'You think this is the place?'

Yang, Pyrrha and Fox had been walking for hours, and had finally come across the same facility that Ruby and the others headed into.

'This is a little too familiar,' Pyrrha nervously commented, gripping her weapon tightly, silently praying that they were alright. Sneaking into the lightly guarded facility, Pyrrha noticed that it was actually quite a bit larger than the one Weiss and Ren were being held, which only aroused her suspicion further when she took into account the lack of security. It was almost like they wanted people to get inside.

'Be careful,' she warned, Yang nodding in agreement. Fox remained silent, but the fact he was still following their lead indicated that he already knew. Advancing onward, they found a small air vent in the back of the facility, just big enough to crawl through. Yang led the way, followed by Pyrrha and finally Fox. Crawling through the ventilation, Yang stopped just outside one of the vents after hearing voices.

'The boss is gonna be pissed if he doesn't find what he's after.'

'You mean that experiment?'

'Yeah.'

'Damn shame those bitches weren't compatible, at least they make good sex slaves.'

'Yeah, that fucking rabbit prick's been stealing all the fun for himself though.'

'He's the head guard, nothing we can do until he gets bored of them.'

Listening in on this conversation only worried Yang further, and she hurriedly carried on, searching for an empty room to drop down into. After a few more minutes of navigating the vents, they eventually found a storage room in the back, which the three of them gently lowered themselves into. There were masses of food and drink, all in air tight packaging. Quickly finding the exit, Yang slowly opened the door, peeking out into the thankfully empty corridor. But what they were met with unnerved them slightly. Leading out of the corridor there were several other hallways. She felt like she was back in the labyrinth again, before Pyrrha put forward a daring proposal.

'Maybe we should split up if we want to find them fast,' she said. Yang was taken aback. She never expected Pyrrha of all people to suggest such a high risk, high reward plan.

'You sure about that?' Yang questioned, the doubt in her voice making no attempt to hide.

'You heard what those White Fang men said. Something about experiments. If we're not quick...'

Yang raised her hand in agreement.

'Alright. You guys better not do anything stupid,' Yang told them with a chuckle.

'That's funny,' Pyrrha answered, 'I was going to say the same thing.'

'Good luck,' Fox added, to which Pyrrha and Yang both looked in surprise. 'What? I can speak, I'm just quiet,' he commented.

With that, the trio separated, each one heading a different direction.

Fox soon came across a group of White Fang, and quietly manoeuvring through the hallways around them he managed to evade them. He soon came across several more groups of guards, all just talking amongst themselves. From their level of awareness Fox knew that their infiltration hadn't been reported. Not yet at least. Heading onwards, he soon began to hear what sounded like an argument. Pressing his ear to the wall he could hear the muffled voices of Ruby and Velvet, along with someone he didn't know who seemed to be shouting at them. Just as he was about to find a way in, however, someone grabbed his head and threw him into the wall, knocking him unconscious almost immediately.

Yang was having less luck, having gone a different direction. All the corridors looked exactly the same to her, and without a map of some kind she realised she was doing little more than aimlessly wandering, hoping to see something, anything that could possibly lead her to Ruby.

We should have thought of a backup plan, she thought to herself. This isn't good... right now Ruby could be...

Her train of thought was soon broken by an alarm suddenly blaring in her ear. Panicking, she hurriedly opened the closest door some 30 feet away and slammed it shut behind her, panting in relief. Moments later, she heard footsteps clattering against the hard floor on the other side of the door, and knew just how close she had come to being found out. She turned around, leaning against the door with her head in her hands. Soon, however, she found herself frozen in fear.

'You know, it's rather rude to intrude on someone without even knocking first.'

She wouldn't have paid it any mind, except the voice wasn't behind the door. It was coming from in front of her. Lowering her hands, she saw a White Fang with his legs perched comfortably on the desk in front of him.

'Hold her down,' the man said, to which a Grimm followed his command, slamming her against the floor and pressing her to the ground.

What? Why is a Grimm following his orders? What the hell is going on?

'So, are you here for your friends?' the man casually asked, obviously already knowing the answer.

'Give me her back! Give my sister back to me!'

Unfazed by the powerful Grimm pinning her down, Yang angrily demanded her sister's safety, to which the man responded with respect, signalling the Grimm to let her go. As she slowly stood up, she managed to get a closer look at her assailant, only to find it was an SSS-Class Grimm, a Saberfang to be precise.

'Where is my sister?'

'Which one is she?'

'Tell me where she is. Now.'

The man sighed, his head drooping slightly.

'Look, I'm a generous man. I'm willing to give your sister back to you, along with the rest of them.'

'Alright,' Yang answered, sceptical about his proposal, 'what's the catch.'

Cracking a small smile from the corner of his mouth, he started clapping slowly

'You're very good. In fact, I might be willing to release them right now if you join us. Think of all the things we could achieve together,' the man teased, holding his hand out in invitation.

She wanted to decline, but then images of her sister flashed through her mind. And then she recalled the ultimate fate of Weiss... tensing up slightly, she was hesitant to respond.

'Wow, you really thought I was serious,' the man said, laughing to himself a little. Yang was infuriated. First they kidnapped her sister and friends, and now they mocked her. She was very quickly grating her patience away, something which her clenched fist conveyed.

'Alright, alright,' he said, with a serious expression now. 'You want your sister, help me with a little experiment I'm running.'

'Experiment?'

'Yes, an experiment. In fact, it was this lovely Grimm you see before you that came here and proposed it. I thought she was here to kill us, but it turns out she wanted our help. I was surprised that we could help an SSS-Class like her, but after hearing her out I soon realised why she would need us.'

'You keep referring to it as 'her.' How do you know she's female?'

'Grimm have feelings too, you know,' the Saberfang interjected, its stance indicating it was quickly losing patience with Yang's questions. 'And similar to that, we also have genders. Is it so surprising for us to have female and males amongst us?'

Now that she thought about it, Yang realised what the Grimm said made a lot of sense.

'So, you want me to help you turn this Grimm back to a human, right?' Yang said, fairly certain she knew that was what they wanted. Why else would a Grimm need the assistance of humans?

'Not quite,' the man said, before revealing the horrifying truth behind his motives, the look of shock painted on Yang's face as he uttered the words.

'We don't want to turn the Grimm into a human. Rather, we're trying to turn humans into Grimm.'

Quivering all over, the expression on Yang's face was exactly the response they had expected from her.

'We've had a few subjects so far, but we're still very early in the process. Unfortunately, the last two didn't fare two well. As it happens, there are a number of conditions which must be met in order to allow a human to become a Grimm. Condition number one: they must be a full human. Fauna are incapable of undergoing the process. We tried with a few of our own willing members and some Faunus we captured before named Sun, but they couldn't control their anger and relied on the Grimm inside them. They were pretty out of control, so they had to be... decommissioned.'

Sun... I'm so sorry...

'You should have seen that Sun and the rest of his friends. There was another blue haired guy that survived the initial induction, but the other two died almost immediately after the process began. Those two were real monsters. Both of them were S-Classes. They contained the Grimm for about five days before starvation got to them. They begged us for food, but for the sake of the experiment we refused. We wanted to see the effects of hunger on a person sharing Grimm genes, seeing how they always eat their victims. Turns out they feel it much worse than humans do, and they couldn't handle it. They started eating their own dead friends. Talk about psychopaths waiting to happen. Anyway, back to the conditions. Condition two: the person undergoing the experiment must be of powerful blood. What this means is they must have extremely high potential as Grimm. People with weak aura and people without strong lineage will not survive the initial phase.'

Yang's blood froze as she realised just what they were asking her to do with the next condition.

'Condition three,' the man said, a merciless look taking over his eyes, 'the person undergoing the change must eat a small amount of a Grimm.'

Even before he finished speaking, the Saberfang began to carefully tear into its stomach flesh with her claws, before holding it out towards Yang.

'Either you eat, or you die. It's as simple as that.'

Yang didn't know what to say or do. She simply stood there, trying to take in what had just been said to her.

As Fox began to rouse from his slumber, he jerked awake; suddenly realising he was attacked, before calming down after he saw that he was alone. Not just that, but he had also been hidden and had a blanket placed over him.

'Who...?'

Taking a moment to wonder who had helped him, he quickly left the room and saw that he wasn't far from the place he had been attacked. He continued searching for a way through the door, and after minutes of searching around he finally found it. Upon opening the door, however, all that greeted him was death. Faunus bodies were strewn across the floor, and there were all kinds of bodily fluids plastered on the ground. Blood, sweat, semen... it created an overwhelming stench that saddened Fox. When he saw Coco and Yatsuhashi's bodies, he had to take a moment to let it settle in. Two of his friends were dead, just like that. It came as a shock, but then he realised that Ruby and Velvet were not in the room. Wherever they were, Fox prayed that they had been saved by the same person that helped him out, before taking Coco and Yatsuhashi's bodies outside. He had to at least give them a proper burial. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if he couldn't give them some dignity in death.

'I am not eating any part of a Grimm!' Yang screamed, fear echoing through her voice.

'Force her,' the man told the Saberfang, who happily proceeded to pin her against the wall, forcing her own flesh down Yang's throat.

As hard as Yang tried to avoid swallowing it, her body eventually gave in, the feeling of swallowing a Grimm's flesh making her want to puke. It didn't exactly taste nice, either.

'Why are you doing this?' Yang asked, nauseous from the forced meal she was just given, 'and why ask me to help if you're going to force me to be part of your experiment anyway?'

'Oh, relax,' he shot back, 'you're strong enough to handle it. You'll have complete and total control of the Grimm inside you until you yourself choose to rely on its power.'

He gave Yang a smile before turning to the Saberfang.

'Kill her.'

'Oh, I've wanted to kill her for a long time now,' the Grimm happily replied, advancing on Yang who quickly opened the door and bolted down the corridor, the Grimm very close behind.

He's trying to force me to use the Grimm genes they planted inside me to turn me into one of them, Yang realized, not wanting to give in to their desires. I really don't have a choice, do I?

She was about to allow the Grimm to take over, when a very familiar attack rippled through the hallway, speeding past Yang and colliding with the Saberfang, causing it to be knocked backwards. Looking up, she saw the familiar garb and blade of Raven Branwen, along with a bull Faunus that she didn't recognise; however he seemed to also wear a Grimm mask and didn't seem hostile so she assumed Raven was working together with him.

'Long time no see, Yang,' Raven commented, a smile on her face as she walked towards the Saberfang, not hesitating for a second. 'Don't worry about your sister, her and the bunny girl are both safe,' she added, Yang's heart skipping a beat in relief at the news.

'The other two didn't make it,' she coldly said, not stopping her advance for a second.

They didn't make it...? Coco and Yatsuhashi are...?

'Get out of here,' Raven ordered her, 'we'll take it from here,' she finished, drawing her blade on the Grimm again. Hesitating, Yang slowly stumbled away, leaving the two of them behind to fight against the Saberfang.

Why does that Grimm feel so familiar? Like I've met it somewhere before...?

Breaking into a sprint, turning the corner she crashed into none other than Pyrrha.

'Pyrrha? What are you...?'

'I ended up in some security room,' she answered, out of breath. 'I saw the room you ran into on one of the cameras, and then I ran into Raven and Adam, that bull Faunus. I'm glad we're finally getting a lucky break for once.'

It was like a bullet to the heart for Yang. Pyrrha didn't know... that was something she immediately realised.

'Pyrrha...' she began, the solemn tone telling her that it wasn't good news.

'What is it? What happened?'

Pyrrha was growing restless extremely quickly due to Yang's mood, and she recoiled in disbelief when Yang told her.

'Coco and Yatsuhashi didn't make it, Pyrrha.'

She stood there for what felt like an eternity.

Again...? Why must people always die... why can't we just have a happy ending for once...?

'Let's go,' Yang said, breaking the silence. 'We're getting out of here.'

Not a word more was said as they made for the entrance, Pyrrha still in shock over the news as she dragged herself out of the building, seeing the crying faces of Velvet, Ruby and Fox burying Coco and Yatsuhashi's bodies.

'At least some people came out OK, huh Pyrrha?' Yang commented, trying to cheer her up even a little bit.

I hope you're OK in there, Raven.

'What the fuck is with this Grimm?' Adam said to Raven, annoyed at how tough she was.

'That's an SSS-Class for you,' she shot back, before launching another attack that was easily avoided. She nodded to Adam, and the two of them both attacked from either side, Adam aiming his blade at the Grimm's neck and Raven aiming for the legs, but the Grimm jumped off the ground slightly and forcing her body to face the ceiling, before landing a simultaneous powerful kick to Adam's head and a strong fist to Raven's, sending them crashing into the opposing walls, knocking Adam out and heavily disorienting Raven.

'Finally,' the Grimm complained, annoyed at how long she had been held up. 'I'd love to kill you right here, but I've got myself a blonde to catch,' she taunted before powering down the hallway towards the entrance.

The group stood in respectful silence for the recently deceased Coco and Yatsuhashi, before Pyrrha asked the question she knew Fox wanted to.

'Did they at least die with dignity?'

Velvet and Ruby's silence gave her the answer.

'I see... at least you're both still here though,' she said, trying to follow Yang's optimism, even in the face of such a traumatic event. The groups attention soon turned to the door, however, and an unexpected face greeted them as it grew closer.

'Jaune?!' Pyrrha exclaimed, running over to reunite with her former teammate, both of them embracing in a hug.

'Hey, Pyrrha,' Jaune said, his usual dorky atmosphere giving Pyrrha at least a little bit of happiness to hold onto.

'Jaune, there's something I have to tell you,' she desperately blurted, her happiness at seeing him again overflowing from her very core.

'I need to tell you something too,' he replied calmly, hugging her even tighter.

'WAIT! DON'T! HE'S NOT WHO YOU THINK HE IS!'

Raven's cries were far too late. Jaune's body had already begun to warp and change, and it took Pyrrha a few seconds to notice that her intestines and several other organs were now in a pile of blood on the floor in front of her.

'J...aune... I... lo...ve... you...'

Her last words before slumping to the ground, unheard by all but her killer. As she quickly lay dying, all that happiness she had a moment ago had dissipated. She hated the fact that the one she was able to spill her true feelings to was the one who killed her. Yet at the same time, she felt a soothing sense of relief. Finally being able to convey her feelings, even if not to whom they were for gave her a feeling of release. She felt like she had let go of her burdens as her life ebbed away.

The next angered outburst shocked the group even more than the scene they had just bore witness to.

'I'LL KILL YOU!'

It was Velvet's furious, sorrow-strained voice that shouted those words as she grabbed the box that she kept at her side. She wanted vengeance. She wanted it now.