"Hi, sis, whatcha doi..aa" When Ruby saw her sister entering her room, she felt like she was going to need to stay another week when Yang almost crushed her in a hug, "Ya..ang, can't... breath" Ruby tried pushing her sister away until she started feeling how her shoulder started to get wet. "Yang, are you ok?" she patted her sister in the back now worried.

"I thought that I'll lose you," Yang said between her crying, "That thing wasn't even serious when it fought against us, I thought it was just another Grimm who somehow sneak into Beacon," Yang hugged her tighter as she started wailing harder. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry" Yang started whispering these words, more to herself than to Ruby.

"Its ok Yang, I only fell asleep for what? a week? but I'm ok now," Ruby tried to comfort her sister as a few tears escaped from her eyes, she wasn't really doing a good job at that, but she still tried, "And besides, nobody could have guessed just how strong that Grimm truly was, but look at the bright side, nobody is death" Ruby finally pulled Yang away to look at her face with a smile, while Yang has stopped crying, she had red marks under her eyes, "Right?"

"Ahem" Pyrrha make her presence know as she entered the room, "No Ruby, aside from you and Cinder everyone else who fought Ghost only has minor bruises and broken weapons, but their pride as a huntsman and huntresses is on the ground for losing against a single Grimm" Pyrrha informed Ruby of what happened, Ruby's face turned to one of horror when she heard what happened to the weapons of other students.

"Wait, Cinder?" Ruby interrupted with a tone of surprise in her voice, "The really nice girl from Mistral? Why would Ghost attack her?" Ruby was starting to grow more confused with the actions of this Ghost.

"I believe I could answer those questions and many others you all may have," A man in a black suit and a green scarf entered the room, "But first we need your whole teams to start this discussion," Ozpin took a small pause as he looked at Ruby in the eyes "once you leave the hospital, please gather your teammates and come to my office, I would like for you to make a fully recover, but those are urgent matters" As he was about to leave he saw the fury in Pyrrha eyes

Once Ozpin left the room both Yang and Ruby looked at Pyrrha, the atmosphere was getting tenser by the second "Pyrrha are you ok? You look kinda tense" Yang was the one who broke the silence.

"Yes," Pyrrha responded in a sharp way, something really unusual in her, "Sorry, I think it would be better if I just leave, Jaune and Ren are probably looking for Nora right now, I better go and tell them that Ozpin wants to talk." Before either Ruby or Yang could say something she left the room, almost running from them.

"I better bring a doctor, the sooner they let you go, the better" Yang got up as she approached the door, "I'll be right back" she gave Ruby a small smile before leaving.


"I can't believe they let me go so easily" Ruby sounded incredulous, shortly after Yang brought the doctor she only did a few physical tests and let her go, "I was practically in a coma for a week and the let me leave just like that?!" Ruby didn't know if she should feel happy because she could leave that fast, or worried that the doctors in Vale didn't seem to care for the health of their patients.

"You should consider yourself lucky, by my third day there I was already feeling good but they refused to let me go," Yang was walking around the hospital parking with her arms behind her head, "And besides, the doctor told you that aside from your sudden loss of conscience, there was nothing wrong with you, there wasn't really anything they needed to do but deal with any possible complication" They stopped once they reached a black and yellow motorcycle, 'Bumblebee' as Yang called it, her most precious belonging aside from her hair.

"Have you considered my offer, dear sister?" Ruby said in her most 'Wess-ish' voice she could mutter when she saw her sister sat on the bike as she adjusted her helmet.

"For the thirtieth time Ruby, no, I'm not gonna put saw guns, flamethrowers, rocket launchers, or a sting to 'Bumblebee', its a vehicle, nor a weapon, if I were to bring 'Bumblebee' to a fight she would break" Yang sounded almost exasperated, this wasn't the first time Ruby suggested put some weird weapon in 'Bumblebee', and knowing her it wouldn't be the last, "Come on, we need to get Blake and Weiss" she threw a helmet to Ruby, once she put it and sat on Bumblebee they finally went to Beacon.

After three hours stuck in the traffic, and almost running over a familiar old man, Yang and Ruby finally arrived at Beacon, it was barely past five pm so there was still some sunlight, as they walked towards their room some people stopped them to check how they were, after the fight with Ghost almost everyone in the school knew how team RWBY stayed with Ozpin to fight the mysterious Grimm, some even treated them as heroes.

"Finally home," Ruby was exhausted after all the attention she was receiving, "I hope Ozpin doesn't take to lon...g" Once she opened the door, she lost her words once she saw inside her room, "Pyrrha wasn't exaggerating"

Blake was sleeping with a mask covering her eyes and a pair of earplugs in both set of hears, but what stole the words of her mouth was Weiss, she was tied in her bed with a black ribbon and with another ribbon covering her mouth, preventing her from screaming, she looked like she was in a cocoon.

"Hey look they left you some presents under your bed Ruby" Yang elbowed Ruby once she saw the state of Weiss, the former was now avoiding looking at any of her teammates, and the latter was struggling to untie herself, both of them blushing "I bet you cant Weiss what its, do you think is a mini refrigerator? or maybe a weisscream machine" Yang smiled at her own pun, proud of herself, Ruby only groaned and she saw how Weiss rolled her eyes as she tried to scream.

"You wake up Blake, I'll untie Weiss," Ruby said as she approached Weiss, Yang stopped grinning, being replaced with a face of dread, the last time she tried to woke up Blake she almost lost her fingers, meanwhile Ruby was trying to untie her partner, emphasis in trying, "Just. How. Tight. Is. This!?" she was clearly struggling with the bow, after some tinkering, she finally gave up, opting for taking the ribbon off from Weiss' mouth, "Give me a second" Ruby said as she pulled Crescent Rose.

"What do you think you are gonna do with that, you maniac?!" Weiss screamed in a panic once she realized what Ruby was about to do.

"Blake tied you too tight, I just can't undo it" Ruby answered as she raised her scythe, preparing herself to cut the ribbons "Try not to move".

"And you want to cut me because of that?!" Weiss was now squirming more, trying to escape from Ruby's scythe, "In that case wake up Blake"

"I don't wanna, she gets angry every time someone wakes her up, and stop moving, it's difficult aiming with you twisting around" Ruby stuck her tongue out and closed one eye as she was aiming where she would do the cut.

"RUBY NOOOO!" "RUBY YEEEEESSS!" Both of them screamed as Ruby dropped the edge of her scythe towards Weiss, the latter closing her eyes, awaiting her inevitable doom, only to open her eyes and seeing that she was still in one piece.

"See, I told you that you didn't have anything to worry about," Ruby proclaimed with pride as she folded Crescent Rose in her compact form.

"You dolt, you could have killed me, I think I lost some years from my life" Now free Weiss got up, starting rambling about the dangers of using Crescent Rose as a glorified 'fix anything tool' as she put her hand over her chest, trying to calm her heart, while she continued talking, Ruby noticed the bags under her eyes, " ? Do I have something in my face?" Weiss stopped once she noticed how Ruby stared at her, Ruby only lowered her head in response.

"I'm sorry for making you all worry" Ruby whispered as she raised her head, meeting Weiss' eyes.

"It couldn't be helped, the enemy this time around was just too strong, it's a good thing that Ozpin was with us," Weiss paused when she saw how Ruby's eyes started watering, after debating inside her head on what to do and seeing how Yang was busy trying to wake up Blake using a broom, she hugged Ruby, "Its ok,nobody was seriously injured, and you are already awake" Weiss could felt how Ruby trembled as she cried in silence, "If you are afraid of that Grimm, I promise that I would protect you" They stayed in that position for a few minutes until they heard the sound of wood breaking, both of them breaking the hug surprised by the sound.

On the other side of the room, Yang was on the floor, with a broken broom in her hands and Blake was awake with Gambol Shroud in hand looking, around the room like she was looking for someone.

"What? Who's there?" Blake was clearly disoriented, her cat ears twitching, like Weiss she also had bags under her eyes.

"It's me Blake, Yang, you know, the most amazing girl in Beacon and the one who almost LOST HER HEAD?!" Yang asked still on the floor, "How many times you have to almost cut me in half before you stop waving your sword as soon as someones wake you?" Yang sounded a little exasperated.

"Ah, hello Yang, I see that they already released you from the hospital" Blake smiled a Yang as she said this, "And why are you on the floor?" now she was clearly making fun of Yang. Before Yang could say anything in response she turned to see Ruby "It's good to have you back Ruby, you had us all worried" Blake hugged Ruby.

"Yeah, let's ignore the person who almost lost her head, it's not like she cares or anything like that" while Yang was getting up Ruby wiped her tears as she separated from Blake.

"Guys, this could be something sudden, but Ozpin wants us to go to his office as soon as possible" Now with her friends together and awake they could begin this super secret mission that Pyrrha mentioned.

"It's really urgent? You and Yang just came back from the hospital, maybe you two should rest and tomorrow we go" Blake was the first one to speak, she wasn't the only one who needed sleep, Weiss refused to leave Ruby during the whole week, she barely slept during that time, and Yang and Ruby aren't in condition to be wandering around.

"As much as I would like to rest on my own bed, for what little I listened it seems that is something serious, it's related to the Grimm that attacked Ruby, Ghost" Everyone in the room had a grim expression.

"Uhh, there is no point in postponing it then, let's go, the faster we deal with this, the sooner we can rest" After that Weiss exited the room, being followed by her friends.


When team RWBY arrived team JNPR was the only one present, Jaune was covered in bandages, Nora had her arms in slings, Ren was using crutches and had his left leg covered in a cast, Pyrrha was the only one who looked in good shape.

"What happened with you guys, did the Bullhead that transported you crashed or what?" Yang had expression between worried and amused by the state of her friends.

"I wish, Ozpin send Nora, Ren and me to numerous missions to deal with some pretty strong Grimms in the past week" Jaune responded with a tired tone as he remembered the recent events.

"Yeah, first we needed to fight this giant King Taiju, it was so big that it could crush a train, then we needed to clean a nest of Death Stalkers, there was like 5 Alphas, and then we needed to hunt this Manticore that has been terrorizing this village but it ended up being two Manticores" Nora started rambling about their adventures in the past week, she tried to move her arms as she spoke.

"And what about you Pyrrha, you look in better shape than the rest of your team," Yang asked curious to the redhead.

"I went to a different kind of mission, I needed to..." But before Pyrrha could finish the doors of the elevator opened.

"Its good to see you all" Ozpin greeted his students once he entered his office, "I know that you all have questions regarding this mission so I'll try to explain everything" After sitting in his chair, all the students gathered around him "But before anything else, everything that you hear its secret, nobody can learn what you all will hear today, did I make myself clear?" He received nods from his students as an answer.

"Uum, Professor Ozpin, is this related to the Grimm that attacked Ruby right?" Jaune raised his hand as he asked.

"Yes and no" Ozpin could see the confusion in most of his students, "As some of you may know, the creature that attacked Ruby wasn't a Grimm, we aren't yet sure of what it is, but clearly it has some kind of conscious, not only it can plan and improvise, but it also can maintain conversations to a limited degree, it named itself Ghost" Ozpin took a sip of his coffee, taking a pause if any of his students had any doubts, but seeing that nobody was going to speak he continued, now concentrating his gaze on Blake.

"I'm conscious that some of you have gone to the city at night looking for him," Blake's bow twitched when he said this, "While I appreciated your courage, that was probably the worst thing any of you could do, we still don't know how strong Ghost is, before any of you accept this mission remember this, if any of you were to meet Ghost, don't engage, call this number, someone will come and help you" The number appeared in a hologram in his desk, after his students had saved the number he continued.

"We barely know anything about Ghost, but what we know if the following; wherever he appears the temperature decrease, it seems that it can shapeshift, or at least alter its physical appearance to a certain degree, and what probably is the most uncanny characteristic of Ghost, its tendrils and the black veil that covers the rest of its body are nothing more than cloth infused with dust"

"What do you mean by that?" "We fought a person?" "But the things it does are beyond what a semblance could allow" "It's related to the maidens?"His students started speaking at the same time but it was Pyrrha's comment that shut them.

"We aren't sure yet, haa ffuu" Ozpin took a deep breath as he prepared himself, "But as I said, Ghost isn't the main reason why you are all here, Ghost attacked another student before Ruby, Cinder Fall, maybe some of you already know her," He finished his coffee before he continued, "We suspect that the reason why Ghost attacked her it because Cinder and her teammates are responsible for the attack of the Fall Maiden," Ozpin waited to see the reaction of his students once again, better not overwhelm them.

"Aam, by the Fallen Maiden, do you mean the one of the story of the seasons?" Ruby asked confused for what Ozpin was saying, as much as she liked fairytales or how childish she acted sometimes, even she knows that fairytales aren't real.

"Yes Ruby, the story of the seasons, the maidens and their powers, all of that is real" Ozpin watched how his students stood there awestruck, "Cinder and her teammates stole half the powers of the Fall maiden, leaving her in critical condition, to prevent Cinder from stealing the rest of the maiden powers, we had Pyrrha become the new recipient for the rest of the maiden powers, but for that a great price was needed to pay" Ozpin clenched his fists as he was saying this.

"The previous Fallen Maiden was murdered so I could become the next Maiden" Pyrrha said as she glared Ozpin, the hostility in her voice was noticed by everyone in the office, if looks could kill Ozpin would have died a few times already.

"It's as Pyrrha says, for her to become the new maiden, Amber, the previous maiden needed to die," We look in his students was one of horror, "The mission that I want you to take its probably the most dangerous that you will ever take, if I'm honest, I wouldn't normally ask any of you to accept this, but because of the circumstances regarding Ghost and Cinder I have no other option, if you don't accept this mission I'll understand, but if you do keep in mind that there won't be going back to your current life, accepting this mission would mean that you will fight directly against the darkness of our world" After a moment of silence his students didn't say anything, Pyrrha was already part of the mission, but her teammates and friends were another cases.

"Pyrrha, you will fight against them no matter what, right?" Jaune asked, only receiving a nod from Pyrrha as an answer, "In that case, I'm in, what kind of leader would leave his friends?" Jaune smiled at Pyrrha as he said this, taking a step forward with her.

"There is no way we can have Pyrrha protecting our valiant leader all the time, besides this sounds like so much fun! "Nora jumped as she tried to hug Pyrrha with her broken arms.

"If that team are going to hurt innocent people, then there is no way I can say no to this mission, also I can't just leave my friends in their time of need" Ren smiled at Pyrrha and Jaune, taking a step forward as he put his hand in the shoulder of the latter.

"We need to teach those villains a lesson, and if this means that I can kick Ghost ass as payment for what it did to Ruby, then I'm in" Yang hit her fist against themselves, taking a step forward.

"The robbery of dust in the whole kingdom, the White Fang in mountain Glenn, Ghost and now the maidens, I feel that everything is connected, if that its the case I can't turn a blind eye to this, I'm in" Blake took a step forward

"I still have some unresolved business with this Ghost, but I guess I could help in stopping those villains" Weiss smiled at Yang and Blake as she to took a step forward, only to look back a Ruby.

Ruby had a hand in her chest as she tried to relax, accepting would mean that she could fight against Ghost again, she didn't want to admit it but their little encounter has let her scared, there was something about Ghost that terrorized her, her nightmare before waking up coming to her mind, "If you are afraid of that Grimm, I promise that I would protect you", Weiss' words came to her mind, maybe she said them to stop her from worrying, but still they were what she needed right now.

"I'm in, Ghost, Cinder, Grimms, I can't live knowing that they are out there hurting people, leaving sadness and pain on their way" The memory of her mother almost made her cry, fighting her tears Ruby continued, "I want to be a huntress because I want to help people, I want to be the hero they need when it seems that there is no hope, so they could continue smiling, if that means I have to fight against endless waves of Grimms so be it, there is no way I'll back down" Ruby took a step forward, her sister hug her as she ruffled her hair, Blake putting a hand in her shoulder as she gave her a warm smile, Weiss just looked at them from the distance, but Ruby saw how she had a small smile, and when she saw team JNPR she knew that if it weren't for their injuries they would have tackled her in a hug,

"Oh sis, that was the cheesiest speech you said, and I still remember what you said when you decided that you didn't need training wheels" Ruby could feel her face turn red as Yang 'praised her'

"I'm in a way glad that you all accepted, I don't know what I would have done is none of you hadn't joined this mission, but I also regret having to put this burden in your shoulders" Ozpin pulled a briefcase from under his desk, opening it showing its contents to his students, four metallic collars with a small rectangular device.

"Regarding your mission, first you need to find Cinder and her team and bring them over, Ghost is probably still looking for Cinder so we need to act fast, these collars are designed to suppress Aura and to inflict a small electric current if a maiden were to use her powers, you need to put them those to neutralize them, its urgent that we find them before Ghost, once you have done it we can deal with Ghost later, in the meantime you already know, don't engage with Ghost, " Making sure that his students understood, he continued

"Cinder by virtue of having half the maiden's power she is too dangerous for any of you, because of that only Pyrrha is allowed to fight her, while the rest of you call for reinforcements, Mercury is the son of a famous assassin so don't take him lightly, Emerald its a good fighter, but the rest of her abilities are a mystery, their fourth member is also a complete mystery, she may have some ability to hide her identity so take caution when dealing with her, remember, together they took a fully powered maiden so don't try to be heroes, if you find them try to capture them one by one, but if you find them together call the number that I gave you earlier and try to keep them distracted as long as possible, if none of you have any questions you are free to go, your mission will start when Jaune, Nora, and Ren have healed" as he said that, both teams were about to leave.

"Miss Schnee, Miss Ruby, if you could stay here for a brief moment, there is something I want to speak with both of you in private," giving her sister a reassuring smile Yang and Blake left the office with team JNPR.

"I don't want to sound disrespectful but Ruby just came from the hospital so she probably needs to rest, more now that we are in this mission" Weiss voiced her concerns in an educated manner as she looked at Ozpin.

"I understand your concerns miss Schnee but this is related to Ghost," Ozpin looked at Weiss as he started "During your fight I noticed how it never attacked you no matter what, even when it was concentrated in killing Ruby it only stopped when you intervened, because of that I want to never leave Ruby's side," After finishing he looked to Ruby "And you Ruby, no matter what, never leave her side either, you and Ghost seems to be related in a way, and as you do now, Ghost seems to have its own mission, from our short fight he seems to be unstoppable, but I think that you have the key to its weakness, but before we try anything, first we have to do something with Cinder and confirm a few things, in the meantime, I need you to avoid any danger" After looking at the pair for a moment he continued, "Can I count in both of you?"

"Yes, sir" Ruby declared while she did a military greeting smiling

"Of course, I would have done it without anyone telling me," Weiss said as if that was the most obvious thing in the world "If that's all we'll leave" and with that, she left as she dragged Ruby by her hood "Come on Ruby, we need to plan our itinerate if we are going to be together 24/7"

"Wait really?!, Can we plan a visit to the amusement park?" Ruby seemed excited with the prospect of being together with Weiss.

"I hope this is the right thing to do" Ozpin whispered to himself as he put his head on his hands.


Cinder currently laid on her back in a makeshift bed in one of her hideouts in Vale, an abandoned warehouse in the outskirts of the city close to the Emerald Forest, her left leg wrapped in bandages, a week have already passed and her wound still hasn't healed, for some reason dust entered in her wound and it was making impossible the use of her aura to heal.

"Are you sure that you don't want me to cut your leg? I can always replace it with a prosthesis" Like every single day since the attack of the Shadow, Mercury suggested that she replaced her leg for a prosthesis.

"I already told you that no! I don't want a prosthesis! And I don't want my leg cut! If you and Emerald did your work you would have already found some Doctor to clean my wound!" Cinder was furious, not only her plans were derailing more and more, but her companions ended being a pair of morons who don't know anything that doesn't involve murder or thief, "And where is Neo?! She was supposed to only go for provisions and come back"

"She probably won't come back today, she probably is thinking in a way to betray us, and to make matter worst we can't get rid of her without Roman spilling the beans" Mercury started the maintenance of his legs as he spoke, "There is already 'Wanted' notices with our faces all over the city, we can't even trust our usuals sources, I don't want to say this Cinder, but I think it would be for the best if we retread and rethink our plan"

"NOOOO!" Cinder tried to get up, only to have the pain on her leg bring her down, "You two just understand, there is no going back if we fail here we will be haunted, I'll be haunted" There was fear in Cinder's words, Mercury just stared at her in surprise, this was the second time Cinder showed fear, the first being after the attack of the Shadow.

"I'm back," the door in the warehouse opened as Emerald entered, "I have good news and not so good news", she left some bags that she was carrying in a chair close to her as she approached Cinder, "The good news is that I finally found a Doctor willing to check you Cinder, our funds will take a big hit but you should be ok after he cleans your wound, the other news are related to Adam" Emerald paused as she thought in how "Remember how his men have been disappearing, well, they already found them, or what it was left of them, and for what I have heard on the streets, people have been disappearing in the nights" Emerald looked more nervous with each word she said.

"And you think this is related to the Shadow that attacked me, right?" Cinder looked at Emerald as she bit her nails, "With the Shadow still free and our covert blown up we can't continue with our original plan, there must be something, anything that we could use" Cinder started looking at her scroll searching for anything that she hasn't thought of using.

"Maybe we should try to use the White Fang to attack the city and use that as a distraction to look for the Maiden" Mercury suggested as he finished his maintenance.

"That's probably the stupidest thing that has come out of your mouth, if we try to use the White Fang as cannon fodder there is no way they won't betray us, no matter what Adam does" Emerald retorted to Mercury's plan, after exchanging glares with him she looked back at Cinder "We should use that Grimm as a distraction will we look for the Maiden" She looked earnestly at Cinder while she waited for her answer.

"And who do you think its gonna act as the bait!" Cinder screamed at Emerald, making her cover in fear" And that Shadow isn't a Grimm, it's just too smart, even if it was an Alpha it would have never waited in the dormitory just to kill a single person, and besides, there is no way that a Grimm would attack me," Cinder lowered her head "Salem wouldn't let them" whispering to herself the last bit, as she continued searching in her scroll her eyes fixated in a document she stole from Atlas, a smile appearing on her face "Maybe everything isn't lost yet, you said that the Nikos' semblance is polarity right" she asked Mercury with a seductive tone on her voice.

"Yes, I suppose that she would help us with our plan, right?" Mercury grinned back as he got up.

"Maybe not everything is lost in that case, Mercury, I need you to go and tell Adam to move his men to our hideout in the port, tell them that our plan will begin sooner than expected, Emerald, our little friend Neo has been of so much help to our cause, but she and Roman could comprise our plan if they find that they can get rid of us," Her smile only grew as she continued talking, "but if they were to betray us in our terms we could use it as an opportunity to weaken even further Ozpin, kept an eye on her and made sure she doesn't betray us until the first day of the tournament, make sure that Ironwood is the one receiving the information" Mercury and Emerald left the warehouse, leaving Cinder alone.

"Ha, hahaha hahahahahaahahaha!" Her eyes glowed as she started laughing, it seems that destiny still has something prepared for her.


AN: This chapter ended being longer than I expected, I was originally going to cut Cinder's part but because it was too short I decided to leave it.

And as a little warning, if I don't decide to change things the next chapter will be a little gorier, just a warning.

Without anything else to say, thank you for reading up to this point.