A month passed. A month of walking, fighting and searching. A month of nothing.

'Jaune, Pyrrha... where are you?' Nora mumbled to herself, not quite managing to shake her usual cheerful tone while she walked. The group had found themselves traversing a mountain range, which granted them a much welcomed freedom from Grimm, the creatures being scarce in the mountains where there were no people. They eventually came across a spring, presumably formed by the rainwater catching in a small ditch in the ground. Nora immediately dunked her head in, taking big gulps, not a care in the world for any potential threat that might have been in the water.

'Ith's reawwy cowd!' Nora shouted as her head bobbed back up, water splashing everywhere as she spoke.

'Of course it's cold,' Yang remarked with a cute giggle, 'it's not like this place has easy access to the sun with all the mountains around,' she pointed out, Nora paying no attention as she continued doing whatever it was that she was doing. Ruby, Blake and Weiss both took the time to clean off, the experience being basically luxury compared to what they were used to nowadays, while Ren was talking to Jade a little bit.

'Were you named after your hair?' Ren asked, noting the similarity between her name and hair colour, which was a brilliant green hue.

'Yeah, I think so. I've always thought it was a pretty word. It sounds so calm. So peaceful.'

She leant her head back, taking in the cool mountain air for a while in silence, Ren basking in the calmness next to her. After they had all cleaned off and collected some clean water to drink on the journey, they set off once more. Upon reaching the end of the mountain pass, they came to the outskirts of an abandoned village.

'Be careful,' Blake warned the rest of them, 'this place is Aria village. Back when I was a member of the White Fang, we were told about this place. It's a hotspot for S class Grimm, possibly even an SS class.

'S class?' Jade asked, confused by the new term, 'what's that?'

'The Grimm are all separated into 7 groups,' Weiss began, explaining while they walked towards the village, 'there are C-Class, which are the weakest of them all, but there are a lot more of them compared to the others. I'd say around 150,000 in total on Remnant. Then you have the B-Class, which are slightly stronger but still fairly weak. According to our classes in Beacon, there are roughly 25,000 of those kinds. Then we have A-Class, which I'd say are around as strong as we are right now. There are about 1,500 of them in total. After that, we get to the 'special' kinds of Grimm. First, there are the S-Class, which are the weakest known Grimm that can use aura, and they all have minor resemblance to humans, but nobody knows why. There's a theory that it's because they can use aura, but it's never been proven. They can't manifest it like humans can, but they can use it to augment their attacks. We actually came into contact with one a while back, and had it not been for Ren and Nora over there we'd probably be dead. They're extremely strong, but luckily there are only around 200 of them at most so they aren't a big problem. After that, there's the SS-Class. An SS-Class is capable of destroying an entire town in minutes, to give you an idea of just how powerful they are, and they're even more human-like than the S-Class. Noticing a pattern here? Then, there are the SSS-Class. As far as we know, these things are pretty much human, other than a few Grimm traits here, like the mask and a few animal parts, and they can supposedly control aura to the point where they have semblances. Finally, there are the ones known as X-Class. Nobody has ever lived after coming into contact with them, but we got a single report back about an immensely powerful Grimm without a mask. The Hunter said they had pure blood red eyes, and had incredibly powerful aura. Aside from that, we know nothing about them, and that's just about it for the Class system. Did that clear up your confusion?'

'Yeah, thanks. I've never heard anyone refer to them by class before, so I didn't know what was going on,' Jade answered happily.

A few minutes later, they reached Aria village, and agreed to split into pairs to look around for anything they could use.

'Yang and I will search the houses on the left, Blake and Weiss; can you guys search the ones on the right?'

'Sure,' they both responded in unison.

'What do we do?' Ren asked, while Nora curiously took a look at the surroundings, before changing her interest to the insects on the ground, gleefully watching them scuttle around.

'Can you guys look after Jade and keep watch? We just need to make sure no Grimm wander in while we're searching, that's all.

'Yeah, me and Nora can handle that,' Ren answered. 'I'm sure if we see anything Nora will let you know. She's been really full of energy recently so I'm pretty sure she'd jump at the chance to fight some Grimm.'

Searching house after house, Ruby and Weiss were finding nothing but unhelpful junk.

'I'm not expecting to find any food or water that we can take but some medical supplies would be nice,' Yang complained, the dissatisfaction in her voice not making any attempt to hide. 'Blake still hasn't fully recovered from that Death Stalker attack, and I still get pains in my legs where those things hit me. Something, anything would be nice at this point.'

They continued searching, the lack of contact from Blake and Weiss meant they were having just as little success on the other side. As they were about to give up, Ruby stopped dead in the doorway of one of the houses, causing Yang to walk straight into her back.

'What gives, Rubes? What's up?'

Ruby stared, frozen in fear at the sight before her. Sitting in the middle of the room, there was a Grimm. A Grimm with human arms, which ended with wolf-like claws. One with Razor sharp teeth, and fur covering their body, other than the ears, feet, face and hands.

'You interrupted my rest,' the creature said, in a low distorted growl. Too scared to say anything, Ruby simply started backing away, Yang following her lead as she did so.

'I didn't give you permission to leave,' the Grimm threatened, looking her dead in the face. Even though his mask obscured his face, she knew he was smiling to himself. She knew he wasn't just going to let her walk away.

'I was planning on sleeping some more, but since a meal ever so kindly presented itself to me, I think I'll eat now,' he said, laughing maniacally as he did so. 'Go on. Run. I'll give you 10 seconds before I tear you to shreds.'

Heeding his warning, the two girls sprinted as fast as their legs could carry them.

'WEISS! BLAKE! RUN!' Yang screamed across the village, tears streaming down her face in fear. 'THERE'S AN SS CLASS!'

Meanwhile back in the hut, the Beowolf had finished counting.

'Dinnertime.'

Powering out the door, the Beowolf soon caught up to the girls, his legs far too strong to outrun. Even regular Beowolves were faster than normal humans, so one of this strength left them with no chance of escape. Their futility only fuelled his desire to slaughter and eat them. He noticed the blonde was running with a very slight limp, possibly due to an earlier conflict.

'Easy prey,' he whispered to himself, chuckling. Seconds later, he pounced, Yang screaming as his claws dug into her back, riding her like a surfboard across the dirt. He then threw her up into the air, before catching her by the neck and slamming her into the ground, Yang making slight whimpering noises as her face began to turn purple. She struggled, but the powerful claws of the Beowolf slowly tightening around her neck were far too strong. She couldn't budge him even an inch.

Bang.

A single shot emanated from Crescent Rose, as a terrified Ruby watched in fear as her sister edged closer and closer to death with every passing second. The Beowolf looked at her in surprise, before loosening his grip and slumping over.

'You... bitch... I won't... forget this...' he muttered as he collapsed onto his side.

'Is... is he... is he d-dead?'

Ruby's frightened stammering and shaking body hurt her sister far more than any physical wounds. As she wrapped her arms around Ruby, she comforted her with soothing words.

'I think so. But I'm alive. That's what matters, Ruby. As long as we survive, we can do anything.'

Ruby closed her eyes, shutting out the horror of what she just witnessed. They don't know how long they stood like that, just happily cut off from the world in their embrace.

'That's really cute. And when I say really cute, I mean really disgusting.'

The two of them immediately snapped back to reality, Yang letting go of Ruby as she realised that the Beowolf was still very much alive. Not just that, but he appeared completely unharmed. The creature delivered an incredibly strong blow to Yang's face, launching her roughly 40 metres across the dirt, knocking her unconscious immediately and probably breaking a few bones as well.

Ruby stood face to face with the creature as it smirked, revealing its jaws to her as he grabbed her arms. With one simple movement of his hands, he instantly broke both of Ruby's arms in several places, a series of sickening snaps reverberating through the air as they did so. As Ruby closed her eyes and awaited death, however, she heard the familiar sound of a hammer hitting something very close by, and a grunt that accompanied it, as well as the feeling of her arms no longer being restrained.

'Hey there, Ruby,' Nora cheerfully stated, not quite grasping how dire the situation was.

'Come on, you can't give up now,' she heard Weiss say. Opening her eyes, she saw everyone had gathered around her. Looking over to the Beowolf, seeing that he was still recovering, she took the chance to point out Yang, Ren running over to carry her as she did so, and she told the others to run like hell.

'Now I'm really pissed,' the Beowolf said as he got up, staggering as the impact of Magnhild still rang through his body. 'These fucking kids are really starting to annoy me. All I wanted was to enjoy my hunt, but I guess I'll just have to kill them the boring way, he said as he began to regain his balance, sprinting after them again. It was only when he saw her that he stopped in his tracks.

'That one looks nice and juicy,' he said as his mouth salivated, staring at the tantalizing flesh of the young girl that accompanied the group. Jade also noticed his stares, and knew exactly what he was after. Making sure to slip behind the others, she turned and ran in a different direction, the group too focused on escaping to notice.

It's me you want, isn't it? Come and get me then you bastard!

He smiled to himself as he watched her run.

'She's pretty smart for a runt. That'll make the meal even tastier. I'll come for the rest of you some other time,' he told himself, staring at the now distant backs of team RWBY, Nora and Ren before chasing after Jade.

I guess this is it, she told herself, a few tears streaking her young face. I'll see you soon, dad.

As she hit a dead end, she turned to see the wolf staring at her, a cocky smile that said 'I win' written across his face.

'End of the line, huh?'

'End of the line. Any last words?'

'Yeah. Thank you.'

Bemused, the wolf laughed to himself.

'I'm about to eat you alive, and you're thanking me? You really are a strange one.'

'Yes,' she responded, her expression now completely different from before, 'thank you for leaving my prey alone. I'd much rather savour their taste some other time. They aren't quite ripe yet,' she said, as her body began to metamorphosise into that of a strange creature that the Beowolf had never seen before. There was a slight bit of fur covering her body, and the talons on her hands and feet were much sharper than his own, along with the extremely long canine teeth she possessed. She was completely different, and the rabid look in her eyes struck fear into the heart of even an SS-Class Grimm like himself.

'What the hell are you?' he said, as he slowly backed off, trying to keep her talking while he created enough distance to escape.

'I'm a genetically modified Saberfang. An SSS-Class Grimm. And as for you? You're my food. You wanted to prey on my food. And now your life is mine.'

'Please... you can have them, just let me go!'

Giggling a little, she simply said;

'Thanks for the meal.'

Those were the last words he ever heard as her teeth ripped his throat out, as she tore up his body and feasted on his flesh and innards.

'Ruby... I'm going to enjoy killing you. But not right now. It's not time yet.'

'Where's Jade?!'

Ren panicked as he realised she was nowhere to be seen. Looking in despair, Blake said that which Ren didn't want to hear, or believe.

'She must have been taken by that Grimm.'

'No! We have to go back, we have to save her!'

'Ren, we can't! That thing is way too powerful for us! I know how you feel, but... we can't. We're not strong enough. Honestly, I'm surprised we made it out of there alive. Yang has a broken jaw and nose, Ruby can't stop crying and my chest felt like it was bursting the whole time we were running. We're injured and weak. I'm sorry Ren... there's nothing we can do.'

Blake couldn't handle it anymore. Kneeling down, she began sobbing into her hands.

'There's... nothing we can do to help.'

All of them wore a melancholy expression. None of them liked it. But they all knew it was true.

'Ren?' Nora asked timidly, her curious eyes looking disheartened and sad, 'if it's OK with you, why did you feel so attached to that girl? Did you know her?'

After a brief period of silence, Ren answered.

'She looks exactly like my sister. She disappeared when I was a child. Even before I met you, Nora. She was my older sister. Her name was Chun. She went missing, police said it was a kidnapping. They never found the guy who did it, but Chun was the spitting image of that girl. She reminded me of her. I just... I felt comfortable around her. As if I'd found my sister again.'

Nora chastised herself inside for being jealous, but as much as she hated it, a small part of her was actually happy that the girl was gone. She hated thinking that Ren might care for that girl more than he did for her.

No, stop it! How can I think like that? How selfish can I be? That poor girl is probably scared out of her mind, maybe even dead, and I'm happy? What kind of horrible person am I?

Not a single word more was shared between them that night, as they all went to sleep in total silence, finding an abandoned barn to stay the night in.

Author's Note: Just to clarify for people who didn't figure it out, Saberfang's are Grimm that share features with Sabertooth Tigers.