Those familiar, yet foreign silver eyes. They were filled with so much fear and relief. All and all those horrifically scared eyes were filled with mixed emotions. When he saw them, something lost its grip. It was like he could think clearly again. However, it came with a price.

Regret, is that what he felt? He had no idea. For a whole year and six months, he had dreams. Dreams of her dreams of the times when all of this didn't start. Even if all of this didn't happen. But, he wasn't dreaming right now. The man laid in his bed, staring at the surrounding darkness. He slowly blinked, listening to the faint, slowed breaths of the woman next to him.

Cinder.

The woman who started it all. She made him be who he was today. She helped destroy his friendship with Ruby. She helped him through his arriving insanity.

Please.

If anything, she helped him come to terms with insanity. What sane person would betray the girl who helped raise him? What sane person would lie, cheat, nearly kill and rape his 'friends'? He was no sane 'person', that's for damn sure.

Cinder put him through good and bad times. She infused Dust into him, made him 'date' Weiss Schnee and then, somehow managed to fall in love with him.

After the Breach, they're time together only seemed to make they're bond stronger, they felt like a 'normal' couple instead of two psychopathic terrorists. The boy never thought that he'd be in love, let alone be in love with the resident maiden.

"Why can't I sleep?" The boy twisted his neck to glance at Cinder. The woman was sleeping with a small, faint smile on her face. The boy sighed and sat up, shaking off his shared covers and sitting upright. He clicked his tongue when he noticed the small faint orange light in the palm of his left hand. He stood and walked out of the bedroom, ignoring the shifting within the bed. Walking into the hallway, the boy rubbed his eye, turning left he stepped out and onto a balcony.

The boy boringly stared out into the city of Mistral. Cinder wanted to flee here while they planned they're new 'objectives'. In the meantime, she'd hide him here. But she wanted to stay like this, content and without causing any more violence… that wasn't the Cinder he met. Mistral was almost like home base for Cinder. She had her own place and everything, it surprised the boy greatly, a perfect place to hide the tyrant maiden and her pet.

That's all he was. A glorified pet. Cinder would say differently.

The boy exhaled, noticing frost leave his lips. He always forgot. Side effects. One of the problems of constantly injecting different types of Dust repeatedly. The injectors that he used were supposed to extract the Dust in his blood in quick succession, however, that wasn't the case and small amounts of Dust flowed within his bloodstream.

The boy glanced at his hand, scanning the light dark appendage. He then closed his hand as if he was holding something small, and watched as the small icicle melted and churned into a small burning fire. He watched the flame flicker and softly lick his hand, acting as the flames kiln. The flame gave a low orange glow that increased and decreased in light.

The boy thought back to Ruby's face on the day he visited her. She seemed so terrified, and to be honest could he blame her? He was a deranged, murderous psychopath when he met her. Now… now he was just a void, sad and pathetic husk of a man. No real goals besides stay alive. 'All I have to live for really is… well…' "What are you doing up?" 'I guess her…'

The boy slowly craned his neck to look left, noticing a small hand reach across his arm and to his hand. The boy snuffed out the flame so he didn't burn her and glanced into the maiden's eyes. "Just some trouble sleeping…" His voice was low, more matured.

"Do you want to talk about it?" The woman whispered in his ear, moving closer and using her other hand to trace his shoulder. "Or forget about it?" He was not in the mood for what she had in mind. Which was strange, he was mostly in the mood.

"No, Cinder. Not now, go back to bed. I'll join you in a second." The woman frowned, whatever was bothering him was starting to bother her.

"Gray, tell me about it."

"It's nothing, just leave me alone." This was starting to annoy him.

"Gray just tell me, I want to hel-"

"Cinder." She flinched and quickly stepped away from him. Her eyes were still closed, waiting for something. "Please, just go back to sleep." She slowly opened her eyes and nodded, walking away before stopping at the doorway to look at him. The familiar embers and burning fur flew away from the man and she quickly made her way to they're shared bedroom.

She was scared of him. Cinder Fall, the tyrant maiden… was scared of her nineteen-year-old lover, and she couldn't be more annoyed with herself. She loved the fool, truly she did, but he had these moments that made him terrifying. She was basically a goddess with the powers she had, and Gray was close to that same title. She could never hit Gray. Oddly enough, she was weak when it came to people so close to her, she tried making it impossible to get close but the boy weaseled in her walls. As she laid back into her bed, she thought.

She couldn't stay like this forever. Adam had more plans and she had to assist him. But, all she wanted was Gray now… and now he's been having these changes in emotion, she hated it.

All of it.

It infuriated her to no end, but what did she expect? She destroyed Vale, stole the powers of a Maiden and then broke her lover out of prison, mind you the prison was in Atlas, the lion's den. She couldn't have expected to live happily ever after, no… she'd be insane. But no one ever said that she was levelheaded. It wasn't long till she heard Gray's footsteps, and she quickly turned to her side and shifted to the edge of the bed, she didn't want to start an argument and she really didn't want that to happen again. She felt the covers lift up and down, as well as shifting within the bed. Large arms snaked under and over her, pulling her towards the center. Cinder gasped when she felt Gray against him, his body felt cold and hot at the same time.

"I'm sorry, Cinder. I'm just going through some things." She smiled to herself and turned to look at Gray. She then moved on top of him and cupped his cheek.

"It's okay, Gray. You know I love you, right?" She whispered in his ear, softly kissing his neck.

"Yeah, I love you too." He embraced the woman and pulled her into a kiss. He trailed his hand up and down Cinder, so painfully slow. He then pulled away, much to Cinder's annoyance and pulled her to his side. She moved close to him, a hand resting on his light brown chest and her head rested on the boy's shoulder. She seemed much happier. The boy snaked an arm underneath her and wrapped it around the woman's waist. The woman wiggled to get a bit closer and softly kissed his cheek.

"Please, never leave me." She whispered. The boy's face was a blank page as Cinder fell asleep. He didn't know what will happen. Ever since Ruby's visit he's had two voices in his head. He didn't know what to do, or what to do in the future.

He didn't even know if he felt the same.

"You're leaving?" She asked. How? Why? Why would Weiss leave her?

"I-I'm sorry Ruby, but I have no choice." The heiress' voice, still so fragile and hushed. "My, my father he-he-he's taking me away. He said that I recovered from most of the damage Gray did to me." She stuttered and lightly touched her cheek, feeling her brand. The 'G' on her face had healed nicely, but there was no way in hell that it was going to heal to the point where it will disappear. Weiss' ice blue eyes were filled with hot tears. "But Ruby I don't want to leave! He doesn't understand what Gray did to me mentally! Even when he came here while I was asleep!" Not too long after Ruby's unexpected arrangement with Gray, the younger told Weiss what had happened. She was shocked beyond belief and terrified. Just when she thought she was safe here... her nightmare had came here while she was sleeping and completely vulnerable. "I'm terrified to leave with, thi-thi-this on my face! A Schnee can't look like this! A Schnee can't be branded like some animal!" Ruby's eyes widened as Weiss sobbed.

Another breakdown of sorts.

"I don't want to leave! I can't leave! I'm still broken! I need help! Let me stay here! I wanna stay here! It's not fair!" She screamed to herself, clutching her head. Ruby stumbled towards Weiss and embraced her. The younger rubbed Weiss' back and calmly soothed the unstable heiress. "... Please... let me stay here... I don't want to leave Ruby... I can't do this alone..."

"It's ok Weiss. You'll get through this. We've been through too much to lose it now. I need you just as bad as you need me. Sadly, we'll be separated but do this." Ruby held the sniveling girl by her shoulder. "Whenever something is wrong, whenever you're scared, alone, nervous, whatever... just think of me. No matter what I'll protect you. Nothing can touch you. You're my partner. My strong, thoughtful, caring, hurt partner." Ruby then lightly held Weiss' head and pulled her close. She lightly kissed Weiss' forehead before pulling away.

"Thank you, Ruby... I-I-I-I have no words." Ruby then pulled Weiss into another hug as the heiress held on to her.

The young leader awoke, sighing and rubbing her eyes. That was fifteen months ago. Oh, how she missed Weiss. Her partner. Her crush. Her rock. Ruby was an unstable mess after Weiss' departure. And the heiress hadn't contacted her in forever. Ruby felt forgotten, abandoned. The leader was sad and alone. She chuckled dryly when she thought about her title.

Leader.

The word would make you think she's the greatest, confident, caring, outgoing, trusting and so on. She wasn't confident. She wasn't outgoing. She didn't even know where the hell her 'team' was! She wasn't there to save her best friend, she wasn't there to save help her sister. Damn it, she wasn't there to save Weiss, Ironwood, Qrow, Ozpin! She tried to help, she did! She tried with Yang, but her sister wasn't having it. She tried with Weiss and she did some good. She tried with Blake but it seemed that the Faunus was avoiding her.

The girl rose from her bed and sauntered to her bathroom thinking about Cinder. She stole Gray from her. She made Gray into a murderous terrorist. She killed Gray. Murdered him. She killed her best friend and put that monster in his body. Ruby was losing hope of Gray being salvageable, able to be saved. But that hope came back when he visited. That visit confirmed that Gray was still in there somewhere, lost and most likely afraid.

And she'll save him. She'll leave tonight.

Not too long after Gray's visit Ruby talked to her uncle, who was readying himself for a hunt. A hunt for Gray. Ruby had somehow managed to convince Qrow into taking her with him, along with a few others, the remnants of team JNPR. The three had agreed to come with them, wanting vengeance, neither of them cared for Gray.

They wanted Cinder dead and out of the question. They had an issue, though. Ruby had to sneak out of her home, without anyone knowing. Meaning, she had to run away. She thought about it for a while… is this even a good idea? Will it be worth it? Can she convince Gray? She didn't know. And she sure as hell couldn't know. But she had to try, deep down that broken shell of a man was her old friend, and he needed saving, he needed help.

Ruby wanted to do this but, a thought of her family crossed her mind. What will Yang think? What about her father? Will he be mad at her? Will he even go looking for her? The girl shook her head. Of course, he would. The thing is, will he forgive her? Qrow didn't tell Taiyang his plan with Ruby, why would he? 'Hey, I'm gonna take your daughter to go find her old friend!' That was bound to end in disaster.

A familiar beeping broke Ruby away from her past. Searching for the noise the girl found it to be her Scroll, and she received a message. From Qrow.

Q: We're outside. Hurry, before your father wakes up.

With that, the broken leader dressed herself slipping into new clothes and leaving her old attire behind. As she grabbed Crescent Rose, she scanned around the room. Toys and action figures of Grimm were scattered throughout. The leader recalled a memory when she played in here with Gray and Yang when they were kids. She'll bring him back. He may not come willingly but…

She was sure to take risks.

Opening a window within her room, Ruby took one last glance at her room. She wouldn't be seeing it anytime soon. Slipping through, her feet crunched on the pure white snow. Closing the window, she walked around her home and soon found Qrow and the rest of JNPR. Smiling, Ruby walked towards Qrow and embraced him. "Hey, Little Rose. How ya doin'?" That nickname… it caused her to sigh.

"I'm fine. Are we ready to go?" Ruby questioned while glancing over the faces of the group. Jaune and Nora had soft smiles on their faces but, they were pretty hard to see. The four all nodded and Ruby nodded as well. "Well, let's get going. It's gonna take a while to get to Mistral, we should get moving."

G.

She never thought a letter could intimidate and fill her with so much fear. She never thought that a letter would be painfully burned into her face, open for the world's eyes to see. She never thought that Atlas could be filled with so much fear. All because of him. It was because of him that she was here, staring at a memorial.

She walked along a wall that had around forty names engraved on it. The forty lives lost when Gray escaped. She glanced along the wall burning every single name into her mind. How could a now, nineteen-year-old, do all of this? How insane does someone have to be to brand another human being?

She was pathetic.

She expected her father to say that, that what she thought she was anyways. 'No. You're wrong Weiss. Remember what Ruby said.' Ruby… Weiss had missed her partner dearly but, they had to be separated even though they hated the idea. The heiress still couldn't look at herself with just a… deformity on her face, hence why she covered her face with a pure white scarf. It didn't make her stand out or anything, scarfs were a common thing to see in Atlas due to its weather.

The scarf covered her face up until her nose, hiding her brand. But, even though it was hidden, she still thought people could see it like it was being showcased. The heiress could never be in public any longer than an hour. It was sad, to be honest. Whenever she had to participate in a meeting with her father and the family company, she couldn't stay for long, even if something covered her face. She hated being so self-conscious.

God, she missed Ruby.

Her little leader is sixteen now. She's probably doing some Ruby-related, trying to cheer her poor sister up. Speaking of sisters… Weiss had heard about Winter and her little fight with Gray. The woman handled herself greatly, but even that wasn't enough. Gray was a tricky bastard, he almost killed Winter.

Almost.

Winter had escaped the destroyed prison along with Qrow, General Ironwood, and Professor Goodwitch, albeit barely. The Dust explosion was humongous, they all barely lived due to they're Aura's. Weiss shook her sister out of her thoughts as she exhaled, seeing her breath rise and fly away from her.

Now was a good time to go home. She was feeling anxious. Weiss walked back the way she came, albeit in a rush. She had heard that Gray and Cinder had escaped Atlas and retreated to some other place, nowhere near Weiss. That's all she really cared about. The farther that psychopath was from her, the better. The heiress arrived at the small limo that she showed up in. She climbed inside, meeting the gaze of her driver.

"Are you finished with your work, Miss Schnee?"

"Yes…" She said. "Can we go back to the Manor please?"

"Of course, Miss Schnee." With that the car began to lurch forward, it's destination Schnee Manor.

It didn't take long for her to arrive, a fifteen-minute drive. Weiss climbed out of the limo and quietly thanked the driver. She quickly rushed inside before speed walking towards her room, hiding her face from the resident workers. "Weiss." No… she didn't want to talk. All she wanted was to go to her room and hide as pathetic as it sounded.

"Y-yes? Father?" She didn't want to look into his gaze, so judging at least that's what she thought.

"Where were you today?"

"I went to visit the newly built Memorial." She could basically feel her father's eyes on her.

"So be it. Continue with what you were doing." Weiss thanked her father and rushed to her room, closing her door. Alone, at last, but also regrettably. The heiress she'd her clothes and scarf, holding the piece of fabric.

The scarf was her only protection from her weakness. That 'G'.

She hated it. The girl sat down on her bed grabbing her scroll. She lied on her side and activated it before looking at pictures.

Her and Ruby.

This picture was taken around the start of the year. Ruby had her arm around Weiss' neck and the other held the scroll. Weiss had her arms folded and she pouted, but she had a glint of happiness in her eyes. She scrolled through more until she landed on another.

She wished she hadn't.

Those strong arms around her waist, the familiar snicker. That midnight black eye, and the light dark skin. It was a picture of Weiss and Gray, when they were… 'together'. They both had smiles on they're faces, happy. The boy held the scroll and it was just barely in front of his face, but you could barely see his smile.

How?

How did he change so violently? How did Gray transform into that monster that branded her. This picture it… it bothered her, it hurt to look at it. Weiss looked through more, growing more upset.

Another picture. Gray smiling in her hair while Weiss blushed faintly due to the picture

Another picture. Weiss is laughing along with Gray.

Another… Gray was on the ground with a faint blush on his face and Weiss snickered at him.

Another picture… this one drove the nail in the coffin. Gray held Ruby on his shoulders, the girl having the happiest look ever. Yang was in the middle of the picture along with Blake. Yang poked her tongue out and held a peace sign, while Blake simply smiled. Lastly, Weiss smiled warmly at the picture next to Gray and Ruby. Tears slipped from her eyes, her hand clenching tightly on her scroll. Her knuckles ached as she sniffed.

She couldn't see them again. As badly as she wanted to… she couldn't. They probably didn't want to see her either way. Maybe Ruby but… she didn't know about Blake or maybe Yang. Then there was him. Ruby told her that Gray spared both of them, almost like he gave up. She was hopeful, ecstatic even. There was a chance, a small chance that she could get Gray back.

There was a chance that she could end this madness.

Weiss hoped that Ruby wouldn't do what she thought the leader would do. 'She'd get herself killed. There's no stopping that monster.' Weiss shivered. 'Stay safe Ruby…'

"Please don't do anything you'll regret."

She remembered the memory well. Too well. She mastered the environment around her, the fire, the cracking, the pools of blood that littered the once great cafeteria of Beacon. Then there was them.

Weiss. She knew every single detail of the heiress. The dried blood that was stuck on her dress and hair. The horrific bruises and cuts on her skin. And that brand, it looked so evil, so excited from it's birth. It looked so content.

She then noticed the bastard that gave Weiss said brand. Fire engulfed one of his arms as he stared at her, an excited psychopath with the smile of a three-year-old. His midnight black eye was just a void, nothing, emotionless in a way.

She then felt angry. She was fuming about what the bastard did to Weiss, she was furious about Blake, and she was fucking pissed that Gray had changed so drastically. She charged him and Gray charged back. She ignored Blake's pleads and smashed her fist into Gray, the punch launched the asshole into the air.

She then charged her next victim, this mysterious black and red guy. She leaped into the air and this is when it happened.

This was the moment when her life was over.

This was the part of the memory that she remembered clearly.

The embers flying by her angered face, the face of her terrified partner, the small grin the black and red guy had on his face. She remembered the random increase of speed that she didn't expect. Finally, she remembered the loud slice that rang in her ears.

And that's when she woke up. Gasping, Yang raked a hand through her hair, it was surely a mess due to her not taking care of it. Yang shook off her covers before sliding off her bed. Today was another day.

Another day of doing nothing. At least she still had her sister. Someone to listen to. After Gray's escape Blake vanished, and it angered the blonde. Why? Why would she leave her partner? Yang needed her but Blake was so focused on herself that she didn't notice!

Yang sighed. She couldn't blame her, after all Blake did tell her to run. But she didn't listen, and now, she was without an arm. The blonde walked out of her room and knocked on Ruby's door. After a minute of waiting the blonde wondered if her sister was still asleep. Slowly opening the door, Yang gasped.

A window in her room was open and Crescent Rose was nowhere to be seen. "Ruby?" Yang whispered. 'Oh no.' Yang sprinted out of the room to look for her sister, running out into the snow. She ignored the cold and franticly searched for her sister, only to see the white carpet that was snow. The blonde then ran back to the room, seeing if Ruby was hiding or something.

She found nothing.

Yang plopped on Ruby's bed terrified. Where did she go? Yang looked to her left and saw a little note. Grabbing it, she looked it over.

I'm sorry Yang, Dad. But, I know he can be saved. Please don't go looking for me, I'm not alone.

Love, Ruby

No… no… nononono! Why?! Why does she try so much?! The blonde knew that Gray was dead, after the fall of Vale, he was long gone! And yet…

Yang sighed, rubbing her face.

And yet, Ruby ran away from home to go on… on… this suicide mission to help 'save' her 'friend'. Yang had to do something, anything! She needed to save her sister from that monster!

But what will she do? What can she do? She didn't have an arm, Ember Cecilia was broken, and Ruby had a head start on her. Damn it, Yang didn't even know where to start! Maybe… maybe if she didn't push Ruby away, maybe she would've stayed.

Yang stood up and went to find her scroll, she needed to convince Ruby.

She needed to convince her that Gray won't come back.

He's dead.