A/N: here we are with another chapter! Not much to say this time, so let's jump straight to the story! So Please r/r like always guys

But first we're jumping into me saying I don't RWBY


The fire around them was raging, trapping them in the circle with an entire pack of Beowolves. Both Nerva and Morrigan were still back to back as the bulk of the pack circled them, eager to kill them both before the fire killed them all

"So we may not make it out of this" Morrigan said "Any last words?"

"Well I'll admit this is not how I expected to die, I thought it would be an explosion" he told her, still eying the Grimm in front of him

"Why an explosion?" she asked

"Why not?" he told her as Beowolves began to advance on them, jumping at Nerva and charging at Morrigan, Nerva was able to get under one and give it an uppercut in the abdomen, while spinning and swiping the next with his heel, before grabbing it and throwing it at the Morrigan, who had done a backflip high enough to dodge a swipe from a Beowolf as the body Nerva threw hit them, she ran at the dazed Beowolf and jumped at it, kicking it in the face and jumping off it to another Beowolf, while she was in the air she slammed the handles to her Escrima sticks together, the shafts extending, while the ends extended down the shaft a little, forming a staff, which she switched to lightning dust and while the ends where cackling with electricity she slammed it on the top of the beasts head, the added shock killing it, and before she hit the ground she threw the entire staff like a javelin at another Beowolf, striking it in the chest and shocking it, before she suddenly teleported to its position, grabbing her staff and separating it back into Escrima sticks, throwing them both at two separate Beowolves, she teleported to one, jamming it in the back of the skull of a Beowolf to electrocute it, before teleporting to the other, that had bounced off of the head of another Beowolf, and she landed on the its back, grabbing its neck and used her entire body to swing around and snap its neck, rolling off the dead body, she threw the sticks at a Grimm that was in the air lunging at Nerva while he was fighting, hitting her mark, it was able to throw it off balance as she teleported there and kicked it away, as she landed next to Nerva who was still fighting, she noticed that some of the faded tribal marks on his gauntlets and greaves were now glowing red

"You Okay?" Nerva asked her, noting her heavy breathing as he grabbed the arm of a Beowolf, threw it to the ground and stomped on its head

"Yeah, just overworking my semblance is all, and the heat isn't helping….and neither is me wearing black" she said between breaths as she used her staff to hit away another Beowolf

"Well too bad we're probably going to die here" he said while he gave a Beowolf a roundhouse kick into three others.

"No, we aren't" Morrigan told him hitting a Beowolf three times with the ends of her staff before spinning and hitting it again, strong enough to knock it to the ground

"What makes you so sure? Unless you have a plan….or a nuke" he said before ducking a swipe and giving the Beowolf a devastating punch, red wisps of energy could be seen coming from the back of the Beowolf, in the same spot where he punched from the front, as it was sent barreling into a small group of them, the markings on his weapons lost their red glow as he made contact

"No" she said, beginning to breathe a bit more heavily "I have a friend"


Diana was on one knee, looking through her scope through the flames, or at least trying to, as it proved difficult due how far they spread, and even when she get a glimpse of her friend, it was while she was fighting Grimm, so she couldn't properly support from where she was

"Do you see her?" Ciro asked

"I do, and she seems to be with someone else." Diana said getting up "And they're in trouble. Beowolves….a lot of them."

"That's bad" Ciro noted "we should get there post haste" he said walking forward. Causing Diana to look at him

"And how can we do that? This fire is blocking us." She said a small amount of worry in her voice as she looked forward

"Please….allow me" he said as he put his hands out to his sides, Diana could feel the air around her shifting and flowing towards Ciro before the suddenly put both of his hands forward, the wind spiraling like miniature tornadoes through the flames, extinguishing them and making a path to the inner layer where Diana was

"What was-"

"come, we must hurry if we are to help your friend" Ciro said as he took his spear off of his back and ran forward, Diana nodding and following him, neither stopping until they got to the circle of flame that Diana and Nerva were fighting in

"They need help" Diana said, as she could see her friend getting exhausted

"Then let us help them" Ciro told them as he looked up. He saw a tree branch that was thick enough to hold a person on, using the air to clear the flames from it he turned to Diana and asked

"You have no issue with heights do you?"

"no I'm perfectly fine with them" she told him as she felt the air around herself shift again, this time more concentrated around her as she felt herself being lifted high enough to stand on the branch

"I would suggest giving them covering fire" he said "I will help them on the inside" and all Diana did was give him a nod before looking down and seeing Morrigan had gotten pinned down by Beowolf, it was on top of her and she was using her staff to stop it from eating her face, before it had gotten shot through the skull, courtesy of Diana. Throwing the Beast off of her she looked up and saw Diana in the tree providing covering fire, before suddenly Ciro dropped from the sky, immediately upon hitting the ground he began to help the exhausted initiates, dispatching Grimm with his spear, dispatching Grimm with his spear. All four of them began working as together, things started to change as Diana felt the branch start to break due to the weakened integrity. She quickly jumped off, preforming a 3-point landing, only holding her sniper by its grip, her finger still on the trigger, before getting up and activating a mechanism on it. The extra plating on it began to move around, extending and covering everything past the trigger as the stock had flattened out to become a cylinder, as her sniper finished transforming into a sword with a tonfa like handle

"I can't leave you alone for 5 five minutes can I? Diana said to Morrigan as she stabbed a Beowolf before switching to a normal grip and ripping the blade through its side, cutting another one across the chest as she did so

"Well it's nice to know you missed me" Morrigan responded before rolling away from a swipe as Ciro dispatched the Grimm

"Good to know you two missed each other" Nerva said as a Beowolf bit down on his armored hand, only for him to punch its neck hard enough to break it "but there is still the matter of this forest fire!"

"I believe I can take care of that" Ciro said as he cut the leg off of a Beowolf, before going back to the three of them and jamming the blade of his spear into the ground "it would be nice of you all to please guard me while I focus" and with that he closed his eyes with his head down and one hand holding his spear

"you heard the man" Nerva said as everyone else got around him and began fending off any Beowolves that got too close, Diana and Morrigan were working well together, as Morrigan would use her staff to deflect strikes and direct them towards Diana, who would quickly finish them off before turning back to what was in front of her. Nerva had continued to fight, punching any that got too close, and even throwing some into others, slowing their assault. It continued like this until Ciro said

"I suggest you all hold on to something" as he opened his eyes. Diana stabbed her Sword into the ground and Nerva grabbed onto a part that she wasn't holding, while Morrigan switched to ice dust and froze the end of her staff to the ground and held on as they all felt the wind become fiercer. As the Beowolves lunged at them, Ciro had suddenly spread his arms to his sides and had the wind blow them all back, then he made the wind spread out to the flames, and in the same manner from before he got them to extinguish all of the flames. This was clearly exhausting as he collapsed to his knees

"Well thanks for taking care of the fire, but now we still have the rest of these Beowolves to deal with" Nerva said "considering 3 of us are clearly exhausted running may not be an option, but we won't last much longer fighting either"

"Then we get the alpha" Ciro said, standing back up "if we can kill the alpha then the rest should scatter"

"It's the only idea we have, but how can we get to it?" Morrigan asked, using fire dust to melt the ice

"If I can get a clear shot I can kill it" Diana said switching her weapon back to its sniper "but the others will be protecting it"

"Then we'll take them out and give you a shot" Nerva said, hitting his knuckles together and getting into a fighting stance "just don't miss" and then he ran at the pack of Beowolves, before jumping into the center of them, a little more than half of the tribal markings on his weapons were glowing, and slamming his fist into the ground, causing a shockwave of red energy to scatter them. He then noticed Ciro running into the fray. With a clear objective in mind he separated his spear, the blade of it extending and becoming a sword, while the handle had shifted and became a lever action shotgun, both of which he used with expertise to provide Nerva some backup. Decapitating one and shooting another, before spinning it to reload it and repeating the process, before he saw Morrigan's staff fly overhead, she then teleported to it and threw it to the ground, at the Grimm in front of the alpha, causing a big enough burst of electricity to scatter them.

"Diana NOW!" she yelled as she fell back to the ground, the alpha now jumping into battle as it saw it had no choice, jumping to Morrigan. It never got to her however as mid jump it was met with a sniper round piercing its skull, everyone looked back to see Diana on one knee, the barrel of her sniper smoking

"Bull's-eye" was all she said, and soon the rest of the Beowolves scattered after seeing their leader dead, leaving the initiates alone

"That was a wonderful experience everyone!" Ciro said cheerfully

"So I guess we're all gonna be a team now" Morrigan said as she fell backwards onto the ground to rest

"What makes you say that?" Nerva said sitting down "you don't know how we're going to end up in teams"

"Well I assume it has something to do with the relics Ozpin wants us to get; I would guess two halves of a whole or two matching items" Diana said

"Then we'll go to the temple then…in five minutes" Morrigan said

"As your partner don't I get a say in this?" Nerva asked

"Nope"


"So can I ask you something?" Orin said as he and Trevas were walking through the forest

"Is it about that girl we heard screaming" he asked

"No it's not that, it's-"he didn't have a chance to finish as Trevas pushed him into the bushes

"Stay down" he told him

"What?" why?" he asked, and Trevas pointed to the sky where he saw a huge Nevermore flying through the sky

"What are those things on it?" Orin asked him

"What things?"

"I could've sworn I saw a red and white dot on it" Orin told him

"Must've been your imagination" Trevas said, getting up as it passed

"Yeah you're probably right" Orin said "So I was going to ask about those boarbatusks before we partnered up

"What about them?"

"Well it's just….." Orin started "their tusks were removed, so…..you didn't…ya know….mutilate them for fun did you?"

"What? No. do you think I'm some sort of psycho or something? I removed them to sell them later, but I remembered that I didn't bring my bag with me so I left them" Trevas told him

"You were going to sell them?

"Yup, they can fetch a pretty penny"

"That's good to know…..I guess" Orin said, stepping to the side a little


So do you think we're going the right way? Nero asked Cecilia as they were walking the forest, Nero swinging around his sword in boredom

"Yes"

"Are you going to give me more than one word answers?"

"Maybe"

"Well we are partners, so we should at least get to know each other"

"Later"

"Well we aren't doing much now, and I'm starting to think we may be lost" upon hearing this Cecilia finally did something other than just walking forward. This time she turned to glare at him

"And what makes you say that?" she asked him. Challenge clear in her voice, and in response he pointed at a tree, on the tree was an x carved into the base

"I did that earlier just to be sure, and I was right, we are lost" Nero though for a second before speaking again "you….you don't trust me do you? I understand I'm a stranger who you just met, but we're partners, so there should at least be some trust between us"

"I have no reason to trust you, and I probably won't anytime soon" she told him

"Well at least let me take the lead, I think I know the right way" he said

"Then you go that way" she curtly said before walking off Nero, who was starting to get a little frustrated, decided to walk the way he thought was right. As Cecilia kept walking she began to think about Nero

"Maybe I was too hard on him" she though "what am I thinking? He's a fool and just like the rest of them, I shouldn't get my hopes up just because he wanted to have a conversation" she reprimanded herself as she felt the ground shake. Looking down, she saw rocks begin bouncing off of the ground with each shake

"What the hell?" she thought as she heard a familiar voice yell out

"CECILIA! RUN!" she then turned around and saw Nero running towards her, but the worst part was what was chasing him. A Grimm, as tall as a deathstalker's stinger could go high, it had two huge arms that it used to run faster by using its knuckles. Its black fur could barely be seen under the massive amount of bone armor it had on its body. It had two horns, one of which was broken, and its mouth, while not showing any teeth, looked to be able to rip anything apart due to the armor on its face. The classic red markings on any Grimm were evident all over its body.

"HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?" she yelled at him as she began to ran

"THAT'S A STORY FOR ANOTHER TIIME!" Nero said as they ran side by side

"SERIOUSLY! HOW DO YOU PISS OFF A SILVERBACK?"

"IT WASN'T HARD" He yelled as he threw a fireball at the beast, and managed to hit it in the face, dazing it for a second. Cecilia then shot an arrow at it, managing to hit the silverback in its left eye; the partially blinded beast flew into a rage and began randomly thrashing about, and the two initiates took this chance to escape

"So I'm starting to think you were right about me going the wrong way" Nero said as they stopped running, after putting a significant amount of distance between them and the enraged Grimm. Cecilia's response was to glare at him

"Oh not this again" he said "come on we're stuck with each other for four years, can we at least try getting along?" he asked, but before she could answer they both heard the wailing of the Silverback in the distance.

"We should keep moving" she said before she started running again

"Agreed" he said running after her