The Winter Knight

Volume 1: Chapter 7

Never say Nevermore

Disclaimer: RWBY is the property of Monty Oum and Rooster Teeth. I own nothing.

Roman Torwick looked down at the bound and gagged woman lying in tears on the floor. "I certainly hope your shop is insured. Thanks for the business." He picked up a white case full of Dust crystals and casually walked out the back of the shop into the bright light of day. Roman placed his cane under one arm and reached down into his pocket to grab his scroll. He texted Neo asking for a pick up.

"Roman Torwick," shouted a high-pitched female voice. "Stop where you are, place the stolen Dust on the ground and step away from it. Or else!"

Roman sighed placing the scroll back in his pocket. He turned to look up to the roof of the Dust shop. A woman dressed in a pink hood and light black combat armor with elbow length white gloves. She stood pointing a short thin needle-like sword at him. Her face was concealed by a white mask with large black eye holes and a small black opening for her mouth.

My intel said all available Hunter's would be assisting with the Academy's entrance test today. Junior is going to pay for this. Roman flashed her his most charming smile. "Or what?"

In response the Hunter threw her sword at him. Roman nimbly sidestepped the blade which stuck deep into the ground. He heard a slight whirring noise but before he could identify it, the Hunter was flying towards him wreathed in bright pink Aura.

Her leg rose high, coming down in an axe kick aimed right at his head. Roman rose his cane activating his orange Aura to block the strike. The force of the strike drove him to one knee. He swung the case which the Hunter leapt over allowing Roman to take a few steps back.

"I'm warning you now, you are making a big mistake," said Roman. He placed the case of Dust on the ground. He took several more steps away from the Dust and the Hunter. "Perhaps we can come to some kind of understanding."

"There is nothing to understandthief," she said in a low heated tone. I was expected some of those filthy Red Fang members but I lucked out and got you. Come along quietly and I won't have to hurt you… much."

"I think not," Roman replied curtly. He lifted Melodic Cudgel and fired a red Dustexplosive at the Pink Hunter. Roman spun the cane around as fire engulfed the woman, the handle of the cane shot out grabbing the handle of the case. He started to run as soon as he caught the case in his outstretched hand.

With Aura enhanced speed Roman reached the end of the alleyway in a few mere seconds. He turned the corner and took a few steps before realizing it was a dead end. That's not right, there shouldn't be a dead end here unless… He winced at a sharp pain in his shoulder, he looked down to the sight of the blade of the sword sticking out of his shoulder.

A thin wire pulled Roman's arm, turning him. It was connected to the sword to face the Pink Hunter. "That's a neat Semblance you have their Pinky, cut clean through my Aura." His orange Aura faded from around him as the sword was pulled back to the woman's outstretched hand. Strangely he didn't feel more pain as the sword exited the wound in his shoulder. What is her trick? How did she survive the explosion? It should have at least slowed her down. Roman dropped the case flat on the ground and kicked it towards the Hunter.

The Pink Hunter took several steps back away from it as Roman stepped slowly backed into the wall. He stepped through it easily and smiled as he heard the woman gasp in shock at his disappearance.

After waiting a few moments, she stepped forward tentatively towards the false wall and stabbed her sword into it. It shattered like glass as the blade broke the illusion. She followed the fleeing thief as he turned the corner at a full sprint. Pinky ran after but stopped at the end of the alley seeing no sign of Roman.

Roman calmly and quietly picked up of the case of Dust. He started to walk quickly and quietly in the opposite direction. He saw Tukson parked in a van at his end of the back alley and walked toward him. Tukson casually raised the tinted windows and turned on the vehicle. As he was nearing the exit, he shouted back at the Pink Hunter. "Consider yourself lucky Pinky."

The Pink Hunter whirled on the spot her hood falling to reveal long blonde hair. She started towards him as the wall behind her shattered revealing Neo, her bright orange Aura swirling around her.

Neapolitan brought down her umbrella on the sword arm of the Hunter. A loud crack rang down the alley and the Pink Hunter let out a cry of pain. Her sword fell to the ground with a clatter as Neo drew a short-hidden blade out of the umbrella and placed it against the pale white throat of the Hunter. She kicked the fallen sword down the alleyway.

Roman walked to the parked vehicle and opened the door. He placed the white case in the van then quietly closed the door. The van pulled away as he stepped away. Roman looked to his right and left, a few people were milling around but no one seemed to be watching him. Turning back down the alleyway he walked down to Neo and the Hunter.

The Pink Hunter let out a gasp of pain as Neo tied her hands together behind her back with from the wire attached to the sword. Her arm was clearly broken.

Roman calmly sidled up next to her. He pulled up the mask to reveal a young angry but heart shaped face and deep blue eyes. "Now Pinky I have some questions for you, answer them and I won't have to hurt you… much."

"That's Professor Peach to you scumbag." With her face exposed she attempted to spit at him but Neo was too quick pressing the blade against her neck until a thin line of red blood appeared. "If you expect me to beg for my life, you'll be sadly mistaken. Ozpin knows I am here, kill me and you'll have every Hunter in Vale on you."

"A point." She's lying. No one knows she's here. Roman looked down at her determined face but saw fear behind those deep blue eyes. Must be trying to play a Hero. She has no idea I'd be hitting this shop today. He looked up at Neo and nodded once.

Neo clobbered her across the back of the head with her umbrella. Peach fell unconsciously to the ground. Neo lifted the sword up to finish her.

"No Neo don't kill her."

Neo's mismatched eyes stared at him for a long moment, before her cheeks puffed up as she pouted prettily.

"She's right about one thing, killing her is more trouble than its worth." Roman patted her lightly on the head. "I promise if anyone needs killing you have dibs." His scroll beeped and he pulled it out. It was Junior with a job offer. "Look's like we just got another job and I always keep my promises."

Neo smile was just a tad feral.

OoOoO

Ruby Rose followed a few paces behind Blake. She glanced back at the rest of the students followed in staggered pairs speaking in low voices. The forest was still dead quiet, meaning the Nevermore or some other Grimm was still nearby. Ruby quickened her pace and caught up to her partner. "Blake why didn't you follow me to attack the Deathstalker?"

Blake frowned slightly glancing sidelong at her. "Charging across an open field to attack a large Grimm head-on isn't my idea of bravery. More like suicide." She brushed past Ruby her eyes constantly scanning to the left and right.

Ruby stopped and watched her go, silently marveling at how quietly Blake moved through the forest. She had an almost feline grace to her movement. Wynn and Yang soon caught up to her and Ruby fell in with them.

"I still don't trust that girl," said Wynn dryly. "Still she is skilled for someone without formal training. I wonder what I could learn from her."

"I still don't like the fact that she abandoned Ruby," replied Yang. "When your teammate goes into to attack, you don't just let them go if you disagree with their plan."

"A point," said Wynn. "Speaking of which what exactly was your plan to kill that Deathstalker Ms. Rose?"

Ruby looked down at her feet, I didn't really have a plan. "The Deathstalker was already weakened and it was an easy kill." She laughed uneasily. "I didn't so much have a plan. I usually kind of improvise these kinds of things."

Wynn raised an eyebrow in response as he stared at her. A scream rang out from overhead. "The Nevermore doesn't want us to forget it's there, it's being unusually persistent. It should know by now that's it's too dangerous to attack such a large group, even if we are in a someone weakened state. I suppose that's why it's biding its time waiting for the opportune moment to strike."

Ruby bit her lip thinking back to the small black bird she had hit at the beginning of the test. Could that have been a baby Nevermore? Do Grimm even have babies? There's so much we don't know about them. Ruby was so lost in her thoughts that she almost ran into Blake who had stopped at the tree line.

Blake was looking out towards the cliff face. Between them and the cliff there was roughly 1oo yards of flat terrain. Then there was a bridge over a gorge leading to a strange looking tower. The tower stood in the middle of the gorge like some ancient watchtower guarding against threats from the woods.

Yang was smiling as she surveyed the same scene. "We get to fight the Nevermore on that? That should be fun." She turned as Nora and the rest arrived behind them. "What do you think Nora?"

Nora's eye lit up as she surveyed the scene. "Looks like the best queen of the castle game ever."

"Queen of the castle game?" asked Wynn curiously.

"It's like king of the hill only better," replied Yang. "Nora and I were the undisputed masters of the game while at Signal. I'll tell you all about it tonight but first let the game begin.

OoOoO

Jaune Arc looked out towards the cliff. I didn't have a much of a landing strategy but I have no idea how I'm coming to climb the cliff in this armor. He looked back at the group who were discussing how to deal with the Nevermore. "Just one question guys." Everyone turned to face him. "Even if we beat or evade the Nevermore and get over the gorge how are we going to get to the top of the cliff?"

Everyone looked up to the top of the cliff several hundred feet up. Ruby was the first to answer. "I know we are all tired but if we get across the gorge, I might be able to use my Semblance to get us all up there. It will likely drain the rest of my Aura to pull it off though.

Wynn interjected. "I can do a similar thing with my Glyphs as well. Does anyone else have ideas about it?"

Yang smiled. "I suppose Nora and I could take turns throwing people as high as we can." She grinned at Nora. "I bet I could throw someone higher than you."

"Challenge accepted!" Nora turned back to the group. "Who wants to be tossed first?" Unsurprisingly no one volunteered.

After a few moments of awkward silence and Wynn stepped forward. "Can we please focus on getting past the Nevermore, it is a far greater threat then trying to scale the cliff face." He turned to Pyrrha. "Grounding the Nevermore is our best opinion. Do you think you could pin it down somehow Pyrrha? I have an attack that could injure it but we really don't want to it miss."

"It's possible we could pin it down to the ground, or even maybe the cliff face," said Pyrrha. "It's bigger than anything I've ever faced before."

"Could we just avoid the Nevermore?" asked Jaune. "I mean we need to get to the top of the cliff face to pass the exam. Not defeat the Nevermore."

"True enough," said Wynn. "I doubt the Nevermore would be so accommodating to that plan." Wynn looked over at Blake who thus far had been quiet. "Blake do you have any ideas on the issue?"

Blake looked slightly confused at Wynn. "Why are you asking my opinion on this?"

"Your attack on the King Taijitu was well timed and executed, despite using Ruby as bait. I was hoping to do something similar in grounding the Nevermore."

Ruby started to tear up as she turned to Blake, "Did you really use me as bait Blake?"

"No of course not," stammered Blake. "I was just biding my time for the opportune time to strike. The best time to attack the Taijitu is when is extending. When coiled it has a better chance to evade attacks."

"I see. That makes sense," said Wynn. "Either way we need to draw out the Nevermore. I'll volunteer as bait this time. Does it sound like fun for you Yang?"

Yang smashed her fists together, "the Nevermore can only going to make me stronger. Nora and Ren can come too, so four of us can work as the bait team and the other half can work on pinning team."

Jaune looked to Ren and Nora. "Is that ok with the two of you?"

"I'm tired of waiting around let's go kick its ass Ren." With that Nora started running out of the forest towards the bridge. Ren sighed and followed. Moments later Wynn and Yang followed.

The Nevermore let out a screech as it dove out of the sky sending a barrage of black feathers towards the team. The feathers fell from the sky as sharp as swords but the team evaded them with a series of flips and dodges. They soon reached the bridge.

"We need to go help them," said Jaune. He turned back to the three girls still with him. Jaune drew his sword. "Who's with me?"

"I'm with you Jaune," said Pyrrha. Her rifle shifted into a javelin as she hefted her shield in her other hand. "Let's ground that Nevermore."

"We still don't have a plan," said Blake wryly. "Still we need to assist our comrades."

Ruby placed a hand on Blake's shoulder. "Fear not Blake. I'm a master of improvisation."

As Jaune sped forward the Nevermore dove again. It's massive frame diving down into the gorge and through the stone bridge. With a loud crash the bridge crumbled with the other team still on it. With shouts of surprise they disappeared from sight falling into the abyss.

The Nevermore flew back out of the gorge and circled back towards his team. It started to hover and fired more of the sharp black feathers.

Jaune stepped forward raising his shield, his soft green Aura protecting him. He blocked a feather with his shield driving him back several feet. He tried to cut another one but only succeeded in knocking it to the ground. Sheesh this thing is tough.

Pyrrha threw her javelin wreathed in her red Aura towards the Nevermore. It bounced off harmlessly off its wing and fell back towards the ground.

Ruby grabbed Blake by the arm as the Nevermore started back towards the tower. "Hold on I have an idea."

Blake's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "What are you going to do Ruby?"

"Just trust me Blake." She hugged Blake as wind started to whirl around her.

OoOoO

Wynn felt the bridge crumble under him as everyone else started to scream. Why do they always just charge in? He immediately summoned a white Glyph under each of his teammates and himself. He leapt up onto the base of the tower. "Let's go guys."

Nora was the first to reach him. She flew up out of the gorge propelled by her grenade launcher landing next to him.

Wynn pressed a white Dust crystal into her hand. "I think you know what to do with this?"

Nora grinned in excitement. "I have a great idea what to do with this." She caught Yang's arm and pulled her up as she shot up next to them using Ember Celica. A moment later Ren landed silently on Wynn's other side.

Wynn looked back towards the forest as the Nevermore dove towards the other team. "Nora and Yang get up to the top of the tower and try to draw that Grimm back towards the cliff. Ren you're with me. We need to get closer to the cliff face."

Nora started racing towards the top of the tower with Yang in hot pursuit. Their feet pounded as they sped up a spiral staircase. As they reached the top the Nevermore was speeding back towards the tower. "Get ready for a fastball special Yang."

Both Yang and Nora started firing their weapons at the Nevermore, drawing it towards them. When it was in range Yang grabbed Nora. "Hit it an extra time for me." Then she threw Nora like a javelin at the Nevermore.

Nora flew toward the Grimm like a pink missile. She spun with her hammer and landing a crushing blow on the head of the Nevermore flipping on to its back. The Nevermore seemed unfazed by the attack. Nora looked up to see Blake and Ruby. "What are you two doing up here?

"Good question Nora," said Blake hysterically. She grabbed Ruby by the front of her corset. "What are we doing up here? We aren't strong enough to damage this thing."

"It seemed like a good idea at the time," said Ruby sheepishly. "I figured we could ride to the cliff face, or at the very least cross the gorge since the bridge is gone.

Nora pulled out the white crystal. "You two better jump off at the tower. Things are about to get interesting."

Ruby's eyes went wide as she looked at the white crystal, she grabbed Blake's hand and leapt off the back of the Nevermore.

Wynn stood on the broken bridge as Jaune and Pyrrha approached. "Let's go, no one is getting left behind."

Pyrrha leapt gracefully boosted by her Aura and landed next to him. "That thing's hide is too strong even for me."

"It will be weakened quite soon, we can take it down then." Wynn looked back to Jaune who stood on the far side. "Come on Jaune we don't have all day."

Jaune inched towards the edge of the gorge and looked down into the abyss. It was so deep he couldn't see the bottom. Jaune took several long steps back. "I don't think I can do this Wynn."

Pyrrha stepped forward. "I believe you can do it Jaune. With your Aura it should be a piece of cake. Just activate your Aura and focus it into your legs."

"You can do that?" Asked Jaune. "I thought Aura was just like a protective barrier around your body and fuels your Semblance."

"Pyrrha I don't think he has Advanced Aura. Most of the students from Vale only seem to have activated their Basic Aura."

Pyrrha looked confused. "Advanced Aura… oh you meant Awakened Aura?" She turned back to Jaune. "You meant you haven't Awakened your Aura, that makes sense."

Now Jaune looked even more confused. "Now isn't the time for debating terms help me."

Pyrrha's face softened. "Jaune you can do this. You need to believe in yourself. Focus your Aura in your legs, run forward and jump across the gorge."

"Do it Jaune," said Wynn. "I'll catch you if you fall, still don't fall." There's no way he can do this on his first try. What is she thinking…?

Jaune closed his eyes focusing the Aura in his legs and sprinted forward with all his might. When he reached the edge, he leapt high into the air.

To Wynn's surprise Jaune almost reached the far side. Landing on one foot but the other missed and he started to fall back into the gorge. Wynn summoned a Glyph under his falling leg. Beginner's luck, no one picks it up that quickly.

Pyrrha leaned forward and pulled Jaune into a hug and away from the edge. "I knew you could do it."

"Good job Jaune," said Wynn. "We need to get moving. He squinted up at the Nevermore which was flying upside down towards the tower.

Blake was hanging on to Ruby's hand, who was hanging on to Nora's foot who was holding on to the inverted Nevermore. She looked up at Ruby. "You see Ruby this is why I don't trust you."

Ruby let go of Nora's foot and they both began to fall… into Yang's outstretched arms. "Hello ladies. Fancy you dropping in."

The Nevermore righted itself again with Nora still on its back. Her soft pink Aura flowed into the white crystal as she set in on the back of the Grimm's head. She lifted her hammer high and brought it crashing down on the Dust crystal.

The Nevermore let out a high-pitched screech of pain as it was electrocuted by the lightning generated by the crystal. Its wings started to spasm then stopped flapping starting to plummet towards the gorge.

"Nora send it towards the cliff face!" Wynn shouted as he sped past the tower. "Everyone else try and pin it to wall."

Nora smirked as the lightning surged through her body. Her pink Aura shimmered and sparked with energy. "Feel the POWER!" She leapt off the side of the Nevermore and hit it towards the cliff face. With a mighty crash the Grimm smashed into the cliff face sending stones falling into the gorge below. It twitched weakly unable to move. Nora was propelled back towards the tower and landed on the top laughing wildly.

Ren appeared on the cliff face he leapt down and landed on the left wing of the Nevermore. He thrust his Aura enhanced Butterfly sword into its wing. Then he leapt to the side and out of the way.

Pyrrha threw her Aura enhanced Javelin at the tail of the Nevermore. This time it sunk deep into the Grimm helping to pin it to the wall.

Wynn arrived to the top of the tower as Nora threw Ruby towards the right wing of the Nevermore.

Ruby extended the blade of Crescent Rose from a scythe to a spear. Ruby started to spin like a top. Crescent Rose managed to sink into the right wing of the Nevermore.

Yang glowed yellow as Nora hit her right in the stomach. Yang gasped doubled over in pain for a second before standing again her eyes glowing red and giving Nora thumbs up. Nora smiled and picked up Yang and threw her towards the Nevermore.

Yang flew like a yellow missile towards the Grimm and unleashed of flurry of punches into the chest of the Nevermore. It squawked with pain from Yang's barrage. She landed on the caved in chest of the Nevermore then propelled herself backwards.

Blake caught Yang in mid air and threw her weapon back towards the tower. It sunk deep into the stone and the pair swung safely to the ground.

Wynn looked down from his vantage point atop the tower. Everyone is clear good. Wynn drew his revolver and aimed it carefully at the slightly smoking Nevermore. The lower barrel of the revolver started to glow with bright cyan light.

It slumped forward slowly falling through the weapons and fell headfirst into the gorge. After several long moments a wet thud reverberated back up the gorge.

"Good job everyone we did it. Collect your weapons and come back up here." It took several minutes before all eight students were collected at the top of the tower. Wynn turned to Ruby. "Can you can get us all to the top of the cliff."

Ruby stared up at the cliff top still about two hundred feet above them. "I know I can, everyone to hold tightly to me." Everyone grabbed on to Ruby except Blake who still stood to one side.

"Are you sure you can do this Ruby?" asked Blake hesitantly.

"No, I'm not sure, but I believe I can do it. I need you to trust me Blake?"

Blake stepped forward and held onto Ruby's back. "I'll… trust you this time."

Ruby activated her Semblance as wind swept around the students and shot them high into the sky. They sped towards the cliff face like a multicolored rocket and landed in a clump about one hundred feet from Ozpin and Glinda.

Ozpin walked over to them as the students got to their feet. "Well done students. Allow me to be the first to congratulate you all on becoming official students of Beacon Academy."

"Thank you, Headmaster," said Wynn.

Suddenly the Nevermore appeared at the cliff top. It looked wretched and was smoking from several wounds. It swooped towards them as a dark green barrier enveloped the Grimm.

Ozpin took another sip from his coffee as he pointed his cane at the Nevermore. "Big mistake, little Grimm," he said in a soft dangerous tone.

The Nevermore screeched in frustration as it pecked and clawed against the barrier as it started to shrink. The screeches of frustration turned to screams of pain as the barrier continued to shrink slowly crushing the Nevermore slowly.

Wynn glanced at Ozpin's expressionless face as he slowly continued to crush the Grimm to death. He drew his revolver and stepped several steps away from the other students. The lower barrel glowed with cyan light for several seconds before firing a beam the size of a large tree trunk. It entered the barrier and started to ricochet against the interior. Black smoke appeared from holes in the Grimm's body before all could be seen was darkness. The screams turned to silence.

Wynn opened his revolver to remove the still smoking Dust cartridge. He looked up as Ozpin approached him.

"Did you just steal my kill Mr. Schnee?" he asked in a soft voice.

Wynn stared back calmly at the Headmaster before answering. "We hunt Grimm sir, we don't toy with them." He looked back to check his fellow students then everything turned black.

Author's Notes:

Many thanks to my editor Linthal.

Thanks to several readers who have followed or favorited my story. It is very encouraging to see people are interested in my story. Any and all feedback would be appreciated.