BEACON Headquarters

Ever since Catalaya's kidnapping, Weiss was on a warpath. She was relentless when it came to finding ways to stop the Council from getting the armor and destroying the Nexus. She was even more ferocious when it came to her lover's recovery after the attack. Only the best doctors, only the best medicine, and only the best round the clock protection outside her room. Overbearing was what many people said, that this was too much. These people were very wrong. Doctors and medicine were the first things Weiss had done after the fact. The protectors were Cat's own request. She felt unsafe being alone, unable to protect herself. She hasn't spoken at all nor has she ever left her room since the incident.

No one beside her knew what happened inside the dreamscape where she suffered under the nightmare spell. Weiss was in the dark of the events as well, but instead focused on making her feel safe, making sure she recovered. But most importantly, most of Weiss's time was spent figuring out a way to destroy the council in its entirety. She spent her time either out in the field or by Catalaya's side.

Yang shook herself out of her thoughts and continued down the hall of BEACON headquarters. It had been six months since the events of Drelathaer but its effects still weighed on them. It was revealed, during Weiss's rampage, that the council leaders and their top generals had escaped into the Nexus. The security of the armor peices was a constant topic. People attempted to steal them many times. The prescence of the Council members had started quite a stir throughout Remnant. The more social creatures fled and continue to flee from their overwhelming magical and physical influence. The more agressive ones however, continued to fight back from their occupation of their territory, of their resources. Civil wars started popping up all over the place, some spiraling out of control farther than anyone could've predicted.

Yang saw a digital map plastered on the wall of the room she entered. There were specialists from many different countries and organizations. Just looking at the map frustrated her. Blue lights represented places of insurgence, of fighting. Green lights were safe areas, places under control. Of course, the red lights were bad. They were the suspected location of a council member. If the country was blacked out, than it was lost to them. There was nothing they could do. She sighed as she looked at Vacuo, no lights came. It was conquered by part of the convoy, destroyed by a powerful Vampire. "Hey Yang!" She turned around to see her fellow blonde, Sun Wukong, a Vacuo native.

Ever since the collapse of his home he had been living in Vale with many other displaced families. He may have looked cheerful but one look at his low hanging tail could tell anyone how down he was. She smiled softly, "Hey Sun. How's it going?" They greeted each other with a hug. "It's going." Was all he said, though Yang knew that it meant that he was hanging in there. She nodded and turned back to the wall.

She grimaced when blue lights kept popping up on the shoreline borders of Menagerie. The Council was having a difficult time getting into the country, the Faunus having natural advantages over the supernatural when it came to fighting. Blake left a while back to help her family defend their home, to minimal success.

Penny came running into the room with a stack of papers in her left hand and chatting excitedly on the phone in her right. She handed Yang the stack of papers and hurriedly moved to the map, focusing on Vacuo. "What is she-" Sun was half way through asking when he watched Penny set up a ring of blue lights circling protectively over a cluster of green. Penny spoke into the phone quickly, sighed then nodded and said goodbye to the mystery speaker. "Um, Penny? Care to explain?" Yang asked as she looked at Vacuo.

Penny smiled awkwardly, "Rumors of uprising against the Vampire in the council turned out to be true. They have started fighting back and have set up almost a hundred safe spots already within that area." She pointed to the green cluster that seemed to steadily grow.

"If there's anything us Vacuoans can do, its get up and fight." Sun said proudly, excited knowing his home wasn't completely gone. Yang flipped through the papers, reports of conflict, rescue and so on all being listed under the same operative. "Who did all this?" She asked, noting an unnecessarily high body count being left behind during confrontation.

Penny looked to the floor and sighed. Yang nodded solemnly, "Weiss huh? Should've known." She muttered.

Sun tilted his head. "Weiss!? No way she could do all this. Not without good reason."

Yang rubbed her neck, "Unfortunately, she has a damn good reason for all this." Sun looked at her questioningly. "You don't know what happened do you?"

He shook his head. So with heavy hearts, both Penny and Yang told him what happened on Drelathaer.

Hunters Home 12:02 a.m.

Ruby looked up from her paper work at the familiar hiss of the locks on the front door opening. Not surprised at the face that walked in sluggishly. Weiss walked in without a word. Her outfit had spots of blood in different places and soot in others. Her face was tired and angry, the only mood her teammates had seen her in for a long time. "Food's on the table." Ruby said and went back to her work. It was no use trying to speak to her, she would only get shot down. Weiss wordlessly walked to the kitchen table and picked up two plates of food. She placed them in the mictowave one at a time as she made two cups of tea. Ruby watched her climb the stairs towards her room and muttered a tired, "Goodnight." To her partner.

With Weiss

Weiss carried her parcels to the room at the end of the hall, the biggest room and the one she shared with Catalaya. She knocked five times before entering, letting her know it was her. It was dimly lit in the room, the only light a small lamp on the nightstand beside the bed. Catalaya was sitting in the darkest corner of the room, her red eyes glowing in the dark amd following Weiss' movements through the room. "Hey, Wolfie. How was your day?" Weiss asked quietly, "Will you come eat with me? I have your favorites." She smiled softly at her lover who cautiously came close and sat beside her. Weiss slowly helped the woman eat, wary of her reactions to certain things. After eating she helped her shower and put her to bed crawling in after her.

The taller woman curled up under the covers laying her head on Weiss' chest listening intently to her heartbeat. She lulled her to sleep with an old Altesian song her grandmother taught her years ago, as she stroked her hair and caressed her back. Weiss snarled lowly when she saw the scar across Catalaya's face. The scar from the powerful magic spell she was under during her kidnapping. It was found that the longer the person is under, the more real the injury.

A wound inflicted by her attacker there, appeared in the real world. Despite it all, Cat was no less beautiful bearing the scar; a diagonal scar traveling over part of her nose and across her right eye. She was lucky the cornea wasn't damaged or she would be blind in one eye. Weiss still regretted not being able to protect her, just as she has always protected her. She felt useless, unworthy of her love because of that.

Cat whimpered and stirred, subconsciously sensing her negative emotions. She shushed her and held her closer and sang again, lulling her into a peaceful sleep very much so deserved. The other woman hadn't spoken since that day, relying more on actions and gestures to 'speak' to Weiss about things. She really only interacted with her and her siblings who visited almost every day. But as she fell back to sleep in the arms of her hero, she pulled on her shirt collar gently to get her attention.

Weiss looked down at the other woman with a questioning look. Catalaya leaned up and nuzzled into her neck, taking a deep breath of her scent. Weiss accepted her embrace, wrapping her arms around her waist gently. This was her way of showing her thanks, how much she loves her. Weiss scratched between her wolf ears, gasping when she felt Cat grind into her, something she hasn't done for a long time. She heard her murmur something. "What?"

Cat looked up at her, "T-thank you Weiss. F-for e-verything you've done for me." She stuttered from the lack of use regarding her voice.

Weiss tilted her head with a smile, "You don't have to thank me. I love you, that's why I do it." She smiled at Weiss and kissed her nose before flipping them over. "I h-haven't been kind t-to you. I f-feel like I need to p-prove my love for you." The ice mage was going to disagree but felt Catalaya's hands running over her waist and stopped.

"You don't have to. I know you love me." She nodded and leaned forward, her eyes flickering. The right one changing to Jakal's own brilliant green.

"Let us show you. Show you how much we appreciate our frozen warrior, how much we love our dragon." Their voices twisted and merged, becoming harsh and smooth, sultry and soft. The wounded wolves showed their love for their dazzling dragon. Over and over and over again. Till the sun rose and set, bringing forth the moon, they made up for lost time together.

Weiss groaned as she woke up, the sunlight streaming in through the blinds hitting her eyes. She yawned and looked at the clock, it read 12 o'clock noon, much later than when she ever gets up. She was going to sit up when Cat pulled her back down with a growl. "No." She said much to Weiss' chagrin, "I have to go."

Her grip tightened, "No. Stay." She opened her eyes and looked at her through the same lidded eyes that could rip her heart asunder. "The Council-" She started only to be cut off.

"The Council will still be there. And you fight too often. Spilling too much blood makes your heart heavy, I can feel it. Stay with me, rest here." She said firmly, running her hands through Weiss' hair. "You cannot, should not fight alone." Catalaya said as Weiss stared at her much more talkative lover.

"You saved me, protected me as I recovered. You will rest while I train once more. I shall not let you go into battle alone anymore." She loomed over Weiss with a stern and loving look on her scarred face.

"Are you sure you're ready to fight again? After what happened?"

Catalaya nodded and spoke with a voice full of resign, "I don't think I can ever be okay after that. But I know that war doesn't wait for soldiers to heal. War doesn't wait for anyone, I won't be left amongst the ashes if I can help it."

Weiss reached a hand up and wiped away a tear from her wolf's face and pulled her close. "I understand, Catalaya. I won't stop you, I couldn't even if I tried." She held her tight to her chest, running her hands through her hair as Catalaya growled softly at the touch. There was a knock on the door to the room, "Weiss? Are you and Cat okay? You guys missed breakfast." It was Ruby, obviously concerned for the two women.

"Be down in a few minutes." Weiss said through the door and Ruby left back to the kitchen. Cat looked up at her, "I'm going to shower." She stumbled a bit getting out of bed, her body stiff and uncooperative to her commands after having little rest. She tossed her shirt over her head and into the corner. Leaving her in a sports bra and her boxers.

She turned around and looked at Weiss, "Join me?" That was all the invitation she needed to chase her into the bathroom and join her for a nice shower.

After a while the two finally came downstairs, a bunch of surprises to the others entirely. First was Weiss' smiling face as she came down. The second would've been how she was dressed, as though she was going to relax around the house. The third would have been the appearance of Catalaya, who no one had seen in months. Ruby jumped up and speed over, wrapping them both in a hug. "Are you two okay?" She whispered and they nodded at her making Ruby smile. She lead them over to the table and prepared full plates for the both of them. The others smiled and greeted them each in turn and continued as though normal.

Cat had difficulty knowing everyone could see the scar at first then rembered Weiss's own facial scar and began wearing it with pride. The Hunters watched as she threw herself into training once more. Decimating training robots and annihilating anything in her way. Penny came by during her strength training and promptly gasped when she saw what the wolf shifter was doing.

A machine was dropping one ton weights down from a conveyor belt into her awaiting hands. She was squatting and standing, lifting what looked to be 4 tons of weight on her shoulder repeatedly. Despite her long recovery of nine months, her strength remained the same, maybe even more so because of her determination to not be left behind. Before, Penny had once seen her lift at most 2 tons. The young Vampire princess's own weight limit being just about 3 tons. To say she was shocked was an understatement.

"Penny?" She turned from the sight to see Ruby smiling at her arrival. "Salutations, Ruby." The two hugged, Ruby leaving a small kiss on the other's cheek causing her to blushas much as a Vampire could. "When did you get in?" Ruby asked.

"Just now. How long has Catalaya been up?" She asked as she watched Ruby wrap her hands.

"Since noon. She's been training nonstop. Makes me feel like I should get started on my own instead of all that paperwork." The way she said paperwork was filled with terror and disgust.

"Mind if I join you?" Penny asked as she stepped up to the mat. Ruby smiled, "Sounds like fun. Why don't we make a deal." Penny tilted her head, "Oh?"

"Winner picks the next place for our next date?"

Penny smiled, "Your on!"

Vacuo

Raaarggghh!

A chair went flying through the nearest window, thrown by an angry soul. Chained humans cowered in fear under the sizzling red eyes of their master. "Is that really necessary?" A feminine voice asked behind him. The shadows around her kept the others in the room from seeing her face clearly.

"Necessary!? That frozen bitch destroyed my harvesting centers and has been slaughtering my men endlessly! I have a right to be angry." He shouted at her, not finding as much satisfaction as usual when his slaves flinched back from him. "You don't have to be."

The woman said in a sultry voice. The man turned to her, "Oh? Are you going to take care of this problem?" She stepped out of the shadows and smiled, "Why, of course. Allow me and my companions to take care of this issue, then the Council can finish what they've started."

He looked her up and down, her bright amber eyes catching his attention the most. More than the crimson dress with decadent gold lines traveling along the sides. "What do you get out of this?"

She smiled at him, "Nothing really. Exept with them gone, I can finally watch the world burn." She sauntered up to him, running a hand along his arm. "Then, all the realms will fear the name of Korvin Von Daleam, Strongest Vampire to ever exist and the ninth general of the Council of Nine." She apoke seductively, searing the images into his mind as he smirked.

He laughed heartily at her confidence, already swayed by the tales woven by this strange woman. "Yes. That would be wonderfully devine! The blood that will be shed..." He turned to her, "What is your name mortal?"

She stood straighter. "Cinder Fall. And I'm anything but simply mortal."

He smiled,We'll see about that. "Your'e hired. Bring me their heads on a silver platter."

He turned back to the window and snapped his fingers, a servant placed a slave in his arms then leapt back when he began to drain the man of his blood entirely. He tossed the lifeless body like garbage and laughed manually towards the sky, dreaming of victory. The amber eyed woman smiled in rhe same maniac fashion. "Right away, Sir." Then sauntered out of the room with a smile. Her amber eyes caught aflame for a quick moment, lighting the dark hallway as she disappeared into the dark