[Earlier]
{Justin/Achilles' perspective}
I'll admit this now: Dying the first time was painful, faking my death is even more so. For one her blade didn't even go through my body, only the point. The other thing due to waking up gasping for air. I saw Jaune looking down at me with Ren, Nora, and Pyrrha guarding. So I can take a guess what happened. "Hey, you're finally awake!" Jaune said. I tried to sit up only for him to lay me back down "You shouldn't move yet, your aura is still recovering." Jaune instructed. I chuckled and retorted "Ok Nurse." I layed back down as the rest of JNPR fought off the grimm "So… Judging from the amount of grimm here, I'm assuming I wasn't out long." I observed. Jaune nodded "Right, someone talked throughout the broadcast. And then cut everything, and now there's a Wyvern heading for the School it seems." Jaune said which caught me up to about everything I needed to know. "And I need Pyrrha Nikos to come with me." I heard Oz say somewhere out of my vision. "Professor, we want to go with her." Jaune said looking at where I assume Oz is. "I do understand you want to protect the one you love. But this matter is confidential."
Pyrrha looked down at me. I think she told them she then said "He who desires, but acts not, breeds pestilence. Right Achilles?" She said with a confident look. I nodded back at her with a smile "Right you are." Pyrrha looked like she told them anyway as she turned back to Ozpin "I… told them, they understand what's at steak here" I sat up and turned around to see Ozpin looked like he wasn't too pleased "You told them?" Ozpin asked. "Hey Professor Oz," I intervene "If I may?" Ozpin nodded "Pyrrha is an excellent judge of character. She would know who she can trust and who not to. And whatever it is y'all are talking about, I'd say trust her and her team." Ozpin seemed to think on what I said for a moment before sighing "Team JNPR, you are to escort me to the CCT, we cannot let it fall to the Wyvern." JNPR nodded as I stood up "Mr Vermillion, you cannot fight. As your headmaster I forbid it." I stretched myself out and cracked my knuckles "See… the problem with that is…" I then took out my scroll and pressed the button for my locker. It appeared and my weapons, Demon's Kiss and Bismark Reaper were both in there. "I've always had a problem with authority figures." I then grabbed Bismark Reaper, which had since been repainted to match my color scheme. Black and Red in case you're wondering.
[On the ground]
I managed to meet up with Keoth who gave me a funny look "Aren't you supposed to be dead?" He asked. I then retorted "My death was… highly exaggerated." I told him "Now let's go and see about your waifu and make sure Pyrrha doesn't die here tonight." he nodded and we ran for the Cafeteria just in time to see Yang was about to get her arm cut off. "Keoth, launch me!" I said as I unsheathed my blade. Keoth nodded and took a swing at me. I jumped slightly and let the momentum push me forward. I flipped my blade into the mordhau grip as I prepared to slam the guard into Adam's stupid edgy face. Which also broke the wing on my guard in half leaving it as a nub.
[Present]
Which leads me to now, mad-dogging Adam while Yang yells at me "Achilles you shouldn't be up right now!" I didn't look away from Adam as I said "Get Blake out of here." Blake then shouted "You can't defeat him, you said so yourself!" I shook my head "It's not about beating him, it's about giving you two enough time to get away. I'll be fine, GO!" Yang and Blake seemed to have run off, judging by the footsteps slowly fading behind me. Adam chuckled at me "You really think you can hold me off?" I shook my head "No, but I can make sure you won't have an entertaining night." I then did something that I normally never do, I touched my head and drew a line down to my torso, then drew another line across both of my shoulders with my opposite hand while chanting "In the name of the father, the son, and the holy spirit. Amen." Adam tilted his head "What is that? A prayer?" He asked. I didn't respond, I kept a good eye on his blade. I know he's fast and uses Iaido Jutsu, or the Japanese equivalent to the quick draw, and can deflect bullets so can't use my pistols or else risk him slashing through my aura, not to mention he still has that one attack that was meant for Yang so I need to be careful there too. Adam then attacked me, grabbing the hilt and slashing at me, I dodged it and went in for a counter attack, only for him to parry and slam his sheath against my ribcage. I think I skidded at least a foot or two before he charged at me again. I parried his attack and went in for a pommel strike. Though before it made contact he grabbed my hand, effectively stopping my attack. I went in for a kick and he blocked that with his leg. He then headbutted me, which hurt quite a fair bit. I held my head as I glared at him. I then put my glasses on my shirt collar so that they don't get damaged during this.
[Meanwhile on the airship]
{Aaron/Moon's perspective}
Roman is furious with me, probably for the right reasons but I can't exactly blame him. He did raise Neo as his daughter so yeah… Oh you're wondering about the fight right? So I fenced him with only one of my blades and he did everything in his power to try to get at me. And by that I mean bludgeon me to death. But seeing as how I am a better fighter than Justin is, this is no problem. Eventually he launched a rocket out of his cane and grabbed it with the cane and launched it at me. I ducked under it and ran up to him. I parried a few more attacks before disarming him and pointing my revolver at him "It's over Roman." Roman looked back at Neo who had Hush pointed at Ruby and completely distracted. Roman looked back to me "Sorry kid, but in this life, it's kill or be killed." He then slammed my finger into the trigger forcing me to fire my weapon into his head. Neo turned around and looked back at me with horror as Roman fell to the ground with a grin on his face. He knew what he was doing. "Neo- I didn't- he just-" Before I could explain, Ruby pressed the button on Hush and sent Neo flying. She then got up as a grimm appeared behind me apparently. How I know this is because she leveled Crescent Rose above my head and shot the thing. I didn't care one way or another because now Neo will probably be after my head. She then shook me "Moon! We gotta go! This airship is going down!" We then jumped off the airship propelled by Crescent Rose and landed on a nearby building. I looked back at the school where Kevin the Wyvern was heading.
[nearby the Cafeteria]
{Justin/Achilles' perspective}
We clashed and I grabbed his arm as he grabbed mine. Sparks flew between our blades. "I'll admit, for a human you've impressed me." He said condescendingly. I smirked back "Aww… is the bull getting sentimental?" He chuckled back and headbutted me which made me stumble, though my sword was ignited. So I slashed at him, which would have worked if he didn't jump out of the way and landed a hit that my Bismark Reaper barely blocked. Oh right, I have that. I sheathed Porfyrós Drákos in favor of that weapon, extending it out to its full scythe form. I then slashed and fired my weapon somewhat mimicking Ruby's style. And it was going great for a while. But Adam managed to see through most of my attack after a while and managed to slash through Bismark Reaper, once again making me stumble, then dodged incoming attacks I threw the pieces to the sides of me and unsheathed Porfyrós Drákos once more. I kept my eye on Adam as he did to me. "Though now… I see disappointment. I saw your fight in the tournament. Yet… I see none of that here." I took a deep breath to calm my nerves. I know what he's trying to do. Get under my skin so that I'd attack blindly. "Though I do wonder… after I'm done with you… who should I kill next? We then walked around each other never breaking eye contact. "That blondie?" He continued "The little red hood? … Blake? … The Heiress?" I kept calming my nerves. "Tell me Adam… What reason would you have to attack this school?" I asked. He didn't drop his look at me "I don't answer to lesser beings like you." He said with his blade pretty much pointed at my throat. I pointed mine back at him. Just then I heard a familiar voice behind me. I have no idea how far behind me due to my sensitive hearing. But it was enough for me to recognize it was Blake. Why is she coming back?! "Achilles!" She yelled. I turned around and pointed towards where I figured the landing pads were "Blake! Get back now!" That turned out to be a mistake. You know those moments where your life feels like it's going in slow motion? Well it happened to me, everything slowed down as I turned back to face Adam only to find he was in the process of cutting my arm off. The blade passed through my arm with no effort. And then I saw my arm fly off its socket. Time resumed as normal as I screamed out of agony. I stumbled away to then feel my jacket fall off and as I inspected it I noticed it was cut in half before Adam tried to stab me in the face, I barely dodged in time as he managed to draw blood from my face. I soon was sent flying with a swift kick. I then noticed I was on the ground. Adam walked menacingly towards me. He said not another word, or maybe he was and I was still in shock. Jury's still out on that one. The last thing I remember was Blake standing over me before the blood lost made me succumb and the world turned black.
[CCT Tower]
{Keoth's perspective}
I finally managed to catch up to JNPR just in time to see that Cinder had won her battle. Pyrrha looked up at the tower and started to walk towards it. I grabbed her shoulder "Pyrrha, there's nothing you can do. You're only marching to your demise this way." She turned back to me and smiled "But I'm the only one who can." I sighed and turned to the rest "Get Glynda or someone, me and Pyrrha will hold Cinder off." Pyrrha was about to protest. But I shot her down "I won't let you take her on your own."
[Landing Pad]
{Blake's perspective}
This is all my fault. I wasn't strong enough, and now Achilles is out cold, my friends could be in danger. All because of me! "Blake! What-" Weiss yelled before realising what had happened. I carried Achilles away from him, he doesn't deserve to die here. Paramedics came and bandaged his wounds and mine too but I couldn't help but repeat "I'm sorry… I'm so sorry." I heard Ruby and Moon walk to us with Ruby asking "What's going on?" Moon knelt next to his friend and noticed his left arm was missing. "Blake?" He asked as he slowly turned his head to me. Out of my tears I answered "Adam." He dropped his head and nodded. There were airships coming in to take away the wounded. I also heard footsteps. Moon looked up with confusion as did Yang. So I looked where they were to see the back of a man with blonde hair and a red trench coat with odd patterns on it. The pattern almost looked like… Wings of a dragon? He also had a sword strapped to his left side with two guns on his back. Much like Achilles... He seemed fixated on the Wyvern. He then spoke "All of you have weapons, and none of you are even attempting to take that down?" the red stranger asked while keeping his gaze on the Wyvern. Yang then retorted "Don't you see the size of that thing?!" Sun added "Pretty sure that thing wouldn't be affected by our attacks!" The red stranger then chuckled. And red wings unfurled from his back and launched himself towards the Wyvern. Yang then looked at me in confusion "Was… that a faunus?" I shook my head. No wings look like that on any faunus. They almost looked… Reptilian? Dragon-like? I have no idea. Not that I can think because we then heard a roar and as we all turned our attention towards the sound we saw a beast like no other. The features I cannot describe due to the way it positioned itself in front of the moon. What I can make out is that it has horns protruding backwards on the head and had spikes all the way down its back and a tail that looked like the point of a sword. And the wings were like those on that red stranger's trench coat.
{Keoth's perspective}
Well I managed to convince Pyrrha enough to follow Cinder. Only problem now, it's two half maidens and me, one angry boi. And I doubt I'm even doing much. But if I can get Cinder to focus on me more, maybe Pyrrha will survive tonight. I noticed the Wyvern was heading straight at us. And just as it was about to break the CCT tower, something crashed into it and I watched to see something that looked like a goddamn dragon just absolutely tearing it apart. Cinder was even distracted long enough for me to get a decent hit in the back of her head. She skidded and turned back around with a glare. Which allowed for Pyrrha to beam her in the head with her shield. "Good move Pyrrha!" I cheered. But I guess I celebrated too soon since she got right back up and looked rather angry, mostly at me. She came at me with blinding speed. I swung Justice at her and she grabbed it, yanking it out of my hand. She then put her hand on my eyes and used her semblance on it. It hurt like hell and the only thing I can remember next is Pyrrha telling me it'll be alright.
[Meanwhile, elsewhere]
The mysterious beast shredded at the Wyvern as it tried to fight back. The beast that had taken the Wyvern by surprise slashed its claws at its attacker to no avail. The beast had its teeth sunk into the Wyvern's neck. Soon it was slammed into a mountainside. The shadowy beast let off and let the Wyvern get back up. The Wyvern, acquiring its new target, roared at its attacker as it roared back. They circled each other. One waiting for the other to strike. The beast headbutted the Wyvern, and the Wyvern countered with trying to bite at its throat. The beast then slashed the wings of the Wyvern off with its claws. Once the wings were gone the Wyvern was soon overwhelmed by the green eyed beast and was set ablaze by its fire breath. Standing victorious, it raised its head up to the shattered moon and gave a mighty roar. Before taking off into the sky. Those on the ground hardly knew what to say. They didn't know what that monster was, or who the mysterious stranger that had spoken with them just moments ago. All they knew is they needed to evacuate. Pyrrha then yelled out "Hold on!" As she ran from the school with Keoth, guiding him towards the airship that they were on. Aaron saw this and expected the worst. And when Keoth came closer, his fear was realised. Keoth's eyes were burnt to a crisp. And it looked like he couldn't see anything. The airship then took those wounded to the hospital.
[10:30 am the next day]
Yang and Blake stayed at the hospital, hoping for their friend's recovery. Aaron walked in after spending the night in a hotel room. Though he himself couldn't really sleep either. Seeing his friends injured and close to death again, not to mention what happened with Neopolitan, he didn't know how to think. "Hey, you guys look like shit." He remarked. Yang, barely responsive with bags under her eyes, glared at him "And you look like you were hit by a bus." She retorted. Weiss then strolled in. With Jacque in tow. They went right up to the counter. Jauque said "I was told there was a Vermilion here." he said condescendingly to the person working the counter. "I wish to see him."
The guy working the counter shook his head "I'm sorry sir, only family can visit him at this time." Jauque then pulled out some lien and handed it to the clerk. "Perhaps this will convince you otherwise?" he asked. The clerk sighed "Down the hall, room 232." Jacque smiled at him "Thank you." He then walked to the room beckoning Weiss to come with him. Soon he found the room that Justin, or as Weiss knows him Achilles' room while the doctor was checking on him. "Excuse me sir, you can't-" He said before Jauque cut him off, "I want to know who this roughian that has been galaventing with my daughter is." He said before taking a good long look at him "Weiss… are you sure this… man is a Vermilion?" he asked. Weiss nodded "Of course father. It is his last name and his looks match his sister in some ways." Jacque, skeptical of anyone from the Vermilion family surviving the flames of Fortuna La Porte, leaned towards the doctor and asked "Can you do a blood test?" The doctor raised an eyebrow "Why?" He asked. Jacque put a hand on the doctor's shoulder. "I want to make sure he actually is a Vermilion." The doctor nodded and left the room. Jacque then turned to Weiss "In the meantime, we will be staying until either I get the results or he wakes up. Then he will come with us to Atlas." Weiss, full of confusion, asked "Why do you want him to come with us?" Jacque waved away the question as he walked away.
Once he was outside, Yang, Blake, Aaron also known as Moon, and Ruby walked in. "How is he?" Ruby asked. Weiss looked back at her friend with a grief stricken expression. "He's still not awake. And barely responding." She told them. Aaron then walked up to sit by his friend. He shook his head somberly at Justin. "You are a grade A dumbass." He mumbled. Yang tapped Aaron's shoulder "Hey, he'll be fine, I'm sure of it. That nevermore only took him out for a week. If he can survive that, he can survive anything." She assured half-jokingly. Aaron sighed and shook his head "I suppose you're right. But he has always been one to charge blindly into danger. Whether it was our games, or during training. I told him it'd get himself killed one of these days. Looks like it's finally catching up with him." Soon Justin's weak groan made the room go silent before he mumbled "yeah, yeah…" Silence filled the room once more. Blake's tears started to roll down her face. She could barely take it, seeing her teammate… no her friend getting injured like this. Why? Why would he do something so reckless? And why come after her and Yang? Did it have something to do with his 'visions' that Yang talks about? Yang gave Blake a hug as did the rest of her team. She had to let it all out, otherwise it would eat away at her.
Aaron got up and walked to the other room where Keoth was. He opened the door and saw Keoth just staring at the wall in front of him. "Hey dude…" Aaron opened. Keoth turned to face Aaron, or the general direction he was facing. "Everything alright?" He asked. Keoth glared "Oh you know, everything is fine… except I CAN'T FUCKING SEE! HOW DO YOU THINK IT'S GOING HUH?!" Keoth bellowed. Which made Aaron retort "HEY! DON'T YELL AT ME! I KILLED ROMAN BY MISTAKE MOTHERFUCKER!" Keoth then yelled "WELL I WAS BLINDED BY CINDER AND HER GODDAMN, CHEAP-ASS, SEMBLANCE OR MAGIC OR WHATEVER THE FUCK THAT WAS ON HER HAND!" Aaron took a deep breath "Sorry man. I didn't mean anything by it. Let's just calm down." He said trying his best to de-escalate the situation. However, Keoth was furious still with how he lost his sight. "I will calm down, WHEN I SNAP CINDER'S NECK!" He yelled. "How are you gonna do that?" Aaron asked "Even if she has half the maiden's powers, she's still a force to be reckoned with." Keoth was about to retort. But stopped and growled at himself. Aaron sighed "Look, if it makes you feel any better, I'll avenge your sight when we're at Haven." Keoth grunted as he looked away from his friend. There was a moment of silence between the both of them before Keoth asked "Is he alright?" Aaron stared out the window for a bit, coming up with an answer. "... Yeah, he's just out cold. Adam cut his arm off. I can't imagine what will happen when he finally wakes up to see his arm is gone." Keoth nodded "It definitely won't be pleasant for him. Getting disarmed like that."
Aaron glared at Keoth but gave an irritated sigh. "I guess it's good you're making jokes now at our friend's expense. I… gotta get some fresh air." Aaron said standing up. He then walked out the door and took one last look at what team RWBY was doing. They were all around his friend, taking turns talking to him for the most part it seems. Aaron then walked out to the balcony and leaned on the railing. He stared out to the distance for what he felt was ages before hearing the voice of a familiar person. His teammate Velvet. "Room for one more Moon?" She asked. Aaron nodded, not really wanting to say another word. Velvet, hesitating at first, put her hand on Aaron's shoulder reassuringly "If you need to talk, I'll listen." She said with a smile. Aaron sighed and nodded "Yeah… It's been… rough to say the least." He told Velvet somberly. "With all that had happened at least… Y'know; Beacon, My friends getting injured, my ex possibly now wanting to kill me…"He said looking towards the sky. He then mumbled "And needing revenge on a certain copy-pasting motherfucker." He cleared his throat and continued "It's just… Difficult to say the least…" Velvet nodded. "I do understand how you feel. Coco and the others got injured during the battle. And I could barely do anything to stop it." Aaron shook his head "No Velvet, you did amazing out there. Meanwhile I was stuck in the air with Roman, Ruby, and Neo." Aaron said to Velvet, which she was surprised to hear from him. She smiled "Oh- um… thank you." She said not sure how to respond. She then started to rub her opposite arm "But… I doubt I can compare to you after what you did." Aaron dropped his head with a sigh. "I'd rather I'm not praised for taking a man's life." Velvet's ears drooped as she nodded. "I understand…" She then looked back into his eyes. "Listen, the team is heading to Vacuo, we're planning on being there while the school gets rebuilt." Velvet said with a smile. "It'll be fun I'm sure." Aaron looked back out on the distance. "Velv… I'm… not going with you guys." He said somberly "As much as I want to, there's some things I need to work out before I do anything. Maybe sometime down the road we'll meet back up. But for now… It's better this way." Velvet slowly dropped her head with a nod. "Oh…" She said with tears forming in her eyes. Aaron put his hand on her cheek to wipe a tear away "Hey, this isn't goodbye forever. It's more of a 'see you later' type of goodbye." He told her with a smile. Velvet then gave him a hug which Aaron returned. Meanwhile team CFVY was watching from the door, Coco and Fox gave each other a nod. They then walked away from the balcony to give them some much earned privacy.
In the room that Justin, also known as Achilles, was occupying. Team RWBY talked to him to motivate him to wake up. "Hey remember all of those times where you tried to show off and failed?" Yang said with a small giggle "It was funny as hell. And you even laughed at yourself." Weiss nodded "And that time you taught me how to de-stress for finals week? It helped out a lot with studying." Blake couldn't think of anything to say. She still blamed herself for him getting hurt, and didn't think that he'd want her to say anything. The rest of the team noticed "Blake?" Ruby asked. Blake didn't want to meet her team's eyes. "It's my fault…" She mumbled. Yang walked up to her and tried to comfort her. "Blake I-" Blake then turned around quickly and cut Yang off "It's my fault he's like this! And none of you are mad at me?!" Yang then put a hand on her shoulder and said "It's no-one's fault he's like this. We just have to keep visiting him until he's better." Blake then walked past her team "I… need some time alone." She turned around to face them and said, "I need to go back home to Menagerie. I need to be with my family while I sort through things" Her team, though hesitant at first, nodded at each other. "If you're sure, we'll wait on you to return. Team RWBY is nothing without it's B." Yang said as she walked up to Blake.
Weiss then cleared her throat "Well until either he wakes up or father gets his blood tested, I'll be going to Atlas. Father wants me home and there's not much I can say otherwise." She said as she looked back at the man they came to know as Achilles. Yang tilted her head in confusion "I thought your father 'didn't deal with low commoners'?" She asked while imitating Jacque. Weiss couldn't help but giggle "Normally he doesn't, but since he's a Vermilion he has a sudden interest in him. Even I had whiplash when he marched back to the limousine." She explained. Blake nodded and started to walk away. Yang noticed and ran after her, grabbing her by the shoulder. "The least you can do is say goodbye y'know." Ruby and Weiss soon joined alongside Yang. Blake shook her head "He'll be mad at me once he wakes up. There's no reason to." She stated, getting out of Yang's grasp. Justin on the otherhand was stuck in his own mind. And dreaming a bizarre dream that even he wasn't prepared for. He woke up in a train station holding his head "God where am I now?" he said as he looked around. He saw his friend Aaron next to him and tried to shake him awake. And eventually he did. "Where the hell are we?" Aaron asked.
A voice then cleared their throat and said "Testing one-two, on- two. Can anybody hear me?"
Author's note
I know I know. "Another goddamn filler arc?" Well there is a good reason I am doing this. It allows me some time to piece together a storyboard without starving you guys of content. Besides my friends and I have been joking about the BlazeBlue 2.0 story arc… and it's also a lazy excuse to crossover with A Ferret in Remnant as well as Beast within Remnant maybe. Anyways, hope y'all enjoy it. I won't be doing as many A/N's because of the fact I have done it so many times in the past chapters. I honestly want to edit them and delete them. But something is preventing me from doing so. Anyway, Volume 8 is legit lit rn, especially since Bumblby seems to be getting closer to cannon.