Chapter 12

The woman looked down at her without empathy, though she could see the slightest hint of amusement in her otherwise cold eyes. The echoes of warfare drifted up towards them, the distance thumps and crackle of explosions and small arms fire led credence to the image of the world falling apart around Pyrrha. The woman notched and drew another arrow, leveling the bow with Pyrrha's chest.

"Yes." The woman said flatly at Pyrrha's earlier question, with a small sad smile touching her lips Pyrrha closed her eyes.

Pyrrha felt something impact the ground with a loud crack in front of her, opening her eyes; she saw the black metal shaft of a weapon in front of her. Black fragments of an arrow was scattered around Pyrrha. Looking up she saw that the woman wasn't paying her any more attention but was looking somewhere else. Following her gaze, standing at the edge of the tower in finely wrought golden armor was Alexander Arc.

"My I feel blessed to be in the presence of the Patriarch of the Arc House, Alexander Arc." The woman cooed as she stepped away from Pyrrha. Pyrrha couldn't see Alexander's face due to the strange helmet obscuring it but something told her that he wasn't very amused.

"Oh? No words from you, I'd figure someone with your age and experience should have a thing or two to say." The woman continued as she turned her back to them to walk to the far side of Ozpin's office. Alexander stepped forward; his metal sabatons crunched small rocks and fragments to dust as he made his way to Pyrrha's side. He kneeled down next to her, as his face got closer Pyrrha could see his eyes were still locked onto the woman.

"Can you stand?" He asked softly, Pyrrha shook her head.

"No, not without help." Pyrrha grunted softly as she tried to get up but failed, pain soared through her ankle, Alexander extended a gauntleted hand. At that moment the woman spun around with another arrow notched and drawn, she fired it straight at Alexander and quickly drew another arrow before firing it at Pyrrha.

Alexander stepped forward in front of her and took the arrow to the chest; the first arrow glanced off his pauldron. Looking down he could see that the arrow didn't fully penetrate his chest plate but was embedded into it slightly. With a swipe of his right hand he broke it off, his left reached back and grasped the shaft of his glaive and with a heave he pulled it out.

Pyrrha was shocked to see that the blade of the glaive had been buried nearly a foot into the floor of the tower. Spinning the glaive around, he smashed another arrow out of the air. He dashed forward raising the glaive up before slashing diagonally but the woman had jumped back and with a glow, her bow changed into two serrated short swords.

She brought them up in time to meet the blade of the glaive; however Alexander spins it in reverse as the blades clashed and with the other end of his weapon knocks the swords up. Continuing to rotate it the glaive, the blade comes whooshing back up. The woman jumps back barely in time as the blade tip came within an inch of her, as they stood apart from each other she could see a lock of black hair float down to the shattered floor.

She didn't have time to react to that when Alexander grips his weapon in both hands and spins it, slashing horizontally at her but the woman moves back, he continues to spin, loosening his grip so that the glaive slides forward out of his hands but at the last second grasps the end of the glaive and swings it back around. She knocks the glaive aside and leaps towards him; Alexander pulls the glaive back and with two hands raises the metal shaft up to block the first sword.

She thrusts the second sword but Alexander, centers his hands on the shaft and spins the glaive knocking the blade aside. He steps forward continuing to spin the glaive in his hands, Pyrrha watched as the two came to blows once more, sparks issued between them as their weapons clashed time and time again.

She was amazed at how Alexander was fighting; he was continuously spinning his weapon in a manner she didn't think should have been effective with his type of weapon. Every time it was met with resistance or a block Alexander would start spinning in the opposite direction meeting the woman's dual swords with his own blade, or the shaft.

She continued to watch as the seconds flew by with both opponents fighting fiercely, she realized how lucky she was to be able to have last as long as she did. Pyrrha found it unfathomable at how fast Alexander's strikes were. Or how quickly he seems to be able to react or move in that sort of armor.

She watched as the woman's face twisted in frustration, sweat beading her brow, soon after having another blow blocked she jumped back and out of Alexander's reach. With a frustrated yell her weapons disappeared and her eyes started to glow.

Pyrrha could feel her blood run cold, a shout died on her lips as two flames sprouted from her palms, Alexander crouched slightly with his glaive in hand. She flung both balls of fire, Alexander dove to the side as the first slammed into the floor, and glowing chunks of concrete flew in the air.

Alexander swung his glaive at the second one, because of his roll he had wound up with a wall to his back and a large clock gear to his left, trapping him.

The blade made contact with the fireball and it exploded, Pyrrha covered her eyes from the smoke and dust, heat pricked at her skin. Looking up she couldn't see where Alexander was, after a few moments, the smoke started to dissipate to reveal Alexander slumped against the wall.

The plume atop his helmet was almost burnt completely off, the shorten edges were aglow from the flames. The cloth around his waist was in tatters, the edges burnt black, and his armor steamed from the heat. Using his glaive as a crutch, he pulled himself back up, and took hold of his weapon and crouched slightly ready for the woman's next attack.

Pyrrha was amazed at first of his aura's strength to be able to stomach such a hit, but as she took in the sight of his armor she realized a very important fact. Alexander didn't have any aura; Pyrrha glanced at the woman and could see that she was smiling viciously as she must have come to the same conclusion.

Distinctly Pyrrha heard an engine come to life from nearby, and before she knew it the sound of a rocket locker soared in. The locker smashed into the ground sending cracks through the floor around it, Pyrrha stared incredulously as the locker door popped open.

The one person that she both wanted and dreaded to see stepped out, his shaggy blond hair almost shining amongst the drab colors of the broken tower top. Jaune released of pent up breath that he had held for the shaky trip from the ground to Ozpin's office.

However almost instantly he drew out Crocea Mors and activated his shield holding them up, he looked around, briefly catching his father's eye and settled his gaze at the woman standing before them. She met his gaze and smirked, if she could stand toe to toe with not only Ozpin and Alexander Arc, this boy would be no problem.

"Jaune what the fuck!? How!? Why did you come back!?" Pyrrha yelled at his back, Jaune didn't turn to look at her. Panic and frustration boiled up, she didn't want him to get hurt or die, and that was why she had put him in that locker.

Jaune backed up with his shield still raised in front of him. Alexander had charged the woman again and Pyrrha could see that he was struggling to get in reach with his glaive as the woman continuously backed up with her bow.

"Why wouldn't I come back for you Pyrrha?" Jaune said as he crouched next to her, laying Crocea Mors to the side and took a look at Pyrrha's ankle. Pyrrha looked at Jaune's face and could see that he was a mixture of emotions at the moment, occasionally glancing at his father's fight.

"Jaune you didn't have to do this." Pyrrha said softly, tears pricking at her eyes, Jaune shut his eyes and his face scrunched up.

"Of course I fucking had to do this Pyrrha, I love you and I would rather kill myself knowing that you're in harm's way while I did nothing." Pyrrha couldn't say anything, he did have a point, and she sent him away to live while she knowingly went to her death.

"I mean you even looked me in the eye and told me that you loved me, and send me away as you go willingly to your death, that's not fucking fair." Jaune opened his eyes at that and Pyrrha could see his eyes shimmer with tears in the low light of the fires raging below.

Alexander felt another arrow smash into his armor, he couldn't keep taking these hits, all it takes is one lucky shot and it'll be her advantage. He dove to the side as she fired another arrow and charged the woman, lunging forward the blade of the glaive cut through the air inches away from her torso.

Spinning the glaive as quickly above his head the butt of the glaive connected with the woman's chest and sent her stumbling to the ground. She fell onto her back and rolled with the momentum her bow already drawn, and released the arrow.

Alexander cursed as he felt the arrow strike his chest; he could feel the tip of the arrow brush against his chest slightly. With a swipe of his hand, he broke the arrow and lunged at her, drawing his arm back to strike down at her. She jumped back once more as Alexander got closer but her eyes narrowed as she realized that his posture was different than before.

Switching his grip on his glaive he followed through with his original motion but instead hurled the glaive as hard as he could. In a show of unbelievable luck, the woman's moved her head to the side just in time to avoid getting the blade imbedded into her skull. Jaune could see the look of utter rage and confusion on her face, as another lock of raven black hair fell followed by a drop of blood from the gash on her cheek.

Before any other move could be done there was an earth shaking roar that emitted from the skies above them. They looked up, and in the distance over the Forever Fall forest, a black shape fell to the earth, it was the Grimm Wyvern.

Beacon Cliffside…


Looking into the distance they saw the Grimm Wyvern fall, Ren couldn't help but wonder if that was a bad thing or good. However the murmur of panic and fear was strong enough that he could practically smell it. Though Sun and the other team leaders immediately set out to quelling the fear of their fellow students. Ren stood up grabbing a blanket as he walked back to Nora.

He didn't have to worry about that since two of his teammates were missing and Nora was asleep after all the fighting they had done. He stood over his partner and lifelong friend; she was sleeping soundly though he could see the twitch of her hand as if she was ready to jump up swinging. He draped the blanket over her, and sat down on the stone steps beside her.

With Jaune and Pyrrha both missing he once more had to make sure that she was safe, though even now he wasn't truly alone nor was he the young boy in the middle of a destroyed village all those years ago.

Looking around he could see that many of the Beacon students were having a hard time keeping up. Only a few like Coco, Sun, and Arslan were going around making checking up on all the students and teams that were still alive. Ren quickly glanced over to the far edge, Velvet, Yatsuhashi and a few others were attending to the wounded.

Both Sage and Scarlet were sitting next to Neptune who's leg was bandaged from a sword wound he had taken earlier in the fighting against the Daemons. The once pristine white cloth was now soaked and now was dark red.

He wasn't the only one hurt; there was more than a few students hurt. Some of whom that that collectively all the team leaders, plus Ren as the representative of team JNPR, felt wouldn't make it to see the next day.

While aura was a marvelous tool that helps them from getting hurt or getting sick so easily. Once it's gone though, the person will start taking the hits themselves and that in turns affect their aura's ability to either recover or function as it should. The more hurt that person is, the long it takes for their aura to recharge itself and help the person.

In this case with the wounds that some have taken such as Neptune stab wound which they were able to slow the bleeding but it was still a danger if it were to get infected while his aura worked slowly to get back to a safe level.

One of the girls from NDGO had suffered a blunt strike of a sword to the chest after her aura gave out. Now she had multiple broken ribs and her breathing was raspier then it should be. Her aura wasn't replenishing fast enough to heal the wound as it tried to recover itself and heal her at the same time. So they would need to get her professional medical attention.

Thankfully they didn't have to do anymore fighting it seemed. Earlier a series of explosions had occurred further down the avenue and the students had watched as massive armored warriors had strode out the fires to fire their unique weapons at the backs of Grimm and Daemon alike.

Adding onto the warriors' assault, the Machine had done a devastating toll on their numbers as well as it charged their ranks. Its massive armored bulk and weaponry left a devastating path in its wake.

Though just as quickly as they came slaughtering the Grimm and Daemons alike, they turned around almost as soon as the last enemy fell. Though one warrior with a blue illuminated sword that seemed to crackle with energy had seemed to give the Machine a greeting's in the form of slamming across his fist across chest.

From that point the students had watched and listened as battle raged in the distance, not only from Vale and Beacon but Forever Fall forest as well.

There was a rustle of clothes from behind Ren, and with a brief glance from the corner of his eye, he spotted the leader of team RWBY standing behind him looking down at her feet.

"Yes Ruby?" Ren asked as he looked back to Beacon, he wasn't sure about the young Reaper anymore. After the incident between Pyrrha and her, there has been a slight strain between the two teams, though really it was between her, Jaune and Pyrrha.

However what affected them still affected the rest of them, Nora always seemed to be a little more on the edge as if ready to intervene if anything happened. Even the other members of team RWBY have appeared to be a little more apprehensive whenever they were all together.

Ren honestly found it slightly aggravating at the damage it has done. However he still knew that now was definitely not the time to focus on such trivial matters.

"I'm just worried."

"We're all worried, between the Daemons, Grimm and White Fang it looks like none of us were getting out of here alive or at least perfectly fine." He could practically feel her stiffen up to his response, while Ruby is a talented scythe wielder that could be surprisingly mature she still had an over optimistic view of a happy ending for all of them.

If there was one thing Ren had learned over the years, it was that nothing lasts forever. There comes a time in which all things must end, sometimes violently and sometimes peacefully. This was sadly another one of those times in his and Nora's lives.

"Well there is that, but the Arcs are helping us, so everything should be back to normal soon." Ren didn't know what to say to that, on one hand part of him wanted to agree but on the other hand he knew nothing was going to be the same no matter what they thought.

"You don't think that do you?" The younger girl asked from behind him, Ren didn't say anything.

"I thought so, but I'm also really worried about is Jaune."

"But not Pyrrha?" He said almost instantly the moment she uttered those words.

"That's not fair to assume, of course I'm worried but she can handle herself, Jaune didn't need to go out on his own like that." There was a flash of light above them in the clouds, Ren squinted his eyes a little as he looked to the ground.

"I wouldn't say that, Jaune was quite adamant that Pyrrha wasn't going to win whoever she's fighting, and the fact that the last thing we saw about her aura was that it was barely a quarter left, when have we ever seen that before." Ruby didn't say anything clenching her hands in frustration.

"Besides they're partners, and I know Jaune wouldn't abandon a friend like that." Ren said but before another response could be made the sounds of engines could be heard in the distance. Turning around Ren and Ruby could both see dozens of Bullheads with the symbol of the Arcs painted on their hulls heading either to Beacon or Vale.

"I guess the Arcs brought in even more reinforcements." Ren said as a trio of Bullhead flew overhead, there were several flashes under the nose of the crafts. Ren watched as the white exhaust trails of rockets sped off towards the tree lines on either side of the school. Their line of sight was obscured by smoke and debris as the trees shattered from the effects of the munitions.

More Bullheads descended to the docking platforms and dozens of armed soldiers came running out. Sergeants were yelling orders and field medics rushed over to the wounded students, and effectively starting a triage station, already the more serious injured students were being led waiting Bullheads.

The students cheered on the soldiers as they started to form up in their platoons and immediately head out towards Beacon and the surrounding areas. Ren watched as Sun helped Neptune up and start helping him over to a waiting Bullhead.

However something else caught his eye, in the distance from Vale, something white was coming towards them. At that moment Nora came up to him with a wide smile on her face, though Ren could still see that exhaustion clung to her.

"Does this mean it's over?" She asked loudly, having to yell as more Bullheads flew deafeningly over them to drop more soldiers off in the fields. The staccato sound of small arms fire started to pick up as Arcadian infantry started to engage the straggling creatures of Grimm, Daemons, and even White Fang groups.

"Maybe." Nora's face scrunched up and she looked towards Beacon Tower, in the stifled rays of dawn they could see storm clouds were gathering over it. Ren narrowed his eyes once more in thought; it wasn't something that was normal, though nothing of that night had been normal so far.

The ground started to shake a little and everyone turned their heads when an incredibly roar could be heard. In the distance coming from the direction of the Forever Fall forest, the head of the Wyvern could be seen rearing up letting loose another bellow. Everyone stopped what they were doing as they saw the Grimm make its way into Beacon.

There was a flap of wings and a surge of chatter mainly from the Arcadian soldiers, the two members of team JNPR turned around. Standing on the platforms was Sanian Arc, majestic white wings extended from her back, light seemed to shine from her lighting up the surrounding area, and Ruby took a step forward.

"Sanian? Is that you?" She looked down at Ruby; she could see a faint smile touch her lips.

"Yes it is dear Ruby, but enough of the pleasantries, I must ask you something." Ruby stood up straight at that, Weiss having seen to the medical departure joined up with them. Though she didn't say anything, opting to let Sanian speak.

"Ruby you're friends need your help, you're the key to all of this." Ruby wasn't sure at what Sanian was talking about but the way she spoke was strange like an echo that overlapped with her voice, familiar yet distant at the same time.

"Do you not want to save Jaune?" Sanian said and didn't say, Ruby thought she said that but her mouth didn't seem to move, that's strange. However that's exactly what she wanted to do, save Jaune, if she happened to save Pyrrha and Beacon along the way, that's fine.

Sanian extended her hand and Ruby tentatively reached out for it but Weiss grabbed her wrist.

"Ruby what are you doing?!" Weiss asked, and Ruby was surprised at the emotion choking her voice. Worry plain on her face, but Ruby shrugged it off, and looked away.

"I have to do this Weiss, just trust me." Weiss stepped front of the young reaper.

"I do trust you Ruby, you're my friend, but this…this is too much." Weiss said gesturing at Sanian's winged glowing form. Ruby shook her head and stepped forward, once more reaching out for Sanian's hand.

Skies above Beacon…


Qrow flapped above the skies of Beacon's air docks; below him he could see the mass of students milling around it. He could also see the rows of white sheets that were covering bodies off in the corner; he knew that his nieces were safe for the most part.

Though Yang was in a precarious state he knew that for sure, he had seen her bright mane as she was unconscious on the ground next to her partner. He would need to check up on her the moment he gets a chance, most likely take her home so that she could recover as well.

However what was really drawing his attention was the Arcadian vessel that have been fighting the Grimm Wyvern, Qrow wasn't sure if that was the correct term but it seemed to fit. Thought the Grimm was now sprawled in the depths of Forever Fall forest.

The screams of engines filled the air from above him in an almost shrieking note as a trio of aircraft sped past Qrow towards, he could see that several objects detached from underneath their angled wings. A few moments later after the pilots pulled up, a series of bright explosions appeared on or around the creature.

The creature roared either in pain or frustration, he wasn't sure but he could see a trio of obscure red marks on its body that indicated that it was indeed wounded in a sense. A black miasma seemed to drift into the air from the marks on its body.

There was something else in the air though, something that gave him a sense of unease. Looking over at Beacon Tower he could see that the sky seemed to be different, the swirl of clouds darker than the others gave him an inkling that Ozpin may be out of the picture. He stifled that train of thought; it would do him no good to think about something like that.

Though it inevitably drew up the thought about Alexander Arc, where was he in all of this? Was he leading his forces or did he stay behind in Beacon with Ozpin, and if he was with Ozpin did that mean he was gone also?

There was a new sudden surge of force that battered Qrow from above and the world spun as he struggled to control his fall again. He barely managed to correct himself as he neared the trees, using his fall and momentum to glide over the blood red canopy.

With a few quick flaps, Qrow starts to gain height once more, looking for the source of the sent him plummeting from the skies. As he scanned the skies he found what was able to down the Grimm Wyvern.

A massive metallic behemoth slowly flew through the skies, whereas the Atlas Naval Ships were arrow-shaped hulls, with two nacelles that came off their sides. They had several spines protruding from the engine supports with several nozzles in between the spines, as well as on the bottom of the engine supports. With forward facing laser batteries capable of downing any other ship its size.

The Arcadian ship was so much different, it was nearly fourteen hundred meters long. Unlike the Atlas narrow like stature, the Arcadian vessel was much thicker and had more a more rounded appearance. Qrow flew higher in order to get a better look of the ship.

The prow of the vessel curved down into a sharp point almost like a ram at the very top it seemed that there was supposed to be something, like a statue, but it had been removed, with a dual barreled front facing turret.

While behind it, the main body was split into two portions the front half of the ship was shaped more like a pentagon, the bottom three sections of it that Qrow could see held one row of three large barreled cannons. Though the section of hull angled up seemed to be honeycombed with six rather noticeable external panels, Qrow wasn't sure what they were but no doubt it must be potent.

Halfway down the ship it went from the pentagon shape to more rectangle design with an additional smaller portion on top illuminated by multiple lights which Qrow assumed was the bridge. On the side he could see an additional eight external panels, and he had no doubt there it was mirrored on the other side.

Qrow could also see a different variety of guns, these one while nowhere near as big as the cannons, they had four barrels and seemed to track the skies around them. There was one on each corner of the section with an additional four at the base of the tower. No doubt they were probably some sort of short range or air defense for the vessel.

Behind it Qrow could see the blue glow of what appeared to be two massive engines stacked on top of each other. Four plates of solid metal covered the top, bottom and sides as additional protection.

Though Qrow could see clear signs of battle, numerous gouges could be seen on the hull of the ship. Several of the turrets looked to have bite marks that had dented the armor or barrels. The bridge itself had claw and teeth marks traveling up it. It seems the Wyvern did put up quite a fight to leave such visible marks it had on the vessel.

Qrow watched as the vessel once more disappeared behind the clouds. Though now that he knew it was lurking in the skies with them he felt a little more relieved, yet at the same time apprehensive.

The Arcs have something like that at their command, was it the only one, and just how strong was it? There was a series of flashes in the clouds and Qrow watched as trio of bright lights hurtled to the earth leaving white exhaust behind them.

With a few flaps of his wings he lingered in place, watching as the objects flew towards the Wyvern, and exploded. Even from that distance he could feel a slightly breeze of concussive force. Qrow waited till the smoke cleared and saw that the forest was alight with flames around the general area.

Though the Grimm Wyvern was still alive, shaking its head a little, it looked up and let loose an incredible bellow of rage. Though as Qrow looked down from above it, he could see why the Grimm had fallen, its right red leather wing had a massive hole in the middle of it.

Qrow watched as black goo seemed to fall from its body and Grimm started to emerge from the dark puddles. Something else caught his eye, there were even more objects moving towards it on the ground, Qrow dove.

As he extended his wings to slow and pull up from the descent, as he got near the first one he noticed it was a massive mechanical walking machine. Though unlike the purple and gold one that he had seen watching the students this one was much bigger and taller, and looked even more deadly.

The lead one was cobalt blue, roughly twelve meters tall with a wide armored plated back, on the left shoulder plate was a white horse head, on the right was a checkered pattern plate with a gold trim. In the center facing forward was the golden Arc emblem against a white circular background on the blue plate.

On the right arm, where the elbow would be was a large single barreled cannon with a blast shield between the barrel and cradle of the weapon. On its left arm at the joint was a long cobalt blue metal instrument. As Qrow flew over he saw that the edges were serrated teeth, it looked a lot like the chainsaw that the big guy that Qrow had fought on the train had.

Much to Qrow's surprise it really was a chainsaw, a massive Ursa Major almost the size of an Atlesian Paladin had charged the machine from the right. It pivoted on its waist swinging its left apparatus with the motion of its turn. Qrow watched as with edge came into contact with the Grimm's arm and chewed through it until it was burying itself into the creature's chest. There were four more similar armored walkers that seemed to be surrounding the Grimm Wyvern and the spawning smaller Grimm.

The second one that Qrow spotted was built in a similar fashion to the first one. However this one was painted red for its main body. Its pauldron were black with blue trims that had the golden emblem of the Arcs on the right with a white horse head on its left. The other difference was the fact that it had a vertical dual barreled weapon for its right arm unlike its counterpart. Across from them were three different machines.

The lead machine was a bright red and silver colored machine, the Arc emblem against a white background was painted on its right pauldron and its left pauldron was red with a black horse head.

Unlike the first two walkers this one had no visible long range weapons other than a back mounted external launcher of some kind.

While it had the similar kind of weapon for its left arm; the right arm was an armored hand. Qrow could see that an additional strip of metal had been wielded onto its robotic knuckles; blue energy seemed to dance on the surface.

Behind it a lumbering machine that strode forth through the trampled trees. Whereas the lead machine that stomped through the trees seemed to be geared for close range combat primarily. This one was equipped with nothing but pure firepower.

It's body was painted dark red and with dark blue for it pauldrons with a golden trim, a white horse head visible in the weakened light of dawn on its left pauldron and the golden crests of the Arc emblem opposite.

In its right arm was as similar vertical dual barreled weapon, and its left arm was a six barreled rotary weapon. On its back was a mounted dual barreled weapon of some sort, Qrow watched as several Griffins born by the black miasma of the Grimm Wyvern, dived towards the machines.

The weapon on the back swirled and started to track the Griffins for a second before simultaneously started to fire, Qrow recognized the distinct roar of auto cannon fire from his time with the Arcs. He watched as the mounted guns tracked and slaughtered the Griffins, shells arced into the skies. Qrow was careful enough to avoid getting caught accidently in the guns line of sight. After a minute of thunderous fire the last of the Griffins fell apart as they plummeted to the forest floor dissolving.

Off to the side was a different machine, this one was slightly taller but smaller. Qrow swooped down for a closer look; it was colored red with a grey trim, the golden Arc emblem visible on the top pointing to the sky. On its right arm sat a strange looking device that resembled the frame of a tower shield.

Extending from the joint with six bronze metal strips forming a hallow spear point. Qrow could see that there was some sort of light or energy source within the spear head.

The machines longer frame and legs allowed it to weave in between the other two machines. Qrow thought it looked silly and like unnecessary work. However the more he looked at it, the more it felt as if the machine was impatient.

The sound of cannon fire interrupted his musing and Qrow circled around to see that the other two machines had started to engage the lesser Grimm surrounding the Wyvern, in a small clearing made by the rocket strike earlier.

The cobalt machine fired a cannon round at the chest of another Ursa that tried getting close to it. With a speed that Qrow didn't think possible for a machine its size, it turned immediately around swinging its chain weapon at a trio of Beowolves that had tried to jump on its back.

The shrieking of a chain weapon could be heard as well as the howl of Beowolves in pain, the bisected bodies of the Grimm fell to the floor.

The moment its back was turned several more Beowolves charged at it, but before they even jumped from the ground a searing beam of energy slammed amongst them. The resulting explosion sent them flying into the trees with bone crushing force.

The sister machine had stepped in to cover the other machine's back as it cut down more Ursa with each swing of its chain weapon.

Ahead of them, trees splintered apart as two Deathstalkers came charging, the red machine turned to face them. Weapon still aglow from being fired it turned and tracked the lead Deathstalker, another searing lance of energy shot out from the weapon.

The first Deathstalker moved its left pincer in front of its face, the lance of energy hit, the smell of burnt meat with plastic wafted in the air as Qrow watched the Deathstalker flay about in pain. Its pincer nothing but a molten stump and the bone white armor of its back scorched and blistered from the heat. The eyes on the left side of its face were fused together by the intense heat of the blast.

The second Deathstalker closed in on the Machine swinging its own pincer; sparks flew as the machine met the pincer with its chain weapon. Though the weapon was unable to beat the pincer, the strength of the machine and durability was able to lock the Deathstalker in place.

The second pincer lashed out and gripped the red hot barrels of the machine weapon. Qrow could see that the Deathstalker was attempting to force or rip the weapon off the machine. The machine had other ideas and kept slowly training the barrels towards it, however the Deathstalker raised its stinger and lashed out with it.

Qrow could see that the stinger punch in between the pauldron and the main body of the machine, pulling it back it repeatedly struck at it. The third pull back was its last as the first machine had come back around and fired its cannon; the red hot shell hit the stinger square on. It disappeared in a cloud of bone fragments and smoke.

Another shot slammed into the unprotected arm of the Deathstalker, the portion of the arm vanished in a cloud of meat and smoke. The stump of the arm attached to the body was a mess of torn meat and bone, flopping around.

The second Deathstalker chose that moment to attack; with its remaining pincer it locked the chain weapon in place. Its stinger rose up and jammed down into the machine's back, leaving a foot wide hole in its back. Qrow could see sparks and what he assumed was hydraulic fluid of some sort leak out of the hole.

The machine however wasn't going to go down without putting up a fight. Twisting its body on its waist, Qrow could hear the sound of motors and metal straining to move as the Deathstalker tried holding it in place as it struck again at it.

As the stinger repeatedly hit the hole, the machine was just barely able to turn its gun inward and fire. The shell smashed into the face of the Deathstalker, and charred hole could be seen where its face once was.. The Grimm's grip on the machine's arm went slack.

Qrow watched as the machine shrugged off the Grimm and turned to its comrade, firing once more into the unprotected underside of the Grimm. The shell tore through the black flesh and an exploded inside the creature. The bone shell on top came apart from the inside, showering its comrade in shredded flesh and bone fragments.

The two machines seemed to survey their work, but it was short lived, as Qrow turned to see flashes of fighting in the distance where the other three machines had been. As he flew over he realized what the machines were trying to finish off the Grimm Wyvern.

The Wyvern roared as a cluster of rockets soared towards it, for a second its head disappeared in a cloud of smoke before it was dispelled by a simple shake. The long range based machine was standing in the back steadily pumping out shells with its cannon at the Grimm.

The bright streaks of shells indicating its rough position, auto cannon shells would occasionally streak through the sky to fell any lesser Grimm above them.

Ahead of it was the lead machine from before battering aside lesser Grimm with its fist that crackled with blue energy. Each strike seemed to release energy that must have been stored in the metal fist. Qrow watched as the machine gripped the lower jaw of a King Taijitu that was as thick as a car and pulled, ripping the jaw out of the snake.

As it flayed around in pain, the machine stepped forward swinging its chain weapon down. The spinning serrated blade came into contact with the scaled skin of the Grimm, the sheer force of the strike was enough to embed the weapon a third of the way into the snake. Qrow watched as the chain weapon slowly but surely sunk deeper and erupted in a shower of gore as the weapon cut the snake in half.

Running past it at an incredible speed considering its size was the long legged machine. It had its tower shield frame held up and Qrow could see that in-between the metal frames was a strange translucent film. It ran straight into another Deathstalker who struck at it with its stinger.

Qrow watched as the stinger struck the translucent surface and bounced off, at the same moment, the machine lunged forward with its spear weapon slipping over its pincer, but it stopped short of reaching the Deathstalker. What happened next had genuinely surprised Qrow.

For a second he saw that the hallow spear point shone brightly on the inside and suddenly a massive explosion flashed in his vision and a gaping hole was in the place of the Deathstalkers face, the burnt edges of the hole looked indicated that it was hit with some sort of high temperature energy weapon.

The Deathstalker went slack, and the machines pressed on towards the Wyvern. Soon all five were converging on it as it roared and lashed out. Qrow watched as the machines seemed to dance around the Grimm barely staying out of its jaws or tail as they peppered it with energy bolts or shellfire.

However all it took was one mistake, the cobalt machine stepped to the side as the Wyvern slammed its tail down in an effort to crush it. Another Deathstalker came crashing through the trees behind it, unable to turn in time the Deathstalker slammed into it from behind, striking with everything it's got.

One pincer grabbed the joint of the cannon that was attached at its elbow and jabbed at it with its stinger, the luminescent stinger smashed down on it hitting the joint, disabling the gun. The Deathstalker reached up with its other pincer and started to bash the back of the machine denting the armor.

The close combat machine came to the rescues by slamming its energized fist down. The machines punch left a hole caved inwards on the head of the Deathstalker, Qrow could see the area around the wound had bubbled and cracked from the energy as well.

The Grimm Wyvern took this time to move, though not to engage the machines but it started to make its way back to Beacon.

In an effort to slow it down or kill it, the second machine had started to run alongside it, the barrel of its weapon was red from the heat of firing. Qrow watched as the barrel glowed again as energy was built up inside and fired at the Wyvern.

The blast scorched a spot at the base of its neck; with a roar of anger the Wyvern turned and charged the machine. The machine tried to move out of the way at the last second but the Grimm was ready, with surprising speed it grasped the machine by the arm and pulled it up. The sheer unsupported weight caused the arm to rip off.

Falling back down with its energy weapon gone, it could do nothing but await its faith as the Wyvern snatched it up once more with its jaw by the waist. Qrow watched as it crunched down severing the machine at the waist and flinging its legs away.

It continued to stomp forward, the support machine still trailed behind it firing its weapons, with the long legged machine off to the side as well trying to close in on the Wyvern. However after seeing what it had done to its comrade it wasn't keen on closing in at the wrong moment.

However the Grimm was closing in on Beacon once more, options were limited and Qrow reckoned that the machines were going to have to take a very large risk.

Supported by the close combat specialist machine and the cobalt machine, whose cannon was functionally disabled, they charged the Wyvern. Turning to meet the machines charge, the Wyvern turned whipping its tail around to smash the long legged machine.

Raising its shield the tail smashed into the long legged machine and sent it stumbling back to crash amongst some trees and rocks. The close combat machine closed in the gap, heading underneath the tail and smashed its energized gauntlet into the leg of the Grimm. Howling in rage the Wyvern smashed the machine aside with its leg.

Qrow could see that its armor was buckled and sparks were emitting from cracks and torn sections of the armored plating, the machine jerked in place as it tried to stand up. The Grimm raised its foot to finish off the machine, a series of shells came streaking at the Grimm's face, exploding but distracting it enough that it didn't crush the machine.

The long legged machine came charging back in; its shield arm fizzled and pop, the metal frame was charred and torn up. Qrow assumed that taking the hit with the shield saved the machine but at the cost of its shield functionality.

Thrusting its spear skywards at the neck of the Grimm, Qrow watched as a bolt of energy shot out and stuck the Grimm. He could see the spot where it hit fizzle and ooze from the heat slightly, but it petered out. It lowered its head and with a lunge the Grimm smashed its head against the machine and sent it sprawling into the distance nearly a hundred meters away from where it stood.

Qrow flew over the machine and could see that half of its torso was folded in, a bronze face plate starred up into the sky. He could see two green lights that emitted from the eye slits that slowly faded out. The Cobalt machine backed off at that, moving to meet up with the only other operating machine as it continued to fire shells at the Wyvern.

At this point however they must have known that there wasn't anything that they could do to stop it. Qrow turned his attention back to Beacon; the Wyvern continued to advance to the school. Qrow could see packs of Beowolves and Ursa, with the occasional Deathstalker and King Taijitu, Qrow moved with urgency, he needed to find his nieces.

Ozpin's Office…


Jaune crouched with his shield raised high, as he looked to the distance; he could see the Grimm Wyvern coming closer. The sound of fighting below had dimmed except for the occasional burst of bolter fire, he assumed that the warriors had won, defeating the Bloodletters and Grimm. However he knew that even they couldn't face the Wyvern as it got closer.

The occasional Avenger came screaming through the sky, firing rockets or auto cannon shells at the Grimm but nothing seemed to have any effect. Though the naval ship did have the firepower to go toe to toe with the thing but with the close proximity to the school it seemed the ship master didn't want to risk incurring friendly fire.

His father was still fighting the woman, however he was unable to properly defend or attack due to his glaive still being embedded in the wall behind the woman. The woman was doing her best to keep him from actually going to retrieve it.

Jaune winced as his father took a rock to the chest that was sent fly from another burst of fire, denting his armor a little. The sky overhead continued to swirl, lightning flashed, quickly followed by thunder, the wind brought with it the smell of fire and the sound of death.

Jaune looked down at Pyrrha, she was looking down at her ankle and Jaune could see the look of disgust she was giving it. No doubt she probably was loathing how helpless she was at the moment. All her life she's been a talented and mostly an independent woman but now with an arrow to the ankle she was just a damsel in distress, a hindrance.

There was a grunt of pain and Jaune twisted to see that Alexander had somehow punched the woman in the gut. Once more the look of shock and now the look of pain clouded her face before utter fury took over.

Alexander took that moment to dive past her but in the corner of his eye he could see that her short swords were forming in her hands again. As Alexander tucked into a roll and sprung to his feet he could hear the sound of metal rupturing accompanied by a flash of pain in his side.

Grasp the shaft of his glaive he pulled it out and turned around to see the woman smiling with one sword in hand. He looked down to his left and could see her other short sword sticking out of his side. Grasping the black hilt with a golden gauntlet he slowly pulled it out, the last few inches were slick with blood.

Toss aside the blade Alexander met the eyes of the woman, despite the smile on her face; he knew that she losing patience. A quick glance to the side and he could see the head of the Wyvern coming closer to Beacon as it crested the cliff sides.

He focused back on the woman as she lunged at him with her other sword, spinning his glaive. The blade smashed apart her sword and as he continued spinning it, the blunt side smashed into her side sending her sprawling. However she rolled on impact and came back to her feet, with a wave of her hand several ice shards formed in air.

Alexander cursed as with another wave of her hand; she sent them racing at him. He spun glaive around, smashing four of the icicles but the fifth slipped past. He stumbled back as it smashed into his breastplate, he could feel chips of ice hitting his face as it failed to penetrate, however sixth and seventh followed suit and knocked him onto his back.

The moment his back hit the floor, he immediately rolled to the side as more ice smashed against the floor he had just landed upon. As he got to his feet, he saw that she was on the move again; both of her swords were in hand as she closed in on him.

He spun his glaive and turned to face her, however instead of meeting him blade to blade, she slide on the cracked floor, her swords glowing and reassembling into a bow fully drawn. Alexander gritted his teeth as he felt the arrow smash into his helmet, sending him reeling.

He could feel the dented metal pushing into his cheek, gripping his helmet with one hand; he pulled it off and tossed it aside. The woman stood before him, bow still in hand starring him down. Alexander could not only see the large breathes that she was taking but hear them along with her heart beat as it thundered inside her chest.

"You've fought valiantly Alexander Arc, but this is where it ends." She spoke up suddenly, Alexander tilted his head slightly.

"That's not how I see it." She gave a breathless laugh.

"What you see is irrelevant, you're a toy soldier wound up but with no master." She said, walking slowly towards the edge of the tower. Alexander could see the muscles in her neck and legs tensing, ready to move at a moment's notice, so he couldn't take her by surprise.

"I'd rather be a tool of war with no master, then a blind fool corrupting my soul just for a little bit of power." She snorted at that response.

"Corruption? What do you know of corruption, Arc? The Kingdoms have grown fat off the backs of their people, the more the people suffer, the more they gain out of it."

"Is that what this is about? You've made pacts with infernal powers that you haven't the slightest clue about in some misguided noble attempt to bring justice? You're even more foolish then the White Fang."

"Please I care not for the struggles of those people, if they want to be weak and preyed upon, what right do I have to stop them? As for the White Fang, they're taking what they believe is rightfully theirs, you can't deny them that."

"I can and will deny them; killing and spreading terror in the name of equality and justice is the mark of a foolish brat." She looked over her shoulder briefly flashing an insincere smile.

"Oh I bet Adam would love to hear that, you two should meet sometime." Alexander snorted at that.

"That little shit doesn't know what he really wants, looks more like a love sick puppy mixed with a naïve fanatic." The woman laughed at that, the ground shook a little.

Turning around they could see that the Wyvern had finally reached the top of the cliffs. Jaune starred, his eyes wide in shock and fear, he honestly didn't know how they could fight that thing. Pyrrha grabbed his hand, and he could feel the slight tremor in it.

"We need to get out of here Pyrrha." Jaune said as he looked back at his father, it seemed that he was talking with the woman. He wasn't sure why, but whatever it is, it didn't matter to him, getting out of there alive came first.

"What about your father?" Pyrrha asked Jaune looked her in the eyes and shook his head before she could protest; he put a finger on her lips.

"Pyrrha, I know you wanna help but neither of us is going to be useful, you're the strongest fighter I know that's our age, and you got beaten quite badly, plus Akoúo is missing and Miló is destroyed. We're only going to get in the way." Jaune said Pyrrha screwed her eyes shut as she gritted her teeth and looked away.

"I trust you Jaune, I'm sorry." He nodded; Alexander smiled softly as he heard his son's conversation with his partner. The woman turned to face him, her eyes were glowing once more and fire seemed to engulf her hands, though she showed no signs of discomfort.

"Time is running short Arc, and I have things to do, so while you die here serving a master that no longer exist, I work with the powers that will last forever." Alexander said nothing as he gripped his glaive with both hands.

"Say what you like woman, even if I die here, I die knowing that I served someone out of my own free will than a pathetic little girl who willingly becomes a slave." The woman's eyes flashed with rage, and with a wordless scream she exploded with fire.

Alexander jammed the blunt end of his glaive into the ground to keep from being pushed back by the sudden force of wind. Looking up he could see that the woman was rising off her feet; lightning flashed in the sky and in the distance the Grimm Wyvern gave a diaphragm shaking roar.

With a wave of her hand, black glass shards a meter long formed in the air, with a second wave she sent it flying towards him. He could see her forming another set of short swords, though this time they were coated in flames.

Spinning his glaive he smashed the first few shards out of the air before stepping out of their path, and brought his blade down to meet the first strike of her sword. He pushed the blade away and spun his glaive, smashing the blunt end of her glaive against her forearm, spinning her around. She moved with the momentum and swung her weapon again.

He brought his glaive point down intercepting it, she swung her other weapon, pain flashed from his gauntlet and he looked at his hand to see the tip of a sickle in his hand. With a snarl Alexander forced his hand out and spun the glaive around, knocking her left sword aside with the blade and spinning it around overhead and brought the blade down.

The woman barely managed to bring the sickle up to meet the blade, barely an inch away from her shoulder. He kicked her square in the chest, sending her skidding back on her feet, flames emerged from her palms and she threw them at Alexander who was closing in on her.

He rolled under the first and as he got his feet, and jumped to the side as the second one came streaking at him. The woman amber eyes burst into flames more fires emerged to cover her arms, she jumped at Alexander.

Turning to face her Alexander brought his glaive up ready to defend. His eyes widened as he saw there in her right hand, a long glass spear, and her left a bow. She hurled the spear and quickly brought up her bow nock an arrow and letting it loose, following it up with another arrow as quick as she could before charging him once more with twin short swords.

Alexander stepped aside as the spear got close, and slashed downwards with his glaive shattering the first arrow. However the second arrow slammed into his chest and he could feel the tip poking at his chest again, he reached up to break the arrow but brought the shaft of his glaive to meet the first strike of the woman.

She brought her second sword up but Alexander could move his glaive to meet it, so instead he stepped inside her reach, the tip of the glancing off his armor. She looked up at him, a wicked smile across her face.

"This is where you lose Alexander Arc." He immediately felt an incredibly hot object reach for the torn part of his armor. He realized that it was her hand, she pushed forward into the torn armor and he could feel his armor start to bend from the heat. The tip of her fingers reached the stab wound from before and he could hear the hiss along with the flash of pain as she pushed her fingers into the wound, the smell of burning meat filled his nostrils.

With a yell of fury, he punched her in the face with his free hand, and she flew back hitting a slab of concrete. She looked up at him, and Alexander could see blood on the corner of her mouth and a gash on her cheek. She looked blankly at him, the tower shook, switching his gaze to the outside he saw the Grimm Wyvern in the academy grounds closing in on them.

He looked back at the woman in time to see her lunging at him, a flaming blade raised and only a few inches away. He raised his hands and caught the blade stopping it short; he could feel it slowly cutting into his gauntlets. She smiled wickedly and raised her other hand, a fireball sitting in her palm.

"Goodbye Alexander Arc." She said before she slammed her palm down into his chest.

Jaune watched as his father was engulfed in another explosion like Gordon, only this time the armored form of his father was sent flying into the wall next to them.

Alexander slumped to the floor, his once brilliant golden breastplate was all but tarnished as a hole appeared there and the edges were aglow from the intense heat. Beneath it, Jaune could see the charred meat and bone of his father's chest. The smell of burnt meat invaded his nostrils.

Looking farther up, Jaune cold feel his blood run cold, the bottom half of Alexander's face was marred by burns. His lips were gone revealing blood stained teeth, his cheeks were but gone, a few sinews of burnt tendons, his eyes were closed and Jaune feared the worst. However he could see that his father's chest was rising and falling slightly, he was still alive.

Jaune slide his shield off and placed it in Pyrrha's hands, before she could get a word off, Jaune had taken Crocea Mors in both of his hands as he ran to his father's side.

"Jaune…" Alexander slurred from his ruined mouth, panic evident in his wide eyes. Jaune wasn't focusing on that, he was being delirious from the pain. The tower shook as something heavy latched onto, causing Jaune to stumble a little, the Grimm Wyvern must be scaling the tower now.

He was less than a dozen feet away from his father when logic took hold, and the question of what about the woman popped up. He turned just in time to see a glass shard flying at him, the shard shattered against his breastplate and aura. Immediately he noticed that instead of fading away as normal, the white outline of his aura started to crack and fall away, his aura was gone.

"Jaune! Run!" Pyrrha screamed at him, but before he could do anything a second glass shard smashed into his breastplate, it shattered again but crumpled the once white plate inwards painfully. A third one wasn't far behind, breaking through the plate and impaling Jaune in the chest.

He fell onto his back, a wave of pain like he'd never experience forming in his chest. He gritted his teeth and took deep breaths to keep from yelling in pain, he could vaguely hear Pyrrha calling out to him. The tower continued to shake and a deep rumbling that sort of reminded him of the Chimeras they had ridden in Leflore popped up in his mind.

He raised a shaking hand in front of his face, it was covered in blood, and it took a second for him to realize it was his. The tower continued to shake and suddenly a new presence was there with them, looking up Jaune could see the blood red eyes of the Wyvern looking down at them.

The woman walked forward, her hair was a mess and there blood flowed down her cheek. Her clothes were dirtied and rumpled, but she didn't care, she had won in the name of her master and her goals.

Not only had she initiated the downfall of Beacon, she also had taken the Maiden powers, killing Ozpin in the process. Released the Ancient Wyvern, but now she had Alexander Arc and his son before her, she materialized her bow once more.

Pyrrha watched as the woman stood over the body of Alexander Arc as he wheezed slowly; he looked up at her as she drew an arrow and fired it into his exposed chest. Pyrrha winced as the wheezing from Alexander grew louder and more ragged. The woman smiled and drew another arrow, and took careful aim.

"Any last words?" She mocked as she smiled wickedly at him; Alexander said nothing but raised his right hand. A hole visible from the wound he had taken earlier, and gave her a one finger salute.

"That's no way to speak to a lady." She cooed before firing the arrow into Alexander's throat. Pyrrha watched as Alexander's eye bulged, not in pain or fear but regret. He looked over at Jaune who was starting to turn deathly pale as blood started to pool around him. Pyrrha could feel tears stinging at her eyes as she tried to crawl to his fallen form.

"Jaune…Jaune please wake up!" Pyrrha cried out, fire raced up her leg as she got close to Jaune, tossing aside the shield she couldn't think of what to do. She placed her hand above his mouth, she could feel a shallow breath, she sighed a little, and he's still alive for now.

"Well Champion, it seems that you've failed even more." The cold voice of the woman said above her, Pyrrha looked up and could see the glee that danced across her eyes.

"No words? That's fine; I won't take up much more of your short time." However she didn't get far as the sound of wings could be heard. Pyrrha looked behind her as a woman with large white wings crested in view with a small girl dressed in red and black.

Pyrrha starred at amazement as she realized that the woman was Sanian, she seemed to glow incredibly bright. Sanian frowned at the sight of Alexander's body, her grip on her sword tightened and electricity seemed to dance across the surface.

The Grimm Wyvern gave off a deep rumbled as it seemed to focus its attention on Sanian. Sanian stepped forward energy seemed to bleed off in the form of lightning, scorching the floor around her. Pyrrha shivered as the feeling of violence seemed to emit from the normally sweet and caring woman.

Ruby transformed Crescent Rose and held it at the ready as she starred down the woman; she was the one that caused this mess. All of her friends were getting hurt; the innocent people of Vale were suffering and Penny death. However it took a second to realize that there was something lying at the woman's feet, her heart froze in fear.

"Jaune…" A gentle whisper came from Ruby as she stared at the unconscious form of Jaune as he lay on the floor in his own blood. She looked up from him and could see Pyrrha sitting next to him, an arrow sticking out of her ankle.

In the back the slumped form of Alexander Arc, burned, beaten with a very visible arrow sticking out of his throat and chest, it was too much, far too much.

Pyrrha watched as tears started to stream down Ruby's face and the next thing she knew was a brilliant flash of white light seemed too exploded from her eyes. The woman that stood over her had cried out in outrage, and then there was nothing.

3 Days Later…


The first thing she noticed was pain, every part of her body hurt, especially her ankle, giving off a dull beat in time with her heartbeat. The next thing was sound; there was the steady sound of a heart monitor off to her right and the dull chatter of distant conversation.

She felt something heavy on the bed with her, flickering her eyes open slightly, the soft glow of artificial light stung Pyrrha's eyes. As her eyes adjusted to the light, she saw the pale white of synthetic tiles on the ceiling with fluorescent lighting every two tiles. Turning her head slowly to her right she saw the orange hair of Nora Valkyrie.

The girl was soundly asleep on Pyrrha's bed; a soft smile seemed to be on her face as she mumbled something about syrup and Ren. Pyrrha couldn't help but smile a little and with a struggle lifted her hand, placing it on the bubbly girls head. Nora stirred slightly but didn't wake up, someone coughed, Pyrrha turned her head to the direction of the sound, and Ren sat in the corner, a book in his lap with a smile on his face.

"It's good to see that you're better Pyrrha." He said gently, and Pyrrha tried to smile.

"Feels like the morning after Leflore all over again." Ren's face turned a bit more neutral at that.

"I'm sorry Ren; I didn't mean to be so depressing already." He shook his head.

"That's fine Pyrrha; it's good to keep a more sound, logical mind about what's happened." Pyrrha looked up at the lights; she frowned and closed her eyes, doing her best to recall the events of that night. However all she could see was a pair of cold uncaring amber eyes. The beeping from the heart monitor started to increase and Pyrrha could feel her chest start to constrict.

After taking a moment to start inhaling and exhaling at a long and steady pace she was able to calm herself but she could still feel the pinpricks of sweat on her body. She felt a cool hand on her forearm, looking down she could see Nora watching her with undisguised worry written on her face.

"Pyrrha?" Nora asked as she sat up, joy bubbled up on her face and the young hammer wielder pulled Pyrrha forward into a hug.

"Hello Nora." Pyrrha said evenly.

"Pyrrha!" She yelled and started squeezing the young Champion in a tight hug, much to Pyrrha's dismay. Though Ren placed a hand on his partner's shoulder signaling for her to stop crushing Pyrrha.

"I'm sorry, I just got really excited to see you awake." Nora said sheepishly, and Pyrrha couldn't help but laugh a little, a pleasant smile spread across her face. Pyrrha felt like it's been forever since the last time she was able to smile freely like that. However it was short lived as her mind filtered back in the events that she had seen.

"Ren?" The stoic gunman looked down at her, an eyebrow raised questioningly.

"What happened?" Pyrrha asked meeting his magenta eyes; she could see that they were slightly bloodshot, most likely from a lack of sleep. Ren traded looks with Nora, the shorter girl nodded at him before turning to Pyrrha, a smile wide on her face again.

"I'm going to go and get some food for you Pyrrha, and let the charge nurse know you're awake." Pyrrha nodded back, though internally she was dreading what may come. She's spent a long time mastering fake smiles, and the one that Nora had plastered on her face scared her.

Nora stood up and turned to leave the room, giving Ren one last look before closing the door behind her. Leaving only Pyrrha and Ren in the room, neither of them said anything; the only noticeable sound was the steady beat of the heart monitor still attached to Pyrrha.

Ren took Nora's seat and ran a hand through his hair as he took a deep breath. Pyrrha tilted her head a little as she watched him, it wasn't often that Ren displayed emotions so openly, except when something extremely serious was happening.

So Ren filled Pyrrha in on the fighting that happened after she and Jaune went with Ozpin, about how a purple machine in the service of the Arcs came to their rescue as the Beacon defenders were on their last legs. He told her how Jaune had literally fallen from the sky out of a locker that had soared through the air; she flinched at that knowing she was the one to put him in it.

He went on to talk about how things sort of settled down for them as the purple machine had taken over the brunt of defending. Pyrrha listened intently as Ren described watching the armored warriors come sweeping through the school

He also spoke about how before the tower went fully offline that they could watch her aura slowly fall to nothing; she couldn't meet his eyes at that point. The memories of the fight she had still were fresh in her mind. Knowing that her friends had watched from a far distance as she slowly started to lose was unbearable to think of.

Soon he got to the point of watching the Grimm Wyvern fall from the sky into Forever Fall forest, followed by the arrival of the Arcadian army to take them back to Vale as they fought for control of the school.

"Wait, how did the Wyvern fall? Did the Arcs do something?" Pyrrha asked, in the lull of Ren's recapping.

"I think so but I'm not really sure, the best word I was able to get from some of the soldiers was that they dispatched a naval ship to help Vale and it fought it to a standstill. Though it did supposedly suffer a decent amount of damage itself when it fought the Grimm Wyvern and now it apparently is stationed somewhere over Vale as the base of operations for the reinforcing Arcadian forces." Pyrrha nodded slightly at that, she's not surprised to hear that the Arcs have taken the mantle of responsibility of watching Vale in its time of need.

"Wait, what about Atlas? What does General Ironwood have to say about all of this?" Ren shook his head at that question.

"General Ironwood has his hands full with the decimation of his fleet; only two ships made it out intact, four were destroyed with another mostly crippled by the fighting, along with problem that happened with the Atlas Robots, there have been a number of riots that have broken out over that." Pyrrha frowned, even after the fighting it seemed things weren't going to cool down anytime soon.

"If you don't mind me asking Pyrrha, there's one bit of information that I'm unclear about." Pyrrha raised an eyebrow at that, and looked at the stoic gunman.

"Ask away Ren, I'll try to answer to the best of my ability." A frown took over his face once more, not something that they saw very often on him.

"Pyrrha…what happened at the tower, what was the last thing you remember?" Ren finally asked as he leaned over, elbows on his knees as he starred at Pyrrha. She took a deep breath, once more closing her eyes and thought back to that night.

"Well after I was beaten, the woman who attacked me was about to finish me off when Alexander came to my rescue, the woman turned her complete attention to him and before I knew it they were fighting. If it wasn't for the fact that I may have died at any second, watching Alexander fight was exhilarating, the way he spun his glaive around using both ends continuously to fight with, each strike that was blocked or missed he'd use the momentum to carry over and fight. However she soon got the edge over him, and hit him with a fireball, Jaune who had ridden another locker was by my side the entire time shielding me as he watched his father die, I saw Alexander get hit badly and Jaune tried to go to him but she attack him as well, impaling him with one of her attacks after putting an arrow into Alexander to finish him off. Then Sanian who was glowing brightly with white wings came in with Ruby, and the last thing I remember was an explosion of light and well here I am." Ren listened intently to this, and Pyrrha went quiet as she thought about it. In a flash it struck her as she remember something very important.

"Ren?! What happened to Jaune? Is he alright? Where is he?" Pyrrha asked panic once more flooding her system, the steady beep of the heart machine started to pick up with her.

Nora and a petite woman wearing a white robe that went down to her knees over white pants and black boots. Red buttons went down to her waist until they opened up. Red thread lined the cuffs and collar of the robe, the Arc symbol shone brightly on her right breast.

"Hello Ms. Nikos, it's nice to see you awake, my name is Joyce, and I'll be attending you for now." The woman said but Pyrrha couldn't say anything as she starred at her face, specifically her right eye and temple.

Instead of a normal organic eye Pyrrha saw that it was the lens of a bionic eye, the red light of the bionic was unyielding, a simple shutter closed in from the edges almost as if it was focusing in on her.

"Is something a matter Ms. Nikos?" The woman asked again a smile touching her lips out of amusement; she knew what Pyrrha was looking at.

"Ah, no it's nothing, I'm sorry." The woman laughed as she saw the hint of red touching Pyrrha's cheeks.

"It's alright Ms. Nikos, as far as I understand, there isn't a lot of people who see bionics like this in the Four Kingdoms." The woman said gesturing to her eye as she wrote down something on a clipboard after looking at the machinery that Pyrrha was hooked up too.

"If you don't mind me asking Nurse Joyce, but how did it…happen?" Pyrrha asked tentatively, the nurse just smiled as she put away her pen. She leaned over Pyrrha's leg and removed the sheets to take a look at her bandage ankle.

"It's alright to ask, I don't mind talking about it now, now let me think…it was about four, maybe five years ago, I was attached to an infantry battalion that was sent to a small town called Shiloh, there was a Grimm horde that had managed to break through and the army battalion was tasked with saving them but they took a number of losses themselves. So on a search and rescue sweep with my sisters that were attached to a squad of soldiers we went looking either for wounded soldiers or civilians. However a pack of Beowolves ambushed us and I was unfortunate enough to be at the edge of a claw that took out my eye, my sisters were able to stop the bleeding and I was sent home for augmentics and now I have a brand new eye, that you see here today, anyways I'm done with your check up, you seem to be fine, your aura is replenishing at a faster rate, so you'll be discharged probably later today, any questions?" Pyrrha looked down as she clenched the sheets of the bed as the nurse turned to leave, Ren and Nora stood in the corner of the room silent.

"Actually Nurse Joyce, when I was admitted to here, there should have been another person with me, Jaune Arc, do you know what happened to him?" The nurse turned around, a neutral expression had settled on her once friendly face to the point her real eye looked more artificial than the bionic.

"Mr. Arc is currently unresponsive and is being taken care of for the time being here, however it has been decided that for the time being Mr. Arc will be transferred back to Arcadia for monitoring." Pyrrha felt her heart drop to her stomach, and everything started to swim, the stinging sensation of tears pricked at her eyes. A warm arm slide around her shoulder, Nora brought Pyrrha closer until they were hugging.

At that point she couldn't hold it in any longer, tears started to stream down from her eyes and she cried softly into Nora's shoulder. Ren turned away from his teammate crying, he knew how she felt, when Nora and him were both informed of his state. Nora had immediately shut down, and Ren comforted her for the rest of that day as she kept saying over and over, how she could have helped them but failed.

Though Ren didn't suffer openly like the two of them had, it still hurt to know that Jaune might not wake up anytime soon, or ever for that matter. He opened the door to the room; the nurse following him out to give the two girls privacy, the nurse immediately went down the hall, but waiting outside was Lilly Arc.

She was wearing a simple black coat that hung open to reveal a white shirt underneath, though Ren could see the edge of a black handle sticking out slightly from under the coat. The white shirt was tucked into black military fatigues, which in turn were tucked into black polished shin high boots.

"Is she awake?" She asked, Ren simply nodded as Lilly sighed and ran a hand over her hair.

"Does she know?"

"Pyrrha knows what I know, and pretty much what everyone that isn't you knows." Ren said simply, Lilly placed a hand over her heart in mock indignation.

"Are you saying that I don't care for Jaune?"

"I never said anything like that, what you're thinking is what you believe to know but not necessarily true."

"There's a great many things I know that I do not share with you, and for good reasons too."

"Good for who exactly? Yourself? The Arcs? Arcadia?" Before Ren knew it Lilly was inches away from him with a thin blade aimed at his eye.

"I'd be careful Lie Ren, I've had a long day and had to say goodbye to a very dear friend, so just because you're Jaunes doesn't mean I will go easy on you if you fucking piss me off. But go ahead, you can ride and prance that so called high horse of morality all you want but what I do is not just for the good of my people but for everyone else as well, Alexander Arc shared knowledge and information with your leaders and look where that lead to. Thousands are dead, your school is in ruins, and there is still Grimm loose in the city, along with Daemons that are slaughtering anyone in their path before we're able to stop them. That's not evening going into the casualties that Arcadia has suffered in trying to not only stop the bleeding but clear out the infection as well in your lands, and to top it all off Alexander is dead and his only son could be on his way as well. So excuse me, if I don't feel like playing along with your bullshit." She stepped away and tucked the blade into a sheath before sliding it into the waist band of her pants. Ren said nothing as she walked away; he was left standing in the empty hallway listening to the steady clack of Lilly's boots echo.

1 Day Later…


Pyrrha limped out of the hospital, it was situated in downtown Vale, and as she looked around she took in the damage that was wrought on the city. Here and there she could see walls of stores and buildings that were riddled with bullet marks or blood.

Arcadian soldiers surprisingly enough were helping the people of Vale clean up as well, despite what's happened to the city the mood was a lot more pleasant than what she thought it might be.

Looking back up at the hospital, Pyrrha focused on the top floor, which was where Jaune was being kept. She had gone up there to see him but when she had gotten off the elevator; she was greeted by a trio of warriors from the Sisterhood. She was promptly turned away by the warriors who stated only verified Arcadian personnel were allowed past that point.

With a heavy sigh she walked up the street, she was given directions by Joyce on where the Beacon staff and students were staying at, which was uptown.

"Whoa…that's Pyrrha Nikos." A voice said off to the side, and Pyrrha looked from the corner of her eye to see a group of men and women looking at her. Before she knew it, she was surrounded by people congratulating her and thanking her for her hard work. She just stared confused at all of them, they looked so happy and thankful but she didn't know why.

"Alright let's break it up now, you're obstructing the streets!" A male's voice called out and the people surrounding Pyrrha started to disperse. Though the general murmur of excitement was still in the air, she looked around to see who called out and saw a soldier in full combat gear was waving at her.

He was dressed in the standard battle dress for Arcadian infantry, a black matte hard shell armor plate that covered almost his entire torso with pauldrons extending out. On his arms were black elbow guards and from there a black hard shell forearm guards extending down to the top of the hands.

Black webbing lined the soldier's waist with a black cross draw vest on top filled with whatever gear that Arcadia gave their soldiers. Strapped to his right thigh was a holster for his side arm and a covering his knees and shins was a black hard shell shin guard.

Pyrrha smiled politely at the soldier, though she couldn't see their face, the black tinted visor of the full face helmet obscured the features. The soldier reached up and pulled the helmet off, and revealing that it was actually Brin Arc, Pyrrha's smiled turned genuine.

"Hello Brin, it's a pleasure to see you again." She called out, stepping towards him.

"Hello Pyrrha, I'm glad to see you're out of the hospital now." He said as she got closer to him, Pyrrha nodded slightly.

"Yes, I was just discharged a little earlier, I tried seeing Jaune but the Sisterhood turned me away." Pyrrha said with a slight frown, Brin nodded with a more neutral expression and looked to the sky.

"Can't really say or do much for you there Pyrrha, I don't have any jurisdiction to command the Sisterhood unless they're specifically placed in my chain of command or piggybacking on a mission with me." Brin said as the two continued walking up the street, the occasional person would cheer for Pyrrha upon recognizing her.

Apparently her normal attire needed repairs also, so Nora had dropped off sneakers, blue jeans, a black shirt and an oversized flannel. Though Pyrrha had smiled upon recognizing that it was one of Jaune's flannels, she could still imagine the warmth it would have if he had just worn it.

"Say Brin, would it be out of question if I asked Sanian or Lilly if I can go back to Arcadia with them since they want to take Jaune back there?" Brin quirked his head slightly at that question and made a gentle hum as he thought about it.

"Maybe but I'd go to Sanian first if you wanna have a chance of going, I think Lilly is a bit frustrated with the Four Kingdoms at the moment."

"Why?"

"Ah well it seems that she's blaming them for not taking heed of Alexander's experience and information and pushing us aside so that they can take the glory of it, what that means I'm not sure, but I can't blame her for being upset about the death of Alexander, he was a good leader and a better man than we could have ever hoped for in this world." Pyrrha stayed silent, she wasn't sure what to say to that, ultimately it wasn't her place to say anything about Alexander Arc.

Neither of them spoke as Brin walked with Pyrrha, though occasionally he would be stopped by a soldier or would stop a soldier himself and have a quiet conversation with them. Pyrrha didn't say anything but it was a bit refreshing not to be swarmed by the soldiers like she would with other people from the Kingdoms.

Which brought up the question of why it seems that people were more enthusiastic about seeing her? She had asked Brin that question but he just shrugged, that sort of thing wasn't his concern.

"Pyrrha!? Is that you?" A male's voice asked from behind, and Pyrrha turned to Blake and Sun walking together, both of them looked shocked to see her.

"Hello Sun, hello Blake, nice to see you two again." Pyrrha said sheepishly soon the three teens were talking, well mostly Sun was talking and Pyrrha answered while Blake just stood there. Brin took that as the time to leave and turned to see a man standing at the corner of the street looking at him.

Brin bid his farewells to the teens and walked across the street, the red eye man nodded at him and soon they both fell into step with each other.

"Is there something you need Mr. Branwen?" The man held up his hands a small smile of satisfaction at the slight tone of exasperation in Brin's voice.

"Please call me Qrow, Mr. Branwen was my father, and I thought we could have a nice little chat."

"Then say what you have on your mind Huntsman, I have things to do."

"Fine, my first question is to know what the overall plan is for the Arcs here. Is this gonna become some Military occupation for the safety of the civilians or some other bullshit?" Brin snorted at that.

"Please, we're just here to clean up the mess, after the Army Battalion commanders and the Sisterhood give the all clear, we're gonna pull out."

"What about the Wyvern, you've got Beacon sealed off and we can hear the fighting." Qrow asked as they turned a corner and stood in front of a tall building that was housing the displaced Beacon staff and students. Qrow could see Oobleck and Port standing outside of the main entrance chatting with each other, though their weapons were close at hand.

"The Sisterhood is dealing with that." Qrow sneered slightly.

"That's all you're gonna tell me? That the Sisterhood is dealing with that?"

"What do you want me to say? The fucking Wyvern is drawing more and more Grimm to it, so yes, the Sisterhood is dealing with it, and Sanian is more than capable of dealing with it." Brin snapped at Qrow, he slipped his helmet back over his head, all Qrow could see was his own reflection in the helmet's visor. There was a small crackle of a radio being turned on from inside the helmet and Brin's voice came out.

"Some parting advice for you Qrow, if the Enemy find out about Ruby's powers, she's going to be in danger, more so than you can ever prepare for." With those final words Brin left Qrow standing there as he contemplated his words.

1 Week Later…


Pyrrha woke with a startled gasp, sweet coated her body and feeling the damp mattress underneath her, she's been sweating for a while. She slowed her breathing and slowly looked around the room; it was still dark outside, though the occasional soft boom of munitions could be heard in the distance like thunder.

At this point no one really paid attention to the sound of warfare. They've heard reports from passing army units that Sanian Arc had finished her main task at Beacon with the Sisterhood and help of local Army Regiments. Though why they were still keeping the students and staff of Beacon out was up to interpretation.

Fox had said that the Arcadian forces were battling the lingering packs of Grimm and Daemons that had fled to the surrounding areas.

Glynda Goodwitch, now Headmistress of Beacon would occasionally stop by to talk with Pyrrha, it was interesting to talk with her. Thought Pyrrha felt it was just her way of trying to apologize for asking her to be their Fall Maiden and thus easing herself of some sort of guilt.

This brings up the nightmares that seem to be flooding her dreams now; sometimes she would be standing on a deserted road fighting three people.

Though she could never see their faces, every time she looked at their faces it was nothing but a distorted image, rendering it impossible to see who they were. The dream would always end with her on her knees and a woman who seemed so familiar standing over her with a white gloved hand held up in front of her face.

The other dream was one that she was all too familiar with. It was the night of the attack and she was in Ozpin's office atop of Beacon Tower. She had just finished fighting the woman once more, and just like in reality she lost to her once again, an arrow crippling her, Miló and Akoúo gone. However what was different about this scene was the fact that she wasn't the first one to go up there.

Pinned to the wall by his hands was Jaune, his armor was ruined and blood was leaking out of his mouth. He would always look up at Pyrrha, an unimaginable amount of blood would burst out of his mouth from a ragged coughing fit and he would plead to Pyrrha, asking her to put him out of his misery. His eyes would be ragged sockets of destroyed flesh, leaving trails of blood like tears down his cheeks.

She would always tear up and tell him to be strong, that she would free him and get him medical help so that they can be together. He would always smile at those words but the woman would smile as well and turn around, swiftly putting another arrow into him. Alas she never aimed for a vital spot, vying to keep him alive as long as possible.

Soon her words would have no effect in keeping his spirit up, and his face would turn from love and devotion to hatred. He would curse her with all his might, saying he rues the day that they ever met and regretting choosing her over Ruby. As he berates Pyrrha in a fit of anger and resentment, the woman would finish him off by putting an arrow through his chest.

She would then turn to look down at Pyrrha, a cruel smile on her lips as she readied another arrow at Pyrrha, and that was always the last thing she saw before waking up.

"Shit." Pyrrha whispered to herself, and threw her covers off her and silently plodded out the room that the remaining members of team JNPR were staying in. The hallway was only illuminated by a few sparse lights, even then they were turned down in case of any half sleepy occupants that may go into the hallways.

"Can't sleep?" A voice asked softly from behind and Pyrrha nearly yelled in surprise, she turned around to see Sanian Arc standing behind her a soft but tired smile on her face. Pyrrha could see the telltale signs of bags under her eyes. She wore a loose white shirt that was tucked into a pair of skinny jeans with a pair of slightly untied black military boots.

"Kind of, though it seems like you haven't been getting much sleep as well Sanian." Pyrrha replied, she just chuckled slightly and soon the two women were walking down the hall together.

"Well I've been busy leading my Sisters into battle against the Enemy, why should I, as the commander, be resting in a nice cot while my soldiers died?" Pyrrha didn't say anything but when Sanian didn't continue she realized that she was really asking a question.

"Oh, well as the commander, aren't you also needed to be in a proper shape to command them as a whole."

"But why can't the field commanders be able to coordinate with each other to effectively mount a proper defense or attack?"

"Well they have their own responsibilities to attend to, so they need to focus on the tinier details that are in front of them, not the ones that they can't see, and while it is important for on the field commanders to be able communicate with each other it would take more time away from the actually fight, which is where the overall commander can come into play, your job is to look at the big picture, the field commanders just need to make sure that they win the fight they're in now and the one that's gonna come directly after. Whereas the overall commander must think about the needs of their sub commanders several battles before they need it." Sanian smiled at as Pyrrha finished talking, the younger girl started to blush as she realized that she was being stared at.

"Am…am I wrong?" Pyrrha asked shyly, Sanian laughed once more.

"No, Pyrrha you gave me a good answer, anyways how are things going for you recently?" Pyrrha mulled it over for a second.

"Well it's been okay I guess, especially considering what happened, Vale seems to have gotten back to normal mostly, though I can still see the damages done in certain areas where it seemed the fighting was heaviest. I also try visiting Jaune whenever I can but I get turned away every time and you wouldn't happen to know why the public has a new interest in me no one else seems to know also or if they do, they won't tell me."

"Ah, well the thing about Jaune is just a precaution but I'll be expanding on that another time, as for the new attention, well that's mostly Ironwoods and the Vale Council's doing. They decided to use you are the reason that the Wyvern was defeated, Ruby's powers are something that need to be looked into, which I will do myself." Pyrrha's eyes opened in shock.

"Wait, they're using me as a publicity tool?" Pyrrha wasn't sure if she should be mad or not but Sanian place a hand on her shoulder.

"It's not really like that, think of it more as a symbol, you're already well known, along with that the people needed a hero or symbol to look up too so you were picked and for what it's worth I didn't want that to happen either. However you're helping the people of Vale cope with what's happened to them, if they were to become even more distraught, it would only serve to cripple them by drawing more Grimm. So I know you may not want it, but it's for the best." Pyrrha nodded slightly at that, she was beginning to understand the reason why governments lied to the people about things like this.

"As for Jaune, that's kind of why I'm here…" Pyrrha whirled around and gripped Sanian's arms.

"What about him? Is he awake? Is he okay? Can I see him?" Pyrrha asked fervently.

"No, he's still a coma but after taking some time to think, I've decided to let you come."

"What?"

"I want you to come to Arcadia."


Oh there folks, sorry about the long wait, I was so giddy about finally going off the rails of the Canon RWBY story that I had a lot of stuff to go over with in terms of my own ideas.

Anyways I'mma paraphrase my response to Shashenka who left a comment last Chapter.

The canonical points of the story was something I was always going to stick to for a short time that is, Jaune may be the biological son of a Saint and Custodes, spoiler if you haven't realized that, but he doesn't have their strengths or skills, those don't translate genetically very well, he's different sure when his aura is unlocked but having muscle and size wouldn't make you a better fighter. Hence why he's shitty at combat and still doesn't have a lot of confidence so subsequently gets bullied by Cardin.

He also has no mastery over his aura like Ren or semblances that bolster fighting power like Yang, Nora, and Pyrrha, nor does he have intricate semblances like Weiss Glyphs or Ruby's speed.

Grimm are in fact pretty easy pickings in certain numbers, the Infantry in Leflore were able to handle the Grimm fine it was the Daemons that proved a problem, however we also don't know how many Grimm are actually on the planet, in RWBY Volume 4 we see Beowolves being born at a steady pace from the black pools, and that was only in a small area, imagine hundreds of holes spawning new Grimm every 30 to 60 seconds. So the reason why Arcadia struggles to grow is because it's difficult to capture land if you're forced to be fighting a walking war.

It's the same with Atlas in the canon universe also, send in soulless drones to clear an area and move people in should be simple right, but that doesn't seem to be the case the territories are still relatively small.

Now why is it that the Sisters die at a faster rate while Qrow walks out fine, well in part it's because of his semblance, as said in Volume 4 he can't control it, it always is active. Plus Neo seems to be a fairly adept fighter, one who isn't afraid to making killing moves so it's reasonable for them to die. Plus he's still a very experienced Huntsman, and someone who has abilities that even the Sisters would not have.

As for Grimm think of it like this, it's easy to fight someone in a one on one match, a trained fighter maybe two on one, however ultimately numbers will wear you down, lets take a 40k example a few Hormagaunts against a Sister of Battle with a fully load bolter will get blow apart by the mass reactive rounds but throw a couple of dozen, she will die, even a Space Marine would succumb to them if given enough bodies are thrown at him, the principle is applied here in that sense but with Grimm, who like the Tyranids come in various forms.

As for Daemons, the initial fight for Beacon showed that numerous students did not fair well against them despite the aid of aura. The same can be said for the Sisters later on in Vale when Qrow gets into another fight with Bloodletters, Qrow himself isn't someone who would actually beat a Bloodletter in a pure strength to strength fight.

There's also another factor that you may not have picked up on, you say that the Sisters are the Huntsman equivalent but what is the key thing that Huntsman have that help them fight?

As for Ozpin, it's a mutual agreement that they've made, the Arcs can have their presence in Vale if they're subservient to the Vale Council and by extension Ozpin. So no matter how much Alexander may dislike how things are done, the agreement is already been settled upon, it's why he's unable to change Ozpin's mind on picking Pyrrha, his house, his rules. However at the same time, the Arcs did have a limited operational room in being able to investigate Vale for Roman's employer and trace back all the information about it. Not only that it would be difficult to hide a camp of a thousand Sisters from the eyes of both Vale and Ozpin, Arabella says that she's stationed her warriors in the forest in Ozpin's office with him there, Ozpin is okay with Alexander moving all those troops in and around Vale, he just doesn't want it to truly come down to having to use them. Think back to what he said to Ironwood in Volume 3 about Ironwood's Fleet, if the people see this big army the question and fear of what they're expecting to fight is only going to make things worse.

As for International Incidents, Alexander is the High Lord or Ruler of Arcadia, his word is law, plus he doesn't care as much as you may think, he's still the product of a time when millions are dying every day across a galaxy in war.

Also I've been thinking about it, but does anyone wanna Beta some chapters in the future?

I hope you've enjoyed the chapter, if not well, not much I can do about that other than be better next time.

Welp, I'll see ya'll around next chapter, remember to leave a comment, review or PM me if there's anything you liked, or didn't like or if you just wanna make a comment or suggestion.