Jaune stared in wonder at the colossal structure in front of him.

'This is where he lives? This place is nearly three times as big as my house!'

The building was huge. The main building alone was the size of a small apartment complex, not to mention the size of the grounds and side areas. The front garden was practically a football field, and there was a conservatory on one side of the building that was two storeys high and just as wide, with the logo of Atlas printed on one of the windows, easily visible even from how far away they were.

'Well he definitely likes to do things big,' Blake commented. 'You can't fault him for that.'

Looking at the building, the group wondered how they were going to get past the huge gates that were put up in front of the mansion. They didn't seem as easy to break through as the White Fang facility. Just as they were about to find another way in, the gates opened for them, and not a moment too soon. The group felt like they were going to melt under the blazing sun that shone down from above. Approaching the front door, it too opened as if greeting them. The group sceptically crept closer to the door, before taking a step inside.

'Make yourselves at home,' an unfamiliar female voice shouted from what they could only assume was the kitchen. Feeling much more relaxed, they took a seat on the couch, sinking into its luxurious comfort. It was bliss compared to the conditions they had grown used to over the past few months. It was then that they saw the person who welcomed them in. Leaving the kitchen with a tray of drinks was none other than Cinder Fall, the person who they had met during the tournament at Beacon.

'Cinder?' Ruby asked in surprise, 'what are you doing here?'

'I was running from some Grimm, and I came across this place. Ironwood let me in, but he left soon after with a bunch of guards. He hasn't been back since, so I figured he wasn't coming back. I live here now, along with Emerald and Mercury. At the mention of their names, the two headed down the marble staircase that lay in the middle of the grand entrance hall, greeting Ruby and the others as they did so.

'Do you want anything to eat?' Cinder offered, a calming smile resting on her face.

'Yes, please,' Yang answered, her stomach rumbling on cue.

'Tuna for me if you can,' Blake said, her eyes lighting up at the thought of fish.

'Alright,' Cinder said with a giggle, 'I'll be back soon with food. Emerald, Mercury, would you do the honour of entertaining our guests?'

Happily complying, they sat and talked with the group for a while, before Cinder returned with several platters of food, one filled with just tuna specially for Blake. She was practically drooling as she stared at Cinder carrying it, her mouth watering and ears frantically twitching adorably as she waited. They wasted no time digging in, and after they had had their fill they looked towards Cinder again who had been watching intently as they ate.

'Now this is just a guess,' Mercury chimed in, 'but were you hungry by any chance?'

They gratefully nodded in response, happy to finally get something to eat after days of finding nothing.

'You can stay here as long as you like,' Cinder offered, a smile on her face. 'It'll be nice to have some company for a while.'

While they were sceptical earlier, that soon vanished as they graciously accepted her offer, deciding to take a look around the mansion. Team JNPR looked upstairs at the various bedrooms that lined the corridors, each one as big as an apartment. Meanwhile, Ruby, Yang and Blake looked around the ground floor, marvelling in wonder at the various sculptures and pieces of art, each one worth more than everything they owned as children. The ground floor was mainly for rooms like the kitchen and dining hall, but there were plenty of other rooms as well, in addition to four bathrooms downstairs alone.

'This place is pretty impressive,' Yang said, Blake and Ruby nodding their heads in agreement.

'Yeah...'

Lost for words, the group continued looking around when Ruby noticed a slight tear in the wallpaper in one of the corners.

'That's strange,' she pointed out, gesturing toward the corner of the room with the offending wallpaper, 'Ironwood seems like the kind of guy who'd freak out over something like that,' she added, an uncomfortable feeling resting in her stomach.

'Cinder said he'd been gone for a while and hadn't come back. Maybe she just didn't notice?' Blake suggested, but Ruby was still unsure.

'I've got a really bad feeling about this,' she said as she reached out for it, before tearing the wallpaper back. Sure enough, there was another door hidden behind it, and opening it she found it was pitch black inside. Feeling inside for a light switch of some kind, she eventually found one, flicking it on. What they saw made them sick to their stomach. There, chained to the wall, was a certain General James Ironwood. He barely seemed conscious, but as soon as he noticed them he began to scream through the tape covering his mouth.

'Wha... what the hell happened?' Yang asked, tearing the tape off to allow him to speak, as she began to get to work on his chains next.

'She... Cinder, she...'

His eyes went wide with fear as he stared at the entrance.

'So, you found this place, did you?'

Cinder's calm voice sent chills down Ruby's spine as she said those words.

'I had hoped to keep this a secret from you, but I guess that's not really an option now.'

'Cinder,' Ruby angrily began as she turned to face her, 'what the hell is going on? Why is Ironwood chained to the wall?'

Her fists clenched, the fury on her face evident as she waited for her explanation.

'You don't know, do you?'

Ruby was surprised at Cinder's statement.

'You don't have any idea what this man has done, do you?'

After brief hesitation, Ruby replied with a simple, 'no.'

'Ironwood,' she began, shooting him a hateful look as she did, 'did horrible things to me and my family. He ruined my life. When I was 6 years old, he ordered the deaths of my parents. He accused them of being mass murderers, which was never proven nor disproven, but as the case stands my parents were guilty. I know they weren't, and Ironwood knew just as well, but he ordered their execution anyway. Then, he took me and my sister in out of 'pity.' My sister never found out about what he did after that, and I'm glad she didn't. When I was 9 years old, he raped me for the first time. This carried on for years, until I turned 15, and even then the only reason he stopped was because he had to sort out matters in a different kingdom. By the time he came back, me and Summer were long gone.'

The name she uttered sent shockwaves through Ruby's body.

'Summer? As in, Summer Rose?' she nervously inquired, both wanting to know the answer yet at the same time afraid of the truth.

'You knew her?' Cinder responded, her eyes widening at the recognition of her sister's name.

'She's my mother,' Ruby informed her, Cinder taken aback at the revelation.

'I thought you looked similar, but I'd never have guessed she had children. I guess it's about right, though. She was ten years my senior so it makes sense for her to have kids. She always did like children,' she said in a wistful tone.

'Anyway. That's my story. After I left Ironwood, I searched the out anyone who would take me in. Of course, nobody would. Everyone was too scared of the name Ironwood to risk his wrath. Soon after I changed my name, got a hold of some dust and applied it to my clothing so I didn't look like myself and searched out the White Fang. And well, everything else you already know.'

The girls didn't know what to say. They were stunned by her story. They didn't even know if it was true or not, but they still believed her.

'Look, I understand you're angry,' Blake began to say, 'but this is wrong, Cinder. Let him go. If you don't learn to move on you'll never be able to forget your past,' she reasoned.

'Shut it,' Cinder harshly responded, breaking her usual calm demeanour. 'You don't know anything about what the world was like back then. Typical Faunus, trying to push their beliefs on everyone else. That's how the White Fang was so easy to control. Make them believe something and they'll blindly follow it to the end.' Blake was visibly furious, her teeth baring slightly as she tried to contain her anger. Ruby slowly reached for Crescent Rose, Blake doing the same for Gambol Shroud.

'Ironwood is staying right where he is,' Cinder continued. 'If you insist on opposing me you can join him!'

Raising her hand, she used a vial of red dust to create an explosion that knocked the three of them flat on their backs, before pulling a lever on the wall that caused a huge trapdoor in the floor to open up, dropping them around 20 feet into a giant room lit with torches. Landing with a thud, they all groaned as they slowly stood up, horror etching itself on their faces as they realised where they were. Looking around, there were five cages in the room with them, each one containing an S-Class Grimm. After around a minute, they saw the unconscious bodies of team JNPR drop into the pit as well, but luckily no serious harm was caused by the fall. Skeletons of previous contenders littered the floor as the girls realised what was about to befall them.

'I do hope you enjoy the attractions we've got for you,' Cinder said with a cackle.

'And as for you,' she said, staring directly at Ruby, 'I expect you to at least give me a good show before you die. Being Summer's bitch you can at least do that much, can't you?' she taunted, a twisted smile on her face as she walked away, presumably to watch from a more comfortable position.

Moments later, the cages opened one by one, setting the 5 S-Class Beowolves loose into the chamber.

'So, Blake, this is the part you tell me you've got a plan, right?' Ruby nervously chuckled to her, the three of them aiming their weapons at the Grimm in front of them.

'I really wish I could,' she replied, fear tingeing her voice as her breathing grew slightly erratic.

Yang charge at one of the Beowolves, firing her Ember Celica as she ran, but as soon as she came within range of the creature it simply swatted her to one side, sending her crashing into the wall before lumbering over to dine on its catch. Ruby and Blake didn't know what to do. They didn't have nearly enough strength to fight off the creatures in front of them. It took four of them just to defeat a single S-Class, so beating five of them with three people was a gargantuan task. The Beowolf that defeated Yang began to tear into her stomach, the ear-piercing scream of pain that filled the room causing great distress to Ruby, who just crouched down covering her ears, hoping it would end. Defeat seemed inevitable, and just as they were ready to give up, another person appeared in the chamber through what seemed to be a red and black portal. With what little consciousness Yang had left, she recognized the woman as Raven Branwen, the Beowolves turning to look at what they saw as another easy meal, before Raven changed her sword to blue, before gracefully spinning it above her head, creating a circular shockwave that decapitated the Grimm in the room.

'You really need to stop getting in these situations,' she said as she walked towards Yang before changing her sword to green and stabbing her. The others looked in amazement as Yang's wounds began to heal at extraordinary speed, reminiscent of what Jaune did to them.

'T-thanks,' Yang said, standing up good as new. 'But, how did you do that? And... who are you?'

'My sword, Spectrum, has a lot of different abilities depending on the kind of dust is applied to it. As for who I am-'

'You're related to her, aren't you?' came an annoyed voice from within the chamber.

They turned to see none other than Cinder walking towards them with a disdainful look on her face.

'You're one of Summer's, aren't you?'

Raven's slight smile at the name confirmed her suspicions.

'Correct. I'm her daughter, to be precise,' she said, looking back at Yang. 'In fact, I'm Yang's twin sister.'