(A/N) So… been a while, huh?

Yeah, I didn't intend for this to take 3.5 months (obviously), but there was quite a lot to write. "But Green!" I hear you shout. "The email said this chapter was only 4k! That's not even a standard chapter!"

Well, you'd be right… if you didn't count all the followup chapters that're gonna be posted momentarily. Yeah, this thing is over double the length of the Volume One finale, and I just didn't think it'd be a good idea to leave it whole.

So without further ado, on with zeh chapter!

EDIT: THIS IS A REPOSTING OF THE CHAPTER, SINCE FFN DECIDED TO NOT PLAY NICE. Hopefully it sticks, this time...


Volume Two Finale

Part One – Alone In The Dark


/-\ Cinder Fall /-\


My eyes blazed with fury as I shoved away the fallen piece of metal that trapped me to the floor. "Watts!" I shouted, springing to my feet and stomping through the smoke towards him. He laid there, struggling to lift an even smaller piece of metal. With one hand, I freed him. With the other, I hoisted him up by the collar. "I thought you said they couldn't shoot us down at those speeds!"

"Y- Yes, well-" He gave a loud hacking cough. "How was I supposed to know they would shoot at us with missiles?"

I growled, throwing him toward the only working console on the entire bridge. "Forget it. Is the core still stable?"

He quickly picked himself up, tapping away at the screen. "Somehow." He said.

"Good; make it self-destruct." I said. "Set the timer for fifteen minutes. See if we can take out any responders."

He hummed. "Devious. I like it." He said, tapping away at the console. "It's done. Now I would suggest we make ourselves scarce."

"Agreed." I said, glancing around the cabin. My eyes rested on Roman and Neo, the former pinned under a collapsed section of wall while the latter attempted to free him. After a few more moments of struggling, she stepped back and her gaze darted around, piercing the smoky room like little searchlights until they finally settled on me. Her eyes were red, wet, and puffy as she looked at me, pleading.

I rested my hand on my hip, smirking slightly. "Watts, send a message to Adam; tell him to proceed as planned. Vale will live another day." I said, my heels clacking on the floor as I calmly walked towards the blown-out viewport.

I could feel Neo's eyes boring holes into the back of my head as I climbed out of the ruined airship, Watts right behind me. "Acceptable casualties?" He asked.

I shrugged. "Loose ends."

"You should really consider finishing the job." He said as an Alpha Beowolf trotted up to us, laying down.

"She won't leave him." I said, climbing aboard.

He joined me. "One day, you're going to meet someone who will." He said. "After all, no one thought I'd abandon Atlas."

"That's different." I said as the Grimm carried us away. "You stayed because someone paid you to and you left because you got a better offer. Neo? She'll stay because of love."

He chuckled. "And love is a disgustingly persistent thing." He hummed. "Though I do hope you have a replacement lined up for the girl. Doesn't your quote-unquote 'master plan' hinge on participating in the Vytal festival tournament?"

My head snapped up. Shit. "I'll… figure something out."

The ship exploded behind us. "I'm sure you will, dear Cinder." He said. "I'm sure you will."


/-\ Neopolitan /-\


I watched as the bitch and her lackey climbed out the window, leaving us alone. Behind me, Roman coughed. "Neo…" He rasped. "Just… go. Save… yourself." He said, coughing as the smoke got denser and denser. I shook my head, wiping away my tears and pulled again…

…only for it to shift and pin him even further.

He let out a loud scream. "My leg!" He shouted. "My gods damned mother fucking leg!"

Ice gripped my heart as I realized I caused that. Another tear spilled down my cheek and I grabbed his hand. Reaching for the last of my aura, I pictured the forest not far from here; the red trees swaying in the wind. In a flash, we disappeared, my vision becoming reality.

He instantly collapsed, hacking up blood. "…You…" He started. "Shouldn't'a done that…" He grinned. "Thanks."

I smiled, but it quickly faded as I glanced towards his legs, seeing one bleed profusely. Gasping quietly, I tore off a section of my coat – I could go with a torn coat for a few days; he needed this – and tightly tied it around the wound.

He grunted. "Gonna feel that one in the morning." He said, starting to get up. As soon as he put a little weight on it, he fell to the ground once more, screaming. "Okay! Not doing the whole 'walking' thing right now!" He coughed more, spewing up blood into his fist. "Uh-oh…"

I paled, quickly scurrying under his arm on the injured side and hoisting him up. If he didn't get help right the fuck now, he could- I shook my head. We were in Grimm territory; now's not the time to think of that.

Despite his wincing and protesting, I helped him along. We needed to get to Vale. A loud explosion boomed through the woods behind us; hopefully the Grimm would investigate that instead of us…


/-\ Emanuel Witherson /-\


"Slipspace ruptures?" I let out, striding over to the holotank. "Alice, display Remnant and overlay the positions of all contacts, both friendly and not."

The display shifted from the tactical map of the mountains to that of the entire world. A handful of ships hovered around Vale; most are cruisers by Remnan standards, though an Atlesian battlecarrier and a dreadnought were also present. Beside the planet, however, were three contacts.

"Two battlecruisers and a carrier." I said. "They've still got half an assault carrier and a stormcutter planetside, too."

"At least it's not another CAS-class…" Alice said.

I gave her a flat look. "Because a DDS-class is so much better." I said. "Get Cyrene on the horn; tell her I'm ordering my men to retreat and she should too."

"Aye sir, message sent." She said, looking thoughtful. "You know, now that I'm actively looking for slipspace ruptures, there was one in the Dragon's Eye system a few hours ago."

I raised an eyebrow. "The system seven lightmonths away? What emerged there?"

"Readings suggest a CPV-class, and an old one at that, but there's something… unusual about th-" She paused. "Commander, Lady Of Arms Cyrene is hailing us."

I frowned, sitting back in my chair. "Patch her through."


/-\ Oscar Pine /-\


My eyes shot wide open at the sound of an explosion. I jumped to my feet. Something clanked against the hull, knocking the whole landship around. I stumbled on my feet, falling into the wall to brace myself.

"Pine!" The intercom shouted. "Pine do you read?!"

I scrambled over to the device, pressing the handset to my ear. "Y- Yes sir! What are your or-"

"Shut up and get on the gun! We've got contacts, soldier!"

"Y- Yes sir!" I shouted, hanging up the phone and jumping into the gunner's station.

The first thing I saw when I looked down the periscope was the landship in front of my own getting blasted with a green ball of plasma. I could hear the soldiers' screams from here, even. One managed to climb out of the gunner's hatch, his whole body on fire. Infantry rushed to his side with ice dust, but before they got to him, he collapsed in a burning heap. I shivered, looking away for what did this.

Our vehicle rumbled forward, taking the place of the now-ruined landship at the front line overlooking the enemy base. Its shields slowly flickered into nothingness, but that isn't what concerned me.

The cloud of alien airships did.

"Pine, get on the chickenator up top!" The intercom blared.

I dumbly nodded, scrambling through the narrow and dark hall of the landship until I got to the rear hatch. I flung it open, grabbing a box of fourteen-millimeter rounds on my way out. The moment my head stuck above the hull, a burst of blue plasma singed my hair.

I flinched, ducking back down for a moment. One of the airships zoomed above me as I climbed out, rushing to get the rotary cannon set up.

Yanking it out of its housing and locking the support in place, I racked the charging handle and opened fire on one of the approaching airships. The winged craft took only a few hits before purple flames licked the hull. It rolled out of the way of my stream, but I continued firing. After only a few more rounds, the craft exploded, the top half flying off to gods-know-where.

I adjusted my aim, opening fire on another airship of the same type. Suddenly, the commander's hatch flew open, the man himself standing up and taking aim with his humungous pistol. As this airship exploded, I sighted in one of the larger ones.

Its shields flared, but before I could break them, my gun ran dry. "Commander!" I shouted, already in the process of changing out the ammo can for the spare I'd brought. "I'm on my last one!"

He swore, ducking back into his cabin for a moment. "Cerulean, get Pine some more ammo; fourteen mil!"

I racked the handle once more, letting loose on the teardrop-shaped airship once more. Its shields finally broke, but its hull stood firm. I kept firing and firing, but the thing just kept getting closer and closer and closer.

Before the thing even started to show any signs of damage whatsoever, a big ball of blue plasma shot from the front of it… heading straight towards me. My heart jumped into my chest and on instinct, I turned to leap off the landship.

Only to meet Cerulean's eyes as she ascended the ladder's final step.

Without thinking, I tackled her off the side. I accidentally let go of her mid-fall, and I slammed into the ground face-first. Before I could even think about getting up, the searing heat of our landship's explosion singed my back. I couldn't even hear myself groan over the ringing in my ears. Suddenly, something flipped me over.

A lithe and brown figure loomed over me and I reached for my gun. A soft hand gripped my own as I tried to blink away the haze. The figure cleared just enough to where I could tell it was Human… and that her mouth was moving.

The ringing prevented me from hearing whatever she had to say, but my grip relaxed nonetheless. I told her that I could not hear her, not even able to hear my own voice. She flinched, pausing for a moment. Suddenly, she brought her hand to my face and it started glowing blue. She touched my cheek, my vision clearing and the ringing subsiding to a manageable level.

"Can you hear me now?" She asked.

I blinked. "Y- yeah." She removed her hand. "What was that?"

She stood up, figure silhouetted by the burning wreck of the landship. "My semblance." She said, offering me a hand. When she pulled me up, I finally got a good enough look at her face see that she was Cerulean. "That's twice you've saved my ass by tackling me, so uhh… thanks."

"Uhh… yeah. Don't mention i-" A big ball of green plasma splashed down only a dozen meters away, making us jump back. "Maybe we shouldn't stay here!"

She nodded. "Agreed!" She shouted as we ran towards one of the foxholes. Just as we jumped in, another big glob of plasma hit the surface.

"What the fuck?!" A voice shouted from inside. Suddenly, I was staring down the barrel of an Atlesian laser pistol. After a moment, the weapon lowered. "Godsdamn, you guys scared the shit out of me. The hell you doin' here? Don't you Valerians got your own trenches?"

I stared back at the green-armored Atlesian trooper, the foxhole a little too small for me to back up. "We're umm… well, were landship crewmen."

He hummed. "And I'm guessin' one of those flying fucks sunk your boat."

"Yeah, pretty much." I said.

He nodded, extending a hand. "PFC Mahogany; Eternal Army."

I blinked. "Wait, you guys actually call yourselves eternal soldiers? I thought that was just a PR stunt."

"As long as one of us still breathes, Atlas is eternal."

I hesitantly took his hand. "Well, umm… okay." I said. "Private Pine; First Landship Regiment."

My crewmate shook his hand next. "Sergeant-of-Aid Cerulean; First Landships."

The ground shook slightly as another plasma round impacted outside. "Sergeant, eh? I guess that means you're in charge."

"Sergeant-of-Aid." She corrected. "In our ranking system, that's roughly equivalent to a PFC; it just means I've got a bit of experience running a field hospital."

"That's kinda weird." He said as another plasma round hit. Suddenly, his hand flew to his ear. After a moment, he stiffened, giving a curt acknowledgement. "Alright, I just got told that the attack's a no-go. Alien reinforcements have arrived and we're being ordered to retreat."

I stiffened. "R- Reinforcements? From where?!"

The ground shook once more. "From space, genius, where do you think?" He poked his head above the foxhole for a moment before turning back to us. "Alright, coast is… kinda clear. Follow me!"

He surged out of the hole, Cerulean and I right behind him. Plasmafire licked at our heels as we ran, enemy airships buzzing overhead. Finally, we reached the treeline. More alien rounds continued to pour through the canopy, but none of it was directed well enough to hit anywhere near us.

Still, my legs pumped onwards as I worried that the next bolt could hit me directly. Ahead of us, I saw a faint red glimmer through the trees. My hand immediately snapped to my revolver, drawing it just as a Beowolf came into view.

Mahogany's rifle snapped up, joining my own fire on the Grimm as it charged our group. I dove out of the way just as it lunged, its claw severing a lock of hair from my head. I yelped in surprise as my head was tugged to the side, even if only slightly.

I landed with a groan, scrambling back to my feet and taking aim once more. Mahogany's rifle blasted the creature over and over again, finally breaking through its armor. The Beowolf yelped, staggering back. His riflefire never ceased, the monster finally falling to its knees.

Mahogany ran up to it, drawing his collapsible sword and shoving it into the Grimm's neck. It let out a final howl before clouds of black smoke began to waft off the creature.

He let out a deep breath, sheathing his sword and turning back the way we were going. "C'mon… we don't wanna stick around to see if it has a pack."

I nodded dumbly, following him deeper into the forest…


/-\ Blake Belladonna /-\


I dove out of my wheelchair, barely avoiding the humanoid Grimm's lunge. I gasped as my injured leg caught on the edge of the bed, pain shooting up the limb. In the background, I heard a crash. Quickly peering under the bed, I saw the monster flailing around as it stood up, various syringes poking out of its skin.

Its gaze snapped to somewhere that wasn't me, making me slightly confused for a moment. My eyes shot wide open when I remembered Embra and Ren's conditions. I reached for the top of the bed, pulling myself upright while leaning on it.

My ears folded backwards as I snarled, the Grimm finding its footing. "Come pick on someone your own size." I said, grabbing a nearby pen.

It got back on all fours, crawling towards me as it jaw snapped in anticipation. I desperately hoped it was too young to read body language; I was heavily favoring my uninjured leg. All I really knew is that I couldn't take even a single hit from this thing; I'd been actively using my aura to heal my leg and I had precious little left… barely enough to stop even a grazing swipe of its claws.

I only really had one plan for when it lunged. Just before I was about to spin out of the way, a metal fist slammed into the monster from the side, sending it careening out the window with a loud crash.

I hobbled over to the shattered window, peering through it and onto the ground three stories below. I nodded, seeing the Grimm begin to evaporate. Breathing a sigh of relief, I sat back down on the bed, looking at Nora. "Thanks." I said, flashing a small smile.

She looked up from her broken metal hand, her fingers dented permanently into a fist. "Uhh… yeah, sure… n- no problem."

My ears flattened. 'This is Nora?' I thought. 'The bubbly little pancake-eater of JNPR?' I opened my mouth to say something, but my attention quickly shifted to the renewed scratching at the door. I shot back to my feet, wincing when I accidentally put too much weight on my bad leg. "There's more outside!" I shouted through gritted teeth as I hobbled over to the door.

The crutch holding it closed visibly bent as I reached the inward-opening door, a black and clawed hand reaching through and scratching at the door. I pressed my back against the wood, jamming the monster's hand between the two doors. A feral and pained screech boomed from the other end as Nora joined me. After only a few moments of struggle, the door was fully closed, the now-severed hand falling to the floor.

Just as it started to evaporate, another of those… things dropped from the hole in the ceiling, snarling at us. I glanced at Nora. "I can hold the door, you deal with that thing!"

She nodded. "Got it!"

She rushed the Grimm as I felt several more hits pound into the door. With the help of the latch and the lock, I should be able to hold it long enough for her to finish it off. Nora dodged to the right, hammering the monster's skull with her new, already dented, prosthetic. It whipped around from the force before leaping away, spitting out a glob of… red liquid?

Nora seemed to be thrown for a loop too, as she barely snapped out of her stupor in time to dodge the monster's second attack. A spike of fear shot through me as it landed right next to Embra's unconscious form, bony jaws gnashing.

Its gaze snapped to me and it let out a low growl before charging. My heart raced faster and faster as it grew closer and closer, appearing almost like a bullet. My arms shook and I had to actively fight the urge to leap off the door and out of harm's way.

I had to have faith that Nora would pull throu-.

She tackled the canine Grimm when it was only a few paces away. I got an uncomfortably close view as she bashed it over the head repeatedly with the book I'd been reading only ten minutes ago. At first, its barks and growls only intensified with each hit.

Then its jaw came loose.

The barks faded entirely, turning to a mix of growling and whimpering. Nora didn't stop her assault, even if my own eyes shot wide. 'Grimm can't feel pain… can they?' I wondered.

The end of the book was covered in the same red fluid as before, very little smoke coming off it; too little for Grimmgore evaporation…

Its eye came loose next.

The whimpers grew weaker and weaker with every strike, the white of its eye hanging from a red nerve that dripped the fluid everywhere.

The whimpers stopped.

It sat completely still.

Nora kept hitting it, the fury in her eyes blazing through the red sheen on her face. "N- Nora…" I let out as black smoke began to waft off her victim.

"Nora." I tried again, earning no response once more.

"Nora!"

"What?!" She shouted, glaring up at me.

I pressed my back into the door even more. "I- I think it's… dead."

She glanced down at the monster as she straddled it, the fury in her eyes fading to shock as she saw the blood covering both its skull and the book in her hand. She jumped away, flinging the book off to the side.

"W- What…?" She muttered as the evaporation slowed down.

As the seconds ticked by, the pitch-black skin turned pink-ish. The monstrous claws burned away to reveal fingers. Its torso shed its fur, its fair complexion shining through as a pair of lumps formed on the… woman's lithe form.

What was left of the skull didn't change.

It was still a bloody mess of blood, brain, and bone.

"O- Oh my gods…" I muttered, feeling bile rise up in my throat.

Nora couldn't keep hers down and collapsed off to the side, retching into a nearby bedpan. The sounds themselves where enough to send me over the edge and I barely hobbled over to the trashcan in the corner before I myself started spewing.

After seemingly hours of retching, I groaned, wiping my mouth and standing back u-

The door burst open, three more of those… things charged into the room. They looked almost exactly the same as the first two… exactly the same as the one that Nora caved its… her skull in.

"They're… they're people…" I said. "The Grimm are people!"

The three newcomers growled; two setting their sights on Nora while one readied itself to pounce on me. Nora readied her book and I raised my fists, not looking forward to what was about to happen. The Grimm lunged, its jaws open wide as it soared towards m-

A cane struck it from seemingly nowhere.

The monster flew to the side, perfectly sailing out the window. The other two paused, turning towards the new threat as the cane retracted. Headmaster Ozpin himself strode out of the doorway, his cane clicking on the floor with every step. He wore a grim expression, pushing up his spectacles with a finger. "I am truly sorry for what happened to you, but I cannot allow you to harm my students."

The Grimm glanced at each other before slowly moving to his flanks. They lunged simultaneously, Ozpin doing absolutely nothing to stop them…

…only to phase through his body, colliding midair and falling to the ground.

The headmaster blurred, his foot striking one Grimm's head as his cane penetrated the other's eyesocket. Both stilled, smoke rising from their bodies as their skin turned to Human-like shades; ebony in the case of the right one while the other one was white.

My eyes focused on Ozpin's, trying my best not to see the… bodies at his feet. "Wh- what are these things?" I asked. "Are all Grimm like that? Like us?"

He shook his head. "Thankfully not. These things… Gravenwere, they're called, are the exception rather than the rule."

"How have we never heard of them before?!" Nora shouted. "They're… they're us! For the love of the gods, they're us!"

"That is no accident, Miss Valkyrie." He said. "In a world such as ours, knowing that such a Grimm even exists is quite problematic. As is the fact that this variety is manufactured."

My eyes shot wide open. "I- It's possible to make Grimm?!"

"There is only one person on Remnant with that power." He said. "And it does not bode well for any of us that she is using it." He pulled out his scroll, tapping a few buttons. "Team SGGR shall arrive momentarily. Once this is all over, I shall personally debrief Teams RWVB and JNPR. For now…" He sighed, glancing at the corpses at his feet. "…for now, know that there is nothing you nor I, nor anyone could have done to help them."

He turned around, exiting into the hall and shutting the door behind him. I glanced at Nora, wondering just what the hell was going on around us…


(A/N) FRIENDLY REMINDER to refresh the page if FFN says this is the last chapter in the story :)