Chapter Twelve: How To Make Amends Part Three:

September 26th 1462 of the Vytali Calendar:

Greta had dreaded the end of combat class. Whilst trying not to look inattentive so as not to repeat the chat she had with Professor Siog Senior, she had been panicking on the inside. Aurora had managed to set something up with Rapture and now, finally, they would get to talk. Despite this being what she wanted, Greta was terrified. She hadn't talked with Rapture since last Friday and that had been a horribly botched apology that had ended with her being shouted at for reasons she still didn't understand. What she was afraid of was a repeat of that incident which would result in her faunus teammate disappearing again.

"Why did she have to do that?" thought sourly. "I didn't even do anything wrong. I was apologising. Why did she have to go crazy at me? It's not like I didn't care about the attack. I was there! I was a victim!" She frowned as she once again pondered on the reasons behind their fight. "The police were right there dealing with. We didn't have to go and do crime-fighting. We aren't supposed to."

She had her scroll projecting a digital clock in front of her that she watched carefully, counting down the minutes to the end of class. When the clock hit the hour a bell rang and Professor Smith called the lesson to an end. The students immediately began packing their things away. Very few people needed textbooks in combat class but most of the class had learnt that it always paid to make notes.

"Well," she thought with a little trepidation. "It's time to do this."

She stood up and pocketed her scroll, seeing Peter and Aurora were already standing and waiting for her. Rapture, miraculously, was also standing by them though she was scowling. Greta couldn't help but notice that Rapture looked incredibly tired, like the fight had deflated her completely. She was struggling to keep up the expression of defiant anger on her face and her shoulders were slumped.

'Hi, Rapture,' Greta said. She was flanked by both Peter and Aurora and was worried about what a sight would present to their errant teammate. 'Um, are you alright.'

'I'm okay,' Rapture mumbled, looking her in the eyes.

'Uh, we should go back to the dorm,' Greta suggested. 'It'll be easier to talk there.'

'Sounds good,' Rapture replied. Greta noticed that she looked uncomfortable talking in the classroom, especially since several students were watching them.

The four of them walked back to their dorm immediately, Greta apologising to Team TEAL when they asked if she wanted to hang out after class. The trip was awkward and Greta felt like it was taking forever for them to cross the courtyard back to the dorms. Every member of her team looked as uncomfortable as she did, especially Rapture who looked like she was desperate to be anywhere other than where she currently was.

Greta was sure that they had sped up once they reached the dorms and had decided to take the stairs once they saw the elevator to the next floor already had a queue waiting in front of it. They hurried up to their door and Greta grabbed the knob, unlocking it and letting them into their room. The moment they stepped in Great shut the door and looked around for a seat.

Rapture had already gone over to her bed and sat down on it. She looked tired and resigned by this point as well as a little nervous. Aurora sat on her own bed behind the faunus girl and looked cautious. Greta remembered how smug her teammate had been during class but that confidence and self-assurance seemed to have bled away now that they were all about to have the talk. Peter was leaning by the door and despite his best efforts to look nonchalant he seemed to be very concerned. Sighing, Greta went over to the desk in their room and sat in one of the seats, turning it to face Rapture.

'Okay,' she began and then paused, swallowing heavily as she tried to think of a good way of starting the conversation.

'Okay,' she started again. 'It's been a difficult weekend for all of us.'

"The fuck was that?" she immediately thought, lamenting her completely awkward choice of conversation starter.

'I mean we're all aware of the big problem that's been going on since last Friday,' she started once again. 'It's been really hard to talk about and we've had to do some pretty extreme things to get here.' Rapture scowled and threw a harsh look at Aurora who turned her head to one side. 'I mean, uh,' Greta floundered again, not knowing where she was going with her sentences, 'Uhhh, this is awkward.'

'Rapture,' Aurora interrupted, getting everyone's attention. 'We want to know what was wrong. Why did you blow up at Greta like that?'

'You really don't get it do you?' Rapture grumbled, finally speaking up.

'We get that it's about the Red Fang,' Aurora interjected. 'We all saw you get angry at Greta after the attack. You also made it very clear last week that you didn't like her decision.'

'What did you expect me to do?' Greta mumbled, just loudly enough to get their attention. 'Uh,' she panicked, realising they had heard her.

'I thought I told you last week,' Rapture dead-panned. 'We could've helped them out. We could've done something to find out where the Red Fang were operating. We could've done actual Huntress jobs. But you decided to tuck your tail between your legs and skulk back to the dorm.'

Greta felt indignant now. She had heard this before on Friday and now she was rather tired of Rapture's antagonism.

'How do you expect us to find where the Red Fang are?' Greta snapped. 'The police have been looking for them for years and haven't found their hideout.'

'The Red Fang haven't set a bomb off in years,' Rapture shot back. 'Now the police are actually looking for them.'

Greta was about to open her mouth again when Peter interrupted. 'Why are you so concerned with getting to the Red Fang?' He sounded calm, almost casually curious as he spoke but when Greta turned to look at him she saw a frown on his face.

'Do I really need to explain why?' Rapture said, glaring at Peter. 'They're criminals. One of them murdered dozens in front of us. He tried to kill Greta. I don't get why you three didn't want to get back at them.'

'Because we're not supposed to,' Peter snapped back. Greta tried to open her mouth to say something but her partner continued. 'We're students you know? What makes you think we could track down a criminal organisation that's escaped the police for years.'

'Trainees are allowed to help the police,' Rapture said sullenly. 'And what makes you think we wouldn't be able to do anything?'

'Oh come on Rapture, were freshmen,' Peter groaned. 'We haven't even been here a month yet. How would we track down the Red Fang. Our only lead was a man who blew himself up.'

'Both of you stop it!' Greta hissed, thoroughly annoyed with the two of them. 'We're not getting anywhere. Rapture,' she turned to her teammate who was now looking very defensive, 'I get why you're angry with me. I'm sorry I didn't want to help the police but I didn't think we could do anything.'

'No,' Rapture interrupted bitterly. 'You just couldn't be bothered.'

Greta grimaced and then threw her head in her hands, groaning heavily. "We're getting nowhere," she thought in exasperation and despair. "What the hell am I supposed to do?"

'Rapture,' Aurora suddenly said, getting everyone's attention again. Greta pulled her head out of her hands as she looked at what the dark-skinned girl was going to say, hoping she had some kind of solution. 'Are you upset because of what the Red Fang did to us or what they're doing to your people?' She sounded like she was offering Rapture two different options to answering her question and there was a self-assuredness in the way she spoke.

'My people?' Rapture said, her tone shifting from anger to a sardonic tone.

'What?' Aurora asked, sounding indignant at the sarcastic tone but also slightly surprised.

'What does any of this have to do with "my people?"' Rapture snapped.

'Oh come on,' Aurora said in response. 'The Red Fang help fuel discrimination against faunus. It was obvious that you wanted to stop them so that they stop ruining the image of the faunus rights movement. You were complaining about them after the attack and you got upset at Greta for refusing to do anything about them. What else are we supposed to think?'

'How the hell did you think that was what I was annoyed about?' Rapture replied, sounding both angry and confused. 'I couldn't care less about the faunus rights movement. There isn't even one anymore. The only people who go on about faunus solidarity,' she said the last two words in a bitingly mocking tone, 'where I'm from are either gangsters or trying to get something out of me. I don't give a fuck about those people or their phony message.'

'What?' Aurora asked, dumbfounded. Greta was surprised to see how shocked her teammate was at Rapture's declaration. Aurora looked like she was struggling to find something to say.

'I wasn't angry because of faunus rights,' Rapture said, now sounding calm but still bitter. 'I was angry because I wanted to help people and none of you backed me up. Hell, Greta ordered us, ordered me, to back off.'

'Really?' Greta asked. She was confused by some of the things Rapture had said but the last bit had shaken her.

'I thought I made that clear last week,' Rapture said sullenly, turning to glare at Greta. 'I wanted to actually make a difference in Vale. It's not like I don't notice the way people look at me. If I prove I'm a proper Huntress that can actually help them then there's a chance that I can change their minds, about me anyway.'

'I…, I'm sorry,' Greta said cautiously. She genuinely felt remorseful but she was also wary. The last time she had said those words Rapture had taken it the wrong way. 'I…, I didn't know.'

Rapture looked at Greta's face and faltered. She sat still, her face locked in a grimace of insecurity and then she groaned and threw her head in her hands. Everyone watched her as she sat there for several seconds, muttering to herself.

'Of course you didn't know,' Rapture said, her head still lowered into her hands. 'I never tell anyone this. I try not to let it get to me. It's just… the attack really got to me and I just felt so angry after that. I…, I…, I just don't know.'

'I get it,' Peter suddenly said, sympathy in his tone. Both Greta and Rapture looked up at him to see he had an unsure frown as well, his arms folded over his chest. 'The attack messed us all up quite a bit. You probably noticed, but me and Greta had our own fight after that day.' Greta twitched uncomfortably as she remembered the short but over-exaggerated and awkward period of 'silent treatment' that the two of them had subjected one another to earlier in the week.

The room fell into silence again as everyone sat and thought. Greta felt incredibly uncomfortable as she saw all of her teammates struggle to articulate what they wanted to say. It was as if every one of them had been thrown off course by what Peter had said.

"Gods above what's wrong with me?" Greta thought as she tried to wrack her brain for something.

'Rapture' Greta said before sighing again. She felt completely exhausted after a week of worry and stress. 'I just wanted to say, I'm sorry…, again.'

'Yeah,' Rapture said, looking almost as tired as Greta felt. Greta realised that the faunus girl probably felt as bad as she did. 'I know. And I'm sorry too. I was angry, I really was but I'd been dragging this out after Saturday. I'm just…, too damn tired to keep it up now.'

'I understand,' Greta said, she hesitated before continuing, worried that what she was about to say might ruin whatever goodwill, or acceptance, that they had all managed to build up. 'I just want to know one thing. Are we good now?'

Rapture looked at her, an inscrutable gaze boring out of the faunus' eyes and into Greta's. She then turned to glance at Peter who unfolded his arms and looked contrite. Aurora winced slightly when Rapture looked at her and seemed to be struggling to look her partner in the eye. Rapture then turned to look back at Greta, a strange look of resignation on her face.

'We're good,' she finally said with a sigh. 'I'm sorry. I shouldn't have let this get to me so much.'

'Don't say that,' Greta immediately interrupted. 'Trying to do that is what got us in this mess.' Greta put her hands on top of her head as she tried to think of the right way to phrase what she now wanted to say. 'I just want us to talk with each other more. I don't mean that we have to tell everyone everything,' she quickly added as a few uncomfortable looks were made and exchanged, 'I just don't want us to keep bottling everything up until we explode.'

'I can get behind that,' Peter immediately said, stepping away from the door and sitting down on his own bed.

'Agreed,' Aurora added. 'Oh, by the way,' she then added, looking to her partner, 'um, sorry for going so hard on you earlier.'

'It's alright,' Rapture said, tiredly waving her hand to dismiss Aurora's concerns. 'It was a training bout anyway.' She then grinned maliciously. 'I will get you back for using Grimm-killer rounds on me though.'

'Oh,' Aurora said, surprised by Rapture's sudden change in demeanour. 'Um, alright then.'

Greta sighed in relief though a part of her knew this wasn't really the end of the problem. At the very least things appeared to be improving and she could live with that. If she was lucky they would all get over this quickly and move on.

'I'm really tired now guys,' Rapture said before Greta could open her mouth. 'I'm gonna take a shower and lie down for a while. I'll probably see you guys for dinner later.'

'You sure?' Aurora asked, now getting off of her bed and standing close to Rapture.

'Yeah,' Rapture replied, waving Aurora's concern away. 'Don't worry about it. I just need to sleep off the explosive rounds you shot me with.' Rapture grinned at Aurora who chuckled awkwardly, her hand covering her mouth in a dainty fashion. Greta had seen Aurora do the gesture often and she could tell that, this time, it was rather forced.

"Oh gods I'm gonna have to keep doing this aren't I?" she lamented inside her head. She too was exhausted from the entire, week-long affair and just wanted to end it.

'Alright then,' Greta finally said. 'We'll talk to you later. I'm going to the CCT, see if there's any movies worth downloading.'

'I think I'll join you if that's alright,' Peter chimed in, sounding much more enthusiastic.

'Alright,' Greta said, also perking up a little. 'Aurora? How about you?'

'I think I will stay, thank you,' Aurora said after a second of thought. She then lay back on her own bed and took out her scroll, opening it and bringing up the interlink.

'Right,' Greta said, satisfied with the answer. 'We'll see you all later then.'

'Goodbye,' Aurora replied, Rapture grunting her own farewell.

Feeling a lot more confident, Greta walked out of their room, Peter by her side. Despite some misgivings over the situation Greta was happy with the way things had gone. She had apologised to Rapture, their team was beginning to mend ties and she had one less thing on her list of concerns. It was like a huge weight had been lifted off of her chest, a weight that had been pressing down on her for most of the week.

'So,' Peter said as they walked down the corridor, 'what film are we getting?'

'I'm not sure,' Greta replied. She hadn't really thought of what to look for. "I really just wanted to get out of the room and give Rapture some space," she thought to herself. "What should I try to get?"

'Uh,' Greta said as she tried to think of something. 'You know what. Rapture likes horror doesn't she? Let's get something like that?'

'Really,' Peter asked, looking sceptical. 'Isn't horror really overrated though? Besides, we face actual monsters. What kind of appeal do fake monsters have?'

'I don't know but Rapture likes them,' Greta replied. 'Let's do something nice for her.'

'Well I can't argue with that statement,' Peter said, smiling a little. 'Let's try to get something good though.'

Greta nodded, giving her partner a small chuckle as well as they walked out of the dorm. Vale's primary Cross-Continental Transit relay station was situated in the Beacon Tower, the central and largest structure in the academy. The Witch War had exposed the vulnerabilities of setting up such a vital piece of equipment in such an obvious location but the advantages that it presented, along with the limitations of the technology, had forced Vale's hand. There were, of course, back up transmitters and redundancies set up in more fortified locations elsewhere in the kingdom, both within and without its official borders to prevent a total communication blackout should Beacon ever be compromised again. The cost was immense but the enhanced signals had stimulated new business growth in the peripheries of the kingdom and so most of Vale's economists had continued to support the massive network.

Since her enrolment Greta found that having the foci of the entire kingdom's communication network right next-door to her dorm was very advantageous. Thanks to the signal boosts searching the interlink was a lot faster and easier which had helped in her studies. There was also the reduced download time whenever she wanted to grab something off of the interlink as well and now she was going to use that to get her hands on a movie for the evening. She didn't normally go for a high quality download when she was watching videos on the interlink, preferring the free streams that cheaper, or free, sites supported – often illegally – but today was special and worth a few lien.

Walking into the Beacon Tower, they found themselves in the main reception of the library. They walked up to the main elevator that was situated within a large pillar in the centre of the large room. They stepped into the elevator with a large group of other students and waited to arrive at their floor.

Whilst Beacon was the primary CCT relay in Vale it wasn't the official main terminal. That was based in Vale Proper and was heavily protected as well as it contained the main servers and a vast archive of saved data. Beacon's terminal was no less impressive, however and just as advanced. Lines of holographic monitors stretched across the large cylindrical room, most of them occupied by students. Most of the occupants were messaging through the terminals, talking with people transmitted on the holographic screens that were projected in front of them. Like all the other large rooms in the school the ceiling was tall and vaulted, shimmering lines of optic nano-fibres climbing up the walls in silvery streaks. Overall the CCT station did not share the neo-gothic and semi-modern hybrid appearance of the rest of the academy and instead seemed to evoke a more generic "modern" aesthetic.

'So,' Peter said. 'Let's find a terminal then.'

'Right' Greta replied as she scanned the room. She could tell that just standing near the elevator and waiting for a terminal to free up in front of her wouldn't work so she tried to find an area that looked like it would have at least one free screen.

'Over there,' she said as she spied several empty seats over near the right-hand corner of the rows of terminals. She then set off towards the space she had pointed out, Peter striding after her.

The two of them found a seat that was empty and Greta sat down in it, Peter hovering over her expectantly. Greta logged in her student ID and lit one of the holographic screens up. It barely took an instant for Greta to bring the interlink up and begin browsing. Typing in a general search for movie sites, she went for the first option and scrolled down the genre options until she found horror and selected it.

'So do you know any good ones?' Greta asked Peter as she slowly scrolled down a list of movies.

'Ummm, well, not really,' Peter admitted as he watched over her shoulder. 'Only the really popular ones. And some that are supposed to be classics but nothing new.'

'We'll check the reviews then,' Greta conceded as she scanned over several titles.

'How about this one?' she asked, looking at an entry that read "Blood Ties." 'It has a four out of five star ranking. That's got to be a plus.'

'Let's see what it's about first,' Peter suggested as he leaned in and peered at the blurb written next to the ratings.

'Okay,' Greta agreed. 'Let's see. Five friends go into the woods outside the kingdom for a getaway to their friends new cabin, yadda yadda, there they stumble upon, okay, awaken something, alright. Looks good to me. I think Rapture'll like it.'

'I don't know,' Peter said, pulling away from the screen. 'It sounds rather generic.'

'It doesn't mean it'll be bad though,' Greta pointed out. 'It got a good rating so there's got to be something special about it.' she leaned forward, her hand reaching out to select the title and prepare it for downloading.

'If you say so,' Peter replied as Greta tapped the screen and then filled in her details in order to pay for it. She also put in her student number when she noticed the site offered discounts to the Huntsmen academies.

'Come on,' Greta said as she finished. 'How bad could it be.'


"Gods help me this is a disaster," Greta thought in despair as laughter echoed through her room.

The evening had started promisingly. Rapture had felt a lot better after her rest and they had all gone to dinner, meeting with Team TEAL and all chatting amicably. Greta had thought about inviting their friends but decided that since this movie was supposed to help her team heal it was better that they make it an exclusive event.

They had managed to get their hands on snacks and bought some drinks at a shop that was attached to the campus and returned to their dorm. Rapture had actually been rather enthusiastic about the gift they had gotten her and happily agreed to take part in the evening event. Rapture had never heard of the film that Greta had gotten her but seemed to be grateful for the present and the sincerity of the apology that Greta was conveying through the offer. They had all sat down in their dorm, Peter having found a projection function on their scrolls that allowed them to set up a much larger display screen in their rooms. Whilst the quality hadn't been brilliant it was a lot more convenient than trying to stake out the dorm's common room.

The movie had then started and after about ten minutes everything had begun to unravel. Everyone in the room, including Greta who wasn't exactly a movie aficionado had cringed at the characters, the dialogue and the awful interactions. The acting varied from mediocre to bad though Greta couldn't tell if that was because of genuine bad performances or simply the drag factor of the horrible script.

When the plot, if it could be called that, kicked in then things had begun to pick up. Of course the monster, which turned out to be some kind of ghost, was summoned to the cabin by the cast's phenomenal stupidity but the entire team had stuck through the first act, waiting to see if it would improve.

It was after the first few deaths, when the increasingly unlikeable characters had started to turn on one another and prove that they could, in fact, become even more reprehensible, that things changed. Peter had started making snide comments, often throwing in his own interpretations of the characters' thought processes and had started to giggle whenever a particularly cliché action was made on screen. It had been rather annoying at first but eventually Aurora joined in, laughing alongside him and whispering her own digs at the movie to Peter. Rapture had eventually chuckled but she mostly remained quiet, grimacing at the awful film in front of her and grinning whenever a particularly funny comment was made.

'Greta,' Rapture suddenly said as one of the annoying teens was graphically dismembered by the monster, his sides ripped open in a gratuitous display of gore.

'Uh, yes,' Greta replied, trying to ignore the faint memories of the Red Fang attack when she saw the violence.

'Did you know anything about this movie before you downloaded it?' Rapture asked, snorting with derision when another character found the previous victim's remains and gave a terrible, shocked performance.

'Uh, well, no,' she admitted. 'But the website gave it a good rating.'

'I think those are customer ratings,' Rapture said, just in time for the characters on screen to give another scream of terror and begin a chaotic, camera-shaking chase scene.

'What?' Greta said dumbly, barely audible over the cacophony.

'The ratings on those sites are usually given by customers, not critics,' Rapture replied with a small grin and a chuckle. 'And the ratings are usually given by the kinds of people who like movies like this.'

'There are people who actually like this?' Greta asked incredulously. She couldn't, for the life of her, understand how anyone could like this train-wreck, at least unironically since the cackles coming from Peter and Aurora showed that they were enjoying it in their own way.

'Yeah,' Rapture replied in a matter of fact fashion. She then noticed that Greta was looking past her and turned around to see she was actually looking at their respective partners. 'Oh, I get it. Also, yes, there are people who actually like-like this movie and don't just watch it to make fun of it.'

'Weird,' Greta said, unsure of what else she could really say. 'So, uh, I'm sorry about picking this one. I wanted to get you something good.'

'Don't worry,' Rapture said with a small smile and a dismissive wave of her hand. 'This isn't actually that bad.'

'Okay, okay,' Peter said loudly as the movie depicted one of the heroines alone in a dark room, the music having quieted down to nothing. 'Let's see if we can countdown to the next jump scare. Right, five, four, three, two,' The moment he was about to say one a hand grabbed the woman on the screen and a loud music sting went off.

'Got it in one,' Aurora declared, cackling with glee as the monster proceeded to stab the girl repeatedly with her hand. 'Gods this is predictable.'

'And how,' Rapture deadpanned, a grin on her face. 'I bet five lien that they kill the monster only for it to reappear at the end.'

'Oh no,' Greta said. 'I don't like these kinds of movies but even I know they always do that. I'm not losing any more of my money over this.'

'Damn,' Rapture muttered, though the grin on her face revealed that she didn't really care. She then settled back to watch the climax, laughing along with the others whenever a comment was made.

"I guess this isn't bad," Greta thought as she relaxed again. Rapture was smiling again and the atmosphere was casual and even positive. She liked the way things had turned out, despite the slight hiccups along the way. Finally things were going to get better.


Jaune looked down the cliff that overlooked the Emerald Forest and felt his innards squirm at the sight. Professors Ozpin and Goodwitch stood in front of him, their stern faces showing their disapproval as their cold eyes bored into him. They knew he was a fraud, they knew he didn't belong and now they were judging him and preparing to pass a sentence.

'Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path,' Professor Ozpin said as he looked over the line-up of prospective students, 'or you will die.' As he finished the familiar statement he looked pointedly at Jaune and glared.

Jaune tried to take a step back but found his feet were stuck to the plate under him. He tried to turn but found he couldn't move his body. He was able to twist around to his left and saw his friends all lined up in a row, the same metallic plates under their feet. They were all looking back at him, expressions of mocking derision or loathing on their faces as they glared at him. The entire world seemed to grow cold and grey as he felt the hostility that was all around him.

'Wait,' Jaune said, not understanding what was happening to him. 'What's going on? What are you doing'

'Beacon is a prestigious academy that only accepts the finest potential students,' Professor Ozpin explained, continuing to glare at Jaune. 'A place that does not appreciate liars, or frauds.'

Jaune froze up at the headmaster's words. "He knows," Jaune thought. "He knows."

'That's why we test you all,' Professor Ozpin continued, 'to make sure that you are what you claim to be.'

There was barely a moment's pause as suddenly Jaune found himself flying. He didn't even know when the ground had catapulted him into the air but he was no longer on the cliff's edge, the wind rocketing past him painfully. He looked back and saw, despite the distance, that he could make out the angry glares of everyone left behind. His friends were all looking at him, the hate-filled expressions still on their face. Ruby, Nora, Ren, Sun, John, Randall, an endless parade of familiar faces that all shared the same utter contempt and loathing for him.

'Help me!' he shouted as the forest flew past beneath him. He could see the trees getting closer and tried to regain control of his fall. His attempts to flail into a favourable position failed utterly as the air seemed to resist him. 'Someone, anyone, help me!'

A second later he was pinned to a tree and hanging from the collar of his top. He looked to see that his shirt and hoodie had been impaled by a red and gold javelin.

"Milo," Jaune thought the name filling him with dread. The moment he said it the spear was ripped out of the tree and back into the trees by an invisible force. Jaune fell, hitting the ground hard and winding him.

Jaune tried to lift himself up but found he couldn't move, his arms and legs locked in place as if he were being held in place. He could feel a pressure on his limbs, his armour crushing down on his body with a weight they had never exhibited. It was then a foot, wearing a black, armoured high-heel and connected to bronze greaves, landed in front of him. The armour was pitted, worn and dirty but the familiar bronze colouration was still noticeable underneath it. The bottom end of a dirty, red sash fluttered behind the foot, brushing the ground.

'Jaune,' a cold voice said with barely restrained glee. 'I have you now.'

A pair of powerful hands gripped Jaune tightly, hauling up roughly in a single motion. Jaune felt dizzy as he was suddenly pulled up off of the ground, the pressure still crushing his body even as he was pulled against it. As he was lifted upright he saw his saviour's face, a face he dreaded. It was ghostly white – the smears of ash that streaked across the only colour that contrasted the unhealthily pale complexion – and rimmed by unkempt red hair that was also stained by soot, ash and smoke. A bronze headdress, separated the figure's hair-line from her face. It shone brilliantly in the light and the longer Jaune looked at it the more he was terrified of the spotless metal, the only clean item that could be found on the soiled countenance of his captor.

Her eyes were green but dulled and her mouth was slowly pulling back in a disturbing grin. The longer she smiled, the more her sharp, blackened teeth were revealed. Jaune, absolutely frightened of the woman in front of him, tried to squirm out of her grip but she held him fast, the manic expression on her face becoming more terrifying as he struggled.

'Remember Jaune,' Pyrrha Nikos said, her grin now reaching its full extent, 'I said I would always be here for you.'


Jaune bolted up in his seat, the terrifying mockery of his old partner thankfully fading from his mind's eye. Her face still lingered in his memory though, the sick grin, the ghostly features and the ashen stains returning to the forefront of his mind. He beat his hands on the table and then on the side of his head as he tried to banish the remains of the nightmare.

'Uh,' he groaned. 'I thought I'd gotten past that. When was the last time I even had one of those?'

Pushing himself off of his desk, he threw himself back in his seat and finally realised that he was still in his office. His desk was thankfully mostly empty of papers and he hadn't left any holographic displays on when he fell asleep though it was likely that any he had left on had automatically shut themselves off after a period of inactivity.

Jaune sighed again and recalled the screens, the holograms projecting a series of graphs, written files and police profiles. He immediately remembered that he had been focusing on the Elder Grimm Society investigation and blinked several times to clear his eyes and his head. He leaned forward in his seat again and trained his eyes on the screens. Activating the interface in his desk he began scrolling through the data, scanning it personally in the hopes it would turn something up.

'Come on, come on,' he muttered to himself as more lines of text ran across his eyes. 'There's got to be something. There isn't much time left.'


Benedict Cache studied his face closely in the mirror. Three years ago he had been a content man, happy with his lot and willing to perform his duties both to the temple and to the Council. He took a small amount of pride in his position but he tried to be careful not to act arrogantly because of it. He was humble enough to admit that it was difficult at times but on the whole he was sure that he had avoided the worst of excesses. He was a righteous man after all and he was merely offering solace and support to the secular government, not influence the politicians or those who served them.

Now, however, now he was a different man. To the people he helped he was still a pillar of stability and – he hoped – wisdom but in his own private affairs he was a sinner and an accomplice to evil.

Looking in the mirror he imagined his face was more haggard than it really was, his features possibly more sunken and his cheeks sagging under the weight of his guilt. Deep down he knew that whatever changes he had undergone were simply a result of age. His own sins were not visible, no matter what he wanted to think. No, he had to live with the fact that the only thing that could see his flaws was his own conscience. He was very good at hiding the stains on his character and despite his doubts he could never admit to others what he had done and what he was currently doing.

A loud moan interrupted Benedict's thoughts and he turned away from the mirror to look at the only other figure that shared his room. Lying on his rather expansive bed, barely covered by the sheets and writhing uncontrollably, was a young woman with a lithe figure and dark hair.

Several years ago the girl, Iseabal Beathas, had come to him claiming she was a confused young woman, interested in the faith and he had believed her. He had no idea what had driven him to accept her requests but he had been happy to have a young, pretty girl come to him directly for spiritual guidance. He was aware, these days anyway, that part of the reason why he had let her meet with him was because of his desire to have the attention of such an attractive girl and because of that she had gotten to him. They had talked for months, Iseabal spilling what he had first believed was her doubts and sins, baring her soul to him. Then things had become much more personal, much more intimate and by the end of their first year of consultations he had let her seduce him.

Now, after two more years he belonged to her in so many ways and it disgusted him. She had been submissive and inviting in the first few months of their sexual relationship but it hadn't taken long for her claws to sink into his body and soon she was the dominant partner, directing him and making increasingly dangerous demands, both in their personal relationship and the new professional one they had developed.

Halfway into the second year of their relationship she had started needling him for details on the politicians and officials that consulted with him. Conversations turned into interrogations that resulted in more affection if he gave Iseabal what she wanted and cold derision if he failed to provide. He didn't know when she had claimed so much of his soul but the mere idea of her disapproving of him was physically painful and so he had worked hard to get her the information she wanted.

The night before she had come to visit him, a pleasant smile on her face. They had talked casually, telling one another about how their week had been. By now Benedict wasn't sure if anything Iseabal told him was true or not but the small moment of friendly calm had been especially pleasant. They had made love in the evening and it had been, as usual, an act of coercion on her part and submission on his. Once again he hadn't cared about the power imbalance. How many other chances would he get that would be like the one he already had. He was easily old enough to be her father, maybe even her grandfather and she was so beautiful that he couldn't resist the feelings and urges she inspired in him.

Now she lay on his bed, convulsing and stretching, her eyes rolled back as she moaned loudly in exertion and a bizarre kind of pleasure. Whenever this happened Benedict was worried that others would hear. The doorman to the hotel his apartment was in was a friend of his and had already promised to be discreet about Iseabal's visits, guessing about their relationship and getting it mostly correct. The other residents, however, were a different matter, especially since many of them knew who he was. Even if the truth of Iseabal's allegiance wasn't discovered the scandal that would ensue for him would end everything Benedict had built.

As Iseabal shifted the covers were pulled back from her legs and Benedict had to turn away from the sight. Despite the feelings of worry that stirred in him when he saw acting the way she currently was he couldn't help but also notice how enticing she appeared. The more he thought about his feelings the more he became disgusted with the man he had become. He had been a righteous and courteous man, dedicated to helping the kingdom and people of Vale and now he was a lecher and accomplice to a disgusting conspiracy, a traitor to everything he had held dear and enough of a hypocrite to try to hide his sins away.

Suddenly Iseabal's eyes shot open and she threw herself up into a sitting position, flustered and breathing heavily. Benedict turned around, his worry overcoming his guilt once again. This time he didn't care about the fact that her violent movements had thrown away the covers and exposed more of her body, he was merely concerned about her health.

'Are you alright Iseabal?' he asked.

Iseabal didn't reply for several seconds, simply panting as she gulped in great breaths of air. Benedict tried not to focus on her exposed breasts as her breathing slowed down and steadied. He noticed the familiar red flush on her cheeks, a hue that she only ever reached during her episodes. He had no idea what she experienced when she underwent these fits but it seemed that she enjoyed them on some esoteric level that he just couldn't comprehend.

'I'm fine, Benny dear,' she replied coyly, her face still a little red. She pulled the sheets up to cover herself but the way she pressed the fabric against her body made her seem even more enticing. 'You know that you have nothing to worry about when these episodes happen.'

'In fact,' she began, leaning forward and letting the sheets drop away from her body, 'I have another little request to make of you.' she leaned forward, her breasts swaying as she reached a hand out to stroke Benedict's cheek. Despite his best efforts Benedict couldn't look away from the beautiful sight in front of him, the pendulous breasts, the perfect, round face and the inviting smirk and eyes. 'I need you to get some information from Councilman Li's personal files when you next have an appointment with him. Can you do that for me?'

'H…, how?' Benedict stuttered. 'How would I…, be able to do that?'

'Oh I have just the tool to help you,' Iseabal replied with a giggle that lacked any genuine mirth.

She got up out of the bed and walked over to one of his desks where her clothes had been left. Benedict didn't even bother to look away from her as he watched her hips sway. He could tell that she was being deliberate in the way she moved and also knew it would be pointless to try ignoring her. She would get his attention one way or another and he knew he was powerless to stop her.

Iseabal rummaged through her things, bending over so he could get a better view of her bottom, before straightening again, a small digicard in her hand. She turned, a self-satisfied smile on her face and sauntered back to the bed, lounging on it and presenting the digicard to him.

'Here,' Iseabal said, offering the device. 'It's a retrieval program. The card has a simple AI bug implanted in it so all you have to do is hook it up to the Councilman's computer. It doesn't matter if its a scroll, a holographic interface or even an old fashioned combook, it will break in and get what we need.'

"What you want," Benedict thought, a hint of bitterness and self-loathing tinting it.

'I understand, Iseabal,' Benedict replied. His tone was compliant, he no longer felt like he had the strength to even feign protest. He would get her what she wanted and in return she would continue loving him.

'Wonderful,' Iseabal said, handing him the digicard. He got up and placed it on the other desk, in front of his mirror.

'Now come over here,' Iseabal continued, a sultry tone in her voice. Benedict turned around to find the inviting smirk and look in her eyes back on her face. She beckoned him to her with a single finger and he complied, sitting down on the bed next to her. 'When you succeed,' she began, running a finger over his chest and up to his collar, 'we can celebrate anyway you like.'

Once again Benedict noticed her state of undress and the shameless way she flaunted it. His mouth dried at her words. He rarely had the chance to decide how their trysts would turn out anymore and relished the chance to take the lead.

'I understand,' he said again. 'I'll get what you're looking for. Don't worry, my dear.'

'Oh I knew you would do it,' Iseabal soothed as she leaned forward and pressed her body onto his, her lips tickling his own. 'I look forward to hearing back from you.'

With those words she pulled back and Benedict's heart wrenched from the sudden loss of contact. She got up off of the bed and dressed quickly, slipping into her clothes with practised ease. Even the act of dressing was sensual and teasing and Benedict found his breath turning heavy as he watched her cover her beautiful form up yet again.

She left his room without a word, only leaving him with a nod and a promising smile that reminded him of the rewards that awaited him after he had completed her request. Benedict glanced at the digicard, his heart clenching as he weighed his options over in his mind.

"What can I do?" he asked himself, knowing he had no answer other than "obey." Sighing he lay back on his bed and wept, partially from the guilt he felt for what he was about to do but also because of the harsh emptiness he felt now that Iseabal was gone. Truly, he was a damned man.


Aanjay Laal watched over her men as they stacked crates full of processed and raw Dust. Despite her orders Micha had attacked the mall in the city centre the week before, drawing media attention precisely when they didn't need it. In any other circumstance Aanjay would have condoned his actions, even celebrated them but this time his attack and self-immolation had been completely inappropriate.

"Just when I tell them to stay put and get everything we have together Micha decides to go and suicide bomb one of the busiest malls in the city," Aanjay mused angrily. She had thought about her former subordinate's reckless behaviour constantly since the incident.

Ever since his attack the police had stepped up their game. None of them dared enter the Old Residential District but they had started to poke around the edges and the outer cells had experienced several close calls in the past few days.

"Now there are Huntsman trainees sniffing around our territory as well," Aanjay thought bitterly, crossing her arms and snarling quietly. "Just when things start getting serious we have to be on guard for Huntsmen."

Trying to distract herself she looked up at the men as they worked. The majority of her forces had been gathered in the Old Residential District along with everything they could carry. Weapons, ammunition, Dust, rations, even old vehicles, they had all been grabbed and brought to the northern edge of the megacity. Crates filled the abandoned warehouse complex they had turned into their new hideout alongside a small armada of cars and trucks.

In the middle of the warehouse sat the key to their new plan, a massive Dust-hauler tanker. The immense rig and its accompanying trailer dominated most of the warehouse space and was currently being serviced by every Red Fang member with mechanical expertise. It was in top condition and they had managed to acquire the papers they would need to safely carry their haul across the city to wherever they wanted. All they needed now was enough Dust to fill it.

"And thanks to our new friends," Aanjay almost thought the last word with noticeable anger, snarling audibly, "we should have just enough. Soon I can make my move."


Happy New Year, 2017 everyone. I wanted to bring in the new year by finishing off the first volume of this story.

And thus ends this arc and our first volume. This story will be continuing of course, I have many plans after all. This volume has mostly been setup with little real adversity for our characters but, as you can probably guess, there is a much bigger picture to reveal. Volume 2 has already been started and will be coming out soon.

I would like to thank MS Void and Jed Rhodes for proof-reading and helping me bounce my ideas back and forth (and help me come up with this in the first place) and all of you as well for reading and, hopefully, enjoying this.