Fault.

Jaune, Yang, Lyre, who was carrying Lucina's sword on her back, and Ren drive their hover bikes across the tundra just outside Mantle, following The Hound up into a rocky chasm. The Grimm was carrying Oscar in it's mouth and Lucina in it's arms. This grimm was unusually smart, it knew exactly how to avoid them and how to escape them.

"It's going to lose us in these mountains! We can't keep up!" Jaun shouts.

Ren's bike starts shaking, and he looks at the frost-covered display, to find its engine is losing integrity "I don't know how much longer these bikes can stand the cold".

"I'm really wishing one of us could fly right now" Yang said.

"Unfortunately, I wasn't born a bird faunus" Lyre said.

"Wait, hold on!" Jaune deploys his shield on his arm and hits the brakes on his bike, moving back to drive parallel with Ren "Ren, going to get you up there".

Jaune lifts his shield up, and Ren leaps from his hoverbike to land on Jaune's shield. Jaune charges the Gravity Dust in his shield and blasts Ren toward The Hound. As he flies through the air, Ren launches one of StormFlower's blade cables and wraps it around The Hound's hind leg.

"Nice!" Yang highfives Jaune, causing Jaune to briefly lose balance on his bike. The Hound begins flying more erratically, slamming Ren against cliffs "Okay, not as nice".

"He's slowing him down. Hold on, Ren!" Jaune said

"I don't have much of a choice!" Ren shoots his other blade cable, wrapping it around a boulder to further slow The Hound. However, The Hound suddenly pulls up, causing the cable to come loose from the boulder, with the blade zipping past Lyre, Yang and Jaune.

The Hound slams Ren onto the ground and against pillars, continuing on its way through the chasm. Yang spots an incline to her left and drives up it onto a cliff parallel to The Hound, where she begins shooting it in the head. The Hound holds Lucina with one arm and lowers Oscar from its mouth into its other hand and flies faster, leaving Yang confused. The Hound then lets out a loud roar, and the earth begins trembling before a horde of Centinels emerge from the ground, cliffs and archways.

"Did it just call for backup?" Yang asked in shock.

"What the hell is this thing?!" Lyre asked as she quickly killed an Centinel with her claws.

A Teryx swoops at Yang, who leans away and drives over an arch. Down below, Jaune slashes Centinels in half as he passes them while a flock of Teryxes flies behind him. Ren continues to hold onto StormFlower's cable, which has been detached from the gun. He watches what is happening on the ground, then looks up at The Hound, seeing Lucina and Oscar pale and unconscious in its arms. Ren holsters his second gun and begins pulling himself along the cable toward The Hound.

A Centinel spits acid onto the engine of Jaune's hoverbike. As she zips across a stone arch above, Yang calls out to him "Jaune!".

A pair of Centinels twist around each other, heading straight for Jaune from behind. He sheathes his sword and leaps from his bike, then uses his shield's Gravity blast to bounce off a Centinel's head onto a stone arch. He tucks, rolls and teeters on the opposite edge before Yang drives by and grabs him, swinging him onto the back of her bike.

While this was happening, Lyre was being chased by an Teryx. It was relentless as no matter how fast she went or how much she steered to shake it, she could still feel it nibble at her back. Well if speed wasn't going to cut it, maybe she should slow down. Lyre quickly hit the breaks, ducking under the Teryx's jaws, before rising her claws up and cutting it's chest and stomach open, causing it to crash and die. Lyre avoided some Centinels and killed the ones she couldn't, before hurrying to catch up with her friends.

However, before she could, another Centinel appeared from below, causing her to fall of her hoverbike, which crashed in to a boulder. Lyre groans as she got up, only to be surrounded by more grimm, making her hiss in frustration.

"Ok you freaks... Let's do this!" Lyre said as she takes out her claws and got ready to fight.

Yang drives off the arch and onto a cliff, where a group of Centinels burrow up from the ground ahead of her. She accelerates and expertly dodges past them, only for a Teryx to land up ahead. Jaune pulls out a shield device and activates and tosses it. The device bumps into a boulder before deploying its Hard-Light shield, and Yang rams the shield with her bike, causing it to lean against the boulder and form a ramp. The bike is sent flying over the Teryx's head before it can stop them. There are two Centinels behind the Teryx, and Yang fires Ember Celica just before landing, sending the bike into a spin and hitting one of the Centinels with the engine. Before she can regain control, the bike slams into a rock. The engine begins smoking, and a tank on the side of the bike begins leaking a glowing purple material.

Yang continues driving, dodging and speeding past Grimm on her way out of the chasm. She and Jaune sigh in relief, but when they look in front of them, their eyes widen with the realization that they are driving straight toward a sheer cliff. Yang turns the bike, and it topples over, sending her, Jaune and the bike tumbling along the ground. The bike slams into a boulder, while Yang and Jaune continue rolling toward the cliff. In an attempt to prevent their fall, Jaune stabs his sword into the ground while holding onto Yang's hand, only for him and Yang to fall over the edge, screaming.

Ren suddenly appears in the air above them, firing StormFlower's cables. One cable wraps around Jaune's sword, and the other wraps around Jaune's leg. A Teryx flies toward Ren, but he activates his Semblance, hiding himself, Yang and Jaune. The Teryx passes by harmlessly. An army of Centinels and Teryxes arrive at the top of the cliff, only to turn and leave when they fail to sense anyone. Once it is safe, Ren deactivates his Semblance and looks into the distance to see The Hound flying toward Monstra.


Weiss knocks heavily on the front doors of the Schnee manor, and soon after, the double doors are opened by Whitley, who looks upon Weiss and her friends in surprise. Ruby is standing with her, Blake is holding the still unconscious Severa, Bernadetta holds Nora and May is keeping watch behind them.

Whitley looked annoyed "Oh, you've picked a fine time to-".

Weiss interrupts by pointing Myrtenaster at him, and he looks at the blade in fright "Not. Another. Word. We're coming in".

Whitley steps aside and groans as Ruby's group walks into the manor "Things are already bad enough after what you did to father, now you want us to harbor fugitives too? Our family has a reputation".

He crosses his arms in annoyance. Blake, having set Severa down on the floor, looks at him "That's what you're worried about? Your reputation?".

"I'm just saying that we've already lost all the house staff, and mother locked herself in her room" Whitley said.

"Maybe you haven't figured out what's going on, Whitley, but we're busy trying to save Atlas" Weiss said.

Ruby steps between the two "Look, our friends is hurt. We just need a place to lay low while we try to find a way to help them, and then we'll be out of your way".

Whitley finally relents "Fine. What do you expect me to do, then?".

Weiss points to the staircase behind her "Go to your room".

There is a brief pause, and Whitley sighs and follows her command.

Weiss sighs "This way".

Weiss walks away, and May lifts Severa, while Bernadetta lifts Nora, and follows her. Severa's wound was bad, they managed to use some lightning dust to jump start her heart and did their best to stop her bleeding. But without proper medical attention, Severa's chances were slim. While Weiss Bernadetta, and May exit the room.

Blake walks over to Ruby, who is staring outside through the front doors "Ruby?".

"I hope everyone's doing alright" Ruby said.

"If you're worried about Yang and Lucina, you could always try calling them" Blake suggested, despite being beyond worried for Severa, she tried her best to stay calm, as panicking would only make the situation worse.

"That's the thing. I did" Ruby turns and shows Blake her Scroll which is actively calling Lucina and Yang's Scrolls.

She had been trying to cal them, not just to check on them, but also to tell them what happened to Severa. She was already struggling to remain calm, knowing her cousin's life was hanging by a thread, she really didn't want to worry about her sister and girlfriend too.


In the mountainous tundra, Yang gathers up nuts and bolts while Ren does nothing and Jaune waves his Scroll in the air in search of a signal.

"I repeat, if anybody can hear me..." Jaune looks over at the crashed hoverbike, which has a trail of the leaked purple material in the snow leading to the damaged tank "We need transport back to Mantle".

"Guys..." Everyone looked and saw Lyre who walked up before stopping to catch her breath.

"Lyre!" Jaune quickly ran up to her "Are you alright?".

Lyre holds up a hand "I'll live... Where...?".

Jaune sighed "We lost them...".

Lyre looks down in disappointment... She failed... she failed to save her friends.

Some time later, the four are trekking through the tundra, with Ren leading and Jaune pushing the hoverbike. The sun is beginning to set, and it is snowing. Yang is using her Scroll to keep an eye on their Aura levels. Jaune's is at 41% but then lowers to 39%. Yang's and Ren's meters turn from yellow to red as Yang's drops from 34% to 32% and Ren's goes from 33% to 31%.

Yang looked at Lyre who was clearly upset "It's not your fault, Lyre".

"Of course it is! My partner needed my help more than ever, and I was about as useful as a glass of water to a drowning man!" Lyre said angrily.

"Lyre-" Yang began but Lyre was done listening.

"I appreciate your concern Yang, but save it for Lucina and Oscar... I don't even want to imagine what Salem is doing to them..." Lyre said, more worried than angry.

Yang decided it was best to give her some time to calm down "We need to get out of this weather before the cold drops our Auras completely. How much farther to the outpost?" With an angry expression, Ren remains silent "Ren, how much-".

"I don't know" Ren finally answered, but his tone almost sounded hostile.

Yang looks back at Jaune, who shrugs. She catches up with Ren "I thought you said you saw it when you were up in the air".

"I did, before I had to cut myself loose to help you guys" Ren said.

Yang uncomfortably brings her hand to the back of her head, then lowers it as she speaks "Yeah, you've brought that up a couple times now. Something you need to say?".

"Not really. Wouldn't want to waste any more time" Ren walks ahead, while Yang stops with a small gasp. Annoyed, she catches up with him again.

"Hey! What is your deal?" She steps in front of Ren, stopping him.

"Don't worry about it" Ren said, sounding like he was barely keeping his anger in check.

"Well, I'm sorry things aren't going smoothly enough for you" Yang said.

Jaune stops "Guys-".

"They're not going smoothly at all" Ren shot back.

Yang crosses her arms "I hate to break it to you, but that's part of being a Huntsman".

That was the drop that spilled the water as Ren finally stopped holding back his anger "Are you kidding?! We don't know the first thing about being Huntsmen. We clearly weren't ready".

Jaune takes a couple steps toward them "Guys, stop it".

"We don't have time to argue" Lyre said, finally dropping her own anger as she was now more concerned about her friends.

"Were we not ready when we saved Haven? When we took down a Leviathan? We got the Lamp to Atlas" Yang reminded.

"And then we lost it! And after that, when we had to make real decisions, we got every single one wrong" Ren said.

"I'm not going to pretend like we did everything perfectly, but if we'd done nothing, things would be even worse than they are now" Yang said.

"How could they possibly be worse? We are stuck out here while Salem has the Lamp, Lucina and Oscar. We've got no plan, no army" Ren countered.

"We've got the Maiden" Yang argued.

Ren walks away from Yang, in the direction of the City of Atlas, gesturing to it as he speaks "And by keeping her from opening the Vault for Ironwood, we're just trapping the whole city for Salem. People are going to die. Because of us".

"So what, we should just give Ironwood what he wants? Abandon Mantle? You think Atlas is still gonna be able to float to safety now that she's here?" Yang asked.

Ren turns to Yang, throwing his fists down in frustration, and then walks back toward her as he speaks "I don't know. But these aren't the kinds of decisions we should be making because we have no idea what we're doing".

"Okay, both of you. Cut it out" Jaune said.

"Seriously guys, this is not the time" Lyre added, worried that if this argument keeps going, it could escalate to something worse.

Ren walks toward Yang, getting in her face "I'm just saying what nobody else wants to. We're in way over our heads, Ruby is barely more than a kid, I'm just an orphan from the middle of nowhere-".

Jaune tries again to stop them "Ren, I-".

Ren turns to Jaune "You cheated your way into Beacon!"

Yang's eyes widen, and her mouth drops open. Lyre looked on in shock, never expecting Ren to snap like that, least of all on a friend. They stand in silence for a few moments, until Ren relaxes his shoulders and gains a regretful expression. He looks away from Jaune, frowning. Jaune stares wide-eyed, then lowers his gaze with a frown.

"You don't think we should be Huntsmen, fine, but I'm getting out of the cold" Jaune resumes pushing the hoverbike, walking past Ren and Yang "We've still got a job to do".

"Seriously, is your goal just to push everyone away?" Yang walks away to follow Jaune, while Ren clenches his fists.

Lyre looked at Ren "I don't know what's gotten into you Ren, but you better figure out the difference between your enemies and your friends".

She walked after the others while Ren looks down in guilt.


Inside a dark room Lucina was slowly waking up, her vision was fuzzy and her head hurt a little. She was laying on some sort of bed, which was surprisingly comfy. She tried to remember what happened. She remembers there was an unusual grimm loose in Mantle, and then she felt an enormous pain before passing out...

"Ah, you are finally awake" Came a voice Lucina really didn't want to hear again.

She sat up and looked in the direction of the voice, and her fear was confirmed "You...".

Salem stood near the door smiling before she approached Lucina and reached out her arms. Lucina closed her eyes... before she felt Salem's arms wrap around her in a gentle hug. Lucina was frozen in shock and didn't move. After a few seconds, Salem pulled back.

"Finally, after all these years, we meet face to face. Your face looks so much like your mother's" Salem said.

Lucina was almost shaking in fear but did her best to hold it back "Where am I?".

"Onboard my Monstra. Not as cozy as my home, but it will have to do for now" Salem answered before she chuckled "I spent years trying to find my daughter. Never expected my granddaughter would come to me instead. A pleasant surprise indeed".

"Mother never told me about you... Not hard to see why" Lucina said, managing a small glare.

"I'm disappointed but not surprised my daughter would keep your bloodline secret. Despite my love for her, and everything I did to keep her alive... she ran away the first chance she got" Salem said, almost sounding hurt by her daughter leaving her, keyword being almost.

"You tortured her! Used inhumane methods to prolong her already painful life and kept her locked up like a prisoner! What did you expect would happen? You treated her the same way your father treated you!" Lucina said.

Salem angrily grabbed her face and glared in to her eyes... Before taking a deep breath and forced herself to calm down as she let go of Lucina's face "I'll admit... Maybe I was to protective of her. But my love for her was real and I regret our bond ended the way it did. But that doesn't mean you and I need to be enemies, Lucina. You can still join me".

"You must be insane. After everything you've done, why would I even consider joining you?" Lucina asked.

"I see my dear Ozma filled your head with his side of the story. Did he even tell you he was your grandfather?" Salem asked.

"He didn't, he hid much from me, but I learned the truth. Both of you are guilty of much, and I still haven't forgiven him for his secrets. But what you did was far worse. He kept important secrets yes, but at least he desired to protect people, you just want nothing more than death" Lucina said.

Salem looked at her for a moment "I did desire life once. Your grandfather took that away when he betrayed me and killed our children".

"YOU KILLED THEM!" Lucina shouted "You wanted to control and rule! You wished to take people's freedom away, like any other tyrant. Ozpin didn't agree with you and because of that you got in to a fight which killed most of your children and scarred my mother for life".

Salem was silent for a moment "Such fire... must be getting that from your father, since you mother is much more timid. Tell me, Lucina, have you been in pain recently? Like an enormous pain in your chest?".

Lucina got wide eyes "How did you know?".

Salem smiled "Of course I'd know, since I felt that pain too. Do you know why you're in such pain? Well, as I'm sure you know by now, me and Ozma had children after I became what you see now, and I used a lot of my own blood to prolong your mother's life. That means you carry my blood in you, the blood of both a human and a grimm. The reason you're in such pain is because you are rejecting your grimm side... If you want the pain to go away, don't reject your other side. Embrace it, tame it... control it. I can show you how".

She touched Lucina's face... causing her face to slow turn white and her eyes was turning red. Lucina quickly slapped Salem's hand and collapsed on her knees, breathing hard and shaking in utter terror.

"I understand. It's hard to let go of something you've dedicated your life to. I will give you time to think about my offer. But I do hope you make the right choice, you belong at my side, Lucina... Oh and Cinder doesn't know you are here yet, but I'm sure she will be really happy to see you again" Salem said before she left the room.

Tears fell from Lucina's eyes... she was trapped inside a monster... trapped with the only two people she's afraid off...

"Help... someone... Severa... Lyre... Bernadetta... Ruby... mom... dad... please... help me..." She silently begged while sobbing.


Night has begun, and there is heavy snowfall over the Mantle tundra. Inside an abandoned outpost, Jaune hits a furnace until it lights up. Ren is staring out of a window with his arms crossed.

"You're right, Ren. I… I did cheat my way into Beacon" As he speaks, Jaune stands up and walks over to Ren, standing beside him "And I'm glad that I had people around me to help me see that I was bigger than that mistake. You've got people around you too. You don't have to force yourself to be strong. The more you hide from what you're feeling, the more alone you're going to feel. Trust me".

Ren glances at Jaune, then uncrosses his arms and walks out of the small building, shoving the door open. Yang and Lyre is standing by the door, having just returned, and they sadly watches Ren leave. Yang holds up a purple canister.

"If anyone cares, we found a part to fix the bike. So, yay. Good news" She walks over to a workbench, and Jaune turns back to the window to watch Ren sit down beneath a lamp post "For what it's worth, I'm sorry he said that to you. I know you've had to work hard to get here, Jaune".

"We're all under a lot of stress right now. I used to push people away too" Jaune said.

"This whole ordeal has really pushed us to our limit... I just... never thought my team would split up a second time" Lyre said.

Yang turns to the workbench and begins using a wrench to put the canister inside a piece of the hoverbike. After a bit, she pauses "Do you… think she thinks less of me… for not helping out with Amity?".

"Ruby is your sister, she's always going to love you even if you disagree with each other" Jaune said.

"Yeah. Ruby…" Yang resumes fixing the bike part.

"And I'm sure Bernie isn't mad at you either. Me and Weiss disagree a lot but we're still together. I'm sure you and Bernie can patch things up once things settles down a bit" Lyre said.

"If they settle down..." Yang said.

Jaune sighs and lies down in one of the bunk beds "I need to get some sleep, but I can't stop thinking about Oscar and Lucina".

Yang puts the wrench down and walks over to the window "Go on. I'll make sure Ren doesn't brood himself to death out in the cold".

"Thanks. I just have a bad feeling. Things always seem to get worse before they get better" Jaune said.

"I hate to imagine what could possibly be worse than this..." Lyre said.

Down the hill from the outpost and a fair distance away, the ground has begun cracking and noises can be heard beneath it. Suddenly, the cracks lengthen and then expand.

.

Tell me what you think.