2nd Chapter Let's go! Once again, Trigger Warning for PTSD and Gore


Chapter 79: The Battle for Vale


-Menagerie-

-Begin Nightmare, Trigger Warning-

The sounds of clanking chains roused Nova out of unconsciousness. Everything hurt, his ribs, arms, and legs all seemed broken and barely hanging on by their sockets. Blood coated his face and stung his eyes as he opened them. He tried to move but found he was suspended above the ground with his arms and legs restrained.

"Oh? Awake already? I thought Onyx put quite the beating on you…" a sing-song voice echoed from the darkness. It was Tyrian Callows and his brother skulking right behind him.

"You've got real tenacity, I'll give you that…" Thorian said, slinking up to him and prodding at his broken ribs.

Nova tried to speak but his mouth felt like it was filled with sand.

"Inject him with the booster, let's heal him up before we begin again…" Tyrian snickered.

Nova felt the cold piercing feeling of a needle being injected into his neck, his body's nanomachines kickstarting and healing his broken bones. He could feel with excruciating clarity how the bones clicked back into place, rubbed against one another, and began mending. The shards of bones that had been shattered pierced into his skin as new flesh and bone grew around them.

Even the healing process was torturous.

"Good, that's enough. Now we can start round… what was it?"

Thorian giggled, "Doesn't matter!" he clapped. Nova barely had a moment to register before his face was bashed with a heavy metal object.

"It's so much fine when the toy doesn't break~" Tyrian cackled as Nova felt the sharp sting followed by his very blood boiling with poison. The intense pain was enough to cause his consciousness to fade again.

"Oh brother, I told you the poison would be too much…"

He heard Tyrian sigh, "Inject him again…"

Nova wanted to scream, it hurt so much… Once more the needle jabbed him again shocking him awake.

"Let's see if he talks now…"

Nova's mouth was sealed.

"No?" Tyrian clapped, "Bring them in~"

A dark shadow erupted from the doorway as black tendrils deposited two people inside, both bound by their hands and feet. They were harshly dropped onto the floor and Nova saw, with horrifying distinction, that it was none other than Ruby and Luna.

"HAHAHA! Lookie who we caught~!" Tyrian made a sing-song voice as he grabbed Ruby by the hair and hoisted her up while Thorian grabbed Luna.

Heavy footsteps joined the cackling as Onyx stepped through the doorway to his cell, brandishing his cleaver with an ugly smirk across his face.

"Time to hit 'em where it hurts the most…" he snarled, his deep gravelly voice like ominous thunder.

"Which one do you choose?" Onyx snarled.

"Your lover~?" Tyrian followed up.

"Or your sister~?" Thorian instantly continued.

Nova found his voice, "NO! DON'T YOU FUCKING TOUCH THEM! I SWEAR TO GOD I WILL TEAR YOUR THROATS OUT!" his eyes filled with pure rage and bloodlust. All he wanted to do was make their deaths as painful as possible.

Thrashing against the chains Nova tried to summon his fire, it erupted violently but Onyx grabbed both of his arms silencing the flames as if he doused them with water.

The bear man leaned in close to Nova's ear and said with a sickening lull, "Wrong answer."

"ONYX I SWEAR ON MY LIFE I WILL DESTROY YOU… I'LL…!" He was silenced by the sound of unsheathing metal.

"Nova…?" Luna's eyes were pleading.

"My love…" Ruby looked beaten.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGHHHHHHH!" they both screamed in unity the Callows brothers disembowelled them.

Violent fury overcame Nova as he bore his fangs and claws, "I'LL KILL YOU! I WILL BURN YOU FROM THE INSIDE OUT"

The chains broke and Nova sent his clawed fist into Onyx's face.

-End Nightmare-


Nova awoke in a cold sweat, his blood boiling with anger as his fist smashed into the wooden floorboards of the Belladonna household. Gasping for air he searched the room when suddenly the lights turned on. Pyrrha was standing in the doorway looking frantic, Adam and Belle followed behind her.

"Nova?! Is everything okay? We heard screaming and…" the redhead stopped short when she saw Nova's face. "What's wrong?! You look like you're going to kill someone!"

The dragon seemed to regain his senses as he looked around, finding no trace of his captors or the cell. Glancing down he saw his draconic arm with the Agniseki buried to its wrist in the floorboards, he hadn't even realized he was snarling until he steadied his breathing and retracted his claws.

Swallowing hard he wiped the sweat from his brow, "Nothing… just a bad dream…" he muttered.

Adam leaned against the doorframe, "One hell of a bad dream if it's got you looking like a wild animal."

"You wanna talk about it…?" Pyrrha offered.

Again, Nova swallowed and clutched the edges of his cot, "I'm okay… really…" he offered a light smile, at least trying very hard too.

Adam sighed and turned to the others, "Can you guys give us a minute?"

Pyrrha nodded.

"I'm going back to bed…" Belle grumbled, groggily sauntering out of the doorway with the others.

Once they were gone, Adam sat in the room with Nova.

"Dude, I'm fine, I swear…" Nova said not looking him in the eye.

"Oh yeah? Look me in the eye and say that."

He couldn't. No matter how much he wanted to, Nova could not lie to him.

"Look you don't have to talk about what you saw, but clearly something's got you shaken."

Nova chuckled darkly, "Weeks of torture will do that to a guy…"

Adam flinched, "I knew it… Nova, you might think you're strong, but you can't just shrug off what happened to you like it's a minor inconvenience. What you went through… no person should ever have to live through that."

The dragon shot him a glare, "What do you want from me, Adam? Go see a therapist? The world is ending, I don't have time to see a shrink. Besides, I'll sleep better at night when I sink my claws into Onyx and his goons and make sure they never get up again."

The killing intent radiating off of Nova was enough to make Adam recoil, "Easy buddy. Glare any harder and you'll start shooting lasers out of your eyes."

Nova glanced down at his hands, looking at the stone embedded in his left arm, "No one is ever going to take anything away from me ever again. I'll make sure of that…"

"Just don't run your mental into the ground…"

"More so than it already is?"

Adam flinched again.

"I'm not a fool Adam. I know I'm not okay… these recurring nightmares… always play out the same way. I'm held against my will… I'm back in the torture chamber and they kill everyone in front of me and I can never do anything to stop it. It's so… aggravating!" he snarled.

"Honestly, I'm not sure what I can do or say to help ease this but… I want you to remember that your friends aren't weak. They'll never go down without a fight, even if they get caught. You're not alone in the fight, it's not your responsibility to protect everyone. All you can do is your best and hope it's enough."

"What if it's not?"

Adam gazed at his friend and for the first moment, since he'd met Nova, he saw a side of him that reminded the man that Nova wasn't some pillar of strength and power that everyone makes him out to be. He was just like everyone else, and in this moment, he looked like a scared, broken teenager.

"Then you just need to surpass your limits. Right?" he offered a smile.

Nova smirked at that, cracking a real smile for the first time all night, "Yeah… that…"

"Come on, get some sleep. We leave tomorrow remember?"

"Later… I'm gonna go out and get some air…"


As he climbed onto the roof of the Belladonna household, Nova looked up at the stars, letting the scene of his nightmare replay in his head. "How could I do things differently? How do I stop that from happening?" The Agniseki seemed to hum in response to his questions. "What do I do?" he asked it.

*Hum*

"Uh... I'm gonna assume you want something from me?"

*Hum Hum*

"... Meditation it is..."

He sat in deep meditation, looking inward at himself. The Agniseki responded and drew him back into his mental space, the open grassy fields, and clear skies. The bonfire sat in the middle of the two children, the white-haired lookalike and the Amber lookalike were conversing merrily when he entered the field.

"Oh! HEY! You're here!" the child Nova waved at him with a bright smile.

"Agni, good to see you two again… um… can I ask why I ended up here?" Nova scratched the top of his head.

"We need to talk," the little Amber said, scooting across the grass to sit at his feet and she patted the ground.

He awkwardly sat down, "So…"

"Your powers," Agni started, "Wait let me start at the beginning. I'm a part of you… and she's also a part of you. We… feel what you feel and the last few months have been… rough to say the least."

Nova chuckled darkly, "Yeah… sorry about that…"

"It's not your fault, but we can't go through that again… so Fall and I decided, to… integrate ourselves fully into you, become one with your soul in a sense." Agni continued.

The dragon was confused, "Wait… you weren't already?"

"So far we've been part of your body, pressing lightly onto your soul so as to not overload it. If we press to hard and go into you completely, the mortal body can't handle the recoil, as you know Magic and Primal Energy don't mix well."

"But you two get along pretty well…" Nova pointed out.

"That's because we've comprised after your intervention. Since then we've learned to get along but our powers still don't mix properly with you… but if you want to get stronger you're going to have to put us into your soul directly." The Amber lookalike, Fall, explained.

Nova blew a puff of air and replied, "Okay… how do I do that?"

"Firstly, you'll have to let us in, open your soul channels and let the magic and energy mix. We'll do the rest after that." She got up and put one hand on his right shoulder.

Agni groaned and put his other hand on the left shoulder, "This is going to hurt… a lot. Fall and I will circumvent the physical backlash but that means the mental recoil will be all the worse. Power does not come without a cost."

"What cost…?" Nova asked hesitantly.

"Your sanity, or what's left of it. Your mind is already in disarray from the trauma, this will make it worse, not better. You need to concentrate very hard on holding onto yourself, think of something or someone to latch onto, an anchor for your mind… or this will go very wrong."

"And what happens if I lose myself?"

"Don't."

He flinched at the gravity of Agni's words, "Alright…" he steadied himself, "Do it."

Nova concentrated on opening himself to the magic and energy that flowed into him at once, it was like an adrenaline rush and a sledgehammer crashing against him at the same time. His body was wracked with pain before the two children took it away only for it to come back tenfold in his mind. Stabbing like a thousand knives into his cranial system, carving away like the worst migraine one could endure while suffering a brain hemorrhage.

"AAAARGHHH!" Nova screamed as the pain became excruciating. He felt his rage and anger begin to multiply tenfold, his depression and fear, his excitement and love, all of his emotions bombarding him at once as the thoughts in his brain began spiraling out of control.

Fangs, claws, eyes, and scales came out, there was no stopping it as violent growling emanated from his throat, he wanted to kill something, the bombardment of emotions was driving him crazy. They began merging into one flow as the energies collided, raw insanity.

Bloodlust, his mind began to default to killing intent as his claws itched to sink themselves into soft flesh, he wanted to bite into someone and tear them apart, to burn them alive and salt the very earth with their ashes.

"CONCENTRATE NOVA! YOU'RE LOSING IT!" Fall yelled as he could see through the red haze that clouded his vision, a struggling little girl and boy. "IF YOU LOSE YOUR MIND THINK OF THE PEOPLE THAT WILL SUFFER FOR IT!"

"Ruby!" Nova managed to utter out her name, "Luna!" his sister whom he held so dear. If the others lost him they might be able to move on but those two could never.

"THAT'S RIGHT NOVA! CONCENTRATE!"

What followed was what felt like hours of excruciating torture, it felt like he was back in the room with Onyx again but the pain was so much worse this time around. He could feel his eyes bleeding, he wanted to cry, but he grit his teeth through the pain as his body suddenly began flashing between male and female forms, the rapid changes spiraling his mental strain past the brink.

When it was over, Nova collapsed onto his hands and knees gasping for air, trying to reign in his claws and fangs, but no matter how hard he tried, his eyes would not recede.

"It's over…" Agni said quietly, kneeling down to check on him. "Are you okay kid?"

Nova would have laughed at the irony of a child calling him a kid but he was in too much pain to speak properly, "Fine…" he wheezed, "My eyes… why do I feel like I want to burn an entire city to the ground?"

Fall hugged him tightly, "Shhh, it's okay. An unfortunate side-effect of the integration… your strongest emotions are now multiplied tenfold. It's just something you'll have to deal with from now on…"

"I want to warn you that if you ever get angry, if you ever lose your cool for even a little bit in a fight… you might go off the deep end. But hey… you're powers are gonna be more functional and flexible now…"

Nova couldn't respond as his vision darkened.

He woke up on the roof again, judging by the sky only an hour had passed in real-time. Taking a few deep breaths to steady his rapidly beating heart. He needed to talk to her…

Fishing out his phone he tried to dial for Ruby, One bar… that was good enough.

"Hey, Ruby… I'm hoping you get this message. I… I'm in Menagerie right now but I'll be heading off to Vale pretty soon. Getting a signal out here has been a struggle and I'm not sure when's the next time I can call you again but… wish me luck, okay?"

With that he ended the call he crawled back into his cot in an attempt to sleep.


-The Borders of Vale, Emerald Forest, two weeks later-

Nova, Ilya, Adam, Pyrrha, and Belle were at the borders of the forest in what was a make-shift encampment. Military-grade tents were set up in a clearing for the other soldiers while the commanders gathered in the main tent for a strategy meeting. It took them roughly two weeks to hike on foot, across the continent, to the borders but now the forces gathered on the eve of battle.

"Alright, so if our scouts are correct, there should be a dense pack of Grimm situated here, here, and here," Ilya pointed to three separate locations on a holographic map. They were large clusters of Grimm marked as red dots in heavy density around the entrance to the city. "This gives us two possible routes to avoid detection."

"The south and the east?" Belle nodded, folding her arms. It was almost comical to observe her short stature barely reaching a head over the tall table, which only reached to Adam's abdominals. She stretched across the table, albeit with great effort, to point out the two locations. The south was almost baren of activity, the East was less clustered than the rest of the area but there were wandering patrols.

"Why do I smell a trap at the South gate?" Pyrrha asked, drumming her nails on the table.

Ilya nodded, "If Grimm could strategize then I'd say it was… though they shouldn't know we're here…"

"Why don't we just make a big ruckus, group all the Grimm in one place and Nova goes all 'KABLAMO!' and blows them up with his fire?" Belle said, explicitly emphasizing the sound effects.

Nova felt her brow twitch, "Because, we don't know how many there are. Don't forget the city is overrun and to top it all off there are the flyers hovering around Beacon, who knows how many are in the school itself."

Belle huffed, "I thought this was an extermination mission? We start a slaughter!"

"Need I remind you we only have ten of us? We're heavily outnumbered. Our main priority is the relic anyway… and we don't know where the vault is." Adam said smacking her on the back of the head.

"EH?!" she rubbed her sore spot, "Since when do you side with the dragon instead of your girlfriend?!"

"Since he… er she is actually a level-headed individual unlike some people…" he glanced to the side avoiding her gaze.

"You callin' me hot-headed?" she growled.

"If the shoe fits…" Nova snorted.

This prompted Belle to spin around on her, "AND YOU! Do you need to be in that outfit?!"

Nova blinked and looked down at her clothing. It was a white crop top exposing her very toned stomach and matching white skirt followed by black knee socks. Helios was tethered to her hip and Summer's cloak was wrapped loosely around her shoulders. "What?! Nothing's wrong with my outfit!"

"It's a combat operation, not a mall trip!"

Nova blushed, "I ran out of clean guy clothes! Come on it's not that bad!" he glanced at Pyrrha for support, "Right?!"

Pyrrha chuckled nervously, "It uh… looks good actually… too good…"

"EH?!"

Ilya coughed, "It is a little… distracting… your highness." Her face beet red.

Nova pouted, "If being hot is a crime then arrest me, otherwise you'll just have to deal with it."

"Oh I'll arrest you alright…" the short blonde growled.

Nova towered over her, "Really? What are you gonna do pipsqueak?"

"Pipsqueak?! PIPSQUEAK?! OH NOW, YOU'RE REALLY GONNA GET IT!" with that she launched herself onto the dragon, tugging at her horns.

Adam sighed, "He really brought up her height…"

"Who do you think is gonna win?" Ilya looked on dryly.

*Aggressive tussling*

"My money's on the short one." Pyrrha folded her arms and snorted.

"Gimme a slice of that action," Adam said digging into his pockets for some change.


The operation started at the height of the next day, the team managed to sneak through the woods without drawing too much attention, and any stray Grimm were dispatched instantly by the resident lethal squad.

As they entered the town the whole atmosphere changed. While the forest still held semblances of life, the city itself was dead silent. It was eerily quiet, so much so that they could hear the subtle sound of their own footsteps no matter how silently they moved.

"I'm not sure what I was expecting but… fuck it's so much worse…" Nova muttered, scanning her surroundings.

Adam on the other hand took every step with the greater feeling of weight pressing down in the pit of his stomach. The empty streets, the lifeless greyscale… he helped to do this. Even if he was under the influence of mind control he couldn't help but feel at least partially responsible for this mess…

Sparing a glance sideways to his right, Belle held the same look of guilt creeping its way onto her features. Silently he reached out and squeezed her hand gently, "We'll fix this. Together."

She meekly nodded before she turned her eyes back to the squad. Ilya and Nova took point since their senses were sharper than the other Faunus.

Nova's ears twitched and suddenly she stopped, holding up her hand and signaling the rest to duck into a nearby shop. The sign was rundown, but she knew what this place was, there was no mistaking the shattered cases of dust that spread across the ground.

"From Dust til Dawn," she sighed.

"Why'd we stop?" Belle whispered sharply.

Her question was answered when the sound of loud rumbling was heard, and a mass of black began to swarm the streets. Beowolves, Ursa, Berengel, Boarbatusks… they were moving in herds.

"Shit how are we gonna get past them?" she continued.

"I'm not sure… there's way more than we were expecting," Pyrrha said, her eyes trained on the herd.

The group of Grimm began to part down the middle, and striding out of the center of the herd was a massive Grimm. It was much like the Knuckleave except this horseback Grimm was clad in thick plated armor, one of its arms was a bone-shaped cone with a hole at the end and the other held a large scythe almost as tall as it, standing at around ten feet tall.

Its eyes began glowing red through its horned skull as it opened its mouth and let out a series of loud screeches in short bursts. The Grimm then began to form around it before dispersing in a coordinated fashion.

Ilya's eyes went wide with shock, "It's communicating?!"

"Looks like we found its leader…" Nova gripped the hilt of Helios.

Without much warning, the Grimm stamped its feet on the ground twice before sprouting a pair of black, bat-like wings from its back. With one powerful push, the wings lifted it off the floor and it flew toward Beacon Academy.

"…And it flies too! Of course, it flies, I mean, why wouldn't it?!" Belle hissed.

Adam looked at Nova, "What's the plan boss?"

"Ilya," he turned to her, "It looks like the Grimm are separating around here. I want your team to stay in the city and prepare for my signal. Adam, Belle, you guys too."

"What? What's that gonna do?!" the short stack argued.

Adam nodded, "I'm not leaving you to go up there by yourself Nova."

"I'm not. Pyrrha is coming with me. The two of us are going to hunt down the relic, once it's found I'll send up a flare, that's your guys' signal to start the extermination process. If things get dicey then you rally back at camp or toward the academy. Under no circumstances are you to take unnecessary risks okay?"

Belle hissed again, "You better remember those words because they apply to you as well."

Nova put her hand over her heart, "Aw, Belle you're gonna make me think you care!"

"Shut it lizard, if you die then I'll kill you myself."

"I knew I was growing on you," the dragon was smug.


The dragon and the gladiator made it across the city with little resistance, finally arriving at the ruins of Beacon Academy. Petrified statues of Grimm were scattered across the school grounds, the power of the Silver Eyes had certainly left their mark however it didn't take much for the Grimm to bounce back with an army.

Rubble lay strewn everywhere and the once pristine grounds had been turned into nothing but destroyed ruins, the broken remnants of a more peaceful time.

"It's so…"

"Dark? Dead? Destroyed? I can keep going…" Nova mused dryly.

The redhead sighed, "I just… always dreamed of coming back… just not like this. Seeing it like this is so… depressing I guess."

Nova pats her on the back, "Come on, we can stand around reminiscing when the Grimm are dead and we have the relic."

As they passed through the depreciated halls of the once glorious school, they came across a very familiar bloodied shirt, and accompanying it was a grey-plated armour with a golden falcon on it. "Cardin Winchester," Nova said with bitter somber. "Looks like he didn't make it out."

Snarling from behind them made them turn to see a Beowolf towering over them.

"We won't make it out if we don't step up!" Pyrrha was quick to take action, stabbing straight through it only to find a pack behind it. "They're not gonna make this easy are they…"

Nova took up a drawing stance, pulled the trigger on Helios, and with blinding speed cut through the line in one quick slash, appearing at the far end of the hallway in the blink of an eye, "No they won't. Now move before more show up."

It took four packs of Beowolves, seven Ursa, and three Berengel before they found themselves at the elevator shaft heading toward where the Vault was supposed to be.

"Hey Pyrrha?" she said staring down the empty shaft.

"Hm?"

"I think the elevator is out of order."

She deadpanned, "How do you live with yourself?"

"I don't know, how do you live with me, sister?" she said smugly.

"Here I'll show you."

"Huh?! Wait Pyrrha what are you…"

She shoved the dragon… hard…

"PYRRHA WHYYY!" Nova yelled as he fell down the shaft with a heavy thud. If there were any Grimm nearby, then they would have definitely heard that.

Grumbling and getting up from the rubble, Nova scanned the chamber. The bridge was still intact but there were scorch marks around the room, the pillars were shattered, and signs of battle were everywhere.

Pyrrha landed with a soft clank as she used her polarity to alleviate her fall onto the metal. The moment she looked at the room her mind flashbacked to the events that transpired almost two full years ago. It was here the power of Amber was funneled into her and then stopped halfway, where the real downfall of Beacon began.

"Not many good memories of this place huh?" Nova asked, looking at her expression.

She shook her head, "It's in the past. Come on, let's see if we can find the vault."

They searched high and low, scanning the vast halls in an attempt to find the Vault but came up dry.

"I can see why the Grimm stopped looking here. The Vault isn't here." Pyrrha said as they regrouped in the central chamber where the transfer devices were.

"No… it has to be here. There isn't anywhere else in Beacon it could be, otherwise Salem would have found it."

She looked at the dragon perplexed, "What do you mean?"

"Think about it. Salem has been searching this place for two years. She's probably scanned the entirety of Vale three times over and come up dry. It's not that it's somewhere else… it's that it's so well hidden that Grimm and Salem's goons aren't smart enough to find it." She pondered for a moment, "There has to be a clue… some kind of mundane thing no one would ordinarily notice."

She sat down on the cold steel floor and crossed her legs, "Hmmm… hmmm… HMMM!"

After a few minutes, Nova let out an exasperated sigh and collapsed onto her back, staring up at the ceiling. Then it clicked.

"Say… Pyrrha… don't you think the structure of this room is strange?"

"Now you're confusing me. It looks fine…"

"No, no I mean, the walls and floor are structured so ambiguously like it was purposely designed to look endless…"

"What are you seeing?"

"I think…" the dragon scooted around so her head was upside down, "I think Ozpin made this room… upside down!"

"HUH?!"

"The Vault… we can't find it because we're searching the ceiling! We need to search the floor!"

"Did you seriously hit your head? Do I need to get the first aid kit?"

"Ugh, just watch…" Nova hopped onto Helios and flew up to the ceiling, and began a thorough search as if they were on the ground. Pyrrha did her best to follow her around but sadly there were places only someone flying could go to.

"Let's see… there should be a door here…" Nova said having reached the end of the hall. It looked like smooth stone. She was about to brush it off when suddenly she felt the pull of magic tugging away at the Fall Maiden's powers rooted deep in her soul. "It's here…"

"What?!" Pyrrha yelled up.

"I SAID IT'S HERE! HOLD ON I'M GONNA TRY SOMETHING!" Nova placed both her palms against the stone and felt the burning heat of magic flowing in her veins. Her eyes began to glow with the power of the Maiden and suddenly the stone began to creak, the world began to shift as magic covered the stone like a bright orange blanket.

Upon opening her eyes Nova found herself standing in a room of clockwork, giant gears turning all around her like the inside of Ozpin's office, except it was much brighter in here. A lone pedestal stood in the center of the room where, on a velvet pillow was none other than a golden crown with bright blue gemstones.

"Found you…" Nova said quietly as he picked up the crown. "All this trouble for a hunk of metal huh?" as her fingers grasped around it for the first time, she felt something change inside of her… like the Maiden Powers had finally come to rest properly. Before it was restless and much of a mystery to her, but the moment the crown came into her possession it felt like something that was out of place suddenly… clicked.

With the crown in her bag, Nova repeated the same task as before, suddenly appearing on the floor next to a bewildered-looking Pyrrha.

"W-What just happened? You went all glowy and then disappeared and now you're back and…"

Nova sheepishly held up the crown, "I got it~"

"I can't believe that worked."

"Neither did I. Come on, let's get outta here."


They made their way outside the elevator shaft and began crossing the courtyard when a large thud landed behind them. The concrete shattered on all sides as the sound of heavy hooves against the stone reigned their heads around to face the monstrous beast that was in the city before.

"Fuck! I thought we were avoiding him?!" Pyrrha hissed.

Nova rubbed the back of her neck, "I… forgot relics attract the Grimm…"

"You forgot?!"

"Tee hee~"

The redhead grit her teeth and pulled out her spear and shield, "Looks like we're fighting this…"

It let out a massive roar that shook the entire academy. The walls, air, ground, it all seemed to shake in the presence of this creature. It was calling out to its allies...

"Oh fuck me…" Nova cursed.

Grimm from every nook and cranny began spewing forth like rats from a sewer. "You just couldn't make it a fair fight could you?" Nova sarcastically asked the beast.

"I'm not sure fighting it two on one was fair either…"

"Not now Pyrrha! He doesn't need to know that!"

"GRIMM DON'T HAVE FEELINGS, YOU MORON!"

"We can bicker later, kill now?"

"Kill now"

They sprung into action with Pyrrha heading off to take on the horde leaving Nova to face the beast.


"Okay ugly, let's dance!" Nova was first to attack, slashing with one quick motion as it merely grazed the bone armour of the creature.

It roared again slashing at Nova with its scythe, the dragon narrowly dodging it and riposting with a series of rapid slashes with the katana. Each time the metal struck bone, sparks flew into the sky.

The large creature's scythe began spinning in a circle seemingly creating a vortex of air, dragging Nova toward it with a vacuum.

"WOAH!"

The moment the dragon was in range the creature raised its other arm and shot a blast of fire out of its cannon-like appendage blasting Nova directly in the face.

The force of the explosion sent her flying back, the scythe connecting with her mid-air and slamming her into the floor.

"Fuck that hurt," Nova said getting up and wiping her face, "Looks like I need heavy damage over speed…" she switched to scythe form on Helios, "Alright you fucker, two can play at that game!"

The dragon let out a roar as she summoned the power of Fire coating her blade and creating a giant flaming scythe, slamming down onto the beast from above. It blocked with its plated forearm, the result was a rippling fire wave that dispersed across the field, incinerating several nearby Grimm. The beast, however, was barely hurt, still, scorch marks scarred its arm where the blow connected.

Seeing itself taking real damage, the beast enraged, charging Nova with immense force. Nova, still in the air landed on its arm and began a blade dance around its side, using its massive size and limited movements against it, slowly chipping away at its armour.

"Damnit why are you so tanky?!" Nova growled, baring her fangs. The Agniseki seemed to hum in response to Nova's plight. "Alright, blunt force it is…"

Summoning another torrent of explosive fire, Nova flexed her draconic arm outward and balled it into a fist, the stone glowing a fierce red as bright orange fire coated it.

"No… not enough… I need more!" Nova willed her power to provide more, to drain as much Aura as needed… when suddenly something changed.

The pull on the Aura began to slow as she felt a different pull, one now on her magic. The Maiden's Powers took effect, eyes glowing brightly as the fire turned white, then blue, then a mixture of glowing silver and orange. Without any hesitation, Nova slammed her fist onto the creature's back with as much force as she could muster, the power shot out like a rocket erupting on impact.

The impact detonated with a massive white-hot explosion that shook the earth itself, even Pyrrha had to stop her assault to plant her spear into the ground just to avoid getting blown away from the shockwave. The beast however wasn't prepared for the force as its entire body was sent flying through its own army and crashing into the walls of the courtyard, barrelling through several concrete pillars before landing in a smouldering heap.

"Is it dead?" Nova asked, dropping to the floor and placing her hand over her eyes to see.

"Warn me next time before you do that!" Pyrrha hissed.

Nova shrugged, "Didn't even know I could!" then she pointed her finger toward the sky, "I forgot this…" she shot a bright flare into the sky with a finger gun pointed upward. "Nice, now let's finish this and head home."

The dust finally settled around the creature, and to no surprise, it was still alive. Unlike before, however, its armour was completely shattered.

Once it regained its composure it sprouted its heavy wings and took to the sky.

"Oh, you are not getting away." Nova was about to hop onto Helios when the Agniseki hummed again. "You want me to what?! I can do that now?!"

The stone hummed again.

Nova placed Helios on one hand and took a deep breath, summoning the Fall Maiden's power she shot into the air like a rocket, propelled by magic. It was a little unstable as she found herself teetering sideways every now and then as she climbed toward the creature.

"This is going to take some getting used to…" she muttered. "I wonder if I can…"

Just as she thought it, the Agniseki seemed to respond as bright orange and silver wings of fire sprouted from her back. Despite being made of magic and fire they seemed to be capable of stabilizing her flight.

"Okay, you just keep surprising me."

The Agniseki made a high-frequency hum.

"Right the upgraded soul thing… gotta remember to keep my head."

*Hum*

"Right, battle…" she zoomed skyward at the creature that was desperately trying to get away. "GET BACK HERE!" she didn't know why or how it was possible, but she stretched the Agniseki toward the creature in an attempt to shoot it down with fire, instead a giant arm of manifested silver and orange flame shot out, grabbing hold of the creature and yanking it toward her.

Surprised by the act, the flame seemed to respond and instantly dissipated, thankfully her quick thinking allowed her to register the opportunity and used it to slice at the beast, cutting it right down the middle and leaving a searing scorch mark in its wake.

It began spiraling out of the sky before its wings caught it and steadied it, *ROAARRR* it bellowed as now out of the cloud cover came Wyverns, three of them.

"OH, COME ON! REALLY?!" Nova growled as one of the creatures blasted a fireball, which Nova easily face-tanked. "Immune to fire remember?"

The Wyverns didn't seem to learn, instead began peppering her with fire before rushing in with their talons and fangs.

"Let me show you…" she dodged the talons, danced over the head of the second one, "How a real dragon fights!" with a swift uppercut to the jaw, laden with the coloured fire, the creature went crashing out of the sky and disintegrated on impact with the ground.

The two others drew away from Nova in the air while the beast spun its scythe creating a vortex, sucking Nova into a cyclone.

"Dragging me toward you? Oh… big mistake…" Nova dove straight into the vortex, the suction effect almost doubling her previous speed as she charged the scythe, its blade becoming a massive white and orange flame blade (Think Kishin Hunter from Soul Eater). The other Wyverns realized what was happening and tried to knock Nova away from the side, but it was too late.

With all three beasts collapsing into one spot, Nova swung the scythe hard creating a diagonal slash that arced and cut all three at once in a violent explosion that dispersed the clouds and superheated the atmosphere, incidentally, causing a brief drizzle of rain that vaporized and sizzled as it touched her. "Think I'll call that move Hellfire Slash... or maybe Infernal Death...? Too Edgy maybe?" she looked at the stone, "What do you think?"

*Hums faintly*

"You are no help at all..."

She descended upon the courtyard in a blaze of glory, wiping out any stragglers that remained.

Pyrrha stood looking rather exhausted, staring at the flame-clad dragon. The two had their fair share of hard-fought battles, with Pyrrha looking worse for wear but with no serious injuries.

"If… I knew… you were so strong… I'd have left your ass to do this yourself…" she panted in between breaths.

Nova touched down and the wings dissipated, claws and scales retracted, and the glow of the Maiden turned down. "Trust me even I…" Nova started but suddenly began to wobble on her feet, she almost collapsed had Pyrrha not caught her in time.

"Sorry… that… wow I feel so tired right now…" Nova said, barely able to stand.

The redhead looked her over, "You didn't take much damage…"

"No, but… damn those powers really drained me… I feel like I could sleep for a week…"

She heaved the dragon onto her shoulders, "You can sleep later. Let's just get clean out the rest of Vale."


Eventually, they made their way down and out of the academy, back to the entrance where they found Adam, Ilya, and Belle waiting for them accompanied by the six soldiers. The four Faunus commanders were covered in blood and black dust, torn clothes, and scratches made mosaics on their bodies but they didn't look as though they were in any mortal danger.

"Hey, looks like you guys made it in one piece," Nova said weakly as she held onto Pyrrha's shoulder.

Belle folded her arms and shot her a toothy grin, "Took your sweet time didn't you? We were done like ten minutes ago! And what was that with all the explosions?!"

Nova just waved her off, "I'll tell you guys later… so… is it done?"

Ilya knelt before Nova and all the guards did as well, "Yes, your highness. We've done a triple-check, all Grimm in the vicinity of Vale and nearby forests have been eradicated. No casualties to report, however a few of our men have broken bones and suffered wounds."

Nova felt a little awkward but took it in stride. "Ensure those men are tended to. You all fought well, and your bravery will be commended," she then turned to the others, "So… it's finally done. We won this battle…" and with that, she passed out.

It took less than a week to hike back across Vale to the port and another two days to get a boat back to the village of KuoKuana.

They were on the doorsteps of the Belladonna household when they saw Kalli standing in the doorway looking worried, Mira tightly holding onto the hem of the older woman's skirt.

When the child saw her adoptive parents she ran to them with a bright smile on her face, "Mommy! Daddy!"

Belle quickly caught her and spun her around, giving her a kiss on the forehead, "Hey baby! I'm home~" she cooed.

Nova and Pyrrha walked up while the couple reunited, "Hey Aunt K, we're back."

Kalli gave them both a big hug, "Did you win?"

Nova shot her a smirk, "Without a doubt."


The next morning another gathering was held for the triumphant return.

Once more the townspeople and tourists alike were all crowded in front of the Belladonna household, Ghira standing at the podium, "Friends, I will not be taking the lead today, for I believe your prince has something to say."

Nova stepped to the mic now back in his male form, he was dressed in a formal white long coat with regal embroidery on the shoulders and sleeves, the Flareheart symbol over his left breast in bright gold, however, in contrast to the outfit, Summer's cloak was still around his shoulders, an item he refused to part with.

"My people, roughly a month ago I asked you all to give me a chance to prove myself to you. To prove the worth of our cause. Two weeks ago, we set out to retake the city of Vale from the Grimm. I stand before you today to say…" he paused for effect, "That we were successful!"

"WOOOHOOO!"
"HOLY SHIT THEY DID IT!"
"Does this mean we can go back to Vale?!"

Applause rang around with pride and glee. Once the chatter subsided, Nova cleared his throat, "I held true to our promise, and with the help of Ilya Amitola, Adam Taurus, Belle Wings, Pyrrha Nikos, and the elite squadron, we have eradicated all Grimm from the city of Vale and Beacon Academy."

"This does not mean all the Grimm are gone, the ones in the wild are still very much alive and it would take years of dedicated work to kill all of them on the continent, but for the most part, the city is now safe."

"Wouldn't the Grimm just come back?" someone asked.

Nova nodded his head, "Yes to a small extent but not nearly as bad as before. In an effort to maintain our claim on the land I ask you, the people, to uphold your end of the bargain. We fulfilled our duty, so now I ask you to do yours. In the coming months, I would ask volunteers to begin rebuilding the city. Engineers, carpenters, farmers, Huntsmen, and Huntresses. We need you to now take it upon yourselves to head to the city and began rebuilding."

"What? Who will fund all this?!" Someone else asked.

"All funds will be done by Shade Academy as well as Atlas Academy and I have word that Headmaster Ozpin left a failsafe supply in the event that we do retake the academy."

When he saw people were still unsure Nova reached behind him, around his belt where the relic was attached, and held it up, "This is the Relic from the Vault at Beacon. The Crown of Choice."

Gasps resounded through the crowd.

"If you didn't believe us before, believe us now. This is reality. The Fairy Tales were real, and we really do need your help. I know things are tough, and money is short. Our supplies are not unlimited, so I am asking you, not as your prince but as your fellow man living on this planet, to please if there is any generosity within you, to help our cause."

It seemed the people were moved, the crowd was nodding their heads and holding their hearts.

"I will be going to Shade Academy now, I won't be able to stay with you all for much longer. The frontlines need me and I believe they need you as well. If anyone is willing to join me, I open my hands to you again, to follow me to the Academy and we will prepare you for the future. Thank you," and with that, he stepped off the podium.

Once more applause resounded and it seemed there were serious candidates this time, as Ghira was passing around a list and several were stopping to sign it.

Pyrrha elbowed him, "Hey is that stuff you said true?"

"About?"

"About Shade and Atlas helping, and Ozpin's cache or whatever."

Nova snorted, "No that was a bluff. Even if they don't want to, at the very least Winter can't ignore us, and the SDC owes us a huge debt now. We've got the resources to slowly rebuild, at least enough to send soldiers over and guard the permitter. As for Ozpin… I'm pretty sure the asshat has something up his sleeve, no way he left all that money he made as Headmaster to waste."

Pyrrha's jaw dropped, "You… I don't even know what to do with you."

"Don't think about me, think about Jaune."

She sputtered, "Where did that come from?!"

He smirked and elbowed her, "Come on, don't pretend you're not excited to see your boyfriend after almost a year."

She looked downcast for a moment, a small smile on her face appearing before she elbowed him back, "Oh yeah what about you? Are You excited to see your friends? To see Ruby?"

Nova let out a genuine smile, warm and filled with longing, "Yeah… I am."


Hope this was good, next chapter is already being edited so look out for that!