Three hundred and twenty years have passed, since the Coven sank in the dark. Cold iron; a strong substance. Bent by another's will, metal eventually snaps with catastrophic force.

"You're awful young to be an investigator, don't you think?" Weiss asked from the back seat of her car; a suited man rested in the driver seat at the white vehicle rested at a red light.

Ruby jumped at the sudden question, sitting next to the business woman in the back of the car. "Y-yeah, I get that a lot."

Weiss spared the younger girl a quick glance. "No need to be so tense, er, Ruby, right?" Ruby nodded. "I don't like it when regular, everyday people are so nervous around me. Board executives and business partners are another matter altogether, though. I want them to be sweating bullets around me, not you."

"Sorry," the hunter muttered. "I'm just not really used to interacting with anyone outside of work."

Weiss chuckled as the light changed and the car began to move. "Well, technically I am work, right now. You are still on the clock, and your supervisor instructed you to escort me."

Ruby smiled. "I don't know about all that. Don't you think escort is a bit too serious of a word?"

"Not really. Ironwood may think he's fooling me, but he's not. No disrespect to your supervisor, Ruby, but I've had to deal with men who do business like sharks in my line of work; I can read people very easily. In all likely hood, my father has probably contacted him about something stupid that he's done to endanger us. It's completely coincidental that I visit the place of business of one of my father's associates, but Ironwood probably sees it as a chance to get into my father's good graces and has sent you to protect me, while at the same time making it seem like he's giving you something to do during a slow day of work."

"Wow," Ruby said. "That's...pretty accurate, I suppose. I can't really speak for Mr. Ironwood's intentions, though."

"Well, he must not think there's a high risk for me, otherwise he would have sent one of your coworkers." Having realized what she said, Weiss's eyes went wide and she turned to Ruby. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to degrade you like that. I'm sure you're a good detective, but I just meant that I don't see Ironwood risking a fifteen year old girl's life to be a body guard."

The young hunter laughed. "No, it's fine. I know I have a long way to go to be anything like Blake or Ren." Ruby shrugged. "But, I will try my best. I promise you that."

"As I say to my employees, only you can make yourself succeed. No one can expect you to do more than try."

Ruby smiled. "You actually care about your employees. I mean, for a company the size of yours, it's not something I'd expect."

Weiss nodded with a light sigh. "I try to get on a personal level with everyone who works for me. If I sign the check, then I want to know who's getting said check. It's been rough these last few days, though. Adam being murdered really put a dampener in the office, and the day after another of my employees, Velvet, sent me a heartfelt apology via email, saying she was taking a week of sick time off from work. Poor girl. I know almost for a fact that she's healthy; I suspect she's taken Adam's death hard. She's so delicate."

Suddenly, the car came to a screeching halt as the breaks were forced down and the tires slid across the pavement. Both girls barely had enough reaction time to keep their faces from smashing into the backs of the front seats. "What happened?" Weiss asked the driver.

"Miss," he said in a low voice. "You might want to duck your head."

Without heading his warning, Weiss unbuckled her seatbelt and leaned forward. "What do you mean?" she asked. Looking out of the windshield, she saw several men wearing black suits and red sunglasses, each of them holding a gun. A red haired woman dressed in red clothes stood in the middle of them; she raised her right hand. "Oh my god," Weiss whispered in shock. The woman's right hand fell, and Weiss got over her shock. "Get down!"

A barrage of bullets assaulted the vehicle, crashing into the bulletproof glass of the windows and filling the body of the car with holes and silver outlines where paint chipped and melted off. The driver was in shock and didn't duck until after the bullets were fired, but Weiss and Ruby were both in the floor of the back seat. No fire, Ruby reminded herself. I can't burn humans. Only witches. Quickly, she reached into her coat pocket and produced the Aura gun that was given to her. After a moment, the gunfire ceased.

"Ruby, what are you doing?" Weiss asked.

"My job," she replied. "Stay here." Quickly opening the back door, she rolled out and stood with the Aura gun at the ready. Without missing a beat, she pulled the trigger and barely clipped two of the gunmen in the shoulders. The rest seemed to scramble to reload their guns. The driver of the car got out and pulled a gun of his own; a small revolver. Pulling the trigger, he dispatched one of the gunman using all six bullets, clearly panicking as he shot.

One gunman managed to reload and opened fire on the driver, hitting him in the hand, arm, and shoulder. One bullet grazed Ruby's leg, forcing her to take a knee behind the door. "You idiot!" Weiss exclaimed. "Get back in here! You are far too young to risk your life!"

"You're barely older than me!" Ruby yelled back as she checked her gun; she still had seven Aura bullets in the magazine. They're human, she reminded herself, resisting the urge to use her craft. They're human, damn it!

"Enough!" the woman in red exclaimed. "You guys are taking way too long." She stepped forward and pointed her hand at the car. "Let me show you how it's done."

Ruby peaked through the cracked window of the open door to see what she was doing, when suddenly she noticed that the window was getting too high for her to look out of from her current position. "Ruby," Weiss said. "What's going on? Why is the car lifting?"

Ruby turned to face Weiss and almost hit her nose on the bottom of the door frame; the car was floating. "Uh," she said. "That's not good." A horrible, metallic warping sound reverberated around them. Looking up, Ruby saw that the car's roof was caving in on its own. "Weiss, get out of the car!"

Weiss looked up and saw the roof closing in on her. Quickly, she obeyed and crawled out to Ruby. "What is going on?" she asked, almost in tears.

Without answering, Ruby handed Weiss the gun. She rotated her body to look at the lady in red and stared at her. "A witch!" she muttered. I can burn a witch! Reaching into her coat pocket, Ruby pulled out her new glasses and put them on. Let's see how much these help. Her vision was blurry; she couldn't see through the lenses. She tilted her head to look over them so she could visualize her target. The red woman noticed that her target was no longer in the vehicle and turned to face Ruby and Weiss; she met Ruby's gaze.

With the woman in Ruby's sight, she began to summon her power. Slowly she could feel her vision failing her, and she tilted her head back up so that she was looking out of the glasses; she could see clearly through them now. Not wasting any more time to experiment with the glasses, Ruby willed the woman to catch fire.

Her sleeve caught flame, and the woman broke eye contact; the car came crashing to the ground. "Aaaagh!" she screamed as she tried to pat out the fire. "Shoot them!" she ordered.

Sensing the threat, Ruby quickly summoned a wall of fire that was hot enough to instantly melt the lead of the bullets at the same moment that they opened fire. After a moment, she noticed that the shooting had stopped and she risked lowering the flames; the men and the woman were driving off in a car. Ruby was about to give chase when she felt Weiss grab her coat sleeve.

Pausing she looked down and saw the terribly frightened business woman. "What...what just happened?"

~Witch Hunter Ruby~

Episode 6: Naraku No Hana

"I demand answers!" Weiss exclaimed as she, Ruby, and her driver sat in Beacon's third floor office area. "What in the hell is going on? Why did my car float and crush inward on itself? Why did fire spawn out of nowhere, and why does no one around here seem as freaked out as I am right now?"

The driver had seen better days; his right ring finger had been shot clean off, and he had bullet wounds all up and down his right arm. Neo sat next to him with a metal tray, metal bowl, medical tools and strong pain medicine as she pulled bullets out of him and sewed his wounds up. Wincing and drinking Ironwood's brandy through the pain, he simply patted Weiss's shoulder and whispered, "Miss Schnee, please calm down."

Everyone simply sat in silence. "It's your call, Boss," Mercury said to Ironwood. "She's seen too much to be left in the dark."

Ironwood sighed heavily; were it not for the driver's severe wounds, he himself would be drinking the brandy. "I agree."

"Well," Mercury began. "To simplify it-"

"Wait!" Ruby said as she stood from her seat next to Neo; a bandage on her leg indicated where Neo quickly treated her injury. "Let me."

Mercury paused and stared at Ruby before he shrugged and nodded. "All yours."

Nodding, Ruby moved to sit next to Weiss. "Miss Schnee," she began. "The world isn't as normal as you've grown up to believe."

Weiss scoffed. "Yeah, I can tell. Levitating cars and spontaneous combustion usually tip one off to such things."

"Do you remember fairy tales from when you were a child? The ones about witches?"

Weiss's jaw dropped. "No. No, you can't be suggesting that magic exists."

"No, not really. We don't really know what to call it other than what we've called it for thousands of years; witchcraft. People who possess extraordinary and addictive powers are what we call witches."

The white haired business woman shook her head. "You can't be serious."

"We are," Ren said flatly. "Think to your high school history lessons; ever hear about Salem?"

"Well, yes, but that was just a bunch of children falsly accusing random people of being witches to draw attention away from their own misbehaving. It cost the lives of many innocents."

"Actually, the only innocent casualty was one of the hunters; everyone else that was put to death were proven witches. Very few of them managed to escape, and of those very few managed to procreate into this century."

Weiss wanted to laugh, but found that she couldn't. She looked at Ruby with curiosity and wonder now. "And you're a witch yourself? A witch hunting other witches?"

Ruby winced at being called a witch. "No. I'm what's called a craft user. I am a witch's descendant who resists the temptation to use my power, so I use it stop witches who give into that same temptation."

"Temptation?"

Blake stepped forward. "A craft, or a power, is very addictive. It's like a drug; the more you use it, the more you need to use it. It eats away at your sanity until it either consumes and kills you, or you go rampant and harm those around you. Those of us that are craft users understand that there is a high risk that comes with our power, and we try our hardest to use our power as infrequently as possible."

Weiss looked at all the present hunters. "And you all have this power?"

Mercury chuckled. "No. Only Ruby and Blake are awakened. The other hunters are descendants of witches who haven't awakened. There's a strong chance that they never will." He pointed at himself. "And I'm just a tech guy. I'm no hunter."

Jaune crossed his arms. "I don't know if I ever want to awaken, either. The way Ruby and Blake describes it makes it sound terrifying."

"That doesn't explain why a witch tried to have me killed," Weiss said, having calmed down at this point and begun to use reason.

"It's simple," Ironwood said. "This witch works for the organization that has named your father their enemy."

Weiss face twisted into a shape of anger. "Father," she muttered with a touch of venom in her voice. She turned to face the team of hunters and stood up. "I want an investigation to commence right now. I want to track down the person who attacked me and stop them."

Ironwood nodded. "We'll stop the witch; you have my word on that. However, the human side of this organization is outside of our jurisdiction. That is to be left up to the police."

Weiss scoffed. "Please, you honestly think an organization that hates my father wouldn't have the funding to bribe the police? That's the only way they would have risked killing me in broad daylight. They didn't have anything to worry about." Casting a glance and a smile at Ruby, she continued, "Except for a fire starting witch hunter, that is."

Mercury brought his hands together and crossed fingers, before he stretched outwardly and popped the joints in his knuckles. "I say we get started right now," he said. "Moving to his workstation of many monitors, he typed his computer password in and started to open the witch database. "Give me every detail you can remember about the witch."

A moment later, while everyone was crowded around Mercury's workstation, Yang walked into the office humming to herself before she froze and stared at the spectacle before her. To her left was a metal cart with a bloody tray and several blood chunks of lead that looked to be bullets. "Uh," she said. "What the hell did I miss?"

A cry of pain erupted from the young woman as she was forced up against the concrete wall by her employer. "I told you to kill her!" he yelled at the woman as he held her by the throat. "I've had it up to here with the Schnees! You were supposed to kill Weiss, and then move to kill her father! Why couldn't you do that?"

Choking her words out, the red haired woman replied, "She had a body guard with, aaagh, powers."

The man paused and looked into her eyes curiously. "Powers?" She nodded. He stared at her with detest for a moment longer before a thin, cruel smile crept onto his lips. He laughed briefly before letting her go. "So, Miss Nikos, you're telling me that there are more freaks out there like you?"

Having fallen to her knees, choking and gasping for air, she nodded and said, "Yes." She glanced up at her employer. "She created a wall of fire. And...and she burned my arm." Glancing down, she saw the burns on her skin.

"A minor setback, I suppose. You are still going to kill her, though. That was the job that we agreed upon."

"I know, Mr. Xiong."

"Remember, Miss Nikos; if you kill the Schnees, you and your friend are free to go. So long as those two are alive, however, your pretty little friend's life is in my hands."

Pyrrha shuddered at the thought. "Can...Can I please see her?"

"I'm afraid little Miss Scarlatina is currently indisposed right now." Pyrrha's eyes went wide with fear. "Oh, fret not, Miss Nikos. She's healthy and safe. Her life will only be in danger if you fail. Are you going to fail?"

She shook her head. "No, sir."

"Good. You have forty-eight hours to kill Weiss. A week to kill her father. Get to it."

Standing up, Pyrrha left the building slowly, clutching her burnt arm as she tried to ignore the pain of her cracked, blackened skin. She went to her apartment first to try and treat her injury with some simple burn ointment, as well as swallowing a handful of antibiotics just in case she had gotten something into the wound. She put on a dark brown leather jacket to cover her arm; Velvet's jacket. On her way back out of her home she paused at the sight of a picture frame on a table next to the door. The frame was metallic, and contained a single photo of her and Velvet. Raising her hand, she used her power over metal to lift the frame and bring it closer as she stared longingly at the photo. Their faces were pressed up together, smiling happily while Velvet's arm was just out of view; she had been the one to take the picture.

A single tear ran down the red head's cheek as she carefully returned the picture to its place on the table. "I'll save you, Velvet," she whispered. Turning away, she bolted out the door, ready to hunt down and murder a complete strange. Murder was the last thing she ever expected to do in her life.

But the drive to protect the someone you cared for would force someone to become something they aren't. In the name of love, Pyrrha would allow herself to become a monster, just for one more chance to see her beloved friend. As she walked she stuck her hands inside the jacket and was surprised to find Velvet's cell phone resting unused inside.

In the building where Pyrrha and Hei Xiong, more commonly referred to as Junior, had been talking, the grizzly man set about to checking in on his prize. He waited for the red head to leave before he made his way to the seemingly unimportant door on the far side of the room. Pulling out a key, he unlocked the door and entered it, making his way down a brief flight of stairs. A terrified whimper reached his ears, eliciting a smile from his bearded lips. Under a single lit lamp was a steel cage meant for hunting dogs, but inside was not an animal; it was a young girl. Her clothing was torn and filthy, and her complexion was bastardized by bruises and small cuts. Her long brown hair covered her face as she hugged closely to herself, her chin resting on her knees. "Now now, my little Rabbit," Junior said, using his pet name for the girl. "Once your friend does her job, you'll be free to go."

She glanced up through her hair, scared for her safety in the presence of the man. "Please," she begged. "Why are you doing this? We haven't done anything to you to deserve this."

"Didn't you?" Junior taunted. "Did you never question how your friend was able to pay for that nice apartment that you two moved into?"

"W-what?"

"She borrowed money from me. I'm a very generous man, Miss Scarlatina. I loan money to every man and woman under the sun who needs to pay their bills or improve their lives. I only ask that, after a time, I get my money back." The look of shock and horror on Velvet's face brought an even bigger smile to his face. "Three days ago your time ran out, and your friend failed to pay up the amount that was agreed upon. She had two options; I could kill both of you and no one would be the wiser, or she could work for me to pay the money back. And believe me, the amount that she borrowed can only be paid back with labor if she does some serious work. In this case, she's going to kill off my business competitors from the Schnee Corporation."

"B-but, she can't!" Velvet screamed. "Please, don't make her do this! And my employer probably knows something is wrong. You've had me locked away for a couple of days now and I haven't called in; she must be looking for me!"

"Oh, she's already on the hunt," he whispered back. "And truthfully, I don't expect her to succeed. She'll probably die trying, but she'll die all the same. As for your employer, the young Weiss Schnee, not only did we send her an email from your computer expressing your apologies for taking a sudden week of sick time, but she's also the one that Miss Nikos is going to try to kill. So, until she succeeds or fails, you and I have some time to ourselves." His right hand moved and began to undo his belt buckle. "Do try to enjoy it as much as I will."

"I got a match!" Mercury exclaimed, drawing the attention of everyone present in the Beacon office. "She's on our potential witch list. Tell me, boss, is this your 'lady in red'?" Mercury caught himself when he noticed that Ironwood gave him a curious and confused glance. "I meant Weiss."

Weiss and Ruby, as well as the now patched up and slightly medicated car driver, leaned over and examined the profile on Mercury's screen. "Well, I'll be damned," Weiss whispered. "That's her alright."

Smiling, Mercury began to read aloud the dossier. "Pyrrha Nikos; Age twenty-two, works for small fitness center here in vale. She currently lives in an two bedroom apartment in a dense residential region of Vale. Her roommate..." he trailed off as he opened a separate tab and accessed the city's records, pulling up a list of people who lived in the same apartment complex. "Is a young woman by the name of Velvet Scarlatina."

"Velvet!?" Weiss exclaimed.

"You know her?"

"She works for me," she explained. "I haven't seen her in two or three days; she took the week off for." She began to pace back and forth. "That can't be good, right? Why is she living with a witch?"

"We shouldn't question their reasoning for living together just yet," Ren said calmly. "It might be a coincidence. They may just be friends."

"Do you know Pyrrha, Weiss?" Ruby asked.

Weiss thought. "I might have seen her once or twice if she ever came by the office to see Velvet, but otherwise no, I've never seen her before today."

"Why would she and a bunch of gunmen try to kill you?"

"Who knows."

"Maybe she's being strong armed into it," Blake suggested. "We already know that your father pissed off someone, so it might be that they found Pyrrha and forced her to use her powers for their gain."

Jaune groaned. "Great! A greedy organization with no legal morals has a witch in their arsenal. Isn't that wonderful?"

"If that's the case," Weiss started. "Do you think we can reason with her?"

Ren sighed. "It's possible. But, either way, now that she's confirmed as an awakened witch and is openly displaying her power, we have no choice but to capture her."

Weiss stared at Ren for a moment. "Do you not discriminate between hostile and docile witches?"

He smiled a sarcastic smile. "Was Pyrrha docile when she crushed your car?"

"How are we going to find her?" Jaune asked. "If she's being strong armed into assassinating Weiss, then she's not likely to stay at her apartment. Especially now that she's failed once."

"That does make the hunt tricky," Mercury said. "Assuming she's being forced into it, and now that she's failed once, it stands to reason that she's on a dwindling time table. Her own life must be at risk."

"I don't see how someone with that kind of power could be intimidated by a normal human," Weiss added.

"That's true," Ruby said. "Most witches who move as openly as Pyrrha are aware of just how powerful they are, and they know that most people can't stop them."

"Maybe they've got some sort of insurance against her," Mercury stated. "They could be holding something over her head as a form of leverage, or threatening her loved ones even."

Weiss thought for a moment when a concept popped into her head. No, she thought. Producing her cell phone, she dialed a number; it went straight to voice mail. No, no, no! She dialed it again, and again, and two more times after, and even tried a different number after that. "Oh no," she whispered.

"What's wrong?" Ruby asked.

Turning to face the hunters, Weiss held her phone up for the others to see what contact she had called. "Velvet's not answering her cell phone or her home phone." A moment later, her phone began to ring and vibrate. Looking, she saw Velvet's name on the ID. Oh, thank God! Clicking the call button, she answered with, "Oh, thank god. I'm so sorry for bothering you on your week off, but I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"She isn't," replied a woman's voice that Weiss knew didn't belong to Velvet.

Her face shifted from relief, back to worry, and soon to anger. "What have you done with Velvet?"

There was a pause, and Weiss could have sworn that she heard a muffled sob. "Meet me in an hour to find out." The woman hung up, and a moment later Weiss received a text message with an address.

Weiss forced herself to stay calm before she lost her cool in front the Beacon staff. "I think it was Pyrrha. I believe that Velvet is in danger."

"It's a trap," Ren said. "We'll go in your stead and catch the witch off guard. Ruby, stay here with Weiss and make sure that she's safe."

"Righ-" Ruby started.

But Weiss interrupted her. "No. I'm going to speak with her." Without waiting to hear any sort of warning, Weiss turned and started to storm out of the office.

"Wait!" Ruby exclaimed, grabbing Weiss's wrist. "It's too dangerous for a normal human to confront a witch!"

"That witch has put the life of my friend and colleague in danger. Human or not, I'm going to find out why and get Velvet back to safety."

"Humans can't fight witches! Even if you use our Aura gun, the gun will only harm your body!"

"Aside from you, Ruby, everyone else here is a normal human!" she yelled back as she turned around to face Ruby. The rest of the office simply watched and waited to jump in should they need to speak their part.

Ruby, however, calmed herself down and stared deeply into Weiss's angry eyes. "Adam Taurus," she muttered.

Weiss returned Ruby's gaze. "What about Adam?" she asked with venom in her words.

"You never heard how he died, did you?" Weiss flinched. "He was electrocuted to death by a witch. His body rose to temperatures so high that his flesh was burnt, blackened, and melted. We knew it was him, as he was killed in his own apartment, but we went ahead and checked his DNA and dental records just to be sure, since we couldn't even use photo identification."

Weiss became visibly sick upon hearing this. "Why are you..."

"He is just one victim out of hundreds of thousands, maybe millions who have had the misfortune of crossing a witch. His case was worse, as the witch who killed him had long since become addicted to his powers." Ruby glanced at Mercury and nodded at his screen, upon which he returned the nod and rotated the screen so that they could see Pyrrha's profile. "She has yet to become addicted to her power, but she's openly declared hostility against you. She wants to kill you, Weiss. If you go to her, she'll succeed. A witch with great power and a set mind is more dangerous than a rampant witch who's become a slave to their abilities. Going to see her is suicide."

Weiss stood in silence for a moment longer, glancing back and forth between Ruby and the picture of Pyrrha. "I can't just sit here, though! My employees...my colleagues are my family! I make sure that they are fed, clothed, and taken care of. I'm the reason that the Schnee Corporation now has full medical insurance coverage at no cost to the employees in my branch because I pay for all of it out of pocket! My employees can take time off without the fear of losing their jobs, and they can look forward to coming into work to see their coworkers! Velvet is my responsibility, Ruby! I have to help her!"

Ruby nodded. "Fine," she said, letting go of Weiss's wrist. "But I'm going with you. As well as the rest of Beacon."

Ironwood smiled at the sight. "I have an idea," he said. He left the room for a moment and returned with a small metal case, roughly the size of a small jewelry box. Opening it, he revealed an Aura necklace. "If you're going, Weiss, and there's no way we can talk you out of it, then wear this."

Weiss stared at it, and glanced around at the hunters to see that all but Ruby wore one. "What is it?"

"It's called Aura."

"Aura? Didn't Ruby say that it would harm me if I used it?"

Ironwood nodded. "The side effects, however, take time to manifest. So long as you don't prolong the exposure you should be fine."

Weiss's eyes were glued to the Aura pendant for a moment before she smiled a weak smile and put it on. Glancing at Ruby, she asked, "Why don't you wear one?"

Ruby scoffed playfully, trying to lighten the mood. "Don't need it." Ruby turned to her fellow hunters. "I'll be with her when she talks to Pyrrha. The rest of you hide and wait until an opportunity presents itself to take the witch down."

Everyone nodded, and Ren silently smiled inwardly at the sight. Ironwood himself seemed pleased with Ruby's assertive behavior, but he never said a word as he left to retreat to his office.

Velvet lay quietly in her cage, pleased that Junior hadn't returned to violate her in several hours. There was a lone man sitting in a metal folding chair keeping watch over her, twirling the key to the cage in his fingers. At his hip, Velvet saw a black pistol resting, waiting to be drawn and fired. Many times she had hoped she could get her hands on it and kill Junior. She wanted to save Pyrrha and herself from this situation. Her fear was that it would be for nothing, and that they would be killed in the process. However, Junior revealed earlier, before he had his way with her again, that he had no plans to let Pyrrha live one way or the other. Velvet figured it was better to have died trying than to watch her friend get murdered in her name.

So, she hatched a plan, and this lone guard was the first step in this scheme. "I'm sorry," she said in a weak voice. "I'm hungry. Please. You haven't fed me in hours."

The guard scoffed. "You think you're people? Do you see what you're in? You're an animal to us, girl. Animals need to be disciplined! You can go hungry for a few measly hours."

"Please," she repeated. "I'm begging you. I haven't eaten all day."

The guard became frustrated. "Shut up."

"Please!"

"Quiet!"

"I don't wanna die."

"I said shut the hell up!" he exclaimed as he stood and made his way to the cage. Crouching down, he stared straight into her eyes. "Hush up, or I'll teach you a lesson mysel-"

Before he could finish his sentance, Velvet stuck her arm through the bars of the cage and punched him in the jaw, catching him off guard. Before he could recover, she twisted both of her arms around him until he faced the opposite direction and she held a tight grip around his neck. He choked, gagged, and gasped for air as the panic set in, rendering his flailing arms useless as he tried fruitlessly to break free. After a moment, he gargled and went limp, but Velvet took no chances as she continued her choke hold for another five minutes before she let go. Tears streamed down her face as the realization set in. "I...I've killed someone," she whispered. "I'm...I'm sorry." She thought for a moment and wiped the tears away. "But my life is more important to me than yours." Reaching into his pocket she found the key and unlocked the cage.

Just before she began her journey to sneak out, she grabbed the gun at his hip. On her way to the stairs, she heard a man, Junior, yelling angrily at someone before she heard his footsteps storm outside.

"What are you doing here, Pyrrha?" Junior asked, dropping any sense of formality in his anger. "You're supposed to be looking for Weiss Schnee!"

"I'm waiting for my target," she said calmly. "She'll be coming here, that way you can watch as Weiss Schnee dies."

"Are you insane?" he asked.

"No more than you are," she replied shooting him a deadly glare. "Velvet better be safe and untouched."

Junior smiled. "Oh, you would like that, wouldn't you? Well, did it ever cross your mind that Weiss could bring the cops with her? You put me at risk! As far as I'm concerned, you and your little friend are as good as dead!"

He seemed like he was going to say more, but a car pulled up and stopped in front of the building. Panicking, he stepped back and stood in the doorway; Pyrrha simply smiled a cruel, desperate smile as she took a step closer to the vehicle.

Weiss and Ruby stepped out of the car, which then proceeded to speed away, clearly aware of the conflict that was about to occur. Weiss looked nervously to Ruby who gave her a reassuring hand on the shoulder and a confident smile before the two approached Pyrrha. "You came," she said.

"Yes," Weiss replied. "Where is Velvet?"

Pyrrha gestured with her head to the building behind her. "In there, assuming I haven't been lied to." She looked back at Junior and shot him another death glare. Returning to Weiss, she continued, "I don't want to kill you, Miss Schnee, but it's the only way to ensure Velvet's safety."

Weiss sighed with relief. "I was afraid you were the one who had taken Velvet. At least I know you're not that much of a monster." Ruby cringed at the word monster, which Weiss clearly meant as a derogatory insult towards the witch.

"If there were any other way, I wouldn't be doing this. Please understand."

"I understand," Ruby said. "But I can't accept that this needs to end in murder." Ruby stared into Pyrrha's green eyes. "You're a witch, Pyrrha," she said, catching the red head off guard with her name. "I'm a witch hunter. I have no choice but to capture you, but that doesn't mean I can't help you."

"Please," Weiss said. "Who has taken Velvet? We want to help her!"

Pyrrha seemed to tear up. "But...I..."

"You're not a murderer," Ruby said. "You're desperate."

"I...I am desperate," she agreed. After a moment of silence, Pyrrha began to cry softly. "Please. Help us."

Weiss smiled. "We'll get the police here right away," she said.

"What are you waiting for?" Junior yelled as he stepped out of the door frame. His henchmen all piled out of the building and stood nearby with their guns drawn. "Kill them before I have my guys kill the lot of you!"

Pyrrha turned to face Junior and smiled. "Hunter," she said to Ruby. "What did you call me?"

Ruby was silent for a moment. "You're a witch."

"A witch. I am a witch." She raised her hands, prepared to dismantle the guns and use the parts against Junior. "If you're here to hunt me anyway, I might as well kill the man responsible for all of this!"

Ruby's eye's went wide. "No!" she and Weiss screamed at the same time.

A gunshot went off, echoing around the buildings and assaulting the ears of all present. Pyrrha, Weiss, and Ruby all went wide eyed with shock. Junior's henchmen all turned to see who had fired at what and were surprised to see Junior himself go limp and fall to the ground; a gaping bullet hole took up a large portion of the back of his head, and his henchmen were now just as shocked as Ruby and company.

Standing in the doorframe, behind where Junior had stood, was a worse for wear Velvet. Her long brown hair was matted and filthy, her clothes were torn and raggedy, and her skin was covered in bruises. In her right hand was a small, black pistol with a trace amount of smoke drifting out of the barrel. Her expression was blank, yet her eyes were streaming with tears.

To everyone present, time seemed to slow as Junior's men all turned their weapons on Velvet. "No!" Pyrrha screamed just as they all fired their weapons. Quickly raising her hand, she caught as many of the bullets as she could in her power, but not all of them. In a small spray of blood, three bullets pierced Velvet's shoulder, chest, and left arm, forcing her to the ground in a bleeding state.

Pyrrha screamed angrily. Exerting her power ever metal, she ripped every gun out of every hand. She wasn't going to dismantle the weapons. She was going to use them against her foes. The look on horror lasted for only a moment. "Stop her!" Ren exclaimed from behind a nearby building, and the remaining hunters leapt from their hiding places and took aim. Once again using her power, she made the triggers on the Aura guns lock up, causing the hunters to be unable to fire. Before any other acts of prevention could be committed, she pulled the triggers on every gun pointed at Junior's men, killing all of them.

Including Junior himself, there were thirteen corpses on the ground. Releasing her power, Pyrrha collapsed to her knees and sat there, sobbing. She was certain that Velvet had died; she never cried out in pain when she was shot. Weiss, and Blake close behind, ran to check on Velvet. Blake knelt by the girl and checked her pulse through her glove. "She's dead," Pyrrha said from her kneeling position.

Weiss looked at the witch, and then turned worriedly to Blake to hear the official verdict. Blake looked serious for a moment longer before a smile spread on her lips. "She's alive," she said to Weiss. The business woman breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

Pyrrha's eyes went wide. "Alive? She's alive?" She started to stand but fell back to her knees; she felt weak.

Ruby approached and knelt beside her. "You want us to bring her to you so you can say one last goodbye?"

Pyrrha looked at her with confusion. "Goodbye?"

"You're a witch," Ruby explained. "And we are witch hunters. We can't leave you be anymore, Pyrrha."

Ren approached from behind. "We don't have a say in the matter," he said. "But we haven't called the Factory yet. Jaune, bring Miss Scarlatina over to the wit...over to Pyrrha after Blake administers first aid."

A few moments later, the blonde young man returned with Velvet in his arms. As he knelt by Pyrrha, the brunette regained consciousness. "Hnng," she said. "P-Pyrrha? What's going on?"

Pyrrha was in tears, but she smiled as she replied. "I told you I'd save you," she replied. She gently hugged Velvet. "Please, don't get hurt while I'm gone. Stay safe for me."

"Gone? W-where are you going?"

"I'm a..."

"Murderer," Ren chimed in before she could say the word 'witch.' "She killed a lot of men to save you."

Velvet's eyes went wide. "You're the police?" Ren nodded a false affirmative. "B-but, I killed Junior!"

"No you didn't," Ren lied. "I saw the whole thing."

Velvet started to cry, but Weiss approached and put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't cry," she comforted. "Only the law says that she's a murderer. As far as we're concerned, she acted out of a need to protect you. We witnessed it, but we can't fault her for it."

Velvet nodded. "When...when will I see you again?"

"I dunno," Pyrrha said. "Hopefully soon."

"You need medical assistance," Ren said. "This will ease your pain until you get to the hospital." He pulled out a syringe and quickly and expertly injected a sedative into Velvet, who fell asleep in a matter of seconds. He then switched his personal radio on. "Mercury, call the Factory. This hunt is over."

Pyrrha leaned and kissed Velvet's forehead as she slept. "Goodbye."

Every member of Beacon's staff, say for Ironwood, sat in the Malachite Cafe with Weiss, eating a very late dinner. "I didn't know that there were any decent restaurants still open at this hour," Weiss said as she looked at the clock that was going on Ten PM.

Militia giggled slightly as she refilled Weiss's wine glass. "I'm not usually open this late either, but my special customers get special favors such as this whenever they like. Please, don't be a stranger and let me know if there is anything more I can get you."

Weiss gave the girl a thank you before turning to her companions, all of whom were enjoying and finishing off their meals. Mercury had explained that Ironwood was called away by Headquarters just after they left to hunt Pyrrha, which Weiss was very understanding of. What she couldn't understand was how happy everyone seemed to be. They were all eating, drinking, and laughing. She just couldn't wrap her head around it. Ruby noticed the concerned look on the business woman's face. "Weiss? Are you okay?"

"How?" she asked, drawing everyone's attention suddenly. "How do you do it? How can you act like it's just another day when...when days like today happen."

Blake sighed and nodded. "It's not easy," she said. "I wish I could say that you get desensitized to it all. But, for us it seems, we can't."

Yang nodded. "It breaks my heart every time we hunt a witch like Pyrrha. Who was that other girl? Emer-" Blake elbowed her, pointed to Weiss with her eyes Yang realized what she was about to say and nodded; Emerald used to be an intern at Weiss's company. Small world.

"The thing is, Weiss," Ruby said. "We don't do this because we like it, or because we want to. We do it because we have to."

"Why do you have to?"

"Because rampant, out of control witches are too dangerous to leave be. Sometimes they hurt others, sometimes they destroy themselves; sometimes both," Jaune added, passing a glance to Ren. Ren remained silent.

Ruby nodded in agreement. "Someday, I may become addicted to my power and go rampant. When that day comes, I will be hunted. It's a vicious cycle, Weiss, and it's one that must exist." Weiss visibly deflated even more.

"But it's not all bad," Jaune said quickly added. "Sometimes we help people. Sometimes we actually see how our work can save lives. Take you for example. Ruby saved you earlier today." He smiled, trying to cheer the woman up.

"Or," Ruby chimed. "Think of Velvet as an example. We helped save her life today."

Weiss smiled. "We did, didn't we?" She wiped away a single tear. "Your right. It's not pretty, but your work is neccesary. And you know what? I want to help you. Anything you need just give me a call. I promise you that you'll get a better deal from me than you would my father." Turning to Jaune, she added, "For starters, you're getting a phone." Jaune balled up a fist and struck a slight victory pose. Weiss stood and left a blank check on the table. "There's your dinner. I need to go home. You'll hear from me first thing in the morning."

It was after eleven before Weiss made it home. She stopped by the hospital to check on Velvet one last time before she finally found her way to her apartment. She sighed heavily as she quickly dropped her items in their rightful places; phone on the charger, watch and wallet on the counter, keys on and coat on their individual racks. She reached into her suit pants to fish for any other objects when she felt a cold, glass object. Curious, she pulled it out to find that it was the Aura pendant from earlier. She completely forgot that after their encounter with Pyrrha she had put it into her pocket. The side effects? She thought in a quick panic, but then she thought for a moment.

The side effects only manifested during prolonged exposure. So, she figured, nothing would be wrong with keeping it so long as it wasn't in direct contact with her on a regular basis. With that thought in mind, she placed the pendant inside of her coat pocket before retiring to her bed for the night.

Song: Naraku no Hana - Eiko Shimamiya

Author's Note

Oh my dear God I finally finished this chapter! It took way too long! It's also the longest chapter so far. And probably my favorite one as well! It was so fun to write! But now, some orders of business.

I am so sorry for having Velvet raped by Junior...I wanted this story to get darker at times and I saw that as an opportunity to do so. Plus, I think it makes it more emotional when she blows Junior away.

Also, yes, Weiss is keeping the Aura necklace. But don't worry, she won't feel the side effects. Remember, that only affects normal humans, and if you remember Episode 5, we find out that Weiss is not a normal human! She's a ticking witch bomb! So, her body is like the hunters; no powers, but she's able to use the Aura with no side effects.

So, tell me what you thought if you'd be so kind. PM me, leave a review, send a messenger raven or something. I'd like to know what you thought of this chapter, and the story as a whole really. I'm having too much fun with this. It's like The Longest Night all over again, but less death...I think.

Fun Fact: I recently joined the Going Blind Club! I suspected that I was losing vision slowly, and I was correct! I'm going to place an order on my first pair of glasses tomorrow!

Till next time!