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Scene 14:

The Red Girl Dies

A/n:

This isn't a new scene, this is just scene 14.

Again.

Thanks to how FF works, I had to take this Scene out just to put it back in relabeled.

Also, I don't know what the hell I was smoking when I thought I was going to have the first The Red Girl Dies be one chapter.

This is, by far, my longest chapter, and I actually took some shit off because the fight was too long.

I might put it in later, however.

I also don't know what the hell I was smoking when I thought I could squeak this thing into a T rating.

I'm pretty sure it was pure unicorn tears or something because I quickly realized, "Wait, I make this chapter happen. And I kind gored Ren that one time. And that's the softer shit I have planned for these guys."

So yeah, I'm fixing that, and shit goes down in here.

That said, one of the reasons I put this in here so early was because of the unbelievable response I got from you guys when I started posting this story.

It's only been out for a little over a month and already I have over 9,000 views for the story in total, over 7,000 of which were from this month. I also passed 2,000 visitors this month.

Its a massive step up from my last story, which might be shit in comparison.

I mean, on thursday I got more views in one day for this story than I have for the entire five months Blood, Thunder, and Steel has existed, nearly reaching 1K in a day.

I literally got 999 views.

That's fucking awesome, and I love you guys for it.

Hell, I even got added to a community!

To some, it might not seem like much, but as far as I'm concerned right now, it's fucking awesome.

So as a treat, here's this super chap, and here's a few songs I listened to while writing it, listen to them while reading it if you want.

Lorde: Everybody Wants To Rule The World for Pyrrha's part

Adele: Skyfall For Blake, Jaune, or Ruby

Snow Patrol: What if The Storm Ends? For Blake, Jaune, or Ruby

Imagine Dragons: I'm So Sorry For the Watchmen part at the beginning

Enjoy

Or don't

But that's enough procrastinating, enjoy part 6 of the Emerald Forest, Scene 14: The Red Girl Dies


? pov

That looks real bad I thought as I looked up to the sky.

The dark grey clouds hung there, spinning slowly as they prepared to unleash their wrath upon the land. Apparently they had upgraded the alert from a simple Tornado Watch, to a Tornado Warning, which meant the formation of a funnel was imminent.

The loud rumble of an engine's startup shook me out of my thoughts.

I turned back around as I watched the airfield fill with movement and purpose

Ground crew were working left and right, prepping the birds for launch. Already the first wave of Bullhead transports and Cardinal gunships were ready to take off.

I let out a breath of air as I regained my bearings. I took in my last breath of fresh, clean, air, before I put on my hermetically sealed helmet. As I placed the armored helmet on my head, my world became enveloped in darkness.

I could hear the loud Hiss as the seals locked into place, and the internal ventilation and life support kicked in. Then the camera/display system kicked in once more, and a screen showing the world around me, along with my HUD, came up.

I felt the red and black assault rifle in my hands, checking once more to make sure it was all prepped and ready to go, that not a single piece was out of place. I then felt for the black axe on my back, as well as the sawed-off shotgun on the small of my back, making sure they still there. Each one was loaded with fire Dust for extra effect on target.

My HUD quickly incorporated each weapon into itself, displaying everything I would need to know about them, though not crowding my screen with the information.

I breathed in that stale, perfectly balanced, air into me, and focused on the task at hand.

I walked up to the large black Bullhead with a shark mouth painted on the nose, a chin-mounted chain gun, and a set of auto cannons on either side. The large gimbaling engines on the end of either wing were rumbling loudly as the craft woke from its slumber. They sent out low-level blasts of hot air from their glowing orange exhausts.

The bay doors were open, and sitting inside two other men in slightly different sets of armor. Each set had silver, non-reflective, plates of armor on top of a matte-black under-suit. The helmet was angled and aggressive, completely concealing the user's face. In place of eyes, two glowing electric blue lights were placed, purely for intimidation purposes.

In the event of a stealth op, they could be turned off and on at will. While they were on, however, they gave the wearer in intimidating piercing blue gaze. All combined they somewhat resembled old style knights in armor, but with a cybernetic twist.

The man on the left was wearing lighter armor, having it resemble chain mail more than plate armor, though he still kept the silver helmet. He had a medium sized black rifle in his hand, a silver sword sheathed by his left side, a silver dagger sheathed on his right, as well as several silver rods strapped to his chest. Each weapon had a glowing blue energy cell attached to them.

On top of all that was a Lincoln green reflective cloak with a hood. Right now, it wasn't very stealthy, and was in fact rather shiny and stood out like a sore thumb. When he turned it on, however, it became a photo-reactive cloak. It wasn't true invisibility, more like enhanced adaptive camouflage.

The man on the right, however, was wearing a heavy variant of the plate armor. He had a large black Warhammer with a flat head that was glowing white on one side, and on the other a large, narrow, curved hook for penetrating armor, also glowing white. He had a bandolier of ammunition wrapped around his chest, along with several grenades and demo packs on him.

Attached to a sling around his chest, and lazily held in his right hand, was a large silver machine gun. It had a long barrel with a large shroud covering it, along with several heat vents. The large box magazine attached to the beast had a glowing white symbol on it, indicating the Dust being used.

Each one was just lazily waiting for me in the troop bay of the craft.

"Robin." I said, nodding to the man on my left.

"Jack." He replied, a grin audible on his voice

"Ymir." I said to the giant on my right.

"Riesentöter." He cordially responded with my last name in a thick Atlesian accent

And with introductions over, I waited inside with them. We would be taking in another squad of regular soldier before we took off. In the meantime, I decide to talk with them about the mission.

"So, you guys read the report?" I asked. Technically, they were supposed to, but if I knew Robin, he was too lazy to.

"Eh, not really. I saw that it was more than 2 pages, and said 'Fuck that shit'." He responded, voicing his smile with his tone.

I sighed, realizing that he would always be the same. That said…

"It's not like you read it either." He teased.

"True enough." I replied with a shrug.

"For the same damn reasons too, probably." He added.

"Yeah." I sighed

"From what I heard we only got the request a few minutes ago, how the hell they managed to pull a multi-page report out of their asses in that time, I'll never know." I complained to him.

"I hear you, brother. Besides, why read the report when we can just listen to gossip." He agreed.

"Yeah, and that's what we have Ymir for. Right Ymir?" I stated, turning to the quiet giant.

He groaned loudly at how lazy we were.

"Alright, how much do you already know?" He asked.

He sounded irritated, but that's how he was. Honestly, he was almost as lazy as us, he just didn't mind reading and doing paperwork. It was weird, but it let us give all the boring work to him.

"All I know is that some pansy ass huntsmen need us to hold their hands or something." I remarked.

"Sherwood?" He asked, turning to Robin, referring to him by his last name

"Apparently, since a Tornado has been all but confirmed to be incoming, some huntsmen are in trouble out in the Emerald Forest, where the Tornado's projected to touchdown." Robin answered.

He nodded in response, taking our answers in, before he spoke.

"You're both somewhat correct, but fatally off the mark." He responded.

"What do you mean?" Robin asked, now intrigued.

"What day is today?" Ymir asked us

Robin and I looked at each other quizzically, wondering where he could be going with this. After thinking about it for a couple seconds, I couldn't figure out an answer.

"I dunna know." I said back with a shrug.

"Okay, what's near the Emerald Forest, something that is critical to the Huntsmen?" He asked, changing questions.

"Beacon? The hell does that have to do with anything?" I asked, frowning.

"Oh, shit." Robin cursed, apparently he figured it out

"What is it?" I asked turning to him, concerned.

"Today's the Initiation day for the new incoming freshmen of Beacon. During Initiation they go out into the Emerald Forest and kill Grimm and shit." He answered

"Wait, there are kids out there?" I asked, incredulous.

"Yup. The storm came out of nowhere, and now they're looking at a massacre of children if they can't evacuate them in time." Ymir answered.

At first, I was reticent about going. I didn't like Huntsmen much. I knew they were necessary, so I didn't complain too much, but the fact was, Huntsman were little more than mercenaries with super-powers and incredibly deadly weapons.

A civilian didn't have a hope in hell of fighting of a Huntsmen, even if the Huntsmen was unarmed. Hell, most people, soldiers and police officers included, didn't have a chance in hell. And after StarFall, it became very apparent that these Huntsmen had little to no oversight. They could do whatever the hell they wanted, and it would take another Huntsmen to stop them.

But these were kids, dammit. They weren't technically Huntsmen yet. They probably just wanted to go to Beacon to become heroes, not realizing what being a Huntsmen actually meant.

"Well…shit." Was all I could say.

"I'm willing to bet the two of you don't feel like leaving them now, do you?" Ymir asked, gazing into the two of us with the electric blue "eyes" of his helmet.

"Hell no." I responded with steely determination.

"Fuck that, Huntsmen or not, they're just fucking kids." Robin said with me.

"Good, I know how you two can get about Huntsmen." Ymir said approvingly in his gravelly voice.

Before we could utter another word, a squad of soldier in their armor and guns came up to our Bullhead.

"Hey, you guy's Watchmen?" One asked, awestruck by being in the presence of one of only four Watchmen squads in the entire Kingdom.

"Damn straight, you riddi'n with us soldiers?" I answered, looking over them all.

Some looked somewhat awestruck by us, but others seemed more concerned about what was going to happen in the next hour. I couldn't really blame them too much. After all, we had just been told there was a Tornado landing in the Emerald Forest, and we were going there to help some Huntsmen out there.

"Y-yes sir!" The one who asked replied, snapping a salute to me.

I just looked at him oddly.

"You do know we're not technically military, right?" I asked.

"Hey, don't stop him. How often do we get fanboy salutes?" Robin remarked, slapping my arm.

"How often do we get to make people feel stupid?" I shot back.

At that he snapped his finger in agreement with me.

"Good point." He said with a nod

Ymir just looked at the two of us being brothers-in-stupid before turning towards the soldiers standing outside.

"Ignore them, get in." He said, his rough, accented voice along with the armor intimidating the soldiers.

Without another word, all five soldiers got into the bay. There was technically supposed to be enough room for about 12 people, if standing. As it was, with our equipment, and considering we were sitting down, there was only just enough room for us. The soldiers had to stand, but hey, that's what they get for being last.

Once the last one stepped inside and got situated, I banged on the wall separating us from the cockpit behind me twice, signaling that we were good to go.

Without another word, the engines went from rumbling, to roaring loudly. The orange glow coming from the exhaust increased as the massive backwash grew high and higher. Around me I saw several other Bullhead joining us, creating a symphony of sound.

Soon, the power of the twin Whatt and Pritney F135 PW 600 Dust engine overcame the will of gravity, and the craft began to rise. The doors closed as it began to take off, and the force of the engines shook the entire craft.

I could hear the whirring of the motors in the wings as they caused the engines to pivot, as the Bullhead slowly began to shift from hovering, to flying. I felt the G forces trying to pull me forwards as we accelerated towards the Forest. As we speed towards the forest, many thoughts crossed my mind, but I pushed one to the forefront.

Here we go, into the storm.


Ruby pov

I think I hate Lucifer. I grumbled to myself.

If it wasn't for him, none of this would be happening. Of course, if it wasn't for Lucifer I probably wouldn't be here right now, so I logically shouldn't be complaining. That being said, right now I had a massive migraine, so I didn't feel like dealing with logic's problems.

And having a migraine, while bad, wouldn't be too bad an experience compared to some of the things I had suffered in the past, I could have pushed past it. Having a migraine in Grimm infested forest during a Thunderstorm on the other hand, was a nightmare.

Every flash of light, every crack of thunder, was another detonation of nuclear fire inside my mind. Worse still, unlike most forms of pain, I wasn't numb to it, nor could I dissociate myself from it. The pain crackles just outside the core of my being, and pollutes my body with its sickness.

Still, I do what I can. I've felt pain on this level and beyond before. This pain didn't break my mind, it simply injured it. While irritating, it wasn't crippling. While it was agonizing, it was tinged with no fear, just annoyance and irritation.

Irritation fanned by the fools I had surrounded myself with. I suppose they weren't actually fools, except perhaps, one of them, but in this state of mind, anyone I didn't care about was an idiot, and potentially expendable.

Still, though, I have to say it's been quite a while since I've felt this much. It's revitalizing, in a way, really. It helps remind me, in some small way, that I'm still me.

That being said, this migraine would make everything significantly harder. There honestly wasn't much I could do with this active interference. My options were severely limited, at least, if I didn't want to worsen my condition.

Breaking me out of my thoughts, my partner spoke to me.

"So…Lilith…what…what was it you did back there?" She asked nervously, worried about annoying me, or scaring me away. It was difficult to tell right now.

"What do you mean?" I manage with a frown to say through grit teeth.

I'm not in the mood for your games, Pyrrha. I think angrily, though I manage to hold my tongue with ease.

"Er, well…." She begins before trailing off, glancing away.

"What were you doing with that Grimm?" Blake asked, speaking up for Pyrrha.

"Yeah, what Blake said." Pyrrha agreed with a nod and concerned emerald eyes.

I knew I shouldn't have done that. I chastised myself.

"I wanted to learn some things from it," I answered, too annoyed and in too much pain to even bother to think of lying, let alone come up with a good one.

"Yo-what?" Jaune asked, his brow rising up incredulously as his eyes widened slightly.

"Are you saying you asked the Grimm a question?" Blake frowned.

"I didn't ask it anything," I answered through the pain in my head, quickly tiring of this.

I just wanted to walk through the woods in peace and quiet. Considering all the Grimm, that probably wasn't going to happen, but that's what I had my "teammates" for.

"Wait, what?" Pyrrha asked her face twisting in concern and confusion. Something the others shared.

I ignored them, no longer feeling like suffering their questions. More importantly, I vaguely felt something coming from my left. While I walked, I glanced in that direction. I tried to discern if anything was there through the thick foliage in the way. Unfortunately, the dark shadows cast by the trees, along with the overcast skies made that nearly impossible.

Curious I thought with a raised brow. Considering my migraine, I shouldn't be able to detect much of anything. In order for me to feel it, it must have a massive presence.

So massive, I wasn't the only one who noticed it.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Blake stop, before looking into the forest with narrowed eyes. An action that Jaune noticed.

"What is it, Blake?" He asked curiously.

"I…think…something's coming." She said slowly, not sure of herself, or whatever it was that was approaching.

No sooner had she said that, than did I begin to feel small tremors.

"Maybe we should run." Jaune suggested nervously.

Wasting little time and quickly acting on his advice, we turned and ran through the dark, shrouded woods. As we ran, whatever it was kept up with us. The tremors got more violent, and closer together. Then I began to hear the sound of something smashing through trees behind us.

Then, the smashing began to quiet down, and the tremors weaken.

"I think it's leaving!" Jaune shouted over the sound of the howling winds.

"Shut up Jaune!" Blake said, glaring at him hard enough to hear it in her voice.

Soon, the tremors were gone completely, it was as if it had actually left us. Something which was immediately suspicious.

Grimm don't run from a fight, not unless they found something more appetizing instead. I thought, narrowing my eyes.

Then the other possibility crossed my mind, Or, if they're old.

Those thoughts, however, left my mind as I saw what was up ahead. The ground sloped down into a bank, and then a dried up river bed. On the other side of the river bed, however, was a small cliff. It was large enough to be an obstacle to us.

This appeared to be a bend in the old river, with this side being the part that the river wore away more. To our left and right the river curved away from us.

"Well, Shit." Jaune cursed.

"Which way do we go?" He asked.

"We could jump over the ridge," Pyrrha suggested.

"No." Jaune and I both declined at the same time, which earned me an odd look from the boy.

"Why not? It wouldn't be too hard." Blake asked with a raised brow.

Honestly, I didn't feel like. Behind that, there was a lot of logic and tactical reasons as for why not, but the biggest reason was because my head hurt, I was tired, and I didn't feel like.

Still, they didn't need to know that.

"Climbing up the ridge will take too much time," I argued, using one of my many reasons.

"And, it'd be easier for us to fight in this open area, rather than in the thickly wooded forest." Jaune added.

Now it was my turn to give him an odd look. While he wasn't totally wrong, he wasn't as correct as he thought he was.

"Well, the left side does turn towards the evac zone. I suppose we could walk down it." Blake admitted, slowly coming over to our side as she put a hand up to her mouth in consideration.

Pyrrha sighed, realizing that she was outnumbered now, and it would be faster to just go with it than argue anymore.

"Alright, I guess we can take the river bed." She relented, waving her hand to the left.

So, take the river bed we did. As we walked, the river bed eventually deepened, turning into sort of small ravine or valley, while continuing to head in the same basic direction of the evac point.

Then a buzzing coming from our scrolls alerted us to another message. I didn't bother to take mine out, I knew that one of the others would inevitably vocalize what they sent. We didn't bother stopping while they took out their scrolls, seeing as we had little time to waste standing around.

"They've upgraded the storm warning from Tornado Watch, to a Warning." Pyrrha said, concerned but her face holding a question.

"What does that mean?" She asked, looking up from her scroll.

I heard Blake curse under her breath, and I could practically feel the fear radiating off Jaune.

I myself looked up in the sky, and could now see the funnel definitely forming from the clouds above.

"It means that we're running out of time," Blake answered with a grimace.

She was right, it would probably fully form in under 30 minutes. We didn't have much time to get back.

"We can't outrun a Tornado, not on foot," Jaune added fearfully.

Not if we were unlucky. Technically, it could be heading in the opposite direction as us, be very slow, small, or weak. But, if we were unlucky, it would be a fierce twister lasting for nearly ten minutes, and moving at a little over 100 mph.

And knowing a certain someone, we would be very unlucky.

And with that Pyrrha got a determined look on her face.

"Well then, I guess we'll just have to hurry then." She responded with steeled confidence.

No sooner had she said that than did I feel that same sensation as earlier. Along with me, I could feel Blake twitch in reaction to the presence.

"Guys I think I he-" She began to warn them, but she didn't get the chance.

CRASH!

The shadowy beast smashed through the tree line to our left, jumping down from the ridge. It almost landed on top of us. In an effort to dodge, Blake and Pyrrha rolled forward. Jaune, trying to protect me, instinctively pulled me back away from it.

It landed with a resounding THUD! Kicking up a large cloud of dust, and sending a tremor through the ground from the impact.

When the dust cleared, standing in the middle of a small crater was very old, very large, and very hungry, Death Stalker.

The little ravine we had found ourselves in wasn't terribly wide. It had enough room to move around comfortably, but it could easily block any attempt to run past it.

Meaning, in order to proceed onwards, we would need to kill it.

I frowned.

I really, really, hate you, Lucifer


Pyrrha pov

Scarlet.

That's what my existence was filled with.

When we had gotten the alert about the Tornado, I felt the pressure in my head grow. It was still there, slowly increasing. But, with the added stress of outrunning the wrath of the sky itself, I felt it redouble its efforts to crush me.

Still, I pushed past it. I felt like it was up to me, in a way, to save my team. I suppose I could rely on Blake too, if I had to, but I never really was one for teams or partners. It's always only been up to me, for as long as I can remember. Whenever it came down to it, whenever I had to fight, there was no one I could rely on for support.

So, I wasn't even sure how to rely on Blake, nor any of the others. So, I felt like it was all up to me. Sure, the idea of getting all of us through the storm and a Grimm infested forest seemed daunting, but I would do it.

I wouldn't let the stress get to me. I would not fail, and I would not crumble.

Then the Death Stalker landed in front of us.

It was old, if the scars and moss on its armor were anything to go by. It probably knew the layout of this forest better than us, having lived here for, perhaps, centuries.

That's probably how it cornered us, it knew where we were going and the fastest way to cut us off, that's why it broke off pursuit earlier. That meant it was smart, very smart, which was not a good sign.

But none of that was the worst part for me. They were bad, but I could overcome them. What was bad, was that it reminded me of my dream. It reminded me of the Death Stalker in my nightmare that picked me up by its claw, crushed me, and defeated me.

It reminded me of my death.

That memory, that reminder, was the last nail in the coffin. It was the final push needed. The walls in my mind were already fit to burst under the pressure of trying to save all of us, of trying to outrun a storm, of trying to survive in Grimm infested forest, of trying to make friends, of trying to be a nice, normal girl, and most of all, of trying not to fail.

So, when I was reminded of my gruesome death, of my failure, of my loss, the pressure in my mind exploded.

The walls fell apart, crumbling under its weight, and a torrent of scarlet came flooding in from all sides, overwhelming me. In that moment, I remembered everything.

They say just before you die, your life flashes before your eyes.

Well, I felt mine.

My entire life, my entire existence passed through my body. I felt every cut, every gash, every bruise and broken bone again. I smelled every scent of blood, shit, perfume, and dirt again. I could taste, everything I've ever had in my mouth, flesh, blood, water, salad, and so much more. I could hear, every scream, every cry of triumph, every applause, and every disappointment.

I experienced every single moment of my life, all over again, from birth to now, in the span of a few seconds. I remembered everything I had been, could be, and was. I recalled that which was my existence, and that which made me, me.

And my existence was filled with red.

A flood of crimson filled my mind, pushing everything else out. I could do nothing right now, I couldn't even breath. I couldn't even feel the world around me. Everything was crimson, everything was wet, was iron, was thick, was muffling. It was suffocating me, drowning me, and I could nothing about it.

I was a prisoner in my own mind.


Jaune Pov

This…this is really fucking bad. I thought fearfully.

Pyrrha was on the other side of the Death Stalker with Blake, and she was having…I don't know, some kind of panic attack? I couldn't really tell from here. She was on her knees clutching her head as if it was in agony.

Blake looked like she didn't really know what to do about it. I really couldn't blame her, I was terrified, after all.

I mean, we had just learned that if we didn't hurry up and get out of here, we would all probably die to a tornado, something we couldn't hope to defend against. Now, the only thing in our way, other than distance, was the easily the biggest, toughest, and meanest Grimm I had ever seen.

It was huge, nearly the size of a small house. It was also deadly, with those huge claws and glowing stinger. Worst of all, right now at least, was that it was heavily armored, if those thick, scarred plates of armor were anything to go by.

I don't even know how to begin to take something like that down, and now we have to do it before the sky kills us all. I thought, panicking inside.

Even worse, our best fighter, Pyrrha, was having some sort of breakdown. As much as I wanted to help and comfort her, there was a massive Death Stalker in my path, and a deadly tornado on the way. Something that we could really use her help with.

I looked to Blake, hoping she had some kind of plan, desperately clinging to the hope that one of them could get us out of this.

She was holding her weapons out defensively, her eyes darting across the Death Stalker's form, taking everything about it in. She was standing close to Pyrrha with a determined, if concerned, frown on her face. As far away as she was, I could see her mind racing through her eyes.

A twitch of movement out of the corner of my eye, matched by several tremors, shook me out of my thoughts.

Finally, it seemed the Death Stalker had decided to stop staring at us and do something. It turned from me and Lilith, instead looking towards Blake and Pyrrha. I could see Blake tense up, turning her head to shout at Pyrrha, but over these roaring winds I couldn't hear her.

So, as the Death Stalker loudly screeched at them, Pyrrha just sat there, kneeling in pain. As it crawled up to the two of them, she did nothing.

Blake tried to distract it with her gun, shooting it in the face, but it ignored them. The bullets just pinged off its armor, no more than a minor annoyance. Worse still, it saw that one of its targets was vulnerable.

It walked up to her, the whole time Blake kept screaming her name, trying to get her to move, to fight, to do something other than just sit there and die. Tiring of Blake's interference, it swatted its claw at her, as if to shoo her away. She easily dodged it, but it forced her to move out of the way of its real target.

Continuing to ignore Blake's attempts to distract, it simply lumbered over to the scarlet haired girl until it loomed over her. Despite having the alabaster scorpion hovering over her, Pyrrha just sat there, clutching her head and squeezing her eyes closed shut in unseen agony.

After appraising her for a second, it decided to strike.

It slammed a massive claw into her side, sending her flying into the rocky ridge to the right of the ravine. She crashed into it hard enough to crack the wall, but still, she wasn't roused from her agony. The Death Stalker quickly made its way to where she lay, ignoring Blake's efforts to distract it.

The whole time I just stood there, looking at the scene in horror. I wanted to help, I wanted to save her, but I didn't know how. Blake, who had combat training, was hacking and slashing at it left and right, trying to get its attention. She tried to shoot it in-between the plates to anger it. Anything.

But nothing worked. The Death Stalker was dead set on finishing its target. So if Blake couldn't even get it to even glance at her, what good would I be? What could I possibly do?

Think dammit! It's going to kill her if you just stand there! You have to do something! I thought, anger flaring at my own helplessness

I tried to think of something I could do, but every time I tried to begin to think of a plan, my terror and panic overwhelmed my mind. Just like that nightmare, I felt my flame of courage sputter and die. However, whereas before it was simply consumed by fear, now it was snuffed out by despair.

Every time I tried to think of something, my subconscious just told me one thing.

You're all going to die here.

That one idea, that one concept, that one realization polluted every thought, every concept, and every dream I had.

I came here, to Beacon, to learn how to be a Huntsman, a hero, because I was tired of being weak. I didn't want to have anything like what happened to Alice ever happen again.

And yet…

Here it was, and once again I couldn't do a fucking thing to stop it. I couldn't do anything goddamn thing to save her. I couldn't do a damn thing to save any of us.

The Death Stalker, not waiting for us to come up with any other plans walked over to where Pyrrha landed. Blake, in an attempt to save the girl, ran towards the white scorpion once more from behind it.

She tried to jump onto it, but it swatted her away with its tail, not wanting to be distracted from its meal. Still, she managed to recover, and retaliate.

While Blake had her little fight with the Death Stalker, I felt a tug on my shirt. Looking down to my left, I saw Lilith staring up at me with those hollow silver eyes of hers.

The roaring winds were violently having their way with her cloak, threatening to tear it form her small form. Her black and red hair was freed from the bindings of her hood, and were similarly fluttering. Still, her body itself seemed unaffected by these things. She didn't seem to care about the wind itself getting in her eyes, nor any of the dust kicked up by it.

Her face was still the same blank alabaster canvas, nearly devoid of all emotion save for a small frown gracing it. Her eyes held a question hesitantly, as if she wasn't sure if she wanted to ask.

"Jaune, I-" She began before flinching at some unseen pain.

It was then that I remembered what she was saying about having a migraine. Being in this storm right now must be pure torture for her.

"What is it Lilith." I said with a grimace, constantly looking back towards Blake's solo duel with the Death Stalker.

I kept hoping that Pyrrha would get up and do…something, anything to get us out of this. I knew I couldn't do anything, but Pyrrha, she was amazingly strong, even stronger than Blake. She could probably take the Death Stalker out by herself, right?

But still, Lilith had captured my attention, so I turned back to her.

"I need you to do something." She began, gritting her teeth through the pain and yelling over the storm.

"Lilith, I don't have time for that, I need to figure out a plan to save Pyrrha!" I shouted back, letting the panic inside lash out at her.

Her frown turned into a scowl at my comment, "I know!" She shot back. Then she paused, taking a breath, and calming down a bit.

"I just…I have a way to take the Death Stalker out, I just need some time." She explained before glancing away.

"Lilith, we don't have time!" I argued, "Pyrrha's going to die!"

"And there's a Tornado coming, I know!" She shot back, clenching her fists tightly.

It's then that I noticed a small trickle of blood slowly crawling its way down from her nose.

"I just…I need you to protect me." She said more quietly, looking down, and tightening her grip on my shirt.

"…Lilith…I-" I began to say, stunned by her request.

She had never said anything like that before, never asked for help. She looked so vulnerable, like a sad, scared little doll. But…

I couldn't. I couldn't do anything. I couldn't save Alice, I couldn't save Pyrrha, and I won't be able to protect Lilith. I'm not a hero, and this isn't like the dream. I can't win just by willing it. That weird glowing thing isn't going to come in and save me this time.

I was far out of my depth, and I knew it.

"Please." She insisted suddenly, looking up with those silver eyes, but this time, they weren't so hollow. This time, they were filled with…agony. Agony and fear. She was scared of something, and she was in agonizing pain.

Her lip quivered slightly, her eyes were gazing into mine with such hope and fear, and her grip on my shirt was doing its best to tear a hole in it. Looking at her like this, she reminded me of my little sister again, looking up to me to do something only I could do.

She reminded me a little of Alice too, when she looked at me that one final time.

And it was then that I realized it.

I might not be able to do anything about it, and I'm probably going to die, but that doesn't mean I have to just accept it. I thought, that little spark of courage lighting up in the void of despair inside my soul.

Even if its hopeless, I have to at least try, I have to do something, rather than just accept my fate.

And with that thought, my face hardened with determination. I was stilled scared out of my mind. In fact, that might be why I was deciding to go along with this, because I was terrified beyond logic.

I was staring death in the face either way, why not go out like a hero.

So, I nodded at her, my decision made. She looked relieved slightly, before flinching in pain again.

"Thanks Jaune, I knew I could trust you." She said quietly through grit teeth as she closed her eyes tightly. She released my shirt, letting me go.

So with that, I turned back to the Death Stalker, determined to do whatever I could to save her. To save us all.

I roared a battle cry, one that was immediately swallowed up by the storm. But it wasn't for them, it was all to pump me up, to get me mentally ready to throw my body at the Grimm if I had to.

So, raising my sword and shield, I ran at the scorpion, what I was trying to do unclear even to me. Right now I had no real strategy other than beat it with my sword till it stops attacking them

When I got up close to it, I swung my sword with all my might at its white-clad legs. With a Clang drowned out by the winds, my sword uselessly bounced off its armor. It didn't even seem to notice me.

Instead, its attention was directed towards Blake, who was currently shooting it in the face. It had raised its claws up to block her shots. I saw that one of its ten glowing red eyes had gone dark and was bleeding profusely.

In an attempt to give Blake an opening, I stabbed my sword at it again. Each time it just clanged off its armor uselessly, not even worthy of making it pause. Then, by luck or by fate, I managed to find a small chink in its armor.

With a random thrust, I managed to plunge my sword into the open joint where one of its legs connected to its body. The sword plunged deep into its obsidian underbody, bypassing its thick, armored carapace.

SCREECH!

The Death Stalker loudly roared at my intrusion. I pulled the sword from its hide, now steeped in red ichor, and smiled at my small success.

Maybe it's not so hopeless I thought, my confidence growing just enough to keep me afloat.

As I basked in my small victory, I failed to account for one, very important thing.

A counter attack.

I heard a quiet sound in the distance through the wind. It was whisper quiet, but it was there. It sounded vaguely like someone shouting my name Jaune.

Then, I was slammed by a massive force, and thrown into the left side of the ravine so hard I crashed through a layer of topsoil and rocks, covering me in a small pile of debris. I felt like I had been hit by a truck, and was briefly wondering why I wasn't dead.

That being said, I still felt like I broke something, and my entire body was enveloped in pain. I sat there for a minute, feeling my subconscious calling me to sleep. Given the pain in my body, as well as the soft numbness flowing through me, I considered allowing my mind to fall to the void.

"Pyrrha!" A voiced scream through the dull, but deafening roar of the winds. The voice was hoarse, desperate, and scared. Even worse, it was Blake's.

The cry was met with the feeling of several tremors shaking body, going off in a steady rhythm. Shocked out of my pained stupor, I jolted awake, struggling to get out of the small mountain of debris.

I wish I hadn't.

When I managed to climb out, I saw a sight that chilled my blood and stopped my heart.

The Death Stalker was, once again, standing over where it had thrown Pyrrha. It was pummeling the ground with its massive claws. Each hit was drowned out by the wind, but the force of it was so powerful that is sent tremors through the earth. Each crushing blow on the earth sent up another cloud of dust into the air, a cloud quickly taken away by the wind. But that wasn't what scared me to my core.

It was the deep, wet, glistening, crimson stains covering its claws. Stains that hadn't been there before.

Pyrrha I thought, my eyes widening in horror. I didn't want to believe it. I wanted it to just be a dream again.

As my breath hitched in my throat, as my heart bleed with agony in my chest, as I felt my body grow cold, I could only think of one thought, over and over again.

No


Blake pov

I stood there, frozen in horror at the scene before me.

When Jaune was knocked back by its counter attack, I ran to him. Against all my training, and all my instincts, I ran to him. I was scarred for him, I wasn't sure he'd have survived something like that. He got hit harder than Pyrrha by its claw, hard enough to send him into the ravine's wall.

While I was distracted, the Death Stalker took the opportunity to finish what it had started with Pyrrha. Before I could intervene, it began pounding on her, each blow bringing up a massive cloud of dust and debris. I could only barely hear each thunderous blow with my enhanced hearing, but even then, it did me no good.

I shouted her name, trying to rouse her, to get help, to do something.

"PYRRHA!" I screamed, running my voice ragged.

But still, the Death Stalker continued. Then its claws became covered in crimson as the burst through her defenses. Then just for good measure, it gave her another few good smashes.

It stared at its work for a while, as if trying to decide if she was dead enough. As the dust over her cleared, a pile of rubble from the wall she had been laying against, stained red, lay in her place. A pool of blood oozed from the pile, spilling out onto the ground around her new grave.

My voice hitched in my throat as a myriad of emotions erupted from my soul, and threatened to consume me. I could feel my blood run cold, my heart shatter, and my throat tighten.

I had seen comrades fall in combat before, it wasn't something terribly new to me. I had even seen friends and family die in front of me.

That never made it better.

Each time they died, I still felt like a little piece of my soul went with them. After so long in the White Fang, after seeing so much death, I almost thought myself without one anymore. Then came that one mission, one of my last. It reminded me that beneath everything I had done, I was still a person, and more than that, this wasn't the answer.

It wasn't what truly convinced me to leave, but it was the first nail in the coffin. It opened my eyes to the possibility that what I was doing might not be the answer. And from there, everything unraveled.

So, I left, trying to find a better way. I thought becoming a huntress would be a good start. They're supposed to be heroes, after all. So, I came here, seeking the answer to my questions, trying to bring about equality without all this bloodshed.

And when I met Jaune, I was inspired by a little hope. He was just so…innocent…really. He was weak, incredibly so, but he didn't really seem resentful about it. He knew he was weak, and that was one of the reasons he was here.

I can't say I've known him long, but along with him, Pyrrha, and Lilith, I've gotten along with them better than any other humans I knew. Sure, that wasn't really saying a lot, but it still gave me a small degree of hope.

And now that hope was dying.

Everyone was dying around me, and I couldn't do anything about it. I had done everything I could to protect them, to keep everyone alive, but it hadn't been enough.

No no no no nonononono I thought as my mind ran wild with panic that threatened to consume me.

Seeing her die like that hurt, agonizingly so. I clutched my head, my hands digging into my onyx hair as my knees buckled, threatening to fail me.

Then I stopped, and took a breath.

Like I said, it wasn't the first time something like this had happened to me. While I can't say I was truly use to it, I had learned ways to push it down. I had learned how to shove the feelings down, and lock them in a safe inside my mind, for the time being at least.

If I hadn't, I would have been overcome by feelings of grief a long time ago. Those finely honed instincts came in to help block out the pain and fear, helping me to focus.

That said, I can't really say I'm great at it. I've certainly been compromised by my feelings and emotions before, and it'll probably happen again.

Still, it was enough to keep me from losing my mind from grief and despair.

It was thanks to that that I was able to regain my wits fast enough to hear rocks falling and the shuffling of dirt behind me. I turned, and to my relief and surprise, Jaune was digging his way out of his would-be tomb. But the look on his face reminded me of something important.

Jaune didn't have my experience.

His eyes were wide and watery, his movements frantic. I could see it in his eyes, he knew what he saw, he just didn't want to believe it.

"Pyrrha!" He shouted desperately, his voice little more than a whisper in this storm.

He quickly dug his way out of his pile of rubble, before running over to where her tomb lay.

Before he could senselessly run to his death, I grabbed him by the arm, jerking him to a stop.

"Pyrrha!" He screamed again, reaching out for her crude grave.

"Jaune!" I shouted at him, trying to break him out of it.

"Let me go Blake, she need our help!" He yelled back at me, tears streaming from his reddened eyes. Nearly as soon as they fell from his eyes, the rough winds carried them away into the sky.

"She's Dead!" I shouted back, trying to get it through his thick skull.

"No! I need to save her!" He denied.

As he did, the Death Stalker soon determined that it had accomplished its work, and slowly turned toward us.

Seeing this, I yanked Jaune toward me before grabbing onto both shoulders and shaking him.

"Stop it Jaune! You need to Focus!" I shouted at him, trying to shake him out of it.

"Let me go dammit! How can you see that and feel nothing!" He screamed at me.

SLAP!

I glared at him angrily.

"How Dare you say that!" I growled at him

He stood there, frozen. His face red from my slap and his head still pointing away from me. I could see him trembling as he tried to hold in his sobs. His lips quivered as he tried to keep himself together.

"I'm sorry I just-" He tried to say, his voice quivering and wet.

"I don't want to fucking hear it." I interrupted him.

I could understand him, I really could, but this wasn't the time for the waterworks. We could have a heart to heart when we got out of this.

Seeing a flash of movement to my left, I pulled Jaune back away with me.

Where he stood not seconds ago, an explosion of dirt and debris erupted with a loud Boom! That just managed to be heard over the roaring winds. In his place, was the glowing yellow stinger of the Death Stalker.

Jaune looked at me with those watery eyes with a tinge of relief. Ignoring it, I pushed him away from the Death Stalker, before dodging a blow sent for me.

In order to get some distance from the dangerous Grimm, we began to run from it. As we did, I did what I could to formulate a plan.

"Jaune, do you know where your sword and shield are?" I asked.

He nodded numbly at me, his eyes still wide open and watery from the horror he'd seen.

"Okay, then I'm going to need you to get them and distract the Death Stalker." I said to him.

He looked to me with wide eyes and a mouth opened in protest.

"Your shield can take anything it throws at you, you'll be fine." I said, trying to encourage him.

He stared at me for a moment, not really sure what to do with this, before he made his decision. He closed his mouth into a firm, determined, line. His eyes narrowed seriously, and the glaze lowered. They were still red and watery, but behind that was a layer of determination.

"Okay, if that's what you need." He said. His voice still quivered a bit, but it had gained a measure of steel in it that wasn't there a moment ago.

"It is." I replied, feeling relieved that he was out of it for now.

"I'll distract it while you look for your weapons. When you find them, strike its legs, and we'll switch. We'll have to keep doing it till it dies." I said, giving him the plan before turning back to the Death Stalker heading toward us.

Before I could attack it, however, Jaune grabbed my shoulder.

"Wait." He said "Lilith told me something."

"Where the hell is she, anyway?" I asked, annoyed at her lack of presence.

"She said she needed some time to do something to take it down. Something that would be faster than your plan." He told me.

I looked at him skeptically, but given the steeled belief in his eyes, I figured I would just have to trust him.

"Fine." I bit out.

It was the only real chance we had. Even as fundamentally solid as my plan was, it had a lot of holes in it. One of the biggest was the fact that this tactic would take a long time to kill it. We'd have to slowly disable it before we could hope to land the killing blow, and that would take time. Time we didn't have, thanks to the storm.

The tornado would be here in any minute, and we didn't have time to waste slowly disabling it. At the same time, however, it could easily catch up with us in these winds and this ravine if we tried to run. The winds would blow us around and slow us down, while the massive Death Stalker would be barely encumbered by it. Even now, it was quickly gaining on us.

We had to kill it if we wanted to get away. So, our only hope was that Lilith would keep her word.

The second I relented to the plan, Jaune's face brightened a little bit. I couldn't say he looked happy, but there was certainly less grim despair on it.

"Good." He said before he split off and ran back to the pile of rubble he had been buried under.

I looked behind me to see the Death Stalker was still there. I turned the rest of my body, pulling out Gambol, and taking several shots at its eyes. With the winds as fierce as they were, my shots were carried off the mark a bit, though not so much as to completely throw it off, not at this range.

Finally, a lucky shot got another one of its eyes, causing it to screech again in rage. It ran toward me with added haste, completely forgetting Jaune.

Just before it ran me over, I used a clone to dodge to the left. I rolled, and came up firing at it. It slowly turned around, before slinging its stinger at me. Using another clone, I flipped over it, landing back several feet from the newly formed crater.

I took another couple of potshots at it, hoping to get another one of its eye. Unfortunately, once again, it had learned from the pain, and was now shielding it's eyes with its massive claws. Cursing the adaptability of the old Grimm, I quickly reloaded before I was forced to backflip out of the way of another of its strikes.

Spotting a flash of movement out of the corner of my eyes, I glanced toward it.

Good I thought, seeing that Jaune had recovered his weapons, and was now making his way toward the Death Stalker.

Attempting to distract it some more, I continued to fire at its face, regardless of how effective it would be. Once again shielding its eyes, it was completely unaware of Jaune flanking it.

With a battle cry silenced by the howling winds, he plunged his sword deep into the joint of the Death Stalker, completely avoiding its armor.

The Death Stalker screeched in rage, but once again, it was canceled out by the storm. It turned toward him and attempted to impale him with its stinger. Jaune managed to bring up his shield in time, getting into a basic blocking stance. The stinger bounced off his shield, though Jaune was pushed back by the sheer force of the blow.

As the Death Stalker reared back for another retaliatory blow, I made my move.

With finely honed accuracy, I swung Gambol's whole blade down on the crack between plates on its leg. Putting all the strength I had in it, I cut through the weaker, black exoskeleton, the muscle, and tendons, before exiting the other side. A spray of the beast's blood spurted out of the wound immediately after I made the cut, and the Grimm roared in pain as one of its legs fell to the ground.

As its thick, crimson, ichor fell to the ground, the Death Stalker slowly turned to me. It tried to lash out with its claw, but was too slow. It struck with its tail, but again, I dodged. As Jaune made a move for its other side, I drew Gambol's pistol and attempted to fire.

Before I could, however, a brief flash of lightning in the behind the Death Stalker blinded my sensitive eyes. I was only stunned for a moment, but that's all it needed.

Using the opening. The Death Stalker slammed me with its right claw, throwing me far to the left.

It felt like getting hit by a car, and though my Aura technically protected me, it still hurt like hell. I landed with a wet splash, and another explosion of pain.

Wait, a splash? I wondered, curious as to why I would have landed in something wet in this dried up river bed.

I opened my eyes, expecting to see myself covered in dark brown mud. Instead, it was as dark crimson.

Instantly my eyes shot wide open as I looked around where I had landed. I was lying in a pool of blood.

Pyrrha's blood I realized as I saw her impromptu tombstone of rubble.

As I sat there, horrified and disgusted at the prospect of being covered in my own teammate's remains, I felt a series of tremors approach me. I looked up, seeing the Death stalker, looming over me.

Based on how much I ached, I was willing to bet my Aura was almost completely gone, meaning I probably couldn't take another hit. Even worse, I had dropped Gambol Shroud when I was sent flying, leaving me completely defenseless.

I looked around desperately for it, and instead found Jaune running over to me through the howling winds, trying to shout over them. They slowed him down and drowned him out, leaving him far behind. But…the wind wasn't the only thing drowning him out.

I could hear again, that buzzing sound that so resembled a speaker, or radio turned on, but not playing anything. I had heard it before, in my dream, at the cliffs, and now again, here. I couldn't begin to guess what it meant, not with my death closing in on me.

I could hear my heart beating loudly in my chest as my instincts screamed at me to move. And I tried, but my body was slow to act, and I struggled to get up. The sound of static warred with both the wind and my heart, each trying to vie for dominance of my ears. Each one roaring loud enough to deafen me.

So, as I sat there, struggling to escape my fate, time seemed slow. The Death Stalker slowly raised its stinger high into the air, preparing to bring it down upon my head.

As it did, the dull humming began to win the war of sound, growing loudly. That's when I realized, it had a source. I turned my head, my curiosity somehow overriding my fear, and what I saw not only surprised me, it terrified me.

Standing there, with an arm outstretched, her eyes closed shut, and her cloak billowing violently in the wind, was Lilith. She had that same feeling as when I first met her, except magnified

She seemed to be mumbling something, and with each word, the static grew louder and louder.

She opened her eyes, and instead of being a hollow silver, now they were a pure, solid, silvery white. There was no white, no iris, and no pupil. Nothing but that disquieting silver white that shook me to my core.

The second she opened her eyes, the entire world grew deathly quiet. No static, no wind, no heartbeat, nothing. It's like all sound had been driven from this world, too scared to act.

Then, out of the deadly silence, there was a deafening Snap

Then everything exploded in light.

CRACK!


A/n: Cliffhangers!

Told you the red girl died

Yeah, that's not the original note it was supposed to end on, but the original note would have added another 2-4K words so...yeah.

Still, the epic conclusion to this awesome tale shall be coming inside a week.

I wanted to get this out before January ended, because I said that I would, and I did.

Expect a revision to come for it relatively soon

Also, no, it's not a dream

I'm not pulling that same shit again, at least, not this time

In any case, this fight went through a ton of different variations, and the end result, for now, was this.

It has been through so many different alterations, it barely resembles what it first looked like.

Again, I'm not entirely sure if I like everything I've done in here, especially the more emotional scenes

Please, tell me what you thought of everything, I'll see what I can do about it, so long as nothing plot changing occurs.

I'm also kinda nervous about some of the things I'm doing in this and the next chapter.

They're really, really, big, and they're not things I can change, they're central to the plot.

I can change how I portray them, perhaps even delay them, but i can't take them out entirely without fundamentally changing the story.

So yeah, I'm a little worried about how you'll react to them.

I'm also a little worried about certain characters seeming OOC, but not in a way I want to, or can reasonably fix.

This is kind of because of what I've done to several of the major ones.

I took what i already knew of their backstory, motivations, and history, and tried to enhance it from there.

Then I went back to actually writing the characters, and trying as hard as possible to go in depth with them.

In some places, I might have written myself into a hole by making it so a character can't be exactly how they were in canon, not logically speaking anyway.

If it doesn't make much sense, then I'm sorry, it's really hard to explain it without giving everything away.

That said, I haven't completely changed anyone, its not like Blake actually had a hunger for human flesh, or Jaune an overpowered swaggerific rapist. It's just, some people might be a little...off

Well, other than Ruby. Ruby is very, very different, but you could already tell that.

Well, actually, so is that one person, kinda.

Shit, this is harder than I thought to explain without spoiling everything.

That said, I'm not trying to completely deviate from canon.

I'm using canon as a guideline for what should have happened, had a certain set of changes not occurred. This won't always be the case, but that's the mindset I go with when I try to write this thing

Some things, aren't really cannon at all, but I felt could reasonably be cannon.

For example, the Watchmen

They...are an idea that kind of ran away from me, but in a good way.

Honestly its all Torchwick's fault.

But I still like them, a lot.

That said, this isn't going to turn into Watchmen tales, they just serve a purpose in certain points, don't panic.

In any case, you'll learn more soon, and I hope to see you again.

And remember, tell me if you like something I did.

It helps me know what I nailed, and what I need to improve.

See you soon