Hello everyone, this is a very sleep deprived J. Van A, and I think everyone knows what that means. Yep. This chapter is either going to be great or everyone is going to hate me, or maybe a little of both. I mean, I've done some good chapters in the past where I've been very sleep deprived, but those ones I've done the sleep deprived part near the end and editing. this chapter I've done completely sleep deprived. I started at 11 pm and I finished at 7 am.

I would have done this throughout the week, but I went back to my parents house for Christmas and that place has: snail speed internet, my parents, my siblings (I actually enjoyed hanging out with them, and I swear a virus that makes my computer try to kill itself.

Anyway, I should probably get to reviews. The faster I get this AN done, the faster I can go to bed.

Reviews:

CyberBUNNEH: Ozpin's Emerald emerald was kind of a reference to Emerald's semblance, from the day I posted that chapter I had planned to make Emerald a mage. Also, Cinder would kind of make sense to be a mage.

FoxyFoxation: Because I want to.

Star-The-Writer: Basically. You're probably going to like this chapter then. *long censor beep*. Suspense is always fun.

AryaFlame: It helps the story. I also like cliffhangers.

GrnDrgnzrd: Very punny.

Rapter267: You may be tired for just this chapter then. I promise.

.1690(1): Yeah, I decided to just have Nora do random stuff for a while.

.1690(2): Well, thanks.

(Sassy) Guest: You don't have to worry about that.

Nemasis Demarini: Well, I think I've said before that I never thought that this story would be worthy to be re-read. So thanks for that.

Enjoy

As the girls approached the building, Shadow spotted them and flew onto Blake's shoulder. It would have landed on Yang's, but her armor was currently very hot.

"Shadow, is that where Ruby is?" Yang asked the bird, causing it to caw in confirmation. "Let's go then." She turned to walk to the building.

"Wait," Blake said as she grabbed Yang's arm long enough to stop her, but also long enough to burn her hand slightly. "Look." She peeked around the corner and saw a group of ten men standing by two large doors. "Guards. We can't just head straight, we need a plan. I see two archers, three sword and shield fighters, three mages, and two twin dagger rogue."

"Blake, I can't waste any time fighting while Ruby is in that building," Yang told her.

"Well," Nora said looking around then pointed at a building next to the warehouse, "why don't you just jump from that roof and into the warehouse window."

"Nora, that won't work," Blake told her. "If she misses the window, then she slams into the building and alerts the guards. If she does break through, it alerts any guards in the building to her location."

"If there are any guards in the second floor hallway, it makes them go in close quarters combat with Yang, which is the best combat for her," Nora said. "When Yang breaks in, we'll fight those ten guards. I have the magic hammer, so the fight is more even."

"That kind of makes sense. Yang-" Blake said and turned to Yang only to see that the brawler had disappeared. "Where did she go?"

"After I suggested my idea the first time, Yang ran over to the building and is currently making her way to the roof," Nora told her as she pulled the hammer off of her back and got into a fighting stance.

"Of course she is," Blake said placing her hand on her katana handle getting into a fighting stance as Shadow flew off of her shoulder and started circling the area in front of the doors. "When she jumps, we fight. We may have to kill people, are you going to be ok with that?"

"As long as we can save Weiss and Ruby, I'm fine," Nora said as Yang stood at the edge of the roof.

She backed up and ran forward before jumping. As soon as Yang jumped, the two girls turned around the corner.

"I think we found the ship," Qrow said as the three men neared a large boat. The boat in question was a large caravel ship bearing the insignia of a giant red bear paw on the sails and flag. The crew of the ship seemed normal enough, but there were archers stationed on the eagle's nest and quarterdeck. "I'll need you guys to distract the crew long enough for me to deal with the archers."

"Are you going to climb the mast?" Jaune asked as the three of them started to approach the ship.

"Just cover me," Qrow said pulling the broadsword off of his belt causing the other two to draw their weapons. This action did not go unnoticed, because the crew members drew their swords as the archers readied their bows.

One of the crew members pulled the wooden plank back on board. Qrow smirked then jumped forward, clearing the distance between the dock and ship landing on the deck. Ren followed Qrow landing right next to the knight. Jaune tried to jump over the gap only to grab onto the ledge having his legs dangle against the ship.

There was an uncomfortable silence as all the crew stared at Jaune while Qrow and Ren stood motionless in a fighting stance staring at everyone with their weapons ready. Jaune struggled for a minute until he managed to pull himself up. Jaune then straightened his shield before getting into a fighting stance.

The closest crew member let out a battle cry then charged forward with his cutlass. Qrow parried his sword with ease before spinning around and beheading him. The closest crew member to Ren ran at him, but Ren caught the cutlass with his first dagger and diverted it before slashing across the man's chest with the second one. Then Ren kicked the man backwards into another crew member stunning them both.

One charged at Jaune, but he raised his shield in time to block it. He then countered by slashing with his sword cutting deep into the man's chest. Jaune shield bashed the man in the head next instantly knocking him out. Another one ran to Jaune, but he swung his shield in time to catch the cutlass then slashed at him throwing the man to the ground.

Ren bolted forward and slashed at a man's chest three times in a blink of an eye before stabbing deep into his abdomen. While he did that, Ren parried another sword with his free dagger before pulling his other dagger out and stabbing the closest crew member in the ribs.

With those two distracting the crew, Qrow ran forward to right next to the main mast. He swung his broadsword at the mast cutting clean through. He then kicked the front side of the mast causing the main mast to tilt. It then fell over causing the eagle's nest to slam directly into the quarterdeck killing each of the archers. That much destruction caused everyone on board to stop fighting.

Qrow then jumped on top of the cut down mast. He sheathed his broadsword before pulling the collapsible scythe from his belt and extending it to its full length.

"I am the Elite Knight, Scarecrow," Qrow announced to the crew causing several people to show terror on their faces. "If you abandon the ship and run away from this town, you shall be allowed to live. Anyone who stays will be killed."

The crew all looked at each other, then dropped their swords before jumping off the ship, some to the docks, others into the water.

"Well, frankly I'm surprised that you didn't find out she was a princess," Roman said grabbing the back of Ruby's chair and picking her up in order to meet her face-to-face. "The Schnee's have a very distinct appearance. Also, after being with her for so long, I'm surprised you didn't find-" Roman was interrupted by Ruby suddenly headbutting his nose. That immediately caused him to drop her and grab at his nose. "You know what, Little Red, you might not even be worth my time," he winced as he reset his nose causing Ruby to wince slightly by the noise, "but if I kill you, I'm dead." He walked over to Ruby again and grabbed the back of her chair. He raised the seat slightly, but then he threw Ruby across the room and into a wall. "But I'm sure they won't mind me roughing you up a bit."

"Let me out of this chair and we'll see if you can," Ruby growled as she glared up at him.

"Little Red, Little Red, now why would I do that?" Roman asked her as he sauntered over to Ruby twirling his cane in his hand. He then caught the end of his cane with his other hand in order to stop it. Suddenly, he kicked Ruby in the abdomen robbing her of her breath. "Why would I possibly give you a chance to fight against me." Another kick just as she was beginning to breath in. "What was your plan for getting out of this? Challenge me to a duel?" Another kick causing Ruby to feel lightheaded from lack of oxygen. "Clearly you're trained for combat." Kick. "You wouldn't just bring an oversized gardening tool to a town full of mercenaries with no training." He then kicked her three times forcing Ruby to cough spitting some blood onto the warehouse floor. "Also, you were travelling with the princess, until recently," he kicked her several more times causing her to cough up blood with each kick. "And that turned out so well for you." Then made a motion like he was about to kick her, but stopped to watch as she tried to curl around and protect herself. Roman just let out a small chuckle as he listened to Ruby struggle to breathe. After that, he started to swing his cane downward hitting Ruby in the ribs and chest causing her to cough out even more blood. Finally he took one more swing upward throwing Ruby into the wall breaking the chair. He then walked over to her and grabbed a fist full of her hair to pick her off of the ground. He leaned in just so he could whisper in her ear. "If you think this is painful, you're going to be surprised after I deliver you to Cinder."

From behind him, Roman heard the sounds of a small metallic crack. He turned his head far enough to see Weiss standing there with her bloodied hands at her neck gripping onto the magical inhibitor, the metal cutting into her palms. "Get. Your hands. Off. RUBY!" Weiss shouted as the inhibitor broke in half. Suddenly, a blast of cold air blasted from Weiss throwing both Roman and Ruby back. The second blast of cold air instantly coated the floor and ceiling with a small layer of ice. Ruby had landed on the ground with her back to Weiss, so only Roman has his hair formed a small layer of frost.

As Blake and Nora ran around the corner, Blake reached to her belt and pulled out two shuriken. She threw each of them with enough accuracy to cut both archers' bowstrings. Nora jumped in the air raising her hammer above her head. The head of the hammer started to crackle with electricity before Nora slammed the weapon into the ground causing a cone of electricity to hit one of the archers, a twin dagger rogue, a mage, and two of the sword and shield fighters. The archer was instantly knocked out. The twin dagger rogue's left arm went limp, but still stood. The rest of the people hit by the electricity were fine after shrugging off the hit.

Blake ran up to the twin dagger rogue Nora didn't hit, and quickly drew her katana instantly cutting off his head. The archer next to Blake pulled two arrows from his quiver, and with his hands he stabbed both arrows into her shoulders. Blake retaliated from that attack by jumping in the air doing a sideways spin in order to slice his head and chest vertically, killing him.

The mage Nora hit with her attack shot off a lightning bolt at Blake, but Nora's hammer drew the electricity to it causing the weapon to glow blue revealing ancient looking runes. Nora then jumped at one of the sword and shield fighters and swung her hammer at him giving him just enough time to block with his shield. Not only did the hammer electrocute him, but it dented the shield for a second before blowing straight through destroying his arm and throwing him back into a wall through it.

Blake pulled out her kusarigama with her free hand before throwing it at one of the mages who did not attack anyone. Before the kusarigama hit him, the twin dagger rogue with the limp arm bolted in front of the blade and deflected it with his dagger. The mage behind him muttered something for a second before touching the rogue's arm causing it to begin to move again.

Blake then ran forward with her katana and stabbed through the rogue's heart in order to stab the mage in the middle of his chest. She then pulled the katana out just in time to jump backwards avoiding the rogue's last attempt to hurt Blake before he died.

The third mage moved his hands in front of himself for a second before bringing them both together and blasting Blake with a giant beam of light throwing her back into a nearby pile of wooden crates. Nora saw this and jumped at the light mage swinging her hammer downwards. The hammer collided with the mage's head killing him and throwing him into the ground.

One of the two remaining sword and shield fighters ran up to attack Nora's exposed back. Just before he could slash at her, Blake's kusarigama wrapped around the man's sword and hand holding him back. Nora spun around and hit the man with her hammer throwing him directly away from Blake. As he was thrown, Blake was pulled from the crates back into the fight. When she came close to the last sword and shield fighter, she swung her katana cutting through his abdomen down to his spine killing him.

After all that was over, both Blake and Nora walked up to the lightning mage. Nora decided to set down her hammer next to the mage then pushed the hammer down enough to pin the mage down with the hammer's shaft. Blake bolted forward and knocked out the mage.

Yang jumped off the rooftop and managed to break through the second story window. As she picked herself back up from the landing, four guards entered the hallway from in front of her. From behind, two more guards came into the hallway.

She simply grinned as she cracked her knuckles. Yang bolted forward and swung downward hitting the first man through the floor. As she did that, she had to instantly turn around and uppercut the man behind her. After she punched him, a guard tried to jump over the hole in the floor, but Yang kicked him in the chest knocking the wind out of him then caused him to fall into the hole. The guard Yang uppercutted attempted to swing his sword at her, but Yang's armor deflected the blow.

Yang got back into her fighting stance and began to bounce on her feet. Then she began to punch the guard's chest repeatedly, the spikes on her knuckles stabbing him each time. She then heard a cracking sound as his sternum broke, then she punched one more time stabbing his own broken ribs into his lungs.

The other guards watched this in great surprise, but the one who was standing behind the guard who had just died was wearing armor. He ran toward Yang, but she was ready. Quickly, she slapped her hands together igniting them with magic. She then threw the fireball at him instantly consuming him in fire. As the fire was subsiding, she saw that the man's armor had melted onto his skin, but he was still alive. So Yang threw her second fireball at him and killed him.

As the man fell to the floor and the fire subsided, Yang prepared for an attack from behind, only to realize it was not coming. She turned around and saw the two guards dead on the ground with thin holes in their necks, which could explain why Yang didn't hear a cry of pain as they died.

Yang was confused as to what happened, but she heard the slightest sound of a footstep behind her. She quickly turned around and punched only to have her fist blocked by some kind of magical barrier. After she pulled her fist back, the barrier flickered then shattered to reveal a small girl carrying a parasol that was typically only owned by nobles. The girl was wearing a white bolero jacket with a full length back to the jacket and white leather thigh high boots. She appeared to be wearing a similar chainmail to the enchanted mail Ruby, Weiss, and Yang had, except the chainmail had holes revealing skin just above her hips on each side. Her hair was three different colors which seemed to match her outfit. She had a pretty simple breastplate that covered her chest but only stopped after her ribs. The most distinct feature Yang saw of this girl was that she had white and brown eyes, but every time she would blink, her eyes seemed to change, sometimes including pink.

"Are you working for them?" Yang asked her causing the girl to smirk and shake her head. "No. then can you help me find my sister." The girl then grinned and shook her head. "Why not?"

The girl was about to do something, but her ear twitched slightly and she looked towards the unbroken window. She then snapped her fingers causing a bright flash of light for a split second. When Yang could see again, the girl was gone. Instead of staying there and searching for the mysterious girl, Yang ran down the hallway. She opened a door at the end of the next hallway and entered a large room, but she had to stop because she instantly felt frozen, which was surprising since Yang's magic typically kept her warm.

"Damn magic," Roman cursed under his breath as she stood back up avoiding sliding on the ice. "You know, I've heard that the Schnees were cold hearted, but this is ridiculous."

Weiss didn't respond, as she now seemed completely calm with her eyes shut. Then she opened them revealing to him that her eyes were glowing blue now. She raised her right hand and aimed it at him. She shot a large icicle at Roman, which he barely had any time to block, but when he did, he slid across the floor away from Ruby.

Weiss raised her left hand causing the air around it to swirl and glow. Roman looked around the area to help him think of something. Right next to him was a small desk, so he used his cane to hook on it then propel him forward just in time to avoid Weiss shooting another ice spike at him with her right hand. As he slid across the floor, he took his chance and swung his cane at her head. Weiss didn't even blink as ice formed hovering in front of the cane blocking the strike.

He slid across the room and hooked a nearby support beam to dodge even more icicles as the spell in Weiss's left hand became even larger. Just as Roman began to get a rhythm going to avoid the ice spikes, Weiss smirked as she twisted her hand and flicked up causing the ice under where Roman was going to rise and throw him to the ground.

Roman tried to pick himself up only to have him keep sliding. Then he looked up at Weiss and saw her grin as the spell in her left hand was now giant. She then threw the spell at him causing a slow moving snow and ice orb to fly towards him. Just before the spell hit him, a girl appeared in front of Roman to block the spell with a barrier. After the spell dissipated, the girl looked at Roman with an unamused expression. Then she waved her umbrella and Roman disappeared. Weiss looked confused as she looked at the girl. The girl then smirked and gave Weiss a little wave before casually walking on the ice further into the warehouse.

Weiss stood there for a second before her eyes stopped glowing and she fell to her knees. She sat there emotionless as she stared at her hands, but then she blinked several times and looked around.

"Ruby!" she managed to say as she saw Ruby laying there on the other side of the room. "Ruby!" Weiss then started to slowly crawl on the ice towards Ruby. "Ruby, are you alright?"

Ruby didn't respond as Weiss crawled closer to her. Weiss made it to Ruby and saw that there was a pool of frozen blood by Ruby's head. Her mouth was stained with blood that was now frozen to her face. Weiss stared at her in horror as she saw Ruby wasn't breathing.

"No, no, nononono," Weiss sputtered as she pulled Ruby on top of her lap. She placed her hand over Ruby's head and focused with her eyes shut. "Come on, heal." She focused hard and opened one eye only to see that her hand wasn't producing the white healing glow. "Come on, heal!" she shouted at herself as she held Ruby's limp body. "Why won't this work!" she yelled again as she placed her hand on Ruby's face only to feel no warmth. "Why won't my magic work?" Weiss asked herself in a panic.

"Please Ruby, please not this," Weiss said as she hugged Ruby and started to sob. "Please Ruby, don't die."

For the recor- PUT DOWN THOSE PITCHFORKS! For the record, I regret nothing.

*Yelps as dodges several burning pitchforks* HEY! Last chapter of suspense, I promise.

In my defense, sleep deprived Van is a good writer, but he can be very mean to the characters. I had an idea for the Ruby/Roman/Weiss encounter, the girls get to the warehouse, and the guys on the slave ship. I thought up the second half around hour 4.

So, the moral of the story is, don't let sleep deprived Van make up story plot points on the fly.

*Yelps as dodges more pitchforks and now molotov cocktails*

Anyway, before someone inevitably brings this up in the reviews. Roman was not trying to kill Ruby, he's good at what he does. He may have gone a little too far, but in his defense, Ruby did break his nose.

Another thing people may bring up with in the comments. Weiss's sudden power surge may be seen as a Weiss ex machina, but I have been setting this up for a while. Weiss being a mage, Weiss having power she didn't even know she had, and Qrow explaining how mages work.

So, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter written mostly by sleep deprived Van. Now regular Van is going to have to fix this.

I swear there are two completely different people.

So, I hope you guys enjoyed your holidays, I know I enjoyed mine.

Have a nice- *dodges another pitchfork* HEY! *straightens coat*

Have a nice day,

-J. Van A