This mission will be vital to the success of Cinder's plan. The Homeguard are already on high alert due to his earlier actions. He can't afford to mess up now.

His actions from previous missions had put the Vale Homeguard in a far more precarious mood than he originally expected. They were incredibly sparing in sending soldiers and huntsmen to strike against him, most likely out of fear of his combat prowess. So, he had a solution; strike deep into Vale itself.

The Homeguard were caught with their pants down as Grievous appeared deep within Vale's borders and began striking Towns all over. His plan here involved far less killing and far more noticing, simply having people report his movements with the odd huntsman kill was enough to get the Homeguard moving.

He had prepared a forested valley for their assault. The trees were far too dense for air support to be an option. The Valley itself would provide a collection of terrains to maneuver through. He had White Fang set traps all around the valley ground in preparation for this day.

He watched from the treelines as the Bullheads, every single one of them filled with a mix of soldiers and hunters, got closer. The voice was nagging him once more, words of redemption and damnation spilling out as empty threats towards his psyche. The threats were zoned out quickly as a small Nevermore landed on the branch across from him. The voice of his queen took its place as she told him of the total amount gathered to hunt him.

The Hunt could now begin as the first of the Homeguard touched down.

In all honesty he shouldn't have been surprised when the Bullheads still in the air began firing into the valley with rockets and machine guns.

He made himself as this massive threat to any who would dare cross his path, so why should they take such a risk. Grievous nimbly dodged out of the way of the shrapnel rain that was now overhead. His attention then drawn to the fire that was taking over the forest below him.

The Homeguard were burning down the forest around him with flamethrowers.

Pyrrha watched as the Homeguard gave no quarter to the surrounding forest, their rain of devastation clearing the path towards the enemy. They were expending massive amounts of ordinance for the sake of leveling this forest on the chance that Grievous (that was the name it called itself) was within. The flamethrowers were simply an insurance that if he was there he would have no place to hide.

Then she saw him, lunging out from the trees with a sword in each hand.

Grievous let the first blade flick out of its grip as he brought it down onto the first soldier that got close. He was forced to improvise a bit die to the pressure that the Homeguard were putting on him, but this will do. He pushed the button and the blade was wrapped in electricity before it cut through the man like a hot knife through butter.

He saw then bathed in the flames of numerous flamethrowers while the airships above took aim.

Grievous was not stopped as he lunged at the nearest man and threw him into the path of the first volley of ordinance, the flamethrower on his person still spewing flames as he was thrown. The collision between the man and the rockets created a massive smokescreen which gave Grievous the chance too wreck havoc.

He used the smoke to cover his approach as he rushed the closest squadron and sliced them to pieces with a glowing blade in each hand.

Then another squad.

Then another.

And another.

By the time the smoke had fully cleared he had discarded the first two blades, one broken while the other drained of power, and had another in each hand. The ground all around him writhe with men and women cut to pieces by his onslaught.

Now the ships were aiming all their guns at him.

Pyrrha just watched in shock as Grievous cut through several squadrons of the Homeguard without difficulty. The strange blades in each hand glowed with power before making a mockery of armor and aura alike. She was already on the ground but had yet to engage, but she has to be sent in soon unless this thing starts attacking the Bullheads in the air.

His mechanical legs pushed his body faster than any human or grimm could run. A storm of bullets raining down upon him in an unending fury as the Bullheads fired off their ammo supplies in anger. Few shots ever hit him as he maneuvered through the now destroyed forest.

Few Bullheads moved in to pursue, most dropping off more troops before getting back into the air.

Those that did follow were at a disadvantage as even destroyed the forest still made it difficult to fly into.

Grievous used this chance to leap onto one of the pursuing Bullheads and cut into its engines. He leapt back into the trees as the craft went down and exploded on contact with the ground.

The few others tried following only for Grievous to jump between them and slash wildly with his blades. Many of them crashed into one another before exploding. Those that didn't explode crashed into the ground, killing most on board.

Grievous made sure that those who survived the crash did not make it out of the forest.

The others were moving in, Pyrrha following close after. The Bullheads that had followed after Griveous were left as wrecks and scrap, the crew within all dead. It was horrible, but she pushed on, she wanted to avenge Jaune and nothing was going to stop her.

When Grievous returned he was moving fast, cutting into anyone either far ahead or far behind the main group. It was picking off any who would stray, like a predator stalking prey.

The the traps began cutting into the group further. People were pulled into the tree line, others falling into pits filled with poisoned spikes, one was even trapped in a hole that was rapidly filled with concrete before the others could get them out. The forest was turned into hell for them, so they were pulling back.

Anyone who could be retrieved from the traps alive would be brought back, while all those killed in this battle would have no such dignity.

It was upsetting, then a series of explosions from the clearing got their attention. People dropped what they were doing and rushed back to the sights. Injured were left behind in the rush as all remaining were greeted by the sight of Grievous, standing ominously in front off a row of destroyed Bullheads.

It was so simple, let the Homeguard spend time getting the wounded out, then destroy all the Bullheads on the ground. So many of the craft that had once been in the air had willingly grounded themselves so they could retrieve those who had wandered into the forest.

A foolish error.

Now he stands, facing off against all those left from the Homeguard who had pursued him. To his back lay the burning Bullheads and dead men who tried to stop him. He would finish off those who stood in his way now.

Then he saw a girl with red hair...

And the Voice Went BERSERK!!!

It was staring, no glaring at her. She didn't know why but it saw her as an offense. Its eyes seemed to be maddened from seeing her. She could pick up if its soulless eyes were glaring with hatred... or with something else.

The voice shouted louder than it ever had before. It was cursing, shouting to what ever may be listening, never stopping as it saw Pyrrha Nikos in the crowd. It was cursing Ozpin, his Queen, even the brothers themselves for his fate and the image of Pyrrha before him in the crowd.

He would have to silence it fast, less it impare him for the fight. For now they both stood, one enemy facing another.

Then he rushed forward with a new set of blades drawn.

It rushed towards us, little seemed to stop it. Then she caught it. Just a little of course, one of its feet were caught in the grasp of her semblance. Then she pushed him back.

Grievous seemed confused as it was pushed back in its assault, then it narrowed its eyes at her. It made sure she was looking as it swung its blade and took off the offending limb before she had time to trap the rest of him.

Then it darted back and forth towards the group, its points of contact becoming random and powerful.

She dared, she dared to stop him. He had felt her grasp upon his foot, and cut it off for stopping him. He was going to kill these fools no matter what they try against him.

He had to end this soon or else the voice would become overwhelming. It just kept screaming louder and louder. It was evident that the Homeguard could see something he could not, their faces becoming wrapped in confusion.

Its eyes were changing, sapphire blue seeming to pool within the center of the blood red. Nobody was sure why it was exhibiting such a change, maybe it's showing it's real colors ? maybe it's a ploy ?

No one was sure why its eyes were changing.

All.

Except.

Pyrrha.

For she recognized those sapphire eyes. Those eyes which she spent so long staring into, dreaming of the day she could be with the owner of those eyes. Their shine was evident of only one person.

Jaune Arc.

Grievous just watched as Pyrrha seemed to freeze up, as though she was shaken by a revelation. He would not care for whatever she bow knew, if it was something that prevented her from getting in his way then he had no qualms with it.

This was just the chance he needed to sheer through what was left of the Homeguard. Their words falling on the deaf ears of one Pyrrha Nikos as he cut through them with little regard. Their executions were unceremonious and unfulfilling as they just panicked and ran like scared children.

There was no Grimm here, just him, but their fear would be enough to silence the voice just long enough to kill the troublesome pest.

He let none escape as Pyrrha kneeled there on the ground, her own despair flowing through the air in thick waves. Her own weapons would become a prize in his collection, such fine additions they would be.

It killed them all, Jaune killed them all. Is this thing even Jaune ? What did this to him ? Why must reality frown upon him ? Why must I lose someone to such a monster ?

These questions and many other invaded her mind as she became numb to the outside world. Her own reality being shattered by the mere idea that this thing was Jaune. Maybe she was trapped in a nightmare and would wake up any moment now in the Jnpr dorm room ?

No.

She couldn't fool herself with such a false hope.

Whatever this thing is, it's not Jaune, no matter how alike those sapphires were when she laid eyes upon them.

This thing was a monster.

A monster she would cull from this world for Jaune's sake.

He hadn't expected it, one moment Pyrrha was completely devastated on the ground, the next her eyes were over taken by wrath.

The instant she looked up with those firy eyes, his body was trapped like a puppet. His limbs were violently snapped and warped while his torso was twisted and maimed. Pyrrha would only look at him with rage as she continued to destroy his body.

There was one thing he could do to stop her, granted she didn't damage his voice box to heavily.

He had to wait first, he stop moving. Letting her handle his body like a ragdoll for a short time before she stopped. Once she did, she went back to kneeling on the ground, not even looking up.

Then he spoke; "Good hit" this was his first words to her. She seemed shocked that he would compliment her of all things, considering the fact that she had just mangled his body. "If my queen had a chance to meet you, she would have had a good use for you" his voice grew more distorted the longer he spoke, the damages from her assault finally bearing some kind of fruit.

"What makes you think I would want to meet your queen ?" Pyrrha snapped back. "Oh, few reasons, you want to see that Arc boy again don't you ?" this was his bait. "And how would you know about Jaune ?" she was now standing, the black glow of her semblance evident that she would thrash him worse than before if he lied.

"He's currently undergoing treatment at my queen's fortress, he will soon be back with the living" he was only half lying with this.

"How ?" was her simple question.

"My queen saw potential in him, a potential that was squandered by your academy" he pushed her further. "Beacon did not squander him" she shot back. "Did it not, considering the actions of the student majority, I would think that such would show it squandered him" he was pushing her even further. Pyrrha was tongue tied at this, unable to think of any response.

"So, would you like me to bring you to him, let you help him recover ?" this was it. Pyrrha was looking at him, her face torn between duty and temptation. "How do I know you aren't just trying to trick me ?" she asked. "That's the thing, you don't; you can return from your suicide mission and be branded a failure by Ozpin, or you can come with me and meet my Queen"

She seemed to consider it, deeply tempted by such an opportunity.

Then he struck.

One thing she was not aware of, was that the inner-most mechanics of his body were an amalgamation of black flesh and metal. So no matter how violently his body was torn and twisted, he would always move as though he was freshly made. So when he shot his body up from his spot and grabbed Pyrrha by her neck, she was caught completely off-guard.

He was not going to let her get away, he was going to strangle her for all the problems she had caused him.

He could barely register the sudden return of the voice in full-force before all was black.

She couldn't believe it.

One moment Grievous was killing her, shouting about all the annoyance she had caused her. Then he just stopped. He dropped her on the ground, his arm still stretched out as though he was still strangling her.

Then she saw it.

His eyes.

His eyes were completely blue, the same sapphire blue of Jaune's eyes. They were looking down at her with sadness and guilt as she could barely move. He spoke but one word to her before his body collapsed.

"Run"

So she did. She ran, limped really, in the direction the few remaining Bullheads had gone and didn't look back.

She didn't listen to anything the others said to her when she returned. All she could think about was one thing.

Jaune was alive, and he was trapped in that thing called Grievous.

All right, I make an Arkos one-shot then proceed to make a chapter tearing at Jaune and Pyrrha's hearts (and Jaune's mind). Hope you all enjoyed this one, see you guys next time.