"WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE'S GONE?!"

Taiyang Xiao Long grabs the Huntsman by his collar and pins him to the wall, creating small cracks on it as the Huntsman's Aura ripples from the force.

"I…had no choice." he barely chokes out, "She drew almost half of the pack away; it gave us enough breathing room to wipe out the rest, but we lost track of her by the time we did. And before we could search, more packs were coming…Had to make a choice. Search for someone who's probably dead…or save those I could."

It was cold calculus; a lot of Huntsmen and Huntresses out there make similar decisions all the time. Choosing which threat to respond to, who they can save and who they couldn't, the lives of many over the few. And it would be hypocritical to judge as Tai made his fair share of decisions before.

But the thought of his youngest daughter out there amongst the largest Grimm horde Patch has ever seen…

He releases the Huntsman and turns around, only for the principal of Signal Academy to try and stop him. A retired Huntsman named Mellow Apricot, around his age and walking with a limp from a devastating wound from Grimm that ended his career, leading to his retirement. A simple sword with a revolver built into the handle and a guard strapped to his waist.

"Taiyang, wait, we can't have you leave now." he tries to block his way, only for Tai to shove him aside and continue on as the professor follows him in vain, "We need every Huntsman and Huntress in Signal."

As they walk through the halls of the combat academy, they pass by civilian refugees from all across Patch. In times of emergency, such as a great Grimm horde, the civilians are drilled to evacuate to Signal Academy, located in the center of the small island. Signal, because the academy was built on an old Great War fort, meaning it has good defensive positions, and the staff was mostly retired Huntsmen.

But it was only in drills; there has never been such a large horde like this in Patch's history ever since the Great War.

He should have known it was too quiet; Patch was known for its relatively low Grimm numbers and a safe place despite not being one of the four cities. But for the past months, that number has dropped astronomically, with the worst he's heard reports of was packs of Beowolves numbering below two dozen.

Now there are hundreds, maybe even a thousand, Grimms ranging from Beowolves, Ursas, Deathstalkers, and Nevermore's. And his daughter is out there somewhere.

"Think this through," Mellow persists as he tries catching up to Tai with his limp, "The Grimm have us surrounded. You'll be dead in seconds!"

"Find me a spot where the Grimm are weakest; I'll punch through and sneak from there. With the amount of negativity in here, the Grimm probably won't notice me." Taiyang insists as he marches through the hallways as Mellow finally catches up and grabs Tai by his shoulders, spinning him around.

"For gods' sake, man, take a look!" he urges as he points out a nearby window, showing the Grimm horde outside Signal Academy. On the walls, Huntsmen, Signal third-year students, and what little civilians with firearm experience stood, firing their weapons at packs of Young Grimm, with not even an inch of bone to protect them.

But behind the packs of Grimm was the horde, full of grown Grimm with bone armor protecting them; standing out of range from the gunfire, they snarl and roar at the defenders, barely held on by a number of Alphas. He feels a shiver run down his spine and realizes what Mellow has.

"They're testing us…prodding at our defences," he mutters in shock as Mellow nods.

"Hiding, building up their numbers, now prodding at us with their youngest and most disposable, keeping back their more experienced counterparts? That's not the instinct of Grimm or even an Alpha. Alphas are barely smart enough to hold together packs of Grimm. And multiple Alphas are needed for a horde." Mellow says with dread in his voice as he adjusts his coat, "This amount of coordination, showing signs of tactics and intelligence… It sounds impossible, but I, and many of my colleagues, believe this to be the work of an Ancient."

"But that shouldn't be possible!" Taiyang protests, "Ancients don't just appear out of nowhere, especially not on Patch! Combined with how we routinely cull Grimm, the chances of a Grimm living long enough to become Ancient is borderline impossible!"

Mellow sighs and nods, "I agree, by all accounts, it shouldn't be possible. But all the symptoms show, and with how the Grimm are behaving outside, I see no other explanation."

"All the more reason I have to be out there, looking for Ruby!", Taiyang argues.

Mellow grits his teeth in frustration, "Are you even listening? We can't spare any Huntsmen to exterminate the Ancient, let alone search for your daughter. We're barely holding on as it is; we need everybody here defending Signal while we await reinforcements from Vale and Atlas."

"Reinforcement from Vale and Atlas?" Taiyang asks incredulously, "That would take too long! She'll be dead before they arrive!"

"I see no other choice." Mellow sighs, exhaustion visible on his face before he tries giving a confident smile, "But Ruby is her mother's daughter, isn't she? She's one of the best fighters in the academy, even amongst third years. And like you said, all the Grimm are focused here; if she keeps her wits and weapon sharp, she has a chance out there. Have faith."

Faith? Those were the exact words Ozpin said back when Summer went on her last mission, when she missed her first check-in, and where did it lead to? Summer's dead and her body consumed by Grimm out in the Land of Darkness, a continent solely populated by Grimm. They had to bury an empty coffin, and he had to explain to his daughters why their mother wouldn't be coming back. He remembers raging at Ozpin for sending Summer on that mission, never even telling them just what the mission was for.

He wants to run out there and tear any Grimm apart that would stop him, but he knows that he can't. Even a Huntsman of his caliber, even if he was armed with as much high-quality Dust as he can carry, couldn't stand against a horde led by an Ancient, especially alone.

He felt weak on his knees as he almost fell, only caught by Mellow, who helped him down gently,

"Dear Gods…please…not her too." he mumbles a prayer, not even caring how this appears to the refugees crowding the halls, a Huntsman falling on his knees in despair. Morale was already plummeting to the breaking point, and he was sure the Grimm could feel it. Outside they send more and more young Grimm to their deaths, eating away at their steadily declining stores of ammunition.

A flash of blue and then booming thunder was heard. Mellow swears under his breath; a thunderstorm this late in the night would hinder their already bad vision, and the bad weather would weaken the already tired defenders.

But then he looks outside the window, and the experienced Huntsman who thought he could no longer be surprised suddenly was.

"Taiyang, look!"


"So your last name is Rose…and you can turn into roses?" The Guardian asks Ruby for clarification as they blast through the grass plains of Patch on the Guardian's Sparrow; she was sitting behind him and hugging on for dear life. The hoverbike, Sparrow as the robot alien (or human apparently?) called, was way faster than the bike her sister rode on, "You picked your own name, didn't you?"

Ruby rolls her eyes, "Yeah, yeah, I've heard the jokes. Seriously, I didn't. My last name came from my mother, Summer Rose."

"How does that work anyways?" the Ghost asks this time, speaking through the Guardian's helmet, "You molecularly dismantled yourself to particles and took the form of rose petals to travel! I've seen Hunters do the same when they Blink, they transform into Light and launch themselves forward, but yours has a far longer range by the looks of it."

"It's my Semblance." she says as if it should be obvious before remembering the Guardian wasn't from Remnant, "It's like a super-power that people get. It's different from every person, no two Semblances are the same, but they're all powered by your Aura."

"Aura?" the Ghost and Guardian ask at the same time, "What's that?"

"It's basically this forcefield made by your soul." she explains as best she can, "I don't really know how it works, you'll have to ask one of the professors, but it protects you from harm, makes you stronger and faster. You don't have one?"

The Guardian shrugs, "Well, I guess our Light and your Aura are pretty similar. With Light, we become faster and stronger, protected from harm, and can channel them into super-powers."

"So you're like Huntsmen from space!" Ruby says excitedly, "That's awesome."

"Not a Huntsman." he corrects, "Guardian."

They travel for a while; occasionally, they would pass by villages that were scattered through Patch, her heart sinking at the sight of them burning and demolished. The Guardian noticed this,

"Hey, eyes up, Huntress. We'll be arriving at this academy of yours soon." he says, "Put your game face on."

She nods, "You're right. Sorry, I just…shouldn't we check to see if some survived."

The Guardian sighs, "I'm sorry, but this thing barely has any room for two people, and we escorting them to this Signal Academy would put them more at risk. If any survive, they're doing the smart thing and hunkering down. We'll come back for them later once this is dealt with, alright?"

'If there's anyone to come back to.' he doesn't say. Fortunately, his words do have a partial effect of reassuring the young Huntress.

The rest of the journey was silent, with the occasional lone Grimm being run over until Ruby spoke again.

"So, I've been thinking, you got my name, but I don't think I've heard yours." Ruby says, "What do I call you?"

"Guardian's good enough, Rose." he responds as he drove, "Never picked up a name myself."

"Picked up a name?" Ruby asks, "You weren't born with one? Or made?"

"Well, once upon a time, I was. Then I forgot." the Guardian simply responds, "Don't worry, it's a Guardian thing. It happens."

Ruby didn't know how it was possible to forget a name, let alone having a lot of people not remember, "Couldn't somebody tell you then?"

"Practically everyone who could have known is dead." he admits with such causality that it surprises Ruby, "I was made back before the Collapse. Lots of things got lost then, my name amongst the billions of others."

Ruby didn't think she was gonna like what the Collapse was about; she'll have to ask him later on that, but first…

"Well, are there any nicknames?" She suggests, "My sister sometimes calls me 'Rubes' even though I hate it."

The Guardian ponders for a moment, "Well, there's a bunch of titles I got. Crota's End, Hivebane, Kingslayer, Iron Lord-"

"Don't forget Young Wolf." the Ghost cheekily interrupts through his helmet's speakers as Guardian slaps his head in retaliation.

"Shut it, you know how I feel about that, Little Light." the Guardian shot back with the Ghost's hated nickname as Ruby chuckles at the sight,

"Well, it sounds good enough, Wolf." Ruby chirps as the Guardian groans, annoyed, "I'll call you that from now on, Wolf."

"Oh, look what you've done, Ghost." The Guardian glares from behind his helmet before suddenly braking, sliding into a stop, and nearly throwing Ruby off.

"Ouch! What's the big…deal." she trails off as she sees what the Guardian sees. They were on a cliff overlooking the old fortress Signal Academy was built on, with hordes of Grimm surrounding it.

"Oh my Gods." she mumbles in shock, "I've never seen so many…why are they waiting?"

"I don't know much about Grimm, but from the looks of it, these are siege tactics." the Guardian points towards multiple packs of unarmoured and young Grimm being gunned down; at the larger and more armored Grimm snarling out of range of the defenders' guns, "Send the weaker ones in to test the waters, and keep the stronger ones in reserve."

"But Grimm aren't that smart!" Ruby exclaims in disbelief, "This is impossible!"

The Guardian raises a finger to silence her, "Here's some advice; in 'impossible' scenarios like these, you don't think 'how is this possible,' you think how can you solve the problem."

Ruby takes a breath and thinks over the Guardian's words, "Well…if you kill a pack's Alpha, they become uncoordinated and easier to pick off. It's the same for every type of Grimm. So if there's one super Alpha leading them, then I think we kill it and any Alpha that can replace it."

The Guardian smiles under his helmet, "That's a great idea. Start from the top and work our way to the bottom."

"We should get to Signal first. There's probably a bunch of Huntsman there, already planning how." she looks at the horde in dismay, "But how are we going to get there past the Grimm?"

The Guardian was silent in thought before turning to face Ruby, "You don't happen to know how to drive a hoverbike, would you?"

Ruby looks at him, surprised, "What? No…but Yang did try to teach me how to drive her motorcycle. I only scratched its paint a few times."

The Guardian pauses before shrugging, "Good enough, I suppose. Anyways, even an idiot could drive a Sparrow; it's not nuclear fusion. Just twist the throttles forward to move forward, and backward to move back, and turn it in the direction you want to change directions; brakes are the same on a bike, and there are buttons on the handle to trigger the rocket boost. Got it?"

Ruby gives him a blank, confused look in response, "I…."

"Wonderful." he hops off the Sparrow on the side and slides down the cliff, "When you see the signal, drive like hell. Don't worry about scratching the paint; drive like you've never driven before!"

"But I have never driven before!" she yells back as the Guardian moves out of earshot, "And I don't even know your signal!"

"Isn't that kinda cruel?" the Ghost asks as the chuckling Guardian slides down the cliff, quickly swapping out his Sweet Business for one of his favorite shotguns, the Perfect Paradox. The familiar silver and gold weapon materializes in place of the previous white, gold, and red minigun-rifle.

"Hey, everybody knows that the best way to learn is from intense life-threatening pressure." he says as he starts running downhill, his Dunemarchers building up static energy as he throws himself forward, using the Light to lift and propel himself. This seems to catch the attention of the Grimm in the backlines as they turn to look at the ruckus only to find a 6-foot power-armored Striker Titan falling from the sky with Arc energy coursing through both his arms.

"After all, that's how we did back in Russia."

He slams into a pack of dozens, incinerating them all from pure Arc energy. Heavily wounded those nearby from the chain lightning created by the static his Dunemarchers created, clearing out every Grimm for nearly 10 meters.

"Heh, remember our biggest worries was finding a jumpship and fighting some Fallen Archon? What was his name, Riksis?" the Ghost reminisces as the Guardian charges forward before leaping into the air again.

"Those were simpler times." The Guardian smiles as he prepares to slaughter another few packs of Grimm.


"And stay down!" Yang shouts as she decks a young Beowolf across the face, snapping its neck, instantly killing it and causing it to fall off the walls. But it just gets swallowed up in the giant mass of young Beowolves climbing over themselves to scale her part of the wall.

She was one of the third-year Signal students that volunteered to help what little Huntsmen there in Patch to hold the walls. Besides the faculty of Signal, there weren't much, less than a dozen, actually, since Patch has one of the lowest Grimm attack rates in the entire Kingdom. As such, what Huntsmen there were that weren't part of Signal's faculty were not exactly top of the line, unstoppable warriors.

Even when supplemented by civilian volunteers, many never holding guns before, they were still suffering from the sheer numbers of the horde. She couldn't believe it at first, but the Grimm were splitting their packs to attack all across Signal Academy's walls, forcing them to stretch their defenses thin.

And her fellow students with her weren't much help. One of them, a guy whose name she can't remember, had his Aura shattered from a flock of young Nevermores and was bleeding out from a neck wound preventing him from helping in the fight. Another student ran back with the boy, saying she would get him help, leaving Yang to defend her part of the wall by herself.

She could have called for a medic on her Scroll, Yang thinks she just wanted an excuse to run to somewhere safer than where she was right now, and she doesn't blame her. The situation they were in was rough.

Yang wants to run as well, but not in the direction most would assume. She wanted to run towards the Grimm and tear them apart, find her sister somewhere out there, and grab her into the tightest hug she can and never let go.

She would have snuck off if it wasn't for the constant Grimm packs poking at the walls. It was good that they were just young Grimm requiring one or two punches, but for every young Grimm she kills, two more take their place. She was barely getting any more than a few minutes of rest.

And then there was the adult Grimm snapping and snarling just out of range; their bloodlust was so immense she could feel it from here as if a dam was barely holding back a tide. If she tried sneaking off, she would be mauled in seconds.

And if she does leave, she's leaving a gap in the walls for Grimm to come in and kill every survivor behind her. She was a future Huntress-in-training; she wouldn't allow that to happen.

She was snapped out of her thoughts by a thunderous boom in the distance; her first thought that a bomb went off or maybe a storm was coming.

It just might have been both of those things. In the distance, a large blue electrical explosion detonated within their ranks. She might have assumed it was someone's weapon, but they would have used it at the start of the siege if it was. So what was it?

After the first explosion, a roar of an engine could be faintly heard as a streak of black launched from the nearby cliffs behind the explosion, a trail of light left behind it as it rockets forward.

Another explosion smashed aside more Grimm; large patches of green could be seen as large portions of the nearly endless horde disintegrated in blue lightning.

It didn't take a genius to realize that the explosions were clearing a path for whatever that thing speeding towards them was. She thinks it's reinforcements from Vale or perhaps even survivors.

The snarls below remind her of her situation as a young Beowolf snaps at her, nearly ripping at her hair. Her eyes flared red as she reels back a powerful blow and punches, firing Ember Celica as she does, sending the wave of Grimm tumbling back down.

It was at this moment that the black and red thing speeding towards the academy slammed into the pack of Grimm, crashing and creating an explosion enough to wipe out the small pack of young Grimm.

But before it did, Yang's jaw dropped at the familiar sight of red rose petals as they flew from whatever that contraption was, landing on the walls in front of Yang on her feet.

"Ohmygods, I'm never trying that again." Ruby Rose mumbles to herself as she stumbles forward dazed.

"Ruby?!"

"Yang?!" The black and red scythe wielder exclaim in surprise as Yang tackles her into a hug.

"You're alive!" She exclaims in relief as she hugged as tight as she could as if not doing so would allow Ruby to slip away and vanish for good, "I knew it! I knew it! If anyone could have made it, it was you!"

"Yang…can't…breathe." Ruby chokes out from Yang's grasp as the older sister loosened her grip.

"Where were you?!" she shouts, confused and voice full of worry, "Your class came back without you and said you ran off! What were you thinking?!"

Ruby winces at her volume before breaking out of Yang's grip, "Yang, please, there's no time to explain, but you need to help him."

"Him?" Yang asks as Ruby points behind her towards where she came from, seeing a figure now running through the planes between Signal's walls and the ocean of Grimm, with large craters still simmering with blue electricity left behind him.

Behind him, Alphas who were barely able to contain the horde were now facing Grimm breaking formation as the stranger's attack was the last straw. Most stayed behind, content with barking and roaring, but a handful broke formation to chase the stranger with a fresh pack of young Grimm.

Whoever the stranger was, he wasn't faster than the Grimm and would soon be caught in their grasp.

"Why aren't you shooting?" Yang asks, knowing that Crescent Rose's sniper rifle has a long enough range to touch the Grimm, unlike Ember Celica.

"I'm out of ammo." Ruby replies, concerned as she prepares to leap off the walls, only for Yang to grab her by the cloak, stopping her.

"What are you doing?!" As she pulls her back, Yang exclaims, "You'll kill yourself if you run down there!"

"Wolf needs help!" Ruby shouts back as she struggles against her grip on her cloak.

Wolf? Was that the stranger's name? She wanted to ask more questions before she heard the familiar bang of a shotgun, one that didn't come from her Ember Celica. She looks down to see the stranger wielding a silver shotgun as he runs, firing behind him with one arm and nailing Grimm in the head.

Each shot shattered skulls and unarmoured heads, but his weapon must have ran out as he didn't fire at the last Grimm leaping at him; instead, he stopped and grabbed his shotgun by the barrel, wielding it as a club, using its spiked stock to smash it like a pick against the last adult Beowolf, sending it flying with a large hole in its skull, bleeding black smoke in place of blood. Yang could have sworn she saw bolts of electricity run up the shotgun as he smashed it against the Beowolf.

Satisfied, the stranger continues his running towards Signal walls. She wonders how he was going to get up before a light blue-ish glow covers his body as he leaped, lifting him upwards before slamming onto the ground next to her and Ruby with a loud thud.

"Holy shit." She can't help but utter as the stranger, or Wolf as Ruby called, dusts off black smoke and skull fragments from his shotgun's stock.

"Wolf! You have more weapons?!" Ruby exclaims in awe, pointing at the silver and gold shotgun in his hands as he chuckles and holsters it behind his back.

"Of course I do. Don't tell me you only have that Crescent Rose of yours?" he says in a surprisingly young voice that sounded almost robotic, probably the helmet's effects, but he didn't sound old enough to be a professional Huntsman. And she certainly didn't recognize him from classes in Signal.

Ruby hugs Crescent Rose in its compacted form defensively, "I'll have you know that my baby is all I'll ever need, thank you very much."

"Where's my Sparrow anyways?" Wolf asks, looking around for something as Ruby blushes in embarrassment.

"Well, I may have…crashed it…" she mumbles the last part as she scratches the back of her hair.

Wolf just shrugs, "Eh, don't kick yourself over it. I crash it at least five times a week. Not bad riding for your first time, Rubes."

He offers a closed fist for Ruby to bump, which she did with glee.

"Yeah! Did you see me? That part where that Ursa almost slapped me off, and then I ran over that Beowolf, you were blasting those Grimm with that lightning of yours, and then I used my Semblance just before I crashed, landing over here! There was even an explosion behind me! That was the coolest thing that's ever happened to me!"

"Damn right it was." he chuckles before looking towards Yang and offering a hand, "And who's this?"

"Name's Yang Xiao Long." she shakes his offered hand, "Pleasure to meet you, Wolf. So I have you to thank for saving my baby sister?"

"Sister?" he asks, surprised as he looks between the two of them. Under his helmet, she imagines him to have a dumbfounded face. That's the same reaction people get when they hear about their relationship.

Yang smirks, "What? Don't we look alike?"

Before Wolf could respond, a roar could be heard behind them as they spun to see a Beowolf lunging at them, Ruby reached for Crescent Rose to transform it into scythe mode, but Yang and Wolf were quicker. Striking fast and hard with their respective fists and engulfing the Beowolf with Arc Light and Fire Dust.

Wolf turns to stare at Yang's weapons, surprise, awe, and respect heard through his tone,

"Are those… shotgun gauntlets?"

Yang smirks cockily and ejects a shell with her fist pump, "Yep. Like what you see, big guy?"

"Very much. That was a nice punch." Wolf says as he shakes off excess electricity stuck on his fist, "And as much as I would love talking about the fine arts of punching the crap out of these things, we need to talk business. Who's leading the defenses?"

"Huh? That would be my dad and Headmaster Mellow." she points behind her to a door leading into the campus, "They should be somewhere near the Headmaster's office. Ruby can bring you there."

"What about you?" Ruby asks with a frown, "We can't just leave you here."

Yang gives her sister a reassuring smirk and points back at the Grimm horde with a thumb, "With this bunch? Please, I've been holding this spot for, give or take an hour, mostly by myself. I can handle a few more Grimm thrown my way."

She gives Ruby a short hug before they part, "Stay safe, Rubes. Can't wait to hear your half of the story after this is over."

"You too, sis. Take care." Ruby quickly returns the hug as she walks off with Wolf in tow, who gives Yang a respectful nod as he leaves.

She returns her attention to the horde, taking a deep breath as a fresh pack peels off from the horde to assault the walls. Scattered thinly through the wall where dozens of her teachers, peers, and what few civilians that volunteered suffered the same scenario, a swarm with no sign of ending barring down at them.

But seeing her sister safe renewed her resolve, all she had to do was keep standing to protect her, and whoever else was behind these walls. As the latest pack charges, she racks both of Ember Celica and prepares for the 25th pack since the battle started.


The Guardian, or Wolf as Ruby has taken to calling him, has never seen this building before, but it was quickly clear it has seen better days. All around the halls lay refugees that fled from the onslaught of Grimm, clutching what little possessions they had, children clutched their parent's arms, and an atmosphere of despair surrounded the area. A few glance up at him, and he feels desperate hope within them, desperately hoping that they would make it through the night.

It reminds him of the Red War, back in the beginning of it all when he was fresh off the Hawk with only a Sidearm in hand. Shaxx and his Redjacks protecting a handful of civilians gave him the same look of desperate hope as the Crucible Handler led him to an armory to stock up.

The more things changed, the more they stayed the same it appeared.

"Something wrong, Wolf?" Ghost asks him in private communications with a mix of concern and humor, as the Guardian rolls his eyes.

"Don't you start, Little Light." he replies as he scans the area, "Just…bad memories."

All traces of entertainment evaporate immediately, "You're worried about the Grimm? Sure, they hit harder than a Thrall and Dreg, but you've killed worse and stronger." the Ghost says, confident in his Guardian's abilities, "Give us a year and you'll be taking a crack at the local populace's gods."

"Not worried about them." he subtly gestures to the civilians lining the hallways as he and Ruby move between them, "Them. Haven't seen anything like this since the Red War or the Endless Night."

"You forget that both times you kick both Cabal and Vex's butt." Ghost says, "The locals have been facing these threats for however long they lived; they probably have a plan. We'll figure something out from then."

The Guardian hopes that his Ghost was right. After a moment, Ruby whispers to him as they walked,

"So I couldn't help but notice you haven't taken off your helmet." she notes, "So, when I meet my dad and the headmaster, do you want me to tell them that you're a…."

She trails off as she glances around as if afraid someone would overhear. The Guardian nods in agreement,

"Yeah, these guys have enough to worry about now. A giant horde of Darkness first, alien robot reveal later, alright?"

Ruby smiles and nods, "You got it, Wolf."

"That's gonna get old quick, Rubes." the Guardian playfully flicks the smaller girl from behind the head as she blows a raspberry at him.

Before the Guardian could retort, he hears a faint shout from down the hallway and turns to see a blonde-haired man, likely in his 40s, rushing towards them.

"Ruby!" he shouts as he runs, and the girl brightens in recognition,

"Dad!" she runs to meet him as the older man, her father apparently, hugs and lifts her.

The Guardian couldn't help but smile at the display of affection; it was a bit of light in this dark situation. He decides to wait and stay where he was, giving them time for their reunion.


"You're alive! Oh, thank the Gods, you're alive." Taiyang cries in relief, "I didn't know if…."

He doesn't say it, but she knew what he was going to say. She doesn't blame him; after all that is happening, she wouldn't have thought so as well, but she didn't care. Her dad was here, and that's what mattered.

Then her dad separates to look at her, and his relief face turns to worry and frustration, "Your professor told me what happened. What were you thinking?! Running off to fight Grimm? This isn't the stray Beowolf that wandered too far from its pack! You're not a Huntress, Ruby; you could have gotten yourself killed!"

Ruby was taken aback by her father's ferocity and stammers, "W-well, I was t-trying to help by distracting the Grimm, but I got carried away, I guess?"

She tries to smile, but Taiyang wasn't having any of that, "Carried away! You had Gods' know how many Grimm chasing you, and you call that carried away?"

"...It was a hundred Grimm," Ruby mutters weakly before she realizes it was probably the wrong thing to say as her father's eyes widen.

"A hundred-?!" he was about to say something else when she heard someone approach them from behind,

"Sorry to interrupt." Wolf says as he steps into the conversation, "But shouldn't you have this talk somewhere in private?"

Taiyang looks surprised at the strange armored individual in front of him before glancing around to see some civilians looking in their direction. He takes a breath and nods,

"I…you're right." he stares at Wolf with a look of uncertainty, "I'm sorry, but I don't think I've seen you around before."

Wolf probably was about to respond with something when Ruby beats him to the punch, "His name's Wolf; he's the guy that saved me from the Grimm."

His tone shifts upon hearing that, "You saved my daughter? I don't think I can thank you enough. Were you responsible for that lightning strike I saw?"

He offers a hand that Wolf shakes without hesitation, "I was. Glad I could help out, but Ruby handled herself well out there; you should be proud. Not sure what standards are but killing at least 45 Grimm by herself seems impressive. And that was just the ones I saw her kill, probably plenty more before I showed."

Ruby beams at being praised for her deeds, only to falter when Tai sighs, "She hasn't finished her training yet; she could have been killed."

Wolf laughs at that, "Still training? Might as well graduate her now." his tone then turned serious, "Now, we shouldn't ignore the elephant in the room. Or, more accurately, the elephants surrounding the room."

Tai nods, "Yeah, I'll bring you to Headmaster Mellow, and we'll see where we can assign you." he turns to Ruby, "And you, young lady, get some rest. You'll need it."

"But-!" Ruby starts to protest, but Taiyang silences her,

"No buts, you're Aura's probably running on fumes with how long you were gone." he says firmly, "Rest, and I'll come find you later. Am I clear?"

Ruby looks to Wolf for some defense, but Wolf agrees with Tai, "You said you've been outrunning and killing Grimm for an hour, right? He's right; you wouldn't be able to help anyone if you're exhausted. Rest up; there's plenty of Grimm to go around before the sun rises."

He pats her on the shoulder, but still, she sulks off to find a place to rest as Taiyang begins to lead him to the Headmaster's office. But unknown to them, once she went out of sight, Ruby instantly changed directions to another path to the office.

There was no way she would sit around while Grimm was tearing her home apart, and if they had some plan to make all this mess a little cleaner, she was going to help.

"So…where are you from, Wolf?" Taiyang asked as they walked, "Patch's a small island; pretty sure I would've met a guy with armor like that."

Wolf would have sweated if he still had a human body, but luckily he didn't; but unfortunately, his voice could still stutter, so he tried to keep as cool as possible,

"Well, I'm obviously not from around. Was just traveling." It wasn't exactly a lie; he was just keeping certain aspects of the truth away.

"Really? We don't have much to sightsee around here."

Wolf pats his Perfect Paradox holstered on his back, "I didn't come for the sights. With the number of Grimm here, it looks like I came to the right place."

Taiyang sighs, "Yeah, looks like. But you don't sound old enough to be a Huntsman."

Wolf nearly trips at that and exclaims, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Taiyang raises a brow, "Well, you don't sound that old. If I heard your voice around here, I would've thought you to be another student."

"Look, I have guns, and I can kill lots and lots of Grimm. That's all it matters." he says quickly, eager to change the subject, "Now, weren't we supposed to find this Headmaster of yours? Time's wasting."

"Alright, alright." he raised his hands placatingly, surprised by how defensive he was when his age was brought up. He stops and points to a set of double doors next to him, "In here."

Wolf pushes both open and finds inside a small office with a simple wooden desk pointing towards the entrance, with a number of bookshelves on the walls, and standing by the desk pacing around was an old man, probably in his 60s if he has to guess, with a tired but determined look on his face, and on his waist was a sword with what appeared to be a revolver barrel on the hilt.

He doesn't know what was up with these people's obsessions with mixing guns into melee weapons, but he was loving it. He wonders if he can get some sort of assault rifle sword while he was here, might as well make the most of getting stuck in another dimension/world/wherever he was.

"Mellows," Taiyang greets as he points to Wolf, "This is the lightning guy; he brought back Ruby as well."

"Really? That's good news in these trying times." he gave a soft smile and offered a hand that Wolf shook, "My name is Mellows Apricot; I'm the Headmaster of Signal Combat Academy and very happy to hear about the safe return of one of my students. You have my thanks, young man."

Wolf rolls his eyes under his helmet; being called 'young man' was bringing back memories from his time as a New Light. Being treated like the baby of the bunch had not been fun. But it did score him extra cookies from Eva Levante.

"Wolf, I don't think I've heard or seen you around Patch before." he notes with a curious look on his face, "Where did you come from?"

"Just a traveler." Wolf replies before looking outside a window at the sight of packs of young Grimm assaulting the walls, "But since I'm here, I thought I could do more to help."

Mellow nods, "We can always use more guns on the walls if you can head to-"

Wolf raises his hands and stops him before he could finish, "I was actually hoping for something to solve the issue instead. Ruby said something about a super Alpha leading this…horde, was it? Am I correct in assuming that killing this super Alpha of yours would solve the problem?"

"Ruby's one of our best students; it shouldn't come as a surprise she would figure that out." Mellow smiles before rubbing his chin in thought, "We have a theory that an Ancient Grimm is commanding this horde; no Alpha or Elder would be able to strategize this well. Centuries-old Grimm that survived countless battles until it grew and mutated enough to command every type of Grimm below it."

"Sounds spooky." Wolf nonchalantly says, "How do we kill it?"

Taiyang sighs, "We're not talking about some other Grimm; these Ancients are practically war machines by themselves. Armor strong enough to shrug off heavy weapons and strong enough to tear apart even Huntsmen with full Aura. Back in the Great War, they were responsible for the annihilation of small cities. They're also never alone, usually backed by a few Elders as bodyguards. You need many teams of Huntsmen or a small army to take one down."

"Besides, killing it, despite how impossible it sounds, won't solve the main issue. The horde." Mellows continues from where Taiyang left off, "As of now, we can assume that the Ancient is holding back the horde for some reason. Killing it would set them loose on us."

"Which is why I think we should leave now." Taiyang insists, "There's an old tunnel under Signal that leads to the docks; the Vale Armed Forces used it to resupply in case of sieges. If we can get civilians through it-"

"They'll be slaughtered!" Mellow argues, "Look around, Tai. You can feel the negativity with how the civilians are feeling; they must look like tenderized meat to the Grimm. They'll track them and be on them the moment we leave the tunnels. So unless the Grimm start climbing our walls, the tunnel should be considered a last resort!"

"Negativity?" Wolf asks as he looks between the two, "What, are these Grimm empaths or something?"

"Negativity?" Wolf looks at Taiyang, who can recognize the confusion in his tone despite the helmet blocking facial features, "These Grimm are empaths or something?"

Both professors of Signal look at him confused, with Tai being the one to question it,

"Grimm can sense negative emotions, fear, anger, avarice, sadness, etc. The negativity to Grimm would be like fresh blood to a hound. How do you not know about this?" he asks Wolf, who is thankful for the helmet covering his face. Honestly, why would BrayTech make EXO faces so expressive?

…Oh right, otherwise they would go insane.

He quickly changes the subject before they can question him more,

"What about reinforcements? I mean, you guys must have them, right" the Guardian asks as he continues pacing, not being able to stand staying in one place for too long, deciding to play with a pen he found on the desk.

Mellow sighs as he rests his hands on the desk, looking as if he aged another ten years, "That…is an issue in itself. Earlier, Vale tried to send Bullheads and Airships for evacuations, but entire flocks of Nevermores are preventing them from crossing into Patch. With them in the way, Vale can't evacuate civilians or bring in Huntsmen to assist in our defense."

"So, just shoot them down." Wolf suggests waving the pen like a gun, "Bring out some big guns, and wham, a path cleared."

Taiyang sighs, "According to the Council, sending Vale Air Force to clear out the Nevermore is an unnecessary risk as it may leave the capital open to a similar Grimm attack, and instead, we have to wait for assistance from Atlas."

"So? What's wrong with that?" Wolf wonders what the problem was; by all accounts, it sounded like backup was still coming, just taking a little longer than expected.

"Did you forget that Atlas is literally a continent away?" Taiyang asks like he was an idiot, "Travel by airship would take half a day at least and we're not even talking about the time it'll take for Atlas to prepare their ships and troops for deployment."

"...Right. Of course, it is." Wolf mutters before clearing his voice, "So let me get this straight. We're surrounded on all sides; our only escape route is quite possibly a death trap, backup won't be here in at least half a day, and the only reason we're not swimming in Grimm is because this Ancient thing is keeping them back for some reason?"

He punctuated each point by tapping the pen on his armored palm as Mellows nodded,

"It's bad, but this is the best option. If we run, we die; all we can do is stay and fight for as long as we can. We have Huntsmen, our top students, and a volunteer militia; if we fight hard enough, we might force this Ancient to delay until backup arrives." he sighs before looking at Wolf with determination, "I've seen many bleak nights as a Huntsmen throughout my life, none as bleak as this but it is still a night, and when the time comes the sun will rise. All we have to do is hold on, fight as hard as we can, and I assure you we can see the sun again."

Now that was something Wolf could respect; he knew these humans on this strange world have their own version of the Light, Aura they call it, but they have no Ghost. Like all civilians back in the Last City, they all have one life. Yet despite all that difference, one thing they had in common was the same determination to tell the Darkness where to shove it.

"Just need to hold out, you say?" Wolf smirks under the helmet as he tossed the pen into Mellow's hands, "You can say I was made to do that."

He was a Titan after all, and while he prefers striking out to eliminate threats, defense was something ingrained into each and every Titan. And once again, in a distant world populated by familiar people he will be a wall for the Darkness to break against.

It didn't have a name, it was a Grimm, a child of the all-encompassing Darkness. But it was special because it learned to survive.

When they were born, they had only one thought, to kill the abominations.

When they first rose from the black pits that spawned them, every one of them had the same thought, the same drive, the same rage, and anger and urge for destruction, directed all at the abominations.

They were bright and it burns their mind at the sight of them, irritating them to the point of insanity.

It remembers fresh out of the pit, following its brethren as they laid waste to the abominations who fought back with sharp sticks and metal. Some of its brethren would fall but many more of the abominations would fall. It remembers its first kill, how sweet and savory the abomination's fear was as it hunted it down and devoured it. It was one of the many that survived the raid, and it was where he learned to avoid the abominations' weapons to survive.

But as they grew, so did the abominations and many fell against them. When the abominations grew brighter, stronger, and harder to kill, it learned to use their brethren to survive. Learning to command over them, stamping out any challengers to gain more under its command, it learned that many of them could stamp out the abominations no matter how strong they were. When the abominations learned to use nature's wrath against them, it learned that the coloured crystals were dangerous and how to avoid them. When they learned to sling metal and elements at them, it grew stronger and stronger bones until no blade or amount of nature's wrath could scratch him.

But most importantly, he learned from the abominations. Every time it sends its horde to lay waste to them, it learns. That night was the best time to attack, that sending the weak younglings first always resulted in the more stronger, adult brethren surviving to finish off the weakened abominations, it learned how to lure the strong abominations away to target the weak ones they were protecting. Years and years pass, and it grew and grew, until it had unquestionable command over his horde and no abomination could dare to fight against it.

And one day, as it rested in the dark lands, a land beyond the reaches of the abominations, it heard something, almost like an abomination. And then it saw them.

It fought with centuries of experience behind its belt, and its primal rage to defend its position over the horde, but despite it all…it lost. And then he woke here, a place teeming with abominations that made its insides boil.

But it knew it couldn't outright attack, years of experience taught him that it would be reckless to do so. So it bided its time, first bringing the Alphas under its rule and forcing them to hide from the abominations, creating new spawning pools for fresh sources of young, all in order to bide their time to amass necessary numbers.

Now it stands on a peak of a cliff, watching the fruits of his success. Its airborne brethren would keep any of those abominations' flying machines from landing, and allow more abominations onto this small patch of land while the rest of the horde will herd the abominations to one single place to wipe out all at once.

It lets them suffer a bit more, throwing the young at the walls will wither away at their metal slingers, it learnt that they can only shoot so much before they stop shooting. It also wanted them to stow in their fear, even from his position it could taste their fear in the air.

So sweet was it, that it almost wanted to charge in and savor it all for itself.

Almost.

It would have let it cook for a while longer but then it showed up.

An abomination unlike any it has seen before.

It was almost blinding to look, and the instinctual rage it had against all abominations only enhanced at the sight of it.

It then slaughtered through part of his horde with lightning. Barely able to restrain the horde, it growls as it sees it and another abomination streak passes its horde's grasp, further infuriating it.

Even with experience to temper its urges, it can barely hold itself anymore. The shining light, the abomination, and all those that lay behind the walls must die. Now!

It lets out a loud roar for its horde to prepare itself.

The true raid would begin now.

It took him a while to find directions to the armory, finally arriving at a locked set of metal doors and inputting the code Taiyang had given him. The blonde man had told him to take only what he needed, which honestly was a little vague.

He was a Guardian, there was no such thing as just enough ammo. Not that he really needed theirs, he brought his own. And Ghost could probably synthesize a few kinetic rounds from the bones he saw the Grimm drop. Still, it wouldn't hurt to check out if there's anything he could use there.

Wolf's motion sensors had indicated someone was already inside, likely resupplying as well, he was likely to ignore them until he opens the door and realized it was someone familiar, hunched over a table with an ammo crate next to her.

"Ruby?" he looks at her surprised, "What are you doing here? Thought you were supposed to rest?"

Ruby yelps startled as she spun to see who it was,

"Oh, it's just you Wolf." she says as she resumed what she was doing, which was loading sniper rounds into empty magazines, "Just re-stocking. I ran out of ammo back when we were fighting Grimm. Sitting around doing nothing doesn't sit right with me, you know?"

Wolf agrees but couldn't help but notice something off. Now he doesn't know much about Ruby but she seemed to be a pretty chipper and excitable person, even after fighting Grimm she couldn't help but geek out at his abilities and weapons. Now she seemed more reserved and sullen, and he thinks he knows why.

"So, I couldn't help but notice something weird when I was leaving the office. Rose petals lying on the floor with no roses nearby," he says carefully as he strolls and glances at the rack of weapons, most were empty, likely given to civilian volunteers. Ruby freezes as Wolf continues, "That got you scared?"

"I'm not afraid." Ruby protests as she continues her resupply, "I just…feel useless. There are so many Grimm, and they already hurt, and killed, so many people. People that I know, that I see around Patch, and when I heard help might not arrive on time and there's nowhere to run…it sounds pretty bleak, to be honest."

She gives a weak smile, "But hey, Atlas is coming, and have you seen their army? They'll blast the Grimm out of the sky and Huntsmen could land, so we just have to hold." it falters, "I…hope we can."

"I know how you feel." Wolf nods in understanding, "Back home we have something called the Last City. Exactly as it sounds, it's the last safe bastion of humanity on my home planet, Earth."

Ruby perks up almost immediately, wanting to hear more when she realizes what he said, "Last City? So there's only one city left? How is that possible, even with the Grimm there's still four kingdoms with a couple of cities, towns, and villages!"

Wolf sighs, sounding tired, "Yeah, well we have our own enemies to deal with. Some of them are quite close to your Grimm, and once our walls were even broken and we had to evacuate the city. Wanna know how we got through it?"

Ruby nods her head, eager to hear how they got through it.

"The tried and true method, as old as time. Grab the biggest guns you can carry, as much ammo as you can until your back hurts, and keep killing the enemy until they can't throw any more bodies at you." he clenches his fist exhibiting bits of Arc Light, "It's not different even here. Eventually, these Grimm are gonna run out of bodies to throw at us. So keep your gun close, your blade sharpened, make every shot count and you'll make it. And besides,"

He gestures to her scythe-rifle, "You were pretty good out there. Slaughtering them while running ragged and low on ammo. I'd pity any Grimm that tries going over the walls with you rested and resupplied."

His confidence was contagious as Ruby smiles soon, less forced than before.

"...Thanks Wolf." she says as she loads the last round in the last magazine before slapping it into Crescent Rose, "And after all this, I'm expecting more stories of space adventures."

Wolf laughs, "Ruby, I got stories for days. Like this one time, there was this thing called the Vault of-"

A loud howl interrupted them, coming from outside the walls which dampened the sound but they still heard it anyway. And it was followed by what seemed like the entire horde outside howling and roaring.

"Looks like it'll have to wait." Wolf says as he reaches for his Perfect Paradox, "Your Li… I mean, Aura, what's its status?"

"As good as it can be." she says as she makes last-minute checks for Crescent Rose, "You need any ammo?"

"I've got ammo for days, Ruby." he loads up his weapon with shells from his Actium War Rig, "Let's get out there, Huntress."


They both rush down the hall as civilians run past them in the opposite direction, fire alarms in the academy were ringing so if anybody thought that the loud simultaneous roars were nothing to worry about, they were definitely wrong. The militiamen were seen directing the civilians towards somewhere so that was Wolf's first stop.

Wolf approaches one as he waves through the swarm of civilians, "Hey, what's going on out there?"

"It's the Grimm!" he cries out in fear, "They're on campus! Got through the walls somehow! Everybody's evacuating to Lecture Hall 5."

Wolf doesn't know where that was, but from his talk with the Headmaster he can assume it was likely the escape tunnel's hidden location. Ruby was focused on something else,

"Wait? On campus? What about the walls?" she asks in worry.

"They've dug under the walls!" the militiamen explains quickly, "And to make things worse, the horde's charging now!"

"Oh shanks." Wolf curses under his breath. That meant that the defenders on the walls were trapped between the tunneling Grimm and the horde and Ruby realizes that as well.

"Oh my gods, Yang's still there!" she whispers horrified before taking off in a burst of rose petals before Wolf could stop her,

"Ruby! Traveler damn it." he curses after futilely grasping out only to grab a handful of rose petals.

"Ghost, I need a map of this place quick!" he thinks as he runs to follow the rapidly disintegrating trail of rose petals, "Place is like a damn maze, point me to wherever the Grimm are closest."

"I'm on it, Wolf." Ghost thinks back as he starts looking over the data, "What about Ruby?"

Wolf thinks before making a decision, "You saw how good she is. She can handle herself."

Ghost pauses before highlighting the location on his HUD, "There, we have those tunneling Grimm, Creeps they're called, approaching from the North East section. There's a Huntsman trying to relocate there but you'll get there faster."

It was the opposite direction of where Ruby went but Wolf moved on anyway. He navigated the halls and after a few twists and turns made it to the section where two militiamen were trying to hold their ground, firing their assault rifles in the direction of these strange lizard-bird Grimm with boney beaks.

But they likely never held guns before, firing in full auto and missing most of the shots, only serving to irritate the Grimm further, with the biggest one charging ahead, looking ready to tear the militia men's heads off.

Wolf empties out the Arc Light inside him, focusing on another element of Light. He mustn't feel anything, he must not care about the dangers that lie ahead, because he will now become a wall, and walls don't care.

Drawing power from the Void, a black round shield glowing with a glowing purple edge appears on his right arm. With a quick swipe, he throws the Sentinel Shield at the Creep, slicing through the air and leaving a trail of Void energy.

It cuts cleanly through, burning the Creep until it disintegrates on a molecular level, the Void tearing and rending its atoms apart, and vanishing in a cloud of purple specks.

The shield doesn't stop there, cutting clean through and bouncing off walls, slicing through more Creeps each ending in fates similar to the first, until the hallway was cleared and he could see the destroyed entrance behind them, with more Grimm about to pour in. A few trails of blood could be seen staining the carpet and walls.

He dampens any rage he feels at the sight, Void Light works at its best when the user is emptied of feeling. No fear, no rage, no taking joy in his work.

"Go with the others." he calmly instructs the awestruck men, "Find a Gua-, a Huntsman, to help me plug this place."

They quickly nod as they ran off, Wolf holding his Sentinel Shield in one hand as the other went to prime a Scatter Grenade, the Grimm roaring in a challenge at him but he doesn't react, he will not move.

Because he was a wall and walls don't care.