Sin stood in the doorway, frozen as he stared at the body of not only Coco, but Velvet. Coco sitting in her chair and Velvet at the edge of her bed, their bodies slumped against each other in what was a final embrace before it ended. The gun in Coco's hand made it obvious. A single bullet taking both of their lives passing through Velvet's brain first before exiting her skull and burrowing into Coco's, a merciful kill to spare her love further pain and fear, while taking her own life out of despair and guilt.

Fox and Yatsuhashi along with the members of RWBY had rushed to the room when they heard the gunshot all of them standing in place like statues when they saw it. Other students who had heard the shot had gone to investigate and all of them shared the same reaction, shock and disbelief. It wasn't until Professor Ivy returned to the room and saw that Sin had found out and sprinted back to the room. He was too late, he promised her would save her and left as she reached out for him as she cried, that was the last memory she would have of him, leaving her behind.

It had been a week, Ozpin held a funeral service for the two students where even he and the ever stoic Glynda Goodwitch had dropped their masks and shed a tear for the deceased. Two promising, beloved students who were taken unfairly. It had been a week and yet was still fresh in everyone's minds. Classes for the week were called off, even the faculty had lost the desire to deal with them instead offering a friendly ear and counseling to any student who felt they needed it.

Seven days since it had happened and in those long, dreary days no one had seen Professor Sin, he had simply vanished.

Inside RWBY's dorm Ruby sat on her bed with her knees curled up to her chest, unable to get the last image of Coco and Velvet out of her head. She stood there frozen just like everyone else who saw a single word "no" repeating in her mind over and over, it wasn't until Professor Sin pushed his way past her and the others that she was shaken from her trance and fled tears streaming from her eyes. Running into the girl's restroom she leaned against the trashcan in the corner, her back lurching as she emptied the contents of her stomach and cried.

Weiss traumatized from what she had seen retreated to a secluded area of the campus to call her sister. Winter as a specialist in the Atlas military had been sent out of many dangerous assignments and even though she always managed to return unharmed she had lost a few allies in the process. Surely if anyone would understand and talk her through this it would be her dear sister.

Blake was the only one of them to have ever see an infected person change and what becomes of them, she was thankful that Velvet was spared such a fate, but the knowledge that her friend was gone was just as bad. She remained in her team's room on her bed the covers pulled completely over her as she curled into a ball and cried herself to sleep. Not Velvet, she didn't deserve such a fate, she was too kind, too friendly, she prayed she would open her eyes and that this would turn out to be a horrifying dream.

Yang secluded herself in the academy's gym trying to work off her fear and stress though exercises. Each day she would split her time between trying to comfort her sister and comfort herself, she knew Ruby better than anyone she knew the smile her sister put on was fake hiding her fear, her pain. No matter how many times she tried to talk to Ruby she would insist that she was ok, but Yang noticed the change in her voice when she lied and the blonde brawler's frustration only grew.

Ruby sat on her bed glancing over at Blake as she slept, Weiss and Yang currently out dealing with things their own way. Ruby remembered the first time she met Velvet and Coco, after her first class under Professor Helms, the day she learned to call him by his first name. Ruby had asked Sin for help understanding one of his assignments, but he had to decline so he could focus on his other work, it was then that Ruby befriended Velvet. The faunus explained to her that Sin was a good teacher, but he had a habit of working too much giving him little to no time for anything else. Having known Sin for so long and already completed his first-year course the rabbit girl offered to help the freshman with her assignment, the day they became friends and Ruby learned of Velvet's relationship with their teacher.

"He's your godfather?" Ruby asked to which Velvet nodded.

She smiled, "He saved my life when I was a child, I got lost in the woods outside my town and was cornered by a beowolf. That's when he showed up."

Ruby's eyes sparkled, "At last second, just in the nick of time, like some kind of superhero."

Velvet chuckled, "Yes I suppose. Anyway try to be patient, he does care for his students and he is willing to help all of us, his research just takes up a lot of his time."

The next day Ruby handed in her homework to Sin and he nodded silently as he went over it, "I see Velvet helped you" he said at last, "But you did great Ms. Rose. I'm sorry I didn't have time to help you myself."

Ruby rubbed the back of her head, "Oh it's ok, she told me how busy you are outside of class, I completely understand."

Sin set the completed assignment down, "I'll try to make time for you in the future should you need any further help."

"Oh you don't have to" Ruby told him, "Your work into finding a cure is much more important."

Sin shook his head, "No, as your teacher it's my job and as a friend of your mother's it's my pleasure."

Ruby paused unsure if she heard him correctly, "You" she began meeting his gaze, "You knew my mom?"

He nodded, "Summer was a good friend of mine" he smiled, "And you look just like her Ruby, well a little shorter of course."

Ruby looked at the floor blushing lightly, "Ca...Can you tell me about her? Yang only remembers a little bit about her and dad and uncle Qrow won't talk about her for long."

Sin stared at the ceiling, "She was without a doubt the nicest person I had ever met, and the most beautiful. The only person as close to me as Ivy was. She was the leader of her team as well, Summer Rose, Taiyang Xiao Long, Raven and Qrow Branwen. I was friend with all of them, but Summer. She was something else, someone truly special."

He pat her shoulder, "You really do look just like her" he smiled, "I know she'd be proud of you."

Ruby never forgot those words, she and Yang often went to Sin to hear more about her and he would gladly tell them stories of not just Summer, but also her team while they were students and after they graduated. Much like their dad and uncle Sin was clearly sad as he reminisced about their mother, but unlike their father and uncle he wouldn't stop talking about her. Through him they learned things about her that even Taiyang and Qrow didn't tell them, how Summer's grades were below average throughout her years at Beacon, but her combat abilities were always near the top.

"No one made cookies like Summer did" Sin chuckled, "She never shared her secret with anyone though."

There was one thing Ruby wanted to know about her mother more than anything, the thing that haunted her for as long as she could remember, but she was too afraid to ask. What happened to my mom? How did she die?

Ruby had come to know Professor Sin almost as well as Velvet had which is how she knew that as bad as the situation was as sad as they all were she knew no one was taking it as hard as Professor Sin, wherever he was.

"No one knows where Professor Sin is either" Yang had told them earlier that day, "It's like he just disappeared."

Weiss asked, "Has anyone checked his lab?"

Yang nodded, "Apparently Professor Ozpin has a key to it as well, but when they went to check he wasn't there and the last time the door was unlocked was the day Velvet..." she paused not wanting to mention it.

Weiss said, "I can't begin to imagine how hard this must be for him. He loved Velvet as if she was his daughter."

Yang sat at the corner desk, "I asked Professor Ivy according to her she checked the local bars, but couldn't find him."

Blake finally spoke up, "How is she holding up?"

Yang shook her head, "I think at this point she's more worried about Professor Sin than anything, even Ozpin and Goodwitch are worried."

They weren't the only ones, as the day progressed Ruby could only think about their missing teacher knowing he was out there somewhere grieving and wishing she could help him. She got to her feet and looked outside the window down at the courtyard wondering to herself where he could have gone. Taking one last look at Blake as she slept Ruby quietly exited the room going for a walk around campus. At the northern most end of the academy's garden was the memorial wall where the names of Beacon's deceased staff and unfortunately some students current and former were engraved into a shining black wall the latest entries Velvet Scarlatina and Coco Adel.

Over a thousand names inscribed on the wall in the fifty years since its construction, ten years after Beacon was first built. Walking over to the wall and touching her hand to their names she lowered herself to her knees feeling her throat close up and her chest tighten. It wasn't just Velvet's or Coco's name that was on there, she memorized the spot, the exact line and column her other hand slowly gliding along the wall until the tips of her fingers came to rest on another name. Summer Rose.

Ruby clenched her eyes closed leaning her head against the wall, after what happened to Velvet she began thinking, what if that happened to her mother. What if Summer Rose died because she had become infected and turned into a mindless monster. She cried against the wall, asking her mother what she should do, how to make things better or at least less of a nightmare.

"Mom" she sobbed, "What should I do?"

She cried, for how long she didn't know, but she kept crying for her lost friend and the memory of her mother and the sadness and pain that she was left with. A gentle hand on her shoulder interrupted her, her red cracked silver eyes looking up to see Professor Ivy smiling down at her handing her a handkerchief. She kneeled down next to Ruby, silently rubbing her back as she wiped her eyes and leaned her head against Ivy's shoulder.

"I miss them to Ruby" Ivy told her after the girl had calmed down, "Summer was a good friend and I always looked at Velvet as a little sister, this world is lesser without them."

Ruby asked, "Why did it have to be Velvet?"

Ivy answered softly, "I honestly don't know."

Ruby sniffled, "And Coco..."

Ivy hugged her, "One day Ruby. One day everything will be ok. One day we'll see a world where this infection doesn't exist anymore and the grimm are wiped out. Until then all we can do is remember what they meant to us and carry on."

Ruby hugged her, "What about Professor Sin?"

"I wish I knew" Ivy answered, unsure of where her childhood friend had gone, the only thing she did know was that he was grieving more than any of them.

After another hour Ivy walked Ruby back to her dorm saying goodnight with one last hug. The young huntress' sleep was plagued by nightmares, seeing an infected Velvet staring at her, following her dragging Coco's dead body behind her, both of them covered in blood as Velvet reached out for her. Ruby reached for her weapon to defend herself only to realize it was gone and the grimm Velvet was getting closer. Planting her back against the wall Ruby begged, pleaded and cried for Velvet to stay back to not come any closer as she screamed for someone to help her, but all she heard was the groans coming from Velvet as she shuffled ever closer. Sliding down to the floor Ruby covered her head as her friend loomed over her, Velvet's ghastly white hand reached for her.

"Velvet!" she screamed shooting up from her bed breathing heavily.

Ruby looked around her room, her teammates were gone, presumably at breakfast considering the hour. Sliding out of her bed and changing into her usual outfit she stepped outside, not feeling hungry so she decided to walk around again. Outside the classroom building she ran into Ivy who greeted her, asking if she slept well.

Ruby looked at the ground and shook her head, "I, had a nightmare. I saw Velvet, she was. One of them, and she was chasing me."

Ivy grabbed the back of the girl's shoulder, "I'm going to check Sin's lab to see if he came back, want to come with me?"

Ruby asked, "Isn't it off limits to students?"

Ivy answered, "Normally, but we'll make an exception this time. Come on."

Ivy leads Ruby to Beacon tower, the top floor of which was the headmaster's office, but the basement where only the staff were allowed to go was where Sin's personal lab was located. The elevator that normally went up instead went down, a thirty second descent that ended at a steel walled corridor leading to a single heavy door. Ruby stood in front of the door with Ivy, imagining what the inside must look like, dozens of desks littered with test tubes and beakers, microscopes and research notes with a pen of tranquilized grimm in the back. Ivy typed the code into the door and the lock disengaged, a loud hiss greeting them as the air tight seal was moved and Ivy pushed the door open revealing a ransacked room.

Cabinets were overturned, papers and equipment strewn about while shards of glass littered the floor. A torn up lab coat hung from the broken door of the supply closet the shelves of which were ripped from the wall and its contents spilled onto the floor. The entire room looked like a tornado had been through destroying everything in its path.

"What happened here?" Ruby asked before noticing movement by a corner desk, "Professor Sin!"

Ivy followed Ruby finding her friend huddled in the corner surrounded by liquor bottles, his clothes filthy and the strong scent of alcohol on his breath with each exhale.

"Sin?" Ivy gasped.

Slowly he looked up, "Ivy" he muttered before seeing Ruby next to her his eyes shifting, "S, Summer?"

Ruby kneeled down ignoring the stench on his breath, "Professor Sin, it's me, Ruby Rose."

His lips weakly curved into a drunken grin, "Summer..." he said, "First you and now..." he looked down at his hand, a framed picture of him and Velvet when she had completed her initiation into Beacon.

His shoulders jumped as he began crying, "Velvet...Velvet" he leaned to the side lowering himself to the floor hugging the picture against his chest as he drunkenly cried over his favorite student, his friend, his goddaughter, his little girl.