Three months had passed since the small group of survivors had separated.

Adam had made his way all the way back to Vale, taking refuge in the city. The streets crawled with Grimm, but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle.

Sighing, he began to talk to himself to keep himself company. It had become a habit of his since venturing out alone.

'It sure is quiet around here all of a sudden.'

Looking outside, he realised that the vast numbers of Grimm that roamed the streets had decreased dramatically, almost suspiciously so.

'Huh… that's weird. Yesterday these streets were flooded with the bastards… so where did they go…?'

Wilt and Blush held closely at his side, he cautiously opened the front door to investigate. Making sure to make absolutely no noise, he made his way through the city, looking for any sign of Grimm or humans at all.

'They're all gone… what the hell happened?'

He searched every street, but each one was as desolate as the last.

'There's no way they could have all just disappeared overnight, especially without making any noise… a city doesn't empty just like that.'

Choosing to investigate further, he went to all the major buildings in the city, looking for any clues as to what happened, but it didn't matter where he went, be it the police station, Beacon or the town square, there was not a single sign of life or even a hint as to why it was suddenly empty.

'I don't like this… it's too empty… what the hell is going on?'

Without finding anything, he returned to the place he had been staying at, only to find the door strangely locked by the indoor chain. Chills ran up his spine. He hadn't locked it… so who had? It was a question he wanted to know the answer to, yet he feared that very same answer at the same time. With no choice but to break the door open, he reluctantly drew his sword and sliced through the tiny gap at the side of the door, breaking the chain that had been set. Slowly opening it, he was deeply disturbed by what he saw inside.

Written on the wall in a deep red liquid were several sentences. He wasn't stupid. He'd seen the substance enough times to know that it was blood.

I KNOW WHAT YOU DID.

HOW COULD YOU BETRAY THEM LIKE THAT?

ONLY SOME KIND OF MONSTER WOULD DO THAT TO THEIR FRIENDS.

PERHAPS YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE BETRAYED TOO?

OR WOULD YOU RATHER SUFFER LIKE THEY DID?

Adam feared the writing. He had been gone around two hours, so that means during that time someone had broken into his home and written this disturbing message on the walls. But the thing that scared him even more was the fact that the door was locked.

The door could only be locked from the inside. Every other exit was sealed shut. Adam made sure of that himself, and every window on the second floor was boarded up, which meant… whoever had locked his door was still in the house. On his guard, he very carefully climbed the stairs to the second floor, his heart pounding in his chest as the middle step creaked familiarly. Who would he find at the top? He wasn't sure he wanted to know. He first checked the bathroom, then the guest bedroom. They were the closest to the stairs, but they were also empty. Then, gulping as he opened the final door to the master bedroom, he saw it in a state of disarray. Clothes and furniture were chaotically spread across the room, but what was more distressing was that nobody was inside. He knew someone must have been inside the house, yet he could find no-one. And then he heard a familiar creak. Turning instantly, he saw a shadow dashing down the steps. He tried to give chase, but the door slammed shut before he was even halfway down the stairs. Blood was furiously swimming through his veins, a mixture of terror and relief swamping his thoughts as he blockaded the front door. Now nobody could get in, at least for tonight. Tomorrow he would look for a new place to stay, as his current residence was obviously not safe. Sitting at his desk, he decided to write his routine diary entry, only to find it was not in the drawer he left it.

'Is that what those strange messages were about…?'

Searching around, he found it lying next to the bed, underneath a small pile of… human hair. Brushing the hair off, he wrote his entry for the night, detailing the bizarre intrusion and ominous messages before deciding to get some sleep.

'Whoever that was is in this city with me… who the hell could it be…?'

Partway through the night, however, he was woken up by a strange dripping noise. After a few seconds, he realised his face was wet, and dabbing it with his fingers he found a red liquid.

And then he saw it.

Right there, painted on the ceiling, a message that had definitely not been there when he had gone to sleep.

YOU WERE STUPID TO BLOCK THE DOOR.

NOW YOU HAVE NO WAY OUT.

I HOPE YOU ENJOY YOUR PUNISHMENT.

Bolting upright, he saw it. The same shadowy figure he had seen the previous day, inching agonizingly slowly upstairs. He reached for Wilt and Blush, but they were not at his bedside where he had left them. He also noticed that his feet had been chained to the bed with some heavy steel handcuffs. He wasn't going anywhere in a hurry.

The figure approached, ever so slowly. The door was open just barely enough to see the shape, but he couldn't see who it was because of the dim light. It was only when his door opened that he saw who his attacker was.

'…Ruby…?'

'Hello Adam.'

He was speechless. There were so many questions he wanted to ask, but he couldn't squeeze out the words.

'You were naïve to think that I simply left when I slammed the door. You didn't even consider the possibility that I was still downstairs.'

Her expression was much different than the last time he had seen her. The cheery girl he knew was long gone, replaced by a stoic, jaded person. If it weren't for her physical appearance, there was no way he would have thought her to be anything like Ruby.

'That diary of yours sure is something. I was surprised when I found out what scum you really were.'

Adam realised immediately that she knew all of his secrets. The meaning behind the messages she had left suddenly became clear.

'Let's see… ah yes, here we are. This one is an extract from 11 months ago.'

Clearing her throat, she began to read from the diary.

'Today my White Fang subordinates told me they captured two people. Some stuck up white haired bitch and a wannabe monk. I told them to make sure the bitch knew her place. I couldn't really care less about the other guy; he can do cleaning duties or some shit like that for all I care. Apparently they found them wandering around, scavenging. What a joke. It's been months since the Grimm devastated the cities, and they haven't even found a place to stay yet? They don't deserve to survive. I'm looking forward to hearing about what kind or torture they'll put the bitch through. Maybe they'll rape her. Ha, I'd love to see that.'

Staring him in the eyes, they both knew who that passage was about.

'So,' Ruby began, her eyes violent with rage, 'tell me who those two people were.'

With no choice but to answer, he gave her the truth.

'Two former students of Beacon.'

'And their names?'

'…Weiss Schnee and Lie Ren.'

'So you knew who they were, yet still put them through that?'

Reluctantly answering, he replied with a timid, 'yes.'

His answer was unsurprisingly met with a kick to the face, his cheek stinging from where her boot had connected.

'One of my friends died because of you. Let's read the next part, shall we?'

Continuing to read from the diary, she chose a date roughly halfway through the pages.

'Some more idiot kids were caught by my guys. I've gotta hand it to them, these students really are a bunch of dumb cunts. I heard that they acted without my orders, but it sounds like they're doing pretty good. They killed some white knight who was trying to be the good guy before they raped two of them right in front of some cry-baby bitch, and then when she got too annoying they killed her. I've gotta say, I'm pretty impressed. Marco wouldn't shut up about how much he came in them though which was a bit annoying to listen to. Maybe I should kill him?

And then there's this piece from a few days later.

I said to Raven we should head to that White Fang facility to help out. Hopefully I can finally get rid of the stupid slut. She won't shut the fuck up about how she wants to help save those dumbass kids. She has no idea that there's an SSS-Class waiting there for her. I mean sure, it's only there so we can experiment on humans and try to force them to turn Grimm, but it's still an SSS-Class. Even if she's not the best for combat, she's pretty damn strong. Hopefully she'll die tomorrow.

And finally, this is my personal favourite one.'

Ruby shot him a very dangerous glare that told him he would be receiving another hit soon, before continuing to read.

'That fucking bitch! That stupid fucking rabbit fucked up all of my plans! Her and that fucking laser cannon or whatever the fuck it was! She destroyed my whole facility! I'll make her pay for that one day, I swear to God… at least we killed that stupid redhead bimbo though. 'Jaune, Jaune! Oh Jaune!' Give me a fucking break. Stupid idiots like her make me wanna puke.'

After finishing reading that one, she kicked him again, only this time with more force. Adam heard a crack and was sure that his jaw was broken, the pain on the left side of his face searing through his skull.

'And then we have the best one of them all. After I'm done reading this one, I'm going to make sure that you never breath another day after this.'

Skipping ahead to near the end of the diary, she began to read the final chapter she had chosen.

'Finally managed to get in touch with Cinder, Jesus that woman is hard to get hold of. It took me seven months just to find the bitch! Anyway, she told me about some operation she's planning with Taiyang. That's some X-Class Grimm she's been fucking. They're planning on attacking the city with the Grimm under Taiyang's control, so she lent me a few of her guys to use. I'm thinking of placing a few of them outside the perimeter, because I know there's some Faunus guy who's been digging an underground tunnel to the outside of the walls. Perry, I think his name was. I'll station a couple guys at the exit to make sure nobody gets out, and send a few men inside to clear out the houses. It's obvious he's got the hots for that rabbit girl so maybe he'll even try to bring her with him. I told them if they see a pregnant rabbit Faunus to make sure she goes through hell. That'll teach her a lesson about destroying my stuff.'

Adam gulped in nervous anticipation of what Ruby would do to him.

'That attack was your doing. You made it seem like you were helping, and then you ran off to make yourself scarce. I noticed you didn't do all that much to help against the Grimm, and you were also rather suspiciously absent from when we attacked Taiyang's castle. At that point I knew something was up, so I kept a close eye on you. Then finally when I left the Snowpeak Valleys I was ambushed by a group of White Fang thugs. It all made sense when they told me who they were working for.'

Adam's face turned from one of fear to anger at the mention of it.

'Those traitors…' he muttered under his breath.

'Oh no, they didn't say your name. They said they were working for Cinder Fall, but she was dead so I knew something was wrong. But thanks for the confession. Now I can take great pleasure in killing you.'

Revealing Crescent Rose, she relished the terrified look in his eyes as she raised it above her head, before bringing it down upon him.

The next second, his disembodied hand rolled onto the floor, blood spurting from the wound before Ruby stopped the bleeding.

'I'm going to inflict a wound on you for every single one of my friends you killed, including all the people who died in that Grimm attack. I hope you're not tired, because this is going to be a long night.'

Still wearing that sadistic smile, his screams rang out into the night, his suffering unimaginably horrifying.

Come morning, he was a brutalized mess of a man, barely alive. He had had both hands taken from him, and Ruby also took the liberty of cutting his toes off. He had scars littering his back and stomach, and she had even removed some of his internal organs. Not even his face was spared, his lips too cut and swollen to speak, and his eyes having been gouged out by the tip of Crescent Rose. Even his ears had been maimed, Ruby sadistically emptying a jar of maggots into both of his ears. The bugs had crawled into his head, and he could feel them wriggling around inside his skull, yet he could do nothing about it. He knew that eventually, if he didn't die of thirst and starvation beforehand that the maggots would eventually burrow into his brain and kill him. Either way, Ruby had left him in a pitiful state, unable to do anything but wait for death to take him.

I wonder if he's learnt his place now, Ruby thought to herself. Angered by what he had done, she had left him in a rage after finishing their 7 hour torture session.

Now, didn't his diary mention something about an experiment?

Is that what they did to Yang…?

They forced her to become a Grimm… unforgivable.

Then, a dangerous thought flitted through her mind.

If I underwent that experiment… could I control the Grimm? They said that the stronger the Hunter the longer it took for the Grimm to take control, and they said that I was one of the strongest Hunters they had ever seen… if I carried out that transformation, would I be able to control it…?

There's only one way to find out.

And so, with a new goal in mind, she set out for her next destination:

I'm going to pay a little visit to that White Fang facility that Velvet destroyed.