A/N: I want to issue you guys a challenge, I want to get a PM or a review from each and every one of you. Whether it is a critique or a suggestion for the story, doesn't matter, I want to see what you guys think should be going on with the story. I'm not out of ideas, but I have learned that more suggestions give me more inspiration.

Thanks for reading, enjoy this week's chapter!


I couldn't sleep knowing one of my siblings was alive and I wasn't doing anything to look for them.

I got up and started to do some maintenance on my swords.

Apparently I wasn't being all that quiet because before long there was a knock at my door.

"Probably Weiss coming to complain about the noise."

I opened the door, surprised to see Ruby standing there.

"Did I wake you?" I asked.

"No, I haven't been sleeping all that well lately…"

"Does it have to do with what you saw when Shadow used Nightmare on you?"

"Not really, that just kind of reaffirmed what I was already thinking." She says, while I motion for her to come in.

She goes and sits on my bed, "I saw Weiss, Blake, Yang, and my mom all dead at my feet. They were clearly gone, but the bodies still whispered, "You failed us."

"It makes me think I'm not cut out to lead Team RWBY, seeing how skilled you and the others are, makes it seem like anyone would be better than me."

"Ruby, Ozpin chose you as leader because that is where you can grow the most.

"If you were already a perfect leader, then what would be left for you to learn?"

She smiles, "I guess you're right, we are in school after all."

"Anything else you want to talk about since neither of us are going to get much sleep?" I said, laying back, stretching my wings out behind me.

"Well… I want to know a bit more about my teacher."

"Ask away then."

"When is your birthday?"

I raise an eyebrow, but answer anyway, "It's in about two weeks, why do you ask?"

"I wanted to be able to get you something whenever it was."

I frown slightly, she picks up on it, "What's the matter?"

"Two things really, one was me realizing just how few of my birthdays I've celebrated, the second was the reason why."

Her eyes urged me to continue, "My mom died on my sixth birthday, and I tried to bring her back on my birthday two years after that."

"It made any sort of celebration sad, all I'd have to do was look to my left to be reminded of what happened."

"I guess we don't have to have a party then, but I know all of us would love to get you something."

"You guys really don't need to get me anything, I'm content with what I have."

"You can't think of anything you'd want for your birthday?"

"I want to call you my girlfriend, but that isn't something I can expect you to do for me."

"You're going to have to give me time to think about it, I haven't thought about birthday gifts in a long time."

"Ok, but I expect you to come up with something for each of us to get you, all of us owe you a lot."

"I feel like I owe you and Yang, not the other way around. Has she said anything about what she saw when Shadow used Nightmare on her?"

"I went to her about it first, she told me that I'm going to be a great leader someday, but she didn't want to talk about what she saw."

"I want to know, has Shadow always been a thing?"

I thought about it, "I guess he just kind of showed up after I attempted human transmutation."

"At first, he didn't seem all there, almost like he was lost or something like that."

"He started talking to me about a year later, saying he wanted to help me when I fight."

"I let him take over in a sparring match against my brother, he fought ferociously, but I could never beat my brother."

"My father always had us shake hands after we finished sparring, Shadow took it as an opening to attack, leaving a scar across my brother's face."

"I took back control, and I have never given it willingly since."

"Have you ever tried talking with him?"

"He came to me a while ago, saying he wanted help sorting out his mind, I told him that I'd help him if I thought I could trust him."

"He also showed up when I was at Weiss' place, he commented that he was alive and could be bored just like me.

"So I asked him, if he was alive, then where was his aura?"

"He's been silent since then."

"Wait, Team RWBY all had something blocking their auras, who's to say Shadow doesn't as well?"

"I never really considered him more than just an alternate personality, but I guess Truth must have given me more than I'd bargained for when I went through the Portal."

"What would happen if you tried to help him in the way you've been helping us?"

"I don't know if I can, I usually use a semblance on the person's physical body, but he doesn't have one."

"If he asked, would you try and help him?"

"I don't know what would happen if I did, and I still don't really trust him."

"I think he's just misunderstood, if he asks, at least hear him out."

"I will, but only if you're there with me, so you can knock me out if he tries anything."

"I can handle that…" She said, giggling.

I grab her hand, "I'm serious, if he tries anything, knock me out."

"Ok, but that has to wait until after we've done my training."

"Agreed, speaking of which, we should both probably be well rested for that." I say, laying back.

"Do you mind if I stay here? Yang used to let me climb in her bed when I'd have nightmares, but I can't really do that now that she and Blake share."

I smile at her, "I used to do that for my little sister too, so why not?"

She climbs up on the bed and curls up next to me, "Thank you…" She whispers as she nods off.

I can't help but lean closer, trying to get as close to her heart as I could.

Once again, it only takes a minute for me to fall asleep, with no nightmares plaguing me the whole night.

I wake up and smell the roses, which isn't all that difficult when Ruby constantly smells like them.

I blush, realizing just how close I was to the girl, and instantly blink out of bed to trip and fall over Nightshade(Which I had forgotten to close up.).

"I really have to stop doing that, she's my friend, and I don't want to mess that up."

I throw on some clothes and put my cloak over that, I wanted to get Ruby and I some coffee.

"She has to like a lot of sugar in her coffee, I'll grab quite a bit."

I walk back to my room and find Ruby still fast asleep.

"I'll wait a bit before waking her up, if she hasn't been getting much sleep for the last week, I think she could use this."

I sit on the edge of the bed, sipping coffee, before Yang rushes into the room, "Have you seen…" She says before seeing Ruby in bed.

"She had a nightmare and heard me doing some maintenance on my swords, she asked if she could stay with me since Blake was in bed with you."

She gave me a sour look, "I don't know how I feel about you being in bed with my sister."

"You act like we messed around or something, I just comforted her when she had a nightmare, I did it for my younger sister all the time."

Ruby started to wake up after hearing her sister, "Yang, it wasn't like she asked for me to do it, I just needed someone with me and she was willing."

"Fine, just come back before I wake up next time, k?"

"If you insist sis."

Yang walks out, seeming quite annoyed, "You ready for your training?"

"We're collecting sap for Professor Peach today, I can do it after we get done."

"I guess I'm going back to…" I say, getting interrupted by my scroll.

It was Ozpin, he wanted me to go on the sap collection, apparently there had been an extremely large amount of ursa in the area.

"I guess I'm going with you then." I say, kind of annoyed that I wasn't going to be able to sleep some more.

"I hear the sap tastes really good." Ruby says, happily sipping at her coffee.

"How do you manage to switch between mature leader and carefree child so quickly is beyond me."

"I don't know if I should take that as a compliment or an insult."

"I couldn't really tell you how I meant it, so it's however you take it."

"I forgot to ask, how are you adjusting to being pushed ahead two years?"

"It's been going better than I thought it would, I still miss my friends from Signal though."

"I be worried if you didn't, but I was thinking more academics wise."

"The classes really aren't any harder than the ones at Signal, different, but not really harder."

"Is Oobleck still as hyper as I remember him being?"

"He is really hyper sometimes, but he tore into Cardin…" She stopped frowning slightly.

"What?" I say after seeing her expression.

"He kinda tore into Jaune too, they both weren't really paying attention."

"I've always been curious about Jaune, nothing about him screams huntsman or leader for that matter."

"I caught him in the hall yesterday, he said that he'd messed up, Cardin had him on a leash and Pyrrha wouldn't talk to him."

"He said him coming here was a mistake, that he was a failure."

"What did you tell him?"

"Nope."

"Nope?"

"I told him that he was a leader now and that leaders aren't allowed to be failures."

"I told him that it isn't just about him anymore, he's got a team and that has to go first."

I smile, "And you said you were a bad leader, I've never heard better from Ozpin."

"Thanks, but I'm not that good all the time."

"Ruby, you don't have to be the best all the time, you just have to be when others need you."

"I just don't think I will be strong enough when the time comes."

I have a realization, "Ruby, I don't think I have to dive into your head to figure out what's blocking your aura."

She looks confused, "You have the opposite problem to your sister, you're worried that you won't be strong enough to save everyone."

"Is it really that simple?"

"Ruby, I think Ozpin pushing you ahead made you miss one of the most important lessons you will ever learn."

"What?"

"That you will never be able to save everyone."

She looks shocked, "What do you…"

"You said you wanted to know more about me right? I'm going to tell you a couple stories."

"The first is about how my father died…"

*Flashback start*


Our house definitely wasn't one of the most conventional, there were bedrooms, bathrooms, and a kitchen, but we didn't have a living room, we had a sparring arena.

My swords met my sister's in a flurry of sparks, "Come on sis, give it everything you got." I yell.

"I am!" She says throwing herself into a charge.

I side step and trip her quite easily, "You can't get angry like that, anger isn't a useful tool when you fight." I extend my hand to her.

She grabs it, "I can't help it, I can never seem to beat you."

"Now you know how I feel when I face brother."

"I thought you told me Matt wasn't good at close range."

"He isn't, but he's still better than me."

"Also, why does Matt get to use a sniper rifle when he's blind?"

"Because you don't need eyes to be a good sniper." My father said, coming into the arena.

My sister runs up to him, "Dad! You're home!"

"I missed you too, have you been keeping the others out of trouble?" He says, rubbing her head and messing with her hair.

"She's been doing a great job Dad, I assure you." I hug him.

"How did the hunt go?"

"We managed to get the nest up in Crag Pass, apparently, the AHH doesn't have a hunter to spare for a nest the size of a small town."

"I think it's more like they know you live nearby and expect you to take care of it before they have to."

"One of these days I'm going to get too old for that kind of stuff."

"I don't think that will be anytime soon, speaking of which," I lean over and start to whisper, "Kurome's birthday is coming up and we need to get her a present."

"We'll think of something, but in the meantime, I just finished the modifications of your brother's rifle and he can't wait to try it out."

We go out to the balcony and see my brother running his hands over the new modifications to his rifle.

"How's it feel Matt?"

"A bit heavier, should help with recoil."

I look out over the balcony at the cliff's edge below and spot some ursa walking around, "Matt, there's some ursa if you want some target practice."

I watched him put the rifle onto the railing, take a deep breath, and pull the trigger.

One, two, three, each perfect shots to the chest.

"I'll never understand how you do that."

"I can teach you one of these days, all it takes is a little concentration."

"And lack of sight, bat hearing, and an extremely fine tuned aura."

"Those definitely won't hurt you, but I think I could teach you."

"Have you gotten Kurome anything for her birthday?"

"I have actually, I made her a gauntlet for her left arm, since she doesn't have any cover on that side."

"Can I see it?"

"Sure, if you do the paint and detailing, we can say it was from the both of us."

"I wouldn't want to steal your thunder."

"Considering it probably doesn't look that good without paint, and I can't see to paint it, I don't mind you sharing in the limelight if it's better in the end."

I walk back through the arena, passing the kitchen and Kurome's room, to come to a stop at one of the last rooms in the house.

My brother's room was quite empty, his lack of sight makes it hard to move around when there is a large amount of furniture.

He grabs the gauntlet off his desk, and throws it to me. (He never misses a throw or a high five.)

"Did you have anything in mind?"

"I think I'll let the artist decide how she wants to paint it."

"I'm not really that good…" I said, with a slight blush from the compliment.

"Bullshit! Kurome said your paintings look amazing!"

"She said that?"

"She said Dad even was impressed, he didn't think he could ever paint like even if his life depended on it."

"I think I'll go red, maybe some black detailing."

"Sounds incredible, but I think she will love anything the two of us make for her, we'll probably be shown up by dad anyway."

"He seems to know the three of us better than we know ourselves sometimes."

"I think that's his job as a parent though isn't it?"

"I guess I'm going to get started on this, call me when dinner's ready."

I walk out to the workshop, the garden looking really pretty in the spring time.

I sit at my worktable,(there being one for each of us), and grab my sketch pad from off to the side to get an idea of how I wanted this to look.

I did a couple sketches, I decided that it would be a red base with a pair of bat wings over the wrist-plate.

I prepare some red paint and dip the gauntlet in its entirety, pulling it out and putting onto a hook to dry before I do the detailing. (I never got a chance to finish that detailing.)

"I think it's about time for dinner, I'll go early and help Dad."

I walk back through the house, my dad clearly concentrating on making dinner.

A flicker of shadow catches my eye, almost as if the shadows behind my father were alive…

"Dad! Watch out!" Jumping in between my father and the shadow.

I catch the knife between my sword blades and throw it from the shadows.

My dad turns on the kitchen lights and the shadows dissolve leaving a man in a black cloak sitting in the corner where the shadows once were.

"Who the hell are you?"

The cloaked figure says nothing, but then he disappears in a puff of black smoke.

"Shadow Walker huh? This is going to get interesting."

I hand my dad one of my swords and we go back to back, "You ready?"

"I'm always ready."

The cloaked figure had reclaimed his knife and comes after my father full speed.

"So dad's the target then?"

I meet the knife with my sword and can smell the poison no doubt on the blade.

"What's going…" Kurome says rubbing her eyes as she walks into the room.

I see eyes flick towards her under the cloak, the assailant breaks our lock and dives toward her, knife at the ready.

"She just woke up, she won't be able to dodge!"

I start to run, knowing I'm too late, and close my eyes.

Kurome screams, I open my eyes to find her holding my Dad, the knife clearly visible in his chest.

Matt runs into the room, I charge at the hooded figure as he begins to fade into the shadows, he looks at the three of us and whispers, "I'm sorry…" as he is fading into the shadows.

I drop my blade and run to my father's side, "Dad!"

I clap and try transmuting the poison, "Sierra, don't waste your energy, this isn't something that can be fixed." He says, the poison having already spread across his chest from the wound.

"I can do something, I won't let someone else I care about go…" The tears running down my face.

"Mom's death was my fault, twice, I'm not going to let you die."

He grabs my shoulder, "Never blame yourself for your mother's death, she chose to make that sacrifice, don't let it be in vain by blaming yourself for it."

"Continue her work, rid this world of Grimm, and make sure that one day the faunus will be equal."

"Why did you do it?" Kurome gets through her own tears.

He looks into her eyes, "I just wanted to make sure that my daughter was going to be safe."

"The three of you are strong, be there for each other, and I'll be with your mother cheering you on." He said, the pain clear on his face.

"Dad, don't leave, please…" I say, pouring every ounce of feeling I could into those words.

"Be...strong...,and…never...forget...I...love...you" He said, with his final breath.

His grip on my hand faltered, and I let it fall to the floor.

I grab the knife from his chest and bring it swiftly to my own throat, "Sierra!" Kurome says, pulling it from me.

Matt tackles me, "Let me do it! If I can't save him, I want to go too!"

"Don't you dare!" Matt yells as he slaps me, I stop, I don't think I'd ever heard him yell.

"You think we aren't suffering! You think we aren't thinking the same thing! I know I am, but I'm not going to disobey our father's last request!"

"I don't know if I can be strong, but I'll be damned if I don't try! We are all that we have left, and I'm not going to let either of you go!" He says, pulling me into a hug.

Kurome joins in and the three of us cry for a really long time.

*Flashback end*


"Sierra…" Ruby said looking shocked.

At some point during my retelling, I had started to cry.

"Nope, we're not done yet, I've got another one for you."

"How I lost my brother and sister…"


*Flashback start*

"The hung from the ceiling by chains bit is getting old after three years." I said to myself, thinking about just how long it been since I'd gotten here.

The man who gave us our assignments walks into the room wearing his usual anonymous mask, "How are we doing today?"

"Just bright and perky like always!" My voice entirely filled with sarcasm.

"Still just as resistant as the day you got here, I'm impressed, you and your siblings seem to be the only ones who haven't broken yet."

"Good, they haven't gotten to them, I can only hope the other kids can be helped once we get out."

"What can I say, we are a strong bunch."

"Yes, and the other children seem to find hope in that, so we plan on removing that hope by showing them just how weak you three are."

I laugh(in the face of death), "So you're going to make examples out of us then?"

"Yes, but not in the way you might think, we're not going to get rid of some of our best lab rats."

"So then what exactly do you plan on doing?"

"You and your siblings will see soon enough."

He walks out, chuckling to himself, leaving me to question exactly what he will be doing to my brother and sister.

A while later, one of the guards came and dropped me to the floor, "Stand up, you've got a show to put on."

They lead me, still in cuffs and chains, to the training area.

The large arena-like space was set up with what looked like a small stage in the middle.

The other kids were sitting around the stage, my sister already present on the stage with her wings exposed, and my brother was sitting next to her.

"Nice of you to join us, now we can begin."

I'm pushed to my knees by the guard, he pulls my shirt over my head, leaving my wings exposed.

"Since you children take such pride in these three we wanted to show off just how weak they really are."

He pulls what looks like a hacksaw from a nearby table, "No, he isn't…"

"Hold her wing out…" He said one of the guards standing off to the side.

The guard pulls my sister's wing to full length, "Now, this is what happens to heroes."

He starts sawing into her wing joint, she screams, "Stop! Don't hurt her!" I yell.

"You wanted to go first? Oh well, I have to finish what I started."

He keeps going, the sound of the saw tearing through muscle and bone was sickening to me.

To my brother sitting next to her, that with her screams had to be agonizing.

I hear the wing hit the floor, "One down, one to go."

I try and block out her screams of pain and the sound of the saw going back and forth, those sounds would haunt me for years to come.

"Now to finish the job…" He said, pouring burn dust down the length of her back.

The smell of seared flesh made me throw up in my mouth, "One birdie isn't going to be able to fly anymore, let's make it two."

I feel him place the saw on my joint, "Any requests for styles?" asking like a barber would.

"Your dead body." I growled.

He goes to start, only to be interrupted by the alarms.

"What's going on?" He yelled to the guards.

"White Fang, multiple militants." A guard said running towards the sound of gunfire.

He turns back to me, "I guess I'll have to be quick then…"

I realize the guard holding my chain had run off, he leans down to start, I throw the length of chain around his neck and pull it tight around his neck.

"Any requests for styles?" I say, holding the chain as tight as I can around his neck.

"I think the Not Breathing style suits you quite well." I quip as he chokes.

He stops struggling and I drop his lifeless corpse to the floor, I run over to my sister, "Are you okay?"

"I'll live, I might not be happy about it, but I'll live."

"I'll go get our weapons, I need you to get brother and the others out." My brother, shell shocked from what he had heard, was practically frozen in place and hadn't said a word since my sister's wings had hit the floor.

"If the White Fang are here, how are you going to get out? Your aura is still too weak to teleport."

"I'll find a way once I get our belongings, just run and don't let yourself get caught." I stand, going over to the lifeless corpse of our captor and grabbing the keys to our cuffs.

I unlocked all the cuffs, all the kids looking ready for a fight if they needed to be.

"You guys go with my sister, she'll lead you to the exit, while I get some weapons if we need to fight our way out." I said turning to run to the armory.

Our father taught us to be constantly aware of our surroundings, even if we were caught, there were no exceptions.

I was always watching when we were brought back from missions, I probably knew these hallways better than our captors did.

"Labs, no, Weapons Testing, good, but not what I'm looking for, Armory, perfect!" I thought, running through the halls.

I smashed the cases all our weapons were held in, grabbing my swords and sheaths, my sister's shortsword, and my brother's sniper rifle.

I grabbed an assortment of other weapons for the other kids, not really knowing what any of them use, "I'm sure that they can all use assault rifles."

I started to run toward the exit, seeing makeshift barricades and bottlenecks made in the halls approaching the exit.

I turn the corner to see the White Fang surrounding the group of kids, I pull the pistol I grabbed out and fired it at the ceiling.

The Fang soldiers turned, I used it as an opportunity to transmute a wall between the other kids and the soldiers.

"Where are the guards?" I thought, after clearly seeing them run out, I hadn't seen a single one.

"Kid, we don't want to hurt you…" The lead guy said, not lowering his rifle.

"See when someone has a gun trained on me, I get the impression they do want to hurt me." I said transmuting a box around the men.

I ran and took down the wall between me and the others, and started giving out weapons.

"Have you seen any of the guards?" I asked my sister.

"No, I think they went deeper into the facility to guard some of the labs."

"Sierra, I hear some activity below us, I don't think they plan on leaving."

"What?!"

"I think I can hear them placing charges, we need to get the kids…"

He's interrupted by the White Fang busting down the mechanical blast door, a figure strode into the room.

I walked out from the group, "Kurome, get the kids out."

"I'm not aloud to let you leave." The figure said, his face obscured by a Grimm mask.

"Then I'll let them walk over your body." I said, using my darkest tone.

He shoots his sheath at me, which I easily deflect one handed.

He charges, I push my two blades into his one, keeping the two of us locked together.

"Kurome, go now!"

"But what about you sis?"

Matt grabs her shoulder, "We'll take care of this and be right behind you."

"Ok, if you say so." She says, leading the seven others out of the blast door, towards the surface.

"I can't let you leave!" He says, throwing his sword towards the exit.

My brother takes aim and blows the sword out of the air, embedding it deeply into the wall.

"You're not going to let them leave, we're going to force you to." Matt said taking aim at the man's head.

"You've lost, now tell your men to let my sister and the others through."

I put his walkie talkie up to his ear, he gives the order for the men to stand down.

"Good, now Matt let's…" I say, before being thrown to the floor by an explosion.

The masked man rolls out of the way, through the door, while Matt and I tumble over the edge of the collapsing floor.

Matt grabs the wall on the way down, "Swing yourself up and grab the ledge!"

I brace myself to start swinging, but then a thought occurred to me, "How are you going to get out?"

He stays silent, "Hell no! I'm not going to leave you! I'll fly us out!"

I try and stretch my wings out, but a searing pain passes through my left wing. That bastard had started cutting before I threw the chain around his neck!

"Sierra, if you can't get us both out of here, go now!"

"No! I'm not going to let you go!"

"I said go!" He said, pushing me into the jump.

I grab the edge of the blast door, pulling myself up.

"Swing towards the sound of my voice!" I yell to him.

He swings up as high as he can, his hands miss the doorframe and I try to grab him, but can only watch as he falls into the seemingly infinite darkness below.

"MATTHEW!" I screamed, knowing full well that I couldn't get to him even if he survived the fall.

I grab the man's sword from the wall, and put it to my own throat…

But I stop, "Kurome needs me… I have to be strong…"

I stand, grab my swords, and take one final look at the complex I had been held in for the past three years.

"He's alive, I would know if he died, but if he is alive, they have him again."

I think, grimacing at the thought of what those bastards will do now that he had tried to escape.

I walk out of the building, tears still streaming down my face, only to find the White Fang had set up at the exit.

The man my brother and I fought was standing at the front, "I thought my brother told you to let us through."

"No, he said to let his sister and the others through, you weren't with them."

"I'm his sister, so I think it still applies."

"He's dead, I don't think our deal extends that far."

"Well, then I'll just be going through you."

I use my aura to hold his sword behind my back, ready both my blades, and prepare to try out tri-wielding.

"What the…" He says, seeing my technique.

"Like what you see? Good, because if you don't get out of my way it will be the last thing you see."

They lose automatic fire, I spin, deflecting the bullets off my three blades.

I begin to feel nauseous, "Shit, I thought I had recovered more aura…" I thought before feeling something hit me in the shoulder.

I grab the dart from my shoulder, "A stun dart?" I thought, falling to the ground.

"Get her back to camp, she might know something about the weaponry we salvaged." I hear him say.

"Kurome...be...safe." Is my final thought before passing out.


*Flashback end*

I look up to see the rest of Team RWBY had arrived at some point while I was talking.

Ruby was crying, Yang turned to look at me, "What the hell did you do?!"

"I gave her a lesson, not one that I should have had to."

"Yang, what's the last lesson you learn before graduating from Signal?"

"It's that you can't save everyone…" Her eyes widening in realization.

"That's all I've done, she was being held back by the thought of not being strong enough to save everyone."

"I told her about how I wasn't strong enough to save my father, my brother, or my sister." I said, the tears running down my face.

"But you guys interrupted me before I could finish…"

Ruby stops crying and the others all turn towards me, "If we save even one life, it's beyond worth it."

"The person you save could go on to do great things, my mom always used to tell me about how she would get letters from the people she'd saved, and they all told amazing stories about how they gone on to live their lives."

"We can't save everyone, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try!"

I look to Ruby, "Let's see your aura then!"

She only has to concentrate a second before a bright red glow surrounds her and the smell of rose petals fills the air.

"Incredible!"

"You did it sis!" Yang said hugging her sister.

"I think we need to get going, I don't want to be late for the sap collecting." Ruby says standing.

"Are you sure you're okay?" I ask her.

"Yeah, but I know I definitely need to get you something for your birthday."

I blush, "Don't think you need get something extra special for it, helping you is part of my job."

"But telling me your past wasn't that couldn't have been easy for you."

"No, but I wasn't going to let the team leader be the only one who couldn't train with us."

"Well that training is going to have to wait until after we get done with the sap collection."

"Fine by me." I say, ready to go after the inevitable Grimm.

"I can never get over just how red this forest is…" I think, looking through the trees that stretch further than even I can see.

"Yes students, the forest of Forever Fall is indeed beautiful, but we are not here to sight see."

"Professor Peach has asked all of you to collect samples from the trees inside this forest, Miss Grey and I are here to make sure none of you die by doing so." Goodwitch clarifies.

I look back at the students, Jaune was clearly being forced to carry the equipment, as I remember Cardin being assigned the job as punishment by Professor Goodwitch.

"He wasn't lying to Ruby when he said Cardin had him on a leash, I wonder if I need to intervene."

"Each of you is required to collect one jar of red sap; however, this forest is filled with the creatures of Grimm, so be sure to stay by your teammates. "We will rendezvous back here at four o'clock, have fun!" She says as the students run off.

I backflip into the nearest tree, leaning up against the trunk, while sitting on a branch.

"Miss Grey, we're supposed to be keeping an eye out for the students." Goodwitch points out.

"They should be able to handle it, and I can blink close if they do need any assistance."

"Any particular reason for your recessive demeanor? You seem off."

"It hasn't been the best morning for me, but it was quite good for Team RWBY." I say, dropping down to face Goodwitch

"How so?"

"I finally got all of their auras unlocked, I can start doing some actual training with them now."

"I hope you realize they are still first year students, no matter how skilled they are."

"I hope to at least teach them the basics before the tournament."

"Will it matter if you're entering?"

"Ruby stands a fair chance against me, her aura is one of the most powerful I've ever seen from someone who's had no training."

"You put that much faith in her?"

"She hasn't given me a reason not to, her skills combined with her strong will, there's no doubt in my mind she will do great things."

I pick up on some sound, an ursa's growl, "Ursa! Ursa! It's got Cardin!" I hear in the distance.

"Goodwitch doesn't know I'm a faunus yet, hearing from this range would be impossible for a human."

"But if Cardin is with an Ursa, Jaune is more than likely there as well."

"Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

Blake and Yang come bursting through the trees, "Cardin and Jaune are in combat with an ursa."

Goodwitch looks to me, "On it!" I say, blinking towards the sound of combat.

I warp over, cloaking myself to avoid being spotted by the ursa, and watch as Jaune blocks a hit from the ursa.

"I think I'll just watch, Goodwitch might get a little mad, but I want to see what Jaune has got."

Watching him confirms my suspicions, he definitely needs some work in the combat department, but he wasn't fairing as bad as I thought he'd be.

He goes in for his final strike, but I can tell his stance with his shield is too wide.

"He'll be really injured if that strike hits…"

I go to move only to watch the shield magically move to intercept the hit.

"How?" I look around to see Ruby, Weiss, and Pyrrha standing off to the side of the clearing.

"Niko's semblance, makes sense now."

"What?" I hear, listening in.

"How did you…?" Weiss asks her.

"Well, Ruby has her speed, you have glyphs, my semblance is polarity."

I see Goodwitch walking around the other side of the clearing, and decide to give those three time to sneak away.

"What happened?" She asked me when I approached.

"An ursa attacked Cardin, Jaune engaged it in combat."

"And you did nothing to help?!"

"Jaune seemed to have it under control, I would have helped him had he needed it."

"I don't know whether to slap you or commend you for allowing the students to take initiative."

"I know they have a good teacher, so I wasn't worried."

"Flattery won't get you far with me Sierra."

"I know that, Ozpin's been trying that trick for years." I think, grinning slightly.

"We're heading back then I'm assuming?"

"All the students have the sap they need, so I guess we can head back early."

I look up at Beacon in the distance and look back at all the students following me and Goodwitch, "I hope you realize these kids will have to go up against terrorists soon." Shadow comments.

"Where the hell have you been? And what do you mean?"

"I know Torchwick is planning something, and if he has one of your siblings, the amount of high tier alchemy he could use is immense."

"You have a point, but Torchwick's goons have never been hard to beat."

"Something gives me a feeling he isn't the highest one on the food chain, ask Goodwitch about the night she met Ruby."

"Goodwitch, when did you first meet Ruby?"

"I met her when I was sent out in response to Roman Torchwick robbing a dust shop in Vale."

"I was slightly disappointed he got away, but he had a powerful dust caster with him and I wasn't going to risk Miss Rose's life to pursue them."

"How did you…"

"I hope you realize I'm not you, so I might know a thing or two that you don't."

"Then do you know anything about what happened to you?"

"What do you mean?"

"How did you end up in my head?

"I think you'll have to help me figure that one out, but that is for another day, you've had a long day."

"Tell me about it, I'm ready for a long night's rest."

A/N: Just to layout plans, each set of ten chapters will follow a RWBY volume, so I will be slightly ahead of the volume 3 releases. I will be using canon elements for as long as I can, but there will definitely be a lot of original content after that content is used up. Chapter 10 is going to be big, so don't miss out! Follow, Favorite, and Review(All three are like my fuel, so the more you give me, the faster I go.) Again thanks a lot for reading, Marksman Out.