A/N

So, a lot of you must be asking why I went overkill on the costume description last chapter...

Well, apparently some reviewers didn't bother to watch RWBY right after V3 happened, or never watched RWBY at all. But they read RWBY fanfics cuz... ? Thus, I think it's fair game that I'd give them a detailed rundown of their costume changes, since most fics don't go beyond Vol 3's ending.

Though I did went a bit overboard on this one, I'll admit. I'll try not to get too in depth next time for the main chars.

Also, the only difference between Oscar and Ozpin's thought bubble is being one quotation apart and that seemed to get people confused since it was too subtle, so I'll start bolding the immortal spirit it from here on out.

"So, anything we should know before we reach Haven?" Qrow asked. "Like say... why we're in such a rush to get there?"

"Why don't you fill them in on what you know first?" I asked back, standing up when the huntsman visibly smirked. It immediately died an ugly death, seeing past my true intention of giving him a chance to entertain the group. "You know, the two gods, the Maidens, Ozpin's many lives, the Relics, Salem, everything you know basically."

"I'm surprised you haven't blurted everything out by now." He sniped instead. "Knowing about our entire lives and what's about to happen, why hadn't you yet?" Qrow flung an arm in the air as he finally gave in to his outburst. "You'd clearly do a better job then this old crow could."

My eyes met Yang's.

No words needed to be exchanged for her to recall what I said before our departure. My smirk said it all, but just in case it wasn't clear, and to rub it in the face, I mouthed.

'I. Told. You. So.'

She rolled her lilac eyes and poked out her tongue.

Ruby made to open her mouth, but I held out a hand behind me and subtly shook my head over my shoulder.

"Makes things much simpler if I just add on." I shrugged. "Put it all on the table and I'll be sure to do the same."

"Fine." Bright red eyes attempted to stare me down for a few moments, before he grumbled under his breath, and unscrewed the cap off of his canteen.

He started precisely like how he did in the show, from his knowledge of the two brother gods, of Light and Darkness, the creation of the first man capable of the 4 things the relics stand for, Creation, Destruction, Choice and Knowledge, and moved on to tell them that they're manifested in physical forms, The Relics, all the while the 7 ex students just listened in intently in their seats, nodding every once and a while as a show of understanding.

He then moved on to the reason why they were heading to Haven, that being Ozpin's reincarnation being en route, though he spared me a glance as if to have a reality check.

"The headmaster of Haven isn't dumb." Qrow said, taking a swig of strong liquor. "He'll have his guard up to protect the Relic of Knowledge at all costs, so what I don't get is why we're in such a hurry."

I didn't answer.

Yet.

"So, Salem is after the 4 relics made by the 2 gods." Ruby started when her uncle was seemingly done explaining. "Which are stored in vaults located in the schools, with the only way to unlock them being through the maidens." Qrow nodded. "That's why Ozpin wanted to imbue Pyrrha with the Fall Maiden's power? So that he could open some vault containing one of the 4 relics?"

"You don't get it squirt." Qrow took another swig of his alcohol before he continued speaking. "Salem is bigger than any of us. Not much is known about her but what we do know, is that she controls the Grimm. If she gets her hands on even one of the relics, it could be enough to turn the tide of war."

"Yeah, we noticed. Queen of Grimm, thank you very much. If the title doesn't give it away I don't know what does." The leader of team JNPR snarked.

"Jaune." The light armored champion nudged her boyfriend's side with the end of her elbow.

When Jaune made to look, it was to see everybody else staring back at him, though none of those were full of anger, which was surprising considering it was Yang and Ruby's uncle he just snapped at.

"Ugh... I'm sorry, it's just..."

"I get it kid, nothing personal." Qrow smiled bitterly as he screwed the cap to the canister back on. "I'd be mad too if he decides to choose one of my nieces for the next Fall Maiden." He said as he eyed the paneling of the glass cabinet containing Amber's body.

"But you'd have no choice but to comply if he insists." I cut in. "Isn't that right?"

Qrow's frown was nothing if not telling.

"It was my responsibility y'know." He chuckled in self loathing as his eyes locked to the unconscious maiden's scarred face. "I was supposed to be her escort as she roamed around. And I failed her..."

"Relax," I reassured. "She was made to die as a plot point. You needn't blame yourself for what happened."

"You managed to do better."

"Qrow." I snapped. "Nothing you would've done could've changed the events that transpired. You managed to stop Cinder in taking half her powers and scared off her little goons, that's better than what we could've done at the time. Amber was young," I followed his gaze as I looked a the copper skinned woman. "Inexperienced."

"You're one to talk," Qrow grumbled under his breath. "Oh Savior of Beacon."

"We had a full year to plan that. And even that went south." I countered what was I assumed was a half snark and half grateful compliment. "You had 5 minutes at best. Plus, I had my boys to support me in my decisions, you didn't. It was only with Evans's help that we managed to get Amber out in one piece. You chose to work alone."

"I'm assuming you already know why."

"Right." I sighed. "Your Semblance."

"Semblance?" Yang and Ruby just exchanged glances. The elder of the two shrugged, lifting up both hands as she shook her head.

"What's with Uncle Qrow's Semblance?" Ruby asked.

"It's bad luck." I explained when Qrow doesn't look like he's gonna explain. "And it's passive, that's why he's always the lone wolf, in fear of hurting the both of you."

Ruby unbuckled her safety belt and crawled up to her uncle's side.

"Uncle Qrow..." Ruby muttered as she planted her cheek on the side of his chest. "You know that wouldn't make us love you any less." It didn't matter that he reeked of alcohol, smoke, and sweat, she still managed to push through and buried her face in his side.

"I know squirt, but it is a dangerous thing to have." He chuckled bitterly, before ruffling her hair. "If anything happens to you... I can't..."

...

...

"Do you want me to disable it?" I offered.

"Huh?"

"My Semblance is to destroy or shatter Aura by touch." I explained. "Or transfer it somewhere, I don't know yet." I glanced at my hands as I clasped and unclenched my fingers. "That's how I was able to get an upper hand when we uh... sparred." I amended when everybody but Ruby shot me confused looks. "I can disable it... at the cost of your Aura being completely depleted. If you want to that is." I added when Ruby's pleading gaze met mine.

"I knew something was off," Qrow scoffed. "There was no way I could've lost to a student that easily."

"Two." I amended. "Evans was there."

"But no thanks kid," He ignored the correction for the sake of saving his pride, or what's left of it. "It's a temporary solution at best."

"It's still a solution." I pointed out as I extended my hand. "And better than nothing."

"Huh," Yang snickered when I stopped a few feet away from the huntsman. "Never knew you were into my uncle too."

"God... damnit Yang." I groaned into my palms. "Why did you have to ruin the moment like that?"

"I live to please." She snorted when most of the people in the airship started chortling, with some even bursting to laughter altogether.

"Wait," Qrow's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Firecracker, what do you mean by 'too'?"

Ruby's laughter died in her throat as she elicited a small whimper.

"You don't really wanna know." I held out my hand once more as I turned my gaze towards the messy man.

He eyed it warily, switching his gaze between my open palm and my eyes.

Qrow shook visibly when he felt something move by his side, and when he made to look, Ruby was pouting up at him, puppy eyes pleading for him to take the offer. "Don't leave us... pweeease?"

"Does she do this often?" I deadpanned and focused on Qrow instead.

"More than I would like." He deadpanned back. "Stupid guilt trips, argh... fine!" He slapped his palm onto mine.

The moment our hands connected, his palm flashed crimson, then flickered black.

He almost stumbled to the floor, grasping at his chest and heaving for breath.

"Uncle Qrow!"

"You okay?" I crouched down as I gently rubbed his back, hefting him up by my shoulder.

"Yeah..." He gasped for air. "Just not used to... having all my aura sponged out of me like that... Holy shit kid," He rasped as he glance sideways, eyes locked into mine. "That's dangerous."

"You're telling me." I chuckled as I helped him back up to his seat.

"Welp, that solves one problem." Kevin crossed his arms as he leant back in his seat. "Wanna address the other?"

Huh, Dwiki was surprisingly quiet this time arou-

I saw that Adrian had the pudgy boy in a headlock.

His head was turning blue from the lack of air.

Nevermind...

"Right," I sighed. "Now that Qrow spilled his beans, I guess it's time to tell the real truth."

"Wait," Yang held out her right arm. "Wasn't what Qrow said 'The Truth'?" Their gazes snapped to Qrow, who just raised a brow at me as if to ask 'What more do you want?'.

"That's the thing, isn't it Yang?" I asked, drawing their attention once more. "It's the truth..." I tried to explain as my tongue rolled around the inner walls of my cheeks. "The truth Qrow believes in."

"The truth Qrow believes in...?" If anything, it only seemed to get the group more confused then ever.

"The thing about truth is, it differs for everybody that's involved." I explained. "Imagine a man catching a fish, and a child as a bystander says that he had just witnessed murder. A businessman sees a future partnership for trade, while his wife sees him as a good man feeding his family. All of this, is true."

"So what's gonna make your version of the 'Truth'," Qrow quote the air. "Any less different?"

"Easy," I shrugged off easily. "I'm going to tell it from a narrative standpoint, which means that I've watched it all unfold before my very eyes to determine that this version is more acceptable. Even though our knowledge of the future no longer coincides with the path we're taking, backstories are of the past, and those are set in stone."

"What do u mean?" Blake's asked while a feline ear flicked back and forth.

"It means... I'm not even gonna try to sugarcoat this." I grumbled under my breath and braced myself for what's to come. "Cuz if I do I'll end up sounding like an ass."

"And your version is the one we should go with because...?" Qrow raised a brow.

"Because it came from the Relic of Knowledge."

His mouth clamped shut.

The group just exchanged uneasy glances, all while the boys just glanced to me in hopes that I'd knew what I was doing.

"But... Oz said the questions were all used up." Qrow managed once he recovered from the shock.

I shook my head. "Not quite..."

We're still far away from the Apathy arc, so it should be safe to expose the truth here.

I then explained to them the real, unedited version of what happened.

The old Remnant, the hero formerly known as Ozma, now known to them by the name Ozpin, his death due to sickness and reincarnation by the God of Darkness, their offsprings who are theoretically speaking, the original Maidens, and finally, the fact that Salem can't be killed.

Qrow's jaw dropped to the floor.

The others blinked owlishly as they tried to digest what I said.

"I must've..." He stared as his canister long and good. "Drank too much..." He chuckled bitterly as he screwed the cap back on. "Yeah, that must be it. I've had too much today."

"I thought you didn't trust me and my silly story of being from Earth." I snorted as the others started muttering to themselves. "What changed your mind?"

"I still don't," He admitted. "But so far you've been nothing but right, or so I was told." He made eye contact with Ruby. "So right every single time that it's scary. And I'm not about to call my niece a liar. Are you sure that's what the Relic of Knowledge said?"

"Positive." I said, gesturing to Derrick, who gave a small nod of acknowledgment back.

"Look," I sighed. "Ozpin chose not to tell any of you so that you won't give up hope like he once did. Salem must be stopped, that's non negotiable, but the 'how'." I quoted the air. "Is still up in the air right now."

"Also," Kevin cut in, drawing everybody's attention to him. "This way, we just saved a question that you could have used for something else."

"Just great." Yang cursed under her breath. "That bastard had been keeping the Relics in the schools, thinking they were secure by using Huntsmen-in-training as bodyguards, but that only added bodies to the pile."

"Speaking of schools..." I winced as I eyed the deflated Qrow with his gaze locked onto the floor, looking like he couldn't take any more bad news by this point. "Uhh..."

"What?" He snapped as he glared my way.

"Leo Lionheart is..." I shrugged sheepishly as I ran a hand through my hair. "Sorta..."

"Compromised." Kevin finished.

Qrow's head slammed into the ship's steel frame.

Oscar's POV

"Are you sure this is the place?"

"Positive." The voice within his head replied. "Leo should be more than willing to provide us with aid and accommodation until Qrow arrives."

"Uhh... okay," Oscar nodded as he entered a courtyard and glanced upwards to the massive oriental building that towered before him. All 4 sides of it's walls were painted pastel yellow while it's windows were circular by nature. It's rooftops were tesselated with dark red tilings that seemed to spread in a large span sideways, going as high to the point that the highest point was not visible to those looking up from the ground.

"Should I knock?" Oscar asked as his eyes rolled up, as if to find the face of the person inside his head there somewhere.

"Class is still in session, so I would presume so."

Right as his clasped hand halted a few inches away from the tall doors, the air was blasted out of his lungs as he was swept off his feet, landing on his rear.

"... Yeah, so I was like, you cool? And he was like, yeah I'm co... Huh?"

"Uhh..." Oscar looked up at the tanned teen with wild, messy blond hair and...

Why is he shirtless?

Well he was technically wearing a shirt, but it didn't serve the purpose of covering up his muscular and toned body. Instead, it hung open and unbuttoned all the way to give everybody a show of what lays within.

"Uh, you okay there kid?" The blonde one offered a hand that had a red gauntlet attached to it. "Usually I would love to stick around and show you around, but I got class after this so-"

"Allow me."

'What do you me-'

His lime green eyes glowed, before taking said hand as the little boy was pulled to his feet. "Thank you, Mr Wukong."

He froze almost instantly.

"How... did you know my name?" Sun asked as he cocked a brow. "Have we met?"

'Is that a tail?!'

"You do." Oscar smiled enigmatically. "Or more specifically, you did."

"Did?" Sun Wukong raised a brow.

"Hey dudes!" A blue haired boy with a red jacket called out with one hand cupped around his mouth as he jogged to both towering teens before him. "Sup Sage. Lookin good Sun. Who's the kid?"

Only then did Oscar saw the man Sun was talking to beforehand as he exited the tall doors. Before he interrupted that was. Towering before him, he has green spiky hair and dark skin, he was wearing a long white coat that extended all the way to his feet.

Though just like the man he now knows as a 'Sun Wukong', it didn't serve it's purpose, since all his buttons were popped off as his pectorals hung open in the air.

"Mr Vasilias," His eyes went to the blue haired boy who just arrived. "I can assure you that I'm not 'Just a kid'."

"You know this guy?" Neptune asked Sun, who shook his head wildly.

"I don't think I've seen him before..." Sun muttered as he ran his forefinger across his chin, sapphire eyes rolling upwards as he attempted to recall the non existent memory.

"I wish to speak with your headmaster, Leonardo Lionheart." The boy before them, wearing nothing but tatters, asked. "Is he in?"

Sun glanced over to the blue haired boy, who shrugged.

"I don't think you're old enough to enroll just yet."

"Nep!"

"Hey, I thought I told you not to call me that in public!" Neptune complained.

"Be nice to him." Sun said as he held out both hands, gesturing to the farmboy behind him. "He's just a kid! No point to be killing the dreams of aspiring Huntsmen. You were young once too!"

"I'm just saying he shouldn't even try at this age without proper training, what if something like the Vytal Tournament happens again?" Neptune muttered under his breath, and winced when Sun jabbed a fist into his side.

'Are they always like this?'

"I remember them being closer and less cautious. Not reckless mind you." Ozpin added when Oscar was about to ask if that was how all Huntsmen were. "They seem... more paranoid then an average teenager should."

When Ozpin made to look through Oscar's eyes, it was to see Neptune extending a hand in apology.

"Look, I'm uh... sorry, but... you're gonna have to work really hard if you want to get in. The last thing we need is for history to repeat itself."

"No offense taken, Mr Vasilas, and no apologies are required." Oscar waved off when Sun looked like he wanted nothing more then to strangle his friend.

Sun and Neptune just looked at each other, the latter shrugging with both hands open.

"Yeah... ok, anyway... The headmaster is sort of busy." It was Sun who answered as he quickly composed himself. "Been like that ever since Beacon sorta fell."

"Sort of fell...?" Oscar raised a brow.

"Haven't you heard?" Neptune asked as he held out his hands to cover his face and all 10 fingers started to fluctuate in height as he curled and uncurled them. "There's a new type of Grimm-Human hybrid on the food chain." Neptune pulled what he hoped what was a scary face enshrouded in shadows. In broad daylight, it managed to make him look like he ate laxatives for breakfast. "Some people are saying that it and the Dragon Grimm worked together to destroy Beacon, others think that it saved Beacon, but that's unlikely."

When Ozpin made to ask again, Neptune shoved his scroll in his face as the footage displayed of a glowing crimson eye enshrouded in ashes and blood.

"How many times do I have to tell you Nep, that thing cleared Beacon of all the Grimm!"

"I am certain you can confirm that it was not Grimm." Oscar's head tilted up to meet dark blue eyes and raised a brow. "You were one of many there fighting alongside other students, Mr Wukong."

"That's what I've been telling him!" Sun agreed as he crossed his arms in frustration, staring Neptune down with a self satisfied smirk. "See? Even the kid knows that it was a human in a suit of armo- Wait..."

They both turned to Oscar as they realized something. "How..." Sun stared at the boy up and down. "Did you know I fought for the Battle of Beacon?"

That was a good question.

How indeed.

Weiss's POV

"This life... is miiiiiiiine~"

Her voice carried throughout the auditorium, and as if mocking her, reflecting it back at her to hear with twice the volume.

Slightly low in pitch.

Imperfection.

...

It had to be... perfect.

A bright light shone in her face, while the rows and rows of seats surrounding her in a wide arc were currently unoccupied, not that it mattered.

She never cared to see the people that saw her as nothing but a gateway to her family's fame and fortune.

Even as a mere child, her father was already deciding her future for her. Business partners with young male children will bring their kids as courters to secure their future, not that she'd ever taken any interest in them.

Now that the heiress of the SDC came back after an amazing feat of defending Beacon, a tale of which her father would no doubt overexaggerate, and the fact that she's about to perform for the first time in what must be a year now, something tells her she was about to be swarmed with them.

Her hands went from overlapping one another in front of her chest, to falling slack on her sides.

It was nothing new, so why did she feel so... so frustrated?

"I should be used to it by now." She told herself.

This just felt... wrong.

Time felt like it had stopped for her ever since she'd been taken away from her team.

She wanted to go back...

But she can't.

If she wanted to change the way the SDC run things, she'd have to be put as CEO of the SDC.

Her father has her on the ropes, and she knew this.

If I slip up now... If Whitely gets the title... then the chance to change the way the SDC runs things will be ruined and gone... forever.

Her entire life was chained, shackled to stare into a mirror from birth.

The trip to Beacon had been nothing but a lucky break from her father, a farce, an illusion that she'd broke free of her father's grasp through teenage rebellion, just like how Winter did all those years ago.

Her gaze turned towards the window that showcased the shattered moon.

She straightened her pose, and her lips parted to let out a long sigh, before she went back to practicing once more.

As she sang in solitude, she had to wonder...

How were her friends doing?

Louis's POV

I swung Requiem to force the Nevermore back, who was currently trying to weigh our ship down by putting it's full weight atop the Bullhead while it's talons scraped and pierced at the roof.

It wasn't as big as the one in the initiation or the Fall, and by the size it seems to be very early in it's stages of it's life.

Which meant it was more determined, motivated, and reckless.

In other words...

Dangerous.

It squawked in retaliation and slammed it's side to the hull of the aircraft.

"And just how did it turn out this way?!" I yelled aloud.

Should have probably expected it, since y'know, the whole plane is basically riddled with negativity since you told them about the truth? My treacherous mind spoke out.

"Great." I groaned. "Even my own brain is against me."

"Louis. Concentrate, please?" Blake pleaded in panic as she shot Gambol Shroud in it's pistol form to draw back a flock of 3 or so Griffons nosediving from above.

"Easier said than... done Kitty kat!" I grunted to get out as I slammed the axe shaped pommel into the Nevermore's skull when it drew near.

A sickening crack resounded throughout the cabin, causing it to shriek in pain and cease in it's relentless assaults immediately as it flapped it's wings wildly in the air, the sudden gust of wind brewed up causing our ride to swerve wildly.

Ruby stumbled into my side with her back facing me, only managing to look into my eyes before I dragged her hood down and kept her head glued to the floor.

She rubbed her head where my palm had pressed down, and opened her mouth to complain.

"What was that fo-"

Dark feathery wings and razor sharp talons missed her head by a palm's length as it swooped in for the kill. The velocity it was going at was the only thing that caused it to miss and hurtle out the other side.

"Uh... Hehe... Nevermind...?" She muttered as she gave me a sheepish grin, before standing back up, brandishing Cresent Rose as her legs bent slightly before she put on a serious expression once more.

Kevin and Adrian both wielded an Obsidian Nova each, swinging them wildly, but were unable to hold on for long without getting overwhelmed and letting us take over. Regardless, both of them did manage to tag team a Griffon without any Huntsmen training, so maybe I should give them some credit for that.

That put canon Torchwick to shame, even with the consideration of the fact that he was too distracted to even notice it coming close.

Then again, canon Torchwick didn't weigh 250 pounds and was definitely wasn't willing to be an anchor.

Qrow had a few scratches across his forearm and a long laceration across his thigh, with the most noticeable damage being the huge gash across his forehead when he decided to slam it into the ship's interior.

No Aura equals No Semblance.

In other words...

This was all on me.

The drunk man fought like a madman as he took out his frustration on the unfortunate Griffons that came close, screaming like a banshee each time he ended one of the beaked creatures as it's slit throat sprayed ichor like a red flowing fountain.

His dark trousers were drenched with blood, though whether it was his own or not remains unclear.

Dwiki... was dodging Grimm left and right like a headless chicken. Or to be more specific, trying to keep them from reaching his scroll, going so far as to shield the device with his body, he seemed to consider it more important than his life.

"We are losing altitude," Penny said nonchalantly as the whole Bullhead blared with alarms, causing the whole cabin lit with a crimson hue. "Rapidly." She added after a dramatic pause.

"No shit!" Kevin yelled over the blaring sirens. "What do we do?!"

Peering through the hole where the young Nevermore had implanted it's beak in an attempt to impale us, I saw the unmistakable shape of a dark cloud rapidly closing in the distance. Obviously, upon closer inspection, it was anything but a normal thundercloud, especially with the white skeletal structures of solidified manes hung loose upon a lionized body and a scorpion's stinger attached to the tip of it's tail.

"Of course there'll be Manticores to add to the pile!" Derrick screamed as he flung his hands up in the air.

Shit.

Not giving us much of a choice here...

"Louis," Yang landed next to me after firing explosive Dust to keep the Nevermore away. "What do we do?"

Good question.

One I did not have the answer to.

"Guys!" A muffled feminine voice called out in panic. "You have to hurry, Cinder and her crew are going to Ha... WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING HERE?!"

"Took you long enough!" Kevin rushed to unlatch the glass coffin, and struggled to free the straps that was securing the maiden in place.

A thunderous squawk had it's heralded effect, and the rotund man ducked right on time as a stream of continuous pouring fire blew a hole in the oncoming Nevermore's skull, turning it into ashes.

"Thanks..." Kevin gulped while his face paled as Amber burned off the remaining binds, and both made their way cautiously to our sides.

"What do we do?!" Adrian asked from beside me.

"Jump!" I yelled.

"Jump?!" Kevin asked as he threw his arms up in the air. "Are you insane?!"

His eyes widened into dinner plates when he realized every Huntsman or Huntress in training already left the plane, with the boys and Amber being the last to exit.

I heard glass shatter.

A quick glance to the cockpit showed nobody in the pilot's seat.

I felt my boots reached the ledge of the doorway.

"Then you'd best come up with a landing strategy." I winked as I gave a 2 finger salute, and felt the rush of air from the difference of air pressure outside on the rapidly descending plane. "And fast."

I leaned backwards and dove into freefall.

I felt something on my feet, and gravity multiplying tenfold.

Weiss's POV

"Meh," The white haired girl shrugged, the echo of her heels clicking against the marble stage audible from one end of the room to the other as she stepped off, wrapping up on her practice session by taking a flute atop a table and drinking the fresh water within. "Whatever they're doing, they're probably better off then I am."

Louis's POV

"Urgh..." I grasped my head as pain permeated every part of my body. I glanced up and saw splintered branches from tall trees, the destruction no doubt caused by my landing. "Damn... that'd hurt."

I recall actually having a landing strat. What the hell happened?

"You're telling me."

...

Son of a bitch...

Now I remember.

"Get off me you dick." I struggled to get past as the air was slowly forced out of my lungs. "I didn't sign up to be your couch."

"Hey you did say to come up with a landing strategy." Kevin shrugged as he stood up, extending an arm.

"Evans did it first and Evans did it better." I scoffed as I took his arm. "What kind of landing strategy did you think you had when you grabbed onto my legs mid air?!"

"One where I don't die." He scoffed back while he patted me off any mud, wiping it on his shorts. "You have Aura to break your fall. I don't."

And just like that, I was pretty sure I don't anymore.

"Don't be a crybaby." I rolled my eyes as I cracked my joints. "Evans was gonna catch you mid air."

"Yeah, I'd believe that if only she doesn't only have two hands." He clenched and unclenched his fingers for emphasis. "2 hands, 4 guys, and I weigh 250. How do you think that's gonna play ou-"

A bestial roar cut our conversations short, causing my shoulders to stiffen with Requiem at the ready.

"What... was that...?" Kevin had his back to mine, voice lowering down to nothing but a mere whisper in fear of drawing the attention of the unwanted visitor. I silently gestured in a direction, and we hauled ass like there was no tomorrow, passing by dozens of trees and praying that heading in a certain direction would at least lead somewhere.

Anywhere but here.

Our feets sploshed against thick brown mud, but we pushed on as the ground started to rumble.

A Beowolf...? I questioned as we eventually broke into a large clearing. No... this was deeper, louder, and more menacing.

"We'd better find the others." I pointed out as I sought for any signs of life in the dense jungle. "Before... whatever that was, get to them."

"No... need." Kevin held out his hand as he panted for breath.

"What do you mea-"

He pointed in a direction.

"Louis!" Blake broke through the treeline as she landed in a crouch, rushing up to my side as wild yellow eyes looked at me up and down. "You okay? Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine Blakey." I replied, eyes roving up to her cat ears while I tugged a loose twig and a few dried leaves out of her raven locks. "You should be more worried about yourself. You're a mess. The others?"

"They should be somewhere nearb-"

"Lou!"

And just like that, Derrick came running with his purple hood flapping in the wind into the clearing, stumbling every once or so on some tall rocks that jutted out of the ground accompanied by the unevenness in the ground.

"Where's Amber?" I raised my brow, but Derrick held out his hand as a buffer while he caught his breath.

"She helped me... and Adrian, but we chose to split up... to find the others faster." He wheezed, taking deep gulps of air in between. "We-"

"What if the Grimm find you first?" I asked with a raised brow. Derrick paused and gaped. "Didn't think this one through did you?"

"Seems to be a recurring thing for you 'Earth' people." Blake chided, causing me to look anywhere but her hardened yellow eyes.

"Yeah well..." He scratched the back of his shoulder length hair and took off his beanie. "That won't matter for long if we don't get out of here! There's a-"

THUD

"Too late..." He gulped.

The crunching of trees getting uprooted from their place was growing louder now, and when we made to look, it was to see the silhouettes of sturdy trunks in a good distance getting bent to the point of snapping and falling like a stack of dominoes. Whatever it was, it was big enough to carve out a path that was headed straight for us, and the same, bloodcurdling roar we heard from earlier boomed in our ears, causing chills to travel down my spine and Blake to clench her more sensitive pair atop her head.

A dark shadow of muscular, hairy legs and thick, leathery skin was the first to appear as the gargantuan finally pushed through the last treeline that impeded its path.

"Great..." I groaned. "You didn't think you wanted to start with that first?"

"I was about to! But you asked about the others and-"

Everything else was tuned out as I watched the creature before me.

The Beringel strode towards us, bigger than the show ever shown before, towering over us like ants. It's red eyes were glaring at us warily through its thick bone mask as it's snorts came out between a large set of jaws in large puffs of fine mist.

It's massive maw clacked together as it dreamt of swallowing its prey in one bite.

In fact, unless we do something, that was about to become a reality.

Blake took a step back as Gambol Shroud mecha-shifted into it's pistol form, not that it would do much against the thick, bone plated armour that covered it's pectorals or the amount of flesh it had hidden beneath it's already thick skin.

Gambol Shroud would snap like a twig if she even attempted to fight it.

Kevin deployed Obsidian Nova, but I held out my hand.

Sure, it had a good cutting edge, but it couldn't pierce through if the one swinging doesn't put any power behind it. Which meant we'd have to get up close and personal, which was a big fat no.

It's gonna take out all our Aura in one hit, and that's if we're lucky...

Those beefy hands look like they could bitch slap us to the shattered moon if they want to.

Which means...

Well, I guess it's now or never.

"Blake." I called out.

"Yeah?" She responded as yellow eyes flicked to me for a brief moment.

Her shoulders were tense, gripping Gambol Shroud's hilt hard enough to run her knuckles white while the lumbering mammalian considered who to go for first.

"Glad to see you're still with us." I smirked in a way of what I hoped was reassuring, before my face turned dead serious. "Think you can distract em?"

"Who do you think you're talking to?" She snorted and rolled her eyes, but she smiled cunningly.

"If it gets too close use your Semblance to escape. If you could score a slash or two, that'll be great, but don't overcommit. I'll handle the rest."

"Wait, what are you gonna do?" Her eyes narrowed as her focus fully shifted to me. Her lips peeled back into an uncharacteristic sneer. "It'd better not be anything endangering again."

"We don't do anything and we're all gonna be endangered."

Blake's face turned sour, then nodded and scuttled off to the side with her athletic agility, covering a good amount of distance in a span of a few seconds before her combat heels dug into the ground and screeching to a halt.

She had one arm extended with Gambol Shroud at the end, firing a few shots that pinged off the bone armour of it's chest.

It reacted immediately, roaring and pouncing high in the air and blocking out the sun before landing with both hands to pound the ground into a human-sized crater. The reverberating tremors were felt where we stood, with it's epicenter being only about half a football field away.

"Anybody knows how to play flamenco music?" Kevin joked.

"Flamenco?" Derrick asked. "Why would-"

A deep clank resounded from Requiem as the top half of the blade shifted upwards while the larger and longer bottom part moved downwards, splitting it apart to allow an equal distance in the middle. A low hum followed by a fizzle revealed that crimson colored hard-light Dust was being conjured on the spot. The space was about a finger in height, but quite flat in length, running down the entire span of the blade from the pommel, and the tip itself being the only sharpened point, resembling a katana's blade lodged within the greatsword.

"Okay, so Lou has a sword that gets thicc and glows in the middle." Derrick deadpanned. "So what?"

"Just watch." Kevin crossed his arms.

I crouched...

And like a coiled spring, I launched high up in the air.

The Beringel was looking around for the remains of it's prey, bamboozled at the fading shadow that was Blake's decoy.

I holstered Requiem on my back diagonally, in a way that the hard-light Dust was exposed and within hand's reach as my body reached the pinnacle of my stunt, and started to arc downwards.

"First I whip it out!" The blade extended outwards and the hard-light Dust broke off like tinted glass, while I grabbed it with my padded gloves before sinking it into the Beringel's tendons with a violent hiss.

It howled in pain.

"Then I thrust it!" Another hard-light blade protruded from the tip of my sword before I broke it off again, seemingly conjuring in infinite amounts before I drove it into the mammalian Grimm's calf.

It roared angrily as it swiped at me, but I just leapt up in the air again.

"With! Great! Force!" Each word was accompanied by the hurtling of hard-light Dust while I was suspended in mid air, not that it had the same effect when I was up close as the Beringel swatted those projectiles away with ease.

Right as it was about to leap high up in the air, something struck it's leg. When my eyes honed in at the lower portions of its body, a black hilt with a crimson blade was lodged in it's foot, pinning it in place.

So distracted in pain it was, it didn't realize the weight that had landed on the bone armour located on its back.

With a battle cry, I nailed a solid pillar of Dust into its spine with just enough force to keep it in place.

"Every angle," It finally decided that enough was enough, and tried to swat the nuisance off it's back, only for me to hop off and instead ram the sharp Dust deeper into it's body and went out the other side.

It cried in confusion.

"It penetrates!" I grinned as I landed.

"Until...!" I held out a translucent crimson blade in each hand, doing a backflip and while suspended in mid air, like a dealer fanning out his cards, revealed even more of its duplicates lying underneath as it spread out with 3 in each hand, one in the space between each fingers that resembled claws, multiplying the blades into a total of 6.

"With! Great! Strength!" Again, each word was grunted as I spun my body around for added momentum, the crimson blades rained down on the Beringel to scrape a lower part of its body as it shielded its upper half with its large arms, the large beast finally tiring out from blood loss and being too exhausted to fight back.

This might be the only chance I'm gonna get, I'm not sure if it'll recover and do a second wind!

With both arms, I broke off the Dust from the tip of my greatsword as I landed on its shoulders, holding it high up in the air.

"I... Ram it in!" It struck through the eyehole in the bone mask, causing a fountain of blood to gush out and to spurt out continuously out of it's eye socket.

It roared as it tried to get rid of the hindrance that took out half its vision, once again only managing to push the solid Dust deeper into its skull as I leapt out of range.

"In the end..." I whispered as I landed lightly on both feet, before I clapped my hands. The crucifix around my neck and the cresent rings around my gloves glowed.

The hard light Dust all over its body glowed red hot and emitted a shrill screech before they each exploded around it's body in a small radius.

The Beringel went still, riddled with fist sized holes.

"We are all satisfied..." I snapped my fingers at the final crimson pillar sticking out of its spine.

Once more, the crucifix and gloves glowed.

It went boom, leaving a large, bloodied hole in its chest, as if someone had just drilled into it.

"And you are set free..."

The body of the Beringel tilted forwards, and fell with a resounding thud that echoed throughout the forest.

...

Derrick's mouth opened and closed like a fish.

"Told ya to wait and see." Kevin smirked and looked past me to make sure the Beringel's husk was evaporating. When it started to, he let out a relieved sigh before clapping. "Bravo. Quite the show you put on. It even got your resident pussy starstruck." The rotund man jabbed a finger behind him.

"Kev!"

Blake stopped fighting a long time ago and was staring at the execution in awe the whole time. For some reason, her amber eyes were slightly misty as her thighs rubbed against each other.

Right as I opened my mouth to ask her what was wrong, her legs bent inwards as she fell on her knees.

"H-hey..." I said as I walked up to her.

She wrapped her tailcoat to cover the front of her waist.

For some reason, her cheeks were flushed red.

"You uh... okay?" I asked as I extended a hand.

"I'm fine!" She snapped quickly. "J-just go... I'll... I'll catch up."

"You sure? It isn't safe here." I pointed out. "Nothing's to say that was the only Beringel around and I just ran out of StarDust." I said as the cresent rings around my gloves died. "Who knows what else might be lurking."

"I think I'm pregnant." A familiar voice cut through my thoughts as the familiar blonde haired brawler stepped into the clearing with her sister in tow.

Blake's POV

She definitely doesn't need to get up.

She was fine sitting on the grass on her own.

Purrfectly fine.

...

...

Damnit Yang...

She won't get up.

Not now.

Not unless she wanted to reveal that the patch of grass below her was soaking wet.

It's a good thing I brought extras... She thought as Ruby was as glad as she was that he wasn't hurt and barreled into him, with Louis in return twisting and spinning her around to bleed off the momentum.

She felt her pulse race as what he said echoed inside her mind.

She felt her heart start to hammer against her chest.

She felt her breaths came out hitched.

As her legs rubbed against each other, she couldn't help but think that she'll have trouble sleeping tonight.

No,

She knows that she'll have trouble sleeping tonight.

That's a given.

A/N

Oopsie. What did I just do?

Reviewer Sessions

paradox0.5white: Definitely an interesting concept which I would put into consideration. The drawback might even work in our favour this once if it's Dwiki getting it.

The Ancient Irish Viking: Hope that A/N up there explains stuff. Did I say anything about the Vytal Tournament? Hmm, I forgot. About being Couer, I am still a far cry's away from ever being him. He is, and always will be, FF's number 1 writer, nothing will change that. I can only hope that people enjoy my fics the same way they enjoy his.

DankAnon: Thank you! Hope that the slow burn angst from our Kitty Kat wasn't too slow. Idk why I'm being painted the target to lose my virginity here, but eh... ok! Keep on hoping! Evans does not approve of him and Salem, not at all. Nope, just an underrated Semblance of voiding Aura.

sacke110: I thought you were rooting for Arkos xD. Guess i can kill her now. Yeah it's cool, that's most people's reactions. But you'd better not skip out of the outfit desc's, those were made specifically for you xD. Don't we all want to see Jaques dead or Raven being given a talk by her family? I will tell you that they feel VERY safe in their comfort zones right now due to me babysitting them, so that's natural I guess.