Pov: Leo

"Are we ready?" Watts asked.

I lifted my head to look at Watts as he closed the door behind him and stepped into the room. A brief exchange of looks was made as I turned my head away from Watts who smirked in response. The two of us soon entered the secret hallway adjacent to my office. At the end of the curved hallway was a circular room containing a Seer.

"After you." Watts said as he pushed Lionheart closer to the Seer Grimm.

"Your Grace, are… you there?" I asked.

The red smoke-like substance contained in the head of the Seer shifted to form an image of Salem and Cinder.

'Hello, Leonardo. Do you have something to report?' Salem asked.

"Of course, ma'am. I would not waste your time, if not." I said.

"I'm still just so fascinated by this creature. Cinder dear, are we coming through? Can you see us clearly? Well, as clearly as you can." Watts tapped the Seer.

'Shut… up.' Cinder said.

"Oh goody, you've recovered." Watts said.

'Your report. What is it?' Salem said.

"I've… I've found the Spring Maiden." I said.

'Is that so? Well done. Arthur, had I known how useful you'd be in expediting this process, I would've sent you long, long ago.'

"As much as I'd love to take credit, ma'am, I can't say that either of us are to thank for this development. I guess you could say, a little birdie told us." Watts said.

'Explain.'

"You see, ma'am, Qrow Branwen arrived at Haven Academy earlier today. He believes Spring has taken residence with his sister's tribe."

'Is... the girl... with him?' Cinder asked.

"Yes, Miss Rose was in attendance. And what is even better is that Satoshi Suni and his sister were here as well." I said.

'Interesting… And you know of the tribe's location?' Salem asked.

"Yes ma'am! But you have to hurry! Qrow is already at odds with my-" I began.

The Seer's tentacles shot out to wrap around my throat and choke me.

'Leonardo, do you remember the first time we met? I remember. I remember your fear. But, since that day, you've been extraordinarily brave. I won't forget all that you've done for me. Do not forget everything that I can do to you.' She said.

The Seer slowly brought the point of another tentacle close to my face before drawing it back and releasing me as I coughed on the ground.

'Cinder, you and your team will meet with Doctor Watts after he returns, and together, convince Raven Branwen that the survival of her people depends on her cooperation. Once you have Spring under control, escort her to the Relic and contact Hazel. The White Fang was promised the destruction of Haven, and they'll have it once we have what we need.'

"Understood." Watts said.

'Not you, Arthur. Tyrian's in need of a new tail.'

"What happened to his old one?"

'Guess.'

"The silver-eyed girl?" Watts asked.

Cinder grunted as acknowledgement.

"It will be done." Watts said.

'Good. I also must ask you to make something new for the twins.'

"Very well, your grace." Watts said.

The image of Salem disappeared from the Seer to show the connection had ended.

"Seems Qrow was right, Lionheart. The students aren't pushovers." Watts said.

I looked down.

Pov change: Salem

"You're free to speak your mind." I said.

"I don't understand. Working with bandits? Keeping Ruby alive? The fixation on the twins? What's the point? We're strong enough to take what we want by force!

"Never underestimate the usefulness of others. Take Leonardo; he was one of Ozpin's most trusted, and yet now… You will have the power I promised you, when the time is right. But remember that it comes with a cost. If Ruby Rose has learned to harness her gift, then you must take care to protect yours. There's only so much I can do to aid you. As for the twins, you recall how strong Satoshi was when he was on our side. Imagine how powerful we would be if he and his sister were on our side."

Cinder bowed and began to exit the room.

"And Cinder, before you go, inform Tyrian… that I wish to have a word with him." I said.

Cinder smiled, nodded in acknowledgement of my order and turned, leaving the room. I walked over to the book and opened it to see the changed fate.

'Brother and sister shall be side by side until the end, their destiny unknowns to them. For it is their destiny to stop the evil.'

I gritted my teeth and hit the wall.

Pov change: Weiss

As the cargo ship flew over Lake Matsu, I was still somber over being unable to help the Mistralian cargo pilots, when suddenly I noticed to my right a series of landmasses floating in the bright blue, partly cloudy sky, with what appears to be black crystals jutting out from the bottom of the rock formations. Puzzled, I then decided to head into the pilot's cabin.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"Nowhere good. Passing by some of Lake Matsu's floating islands. The gravity Dust that forms in these things is giving us a little turbulence. Nothing I can't handle, but the islands sometimes hide some nasty Grimm. I'm just betting on our friends in distress keeping them preoccupied."

I suddenly noticed an airship was seen quickly heading towards us, on fire, and leaving a giant trail of smoke behind it.

"Look out!" I yelled.

The airship came barreling from our right, narrowly hitting our ship and forcing the pilot to pull upward to avoid it. The doomed craft, bearing a white symbol for Mistral on its sail, proceeded to collide into one of the floating islands.

"You've got to be kidding me!" The pilot said

'By the gods, we've lost Percy! Help!' I heard. 'We're hooked! We're hooked! Everyone, abandon ship!'

I saw the Grimm tear apart their ship and exploded, leaving us for the Grimm.

"Lancers, freaking Lancers! Alright buckle up- Huh?" The pilot asked.

I jumped down to the cargo hold.

'What are you doing?' I heard.

"What we should've done in the first place! You're carrying Dust, right?" I asked.

'Officially, no. Actually, yes.' I heard.

I opened a large container of vials of powdered Dust and loaded my weapon Myrtenaster with six of them.

"Then when I tell you, open the rear door!" I said.

'Better make it quick!' The pilot said.

I heard the ship shake.

'Kid, we're cutting it close!'

I Summoned a black glyph underneath me to keep myself stuck to the ship as I readied my sword in front of me.

"Ready!" I said.

The cargo doors opened and the battle began. Using glyphs and Dust, I succeeded in eliminating one of the Grimm.

'Haha! Hold on!' The pilot said.

I eliminated five more while the pilot continued to do evasive maneuvers. I got knocked off balance when the cargo ship rocked.

"Ah! What was that?!" I asked.

The upper level of the cargo ship had Lancer stingers sticking in through the ceiling.

'We're hooked!' The pilot said. 'I got an idea! Hold on! Literally!'

The pilot accelerated the ship towards one of the floating islands, waiting until the last possible moment before suddenly diving and using the remaining forward momentum to throw the Lancers on the ship off into the side of the rock formation.

'Ha ha!' The pilot laughed.

"Can you find a pair of islands we can fit between?" I asked.

'Kid, you are reading my mind!' The pilot said.

As the cargo ship narrowly avoided the close islands walls and the attacking Lancers, I fired three fireballs from my glyphs to destroy an overhanging rock formation. The attack caused debris that killed the attacking Grimm.

'Yeah! Great going, kid! We are in the clear!'

Immediately after I exhaled in relief, a Lancer significantly larger than the rest suddenly appeared outside the cargo doors.

"It's a Queen Lancer!" I said.

'What?!' The pilot asked.

The Queen Lancer attacked and I was unable to stop it.

'Do something!' The pilot said.

I used most of the Dust crates to explode against the creature, but it survived unscathed.

'I can see the shoreline! Gods, we're not gonna make it!'

Regaining my composure, I Summoned my Arma Gigas.

"Pull up, now!" I said.

The pilot caused the cargo ship to pull up and ascend further into the air, before maneuvering to have the vehicle upside down. During this, the Arma Gigas left the vehicle and dove towards the Queen Lancer. The Arma Gigas, controlled by me, managed to kill the Grimm. However, the cargo ship took too much damage and descended. I tried to use my Semblance to slow the ship's trajectory down, but it was not enough to prevent it from crash landing.

Pov change: Adam

Inside the White Fang headquarters, I knelt before Sienna Khan, who was sitting on a throne flanked by two guards on either side of her.

"Adam. I'm not going to repeat myself, so I want you to listen when I tell you that the White Fang will not attack Haven Academy." She said.

"High Leader Khan, I am begging you." I said.

"You should beg for forgiveness and nothing else! The assault you led on Beacon was not the great victory you clearly think it was, and you should be more grateful your punishment was not more severe. You are a symbol for many in our organization, but that doesn't make you infallible."

"I was merely trying to follow your example, High Leader."

"And what example might that be?"

"Strength. Strength and unwavering conviction. The humans have seen that strength now." I said.

"I was one of the first to suggest violence where violence was necessary. Peace bred complacency and acceptance of our place in the world. I will not allow humanity to push us down without pushing them back. But the destruction of the Huntsman Academies crosses a line! The loss of the CCT has brought global communication to a crawl! And the White Fang is more of a target now than ever before! You have justified humanity's campaign against us, and for what?! Empty promises from a group of humans? Humans we still know nothing about, and come and go as they please! These are not examples of strength, Adam. They are examples of your talents being diminished by shortsightedness!"

"If you want to know more about the humans, then why not talk to one of them yourself?" I asked.

I rose and turned towards the entrance to the room.

"Hazel!" I said.

Hazel opened the doors to the large room.

"Took you long enough." He said.

As he enters, Sienna rose from her seat and her guards all point their spears toward Hazel.

"What is this?!" She asked.

"Apologies. I don't aim to cause any trouble." Hazel said.

"You've brought a human to this location?" Sienna asked.

"You should hear what he has to say."

"This is grounds for execution!"

"Ma'am, please. Nobody needs to die today. I'm just asking for a moment of your time." Hazel said.

"The longer you stay here, the less of a chance you have of leaving alive."

"I'll take those chances, if you don't mind." Hazel said.

Sienna sat back down, her guards returned to their neutral position and Hazel rose again before continuing to speak.

"You don't like me. You have no reason to like me. But you don't have to like me to get the results you want."

"I'm starting to doubt either of you fully comprehend what it is that I want. I want humanity to fear the Faunus, to know that we demand respect! I do not want to start a war with the humans that we cannot win!"

"That's where you're wrong. We can win a war against the humans. Not only because we have the support of Hazel's master, but because the Faunus are the dominant species of this planet. We're better than humans. We have everything humans have and more. Humans shouldn't just fear the Faunus, they should serve the Faunus."

"I've had enough of this conversation for tonight. Guards, take them away."

The guards remained stationary.

"I said, take them away!"

"I will admit, Sienna, you were right about my popularity. My followers in Vale already see me as the true High Leader. And many here in Mistral feel the same." I said.

Four armed White Fang soldiers entered through the main doors and stop, pointing their weapons into the room as Sienna rose to her feet.

"What are you doing?" Hazel asked.

"What's right for the Faunus. From this day forward, I will be the one to lead the White Fang."

Four more soldiers revealed themselves with their weapons drawn, two on each side of the room, as Sienna's guards point their weapons at her. Sienna quickly judged the situation, though taken by surprise. Her eyes narrowed darkly.

"If you think I'll just step aside and follow beneath you, you're wrong." Sienna said.

As she turned toward me, I had already impaled her with my blade.

"I know." I said.

He lifted the blade, making it slide deeper into her body and lifting it off the ground. Fists clenched, her body shook from the damage and I took advantage of her close proximity to rest a hand on her shoulder and speak into her ear.

"Thank you, Sienna. You were there when our people needed you, but they need me now. I'm sorry you couldn't see this through to the end." I said.

Sienna growled at this and lifted her hand to claw at my neck. Before she makes contact, I swiftly removed my weapon from Sienna, causing her body to fall to the ground and roll to the bottom of the steps leading up to her throne. The White Fang soldiers began to withdraw their weapons as Hazel looked down upon her body before returning his sight back to me with an annoyed look.

"Give our former leader a proper burial. All who were here tonight will claim that Sienna was murdered by a human Huntsman. Sienna Khan will become a martyr for our cause, her final act as High Leader." I said.

All of the White Fang soldiers left the room, two carrying Sienna's body with them on a stretcher, leaving Hazel and I the only ones remaining.

"When were you planning on telling me about that?"

I pulled out a cloth from my back pocket and slid it across my blade, cleaning it of Sienna's blood.

"This was my business, not yours." I said.

"It's our business now, and I don't appreciate you withholding things like that." Hazel said.

"Your master was concerned with Sienna's willingness to cooperate. Now she doesn't have to be." I said.

"Nobody needed to die today." Hazel said.

Hazel left the room as I sat down on the throne.

"I… disagree." I said. "Guard."

One of the members appeared.

"Yes sir?"

"Have Kagome and Shigou keep an eye on the school. We don't want anyone trying to get in without an invitation." I said.

"As you wish." The guard said as he left.

Pov change: Weiss

The cargo ship had crashed. I was lying injured on the ground with my clothes dirtied as two people approached me.

"Help… please." I begged.

"What do you think?" One of them asked.

Suddenly, an older looking Yang appeared in between the two.

"I think… we just hit the jackpot." She said.

My face turned to one of concern as I looked up at her before she stomped on my face, causing me to lose consciousness and everything went dark.