Sunset – every Childe of Night waited hour upon hour for that searing globe of radiance to find its slumber. With darkness, there was peace of mind, safety, action, adventure… life… and yet there was something sickening about the nightlife she was now resigned to.

Ever since that fateful day, she'd lived miserably, stalking the night like every other tainted soul that she shared it with now. She clenched her fist in anger, suppressing the rage she felt inside. It all began with her most grandiose failure and ended with her having to lose everything that behind.

Those bastards really thought they'd get away with this. If only there was a way to turn back time. If only she could feel the warmth of the sun without the fear of a swift death… Maybe then, she'd be able to get one over on them… but as cynical as she had became, I was not as if vampirism did not have its own merits.

For one, even she had to admit that night vision was a perk humans missed out on. Even from this hilltop, she found herself able to see the most minute details as clear as day. For instance, she could make out every slit-end on that crimson-headed bastard's head - the short-horned bull Faunus. She growled to herself as he came into view from inside the station across the way, firing a single bullet at one of the soldiers on sight. It was amazing how quickly these Faunus in the White Fang could turn a place into a blood bath, especially when the Schnee Corps was their adversary.

For ages, they'd waged war with the Schnee over the treatment of Beastkin – the Faunus half-bloods and Werebeast pure-bloods. Despite their shared desire for equal treatment, the Schnee's influence was vast and the majority sided with them. The unrest caused by the White Fang was why Inhumans, better known as Freaks, were treated with mistrust. That was, unless they bore the symbol of the Schnee branded on their backs… but it made her wonder: Had the bull had also been branded? Had he sought revenge when he ended her life? It didn't matter. She shook the thought away and reminded herself that she'd sworn her revenge and his time would come... soon.

He fired off a few more shots and hurried to a truck, where a larger group of Faunus had opened fire on a young-looking soldier. His bullet-riddled corpse landed lifelessly against another truck. As they confirmed their kill, they dragged a blue-haired boy out from inside the vehicle. He tried so hard to fight back, but his efforts were for not and he was now screaming in pain on the ground.

The bull Faunus hopped into the back of the truck the men had been in and set down a briefcase. He then relayed orders to a single Faunus. The rest of the men entered the vehicle with him and the single Faunus was left behind with the boy. She assumed to clean up any messes.

There was something strange about this whole incident. Why go through the trouble of raiding an out-of-the-way armory station. Yes, her father did have a habit of hiding things in unlikely places, but what would a Faunus want from one of these that could fit in such a small briefcase? A top-secret weapon, perhaps? From the looks of it, it had to be ammunition of some sort, but weaponry was fairly easy to obtain on the black market. Something about this whole thing didn't sit right with her, so she decided to follow him.

For miles, she tracked them until they turned off the main road and ducked into a dirt pathway that lead into an old mining site. Recalling knowledge from her human days, this territory was associated with a vampire coven – a safe house. A recent alliance between the Vampire Council and the White Fang had granted vampires safety in exchange for backing them and it worked out well in the White Fang's favor.

Moments later, a dark flame wisped through the air, landing on the ground. In a beautifully dark conflagration, it shaped into the silhouette of a woman and slowly filled out into the colors of an Elder she despised with every fiber of her being. After all, fire and ice just did not mix very well.

"Did you find it?" The woman's eyes glowed a vibrant red in contrast to their dark surroundings. She wore a red dress with golden accents and painfully high heels – a clear nod to her confidence. Anyone that felt safe enough to wear that in Freak-infested territories was either clearly insane or had absolutely no worries that anything could harm them.

"Well, if it isn't the Fire Empress," the bull Faunus smirked at her; his eyes following her somehow through the thick bandana that covered his eyes.

"I will never understand how you can see through that thing," the Fire Empress snapped.

"Third eye," he quipped back and tapped the center of his forehead. "You know, control of chakra and all that. Thought you, of all vampires, would know about that." A small flame danced across his feet and he smirked again. "Feisty tonight, aren't we? But yeah, I got your little fix." He opened the case and pulled a vile out, flipping it in the air and juggling it with one hand. "But honestly though, I should charge you more."

"Adam," the Fire Empress narrowed her eyes at him. "Don't test me."

"Oh, don't worry! It won't cost much," he caught it with a firm grip. "I just wanna' know why this blood was so important that it was kept in a Weapons Research facility. It just struck me as odd why such a little outpost was so carefully guarded," he leered at her and squeezed the vile. "Turns out, there was an elevator that lead to a whoooooole 'nother world I wasn't prepared for… So?" The vampire eyed the vial carefully, looking at it with need.

"This blood has the power to grant a vampire the ability to walk in daylight and become even greater than the Originator, himself!" She moved to snatch from him, but he drew his hand back. "Adam…"

"Ah ah ah, Cinder. I like to know what kind of deals I'm making with my devils," he maintained his smirk. "What it made of that makes it so special?"

"Witch blood is capable of amazing things," Cinder hissed. "One sip can make even the weakest vampire all-powerful."

"How do you know?"

"I witnessed it once," her eyes glowed menacingly beneath the bangs of her wavy dark mane of hair. "A woman who stands next to Ozpin on the Council. If I held that power, I could make her nothing."

The power to walk in daylight? This was the chance she had been looking for and there was no way another vampire on the Council should be allowed to have that power. As the vial was passed to Cinder, a series of crystallized ice shards ate across the ground, splintering out at Cinder. The vial slipped from her hand and landed on a crystal, sliding down toward the bottom. Cinder grabbed toward it, but suddenly the ice began to devour it and it lodged itself inside the frozen spire.

"Who the hell are you?" Cinder growled, identifying a woman with strikingly beautiful white hair leering down on her from above. The fiery piress shot a glare at Adam. "I thought you said you took care of her."

"I did!" Adam shouted back. "I have no idea how she's here!"

"Turns out," the woman in white's eyes glowed the same furious red as her fiery counterpart. "I'm not that easy to just kill off. There's something I have to do."

"What?" Cinder let out a loud laugh. "There are no heroes in Vale, let alone you, Schnee."

"She wasn't bitten when I dropped her off at the family estate," Adam rejoined Cinder's side and drew his katana. "There's no way you came back to life. How are you here, Weiss?"

"Weiss…?" The ivory vampire hissed through her teeth. Even in death, that name was still haunting her. The last strand broke inside her and she felt herself crack. That's right… She was Weiss, right? Even in death, she was still denied her own true name. It made no difference that no one could tell them apart. It didn't matter that she was Winter or that Weiss had been long gone. Their worlds had melded into one in a single instance so many years ago. "That's right… I'd almost thought my life my own now, but what a sobering reminder you've given me. I suppose I'll have to thank you by making that woman pay for everything I lost."

"Oh ho? You'll make me pay?" Cinder smirked as flames sparked to life around them. "It seems Miss Schnee has forgotten who she is dealing with, Adam. I would say she's in need of an additional reminder."

Taking advantage of the moment, Adam hacked at the ice containing the vial of blood and removed a chunk of crystal. He returned to Cinder and handed it to her. Smirking at Winter, Cinder held it triumphantly.

"So much for your little stunt, dear," she taunted the devastated looking girl. "But don't worry. You'll be joining our lovely donor soon enough." Cinder's hand began to glow and sizzle against the ice. "I'll see to it myself."

"…Witch's blood…" Winter muttered with her head hung.

"Excuse me?"

"You said that it was Witch's blood?" Winter clarified, glaring at her.

"Summer Rose, the prodigy herself." Water began to pool at the fiery vampire's feet. "Isn't it poetic? We fought so many times, but in the end, it will be her own blood that makes me unstoppable."

Winter's eyes began to glow furiously and cracks began to form around the ice. The water that dripped from Cinder's hand began to freeze over, spreading across her hand, hardening with an increasing pressure. A high-pitched crack rang out and suddenly the chunk of ice burst, shattering the vial along with it.

"No!" Cinder watched as the broken shards hit the ground and her gaze darted back toward the icy girl in an intense rage. "You'll pay for that!" Flames roared to life around her, lashing out at everything as they encased her body and Adam shielded the eyes beneath his bandana from the sudden increase in light.

Cinder rushed toward the grinning Schnee and shoved her entire arm through her chest, leaving Winter gasping for air as the fiery vampire burned away at her lungs. Winter fell lifelessly limp… but something wasn't right. The flames dancing around Cinder died down as she studied the woman in white. How could she die with a smile on? Another crack sounded out and her body devolved into an icy sculpture.

"Oh, how I wish I could have seen the look on your face," a gleeful voice chimed. "But it appears I'll have to wait until next time. Since you've so kindly renewed the hope I lost, I'll call it even for now… but fear not, my lovely Fire Empress!" The sculpture suddenly began to shape shift, growing larger and very snake-like. "I prepared a very special gift in advance, made with you in mind. I do hope you'll enjoy it! Take care!"

Winter watched from afar in amusement as a fiery blaze lit up the sky. It had been a while since she had been in such good spirits. Sure, she hadn't been able to steal the vial and even had to destroy it, but that didn't matter. After all, they were making things so much more difficult for themselves than it needed to be. After spending most of her childhood under the mentorship of Summer Rose's team, she knew there was an alternate solution to her problem - one that suited many of her own purposes.

"It seems that we were destined to meet again," Winter narrowed her eyes at the tall buildings and lights in the distance. Vale – the place she had once called home, and the place where everything started. "But this time, every last one of you will pay."

ooOOoo

AN: Thanks for checking out the REDUX guys! Really means a lot that you guys are giving this a chance. Seriously, I can't stress how much I want to hear your thoughts. I do have a lot of confidence in this version and I truly hope that it is a bit easier to follow. If you guys are coming over from the original version, I do plan to have some things still occur, but let me know if there is anything that you definitely want to see to come back and if there is anything that isn't clear!

*-*FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NOT READ THE ORIGINAL. BIG FLASHING SPOILER. DO NOT READ.*-*

There are major changes that you'll notice from the start; however I can assure you that this version of Weiss has always been my intention. This is down to her abilities, backstory, and character growth. Unfortunately, I did not make that very clear.

The story and relationship between Weiss/Winter is similar, but there have been a few changes - one of them being very massive. The first part of the story focuses on introducing the characters and their backstories, while introducing The Council and White Fang as the driving problem. Initially, we'll be dealing with the conflict between Weiss (who temporarily has a different name/appearance) and Winter.

Lightforge has now been divided into five main arcs:

Bloodlines

Cultivation

Vanishing Point

Point of No Return

Salvation