Chapter 13

AN: This chapter is final so I decided to make it a bit longer and not split it in two. I hope you enjoy.

The heroes were doing everything in their power to stop the Grimm onslaught, desperately fighting, shooting, and slashing at the demonic creatures while at the same time making sure that the people who were stuck there with them stayed safe and sound. The soldiers who were with them kept assisting them by giving the supporting fire. The fighting went on for what felt forever, for every Grimm slain another took its place and they just kept coming. Odessa's and Alexander's sides were mostly under control but Cassie's inexperience was starting to show. She was being almost overrun by the tide of grim. Red noticed this and decided that he had to do something fast.

Red yelled at the group of soldiers behind him "Solders, can you take care of this side by yourself? She needs help!"

"Not worry, we can manage just go!" Red nodded at the solder and rushed to aid Cassie. Cassie was doing her best but there were just too many. A saber tooth Grimm cough her of the gourd and pinned her down the ground. Its mouth only inches from her and slowly coming closer, she was never so terrified in her life. She closed her eyes awaiting the inevitable but it never came. The Grimms head came clean off with a swipe off Reds sword and the body dropped to the side. Cassie opened her eyes to see Red outstretching his hand to her.

"You ain't dying today. Now take my hand." Cassie took Red hand and he lifted her up. "You alright, any injuries?

"No, I'm fine, just a bit shook that's all." Red picked up the two revolvers that were laying on the ground and handed them back to Cassie. She took them and thanked him. One of the soldiers came running to them.

"General Ironwood is sending reinforcements. They will arrive in 10 minutes."

"Let's hope we last that long. The duo turned and looked at a wave of Grimm were making their way to them, Red pulled out the other sword and Cassie reloaded her revolvers.

"Ready?" Red asked her.

"Always!" She said. Red and Cassie charged at the large pack of Beowolves in front of them. One by one the pack was killed. Red and Cassie were standing in the middle of the street surrounded by Grimm bodies when they hared a scream coming from an alley.

"Stay here. I will check it out!" Red made his way to the alley, where he saw a little girl up against a wall of a building with a Beowulf Grimm only meters in front of her. He lunged at the beast and put his sword through its head killing it instantly. He carefully approached the scared little girl.

"It's alright, no one will hurt you. You are safe now." He put his sword back into its scabbard and lifted the girl up and held her in his arms. She was so scared that we were shaking out of fear. "The monsters are gone, all is going to be alright now," Red said with a calming tone. He took a look around to see if the path was safe, he looked left, right, and finally behind him only to freeze in his place. He saw a girl with short black hair and cat ears on her head fighting beside a girl with long blonde hair. She had ember eyes and wore a long white tailcoat. He somehow recognized her. "Blake" he spoke and with that, the memories came flooding back. First came the memory of the meeting as members of the White fang, then came a memory of them fighting together, of them sitting on a rooftop in Menagerie and then came the memory of her living him in that train, of her abandoning him. Rage started to feel him, one stronger then any he felt before, this wasn't just raging it was pure hatred. More memories started coming back to him and the feelings of rage and hate just kept getting bigger. He started walking towards the black-haired girl but was stopped when the little girl tugged at his sleeve. He looked down and saw that she was still in his arms looking at him with those scared brown eyes. The feeling of rage subsided for a moment and he remembered what he was doing. He needed to take this little girl back to safety. He took another look at Blake and then again at the little girl. Something won over inside of him and he tightened his hold over the girl and ran back to the position where others were holding on. On his way, their more memories kept coming back and more anger filled his heart. He managed to get the girl back to safety just in time as Ironwood's reinforcements came in. Red approached Cassie with the little girl.

"Take her! Take her now!" He shouted at her. Cassie took the small child in her arms, confused and concerned because of his reaction. As she took the girl Red started running away from her.

She went after him and grabbed him by the wrist "Wait, what wrong?"

He pulled his hand out of her hold, his mask fell off his face "Stay away from me! Just stay away!" He once again started running away from her. She tried to follow but this time he was too fast. She simply looked at him as he disappeared behind the city buildings with the child still in her hands. Odessa came running to Cassie.

"What happened? Where did he go?"

"I don't know but I'm going to find out. Will you guys be alright without us?

"With the help of the general's man, sure."

"Alright." Cassie looked at the girl and spoke: "Now, this nice lady here is going to take care of you, you will be safe with her, OK?" Cassie handed the girl to Odessa, picked up the oni mask from the ground, and quickly ran off after Red.

Red was kneeling on a rooftop of one of the buildings, his hands on his face. More and more memories kept returning to him. Beacon, the white fang, Haven, and finally the fight with Blake and Yang at the river. He could hear a voice inside his head, it was his voice but different, dark and evil and it was telling him to go and kill them, to take his revenge. To kill Blake for abandoning him, to kill Yang for almost killing him, to kill Weiss to take revenge on the Shnee company for branding him and enslaving the founus. He tried to fight this but the more he tried the more taking revenge made seance to him. Then out of nowhere, Cassie found him, she slowly approached him.

"Why did you run off like that? What's wrong? What happened out there?" She looked at the kneeling man. She felt concerned and pity for the red-haired man, she knew that something must have happened to him while he was out there. He did not respond to her, he just kept still with his hands on his face. The voice was heard once again but this time it was saying to kill her, how all humans should pay for what they did to him. She came behind him, knelt beside him and put one hand on his shoulder. "You can tell me what wrong. You can trust me, remember?" Red slowly lifted himself, Cassie did the same but took a step back. Red turned around to look at the blond girl, his eyes meeting hers. She looked straight at them, there was something wrong with him, she knew it. He put his hand on his sword and took a step towards her, while she took a step back "Red?". The voice was loud inside him. Once again he took a step towards her and she took a step back. The rage and the hate were so strong now that he could no longer keep a hold of himself. He looked at her scared and consumed face. The string of bad memories was cut by a memory of Gerald, the man who spent weeks caring for him, training him, and helping him without asking for anything in return. Then came a memory of Jason, the man who's granddaughter was standing in front of him. He remembered the promises he made to Gerald, to Jason, and to the little faunus girl in the truck.

The voice was screaming for him to kill her but out of nowhere it was cut off by Gerald's voice saying "Always remember to do the right thing." He fell on his knees, his hands once again were on his head. Cassie only looked at him with a terrified expression. Inside him, a battle was raging, the old versus the new, the killer he was versus the protector he had become. He screamed in pain, then Cassie finally managed to muster the courage to come closer to him and she hugged him.

"All is going to be fine, we will get through this together I promise you that."

After a long moment, he finally spoke with tiers in his eyes "How can you be so shore, how can you trust me like that, trust a killer?"

"You are not a killer, I saw you putt your life on the line countless time today alone, you are a good man."

Red pushed her away from him "Why do you keep saying that? I did terrible things, I killed so many humans, hurt so many people, I even hurt the one person who loved me. After all of that, how can you say that I'm good!" As he said that she came to the conclusion that he must have somehow recovered his memories while he was rescuing the child.

She spoke to him with a soft voice "Because that's not you, that might be who you were once but that is not who you are now. There is good in you, more than you know." He looked at her wondering how can someone still believe in him even after they knew what he had done. "There are people counting on us to, counting on you to get us through this … to get me through this." He looked at her with a shocked expression on his face. "Whatever happened in the past is in the past, the only thing that matters is what's happening now. No one is beyond redemption." Red contemplated her words, he didn't wont to be the force of evil he once was but the pull was strong. "I believe in you Red." The battle inside subsided and he slowly got back up and so did she, they looked at each other straight in the eyes. The turmoil inside him was still there but not as fierce as it was before, he could think clearly again and she noticed this.

He took a step and hugged her tightly."Thank you for everything Cassie, I don't know how to thank you."

"You could start by letting go. I'm running out if air."

He let go and apologized" I know that I might never reconcile with my past, but what I can do right now is help those who need it the most. Are you with me partner?

A big smile found its self on Cassie's lips "Always! Now Red shall we return to Odessa and the others?"

"Yes, and also the names Adam."

"Adam, well it's better then Red I guess." Cassie chuckled slightly "Also you dropped this." Cassie pulled out the oni mask and presented it to him.

"I don't think that I will be needing that any more."

"Really, assuming everything you told me is true, I think its best for you to hide that face of yours for the time being."

Adam looked at the mask and took it "I guess you are right." and once again the mask was back on his face. "A new mask for a new beginning."

Cassie smiled at him."Now, let's go back if we are lucky we didn't miss all the fun." They made their way back to the position, only to see that is was all over. The Grimm where gone, Travis and the other injured were being taken care of and the civilians were being taken to Atlas. Alexander made his way through the crowd of soldiers to meet them.

"Where were you? What happened?"

"Nothing, we just had to take care of something," Adam said.

"So, everything is under control here?" Cassie asked.

"Yeah, pretty much. The tide turned in our favor once the reinforcements arrived. There are still some fighting in the city but nothing major."

Some time past and the group was helping in any way they could, from getting injured to the transports to taking care of the last of the Grimm in the area. Adam was still thinking about everything he had once done, he could still hear a whisper in his head but he ignored it. He told somethings about himself to Cassie, but not all of them still firing how would she react. He will tell her in due time, for now, they had to focus on the task at hand. Once most of the work was done they sat down on the ground, disusing what will they do next. The discussion was broken by one of the soldiers shouting "What is the god's name is that?" They looked at the sky, what they saw terrified them to their cores, an enormous flying Grimm and an army of other Grimm behind it.

AN: So this is the end of this story, but don't worry this is only the first volume of the Second chance. I will write the second volume as soon as the next volume of RWBY comes out because I want it to stay connected as much as possible. I do have plans to start another RWBY fan fiction, several Witcher ones and maybe something else. I have been reading the witcher books and I can say that they are really awesome and I recommend reading them and I have also been playing Thronebreacker so I'm kinda it a witcher mode right now. I wish to thank everyone who supported me. This was my first story and I hope it will one of many.