F3: Hello everyone and welcome to chapter 9. We last left off where Star and company found and rescued Melanie. And it looks like someone has captured Star and taking her outside of the capital. RWBY is the property of Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum. I also own the OC characters. With all that said Let's Roll Out!

Volume 4-9 Blue: Confessions and Truths.

The first thing Star felt was warmth as she slept without much care in the world and hoping to find an answer about what the council has been doing. Though during the night she felt a small prick hit her leg but that was about it as she felt herself relax as she slept away in a dreamless sleep not even knowing what was really happening.

Hours seemed to pass and Star began to stir as she opened her eyes and the first thing she was met with was she was in some kind of large sack that barely showed light. She struggled with the bag to try and get out of it which wasn't working out so well at first. After about five minutes of struggling with the bag she finally was able to free herself from her baggy prison but was immediately assaulted with blinding light of the sun and she felt sand underneath her.

"Huh? Okay just where am I?" Star questioned as she slowly stood up not before feeling a little woozy.

"Why do I feel so dizzy? Felt like someone gave me a sucker punch or something." She said before shaking off her dizziness as she assesed her situation.

First she was still in her nightwear so nothing to actually protect her body from the heat or cold. Secondly she only had that compass on her, and she had no scroll so communication would be a problem. And last but not least she had no weapons on her so if Grimm attacked she would be in quite some trouble.

"I may not know what's going on but its apparent that someone didn't want me in the capital so they dumped me in the dessert hoping I would get burned to a crisp." She mutter to herself.

She quickly looked around and their wasn't anything that was in sight. At least for the moment. The only thing that she noticed was a small tree not too far from her. She decided to head their first to find some cover out of the sun as she also took the large bag with her as well.

"Okay first I'm going to need to protection from the sun it's going to get even hotter as the day wears on." She tells herself as she looks over the bag.

"I could make shoes out of this to protect my feet. But what to cut it with?" She questioned before looking at the shade tree behind her. The bark on the tree was actually pretty sharp as she carefully ran a hand over it before ripping a piece of it off. She then began making a pair of shoes for herself from the large bag making sure they were the right size for her feet. She also used the string from the bag as laces for her shoes as she cut the string in half making sure it would be long enough for each foot.

After about twenty minutes she had made a pair of shoes for her feet as she slipped them on to test them. Making sure they were tied she carefully stood up and walking around the area of the shade tree. So far the heat from the sand wasn't hurting her feet which was a good thing and she still had plenty of string left over along with the some of the large bag she was carried in.

She looked up at the shade tree and noticed something in it. It had small peach like fruits in them with a reddish outer layer with a bits of yellow near the bottom.

"Peaches... no nectarines. At least I won't go hungry." Star said as she carefully climbed the tree to get a good arms full of them. She took a few minutes as she ate few of them so she'd be feed while she took the last of them and placed them in the bag making sure that none of them got near the holes that she made for her shoes.

"Okay... that's all done. Now where do I go from here?" She asked herself.

"I've got to be able to get to the capital but I don't even know which direction it is." Star said but that was when her compass began to glow all of a sudden.

She opened the compass and to her surprised it began to slow down as it began to point to somewhere. It first went right and then left each time slowing down further before pointing northeast of her position. She turned to match where it was pointing as it now pointed north.

"So that ways the capital huh?" She said.

"Guess I better get walking. This'll be a long one but here goes." Star said as she began to walk into the desert leaving the shade tree behind her taking her bag of nectarines with her hoping she could get their and figure out who didn't want her their in the first place.

=RWBY=

Hours earlier Mars woke up with the sun touched her face as she got out of bed and stretch her arms hearing a pop as she let out a satisfying sigh. She was currently in her sleep wear which only consisted of a cyan colored loose top and her black panties since it was only the three of them.

She tapped May on her shoulder to wake up in which the teen stirred as she opened her eyes with her beanie discarded on the drawer nearby.

"C'mon. Time to wake up." Mars said as May groaned as she got up and out of bed. She only wore a simple navy colored top with matching pants.

Though she immediately blushed at what Mars was wearing as she turned away.

"Do you have to wear something like that?" She questioned not even looking.

"Hey it got hot last night and it was rather uncomfortable. Besides we're both girls here so there is nothing to be ashamed of." Mars said. Though May noticed something odd that Star's bed was empty and the sheets were ruffled as well.

"Hey... where's Star?" May questioned pointing toward the bed.

Mars noticed it too and walked over where her friend should've been sleeping.

"Okay that's weird. Star is normally a heavy sleeper and she wouldn't get up so early in the morning. Something is up here." Mars said as she noticed a small lump in the sheets as she flipped them over and noticed a dart was their in the sheets.

"A dart? May you know what this might be?" Mars asked as she handed the dark to the girl.

May examined it for a minute before giving out her assumption.

"From the looks of it. Its a tranquilizer dart. Usually used to paralyze enemies but only for a couple of hours though." May deduced. That was when it hit them the moment May figured out what it was.

"Wait... then that would mean someone other than us was in the room last night. Fired this dart at Star and then just took her away. Why?" Mars said.

"They wouldn't fire it with a gun. We would've heard a shot go off. My bet... it would have to be a blow gun. It's quiet, and would barely make a sound. Though you do have a point. Who would've wanted Star out of the way?" May questioned.

Mars went for her scroll "Hopefully Star knows where she's at and we can go and get her." Mars said as she dialed Star's scroll.

A sound was heard in the room more importantly it was coming from the drawer as May went over and opened it revealing Star's scroll with Mars number appearing on it.

Mars ended her useless call as May set Stars scroll down on the drawer "This is bad. Not only that we have no idea where Star is but now we can't even contact her incase she's in trouble or runs into any grimm. This is very very bad." Mars said now completely worried about her friend.

"Hey I'm sure Star is smart enough to make her way back to the capital. She'll figure it out." May said assuring the blond.

"For now the best option for us is to pay a visit to the council and ask them a few questions about that property." She added.

Mars calmed down a bit but she was still worried about her friend "Your right. Let's get dressed and I'll contact Melanie see if she can help us with getting info." Mars said as the two got dressed and began heading out of the hotel.

Though that caught Octavias attention as she noticed that Star wasn't with them when they left which made her rather curious as she followed them as well.

Once the two left the hotel they made their way toward the capital building in which Melanie was already waiting for them along with Vanessa as well.

"Ah you two made it." Melanie said though she noticed that Star was missing.

"What about Star? Where is she?" She asked.

"We don't know. When we woke up she wasn't their in the room with us. Though we did find this." May said as she brought out the dart and showed it to the two tiger faunus.

"This is a tranquilizer dart that was used on Star. Someone snuck into our room last night and we don't know where she is. Which also brings up a particular question." Mars began as she turned to Vanessa.

"Oh and what is that?" Vanessa questioned.

"After we got the water back on for the capital we interrogated one of the men and he said something rather interesting things to say. He said that their land was stolen right from under them after they were chased out by people that were apparently hired by the Vacian council. Care to explain that?" May questioned.

This even shocked Vanessa but she was rather angry about the assumption.

"That's outrageous! The Vacian council would never force people from their homes. Besides that property has been vacated for quite sometime until three months ago when the entire property was bought out." Vanessa replied.

That was when Melanie began to ask a question "Did you know who bought the property? And if so how much did it cost?" Melanie questioned.

Vanessa turned her head to look at her daughter who was now questioning her as she sent a mild glare at her but Melanie held fast as she sent a glare right back at her almost daring her to lie to her.

Vanessa glare softened before she spoke "I never saw them in person but they did send the financial department a sum of two hundred thousand lien as a full payment for the property. More than likely the person that gave us the lien are still their. That was a few months ago." Vanessa said.

"Do you know where the property is?" May asked.

"Its just due west here. In a lower part of the mountains. I already have some people looking into it and hopefully they come back with something that could tell me something." Vanessa replied.

"Now you were saying something about your missing friend. Star Azure right?" The older tiger faunus asked.

"Yeah like we said. She must've been taken sometime last night and we have no idea where she went. Worse is she doesn't have her scroll or her weapons on her either." May said.

"That is rather odd. Who would kidnap her in the middle of the night?" Melanie questioned.

However that was when her ears twitched as she heard someone coming toward them or more like a pair was approaching them.

Vanessa turned and noticed Cardin and Velvet approach them along with Octavia close behind.

"Well this is turning into quite a gathering this morning. Is their something we can help you three with." Vanessa said.

"Actually there is something that we came to talk to you about." Cardin started.

"We were heading back to the dorms after a nightly dinner when we spotted something that was rather odd. We saw Miss Clausell outside the hotel and she was carrying a rather large bag before loading it onto a horse and she rode out of the capital. We thought it was weird cause it was during the middle of the night." He finished.

"That is strange. Why would she be out in the middle of the night? It's rather unlike her." Vanessa said cupping her chin thoughtfully.

"You don't think she might've kidnapped Star do you? And if she did why?" Velvet asked having been listening in.

"Though that presents an issue. If she has been kidnapped why hasn't their been any demands. Miss Clausell would've made a demand about something." Octavia said.

Vanessa hummed at this before looking toward Velvet "You said that she rode outside the capital. That could mean she could've came back without Star. If I have to bet she probably dropped her off somewhere in the desert and had returned to the capital." Vanessa said.

"That also presents a problem as well. Depending on how far she took her out of the capital it could be hours until she comes back. If the sun doesn't get to her first." Vanessa said.

"The regular human body can last about three days without water. Though we also have to factor in other things as well. Age, health, height, weight, and even gender play a factor in that subject." Octavia stated.

"Putting Star's age between seventeen and eighteen along with her height and weight." Octavia began as she mentally began crunching numbers in her head.

"She might last a day and a half at best." Octavia answered.

"That isn't good. Were going to need to find Star and quick before she dies from dehydration." Mars replied.

"Alright let's not panic. Melanie knows the desert just as much as anyone else. Mars, May you two go with her. Gather supplies, and use the camels to find Star. Cardin, Velvet, Octavia you three come with me. We're going to pay Hilda a visit and figure out what is going on." Vanessa replied as they groups separated.

After grabbing some supplies along with some of the fox faunus things like her clothing, scroll, and weapons they grabbed the camels and rode out of the capital to search for their missing friend.

=RWBY=

Meanwhile in the desert Star has already finished off another nectarine but even then it was barely keeping her going as the sun had reached its highest point of the day and even with the shoes she made her feet were starting to feel rather hot and the sweat coming off her forehead was making her more dehydrated with every minute passed.

Even her nightwear that she was wearing it wasn't helping her much as she trudged onward hopefully toward the capital and maybe some water as well. She put a hand to the top of her head to try to block the sun out but it was hardly working as she tried to make out something in the distance. It looked like some kind of trees in the distance but she couldn't tell if it was the real thing or a mirage that her head was creating.

She tried to take another step forward but the sand made her trip over herself as she landed face first on the sand as she was breathing rather heavily from the long walk to the capital. She rolled onto her back as she was now staring upward at the sun as she knew she had to get up or the desert would claim her as a victim

She tried to sit up from her position but her body felt like lead as her body wasn't working with her all of a sudden.

"It's not... going to end... like this." She thought as she tried again but only get the same result. She was breathing rather heavily now as her vision was now starting to blur from the exhaustion though her ears twitched as she heard something loud coming toward her as it sounded like an engine as it suddenly stopped. Before her vision faded she saw something that resembled a person as the person came over and checked up on her.

"You okay their kiddo?" The person asked as it sounded female like an older women as Star vision finally faded out.

She didn't know how long she was out for but she felt something touch her lips as something cool went down her throat as her vision started to come back to her.

"Their we go. Up and awake. That's good." The female voice said.

Star looked up and noticed the last person who expected to help her.

"Carmine! You... why did you help me?" She asked quite surprised at this.

"Do you need a reason to help someone in trouble? Carmine said back as she placed the canteen in a sack.

Star sat up from her spot as she spoke again "Okay but your a criminal and their are people looking for you. So I don't necessarily trust you right now." Star said.

"I can understand that. But need I remind you that I just saved your life. An hour more in that sun and you would've died from dehydration and nobody would even know it. Besides if you claim that I'm a criminal does that mean I've done something wrong by the people that had labeled me as such." Carmine replied.

"You deliberately blocked the water supply from getting to the capital who's been using the Weeping Wall as an alternative source of water to prevent them from growing their crops. How is that not a criminal act?" Star stated.

"Yes that maybe true. However did you know that their are two water lines from the pump instead of one. While the one does lead to the capital and fills the water wells but the second water line leads somewhere else entirely. Care to take a guess where?" Carmine questioned.

Star thought a moment about what she was talking about but then it came to her "That property. One of your men talked about a property that was forcefully taken by the Vacian government." Star said.

"Bingo. At least that's what I thought at first." Carmine said as she began packing her things and placing them on the motorbike.

"C'mon we've got a long ride ahead." Carmine added as she got on her motorbike.

"Um... we. What do you mean by that? I've got to get back to the capital." Star said.

"Oh sure. With what your wearing that would be a good idea plus your still many miles away from the capital. So you can either be a roasted fox or you come with me and get out of this heat." Carmine stated.

Star debated in her mind at what to do as she was weighing her options. First she was completely under dressed for the weather condition and she didn't have any food or water with her and most importantly she didn't have her weapons which would be a problem if she ran into any grimm along the way.

She reluctantly sighed as she joined Carmine on the back of her motorbike.

Carmine smiled a little bit as she started the bike up roaring to life "You might want to hang on cause this has a bit of kick to it." She warned as Carmine hit the throttle on the bike as it jerked forward. Startled by it Star wrapped her arms on Carmines waist as the two sped off as Star hoped that it wasn't some kind of trick.

=RWBY=

Meanwhile an hour past noon as Melanie, May, and Mars were still searching for their missing friend and hopefully they weren't too late finding her as they were far beyond the safety of the capital as they continued to search.

"Anything yet?" Mars questioned as Melanie shook her head.

"Nothing. We will find her though. Just have to keep looking." Melanie said.

May used her scope from her rifle to try and spot her but all she could see was nothing but sand in which ever direction she looked.

"Nothing over here either. Just how far did she take her from the capital?" May added.

"Well from what Velvet said she was traveling by horse but she would have to make it back with enough time before raising any suspision, and since it would be in the middle of the night so she would need approximately six hours to go with before the sun shined. Which means three hours to get rid of Star and three hours to come back to the capital. Judging from that time and on horse back she could be anywhere from the capital to Corquina." Melanie said.

"Well it's worth a try." May said before remembering something that was also in the path of what Melanie mentioned.

"Wait! Maybe Fenix might have seen her." May replied which got the tiger faunus attention.

"Fenix? Who's he?" She questioned.

"He's someone we met before coming here. He might know something." May said as she led the way toward Fenix's camp.

Luckily it didn't take them long to find his camp as it only took them about thirty minutes to find his camp. Fenix was busy sorting out some supplies as he noticed the three of them coming right at his camp as he recognized two of them but unfamiliar with the third person. He also noticed that the fox faunus that was with them wasn't around anymore.

"Morning friends. It's good to see you again." He said before turning to the tiger faunus.

"And meeting someone new as well. What brings you all here today?" He asked.

"Actually we were wondering if Star might've made it here." May said.

He simply shook his head "Sorry but I haven't seen her. What happened?" Fenix questioned.

"We have reason to believe that she was kidnapped and left in the desert to die. Though we're having trouble tracking her down at the moment." Melanie said.

"Hm... that does seem rather troubling. Hopefully she's still alive. Though in this desert I would rather doubt it." Fenix replied which seemed to not sit to well with Mars.

"She's a tough girl. I know she's alive out their and we're going to find her." Mars said confident.

"Though if its Carmine that had done this then I wouldn't be surprised." Fenix added.

"Actually it wasn't her. From what we found out it was this Hilda Clausell person. Apparently she's a member of the Vacian council according to Melanie." Mars added.

He then looked directly at Melanie as he carefully examined her before something came to his mind "Your mother wouldn't happen to be Vanessa Tora yes." He said.

"Yes actually. I'm her daughter Melanie Tora. And from what I can tell you're Fenix Neaman. Quite the little place you have here." Melanie commented.

"Well we do what we can. Wish I could be of any help." Fenix replied regrettably.

"Hey don't worry about it. Were going to check out Corquina next and see if she might've ended up their somehow." May replied.

"Yes perhaps you are right. Though perhaps I could give you something to help in your journey." Fenix said as he gestured them to follow him as they entered his camp. He would then head into a his tent as they waited for him to come out.

About five minutes later he would come out and he had in his hands was a medallion.

"A medallion? What good would that be for?" Melanie asked a little confused by the object.

"Oh don't judge it before you know what it is. This is actually an artifact from the olden days before the great war. Though I never had a chance to know what it'll do. Perhaps it could help you in your journey to find Star." Fenix said as Mars took a hold of it almost examining it like she'd seen it before.

"It looks... familiar." Mars muttered but decided to keep a hold of it never knowing what the medallion could do.

"Though what do we do now? Corquina isn't that far now and neither is the capital. Should we head back?" Melanie asked.

"Not much more we can do. Though if Star is alive I'm sure she'll find a way to contact us somehow. Hopefully it won't be much longer than it already has been." Mars said.

"Yeah. We've searched what we could so we should head back before it gets too dark out." May replied.

"Of course you have other things to attend to but if I may let me make sure you have enough water for the trip back. Don't need you all to overheat now." Fenix replied as he had his men fetched them what water to spare for their trip back to the capital.

After ten minutes of refueling on water the three girls said their goodbyes and began making the trip back to the capital. Though Mars brought out the medallion again as if trying to figure out where she had seen it before.

=RWBY=

At the same time in the capital Vanessa, Cardin, Velvet, and Octavia began making their way to the home of Hilda Clausell and if they were lucky enough that the chameleon faunus would be home so they can ask her a few questions more importantly about where Star was and why she did it.

It didn't take long for them to arrive at Hildas home as it was the farthest from the market. Unlike some of the other houses it was built out of sand and mud with windows on each side of the house. The windows have wooden covers to block out the sun.

"This is her house. Let's see if she's home." Cardin said as Vanessa approached the door and knocked loudly.

"Hilda! You home!" Vanessa called out but first didn't get a response as she tried again knocking louder.

"Hilda Clausell!" Vanessa called out again only to get the same result.

Velvet heard something coming from inside as she peered over to the window and noticed a shadow of a person heading to the back of the house.

"She's running!" Velvet shouted.

"Cardin, Velvet head her off! Octavia with me!" Vanessa ordered as her and Octavia went around back and gave chase after Hilda while Cardin and Velvet took a different direction to try and cut her off.

Hilda was in full panic as she sprinted as fast as she could trying to get away from the people that were chasing her. She knew she would be in big trouble if she got caught by them. She took a sharp right into an alley trying to flee from them but she immediately stopped when she noticed Cardin and Velvet cut her off as they were standing at the end of the alley.

The chameleon faunus back peddled as she headed back to the front of the alley way and continued to run with Vanessa and Octavia still in pursuit.

She was now out in the open in the market place running past people and shoving them to the side to try and get away but Octavia and Vanessa were still on her tail. Cardin and Velvet realized where she was going as she was trying to head to the gates.

"If she gets a horse then we won't be able to catch her." Cardin said.

Velvet looked around quickly before looking above the roof tops.

"Get me up their." Velvet said which kinda worried Cardin a bit.

"You sure. That's a little high." He added.

"Just get me high enough above the roof tops and I'll take care of the rest." Velvet said.

The boy sighed as he cupped his hands into position as he triggered his semblance to boost his strength just enough for Velvet to get above the roof tops.

Velvet got a running start and then jumped on Cardins cupped hand as he then launched her into the air which was high enough to see her target. Quickly using her weapon she summoned the copy of Crescent Rose to her side and twirled it behind her and fired as the recoil launched her forward directly at Hilda.

Hilda heard the shot but she didn't react in time as Velvet crashed into her tackling her to the ground as Velvet was able to get Hilda on her stomach as she was struggling to break free of Velvets grip.

"Let me go!" Hilda cried out as Velvet held her down with the others coming right behind her.

Some of the citizens were wondering what was causing the commotion as the people were starting to talk.

"Go about your day people. Huntress business." Vanessa quickly said as the people quickly dispersed.

Hilda still struggled under Velvets grip but Vanessa took over as they got the faunus on her feet "Alright we're going to have a little chat. Let's go." Vanessa ordered as she walked the faunus toward the only place where people wouldn't bother them.

Arriving at the capital building she and the others walked into the meeting room which luckily was empty. The receptionist looked on with wonder but Vanessa quickly went over to her and she spoke very simply.

"No one comes in here. Got it." Vanessa ordered as the receptionist nodded.

Vanessa went inside the meeting room closing it behind her as Hilda was placed in chair with a worried look on her face.

"Alright Hilda. Start talking. Where is Star Azure?" Vanessa questioned.

"I-I don't know what your talking about." Hilda said quickly trying to avoid the question.

"We saw you last night carrying a very large bag and you rode off on your horse most likely into the desert." Cardin started.

"So what was your goal in all of this?" Octavia asked.

Hilda looked ready to panic as she was fiddling with her fingers but she couldn't take the pressure as tears started to form in her eyes.

"I... was just doing this... to make sure that my son was safe." She finally said which caught them by surprise.

"Your... son. What do you mean? What are you talking about?" Octavia questioned.

Hilda looked at Vanessa trying to keep her composure "It was months ago when it happened. I was returning home from a meeting and when I got home my son wasn't their and all I found was a note saying that they have my son and that if I wanted him safe and sound that I was to do what they tell me to do." Hilda started.

"They? Just who are they?" Velvet asked.

Hilda took a breath in before letting it out slowly but shakey "It... was the White Fang." She finally said which completely shocked the four.

"The White Fang! Here in Vacou! Just how are they even..." Vanessa began but then started to piece things together especially with the sudden payment on the large property that had suddenly became available.

"The lien. That lien came from the White Fang! And that property that became available. That really was Carmines and the peoples property right." Vanessa said piecing them today.

"... Yes." She said.

"But how did you get Carmine and her people off the property?" Cardin asked.

"I didn't... they did. I sort of gave them the idea to disguise themselves as part of the Vacian government and that they had to vacate the property. They forced them out with gunfire." Hilda said regrettably knowing many lives would be lost.

Vanessa was taking all of this in and quite frankly as made a grave mistake. She knew Carmine for a few years and she knew she was an excellent women and when Carmine was accused of hurting her huntsmen and in reality she was trying to send her a message that she was in trouble and she didn't even listen.

"We've been blaming the wrong person for everything that had happened. Carmine isn't the enemy but the White Fang is." Vanessa said.

"So I'm guessing one of their plans was to try and kill off someone that they knew would be trouble for them right. Star Azure." Vanessa added as Hilda nodded.

"I knew that from the suns rays that she wouldn't last long out their in the heat. She would die from dehydration alone. Unless someone picked her up she'd be dead already." Hilda said as she looked downward in shame.

"I've done things that I shouldn't have. Your a mother as well Vanessa. Would you do anything to protect your daughter?" Hilda questioned.

Vanessa looked away for a moment as a memory played in her mind. Remembering the time that Melanie was fifteen she followed them eliminating grimm and she was attacked by a Syber grimm that took most of her left arm just above the elbow. They didn't have much to help her but for a whole year Melanie had no arm and it pained her seeing her own daughter in such emotional pain.

That drove her to work harder than ever before and it paid off in the end as she was now part of the Vacian council and the only faunus to hold a seat in the Atlas council. However all of that wasn't for free as it cost her to miss her daughters birthday and initiation into the academy. What hurt her the most was that she hasn't spend much time with her husband as of late.

"I..." She didn't utter another word as Velvets scroll suddenly rang as it was an unknown number.

"An unknown number? Wonder who it is?" Velvet questioned as she answered her scroll.

"Hello?" She greeted and not long after her eyes suddenly went wide from shock.

"Star!" She shouted getting everyone's attention as suddenly their missing friend was somehow still alive but they don't know where she is.

F3: And that's chapter 9. Sorry to leave it at a cliffhanger but hey gotta keep it interesting. So found out that theirs a White Fang faction in Vacou and why Hilda was doing was she did. Wonder what's going to happen next? You'll just have to read on. As usual if you like this story give it a favorite and leave a comment. Also for future updates make sure to follow as well. With that said this has been Fireuser3 and I'm out.