Welcome to chapter 5! What with the rushing through everything in the last chapter, figured now it's time to dial back the pace. And of course let everything that happened sink in.

Here we go:

He was not the kindest of people. He was not the nicest of friends. He was not the bravest of warriors. Now, he was a wanted fugitive.

Cardin Winchester had not been entirely satisfied with his life. Hell, most people were not satisfied with their own pointless lives either. But Cardin had wanted more out of his. He despised weakness, because if he possessed it, he could not rise. If he wanted more out of life, he had to beat that weakness away with strength. Undeniable, unmatched strength.

He was not the best of students. There was no point in regurgitating endless chunks of text while they could be out hunting monsters. There was no superiority to be proven in there. He found the lectures – the awful, never-ending wastages of time – to be such a drag; as if being able to recall historic dates would help beat down a Beowolf. As a result, he spent every waking moment in them (which was not very long) wishing he was working out instead.

When the fighting finally came to him, he faltered. Much like with the Ursa in Forever Fall, he got cold feet when something beyond his abilities appeared out of nowhere. He might have been afraid of dying, but he knew that there was something else in there that he feared: losing.

He detested weakness, not just in himself, but in others as well. He relished his own strength and power – the proof that he was far better. Beating down Arc countless times affirmed him of that.

But when the White Fang attacked, he became powerless.

Sure, he had managed to fight back some of the goons, but when his team was surrounded, he knew there was no way out. They were Faunus – people like Scarlatina whom he used to bully. They were powerless outcasts shunned by the world, forever at the mercy of the strong. At the mercy of people like Cardin.

He remembered watching Russel charge at their enemies, his desperate shout cut short by the lance impaling his stomach. As a torrential waterfall of blood gushed from the wound with the weapon pulled out, Cardin remembered the sheer shock that had frozen over Russel's face. He remembered that ghastly expression as his friend fell, torn to pieces while still falling by vicious claws.

Time crawled on, preserving every terrible second in gruesome detail. His trembling fingers gripped the mace's handle as it lunged at one head after another, roaring for blood. His burning eyes pleaded desperately for the sight before him to be a lie, an illusion, anything – but his fallen comrades never did get up.

He remembered begging them for mercy. Whether it had been mercy for them or for himself, he had no clue. The tears blurred his vision and left an unpleasant salty flavor in his mouth, washing away the coppery taste of blood. He remembered their laughter – dark and humorless – as they trampled his face into the ground with their feet. Even then, he did not stop begging.

He remembered the sight that followed clearly. Despite that, he still wondered if it was all a dream. He was sure of what he saw, but his numb mind refused to believe that of all people, Velvet Scarlatina was pleading on his behalf. That she, the Faunus they had constantly picked on, would beg her own species to spare Cardin.

He did not know what to think. Running away with his tail between his legs, Cardin Winchester's mind was a jumbled mess of confusion and rage. As he narrowly escaped the clutches of the White Fang and the burning battlefield that was Beacon Academy, he let the rage alone occupy his soul. A rage which cleared his mind of all else, and a rage which was only amplified by the sight of his teammates hung on Beacon's tower.

The White Fang had murdered his friends. Those terrorists had made him powerless to resist, and had reduced him to a worthless dog groveling pathetically in the dirt. The enemies of mankind had done nothing but laugh at his suffering.

They deserved no mercy. They deserved no compassion. More than the need for power or any form of petty revenge, Cardin Winchester let himself get swallowed by rage and hatred. Being weak or strong no longer bothered him; all that was left was a seething bloodlust directed at the monsters of the White Fang.

He had lost everything. Now it was their turn to suffer. Their turn to lose.

He was not the kindest of people. He was not the nicest of friends. He was not the bravest of warriors. But he was not going to give in without a fight.

Weiss covered the group's rear as they fled, navigating through the trees and bushes that served as cover. She cursed herself in her head for sticking with her heels, since they were the only ones leaving the most noticeable footprints. Carrying Jaune made it difficult to reduce the weight of her steps, too.

"Where's your destination?" she heard Cardin ask.

"Our hideout," Blake replied, still supporting Pyrrha on her back. "It's just-"

"Don't," Cardin said sharply, running ahead to catch up to Ruby, who was leading with Ren on her back; Yang had taken over carrying Nora. Weiss had to give him credit for having that much stamina, especially when he was carrying Peter Port. "Follow me. I'll take you somewhere safer."

"How do we know we can-" Blake began.

"Because I'm your information broker," he replied swiftly. "If I wanted to kill you, I'd have given you false information back then. Now shut up and follow me."

They ran through the forest as quietly as they could, occasionally hiding from the Faunus patrols or knocking them out from afar. Weiss thought several times that she would pass out, and Jaune slipped off her back quite often until Cardin noticed and carried the blonde in addition to the professor.

"I thought you were more than just a prissy princess," he spat. "At least carry your own weight."

Weiss would have wanted nothing more than to snap back at him, but was interrupted by a jolting pain in her arm still bound by the cast. She contended herself with glaring daggers at him as they ran.

Finally, they stopped in front of a small village, which was certainly not hidden or anything, but looked so peaceful and quiet it was definitely unreal. The inhabitants had to be all Faunus, or this place would have been raided into the ground ages ago.

"In here," Cardin beckoned, stepping into one of the houses without caution.

The interior of the room was extremely unfamiliar, even though it was perfectly normal (Weiss suspected it looked strange precisely because it was so mundane). There was a table, some chairs, a cabinet and some mattresses on the floor. It looked nothing out of the ordinary, but it was a sight that the girls had not seen for what felt like decades.

"Set them down; I'll get the medic," Cardin deadpanned, carrying the corpse of Peter Port outside. He had a shovel in his free hand.

The medic, a cat Faunus with a downcast expression, walked in a few minutes later and attended to the members of Team JNPR without a word to anyone. He did not even bat an eyelid towards the girls. Weiss wondered if he was not surprised by their lack of Collars, but remembered that Cardin had not been wearing one either.

"I-I'll go check on Winchester," she offered, leaving the room without waiting for a reply.

Sure enough, everyone else followed her out. They found the armored man not far from the house, finishing up with covering the grave.

"T-that was fast," Yang said, trying and failing to sound casual.

"We have a couple dug in advance," Cardin replied gravely.

Along with a rush of fatigue, Weiss felt a tight grip over her chest. The fact that Peter Port was dead was finally starting to hit her, and the fact that she had seen someone die before her eyes started to sink in as the adrenaline pumped itself out of her system.

He had always called himself a brave and strong Huntsman, having taken down countless Grimm with his renowned tenacity. He was without a doubt one of the best out there, a fact backed up by his being a teacher at Beacon, but he had been killed in the blink of eye.

One press of a button, and those within a specific radius wearing a Collar died. No matter who they were, the ones wearing the marks of domesticated animals could be snuffed out at any moment. There was no fighting back, no resisting; there was only to obey or cease to exist.

What kind of world did they live in? While the phrase 'to be human' did not necessarily apply to Faunus, what they were doing was truly inhuman. Devoid of justice, empty of all regards for life, just plain fear. This was not the kind of world Weiss wanted to protect. Not as a Huntress, nor as a Schnee, nor even as a living thing. It was just wrong.

"Hey, where'd Professor Port go?" Ruby asked suddenly. "He didn't look too good after being shocked."

No one replied her. Even Cardin seemed to have a hard time processing that sentence. Granted, Ruby had not been up close when Peter died, but they did not expect her to not know that he had died. From the look on Yang's face, however, she seemed to have anticipated it to an extent.

"Listen, shithead-" Cardin began, before catching himself. His expression softened for a few seconds as he looked at her – at her lack of animal parts, and at the face of a girl who had yet to be tarnished by reality. "We're at war, alright? The grown-ups don't have time to lying around. He's scouting the perimeter to make sure it's safe."

He looked away after saying that, clearly disgusted at his own lie. Had he lied because she was not a Faunus, and hence was not a target of his lack of compassion? Or was it simply because whatever shreds of conscience left in him had compelled him to make that decision? Either way, it made him feel sick.

"If you have anything to say, do it quickly," he muttered, heading back in the direction of the house. "We have to discuss what to do after this."

Ruby, still looking somewhat confused, followed after him. The other three, however, stayed where they were, staring at the small bulge of dirt that covered their former professor.

"… So, this is it, huh?" Yang was the first to speak up, and her voice was anything but steady. She was doing a good job hiding it, though. "After all that, now this, and all you get is a small hole in the ground."

"We can't all be choosers," Blake reasoned, biting her lip. "But he deserved better, I suppose."

"Think people will remember him?" Yang asked. "You know, when all this is over."

"They will," Weiss said resolutely. "When all this is said and done, I'll make sure they remember him. You can count on it. Let's go; we don't have time to waste here."

"Thanks, Ice Queen," Yang said, forcing out a smile as Weiss scowled. "Maybe you could give me one too when I-"

"Don't say that," Blake cut across her sharply, beating Weiss to the retort. "Please, just don't."

"Sorry," Yang said, sounding oddly convincing for once. So even she could be sorry.

Taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, Weiss left without another word. There would be another day to mourn the dead, but the living had to keep moving forward for that day to come.

"Okay, listen up," Cardin addressed the room at large, his audience being Jaune, Ren, Nora and the girls of Team RWBY. "The reason you guys can't go back to your base is because of those piece of shi- those Collars JNPR's wearing," he corrected hastily as he saw Ruby. "They can track you via those, so until we remove them, you guys are staying put here."

"What about you guys?" Blake asked. "You're at risk too if they-"

"I already lost a team," Cardin said flatly. "Losing a hideout won't faze me."

A heavy silence followed those words. The Faunus medic cleared his throat loudly, sparing anyone from having to break it.

"So long as you guys hide when the patrols come by, it's fine," he said, removing his cat ears. "Those of us with these fake Faunus parts will bluff them and keep them from raiding this place too much."

"H-how do you do that?" Blake asked. "Not all Faunus have enhanced smell, but…"

"We got some stuff from a comrade of mine," the man replied. "We have some Dust-based chemicals that allow us to fool their sense of smell. These fake ears and all are top-notch, too, so we'll be able to deceive them easily enough. Unfortunately, most of the stock's burned when the White Fang found out about it, so our stash is the last we have."

"Enough, Pat," Cardin said. "That's not relevant right now. What's relevant is how we're going to remove the Collars."

"Can they even be removed?" Jaune asked hoarsely, absentmindedly touching his grey Collar.

"With the right tools, yes," the man called Pat replied. "The fastest way would be to infiltrate the central command tower and disable all the Collars across Vale, but that's impossible so for now, we'll make do with the tools we have. It's going to be tedious, though."

"Can we-" Ren said before breaking into a fit of coughs. "Can we just slice them off?"

"No," Cardin replied. "Collars have a function that automatically electrocutes the wearer if you attempt to remove it by force. The only other way is to cut your head off."

"I-I think we'll go for the tools," Jaune said, receiving nods from Ren and Nora.

"I'll go prep," Pat offered, exiting the room and leaving Cardin alone with his former peers.

"So…" Yang said, not wanting an awkward silence again. "How many people do you have living here?"

"Sixteen," Cardin replied tiredly. "We used to have forty, but they got killed by the Grimm while avoiding patrols. Now the only ones that can fight are the only ones alive."

"You've done well to survive this long," Blake said. "What with all these people to take care of."

Cardin snorted. Like he would die before he killed every single one of those White Fang scum.

"Rest up," he said, making it sound like an order. The chit-chat was starting to get on his nerves too. "If they attack us, we'll need all the fighters we can gather. Our jammers won't cover your Collars for long."

"H-hey, Cardin," Jaune said, standing up and wincing from the effort. "Thanks for saving us."

"Take care of your own ass from now on," Cardin replied coldly. "Coz now we're even."

He left without another word. As soon as the door shut behind him, the girls from Team RWBY huddled around Team JNPR, worry and concern evident on their faces.

"You sure you're alright, mister natural-blonde?" Yang asked with a small smile gracing her lips.

"Never better," Jaune replied, groaning from the pain as he sat down. "Though arriving a few minutes earlier would've been good too."

"Hey, we tried," Yang said lightheartedly.

"Yeah, we know," he answered, smiling. "We held on for that. Thanks, guys."

"You know it," Ruby said, trading a fist bump with him. "How's… Pyrrha?"

"She's out cold, but she'll be fine," Jaune replied, casting a worried look at his partner. "Pat said she'll wake by tonight or tomorrow morning."

"That's good to hear," Blake said, sighing in relief. "I'm glad you're all safe. I'm sor-"

"This is nothing," Nora said dismissively. "We've faced far worse. Remember that time we had that food fight in the school cafeteria?"

"You knocked me through the roof, as I recall," Yang pointed out.

"Hey, you boxed my Ren with a pair of chickens, so I think it's fair," Nora fired back cheekily.

"It was his fault for using a leek!" Yang protested.

"Was not!"

"Was too!"

"Was not!"

"Was-"

Usually, this would be the point where Weiss stepped in, but instead she let them continue; they could all use the change of mood. No, that was not entirely accurate; they all desperately wanted a change of mood.

Looking at them argue and laugh made the weight on Weiss's chest lighten. It had felt like so long ago since the two teams had gathered for nothing but joyful banter. It felt like forever since the world was peaceful, as it should be.

"Say," Ruby said, as the laughter finally died down. "What're you guys planning to do after this? You know, after the Collars are gone."

"Well, if I had to be honest," Jaune replied hesitantly. "I think it's best to hide and wait it all out. But I value my legs," he added with a brief glance at Nora. "And I promised I'd protect this team. An Arc always keeps his word, so I'll fight. We'll all fight."

"Good to have you on board, then," Ruby said happily, trading another fist bump as Yang hi-fived Nora.

"So what're we going to do?" Weiss asked.

The room instantly went silent. Weiss could see the sweatdrop trickle down Ruby's forehead.

"Dear lord," she said exasperatedly, shaking her head. "You really don't think ahead, do you?"

"Eh heh heh…" Ruby managed guiltily. "Guilty as charged?"

Weiss mercilessly karate chopped her head.

"We should be moving on to the control tower," she said as Ruby whined in a corner, large puppy eyes filled with tears as she said something along the lines of 'Weiss is so mean' while rubbing her head. "If we can disable the Collars all across Vale, we can get all the humans to help us fight back against the White Fang. It's the logical first step."

As she said that, Weiss felt a strange chill up her spine. She knew that there was no way it was going to be easy with just the eight of them, or even with the additional sixteen on Cardin's side. The defenses at a place that important would be all but impossible to break through. The idea alone was scaring her, filling her mind with images of death and despair.

Cardin's teammates had died. Peter Port had died. She had seen enough people bite the dust to last her a lifetime. More than anything, maybe even more than wanting to return to the good old days, Weiss wanted them to be safe.

More than anything, she did not want to lose anyone ever again.

"And that concludes the report," Velvet finished.

"Run it into the ground," the harsh tone from the man on the screen decreed.

"But this might not be their actual hideout," Velvet protested. "If we let them believe that they are-"

"Run it into the ground," he repeated, shutting Velvet up for good. "It won't matter as long as we kill every single one of them. If Faunus stand in our way, eliminate them; sacrifices are necessary for a greater cause. But if you can, leave her alive."

"… Yes sir," Velvet complied, ending the conversation. She then turned to her second-in-command, a bear Faunus by the name of Tuck. "Prep the troops. We move out tomorrow morning."

"Yes ma'am," Tuck replied obediently. "However, we won't have the full strength as several teams are still-"

"I know that," she snapped. "Get all available soldiers ready. We move out tomorrow."

"Understood," Tuck answered, giving her a salute before leaving the room.

Velvet collapsed into her chair, staring at the floor. She was not able to buy them any time after all. Not that it mattered; they would probably have died when they foolishly but inevitably tried to fight back anyway. Maybe killing them now would save them the unavoidable suffering later.

Adam had convinced her that this was right. Humans learned through fear, and subjugation was justice. For the Faunus, there was no future but this. Velvet had denied it at first, but she eventually came to believe in what he believed. She truly started to follow the words of Adam Taurus – the man who had the world in his grasp.

He had wanted Blake alive. Even if she understood the reasons for the White Fang's way of ruling, Velvet could not bear the thought of what they would do to Blake if they ever had her alive. She and Blake stood on different sides now, but Velvet was not going to let her kind suffer at the hands of humans, much less at the hands of their own species.

I'm sorry, Blake, she thought. She had never killed anyone before, but if it was Blake, she would have to summon the strength to do so. It was a mercy killing.

She justified herself with those words, deceiving herself. Adam's words had such a strong effect on her, but her words just did not have that much power over her conscience. In her conflicted mind, which had already come to terms about fighting anyone and everyone for the White Fang, one questioned surface.

Would she really be able to kill?

Someone asked this question, and I'll answer it now: yes, I am making Velvet into what Blake used to be before she left the White Fang. What she'll choose from here on out, and what she'll experience, are entirely up to her though (well, the latter's decided by me, but whatever).

As usual, please leave a review (or a PM)! If you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask, either!

Till next chapter, dear readers!