Qrow groaned as he unscrewed his flask. While his perch at the top of his tree offered a good view of the surrounding landscape, observation was painfully dull, made much worse from the grey overcast. He did his best to keep his wits about him, but that was far easier said than done.

Grimm in the area had been reported showing odd behavior, roaming in strange patterns, even double backing on their tracks instead of gravitating towards nearby settlements. They weren't close enough to be considered threats to the settlements, and Qrow had been ordered to standby until they were. While that time did seem to be steadily approaching, the Grimm were obviously in no hurry.

Qrow had noticed some of the strange behavior he'd been told to keep an eye out for. A few of the beowolves seemed disoriented, while others strayed from the pack, only catching up an hour or two later. This made it hard to get an accurate head count, but Qrow wouldn't put them at any more than twenty.

He watched as the pack passed below his perch. A few scraped against the trunk of the tree, taking a good portion of the bark off with their spikes of bone as they walked. Qrow took a swig, before pocketing the flask again and sitting on his heels. They were going the right way, towards a small town nearby. If they kept up the pace, he'd be able to take them out in just a few hours. That time couldn't come soon enough.

He straightened up, walking along the branch to keep pace with the Grimm, before realizing that they were starting to slow down again. He kept going, hopeful that they would speed up again, then pinched the bridge of his nose as the pack came to a complete stop.

"No, you stupid sacks of shi-"

He was cut off by a series of growls from below, and his hand flew to the handle of his blade. Before he drew it however, he peered down at the group, looking to see which ones had already seen him.

None seemed to be looking at him. In fact, none seemed even vaguely aware of his presence. They weren't growling at him, they had all turned on one member of the pack as it put its back against the tree.

Qrow walked quietly back to the trunk of the tree, drawing his weapon quietly and keeping it ready. He'd never seen Grimm do anything like this before. They barely even communicated with each other, whatever this was didn't make sense.

Any further thought was cut off as the beowolf being surrounded suddenly lashed out at the closest member of its pack. Claws cut deep into the beowolf's neck, and it stumbled back. The reaction from the rest of the pack was nearly instant. They fell on the cornered Grimm without hesitation, and Qrow felt somewhat glad that their victim was nearly buried by the attackers. Chunks of flesh and bone were thrown from the scrap, and after only a few seconds of snarling and growling, the pack split up again, leaving almost nothing behind of their previous packmate.

Qrow couldn't do anything but stare as the Grimm continued on their way, the wounded beowolf trailing behind but following nonetheless. Grimm didn't fight Grimm. At least, they weren't supposed to. He'd never seen a display like that. He doubted anyone had ever seen a display like that.

His nerves prickled, and he felt his stomach turn violently. He doubled over, overcome by a feeling of vertigo, and reached out to grab the branch for dear life. His ears started to ring, and his sense of balance went haywire, only his grip on the branch keeping him standing. It wasn't sunlight.

A sickly purple glow seemed to descend from above, rushing towards the ground at incredible speed. Tendrils seemed to spread from it, reaching out, before it swallowed everything. Qrow couldn't help but cry out. Whether it was a cry of panic, rage, fear, or something else entirely, Qrow himself didn't know. He could only cling to his branch as the light bore down.

Qrow's knuckles went white and splinters dug under his fingernails as the light engulfed everything. A strange tugging on his mind made him go cold for a moment, before being replaced with a burning in his skull, then a flash of nausea that made him think his guts were crawling. After this, his mind started spinning, seeming to hit every feeling he could imagine. He could barely open his eyes, but when he did, everything was bathed in this sickly light. He saw figures all around, flickering in and out of existence, and countless voices whispered from everywhere around him, even inside of his head.

Then it was gone. The only sound Qrow could hear was his own gasping for air. He felt like he was choking, but he didn't want to breathe. With bleary vision, he looked for the Grimm he had been following. As he continued coming to his senses, he saw the beowolves scratching at the trunk of the tree, growling and howling promises to tear him to shreds just like they had their packmate. Out of their reach for the moment, Qrow took a moment to steady himself. He needed to keep his head on straight. Something happened, and he needed to get in contact with Ozpin again. First, the Grimm had to be dealt with.

His weapon had slipped from his hand at some point, and he spied it caught in the branches near the middle of the tree. Getting it would be easy enough, and assuming the Grimm had no further surprises in store, they wouldn't be a problem either. Now was no time to get cocky, however. He'd take as much time as he needed. Taking another moment to assess his balance, he started climbing down, eager to find out if Ozpin was as clueless as him.

Ruby came to, pulling her fingers out of the mattress and looking around, confused. She'd been sitting, reading, and then. . .

Yang burst through the door to her room in a frenzy, whispering to herself under her breath. When she saw Ruby halfway through her mattress, she seemed to calm down, coming to sit on the edge of the bed, putting a hand on Ruby's back.

"Are you alright?"

Ruby started to answer, but coughed as she realized her mouth was full of fabric. She sputtered and scraped her mouth out, trying to remember why she'd apparently tried to eat her mattress.

"I. . . I think so. I don't know what I was just doing. What happened?"

Yang put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close.

"You really don't remember? I thought I heard you screaming." She shook her head, rubbing her temple. "Whatever, I guess it's good that you don't remember. I heard some weird things, fuzzy voices, they, uh, made me kind of mad."

"Like 'you flicked a cigarette at me' mad, or 'you touched my hair' mad?" Ruby asked.

Yang shook her head, laughing to herself. "More like 'gave me a surprise buzz-cut in my sleep' mad. There really isn't much of that wall left."

Ruby raised an eyebrow, asking, "Really? What happened to all of us?"

Yang let out a long sigh, before she shrugged, standing up and walking over to the window. "I don't know what it was, but something made us. . . go a little crazy, I guess. I mean, you started eating your bed, The hotel is going the be furious when they see what I did to my room, Weiss started singing at the top of her lungs, it was. . ." Her voice trailed off, and she shook her head. "I don't know what to say." She continued staring out the window, and Ruby noticed some of the color returning to her face. "The only thing I'm really sure of is that it was purple." She turned back to Ruby, a small smile crossing her face. " How'd the bed taste, by the way? You've got scraps of it all over you."

Ruby blinked, her hand moving to wipe away any remains of the mattress. A few blurry images entered her mind, all of them attacking the bed like a ravenous dog. She couldn't comprehend why, but for some reason the bed had seemed like it would taste delicious, despite how bizarre that sounded.

The streets of Mistral were cluttered, with both trash and people, more than Ruby had ever seen it before. Most of the people seemed to be coming out of whatever trance had taken Ruby and Yang, clutching their heads or staggering around as they tried to get their bearings. Some still seemed to have their grip on reality loosened, as they had conversations with people who weren't there, or played with the trash in the streets. Some people were sprawled out on the ground, and Ruby couldn't tell if they were injured, or worse.

"Yang, we need to go help them! Come on, let's find the others, people need us!"

She grabbed Yang's shoulder and started to move towards the door, but Yang was slow to respond.

"Just watch how you approach Ruby, some of them might not have snapped out of it yet. You didn't see what I did to the wall, and someone might try doing the same thing to you."

Ruby nodded, and entered the hall outside her room. It wasn't in quite as much disarray as the street, but there were paintings knocked off the walls and glass all over the floor. Ruby found it difficult to remember whose rooms were where, but she was fairly sure Weiss's was the closest. When she opened the door, she found her friend standing in the corner of the room, humming to herself. Ruby looked back at Yang questioningly, but her sister only shrugged in response. With cautious steps, Ruby approached her friend, saying uncertainly, "hey, Weiss, are you alright? You, um, sound really pretty."

Weiss didn't respond, and Ruby gave a quick glance around the room. She didn't see Myrtenaster at Weiss's side, but she'd rather be safe than sorry. It was a relief to find the blade leaning against the wall next to the door, well out of Weiss's reach.

With a little more confidence, Ruby stepped forward and put a hand on her friend's shoulder.

"Weiss, can you hear me?"

If she did, she gave no indication of it. Ruby pulled her shoulder, turning her around, and said louder, "Weiss! Hey!"

For a few moments, Weiss continued to hum, her eyes unfocused like she was looking at something past Ruby, far beyond the walls of the room. Gradually, though, her focus shifted to Ruby, and after blinking a few times, her brow furrowed, and she said "What are you doing here? I thought-"

Yang spoke from the doorway, cutting Weiss off. "Whatever it was, it wasn't real. You sounded good, though."

Ruby pointed over her shoulder, saying sternly, "Come on, we need to find Blake, then get out on the streets. Whatever happened hit a lot of other people in the city too. Do you think you're good to go?"

Weiss took a moment to rub her eyes, look herself over, then nodded. "Yeah, let's go."

Ruby smiled and nodded, before turning to leave. Yang slapped her on the back as she left, and she said, "Well handled, sis. Think Blake will be as easy to handle?"

She shrugged. "I don't know, maybe? I hope so. How are you feeling, Weiss?"

Weiss let out a breath before replying, "I don't know. I was looking over something on my scroll, then I was in a concert hall, giving a performance. It was so strange, though, everyone in the audience was Whitley, save my father in his balcony, and this giant bird on the opposite balcony. Did you guys have anything like that happen to you?"

Ruby opened her mouth to respond, but Yang spoke before she could. "I wrecked up my room, and Ruby tried to eat her bed. I don't know about Ruby, but I didn't really see anything."

Weiss looked to Ruby, shocked. "You did what? Why?"

Ruby felt her cheeks turn red, and she said "Oh come on, that's not fair! None of us know what happened, so can we please hold off on making fun of each other over it?"

Yang snorted with laughter, and Weiss rolled her eyes. As they came to Blake's room, Ruby held up a hand to silence her companions. The door was ajar, and as Ruby pushed it open, she was pleased to find that Blake's room didn't seem to be in any state of disarray. Everything was about as neatly laid out as Blake always had it, the only thing missing was the girl herself.

Ruby motioned for the others to follow her in. as they stepped in, Weiss asked "What's the matter? She's not here?" Ruby shook her head, and Weiss pointed to the window behind her. "The window is open. She could have left through there."

The window hung wide open, leading out into a cramped looking alleyway. Ruby leaned out, looking around. The window was one story off the ground, but that would mean nothing to someone as agile as Blake. She put her hands on the windowsill, getting ready to pull herself over, when a thought occurred to her.

"Do either of you see Gambol Shroud anywhere?"

Weiss and Yang looked at each other for a moment, their eyes going wide, before starting to turn the room upside down looking for it. "She doesn't normally hide it, right?" Ruby asked, not sure what answer she was hoping for.

Yang shook her head as she threw open a few drawers. "No, not unless she's expecting something."

A sense of dread hit Ruby, and she turned back to the window. "Then come on," she said over her shoulder, "we've got to find her before anything happens!"

Weiss and Yang joined her at the window, and she dropped down to the alley below. The others followed, one after the other, and they took stock of the alley. It was mostly empty, there were a few scraps of trash here and there, but it was vacant of any people. The regular buzz of the city around them was almost entirely gone, none of the otherwise almost constant murmur of conversations or shuffling of feet. Even the air had a strange tinge to it, though Ruby couldn't place the scent.

The alley continued on towards a usually busy city street, and while they could see a few people stumbling around in various states of confusion. They didn't look too injured, and as the group drew closer, they seemed to be mostly recovered with nothing more than a few hands holding heads as they talked to each other about what had happened.

"Excuse me," Ruby said to the closest person, a short, stocky man in his twenties, "did you see a faunus come through here? Black hair, cat ears, white coat, probably had a weapon on her belt?"

He scratched the back of his head, thinking for a moment, before nodding slowly. "I think so. It's hard to remember, but that definitely rings a bell." The man looked up and down the street, hissing through his teeth as he tried to think. "I think she went north" he pointed up the street, "but I'm not sure. Sorry, I just-"

Ruby shook her head, saying, "Don't worry about it. Thanks for the help!" She then turned to her teammates, motioning for them to follow again.

Walking past the people on the street was a strange experience. They couldn't help but overhear fragments of conversations as they went by, and by the sounds of things, everyone had had experiences just as bizarre as theirs. Ruby heard one man say something about "shadows leaping off of the ground," and a woman almost toppled over, shouting "because I almost blinded myself!" before she quieted herself down, glancing around, hoping that no one had noticed. Yang snorted as they got out of earshot, and Ruby heard her grunt as Weiss elbowed her in the ribs.

It wasn't long before Weiss stopped, pointing down an vacant-looking sidestreet. "Isn't that her, over there?" The group stopped, and turned to follow her finger. It was Blake, but she wasn't looking at them. She was facing the side, with her hands in front of her, like she was trying to show they were empty. On the ground behind her, Gambol Shroud lay discarded. Ruby could see her talking, but it was too quiet to hear.

"Is she still out of it?" Yang asked, squinting. They started approaching at a walk, Weiss replying, "It doesn't look like it. It looks like she's talking to someone. Why's her weapon on the ground, though? Do you think she hurt-"

She stopped, as from around the corner, a bloody hand waved in Blake's direction. Even from this distance, they could see flecks of blood spatter across her coat and face. They stopped, and Ruby's jaw fell open. "No. No no no, Blake-"

They started running. Blake flinched and stepped back from whoever was around the corner, wiping her face and continuing to speak. Ruby called out, shouting, "Blake! Stop!"

Putting in a final burst of speed using her semblance, Ruby felt her feet leave the ground as she dove towards her teammate. Blake's head jerked to the side as she saw the rest of her team coming, and she put up a hand, saying "Wait!" just before Ruby tackled her to the ground.

Immediately, she started trying to push Ruby off, saying, "No, you don't understand! It's him!"

Through the struggling, Ruby looked up at who Blake was talking to. She froze the moment she saw him. Blood trickled down a bare chest, where the man had something carved into his flesh. Ruby couldn't do anything but stare, as her brain tried to interpret what she was seeing correctly.

It looked like a bird, wings spread to the man's shoulders, and made from harshly straight lines. The most striking feature of the symbol was the fact that the bird had two heads, looking each way. The exact shape of the symbol was hard to see through the trials of blood, but its wide wingspan, along with its sharp looking talons, gave Ruby the sense that it was supposed to be an eagle. Blood soaked the man's pants, and a small puddle was starting to form in the cracks of the cobbled street. A metallic glint from the man's right hand caught Ruby's eye, and she dragged her attention away from the disturbing display on his chest to find a bloodied knife clutched between shaking fingers. The same symbol on his chest appeared in smaller forms all over his body, from his arms to his calves, all dried and scared by time.

As she stared, the man's mouth twisted into a ghoulish grin, and he pointed to her. "You too, girl. You'll burn with the rest, when the world ends. You'll be stoking the fire."

Blake finished disentangling herself from the unresponsive Ruby, standing up and raising a hand to stop her other teammates. "Guys, stay back." Her harsh tone softened as she turned back to the man, and she said, "please, just give me the knife. I don't want to hurt you. I won't. You just have to trust me."

He looked back to Blake, grin turning to a sneer. "Trust? Didn't you hear them? There is no peace amongst the stars, only an eternity of carnage and slaughter, and the laughter of thirsting gods. I won't be their pawn!"

With that, the knife began to shake in his hand again, and he held it out in front of him. The tip of the blade pressed against the center of his chest. Blake reached out towards him, shouting, "No!" as he pressed the point into his flesh. His eyes closed, and Ruby could see his arms tense in preparation for one final push.

A grunt of exertion from her side made Ruby jump, and before she could react, Yang came flying in from her peripheral vision, one arm cocked back for a strike. Her knuckles connected with the man's cheekbone, and he was knocked sprawling like a ragdoll. The knife remained in his hand, however, and a heartbeat after he came to a stop, he was struggling back to his feet. Yang was already advancing on him, Blake right behind her. He pulled the knife up before making a quick swipe at Yang, who made to duck under the blade. She seemed to misjudge the distance ever so slightly, however, and the knife managed to nick her left cheek.

That didn't stop her, of course, and once she evaded the main force of the attack, she straightened up again, bringing an uppercut squarely into the man's chin. His head jerked upwards, and he slowly toppled back, hitting the street with a dull thud.

Yang stood over him for a few moments, waiting to see if he would try to get up again. When it was clear he had been knocked out cold, she bent down and picked the knife out of his hand.

"That was a close one, huh?" she said as she handed the knife off to Blake and holding a hand out to Ruby. As she helped her sister to her feet, Blake replied, saying, "Yeah. If you guys hadn't shown up, I think he really would have. . ." Her voice trailed off, and Ruby only now noticed how pale she looked, even more so than usual. She looked down at the knife, unsure what to do with it, before turning and picking up Gambol Shroud and placing it on her back.

Weiss rejoined the group, eyeing the man on the ground with some trepidation. "Who is he? We should get him to a hospital."

Ruby, glad for an excuse to look away from him, started to go through their immediate surroundings. "Do you see anything we could make a stretcher with? I don't think carrying him would be a good idea."

The group set about building a stretcher, while Blake bound the man up, ensuring that if he woke up, he wouldn't be able to hurt himself, or anyone else. It didn't take long to find the materials to pull one together, and the man didn't wake up until after they got him onto the stretcher, where he was tied to the stretcher itself. The group was quick to get him to the closest hospital, where they found that it was far busier than usual. As they got someone from inside to explain the situation to, Ruby took a peek in the waiting room. Most of the injuries were fairly superficial, bad scrapes and burns, but nothing life-threatening.

Ruby tried asking a few of the people around what was going on, but she only received shrugs and "I don't know"s from those she asked. Behind her a doctor cleared his throat to get her attention.

"You are Miss Rose correct? Leader of the team that brought the man on the stretcher in correct?"

"Yes. Is he going to be ok? He's not going to die, right?"

He waved his hand in front of his face reassuringly as he explained, "He'll be fine, just some blood loss, no actual permanent damage to his body besides the cuts he made, but those will simply scar up in a few weeks. I actually just need you to sign these papers here." He then presented her with a clipboard.

A few initials and a signature satisfied the doctor and he went on his way, leaving Ruby alone in the waiting room. She took a moment to appreciate that it seemed like the man they found got it worst, everyone else seemed fine, before taking her leave.

"How you doing, pipsqueak?" Ruby turned to find Qrow leaning against the wall, arms crossed and flask in-hand.

"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby practically shouted, spinning on her heels to rush him, bringing him into a hug.

"Been awhile since your last trip to Mistral. About two years, right?" He commented, patting the top of her head, signalling to release him. "Can't say I really remember much of it. I guess dying of poisoning will do that too you." He held up the flask. "Not that I'm not used to it."

"It's so good to see you again! Are you alright? What's going on? Does this have something to do with Sal-"

Qrow leaned down, placing a finger against his lips, remained silent for a moment, then said, "How about we get your team first. I'll explain then." He put his hand on the young women's shoulder to lead her to the rest of her team.

Author's note:

I haven't posted anything in like a year, but I'm back from the dead. Leave a review and tell me what you think of this story I'm bringing with me!

Thanks Leivve for helping out with this.