"Everyone ready?"

"Yeah, we're all in the containers."

"Weiss, Elisabeth, you two have enough dust and energy?"

"We've got plenty."

"Good. Ruby, Blake, Pyrrha, all your rifles calibrated?"

"All the sights have been checked and rechecked. We're ready."

"Alright. The White Fang are set to arrive any minute, so from this point on there's no chatter. If anything goes wrong, just stay calm and try to improvise. Don't try to be a hero."

"Copy.,Team A, out."

"Copy, Team B, out"

"Good luck everyone. Team C, out." Roland looked out over the sleeping city as the voices of his friends faded away into soft static. He could see the occasional glimmer of light bouncing off one of his comrades scopes, the short twinkles somewhat reassuring. Roland always thought that when the moment came for him to take revenge her would be ready and excited. But now he felt incredibly anxious, and slightly scared. If anything went wrong, of anyone died, it would be his fault.

He shifted his body slightly, trying to get comfortable. He was lying on his belly, his cloak wrapped tightly around his shoulders. Even if someone knew he was there he would be practically invisible, the dark roof making it easy for him to blend in. As he laid there he wondered what was going through his friend's minds. Were they scared too? Or were they all used to this kind of stress? Questions like these buzzed in and out of Roland's mind as he thought about the people he held so dear. He wondered if they trusted him.

He wondered how Blake felt.

Two Days Earlier

Elisabeth knocked hurriedly on the door before her. Sounds of shuffling feet could be heard inside, followed by a stream of mumbles and curses. The girl chewed on her fingers as she waited, on the verge of panic while those in the room took their time getting to the door.

After what felt like an eternity Yang swung the door open, her massive bunch of hair sticking up in all directions. "Elisabeth?" She yawned, stretching out her back as she did so. "What are you doing here?"

"Roland's gone."

Purple eyes grew wide from surprise as Yang's exhaustion was blown away. "What do you mean he's gone? Where is he gone to?"

"I… I don't know… I figured he would go back to the room after the meeting but when I opened the door he wasn't there and I don't know where he is." Elisabeth felt like she was going to break down, and Yang could tell. The faunas' purple eyes were wide with fear and worry, brimmed with tears that threatened to fall at any second.

"Hey, come here." In the big sister fashion that Yang was known for she wrapped her arm around Elisabeth's shoulders, holding the girl close. "Gimme a sec to wake everyone up, then we'll go find him, alright?"

Elisabeth nodded slightly, leaning into Yang's embrace and silently wishing it was Roland's instead.

Yang guided the girl inside, telling her to wait by the door. The blond went about shaking everyone awake, having to literally drag Ruby out of bed as the brunette refused to get up on her own. By the time the other three were standing up Yang was already fully dressed, now tying her boots as she waited for the others.

"Whats the meaning of this? We've already been awake all night, why are we up again?" Weiss seemed the most upset out of all of them, her blue eyes filled with ice that threatened to sting the blond.

"Elisabeth says Roland's gone. She went back to their room and he wasn't there. We are going to find him." All eyes were directed towards the girl who stood by the door. The girl who now seemed to be very, very small.

"Blake… Can stay if she wants… Roland would understand." Elisabeth knew that Blake was probably in no mood to see Roland, or even get out of bed for that matter. But to her surprise Blake was already getting dressed, pulling out her set of clothes from the closet. "I'm going. I have apologizing to do."

Everyone watched as Blake started getting dressed without another word, stripping out of her sleepwear and changing into her clothes. "Blake, are you sure you want to do this?" Ruby asked, watching as the black-haired girl tied her ribbon.

"I'm sure. Now get your clothes on. We have a friend to find."

"Alright, where have we not checked?" Ruby crossed another store off her map, adding to the already overwhelming amount of red marker that covered the paper.

"The only place left is the church on the outskirts of town, but he would never go there." Elisabeth said, looking over the younger girl's shoulder to see of there was any other places left.

"Why do you say that?" Blake asked, shielding her eyes from the sun that was just starting to peak over the horizon.

"Because if there's one thing Roland hates more than anything else on this planet, its religion. He'll tolerate it and let you do whatever you want, but if you try to get him involved or even suggest that he join a religion he will tear you to pieces."

"Whoa. Didn't know that about him." Yang said, realizing how little she knew about Roland's likes and dislikes.

"Yeah, he barely tells people anything. But we might as well head there anyway. If he isn't there… I don't know. We'll tell Ozpin. He'll know what to do."

"Alright. It's a short walk, just take the next right and head to the edge of town. " Ruby folded up the map and tucked it into a pocket, taking the lead and gesturing for the others to follow. "We should be there in no time."

Just as Ruby had said, they arrived at the church in no time at all. It was fairly small, red bricks showing signs of erosion as dust fell off the old walls. The building had fallen into disrepair, discarded by its attendants and replaced by the larger, prettier churches that were closer to the center of Vale. Vines stretched up the walls, reaching up and over the roof as dead leaves rested on the concrete steps that lead into the small building. The doors were rotted with holes in them, and all the windows were busted.

"I don't know. This seems like a place Roland would go." Yang stated, feeling like the building was right out of a horror film.

"Why do you say that?" Elisabeth asked, walking past the older girl and peeking into the church. It was completely empty, every last object either taken by the owners or stolen. Roland was nowhere to be seen.

"Well, its old, quiet, abandoned, and no one would ever think to come here. Sounds like Roland's dream home."

"You're not wrong. He would enjoy a place like this. But I don't see him anywhere."

"Well, lets look around. We checked everywhere else thoroughly, so we might as well do the same here. He could be in a tree or something."

"Yeah… Lets check around back. Knowing Roland he would try to go somewhere that no one could see him."

They split off into two groups, one going around the left side of the church and the other around the right side. The building was incredibly small, barely big enough to pass as a house, but they figured they could cover more ground that way.

Pairs of eyes scanned everywhere around them. In the trees, on the roof, through the windows, anywhere Roland might be hiding.

In less than a minute the two groups met at the back of the church, hearts slowly growing heavier as optimism was replaced by severe worry. They all noticed that behind the church was a small, fenced off area. But something was very, very different about the area.

Unlike the church, it seemed to be in perfect condition. Inside the fence green grass grew in at perfectly even heights, and even the fence itself, which they realised was made of iron, was spotless, shining even. Not single vine nor unruly plant grew on the fence or inside the area, and inside three rows of five stones surrounded a small pyramid structure. The stones were so white they seemed to glow, the inscriptions on them clearly visible, even from where the group stood.

"Whoever keeps this place in order spends a ton of time on it…" Elisabeth said, amazed at how beautiful the area looked. "And I think I know who that person is…"

The faunas walked to the gate and gently pushed it open, noticing how the hinges made no noise as the piece of metal obediently slid out of the way. A small path of stepping stones rested in the grass, guiding the group to the pyramid. As they carefully stepped along the path started to split, leading to the other stones. It was obvious by now that this was a graveyard, but no one understood why it was in such amazing condition when the church looked like it was about to collapse.

They each started going off to look at the gravestones, breaking into smaller groups and staring at the names and the dates on the rock, the group now completely silent as their minds started to wonder. "Guys…" Until they heard Blake's voice call out.

"I found him…"

Despite their excitement they all made sure to use the stepping stones, none of them wanting to ruin the grass due to their incredible amount of respect for the area. Blake stood by the pyramid, which had a square of concrete surrounding it that allowed multiple people to stand beside it at once. In no time at all they were all gathered beside Blake, attention drawn the person that sat on his knees, his legs tucked under him as his hands rested on his thighs. He didn't move, and didn't even acknowledge their presence. Elisabeth was the first to step forward.

"Roland… Roland we're here now…" She carefully placed a hand on his shoulder, scared that he might jerk away from her touch. But instead he just continued to sit still, his hood concealing his face. "Roland…"

"They both had the same birthday." His sudden words surprised the group.

"Your parents?" Yang asked as she sat down beside Roland.

"Yes. They shared a birthday. And I share it with them. I was born on June twenty-seventh, and so was my mother and father."

"That's an incredible coincidence."

"I suppose it is. Their anniversary was also on their birthdays. I've been told that no one ever believed them when they talked about it."

"So all of their important memories were all on the same day?"

"Yes."

"But wait… Isn't the mission on…?" Weiss had to cup a hand over her mouth to silence the gasp that would have followed her words.

"June twenty-seventh. And you'll never believe the day they died on. Everything happened on the same day, but the days were years apart."

"How was that all put together so perfectly?"

"To be fair, they were killed by the White Fang on that day for a reason. It was supposed to be a demonstration of how perfect the White Fang could do things. It was supposed to show that they could kill anyone at any time. And it succeeded."

"How do you know the White Fang planned it that way?" Elisabeth asked, now mimicking Yang and sitting next to Roland.

"Their assassins held much more information than they should have."

"So is twenty-seven an important number to you?"

"No. Not to me. But to them it was. They were known to have the lucky number twenty-seven. Most things they did were centered around that one number. Even I find it incredibly strange that so much happened on that date. Sometimes I think that they lied about some stuff to make it seem more mystical."

"Why would they lie about that?"

"God knows. But it all happened, no matter how impossible it seems."

After he finished they fell into silence, until Ruby thought of something else. "So what is this place?"

"Take a look at the pyramid. Its much more than it appears to be."

The group shot each other a few questioning glances, then turned their attention to the pyramid. At first they saw nothing special, until Blake carefully ran a hand across its surface. "There are bumps… Words etched into the stone…"

"But you can't see them." Roland said, still sitting rock still.

"How do you read what's on the stone if you can't see the words?" Ruby asked, touching the surface and trying to decipher what it said.

"I made this stone myself, and I'm the only one that can activate it. Unless there's another person out there with the Heart of Darkness.

"Oh… How do you activate it?" Ruby asked.

"Like this." Roland stretched out his hand and placed it on the stone. He activated his aura, a small layer of black surrounding his body as he did so. The blackness traveled into his arm, then concentrated into his palm, patiently waiting there for Roland's next command. The boy waited for a few seconds, making sure he had enough stored up, then pushed against the stone like he was trying to move it.

For a moment nothing happened. Then the darkness on Roland's hand jumped off, transferring to the stone and slowly turning the white pyramid dark as night. As it spread over the stone white letters became outlined, revealing the text. The group watched with amazement as the entire stone turned black, the white letters standing out brilliantly. Everyone started reading the moment all the letters were revealed, their curiosity peaked.

This world holds many, many things. Not all of them are pretty.

For every shining star there are a thousand black holes that will one day extinguish its light

Here lie two of those stars

They were a blessing upon this world, serving all those around them without question

But everything must find a newer home some day

They were by far the most loving, caring, and compassionate people on this earth

And our hearts truly ache to seem them pass in such a manner

Farewell and goodbye, our dearest friends

We know that you will truly never leave us

But some days it is impossible to not feel alone

"You wrote this?" Weiss asked, staring at the now black stone before her.

"I carved the words in, but the words themselves are not my own. After I ran away I tried to tack down some my parents' friends. I asked them for some things they would like to see on my parents' gravestone. This is a mix of the things I found."

"What happened to the gravestone they had before you made this one?" Yang wondered aloud.

"They didn't have one. Turns out my parents didn't want a gravestone. They wanted to be buried at this church, where they got married, but they didn't want anyone to know they were here. I wanted to honor their wishes but couldn't let them go on without any sort of recognition. So I made this. Directly under it are their graves, and without me no one will ever know they're here."

"I'm sure they were amazing people Roland." Blake wasn't sure if it was her place to say something, but she might as well try.

"I know they were. But you aren't here to listen to me talk about my parents. You're here to get me to come back to Beacon, right?"

"No." Blake said, trying to force confidence into her voice. "The others are here to do that. I'm here to apologize."

The boy thought about her words for a few seconds. Then, for the first time since they had gotten there, Roland moved. He stood up and slowly turned around, carefully pulling his hood off his head. His eyes were bloodshot and tear trails covered his face. "You have nothing to apologize for. I owe you my life, and I had no place to talk to you like I did."

"But I still had a part in this. If I had taken a second to think about what I was doing you might still have a home…" Her head slowly drooped as her eyes looked at the ground.

"Blake." Roland placed a hand on her shoulder, causing her to look up again. "You've done bad things, and some of them you've done to me, but tell me this; do you ever intend to do those things again?"

"N-no, of course no-"

"Sh, I didn't ask anything else. All that matters is that those times are behind you. I don't care what you've done anymore, but I do care about what you intend to do in the future."

Her gaze returned to the ground again as she thought for a moment. "I… I want to help…" She said, looking up and meeting Roland's gaze with a new kind of fire in her eyes. Roland smiled at the look, knowing that things would be much easier from this point onward.

"Then that's what you'll do."

Present

Roland watched as the airship slowly drifted in, hovering about ten feet above the rooftop. The bay doors opened and White Fang members jumped out, lightly landing on the building and waiting for their comrades to join them.

Two more airships flew in, dropping off about ten soldiers each. Just like Roland had assumed the airships continued to hover over the building as the others started to make their way towards the containers.

"This is Roland. Team C, open fire on my command."

"Copy."

"Copy."

"Copy."

The boy took a long, slow breath, feeling his heart rate slow down. He looked through the scope, putting the crosshairs directly over a White Fang's head. "Begin in three… Two… One… Fire."

Roland's target was the first to hit the ground, followed by three others. Those who were left dived down immediately, crawling behind the containers in hops of finding cover from their invisible foes. More White Fang started dispersing from the airships, putting the number on the roof to around thirty. Roland dropped a few more before he decided that they needed to move the plan along.

"Team C, take down the airships. Team B, stand by with your glyphs, we don't want any civilian casualties."

"We're ready."

Roland shifted his weight and aimed his rifle at the cockpit of the airship, able to see the pilots inside. He shot once, watching as the bullet cracked the glass but didn't go through, the pilot's head snapping to look at where the bullet had hit his ship.

Roland shot two more times, frowning as both the bullets bounced off the window just as the first had. "Team C, they've got bullet proof glass. Switch to dust rounds, I want those ships down."

As Roland spoke he grabbed a clip from his belt, letting the one that currently rested in his rifle fall out and clatter against the ground. He jammed the new clip in, refocusing and making sure he would hit his target. To the left one of the airships shook fiercely, then slowly started to fall towards the city. Roland watched as a massive blue glyph appeared and caught the falling ship, joined seconds later by a purple glyph. Slowly the ship was lifted back up and set down on top of the building, a few pilots darting out of the ship and joining the other White Fang by the containers.

Roland turned his attention back to his target, holding the rifle steady as he slowly squeezed the trigger. The dust round gave the gun significantly more kick, the butt of the rifle slamming into Roland's shoulder as the bullet raced out of the barrel. In the blink of an eye the next ship was falling, again caught by the glyphs and placed on the roof. The third airship attempted to fly away but wasn't even able turn around completely before the pilot was taken out.

"Team A, the airships are down, you are clear to engage when you're ready."

"Got it. We're going out now." The doors of the containers burst open, scattering the White Fang as the team rushed out. Each person started focusing on their own fight, the members of the White Fang recuperating quickly and attacking without mercy.

Roland watched from afar as his friends on the roof slowly but surely started to win, their superior training and skill out matching the somewhat lacking practice that the White Fang had.

"Team C, cease-fire, we don't want to hit one of ours. Pull back and wait for extraction, the fight should be over soon." Roland softly set his rifle on its side and crawled away from the ledge, making sure to remain unseen. He doubted any of the White Fang would be able to see him, but being careful never hurt anyone.

"Alright, Team B, being extraction, your job is done. Team C, get yourselves away from the ledges and prepare for departure. We'll be leaving with B, so make sure you're ready. A seems to have this under wraps."

"We're all set to go, just waiting on the airship." Elisabeth's voice was still comforting to hear, even if Roland wasn't able to see her. At least he knew she was alive and unharmed.

He slowly stood up, able to see the fight going on a few buildings away. Almost all the White Fang had been dealt with, the last ones standing putting up a desperate fight. Roland was amazed that everything had worked so well, and in such short time. He had expected at least one thing to go wrong, or for the White Fang to have an unexpected number of soldiers at the very least.

As he realized how well everything had gone he smiled, proud of his friends and overjoyed that he had been a good leader. No one died, no one was hurt, and not a single grain of dust had been stolen.

And then his smile faded.

And his blood suddenly boiled.

Because a man was climbing out of one of the airships. A man who Roland would never forget, and never forgive.

Adam Taurus