RWBY: Destiny of Remnant

by UGX7

In the wake of the fall Team RNJR sets out to bring Cinder Fall to justice while the new Fall Maiden overlooks her master's plan in Haven City. Meanwhile Weiss tries to help a friend, Yang struggles with the loss of her arm, and Blake deals with guilt over the White Fang. Meanwhile someone from Cinder's past returns and Salem's newest pawn rises. Arkos, WhiteRose, SunnyBees, Renora

8. The Pieces Come Together

RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and created by the late and great Monty Oum.

Read, review, and tell me how I can improve, what you liked and what you didn't. Your feedback is appreciated, thank you!

RWBY: Destiny of Remnant

Chapter 8: The Pieces Come Together

Jaune's eyes snapped open and he shot up from his bed. His bare body was drenched in sweat. He wiped some of the perspiration from his brow and looked down to see the beautiful, naked woman lying next to him.

"Jaune, love, are you alright?" asked Pyrrha Nikos-Arc.

Jaune smiled at his wife, relieved that it was only a horrible dream.

"J-just a nightmare, that's all. I dreamed that Cinder killed you in the Battle of Beacon and that Nora, Ren, Ruby, and I went to Haven to find Cinder and make her pay for it with the help of this asshole called Ashe." He said as he lay back down, cuddling into his wife's bountiful chest, planting a kiss on the skin above her heart.

"I'm here Jaune, I'll never leave you. It was just a bad dream, that's all." Pyrrha said as she held him to her and rubbed his back and played with his messy yellow hair.

"I dreamed I had this emotion Semblance and this Ashe guy was trying to train me. Like I said he was an asshole, constantly throwing your death in my face to help me get stronger. But I felt sorry for the guy; I dreamed that this guy lost his love too." Jaune said as he reached up and cupped her cheek.

"Things like that can happen Jaune; it can make people bitter and angry." Pyrrha said as she kissed his forehead.

"What did I do to deserve you?" he asked.

"You treated me like a normal person, that's what." She said as she grabbed him and flipped him around.

Jaune looked up to see the perfect body of Pyrrha sitting on top of him, a kind but teasing smile under those gorgeous emerald eyes. Despite giving birth to two children Pyrrha's body was still in prime conditions thanks to her exercise regime, her muscles were still on display although her belly was a bit smoother now, and her breasts somewhat enlarged by the milk she had fed their children with when they were infants.

Speaking of their children Jaune could hear his two little girls running around in the hall outside. Jaune mentally thanked Yang for the idea to soundproof the room from the inside, but make it so it was possible to hear what was going on outside.

"As much as I'd love to have at it again, I think we'd better get started." Jaune said as Pyrrha began to get off of him.

"I'll take care of them while you make breakfast?" Pyrrha asked.

"You bet." Jaune asked as he leaned up and kissed her.

Jaune soon got dressed and left the room to see his eldest daughter, a seven year old with crimson hair and sapphire eyes named Erika, playing with her younger sister, a five year old girl with blonde hair and jade eyes named Etoile. Both girls were still in their pajamas and seemed to be pretending to fight.

"Now what are you two doing?" he asked playfully.

"Morning daddy, we just playing Hunters! I'm Aunt Ruby and Erika's the Grimm!" Etoile said, waving around a plastic sword that in the little girl's mind was Crescent Rose.

"Rawr!" yelled Erika as she tried to pounce on the younger girl, only to be caught by Jaune.

"Now you know Aunt Ruby would never fight Grimm before breakfast, now come on and lets get changed." Said Pyrrha as she came out of the bedroom fully clothed.

Jaune watched as Pyrrha lead their daughters down the hall and he went downstairs to begin making their morning meal. He glanced over his shoulder and his eyes widened.

"Jaune, wake up. You need to get up, as terrible as it is to believe none of this is real." Said a phantom of Pyrrha with a small, glowing hole in her chest.

"No, this isn't happening, I'm just dreaming again." Jaune said as he tried to move but found that he couldn't.

"I'm sorry my love, you don't know how badly I want to be with you, to have children with you, but this isn't real. This is a nightmare." The phantom Pyrrha said with sorrowful eyes.

"Leave here." Said a demonic voice.

Jaune turned his head to see his wife, skin white as bones with blood red eyes glaring at her phantom doppelganger.

"No, you leave! You will not hurt him!" the phantom Pyrrha yelled.

"I won't hurt him too badly." The demonic, Grimm looking Pyrrha said as she grinned, stepping aside to let their daughters run in, screaming in pain.

"Erika! Etoile! What's wrong?!" he cried.

"Daddy help me!" cried Etoile as bony structures began to pierce through her skin and her eyes began to glow red.

"It burns! I'm scared!" screamed Erika as a black sludge began to ooze out of her mouth.

"No! NO!" Jaune screamed as his daughters' hands began to turn into claws and sharp, jagged teeth appeared in their mouths.

Jaune collapsed in shock and horror as his daughters' painful transformation into creatures of Grimm was complete. They growled and snarled at their father as the Grimm-Pyrrha walked in front of him, a black diamond on her forehead and snow white hair washing away the scarlet locks.

"You will be mine, Arc."

"NEVER!" the phantom Pyrrha yelled as she stepped in front of Jaune.

Jaune let out a scream of terror as the Grimm Pyrrha attempted to slash away the phantom Pyrrha, but failed to do so. The phantom stood before Jaune as a guardian angel, ready to fight.

"I'm part of you Jaune! Forever! I love you!" the phantom yelled.

"I love you too!" Jaune screamed as a white light claimed him.

Jaune's eyes snapped open again, only to find himself strapped down to a table.

"Looks like the kid's up." Said Trooper as he began wheeling Jaune's table off of Cinder's ship and into a hangar.

"This kid is something else; normally they're out for hours when you hit 'em with that much tranquilizer." Douglas said as he watched the Jaune struggle. "What were you dreaming about? Looked like you were havin' one helluva night terror." Douglas asked. Jaune ignored the enforcer's question and looked around.

"Where am I?!" Jaune demanded, trying to sound tough.

"Your new home for the time being." Said the voice of Emerald. Jaune looked up and saw Cinder's follower standing before him as West attended to Mercury's damaged leg in the background.

"Hom... Ruby! Where's Ruby?!" Jaune demanded as he struggled more.

"Calm down kid, she's over there." Trooper said, pointing to the out cold Ruby, also strapped to a table, guarded by Lao and Merrick.

"I have to admit, I thought you kids would be easy to fight. You proved me wrong." Trooper said with admiration.

"Shove it! Let us go now!" Jaune demanded.

"Sorry kid, ain't happening!" said Damien Ante, his wounds now healed thanks to his aura "We went through some crazy shit to get our hands on you, fought your buddy Ashe and those other two and some other group of brats, watched Cinder throw down some major aura, and I even gave you a trim so you wouldn't be too pissed."

It was only then Jaune noticed a slight stinging sensation on his cheeks, realizing that Ante had shaved his small beard off.

"Okay, this is getting really weird!" Jaune cried.

"If a shave makes you nervous then you won't like what comes next." Said the sinister voice that Jaune recognized all too well.

He looked ahead and saw Cinder Fall walking towards him with a face that concealed the emotions that were currently going through her head right now.

"Ashe and your friends fought well, but they failed in the end. My brother tried so hard to stop me, but I took care of him." Cinder said.

"Your brother?" Jaune said, very confused.

"Why, Ashe of course. It seems he's taken a liking to you and your friends." Cinder said, a smile beginning to grow as she saw the look of shock and devastation on Jaune's face.

"No. You're lying! You have to be!" Jaune screamed.

"I assure you that I am not. Did he mention that he was looking for his sister?" Cinder asked.

Jaune stopped struggling as he realized Cinder wasn't lying. Ashe had deceived them the entire time.

"I guess he failed to mention who I was. He's not dead, not yet anyway, so don't worry about him. He and your teammates go away." Cinder told him as she got closer.

"Thank Oum." Muttered Jaune.

"You know Arc; I must thank you, had it not been for you I may never have gotten my new powers." Cinder said as her eyes began glow.

"What do you mean?" Jaune asked.

"Why, you were distracted by your friend's screams and that gave me the perfect opportunity to strike and kill the previous Fall Maiden. Thanks to your failure I have ascended to a greater level of power. Even though your stupid friend Nikos tried her best to stop me, in the end I defeated her." Cinder said, noticing Jaune was shaking with rage. She could feel his aura pulsing, it was so pure, so filled with the need to avenge. She wanted to see just how far she could push him.

Emerald saw this and she began to look between the two. She didn't like where this was going.

"Do you know what she asked me before I ended her sad little life?" Cinder asked as Jaune began to bite down on his lip so hard it began to bleed. Cinder saw this and decided she wanted to push him a little more. She felt what was left of his Aura was burning with anger.

"She asked me if I believe in destiny and I told her that I did. Then I freed her from her pathetic excuse of a life. I did her a favor really, saved her from her delusions that she could have a normal life, that she could be happy with a failure like you. I do believe it was her destiny to die at my hands; she didn't even live up to her name and get a pyrrhic victory, just a stupid and senseless sacrifice that meant nothing in the long run. She may have been a champion, but champions always fall. All she needed was for me to give her a little push."

Jaune let out a scream of rage and grief and used every ounce of Aura, which was glowing brightly as his eyes shone a brilliant sapphire, and body strength he had left and burst through the leather straps that held him down. He jumped off the table and smashed his fist into Cinder's jaw, sending her flying across the hangar bay floor.

It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

"Oh shit." Said the normally mild-mannered West, whose attention had been drawn away from Mercury to watch the events unfold, Mercury's jaw had dropped, Emerald was speechless, Ante and his enforcers were still as statues, and Neo had covered her eyes.

Cinder got back up, her aura healing her instantly, and used her Maiden powers to float back over to Jaune who was now almost entirely drained of his Aura from his rage-fueled attack. He cried out as Cinder used the power of wind to grab him and lift him up, squeezing his throat tightly. No wonder her master wanted Arc, his aura was very powerful.

"That actually hurt." Cinder admitted as she clenched her fist, choking Jaune even more.

"Good! You're dead Cinder! You died the moment you touched Pyrrha!" Jaune spat out as he struggled to breathe.

"I could crush your skull like the bug you are right now, boy! But that's what you want, to get it over with and you think you'll be happy in the afterlife, but I guarantee that you'd be disappointed. I will not grant you the mercy of death as my master has plans for you and I intend to deliver, so go to sleep." She ordered as Jaune slipped once again into unconsciousness.

"Use steel clamps this time." Cinder ordered as she used her powers to float Jaune back to the table.

"I don't believe it, that kid actually hurt you. Think he's interested in a job?" Damien asked.

Cinder glared at the crime lord before she shook her head in annoyance. "Bind him; make sure he doesn't get out again. Emerald see to it that Rose and Arc are placed in their cells. West I want you to get Mercury to Sherizawa and get that leg fixed. I must go speak to my master."

"Lady Cinder, I assume your mission to capture our enemies was successful?" asked a voice. Everyone looked to see Fotia Drakos entering the hangar through a side door. "I heard screaming and I..." Fotia stopped as she noticed Ante and his enforcers were all starring at her.

"Oh, hello! Who are you?" Fotia asked.

"They are our allies Fotia, Damien Ante and his enforcers and yes, we were quite successful in capturing Rose and Arc. Damien, this is Fotia Drakos, our newest Grimm Commander." Cinder introduced.

"Well, that explains the skin and eyes." Damien murmured.

"Fotia, Master Salem told me earlier that she wanted to speak with you as well after I returned. Once I have finished talking to her you will take your chance." Cinder said.

"Oh! Very well, I will accompany you." Fotia said as she walked out of the room.

Cinder turned back to them and watched as Emerald led some workers to the cell-block with the bound Ruby and Jaune in tow. West helped Mercury up and led him out of the room and to the infirmary. She also noticed that Neo had vanished but that was typical.

Damien looked at Cinder with a smirk on his face while the enforcers still seemed shaken up by Fotia.

"Did you see her? Eyes and hair were blood red!" Merrick said.

"Her skin, it was white as a ghost..." whispered Douglas

"I've heard about 'em but I never saw a Grimm Commander until now." Trooper added.

Damien approached Cinder and asked "Was that who I think it was?"

"She is Fotia Drakos, just another innocent spurned by this cruel world, one we will mould into our weapon. Who she was is not important but who she will be is. I thank you for your aid Damien and rest assured that you will be compensated for your losses. Good night." Cinder said as she followed Fotia out of the hangar.

"Right, I'll take care of any security recordings from the site. Make sure they never see the light of day." Damien said, but this gave Cinder an idea.

"No, bring the recordings to me. I may have a use for them." She said as a plan began to form in her head.

Ante nodded and said "Right. Come on boys, let's get out of here." And with that he led his men out of the hangar door.

---

Cinder soon caught up with Fotia as she walked to the throne room. Fotia's curiosity was getting the best of her and she couldn't help but ask "Were those two that Emerald was taking away our enemies?"

"Indeed; Ruby Rose and Jaune Arc. It's only a matter of time until Mistress Salem teaches them the error of their ways and they become part of our family as well." Cinder said.

"Oh good, they don't look too bad. Maybe they're just blind to how badly the world needs us. Maybe life was kinder to them than it was to me." Fotia said, as she remembered her old life.

Cinder smiled a bit. "Life has been almost a cruel to them as it was to you, but they are under the delusion that the world as it is is worth fighting for. We will show them how wrong they are." She said as they approached the throne room.

Cinder left Fotia outside the throne room and stepped inside. She walked into the center and knelt down as a hologram of Salem appeared before her.

"Good evening Cinder, I trust the mission to capture Ruby Rose and Jaune Arc went according to plan... but something unexpected happened." Salem said, sensing a tension within Cinder.

Cinder looked uneasy but her fears were calmed by her master's soothing voice. "Come now my disciple, what happened?" Salem asked, her voice giving away some curiosity.

"We captured Rose and Arc as planned. Rose accidentally killed two of Ante's men and Arc killed at least four." Cinder reported.

"Excellent, then they have already taken their first steps." Salem said with a small smile.

"But... someone tried to stop us; my brother." Cinder revealed.

"Ashe? Hm, we never did find out what happened to him or the crystal." Salem said.

"That's the other thing; he allowed me to look into his memories and I saw that he is in possession of the Aura Crystal." Cinder said.

"What? The Crystal is in Haven?" Salem asked, her interest piqued.

"I don't know. He has allied himself with the children and he knows the Haakskeekah." Cinder said.

Salem's eyes did not widened but she did look a bit intrigued. "Ah, even in death your mother finds ways to spite me. Have Ante keep the bounty on him, if he has the Crystal it's more than likely he never told the children about it so if we are to get the Crystal we'll have to force your brother to give it to us. Have Rose and Arc imprisoned for the time being, soon the children's real training will begin and they shall become mine." Salem said.

"If I may be so bold Master, why did you want the Arc boy? Reports say that seven months ago he couldn't even hold his sword correctly, while his skills have undoubtedly improved since, he even managed to harm me mere moments ago and his Aura is incredibly powerful, he still seems like an unimportant pawn." Cinder observed.

"Cinder, even the most unimportant of pawns have their part to play in the game and the Arc boy is not unimportant. Tell Dr. Giger I want him to make Arc the fifth Grimm Commander after a little reconditioning and mental torment." Salem said, allowing a smirk on her lips.

"What? I thought that madman Norvik was your choice for the next..."

"Norvik is but a dog put back on his leash. He will be useful in the future as I do have plans for him, but the boy is more important. The Arc bloodline once produced a great many Huntsman and Huntress, their fire has dimmed greatly but if left alone that child could reignite the flame, your actions against the Nikos girl have seen to that." Salem said.

"Ugh, the more I hear that stupid girl's name the more I regret..." Cinder began to say before Salem stopped her.

"What's done is done, but if we turn Arc to the darkness, make him one of us then it will create even more fear and chaos, a member of one of Remnant's great families leading a slaughter of the innocents, maybe even getting him to kill his own family. Turning that promising young Huntsman to an instrument of our will would be a horror to the eyes of all those who seek faith in the Hunters, it will drive the world mad with fear. If we can't turn him, however, I have an alternative plan." Salem said, her eyes glowing again before Cinder spoke up.

"But we already have..."

"It's always smart to have a contingency plan. If Arc doesn't work out we'll always have her."

"We cannot turn Arc. I felt his aura, it was so powerful and pure and while there is anger within him he's the type of 'hero' that keeps it up until the end. There is no way he will willingly turn against his friends and family." Cinder said, doubting any chance they had at turning Jaune to their cause.

"I have a way around that Cinder, now then..." Salem said as she considered the news of the Aura Crystal. "I would like you to get the crystal from your brother, if he has been its guardian for two decades then he may know what it is capable of or he could be ignorant of its power but if he does understand it then he could use it against us and that would be very... irritating. So make sure it becomes ours." Salem ordered.

Cinder nodded, but then she remembered the man she saw in Ashe's mind. "Master, there was something else... when Ashe showed me his memories I saw a woman he loved die. I saw her murderer and I recognized him, he was Saul Jude." Cinder said.

"Saul Jude? Now that is interesting. It looks like a new player is about to enter the field. You are dismissed my Fall Maiden, send in the girl." Salem ordered.

"As you wish." Cinder said with a bow.

The Fall Maiden walked to the door and opened it. "She will see you now." She told Fotia.

The girl with crimson hair and eyes walked into the makeshift throne room as Cinder left. She approached the hologram of Salem and bowed down.

"Mistress Salem." She said humbly.

"Rise my child, I have a gift for you." Salem said.

"Oh! How kind of you Mistress! What is it?" Fotia asked, looking a little excited as she rose up.

Salem waved her hand and a red sword and shield appeared in the room in front of Fotia. "This is a blade I had forged for you out of Red Dust. It has been named Lepida Tou Aimatos, the Blood Blade. Use it well my child, for with it you will slay all those who stand in our way." Salem said.

"It is beautiful. I shall resume my sword training with right away; this is a much better blade. What of the shield?" Fotia asked.

"The shield, Akouo, once belonged to Pyrrha Nikos, a girl who tried to prevent Cinder from obtaining the powers of the Fall Maiden. She paid the price for her interference with her life, Cinder brought me this shield as a trophy but I now give it to you. Our enemies will be overcome with grief when they see you, my new champion bearing the shield of their fallen one. Take it with pride and strength my dragon rider." Salem said to the teenager.

Fotia bowed and said "I will do as you command my Mistress."

"Very good, you are dismissed." Salem said. Fotia bowed once more as the hologram deactivated and exited the room to see Cinder standing in the hallway.

"Ah, what gifts she has given you Fotia, use them well." Cinder said.

"Oh I will Lady Cinder! Anyone who opposes us shall fall to my new blade and shield. They will make wonderful additions to my arsenal." Fotia said optimistically as she walked away down the hall.

Cinder went back into the throne room, sat down on her throne, and her thoughts traveled to Ashe. "Try to get in my way again little brother and I will kill you." She swore.

Elsewhere in the factory Fotia cheerfully walked towards her room only for someone to grab her shoulder from behind.

"Oh, hello again Neo! My goodness, you gave me quite a scare!" Fotia said to the multicolored girl.

Neo nodded, made an apologetic gesture and then leaned in.

"Don't trust them." She whispered to Fotia

"Who? Who shouldn't I trust Neo?" Fotia asked.

Neo said nothing. She just walked away.

Fotia decided not to pursue the silent girl, knowing that Neo only spoke when she wanted to and trying to force her would only result in a fight that Fotia knew she didn't want. She decided it would be best to just go to her room and ponder who Neo had warned her about.

---

At Salem's palace the Mistress of Grimm brought up another line of communication. She remembered the power of the Aura Crystal was not completely necessary for her plans but it would accelerate them quite a bit. If Ashe was in the way she needed someone to get him out of the game.

Soon a hologram of a tall, dark man wearing a hood was projected into the air. "Mistress Salem, to what do I owe the pleasure?" a deep voice asked.

"Does the name Ashe Kasai mean anything to you Saul?" Salem asked.

The man pulled off his hood to reveal a scarred face that wore a sinister grin. The face of a drug lord thought to be dead for five years; Saul Jude.

"It does indeed Mistress. An old sin, a score left unsettled, an embarrassing failure, and a lust for revenge." Saul said as his mechanical hand transformed into a sharp hook.

"In that case I have a new assignment for you." Salem said, she couldn't wait to see how this played out. At the very least it would be an entertaining fight.

---

Ren and Nora sat on a couch the belonged to Dr. Maia Chloris, a woman in her mid-forties who was one of the most beloved and respected doctors in all of Haven, known for her charity efforts and her inexpensive treatments for the less fortunate of the city. Her minty hair was longer and more well kept than her daughter's messy locks and she wore an average long-sleeved shirt as she attended to the injured and just barley conscious Ashe who lay on another couch.

"Well it's a good thing you got him to me when you did, his aura is almost entirely depleted. If left unattended his arm could have bled out." Dr. Chloris said as she used her healing Semblance to stop Ashe's arm from bleeding.

"Thanks for doing this mom, the last hour has been really crazy." Reese said, now with her hood off, revealing her wild hair.

"Yeah, I really owe you one doc." Ashe said weakly.

"No problem, I'd do it for anyone. Now, are you sure the woman you fought was Cinder Fall?" Dr. Chloris asked.

"A hundred percent positive Dr. Chloris, we saw her before and tonight she was more powerful than we've ever seen her." Nora said.

"Tell me about it. After everything that went down at Vale and what we saw tonight I'm not ashamed to say it: that lady scares me more than all the Grimm in the world." Bolin said, getting nods of agreement from Nadir and Reese.

"We should report this to the cops." Nadir suggested.

"Are you kidding? Damien Ante has his fingers wrapped around the cops. Any bit of info they get out of us they'll tell Ante and he'll come after us." Arslan pointed out.

"Wait a minute, we told 'em what team we are! They'll find out Reese is on it and they'll come here and..." Nadir said before Reese stopped him.

"Relax dude, mom made plans to deal with the scum of this town years ago. All the 'official' reports on our house like my Transcripts and mom's taxes have false info, only the people mom works with directly know where we really live and mom only trusts cops who are on the up and up. We're fine here, trust me." Reese assured her teammate.

"Well that's a relief. What about the Atlas military? They'd be a big help." Ren suggested.

"Not a good plan, the people of this city are so against Atlas right now that if Ironwood brought his fleet here there'd be riots all over town and the body count would start rising, there's already tension between the people and what little agents Atlas has here now and the robots shooting civilians at Vale don't exactly help matters." Arslan said.

"Alright, so for now we're on our own. Now Ashe I think we need to talk about certain things." Ren said, eyeing Ashe with mistrust and suspicion.

"I don't blame you Ren; I kept the truth from you. The real reason I was coming here was to find Cinder and try to talk some sense into her and if I failed to do that I decided I'd have to take her out, but that was before I felt how powerful she was." Ashe explained as he hissed in pain.

"What about Ruby and Jaune? They could be anywhere by now." Nora pointed out.

"No, when I shared my memories with Cinder it was a two way street. Her mind had been trained to resist memory probes but I got a glimpse at a place that's probably the factory we're looking for." Ashe said.

"What's to stop them from leaving now that they've got Ruby and Jaune?" Arslan asked.

"Cinder knows I have the Aura Crystal and she knows I'm friends with Jaune and Ruby. She and her master want the crystal so chances are they may use them as bait to trap me and force me to hand over the crystal." Ashe said, noticing the amazed look Dr. Chloris was now giving him.

"Did you say the Aura Crystal?" she asked after she picked up her jaw.

"You know what it is mom?" Reese asked.

"I read about it years ago when I was a schoolgirl, in an old book about Remnant's myths and legends. For years I thought it was just that, a myth. But after the Four Maidens turned out to be real I guess anything is possible." The woman said as she closed a cut on Ashe's cheek.

"Doc, there's always some truth in old legends. The Aura Crystal is real as you and me, and I have been carrying it around for two thirds of my life." Ashe said as he closed his eyes, trying to think about their next move.

"What is the Aura Crystal anyway? I've never even heard of it until tonight." Nora said.

"The legend goes that before Remnant was Remnant there was a great war, a war so terrible that it shattered the moon, but the fallout of it was that humanity was nearly wiped out and the world torn apart with most continents being swallowed up by the oceans. That is supposedly why our world is called Remnant; we are what remains of a world long gone." Dr. Chloris explained.

Ashe nodded and continued the tale for her. "And after the moon shattered, Dust fell upon the world and over the course of the next century things took shape. The Faunus, The Grimm, Aura, Semblances, Dust, etc... but the legends say that at the heart of these events was a mighty and unimaginably powerful Aura, or at least mighty source of Aura that can never be depleted. It was bound to and encased in a mighty combination of every form of Dust known that hardened into a crystal. The Aura was imprisoned but its power could never fall into the wrong hands so two powerful warriors took up the charge to guard the crystal. Soon enough two of them fell in love and had a family. Word about the crystal and its power got out naturally and wars were fought to control it. The two warriors protected it with their lives and they went out together, leaving this world in each other's arms. The duty of guarding the crystal was passed down to friends that they trusted and then to their children and so on. If a family was slaughtered the crystal fell under the protection of a new family of guardians. I think it had been in my family for the last five generations, but even I don't know what it really is or how it works."

"Wait, you've looked after that thing for twenty years and you don't even know how it works?" Arslan asked, incredulously.

"I don't make the rules, I just work here." Ashe joked as he shook his head.

"You must have some understanding of it after all this time." Ren pointed out.

"Uh... a little but not much. I've tried to meditate with it like my mom did when I was a child but it's never really worked. All I've gotten from the thing is bad dreams." Ashe said.

"If you're not even sure it works then why not just give it to Cinder? Or we could use it as a trap to take her out." Reese suggested.

"No, that is absolutely out of the question. I may not know how it works but Cinder might be able to figure it out with her master's help and if they get their hands on the crystal it could be the end of everything for all I know. And while I may be able to fight Cinder better if I was a full power I know she'd still kick my ass in the end." Ashe said as he seethed in pain.

"Okay, so scratch that plan." Said Nadir.

"Who is Cinder's master anyway?" asked Ren.

"I think her name is Salem, other than that the only thing I know about Cinder's master is that my parents would only talk about her when they thought I wasn't around. I remember that they sounded scared whenever they talked about her so whoever she is she's bad news." Ashe said, receiving nods from the others.

"There's still one thing I don't get." Bolin announced to which Arslan responded with "Only one?" which Bolin ignored and continued.

"What does Cinder Fall want with Jaune and Ruby? I mean Ruby seems like someone Cinder would want dead after Ruby did something to that dragon Grimm and Jaune ain't exactly the top of the class so why not just kill them?" he asked.

"Good question and one I'm very interested in finding out the answer to." Ashe said.

"So what do we do?" Nora asked.

"Go back to the warehouse and get the Crystal, it's in a steel case in my backpack. I'll stay here until I'm healed up and then we get as much of your friends as we can and go in guns blazing and get Jaune and Ruby back." Ashe said.

"Yeah, and get everyone killed in the process." Arslan said disapprovingly.

"Excuse me, but I think I'll have to take you to my operating room and perform a procedure on you Ashe, you have some internal bleeding and you'll need to be asleep in order for me to properly heal you." Dr. Chloris said as she felt his torso, sensing the wounds inside.

"Okay. Wait, why do you have your own operating room?" Ashe asked.

"Sometimes I have things that can't wait for an ambulance." She answered cryptically.

Ashe nodded and looked back to Ren and Nora, the former was still looking at him with suspicion while the latter looked at him with concern. "Nora, take care of these while I'm out okay?" Ashe asked as he removed the two necklaces around his neck, one that held the whistle and the other held the ring. He handed them to Nora.

"I'll keep them safe." Nora promised as she looked at the ring. It was a beautiful gold engagement ring with a small sapphire atop it, and engraved into the blue gem was a small but noticeable emblem of a crystal inside a flame.

"What about this factory you saw in Cinder's memories? That will be the place to look for Ruby and Jaune." Ren said, wanting to know where his friends had been taken.

"I saw a big place, like really big. It had about seven tall smoke stacks, barley any windows, surrounded by a tall fence, heavily guarded... looks really old." Ashe said as he struggled to remember the details of what he saw.

"I know the place. It used to be owned by the Schnee Dust Company but got shut down about fifteen years ago after a dozen Faunus workers were killed in an accident due to poor safety conditions. Even back then the Mistal council couldn't ignore the hazards of the letting it go unchecked." Dr. Chloris said.

"Yeah, 'bout four years ago some company bought it and set up shop. Trucks and airships go in and leave but it ain't open to the public, think the company's name is CraftTech or something like that." Reese said.

"Then tomorrow Ren and I will go out there and scout the place out." Arslan decided.

"We could tell Headmaster Argo." Suggested Bolin.

"No way, he'll make us go back to Vale and probably throw Ashe into prison since he's a Guerrilla Hunter and all." Nora objected.

"Considering how many guys he killed tonight that may not be the worst idea." Arslan said as she scowled at the man.

"Look; Arslan, right? The horrible things I do I often do without choice, and in the name of peace and freedom." Ashe said to her, doing nothing to make Arslan reconsider her comment.

"Oh, so yelling 'you're all gonna die' is something a man of peace and freedom would say." she said, glaring at him.

"Enough of that now, come on Mr. Ashe let's get you a sedative so I can get to work." Dr. Chloris instructed.

"Gotta warn you Doc, I have some bad dreams so you might have to strap me down." He said.

"Oh trust me, I've put up with things like that before." Chloris said as she led Ashe away, leaving the six teenagers alone.

"We'll go back to the warehouse and get the crystal I guess." Nora said.

"Not a chance, you guys are exhausted, let us go get it for you. If we're in this mess together now we have to work together." Arslan said as she offered her hand.

Nora and Ren decided that it would be better if they had more allies in this fight and Team ABRN had proved themselves worthy by coming to their rescue.

"Thank you." Ren said as he accepted Arslan's hand and shook it.

Upstairs, in Maia Chloris' home-based operating room she prepared the anesthesia as Ashe stripped off his shirt. Maia eyed his body, noting all the various scars of varying shapes and sizes. There were three claw marks on his chest that were undoubtedly caused by a clash with a Beowulf, what appeared to be bullet wounds and laser burns, stab wounds, scratches, bite marks from a young Ursa, his back was covered by what appeared to be whip marks and old bruises. A few spots were bleeding from his recent battle and a few old wounds had reopened from the attacks on his body.

Ashe noticed her stares and sighed. "You're the first woman in five years to see me like this." He said.

"I'm used to seeing men topless Ashe, but not with scars like this. Not even experienced Hunters have them this badly, though I should have expected it. I mean you are a Guerrilla Huntsman after all and people in your profession lead very dangerous lives." She said as he lay down on the operating table.

"You don't know the half of it. Life keeps trying to break me. I ain't broke yet." Ashe said as she put the breathing mask on him.

He soon fell asleep and Maia Chloris began generating her Aura to the tips of her hands as she used her Semblance to heal her newest patient. She kept it us as his most recent wounds closed up, but she knew there was nothing she could do for his old wounds. She watched as his head lazily moved from side to side.

Back downstairs, Ren and Nora decided that they deserved a rest after the battle so they would stay at Reese's house and told Team ABRN where the warehouse was and where to find the case. The two teenagers were soon left alone in the Chloris' living room alone.

"Ren?"

"Yes Nora?"

"What are we going to do about Ashe?"

"I don't know. I don't think we should fully trust him but I think he's on our side for the time being." Ren said.

"He lied to us Ren, but I think he wants to help us. Try to look at him from a different point of view. If you look at him angrily all you'll see is hate and fear and I know you're better than Ren. You have to look with better eyes than that." Nora said, getting an amazed look from the green-clad warrior.

"Nora, you can still surprise me after all this time." He said.

There was silence before Nora spoke up again "I'm afraid. I'm afraid of what might happen to Ruby and Jaune, I'm afraid we'll lose them just like we lost Pyrrha and our families... Ren I'm..." she became choked up by tears.

Ren pulled her to him and hugged her comfortingly. "I'm here Nora." He said.

"I'm afraid I'll lose you too and then I'll be all alone." She cried as she buried her head into his shoulder.

"I'll never leave you Nora as long as you never leave me." He said as he moved her head up and gently wiped tears from her eyes.

"You're stuck with me for life. Boop." She said as her nose touched his.

"Boop." Ren said in return with a small smile.

---

The next morning the sun rose over the island of Patch. Inside her room, still smelling of medical equipment a bit, Yang woke up, still not used to the feeling of her new arm. She stretched out and heard the whirring of mechanical instruments inside her new limb. She got out of bed and leaned down to pet Zwei with her flesh hand.

"I'm back Zwei." She muttered happily.

She looked over to her nightstand and saw her scroll. She remembered that night Sun had called her, the terrible things she said about Blake. Things she hoped Blake would never know about.

She grabbed her scroll and dialed Sun's number.

In a few minutes she heard the voice of a tired sounding Sun answer the scroll.

"Yeah? Please tell me this is Blake or Ruby." Sun said.

"Hi Sun." she greeted, hoping he wasn't still mad at her over their fight.

"What do you want?" he asked, sounding annoyed.

"Sun, just hear me out okay? I was being a total bitch when we spoke a few days ago." She admitted.

"Understatement. What's this about?" the monkey Faunus asked.

"My Uncle Qrow got me a new arm and I'm beginning to understand how pathetic I was. I'm trying to get over it and I want to help you find Blake and get our team back together." She said.

"Yang... what you said about Blake..." Sun tried to say before Yang stopped him.

"I was out of line. I wasn't thinking right, I let my depression and bitterness get the better of me. I love Blake and I shouldn't have said what I said. I'm sorry Sun, sorry for how I treated you and Blake. I was too busy feeling sorry for myself and I didn't try to understand what she's going through. I want to help her Sun." Yang said.

"What about Ruby?" Sun asked.

"She's in Haven, but I think she and the others will be okay." Yang said.

"She and Jaune jumped off a freaking skyscraper, I think they might need some help." Sun said.

"They what?!" Yang cried.

"Neptune saw it on the news the other day. We met up with them back in Haven before we left, we know Cinder is in Haven and they've teamed up with a guy called Ashe to find her while me and my team try to find Blake." Sun explained.

"Okay, well Ruby is crazy enough to do something like that. I'll call 'em before we leave." Yang said.

"We leave?" Sun repeated.

"Sun, I want to join up with you and help Blake." Yang said.

"You sure you want to do that?" Sun asked.

"I'm sure. Sun, please tell me where you are. I need to make up for the things I said. I want to help my friend and get my team back together." She pleaded.

"Okay. We're in Arnia in Mistral. We managed to find out that the guy who hurt you and Blake is named Adam and he's the leader of the White Fang. We know he's hiding out near the Circle Sea so that's where we're going to look. If you want to help us, come on." He said, sounding a bit happier.

"Thanks Sun and I'm sorry for how I acted that night." Yang said.

"It's okay Yang, I'd probably be as bitter as you were if I lost my arm. Neptune said that everyone has their own way of dealing with loss and that you just dealt with it in your way. When can we expect you?" he asked.

"Probably this afternoon, Uncle Qrow is going to take me to you on an airship." Yang said.

"I thought your uncle took over after Ozpin disappeared." Sun pointed out.

Yang laughed and said "Even when he has responsibilities as big as that he still finds free time."

"Okay, I'll tell Neptune and the others we have a new partner in all this. Yang, I'm sorry for what I said too. I didn't take in how bad off you were and I just wanted to find Blake so bad..." Sun said before Yang stopped him.

"It's okay Sun, I think we both said things we regret. I'll see you soon, Arnia right?" she asked.

"Yup." Sun answered.

"Okay, see you later." Yang said as she hung up her scroll. "Okay Ruby, tell me you're alright." She muttered as she dialed Ruby's number. It didn't even ring.

"Come on Rubes, don't do this to me." Yang muttered as she dialed again.

Still nothing.

Yang shook her head and decided she would worry about Ruby later. 'She probably just turned her scroll off, that's all.' Yang thought to herself as she decided to get dressed.

Soon enough Yang came down stairs, dressed in her Huntress outfit; the yellow crop top mostly covered by a brown vest, her black bike shorts which were surrounded by her brown belt with the white back skit. It had been months since she wore her Huntress outfit and she had to admit it felt good to wear it again.

She saw her father sitting on the couch, looking worried. "You okay dad?" she asked.

"I'm fine." Taiyang lied; his worries about Ruby's safety had prevented him from getting any sleep.

"I called Sun, told me he's in a town called Arnia so that's where I'll meet him." Yang said.

"Okay, good. Yang uh... Qrow got some news about Ruby last night..."

"She jumped out of a skyscraper, right?" Yang said.

"How did you..."

"Sun told me." Yang answered.

"Okay, anyway we don't know what happened. Word so far is that she and the Arc kid were being chased by some dangerous criminals working for a guy called Damien Ante. The cops in Haven found a construction site pretty torn up with bodies of thugs all over the place, but they didn't find any sign of Ruby or the Arc kid." Taiyang said.

"Ruby will be okay dad; she's way tougher and smarter than she acts." Yang said confidently. She then noticed their 'guest' was missing. "Where's mo... Raven?" Yang asked.

"Outside, we talked a long time last night, caught up. Is your arm feeling okay?" Taiyang asked.

Yang walked over to a table and used her mechanical arm to lift it up with very little effort. "Oh, I'm 'Yanging' in there." She joked with a grin.

Taiyang chuckled in response as the sound of an airship approaching interrupted the two.

Yang and her dad walked outside to see the airship from last night landing in front of the house with Raven standing before it.

The door on the ship opened up and Qrow stepped out "Grab your things and call your friends kid. We gotta get moving, they want me back in Vale." Qrow said.

Yang nodded "I already called Sun, he's in Arnia." She said as she headed back inside to pack her things and weapons.

"Good, that shouldn't take long to get to." Qrow said as he looked to his sister and brother-in-law.

"Any news about Ruby?" Taiyang asked hopefully.

"No. Nothing, even the security footage from the CCTV has gone missing. No doubt about it, something is going on in Haven." Qrow said.

"Then we should go there and find out what." Raven said.

"I can't, they need me at Vale, you however sis, need a new mission and being my eyes and ears in Haven is it." Qrow said.

Raven nodded, "Very well Qrow, I'll go. What if I find Ruby?" she asked.

"Help her out as much as you can, even if you have to show yourself to her. I want you to confirm that Cinder is there, if she is then I can get the Vale council to work with Atlas and we can convince the Mistral council to let us move in and take the bitch down." Qrow said.

"Good idea, should I go?" Taiyang asked.

"Yang and Raven need to do these things alone Taiyang, but if you're interested we could use a helping hand in Vale to fight off the Grimm. I know Goodwitch would be happy to have you." Qrow said.

Taiyang nodded and said "Let me lock up and prepare Zwei. I need to get my things." As Taiyang walked back inside Raven turned to her brother.

"How will I find these kids?" she asked.

"You have your ways." Qrow said simply.

"What about Ozpin?" Raven asked.

"If Salem does have him we won't find him for now. That witch had been hiding for centuries and no one has been able to find her unless she came to them. I don't think looking for Ozpin will change that now." Qrow said.

Raven nodded, understanding the logic, but she asked one last question. "And if I find Cinder Fall?"

Qrow shook his head as he answered "Take her out by any means necessary. We can worry about the Maiden powers later but the sooner Cinder is dead the better. Just find Ruby and make sure she's okay." Raven nodded.

A few minutes later Yang and her father exited the house with Zwei following them and approached the other two members of the family.

"You coming with us?" Yang asked Raven.

"No, I'm afraid I have a new assignment. I'm going to Haven to look for Ruby and make sure she's alright." Raven said.

"We're dropping you off right? How else are you going to get there?" Yang asked.

"I have ways. Goodbye Yang, till we meet again." Raven said as she hugged her daughter.

"I just hope next time we can meet under some normal circumstances for once." Yang said as she hugged her mother back.

Qrow, Yang, and Zwei got onto the ship as Taiyang and Raven said their goodbyes.

"I will find Ruby Taiyang, I will make sure she returns safely to you." Raven promised.

"Thank you. These girls are my whole world." Taiyang said sadly.

"I was telling the truth last nigh, I never stopped loving you." Raven said.

"I know. No matter how hard I tried I could never really get over you either. Summer helped me so much with that but I lost her. I loved both of you so much..." he said before Raven shushed him.

"Do not dwell on the past Taiyang, you must look to the future." She said.

He nodded and wiped away the tears that were forming in his eyes. He got on to the ship and the door slid closed.

Raven watched as the airship took off and began to head east. She then walked into the woods and transformed into her animal form and took flight to Haven.

---

Winter entered General Ironwood's office, seeing the man looking rather tired, but she knew what he had been going through and was not surprised by his drowsy appearance.

"General." She said as she stood at attention.

"At ease Specialist Schnee, I understand you needed to speak to me about something?" Ironwood said.

Winter nodded "Yesterday, when I showed Weiss the vault I spoke to Joseph sir, he told me you had formulated a plan while I was away regarding Penny and the target..." she began before Ironwood stopped her.

"I see. As brilliant as Polendina is he doesn't have the spine to do what's right." Ironwood said with annoyance evident in his voice.

"What's right? Sir, I see nothing right about turning that girl into a kamikaze. Your plan may not even work; Cinder Fall is nothing if not smart, everything she has executed so far is proof of that. If we send Penny there with a payload inside of her Cinder's followers will discover it before she can even get within a hundred meters of Cinder. Not to mention the moral implications of what your idea would bring about." Winter said, her disapproval for the operation clear.

"Moral? I'll tell you what's not morally right Schnee; letting that madwoman run around unchecked while the people of Remnant suffer and die because we're not doing enough!" he barked as he slammed his metal fist on his desk.

"Sir, if this gets out to the public it would be a public relations nightmare. The councils of Mistral and Vacuo are already wary of us as is and this might prove them right!" Winter argued.

"They'll never find out. The main reason I'm doing this is because the council of Mistral won't allow us proper access to Haven. Besides Penny Polendina is, for intents and purposes, not a real person." Ironwood said, shocking Winter with his words.

"You had a different point of view some months ago." Winter pointed out.

"That was before the fall of Beacon. Before the Knights, my Knights, turned on me and nearly killed me! Penny could be turned just as easily as they were and with the power the first one had it is a miracle she was never turned against us." Ironwood said, his desperation now obvious.

Winter shook her head and tried to argue. "She has Aura, she has a personality, she talks like a child with..."

"Stop. Just stop Winter. Her Aura is synthetic, her personality is heavily based on the child Polendina lost years ago, and while she may act like a real child she is not. She's just a machine. A puppet for us to use however we please and I will use her however I wish. I will do anything necessary to stop Cinder Fall and her master!" he blurted out.

"Master?" Winter asked, her eyes wide with shock.

Ironwood was silent before he said "I shouldn't have said that. Yes, Cinder Fall is a disciple of something else Winter, something so powerful and evil that I dread the mere mention of its name. We have to stop it Winter. We have to do the right thing, and sometimes the right thing doesn't make sense but it will turn out for the best. I admit I was attached to the first Penny, but that Penny is dead because of Cinder Fall. I will make her pay for it and everyone of my soldiers that died because of her and if you try to stop me I will have you removed from this military." He threatened.

Winter was silent before she sighed and nodded. "Very well General, I will press the issue no further. Can you at least tell me about Ruby Rose? It would lift a great deal of stress off of Weiss' shoulders."

"I can do that. Our agents in Haven found nothing. There were reports of a terrible battle in a construction site and over thirty dead bodies were found there by the time the local authorities arrived but no sign of Ruby Rose or her companions. Any DNA left behind had been washed away by the rain and if there were any security recordings they've either been taken or they have been withheld from us but don't worry, I've ordered our best agent in Haven to look into it." Ironwood said.

Winter nodded, "Very well, thank you General. I will tell Dr. Polendina that your decision is final. What are the specifics of Penny's mission?"

"She is to be dropped off in Haven with the goal of fining Emerald Sustrai, Mercury Black, crime lord Damien Ante who we suspect is working for Fall, or even Cinder herself. She is to either follow them or allow herself to be captured and then once she is within killing distance of Cinder, a bomb that will be able to sense the power of the Fall Maiden will go off, hopefully killing our target for good. We'll sort through the rubble and ask questions later but right now all I care about is finding Fall and ending her. Penny shall be shipped out to Mistral the day after tomorrow. You are dismissed." Ironwood said.

Winter saluted him and left the room. Winter was no idiot, she knew this was serious and wondered why Ironwood had chosen this course of action, even if he was desperate enough. They had upgraded Penny significantly from the first with a built-in hacking device as well as upgraded swords and scanners that will predict if a Semblance is a threat, that way they wouldn't have a repeat of the incident with Pyrrha Nikos. After all they had went through to prevent this Penny from suffering the same fate as the previous one why would he just sacrifice her like that?

As Winter got into an elevator and was relieved to see she would be alone. She smashed her fist into the elevator's wall and snarled, in a very unprofessional manner.

This was wrong.

She soon arrived back at her office where Weiss sat, typing away at a computer. Winter had decided her sister needed to write down any information she knew about Cinder and her accomplices; their moves, their weaknesses, their personalities, anything.

"This would be so much easier if Velvet were here. I wonder if she ever took pictures of..." Weiss muttered before she noticed Winter's return.

"Oh, hello Winter. How was your meeting with General Ironwood?" she asked.

"Not very well, sadly." Said Winter as she sat down at her desk. She saw the look of concern Weiss was giving her. Winter decided she needed to come clean and make her younger sister face the terrible reality of the situation.

"The General and I talked about Penny. He has a plan for her and it is one that I do not approve of but he is going along with it no matter how much I or Dr. Polendina protest it." She said.

"What? What is he planning?" Weiss asked as she put the laptop aside.

"He has decided to use Penny to take out Cinder Fall. The most consistent rumor about her location is Haven City and because of the protests against our presence in Mistral as well as the Mistral council's distrust of General Ironwood, he has decided that a stealth attack against Cinder Fall is the best option. The plan is to get Penny into the city, have her either find or be found by Cinder Fall's agents and entice their curiosity as to how she is back and why she is in the city. Ironwood plans to put a bomb into Penny that will scan Aura for the power of the Fall Maiden and once it is detected the bomb will go off and hopefully kill Cinder Fall in the blast." Winter finished.

To say Weiss was shocked was an understatement. How? How could anyone not see how wrong this was? Especially a man of General Ironwood's standing?

Weiss got up and looked at her sister with pleading eyes. "We have to stop this! We can't let this happen!" she cried.

"I don't like it anymore than you do Weiss but..."

"But nothing! This is wrong! It will prove all those accusations against the Atlesian Military correct! If the government of Mistral discovers any of this it will be seen as an act of terrorism! What if the bomb goes off in a populated area or what if there's a glitch?! Innocent people may be killed because of this Winter, we can't allow it to happen!" Weiss said.

"There's nothing we can do Weiss. There are possibilities of it going wrong, but with everything stopping us from getting to do a proper investigation of the city it may be our best option." Winter said.

"Then let us make a new option!" Weiss said.

Winter raised her eyebrow, "What do you mean by that?"

Weiss moaned. It was now or never. She had to come clean.

"When we were in the vault yesterday I called Ruby and showed Penny to her."

"What?" Winter said calmly.

"I'm surprised I could even do it from down there and considering the fact that Ruby was on top of the Seras Kalifa building at the time it's even odder. I told her about Penny's situation and she was devastated Winter, I can't let Ruby suffer through losing a friend again, not if I can help it." Weiss said bravely.

"You knew they were in Haven the entire time? You were in contact with them?" Winter asked, completely shocked at her sister's revelation.

"Yes. They have confirmed that Cinder is in the city and they are working with a Huntsman named Ashe. I have no idea how they got into so much trouble the other day however." Weiss admitted.

"I found out a little about what happened in Haven; there was a battle at a construction site with over thirty dead men, but no evidence that Ruby or your friends participated in the fight. Have you tried to contact them since last night?" Winter asked.

"I tried but I got no answer, they may have turned their scrolls off to lay low." Weiss guessed.

"Try calling them now." Winter said.

"You're not mad?" Weiss asked.

"Somewhat disappointed that you hid this from me but right now I'm interested in anything that might provide me an alternative method of finding Cinder Fall. Any concrete proof that she is in the city will be enough for me, as it will give us the ability to legally search the city for her." Winter explained.

Weiss nodded as she called Ruby's number, but got no answer. "Ugh, of all the times to... I'll try Jaune." She said as she typed in Jaune's number, or Pyrrha's since his scroll was once property of their dead friend.

This time it was answered but not by who Weiss expected.

"Hi Weiss, it's Nora." Said the normally energetic girl.

"Nora? Why are you answering Jaune's scroll?" Weiss asked.

"Weiss, are you alone?" Nora asked, sounding uncharacteristically serious.

"My sister is with me, but I think we can trust her to keep this secret." Weiss said as she eyed her sister who nodded, giving implication that she would remain quiet for the time being.

"Weiss... we got screwed up pretty bad last night." Nora admitted.

"What happened?" Winter asked calmly.

"Cinder's here in the city, we got our butts handed to us. She took Ruby and Jaune. She got them..." Nora said sadly.

Weiss felt her heart skip a beat.

Was Ruby... no!

"No! She can't be dead! She just can't!" Weiss cried, tears threatening to form.

"I don't think she's dead. From what Ashe told us Cinder wants them alive, for what, we don't know but it can't be good." Nora said.

"Where are you?" Weiss asked, fear welling up in her gut.

"Remember Team ABRN? Well they're helping us out now." Nora said.

"What about Sun, Neptune, and their teammates?" Weiss asked.

"Oh, they went to find Blake." Nora said.

"Okay, what about this Ashe fellow?" Weiss inquired.

"Uh... you see, funny thing about that..." Nora said, she took a deep breath and continued "He's Cinder's brother and he's the guardian of a legendary relic called the Aura Crystal. He tried to stop Cinder from taking Ruby and Jaune but he got his butt kicked and turns out that Reese's mom is a doctor and Ashe has been out all night and day so her mom could heal his wounds, and we can't go to the police because this crime boss called Damien Ante is working for Cinder and he has a lot of guys in the police and he might have us killed and we also need to keep this Aura Crystal thingy away from Cinder because it may give her more power and may end with everyone not on her side being totally screwed."

There was complete silence from both Winter and Weiss before the elder sister broke it with "What the hell is my life?"

Weiss shook her head in disbelief as she continued talking "Are you sure Ashe is Cinder's brother?"

"Positive, she even hugged him! Called him little brother and everything! Also Ashe thought that his dad killed their mom but it turns out that it was Cinder who killed both their parents. She even offered him a chance to join her but he did some crazy magic stuff to that sent her flying but only seemed to tire him out in the long run." Nora said.

Winter moaned and pinched the bridge of her nose. "I'm getting such a headache from this nonsense." She muttered.

"Do you have any proof? The only way we can help you out it if you have proof that you fought Cinder, only then will the council of Mistral legally allow the Atlas Military to enter Haven and take Cinder down." Weiss said.

"We didn't exactly have the time to take pictures of her, what about the security cameras? We fought at this big construction site so there should be something." asked Nora.

"General Ironwood says that all footage from the site of the battle has vanished or it is being withheld from us. So we still have no proof that Cinder is in Haven, besides she could have left by now." Winter said, feeling hopeless.

"Ashe says she'll stay here so she can try to get her hands on the Aura Crystal." Said Nora.

"What is the Aura Crystal anyway?" Weiss asked.

"It's this big relic thing that Ashe has been guarding for most of his life even though he doesn't know much about it. He says that Cinder and he master want it so they can do some really bad stuff with it so we shouldn't mess with it." Nora said.

"He knows about Cinder's master?" cried Winter.

"Uh, yeah, says it somebody called Salem.." Nora said as Weiss gave Winter a weird look.

"I only found out about Cinder's master today when General Ironwood let it slip out. He didn't even give me a name; he just called her an 'it' or a 'something'." Winter said, becoming more and more disturbed by the events unfolding.

"Look, I know that Atlas can't help out here, but could you at least send Weiss? We need all the help we can get and Arslan and the others are really hesitant to drag any of the teams from the academy into this." Nora said.

"Wait, what did you just say?" Weiss asked.

"Arslan doesn't want to drag any teams from Haven Academy into this." Nora said.

"That's it." Weiss said as a smile graced her lips, "That's it! I have an idea, Winter, I need to make some calls. I think I have an idea to save Penny and to help out at Haven."

"Wait, I thought Penny was destroyed." Nora said.

"Nora, just try to find out if Ruby is okay and call me if there are any new developments, when I call you next I'll give you the details of my idea but right now my sister and I need to plan things out." Weiss said.

She hung up and looked to her sister.

"What has gotten into you? Before you went to Beacon you would have never acted like this." Winter said.

"I know and I like it. I realized who I used to be wasn't a good person; I was stuck-up, prejudiced, and brash but my team changed me. They made me into a better person and I intend to help them by whatever means necessary. Don't try to stop me Winter, please! You know as much as I do that the official and legal way will take too long and the longer we wait the worse things will get. We need to save Penny and get her out of here and we need to help Ruby and the others at Haven. Trust me on this Winter, you know I'm right." Weiss pleaded.

Winter sighed and considered her options. "I should tell General Ironwood about all of this, wait for a legal investigation to begin, and take you home... and yet I think that this is the right thing to do." Winter said.

Weiss was amazed that her sister was actually going along with it.

"Are you sure Winter? You're not going to..."

"Weiss, sometimes the right thing to do doesn't make any sense and yet we must do it." Winter said, remembering what Ironwood had told her earlier.

Weiss smiled and said "Alright, I'll need to get in touch with a team at Atlas Academy and call up a friend of mine called Velvet Scarlatina and her team..."

---

Nora put the scroll back down and sighed. Whatever Weiss' plan was Nora hoped it would work because they needed help and fast. Dr. Chloris had pulled some strings so Team ABRN would be able to be out of school today, as being one of the most respected doctors in the city granted you some leeway over certain things. She was not home as she needed to go to Haven's St. Montgomery Hospital to make her rounds and perform a few surgeries.

"Who were you talking to?" asked the voice of Nadir who walked into the guest room Dr. Chloris had given Nora and Ren.

"Weiss, she and her sister know about our situation now and they're gonna try to help us. How exactly I don't really know but we can only hope right now. Any word from Ren or your friends?" she asked.

Ren, Arslan, and Bolin had gone to scout out the factory that Ashe had described, try to see if there was any proof of Cinder's presence there or any sign of Ruby or Jaune.

"Nope. What did Weiss say?" Nadir asked.

"She told me she has a plan to help us out but she'll explain in later when she's figured out the details. She also said something about saving Penny." Nora said.

"Penny? The robot girl that your teammate got tricked into destroying? It makes sense that Atlas would try to rebuild her but why would Weiss need to save her?" he asked.

"I don't know, I'm getting pretty tired of being left in the dark." Nora said.

"Speaking of dark, your friend Ashe is still out of it but given the beating he got from Cinder and the one you say he took from Ante that's not a surprise." Nadir said.

Nora shook her head, "I don't know about that guy, he acts like a great guy one minute and a total jerk the next. He kept the truth from us the entire time but he tried so hard to save Jaune and Ruby and almost got killed by Cinder but... I just don't know."

"He seems like a guy who's been through a lot. I don't think we should judge him right away, 'cause I think after everything that's happened in the last few months we need to give him a chance and he seemed to come pretty clean last night." Nadir pointed out.

"Only when he had no choice." Nora pointed out as she looked at Jaune's scroll. "So weird..." she muttered.

"What is?" Nadir asked.

"Why did Jaune leave his scroll behind? Unless... he did it on purpose." Nora said, realization dawning on her. She looked at the scroll's recent activity page and saw a document had been made shortly before Jaune and Ruby made their last stand. Nora quickly opened it up and read it.

'Guys this is Jaune, I think this idea of mine could go good or bad and one of the many things I've learned since I joined Beacon: always have a backup plan. If me and Ruby get caught then I hope you guys can find my scroll. I don't know where they'll take us but I know you guys are smart enough to find us. I need you to get the teams that helped us out: CFVY, SSSN, ABRN, NDGO, FNKI, BRNZ, even CRDL, just get anyone and everyone you can. If we get caught we'll try to get out but I trust you guys enough if can't escape. Thanks guys - Jaune.'

Nora perked up a bit and said "That's my fearless leader. I think I have some additional details for Weiss' plan when she calls me back."

---

Ashe looked on in horror at the dead bodies of his parents. His mother lay dead, the life choked out of her, her yellow eyes dull and empty. His father beaten and burned from a battle with Cinder, his form utterly demolished by his sister's power.

Cinder stood over them and looked back to Ashe with a sadistic, yet serene look on her face.

"Come little brother, I will free you from this horrible world. We will all die, we all deserve to die. Life is this way, it murders beauty and happiness and no one is safe from it. Come with me Ashe, into the calm and quiet of death. It is your destiny." Cinder said as her amber yes shone like a lighthouse beacon.

Ashe tried to run but found that he couldn't even move. He looked behind him to see the dead forms or Ruby and Jaune, standing behind them was the ghostly form of Pyrrha Nikos, who glared at him with a mixture of sorrow and hate.

"You failed them. You are a liar and a monster and you tried to make Jaune as miserable and lonely as you! You will burn for it!" the ghostly girl yelled.

Ashe could not respond as a horrible pain erupted from his stomach. He screamed out in pain as he looked down to see a bloody hook impaling him. He turned his head to see a face he remembered all too well.

"Still trying to play the hero Ashe? Pathetic." Said Saul Jude.

Ashe looked up to the sky and saw thousands of birds but only of three types: Doves, Crows, and Sparrows. All of the winged creatures were swooping down to him.

---

Reese watched over Ashe, to make sure he didn't hurt himself when he woke up. Reese was a little weirded out by the fact that Ashe had been asleep for so long, but the combination of the fights he engaged in and the sleeping gas must have done a number on him. Just then the skater girl heard something.

"Doves to Elysium..." Ashe whispered, getting her attention.

Reese raised her eyebrow, wondering what he was on about.

"Crows to Purgatory..." Ashe said as he began to shake. Reese held him down, stopping his body from shaking but listened as he kept talking.

"Sparrows to Hell. The sparrows are flying." He said.

And quickly he stopped shaking, the nightmare he was suffering seemingly over.

"Mom's psychiatrist friends would have a field day with you." Reese muttered to herself.

They had gotten the case that contained the Aura Crystal back last night and the members of Team ABRN were interested in opening it but Ren wouldn't let them. His reason for denying them was sound, they didn't fully understand the relic and trying to open it might end badly. The case now sat under the bed Ashe slept in and while Reese was curious she didn't want to temp fate, so she simply left the relic alone.

---

On the other side of the city Ren and the two remaining members of Team ABRN sat on top of an old, tall building that was a block away from the factory that Ashe had described to them. It was far enough away so the guards couldn't see them and even if they were spotted they had plenty of time to get away.

"Well if I were a terrorist trying to take over the world that place looks like the ideal base." Bolin remarked as he looked at the huge complex.

Ren looked through some binoculars Reese had lent him to get a better look at the factory. "You were telling the truth; guards are heavily armed and the gates surrounding the factory appear that they may be electrified. However there's no telling if Ruby and Jaune are inside, we need to find a way to get in and confirm it." He said.

"If my memory serves me right CraftTech is an applied science and technology corporation that deals with unusual experiments and products. Rumor even has it that they developed a prototype for the Atlesian Knights way back when but got rejected for being too offensive for the type of job Atlas wanted the bots for. I don't really know much about them and I can't find anything online since CraftTech tends to keep quiet on whatever they're doing." Arslan said.

Ren nodded as he looked through the binoculars, hoping to get a glimpse of Emerald or Mercury or one of Ante's thugs or even Cinder herself. Anything that could prove that Cinder was in the city but there was nothing happening on the outside. To the unsuspecting eye it was just an average factory under an unusual amount of security.

"Any way we could get inside?" Ren asked.

"Not a chance; they don't give out tours or anything. The only sure fire way to get in is to brake in and I'd suggest we not do that since they have the legal right to shoot all trespassers on sight." The leader of Team ABRN explained.

"This city's getting more charming by the minute." Ren said sarcastically as he put the binoculars down.

"What do we do now?" asked Bolin.

"We go back to Reese's house and report what little we've found out. Maybe we could call Weiss and have her find a map of the factory from the old Schnee company records." Ren said, trying to figure out what to do.

"Not a bad idea, but CraftTech are bound to have made some renovations since they bought the place." Arslan pointed out.

"We have to try and right now we have two options: try our best to help our friends or give up and let the officials handle this and let it spiral out of control. If Ozpin couldn't stop this from happening in the first place what makes you think Mistral's government will do any better at stopping it now?" Ren asked.

Arslan shook her head and admitted "Good point."

It took them half an hour to get back to the Chloris home and when they did Nora was waiting for them impatiently.

"What did you see?" she asked Ren as he entered the door.

"Nothing except for armed guards and the visible exterior security measures." Ren said.

"Well luckily I made some progress while you were gone. I found something on Jaune's scroll; a backup plan!" Nora proudly announced.

"A backup plan? Didn't think he was that smart." Arslan admitted.

"Trust us; Jaune is very competent when it comes to tactics. It was no accident his scroll was left behind." Ren said as Nora handed him the scroll with the message already open.

Ren read it and looked up at Nora. "Well we already got one team down and we know how to get in touch with Sun, but how in the world are we going to get in contact with the rest of these teams?" Ren asked.

"That's where part two of 'what happened while you guys were gone' come into play! You see Weiss called us while you were gone and she has an idea to help us out!" Nora said, back to her normally bubbly self.

"Good, what is the plan?" Ren asked.

"No idea, she didn't say." Nora said.

Arslan and Bolin eyed Nora weirdly.

"Okay, well at least we have a way to get the schematics." Ren muttered.

---

In a jungle in the upper north-west of Vacuo, five hundred troops made up of both local Vacuo soldiers and Atlas Military Troops guarded a large military complex that served as the main base of operations for the join Atlas-Vacuo alliance. While Vacuo's council were a bit suspicious of Atlas they were far more willing to trust the powerful country as opposed to Mistral who had become down right paranoid of Atlas.

A small group of soldiers stood on a perimeter wall, observing a herd of Goliaths as they lumbered by half a mile away.

"Think they'll come here?" asked a young soldier.

"Na, those things tend not to attack unless attacked first and they only go after people if there's a massive panic." Said a sergeant.

"Yo Sarge! We got movement in the fields!" said soldier who was acting as a look out. The platoon all looked out to the fields of tall grass and sure enough it appeared that several things were moving, as evidenced by the trails of split apart grass.

"A pack, probably Beowolves but it could also be Creeps..." the sergeant muttered as the ground began shaking.

"Oh crap! Sarge, look!" cried the look out. The sergeant looked up and saw the horrible sight of the Goliaths rampaging towards them.

"Raise the alarm!" the sergeant yelled. The young soldier ran to small console on the wall and pressed in an activation code and sirens started to wail.

"Take out the rockets! We gotta slow those beasts down!" the sergeant yelled before a Beowulf jumped up the wall and slashed him across the face. The soldiers turned to fire on the creature before an entire pack of Beowolves jumped onto the wall and began to tear them apart.

Steppenwolffe hopped off the back of one of the creatures and stabbed a guard in the stomach and twisted it in deep.

"Rise up! Rise up beasts of Grimm and attack!" the bone-white Faunus yelled as he slashed another guard down.

Goliaths burst through the walls, followed by Beowolves, Creeps, Boarbatusks, Death Stalkers, King Taijitus, Tarantula Widows, and Ursai all followed them in, attacking and mauling anyone in sight.

At the command center of the complex the Atlesian Commander watched in terror as the creatures of Grimm slaughtered the soldiers under his command. "Get the Paladins out there, now! Call for backup!" he yelled to a communications officer who typed furiously at a console.

"Sir, we're being jammed! We can't call for help!" the officer cried.

"What?! How?! We have the most advanced communications system in Remnant! How are we being jammed?" the commander demanded.

"Sir, incoming ships and they're not alone! Flocks of Grimm are following them!" cried another officer.

"Open fire and shoot them down!" ordered the commander as he continued to observe the battle outside.

Up above the ships doors opened as they avoided Anti-Aircraft cannons. Ziz jumped down with her wings folded back as the Grimm Knights flew out after her, followed by the hundreds of Nevermore and Griffons.

"Grimm Knights, mow those pathetic excuses for cannon fodder down!" Ziz ordered as her wings spread out and she rocketed down with her battle ax-shotgun out.

The flying beasts swooped down and began to claw apart and devour the unfortunate soldiers.

Ziz grinned as she made sure her Grimm understood what to do; make sure there were no traces of the Atlesian soldiers left but to leave the Vacuo troops to rot. She landed on top of the roof of a building and slammed her ax into the back of a soldier and threw him into the air so a Nevermore could swallow him whole.

Ziz laughed sadistically as she began to blast soldiers away with the shotgun mode of her weapon, blasting limbs off and blasting stomachs open and splattering the area with gore.

She looked over as the Paladins opened fire on the Goliaths and was surprised to see that they were actually doing some damage, as the giant Grimm were falling to the blasts of heavy lasers and rockets.. "Must have upgraded their arsenal. Knights! Take out the Paladins!" she ordered.

The Knights silently obeyed and they charged at the large robot and opened fire with small but powerful rockets. Before the Paladin could stop fighting the Goliaths and turn to repel its attackers the rockets did their damage and tore apart the left side of the robot.

The Grimm Knights began to open fire on all the surrounding soldiers, both organic and Atlesian Knights.

"What are those things?!" cried a soldier who tried to take cover behind a wrecked Paladin.

"They look like Atlesian Knights, but not made by our..." said an Atlesian soldier before a series of lasers tore through his torso.

Steppenwolffe used his thin sword to slash the flesh and blood soldiers down while using a laser pistol to take down the Atlesain Knights. He shot one down, than another and one by one the Knights weren't just blasted down, they violently exploded. "Nothing left behind." The Grimm Commander muttered to himself.

Steppenwolffe looked up and saw Ziz as she brutally took Faunus soldiers from Vacuo apart with a gleeful look on her face. She looked down to her fellow Commander and called "Ready to get this done?"

"Just get inside." He called back as the Grimm around him were shot down by Atlas and Vacuo soldiers who began to surround him, with some help from two Paladins.

"Stand down or we will kill you!" yelled a Lieutenant.

"Oh please." Steppenwolffe muttered as he held his hand up and let out an unearthly howl.

"What the...?" asked the Lieutenant in confusion before a Creep slammed into her. A Goliath slammed into the Paladins, using it tusks to impale them and swing them into other nearby Paladins, creating a great explosion that sent shrapnel flying into soldiers, Knights, and Grimm alike as the Goliaths stomped forward, crushing all in their path.

Steppenwolffe grinned as he set to work, leading his pack of Beowolves forward to slaughter all in their way.

In the main building Ziz smashed her way in with a "Knock, knock assholes!" as she blasted the Faunus soldiers of Vacuo down.

A large Atlesian man with thick armor rushed her and while her blasts did slow him down a bit he still came at her.

"Okay then..." Ziz muttered as she got the ax ready. She allowed him to get close to her with Dust-powered Gauntlets similar to the Ember Ceilia but Ziz stopped him in his place with a powerful strike, slamming her ax into his stomach.

"Charging? Not the best of ideas." She said as she tore out her heavy weapon and finished him off with a mighty slam to the head.

"Come on in boys! It's all you can eat!" she yelled as Griffons began to land on the platform outside and follow her in.

She lead the group of Grimm into the building, allowing her winged beasts to tear apart soldiers at their leisure while she did whatever she wanted.

Soon enough she was only one covered bridge away from the main control room and from her objective; intelligence on the whereabouts of the current Winter Maiden.

She smiled as she watched a few remaining soldiers blast away her Griffons, she had to admit they were putting up a good fight. She made a gesture to the Griffons to pull back and then made a gesture with her head. She may have been put in command of all flying Grimm, but she had power other types as well.

The scant few remaining soldiers ran forward with their rifles aimed at her, ready to kill.

"Stand down now!" yelled an Atlesian Captain.

"Come at me." Ziz said with a cocky smirk as she held up her ax.

"Get her!" yelled the captain. The group of soldiers ran towards her, only to be obliterated by a Goliath crashing through the bridge and killing all but a few of the soldiers.

Ziz smirked again as she flew over the now destroyed bridge with her Griffons and set to work on the remaining guards. As her beasts devoured the Atlesian Guards the sole Vacuo guard, a woman no older than twenty-one, began to pray.

"Oh honey..." Ziz said as she slammed her ax into the girl's chest. The girl cried out as blood began to pour from her mouth and Ziz leaned in "No one up there is listening and if they are they don't care." She said as the girl's eyes dimmed. Ziz licked the blood away from the dying woman's mouth with a sadistic feeling of ecstasy.

Ziz took out a grenade and threw it at the main door that led to the control room. The door was taken out with a mighty explosion and Ziz ran it, blasting a technician in the back and dropping him dead over his computer console.

The Atlesian Commander took out his weapon, a laser cannon and opened fire on Ziz. Ziz expertly dodged the blasts and jumped over to a computer and blasted her shotgun at him just before he could fire again and the backlash from the two blasts colliding caused the cannon to explode, killing the Commander.

Ziz admired her handiwork as the Griffons devoured the command crew. "Okay, time to get to work." She said as she plugged in a flash-drive into the main computer bank. She turned to see Steppenwolffe coming in, covered in blood from his fallen enemies.

"Good job. They've surrendered and I've had the Grimm Knights begin rounding them up. The only ones bothering us now are the Atlesian Knights and they..." He said as he put in a shut down code for the robots, "are no longer a problem."

"Why did we even have to do this? We already have someone in Ironwood's inner circle, why didn't he just give us the info?" Ziz asked.

"Because our spy needs to remain hidden and we need to create rifts between Atlas and the rest of the kingdoms, speaking of which; we should probably get to work on the survivors as soon as we get the info." Steppenwolffe said as the drive downloaded the data.

"There's the cleanup." Ziz said as the ships landed and a group of people disguised as Atlesian soldiers marched out, beginning to collect the deactivated Atlesian Knights.

Soon enough the download was complete. "Okay, time for some good ole bangs." Ziz said as she opened up a pouch on her belt, revealing a few explosive orbs and plastic explosives. Ziz quickly got to work setting up the explosives as Steppenwolffe made his way to the main courtyard where the Grimm Knights had rounded up the remaining soldiers.

"Okay, listen up! We have the area completely surrounded by Grimm so those of you who obey us will merely be taken prisoner, but we need to separate you all, so those of you from Vacuo to the left and those of you that hail from Atlas to the right!" Steppenwolffe ordered.

Those who remained slowly obeyed as they separated into two groups. There were those among the survivors who watched in confusion and grief as the 'cleanup crew' dragged the bodies of those from Atlas and those from Vacuo into two separate piles, giving some of the more intelligent or savvy soldiers feelings of dread, they knew they wouldn't survive this.

"Thank you for your cooperation." Steppenwolffe said with a slight, sinister grin as the control room exploded after Ziz flew out of it.

"Kill them!" Steppenwolffe yelled.

The Atlas soldiers screamed in horror as the Grimm descended upon, eating them alive. The Vacuo soldiers fared no better as the Grimm Knights opened fire, blasting them down.

The Atlesians that were dead that were being gathered up in a pile, fed to other Grimm, leaving no trace of the Atlesian soldiers, making it appear that only those from Vacuo had been killed. It would appear that the Atlesains had simply disappeared and the Vacuo soldiers were killed by a betrayal. Paladins and Knights were being taken to be repurposed and used for parts for Salem's robotic army.

After the Grimm had finished eating the unfortunate troops the two Commanders dispersed them and the creatures scattered, leaving only Steppenwolffe's pack and Ziz's flocks. "Okay, we got the info and we've made sure that the Atlesians get to be lunch, let the cleanup crew handle the rest of it." Ziz said. Steppenwolffe nodded in agreement and turned to the captain of the cleanup crew.

"How long until you finish up?"

"An hour and a half and it will be two hours before the nearest Vacuo Base sends over a team to investigate why these guys are no longer responding." The captain answered.

"Fine. Ziz, get the info to Mistress Salem, I'll get back to Cadmus." Steppewolffe said as he mounted a Beowulf.

"You got it Wolffe." Ziz said as she got onto her ship with some of the Grimm Knights. The ship took off and Ziz's flocks flew after it. Steppenwolffe departed into the jungle as the cleanup crew went about their work.

---

Far away, deep in the cold and snowy mountains of Atlas a small temple was surrounded by the mountains and covered with frost and snow.

A large, bearded man with tanned skin stood guard outside armed with a large sword. The cold did not bother him, as after the last ten years he had grown used to it. He stood strong against the wind of the mountains, as he had done nearly every day for the past decade. He looked to his right and saw the group of Atlesian Knights that had been sent to them by General Ironwood two months ago. Kaifin was grateful for the aid he had been given but he didn't know if they would be enough to stop Salem's forces.

"Kaifin, come inside. I don't think you need to stand guard any longer." Said the gentle voice of a twenty-seven year old woman with platinum blonde hair, she was Elsa Vorst, the Winter Maiden.

Her guardian and teammate, Kaifin nodded as he came inside the temple and a glowing shield closed them inside.

"Why do you worry so much? If this madwoman Cinder Fall tries anything you and I are more prepared than anything to handle her." Elsa said as she created a dagger of ice with her powers of the cold.

"I know, it's just that I'm afraid Elsa. Amber is dead and all the power she had is now within that murderess." He said.

"I know. She was my friend and the thought of what this foolish woman will try to do fills me with dread." Elsa admitted.

The two walked to an area that served as a living room of sorts where they sat in silence for some time before Kaifin asked Elsa "Do you ever regret saying yes to this life?" he asked.

Elsa looked at him and sighed. "There are times when I want to go back in time and smack my younger self for being so foolish. Do you regret coming with me and staying with me?" she asked.

"No. I'd never be with anyone but you. I don't care that we can never have children Elsa, as long as I'm with you I will be content with my share." He said.

Elsa hugged him and planted a kiss on his lips. "That's all I ever wanted to hear my guardian." She said.

The Maiden and her guardian sat with one another, finding bliss in each other's company, unaware of the forces conspiring against them.

---

Blake jumped from tree branch to tree branch, staying as silent as she could. She had begun scouting out the base of the White Fang near the village she was in and had used mud and leaves to disguise her body and her scent from any guards. She took out her binoculars and looked some few hundred meters to the north-east and she saw a large complex comprised of dozens of tents. She watched as patrol guards walked the perimeter, armed with laser rifles.

"There you are." She muttered to herself.

She made sure none of the spotters had seen her and she jumped from tree to tree, each time making sure she went unnoticed.

Eventually she made it the compound and jumped down and landed as quietly as she could behind one of the outer tents. She had taken off her shoes so her feet would make as little noise as possible as she stealthily sneaked past a guard who was walking by.

She had done a headcount of everyone she had seen so far and there wasn't a lot of targets; twenty guards, three lieutenants, sixteen foot soldiers, two medics, and one commander that she hadn't seen yet. If she played her cards right she could discover Adam's location with relative ease and sneak out without the hostile Faunus ever knowing she had been there.

The voices of two guards tore her from her thoughts as she heard the converse with one another.

"You sure we'll be alright out here with so many of us gone?" said one guard who seemed to be a mongoose Faunus.

"We're fine, if the traitor comes around here we'll use those ears of hers for targeting practice." Said another guard, who had goat horns, with a laugh.

'I might just punch him out for the hell of it.' Blake thought to herself before the two guards continued.

"Yeah, but did the spies really need to take ten guys to guard the prisoner? He's just an old cat." Said the mongoose guard.

"He's tricky and Taurus wants him brought in and to keep it quiet." Said the goat.

Blake wondered who the two were talking about before...

"What do you think he'll do with Claudandus?" asked the mongoose.

"Probably make an example of him." The goat said.

A chill went down Blake's spine. 'No... they couldn't have! Adam wouldn't... yes he would.' She thought as she held back the urge to jump the two and demand to know where Adam was.

"Quiet you two." Ordered an intimidating voice that Blake recognized. The two guards turned to see the commander that Blake hadn't seen, a thin and somewhat muscular Faunus wearing a sleeveless shirt to allow his wings to hang free. He was Alessandro Kane, a Flying Fox Faunus who Blake remembered, as some years ago she and Kane had been among Adam's most prominent followers.

"We need to be quiet, the louder we are the more we risk discovery. Keep your guard up, Belladonna could be right behind us." Kane said as he gestured over to the spot where Blake had been just a moment ago. Blake had jumped back onto and was clinging to one of the trees, concealed by her disguise.

"Keep your mouths shut and your eyes and ears open." Kane said as he walked away.

Blake climbed around the tree and up to a strong branch and then jumped to another tree.

Plans to attack the camp began forming in Blake's head, she needed to get back to the village and get ready for tomorrow. She needed to hurry.

---

Weiss sat in the flight simulator, the virtual world around her soaring by as she piloted the fake ship through imaginary obstacles. She avoided hitting a rock formation and used the 'guns' to blast away some Grimm.

Weiss' plan was relatively simple: Get Team CFVY and Team FNKI to agree to help, work with them to save Penny and hijack her and fight off any guards before Ironwood could send her off to Haven, take a small civilian airship (preferably one that had weapons) that wasn't owned by any Atlas company and escape from the kingdom, go to Haven and help Ren and Nora save Ruby, Jaune, and take down Cinder.

Okay so it wasn't that simple as it would require both teams going along with it and fighting off a legion of highly trained Atlas soldiers, getting away from Atlas while most likely being pursued by the military, trying to get Penny to cooperate the entire time, disarming the bomb, and there was the complications of Nora's alterations to the plan.

Weiss had told Nora and Ren about her plan and they had informed her of Jaune's backup plan and Weiss had to admit it was a decent one, but she had to wonder why CRDL was on the list. She could get to Shade Academy and get teams NDGO and BRNZ easily and Cardin was rich enough to handle his team's own transportation to Haven. The only detail left was a get the plans for the factory in Haven, which would be easy enough.

She continued to fly through the virtual world, since they needed a pilot to get them to Haven Weiss decided to take up the burden. So far she was doing pretty good but training to fly and actually flying was usually separate things, especially when you had to engage in a battle.

She had already contacted Velvet, who had listened to the plan and agreed to try and talk the rest of her team into helping out. Winter had agreed to help out, but when it came time for the plan to be execute Winter wouldn't be directly involved as she needed to keep her career but Winter had gotten in touch with Haven Academy and had been able to speak with Team FNKI, or at least two of its members as Flynt and Neon were the only two available, apparently their teammates parents had pulled them out of the Academy, fearing that their children would be turned into soldiers under the command of the Atlas Military.

Weiss wondered how bad the Atlas' public image had become if its own citizens had grown paranoid of it.

Weiss watched she guided her 'ship' into a designated landing zone and the world around her dispersed into a small black chamber with a seat for a pilot and control console in front.

"Final Score: 92 out of 100. An excellent rating." Said a female computer voice.

"Ninety-two, that's good but I can do better." Weiss muttered to herself as she unstrapped herself from the seat. Weiss looked up as the door to the flight simulation room opened to reveal Winter.

"Weiss, your friends have arrived, although I must admit the Faunus girl is a bit..."

"I think Neon can have a certain effect on people." Weiss said with a small smile as she got up and walked out of the room.

The Schnee sisters walked side by side as they talked. "Have you obtained the ship?" Weiss asked.

"Yes, I made sure it has enough seating for all those your friends want you to get as well as the weapons to fight off any ships that attack you or any airborne Grimm." Winter said

"Good." Weiss said with a nod.

"Weiss, are you sure about this? I have taken part in many a risky operation before and this may be one of the most dangerous. Not to mention getting in touch with all these team may take time." Winter said.

"If we don't do something not only will Penny be killed but my friends will suffer. I have to do this Winter, if you have a better idea that can get this done faster I'm very happy to hear it." Weiss said as they walked to Winter's office.

Winter said "Only that you need to get proof of Cinder Fall's presence in Haven, only then will the Mistral Council agree to let us enter the city with enough power to apprehend her."

Weiss shook her head, "Cinder's too careful for that. The only way to know for sure is to capture one of her accomplices such as Mercury or Emerald and even then Emerald's Semblance will make her difficult and they might be too afraid of Cinder to turn against her."

"It seems that we have quite the conundrum. For now all we can do is hope your plan works in the long run and that we are doing the right thing." Winter said quietly.

"However this goes it will be better than having Penny blow up in a populated city." Weiss said.

They soon arrived at Winter's office where Flynt Coal and Neon Katt were waiting for them.

"I don't think I'm that under-dressed." Neon said, not sounding a bit embarrassed by how much skin she showed.

"Neon, we're in Atlas Military HQ, add to the fact that you're a Faunus I think you should have worn some more clothes." Her leader told her as the Schnee sisters entered the room.

"Hello Flynt, Neon." Weiss greeted.

"What's up Schnee?" Flynt asked casually as Neon gave a bubbly "Hi!"

"Now, I think you want an explanation for why I dragged you out of the academy." Weiss said.

"Not really, most of the teachers got sent off to fight Grimm so we've been putting up with substitutes for the last few months. Your sister says you got an idea to stop that Cinder bitch? I'm all for it." Flynt said.

"Count me in too! Just fill us in on the details." Neon added.

"Thank you both, it means a lot to me." Weiss said.

"No prob, anything to get back at the scumbags who caused the crazy mess the world is in now." Flynt said.

"Okay, here's my plan..." Weiss said before her scroll ringing interrupted her. She looked at the caller I.D. and saw that it was Velvet. "Hold on, I need to take this."

She answered the scroll and the rabbit Faunus spoke to her, "Weiss, I talked to my team. They want in."

Weiss grinned "Excellent, are they with you?"

"Yes, let me turn on the speaker." Velvet said as the voice of Coco Adel spoke up. "Hey there Schnee, Velv here says you got a plan to take down Cinder Fall and her cronies, lay it on us."

Weiss said "My sister can have you brought to us."

"I can talk with Qrow Branwen, if anyone can help us pull this off he can, maybe and can get you here without raising any eyebrows." Winter said.

"I've already got that covered; my idea to get them here is that Coco and Yatsuhashi have experience with Emerald and Mercury so they can help me out with consulting for the military." Weiss said.

"Sounds good to me, I want a shot at those two." Coco said.

"Agreed." Muttered Yatsuhashi.

"Well then you'll love my plan, so everyone pay attention because with the help of both Team CFVY and Flynt and Neon we can pull this off..." and Weiss began to tell her new team her plan.

---

In the cells of Salem's palace Ozpin sat alone. Norvik had been taken out of the cell half an hour ago for a meeting with Salem. What Salem wanted with that madman right now Ozpin hadn't the faintest idea, but he knew it couldn't be good.

Guilt tore at him from the inside; Pyrrha was gone and so many were dead, his students, the ones that trusted him with their safety, were now scattered across Remnant trying to do what was right, to correct his miserable failures.

'This could have easily been avoided. We should have guarded Amber more, we should have looked into the incident between Yang and Mercury, we should have stopped the fight between Pyrrha and Penny, we... I should have done more. I should have beaten Cinder, I should have saved my students. I failed them.' Ozpin thought to himself as he sat alone in his misery.

The cell door opened and the guards brought Norvik back in, secured him to his cot and left the room.

Norvik began to snicker like an immature teenager, getting on Ozpin's nerves.

"What's so funny?"

"Oh, Mistress has a new plan for me. Do you know about my first kill?" Norvik asked.

"Yes, it was Team RA..."

"No! It wasn't a team of Hunters, it was a civilian woman, a waitress." Norvik revealed, getting Ozpin's full attention. "I worked as a janitor at the Schnee Dust Company and I had a really bad day. I went to a tavern to drown my sorrows and this nice, pretty waitress took pity on me. Something inside me snapped that day. I needed to vent my fury, my anger at mankind. I left the tavern but I waited outside in an alleyway until closing time. I watched as she walked out, alone. I grabbed her, pulled her into the alley and slit her throat wide open. I watched in both horror and wonder as her wonderful, warm blood cascaded down her body. The look of fear and sadness in her eyes... I made sure my blade was destroyed and there was no evidence to connect me to the crime. I began to feel something, guilt. A week later I went to confess my sins to a holy man but the look of terror and disgust on his face when I finished speaking... I knew he would have me arrested so I killed him. I cut off his head with a large bowie knife I had bought. I always wanted cut off a head as the idea of decapitation fascinated me so much Ozpin. I had read that a decapitated head can continue to see and in some cases even control facial expressions, for approximately twenty seconds after it has been severed from the body. So sure enough the priest's head was gawking. So I held it up so it could see its body. The face it made..." Norvik stopped as he burst into an erratic series of laughs.

"Oh that face. I must admit it puts a smile on my own every time I think about it. I still hear from them every now and then, they're still screaming."

Ozpin glared at the older man with as much hatred as he could muster.

"I know that look Ozpin. You hate me, don't you?"

"There's no point in denying it."

"Heh, you'll loathe me even more when you hear what my Semblance is. Did they ever figure it out?"

"No." Ozpin informed him.

"Oh, that's good! I would hate it if this surprise was spoiled. My own special little gift is the power to absorb souls." Norvik revealed.

There was a solid minute of pure silence.

"What?" Ozpin asked in a hushed, horrified whisper.

Norvik let out a demented laugh. "Yes! That face of yours! The horror! The shock! I had to wait for forty years but it was worth it to see that look on your face! That's right Ozpin, they're all inside of me! They give me strength, I'm feeding off of them, they're mine!"

"Y-you're not a man, you're a monster in human form!" Ozpin shouted.

"A weak and predictable insult, I expected better from you." Norvik mocked, laughing again. He recovered himself and continued, "Now, about Mistress' plan... oh yes! She has captured a student of yours, a boy by the name of... Arc, I believe?"

"Jaune!" cried Ozpin in horror.

"Yes, that's it. You see, since he is of the Arc Bloodline she plans to make him into a Commander of the Grimm, something she has promised me for years. Lady Cinder doubts this boy will turn, even with the... uh... trials he may be put through, but Mistress is wise. She knows my body is too old and weak to carry on my work but Jaune's body is young and strong..."

"No! You can't do that! It's wrong!" Ozpin yelled.

"What's wrong is that my work has gone unfinished for so long. She will place my soul into the boy's body and I have the power to control it. I will begin my work anew, but the main thing is your failure Ozpin. Because of your failure Jaune Arc will be forced to watch as I turn him into a tool for the Mistress of Grimm! He will watch as I rip, cut, and mutilate the innocent! I will make him watch as his friends and family die again and again and on and on! He will be inside with me! With us! He will never get away! HIS PAIN WON'T END! THIS IS YOUR PUNISHMENT OZPIN!" Norvik screamed, his voice now echoing with the addition the voices of his victims.

Ozpin could say nothing, only sit and contemplate his failure and could only pray that Jaune would overcome whatever Salem would do to him.

'Jaune... Pyrrha... forgive me.'

---

Ruby woke up. She tried to move but she couldn't.

She looked down behind her to see that her arms and legs were bound to some kind of wheelchair with strong metal clamps around her wrists, elbows, knees, and ankles. "What the... where am I..."

It all came flooding back to Ruby. "I... I'm a murderer." She said as she remembered how she had taken two lives away. She remembered a sharp pain in her neck and Jaune...wait...

"Jaune!" she cried as she looked around, quickly spotting an out cold Jaune in a wheelchair similar to hers. "Jaune! Wake up! They got us Jaune! We have to get out!" Ruby called. She tried to move the wheelchair but it was locked down. She tried to use her Semblance to rocket out but she couldn't get her Aura up, these retrains were draining her Aura to keep her weak.

While she felt guilty about the lives she had claimed she knew that she couldn't worry about that right now. She'd ask Uncle Qrow about it later; no doubt he had claimed his fair share of kills so maybe he had advice for how to deal with it.

"Jaune, come on! We need to..." Ruby stopped as Jaune began to stir. She could now see that there were tears on his face, he had been crying in his sleep.

"R-Ruby? Are you okay?" he asked with a weak voice.

"No Jaune, I'm pretty far from okay. Where are we?" Ruby asked.

"In Cinder's base. She got us Ruby. Why didn't we just keep running?" Jaune asked miserably.

"We took a chance Jaune, we have to find a way out." Ruby said as she continued to struggle.

"There is no way out." said the familiar voice of Cinder Fall.

Ruby looked up and saw the current Fall Maiden, sitting on a throne, flanked by two Grimm Knights.

"YOU!" Ruby screamed. Her eyes began to glow a dull silver with fury.

"None of that." Cinder said as she got up and sent Ruby flying with a mighty gust of wind. A Grimm Knight flew over and aimed its gun at Jaune's head.

"I'm not allowed to kill you, but you'd be surprised what you can live through. We have contingencies for Arc, so he is expendable but you are not Ruby. So another outburst like that and Jaune dies." Cinder said as she used the wind powers to set a battered Ruby in the proper place. Ruby seethed in fury, breathing hard as her eyes returned to normal as she tried to control herself.

Cinder got up and approached the two teenagers, looking very pleased with herself.

"Now Ruby, since you've been out of it since last night I shall catch you up: you have murdered two men and Jaune killed four trying to protect you. Your friend Ashe is my little brother who has been guarding a powerful relic known as the Aura Crystal, he and your friends managed to survive our battle so don't worry about them. The reason I brought you here is because my master has use of you both." Cinder finished.

Ruby was too stunned to speak. Jaune killed people to protect her? Ashe was Cinder's brother?! Cinder had a master?!

"Who is your master?" Jaune demanded.

"Oh you'll find out. She is very eager to meet you both. The newest hero of the Arcs and the newest silver-eyed warrior, both of you will be our warriors, you will belong to us." Cinder said, her smile looking very satisfied.

"If you think we'd ever join you then you're more delusional than I thought." Jaune shouted.

"Y-yeah! I'd sooner superglue myself to the front of a bullet train than help you!" Ruby agreed.

"You may feel that way now, but if we were to work with each other we can do wonders. Ashe has been keeping the Aura Crystal from my master for far too long, help us get it and we may even find away to bring back those you love. Think about it: Pyrrha will come back to you Jaune, and I think you'd like to have your mother back, Ruby." Cinder said.

"No! Its not worth it! If you brought them back they'd be some twisted fakes, not the real things!" Ruby yelled.

"If Ashe is your brother why don't you just trade us for the crystal?" Jaune asked.

"Because Ashe is no fool, he doesn't know the true power of the crystal but he knows it won't end well for him if he gives it to us, but then again he did seem very desperate to save you. He fought both myself and Damien Ante, slaughtered thirty of Ante's men but he lost in the end. I think I broke him when I revealed the truth about our parent's fates." Cinder said, loving the fearful look on Ruby's face.

"H-he said your dad killed your mom and then..."

"No Ruby, I strangled my mother to death, told Ashe my father did it and then I killed my father." Cinder explained.

"Why didn't you just kill Ashe then and there?" Jaune asked.

"I... I'm not a monster." Cinder said.

"All evidence to the contrary." Jaune snapped.

"At the time I saw no harm in letting my brother go, but now that has come back to haunt me. He will try to save you and when he does I will end him, but only after I have claimed the crystal." Cinder said.

"You are a monster Cinder, you're the kind of monster people like us slaughter!" Ruby yelled.

"Oh? And no cruel words for Ozpin? That man sent Pyrrha to her death when he chose her to be the Fall Maiden, he was ready to force her into a life of loneliness and burden but I stopped him. Maybe if he had some guards, maybe if he had just a little bit of common sense things would be what you call normal but he didn't. Ozpin had plans for you children, you were nothing but pawns in his pathetic game against my master. Ruby, did you ever wonder why you were let into Beacon two years early? I'll tell you why: he needed someone with your power, your eyes. You were nothing but his pawn." Cinder said.

Ruby said nothing in return.

"No, it can't be true!" Jaune cried.

"Believe what you wish Arc. Now I think it is time that you met my master face to face..." Cinder said as she stepped off the throne.

A hologram activated and the tall, elegant, oppressive form of Salem appeared.

She looked down on Jaune and Ruby who looked at her with wide eyes or fear.

"Hello children, we have much to discuss..."

"W-what are you?" Ruby asked quietly.

"I am Salem, the Mistress of Grimm, but in time you will come to call me Mistress."

Well that's chapter eight down and act two started. This one ended up being way longer than intended. Originally Yang was going to meet up with Team SSSN in this chapter, a scene between Emerald and Mercury, the reveal of the Chimera, and Blake was going to fight the White Fang's forces, but I decided to save those scenes for the next chapter so Weiss and co. wouldn't take it up entirely. I'm not really sure about this chapter, it feels kinda all over the place and I keep thinking I'm missing something but I don't know what. The next chapter will be a two parter, but not as important or as exhausting to write as the last one. I hope.

And yes, Salem is evil enough to give Pyrrha's shield to her new minion. I want to make Salem the ultimate evil that you want to see suffer. And I hope I made Norvik creepy enough.

Tell me what you thought of Jaune punching Cinder because I really wanted that scene to work. Or the twist that Saul Jude is alive? Bet you didn't see that one coming.

The opening nightmare scene was heavily inspired by the horror/drama 'Jacob's Ladder' where halfway through the movie it begins screwing with your mind big time with peaceful dream scenes.

Yes, the Winter Maiden's name is a reference to Frozen, sorry but I couldn't resist. Also my theory about the Maidens is that they can't have children, they need to remain virgins to be eligible to be Maidens.

Kane's name is a reference to two people: Alessandro is a reference to actor Alessandro Juliani (aka L in Death Note) who did the voice of a bat transformer called Nightscream in Transformers Beast Machines. The Kane part is a reference to Bob Kane, the creator of Batman.

As always; read, review, and tell me what you liked and how I can improve.