"Yang."

"Oh, forget her. We've got to get going."

"We can't just leave her here. Not with what's happened."

"We need to move! Now! Waiting for Yang to wake up could take hours!"

"She'd probably... actually, I don't know how much pain she would inflict if you left her out of this."

Yang finally opened her eyes. "Oi! Would you three keep quiet? I'm trying to sleep!"

Blake sighed. "There's only two of us here, Yang."

Yang glanced around, still half asleep. She saw Blake and Weiss. "Where's Ruby?" She looked out the window to see nothing but black. "What time is it?"

Weiss was at the door, her hand on the knob. She looked ready to run around the school for a few hours. "It's two in the morning, and we haven't seen Ruby since classes ended. We were about to go out looking for her, but Blake wanted a third person for the search party."

Yang shot out of her bed and got dressed, finishing by equipping Ember Celica. "Who saw her last?"

Blake raised her hand. "Of us, I think I did. We should wake team JNPR and ask them."

"And waste more time?" Weiss opened the door and stepped out. "We should have already left!"

Yang nodded to Blake. "You go get them. I'll make sure Weiss doesn't get lost."

Blake shrugged. "They're right across the hall..."

Yang ran out into the hall and chased after Weiss. When she caught up, Weiss had almost reached an door that led to the courtyard. She had Myrtenaster drawn, pointed at the darkness around her. She was facing away from the door.

Yang slowed down and started walking up to her. "Hey. What's going on?"

Weiss shushed her. Yang stopped and just watched. Weiss' eyes were focused on the dark around them. She was scanning the black shadows, as if looking for something she knew was there. After about a minute of silence, Yang broke into Weiss' concentration.

"So... what's up?"

Weiss growled, glanced sideways at the blond girl. "Something rushed past me. I think it's still there, watching us."

"Huh?" Yang peered into the darkness, trying to see something. It didn't take long for her to give up. "Maybe it's Ruby playing a prank on us."

Weiss shot her a glare. "Your sister isn't capable of being that quiet."

"Of course she is. She goes to sleep, doesn't she?"

"She talks in her sleep..." Yang rolled her eyes, but Weiss added more. "...when she isn't snoring. Actually, sometimes she does both at the same time. Besides, there wasn't any sound at all. Not even footsteps..."

A few seconds passed before Yang gave a short laugh. "Aren't you the dramatic one? I'm going to check outside. You coming?"

Weiss nodded slowly. "I don't want to have to explain you disappearing to Blake. Open the door. I'll watch your back."

"Right..." Yang opened the door anyway, stepping out into the night air. She could hear Weiss close the door behind her, so she kept walking. She looked out over the courtyard before deciding to walk along the path beside the pond.

After a few minutes, she realized she hadn't actually looked behind her since she stepped outside, and she hadn't seen or heard Weiss in that time. She was about to turn and look when she heard something moving in the trees at the side of the path. Whatever it was, it sounded bigger than a bird or a squirrel.

She quickly glanced behind her, confirming that Weiss was no longer following her. She had no idea when they had gotten separated, or if Weiss had even followed her at all. Deciding it was up to her to find out what was in the trees, she determined the best first move was a warning shot. She aimed Ember Celica into the trees and fired. The sound echoed across the courtyard, as did the sound that followed. The second sound was a short, wet cough. Something fell out of the trees and landed with a thud.

Yang grimaced. "So much for warning shot..." She walked over to the dark lump on the ground, keeping her weapon aimed at it. It was still moving, so she decided to inquire as to it's identity. "You're under arrest for scaring the crap outta me. Identify yourself or suffer further warning shots."

A hand shot up into the air, holding something shaped like a gun. The weapon had a blade attached to it and was connected to a ribbon. She recognized it as Gambol Shroud. The voice that came next was Blake's, but it strangely came from up in the tree.

"I can't believe you just shot me, Yang."

Yang looked up to see Blake resting on a large branch. She blinked in confusion. "Then who is..." She looked back down to see Weiss sitting up. Yang put her hand to her face. "What just happened?"

Weiss stood and tossed Gambol Shroud back up to Blake, then crossed her arms and glared at Yang. "I heard something in the trees while I was following you. I went to check it out and you started shooting at me. You hit Blake, who was making the noise I heard, and she fell on top of me. I tried to grab onto something to keep me from falling out of the tree, but... Blake wasn't really holding on to it anymore."

Yang looked up at Blake, who looked dazed but otherwise fine. "I am so unbelievably sorry. Are you alright?"

Blake just stared down at them. "You shoot fire, Yang. It hurts a bit, but doesn't really do anything more than that. I'll be fine."

"You're sure?"

"I've been punched by a Deathstalker. I think I can take a little punishment before I'm down." She jumped out of the tree and landed beside her partner. "But I think you might have burnt my hair."

Yang shook her head. "Again, I'm sorry. I thought you were going to get JNPR. Where are they?"

"Oh, they're searching inside with everyone else. Out here, it's just the three of us, Professor Ozpin, and Cardin's team."

Weiss arched an eyebrow. "You woke up everyone?"

Blake frowned. "Nora did."

Yang just shrugged. "Oh well. It won't take nearly as long to find her this way. Why is CRDL looking out here?"

Blake pointed across the pond. When Yang and Weiss followed her finger, they saw the team of boys on the other side of the water. They looked like they were trying to see if there was anything under the surface. Blake explained what they were up to.

"Cardin said he thought he saw someone out here from his window. According to him, they were at the edge of the pond. He looked away for a moment, and when he looked back they were gone, but the water was rippling."

Weiss and Yang shouted at the same time, right at Blake. "They think Ruby fell in the water?!"

Blake's bow flattened seemingly on it's own, and she winced, but neither of them noticed. They had already rushed to the edge of the pond, and before anyone could stop her, Yang dived in.

In the day the surface of the pond was bright blue, but this night it was pitch black. Beneath the surface was, if anything, darker. Yang pulled herself further down with strong strokes, finding very quickly that it was deeper than she had anticipated. Regardless, she soon touched the bottom. It was then that she realized she couldn't see anything.

She thought to use her aura to light the way, but her fire would heat up the water and boil her alive. Instead, she found herself feeling around on the bottom, hoping she wouldn't find Ruby. Her fingers grabbed onto rocks and clumps of dirt, anything to pull herself along with. She could hold her breath for a good length of time, but that time was beginning to run out. She hadn't found anything, and she hoped that pattern would repeat no matter how long she searched.

She was about to go back up for air when her hand touched something that was neither dirt nor stone. It was a hand, resting lifelessly on the bottom of the pond. She moved her hand up the arm, only able to hope she wouldn't recognize the feel of the clothes. She came to the shoulder and then went to the neck, quickly realizing that there were no clothes to be felt. She tried for the next thing she could think of and went to feel the hair, only to cry out when her fingers slipped into the spot where the head should have been.

She quickly gulped for more air, but only got water. Before she could drown, however, strong arms wrapped around her stomach and pulled her up. She briefly fought against the person, grabbing their face and pushing them away, but felt the small pair of glasses that was now in her hands.

They broke the surface near the opposite end of the pond from where she had entered. She coughed and sputtered, but managed to swim to the edge on her own. She crawled out onto the land and collapsed at Weiss' feet.

Professor Ozpin sat down beside her, just as soaked as she was. "I trust that was an enlightening venture." Yang pounded the ground angrily with her fist, then stood up. Ozpin just sat there. If he had had a mug of coffee, he would have sipped it right then.

Yang looked around, seeing Russel Thrush and Dove Bronzewing not far off. The other two members of team CRDL were nowhere to be seen, and to Yang's displeasure, neither was her own partner. She turned back to Weiss, noting that the other girl didn't have a spot of water on her.

Weiss frowned. "It's impossible to see anything down there, isn't it?"

Yang shoved some drenched bangs out of her eye, then answered. "I couldn't see anything, but I didn't need to. There's someone down there."

Weiss just stared at her. "Do you... think it's Ruby?" She was trying not to show actual concern, but she choked partway through.

Yang sat back down and slowly shook her head. "I... I don't know. She was... she was stripped... and decapitated."

Ozpin sighed and stood up, grabbing his cane. "I would hate to think anyone would do something like that to someone like Ruby, but if we can't find her..."

Weiss backed away from the pond, shaking her head. "No... it can't be Ruby. No one would do that to her. Who would ever do something like that? It's not her. It can't be!"

"Yang!"

At the sound of her name being called, she snapped back to reality. She looked up to see Junko running towards them. Normally, she would have waved to her friend, but the circumstances had sapped her of her energy. She just waited for Junko to say something.

Weiss beat her to it. "Did you find Ruby?"

Junko stopped, thought a moment, then shook her head. "I don't know. My teammates said they found something you'll want to see and they told me to come get you. I guess it could be Ruby..."

Yang jumped up and ran towards the school, grabbing Junko and pulling her along. "Then let's go!"

Once they got inside, Yang let Junko lead her. Lights all over the school had been turned on, and like Blake had said, everyone was searching. If Ruby was in the building, she would have already heard them calling her name. Junko led her down flights of stairs, until they were far underground.

Yang skidded to a halt right behind Junko. She looked around at the old stone walls, noting that the light down here was produced by really old light fixtures. She glanced sideways at Junko. "Geez, I didn't know the school was this old..."

Junko shrugged, turning another corner. "Oh, there they are!" She waved happily at the three other members of her team.

Yang eyed them warily, noticing that they were gathered around an old door. She mentally identified the girls as "green-head", "blunette", and "pink-haired girl". She knew their team name was SAGE, but had no clue what their names were other than Junko.

She would have been suspicious, but the pink-haired girl seemed nice enough and she hadn't even met the blunette before. She turned back to Junko. "What were you guys even doing down here?"

The green-head glared at her. "She's your sister. You're not even concerned that she might have gotten lost down here?"

Yang shook her head. "Okay, sorry... what did you find?"

The blunette pointed at the door, but it was Junko that spoke. "You should take a look in there."

Yang took their advice and opened the door, stepping into the small room. She knew it was a mistake as soon as the door closed behind her and a sharp needle was jabbed into her neck. Everything went black.