Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or any of its franchise.

A helpful guide incase you get confused:
"Dialogue."
'Thoughts. Definitely Jaune. 100%, trust me.'
[Semblances]

Chapter 19 - The Shadows of the World

As par of course, my plans derailed spectacularly the second they started. It was getting to the point that I was considering not planning anymore when Aura users were involved; they were simply too annoying to plan around. However, my gripes were set on the backburner as soon as Melanie and I jumped straight into a fight against the Reds.

The fall was not really that long. In fact, it was perhaps the shortest fall I had experienced lately. My rather spectacular record of jumping off tall buildings aside, this fall still gave me enough time to gather my thoughts about the upcoming fight.

Lilac was definitely the most dangerous of the two. I had fought her before, and the way she used her Semblance caught even me off guard. Rather than hope one of my teammates doesn't make a mistake while fighting her, I would rather take most of the danger myself. However, that didn't mean I was making light of the other Red member. They were dangerous in their own right, but a Huntress, or Huntress-in-training, and Melanie could probably hold on for a couple minutes.

I hit the floor before my thoughts could finish. Yet, there was none of Melanie's Aura to block the impact. My knees and hips buckled at the drop, and I caught myself with my hands as I folded on the floor, finishing with a roll that no doubt bruised my shoulder to bleed off the rest of the fall. Instantly, I felt a surge of energy begin to build within my gut. A burning mass of heat that seemed to churn and boil along with my emotions.

Sucking in a breath of dusty air, I pushed those feelings down, letting them fester. The link to Yang's Aura was still going strong, and I had to give it to the girl for not simply punching everything that moved.

[Limited kinetic energy absorption. Energy-emotion translation.]

Yang's Semblance was something interesting. The energy absorption was something I had seen quite often in different forms before, but the second part was what drew most of my attention. It was what turned Yang from simply a bruiser that punched harder to a perpetual motion machine that was only held back by her own emotions.

To put it simply, Yang's Semblance was all about gathering enough energy through getting a sufficient impact. Then, once that energy was gathered, the second part of her Semblance came to light. The energy-emotion translation was exactly as it sounded; the more energy she got, the more volatile her emotions became, and the more volatile her emotions were, the more energy her Semblance produced. This cycle could continue so long as Yang made sure not to spend all her energy in one go, and theoretically, according to my power at least, had no limits.

And the fall had served to start my own cycle.

"Jaune! What did you do?!" Melanie yelled beside me. I felt her Aura dip from the fall, and I knew that she felt her Aura only drop by a bit. She had been expecting to take the damage for two people, so her worry was warranted.

I was already breaking our promise. I knew she would definitely grill me later, but if I could save her Aura in her fight against one of the Reds, that was worth it. There was only a moment to give her an apologetic smile before I funneled the building energy in my stomach into my legs and shot straight at Lilac's Aura.

[Single wavelength phase transformation. Thermal visual perception.]

The effort to pull on Aura was minimal. Familiar information was piling into the back of my mind as I tried to take in the entire situation. Yang's yell had come too suddenly, and I was already used to working on the fly, so it wasn't long till I had the full picture in my head.

The room was large, seemingly built into a naturally formed cave with concrete pillars as support to hold up the manmade portions of it. On the far side, there were massive doors built into the cave's craggy walls that I figured were used to smuggle in larger products like Dust or weaponry. I was a little worried about the roof falling on top of us as several pillars seemed to have been destroyed in whatever fight happened earlier.

Yang had seemingly kicked up another cloud of dust to obscure vision in the room, and there were lingering clouds that I supposed were caused by Lilac's attacks as well. That had played into her favor as I followed her Aura, watching as she evaded the Red's pursuit. Of course, this had the opposite effect as Lilac's own Semblance gave her a supreme advantage in vision. And with her Semblance, I could make out the figures of everyone despite the cover of dust and debris. She had seen us drop into the basement, but had prioritized the flickering Aura of the remaining Union member, rushing to him almost the same moment I had started running at her.

That meant she was the biggest threat on two counts: her lethality and her visual advantage. All that came together to tell me she was my main target.

"Melanie!" Pulling my thoughts together, I yelled into the air, knowing that Melanie had rushed after me the moment I had started running. "I'll handle this one. Go back up Yang!"

"Did that fall make you stupid?!" Melanie yelled back.

I frowned, stopping my retort as I found Lilac getting closer to the flickering Aura. She would make it long before I reached her, and I knew she only needed an instant to finish them. Pulling on most of the energy reserves, I pushed against the floor.

To say I ran would be an understatement. The top of the ground shattered the second I put force into it, shards of concrete and rock rose up and shifted in the direction I moved in. I felt a seemingly limitless strength fill my legs, and then, I shot forwards like a bullet out of a gun. It was almost like I was flying close to the ground.

What should have taken me a good ten seconds was now instantaneous. There was a boom that echoed in my ears as I felt my vision blur for a second, but I was used to fighting with impaired vision. Lilac had already been locked onto in my Aura senses, so when I felt that she was closer, I reacted purely by instinct.

She had no time to react. In fact, I'd be surprised if anyone could react to such a blistering ambush. My arm caught her stomach, and I felt her Aura dip as she folded over my blow. A bit of energy spiked back into my stomach as a tinge of pain shot up my arm from the sheer recoil simply hitting her had done.

The next moment, the dust around us parted as she was sent rolling off. I heard her breath catch as a consequence of the hit, and even with Aura protecting her from the majority of the blow, I doubted she had most of it as outer Aura. It wouldn't take her out completely, I knew, but it gave me enough time to check the injured man behind me.

He was... not well, to say it lightly. His entire right arm was gone; blackened, jagged edges where his elbow should be told me that Lilac had gotten lucky enough to put one of her bombs in his arm. I gagged at the sight, and the smell of burned meat churned my stomach more than Yang's Semblance ever could. HIs vision was unsteady, and his mouth was opening and closing as if a fish were stuck on dry land.

Quickly, I pulled out a roll of gauze I always carried around. After my first run in with getting caught in explosions as well as my second... and my third... Anyways, I always carried something to treat wounds as a precaution. I sloppily wrapped the man's arm, taking care to not agitate his condition. His breathing didn't really get better, but I felt his Aura pulsing lightly, focusing on his injuries. There was no telling how much Aura he needed to stabilize and recover, however, I felt he had a better chance now. It was the most I could do with the timeframe.

I sighed, standing up and staring in the direction of Lilac. She had recovered faster than I expected, but she was now lingering within the cloud of dust. They were clearing up now after my stunt with Yang's Semblance. Though not enough as Lilac had plenty of dust to ghost through with her Semblance in order to circle around to my back without a single visual cue on her even once.

"Melanie!" I yelled again, feeling my friend getting closer. Yang's Aura had pulsed several times, and I was getting worried the longer she fought alone. "She's too dangerous for you to fight. Go and help out Yang."

"You dumbass! You absolute bastard!" I smiled at the girl's curses. Perhaps her constant need to cuss away her stress was growing on me. "Our promise! Take my Aura, dammit!"

I gave Lilac's Aura a glance. She had paused, watching me warily. Fighting two people at once was difficult, so I knew she was looking for the opening to take out one of us before we regrouped. Of course, I had taken the steps to put my back to her, leading her away from the direction that Melanie was running in. It was such a clear opening that I was surprised she hadn't taken it yet.

Melanie finally appeared in my vision, and I felt a bit of guilt at how frantic the girl looked. Her hair was in disarray as a cover of sweat and worry coated her forehead. I smiled widely, causing her to pause.

"Trust me, Mel."

That finally stopped the girl. She bit her lip, clenching her hands into fists. Such a simple phrase was something I knew the girl had probably heard plenty of times growing up. I was no genius, but I could infer, based on her earlier story, that she wasn't used to actually trusting those words. It showed in how she never really followed along with what I said without her sister dragging her along, and even now, Melanie's constant smothering was something that seemed to stem from her issues in trust.

"I- Jaune, don't be a dumbass. This is the Reds we're talking about!"

"I trust you, Mel." I smiled, ignoring her for the most part. Lilac was now moving closer to the downed Union member, so I was trying not to let it show that I was paying attention to her. "I'll only take a couple minutes."

Melanie shivered, clenching her teeth. "Okay, I... will trust you, Jaune."

"Hey! I could use a little help her- don't get grabby! Back away!" Yang's panicked yells interrupted Melanie from continuing, and the white-themed girl just glared off into the direction of Yang's voice.

"They're circling to your left. And be careful not to let him grab hold of you; he can freeze people who he touches. Tell that to Yang, too." I said. "Go."

"You have eight- no, six minutes."

I laughed, hopping backwards the second she reluctantly disappeared into the dust cloud. Yang's Semblance had been churning out more energy for every moment I had been standing there, so I had been biding my time till Lilac was finally close enough. Melanie and I's moment was useful to build up a good portion of energy as I quickly inserted myself to stand between Lilac and the Union member, catching her forearm the moment she had dashed out of the debris cloud.

Her eyes widened as we made contact. She had attempted to phase through me the instant she had been seen through, but I had done the same, grabbing her in the process. Her surprise was short. Though, I had already acted before she had time to counteract.

I pulled her closer the moment I made contact. The movement was almost as if I was dragging her in for a hug, but the second she was close enough, I tensed my neck. My forehead slammed into her nose, causing her to cry out in pain. She reeled backwards as I let her go, stumbling on her feet as another hand reached to clutch her face.

The girl was no longer hiding in the cloud again; I had already ambushed her twice using the cover, so expecting me to not have a way to figure out her position was simply stupid at this point. She had recovered from my attack faster than I expected, suffering only a slight nosebleed that was easily wiped away, and her attention was no longer on the Union gang member behind me. Of course, that meant it was now solely on me.

"Jaune Arc." She said, almost growling the words. "Why must you meddle in everything? Is helping criminals some kind of pastime for you now?"

"How did you- you know what, nevermind. I swear, the comic books lied to me. A mask stops literally no one from finding out who you are. They don't even entertain the notion. Geez."

The redhead raised an eyebrow before frowning. "Do you think this is a game?"

"I don't have time to play twenty questions," I said, feeling another bit of energy pile into my stomach. Anger and aggression were getting primarily amplified from Yang's Semblance, but the more those emotions tainted my thoughts, the more energy was gathering. "I've already wasted thirty seconds of my given time."

There was no need to say anymore. Lilac seemed to also agree. Anything else said would just be a waste of air and time. We both had teammates that needed support, so this fight had to happen fast.

This was no longer a fight that she could breeze through. She knew I had copied her Semblance, and I had to copy it as that diminished her greatest threat. Still, my thoughts were churning in the back of my head as we slowly watched the movements of the other. Last time she had Arie to help her distract my focus, but now we had no other distractions so long as Melanie and Yang can hold off the other Reds member.

The fight started in an instant. She had chosen close combat, rushing at me without a moment's hesitation. It only took her a second to reach me. Inner Aura protection, I figured. The only way I could follow along was the small amount of training I had with Will Rouge and the larger amount of experience as the Vigilante. However, the energy from Yang's Semblance also helped as I used it in small pulses, matching the timing of every step. Without any avenues for an ambush, I had chosen to stop as soon as we were within striking distance of each other.

Our fight, on the other hand, was rather boring. That is not to say that it wasn't stressful, but from an outsider's perspective, it probably would seem like we were just standing within punching or kicking distance and rapidly missing each other. Vengeance wasn't with me, so fighting with my hands and feet was slightly awkward. Still, I made up for that by simply using more of the energy building in my stomach.

Sweat was beginning to coat my brow as the fight continued. My Aura senses were locked onto her, watching as she quickly changed between tangible and intangible at random. I had the upper hand in the fact that her Aura pulsed every time she did so, but Lilac was simply more adept in close combat. Her instincts were honed by her choices in life, so it was hard for me to land a hit when I was constantly trying to match when she was in phase or not as well as pay attention to her attacks. It helped that most of them were going towards my vitals.

This series of facts led to our current situation.

A kick that had been aimed for my neck sailed right over my head. I felt her Aura pulse, and then quickly copied her action before turning the incoming fist away from the center of my body. She had gotten used to the fact that I could match her whenever she phased, and her reactions had only become faster.

After another series of kicks and punches, she broke away, moving faster with her Aura. I paused, watching warily as she stopped a little distance away. She had a perpetual scowl on her face as she glared at me.

"This is getting nowhere." She spoke, and I flinched as she started yelling, "Weston! Get ready to help me! Don't forget to pay attention to where you're swinging!"

Now it was my turn to glare at the girl. It was an irrational anger that I squashed with a bit of difficulty. I had no idea what was going on, but figuring that Weston was probably the man in heavy armor, I knew I wanted him nowhere near me. My attention went to the large pool of energy that had been building up since the beginning of our fight, and decided that it would have to be enough.

Still, the burning anger and other emotions that I had been suppressing to build it up were reaching their boiling point. It was only a bit of surprise that my mouth couldn't help from speaking, "You can't use Aura while phasing, can't you?"

A vicious part of me wanted to grin as she flinched at that. I felt a bit ashamed of myself for that emotion, but I knew it was mostly Yang's Semblance influencing my emotions. However, I knew where the anger was coming from. Lilac's words from earlier, about helping criminals, had affected me. It was irrational, I knew. However, I had been spending quite a bit of time interacting with the people I had come to Vale to send to justice. I couldn't help but feel a pinch of anger, and Yang's Semblance had only amplified that.

"Just give up, Jaune." Lilac started again, gaining back the strength in her words. "We are not going to kill you. Not if you answer our questions."

I glanced over at the comatose Union man. "I don't think I'll like what happens when I give you an answer you don't like."

"You certainly won't like it if we have to force you to answer as well. Now-"

She stopped talking. More accurately, she had to stop. In a burst of speed, I appeared right in front of her, using enough energy to cross the distance between us in an instant.

Lilac was trained and had more experience than me, so she could respond to almost all of my attacks like it was a walk in the park. The only times I had gotten her were when I had ambushed her, and even then, she was ready for them with Aura. Yet, I had noticed that, when it came to split-second decisions, she would instinctively become intangible. Her reaction speed was honestly terrifying. There were several times she had reacted the instant I attacked. In fact, she probably could breeze through any enemy since none of their attacks could hit her unless they beat that reaction speed.

However, I was a direct counter to that.

The second she went intangible, I followed her. My hands were already around her wrists before she had a chance to react. I twisted my hands around, feeling the red bulbs around her wrist snap off with a bit of effort. It was like taking a grape off a vine.

Her eyes went wide as the red marbles dropped around us. She tried to run, but I hurriedly grabbed her arm. A spike of pain ran up his arm as he watched the girl kick his elbow, but Yang's Semblance mitigated the worst of it.

"You bastard." She cursed, and I released my hold on her and followed her as she phased. There was no longer any time to escape.

Explosions rocked the room, and I saw only red within my vision as the heat of the blast surrounded us. Lilac's heat vision worked in a gradient, but in these conditions, she was practically blind. However, I could still sense her through her Aura.

She had begun flailing her arms and legs around, knowing my plan the instant she couldn't escape. We were both in phase and we both couldn't use Aura, but the energy in my stomach wasn't Aura.

My foot found her stomach, and I could feel her breath leaving her lungs through my shoe. Her tactics changed, going from flailing her arms and legs in an effort to hit me blind to curling up into a ball. I had to give it to her instant decision making, but her efforts didn't stop me.

My arm wound back, and I delivered an energy-enhanced punch straight through her guard. Her head turned with the force as I brought back my fist for another one. And another one. I never let up as I knew the second I did she could turn it on me.

In the middle of my frenzy, my fist went through her. I froze for an instant, thinking I had used too much energy, but I found her Aura stumbling through the hot remnants of the earlier explosion. She had weathered through the last bits of the explosions in order to stop my attack. Unless I wanted to be bedridden for another night or two with Melanie's Aura, I was forced to wait out the last couple seconds before the last of the explosions ended.

I clicked my tongue in annoyance. This could have ended if I had paid more attention. Yang's Semblance was making it harder to think correctly. 'You underestimated the fact that she has Aura and you do not.'

Even my thoughts were on me about that...

In a relative sense, I was only trapped for a couple seconds before I became tangible. The air around me was covered in smoke, dust and heat. I coughed, breathing in some smoke, and the sweltering heat felt like my skin was on fire. Even now the sweat on my skin seemed to be evaporating as it met the air.

'She ran through worse.' A thought came to me, and I frowned. The Reds all seemed to take injuries like they were just everyday things. Even Arie hadn't even reacted to his amputated arm with much worry. However, I couldn't think much about that. It was merely speculation for later, for I had to focus on stopping the Reds right now.

I started running after Lilac's Aura without a second thought. The energy in my gut pulsed through my legs, sending me further with every step. Melanie's and Yang's Auras were still going strong, but if Lilac reached them while Weston froze them, I feared the worst.

A bid of panic crept into my head at those thoughts as a red marble rolled next to me. My eyes narrowed, and I phased the second an explosion surrounded me in a red bloom. However, I was already moving forwards.

Just as I cleared the explosion, and had become tangible again, I ducked down as a concrete pillar swung right at me. I had known Weston's Semblance allowed him to control objects he had put into stasis, but my Aura sense still placed him almost on the opposite side of the room with Yang and Melanie. My gaze landed on Lilac. She was standing close enough, but two concrete pillars were hovering right beside her almost as if she controlled them, too.

The girl certainly looked like my beating had affected her. She was barely standing on her feet, and one of her eyes were closed shut as a large, purple bruise was growing over it. Her lip was bloodied, practically drooling blood as her nose was misshapen.

She no longer had anything to say. All she did was clap and push the pillar right at me. It should have done nothing; Weston's Semblance made anything he touched into the epitome of an immovable object, but I was proven wrong when the pillar went parallel to the floor before flying right at me. I clicked my tongue in annoyance. Apparently, Yang and Melanie weren't stressing him too much for him to be able to do this from where he was.

I took a couple steps before I jumped over the pillar, and cursed Lilac at the back of my mind as I found two red marbles flying over the charging pillar. Right in the path I had jumped. Instantly, I went intangible as the marbles exploded around me.

Lilac's Semblance was rather strong in a defensive sense. Still, it was hard to get enough traction in order to move. It was why she couldn't simply stay intangible throughout an entire fight; she had to become tangible to move. In addition, this also made it hard to stop whenever you were moving while intangible.

So, that meant I couldn't stop myself as I went straight through the explosions as I saw the other pillar swinging at me. Even then, I was helpless while in the air, but Lilac's Semblance should allow me to pass through the pillar with ease.

I felt my nose crack as I slammed straight into it like I had just been hit by a freight train. Sharp pain stabbed into the back of my brain as I wheezed at the sheer power of the impact. Then, I was flying through the air. A trail of blood coated my path as I crashed straight into another, intact pillar, feeling it crack at the sheer impact of my body.

'What happened?! You were intangible!' My thoughts were in disarray as pain took centerfold. I couldn't even think straight as I had seemingly run into a concrete pillar whilst intangible. 'Damn, the nose is definitely broken.'

I was on the floor now, wincing as I also felt my chest. Silent moans of agony were all I could muster as I desperately gaped for air to fill my lungs. My hands and feet were slipping against the coarse ground, trying to find purchase as my whole body felt like a bruise. In what felt like hours, my vision finally started to go black around the edges before I forcefully brought myself back. When I came to, I was on my hands and knees, trembling as I fought to stay upright.

'Melanie! Yang!' my thoughts and senses zeroed in on my friend and ally, and a painful sigh of relief filled me as I realized they were okay. In fact, it seemed as if no time had passed since my mistake. I had only felt like it was a long time.

Footsteps rang in my ears. My blurry vision didn't stop me from perceiving Lilac cautiously toeing towards me. She was almost hesitant in her movements, and I felt a tinge of pride in the fact that I caused one of the Reds to take me seriously. Of course, the main part of my thoughts were screaming in pain.

"How are you still moving?" the girl rasped. Her voice was horse as she stared at me.

However, she was right. I was basically forcing myself to move. That last hit was something that Yang's Semblance had saved me from. If it hadn't, I would probably be out like a light. Still, I was in no position to fight anymore. That last hit was probably the hardest I had ever experienced. I wasn't wearing any armor, I wasn't prepared for it and Weston certainly hadn't held back from slamming me with the full force of the concrete pillar.

Seeing this, Lilac began to step closer to me. A seed of panic was growing with each step she took, but at the same time, a bold plan bloomed in my head. Slowly, I roused my courage and willpower only for her to stop just outside of where I could lunge at her. She carefully reached for her wrist, wincing with the movement.

'Plan B it is.' The thought went through my head the second I acted. All the energy of Yang's Semblance that I gathered, from every single hit and second that it was active, was funneled straight into my fist.

Lilac jumped back as I raised my fist in the air, and I was startled too to see golden flames appear around it. They were a sign that my control of energy was lackluster, but I couldn't really focus on that right now. Sensing the danger, Lilac reached for one of her marbles, but my fist reached the ground first.

The room shook.

Fissures spread on impact. Long, gaping cracks snaked throughout the room, trailing along the floors and up the walls and pillars. Parts of the floor around me and Lilac rose up into jagged stones like the teeth of some giant beast was coming out of the ground. The cracks in the ceiling grew larger, and some sections began falling into the large room we were in.

I could see brief glances of those rooms before plumes of dust erupted into the air after those pieces of the ceiling hit the ground with a crash that shook the room again. Pillars weakened by the earlier fight began to fall as well, stirring up the clouds of debris.

Lilac had been caught off guard by the sudden change in environment. The ground beneath her feet rose up, tilting towards me. Her feet left the ground in that instant, and then fell in my direction.

Quickly, I released my hold on Yang's Semblance and pulled at a nearby one.

[Tactile matter stasis. Stasis manipulation.]

Weston's Semblance filtered into my mind as I flopped onto my back, arms wide. Lilac's face went white as she couldn't change her trajectory and fell right into my chest. The fist she made and attempted to slam into my gut couldn't even budge me.

I still felt sore, though. She, on the other hand, screamed as her hands rammed straight into my stasis'd shirt. My arms wrapped around the struggling girl, and she tried to phase in and out of my grasp, but I matched her every time she tried to switch.

Weston's Semblance was something I knew paired well with Lilac. However, I was proven a bit off the mark as it seemed anything in stasis could still affect Lilac while she was supposedly intangible. I knew all the ins and outs of every Semblance I connected to, but that didn't mean I knew the interactions between them. It was what almost took me out for good.

"Bas'rd!" The girl slurred through her busted lip, and I quickly manipulated my shirt with Weston's Semblance so that it would block my face. Lilac's headbutt slammed into it a second later as I was treated to more slurred curses.

She had continued to struggle in my arms, and for right reasons, too. Weston's Semblance could put people into stasis, but not as fast as it could on inanimate objects. He needed physical contact for both. Yet, it took awhile for him to put a living being in stasis. Something that Lilac was being forced to endure as slowly her legs stopped trying to kick my in the groin and her fists became stationary. I only released her when her mouth stopped cursing me and my ancestors.

Sucks for her, Alexander already did that.

A sigh of relief came over me as I finally was given a moment of rest. Then, I hardened my gaze. It took way longer than six minutes. Melanie and Yang were luckily still fine from my last ditch struggle. I felt a bit of worry as the three of them were all no longer moving from their spots. If worse came to worst, I would try to bargain my friend and ally for his teammate, hoping that they had some comradery between them or something.

I used Weston's Semblance on my clothes, levitating myself off the ground with only a bit of effort. Truthfully, I felt a little excited at the prospects of flying, but I squared my expression and floated Lilac's body next to me as I made my way to the rest. On the way, I found that the unconscious Union member had survived as well. Admittedly, I was feeling less guilty about putting him through this knowing he was alive.

I found Weston easily. His massive bulk was hard to miss even amidst the crumbling and dusty basement. Near him, I breathed a sigh of relief as I found an arguing Melanie and Yang.

The man was the first one to notice me, and his eyes bugged beneath his helmet at the battered sight of Lilac. I saw his fists tighten into what were like large, meaty mallets.

"Let her go." He said, but his voice was trembling. For such a large man, he wasn't like what I expected. He was almost quiet when he spoke, and I could practically hear his lower lip quivering in what I felt like fear.

"I think we all need to cool dow-" the massive doors at the back of the room suddenly trembled, cutting me off. "Oh gods, what is it now?"

The massive doors shuddered again, groaning as if they were under assault. And perhaps they were. My last attack had wrecked the entire room, resulting in quite an extensive array of damages. It was more surprising that the entire roof hadn't fallen on us.

However, my hopes were soon shot in the back of the head. The doors shook again, but this time, they fell. They toppled like two massive giants, crashing into the ground with another thud that made everyone wince. Behind them, I could only see a horribly light corridor almost as if we were looking at a scene in a B-rated horror movie.

Though, I would rather be in one of those than my current situation.

Because the shadows of the corridor were moving. An seemingly endless mass of rolling darkness that stretched further into the back of wherever the corridor went. I knew without looking. Everyone did. We just continued to stare as glowing red dots began to wink in and out of existence within that abyss. They were eyes, thousands of them.

One of the shadows stepped out into the light. A large paw with claws the size of knives. Inky black, coarse fur that was akin to millions of needles ran up the shadow's arms and legs. It's shoulders were armored in a white, bone-like material, and large dangerous spikes were protruding from different angles. One its wolfen head it wore its most distinctive piece: a white mask with red markings. Two blood red eyes locked with mine.

"The Grimm." I whispered, afraid that they would hear.

This was... a difficult chapter. At first, I had Jaune pretty much steamroll Lilac, but I figured that was rather implausible given their different experiences. Then, there was the other Union member that I had wanted to add to the action, but the end result just turned chaotic. In the end, I chose to just continue on with the plot. In fact, the next couple chapters are going to be pretty much world building as well as some slight action. To me, the Grimm just don't seem as threatening in the show. Of course, I haven't watched it in a hot second. However, I want to Grimm to be an actual threat. Like a 'oh my gosh, stop fighting. The Grimm take priority' type of threat.

Fingers crossed, I'll make it work.