A/N: Double update. A big thank you for my first favourite, KaijudoFan101. Now onto the last prelude for the story.


The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

Chapter 4: Contract, Prelude Part 3


The skies were red with crimson, ground ruptured and from it, sprouted countless crystals, each of them, its once pristine white, turned black and purple as it absorbed the purity of darkness – almost too pure to the point there were cracks in some of them.

The moon of Remnant hung in the sky, watching the dead land.

Among them, stood a lonely figure – except she wasn't lonely at all.

Every fibre of her being hungered for revenge. Her back was straight, and hands by the side. The long blackened cape, her stigma, a vertical eye, its makeshift light going further down the cape. Her skin, pulsing with deep red and purple, the same shade as her hair, which was tied in a bun, with six additional tails sprouting from it.

Before her, was a specially crafted crystalline mirror, it showed the one she sought for many years, not out of revenge or love.

But out of necessity. A cruel reminder of the events before she became…an abomination of a single curse.

The mirror showed a dancer, her steps fleeting, the two cloths around her body, singing a song to the whole world. The bright showy lights shone on her – and on her only. Her eyes were wide despite the perspiration between them. It was only a visual image, but that young woman looked capable.

However, out of dancing, Salem could see invisible stress on her body. The small slouch on her posture when she was alone. The thumb onto the forefinger – especially on the left hand – cracked when cornered or feeling uncomfortable with a situation.

It was due to her missing memories – Salem envied her and at the same time, pitied the young woman.

"Soon, my descendent, soon…"


One and a half year later…

Today is a new moon…thought the young Huntress bitterly.

Tara Twilight sat all alone in an empty tavern, her hands curled around the mug which held the much needed caffeine. The barkeeper wiped his own glasses with a clean cloth, glancing in her direction once in a while, concerned if she was all right.

When she noticed, she forced a smile and muttered a thank you before staring down at her coffee mug. Its brown liquid showed her murky, tired face.

Ever since graduation, she has been going solo missions – whether it is to exterminate a pack of Grimms that were terrorizing small towns or to go underground, smoking and stamping out black market…suppliers.

Deep down in her soul, she recognized those…those research labs. They made her sick. Torture devices…medical kits…countless tanks filled up with water, each of them, were filled with a living human, Faunus – and rarely – Grimm.

There were humans and Faunus of all ages – she closed her eyes. In her mind's eye, she could see a young baby, in foetal position, floating inside, possibly dead even with the oxygen support from the mask attached to her face.

The living never made it out alive – even if she tried, they will not wake up. Autopsies report…Tara stopped reading after her first mission. It was too cruel.

The strange machinery which operated them, forced the living people into comatose state inside, while for the Grimm, caused them to cry pitiful howls – sometimes akin to animals – as they were constantly electrocuted struggled.

Her trembling red-stained hands, forcefully shut the system down. In a chain reaction, Grimms broke out of their watery cage and charged at her. Stamping the corpses of researchers until they were just a piece of smashed meat – all kinds of identification gone.

How funny – thought Tara – she no longer hesitates in taking lives regardless of races.

Her grip tightened around her mug.

Ra slashed the Grimms' exposed flesh easily, and given enough time, its combined form with Amun would pierce their hard armour. Most of them were twice bigger than her size, and almost thrice when they stood on the hind legs.

She thought she had seen all kinds of Grimm.

But those researchers proved her wrong.

There were even small insects, and those were nightmares when they bit her – sucking her Aura reserves like water.

Fortunately for Tara, she learned if she coated a small portion of Aura around her body, she could protect herself from those bites. Unfortunately, it requires almost half of her concentration to maintain the flimsy Aura barrier.

"Miss Tara," A male voice called out.

The aforementioned Huntresses' human ears twitched. The coyote ears on top of her head, one of them with a triangular shaped gap at the side, twisted around to hear better under the hood. Her head kept low, allowing the hood to shadow the upper part of her face.

She gestured at the seat opposite her without bothering to look at the speaker. It is rude – but at that point Tara was tired from the constant bottling of emotions, especially the negative and ugly side.

"Are you my contact?" asked Tara sharply.

A heavy sigh. His breath stank of alcohol. "Kid, you are depressing."

Tara wisely chose to be silent at the casual quip, though her lips were curled with disgust.

How ironic, since she is in a tavern.

"You are a quiet one," observed her contact. "And a dangerous Huntress," added the contact with a low voice.

Tara replied evenly. "If you have no business with me, I will have to leave, there are other jobs cal-"

A hand slam interrupted her. "My apologies, milady. For testing your patience. And for the slam." Added the contact, sounding remorse – much to Tara's ire.

Tara forced a smile to spite him. "At least you have manners…for a drunk person," snarked the Huntress. That was all she said before a file was passed to her across the table. Tara touched its surface – it was rough under her fingertips.

She sent a little of her Aura into it – nothing odd.

"Done with your inspection?" There was amusement in his voice. Tara finally looked up, and saw him flinch. It was only a second, and he recovered fast enough. But the damage was done.

Her heart, though stone cold from all the years of solitude, still hurt from people's reaction to her current state. Like most Faunus, their eyes glowed in the dark when willed, for night vision – but hers was different. It glowed in a monstrous way, and more ominous when hidden in the dark.

Red, purple and green, flecked across her eye. The heather was always dominant. The green was scattered around the pupil and the red streaked across the eyes, mingling together with the purple in perfect harmony.

For a vague reason, the man reminded him of her old tutor. It was almost the same, except for the short red cape on his shoulder and lack of hood, and the streaks of grey on the side of raven-coloured hair, along with the subtle beard on his chin. He has a playful expression, and his rusted red eyes glinted with amusement.

"It's not good to stare ya'know,"

He is not Logan – he's thirty feet underneath. Plus his eyes were not one full of pain.

Tara looked down again, her lips now in a thin line, and pulled out the request from the plain-looking file and skimmed through the contents.

"Patch? I thought it was a small, safe town," Tara didn't bother hiding her confusion. "Grimm may be still around, and last I heard, it has little population there."

A thunk on the table. Glasses?

"Are you drinking this early in the day?" Disgust coloured her otherwise monotone voice. The not-lookalike-Logan merely hummed as he popped the cork open with the wine opener.

"Kid, I'm an adult, plus, I don't drink in front of underage kids," he defended before pouring one for himself. The Huntress let it slide as she reread a particular sentence silently.

As long as you are bound to this agreement, you will not accept other contracts of any kind. The contract can only be broken if both sides accept the parting – and two conditions must be met before it.

- The Huntsman/Huntress must be a teacher in Signal Academy for 6 months.

- The Huntsman/Huntress must complete the training regimen provided by the contact, and acknowledged he/she has fully completed it.

"You…will teach me?" she sounded incredulous – even to her own ears. How did he know she is searching for one?

Thunk. Another slosh of liquid as it met the solid glass, gradually filling up to its brim. "As for our witness…"

Tara glanced around the bar. No one except for the barkeeper. She looked up from the contract papers and stared at her contact as he dug in his pockets, mumbling under his breath.

She let her gaze fall onto the wine bottle, and much to her surprise – a filled red liquid, left untouched. One more wineglass, half-emptied, at the contact's side.

She did not realize her contact had pulled out his Scroll and was dialling someone on the other end. It was only when the speaker was on and a grumpy "What?" that her attention was turned to the Scroll. The screen was placed face up, showing her another uncle of her contact's age, with tired eyes and neatly trim hair.

Blonde hair, blue eyes – a friend?

"Hey Tai, I know it is too early-"

"Late," interjected the person now identified as Tai. "Very late. Ruby and Yang are now asleep. You better have a good reason calling me this late in the night."

"It's actually early in the morning, very early." Her contact replied evenly. "You are the witness for our deal."

The person called Tai, raised his eyebrows. "What?"

Her contact placed his Scroll until it showed them both. Tai's mouth went a perfect 'O' before he nod in greeting to Tara, and eyes regarding the Huntress curiously.

"Qrow wants to make a deal? Is Qrow drunk right now?" The blonde person sounded incredulous. But one thing that registered in Tara's mind was her contact's name.

Qrow?

"I'm very much sober," Said the contact, now identified as Qrow. He clapped his hands for attention, and directed their gaze to the contract paper, which was still in her hands. "I believe it is rude to not ask her lady for her name in our very first meeting," continued Qrow smoothly, his expression blank as he offered his hand to her.

"Qrow Branwen."

Tara stared at the offered hand and blinked. "Tara, Tara Twilight." Instead of shaking his hand, she passed the contract papers to him. Qrow gave her a look of amusement.

"As for that idiot-"

"HEY!" Protested Tai.

Conveniently ignoring his witness, Qrow continued, "is Taiyang Xiao Long."

The two men looked at her. Being used to crowds, Tara was unfazed, instead looked back at Qrow, resting her gaze on his rusted coloured eyes.

She saw nothing but hope and excitement.

Such honest and positive eyes. Noted the Huntress.

"Do you accept?"

She smiled, a real one for the first time since her first day of becoming a full-fledge Huntress.

The answer is clear to the men as they grinned.

"Welcome to Signal Academy, Professor Tara Twilight."


A/N: Tara is a Faunus during a new moon of the lunar cycle. It is known to most of her schoolmates that she is a Faunus at a certain point of time, and was criticized for being a wannabe Faunus in her first month of first year – Leon Huang included until he read her journal she wrote since 12 years old. How this transformation happened is linked to her missing memories.

Aura Barrier – Most Huntsmen and Huntresses can use this ability, provided their control over their Aura is great since it's a high level technique. Aura Barrier cannot reflect attacks unless pumped an extra boost with the right timing.

Timeline:
- Ruby and Yang will be 13 and 15 in age.
- Tara is now 20 years 6 months old from this chapter onwards.