Okay, I suck at summaries, but I think that pretty much covers what this story will be about. As stated, this story contains an OC, but it will also revolve around the main characters. An AU of sorts, if you will, although there will be similarities with the canon up till Volume 2, Episode 7 (Dance Dance Infiltration).

I plan to expand on the characters through Sapphire, so I hope you'll stick around for a read. There might only be implied relationships (for now), so if that's not your cup of tea I'm sorry.

Please know that the main character is NOT overpowered, and he is most certainly not without flaws. As the story progresses, this will become clearer.

Hope that covered most of what I wanted to say. Well, enjoy (I hope):

He remembered the blood. He remembered the screams. He remembered the carnage, and the violent pillars of flame, enveloping the world with its vermillion glow.

He remembered the laughter. He remembered the rage. He remembered the callous yet vengeful force of that incoming tsunami of destructive energy. He remembered the pain that erupted over every nerve and cell of his body.

When he finally woke up from the nightmare, Sapphire Fall's eyes had become swallowed by fear and despair. The man's irises, true to his name, slowly became ignited by a flickering, cloudy red as two transparent trails blazed down his cheeks.

"Absolutely not," Glynda snapped, slapping a palm onto the fine wooden desk. "Do you know how dangerous this will be? There're so many faults I can't even begin to-"

"It'll be fine, Glynda," Ozpin assured her. "The potential dangers aside, this is a necessary step for him. If they can't do it, then no one can. The members of the team are clearly the most suited for this cause."

"They are children," Glynda emphasized. "For goodness sake, one of them is even underage. Do you really think that-"

"Those are possibilities, Glynda," Ozpin said. "All that you've mentioned are simply possibilities. I won't deny that my desired outcomes are mere possibilities as well, but if we do nothing, they will remain possibilities and nothing else. If we leave him as is, he will die in a matter of weeks, maybe days. Instead of watching him die, wouldn't you prefer to take a bet to see if he lives?"

Glynda pursed her lips, not retorting in the way she usually would. The look in Ozpin's eyes told her quite plainly that he was not going to give in. The man's adamant nature had often been the reason for many of his failures, but even she could not deny that it had been the cause of his countless successes as well.

"The possibilities will stay possibilities if we don't take action, Glynda," Ozpin repeated. "We need to make a move to see which future lies in the wake of our choice, even if that means forgoing an outcome we know will surely occur."

"Fine," Glynda conceded. "Bring him in."

"I thought you might see things my way," Ozpin said, smiling as he leaned against his large chair. "As a matter of fact, all the necessary preparations have already been made."

Glynda rolled her eyes with an exasperated sigh.

"Hey, guys," Ruby said, fidgeting restlessly. "Why are we standing here again?"

"For the sixtieth time, Ruby," Weiss complained, crossing her arms across her chest. "We are waiting for the new transfer student. She doesn't know her way around Beacon, so she's going to crash with us for the time being. Try and get that through that thick skull of yours."

"Keep it together, sis," Yang encouraged with a wide grin plastered across her face. "You're going to meet a new friend here!"

"Not helping, Yang," Blake pointed out, rolling her eyes when the young leader openly groaned at Yang's exclamation. "She's here; I feel it."

"Stop being so sensitive to your surroundings, Blake," Weiss said in her usual commanding tone. "You want to keep your Faunus identity a secret, don't you?"

"Weiss!" Ruby gasped, looking around the empty front gates hastily. "People might hear-"

"Shh!" Yang hissed. "I see her!"

Approaching the team was a thin figure dressed in a simple grey t-shirt and matching pants, with a gait that suggested the person in question was intentionally walking slowly. When he stopped in front of them, his boots – thick, metallic and clearly modified for combat – could be seen reaching up to his ankles. But that was not the detail that attracted the girls' attention.

"You're a guy?" Weiss asked, the surprise in her voice suggesting he was some extraterrestrial.

"Um, yep," the man replied awkwardly. Ruby noticed that he had bright blue eyes, like pieces of sapphire jewels. "I'm Sapphire Fall. I take it you're Team RWBY?"

"Y-yeah," Blake answered, being the first to recover from her shock. "I'm Blake and this is-"

"I know who you all are," Sapphire replied quickly, his gaze not leaving the faunus. "You… No, it's nothing. I understand that I'm to follow you guys today?"

"Y-yes, that's right!" Ruby squeaked, having received a silent elbow to the side from Weiss. "I'm R-Ruby, the team leader! Nice to meet you?"

"Why are you posing that as a question?" Sapphire asked.

While Ruby fumbled with her words humorously, Blake narrowed her eyes at the forest beyond the school. Her bow twitched, suggesting that her enhanced senses had picked up something.

"This isn't a test, I hope," Sapphire whispered, barely audible to anyone besides Blake. "You've got terrible taste as usual, commander."

Swinging around and kicking up one foot swiftly, Sapphire fired something out of his boot that flew towards nothing, until a wild Ursa rampaged into view from the foliage and into the trajectory of the item. The object struck the beast with a light 'clunk', barely fazing the monster. As the girls of Team RWBY looked at him in surprise (and disbelief, with a tinge of disappointment), a deafening explosion slammed the Ursa back into the forest.

"It wasn't a rock, by the way," Sapphire explained. "It's a Dust Grenade. I did hear that explosives were going to be a problem at school, but that doesn't count, right?"

"Good aim."

Following his sudden compliment, Ozpin seemingly materialized out of thin air and stood behind the five children, sipping coffee from his trademark mug.

"You really don't waste any time, commander," Sapphire said, smirking. "Oh wait; it's 'Professor Ozpin' now, yeah?"

"Professor sounds like a safer term," Ozpin considered. "But that Ursa was actually meant for the girls to prove their skills to you, you know."

"It takes one Ursa to show off four girls?" Sapphire asked. "Your school's gonna close down after they graduate and you're going to face a lot of lawsuits over dead children."

Right on cue, a horde of angry Ursas clawed their way towards Beacon, aiming for the group of young, tender meat standing aimlessly in front of the school.

"That's more like it," Sapphire said, charging off.

"Confident, isn't he?" Weiss observed. "Arrogant and eager, too."

"That's just how he is," Ozpin sighed, shrugging. "Oh well. Take this opportunity to observe how he fights, then; it's not as if he'll be doing a lot of it from this point onwards."

"Wait," Blake interjected, as Sapphire leapt into the air and ripped off an Ursa's head with a front flip axe kick. "What do you mean by that? Isn't he a student at Beacon?"

"Well, be that as it may," Ozpin conceded. "His purpose here is not to study or fight. I sent him here for… rehabilitation, if you will. And that's where you all come in."

At those words, Team RWBY turned away from the fight and looked at their headmaster, completely at a loss. Not too far from them, Sapphire's Aura flared dangerously as he lifted an Ursa with one bare hand and swung it around like a baseball bat.

"He's a troubling child," Ozpin explained. "I cannot divulge too much; that's up to you girls to see how deep you can go. I will say two things, though:

"First, his Semblance is that the closer proximity he is to death, the stronger he becomes, and he is currently a dying man whose fighting only worsens his condition."

That one point was enough to garner looks of complete bewilderment. There were too many problems with that one sentence that no one knew where to even begin.

"Second," Ozpin went on, clearing his throat. "He'll try to make sure you girls don't fight at all, because he would rather do it all himself."

"Wait; does that mean we're gonna babysit him or something?" Weiss asked incredulously. "Why is he even here if he can't fight as a team member?"

Ozpin took a deep breath before releasing a slow sigh. Holding his silence a few moments longer, he finally said:

"Because he's the sole survivor of a mercenary group killed by the Schnee corporation and the White Fang," he finished. "And I want you four to make him remember what having comrades means before he loses everything."

As his ominous words hung in the air like the stale odor of death, Sapphire crushed the last Ursa's head with one hand, sending a sickening crunch echoing through the still air. His eyes, now burning circles of scarlet, stared into the distance at something only he could see.

"You're next, Mercury," he muttered, his irises blazing with a cold fire that roared with ferocity of a million beasts. "Then I'm coming for you, Adam."