John sat by the fire as his teammates slept, his rifle never leaving his hands as he scanned the surrounding forest for signs of Grimm. He took his Scroll out of his pocket with his free hand, then began sifting through his contacts. As the number of their Atlas handler appeared, he tapped on it, prompting a call to them. The call quickly flatlined and a notification reminding him about the absence of Beacon Tower appeared to rub salt into the wound.

"Dammit," he muttered as he looked up through the trees at the night sky.

"You know, there's a reason we don't let Lux take shifts keeping watch anymore," Saffron said, causing John to jump and fall over, "It's a bad idea to place your safety into the hands of someone who's distracted." John glanced over at his teammate, who was sitting up from her sleeping bag.

"I'm fine," John snapped, hastily pocketing his Scroll.

"I've spent years having to deal with Lux. I know when a person can't get a thought out of their head."

"Do you think he's going to have scars?"

Saffron frowned and raised an eyebrow, clearly not fooled by the deflection, until she finally gave up. "Well, he was picking at his scabs faster than his Aura could finish healing his cuts, so I'd say it's likely. Although, it was mostly healed over the next day, so who can say for sure?"

"Right, right." John leveled his rifle at what he thought were red eyes, only for them to vanish into the darkness.

"You know, I could probably try to rig up a communications relay using my arm cannon," Saffron offered, causing John's heart to stop.

"Why would we need that?" John asked, doing his best to feign ignorance.

"So you can report to Atlas. That's what you want to do, right?"

"I…I don't know," John said as his gaze dropped to the dirt, "I don't think I'd get that warm a reception, anyway."

"I'm sure whatever General Ironwood is planning, he'd appreciate that you're planning on coming back. He doesn't know who the hell you are, but still."

"Yeah, I guess," John said.

"Tell you what," Saffron said, "I'll take over watch for you. Get some sleep."

"Thanks," John said, slowly getting up and moving over to his sleeping bag, "That's very kind."

"Not really," she replied, crawling out from her own sleeping bag, "My shift starts in two minutes."


"And on your left, you'll see something so incredibly rare, you'll want to bring a picture of it home to the kids," Lux said as gestured to their surroundings like a tour guide, "Behold, trees, trees, and more frickin' trees!"

"You're in a good mood," Saffron remarked, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Why are we still on the path?" Lux asked, "If we're actually going to find Akane and her team, we'll have to start looking offroad."

"Because we're still quite close to Mistral," John replied, "I heard about a team of Huntsmen in training being found by Grimm smoke the day we left. They were all the way in that old village, Kuroyuri, and that's still a ways away. If your friend's team went down this close to the city, patrols would have taken notice of smoke coming out of an unpopulated area, whether it was from Grimm or their airship. Therefore, their whereabouts are probably closer to villages like Shion, and Higanbana, out of reach from the patrols. So, we stay on the road until we get to a point where they might not have been found, and then we begin spreading out our search."

"Fine," Lux sighed. It was quiet for all of two seconds before he spoke up again. "What if they're a fluke? What if they got passed over for some reason? What if—"

"Lux, you really think they'd get lazy that close to such a densely populated city?"

"No," Lux admitted, deflating like a punctured balloon, "Sorry. Again."

"You're just worried about them, Lux. It's nothing to apologize for."

"You know what is?"

"What?"

"I was also kinda hoping to see something more than just snow and trees for once, and part of me wanted to fan out to go exploring."

"Well, I'm sure that…" John trailed off as he noticed Blaze stop in front of him. "Blaze, what's going on?" he asked. Blaze just stared forward, leading the others to peer around him at the ruins of a village. A sign at the edge of the settlement labeled it as Sayuri Village.

"Looks like you're getting your wish, Lux," Saffron remarked, gesturing for the Faunus to follow her into the village.

"Ooh, a bunch of houses in a forest in the middle of nowhere," Lux muttered as he did as he was told, "Whoop-de-freakin-doo." Blaze began to follow his teammates when John grabbed his shoulder.

"Is this it?" his team leader asked.

"Yeah."

"We don't have to stay here for long. I can get Saffron and Lux and we can just pass right through."

"It's fine," Blaze said, shrugging off John's hand, "I think I should stick around for a while, actually."

"Alright. Whenever you're ready, we can head out."


"Find anything?" Saffron called over to Lux.

"Nope," he replied, throwing a chunk of rubble over the village's collapsed rooftops, "No ammo, no food, and no pieces of technology you told me to keep an eye out for. Whoever came here first cleaned it all out." He sighed and leaned back against one of the walls that was still standing. "Who do you think did it?" he asked, "My bet's on bandits."

"I don't know," Saffron said, "Bandits don't cause this much damage. The Grimm, on the other hand…"

"There's barely any claw marks. Besides, Grimm don't clean everything out."

"The situation here is a bit more complicated than either of you realize," John said as he approached, "And it has to do with Blaze."

"What are you talking about?" Lux asked, "Isn't Blaze from Atlas?"

"That's what his records say."

Lux's eyes widened. "Did he—"

"We don't know. They found him in the rubble, unconscious, and he says he doesn't remember what happened. But his Semblance started running rampant, and after a few more incidents, they had to bring him to Atlas in order to better contain him. When he was finally able to control it, I guess they let him loose in Mantle, only for him to enroll at the academy a decade later."

"How do you know about this?" Saffron asked.

"They told me when we got paired. I think my Semblance is the reason they put us together. You've seen how well it works to calm him down."

"I don't think you get to refer to it as calming him down," Lux said.

"I'll keep an eye on him. You two keep looking for supplies."

"Got it."

Lux and Saffron made their way deeper into the village while John returned to a position where he could watch Blaze. Whatever his teammate was going through, he wouldn't have to be alone.


Blaze knelt down next to the ruins of his old home, the wooden sign labelling it as the Tytus residence mostly decayed away. He wrapped his fingers around the piece of wood that had him pinned all those years ago and broke it in two before casting it aside. He crouched down and stared at the two skeletons that lay there: his mother and father, rotted away to nothingness. Their bodies were gone, but Blaze knew exactly which one was which, knew which one had tried to comfort him when his rabbit was mauled by a pack of Beowolves, knew which one tried to shield him when those Beowolves came searching for the source of his screams.

He lifted the fallen roof off of the skeletons and brought them both close to his chest. "Mom, Dad, I'm here," he whispered as he hugged them tighter and tighter, "It's okay." All of a sudden the bones snapped, causing Blaze to stumble backwards as the crack echoed in his head. He looked down at his hands, finding them stained and bloody. Screams echoed in his mind as he scrambled away from the building; screams of pain, screams of fear, screams begging for mercy.

Blaze grabbed the hand on his shoulder and flipped it over his shoulder, causing John to cry out in surprise as he hit the ground. Blaze glanced at his hands, finding them to be normal once more. He shook his head to clear away the memory, then got to his feet. He offered a hand to John, and his team leader graciously took it, pulling himself up to his feet.

"You okay?" Blaze asked.

"I'm fine," John said, rubbing his arm where Blaze grabbed it, "Are you?"

"What do you mean?"

"It looked like something had you shaken up. Did you see something?"

Blaze hesitated for a few moments before finally giving his response. "No."

"Hmm," John said, obviously not convinced. Before he could press the matter further, however, the screech of a Nevermore drew both of their attention.

"We've got a lot of Grimm headed this way!" Lux reported from the rooftops.

"How many?" John shouted.

"Enough to flatten this village again!"

"We need to get out of here!" Saffron said.

"No, the Grimm will just follow us," Blaze said, "We need to take them out, now."

"Blaze, are you sure about this?" John asked.

"Just get Lux and Saffron out of here and be ready to knock me out before more show up." John scowled, then reluctantly waved for his teammates to follow him out of the village. As Blaze watched them leave, he began to shiver and shake. His eyes became bloodshot, and his mind suddenly filled with all the ways he could tear apart anything he came across.

The Grimm horde began their onslaught with a pack of Beowolves, who circled around the lone Huntsman. They were accompanied by a pair of Beringels, waiting at a distance to take advantage of any weariness their prey might exhibit. A trio of Nevermore circled the village overhead like a vulture, anticipating a moment to get in on the feast. Blaze cracked his knuckles, ignoring the spikes on his gloves that poked at his palms, before raising his fists in preparation for the coming bloodbath.

Blaze selected a victim among the Beowolves and lunged, replying to its roar with an enraged cry of his own. He tackled it to the ground and brought down his fist, crushing its skull against the pavement. As the Grimm dissolved into the air, he grabbed another one and tore its arm from its shoulder before shoving the dismembered limb through its chest. Two more tried to claw at his back, but he deflected one and caught the other. The one he deflected tried to snap down on his throat, but Blaze repositioned the Grimm he held hostage so the attacker killed its own pack member, causing smoke to spray out of the wound. He rewarded the surviving Beowolf by breaking off one of its fangs and slitting its own throat before impaling it between the eyes.

One of the Beringels ran over to one of the ruined houses, lifted up a large piece of stone from the wreckage, and hurled it at the man tearing through its ranks. Blaze batted it aside before knocking into the demon gorilla, smashing them both through the building and out the other side. He ripped off a piece of its rib-like armor and began bludgeoning it until it went limp. As the other Beringel approached from behind, Blaze broke off a jagged chunk from the pavement and ran the Grimm through with it.

A roar alerted Blaze to more enemies approaching from behind, allowing him enough time to turn and dodge the pouncing Manticore. The hybrid beast skidded on the pavement as it passed, its paws and tail ripping up stone bricks as it tried to stop itself. Even without looking behind over his shoulder, Blaze knew it wasn't alone. A whole pride was likely on their way.

Good, he thought, More things to kill.

The Manticore opened its jaws to spew a ball of fire as Blaze charged at the Grimm, diving past the flames as they flew by. The beast swung its spiked tail at the Huntsmen in an attempt to bring him down. Blaze caught the tail and swung the Manticore before throwing it through the house blocking off view from the tail square. As it struggled to its feet, Blaze saw John, Saffron, and Lux duck into the village, firing their weapons at what was likely more Grimm that cut off their escape.

"Dammit, where'd these come from?" Lux growled as he disconnected his hilts, which had been in bow form.

"Just keep picking them off and avoid Blaze!" John replied, firing several bursts at the unseen Grimm, "Whatever you do, don't get caught in his line of…" The team finally glanced away from the entrance, realizing that it was too late.

"Shit," Lux said, forming a shield in his left hand and a sword in his right. Blaze looked back at the Manticore and charged with every intent to finish it off. His teammates could wait for later. As the two combatants prepared to meet, the rest of the beast's pride charged through the gateway that Team JLTS was taking cover behind, forcing them to dive away from the Grimm.

"What's the plan, Steele?" Lux asked as he started to pick himself up off the ground.

"Spread out, keep moving, and don't let Blaze hit you!" John replied as he darted out of sight, with Lux and Saffron quickly doing the same. Blaze tackled the first Manticore and grabbed its tail before wrapping the appendage around its neck. As its pride members moved in to assist, Blaze yanked as hard as he could on the tail, creating a loud snap. Before the tail turned to ash like the rest of the body, Blaze tore it free and swung over his head before bringing it down on another Manticore. The bone covering the beast's face gave way with a crunch, and moments later, tail and Grimm alike broke down and blew away in the wind.

Blaze and the five remaining Manticores scattered as Nevermore feathers rained down onto them. The offending bird was sick of waiting, and dove towards the Huntsman, its beak open wide to pluck him from the ground. Blaze grabbed one of the feathers embedded into the ground and jabbed it into the Nevermore's left wing, causing it to screech in pain as it came crashing onto the ground and into one of the entrances to the village. Two Manticores were unable to get clear of the wounded creature and were killed on impact, although their horns and spiked manes further served to injure it.

Blaze ripped up another feather from the pavement and hurled it like a javelin into the air. The makeshift spear impaled a second Nevermore, sending it falling out of the sky and flattening another building. As the Grimm crumbled to dust, Saffron ducked behind another building in an attempt to stay out of sight. The three Manticores that were still standing decided to cut their losses, but the grounded Nevermore blocked their escape, meaning the only way out was through Blaze. In a desperate attempt to retreat, they began ramming the Nevermore, trying to kill it with their horns so it would disappear and clear the path.

"Oh, no you don't!" Lux shouted, jumping down from one of the rooftops and decapitating the lead Manticore with his axe as it prepared to stab the Nevermore's throat. One of the last two tried to avenge its pack member, but Lux deterred the beast when a follow-up swing cleaved through its facial armor, just narrowly missing the beast itself. Lux's confident smirk vanished when he realized that Blaze was winding up for another feather throw, this one aimed at him. He dove to the side as the quill soared past him into the Nevermore's beak and out the back of its head, vaporizing the beast as it died.

The body wasn't the only thing to disappear, as the feathers that were turned against it vanished as well. The pair of surviving Manticores attempted to flee, forcing Lux back into Blaze's sight. If they were allowed to escape, more Grimm would come, and their own window of escape would be shot. That couldn't be allowed to happen, no matter what risk came with trying to stop them.

Two shotgun blasts rang out moments before two slugs went through the one of the Manticore's skull, turning it to smoke. The last Manticore turned to search for the other attacker, a fatal mistake. Lux jumped into the air and brought his axe down in between the beast's eyes, finally finishing it off. The Faunus traced the source of the shots, finding John holding one of Blaze's shotguns, the one with the grappling hook underneath the barrel.

"Lux, move!" he shouted, disappearing into thin air. Lux didn't have to be told twice, especially when Blaze hurled a giant chunk from a collapsed roof at him. Blaze moved to follow his teammate when the sound of Saffron's arm cannon firing took hold of his attention. A blast of concentrated Ice Dust shot out from behind one of the houses and hit the Nevermore overlooking the fight. The final Grimm fell out of the sky as ice formed around it and froze it solid, its trajectory placing its landing right next to Blaze.

Right before the frozen Nevermore hit the ground, Blaze punched it as hard as he could, shattering the ice and the bird inside into slightly smaller pieces. The piece that contained the creature's chest was sent flying and slammed into the house that served as the source of the ice blast, demolishing it in the process. Saffron let out a shout as the house collapsed on top of her, enveloping her in dust. As the dust cleared, Saffron crawled out from the rubble, her Aura flickering.

"I'm pinned!" she coughed, "A little help here?" As Blaze grew closer, her arm cannon returned to the form of her pistol and she opened fire on her rampant teammate. Blaze dodged the shots with ease, still advancing towards Saffron. John opened fire on Blaze, but several stray shots flew past and struck Saffron, which finished off what Aura she had left and forced John to cease fire.

"I can't get a clear shot!" John shouted to Lux.

"I'll handle him!" Lux replied, forming a sword and shield and charging at Blaze.

"Wait, stay back!"

Lux swung at Blaze's neck, but his teammate ducked under the attack with ease. Before Lux could raise his shield, Blaze countered with a punch to the gut. The blow alone was enough to shatter the Faunus' Aura and send him flying backwards. Lux managed to catch himself with his sword just in time to avoid slamming into a wall, an impact that likely would have left him with a severe concussion, at best.

Blaze turned to finish Saffron off, stepping down on the rubble she tried to struggle free from and causing her shout in pain. He placed one hand in his other palm and prepared to crack her skull open like an egg. Suddenly, his Aura dissipated, allowing him to finally snap out of his bloodthirsty trance. He felt at the back of his head before giving in to exhaustion and collapsing, forcing John, who appeared behind him, to catch him and carefully set him down on the stone ground.

"You okay?" John asked as he cleared the rubble holding Saffron's feet hostage.

"Yeah, I'm good," she said, grabbing her team leader's hand and pulling herself to her feet.

"Lux, anything broken?"

"I'm fine," he said, wincing as he stood up, "We should get out of here, before more Grimm show up."

"You'd rather go out where there's no walls between us and them?"

"Did you see how well these walls held?"

"I'm the only one who still has Aura. We need to take shelter at least until you three refill yours." John drew his pistol, made sure the safety was on, and pointed it at Lux's leg. "Would you like me to demonstrate my point?"

"Fine, fine," Lux grumbled, "Let's spend a night in the death trap."

"Sounds great," John said, "I'll take first watch."


You know, I'm considering that since I don't have that much different to say in these notes, I'll just have them occasionally include bits of trivia related to the chapter, similar to the concept art at the end of the more recent episodes of RWBY. For example, I had another version of the chapter from Blaze's flashback onward. The skeletons breaking would trigger Blaze's Semblance as well as a more fleshed-out flashback that mixed with his current rampage, but I found it rather confusing as to whether it was actually how the event happened as opposed to what I meant for it. It also felt too convenient that the Grimm showed up the moment Blaze accidentally activated his Semblance, compared to him activating it because the Grimm attacked, and so I cut it. Experimentation with the note aside, hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I hope you had a great Whatever You Celebrate This Time of Year/Nondescript Winter Holiday/normal day!