I don't own RWBY. RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth.

The Forever Fall is unique in Remnant for its unique coloration. Its red leaves are evergreen, or in this case everred, all throughout the year. Inside these trees are sap that is used as a nutritional and medicinal booster. All in all, I would say it is a pretty good place to go.

Too bad I'm stuck in here.

Yeah, Ozpin wasn't kidding about how long my punishment was. While RWBY and JNPR all go frolic in the forest, I'm forced to clean out the vents. And yes, actually clean, not just shoot Grimm.

For the last couple of days, I've been tasked to not only shoot any Grimm in the vents, but also clean out the dust and rust inside. It's the most boring, tedious, dull, drab, onerous, and unpleasant experience to try and clean one spot for over 15 minutes because the stupid spray won't work and the dust has been there before the fossils!

Basically, it sucks.

However, there are some upsides. I'm getting better with my Mod Gun. The shotgun feature is freaking killer! Seriously, one shot shreds almost any Grimm!

Oh, yeah, Grimm. There's a lot more of those assholes than just monster spiders and mantises. There's the Swarmer, flies that can split into smaller versions of itself. And it's so fast! Every time I try to line up a shot, it dodges, like a foot away. Pro tip: always use shotgun instead of rifle mod on this. Trust me.

Then there's one that looks like a cockroach called a Scamper. They're really fast, can crawl on walls and fly, and they're so hard to kill. I swear, I think I got one and in the next second, they're up and trying to eat my face again!

There are also Rynos, Meltinis, and tiny Creeps and Lancers that get in here as well.

You know what they say: It's ain't much, but, by God, its hard work.

The school was less noisy today because of the whole Forever Fall trip. A bunch of the first years all went to get sap or something for a Professor Peach. I don't remember who that is because I'm ninety-nine percent sure I slept through all their classes.

So, it's just me, my Mod Gun, and several hundred cubic feet of vents and airways. Man, I wish I was doing something else besides walking and cleaning.

Thunk!

"Ow!" I held my foot that bump into something metallic. I looked down at some ball of scrap metal.

"Huh, wonder what's that doing here?" I asked to no one.

The ball looked like it was forcibly torn apart and put back together. Its color pallet all mixed up that didn't blend well. I got an acidic smell from it as well. Something made this, but what?

Oh, well, not my concern. I picked up the ball to put in trash can I have a ways back. When I bent down to grab it, I got a whiff of something bad. Something that smelled like rotting flesh. I should have gone immediately towards it, like any good horror character, but I went back to throw away the ball. One, dead flesh is something you really don't want to get to, and two, littering is still considered rude, even if it's in an area where no person is likely to go to.

Slightly regretting my decision, I followed the stench of death further down the path. Unfortunately, I reached my target all too soon. You ever seen an uncooked chicken? Well, I found that, but baby size and covered in yellow gunk.

I expressed my thoughts eloquently.

"Eeeuagh!" I cried when I saw the dead bird. God, I think it might not have been hatched yet. I poked the animal with my gun to confirm it was dead.

It didn't react, so I'd say it's a fair bet.

Great, now I have drag a dead bird all the way back to the trash bag. And my hands are going to smell awful. I was about to grab the bird by its stunty legs until I heard some scuttling in the way forward. I could either investigate a potential dangerous invasion, or I can drag a dead bird all the way back to a trash bag.

Deciding to face possible death over certain grossness, I ignored the bird carcass and went down further into the tunnel. I brought my gun out and put in shotgun mode. There was nothing but almost darkness as I went further in. Okay, I could see walls but nothing interesting.

That is, until I started to find some black gunk on the vent walls. Okay, definitely Grimm infestation. Some Grimm make territory by spewing black gunk all over a place. Which then reminded me of how animals mark their territory.

Shuddering, I kept slowly making my way further into the vent. It finally led to an opening, and I saw the full extent of what I faced.

A whole section was covered in black gunk, along with trinkets and other junk. I also saw sleeping Grimm that looked like a mix between ants and termites. I would later learn that these are called Legions, and that they make colonies in dark places.

Trying to place this area in connection with Beacon's rooms, I remembered there was a study room in Beacon that no one uses anymore because of people complaining about mysterious bites. It all made sense: Grimm bit those people to defend their territory! Oh, wait, they're monsters who want to kill humans, why do they want territory?

I looked around to find a bird's nest with eggs situated across the way. It would be easy to just carry it out there no problem. Except that a bunch of unconscious Legions were guarding around it.

I would question if Grimm needed sleep, but I feel asleep in Port's class and that's no one's fault but his.

"Okay, you can do this, Davey," I whispered to myself, "Just take quiet, small steps."

I tip toed my way over to the nest, careful to not step on any limb. Finally, I got over to the nest. It was slightly bigger than me, with the six eggs being around the size of my torso. Storing my Mod Gun away on my back, I picked up the nest rather easily. I always though bird nests were heavier. I once again resumed my infiltration out of the colony. It was going really well too.

Until I stepped on an alarm that went BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! I frantically tried to get it to stop by stomping on it, but it went off on its own. Amazingly, none of the Legions woke up.

I let out a sigh of relief. "Guess those stupid bugs are heavy sleepers."

I heard something behind me and turned to see hundreds of Legion eyes staring right at me.

"Ohhhh, nooooo…"

I booked out of there, totally not screaming all the way. Carrying the rest and having short hind legs made this a challenge, but fear and adrenaline can do wonders. Like running away from a Legion Grimm wave.

I ran full out, taking turns at random. I heard the ever-present scrapping of legs on vent walls by the Legions.

There! Finally, an exist! I ran at it, breaking through it and tumbling into the open. I landed gracefully and not on my face. While getting grass out of my mouth, I noticed that all the eggs were out of the nest…and in the air.

Moving quickly, I managed to catch all of them before they hit the ground. I let out a sigh of relief. Not even a crack.

"Okay, let's find you guys a place where your mother could find you," I said to the unresponsive nest. But, before I took a step, I heard…flapping.

I looked up and saw a very big black shadow dive-bombing towards me.

"Aahh!" I dove out of the way and barely missed being skewered by talons. The bird turned around to try another run.

This little birde was huge! It was overall black, but it belly was white. It looked like a raven and was bigger than me. It circled around and came in for another attack. I held up the rest on instinct. The raven flew out of the way and landed several feet behind me.

I opened one eye and turned to face the bird. Its beady eyes held what looked like frustration as it couldn't get to me without harming its babies.

"Hey, let's take it easy, big fella," I said as calmly as I could. "I don't want to get hurt, and you don't want to hurt these guys, right? I mean, they are yours, right?"

"Caw!" The raven said. I guess that meant yes.

"Okay, I'm putting the nest down." I slowly lowered the nest to the ground and back away. The raven hobbled over and moved the eggs over like it was inspecting them.

"Yeah, see, happy ending for everyone. You get your kids back and I don't get turned into baby food."

"Caw!"

"What do you mean you're missing couple?!"

The raven pointed at the nest with its beak, signifying that some of the eggs were missing.

"I did my job already! And I'm sorry to tell you this, but one of your kids is toast, feather breath! You know the rules of nature!"

The raven hopped over the nest and landed on top of me. Its beak was inches away from my face. Its message was clear: there were still more eggs missing, and you're helping unless you want to become dinner.

"Okay, message sent." I said. "I think the rest of them are in there," I pointed over the vent I existed out of.

The raven looked at the exist and back at me, signaling I would have to go back there.

"Fine, but you have to come too!" I protested.

"Caw!"

"I don't care if you say you can't fit! It's your parental obligation to take care of your kids!"

One of its talons was suddenly pressed very close to my face.

"Okay, I'll help."

The raven got off of me and I stood up. "I should tell you that there's a lot of Grimm in those vents."

"Caw."

"Yeah, I got a gun, but it's still a lot!"

"Caw!"

"Listen, those kids are trained for this. I'm on, what, week two by now!"

"Caw! Caw!"

"Experience, shemerience, I'm out numbered ten to one."

"Caw."

"Yeah, I guess that makes some sense. Thanks for the positive encouragement, bird breath."

"Caw."

"Don't be so hostile, jeez,"

I really don't know if that was all in my head, or the raven actually did understand me. Who cares, time for Operation: Save the Babies and Exterminate a Colony! Needs fine tuning.

I once again returned to steel walls of the vent. Fortunately, there wasn't a horde of Grimm waiting for me, but that could easily change. I backtracked to where the colony was, only getting lost once.

The colony was a lot emptier than before, with most of the Legion troopers probably scouring the vents for me. Fortunately, the egg was out in the open. Okay, that might be a problem. I cautiously walked over there and grabbed it.

"Huh, that was easy. Too easy," I said to myself. "Please don't prove me wrong, please don't prove me wrong, please don't prove me wrong."

So far, nothing happened.

"Whew! Now to take you home and-" A low rumble was felt beneath my feet. I turned to see a very large Legion staring down at me. That right there must be the Queen.

I fished out my Mod Gun and aimed it at her, shaking.

"Back off, I'm warning you!"

The Queen just tilted her head and started approaching. Screw it. I fired the shotgun in her face. The Queen backed up from the blast with her head whiplashing.

"Hah!" I cried too soon, as the Queen moved her head back, uninjured and very mad.

"Oh,"

I high tailed it out of there with the Legion Queen behind me. It was too close quarters for me to fight properly, so I had to get this outside.

I made my way to the exist again with the Queen on my tail. With the more open area of the outside, it made sure I had more room to fight. Unfortunately, that also got the Legion Queen to summon more of her soldiers to fight.

I looked back to try and find the raven. It was sitting up on elevated ground where its nest was.

"Hey, could use some help here!" I yelled out. The raven opened its wings and flew towards me. It snatched the egg from my arm and flew back to its nest.

"Oh, come on! At least help or something!"

Too late. The Legion queen had already gathered a sizable chunk of her forces and it was just me holding the line.

"Okay," I said trying to be cool, "Come get some!"

I got about three of them before they overwhelmed me. I had to jump around on rocks and tree branches to take them out. This lessened some of the numbers, but I was still overwhelmed, and my friend wasn't helping.

I looked at the raven. "You know; you can come in any time you want! Or now!"

"Caw!"

"Wait, who do I shoot to take them all out?!"

"CAW!"

Okay, so if I take out the Queen, I could cause a chain reaction that would eliminate the whole colony. Worth a shot.

I switched to the rifle mod and took aim. The Queen was back, near the entrance. I could have taken her out then and there, but these Legion drones keep crawling up to my branch and makes it harder to get a good shot.

Fortunately, the raven decided to get off its feathered butt and take out some of the invading drones. I aimed carefully at the Queen and fired.

BlAM!

A shot hit the Queen in its eye. The yellow oval was now gone and leaking black smoke. That also pissed it the hell off as it charged right at me. The raven took wind of that and dive bombed the Grimm, turning it over on its back. I took aim again and fired.

BLAM!

The bullet hit it in its exposed neck. The Queen twitched and shuddered before dying and disintegrating. Soon enough, without a leader/birth mother, the rest of the Legion twitched and died.

I let out a breath of relief and sat down.

"Finally," I said relieved, "I don't care what Ozpin says. I'm done for today."

"Caw!"

The raven grabbed my attention. It pointed down at its nest and then back up to a higher branch. It needed my help to get the nest back where it belongs.

The sun was starting to set by the time me and the raven got the nest up on a higher branch. It wasn't easy work, with me having to push the darn thing and cling onto a tree at the same time. Still, at least the raven helped carry it up there.

We were resting on the branch as the sun proved a warm glow across the campus. Hey, wasn't the Forever Fall trip supposed to be done by now?

"No need to thank me. Even though I did do all the work." I said lying down.

"Caw!"

"Okay, you helped a little."

"Caw!" And that bird threw a stick at me.

"Hey!" I turned to face it.

It did some sort of cawing laugh. Then looked at me seriously.

"Caw."

"Oh, so you're saying I can call you whenever."

"Caw. Caw caw caw. Caw."

"Oh, okay. Well, don't expect me prostrate myself over you when you come knocking."

"Caw."

'Hey, what do you mean 'annoying'?!"

Our conversation was cut short by Bullheads landing at the flight pads.

"Well, looks like it's for me," I stood up. "See ya next time?"

The raven stared at me with its dark, dark eyes that held some sort of wisdom for the ages.

"Caw."

"Yeah, me neither. Later!"

I crawled down from the tree and ran to the landing pads. Sure enough, RWBY, JNPR and the rest of the first years who went to Forever Fall. I ran up and climbed on to Ruby's shoulder.

"Hey, hey," I greeted everyone. "So, how was the field trip?"

"Oh, it was really pretty," Ruby answered.

"And the sap was delicious!" Nora yelled.

"Yeah, and Jaune took down an Ursa all by himself."

"Really now, did he?" I said.

Jaune's been acting even more down between my fight and Forever Fall trip. I looked to find him walking away with a new confidence I hadn't seen before.

"Huh, I guess what I taught him finally stuck, huh," I said.

"Pfft, you didn't teach him nothing," Ruby said.

Okay, I was glad for the little guy was improving. He kind of reminded me of myself: two dudes that aren't really prepared for what's coming, but surviving and getting better. Although, I'm much more prettier.

Everyone went to their rooms, the teams were talking about the trip and how chaotic that was. There was an incident with rapier wasps and Cardin and something or other, but it ended all nice and easy. Or what I remember. I don't have a very good attention span.

Okay, another chapter written and done.

I didn't make this into another retelling of Forever Fall mainly to give Dave some unique stuff to do. It makes him feel less like a tag along, and more of a tag along with a very long leash.

Once again to those who favorited, followed, and reviewed already! I am once again asking for more reviews; those really help out!

Another thing: I uploaded my very first crossover. Check out RWBY-Morphs: The Remnant by either going through my page, the RWBY crossover page, or the Animorphs crossover page. It's a passion project of mine and I will be working and uploading both this story and my other one whenever I can. So, please, read it, tell me how you feel about it, and I'll try to upload the second chapter soon.

For now, so long, and see ya later!