This was how The Great Defense of Beacon began. A number hovering around four-hundred, all far younger than any should be when experiencing such a conflict, guns resting on overturned lunch tables, breathing heavy and slow as the kept watch on the main entrance, waiting as blow after blow rang out against the wood. The glyphs were visibly getting dimmer and would soon break, yet all stood unmoving and ready.

Roland stood raised above them all on a table in the middle of the crowd, a pistol in each hand and eyes focused and sharp. His fingers twitched and traced the patterns along the guns, taking some of the focus off the beating of his heart that grew steadily louder.

Another blow struck the door and this time the wood flinched slightly, giving way less than an inch but a noticeable amount none the less. A few students here and there flinched and some even took a small step back, now feeling slight regret for staying behind. The speech had given them a moment of reassurance, yet now that the true danger was ready to toss aside the only thing that stood between them many felt their confidence draining.

"Steady." Roland said, calming them. "They will regret breaking that door, do not doubt that. Many will fall dead before they realize what's happened."

They were soothed slightly and stood strong again, clenching their teeth and pushing thoughts of death aside, remembering what and who they were fighting for. Still whispers of doubt and fear drifted back and forth in the back of their minds, though still they remained.

But such thoughts had no time to truly convince any of them, for moments later the door was struck again and the glyphs finally shattered, and explosion sounding off outside. Silence fell on them all for only seconds, yet in their eyes it seemed as though years passed as they waited for the final blow that would toss the barriers aside and expose them to the nightmare beyond.

"Show them true hell." Roland raised his pistols and took aim. Out of all present he was stood the tallest and yet his thoughts were the most grim.

Not even a second later the hit came, splintering and shattering the door with a cloud of smoke. Even before shapes could be made out seen the students in the front row fired, sending round after round straight into the direction of the enemy. They couldn't see what or who they were shooting at, but they could hear the sounds of yelling and growling mixing with explosions and the whistling of bullets flying.

As soon as one emptied a full magazine they would duck down and backwards, another coming to take their space immediately, and this process repeated over and over again, a never ending rain of metal filling the open doorway.

After the first four or five rows had fired Roland called for them to noises from outside had ceased and so he assumed they had either gone to find another way in or had at least gotten smart enough to stand out of the way.

Either way the smoke was clearing, having lasted and exceedingly long time due to the explosions from the multitude of dust rounds, and the scene before them was complete and total carnage. Bodies of Grim and White Fang littered the ground, none even coming close to crossing the threshold of the entrance. Many whispers of pride and confidence now raced throughout the crowd, yet Roland did not want them to think they had even come close to winning. This was a sizable number dead for sure, yet Roland had seen the true numbers and this was nothing to them. The main force lay elsewhere, likely waiting for a command.

"An effective strategy… But one that will only last for so long…" Roland sheathed his pistols and pulled out his swords. "Elisabeth, up here with me."

The girl soon climbed up behind him, having remained close by anyway, and walked forward next to the boy, throwing knives in hand and covered in a dim purple glow. She had regained a majority of her strength while she rested as all the tables had been tipped and everyone had gotten into position, and now she felt ready to fight. For a short while at least.

"Get JNPR and RWBY. We're going outside, the rest will stay here until we see how it looks. Meet me at the front, just beyond the tables." Roland said, pointing with a sword to the place he was headed.

"Roland, going out there is suicide. You know there's more, far more than we can fight. We can't just go out there blindly." Elisabeth's words were met with man nods of agreement from the crowd around them, people now turning to see what their leader was thinking.

"Any other time I would agree, but Cinder wants me and only me. She waits for me, and even she won't make it an unfair fight. Cinder wishes to kill me all on her own, with her own hand and nothing else. Staying in here would only result in wave after wave of Grimm and White Fang until we're over run. Let this be finished now." With that Roland stepped off the table and into the crowd making his way off to the side first.

There he found Ozpin in deep discussion with Glynda, though Roland didn't have near enough time to ask what the two were arguing over. Instead he simply state what needed to be said.

"Ozpin, we're going out. Do not try to convince me otherwise, your words will fall on deaf ears. But we will need a way out, and I doubt we will be able to kill every Grimm and White Fang member and simple march off campus and down into Vale. We need ships, a wayout. And a low of them at that, all these four hundred are to be taken away first." Roland said, voice steady and strong.

Ozpin looked to him and for a moment seemed to consider arguing, yet he simply let out a sigh instead. "You will need to take out a significant amount before anyone can be sent to get you. But once it is safe enough I will have Ironwood send all he can to aid you."

"We don't need aid, we need evacuation. When the majority are gone we will contact you. Have the ships ready to go at a moments notice. This fight will likely be fought in waves, not all at once." With that Roland turned around and walked back into the crowd.

"Ozpin." Glynda said, looking towards the direction Roland had gone off in before turning back to the man. "We can't leave them here. I won't leave them."

"And I won't ask you to." He said, giving her an understanding look. "But you know where I must go."

She opened her mouth to say something yet found that no words would come out, and so simply nodded and turned her gaze downward.

"I will see you soon." Ozpin said, placing a hand under her chin and lifting her head back up. "Keep them safe while I'm away." With that he too went off into the crowd and was soon lost among them.

Glynda composed herself and stood tall again. Now was not the time.


It didn't take long before they were all gathered at the front. Ruby had to be left in the care of the students, staying at the back and being kept safe. Yang was reluctant to leave her sister but the younger girl had convinced the brawler to go, saying she was needed out there. It still made Yang unhappy but she had gone anyways, know that what Ruby had said was true, even if she didn't like it.

Roland designated three people to act as temporary captains of sorts, putting them in charge should he be stuck outside or worse. He had no actual relationship or real knowing of these people, but he noticed them a small bit from the classes they shared and seemed to remember them being somewhat gifted in strategy. Even if he remembered wrong these three were leaders of their teams, and so they obviously held some use in the ways of guidance.

After he was done giving them a brief explanation he turned now to his own team. Eight now stared back at him, each standing tall and strong as they awaited their leader. For a brief moment the past three years flashed by in Roland's mind and he found himself in amazement at the place they now stood in. To think he had arrived without even wanting to have a team at all.

"Listen to me, each of you. This is not your fight. This task isn't yours to end. If you do not wish to go out there." He pointed out the door with his sword, towards the death and destruction. "You can stay here. You owe me nothing, nor do you have any obligation to come with me."

"Roland, we appreciate the offer." Yang said, smiling fondly. "But if we were going to back out, we would have done it a long time ago. I probably woulda left after the fiasco in the White Fang base."

"You won't be getting rid of us that easy." Nora added, resting her hammer on her shoulder. "You have to deal with us from now on."

"We know we don't have to follow you Roland. We do this because the people outside that door want to hurt you. And them wanting to hurt you makes it our fight." Elisabeth said, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder. The others nodded and gave him smiles, ready to follow him to hell and back if need be.

"Well then… If you all intend to be just as stubborn as I am, let's end this. And preferably quickly." Roland smiled at them all briefly, but soon his features grew cold again and he took a deep breath, letting it out slowly before he started forward, gripping his swords tightly and preparing himself.

The others followed close, marching tall behind their leader and out the door. They found it hard to continue walking forward once they were outside though, gazing around and feeling heartbroken at the sight.

All around them buildings lay in ruin, flames overtaking most as the hum of airships could still be heard in the distance. They stood in the center of the carnage, surrounded by bodies, ground stained by the blood. Rose petals drifted off the bodies of the Grimm and filled the air around them, soon blown off with the wind and away towards Vale. Though the moment of shock was short lived as a voice cold as ice cut through the air.

"Roland, it's been such a long time." Cinder was suddenly off in front of them, body covered in flames as she walked forward, heals clicking on the stones of the pathway. She was a good distance way and yet her trick of appearing out of thin air put Roland on high alert.

"I could have lived until the sun died and the world crumbled without ever seeing your face or hearing your name and still it would not have been long enough." The boy growled, readying his swords and stepping forward.

"Such harsh words, didn't your parents teach you any manners?" She let out a mock-gasp and put on a thoughtful look. "Oh, I suppose they didn't really get the chance, did they?"

"Keep your teeth together and your lips shut. I did not come to trade insults with you Cinder. I came to kill or die." Already the darkness inside wished for control simply due to the sight of the woman, but he pushed it away. If needs became that dire he would resort to such means, but only of defeat was sure to be.

"True, and put in such a poetic way. I'm impressed." She stopped now, around a hundred feet away, her gaze now drifting between each of the students that stood by Roland. "And you've brought all your friends too, how adorable. Though you're missing a couple… Ah, yes! Little Red Riding Hood, right? What happened, did her foolishness finally lead her into the jaws of a wolf?" Cinder smiled and her eyes ignited, burning a dangerous orange. "And the snake... A shame, so much promise, and yet it was all wasted on a immature fool of a girl. You should us for taking that burden away from you all."

Yang was going to be first to attack, losing her temper when Cinder spoke of her sister, and yet for she could fire a shot off an explosion surrounded Cinder's body, engulfing the woman in flames.

Smoke flowed from Roland's pistol as he slid it back in its sheath, pulling out his other sword again.

The smoke around her cleared and Cinder was, of course, unharmed, simply holding up her right arm. "Did you expect that to hurt?" She mocked.

"No." Roland said, now taking a few more steps forward. "I expected it to shut you the hell up. I will say it one last time; let us fight and be done with this. Either I will be consumed by your flames or my blade will find a comfortable home deep inside your throat. Let us see which option fate favors."

"So be it. But I have friends of my own, don't you know." As Cinder spoke Emerald and Mercury came in from the sides, seemingly hiding behind piles of rubble. Roman followed Emerald in, and beside him walked a small girl with multicolored hair, the same on they had seen in the forest the night of the betrayal.

"RWBY, JNPR, split up and deal with them. Elisabeth, that one with colored hair, we've a score to settle with her. Take her out for me." Roland crouched down and stood ready, watching as Cinder's allies split off and focused their attention on Roland's friends.

"So long I've chased you Roland… So much I've done. Yet you're the one who made all this trouble. We gave you so many good chances, and every time you bit the hand that fed you. Know now that you've destroyed a school, put people in danger, and even brought death to some of you friends." Cinder slowly began moving to the right and so Roland went left, the two circling each other and waiting for the other to strike first.

"You would have fed me poison and lies, and I carry the strength of the lost with me. Their furry will put a silence to your talking." Roland felt the darkness in his heart grow and yet focused on the fight, seeing the fire around Cinder grow.

"Silence? You'll know it soon." She charged forward, summoning two swords of her own, fire flowing up the blades. Flames traced the ground behind her and raced over her body, her dress turning into some form of light armour. In the split second Roland had to observe her new apparel he saw translucent plates of fire that clung tightly to her body, making her seem sharp due to the dangerous edges that the flames formed themselves into.

But the time for looking was over and so Roland followed in suit and his own aura flowed into his weapons, black flame consuming the blades. And so when their swords met and energy unlike any other was released, the very air around them seeming to scream and cry in pain and dismay as the two fires came into contact, sending out waves of energy. The stones beneath their feet cracked and the clouds above twisted and retched in the sky slowly, and any living plant life on the entire campus now withered and hid itself best it could from the horrid energy that radiated our from the two.

To this the Grimm were drawn like never before, descending into a pure state of rage and desire to destroy, and before anyone knew how the beasts arrived so quickly or where they even came from the hordes of night were nearly upon the lone team.

Inside the hall the students had been waiting and those up front watched best they could. Yet all in the hall felt the moment when the fires met each other and fear very nearly consumed many of them. But some saw Roland stand tall against Cinder and saw his swords meet her's, their leader not once flinching away or hesitating. So when the Grimm could be seen some hundred students made the choice to summon all that was within them and let out a mighty roar, one that raced out of the hall and met the growls and snarling of the Grimm, and soon these hundred charged out, feeling a bravery unlike any other ever recorded as they flowed around the duels taking place, ignoring Emerald and Roman and all those who were already occupied and instead went head first into the Grimm, sending beast after beast screaming into the abyss as their weapons shone like suns and their spirits burned so brightly the creatures of night felt pain simply being close to them.

This inspired the rest and so the others charged out and into the fray they went, slicing and stabbing and fighting in unison. Though they were skilled and their will mighty the Grimm were still a horde and they had dark shadows in their hearts that made them strong and gave them desire to kill, and so this battle was hard fought, yet fought none the less.

This was what would forever be remembered as The Hall's End, for this is where it would all come to a close.