'Sup to anyone who's actually reading this. I've taken time away from writing for a while mainly because of school, but Imma try to be as active as possible (Don't quote me on that :P) BTW Imma assume you guys know the characters so yeah. So without further delay let's do this. This is more of an introduction chapter so don't expect too much action.

I just want to thank some very special writers for inspiring me to write this story: smstanton, the first fanfiction I ever read. UGX7, for bringing back one of my favourite characters in one of the most interesting ways possible. Etheriell for one of my favourite pieces so far. And last but not least Angry_Face for bringing a new vision of RWBY to me.

BTW Italics is just background knowledge letting you know where or when things are taking place… and don't hate me for this, everything before Tipping Point is canonical. And to UGX7 you and I have the exact same feeling about Pyrrha.

Somewhere in Anima, around Chapter Sometime before Chapter 6 - Tipping Point

A lone figure was wandering the forests of Anima seemingly looking for something or someone for that matter. Somehow she found something of interest and followed some sort of path. Very few knew what she was doing there, not even her target.

She donned clothes of blue that reflected her nature; powerful, loyal and calm. Of taller than average stature she stood at 5'7, choosing not to wear heels as to not impede her in battle. An automail arm replaced the left arm that she had lost, hidden within it were weapons to aid her in combat. A Tanto was mounted on her back, to be grabbed with her right, as well as a Katana to be grabbed by her left. The Katana's sheath had was specially designed in order to make unsheathing quick and efficient with joints on specific parts of the sheath.

She wore a simple navy coloured armoured shirt. The left sleeve was missing, and she had a pauldron mounted on her right arm. She wore leggings that were incredibly light and protective that restricted no movement. On her right arm was black leather bracer the message "前進し続ける(Keep moving forward)," inscribed on the outer face.

Her long dirty-blonde was kept in a low ponytail with the remainder side-swept. Her face was oval shaped. With neon blue eyes she had a pretty face. Her eyes spoke of her namesake as did her clothing. She was a warrior and a peacekeeper. Reserved, yet outspoken. She was not perfect, she was not dreadful. And she knew all of this, this is what made her who she was. Her past, what was to come only added to who she knew she was.

As she continued down her desired path gunfire was heard from her intended destination. She reached for the mask on her hip and placed it over her face and proceeded to the target faster than before. She found herself sprinting towards a village with a bad feeling, hoping she would find what she needed and get there before anything bad happened. As she neared she heard more gunfire with the addition of yelling and blade strikes. Running into the village she followed the direction of the sound until the sound of breaking wood was heard and a sharp gasp right afterwards.

She dashed to the top of a building only to see Ruby slash the stinger off a scorpion faunus.

"YOU BITCH!" he cried as the others began to form a wall between the faunus and the girl.

"She'll forgive you," he said as the girl threw a triad of shuriken at the faunas as he ran away. She proceeded to climb down to find herself face to face with the group as well as someone she knew quite well.

"Knew I'd find you here Qrow," she said.

"Good to see you kid," he replied.

"Bad luck seems to find you wherever you go doesn't it," she replied.

"Hey who are you," said Jaune.

"I'm sorry if we aren't that trusting right now but what just happened has us on edge," replied Ren.

"I completely understand, so I'm going to show a sign of good faith and drop my Katana, and once you sheath your weapons I'll drop my Tanto. How does that sound?" said the girl.

"That seems fair but that arm seems really dangerous," said Jaune.

"If it scares you that much sure, I'll do it. Being alone out here sucks anyways," She slowly removed her Katana, and in turn the group sheathed their weapons. Afterwards she stored her tanto within her arm and said "At least this doesn't hurt nearly as bad as putting it back on," before removing the arm and placing it next to her weapons.

"Alright, now tell us who are you," said Jaune.

"My name's Cassandra Aotatsu, pleasure to meet you all," she said while removing her mask. She stuck her hand up in the air in surrender. "Can I ask something?"

"Go ahead I guess," said Jaune

"One: Qrow what the hell happened and Two: why are you even here?!"

"Well Cass, these kids had the exact same question and I'm going to ask you all a question. What's your favourite fairytale?" he responded.

"What…?" Cass responded.

"Huh?" Nora wondered.

"I don't understand," said both Jaune and Ren.

"What does this have to do with anything Uncle Qrow?" said Ruby.

"Well before I say anything let's all go to somewhere safer. And since you requested that Cass over there disarm herself, why don't you carry her weapons for her blondie,"

"No I didn't," said Jaune.

"Just do it, I mean she literally took off her arm for ya,"

"Fine," said Jaune.

They started walking past the village and towards Mistral. About an hour was spent in awkward silence. Eventually Ruby went up to the new girl and started to converse with her.

"So Cassandra right, why are you here?" she said

"I'm here 'cause I've been recently assigned to watch over old Qrow over there and I guess I arrived a little late. Oh, and please call me Cass or Cassie," said Cass.

"Alright, that's fine. Uhm how old are you?"

"I think I'm 15. You?"

"Same. Wait what do you mean assigned, you're not even old enough to go to a school for hunters and huntresses!"

"I could say the same thing,"

"Well I was picked by Professor Ozpin due to my skills in combat,"

"I was picked by General Ironwood to start training for the exact same reason,"

"Huh,"

"Let's just say we're both special,"

"Alright so how did your parents respond to your acceptance,"

"Well ahem I wouldn't know sadly. I haven't really had parents. I was an orphan since I was 5 and my elementary school let me bunk there for a few years. Then with some miracle I managed to get my hands on a weapon and supposedly showed enough skill to get a scholarship to pre-hunter academy. Then the story reaches this point, so yeah nothing really super interesting,"

"Fair enough I guess,"

"So how 'bout you silver eyes, what's your reason for being here?"

"Well after the fall of Beacon we got a lead from Uncle Qrow about how Cinder could be here in Mistral so that's basically it,"

"Ironwood says that it was pretty bad, I was handling the defense of some Schnee. He was a nightmare, he also attracted a crap tonne of Grimm because of his constant negativity. It also got annoying when all he did was criticize my 'barbaric' fighting style,"

"When did you stop guarding him exactly,"

"About a week after the Schnee girl returned,"

"Which Schnee?"

"The young one,"

"Are you sure?"

"I work with Winter some what often, so I can tell the difference,"

"How did she seem, was she okay?"

"She seemed real upset, although since I was kept in the servants quarters I really didn't see all that much of her. Why all the questions?"

"She was my teammate, but after the fall of Beacon, team RWBY split up,"

"That sucks, well you got good people watching your back so you shouldn't worry too much about yourself. And I bet your teammates are doing just fine, the Schnee girl seems like a real fighter. The blonde one could probably down a building on her own. Don't know too much about bow girl, but seeing you I think they're doing fine,"

"I hope…"

"Alright kids, this seems like an okay place to bunk so let's talk,"

A few hours later.

"Really no questions?" said Qrow after some explanation.

"I have a crap-tonne but this is a lot to digest," said Cass.

"I think we all do," said Jaune, "But you were using Pyrrha to get yourselves a maiden weren't you?"

"She volunteered kid. She knew the risks involved. She made her choice, and you were there," replied Qrow.

"Why was that guy Tyrian after me?"

"Well with what you did at Beacon, you painted a target on your back. Not many people have silver eyes kiddo. That and the fact that you used them have caused some pretty bad people to want you out of the picture. So I've been keeping an eye on you. All of you,"

"Then why didn't you just travel with us?" she replied.

"He was using you as bait," said Jaune.

"Whoa there bud. That's a pretty big accusation to make. Now Qrow may be rough around the edges, but I don't think he would ever do something like that," interjected Cass.

"Who asked you? And why are you even here," Jaune shot back.

"'Cause I was tasked with finding and helping Qrow with whatever the hell he's doing. Ironwood seems to think whatever he's doing is pretty important and I may not like many of Ironwood's orders, but this one seemed like it was in the right place,"

"Jimmy sent you?!" said Qrow

"Yeah, and I can see why," replied Cass.

"Well whatever the reason, it doesn't matter. I guess we could really use more hands, considering what just happened,"

"What is all of this? Ruby's being hunted, the schools are being attacked, all for what?

What is the point of all of this?" Jaune shouted standing up.

"Would you sit down? You're stressin' me out, kid. Not many people are super religious these days. This world's been around for a long time, long enough that people have created dozens of gods. But if you believe Ozpin, two of them are actually real…" said Qrow as he told the tale of the two brothers.

"What does this have to do with any of us?" asked Ren

"It's complicated but the short story is that each of the gifts to humanity has a physical form and that's what the bad guys want. See every Huntsman Academy was built to train generations of hunters to come. But they each held those gifts in the form of relics, and of course the bad people want 'em. Specifically her.

"Salem?" asked Ruby.

"That's right. Now we know next to nothing about her but what really matters is that she wants those relics, and if she does it's not gonna end well,"

"Let's say we believe any of this utter bullshit. That some evil Bitch is behind all of this, is the reason that Pyrrha's dead. The reason for the attacks on Beacon. Why doesn't the damn world know. Why is no one hunting them down!"

"Shouldn't we be hurrying to Mistral then. To at least send a message," said Nora.

"The Headmaster at Haven saw what happened at Beacon. He knows better than to just sit on his ass. And the reason why no one's hunting 'em down. We can't cause a panic. Negative emotions bring Grimm. We all know this. If the public were to know of an imminent threat, fear would be in the air. Ozpin believed that if any of this were to get out to the public, we'd have another great war on our hands. That's just a shitty situation," replied Qrow.

"Uncle Qrow?" asked Ruby after a few minutes of silence.

"Yeah?" he replied.

"I'm willing to do whatever it takes to help you, but why couldn't you trust me? I trust you, but it really hurts to think that you just couldn't tell me,"

"It has nothing to do with trust, it's complicated, really complicated," he said.

"You might as well tell them now Qrow," interjected Cass.

"Not. Now." Qrow stated.

"They deserve to know just as much as I did back then. It was hard on me at first but they need to know the real reason. Now more than ever,"

"What do we deserve to know? Qrow you better have a damn good reason 'cause right now I'm having a hard time listening to your bullshit," Jaune demanded.

"Listen Jaune, this is as difficult to hear as it is to tell so just calm your ass down for at least two goddamn minutes," retaliated Cass.

"Alright Cass, Jaune. Cool it 'cause I'm only gonna say this once. Crows as you should know are generally a sign of bad luck. Some people have their speed, or absorption of electricity for their semblance. Mine's more subtle. It's where my name comes from. I bring bad luck to those around me. It's real sweet when fighting an enemy, but it's hard on friends and family. I didn't want to put you at risk. There's a reason behind everything and that's mine," said Qrow.

"Well that's just great. The best fighter of us all, brings us all bad luck. Damn it. We're screwed aren't we," Jaune said while storming off.

"Jaune!" shouted Nora and Ruby.

"Let him vent. He is feeling distressed from the news we have just taken in. We all should take time to process this new information," Ren stated calmly. "I shall go ready the sleeping bags,"

"I'm going for a walk," said Qrow.

"Is that all you wanted to tell us?" asked Ruby.

"Yeah. For tonight," he responded.

"Well I'm going to go help Ren. Toodles," said Nora as she left to help her partner.

"Guess that just leaves the two of us," said Cass.

"Yeah…" said Ruby.

"Look I get it. You don't know me. Well between you and me I think that Ren guy's kinda cute,"

"What?!"

"I'm just messing. I'm not into guys anyways. I learned that from Ethan…" Cass said as her tone saddened.

"Are you okay?" Ruby asked.

"I'm fine," Cass said dismissively. "Look Ren and Nora are back,"

"Cassandra, we don't have a sleeping bag for you, although I am willing to lend you mine," Ren said as and Nora returned.

"That's fine Ren, I have my own. It's in my bag by Jaune and my stuff," she replied.

"Alright then. I'm going to find Jaune so we can get some sleep. I believe Qrow will return on his own terms. I suggest you all go get some rest," he said.

Nora grabbed the sleeping bag from Cass's bag and handed it to her.

"Thanks Nora," she said.

"No problem. You seem nice enough even though you butt heads with Jaune a little," Nora said.

"I honestly don't blame him, but after what Qrow did for me I can't help but at least try to take his side," she said in response.

"What did he do?"

"That's for another time. I don't like talking about it,"

Ren and Jaune returned from wherever they were.

"Listen Cassandra, I see that we don't agree on somethings, but I'm willing to call a truce. Is that okay?" Jaune said.

"Cool with me," she responded and they shook on it.

Soon they were all asleep. Or some of them were. Ruby awoke to the sound of quiet sobbing. It sounded female, but it couldn't be Nora because she was right there. Ruby followed the sound to a tree. She heard whispers. She made out words such as "I'm so sorry," and "Why am I such a failure,"

"You're not," left Ruby's mouth before she even realized it.

"Who's there?" said Cass from atop the tree.

"Just me," said Ruby.

"Why are you even awake? You shouldn't be here,"

"Well with the way you're acting I think I'm needed," Ruby stated.

"I'm fine," Cass said rather unconvincingly.

"No your not, and I'm coming up there,"

"Not like I can stop you anyway,"

"What's the matter Cass? Look I'm sorry for scaring you. You may not know it, but you need somebody right now. And for now I'll be that person,"

"Damn it. Whatever. It's not like you can do much. I'm basically a lost cause. The only thing I'm good at is fighting and right now I can't even do that,"

"Well you've done enough to make yourself an Atlas Specialist. That means you're incredibly strong. Just because you've had bad times doesn't mean good times aren't coming,"

"That doesn't change what happened,"

"Then tell me what did happen,"

"Fine. The day I lost my arm was the day I lost the closest thing I had to a parent. Ethan was that person. He was a hunter and he took me in when I was ten. He trained me and he died protecting me from other people. People that only cared about what they wanted. They didn't need to attack our ship but they did and many people payed the price. They were the White Fang. You might think I hate all faunus, but I don't. The last thing Ethan said to me was to 'keep on living Cassie'. He was a good man and didn't deserve to die to some radical faunus who want superiority rather than equality. He believed in the White Fang funnily enough. He wanted equality for everyone and I still do too. When I started training to become a hunter, he made me swear to never take a life. Now I understand why. It affects so many people. Even though the Fang did what they did, I could never take a life. Not just because of his beliefs, but because I was affected by a killing. I'm not a great person, but I have never killed and I never will. Thing is I'm failing him. The closer that Salem gets to her goal the more death will happen. I need to stop ranting. I'm sorry for making you listen Ruby. But thank you for letting me get that off my chest,"

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have forced you to talk about it,"

"You were right though. I guess I'm just being petty,"

"You're not. I was there when Pyrrha was… killed. The others weren't there. It was horrible and I couldn't do anything about it. I don't know what happened after but I realize now more than ever that the best thing we can do for them is to continue along our paths. They would want us to keep moving forward for them. That's all we can do for them now. Hold on for a second," said Ruby before dashing off.

"Okay…" replied Cass dumbfounded at how fast Ruby disappeared. She climbed down the tree only for Ruby to return seconds later with Cass's left arm in hand.

"Well then. Thanks, but could you hand me something to bite on real quick," said Cass.

"Here," said Ruby as she handed over a piece of jerky.

"Thanks. Now this is going to hurt me a lot okay, but I need you to make sure I don't fall asleep or go unconscious because that could be real bad. I mean keep me awake any way possible. I'm going to place the arm now and activate the locking mechanism,"

"Arm locked, ready for engagement. Initiate connection now?" said the arm.

"Yes," said Cass apprehensively. "Here we go, remember what I said." she said before placing the jerky in her mouth, biting down onto it.

Mechanical whines were heard and a locking sound was heard as the arm made contact. Just as quickly Cass fell to her knees looking like she was about to faint.

"Oh no! Stay awake please. Uh…" Ruby slapped her to keep her awake. Soon after Cass spoke.

"Damn. Hurts every time. Thanks Ruby," Cass said in gratitude. "Before I forget and before Jaune throws a fit at you and me here's my Tanto," she said as she removed the blade from the underside of her forearm.

"No problem. By the way how long do you think you're staying,"

"Since Qrow's mission is to help you guys, I guess you're stuck with me," she responded.

"Nice," said Ruby.

"I guess you finding me tonight was actually a good thing huh?"

"It really was," said Ruby as Cass hugged her. She returned the hug.

"Thank you Ruby,"

"No problem Cassie,"