Her head spun as she tried to make sense in everything she'd just seen and heard.

Winter Schnee accepted the glass Qrow offered her, uncaring of whatever was in there. Even if it was alcohol, she would've drunk it nonetheless. As it turned out, it was indeed alcohol, and it burned her throat, making her cough as it went down.

"Easy with that stuff," Qrow snorted derisively from across the table of the café they were in, where the two of them had just returned after the man decided to show her 'everything'. "Don't go dying on me now that I've told you everything."

Winter glared at him as she got the cough under control. Despite not truly liking alcohol, she of course wasn't a stranger to hardcore drinks. It had just taken her by surprise. "Usually, you offer water, not alcohol, to military officers."

"Don't do don't care," shrugged the Hunter, chugging down his own glass and smacking his lips in satisfaction. "Ahh… love the way it burns, especially when shit is about to hit the fan and I'm standing right in front of it. So, any more questions?"

"Yes, how in the world did you manage to go on for twenty years knowing this?"

Qrow just held up his now halfway-empty glass.

"Point taken."

"Listen there, Ice Queen, it's not as bad as it sounds. And your role is gonna be even less important than mine," he tried to reassure her. "I just need you to keep Ironwood occupied. Nothing more, nothing less. And… okay, maybe I do have a favour to ask you…"

Winter took another sip from her drink, grimacing at its highly alcoholic flavour. "What favour?"

Qrow sighed and looked away, which was a first. It surprised her that the normally cheeky Hunter had just diverted his eyes as if embarrassed, ashamed, shy or a mix of all three. "Look, I… uhm…" He pursued his lips and sighed away. "Look, Yang's being condemned for the same things as your sister. I tried talking with her but it's like talking to a damn wall. Even worse now since she blames me, she says that if I hadn't held her back we could've won the fight before anyone else arrived and gotten Ruby back."

"I fail to see how this regards me in any way aside from also effecting my sister."

"The point is that Yang will never listen to me. She won't listen to reason until Ruby is rescued. She will never even entertain the idea that Ruby might be okay where she is. As rebellious and freedom-loving as she is, she can be a control freak when it comes to Ruby's life. Being abandoned by Raven, then losing Summer and suffering from Tai's breakdown… well, it left scars that won't ever heal." Qrow scowled down at his empty glass. "She'll never listen to me until Ruby is rescued. And once she is, she'll take that as a sign that she was right all along, and thus would not listen to me telling her otherwise."

"Sounds really full of herself," Winter mumbled before she could stop herself. "Like her uncle."

Qrow's red glare fixed itself on her and once again she was reminded just how big of a skill gap there was between the two. "Watch your tongue, Ice Queen," he threatened before all the anger seemingly left him, leaving him to just sigh sadly. "Unfortunately you're not completely wrong though… She is quite arrogant. And I guess that somehow her mother's philosophy got to her as well – the strong lives, the weak dies. She thinks that as long as she's 'strong' she can do whatever she wants. She's never been malicious but…"

"She still breaks the rules."

"Rules and a lot of other stuff. You have no idea in what kind of trouble she can get. She's been giving me grey hair ever since she was seven and decided that going out alone, in the depth of a dark forest, was the best way to look for her wayward mother. Even worse she took Ruby with her. When I showed up, a Beowolf was mere feet away from biting her head off." He angrily chugged down his drink. "You'd think she'd learn her lesson, but noooo… she just stopped bringing Ruby along. She won't stop at anything to get what she really wants because she thinks that she's on the right side no matter what she does. I don't know… it's hard to explain, but-"

"No, I get it. I find it despicable, but I understand what you mean," nodded Winter, looking down at the table. "If I have to be honest, I'm afraid Weiss might be turning out the same…"

Qrow shook his head. "Nah, got some bits of the story outta her. She just felt like she had been framed and looked for a way out. She escaped because she thought she could fix her situation, not because she wanted to cause more problems. Which eventually isn't much better given what happened, but still… Even then, she only went with Yang at the club to pretend that their team was supportive or some other bullshit like that. Team leader delusions, I guess." He glared at his glass when he found out he'd just emptied it, and waved a waiter over for a refill. Once he got some more liquid death in his system, he continued. "Then she wanted to find out why a criminal knew you, and why her message shocked you so much. You were her perfect big sis, after all, and she couldn't believe you could have anything to do with a criminal, unless it was to arrest him. Then it all went downhill."

"It doesn't excuse her actions…" murmured Winter, looking downwards.

She sounded like she was hoping for him to disagree.

Unfortunately, he couldn't. He agreed with her wholeheartedly, for once. "No, it doesn't." He watched her wilt even further. "But… Maybe she can get a second chance." He hated seeing a hopeful light reappear in her eyes as she looked at him. That was one thing he always hated about his job – the way people looked at him, so full of expectations. He hated it because he knew he couldn't fulfil all expectations, and seeing that hope die was always nothing short of heartbreaking. If Weiss had turned out to be unredeemable for one reason or the other, or if Ozpin had refused… Winter might never actually recover from that. He hated that another person's life was in his hands at the moment. He wasn't responsible enough to handle his own life, why the hell would anyone put their own hopes in him? Regardless, he soldiered on. "I'll talk with Ozpin after my chat with Tai. I'll see if I can convince him to allow you to give Yang and Ice Queen Jr some bullshit like discipline lessons or whatever. Ozpin really doesn't want a scandal such as this to happen, especially with Weiss fucking Schnee."

"And what would the favour you asked me be?"

"Well, actually teaching those lessons, I guess," shrugged the man, before getting up. "Well, I think I've postponed long enough. Gotta get to Tai and explain the situation to him. Do I have your support or not?"

"For the last time, Qrow, yes I will help you, now stop wasting my time."

He barked a short laugh. "No need to get pissed, Ice Queen. This is serious matter, I gotta be sure you're in. If Ozpin decides to accept my offer, you'll be the first to know."

His piece said, the walking talking nuisance finally left her alone to try and deal with all the info he'd just dumped on her, on top of everything she'd already been dealing with due to her sister's actions.

'Qrow, you really have a way to worsen people's lives, don't you?' she thought glumly.

/-/

Adam Taurus never thought he'd ever willingly work with a human.

At first, when he was still young and unscarred by the horrors of the world, he hadn't minded their company at all. Once, he hadn't even considered humans and Faunus two different races. But then, when he was enslaved, put in the mines and branded like property, he saw the true face of humanity.

It would've been better had there been any human slaves in the mines. But instead, the SDC only forced Faunus to slave away in those highly-dangerous mines, to extract Dust none of them would've gotten the privilege of using anyway. The SDC was built on that slavery, and the SDC owned over 90% of the world's Dust trade.

Which meant that the vast majority of the Dust trade, the single substance that kept their whole civilization working, was all built on the spilt blood of innocent Faunus.

And no one ever moved a finger to help.

No one even spoke up against the SDC for that.

They protested about price increases or lack of stock, but never about the inhuman conditions the mine workers were kept in. No one gave a damn.

That was when Adam Taurus decided humanity simply wasn't worth saving.

He'd kill all of them if that meant saving Faunuskind, and he wouldn't lose a single wink of sleep over it.

After escaping the mines and returning to Menagerie to join the White Fang, he had quickly climbed the ranks due to his passion and hatred toward the humans. And he felt he was fully justified.

The results he got by leading the White Fang spoke for themselves. Humans refused to give Faunus equal rights even after actual laws were made to 'ensure' equality. What a load of crap. And yet, fear seemed to work. Having experienced fear himself, he loathed the idea of turning the Faunus into monsters just so humans would stay off of them, but if that was it took, then he'd do it.

And do it he did, for years and years. Eventually he brought his branch to be even more violent, and that brought even better results. He realized quickly that too much fear would eventually bring everyone joined forces against the White Fang, so he kept his actions violent and cruel but still overlookable enough.

All thorough those years, he'd never worked with a human. He vaguely remembered defending a human child from a bunch of other humans, simply because he'd reminded him of how Faunus were treated, but that had been a long time ago and he had acted on his own, without any actual allegiance to that kid. Even when Cinder offered him that infernal deal of hers, he had refused, which had led to his capture and imprisonment.

And yet there he was, walking side by side with Mercury Black, an assassin who didn't bother to hold his tongue when it came to racist insults, and despite loathing the young man, he had actually accepted to work together with him, four other humans and a human-Grimm hybrid of all things.

The world had really turned upside-down.

"How long will this take?" the quite annoying voice of Summer's kid, Ruby or whatever her name was, cut through the silence, and Taurus could see that at least Black shared his annoyance.

Unlike the Grimm hybrid, who just looked at Torchwick for the answer, and the thief himself, who almost seemed amused by the question.

True, the group had been walking near the edge of the woods for quite some time, but yet again Forever Fall was quite the large forest – it would take them hours to get back to Vale by foot, and cutting through the forest would mean Beacon finding out, since the whole forest was filled with cameras. Even just walking on the edge was a big risk. While they could easily wipe the floor with any team of students sent after them, the professors were another matter altogether. Perhaps they'd be able to take on one or two of them, but not the whole staff of Beacon.

So the only option was walking all the way back. Taurus hated the fact they couldn't take a Bullhead because Torchwick and Black were paranoid about Beacon finding out, but he could understand their worry. This didn't mean he had to like walking so much, especially with Summer's kid yapping all the time.

"Depends on how long we walk every day," shrugged Torchwick, replying to the girl's complaint. "If we march all day, we should get there in a single day. But if you get tired or if we run into Grimm, it might take us two."

"Jaune can carry me if I get tired…"

"Then one day."

The girl sighed once again, kicking a pebble away. "This is so boring…"

"Sorry if being a criminal isn't all rainbows and sunshine," snorted Black, rolling his eyes in exasperation. "What were you expecting? A carnival, perhaps some games with friends with short breaks for snacks? Get real, Red."

"I don't know, I just thought you guys would speak more… but you're always silent…" By then, it seemed that Summer's kid had finally learned that no one cared enough to remember her name, or just plain preferred to use a nickname.

"Well, that's because talking is what friends do, and we're not friends." Torchwick cackled for a moment. "I think we can barely see ourselves as allies. You don't chat with those you don't trust."

"But come on, you can't work with some and risk your life alongside them without even trusting them!" protested the girl, kicking another pebble in frustration.

"Sure we can. Watch us," laughed the thief, uncaring of the ineffective glare she was giving him. "We're not teenagers. Well, most of us aren't. We're not around people to make friends."

The kid grumbled, but thankfully remained silent.

Taurus was grateful for that, at least. Not grateful to her, but to the Gods, since those didn't have races, or so he hoped.

A rustle in the forest tore him away from such thoughts as he narrowed his eyes at the crimson trees. Between the shadows and the sunlight peeking from the leaves, woods did usually give Grimm an easier time hiding, but to the trained eye, they could still be seen.

Sure enough, he spotted a bunch of Beowolves trying to sneak up on them. There were at least thirty or forty, with the Alpha currently nowhere in sight.

Beside him, he also saw Black tensing. Despite being trained as a Huntress, however, Summer didn't seem to notice. The long stay in that cell probably dulled her senses and instincts. She was probably going to be a huge liability in all fights they eventually got in. And she wasn't even good for keeping her kid silent, since the woman seemed still in shock about everything that had happened in the past day or two.

Not that he could blame her – he was just better at adjusting.

"Grimm incoming," Black drawled beside him.

The Grimm hybrid turned around. "How many?"

"Must be forty or so," replied the mercenary. "Medium pack overall. It's gonna be a piece of cake."

"You call that a medium pack?" asked Jaune, raising an eyebrow. "I didn't think Beowolves ever got too numerous. Hunters should be keeping the numbers down in Forever Fall."

"Not really, not for Beowolves," shrugged Black as he, the Grimm boy and Taurus himself stood up to be the first line of defence -and offence- against the pack. Summer's kid looked like she wanted to join them, but then glanced at Summer and decided to stay by her side. Obviously enough Torchwick remained behind them, while the bicoloured midget didn't even seem to have noticed. "They're too weak to be a threat anyway. I mean, civilian vs Beowolf, Beowolf usually wins. But even just a trainee can easily wipe the floor with them."

"Correction, they look more like sixty to me," Taurus spoke up, amending his earlier assessment as more dark shapes rushed in their direction. "I don't have a really powered-up Moonslice ready, so it's melee."

"Good old hack'n'slash, I guess," grinned Black. "You don't have to tell me twice."

It didn't take long for the Beowolves to arrive, nearly sixty of them just as he predicted, with the lumbering form of the Alpha standing behind the pack. And just as predicted, the Beowolves all attacked all together… and got slaughtered all together.

The first Beowolf to lung towards him didn't even die by his hand – Summer's kid apparently shot it with her rifle, and that was fine by him. He wasn't one to count his Grimm kills or yell at someone for 'kill stealing' or whatever bullshit some Hunters were infamous for.

The second Grimm wasn't as lucky. Wilt found a new sheathe in its skull before Summer's kid could even finish reloading.

The third, fourth and fifth attacked all together, but he merely swatted all their attacks to the side with a single swipe of his scabbard, Blush. He decapitated the one of the left with a quick swing before switching Blush in gun mode and firing two shots that killed the other two.

As Black said, Beowolves were rarely worth the cost of the Dust used to fight them.

The sixth Beowolf found itself bisected before it could even realize its kin had perished, and the two behind it found a quick death by the hands of his rifle. He barely even needed to put an effort in the eight monster, simply ducking over its first swing and cutting its head off before the other claw had a chance to move an inch. The tenth was similarly beheaded, the ninth having been taken care of by the kid with the rifle.

Boredom was more likely to kill him than any of these Grimm were, so Taurus decided to take a look at how the others were handling the abominations.

The mercenary was mowing through the monsters even faster than they could come at him, with an expression that puzzled the Faunus. He looked like he was enjoying the fight, but at the same time found it disappointing. He chalked it off to the guy being an adrenaline junkie and fight enthusiast without a challenge to really get his blood pumping. As long as that didn't cause problems for him, he didn't care.

He noted he used his arms the most, which was odd to say the least, given his weapons and his fighting style. However, as he watched the young man crack a Beowolf's skull with an Aura-infused punch before grabbing its arm and using the body as a club to slam into the next opponent, he guessed it was to make the fight a tad more challenging.

The thief, behind them, wasn't even taking part to the fight, a wise move in his opinion. The guy's weapon used a Dust crystal and while they had some, it never hurt to use them sparingly, especially since they had no idea if they would end up needing them later. What he couldn't understand was why he didn't step into battle to help them out a little, even if their opponents were just Beowolves.

Perhaps he just didn't want to accidentally be a liability. Again, perhaps a wise move.

Summer was, as expected, gripping her weapons tightly, but not moving from the back. It was better that way – she still hadn't fully recovered from the close-to-ten years in the lab physically, least of all mentally, so staying out of a battle she wasn't needed in was a good choice, if slightly frustrating.

But maybe he'd be able to rub it in her face when the battle was over. He'd had to live with her sass for weeks in that lab, so now that she stopped sassing him for a second, maybe he'd finally be able to get her back at her for that.

Summer's kid was being semi-useless, but what else was new?

The Grimm boy was pretty lousy himself though. While he undoubtedly had strength and resiliance down pad, his form was horrible, his attacks sloppy and predictable, his guard open and overall his performance would've made a first year of Beacon retch in disgust. But at least he was taking care of the Beowolves going his way, mostly because he swung that sharp stick of his with enough strength to bisect a Beowolf no matter which way he hit it, so Taurus would lay off his case for the time being.

He returned his attention to the Grimm just in time to see the Alpha roaring and charging into the fray, ignoring the two bullets Summer's kid managed to put in its bone plates.

Taurus gripped Wilt's handle tighter as he slashed through the last of his Beowolves…

…but Black was faster, and landed a single drop-kick on the Alpha's head. A gunshot sound later and the Alpha's brains splattered all over the floor, its body slowly beginning to disintegrate as Black took care of the last stragglers.

Taurus frowned before casting a glare at the mercenary. Alright, maybe he found the art of kill stealing to be more annoying that he'd initially assumed. But the game was on.

/-/

Jaune Arc stared at the fire in a trance. They had had to stop for the night, both because Ruby was tired and because they encountered more Grimm than they thought. After those Beowolves, they had come across three small Deathstalkers and a Giant Nevermore, so they had wasted a lot of time fighting those, especially the armoured scorpions. Vale's lights shone not too far away, but as Torchwick had pointed out, entering the city in the middle of the night would've looked too suspicious.

Ruby was being taken care of by Roman and Neo. And by taking care of, he meant they were having her do some chores like taking out some rations or helping them set up camp, all the while teasing her to no end over every little thing Roman could think of. It was just his way of interacting with the girl, he supposed.

Adam and Mercury had finished their part and by now they were sharpening their sword and performing some katas, respectively.

And the final member of their group, Summer… was sitting right beside him, doing her best to sit as close as possible without hindering him as he cooked dinner.

'Seriously, am I the only guy around who actually knows how to cook?'

He let that annoyed thought hover in his head for a second before banishing it. It really wasn't the time, and besides, he already knew the answer to that. So, since dinner was gonna be the exact same stew as the night before, and since it was gonna take a while, he decided to turn to Summer and start the conversation. If she wasn't going to, might've as well be him the one to begin.

"So. You're Ruby's mother, right?" Terrible terrible start aside, there wasn't much else he could talk about. He didn't wait to hear her reply -he knew the answer to that question too- before continuing. "How are you feeling?"

She opened her mouth to speak before closing it with an awkward expression of her face. After a few seconds, she decided to try again. "Fine… I guess?" she gave a light chuckle that died immediately afterwards when she noticed his confusion. "I-I mean… It's surely good to be out of that lab, it's just… so much to take in. I've been in there for ten years, and now I'm free, I'm just… well, still trying to process all of this, and hoping it's not just another dream."

Jaune shrugged. Admittedly she had a point. She'd been in there since forever, spent a good decade or so within those walls, it was a miracle she hadn't gone insane. "Well I can definitely say it's not a dream," he replied, rubbing his right ankle. He couldn't rub the foot itself so he'd go for the next best thing. "Walking and fighting all day long is not what I usually dream about."

Silence fell between the two for a few minutes more. Jaune stirred the fire as the other members of their ragtag group sat down with various groans of discomfort or fatigue, all facing the fire and the pot of bubbling stew on top of it. Heh, and Roman complained about him bringing a pot in his backpack. That ought to teach him.

"So… you are the White Glow?" Summer's voice distracted him from his slightly petty thoughts towards the thief, and he glanced at her with a confused expression at her choice of words. "I-I mean… your Semblance… it's what kept me safe… right?"

"Oh, that. Yeah. I call it Soulbond. It's not really fitting, it should be more like Aura Shield or Aura Transfer, but my sisters named it so it stuck." He blushed slightly, embarrassed by that, especially when Mercury and Roman both snorted to try and keep their laughter in check. Both failing.

"How… how does it work?"

Jaune shrugged, his blush dying down alongside the two's laughter, as everyone listened. Roman and Ruby already knew, but the others didn't. "I can Mark or Soulmark people. I can willingly transfer Aura to my Marks. Soulmarks always get my Aura, it's something I can't cut off, hence the name – it's like we share a soul and thus an Aura pool. I can also concentrate to try and heal the targets but it's not really that effective, usually it just acts as some kind of painkiller."

Summer remained silent for a while, taking everything in, before she spoke up again. "I thought you'd have shorter hair."

Her cheeks reddened in embarrassment as soon as those words left her lips, but it was too late. Ruby and Jaune both stared at her, befuddled by the question, while Roman, Neo and Mercury roared with laughter. Adam just face-palmed.

"Sorry, I just didn't think you would have hair as long as that," Summer mumbled in apology, pointing to the blond locks of his that reached down to touch the ground as he sat.

Jaune blushed as well, shrinking. "Ah… yeah… I've been meaning to get a haircut but never found the time," he stammered, scratching the back of his head. "It's just that my sisters loved to braid my hair, so… I… kind of… kept it long?" he finished with a hopeful look.

Said hope was crushed when the aforementioned three renewed their laughter with even more vigour, Ruby pitching in as well. Jaune shot her a betrayed look that only made her laugh harder. Neo was a comical sight, clutching her sides without emitting a single sound.

Adam's hand dragged down his face as the man stared at the two of them with a look that screamed 'are you fucking kidding me?'.

Unfortunately, Jaune wasn't kidding. Nor Adam, nor anyone.

Summer at least tried to contain her laughter. "That's… exceptionally kind of you, Jaune…" she still smiled, unable to hide her amusement completely. "Sorry for earlier, it's just uncommon for men to have hair that long…"

Jaune waved her apology off before frowning. "Wait, how did you know I was a male? I could've been a girl for all you knew…"

Summer opened her mouth to speak before closing it, gaining a wide-eyed look he recognized from his sisters. They always did that whenever they did something wrong and didn't want him to know – and of course, as older brother, his suspiciousness increased tenfold every time he saw that look.

He also recognized another look from his sisters, the sly spy look one of them got whenever they were about to reveal what the other had done wrong. Usually to get revenge for something. However, that wasn't what surprised him -guilty and sly expressions were the norm among siblings-, but rather who was wearing that expression. It obviously wasn't Summer, and Ruby didn't strike him as a girl who would ever consider that. Strangely, it wasn't Roman, nor Mercury, either.

It was Adam.

"A-Adam, please-" Summer began hesitantly, having noticed that look as well.

"Payback for calling me Sadam," the bull Faunus grinned vindictively. He looked quite intimidating with the light of the fire illuminating him from below, a wicked grin on his face and the scar that turned his eye into a terrifying blood-red sea with a white pupil embedded within. And Summer looked appropriately scared, although maybe not because of his appearance. "I told you I'd get back at you, Samperv."

Jaune frowned. "Samperv?"

"The reason she thought you were a male is because whenever she thought I was asleep, which included times I wasn't, she would masturbate to her 'White Glow'." The look of absolute humiliation of Summer's face admittedly made him feel pity for her. "Without knowing she was fantasising about screwing a boy less than half her age."

Summer hid her face in her hands. Jaune scooted a bit farther from the woman while Ruby looked a mix between horrified, embarrassed to the extreme, and ready to hurl. Roman and Mercury were probably about to pass out from asphyxiation due to how loud they were laughing, and Neo had straight-out started to roll on the ground, beating her petite fists on the soil as she got tears of laughter in her eyes.

Jaune, a massive blush on his face as well, focused on the fire as the laughter slowly, very slowly, died down. Summer didn't look at him and he didn't look at her.

He could guess it was understandable – she hadn't know he'd been just a boy and that 'White Glow' of hers had been literally the only positive thing in her life for close to a decade. It shouldn't have surprised him. Hell, most of his sisters had masturbated to him at least once, even though they all felt so ashamed afterwards, so he could guess it was natural.

Didn't make it any less embarrassing.

He also had half a mind to switch places with Adam just to put some more space between the two.

And then, a swirling red portal materialized into existence ten or so feet away from the group.

"What the-" Adam, Mercury and Neo all shot up in a second. Ruby, Roman and Jaune himself took a few seconds more, but it was Summer the one who took the longest. She was furrowing her brow as if desperately trying to recall something.

Her eyes widened when a woman stepped out of the portal.

Jaune narrowed his eyes when he saw her. Different outfit, different hairstyle and hair colour, otherwise the woman was a carbon copy of Ruby's sister, the bitch who had hurt his sisters just to try and get answers out of them.

Instead, this woman wore some kind of red segmented armour over her clothes – she had a samurai theme going on, apparently. Even if the stupidly large scabbard at her side didn't fit with the theme, the long katana-like sword she was wielding did. It also went well with the outfit, being red with a black handle.

"Who the hell are you?" Mercury growled aggressively.

The woman looked at him and smiled. "Well, I suppose I should introduce myself. I am-"

"Raven."

Everyone turned to look at Summer, who was staring at the woman as if she'd seen a ghost.

The now named Raven frowned for a second before her smile returned. "Yes, Raven. Raven Branwen, leader of the Branwen Tribe. I've done a bit of research on you, and I've been trying to find you for quite some time. Never thought I'd get to use this particular connection ever again, but I guess life has the annoying habit of being unpredictable."

"Alright, now that we know who you are, get the fuck out or we're gonna have some problems," Mercury continued, apparently unfazed by the fact Summer knew that chick.

Raven laughed without any joy in it. "Don't be so hasty. I came here with a proposition. You will be hunted down by Ozpin and his entire inner circle, am I right? So I came here with an offer. An offer to team up. You can hide amongst my tribe and help me during the raids. They will never suspect you've joined me."

"Uhh…" Jaune, Mercury, Adam and Roman exchanged glances. That was so much out of the blue none of them knew how to reply.

The woman chuckled at their response. "I prefer to offer first and give details once I have you interested," she revealed with a smirk. "It saves a lot of time. Forgive me for my bluntness."

Jaune was about to reply, when he felt a spike in negativity just beside him. Frowning, he turned to face the source of the sudden taste of rotten meat, and was shocked to find Summer glaring at Raven with as much hatred as she could muster. "Uh… Summer?" he called out, his previous thoughts about her long gone. "What is it?"

"It's her fault…" she replied through gritted teeth. Raven turned to look at her as if bored, but there was an edge in her eyes that wasn't there a second prior.

"So you remember," commented the black-haired beauty, sneering at the silver-eyed woman. "How odd that you don't even step in when your new 'friends' are beating up your 'family', and yet you remember me so clearly. Your priorities must really be skewed."

"Summer, what is her fault?" Adam asked sternly, casting his former cellmate a hard look.

"It's her fault I got captured," growled the woman, eyes shining as she reached for her weapons. "She's the one who sold me out and betrayed me."

Dun dun duuun!

I'm trying to cut back on the ANs, they're becoming annoying, I know.

So... Raven sold out Summer. For the woman who abandoned her family and was ready to watch Mistral burn in its entirety just in the false hope that Salem would not go after her later, it's not really out of character. She'd just taken in the Spring Maiden when it happened, so she had to divert the attention to something else. Silver Eyes would do well.

Now, why would she ask them to join her - for two reasons. One, she didn't think Summer would remember her after eight years of torture, both physical and psychological. Two, because they have proven they can easily enough handle her brother Qrow, who is on par with her (Maiden's powers nonwithstanding). She can't let such powerful fighters go so easily. And she doesn't know the whole truth, either, but she thinks Jaune might work with Salem due to his Grimm side - and if she could ally herself with Cinder, why would she not ally herself with Jaune?

Until next time,

Khor Evik Vlakhavlakh