Darkness surrounded her. Silence so profound that even her screams could not pierce it. Was this the afterlife? She walked through the pitch-black void without purpose as something kept scratching at the back of her mind – a thought or a feeling that wanted to break through to the surface. However, she kept moving forward. The unsettling notion grew stronger and more annoying, and with time it materialized as a voice in her head. You are mine.

"Like hell I am," the thought of someone or something claiming ownership of her made her appalled. "I'm my own woman."

You are mine.

The voice grew louder. The only thing she could hear in the unsettling blackness around.

The Faunus girl kept moving in the same direction. Her tail wiggling nervously from side to side. Time passed, and the voice kept on repeating: 'You are mine.' So much in fact that the phrase lost its meaning.

A shape started emerging from the darkness – a familiar girl from her past. The long, burning-read hair and eyes of two different colors warmed her heart. When she got closer, she noticed that the silhouette was suspended in time, just a memory and not a real person. She moved around to see every detail of the scene. These were the final moments of the girl that was the leader of their team at the time.

She shook her head and continued to walk. Her brother achieved much during the time he was a Huntsman, and she would be proud of him. That's at least what she was thinking looking at the smiling face of the girl.

Another shadow emerged from the blackness. This time it was a small Faunus with thick, ruffled, unkempt hair and a blank stare. When she got close, she could see he was holding a tail. Her tail, to be exact. The same as with Scarlet, this had to be the last moments of her childhood friend. She couldn't help herself but sit down next to him with a wistful smile. The still image of that moment was painful, but at the same time, it made her remember all the moments they spent together.

You are mine. The voice still beckoned. A deep, raspy call that echoed like a headache.

The Faunus girl stood up, giving Yangochi a final gaze, and continued to move. She was curious what would she see on her path next. However, no matter how long she walked, nothing else emerged from the dark.

You are mine! Again it beckoned.

She closed her eyes, annoyed. A sudden chill went down her spine. A feeling like someone was creeping from behind her. The moment she turned around, she noticed a tall, dark figure with two pairs of wings and a bone mask in a shape of a beak on its head.

She smiled. "Just a Grimm? I'll get rid of you in no time."

Taking her combat stance, it hit her. She doesn't have her right arm. She could swear she had it till now. The beast before her cackled.

"You are mine," it spoke, not inside her head this time. "You are mine!" The beast dashed towards her with its claws bared.

She instinctively raised her left arm to block and prepared her right to attack. But she could not punch the creature; there was no right hand. She used her whole body to push the fiend away. And with a scream, she jumped to grab its head with her left hand. The moment her grip clenched on the boney face, she forced the monstrosity to the ground. There was no impact; they both continued to fall through the unrelenting darkness. Struggling with the beast, it felt like they fought for hours. She didn't feel fatigued at all, but the beast seemed to fight less and less. At some point, she started to feel sorry for the creature.

"You are…"

"Yeah, Yeah. You are mine," she was getting irked by the repeated mantra. "You know any other jokes? This one got old fast."

The monster was silent. Its red eyes stared at the Faunus, emotionless. It spread its wings, and in a disorienting moment, it seemed like they were on the ground. Like they never were falling at all.

"You are… strong…"

The change surprised her. She let go of the beast and stood few steps away from it. The bird-like creature was just lying, motionless. The only thing that moved were its glowing red eyes that followed her every move. She just shrugged and continued to move in any direction away from it. After just a few steps, a disconcerting feeling struck her that made her turn around. The moment she did, a blinding light hit her eyes, and she raised her right arm.

Right arm? The confusion hit her like a pouch of bricks. The light was getting lighter, and her eyes started to adjust. She had her right arm. However, it was different. Looking at it, she had only one thought on her mind: It can't possibly be my hand.

"You're finally awake," a strangely familiar voice welcomed her. "Now the question is: is it you or the beast?"

The idea of all of this still being just a dream or some afterlife shenanigans still rattled in her head. For the moment, she chose to ignore everything that felt weird or out of place and focused on the woman. "What do you mean by the beast?"

The woman had silver hair that drifted into purple at their ends. Her purple eyes lighted up as her expression changed to curious. "So you're capable of containing it!"

"What?" The words she spoke made no sense. "Where am I?"

"What's your name?" The silver-haired woman asked.

"Amethyst Tautara…" She scratched her head with her right arm. It was discomfortingly cold, and her nails felt far too long.

The woman turned around away from Ame and started talking to a recorder device in her scroll. "It seems my theories were correct. Huntsmen have a far easier time fighting off the Grimmification process. Was it the will or just strengthened aura? Still uncertain."

The Faunus girl's eyes widened. "What?"

She examined herself carefully and gasped when she finally understood what became of her right arm. It was a black, inhuman limb of a Grimm. As shock and fear started to take control over her, an almost physical presence gripped her heart. Something from within wanted to take possession.

"What did you do to me?" Amethyst shouted, grasping her right hand.

A feeling of hunger started to overtake her. Her aura was slowly draining towards the arm that wasn't her own. Her strength was degrading as her emotions grew more and more negative.

"Please calm down," the silver-haired woman faced her with her arms up. "The more you struggle, the stronger the beast becomes. Take control."

The Faunus girl took the advice to heart and took a few depth breaths. She started to calm down. The visions of the black beast from her dream manifested in her mind, and she remembered how calm she felt fighting it. She was a Huntress, and fighting Grimm was the main point of her profession. Why did she ever feel afraid? The strange cold around her heart slowly stopped, and her muscles relaxed.

"How are you feeling?" The silver-haired woman's voice was sincere.

Ame tried to put her experience into words, but it was hard to formulate something that made sense. "I feel a strange… hunger?" It was the only thing that came to mind.

An understanding smile appeared on the other woman's face. "You will grow accustomed to it in time."

A lot of emotions and thoughts ran through Ame's head. However, the thing she wanted to know the most was the woman. "Who are you?"

"Aria Le Fay," she answered. "It seems you have everything under control." She again turned around and moved towards a desk — the only desk in the room.

Only now, Amethyst started to take a deeper look at everything around her. She was in a steel cage similar to those they saw in the collapsed warehouse. She gripped the bars, she felt the cold in her left palm, but her right hand felt like it was nothing. Looking around, she noticed that they were in something resembling a shack made of simple brick. There was some equipment scattered all around, but she was the only human apart from Aria.

You are mine.

"At it again?" Amethyst responded to the voice of the beast inside her.

"What?" Aria responded, looking surprised at the Faunus.

"Just responding to the voice in my head," she said, sitting down.

"Ah, yes," the silver-haired woman stared into the distance. "You will learn to ignore them in time." She returned to whatever documents she was studying. After a few seconds, she raised her head towards the girl. "You act surprisingly casual for someone held captive."

"Well, with the initial shock gone, I can think more clearly. Panicking never got anyone anywhere."

Aria chuckled. "So, I guess you're planning your escape now?"

Amethyst laid down on her back with her left arm as a pillow, and her Grimm arm stretched before her. She was examining it carefully.

"I'm not that smart," was her answer. "First, I want to know what exactly am I now."

Aria picked up her scroll and started recording. "Current subject demonstrates a peculiar interest in the results of the Grimmification."

The Faunus girl was still looking at her new arm. The pain of losing her original limb still echoed in her bones, but now having a replacement felt strange. She still had feeling in this monstrosity, but it felt like nothing she experienced before.

You will be mine.

"I think it would be nice if we worked on your vocabulary."

Aria raised an eyebrow. Very peculiar went through her head.


The only thing on Granola's mind was Raymond. However, he didn't have any idea how to find him or get any information about his whereabouts. The only man who came to his mind that could possibly have any knowledge about his former comrade was Hunter Ash. The man for whom they were 'working' under Ray's command. He threw his coat on his attire, pulled up the cloak, and ventured towards the manor when they last met.

The city itself felt restless. People avoided being outside as much as possible, and the air had a heavy, uneasy presence. He never noticed how much dread there was in the air, or was it a recent development caused by their actions? He pushed away that thought quickly and continued his walk.

The moment he stood in front of his destination, a smirk appeared on his face. He stepped on the possession and reached out for the door. It slid open moments before his hand was able to grab the handle.

"What?" A familiar muscular guard greeted him with his abrasive question.

"I need to talk to Hunter," Gran simply stated and moved in past the man.

"Stop right there…" The guard raised a gun, but he immediately got sent flying to the nearest wall by Gran's semblance. The force of impact disoriented him; his head started bleeding.

After just a few steps, more men started gathering around the towering Faunus.

"What the hell is going on?" An older, rather corpulent man was going down the pair of stairs.

"I need to know where Raymond Merlot is hiding," Gran stated, looking at Hunter from under his cloak.

"How the hell should I know where that lunatic is?" The leader of Hana was simultaneously surprised and abhorred by the incursion of the huge man. "Just give me a good reason not to kill you, and maybe I'll consider letting you leave with just some bruises and broken bones."

Granola raised both of his hands slightly. "Because I have the upper hand," he smirked.

All of the Hana gang members slowly flew to the sky, unable to move a muscle. Hunter took a step back at the sight. "Shoot him, damn it!"

The smile on the Faunus's face widened. He raised his arms higher and then firmly swung them down. Every single of the suspended men rushed to the ground. The sound of cracking bones and wails of pain echoed through the corridors.

"I'll ask again: where can I find Raymond?"

Droplets of sweat started to appear on the boss's face. However, after a short while, he composed himself, and with a slight smile on his face, started talking: "I cannot give you information I don't have, but there is a man who can help you. Vermillion Raddock."

Raymond's head moved a bit, hearing the name. It sounded vaguely familiar, but where did he learn it? "Vermillion Raddock?" He asked out loud more to make him remember.

"It's a member of Hana that orchestrated the entire operation that you stopped," Hunter's face had a sorrowful expression. Gran understood the sadness behind it. His son was buried under the rubble of that warehouse, after all.

"And where can I find this Raddock?" Gran's eyebrows came closer together as his anger was slowly growing.

Ash started stroking his chin. "Can't say for sure, but you should check all the Hana-owned warehouses near the one that collapsed."

"Which are?" The Faunus's patience was wearing thin.

The man pulled out his scroll, pushed a few buttons, and ejected a chip from it. He threw it towards Gran. "This is the info you need. Now go find that bastard." The corner of his lips raised slightly.

The mountain of a man grabbed the chip and injected it into his scroll. It contained a file that listed all warehouses that Vermillion might use. He just nodded and left the possession.

Behind, he could hear a deep sigh of Hunter. "What a mess…"


"I never caught your name," Ray asked on their way towards the Spider gang's headquarters.

"Rory, Rory Primrose," the woman answered. "So, what are we paid for exactly?"

"Everything in due time."

Raymond carefully assessed the route they were taking. He didn't want to get followed or discovered. When they finally got to their destination, the man rapped at the door of a normal-looking house with specific timing. The door opened.

"After you," he stepped aside to let Rory enter first.

"A real gentleman," she rolled her eyes and went through the door.

There weren't many people inside. A few shady characters that anyone would quickly forget ever seeing in a crowd. Only one person was pretty distinct, and she only took notice because he had the same hairdo as she.

"Hey," she casually threw into the room.

"This here is Rory Primrose," Raymond introduced her. "She will be working with us for the nearest future."

"She's the cog in your brilliant plan?" The mohawk-wearing Faunus eyed her suspiciously.

"With her on board, we'll have a much easier time stirring some animosity among the gangs," the one-eyed warrior answered.

"How?" One of the members asked.

Ray threw her a meaningful look. She nodded with a smirk and activated her semblance. To the utter surprise of everyone in the room, she disappeared.

"How long can you keep up this veil?" Liam asked, looking impressed.

"If I don't exert myself too much, I can shift perception for about 6 to 8 hours," Rory answered, turning off her ability.

Fawn stilted a high pitch laugh. "I'm convinced," he said and turned towards Ray. "Now that we have the means, what's the actual end?"

"We steal from the Black Sheep and frame the Wave for it," Merlot smiled.

"You hired me for something this dangerous?" Rory gave him a shocked stare.

"You can infiltrate their base with ease and set up some incriminating evidence," the one-eyed man stated, shrugging. "That shouldn't be that hard for you."

"You very heavily overestimate my semblance. If you wanted me to go on a suicide mission, I wouldn't have accepted," she started to walk towards the door when Ray stood in front of her.

"If you can't do it alone, remember you have an entire web of spies to use here. Not to mention your teammates and me."

She hesitated for a moment. Her gaze traveled through all the people in the room and finally landed again on the man before her. She still remembered their fight at the warehouse. The man knew his way in a duel, but was he smart enough to develop a plan that would work?

"Do you know how exactly my semblance works?" She asked, testing if he was as perceptive as he seemed.

His eyebrows narrowed. His face twisted as he started to think. "You distort the senses of people, hiding your presence."

She raised an eyebrow. "You're spot on the money. But now you should understand why it still would be nigh impossible."

"You still could just walk in and take whatever you wanted."

She sighed. "And what about cameras? Anything under lock and key is most likely surveyed in some way. I can hide my presence from people but not from machines."

"We could create some form of distraction," Liam threw into the conversation. "We're pretty good at that." He added, letting out a slight cackle.

"And what exactly you have in mind?" Ray asked his colleague.

"Kain…" Rory said, deep in thought.

"Who?" Merlot was confused.

"The Black Sheep value strength, and with the situation like it is, they need more recruits. Kain could try to join them."

Raymond jumped in, thinking. "Kain is that big dude with the sword, right? They would want to test him on the spot, and that could be an excellent opportunity for you to do your job."

"But we still would need to have the plans of the complex, any information that could ease up on unnecessary searching and time-wasting."

"That's the least of our worries," one of the gang members stepped in. "Information is our forte."

The one-eyed warrior smiled, reaching out his hand. "Sounds like a plan, right?"

Rory went through the semblance of a plan in her head, thinking about how many ways this could go wrong. However, this got her excited far more than her previous job. She reached with her arm and shook Ray's hand.

"Sounds like a plan."