It's back! (Sees "Last updated: September 17, 2017;" hangs head in shame) It's been more than a year since I last updated this story, and I know that all of you wonderful people didn't need for me to drop this for so long. I got involved in a number of other fandoms and was distracted from this one. Without further ado, enjoy the following.

Ozpin watched the holographic monitors being projected by his desk, each tuned to the feeds of different security cameras around Vale and Beacon. Despite the best efforts of the dozens of student and professional Huntsmen, the battle against the Grimm, White Fang, and Ironwood's hacked androids had ground to a stalemate rather than the steady pushing back that it had been before the latter group had been compromised. Fortunately, the tide was about to turn on at least one front, as word had come in that, just before the hack, the last of the civilians had been evacuated from Amity, freeing up more than half a dozen Huntsman teams for redeployment around the city.

Switching the input of one monitor to the Beacon Airship Docks, he saw something that buoyed his hope even further. A White Fang Bullhead that had just arrived turned on its fellows, destroying two other craft before they could disgorge their deadly cargo. When return fire from the rest brought it down, its pilot made a controlled crash-landing, and Penny Polendina climbed out of the wreckage, carrying Pyrrha Nikos over her shoulders. With an impressive burst of speed, she darted for the CCT Tower.

With a small, thin smile, the wizened Headmaster grabbed his cane and took the elevator to the CCT lobby.

Amidst the tables and benches of what had once been Beacon's cafeteria, a fierce battle raged. Two faunus fought against a third, bullets and fireballs furiously crisscrossing the distance between them. However, it was clear to even the dullest observer that the outnumbered party was in charge of the fight, considering the way the allied pair frantically scrambled around the room to keep out of range of the lone warrior's blade.

All three of them bore marks of the battle's current length, from damaged clothing to minor wounds. One of them, a girl with gold eyes and black cat ears, had blood leaking from a near-miss that had still severed the tip of one of the ears, the bow that had once hidden the animalistic appendages split in half and long-discarded. She fired off two shots, which simply struck and were absorbed into the crimson sword. Blake had to leap back to avoid the blindingly-fast return strike. "AH!" The blow still chopped the table she had been standing on apart.

The momentum from the sword's swing was used to bring it into the path of a fireball launched by a boy with a blue snake-skin jacket and a green snake's tail, which became just more fuel for the redheaded bull's attacks. The blade was resheathed and drawn again in an instant, the boy just barely able to jump out of the way of a red crescent of energy that carved a clean cut into everything it touched, before they disintegrated into rose petals. "Fuck!" The two of them regrouped at the opposite end of the cafeteria from where Adam stood. "This isn't working, dammit! We can't get close!"

"No. We can't. Not as long as he has Wilt. One hit and we're dead."

"Yeah, I know that. So how do we get it away from him? You were closer than I was."

Blake glared at Ebon for that statement, but then returned her gaze to Adam. "I… I don't know. I've never seen him fight like this."

At that moment, Adam began to gloat. "Now do you see, my love? This is what revolution looks like. This will put the faunus where they belong-"

"Oh, shut your goddamned mouth!" Ebon spat out a cone of flame as he rushed around to Adam's side. "Don't try to claim that this is for the benefit of the faunus! I was there when you sold us to Cinder! When you made us her slaves!"

A thunderous discharge from Blush tagged his shoulder. "I'm doing what's right! If I have to pretend to be under the direction of a human to get us what we need, then history will forgive me! But I am not a slave! I never will be!"

Blake unleashed a barrage from Gambol Shroud's pistol as she worked around the other side. "You're wrong, Adam. This isn't right. This'll only make the humans hate us more! Cinder is the only one who benefits from this."

"Both of you traitors are blind."

At that moment, the leg of a table Blake jumped on gave way. While her feline sense of balance would ensure that she would not fall, the unexpected movement threw off her planned jump, and her ankle caught the lip of the next table, sending her crashing against its surface.

"Blake!"

As she got back to her feet, she saw Adam had Wilt sheathed, his hair glowing. Her eyes widened. A coil of green muscle wrapped around her waist, and she found herself flying through the air.

Wilt sang its deadly song.

Ma'isha felt it was a shame that she couldn't feed on these naraji wafiit as she pounded another into the ground with Volendrung, but her mother had insisted that she not use her beast form after they had been joined by a few other huntsmen and huntresses who had been scattered around the fairgrounds. Speaking of whom, a bolt of light; no, a bullet; zipped over her shoulder and took the head off of one of the corrupted automatons. The khajiit shot a glare over her shoulder at the girl who wore a cloth helmet that covered one of her eyes, who simply grinned in return.

Growling, Ma'i whipped forward, grabbed one of the so-called "White Fang" members by his throat, and hurled him into a group of his Shield-Brothers and -Sisters. The group behind them, the last in this area, was then hurled into the air by a familiar explosion. Her eyes widened as a very familiar figure walked up. "Yang? What are you doing here, you beautiful blonde idiot? Aren't you still supposed to be helping at the Coliseum?"

The brawler grabbed her girlfriend's hands. "We were just finishing up the evacuation when Blake called and told me that the school was under attack, as well. I had to see you, make sure you were alright."

The cat girl chuckled, her tail unconsciously wrapping around her leg, and tousled Yang's hair. "Oh, my serush khajay. You need not have worried. This one can take care of herself."

Everyone in the group who knew Yang Xiao Long gasped, knowing the usual sentence for any kind of messing with her hair. Instead, She giggled and blushed and hugged Ma'isha. "I'm so happy you're okay." She punched downward, finishing off an Atlesian Knight that had been bisected, but retained some functionality. "Now, I saw a group of Atlas troops in trouble on the way here. What say we kick some more White Fang and robot butt?"

The khajiit loosed a predatory grin. "You lead. I'll follow."

Aela, who had been watching the scene unfold with bemusement, cleared her throat. "Well, if you two lovebirds are quite finished, Yang, where were these soldiers?"

"Right. Right this way. Follow me."

However, the group hadn't gotten more than a hundred paces before they came upon their first obstacle. A White Fang soldier was kneeling over the fallen form of a young girl, trying his damndest to bash in her skull with the butt of his pistol and she blocking the blows as much as possible with her arms. He hauled her to her feet, wrapped an arm around her throat, and jammed the pistol into her head as the Huntsmen and Huntresses approached. "One more step, and her brains paint these cobblestones!"

Most of the group readied their weapons, Ma'isha rolling her eyes and leaning toward Yang. "Why do they always say something like that?" she faux-whispered.

"Beats me." Yang shrugged. "I mean, threaten to kill the one thing preventing us from going after you. What a great idea."

In the meantime, Aela found herself blinking, certain that something was going wrong with her vision. For, within the shadows surrounding them, she could swear that she saw a flickering image of the underside of the terrorist's pants. Looking directly at him, or more specifically his feet, she saw that a nearby flame was causing his, and his hostage's, legs to cast a shadow directly beneath him.

Deciding to test a theory, she aimed for a random shadow, looked at the one beneath him, and loosed her arrow. "Hey! I'm being serious! I'll-" He never got to finish his sentence. The arrow slipped into the targeted shadow and disappeared only to reenter reality between his legs, aimed straight up. Caught completely unprepared, the attack bypassed his Aura and sank into a very sensitive piece of flesh. He dropped the gun and clutched at his (literally) wounded manhood, slumping to the ground with a chorus of very unmanly noises.

"Well, that worked better than I thought."

Aela turned and saw that the others were staring between her and the downed White Fang member. One girl wielding a sniper rifle and wearing a hat that covered one eye was the first to respond. "One, that was cool. Two, I'd hate to be on your bad side."

"Thanks. Now, let's go. We've wasted enough time." She pointed at the girl who had been a hostage. "You, get somewhere safe."

They didn't get much further, for a hissing cackle sounded out from behind them, followed by the girl screaming. In the short second they all needed to whirl around, they saw a massive and monstrous creature hoisting the civilian into the air by her throat. "What… what the hell is that?!"

The student was right to be both confused and terrified, for the being before them was a herald of Oblivion. With red eyes, greyish skin, and pointed ears, the portion of the creature above the chest would resemble a female dark elf wearing fancy and impractical armor, pentagonal crown and large spikes across the backs of the shoulders and arms included. Everything else, however, was very far from anything human. From the chest to where the hips would be was entirely covered in chitinous plates, and that point marked a transition to where the humanoid form merged with the body of a titanic spider.

"Spider Daedra..."

Before anyone could react, it snapped the girl's neck with a flick of its wrist and tossed the corpse aside. "Mortals. Such fragile things." Its - no, her - gaze turned toward the students. "Will you prove better?"

Aela was snapped out of her fear-induced stupor as the children opened fire, only for their bullets to be absorbed by a quickly-cast Ward. "All of you keep going; this thing's beyond you. I'll take it on."

"But, fado-"

She laid a hand on her daughter's shoulder. "I'll be fine. Go!"

Ma'isha hesitated behind the others, as though sensing that Aela wasn't sure about her chances, but she did eventually leave. "Nocturnal smile on you, fado."

With that encouragement, the Huntress turned back toward her foe and nocked an arrow on the string of Auriel's Bow. "So, what interest does Mephala have here?"

The monster laughed. "Mephala? I stopped serving her long ago. Fear can be woven just as well as lies."

Awareness returned slowly to Oreonna Delsole. The first sensation was something hard and unyielding jabbing into her back. The next was that she couldn't feel her right arm. Sight followed quickly as her eyes fluttered open. She noticed that she was leaning back, as the ledge of Amity Coliseum she had fallen from was right in the center of her vision. Turning her gaze toward her right arm sent searing pain shooting through her entire side, jolting her to full wakefulness.

With her senses back to full capacity, she could hear a sound that was a mix between a growl and a groan. Shunting away the pain, she turned to look toward the sound, and her heart plummeted to her gut. Crippled, but still alive, was the griffon that had tackled her to the ground… and it was crawling toward her. And it was still in better shape than she was, considering that it seemed the right side of her torso was shattered.

"Is… Is this it for me?"

She squeezed her eyes shut and waited for her death, but it never came. A roar of pain from the Grimm got her to open her eyes, just in time to see a flaming axe behead the beast. Before she could comprehend what exactly had happened, she heard a deep, and familiar voice. "Can't you keep out of trouble? I mean, honestly, I leave you alone for just one semester, and this happens."

Oreonna didn't want to believe it, but a glance out of the corner of her eye confirmed what her four ears had suggested. "...Dad?" Even that one word sent her damaged body into a coughing fit.

"Oreo!" He rushed over to her, fully entering her field of vision. It was, indeed, Tukson Delsole, the best dad in the world; the sideburns and golden eyes were unmistakable, but he was wearing something very different from anything Oreonna had seen him wear before: pale green pants; a brown, knee-length vest held closed across the chest with a belt; and a blue scarf. After a moment of looking her over, he said, "Don't move, we'll get you to a doctor."

Another voice intruded, then. "Honey, you know I love you, but you sounded quite dumb with that statement."

"Mom?"

Neopolitan walked around Tukson to stand in front of Oreonna. "Hey, sweetie. I'll be teleporting you to the nurse's office in a moment. Tukson."

He nodded. "Right. Oreo, this'll hurt. No way around it, but Neo, for all her talents, doesn't know the first thing about setting broken bones." He lifted his daughter's body off of the rock, eliciting an almighty shriek of agony. "I know, sweetie. I know."

As the arduous process of getting her rib cage back into shape occurred, the cookie cat had the wherewithal to ask, in admittedly broken and disparate words, "But. You. Dead? Saw. Mercury."

"Takes more than that to put me down. You should ask your mom how we met, some day. But head wounds are a b- pain to heal from. Took me more than a month." They stayed like that for a few minutes until Tukson determined that Oreonna's Aura had reattached her ribs enough that she could be moved. "Okay, Neo. Now."

Cinder traced her hand along the face of the unconscious former Fall Maiden. Or, rather, along the glass lined up with the her cheek. "You poor girl. Ozpin forced you to stay in this wretched state between life and death. You yearn for release from this torment, but you are continually denied."

She heard footsteps approaching through the Vault and turned her head until she could see behind her out of the corner of her eye. What she saw pleased her. Ozpin, followed by his Maiden candidate carried by Atlas' robot girl, had halted, his eyes widening in clear horror. "No!"

"But, now." She formed a glass blade. "I release you from your suffering." The life support pod offered no resistance as she plunged the sword home. Returning her gaze to the occupant, she saw that Amber's eyes had sprung open. Golden eyes met brown as the life left the latter, their shine dulling. Finally, she slumped down to the back of the pod, and Cinder felt the rest of the Fall Maiden's power flow into her own body. Finally, the whole of the power I deserved is mine, she thought as her eyes blazed with her newly-completed power, the rush feeling better than anything she had experienced, before.

She turned in time to see the Headmaster trying to usher the students out of the room. Idly, she gathered her power in her hand and released it as an inferno that would incinerate all three of them. Ozpin turned and slammed his cane into the floor, creating a domed shield that blocked the flames.

With the students successfully escaping out through the elevator, the Wizard and the Maiden were left to their duel, alone.

The impact of the throw had dazed Blake for a second, but when she came to, she saw Adam with his blade extended, and Ebon in front of him. A strip of blue snakeskin floated toward the floor, but disintegrated into rose petals before it got there.

No.

The Vacuo student and former White Fang member then wobbled for a moment before beginning to fall backward. Blake ran forward to catch him, but that only revealed that it was no use for her to do so. While she did catch his shoulders and knees, that caused his severed waist to split open, spilling blood across her legs. "No, no, no, no!"

The snake looked up at her and smiled. A petal floated up from his wound. "Did right." His head lolled to the left, his eyes seemingly focusing on something only he could see. "Verdi…" Seconds later, there was nothing left of the brave Huntsman-in-training.

"Is this who you are, now, Blake? You run while others die for you? No, that's who you've always been-."

In an instant, she was upon him, her blade locking against his. "Who the Hell do you think I am?! You don't know me. I would give my life in a second for my friends! I'm. Not. Running."

"You. Will." His strength was so much greater that he pushed her back until he had enough room to kick her away.

The Fall Maiden stepped out of the CCT, confident that the mission was a complete success, even with the meddling by Ozpin's cat; the two arrows she'd planted in the Headmaster's chest were evidence enough of that. As for the rest of Beacon, the Grimm, and especially the dragon, would take care of that.

There was a pained screech approaching, and she barely had time to dodge back into the building before said dragon crashed into the ground, digging a trough for some hundred more feet. "What the-?"

A glow drew her attention to the top of the giant Grimm's head, the least damaged part of it, where what looked like a person with wings and a tail made of pure energy stood. Cinder ran closer, only to see the figure raise up a sword that looked to be on fire and bellow words that made no sense to her. "YOL TOOR-SHUL!" Flames seemed to form and billow in front of his face, only to be absorbed into the weapon. He took the sword in both hands. "In the name of Akatosh." She recognized the cat's voice as he plunged the blade down. "BEGONE!"

Before her eyes, flames spread throughout the dragon's body, erupting from its eyes and mouth. All at one, its struggling ceased, and its body began to dissolve. "No, that's impossible."

"Hmm. No soul. You were no dov. You were just a winged worm." The blade was raised toward her. "Your turn, Cinder."

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I did warn you that there will be character deaths, didn't I? Again, I sincerely apologize for taking so long to get this chapter out and hope its length will suffice as an apology.