Sorry for the wait, here is a new chapter. As always, do enjoy.

The sun's light was breaking through the thicket of dawn's mist. With blistering cold winds, the inhabitants within a small cottage snuggled warmly beneath covers that shielded them from the low temperatures. One, however, had plans of his own this particular morning. Jaune arose from bed doing his best to avoid waking his partner as he dressed. Slipping out of the house ever so quietly, taking a long walk through the forest. His strolls were once workout runs, that eventually had to become walks. The cold wasn't kind on his aging body, being forty was harder than what he imagined. Even so, he wouldn't trade away the passing time, or any of the pain that came with it.

Three months after Emerald moved in with them, the news of his comrades in the coalition still afflicted his sleep. Neo felt it too, by Monty the regret of abandoning all those poor souls weighed down on her. It wasn't until the second month did she finally get some sleep, and even when she did, their faces never left her dreams. The only way for her to sleep peacefully was when Jaune wrapped his arms around her. Even so, she knew it was just a bandage over a wound. Her husband, however, dealt without much harder.

He had no right to call them friends, not after all the decisions he made before, but there was a bond amongst the rebels. The idea that united them together under a single banner, a hopeful future, which took 10 years' worth of lives; friends and lovers, only to end with a crushing defeat.

It was an unspoken truth; just before Atlas and its forces retook Vale, the Coalition was undoubtedly going to win the war. One would ask; what demography made up this rebel force? The governments classified them as; ruffians, savages, and anarchistic brutes. Yet taken the time to truly see within their rankings, the Coalition members were just humans and Faunus driven by a cause. People abandoned by their governments, left to rot or be killed by the Grimm.

The citizens of well-developed cities blamed the creatures of darkness for the massacres, but only those within the highest chains of military rankings knew the truth. The destroyed settlements were merely just propaganda, their deaths infused great anger, and gave rise to enrollments into both hunter and military schools.

On the day of the Vytal Festival, when unity and peace were expected to last another many years more, lives were shattered as the Coalition made its move, striking down the banner of Vale. In the midst of the confusion from the initial attack, many turncoats from all over the kingdom received the signal, and so began the decade long civil war. Notable groups such as; the White Fang and Libertà proudly stood behind Cinder Fall as she paved the dream the coalition shared.

In Beacon, there was only one, and no soul suspected him until the fighting began. Jaune's betrayal shocked many; the once quiet and cheerful blonde suddenly shifted into an emotionless assassin. Those who witnessed his actions saw the initial remorse in his face when he drove his blade into his own partner. Though sentiment was an abandoned notion when striking down the rest of his classmates. In a single day, more than half of the student body, and a near 89% of the military forces in the city were lost.

"Up a little early aren't we?"

Jaune's train of thoughts shifted to a friend dangling under a tree branch. "You're the same age as me, yet how can you still be so agile?" Jaune asked.

Emerald merely laughed at his question, then jumped down to him. "What can I say? I still got it. You know, blaming yourself for something that was bound to happen isn't good for your health. The war was going to end one way or another...thankfully, Vale didn't win either."

"Wait, what? I thought you said Atlas and the other kingdoms intervened."

"They did, on one condition; Vale was to surrender its entirety. When only Military officials were seen as the last government figures, and most of the kingdom's citizens joining the coalition, they had no choice but to agree. And so, the territories of Vale are now divided amongst the other three.

This came as quite a surprise, although, if General Ironwood was playing a role in that treaty, then the whole ordeal could've been predicted. To think the kingdom he grew up in was forced to subdue rather than face the shame of admitting defeat. Jaune knew the other kingdoms were waiting for most of the war to blow over, aiding Vale when both sides would be weakened by the years of conflict. But to allow the fall of an entire kingdom just to save it from rebels, only proved how patient and great avarice these politicians had.

Luckily, most of the villages and settlements out here were independent; outside of Kingdom influences.

The two friends continued catching up on lost time, and taking in the scenery around them.

All the while, a small airship made a quick flyby over the forest, the Schnee banner embedded on the hull proudly. Inside were a small number of hunters, each of them around the same age, and bearing the old Vale emblem on their left arms. The door to the cockpit opened, revealing a young and beautiful woman. Her white hair, and light blue eyes were a mirrored image of a lost sibling. Though not as graceful or clean, she carried a standard Atlesian rifle while wearing and an old set of Vale armor. One of the pilots turned to her "Ma'am, we're nearing the destination. ETA: 10 minutes."

To which the woman smiled and turned her attention to her team. "Alright ladies, listen up!" Her voice cold, and gruff. "Our target; Emerald Sustrai, was last seen in this area. We will tear apart this forest if we have to, but we're not going home without her. In cuffs or in pieces. Understood?!"

"Yes ma'am!"

Winter Schnee, the last descendent of Heinrich Shcnee. A decorated soldier with a need for vengeance. After the death of her elder sister, she focused her entire life on training, and when the time came, she was in the First Battalion: first Atlesian ground division to take part in the invasion. While taking down rebel after rebel was soothing, her main target was still somewhere at large; Jaune Arc, the traitor responsible for killing her sister. Even after reports claimed his death during the Blitz, and her superiors redirected her focus on coalition members that were actually proven to still be alive, she vowed to never rest until she had his corpse paraded through Atlas.

Little did she know, the source of her hate will appear before her very soon, without fully knowing it is him. Will her search finally come to an end, or will it be her own emotions that end her?

And this is where we depart. I'm sorry it isn't as long as it should be, but I'm currently stuck in terms of where to take this story. I shall waste no time in continuing, however I must think it through, carefully, with what's to come of the surviving members in this story. Fear not, I'm not abandoning my story. I shall continue once I can grasp a good plot involving Blake and Noa. Thank you for reading.