Isn't it strange that when humans lack understanding they invent "monsters?" I've never understood it myself. Calling something a monster is often a statement of perspective in my experience. After all, to the mouse a cat is a monster. A human would be so complex as to be beyond comprehension to such a simple mind. Yet when the positions are reversed and men become the mice, seldom do they remember that those beyond them are just other creatures. Such beings must always be monsters. Or gods.

A dull thunk sound echoed across the ruined tower of Beacon. The sound of an arrow striking a target.

"Pyrrha!" Ruby cried out.

The girl in question blinked stupidly.

Anduriel stood before her, still facing her, a satisfied smile on his face. He was slightly to the side of the arrow's path and in his hand...

"Wood?" She asked incredulously.

He hummed thoughtfully eying the arrow tip that had pierced the board.

She had expected something incredible. Some kind of amazing stunt. Maybe even just him snatching the arrow out of the air. Instead he'd casually kicked a broken piece of wood into his hand and stuck it in the arrow's path.

It was a smooth intercept and showed a great deal of dexterity, but it was just so mundane.

"Really?" She hissed at him.

She was almost offended!

Am I actually complaining about not dying?

"The simple solutions are often the best." He responded flippantly. "I employ efficiency over theatrics, my dear."

"But a piece of wood?!" She tried to stand. She failed of course, but it was the effort that counted. Ruby was running towards them, too concerned to be cautious.

"It worked did it not?" He chucked the broken lumber before her. The arrow remained lodged in it. "A memento of this momentous occasion! I believe that is the first promise fulfilled."

The air between them flickered and a red strand of light flashed into existence then snapped in half before fading away.

"Always the easy ones first." He muttered.

"And who," Cinder began in a faux calm tone, "are you?"

"Ah!" He gasped as if he had just remembered where they were. He swept around, his coat billowing grandly, and bowed. "Miss Fall how rude of me not to introduce myself immediately. I am unused to interacting with humans directly you understand, so please, do forgive me. I am Anduriel. A pleasure to meet you."

The dragon snarled.

"You as well," He actually tipped his head to it which seemed to confuse the ancient Grimm, "charmed I'm sure."

She snorted.

No theatrics my buttocks.

"Pyrrha!" Ruby skidded to a halt next to her, Crescent Rose fully deployed. "What's going on? Whose what?!"

"Cinder is the one behind all of this." She ground out, trying to ignore the pain in her leg. She'd almost forgotten it while talking to Anduriel. "The... the man is Anduriel he's on our side. I think."

Said man chuckled. "Oh, undoubtedly. At least for a time yet."

Cinder was scowling. "Where did you come from? You weren't here a moment ago."

"Are you so certain?" He threw his arms out in an encompassing gesture. "My dear, I have been here since the beginning, waiting patiently for this one instant in time. Only here and now would the door ever open."

"Fitting that you would wait at your grave!" She snapped. Fire erupted from out stretched hands. A torrent of destruction.

Anduriel cocked his head as if curious then casually raised his own hand in answer. The fire simply ceased to be a few millimeters from his outstretched fingers like it had vanished through an invisible door.

The look of stupefied shock on Cinders face made everything else worth it. He could blow the planet up and she'd still consider it a win.

"Unfortunately, fire will not avail you." He crowed smugly.

The woman snarled and instantly resummoned her bow, an arrow was flying through the air almost faster then Pyrrha could register the weapon's reappearance.

Anduriel responded by kicking another piece of fallen debris, a small rock, up from the floor which the arrow deflected off of and impaled into the stone a few inches from the man's foot.

A section of the tower collapsing off to the side was the only sound in the stunned silence that followed.

"My, my you are quite quick aren't you?" He toed the arrow which promptly burned a hole through the solid concrete and sank out of sight. "Where you holding back against Miss Nikos or have I simply touched a nerve?"

Ruby shifted next to her. "Is he crazy? He seems kinda crazy." Then she panicked at her own statement. "Not that there's anything wrong with your friend being crazy! Or- or not crazy! I mean, uh!"

Pyrrha spared her the anxiety. "He's defiantly crazy."

"Leave. I won't give you another chance. All I want is the red head. Take the other girl and flee if you want to live."

"I fear I can't allow that. Her heart already belongs to another you see," Cinder Fall's face contorted in outrage, "and more then that I've made certain promises. Promises which include your defeat."

"What?! Promises to who? To Ozpin? He's dead! I killed him myself!"

"No, not to the Professor. His death is ultimately irrelevant. But enough talk." Something changed in the air. It felt charged, like the moment before a lightning strike. "So sorry, Miss Fall, but no words will settle this encounter."

Anduriel never moved, yet some how he was before his opponent. It was as if the space between them had simply never existed to begin with.

Pyrrha's breath caught in her throat and she heard Ruby gasp next to her. Even the dragon reared back with a snarl.

He brought his arm down even as Cinder's rose to block. The tinkling sound of glass being shaped into weapons filled the air.

Something a few millimeters from his arm smashed into the the twin swords his opponent had quickly brought into existence. Slim and coiling like a sliver of light given physical substance. Her vision slid oddly around it as if the air was some how folded in on itself. He pressed down with that ethereal edge, his arm acting like an sword blade.

It began to slice smoothly through the twin swords.

Cinder rolled out of the blow just as it cleaved her blades in half, dodging to the side.

The world snapped back to it's proper alignments. Anduriel still stood before them unmoved, Cinder a few meters away. The dragon behind her shifted uneasily.

"KILL HIM!" She roared.

The ancient Grimm pulled itself over the towers edge and onto the roof eagerly. Killing was something it understood well. It lunged as soon as it's legs were under it.

It would smash them flat, Pyrrha realized her eyes widening in horror. It wouldn't have to do anything beside land it's bulk on them and the fight would be over just like that! She felt Ruby tense uncertainty keeping her in place.

Anduriel's fingers twitched and the world spasmed. There was nothing else she could call it. Both Cinder and Ruby staggered as the distortion vanished. Impossibly, the dragon sailed past them, the confusion in it's eyes mirrored in the faces of the humans it should of killed.

As it flew past Anduriel lashed out with an hand, the same ethereal blades appearing at the tips of his fingers like claws. They rent into the beast's side ripping open long gashes as it crashed with a pained roar on the tower's other side.

It scrabbled for purchase to keep itself from toppling to the ground far below. The entire structure shifted omnivorously under its titanic weight, yet somehow it held.

"Now, now, this need not be a struggle. Surrender and your death will be as painless as I can make it." The jovial way he spoke sent a chill down Pyrrha's spine. Like he was discussing the weather rather then executing someone.

"What are you?!"

"Ah." He paused and turned to look a back at Pyrrha one unnatural eye gleaming brightly. "Now isn't that the question?"

She went pale, all the blood draining from her face. The one question she should of asked and she didn't. Now he was under no obligation to tell her the truth even if she did.

"Think of me as an aberration." He said as he began to stride towards his foe. For every step he took Cinder retreated one. "Something that should not be, an impossibility given life. Yet it matters little what I am. To you I am simply an enemy. Nothing more, nothing less."

"I'll kill you!" She hissed, all semblance of calm shattered, the twin blades reappearing in her hands. She looked almost feral. "I'll kill you and them! You won't keep my destiny from me!"

He stopped mid stride. She couldn't see his face, but she could see Cinder's. The other woman expression had shifted from pure fury to sudden uncertainty.

"Destiny." He muttered, his voice full of contempt. He hunched forward, lowering to the ground until he was crouched like some bizarre predator. "Would you like to know the truth about destiny?"

Anduriel lunged forward and all semblance of a man vanished. She wasn't sure what he was, trying to look at or remember it hurt, but he was nothing even close to human. The impression of eyes and teeth was all she could gather before her vision blurred. The terror she'd felt upon first seeing him returned, though without the crazed edge it had carried at the time. In her heart she knew that this was something she was never meant to see, something no living thing was ever meant to see.

Reality seemed to agree with her for with his sudden transformation the world went completely and utterly mad. For one horrid moment up was left and right was backwards. Everything warped in on itself impossibly. He blended into that madness as if he had simply become the very insanity that surrounded them.

"Destiny is written by mortal hands!" Cinder Fall was thrown through that twisted world, screaming as the folding rips in reality slashed at her. "Guided by mortal minds!" She smashed into a solid wall of something that burned like fire, yet cracked like ice. Her aura flared in it's efforts to defend her. "Controlled by children hidden behind screens!" Everything blurred together, a maelstrom of chaos and death. "And it can be altered by anyone with the will try!"

Then the world fixed itself. Anduriel landed on his feet a few meters behind his foe, disguised as a young man once more. Cinder Fall collapsed, covered in wounds and clutching her side. Ruby crashed to the ground with a groan and emptied her stomach, it took all of Pyrrha's self control not to join her.

What just happened?!

"There is no destiny," Anduriel whispered, "except that which we pen with our own hands."

The dragon roared again. Despite the display of power it lunged forward to snap up the tiny insect before it. It knew nothing of fear. Rage and hatred were the full breadth of it's emotions.

Anduriel spun, his face a grimace of concentration as he raised his hands. The fire that had ceased to be returned to the world. Cinder's first attack exploded in the dragon's face in a shower of shadowy gore and ruined flesh, but it's fury was so great even such a grievous wound could not stop it. Teeth slashed forward and even though reality twisted so that the jaws snapped close on empty air the leading fangs still grazed Anduriel's side.

He gasped and fell to his knees, thankfully out of the dragon's immediate reach, as his hand tentatively touched his injury. The fingers came back red. He stared at it as if he had never seen the like before.

"So," He whispered quietly, "this is pain?"

Ruby gave a rasping cough, staggering to her feet. "He... He needs help!" She fire Crescent Rose backwards for a burst of speed as she charged.

The dragon pulled itself further onto the roof and made to lung again, to kill the little beast that had caused it such anguish. Ruby appeared between the Grimm and it's prey in a cloud of roses.

The pain of its injury would have caused a younger Grimm to frenzy, but the Dragon was old and while it knew no fear it had learned caution. A new warrior entering the fray caused it to hesitate when it had already been so badly hurt by underestimating the last.

"Ah, Miss Rose." He clutched his bloody hand shut and looked up. "Such a kind soul to come to my aid."

"You're hurt. Pyrrha's hurt. We need to fall back!" Despite her worry she never took her eyes off her enemy. She knew the moment she did it would attack.

"Run?" He scoffed as he rose to his feet ignoring the red stain spreading on his side. "I do not run!"

"Well there's a first time for everything." She hissed back at him.

He glanced at her then nodded. "Indeed. A first for everything. My power is not enough to deal with the dragon. I have overestimated my individual capabilities while bound in this form. Still, my control is enough to turn the tide in our favor I believe."

He grabbed Ruby by the shoulder and the world bent. She staggered as they landed next to Pyrrha. Cinder, who had been trying to stealthily edge her way toward the defenseless girl, stopped with a scowl still clutching at her bleeding side. Anduriel took the time to wag a finger at her before looking down at his to cohorts.

"Miss Nikos are you willing to fight?"

"What?! I thought you had this under control! That was part of the deal!"

"As did I. I have miscalculated slightly."

She stared at him in outrage. "You! You 'miscalculated'?! You're some kind of demon... ghost... thing and you MISCALCULATED?!"

"Demon? Ghost?" Ruby muttered off to the side, eyes darting between them. "Guys? Wait! What deal?"

"Also, I would like to point out that I never mentioned how I would be stopping Miss Fall and killing the dragon, only that I would." He nodded to himself. "You are viable tools to that end. This changes nothing of our agreement."

Her mouth hung open in disbelief. "Are you a lawyer?!"

"Demon ghost lawyer?" Ruby looked so confused it would have been adorable in any other situation.

They ignored her.

"Let us strategize." As he said that he waved a hand and the three of them appeared behind a broken chunk of wall. A tower shaking crash on the other side told Pyrrha they had likely just barely dodged an irate Grimm. "The dragon is more durable then I had anticipated and I am ashamed to say I used a great deal of energy on the attack against Miss Fall. Still, that is only a minor setback. With dear Cinder injured I believe we can focus our efforts on the dragon's destruction so long as we keep one eye on her. Are you willing to assist?"

"I am crippled at the moment!" She snapped.

Oh my, I'm in a very bad mood right now, aren't I? I'll have to apologize later.

"A small matter." He snapped his fingers and the pain in her leg vanished.

"Eh?"

Gingerly she rose to her feet then glanced down at her heel. There was still a bleeding, coin sized hole in her leg through which the arrow had passed. Her stomach turned and she looked at him accusingly.

"What did you do to me?"

"Hold that thought." Another twitch and a bend in reality, they landed elsewhere. She wasn't even sure where this time. Something detonated off to the right, likely the wall they had been using for cover. "I sealed the pain. You shall pay for it later, of course, when it returns, but I believe survival of the moment supplants future suffering in this case."

"Fine." She looked at Ruby. "Do we have a plan? It's huge and nothing I have can kill that. I also don't have a weapon. She destroyed..."

Her voice trailed off as Anduriel held out Miló and Akoúo̱ for her. She stared at her once shattered weapons for a moment then snatched them from his grasp.

She refused to ask.

That way lay madness.

"Thank you."

"Think nothing of it, my dear."

"Uhhhhhh," Ruby valiantly tried to ignore... whatever this was, "well nothing I have can hurt something that size either. Unless I get it in the eye with a dust round, but even that will probably just make it mad. I really think we should run and get-"

"Fight as normal and with confidence." They turned to glare in disbelief at the madman. "I shall augment your capabilities where I can. It should be more then enough to slay the beast."

He idly kicked a broken pipe into his hand and swatted another arrow out of the air. Cinder had managed to locate them.

Pyrrha starred. That would have gotten her right in the side of the head had he not stopped it.

He wagged a finger in their attacker's direction again. An infuriated scream and the crackle of fire was her only response.

Anduriel grabbed their arms and pulled. Her stomach flipped with the sensation of vertigo and they were standing on a crumbling section of wall, Ruby's arms pinwheeling comically, as a torrent of fire rushed past beneath them.

"Enough talk! Glory awaits!" With that he vanished from sight.

The tower tilted ominously, metal screaming in stress. Ruby's wide eyes looked up and Pyrrha tracked her gaze. Only to look right into the murderous eyes of one of the most ancient Grimm on the planet.

The dragon roared as it came down on them, the two huntresses just barely managing to avoid it's huge bulk as it smashed into the tower. The entire structure shook with the impact.

"Careful! Careful you fool!" Cinder barked. "You'll bring the whole thing down!"

It snarled in answer, apparently ignoring her, but for all she knew it could have been an affirmative. She didn't speak Grimm.

What are you waiting for?

She paused and glanced around.

Anduriel?

Fight, Pyrrha. Fear no darkness.

He wanted her to fight?

She readied her weapons.

Then she would fight.

She lunged forward carelessly, the dragon saw her and moved to bring it's jaws around to snap her up, but she avoided the attack by rolling to the side at the last second. As she came back to her feet she staggered, barely managing to skip backwards out of the Grimm's reach as it brought a foot around to stomp her flat.

She'd actually forgotten how mind numbingly tired she was. Exhausted was an understatement.

"Leave her alone!" Ruby appeared in a burst of petals on the dragons back and slashed at it's neck. Both of them were surprised when Crescent Rose slid through the dragon's armor like a hot knife through butter. Pyrrha noticed the tell-tale warping effect of Anduriel's powers around the blade.

I see, he doesn't have the training we do. All power without any technique. Using us as channels for his abilities is more effective then him fighting alone.

The Grimm shrieked and thrashed, throwing Ruby off though she caught herself smoothly. As soon as she touched down she bolted forward again, deftly dodging under a claw and slashing at the Grimm's underbelly. It turned out to be surprisingly nimble now that it knew they could actually hurt it. It twisted it's bulk out of the way of most strikes, using it's greater size to simply shift around and avoid attacks that might have connected.

What's wrong?

She jumped as his voice reached her again.

I see. You have strained your soul to the breaking point.

Unfortunately.

She wasn't sure he could actually hear her thoughts still. It didn't matter anyways.

Then use mine.

What?

Use my soul. I have not the training to make use of it's power, but you and I are connected, Miss Nikos. Use my power. Destroy the dragon. Save your friends. Protect this city.

Connected? Right. Connected through their deal. How could she tap into..?

She threw herself to the side to avoid a pillar of fire that erupted beneath her feet. As she rose she glared in Cinder's direction. The woman was smirking arrogantly again.

She wanted to wipe that expression off her face so much it almost hurt.

Focus.

Right.

"Ruby, I'm going to try something!" She called out.

"We have a plan?!"

"An idea at any rate!" To herself she added. "Probably a bad one."

She was trained to tap into the souls of others. Not for combat, but it was part of unlocking another person's aura. For a few short moments two people became one. Jaune never realized how intimate what they'd done was. Few really did.

She reached out in the same way she would in order to sense another's aura, but without any real target. She immediately picked up... something.

It was definitely a soul, but it felt off. She knew what Ruby's soul felt like so it couldn't be her. It also couldn't be the dragon, Grimm had no souls, and Cinder was too far away. It had to be Anduriel's.

Cautiously she stretched out her own soul to "touch" it. Tapping into it the same way she would of another person's to unlock their aura.

Instantly, something vast and old turned its attention to her. It was so impossibly massive in scale that she gasped and fell to her knees. The being's spirit was a like star sized spotlight that blazed down at her.

There you are, Pyrrha Nikos.

The connection between them solidified, what had been a wavering touch became a strong link. The spiritual equivalent of whatever the thing was grasping her arm.

And then power filled her. More then she had ever thought was possible.

She had always compared people's souls to bodies of water, a habit picked up from a old teacher.

Most people's auras were small, no more depth then a rain puddle. Those that had enough to actually become hunters were more like swimming pools. A few like Jaune, herself, Yang, or most fully trained hunters were more comparable to lakes.

Anduriel's soul was an ocean. A vast sea of nigh infinite power the likes of which no human or faunus could of possibly emulated. It threaten to overwhelm her for a moment, to drag her kicking and screaming away on the currents, before something reined it in. Drawing back what threaten to overwhelm and drown her leaving behind a more manageable torrent she could contend with.

Now fight, girl.

Her eyes snapped open, glowing with the energy she now held and she rose to her feet. The hole in her leg was gone. The cuts, scratches and bruises mended. Ruby and Cinder both stared at her as she blazed with ethereal green light. The dragon actually retreated down the tower, hiding more of it's bulk over the edge.

"Impossible!" She heard Cinder breath. "You shouldn't have enough strength to access the Maiden's powers!"

"The impossible," She noted the odd echo to her own voice, "has been a defining feature for the day. Why stop now?"

The dragon roared and swung an oversized claw at her. She ducked beneath it and lashed out with Miló. The weapon bit into the wing membrane just behind the claw, the dragon's own momentum carrying the limb forward. Pyrrha grit her teeth and used her borrowed aura to anchor herself, ensuring the blade ripped from one end of the wing to the other before sliding away.

She dodged gracefully as the enraged beast came around with it's other wing. It seemed to move so painfully slow now and she easily avoided the strike. A flick of her wrist tore huge sections of metal from the ruined tower and hurtled them like spears at the Grimm.

She saw Ruby flash by, her scythe slashing at the Dragon's legs. Cripple and immobilize it. It could then be dealt with much more safely. It was a common tactic against all larger Grimm.

Pyrrha had no intention of taking that long, aware Cinder was still in the fight despite her injuries.

She focused on the plummeting metal, twisting the ends into points. Spears the size of lamp poles rained down on the dragon. The ends distorted further as the ethereal blades Anduriel controlled wrapped around the tips. The dragon bellowed, rage and pain rolled into one deafening sound, and thrashed as the impromptu weapons literally nailed it to the tower.

Black blood fell in torrents to the ruined floor.

"NO!" The word was the only warning she received, turning with Milo raised in time to catch one of Cinder's swords. "You won't stop me here! Not after all this! I will kill you!"

Cinder's strength flared, the mantle of the Fall Maiden adding inhumane might to her seemingly slender limbs.

Yet the younger woman didn't budge an inch.

Pyrrha's eyes narrowed as the floodgates she was tapping opened further, matching the Maiden's power with ease. She took a step forward and Cinder Fall slide the same distance back. Concrete shattered from the sheer pressure they exerted on the floor beneath them.

The building trembled and began to list, the battle having finally taken the structure beyond it's breaking point. It shifted away from her, towards Cinder, costing the other woman her balance. Pyrrha took complete advantage of her sudden fortune. She pressed down, using her better positioning and superior strength to drive the other woman to a knee.

Fire flared in Cinder Fall's eyes forcing Pyrrha to flip away to avoid a pillar of flame that would have consumed her. She responded by tearing a sheet of reinforced metal from the collapsing tower the width of a small house and hurtling it at her foe. The poor footing of the shifting building combined with the hurtling mass of metal's sheer size brought an end to their fight. There was simply no way for her to avoid it.

Cinder's shocked and disbelieving face was the last thing Pyrrha saw of the woman as she was smashed over the tower's edge, sailing out into the empty space beyond. She doubted the fall would kill her, even with her current injuries, but she was out of this fight.

Well done.

Thank you.

She turned back to the dragon just in time to see Ruby hook her scythe around one of the arm joints and swing her entire weight around it. The limb was sliced off cleanly at the elbow, still attached to the Grimm by it's wing membrane, but effectively severed.

The creature shrieked again. Flailing wildly and forcing both huntress back. It turned to face them, it's eyes burning with unquenchable hatred. The ground fell out beneath them all as the tower tilted. The dragon used its last moment of contact to kick off the collapsing building in their direction. Its eyes locked on her, fulling intending to kill her if it was literally the last thing it ever did.

Her own eyes widen as she realized she was now in the same position Cinder had been in. She couldn't dodge the gaping jaws rushing toward her.

"Pyrrha!" A burst of roses clouded her vision and she was flying away further into the open air.

The Grimm's maw snapped shut on empty space behind them as Ruby Rose fired her weapon to push them out of reach. It's eyes followed them and it flapped its ruined wings, sheer malice over coming any pain it felt. It actually began to shift forward toward them, controlling its fall just enough to reach them.

She didn't give it the chance. Reaching out over Ruby's shoulder with one hand she grasped the largest piece of falling steel she could in her Semblance and warped it into a spear the size of a small skyscraper. She put all her borrowed power into throwing it at the ancient Grimm's back.

Somehow the Grimm sensed the incoming attack and its arms moved wildly in an effort to avoid its fate, but it simply lacked the control it needed to dodge with both wings effectively crippled.

The massive weapon pierced through it's target's back and erupted out of its chest. The beast screamed, a sound chillingly more human then anything it had made before, and plummeted toward the ground like a dark meteor. The noise of the impact was overwhelming and the pressure wave that followed sucked the air from their lungs.

Below them the dragon thrashed violently for a few moments, unwilling to die quietly. Then it stilled with an almost disappointed sounding sigh and the hateful red light burning in it's ancient eyes faded away.

They'd done it. They killed the dragon.

Yet it had cost them time, distance, and energy. All things they couldn't afford. There was no way they could stop their own fall she realized even as Ruby desperately fired her weapon downward in an effort to slow their momentum. They were already too close and she had burned all the power she had been given in that last attack.

She had nothing left.

She looked up at the sky above them, noting the lack of griffons or nevermore. They'd won. It was over.

Just before they hit the ground she wrapped her arms around the smaller girl, trying to offer what protection she could.

No you don't!

The air rippled around her. Anduriel's attempt to help she was sure. She had no idea if it did anything, but she was thankful all the same.

Her eyes closed tight, bracing for what she was sure would be a painful death.

Ruby screamed.

Her back smashed into something solid, what was left of her aura flared then vanished with the impact, and her world became agony.

Then mercifully everything went dark.

A/N

He's just a tiny bit of a screwball for a cosmic scale entity, isn't he? Were you expecting a demonic badass? A malicious being dedicated to the destruction of everything and everyone? Sorry to disappoint on the monster demon angle, though I think casually making reality your bitch qualifies him for the badass one.

I always imagine beings like him would be more curious then malicious. Haven't you even looked at an ant and thought: "I wonder what it's like to be that tiny? What does the world look like from their point of view?" That's essentially Anduriel's entire motivation. He's curious and found a way to satisfy that curiosity. That said he IS different in almost every way including morality. He sees the world different then us. Trust me it will cause problems. Kind of has already has since he essentially took fate and shoved it screaming into a trash compactor just to satisfy his own curiosity.

When it comes to the actual story, update schedule, or even finishing it. I make no promises. This is really just an idea that popped in my head one day and wouldn't leave until I committed it. Some friends thought it was good enough to share. So I did. Some people wanted more. Here's some more. I have no idea how far I can take the idea or if I will ever finish it. There is no plan. I'm running forward with my eyes closed and hoping I don't fall down a random plot hole.

PS: Someone called me out on the name. No this isn't a Dresdan Files crossover, but his name is taken from Nicky's Fallen as something of a homage to the series. I'm a big fan