I was laying in a field of death, the grass and flowers about 20 feet away withering and dying steadily as the sudden wilting came closer and closer to me, as if death were coming straight for me. I tried to get up and move, but found myself exhausted and unable to. My body wouldn't move no matter how hard I tried to move my muscles. "This can't be... Is this... Truly the end..? I don't want it to be... I had something to fight for again... I want to get up and move... But I simply can't..." I said.

"Come on, Sai. Don't you think it's too early to be falling asleep?" A familiar voice asked.

"D-Damion? Is that you?" I asked, looking over to see my fallen friend walking up and kneeling beside me.

"You need to get moving, Sai. Death is closing in. And I will never forgive you if you let all the work you've done go to waste and leave Ruby and the others to clean up your mess and care for your child." He said.

"That's the last thing I want... But can't I please rest for a moment? I'm so tired and I can't even move my body..." I said. He held up my upper body with his right hand and placed his left one on my chest, sending a strange dark energy from him to me. "Damion? W-what are you doing?" I asked, unable to process what was happening.

"As long as I'm with you on this journey, I'm not going to let you die. Not now. Not when you have so much to fight for and too much to lose." He started. Suddenly, my vision blurred and I flashed back for a moment...

Flashback...

Before team SRRNJ started on our journey, I stood in front of Damion's grave, cutting my hand with his Shinigami Destroyer and clenching my fist to pour blood down on his grave, before placing my hand on the blood puddle. "I promise you, Damion, I will avenge you, along with Pyrrha and everyone else who fell at Beacon. And I will keep all of our friends safe from ANY danger that may harm them. Just please... Watch over me and guide me from the other side..." I said.

Suddenly, the world went dark and Damion's spirit stood in front of me. "Then I shall, my friend. Until this adventure is at it's end, I shall stay by your side. I can no longer fight with you, but I'll still be there for you in any way I can..." He said.

End Flashback...

... I focused back to now as Damion began to speak again. "As your friend and your former partner, I will make sure Death will never stop you from completing your task. I wouldn't be able to look at you the same way if I did. Now get the fuck up and get back to it, man." He finished as the world blurred again.


I awoke with a start while everyone else was around a campfire. "Daddy!" Saphyra said happily, hugging me.

"Hey... What'd I miss?" I asked.

"Well, apparently, the Maidens and magic from fairy tales are real. Craaazy..." Nora said.

"Oh, yeah, that... Yeah, my family knew that for a while." I said.

"What?!" Everyone asked.

"Well, I am a demon who's family watches over the whole planet. If there's any source of magic, we usually know about it." I said.

"I think what the bigger story here is is that you have a KID! When did that happen!?" Draco asked, laying down on a sleeping bag, trying to move, but could barely do so without stopping in pain.

"Well, apparently, after what happened to Pyrrha and I burnt just about half of my being into ash, they magically combined and became this little princess." I said, tickling Saphyra a bit, getting her to giggle.

There was silence and Qrow took a swig from his flask. He had a bandage wrapped around his abdomen over his clothing where the assassin had cut him earlier, as well as another bandage on his neck where the assassin bit him. "Really? No questions?" He asked.

"Of course we have questions. This is just... a lot to take in." Jaune said.

Qrow sighed. "Sure, of course." He said.

"So these... Maidens... They're powerful fighters that don't need Dust to use magic." Ruby asked.

"Yeah." Qrow agreed.

"And there are four of them?" Nora asked.

"Yup. Always." I confirmed.

"Is there any supernatural stuff the Blades DON'T know about?" Draco asked.

"I'm sure there's something out there that has managed to avoid us." I said.

"Which means that, whenever one of the Maidens dies, the power transfers to someone - a female - that they cared about?" Ren asked, ignoring mine and Draco's conversation.

"Whoever was in their thoughts last. Important distinction. Best option is someone we can trust. Regardless, their souls become combined, in a way." Qrow explained.

"And that's what you were trying to do to Pyrrha... the night the tower fell. You were trying to turn her into one of them." Jaune said.

"The previous Fall Maiden, Amber, had been attacked. She was young, inexperienced. And her assailant, who we now know is Cinder, somehow managed to steal some of her power, but not all of it. We were afraid that if we didn't do something, the rest would go to her as well." Qrow answered.

"So you forced it on Pyrrha." Jaune said angrily.

"We didn't force anything. We explained the situation and gave her the choice, and she chose. You were there, you heard her." Qrow countered.

Jaune hung his head for a brief moment before getting up and walking several feet away from group. Qrow watched him go. "Jaune, wait." I said, going after him.

We got a good distance away from the others before he turned to face me. "How can you not be furious about this?! You were her fiancee' and they ran the risk of changing her into a completely different person! The Pyrrha we cared for, that you loved, could've been gone forever." He snapped.

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little upset, but Qrow said it himself, it was her decision to do it, just like it was her decision to face Cinder. She was willing to do whatever she had to to save the people she cared about. She did those things because she thought it'd be best for everyone around her. And we can never take that away from her. The best we can do now is honor her decisions... And of course murder Cinder in the most painful way we can think of." I told him solemnly at first, but then turned to dark and menacing when I mentioned killing Cinder.

Jaune looked awed and inspired at my words of wisdom, but deadpanned at the end. "You had me right up until the end. I know we have to kill her so your brother can bring her back, but you're getting way too obsessed with this." Jaune said.

"Yeah, I admit, I need to work on that." I said as we returned to camp.

"That guy, Tyrian - why was he after Sai?" Ruby asked.

Qrow sighed again. "Well, he definitely painted a target on his back with what he did to Cinder at Beacon. But you aren't safe from them, either, Ruby. I told you having silver eyes is a rare trait. And the fact that you were able to use them seems to have upset some very powerful people." Qrow started.

"Wait, when did she use them? I missed this." I asked.

"It was after you killed the Dragon and team SUSN ran in to rescue you. Ruby ran into help and she saw a beowulf with its jaws around your neck and she snapped and used them." Jaune informed me.

"Yeah. That's the last thing I remember of that day." Ruby said.

"Oh, man, a beowulf almost killed me?! That would be just an unacceptable way to go out." I said.

"Not many people know about the silver eyes. Those that do aren't very happy that one has surfaced. That's why I've been keeping an eye on you in order to make sure you were safe. All of you." Qrow explained.

"Yeah, defenders from a distance, protectors in the shadows! Total ninja style!" Draco said, taking up a crane stance, before losing his balance and falling on his back.

"So... so ninja." I said sarcastically.

"Well, then, why not just travel with us? It seems like that would've been way easier." Ruby asked.

Jaune answered her loudly enough to be heard, but with his back still turned to everyone. "He was using Sai as bait." He explained.

"Look, I wouldn't put it like that - it's complicated." Qrow started.

Jaune turned back to face him. "What is all of this? Sai's being hunted, the schools are being attacked, all for what?! What is the point of all of this?! Will you just tell us what's going on?!" He demanded.

"Dude some one or thing is always hunting me for some reason or another. It literally doesn't faze me anymore." I said.

"That's... probably not a good thing." Saphyra said.

"Sweetie, one thing you'll learn about Daddy is I do a lot of stuff that's not good for me." I said.

Qrow looked at us, then stared at Jaune, then slouched over with a sigh. "Would you sit down? You're stressin' me out, 'kid." He said.

Jaune sat back down on his log and crossed his arms. Qrow started to take another swig, but changed his mind before the flask reached his lips. "Not many people are super religious these days." He said.

"Oh, please tell me you're not going Jahova's witness on us." I said.

"Case in point." Qrow said as he capped and set the flask down.

"The Blades are religious. We believe in the gods we've met." I explained.

"This world's been around for a long time, long enough that people have created dozens of gods. But if you believe Ozpin, two of them are actually real." He started.

The camera panned over to a nearby large rock, where Qrow's story was illustrated with a display of light and shadows from the campfire. "They were two brothers. The older sibling, the god of light, found joy in creating forces of life. Meanwhile, the younger brother, the god of darkness, spent his time creating forces of destruction. As you can imagine, they both had pretty different ideas about how things should go. The older one would spend his days creating water, plants, wildlife. And at night, his brother would wake to see all the things that the elder had made and become disgusted. To counteract his brother's creations, the god of darkness brought drought, fire, famine, all he could do to rid Remnant of life. Life always returned. So one night, the younger brother went and made something - something that shared his innate desire to destroy anything and everything." Qrow explained.

"The creatures of Grimm." Ruby answered.

"You guessed it." Qrow confirmed.

"Wow, this younger brother's a douche." Draco said.

"The older brother finally had enough. Knowing that their feud couldn't last like this forever, he proposed that they make one final creation... together, something that they could both be proud of, their masterpiece. The younger brother agreed. This last great creation would be given the power to both create and destroy. It would be given the gift of knowledge, so that it could learn about itself and the world around it. And most importantly, it would be given the power to choose, to have free will to take everything it had learned and decide which path to follow - the path of light or the path of darkness. And that is how Humanity came to be." Qrow finished.

"But... what does that have to do with us?" Ren asked.

"Well, that's the kicker. See, the four gifts to mankind - knowledge, creation, destruction and choice - aren't just metaphorical. Each of them exists in a physical form, left behind by the gods before they abandoned Remnant, and each of them is extraordinarily powerful. If someone were to collect all four, they'd be able to change the world. That's exactly what the enemy wants. The Huntsman Academies were created to train generations of Humanity's protectors, but they also serve another purpose - guarding the Relics. When Ozpin's predecessor founded the schools, he built them around the Relics to act as a fortress. Not only would they be easier to defend, but they would constantly be surrounded by trained warriors. The hope was that hiding them would keep mankind from using them against itself... and, of course, keeping them out of her reach." Qrow answered once more.

We now cut back to the group sitting around the campfire. "So yeah, there's that." Draco said.

"Her. You mean Salem?" Ruby asked.

"That's right. Not much is known about her. Quite frankly, that's not what matters. What matters right now is that she wants the Relics, and if she gets them, it's not going to end well." Qrow explained.

"Well, if she's the one behind all this, then she's the reason a lot of bad things happened that really pissed me off. So if we figure out how to get to her, I can promise it won't end well for her." I said determinedly.


Nicolas was with Blake as she stood on a second story deck outside her father's office. The broken moon shined over the house. Blake stared at her father's door, beside which hung an empty birdcage, when Kali spoke, startling her. "You know, you can always go in and say hi." She told her daughter, carrying a tray with a tea set on it.

"I don't wanna bother him." Blake said.

"Blake, he hasn't seen you in years. I'm sure he wants to see you as much as he can." Nicolas told her.

"Exactly, thank you, Nicolas." Kali said, nodding to him, before looking back at Blake. "A father's never too busy for his daughter." Kali said.

"Not all of my friends would agree with you on that." Blake said.

"Yeah, but Weiss' dad's a bad person. Ghira isn't." Nicolas said.

Kali kissed her daughter on the cheek and handed her the tray. "Here." She said as she placed the tray in her daughter's hands. Blake accepted it, but was a bit taken aback by being handed it.

"What? Where are you going?" Blake asked.

"You've never been very talkative, but those boys you brought home loves to run his mouth. I wanna hear more about the adventures of Team RWBY. Nicolas, perhaps you'd like to tell me them? I don't think I'd understand any of it if Sun were to tell me." Kali said, walking away, her footsteps audible.

"Uh... Yes, ma'am." Nicolas said, following her.

"You're leaving me?" Blake asked in a fake betrayed voice.

"It's rude not to do as your host asks... And your dad scares me." Nicolas said, following Kali, to which Blake rolled her eyes.

"Kali? Is that you, dear?" Ghira called out from inside his office.

Blake gave a nervous start of surprise when she heard his voice. The tray shook in her hands, and she let out a quiet whine.

Ghira straightened some paperwork on his desk. The porch door slid open and Blake stepped inside. "Uh, hey dad." She greeted.

"Blake! Well, this is a pleasant surprise." Ghira said happily.

"I..." She started.

"Please, come sit." He said, father and daughter both moving to the oversized coffee table and lounge furniture, and Blake set the tea set at the end where her father sat.

"Don't worry, I've got it. Sit down, sit down." He said.

"I don't wanna keep you if you're-" She started.

"Nonsense, I've been cooped up in here all day." Ghira said, pouring the tea, putting a cube of sugar in the cup nearest Blake. "You still take sugar, right?" He asked.

"Oh, actually, uh-" She started.

"Oh! Sorry!" He apologized, pulling back nervously.

"No, no no no, it's fine." Blake assured him.

"Oh, here, take this one." He offered, holding out his cup.

"No, really. It's, it's no big deal." Blake said, taking her cup.

"You sure?" He asked.

"Positive." Blake confirmed.

"Old habits, I suppose." He said. Blake took a sip of her tea and winced with a tiny exclamation of pain. "Might wanna let it cool." He told her.

"Right." She agreed, setting the cup down on the table.

"So... is it... warm... in Vale?" He asked.

"Huh?" She asked.

"It just... seems like your outfit doesn't cover very much." He said. (This from the guy who shows off as much chest and upper body as Dante in DMC3?)

Blake looked down at herself and crossed her arms. "It covers plenty." She huffed.

"I mean, a little more armor might help. Don't you think?" He asked.

"I'm fine. I don't need armor. I can look after myself." She said.

"I..." He started, before sighing. "I know you can. I'm sorry." He said, setting down his own cup.

Blake's expression saddened, and she looked away, bowing her head. "Why?" She asked.

"Hmm?" Ghira asked, confused.

"Why would you say that?" She asked.

Ghira moved to be beside his daughter, going down to one knee and putting a hand on her back. "Sweetheart, what's wrong? What did I say?" He asked.

"How can you still love me after what I did?" Starting to break down a bit.

"Blake..." He said, getting up and sitting beside her on the couch, putting his arm around her. "Your mother and I will always love you." He said.

"You were right. I shouted at you and yelled at you." She started, looking up at him. "But you were right. I called you cowards!" She finished, getting emotional, remorsefully lowering her head closer to her father as he held her.

"It's okay." He said.

Blake pulled back now as she continued. "I should have left the White Fang with you and Mom. I should've listened to you, and I'm sorry." She said, turning away. "I'm so, so sorry." She apologized.

Ghira turned her by the chin to look at him and then wiped a tear from her eye with his thumb. "Blake, it's fine. We never held anything against you, and I never feared you would fail. The only thing I ever feared was that you would fall down the wrong path, and I am so proud to see you haven't." He said.

"But I did!" She insisted, sniffling. "I was-" She started, lowering her face again.

"And you pulled yourself out. You came back. There aren't many who possess that kind of strength and even fewer that have the courage to face their demons again. Vale, Mountain Glenn, Beacon - you confronted the White Fang time after time." He said.

"I didn't do it alone." She said.

"No, you didn't. Which is why I wanted to ask you... why did you leave Vale? Why did you leave your friends behind?" He asked.

"I..." Blake started, sniffing.

Behind them, a furious voice could be heard. "What the hell are you doing?!" Nicolas demanded outside the room.

"Nick, wait! It's not what you think!" Sun could be heard.

"Sun Wukong, you're deader than Harambe!" Nicolas shouted.

"That's as dated as it is racist!" Sun said as the porch door fell inward, Sun and Nicolas on top of it, the necromancer gripping Sun by the collar of his shirt, yelping as it crashed to the floor. Blake turned around.

"Sun?! Nick!? Blake demanded as she stood up, rather affronted. Ghira was also standing while Sun and Nicolas got themselves upright.

"I was coming to get you guys for dinner and saw him eavesdropping." Nicolas explained, glaring at Sun as he tried to recover from the situation.

"D'yuh! Whoa! This isn't the bathroom! Uh, I'll just be going! Sorry to interrupt this tender family moment!" He said with an awkward giggle.

Nicolas began cracking his knuckles as Blake and Ghira both glared at Sun, Blake's right ear twitching. Ghira took a breath and closed his eyes for a second. "I really don't like you." He said.


Team SRRNJ still sat talking to Qrow at the campfire.

"Alright. So, let's say we believe all this. There really is this crazy evil being behind these attacks, not just some thugs trying to become powerful. Why doesn't the world know? Why isn't Atlas going after them? Or Mistral?" Jaune asked.

"And why aren't we in more of a hurry to get to Haven? Shouldn't we be getting them a message? What if they're next?" Nora asked.

"The headmaster over there saw what happened to Beacon. He's not dumb. He'll be on his guard. Besides, it takes time to mobilize forces like that. Do you really think they planned out that attack on Beacon overnight?" Qrow said, pointing at Jaune. "And to answer your question, it's the same reason we keep quiet about the Maidens. If the whole world knew about the Relics, about Salem, there would be chaos. There'd be another Great War on our hands, and this time, you'd have to fight." He said, pointing at Jaune again, to which Jaune turned away.

"That's why the Blades were so vital to this. We helped the Maidens move around, undetected. But then my cousins who were supposed to keep an eye on the Maidens got lazy and left them, now they're in danger. Those cousins are dead to me. And they'll be dead to everyone else if I see them again." I said.

"Look, I had the same questions, too. But ol' Ozpin would always put his foot down. 'We can't cause a panic.' Heh, can't tell you how many times I've heard that." Qrow started.

"By all accounts, there already has been a panic. And quite a large-scale one at that." Saphyra said.

Qorw looked to her and nodded quickly before continuing. "Salem's smart. She works from the shadows, using others to get what she wants, so that when it comes time to place the blame, we can only point at each other. She's trying to divide us - humanity, and so far she's done a pretty damn good job." Qrow explained. Leaning back, Qrow looked up at the broken moon and the visual panned to follow his gaze before returning to him, with an above shot at first, changing to a frontal shot when he looked ahead and sighed.

"Alright, so what should we do?" She asked, everyone looking to Qrow.

Qrow chuckled at this. "I don't really know." He said.

We all looked at each other, surprised and nervous. "Well, that's comforting." I said sarcastically.

We returned our gazes to Qrow when he started speaking again. "Ozpin has put a lot of trust in the headmasters. Like I said, the schools are an important part of stopping Salem. Atlas is going to be on high alert after the last attack, and Vacuo is - well, Vacuo. It'll be hard to hire thieves and scoundrels to fight against other thieves and scoundrels. Take that, add in the fact that Cinder and her crew claim to be from Haven, and I think it's likely the next target. So, we're on our way to the headmaster. Haven't heard from him in a while, even before the attack. I'm hoping he has the answers." He said, standing up, but grabbed at where he was cut, to which he groaned.

"Hey, hey, easy man. You're hurt, don't overwork yourself." I said, getting up and putting a hand on his shoulder. Draco then began couching violently. "Oh, no, not you, too." I said, kneeling beside him.

"They got me with some angel's blood. I feel worse than that time Nicolas tried making chipotle." He said, the two of us chuckling a bit before he started coughing. "Oh, it hurts to laugh." He said.

"You're gonna be fine, my friend. It'll take more than that to kill you." I told him.

"Alright, I think it's time you kids got some sleep." Qrow said.

"Uncle Qrow?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah?" He asked.

Ruby stood up to talk to him. "This is a lot to take in, and it all sounds crazy, but... I'm willing to do whatever I can to help because I trust you. But why couldn't you trust me? Why couldn't you just travel with us, instead of this secrecy, and, and-." She started.

"Look, this has nothing to do with trust. I- It's a long story, okay?" He said.

"Seriously? Now you're tired of telling us stories?" Nora said.

"To be fair, auntie Nora, he's already told us two decently long stories while wounded and poisoned." Saphyra reasoned.

He stared at the fire in silence before speaking. As he spoke, he knelt down, picked up a stick and poked at the fire. "Did you know that crows are a sign of bad luck? Old superstition, but it's how I got my name. See, some people can absorb electricity and some people can burst into rose petals and some people are just born unlucky. My Semblance isn't like most - it's not exactly something I do. It's always there, whether I like it or not. I bring misfortune." He explained, chuckling bitterly. "I guess you could call me a bad luck charm. Comes in real handy when I'm fighting an enemy, but it makes it a little hard on friends..." He said, before looking over at Ruby. "and family." He finished. Getting up, he still held his side.

"Well, you are just a real bundle of help, aren't you?" Jaune snapped, Ruby and Nora turning to glare at him.

"Yeah..." Qrow said, somewhat shamefully.

"Hey, that was unnecessary, Jaune. We get it, he's done some... questionable things, but he's here to help us. You need to calm down. The saying goes, 'don't look a gift horse in the mouth, or if you do, someone's gonna beat you upside the head for it.'" I said sternly.

"I don't believe that is the phrase, Daddy." Saphyra said.

"I'm paraphrasing. And letting Jaune know what will happen if he's a dick to people trying to help us." I said.

Qrow then walked away from the campfire, slowly. "Where are you going?" Ren asked.

"Taking a walk." He answered.

"There's nothing else you want to tell us?" Ruby asked.

A red-eyed raven landed on a tree branch with a quiet caw. Qrow looked at it, and it cocked its head, looking at him."Not tonight." He said as he continued his slow walk away, leaving us to ourselves for a bit. The log he had prodded earlier rolled out of the campfire. Ruby watched Qrow, concerned.

Later that night, everyone else was either starting to or had almost immediately fell asleep and I was putting Sapyhra to sleep, singing her a lovely lullaby. "~We just wish Cinder was dead~ Put a bullet through her head~ Then we'll see your mom again~ Just as soon as Cinder's dead~" I sang, pulling the covers up enough so only her head and neck were exposed as she let out a final, adorable yawn, turned on her left side and went to sleep. I smiled warmly at my sleeping daughter, then looked up at the 4th wall. "Hey, don't judge the song. There are plenty of worse nursery rhymes out there. In rock-a-bye baby, A BABY freakin' dies, I think Cinder dying is pretty tame by those standards. Don't even get me started on ring around the Rosie. It's about the plague." I said.

Nora then slid up beside me after that, looking down at Saphyra. "Wow, she's out like a light." She said, surprisingly quiet for her standards.

"Yeah. She must definitely get that from her mother. I'm lucky if I only take a half hour to fall asleep." I said with a chuckle, looking back at her. "Hey, Nora, obviously, the main focus of this journey is to bring down Cinder and bring Pyrrha back and I know that can seem like the only thing I think about, but I realized I haven't been paying you as much attention as I should be. You're still my girlfriend, too and I still love you." I said.

She smiled and teared up a bit at this. "I love you, too. And I understand. Pyrrha was one of my best friends and I would do anything in this world to get her back. That's a big part of why I came on this journey, but the other part was because I wanted to be with you." She said, putting her arms around my neck as I put mine around her lower back and the two of us moved in for a deep, passionate kiss. It lasted for a while, before she finally pulled back and turned her eyes to look at Saphyra again. I followed her eyes to my daughter, then back to her, to see she had a devious smirk on her face. "I want one." She said to which my eyes snapped open in surprise and horror.


With a groan of frustration, Blake slapped Sun. They are on the porch outside Ghira's office.

"Ugh! No concept of privacy," She snapped, slapping him again, "No respect for personal space!" She finished turning to Nicolas.

"It wasn't my fault!" He pleaded, raising his hands in defense.

"You get ONE pass!" She said, lowering her hand.

"Love you, baby!" He said.

Sun's hand went to his face where she made contact the second time. "I'm sorry, okay?! Ow, I'm sorry!" He said.

"Ugh!" Blake growled angrily, she turned her back on him and marched a few steps away.

"Look, I promise it was important! I needed to find you to talk to you!"

Blake turned back, exasperated. "What, Sun? What could be so important?!" She demanded.

"Yeah! She was having a beautiful moment with her father!" Nick snapped.

"How do you-?" She asked.

"4th wall powers." He explained.

"I was talking to your mom and she said something weird about the White Fang!" He said.

Blake held a finger up, striding forward. "I'm stopping you right there." She said.

"But—" He started.

"I told you, I'm not here to fight the White Fang, I'm not here to fight anyone. I'm here to rest, to figure things out, and to see my family." He started.

"Your mom said White Fang members don't wear masks in Menagerie. But I saw one at the market yesterday! I even have a picture!" He said, pulling his scroll out of his back pocket.

"Sun!" She started.

"Look, I'm trying to help!" Sun insisted, bringing up the image.

Blake pulled his scroll out of his hands and tossed it out into the trees. "I don't want your help!" She snapped.

Sun stared at his scroll and turned to Blake, growling. "Boy, you better stop that growling RIGHT NOW." Nicolas said, pulling out his golf club and turning it into its AK-47 mode. But then, the sound of the wcroll landing, followed by a feminine, gasping sound iwas heard from the trees where Blake had just tossed the device. Everyone's eyes went wide for a second and Nicolas shrieked like a girl. "Kill it! Kill it! Kill it! Kill it!" He screamed, firing out into the woods wildly, stopping only when he ran out of ammo.

The visual became a wide shot of the three of them on the porch that was slowly pulling back. It cut to the dark trees, moving in slowly. A dark humanoid shape with a white mask could just be made out, perched atop a palm tree. The visual cut to Blake as she gasped and cut back to the figure, a female Faunus with thin, curved, dark gray horns and black, spotty skin. She was wearing a black, sleeveless stealth suit with a gold zipper and slightly lighter-black straps with gold buckles on it. On her face was a large, white Grimm Mask with elegant, curvy red markings.

The woman leapt into the air, giving a better view of her. The legs of her stealth outfit were short, and she wore high-top boots. Her black hair was pulled back in a ponytail that curled up at the end. The Faunus soon disappeared. On the porch, Blake stepped forward with a determined look in her eye while Sun threw out his arms and Nicolas watched in awe.

"A freakin' ninja?!" Sun asked in shock.

"A spy!" Blake corrected.

"A freakin' ninja spy!" Nicolas shouted.

"But why would—" He started, but was cut off as Blake jumped onto the railing and then off into the trees. "Hey wait!" He called.

"Blake, wait for me!" Nicolas called, changing his weapon back to a golf club and somehow masterfully swinging through he trees, using the golf club like a hook for swinging.

Kali came out from around the corner and inside the house. "What's happened?" She asked.

Sun backed up toward where Blake leapt from as he spoke. "The White Fang is evil, I totally called it, and I'm bringing your daughter back!" He said before he leapt down off the second story deck. Kali's mouth dropped open for a moment before she brought up her hand, worried.


It was morning time at the campsite, and the birds were a-tweeting. Everyone who had one was in their sleeping bags, the campfire burned out in the middle. Qrow sat up against the base of a tree, facing the group.

Ren sat up with a sigh. "We should probably get moving." He said.

"Yeah, yeah." Jaune said, getting up.

Both turned at the sound of Qrow coughing, which grew louder and sounded worse with each cough. Nora and Ruby sat up, and Ruby quickly went to her uncle's side.

I soon woke up as well, first looking at Saphyra as she started to stir, then turning my attention to Draco, but was shocked at what I saw. "Draco!" I said, rushing to his side, kneeling beside him. His normally dark skin was even paler than Weiss' and his hair was a deathly white, his veins were showing and an angelic gold flowed through them, followed by a horrific line of black. I removed his mask, normally a blood red color, but it had faded to a dull grey with several cracks in it and looking on the inside that goes against his mouth, their was a huge red stain as if he had coughed up a huge amount of blood into the mask. He suddenly gasped and coughed violently, before grabbing my arm. "Sai... They done killed ol' Draco..." He said weakly, before coughing and falling still.

Qrow wasn't much better. Purple staining was visible on his bandage, which he was holding his right hand over. He lifted his left hand to his mouth as he continues to cough. A cuckoo bird joined its call to the rest of the morning birds. Qrow pulled his hand away with a groan, and the whole palm, including up over the wrist and his fingers, was covered in the purple stain.

Ruby's eyes grew wide, and she gasped. Qrow looked at his hand. "Well..." He started, looking up at Ruby. "That's unfortunate." He finished. With a groan, he lowered his hand and head before going still. The cuckoo finally stopped and the screen cut to black.