Thermite stumbled into a room with Salem in it, badly beaten and bruised. Salem had called in people for a meeting about Beacon.

"Thermite," Salem said, "What is the status on our old colleague?"

"He's..." Thermite gulped, "Still Alive."

"Why?" Salem asked.

"Ryan..." Thermite said, "A-a lady... J-Jade. D-dragons."

"What is the world is he saying?" Watts asked.

"K-Knights." Thermite said, "F-Fall. G-Grimm. S-Spawn. A-At. W-Will."

"What?" Salem asked, "He's able to do that?! Who did you say the lady was?"

"J-Jade." Thermite mumbled.

"Thank you Thermite, you will be rewarded," Salem said, "Tyrian, Get rid of him before you go get the girl."

"A pleasure my Queen." Tyrian said, and dragged Thermite off while he continued to mumbled words.

"What are we going to do about this Jade person?" Watts asked.

"Well, we have a little trick up our sleeve," Salem grinned, and snapped her fingers.

A statue of a man came out of the ground, with a sword in hand.

"Is that?" Watts asked.

"Yes," Salem answered, "Recovered by Cinder's two helpers after the Grimm Dragon was released. This, is the Mad King."

Salem waved her hand in the face of the statue and the stone started to crumble. The Mad King fell to the ground and got up in a couple of seconds.

"What time am I in?" The Mad King asked.

"That doesn't matter right now." Salem told him, "That man who sealed you away is still alive."

"Aeolus." The Mad King growled, "He'll pay for what he did. They'll all pay."

"Yes," Salem said, "But for now I need you to take care of a girl and her Vessel. Have you heard of a girl named Jade?"


"What happened after that?" Ruby asked. "What happened to Peridot?"

"We went our separate ways." Ryan told Ruby, "I came back here and that whole mess with that governor happened."

Zodiac walked in and looked around the Arcade, almost like he was in a hurry to find someone.

"Hey," Yang said, "There's Zodiac."

Ryan turned around and saw Zodiac walk up to him.

"Someone's here for you." Zodiac told Ryan, "Didn't bother to tell me his name, but he gave me a phrase to repeat to you."

"Well what is it?" Ryan asked.

"Never turn back towards the past, because then those you trust have a possibility of stabbing you in the back." Zodiac said.

Ryan grinned and ran out of the Arcade. Zodiac looked at Ruby and Yang and raised an eyebrow.

"Shouldn't You be preparing for something?" He asked them.

"This is much more fun." Ruby told him, "Besides, We're already done preparing."

"Yeah," Yang said, "We have nothing else to do."

"Okay," Zodiac said, "Now that you said that, I have something you two can help with. Follow me."


Ryan walked up to Peridot just outside the Fallen Remants base of operations and grabbed his attention.

"Hey man," Peridot said, "There's something I gotta tell you."

"What is it?" Ryan asked.

"I'm not a human," Peridot said, "Or a Faunus."

"Then what are you?" Ryan asked.

"I'm a specialized prototype," Peridot said, "I... I was built to replace Penny. It's not the best thing about me. In fact, I hate it."

"Why?" Ryan asked.

"Why?" Peridot repeated, "I don't like it because I replaced someone similar to me. I figured this out because I accidentally ended up copy transferring some of Penny's memory over to me. No one likes being the replacement to someone... not even robots."

Peridot looked behind Ryan and saw Ruby walking with Yang and Zodiac. He hung his head and looked away.

"Do me a favor please," Peridot said, "Don't let Ruby know. Don't let her know that Penny was replaced. This comes from me and Penny."

"How can it come from both?" Ryan asked.

"Because I also accidentally downloaded a copy of her Subconscious." Peridot said, "Please don't tell her. We will let her know when the time is right."

"Wait. Is she talking to you?" Ryan asked Peridot.

"Yes." Peridot told him, "She's helped me with problems I have trouble tackling. But I would like to ask you something now."

"What?" Ryan asked.

"How are you able to do everything you can?" Peridot asked, "You know, with Fighting."

"It's actually a secret of mine," Ryan sighed, "I'm not able to defeat anyone regularly, so halfway through the fight, my body goes into overdrive."

"What happens then?" Peridot inquired.

"My prosthetic body starts to disintegrate." Ryan said, lifting up his shirt, showing part of his body that has holes in it, "It's really putting a physical wear on my abilities. I almost died while fighting a Beowolf a little while back."

"Wow." Peridot said, "So how do you fight now?"

"I use Dark Matter clones of friends and enemies." Ryan told Peridot, "They're flimsy, but with just the right ones, they can over power an enemy so that I can land the killing blow."

"So is there anything I can do to help?" Peridot said.

"Maybe lifting some stuff," Ryan said, "For that, you should talk to Zodiac.

Peridot walked off, and Ryan lifted his shirt to start filling the holes in his body. The matter started from where the hole stopped, and worked it's way inward until it was finished.

"Hey, Ryan?" Rosite's voice piped up all of a sudden.

"What?" Ryan quickly put his shirt down and snapped around to see Rosite.

"I was thinking that since this whole thing with the Mad King happened," She said shyly, "That we could get married tomorrow."

"Tomorrow!?" Ryan blurted out in shock, "We haven't even told anyone yet."

"It'll be a surprise." Rosite smiled.

"Maybe the wrong kind of surprise," Ryan pointed out, "I don't even have a suit yet."

"We agreed on casual." Rosite gave Ryan a death stare.

Okay, Okay," Ryan said, "We'll do it your way."

"Yay!" Rosite exclaimed, "I knew you'd see it my way!"

Rosite ran off to do stuff, leaving Ryan alone again. A woman with Jade colored eyes then appeare behind Ryan.

"You're supposed to be preparing for the battle," She said in a stern tone, "Not get married."

"Shut it!" Ryan snapped around to look at her, "That was my decision, not yours! You aren't in control of me!"

The lady stared Ryan down for about a minute, then spoke up again.

"No," She said, "Not yet."

She disappeared and Ryan walked into the Fallen Remnants base.