Oz woke me that morning, an hour before first light, with tea and breakfast. I could sense his nervousness and I understood it completely. That was why he woke up before me.

The last time I had gone out on a mission, I had 'died'. I had slipped away while he had been asleep, leaving him with only a recording and when the dust had settled on the battlefield, my team and I had vanished into the Tunnels beneath Vale.

So I smiled and kissed him, easing his fears and enjoying a comfortable breakfast. "I have some time dear. Come sit with me." I said, motioning to the other chair in the tiny kitchenette. His smile was tight, but he sat down with me. "Not much." He said, pouring more coffee into his cup.

"I wish you wouldn't go." He murmured, sipping his hot coffee. I puckered my lips. "Because it's a mission or because it's a job from Ironwood?" I said with a chuckle. He cracked a smile and admitted that he wasn't fond of my working for the General. "I only took this job to give him the thought that he has control over me and my team. He'll find out the truth very quickly the next time he tries to order me around."

I gave him a devilish grin as he laughed. "Understand, Dahlia that James is my friend and he is a good man. He's just got different ideas about what is necessary than I do. And a fondness for my lover." He said mildly, quirking his eyebrows at me.

My smile hadn't changed and Oz grew red faced as I stared at him. Then he chuckled and sighed. "Finish your tea, love. You've got to pick up your team to meet with your squad." I finished my tea in a few gulps and began to dress.

He enjoyed attaching me wrap the leather straps around my body.

When I finished I grabbed Orchid, tucked away my last few herbs in my back pouch and shoved my hands into my fingerless gloves.

"You will be careful, won't you?" He asked hesitantly, while my back was turned. I turned with understanding in my eyes.

I limped to him and put a hand on his cheek which he put his hand over. "It's a routine search and destroy mission and I won't be alone. I'll be back this evening even if it-" I stopped myself.

I was about to say even if it kills me, which was not something I wanted to say to the man who was worried sick about me leaving the safety of the campus. I covered myself by kissing him lightly. "This evening. It's a promise." He was not totally convinced but he let go of the hand he'd captured on his cheek. "This evening. Don't be late." I grinned at him and turned away, pulling the lever to release the stairs.

He was full of anxiety and my mind raced for something I could say that would take his mind off of me leaving.

So before my head disappeared below the floor, I looked up and called his name. His eyes went to me and my heart swelled in my chest. "Do you ever wonder what our children will look like?" I dashed down the stairs, chuckling at his surprised yelp.

When I felt him, his anxiety was lessened and now he was thoughtful. I was thinking too.

Brown eyes… a brown eyed black haired boy with short little sharp canines…

"Good morning Commander Derivalle." The squad leader said stiffly when I entered the airship followed by Elin, Elise and Peyton. I looked at the man, Ryke and wondered at his hostility.

"Please. Call me Dahlia. I'm not an officer." I said waving him down. He shook his helmeted head. "No can do, Commander. General Ironwood named you my commanding officer so I must address you as such." I sighed. Ironwood had to make things so dang complicated.

The ship took off and I went to the map. It would take us no more than three hours to reach Vasilius at speed and then team DEEP would clear out the problem and have a little visit with Mama Thayet.

"We received a distress call in the middle of the night, nothing major but an Ursa knocked out the power lines so only the one emergency radio is working. Everyone is holed up in their houses, waiting for us to take care of the issues before the techs go in a fix the lines."

My eyes wandered the map aimlessly pausing at Mountain Glenn and suppressing a shudder.

It's in the past. Put it behind you. Focus on the here and now, here and now. Peyton came up and put an arm around my shoulder and relaxed into his side. Here and now with my friends. He would make a great father one day.

Now why am I thinking about that?

"Have any of the citizens contacted you through the radio?" Peyton asked. Ryke's lips thinned and he took a breath in as if he was about to reprimand Peyton. Which was a bad idea since Peyton outweighed him by a couple stone of muscle and towered two heads over him. Noting that I was staring at him Ryke growled his replied.

"There were two on the radio when the distress call went out. They were calm and informed us that everyone was barricaded in their houses and that there wasn't a need to rush but they need us to get that nest cleared out and the power back online."

It explained why we hadn't been able to contact Mama Thayet to check on the status of the town.

I tensed up for no reason but forced myself to relax. There had been people on the radio. The villagers were safe. Just a routine Grimm nest clear out. Nothing to worry about.

"Can I help you with anything else?" He grumbled, crossing his arms defensively across his chest. It was my turn for my lips to thin into a disapproving line. "Yes, you can. You can fix up your attitude." The man stiffened.

"If I have said anything to offend-" Peyton snorted. "You don't have to say it around her. She's an Empath. She knows you've got a problem with us by the way you feel. I'm not an Empath so I can tell by your tone that you have issues, so let's get them out in the open shall we?" I was mildly surprised that Peyton had verbally laid the man out. Elin must be rubbing off on him.

Anger flared. Resentment swelled. Ryke motioned for the other men to leave and he uncrossed his arms. "You want to hear my problem?"

My face remained blank and I kept a firm link to Ryke's emotions to see the truth. "I get it okay? I get that he is trying to blood his new Special Operatives early. This is a small mission but I am a seasoned commander and my men have been doing this work since before you were born. So why am I being put beneath the command of a little girl who's never seen combat? Why am I putting my men's lives in the hands of someone who's never commanded a squadron before? The General treats his Special Operatives like they are better than everyone else and worth more than our lives in battle but when he is in command of them he doesn't think twice about throwing their lives away." He began to pace.

I sighed. This wasn't about us. This was about General Ironwood.

I nudged Peyton who took the hint and moved to the door. I knew that Elin and Elise were hovering near it, listening to the conversation. They had picked up on eavesdropping without me teaching them a thing but I would give them some pointers when we got back.

I had a slight advantage since I had the Faunus hearing abilities.

"Ryke, I'd like to set a few things straight. Maybe that will ease your worries." He wouldn't ever really like me since I was a young woman but I could at least ensure that he respected me.

"I'm not one of Ironwood's Special Operatives. None of my team are." Ryke looked at me confused. He still wore his helmet so I couldn't see his eyes but his emotions told me everything. "Ironwood only asked us to lead this mission because he's trying to butter us up into a position in his Special Ops group and because the Thayet twins are from Vasilius and they know the land better than anyone… I also got the impression that there were no other graduated Huntsmen nor Huntresses who could respond to a minor distress call."

Ryke rubbed his mouth roughly. "As to the issue of naivety, I can assure you Squad Leader Ryke that my team has been blooded many times over. By chance, did you get the report about the recent Grimm attack inside Vale?" Ryke straightened up. "Of course I did. I was the head of one of the companies that responded."

I nodded. "Did you hear about the first year students who went back into the tunnels?" I murmured quietly, playing with my necklace. His emotions grew muddled. "We had heard something but I thought those kids were dead?"

He looked at me long and hard.

"You've got to be joking." He gasped. I chose to smile instead of growl. "My team and I earned our title as Beacon's Elite in the maze of Tunnels beneath Vale. We earned our scars and I hope that with that I can at least earn your respect. I promise, Officer Ryke, that I will not endanger any of your men without good cause."

There it was. That kernel of feelings. Respect and maybe even a touch of trust.

"So, Officer Ryke." I put my hand out. "Do we have an accord?" I was half smiling, which I knew made a bright white scar pop out like a dimple. He stared at me for a few moments before putting his hand out and gripping mine. "I think we do, Commander."

He didn't let go of my hand. "Also, no matter what Ironwood promises you, don't join the SO's. My sister got sucked in when she went through her training. She was killed last year for something not worth dying for. Ironwood told me I should honor her sacrifice by committing myself to the Militia but I haven't forgotten who sent her to 'sacrifice' herself. Lives are cheap to a man who commands an army." Ryke explained with a fierce smile.

Isn't that the hard truth…

"I'm sorry that you lost her… what was her name?" I asked gently. "Frieda. Frieda Ryke." He said letting go of my hand. "That's a lovely name. I'm sure she's thankful to have such a strong brother." I stretched out one tiny thread to him. He had accepted her death by honoring it but hate and resentment were such negative emotions.

Like lancing a boil, I drained those emotions away and healed it up.

I tapped my staff against the floor twice and my team came to me.

I looked at Ryke and smiled. "Do you think we could find a screen? My baby sister is fighting in the tournament this morning."

Elin nudged me. "The little ones did well in their match!" Elise went to punch him but I looked at her and she lowered her fist grinning. "Don't break him till after we visit your mother. Otherwise, she'll wonder if I'm taking proper care of you!"

Peyton chuckled, eager to meet Mama Thayet face to face. He'd met her through video chat when Elin called her and she had expressed approval of their relationship. Her only comment was: 'He's huge!' to which Elin winked at her and said 'I know'.

I was excited to see the warm mother again as well. It was fall but I knew she would have held back some of the herbs from her garden for me.

"She's already going to think we're crazy. Did you know that Glynda tattled on us to Mom about the uh- incident?" I groaned. No, I hadn't known but at least Mama Thayet wouldn't find out by seeing the scars. But that also meant that Glynda had 'contacted the deceased family' so I was about to get an earful.

Again.

"But seriously though. Blake put in a good fight." Peyton said. They all knew about Blake's relation to me. After Elise figured it out, it was too much work to keep it a secret from the boys. It was funny though, when I finally forced it out of my mouth that we were sisters, the boys had already figured it out. It just took them longer than Elise.

"I've very proud of her. It was clever to lure that girl on the hoverboard away and strike her from behind." I said with a slight purr of happiness on the end of my words. "Very Dahlia like, I'd say." Elin said with a wink at me.

Elise sighed and sat back. "I hope Mom has food ready for us." I gave her a look. "Elise, darling, she's a baker. Of course she'll have food." Mama Thayet's blackberry biscuits were to die for.

My mouth watered.

"Commander?" One of the techs called to me. "Yes, Terry?" The young tech smiled at me. "We're approaching Vasilius. ETA ten minutes." I nodded and stood up to stretch. "Thank you, Terry." My team readied itself and I forced myself to relax. "You guys got a general idea of where the nest could be?"

Elin nodded. "There was an old one to the West of the village, cleared out maybe two years ago?" He looked at his sister. "Anyways, I'm guessing that some Grimm may have moved back into residence there." I nodded. It made sense.

Grimm were attracted to places of negativity and an old Grimm nest was bound to hold plenty of it.

"I wish we could watch JNPR's fight but we got work to do." Peyton said, rolling his massive muscled shoulders. "We'll record it and watch it later." I replied, smiling.

This was what Huntsmen and Huntresses did. Cleared out Grimm and kept people safe. It felt like we were already pros at the game and I didn't feel fear, only a slight sense of wary anticipation. I had faced Grimm before and won. I would win this time too.

"Team DEEP drop in five!" The pilot announced. We made our way to the jump doors. "Circling Vasilius."

I got ready to jump. Relaxing my muscles and running my hand along Orchid in a soothing motion. "Preparing to open doors."

I could hear the wind rushing outside as the doors began to slide open. The wind was harsh as the propellers whipped it around us. "Jump in 5… 4…3- what is that?" The pilot asked in a confused voice. I couldn't see anything with the wind in my eyes so I waited.

"Jump!"

We leapt from the transporter, fell through the air and landed hard in the road to the main entrance of the village. I looked around confused at what the pilot might have seen. Grimm probably.

"Weapons to hand everyone. We'll start out at the old nest in the West." I called, moving toward the front entrance to the village. It was very quiet. Of course, everyone is hiding in their houses; waiting for us to clear away the Grimm.

"Peyton, I want you to…" I trailed off as I entered the village.

All the air left my body. All the blood drained from my face. For a moment, I felt completely numb.

"Peyton, get the twins out of here." I whispered. He didn't hear me. "Peyton." I barked, my voice cracking upward, nearing hysteria.

It startled him enough that he looked at me. His green eyes were filled with horror. "Get them out of here." He didn't move. I couldn't even feel the twins behind me. They had gone deep into themselves, hiding from the pain.

"NOW!"

All three jumped at the hoarse command and Peyton put himself between the village and the twins as he ushered them away. Once they were gone I took a shuddery breath in and faced what lay in Vasilius.

On the transporter, Ryke was directing his squad to their positions.

He still felt that she was too young but he had to admit there was something commanding about the Derivalle girl. Her team weren't people to push around either.

He'd read the reports and knew that they should be dead but they weren't and that had to count for something.

"Hey, sir. Commander's on the line for you." The copilot called on the overhead. Already? Ryke got a bad feeling in his stomach. Team DEEP had just landed so they couldn't have cleared out that fast. Which meant something was wrong.

Steve held the phone out and Ryke grabbed it a put it to his ear. "Commander?" He said into the speaker. He heard a faint voice on the other end. "Ryke?"

"Yes? Commander? Derivalle?" he said, his voice growing louder with concern. She didn't seem like someone to get faint. She tried to say something but it was too quiet for him. "What was that?" He listened to her take a couple deep breathes and clear her throat.

"I'm calling in for back-up." She said a little steadier, but the last syllable still quaked.

He was shocked. "Why do you need back-up? What's going on? How does the team who went into those tunnels need back up this quickly?" He said angrily. Had she been lying? He listened to her labored breathing. On the camera he watched her standing perfectly still just inside the main village gate. They couldn't see beyond where she was standing.

"No, Officer. There are no Grimm here…"

The camera shifted to the left to see what she was staring at.

"Just a lot of bodies to bury."