Chapter 1

The sun came down through the window and managed to peak through the curtain, directly into Yang's face. The nightmares had been vivid, and there were no classes today, so Yang had meant to sleep, for at least a day. The sun itself was trying to prevent that. She rolled over and put her blanket over her head, protecting her from the evil light in the sky as it intruded on her personal peace and darkness. She didn't notice the low growl that escaped her throat, but the silence was already being broken, though barely. People were talking nearby, the voices were familiar. Yang put the pillow over her head to block the sounds, the words that would force her to wake up, distracted from her well-earned rest.

"Well, at least they caught Torchwick," Weiss said. "I don't know much about those students from Mystral, but they seemed compotent."

"Seems like awfully convenient that we couldn't catch him and they could, though," Blake muttered.

Oh, Blake... I don't want to get mad at you, please stop talking. Have this conversation somewhere else, Yang thought. The damage was done, though, and she already knew she wouldn't be getting back to sleep. She tried anyway.

"We'll have to take what we can get," Ruby said. Of all the people to ruin her sleep, Ruby knew how much Yang despised mornings. She deserved this!

"Either way, we'll have to be careful about things from now on." Weiss paused in thought. "We've fought with Torchwick before, both he and his partner are adept at escaping situations like what happened in the breach."

"That slippery bastard," Blake growled. "Using the White Fang for his stupid schemes. He deserved to get caught, and he deserves worse."

Weiss sounded a little shocked at the idea. "Worse? Than prison?"

"There's plenty worse."

"Blake," Ruby said patiently, "what's done is done. All we can do now is learn from what happened, and get better. Don't you want to be the best Beacon's ever saw?"

Blake sighed. "I, yes... It doesn't feel like that's where we're at right now, though."

"Shouldn't this be a whole team meeting?" Weiss blurted. "I mean, how late does Yang plan on sleeping?"

Ruby shook her head. "If you want to wake her up after yesterday, be my guest. I don't know what'll happen, and I'd hate to have to find a new team mate this late in the year."

"She wouldn't do that to me, would she?"

Ruby simply shrugged. "Who knows?"

Yang groaned and threw her top pillow, directly for Weiss. "You already woke me up. Nobody dies, this time."

Ruby chuckled while Blake and Weiss managed to look squeamish.

"So, why're you all up making noise this early anyway?"

"I decided we should have a team meeting, but we tried not to wake you up." Ruby shrugged. "Guess you were already halfway there."

Yang grumbled and finally sat up. "Stupid sun. Stupid light. Stupid noise."

Ruby's grin was infectious anyway. "Yeah, well, who knows when something else is gonna go down. Remember, we haven't found that lady from the dance."

"The one you caught and tore up the whole place trying to fight?"

Ruby's smile went away. "Yeah. Seems like someone like that would be involved in the breach."

"Are we calling it that?"

Ruby shrugged. "Sure! It makes sense to us, and it was. Vale's security was breached, by all those Grimm. If we hadn't gotten any backup, it probably would've been worse."

"Yeah, that doesn't sit well with me, either." Yang sighed. "Too bad we were almost useless where it counted."

"Don't think that way, Yang! We just have to work harder and get better."

Yang managed an irritable glare. Ruby really was hard to be mad at. "How?"

"Practice and learning, and more practice!"

She sighed. "Is that always your solution?"

Ruby frowned for a moment in thought. "Bigger bullets?"

"You really want to retool Crescent Rose for bigger rounds? Aren't they already huge?"

Ruby shook her head quickly. "No, no! My baby's perfect! We're just not ready for what happened."

"We tried as hard as we could," Blake muttered.

"And we did a great job, but ultimately, we failed. We failed to stop the train in time, we failed to neutralize our targets, and we failed to keep the creatures of Grimm from entering Vale."

"You can be a real downer, you know that?"

Ruby shrugged dismissively. "Either you can look at the negative and feel sorry for yourself, or you can look at the facts and learn from them."

Yang sighed. It was obvious Ruby had put a lot of thought into what she was trying to say.

"The facts are, we didn't complete our extra objectives or our duties. We helped mitigate the damage, and did everything we could about it, but at the moment, Team RWBY isn't exactly cut out for how far we meant to go. The answer is training and learning. Based on our grades and the curriculum, as well as the final stats from the other teams that managed to make it, that mission wouldn't have gone any better if we were second-years." Ruby shrugged. "We are strong, fast, and capable up to the point of team CFVY, but maybe without that giant minigun."

"At least in final stats," Weiss said quietly. "Engagement time by kill count for CFVY was much better."

"Doesn't matter. We'll improve."

Yang shook her head. "But what's their next move?"

"Dunno."

"How can we be ready?" Blake asked.

"We are ready, we just need to be better." Ruby shrugged. "We'll figure that out when we get there, or when it happens."

"Sounds like a lot of work." Yang sighed. "And I can't argue with the logic."

Weiss snorted in amusement. "Logic? You?"

"Shut it."

It'd been a long day, after a long weekend. Ruby had split them into pairs, and Weiss had been a particular pain for Yang. She sat at the edge of the rooftop, looking over Beacon, and tried to understand what was going wrong. Weiss' glyphs and speed gave her a mild advantage in closing the gap, but Yang had thrown her moves off. It'd been an interesting session, and they hadn't caused any property damage, but Yang was tired and feeling slow. Ruby had mentioned changing up their routine, which left Yang not lifting every chance she got, but training for speed. Weiss had been who Ruby had chosen for her to spar with today, while Ruby and Blake had matched up fairly evenly.

The sun was slowly setting, making the view even better, but bright. Nobody came out to this rooftop at this hour, and it was quiet enough to gather her thoughts. The birds were singing, things were peaceful and quiet again, except for the growing tensions in Beacon. Yang had seen it, shared it, and knew what it meant. Team RWBY wasn't the only team preparing for all out war, but they had the most informed strategy. Ozpin hadn't bothered Ruby with more of his questions, either. Just the report of the incident, and Oobleck's.

Yang spent a while on that rooftop, watching the sun set and thinking to herself. How could she have failed? How could someone be stronger than her? But that wasn't the way Ruby saw things, and that was what'd been said. For all the times Yang had been knocked down, she always got back up. For every time she'd fallen, she would come back stronger. It was her nature, after all. She turned to leave when the door that led to that part of Beacon's many levels of seemingly random architecture opened, and Ruby stepped out.

"Yang? Where've you been?"

Yang sighed. "Just thinking."

"Still down about the breach?"

"The train, but yeah. I'm not as fast as you, or Blake."

Ruby smiled. "That's not why I had you sparring with Weiss."

"Then why?"

"You do things different, and Weiss is stuck with her forms. You change things up, and she has trouble adapting. I wasn't trying to help you, even though that's the way it goes, I was trying to make Weiss learn to adapt. You're pretty great for that."

"I'm just not fast enough."

"Well, neither is Blake."

"What?"

Ruby chuckled. "We just stopped, but Blake's not fast enough. She's stronger than me, though, which was part of the reason I picked her to spar with. No, we all have our strengths and weaknesses, and Blake's is relying on her reaction time, and her Semblance. She always jumps behind, and she's not fast enough when someone anticipates her."

Yang frowned, nodding. "So what's next on the agenda? I'm tired, it's been a long weekend."

Ruby's grin was infectious. "I'm not very strong, you're not very fast. Way I see it, that's the a couple of our biggest weaknesses right now."

"That I'm too slow? That you're too weak?"

"Exactly."

"You're the strongest person I know, Rubes. You're just not very muscley."

Ruby grimaced. "But you are. What's say we try to balance that out?"

Yang thought it over for a moment. "Sure, I wasn't doing anything better anyway. What's one more little match?"

"Perfect." Ruby unfolded Crescent Rose, but didn't bother with the cover she'd made that kept it from hurting people she was sparring with. Yang wouldn't need it.

Yang deployed her gauntlets and checked her ammunition, grinning. "Just like old times, back at Signal, huh?"

"Like at home, except now we know how to improve." Ruby shook her hair out of her eyes. "Let's do this, before I get hungry."

Yang chuckled, but fired her left gauntlet behind her as she ran for Ruby. They both knew that Yang had the advantage at point-blank range, but everything outside of that was Ruby's sweet-spot. Ruby blocked when Yang went for her face, but was thrown back by the force of Yang's fist. Yang fired with her right even as she launched herself faster with her left, then jumped.

Ruby wasn't caught off balance for long and blocked with the stock end of her scythe, then swatted Yang's closing fist with the other side as she spun it around. Yang spun with the force of Ruby's block and fired again when her fist was aimed in the right direction, but Ruby ducked under it. Crescent Rose found its way behind Yang's heel as she over reached, and Ruby gave the scythe a quick tug. Yang went over backward, but caught the floor with her hands and managed to right herself with a little effort, and a couple more shotgun blasts. Ember Celica didn't have a limitless supply of ammunition, though, but she was sure she still had plenty.

Ruby wasted no time in closing the new gap Yang's little trick had caused, propelling herself with recoil from her scythe, and she aimed the spear end for Yang's midsection. Yang dodged and managed to backhand Ruby across the face, but Ruby was already switching her grip, swinging the scythe for her again even as the force of Yang's fist sent her backward. There was a moment when Yang wondered if she'd actually hurt Ruby, but Crescent Rose's razor edge was coming too fast to wonder. She backhanded it to the floor, then managed to catch it under her boot while Ruby let her hands slide along the handle of the scythe. She spun and managed to elbow Yang in the ribs, by complete surprise.

"Oof."

Yang kept the scythe's blade trapped against the rooftop with her boot, then aimed for Ruby's face. Incendiary buckshot wasn't very strong, especially against an Aura as strong as Ruby's, but it would probably do the trick. They'd done this a few times recently, and Ruby always had some new hair-brained trick up her sleeves, and when she fired at Ruby, she was right. The fluttering rose petals announced the redhead's departure from Yang's line of fire, and she caught a small boot to the shoulder when Ruby got there.

It was stronger than before, and Yang managed to catch the boot before Ruby used her Semblance again. Still, that left them at a stalemate, since Ruby wasn't a very strong fighter with just her fists, and Yang didn't want to actually hurt her sister. Ruby hopped on her free foot to keep her balance.

"You lost."

Ruby chuckled. "But that wasn't the point, was it? I've been hitting the weights, but I'm not up to that point yet. I might never get there, but you're getting better."

"Not good enough to kill Neo."

Ruby shrugged and Yang let go of her foot, ending Ruby's awkward hopping. "Gotta start somewhere. I'm not strong enough to fight that pyromancer."

"I still think you should leave her to me."

"Why?"

"Fire is my thing, remember?"

Ruby shrugged. "Maybe. We'll see how it plays out, when it happens again."

"When?"

"You know they're still up to something, or we'd have seen that woman on the train, or after."

"Just team CRME, anyway." Yang frowned. "That reminds me, who's their fourth?"

"No clue."

Ruby put down the old, musty book. It had no answers. Blake was reading one of her "literary masterpieces" while Weiss was actually studying. Yang was reading a comic, mostly just to stick with the team. Ruby, on the other hand, was trying to find something different than what was in the curriculum. Beacon had an extensive library, but finding the right information wasn't something that was all that easy, at least with the little information she had to go on.

Ruby glared at the book and put it into the stack on her left, then picked up the top book of the stack from her right. She didn't actually intend to get through them, but she was still looking for something. Skimming through chapter headings or subject matter didn't take all that long, after all. By the fifth book, Blake finally looked up from her own.

"What're you looking for, anyway? You said you needed to do research, right? Maybe I could help?"

Ruby shrugged, then opened the next book. "A quicker way to get stronger. A better way to improve."

"That's not going to be as straight forward as you think, probably." Blake sighed. "Do you even have an area you're focusing on?"

"No." Ruby shook her head. "We're focusing training, I'm not focusing research. We know enough about the enemy to know what to look out for and train for, we don't know enough about anything else to know where not to look for an edge. I want an edge, any edge."

Blake frowned. "At what cost?"

"Depends on the gain."

"Does it matter?" Weiss cut in. "If we can beat them next time, it'll probably be worth it. If we completely beat them, nobody will die if we do it fast enough. Better is better."

Blake raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. "There's an old saying I've heard a couple times. It goes something like this, 'the answers you seek aren't always the answers you want.' Something like that."

"What's it supposed to mean?" Ruby looked confused.

"What if we found out that the White Fang are actually up to something good? What if the pyromancer is doing something good? Or what if we're just wrong in the first place, somehow? What if we're so focused on training and getting better, we're not taking in the morality of what we're doing when we do it?"

Ruby shrugged. "We'll do the right thing, we usually do."

"Usually?"

Ruby made a face. "Alright, I usually do. Weiss is usually okay. You and Yang, y'know, not so much."

"Hey!" Yang blurted.

"What? You didn't have to blow up that club that one time!"

Yang grunted. "They started it. I just asked some questions, then they attacked me."

"Right."

Yang shrugged. "It went better last time. Besides, Junior's starting to be helpful."

"That's good."

"Isn't it?"

Ruby made a face. "Maybe. I don't know yet." She closed the book, done skimming for something that looked helpful. The last book was a long-shot, even by Ruby's standards, but she opened it anyway.

Blake managed to catch the title on the cover before it slapped the table as Ruby began browsing it. It was something about the biological effects of Aura and Semblance, in a little more detail. It was old, though, probably from before the war. After a bit of skimming, instead of closing the book, Ruby actually started reading through one of the chapters, seemingly at random. By the time Weiss had finished her homework, Blake had finished her chapter and Yang was nowhere to be found. Weiss only looked over Ruby's shoulder for long enough to skim over some of the subject matter, but the text was old and the wording was weird. Ruby didn't even notice when she said goodbye.

Weeks of training were paying off, and Ruby was proud of the results. She wasn't as strong as Yang by a long shot, but she'd improved. Between that, and her "research" project, things were looking up. Now, though, they'd gotten another couple of days tailing a hunter on a mission, except this time they hadn't had any idea where to try to go. All of the leads on the White Fang had dried up, they were suspicious of new recruits, and Junior didn't know anything.

Ruby pulled her hood over her hair and double-checked her pack. They'd been sent to some far-flung place, well outside of Vale, to help protect a village while the village's normal hunters were resting and healing up. It was a rough neighborhood, though it reminded Ruby of Patch. The forest looked completely different than Patch, but Yang got the same small-town vibe from the place.

Their drop-zone was quickly approaching, and the hunter they were shadowing on this mission was a quiet man. He signaled that they should get ready, but the bullhead didn't have any spare parachutes. Beacon students didn't need them, after all. They jumped from the airship when it came in low over the orange-red forest and managed to not shake up the whole forest landing, though Yang was a little generous with her shotgun blasts. Weiss and Blake's landings were silent, though Ruby squeezed off a few rounds while she slowed her descent. The hunter they were working with, Veridian, showed no signs of slowing until he hit the forest canopy. Then, he was simply gone. By the time all of RWBY had made it to the forest floor, he was already waiting quietly.

"Such noisy young ladies," he muttered. "You'll scare away the wildlife."

"Sorry," Ruby muttered. She wondered if she'd get to see some cute, fuzzy animals today, since she hadn't thought about it.

"Let's get going. I've already reported in, so we're on the job now. We'll establish a perimeter first, then set up a patrol route to keep as much area covered as possible, without being completely alone."

"What?"

Veridian sighed and took a little effort to muster some patience. He was lean and tall, though Ruby had paid him very little attention after their introductions. Now, though, she noticed just how wild he seemed. This was his preferred area of operation, she figured. He wore green in a few shades, but it was just slacks, boots, a shirt and coat. Nothing too spectacular. "We're spreading out, but only enough so that backup is nearby. I've read your files, you're all very capable, as a team or individually, but we have no idea what may happen. We'll be here all week, so I'd like to not have to handle any injured, if at all possible."

"Injured?"

He raised an eyebrow. "One of you, Ruby."

Ruby grinned smugly. "Understood, just asking."

"Do you always talk this much?"

She shrugged. "Only when I'm excited or trying to understand something, or-"

He cut her off, shaking his head. "We'll want to keep as quiet as possible out here. I'll explain things as we go, but you're following my orders first, alright?"

"Roger that."

Yang snickered for a moment before Veridian shot her a glare. "Sorry."

"We'll have time for shenanigans and hijinks later."

"Good." Yang frowned. "Like what?"

"Perimeter." He started walking and didn't turn back. "We're on it. Spread out, stay within line of site of the next person. Ruby at the end of the chain, Weiss behind me. You other two can figure it out from there."

"Why do I have to be up front with you?" Weiss muttered.

Veridian's dry chuckle came as a bit of surprise as they followed, implimenting his instructions slowly. Yang elected to be between Blake and Ruby, and Blake was already rolling her eyes at Weiss. "I have a feeling you'll be my better bet if we have a surprise attack from the front."

"I'm not particularly great at range."

"But I am. You're better at support, right?"

"I can fight."

"But you help others fight better, correct? What's Ruby gonna do, fire off a bunch of rounds? Sorry, that's too loud."

Ruby was still close enough to hear, and she stroked Crescent Rose absently. "Too loud? You're not too loud, baby. I love you just the way you are."

Yang grinned at her little sister and shook her head. "He's just not a fan of your favorite songs, Ruby."

"Songs?"

Yang raised Ember Celica for a moment and made a punching motion. "You know, gunfire."

"Right."

Yang frowned at a thought, then shrugged. "Which reminds me, you brought your headphones, right?"

"Yeah."

"Might get boring." Yang lowered her voice and slowed down enough for Ruby to get closer.

"That, and you know."

"Right, right. Calm sounds. Must stay calm."

Yang's smile returned and she strode ahead. "Exactly! Now, let's get this party started!"

It took at least six hours between their initial drop into Ravendale's forest and when they first caught sight of any Grimm activity. It was just a pair of Ursa, one major and one minor. Blake caught sight of them first, and Weiss managed to help Blake intercept them after they charged. It wasn't exciting enough for Ruby to bother with more than a few rounds, and Yang yawned even as she charged the giant bear-monsters. Blake caught one in the neck, decapitating it, while Yang stuck her fist into the other's chest and fired a couple shots. It was over too fast, and Yang's adrenaline didn't even start pumping.

The two Grimm weren't even very strong. Veridian frowned as he assessed them after the fight, but said nothing. They resumed their patrol again, though Blake wore a thoughtful frown.

Weiss caught her attention after a couple of minutes of quietly marching through the forest. She smiled, waving. "Good catch."

Blake shrugged and shook her head. "It was nothing. Just keep an eye out."

Weiss looked like she was about to argue, then turned her head back in time to realize she'd been about to walk into a tree. She shook her head sadly, then waved at Blake. The thumbs-up sign was momentary, and it took Blake a little effort to keep herself from laughing. Weiss was obviously in a good mood today.

They stopped their march after dark, since only Blake and Veridian could see anymore, and ate a cold dinner. Field rations, he'd said. Nothing very appetizing, but it was better than nothing. Plus, it wasn't all that bad.

"Not a very eventful first day, but promising," he muttered.

"Yeah?" Weiss seemed interested in his assessment, since she'd easily done a third of the work.

"Yes. I've gone over some of your instructors' notes, but I don't really know any of you very well. Just basic information, and some of the important details. When Ozpin said he was sticking me with four teenaged girls, I figured you'd all scare off all the birds and squirrels. Then he said you four weren't so bad."

"Thanks," Yang muttered.

Ruby slid her headphones over her head and wore them on her shoulders, so she could listen to

the conversation, and her music. Music was good. She had to have some music, sometimes. Today was one of those days. "You seem like you don't like a lot of noise. Sorry, but we can be really noisy. Hope we weren't today."

He shrugged dismissively. "A landing strategy or a pair of Ursas are going to be a noisy experience no matter what."

"You also didn't even draw your weapon," she pointed out. "Were you testing us too?"

"Testing?" Under the scrutiny of Ruby's raised eyebrow, he chuckled softly. "It was handled. No reason to jump at every opportunity, right?"

"But that's why we're here, isn't it?" Blake asked. "We're basically the village's first line of defense against the creatures of Grimm. If we fail, they have to depend on their walls. Those walls didn't look very strong."

"They're not. That's why they have four recovering hunters stationed here, on duty. That's why we're here." He shrugged. "Besides, you're supposed to be learning by doing. If I do all the work, you won't learn all that much. This is all about your experience, as Huntresses. I'm not going to deprive any of you of that as much as I can help it, but I will keep you girls safe."

Yang frowned irritably.

"I mean ladies?"

"It's not that."

"What?"

She shook her head. "Just felt like we were really getting to be Huntresses there for a minute. Then the safety-net."

"You'd rather not have one?"

"No, it just ruined some of the positive illusion. Today was mostly boring anyway."

Veridian chuckled softly. "Boring is better than bad. Bad is better than dead."

"Fair enough."

Two days had gone by, with only a few more Ursa sightings. The largest sighting so far had been of maybe four Ursas, and RWBY had dealt with them easily. Ruby was taking up the rear, again, as they made their third lap for the day. Veridian had gotten them used to eating on the move, and had packed plenty of rations that didn't need to be cooked. From what she saw, Ruby noticed how Veridian also made an effort to not harm any of the local flora.

Ruby had her headphones on, though only over one ear, and was listening to music again. The boredom of this mission was making her irritable, and angry. Ruby was listening to her most calming music, but she was paying attention. Then, a few miles away, she heard a howl. It was a Beowolf, and several of its pack answered him, from further away.

Ruby's scroll rang even as she reached into her belt-pouch to use it anyway. It was Blake. "I heard. How far off are they?"

"About a mile, maybe two. The first one's a scout, pro-"

"I know how they work."

"Port hasn't really covered much on how they hunt-"

"Beowolves are everywhere on Patch." Ruby grunted. "I'm hanging up, we're going after them."

There were more howls in the distance, one from each of the rest of the pack. Ruby didn't need Blake's recount.

"There's twelve. That's a lot."

"Tell Veridian and Weiss what's up. If they're calling and they're out here, they know we're here too."

"That's not what happened when we went with Oobleck."

"This is a different situation. They know about the village, they have a place to go. It shouldn't be long before they're closer. I'd rather you all be ready."

"What about you?"

Ruby snorted, then ran her fingers across her scythe's folded form, stuck to her belt. "We have maybe five minutes before they get here. Arguing won't slow them down, only bullets."

"Roger that."

Blake finally hung up, and Ruby pocketed the scroll. She met Yang's eyes and nodded, grinning slightly. She pushed her headphones off her ears and let them rest on her shoulders, hoping they wouldn't get in the way. It was only 12 Beowolves, after all. Yang knew, but maybe Blake and Weiss didn't. Veridian had no idea what Ruby liked to do to them.

Yang and Ruby each picked a tree and managed to climb them quickly, using the recoil of their weapons to ease the process a bit. They jumped from tree to tree, hiding in the canopy, and managed to beat the rest of their team to where the pack was likely to come through. It was a tiny, shallow little valley that the trees nearly covered, but the Beowolves knew where they were going. They charged through, headed directly for the direction Blake and Weiss were still running through.

Ruby pulled back the bolt on Crescent Rose and took aim from her branch as the pack passed harmlessly below her while Yang waited for her signal. The other three were nothing but a diversion, at this point, though Ruby hadn't meant for it to be that way.

Blake and Weiss were ready, while Veridian had his halberd prepared, bringing up the rear. Ruby saw him looking for her and Yang, then smiled. She signaled Yang before the pack had gotten too far away from the blond, and Yang dropped from the branches even as Blake opened fire on the whole pack.

Yang nearly landed on the slowest of the pack, and Ember Celica tore through its head even before she fired. Ruby put a round through the one that reacted in time to see Yang even land, but the blond was moving the moment her feet actually met the ground. Weiss managed to slice through the lead Beowolf, then fired a bunch of ice at the next nearest. Veridian merely watched as team RWBY tore the Beowolf pack apart from both sides, but by the third head-shot, Ruby decided it was boring. She leaped from the tree and cleaved through another on her way to the ground, then spun and caught one more. There were twice as many in this pack as Blake had heard, which was the only good news Ruby had had through the whole trip. They didn't all always call back, she knew.

Before long, the pack had been mostly cut down, leaving a few lucky stragglers. One turned to run away, and Ruby chased after it. She couldn't help it, with her adrenaline pumping and her hatred for the creatures. Besides, if it made it far enough away, she could continue her project a little.

Ruby used her Semblance to close the gap, then caught it in the back of the knee with the top, flat part of her scythe. It went down, growling and howling. Ruby shoved the spiked shaft of her scythe through it's shoulder, pinning it to the ground. She pushed until Crescent Rose was too wide to fit through the hole.

Emerald grinned at the chaos below, as RWBY and the Beowolf pack met. Then, things went awry, at least for her plans. Mercury called her up from his position, guiding the next wave.

"Next pack is in-bound. How're they dealing with the first two?"

Emerald glanced back at their intended victims, frowning. "Were there any more out there?"

"Not that I saw."

She swore softly. "We might need another pack."

"I thought you said they'd be easy."

"I also thought that the stupid one was harmless. Our intel is wrong."

"The boss-lady isn't gonna like that."

"We'll just gather more intel, while we're here." As Ruby broke away from the rest of her team and chased down the Beowolf that tried to escape, Emerald had an idea. "Maybe this could work. Their range is gone, all that's left is the Hunter and the other three." She frowned as Yang took off after her sister, smashing her way through another pair of Beowolves like it was nothing. "Focus on their Hunter and the other two. Remember the traps."

"Roger. So, Phase two is a go?"

"Yeah. Make it happen."

Mercury chuckled. "This is twice the size of that group you rounded up."

"They've lost half their fighting force." Emerald frowned. "Probably over that, from what I've seen."

"Yeah? Just the ditz and the little girl?"

"That little girl has a big gun with a big blade on it. The ditz, in case you didn't get the memo,

basically took out that Paladin that Roman lost."

"Interesting. Why didn't Roman mention it?"

"It worked out, he probably didn't think it mattered."

"Well, let's make this matter."

Yang caught up with Ruby pretty quickly, as the sounds of gunfire behind her stopped. The sudden silence punctuated the fact that Ruby had kept the Beowolf she'd chased alive, instead of simply killing it. When Yang got there, Ruby was crouched over the Grimm, smiling cruelly. She pocketed something and turned to Yang, still smiling.

"What're you doing?"

"Working on our edge, for the next time the White Fang or Torchwick's accomplices make a move."

"I don't understand." Yang shrugged. "But you looked just like you did that one time."

Ruby stopped grinning. "I got a little too keyed up, maybe."

"Boring?"

"Yeah, except...you know."

"Yeah. You and Beowolves, it's kind of a thing."

"I love watching their pieces scatter when my baby takes their lives."

"So why's that one still alive?"

Ruby turned back to the whimpering creature under her boot. "Oh. Just taking a small sample. Science, or something."

Yang frowned for a moment, but Ruby was already removing her weapon from the creature's shoulder. Its head was removed pretty soon after, in a quick swipe. Ruby shrugged.

"Ready for more. How about you?"

"Who says there's going to be more?"

Ruby's smile returned, and it made the blond grin too. "I do. Let's see if we can do something about 'em before Weiss freaks out, alright?"

"Right. She doesn't seem to like actually fighting these things."

Ruby chuckled as Yang took off running. She waited for a moment, savoring the faint scent of her latest Beowolf kill, then pulled her headphones off her shoulders and put them over both ears. With this many of them, she knew her facade was starting to slip. Sure, she'd had her little moments, but they were easily explained away. Yang had a beautiful excuse, most of the time, but Ruby couldn't copy it, at least not very well.

Ruby cranked the volume of the latest track she was listening to and folded her scythe as she headed in the same direction as her older sister. She heard the crack of gunfire a moment too late, but it missed her head. Her red and black headphones, on the other hand, lost the left earpiece and left her head completely. The adrenaline had worn off enough that it took Ruby a moment to fully understand what was going on, and she thanked her quick reflexes for the slight movement she'd managed, but what faced her from above wasn't a creature of Grimm.

The woman wore a mask that covered most of her face and head, but Ruby saw green eyes and hair, and tan skin. The fabric was green, though the rest of the clothes were lightly colored. She dropped from her tree and pulled out another pistol, the first resting in her right hand. Ruby unfolded her scythe and smiled. This was exactly what she needed.

Yang had enough time to almost get back to the rest of the team when the howls of another Beowolf pack came, from all sides. Of course Ruby was right about the Beowolves, and Yang knew why. She chided herself for a moment while Weiss struggled with a little bit of panic and surprise quietly. Blake's serious expression caught Yang's attention for a moment, but she merely smiled back.

"Where's Ruby?"

Yang shrugged. "She had to take care of something."

"Like what? There's a whole other pack here."

Yang shook her head, then hastily reloaded Ember Celica. "So? Don't you want to try and catch up with her kill count?"

"This isn't a game."

Yang chuckled. "Nothing to worry about."

Crimson Rose fired from near where Yang had left Ruby, and there were another pair of gunshots.

"What was that? Beowolves don't use guns."

Yang shrugged. "Too late to find out now."

Of course, Yang was right. Forty Beowolves rushed onto the path and into the clearing Weiss and Veridian had taken over. Blake managed to dodge away from a Beowolf that tried to take her from behind. It didn't live long. The majority of the pack seemed focused on Weiss and Veridian, leaving Blake and Yang isolated, but still fighting.

Ruby fired at her masked attacker, her fifth round of the magazine. The attacker dodged deftly aside, then dashed straight for her. The woman fired both of her guns, then unfolded a pair of blades as she closed in on Ruby. Ruby managed a sideways swing before the woman was too close to use Crescent Rose's blade. The woman merely jumped over the arc of Ruby's blade, then moved in with her blades for a strike.

Ruby vanished in a shower of rose petals, and reappeared behind her attacker before the other

woman even landed. Crescent Rose came for the woman's shoulder, but she managed to spin and block in time to catch the blade with her own pair. The woman pulled Ruby's scythe to the side and behind her with her blade, then used her free weapon to try and stab Ruby through the ribs. Ruby let go of the scythe instead and caught the woman's wrist in one hand, then slammed her other elbow into her forearm. The other woman dropped her weapon and screamed in pain as something snapped, but Ruby wasn't done. She spun and elbowed the woman in her jaw, letting go of the now-useless wrist, and finished with a mean left hook to the throat.

"Too noisy."

The woman fell, but managed to catch herself a little bit with her good hand. Her remaining weapon slid away in the loose soil. Ruby could hear the struggle the woman was having just to breath, and she clutched at her throat for a moment, before Ruby put a boot on her shoulder and pressed down a little. Ruby smiled, then stomped on the woman's shoulder, then kicked her in the side of the head a couple of times. The whimpering and frightened expression stopped, but now there was a little bit of blood on Ruby's boot. Ruby knelt down beside the woman to survey the damage, grinning.

With Ruby effectively removed from the fight, it took Blake, Yang, and Weiss a great deal more effort to deal with the sheer number of attacking Beowolves. Veridian even had to step in, but it was handled without anything terrible happening. It felt like an eternity, and when the dust settled, Ruby still hadn't returned. There weren't any more sounds of gunfire from where she'd been, either.

"Ruby's still not back yet?" Weiss asked in frustration.

"Probably a little surprise." Yang shrugged. "I'm sure she's fine, I'll go find her. You guys just hang out here and rest up."

Blake snorted softly, frowning. "Twenty."

Yang shrugged. "You win this round, but only because I wasn't really feeling it."

"Because you're actually worried about your sister?"

Yang smiled. "Only that she tripped and landed on her face. If it was a big deal, she'd have screamed and come running." She shook her head. "Besides, can you catch her?" At the shake of Blake's head, she smiled a little wider. "Exactly. If anything went really wrong, she's faster than like everybody."

Yang headed for where she'd last seen her sister, forcing herself to an unhurried pace. It wouldn't help to worry the others about Ruby, even though it was killing her. If anything happens to her, I'll...

Yang came around the bend in the path and stopped at the sight of Ruby's tiny form hunched over a prone, unconscious body. Crescent Rose was laying in the dirt, along with another pair of weapons, and Ruby was humming. She came closer to Ruby as she tore off a second piece of flesh,

from a crude bite-wound to the woman's neck.

Yang frowned and shook her head sadly. "You're gonna get in trouble if the others see that. They'll freak out, you know."

Ruby shoved the rest of the small chunk into her mouth hastily as she jumped up in surprise, then turned to her sister. There was a little blood dribbling down her mouth from the mess she'd made, but Yang knew it wasn't hers. "Sorry, she shot my headphones." She shuddered. "I kind of lost it, I think."

Yang sighed. "It's fine, I know it happens."

"But not to anyone else."

"I know, it's alright. Just try harder to keep it in?"

Ruby shrugged, then brushed off the front of her combat skirt before retrieving her weapon. "What do we do with that?" She pointed at the body.

"Is she dead?"

"Maybe?"

Yang shrugged. "It's off our patrol, they'll get suspicious if you're gone any longer. Maybe it'll attract more Grimm."

"I'd like that." Ruby folded her scythe and snapped it onto her belt as Yang closed the gap between them. They shared a brief hug before heading back to rejoin the rest of the team, though Blake and Weiss looked pretty worried.

"Where were you? We could've used the help." Weiss barely managed to balance the worry with irritation in her tone as she demanded answers.

Ruby shrugged, then smiled a little. She hoped it looked reassuring. "Found someone who wanted to fight. Maybe the Beowolves were following her."

"So it took you that long to fight someone? Was it the woman from the CCT?"

"No." Ruby chuckled. "It'd have been more fun."

"Fun?" Blake cut in. "Do you think this is a game?"

Ruby stopped smiling. "No."

Blake turned her anger to Yang. "How about you?"

Yang shrugged. "Business as usual, with a new twist."

"Haven't we had enough of those lately?"

"Maybe. Keeps it interesting."

Ruby rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Look, I'm pretty sure that's who all the Grimm were following. Whether or not they just meant to give us something to train with better is beside the point. You all handled this pretty well, and I'm sure everyone's found something they need to improve on."

"How about you?" Weiss asked. "Have you found something to improve on?"

Ruby shrugged. "I need to stop relying on what I know as much, because obviously this wasn't just a couple of Beowolf packs moving in the same direction. That's where I messed up." She snorted. "And the other thing."

Blake stepped closer to Ruby, but she looked concerned more than angry. "Are you okay, Ruby?"

"What? Yeah, why?"

Blake pointed. "Did you bite your lip or something?"

Ruby frowned, then wiped her lip instinctively. "Uh, maybe. Doesn't hurt, it's probably fine."

"Right." Yang fired a couple of rounds into the air. "That was a good workout."

Veridian cleared his throat and looked annoyed. "Now that we've gotten all that out of the way, we're behind schedule."

"Of course we are," Yang muttered.

Cinder sighed and closed her eyes, then began rubbing the bridge of her nose as she silently wished for the patience to deal with this new problem. It was silent in their dorm room while she quietly contemplated just how stupid her subordinates could be.

"Cinder?" Emerald asked quietly. "Are you that mad?"

Cinder took a deep, calming breath and opened her eyes. She didn't bother to look at Emerald. "You nearly blew your cover, you failed to complete the objective, and you've uncovered several variables we hadn't accounted for. I'm trying to understand why you thought it'd be a good idea to attack her, after failing to bring any of them down with so many Beowolves." Cinder shook her head. "But this new development means she's unlikely to blow your cover, if she found out."

Emerald shook her head. "She probably didn't see my face. They left me for dead, I had to pretend I was unconscious while she was taking pieces out of my shoulder." Emerald shuddered. "She bit me, and ate it."

Cinder frowned. "That's disturbing." She sighed. "Well, you'll have to lay low until things die down."

The cafeteria was bustling and busy, but Yang had missed most of her lunch, thanks to a little practice in the free time with Pyrrha. Luckily, the line to get food was short, and all of Yang's friends were still hanging around. They had elected to take over one of the farther tables, though, and she could hear the sounds of a barely-contained riot from the front. Yang smiled as she headed for their table, glad her day was going as good as it was. They'd gotten high marks from the mission, and plenty of credit. Even classes were easy today. Now was lunch, and Yang liked not having to listen to boring lectures.

On the way to her friends' table, though, Yang saw one of the transfer students sitting alone, staring at her plate like she'd just lost a puppy. She had quite a few bandages, and a cast on her left arm, but that was fairly normal around here. Aura helped things heal faster, after all. The sorrow in the girl's eyes and her complete lack of attention beyond whatever was upsetting her, though, made Yang stop. It brought down some of her good mood, and that wasn't something she wanted. She tried to remember the girl's name but failed for a moment. It started with an 'e' or something, though Yang recognized her face. She always hung out with that one guy, and the chick who talked all slow.

"What's eating you?"

The girl looked up, horrified. "What?"

"What's eating you?"

The girl wrinkled her nose. "Nothing."

"Just looked like you're having a bad day or something. Where's your team? Where's your friends?"

The girl shrugged dismissively. "Doing something else. I'm kinda out of the action for a bit."

"What happened?"

The girl frowned for a moment, then shook her head. "Too many Grimm, not enough bullets. Something like that."

"Wanna hang out with us? I'm sure there's another seat open." Yang kept smiling while the girl looked in the direction Yang had indicated. She noticed the girl's subtle shudder.

"I think I'm fine alone."

"Alright, but if you get bored, you know where I'll be."

"Thanks."

"No problem. By the way, what's your name? I'm Yang."

"Emerald. Nice to meet you."

"Have a better day!"