Author's Rant: And here we are with another early update (I'm on a role and so are my betas!). Time to get the plot moving with a little cruelty and revelations! Enjoy!

Betas: yuvinile and noobalisious

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY

"We leave tomorrow around noon so let's do this quickly."

"And you think we can get anything out of her now? She didn't even crack with the lily extract."

"I talked to Ozpin. We don't need to follow protocol anymore," he answered darkly. "She will tell us everything or die."

" . . ."

The three walked down the dim hall in silence. They passed some cells, not bothering to look in to see whether they had occupants or not.

"Who would have guessed Beacon has an entire underground facility dedicated to prisoner holding and interrogation," Havasu commented flatly.

"10 meters below ground in the restricted section of the Emerald Forest. Prime real estate," Lucian added humorlessly.

" . . ." Lucian glanced at their leader in front of them but Dante didn't add anything to their comments, his attention focused on the door at the end of the hall.

Once they arrived, Dante opened the metal door and stepped in, followed by Lucian and Havasu. Inside was Thantos and Crato, both dressed in jeans and old t-shirts as they looked at them. Crato was leaning against the far wall, his knuckles and shirt stained with blood while Thantos sat on a low table, small knives, pliers, and syringes scattered around him. In the center of the room was a woman tied down to a chair, her head slouched forward with drops of blood trailing off her chin.

"Yo," Crato greeted solemnly as he returned his focus to the faunus.

"Still nothing?" Dante asked as he closed the door behind them.

"No," Thantos answered tiredly. "Tear out her claws and scales, use the lily extract, broke her fingers . . . she just hisses and glares."

"Beating didn't work either," Crato added as he cracked his bloody knuckles.

"Well, it's time we tried a new tactic," Dante said as he walked up to the snake and tilted her head up. Lucian walked towards the back of the chair while Havasu joined Thantos at the table.

She was dressed like a common prisoner, the coloration being simple grey while she remained barefoot. One of her eyes was swollen over, her nose clearly broken and several bruises but regardless she glared back defiantly. Dante looked back, his eyes shifted to their draconic form as they pierced into the snake, a target caught by a predator.

"Let's see how quiet you are after I'm through with you," he said as he raised his left hand up, the skin and nails growing into claws and scales.

The snake responded by weakly spitting blood at him, pegging him on the sleeve. He growled at that before latching onto her shoulder and clenching his grip, his claws tearing into the bone and muscle with ease. The snake screamed in agony but none of the Slayers so much as twitched, waiting until the sound died down.

"Now start talking," He continued coldly. "What are the children for?"

The snake looked at him with a forced sneer before replying, "Wouldn't you like to know . . ."

"You really must be a glutton for punishment," Dante retorted as he glanced to her shoulder. "I've been wanting to test this out."

As he said that silver flames coated his hand as the snake started to scream and thrash, feeling her flesh burn as the flames ate away at her. He held it for 5 seconds before killing the flames and removing his hand, a scorched mark of his hand left on her shoulder with the flesh seared around the puncture wounds.

"So they don't bleed if I use the flames huh," Dante muttered as he returned his attention to the snakes face. "Are you feeling chattier now?"

"Fuck . . . you . . ." the snake replied through grit teeth.

"Is it really worth it? Taking all this pain just to protect your demented mistress?" asked Lucian from behind her.

"You call her demented yet you do not see the bigger picture," the snake muttered as she continued to glare at Dante.

"And what would be this 'bigger picture'?" asked Thantos.

The snake turned to look at him, her open eye showing nothing but contempt. "To return the rightful rulers to their thrones . . ."

As she said that Lucian glanced at Dante, the two locking eyes as the same thought crossed their minds, 'Alphas.'

"What the hell are you talking about?" Havasu snapped as he stepped forward to look the snake face to face. "Stop trying to distract us and answer the original question!"

The snake remained silent, defiantly looking away while Dante had Lucian had a silent debate amongst themselves, their eyes and facial expressions being the only signs of communication.

'You don't think that she's serious is she?'

'Impossible, the ten decreed the abolishment of the thrones millennia ago and the current ten would never agree to reestablish them.'

'We can't be sure about that. Most of the current heads fought in the Faunus War. If anything they all have some degree of resentment towards humanity and the common faunus.'

'But it wouldn't be possible. Humanity as a whole has grown stronger since then. Even if they were to be defeated, they would never accept being ruled by faunus. Hell, they are still struggling with discriminating against our kind for having animal ears for crying out loud!'

They both glanced to their fellow Slayers, mentally agreeing that they needed to continue this interrogation without them.

"I need you three to clear out," Dante ordered, earning confused looks from Thantos, Havasu, and Crato.

"Why?" asked Crato as he got up from the wall.

"Because it's about to get very messy," Lucian answered as he rolled up his sleeves.

"Not the most valid point," Thantos retorted as he got off the table.

"Just do it for now. We'll fill you guys in later," Dante said as he looked at the silent snake.

The three didn't look like they wanted to leave but started to file out, Havasu being the last as he stopped at the door and looked back. "Make sure you find out everything you can about the kids," he said before stepping out and closing the door.

With the door closed, the entire room fell silent as the Alphas faced the snake.

"Why would you want to bring back the dominion of Alphas?" Dante started.

The snake looked up at him as she responded, "This world never belonged to humanity in the first place. Nature intended for the faunus to be the strongest and so rule. Humanity was once nothing more than livestock."

"We know that but why is it you want to return to such a time?" Lucian asked.

"Do you really even need to ask? Just look at Remnant now, four kingdoms that cover less than half the territory once controlled by the Alphas, Grimm at our doorstep, humans and faunus massacring each other over petty things such as rights and ideals. This world is falling apart," she answered.

"You make it sound as if it was the golden era but do you forget? Humans and faunus alike lived in fear, rebellions and civil wars were common, the lands controlled by the whims of absolute monarchies," Dante returned.

"And the Grimm have always been at our doorstep. It may be true that with the removal of the ten kings and queens, the territories were left to fend for themselves and so lost much of the lands since they no longer had the power of the Alphas but humanity couldn't hide under our protection forever," Lucian added. "They needed to grow on their own and that includes failure."

"So you say yet all humanity has done is fight itself like a rabid dog attacking its own tail," she replied.

"It is in their nature, which cannot be helped. All we can do now is hope to guide them from the shadows," Dante replied.

"Shadows!? Is that all you are now!? Where is the pride of the Alphas, the will of the kings!?" she shouted angrily. "You are cowards, nothing like Lady Aleera!"

"Aleera? Wasn't her name Alluria?" Dante asked with a frown.

"Yes, but that is a name that may only be used by those of her standing. It seems that out of respect for your Alpha status she used her real name," she elaborated.

"Aleera . . ." Lucian mumbled to himself, getting a puzzled look from Dante.

"Got something?" he asked.

Lucian glanced at him momentarily before closing his eyes, heavily in thought. 'Aleera . . . that name is familiar . . . but from where is it? I recall reading it somewhere . . . ah! An old library in Mistral! I can't remember much right now but maybe I can talk to Athena since she is Mistrali and might be familiar with the name.'

"Nothing right now but I can look into it later," Lucian answered as he focused on the snake.

"The old thrones aside, what does it have to do with the children?" he asked.

The snake snickered for a moment before answering, "Rulers need soldiers, don't they?"

Lucian and Dante's eyes flared up at that, exchanging worried looks before Lucian grabbed the snake by the throat and threw her at the wall, splintering the chair as she crumpled to the ground. Before she could even try to stand Lucian grabbed her by the burnt shoulder and slammed her into the wall, cracks forming around her body as the wind was knocked out of her.

"Just what do you plan to do to them?" he growled threateningly.

"Who knows?" she replied with a bloody smirk.

"That's it, I'm ripping out her eye," Dante said as he got closer.

"No," Lucian said without looking back. "I got something better."

He held up his free hand, his nails turning into grey claws as the skin around his fingers became dark grey. He then placed his index finger against her swollen over eye, slowly trailing his claw through the skin, making the welt bleed out as the snake hissed. After a few seconds her eye became visible, her cheek and neck being coated with the released blood. Now she could look at him with both eyes.

Lucian then began to focus some aura around his index finger, a faint grey aura radiating around it. Slowly water began to condense around his finger, the liquid looking as murky as his aura, until his finger was completely coated with an inch thick layer of water. Then the water slowly began to change into a greenish hue, slightly steaming as it continued to churn around his finger.

"Dante, hold her eye open for me," he instructed.

Dante immediately complied as he stalked over and clamped one hand over her jaw while his right hand opened up her eyelids.

"Thanks," he muttered as he slowly drew his clawed finger closer to the eye of the snake as she started to tremble, soft whimpers of protest being muffled by Dante's hand.

The moment Lucian's finger made contact, a sizzling sound could be heard as the snake tried to scream and thrash, kicking at her interrogators but neither budged. After a few seconds Lucian pulled back the finger leaving her eye with the iris burned out.

Dante whistled at the sight. "What was that?"

"I can create water through my semblance and change its properties at will. This was just a little example of my turning it into an acid," he explained as he looked at the now crying faunus.

"Now, what are you going to do with the children?" he asked again as Dante removed his hand.

The snake sniffled for a few moments before answering, "They are . . . trying to create soldiers . . . that is all . . . I know."

"How?" Dante growled.

"Something about . . . gene therapy . . . it wasn't my place to know," she whimpered. "Please, don't do that again."

"How do we know you aren't lying?" he asked.

"It's the truth, I swear," she continued.

"She's telling the truth," Dante added as he took a step back.

"How do you always know if someone is lying or not?" Lucian asked with a quick look.

"Trade secret," Dante answered as he walked back over to the table while pulling out his scroll. "We need to get going, the others are waiting."

"Fine . . ." Lucian muttered as he let the acid dissipate off his finger. "What do we do with her?"

"We don't have any further need for her," he answered before he stepped out the door, closing it behind him.

Lucian looked back at the snake in his grip. He sighed as he released her and turned around. He heard her shuffle on the ground as he took a few steps towards the doors.

"You aren't going to k—"

She never finished her sentence as Lucian spun around, four whips of water connected to his fingers lashing out in a wide arc, effortlessly mincing through the head and torso of the snake in a split second. He watched as she remained still in her kneeled position before four lines of blood appeared across her body, one through her head, neck, collarbone, and shoulders. Then there was the sound of flesh and bone rubbing as the corpse fell over into pieces in its own pool of blood.

"Rest in pieces," he mumbled as he walked out, leaving the room and the memory of the snake behind him. 'We'll get to your mistress soon enough.'

'Is it really necessary to wear this?' he thought as he inspected the uniform he was wearing. It consisted of a black set of army pants, a sleeveless shirt that felt like it was made of a cotton and polyester mix, thick boots, and a Kevlar breastplate shaped to his torso and divided into overlapping layers so as to not restrict his movement. It also came along with shin guards and bracers but he decided to go without either. To top it off it came with heavy, dark coat reaching just below his waist.

He then added his belt with his twin machetes resting on his lower back before staring at his feet for a moment, then taking off the boots and digging in his drawer for something else. He pulled out what looked like black leather socks with toe holes. He slipped them on, greatly appreciating the freedom and soundlessness of his kickboxing socks over the clunky boots while also going along with the black wraps adorning his arms.

He was about to grab his P320 as well but then the door opened, a fully geared Athena walking in. He looked her up and down, admiring how her nearly identical uniform complimented her figure so well, even with the trench coat. The only difference between them was that she was wearing the full uniform instead of removing the boots or additional armors. She also had her whip attached to her hip, her Savage 110 slung over her shoulder, and her M1911 strapped to the outside of her thigh. Her hair was also braided back allowing for a full view of her face.

"Ready?" she asked as she stepped closer to him before standing on her toes and planting a chaste kiss on his lips.

He smiled as he replied, "Almost."

He then turned and stepped beside his bed, picking up his Artemis bow along with a full quiver of steel arrows and 5 unique, white arrows. He tied the compressed bow onto the outside of his back along with the quiver before glancing at Athena's bed. 'I might need it to even the scales against her Wolfsbane Iron blade,' he thought as he walked over to her bed before reaching underneath.

He pulled out Draco Ira, the blade still sealed within its sheath by Athena's crystal.

"You are bringing that blade?" she asked as he straightened up, holding the sheath in his left hand.

"Let's hope I don't need it in the end," he replied as he used his right hand to crush the crystal, the shards dissolving into dust as they fell.

He then looked at her as she walked closer to him and placed a soft hand on his cheek while giving him a reassuring smile.

"I'll be there to keep you in check if you do then," she said firmly.

He nodded, feeling some of his nerves dissipate as he tied the sheath to his left hip.

"Ready," he said to her, the two then walking out of the room and quickly leaving the dorm.

They walked in silence as they arrived to the landing pads used by Bullheads when coming to Beacon. There they could see a small group gathered along with their fellow Slayers, almost all dressed identically to themselves. He could see that Lucian and Kiara had also opted out of wearing the supplied boots, instead going with their preferred footwear though they did have the bracers and shin guards. Thantos had chosen to go with his own black trench coat rather than the smaller one given, his large broadsword strapped to his back.

Crato had all the gear supplied with his twin blades on his back and one of the bracers replaced by his personal one containing a hidden blade. Havasu on the other hand didn't make any changes to his uniform, his weapon in hand.

"Yo," he greeted casually as they strolled up to the group of Slayers and their mentees.

"About time you two made it. I thought we would need to send someone after you," Havasu replied with a grin.

"Never get a break from you, do I?" Dante deadpanned as he looked towards the mentees.

He could tell most of them were nervous, some not too subtly glancing at his shoulder. He knew they were more worried than they let on, especially considering that in their last mission, one of them came back in a coma.

"Is everyone ready to go?" he asked as he looked over his teammates.

"Ready and itching for a fight," Crato responded eagerly while the others nodded.

" . . . Are you ready though?" Kiara asked softly, her voice laced with worry.

He looked at her, knowing that the thought of him getting hurt again and possibly dying this time really frightened her.

"Yes," he replied firmly before he looked back to the mentees. "We will all make it back in one piece."

"You promise?" Velvet asked softly a she stepped closer.

"I promise," he said reassuringly to which she responded by dashing forward and hugging him. Blake soon joined as well before he enveloped both in his arms as well.

"Where's my hug?" Havasu and Crato said in unison while pouting.

"Come here," Nora quipped instantly as she tackle hugged Crato while Coco hugged Havasu, making both shut up as Ruby gave Athena a hug as well.

"Satisfied?" asked a very amused Lucian as the students let up on their hugs and stepped back.

"You want one too?" Nora asked with an excited glint in her eye but Lucian quickly shook his head saying, "I'm good."

Just before anyone could say anything else, the sound of turbines roared overhead as a black with green marked Bullhead lowered onto the landing pad. It was sleeker than a usual bullhead, the wings being set higher up the body with a shorter span, the glass of the cockpit being tinted so the pilot couldn't be seen. It also had some form of machine guns primed at the sides of the nose.

Crato whistled at the sight as some marveled at the design. "Now that is how you should travel."

The side door opened as a large man in a pilot's uniform appeared, removing his helmet to reveal dirty blonde hair and blue eyes.

"Brick?" Athena asked in surprise.

Brick waved at them as he replied, "Heard you needed a ride, thought I could be of assistance."

"This yours?" asked a stupefied Havasu as he looked at the Bullhead.

"Yep, custom built her myself," Brick replied proudly.

Before the conversation could continue Dante cleared his throat to get everyone's attention.

"Alright, we need to get going. It is a 6 hour flight after all," he said.

The others nodded as they began to board the ship, Brick quickly returning to the cockpit. Dante was the last to step in and turned around as the turbines sped up, the ship ascending into the sky.

"Good luck!" Yang, Nora, and Ruby cheered, the others waving them off.

He looked down at the mentees, waving goodbye back as the doors closed. Once closed he walked over to a seat beside Athena, his fellow Slayers each making themselves comfortable as they prepared for the long flight.

Athena rested her head on his shoulder, him responding by resting his head on top of hers.

"So everyone remembers the plans, correct?" Lucian asked as he leaned against the side of the ship while he sat on the floor.

"Yeah. We track up the mountain in a search pattern until we find an opening. Dante and Athena will move at the front as scouts with their bow and sniper. Thantos and I will follow up while Crato and Kiara come around each side as supports. You follow last to assist in case of an ambush," Havasu responded.

"Good, and once we get into the mountain?" Lucian continued.

"We form three teams. Dante, you, and Athena will aim for searching out the facility for the children. Crato, Kiara, and Thantos will try to cause as much damage as possible while keeping whatever forces they have occupied. Last is me. I'll try to find any data I can and hopefully slip out unnoticed," Havasu answered.

"And remember, if you spot the bat, you do not engage," Dante added seriously.

"Right, only you have faced her semblance so you should be the one to fight her," Thantos agreed as he inspected his blade on his lap. "But if we do face her we know to avoid eye contact and her silver blade at all costs. Her semblance must be pretty bad if it helped take you down."

"Just know that if her semblance does catch you, you will be vulnerable to attack," Dante said gravely.

"Do we have any information on what kind of defenses they might have?" asked Crato as he twirled his switchblade leisurely.

"No, none of the scout teams ever made it back and the constant cloud cover blocks any overhead flights from capturing detailed images. For the lack of better words, we are going in blind," Lucian said as he stared at the roof.

"Trekking up the mountain isn't going to be easy . . . cliffs and ravines, stormy weather, and the freezing cold. I already feel sore," Athena added sourly.

"What's the name of the abandoned outpost we are heading to again?" Crato asked.

Dante gave him a glance as he took a breath. "It's name was Farglow, the light in the mountains." As he answered he felt his body tense, memories of that night surfacing. The blood, screams, those terrified eyes as a monster descended upon them.

"Dante," Athena whispered into his ear as her hand grabbed his, their fingers interlacing. "Calm down, what's past is past. You won't make those mistakes again and this time you aren't alone."

He took in another breath as he squeezed her hand, slowly relaxing his nerves before he looked down at the blade tied to his hip that even with the clothing and a sheath separating them, felt cold against his skin.

"Dante, what's wrong?" Kiara asked, drawing the attention of the others towards him.

He looked back at them with a knot forming in his throat, unsure as to whether he could stand to divulge his greatest secret and sin. He then gave a side glance to Athena, her warm eyes bringing him resolution and strength.

"I . . ." he started, his tongue feeling dry and his heart drumming away in his chest. 'They need to know! How else can I expect them to even trust me if I can't be honest with them.' He steeled himself, his grip tightening on Athena's hand as he continued, ". . . need to tell you something. All of you."

The others waited silently, their gazes focused on him as he gathered his courage.

"You all need to know about that night . . ."

"That night?" Thantos asked with a raised eyebrow, the others looking just as perplexed as him.

Dante nodded slowly before continuing, ". . . the night a demon massacred Farglow."

She watched as the ship flew away, the speck soon disappearing over the horizon. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself as her frame almost trembled with worry. Would he be able to keep his promise? What could go wrong? Could she bare to see him in the hospital again or worse? All these questions rattled within Blake's mind as she continued to look at the sky, oblivious to the others around her as they talked in hushed tones.

She then jumped when she felt a tap on her shoulder, quickly turning to see soft, dark brown eyes looking at her, equally as worried about the Slayer's wellbeing. They didn't speak, they didn't need to as she felt Velvet's hand slide into her hers before giving a soft squeeze, a message of support and reassurance.

"I know you are worried but we have to trust him Blake," Velvet said softly.

". . . but what if something happens again? What if it isn't just him who's hurt this time? What if . . ."

Velvet placed her free hand on her cheek, the action momentarily stopping her from speaking. "I know . . . Oum, do I know . . . but it's a risk we all have to take. They are Slayers, the elites of hunters and that means they face more dangers than any one of us can imagine. It's hurts to know that we could have seen them for the last time but it won't do any good running ourselves into the ground worrying," she said firmly, her eyes showing her resolve. "They will make it back and we will be here when they return."

Blake blinked back the tears threatening to escape as she gave Velvet a small smile while nodding.

"Come on, the others are waiting," Velvet said as she gently pulled her by the hand.

The others had walked back a few paces so as to give the two some space, noting that they had more reason to be stressed then the rest. Once they rejoined the group Yang put them up to speed.

"So we were deciding on how to spend the day since the Slayers are off on their mission. Team JNPR was going to head to the gym, Coco, Yatsu, and Fox say that they were just going back to their dorm and possibly go into Vale later today, and lastly, me, Weiss, and Ruby . . ."

"Weiss, Ruby, and I," Weiss corrected.

"Whatever, we were going to head to Vale now," Yang finished.

"What for?" Blake asked.

"To see the how the first decorations in preparation of the Vytal festival!" Ruby cheered.

"This early? But we haven't even finished the Fall semester yet. The festival is at the end of Spring semester so why start preparing now?" she asked.

Weiss looked at her in a mix of surprise and disapproval. "Haven't you looked into the festival at all? The Vytal festival in itself is the final activity with the inter-academy tournament. There are all sorts of smaller events and open competitions before then, the first of which will be a small, battle-royal styled tournament just before winter break."

"And I even hear there that some other academies will be sending their own students early to compete in these tournaments to assess themselves and their opponents." Yang added with a smirk. "I'm going to enjoy duking it out and make a nice reputation for myself."

"And Weiss keeps saying that she wants to see the people arriving and something about being exposed to other cultures," Ruby commented.

"You mean get an early read on some possible opponents," Yang quipped with a grin earning a glare from the heiress.

Before the duo could continue their bickering Velvet chimed in, "Seeing the city during new arrivals is fun. You should go with your team Blake."

"What about you?" she responded, not feeling exactly like being away from Velvet.

"I think I'll go with my team today. We can all meet up later in the Vale market, ok?" Velvet suggested with a cute smile.

Blake thought about it for a moment, knowing that it would be a welcome distraction. After a few moments she nodded. "Ok, then we'll see each other later."

"Great! Then let's go," Yang cheered before looking down at Blake's side and smirking. "I do believe you need to let go of her unless you plan on dragging her along."

Blake gave Yang a confused look before realizing that she and Velvet were still holding hands. She looked at her hand before looking at Velvet, the latter looking away with a blush, before she let go of her hand and tried to cover up her own blush.

"See you later," Velvet squeaked before scampering off to join her team as they walked back towards the dorms, team JNPR waving their goodbyes as they followed suite leaving team RWBY alone.

After a minute or so of silence Ruby spoke up. "So . . . let's go!" she quipped before grabbing Weiss' hand and dashing off, all the while Weiss shouted for her to not pull so hard.

"Come on kitty, we can talk about that little scene later," Yang teased as she draped an arm around Blake's shoulder and started walking.

'I'm doomed,' was all Blake could think as she walked towards the transports.

Author's Rant: Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter and that it got you hyped for what follows, I know I am!

Comments~Feedback~Review~All Welcome!