Hi everyone, today's chapter is being delayed by a week. I've had an incredibly busy past few days, and my upcoming week will be even more hectic with me finishing up my online class. That as well as a few other things that will prevent me from guaranteeing a chapter release on Friday, so the next chapter (which was supposed to release today) will be releasing one week from now on Sunday, August the 2nd.

If you find that you are craving more Shadowed Roses Saga between now and next week, you can look on my profile for my collection of one-shots that connect in with this series! An update was made on Wednesday to this collection, so if you want to know more about how Qrow and Raven are able to turn into birds, go check out The Legend of The Corvus Magicka.

I will also be pushing out small updates this week for past chapters. Mostly formatting changes, but an updated/added scene may be included here and there. A fully detailed update list will be featured at the bottom of the next chapter.

Instead of a regular chapter, I have a bonus scene, or pre-scene, if you will, that I was initially going to release in the next chapter, but I felt I should go on ahead and release it early. I hope this can suffice for now, and once again, I'm sorry for the delay. Please enjoy the bonus scene!

- Lucky

Disclaimer: RWBY is created by Monty Oum and is owned by RoosterTeeth. I do not own anything except the characters, weapons, original plots, locations, etc. that I have created.

Bonus Scene - Before the Breach

~ A new day begins. ~

Downtown Vale - The Hunters' Den - 6:00 am

Coco slips the unconscious rabbit Faunus off from over her shoulder down into a metal chair and readjusts her into a more comfortable sitting position. She then nods her head to Matt, who is standing at the doorway.

Matt nods in return then turns to the control panel in the wall next to the door. After pressing a few buttons, metal clasps appear from the metal chair in the room and secure Velvet into the chair.

The noise, much louder to Faunus with enhanced hearing, causes Velvet to stir.

Coco wasn't sure if the sedative that she gave Velvet in her tea last night would work for this long, but she was genuinely grateful that Velvet didn't wake up mid-drive. She owes Ruby big time for sneaking her Yang's keys to Bumblebee. She takes a step back as she notices Velvet's ears twitching.

"Hunh? What? Where am I?" Velvet mumbles as she looks around. "Hey, Coco, you didn't tell me you have a twin," Velvet says drowsily. She tries to raise her hand up but is too tired to notice that it's restrained to the cold metal chair she is sitting in.

Coco turns to Matt. "Can you knock her out again? I don't want her to be in more pain than she already is."

Matt nods his head and motions for her to exit the room. Coco does so quickly and shuts the door behind her before Matt pushes a few more buttons on the control panel outside the room. A moment later, a hissing noise can be heard from within the room, a hidden needle inside the right cuff of the chair injects Velvet with another sedative. The sedative is not heavy enough to make her sleep for a few days, but just the right amount for a light snooze.

Coco takes off her sunglasses as she sits down in the chair sitting across from the one-way, tinted glass, she watches her teammate slump over in her chair, her ears making normal twitching movements as usual. "I can't believe that bastard got to Velvet," she says angrily, clenching her fists.

Matt comes over and sits in the chair next to Coco, "I know, but don't worry... Chai will be here in a couple of hours to begin examining her. I've also sent a message to Scarlet, but it didn't go through. Hopefully, I can get a response from her sometime later on."

Coco shakes her head. "Her team is off on their team missions. We're supposed to leave today for ours, but we can't go without Velvet, and I can't trust someone under Ozpin's mind-control to be anywhere near me or the rest of my team when we won't have any way to contact for help. I don't know what to do." Coco pulls her knees up in the chair and hugs them tightly with her arms. Unlike her? Yes, but she needs any comfort she can get right now.

Matt reaches over and hugs her gently, "Everything is gonna be alright, and if it isn't... Team CMFY (Pronounced Comfy) can take off and go travel for a bit while the V in team CFVY gets help.

Coco lets out a sad laugh, "comfy isn't a color" She wipes a tear from her eye as she looks at Matt.

"Who cares, it would be something different for once," Matt replies with a laugh. "Besides, it could be a reference for a comfy colorful pillow or a nice pair of comfy shoes that I have for sale up in the front." He points towards the front to emphasize his point.

Coco begins laughing harder; her worries become forgotten even if it was just for a short moment. Matt has always had that effect on people; he can make anyone feel better instantly.

"There's that smile," He replies with a smile of his own.

"Uggh, It still sucks though, I wonder what Ozpin saw in her." Coco puts her feet back on the floor and gets up to look over through the one-way glass. She looks at her sleeping friend, hoping that somewhere deep inside, she's truly still there.

Matt gets up and comes to stand next to Coco, "I don't know, but I'm sure we can find out one way or ano-" He stops as he begins to feel the floor rumbling beneath them.

Coco's eyes widen as she holds onto the handle of the locked door for stability, "Is that an earthquake?"

Matt shakes his head, "I don't know, we gotta get some cover. It isn't safe here!" he replies loudly. He hears a few things crashing from the front of his store. He groans as he hears several racks falling over. Now the merchandise is dirty too... just my luck. He grabs Coco's wrist and begins to head for the nearest exit, which is at the front of the store, but Coco stops him.

"What about Velvet?" She asks.

"She'll be fine, reinforced walls and ceiling and such..." Matt replies.

Coco doesn't budge. "Why aren't we going in then? Isn't it safer in there?" She points towards the door.

Matt shakes her head. "Not with her in there, otherwise that's where we would be right now, we have to go!" He pulls harder, and finally, Coco follows him. They dodge another clothing rack tumbling over into the middle of the aisle as they exit the underground store.

~ 2 minutes later. ~

Coco and Matt make their way out of the alleyway to see lots of people coming outside of their homes and business to see what the commotion was about. Chattering can be heard about how the world around them, just started shaking from out of no where. Some of them are walking down the street, where a giant pile of rubble can be seen in the main square just a couple of blocks away.

"We need to go see what that was," Coco says as she begins to run towards the scene.

Matt does the best he can to keep up, but it takes a few moments before he arrives next to a shocked Coco.

There on the ground, unconscious, is team RWBY, multiple White Fang members, and a few other familiar faces. Coco takes a look to her right, where she swears that she sees a man with a familiar bowler hat, running into the alley.

She thinks about taking off after him, but then a moment later, she begins to hear screams, hissing, growling, and howling. That's when the Grimm began to rise up from the ground. That was the moment that all hell broke loose.

- End

~ Last edited on 8/5/2020 to make grammatical fixes and layout improvements. Some dialogue has also been edited to offer a smoother reading experience. The disclaimer notice has also been updated to be the same as in other chapters. This is so I'm making sure that I'm covering any loose ends just in case something were to come up in the future.