Hey guys. So I'm putting a note at the end of the chapter explaining some things if you guys feel like this is an off chapter. If you literally couldn't care less then just ignore it. Thanks for reading!

Sword Sandwich

Below her a huge Grimm came barreling into the town square. She took a second to try and process what her brain was telling her. It reminded her of a picture of a centaur she'd seen in a children's book, if that children's book had been dragged through a nightmare and an arms race. Its lower half was distinctly equine in the most twisted sense: it's hooves were huge and it's horse eyes were burning red. Right where a rider should be a humanoid torso grew out of the horses back like some kind of tumor. It's white skeletal protrusions resembled ribs and did nothing to quell her impression it was a person. It's horns adorned a head with a sickening mouth, and it's arms were so long they dragged on the ground. She didn't like the way it flopped around like it had no bones. One of the worst parts were the swords and spears embedded in it's back, serving as dark reminders of the warriors whose last sight this was.

It slowly plodded through the town, clearly smelling something. It turned its head at the safe house and reared back on of its arms. Weiss flicked her finger and cast a glyph over the door, successfully deterring it's attack. It looked confused for a second before looking around. Luckily her light blue cape worked in her favor where as she blended in with the sky, but Grimm had more senses than just sight and it didn't take it long to start galloping towards the church. She took a deep breath before swan diving off the roof and barreling towards the ground.

As she neared the Grimm it gave a horrendous scream, erasing all thoughts of a plan from her mind. Her hands slapped over her ears in reflex though it did little real benefit. The glyph she had been ready to cast sporadically appeared and she hit it wildly, flinging into a building. Wood and plaster exploded as she was thrown into the foundation. Her ears were still ringing but she tried to move with a purpose. Just as she got to her feet a black appendage shot through the house and wrapped around her torso. It yanked her out of the rubble and hurled her into another building. Just as the roof broke it yanked her back, slamming her into the ground at the Grimm's feet.

She got a better look up close and regretted it immediately. It's head twisted in a sickening fashion with loud cracking noises as it looked at her, it's white claws pressing against her Aura. It's horse head bobbed a few times before it's humanoid mouth let out another scream. This one wasn't quite as intense so her brain remained unscrambled. She was ready this time when it chucked her into another building and she was able to use some glyphs to slow her momentum and allowing her to land on the roof instead of plunging through it. She readied her rapier before launching back towards it, unleashing a lash of fire. It raised it's hand to block the flames which she anticipated and with a flick of her weapon she batted it's hand aside and got a crucial stab into the humanoid torso.

It let out a scream and the horse portion gave a buck, knocking her back a few feet. It took that time to swing it's hand around and bat her right off her glyph. She did a flip in the air and conjured another one, jumping off a few more to give her some speed. She twirled Mytenaster's chamber to yellow before sprinting towards the grotesque creature. As it swung it's hand to hit her she let it meet the point of her rapier, sending volts of electricity through its body. It let out a cry but she didn't let up. She took the speared hand and angled it down to the ground, pinning it to the cobblestone. She cast a glyph and jumped away as ice anchored its arm to the ground. It gave a few tugs before swinging it's free hand around to broadside her. She was flung into the chapel tower, causing the whole structure to shake.

She whirled out of the way before it could make another grab at her. She tried getting back within melee range but that horses hooves were at the ready to deter her. Having one hand down was slowing it but it was already beating at the ice with its hooves and she didn't give it long before it was free. She cast a time dilation rune under her and charged at the beast. She darted between its legs, stabbing and slashing as fast as she could. The beast barely budged at the force but it let out a frustrated whinny. Her glyph wore off and she stopped behind it, panting slightly. She heard a noise to her left near the gate to the city and she turned her head slightly. She saw someone moving but didn't have time to see who it was before she was viciously kicked by both the horses back legs. She felt her Aura shudder as she was thrown yet again, colliding with a building. She heard movement and grunted as she tried to free herself from the rubble. Once she unburied herself and found her sword she saw the Grimm was sporting two new large slashed that were oozing black smoke, probably caused by the blur of grey hovering around it like a large bee. As she walked back onto the street the blur shot off to the roof of a nearby building and rested, revealing Qrow clutching his weapon in sword mode.

"I leave for five minutes and you manage to find a Knuckleave."

"Excuse me? I'm going to start charging by the hour if I'm going to keep babysitting."

"Yeah, yeah. Distract it."

She nodded and readied her sword again, launching herself at its rear and sending a wave of fire over it. As it tried to turn and face her Qrow leapt forward and dealt a heavy blow the horse head. It let out a whinny and forgot all about her, trying to hit Qrow with it's front hooves. One of its hands was still encased in ice but it swung its other in a circle, trying to hit both the Hunters. She evaded it easily by jumping on a glyph, using the momentum to get in melee range. Making sure to steer clear of its hooves she slashed at it's flanks. It gave a little buck to throw her off balance again but she remained at it's side. Its human torso turned to her and her skin crawled as it's eyes burned through the black smoke of its wounds. Before it could react Qrow was back in range and stabbing its horse front.

They had it on the ropes and Weiss was already preparing to pin its second hand down with more ice Dust, but right before she cast the necessary glyphs she saw the door to the safe house open and Oscar peek his head out. Like they received some mental direction all of their heads, Hunters and Grimm alike, turned to stare at the child. The Grimm took advantage of the distraction and turned in a circle quicker than they could react. She was knocked to the ground and Qrow was thrown into a lamp post. With a force that cracked the pavement it broke the ice on its hand with a kick and turned to face Oscar. The boys face was pale and he was frozen where he stood.

"Weiss!" Qrow yelled as he started running to the clock tower.

He clearly needed her to buy some time but she knew she couldn't get close while both of its arms were free. She felt frustration press on her as she stared at Oscar's terrified expression. She had known he was a liability and here she was proved right. For a second his eyes flashed green and she saw the shadow of Ozpin in his face. That night came back to her and her anger flared.

A surge in Aura surrounded her and a huge glyph lit up in front of the Knuckeleave. It skidded to a halt and let out another cry but she kept her focus. A huge white suit of armor rose from the glyph, brandishing a longsword at the Grimm. She immediately felt like she was going to pass out as fatigue overpowered her to stagger to her knees and lean on Myrtenaster. At this point all she could do was watch.

The knight swung its sword to meet the Grimm's arm that was already in motion. It batted the black arm aside easily and the Grimm hissed as soon as it hit the blade's gleaming edge. The knight stepped forward and swung at the horse's head but the Knuckleave sidestepped and tried to skirt the knight to get behind it. The knight took its fist and slammed it into the ground, causing the horse to lose its footing as well as kick up all the dust within two hundred yards. It picked up the Grimm like it was a toy horse and hurled it to the ground, causing more cracks in the pavement. Before it could recover Qrow jumped from a roof and embedded his sword in the horses neck, effectively pinning it to the ground for a second. The knight mirrored him and stabbed his sword into the horses side. It let out a scream and swung it's arms wildly, nailing Qrow in the side. He was separated from his weapon and thrown away once again. The knight wasn't phased however and the two arms pinged off it's armor. It twisted its sword and the Grimm let out a louder cry that grated against Weiss' ears. Even Oscar dropped to the ground and clasped his hands to his head. She felt a slight pull on her Aura as a glyph lit under the knight's sword. Seeing what it was going to do she cast a force glyph under Qrow's sword, ejecting it from the Grimm. Ice started growing from the ground and completely encasing the huge Grimm. It's scream only died when it's face was frozen solid. The knight removed its sword, swinging it with all its might and shattering the grotesque sculpture with an armored fist.

It walked slowly over and kneeled in front of Weiss. She nodded and it slowly vanished into white smoke. She looked over at Qrow but he was already on his feet and retrieving his weapon. He collapsed it and hung it on his belt before looking at the mess of ice and black flesh that littered the street.

"Good going, Snowflake." he glanced over at her. She remembered rolling her eyes before she passed out.

She woke up inside her room in the safe house. Her head felt like a thousand wasps were buzzing around and they were severely displeased. Qrow was looking out of the window as she came too, and he glanced over at her when he heard her sit up.

"Have a nice nap?"

"How long was I out?"

"An hour or two, your Aura took quite a hit."

She remembered the towering armor and felt proud of herself. "I've never Summoned anything that big." he didn't need to know she had never technically Summoned anything complete. There was the knight's arm in the Battle of Beacon but she hardly counted that.

"Now that you've got the process we can work on it a little bit while we're waiting here."

"Are we sure Ruby and the others are going to come here?"

"Seeing as we've been here a few days and no show? I can't say. We might have miscalculated."

"So we're heading out?"

"Let's make sure you get a good night's rest first."

"I'm fine." she stood up and stretched. Honestly her head swam like crazy but she tried to cover it up.

"And I don't care. You're of no use to me Aura-less. Get a good night's rest and we'll head out in the morning."

"I can help with watch. I'm not a child." she moved to pick up her rapier but he snatched it out of her hands.

"And I'm not treating you like a child. I'm treating you like someone who just almost lost all their Aura. I can't protect you both."

She grumbled but walked over to her pack to pull out something to eat. Qrow set her sword in the corner and glanced out the window again. "I'm going to do another perimeter check. I want to make sure that thing didn't have any friends."

"I guess I'll be sleeping."

"If you wouldn't mind, could you give a word to Oscar? He's pretty shaken up about the whole thing."

"Well he should be. We would have been fine if he hadn't-"

"Weiss." he cut in sharply. "You need to get over yourself. You have someone in there who just witnessed something he has never seen in his life and should never have seen in a normal world. He needs a Hunter's guidance."

"Don't act like he's so innocent. Ozpin's in there which means he's seen far worse."

Qrow slammed his hand on the window. "Goddamnit, Schnee. That boy was not at Beacon three months ago. That boy is not who worked with Pyrrha and he is not responsible for her death. In there is a scared fifteen year old kid who needs a friend."

"Then you be his friend." she said darkly. Ignoring his glare she yanked up her sword and headed out to start patrol. His voice stopped her right as she was about to pass through the doorway.

"Remember, Huntress, you chose this life. He didn't have that luxury."

She didn't grace him with a response but her heart was heavier as she walked back into the deserted street.

So there! We touched on this last chapter but I promised there was more. I know some people might think I don't like Oscar because of this chapter but I DO. I love Oscar and I think his situation is really interesting. In this chapter Weiss is having a hard time separating Oscar and Ozpin, because she dislikes the later because she blames him for Pyrrha's death. Is she blaming him so she doesn't have to ask herself if she could have saved her? Absolutely but that's a psychology talk for another day.

Basically what I am saying is hang in there. I address this problem in the next few chapters to get some character development for Oscar. I thought Hazel made some interesting points in the last RWBY season and I wanted to explore that without the death threats and stuff. I just want to try and quell the Oscar fans from bombarding me with hate mail. I do like him and I promise he is sticking around for far more positive moments in the future. Feel free to comment any critiques you have, or any ideas you would like to see in the next chapters. Thanks so much for reading and see you later!