someone advised I put in a trigger warning. Despite it ruining the shock and surprise, I figure it's better safe than sorry.

This chapter contains implied rape.

Dawn broke. The birds chirped and the wind blew softly. The world was peaceful on the Beacon landing pad. That is, until the airship powered up. Carried upon it were the four members of the fourth-year team RWBY, embarking on a special mission. The girls were greeted by a hologram of Beacon's headmaster, Professor Ozpin. "Good morning, Team RWBY."

"Good morning, Professor." Ruby greeted confidently. She had come into her own in the past four years.

"I assume by now you all know your mission?" Ozpin asked them.

"We are to locate the hidden White Fang HQ, which we now suspect to be somewhere on Menagerie." Weiss rattled off, remembering the mission script word for word.

"Good. This mission may take a number of weeks." Ozpin warned them.

"Will we be back in time for graduation?" Yang asked.

"Take your time." Was all Ozpin said in answer to that question. "This could be the end of the White Fang, if all goes well."

"Thank you for this opportunity, Professor." Blake nodded her head.

"I have a feeling you would have chased it on your own anyways." Ozpin smiled.

"Whatever do you mean? We've only ever fought the White Fang in self-defense." Yang mocked innocence.

"Right." Weiss scolded, her voice heavy with sarcasm. "When they were minding their own business, in their own base, and just happened upon us, when we just happened to stumble upon it taking a midnight stroll in Mistral, it was definitely self-defense."

"Never the less, you four have the most experience. And the most drive." Ozpin cut the girls short before chaos ensued. "It's a long flight to Menagerie. Settle in."

The girls did just that. throughout the course of the flight, between bouts of Yang and Weiss's bickering, Ruby had time to think. And the most drive. He was certainly correct. Four years of happening upon the wrong end of the White Fang time after time had taken its toll. Everyone on this airship (except for the pilot) had been damaged by the White Fang, either emotionally or physically.

On the physical side, was Weiss and Yang. The heiress was sporting a new scar these days. This one ran parallel to her old one, closer to the center of her eye. It was a little longer on both ends, though just as thin. Though new scars were a dime a dozen for a huntress, the kicker was her eye, which was a much paler blue than its partner, telling of permanent damage. The Dust Mage had concocted a special dust formulae that allowed her to see out of that eye again, albeit temporarily. She usually applied some before a mission or spar, as she did now when they got closer to Menagerie.

The blonde brute was wearing a thick leather sleeve over the entirety of her right arm, keeping the damage underneath safe from the open air. The flesh underneath was scarred and exposed, so much so that muscle was visible, and infections could easily set in. It also apparently caused constant pain, and the doctors had assigned her what they were afraid would become a permanent prescription of powerful painkillers. Worse yet, Yang would flip flop between taking so many it seemed an addiction, and stopping altogether because, according to her, 'the pain gives her focus.' Ruby noticed she failed to pack any for this mission.

On the emotional side of things, stood Blake and Ruby. Blake had spent years in the White Fang, and was more or less the reason RWBY had ended up starting a personal war against the corrupted organization. When they realized they couldn't stop her from going off on her own to fight, they decided the best way to keep her alive was to go with her, and fight as a team. Each new injury, especially the major ones sported by Weiss and Yang, weighed heavily on her conscious, whether she deserved it or not.

And finally, Ruby. While the red reaper had never been directly hurt by the White Fang, the more it damaged her team, the more it affected her. This impersonal aspect worked in RWBY's favor, as she was constantly the one to remind them that the White Fang needed justice, not to be revenged upon. But she still couldn't stand to see those she cared for hurt. Her sister, her partner, and the woman she had come to care for above even them. Ruby Rose was a sweet, innocent girl who was still very much a child at heart, despite now being 19 years old. She didn't get mad, not when Yang usually did it for her. But the White Fang had succeeded where others had failed. It took something special to earn her anger, and the White Fang was soon going to feel it all.

"You okay, Ruby?" Blake asked, seeing her lost in thought. As stated above, Ruby had begun to care for someone even more than her sister. That someone was Blake Belladonna, who she had been dating since near the beginning of their third year at Beacon.

The red reaper smiled. "I'm fine Blake."

"We'll be there soon. You sure you're ready?" Blake continued questioning, ever concerned.

Ruby thought a moment and grinned. She took Blake's chin and placed a chaste kiss on her cheek. "For luck." The redhead told her.

Blake, always the more aggressive of the two, grabbed Ruby's chin and planted a full kiss right on her lips. When she drew away, she was smirking. "For luck." The cat girl repeated.

Weiss grunted at the display, and Yang's soon-to-be-broken-by-an-angry-Blake scroll sounded a shutter. "Ugh!" Weiss exclaimed as pieces of screen flew everywhere. "Can we please avoid killing each other for just a few more months! We've almost managed to graduate, by some unknown force!"

"Hey, calm down, princess! We're just having fun!" Yang shouted, leaning towards Weiss.

"Your 'fun' is giving me a headache!" Weiss shouted back, leaning towards Yang.

"Yeah, well you wouldn't know fun it was right in front of your eye!"

"You wouldn't know class in a room surrounded by actual royalty!"

"Well, you-"

"Oh, would you two just kiss already!?" Ruby and Blake shouted at once, interrupting the two. Yang and Weiss were suddenly as far as they could be from each other after this comment, mumbling to themselves.

"We're near our landing point, ETA ten minutes." The pilot told them through the overhead speaker. The girls got ready, smiling. This will be the day. We will finally win.

"Blake!"

The scene was chaos. They had found the White Fang base easily. Too easily, it would seem. From almost the moment they stepped inside, they were at war. In less than a minute, it was clear they were on the losing side of the confrontation. The remaining forces were larger than they anticipated, and their supposed element of surprise had fallen through. That's not to say they didn't put up a good fight, but even four fully trained huntresses could only do so much against an entire army. The cave fortress was in flames, people were shouting and fighting, but all Blake saw was Ruby.

"Blake!"

Ruby cried her lover's name from the other side of burning rubble. Blake strained against the person holding her wrist, stretching out for the redhead. "Ruby! Hang on!"

"Blake, we need to go!" Weiss cried, tugging on Blake's wrist harder.

"Blake!" Ruby cried.

"We need to go!" Weiss shouted.

"But Ruby!" Blake argued, straining against Weiss's grip.

"We'll be back!" Weiss told her. "But if we all get captured, we won't be able to help her!"

"We'll be back for you!" Blake shouted, finally relenting to the heiress's pull. "I'll be back for you! I promise!"

Blake didn't get a chance to hear Ruby's response. A White Fang soldier knocked Ruby out. The last thing Blake saw was her girlfriend being dragged away, deeper into the base…

The halls of Beacon were quiet. Ozpin had assured them they had Menagerie sealed off, that the White Fang couldn't escape. The organization was on its last legs. But they wouldn't go down without a fight, and Ozpin wanted them to rest and wait for backup before returning. The last few nights were incredibly restless for team RWBY, for one more than the rest. Yang was searching for her, following the sounds of training to the room Blake had spent every moment since her return inside.

Yang entered the gym and saw Blake hard at work, striking, slicing, jumping, cloning… and slower than ever, the blonde noticed as well. "Blake!" She called out to her partner.

The faunus ninja put a pause on her workout to see to Yang. She still flinched when she saw the sleeve. "What is it?"

"Blake, haven't we had this conversation before?" Yang asked.

"'Slow down' you mean?" Blake correctly assumed. "Yang, every time I try, all I can think of is… her being dragged away… If I keep moving, time goes by faster."

"You're moving even slower than the last time I checked in on you, and that was only a few hours ago." Yang informed her.

"You checked on me a few hours ago?" Blake asked.

"I don't call to you every time I see you. That's Ruby's job." Yang joked, and regretted the moment she made it. "I'm sorry, I-"

"Don't worry about it." Blake assured her.

"Look." Yang returned to the point. "If you don't rest before we go back, you won't be at your best. And we need you at your best. Ruby needs you."

"Is it time to go?" Blake asked.

"No, but-"

"I can sleep on the airship." Blake deadpanned.

"With how hard you are training," Weiss cut in, walking in from the shadows of the hallway, "You're going to need more than that."

"Weiss-" Blake started.

"Shush." The heiress cut her off. "I know this is hard for you. So I'm not going to drag you out of here. Just get some regular rest before we head back out." Weiss dropped a bag she was carrying in the corner of the gym. "For when you're ready. Let's go, Yang."

Blake was left alone in the gym. She took a curious look in the bag and saw a bedroll, some dry food, a dust powered self-heating kettle, and a tea set complete with a pot, a cup, and a few teabags. With a soft smile, she packed it back up and returned the training. The next time Yang checked on her partner, she was fast asleep, a half-finished cup of tea still steaming next to her.

Ruby woke slowly. Darkness receded as she opened her eyes, her vision focusing on cold iron bars. She was chained to the wall, and too tired to continue straining against them. Her body was broken and bleeding. She would have called it torture, but no one ever asked a single question. They just walked in, beat on her, and left. For five days, all they did was release their aggressions on her. No words, no reason, and no warning.

The cage door slid open again, the only hint Ruby ever got that someone was coming. She looked up and saw someone she actually recognized. From the mission briefings, and from Blake's drawings and stories. For the first time in five days, she was finally visited by Adam Taurus. The current leader of the last vestiges of the White Fang. Ruby expected to be scared when she saw him. But she wasn't even angry. Days of pointless torture had left her with only one thing left to feel. Tired.

"Hello huntress." Adam greeted. "You and your friends have been giving me quite the headache."

"It's over…" Ruby managed with a weak voice. "They'll be back for me… And when they do, it's all over…"

"It's true they have us in a corner." Adam told her, stepping into the cell. "However," he continued, walking close to Ruby and kneeling in front of her, "animals are most dangerous when cornered."

Ruby gave a short, broken laugh. "So… heh… you admit you're an animal…"

The backhand across her broken cheek was worth it. He grabbed her chin and turned her to face him. Their noses were inches away, and he opened his mouth to retort. He hesitated, and slowly sniffed the redheads neck. "Blake…" He whispered, and slammed Ruby back against the wall. "I can smell her all over you!"

Ruby could see Adam properly, and even through the mask she could tell he was furious. "You think your worthy of my Blake!?"

"She's not yours." Ruby spat. There it was. The anger.

"No human is worthy of any faunus!" Adam shouted, confessing the White Fang's supremacist ideologies. "And you are certainly not worthy of my Blake!" He sprang to his feet and turned his back on his captive. "There will be a punishment. For even considering touching a faunus intimately. Not death, not yet. I might need you when your friends come back. But perhaps…" he turned back. "You want to be a faunus whore?"

Adam let out a different kind of aggression that day. And Ruby's nightmare was complete. Her captivity had turned into her hell.

Blake was fast asleep on her mat in the gym when Yang entered and politely shook her awake. Blake looked up at the blonde. "It's time." Blake said. It wasn't a question. The faunus knew. She felt it. She quickly gathered her things and made her way to the mission briefing area. There, over a dozen huntsmen and huntresses stood, ready to end this. Among them were Taiyang, Qrow, and team CFVY. Team JNPR wanted to be here, but Ozpin told them he had already made one exception too many, and the three from RWBY were the only un-graduated Hunters there.

"Good, we're all here." Ozpin noted Blake and Yang enter the room. "Then we can begin. A week ago now, there was a mission to find the White Fang base. There was hopes that it would lead to the end." Ozpin looked down at the floor. "That mission did not go to plan. And one of our own was captured. For one week too long, she has been at the mercy of the White Fang. It is time to bring that to an end."

"How do we know she's still alive?" A Huntress asked.

"She's alive." Blake deadpanned.

"What miss Belladonna is trying to say," Ozpin took control of the conversation, "is that Adam is in a corner. He will take any advantage he will get. Including hostages."

Blake was relieved to hear a solid, believable reason to back up her wishes that were, admittedly, still only wishes at the moment of her outburst.

"And they haven't moved?" Another Huntsmen asked.

"I had Menagerie locked down the moment I heard the report. The White Fang is on its last legs, and they know it. But Adam's a fanatic, and likely any faunus left with him at this point share his mindset. They won't go down without a fight, and they will fight like they can win. That is why we are all here. To finish off the White Fang, and save Ruby Rose."

"Did you say Rose?"

"As in Summer?"

"Summer Rose's daughter?"

"Yes." Taiyang answered the consensus. "And my daughter. We will save her."

The resolve of the room was solidified. Summer wasn't a household name, but if you were a Huntsmen or Huntress when she was still alive, then likely you knew her. As a friend, or maybe you owed her a favor. Maybe even your life. And they were ready to pay the dearly departed woman back.

The room was dismissed, and the group filed out. One of the Huntresses came up to Blake. "You and Rose's daughter are together, aren't you?" The woman asked.

"Yes." Blake nodded.

"Summer saved my ass once. I took a big bounty. Needed the money. Bit off more than I could chew, then Summer came. Even let me keep the money." The woman explained. "A lot of people here have similar stories. We'll get… what was it, Ruby? We'll get Ruby back. Don't worry."

"I'm not." Blake assured her. "Not anymore."

"Good. I gotta prepare. You better too." She nodded the faunus way and walked off. Blake smiled, knowing they had this in the bag.

Welcome to my latest story! i hope you all come to enjoy this as much as you enjoyed the others! the only warning i really have is that there will be a large number of time skips, months at a time, later in the story. hopefully it doesn't ruin the flow too much... I'm not a fan of pointless filler, so i end up jumping to the next important piece. With that out of the way, don't forget to Follow if you want to see more, Favorite if you're feeling froggy, and Review if you have anything at all to say!