Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY.

Because the show must go on. MRLD isn't even halfway done yet, and I have every intention of finishing it. Here's to you, Monty.

"So what was it like being dead?" Drake asked with his usual tactlessness.

DMND and MRLD were currently in the library to study and compare notes. Finals were coming up and we were all a bit nervous. Some of us more than others. Some of us a lot more than others. Okay, it was me, and I was about two steps short of completely freaking out. I hate tests, no matter how good I am at them. Combat, split second decisions, and mortal peril? Sure, no problem. Tests with days or even weeks of warning? I worry myself into the ground. Comes of thinking too much, I suspect.

"A lot like being unconscious, given that I was unconscious for it," I said. "What, were you expecting me to have some sort of mystical experience? Sorry, no. I remember the backlash from my Semblance hitting, and then the next thing I know I'm waking up in the infirmary."

"So no dreams?" Nyx asked.

"Not really. My dreams come in two categories. The ones that make no sense and the ones I forget," I said.

"That's it?" Miranda asked. "Can you tell me some of the ones that make no sense?"

"No, I can't, and actually that's not quite it. There is a third category, but those ones give me the creeps."

"Nightmares?" Rebecca asked, suddenly concerned.

"I wish. It's only happened three times, but every now and then I have an extremely vivid dream," I said.

"And?" Lily asked. "That doesn't seem that bad."

"It's not. Except for the fact that some tiny part of the dream always comes true, and I have no way of knowing which part. Two of the three times it was something utterly stupid like someone misjudging some hot sauce with unfortunate results, or someone getting a new jacket with an unusual design on it," I said. "Completely meaningless, but enough to scare the life out of me the first time it happened."

"Why?" David asked.

"Because if one part of the dream was real, what about the rest? None of those dreams were pleasant, and I could definitely live without them coming true."

"What did the third dream predict?" Dawn asked.

"Nothing," I said. "Yet. I'm still waiting for that one. Waiting and hoping it's wrong."

"Alright then, do you know what I'm doing wrong on this question?" Dawn asked showing me an equation. "I can't get the numbers to add up."

"...Ah, you skipped a step in the integration, see?"


The written tests came and went, despite my fretting. I naturally aced the math final, that being my best subject. I took a year of Calculus before I came to Remnant, and over the last five years I'd refined my knowledge quite a bit. Beacon's math course was more of a refresher for me than anything else.

The science final was both more difficult and at the same time easier. Biology is just a pain when Aura's involved, and Chemistry is confused by the addition of Dust, but Physics? Oh, that's my territory, especially mechanical and fluid based physics. Gases can be annoying, and electricity can be rather counter-intuitive, but in general I have a better grasp on the subject than most of my fellow students. I expect that's a result of having gone to an academics focused high school before attending a combat school.

History, the class I was most worried about, proved easier than I had expected too. Somewhere along the line, between class, the normal homework, and my extra credit assignments, I'd actually picked up a working knowledge of Remnant's history. It wasn't anywhere near extensive, and it still had some gaping holes in it, but it was enough to squeak out a passing grade on the final. Not a great grade, but better than I'd expected.

Dust manipulation was a disaster. Even with some very careful coaching by Lily, I pretty much crashed and burned on the written test, and only performed slightly better in the practical demonstrations. Well I'd been expecting that and fortunately had put in the effort during the rest of the year so my grade did survive, although it was easily my worst subject. I just don't get Dust, and it doesn't like me. I could live with that.

Then came the practical exams, specifically combat. That was fun.


For the single combat exams we were each matched up against a random opponent from our own year. My match was Penelope from PPLE. Cute girl, about five three. Charming smile, nice personality, and a well developed sense of humor. Oh, and she used a claymore with a five foot long blade that could turn into a twelve foot long pike and set itself on fire, in part just because she could. She's stronger than David, so it's not really an issue for her. Definitely an issue for me though. And of course, given that PPLE was the last team to beat MRLD, we did have a bit of a rivalry going. We'd beaten them since then, but that one defeat still stung a bit. I certainly wasn't going to let them have another.

We faced off across the arena, some thirty feet between us. I triggered Molnair and Talon as she drew her sword. Then she set it on fire. Yep. Off to a good start. I resolved not to let her hit me with that monster. Goodwitch blew a whistle and the fight began.

I immediately jumped as far to my right as I could and opened fire at Penelope as she barreled through the space I'd been at somewhere in the neighborhood of fifty miles an hour. Her unnatural strength extended to her legs, and she liked to open the fight with a powerful lunge. She held the year's record for one hit knockouts. I spun to keep her in my sights as she reached the back wall. She charged up it, crouched, then jumped straight at me, sword point first. This time she was pushing eighty miles an hour. I bailed, using my Semblance to teleport out of the way. She hit the ground with a roll and then swept forwards with a brutal horizontal slash at a speed that was positively anemic by comparison, but still fast. I jumped over the slash and her, stabbing her in the back with Talon's spike on my way down.

She spun in a circle, too fast for me to react. Fortunately I was too close for her to hit me properly, but the impact still threw me across the ring. I hit the ground rolling and picked myself up just in time to duck under her next slash. I replied with a slash from Molnair that traced across her arm, but she snapped her sword into pike form, smacking me as it unfolded. I hit the ground, slightly dazed, then rolled as she came down in a jumping stab. I jumped to my feet and teleported clear to get some room to maneuver. She charged at me again, the razor sharp blade of her pike aimed at my chest. I rolled out of the way and along the weapon's haft before lashing out in a kick to her hands that broke her grip on the overgrown skewer. A second kick hurled it into the air and away from the fight, and I pressed the attack. Screw fighting an unarmed opponent, she was strong enough to fight without it and I wasn't in the mood to let her chop me up.

I slashed with Molnair which she brushed aside, then stabbed with Talon. She took the blow, bounced backwards, then jumped a solid twenty feet straight up and over me. She came down behind me in a roll and scooped up her weapon, switching it back to sword form. Well that whole disarmed thing didn't last for long. We paused for a moment, each waiting for the other to make a move. I had a slight lead, mostly because I was using less Aura to attack, but it was close. Very close.

She lunged again, her sword descending in blow that would cut an Ursa in half the long way. I jumped backwards, then jumped forwards, delivering a double footed kick to her chest. I bounced backwards as her blade swept back up, then bounced forwards in a sliding leg sweep that dropped her on her face. Before she could recover I knelt on her back and placed Molnair's blade on the side of her neck. She froze.

"Do you surrender?" I asked.

"Yes, I think you've got me here," she said. "Good fight."

"You too," I said as I removed the blade from her skin. "In case I've never mentioned this before, you are one very scary woman." I got off her back and she stood up.

"Thank you," she turned to Professor Goodwitch. "I concede the match."

"Very well," Goodwitch said as she took down a few more notes. "That concludes this portion of your examinations. You are dismissed."


"How did your match go?" I asked Rebecca as we made our way back to the dorms.

"Fairly well. I was matched up with Lapis," Rebecca said.

"You mean the girl who beat it into my head to be careful about teleporting into occupied hallways?"

"Yes, her," Rebecca said.

"Is she still mad at me over that?" I asked. I'd gone out of my way to avoid her after the incident. She's one of a very select group of people who can actually prevent me from leaving, given her ability to shut down other Semblances. Her mildly violent tendencies don't exactly help either, although I suppose that part wasn't exactly unusual around here.

"I think she's calmed down a bit, but I'm fairly certain you're not her favorite person."

"Yeah, I imagine I'm not."

"Hey, Kevin," Rebecca said tentatively, like she wanted to ask me something.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Back at the library, that... third dream you mentioned. What was it about?"

I stopped to look at her, dragging up the nightmare that I was sure was more than just a nightmare. "I'm back on Earth in it. Don't ask me how, and don't ask me how I know, I just do. And I'm watching the world end, overrun by the Grimm." I turned away and entered the dorm.

A/N: Yep. Prophecy of Doom? Maybe. Depends on how much of it is true. For everyone who thinks Kevin's dreams telling the future is weird...yeah, it's weird. It's also based on personal experience. I'm usually the last person who'd believe in this sort of thing, but given that it's happened to me I can't really deny it. I can also attest that precognitive dreams are generally full of random stuff with maybe one or two actual events in them, and said events are almost uniformly inane and meaningless.

To the anonymous guest, not really. The Art of War was the result of decades of commanding armies in battle. Armies aren't common in Remnant, and battles are vanishingly rare. There are a number of tactical treatises, but they're more like special ops manuals, focusing on small groups of elite soldiers. Of course Remnant has mastered the art of the fortification, but field command just isn't a thing.

To Kaimi, math does work that way if you're going by powers of two. Or factors of eight. Or if you're skipping three to throw your opponent off.

That's all for now. See you all next chapter.