Welcome back! I'd like to thank everyone for looking into my (short) prologue. So, as you can see, this is picking up right from where Volume 7 left off. I keep my projects quiet and try and keep spoiler-free. It's why I left the prologue for you all to establish the scene. Now, just FYI, what you saw will be re-visited, but for now, there's a little bit of a jump. There's a reason I swear!

The Exiled Darkness – You would be correct. As stated above, this is picking right up from the canonical entries of the story. I wanted to undertake a long project. Lancaster doesn't get enough longer stories. The "movie-like format" was just something I wanted to do to create a special kind of intro. Cheesy, but fun! Yes, you'll see how it progresses. I want to approach this with the respect it deserves.

Please enjoy and I hope I meet the expectations of many of the readers. As always, please review the rating system as needed. This story is rated M so as to not surprise anyone!

- GodRealm

Italicized – Thoughts and Emphasis

Bold – Author Notations/Grimm howls & attacks

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Arc I: Receptum

Chapter I: Segmentation

~Sometime after the Prologue~

Dr. Arthur Watts considered himself a smart man. For that reason, he remained silent during times of immense stress as to not exacerbate a situation. Instead, he would hold his words and ensure to keep himself out of the line of fire. To him, self-preservation was the only thing that mattered and with what was going on in front of him, it was probably the shrewdest thing he could do.

As he stood in General Ironwood's office, he offered very little to the topic at hand being discussed. It wasn't really his problem and he wasn't about to make it his problem either. Though with all that being said, he did relish in his own failures. His former comrade-in-arms, James Ironwood had "bested" him as she had declared earlier. Who would have thought that James would have gone to such lengths to stop him? Not he, that's for sure.

Watts rubbed his bruised face that was finally beginning to heal. It was a testament to the brawl he was involved in not so much earlier. One he would not soon forget. Flanked to his right, sitting on the office floor with an always-maniacal smile on his face, was his current associate, Tyrian Callows. Tyrian wasn't exactly a man that Watts held in high regard. While they were allies unified under her faction, the man was clearly deranged. He often gave thought as to why he had been recruited him into their ranks. A rational thought process wasn't something he was capable of.

But, that doesn't mean he didn't produce results. He was a very capable fighter despite those previous thoughts, and had surprised him on a few occasions. One time in particular, was about an hour ago when he arrived at the cell Watts was being held in within Atlas. To say he was shocked was an understatement, but his arrival was very much welcomed. It wasn't much longer after that he was briefed on what had happened during his absence. Namely, the destruction in Mantle, the death of Clover along with the detainment of his fellow Ace Operatives, and her arrival in Atlas were the main points.

Things were looking up from that point. Shortly after, Watts was able to continue his "technical takeover" of both Atlas and Mantle. The soldiers that were once programmed to ensure the safety and security of all citizens were now under his control, and in turn, belonged to her. But he didn't stop there. Taking over the defenses that were not destroyed by the army of invading Grimm, he had turned Atlas into a fortress he intended to defend. No army at any point would be able to break through, and even if they did, he had hostages of Atlas now that Ironwood was so kind as to re-locate so many from Mantle.

Yes, with this string of victories, you would figure Arthur Watts would be feeling a little more optimistic than his previous situation, but that wasn't the case. Why? Well, because of the scene before him.

"Get up." A voice commanded. It wasn't just any voice. It belonged to her.

Before Watts and Tyrian was their de facto leader, Salem, in the flesh. She sat at what was previously General Ironwood's desk with her hands folded in front of her face, as if praying. Her normal scowl was present as her eyes were narrowed, concentrated on the figure before her, collapsed in front of the desk.

Tyrian continued to smile at Cinder Fall's misfortune as she lay on the floor, visibly battered for lack of a better term. Her breaths were erratic as she was attempted to no success at to regain her composure. She reached to push herself up from the prone position she was currently in, arms shaking and all. Her strength was all but exterminated after her most recent report to her superior.

She had returned empty-handed. The relic she had obtained from Neo? It was gone to say the least. On top of that, the Winter maiden had successfully transferred her power to someone else, namely, the same robot she thought destroyed at the Vytal festival years ago. Lastly, she had seen defeat once more at the hands of their enemies. After all the planning Cinder had gone through, all the hardships she had endured, and after finally arriving in Atlas, she had nearly nothing to show for it. To say this hurt her pride would be an understatement. In fact, her internal displeasure was worse than the external pain she had been receiving for said disappointments.

But, as she was commanded, she made her way to her feet. Still panting and spaghetti-legged she rose to meet her leader's eyes. The tension in the air could be sliced with a knife.

"Good." Salem spoke again. "I was afraid you were finally broken."

Cinder took her time before responding, being sure to compose herself to the best of her capability. "It will take more than that to break me." She gritted in defiance of such an accusation.

"Indeed." Salem remarked. "But still," She paused as she dropped her hands from the desk and continued to stare at Cinder's frail form. "your failures continue to pile up one after another. It's almost as if that is your main contribution to this team now."

Cinder's eyes narrowed at the claim but she bit her tongue in response. She had no defense of her own against what Salem had stated. Her self-image hadn't been this bad since-

"Yes," Tyrian mused from the floor a few feet from where Cinder was standing. "you keep finding ways to flop."

Cinder turned to him slowly, being sure to stare into his "dead eyes" as she had deemed them, all while he had a smile plastered to his face, sitting cross-legged now. "But hey," He continued. "at least you didn't lose any appendages or disfigure yourself further this time." He finished, letting out a delirious laugh.

"For someone missing his tail, you sure talk a big game." She replied attempting to remain unfazed by his insults.

Tyrian unfastened his tail from around his waist and pointed the sharp end of the tail in her direction, almost threatening. She didn't blink as it came within a short distance of her, but rather, remained glued to his conniving smile.

"Oh?" He questioned. "Perhaps you'd like to see the new improvement Arthur made me?"

"I'll rip it from your body just like the last one." She responded with a blank expression.

"Just promise not to use that scary arm of yours when you try." He replied, pointing to the dangling sleeve over Cinder's left arm.

This seemed to irritate Cinder as her face formed into a deeper glare now. The arm was her foremost reminder of the first failure she experienced at Beacon and began her string of bad luck. Tyrian remained seated as they continued to stare-off at each other. With her condition, she would not be able to take him. He was fresh and he was ready.

Watts continued to listen but offer no verbiage to his two associates bickering. He remained focused on Salem and her growing irritation present on her face at the scene before her. With how this was going, it surely wouldn't be long until she-

"Enough!" Salem announced as she stood from her seat at the desk. "We're getting off track now."

Salem stepped away from the desk and looked out the window behind her. From there, she could see the policing of her new Atlesian soldiers with the citizens, the looks on their faces a combination of fear and confusion. Watts' ability to override ironwood's security system and then his own soldiers would prove to be most beneficial to holding the city.

The buildings of the surrounding area had dying fires from the attack she herself had provided upon arrival. For the most part, things were under control now. Of course there was a body count though. Citizens and huntsman/huntresses that were senseless to challenge her army of Grimm or herself were put down. As with many things, death was an unavoidable part of what she had to do to accomplish her goals.

Her introspection of what had happened ended as she returned to the tasks at hand. With the three behind her now quiet and attention returning to herself, she turned to meet the gaze of her subordinates.

"We need the maiden and we need the other relic that was taken back from Cinder." She stated, causing Cinder to clench her fist at the ending remark. "As such, that will be our next move before anything else."

"What are our orders?" Watts finally spoke.

Salem remained quiet for a moment as she closed her eyes and began to think over the situation. The group of would-be heroes could have gone anywhere at this point. On top of that, she could not leave Atlas and Mantle unwatched even with her new army of super soldiers. Her new acquisition would prove useful down the line.

Salem opened her eyes to look at the three before her. Of them, only Tyrian seemed suitable for combat currently, but that wasn't enough. No, for this, she would have to bring out the reserves.

"Watts," She spoke, garnering his full attention. "get me in contact with Hazel."

"Of course." He replied with a small bow.

Tyrian's smile faded from his face as he heard the words. "You're sending him instead?" He nearly spat. Tyrian still hadn't forgotten his most previous encounter with that bitch and wasn't about to let hazel take his prey.

"No." She replied, causing all three to raise an eyebrow at her response. "I am sending them." She finished with a small smile.

It took Tyrian a moment to think of what his leader meant before he realized exactly what she was talking about. "Ohhhh~"

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Ruby felt the slight breeze tickle her nose. The brisk environment enveloping her and sending a small chill down her spine as her eyes slowly opened. She groaned slightly at the unwelcomed and cold contact that was hitting her. She was apparently moving at a steady pace in the middle of what appeared to be an open field of snow in the nighttime hours.

She felt achy and tired for some reason, usually after a combat session or training, but couldn't quite determine much right now. She had been dreaming of a warmer place, surrounded by many of her friends, and what seemed like a cookie eating contest? It was a good dream to say the least. But now, she was here. She was cold, exhausted and being carried.

Carried?

That's when realization was returning to her more and more.

"You're finally awake?" A voice asked her.

That wasn't an unfamiliar voice. It was coming from the one she was being carried by and by the looks of it, the only one around currently.

"J-Jaune?" She mumbled.

She was well-aware now. Her head was rested on his left shoulder as her arms were dangling over his chest. He had each of her legs hooked under his arms and had used some sort of cloth to secure her as to make sure she did not fall backwards.

"Hey, Rubes." He responded, continuing to trek through the snow.

"Wh-Where are we? What happened?" She asked.

She listened to Jaune mouth-breathe as he pushed on, a tell-tale sign that his body was also exhausted, much like hers. He was sweating and had to catch his breath every few steps. But he managed to get out words as best he could.

"Salem." He answered. "Salem happened, Ruby."

As almost by trigger words, the previous happenings returned to her mind. Ruby remembered it all. She recalled her fight with the Ace-Ops, escaping Atlas, and then Salem's arrival at the end. That's where things got complicated. Their attempted assault on Salem and her forced proved to be overwhelming to say the least. She remembered being swarmed by the enemy attacks on their airship that they acquired and then the Grimm Salem was riding in on causing massive devastation.

Ruby felt her pulse rise and her head begin to spin as the previous stress of the situation seemed to be returning full-speed. Her uneasy breathing was starting to sound more like Jaune's as he kept moving. He knew all too well what was happening in the head of his friend as his words continued to plague her.

The airship crashing to the ground and the continued attack by the Wyvern and even Nevermore Grimm had caused the group to split up in an attempt to thin out the herd of enemies. It was a valiant attempt, but it had devastating results. Ruby recalled fighting the countless opponents with a barrage of offensive maneuvers all while keeping mobile as she often did.

The combat lasted long and after continuing to fight, exhaustion set in. And with exhaustion, comes carelessness. That carelessness came in the form of not checking behind herself and being attacked by a Beringel. To be fair, with her concentration on the flying adversaries, one may not think about the aggressors on the ground. But, what happened cannot be changed. The occurrence was definitely the reason for her body aches after it swatted her across the forest they were once fighting in and knocked her into a tree at frightening speed, shattering her aura. Not so soon she recalled passing out from pain and fatigue.

But how did she escape that impending doom? Had Jaune saved her? That appeared to be the most probable answer. These questions weren't as important as the other question lingering on her mind.

"Jaune," She began. "where are the others?"

Jaune finished ascending another small, snow-covered hill as he continued to put distance between themselves and the crash site that was in their rearview now. His breathing still labored as he kept his eyes on the set of trees in the distance that he hoped would be able to give them enough cover to take a short break.

"Jaune!" Ruby attempted again after he ignored her.

"I don't know, Ruby." He replied honestly. "To be completely open with you, just about everyone got separated during the onslaught. When I saw you on the ground, I didn't really get much of a chance to find everyone."

She didn't like his response, but she knew he wasn't about to lie to her and say "everything is fine". This didn't stop her from attempting to pry herself from his back in an attempt to stand on her own. Her attempt left him off-balance and staggering wildly.

"H-Hey!" Jaune protested. "Knock that off, Ruby!"

"I can't leave them back there! My team and our friends! They need our help." She continued to move about wildly causing his grip on her to tighten in response.

"Ruby, you can't fight in your condition!" He argued. "And to be honest, neither can I. Ig we try and go back there, we're just going to get ourselves killed."

"But-"

"But nothing!" He yelled.

Ruby finally relaxed in his grip as he turned around to have a look back from where they came. It gave Ruby a full view of just exactly what was going on. In the distance, beyond the clearing they had been trekking through, was a clearing of trees that had a small fire rising from within, most likely from their crashed airship. That wasn't what caught her attention though. It was the continued influx of Grimm that were flocking to that location, no doubt looking for any sign of life.

To Jaune's credit, he had gotten them a fair distance away from the place of their fight in an unknown amount of time.

"We can't fight that, Ruby." He spoke again. "And I refuse to lose you or anyone else to a senseless battle if I can help it."

His words rang in her head for a few moments as he turned back around to continue walking, once again advancing towards the next thicket of trees.

"You're smarter than that, Ruby. You're going to be the one that leads us out of this." Jaune finally finished.

During a time of unsettling, his words were welcomed, though they did little to alleviate her lingering thoughts of the rest of her tem and everyone else involved in the crash. Her hopes were that that they also made off away from where they made impact and were unharmed.

"I hope they're safe is all." Ruby spoke.

"Me too." Jaune replied. "But, I have faith in them."

"For sure." She replied, a smile now grazing her face. I won't let this be the end. She thought.

The two team leaders remained in a small silence for few moments as Jaune finally cleared the first set of trees. Ruby took notice of the dark forest that was in front of them and with any luck, a place where they could take their time to lick their wounds of war.

"I sure hope there's somewhere to rest coming up." Jaune spoke.

"Need a break?" She asked.

"Yeah, a little one." He answered. "Plus you're heavier than you look." He laughed a little to himself.

"What?..."

His laugh turned to a bunch of yelping as he was then attacked by the returning strength of the petite redhead. She was small, but she packed a punch.

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All right, Chapter 1 is complete. Somber mood but a little to smile at the end. Hope you all enjoyed and I plan to update again soon with longer installations hopefully! Be sure to stay tuned and thanks for stopping by!

Next Chapter: Chapter 2 – On the Move

- GodRealm