A/N: Jeez, I'm starting to run out of ways to thank all of you (hopefully this counts as a new way). Also totally sorry for the delay, old clan members of mine wanted to do a game night on Saturday, and then Sunday I had to visit my older brother to get a haircut, and the whole process took about 5 hours. Whew! Enjoy the chapter folks!


Weiss let out a small hum, analyzing the map held in her hands. "We should be getting close to 'Faraner'."

Ruby, a few steps ahead of Weiss, looked over at questioningly. Weiss sighed in annoyance, forgetting just who she was talking to.

"It's a village, though a rather obscure one, rarely ever sends in reports. I heard that in recent years it's run into financial trouble."

Ruby nodded, turning her head back to ahead at the path they were following.

"You'd best watch yourself while going through villages like these, the peasants have a tendency to be rather… brutish, if you will."

Weiss glared at Ruby, who was giggling ahead of her. "Y'know Weiss, you sound pretty cute when you use long words like that."

They both stopped.

"Wait, I didn't mean that." Weiss' glare returned tenfold. "No wait, I did mean that, it's just uh.. y-you're.. uh… I-I'll shut up now."

Ruby looked back at Weiss in surprise. The heiress had doubled over, clutching her stomach in laughter, Ruby joining seconds after. Resuming their walk in a pleasant silence, they made their way towards the now visible village.

They stopped right outside the village. The buildings where shabby, most were just small shacks, the 'road' was just a large muddy path, filled with random holes, and there seemed to be no people in sight.

Warily, they walked forward, sidestepping the holes while making sure to check their surroundings. Coming up to the center of the village came the first actual building, in fact, compared to the rest of the shacks, the building might as well have been a castle. A sign hung over the door, and upon closer inspection said 'The Lazy Hunter', Weiss smirking at Ruby, who only rolled her eyes.

"Must be an inn, shall we head inside? I for one would like to inquire about the welfare of this village," Weiss said.

Ruby nodded, opening the door, and they walked in. Immediately they were bombarded with the stench of alcohol and sweat, rambunctious laughter spilling throughout the air. Men of burly sizes surrounded the tables, all sorts of weapons hanging off of each of them. No one seemed to notice the duo, Ruby taking it to her advantage and put the hood of her cloak over her head, Weiss placing her hand on the hilt of Myrtenaster.

They walked towards the bar, the bartender busy at the other end with a huge man, great axe loosely hanging on the strap over his back. Weiss looked at the two closest stools, and frowned at the sight of the one closer to her. Ruby, with speed that went unnoticed by those around her, switched the stool out for one that was being used by a person behind them, who had just risen to clang his cup of ale with another. Had it not been for the gang of dangerous looking men, Weiss would've giggled, but instead chose to nod thankfully at Ruby.

The moment they sat down, their presence was noticed by the bartender, who slid over to them. "What'll it be…" the bartender paused, looking over the two in front of him, "girls?"

"Milk?" Weiss slapped her palm against her head.

"Ruby, there's no way-" Weiss watch, astounded when the bartender actually poured Ruby a cup of milk.

Taking a large gulp of her milk, Ruby smirked at Weiss, not realizing the milk moustache that had formed.

"You dunce."

The man with the great axe stood up, walking over to the two, stuck a stool between them, and sat down with a large grunt. "What're you two fine ladies doing in this establishment? If you're lost, maybe I can help you out?"

Right before Ruby could retort, Weiss gently put her hand on Ruby's knee. Ruby looked at Weiss, who nodded forward, towards the tables behind the man. Everyone had stopped talking, cups no longer clanging.

"Sure, we're looking for a place to retire for the rest of the day, could you perhaps point us in the right direction?" Weiss smiled, but it wasn't just any smile. It was the deceptively cold smile that she had learned from her father. Ruby involuntarily shuddered beside her.

The man put his arms around their shoulders, forcing them up and walked them towards the stairs in the corner of the inn. The two girls tried their best to lean away from the awful breath infused with alcohol. Walking all the way to the end of the upstairs hallway, the man kicked in the door, and lead them into the room.

Pulling his arms off the two's shoulders, he walked over to the bed and sat down heavily on it. "So, how much will it be for the both of ya?"

"Will you give me a second? I need to discuss such a tempting offer with my partner." Weiss batted her eyes seductively. The man fell for it instantly.

Weiss pulled Ruby's shoulder, facing them away from the man and towards the still open door.

"Weiss, what in the world are we doing?" Ruby whispered, the tiniest hint of panic in her voice.

Taking a quick glance to make sure the man wasn't listening in, Weiss whispered back, "Ruby, I was able to sneak a look into the back room, I swear I saw someone tied up in there."

Seeing Ruby was about to do something drastic, Weiss quickly leaned in close, pressing their foreheads together.

"Trust me Ruby, just follow my lead." Slowly, Ruby nodded. Separating from each other, Weiss walked back up to the man.

"What'll it be, ladies?"

Weiss quickly stopped herself from frowning in disgust. "300 lien… each."

The man only smirked. Suddenly, the door slammed close behind them, and a yellow gas spread throughout the room. The man stood up, fastening a mask onto his face. A trap! Weiss spun around, attempting to rush the door, but tripped over Ruby's collapsed body. Her head slammed into the door, vision fading away as the man walked towards them. The last sound she could hear before she lost consciousness was the mad cackling of the man.


Weiss groaned, feeling as though a hammer was knocking her head repeatedly, She tried to bring her hands up to her head, but found they couldn't pull away from her back. Cracking open her eyes, she found she was in a spaciously dark room. Weiss inched herself up until she was in a sitting position, and looked over her shoulder at her hands. A rough rope had been tied around them, tight enough to cause a bruise to start forming on both her wrists.

A soft groan came out, followed by a weak voice. "Ow… why does it feel like I got hit by a goliath?"

Weiss looked towards where the voice originated, and realized she wasn't the only one in the room. There were about four more people in the room all against the wall furthest from her. "R-" Weiss coughed, feeling her throat itch terribly, "Ruby?"

A shuffle from the one most left of the group. "Weiss, is that you?"

Weiss crawled over to Ruby, the younger girl pulling herself up to sit. "How're you feeling?"

Ruby checked herself over, experimentally stretching as much as she could, and found nothing wrong. "I'm fine, you?"

"Aside from possibly an earthquake in my head, I'm fine too."

A whimper sounded beside the two. The other three people were awakening, each of them sitting up. A panicked female voice arose from one of them. "Where are we? Oh Dust, are we dead? Am I in hell?"

Another female voice came out. "Shh, everything's alright. We're still alive."

That voice, it sounds… familiar. Weiss tried to focus her eyes on the second person to speak, but it was too dark to see their features.

Heavy footsteps sounded from outside the room, pausing right outside the door. Jingling was being heard from the door, most likely being unlocked from the outside. Weiss searched for her and Ruby's weapons, but no luck. The door opened, light streaming into the room. Two men appeared in the doorway, neither Weiss or Ruby recognizing them.

"Stand up." The voice was gruff and impatient.

Hesitantly, the girls all stood up. Weiss tried to glimpse the one whose voice was familiar, but she was hidden behind the other two unknown females. A hand roughly grabbed her shoulder, throwing her outside the room and into a hallway.

Stumbling from the throw, Weiss looked around, and regretted doing so. As the girls were one by one thrown out into the hallway, Weiss saw the cells on one side of the hallway, faint signs of previous prisoners shown within what little she could see. On the other side of the hallway were rooms similar to the one they had been kept in, but all of them seemingly empty. We're probably the new batch.

The two men came out, and began pushing them towards the stairs at the end of the hallway. A shoulder lightly rubbed against Weiss', and she took comfort in knowing Ruby was safe beside her. One of the men came around to their front, leading a sort of procession through the hallway and up the stairs. When they reached the top of the stairs, another heavily built door was there, and after a few minutes of unlocking, they were pushed out into an enormous room.

A church. The long benches weren't there, but the tapestries hanging off the walls and the stained glass were proof of the building. Standing in the middle of the room was the man from before with the great axe.

The man from in front of their group walked up to the one in the middle of the room. "Think they'll fetch a good price, Boss?"

Boss winked at the man. "Don't worry Fletcher, that one with the white hair will be more than enough."

The three men cackled as the double doors from the entrance of the church burst open. Four men walked in, garbed in black and white clothing, white masks that faintly resembled the grimm on their faces. Weiss' eyes narrowed, recognizing the group coming in. The White Fang, but why would they be dabbling in human trafficking?

The two groups faced each other, Boss and one of the White Fang members meeting in the middle. The girls were too far away to hear the whispered conversation between them, but they could tell exactly what was happening. They were going to be sold to the White Fang.

However, something else caught Ruby's attention, being the huntress she was, she had a knack for picking up even the smallest of movements. Weiss looked over to see what Ruby was looking at. It was the girl from before, the one Weiss recognized. She had bandages covering the top of her head, but what was most interesting was two little stumps on the top of her head. They were twitching minutely, almost as if they were… Cat ears? Could it be!?

The White Fang group started walking towards the group of girls getting ready to take them. Before Weiss could turn the girl with the bandages around to see her face, she disappeared into black smoke. Shouts were heard as the men were one by one being knocked out by a fast moving shadow. Weiss heard a small puff beside her and the shadow was joined by a red blur.

Within seconds, the men were all knocked out. Ruby stood in front of the knocked out men, grinning cheekily at Weiss. Of course, she's a huntress after all. Her attention turned over to the girl appearing from behind Ruby.

Amber eyes locked with blue. "Long time no see Weiss, I had a feeling you made it."


A/N Cont'd: For the reviewers mentioning the progression of the White Rose relationship, I can only ask that you trust me on this, I did sorta goof with the third chapter but the way it's at right now is the way I want it to be because of how it'll tie in with a few chapters later on, and eventually it'll all come together WAY later on in the story. However, I'm still happy that you guys noted the way it was paced, and I hope you continue to do so, especially if I accidentally did it (like I did in chapter 3). Constructive criticism is always appreciated!