RWBY: Destiny of Remnant

by UGX7

In the wake of the fall Team RNJR sets out to bring Cinder Fall to justice while the new Fall Maiden overlooks her master's plan in Haven City. Meanwhile Weiss tries to help a friend, Yang struggles with the loss of her arm, and Blake deals with guilt over the White Fang. Meanwhile someone from Cinder's past returns and Salem's newest pawn rises. Arkos, WhiteRose, SunnyBees, Renora

12. Convergence

RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and created by the late and great Monty Oum.

I highly recommend these two RWBY stories, they are fantastic:

4 Years of Beacon by smstanton: One of the best, most adorable Arkos fics I've ever read but it also has a great dramatic story about both Jaune and Pyrrha's lives.

Overcoming Darkness by dracohalo117: A dark, mysterious fic that has only three chapters so far but I cannot wait to see where it goes.

Read, review, and tell me how I can improve, what you liked and what you didn't. Your feedback is appreciated, thank you! Thanks to all the reviewers, I appreciate all your kind words and thoughts.

RWBY: Destiny of Remnant

Chapter 12: Convergence

Ruby had been awake for several hours and had eaten the meager breakfast the guards have given her when the door to her cell opened. She looked up from her bed to see a squad of Grimm Knights led by Mercury.

"Hey there Rose, Cinder wants to have a talk with you. Fair warning: I think you won't like today's training session." He taunted as the Knights led Ruby out of the cell.

As they walked down the halls Ruby began to make observations of the factory. She made note of its layout, just in case she and Jaune had the chance to escape. She took note of the guards, most of which were the Grimm Knights but she did see about eight or nine organic guards. Good, that way she wouldn't have to hold back that much if most of the guards were robotic. Of course she still needed a chance to break out and with her aura being kept to a low level that would be rather difficult.

She needed to try and remember everything she had learned during her time at Beacon, everything her friends and teachers had taught her. She would need everything if she was to fight Cinder.

She looked up to Mercury who led the small group and said "You know what Mercury? I actually felt sorry for you when I thought Yang broke your leg, but I won't feel sorry for you when she finds you and tears it off."

Mercury stopped and turned around to face her. "You friend Valkyrie already smashed my leg after we captured you and I intend to pay her back. Cinder thinks your friends will actually be stupid enough to try and save you if they find our where we are and personally I hope they are smart enough to find us but stupid enough to try and fight us, because I want to make that hammer bitch scream." Mercury said angrily.

"You hurt Nora and you'll have to answer to Ren and vice versa. Trust me; you don't want to get on their bad sides." Ruby said with a smirk.

Mercury eyed her, "You're awfully cocky for someone in your position... but at least your tougher than Arc." He said, giving off his own smirk.

Ruby glared and asked "What did you do to him?"

"Let's just say I never thought I'd enjoy seeing a dude breakdown crying as much as I did yesterday. Though I was annoyed I had to clean his blood off my boot." Mercury said, hoping to get a reaction out of Ruby.

But outside of a glare he got none.

"What's wrong Rose? Worried about your buddy? Don't worry, you'll see him soon enough, Cinder has something special in store for you two." Mercury promised as he walked ahead.

Soon enough they came to the entrance of the throne room and Ruby watched as the doors opened up to reveal the still damaged room. She could hear Cinder saying something to Salem about making an arrangement with Ante and one of his enforcers. Ruby now noticed that the room's 'pit' was now opened up, but what disturbed Ruby is that there was some blood staining the floor of the pit

"What happened there?" she asked.

"Oh, we had a spy problem and found a very creative way to take care of it." Said Cinder who stood on the steps the led to the throne where a hologram of Salem sat.

"Good morning Ruby, I know you probably did not sleep well, but I hope the rest of your stay here will be more satisfactory." Salem said with a pleasant voice.

Ruby said nothing; she merely glared at the Grimm woman.

"So you're Ruby Rose. You look bigger in person." Said a woman's voice from above. Ruby looked up to see Ziz on the catwalk, and was amazed by her wings. Ziz jumped off and glided down to the ground in front of Ruby.

"So your the kid who did all this damage. Nice." Ziz said.

"What are you?" Ruby asked, put off by not only Ziz's wings but her Grimm-esque appearance.

"I'm Ziz and I am what you call a Grimm Commander." Ziz said.

"Yes, you see Ruby my Grimm are too wild and chaotic for most of our operations, so I decided we needed to have something to control them. Ziz is just one of four others, although there is a fifth in the making." Salem explained.

Ziz noticed Ruby looking at her wings.

"Like 'em? I'm not a Faunus if that's what you're thinking. The doc over there grafted these babies on to me. Hurt like hell but boy, are they worth it." Ziz said with a grin as Ruby took notice of someone else in the room, Dr. Giger.

Before Ruby could respond Mercury grabbed her by the hood and tossed her into the pit. Ruby luckily managed to land on her feet.

"Cheap trick!" she yelled up.

"Don't worry, all part of the plan." Mercury said as more Grimm Knights entered the room, surrounding two other people. Jaune was herded into the throne room by Emerald who was keeping her guns pointed at his back the entire time.

Jaune looked to Cinder, glaring at her but when he saw Ziz his jaw dropped.

"Like what you see blondie?" Ziz joked as her wings stretched out. Jaune looked at Ziz's skin and her Grimm attributes and he remembered something, dreams from months ago. The dreams he had where he brutally killed Emerald, Mercury, and Cinder, the people who had slowly over the course of the three dreams became more and more like the Grimm.

"W-what...?" Jaune tried to ask before Emerald kicked him into the pit. Jaune fell roughly but luckily Ruby caught him, saving him from a bad landing.

"Jaune!" Ruby cried as she hugged him.

"Ruby!" Jaune said, relieved to see that his friend was alright, but Ruby looked at Jaune's bruised and beaten body and gasped. Even though his aura had healed the wounds there was still signs of his beating from the other day.

"What did they do to you?" she asked.

"Whatever they wanted. I'd be lying if I said I was okay Ruby, but I'm hanging in there. Are you okay?" he asked.

"Not really, but I won't let them beat me, Jaune did you see that woman?! They said she can control..."

"Control the Grimm? Yeah, she's not the first one I've met. Ruby, last night I saw another Grimm Commander, it's..." Jaune began to say before Cinder grabbed him with her wind powers and lifted him up, cutting him off.

"Now, now Jaune, that is our secret to tell." Cinder said.

"Let him go!" Ruby demanded, her aura was weakened but she knew she had to fight Cinder.

"Very well." Cinder said as she dropped Jaune back to the ground. Ruby ran to Jaune to make sure he was okay as he coughed and gasped for air.

"Jaune, I'm so sorry I got you into this." She said.

"Don't be Ruby, this is my fault. If I hadn't come up with the stupid idea to stand and fight we wouldn't be here... Ruby, Pyrrha's alive!" Jaune cried out. Ruby's eyes widened in amazement and disbelief.

"What? No Jaune, is has to be a trick! They're using your feelings for Pyrrha to..." Ruby began before Jaune stopped her.

"No! I felt her Ruby! She was no illusion, she was flesh and blood! I could even feel her aura! But they did something to her; they brainwashed her and made her like that woman up there!" Jaune cried as he pointed to Ziz.

Ruby was now totally horrified by what Jaune had just told her. She looked up to see that Cinder had an annoyed look on her face.

"We have a chance to save her this time!" Jaune cried desperately.

Cinder rolled her eyes and looked to Salem, who gave an approving nod. Cinder looked to Emerald and Mercury and gestured to her trophy case; her two followers nodded and made their way to the case as Cinder jumped down into the pit as she summoned her twin swords. "Now you've done it. That was our surprise and you've ruined." She said in a not very serious manner.

Ruby got up and glared at Cinder. "What did you do to her?!" she screamed as her eyes began to weakly glow. Jaune gasped as he saw Ruby's eyes light up, wondering what was going to happen.

"I just defeated her and transported her to my master so Pyrrha could be healed. Afterwards we made her into our weapon, but she will never know that." Cinder said as Emerald and Mercury appeared over the put holding Crescent Rose and Crocea Mors respectively.

"You want us to fight you." Ruby stated.

"That's right, my student. This time the challenge will be to keep your friend unharmed while I battle both of you." Cinder said as Emerald and Mercury threw the weapons down to Ruby and Jaune.

Ruby glared at Cinder and said "You kept my aura drained all night. Why?"

"Look around the room, we don't want you to wreck it again." Cinder said.

"No, that's an excuse. You're afraid." Ruby said with a silver glare.

There was a silence in the room.

"Did she just...?" Emerald asked.

"Oh yeah." Mercury confirmed with a shake of his head.

"This is going to hurt." Murmured Giger.

"Ooo, I like this kid." Ziz muttered quietly. If anything Ruby's fortitude was to be admired.

Above them all Salem watched, a small smile on her snow white face.

"You think I am afraid?" Cinder asked, failing to hide her rage. Her eyes began to glow furiously and flames engulfed her swords.

"You're afraid of me Cinder. I don't remember everything that happened in here yesterday, but judging by all the damage I did it was enough to get you scared. You better be scared." Ruby said as Jaune handed her Crescent Rose.

Cinder sighed and the flames died down as she shook her head. "Oh Ruby, poor naive Ruby and Jaune. You lived though your meandering, ordinary little lives day by day and you fell asleep to dream ordinary, carefree dreams in peaceful, undisturbed nights. Until I brought nightmares to your worlds. Do you deny this?" Cinder asked.

"Our lives were anything but ordinary, we had nightmares before we ever met you, but you did make our dreams worse than ever. You will pay for it." Jaune said as he unsheathed Crocea Mors. Ruby readied Crescent Rose for a fight, she didn't know what Cinder would try this time but she needed to be prepared.

"The world as it is right now is hell, and we intend to make it heaven." Cinder said.

"No you don't. The world can be a dark and terrible place sometimes but it is worth fighting for! The world isn't hell, but you want to make it that way!" Ruby cried.

"Ruby, you do not know the whole truth. What of you Jaune? You rebuked me last night but hear me now: I was forced to take Pyrrha from you because of Ozpin and his associates. They took away any choice she had and filled her head with the idea that her destiny was to die for some great purpose. Join me and you can have your revenge! Life is a terrible thing Arc! Filled with war, death, famine, and disease but we can change it for the better; we can make it so people do not have to die in stupid, pointless ways for a cause they are not even sure they believe in." Cinder said as Jaune remained silent.

Ruby looked to her friend who had closed his eyes and was breathing softly. Jaune looked at Cinder and said "Do you really believe half of what comes out of your mouth?" he asked.

"I can see that neither of you are convinced of our intentions, why? Consider the White Fang, they became what they are now because of how the world treated the Faunus race. It is true that the slavery of Faunus-kind is over, for the most part anyway, but why do you think the White Fang became what it is now? Racism and prejudice still reigns supreme, Faunus still suffer and are treated lower than dirt simply because of their animal features. The White Fang have allied themselves with us because we are the best chance of a perfect world! An equal world where no one should suffer!" Cinder said.

"For someone who wants to make a world where there is no suffering, you sure do cause a lot of it." Ruby pointed out as she carefully gripped Crescent Rose.

"Very well, consider my student Mercury. Do you know why he has artificial legs? His father was an assassin named Marcus Black, who tried to retire and live in the countryside of Vale with his son, but his alcoholism would often lead to Mercury being abused and beaten." Cinder said. Ruby looked up to see that Mercury looked embarrassed, angry, and a bit sad; he clearly did not like to be reminded of his past. "One day Mercury ran off into the forest to escape a beating only for his misery and anger to attract a Beowulf which attacked him and mauled his legs. His father saved him, but decided not to take his son to the nearest village to see a doctor, but instead he sawed off his own son's legs and replaced them with crude mechanical limbs. When he woke up Mercury was sent into a blind fit of rage and he murdered his father. That was when Emerald and I found him; we took him in as one of our own. He is part of our family and you both could be a part of it as well." Cinder finished.

"I'm happy with the family I have right now." Ruby said.

"Ditto." Jaune added.

"Really Jaune? Are you sure you don't want to accept your destiny and go through with the operation willingly?" Cinder asked.

"What operation?" Ruby asked as she looked to Jaune who simply glared at Cinder.

"Last night she told me that I was going to be the next Grimm Commander, and I assume you'll make me do it whether I want to or not." Jaune guessed.

Cinder nodded and said "That's correct, but if you just swallow your pride, cast away your foolish hesitations you can be with Pyrrha again. You can be her mate and together you two can produce the first, natural human-Grimm hybrid."

Ruby and Jaune both looked at Cinder, not expecting her to say something that crazy. Even Giger looked a bit surprised by the idea. "You are crazy, and by the way, I still don't believe in destiny." Jaune said.

"And why don't you?" Salem asked, getting everyone's attention.

"What destiny is depends on how you look at it, and I say there is no destiny except what we make for ourselves." Jaune finished.

Cinder looked up to Salem who simply nodded, as if giving permission for something. Cinder looked back to the two teenagers and said "Well, I tried."

She created a small explosion that forced Ruby and Jaune to look away, only for Cinder send Jaune flying with a mighty strike of her aura-infused fist. Cinder tried to strike Ruby with her blades but Ruby easily parried the blow with the blade of Crescent Rose.

"Your reflexes are still impressive despite how we kept you drained." Cinder admitted as she struck three more time, trying to weaken Ruby down but girl clad in red and black managed to block each one.

"I was trained by the best." Ruby said as she spun Crescent Rose around and hit Cinder in the side with the back side of the weapon. Cinder grunted in pain as she spun around and blasted the ground Ruby was standing on with a small bit of Dust.

Ruby fell to the ground and quickly rolled to avoid being stomped on by Cinder's foot. Ruby jumped up and spun Crescent Rose around as Cinder began sending wave after wave of flaming Dust, but the spinning Scythe deflected it, even as the blasts sent her scraping backwards.

Jaune got up and ran behind Ruby. "Keep her busy." He whispered to her.

"Not that easy." Ruby said as she kept spinning her weapon around. Jaune knelt down and used his emotion Semblance to launch himself in the air and towards Cinder.

Cinder managed to spot him in time and she quickly ceased her barrage of Dust on Ruby and recreated her swords out of thin air just in the nick of time to block Jaune's downwards slash.

"Good! Your anger is source of power, use it!" Cinder barked at him as Ruby began to run forward.

"I plan on it, but I won't let it control me." Jaune said, remembering Ashe's lessons as he swung at Cinder to meet her slash as Ruby opened fire on Cinder.

Cinder quickly used her powers to catch the shot but in doing so she allowed Jaune the chance to smash his shield into her and knock her down. Cinder quickly flipped up before Ruby could hit her with Crescent Rose's blade.

Cinder was a bit off put by what could have been a lethal attack; apparently she had pushed the right buttons last night as Ruby was now going for a fatal strike. If they wanted to get serious then so be it. She summoned up her power over the wind and grabbed both of them and sent them both flying into the other end of the pit.

Ruby got up and let out barrage of shots from Crescent Rose but Cinder blocked them all effortlessly. Cinder then pulled out her bow and arrow, aimed, a let go. In the blink of an eye Ruby saw that Jaune had been hit with the arrow, just like in her dream.

"No!" Ruby screamed before she saw that Cinder had only hit the shoulder of his hoodie, pinning him to the wall.

"Don't worry Ruby, I am very careful with my arrows." Cinder said as she fired another one at Ruby, which was cut in half by a swing of Ruby's blade.

Ruby let out a scream of anger as her eyes began to glow once again. She would not let anything from her dream from last night come to pass.

Without warning her aura surged up and she rocketed towards Cinder, who now had a look of worry on her face. Ruby managed to score a few hits with the blunt side of Crescent Rose before Cinder regained herself and struck back as she recreated her swords. She parried and blocked Ruby's blows but noticed that Jaune had freed himself from the wall.

Cinder smirked and she jumped away from Ruby, propelled by a blast of fire. She landed in the center of the pit and used her wind to grab a panel off of the wall and twist the edge enough so it had enough room to fit a neck; she had to drop it however as both Ruby and Jaune attacked her at once. Cinder kneeled down and she created a small dome made of wind and covered it with flames. Ruby and Jaune were both sent flying into the wall as Cinder seemingly detonated the dome, creating a shockwave that hit them both.

Cinder now stood proud and silent as she used the wind to grab the panel once again and sent it at Jaune, now pinning him to the wall with the metal panel.

"Consider my kindness Jaune, had I hit you any harder the panel would have decapitated you." She said.

"Heads up!" yelled Ruby as she jumped behind Cinder and swung Crescent Rose. Her warning was enough for Cinder who ducked down to avoid the swipe of the blade.

Cinder whipped around and met another strike from Ruby with her one of her swords. "That could have been a killing blow, eager aren't we?" Cinder taunted.

"I killed those men, but it was an accident. I feel bad, but I won't let my guilt control me because right now you need to be stopped." Ruby said as her eyes continued to glow. "And if I have to kill you to stop you then I will regret it, but I will do what I have to."

"Very good, you're finally coming to terms with it. Acceptance is the first step on the road to discovering who you really are." Cinder said.

"I already know who I am, I'm Ruby Rose, Huntress in training, daughter of Taiyang Xiao Long and Summer Rose, and I will be the one to stop you." Ruby said with a smile on her face.

Cinder glared at Ruby, and then she gave the girl a smile of her own as she used the wind to grab Ruby and slam her into the wall, forcing her to drop Crescent Rose.

"I doubt that you will Ruby. If the great Pyrrha Nikos couldn't stop me, if the 'Invincible Girl' fell like everyone else who has ever tried to stop me, what hope do you possibly have?" Cinder asked.

"I have my friends." Ruby said with a smirk.

"Your friends are not here." Cinder pointed out.

"They're always with me in spirit, that's something you can't take from me." Ruby said as she briefly glanced over to Jaune who was struggling to get loose.

Cinder looked up to her master who simply nodded in approval. Cinder grinned at Ruby as she grabbed the girl by the neck and slammed her into the ground. Cinder stepped on Ruby's chest to keep her from getting away as she created a dagger out of the burning Dust.

"Maybe we should just get your eyes out of the way right here and now." Cinder said as she kneeled down and prepared to stab Ruby. Ruby cried out in horror and struggled to get free, she managed to get a look at Salem who seemed unconcerned but then she heard something.

"NO!" Jaune screamed. Despite how weak he was feeling Jaune used all of his strength to rip the panel off and free himself. Jaune ran forward, his Semblance causing his aura to glow around his body.

Up above Emerald, Mercury, Giger and Ziz all watched in amazement as Jaune rushed towards Cinder while Salem observed the skirmish and muttered "As I thought, well done Cinder."

Cinder discarded her dagger and leaped off of Ruby and created one of swords and met the blade of Crocea Mors eagerly. "I cannot believe you fell for that!" she said as she kicked Jaune in the stomach. Jaune withstood the attack and swung his sword at her but she met the attack and the clash of the two blades created a small shower of sparks. Jaune realized that Cinder had no intention of gouging Ruby's eyes out, it was just a way to provoke a reaction out of him.

Cinder pressed her sword forward and quickly delivered a powerful punch to his face knocking him down. Cinder held up her sword as she set it ablaze and she prepared to strike when Ruby screamed out as the silver light shone out of her eyes again, taking the form of the silver wings.

Emerald, Mercury, and Ziz all shielded their eyes from the intense light and Ziz was even forced to cover herself with her wings as she began to feel weak from the light. Jaune's jaw dropped at the sight and Cinder had turned around and prepared to repeat what she had done the other day as Ruby approached her.

On the throne the hologram of Salem watched in rapt attention. "Yes, this is it. This is the child's power. Magnificent." She muttered.

Ruby ran towards Cinder and said "I told you that you were never going to hurt anyone i care about again. Didn't you listen?"

Cinder screamed out as she poured every ounce of strength she had, both from her natural powers and the power of the Fall Maiden. Ruby stood her ground for ten brief seconds before Cinder overwhelmed her, made all the easier by Ruby's weakened aura.

"Another lesson learned." Cinder muttered as Ruby's eyes closed.

"Cinder look out!" Emerald cried.

Cinder turned around just in time to block Jaune's attack. Had Emerald not warned her she would have taken a nasty blow.

"We're slow learners, just ask Goodwitch." Jaune snarled.

"Then allow me to improve your education as well." Cinder said as she used another aura-infused fist to smash Jaune's face, sending him down to the floor, unconscious.

Cinder turned around, a thin layer of sweat covering her skin as she bowed to Salem.

"Well done my disciple, you may rise." Salem said and Cinder did so. "Dr. Giger, I want you to prepare for the operation. I want Jaune to be a Grimm Commander by tonight." She ordered.

"Understood Mistress." Giger said with his head bowed.

"Master, were you able to identify his Semblance?" Cinder asked as a ramp extended down to the pit.

"Indeed I was, it is the emotion Semblance, which explains a few things such as why he was able to see through Emerald's illusions and why his strength grows under emotional circumstances. While this is common for most Semblances the emotion one is significantly powerful." Salem said as she looked to Cinder and continued. "Allow Ante and his illusionist to toy with the child's mind but after that I want you to let them meet with Saul Jude."

"Jude? He hasn't arrived yet." Cinder said.

"He has informed me he will be there shortly; they know your brother so Jude wants to speak with them. After that allow Jaune Arc to rest and gather his strength, he will need it for the surgery. Oh, and Victor, only give him enough pain killers to keep him alive and only have your healers do what is necessary, I want Arc to suffer." Salem said.

Giger was taken aback by Salem's command. "Why?" he asked.

"I have history with the Arcs... I want one to suffer for what happened to me all those years ago." Salem said. Cinder noticed the angry look on her master's face and she glanced to her master's hand to see it clenched so tightly into a fist that she could swear she saw blood.

"Understood, with his aura charged up he should be able to survive the process." Giger said obediently.

Ziz was a little put off by what Salem had just ordered, she remembered waking up during the surgery on accident, the burning feeling of the Grimm essence being injected into her. Ziz was cruel, but she was no sadist, at least she killed people quickly.

Emerald looked rather shaken by the idea, something Mercury took note of.

Cinder did not seem to mind the idea as the door opened and guards entered the room. "Take Ruby Rose back to her cell and return Jaune Arc to the training room he was in yesterday. Ante and his men will be here soon enough." She said as the guards quickly followed her orders.

While Jaune had been out of it, something inside of him had heard the orders...

---

Fotia stood in her room, going through her morning exercise routine. Stretches, striking the punching bag, chin-ups, but today she was slower than usual, not sluggish per say, but still not as good as she normally was.

Last night's events with Jaune Arc had her a bit on edge. She couldn't put her finger on it but there was something about Arc that made her... nervous?

She didn't really know why. Okay, she could not deny that he was rather handsome but the way he acted, how utterly convinced he was that she was the late Pyrrha Nikos was disturbing to say the least.

She looked at herself in the mirror, wondering if she really did look like Pyrrha Nikos. She would have to look into it.

All of a sudden she heard the whispery voice again, this time it sounded like it was saying "Help."

"Hello? Who is there?!" Fotia called to the near emptiness of her quarters. No answer. "Please, if this is some kind of trick I will not get mad, I just want to know who is making that voice." Fotia said.

"Help me." Was all she heard in return, but Fotia noticed that the voice sounded like her own.

Fotia had had enough of this. She grabbed her combat gear and quickly left the room.

As she walked down the hall Neo watched with an interested look on her face.

---

Weiss piloted the airship over the unsightly slums of Haven and towards the waterfront.

"Are you sure these are the coordinates they gave you?" Coco asked from the passenger area.

"I'm pretty sure, Ren it's by the water and that they'd be there so help me keep a look out for it." Weiss said.

Coco nodded and walked over to the turret section where Fox was still sitting. "Yo Foxy, you see it?" she asked.

"I can see the waterfront and several warehouses but I do not see any sign of Ren or the others." Fox reported as he looked through the crosshairs

Weiss nodded as she reached into her pocket and took out her scroll. "Velvet, take my scroll and call Ren, tell him we're here but we need a sign that we're in the right place." She said as the rabbit Faunus accepted the scroll from her.

Velvet found Ren on Weiss' contacts list and called him and he soon answered.

"Hello Weiss, are you here yet?" Ren's voice asked.

"Hey Ren, it's Velvet, listen we're flying over the waterfront area of Haven now but we don't see you, can you give us a sign or something?" she asked.

"Sure, just look for an explosion." Ren answered.

"Explosion? What do you...?" Velvet tried to ask before she heard an explosion a few hundred meters away in the sky. Everyone looked to the left to see a small explosion caused by Magnhild's grenade launcher.

"That'll do." Weiss said as she flew the ship towards the area where the blast had come from. Soon enough they hovered over the warehouse and saw Ren, Nora, and Team ABRN all looking up and waving to them.

Coco slid the door of the ship open as it descended and called "Hey Valkyrie, Lie! Long time no see!" She was startled by Penny poking her head out and looking down.

"We are a bit high up, are we going to jump?" Penny asked.

"From this height we could, but I think it'd be better if we just waited to land." Coco said to the robotic girl.

"That sounds like the smarter idea." Penny admitted as she sat back down, not seeing Flynt elbowing Neon for giggling at Penny's naïveté. The ship landed down on the lot behind the warehouse with a lite thud and Coco hopped out of the ship and stretched.

"So good being on solid ground again." She said as the others followed her out.

"Hey there, Adel right?" Arslan asked as she shook Coco's hand.

"Got it in one, Arslan right? I remember fighting with you at the battle of Beacon, how's life been treating you?" Coco asked.

"Well we got involved in this mess for one thing." Arslan said dryly.

Penny looked to Ren and Nora who were both giving her odd looks. "Salutations Ren and Nora, it is nice to properly meet you." Penny said, offering her hand out.

Ren decided to be polite and not hesitate; he accepted her hand but was surprised by her strong grip.

"I am sorry about Pyrrha, the others have told me about what happened to Pyrrha. I am so sorry." Penny said.

Nora smiled and said "It's okay, we don't blame you. I mean you gave her a really good fight and I think that afterwards she would have been happy to be your friend. You know about the whole Cinder tricking her into ripping you apart thing, right?"

"I have been informed of that and I am eager to pay her back... Cinder that is." Penny clarified.

"We figured." Ren deadpanned.

"Hi guys!" called Velvet as she got off the ship.

"Velv!" Nora cheered as she ran over and grabbed the Faunus girl in a powerful hug. "It is so good to see you!"

"You too... can you please let me go... I need to breathe!" Velvet gasped out.

"Oops! Sorry about that, keep forgetting how fragile you can be." Nora said as she released Velvet.

"It takes some getting used to." Yatsuhashi said as he nodded to Ren.

"It is nice to see you again." Weiss said as she disembarked from the ship.

"Hello Weiss, we are very grateful you came." Ren said as he shook her hand.

"My best friend is in trouble, of course I came. Plus, I couldn't let General Ironwood turn Penny into a bomb so we needed somewhere to go." Weiss said as she braced herself for a hug from Nora.

"Oh Weiss! With all of you here we can all work together and save Ruby and Jaune!" the powerful girl cheered as she embraced the heiress as Flynt and Neon came out of the ship.

"I'd feel much more confident if we had heard from Ruby's uncle." Weiss admitted as Nora released her.

"Yeah, you think Branwen is alright?" Flynt asked.

"I have no idea and Professor Goodwitch told me she doesn't either, but I suspect we'll know in time. Ren, Nora, do either you know the current whereabouts of Sun, Neptune and the rest of their team?" Weiss asked.

"No, they left to find Blake, we haven't heard from them since." Ren said.

"Well, I have had some loose contact. Qrow told me that Yang has gotten a new arm and has joined up with Team SSSN to find Blake. I haven't had time to call her personally because of the hectic situations we've been facing in the last twenty-four hours." Weiss admitted.

"Well call her now, I mean you might as well since you're finally off that ship." Nora said.

Weiss nodded, "Very well... I can't believe Nora of all people had to spell that out for me." She muttered as she took out her scroll, briefly looking up to see Reese and Neon, who had become friends during the Vytal Festival.

"Nice to know I'll be fighting with the rainbow cat." Reese said as she fist-bumped her friend.

"Well I like the fact that I'll be fighting with the skater girl from Haven." Neon said as he tail waved around enthusiastically.

Weiss looked around as her scroll rang and noticed an absence. "Where is that Ashe fellow?" she asked.

"I think he's inside the building, we just got here so we haven't gone inside." Bolin said.

Before Weiss could respond she head Yang's voice from her scroll "Weiss!"

"Yang! ... Blake?!" Weiss cried as she looked at her scroll and saw Yang, Blake, Sun, Neptune, and Scarlet looking back at her.

"Hi Weiss." Blake said shyly.

"What... you've already found her?" Weiss asked.

"Wait, how did you know we were trying to find her?" Yang asked.

"Your uncle." Weiss revealed.

"Okay, someone please tell me what is going on." Sun said.

"Long story." Weiss said.

"Really long story!" Nora said as she popped her head over Weiss' shoulder.

"Nora?!" both Yang and Blake cried.

"And Ren." Nora added as she pulled Ren up over Weiss's other soldier.

"Are you in Haven?" Neptune asked.

"Yes we are, you see there have been some... developments." Weiss said.

"Such as...?" Blake asked.

Weiss pointed her scroll over to show Penny, Team CFVY, Team ABRN, and half of Team FNKI.

"Is... is that Penny?" Yang asked in amazement.

"Yes, and you will not believe what we had to go through to get her." Weiss said.

"Are you guys at the warehouse?" Sun asked.

"Yes we are." Ren confirmed.

"What about Ruby? She's with you, right?" Yang asked hopefully.

Weiss looked at both Nora and Ren. Deciding to take it upon herself to tell her teammates the truth about their leader's situation "No, Cinder has captured her and Jaune as well."

"WHAT?!" both Yang, Blake, and the visible members of Team SSSN screamed.

"We believe that they are still alive, after all Cinder went through a lot of trouble to catch them alive so I doubt they are dead." Ren said, trying to calm his friends down.

"What makes you think that?!" cried Sun.

"They put out a two million lien bounty on their heads with specific directions to keep them alive." Ren explained.

"So they're okay?" Blake asked hopefully.

"We don't know but I doubt Cinder would go through all that trouble to keep them alive only to kill them herself." Ren said.

"Plus we still don't know why she wants Jaune." Nora added.

"Yeah, why would she want Jaune?" Neptune asked.

"We can find that out once we get there. We're on our way to Haven right now and we'll be there in a few hours." Yang said.

Weiss nodded, "We'll be waiting for you and tell you what we've been up to in the last few days." Weiss said.

"Wait till you hear our story." Yang said trying to cheer herself up, but the worry for her little sister was obvious.

"I'll be happy to see you both." Weiss said, putting on a smile.

"Yeah, all we have to do is rescue Ruby and the gang will be back together." Yang said, giving off a weak smile.

Blake could see how nervous Yang was so she decided to end the call here. "We'll be there soon, goodbye Weiss." She said.

Weiss merely nodded and ended the call. She looked up and saw that Penny had taken notice of the awkward conversation.

"Is something wrong? I know Ruby's in danger but why did Yang and Team SSSN have to find Blake? Was she lost?" Penny asked.

"No Penny, remember when we first met and Blake ran off? She did it again and this time Yang found her." Weiss said.

"Oh. Why did she run away again?" Penny asked.

"I don't really know, maybe it was guilt. I think she blames herself for what happened to Yang." Weiss guessed.

"What happened to Yang?" Penny asked.

"We really got to start filling her in on everything." Flynt muttered to Neon who nodded in agreement.

"Apparently someone from Blake's past wanted revenge on her and cut off Yang's arm." Weiss said somberly.

"Oh. The situation looks grim." Penny stated.

"Speaking of which, we should probably go inside and see if Ashe is okay." Nora said.

"Who is this Ashe guy anyway? Schnee mentioned him but we really know zip about him." Coco pointed out.

"Yeah, if we're going to be working with this guy to save the day I'd prefer to know more about him." Flynt agreed.

Ren and Nora looked to Weiss and the former said "You didn't tell them?"

"I'd prefer it if he told them himself, plus I still haven't met him in person." Weiss said.

"Tell us what?" asked Yatsuhashi.

"Yeah, what's going on?" asked Neon.

"Okay, no point in hiding now." Weiss sighed as she turned to face the fellow members of the rescue team. "Ashe is Cinder's brother."

"What." Asked Coco.

"You gotta be kidding me." Fox deadpanned.

"That is rather disconcerting." Yatsuhashi voiced.

"Oh hell no." moaned Flynt.

"Why are we working with him?!" cried Neon.

"Wait, if he's been helping them and they know that he's related to Cinder then there must be a good reason as to why we're allied with him." Velvet pointed out, trying to stay open-minded about the newest revelation.

"Has he done anything wrong?" Penny asked, innocently. "I mean, even if he is related to Cinder we can't blame him for her actions."

Everyone was silent for a moment when Coco said "Point to robo-girl."

"Oh, did I win something?" Penny asked.

"They didn't let you out a whole lot over at Atlas, did they?" Coco observed.

"I had to let myself out for the most part." Penny said.

Coco grinned and said "That's my kind of thinking."

"Back to Ashe..." Weiss said to get everyone's attention back on track, "I think we can trust him not to join up with his sister."

"And why's that?" Yatsuhashi asked.

"Because he found out Cinder was the one who murdered him mom, then blamed it on their dad, then she killed him too, and then she left Ashe all alone at the age of ten." Reese explained.

Penny and the members of her rescue team were silent before Flynt said "The more I hear about Cinder Fall the easier the idea of killing her is."

"Amen to that." Coco agreed.

"So you guys want to meet Ashe?" Nora asked.

"If we are going to be going up against an army with him at our side I'd like to meet him." Weiss said.

"As would I." Yatsuhashi said.

"Then let's go on inside." Nora said as she opened up the doors to the warehouse.

The large group was about to follow Nora inside when a voice called "Hey Ren!" Most of the group turned to see four women in their twenties and one in her early thirties approaching them. "Could you have picked a worse place to meet up at?" Bianca called as she led her sisters to the group.

"Blame Sun, he allowed us to use this warehouse." Ren justified.

"Still, couldn't we have met in a subway or a park or something?" Sienna asked.

"We had to meet up with some friends." Ren said as he gestured over to Weiss, Penny, Team CFVY, Flynt and Neon.

"Hello!" Penny greeted.

"I remember you, Weiss, right?" Bianca asked as she offered her hand out to the Schnee heiress.

"Indeed, I remember all of you as well." Weiss said politely as she accepted Bianca's hand.

"Wait a minute, isn't that the girl who turned out to be a robot?" Shani asked as she pointed to Penny.

"Listen, we've got some explaining to do..." Ren said. Both Ren and Weiss began explaining to the five Arc sisters what had been going on with Penny and introducing them to the teams until Nora came out of the warehouse.

"Um... guys! I think you should all get inside! I think something's wrong!" she called.

Ren and Weiss looked to each other. "Let's continue this inside shall we?" Weiss asked, to which everyone agreed. The group entered Team SSSN's warehouse and Ren and Team ABRN were caught off guard by the sight of the Aura Crystal still suspended in the air in the middle of the room by the case's shields and Ashe nowhere in sight while Penny, her rescuers, and the Arc sisters were all amazed by the large crystal just floating in the air.

"Where's Ashe?" Bolin asked.

"I don't know! I just came in and found the crystal like this." Nora elaborated.

Coco looked around and saw the metal staircase that led to the catwalks above. "Velvet, Fox, go up there and look around. Maybe you can see this Ashe guy from up there." She ordered. Fox and Velvet nodded and began climbing up the steps to the walkways above.

"What is that thing?" Indigo asked as she stared at the crystal with wonder.

"That is the Aura Crystal, a legendary relic that Ashe has been guarding for the past two decades." Ren exposited.

"So who is this Ashe person? You mentioned him when you first told me Jaune had been captured but you didn't say much about him." Bianca said.

"Oh, he is..." Penny began before Neon quickly placed her hand over Penny's mouth.

"Penny, I think we should break it to them slowly." The redhead Faunus advised.

"Oh, good idea." Penny agreed.

Up above Fox and Velvet both looked around the warehouse and saw no sign of Ashe, just the people they knew were in the building. Fox noticed another staircase the led up to the next level of catwalks. "I'll go up there and look around." Fox said.

"Right." Velvet said as she watched Fox walk away. Velvet turned around only to come face to upside-down face with Ashe who was hanging down from the catwalk above her.

"Frith and Inle!" Velvet cried out in surprise.

"Whoa! Sorry to startle you." Ashe apologized as he saw Fox come running back.

"You're Ashe I assume?" Fox asked. Everyone below had noticed Velvet's yelp and was now looking up to see the scene playing out.

"Yeah, hold on, let's continue this right-side up." Ashe said as his feet released themselves from the catwalk bars and he dropped down in front of the two on his hands, afterwards he flipped over and landed on his feet, acting like an acrobat. "Sorry about that, couldn't sleep on so I decided maybe resting on something cold and metal would help." Ashe explained.

"Why would that work?" Velvet asked as she tilted her head

"Sometimes it helps me, don't know why." Ashe said as he took notice of Ren, Nora, and Team ABRN. "Hey guys, see you've brought company."

"Good morning Ashe, or good afternoon as the case may be." Ren said.

"What? What time is it?" Ashe asked.

"About seventeen past noon." Penny said, as she had a clock internally built in.

"Wow, that... session with the crystal must have worn me out more than I thought." Ashe said.

"Speaking of which Ashe, did you find out half of what the freaky crap you were spouting out last night meant?" Arslan asked.

Ashe's face suddenly hardened as he remembered what he had learned last night. "Yeah, I did." He said quietly as he began walking towards the stairs, followed by Velvet and Fox.

Velvet introduced herself to Ashe and began naming all of the new arrivals for him. Ashe noticed that Penny was looking right at the Aura Crystal, even reaching out to touch it until Ashe said "Don't touch that, it's dangerous."

Penny looked up at him and said "I'm sorry sir, but my sensors are going berserk, there is an immense power coming from this crystal."

"Yeah, it's powerful alright. So you're that robot girl rebuilt. Neat." Ashe said.

"You think I'm neat?" Penny asked.

"Well, yeah. I mean why wouldn't I think that?" Ashe asked before he noticed Shani giving him a weird look.

"What?" he asked her.

"Sorry, you just look familiar." Shani said before Ren cut in.

"So what did you learn?" Ren asked as Ashe and half of Team CFVY got to ground level.

"Well... do they all know about my, uh, relations to... her?" Ashe asked hesitantly.

"We know, and trust me Ashe, I know what it's like to regret something a relative has done." Weiss said as she walked up to him.

"You're Weiss Schnee. Ruby told me a lot about you and the rest of her team, and if you went up against General Ironwood to rescue Penny over there," Ashe said as he nodded to Penny, "then maybe I was wrong. When I got a glimpse of you on Ruby's scroll I said you seemed out of place with her, now I think you fit right in."

Weiss smiled and said "Thank you Ashe, I do not know much about you but from what Nora and Ren have told me I think we can trust you for the time being."

"If I am not mistaken the Arc sisters still are unaware of what's up with Ashe." Penny said, making Ashe look at the five blonde women.

"You're Jaune's sisters?" he asked.

"Only five of seven, the other two had to stay home." Shani said.

"Nice to meet you, you're brother's a good kid, strong too." Ashe said as she sat down in one of the chairs.

"Yes, Ashe has helped Jaune out immensely, even helping him discover his Semblance." Ren said.

"He did?!" Weiss, Velvet, and the Arc sisters all cried out.

"Yeah, I felt that it was the same as mine, so I helped him out with it. It's the emotion Semblance and I needed to get some strong reactions out of him. He punches really hard." Ashe muttered as he rubbed his jaw.

"You must be a talented Huntsman in order to do that." Yatsuhashi said, trying to get a proper feel for Ashe's character.

"Not really a Huntsman big guy, I'm what they call a Guerrilla Hunter." Ashe said.

"Oh this just gets better and better." Flynt groaned.

"You're technically a criminal." Violet pointed out.

"What are you gonna do, arrest me?" Ashe joked.

"I am a police officer." Violet said with a small smirk.

"Oh." Ashe said before Violet cracked a playful grin at him.

"Relax, I won't cuff you for the time being. Right now our little brother and his friend are in danger; we got a plan to do something about it?" Violet asked.

"I think the fact that we are working with an illegal Huntsman is a bit disturbing." Penny said.

"Relax Penny, some rules are meant to be broken, after all we broke a ton of rules to get you here." Coco pointed out.

Penny nodded and said "Should I give you my point from earlier?"

Coco snickered at Penny's childlike mind before she looked at Ashe and sized him up. "Listen; right now I couldn't care less about the legality or moral implications of being an official Hunter or not, or the fact that without training from an official academy it's vigilantism but if you kill the Grimm you're okay by me and if you're fighting Cinder Fall and her cronies then I'll be happy to fight alongside you. That witch messed Beacon up and took a friend away from us, we can't let her win this, so can we trust you to help us stop her?" Coco asked, going into full-on take-charge leader mode.

Ashe smiled and said "You have my word I will help you fight my sister to the bitter end."

"Your sister?!" cried the five Arc Women.

"Oh... I forgot they didn't know." Ashe muttered before Bianca slammed him into the wall. "Ow! What is it with Arcs and throwing me into the wall?!" Ashe cried as he saw that Bianca had grabbed Violet's gun and was now pointing it at Ashe.

"Do you have any idea what your bitch of a sister has done?! The lives she taken, the emotional scarring she's caused?! Why shouldn't I blow your head off right now?!" Bianca screamed angrily as her sisters grabbed her and tried to talk sense into her.

"Stop it!" Shani cried.

"We need to hear the whole story!" Indigo added.

"Drop my gun now sis!" Violet ordered.

"I thought you were the smart one!" Sienna said.

Ashe glared at the eldest Arc child as Velvet used her camera to create a copy of Akouo in front of him to protect him, just in case.

"Why are you working with him if he's related to Cinder Fall?! She has made so many people suffer and hurt my little brother; maybe we should hurt her brother! An eye for an eye!" Bianca said.

"Sounds good to me." Ashe muttered.

"Calm down! My grandma once said the big flaw with the 'eye for an eye' thing is that in the end everyone ends up blind." Flynt said as Weiss stepped forward.

"Bianca, stop it now. You cannot blame Ashe for Cinder's actions anymore than I can blame my family for our reputation among the Faunus race." Weiss said as calmly as she could, trying to defuse the situation.

"Listen to her, Ashe is trying to stop Cinder just like we are." Bolin assured Bianca.

Bianca began to shake as she dropped the gun. "I... I'm so sorry! I just lost control for a minute there! Oh man..." she said nervously.

"No, go ahead and do it." Ashe said as he walked around Velvet's light-shield and picked up the gun. "Go ahead and do it, blow my brains out." He said as he forced the gun back into Bianca's hands.

"No, I wasn't thinking straight, I let my emotions get the better of me..." Bianca tried to say before Ashe stopped her.

"Do it, go ahead and kill me. You want to blame me for what my estranged sister has done, you want to take it out on me? Go ahead. Pull the trigger. My life in the past twenty years has been nothing but misery, maybe out of those twenty years a collective one of them has been pleasant, so go ahead and do it! Just get it over with so I can die!" Ashe yelled, tears pouring down his face.

Ashe saw the utterly horrified look on Bianca's face as she threw the gun away. He saw the look of fear and regret in her sapphire eyes and he quickly felt bad about how he just acted. He could feel the tension in the atmosphere and knew that he had probably killed any chance of these new arrivals trusting him.

"Oh god I am so sorry... I..." Ashe said as he looked around to see shocked and disgusted reactions from everyone else. "I'm sorry I... I've just been having a bad fucking week."

"You shouldn't swear." Penny said innocently.

"Sorry." Ashe said as he sat down and his tears continued to fall.

Velvet looked to Coco who nodded, with that the rabbit Faunus sat down next to Ashe and asked him "Would you like to tell me what's wrong?"

"It's just... for twenty years I've been carrying that stupid crystal all over the world and for twenty years I hated my father for a murder he never committed. For twenty years I have brought pain and suffering to everyone who tried to get close to me; I was in a pit full of Grimm and it was only after most of my mates had been slaughtered that I remembered a way to fight back... I fell in love with someone who was so beautiful and wonderful, I was going to marry her and then she died to save me and I just now learned that she was pregnant with my child. I lost her because I wasn't good enough. I find out that my sister is a terrorist who is responsible for god knows how many deaths so I come out here to try and stop her but I run into these kids, and I foolishly let myself believe that I can help them and that they can help me. I fail to save two of them and I nearly get killed by my sister who I now know murdered both our parents in cold blood. I finally manage to communicate with the crystal and it has only showed me horrible things. And finally here I am breaking down in front of a bunch of kids, women and a robot! Life has been trying so damn hard to break me... and it finally did it." Ashe finished as he began to quietly weep.

Velvet wrapped her arms around the older man and pulled him to her.

Bianca looked rather guilty, she felt terrible for pushing Ashe to this. She felt like she had touched a nerve she really shouldn't have.

Ren and Nora both kneeled down in front of Ashe. "It'll be okay Ashe, we won't abandon you." Nora promised as they grasped his hands.

"Thanks guys. My intentions are good, even though I am not a good man." Ashe said sadly.

"Don't say that, I don't think you're a bad person Ashe, I think you're just sad. You've obviously been carrying around some emotional weight for a long time; you were bound to just break down sooner or later. I remember when I was young and I got picked on for being a Faunus, but I had my friends and family to help me. I think you just need someone to help you." Velvet said kindly.

Ashe smiled at her and said "I owe you a lot for this Velvet." He got up and looked to everyone, most of them had calmed down but some such as Arslan and Yatsuhashi looked wary of him.

"Sorry about that, it was out of line and I... I just needed to get that off my chest." Ashe said.

"Well I for one accept your apologies." Weiss said.

"Hey, I'd probably go nuts to if I had to live through what you did." Coco said as Fox nodded in agreement.

"Ashe, right now we need to get down to business so I think we should reiterate Arslan's question from earlier: did you find anything out when you communicated with the crystal?" Ren asked.

Ashe stopped and remembered what the crystal had shown him, the terrible things Salem had planned. "You better believe I did. It showed me what Salem is trying to do." Ashe said, his voice filled with dread.

"Who's Salem?" Shani asked, still trying to remember where she had seen Ashe before.

"She is Cinder's master, the true mastermind behind everything." Weiss answered.

"Right, and if we don't stop her everyone will suffer." Ashe said.

"Care to elaborate on that?" Yatsuhashi prodded.

"Do you guys know what the 'Shattering' is?" Ashe asked.

"Yes, it is when a lower section of the moon was destroyed; most facts surrounding it are lost to time however." Penny said.

"Correct, the Shattering was the end of the old world and the beginning of ours. It created the Dust and the Grimm, and the fallout from it created the Faunus and the world around us. The damage to the moon caused the tides of the ocean to go berserk and devastate half the planet, creating our world to rise from the rubble to create Remnant... but that was just a small part of the moon." Ashe said.

"I don't think I like where this is going." Neon said nervously.

"Salem intends on kicking off another Shattering!" Ashe cried, making everyone's eyes go wide. Ashe took out his scroll and pulled up an image, "It will be the end of our world..." he said as he held up his scroll and held it up for all to see, showing a picture of a horde of Grimm. "... and the beginning of theirs."

Everyone was silent as they soaked up the apocalyptic implications of what Ashe was telling them.

"Well, we knew going in this would get bad." Coco said as she took off her sunglasses.

"Yeah, but not end of the world bad." Fox voiced.

Flynt considered all of this and then thought of something "You mean to tell me that those insane freaks are trying to create a world for the Grimm? I think they're forgetting one little thing: without humans and Faunus around the Grimm will die out, right? I mean no hate and fear means starvation for those things." He said.

"That's a pretty legitimate point." Arslan said, beginning to question Ashe's conclusions.

"Salem may have a way to get around that, I think she wants to complete the Grimm." Ashe said.

"Complete the Grimm?" Bolin repeated.

"Yeah, they're the only living things on this planet without aura and I think Salem wants to resolve that issue." Ashe said.

"We're going to need more help." Penny stated.

"Call Goodwitch, we're gonna need her sooner than we thought." Coco said to Weiss.

"I'm still holding out on Qrow, he told me before we left for the military base that he'd call me once he got back to Vale." Weiss said.

"Schnee, we have to consider the possibility that Qrow has either been captured by Ironwood or killed." Flynt said.

"Right, and with how Atlas has been acting lately I doubt Qrow's status will be public info." Neon added.

"Fine, if we don't here from him within an hour I will call Professor Goodwitch and tell her what we've learned." Weiss agreed.

Ashe sat back down in one of the chairs and said "Sadly, this was only one of the strange things I learned last night."

"What were the others?" Velvet asked as she, Penny, Reese and Yatsuhashi sat on the couch across from him while Bolin took a seat on the floor and Neon in the other recliner.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you. Weird thing is I kept having this dream about sparrows flying in the sky, circling around me and someone else." Ashe said.

"Sparrows? I think you had a dream about sparrows when you were at my house. While you were sleeping you said 'something-something, crows to purgatory and sparrows to hell.' Do you have any idea what those dreams mean?" Reese asked.

Ashe looked down. "Not really." He lied.

Weiss, Ren, Nora, Coco, Fox, Arslan, Nadir, and the Arc sisters all gathered around a table to discuss their next course of action.

"Okay, so you have the schematics for the factory, right?" Nora asked.

"Of course I do." Weiss said as she took out her scroll and brought up the layout for the factory.

"Know anything about CraftTech?" Arslan asked.

"Not really, they submitted a few designs to my family's company but they were never accepted and I know they are a private technology development corporation but that's the extent of my knowledge." Weiss admitted.

"Well from what we know they own the building and who knows how they could have changed it." Arslan said as she looked over Weiss scroll.

"Coco, what about that bomb you have left? We could use that to our advantage." Fox suggested.

"A BOMB?! You brought a bomb here?! Is it the very same one you were supposed to stop from getting to this city?!" Nadir cried as he, Arslan, and the Arc sisters stepped back.

Coco was silent for a bit before she said "Yeah pinky, it is. I thought we'd be going up against some bad customers and given what we know now I think I had the right idea to bring it along, plus from what I can tell this factory is in a pretty remote area of town and maybe we can do something to lessen the impact of the blast like lightening the amount of Dust inside."

"You kids are gonna have to tell us what went down in Atlas." Indigo muttered.

"Right now I'm just happy we have something to use against them. If my guess is correct Professor Goodwitch will be here tomorrow, correct?" Ren asked, to which Weiss and Coco both nodded.

"Good! Then tomorrow night we go up to that factory, blow the doors down, kick Cinder's butt, get Ruby and Jaune out of there and ta-da! We've saved the day." Nora said.

"I wish it was that easy Nora, okay let's start brainstorming ideas for our plan of attack." Ren said.

Everyone began trying to come up with their own ideas for how they should attack the factory. And soon afterwards Ren and Weiss both agreed that they needed professionals as soon as possible.

---

Jaune was awakened by the gentle, sensual feeling of fingers tracing across his face.

"Wh... what?" he said weakly as he opened his eyes. He could feel his hands were bound together and they were tied to the ceiling as he hung down. He tried to turn his head as he saw a brief glimpse of red hair.

"Pyrrha?" he asked.

"Yes Jaune?" said the girl he loved as she appeared in front of him.

Jaune glared at her, knowing this had to be another illusion. "Don't try to trick me Emerald, I won't fall for the same trick twice." He said.

"I am real Jaune, I promise you." 'Pyrrha' said as she cupped his cheeks and leaned in, pressing her lips against his. Jaune did not return the kiss, he could physically feel it this time, could feel that it was not someone else but somehow he could tell this was fake.

"If you're the real Pyrrha how many times did you hit me with a spear the day you met me?" he asked.

"What?" the illusion of Pyrrha asked in confusion.

'Very good Jaune, you have it.' The encouraging voice of Pyrrha said from within.

"What did you say to me when you unlocked my aura?" Jaune demanded.

Pyrrha looked to be saddened by his words before she gasped out in pain. Jaune cried out is surprise as he saw a black arrow sticking out of the fake Pyrrha's chest.

She tried to scream out in pain as a flash of light surged through her body and she was reduced to a pile of glowing yellow dust. Tears formed in Jaune's eyes as he realized this illusion was recreating Pyrrha's would-be death and forcing him to witness it.

"Stop it! I won't look!" Jaune cried before a punch to the gut forced his eyes open.

"Oh, we insist!" said the voice of Damien Ante. Jaune was forced to watch the recreation of Pyrrha's disintegration. He knew she wasn't dead for real but it looked so real and horrible.

"Okay Zhan, try as we might he won't fall for a mind fuck again." Ante said as Zhan and the other enforces, along with Dr. West, appeared as all the room's lights turned on.

"I told Fall that we needed more knowledge of the Nikos girl if this was going to work, the Sustrai girl was correct when she said it wouldn't work." Zhan said as he took out a cigarette.

"You know the old saying; 'fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me'. Guess he ain't that stupid." Douglas said as he held up a wrench and gently smacked it in his hand.

"You stupid jerks... you really think Cinder's gonna let you live?" Jaune asked defiantly.

"Probably, if we behave." Ante joked as he took out a non-exploding dagger. Ante pulled off Jaune's hoodie to reveal his wiry muscles and lightly toned body. "And behaving means following her orders and her orders are to inflict pain!" Ante finished as he carefully dragged his blade across Jaune's back.

Jaune screamed out in pain, which intensified as Tom-Tom smashed his mallet into Jaune's ribs. Jaune cried out, tears rolling down his cheeks as a mighty punch from Little Steve struck him across the face.

'No, no, no! Leave him alone! Stop it!' cried Pyrrha from within Jaune's body, going unheard by the criminals around them.

"Remember to not injure him too badly; he still needs his strength for tonight after all." West reminded them as he watched from the side. Damien nodded and looked back to Jaune, getting an idea for how to get a reaction out of him.

"Too bad about your girlfriend, I mean, all Grimm'ed up and shit... and yet I'll still fuck her if Salem lets me!" Ante mocked as he began laughing sadistically. Jaune screamed out in anger and struggled to break free as Douglas slammed his wrench against Jaune's back.

"Kid, there's one thing you have to know about this world: there are victors like me, and there are victims like you, but there are occasionally those in-between; like Nikos. You see she was a victor for most of her life but now all she is is another victim. And if I play my cards right she'll be my victim!" Damien said as he stabbed Jaune in the leg.

Jaune screamed out, why were they doing this?

No reason.

It was just cruelty.

Within Jaune all Pyrrha could do was blame herself for what was happening to the boy she loved.

Zhan sighed in disgust and walked out of the room. Trooper took notice of this and followed him, feeling no desire to beat Jaune like the others were doing. Trooper did his best to ignore Jaune's screams and the sounds of the beatings, despite his line of work Trooper was not a fan of torture.

He closed the door behind him in a vain attempt to drown out Jaune's cries.

He saw Zhan leaned against the wall, breathing out the smoke from the cigarette. "Would you like one?" the illusionist asked.

"You know I don't smoke. My grandpa died because of those things. They'll kill you, you know that, right?" Trooper asked.

"We are shot at on a regular basis and yet you think these little sticks of tobacco will kill me?" Zhan asked.

Trooper chuckled and said "Good point."

"It is ironic that the death of your grandfather drove you away from smoking, as it was the death of my grandmother that encouraged my smoking." Zhan said.

"How so?" Trooper asked.

"You see, my grandmother's Semblance was premonition. She could see what would happen before it happened, and sadly that included the deaths of the people she loved. On her death bed she told me that I would die by being shot in the heart. She did not tell me when or where, all she told me was how." Zhan said as he took another puff.

"So you decided 'screw my health, I know how I'm dying'?" Trooper asked.

Zhan smiled and nodded. "Why aren't you in there helping out with the boy's... 'lesson'?" he asked.

"You've known me for over four years man, you should know I'm not into torture or hurting someone as young as him." Trooper said, wincing as he heard Jaune yell out a high-pitched scream.

"I can respect that." Zhan said.

"I'll need a sleeping pill tonight; I won't sleep easy after this." Trooper admitted. Zhan could only nod in agreement.

"Do you consider me your friend?" Zhan asked.

Trooper considered it. "I suppose, I mean you tend to stay alone but I consider you a comrade and besides Lao and maybe Merrick you're the only guy I'd consider trustworthy around here."

"Good enough for me." Zhan replied.

After twenty minutes of torture, which included a game of Vacuo Roulette on Jaune's foot with an empty gun courtesy of Merrick, constant hits from Tom-Tom's mallet and Little Steve's meaty fists, thin and stinging cuts from Damien and Lao, being slammed with Douglas' wrench, and some choking from Fireball, West had had enough of the session and ordered Ante and the rest of his men out.

"If you've killed him Mistress Salem will have our heads, while I wouldn't mind seeing all of you dead I would rather stay alive." West said as he ushered them all out.

"All right doc, don't get your knickers in a twist! See you later kid and if the pain stops we'll be back to give you some more!" Damien called and he exited the room with a sick laugh. "And don't worry about your partner! She's the fuck of the decade so I promise I won't let that body go to waste!" he added.

Jaune glared up and called "Ante! When I get out of here... I'm gonna stab you with one of your own knives."

Damien looked back at Jaune and laughed as he walked away. West set to work healing Jaune's new wounds and closing the cuts up, aided by Jaune's plentiful aura. Despite his cold nature West had to do his best to ignore Jaune's moans of pain.

In the hallway Ante and his enforcers all began walking down the hallway. "Hope Cinder will be proud of us." Damien said as he led the way.

"Better be, I hate coming to this spooky-ass place." Tom-Tom muttered.

"And I hate being around her." Added Little Steve.

"Relax boys, as long as we cooperate she won't have us..." Damien began before someone stepped in front of him. "Hey there Neo, nice to see you." He said to the multi-colored girl.

Neo nodded and held up her scroll with a text that read "If you are done with Arc, Cinder wants you lot in the main hangar. We have a new guest."

Damien nodded and said "Lead the way."

A few minutes later the group of nine arrived in the main hangar where Cinder, Emerald, Mercury, Sherizawa, and Ziz were all looking at the new arrival. A tall man with dark brown skin and pitch black hair, he stood about six feet and five inches with dark brown eyes, his face was badly scarred and his right hand appeared to be made of metal.

This man was Saul Jude and Cinder had been explaining to him what was happening to Jaune until...

"What up bitches?" Damien said to announce his arrival, causing everyone to look to him. He enjoyed the annoyed looks on Sherizawa and Emerald's faces.

"Hello Damien, how was your session with Jaune?" Cinder asked.

"Good for us, horrible for him." Damien said as looked to the new guy.

"Allow me to introduce myself, Mr. Ante; I am Saul Jude, a fellow servant of Mistress Salem and I am here on business." Jude said.

"Whatever you need I can help you get it, Jude." Damien said.

"I believe you have had experience with the man known as Ashe." Jude said.

"Hell yeah I have, nearly had that prick before some kids saved his sorry ass." Damien said.

"Ah yes, I was once in a similar situation. You see, I was once a powerful drug lord in Vacuo but I decided to branch out into Mistral... until I came upon the village that Ashe was protecting. It was perfect for my plans but Ashe just wouldn't give in until one day my men killed the town's holy man, which forced Ashe's hand and well... one thing led to another and I had his life in my hand." Jude said as he clenched his hand into a fist.

"Do tell us what happened, Saul." Cinder said with an interested voice.

"His lover came to his rescue and stabbed me in the shoulder with a machete. She got him free but I killed his little harlot, I just stood and watch as she died in his arms. After that Ashe lost it, he cut my arm off," Jude said as he flexed his mechanical right arm, "forced me into the forest and threw me off a cliff to a horde of Grimm that mutilated me half to death... until they took me to Mistress Salem that is." Jude said.

"And from then on he became one of her servants, although I would never have guessed that my brother was responsible for your situation." Cinder said.

"I know, destiny does work in odd ways." Jude agreed.

"So what? You want to get to the brats because of their friendship with Ashe?" Damien guessed.

"Hmm, and here I was led to believe that you were a obnoxious, sadistic fool, but I find that you are an obnoxious, sadistic man to be respected. I can still see some of the boy's blood on you, so clearly you are a man after my own heart." Jude said to Damien.

Damien smirked and said "I like this guy."

"Tell me Cinder, what of Ruby Rose?" Jude asked.

"In her cell, shall I let her see Jaune?" Cinder asked.

"Oh yes, I need to speak with both of them so I might as well do it all at once." Jude said with a sinister look in his eye.

Cinder nodded and called a guard over before she said "Jude, before you have your meeting with them we need to discuss a few things."

"Hey Jude, you plan on killing Ashe, right?" asked Ante.

"Not just that, but yes I will kill him in the end." Jude confirmed.

"Give him a few stabs for me, that guy is an asshole." Damien said with a grin, which Jude returned.

"Don't I know it."

As the door of the hangar closed no one noticed a black bird hiding among the rafters.

---

Winter sat on the cold metal bed in her cell, wearing only the prison uniform the guards had granted her, all items on her person had been confiscated and she could feel the presence of two guards outside the small room she had been imprisoned in.

Ironwood had interrogated her the night before but she had told him nothing, if he knew Weiss and the others had left for Haven he might do something drastic to apprehend them, something that could start a war with Mistral and cause the other two kingdoms to turn on them. Winter was not the only one arrested yesterday, as Dr. Polendina had also been taken into custody for being an accomplice to Penny's rescue.

Several thoughts plagued Winter's mind; had Qrow escaped and if so could he make it back to Vale? Was Weiss alright? Was General Ironwood really being controlled by some sinister force? And if Qrow was correct could she free the General from it?

All of a sudden a voice over the intercom spoke to her. "Stand Schnee, you have a visitor."

Winter sighed and stood up as the shield in front of her door deactivated and the door slid upwards, revealing Jackson Chamberlain, several guards, and her father.

"So I find you here, daughter." Willow Schnee said with disappointment evident in his voice.

"Hello father." Winter greeted stoically.

"I am most unsatisfied with your behavior. Maybe I should have seen an incident like this coming from Weiss, after all she is young and naive and her time with those brats at Beacon has obviously poisoned her mind... but I never expected an arrogant move like this from you." Mr. Schnee said as he rubbed him temples in annoyance.

"Arrogant? The only arrogance I see on display is that of the Atlas Military, father. Do you even know what Ironwood was planning on doing?" Winter asked.

"We have explained the situation to him." Chamberlain said.

"And I do not see why you acted the way you did. The thing called Penny Polendina was nothing but a robot, even the lowly Faunus are more human than she is." Her father said, earning a look of shock from Winter.

"Father, how can you say that?! I know you have had prejudice against all non-humans, but I never expected you to be so blunt." Winter said.

"And I never expected you to become a traitor to our kingdom." Her father shot back.

"I am not a traitor! I was stopping Ironwood from doing something that would ruin Atlas! Had he succeeded with getting Penny Polendina to Haven with those bombs in her it would have been a disaster! I suspect there is a true traitor among us father, someone working for the dark forces that we should all be allied against and had the General got his way I have no doubt in my mind that the truth would have made its way to Mistral's council and they would have retaliated!" Winter cried.

Her father simply looked at while shaking his head. Chamberlain, however, looked conflicted and a bit worried.

"We will find Weiss; it is only a matter of time." Willow Schnee said.

"Father, Jackson, please! Qrow told me that Ironwood is being controlled by someone, whoever it is cannot be to far away." Winter said.

"Qrow Branwen is a drunken lunatic who should never have been trusted to begin with. Did it ever cross your mind that he was lying to you? That he was trying to turn you against Ironwood?" the elder Schnee asked.

Winter said nothing in reply.

"I will take my leave of you daughter, I will be in attendance at your trial, which they have told me will be in a week from now." Her father said as he left the room.

Winter sat down and blinked away some rare tears. She expected this from her fellow officers, but not from her own father. Chamberlain sat down next to her and said "I'm sorry. If you're wondering about Dr. Polendina, do not fear, he's telling us nothing. He wants us to know as little as possible about Penny for the moment."

"Good, the less Ironwood knows the better." Winter said.

"Winter, do you really think Ironwood is being controlled?" Chamberlain asked.

"Yes, I do. Qrow may be a drunk but I saw the look of terror on his face when he realized what has happened to General Ironwood." Winter said.

Chamberlain said nothing; he merely nodded before he left the cell, which closed up behind him.

Winter was left alone in the claustrophobic cell. All she could do now was hope that her sister would succeed in her mission.

---

Ruby yelped out in surprise as the Grimm Knights tossed her into the room. Ruby bolted up and shook her fists at the robots as they marched away.

"R-r-ruby..." called Jaune weak voice. Ruby turned around and saw Jaune, beaten and bloodied up as West healed his new wounds, even going so far as to use his Semblance to aid Jaune's aura in healing the broken ribs.

"Jaune!" Ruby cried. Despite how weak she felt Ruby used what little energy she had to rocket over to Jaune and slap West away from him. "Jaune! What did you do to him?!" Ruby demanded as she grabbed West by the collar.

"Believe me Miss Rose; I had nothing to do with this! I merely watched it happen and right now I am trying to heal Arc." West assured her.

Ruby glared at him, not believing him until Jaune weakly said "Ruby... he's helping the pain, let him go."

Ruby released the man and he set back to work healing the stab wound on Jaune's leg. Ruby held Jaune's head in her lap and asked "Who did this to you?"

"Ante and his thugs..." Jaune uttered as tears welled up in his eyes. He looked up Ruby and said "Ruby... it hurts." And with that Jaune began to sob, even as Ruby held his hand tightly and whispered comforting words to him as tears of her own began running down her face. From within Jaune all Pyrrha could do was listen as she heard the words Ruby was saying and the pained noises Jaune was making. She wanted to hug her friends so badly and comfort them, but she could do nothing.

"I'll get you out of here Jaune; I promise you'll be okay." Ruby said.

"Don't make promises you cannot keep girl, tonight his life will changed forever." West said as the wound on Jaune's leg closed.

"What do you mean by that?" Ruby asked, her voice cold as it could be.

"They're going to make me into a Grimm Commander, aren't they?" Jaune asked.

West nodded in confirmation, "You need to be fully healed for tonight so you won't need those aura drainers on you, believe me it will be a painful process." He said.

"Why did they beat him like this if they need him at full strength?" Ruby questioned.

"A broken spirit leaves little resistance." West answered.

"We have to get out of here." Ruby said as she tried to think of a way to escape. She could tell that they hadn't broken Jaune yet, as she could still see a bit of his will to go on and fight was still in his eyes, but she couldn't let him be turned into one of those Grimm things

West snorted and said "Good luck with that, there is no way for you to get out of here. It will take a miracle."

Ruby smiled and replied "Miracles aren't as impossible as you may think."

"You don't know how true that is." Said a new voice as a tall, dark man entered the room. Ruby and Jaune looked up to the large, imposing man followed by several Grimm Knights.

"Who are you?" Ruby asked.

"You may not know my face, but you do know my name. I think Ashe might have mentioned me." The man said.

"Ashe? What does he have to do with you?" Ruby asked as West continued to heal Jaune's beaten torso.

"A lot, he's the reason I'm here, he did this to me." The man said as his hand transformed into a sharp hook.

"Saul Jude." Jaune said, remembering the man who took Ashe's lover away from him.

"And here I was told you were slow on the uptake, Arc. So how is it that two kids such as yourselves came to be here? How did you meet Ashe?" Jude asked as he sat down in a nearby chair.

"Answer our question first; how are you alive?" Ruby asked.

"Well, after Ashe threw me to the Grimm they had their fun for a few minutes until they just stopped. They began dragging me through the forest and I passed out. I woke up some days later in an infirmary; half mutilated and healed to a certain degree. You see, the Grimm sensed what I am told is my potential to serve Salem; they sensed a darkness within me that could be used as a weapon for her. I had forgotten some of what had happened and I couldn't fully remember Ashe at the time, but soon enough my memory came back but by that point I was already a servant to the Mistress of Grimm. She had half of my body refitted with cybernetic upgrades, so I'm half machine just like the Atlas General." Jude explained.

"So now that Cinder knows Ashe is here she and Salem brought you in to take care of him." Ruby guessed.

"You certainly are bright children." The dark man said with a smirk before he asked "Now, answer my earlier question."

Ruby sighed and said "We came here to take Cinder down; we met Ashe along the way. He told us he wanted to come to Haven to find his sister but he wanted to help us first, he told us a few things about his past, like how you killed his fiancée." Ruby said with a glare.

"Never got over that, did he? Good. That was just the beginning of my wrath; soon he will suffer for it physically." Jude said with an evil smile.

"You won't beat him... you're nothing but a pawn of Salem... you drug dealing..." Jaune began to say before Jude stopped him with a raised voice.

"Quiet down boy, I doubt you know the first thing about me to properly judge me, besides I haven't been in the drug business since Ashe threw me off that cliff. I doubt you even know the first thing about drugs anyway."

"What's so great about them?" Ruby asked.

Jude looked to Ruby with a smile and said "Oh they are wonderful little things Ruby Rose. Drugs take you up, a 'high' as they call it. The feelings certain drugs bestow upon you make you feel more alive than ever before, heightens your senses and your perception of the world around you as it slows the universe down in your mind. If done correctly with the proper dosage drugs take you so close between life and death so you can taunt death itself as you come down. Drugs are the things that make you aware of just how thin the boundaries between life and death are."

"You're insane." Ruby stated.

"From your young, dogmatic point of view I am, but from others points of view I am a visionary, or at least I was until Ashe ruined me." Jude said, grimacing a bit before he recovered. "Would you like to know why I am what I am now?" he asked.

"I don't care." Ruby said

"Well, since you have nothing else to do I'll tell you anyway. You see, when I was a boy I loved rivers. There was something so calming about the way the waters flowed, something so... relaxing and wonderful about the sight of freely flowing water with the occasional fish swimming along without a care. But one night there was a terrible storm, a storm that brought down the heaviest rain I've never seen since. The next day I disobeyed my parents' orders and I walked down to the river half a mile from our home, as I loved to see rivers overflowing after a storm... but something happened, I slipped on the wet grass and fell into the river. I have no idea how long I was carried down the river until a man nearby saw me and jumped into save me. I... I began to black out and that's when my life changed forever. That's when I saw it" Saul said.

"Saw what?" Ruby asked, now curious as to where he was going with this story.

"Hell." He answered, causing Ruby's eyes to widen and now both Jaune and West were paying attention to Jaune's story.

"I saw hell, child, I saw the horrible, empty void that is but at the same time it is a terrible place filled with everything one could fear. I saw burning fire and freezing ice, chains and whips, blood and tears, I saw it all... and I liked it." Jude finished, shocking Ruby.

"How?! How could anyone like hell?!" Ruby demanded.

"That was when I was truly born Ruby, my life up at that point was a stillbirth but it was when I saw hell that I knew who I really was, who I was meant to be. When the doctors revived me I was a changed person. I knew what my destiny was." Jude finished.

"Destiny, always destiny... what do you think your destiny is anyway?" Jaune asked.

Jude looked down to Jaune and said "To taunt death until it catches me, I know I will die someday and return to hell and my pain will be... exquisite. Now that you have asked me two additional questions I will ask you two in return. Did you know that Ashe is Cinder's brother?"

Jaune simply glared at him while Ruby said "Yes, I know but I still don't believe it"

"Oh, is that right?" Jude asked as the visor of one of the Grimm Knights lit up and a hologram was projected onto the wall. Ruby and Jaune looked up to see the security recording of battle at the construction site. It showed Ashe and Cinder standing right in front of each other and then embracing.

"It's... it can't be true. It has to be a trick." Ruby said, trying to deny what she was seeing.

"Oh it's no trick, my girl. Fast forward a bit." Jude commanded the Knight and it did so, showing the battle between Ashe and Cinder. Ruby and Jaune were both amazed by the purple energy radiating off of Ashe as he destroyed the Grimm Knights.

"What is that? What's happening to him?" Ruby asked.

"From what Cinder has told me, it is the power one gets from knowing a spell called the 'Haakskeekah', I remember when he used it on me five years ago, and he also has power because he is the guardian of the Aura Crystal." Jude answered.

Ruby and Jaune both looked at one another, totally confused.

"My other question was going to be if Ashe ever told you about the crystal, but the looks on your faces tell me that you're just now hearing about it." Jude observed before he added "And now let me ask you one more question."

He grabbed Ruby by the neck with his metal hand and slammed her against the wall. Jaune struggled to get up but West held him down as he carried on healing his struggling patient.

"What is going on with the boy's Semblance? Cinder wants to know how he has become more powerful than before." Jude demanded.

Ruby glared at him and said "I won't answer that."

"I will. Ashe helped me discover my Semblance, with my friends and his help I've become much stronger than before. Tell Cinder I won't stop until I have Pyrrha back." Jaune said.

Jude dropped Ruby and looked to Jaune. "So, Ashe has helped train you... he, of all people, became a mentor?! Oh this is delicious!" he said.

"Our friends will stop you." Jaune said as he stood up. "If Ashe fought Cinder that means he won't join her. He and our friends will come to save us and when they do he'll kill you."

Jude sighed and said "Oh Arc, the things I could do to you if permitted. Judging by how hard Ashe fought to save you he cares for both of you and I would love to take away someone else he cares about, but if I did that Salem would destroy me."

"I thought you wanted to go to hell." Jaune reminded him.

Saul gave Jaune a smile and said "In due time, boy. Is he healed up enough?"

"His aura should do the rest; there will be no permanent damage." West said.

"Good, Cinder wants them back in their cells." Jude said to the Knights.

With that the Grimm Knights took Jaune and Ruby and led them out of the room and back to the cellblock. As they were marched off Ruby whispered to Jaune "I think we do have a way to save Pyrrha."

"How?" Jaune asked in a low voice.

"I can't say, we don't know if these Knights are recording us, but just remember what Ashe taught you, the UA." Ruby said with a wink.

"UA?" Jaune questioned.

"Just think Jaune, I know you can do it." Ruby said as they were forced down separate hallways.

As Jude and West departed from the room they did not notice two small eyes observing them from the air vent. Inside the shaft a raven watched them.

---

'This is going to be complicated.' Thought Raven.

She had found Ante relatively easily and had followed him and his enforcers to the factory in her avian form the entire time. She had decided to sneak into the large facility in said form so she wouldn't be noticed. After years of experience sneaking around and getting in and out of places was easy, even with her winged self's the lack of arms.

While inside the factory she had gotten a glimpse of Ziz and even someone who had seen and done many things like Raven had knew the sight of a human-Grimm hybrid was... unsettling to say the least. And they planned on turning the Arc boy into one. If it came to that she would grant him and quick, dignified death to spare him the pain.

She had gotten into the ventilation system easily enough and had discovered Jaune and Ruby and had witnessed their meeting with Saul Jude but she had also spotted a prime target; Cinder Fall. This created quite the predicament. She knew nothing about the Grimm Knights but they appeared to be similar enough to the Atlesian Knights, which she had plenty of experience fighting but she decided that for now she needed to slink away and contact Qrow. Even with all her strength she couldn't defeat all of Salem's agents that were currently in this building and save Ruby and Jaune.

'Best to get out now and get Qrow here, together we can pull this off.' She thought.

She left the building easily enough, her animal self going unnoticed the entire time, and she flew away into the city. She kept flying until she judged she was a safe enough distance away from the factory and on this rooftop she would go unnoticed.

She transformed back into her human form and pulled out her scroll. She called Qrow, but no answer. "Come on Qrow, please tell me you aren't passed out drunk again." She muttered as she dialed again, but her call still went unheeded.

Raven wished she had Taiyang or Yang's numbers right now, or even that of Glynda Goodwitch. Then her thoughts strayed to Ruby's companions Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie, as well as the man she had seen in the hologram known as Ashe, who was apparently Cinder Fall's brother.

It may be a stretch but any enemy of Cinder's was an ally right now. She'd try to call Qrow later, but for now she needed to get some form of support if she was to save Ruby and Jaune and take out Cinder Fall. She transformed yet again and flew off into the sky.

---

Glynda massaged her temples in annoyance as the holograms of the Vale council dissipated. Apparently the inevitable fight between Qrow and Ironwood had ended with Penny's rescue team and Qrow's escapes while Winter had been detained. Ironwood and the Atlas council had put out a call for Qrow's arrest and the council of Vale had agreed.

Glynda had tried to explain the situation to them but they refused to listen, saying that Branwen was a terrorist and a disturbance to the delicate balance of the peace between the kingdoms.

It took everything Glynda had not to tell them about Ironwood's plans right then and there, she did not reveal them because she knew that they wouldn't believe her. Ironwood was a man who had earned the trust of the councils of both Atlas and Vale, while Qrow was just a school teacher with a history of drunkenness who happened to be a loyal agent for Ozpin, who the Vale council had lost all faith in since the fall of Beacon.

The council had seen Ozpin as the primary reason for the tragedies at the Vytal Festival; blaming Ozpin for the deaths of Penny, Pyrrha, all the soldiers and civilians, not to mention the former Fall Maiden Amber. They had taken note to point out the lack of security for Amber, stating that just locking her away in a vault with barely any medical attention and no guards whatsoever had been an idiotic mistake on Ozpin's part and they looked very justified when Glynda had admitted to suggesting the very same things to Ozpin.

Regardless, if Ozpin was alive and could be rescued the council of Vale intended to make him face the consequences for his decisions.

Despite Glynda and Ironwood's objections the councils of the four kingdoms had agreed to tell the world of the legend of the Four Maidens, as they figured the more people knew about them the less chance Cinder Fall had of hiding. Oh how wrong they were.

But what really got on Glynda's nerves was an accusation one of the council members had made a few minutes ago, said councilman had gotten annoyed with Glynda bringing up Ozpin in the meetings so said councilman had the gall to accuse Ozpin of working with Cinder. He brought such points as the lack of security or healthcare for Amber, the fact that Emerald's illusions managed to fool everyone so easily, the lack of security in general, the fact that Cinder somehow knew where Amber was being kept, the headmaster's mysterious disappearance, the security cameras going out after Cinder murdered Amber, to this man everything pointed to Ozpin being a traitor. To make matters worse the head of the council saw the man's points as legitimate and promised to give a full, unbiased investigation at a later date but for now Glynda's orders were to arrest Qrow on sight and to report anything she knew about Weiss Schnee, Team CFVY, half of Team FNKI's whereabouts. Glynda hat noticed they seemed to be in the dark about Penny, apparently the Vale council had not been told the entire story.

Things were not all that bad, however. Teams BRNZ, which consisted of Brawnz Ni, Roy Stallion, Nolan Porfirio, and May Zedong, and NDGO which consisted of Nebula Violette, Dew Gayle, Gwen Darcy, and Octavia Ember had all arrived early in the morning around four o'clock. They had agreed to join Weiss Schnee in the journey to Haven to help fight Cinder's forces but the fallout from Weiss' escape meant Glynda needed to get them herself, which was an easy task considering Glynda's good standing with Luna, the Headmistress of Shade Academy.

Despite some initial reports saying otherwise the two teams from Shade did partake in the battle of Beacon; Team BRNZ were forced to fight in the air after Roy Stallion got carried off by a Nevermore so his team left to save him while Team NDGO were not inside the stadium at the time of the attack, but they did protect the civilians and made sure the bullheads got away safely.

They were not the only students Glynda and her fellow teachers would be taking with them to Haven, as Team CRDL had arrived early the other day. Apparently Cardin had visited Jaune in the hospital after the fall of Beacon and had made amends for his actions earlier in the year and promised to make it up to Jaune, which Jaune now needed now more than ever.

The three teams were currently off with Professor Port in the academy, clearing the Grimm away, which was an easy enough task all things considered, the hard part was keeping Grimm out of the school after a sweep more seemed to pour in, but it would keep them busy until it was time to leave.

Right now Glynda was worried, she feared for Qrow's life right now, as she had not received word from him at all so she had no idea if he was dead or alive. Somehow Glynda knew he'd be alright, as he had been on much more dangerous missions for Ozpin in the past. Problem was if Qrow arrived the Atlesian soldiers deployed to protect them would arrest him so she needed to keep him out of sight, but Qrow was smart enough to have foreseen such an event.

She kept glancing at the window, expecting to see him any moment now as he had a bit of a habit of popping up out of nowhere on the window sill. A knock at the door forced her to look up and say "Enter."

Taiyang entered the room and said "Glynda, any word from Qrow yet?"

"None, but the council have made their decision, they'll be siding with Ironwood and enforcing the warrant for Qrow's arrest." Glynda answered somberly.

"Things must have gotten crazy." Taiyang muttered.

"You know Qrow, when he foregoes subtlety he sets it on fire and throws it out the window." Glynda said with a small smile.

"I got a call from Yang, they found Blake and rescued her from the White Fang, right now they're heading over to Haven to join up with Weiss and the others." Taiyang said.

"Is Blake alright?" Glynda asked.

"From what I could tell she seemed to be unhurt, but given what they've told me about her history she might be happy to be back with her partner so maybe a little bit of happiness is all the girl needs. They know about what happened to Ruby and the Arc kid, so we should start off to Haven by tonight if we're to stop Yang from devastating half the city trying to save her little sister." Taiyang said, remembering the time Yang once got suspended from school after she broke the arm of a bully who was picking on Ruby.

"Agreed, if we do not hear from Qrow by ten tonight we should start off without him." Glynda said. She looked to Taiyang who noticed the distressed look on her face.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

Glynda told him of the council had turned against Ozpin and now suspected him of high treason for what happened at the Vytal Festival.

"That's insane! They've known Ozpin for years! He's been the headmaster of Beacon for nearly three decades, why would he turn against any of the kingdoms?" Taiyang asked.

"He never would, but after what happened they're eager to use anything as a scapegoat, that includes Ozpin." Glynda said bitterly.

"Well... I've gotta admit it's not totally out of the realm of possibility, I mean some of the easiest ways to explain what that witch pulled off is that someone on the inside was helping her but I know if it's true that it sure as hell wasn't Ozpin." Taiyang said.

"Thank you Taiyang, now if only we can convince the council of that fact." Glynda said before her scroll rang. Glynda took it out and saw Weiss on the caller ID. "Wonderful, they're in Haven now most likely, let us hope they have good news."

She answered the scroll and saw Weiss' face pop up. "Hello Professor."

"Hello Weiss, I trust you've arrived in Haven."

"We have Professor and we've met up with Ren and Nora, along with Team ABRN." Weiss said.

"That is good to hear, have you heard anything from Qrow?" Glynda asked.

"No, I'm afraid not. Listen, some new information has come to our attention; Ruby and the others have been working with a man named Ashe Kasai, who has a relation to Cinder, but he seems to be on our side, although he does have some... mental issues, though given what I know of his past I cannot blame him." Weiss said.

"You're working with someone related to Cinder? Why?" asked Taiyang, seeming a bit annoyed.

"Well, he's her brother for one thing and he wants to stop her just as much as we do. From what Ren and Nora have told me he nearly got himself killed trying to stop Cinder from taking Ruby and Jaune a few nights ago. While I don't think he's of the best mental state I think we can trust him not to turn on us, given what he has learned of Cinder." Weiss said.

"And what has this Ashe learned of Cinder?" Glynda asked.

"That she murdered their mother and blamed it on their father." Weiss answered.

"Oh. Well, Weiss, stay where you are, we shall be there tomorrow morning, just do not make any moves against Cinder until we arrive." Glynda said.

"Ugh, Yang is on her way right now and I can't tell you how hard it will be trying to stop her from going on a crusade to save Ruby." Weiss said.

"Hey, I raised Yang, you don't need to tell me how much she loves her little sister." Taiyang said.

Weiss nodded and then said "Professor, have you heard anything about my sister?"

"Yes I have; she's okay Weiss, she has been placed in the Altas Military stockade, but she will be fine until her trial next week." Glynda said.

"I hope we can help her." Weiss muttered.

"We will Miss Schnee, now is there anything else?" Glynda asked.

"Yes, five of Jaune's sisters have arrived to help us and they are determined not to leave us. One of them got into a confrontation with Ashe but I think it'll be okay. And there is something very important but I think I should tell you in person, trust me you'll want to hear it for yourself." Weiss said.

"Okay Weiss, we will be there in the morning. Just stay hidden and stay safe. Good luck." Glynda said, taking in the idea of the Arc sisters riding into battle and finding it most amusing.

"I look forward to seeing you in person again Professor, goodbye." Weiss said as she ended the call.

"Wonder what's so important that she can tell us over a scroll?" Taiyang said.

Glynda sighed and said "We're leaving tonight Taiyang, with or without Qrow. I just hope he's still alive."

---

Alessandro Kane was led into the command room of a White Fang base by the squad of guards who had found him near the perimeter. As the guards came to a halt and the commander of the base, a porcupine Faunus turned to see him. "Commander Kane? When Captain Carlyle reported a discovery of our own in the forest I did not expect it to be you." The commander said.

"Contact Taurus, we need to call him and alert him to the situation." Kane said.

"We were told something had gone wrong, but not what." The commander said.

"Just call Taurus now." Kane snapped. The commander looked to a communications officer and nodded, giving permission to make the call.

Soon enough a large screen activated and Adam Taurus appeared, despite half of his face being hidden by his mask one could tell he wasn't just angry. He was furious.

"Kane, would you mind explaining to me why we have received no word from either your base or the airship we sent to retrieve you?" Adam demanded with his voice on the edge of yelling.

"Sir, it was the traitor's partner, Yang Xiao Long, she and another team attacked our base camp and wiped the floor with us, I was the only one to escape." Kane said, expecting to be faced with a death sentence from Taurus.

"Yang Xiao Long?! How the hell is that possible? I cut her arm off, how is she active again?" Adam demanded.

"I noticed that her arm was mechanical so she obviously got a new one... and I think the team with them was Team SSSN." Kane added, noticing Adam's frustration was growing.

"Why didn't you warn us?" asked Taurus, his teeth gritting.

"I had no way, I left my scroll behind and I could not risk going back and getting captured. I had to come here to report what happened." Kane admitted.

"What do you think happened to the airship and its crew?" Adam asked.

"Probably the same thing that happened to my troops, taken into custody by the village's police force. Belladonna and her companions have most likely taken the ship and I overheard them say they plan to attack you." Kane said.

"I am already aware of Blake's intentions to kill me, let her and her little friends come. I will take them all on. As for you Kane, I think you need to be punished." Adam said as he made a gesture.

"Wait, Adam I..." Kane tried to say before several stingers from the porcupine commander were shot into his back.

"Adam! You have an advantage!" cried Kane as he kneeled down, small streams of blood going down his back.

"I know Alessandro; I won't have you killed because your wings are a valuable asset. As punishment for your failure I demote you." Adam said harshly.

Kane glared at Adam, but looked away, knowing he was lucky to face this without being killed.

"However, you are correct, I still have a way to lure her here wherever she is right now. I know she cares for old Claudandus. If she is coming here, she'll be in for a show." Adam said darkly. He returned his attention to Kane and said "I'll arrange for a ship to bring you here. If you fail me again, you know what to expect."

---

Adam cut the transmission and sighed; He unsheathed his sword and yelled in fury as he stabbed it into the wall.

"I'm going to make that that blonde bitch pay, this time I'll take more than just her arm." Adam growled.

"Calm yourself, sir." Said the deep and commanding voice of Razor, leader of the White Fang elite guard. Razor was a large warthog Faunus who had been one of Claudandus' followers and bodyguards, but he had not been loyal to any one Faunus per say, he was only loyal to the White Fang itself, regardless of its policies or methods.

"Put all our forces on high alert, make sure our they are on look out for that ship, if V19 is spotted I it captured immediately and all aboard brought to me." Adam said. Hui, the White Fang lieutenant, bowed his head obediently.

"I will make it so, sir." He said before he left the room.

"Is there anyway to track the ship?" Razor asked.

"No, its one of our older ones." Adam said as he pulled his crimson blade out of the wall.

"What do you plan to do to Claudandus once you've captured Blake Belladonna?" Razor inquired.

Adam glanced at the older man and said "I intend to force her watch as I take his life, and follow it up with killing all of her friends, and she will have no one to blame for it but herself."

---

Yang's fingers nervously fidgeted, as she was filled with worry about her little sister and she felt like the trip to Haven was taking forever. She had urged Sage to make the ship go faster and he obliged but it still wasn't enough to calm the blonde brawler's nerves.

Blake put a calming hand on Yang's remaining flesh arm and squeezed, Yang looked up and met Blake's eyes, they did not need to speak as the look in Blake's eyes was enough. Yang nodded and looked down, her foot tapping against the floor.

Sun had noticed this, he felt sorry for his fellow blonde so he looked ahead and called "Sage, how much longer till we get to Haven?"

"A few minutes, I can see it now." Sage called back from the pilot's seat.

"Take us directly to the warehouse; we're going to need to find out what's been going on as soon as possible." Neptune said.

"I should have gone with her." Yang said, getting the others attention. "I should have snapped out of it sooner, I should have went with them, maybe I could have saved them."

"Yang, we don't know everything that happened in Haven. With any luck Weiss and the others will have an update once we get there. Trust your sister Yang, I know her well enough to know that if she tried hard enough she can get out herself." Blake said.

"Yeah, Ruby's a bright girl who's tougher than anyone else her age, for all we know the moment we get to the warehouse she and Jaune will be there, heroes of the hour." Neptune said encouragingly.

Yang forced a smile and said "You're right, but with all we know about Cinder we're probably going to have to go save Ruby and give it all we got to pull it off."

"Hey, we've been doing okay so far; if we fight hard enough we'll come out of this on top." Sun said.

"We fought as hard as we could at Beacon and look how that turned out." Yang pointed out bitterly. Blake flinched, remembering that terrible night when everything went so wrong. Sun sighed and shook his head.

"Yang, if... listen, we might not be able to do this and I doubt we'll all come out of it okay, but I promise you that you will save your sister, you'll get her back and I'll be there to say 'I told you so.'" Sun said with a smile.

Yang returned the smile and said "I hope you're right Sun."

Blake looked at Sun with loving eyes and mouthed a thank you to him.

They soon arrived at the city and flew over the metropolis, blending in among the bullheads, Dust ships, and airships that flew about the city. Even in her distressed state Yang took a brief moment to admire the massive city.

"Uncle Qrow told me it was big but I didn't think it was this big." She said.

"Yeah, I felt the exact same way when I first came here." Sun said.

"I was here once, years ago for a Faunus equality rally, city's changed a bit since then but not much, still enormous, but I always wanted to take a look at their libraries." Blake said.

"Once this mess is all over I'll show you around the biggest one they've got." Sun said smoothly.

"You've never even been inside the Haven pubic library." Scarlet pointed out.

"Shut up, Scarlet." Sun muttered as he elbowed the redhead in the stomach. Which got a small, barley heard giggle out of Blake.

Within ten minutes they arrived to the waterfront and at the very welcoming sight of the warehouse that Team SSSN had made a home away from home. Sage could see that the best spot for a landing zone was already taken up by Weiss' ship.

"Where we gonna land this thing?" Sage asked.

"Put it on the roof of that building over there." Sun said, pointing to an old brick structure down the road from the warehouse. Sage nodded and flew the ship down and gently landed it on the old building, which held it easily. The door opened up and the six teens poured out.

"So good to be back." Neptune said as he looked up to the sunny sky, pleased with the unusually warm weather for late winter.

Sun looked over to the warehouse as he saw Weiss, Ren, Nora, Team CFVY, Ashe, Arslan, Flynt, Neon, several of the Arc sisters, and Penny all come out to greet them.

Blake perked up a bit and waved to them. "Hey Weiss." She said.

Weiss looked up and smiled "Hello Blake, Yang, it is very good to see all of you in person again." She said, though Blake knew the Schnee heiress well enough to tell she needed to talk about something.

Yang cracked a grin, happy to see her teammate again, "Hey Ice Queen!" she called before she jumped off the building and landed on her feet. She ran over and picked up Weiss in a hug.

"Yes Yang, I have missed you too! Your arm is overdoing it a little!" Weiss gasped out.

"Oops! Sorry, this baby doesn't know it's own strength." Yang said as she released Weiss, who collected herself and admired Yang's new limb.

"It appears very well made, I've seen a few like it back it Atlas." Weiss said.

"Nice new arm, top heavy." Neon said, knowing she would probably lose an arm wrestling match with Yang instantly.

"Yeah, it looks Atlesian in design, some guy called Kimball usually puts 'em on." Flynt confirmed.

"That's who did this puppy, Uncle Qrow had it made and he had Kimball attach it." Yang said as she looked to others. "Nice to see you all, at least it won't be just a few of us."

"Hey, we aren't getting left out of something this big." Coco said with a smirk.

"How big and how bad has the situation become?" Blake asked as she and Team SSSN jumped down as well.

"Try spiraling out of control and crashing then exploding. That will begin to describe it." Ashe said.

Yang and Blake both looked to stranger. "You're Ashe, right?" Yang guessed.

"Yes I am, nice to meet you both, Ruby told me a lot about you." He said as he offered his hand to them. Blake took it, wanting to open up to him, since Sun had told her he was a trustworthy man.

"If you are going to help us save our friends then I'm glad to have you." Blake said as she accepted the hand, but she noticed the looks the others had, a bit of an awkward silence.

"Should we go ahead and tell them now?" Ashe asked.

"Might as well get it over with I suppose. Yang, Blake, guys, don't overreact but Ashe is Cinder's brother." Weiss said, getting shocked reactions from Team SSSN, Yang, and Blake.

"What?! Why is he...?" Blake tried to say before Yang shot forward and grabbed Ashe with her steel hand, picking him up almost effortlessly. She said nothing in return, as too many thoughts were going through her head as her eyes turned blood red.

"Calm down, he's on our side! Would we really keep him around and let him walk around freely if he wasn't on our side?" Weiss asked, getting Yang to see the obvious.

"Why are you working with us if that bitch is your sister?" Yang seethed.

"Trust me; I want to take her down almost as much as you guys do. She might be my sister but that doesn't mean I'll work for her. I know what she's done, even more than what you know." Ashe said.

"What else has she done?" Yang asked.

"Murdered our family for one thing." Ashe said, his voice dripping with bitterness with no hint of deceit on his face.

That was enough to convince Yang that Ashe was on the up and up so she let him down. "Sorry." She said.

"It's okay; this is only the second time I've been attacked by a blonde woman today." Ashe said as he gestured to Bianca who looked away, feeling rather embarrassed, but it did earn a smirk from Yang.

Blake walked forward towards Velvet. "Hello Velvet, it's good to see you again and nice to know you're here." she said.

"It's good to see you too Blake, how've you been holding up?" Velvet asked.

"Better now that I'm... back where I belong." the cat Faunus answered.

"That's good to know, a lot of us have showed up to help out here Blake, we're going to need everything and everyone we can get if we're going to save Ruby and Jaune." Velvet said.

Blake nodded and looked to the Arc sisters. "Who are they anyway?" she asked

"We're Jaune's sisters, a few of us anyway. Bianca found out about this soon after it happened so she had the bright idea to come here and help out. I'm Indigo, that's Violet, and this is Bianca." The musical Arc sister said.

"Can we really trust you?" Blake asked Ashe, looking at him judgmentally.

"You can, I don't know what I'd have to do to prove I'm on your side, but I promise you I won't join Cinder or her master." Ashe said.

"Master?" Scarlet repeated.

"Yeah, listen we should probably finish this conversation inside." Ashe said as he walked back to the warehouse.

Yang looked to Penny and said "Hey there Penny, looks like the truth is out." Yang said as she slapped the robot girl across the back, not even moving her an inch. "It was a big shock for everyone when we found out that you're a robot."

"Ruby never told you?" Penny asked, curiously.

"Nope, if Ruby was asked to keep a secret she kept it. For the most part." Yang said.

"That is good to know, but it makes we want to go rescue Ruby even more." Penny said sadly.

"I know the feeling Penny, speaking of which do you know where their keeping her and Jaune?" Yang asked.

"We do, they're in a factory about ten miles from here. Attacking right now is out of the question until Professor Goodwitch arrives with help tomorrow." Weiss said.

"Dad told me they'd be coming here too, so I guess we do it together." Yang said.

"Is there any better way to do it?" Blake asked, remembering that things tended not to turn out so good when they split up.

"Yeah, as soon as we can... but maybe we don't need them, I mean we've got enough power from the looks of it so we could just go over there and kick their asses and save..." Yang said before Weiss stopped her.

"Yang, stop it. We need to think about this before we actually do it, remember the last time you rushed in without thinking you lost your arm, so please just think about this!" Weiss scolded.

There was an awkward silence.

"Uh... okay, everybody inside, let's give them some space." Coco said as she began ushering everyone inside. Sun looked back at the three members of Team RWBY, noticing the saddened looks on all their faces.

As soon as they were alone Weiss broke the dreadful quiet by saying "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that. I..."

"No, you're right Weiss. I always rush headlong into things, shoot first ask questions later and that... cost me." Yang said as she looked at her metallic arm.

Weiss looked to Blake who looked rather guilty. "Why did you run off again?" she asked, finally getting a burning question she had out.

Blake looked up at her white clad teammate and said "I... I needed to run. I couldn't stay around and risk someone else I care about getting hurt too. I was afraid that Adam would track me down and if you or Ruby or Sun were with me he'd... he take them from me, just because I left him. I was afraid you'd all blame me for what happened to..."

"You should know better than that! Didn't our time together at Beacon mean anything? We may have started out shaky but I thought we had learned to trust one another." Weiss said sternly.

Blake looked down and said "You're right. I was just so afraid that the people I love were hurt because of something I did, because of my past. I could bear for anyone else to get hurt."

"We can take care of ourselves Blake, especially now that we have a greater understanding of what we're up against. We cannot do it alone, none of us can, but together we have a chance." Weiss said as she placed her hand out.

Yang smiled "All those months ago when we first met I would've thought I had to be dreaming if you ever said something profound, inspirational, and mushy like that... but you're right." She said as she placed her new hand atop Weiss'.

They both looked to Blake who closed her eyes, thinking hard. "From now on, I promise I won't run away. If my past comes back to haunt me I won't let it ruin my future. Divided we fall but together we'll stand." Blake said as she placed her hand on top of Yang's.

"All we need is our leader and team RWBY will be back in business." Yang said with a cheerful smile.

"The sooner the better." Weiss said as they began to go back inside when a voice spoke up from behind them.

"Hello Yang, I did not expect to meet you again so soon."

The three girls turned around to see Raven standing behind them, seemingly appearing out of nowhere.

"Who...?" Began Weiss before Yang answered her.

"Mom?!" she cried as Raven approached them.

"I am just as surprised to see you, I thought it would take much longer for you to find your Faunus friend." Raven said as she kept her mask on.

"That's your mother?!" both Blake and Weiss cried in shock.

"Yep, that's her." Yang confirmed with a small, but noticeable, grin.

"It is fortunate for me that I was able to smell your scent." Raven said.

"Okay, so I haven't showered in a couple of days, no big deal." Yang joked, getting an annoyed look from Weiss.

"No, it is quite easy for me to pick up the scent of someone from my bloodline, that is how I found you so easily, and it is fortunate that I did so because I have seen Ruby and the Arc boy." Raven said.

"You did?!" cried all the girls.

"Is Ruby alright?!" Yang demanded.

"How did you see them?" asked Weiss.

"What about Jaune?" Blake added.

"From what I saw Ruby is fine, if a little weakened by her captors. I wish I could say the same for Arc, as it does not look good for him." Raven said grimly.

"What are they doing to Jaune?" Weiss asked, her concern obvious.

"I can tell that there are others within the building, and I think I am correct in assuming Lie Ren, Nora Valkyrie, and the rest of your companions are inside, along with Cinder's brother Ashe." Raven said.

The three members of Team RWBY all glanced at each other in confusion. "How do you know about Ashe?" asked Blake.

Raven simply answered "I think it would be best if I told you all at once. They all deserve to hear what I have discovered."

Yang and Weiss nodded in agreement but Blake just looked at Raven with an unsure look, something the older woman noticed.

"Let me guess Blake Belladonna, you are wondering why I abandoned Yang at such a young age, correct?" Raven guessed.

Blake nodded and said "I am curious, but I will not judge you for it. I know what it is like to run away from the people you love."

Raven looked at the cat Faunus, her expression hidden by her mask. "I think I understand why Yang was so eager to find you." She said as she walked by the three girls.

Yang looked to Blake and said "I think she likes you."

The four entered the warehouse where Flynt, Neon, and Team CFVY were telling Team SSSN, ABRN, Ashe, the Arc Sisters, and Penny herself how they pulled off their daring rescue mission to save Penny.

"And then Weiss swooped in and started blasting away Paladins!" Neon said excitedly.

"Wish we had that ship at Beacon." Sun muttered, remembering the dangerous irritation that was the hijacked war machines.

"And then a swarm of those Knights came swooping down, but I took 'em out pretty easily but one tried to sneak up from the ground level but Velv here" Coco said as she playfully flicked one of Velvet's ears, "took care of it by ramming a copy of Schnee's rapier into its head!"

"That is one of the most metal things I have ever heard." Neptune said in hushed awe.

"Oh it was nothing, really." Velvet said with a blush.

"You stabbed a robot in the face to save your friend, that's something." Ashe said with a smile.

"Okay, so then Weiss' sister was fighting Ironwood and she did the whole 'go on without me!' thing, and Weiss was all like 'I'm not leaving you behind!' and then her sister said 'Go!' so we did." Neon said energetically.

"Neon, calm down because I think you won't be able to handle the part with the island." Flynt said jokingly.

"And all of this happened while Yatsuhashi carried me?" Penny asked.

"Correct." The large teen said.

"And I thought I was strong." Penny said in awe, getting a laugh out of Sun and Neptune.

"Nice to see you're all enjoying yourselves, but we got even more company." Yang announced as she made their presence known.

"Who's the masked lady?" Flynt asked as Sun's eyes widened.

"Is that who I think it is?" he asked, remembering Yang's description of her mother she told him on their journey.

"I am indeed Yang's mother, young man." Raven confirmed.

"Well ain't this one day turning out to be one surprise after another." Coco said.

"Tell me about it, it feels like we're all converging here, today, for some big, grand purpose... or it could be the biggest series of coincidences in the history of Remnant." Nadir speculated.

"I am aware all of you are here to help stop Cinder Fall and her allies while saving Ruby Rose and Jaune Arc, I have been assigned to aid you in your cause by my brother Qrow." Raven said.

"Well, do you know something we don't?" Fox asked.

Raven nodded, "Indeed I do, I have been inside the enemy base..."

"You were inside the CraftTech factory?" Arslan asked.

"I have and I did not like what I witnessed inside." Raven said, nodding to the leader of Team ABRN.

"Is Ruby alright?" Penny asked worriedly.

"What about our brother?" Shani cried.

"How did you get in without being noticed?" Bolin inquired.

"Don't keep us in suspense mystery mom." Coco said.

"Calm down." Raven said with a raised voice, silencing them all. "To answer your questions: from what I could see Ruby is fine, if a little weakened and drained of Aura. I am sorry to say that Jaune Arc's life is in great danger."

"What is happening to my little brother?!" all of the Arc sisters yelled out at once.

"What are they doing to him?" begged Velvet, fearing for her friend's life.

"Yeah, you gotta tell us! He's our leader; we can't afford to lose another friend!" Nora said with tears brimming in her eyes.

"When I infiltrated the factory I saw something that left me speechless: a human-Grimm hybrid." Raven said, stunning everyone.

"Ashe, it's like you said... a way to complete the Grimm!" Reese cried.

"Oh shit." Muttered Indigo.

"This can't be happening!" cried Neon.

"Wait, you know about this?" Scarlet asked, confused.

"Not really, we just know what Salem wants." Ashe said.

"How the hell do you know about Salem?" Raven demanded as she yanked off her mask and glared at Ashe.

Neon looked at Raven and whispered to Flynt "Wow, she looks like if Yang had Ruby's colors."

"I am the guardian of the Aura Crystal, a really powerful relic from days of old and all that crap so I know one or two things. I've also managed to piece together that Salem wants to destroy our world and replace with one dominated by the Grimm." Ashe said.

"Who is Salem?" Blake asked, feeling left in the dark.

"The queen bitch behind all of this apparently. Cinder's just some puppet dancing for her master." Arslan elaborated.

"Okay, so this is bad... but what does this have to do with Jaune?" Sun asked.

"I overheard one of the men call these hybrids 'Grimm Commanders' and I heard them say they plan to turn Jaune into one, tonight." Raven said.

The fall out from this revelation was a stunned, horrified silence.

Ashe's face hardened as he ran over to his backpack, took out his shotgun, and began loading it. "What the hell are we waiting for? Let's get over there and save them." He said.

"Now you're talking my language!" Sun said.

"We're ready to kick some ass." Coco said as her team all nodded.

"We're with you." Ren said as Nora cracked a wide grin.

"I am combat ready!" cheered Penny.

"Wait a minute! How about a little common sense here?! We don't really know what we're going against, we need more backup before we should attempt any kind of attack or rescue mission." Weiss said.

"We saved Penny, now we're gonna save Ruby and Arc." Coco said firmly.

"We had inside help to save Penny! We had Winter and Qrow with us and a detailed plan, we cannot go rushing in gun blazing and expect to win." Weiss cried.

"She's right guys. As much as I hate to say it we can't save Ruby and Jaune just yet, no matter how much we want to." Yang said sadly.

"But you heard your mom; they're going to experiment on Jaune tonight! We can't just sit by and let that happen!" Neptune said.

"He's right, we need to do something. Too many people I've cared about have died because I wasn't good enough to save them, I won't let that happen again." Ashe said.

"Even with me alongside you I do not think we can successfully attack them, if we do it now with the numbers and weapons we have we will be slaughtered. We would fight valiantly but we would be butchered valiantly. There is no point in dying heroically if it means nothing in the end." Raven said, noticing the saddened looks from Ren and Nora, she quickly realized that she had unintentionally struck the nerve that was the death of Pyrrha Nikos.

"She's right. We can't save them right now; all we will do is get ourselves killed." Ren said.

"B-b-but Jaune and Ruby..." Nora tried to say before Ren stopped her.

"I care for them too Nora, but we can't help them at the moment. All we can do is hope that Jaune will be alright." Ren said as tears began to well in his eyes. Nora burst out crying as she slammed herself into her best friend and hugged him tightly. Neither of them could stand the idea of losing both Jaune and Pyrrha.

"So that's it? We just let Jaune be turned into some twisted freak for Cinder and Salem? We can't do that!" Velvet yelled.

"She's right, but I don't really see a way we can help him right now." Sage said.

"But we have to do something! He's our brother and your friend!" Bianca cried.

Raven looked to the Arc women and said "Do not worry, once Goodwitch and the others get here we will launch an attack on the factory. I promise you that if we cannot save him, that if he has been transformed into a Grimm hybrid... I will give him a merciful death."

Everyone was shocked at Raven's words.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Flynt cried, he may not have known Jaune but there had to be a better solution than just mercy killing him.

"Mom are you nuts?!" Yang yelled furiously.

"We won't let you." Blake said defiantly.

"We'll find another way." Weiss said.

"You're crazy." Velvet hissed.

"If you lay one hand on him you'll pay for it!" Nora screamed.

"Listen to her, I'm the only one who can hold her back and I'm tempted to let her do whatever she pleases to you." Ren said with a dark scowl.

Out of all of these reactions, Bianca's was the strongest. "You are not going to hurt my baby brother!" she screamed as she ran forward with a fist ready to knock Raven down. However the seasoned Huntress caught Bianca's fist and twisted it down.

"Oh please, did you honestly think you can hurt me?" Raven asked, before she felt a gentle sensation of a blade being held to her throat.

"Maybe she can't, but I can." Said Ashe, who had somehow gotten behind Raven and now had his sword at her neck.

"I know that you are all attached to the boy, but should it come to it I promise to make his death quick, easy, and painless." Raven said calmly.

"Lady, you just listed off three things I know for damn sure death isn't." Ashe growled.

"Why do you care, Ashe Kasai? What is this boy to you?" Raven asked.

"He's my friend. These kids are the first real friends I've had in five years and I won't let you or anyone else harm them." Ashe said.

"Even if anyone includes Saul Jude?" Raven asked.

Ashe lowered his sword, his mouth dropping an inch in shock, but as he dropped his guard Raven grabbed his hand and flipped him over, slamming him on the ground and pointing her sword at his throat. She noticed this got reactions out of the kids; Coco, Reese, Neptune, Nadir, and Violet all aimed their guns at her while Scarlet, Sage, Yatsuhashi, and even Penny all pulled out their swords, with Penny's pulling back, ready to strike. Velvet created a copy of Crescent Rose as Flynt pulled his trumpet to his lips and Neon whirled her nunchaku around. Arslan lit up her palms while Sun and Bolin both got their Bo-Staffs ready to go.

Raven looked at the large group, all ready to fight her if they had to.

"It appears I'm outnumbered and outgunned." She said as she drew her sword back.

"And shit out of luck." Yang said as she aimed Ember Celia at Raven.

"Yang, stand down." Raven said.

"Not until we get an explanation for what the hell is going on!" Yang demanded as her eyes turned red.

Ashe got up and said "You want to know what's going on? I'll tell you what's going on, kid: Salem, the Mistress of Grimm is trying to jumpstart the apocalypse in two years and the more power she gets the easier it'll be for her to do that so we have to try and stop her. If we don't do something it'll be the biggest shitstorm in the history of the universe, she'll give the Grimm aura and make them complete. So everyone, I cannot stress that enough, EVERYONE will die if she's not stopped. Cinder and the others are just pawns and as far as Salem cares Jaune and Ruby are just enemy pawns about to become hers against their will. With Cinder she already has the power of one Fall Maiden and for all we know Ruby could be her next choice for a maiden. I know Ruby would never join her but this bitch has her ways of seducing people to evil. Now, as for who I am, I am Ashe and I have been having a real weird fucking week and I am at the end of my patience for this bullshit and I desperately want to save the two of the kids who gave me another chance to be a good person again, but right now I want to know how your mother knows about Saul Jude!"

He rushed into Raven, slammed her into the wall, pulled out his gun and held it to her face. "Tell me how you know about me and him right now or I'll shoot you in the fucking head!" he yelled, noticing that Yang and some of the others were now aiming their weapons at him, but some of them seemed perfectly okay with his methods for dealing with Raven.

"Back off man!" Yang ordered. She may not have liked what Raven was saying at all but she wasn't going to let Ashe hurt her mother.

"Yang, wait, you don't know what's going on with..." Reese tried to say before Velvet quickly made her way over to Ashe and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Ashe, calm down. Now." The rabbit Faunus said calmly.

Ashe sighed as he let Raven loose and put his gun away.

"I saw a man calling himself Saul Jude in the factory tonight, ordered to come here by Salem to help defeat you and claim this 'Aura Crystal'. I overheard his insane story about seeing hell as a child and why he became a drug lord, but he also told Ruby and Jaune about his survival. Apparently the Grimm you threw him to dragged him to Salem and she made him one of her servants." Raven said.

Ashe sighed and said "Both my sister and the man who murdered my pregnant fiancée are working for the Mistress of Grimm. What are the freaking odds?"

"Uhhh... wait, what's going on again?" Scarlet asked.

Weiss hitched Myrtenaster, took out her scroll and said "We can spell it out for you later, right now I need to call Professor Goodwitch."

"Good idea, the sooner we get the help, the sooner we can save them." Blake said. She looked at Ashe who was now wandering outside. With all she had found out about this man in the short time she had known him she couldn't help but pity him.

"Ashe, are you going to be okay?" Velvet called.

Ashe glanced back at her and said "I don't know. I just need to be alone right now." With the he walked out of the building.

Penny walked up next to Velvet and said "I think you what you said earlier was right, because I think letting him be alone is the worst mistake he can make right now."

Coco smiled at the robotic girl and said "For someone non-human, that was a pretty human thing to say."

"Oh, thank you." Penny said cheerfully as Nora and Ren followed Ashe out of the building.

"Where are you guys going?" Arslan asked.

"Penny's right, no one should be alone when they're hurting." Nora said as she and Ren followed Ashe, hand in hand. Penny walked after them as Velvet turned to her team and made a hand signal. Yatsuhashi nodded and walked after them and they exited the building as well.

Weiss sighed in relief as Glynda answered her call "Professor, listen; the situation is worse than we thought..."

---

Glynda ended her call with Weiss and clenched her fists. She knew they could wait around no longer, if they were going to save Ruby and Jaune they needed to act right now. During the call she had briefly spoken with Raven and ordered her to return to the factory to keep watch on Jaune and Ruby, if anything else happened they needed to know about it as quickly as they could.

She took up her scroll and called Oobleck. "Bartholomew, it is time. We need to leave as soon as possible, have Port get the students ready. I will make sure the ship is prepared." Glynda said.

"Understood Professor Goodwitch, any reason for the rush?" the green haired man asked.

"I will explain the situation once we leave, let's just say that it is worse than we realized." Glynda said.

"Right, I will retrieve them and make sure they are prepared." Oobleck said before he cut the call.

Glynda heard the door being opened, without her permission. She stood up, expecting to see one of the Atlas soldiers but was surprised to see none other than Qrow Branwen, looking worse for ware. "Hey there Goodwitch, sorry to keep you in suspense for so long but I had a hell of a time getting here." he said as he gently closed the door behind him.

Glynda helped him into a chair and asked "What happened?"

"Ironwood shot me, fighting him took a lot out of me. I was right though, it was a long time coming." Qrow said as he took out his flask, which Glynda quickly grabbed away from him. "Oh come on! Booze is like nature's pain killer." he whined

"I can't even begin to list off what's wrong with that statement... listen Qrow is appears that the situation in Haven has escalated quite badly. I just got off the scroll with Weiss Schnee and she has told me that your sister discovered what Salem plans to do with Jaune Arc, turn him into a human-Grimm hybrid that can control Grimm." Glynda said.

"What?! You gotta be shitting me." Qrow said in disbelief.

"From what I could tell they were not exaggerating but apparently it is true, as she claimed to see another Grimm Commander. Your sister still needs to work on her behavior, as she said she would mercy kill the boy if he was twisted into a hybrid, which sparked a rather emotional confrontation with Arc's sisters, many of the students, and a man known as Ashe Kasai who is not only the guardian of a powerful relic but is also Cinder's brother who is trying to stop her."

Qrow just stared at Glynda until he finally said "Sis, you sure do have a talent for making things complicated. Keep the flask, I am going to need a gallon jug of whisky to deal with this bullshit."

"Qrow, we have to leave right now. I've already got Oobleck and Port preparing the students Weiss has selected to help us but I still need to call Ross and have him prepare the ship." Glynda said.

"Right, I'll go to the ship and wait for you." Qrow said as he made his way to the door.

"Qrow! If an Atlas soldier sees you they will try to try to arrest you! Maybe even shoot you!" Glynda objected.

"I know that much, trust me when I say I got a way around it." Qrow said as he walked out of the office and into the deserted hallway.

Glynda sighed, knowing it was impossible to stop Qrow without causing a scene so she gave up and called Ross and ordered him to get the ship ready for departure. After she ended the call she picked up her wand and walked out of the office.

She made a stop by the small room they had assigned Taiyang and said "Qrow's here and we're leaving right away."

"Good, the sooner I get my daughter back the better." Taiyang said as he put on his old weapon; a pair of gauntlets similar to Yang's but they had razor sharp claws coming out of the fists and small flame throwers on the palms.

Zwei perked up and barked happily as he followed his owner out of the room and into the hallway. "Where's Qrow?" Taiyang asked.

"Getting to the ship and trying to go unnoticed. Don't ask me how." Glynda muttered as she walked on.

Soon enough they came to the main entrance of the building that served as their base of operations and Glynda walked off to speak with an Atlesian commander. "Commander Creed." she said, getting his attention. The man turned around and respectfully saluted her.

"Yes sir, Professor Goodwitch. Do you need me to do anything?" he asked.

"I have received a distress call from a village about thirty miles away, I am taking Mr. Xiao Long, Dr. Oobleck, Professor Port, and the newly arrived students with me to respond. I leave you and the other teachers in command until I return, remember if you see Qrow Branwen arrest him on sight." Glynda said.

"I know my orders sir, good luck." Creed said professionally.

"And to you." Glynda said as she rejoined Taiyang and Zwei.

"You think these guys will be okay while we're gone?" Taiyang whispered.

"We will not be gone for long, they can handle any Grimm that comes here." Glynda said confidently.

They soon arrived at the landing platforms where Oobleck, Port, Teams CRDL, BRNZ, and NDGO all awaited them. Glynda could see unsure looks on some of their faces, but for the most part they still acted like teenagers; Dove Bronzewing had utterly failed at trying a pickup line on Gwen Darcy, May Zedong was engaged in a conversation with Octavia Ember and Russel Thrush, Brawnz and Nebula were discussing their experiences as team leaders, while most of the others just looked eager to leave.

"There you are." Port said as Glynda and Taiyang arrived.

"Listen, if any of you do not wish to join us in this mission then you are free to stay. I do not blame you if you wish to part ways here and now, as the situation in Haven has become rather dire." Glynda said.

None of the young Hunters said anything until Cardin spoke up "Can we leave now? I'd like to help save the day as soon as possible."

Glynda allowed herself a small smile, happy with how Winchester had changed for the better. While the rest of his team had reservations about this operation Cardin was completely on board for it. Ever since that day in Forever Fall Cardin had felt guilty for his actions, but it wasn't until he heard about Pyrrha's death that he could find it within him to apologize to Jaune. Cardin apparently saw this mission as a way to redeem himself for his old sins. The rest of his team were only coming along because he bribed them.

"Then let us waste no more time, on we go!" Port said enthusiastically as he slid the ship's door open to reveal Qrow Branwen.

"Wait a minute, Branwen?! How did you...?" Port began before the dusty man stopped him.

"That would be telling Pete ole buddy, let's just get out of here before the tin soldiers see me." Qrow said, getting a nod from Glynda.

"So, Professor Goodwitch, how bad is it really?" Nebula asked, not backing down but clearly concerned for her team's safety.

"Right now swiftness of action is paramount, I will fully explain the situation on the way." Glynda promised as Team NDGO got into the ship.

Glynda and Taiyang looked into the horizon as the sun began to set.

"Now or never Taiyang." Glynda said as Taiyang turned around.

"Let's go." he said.

Zwei jumped into the ship and hopped into May's lap. "Whoa! Hey there little guy." May said as she scratched Zwei's ears, which he eagerly leaned into.

"He does that, if he bothers you I can..." Taiyang said before May shook her head.

"It's okay Mr. Xiao Long, I have a few dogs at home, I know what they're like." May said.

"Why are we taking a dog with us?" Brawnz asked doubtfully.

"This particular dog can come in handy Mr. Ni, I have learned from personal experience." Oobleck assured Brawnz as he sat down between Glynda and Port.

"Great, so if we get surrounded I guess the mutt will bail us out." Roy joked.

"Eh, stranger things have happened." Port commented.

"Okay, everyone strapped in?" Ross called from the cockpit.

"Affirmative!" Taiyang yelled up.

"Good, lifting off now." Ross said as the ship ascended into the air. The ship hovered upwards until it was at the proper altitude and then it flew to the east towards Mistral.

"So Professor Goodwitch, care to tell us what the new developments in Haven are?" Dr. Oobleck asked.

Glynda nodded and said "I'll tell you... but I doubt you'll like any of it."

"Try us." Cardin said.

And with that Glynda began to tell them what was going on.

---

In the dark, grimy cell Ozpin kicked a rat against the wall, breaking the little creature's neck. Ozpin shuddered in disgust at the dead corpse of the rodent. He looked up at Norvik who grinned at him. The two had been silent ever since Norvik revealed Salem's plans for he and Jaune, but sadly it did not last long.

"I've always been fascinated with people's fear of rodents. Grown adults will panic at the sight of a rodent even if it's just a harmless field mouse. I remember something I once read about rats in a book about the first Faunus revolution. You see; the Faunus had trained the rats to track down human bases so they could ambush them, but when one of the Faunus platoons was captured a particularly sadistic human lieutenant decided to punish the rebels. He tied down the captain of the Faunus group and created a thin, long cut on the stomach of the Faunus and forced the rat down into the wound. The rat struggled its way through the body, through the organs and blood, going towards that terrible, relentless beating sound of the heart and finally... crunch. Years later I... recreated the story with a young Huntsman in training... I still hear his screams every now and then." Norvik said, looking satisfied with his sick, twisted story.

Ozpin did his best to tune out what the madman was telling him to no avail. Being locked in this room with this insane killer was hell. He could feel his aura gaining strength but he could not strike yet; he needed to wait for the right moment.

---

Fotia finished off another set of training robots with a brutal series of slices and swings of her sword. She wiped the sweat off her brow and took time to catch her breath. The robots had been placed on a much higher setting so they were a bigger challenge this time. Fotia walked over to a bench and sat down, taking a drink out of a water bottle.

She went to grab her scroll from the bench to call a cleanup crew but then she noticed that her scroll was in a different location then where she left it. She titled her head curiously before she gently picked up her scroll and found that it was currently on a video about Pyrrha Nikos.

Fotia's eyes widened in surprise at the sight of the Mistrali girl, noticing the obvious similarities between the late champion of Sanctum and herself. She looked around, trying to see if anyone else was in the room with her. "Hello?" she asked, getting no answer.

She looked at the scroll and the odd coincidence of the late Pyrrha Nikos looking exactly like her was simply too obvious to ignore. Her thoughts strayed to Jaune Arc and their encounter last night, remembering his wild claims that she was Pyrrha.

"No, this is impossible." Fotia said, she began to sweat once again and her arms were shaking as she pressed play and the video began. The video consisted of one of the final fights Pyrrha had during her time at Sanctum Academy. Fotia watched in shock and fear as she saw that Pyrrha Nikos moved and fought in almost the exact same way that she did. She noticed Pyrrha's moves, her punches and kicks, the way she wielded Milo and Akouo, it all felt so familiar. Even the Semblance of polarity seemed so natural to her, even though Fotia hadn't activated her Semblance yet.

The video cut to an interview with Pyrrha, speaking in a polite, albeit somewhat awkward way. Fotia's eyes got wider as she noticed Pyrrha's voice sounded exactly like her own.

"No. No, this is a trick, it has to be." Fotia said as she exited the video. She stood up and walked to the restroom. She looked into the mirror and saw that her facial structure and body shape was exactly like Pyrrha's, the only difference was the skin color, eye color, and the different hair style.

"No, no, no! This is nothing but a trick. I am not Pyrrha Nikos, I am Fotia Drakos, I am Fotia Drakos." She repeated to herself as a mantra. It was impossible, she could remember her life before Mistress Salem took her in, she remembered it all in very specific detail what her life was prior to her transformation into a Grimm Commander.

"I am Fotia Drakos, I am not Nikos..." she said.

"Remember..." said the voice she had been hearing. Fotia jumped in shock as she looked around the small restroom.

"No, I'm ignoring this..." she said.

"Remember... help me." The voice said.

Fotia cried out in panic as she ran out of the restroom and collided with a familiar face, Neo, sending both of them crashing to the floor.

"Oh! Neo, Neo I need help! I am hearing a voice in my head; I think I'm losing my mind!" Fotia said as she grabbed Neo by the shoulders.

Neo nodded as she gently pulled herself free of Fotia's grip and then she grabbed Fotia's shoulders, leaned in a few centimeters away from Fotia's ear and said "I cannot help you, you must choose. Trust them and try to remember who you are."

"What?" Fotia asked.

Neo didn't respond, she just gave her a mischievous smile and then she got up and began walking away, leaving Fotia sitting on the floor.

Fotia sat on the floor, trying to think about what was happening to her.

"Let me out..." the voice said again.

"Fotia?" asked a voice. Fotia's head jerked up and saw Emerald entering the training room, looking down at her with a concerned face. "Are you alright?" Emerald asked.

"I... I don' know." Fotia answered with a sad sigh. Emerald's eyes looked down on the dragon rider suspiciously. Cinder needed to know about this.

---

Elsewhere in the factory Jaune looked up as the door to his cell opened, revealing Mercury and several Grimm Knights. "Showtime, Arc." He said with a sick grin.

Jaune got up and surrendered himself, not putting up a fight as the Grimm Knights grabbed him and led him out of the cell. They walked down the hallway, Jaune was silent the entire time, which disappointed Mercury as he was hoping for Jaune to break down begging for mercy or help, but Jaune just remained silent.

They soon arrived at Giger's lab, the door opened up and Jaune saw Giger and nearly a dozen assistants dressed in medical garbs. "Welcome to the end of your old life and the beginning of your new one." Giger said as the Knights forced Jaune deeper into the lab.

Jaune was stripped of his hoodie, leaving him topless and he was forced onto the operating table to be strapped down. He looked to see Mercury who was still smirking at Jaune's situation.

"Welcome to the team." Mercury said before he left the lab.

Jaune looked up as a leather strap was tied across his head to hold him in place. Giger looked at Jaune as he put his black gloves over his hands and asked "Did I tell you that this will not hurt?"

Jaune did not dignify the doctor's question with a response.

"Good, because I would be lying. Prepare the anesthesia, a small dose, use the needles." Giger ordered the assistants.

Jaune felt the needles stabbing into his arms, being injected with sleep drugs.

As Jaune's vision dimmed he heard Pyrrha's voice.

"They will not twist you into an abomination my love, I won't let them."

Darkness took Jaune as he fell asleep, but he felt Pyrrha's comforting presence around him.

"By my shoulder, protect thee."

---

Salem had gotten word that Jaune's first operation would begin soon and she eagerly waited for word of Giger's progress. If Jaune survived the operation and still resisted her, then she would have give Norvik a new body.

She had taken a stroll out of her palace into the wasteland that surrounded it and she watched as the creatures of Grimm gathered around her. Beowolves, Goliaths, Boarbatusks, Creeps, Nevermore, Death Stalkers, Griffons, King Taijitus, Tarantula Widows, and many other types of Grimm bowed before her as she walked among them.

She reached out and loving stroked the muzzle of a Beowulf and began to speak to the creatures around her.

"Oh yes, yes my children. Soon it will all be mine. The power will flow through me, surge through my veins and I will make you whole. I will give you the aura that you have been denied. Yes, oh yes and then the entire population of the world will worship me... oh my children, it is so close. A mere two years and I will finally achieve my destiny. At long last I will be a Goddess among mortals."

To Be Continued...

I am so sorry this is so long. I don't know how but every chapter ends up being huge, and keep in mind that this and the last chapter were supposed to be one and the same. I'm not really happy with one or two scenes, but I did my best given how huge this chapter turned out to be.

At this point in the story, it's a contest to see which character I can make suffer the most: Jaune, Pyrrha, or Ashe.

Concerning Ruby's dream in the last chapter, I am not entirely sure what it really was. It could have been Summer Rose giving a message to her daughter from beyond the grave, it could have been an Avatar-State thing for the silver-eyed people, it could have been just a dream. It's up to how you decide to view it.

I decided to give a reason as to why Team BRNZ and Team NDGO just vanished during the battle of Beacon, since we see Roy get snatched up by a Nevermore I think we can assume his team went to rescue him, but no idea about NDGO.

The Vale Council has lost all faith in Ozpin and they're not exactly wrong to do so, I mean the only way Cinder got away with her plans is because of Ozpin's poor choices. We all know that Ozpin isn't a traitor (though if he turns out to be one in the show I'll be really surprised) but he will have to face the consequences for his poor decisions.

Jaune's dreams about the Grimm-People occurred back in my previous RWBY fic 'I Never Even Told You', I decided to expand on what Jaune's dreams meant, seeing as how dreams have ended up playing a big role in this story.

The scene with Ashe and Bianca... yeah, this is pretty much proof of how unhealthy Ashe is. The revelation of Mila's pregnancy was his breaking point, he's kind of lost it now but he'll try to do the right thing in the future. Trivia; the scene was originally going to be between Ashe and Cardin, but I figured that there's no way Glynda, Port, and Oobleck would just let that scene happen.

Velvet's cry of 'Frith and Inle!" is a reference to my favorite novel of all time, Watership Down. In the book the rabbits refer to the sun and the moon respectively as Frith and Inle.

Norvik's tangent about rat torture is inspired by a horrible thing I read about the Vietnam War, so do not blame my imagination for that, it's just the mess that was Nam.

After the next chapter... get ready. Thanks for everything, faithful readers, feedback would be nice.