Remnant. An earth created out of dust. Then came man, and the grimm. Man fended from themselves for centuries. But not without the blood of the people. Years pass, and negative energy became the fuel source for the grimm's malicious existence. Now, it burns brightly than ever. It even touches other worlds around Remnant...

A crow flies through a fleet of ships leaving a large city. The crow maneuvers through the ships and the buildings in high speeds. The crow then goes in one large building through a window.. The crow flies through the large hallways, as it pass through the columns, the crow transforms into a man with jet black hair and a white jacket, and an angry face. A female staff member then notices the man walking towards the head of this building. "Sir? Sir! Your not allowed there!"

"Blow me." The man then opens the door and slammed it. The lady couldn't help but blush after he said that.

A stern, lean man is in the middle of paperwork. Then the sound of his door opening catches his attention. It was a man he knows well. "Qrow? I didn't recall having a meeting with you."

The one named Qrow walks in with anger written all over his face. "Cut the bullshit Ironwood! I want answers!" He then slams his hands to Ironwoods desk.

"I assume your angry mood that something happened to your niece." He still keeps his calm tone.

"Ya damn right! I was following my niece and her friends to Mistral, and then all of the sudden they disappeared! And look what I found..." He brings out a small coil. "This symbol looks familiar doesn't it?"

Ironwood recognizes it too well. "And you assume this is my creation."

"Well...who do you think?" Qrow then gets in Ironwood's face. "So, are you hiding anything behind everyone's back like in Beacon?"

Ironwood stares back at Qrow's angry eyes. "I had nothing to do with your niece's disappearance." He then stands up and walks up to the window, looking at the view of the city. "In fact me and my best men are looking into these devices. You see I discovered these small contraptions as well, and I too am puzzled on its symbol. But I guarantee that I did not made them."

Qrow couldn't find anything to argue Ironwoods words. If what he says was true, then he is basically wasting his breath. So he reluctantly turns his back and leaves. But then he stops once he opens the door. "I'll believe you for now...But listen well...if I ever find out that you were hiding something again and if my niece gets involved in it...not even Ozpin will cover your ass..." Qrow looks dead straight into Ironwoods eyes. He gave him the benefit of doubt in Beacon. But now, that Ruby is directly involved, he can't ignore this. After what happened to Penny, things can't get any worse for the both of them. But there is a possibility that it can get worse. Far worse.

Qrow flies off in crow form as James Ironwood stares off to the distance and see's his 'ally' leave. He thinks to himself, Ruby Rose going missing is most unfortunate. But he already has enough problems to deal with. After the Fall of Beacon, he has a lot of fingers pointed at him after Penny Polendina was destroyed. She was the barrier that kept the people safe from the Grimm attacked. After that barrier was breached, they were defenseless. James was making sure something like that never happens again. But here lies more problems. No one would trust him anymore. He was lucky enough that small amounts of corperations like the Schnee Family is still supporting him. Apparently people can't trust you anymore for making only one mistake. But then...there was this man...

James hears someone enter. "Mr. Ironwood sir? Your appointment is here."

"Tell him to come in."

Then a man with a greyish brown hair and brown suit and a goatee and rectangular glasses. "James Ironwood. I am honored to be in your presence."

"I am a very busy man you know."

"I see. Things haven't been going well for you lately, hasn't it?"

James is not amused by this man already. "Just why have you come here anyways?"

"I want to reconcile with you. We may have not seen eye to eye in the past, but I believed that in your time of need, you need my help!"

"Oh Please..." James is even more unamused.

"My corporation may not be as forceful and powerful as your army and technology, but I say that we join forces to help out a cause. Something to really gain everyone's trust and lift the spirits of the people!"

"Why shouldn't I refuse like I have many times?"

The man smiles. "What choice do you have? No one trusts you. I am granting you the opportunity to not only gain everyone's trust, but boost your men's morale. And it just so happens that I know a way how we can do this!"

James looks down, thinking. He never wanted to join forces with someone like him. He supports shady background. There is a possibility that he is working for Cinder. He is lucky enough to hold no evidence. But even if he is not, there could be something he is hiding. But this is a thing he can't recover from. At least alone. Ozpin is missing, no one trusts him, his men lost their morale. So whatever offer he has, he has to at least find out. "How do we do this Ikutsuki?"

The man named Ikutsuki smiles. "I am so glad you asked. And please, you may call me Shuji."

James squints his eyes in frustration. "I'd prefer to call you Ikutsuki..."

Shuji shrugs. "Fine by me. Come, the future awaits."

Meanwhile...

A large black creature with a white mask and arrows sticking out of its body roars like a banshee and swings its long arms. Only to get parried by a young man with bladed guns. He angrily attacks furiously and in high speed. The creature then roars and rushes with its half man, half horse legs towards the young man, but then an orange haired girl gets in the way and shots her cannon towards its horse's head. The deformed centaur then stretches its arms to attack the two. Then a red swirl catches the two fighter and save them from the upcoming attack. The red swirl reveals to be a girl with a red hood and a sniper gun. The gun then transforms into a mechanical scythe and jumps in to attack. In a flash she slashed at the deformed centaur in a matter of seconds with inhuman speed. She the uses her gun part of the scythe to shot her way out of the deformed centaur's reach before it can attack back. The grimly creature's back then grows spines on its back, with a crackling sound, as it roars with a loud shriek that causes the hooded girl to cover her ears in pain. The creature then swings its boneless body and spins like a helicopter, striking the hooded girl at her back. The black haired young man goes to a tree and shots with his gun, but gets grabbed by the creature and gets slammed to a wall.

The hooded girl stands back up, rubbing her head in pain. Then she see's someone else also getting up in pain. A blonde with a black sweater with armor over it. He then looks at the creature with anger and determination. He puts his sword back to his scab. "Jaune, what are you doing?!" The one named Jaune then presses a button and causes the scab to be one with the sword in the scab, creating a two-handed sword. He rushes into action. The hooded girl then smirks as she follows.

The shadowy monster then attends to finish off the black haired one while he is defenseless and does so. The young man closes his eyes, assuming its the end. But then once he opens his eyes, he see's his orange haired partner prevented the next blow by jumping in. But her hammer is now stuck on the wall with the creatures hand. She then looks at her partner who is just below her. She blushed at his eyes. "No peaking!"

"Oh! Uh..." He just looked under her dress. They both blush. But then Jaune shows up and cuts the creatures leg. The creature yells and lets the two go. In anger, the centaur monstrosity kicks Jaune away. The little hooded warrior jumps in and slashes at all of the legs, causing it stumble.

The orange hair girl see's the hooded girl jump in protecting them. "Ruby!"

"Nora! Take care of Ren! Me and Jaune will hold it off!" Nora nods in worry. As she carries the exhausted Ren. Ruby keeps shooting at the beast, as she circles around it, avoiding its attacks. Ruby feels the dread of the monsters malicious intent. But for the past month, she has been through a lot, and as result, she is stronger, both physically and mentally. She demonstrates it by going head on against the Grimm and through her improved speed, and upgraded weaponery, she overwhelms the enemy by herself. Back then she would be afraid to even go near it and attack. But she is able to match it by herself thanks to a certain tech that upgraded not only her scythe, but also given jet anklets to give her both speed and control over that overwhelming speed. She uses this new speed to good use and zips through the area and hits at the Grimm monstrosity in all direction. Ruby stops, trying to get a breather, as she see's the centaur is going even more berserk than before. Jaune runs to shield Ruby before the centaur could attack her while she was catching her breath. "Jaune! We need to take that thing down!"

Jaune looks carefully at the centaur. Then he see's Ren and Nora running in back to them. "Me and Ruby will take care of the arms."

Nora nods. "I'll take care of the horse!"

Ren looks at his teammates with sincerity. "I'll handle the rest."

Ruby shoots the beast, making it attack her, she dodges and stabs the hand. The beast turns to Jaune and stretches its arm to hit him. But then Ren rushes in to stab the arm towards the floor. "Jaune now!" Jaune then stabs the arm with his long sword. "Nora!" Nora drops down on a building with a devious smirk on her face and brings down her transformable hammer towards the horse part of the deformed monster. Ren gets ready to finish off the monster he holds a grudge over. The same monster that killed his parents and burned down his village. But little did he know that the monster is tearing his skin out of Ruby's scythe.

Ruby notices it, but its too late. The torn apart hand free's itself. "REN LOOK OUT!"

Ren looks behind him to see a deadly attack coming his way. He tries to dodge, but the hand that is now turning into spikes is too fast. That's when Ren knew its over. He tried his best, but it seems it wasn't enough. Nora see's this, trying to save him, but she won't make it, Ren knows this. But just when he was about to be another fallen comrade, the Grimm's arm gets sliced, with the spikes narrowly avoiding Ren's chest. He stands shocked, as well as Nora, Ruby, and especially Jaune.

"Akame?!"

A girl drops in, holding a sharp sword with a red hilt. Her eyes gleam red, with a black outfit that matches her black long hair. "I'll take this arm!" She begins to slice what's left of the Grimm's stumpy arm with her cursed sword Murasame.

Jaune grips his sword hard to make sure the other arm doesn't do the same thing the other one did. But he looks at Akame striking the Grimm down. He notice how much she is hiding the fact that her stomach is injured. Earlier she took multiple hits on the stomach from the Grimm's back kick. She was out of action considering she hasn't mastered aura that prevents injuries like that. After all, she is not from this world. But even then, she still got back up to fight in an injury that could paralyze and maybe kill any normal person without aura. But Akame doesn't classify as normal in that case. The Grimm then tries to move its half broken body, but the horse part of the body is having a hard time moving properly after Nora's attack. Akame takes the opportunity to slice the horses head off, driving the Grimm to scream in pain. The legs then collapse. Leaving the body to squirm and shake to move. Ren walks with his weapons in hand and glares at the Grimm with malice in his eyes. This time he won't make any mistakes as he begins to finish off this monster.

"This is for my Mother..." He slices the other arm off. "This is for my Father, and all the people you killed..." He cuts the Grimm's chest. "And for..." Then the Grimm shouts at Ren's face. But then it screams in pain once Akame stabs it at the back. She looks at Ren and nods. He nods back. Closes his eyes, and goes face to face with the beast that haunted him since he was a kid. "...And for myself!" He slices the Grimm's head off. The corpse then disintegrates into black mist. Everyone sighs in relief. Ren closes his eyes and remembers his parents when he was a kid. He knows that they can rest easy now. Akame walks over to Ren, putting her hand on his shoulder. They both smile, knowing they did a good job.

Jaune, Ruby, and Nora runs to them. "Are you guys alright?"

Ren nods. "Never better..."

Jaune then shifts his focus on Akame. "Are you?"

Akame holds her stomach gently. "I'm okay. Just...a little sore..."

Jaune raises his brow. "We'll have to move. And once we camp, we'll see." He leads them towards the forest.

Ruby is the only one not moving. Nora notices this. "Ruby? You coming?"

"Huh?" Ruby then see's her team just leaving. "Oh! Coming!" Ruby follows them, still thinking about one thing. "...why do I have a feeling we came here early then we should?..." She mentally shrugs and picks up the pace.

Later...

The team sets up a campfire. Ren and Ruby was out to find some wood so the fire would be brighten while Nora is napping. Jaune couldn't stop looking at Akame, rubbing her stomach. She then blushes once she notices Jaune is looking at her. "I said I'm fine."

Jaune crosses his arms, unamused. "Sure you are..."

"Really."

Jaune then shakes his head. "You don't understand. Sure you are the best fighter out of all of us, but you still didn't develop your aura."

Akame has heard about auras from this world. Aura is a force of power from within that shapes into a force field of the body to protect oneself from fatal attacks. But she didn't think she needed it after all the things she's been through. After killing many notorious criminals and assassins and armies. She never thought she would need something like aura. But after their last fight, she might consider it. If it means getting Jaune to stop staring at her with such worry. But then something came to her head. Since she came from a different world where their way of acquiring power is significantly different, whose to say its even possible for Akame to learn how to use aura.

Ruby and Ren comes back with the wood. They drop it to the fire, and it brightens up more. Ren sits next to the sleeping Nora. He looks at his friend he knew since they were kids. After their last deadly fight, he couldn't help but feel more attached to her now.

Ruby has her hands close to the fire's warmth as the night breeze has been getting the better of her skin after a long search for the wood. "So uh...Akame."

"Hm?"

"I've been meaning to ask you. Do you miss your world?"

Akame looks towards the fire, thinking about the life that led her up to this. After all the trials, the killings, the betrayals, the pain, the suffering she went through. "I do...I just...feel like I failed my leader...I did disobeyed her more than once. I lost my way and tried to kill the wrong person. I felt that I cannot go back until I find my way and help my new friends."

Ruby feels sorry for her new friend. "You've been through a lot have you?"

Akame then laments on the more personal details of her life. The friends lost, the lies she listened to, the family she lost. "..."

Jaune knows first hand how much her past her hurts her so. Akame said though that it was because of the coils that entered her world. For what she heard from the man that started this whole dimensional mess, Haruka Seameyer, the coils amplified her PTSD from inside her head due to her powerful negative energy. Because of that, she experienced more intense nightmares and suffer from illusions of her past. It isn't as bad as before after she decided to stay with Team RNJR. "We all lost something. But no matter how hard things get, we move on. Right?"

Akame nods in agreement. So does Ruby. They all get tired and eventually, the whole team goes to sleep. Akame slowly opens her eye, still feeling her stomach aching. But before she can go back to her slumber, she notices Ruby shaking. She assumes that it must be the cold. But then she notices her face. She was whimpering. Akame gets up and goes up to Ruby. "Ruby?" She shakes her to wake her. "Ruby!"

"no...no..."

"Ruby!" Akame then notices something. She feels something overwhelming all over Ruby. "Huh?" Its similar to the feeling she had when she activated her War Horn Trump Card. The malice and darkness that went through her, it is now inside Ruby! Akame then looks around and see's red glowing eyes surrounding her.

Jaune wakes up along with Ren. "What the?!"

Nora opens her eyes and see's a Grimm on her face. "WAAAH!" Nora punches the dark shaded wolf out of reach. Akame grabs her sword and unseathes it.

"Huh?...Wha?!" Ruby wakes up and grabs her Crescent Rose.

The pack of Wolf Grimm attacks the group as they fight back. Jaune slices one head off. "Where did those Grimm came from?!"

Akame dodges one attack and stabs one in the head. "We need to find the nearest village!" Everyone runs as fast as they can while the Grimm chase them. Akame runs and slash her way, but then feels her stomach hurting again. "Angh!" She stops and gets on her knees. One of the Grimm's see's this attacks Akame from behind. But then it gets a sword to the face for its troubles. Akame breathed heavily after she killed the Grimm.

Jaune stops on his tracks once he see's his friend on her knees. "Akame!"

Ruby also notices it. "I'll help her!" She dashes in, slashing many Grimm in her way. She reaches Akame. "Are you okay?!"

"Ugh..." Akame tries to get up, Ruby helps her up.

Ruby looks around and see's Ren, Nora, and Jaune fighting for their lives, and she see's Akame struggling to stand up. Ruby is now feeling fear inside. The possibility of one of her friends dying without her having the power to prevent it. It happened with her Mother, it happened with Penny, it happened with Pyhrra. "no...please...nomore..."

"Ah?!" Akame feels the negative energy again. Then the energy manifests into a large black sphere. "What the?!"

Ruby notices the dark portal as well. "Huh?!" Then one Grimm jumps towards them. Akame looks up but is too hurt to retaliate. "NO!" Ruby then kicks the Grimm as hard as she can. Then another one pounces at her straight towards the portal.

"RUBY!" The portal disappears. Akame stares in disbelief. She has lost another friend...

A Grimm is lurking behind the bewildered Akame. But then Jaune comes in to slice its neck. He picks up Akame in a bridal position. "Akame! Akame! Talk to me!"

Akame's eyes are widen and in tears. "...I lost her...Ruby...she's..."

"Quiet! We need to go to a safe place first!" Jaune runs as fast as he can. He is gritting with anger as tears flow through his eyes. He can't lose another friend like this.

To be continued...