Back once again with the renegade master. Back once again with lessons, spring cleaning and writing to be done. Man, it's cold over here as well. Colder than it ever was during xmas. I have to go out each morning and break the ice in the horse's water troths because they freeze over. My dog, Kali, loves it though. Extra chores means more running around being helpful, and as a border collie she is very big on work.

Woke me up this morning by wriggling her entire body under my face as I slept face down and standing up so that I either had to wake up or suffer a broken neck. Thanks Kali. Very kind of you.


Cover Art: Curbizzle

Chapter 8


It happened so quickly, and yet also so slowly. Slow enough to feel the tolling of some distant bell in their bones, slow enough to see the water bubble and roil and froth, but fast enough that when the ocean's surface bulged out and up, they had no time to flee. A monstrous shape broke the surface with a deafening roar. An echoing roar. Ruby screamed and cupped her ears, and yet she couldn't hear her own voice at all. The noise, like a thousand car horns going off next to her ear, reached a pitch so wild there was a pop and then the noise dulled.

For Blake, who was so close to the dock's edge, it was enough to drive her down to her knees and have her tugging her feline ears down. Blood ran from them down her cheeks and onto her shoulders, staining white cloth red. The others were little better, staggering and stumbling around as if they were on an aircraft bucking in the air. Ren hit a cargo container and slid down it; Yang, on her way to reach Blake, tripped and fell, splashing down into a puddle of water.

Then, more water came. A huge wave not big enough to be tidal, but more than sizeable enough to smash down on them and throw them away. Ruby was sent spinning across the concrete. Knight shielded her with his body, not that it stopped them being launched away. Coming with the wave was the swell from displaced water, picking up three fishing vessels bobbing in the water and raising them high above the level of the docks themselves. They came crashing down between the two teams and the creature that had broken the surface, metal screeching and crunching across concrete as the water dyed away.

Extricating herself from Knight's hands, Ruby dared to look up and see what it was. The water, the wave and the ships had prevented her before, but now, with them gone, she could see what had come to the surface in all its terrifying glory.

Oh, her mind provided dully. So that's why he called himself Leviathan…

It was giant. Monstrous. An impossibly thick worm or serpent that pierced tall out of the water, easily fifty metres tall and with more hidden beneath the choppy waves. Its skin, with water rinsing down it in waterfalls, was scaled thickly in dark and mottled tones of charcoal grey and midnight blue. It was easily fifteen metres thick, as thick as the largest Grimm she'd ever seen. Ruby doubted there existed a Grimm larger than it.

Its long neck continued up unto a flattened-out head, a fish-like snout that was pointed up toward the glowing red moon and the jagged black scar across a sky dyed crimson. Slowly, torturously, it brought its head down to regard them. As it did, twin beams of solid yellow light slammed down onto the concrete, cast from three-metre-wide eyes like beams from a floodlight. They rushed over the docks, taking everything in. When they passed over her, Ruby found herself rooted to the spot. Frozen. It wasn't fear, or it wasn't just fear. There was something heavier than that, a very real frost that crept into every bone in her body and froze it solid.

Drip – Drip…

Wrong. It was… wrong. It was impossible. It was incorrect, immutable, wrongwrongwrong! Its maw opened revealing rows and rows of teeth, all angled back and all pointed in toward its throat, within which a pale grey light shone impossibly. Air as fetid and dank as the bottom of the ocean splashed over her, dropping her to her knees. Tears ran down her face and she didn't know why. Or didn't understand why. Couldn't. It was wrong. It was so wrong that it hurt to look at and she wanted to do nothing more than curl into a ball and cry until the world made sense again.

Ruby's eyes slid upward as it continued to gaze at her. Her arms trembled, her throat clogged, and she garbled out empty sounds – choked and rasped. With a final choking sob, Ruby tumbled forward and splashed face-first onto the ground.

"RUBY!"

/-/

"I take it that's not yours."

Grimm knew it was rhetorical, but he shook his head anyway. That… thing was no Grimm. Or… it was but… it didn't… His eyes burned and he had to look away. The more he looked at it, the more his body rebelled. "I can't control it. Not in a million years."

"I'm not sure it's under control at all." Ashari said. Despite being soaked with water and nearly having drowned, the older man had the strength to haul Grimm's arm over his shoulder and support him. He'd also saved his life. "We should go."

"We should help them!" Grimm argued.

"Say that around Null or Cinder and you'll not hear the end of it. There's nothing we can do here. We stick around and we only give that thing acceptable targets. Best thing we can do is leave and hope it calms down with no enemies left." Ashari hummed. "Can you control the other Grimm? The one he's creating?"

"Barely. I'm… I'm suppressing them. It's taking a lot of focus."

"All the more reason to get us out of here." Ashari dragged him over to Null, who had been wise – or callous – enough to seek shelter and leave the two of them behind. He was soaked through as well, bruised and exhausted, and just as scared as them looking at the thing that Jaune had become.

"What the hell is that thing?" Null asked, forgetting his enmity of them for the moment. Grimm couldn't blame him.

"Apparently, it's an iteration of ourselves." Ashari said.

"That's… me? Us?"

"Seems that way. What kind of world you come from them to make that possible I don't know. We're leaving. Grimm is out, I was nearly drowned and unless you want to fight that thing-"

"No." Null shook his head. "I'm with you on this. Let's get out of here."

/-/

The water continued to froth and splash over the docks and against them. The air grew chill, the sky glowed red and Grimm dropped from above like falling snow, landing around them, away from them, some in the city itself. Distant screams echoed, but the lot of them didn't move. Couldn't. They were prey caught in the sight of an apex predator, still and silent, hoping – praying – that it wouldn't snuff out their life.

Drip – Drip

It echoed in her head. Each drop of water an echo that had her soul rippling like the surface of a lake. Cold, soft, forgiving, welcoming her, as if she could let go and sink gently down into its embrace, into the dark. Whispering in her ear that it would be like taking a nap, that it would be the softest bed she'd ever laid on, a night's sleep from which she would never have to worry again-

"YANG!" Pyrrha's voice cut through her mind like a hot knife. "Make him stop!"

"H-Him…?"

"Leviathan! It's Leviathan! Make him stop!"

Leviathan…? Yang looked up and felt a whimper deep in her throat. It didn't look like the goofy, friendly teen from another world she'd just started to get to know, that she'd just started to get to like. Leviathan was funny and chatty, giving as good as he got, laughing at her ribbing and poking back like he was a friend she'd never known she had.

This… This was a monster out of her worst nightmares, out of the desperate ramblings of a man driven to the brink of insanity. Even looking at it had her eyes watering. Blake was still hunched up in a ball, shaking and screaming at the floor as Weiss tried to pull her away. In the end, that snapped her out of it. Not courage, but shame.

Get your act together! Do something!

"L… Leviathan!" she shouted. Her voice wavered but who could fucking blame her? When it – his, she told herself – turned its gaze on her, brought those spotlights crashing down on her, she felt colder than ice. The air she breathed out came in a thick mist. "Leviathan!" she tried again. "S-Stop this."

He stared back at her. The stillness worried her. Had she been too assertive? Too commanding?

"Please," she said to be safe. "Please can… can you stop the Grimm? You… You're scaring us. C-Can't you turn back? It… It'll be okay. We… We can explain this to Ozpin."

Explain that one of theirs was a monster, that Leviathan was more beast than the literal Grimm version of Jaune. More Grimm continued to rain down all around them, smashing down into the water for the most part and drowning, but more landed in the city. How many people were dying right now? How many defenceless people were dying because of Leviathan?

Because of me… I guilted him into coming out here. He didn't want to walk into this obvious trap, but I forced him by threatening to go on my own. As he gazed down on her, she wondered if he was thinking that right now.

"I don't think he can turn back." Ren said. He, at least, sounded stable. Lifeless even. "His body was shot. He didn't have aura. He's… I think he's dead. Physically, at least."

Leviathan heard him, dragged its head back, opened its giant maw and bellowed. Even angled upward as it was, the shockwave ripped water out in a circle around him, swept Yang off her feet and shattered every pane of glass in the docks. Dust secured in metal containers vibrated, energised and exploded, bursting out along the water's edge and making the water look like it was on fire. That roar seemed to say everything. Jaune – her Jaune – was dead. His body had been killed and his chance of achieving his wish…

Floodlight eyes moved from Yang and away. She turned to track them, watching as they turned to regard the city of Vale itself. Confusion settled in like cold water in her veins, before it turned to solid ice.

"No! You can't!"

Leviathan roared and water rose up from the ocean around him in large cyclones. He could, she knew. He could and he damn well knew it too. His chance at the wish wasn't over – only his chance of earning it with them, of earning it without revealing himself. If every other Jaune were to die here and now, if Vale were to be destroyed, then he'd win. Technically, he would be the last one standing.

When the water smashed down toward where the others were standing, Yang screamed out a warning, "Run! Run!"

Weiss looked up in horror at a five-metre-high wave that smashed down onto her and Blake, pinning them flat and overwhelming them in an instant. Visions of them being drowned like Leviathan tried to drown Ashari swam through Yang's mind, but the water moved on, leaving Weiss and Blake spluttering on their hands and knees. It ignored them – and why not? Neither of them was an anchor.

Pyrrha and Ren on the other hand…

Ren gasped and tried to run, only to be slammed down by a huge wave. Unlike with Weiss and Blake, it swam around him, gripped his leg and started to drag him back to the water. Nora screamed and smashed her hammer down onto it for all the good it did. Leviathan didn't even regard her, too busy chasing an evasive Pyrrha as she leapt up onto a container and sprinted away, careful to avoid any and all water.

An explosion signalled the end of Nora's patience. Where her hammer had done nothing to shift the water, her grenades at least splashed it away enough to buy Ren a moment to gasp for air. She dragged him out and was running with him before the water could come back. And it tried. Like living snakes, water wriggled across the concrete after the two of them.

"Stop!" Yang screamed at Leviathan. "Stop it! They're on our side. They're-"

Leviathan lunged. That something so big could be so quick shocked her. Yang screamed in fright, but the monstrous bulk smashed down a good distance from her. It swiped its head and body down on the docks, cracking concrete and shattering the foundations as if they were made of biscuit. The ground groaned and dipped in toward Leviathan, the once-flat industrial zone becoming two diagonal planes leading down to the water, toward Leviathan's domain.

If anyone fell in that water, they wouldn't be coming out…

Yang wracked her mind for an answer. Like Weiss and Blake, she'd been ignored – and she couldn't be targeted because she was his anchor. It gave her a moment to think. Or to try. Leviathan twisted its body like a snake and rammed its giant maw into the containers Pyrrha was dancing atop, biting into and through four in one go. The dust ignited in his mouth to no effect. He bit down on the fire, smoke and twisted metal like it was nothing. The sound of it ground to nothing in his mouth echoed like nails on a chalkboard.

He was going to kill them. He was really trying to kill them. Yang had known Leviathan wanted the wish – wanted it bad – but it hadn't been a problem before because Knight was willing to give it up. They'd all known he didn't like the idea of more Jaunes involved, and they all knew that was because he didn't want to deal with the competition, but none of them had suspected it would be this bad. It hadn't crossed any of their minds that one of their own might turn to murder to achieve their goal.

"PLEASE!" Yang begged him. "Stop it! Jaune, please! Don't do this!"

Pyrrha leapt from the containers Leviathan was chewing through and used her Semblance to bring the chain hanging from the arm of a crane around for her to grab and swing over his head like a vine. Spears of water lanced up from the ocean and narrowly missed her, while yet more waves rose and crashed down in pursuit of Ren and Nora.

"Yang. Take her." A weight struck Yang's chest and she caught it reflexively, looking down first to an unconscious Ruby and then up to Knight. His face was as if carved from rock and he had his sword in hand. "I will deal with our former ally. Keep her safe, Yang. He cannot strike at her without killing you. Remember that."

He was gone before she could so much as utter a warning. Knight tore across the ruined terrain and vaulted off a fissure. His swing was too fast to see other than as a huge silver slice through the air. A sword, even swung with so much force, shouldn't be enough to hurt such a thing. Slicing weapons depended on being able to cut through enough skin to reach vital organs, but this monster was so large his organs were probably behind several feet of scale and muscle. Even so, Knight slashed down behind its eye and a great rent tore into it, ripping scale, flesh and muscle aside and spraying a geyser of pinkish blood into the air.

Leviathan roared, twisted and rolled onto its side toward Knight seeking to crush him. The impact churned up the ground, smashing several square metres of the docks down into the water. Knight leapt back, digging his sword into solid concrete to steady himself as the ground beneath him dipped and angled toward the water. A stream of it shot out and for him, but instead of dodging Knight met it with his left hand and an angry roar.

Steam exploded out from the point of impact. Water super-heated and evaporated in horrendous gouts of steam that would have burned skin from bone on a normal person. He carried through, gripping his sword in one hand and bringing it over and down with the force of a lightning bolt. Impossibly hard scales splintered like thin strips of bark, cracking and giving way even though they'd previously withstood crushing force. Leviathan recoiled and dragged its head up and away, back over the water as blood and ichor ran down its serpentine neck.

Alone on the docks, Knight brought his sword up ready for the next assault, a lone warrior against an inhuman creature, and somehow looking all too comfortable with the fact.

Watching Knight and Leviathan do battle was like watching a video game fight. It was impossible, it didn't make sense and yet they acted like it did. Leviathan struck down with a wright that should have destroyed anything in its path, only to be struck back by a single man. The force of the blow should have shattered the sword, let alone Knight's arms and ribcage. Even when it did hit, there shouldn't be enough strength in the human body to knock something that big away. You might as well try and uppercut a Goliath and expect it to fly back.

"None of them are human." Yang said. "They may look human, like Jaune, but they're not. They're monsters. All of them…"

Leviathan was the more literal monster, but Knight's incredible power would be enough to take over the whole kingdom if he wanted. Comparing them to normal people just wasn't possible, no matter how much she and the others had fallen for that goofy smile and familiar face.

"You'll find, Miss Xiao-Long, that man and monster are not all so different…"

That voice, those words, were just familiar enough to have Yang exhaling in abject relief. "Ozpin! Sir, Leviathan has-" Yang turned. A suit, the cane, but overlapped with a long dark-blue coat, eyes and slicked-back blonde hair. The man before her stood with his arms crossed, Ozpin's cane dangling from one hand. "Y-You're not Ozpin…"

The man – the Jaune – smiled.

"Good evening, Miss Xiao-Long. This is quite the predicament you've found yourself in. Don't tell me Blake brought you out here again. I've had words with her about that."

Yang's mouth worked open and shut. The man was older than them, but her rough match with the other older variant of Jaune had robbed her of whatever confidence she had. Exposed it as nothing more than bravado. Seeing Leviathan and Knight so casually tear physics apart hadn't done anything to fix that.

"P-Please," she begged him shamefully. "Not Ruby. Don't hurt her."

"Come now." The man chuckled and unfolded his arms. He gripped the cane beneath its head and reached into his jacket with his other hand. Yang tensed. "I don't make it a habit of killing my own students."

His hand came out and a small red packet splatted against Yang's forehead, bounced off and landed on Ruby's stomach. An emergency field medical kit. Disinfectant, gauze, bandages and more. Yang stared down at it dumbly, unable for a moment to understand what was happening or why.

"I trust Glynda has made you aware of how to use that."

Yang looked up at him. "Why…?"

"Why?" he asked with a roll of his eyes. "Because you're all so prone to self-combusting and Glynda can't be bothered to explain to parents for the hundredth time why their darling little babies were injured on a routine training exercise."

That wasn't what she meant, and he knew it. Yang wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth, however. Laying Ruby down as gently as she could, she ripped the pack open and rummaged for the gauze and disinfectant. Ruby's shoulder wound was still oozing blood. Water splashed as the man walked past them both, his heels clicking against the floor as he moved not toward the combat, but away, back towards the city.

"W-Wait," Yang gasped. "Who…" Jaune, obviously. "W-What should we call you?"

"Hm? I suppose Jaune Arc is out, isn't it? Well, you may as well call me what you always have, Miss Xiao-Long." His eyes twinkled. "Sir, Headmaster or Professor Arc will do."

Yang sucked in a sharp breath.

"Good evening, Miss Xiao-Long. Stay safe."

/-/

At a time like this, Ren couldn't help but think Hunter had been right to back out of the fight. A normal person without aura or any training would have died long ago. It was touch and go with them as it was. Ren ducked under a spear of water and tried to push Nora away. "He's after me!" he hissed. "You need to-"

Nora tightened her grip on his arm. "I refuse!" With that aggravating statement, she hauled him away and out of line of sight. The monster roared its anger but had enough to focus on with Knight and Pyrrha.

As did they. Nora rounded a warehouse building and swore suddenly. Ahead of them, a Deathstalker easily the size of the one they'd faced in initiation stood waiting for them. It clicked its pincers in clear agitation, eyeing them beadily with its tail raised high.

Ren shoved Nora aside quickly and dove the other way, hit the ground and rolled to safety – only to feel remarkably stupid a moment later. The Deathstalker hadn't struck at their prior location as he'd expected it to. Instead, it sat there in place, watching them and clicking, but not making any aggressive moves.

It's almost like when I have my Semblance active…

Except that he didn't. The Grimm could also perceive them; it simply chose to do nothing about it. Beyond it, Ren spotted a couple more. A Beowolf, an Ursa, even a Nevermore roosting atop a forklift. They were all staying in place. The Nevermore was preening its wings but none of them moved to attack or moved from their positions in the first place.

"Do you think they're confused?" Nora asked.

"I certainly am…" he replied. These were clearly the Grimm being summoned by Leviathan, yet they weren't attacking. Was that Leviathan's choice? Somehow, Ren doubted it. Having Grimm attack at the same time he was trying to kill them would make his life easier. "Let's not start anything we don't need to," Ren told Nora. "If they're not going to attack us, we won't them."

"Yeah. Nice Grimm. Friendly Grimm…"

The Deathstalker huffed, showing far more emotion – even if that was annoyance – than Ren was used to. Thankfully, Nora was a little too shocked by Leviathan to fulfil her dream of petting or adopting a Grimm. Small mercies.

"Leviathan is going to kill us all if this keeps up." Ren said.

"Why aren't we getting any help from Beacon? Ozpin must have seen this."

"He probably has, but there are Grimm dropping all over the city. The huntsmen must be occupied trying to deal with that." If this was city-wide, that would be tens of thousands of Grimm. There was no chance that'd be cleared up in any time for help to arrive. "We have to get away from the water at least. He has the clear advantage here."

"Will he follow? Can he follow?"

Good question. Much of Leviathan's body was still beneath the water, but if it was an aquatic creature then it might not be able to chase them into the city. That was both a good and a bad thing. Good because it meant they could escape, but bad because it would push Leviathan to a new plan. They couldn't afford for him to retreat and live in the bay terrorising the city every day. Hell, if this red sky and Grimm pouring from the chasm above was a continuing thing, they couldn't let him leave here at all. Infinite Grimm pouring into the city would mean the end of Vale.

There were no good answers. Ren swore under his breath and trudged back to the edge of the warehouse. It was good he and Nora had earned a reprieve, but no one else had and they couldn't leave them. "How is it going?"

"Knight is holding him off. Pyrrha is… okay. Jaune is pretty much being ignored."

"He's not a target for Leviathan. He should be fine."

We need a way to limit his movements, Ren thought. He scanned the docks before finding what he needed. Ahah. Unfortunately, he couldn't be the one to go for it without drawing attention.

"Nora. I have an idea."

Moments later, Ren sprinted out from cover and back into the open, past Jaune who was helping Weiss carry Blake away from the action. Leviathan dove once again for Knight, only to be driven back by an upward swing that somehow contained enough power to knock the giant away.

"Hey!" Ren shouted. "Over here! Come on. You want me dead? You want that wish so badly? I'm over here!"

Leviathan's spotlight eyes twisted onto Ren and drove his stomach down between his knees. Pushing past the discomfort, he ran away from Knight, knowing Leviathan was in pursuit the second he heard concrete crack and felt the world lurch. The serpent thrust itself up out the water – still not enough to draw its full bulk, but more than it had so far. It struck down, opened its maw and slithered along like a snake. A fishing trawler was torn straight through, the huge angular teeth gouging through metal and leaving no questions as to what it would do to a human body.

Nora had better be in position. Ren sprinted for the stacked containers, past several forklifts and materials handling machines, under the shade of a huge industrial crane and into the storage area. Machinery was thrown aside as Leviathan pursued, between the support struts and under the crane.

"NORA!" he shouted. "Now!"

Explosions went off either side of him. Nora's grenades erupted in multi-coloured light one after the other, targeting the two giant supports of the industrial crane. It was not one that ran from a vehicle, but a dock-mounted crane, as large as Leviathan and just as heavy. Metal creaked and buckled, snapped and groaned as the world above Ren's head tilted and came crashing down.

Leviathan saw it coming. He couldn't have missed it. Several tonnes of steel came down from above, and Ren dove to the side, trusting Leviathan's own bulk to provide cover, or at least to stop the crane's fall. The impact was deafening. It threw Ren from his feet. Dust kicked up in every direction, sending forklifts tumbling away. Leviathan slammed down, pinned under the twisted metal that had pierced through his scales in several locations. His roar was deafening, a terrible shriek that made Ren's vision swim and his ears bleed.

Luckily, Nora was there to pick him up and carry him away. Their work was done – Leviathan secured. Now, it was up to the heavy hitters. Or rather, the heavy hitter.

Knight struck like a silver comet, swinging through steel and scale and gouging great wounds into Leviathan's side. He jumped onto a strut of the crane, touched his hand down and all of a sudden the thing was alive. It glowed cherry red, wrapped and coiled around Leviathan, swimming like liquid metal before cooling and hardening into steel bonds.

"Desist!" Knight roared. "You can still come back from this! It is not too late-"

They all knew it was. Leviathan, whether it was by choice or not, had summoned thousands of Grimm into the city. His very existence was caused the red sky and the spawning of more. Ren wasn't sure it was a conscious choice on his part. He obviously wasn't using or ordering the Grimm around. If it were just a consequence of what he was, then just be existing here like this he would doom Vale. Maybe even Remnant as a whole.

Ren knew that; Knight knew that; even Leviathan knew it, his eyes flicking to where he'd left Yang and Ruby, untouched by the deluge even though Ruby was an anchor. Even though Leviathan could have summoned a tidal wave from the first stage of the fight and destroyed Vale in one go. The ocean in all its entirety was out there, and yet he limited himself to direct attacks.

Leviathan's body shook as he pulled back against the metal constraints. They twisted and groaned, splintering and popping in places under the raw power of the titanic beast.

"I am sorry!" Knight shouted. He brought Crocea Mors up, tip pointed down. He stood atop Leviathan's head, gripped the hilt in two hands and said, "I am sorry, Leviathan."

The sword pierced down and through Leviathan's scales like a hot knife through butter. The beast, so immeasurable and impossible, twitched, thrashed and then collapsed. Its eyes lolled to the side, toward Yang and Ruby, and Ren swore he saw humanity in them. Grief. And then, with a sudden mist, the light in them was gone.

Red drained from the sky. The rift cutting a jagged line drew back on itself and disappeared, and the Grimm – many of whom continued to stand around waiting – faded from view entirely, disappearing before their very eyes. Leviathan's gargantuan body soon followed, fading away so quickly that all that remained was an echoing splash of water.

One of their own murdered, the city in turmoil and not a single of Salem's people brought low in the process. Blake unconscious, Ruby injured and Yang wailing in sorrow. Ren could not help but think they hadn't come out of this the victors...

/-/

"It's not all a loss." Cinder said. "Even if Grimm made a fool of himself. So much for your confidence, hm? Defeated almost immediately by one of theirs."

Grimm scowled and said nothing. He'd been quiet since returning, his face scrunched up as if he were concentrating on something. Cinder didn't care since she had her own thoughts to savour.

"At least one of them is dead. Quite the powerful one as well by the looks of it. The only question is, who killed him? It wasn't one of ours."

"We can't be the only ones who want the wish." Null said. "I suspect an independent who wanted to even the odds. It would suit them if our side and Ozpin's continued fighting."

"Then why not kill one of ours?"

"Because Ozpin's side is stronger." Null said it angrily. "There's no denying it after what we saw there. Killing us would just let Ozpin's side win sooner and lave whoever it was as the next target. They want us keeping them busy. Speaking of which, that bastard in armour is a monster – then they had a literal monster to go along with it." He rounded on Grimm with a sneer. "The knight would be dead if you hadn't fucked up. I had Rose dead to rights and one of your Grimm interfered."

"He was distracted dealing with the enemy." Ashari came to Grimm's defence. "As was I. It's not our fault if you can't look after yourself. I didn't see you going toe to toe with the man who just slew a demonic sea wyrm."

No. That had been Ashari. Cinder eyed him warily, suddenly a lot more nervous about the snappish man who had, by all accounts, held his own against someone who was impossibly strong. More than that, he'd removed Ozpin's knight from the battle entirely, then swatted the teams like they were nothing.

He's more dangerous than he lets on. That will be a problem. He hates me. Her eyes slid to Emerald, and she chuckled. But he can't do anything. Emerald controls him, and I control Emerald.

Ashari watched her gaze with narrowed eyes.

Whatever happened, there was no way to say the night had been a loss. Ozpin was down a strong combatant, and it didn't much matter who pulled the trigger. Their own abilities had been advertised somewhat, but it was a small price to pay. The same could be said for Ozpin's side. All that mattered was that they were one step closer to victory.

"I've called in some further assistance while you were busy," she told them. "Roman Torchwick was busy gathering dust for me before this all started. He's not entirely useful, but he knows the city well and has connections. We can leverage those to find the rest of these `independents` and press them to our cause."

Null knew what that meant and nodded his head quickly. Ashari was busy staring at her, and Grimm concentrating on something, so neither noticed. They would keep any strong Jaune's around to increase their odds against Ozpin, but in the end there could only be two. Cinder intended that to be her and Null, and her chosen champion shared the same thoughts.

"Roman, huh?" Ashari said with a quiet laugh. "Of course it'd be him."

"You know him?"

"Even if we're from different worlds there are similarities. I imagine we all know him, or at least know of him."

Grimm nodded without looking and Null agreed as well. Small world it was, but she supposed he had a point. Their circumstances changed, but the worlds they came from worked by most the same rules. A knock came at the door soon after, an echoing thump as though someone had struck something hard against the wood.

"Come in, Roman. It is unlocked."

The door swung in. Roman tossed and caught the cane he'd used to rap on the door and sauntered in with a devil-may-care attitude. "Well, well, well, if it isn't my favourite backer and – what's this? A harem of young blonde men. Cinder, I never knew. I know plenty of blondes if you were this desperate."

"Hilarious," she snapped. "Sit down, Roman. There is some explaining to be done."

"No need," a new voice said from the doorway. The clicking of a cane echoed, tap-tapping against the ground as a new man entered. Null swore and reached for his gun, as did Cinder for her Semblance, but the man was obviously known to Roman and showed no fear whatsoever. "I've already filled Roman in."

Tall, older, cunning. His smile was pleasant to look at, as was his face, but there was an edge to it that spoke of wisdom. In truth, he reminded her much of Ozpin – and not only because he walked with the same cane and, beneath his dark blue coat, wore a suit that wasn't dissimilar to the headmaster of Beacon's.

"Good evening, Cinder," he said in a rich tone. "It's been a while."

Roman was grinning like a loon. He hadn't warned her, hadn't even informed her, and she glared his way. Still, he had brought the Jaune here, and that had to be a sign of obedience. "Good evening," she returned. "You have me at a disadvantage…"

"It wouldn't be the first time." The man swept in with no fear or regard for his potential enemies. He drew out a chair and sat, while Roman did the same behind him. "Jaune Arc. Headmaster of Beacon Academy, bonded of Roman Torchwick. And, as of now, your greatest asset."


Dum dum dum. Yes, Leviathan is dead. He had to be put down by his own side because (if you haven't read his story) the very act of turning into that form means the barrier between the Grimm world and the human world is split in two. He would perpetually spawn Grimm against his own will, mixing the two worlds until all of humanity is killed.


Next Chapter: 15th January

P a treon . com (slash) Coeur