Summary: Team SYBR happens on mysterious ruins belonging to the even more mysterious Merlot Industries and the trajectory of three students' lives changes completely.

A great orange blaze streaked through the sky like a comet, lighting up the red forest like a mobile sunset and consequently attracting Creatures of Grimm towards it.

A Nevermore rushed towards the streak, attempting grab it, its great talons merely nicking it though. Strangely enough, the streak seemed to burn even brighter with the impact, and the sunset comet continued its hurling trajectory until it crashed to the forest floor.

The crash raised up a large cloud of dust and ashes, a cloud from which the members of Team SYBR emerged wobblingly, all their clothes virtual rags now.

"And that," said Ruby, dizzily, trying to keep on her feet, "Was Burning Blossom."

"That went surprisingly well," Weiss noted, unconcerned about the horrid condition of her apparel and instead checking her partner for injuries; she looked a mess.

"We can do that in the ruins," Blake instructed, beckoning them to her position several feet away.

"They may be avoiding it for now, but it's best not to push our luck."

Weiss gave no protest, holding the hands of her teammates and pulling them towards the brunette. She had been oblivious to their surroundings since their descent, but as she made her way towards what seemed to be the entrance of ruin, her eyes scanned the patch of land that even the infernal Creatures of Grimm avoided.

At a glance, there was nothing particular about it; it seemed to have once been a forest graveyard, but now even the dead wood had given way to time or erosion. Instead, it was a sickly greyish-green patch of grass no higher than a couple of inches-much too short to hide anything- but convincing all present that there was something ominous lying in wait for them.

Arriving before the desolate structure, it was clear to the heiress that it had been buried until recently. Most likely, it had even been uncovered by the activity of the Grimm. They appeared fairly sturdy; she was able to tell because she had gained an almost exorbitant education at the behest of her father.

I guess the old man was right about those things.

"Stay here," Blake cautioned, preparing to step in herself, "I'll check it out a bit to make sure it's safe. If I'm in a trouble, I'll shoot a Solar Dust flare, so keep alert."

"Okay, be safe."

The concern shown by the Schnee visibly annoyed Blake and she ignored it, resisting her habit of lashing out at her.

Blake moved discreetly through the ruins, carefully manoeuvring through the halls of the decrepit ruins with agility and stealth that would impress even among the best in the Fang.

Why would ruins like this be in Forever Fall?

Blake thought; she had noticed that the ruins were old, several decades at most though, not like the others which were centuries old, some even outliving Vale itself.

She too had knowledge of ruins because work in the Fang sometimes involved straight up grave robbery; tombs of ancient chiefs and nobles of Menagerie who had been buried with treasure or in Dust caves but left alone due to tradition were seen as another means to fill up the coffers of the faunus freedom fighters.

Being a member of nobility herself, she was already fairly knowledgeable before she became a grave-robber herself. In fact, one part of her audition had been gathering rare Dust from the tomb of one of her ancestors, a great-grand uncle (or great, great-grand uncle, she didn't care.)

Her inspection was quick, but she had no doubt that such a place would be suitable for weathering the Wave.

xXx

"Let's…go," Blake said as she resurfaced, confused on seeing both Ruby and Yang passed out on the ground.

"Thank goodness you're here," Weiss said, apparently genuinely concerned and relieved to see her teammate safely re-emerge.

"Both of them collapsed shortly after you left. It's just like you warned; the toll of Burning Blossom must have been too much for them."

"We'll have to carry them in then," she said directly, apparently not fazed unlike her white counterpart who had been on her knees fussing over the passed out pair.

Blake's harsh expression softened on seeing her meekness; she was nervous and unsure, in a way that reminded her of herself as a new recruit.

"Like this," she said, leaning the former team leader against the current's back, "Pull her hands towards you chest, like a sweater. Good, now thrust your hips back and lift her."

After she instructed her, she lifted her partner in a fireman carry, giving Weiss a small smile to set her at ease.

"Wow," Blake said once she was on her shoulders, "Ruby wasn't kidding about her being hearty."

"Thanks, for your help" Weiss whispered shyly, as they descended into the ruins, "Um, you're really good at this. Erm, do you... do it often or... something that sounds like actual conversation."

"Yeah, all the time," Blake responded, calmly, taking the lead in the dark hallway with her night vision.

"A guy made fun of my bow once, this skill came pretty handy when I dealt with him."

"I'm joking," the cat-girl said with a giggle after noticing that Weiss had stopped abruptly, "...I didn't have the bow until recently."

She wasn't really joking though; she had carried several of the White Fang's dead by herself, dragged many screaming out of the battlefields, even carried Adam back once.

Although that time had been a joke; the taurine warrior had lost a bet to her and therefore had to bear the embarrassment of being lugged back to home on her shoulders, she still had a picture or two of that on her scroll.

The reminiscence caused the cat faunus to fall into a weird melancholy. Although Adam had apparently come here following in her footsteps, the pair weren't as close as they used to be in the Fang. Sure, they talked every once in a while, and she'd had the odd private chat here and there, but she felt a wall between them.

Does he not trust me anymore? Maybe he feels betrayed that I left without him, that I didn't trust him enough to be honest before I tried to jump ship.

Snap out of it! This is neither the time nor place to be thinking about this stuff, focus on getting out of here alive.

Inexplicably, the former terrorist felt relief at the presence of the Schnee heiress behind her. Usually, the pair was at each other's throats, but now there was a comfortable silence, like one between friends. Blake was happy to be rid of the negativity; being at loggerheads was hard work and it would further test her already frayed nerves.

"Here," Blake said as she dropped Yang gently unto the floor, "We'll weather the Wave here, the hallway is long, and there are no doors along it, so we'll be able to spot anything that comes this way in abundant time."

"I'll take your word for it," Weiss said, as she collapsed to the floor.

"Want some?" the Schnee heiress' hand was outstretched, offering already gooey and crushed candy.

The Menagerien princess already had a few rations with her-a habit from her days as a soldier- but this was a Twisco bar; they made the richest chocolates, it made sense for a Schnee to be packing.

She wasn't supposed to take candy; she did crazy things when she had too much. However, considering that they had squashed their feud for the time being, it would be too rude to reject her peace offering.

Besides, I'm already fraternizing with a Schnee, doesn't get crazier than that.

xXx

Shortly after, Blake was running about on all fours, bounding up and down the hallway like an actual cat, and Weiss was following after her, trying to stop her but unable to keep up with the much more agile Faunus.

Thankfully, she wasn't excited beyond common sense as she made sure their unconscious teammates were always within sight.

"Blake, if you don't calm down, you won't get any more," Weiss said as she twirled a Twisco bar above her head, sure that she'd be able to bait her.

"Ahh," Weiss shouted as Blake tackled her to the ground.

"Okay, let go," Blake giggled wildly as Weiss held unto her trying to restrain her, "Wait... I saw something."

"Where?"

"There," Blake said as she escaped the Schnee's grasp and bounded once more into the halls.

"Get back here," Weiss shouted after her teammate annoyedly, chasing her before tripping on something.

"Ow!" Weiss said as she inspected what she had tripped on; it was a crate, an old one.

"That's interesting," Weiss whispered to herself.

"What is?" asked Blake who had returned to her teammate's side, seeing that she was no longer being chased by her.

"The logo on the crate reads Merlot Industries, at least it looks that way," Weiss said, a little unsure, "It's not really legible, but I'm fairly sure, I've seen it a couple times."

"And?"

"Nothing really," Weiss said, "Just that my family actually has a deep relationship with Merlot Industries."

"Really?" Blake asked, strangely fascinated, "What is it?"

"Well..." Weiss dragged her sentence as she jumped unto the cat Faunus, putting her into a death grip, "Got you this time."

"W-wait, I saw something," Blake said, while straining against the Schnee's surprisingly powerful grip.

"I'm not falling for that... again."

"Seriously, I sa-" her sentence was cut short by a roar from deeper in the ruins, it made the two girls quiver. Although they could tell that it was quite far away from them, they were still immobilised with terror. Even the unconscious girls had gooseflesh break out all over their skin.

"Go to sleep girls," came a voice from behind the two before their eyes closed and they fell to the ground.

xXx

"Time to do this then," Raven said, walking towards the direction of the roar after she had placed the pair out of the way with their friends.

xXx

"That was a lot easier than I expected," Qrow said, replacing Harbinger on his waist after he had split the last of the Cauldrons in two.

"I'm scared to imagine how you expected it to go then," Cardin said, exhausted after their raid on the Cauldron cave.

"How's Shouter doing?" Cardin asked, his question directed at Adam, who was carefully scanning the young Faunus' body for injuries, of course, that didn't take much scanning as he was covered in them.

Ironically, it was good that the intention of the Grimm was torture, as injuries would be inflicted with the intention of delivering the most pain, rather than killing the victim.

This was apparently the good news.

"He's okay," Adam responded annoyedly, "As okay as someone who just survived a torture session can be."

"All's well, tha-"

"I know what you did," Qrow declared, cutting the Winchester scion short, "I witnessed all of it.

All of it."

The tension that this statement created was palpable; this was bad; to put it succinctly, Cardin was screwed. Qrow's statement implied that he was talking about more than the Slytherin 'prank', if that were the case, then expulsion would be merely wishful thinking.

"Seems that I've been caught," Cardin said composedly despite everything, "I simply want it stated that I initiated everything, everyone else involved was coerced into doing it."

"Wait," Adam called, before coming close to the man with a struggling beard, "How come you called her?"

"The Black Wave hit Vale, Merkel to be exact, your professors at Beacon have moved to help, so there wasn't much of a choice. Not to mention she's more capable than most."

"What's with your strong aversion to her though? Last I checked, you were... close or something."

"Well..." Adam said as leaned in and whispered something into his ear.

"You're kidding," Qrow said, "You stole it?" he knew this kid was good, but he actually felt genuine respect for him now. No one could steal that sword.

"That would explain why you'd rather avoid her," Qrow added, feigning disinterest, "Either way,

I'm going to pick team SYBR, transport will be here shortly-mine won't do for movie someone in his condition- so stay put."

"Is a Grimm cave really the best place to lay low?"

"Majority of the Grimm are still in the Wave, only the more intelligent ones would have stayed behind, and they'd be cautious of venturing too close seeing as we just eradicated scores of Cauldrons."

"I'll take your word for it."

BOOM! There was suddenly a large explosion it happened a few dozen kilometres off from the Cauldron cave they were in. it was in the direction that team SYBR had gone.

"Stay put!" Qrow shouted back to them as he ran towards it.

xXx

"Hey, sis," Qrow said to a lady donning a Grimm mask and somehow carrying four girls on her shoulders.

She looked at him impassively from behind her Grimm mask.

"Hey Qrow, nice to see you too," Qrow mimicked jokingly at Raven's lack of response.

Although her bad mood was understandable; the four girls stacked on her shoulders weren't light, throw that in with the rips and burns on her clothing and a small clump of hair that was missing, anybody would be in a bad mood.

"You owe me," Raven grumbled as team SYBR tumbled down her shoulders.

"I do, but Yang is your responsibility too."

"Don't... you know the deal."

"Of course," Qrow said, "But crud is the only way to extend the otherwise short conversations between us. I'm sorry; I actually didn't mean to say it like that."

Qrow was clearly frustrated; he violently reached for a small flask in his pocket, uncapping it suddenly and raising it to his lips.

"Stop," Raven said as she held her brother's arm, preventing him from tilting the flask's contents into his mouth.

"But if-"

"Doesn't matter," Raven said, "I'm here, so we'll deal with it either way."

"T-thank you," he whispered, as he formed a fist in frustration, "I'm still a burden after all this time."

"You are," Raven said as she ruffled his hair, "Lucky for you, I'm still great at carrying you."

"Seems that hysteria affected me a little too," Qrow said as he attacked the tears forming in his eyes, "I'm usually not this emo."

Raven simply laughed gently at her brother's joke.

"Those ruins the kids found are of Merlot Industries," she said to Qrow's shock, "I blew everything up already, but you are free to investigate it yourself after these ones are returned safely."

"You're sure?"

He was able to keep his shock in check, but there was still a minute crack in his voice.

"Of course I'm sure."

"That would explain why the Grimm were avoiding them. It's pretty unnerving to know that people made something that could even scare off the creatures of Grimm."

"I saw the monstrosities that were purported in the reports... they're worse than I imagined."

"Sharing this information wasn't part of the deal though... You didn't need to."

"Take it as a gift from your big sis."

"You know I'm like seven whole minutes older than you."

"Keep telling yourself that," Raven said as she squatted back to back with her brother, awaiting the transport that would take him and her daughter home.

xXx

"Qrow made quite the discoveries didn't he?" Ozpin asked after the man in question had left his office.

"An understatement sir," Glynda responded, clearly worried-at least clear to Ozpin- to anyone else, she was just adjusting her glasses.

"For part of Merlot Industries to resurface-especially at this time- is no small matter."

"The day is not without its benefits though," Ozpin answered.

"Yeah, we found out that one of our students is a racist who would go through great and dramatic lengths to kill off his classmate. And another is still a terrorist, but with a reliance on apathy which makes him a lot more volatile in the long run. Imagine being more volatile than a terrorist."

"It's still a weakness that we can leverage," Ozpin said as he stacked sugar cubes on the rim of his mug and watched them fall in with a satisfying plop.

"We can just sick Raven on him though," Glynda said, apparently not as bothered as to let a good joke pass by.

"Yes we can."

"What will you do about Winchester?"

"Expulsion is much too lenient, he should actually be jailed for inciting a Black Wave," Ozpin said seriously.

"The fact that you're telling me what should happen, tells me a lot," Glynda answered, "Not the least of which is the fact that you have no intention of doing what you just talked about."

"You know me so well," he said with a smile at his vice, imploring for her to understand his perspective, "You're right, I have no intention of punishing him, not conventionally at least. He has so much potential, and more than enough baggage to sabotage himself. Those are two dangerous characteristics to introduce into the prison system."

"You are worried that he will go from a child acting out to a full-fledged criminal, rightfully so."

"However," Glynda said as she paused to push her glasses back up her nose, "Actions have consequences, he has to be punished."

"Certainly," Ozpin said, "Eventually."

The grey-haired principal got into a staring match with his assistant, their gazes packed a lot more dialogue than the preceding conversation, it was though they had some sort of ocular language. At least, that's what Glynda thought, Ozpin had been merely imitating her frowns and squints.

"At the end, you'll do what you feel you must," Glynda said with a shrug, apparently convinced by their illusionary conversation, "We'd probably all be dead if you didn't."

"Thank you, Glynda," he said to her solemnly as the blonde assistant walked out of the office.

xXx

"This is much worse than anything I was thinking," Cardin grumbled, in his seat next to Jaune and Shouter.

It was the day after the Forever Fall field trip, all students had been accounted for and were no worse for wear. All except Cardin and Shouter, who would be recuperating off campus.

That was the official story anyway; in reality, this was Cardin's punishment, he'd be on a team with Shouter and Jaune and they'd all be enrolled into Shade Academy.

This was a common occurrence in the Huntsman Academies; teams being separated. Four years were required for each individual to complete their training at a Huntsman Academy, many a student didn't last that long; some were too injured to continue, some too traumatised, some too dead, others simply gave up, or were moved to other academies that were better suited for their talents. This was the sad reality of the glamorous Huntsman Academies.

Cardin was actually very fortunate; despite coming from a fairly powerful family, the consequences of what he had done would have been disastrous, but instead he was given a slap on the wrist, all he had to do was take care of that whiny little snot, and Shouter too.

"Not in the mood, Cardin," Jaune grumbled, depressed at the thought of such a long sail to Vacuo, not to mention he had to so while travelling alongside Cardin and a Faunus who seemed to be vying for the title of Barfboy himself.

Jaune felt bad; not because he was leaving, he had to do that. He felt guilty that he was too much of a coward to tell, them. He didn't have the strength to watch Pyrrha's heart get shattered by his decision.

He'd become stronger though; that was a promise.

Shouter was really, really confused, he understood why he was being sent to Shade Academy, he desperately needed to toughen up. He ended up being a burden; he had been the only one other than Ruby- the fifteen-year old- who needed to be saved at any point during their ordeal in Forever Fall.

What he didn't understand was Cardin; the boy had attempted to poison and brutalise him all while being racist, but later on, he had also tried to save his life and had come willingly to his rescue. It was all very confusing to say the least.

Either way, all three of these people were determined to make the best out of the opportunities they'd been given, they didn't know what exactly that entailed, but they knew that they'd do it.

xXx

In Forever Fall, just outside the ruins that team SYBR had taken shelter in, a sultry lady and a giant of a man stood over the corpses of two Valean Huntsmen, their blood still freshly spilled.

"Raven was right," Cinder said, a little annoyed, "The entire facility was destroyed."

"At least she was able to grab a few samples of Merlot's serum before that," Hazel stated, "Let's go, there's nothing for us to do here."

Notes: Merlot Industries appears in the RWBY: Grimm Eclipse videogame, so if you're familiar with it, you should know a little about what's planned.

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