after that.

After walking around for 20 minutes, Velvet felt in the down mood for some unknown reason. She was lost on the thought while the wagon from behind. That sudden change of mood on her made her teammates worried because they never saw her friend in low spirits since they studied at Beacon Academy. As a leader that cares for everyone, Coco decided to walk aside her Faunus friend and see what's on her mind.

"It's something wrong, Velvy?" The leader asked with a serious expression.

"Oh, it's nothing." Her response was a little low in volume.

"Don't give me that type of response; something is bothering you, isn't it?"

"It's nothing really. You are worried too much." Despite her modest tone, she wasn't in the best mood.

"Oh no Missy, something is clearly wrong with you. Tell me what is, you know you can depend on me."

"That is the problem; I depend too much on you. I feel useless because I can't do many fights like you or anybody else." Velvet's tone rose in the more upset mood, but she wasn't mad.

"I know your Semblance is kinda limited, but you are really important for us, fighting or not."

"But I don't like it; I want to fight more alongside you guys. I can only unleash my full potential for a couple of minutes as long I have enough pictures to copy your fighting skills." Velvet felt more desperate the more she expressed her concerns. "What would happen if none of you can fight anymore or I ended up by myself? I need to show more of my own power for real and not just copying the style from someone else."

"Velvet…I know it must be tough not being able to be flashy like us, but you already know that is why we are always here for you. You are like our little sister that needs to be looking out for." Coco's upbeat tone made some sort of effect on Velvet's mood. "Tell you what; we can start teaching you more impressive moves until we arrive at Tint Hills. Sounds good for you?"

"Yes, thank you for listening to me complaining, partner." Velvet did a small smile, at least bigger than earlier.

"I don't want to ruin the mood but you better check this out." Fox communicated telepathically with the female members to see something odd in front of them. Aside from the road was another wagon with broken boxes, everything looked destroyed with no one else around. Team CFVY drew their weapons as something on the road became dense.

"Keep your positions, everyone. Looks like the Grimm woke up earlier." Yatsuhashi was standing while holding his giant sword on guard.

"No kidding. Are those guys even needed sleep or something? Let's finish them right now. The sooner we are done, the earlier I can get something to eat." Fox took out his gauntlets with blades on each arm.

"I will treat you with something later, but for now…" As Coco kept talking while her purse transformed into a Gatling gun. "It's time for some morning exercises." She aimed with her weapon around the area while everyone stayed close to their wagon. They formed a circle while Velvet pulled out her 'weapon' while she stayed on the wagon.

There were Beowolves, Boarbatuskes, and Ursai packs surrounding them. They decided to draw them away from the road into the bright woods. Yastsuhashi started to charge towards some Ursa while doing big swings with his sword, cutting a lot of them in two with a single strike. Fox was agile about dodging and doing multiple slashes to some Boarbatuskes that were trying to do a spin attack. Coco shot larger bursts while Velvet was behind her leader, taking pictures from her teammates.

"There are a lot of them! This can be troublesome if more Grimm appear." The rust-looking huntsman yelled to the others while still fighting those creatures. "We need a plan and now!"

"Anything in mind, Coco?" Yatsuhashi was asking his leader while blocking attacks with his sword.

"I have one but I need Fox to go into the trees. Velvet, did you take enough pictures of Fox's fighting style?" Coco asked her Faunus partner while she stomped Beowulf's head, killing it instantly.

"Yeah, I have plenty why?" Velvet was curious about what Coco was planning to do.

"Fox!" The leader called the agilest member while he was dodging attacks. "You and Velvet go to the trees and cut some branches! Yatsu! Get to the center and hit the ground on my mark!"

"Got it!"

"Understood!"

Everyone took their respective positions as Coco was still pushing the monsters towards the woods. Fox and Velvet started to jump and hope on different trees while attracting the Grimm's attention. Yatsuhashi tried to lure some away of the wagon from the ground. Just like Coco's plan, they needed to keep defending and take some Grimm away from the road and take down most of them as much as possible.

Once farther, they started to carry out the plan, the members on the trees on the trees began to cut some branches. Velvet used a projection of Fox's weapons and she started to do the same thing. Coco was shooting some trees while unleashing red sap out of them. As for Yatsuhashi, he kept defending and slashing some Grimm by himself, but he was reaching the limit of his Aura.

"Get ready, everyone…!" Coco raised he left hand while everyone was looking for their leader. "NOW!" As soon she calls it, the tallest teammate stroke his sword against the ground, creating a shock-wave that made all loose branches and leaves to fall towards the Grimm. Fox and Velvet run on circles at high speed creating a small tornado that made some leaves and red sap getting mixed and sticky to the monsters, making them unable to see or react.

The Grimm got completely covered with both red sap and leaves, Yatsuhashi delivered the final blow by sending most of them flying away to the closest cliff. Team CFVY was victorious once more.

"Phew, that was better than expected…" Fox commented while wiping off some of that red sap out of his tonfas.

"Yeah, good thing that cliff was close to us. One more step and maybe we could end up in trouble." Yatsuhashi was looking at the cliff, the height was big and there was a river down on the bottom of them.

"Well, looks like we are done. We should go back to our wagon and…"

"Wait for a second, Coco. Did you hear that?" Velvet stopped her teammate while she started to hear with her bunny ears. Something wasn't quite right for them.

"Oh come on! We forgot one?" Fox complained in his mind while he got on his stance.

"Yeah but I don't know from where…" Velvet was still trying to look around in front of them, but there was nothing else visible.

"I can hear it as well…where it could be…?" Yatsahashi was getting on guard with his sword on the front. The noises got bigger by each second but no one could see where the remaining Grimm was.

"Everyone, keep the eyes open. It's most likely a Borbatusk." Coco was still aiming with her Gatling gun to all direction.

"How you can be so sure?" Velvet asked her leader.

"I can recognize the sound of one when it's charging an attack. Better keep moving." Coco started to walk slowly while focusing on their surroundings.

The pressure of not knowing the enemy position was enough to make them anxious about. They were apart from each other so it was easy for the last Grimm to make a surprise attack on anyone on the team. The tension was rising to the point they were getting paranoiac. The charger got louder and louder, so many bushes were shaking.

"I thought the only one remained!" Velvet was taking cover right behind Yatsuhashi.

"It looks like he brought some friends to the party." Coco said it is really snarky tone, but without stopping looking at the woods.

The noises stopped briefly, team CFVY stopped breathing so they can hear where they are. They finally came out of the bushes and there were 4 fully charged Boartuskes.

"There you are!" Fox jumped over one while doing multiple cuts go on the air.

"Guard!" Yatsuhashi repelled two of them, cutting them in half with a counter attack.

"Too slow piggy…" Coco just stepped aside like nothing, making the last one falling to the cliff. All remaining Grimm was finally defeated.

"That was too easy if you ask me." Fox sounded pretty confident from the last encounter.

"Yeah it was, at least was a good exercise." Yatsuhashi said it is rather a playful tone.

"Can you hear more, Velvy?" Coco asked her partner, she got nothing unusual.

"No, I think that's all of them." Velvet was trying to sense more in the area, absolutely nothing else around.

They kept walking to get back to their wagon; Fox and Yatsuhashi were going ahead while Coco and Velvet were following them from behind. They were getting pretty separated from each other until Velvet stopped for a moment.

'Oh no…' She was thinking, after hearing that noise again, one last Boarbatusk came out of the bushes; the trajectory was heading straight to Coco at full speed. Everyone got surprised and unable to react quickly. "Look out!" Velvet leaped towards her partner, pushing her aside and taking the impact instead.

"VELVEEEET!" Everyone yelled with horrified expressions, seeing the most valuable member got the worst of the Borbatusk's last stand.

Both the Grimm and Velvet went flying out of the cliff, landing on the strong stream of the river. It was impossible for the team to pinpoint where the member landed, whether she survived or not. She was completely lost out of everyone sight. Both sad and angered, Coco wanted to jump into the river, but she was stopped by her teammates.

"What are you doing!? Let me go!" She tried to shake them off, still with the desire to jump and save her partner.

"No! You can't do something so reckless like that!" Fox was trying to reason with her leader, she was almost out of control.

"She saved my life! I can't leave it like that!"

"No, this is not like you, Coco!" Yatsuhashi was holding his leader by the arms. "You can't risk your own life like that!"

"Don't you care about her!?" She was looking at both with a really menacing expression, her shades were falling.

"We DO care about Velvet, but we need to think this rationally." Fox's words made some sort of effect on Coco's attitude. "You are better than this, and you really know about it."

"Look, she didn't land on the ground like those Grimm down there. She is mostly safe in water or something." Yatsuhashi was trying to make some assuring words. "We should go back to Tint Hills first and then start looking for her, got it?"

"Mhhhhh…" Coco was out of words, for the first time that her teammates refused to follow orders from her. The tallest member released her so she could take deep breaths and clear her mind. After a couple of seconds, she recovered her usual cool and collected attitude. "Alright then, we should go back and think our next course of action. I don't want to accept that she just decided to risk herself to save me." She sighed. "I swear that we will find her, even to the end of the days." After hearing their confident leader, the guys nodded firmly in agreement and kept walking back to the wagon. Coco was still close to the cliff, looking at the surroundings of Forever Fall, worried about her partner. "I hope you are alright, Velvet. I will do everything to find you." She turned around and went back with the others, walking straight and determined.

It was already night, the cricket noises were engulfing the woods. Velvet started to regain consciousness, as she noticed that got a blanket all over her. There was a campfire close to her, and the young Faunus looked confused about how she came there in the first place. The more she looked around, there was a man sitting looking away from the fire, busy with something else.

Velvet began to move slowly in order to reach her backpack, trying to not make too many noises. It was odd of what that man wanted with her, he must be dangerous or something. She was extending her right hand close to her backpack until something caught her off guard.

"I wouldn't do that if I was you, Miss." The man spoke, his tone was softer, maybe younger. Velvet froze for a moment. He didn't turn his back while kept busy maintaining his weapon. Out of nowhere, he pulled out his pistol and shot close to Velvet's hands, making her jump backward away from the backpack.

"Whoa! Are you trying to kill me!?" Velvet asked the mysterious man.

"Mhh? Take a look, and you will know why." He still didn't turn his head to her.

Velvet got close to her backpack, noticing something odd over her belongings: There was a snake with a wound from the gunshot right through its throat, it was a clean shot.

"H-How!?" She was so amazed at how he was able to land a perfect shot without even looking at what was behind him.

"Nothing special, just these…" He was pointed to the side of his head; Velvet looked closely and saw he was wearing glasses with small mirrors on the sides. "One more sudden movement or you almost got bitten by it."

'That explains a lot' that was the only thing she got on her mind. She looked completely confused about how she was there in the first place. "What do you want from me?" She asked the stranger.

"Absolutely nothing, we found you unconscious on the river." He spoke without still looking at her.

"We!?" She looked surprised as she noticed that he wasn't completely alone. That is until they started to hear someone coming towards them, it was another man.

He looked pretty slim and tall, his skin was dark but not as much as Fox. He was smiling from ear to ear as he was walking towards the stranger and talked with an excited mood.

"Yo, partner! Look what I got!" He started to show a jar full of plants, the stranger didn't look pleased about it.

"Ace, how many times do I have to tell you?" His tone became even more serious, probably upset about it. "Those plants are poisonous, I asked you to bring the ones with blue leaves, not purple."

"How do I suppose to know that? I'm not good with nature as you, you know?"

"It doesn't matter, that is why I told you a specific color instead of names in the first place." The stranger started to examine the jar in detail, his mood changed pretty fast. "At least we can use it as anti-venom."

"So are we cool, partner?"

"Sure." The stranger's tone sounded dull.

As those men stopped talking, the cheerful one started to look at Velvet, getting pretty close to her. "Ah, so you are finally awake…" He sounded flirty towards her. "Sorry for the first impression, we don't get friendly people around this area that often…mostly ladies." He started to make a charming smile to the Faunus.

"Who are you guys?" Velvet asked them in a really confused manner, at least she was no longer afraid of them.

"Oooooh sorry, where are my manners?" The second man cleared his throat like he was about to do a speech. "My name is Ace Clover or just Ace for you, at your service." He bowed in a formal manner like he was on stage. "This guy behind me is my partner in the business, Kingston Diamo."

"Or just Diamo, either way, is fine by me." The guy started to turn around and finally showing himself, he looked pretty young too. He was wearing a pair of glasses and carrying a sniper-rifle over his laps, doing some maintenance. "Sorry for the scare from earlier, but you should look carefully your surroundings next time." Diamo said it with a pretty cold tone.

"It is fine; I'm really impressed by your aim." Velvet felt more assured of those two strangers, never thought she would find someone as friendly as them on the wild. "And thanks for saving me."

"Nah it's not a problem, Miss... uh… what is your name?" Ace fell in silence as he couldn't address her properly.

"Velvet Scarlatina, nice to meet you." She stood up and presented herself in a more formal manner. "What are you doing camping in the middle of the woods?"

"We are just travelers, nothing else." Ace was the one speaking, as Diamo was in silence while still maintaining his weapon. "What about you? What happened before we found you on the river?"

"Oh… umm, I was traveling with my team, but we got ambushed by Grimm…" Velvet sounded a little embarrassed about what happened today.

"Team…? Oh, are you Huntsmen?" Ace sounded as excited as Velvet could see sparkles in his eyes. "That's so cool!"

"Huh? Aren't you Huntsmen too?"

"Nope… still, what kind of weapon is that what you were carrying with you?" Ace was examining Velvet's weapon while holding it with both hands. "It's that a camera?"

"Yes, that is my weapon…" She couldn't stop looking at Ace how fascinated was with her weapon.

"…But how is it work? I don't see a way to…"

"Ace, that's enough." The guy with glasses interrupted Ace, with his usual stoic tone. "I should apologize to him; he gets so overly excited by a lot of things, even the most mundane ones."

"Oh, are you saying that making new friends is a bad thing, partner?" Ace used his sarcastic tone, but not in a rude way.

"No, but we should not ask too many questions on every girl you meet."

"Oh come on… why you have to be so moody about everything?" As he kept opening his mouth, Ace sat next to Velvet. "So, what are you gonna do now, honey-bunny?"

"Please, don't call me like that…" Velvet blushed as she never felt so welcomed by a stranger due to her race. "…I think I have to return with my team."

"Well, it's too dark to go all by yourself. I suggest you leave in the morning."

"I guess that's a good option, but where am I exactly?" Velvet started to look confused while she looked at the environment around her.

"What was the last place you were?" Ace asked her.

"Well, the most I can recall…we were traveling from a train station of Samsara to Tint Hills…" Velvet was trying to explain, it caught the attention of those two travelers.

"Tint Hills…? Ace, do you have the map with you?" Diamo asked in a nasty tone.

"Huh? Oh sure, take a look." Ace handed over the map; it was made of paper instead of using a Scroll. "Let me see…Samsara is there, right on the corner of Forever Fall. Where exactly is located Tint Hills, Velvet?" The cheerful traveler asked the Faunus.

"Around here…" She pointed out almost out of the border of the map; it was really far from where they were camping at the moment. They were on the opposite side of the area.

"Well…it is pretty far, that's for sure." Ace's expression became serious, as he didn't like the distance between them and any other settlement or city.

"Can you communicate with them, Miss Scarlatina?" Diamo asked Velvet, she just realized that she got her Scroll in her backpack.

As she was checking her backpack, she noticed that her Scroll stopped working, due to the water and rocks that broke the device, she got disappointed.

"Well, that sucks…" Ace commented.

"May any of you could lend me any Scroll of yours?"

"Sorry, but our Scrolls are out of battery. We were traveling for a while." The guy with glasses commented.

"So how I'm supposed to get back with them?" Velvet started to get out of options.

"Mhhh…I know!" Ace stood up while looking excited. "We can escort you back to Samsara and maybe communicate with your team from there."

"What!?" Both Diamo and Velvet sounded shocked at hearing that.

"Huh? Is it that bad?"

"Yes it is Ace, we can't take her there, and we have more important matters." Diamo sounded serious, almost terrified. "Besides, Miss Scarlatina isn't fully agreed about…"

"Actually…" Velvet interrupted to the cold sniper. "I would like some help to get back."

"See!? She needs our help." Ace was gleeful that the Faunus considered the offer.

"Sorry, but I must refuse." Diamo stopped maintaining his gun while crossing his arms in disagreement. "Are you forgetting why we come here? We cannot get sidetracked but trivial matters."

"Oh come on partner! We cannot let a damsel in distress alone in the woods when there is Grimm roaming around."

The sniper didn't pay attention to what Ace said. "I'm so sorry, but we have a business to do. You can sleep here at least only this night. We are going on our separate ways in the morning."

"I…I can understand it…" Velvet was really disappointed about it.

Ace was sitting with the crossing arms, trying to think a better solution as he doesn't like the idea of leaving someone in the wild and risking her own life. He was sure that convincing someone as strictly serious like Diamo could be hard bending some rules. The jovial guy finally got an idea

"Hey, partner…" Ace made a devilish smile. "How good are we on ammo and food?"

"We…are pretty low in actuality." Diamo took his glasses to wipe off the dirt on it, thinking about their limited resources.

"How about this…?" Ace focused his sight at Velvet. "We will help you to reunite with your team if you can give us some supplies. What do you think? It is a win-win deal. Don't you think so too, partner?" He was doing some puppy eyes to the sniper.

"I guess we can't do anything until we get more supplies and continue with our trip. Besides, we are low in lien anyways…." Diamo was lost in thought, calculating their possibilities of survival. It sounded like a risky move to help a bystander without a plan but hoping to at least get something in return. "Well, we can do some business with you, Miss Scarlatina. We are going to take you to Samsara, under the condition that you must be able to defend yourself. Quite simple considering that you are a Huntress."

"That is not a problem for me…" As long as Velvet can copy their skills, she is perfectly capable to fight back.

"Well that settles it, we should go to sleep and prepare for tomorrow." Diamo said as he put his weapon aside while taking his sleeping bag.

"Finally, no more boring days!" Ace was accommodating his sleeping bag while still being close to the campfire. "Don't worry Velvet, we are going to find your teammates, I promise."

"Thank you so much." After Velvet was done thanking them, she took some blanks and started to sleep. The sky was full of stars; she never thought that Forever Fall had such a beautiful night. 'I hope the others are alright.' She was thinking while looking at the sky. Velvet couldn't sleep for tomorrow's long journey, as she didn't know what waits for them on the road.

"Oh almost forgot…" Ace said while looking on one of the pockets from his coat, he threw an amulet to Velvet. "Take this, is a dream-catcher."

"Why you are giving me this?" Velvet asked in concern tone.

"I know how it feels to being away from friends; this should help you to sleep better at least."

"Thanks…Good night, Ace." She was able to finally close her eyes, feeling safe to sleep.