Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

The droning sound of Orion's heart monitor echoed softly throughout the infirmary. Eos and Areana sat on opposite sides of his bed, each holding one of his large, bandaged hands. Each of the sisters' face was burning from tears. Nobody had ever seen either of them cry before, so this sight was bewildering to say the least. Areana gripped her friend's hand with one of hers as the other tightly squeezed the steel bed frame. A few feet away from the bed, Zane and Ella could see the metal frame bending and warping from the immense strength that only seemed to rise with Areana's boiling fury. Eos on the other hand was much more gentle. As the tears cascaded down her cheeks, she just looked on at her wounded friend with a pained sadness. Ella and Zane wondered to themselves just how close the three of them were to warrant this much affection. The group of students turned their heads towards the door as the sound of it opening interrupted any internal trains of thought.

Through the door came Professor Ozpin, Professor Goodwitch, and lastly: Rizu. As the trio came through, Ella and Zane's gaze shifted to their teammate. The boy in black's steps became heavier the further he got into the room, as if he bore the weight of a thousand mountains. His gaze was fixed on the floor. As rare as it happened, this was one of the moments that Rizu was grateful for his blindness. What kinds of looks were his comrades giving him? Looks of scorn? Disgust? Whatever they were, he didn't want to know. Ella stepped forward to meet him, only for Zane to lunge in and rocket his balled fist straight into Rizu's gut. With an audible thud, the boy fell to the floor. The sound of a collective gasp filled the room. Ella rushed to the side of her fallen friend, trying her best to help him up.

"Zane! What the hell is wrong with you?!", the fiery sorceress shouted.

The swordsman rolled his eyes,"Oh get a grip! He got a whole lot less than he deserves"

"That is enough!", Ozpin barked.

Every head in the room jerked towards the headmaster, never knowing the normally calm man to be able to snap so easily. Even Glynda was taken aback slightly by his outburst. The silver-haired Huntsman sighed exhaustively before standing up to face his fellow allies. What would he tell them? What could he tell them? He was more than aware of the eventuality that the people around him would start to lose trust in him, although this was the time when he needed that trust more than ever. After kneeling down to help Ella bring Rizu to his feet, he stood tall among the others in the room. If there was any time for him to tell the truth, it was now.

"It is in the best interest for everyone here to listen carefully. Over the past few weeks, I have heard rumors. They were rather more akin to whispers. Whispers of an organization that threatened the destruction of one thing: humanity. These whispers spoke of plans, operations, and schemes with the endgame being the complete annihilation of the human race. Naturally, as a Huntsman, I had my people look into this matter as I must stay behind to watch over the academy. Over time the reports stopped coming. Soon there were disappearances and several Huntsman and Huntresses were coming up dead. Of course we did our best to hide this from the public. Eventually, I received a message. It said: 'Watch your back. They are at Beacon. The Knights want their Princess'"

Zane scoffed,"Is that why there were no teachers or staff at the dance tonight?"

Ozpin shook his head,"No. In the event that the Grimm Knights truly were making sure there would be no resistance, I made sure there would be no supervision. I had to make sure that the Grimm Knights would be lured in by lack of fighting strength. They had to believe they had the advantage. With that out of the way I still needed a way to eliminate the threat as soon as possible. That's where Rizu came in"

"What?! Why him? I'm the leader. It's my duty to watch over my team!", Zane interrupted again, his body quivering with fury. He was the leader after all...wasn't he?

"That may be. But do you think you are strong enough to kill another person?"

"..."

The earthen-haired swordsman backed away, his eyes wide like the full moon from the Headmaster's question. Could he kill? All his life he had only known the comforts and luxuries of a spoiled rich boy. Never did he have to raise his swords to another person. Killing the creatures of Grimm and slashing through robotic training dummies was one thing, but taking the life of someone ,even to protect you own, was something entirely different. He wanted to be stronger, to prove to his team that he can be a good leader. Despite his desire to be better he wasn't sure if he could kill.

"I-I...I don't know. But what does that have to do with Rizu? Why was he able to kill that Faunus?!", the heir interrogated.

Ozpin shifted his gaze to the blind student before closing his eyes,"Because Rizu has killed before"

All eyes shifted to the boy in black, and although he could not see it, he could feel the judging glances of everyone in the room. He knew this day would come eventually. Rizu didn't want to admit it, but he was indeed a murderer. If he could take it all back he would, but to him there was no point in lingering in the past. He simply sighed and turned to leave the room, only for Zane to yank on his jacket, pulling him back. That's it, Rizu thought. As he whirled around, the blind blader lifted his left arm and slammed his iron fist into Zane's jaw. The leader flew back against a wall before collapsing. Zane struggled to get up, he lifted his hand to his mouth, blood trickling out of it. After spitting out a tooth, Zane charged forward to retaliate, only for Ella to come between the two.

"Out of the way!", Zane barked.

Ella ignited a flame in her left palm,"Touch him and I'll burn you alive"

Zane's eyes widened,"What?! You're going to defend this monster?!"

"Have you forgotten that I'm a killer too? Does that make me a monster? Last I checked you used to despise the Faunus and yet you weep for one that tried to kill everyone? Who's the real monster Zane? What Rizu did was to protect us. If he and Sirena didn't step in and stop the Grimm Knights we would have all been either captured or dead! We have all done things we aren't proud of! I've killed my mother. Did you forget that?!"

Glynda stepped between the two students and snapped her crop on her clipboard, shutting them up before speaking,"Alright children, enough! We don't have time to sit here and argue. At this very moment, the Grimm Knights could be planning their next move and we need to be prepared. Leave your petty squabbles for the flight out of here"

Zane raised his eyebrows, his hand rubbing his jaw,"Flight? Where are we going?"

Ozpin stood up to answer,"Patch. It's a small, secluded island off the coast of Vale. For now, I can think of no other place that the eight of you would be safe"

Eos raised her head to his statement,"Huh? Team ARES is going too?"

"Undoubtedly. Sirena's involvement will lead to them going after you as well. As soon as we track down Roland, we can get all of you out of the city until we can figure out the enemy's next move"

It was Areana's turn to pipe up,"Hold up. What do you mean? Rat boy is missing?"

Eos sighed,"He's a weasel sis"

"Whatever"

"He never did show up to the dance", Ella added.

Zane huffed,"He could be one of them you know..."

"We have no proof of that right now. For now, I suggest that you all return to your dorms and start to pack. I'll have a nurse stand by and watch over Mr. Maxima until it is time to move him", Ozpin headed to the door with Glynda following close behind him.

As if on cue, a nurse stepped through the door with a clipboard, ready to check up on Orion. At this point, there would be no use in arguing with the Headmaster about the arrangements he had set up for them, so the students quietly filed out of the room, save for Eos and Areana. The Nikos sisters looked at each other with grim expressions, naturally with Areana's face seeming more furious and Eos' being more so calm. After giving him a kiss on the forehead, the blonde stepped away from the lion's bedside and towards the door, Areana not far behind her. Before closing the door, both Teams looked towards the nurse with worry, only for the nurse to give a half-hearted smile in response as the door closed.

Out in the hallway, Rizu and Ella had walked slowly behind Ozpin and Glynda, both a good distance apart with Zane a ways back from them. The sound of heavy footsteps echoed throughout the halls of the academy, echoing the heavy burdens that both Team ZERO and Team ARES now carried on their shoulders. Suddenly the two professors stopped, the hallway diverging into two paths: the dorms and the faculty offices. The headmaster looked solemnly upon his students before he began to speak.

"Alright. All of you head to your rooms and prepare. Rest up, pack, and relax for as long as you can. From today on, your lives will change in ways you can't possibly imagine", the professor warned.

Areana cleared her throat,"What about Roland? Aren't you going to find him?"

Glynda stepped forward,"Don't worry about your comrade. We will do our best to locate him. If he is not found before your departure, we will still continue to search for him. As long as the Grimm Knights continue to operate, he is in danger"

Not particularly pleased with the answer she received, Areana huffed, only for Eos to shoot her a glare of warning before leading her off in the direction of the dorm. By this point, Zane had already started his path to the Team ZERO dorm. As Ella and Rizu began their path to follow him, a continuing unease between them had began to fester. Although she had defended him, Ella wondered why Rizu never told her that he had killed before. Before she started thinking on it too hard, the girl just stared ahead and tried to put the thought out of her mind. Rizu however knew why he couldn't say anything before. If he was to earn the trust of Ella and the rest of his team back, now was the best time to come clean. The blind student stopped in his tracks, looking towards her. Eventually she stopped as well, looking back at him with a confused look on her face.

"What's wrong Rizu?", she asked cautiously.

He heaved a sigh before answering,"I need to tell you something. I need you to listen to everything I have to say. Can you do that for me?"

Ella was surprised to say the least, not expecting him to initiate a conversation like this,"O-Of course. What is it you want to say?"

"Killing was never something I wanted to do", he started,"It was something that just...happened"

"What do you mean? I thought you said it was only the droids that came for you"

Rizu shook his head slowly,"No. The bots were prototypes. There weren't enough to kill us, so after they expended those...Ironwood sent the soldiers. They were given the order to take us down by any means. Sirena and I tried our best to incapacitate them. Not kill them. Then there was this one soldier. He...he came up on me with his knife and tried to stab me. He had me on the floor and the blade was inches from my chest. With only one arm it was hard to fight him off. I used every bit of my strength to push him off. As he tumbled I managed to feel around for his blade. I took it...and I stabbed him. Over and over even after he was dead. It was then my hatred truly began to show it's face. Even Sirena couldn't make me calm down. With my own sword in hand, I cleaved through Ironwood's men, wanting nothing more than to spill his guts on the floor. With every kill, it got easier. It got to the point where I was killing them not because I had to, but because I wanted to. Just as I had got in a position to kill the general, I heard the building explode with Sirena still inside. That window of distraction was enough for Ironwood to knock me out"

Ella just stared at Rizu, dumbfounded that he had kept this bottled up inside of him for however long. Yet a strange sense of pride washed over her as she was relieved that he had finally told her the truth. The fiery sorceress took his hand in her own, causing him to jerk his head a little, but easily calm down. A small resemblance of a smile had made its way onto Rizu's face. He responded in kind with taking her other hand, holding it in a gentle grip.

"Ella. I want you to know that I meant every word I said while we danced. I want to be...different. Hatred has been all I have known for a long time. Hopefully I can find a way to have you all trust in me again. Maybe even make Zane a little more...accepting as well", he continued, his small grin widening even if ever so slightly.

She smiled at him. Even though he couldn't see it, she was sure he could feel her gratitude for him really trying. Of course time, at the moment, was of the essence and they had to prepare themselves for the flight to Patch. The pair walked hand in hand to their dorm, ready to face whatever would come next.

A/N: Hey guys. I know its been quite a while since my last update. However I am back in action and will hopefully be updating more frequently. I want to get this rolling and what not. So you all know the drill. R and R. See ya next time on Wildfire