Hey guys! It's Universal Writer! Man… this book felt longer to write than the previous ones but we're ONLY one chapter away from this book being completed! I thank those who stuck around for the ride. I APPRECIATE you all! Let's keep rockin' forward! That's all I got to say, enjoy chapter 11.

Disclaimer: All characters, music, and etc belong to their respective creators!

An arcing slash of fire moves across the black screen, quickly followed by another. There is a brief beat before two more fiery arcs slash across the screen. An irregular circle of flame bursts outward from the center, revealing behind the black a panting Cinder Fall.

(-Music: Dark Clouds [ Sen no Kiseki III ]-)

She is in a large, empty room. Behind her is a darkened arched hallway. On either side of the arch, the walls of the room have a low ledge that bear several burning white candles. Four Beowolves approach Cinder, moving in a semicircle formation. Cinder swings her left arm at them, sending another slash of fire. It cuts through the middle of all four Grimm and they disintegrate away. Cinder pants again, still upright yet taking a breather. She does not get long, as heavy footsteps approach from her left. She gasps and looks in their direction. A Beringel leaps into the air, ready to deliver a blow to her with its fist. Cinder, however, pulls back her right arm and pushes a ball of flame right at it. It, too, disintegrates. As its body disappears, Cinder falls to her knees, breathing heavily.

"Enough." Salem's firm voice echoed as she walked forward while Cinder continued to struggle for normal breathing. "I thought you were the girl who wanted power. Did you lie to me?"

Cinder winces on the force of Salem's question before looking upward. Turning to face Salem, she clearly shakes her head negatively.

"Then stop holding back. If you wish to master your new powers, you must-"

Salem is cut off by the sound of heavy doors opening. On the opposite end of the stone hall, a damaged and sobbing Tyrian Callows enters. He falls to his knees once in the room, both hands flat on the floor and his head bowed.

"I'm sorry. She'll forgive me. Pleeeease." He said softly and then raised his hand to his chin. Then the Scorpion Faunus bows again on the last word. "Forgive me…"

"Tyrian!" The Immortal Witch stands before him. He raises his body but remains sitting on his legs while Cinder rises from the stone floor behind Salem. "Judging from your appearance, I believe that you were successful?"

Tyrian bows his head. "N-no."

Cinder's eye widened. Salem also looks surprised for a moment before narrowing her eyes and walking away. The False Maiden watches their leader for her further reaction without looking at Tyrian.

"But-but hope is not lost! My tail, my stinger... I-I poisoned him, Qrow! He will not be a nuisance to you any longer, no... no longer! I've done that... have I done well? Have I pleased you?" He pleaded with her hoping to gain her approval.

"The last eye is blinded... you disappoint me."

Salem leaves. Tyrian falls forward, wailing. A Beowolf approaches, all focused on Tyrian's negative emotions. It ignores Cinder and leaps upon him. Tyrian sends it away with a single blow and it lands on its back. Still wailing, Tyrian opens his weapons and leaps atop the Beowolf. He slashes at it repeatedly, tears streaming down his face. His wails gradually turn into laughter as he vents his grief into the butchering of the Grimm. Cinder watches, horrified.

(-Music Ends-)

(-Music: Genial and Balmy [ Sen no Kiseki III ]-)

Outside of her home on Patch, Yang Xiao Long goes into a tool shed and takes the tarp that had been covering her motorcycle, Bumblebee, off.

"I don't remember saying that you were ready." The voice Taiyang Xiao Long said to her as he is revealed to be leaning against the frame of the open shed door, arms crossed.

"Oh yeah? You're gonna try and stop me?" She inquired without even looking at her father.

Taiyang chuckles. "No. I think I'm still too sore after our last fight. I just wanted a better goodbye than a letter. And, I also have a question for you."

This made his daughter turn to face him.

"What will you do when you and Knuckles face her?"

Yang arched a brow. "What do you mean?"

The Xiao Long Patriarch moves into the shed. "Well, despite asking him numerous times not to, I know that Qrow told you where your mother's been at these days. I know how much you wanna see her. I've stopped you in the past, but I won't anymore. And we both read the note. We know your sister's headed to Mistral. So, what will you do when you and Knuckles face her?"

Yang looks down at the tarp as Taiyang makes his point. She remains gazing down for another couple of beats before looking up at her father. Her eyes narrow in determination, her decision made.

(-Music Ends-)

(-Music: Alley of Silence [ Sen no Kiseki III ]-)

Weiss Schnee steps out of her bedroom, carrying a white suitcase and Myrtenaster. She looks around cautiously, her footsteps loudly resounding in the ornate hallway. She jumps and gasps when Klein Sieben appears right behind her. He puts his finger to his lips and shushes her before smiling.

"Mister Yaminagi is waiting for you. Let's go." Klein whispered to her.

The two move quickly across the carpet, their footsteps muffled. Side by side, they go down the staircase and clickety-clack their way across the entrance hall. They are moving down another hallway when Klein's Scroll buzzes. They both look at it with squinty eyes.

"Master Whitley! I... um... yes, of course. I'll be just a moment." The Butler clicks his Scroll off and tucks it away. "Head to the first floor library. I'll meet you there."

They separate, going in opposite directions. Weiss is soon creeping outside her father's study door when she hears a glass crash followed by the rising voice of James Ironwood. She crouches behind a cushioned chair against the wall.

"You need to control yourself!" The General barked.

"You're talking to me about control? Do you even hear what you're saying?!" The Schnee Patriarch hissed.

"I am basing everything on my reports from your daughter." Ironwood retorted.

"A daughter you stole!"

This interchange inclined the former Schnee Heiress to come closer to the door to listen more to the heated conversation.

"Oh, we are not getting into that again."

"Oh, yes, we have far more pressing matters to discuss, starting with your apparent lunacy and that anathematized Faunus that you tasked here!"

"Jacques!"

(-Music Ends-)

(-Music: A Sudden Turn of Events [ Sen no Kiseki III ]-)

The scene changes to an overhead view inside Jacques' study. He is seated at his desk while Ironwood has both hands on it, leaning over him from the other side.

Ironwood sighs heavily. "Winter is one of my best. If she's telling me there's a threat in Mistral then I am not going to take that news lightly. She's been there for weeks, people are mobilizing, sudden spikes in weapons and Dust trades. Someone is about to make a play and I do not trust Leo to stop them."

"You've never trusted anyone other than yourself!" Jacques sneered at him.

"And for good reason!" The General shouts at him.

Weiss covers her mouth with her hand as she gasps at the sound of Ironwood slamming his fist onto the desk.

"If Oz had just listened to me from the start…"

Jacques shook his head in disapproval. "You need to get a grip."

"That's exactly what I'm doing. Our people need protection. By this time next week, the Kingdom of Atlas will be officially closing its borders. No one in; no one out. Without the council's permission." Ironwood firmly proclaimed.

"You mean, without your permission?" The Schnee Patriarch inquired dismissively as he rolled his eyes.

"And if that becomes the case, I would think you'd want to be on my good side." The General warned Jacques.

Ironwood walks away from the desk, leaving Jacques to sigh and fold his hands. Outside the door, Weiss hears him coming and uses Myrtenaster to cast a black Glyph onto the handle. When Ironwood tries to leave, the handle turns but the door will not open, despite him shaking it.

"It's locked."

"What are you talking about?"

Ironwood steps back and slams into the door, shoulder first. It does not budge. Weiss turns and makes her way down the hall across the carpet while a couple more bangs come from the door. She reaches the library, but it is empty.

"Klein! Klein, where are you?" She called out to the butler.

A hidden door in the corner opens, revealing a red-eyed Klein.

"Keep your voice down, I told you I'd be here." He told Weiss in an accented voice.

(-Music Ends-)

(-Music: Fleeting Homecoming [ Sen no Kiseki III ]-)

Weiss rushes over, dropping both sword and suitcase in order to hug Klein with both arms. He returns the hug and his eyes turn back to normal.

"Are you sure Mistral is safe?"

Weiss steps back and clasps her hands formally in front of her. "No, but it's where I'll find Winter."

Klein's eyes shifted to a light brown. "I suppose she'd be the only family you have left after tonight."

The Ice Princess places a hand on his shoulder. "I'll always have you."

"You certainly most will."

A loud bang from further in the house makes them both look. It is clear that Ironwood has finally gotten out of Jacques' study.

"Klein?! Klein, get down here this instant!" Jacques bellowed.

The Butler's shoulders slumped. "Go, now."

She hastily grabs her things and goes through the secret passage in the corner of the library. She pauses to turn and look at the butler one more time.

"Thank you Klein."

He nods and shuts the door.

(-Music Ends-)

It is daytime in Menagerie birds tweet in the trees around the balcony outside Ghira Belladonna's study. Inside, a shirtless Sun Wukong lies on the couch, his head propped on the arm and his hands folded over his abdomen. A slow pan of his body reveals a bloodied bandage on his left shoulder where Lightning Lash had struck him, as Sun blinks awake. He raises his head with a groan.

"Blake?" Sun said her name.

Blake Belladonna is sitting on a chair across from the couch, her body facing him. Her head is bowed and her hands are folded in her lap. "This... is why, Sun. This is why I was tempted to leave them all behind…"

The blonde monkey Faunus sat up. "What are you... wait, where am I?"

Blake gets up and walks over to the couch as Sun looks around in confusion. "I am done seeing my friends hurt because of me."

"Blake…"

"Shut up! Do you think I like being alone? Every day... every day I think about them! Ruby, Weiss, Yang... they were my friends! I loved them like I never thought I could love anybody. And I hoped they would hate me for leaving…" She sighed as Blake covered her face with her hands.

Sun raised himself up to reach out to her. "You don't mean that."

"Yes I do!" She hissed at him. She is forceful enough with her voice that Sun pulls back. Blake placed her hands on her head. "Everyone thinks they can help me, but they can't. You saw Ilia last night and she's not even the worst! No. No more. They're better off without me. I made my choices and I'll deal with the consequences because they belong to me."

(-Music: Whereabouts of Feelings [ Sen no Kiseki ]-)

Then, a pair of arms wrapped around her waist making the Shadowcat's eyes widen in surprise. Then right there, she felt a familiar warmth wash over her that calmed her a bit.

"You have forgotten the one thing that you didn't count for sis." Said Miles "Tails" Prower who was hugging Blake from behind. "We'll do it again when it comes down to it."

"You think you're being selfless, but you're not. Yeah, that chameleon friend of yours got me pretty good. Tails is right on that fact, we'd do it again if it meant protecting you." Sun said with a small smile on his face. "And I can promise Yang would say the same."

Tails pulls away with a warm smile on his face. "You can make your own choices but you don't decide for us. When our friends fight for us, we choose to do so. So, stop pushing us out! That alone is more damaging than what our enemies can do to us."

"But, if it makes you feel any better, the next time I go up against Lizard Girl, it won't be for you - it'll be to get even." He attempts to point to his wound with his left thumb, but he can not complete the motion and it aggravates his injury making him wince in pain and getting Blake and Tails laughing.

"My hero." She joked making the kitsune Faunus next to her snicker.

The door behind Blake, the same one that Sun crashed through the night before, crashes down again. This time it is Kali Belladonna embarrassing herself through eavesdropping too closely. Behind her, Ghira looks down at his wife on the ground with his hand on his hip. Kali pops upward again.

"Oh! Oh dear, would you look at that, he's awake! Thank goodness!" Kali said in an affected tone.

Ghira covers his face with his hand. "Kali, please…"

"Mom!"

"Hey, Mrs. B!"

"So what's going on?" Tails inquired.

"Well, Ghira wanted to speak with you three." Blake's Mother answered his question with a worried expression on her face.

(-Music Ends-)

(-Music: Iron Command [ Sen no Kiseki ]-)

A Scroll is set down on the coffee table. It shows a master folder labeled W. F. with six subfolders inside. The subfolders are labeled: Assignment, E.L., P.R., E.W., S. F., and Untitled.

"I'm afraid that you all are correct to be suspicious." The Belladonna Patriarch said solemnly.

"What do you mean?" The Shadowcat inquired.

"Adam Taurus is planning to overthrow the leader of the White Fang, and stage a full-scale attack on Haven Academy. It would be the Fall of Beacon all over again." Ghira explained.

"Not if we destroy the White Fang once and for all." Sun exclaimed with a determined expression on his face.

"No." Blake stands up, full of determination. "We're not going to destroy the White Fang. We're going to take it back!"

(-Music Ends-)

Lie Ren, Pyrrha Nikos, and Nora Valkyrie are seen running through the abandoned Kuroyuri.

"Not again, not again…" Ren said, trying not to panic.

They come to a stop after passing under an arch leading to the center of town. Ren is panting, but Nora and Pyrrha are hardly winded. Ren lifts his head and his worried eyes change to ones smiling in relief. In front of them, Jaune Arc, Sonic Takamaki, and Ruby Rose face the other way, but abruptly turn, Jaune putting his hand on his weapon. Qrow is propped up against the tree.

"What are you guys doing here?" Ruby asked, confused on seeing them.

Sonic's hedgehog ears twitched as he snapped around with Caliburn drawn. "Guys! Get ready! Something's coming!"

(-Music: The Time Has Come [ Sen no Kiseki ]-)

Ren's eyes grow wide and he falls to his knees, clearly alarmed. "No…"

"Ren! What's going on?" Pyrrha asked, wanting to understand on what's gotten her teammate so shaken while she got her weapons primed.

The sound of plodding footsteps can be heard coming closer.

"No…" The Ninja uttered in weak protest.

"Ren?" Nora called his name in worry.

The footsteps come to a stop. A bone horse head breathes loudly, exhaling black smoke. Within the bones are glowing red lights and around it is the black flesh of a Grimm. Ren lifts his head.

Weapons can be seen, stuck into an offscreen body that has bones sticking out perpendicular to its spine. Slowly, a torso raises, revealing a horned, humanoid Grimm. The horns and front part of the face are bone while the mouth is merely thin strips of Grimm flesh stretching across an opening. The mouth, the bones, and the eyes all glow red. The Nuckelavee twitches its head and roars making the screen cut to black with the Nuckelavee's roar echoing in the black void.

(-Music Ends-)

[ To Be Continued… ]