'Yang! This way!'

They would never forget the screams. The haunting peril that slowly enveloped everything they had ever known. The fear in the citizen's eyes, as the only thing the young huntresses could do was run.

'Blake! On your left!'

The horrors they saw that day would forever be etched into their minds. They knew they weren't strong enough to fight off the Grimm that had attacked Beacon, so they did the only thing they could. They ran. They ran as fast as they could, doing everything they could just to survive.

'Weiss! Look out!'

Sprinting through the halls, watching the blood of their classmates paint the walls, helpless to do anything. Their world shrouded in a red curtain, their fragile minds forever changed by the living nightmare that had befallen them.

'RUBY!'

Waking with a jolt, Blake's worried face greeted Ruby as she snapped out of her slumber.

'Ruby, come on. This place isn't safe anymore. There are Grimm crawling all over the place.'

This was their life. Moving quickly and often, venturing across Vale in hope of a safe haven. Ever since the events of Beacon Academy the four huntresses had been on the run, not even aware if their friends were alive or not. Perhaps they perished in the attack. Perhaps not. The thought crossed Ruby's mind every day, the worry a recurring nightmare for her. Leaving their makeshift shelter, they silently moved in the still of night, the darkness masking their movements, a pungent scent drifted through the air, one the girls knew well by now. The stench of blood seemed to follow them wherever they went. It was one they could tell instantly, but still made them uncomfortable. The quiet night almost seemed peaceful, if it weren't for the dangerous atmosphere caused by the saturation of Grimm in the area. Even for a heavily infested area it was suspiciously dense.

'Geez, how many of these things are there?' Yang complained brashly, 'I mean, come on, there must be hundreds!'

'Yeah, it's strange. You think someone maybe lured them here?' Blake added, her cat ears twitching as she heard a very uncomfortable sound. Noticing her slight change in demeanour, Ruby asked what was wrong.

'There's something nearby. Something big. It's... coming right this way.'

The terrified look on her face told the group everything they needed to know. Bad news was headed right for them. In that second, they all immediately felt a huge amount of aura surrounding the area, and as they turned they saw the source.

'Is that an S class?!' Weiss shrieked in a panicked tone, as they stared at the Ursa in front of them. Not just a normal Ursa however, but one with a slightly humanoid appearance. The facial features were much more human, and one arm was noticeably less hairy than the other, but its strength was still far exceeding of a regular Ursa. Bringing it's paw down, it smashed into the ground where the girls had been stood mere seconds ago.

'Yeah, I think it's pretty safe to say that's an S class,' Blake confirmed, readying Gambol Shroud for the confrontation.

'Blake, stop! We can't fight that thing!' Ruby shouted, worried for her friend. Blake was the one most affected by the attack on Beacon, and as such she wanted to wipe out as many Grimm as possible. She hated them.

It's your fault she died.

You want to free the Faunus, and you couldn't even save one? Pathetic.

You're too weak.

You need to make up for what you couldn't do at Beacon.

If you can't even beat one S class, how will you protect your friends when a bigger threat comes along? It's just one Ursa. What about a Death Stalker, or a Nevermore? Everyone you care about will die. That's how weak you are.

These thoughts ran through Blake's head every day. She watched a Faunus, one of her closest friends at that, be literally ripped in two right in front of her. And she was powerless to stop it. Since then, she swore to both protect her friends and to destroy all that was Grimm. It was only thanks to the fact that her friends were still with her that she had managed to stay in control of her emotions and not attempt to slaughter every last Grimm around. But that time was over. She wanted payback, and she wanted it now. Luckily, she was given a saving grace as the Ursa was hit by a rather large explosion, followed by an excited 'wee' that could only belong to one person.

'Nora Valkyrie, on duty!'

The cheerful and happy giggle Nora gave was just enough to make Blake snap out of her funk, and soon after a worn out Ren showed up as well.

'Nora... please... at least tell me when you're going to do something like that next time.'

Looking up, he was surprised to see team RWBY stood there.

'Ruby! You're all OK,' he said with a sigh of relief.

'Where are Pyrrha and Jaune?' Ruby asked him, a slight tinge of worry in her voice.

'No idea,' he responded solemnly. 'We were separated after the Grimm attack. We've been looking for them since, and we were just passing through here when we heard shouting. It's good to see you again.'

'Yeah, you too. Maybe we should deal with this first, though,' she said as she pointed towards the Ursa who was now recovering from the initial blast of Magnhild.

The Ursa, now furious at the assault, charged towards them using aura to augment its strength to immense levels. One hit to the ground sent shockwaves rippling through the floor that uprooted the ground within a 30 meter radius, sending the 6 of them with it. They each responded quickly however, Ruby using her sniper to fire bullets upwardswhich rapidly increased the speed of her descent, while Weiss used her dust to manipulate the direction Ruby was travelling, sending her towards Nora. Nora then used Magnhild to launch her back to the Ursa, and Ruby changed Crescent Rose to scythe mode, tearing straight through the Ursa's neck as she rocketed past. After a few moments, Weiss spoke up to break the silence.

'We... we beat an S class...' she said, the realisation of their victory beginning to sink in as they began to relax, before jolting back to reality, aware of the fact that the numerous Grimm in the area would also have heard the commotion. After they made a hasty getaway, they came to a ravine with a small indent in it, just large enough for the 6 of them to comfortably lay under the rocky shelter.

As the group tried to get some rest, Blake turned to Yang.

'Yang? Do you think... do you think we'll ever be able to rebuild civilization and go back to how things were?'

Yang looked up, her eyes deep in thought.

'I dunno. I hope so, but... I really don't know.' Seeing that it wasn't a good enough answer for Blake, as she was still in quite a bad emotional state, she continued.

'But if things don't go back to the way they were, I'll make them go back,' she said with a smile, her fist lightly reaching up, before drooping back to her side as she went to sleep.

'Thanks, Yang,' Blake mumbled to herself as she curled up and joined the rest of them in their first peaceful rest in weeks.