(Thank you Xavier Rall for betaing this chapter and thank you to everyone else who offered to beta for me.)

"Your… master?" Pyrrha asked, the word itself almost felt weird to use.

"Yes, Master," the figure replied loudly, as he raised his spear and pointed it at Pyrrha, who stepped away. "The Command Seals on your hand prove that."

Pyrrha looked at the back of her hand, still shaken after what happened but still remembering everything from during the summoning. Most of all, she felt uneasy as to how she did not notice the markings before.

She looked back at the man and noticed that his expression had changed and that he was instead focused on something. The expression on his face was something that she recognized, as if he heard or sensed something, and her own instincts told her that something was coming.

"Haha! Let the War begin!" He yelled as he shifted his body to the left as he raised his shield.

"War?" Pyrrha stammered, but suddenly the roof erupted into splinters as a woman, clad in armor, broke through the roof from the floor below.

Without prompting, she dashed forward, the force she exerted as she kicked forward broke off another chunk of the roof.

"Saber?" Pyrrha exclaimed as she stood back while Saber swung her invisible weapon which slammmed against Lancer's enormous shield; the force of the strike resulted in a shockwave that almost made the roof collapse underneath them, although the wooden beams which held the roof cracked and bent downward.

Team RWBY ran down the hall towards the door that they last saw Saber run in to and slid to a halt to see the team that resided as they hugged the walls; their eyes pointed up towards an enormous hole with debris which littered the floor beneath it.

RWBY charged into the room and jumped through the hole onto the roof of Beacon only to see Pyrrha slowly backing away towards them.

"Pyrrha!" Weiss called out, to which Pyrrha turned towards the voice.

"Weiss? What is going on?" Pyrrha asked as she ran towards Team RWBY.

Weiss had never seen Pyrrha act like this before, as the Pyrrha she knew was always calm and composed; however, what she saw was fear in her eyes. The muffled sound of battle can be heard around them and the girls looked around to see where it was coming from, but was nowhere to be seen on the roof.

"Weiss," Ruby said with a noticeable shiver as she pointed towards Pyrrha, and once more, Weiss looked towards her schoolmate to see the same kind of markings on her right hand that she had. However, the markings were etched into a different pattern.

"Oh no," Weiss said under her breath as she raised her own right hand and looked over her own markings. A 'Command Seal,' Saber called them and they signified that they were Masters in the Grail War, which made Weiss realize that Saber spoke the truth.

"Weiss."

Weiss flinched as she heard her name once more and looked up to Pyrrha but then the roof in front of them exploded once more, as shards of wood and roof tiling filled the air.

Saber stepped onto the roof gracefully, while a man which Weiss did not recognize, landed with a loud thud onto the roof that caused it to shake and almost made the girls lose their footing.

There was a brief pause in the battle as the two combatants stared each other down.

"Just my luck to be paired against a Saber," the man chuckled before he raised his shield up to where only his eyes peeked over it.

"'Luck,' would not be the word I would use, Lancer," Saber replied.

Weiss examined the man once more and noticed the spear that he held in his right arm which signified the class of Servant he was; he rested the spear over his shield with the tip pointed straight at Saber.

During the calm, Weiss realized what this battle could mean…

"Saber, stop this!" Weiss exclaimed.

Saber stopped, and even Lancer casted a curious glance.

"Master, we are Servants and this is the way of the Grail War," Saber replied coldly and Weiss could see the same determination that she had witnessed during the show. However, it was until now that she realized that she was poised to kill as Saber glanced over at Pyrrha and narrowed her eyes.

"Saber, stop, she is my friend!" Weiss cried out helplessly.

Pyrrha saw that she lowered her sword slightly, ready to thrust, as she then snapped her body towards her and dashed towards her, and in the blink of an eye, she closed the twenty-foot distance between them. Despite her invisible weapon, Pyrrha managed to dodge the attack thanks to her many years of combat experience.

Her body arched backwards as she went into a flip, but noticed that Saber was already preparing another strike, which missed her by less than an inch and struck the roof; the force of the attack emitted a shock wave which ejected more tiles into the air which, obscured Pyrrha's vision.

Lancer moved in to defend his master but Saber juggled her attention between her two targets; deflected one attack there, only to swing here as she attempted to cut down Pyrrha.

Pyrrha backed away but with every step she took, Saber was quick to advance forward. She used her Semblance to influence Saber's armor, however, it was a lot more difficult to do as Saber just powered her way through, unhindered.

Fatigue set in, and before long, Pyrrha lost her footing and fell onto her back. A momentary pause set in, as Saber was forced back by Lancer and he stood defiantly between her and Pyrrha.

Saber raised her sword and prepared to charge but then noticed ice began to envelope her legs, and stopped at her waist. Surprised, she looked behind her to see ice blue runes underneath Weiss's feet with her rapier pointed at her.

"Master! What are you doing?" Saber said, stunned, unbeknownst to her, Lancer lowered his shield slightly as he looked on curiously.

"Pyrrha is my friend, I can't let you kill her," Weiss cried out, her eyes narrowed as she glared at Saber, but then the roof exploded once more from below, as Atlesian Knights landed on the roof with a thud.

They all raised their weapons and immediately pointed them at everyone on the roof.

"Woah," Yang commented as she readied Amber Celica and raised her hands up, ready to defend herself.

Ruby and Blake likewise readied their weapons while Saber simply swung her weapon down and shattered the ice. She heard a loud whirring which turned into a roar as she another machine float up into view, the sides of it were open as a man in white stood and looked down at everyone.

"Knights, don't harm the children but train your weapons on those two," General Ironwood ordered as he pointed two fingers towards Saber and Lancer and immediately, the Knights snapped their attention to the two Servants.

"Stand down and quietly come with us. I will not repeat myself," Ironwood ordered.

"Master, orders?" Both Lancer and Saber asked.

"Do what General Ironwood says," Weiss replied but then heard Lancer scoff.

"Forgive me, master, but that is not possible," Saber replied, her eyes trained on Ironwood who, with resolve, stared back at her.

"Such is the way of the War," Lancer agreed.

"Saber, as your master, I order you to stop!" Weiss shouted but then felt a burning sensation in her hand. She looked down to see some of the lines on her command seal began to glow but then slowly died down and the lines have faded away.

"Wha-?" Weiss murmured and looked up to see Saber, who was now shaking.

"What… what have you done?" Saber said with a hiss as she struggled to turn towards her. Weiss noticed the slight movements that Saber made, or tried to make, as if something compelled her to stand still.

Saber braced herself for an inevitable attack, however, it didn't come. Instead, Lancer lowered his weapon.

"Ah," Lancer growled. "An enemy who can't fight back isn't fun. I would have a bad taste in my mouth if I struck you down now. Master!"

Pyrrha flinched at the title and faced Lancer as he turned towards her.

"What do you think of this?" Lancer asked.

Pyrrha looked to Ironwood, then back to Weiss, who was visibly calmer.

"Do as Ironwood says," Pyrrha said, hesitantly, but was surprised to see the man lower his weapons, which disappeared into bronze dust.

"Now, the Knights will escort you to the Headmaster's office," Ironwood ordered and both Servants looked towards their respective masters.

"Do as he says," Pyrrha commanded, albeit, still hesitantly and the man obeyed once more.

"Hmph. You are an interesting Master," Lancer commented as he went with an entourage of four Knights.

Weiss approached Saber, who still stood in place almost like a statue.

"You are making a mistake, Master," Saber said, defeated.

"Pyrrha is a friend of mine, Saber. I can't have you attack her," Weiss replied.

"There are no friends in the Grail War, Weiss," Saber said with a sigh. "There can only be one winner."

"Ms. Schnee."

Weiss looked up to see Ironwood looking down at her, his expression softened as he looked at her expectantly.

"I am starting to believe you, Saber, unfortunately," Weiss remarked. "But please, let us figure things out before we start attacking everyone we see."

Saber took a moment to think but at this point, she knew she had no choice.

"I will follow your command, Weiss," Saber said.

"Thank you, now, please follow General Ironwood's instructions," Weiss said and saw as Saber arms fell as whatever compelled her to stop had been lifted, for now.

Weiss breathed a sigh of relief and stepped forward to follow the Knights, until she noticed one in particular. She looked back at it as it looked in her direction and she had a strange feeling that it was looking directly at her. The thought made her shiver but she brushed it off and continued forward.

0-RWBY-

"Interesting," Cinder said as she looked down at her Scroll, all while Emerald and Mercury both looked out the window.
"I don't see anything," Emerald commented. "What was that?"

"Sounded like a battle," Mercury answered. "A pretty intense one."/span/p

"And what would you know of an intense battle?" Emerald said with a scoff.

Cinder ignored her disciples' bickering and focused on her Scroll. The virus she had implanted into the school's mainframe allowed her to take control of one or two Knights and she knew what exactly was going on.

"She marveled at the damage that was caused and that it was more than any normal human can cause. Their speed and power, she craved it, and yet it was just outside of her reach.

Or so she thought…

She lowered the head of the Knight she was controlling as it was looking at the Schnee Heiress and spotted the peculiar markings on her hand, similar to her own.

She swiped on the scroll and the camera changed to another Knight, this one walking down the hall behind the armor-clad man and the blue gowned woman.

She began to suspect a pattern and she made the internal camera inside the Knight's visor move around, so as not to make its head move.

To the left of the Knight, she spotted Nikos and she then move the camera down slightly. Her suspicions were confirmed… as on her right hand, there were more markings.

Cinder looked at her own right hand and spotted the same red markings, and as she pieced the clues together, she grinned.

"Move, you two," Cinder commanded and Emerald and Mercury obeyed. Parting ways to allow Cinder to near the window, as she opened it as much as she can and began to climb out.

"Should I go with you?" Emerald asked.

"No, you stay here," Cinder said, as she looked back from the corner of her eyes, and Emerald simply backed away before Cinder jumped out.

She had memorized the patrol routes of all the Knights, so it was simple to avoid them and the curfew checks on all the dorm rooms had already been done. So, sneaking out was simple.

After a couple hours of walking through Vale and leaving the safety of its walls, she headed towards the wood. She turned back once to assess how far she had moved and decided she was far enough away before she looked back down at a clearing in the woods.

"Let's see," Cinder said as she raised her right hand, and the markings began to glow. Strange, she thought.

It was almost as if she had done this many times before, despite the fact she had no idea what she was doing.

Suddenly, glyphs began to appear on the ground as they spun and expanded. Cinder focused her attention on this ritual, not budging or hesitating. The air around her began to crackle and spark, coalescing onto the center before it exploded.

Cinder shielded herself, and once it was done, she began to lower her arms to see the air surrounded with steam. In the middle of the clearing, she could see the silhouette of a woman and as it began to clear, she could then make out her features.

Wavy brown hair with leaves stuck neatly into them, almost by design, and a long gown that stretched down to her feet which barely covered the tips of her toes.

Cinder stood tall and approached the figure.

"Are you my master then?" The woman asked.

"I am," Cinder replied as she reveled in being called a Master.

"Very well," the woman replied and smiled. "My name... is Caster."