Three knocks. Loud and sharp. A gruff voice he could barely register yelling due to his absolute fatigue, as it was three o'clock in the morning. One set of hands clamped over his mouth, another forcing him to his knees, dragging him out of his apartment, yanking a black garbage bag over his head.

The car ride was bumpy, but he didn't care. They dragged him out, put a gun to his head. And asked him. It was a female voice, sweet and smooth as newly-poured cement.

"Where is she?" The owner of the voice demanded. She pressed a gun to his head. He smiled grimly. "Gone. I kicked her out." He swallowed. "What, you're gonna kill me?"

"Maybe. Who knows?" She laughed bitterly. "I don't care." She took off his blindfold, revealing a bare field and a group of two cutthroat-looking teens. She stared into his maroon orbs with her amber-tinted pools. She pulled out a die and winked. "You think I'm playing your game, Cinder?" Qrow raised an eyebrow. "Am I?"

She grinned. "But you are. Roll the die." She took out a pocket knife and cut free his hands.

Qrow took it and rolled the dice around in his palm before tossing it up into the air. It sailed up and landed on the barren ground with a thunk. He had rolled a one. Cinder licked her lips. "So sorry, but it's your unlucky day. You get to go meet your maker." Qrow closed his eyes as the safety clicked off. "Any last words?"

The man laughed bitterly. "Fuck you, Cinder Fall. Fuck Salem. You're all soulless killers and thieves whom I pity. I mean, who would want to be one of you, right?"

Cinder snarled, stomping her high-heeled foot into the dry dirt. "Thirty seconds to make peace with whatever god you believe in, Birdy."

Qrow closed his eyes. "Well, God, if you're listening, I'm as remorseful as one gets. I'm not pulling your leg either, For what I did wrong, I'm sorry. And I really, really wish it wasn't this way."

"Ten seconds."

"Go to hell, Cinder. But if you kill me, know this. I died protecting everyone from you." Qrow opened his eyes one last time, smiling sadly.

Bang. Bang. Bang. Three gunshots echoed across the empty field. Cinder kicked the man's body coldly. "He's dead." She smirked. "Let's get moving. We have work to do."

~Skeletons in the Closet~

Pyrrha sipped her tea leisurely, smiling at the green-haired girl in front of her. "Pleasure as always, Emerald." Emerald winked, and took another long drag of her cigarette. "Pleasure is all mine." She blew out a cloud of noxious smoke. "Now, what brings you to Dex's Diner of all places? You're one of Salem's people, so you don't have to hide."

The green-eyed girl leaned forward, pursing her lips. "Well, I'm on the run from the boys in blue. Didn't you hear? I broke out." Emerald's eyes widened. "No way."

Pyrrha nodded. "Yes. And you're a safehouse, a common ground. May I stay awhile? You'll be in my debt."

Emerald leaned back. "Well, in that case, I can't refuse, can I?"

Pyrrha got up. "No, I suppose you can't. Now could you get me some clothes other than these wretched prison fatigues?"

~Skeletons in the Closet~

Weiss grunted, staring at the computer in frustration. Ten days of evidence digging, all fruitless.

Well, she had something. It wasn't much for a Schnee, but it was something Before Rose had died, she texted an unknown user. She pulled it up on the screen.

xXWildRoseXx: WC

Sibyl: I'm coming. What do you need?

xXWildRoseXx: Help. WC

"WC?" She thought out loud. "Now what could that mean?" She typed WC Vale into a search bar.

Displaying 501 results for "WC Vale", 3 results by page

-Warren Crevice

-Wellington Crescent

-WC Investor's Group

Weiss clicked the top result. The link led her to a Tikipedia article.

Her eyebrows furrowed as she read the top line.

"...The crevice was used as a hotspot for illegal activity during the late 680's, mostly by the Tribe and their affiliates, but activity died down in the 690's."

She grabbed her phone and dialed Blake's number.

"Belladonna here. What do you need?" The cat Faunus' low voice answered.

"Guess what I found?" Weiss asked.

"What is it? And why does it give you reason to call me at three in the morning?" A hint of annoyance could be heard in Blake's voice.

"Sorry. When you're awake, go check out Warren's Crevice."

"That's out in the North District. I used to go there with my family." Blake paused for a moment. "I worked on a case a couple months ago. They found the bodies of two people from the 80's.

"Wait, really?"

"Yeah. The case wasn't made public… mostly because the victims' kids wanted privacy." There was a sound coming from the other end, probably Blake putting on her favourite black Melvin Klein jacket. "I'll run the files over to you now, Coco and Vel's place is only a block away."

"You don't have to, just tell me the names of the victims and their family so we can question them."

"Uh sure, but you could just find it in the public archives under the location."

"If it's sensitive information, it won't be in the public archives."

"Right. Then I can just tell you. The victims' names were Muire O'Brien and…" Blake's voice trailed off.

"What is it?" Weiss inquired, concerned.

"Eumann Branwen. And you'll never guess their who their kids are." Blake said. "Wow, I've been such an idiot."

"No. No freaking way."

"Yep. It's them. I didn't make much of it, because Yang and I weren't dating at the time. So I forgot. Well, this gives us reason to poke around a little more."

"Indeed. We'll have to update everything. Including Nikos' escapade. Do you think we'll find her?"

"Who knows, eh?"

"We will. It's pretty likely. I'm absolutely sure of it. Most escaped criminals get caught, you know."

"I know, Weiss."

~Skeletons in the Closet~

The twins curled up in the corner, hands digging into each other's shoulders as they muffled sobs. The white-haired woman laughed cruelly as the couple, Eumann and Muire, had two identical nine-millimetres pressed to their skulls. The boy screamed. The woman turned.

"Shut up. You should be glad we're letting you live. Would you like the same fate?"

"N-no! Sorry, Mother Salem." The girl answered, tears running down her pale face.

"Good." She purred. "Now. Shoot."

Two identical screams of terror and pain were silenced by a hateful laugh that day.

So, I haven't updated in awhile. Mostly because I tried to write pre-written chapters. They didn't work. I hated them. I had a couple terrible, no-good, school things going on, and some swimming-related engagements. Fear not, though! I am back! Probably. If you enjoyed, leave a review, and tell me if I should change something, or what you liked. Thank you for reading, and have a wonderful day, wonderful person on the internet.