Ruby jolted back. A black hammer crushed where she once stood like Thor's very own. Her red cape buffeted in the the gust designed by the monumental force. With her quickness, she glanced up, gaining a sensation of vertigo at the black shapeless shadow that rose like a tower and loomed over her. Black mist still engulfed the living Grimm tower, but a red light pierced the top like a beacon. An eye watching her carefully. The cobbles at the gate of Beacon were toppled as if the giant worm had buried itself out of the ground; something Ruby had only just noticed now.

The pressure of its presence alone made her tremble. Grip that was neither Weiss or her own found her shoulder. Her fear was locked on the new monster however; she was still unable to define it's true shape within the mists. A drip of sweat on her forehead dripped down the side of her cheek as she realised that Weiss, light and delicate was still on the ground. Still unconcious. Still in danger.

Another hammering fist pierced through the shadow force to intercept Weiss while she was vulnerable. The giant hand opened and scooped her up as quicker than Ruby could react.

Uther's morality was crushed "It's got Weiss! She'll be dragged into the abyss!" He crouched and hugged his legs, frozen stiff afraid.

Blake gave him the eye. "It's not over yet. I'll be dead first before she is."

"Oh no you don't!" Yang cried firing a volley at the hand. Red bullets impacted and exploded on the wrist of the black beast hand, forcing the creature to drop the heroine. The hand quickly ducked back into the mists, to prevent further harm being done.

Ruby dived towards White as the damsel fell to the ground. By instinct, she scooped up Weiss in the warmth of her arms. She contemplated her warmth, but not for long. Her feet strode in reverse like an elegant dance in order to escape danger.

"Tsch, coward!" Yang teased, unimpressed by the Grimm's decision to cower back into its giant cloak.

"At least we know we can damage it. We'll have to keep our distance to minimize potential casualties." Blake deducted. She watched as Ruby stepped backwards, still carrying Weiss. She seemed to be struggling to keep her afloat with her small frame. Black decided to intervene. She met her hand with the back of Ruby's shoulder.

"I'll take Weiss to safety." The voice of Blake prompted from behind her. Carefully passing Weiss's lifeless yet warm body Ruby remembered she was not alone. Yang gave several clicks of her Bracers and punched forth, allowing flaming volleys to impact; before the corroded against the black fog that was protecting the Grimm. "My bullets won't go through that weirdness."

"Of course it doesn't!" Blake contested "I just said that-"

"I know, I know. I just wanted to be one hundred percent sure, you know." Yang reloaded the Ember Celicas to be safe, but she didn't want to rush into things too recklessly. "It's going to be kinda hard to draw it out while we're standing this far away from it."

"Any closer and we'll be dead, more like." Blake sighed as she buckled over Weiss's body, tending to her condition.

Ruby had to commend Yang's bravery. "She's… really looking out for me…"

–

Ozpin's eyes widened when he saw the monstrosity out the window of his academy. It was at his gates. He grit his teeth. "So the day has finally come. It's still years too early."

"Are you mumbling?" Glynda interrogated. She hadn't quite caught what he had been saying but the whys and hows didn't matter much to her. "You know there's no time for that. Beacon is in a dire situation!"

"I'm aware of that." Ozpin was unusually calm as he watched the defiler rampage at his gates.

"I don't quite understand how it appeared so suddenly. At first there were a few rouges and then-" Glynda cleared her throat. "Professor Ozpin; shall I order the students to defend our fortress?" She seemed concerned. The ominous red sky through Ozpin's office window lit up the dark, moonless sky.

Ozpin tightened his grip on his walking stick and the small moonstone in his other. "Not just yet. I don't want to send the students into unessicary danger like fodder for the wolves. No, we need to know who we're dealing with."

"You know several members, including Team RWBY are already there? Then why…"

"I trust they can handle themselves for now." Ozpin worded firmly. "I will devise a strategy and then we will awaken the students."

"What are you thinking… Ozpin?" Glynda wish she understood her peer better sometimes. "I guess it would be appropriate to place my faith in you."

"Actually Glynda, I'll be needing to borrow your strength as well."

"Oh?" She raised an eyebrow.

Ozpin smiled.

–

"H-hey… what is that thing!?" Pyrrha exclaimed at the sight of the massive creature.

"Wait… you don't know? Isn't that my line?" Jaune had maybe interjected with a joke at slightly the wrong time, but she didn't seem to mind. Actually, he was fairly surprised to see Pyrrha a lot more unwound than usual. "Ruby and her friends might need some help. We should go assist them."

Jaune tugged at Pyrrha's hand, urging her to follow. She took a moment to think about it, before allowing him to lead.

Arc was forced to a halt when he saw a man in light green attire jump in front of him. The hiss of his green Stormflower pistols sunk into the shade belonging to the mist; before it became consumed by it. He landed with a thud, but then that was followed by a louder tremor as a girl in silver and white plate armour and a pink skirt slammed down her hammer into the Beacon cobblestone.

Jaune pointed examining the carnage of stone. "Nora, I think you're going to get disciplinary for that."

The sly-eyed man in Green, Ren spoke "I think that's the least of the academies problems right now." He tilted his head upwards to the heavens. "A sky drenched in a blood rose; by no means is this a normal situation."

Jaune sighed, relaxing his gear, causing it to clink. "These past few days have been nuts."

Pyrrha chuckled. "We're finally back together again." Her soft voice followed an unusual silence around them as if the Grimm had paused to take the moment in. She rolled her eyes. "Well. We won't be able to do much unless we get an order from our team leader." She traced Jaune to her side. "What do you want us to do? I'll let you call the shots."

"M-me?" Jaune pointed to himself. Nora and Ren looked expectantly at him, waiting on his word.

"Team RWBY are already taking care of the main battle. If the Grimm climb over the wall and pincer them it won't just be a problem for them, but the entire of Beacon. So we'll focus on banishing the Grimm and make sure that RWBY aren't in any serious danger. Method doesn't matter. Just keep safe… and win."

Pyrrha cocked an eyebrow. "Impressive."

"Any method hmm?" Ren began mumbling. Nora invaded his personal space. "Oh, you want to try that?"

"Yeah. It's a bit of a risk, but it might just crack that shadow little Ruby is having issues with."

–

"Weiss! Weiss!" Blake cried as she shook her lifeless body. She tended to her some distance away

"It's not moving much at all, besides a few swings." Yang bit her lip. She shot forth a few more loose rounds from the clip in her loaded gauntlets. "This thing won't even scratch!"

The girls had kept a good distance away now. Ruby stood ready, her cape flailing against the negative aura the massive Grimm produced. "Perhaps there's another way-"

All of a sudden, a sound boomed in the air. It was not of the Grimm, but it certainly shook them. I seasoned man spoke over a loud speaker some distance away.

"Students of Beacon in your slumber. Now is the time you must rise to defend the Academy. Prepare yourselves promptly, form your teams, and engage the enemy outside. You must work together in order to banish the Grimm here and drive their leader away. Failure is not an option. Fail and graves will not only be dug for yourselves, but every civilian in Vale."

The voice of Ozpin was loud enough to reach even the ends of the gates where RWBY stood.

"Coulda figured the Professor would catch wind of something this hard to miss sooner or later." Yang deducted.

Meanwhile, Blake looked over Weiss. She placed a hand on her head and pushed through her fringe to feel her temple, which immediately warmed her hand hot like a kettle. "She's burning up."

"...She's sick?"

A short, skinny shadow lulled over Blake. The girl had a strong accent, one that rung familiar but she could not put a name to it. There was a smell about her that wasn't quite human, but definitely not Grimm. Glancing up, she traced her yellow eyes over a girl with long coffee coloured hair and hazel eyes. Long rabbit ears drooped from the top of her head. No headband, she was a blatant Faunus.

Blake had recognised her in a previous encounter, but not in this gear. The girl had long black boots, that ran all the way up her thighs. Neat little gold bands. Everything was lightweight, like a thief. Her demeanour and manner of speaking did not match up with that nature. Blake would have known, being formerly a rouge herself.

Black had witnessed this girl months ago being tainted, bullied. One of her long ears pulled carelessly by one named Cardin Winchester; who did nothing but laugh and mock as he twisted her being, caused her pain and spat in her name.

Reconciling in a dark past, one of many grim pasts, Blake cringed a little. She felt so sour that she could only sit and watch and only subtly display her detest without blowing her cover. Back then she was a coward. "I wonder if much has changed." She uttered under her breath.

"Excuse me?" The rabbit girl tilted her head. "I don't think this girl looks very well."

"O-oh, yes!" Blake jolted as she was snapped from her daydreaming. She gently removed her hand from Weiss' delicate forehead to allow the familiar acquaintance to study her.

"I'm Velvet Scarletina." The girl revealed as she ducked to inspect. From one pocket she revealed a vial of green dust. "I have a bit of knowledge attending to all sorts of sick and injured people."

"Do you know what's wrong?" Blake questioned.

Velvet beamed her focus on Weiss's condition. Her sharp eyes instantly spotted the red pressure marks around the girls pale white skin. Her hands quickly reached to her loose snow jacket. Tugging gently at the shoulders without undoing the coat completely, she could peer in and see more red wounds. After inspecting properly, she was able to relax a little. "She's been constricted in several places..."

"...you seem awfully calm." Blake had experienced and epiphany. Velvet didn't seem all to afraid of the world buckling around her.

"I'd prefer to focus at the task at hand." Velvet had patted the dust from the vial in small amounts between her fingers and then sprinkled it between Weiss' afflicted areas. "That dust has a few healing properties and should alleviate some of the pressure on her chest and other afflicted areas, allowing her to breathe more easy."

Weiss coughed. A sign of life. Blake focused her attention on the magic the bunny girl had just performed. "WEISS!" She reached out to grab both of the weakened woman's shoulders, but was halted by the other Faunus. "Hey! Take it slower, she'll still be sore for quite a while!"

Velvet still allowed Blake to support Weiss. She stood up and stepped away, to give the two friends some space.

"Weiss!" Blake cried out her name again.

White opened one eye slowly with a pained look on her face. She moaned weakly "Don't shout so loud you idiot, I have a headache."

Blake's head invaded her personal space by that point, but before Black could well up any words, her tears overflowed in place. She closed in and hugged her body. "I-I'm so sorry!"

"Dolt..."

"Even when it's not me in danger, I'm still useless! Even after all you did for me, I still couldn't return the favour!" Blake continued to cry. She couldn't think of anything else. Her mind was clouded and dreary from regret.

"If you really want to be the hero, not choking me after I just woke up would be a start. I've had my fill of naps today." Weiss grumbled.

Blake realised her error and loosened her digging nails a bit. "But if it wasn't for us-"

Weiss was the silent one this time. Instead of telling her off, she wrapped her arms around Blake and hushed her to be quiet. White closing her eyes began to sing.

Who is that at the tower?
One that can save me from the things I see,

Poison from the fruits of nihilism,
Overturn the dark from the world,
Light, all revealing, you've rescued me.

The world around them devolved into silence as the red haze over them glowed warm. Blake was in silence, tamed by Weiss' song. She hadn't anticipated she had the voice to sing.

"N-now shut up. Are you really that stupid?" Weiss stood and pushed away from Blake. She seemed a bit unstable, but still dusted herself off as if she was in top working order. Seeing the Faunus still kneeling on the floor to her, she presented out her hand. "Now stand. We have Grimm to take out."

Blake stared at the hand for a while and shook off her regrets. She accepted it with her own, and Weiss pulled her to her feet. White grunted "Ouch."

Velvet pried her way into the conversation. "Are you still alright? Did you need any more curative dust?"

"I-I should be alright." Weiss turned to face the familiar character. She too had seen Velvet more than once around the school.

"I guess my work here is done then. I should go help the other students."

Blake walked over to her other Faunus friend. "Thank you for everything."

"It's no problem!" Velvet bowed, causing her ears to drop over her head.

"Blake," Weiss uttered, distracting Blake from her business. "Let's join the battle. I can't sit here while Ruby and Yang fight on their own."

"I agree with you. Let's go." Both of them smiled, even though they were about to partake in a battle with an uncertain outcome.

–

Grimm began to crawl over the walls from all sides. One of the Grimm, a small Beowulf, landed victoriously on the grounds of his enemy, on the upper wall of Beacon. As the creature sniffed and drooled for prey the creature grunted suddenly when the head of a spear plunged through his own. The poor creature could barely grunt in his victory, his last breath, before he collapsed in a heap on the ground. Blood poured from his sorry wound as the blade was yanked out by some force, a hand, a hand covered in a maroon wrapping that belonged to Pyrrha Nikos. The gold shine from the blade tip was dirtied a crimson as she marched to encounter more trespassers.

Not being able to see any more of the black devils on the walls, she turned to the edge of the wall. Below at the depths, monsters still crawled and clawed and the walls like zombies trying to scratch, dig and tackle their way through. The smarter ones tried climbing the walls before sliding back down, while the largest of the Grimm could look over the ramparts like titans.

Nevermore were a problem. These avians soared over the walls easily. They seemed calculated and focused, drawn to their mother at the gates, which would only mean more problems for Ruby. Pyrrha couldn't have that.

"Huff, how are we supposed to hit those!?" Jaune panted. His sword too was also sullied with slaughter.

"Quite simple really." Pyrrha flicked some kind of gear in her spear. Tossing it between her fingers like child's play the spear began to unfold into a different device. Within seconds, the transition was complete. It had unfolded into her hands in the form of a long barrelled sniper rifle and took aim at one of the renegade birds. As she was about to fire, something else hit it first.

The distraction caused her to retreat from the scope.

"What just happened?" Jaune questioned.

"It was already struck by something." Pyrrha trailed on her words as she hunted for the source. Her arms relaxed suddenly in her surprises as her vision locked by the fountain of Beacon. "The students. They're all coming out to fight."

Jaune peered over. "You're right!"

Students from the academy left, right and center began to emerge from hiding and barraged the sky of the black smears that stained it. Groups and teams formed on the walls and took aim at the renegade Grimm, pushing them off the walls or killing them outright.

–

Ruby heard the noise as well. By this point she was exhausted and battered. The main Grimm they had been fighting all this time had not revealed itself yet, and while it lay offensive attacks at them, any form of assault made against it proved ineffectual.

"Ruby! We're coming to help you now!" The supportive voice of Blake shouted from behind as she ran to the scene.

Weiss was with her, but the girl paused when she passed Uther, still frozen in fear. "You're the thing that pretended to be me right?" Her wording was impolite but her tone expressed otherwise.

"Uhhh... I can copy people, yeah."

"Huh." Weiss folded her arms. "Then you and whatever that creepy that we're fighting aren't too far apart."

"Yeah but... " Uther placed his hands on his head. "That thing is on a whole different level. It breeds Grimm! It probably created me!"

"Well even so, you're not like other Grimm are you?" Weiss contested. "You have a mind of your own and you've made so many of your own decisions so far. Why back down now?"

"I...the other Pendragon are dead!"

"And you're alive. Sheesh, does that really mean nothing to you? Fine. I tried. I guess I'll just do this without you!" Weiss marched off, along with her wildly short temper. Approaching Blake, Ruby and Yang they were already plotting together. Her furrowed brows expressed her detest for being left out. "Are just what are you planning?"

All three girls looked back at her.

They were smiling. "Don't worry." Yang chuckled. "We won't leave you out of this."

–

Ren and Nora fought on their own area. The loud girl swung her hammer repeatedly, as if she was playing a whack a mole game. "This is boring." The girl jumped and landed behind first onto the ground, despite the fact there was an Ursa present next to her. As she sat, she grumpily tapped her hammer aside of her, in turn whacking the Grimm on the head repeatedly until it collapsed.

It was hard to make Ren cringe over something so strange, he merely shrugged it off as a breath of air.

Nora's eyes lit up when she remembered something. "Ren! We should try that thing! To make it more fun!"

"Oh..." Ren looked to his own guns in his hands. Green pistols with long blades named the Stormflowers. "I trust you won't break them."

"I won't!" Nora chuckled. She stood up with her hammer in hand, and presented it to Ren.

Ren presented his own weapons in turn. "We'll need to master this if we want to win more tournaments in the future."

"You got that right!"

"I place your weapon in your hands and yours to my own." Ren was taken by surprise on how heavy the Magnhild was. Nora on the other hand, with Stormflowers in her hands, began pointing them like an action hero and blowing out the imaginary smoke from the muzzle.

In an act of good timing, a hoard of Grimm launched themselves at them from the wall. The perfect practise; Nora recklessly unloaded hundreds if not, thousands of bullets in seconds at them in random criss crossing directions. Ren, still not used to handling her weapon, was only able to make one large quake by slamming it down to the ground, tripping any last monsters that remained.

"Weeeee!" Nora seemed to be fully enjoying herself.

Ren just smiled a little. He was glad she was happy.

–

Ruby could feel a force that was pulling her backwards. A powerful magnet, a sigil held her in place. "Do you really think this strategy will work twice!?" A girl shouted from behind her.

"Well we've got to do something to that shield or we'll be swarmed in Grimm!"

"Is there anything you can do Weiss?" Yang asked from afar. She was holding a black ribbon that Ruby seemed to be attached to. Blake was on the other side weilding the other half of the ribbon on the palisade, creating a giant slingshot.

"I can plant more reverse Glyphs for more power, but if I did that I'd pass out just creating the attraction field! Aura has its limits on the body you know!"

"How about I help?" The voice of a boy.

Uther was behind Weiss. He had taken the form of a Pendragon.

Weiss had nearly forgotten his ability to mimic her. "But you're a Grimm. You lack an Aura."

"I disagree. Those that lack an Aura just lack a soul. I guess I must be a Grimm with a soul then."

"Trapped like a wandering spirit..." Ruby whispered.

Weiss blinked, and in front of her stood her doppelganger. The effort was little, Uther took charge of placing the purple reverse glyphs in her stead. She was almost impressed, if not jealous. It was odd looking at a living version of herself outside of a mirror. "Alright, on the word, deactivate the glyphs and I'll activate my own.

"Got it!" Uther nodded focusing on his task.

Weiss used her rapier to judge the distance. "For this to work, we need to not only strike the shadow, but its heart as well."

"On your marks.

Ready.

Get set...

Go!"

Ruby was launched in the air at a much faster speed. Weiss moved into action and placed a glyph on the black creatures shadow mist, allowing the girl in red to shatter through it like glass.

"Holy...!" Yang forced herself not to curse as she watched her younger sister hurtle through the physical madness, her Scythe ripping the body on the inside to pieces with her Crescent Rose.

Within the monster screamed and roared. None of the girls could see what was happening at first, but slowly, the shade magic around the creature parted away. Underneath they could see what it really looked like. A black monstrosity with hanging limbs at the bottom that didn't make any sense. Spines reached out from various areas. The creature was indeed half submerged in the ground. It had two long arms, the same ones it had been using to attack them with. Atop it all was a small head and a white mask. Tendrils like a medusa and a single red eye stared them down. The mask pulled away like peeling skin and revealed jaws and madness underneath as it gave a startling cry.

Despite the size of it, it was deep in wounds. Ruby had dealt a great blow to it and continued to hack away from its body as she stood on it. Fear ignored her mind, she couldn't look away. She could only attack and attack and attack. Fight and fight and fight.

The muscles in her body gave way. Her legs caved in while still on the Broodmothers living body. Flecks of white darted in her eyes, blurred her vision, distracted her from reality. Hallucinating? She couldn't know.

"Ruby..."

"Ruby Rose...!"

Red didn't know why, but all of a sudden she felt like crying. Tears instinctively fell from her eyes as mysterious emotions welled.

"I have made more mistakes than any man, woman or child was what he said."

The voice seemed to belong to a woman. The line however reminisced something that Professor Ozpin had once himself said.

"I guess I'm no different from he- Ruby I fear for the terrible future that I have sown for you. What lies ahead can never be extinguished, only resolved."

–

"What's going on!?" Yang cried, witness to Ruby's fall. She made for a mad dash as the Broodmother veiled over the Red with her hands, hiding her from view.

"GIVE HER BACK!" Gold punched harder and faster creating violent flame volleys from the ground not even Ruby herself had seen before. She had to get in, get in closer. "I'll snap it's arms if I have to!"

Blake and Weiss lurched back in fear.

–

"Resolved?" Ruby asked in the white space.

"Everything started with just Remnant and the Moon. As such, all life came from that very source. The two shouldn't have touched, but they did."

"I don't... understand."

"Ruby. Don't end up like me."

"I...?"

"I want to help you. But I don't know if I will be able to. No. I will help you. It will be of a cost, but it is the only way for you to be safe. Right now you are in great danger."

Ruby felt dizzy. She had trouble breathing. Was she being choked, constricted? Her life was closing in around her. The white space grew only whiter. Something moved between the planes towards her like a ghost, but by that point she couldn't make it out. Camouflaged by white, she only saw a brief red flicker of her own.

Ruby shut her eyes, ready to embrace her death. "It's alright. I'll be happy leaving this world knowing I got to hear a voice so wonderful again."

–

"RUBY!"

There was no response. Yang did not have her answer.

Ozpin clenched his fist and lowered his head. Glynda lowered her head as well. They both remained silent as they witnessed the silence that came from the desolate battleground of students and dead Grimm. Pyrrha and Jaune were witnesses as well. Pyrrha noticing the tragedy placed a hand on her heart. Her other hand clutched Jaune tightly, not wanting to let go.

Ren on the other side began to merely pray.

Blake and Weiss stood in utter silence. Uther ducked a way like whimpering hound.

Every student at the beacon academy fell into silence. The Broodmother did not make a sound herself, the giant hands still crushing Ruby Rose within them.

A light. Professor Ozpin noticed the stone in his hand shine. The one Blake possessed did as well. The ancient claw device on the floor used by the fake Cinder emitted radiant light.

"The moon!" Jaune pointed excitedly as the moon revealed itself amongst the sky again in its full glory.

"Just what is going on?" Weiss questioned. "We've had enough of these problems these stupid stones!"

Blake shut her eyes and took in invisible words. Her ears twitched to them, she became almost enchanted by them. The greatest light however did not emerge from the moon.

The greatest light was...

Yang was the first to see it. Light pierced its way through the hands of the creature. A white head of a blade forced its way through one of the large fingers the creature possessed, cutting it in half. The head of a white scythe decorated in gold and white crystal designs shoved its way out. It had a golden 'eye' joint which held it together, part of a folding mechanism. Red rune patterns ran across it as if it was some unearthly weapon.

But the shape. The design. It was so uncanny.

"Is that the... Crescent Rose!?"