When I told my sister that one of my readers thought she sounded like Vanellope von Schweetz she literally fell on the floor in a fit of laughter. She felt flattered so it's safe to say she likes the way I've written her character.

Early chapter sorta, I have a quota to fill for next week Wednesday.


Chapter 37: It's All Gone to Shit


The entire arena was in chaos. People flooding out of the doors like swarms of insects, crowding the once empty halls until there was barely any breathing room. Nova was forced to fight tooth and nail to get through the mass of people, all heading in the opposite direction from him, away from the center of the conflict.

Nova imagined the state of the arena, he'd expected complete chaos and disarray, students yelling and panicking, professional huntsmen trying to organize them, but what he saw upon arrival was much worse.

Pyrrha was knelt on the floor staring at her hands in shock and dismay, the members of Team ASHNRWBY minus Yang were barely trying to simultaneously get people out.

"ALERT! Incoming Grimm Attack, Threat level nine!" The system's voice sounded, driving further panic and chaos.

While Ironwood made desperate attempts to organize the evacuation, Nova's only concern was the seven people that were in the middle of it all.

"Hex, give me a status report. What's our current situation?" Nova asked finally turning up to his team.

Hex began desperately checking her devices, "It says here multiple accounts of Grimm heading our way, expected to breach our defences in… *SCREEECH*" her words were halted when a piercing animalistic cry was heard from above them.

All heads in the arena turned skyward to see a massive Nevermore pecking and clawing away at the shields that protected the arena's sky.

"How did it get through our defences?!" Coco said from the side of them, the other members of CFVY were with her, ready at any moment.

"It wasn't alone…" Ren said grimly.

"Fuck! Nitro, Hex, we don't have time to wait around. Cinder was right about one thing and that's the ineptitude of our leaders. We've never needed permission to do anything so you know what I mean when I say, get to it." Nova held a solid, steel gaze.

The two adopted siblings nodded, "Prioritize evacuation and security. I've already hacked access to the gates and shuttle docks, we'll get everyone out safely." Hex said furiously tapping away at her laptop.

"I'll handle the defences in case of emergency," Nitro said nodding. Within moments they were gone, the distinct shouting of the red-headed teen filtering people through the doors. If there was one thing he was exceptional at, it was being loud.

"Perfect, has anyone seen Ruby?!" Nova asked looking at the rest of his friends.

"She went to find Emerald, on the other side of the ring…" Blake said gesturing, Nova could barely make out the faint red and black hair in the distance. He sighed, once she was okay.

"Blake, Luna, I'm going to need you to get Yang then find mom. She can't fight and more than likely she's still in her lab. Weiss, I'm going to need you here with us, if that Nevermore breaks through, there's going to be more than one."

"But…" Luna wanted to protest but that look in Nova's eyes said no arguing. He'd gone into full commando mode, his brain working overtime to plan ahead and organize. This is what made him a great leader, his ability to command.

"Understood." Blake nodded.

"Luna, I promise you, when this is over, we'll meet up at the CCT Tower." He placed a hand on her shoulder, his face held no wavering.

She wiped her eyes, "You better not have anything broken or I swear I will break the rest of you."

Nova smiled, "Wouldn't have it any other way. NOW GET GOING!" the two girls stormed off.

Weiss waved back, "I'll keep him from doing something stupid!" she yelled as the disappeared, the last thing they saw was Luna holding a thumbs up.

"Mister Nova, your highness sir," Krome said walking up with Ragnar in tow. "What should we do?"

Nova almost choked on his own breathing, "Please don't call me 'sir' or 'your highness' or even 'mister'… please…"

"Ah right… Nova?" Ragnar tried to amend.

"Good, and are you willing to take orders from me? I'm not your leader…" Nova looked bashful. The two friends gave each other a knowing look.

"Mist- Nova, we're not combat strategists, and our own General doesn't even know who we are, let alone act in his current state. Out of everyone here, you are the most capable of handling things." Ragnar said folding his arms.

Nova rubbed the back of his head, "Alright then, if you're fine with me… I'm going to need you two to head down to the ground with the others, Thorian and Gale are still missing, they're not up here or we'd have found them already. More than likely they've already fucked off with Cinder and the rest. Your primary objective is providing ground support, most likely the Grimm will be coming in droves, the military will need all the help they can get. If you find the two snakes, you make some new shoes."

The two friends grinned, "Aye-aye captain Flareheart." Krome saluted before they also made their way out. The dragon watched them scamper off before sighing. His head hurt like someone stuffed a drill in his brain. It was primarily due to all the confusion, first Cinder and her squad screws up all their communication systems so public alerts were minimal, Grimm were swarming the gates like no tomorrow and to make matters worse, he was hungry.

Nova dipped around the arena, the incessant hammering of the Nevermore's beak was like a resounding drum of doom, pounding to the ticking clock of catastrophe.

"RUBY!" he called out to his girlfriend, but she didn't move. Nova immediately grew concerned and rushed over, to the kneeling girl, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "Ruby are… you alright? Love, what's wrong?" Nova asked taking her face in his hands and tilting her head to face him. He was shocked to see her face stained with tears, an overwhelming sadness layered in her eyes.

Ruby sobbed violently, "I-I-I didn't make it in time… P-Penny she's… she's…" the red leader pointed to the arena.

Nova followed her finger to see the scrapped pieces of the once Penny Polendina laying there on the floor mere meters from Pyrrha. His head felt stiff as his muscles refused to move, the sight of the fallen girl was beyond anything he'd expected.

"Oh… god… what the fuck…" Nova looked on mortified. Penny was an android, she may have been made of metal, but she was just as much of a real girl as the rest of them.

Nova pulled Ruby into a tight hug, rubbing her back as she let out her frustrations, soaking his shirt.

"If…If only I hadn't been so slow… so hesitant. I could've…" Ruby stammered out unable to contain her sorrows.

Nova sighed, "Ruby, you couldn't have predicted this would happen. It isn't your fault this happened, blame those that started this chaos… but now isn't the time to be crying…" he kissed the top of her head.

She looked at him confused, her tear-stained face searching for answers. Nova used his thumb to wipe away the tears, "Right now the world is falling apart…" he gestured his head for her to look up. She turned her head to see the pecking Nevermore, slowly making a dent in the shield above them.

"What… how… when…"

"Questions later, right now we need to get up and defend this place. Then we're going to find Cinder and those responsible for this and give them send them straight to hell…"

Ruby sniffled and wiped her eyes, Nova helped her to stand. "Right!"


-On Ironwood's ship-

Team BLDE were in separate holding cells, isolated behind doors of steel casing and vacuum locks. When they offered themselves up, they were disarmed and stuffed inside tiny rooms that were not much bigger than a walk-in freezer.

"It's really fucking cramped in here…" Bell complained as she shifted around the small holding cell. "How you doing big guy?" she called hoping her voice reached through the walls.

Dune let out a loud grunt in response.

"The décor in here isss ssso tacky… and bland…" Lyme hissed as he shuffled around.

"Well it is a prison snake breath, what'd you expect? A five-star hotel?" Edan asked sarcastically.

"Well… one would be quite niccce."

*Crash* *Rattle* The entire ship shook violently and the sound of storming soldiers could be heard, shouting and cannon fire followed after.

"Hear that, boys? Looks like it's showtime." Edan smiled in his cell. "Atlas soldiers are so fucking stupid, they think just because we don't have our weapons we can't break out of here…" With one sift punch Edan smashed into the wall denting it… but not breaking it.

"OW FUCK!"

"You tried to punch the door didn't you…" Bell said.

"Wass thisss your plan? Punch through the prissson?"

"Well it WAS, until I just learned these doors are made of lined steel and dust reinforcements…" Edan said rubbing his sore arm.

"Great… now we're stuck. Great plan field commander, deserves a prize." Bell said sarcastically.

Suddenly the doors were open to reveal an Atlas soldier wielding… a parasol?

Team BLDE stepped out confused, "Uh…" Bell started but was interrupted when the soldier suddenly transformed into a pink and brown-haired girl wearing a matching white outfit.

"Oh, I know you! You're Torchwick's henchwoman, right? Neopolitan... or whatever..." Bell said with realization.

Neopolitan nodded with a smile, then she curtsied.

"Where are all the guards?" Edan asked looking around.

Neo made a decapitation gesture then pointed her parasol to the mound of robot corpses off the corner of the main ship's room.

"Right… um… is there anyone left alive on the ship?" Bell asked now garnering a sense of fear for the cute pink-haired girl before her.

Neo pulled out her scroll and tapped out a message, 'Haven't raided the bridge yet.'

"Right, well let's commandeer this vessel?"


Team BLDE and Neo burst through the doors to the control room where several humans were operating various stations and what looked to be a dog Faunus operating the ship's steering.

"Alright… let's get to work…" Edan said, and with one swift, silent motion spectral daggers whipped through the air and sliced the throats of all the humans to their side. Their bleeding corpses dropping to the floor, pooling red liquid around them from the wounds on their throats.

The daggers ripped through multiple people without them even realizing it, a silent assassination, up until the pilot turned his head just in time to see his comrades drop to the floor.

"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!" The dog Faunus said, his eyes wide with fear.

"Ship's under new management…" Edan said smiling as he reared the daggers, ready to kill.

Bell and Lyme's eyes went wide, "BUT HE'S A FAUNUS!" she protested.

Edan felt his brow twitch, "So?"

"WE DON'T KILL OUR OWN! Humans are fair game but don't touch our brethren, it's not our way!" she protested.

"Our way?! He's an Atlas soldier, he's with the worst of them all…"

Bell bit back her urge to drive her fist into his face. The White Fang didn't kill other Faunus, even if they were the enemy. The only exceptions were the Royal family, but they were traitors… She couldn't let this man die… it didn't sit well with her.

"If you kill him we'd have no one to pilot this ship!" Bell protested.

Neo looked on in amusement as Edan's face contorted. Fighting amongst themselves, just like animals.

"It can't be that hard to fly a ship…"

"You botch this and Onyx will have our heads. We need him alive…"

Edan hesitated, he wanted to sink his daggers into the man's throat so much… but he had to resist. She was right.

"Fine… you there… you get to live…, turn this ship ninety degrees to the left."

The trembling pilot refused to budge. Bell walked up and grabbed him by the collar and pulled him down to face her, "I just saved your fucking life so either you comply to us, or we find the fucking manual… got it? Please…" Bell whispered that last part.

The man's eyes widened as he realized what she was trying to say. She'd saved his life, she stopped her commander from killing him. He had no choice.

Reluctantly he moved the controls and the entire ship was felt as it turned around facing the other ships in the fleet.

"Clear the path." Was all Edan had to say before Neo cutely waltzed up to the control panel and pushed a few buttons, cannons on the ship came out in full force and, in one fraction of a second, tore the rest of the Atlas fleet to shreds. Explosions erupted around them as almost ten ships went down in a blaze of metal and fire.

"Bell, radio Onyx… tell him the fleet is down, send in the armada."


-Amity Arena-

The hammering of the massive beak was growing louder and louder, more incessant as if the Nevermore was growing impatient.

"That's a three-layer dust shield, it's not going to break through that any time soon…" Sun said confidently as he gazed at the bird. At that point, the Nevermore flew high into the air and Sun paled.

"You just had to open your fucking mouth…" Neptune cursed as the bird reached maximum altitude.

Jaune saw it's trajectory, "PYRRHA SNAP OUT OF IT NOW!" He yelled but to no avail. Instead of trying again he jumped out of the stands and made a mad dash to the red-headed champion.

"JAUNE!" Nora screamed as her leader barely made it in time to knock Pyrrha out of the way of the oncoming Grimm. The great bird-Grimm crashed through the shield, shattering it like glass and cratering onto Penny's body.

"Pyrrha, you need to get a hold of yourself. What happened here today isn't your fault!" Jaune shook her as the giant Nevermore loomed in the background, regaining its composure from the crash.

"He's right. The ones who are responsible for this are Cinder Fall and her team… so right now, I say we fight back." Ruby said as she and Nova climbed into the arena herself.

Pyrrha stood, still shaky as she tried to steady her feet. "But…"

"Pyrrha, suck it up and get into gear," Nova said almost harshly.

"Nova!" Weiss gasped at his tone.

"No… he's right. I don't have time to sit around."

"What about our weapons? We don't…" Sun mentioned as he realized the only ones equipped were Nova and Pyrrha.

"Rocket lockers, it'll literally take two seconds…" Nova rolled his eyes and everyone almost facepalmed at their own forgetfulness.

Within moments several lockers crash-landed into the arena as everyone equipped their weapons. The sleek, shining body of Crescent Rose was hard to miss in the reaper's hand.

"SCREEECH!" The Nevermore cried as if to say 'Don't fucking ignore me!', at least if Grimm could speak let alone use swear words.

"That's one giant bird…" Neptune pointed out gauging it.

Sun chuckled, "There's one of it and like twenty of us…"

The Nevermore flew into the air and began showering the arena in a layer of feathers, in return, everyone began firing back with their ranged attacks, but they were to little effect since it's hide was too touch.

"Ugh, I've got some steam to let off…" Ruby grunted as she spun Crescent Rose in her hand and readied it in a reaping position.

"Ruby what are you…" Nova faltered when she disappeared ina flourish of red petals, then reappeared mid-air, firing off Crescent Rose and using the sniper's recoil to boost her further until she was practically eye to eye with it. In one swift motion, she hooked the blade around its neck and fired off using the recoil to sever the head as she did during her initiation.

"Did she just…" Sun said in awe as Ruby dropped back down in a smooth landing.

"God I love her…" Nova said dreamily as she cheerily waltzed up to him and placed a hand on his chin, then kissed his cheek.

"Close your mouth love, you're drooling." She said, the rush of battle making her momentarily forget the situation. It came back in almost an instant, however, and her face immediately did a one-eighty.

"We don't have time to waste right now, we have a city to save." She said sternly gesturing to all the other dumbstruck students.

"Right… Ruby, can you handle things here?" Nova asked taking her face in his palm. She nuzzled her cheek into his hand.

"Yeah but… where are you going?"

"Pyrrha and I are going on ahead, we need to get to Ozpin… I have a plan." Nova said.

"Then I can come with you! Together we'll…"

"No Ruby. Not this time. I need you here, someone has to lead them, and since you're the only other person here that knows who we're up against… Once you clean up the Grimm up here and secure, secure a transport shuttle and head down to Beacon, I'll come find you," he said almost regretfully. "Besides, you have Weiss with you."

"I'll keep the dolt in line, you just do what you have to do." The heiress responded looking to them.

Nova nodded then turned to the red-headed champion, "PYRRHA!" he called, dragging her from her inner turmoil.

She looked at him quizzically, then with determination, "What's the plan?"

"I know you still haven't made the full decision yet but… in this situation Pyrrha…" he said referring to her choice to become a Maiden.

She held a steel gaze, "There's no other choice. I'll do it…"

"Right… let's go… Jaune, you too." Nova said gesturing to the blonde.

Jaune nodded, in confirmation. They were just two seconds from leaving when Ruby called out, "NOVA WAIT!"

The dragon halted almost instantly as a burst of rose petals slammed into his chest. Ruby stood gazing up at him, "I… I can't just let you leave what… what if…"

Nova smiled and cupped her face, "I promise I'll be back. We'll meet up afterward when all this is over. I'll come find you…"

She gripped his shirt tightly and buried her face in his chest, "I can't lose you…"

"And you won't… besides I'm me, who the hell is going to stop a fire breathing dragon?"

Ruby laughed, "That cockiness is going to get you in trouble one of these days…" and before Nova could respond she leaned up and kissed him firmly on the lips, pulling his head down and deepening it. Nova wrapped his arms around her and melted under her touch.

"There's more where that came from so you better get your ass back in one piece," Ruby said with a smile as she broke the kiss.

Nova smirked, "Just my ass? What about the rest of me?"

She hit him playfully, "Get outta here you crazy dork." She pushed him away. He waved final goodbye before they parted ways.

Ruby turned back to the rest of the students and now general Ironwood as they congregated in the center. "Right… now back to business…"

The party of students moved outside now, there were a couple of ships left standing, one was already primed and awaiting passengers, it seemed to be Atlas military grade. Ironwood made a move to step out to the platform and everyone stared in shock.

"General... Ironwood?" Ruby asked, "What are you doing?"

James turned the mass of students, "It seems to me that this battle is no longer winnable... The way I see it... you either have two choices, stay and fight to defend your school, or save yourselves."

Ruby looked mortified, as did the others. The famed General Ironwood was running, with his tail between his legs, like a coward. "You can't just leave! People are dying, we need you and the military now more than ever!"

"And you will have my soldiers, but right now... it seems we have some... unexpected company..." he grimaced looking skyward. "I suggest you turn and get out of here now... before it's too late."

"What do you mean…?" Sun asked.

"That's what he means…" Ruby said pointing to the skies. They all turned to see a massive warship, twice the size of the Atlas battleships, looming in the skies above them, it was black, with a red White Fang symbol painted on its' port side, alongside it were several other ships counting on five, smaller than the others, about the size of regular bullhead, but all bearing the same symbol.

"What in the name of…" Neptune gawked.

At that moment James stepped onto the shuttle and took off, leaving everyone to stare in despair as the proud General of the Atlas Military was turning tail.

"Come on... we can take a ship to Beacon..." Sun said as they all moved to find another ship.

"Ruby… this situation is getting dicey, Blake sent me a message, there's hundreds of Grimm in Vale, the walls have been breached and Atlas synth soldiers are turning on the huntsmen…"

Ruby nodded and pushed Weiss, "It doesn't matter, Nova and the others are still out there, we're going to support them." just then her scroll beeped. It was a call from Nova.

She answered the scroll almost immediately, "Nova? What's…."

"RUBY! I don't have time, there's been a change in plans, you get on a ship and get the fuck out of here!"

"What?! I don't understand I thought…"

"RUBY LISTEN TO ME! PLEASE! This is no longer a fight we can win! GET ON A SHIP AND GET OUT OF HERE! I'LL COME FIND YOU-" He was cut off as the call dropped.

"Ruby come on! The ship's leaving!" Sun called to Weiss and Ruby.

The red leader was hesitant, she couldn't leave… but she had no way of getting to Nova, the last shuttle out of here was her only way off and it wasn't heading to Beacon it was heading away from the fight…

"Ruby, we don't have a choice… either stay here and die or we get out and live. Nova's strong, stronger than any of us. He'll be fine." Weiss said, tugging on her partner's arm.

"But…"

"No. Ruby you heard him. We need to leave… NOW!"

Ruby just groaned in frustration and followed Weiss to the hanger.


-Earlier with Nova, Pyrrha, and Jaune on the ground-

The grounds were teeming with Grimm, all shapes and sizes ranging from Beowolves to Ursa Majors, and the occasional Goliath. It was panic and utter chaos, soldiers, students all fighting tooth and nail just to survive. On top of it all, there were explosions, Grimm attacking generators and power supplies around Beacon, everything was going up in flames.

"Bloody hell, it's all gone to shit!" Nova said in horror as he viewed the scene before him.

"How are we going to proceed?" Jaune asked as she sliced through an oncoming Beowolf.

Nova studied his surroundings, "We take the East wing, loop around the courtyard."

"I don't think that's an option..." Pyrrha said as they both observed the raging flames of the east wing, Grimm and students locked in heated combat.

"That's too many of them, I could roast them all but there'd be collateral damage..." Nova said pensively, "Alright, through the other side of school it is..."

"How exactly are we supposed to get to Ozpin through that mess?" Jaune gestured to the scene before them, burning buildings, Grimm and death everywhere.

Nova shrugged, "The Ozpin will be in the highest room in the tallest tower, we fight the biggest elevator that goes up and then head down instead, Oz is most likely hold up with Amber in the basement."

"Who's Amber?" Jaune asked curiously.

Nova and Pyrrha shared a wary glance, "She's... ugh that'll take too long. Just trust me on this and follow along okay?" the dragon said feeling bad for the blonde boy. He was being kept out of the loop.

The two made their way across the school, cutting down every Grimm in their way, at least, that was the case until White Fang soldiers started showing up. They came in droves, swarming the hallways and grounds like ants. They weren't all Faunus, there were quite a few cybernetic soldiers as well.

"What the fuck?!" Nova exclaimed as he and Pyrrha ducked out of the way behind large pillars to avoid gunfire. "WHITE FANG AND GRIMM?! WHAT IN THE HELL IS THIS?!"

"Aren't they afraid of the Grimm? Why choose now to attack?" Pyrrha asked genuinely confused.

Nova sighed in frustration, "Because it seems our common enemy has decided to show up themselves, instead of letting the Grimm do all the dirty work."

"What do you mean?"

The dragon leader grimaced, "It's too much to explain..." he said as a rain of bullets whizzed by their heads, "The short version is, the White Fang and whoever started this attack with the Grimm are working together under some union or something, I'm not exactly sure what's going on myself, all that matters is that they are our enemies and they're in our way..."

Pyrrha was silent for a moment, then spoke, "Alright... but why aren't the Grimm attacking them?"

"I'm afraid of the answer to that question..." at that moment he looked up in the sky and spotted the armada of ships, all tearing apart the Atlas fleet like they were paper, and Nova paled. There was only one possible person in the entirety of Remnant that could be on that ship...

He frantically pulled out his scroll and dialed, ""RUBY! I don't have time, there's been a change in plans, you get on a ship and get the fuck out of here!... RUBY LISTEN TO ME! PLEASE! This is no longer a fight we can win! GET ON A SHIP AND GET OUT OF HERE! I'LL COME FIND YOU-!" He never got to finish his sentence his scroll was shot out of his hands by a stray bullet, fortunately it wasn't broken.

Pyrrha observed her friend's pale expression, the visible sweating on his forehead. It wasn't anxiety or anger that was forming in his eyes. It was fear.

And at that moment she realized, if something out there made a dragon with the power to incinerate an army, afraid, then she most definitely felt it.

"WHOEVER SHOT MY SCROLL IS GOING TO PAY FOR THAT!" Nova yelled as he picked up Pyrrha's shield, catching the red-head by surprise.

"Nova what are you..." she was caught off when he literally set her shield on fire and tossed it like a frisbee, taking out the entire group of soldiers that had them pinned down, then catching the shield as it ricocheted back.

The dragon looked baffled as he caught the shield, "Holy shit... I didn't actually think it would work..."

"Impressive as that was... we need to find a way to break through, more Grimm are pouring in from Vale, it's only a matter of time before we get completely overrun." she pointed out.

Nova bit his lip... then he was struck with an idea, he pulled out his scroll and pressed the contact MR.

"Who're you calling?" Jaune asked confused.

Nova grinned, "Backup."

"Nova Flareheart. I was waiting for this call..." the twisted voice of Mortus Noir was heard over the scroll.

"Noir, I need a favor, can you and your gang back up my friends in Vale, try to limit the amount of Grimm getting into Beacon itself, it's getting pretty rough out here with all the evil Atlas soldiers and White Fang to add to the equation..."

"It is done." with that, he hung up.


-With Blake and Luna-

"ARGH! What is with all these Grimm?!" Blake screamed as she cleaved her way through three Beowolves. "They're like rats! Or insects!"

"Hey don't say that I know at least one good Faunus who's a rat." Luna pouted as she swung her great battle axe and leveled several more Grimm. "Have you gotten through to Yang yet?"

"I'll try again..." the cat Faunus shrugged and pulled out her scroll, she'd been dialing Yang for the last ten minutes but hadn't gotten a response, "Well... twelfth time's the charm..." she dialed.

"BLAKE?!" Yang's voice screamed through mere moments after she dialed/

"YANG! Oh thank Oum you're alright. Where are you? I've been trying to get a hold of you for like, forever!"

"Sorry, but what the hell is happening? I just had to fight off fifty Grimm and the robot guards outside my door suddenly started shooting at me!" the blonde yelled over the phone.

"I'll explain later, just meet me at the... Mess Hall? It seems like the closest thing to us right now..." Blake said looking around for another suitable location.

"Right!"

The black cat Faunus turned to Luna, "Think you can get to Elain by yourself? I'll go regroup with Yang and then meet you back to provide support." she said.

Luna nodded, "I can handle myself, just get to Yang and you two get out of here, I'll come find you at the CCT Tower like Nova said." the blue dragon said.

"Get out of here? We need to stop the Grimm!" Blake wanted to protest. Luna grimaced and pointed skyward.

"I don't think this is a fight we can win right now..."

Blake paled upon seeing the White Fang fleet, "Oh shit..."

Once the two sprinted off in their opposite directions, Blake made a direct line for the cafeteria, cutting straight through any Grimm in her way. "It's like an endless swarm!" she yelled as she struggled to break through the thick horde, barely managing to stumble through the doors of the cafeteria. Instead of finding it in one piece, however, she found it in several.

Tables and chairs were in splinters, the banners of the walls burning like the flames of hell. A massive hole in the wall where the other entrance should be. Blake faltered for a moment, gazing around. Who would have thought, in all her years, she'd see the once-great Beacon Academy up in flames. This Academy was her place of solace and respite. She'd finally found a peaceful life for herself, with friends she cared about, people who were like family to her. They'd made so many memories in this cafeteria, precious memories that were all just... smoke and ash.

"Blake!" Yang yelled as she raced through the hole in the wall, pulling her partner out of her stupor. "What's going on?"

"It's all gone to shit, Cinder... they... they won. Their plan succeeded, we failed..."

"Of course you failed... what else could you expect when you make enemies out of Master Onyx?" A sinister male voice said as a man in a familiar sleek black suit, bright red hair and a white Grimm mask waltzed into the room.

Despite the temperature of the room, Blake felt her blood turn to ice, her bones chilled like she'd been stripped of her flesh and thrown into the snow as she faced an all too familiar visage. "Adam..." was all she could bear to utter out.

Yang turned wide-eyed as she saw their familiar foe, the face of a man who beat Nova to a bloody pulp, the man whose face she hoped to never see again. "Why are you here?" she said readying Ember Celia.

Adam chuckled, "To pick up my favourite old friends, the two dragons and their pet cat." he sneered.

"How about you pick up that sword of yours instead and shove it up your ass!" Blake hissed, drawing Gambol Shroud.

"Ooo... the kitty has claws... why don't you try doing it for me?"

"Gladly..." Blake said before rushing at Adam, head-on.

The red-haired man said nothing as he stood still, waiting for her to draw in close. "Blakey, Blakey, Blakey... when will you learn, the direct approach isn't always the right one..." In almost an instant he drew his sword, faster than either of them could blink. Blake was struck down and batted aside like a tennis ball.

"ARGH!" She screamed in pain as she skated across the hall, writing in pain as her body grazed the floor.

"BLAKE!" Yang screamed in horror as she watched her partner go down. "YOU PIECE OF SHIT!" the blonde roared, launching herself into the air, crashing down like a comet.

Adam just laughed, "Hot-headed and stupid. Taking the same route as her... you both have so much to learn..." he batted her aside like she was nothing but a waste of time to him.

Blake screamed out to her partner "Yang! Get out of here! Go get Nova!"

Yang got up from the floor, wiping the blood from her bleeding lip, "We can't keep relying on him to fight the stronger enemies for us, Blake!"

"YANG NOW ISN'T THE TIME TO BE TRYING TO PROVE SOMETHING!" her words fell on deaf ears as the blonde charged again, in the same pattern as the last time. Except, now her aura was dry...

Adam didn't even move from his position as the brawler's fist came flying at his face. The moment she was in his range, he drew his sword again, with timing and precision, as if the world around him was in slow motion. Blake watched in horror as the blade sailed through the air and cleaved right through Yang's arm like it was butter, severing it from its owner, bone and all.

"AAAAAAAAARH!" Yang screamed out in pain as she crumbled to the floor, blood spewing from the severed limb, exposed marrow and arteries squirting out blood like a fountain, bathing her body in the sticky red substance.

"This is what happens when you defy the White Fang..." Adam said darkly as he walked up to Yang, the girl now unconscious from blood loss. He made it so his body was blocking Blake's line of sight before he knelt down and spilled a few drops of some unknown liquid onto Yang's wound, the bloodied flesh began to sizzle and steam until the bleeding stopped, the hand was barely a stump. He then kicked her harshly off to the side, feeling her ribs crack against this shoe.

"ADAM! I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!" Blake screamed as she struggled to get up, her body weak and unmoveable in her state. To her, it looked like Adam had inspected her friend and tossed her barely living body across the room like a ragdoll. She felt hot tears sting her eyes as she reached down and pulled out her scroll, dialing for Nova.


In the original series, they took a ship to Beacon together, and Weiss and Blake weren't even with Ruby at the arena, which I didn't really like, it's a little too chaotic for my taste.

Anyway, the next chapter which I will hopefully finish by Friday, Nova vs Adam, round two... and much more...