It was always the same nightmare. A Faunus who ran a bookstore, a person who only wanted to create a future where his family wasn't looked down upon by everyone else for being a different race, a man who had gotten too far into something he couldn't condone. He had tried to run, but they had gone to his bookstore and executed him.

Emerald wasn't new to the sight of blood; living on the streets before Cinder had found both her and Mercury had made it so it wasn't even that shocking. Hell taking the wallet off of his body had just been a gut reaction for her. But inside of the wallet was a sight that froze her blood cold. Inside of the wallet was a small photo of the man, his wife, and a little boy ridding on his shoulders, all smiling into a camera. She had taken the money and tossed the wallet away, feeling as if any moment she might be sick.

Mercury said something that didn't quite connect with Emerald, and soon the two of them were walking out of the store. The dead body, the smiling face, both one and the same. They haunted her dreams for the past few weeks. She had done her best to be the same person that Cinder needed her to be, but the pain in her heart wouldn't allow her to bury the memory.

Emerald woke up with a start and looked around the pitch black room. Mercury was calmly asleep on his bed with a smile, probably dreaming about fighting. Cinder slept in a meditative position, her legs crossed on the bed and her hands calmly resting on her knees. With a sigh Emerald stood up and quietly made her exit from the room, not feeling like sleeping after reliving the nightmare again.

She found herself wandering the halls for a while, knowing that most of the other students in the school would be asleep by this point. After wandering for a bit she found herself walking up a flight of stairs, deciding that she needed some fresh air and that the rooftops would be the best place to get it. However when she made it to the roofs she found that it was already occupied. She prepared to leave but paused when suddenly she heard something. The person out on the roof was…singing.

Emerald paused by the door and listened to the person sing, wrapped up in the rhythm of the song. She didn't know the name of the song, but it was something to do with a soldier coming home to find rest and a warm fire. The words stirred a feeling that Emerald hadn't felt in quite some time, peace. The song made her feel peaceful.

When the song ended she was unsure what to do with herself. She had just been spying on the guy, maybe it would be best if she just turned around and left.

"You don't have to stand at the door you know, it's a big roof". The figure turned around to look at her with a warm smile. The other person on the roof was a bit taller than Mercury, and sported a head full of blonde hair.

"Oh…" Emerald cursed herself under her breath for getting caught. Some master thief she was if she couldn't even spy on some random guy on the roof when he was busy singing. "Uh, sorry about that."

"Heh, I should be the one apologizing for blowing out your ear drums with my singing," he scratched the back of his head with a smile. "I used to do it for my baby sister back when I was a kid; it was the only thing that would get her to stop crying when there was a storm outside."

"I see." Emerald was still unsure how to respond to this. She was more used to people trying to attack her than trying to strike up casual conversation. The only person she really ever talked to was Mercury, and they spent most of their conversations mocking each other. Something told her that wasn't how most normal people interacted.

There was a moment of awkward silence before the boy spoke up again. "So my names Jaune, you're Emerald right?"

"How do you know that?" she asked, reaching behind her for the hidden weapon on the back of her uniform, body tensed and ready to attack.

"We have a class together, I sit right behind you," he pointed out with a grin. "Man, I thought I was bad at noticing stuff."

Emerald relaxed a bit and moved her hand away from the weapon, stepping out onto the roof. "What was that song you were singing?" she asked.

"Oh uh…" he laughed a bit and his cheeks reddened. "It doesn't really have a name; I just kind of…made it up."

"That's rather impressive," Emerald walked over to the edge of the roof and looked out toward the glowing tower. "So why are you up here, shouldn't you be asleep?"

Jaune sighed a bit. "Probably, but my team are all on a special training mission out in the forest, and I don't exactly have the skills to be with them," he laughed lightly. "I grew up with seven sisters, so it's weird to just sleep without hearing the sound of other people around you."

"I suppose I can see that," Emerald let out a sigh. "I grew up in a pretty big city, so all this peace and quiet drives me a bit nuts."

"Yeah, nothing more annoying than peace and quiet." Jaune said with a smirk on his face, causing the two of them to laugh a bit.

"Well, at least you can see the stars out here." Emerald said, looking up toward the bright twinkles in the sky.

"Yeah, when I was a kid I used to make up shapes I saw out in the stars," he pointed up toward the sky. "Like right there, it totally looks like a bear doesn't it?"

Emerald followed his finger and squinted up toward the cluster. "Hm… looks more like a boar to me."

"What?" Jaune walked over and looked up at the point. "No way that is totally a bear!"

"Only a blind person would think that it was a bear, it looks way more like a boar," Emerald shook her head. "Look there is the tusks right there." she pointed out some of the stars.

"No way, there are totally the bear's arms." Jaune pointed toward the cluster and another one a bit away.

The two bickered about what stars looked like what animals for another thirty minutes before they both finally agreed that one sort of looked like a bird and decided to call a truce.

Jaune let out a yawn and rubbed at his eyes. "Man I am beat," he smiled toward Emerald. "It was really nice getting to meet you." He offered his fist to her.

Emerald tensed for a moment thinking that he was going to attack, but after realizing he wasn't trying to act in such a manner she sighed and pressed her fist against his own. "Likewise I suppose."

Jaune turned around to leave but stopped at the door. "Hey, we should meet up again, I mean if neither of us can sleep then it's better to not be sleeping together right?"

Emerald raised an eyebrow. "That sentence has so many ways it can be taken wrong it's hard to even imagine counting them all."

Jaune's face lit up bright red and he quickly waved his hands in front of himself. "Hey, no I didn't mean it like that or anything."

Emerald laughed into her hand and a sudden feeling of confusion came over her. She was here to be a spy, not get all buddy buddy with some random guy. But he was right, there was no point in wandering the halls by herself if she wasn't going to be sleeping. Maybe she could even learn some valuable information off the guy. "Sure, why not?"

A bright smile came to his face and he sent a wave her way. "Awesome, catch up with you later then." he left the roof with a yawn.

The young woman stayed out for a while, enjoying the breeze before turning around and letting out a small yawn. Being able to talk to someone like a normal person had been nice. But she knew it wouldn't be something that could be enjoyed for along. After all she had her marching orders and the world would never pause long enough for her to find the kind of peace that came with friends.

She walked back to her room and laid down on her bed, closing her eyes and fully expecting to see the haunting face of a dead Faunus, but instead all she could see was a blonde man singing a lullaby that he had made up, and for the first time in quite some time Emerald fell asleep peacefully, with a small smile on her face.

High above the clouds a black airship sailed through the night, cutting through the skys like a blade as it moved forward. Inside of the airship rested ten figures, all wearing heavy black armor that covered every inch of their bodies, and carrying large weapons next to them, ranging from claymores to miniguns, and even one flamethrower.

Standing in the center of these ten figures was a unnatural tall and skinny man. His body was covered by a long black trench coat, his hands by a pair of white gloves, and a long circular fedora covered most of his head and face. His head was lowered toward the ground, speaking in a hushed tone to himself.

"Sir," another person entered the room, wearing a pilots headgear and a black uniform with no markings on it. He gave a quick salute to the standing figure. "We are ten minutes from our destination."

The figure didn't respond for a moment, but slowly lifted his head to look at the pilot. His eyes were covered by a pair of red glasses, but it was plain to see that the man was wrong. His skin was deathly pale, as if there were no blood flowing under it. His hair was white as snow and hung limply from under his hat. The man smiled and clapped his hands together. "Wonderful, continue on course, I shall rouse the troops from their slumber." much like his body the man's voice held a quality of wrongness to it, almost like one might imagine the voice of a snake might sound like before it lashed out toward its prey.

"Sir yes sir!" another salute and the pilot exited the room with a bit of haste to his step.

The man drew in a deep breath and clapped his hands. "Rise and shine now" the man called out toward the ten armored figures in the room. "It's time to do our duty," the armored figures were suddenly roused from their sleep, glowing red eyes shining from their helms. "Preach the word of our Gods to the world and sing a delightful funeral dirge in worship."

"Amen." cold and inhuman voices came from the armored figures as they slowly rose from their seats, bringing their weapons into their hands.

"Tell me you ten armored battle priests, what is it that you wish to do?" the man asked with a smile.

"To slaughter, to spill blood, to watch the light flicker away!" each armored figure spoke in a chant. "To worship our Gods with death!"

"I see, and shall you sing a hymn in your worship?" the man asked, his smile only growing wider as he spoke, revealing a row of white teeth.

"Our hymn shall be our weapons striking our enemies, our hymn shall be their bodies falling to the ground, our hymn shall be death and carnage!" the unnatural voices rose only higher as they continued the chant.

"I see, then let us go and spread the word of our Gods." The man snapped his fingers and a door on the side of the airship opened, letting in a rush of cold air.

"Yes, your Holiness!" each armored figure lined up at the door.

The man moved forward and looked out, seeing the clouds beneath them. They were now directly over a large fort built into the side of a mountain, once a stronghold of humanity against the Grimm, now a base for the White Fang, out of the way enough to avoid Grimm and all but forgotten by humanity. A perfect hiding place for the organization.

"Then sons and daughters of Blackout, amen!" the man jumped out of the ship and laughed as gravity took him down.

This was going to be fun.

A new story, so much to do. I will be doing this more serious piece and also working on my comedy fanfics at the same time. Hope you guys enjoy and see you next chapter.