Heading after the footsteps, Velvet leading the way thanks to her superior hearing, they noticed a large facility in the distance. It was eerily familiar to the place the White Fang were holed up during the time Weiss and Ren were held captive.

'You OK?' Coco asked, noticing Ruby becoming slightly unsettled at the sight of the building.

'I'm just a little scared,' she answered, her tone almost sounding sad. She realised that this must have been how Nora felt when she left to save her friends, fearful but loyally marching forward nonetheless.

'You're scared? That's something. You're the last person out of that group I would expect to be afraid,' she commented, Ruby managing to crack a small smile at it.

'Looks can be deceiving.'

All of a sudden, Velvet halted the group.

'This is a trap.'

'What?' Coco exclaimed, her jaw dropping as she took in what Velvet had just said. 'What do you mean it's a trap?'

'We've been lured into a trap. I'm sorry, I didn't notice it before now...'

The young Faunus was beginning to tear up, believing she had failed her friends.

'The footsteps continued but they were getting a lot closer,' Velvet answered, as if ashamed of herself. 'Almost like they were marching on the spot.'

'They knew we were coming?'

'Seems that way. They completely stopped moving a few seconds ago, so I know I'm right.' Velvet looked at Coco dejectedly, searching for some kind of support.

'Then someone saw us. Damn... how far away are we from that group of people?'

'Maybe a mile or two,' Velvet answered uncertainly, 'it's impossible to say for sure. But that's roughly where they are if my calculations are correct.'

'No problem, we'll just have to retreat then,' Coco told the group, much to Ruby's surprise.

'You're just going to leave those people they had captive?!'

'At this point, how can we even be sure they had captives? For all we know they could have known about our presence the whole time and dragged a few of their men along to draw us in,' Coco argued, a fraction of sorrow showing in her voice.

'No, they definitely have hostages,' Velvet added. 'They were keeping a steady distance ahead of us for around half an hour, and after that it slowly got closer and closer. I assumed we had just sped up slightly but then they suddenly slowed almost to a halt, but kept on marching. It's safe to say they have captives, but they didn't notice us right away. They must have scouts stationed along the way who informed the group. I'm sorry for not pointing it out. This is all my fault...'

'It's not your fault. Let's just head back and-'

'I can't let you do that, I'm afraid.'

They turned to face a single female fox Faunus bearing the insignia of the White Flag standing before them, a short sword in her left hand. She seemed to be very light, and so would probably have speed to match. It would definitely fit the scout hypothesis that Velvet proposed. Just as Coco was about to attack, the girl started them with her words.

'The second you draw your weapons, you die. If you don't believe me,' she continued with a malevolent smirk, 'if you don't believe me, then try it. My friends will put a hole between your eyes before you have a chance to blink.'

Reluctantly dropping her weapon, Coco's experiences with the White Fang told her that they were most definitely not a group to be underestimated. They all slowly raised their hands before they too were taken captive by another large group of White Fang. Practically dragged back to their hideout, they were stripped of their weapons and thrown in a cell together.

'What are you going to accomplish taking people prisoner?' Coco asked the guard in a condescending tone, 'what, you think throwing people in cells is gonna fix this world? The worlds screwed one way or another, so why not let us kill some Grimm so you don't have to?'

The guard laughed at her suggestion.

'That's not why you're here. Let's just say we're doing some... research. Research that we need humans to carry out.'

The fact he could say that so calmly and naturally made them feel a little ill. Human experiments? How could they talk so easily about something so horrible? Those were the thoughts running through all of their heads. They were at least given something to drink, but they were not handed any food. Trapped in their new hell, they could do nothing but simply wait. A day passed, and a man who seemed to be the leader of this group of Faunus spoke to them through the bars in their cell.

'Do you want the good news or the bad news first?'

'What are you talking about?' Coco asked, genuinely curious as to what his question meant.

'I'll assume that means you would like the bad news first. The bad news is that you are of no more use to me. You are incompatible with what I'm trying to accomplish here.'

'So that's it then? I guess that means we're gonna be killed, right?'

'Actually,' he replied with a smile, 'that's the good news. I don't need you anymore, so I do not wish to have anything more to do with you. You're free to go.'

Coco noticed there was a Faunus carrying their weapons behind him, but retaining her wits decided to ask another question.

'What's the catch?'

'You're a very clever girl. It's a shame you were caught in our ambush. Your brains would have been better put to use elsewhere. I have no use for you. It doesn't mean my men don't. In fact, they have permission to do whatever they want to you. However, these are honourable warriors. I don't think you have anything to worry about unless you provoke them.'

With that, he strolled off with his arms behind his back like nothing had happened. Their cell was open, and their weapons were laid out on a table across the hall. Unsure of what to do, they nervously sat in their cell. Needless to say, they didn't trust the man's words. How could they trust a person who captured them and shoved them in a tiny cell together, barely giving them any food or drink and then all of a sudden telling them they were free to go? The whole thing was suspicious, but their fears were proven correct when a few minutes later one of the guards said in a bored voice;

'Oh come on!'

They all immediately turned to look at him, and he stared right back at Ruby with lustful eyes.

'Screw waiting, I'm having a turn with the redhead right now,' he said, licking his lips as thoughts of what he would do to her ran through his head.

'Wait!' Coco shouted in a panicked voice, immediately realising what he meant with his statement, 'take me instead. I won't kick and scream like these two will. And... I'm still a virgin. These girls have already had their first times taken, so I'll be much better than they will,' she said, trying to protect the two of them. Unfortunately, her words had the adverse effect. Whistling to two other guards, he ordered them to drag Ruby and Velvet out of the cell and strip them both right there.

'Stop!'

Yatsuhashi's worried cries only served to escalate the situation, aggravating the guard who lusted after Ruby.

'Oh yeah,' he said, turning to his friend, 'kill him too. We don't need him.'

Immediately pointing a revolver at Yatsuhashi's head, he pulled the trigger. Coco looked on, traumatized by the red smear that was once his face.

'Y-Yats...' too scared to even form cohesive words, she could only mumble parts of his name for around 30 seconds before she realised just what had happened. 'Yatsuhashi...? No... please don't be... please be a dream... please be a terrible dream... YATSUHASHI!'

Her shrieks and wails could be heard all throughout the corridors. She completely zoned out, unable to take in what she had just seen. No, she definitely understood what had happened. She just didn't want to accept it. She and Yatsuhashi had been close friends for over 7 years. Seeing him just... gone... it broke her. She couldn't take it. She didn't want to take it, so she just cried. But something equally worse happened that snapped her out of her trance.

'Hey, don't worry,' the Faunus comforted Coco, 'you said you wanted to take the place of these girls, right?'

'Y-yes... please... just spare them...'

'Well, no can do about that I'm afraid. But I will do the next best thing. I'll give you a front row seat!'

With that, he thrust into Ruby, her pained screams echoing through the hallway. Coco shivered, realising she was completely helpless to stop him. She just collapsed on the floor, sobbing. She had given up. Velvet looked a mixture of shocked, sad and angry over what had happened. The Faunus didn't even hesitate to finish inside her. A multitude of emotions swirled through Ruby's head.

What if I get pregnant?

Will we ever get out of here?

Please let this end.

Help me...

Velvet tried to give her some comfort, at least, rubbing her back gently.

'At least it's over now,' she said with a broken smile, trying to hide the grief she felt inside. Her pain was only increased however, as the Faunus removed his hood to reveal a pair of large rabbit ears.

'Unfortunately not,' he chirped in, a sadistic smile spread on his face. 'Rabbit Faunus are known for being able to... keep going, shall we say. You're in for a very, very long night. As he raped the two of them over and over, about an hour after their ordeal had could no longer contain his anger.

'For fucks sake, will someone SHUT THAT FUCKING BITCH UP?'

Pointing to Coco who had been crying for the last hour straight, his friend took his revolver out again before firing a bullet into her head, her toes twitching slightly from shock before she finally stopped moving.

'Jesus, I didn't mean to kill her! What the fuck is wrong with you? Man, I didn't even get a turn with her...'

Right then a twisted smile spread across his face again, one he gladly shared with Velvet and Ruby.

'Hey,' he said, inches away from their faces as he pinched their lips together. 'Should I?'

What? They couldn't believe it. How low would this sick psychopath go? First they take them hostage, then they kill one of them, then they rape them over and over, and now this? They couldn't believe it.

'Well?' he said, growing ever more impatient. 'If you'd like, she can take your place for a few rounds,'

The thought of being free from this torture for even a second was enough for Ruby.

'Yes!' she screamed, tears rolling down her cheeks, 'yes, please... just stop doing this to us...'

'Alright,' he said, stepping into the cell, 'but you're still gonna watch. Hold them in place. Make sure they see every last second of this.'

As he undressed her, he looked somewhat surprised.

'Hmm,' he said, nodding appreciatively. 'Still warm.'

But as he entered her, he looked up in disgust.

'This bitch was a liar,' he said, unfazed by what he was doing. 'She wasn't a virgin. Still pretty tight though. She's nice and wet, too. She must have really enjoyed seeing what I was doing to you. I bet she was begging for it inside. You guys must have loved it too if she's this turned on just watching. You did, didn't you? Fucking sluts. I can't believe you'd get off from me having sex with you.'

They just wanted it all to stop. It was driving them crazy. They couldn't stop quivering, both out of disgust and hatred of this vile excuse for a living being that was in front of them. Defiling their bodies, they could take. Being insulted and degraded they could take. But this worthless piece of trash wouldn't even let Coco have some dignity in death. That was what they hated the most. She was dead. Why couldn't he at least let her rest peacefully? And the worst part? They knew there was an extremely high chance this man would get away with it. They couldn't punish him for what he did. Not in their state. Two of their group were dead, they were helpless, and Yang, Fox and Pyrrha were god knows where. Ruby tried to think about something else, to take her mind off the horror that was happening in front of her.

Weiss, is this what you went through? Were you subjected to this?

Pyrrha, Yang, Fox... are the three of you safe?

Jaune, Blake, Nora and Ren, I hope you meet the others. But please...

Please don't come here.

Run and live. You don't need us. Just... survive.

'Ahh, that was good.' Noticing their expressions, he reassured them. His definition of reassuring, anyway.

'Oh, don't worry. You two were a lot better. I'll be keeping you for a long, long time.'

With that evil smile, they both knew.

He was telling the truth.

'That's it; we are not sitting around waiting any longer! It's been a whole day!'

Yang's outburst was met with a somewhat fearful gaze by Pyrrha.

'Yang, I...'

'NO!'

Pyrrha was shaken by Yang's sudden hostility, Fox extending his arm as if to tell her to calm down.

'I am NOT just going to wait here! This is exactly the same as what happened with Weiss! Nora disappeared, and when she came back someone was DEAD. Do you understand that? My sister is part of that group! I'm going, whether you're coming with me or not!'

Storming off in the direction Ruby and the rest had headed, Pyrrha called out to her.

'Wait!'

Yang stopped, only turning enough to see Pyrrha's face.

'I'm coming.'

She slowly walked forward to catch up to Yang, Fox following closely behind.

'Let's go find our friends,' Yang confidently stated, desperately wanting to bust into a sprint, instead walking so as to keep pace with Pyrrha and Fox.

'Yeah,' Pyrrha said, an uneasy smile crossing her lips. Somehow, she already had a very bad feeling about their journey.