Author's Notes:

-Hey guys and girls! Guess who got done with this chapter early? I did! Hope you enjoy!

Yang Xiao-Long had been in many bad situations in her life- going face to face against Grimm, against White Fang members, and even against a silent yet deadly ice cream colored girl. None of these were as bad as the situation she was in now. And she never could have foreseen this- her ankles tied to the legs of a chair, her left and only arm remaining tied to the back of the chair with rope, and said rope wrapped around her chest to further bind her.

Her captor had taken off his coat and brought forth his scorpion tail for the prisoner to see. Zwei was heard pounding his head against the door trying to break it down. Said door was also being blocked by the nightstand that once had a vase of flowers on it. The vase had been thrown against the wall, smashing it and leaving a mess of soil and flowers on the ground.

"Now that's been taken care off, we're going to play a little game. I call it 'Interrogation.' I ask a question, and you must answer it honestly. If you refuse to speak or lie to me, these stingers will slash at you each time you do so." He showed her the folding blades resembling pincers attached to his arm bracers. "Lie or refuse to speak too many times, and the real stinger will be used instead. Let's begin, shall we?"

Oh no... Yang thought.

"Where is your sister, Ruby Rose?" Tyrian began.

I have to stall for time. I can't let him figure out where Ruby is. I just hope dad gets back, and soon...

"Not talking? Do I have to make you speak?" Yang stayed silent. "Very well then." He took his arm, and with the blades attached to the bracer, slashed at her remaining arm. She screamed out in pain. "Now, let's try this again. Where is Ruby Rose?"

"I don't know." Yang lied.

"You lie!" He slashed at her again, and she screamed louder. "Surely she had to told you before leaving, right?"

The captive answered truthfully, "She never said a word."

"You're lying." He slashed at her again and looked at her arm as she screamed, grinning madly. But he noticed that there was no blood or mark on her arm, much to his frustration. "How are you not bleeding?! Oh." He frowned in realization. "You have an active aura."

"You're damn right, and you'll never break through it!"

"Oh, I'll get through it eventually. Everyone runs out of aura sooner or later. You may be able to prevent damage, but you can't prevent pain." He chuckled. "I wonder how many hits it will take for your aura to break. Now then, let's continue. When did she leave the home?"

Yang glared at him, proclaiming, "You'll never find her. She left weeks ago!"

Albeit a lie, he seemed satisfied with her answer, as he did not injure her that time. "How many?"

"Ten." It had been ten days. She hoped her lie would discourage him from hunting her sister. "She could be anywhere by now."

He laughed for about ten seconds and grinned. "You underestimate my tracking skills."

The former brawler's eyes turned red for the first time in months. "Leave her alone, you madman! She doesn't have anything you want!"

He gave her a mad laugh. "You don't know that."

As his mad laughter continued, her eyes turned back to lilac as she tensed in fear. The sound of Zwei trying to pound against the door were no longer heard, but he was heard whimpering as Yang looked at Tyrian with a highly worried look on her face.

She silently pleaded, Come on... Dad, Qrow, somebody... Hurry!

"Now then, back to business." He held his blade close to her stomach. "Where did Ruby run off to?"

"She never said anything!" Yang said, hoping he'd take it literally.

Instead of slashing her, he stopped to think for a moment. "Did she never actually say anything? Or did she write something about her status?" Yang gasped. The frozen look of terror on her face told him that he was right. Tyrian smirked, not even caring about the fact that Zwei started barking. "She did write something about where she was going, didn't she?"

"No." she lied. He slashed at her stomach, and she screamed even louder. "Okay, yes. But you'll never find it."

"Maybe I don't have to. Just tell me where it is." Yang was silent. "Not talking. Do I need to remind you of the consequences of being silent?"

"Wait!" Yang pleaded. He stopped, only inches before her arm. "It's in first drawer of the nightstand!"

He opened the drawer that was blocking the door and searched for something indicating where Ruby was going. The only thing he found was the remaining piece of Ember Celica. "You liar!" He slowly struck at Yang's leg with one of the Queen's Servants, her agonizing screams music to his ears. "Where is it really?!"

"Under the rug!" He lifted the large white circular rug, but found nothing. He slashed at her other leg, and her screams were even louder. "Under the pillows!" He looked under the pillows, even taking them out of their pillowcases and shaking them to try and find the letter. Upon find nothing, he slashed at her slowly and her aura began to flicker in yellow light.

"My patience is wearing thin, Blondie. It looks like your aura's about to run out as well. So, let's make this easier for both of us." He held the blade over by the left side of her chest, close to her heart. He slowly crept closer, little by little as he asked, "Where is the letter on Ruby's location?"

"Second drawer of the nightstand! Should be the first thing you see!"

He followed her instruction and sure enough, he found the letter. He began reading silently to himself. "Mistral... Perfect."

Ruby, forgive me. I've failed you...

"Yang? Where are you?!" a familiar voice called out. Her father had finally arrived home. "Yang?!" Zwei barked even louder. Using one hand, Tyrian covered her mouth before quickly taking one of the pillowcases and tying it around her mouth.

He put on his jacket and wrapped his tail around his waist to conceal it. "Thanks for the tip, by the way."

Tyrian pocketed the letter, deactivated his blades and conked the captive on the head with the right bracer, knocking her unconscious. He then jumped out the window, leaving Yang stuck there. Taiyang kicked down the door and found Yang unconscious. "Yang!" He quickly undid the ropes around her, catching her before she could fall face-first onto the face. "Oh no..."

Zwei whimpered sadly. The scene showed Taiyang making something on the stove as Yang was shown sleeping on the couch with a white pillow and blanket. Zwei looked at her worriedly. Yang's dad sighed.

Qrow came in without even knocking. "I came as soon I could. Is Yang okay?"

"She's alive. I found her unconsciousness but breathing. However, she was also tied up to a chair and the window in the guest quarters has been broken. Someone broke in." Taiyang sighed. "Now more than ever I wish Summer was here..."

"If she was here, she would have beaten him into next week. Maybe even the week after." Qrow lamented before taking a drink from his flask.

"First Ruby disappears, and now this... Oh gods..."

He choked on his liquor. "Wait, what?! Ruby's gone?!"

"Did you not get my voicemail? That's why I wanted you to come as soon as possible."

Qrow nodded. "I've been running around in various places for weeks. I knew it was there, but I never got around to checking it. I'm really sorry, Tai. Ruby could be hurt and it's all my fault."

"Unfortunately, it's been ten days since Ruby left." He got out some tea cups. "Trying to find her and her friends now might be like trying to find needles in a haystack."

"This is bad... Yang hurt even further, Ruby and company who knows where, and you needing a lot of help. No matter what I do, it's never enough..." Qrow drank some more before looking at his container. "Fuck. My flask is empty. I ran out of Merlot." He looked at his best friend with a mixture of curiosity and somberness. "You got any vodka?"

Tai gave an exasperated sigh. "Qrow, please. Yang's unconscious, Ruby and team JNPR are who knows where, and not to mention someone broke into the house and attacked Yang for reasons currently unknown."

Qrow slumped back against the wall, sighing again. "What do we do now?"

Meanwhile, in Kunchinashi, Sienna Khan looked around for Maura's hideout. As she trudged up a mountain, she was seen in her normal attire. She panted aloud and thought to herself, Damn it. I've searched everywhere, but I've gotten nowhere. I've been here for the last few days, but still nothing. There's only one area I haven't looked...

The High Leader approached the cottage at the top of the mountain. She looked through the windows, but didn't find anything. Sighing, she turned away, only to stop upon hearing the door creak. She turned around as the door creaked open, and found Maura Celandine standing there with her hand to door.

"Sienna?" Maura asked.

Sienna ran back to the door and hugged her best friend, and the snake scaled faunus returned the gesture. "I'm so glad to see you." The Mistralian leader looked at the high leader. "Please, come in." The two women ended the cottage, with Maura closing the door behind her. They made their way to the living room, which had a green couch and a few wooden chairs along with a wooden table. "It seems you found the note after all."

The White Fang leader looked confused. "Note? What note?"

"I'm guessing that's a no." Sienna nodded in the negative. "Oh boy... I can only hope that no one reads that note I left behind... and that they don't know how to unscramble words."

"Then perhaps you should leave this place." the tiger eared faunus suggested.

Maura sat down on the couch. "I have thought of going to Atlas and staying with my older sister and her family, but that would leave Mistral's White Fang branch without a leader."

"Or Athena Bruna would take your place." Sienna theorized. "Also, who is Athena, and why is she after you?"

She sighed heavily. "To be honest, I think she's only targeting me because I'm the leader of Mistral's White Fang Branch. Athena was my lieutenant. I don't know when or why she joined the White Fang, but she had been my lieutenant for over a month prior to the Storming of Sanctum. For reasons unknown to me, she wanted to use my forces to attack Sanctum Academy without any warning to me. When she falsely declared in broad daylight that she was going to attack Signal Academy in three days, I figured out her true plan and tried to get her to stop her attack, but she refused to listen. I tried to stop her by threatening to fire her as lieutenant, which needless to say, failed miserably. After her attack and arrest at Sanctum, the hunt for my head began. Eventually, as more and more people started to join Athena's side, I began to grow fearful that her followers would find me and turn me into the authorities. Consumed by fear, I fled here to Kunchinashi."

Sienna looked at Maura curiously. "Do you know what has happened since you have fled here?"

"Unfortunately, I do. Athena has not only escaped, but she's also destroyed Argus Harbor Prison with the aid of her followers. They even had someone impersonate me to further incriminate me."

The tigress looked horribly distressed upon hearing Maura's answer. "Oh dear. I didn't even hear about the prison's destruction." She groaned. "This is much worse than I thought. We're stuck between a rock and a hard place. If you leave Mistral, Athena will still target whoever I can find and convince to be your successor. If you don't leave, you'll likely be caught, either by the Revolutionists, one or more huntsmen or huntresses, and/or the Mistralian authorities. You'd be brought to the big house, trialed and no doubt executed for not being able to prove your innocence. Either way, Athena wins and takes over Mistral's White Fang branch. And we still don't know what she's really up to..."

Maura looked at her best friend grimly. "Do you think that you'd be able to stop Athena if she were to take my place?"

"I don't know, and I don't want to find out. Yet at the same time, I don't want to put your life in jeopardy." She put her index finger and thumb to her chin, trying to think of a solution. "How has it all come down to this?"

"I don't know, and I fear that there's no way out of this. The only way to stop Athena and win this civil war is to prove my innocence. But the only evidence I have is oral, nothing physical or solid."

Suddenly Sienna's eyes lit up. "Maybe there is." She looked at the snake scaled woman. "You once told me that you had a diary, didn't you?"

"I did. What about it?"

"Do you still have it and do you still write in it?"

"Yes and yes. Should I go get it?"

"That would be helpful."

Maura got up from the couch and left the living room. A few minutes later, she returned holding a black and green covered diary in her hands. "Here you go."

"Hmm..." Sienna took the diary and flipped through the pages. "Sanctum Academy was attacked on September 13th, before the Vytal Festival was crashed with the Fall of Beacon. Should be here somewhere..." She stopped flipped and read the pages. "Ah-ha! You wrote a diary entry for that day, confiding in it your fears about Athena's plan. If we present this to the Mistralian council, they'll see that you're innocent and they'll have to stop the hunt."

"It's a bit of a long shot, but it just might work. Although, could you be the one to present it, before I enter the courtroom?"

"Of course. Also, we have an advantage by having me testify for you- since I'm the head of the White Fang, they know that you take orders from me. They should believe me. Once I can convince them that you're truly innocent, we may be able to convince the Loyalists of the Fang and the Mistralian authorities to work together to stop Athena and her dangerous agenda, once and for all."

"This is highly risky." Maura looked at Sienna sadly, having second thoughts. "I can't ask you to do this. If this fails, we could both end up executed."

"I'm aware of that, but I am more than willing to do this."

Maura blinked sadly. "You're risking your neck to aid me. I can't believe you're doing this just to protect the White Fang from corruption from within."

"I'm not just doing this for the Fang, Maura." She put her hand on Maura's shoulder. "I'm doing it for you." She gave Maura another hug. "You're my best friend. I don't want anything to happen to you." As the snake woman returned the embrace, there was silence for a few moments. After these moments asked, the two split apart and Sienna stood with an angry determined look. "And I'll be damned if you die for Athena's treacherous actions. It seems there's too many extremist traitors in the Fang. First Adam Taurus and now this? This internal corruption must stop, here and now."

"I... I can't thank you enough for this."

"You're welcome. It's no trouble." Sienna looked around the cottage. "How soon do you think you can pack your bags?"

"Do you think we can leave tomorrow morning, before the sun rises?"

"That we can do. In the meantime, we can discuss the plan over dinner." She looked around. "You do have food right?"

"I do. I have my messenger acquire food and ingredients to make things with." A timer went off. "I hope you like lasagna, cause that's what's cooking."

"I haven't had it in a long time." Maura put on some mittens and took a large casserole dish out of the oven. "Not since I moved out of my parents house, but I remember it being delicious." She smiled as her friend put the food on the table. "Also, you're a good cook. How could it be bad?" Maura smiled as she heard that. Sienna stood up. "You would you like something to drink?"

Maura answered, "Some water would be nice."

Sienna filled two glasses with water from the sink and brought them to the table. She set one before Maura and raised her own glass into the air. "I propose a toast- to success of the loyalists, securing your hold as Mistralian White Fang leader and defeating Athena."

"To success." Maura spoke.

The two clinked glasses and drank their water.

Meanwhile, in Atlas, Whitley stood in front of a building in the lower part of Atlas city. It was a beige three story building with over 100 rooms for rent and nearly 150 residents living there under this roof. Strangely enough there were windows or porches on the second or third floor, but there were doors leading to the outside world on the first floor. "There it is. The Courtyard Apartment complex." Whitley and his bodyguard went into the building, entering a lobby with a male receptionist at the desk sleeping on the job. "Alright. From what I've been told, the room I'm looking for is on the third floor. You wait here and I'll be back in no time. I'll be sure to call if there are any problems."

The bodyguard remained silent, but nodded in understanding as Whitley ascended the white carpeted stairs to the third floor. As he entered the hallway and walked through the halls, he looked at the room numbers to his left.

301, 303, 311...

And to his right.

300, 308, 310, 320...

"Iris's room should be here..." He eventually found a small sign next to the door; room 337. "There it is."

He breathed in and knocked on the door, only for it to creek open a little. He pushed open the door and walked into the room. As the Schnee entered the room, he saw blue painted walls, and the left and right sides of them were slowly chipping away. The room was carpeted with blue fabric and had a white ceiling with three light bulb sockets on the ceiling, each spread a few feet apart. Most of the floor space was mostly taken up by paint cans, tubes, canvases, easels and a few boxes stacked and arranged to form a cross pattern that could be used as a walkway.

"Hello?" He looked around. "Miss Khloris?" He waited a few seconds, but there was no response. "Are you here?"

The youngest Schnee continued to explore the apartment. On the upper right square of the cross was a wooden stool with a dark painted canvas on an easel. To the left of the cross was a small kitchen, which Whitley noticed had dishes drying in the dish rack and dishes in the sink waiting to be washed. On right side of the cross was a rectangular wall mirror on top of a sink area with two different sinks. On the left most sink, he saw a few paintbrushes dipped into a red cup of water. To the left and right of the sinks were two different doors, one of which lead to a bathroom and the other one he was uncertain of, likely a closet.

In front of him at the top of the cross was a large beige carpet. He went to the carpet, and upon further examination, believed it to be small living room of sorts. On his right he saw a wooden chair and a small square table, likely where the owner ate her meals. A few feet away from him on his left, Whitley saw a big green couch with two arms and towards the end of the arm farther away from him was a large pillow in a blue pillowcase. He inspected the couch further and saw a green sheet and a rainbow colored blanket partially tucked into it.

She sleeps on her couch? Who does that?

The sound of a door opening disrupted his thoughts. A woman entered the doorway, turning her attention to Whitley. The first thing he noticed was that her blond hair was loose and unkempt. She was dressed in a wrinkled magenta turtleneck with red blots of paint on the upper part of her right arm. She wore jeans that had light blue paint stains on the left leg close to the knee and on the right side near her pocket. She wore worn out orange tennis shoes with black soles and lime green laces, which were in need of replacement not only because they were worn out, but all the aglets were missing as well.

"Damn it. I forgot to shut the door again." She looked at him with her green eyes. "Who are you and what do you want?"

"I am Whitley Schnee. Are you Iris Khloris?"

She folded her arms, nodding in response. "That would be me. If you know my name, you must have some reason for pestering me. Have you come here to insult me?

"No, quite the opposite actually. I need your help. I need you make a painting for the Schnee Charity Concert Art Auction."

Her eyes turned grey. "A painting? For the SDC Charity Art Auction?" Whitley nodded quickly. "Alright, what do you need?"

The teenage boy got out the purple post-it note he wrote a few days ago and gave it to Iris. She read over it.

"Alright list of requirements- first one is the canvas size, subject matter, additional note... 'Any color but red'?

"That's for the background. A red background would too easily blend in with subject matter. You might want to use a green or blue background to contrast the colors, but that decision is up to you."

Iris nodded. "Ah, I see. And when is this charity concert?"

"It is on February 5th, starting at nineteen hundred. However, all finished artworks must be submitted twenty four hours prior to the start of the concert."

Her eyes turned purple as she raised her eyebrows in alarm. "Oh boy. Less than a month either way. Such a big task..."

January 7th to February 4th. Twenty eight days to do the impossible... she thought to herself.

Whitley looked at her with hints of sad sincerity. "If it's too much in such little time, I understand."

She clinched her fists. "I'll do it!"

"Really?" Whitley smiled as Iris nodded. "Thank you!"

Her eyes turned grey. "However, since you're asking me to work within a short window of time, I don't want my time to invested in something that I may not get to finish. Therefore, I have to charge you a fee for my limited time."

He bit his tongue to prevent a sigh from escaping his mouth. "How much do you want?"

"A thousand Lien."

"Oh boy..." Whitley got out his wallet and quickly counted his money. "I don't think I have 1,000 Lien on me."

"How much do you have?"

"About 130... Hmm..." He mused to himself. "I'll make you a deal. I'll give you one hundred lien now and then give you the rest of your payment when you bring your completed work to me."

"Deal." She shook his hand to seal the deal. "Can you write down your phone number and address for me?"

"Certainly. You have a pen and post it note?"

"Right here." She handed the materials to him and he wrote down his address and phone number. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. I don't wish to keep you from starting your task, so I will leave you to it. If there's anything you need, let me know."

"That I can do. Have a good day."

Whitley left the painter to begin her work. Alone in her apartment, Iris looked for a large canvas, 48 by 60 inches to be precise. She found the right size canvas, placed the old painting aside and put the new canvas on. As she placed the old canvas against the wall near the upper right corner of her room, she began to think to herself.

Alright. 48 x 60. That's 2,880 square inches to paint. At five Lien for each square inch, that's 14,400 Lien minimum my finished work could sell for at the auction. It would be more than enough...

She sighed and spoke to herself, "I'm a whisper lost upon wind, a lone ember to burn down those who doubt me, a wave to drown them."

The painter went into the closet, turning on the lights and knelt down to a chest trunk and pulled out a photo of herself, an older woman, an older man, and two men each a few years older, one older by three and one by six. Her eyes turned red. "Family is supposed to always be there for you, but nearly all of them have tried to tear me down and what did father do? He just let it happen." She put the photo down. "But that doesn't matter. This is the opportunity I've been waiting for. I'll finally show them all that I am capable." Leaving the closet, she turned off the lights and stood determined before taking a paintbrush. "I'm the lizard with a poison tongue, the bullet in a loaded gun. I'm alone and always will be. There's nobody praying for me."