Greetings everyone!

Welcome back to the thirteenth chapter of "The Knight The Wizard".

I'm so glad that some of you enjoyed the previous chapter and I can only hope that the same happens here.

Now, as I said before, this story will be making it's own canon from here on out. Mainly because I find the idea of this story having it's own canon to be pretty freakin' awesome. And while it'll follow the same storyline structure as in the show it will go about it in a different way.

I've also decided to make this a part one of two parts. The second part will be released on the 30th of December. Maybe I did it to add some drama to the story or maybe I did it because I'm a troll who enjoys making others suffer in waiting? Eh, it's one or the other.

Also, I hope you all have some Happy Holidays!

Next Scheduled Release:

Dec. 30th: "The Knight The Wizard - Ch. 14"

Make sure to Favorite, Follow, and leave a Review.

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Chapter Thirteen

Tired...

So... Tired...

I'm so tired... of all the walking... of all the stress... of all the drama... of everything...

And yet... I can't help but move forward in spite it all...

Why was that?

Was it because of what Maria had said before?

Was it because in some weird way, I had hope that everything would go back to normal after arriving in Atlas?

That by some miracle we'd make it there, lock up the Relic of Knowledge, and somehow not only prevent the destruction of all of humanity and Faunus-kind but also rid myself of Ozpin's curse?

Maybe... Maybe...

But... Truth be told... I'm way too tired to try and think that hard about it...

I think I'll just go back to sleep and wait to leave in the morning...

I just hope I'm not too tired by then...

Nope, I'm still tired...

My arms and legs felt heavier, like someone tied massive bags of bricks to them while I was sleeping. And judging by the expression of exhaustion on everyone's face, I could tell that I wasn't the only one who was feeling this way. It was difficult but after finally getting the willpower to get up from the warm confines of my sleeping bag, I was able to get up and off the cold wooden floor just in time to see Ruby, who wore a furious expression, throw an empty wine bottle against the wall. The glass bottle shattered upon contact, effectively waking everyone up with a jolt of shock. Even Qrow, who was probably so hungover that it most likely would've take Salem, herself, bitch-slapping his drunken ass to even wake him up. But, it had appeared that Ruby was able to waking the drunken man from his stupor.

At first, Qrow looked somewhat startled by Ruby's action but upon seeing her angered expression before turning his head to see the very same wine bottle he'd obviously been drinking from was now lying shattered in pieces on the floor due to Ruby that he was finally understand what was happening around him. Slowly, he brought his hand to his face as he cracked a tired smile. And Ruby, upon seeing Qrow's tired expression, slowly wrapped her arms around her uncle's neck.

And though I couldn't hear the words she said next, I could tell that they were full of love and understanding... Heh, after all Ruby was the most loving and understanding person Id ever met in my entire life.

After their hug had finally ended and Qrow had gone outside to check and make sure that there was no Grimm in sight, the rest of us packed up our supplies plus the added additions from scavenging the house and nearby buildings. I made sure to check up on Maria, who had fallen asleep on the chair with a book labeled "III" on the hard cover. Somehow, I found it weirdly adorable that she smiled and talked in her sleep.

After I managed to successfully wake her up from her slumber, she suddenly shifted in the chair, causing the book she'd been reading to plummet to the floor with a thud. Seeing this, I reached down to pick it back up while Maria slowly dropped herself back onto the floor. When she finally turned her head up to look at me, her mechanical goggles's cyan eyes staring back at me, I smiled down at her.

"So, what was the book about?" I asked her with a tired tone of voice, upon which she gently took the book from my hands before placing it back underneath her left arm.

"A journal, part of a collection of sorts." she answered, before waddling over to the nearby bookshelf to grab another book, this one labeled "IV" on the cover. "The head of this household, Bartleby. Apparently, he and several other families founded this little settlement to try and live on their own. It sounded like it worked... At least for a spell."

The way she said those final words cause some concern to stir within the pit of my stomach.

"Grimm?" I asked her feeling only mildly confused by her statement.

An exhausted sigh barely escaped between the wrinkled lips of her mouth as she turned back to face me. "Just one of many hardships, I'm afraid. Slowed down their farming, made everything harder... It's truly a shame, really. He seemed like quite the ambitious fellow, always thinking of new schemes to overcome the odds." she said with a ghost smile on her face.

"Heh, sounds almost like Ruby in a weird way..." I said softly with a smile before noticing the all-knowing smirk she was now directing at me, causing me to huff in annoyance. "You know what I mean."

However, my words meant very little to her as she only smiled and softly chuckled before waddling slowly past me. "That I do, sonny-boy. That I do."

It wasn't until we both heard the front door swing open with a creak that we turned our attention on Ruby, who had entered the house to gather the rest of her supplies before noticing us.

"Hey guys. Qrow said we should get moving. We're gonna head out as soon as we can." she said only to earn a scoff from Maria as she quietly grumbled about being told what to do by a kid like Ruby. Honestly, I couldn't help but find her grumbling compliance a little bit humorous as I brought my gloved hand to my mouth in order to stifle my laughter. But then I saw that Ruby had made over to where I was. I watched her as she looked down onto the floor before glancing up at me. "We'll make it to Atlas, Jaune. I promise."

Ruby would have no idea just how much those words meant to me in that moment.

I was so tired of everything the world had thrown at me. All I wanted to do was sleep for the rest of my life but I knew now why it was I willing to go through all of this terrible bullshit. It was because of her. Her presence alone was enough to make me brave the storm that was my life. She was my hope for a better future.

"I know, Ruby." I said quietly, smiling at her before she reluctantly turned away to head back outside while I stayed behind in contemplation. Slowly, I turned my head towards a nearby hanging mirror, seeing my reflection. But what I saw wasn't a hopeful boy who dreamed of becoming a hero but a tired old man who was ready to close himself off to the world. Was this how Ozpin felt all those times he'd been forced to take a new host? Doomed to ruin the lives of those around him all for the sake of protecting the people of Remnant? I glanced back down at my hands before reluctantly making my way towards the front door.

Upon exiting the home of the now-deceased Bartleby, I was then greeted by the tired expression on my friends' faces. And standing before them was Yang's motorcycle, Bumblebee, now with an added trailer attached to it's backside. I watched from my standing position on the porch at Blake, who was yawning from exhaustion, with bags underneath her eyes and her feline ears folded down over the top of her head.

"Can we just go back to sleep? Or at the very least have some breakfast?" she asked with a groan.

I glanced down at her, tired just as much as she was at this point. "Do you wanna make it?" I sarcastically asked her with my right eyebrow raised above my left.

And with a huff of exhaustion, she only turned her head away from me before yawning once again. "Not really..." she slowly replied with a sigh.

She wasn't the only one who was tired after the day we'd just had. Hell, I was all the more ready to just go back into the house and sleep for the rest of my life. But something about this house was making me all the more antsy about getting as far away from this place as possible. Finally, I lfited my head to see Ruby talking with her older sister, Yang.

"You guys got the bike ready to go?" she asked, earning a silent and tired gesture from Yang before Qrow made his presence known, having just gotten back from securing the perimeter for any wayward Grimm that may give us any trouble on the way to Argus, before seeing the makeshift trailer and placing his right foot on the trailer's left-side wheel.

"Well, it's done now. So let's hook this thing up and-" However his words were quickly cut off when his uncontrollable Semblance suddenly activated, causing the right-side tire to pop, releasing tons of pressurized air and effectively making our chance to leave this place all the more unlikely. The action alone caused Qrow to groan in frustion before elderly Maria decided to put her two cents in.

"You people are just beacons for bad luck, aren't you?" she asked, only causing Qrow to become more frustrated at himself for having a Semblance that he couldn't control.

After moving away from the trailer and placing himself down onto the snow-covered ground, Qrow swiftly pulled his silver flask from his inside jacket pocket before bringing it's cap to his awaiting mouth. By this time, Yang had already taken a spt on the ground next to her motorcycle while the rest us found spots on the front porch.

"I'm starting to think the universe just doesn't want us getting to Atlas..." said Yang with a sigh of exhaustion.

And I couldn't help but find her words humorous as I chuckled softly at them. "Please, don't even get me started on what the universe does or doesn't want. I'm stuck with an immortal parasite who'll eventually take control of my body and I'll be nothing more than a forgotten memory. For all I know, I could wake up the very next day with Ozpin taking full control of my body and I wouldn't be able to do a single fuckin' thing about it..." I said with a sarcastic smile before noting the stern but saddened frown on Ruby's face before she released a sigh.

"Everything will be fine. It's just a flat tire, I'm sure there's a spare somewhere around here." she said, trying to sound even the tiniest bit hopeful despite the universe clearly taking immense pleasure in our misery.

But, unlike the innocently hopeful Ruby Rose, the rest of us were tired of it all. All the running, the fighting, the drama, literally everything was out to get us and we weren't even prepared for it.

"It's not just that, Ruby. It's... Everything. The storms, crashes, monsters... Hell, Jaune may not even be Jaune by the time we make it to Atlas..." said Yang before Blake decided to throw in her own pessimistic two cents into the conversation.

"That is if we even make it there at all..." said Blake, trying to rub the tired out of her eyes to no avail.

"We're just tired... Of everything." said Yang, finishing her sentence with an long exhausted sigh.

"Yeah. But that's what we signed up for." said Ruby, causing me to turn and look at her with my eyes narrowed and my right eyebrow raised in question.

"Really? You're telling me I signed up to become a glorified humanoid taxi service to a nigh-immortal parasitic wizard. Who, not to mention, will eventually hijack my body and ruin my dreams of becoming a Huntsman as well as take me away from my loved ones. You're telling me that THAT'S what I signed up for when I chose to attend Beacon?" I asked, feeling very agitated by her words and of everything that had happened to us so far.

"W-What? No! that's not what I meant." said Ruby, bringing her hands up to her chest.

"And what about Pyrrha, huh? Do you REALLY think that she wanted to be killed at the hands of some power-hungry bitch? That she wanted to be used as some pawn in Ozpin and Salem's game? Do you honestly think she signed up for that?!" I asked, feeling more and more angry despite the feeling of exhaustion that was washing over me with every word.

The look on Ruby's face nearly tore me to pieces but I couldn't stop myself. "How in the hell was THIS what we signed up for when we all attended Beacon Academy? We signed up to become heroes. To right the wrongs of our pasts. To seek adventure and glory. To protect those that couldn't protect themselves. We signed up to fight the Grimm. WE DID NOT SIGN UP TO BE USED AS SACRIFICIAL PAWNS! I DID NOT SIGN UP TO BECOME THE NEXT OZPIN!" I shouted at her as a massive weight of stress seemed to lift from my very being before plummeting back down upon as I saw the tears that threatened to fall from Ruby's silver eyes.

But I couldn't take it back... Though I know I wanted to... It wasn't until Weiss spoke up that it seemed to pull everyone's attention away from my meltdown.

"Why are we even going to Atlas?" Weiss suddenly asked, ending the argument between Ruby and I and bringing everyone's attention to the snow-haired heiress that sat upon the wooden porch steps. Everyone shared the same troubled expression as her words took on a whole new meaning for each and every one of us.

"Weiss, we have to." said Ruby before turning her head to see Yang rising to her feet.

"But, why though?" she asked aloud, turning everyone's attention onto her. "Ozpin hid the Relics behind giant doors under enormous schools literally filled with Huntsmen and Huntresses, but... How long would it take Salem to find a lamp in the middle of nowhere?" asked Yang, her words actually make some sense in a weird sort of way.

It was true, though.

Salem knew that the Relics were buried beneath the schools in the main kingdoms but that didn't mean she'd know where the Relics would be if they were buried somewhere else. Hell, even Ozpin had to probably spend DECADES trying to find the Relic of Knowledge just to find out where the other Relics where hidden. What's to say that the same couldn't be said for Salem?

"What? The Grimm might-" started Ruby before Yang silenced her argument with a hand on her shoulder.

"They'd find it eventually, sure, but bury it or just throw down the well, it would take years. It might not even happen in our lifetime. But we could be done with it now." said Yang, gesturing to the well as Ruby slowly detached the Relic from her belt. Her twin pools of bottomless silver glanced down at the relic in her hands before rising to meet our own. And slowly, but surely, she made her way towards the well with the relic in hand.

Wait. Why was she walking towards the well?

So that she can drop the Relic into it.

But we need to get it to Atlas.

What are the odds that Salem would even find it here?

And what are the odds she does?

But then I can finally be free to rest and rid myself of everything. I'm just... so tired...

Yeah... Me... Too...

So... Tired...

"I am... really... tired..." said Ruby, slurring her words as she walked towards the edge of the well with the Relic in hand.

NO!! Stop her! We have to stop her!

I'd rather not... I'd rather just go back to bed...

No! You don't understand! If she drops that then all hope is lost!

Hope? Why bother trying to hope when you can sleep?

Because if we sleep then we will die!

Then at least it'll be a peaceful death...

Suddenly, I found myself standing next to Ruby, my gloved hand wrapped around her wrist as she held the Relic dangling over the seemingly bottomless black pit of the well. How did I move so fast? Why was I trying to stop her? If we just drop it down the well then everything would finally be over. So then why was I still here, stopping her from doing so? I stood there, keeping my weirdly steel grip on Ruby's wrist when all of a sudden Ruby's eyes widened in shock before jumping out of my grip and releasing her hold on the Relic's handle, dropping it into the dark abyss below.

"Ah! No! No! No! I didn't mean to! I didn't mean to!" shouted Ruby, turning towards me to grip my hoodie with her two hands.

And while I wanted to tell her that it was alright and that everything would be fine the remained of Team RWBY slowly made their way towards the two of us, each of them with dazed looks on their faces.

"Ruby, it's okay." said Weiss, sound more and more tired with every word she spoke.

But Ruby wasn't having it as she grew more stir-crazy as the moment went on. "No! No, there's something down there! I saw it! It was looking right at me!" she shouted, as a flash of memory caused me to clench my head in pain. But just before I could remember the memory was gone just as quickly as it arrived.

"Hey, it's okay." said Yang, placing her hand on her sister's shoulder. "You just said you're tired. It's probably nothing. Now let's go..."

Ruby, now seething with furious annoyance, swatted Yang's hand off before taking a step back. "What is wrong with all of you?! We can't just leave! We have to go down there! We have to get the lamp back!" she shouted in anger before bringing her right palm to her face. "Oh, what was I thinking?!"

"It doesn't matter." said Qrow, getting more and more agitated as the argument went on. "All we have to do is fix this trailer. Hey, Spellsword, check the shed for a spare." he said, directing his words towards me.

"I'm not leaving without the lamp!" Ruby shouted, her silver eyes narrowing at the sight of us and our dazed expressions before Blake released a heavily exhausted sigh from her mouth.

"I'll go down with you..." she said tiredly.

"We'll go down together." said Weiss, proposing that the entirety of Team RWBY should be the ones to go down there and search for the Relic.

Suddenly, Qrow abruptly rose to his feet with sour expression on his face. "FINE! Get the stupid fucking lamp. Jaune, fix the stupid tire." he said as he made his way towards the front door of the farmhouse, passing Maria, who was busy reading on the porch steps.

"And where do you think you're going?" she asked, earning his ire as he pulled out his silver flask and shook it in her face.

"Where do you think?" he asked sarcastically as he turned his back and walked back into the house, causing Maria to look back down, shaking her head in disappointment.

"Stupid..." she mumbled quietly before returning to the book she'd been reading.

Meanwhile, I watched as Team RWBY jumped down into the well, with Ruby staying behind to look at me. "I'm sorry... For what I said." I said as she smiled softly in kind before standing on the tips of her toes to place a chaste kiss on my left cheek before jumping down into the well without another word. Slowly, I placed my left hand on my cheek as a warm feeling enveloped my chest. I blatantly ignored the knowing smirk on Maria's face as I walked off towards a nearby shed for a spare tire.

Upon opening the shed's double doors I was greeted by the sight of three metal shelves stocked with tools and mechanical supplies. In the corner was a pressurized air tank and a spare tire that was just the right size, or at least close enough to fit the trailer. Seeing them, I grabbed the two items and made my way back to the trailer where I then saw Maria still reading the book in her hands. Without much exchange between us, I began to work on the replacing the popped tire with the spare. Afterwards, I flipped the switch on the pump and began to inflate the spare tire with extra pressurized air. After another minute or two the spare tire was ready to be placed onto the trailer when I looked up to see that Maria was gone from my sight. It wasn't until I turned around to see her about to hop down into the well that my eyes widened in shock. Reacting quickly, I dropped the tire onto the snow-covered ground and raced off to grab her just in time. But instead of thanking me, she instead struck the top of my head with her skull-headed cane.

"OW!" I shouted, clenching my head in pain before my Aura reacted and slowly made the pain feel numb. "What was that for?!" I shouted her before having her shove the skull-headed cane in my face.

"Do you love that girl?" she suddenly asked, catching me off guard.

"What?" I asked in confusion before she shoved the skull-headed cane closer to my face, it's round head just inches away from my nose.

"I said... Do you love that girl?" she asked again, this time with a stern expression on her face. "Because if you don't then she will die down there with the rest of your friends."

"W-Wait a damn second!" I shouted loudly. "What the hell are you even talking about?" I asked her one final time before she turned her back on me and glanced back down into the well.

"From what I've seen so far I believe that girl has enough hope within herself that she could very well be considered to be the living embodiment of hope, itself. And hope is what those things devour." she said quietly, causing my eyes to widen at her words.

"What things?" I asked her before forcibly turning her around to face me. "Maria, what's going on?"

"I know now how those people died... It was the Apathy." she said before turning back to face the well. "And right now, we're the only ones that stand between them and the remaining hope that girl possesses. So, I'll ask again... Do you love that girl? Do you love her enough to fight through the darkness? To brave the heaviest storms? To continue forward towards the unknown? Do you love her enough to fight against fate, itself?"

I don't know why her words struck a cord with me... It was true that I loved Ruby. More than I should've... But I was already doomed to fail the moment I was born into this world. But... That didn't mean that Ruby was born to fail... That she was doomed to repeat a viscous cycle of death and reincarnation. It was in that moment that I felt a strange feeling of determination fill my very being. Without another word, I pulled Maria off of the well and onto my back as I climbed onto the well's edge with my weapon at the ready.

"As if you even need to ask." I said, looking back at her with a smirk before taking a leap of faith in the dark abyss below.

And as we plummeted into that dark abyss before crashing into a dark river beneath the well a feeling of dread slowly began to consume me. But, luckily, I had Maria to steer me in the right direction as she pointed at the path before us. Silently, I nodded my head in agreement as I ran off down the flowing underground sewage line with Maria on my back. Strangely, it felt like I'd done this very action before. Almost as if I'd carried her on my back multiple times already. But I couldn't afford to get into it now as the second I rounded a nearby corner I found myself stopping dead in my tracks at the sight of the group of monstrosities before me.

There, standing just in front of Team RWBY, who looked like they were practically struggling to hold their very weapons, was an entire group of frail skeletal Grimm. This was the Apathy that Maria had mentioned before. This was the thing that caused the residents of Brunswick Farms to die in their sleep. Fear slowly began to consume my very being as I found myself unable to move at the sight of them.

"RUN!" shouted Maria, causing Team RWBY to turn back and see us standing just behind them. "NOW!" she commanded once more, finally getting Team RWBY to find the strength to pull themselves back up just in the nick of time as the Apathy was slowly making their way towards us.

And so we ran down the lengthy maze of the underground sewage as more and more of the Apathy slowly chased us down. We ran and ran as fast as we could but every corner at every turn we made seemed to bring us closer and closer into the awaiting arms of the Apathy. It wasn't until we finally made it to an underground room through a hole in the wall that we thought we had finally made it safety... That is until the screeching scream of the Apathy violated our ear canals, causing us to fall onto our knees as a massive wave of exhaustion slowly began to take over our bodies. Even Maria, who was riding on my back had fall to the floor due to the Apathy's scream.

"I can't... Do this... I can't..." said Yang, slurring her words as we all tried desperately to continue forward.

I watched through half-lidded eyes as Maria struggled to prop herself up on her cane before collapsing again. Her head glanced upward as her cyan goggles widened in realization before turning back to face us.

"There's an exit!" she shouted, giving us some tiny glimmer of hope as we all slowly crawled our way towards the exit.

But then the Apathy screamed once again and I found myself collapsing onto the floor, unable to move my own body as I laid on the cold floor. So, this was how I died, huh? I felt as if my body weighed a ton as I glanced up to see the shock and saddened expression on Ruby's face at the sight of me.

Don't be sad, Ruby... It's better this way... With the Apathy busy eating me then it'll give you all a chance to escape...

"Jaune... get up... please..." I heard her plea as I felt my eyelids grow heavier and heavier.

"It's fine, Ruby... I'm just... so tired..." I said quietly as I felt the presence of the Apathy grow ever more closer towards me as i slowly closed my eyes, welcoming myself into the world of darkness.

I'm tired...