Sienna Khan was shown lying on the ground, her arms behind her head and her fist closed as if she was surrendering or about to fight. Her closed eyes squinted and then slowly opened.

"Oh... My head..." She sat up. "Where am I?"

She found herself in a forest on the outskirts of Mistral city. She stood up and took in her surroundings; several coniferous trees for miles on both sides of her, yet she stood in between a gap big enough to let her see the rising sun.

Although she was alone, she decided to keep her thoughts to herself. What happened? How did I get here? How was I not eaten by Grimm? And do I still have everything?

Sienna looked at her arm, finding her weapon still there before she checked her inventory, searching her pockets and black drawstring bag. From her pockets she pulled out a tube of chap-stick, wallet (which had all its contents in it), a pair of white earbuds, her scroll and a piece of paper with several names on it. From her bag she found seven rations, a half-empty water bottle, a square that could expand into a tent, a packet of matches and her speech. She put everything back and threw her bag on her back before she realized...

Wait a minute. Where's my mask and cloak? The High Leader looked around her, and touched her face to feel for a mask that wasn't there. Her mask and cloak were completely gone. Where are they? I wouldn't have just left them... Wait... Were they stolen? Could I have lost them in the battle? What happened after I fell down that cliff?

A vision with a memory came to her. As Sienna fell down the cliff, she felt a black stream of magic rush over her and subdue her. She fell unconscious as she continued to fall down and she saw a figure in black robes with deathly pale skin and white hair catching her. The vision ended abruptly as she saw a strange symbol appear in her mind. She gasped and felt a cold chill.

Like the vision, the chill came and went quickly. Sienna looked around her and then looked at her hands. What happened to me? There was a moment of silence before her blood turned to ice in fear. And where's Maura?!

She made a run through the forest, and as she ran, her thoughts ran wild.

Don't tell me Maura's dead. I need answers. How long have I been there? What happened to me? And where's team CUBB? She internally sighed. I just hope I'm not too late.

The scene transitioned to the White Fang leader nearby the city of Mistral. The street was deserted, but before she stepped into view, she told herself, Wait. This is open territory. Without my cloak and mask, I'm vulnerable and could be caught and thrown in the big house. I need some sort of disguise.

The scene cut to Sienna hiding in an upside down trash can. Small bits of garage rested on top of her head as she tried very hard to not breathe with her nose. With only a few inches of the lower part of her legs visible to anyone nearby, she turned her neck down to the feet to try and see the path in front of her, which was not easy.

If anyone in the White Fang hears about this, they'll never let me live it down. she thought. This is so humiliating...

Sienna failed to see the path in front of her, so she stumbled right into a wall, causing her to fall over and internally scream, her head rattling with the metal around her. She crawled out of the trash can, trying to reorient herself.

"Ya know, if you're trying to sneak around the city, that might be the most pathetic attempt I've ever seen."

She found herself in the presence of a heavy-weight middle-aged woman with light skin and short blonde hair in a bob. She had a beauty mark under her right eye, lipstick on her upper lip and purple nail polish on her fingernails. The top of her dress was white and backless, with long sleeves. The beads and straps were purple. Below was a purple corset and a long pleated skirt with yellow on its top layer, purple in the middle one, and white in the lower layer. Her shoes were brown and decorated with a green ribbon. The sleeves were detached, showing her shoulders, the left of which had a tattoo of a spider in its web.

Sienna scoffed as she got up and dusted the trash off her. "Well I don't need you to tell me that."

The woman raised an angry eyebrow at her. "Just who do you think you are?"

"I'm Adrienne Noir." the tiger-eared faunus lied.

The spider-tattooed woman smirked. "Nice try, Tigress. I know who you are, Miss Khan. You remember what happened five years ago?"

Sienna sighed and glared at her. "What do you want Miss Malachite?"

"I'd like you to stop being so rude. If I wanted to turn you in, I could. You could be the slammer right now, but you don't want that, do you?"

She put her hand to her left arm sadly. "No, I don't. I do want answers though."

Miss Malachite smirked. She had Sienna right where she wanted her. "Well, if you come with me, and lose the attitude, I'll help you get the answers you seek. Perhaps even for free."

"Alright, Miss. Lead the way."

"That's better. Now come."

Sienna had no choice but to follow the woman. The scene transitioned to the two of them arriving at a bar. Lil' Miss Malachite sat in the back at her table and Sienna stood a respectful distance from her.

"Looks like you can still hide in plain sight." she tried to compliment.

"They haven't caught me yet, and they never will. So, what questions do you have for me?"

"I'd like to know- where is Maura Celandine, and what became of her?" Miss Malachite chuckled, much to Sienna's frustration. "What? What's so funny?!"

She stopped and composed herself. "You don't know? It's practically common knowledge at this point."

"Know what?! Miss Malachite, you're scaring me."

She stopped laughing. "You really are clueless. Maura was caught by team CUBB, trialed and executed."

Sienna gasped. "No... This, this can't be..."

Malachite turned to one of her minions. "Get the paper." The henchwoman walked off and quickly retrieved a newspaper. "Read it and weep."

The High Leader took the newspaper from Nina News and began to read it.

BREAKING NEWS- Maura Celandine Has Been Executed, and Her Last Words Will Surprise You

February 5th, 80 AGW

Written by Violet Scarlatina

Under the headline where two pictures side by side. On the right was Maura's prison head shot. Her prison number was shown to be 011235259. On the left was the entrance to the Catacombs prison with the stone wall of the execution grounds seen in the background.

Maura Celandine, the Mistralian White Fang leader and one of the most dangerous women in Mistral, has finally reached her end. After being caught by team CUBB (Cubeb), a group of huntresses that graduated from Haven Academy, Maura was put on trial. The Case of Mistral vs Maura was one of the longest single-day trials in Mistral's history, lasting a total of ten hours and forty five minutes (not counting meal or rest breaks). After several long hours, the jury unanimously agreed that Maura was guilty of all charges. The defendant was accused of authorizing her subordinate Athena Bruna to attack Sanctum Academy, which resulted in the partial destruction of the combat school and Headmaster Sterling Aurelio falling into a coma. She was also accused of aiding Athena in freeing prisoners from and destroying Argus Harbor Max Security prison. Judge Isabelle Bluebell decided the punishment would be execution, and as terrorist, she was bumped up to the very front of death row.

Strangely enough, one of the members of team CUBB, Maza Bashir, chose to defend her upon being called by the defense. Maza had taken two photos of her, one from the Argus Harbor Prison break-in and another one was Maura's prison head shot. She suggested that the Maura at the Argus Harbor Prison was not actually 'Maura', but instead was an imposter designed to frame Maura for Athena's actions. She also suggested that Athena was no longer Maura's lieutenant after attacking Sanctum. These were only some of the many things she said in defense of Maura. Ultimately, the judge and jury dismissed all of her arguments. But even if Maza was right, this leaves the following questions; who impersonated Maura? And what connection does she have to Athena? It seems that Maza's teammates were annoyed, if not angry with Maza for defending the charged criminal. Team CUBB could not be reached for comment.

(continued on page 2A)

Despite the fact that Bluebell condemned her to death, it was Warden Cayenne who chose the method that she was killed by; burning her at the stake.

Sienna softly gasped, but repressed a sob as she continued reading.

But what's strange is that despite protesting her innocence throughout most of the time she was imprisoned, after the trial, she stopped trying to claim she was innocent. According to one of the guards, she refused her last meal and asked them to give it to a homeless person. That same guard was also present when bringing her to the execution grounds.

"She stopped trying." the guard said. "She didn't even ask for anything for her last meal. She wanted to give it to someone in need. It seems that Maura was a very compassionate and generous person. For a faunus who was part of a terrorist group, she didn't act malevolent or cruel at all. Not to the guards, to her fellow prisoners. No one."

When the time came to take her out of her cell, she didn't protest at all. Many predicted that she would have to be dragged out and forced to go to the execution grounds for her punishment, but this was not the case.

"She was very well behaved." the guard noted. "She stopped only once, to look at the sun one last time. We had to tell her to keep moving."

In the same way her trial was rushed, so was her execution. Within a few minutes, Maura Celandine was tied to a pole and ready to be set ablaze. But before her execution she spoke those words; "Normally I would use this time to protest my innocence, but it seems that no matter what I say or do, you find me guilty. So I leave you with this warning; Do not be so quick to judge others or deem someone as a criminal, for they may not be guilty at all. Things are not always what they seem to be. And let these words be known throughout the kingdom and all of Remnant- Pyrrha Nikos is alive, and she is innocent."

After these final words, she was promptly set ablaze and died of suffocation. It is unknown what became of her remains. Warden Cayenne could not be reached for comment.

Sienna stopped reading after seeing those words. "No..." Try as she might, she couldn't stop herself from sobbing. "Maura..."

The High Leader dried her eyes and read the last of the article, with more tears falling despite her best efforts.

Many are wondering what the future of Mistral's White Fang looks like. With Maura's execution, many believe that the Mistralian White Fang will be left leaderless and eventually may be completely disbanded. However, this may not be the case. Since she was working closely with Athena Bruna, who lead her army to Sanctum Academy, it is most likely that Maura entrusted her with the badge and burden of leadership in case something were to happen to her. But this also rises the question; Why didn't Athena bust Maura out of jail when she had already destroyed the Argus Harbor Prison with Maura's help? No one knows, but what is known is that Athena is armed and highly dangerous. For those that seek to bring her to justice, the bounty for Athena stands at 75,000 Lien.

Another question that's being asked is why Maura, a human hating faunus, would defend a human warrior. Some claim it's because maybe Maura wasn't as human-hating as the world perceived her to be. A small few believe that Maura defended Pyrrha because some believe that they're in similar situations. Pyrrha dueled against Penny during the singles round in the Vytal Festival Tournament, and accidentally destroyed her in the process. Since Penny was an android with an aura, or a robot with a soul, many saw her as a living being and equated her demise to intentional murder. Oftentimes because of this reason, Pyrrha has also been blamed for starting the Fall of Beacon. Despite Mistral being her home, some of its people have turned on her. One small group of Pyrrha haters presumed she was dead after falling off a cliff, thus starting and/or perpetuating a rumor that she was dead. With Maura's final words, people now have to think about her words that were previously spoken, from the time of the aftermath of Sanctum up to her death. So why did she say those words? Was she truly trying to defend Pyrrha in her final moments? Or is it possible that something worse lurks beyond the horizon?

Sienna held the paper in her hand and felt herself turn numb.

"Truth hurts, doesn't it?" Miss Malachite asked.

She looked at the title again. Then she noticed the date. "This can't be real."

The gang leader smirked. "Oh? And why not?"

"Because if this is true, then... I've been unconscious for two weeks!"

"Well, welcome back to reality. It's a real bitch, isn't it?"

Sienna stood there, rapid thoughts swarming her mind. Two weeks?! Oh gods... What happened to me during this time? Was I completely unconscious? Was I drugged and cursed not to remember anything? Was I... raped? No, don't think such things. Alright, what are the symptoms of pregnancy?

"You seem confused, darling." Lil' Miss said.

"Well it's not everyday that the world is turned upside down." Sienna quipped. She tried to hold back a sob, but failed miserably and turned away from her. "You wouldn't understand."

"I will admit that I don't." Lil' Miss frowned. "Is that all the questions you have for me?"

"I think so..." Sienna suddenly had a vision of the with the strange symbol she saw earlier and turned back to Miss Malachite. "On second thought, I have one more question for you. Unfortunately, I fear you may not be able to answer it."

Miss Malachite raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Oh? And what that be?"

"I've been seeing a strange symbol appear in my dream ever since I woke up. Somehow I doubt you'll recognize it."

"Draw it out for me."

The henchwoman handed the high leader of the White Fang a marker and a napkin. Sienna drew the symbol perfectly and showed it to Miss Malachite.

"Hmm... Can't say that I know what it means, but there might be somebody here who does." She extended her hand and Sienna gave her some Lien. "There's a vast library in the very top level of the city. They have a restricted section that might have what you're looking for. You'll have to do some sneaking, as well as breaking and entering, but that shouldn't be a problem for you."

"It shouldn't be." Sienna gave a dry smile as she put the folded napkin and pocketed it. "Thanks for the information, Mildred."

Lil Miss' gave Sienna a very harsh glare. "What did I tell you about using that name?"

"I know you hate it, but frankly, I don't care."

Mildred sighed. "Good luck out there, Missy. You'll need it."

Sienna exited the bar and wondered how to get around without being noticed.

Well, this is far from good. Unconscious for two weeks, no idea what happened during that time. My only clue is this symbol... She looked at the symbol she drew on the napkin before sighing. There's also the matter of getting to the library without being seen or caught. How in the world am I going to do that? I am a wanted woman.

She put the napkin away and slipped into an alleyway as she saw someone coming. She snuck a glance at the incoming person, seeing a man with a mustache holding a list in his hand, crossing something out as he walked through the streets. She turned away quickly, looking back at the wall in front of her.

It seems this is the state of my head. she thought to herself as she stepped into the darkness.

Meanwhile, Adam and most of his entourage stood or sat around in Maura's cottage. Adam paced restlessly, going from the living room to the empty bedroom and back again. Ilia stood and watched him pace from behind the kitchen counter. Douglas and Hector sat on a couch, the former reading a book and the latter playing a game on his scroll.

The door opened, and Adam stopped his pacing. Daphne came in, crying and holding a rolled up scroll in her hands. "Terror! Terror! Terror!" she quickly cried. "This is beyond words and beyond belief!"

"What's the matter?" Ilia asked.

"Terrible news has befallen us!"

"What are you talking about?!" Adam demanded.

She sobbed, her voice breaking. "Maura has been executed." Another sob. "She was captured over two weeks ago, then trialed, wrongly deemed guilty and burned at the stake the next day."

Adam was outraged. "What?!"

Douglas looked up from his book. "But... how?!"

Ilia felt shocked and depressed by this revelation. "No... This can't be..."

Hector remained in sad silence as Daphne wiped away her tears. "I wish it wasn't true, but alas, it is. I heard it from one of Athena's messengers and she gave me this notice." She sobbed again. "The journalists are writing the story as we speak."

"Pretty soon this news will be all over Mistral. And perhaps possibly even the whole world." Hector commented.

"Great!" Adam sarcastically exclaimed. "That means we've been sitting around here for nothing!"

"Master Taurus, what do we do now?" Ilia inquired.

He sighed heavily. "With most of my entourage captured by the authorities, save for Lieutenant Douglas, our pilot, and you two, I'm running out of assistance to find the Mistralian White Fang leader and get my plan off the ground. And now with Maura Celandine gone, Athena Bruna has taken her place. This is probably going to make things harder for us."

"Not to mention we don't have a clue where the winged faunus has gone." Hector added.

Daphne asked in between sobs, "Do you think she might have gone back to Maura's old lair?"

"Not very likely. She's too smart for that." Adam stated. "More likely she's establishing a new headquarters. But where?"

"She wouldn't be in Mistral... or in Argus. But that still doesn't leave us much to go on." Ilia stated.

Adam sighed. "We need to find where Athena has gone and speak with her at once. Daphne, do you have any leads as to where Athena might be heading?"

She nodded sadly. "I'm afraid not, sir."

"Then go out and see if you can't find any leads. If we can't find any, we'll have to search this entire kingdom until we find her."

Daphne swiftly left. As the door closed, Adam sighed again and walked away from his cohorts, much to Ilia's dismay.

Meanwhile, on the outskirts of Mensonge, the heroic quintet found themselves walking away from the village as the sun set over Sanus. A few trees were seen behind them with a yellow and orange sky. No traveling bags were seen and Nora was shown with a map in her hands.

"Okay... The cave of Death Stalkers shouldn't be too far from here..." she told herself and her teammates.

Jaune sighed. "Remind me, why did we agree to do this again?"

Nora answered, "Because Jaune, we need the money to get on the passenger ship after learning from the hotel manager that ticket prices for all modes of sea transportation rose. With our current funds, we'd only have enough for two of us to make it on the ship. And knowing how dangerous Cinder really is, you guys are going to need all the help you can get."

"You know, we could just sneak on the ship. I mean, Pyrrha Nikos snuck on an airship carrying dust crates to get directly to Olympia." 'Rouge' told them.

"Yeah, but that's illegal and risky with a party of our size. And the villagers still need help, even if they are mostly criminals." Ruby reminded them. "Besides, if we get rid of the biggest Grimm threat, maybe they'll actually be able to restore order to the village."

"That might be a bit of a stretch, but we have to do what we can." Ren responded.

"Alright guys. Looks like we're here." Nora stated, putting the map away. "The Death Stalkers Cave."

She gestured to cave in front of them.

"Alright, none of us have night vision." The team leader sighed. "Makes me wish Blake was here..."

"You're not supposed to know that Jaune." Ruby reminded him. "The only reason you guys know..."

"I know, I know I'm not supposed to know and your tongue slipped."

"Guys, focus." 'Rouge' demanded. "Since none of us can see in the dark, we'll have to draw them out of the cave. One of us will have to go into the cave and lure them out. Any volunteers?"

"Maybe should draw straws?" Ruby suggested.

"I don't think we have straws." Ren told them.

"Nose goes?" Jaune proposed.

The heroes quickly put their fingers to their noses, save for Rouge, who was too slow to move her gloved hand to her hidden face.

"Looks like it's up to me." 'Rouge' stated.

"Be careful in there!"

"Don't worry! I got this!"

The faux fashion model went into the cave, soon lost to their sight in the darkness. As the red-cloaked 'huntress' made her way into the entrance of the cave, she took some fire dust and lit a torch. She felt the temperature drop within the caves, but it didn't bother her. Her thoughts wandered as she ventured deeper into the cave.

She smiled, thinking to herself, Doesn't this bring back memories...

A brief flashback of her and Jaune came to her. How oblivious they were to the danger that lurked in the Emerald Forest cave...

Memories that I shouldn't be thinking about. the faux fashion model reminded herself.

She came back to the present. She looked around her, trying to see if she couldn't find the Death Stalkers.

Is this really the right cave? 'Rouge' thought.

Before she could ponder that question, she felt a claw pinch at her left ankle.

"Ow! What the...?"

She found a baby Death stalker pinching at her heels, quickly stomped on it and impaled it with her sword, turning it to black dust. Immediately thereafter, she heard a growl and turned to find two normal size Death Stalkers and nearly fifty baby ones standing before her. The two larger ones growled in unison.

Oh... Looks I made mommy and daddy angry...

Back outside the cave, the sun was beginning to dip below the horizon.

"She's been in there a while." Jaune noted. "Maybe we should go in after her?"

"Not necessary." Ren responded. "I hear footsteps. Fast footsteps."

The red-cloaked huntress ran out of the cave, carrying the torch as the Grimm followed closely behind her. Jaune asked her, "How many are there?"

'Rouge' put out the torch, answering, "Well, looks like we got two adult ones and a lot of babies."

Ruby looked at the tiny Death Stalkers, smiling adorably. "Aw... They look kinda cute."

"Trust me, they are not cute." Ren responded, getting out Stormflower.

Nora, Ruby and Jaune got out their weapons, with the first one asking, "What's the plan, Jaune?"

"Rouge, use your new weapon to trap the two adults with your ice! The rest of us will work on destroying their young."

She took out Froidcoeur, now in the form of a white and snow blue gun, and shot at the larger of the two Death Stalkers. She fired away, quickly freezing their tails in ice, and followed up with freezing one leg on each side. She fired more shots to freeze them further as the camera shifted to her friends.

Nora took Magnhild, in the form of a launcher, and started firing small grenades at ten of the baby Grimm, killing them instantly.

With Stormflower in his hands, Ren quickly fired at ten of the tiny Grimm, swiftly eliminating them.

Jaune, with Crocea Mors, slashed at ten tiny Death Stalkers, slaying them.

Ruby took Crescent Rose and swung her scythe towards them, releasing a wave of fire dust, killing another ten. 'Rouge' attempted to get the last of the baby Grimm, but before she could, the remaining baby Death Stalkers started to burrow under the ground.

"Oh great..." Ren stated.

Jaune looked nervous. "Do they always do this?"

"Yes!" Nora shot him a glare. "You should've known that!"

"Nora, you should really give Jaune a break." Ruby told her.

"Guys, focus!" 'Rouge' called out. "The remaining babies are going to resurface any moment now, and usually they focus on one target to try and take down."

Jaune screamed. "Why me?!"

The tiny Death Stalkers were shown pinching at both his ankles and the lower part of his right leg. He tried to shake them off, but without much success. 'Rouge' fired ice shots at them with her gun, freezing most of them. Jaune pulled the remaining two off and tossed them aside to Ren, who shot them down with Storm Flower.

"Are you alright?" the red-haired girl asked in her normal voice.

He slayed the frozen baby Death Stalkers, causing them to disappear in a blur of ice and black dust. "I'm fine, thanks to you."

"Uh, Jaune..." Nora began.

The two parent Grimm were slowly starting to escape from their traps. One broke free and immediately charged towards them, quickly clawing at them and nearly getting Jaune and 'Rouge', who barely jumped out of the way in time.

Ruby attempted to fire gunshots at the first one's tail, only to miss. "Come on! Stay still!"

"Uh, Ruby?!" 'Rouge' exclaimed.

"Huh?" She didn't realize her mistake until it was all but too late; In the midst of firing, the first Grimm had gone over its trapped partner, and Ruby unintentionally set them free as the last ice spikes cracked and broke into pieces. "Aw man!"