Chapter 35 already? Its almost like I've been having a lot more time on my hands recently. I remember just over a month ago we were probably still in the tens of chapters. Oh well, my plan to finish this story soon is coming into fruition. Here we go.

Beta: CrowSkull

Destiny Fated Black

Chapter 35

Tick Tock Tick Tock… time kept running out and none of us knew when shit was going to finally start hitting the fan. Well… we didn't have to wait for too long…

"Hazzah! For our first contestant for the first round of the finals for this tournament, we have Penny Polendina! Whom I've heard is Atlas' fastest rising star" Peter Port announced boisterously over the microphone thousands heard his voice just in the coliseum as did millions all around Remnant.

Penny bounced up and down with excitement, she was going to be in the first round of the finals! Unlike most of her other colleagues who stood all around her in a mixture of nervous excitement and self-doubt with a large sprinkle of confidence and desire for glory. She just couldn't wait to start her battle for the entertainment of others! It was going to be so much fun. Was Ruby and her other friends watching? Was Ciel watching even though she has made it abundantly clear that she does not care for a friendship with her and is being forced to work with her because they were selected as partners? She certainly hoped so, even for Ciel. They were partners, and like friend Jaune often said; strangers are just friends you haven't met yet.

She stared up at the screen and looked out to her sides at great speed. Wanting to see who her opponent was going to be. There were many people she did not recognize. Other students from Shade, Haven, Beacon and of course Atlas but there were a few which she did recognize. Coco Adel for instance, after defeating Cardin and Dove in the duo's round with Fox Alistair she was naturally chosen to continue into the singles and finals rounds. Other than her, however, she couldn't quite place the names of the others. She would have liked to know them all better, but after what happened to her in that failed ambush she was ordered to keep to herself and her partner.

The rolling panel spun downwards more and more beside a portrait of her own face. She began to feel the odd sensation of nervousness and eagerness. Her next opponent was bound to be a difficult one surely.

"Now let's see who our next contestant is going to be…" Professor Port announced as the dial began to slow down dramatically.

The dial stopped, and on the front, a picture of a girl with brown hair, sunglasses, and a beret was seen. Coco cheered excitedly somewhere down the line, apparently excited to have been chosen.

"Coco Adel!" Port exclaimed to the crowd. "A second-year student from Beacon and socially considered to be one of the best! Let us see if she can bring it home for Vale!"

"Peter, we aren't allowed to pick sides." Doctor Oobleck pointed out.

"Ah, bugger that. We have the home field advantage!"

The crowd roared their approval and laughed at that. All the while the contestants that would be saved for later rounds filed off to the sides to await the next round. All until it was just Penny and her opponent standing in the middle of the massive arena. There wasn't going to be any elemental stages here. It was just going to be a battle of raw skill and power. Penny ran through her memories of who Coco Adel was and how she fought. It was popularly known among the student body of what Coco's odd choice of weapon was. A purse that could transform into a large M134 7.62x51mm six barreled customized and painted portable machine gun capable of firing twenty-five-hundred rounds per minute. A strong and powerful weapon to be primarily used against large crowds of Grimm or larger and more robust creatures. Against people was another story, where the can dodge and use their aura and weapons to deflect bullets Coco, of course, had to adapt to that. Without a doubt, she was just as good up close and personal as she was at longer ranges.

Her own set of skills would be useful against Coco's. She could use her many swords to deflect and help with speed and mobility. She could close in the distance quickly and render Coco's massive weapon useless to force her to shift the weapon back into its purse form. Which had to be very heavy and dense and could cause a lot of damage if she was struck by it. Luckily for her, she was designed to be a huntress, and so she naturally had the experience of one. Coco would be a tough opponent, but not an unbeatable one.

"Are you done analyzing me ginger-head?" Coco teased as she leaned on one hip.

Penny snapped out of it and looked away, giggling nervously. "Analyzing? Of course not, I was mere um…" What was it that the other girls liked to talk about? Oh, right! "Checking you out!"

"That so?" Coco laughed.

Penny nodded her head and hiccuped.

"Hah! Well, you're a younger one but I might be able to oversee that if you turn around and walk off the stage."

"No ma'am!" Penny said as she pushed her fists into her hips and stood against her with a powerful pose. "I must, as they say, bring this home to Atlas!"

"Well, a girl had to try." Coco sighed dramatically as she leaned one foot back and prepared to fight. "Let's see what you can do ginger-head. I've heard a lot about you, you better not disappoint."

"I shan't! For I am combat ready- ready- ready- ready- KHHHHHH-" Penny twitched and one of her eyes looked a different direction than the others. Coco watched with a worried look on her face and took a step forward like she was ready to help her would-be opponent just in case they were having some kind of stroke. But just as fast as the sudden 'attack' came, Penny shook her head and stared at her. This time with a much more of a glare than before.

"I am combat-ready," Penny said robotically, her green eyes flickering brightly as her aura flared and a dozen swords flying out of her back as she waited for the countdown.

"Hm, that was strange," Coco remarked as she took up a stance again. "You okay over there?"

"..." Penny didn't respond. She only stared.

Coco scratched her head but ultimately shrugged her shoulders. People were weird, that was for sure.

Professor Port started a countdown from ten and slowly got down to zero. As soon as he was finished, Penny flew at her with a flurry of swords and green energy. Coco had almost no time to defend herself as the battle started immediately.

"Say…" Weiss began, narrowing her eyes at the sight of Coco having a terrible time trying to keep Penny back as the android girl constantly attacked her over and over again with her dozens of flying weapons. "Doesn't Penny seem a little different to you guys?"

"What do you mean? This is one of the final rounds of the tournament." Yang said. "I would have held back my everything until the last round too, it's a little weird for Penny to do it, but I'm not too surprised by this."

"No, Weiss is right." Ruby piped in. "Usually when Penny fights she is always talking and bubbling. Kinda like Nora, who always teases and taunts as she fights. Right now she isn't saying anything, and her expression is… worrying." She didn't look like she was fighting for fun and glory like everyone else was. Ruby didn't know how to explain it, but it looked like Penny was fighting a Grimm rather than a human. "You guys have seen her fight before, this isn't anything like that!"

"I…" Yang sighed. "Yeah, you got me there. I don't know what is going through her head right now, but this is the hardest I've ever seen her fight."

"Now that I think about it, how long has it been since we've last seen her before the tournament? I know we met her when we were spending time together in Vale, and then, later on, she helped us with the docks. But after that, I don't really remember much about her."

"I bumped into her a couple of times after that," Ruby admitted. "We became quick friends, even if she's a bit goofy at times." Like she was one to talk, Weiss and Yang didn't say. "But one day she just disappeared and I didn't see her for a few weeks ever since the dance and what happened to Blake. I would have tried, but I just…"

"It's fine, none of use was particularly social around that time," Yang said, patting her on the shoulder to show her support as any big sister would.

"Thanks," Ruby gave her sister a thankful smile. "Anyway, I didn't see her until the tournament started again. But besides her wearing new clothes, there wasn't much else that I thought was different about her. She said she was sorry for Blake and we hugged and hung out for a bit, but her partner from Atlas came to pick her up right when she said that she wanted to tell me something important."

"A secret?" Yang guessed.

"I think," Ruby shrugged. "I don't know, she never got the chance to tell me and once the tournament started we never really had a lot of time to talk. Her partner kept making her train or something. But she said that it was a secret her father told her to never tell anyone until she could absolutely trust them."

"Sounds juicy," Yang smirked. "You think she was going to tell you she had a crush on ya?"

"Yang!" Ruby squealed.

"Teasing, teasing." Yang ruffled her hair and sat back in her seat. "But yeah, I can see how that might be a bit of an issue now. Since whatever that secret was it seems to be eating away at her all of a sudden."

"I hope it doesn't make her lose the match…"

Weiss scoffed. "If anything it may help her win the match faster, look at the aura gauges." The other girls did and they winced for their good friend Coco when they noticed that her aura was already in the yellow whereas Penny's was still healthy in the green in the high nineties. Throughout the entire fight, if it even could be called one with how dominant Penny was currently being. Watching the fight again showed how desperately Coco batted away Penny's swords while backpedaling at an angle to be careful of the edge of the arena. She was barely given enough time to transform her weapon into its minigun form but as soon as she did she had to transform it back as Penny launched herself back at her by using her swords as a sort of slingshot. Coco had to shift her weapon back and bat away at her swords again, though, for every six that she deflected, another two or three landed blows and strikes and slashes against her body.

She was beyond struggling, it wasn't even a fight. Yet the crowd cheered excitedly every time she got thrown back and 'ooed' as she batted away swords, and cheered louder every time Penny pulled off a flashy yet dangerous move.

"Coco is getting demolished," Yang stated matter of factly.

"Yeah…" Ruby sighed, uncomfortable.

"My my, Coco Adel is really having trouble with her opponent!" Peter Port covered the microphone and whispered to his colleague. "Bart, we can stop the match if we need to, correct?"

"We can," Oobleck replied, also covering his own microphone so that his voice wouldn't be broadcasted. "Most likely Penny will not go too far if she doesn't need to. But when Coco Adel's aura gets into the red, we will stop the match. Anything more than that could and would potentially severely injure our student."

"Ah, good." Peter wiped away the sweat from his mustache. "I wonder how she could make a come back!" The professor continued announcing. Beside him, Bart was getting ready to stop the match. The crowd didn't even know what was happening, they only cared about the show that was being put on for them. It was a shame really, anything could go wrong and one of those girls could potentially lose their life on national television. They just didn't want to think about that terrible outcome, and he understood that, really, he did. But still, he worried about not just Coco but for the other girl as well. This wasn't at all like her, he's seen her fight and has had the pleasure of having her in his class a few times. She was always so excited and bubbly… he wondered what could have happened here.

Ozpin narrowed his eyes as he watched the match on his own personal computer screen. It was interesting to see, something was off with the girl clearly. He knew that there was something special about her since Ironwood specifically asked him to allow her into the school many weeks before the actual tournament was going to begin. Something was special about her, and not just because of her quite inhuman biology. She did stand up against Marcus for a good amount of time, so he suspected that his own student Coco wouldn't stand much of a chance against her. But he had to admit that something had to be going on here. Ironwood promised him that it wouldn't be possible for anything like that to happen to the gynoid, and he believed him, he really did.

Coco was drenched with sweat and barely hanging in there now. Her brown-yellow aura flared every time she was hit. And only once was she ever able to land a counter-attack. If this kept going on, she would surely lose. The only way she could win now was to somehow get Penny to launch herself or force her over the edge. But even then, he knew that there was something that Penny had yet to do just yet. She was still holding back, which was what made Ozpin still comfortable with letting the battle go on. As if he could do anything about it anyway, he wasn't there and so he'd have to rely on the judgment of Bart and Peter to make the call to stop the match. Beacon's hurt reputation aside, it would be worth it to assure the safety of their students.

It was a good show at least. This should be a good lesson for Coco, although her weapon is indeed powerful at mid to long ranges. It is proven here that up close against a faster opponent who can dodge and deflect her bullets and close the distance renders the weapon practically useless. Along with the added weight, even swinging her purse around would cause her to get tired quickly. It was fine to have such an extreme weapon against large crowds, but in big open areas of space like the arena she was fighting on now with a human opponent she was at a clear disadvantage.

He would have offered her that advice if he could, but instead, he'd pass it on to Glynda in a message. She would be more capable to help her than he ever could be while he was in his current position. Being a headmaster was tiring and exhausting work which took up a lot of time after all.

He watched the screen and sipped at his coffee mug as he continued watching the battle unfold. Penny was clearly the more dominant fighter, but Coco was an adapter. She realized the huge disadvantage that her weapon had in this fight, and so she gave up on trying to switch to its miniguns form. Instead, she committed herself fully to trying to push Penny back and stop her momentum. This seemed to surprise the gynoid, who found herself not having to push forward anymore and instead grounded herself as Coco reached her hands and purse up into the air and slammed her purse down on her swords. Using the weight and density of her weapon for her own benefit, Coco was actually able to break one of Penny's swords and land her first big hit.

Penny staggered back but did not fall. Shocking the crowd and making him chuckle. He doubted that it could be heard, but he imagined a loud metal clanging sound as Coco slammed her purse into Penny's head. Penny looked back at the girl, her aura down by a few percentage points, and scowled at her. She said something that Ozpin couldn't hear through the speakers, but whatever she said had Coco widening her eyes for some reason.

Their next encounter was going to be their last, he figured. That was the only explanation he could think of, anyway.

His eyes swiveled to the side as the door to the stairs leading up to his office burst open and in a flurry of yellow lightning, a very tired and frantic looking Harriet Bree stared at him. Her mouth opened before he could even demand an explanation.

"Stop the match!" Harriet exclaimed.

"Stop the match?" Ozpin inquired. His eyes narrowed. "Why? What's wrong? And should you still be in bed?"

"Screw that, you have to stop the match, Penny has been hacked!" Harriet shouted. "I don't know how or what or why but she's been hacked and if you don't stop the match than that girl is going to get killed!"

"What," Ozpin said dangerously. But ultimately stood up with a scowl and hurried toward the elevator. "Tell Ironwood that after this is dealt with, I will be having words-"

"O-oh… fuck…" Harriet said, not looking at him as she covered her mouth with her hands, eyes wide and shaking and face going pale. Given that she had a darker skin tone, that didn't mean anything good.

Ozpin looked to where she was looking and his eyes widened, he dropped his mug and didn't even react as the ceramic shattered on the floor of his office. On the screen of his computer in his office had a transparent monitor and on it was…

Coco Adel with a dozen swords stabbed into her arms, legs, and torso. With one more slowly slicing into her neck.

"My lord!" Peter screamed over the intercoms. "Guards! Stop the match! Stop the match and apprehend her!"

Atlesian soldiers who were charged with keeping the peace just in case anything broke out rushed into the arena. It was much too late to actually stop the damage since it was already done. Coco ran out of breath from screaming and she passed out. The damage to her body was beyond severe. Geysers of blood spewed from her many impalement wounds, and she was dropped to the ground with a slit throat. Most likely, she was already taking her final breath by the time the guards went on to surround Penny.

The crowd was shocked and screaming in horror. Ruby, Yang, and Weiss were aghast and screaming out of terror. Everyone in the crowd was an epicenter of negative emotions, and the entire time Penny didn't even know what happened. Still covered in her opponent's blood, something within her mind unsnapped and her eyes dulled down from its glowing bright green.

"Huh? What happened? Why is everyone screaming?" Penny asked as she looked around, confused and unable to feel the warm blood evaporating off of her body. She ended up noticing the blood after a few seconds, and the trail that came from it lead to the now dead and mutilated body of Coco Adel. "AHHH!" Penny let out a scream. "What happened!? Did I do this!? No, no, no!" She tried to take a step forward in an attempt to help the girl, but a stern shout froze her in place.

"Stop!" One of the guards roared. "Don't take another step or else we'll shoot!"

"I-I… I don't remember doing this!" Penny pathetically tried to reason.

"Yeah right, I knew it was a mistake bringing you here." One of the other guards sneered. "You may look like a young girl who wouldn't harm a fly, but you're just a machine with no conscience. You should have never been designed. Now stand still or else we'll destroy you!"

Penny, shocked, hurt, confused and terrified of herself, slowly raised her hands. She felt an odd feeling. She's experienced sadness before, even depression at one point during her development. This was different, she couldn't believe this was happening! Just a moment ago she was getting ready to do battle against Coco and in the next moment, she was standing over her dead body!? None of this made any sense! She just wanted to go home, back to father and back to all of her-

"This, is the next generation of huntsmen and huntresses who would protect us?" A strange woman's voice spoke up over the intercom, silencing the shouting professors who were desperately trying to calm down the crowd in the Amity arena. "This is who we have to entrust our lives too when they graduate from their respective academies? No, I refuse it. This is not an accident, this is not a tragedy. This is the accumulation of gross neglect and foolish headmasters of these great academies who would put a weapon in a tournament meant for children, and one that was so easily hacked into and controlled. Aren't upcoming huntsmen and huntresses meant to be trained to know honor and mercy? Because the only thing I have witnessed thus far is cowardice, immaturity, and lies."

On the screen before her far above her head, Penny widened her eyes and cupped her face with shock and horror. On the screen was a design and schematics of her entire android body.

"Our "Headmasters" are more powerful than most armies, most councils," A new voice began, this one a mans. Adam Taurus, Penny somehow recognized. "And one had enough gall to have a hand in all. However, for the incredible amount of power they possess they are still not enough to protect you and your ilk. Every day, the crime rate rises and the White Fang grows ever more powerful, especially in Vale. Just in these last few weeks alone, just how much has occurred? The unification of all mobs and gangs, hundreds if not thousands of robberies of dust stores, a near breach into the very heart of the city itself, the murder of a Beacon student within Beacon itself, where it should be the safest place in the world, and of course all of this was caused by one man, and one man with a very limited amount of help. Marcus Black."

A recording of Marcus and his accomplices utterly demolishing Team RWBY at the docks began to show, locking on to the point and freezing frame the very moment that he stole Ruby's semblance, and leaving them all defeated and broken. It then went on to publicly show a recording of him murdering Blake after destroying her in battle as well. Then finally, a mixture of recordings from bystanders who managed to record some of the battle with Marcus and Neo against Tyrian and Adam right out in the open in the middle of the streets, which then lead on to the Ace Ops being defeated, and the last frame showing Marcus and Neo escaping with Tyrian.

"If one man could do this much damage, then how could these leaders be trusted with the safety of you all?" The woman began again. "Perhaps Ozpin thought that he could improve the reputation of Beacon by capturing the man himself with his own forces, therefore denying the actions of the Ace Ops, who are supposed to be the best huntsmen and huntresses in all of the kingdoms. Over and over again, he was outpaced and outmaneuvered. Beginning with the loss of a student's semblance, then with the loss of a student's life, and most recently the man had needed help from the very person he was meant to hunt down to find an organization that has been confirmed to be responsible for many assassinations across all members of every party around the world. Even when General Ironwood was given the okay to help, not even his best was able to do anything noteworthy on their own. Why I hear that they are all in critical condition after just one encounter with the enemy. How… utterly disappointing."

"You think this scene is disturbing?" Adam continued. Referring to the dead body of Coco. "This is just the beginning, the beginning of the second Great War. All of you hide behind the media and refuse to believe that the illusion of peace will not be everlasting. Where in truth, the line between peace and all-out war has never been thinner, and this will start it all."

The crowd began to panic even more as flying Grimm began to fly overhead. Hundreds of thousands of Nevermore, Griffons, and Manticores terrified them all and had them all screaming even louder. Most of them had never even seen a Grimm before, it was their immediate natural response.

And they couldn't have screamed louder. Perfect.

"The war starts tonight. The massive death toll that will rise and rise is just the start. I know who I can trust, can you say the same?" An explosion went off directly in the stands, killing dozens immediately and driving even more panic in the others. In their panic, a lot of the civilians jumped over the protective railing and into the arena itself. There was nowhere near enough guards to stop them from swarming out of their seats.

The intercom cut out, or more accurately, an explosion destroyed all of them. Set off by bombs, of course. Penny didn't know what was happening, she understood what was happening, in mere minutes Vale had just begun getting invaded by all sorts of Grimm due to its now inflated growth in negativity and panic. Already above them, a giant Nevermore was squawking loudly as it tried to pierce the shield and force its way into Amity. The guards that were about to arrest her before apparently forgetting about her as they rushed off to try and calm down and protect the other more vulnerable civilians that lacked aura and any kind of training that could help them against the Grimm. The android just stood there, shocked and frozen, staring down at the girl that she'd killed not five minutes prior.

Only one question ran through her mind. Well, two actually.

How did this happen? And, Why?

She didn't even realize it when Ruby was cupping her face and screaming in her face. "Cut it out!" She said. "The Grimm are about to breach, we need you!"

"But… I…" Penny looked over to Coco's body.

"Don't look at her right now, you didn't do that," Ruby reassured her. "That was Cinder and whatever she did to make you do that. I refuse to believe that you would have killed her all on your own, would you?"

"N-No!"

"Good," Ruby looked strained, but she stepped back and along with the rest of her team, and many others around her, called in her weapon from her rocket lockers. "Cinder wants us to break apart, to stop trusting each other. Well, I still trust you, Penny." Ruby extended her hand forward. "I believe that you were vulnerable before, but you were able to break out of it. Please, prove me right. Show everyone that I am not wrong."

Penny's hand shook as she took Ruby's. She let the girl pull her away from the messy scene, and made her look to the many students and soldiers that took up arms in preparation for the massive Nevermore that was just about to force its way through Amity's protective force field.

"We'll make it through this, together." Ruby declared as Crescent Rose shifted into its scythe form. "Team RYS, are you ready?"

"Pissed off," Yang confirmed as she slamming her fists together and loaded Ember Celica.

"Likewise," Weiss added, showing her new and improved weapon that she has adapted from her sister.

"Good," Ruby glared up at the Nevermore. "If Cinder wants a war, we'll give her one that will forever remain in history as the shortest war ever. One that lasts less than twenty-four hours. We'll beat them back from our home tonight!" She exclaimed.

Penny again didn't know what to say. Everything was happening so fast and the blood on her hands was still warm. She didn't know how she would come back from this, her father had to have seen the footage by now.

But… perhaps she can still be of use. She was designed to be a protector. Perhaps now was a good time to start showing that off.

With newfound resolve and stamping down uncomfortable thoughts. Penny crouched down and her eyes began flickering green again. Above her was her enemy, the true enemy, the Grimm. And in her hands was a green energy ball of death that would incinerate them all.

"Indeed. We, are combat-ready."

Marcus sat back in his seat and his eyes lazily scanned over his room. Something had to have happened by now, he was able to hear the explosions even with how far he was within Beacon's secret jail cells that weren't much of a secret if Ruby was able to find it and him so quickly. The lights had gone out and the guards that were guarding his room sprinted away after being called. Leaving him completely alone and in the dark, with nothing to stop him or someone else from hurting or letting him go.

Honestly, it was like they wanted him to escape. Shaking his head and moaning, Marcus twisted one of his hands in their straps and bit down a gasp as he dislocated his own thumb and wrist. Prompting him able to slip that hand somewhat haphazardly through the thick leather strap. Once that was done, he took a moment to calm down from his natural body's response of fight or flight and fear, and went on to untie his other hand with the available fingers he still had. The strip came flying off and immediately he used that hand to relocate his thumb and wrist of his other, wincing and exhaling as the bone snapped and popped back into place. To make sure that everything was where it was supposed to be, Marcus rolled his previous hand in a circle multiple times. It still hurt but it was more sore than painful. He would be fine. He could imagine that a silent alarm was going off, so he quickly went to work on his other straps. Now that he had his hands and arms free, he could go to work on the straps and chains on his legs and torso. He worked his way down, first unclasping the many clasps and gadgets that kept his body in place before reaching further down to work on the clips on his knees and then even further to his feet.

The final strap came loose with a satisfying snap and a whirring sound. Marcus sat in place and stretched, groaning in pleasure as more blood made its way to those limbs and feeling his bones creak and pop as he finally moved them for the first time in days. Seriously, he knows that he'd be considered dangerous, but they could have at least let him stand up and let him use the bathroom more. He didn't even want to know where his piss and shit went, but even then he wasn't allowed to do so much as twitch as some old lady came in to collect his waste.

"Ugh," Marcus groaned as he rolled his neck. "This feels way too satisfying, but I am going to have to get up now body."

If his body could talk back to him it probably would have said fuck you. He stood up, ignoring the sores and little areas of pain around his body and did one final stretch by raising his arms and hands straight up above his head. After one last round of creaking and popping, he let his arms drop. Standing up after sitting strapped in a chair for days straight had his vision going dark as he felt blood rush down and up from his head. He had his eyes closed shut. He almost didn't want to open them again because he knew what he'd have to do next. With one last sigh, he opened them and took a step to the exit.

He stopped the moment he saw her. She looked so real he thought that he was seeing a real-life ghost. But no, this wasn't just any normal ghost, it was a specter, he called it. A specter of a soul who was trapped within his semblance. The girl with yellow eyes, a pretty and young face, black hair, and her trademark cat ears that he made fun of before she died. She looked the same way she did when he last saw her. Wearing her bloodstained huntress dress with a hole where her heart used to be.

She just stared at him with a glare but mostly blank expression. Marcus didn't know what to say or do, this had never happened to be so realistic before, and he thought it'd be Summer or Neo doing this since they gave him their semblances willingly. He had little to no connection to this girl whatsoever, so why was she the one who was visible and standing right before his eyes right now?

"What are you going to do, my murderer?" The girl asked him, her voice not quite all there but cohesive enough to be understood.

"I…" Marcus hesitated, still shaken by what his semblance was doing to him. "I have a promise to keep… Beacon and Amity are being attacked, I have to go stop her."

"Like how you stopped me?" Blake inquired.

Marcus frowned, but after a moment, he nodded his head.

"I see. It was needless of me to ask, we are one and the same now. I can hear your thoughts, and you can hear mine." The specter pointed out. "I've never known you better than I do now. Especially with her breathing down my neck all the time."

"I am hearing a very disturbing lack of cursing and threats for my death," Marcus said.

"I have grown past that after I've witnessed firsthand these past few key events." Blake's specter looked down to the floor. "I still hate you for killing me, but I cannot let that hate stop me from letting you go help save my friends. You said you hated making promises, right?"

"I do." Marcus nodded his head.

"Make me a promise then," Blake said with a smug smirk. "It's the least you can do after shooting me in the heart. It was a painful yet swift death, but as you can imagine I have not forgotten it."

"Ugh… Fine."

"Protect my friends, stop Adam Taurus from causing even more pain and if you can, tell my parents what I did before I died, and tell them I loved them." Blake's specter began to fade away. "Then, I'll forgive you."

"That's a tall order," Marcus pointed out. "I don't even know if I am going to survive the night."

"Then find a way, my murderer." The specter began to disappear. "Or else you'll find yourself tormented beyond anything you could have ever possibly imagined…"

Marcus' heartbeat up into his ears even as Blake disappeared. His aura flickered black and a dark violet and he felt himself grow more rejuvenated. That was the closest he was ever going to get to talk to a real ghost, and only because it was his semblance that let him bridge the thin dimension between dead spirits and living souls. He figured that he became a medium now, which isn't going to mean much. But something to laugh about in the next few hours.

He took another step forward and went to go open the door to his room. It was locked, and that made sense. So Marcus did what any normal person in his situation would do and kicked the door off of its hinges with his robotic leg.

The moment he did, another specter greeted him. This one all too recognizable with her pink and brown hair with mismatched eyes and eccentric outfit. Marcus froze in place again, his emotions running wild once more. He stamped it down, letting it out now would only make it harder for him to continue forward.

Neo just looked at him and smiled. Her Specter circled around him, her hand pushed through his body and out the other side. He didn't feel anything and Neo probably couldn't either. But she looked up at him after getting very close to him, and despite not being able to feel it, he leaned slightly into her ghostly hand as it reached up to cup his face.

"Win." The mute specter mouthed to him.

She left just as fast as she came, disappearing and causing his aura to flicker pink. She made a promise to him and she kept it even at the cost of her own life. The message was clear to him, he had to keep his own promise or else she'd haunt him just as Blake implied that she would. With a sad chuckle, Marcus went down the empty hallway. It being emptied since the guards were required to go outside and deal with whatever was attacking Vale and the school.

He froze again when he saw the hallway lined with the men and women he has killed and stole the semblance of throughout the course of his life. Some of them he remembered, others he didn't. But they all stared at him, some of them with hate, some of them with pity, and some of them with fear and sadness. His son stood in the middle, his arms crossed and looking the same as he did the last time he saw him. A stab wound in the chest, grey shirt, bandages around his robotic legs and a bruised up and bloodied face.

"Old man," Mercury greeted him with a smug smirk. "Thought you saw the last of me, did ya?"

"Mercury," Marcus couldn't help himself when tears immediately began to flow out from the corners of his eyes. "Mercury, I'm so-"

"Don't apologize, old man," Mercury's specter cut him off. "I tried to kill you after falsely accusing you for Mom's murder. I know better now, I spent the last year in that fucked up head of yours and I know the truth." He shut his eyes and shook his head. "So stop feeling bad about killing me. If you hadn't, I have no idea what I'd be doing right now. Probably helping Cinder, I don't know."

"Mercury…" Marcus hung his head. "That doesn't excuse me from what I did… I killed my own son. I broke my promise to your mother and I murdered you with less than a second thought because I lost hope for you. There was no love in our relationship, I was a terrible father. Beating you and forcing you to train even though I knew you hated it. Cutting off your legs and forcing bionics onto you. Stealing your semblance the day you unlocked it." He grabbed his head and pulled at his white hair, screaming to himself. "How can you treat me like this now?"

"Because I know what you know now," Mercury said softly. "Like the cat-girl said earlier, I am a part of you now, and you will forever be a part of me. At least half, if my estimations are correct." They shared a morbid chuckle. "I'm not going to say that you were ever good too, because really, you weren't. But it wasn't like our family tree was something to be admired. I mean, how many generations in a row did a son kill a father? All the way back to when Nicholas Schnee had a bastard child, and down all the way to you and yours. I almost did it too, you ended the cycle, and most likely, you're going to end this bloodline."

"Heh," Marcus smiled sadly and wiped away at his face. "You're right on the money there… I'm done having kids."

"Good, now go." Mercury's specter stepped to the side, opening the path for him. "Keep to your promise, and go kick some ass. There's one more you have to talk to before you go, but I am sure you already know who that is."

Marcus nodded his head slowly, already seeing her white hood all the way down the end of the hall.

"And Dad," He was stopped as soon as he caught up to his son. "Don't hold back. Don't hold anything back. You know that the only way you're going to beat her is if you go all out. Which means using your semblance to its full potential."

"Yeah…" Marcus replied darkly. "I know."

"Good." Mercury disappeared, as did the dozens of people that lined the hallways. Marcus felt his aura flicker again, this time a grey color but also mixed with a mirage of dozens of others. He didn't feel much stronger, but he knew that he was more powerful.

He walked and walked for what felt like minutes, when it was really much less than that. Summer's cloak waved despite there being no wind, and as he caught up to her, his mind raced. When he got close enough to reach out and grab her shoulder, the woman turned around. Her hand reached up and brushed away some of her hair and she smiled at him. Silver eyes shining brightly along with her pure white cloak.

"So, you made it this far." She told him, still smiling. "Was I right or was I right?" She teased.

"Heh," Marcus shut his eyes and nodded his head. "Yeah, I guess you won that bet." He admitted, chuckling lightly.

"Look how far you've come," Summer admired. "A cold-hearted man who's killed hundreds of people, an assassin, a murderer, a father who killed his own son. Look at you now, you want to protect Beacon and the memories here that are still valuable to you even now. You're the hero who's going to take down the bad guy once and for all."

"No, I am not a hero." Marcus denied. "Not after everything I did."

"The hero term is subjective." Unlike before, he could feel it when Summer reached up and stroked his face. "You're certainly my hero. My best friend, proving me right." She giggled. "I can finally rest knowing that you are becoming what you were meant to be the entire time. You fought back against destiny itself, against fate itself. You're not a monster, and you may not be called a hero by anyone but me. But you know just as well as I do that you are going to do the right thing, and be remembered for it."

"Yeah…" Marcus smirked at the thought. "That's the thing about destiny and fate… I always thought that-"

"No," Summer stopped him. "Save that line for later. When you know you're going to win."

Marcus shut his mouth and nodded his head with a light chuckle.

"When the time comes, Marcus," Summer began to fade away as he opened his eyes to look at her. "I'll be waiting for you."

She disappeared and in the next second, he found himself alone in the dark hallway again. His aura shined brightly a fourth and final time, this time a pure white. Whiter than anything he's ever witnessed. His resolve was strong, his determination was unparalleled. Beacon was being attacked and he had no weapons to his name and no armour either. He was just one man with a red and black shirt and brown pants with some boots.

But he was also an assassin. He was also a huntsman. He was also a murderer. He was also a savior. He was Marcus Black, and now he had a new target.

Cinder Fall, and everyone who got in his way.

Even as a screeching roar from the biggest and most powerful Grimm he's ever seen came roaring overhead, he knew what it was time to do.

Well… That was a thing. I ended up getting a little ahead of myself and this arc started sooner than I planned. But oh well, plans never survive contact with the enemy, as they say.

This story: Despite the lack of popularity of this story, I have loved writing it so far. Every scene and every character required everything I had. It was dark at times, funny at times, happy at times, and sad at times. I really do feel like I have become a better writer because of this fanfiction story. This really did teach me a lot. I started to look past the numbers and just wrote and wrote and I am passionate about what I created. Some of you may not know this, but I am aiming to become a writer in the future. I want to write my own original book with my own original world and characters. This was really a big help with practice. RWBY is such a vast world and RT has so many things that they could play around with. In this case, I took the Black family. Ever since I used Marcus as a character in my first story, An Unlikely Hero, which is another passion project in itself. I was instantly hooked to the character. We have practically nothing on him aside from his semblance and the way he treated Mercury as a child. But once I heard what his semblance was? Oof, I just needed to write a story about him.

I may have made him stronger and more skilled than he really would be in RT's canonical version of Remnant which let's all be honest here, he probably wouldn't be much. I mean, Mercury somehow managed to kill him in RWBY. By himself! That was something that kept bugging me once I learned that Marcus was some kind of master assassin. I mean, there are so many questions that were left unanswered! How did Marcus become an assassin? Was there a group? An organization? How did he fight? How did Mercury beat this supposed Master Assasin that CINDER HERSELF wanted to recruit under herself and Salem?

Bah, most likely all of these questions will go unanswered, but that's what fanfiction and headcanon is for. RT may never answer these questions, and this story may get buried quickly and all my work will probably be forgotten to time. But at the very least I can answer some of the questions myself and get some great practice in. I mean, I love this story. I put the most effort into this story so far. And I am glad that I wrote it. It's not perfect by any means, but it's mine.

Next chapter might just be the final chapter. I just wanted to put this in now because I am probably not going to write much of an AN for the last chapter. I will talk about the next story in planning, but that's about it.

For the second to last time, because tell me what you think about the story so far.

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