Authors Note: I'm feeling generous tonight so here, have a second chapter on me!

'Hey Ruby, what do you think the safe zone will be like?' Yang asked, trying to break the silence. As peaceful as it was, given the circumstances of their journey it still made her uncomfortable.

'I dunno,' she replied, deep in thought. 'I hope they have cookies though!'

Yang giggled a little at her sister's optimism. Even after all they had been through, she could still laugh and have fun. Yang really admired that part of her sister, even secretly wishing she could also share her happiness. But the ordeals that the group had been through had definitely changed Yang, and she could not get what those White Fang did to her out of her mind.

I have Grimm genes inside me...

I'll be able to control it until I willingly let it out? What did that mean...?

Fox soon added his own input to the conversation.

'Guys, get your weapons ready. Now.'

Shaking Velvet awake, they all wondered what was bothering him.

'Are we there already?' Velvet adorably asked with a yawn, one of her ears flopping over her face as she woke.

'There's something in the water,' Fox informed them. 'I heard splashing but assumed it was the boat. Just now, I saw something moving quickly through the water. Moving towards us.'

The fact that they were around halfway across the water only served to fuel his theory. After all, if a predator wanted to kill them in the water, they'd wait until the prey was as far away from land as they could before attacking. That way the prey wouldn't be able to escape, and being an aquatic creature they would naturally have an enormous advantage in the water.

Standing up to see if he could see the creature, for a second he thought maybe it had left them alone. Seconds later, however, he realised just what had happened.

'Velvet, get back!'

Pushing her backwards and almost tipping her off the boat, the instant he did so the boat shattered into splinters from below, a strange humanoid fish Grimm catapulting out of the air and launching Fox up with it. He tried swinging at the creature but it agilely kicked him, throwing him off balance and sending him hurtling towards the water. The salt water stung his eyes as he tried to look around amidst the bubbles, but he paid no heed to it as he frantically tried to swim back to the others.

Yang, Ruby and Velvet all stared at the Grimm which was now eyeing them ravenously in surprise, before Yang fired several shots from Ember Celica. At least, she tried to.

'God damn it! Not now!'

As the name would suggest, Ember Celica wasn't the greatest ally of the water, and Yang had frequently had a problem with it jamming in water back when she was still a student at Beacon. Seeing that Yang was helpless the Grimm instead went after Ruby, as she seemed to have more meat on her than Velvet. As Ruby desperately tried to dodge the incoming Grimm, she realised her attempt was futile. The Grimm had complete control over where it would land, and sure enough a few seconds later it plummeted directly into her stomach, dragging her down into the depths with it. She struggled to break free, and even tried using Crescent Rose to slice the Grimm open, but the water pressure was far too strong. She could barely move her arms, and despite the fact her weapon was much easier to carry in the water her swings were moving at a turtles pace. The Grimm easily dodged them, slamming into her from all sides as it tried to make her lose consciousness. In a desperate bid to kill it, Ruby changed Crescent Rose to its gun form and fired a few shots, but each one just left a slow trail behind it as it lagged forward. Ruby could feel her lungs just about ready to burst, and knew if she didn't get air soon she would be in serious trouble.

The Grimm, however, did not suspect that Yang would be such a strong swimmer.

I'm not letting you die too, sis.

Those words pushed her forwards as she swam down towards the unsuspecting Grimm that was now pounding hell into her quickly drowning sister. It was having far too much fun with its new toy to care about the others right now. Yang made sure to stay out of its sight, and when she got up close to it she grappled its neck, to which the creature panicked. It had not expected to be interrupted, especially so deep in the water. Yang's chest felt like it was going to explode with the pressure the water was exerting on her, but she knew her sister was in a far worse condition. As the Grimm struggled, Yang pounded against its head, trying to cause some serious damage so it would have to back off. Soon enough, after several heavy blows to the face the creature swam for dear life, not looking back for a second as Yang swept down and picked up Ruby in her arms, desperately trying to get her to the surface in time.

Please... don't let it be too late!

Bursting up above the water, Yang took a deep breath before noticing her sister wasn't breathing.

'No, no, no! Sis, come on!'

She started pounding against the redheads chest, trying to make her cough up any water she had swallowed, and after around half a minute she still had not elicited a response.

'No...'

It was then that Ruby began spluttering, water gushing out of her mouth as she coughed heavily before losing consciousness again. But at least this time she was breathing. They were forced to swim the rest of the way to the shore, and they must have been blessed by the goddess of good fortune to not encounter any similar creatures on their journey. Upon reaching land, the group cleaned themselves up, Ruby still blissfully sleeping, her small chest motioning up and down to let the others know she was alright.

'We made it,' Yang said in sarcastic optimism.

'Just,' Fox added, Velvet not saying anything, being too focused on drying her ears to input into the conversation. When her ears got wet they went very puffy and it annoyed Velvet a great deal, often being a trait that people picked on her for.

When Ruby finally awoke, she found that she too had been cleaned up, her sister giving her a warm smile and an even warmer hug.

'I thought I lost you back there, sis,' she said, thanking the heavens that they had all made it through their trial. 'Don't scare me like that again,' she said through tears of joy.

'Come on,' Ruby said, 'let's stop crying and start moving.'

'She's right,' Fox added. 'Staying out here won't do us any good.'

'You got any idea where the place is?' Yang asked him.

'Yeah, a couple of the radio broadcasts they sent out came with co-ordinates. I know exactly where they are, and roughly where we are. Once we get close we should be able to see it, I mean if it really is a safe zone it should be noticeable, right?'

Following Fox's lead once more, they took frequent breaks to allow Velvet to breathe. Swimming such a long distance whilst already tired had taken its toll on the poor girl's condition, giving her a cold and fatiguing her. Ruby handed Velvet her cloak, to which Velvet happily accepted, but it did very little in the way of warmth. They heard the occasional howl of a Beowolf or a roar of an Ursa every now and then, but all in all the side of the continent they were on was much more docile than where they were just a few days prior to their voyage. Walking onwards, they eventually saw what appeared to be a large settlement in the distance, and they'd seen enough maps back at Beacon to know that they weren't looking at Vacuo.

'That's gotta be it!' Yang shouted excitedly, jumping up and down in anticipation.

We did it...

We made it...

We're still alive...

Words could not express the happiness the four of them felt as they approached the town, noticing that the closer they got to it the less and less Grimm saturated the area nearby. Eventually, they even saw a person. A soldier. At first, he pointed his gun at them, but upon realising they were survivors he quickly rushed over to help.

'Are you OK?' he asked, looking at the exhausted faces of the young Hunters in front of him.

'We're fine now,' Ruby answered softly, tired from their travels.

'Come on,' the soldier said, nodding his head to tell them to go with him. 'Let's get you inside those walls, get you some food, water and rest.'

Following him, they finally made it.

They were safe, after all the time they spent evading the monstrosities that lurked amongst the darkness, both Grimm and human alike.

After they had eaten and gotten warm, dry rooms to stay in, they happily went soundly to sleep for the first time in a long, long time. When they woke in the morning, they greeted the people in the city that they recognised, many of them teachers from Beacon, others people they had met at other times. Among them were Professor Port, Oobleck and Peach. They even saw Roman Torchwick wandering around, his trademark cane in hand. He was accompanied by a short girl that they had met before, back when Roman hijacked the Paladin. She was the girl who stepped in and saved him during their last encounter.

'Hello ladies,' Roman said, his pleasant demeanour shaking off any unpleasant feelings they held towards him. He was a former member of the White Fang, and his presence here meant the others deemed him safe enough to have around.

'Might I say it is lovely to see you again, although I must ask; where are the rest of your friends?'

They froze up at the mention of them. In their happiness they had completely forgotten everyone they had lost on their journey to this safe haven, and the pangs of guilt gnawed at them until Fox spoke up for them.

'Some of them... didn't make it. The others we still don't know about. We were separated a while back and haven't seen them since.'

'I'm sorry to hear that,' the girl at his side chipped in.

'Ah, my apologies,' Roman said sheepishly to them, 'my companion here is Neapolitan. I believe you've met before?'

'Yeah,' Yang answered, a slight pang of annoyance in her voice. 'We still have a score to settle,' she fiercely told her, the fire in Neo's eyes telling her she felt the same way.

'I'd be careful,' Roman warned, 'she gets very excited and sometimes carried away when she fights. She rather relishes the opportunity.'

'I'll keep that in mind,' Yang said, breaking away from Neo's eyes.

'We'll see you around,' Ruby told him, a small smile breaking onto her face.

'You guys are here?' the surprised, yet familiar tone of voice was one Yang immediately recognised as none other than Raven Branwen, a.k.a. Raven Xiao Long.

'It's good to see you guys! I was worried about you every day. I would have helped, but I have a lot of duties here. First off we're taking out all the known factions that oppose us humans. In some cases, the human enemies are worse than the Grimm. At least all the Grimm do is kill you.'

That drew winces from Ruby and Velvet, as they recalled their ordeal at the hands of the White Fang group that captured them.

'Adam isn't here, he's off with another group somewhere near Vale, but it's good to have you guys with us. I hope you enjoy what we've got here,' she continued before departing. 'I've got important stuff to go take care of, so I'll see you around!'

As she waved them off, they carried on towards the medical bay, Velvet bumping into someone as she turned the corner, knocking her on her back.

'Sorry,' the bespectacled man quickly apologised. Looking up, picking his glasses up from the ground, the adoration in his eyes for the beautiful Faunus he had bumped into quickly overcoming him as he lost the ability to speak in the face of such radiant beauty.

'Is... is something wrong?' Velvet shyly asked, slightly nervous at how much he was staring at her.

'Uhh... no, it's nothing... umm, my name's Perry! It's nice to meet you. I'm a Faunus too,' he said, pointing to his now extended claws. I'm a wolf Faunus, but I was always pretty shy so I always got bullied... but I'm here now! Oh... I guess I'm rambling a bit,' he said with a forced laugh as he scratched the back of his head. He got up and offered Velvet a hand, which she graciously accepted.

'Thanks,' she cutely managed to say in response, to which Perry blushed.

'A-anyway, I've gotta go, you take care!'

She's beautiful, he thought to himself as he ran off in a trance, smacking his head into a street light as he ran.

'He's a bit of a klutz, isn't he?' Yang pointed out, to which Velvet of all people protested.

'But, he's not a bad guy! He's... nice. He reminds me of Yatsuhashi.'

Wanting to move on from the now solemn mood, Ruby quickly moved the group forward.

'Come on, let's get you to the doctor,' she said cheerily, as they continued on their way again.

'You're around two weeks pregnant,' the doctor told Velvet, her being a woman herself helping calm her nerves. 'Is this the father?' she said, nodding towards Fox, to which she shook her head.

'I see...'

Deciding not to pry further, the doctor told her to come in once a month for routine checkups if she wanted to keep the baby, which Velvet happily agreed to, holding her stomach.

There's a new life growing inside me, she thought to herself. It's amazing. I know my child will grow up to be a wonderful person.

Beaming with happiness, the group finally had a place to call home. The months quickly passed, and Velvet's baby bump slowly grew with it. She couldn't have been more proud of her little one. She had decided to wait until it was born to find out it's gender, but she already knew exactly what she would name it.

If it was a girl, Coco. And if it was a boy, Yatsuhashi.

In all, seven months passed since they reached this place.

And then just like that, all that hope was destroyed.

They woke to their ears ringing, the smell of burning and destruction permeating the air and the sound of horrified screams of countless people singing through the streets.

'What the hell is going on?!' Yang shouted as she burst out the door, Ember Celica ready to go, and she hoped that what she saw were her eyes betraying her mind. The streets were lined with fire, Hunters fighting Grimm as far as the eye could see, explosions rocking the dirt underfoot. What disturbed her, however, was the fact that there were humans joining the attack. It gave her sickening memories of the White Fang, back when she was force-fed part of a Saberfang. She was about to join the fighting, when a terrible thought crossed her mind.

Velvet!

The heavily pregnant Faunus could definitely not protect herself against these attackers, so she turned her first priority to her friend, heading straight for her room. Slamming open the door, she wasn't there, and as the chaos continued outside, she realised she would have to help push back the attack, lest the entire city go down.

Ruby and Fox meanwhile were frantically searching every nook and cranny for the rabbit Faunus, but she was nowhere to be seen.

Velvet... where are you?!