> The Tale of Team SASA
>  by Dark Star the Crazed
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Awaken
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Have you ever felt the cold embrace of death, the, the pure... Nothingness that envelops you, as you watch the world begin to dim and blur? As the darkness creeps up on you and the breath leaves your lungs? No? Well I have...

It starts out slow, like a roller-coaster, it takes a few seconds before you realize what's happening, but when you do, when you reach the top of the hill, that's when the ride starts. First come the questions, why me? Why now? Did I do something to deserve this? Did I make a difference in the world? Will anyone care?

Then come the memories, every good deed you've done, every sin you've committed, every laugh, every tear, every smile, every scream. It's true what they say, your life flashes before your eyes. And then? Well there is no then, only a cold embrace and then darkness. It's... Comforting if that makes sense, it's at that point that when you can barely see, hear, smell or feel... It's peaceful, and it makes you feel safe.

Yes, I've experienced death, and you know what? I'm glad I did.
Because I've never felt more alive.





Standing on stage with those who were once your enemies, yet now the only people you believe you can trust, is a strange feeling. One Sunset Shimmer knew all to well. Who would have thought that the Dazzlings of all people would have taken her in? Sure, it was rough at first, but can you name any kind of relationship that's not? Adagio had been snarky at first, Sonata silliness had been irritating and Aria had threatened her and the other sirens more times than she could ever hope to count, but after a while Sunset had realized that those were just their ways of showing her that they cared about her. 

They had taken her in and treated her better than anyone else ever had. They had treated her like a friend, a sister even. They had treated her like family. And to tell the truth, the orphan honestly thought that of them as her family. She just connected with them better than she did the Rainbooms. 

Speaking of the Rainbooms, the Crusaders had admitted to being Anon-a-miss about 3 weeks after the five of them had abandoned her. The Rainbooms then had to search high and low for her, she could still see their faces when they found her and apologized, only to get slapped across the face, well actually Sunset had broken Rainbow's nose and told her to take her apology and shove it where Princess Celestia's sun didn't shine. 

Sorry, they were sorry? They expected that saying sorry would just instantly make everything ok again? 'Sorry?' Sunset thought as the song ended and the four of them walked off stage. 'Sorry doesn't turn back time.' 

Sonata, noticing that Sunset had just stopped walking and was just standing in the middle of the hall with a distant look on her face, turned and walked up to her flame haired friend. 'No, she's not our friend,' the ,formerly, Faust had it been weird for the quartet of girls to wake up and find themselves with a snow white complexion, blue Siren thought to herself, 'she's our friend, she's our sister.' Waving a hand in front of the fiery girls eyes. "Sunny? Are you ok?"

Sunset didn't even notice the  girl in front of her, even when she started snapping her fingers. 'Sorry doesn't dry tears, sorry doesn't heal wounds.'

Sonata's eyes briefly shot down and saw blood dripping from the fiery girl's hands. "Um, Sunny? You're cutting your self with your fingernails again...." When she didn't get a response the girl sighed and ran towards their dressing room.

'Even if sorry did heal wounds, it wouldn't matter in my case. Wounds might heal, but scars don't!' Sunset squeezed her eyes shut and began to cry. 'It's been what, a year since we saw that video, since the explosion, since we came to Remnant? I wish I could just forget about them, I hate them, so why can't I just for-' A sudden smack and a pain in her cheek snapped her out of it. "OW!" Sunset quickly fixed a glare at the Siren in front of her. "WHAT THE HELL was that for?" Seeing a first aid kit in the blue haired girl's hands made her anger die a quick, merciful death. "I did it again didn't I?" The ponytailed Siren just nodded and motioned for her to sit down.





An hour later the four were on a train headed towards the city of Vale, or more specifically, Beacon Academy, the combat school, on the cliff overlooking the city. The four of them couldn't remember exactly what happened after they saw that video, 'The Tale of the Four Maidens.' They heard a loud sound and felt a great force, with fire surrounding them before everything went black.

When they awoke they had remembered how to do things that they had never done before, Adagio had suggested that perhaps they were having memories of a past life. They remembered things like how to make weapons and how to fight, so after making a small fortune, who knew that a few songs could make you so rich, they decided that they might as well try it. And after a year had enrolled at the top combat school in the kingdom they had woken up in.

At the moment Sunset's bandaged hands were holding her scroll, damn these things were really superior to phones, flicking through the profiles of their soon to be classmates. "Sooo.... Any of you want to know about the people we'll be in school with?" Seeing three heads bob, she looked down at her scroll.

"Ok, so I see a few people who catch my attention. There's Blake Belladonna, a cat Faunus, I mean who doe's she think that bow is kidding?" A projection of the cat girl appeared above her scroll for the others to see. "Her weapon is named Gambol Shroud, it's a katana that has a compact, striker fired pistol built into its hilt." 

The girl went over a few other potential classmates, Jaune Arc, Weiss Schnee, Lie Ren, Nora Valkyrie, Yang Xiao Long and Pyrrha Nikos. "The last one who caught my interest is Ruby Rose, Yang Xiao Long's half sister, who is so skilled she managed to get into beacon 2 years early, not to mention her weapon, Crescent Rose a scythe with a sniper rifle built into it. And you know what else? She's a fan of ours."

Adagio smirked. "Well it's good to know that at least one of our classmates a has a good taste in music. Maybe we should give her an autograph." Opening her hand bag she pulled out a wireless microphone. "You think we'll be able to work on our weapons before the initiation? I mean I know Sunset added a flamethrower to Sinner's Ballad* but...." Turning the head of the microphone, caused a barbed whip to extend from the bottom. "I want to add a little... Oomph to Chant des Tempêtes.**" Pressing a button on the bottom caused the whip to retract back into the microphone. "What about you girls?"

"Meh, Strappare and Lacrima*** are good enough for me at the moment, want to add a ranged weapon to my arsenal in case I lose them somehow, but I doubt that I'd be able to build a pair of boots with detachable pistols in less than a day." Aria tapped her new bracelets and they extended to become a pair of black, clawed gauntlets. "What about you Sonata?"

The ditzy Siren finished her meal, a taco, the others still haven't figured out why she likes them so much, and looked at her sisters. "Napakymppi**** is good to go... I do need to make some more fire dust arrows though..." she pulled out what looked like a large lipstick container before twisting the cap, making it extend into a staff before she bent it and used the nearly invisible wire at the top to switch it to it's bow form. "Maybe I should find a better material for the bowstring..." The blue haired girl looked out the window and gasped in excitement. "We're almost there girls!!!" The other three gazed out the window and saw Beacon in all its glory.

Adagio cleared her throat to get the other three's attention. "Alright girls, here's the plan. We get off the train, lose the mob of fans that, might be, waiting for us, go to our hotel and get some rest. I call first shower in the morning." All three of them groaned in response.

As the train stopped, Sunset grabbed her luggage before noticing her journal, the one she and Twilight communicated with. Scowling, she grabbed it and, after the four had made sure their luggage would be taken to their hotel, walked out of the train station. Borrowing a pen from the ticket booth on the way, she opened it and wrote her final message. 

'Dear Princess Twilight, I'm writing to say goodbye. You'll probably never see me again so I just want to say something. Don't worry about me I might not have friends anymore, but I've got something better now. I have sisters, I have a family. Don't cry for me. I'm happy now. And for once, I really do feel like everything is going to be alright. Signed your friend, Sunset Shimmer.'

Satisfied she pocketed the pen and closed the book before walking towards some men gathering around a trashcan fire. She gave them each 200 lien, 1000 in total, and told them to get some food and new clothes. After they had left Sunset looked behind her, seeing the Sirens at the mouth of the ally waving her towards them. Taking one last look at the journal, she tossed it in the fire before turning around and walking away. Ready to leave her past behind for good.
> Arrival
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The trip to Beacon had been surprisingly uneventful. Whenever they had gone to a combat school to perform there had been crowds of schoolgirls and schoolboys who, honestly, could be compared to ravenous Beowolves, that wouldn't leave them alone. Then again maybe they had all been at the airship docks. As they finally landed and the doors opened, Sonata ran out, kneeled and began to kiss the ground.

"Sweet sweet ground! I'll never leave you again!" Sonata was completely oblivious to the eyes fixated on her, several of which, both male and female, Human and Faunus, were whispering amongst themselves. Mostly asking why one of the most popular bands on Remnant was at a combat school.

Aria groaned, walked over and pulled Sonata to her feet. "Get up ditz, people are staring...." Sunset, smiling at the ponytailed Siren, looked past the crowd and saw a possible disaster unfolding. Two of the students that she had read the profiles of, Ruby Rose and Weiss Schnee, were arguing.

Sunset focused on the vial the SDC heiress was shaking. 'That's fire dust and Ruby's nose is, OH SHIT!' Sunset sprinted towards the two hoping to stop- Nope, too late they exploded. Sunset sped up while the Sirens, who had noticed her absence, took off after her.

The white clad girl glared at the Little Red Reaper, threw her arms in the air and stomped her foot. "Unbelievable! This exactly the kind of thing I was talking about!"

Ruby, who was tapping her fingers together the way some people do when they feel guilty, tried to apologize. "I'm really, really sorry!" Not that it made any difference to the Heiress.

"Ugh, you complete dolt! What are you even doing here? Aren't you a little young to be attending Beacon? This isn't-" Sunset, who had arrived about a minute ago, along with the Dazzlings, who had caught up with her, cut the spoiled Heiress off.

"She is in fact, two years younger than the age required to attend Beacon." The fact that someone had the gall to cut her off, got the Schnee's attention. "If you actually watched the news, you'd of found out that not only is Ruby here quite skilled with a scythe, one of the most dangerous variety of weapons ever designed, that she also stopped a robbery, led by the Roman Torchwick mind you, last week. Furthermore- Uh, Ruby, are you alright?"

Everyone, including Blake Belladonna, who had silently approached the group, was currently staring at the little Reaper, who was, quite comically, vibrating more than a dryer. She stopped moving for a second before leaping into the air. Blake involuntarily cringed when the 15 year old let out what was, in her opinion, possibly the loudest squee in the history of squees. Sometimes she hated being a Faunus.

"Ohmygoshyou'reSunsetShimmerandthat'sAdagioDazzleandSonataDuskandAriaBlaze!!! Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshyougirlsaremyfavoriteband!!! AND YOU KNOW MY NAME!!!" Blake once again cringed. The young scythe wielder dropped to the ground and produced both a pen and a pad of paper. "Can I have your autographs?" The four quietly took the offered items and wrote their signatures before returning said items. "Oh thank you thank you thank you!!! Yang is going to be so jealous!"

The four singers, who's faces remained stoic, slowly backed away. They then all proceeded to fall to the ground, laughing their collective asses off. During their frenzy the argument resumed, it seemed like Weiss just couldn't let it go. "That was the best reaction ever! Of all time!" When the four of them finally managed to calm down and get up, Ruby was walking away with a blonde boy.

Glancing at her watch Sunset spoke up. "Uh girls? We should probably find the auditorium."





After finding the auditorium, Aria was pissed off because some guy with a mace tried to hit on her, or maybe it was the fact he touched her ass, the others honestly weren't sure. Said guy was now sporting a black eye and bruised balls. "Stupid fucking Ass Grabbinburg or whatever his name is, I swear if one more guy looks at me like that I'm not gonna give them a chance to back off! Nope, I'm just gonna cut it off!" The males in the crowd were, quite intelligently, avoiding the pigtailed girl. 

The speakers in the auditorium buzzed causing the for singers to look at the stage, standing there was the headmaster of Beacon himself, Ozpin. "Ahem, I'll keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you and all I see is wasted energy in need of purpose, direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step." With that the man walked off, the assistant headmaster, Glynda Goodwitch, taking his place.

"You will gather in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow your initiation begins. Be ready, you are dismissed." 





An hour latter everyone was changed and were in their sleepwear, in the case of Sunset, Sonata and Aria, a pair of shorts and a white t-shirt with their cutie marks on the front.  Adagio however, was clad only in the tightest, bra and panties possible, which had her cutie mark on them. The word modest was not in her dictionary and she made sure that people knew it. Aria was now pissed about Ozpin's speech. "Waste of energy my ass! I'll show him, I'm going to have the highest kill count tomorrow and then I'm gonna tell him I was 'off my game'!" Sunset was barely holding in her laughter, something Aria noticed. "What!? You think this is funny!?"

The Siren threw her pillow at the fire haired girl, only to miss and end up hitting a rather busty blonde. "Hey!" She grabbed Aria's pillow and was about to return fire, only to stop midway when she saw exactly who it was that threw the pillow. "Oh my gosh. Rubes you're about to have your mind blown!" Sunset tuned the world out as she gazed out the window at the broken moon.

"Hey Adagio?"

The big haired Siren, who had just walked over to her sleeping bag after going to the bathroom looked at her. "Yeah?"

"You ever wonder what it's like to be a star? Must be sad..."

"What do you mean? We're already stars, and life is goo~o~o~od!" Smirking the Siren looked at her ex-unicorn friend 'no, sister' only to frown as the girl stared out the window. "Sunset?" Adagio reached out and placed a hand on her sister shoulder.

"Hmm?"

"It's ok, we're here for you. You don't have to be alone anymore. Because, unlike the Rainbooms, we actually care about you." The girl poked her sister's chest. "And don't you forget it!" The Siren slipped into her sleeping bag. "Now get some rest, we've got a big day tomorrow..."

The fire haired girl slipped into her bag and laid her head on her pillow. "Alright. And Adagio? Thanks for taking me in."

The Siren responded with a caring smile. "Hey, what's family for?"

Sunset smiled in return. "Yeah, family." She closed her eyes and let sleep take her.
> Initiation
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunset and the Sirens woke up the next morning and, honestly, not much had happened until the first year students had been called to Beacon Cliff. As she, the Sirens and the other 16* prospective students stood on the cliff, overlooking the infamous Emerald Forest, Sunset felt, as strange as it might sound, at peace. At least until Ozpin started to talk. 

"For years, you have trained to become warriors, and today your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest."

Glynda took over at this point. "Now, I'm sure many of have heard rumors about the assignment of teams. Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates. Today."

Sunset heard a whimper three people down from her. "What? Ohh...."

Sunset tuned the world out, tightening her grip on Sinner's Ballad. 'Breathe in, breathe out, breath in, breath out.'

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well... That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years." Sunset was sure she heard glass shattering. "After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way, do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path, or you will die."

The fiery tempered girl narrowed her eyes at grey haired man. 'Oh... Ozpin, you're an asshole. Ok then, I just need to find one of the girls.'

"You will monitored and graded for the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path, containing several relics. Each pair must choose one, and return to the top of the cliff. We will regard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions." Jaune raised his hand but Ozpin ignored him. "Good. Now take your positions." The metal plates beneath them started to click before launching them.





As Sunset approached the ground she changed Sinner's Ballad into axe form and focused on the incoming trees. 'Wait for it, wait for it... Now!' Drawing her weapon from her back, she gave the axe a mighty swing embedding it in a low hanging branch before dropping to the ground, reaching up and retrieving her weapon. Looking behind her she saw Adagio use he whip to swing from tree to tree until she came to a stop right in front of her. "Nice moves Dagi!"

"You weren't so bad yourself Sunset. Come on, we should get moving." Sunset nodded and the two started running north towards the temple.





As Sonata flew towards the ground she fired an arrow with infused with fire dust followed by one infused with water dust. The fire arrow exploded, creating a crater that was filled with liquid after the water arrow struck. "Cowabunga!!!" The ponytailed girl activated her Semblance and her body changed into water,** before splashing into the crater.

Aira deployed Strappare and Lacrima, digging them into a tree trunk to slow her descent before letting go of the trunk, dropping to the ground next to the makeshift pool as Sonata popped her head out and waved at her. "Tch, let's move ditz." Aria started walking as Sonata crawled out of her crater.

"Wait for me!"





One hour later





Sunset wasn't sure how this happened, all she knew was that she, Aria, Adagio and Sonata had met up at the temple and retrieved their relics, they had chosen the Black Knights, and had seemingly been the first ones there. The next thing they knew they were running from a large, bone covered, horse shaped Grimm that had a horn and a pair of wings. Apparently Alicorn Grimm are a thing, and this one just wouldn't give up! "Sunset jump!" She wasn't sure which of the Sirens said it, but she was glad they did, because the ground she had been standing on less than a second ago was now gone, leaving a smoking crater in it's wake.

Did I mention that it had magic? "Sunset, any idea how to beat this thing!?" Sonata did a front flip, launching a fire arrow at the beast, not that the explosion it caused did anything to deter it. As Sonata landed on her feet and resumed running, Sunset looked over her shoulder and noted the fact that the explosion had cracked the Grimm's armor.

'OK, it's too fast for Aria and me to hit, but we're the only ones whose weapons could get rid of that armor. But that explosion cracked it's faceplate, the armor on it's legs looks weaker, so one good explosion should knock it off, and then Adagio could use her whip to yank it's hooves out from under it, tripping it up and allowing Aria and I to go in for the kill! Sunset looked Adagio. "Dagi, get ready, when I say so, wrap your whip around it's leg!"

"Got it!" Adagio pulled out her whip and prepared to use it.

"Sonata aim your fire arrows at it's legs!" Sonata once again did a front flip, firing multiple arrows in quick succession. "Aria, after it goes down the two of us are going to hit it with everything we've got!" Aria simply nodded in response. Glancing at the Grimm again, Sunset gave her command. "Adagio trip it up!"

The Siren didn't need to be told twice, with two flicks of her wrist her whip wrapped around the black alicorn's legs and pulled them out from under it. Aria turned and leaped onto the Grimm, severing it's wings before it could use them to get off the ground. Sunset did a backflip and with as much strength as she could muster, brought the blade of her weapon down on the Grimm's head, the blade only stopping once it had completely cleaved through the head and gotten lodged in the earth below.

As Sunset withdrew Sinner's Ballad, Aria walked up to the head of the dead beast, checked to see where the cliff they started at was and, after lining her shot up, kicked it as hard as she could causing it to go flying.*** "Tch weak!" She started to walk off toward the cliff, only to look back and see her bandmates staring at her. "What?"

For a moment no one responded. Looking at Aria and then the dead Grimm, Sonata saw an opportunity she couldn't pass up. "So... Talk about beating a dead horse, am I right?" All she got in response were a bunch of groans and the sight of the others walking away. "Oh come on girls, that was funny! Girls? Hey don't just leave me here!"


Meanwhile.


Glynda walked up to Ozpin, while looking at her scroll. "Our last pair has been formed Sir. Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren, poor boy, I can't possibly imagine those two getting along... Still he's probably better off than Miss Nikos."

Ozpin briefly glanced over at her scroll. "Hmmmm."

"I don't care what his transcripts say, that Jaune fellow is not ready for this level of combat. I guess we'll find out soon enough." Glynda turned and began to walk away. "At their current pace they should reach the temple within just a few minutes... Speaking of which, what did you use for relics this year? Professor Ozpin?" Glynda turned around and saw Ozpin laying on the ground, and right next to him was the head of what looked to be the lovechild of a mythical unicorn and a Grimm.





Later, at the Naming Ceremony.





"Sunset Shimmer, Adagio Dazzle, Sonata Dusk and Aria Blaze you four retrieved the Black Knight pieces. From this day forward you will work together as Team SASA led by... Sunset Shimmer." The four bowed their heads in respect, though Aria smirked when she saw the bandage on Ozpin's head, and left the room.

"You girls go on ahead, I'll catch up." The Sirens shrugged this off and went towards their dorm. A few minutes later the newly formed Team RWBY walked by. "Hey Ruby Rose!"

The four stopped and turned to see who was speaking. "OhmyOum! SunsetShimmeristalkingtomeSunsetShimmeristalkingtomeSunsetShimmeristalkingto-SunsetShimmeristouchingme!!!"

Sunset chuckled and took her hand off of Ruby's shoulder. "I just wanted to let you girls know that we saw the way you took down that Nevermore after we got back, you guys are cool and can hang with us anytime." Sunset slipped something into Ruby's pocket. "This is a little gift for you Ruby, consider it a gift for the laugh yesterday. Seriously, that was the best reaction ever! Of all time!" Sunset smirked when she saw stars in the little Reaper's eyes. 'Time for the final nail in the coffin.'

"Oh and since you impressed Aria**** you guys get free backstage passes for life!" Sunset turned and began to walk away throwing her hand in the air as she did. "Ciao for now! Oh and pass the backstage pass thing on to Team JNPR, they impressed Aria too." As she turned the corner to the dorms she saw none other than Sonata Dusk, scroll in hand. "Please tell me you are recording this." Sonata nodded. "Good!" 

That night every Faunus within a fifty mile radius heard an ear piercing squee.





Meanwhile on the Dragon Continent.





"Salem what's wrong?"

"One of our children,***** Thanatos I believe, has fallen silent... A normal Huntsman would be unable to harm one of these children, so that means it was either a Silver Eyed Warrior..."

"Or someone from my world... Should we send some extra forces for when we eventually invade?"

"Not yet... Let us see how this plays out... It should prove... Entertaining."

"Very well, Queen of Grimm."
> Burdens
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunset and the Sirens were bored. For the past hour Professor Peter Port had been going on about his exploits when he was younger. This was supposed to be Grimm Studies, not story time. Glancing to her right, Sonata noticed Aria's eye twitching. 'If he doesn't shut up this is going to turn into Anatomy Class...' Aria's pen snapped in half and she moved to get up. "Aria..."

"The moral of the story? A true Huntsman must be honorable. A true Huntsman must be dependable. A true Huntsman must be strategic, well educated and wise! So who among you believes themselves to be the embodiments of these traits?" Aria's hand shot up as did Weiss', whose team was sitting a row below them.

"I do sir!"

"I can kick any Grimm's ass!"

"Well then, let's find out... Aria Blaze, Weiss Schnee, step forward and face your opponents!" The Professor motioned to the side, pointing at two cages that had glowing red eyes inside them. "Miss Blaze, since you are so confident in yourself, I will let you choose which one you wish to fight."

Aria glanced at the cages for a second before smirking. "I could probably take them both on, but I'll settle for the giant Beowolf in the cage on the right."

Port seemed surprised by her knowledge of the species of Grimm in the cage. "How did you know it was a Beowolf? I never said nor alluded to the species of the Grimm you would fight."

"I've fought a lot of Beowolves, Ursa and Boarbatusks too, only Grimm I can't kill yet are flying ones, but I'm taking care of that. I've learned to know what I'm gonna get to kill by sound. Ursas roar, Boarbatusks snort and Beowolves growl, with the occasional bark or howl." Peter Port's mouth almost dropped open.

"Might I enquire as to why, no, how  you've fought so many Grimm? So many that you've learned how to identify them by sound alone?" Aria simply shrugged in response, walking towards the door.

"I get bored easily and I get angry easily. When I get bored I hit things, when I get angry I go out looking for Grimm to kill. I find it very therapeutic." Aria got up and left the room, returning a minute later in her normal attire. 

Professor Port raised an eyebrow. "Are you not going to use a weapon?"

"I never took them off this morning." Aria flicked her wrists, transforming Strappare and Lacrima. Ruby's eyes went wide at the design of the gauntlets as well as the emblem emblazoned onto them. Aria was sure she heard the girl call them beautiful. "Let's get this over with."

"Very well... Let the match... Begin!" Port brought his Blunderaxe down on the cage's lock, releasing the Grimm. The Beowolf, one that was a few hundred years old judging from the cracks in it's armor, charged out of the cage before and started to circle the Siren before leaping at her. 

Aria pulled her fist back and, just as the Beowolf was about to swipe at her, gave a single, powerful uppercut. The bladed gauntlets she wore tore through the Grimm's flesh and continued until they had completely sliced through the beast's head, but she wasn't done yet. Holding the dead Grimm aloft as it started to dissolve into black wisps, she turned around and took aim, before tossing the Beowolf, the beast sliding off of her gauntlets as she did, in the direction of Team CRDL. "Eat Beowolf pervert!"* 

Cardin realized what she was doing and tried to get out of the way, but he was too slow. The Beowolf hit him and the two went flying into the back wall of the classroom, the other side of the wall now had a man shaped protrusion. "Mommy..."

"Miss Blaze! That was uncalled for!"

Aria stared at the elderly Professor for a second. "You're right..." Her team's mouths collectively hit the floor. Aria Blaze does not apologize! Who was this person? "I shouldn't have used that Beowolf as a instrument of retribution, that was cruel of me..." She sighed and looked over at Team CRDL, who were currently trying to remove their leader from the wall. "I'm sorry Beowolf, I shouldn't have used you to punish Ass Grabbinburg..." The entire class burst out laughing at the Sirens apology, Weiss Schnee included.

"Hey, the Ice Queen laughed!" The Heiress immediately glared at their team's brawler.

Professor Port just stood there for a second. "Ass Grabbinburg? I don't understand what's going on..." Sunset quickly explained how Cardin groped her teammate the day before initiation... "I see... Carry on then! Miss Schnee, please retrieve your weapon and battle attire."

Aria raised an eyebrow and smirked as she returned to her seat. "You mean I'm not getting in trouble for this? Cool!" As she was walking past Team RWBY she heard Weiss say something as she got up to get her gear. "You got something you want to say to me Princess?" Weiss ignored the pigtailed girl and continued walking. "Hey, don't you ignore-" Aria stopped talking and glanced over her shoulder, seeing Sunset shaking her head. Turning back, Aria saw the girl re enter the room, ready to fight. "Tch, whatever." Aria sat down and placed her head in the palm of her hand, tapping her fingers on the desk.

"Go Weiss!" Yang thrust an arm in the air.

"Fight well!" Blake was waving a small flag that had the word RWBY emblazoned on it causing Sonata gasp in excitement. 

"Oh my Faust that's so cute! Girls, we have got to start handing out little flags with our team's name at concerts!" Team SAA just chuckled at the ponytailed girl's words.

"Yeah, represent Team RWBY!" Ruby threw her arm's in the air in her excitement.

"Ruby! I'm trying to focus!" Ruby lowered her arms and glanced at the floor, mumbling that she was sorry. Sunset looked down at the fifteen year old with sorrow.

"All right, let the match..." Port once more brought his Bluderaxe down on the lock, releasing the Boarbatusk inside the cage. "Begin!"

A minute later Weiss had slain the Grimm, making an ass out of herself by yelling at Ruby in the process. "Bravo! Bravo! It appears we are, indeed, in the presence of a true Huntress in training! I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today, be sure to cover the assigned readings, and stay vigilant." Weiss left the room, Ruby quickly following her.





As Team SASA were walking down the hall the noticed Ruby Roses cape from around a corner. "Weiss where is this coming from? What happened to all the talk about working together, I thought you believed in acting as a team..."

"Not a team led by you! I've studied, and trained. And quite frankly I deserve-"

"To be told to stop acting like a bitch!" Weiss turned around and tried to slap Ruby, who she thought had said it, only to be stopped when a barbed whip wrapped around her wrist, before being pulled to the ground. Aria walked over, grabbed her by the collar and lifted the Heiress off the ground with one hand.

"Please don't hurt Weiss she didn't do anything wrong! And she's right, I shouldn't be-" Sonata put a hand over Ruby's mouth.

"We're not gonna hurt her, Aria, put her down." Aria continued to glare at the white clad girl, but complied with her leader's order none the less. "We're just going to stand here and talk this out. Now what seems to be the problem?"

Weiss huffed and pointed at Ruby. "Ozpin made a mistake when he made her leader!" 

"Really? And who should have been team leader? You?" Sunset shook her head. "The way I see it, making you leader would get you and the rest of your team killed in your first fight. You might be a good fighter, but you are a terrible person. Believe me, one person with a shitty attitude can cause a lot of damage... I should know... I caused a lot of damage in the past... I was a spoiled bitch, and it almost cost me my life."

Weiss looked at the fire haired girl and raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?" Sunset said nothing, but looked at Sonata, who nodded and dragged Ruby away, despite the girl's resistance. Once the two were out of sight, Sunset lifted her uniform's shirt up, revealing scars all across her stomach and chest.** Weiss face blanched and she almost puked. "Dear Oum, what, what happened to you?"

"Look, I'll tell you about my past some other time, but suffice to say that these scars are what made me the person I am today. Right now you need to work on your shitty attitude before you say something you can't take back and it ends with you looking like this or worse..." Sunset put her shirt down and tucked it in. "So you didn't get to be team leader, get the fuck over it! You can't always get what you want Weiss, and sometimes it's in your best interest to accept that fact." Sunset looked the rich girl dead in the eyes, placing her hands on her shoulders.

"I didn't get something I wanted and I tried to take it anyway, and it ended up making me into a monster worse than any Grimm... I did something bad and I'm still paying for it, all because I couldn't take no for an answer, I don't want you to go through the same thing Weiss. Maybe you're right, maybe Ruby shouldn't be a team leader, but you won't know for sure unless you give her a chance. Trust me on this Weiss bad things don't just happen to bad people, they also happen to people with bad attitudes... I got lucky, I lived, and I even got three people who basically, no, they did become my family after my experience... You might not be as lucky..."

Sunset turned to Adagio and Aria. "Come on, let's go find Ruby and Sonata. And Weiss? Think about what I said and what I showed you, maybe it'll it will teach you something..." With that the three singers walked away leaving the Heiress alone.

Weiss' hand absent mindedly moved to her stomach... "What happened to her that gave her those scars? And what does she mean I might not be as lucky?"





That night.





Sunset stared up at the shattered moon, reflecting on her day, like she always did. "It must have been hard to show Miss Schnee your scars, Miss Shimmer." Sunset jumped in surprise and nearly fell off the roof. Turning around she saw Ozpin standing there, coffee in hand. 

"You saw that?"

"I did."

Sunset stared at the headmaster for a moment before looking away. "I don't want to talk about it."

"I didn't ask you too, nor will I. We are all entitled to our secrets Miss Shimmer, just as we are all entitled to our opinions, though I do recommend that you talk with someone about your experience, be it your teammates or a professional." When Sunset didn't respond Ozpin continued. "I don't know what happened to you, but I know you are a good person. I wouldn't have made you team leader otherwise..."

"If only you knew..."

"I'm sure that if I did, I would have made the same decision, we all make mistakes Miss Shimmer. Sometimes we alone can fix them, most times we may require some help. And every once in a while, we can't do anything and must simply move on." Ozpin turned and walked away. "The darkness of the past can not be changed Miss Shimmer, but the future can be made brighter." With that Ozpin moved out of sight and Sunset momentarily returned her gaze to the moon before heading to her team's dorm.





Meanwhile on the Dragon Continent.





A young, pale, slender and quite frankly beautiful woman clad only in a black robe lay next to one of the Grimm spawning pools, dipping her finger in before drawing some strange symbols*** "Hmmm..." Hearing footsteps behind her, the woman turned to see Salem approaching.

"Might I ask what you are doing Nightmare?"

"Trying to find a way to amplify Emerald and Mercury's power for when they and Cinder eventually invade..."

"Oh, why them and not Cinder?"

"Besides the fact that I can't touch her without the light of the Fall Maiden's soul burning me? I have learned to proceed with caution, or have become paranoid if you wish, I also do not like her... Even if I give her subordinates my Blessing I could still easily over power them, even though I have not returned to my full strength yet..."

"You sound very sure of yourself..."

"I speak from experience, I have crushed nations, eradicated entire species and enslaved rulers since time immemorial... There is only one thing that can truly defeat me... And that thing is harbored by the Maidens, or at least three of them, once Cinder becomes the Fall Maiden..." Nightmare glanced at Salem... "I have had an idea, but it will require Grimm as a sacrifice... Beowolves to be exact, three hundred of them."

"Very well, they are yours."

"Thank you Salem."
> PTSD
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Cardin raised his mace with both hands and was about to bring it down on Jaune's head when a buzzer sounded and the lights came on. "Cardin, that's enough." Cardin begrudgingly stopped his assault as Glynda Goodwitch walked onto the stage. "Students, as you can see Mr. Arc's aura has now dropped into the red. In a tournament style duel, this would indicate that Jaune is no longer fit for battle and the official may call the match." 

Glynda turned her head towards Jaune, who was taking out his scroll. "Mr. Arc, it's been weeks now, please try to refer to your scroll during combat, gauging your aura will help you to decide when it is appropriate to attack or when it is better to move to a more... Defensive strategy. We wouldn't want you to be gobbled up by a Beowolf, now would we?"

"Speak for..." Cardin was silenced when he heard a growl, and saw Aria making a 'I'm watching you' motion.

Turning to face in front of her, Glynda addressed the crowd. "Remember everyone! The Vytal Festival is only a few months away, it won't be long before students from the other kingdoms start arriving in Vale, so keep practicing! Those who choose to compete in the combat tournament will be representing all of Vale."

Pyrrha was looking at Jaune, who was looking back at her. Sonata took notice of this and narrowed her eyes. "I know what I must do..."

"You say something Sonata?" The ponytailed girl looked at her team leader and smiled. Sunset's eyes widened when she realized what was happening. "Sonata we talked about this..."

"I have no idea what you're talking about..." Sonata stood up as the bell started to ring. "Lunch time! I could use a taco!" Before anything else could be said, Sonata ran out of the room.

Sunset turned to the remaining Sirens. "I'm not going to be able to stop her, am I?"

"Nope."

"Not even with the assistance of Faust herself. Don't bother trying, she'll bite you. Though you must admit..." Adagio gestured with a thumb towards Jaune and Pyrrha. "Arkos over there would make a cute couple."

"I thought you girls used to get your powers from negative emotions." Adagio just smirked in response.

"Just because we lived on hatred doesn't mean we didn't like love."

Aria punched Adagio on the shoulder. "Speak for yourself!"





Lunchroom.





In the lunchroom Sunset and the Sirens were sitting with teams RWBY and JNPR.  "So... There we were... In the middle of the night..."

"It was day..." Ren corrected the orange haired girl.

"We were surrounded by Ursai..."

"They were Beowolves."

Nora suddenly shot to her feet. "DOZENS OF THEM!"

"Two of'em..."

"But-"

Sunset became oblivious to the entire world as she saw Velvet Scarlatina, a second year student, as well as a rabbit Faunus, get surrounded by Team CRDL. When they started mocking her Sunset absentmindedly started to ball her hand into a fist. Adagio noticed this and followed her gaze, as did Aria, who moved to get up before Adagio stopped her. "No, I'll handle it this time." Standing up, Adagio pulled out Chant des Tempêtes, changing it into whip form. "Make sure that Sunset doesn't have a panic attack."

As Adagio walked off Jaune asked the question that was on everyone's mind. "What's wrong with Sunset?"

"She's having a flashback to the night that man... I can't say it..." Sonata pulled out her  scroll and showed them a picture. It consisted of Team SASA sitting at a restaurant, only there was something off about the team's leader. 

Blake was the first one to notice it. "A-are those?" Sonata merely nodded. "D-dear Oum..."

"What's wrong? I don't get it!"

Ruby got what no one else but Blake did. "Sunset's a Faunus? But where are? What happened?"

"We found her behind a bar one morning, bleeding from two places on her head. What do you think happened? Someone like Ass Grabbinburg over there decided it would be fun to jump an innocent girl because she had an extra set of ears!" The group looked over and saw Adagio standing over Cardin, who was twitching occasionally. And then the girl started singing into the microphone part of her weapon, sending several volts of electricity through the metal part of the whip.* "She was just going out to buy groceries..."

To Blake's surprise, Weiss seemed disturbed by this revelation. "That... That's horrible! I know some people hate Faunus, Oum knows that I have a small problem trusting Faunus because of the White Fang, but for someone to do that!? That's, only a monster would do something like that!"

Jaune's eyes were wide. "And I thought I had problems. Please, tell me they caught the guy!" Sonata shook her head.

"They didn't get the chance. The guy had done it more than once. Richard Rowan was his name, I think. One of his victims tracked him down and took care of him themselves. There was barely anything left to bury." Sonata showed them a picture of the man. "According to several of his victims, he did worse than take their ears... I guess he didn't find Sunset attractive."

"I... I need to go throw up!" Weiss jumped up and ran off, towards a bathroom.

Adagio returned and saw that Sunset had yet to calm down. "Sonata, take Sunset to our dorm, get her some of her emergency medication and help her get some rest." Sonata nodded and helped Sunset to her feet.

"Come on Sunny, let's get you to bed. It's ok, he can't hurt you again..." After Sonata had led the mutilated Faunus away Aria slammed her hands on the table.

"YOU SHOULD'VE LET ME TEACH ASS GRABBINBURG A LESSON!" Adagio gave Aria a flat stare.

"You're angrier than normal and people like him deserve to suffer. Not get off easy by having the shit knocked out of them by a half assed punch."

"What do you mean half assed?" Yang's words brought the Siren's attention to her. "Cardin's got a really strong aura."

Aria grumbled. "Sometimes I hate my Semblance... I call it Rage and Riot** The angrier I get, the stronger I become... I went out hunting the day after that bastard attacked Sunset, I killed an entire nest of Death Stalkers with only a few scratches to show for it. If I had been the one to track that bastard down, there would've only been a stain left for the police to find." With her piece said, Aria got up and walked away, leaving Adagio alone with the natives of Remnant.

"Please, don't mention this around Sunset, she only freaks out like this once every few months, but it really bothers her. She's suffered through a lot... She doesn't need to be reminded about the past..."

The Siren left the lunch room and headed to her team's dorm to check on her sisters. The natives of Remnant had lost their appetites as well, heading to their dorms as a result.

Blake silently thanked Oum that she had not been in Sunset's shoes and silently prayed to the god that Richard Rowan would be tortured for eternity.





On the Dragon Continent.





The Beowolf squirmed in Nightmare's magical grasp. "Worry not, your pain shall be short." Releasing the Beowolf, Nightmare and Salem watched as the three hundredth Grimm fell and sank into the giant cauldron, filled with the bubbling, magic infused liquid from the spawning pools. "Ita definitivum sacrificium, quod peto Tenebris Copias ex fortissimis de exercitu suo esset potens dare, ut magis sacrificia uestrae libidini datum proferetur explerit sanguine! Quaeso hanc potestatem ut nos vicissim in saturitate!"***

The cauldron began to shake before black wisps started to rise from the cauldron. The liquid floated out and formed a large puddle on the ground. A giant claw emerged from the puddle followed by another. Then three gaping maws emerged, the bone spike covered heads they were attached to following soon after. After a minute, the creature had fully emerged. A three headed Beowolf, easily the size of several mansions stacked on top of one another. Turning it's heads turning to face it's new masters.

Salem smirked as the Grimm's six glowing red eyes looked over them. "I know not who or what these 'Tenebris Copias'**** you prayed to are Nightmare, but I believe that your were correct. Sacrificing a few hundred Grimm for a single beast as powerful as this was a good choice." Turning to the Grimm she pointed to a large cave in the distance. "For now, child, you shall rest. Gather your strength, and when we have need of you, unleash your power upon the mortals."

The beast growled and followed it's master's orders. Nightmare slowly walked behind the Grimm Queen and wrapped her arms around the woman. "Shall we retire for the night, my love?"***** Salem merely nodded as the two walked towards the castle from which they ruled.
> Stray
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few weeks had passed since Sunset's panic attack in the lunch room, and in that time, Cardin had gotten his ass kicked by all three Sirens because he was blackmailing Jaune, but in the end it didn't matter. Apparently Ozpin already knew Jaune had faked his transcripts. Sunset had also threatened to scream attempted rape if he didn't stop picking on Faunus. Cardin quickly got his act together after that. Yes it was a dirty move, but she didn't care.

At the moment Sunset was sitting at a café near the docks, a cup of coffee in her hand. She didn't know why she had taken such a liking to the sea, maybe it was because she had become sisters with the Sirens? Looking around, she saw none other than Team RWBY, Blake and Weiss were starting to have an argument. "Better stop this before it gets out of hand." Placing some lien on the table and finished her coffee before hopping the low metal fence around the outside portion of the building. 

Blake crossed her arms as Sunset approached her from behind, though neither she nor Weiss noticed this. "The White Fang is hardly a bunch of psychopaths. They're a collection-"

"Of Faunus who used to use peaceful protests to try and improve the way Faunus are treated by humans." The team turned and saw Sunset standing there, hands in her pockets and a cocky smirk on her face. "They only started to act violent when their previous leader stepped down, and the new leader tried to use violence instead of peace to get respect. Sadly, it worked and while Faunus are being treated better these days, there are and always will be those who see the Faunus as nothing but animals...." Sunset's hand absent mindedly drifted to where he second set of ears used to be.

Sunset shook her head and looked at Weiss. "Faunus aren't evil, and the White Fang are simply misguided, though they have taken their actions to the extreme and, sometimes, beyond. That's not to say that all Faunus are good. There are some of them who are the scum of Remnant, but the same can be said about humans, Weiss."

"I know that but-"

Sunset held up a hand to silence her before turning to Blake. "What you need to understand Blake, is that Weiss and her family are, in fact, victims... Shipments attacked, family friends simply vanishing into thin air, I know that the more radical members of the White Fang have outright executed SDC board members... I wager that some have even attacked Weiss herself... You are both right to some degree, the White Fang have gone too far yes, but that's because they got tired of getting pushed around..." Blake looked away from the fire haired girl.

Sunset looked between the two, then looked at Blake's bow. "Weiss, do you trust Blake?"

Weiss was confused by the question. "What does-"

"Do. You. Trust. Her?"

Weiss stood there for a good few minutes, looking at Blake before nodding. "Yes, I trust her."

"Good." Sunset turned to Blake. "Take off the bow."

Blake stood still, eyes wide, when had Sunset figured it out? "Why do you want me to take off my bow?"

Sunset gave Blake a small smile. "You can build trust with someone, but it will fall apart unless you show them who you really are." When Blake didn't move Sunset gave her a small smile. "I already know your secret, so does my team. It really wasn't hard to figure out." Blake looked at Weiss then Ruby and then Yang, all of whom looked confused. 

Blake slowly went to remove her bow, but retracted her hand before she was half way. "I'm not ready..."

"People rarely are. It's your choice Blake, but you know that the fallout will get worse the longer you wait..." Sunset stuck her foot out to the side, tripping the monkey Faunus who was running from a pair of detectives, though he managed to get up and escape before they caught him. 

Yang looked at the quickly retreating Faunus. "Well, that happened. What was that about, you know him Sunset?"

"Yeah, I know him, well I know about him, he's here for the tournament. His name is Sun Wukong he's a bit of a trouble maker, but not a bad person. He was born in Vacuo but he moved to Mistral and now attends Haven academy. He's the leader of Team SSSN, a team consisting of him, Scarlet David, Sage Ayana and Neptune Vasilias. Uses a collapsible staff that can separate into two pairs of nunchuks named Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang." Sunset looked at the group and saw some really concerned looks coming her way. "What?"

"How do you know all that?" Sunset shrugged in response.

"I've got a good memory and Adagio is obsessed with preparing for any possible team we go up against in the tournament. She even went all out in researching you guys and Team JNPR. That's why she knows not to use her Semblance against Nora... It's almost noon, I promised the girls I'd meet up with them to catch the new Spruce Willis movie. Oh and Blake, you really should tell them before it's too late. Ciao for now!" With that the fire haired girl walked off.





That night...





As they sat in their dorm room the four sisters talked. "So you just called Blake out? In front of her team? In front of a Schnee?" Sunset nodded. "Why?"

"You know that I hate it when Faunus hide their animal traits... It makes them look like their afraid... It makes them look like their weak... I know that what... That man did to me and his other victims scared a lot of Faunus, but them hiding what makes them Faunus means that people like him are wining. Look can we talk about something else? I feel like an asshole for what I did today, I'm going to get Blake alone tomorrow so I can apologize..."

"Ok then... What do you want to talk about? The dust shop robberies?" Sunset nodded. ".... You want to catch the thieves don't you?" Sunset nodded again. "Fine then. What do we know about what's happening?" 

"They leave the money behind, so it might be that Torchwick guy Ruby fought before school started... With the amount that's been stolen it could be the White Fang, they're basically a small army these days... Whoever it is, they've been hitting the major dust shops... So they're probably going for quantity and not quality... Hey Sonata!"

The ponytailed girl looked up from her scroll and.... Whatever she was doing. "Yeah?"

"Hack in to the SDC database and find out when the next shipment is coming into Vale." Sonata raised an eyebrow. 

"Uh why?"

"Because we think who ever it is that's been robbing dust shops will attack the next major SDC shipment. And we're going to stop them." Stars appeared in Sonata's eyes.

"We're gonna play hero? For realzies?" Rolling her eyes, Sunset nodded. "Yay!" Sonata began tapping on her scroll and in under a minute she had a list of all the dust shipments coming into Vale for the next month. "Ok, the next SDC freighter is going to dock... Three days from now..." 

"Ok girls, get some rest. Cause in three days, we're going to stop a robbery."





Three days later.





"Damn it. I was hoping we would beat them here." Team SASA, clad in the uniforms of some White Fang members they had... Talked with, arrived just in time to see Blake run up behind Torchwick, pressing Gambol Shroud to his throat.

"Nobody move!" The Sirens started to move in, but Sunset put an arm out to stop them.

"Girls, stay in the shadows, we're going to wait in that Bullhead and see what happens." The Sirens began to protest. "Trust me, Blake can handle this."

A few minutes later Roman Torchwick ran into the bullhead, ready to escape. "These kids just keep getting-"

"Trickier?" Roman turned around, only to a face full of guitar. He flew out of the bullhead, past an orange haired girl and come to a stop at Ruby's feet. Stepping out of the bullhead the four sister watched as the four Hunters in training readied their weapons. The four kept approaching stopping only once they were a few steps away from them. "Blake, Ruby how are you two doing?"

While Sun and the orange haired girl kept their weapons ready while Blake and Ruby lowered theirs. "Sunset? It that really you?"

Taking off their masks the girls smirked at the four confused teens. "White may look good on Weiss, but it's definitely- And where do you think you're going?" Adagio wrapped her whip around Roman's leg as he tried to get away. Aria walked over, cracked her knuckles and gave Roman a sinister smile.

"Mommy!"

A minute later Roman was unconscious and Aria was handing Sunset Melodic Cudgel.* "Oh yeah, trophy!"** When sirens began to approach Sunset looked at the group. "Hey, we gotta run, don't want to get caught in this mess wearing White Fang uniforms, would ruin our reputations, ya know? Can't exactly take them off either, we're only wearing bra's and underwear!"

Without saying another word the four ran off. Sun broke the silence. "What in Oum's name just happened? Were those the Dazzling Sunsets?"***

"Yep."

"And you two are friends with them?"

"Correct."

"... Think you could get me their autographs? My team would be so jealous!"

"They attend Beacon, so you can ask them yourself. They'll give you their autographs... For fifty lien."****
> Painting Pt. 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunset sat at a table in the library with her sisters, watching in amusement as Team RWBY played a round of Remnant: the Game. To Sunset's delight Blake was no longer wearing her bow. "So..." Sunset glanced to the side and saw Sonata, who, one way or another, had managed to get a taco into the library. "You think they're going to do-"

"Yang Xiao Long, prepare your kingdom for battle!"

"Bring it on!"

"Never mind." Sonata went back to looking at her scroll which she was using to... Oh for the love of!

"Sonata! We talked about this! No shipping!" Sonata hissed at Sunset as the fire haired girl tried to take her scroll. "Give me the scroll or I'm going to pay the lunch workers to stop giving you tacos!"

Sonata's eyes widened in horror. "You wouldn't!"

Sunset narrowed her eyes and held out her hand. "Try me." For a second it looked like Sonata was actually going to give her the scroll. Looked like. "Gah!" Sunset pulled her hand back and started rubbing it to try and make the pain subside. "You bit me!"

"Nothing can stop love!" Sonata leapt over the table, avoiding Sunset's hand as she tried to grab her, before running to a window and jumping out. Thankfully she used her Semblance and didn't get hurt, nor did her waterproofed scroll.

Sun and his teammate Neptune just stared dumbly at the ponytail girls actions just as they walked into the room.

"... She bit me." Sunset mumbled in disbelief.

Adagio, who was doing her nails, just gave Sunset a look. "I warned you."

"'Sup, losers?" As Sun walked up behind Team RWBY Aria got up and began to slowly walk towards the group.

Ruby smiled at Sun, but her eyes slowly widened as she saw Aria approaching, cracking her knuckles as she did so. "Hey, Sun?"

"Ruby, Yang, Blake, Ice Queen."

"Why does everyone keep calling me that!?"

Ignoring her Sun continued. "I never got a chance to formally introduce you to my old friend."

Aria simply stood there and in less than a minute after hearing his name, Neptune was on her shit list. 'Fucking flirts!' As Blake stood up and walked away, Aria decided she had waited long enough. "Hey, monkey boy!" Sun turned and immediately got a knuckle sandwich, his aura depleted in a single second, the blond fell to the ground unconscious.* The others looked at her terrified, but Aria simply walked away. "Teach him to leave banana peels lying around."





A few hours later.





Sonata had been hiding in the vents for a few hours now, trying to avoid Sunset so that she wouldn't get yelled at. Why the vents? Because none of her teammates would dare try and follow her. They were claustrophobic. She heard someone talking and glanced out through the slots in the vents. "Hello, what do we have here?" She was directly above Team RWBY's dorm.

"I just... I don't understand how everyone can be so calm." Oh, it's Blake... 

'Checkmate, Ladybug, Bumblebee, Kitty Magne- No Sonata, focus! Ship later, listen now!'

"Torchwick, the White Fang, all of it! Something big is happening and no one is doing anything about it!"

"Ozpin told us not to worry. Between the police and the Huntsmen I'm sure they can handle it."

Blake wasn't so sure. "Well I'm not! They don't know the White Fang like I do."

Weiss put her two lien in. "Ok, between blowing up nightclubs, stopping thieves, and fighting for freedom, I'm sure the three of you think you're all ready to go out and apprehend these ne'er-do-wells... But once again let me be the voice of reason... We're students. We're not ready to handle this sort of situation."

'Oh... I'm definitely getting me and the girls in on this!'

"Okay!" Ruby raised her hand and went into a rapid fire speech that Sonata could barley understand. "All in favor of becoming the youngest Huntresses to single-handedly bring down a corrupt organization conspiring against the kingdom of Vale say 'aye'!"

"Yes! I love it when you're feisty!"

"Well I suppose it could be fun." 

"Aye!" A large amount of seawater poured out of the ceiling vent behind Ruby and took the form of Sonata. "And I can get my sisters to help!" The four girls simply stared at the Siren dumbly before she ran out.

Yang pointed at the door. "Ok... Where did Sonata come from?"





The next day, after class.





Team SASA and Team RWBY had all gathered in Team RWBY's dorm "Right, everyone remember their roles?"

Weiss smirked. "You, Adagio, Sonata and I will head to the CCT and check the Schnee records for any other dust robberies, or inconsistencies. Seeing as I'm in the family, it shouldn't be a problem."

Adagio nodded. "While Weiss is doing that Sonata and I will be contacting some of our dust suppliers, seeing if they've had any trouble as well." When Adagio looked at Weiss she saw a look of betrayal cross her face. "The SDC is infamous for their mistreatment of Faunus. Make your father start treating them fairly, then we might start buying dust from your family." Adagio turned to the no longer hiding Faunus. "What about you?"

"The White Fang has regular faction meetings to hand out orders and recruit new members. If I can get in, I can hopefully find out what they're planning. Sunset will be going with me, sadly the only way I can see her getting in is by showing the guards her scars, and revealing the fact that she's one of Richard Rowan's victims." Team ASA looked at Sunset who seemed to unusually calm.

Sunset shrugged in response. "I'll be fine. I took some of my medicine earlier to calm me down, should last through the meeting. I have some extra in my pocket, just in case." Seeing the looks her teammates were giving her, Sunset gave a reassuring smile.

"Right, well I have an old friend on the shady side of town that typically knows everything going on in Vale. Getting information out of him shouldn't be hard with both me and Aria there." Aria looked at Yang for a second.

"You wouldn't happen to be talking about Junior Xiong, would you?" When Yang nodded a sinister smile crossed Aria's face. "Oh this is going to be fun. I messing the place up after we get something out of him... If he doesn't give me the five thousand lien he owes me." They all looked at her skeptically. "No one stiffs me when I win a bet... Period."

"Great, we'll meet up tonight near Yang and Aria to go over what we found. Let's do this!"

"Yeah!" Sun dodged the jawbreaker that Aria threw at him.** "Ha, missed me!"

"Sun! How did you get up there?" 

Sun was pretty much unfazed by the question. "Ah it's easy I do it all the time."

Sunset smirked at her team. "'You don't need to booby-trap our window!' they said, 'It'll be fine! Someone couldn't reach our window unless they could fly' they said! Well look who was right! This girl! Now pay up!" The Sirens begrudgingly handed her fifty lien each. "Oh, their talking again."

"Pfft, that's dumb. You should always get friends involved. That's why I brought Neptune." The eight girls all poked their heads out the window and saw the blue haired teen bracing himself against the wall.

"'Sup."

Ruby asked the question that was on all of their minds. "How did you even get up here?"

"I have my ways." Neptune looked down at the ground. "Seriously though, can I come in. We're like, really high up right now." A minute of helping the boy in, as well as the Sirens making Sunset a hundred and fifty lien richer, Ruby reiterated the plan.

"Alright, I'll go with Weiss. Sun you can go with Sunset and Blake." Ruby began pushing the blunette towards Yang and Aria. "And Neptune, you can go with Aria and Yang so it will be even as possible. Everyone good?"

"Actually Ruby, why don't you go with Yang, ha. After all she is your sister." Sonata saw what was happening and a smile grew on her face.

'Yes! My plans are working, and I didn't even try to start this ship yet! Wait, where are they going!?' Sonata's smile fell as Ruby dragged Weiss away. 'Noooooooooooooooo!' Adagio rolled her eyes, grabbed her sister and dragged her out as well. The other groups quickly left, heading to their own respective destinations.





On the Dragon Continent.





Nightmare was not happy. Word had reached her and Salem of Torchwick's capture and she was... Not taking it well, as evidenced when she threw a ball of condensed shadows at Tyrian Callows, the member of her and Salem's inner circle who had the misfortune of being the one to inform them of the setback to their plans. She turned towards her lover. "I knew this would happen! You can not trust a mortal to do a Goddess's job!"

"I apologize my Mistresses! B-but if it is any consolation, I have killed one of the Huntsman working with Ozpin! I even brought his body and blade back for one of your rituals Mistress Nightmare!" Tyrian was punished for speaking out of turn with another ball of shadows.

"You will speak only when spoken too bug!" Nightmare looked over the corpse of the Huntsman Tyrian had returned with. Greggory Haldbar was his name. A tan, red haired rhino Faunus, around six feet tall and weighing about one hundred forty pounds. "However, since you returned with this... Specimen for one of my rituals, and at Salem's insistence that you are still of use to us... I shall overlook my disappointment... This time. Do not return with any bad news in the future. Now leave my sight!"

Tyrian stood from his kneeling position and bowed once more. "Yes Mistress, I understand Mistress!" Tyrian fled the room at his Mistress' orders, as soon as he was out of sight Nightmare approached the corpse.

"Now what to do with you..." Nightmare lifted the body from the ground with her magic and began to inspect it. "Still in one piece, the muscles have yet to deteriorate... Yes, yes this will do nicely. Salem, my love." Salem had slowly approached the other woman as she had inspected the body. "What do you know of Necromancy?"
> Painting Pt. 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Wow! I forgot how big the transmit tower looks so close!" Adagio was now regretting going with Weiss and Ruby for one simple fact.

"Hey Adagio, can we get a taco after we're done here?" That fact being that, while she loved her sister dearly, Sonata was annoying. And now there were two of them. Two of them!

"Oh for Faust's sake! Yes Sonata, I'll buy you a taco later. Now please, try to focus..." Adagio looked around and saw Ruby talking to the orange haired girl from that night at the docks. After a second the girl left and Ruby followed. "Sonata, follow Ruby, but try and stay out of sight. That girl is powerful and we don't know for sure if she's on our side or not."

"Ok! You better keep your promise!" The childish Siren ran off, shadowing Ruby from a distance.

Adagio walked up next to Weiss, who was looking at her with a confused expression. "Sooo... Who's Faust?"

Adagio looked at the girl as if she had just asked how to breath. "Uh... Faust is Faust. You know, the Goddess?" Weiss clearly didn't know what she was talking about and the Siren realized her mistake. "Oh, that's right, I keep forgetting how isolated our village is. To put it simply, back home Faust is the name of our village's guardian Deity. She's our equivalent to what you and most other people inside the kingdoms would call Oum." Adagio walked into the elevator and looked back at Weiss. "You coming or not?" Weiss shook her head and walked into the elevator. "I wonder how Sonata's doing?"





'Dunununun, Sonata!'* The blue haired Siren was currently creeping along the rooftops, silently following the two girls her oldest sister had tasked her with watching.

"I wish I could help you Ruby. But I don't know anything about those men."

"Well, what happened to you that night? We were all together and then you just disappeared. Were you kidnapped?" Penny, as Sonata had learned her name was, quickly brushed that worry away. 

"Oh no, nothing like that!"

"Well then where did you go?"

"I've never been to another kingdom before. My father asked me not to venture out too far, but, oh you have to understand, my father loves me very much. He just worries a lot." Both Ruby and Sonata knew exactly what she meant, but in Sonata's case it was her sisters who worried about her, they worried about Sunset too.

"But, why not let us know you were ok?"

"I, was asked, not to talk to you. Or Weiss... Or Blake... Or Yang... Anybody really."

Sonata's eyes narrowed. "Suspicious!" Sonata's attention was broken away from the girls when she heard a loudspeaker. 

"The AK130 has been the standard security model of Remnant for several years. And they have done a fine job, wouldn't you agree? Wouldn't you agree?" Seeing the holographic image of General James Ironwood didn't bother Sonata very much... But the machines standing behind them were another story. Sonata might have been good with computers true, but she had never liked robots... They were cold, lifeless and generally unsettling to the Siren.**

The way she saw it, they were husks, metal puppets with no reason to exist other than to do work for people too lazy to do things themselves. They didn't have hearts and they didn't have souls. They were simply there... Like the Grimm... A shiver went down the Sirens spine at the thought of being up close to one. "But, the kingdom of Atlas is a kingdom of innovation. And fine, well that's just not good enough is it?" The containers behind the AK130s slowly began to open, revealing what was probably their new, more advanced replacement.

"Presenting, the Atlesian Knight. 200." Yep. The more advanced robots lifted a leg and kicked their predecessors in the back before setting their foot down on the fallen androids. "Smarter, sleeker and admittedly, a little less scary."

'Uhhh, nope. Still just as creepy!'

As the robots began to strike poses, the hologram of Ironwood continued his speech. "These models will become active later this year but they won't be alone. Now, the Atlesian Military has always supported the idea of removing men from the dangers of the battle field. However, there are still many situations that undoubtedly require, a human touch. So, our kingdom's greatest minds, in cooperation with the Schnee Dust Company are proud to produce, the Atlesian Paladin!" The image of Ironwood vanished and was replaced by the image of a large manually operated robotic suit.

Sonata had tuned the announcement out as she saw Penny begin to run away, Ruby following suit, followed by two Atlesian soldiers. "Uh oh..." Sonata quickly joined in the pursuit, eventually catching up just in time to see Ruby fall before Penny pushed her out of the way of an in coming truck. "Oh n-" Sonata's words died in her mouth as Penny thrust her hands toward the truck... And brought it to a complete halt. Penny ran away with Ruby following. "Aw come on!" Sonata hopped to the ground before chasing after the two girls.

"You promise you're my friend?" Sonata stopped in her tracks and took a glance around the corner.

"I promise."

"Ruby..." Penny lifted her hands, palms facing upwards. Was that.... Metal? "I'm not a real girl."

Ruby seemed just as confused as Sonata felt. "Penny I-I don't understand."

"Most girls are born, but I was made. I'm the worlds first synthetic person capable of generating an aura. I'm not real." Ruby seemed to be barely phased by this revelation. 

Sonata was, in her own opinion, taking this surprisingly well. 'Why am I not getting freaked out about her existence... Ok, I don't like robots cause they don't have a soul... But Penny can generate aura, I saw her do it... So she has to have a soul right? Uhh my brain hurts now.' Sonata decided it would be best to ask Ruby about the girl later.





As Aria walked up to the doors of Junior's club she saw they were open and heard voices from inside. "Blondie! You're here. Why?" 

"You still owe me a drink." Yang walked forward and dragged Junior towards the bar.

"Whoa, what a woman." Aria silently crept up behind Neptune as he glanced at Miltiades and Melanie Malachite, the twins who worked for Junior. "Sup." Aria pointed her thumb at him and looked towards the twins.

"Hmph. Whatever." As they walked away Aria frowned and pushed past Neptune heading towards the bar.  Junior noticed her and Yang, who hadn't noticed her arrival was genuinely surprised when the man's eyes widened.

"Oh sweet merciful Oum no! Blondie, please tell me she's not with you!" Yang turned around and saw Aria standing there, cracking her knuckles as she did so. Yang looked back at Junior and saw what she could only describe as pure fear. "Look, I'll give you whatever you want, just get her out of here!"

"I'm not going anywhere until you give me the five thousand lien you owe me Junior! And you can avoid having to pay interest if you give Yang what she wants." Aria started to march forward and grabbed Junior by the tie. "Now pay up or I'll show you how nice I was last time I was here." Yang was a little surprised by Junior's reaction to say the least.

"Here! You can have everything we've made this month! Please, don't go crazy like last time!" Aria slowly walked around the bar and reached into his pockets, fishing around until she found his wallet.

"ID, credit card, bank card... Here we go, cash." Aria quickly counted up five thousand lien and pocketed it before tossing the wallet over her shoulder and walking towards the door. "Tell Yang what she wants to know. Lie and I'll start breaking things... I won't stop at just the building this time."***





Sunset, Blake and Sun had just entered the White Fang meeting, each of them having donned Grimm masks. Sunset could immediately tell something was off. "Guys, look, on the left side of the stage." The two Faunus that still had their animal traits glanced to the side and saw a short girl in a white jacket, brown pants and white boots. The problem was that she was human.

A man in a White Fang uniform walked out on stage. "Thank you all for coming. For those of you who are joining us for the first time tonight, I regret that a very special comrade of ours was recently arrested and could not be here today. However, he was able to secure a few things that will be instrumental in our fight against the humans." The man turned around and pulled the large tarp off the massive object hidden beneath it, revealing a Paladin.

"That's not good..." Sunset briefly glanced to the side and saw the girl from earlier looking their way... Then the girl walked off stage and Sunset started to get nervous. "Well, this isn't going to end well..."

"Will all new recruits please come forward."





Three hours later.





Sunset had, surprisingly, been wrong. It had ended well, they had gotten in and out without a problem... Well Sun and Blake had. You see Sunset didn't feel comfortable leaving the Paladin in the hand of the White Fang. So, as she and the others were passing by, she ran onto the stage, hopped into the Paladin, and without any other ideas, started pushing buttons...

So she didn't have the best plan, but it worked out in the end... Ok, she had driven the thing into the ocean after she accidently activated the self-destruct sequence.**** And now she was back at Beacon, in her dorm room, after having already suffered the wrath of Glynda Goodwitch. She had been saved from what would have more than likely been expulsion when Ozpin himself had told her to return to her dorm and get some rest. As the Sirens began to ask her questions she raised her hand to silence them. "I'll tell you what happened tomorrow... I just want to take a shower and go to bed, okay? Okay."
> Dance
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The lights came on and Glynda walked into the ring. "And that's the match." Sunset and the Sirens watched with satisfaction as Cardin passed out. Glynda glanced at the boy for a second before looking back to Pyrrha, the one responsible for his, and the rest of team CRDL's, condition. "Well done Miss Nikos. You should have no problem qualifying for the tournament."

The red head nodded in response. "Thank you professor."

Glynda looked down and began to look at her scroll. "Alright, now I know that's a tough act to follow be we have time for one more sparring match. Any volunteers?" Glynda looked up, eyes eventually settling on Team RWBY. "Miss Belladonna? You've been rather docile for the past few classes. Why don't you-"

A boy in a gray jacket sitting behind Team RWBY raised a hand, interrupting the teacher. "I'll do it."

While most of the students were silently staring at the boy, he had interrupted the Witch of Beacon after all, Glynda seemed unfazed. "Mercury is it? Very well. Let's find you an opponent."

"Actually, I wanna fight..." The boy stood up and pointed into the arena, directly at Pyrrha. "Her."

"I'm afraid that Miss Nikos has just finished a match, I'd recommend you choose another partner." Pyrrha went to say something, probably to say she was fine and that she wouldn't mind. Sunset, however had other ideas.

"I'll fight him Miss Goodwitch!" Everyone's eyes turned to Sunset, she was the only person in the class, aside from Pyrrha, who had only lost a match once. That match had been against Pyrrha, and neither of them really 'lost', they had actually knocked each other's aura into the red at the same time. They quickly realized how screwed the Haven student was.

"Very well then Miss Shimmer, Mr. Black, please come to the front of the classroom." A minute later Sunset and Mercury were in the arena. "The match will last until one party forfeits or their aura is knocked into the red. Begin."

Sunset didn't move for a moment, her eyes rapidly looking over her opponent. 'No signs of the weapon he uses... Wait a second.' As Mercury ran towards her, Sunset looked at his lower half, eyes narrowed. 'There! His weapons are built into his boots! As Mercury reached her Sunset leaped into action. Sunset turned to the side, moving out of the way of his first kick, before quickly grabbing hold of it.

"Hmm-" Sunset silenced the boy when she elbowed him in the face. The boy responded with a punch to the side of her head, causing her to loosen her grip enough for him to get free. "Now that wasn't very nice."

Sunset smirked. "Things get boring if you only play nice." She blocked a kick with the head of Sinner's Ballad. "You know, your kind of cute, I'd definitely try to hit on you, but I don't swing that way." She blocked another kick. "So, are we just gonna keep doing this or are you going to get serious?" Before Mercury could respond Sunset sidestepped yet another kick. Sunset grabbed his leg, knocked his other leg out from under him. A second later Mercury was pinned to the ground, Sunset's foot on his chest and the blade of her weapon pressed against his throat.

Mercury was about to try and kick Sunset from his prone position, but a buzzer sounded before he could move. "The match is over, Mercury Black's aura has been knocked into the red. Sunset Shimmer is the victor."

Sunset pulled the blade of her weapon away from the boy's throat and held her hand out to help him up. The boy ignored her and stood up on his own. Sunset stared at the boy as he walked away, a frown plastered on her face. "Yet another splendid performance Miss Shimmer. You and your team have all shown exceptional skill and should have no problem qualifying for the Tournament."

"Thank you professor." Sunset turned another tuner on Sinner's Ballad, returning it to guitar mode.

Glynda looked towards the rest of the students. "That is all for today. And remember the dance is this weekend, bot you all have your first mission on Monday. I will not accept any excuses."





That night.





Sonata growled as she spied on Jaune through the vents. Weiss had just opened Team RWBY's door and now the blonde boy was trying to serenade her. "Weeeiiisssss~" His response was a door closing in his face. The boy stood still for a second before he knocked on the door. "Oh come on." He knocked again. "Open the door. I promise not to sing." When the door opened, he started playing the guitar again. "I liiieed~!" Sonata saw Weiss put her hand on her face. "Weiss Schnee, will you accompany me, to the dance on... Sunday~?"

"Are you done?"

Jaune stood there. "Yes?"

Things were silent for a second. "No." The door closed once again.





"Oh please, if you don't get a date I'll wear a dress." Sonata pulled herself onto the roof after Jaune walked away. The Siren walked up behind Pyrrha, who sadly looked at the blonde as he walked away.

"He is not going to wear a dress if I have anything to say about it..." The redhead yelped and turned around, pointing her blade at her unseen visitor. She quickly lowered it when she realized who it was. The Siren stared at her for a second before grabbing the girl's arm.

"Sonata, what are you-"

"Come on Pyrrha, I'm going to get you a date with your knight in shining armor if it kills me!" The Siren, her mission selected, didn't even realize that the girl was trying to get her to let go. "First stop, my team's dorm! Adagio will make some calls and get you a dress you could only dream of!"





The dance.





Sunset, clad in a black dress similar to her jacket, smiled as she saw Pyrrha dancing with Jaune. "Well, Faust be damned, Sonata actually did it." The fire haired girl looked over to the side and saw Adagio surrounded by boys wanting to dance with her, though she only smiled and declined, which honestly surprised her... "And now she's dancing with Scarlet... Figures at least one of them would dance with the pirate." 

Aria had refused to come to the dance, saying that there was a better chance of her sleeping with Cardin of all people than getting her to go to a dance.* Sunset had once made a joke about her obsession with hurting him, saying it might be her way of showing that she liked him. She quickly shut up when Aria pulled what basically a one hundred page list of plans to kill him.

As for Sonata.... Let's just say that sometimes, Sunset was happy her Faunus trait was gone. Yes, her squees of excitement were that loud. She took one last look at the blue haired Siren, who was taking pictures of most of the students, before walking out of the ballroom. She immediately noticed Ruby running towards the CCT. The girl glanced at the ballroom one more time. "Meh, not really my kind of crowd..."





A few minutes later Sunset had caught up with Ruby and they had arrived at the CCT and, after seeing an unconscious guard, called their RPLs. "So... Do you have any idea why someone would sneak into the CCT Sunset?"

"It's the most powerful broadcasting station in Vale. They might be sending a message to allies in the other kingdoms or they could be installing a virus... Remind me to get Sonata out here after this is over." The elevator dinged as the two finally arrived at the communications room. Sunset quickly and quietly moved out of the elevator, slowly making her way around the receptionist's desk.

"Hello?" Sunset saw Ruby stumble and fought the urge to go help her when she saw a brief flash of movement. "Is anyone there? Hello?" Sunset saw the woman who had been the source of the movement slowly stand up. "Excuse me. You know it's not a masquerade party, so why don't you take off that-" When gunshots replaced words Sunset leapt into action, catching the woman by surprise and managing to get a good hit in on her back.** She briefly looked at the hole she tore in the girls dress and noticed a tattoo that looked like two high heel shoes placed sole to sole, forming a heart.

"No one attacks my friends!" Sunset turned one of the tuners on Sinner's Ballad, opening the base and revealing a barrel. She was about to turn up the heat when she heard the elevator arrive and, despite her better judgment, glanced to see who had arrived. After seeing it was General Ironwood, she turned back, only to see the woman was gone.

Sunset's eye twitched a few times before looking at Ironwood. "You have the worst timing." Sunset ignored whatever happened after that and walked to the receptionist's desk. "Knew it!" Sunset pulled out her scroll and dialed Sonata's number. "Hey Sonata?" ... "Get to the CCT, now." ... "Because someone hacked in and installed a virus." ... "Alright, I'll see you in a minute." Hanging up she turned to Ironwood, who was approaching, a careful look in his eye. "Hey, does the Black Queen chess piece mean anything to you?"





The Dragon Continent.





Nightmare stared into her cauldron, which showed a village, but that wasn't what she was looking at. As the image began to move towards an abandoned farmhouse on the outskirts of the village. A sinister smirk came to her lips. Inside the building rested a little girl, no older than five. She had pink hair and had a tan complexion. She was wearing what looked like a green dress, with patches all over it that looked like they came from a potato sack. 

The most interesting part of the scene were the plants that were growing underneath her. "Salem, love, Cinder may not be needed anymore..."

This got Salem's attention. "What do you mean?" Salem gazed into the cauldron and saw the girl. "This girl... Is she what I think she is?"

"I believe so. Though the only way to know for sure would be for me to touch her..." Salem looked at the girl.

"Why would you suggest we replace Cinder with her?" 

Nightmare smiled at her lover. "I didn't say we would replace her... Just that she may not be needed anymore... Cinder is a woman, fully grown and set in her ways... All she seeks is power, and should our death benefit her, I am certain she would turn on us... This girl however..." She motioned towards the girl. "She is but a child, and children can be molded, shaped and taught... Life has clearly not been kind to her... She is almost nothing but skin and bone... Would a child such as that bite the had that feeds her? Hmmm?"

Salem remained silent for a second, contemplating her options. "Your words have a slight truth to them, though I believe it would take more than a slight benefit for Cinder to turn on us... Nightmare, please, find this girl and if she is a Maiden... We shall bring her home."

"Very well, my love..." Nightmare glanced back at the girl in the cauldron. "It would appear the Spring is coming..."***
> Mission Pt. 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunset sighed as the elevator arrived at Ozpin's office. Last night had gone surprisingly well and Sonata had quickly rooted out the virus. It was designed so that someone, with the press of a button, could take full control of all Atlas Military devices in Vale. "Miss Shimmer?" Right now what worried her was the fact that someone, the person who had broken into the CCT, could have caused a massacre with the push of a button had Sonata not rooted out the virus. And why had Ironwood ignored her when she asked about the Black Queen? "Miss Shimmer, are you alright?"

"Hmm?" Sunset snapped out of her thoughts when she heard Ozpin's voice. "Yeah?"

"I asked if you were alright."  Sunset nodded.

"I'd feel better if I had listened to my gut and hadn't let the General's arrival distract me and Ruby. If I hadn't allowed my curiosity to get the better of me the criminal wouldn't have gotten the chance to get away." Sunset looked at the ground. "I screwed up..."

Ironwood took a step towards them. "Ruby, Sunset, I feel it's appropriate to let you know that I think what the two of you did last night is exactly what being a Huntress is all about. You recognized a threat, you took action, and you did the very best you could."

"Thank you sir."

"Yeah..."

"Now, the General here has already informed us of the events that, transpired last night. But now that you've rested we were wondering if you had anything to add." Glynda took a step forward, lowering her crop as she did so.

"Was anyone else with her? Did she look familiar to you at all?"	 Sunset looked back at her and the Sirens' time on the road. "What about you Miss Shimmer?" Sunset opened her jacket and pulled out a piece of paper before handing it to Glynda. "What's this?"

"She had a tattoo on her upper back. She also said something about two operations in the north and the southeast. Just outside the kingdom. My team and I were thinking about heading to the north and shadowing a Huntsman or Huntress out there, see if we could maybe take it down, ya know?"

Ozpin stood up. "Interesting. Thank you for your cooperation. Go and spend some time with your teams. You have a big day ahead of you."

"Anytime." Sunset just nodded in response before turning around and walking toward the elevator.

"And please, do try to be discreet about this matter." Sunset stopped and turned around, looking at the three adults. "Is there something wrong Miss Shimmer?"

"General Ironwood never answered my question last night. So could you?"

"I can try."

"When I checked the receptionist's desk at the CCT, there was a chess piece on the screen. The Black Queen. That mean anything to any of you?"

"I'm afraid not Miss Shimmer." Sunset looked at Beacon's headmaster for a second before nodding.

"Right, well, I'll keep this quiet unless you say not too. Ciao!" Sunset walked into the elevator and as the door closed, let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding in.





The auditorium.





"Professor Ozpin would like to share a few words before we begin."

Ozpin walked up to the microphone and Sunset looked at Aria, who looked like she was already mad for some reason. Sunset smirked and looked at the stage. "Give him a chance Aria. It won't be as bad as the first one."

Ozpin remained silent for a moment. "Today we stand together, united. Mistral, Atlas, Vacuo, Vale. The four kingdoms of Remnant. On this day nearly eighty years ago, the largest war in recorded history came to an end. It was a war of ignorance, of greed, and of oppression. A war that was about much more than where borders fell or who traded with whom. But about the very idea of individualism itself."

"We fought for countless reasons, one of which being the destruction of all forms of art and self expression. And as you are aware that was something many could not stand for. As a result, those who opposed this tyranny began naming their children after one of the core aspects of art itself. Color. It was their way to demonstrate that not only would they refuse to tolerate this oppression, but neither would the generations to come. And it was a trend that is held to this very day."

"We encourage individuality, expressionism and unity. Through diversity. As I have said, today we stand together, united. But this bond can not exist without effort. Which is why today while the rest of the world celebrates peace, Huntsmen and Huntresses will work to uphold it." Holographic screens began to appear around the room. "As first year students, you will be tasked with shadowing a professional Huntsman or Huntress, on a mission. Some of you may be taken out of the kingdom for several days. Others may work within the walls for the rest of the week. But no matter which path you choose, remember to be safe, remember your training, and remember to do your very best."

Sunset and the Sirens, including Aria, burst into applause with the rest of the first years. After a minute they calmed down and headed towards a screen of Search and Destroy missions, and ended up choosing one that required them to head out to the north. A small town called Elm had seen a major influx of Grimm and desperately needed help. The only problem was that it was already taken. "Damn it... Anyone else see a mission in that area?"

"That won't be necessary Miss Shimmer." The girl glanced over her shoulder. Standing there was none other than Glynda Goodwitch. "The Headmaster asked me to inform you that your mission has already been decided."

"Wait what?! But we-"

"Were going north to eradicate a sudden influx of Grimm in a town you once performed in? I know. You'll be shadowing me. Come along." Before anyone could say anything else, the woman walked away.

The girls stood there for a second. "Hey, at least it's not Port or Oobleck..." Aria took off after the Witch of Beacon, quickly followed by the others.

What the students and teacher didn't know, was that the sudden influx of Grimm around Elm had been caused by something specific.

Or rather someone specific.





On the outskirts of Elm.





April didn't know why she had to suffer, she was a good person! What did she do to make the town hate her? All she did was help the plants grow, so why did they hate her so much? "I never hurt them..." The girl walked over to the little garden she had made outside of the farmhouse she had made her home. She got on her knees and began to focus on her plants, smiling as they began to grow. 

"That is a very useful talent you have there child." The girl turned around and stared at the black clad woman who had seemingly just came out of thin air. "You look like you haven't eaten in days... Here follow me, I have some food back at my camp." The woman held out a hand to the girl, who shied away, a look of panic on her face. "I'm not going to hurt you, I swear. What's your name sweetie?"

"April...."

"April is it? That's a nice name... My name is Nightmare, but if that's too scary you can call me Night if you want. What's a little girl like you doing out here, all by yourself?"

The girl looked away, back at her garden. "I live here. The people in town don't like me... They say I'm not normal..."

"I would think not. What I saw you do just now isn't normal." The girl glared at the woman. "What you did isn't normal April, it's extraordinary."

"Umm....."

"I mean to say it is impressive." The girl's blank stare made the woman chuckle. "It means good April..."

"Oh...." The woman held out her hand again and April looked at it with weary eyes. "You really have food?" The woman nodded. "And you won't hurt me?"

"You have my word." Nightmare braced herself and held back a hiss at the burning sensation that flared throughout her body when the child took her hand. 'I knew it.' Nightmare looked down at the girl and gave a sincere smile. "See, that wasn't too hard, now was it?" The child shook her head. "Come along April, let's get you something to eat."

"Ok Miss Nightmare..." Nightmare led the girl into the forest, laughing to herself all the way to the camp she had made. 

At the same moment in time, a certain young woman in the city of Vale felt a shiver go down her spine.*
> Mission Pt. 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Glynda readied her crop as the bullhead she and Team SASA was on landed. "Girls, ready your weapons. A horde of Grimm has entered the town." It had taken a few hours for the bullhead to reach Elm, and in that time period the Grimm had grown restless and began to attack the townspeople. 

Sunset turned a tuner on Sinner's Ballad and the blades of her axe popped out. She dashed out of the bullhead and jumped at an Ursa, which she promptly decapitated. The ground beneath her started to rumble and she jumped out of the way as the ground she had been standing on exploded upwards, revealing a Grimm reminiscent of a beetle. It was slightly bigger than the average Ursa and its' entire body was covered in the bone plate armor of a Grimm and it had a large, sharp, horn protruding from it's skull.* 

Sunset stood there for a second as the beetle stared her down. "Well... You're new." The beetle roared at her and charged, Sunset leapt into the air and onto the beetle's back. She quickly began to strike it's back with her axe, trying to break through the think armor. It took a few hits but she managed to make a small hole in its' shell. Turning another tuner on her weapon caused the base to split apart, revealing a barrel that she shoved into the hole before plucking at the strings of her. The Grimm screeched in pain and fire began to spread under its' shell.

Meanwhile Adagio turned the head of her microphone, causing the barbed whip within to eject, she also stomped her foot, a small dagger launching from her boot. She pressed a button on the hilt and the dagger grew in length, transforming into a sword.** She wrapped her whip around the leg of a low flying Nevermore. She retracted her whip, causing her to be pulled upward and, upon reaching the Nevermore, she cut off it's wing before jumping on its' back, directing it at a trio of Beowolves that had surrounded a house.

Sonata ran out of the bullhead and threw Napakymppi into the air as it extended into staff mode. She did a somersault, grabbing her weapon out of midair and bringing it down on a Beowolf's head. Then with quick and precise movements, she changed her weapon into bow form, pulled a fire dust arrow out of her quiver, and fired at a Taijitu as it lunged at her. The arrow entered it's mouth and, upon impacting the back of it's throat, exploded. This led to the headless end of the Taijitu sliding past her, she leapt to the side as the white head bit at her, firing another arrow as she did so.

Aria ran out of the bullhead and began to partake in her favorite pastime, slaughtering Grimm. She impaled a Beowolf with her bladed gauntlets, quickly pulling them back out and grabbing another Beowolf out of the air as it lunged at her. "Not gonna happen!" She tossed the Beowolf at a charging Ursa, the Beowolf dying as it landed on and was impaled by the spikes on its' fellow Grimm's back. Aria ran at the Ursa and gave it an upper cut, causing it to fly into the air before falling back to the ground, being cut into chunks as Aria wildly slashed at it with Strappare and Lacrima. "Who's next?" Several Beowolves charged her at once. They didn't last long.





Meanwhile at Nightmare's camp.





"You are a special girl April. No average person can make plants grow on a whim, nor are they able to heal others."*** April, who was eating some fish at the moment, looked up at the woman who had given her food. She had noticed the burns on the woman's hand and wanted to help her, so she grabbed her hand and wished the burns would go away, and they did. The woman was currently looking at the little girl, a smile on her face. "Thank you for healing my burns."

The little girl swallowed the bite of fish in her mouth and smiled at the woman. "It's ok, you were nice to me, that's all I want." A couple of explosions came from the direction of the town, grabbing the girl's attention. "What was that?"

Nightmare narrowed her eyes in the direction of the town, activating her Semblance, she saw that all of the Grimm she had sent to the village had been disposed of.**** "Oh, I'm sure it's nothing to important. A Beowolf probably strayed from it's pack and got too close to the town." Seeing the girl had finished with her fish, Nightmare offered her another. "Would you like another?" The girl nodded and held out the plate Nightmare had given her. Nightmare set the fish on her plate. "Say, April, do you have anything keeping you here?"

"No, but I'm a little girl, I can't um... Go on an adventure, especially alone..."

"Well, would you like to come home with me?" The girl looked up at the woman, who gave her a kind, sincere smile. "You wouldn't have to be hungry anymore, and I won't let anyone hurt you. What do you say?"

April stared at the woman for a second, taking a bite of fish as she did so. After a minute, and a few more bites, the girl nodded. "Yes. I'd like to go with you." The woman held out her hand and the girl took it. Nightmare raised her hand and snapped her fingers, the shadows beneath them began to pool and the two began to sink. April squeaked and grabbed onto Nightmare, who merely chuckled.

"Hold your breath. It might feel strange, but it will be over before you know it." As they began to vanish Nightmare stepped back. Leaving the girl on her own in the pool, as another figure began to rise from it. "Don't worry April, I'll be right behind you." April gulped, took a deep breath and fully vanished into the pool. "Greggory, few Hunters are in the nearby town. Be a dear and kill them for me." Nightmare pointed in the direction of Elm. The corpse given new life nodded, groaning as it did so and stalked off toward the town. Nightmare smirked and stepped into her portal, disappearing into the blackness.





Back in the Town.





"Miss Goodwitch, we can not thank you and your students enough, the Grimm usually keep to the forest, only attacking when someone gets too close." The mayor had invited them to his home for dinner, which they had graciously accepted. "Though I must admit, it surprised me to see one of the most popular bands on Remnant with you." The mayor looked at Team SASA, who were signing autographs. "Bless those girls, last year their visit brought in enough revenue to keep the town going for an entire year."

"While at first I believed they didn't belong at Beacon, I am glad that I was proven wrong. I thought they were merely fame seekers, who didn't care about anyone but themselves." Glynda sighed and looked at the mayor. "I'm afraid there is another reason we're here. Have you heard of Greggory Haldbar? He's a Huntsman who was working in the area when we lost contact with him."

"The rhino Faunus who carried a club?***** I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but he's dead. He was killed by a man with a scorpion tail." Glynda looked at him in shock. "I'm afraid that you won't be able to send his body back to his family, if he has one. The Faunus took it with him when he left." Screams were heard from outside and before they could react, Adagio crashed through a nearby window.

"Miss Dazzle! Are you alright?" Adagio groaned and sat up.

"I'm fine. But that bastard won't be when we're done with him!" She dived back out the window and ran toward the town square, Glynda following behind her. When they arrived Glynda was stunned to see her students facing none other than Greggory Haldbar, the missing Huntsman. But something was off about him. His movements were jerky and unnatural.

The undead Faunus blocked Aria's fist as she threw a punch, getting pushed a few feet back as a result.  He lowered his shoulder and charged at the girl.  As he charged Aria braced her self. "Sonata now!" Sunset's voice rang from the roof of a nearby building. Sonata, who was next to her, shot an arrow infused with ice dust at the ground in front of the charging Faunus.

The rhino tailed man charged onto the ice and began to slide, as he reached the end Aria grabbed him, lifted him into the air and began to spin around in a circle. "Heads up Sunset!" Sunset readied her axe and Aria released the Faunus, who flew directly at Sunset. Sunset pulled her axe back and swung with all her might.

The Faunus went flying over Aria and landed on the ground in front of Adagio, who pointed her sword at his throat. Before anyone could say anything, the man jerked forward, impaling himself on the Siren's blade. Adagio stood there in shock as the man's body slid off the blade. She was no stranger to death, she had killed some members of the White Fang in self defense, but this was the first time someone had killed themselves in front of her. She looked at Glynda, who was staring at the body. "I-I-I didn't-"

"I know, Miss Dazzle, I saw. Please, get your teammates and return to the ship, I will be along shortly." Adagio nodded and ran off toward where their bullhead had dropped them off, the rest of her team following along.

Glynda stood there for a second, staring at the man who had once helped them to protect the Maidens, as well as the rest of Remnant. With a flick of her crop the body was engulfed in flames. A second later she headed toward the bullhead.





Vale, the next day.





Sunset and the Sirens had woke up in their dorm room this morning, hearing sirens blaring. They were now on a bullhead, along side Professor Port and Team CFVY. "Professor, if you don't mind, we're going to attack now." The man nodded as the girls pulled out their weapons.

"Let's do this!" Aria jumped out of the bullhead, landing on a Ursa that was about to hit Yang, crushing it's head upon impact. The girl stood up and glanced at the blonde, who was surprised by her sudden appearance. "You gonna stare or are ya gonna help me kill these Grimm?" Aria grabbed a Beowolf and ripped its' head off. "I'm fine either way."

Sonata fired an arrow infused with wind dust at the ground, blowing the some of the Grimm upwards. She then began to use the Grimm as stepping stones, soon she reached the ground and fires some arrows into the air at the Grimm she used as a path. As the dead beasts began to fall to the ground, she looked at Blake, who she had landed next too, and waved. "Hi!"

Adagio wrapped her whip around a Beowolf's neck and kicked it. "Giddy up lil' doggie!"***** The Beowolf began to run around, trying to get the girl off of it, passing several other Grimm on the way, many of which lost their heads thanks to Adagio's new sword. She eventually stopped and killed the Beowolf, walking up next to Weiss, who was looking at her skeptically. "What? I can be funny too."

Sunset waited to jump until she was over a Taijitu that was targeting Ruby, smiling to herself and laughing slightly as Nora came out of seemingly nowhere and crushed the black head. Sunset dove out of the bullhead and swung her axe at the white head of the Taijitu as it snuck up on Ruby. "Look out!" Ruby looked behind her and rolled to the side as Sunset embedded her axe in the Taijitu's head. Sunset pulled Sinner's Ballad out of the Taijitu's head and looked at the girl. "Hey Ruby. Did you leave any for us?"

Ruby just stared at the girl, Crescent Rose almost slipping out of her hands. "So cool!" Ruby began looking over Sinner's Ballad. "I never realized that your weapon was built into your guitar! Well I did, but I didn't, you know what I mean?" Sunset smirked and put her hand on the girl's shoulder.

"A fellow weapon lover huh? Tell you what, when we get back to Beacon, I'll show you her blueprints, for now though... Let's just get this mess cleaned up." Sunset changed her weapon into flame thrower mode, turned and began playing. A second later Ruby was staring at the charred corpse of an Ursa. "Well, what are you waiting for?" Ruby shook her head and charged after the fire haired girl.





Cinder Fall watched from a distance as Sunset Shimmer and Ruby Rose fought back to back. While Cinder had learned all she needed to about Ruby, she still considered her a threat. Sunset however was a complete mystery. One second she was shy and  quiet, the next she was loud and outgoing, not to mention the fact that neither her or her teammates could figure out the girl's Semblance. "Who are you?" Cinder's eyes remained fixed on the pair for a while before she turned and walked away... While she walked, she could feel a chill race down her spine. "No matter, she will not be a problem..."
> Waiting Pt. 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	It was all her fault, everyone who had died in the past two hours, their blood was on her hands... But could she actually kill someone? Sunset, along with Pyrrha and Ruby, tightened her grip on Sinner's Ballad and approached her downed enemy, a dark haired woman in a red dress, as they struggled to get up. The fire haired girl briefly shifted her gaze to the city below her blood boiling as Grimm rampaged through the streets. Seeing the destruction wrought upon her new home steeled her resolve. She turned her attention back to the woman she was approaching and began to quietly sing.

"Were we born to fight and die?
Sacrificed for one huge lie?

Are we heroes keeping peace?
Or are we weapons?
Pointed at the enemy
So someone else can claim a victory?"*

As she did so, the woman in red managed to roll onto her back. Looking up she saw Sunset standing there, and felt something only her mistresses had ever managed to instill in her. Fear. "W-w-what are you?" Sunset stomped on the woman's chest and lifted her axe over her head. The woman's eyes widened and she began to shake. "W-w-wait! I'll tell you-" The woman gasped in pain as Sunset shifted her weight and applied more pressure to her chest. "P-please...!" The woman's words were carried away with the wind as the axe fell.





Sunset and the Sirens were currently in Professor Goodwitch's class standing across from Team RWBY,  and both teams were ready for battle. Sunset had woken up that morning with a deep-seated fear. She was sure it was related to a dream she had, but she couldn't remember anything, so she had decided to go about her day like normal. "Girls?" 

Sunset shook her head and looked at Aria out of the corner of her eye. "Yeah Aria?" 

"Leave Yang to me, I want to settle something with her." The purple haired Siren narrowed her eyes at the blonde brawler, who responded in kind. She gave a quick glance at her own feet** before turning to Sunset. "You finished with the modification I asked for, right?"*** When Sunset nodded a vicious grin slithered its way onto Aria's face. "Good. If this works, I won't need any ranged weapons..."

"Are both teams ready?" When Glynda received eight affirmatives she nodded. "The match will last until there is only one team left standing..." Both teams got into their ready positions. "Begin!" With the match having officially begun, the two teams charged at each other.

Yang immediately targeted Aria, firing a couple shots from Ember Celica as soon as she got in range, only for Aria to slide under them. As the blonde cocked her gauntlets in order to fire again Aria decided to tryout the upgrade she had asked Sunset for, and with a quick burst of aura she shot forward at a speed that would make Ruby proud, reaching Yang in half a second. She gave the surprised blonde a powerful uppercut before delivering a quick kick to her chest and activating the upgrade once again, sending the girl flying across the room. "Perfect!" She set her foot down and activated the upgrade once again, propelling herself towards her fellow brawler.

Sonata ran toward Blake with Napakymppi in staff mode, quickly swinging her weapon toward her opponent's right side, only for the weapon to shatter the sculpture the Faunus had made using her semblance. Sonata quickly turned around, just in time to knock a strike from Gambol Shroud away, before bringing the bottom of her staff upwards and striking Blake in the chin, following up with a quick head-butt. The blue haired Siren collapsed her weapon and did several back handsprings in quick succession before extending her weapon once more and taking a stance.

Ruby and Weiss were working together in an attempt to over power Sunset and Adagio. "Ice Flower!" Weiss summoned a glyph in front of Crescent Rose's barrel as Ruby pulled the trigger. The round only managed to make it half way to its location before it collided with a wall of flame and disintegrated. "Weiss, put out the- Incoming!" Weiss summoned a glyph in front of her partner, protecting her from the fireball that had come out of the flames. "Thank-" Ruby was cut off when Sunset leapt through the wall of fire and struck hit her with Sinner's Ballad.

"Ruby!" Weiss activated Myrtenaster's revolving chamber, switching to lightning dust and creating a time dilation glyph in order to quickly reach her partner and assist her. The heiress went to move, only to have Adagio's barbed whip wrap around her wrist and pull her back toward the Siren, disarming her in the process and sending her weapon sliding across the floor toward Adagio.

The eldest Siren smirked and placed a foot under Myrtenaster before kicking it into the air and grabbing it. "I could end this now Weiss... But where's the fun in that?" Adagio threw the rapier back to Weiss  who was slightly confused by the action. The Siren reached behind her back and stomped her foot, grabbing Rompre as it ejected. She held the collapsed sword in front of her before making it extend. "En garde!"

Meanwhile with the two brawlers, Aria had made what would usually prove to be a fatal mistake... She had severed a lock of Yang's hair. "You..." Aria smirked when Yang's eyes opened, revealing that they had changed color, having gone from violet to red. "You monster!!!" Aria glanced behind her, nodded and smirked before returning her gaze to Yang, who seemed to literally be on fire.

"Hey, bimbo!" Aria held out her hand and made a 'come hither' motion with a finger. "Come get some!" Yang charged forward in a blind rage and the moment before she reached Aria, the Siren sidestepped the blonde's punch, which instead connected with Blake, whom had just dodged a strike from Sonata, who had seen her sister nod.

A buzzer sounded as Blake flew across the room, coincidentally landing in the arms of one Sun Wukong, who had decided to sit in on Goodwitch's class in order to watch some matches. "Blake Belladonna's aura has been depleted!" Yang paused for a moment, realizing what had just happened. She fell to her knees as Aria kicked the back of her legs, before feeling the Siren place a boot on her back and stomping as had as she could, forcing the blonde to be flat on the ground.

"That's for all the shitty puns you've made since the school year started!" Aria then lifted her foot and pulled the dazed blonde to her feet. "And this is because your dog pissed on my boots!" She delivered a swift kick to the blonde's chest and activated her upgrade once more, a buzzer sounding a second after Yang landed next to Sunset and Ruby, who were pushing against their weapons against one another, each trying to overpower the other.

"Yang Xiao Long's aura has been depleted!"

"Yang!" Ruby's eye's widened, hearing that her sister had been beaten and pushed against Sunset, who was visibly starting to struggle, with all her might, starting to overpower the older girl.

Sonata and Aria noticed this and began to give Sunset some words of encouragement. "Come on Sunny! You can do it!"

"Show her what you're made of Sunset! Don't hold back!" When their word's reached the fire haired girl's ears something about her changed. Her eyes narrowed and she began to glow, forcing several people, including Glynda, to look away from the bright light**** before pushing back against Ruby with all her might, pushing her off of her before shooting a fireball from her flame thrower and following up with a powerful blow to her side, knocking the little reaper down, a buzzer sounding as she landed. Ruby, as well as Glynda, looked at the girl's aura meter in shock.

"... Ruby Rose's aura has been depleted."





Ozpin and Ironwood, who were both watching the match on a monitor in the former's office, looked on in shock at the result of the clash. Well, Ironwood was staring at shock, Ozpin was simply looking at the monitor, elbows on his desk, chin resting on the back of his hands. "Hmmmm...."

"She beat Ruby, Ozpin. How did she beat a silver eyed warrior!?"

"I don't know James, but it is clear that there is more to Sunset Shimmer, and her team, than what we've seen so far." Ozpin watched on the monitor as the three singers aided their remaining sister by surrounding Weiss, and giving her no chance of escape. His eyes drifted to the girl's aura meter, noticing that it had been refilled. "But I do know that she along with Ruby and Miss Nikos, may be the key to our victory."





Weiss's eyes began to dart back and forth between her four adversaries. Ruby, Blake and Yang had all been eliminated and now she was surrounded by the entirety of one of the top three first year teams. The heiress sighed and lowered her weapon. While she didn't like it, the girl knew that she had no chance and decided to have the match end with at least her dignity in tact. "I forfeit..." The buzzer sounded and Glynda walked onto the stage.

"That's the match. You all put up an excellent fight. Miss Blaze, it was clever of you to bait one of your opponents into eliminating another, however I must request that you do not use my class to settle personal grudges." Aria just waved her words off, much to the woman's annoyance. "Miss Dusk you were able to catch a slight movement from your partner and managed to quickly analyze her situation and help her to turn it to your advantage. Miss Dazzle, while it was honorable of you to return Miss Schnee's weapon to her, however doing so in actual combat would make you lose your advantage. And Miss Shimmer... "  Sunset gulped at the teacher's pause. "Well done as always."

Sunset let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you Professor Goodwitch." The bell began to ring and signal the end of class, as well as the end of the school day. After Glynda had dismissed the class Sunset turned and looked at Team RWBY and her sisters. "I'll see all of you later, I've got to go... Buy some dust! Yeah, that's it! I need to go buy some more fire dust! Okseeyalaterbye!" Before anymore words could be spoken, Sunset had left the room, 'accidentally' knocking Cardin down on her way out.*****

Once she was on a transport bound for the city she pulled out her scroll and dialed a number. "Hey Neo, is our date still on for tonight?"
> Waiting Pt. 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Ozluminati* stood in the headmaster's office along with a strange, hooded man that had approached Glynda after her class had ended and demanded to speak with Ozpin, mentioning the name Amber Autumn when** the teacher refused. "Now then, Mr... I'm sorry, I don't believe you've told us your name."

"My name is not important, all that matters is the message my Mistress wanted me to deliver." The man's voice was monotone, void of all emotion, almost robotic in a way. 

Ironwood scowled at the man. "You expect us to believe that the Queen herself sent you?" The man began to chuckle underneath his hood. "And what is so funny?"

"I do not serve the Queen, I follow another. My Mistress is older, wiser and much more powerful."

"... Are you telling us that there is another player we need to worry about?" When the man did not answer Ironwood slammed his fist on Ozpin's desk in an attempt to intimidate the man. "Answer me!" The man ignored the General and looked directly at Ozpin.

"There is no third faction. My Mistress has sided with the Queen. However, for reasons beyond the understanding of a foolish mortal such as my self, she wishes to make a deal with you." The tension in the room quintupled the moment the words left the mans lips. Things were silent for a moment. 

Ozpin was the one who spoke first. "Continue." Glynda and Ironwood looked at the headmaster in shock.

"Oz, you can't seriously be-" Ironwood's mouth closed when he saw Ozpin's eyes, he had never seen the man's eyes so... Steely.

"Should you agree to my Mistress' terms, she shall have me reveal the names of the ones who attacked the Fall Maiden here and now."

Ozpin's eyes sharpened. "And what exactly are those terms."

The man responded without missing a beat. "Her terms are quite simple. You must kill Amber Autumn." 

"OUT OF THE QUESTION!"

The man ignored the general's outburst and continued talking to Ozpin. "She wanted me to tell you that even if you agree and then went back on your word, there would be no saving her. The girl's soul has been fractured, and a soul is not like a mug or piece of furniture, once broken, it can not be repaired. My Mistress simply wants you to end the girl's suffering. She presents this offer out of the kindness in her heart."

Ozpin stared at the man for a second before taking a deep breath and exhaling. "I'm afraid that this is not a deal I can accept."

The man sighed and stood up before backing away, Glynda readying her crop and Ironwood drawing his revolver as he did so. "Hmmm.... I figured as much, but it was still worth a try..." Even Ozpin was surprised by the distinctly female voice that came from the figure as they looked around. "You know, despite being built by mortal hands, this academy is quite beautiful." The figure looked back at the three and tilted their head. "Would the three of you be dears and keep it in one piece for when I take it as my own?" The figure fell to their knees as blood began to drip to the floor groaning for a moment before falling forward. Ironwood ran toward the figure and placed a hand on their neck, checking for a pulse. He didn't find one.

The ever stoic Ozpin remained seated and stared at the dead body for a moment before slamming his head on his desk. "I believe that this is the kind of situation where taking after Qrow would be appropriate."***





Elsewhere on the grounds of Beacon.





Aria was in Beacon's training area, more specifically she was in the sparing ring**** facing off against Coco Adel. "I've got to ask you again..." Coco pulled her sunglasses down slightly, showing the tops of her dark brown eyes. "Are you sure you want to fight me? I can't promise that you wont get hurt."

Aria chuckled and activated Strappare and Lacrima, her bracelets extending to guard her wrists and hands before the built in claws snapped forward. "Funny, I was just about to say that myself." Aria brought her hands up in front of her, similar to the way a boxer would. "You do know that your talking to the girl who can kill a Goliath with one punch, right? All I have to do is get close, and then my opponent is dead."

"Miss Blaze, while I must  admire your fighting spirit, I must ask that you do not kill, maim or cripple a fellow Huntsman or Huntress unless they have gone rogue." Aria silently groaned when she heard Oobleck's voice, barely nodding in response to the Doctor's chastising. "Nevertheless, I assume that both of you are both ready?" Coco nodded and Aria gave a crazed grin, causing the second year, as well as several students from all four Kingdoms that had gathered to watch the match, to  instinctually cringe. "Very well then, the match will last until either party forfeits or has their aura depleted." Oobleck stepped outside of the ring as see-through Dust nullification barriers rose from the ground. "Ready? Begin!" 

Coco ran forward and struck at Aria with her hand bag, hitting the Siren in the face. 'Why didn't she blo- Shit!' Coco's internal question was answered when Aria kneed her in the crotch. Having seen her do this to several male students, both in and out of class, made the fashion savvy student silently thank Oum that she did not have male genitalia. Aria followed up with a powerful head-butt, one strong enough to break the beret wearing girl's sunglasses. Coco growled at the girl and gave an uppercut with her bag, causing Aira to back off slightly. "Do you have any idea how much those glasses cost!?"

Aria scoffed in response as Coco opened her handbag, the built in Gatling gun  emerging and starting to spin. "Don't worry, I'll buy you a new pair later." Aria activated Scatto one boot at a time and began to dash toward the fashionista in a zigzag pattern before running circles around her. "Can't hit what you can't catch!" After about thirty seconds of avoiding the numerous Dust bullets that Coco had been firing, Aria came to an abrupt stop and did a back flip over the barrage that had been following her activating Scatto again in mid air and shooting toward Coco.

"What the-" Aria gave the girl an uppercut before bringing her elbow down on her arm, causing her to loosen her grip on her weapon before yanking on the gun and delivering a kick to her chest, activating Scatto as she did, sending the girl flying to the other side of the ring. It only took a half a second for the girl to recover. "Owww-" Coco stood up and held her hand over her chest where she had been kicked. "How strong ar- Oh fuck me..." Coco's eyes widened in terror at the sight in front of her. Standing on the other side of the ring was Aria Blaze, wielding her own weapon, a maniac smile on her face.***** "Can we talk about this?"

"No." As her own weapon began to spin as Coco started to sweat and Aria started to slowly approach.

Coco risked a quick glance at the screen above the ring that displayed the combatants aura levels. She was about half way through while Aria's had barely been touched. A quick glance back at the girl made Coco sigh. "I forfeit." A buzzer sounded and Aria visibly frowned, not being able to actually use the weapon that she had temporarily obtained. Aria walked over to Coco as the Dust nullification barriers lowered. 

"How much?"

Coco blinked in confusion. "What?"

Aria transformed Strappare and Lacrima, as well as Fashion Statement,****** back to their inactive mode, and handed the handbag to her classmate. "The sunglasses. How much did they cost?" 

"Uhhh... 5000 lien... Why?" Aria nodded and turned around looking over her shoulder at the second year.

"I said I'd pay for them didn't I? I know what it's like to have your clothes ruined, and I feel kinda bad for breaking them. You don't have to accept but I'm offering to buy you a replacement... And some spares, so come on." Coco stood there for a second before following the Siren out of the training area and toward the bullhead dock to the city.


Vale TV station.


"Welcome back to Shining Stars!******* Today we're here with Adagio Dazzle, a member of the Dazzling Sunsets and a Huntress in training! Thank you for coming on the air today Miss Dazzle."

Adagio, clad in her regular attire, smiled at the show's host. "It's my pleasure Sara. I apologize that I'm the only one here today but my sisters simply had other things to do."

"I understand, now as always we had the audience take a survey before the show, seeing what questions they would like you to answer, so would you mind indulging us?"

Adagio gave a light hearted giggle in response. "So long as you leave out the love life of my sisters and I."

"Well that eliminates about half of the questions." Laughter from the audience was clearly audible to whoever was watching the broadcast live. "Well then let's start out with something juicy... You are often said to call your bandmates your 'sisters', why is that? Are they related to you by blood?"

Adagio simply smiled in response. "Blood is not what makes a family Sara, love is. We call each other sisters simply because that is what we are, we're sisters. We're family. We are there for each other when one of us needs a shoulder to cry on and we would sacrifice ourselves without a second thought to save each other. That is the mark of a true family."

"I see... Moving on... Why are you and your sisters Attending Beacon? What made the four of you make such a drastic career change?"

"Who said we had a career change? We're still singers, we are simply going to be Huntresses as well. In fact, we, along with the Achieve Men, will be opening acts for the Vytal Festival." Across the world fans who had tuned in to watch cheered. "As for why however... Well let me put it this way. Sometimes you think you know what you are destined to do and follow that road, only for that road to later split in two, one continues down the same path you are currently on, while the other calls to you saying your destiny is elsewhere. That is what happened to the four of us."

"That seems like a difficult decision, which path would you say the four of you chose?"

"That's simple Sara. We chose the road less traveled." A few murmurs of confusion were heard from the audience. 

"I'm afraid that I don't understand..."

"Once again, it's simple. We chose the third road, the one most people don't notice. We chose the road between the other two. We decided to follow our dreams, as well as what we felt a calling for. If you ask me, destiny is absolute, unless you decide that it is not. While the choice we made may not be for everyone, it is what we believed would be the best for us."

"... I see... I think I understand... Now we have many more questions that the people want answered... But that will have to wait until after the break. When we come back, we'll be asking Miss Dazzle about several other things, including which Kingdom she thinks will win the Vytal tournament and her thoughts on the recent breach caused by the White Fang."





The Dragon Continent





Nightmare smiled at April as black vines wrapped around a Beowolf before tightening, encasing it in a cocoon like prison. "Very good April, you're getting better at controlling your powers..." Nearby another vine cocoon began to shake and a small clawed arm poked out. "Oh look, it seems one of our previous tests has woken up, come along now."

"Ok!" April, dressed in a newer, more comfortable, green dress, and wearing white bonnet with a black rose on it, turned and smiled at the woman, happily following her. It had been scary at first, the moment she had exited Nightmares portal she had been surrounded by Grimm, only to have a strange lady tell them that she was a friend, Nightmare arriving a moment after the Grimm had left. About a week after she came to this place Nightmare and the strange lady, whom she had learned was named Salem, had told her about their plan. They had told her the world was corrupted and that at their current pace both Human and Faunus kinds would wipe themselves out, and that they sought to prevent that. She was happy to help, Nightmare had been the first person to show her kindness in years.

And when they told her the story of the Maidens and Nightmare claimed that the little girl herself was one, April felt as if she needed to do this. As April arrived at the cocoon the vines fell away revealing what appeared to be a puppy sized Beowolf. "Awwww. It's adorable!" April ran over and picked it up. "I'm going to call you... Crunch!" She set the Beowolf down and began to rub it's belly. "Who's a good boy? You are! Yes you are!"

Nightmare smiled at the little girl, playing with what was commonly seen to be the enemy of all things with a soul. And in that moment, Nightmare knew that April was on their side.
> Waiting Pt. 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunset and Neo had finished their date* when alarms started blaring... Alarms that signified that a Grimm had somehow entered the city. "I thought we killed all the Grimm that got in during the breach..."  Sunset pulled out her scroll and summoned her RPL. Within mere moments a locker crashed into the ground and opened, revealing Sinner's Ballad. She ran over and grabbed her weapon before turning to Neo, who had pulled out her umbrella. "Alright, lets get this over with..."

The two didn't even get a chance to move before a car flew over a nearby building and crashed into the grand across the street from them, demolishing a stand selling flowers as it landed. Fortunately, the man who owned the stand had closed up shop early. Suddenly a shadow was cast over the pair as a large crab-like Grimm leapt into the air and landed on the roof of the building behind the flower stand. "Sunset... Have you ever seen a Grimm like that before?"

"Not in person. What's a Carcinus** doing near Vale in the first place? They're native to southern Anima!" A roar from down the road got her attention and her moth dropped open at what she saw. "A Kraken!?*** Those things are only found in the waters near Solitas!" The squid like Grimm launched itself down the road, landing only a couple of feet away from the two girls before lashing out with it's tentacles. "Shit!" Sunset was about to jump out of the way when Neo opened her umbrella and held it in the air, shielding them from the strike. Sunset spared a glance at Neo and smiled. "Thanks!"

Neo simply smiled back. "Ehh, no problem." Sunset charged forward, changing Sinner's Ballad to axe mode as she reached the main body of the  before bringing it upwards and severing the Grimm's tentacle. She move charge at another tentacle, but was blasted down the street by a powerful stream of water. "Sunset!"  Neo looked at the Carcinus and growled, she went to move toward the Grimm, but was picked up and thrown in Sunset's direction by the Kraken.

As the pair regained their bearings and stood up a voice came from behind them. "Looks like you two need some help." Sunset glanced back and saw a Faunus with the ears of a grey wolf. He had dark brown, almost black hair and golden eyes. He wore a mahogany colored duster with a white undershirt, black combat boots and a pair of khaki shorts. Attached to his waist was a pouch, along with a slingshot, on his left wrist was what appeared to be a bracelet, though Sunset could immediately tell that it was really a weapon that functioned similarly to Aria's. The teen looked behind him and smirked as three more people approached, one was a teenage girl with a mouse's tail while the other two were teenage boys with lizard like tails. "Just in time team."****

Sunset stood up, readied her axe and smirked. "Well, if you insist. But I'll be taking mental notes on you in case we face each other in the tournament." Without waiting for a response Sunset, along with Neo, charged toward the Carcinus, who was also charging at the group.

The teen smirked and held out his left arm and his bracelet extended before three blades protruded from the end. "Drake, Drago, you two with me, Lilly you help those girls!"

Lilly, the only girl of the four, nodded and readied her weapon, a war hammer, and charged toward the crab like Grimm. She was wearing a light grey jacket and  along with a pink combat skirt, her mouse tail coming out of a hole in the back, and yellow knee socks. She had green eyes and shoulder length purple hair, along with a little barrette in the shape of a mouse's face. "You got it Yara!" She stopped mid way and glanced at her team leader as she walked past. "Uhhhh... I just realized that I've never seen this kind of Grimm... Can you see it's weak point?"

The wolf Faunus looked at it for a brief second, time seeming to freeze as he analyzed the monster.***** "Its armor is too thick for Interitus to break through, you might be able to crack it if you used all your aura in one strike." He noticed the Grimm seem to brace itself before four plates on the lower half of its front retracted. "It seems to only be vulnerable when it's about to release one of those pressurized water blasts." The wolf Faunus then walked toward the Kraken in order to help his other teammates.  

Sunset's axe collided with the crab Grimm's claw and bounced off. The Grimm backed up some and braced itself, its mouth opening and expelling another high pressure stream of water. Neo leapt in front of Sunset and blocked the water, without being moved an inch. Sunset nodded at Neo and swung at the Grimm, the edge's of her weapon's blade catching the crab's faceplate as it tried to move back into place.

At that moment Lily saw her opportunity. "Hold the mouth open!" The mouse Faunus charged forward, readying her hammer before thrusting the head of the hammer into the beast's mouth, the flat sides facing upwards and downwards. "Please work!" She pulled a small lever on the shaft of her hammer. The beast stopped moving and after a few seconds it began to turn into mist revealing that the girl's hammer now had of scythe blade protruding from each flat side. "Count that as a first for Team YLDD."

Sunset looked at the girl and smirked. "Nice moves." Sunset looked at the trio fighting the Kraken before her eyes narrowed. "Something's wrong." Normally when you sever part of a Grimm from the main body, it disintegrates almost immediately... But most of the tentacles that the three Huntsmen in training had severed were still there. Sunset approached one, and as she drew near, it sprung to life. Her head snapped back to the three fighting the Kraken. "Look out!" 

As the tentacle approached, an eel like head with glowing red eyes emerged revealing that the tentacle itself was, in fact a Grimm.****** The teen that the tentacle had targeted turned around, his hood falling off as it caught the wind, revealing his jet black hair and reddish brown eyes. He wore a pair of blue jeans, black combat boots and a light dark green stripped flack jacket with a black hood. The boy smirked as a nearby lamppost fell over and crushed the Grimm's head. "Well, it would seem luck is on my side."*******

Unknown to both students and teachers alike, the Grimm that had been released into the city were merely a distraction. 





Elsewhere in the city.





Slate Marma, a member of the ruling council of the Kingdom of Vale, stood in front of a dockside warehouse waiting for an agent of his Mistress to arrive. The sound of foot steps behind caught the mans attention and he turned toward the source of the sound. "Do you have any idea how lo-" His words died in his throat as he saw just who he had spoken to. "Mistress, my apologies! I had no idea you would meet with me yourself."

Nightmare, clad in a tight fitting black dress with a slit up the side revealing her left leg, as well as a pair of silver evening gloves with the symbol of a black full moon, except for the dark blue image of the Mare in the Moon and purple lines that flowed around it reminiscent of veins, scowled as the man fell to his knees and pressed his face to the ground. "Did you do as I commanded?"

"Y-yes Mistress! I convinced the others to remove Ozpin from heading the security for the festival."

A small genuine smile found itself on Nightmare's face. "My dear Slate, you've faithfully served me and Salem for what is it, ten years now? You have always done as I asked without question. And now that the day of Beacon's fall approaches..." She raised her hand and snapped. A pair of hooded figures emerged for the shadows and stood behind her, leaving a space for her to walk between them. "You are no longer needed."

Slate's eyes widened and his head shot up. "W-wha...? Mistress, y-you can't be serious." Nightmare turned around and walked away as the two figures approached. "No... T-this can't be happening! This isn't happening! Stay away!" The figures took hold of his shoulders and continued forward, dragging him into the now open warehouse kicking as screaming before the doors closed behind them.