A/N: Had a little writer's block and worked late into the night last night to get this one finished. But now that hurdle has passed. The rest of the chapters should go by more smoothly.

Also, thanks for the 5k views, wow wasn't expecting that. A very pleasant surprise.

VVVVVVVVVVV

Less than a year before the 80th Vytal Festival Tournament.

Jaune stared at his scroll for what must have been the hundredth time. But still, there were no new messages from Jasmine. The young Arc sighed, it was a fleeting hope. Several weeks had passed since their last conversation and no one had any clue as to Jasmine's whereabouts. Some were starting to fear the worst. But Jaune refused to believe it. Jasmine was an exceptionally skilled huntress, there was no way she could be…

He shook the thoughts out of his head, swiping his scroll a few times until an official-looking electronic document appeared on his screen. The forged documents that Jasmine had her friend prepare for him. The last gift she had given him…

Jaune growled in frustration at his morose thoughts and pocketed his scroll. The ship to Beacon was leaving soon and he needed to make sure he was on it. There was no need to worry about Jasmine, she was fine. In fact, the next time he saw her, he would show her that her faith in him was not misplaced. He took a deep breath, preparing himself for his next challenge. Making it through the entire flight without puking. He mentally cursed his motion sickness as he boarded the ship, his thoughts shifting towards Beacon and the promises it held for him.

VVVVVVVVV

Present Day

Disbelief gave way to rage and Jaune's lips peeled back into a snarl. "Emerald, how could you…" He was interrupted by the dark-skinned huntress kicking him hard in the jaw, sending him sprawling across the floor.

"How could I not?" Emerald sneered, "The White Fang has kept me prisoner here for weeks. WEEKS of being stuck in this shitty cell while they poked and prodded me with all sorts of needles and drugs. They changed me, turned me into something I'm not and it disgusts me to the very core of my being."

"They experimented on you?" Jaune asked, trying to shake the cobwebs out.

"I guess it wasn't all bad." Emerald replied, starting to pace. "The drugs made my semblance more powerful. Instead of having to see my target, I could change their perception just by touching their mind telepathically." A frown appeared on the dark-skinned fugitive's lips. "Unfortunately, the White Fang had taken measures to protect themselves from my semblance, and I can't read your masked friend's mind. So I needed to find someone else to help me if I was to escape, someone capable of getting past the monstrosities that were birthed here." The frown turned into a grin. "Lo and behold, you were just in range for me to toy with your little mind. Aren't you glad?"

Realization dawned on Jaune. "Your semblance is to make people see illusions."

"That's right and I knew you would battle the underworld itself if it meant saving your little red-haired teammate. It was comical you know, to see you fighting with such conviction, with such vigor and to know what you were fighting for wasn't even real."

"Damn you…."

Emerald grinned ferally. "How does it feel? To know that you've been chasing a phantom this entire time. Does it fill you with sadness? With despair?"

Jaune responded by taking a swing at Emerald with his right hand. Unfortunately, he had dropped Crocea Mors when he got stabbed and didn't have quite the reach that he needed to hit her. Emerald easily dodged his clumsy attack with a small leap backwards.

She sneered at him. "You'll have to do better than that." Jaune was about to reply when something crashed through the eastern wall, something big and covered in grey flames. The young Arc took a closer look, no it wasn't covered in flames, it was constructed by them, in the shape of a dragon's head. It crashed into Emerald's left flank like a truck, sending her through the western wall.

Jaune watched as the fire-constructed dragon coalesced into the shape of Richter Bremen and landed in front of him. The upper-left corner of the grey-cloaked demon's mask had been destroyed, exposing blood-red skin and an eyebrow that was the darkest brown in color. Right now that eyebrow was furrowed in a scowl, his weapon back in his right hand.

"How was that?" Richter mockingly asked the no longer present Emerald. His answer was a groan of pain from the next room over. Jaune looked through the hole in the western wall to see Emerald with several burn marks on her body. She was currently keeping herself propped up with her right hand against a wall while the smoke rolled off her body.

"Geez, you peeled my aura off with one attack. Thought it'd hold up better than that." The dark-skinned fugitive muttered.

"I get it now Jaune." Richter said, the young Arc turning his attention to Ruby's friend. "I was wondering why you were fighting so hard to protect a fugitive of your kingdom. I thought you had lost your damned mind. But it just turns out that it was messed with by this bitch, what is it with crazy girls and green hair? Seems to be a trend." The grey-cloaked demon began walking across the room, heading towards Emerald. "I know your face, but I don't have a name."

"Emerald Sustrai." The dark-skinned fugitive replied, wiping some blood off her lip with her left forearm.

"It's a shame, Emerald Sustrai. That you were unable to delve into my mind." Richter's voice lowered deeply and it almost sounded like he was trying to growl out the words. "You would've known true fear."

Despite her arrogant demeanor, a single line of sweat trailed down the side of Emerald's head. "Cinder was right, you are scary."

"The last time we met, I could tell you had no clue where she was. This time I know you possess knowledge of her location and you're going to give it to me." Richter shifted his weapon to a revolver and pointed it at Emerald. "Otherwise, you will have to adjust to a new life as an amputee."

Emerald smirked, "You'll have to catch me first." Richter responded by taking aim and firing, but despite her battered state, she was nimble enough to evade the shot. Grey flames exploded behind her as she exited the room through its only door and took off down the hall, out their line of sight.

Jaune clenched his teeth together so tightly he thought they'd break. He had been played, following Emerald's phantom of Pyrrha like a lovesick puppy. Just the mere thought of it made him sick. How could he have allowed himself to be fooled like that?

He felt something tighten around his waist and looked down to see a length of grey bandage wrap around his waist. Jaune's eyes found the source and was surprised to see the bandages unraveling from Richter's left forearm. The bandages continued to wrap around him until they covered his entire abdomen, covering the stab wound Emerald had inflicted upon him.

"It's not exactly stitches." Richter admitted. "But it'll prevent you from bleeding out." The bandage broke off, but the grey-cloaked demon's left hands still looked as wrapped as ever.

"I'm such an idiot..." Jaune said.

The grey-cloaked demon's eyes narrowed at him. "You can continue to sit there and beat yourself up over it, letting even more problems pile up on your conscience, or you can stand up and do what you can to fix them."

Jaune didn't even register his words, all he could think of was how fruitless his search had been. "I've been chasing a lie…this whole time…"

He heard a snort of disgust from Richter's direction. "I'm going on ahead, feel free to follow when you've picked yourself up from being a wreck." The sounds of the grey-cloaked footsteps grew quieter until finally, Jaune couldn't hear them at all.

He was now all alone, in a room that should have marked his greatest triumph, it instead became the place of his greatest failure. What an embarrassment he turned out to be. All of that training with Pyrrha, with Ozpin, and the best he could do was get fooled by one of Vale's most wanted fugitives.

The young Arc's hands clenched helplessly into fists. It was pathetic.

He was pathetic.

VVVVVVVVVV

Richter Bremen cut down another human experiment as it charged him. He had lost count of how many he had killed. Some had begged him for death, which he gave. Some had been suffering so much that the pain had driven them mad. They had attacked him with fervor, but were no match for him. He had the power of a dragon contained in his body after all. A power that constantly tried to compel him to kill everything around him.

He had mostly listened to it, killing everything in his way in his quest to find Cinder Fall. However, when he had met Jaune Arc, it was the first time in months where he had to reign in his desire to kill. The dragon within him did not like that at all. The entire time he had been searching this lab his focus was divided between keeping the urge to slaughter at bay and finding answers. It had been…more difficult than previous searches. The fact that Jaune was Ruby's friend and knowing she was somewhere nearby didn't help either.

A brute began shambling towards him in the half-destroyed hallway he was traversing. With their elongated limbs, blind eyes and nasty tumors on their backs, they were the stuff to fuel nightmares. It struck out with its right hand in a punch and Richter casually blocked it with his blade. Yes, the brutes did indeed fuel nightmares.

But he was a living, breathing nightmare.

His first slash sliced off the brute's right arm at the elbow, the second sliced it in half at the waist, and the third sliced off the brute's head. All three cuts happening in the span of a second. Richter continued on, never breaking stride. He couldn't let Emerald escape, she was the best lead he'd get on Cinder. He wouldn't give up pursuit so easily.

The sound of heavy footsteps came from behind him and Richter turned around to see a second brute shambling towards him at a hasty pace. He growled low in his throat, these things did love to travel in pairs. Before he could strike however, the brute suddenly jerked upward, and a spray of blood expelled from its back. The tall creature suddenly went limp and fell forward, revealing a figure standing on its spine.

Richter recognized the figure, Jaune Arc, his sword buried in the brute's tumor. The blonde huntsman dislodged his sword and looked at him. Richter was surprised to see steel in the young man's azure eyes. Was this really the same guy who was on his knees crying a few minutes ago?

"I'm an absolute wreck." Jaune said, leaping down from the brute, the shadows hiding his eyes. "I can't seem to do anything right today. I've failed to find the girl I love and I failed to apprehend a fugitive of the kingdom I live in." The shadows disappeared from the young Arc's face and Richter saw the scowl etched in his features, his lips set in determination. "But if there's one thing I'm going to get right today it's my duty as huntsman. Turthus' safety cannot be guaranteed while this lab still stands, it must be destroyed."

As Jaune walked past, Richter snorted. "I'm impressed you were able to bounce back so quickly, Jaune Arc."

"It's as you said Richter, I can sit here and mope about what's happened to me or I can stand up and do something about it."

Richter smiled beneath his mask, perhaps Jaune had more spine than he originally thought. "Just do your best not to break those bandages I gave you. I don't want your blood on my cloak."

Jaune smirked at him. "What cloak? Looks more like a ragged towel with holes to me."

Richter felt an eyebrow twitch. "There is a monster living inside me, a monster that is trying to get me to kill you. Please do not give me any extra incentives."

Jaune gave him a mischievous smile. "So that's why you're looking extra broody."

"That's not helping."

The pair continued on, cutting down any experiments that attacked them. The layout of the lab was similar to previous ones Richter had raided in the past, which he was thankful for. If they could make it to the control room, they might be able to use the surveillance equipment to pinpoint Emerald's location.

"This way." Richter said, taking the lead.

"Where are we headed?" Jaune asked.

"Control room."

"How in the world do you know your way around here? I can't tell if I'm coming or going anymore."

"Seen enough of these labs to know the general layout, there have been very few deviances in design."

"Oh."

The two continued in silence, the corridor they were walking through was free from any hostile experiments. Which meant they were getting closer to the more "Sensitive." Parts of the lab, a good sign. Maybe his luck would continue to hold and Emerald would be there.

"So..." Jaune suddenly spoke, drawing Richter from his thoughts, he glanced at the young Arc. "You and Ruby are friends right?"

Richter felt the steel that was his heart soften for a moment. "She is...special to me."

Jaune began subconsciously scratching the back of his head. "So why haven't you...you know...talked to her. She's been looking for you since you guys beat Darion Shiver."

Richter broke eye contact with the young Arc. There was a big reason why he had not reunited with Ruby. The dragon's power that dwelled within him was strong, strong enough for him to doubt whether he could safely be around people or not. There was no way he could see Ruby like this. If his control slipped, he could end up attacking her, hurting her. To do something like that would be unforgivable. He needed more time to get the dragon within under control and when he did, he promised himself he would see her again.

But instead of telling Jaune all of this he simply replied, "It's complicated."

Jaune frowned, "A lot of things are complicated, but the one simple fact remains. You two are special to each other. Whatever misgivings or doubts are second compared to that."

Richter wanted to believe him, he really did. But the burning desire to tear everything to pieces made him skeptical of the advice.

The duo eventually came to a pair of thick steel doors with a circular hole through them. The hole was large enough for Richter to duck under with minimal effort and for the taller Jaune to get under with significantly more effort. At one point Richter heard the sound of something hitting the metal hard, followed by a string of curses from Jaune. Richter shook his head, the young Arc had potential, but he still had a long ways to go in subtlety.

They stood in a circular room that was something straight out of a science fiction TV series. A ring of consoles took up most of the outer area space, with the largest flatscreen monitor placed at the opposite side of the room from them. Etched into the floor in the middle of the ring of consoles was the emblem of the White Fang, but it looked strange. Richter noticed that there appeared to be another emblem underneath, it looked like the White Fang was trying to cover it up. Probably Cinder's emblem, as the faunus terrorist group did do a hostile takeover on most of her stuff.

"Whoa this is the control room?" Jaune asked. Richter began making his way to the main console at the other end of the room.

"That's my guess, it looks similar to the other control rooms I've seen." He replied to the young huntsman. He reached the console and tapped the screen once, as he read the information on the screen he frowned. "Says a door to 'Basement 1' has been opened and closed as of one minute and six seconds ago."

Jaune looked around, "But uhhh I don't see any other doors, and the one we came in was still closed." He eyed the hole in the door they came in from. "Well…technically."

"Exactly. It has to be a door that is not so obvious to the naked eye."

"What like a secret door?"

"Yes."

Jaune walked up to the White Fang symbol at the center of the room, crouching down and running his hand over it. "Something seems off about this emblem on the floor."

"You noticed it too huh. Looks like they were trying to cover up Cinder's emblem."

"Maybe…but the floor feels uneven here, almost like it's a slit for a trapdoor."

"It's possible." Richter agreed, unsheathing Dyrnwyn. "Only one way to be sure."

Jaune quickly scrambled out of the way as Richter cut into the White Fang emblem with his sword. For a moment nothing happened and then several thick pieces of metal gave way, revealing a wide vertical shaft underneath.

Richter was impressed. "Good eye Jaune." The grey-cloaked demon leapt down the shaft, spending several full seconds in free fall before landing in a crouching position, the metal floor cracking underneath him from the impact. A dozen seconds later, Jaune joined him, stabbing his sword into the side of the shaft to slow his descent. When he dislodged the sword however, he lost his balance, tumbling through the air and landing unceremoniously on his head.

The young Arc groaned, "Why does everything have to be so friggin' high? Don't they know the average person is five and a half feet tall?"

Richter raised his unmasked eyebrow in amusement. "Wow, you have all the agility of a three-legged elephant."

Jaune quickly rose to his feet with an offended look. "Hey! Elephants can be agile!"

He snorted in response. "Yeah, if you're living in a child's fantasy world."

The young Arc dusted himself off. "Ruby failed to warn me about your snark."

"Every instinct in my body is telling me to rip you to pieces." Richter informed him. "Be lucky that snarky is all I am at the moment."

Jaune smirked at him. "You don't have to worry then, luck is one of my best qualities." He gave a thumbs up to Richter, who rolled his eyes and groaned in response.

A single corridor marked the only way to keep going and the duo took it. Light was scarce and so Richter conjured up a ball of grey fire in his left hand to help them see a little better in the darkness. After a minute of walking, they walked through another large set of double doors into a massive room, one that could easily contain the battle arena of the 80th Vytal Festival Tournament. However, what caught Richter's attention the most was the floor. It was all translucent, he stomped on it experimentally with enough force to shatter glass and when it held easily he realized what it was.

"This is cleersteel." The grey-cloaked demon said, surprise in his tone.

Jaune scratched his head. "Sorry wha?"

"A very durable material designed at Atlas." Richter quickly explained. "But that doesn't make sense. I read about cleersteel when I used to be a student at Signal. The only known materials were used in Atlas' science labs."

"So what's it doing here?"

"A good question." Richter answered, "And one I don't think we're going to like the answer to."

"You are correct Richter Bremen." Emerald's voice suddenly said. The room became bathed in light from an array of Dust lamps high above them. In the center of the massive room, typing away at a console, was Emerald Sustrai, she smirked at them. "Look below you."

The duo complied. Below the dark-skinned fugitive, past the cleersteel floor, was what appeared to be an altar made from stone. Lying on that altar was what looked like a young woman in her early twenties. The altar was surrounded by a pool of blood and several of what looked like veins snaked out from the corners of the room to attach to her body. The woman's skin was white as snow and she wore what looked like a black and red kimono robe with thigh-high black socks and brown sandals.

"What….what am I looking at?" Jaune breathed out.

Richter returned his gaze to Emerald. "Who is she?"

Emerald smiled maliciously. "Her name is Alice, she is the daughter of Salem, discovered six weeks ago by the White Fang."

"She's just…sleeping?" Jaune asked, still looking at the pale woman resting below.

"Indeed, forced into an eternal slumber by her own mother." Emerald answered.

The young Arc shook his head. "Why would anyone's mother do that?"

Emerald's smile showed teeth. "Because Alice is extremely dangerous."

Richter narrowed his eyes. "In what way?"

"She is….disaster personified."

"How ominous." He replied with contempt. "You seem to know a great deal about this Alice and her mother, Salem." Richter raised his sword, pointing it at Emerald. "How about you tell me everything you know."

The dark-skinned fugitive was not fazed. "You can ask Alice herself when I wake her up."

"What!?" Jaune exclaimed, "You're waking her up!?"

"Yup." Emerald replied simply. "The White Fang wanted to keep her under so they could put her under their control, but I'm going to throw a wrench in that plan." An excited gleam shown in her crimson eyes. "Now brace yourself, you're about to bear witness to a momentous event in Remnant's history!"

Richter snorted, "Like we'd let you do as you please." He was about to switch Dyrnwyn to revolver-form and open fire when he felt something hit his back, knocking him off of his feet. Whatever it was it was hot and he quickly turned his uncontrolled tumble into a roll. As he got to his feet, Richter noticed orange flames dissipating from his cloak, so that's what had hit him. A quick glance to his right told him that Jaune was down. The young Arc was lying on his belly, the same orange fire that was on his cloak was now dissipating from Jaune's back. His eyes were closed, probably unconscious, but at least the bandages were still holding.

"You're late." Emerald said at the new arrival. Richter turned back towards where he had been hit.

And froze.

Walking through the corridor that Jaune and himself traversed a short time ago, was Cinder Fall. Richter felt his blood boil at the sight of her. She still wore the same dress, the same shoes and the thing he hated most, she still had the same arrogant smirk on her face. At long last, he had found her.

"What can I say Emerald. The forest and mountains around Turthus are lovely this time of year." Cinder replied, she turned her attention to him. "It's been awhile Richter, you've acquired quite the reputation as a murderer."

"I've only killed those who wished to exploit the weak and defenseless." Richter snarled. "The ones like you."

"Don't be like that." Cinder mock-pouted. "Haven't you enjoyed the newfound power I've given you?"

"Enjoyed?" Richter said incredulously, his grip tightening on Dyrnwyn. "You think I enjoy being this monster I've become!? I'm barely even human!"

"Being human is overrated." Cinder said, her right eye glowing orange as she gathered her power. "I'd much rather be something more."

"Don't worry, you will be soon." Richter growled, taking a few running steps before leaping into the air. "YOU'LL BE A CORPSE AT MY FEET!"

With all the fury he could muster, Richter brought his sword down on Cinder Fall. However, his blade did not cut through flesh and bone, but was stopped, by a scimitar made from what looked like black glass. Cinder clenched the sword tightly in her right hand, the smirk still on her face.

"There will be a corpse here when this is all over." Cinder narrowed her eyes and somehow with the smirk still on her face, she looked more menacing. "But it won't be mine."

Richter responded by pouring more aura into his weapon, Cinder did the same and the clash of auras knocked the two away from each other. Richter backflipped and as soon as his boots touched the cleersteel floor he was charging forward again. Cinder rushed to meet him, now with a black glass scimitar in each hand. Richter felt a rush of anticipation running through his veins.

At last, the confrontation he had been waiting for.

VVVVVVVVVV

A/N: Going to be really busy this upcoming week, so I might not be able to get chapter 7 out by next sunday. Will do my best though!

NEXT CHAPTER: Richter is forced to make a difficult choice, Revenge or saving Turthus. Jaune discovers the lab's most horrible secret.