"Oh boy, here we go." Roman let out with a sigh as he saw Cinder make her way towards him, his poor door suffering another hit to the hinges.

"So, I've heard you got out smoothly." She commented as he let out an exasperated breath.

"Yeah we got the dust, but not without losing the kid." He said as Cinder gave a nod.

"Oh I already know about that, Adam is quite upset right now."

"I'll get the kid back, so tell him to ease up. I've busted out of prison plenty of times, going at it once more is no big deal." Roman replied as Cinder simply chuckled, catching the man off guard.

"Any reason in particular you're laughing, or is it just to poke fun at me?" He asked as she waved him off.

"No, I'm not making fun of you, you've actually done well with the dust. I simply find it amusing how 'out of the loop' you are." Cinder told as he raised an eyebrow.

"Care to fill me in then, what am I missing?"

Cinder pulled out her scroll. "Why don't you take a look for yourself."

Roman watched as the video played out, it looked to be recorded by one of her two lackeys. It seemed as though they were present earlier, hiding just out of sight at the docks. That itself should have made him upset as it showed just how little trust she put in him for the mission, yet it's what happened next that caught his attention.

"That cheeky little..." Needless to say Roman was surprised.

Kid was just about to kill one of the annoying little brats when some guy showed up to ruin the moment. Worst of all he didn't even start fighting, instead pulling out a scroll.

Now Roman wasn't an idiot like fire bitch seemed to think, he recognized immediately that it was Beacon's headmaster on the scroll call; although the scream caught him off guard. What happened next had Roman questioning everything.

Roman let out another sigh. "Alright, you got me. I have no idea what's happening anymore." He confessed as Cinder rolled the recording back.

"I'll admit, when Emerald showed this to me an hour ago I was confused too. But after some time I was able to come to at least a few different conclusions." Cinder told as she let the video play once more.

"Right here, this 'vow' of his, we can chalk it up to being a sort of code. Our little Vermillion didn't believe it was the headmaster on the call until he recited that vow."

"So you're saying it's a pass phrase right? Meaning that they've been working together all this time." Roman stated as she nodded.

"Exactly, and here we see Ozpin giving him orders to protect the students. But what really caught my attention was this here." Cinder explained as she played the four second clip.

"That's it? The kid just says "sire". It's a little cheesy, but nothing too out there." Roman said as Cinder shook her head.

"Oh poor poor Roman, you can't see it can you? But that's fine, I'll explain it to you." Cinder stated mockingly as Roman rolled his eyes and waved for her to continue.

"When you hear the word 'sire' what's the first thing that comes to mind?" She asked as Roman sent a look her way.

"Really, that's what you're asking me?" He let out a sigh.

"Fine, I'll play along. I suppose that the first thing I think of would be ancient knights, the same ones you see all the time in fantasy stories. But looking at him, it feels like he'd belong more in one of those trashy smut books rather than a proper novel." Roman gave as Cinder nodded.

"You're right, he's like a knight, and he refers to the headmaster as 'sire'. What does that tell you?"

Roman wore a thoughtful look. "That... he thinks of the headmaster as a king?" Cinder gave a smirk.

"Close, but not quite. Ozpin while being head of Beacon is certainly no king, yet they talk to each other with those terms. I want you to tell me why, what could them referring to each other in these terms possibly say?"

Roman took a moment to think, feeling as though he was catching onto something.

"So, he refers to the headmaster as a king. In the olden days according to history king's would employ knights to carry out their bidding. Taking this into mind... I guess we can assume it's some sort of coded wording?" Cinder nodded at this.

"Good, you're getting closer. Let's assume for the moment that they use these terms as coded phrases, that would make Vermillion the 'knight' to Ozpin's 'king'. What does that say about them and their relationship.

Relatio-!

Cinder was smirking harder at him now, and he was finally able to see what she was getting at.

"You're saying that this isn't just some one off instance aren't you? They have a deeper relationship?" He guessed as she nodded. Roman shook his head. "Okay, so let's assume you're right. Then why was he in the White Fang, they're a bunch of terrorists?"

Cinder's smile stretched across her face. "Let me ask you this, who better to sneak inside?"

Roman's eyes widened as it all came together. "A spy... not just some small info grabber too, but an honest to goodness tactical spy."

Cinder stepped around him. "A man with the most prominent Faunus traits find's himself coming close to one of the heads of the organization. He forms a bond with him that blossoms into friendship."

She walked past him, placing her hand on the table with her back to him. "They start trusting each other with missions. Then one day the recruit turned friend leads them into a trap, revealing that he was never on their side."

Cinder faced him once more, a devious look on her face. "Quite the compelling tragedy don't you think?"

Roman looked away, feeling a bit stupid for not considering it before. Cinder waved to him as he looked back.

"Don't be so hard on yourself. I doubt anybody considered him a traitor, I mean look at him. He's got the most open and direct traits I've ever seen, it would only make sense that we'd mistaken him for a vengeful recruit."

Roman nodded. "And I'm guessing that the whole 'knight' and 'king' thing is some sort of ranking?"

Cinder nodded. "You're getting quicker, yes that is the idea. From that alone we can guess that Vermillion is quite trusted and valued by Ozpin, making him all the more dangerous."

Roman was skeptical at that. "I don't know, he was getting his ass handed to him pretty hard by the kiddies."

"From a first glance yes, but look closer and tell me what you see." Cinder showed the video again.

Roman noticed this time, feeling a tinge of annoyance bugging him. "Son of a-, he wasn't even trying!"

"Correct, from the looks of it he was purposefully stalling. Making little mistake after little mistake, all in hopes that they'd call it quits and leave." Cinder told as Roman gripped between his eyes.

"But they didn't, kids don't know when to just give up." He stated as Cinder put the scroll away.

"No they don't, but ultimately it was a good thing. Now we know who he's really loyal to, and we can plan for it."

Roman pulled out a cigar, lighting it as he took a puff. "So what? How are we going about this?"

Cinder handed him a document. "You'll do nothing about it for the time being. Stick to gathering dust and continuing the plan, I'll deal with him myself."

With that she left, and Roman was just tired of it all.

.

.

"And that's everything?" Ozpin asked as Vermillion nodded.

"Yes."

He raised his mug, taking a sip of his coco. This was just perfect, more mysteries to deal with, at least he knew what happened to Vermillion now. Yet the question remained: What really happened?

According to the knight: he was simply displaced from his position, seemingly warped away to an unknown land. But for himself, Vermillion had disappeared long ago. And that was the big issue he had to resolve right away, Vermillion needed to know he wasn't just 'displaced'.

"That's quite the story, but there is one problem with it." He stated as the knight gave a look of confusion.

"What is it?" Vermillion asked as Ozpin stood, walking over and placing his hands on the young man's shoulders.

"Tell me, how long were you gone?" He asked as the boy shut his eyes.

"I'd say... around a week or so. Can I ask you a question of my own?" Ozpin gave a nod, deciding to let the boy get his own worries out of the way first.

"Why do you look so different? And why aren't you back at the castle with the queen?"

Both were excellent questions from his point of view. It was a good thing that he asked Qrow to leave them be for the night just before Vermillion got into his story, otherwise he'd be answering all sorts of questions he wasn't to keen to get into.

"Well, that actually plays into the reasoning of what I just asked you. Please, take a look out the window with me." Ozpin told as he lead the knight over to see the view.

It was always striking, just as the day before, and the day before that. The view never ceased to amaze him, and it would seem to have caught the boy's interest as well.

"Beautiful isn't it?"

"Yes, it is." Vermillion answered, seemingly captivated by the sight below.

Ozpin decided that it was time to tell the boy what really happened.

"A lot has changes since you disappeared, kingdoms have risen and fallen in that time." Vermillion looked confused.

"What do you mean?" He asked as Ozpin faced him.

"Vermillion, when we sent you out to collect the offering we waited. After a month we expected you to be on your way back, then a couple weeks later your guard returned. They told of your death in the battle between some bandits."

Vermillion's confusion grew. "I don't understand, what are you getting at?"

Ozpin looked into the young knight's eyes as he delivered the answer.

"Vermillion, you been lost to us for over a millennium."

The boy was quiet for a moment, letting out a small question in the form of a single word. "What?"

His voice was so small, yet his face looked calm. He wasn't understanding and so Ozpin spoke in a clearer tone.

"What I'm saying is you disappeared fifteen hundred years ago. Our kingdom is gone, the people are gone, almost everything from then has been swallowed up over the ages."

Vermillion was still quiet, yet the look of horror could be seen creeping into his eyes. It was finally setting in, just what had happened.

"It's gone?" He stated, his voice low and even cracking. He finally realized what it meant.

Ozpin watched as the boy did his best to hold his composure, yet the small shakes and ragged breaths were a dead giveaway. He was finally beginning to understand the painful truth: Everything he knew and loved was lost forever.

Ozpin let a breath silently release, he'd have to deal with this later. But for now he saw it best to just give the boy some time on his own. They'd talk about everything tomorrow.

He walked over to his desk as Vermillion quietly followed. Hitting a button he sat and waited. The sounds of the elevator door opening caught his attention as he watched Qrow walk in.

"You called?" The man asked as Ozpin nodded.

"Yes, take Vermillion here to the empty room at the back of the dorms. We're going to have a chat tomorrow, but right now he needs some rest."

"Right, come on kid." Qrow ordered as Vermillion stood, taking his place next to the man as they entered the elevator.

And with that they were gone, and Ozpin was left working out his plans for tomorrow. He'd deal with Vermillion, yet he had something else to cover before that.

Before they had their chat, He'd need to deal with team RWBY.

.

.

"Here we are."

I looked at the door, taking notice that we'd arrived.

"Thank you." I stated simply as I opened it and stepped inside.

The room was plain looking, a simple bed and some stands against the wall. There was a window at the back, allowing me to see the moonlight. I shut the door behind me as I walked over to take a seat on the bed.

Fifteen hundred years...

It felt like a dream, a bad dream that I'd hopefully wake up from soon. It couldn't be right could it? This was all just a nightmare and I'd wake up back home, lying soundly in the carriage just outside the castle gates.

It had to be a dream... or so I told myself. I knew I was awake, yet I wished that I wasn't. There were so many thought going through my head, so many questions that I had. However the most prominent question was recurring, always poking around with the rest.

How?

How was it possible that I'd disappeared so long ago? What happened to me for all that time? How was I even still alive? I didn't appear to have aged at all before I awoke in Menagerie, so how?

I gripped my head, squeezing tightly as if to get the answers out. Nothing came to mind however, no solutions of the sort, nothing but more confusion and questions.

And then it hit me, like a crack to the neck.

The queen!

If I was really gone for so long then what about the queen? What happened to her? She was a divine much like the king, so shouldn't she be around somewhere? So much I wanted to know, so much I needed to know.

Yet the king wanted me to rest, he said we'd talk tomorrow. But how could I sleep with so much on my mind? I'd just have to force myself, and hope that fatigue took over.

I let my head hit the pillow, slipping off my boots and pauldrons as I set them beside the bed.

I'd just have to wait and see.

.

.

There weren't any more guards, Ruby had learned that when she escaped with Pebble. It was a little disappointing sure, but she chalked it up to good luck on her part. However good luck had been in short supply lately, so she was suspicious of what it could mean.

She decided to just keep moving, it wasn't much longer now anyway. Ruby had been traveling with Pebble for over a day now, up the cliff and through the forest, retracing her path back to the village.

Shade didn't lie (as much as she was hoping he did), when they came across the old resistance base she was disappointed to find it empty. He said they were all executed back at the cell, and now she was able to confirm it for herself.

She let those thoughts go, worrying about it now would do no good. There were plenty of things that happened recently, and as much as she hated how it turned out she'd just have to keep moving.

Regardless of what occurred, the only thing that mattered was finishing the mission. If it cost the lives of others... then so be it.

There!

Just ahead she was able to make out the walls. Ruby quickened her pace, Pebble following after in a short sprint to keep up. She stopped just outside, noticing the lack of any guards. That was a bad sign, and it would only get worse as she continued inward. Shaking off the feeling she continued on.

And so she trudged through the viscera and gore, walking through the bloodied grass as she took count of the bodies.

Both soldiers and villagers littered the place, ripped and broken all around. The armed guards looked to have put up a decent fight against the invaders, yet they still lost. Not even the women or the children were spared, and Ruby could only imagine what they went through.

The levels of depravity were par for the course, she'd seen just as bad from bandits and common criminals. But these were the soldiers of a kingdom, meant to be the pinnacle of justice and heroism, at least according to Aether.

It was ironic that they were willing to throw away their decency for the sake of hatred. There was no justice here, only pain and suffering.

Everyone was dead that much was true, but the memory she gained told a different tale. She kept looking around with Pebble by her side, he didn't seem fazed at all. Being a Faunus who lived in Aether she wasn't all that surprised by his lack of reaction, he'd probably seen this type of scene all the time.

She eventually came to a stop as her eyes wandered over the next casualty. His face was filled with rage, even in death. Ruby lowered herself down, casting a sorrowful gaze over him.

Onyx.

She whispered a silent apology, a wave of regret filling her as she stood once more. The soldiers had followed her trail to the village, she was responsible for all the carnage that befell them.

No, that's not right.

It wasn't her fault, it was them. Thinking deeper Ruby realized she had no way of knowing that Shade was against the resistance all along, she had no way of knowing his true intentions. Even if by some miracle she decided to randomly cover her tracks, they would just have used Pebble. She was going to ask them to take him back to the village, and that would have been the perfect moment.

The facts had been set clear before her: she'd been played!

Ruby was used and discarded, by the people she thought she could trust. Karma had come back to bite her, and she felt a twisted sense of humor about it. She used to get upset with people hiding things and not trusting others, yet over time she started to understand why.

But that was long ago, and she'd lost that mindset the day she lost hope. Hope is a funny thing however, it never seems to fully go away; it just hides every so often.

Ruby had no hope she would complete her goal without taking innocent lives, but she had hope that it could bring about a better world. She was willing to take responsibility for all the death and loss, if it meant rewriting the future.

After all, somebody had to take the fall.

She continued her look around, and after she was finished counting she let a small sense of joy pick at her. The vision must have been right, as there were two bodies who weren't accounted for.

So his wife and child got away.

It was a win in the smallest sense of the word, but a win nonetheless. Letting out a sigh Ruby traced her way back to the entrance. They would live, they had to as Vermillion in her new memory was wearing the ring just as she asked her question.

Ruby sent one last look to the village before she started back along the path to Aether. She didn't have time to bury the dead, as the kingdom would be on high alert looking for her. Shade probably just got word of her escape, and she wanted to catch them all off guard.

It took until evening for them to get back to the cliff. Pebble stuck by her the whole way, and regretfully it would stay that way as she had nowhere to drop him off. It seemed as though he was her companion now, at least until she found him a home.

Ruby took a glance over the city in the distance, feeling a particular swell of anger in her gut. Did everyone deserve to die for the crimes of a group of soldiers? No, but they would anyway.

History showed that Aether fell, leaving nothing but ruins behind and eventually being forgotten about entirely. Whether it fell in one or a thousand years was irrelevant, it still fell. All she needed was the ruins, and if that meant bringing about the destruction of an entire kingdom, then who better than her?

Besides, it wouldn't be the first kingdom she destroyed.

.

.

DAMNIT!

On the outside Weiss was quiet, seemingly sleeping in her bed and facing away from the others. But on the inside she was breaking herself apart.

How could she!? How could she fall apart like that!? She was a huntress for dust's sake! So why!?

Why was she so terrified!? It wasn't the first time she had faced death. Back home she had been the target of several assassins before, back when she was just a child. In those moments she had felt horrified. Weiss thought that would be the pinnacle of fear, that it could never get worse.

The assassins had nearly killed her and her brother too, it was the closest she'd ever been to death. Yet even that had paled in comparison to what she had seen just hours ago.

When she first laid eyes on him she felt the dread shoot through her, a primitive fear she didn't even know was possible. She fought him anyway, pushing that feeling away so she could help Blake.

It was only when her aura broke, when she stared into his crimson eyes did she feel herself let loose. It was a twisted feeling, pure terror and helplessness as she stared hopelessly at her demise. She didn't even try to move, she was simply stuck accepting her would be death.

But that wasn't the worst of it; no, it was the feeling of comfort she got that scared her the most. As she watched him raise his sword, she had felt... content. It felt like she was meant to die, and she was happy about it. That was the worst horror, her mind was terrified at the prospect, yet it also felt at peace.

It was only after she got back to the room did she feel the shame at having almost given up on living. She could have moved, rolled, even crawled. But no, she just sat there and watched him nearly kill her.

Looking back at the memory now though gave her a small feeling of confusion. He was going to kill her, yet his eyes held a sense of pain.

Weiss had spent most of her childhood alone, her time eaten up through study. She never really had any friends, and so had developed a certain skill as she observed the people around her.

She was able to see the emotions and feelings simply through the look of their eyes. It was an odd sort of skill, but one she'd honed regardless. Weiss had been able to see through the masks others wore and get a look at their true emotions.

The most prominent example being Jaune. He had routinely expressed his love for her, and his eyes held a look of excitement. She knew he wanted her, but the reason was unknown. He said love, but whether it was really love or something else had her on guard.

She was the next in line to run the SDC, a position of wealth that had many seeking her affection. They all shared the same look of excitement, yet she knew it was for her money and power, not her. Whether Jaune was one of those people had yet to be seen, but she wasn't taking chances.

Her servants back at the household held more of a bored or envious look, likely regretful at having to serve them. Weiss may not have known the reasons for a person's emotions, but she knew what they were.

So why? Why did he feel remorse as he tried to kill me?

He was part of the White Fang, he was supposed to hate her, but she saw no hate. Instead, he looked to pity her, and she didn't know how to feel about that. Especially when she heard the headmaster recite that speech. After that he looked relieved as he took his blade back.

She wasn't worried for her life anymore, instead she was hating her weakness.

Never again.

Weiss knew she couldn't let herself fall to fear like that again, otherwise she'd actually die. She couldn't afford to die yet, not until she undid all the terrible things her father brought to the SDC.

Letting out a quiet breath she brought the covers closer to herself, wrapping up into a cocoon of blankets. If there was one thing she could feel motivated about, it was the desire to overthrow her father.

She turned from her position, taking a look at Yang across the room. Her teammate was currently splayed about, her blankets and limbs all over the bed. Weiss felt a small giggle overcome her. A sense of happiness in the one gift she got by joining Beacon, a solid truth that she learned over the first few days.

She wasn't alone.

.

.

The next day came about calmly as the students rose to go about their mornings. In particular team RWBY was going about a different type of morning.

"You're what!?" Weiss screeched as Blake covered her ears.

The dark hared girl let out a sigh. "I said I was once part of the White Fang, that's why I was looking for them."

"But why!? Why join up with those murderers!?" Ruby held Weiss by the arms, lowering her back down as she sat them both on the bed.

"Hold up Weiss, let's hear her out." Yang said as she looked to Blake. "So what's the story?"

Blake let out a breath as she straightened herself. "They weren't always bad, once upon a time we were just protesters. We would go to rallies in an attempt to be heard, but nobody would ever listen. Everyone would just keep pushing us around, until one day the leader stepped down and a new one took his place."

Yang nodded for her to continue as Weiss and Ruby just sat quietly. Blake looked at them, knowing they deserved at least some sort of answer about what happened with her.

"We used to just do small things at first. Petty vandalism of shops that refused service to Faunus, stealing supply from businesses that abused it's Faunus workers, and occasionally fighting against the underground Faunus slave trade."

"Underground... slave trade?" Weiss asked quietly as Blake nodded.

"Most of the slaves were being bought and sent to work in the SDC mining camps." She told as Weiss looked lost, almost shameful even.

"I didn't know..."

"Nobody does, not officially anyway." Blake interrupted as Weiss let out a few tears.

"I don't think the rest of my family knows either." Weiss admitted as Yang took the lead again.

"*Sigh* You could have asked us for help. Sure it would have taken some talking, I mean come on ex terrorist isn't exactly normal, but we could have helped." Yang spoke as Weiss chimed in.

"I wouldn't have." The three of them stared at her.

"If you told me you were once one of them, I would have tried to report you to the authorities." She started as Ruby spoke up.

"Weiss!?"

"It's true though!" Her tone grew for the moment as she gazed at her hands.

"They've been killing off my relatives every chance they got, so why would I believe you were any different?" Weiss asked as the three looked between themselves.

Blake slowly looked to her. "Weiss I-"

"No, stop right there." Weiss held up her hand as Blake did so. Her look was hard as she stared at the cat Faunus.

"Don't blame yourself, it's not your fault for anything they did without you. You said you left when they tried to get you to blow up a train and kill everybody aboard right? Maybe I would have been more distrustful had I learned everything before I found you."

Weiss stood as she walked over, taking Blake's hand as she leveled a serious look into her eyes.

"But you're not like them. You don't want to kill anybody, I saw it back when we were fighting together. So don't go taking their crimes onto yourself, you're better than that. You may be a quiet loner who keeps running off into trouble, but you're not a murderer." Weiss let her go as she backed away.

Blake didn't know what to think. Even after nearly dying Weiss still expressed worry for her. A Schnee worrying about a Faunus... no, a friend worrying about a friend.

She was about to speak again, only to be cut off by an announcement over the hall speakers.

"Would team RWBY please report to the headmaster's office, I repeat would team RWBY please report to the headmaster's office, thank you."

Ruby stood up as the announcement ended. "Alright, we can talk everything out later. Let's go see what the headmaster wants us for."

The others just nodded as they left the room, following their young leader as they trailed across the academy. They stayed silent the whole way, thinking on what the headmaster could need. Even on the ride up they were quiet, simply casting looks to each other.

Once the elevator opened they were able to see the headmaster sitting at his desk. He waved them over to the chairs situated before him.

"Good to see you've all arrived. I'm hoping last night wasn't too hard on you?" He asked as they looked amongst each other. Blake was the first to speak up.

"It was... rough, but nothing too bad. So why did you call us here?" She asked as the headmaster linked his hands together.

"Well, I've brought you here for a small chat, nothing too long I assure you." The headmaster took a more off-putting look as his expression stilled.

"We need to have a talk about the fight from last night. But to be more specific we'll be having a discussion about the man you fought with." Blake's eyes widened as she sat stiff in her seat.

"Vermillion."

Author's note

...

Okay, we're finally getting somewhere.

Yeah I know most of this chapter has just been setup, but it has to be done. Character development and what not.

But hey! More team RWBY am I right... anyone... okay. But in all fairness we've yet to have them really do anything yet, it's coming though so don't worry.

Oz be about to start sweet talkin his way outa trouble again, what's he planning? Who knows... well I know, but still.

I guess that's all for now. We'll get to the good stuff soon enough.

So tell me what you think, see you soon.