Now we're getting into the fun parts of the story I think. There's going to be another question at the bottom though.

Cptnsaveahoe916- Close, but not quite. Amity Colosseum (which is what I assume you're referring to when you talk about Vytal) was conceived of more than 1900 years after the fall of Sanctuary using modern technology. The Bastion is purely arcane, much more complex and, most importantly, much bigger than Amity Colosseum.

Bookah- Yes, Ozpin's going to be having a fun time when Aurelius returns, mostly trying to keep the sage from murdering a certain general. As it stands, he won't have much of a direct personal impact on the Battle of Beacon except in one specific spot. Also, I remembered one of your earlier reviews and I think you might like Aurelius' part of this chapter.

Before I begin this chapter, I'd like to say there's going to be a few things guaranteed to disrupt my goal of a daily upload schedule. Monday next week I'll be losing quite a bit of down time to an appointment, so I most likely won't be able to get a chapter out that day. After that, Mondays and some Thursdays are probably going to result in either a shorter chapter or none at all since someone convinced me to try a RWBY tabletop game. Lastly, and least related to the story at all, a DLC is being released for one of my favorite games on the 21st, so I may or may not miss a day due to that. Also, once we reach the end of volume 4's events, I'll have to slow down while I try to figure out what I want to happen. Weekly or monthly updates are likely after that, with the chance of there being two updates in a week being possible.

Now then, let's start with the chapter.

Chapter 20: Heartache, Dust, and Rebirth

Beacon Academy Ballroom

Ruby let out a sigh as she watched Yang and Weiss argue. "Weiss! I though we agreed, no doilies!" Honestly, Ruby couldn't care less about the dance, but she didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings.

Weiss glared at the blonde before speaking up, the temperature of the room bouncing randomly as their tempers fueled their semblances unconsciously. "If I don't get doilies, you don't get fog machines!" Their argument was cut short by the sound of the door closing as Neptune and Sun stepped through.

"Your dance is going to have fog machines?" Neptune said with a smile, causing Weiss to perk up as the room's temperature returned to normal.

"We were thinking about it," she said, holding her hands in front of her while Ruby let out a frustrated sigh.

"That's pretty cool," Neptune said before Sun stepped up.

"You ladies all excited for dress up?"

Ruby scoffed before Yang responded. "Laugh all you want pup, I'll be turning heads tomorrow night!"

Weiss glanced back at the two boys before speaking up. "What are you two wearing?"

"Uh, this…" Sun said, gesturing down at his current outfit as Neptune stepped in front of him.

"Forgive him, for he knows not what heresy he speaks." Sun quickly pushed Neptune away.

"Hey, I might have moved to Mistral, but I grew up in Vacuo. It's not exactly a shirt-and-tie kind of place."

Yang rolled her eyes. "Yeah, we've noticed…" Ruby's ears perked up at this before she glanced at Neptune.

"Do you know everyone who came here from Mistral?" The blue-haired boy blinked at this.

"I mean, I'd like to think I know all the cool people, but there's still a few here I haven't met. It's a big school, there's no way I could know everyone." Ruby let out a frustrated sigh at this. "Sorry."

Ruby nodded. "It's okay, I was just curious."

Sun glanced around. "So, uh… What does Blake think about all this? She still being all, ya know… Blake-y?"

Weiss crossed her arms and sighed. "Obviously." Ruby leaned against her arm as she spoke up.

"I still can't think of a way to change her mind…"

"Guys…" Yang started with a grin. "Trust me, Blake will be at the dance tomorrow." The rest of the room's occupants watched as the blonde walked out, intent on hunting down her partner.

With Yang and Blake

Blake let out a frustrated sigh as her blonde partner dragged her into a random classroom. "Yang, if you're going to tell me to stop, you might as well save your breath."

The blonde let out a sigh before she spoke up. "I don't want you to stop. I want you to slow down."

Blake turned to glare at her partner. "We don't have the luxury to slow down!"

"It's not a luxury, it's a necessity."

"The necessity is stopping Torchwick!"

"And we're going to. But first I just want you to listen to what I have to say."

Blake sighed before answering. "Fine…"

"Ruby and I grew up in Patch, it's an island just off the coast of Vale. Our parents were Huntsmen… Our dads taught at Signal, and Ruby's mom, Summer would take on missions and try to organize with the few remaining Roses left to try and help the kingdoms as best she could. She was, like, super-mom. Baker of cookies and slayer of giant monsters. Even though I wasn't her daughter she still treated me like one… And then, one day, she was meeting up with two other members of the Rose family to speak to the Vale Council when this guy attacked them in the middle of the street outside the government building. A Rose Hunt, right in the heart of Vale… And he killed all three of them, he made it look so easy too." Yang took a deep breath as her eyes turned red.

"It was tough on Ruby… It was tough on all of us. My dad, Taiyang took it pretty hard since Summer was like a sister to him, I guess, but it wasn't the first time he lost someone he cared about." Yang glanced up, her eyes back to their normal lilac color. "He fell in love with the other girl on his team, Qrow's twin sister, and they really got along for a while, at least until I was born… Then my mom just left my dad to take care of me on his own. It wasn't until after he shut down that I actually got upset that my mom abandoned me I guess. It was always so much easier to pretend I was a twist of fate, that I was a human born to a faunus mother, than it was to sit and wonder why my real mom abandoned me."

Yang leaned against the wall for a moment. "I didn't know the answer, but when Summer was alive, I didn't think I needed one. But once she died… It wasn't so easy to ignore the truth or how much it hurt when dad completely shut down, Ruby kept asking why Summer wasn't coming back, and Uncle Qrow started drinking away his misery. I tried so hard to find the answer… It was all I thought about for a while. One day I found something that I thought might lead me to answers or even my mom if I was lucky…" Yang let out a sigh and Blake looked down sadly. "When my dad left that day, I put Ruby in a wagon and just started walking off into the wilderness. It felt like I walked for hours, but I didn't care."

"By the time I got to this old cabin I was exhausted, but I wasn't going to let anything stop me, not when I was so close… But then the Grimm came out of the woods and there wasn't anything I could do. If Uncle Qrow hadn't been following us…" Yang stopped and looked away.

Blake sighed. "Yang, I'm sorry that happened to you, and I understand what you're trying to tell me, but this is different! I'm not a child, and this isn't just a search for answers, I can't just-"

"I told you, I'm not asking you to stop! I haven't stopped looking for answers either. I still want to know what happened to my mom and why she left me, but I'm not going to let it control me. We're going to find the answers we're looking for Blake, but if we destroy ourselves in the process, then what good are we?"

"You don't understand! I'm the only one that can do this!"

Yang turned around, eyes red as the temperature spiked. "No, you don't understand! If Roman Torchwick walked through that door right now, do you honestly think you could stop him in your state? What if he's working for someone like the guy that killed Summer? Someone that could murder three Roses just as easily as Ruby could kill a pack of Beowolfs? You couldn't even stop me right now, you wouldn't be able to stop Torchwick, you can't fight Ruby, and there's no way you can fight whoever Torchwick's working for!" Yang took a deep breath and wrapped Blake in a hug. "I'm not asking you to stop. Just please, get some rest… Not just for you, but for the people that care about you and the people you care about…" Yang let go before she started to walk away. "And if you feel like coming out tomorrow… I'll save you a dance." Yang smiled and winked at the cat faunus before walking out of the room.

Sanctuary Ruins, the Rose Garden

Greene shivered as she glanced across the field. Like everything on Draconys, the shriveled and dead plants made the place feel even more ominous than normal. The fact that each of the dead rose bushes was planted on top of a grave made things worse. She glanced back at Aurelius, watching him carefully carve lines of Dust into pieces of metal, using Dust to shape each piece into a segment of armor as he did so. "How can Dust even do any of this?" The sage sighed as he continued his work.

"There's more to Dust than you know. On top of the elemental attribute of Dust, every piece falls into one of three broad categories: Essentia, Materia, and Animus. "Essentia" is the type of Dust most people think of when they're talking about Dust and was the first type discovered. "Materia" is the type most think of when talking about Dust used by Sanctuary since it was used to make the Dust lattices that everything from Sanctuary uses to function. "Animus" is the rarest and most complex of the three due to its origins." Greene blinked.

"Okay, and are you willing to explain?" Aurelius sighed.

"If it'll get me an hour of peace and quiet to finish this Dust matrix, then fine. I'm sure you noticed that, in all the meticulous records found both in Point Refuge and here in the city of Sanctuary, there were no mentions of Dust mines." The fox faunus nodded hesitantly before Aurelius stood up, walking down the rows and gesturing for her to follow. "The simple reason is, Dust, even Essentia Dust, isn't just some rock you dig out of the ground. It's far more complex and far more serious than that." He glanced back to see if the woman was listening before he continued. "The first form of Dust, Essentia, gets its name from its original source. Back before Point Refuge was even a village, I had a childhood friend that did everything with me. We played, we ate, we even stood on watch against the Grimm together. One day, the poor boy was attacked by a Beowolf." Aurelius glanced to the side, eyes glazing over. "I don't remember much of what happened, only that I destroyed the Grimm and went to try and save my friend, only to find him dead… I did something, something I've long ago sworn I would never again teach someone how to replicate, and managed to create the first Dust crystal in existence without intending to." Aurelius stopped before looking at the wide-eyed faunus.

"You see, Dust and the Grimm are polar opposites. While the Grimm feed off negative emotions, Dust is, essentially, what happens when you give the energy of our positive emotions a physical form. Essentia, the most common and basic form of dust, could only be formed by draining the energy released when someone died. I made a grave mistake in sharing this with others, and when the First Triumvirate formed, they slowly fell into a state of decadence. As their reliance on Dust to make their own lives easier grew, they quickly found themselves needing more than they could get form people dying of old age or disease… So they relaxed their vigil. While I would try to reach a village before the Grimm could kill anyone, the sages under the Triumvirate would wait until a few people were killed, then move in and exploit the situation. While I looked for another solution, they stood stagnant, so when I confronted them and they refused to listen, I left… And things almost fell apart because I lost faith. While I was living in the wilderness, I met a few people and helped them as best as I could and eventually fell in love, a story for another time."

"It was my daughter and a few of her friends that reminded me that there is still good in the world and encouraged me to continue helping those that needed help, and it was because of them I discovered a better, more ethical method with my semblance." He held up the Dust crystal he had removed from his staff to do the inscriptions. "I created this, the first "Animus" Dust crystal. I'm sure you've noticed how, sometimes, if someone's truly happy it has a way of brightening a room, correct?" Greene nodded before he continued. "Animus works in the most wonderful way: rather than drain energy from someone when they die to create Dust, Animus draws energy from the aura of positive energy people create when they're happy, charging themselves and, if allowed, growing when they can't hold any more energy to increase how much they can hold. Animus crystals do not break apart like Essentia when the energy is depleted, but remain dormant until a source of power comes close enough to charge them. Through this, certain constructs could be made to hold an Animus "seed" crystal, let it grow to a certain point, and then harvest its power to create Essentia or, if need be, Materia, the type used to create the Dust matrices and lattices used to power all Draconian technology. Materia, however, can't grow like Animus can, but it can be charged through a semblance or by Animus if need be."

Greene blinked. "So, you created a way of keeping people safe and happy that's powered by that and makes it easier to keep them safe and happy?" Aurelius nodded.

"In a way. This also serves a second purpose: just as positive emotions repel the Grimm, a sufficiently large and charged Animus crystal can weaken Grimm in the area. Sadly, it seems that when I was forced to sacrifice myself, none of the other sages were willing or able to ensure everything remained functional, and everything quickly decayed."

Greene nodded before continuing hesitantly. "S-so… Where did all the… "Essentia" that we use today come from? You said it wasn't just sitting in the ground when you were alive." Aurelius let out a sigh as he glanced up at the sky.

"My death might have something to do with it… The area we went to looked the way it did because I chose to destroy myself to end the threat that's left all of Draconys this corrupted wasteland, and I suppose the excess energy had to go somewhere. It's entirely possible that, when I died, my soul fueled the conversion of large parts of Remnant being turned into Essentia Dust." He glanced down at the grave in front of him with a sigh, staff quickly turning into a sword before he walked back to his project, assembling the last few pieces into shape.

Greene glanced at his work. "What is this anyways? I know it doesn't look like any of the Sentinels or Goliaths wandering the city."

Aurelius hummed quietly. "An Avatar, the most complex of all Draconian automatons. Most sages are lucky if they can even assemble one, let alone activate it. If I get this to work, I doubt I'd be able to make more than one here."

Greene nodded before Aurelius placed the sword on top of the armor, wrapping the hands around the hilt on its chest. "Why are you doing that exactly?"

Aurelius smiled before he placed his hand on the nearby tombstone. "I'm just returning the sword to its rightful owner… This is the first time anyone's attempted to truly activate one of these."

"W-what do you mean returning it to its owner?"

Aurelius ignored her and instead spoke to the stone. "Adrienne, it's time for you to return. I'll need your help if we're going to succeed against the traitor."

The armor started glowing before it contorted, metal plates becoming flesh and bone covered in a simple black shirt and pants, followed by an orange cloak. The woman took a slow breath before opening her eyes, glancing at the sky before frowning. "Grandpa Auri, what happened?" The sage smiled sadly before he responded.

"Our family's sacrifices were almost in vain. Besides us, there's only one of us left alive, a young wolf faunus. I need your help for what's to come." Adrienne adjusted her grip on the sword, smiling at the familiarity of it before she got up.

"I'd be glad to help out. Sleep is for the weak anyways." The girl said cheerfully before sliding the blade into its sheath and glancing around. "We can't let this get any worse, after all…"

Aurelius nodded before the staff formed from the Dust crystal in his hand as he stood up. "Then there's only one place left to go here in the city of Sanctuary. After that, we just need to make one more trip." The two women behind him nodded before following after him.

"So, I'm Adrienne, who are you exactly?"

The fox faunus glanced at the woman next to her nervously. "A-Alex Greene."

Beacon Academy, with Ruby

Ruby was wandering the school nervously, trying not to think about what she was doing. "Come on Ruby, you can do this. If not the dance, just ask if she wants to spar, take a walk, or just read or something! Nothing says you have to go to the dance tomorrow night, you could do anything with her!"

As Ruby turned a corner she saw the girl she was looking for. She smiled brightly as she went to catch up with her, stopping when she saw the girl walk up to a blue-haired boy. "Neptune, I've been looking for you!" Ruby quickly hid behind the corner before she was seen.

The boy glanced at her with a smile "Oh, hey Weiss, what's up?"

The heiress took a deep breath to collect her nerves. "Come on Weiss, you have to do this. You need to prove to yourself that Ruby's just a good friend, and this is the first step to do that!" "I know this is a little… unorthodox, but… I wanted to ask you something." Ruby let out a quiet whimper as her ears drooped a bit. "Would you… Like to accompany me to the dance tomorrow?"

Ruby quickly turned and walked away as quietly as she could, ears flat against her head and tail low to the ground, completely heartbroken. "Why did I think she'd have an interest in me anyways? She has her family image to uphold and probably thinks I'm still annoying with how much I like her music… Maybe I'll just spend tomorrow practicing or check up on that bug I put on Torchwick… If that doesn't work, I could just try some new music, right? Maybe it's better this way…"

And that was probably the hardest ending to a chapter for me to write. I feel bad for poor Ruby, but I had to have this happen for something else in the future.

As you can tell, Dust is meant to be a bit darker in this story because of its origin as well. This was something I'd planned for a while to show why Aurelius was so against the First Triumvirate and to show just how vastly different the world's become since his death.

Adrienne is back as well now. For those of you who don't remember her, Adrienne was one of Aurelius' grandchildren and the first Rose to sacrifice herself to save others instead of letting innocents die. It's her dedication to her ideals that led to the Rose family's values of willing self-sacrifice and unyielding defense of those who can't defend themselves. Like most members of the Rose family, her cloak color tells a lot about her. In this case, her cloak is orange, and like most orange Roses, she values energy, passion, and enthusiasm above all else. This means that she hates leaving a task unfinished if she can help it, distrusts anyone who hesitates, and despises people who don't have the courage to publicly stand up for their beliefs or abandon something before it's finished. She was Aurelius' favorite grandchild (and the only person that ever got away with calling him "grandpa Auri") and when she died Aurelius went out to personally retrieve her body, using her sword from that point on to always have part of her close by. If anyone's confused about what the "Primus Lapis" from the prologue was referencing now, it was actually talking about the Dust crystal he carries around. The term is Latin and translates into "The First Stone," a subtle nod to its significance to the lore of this story as the first Dust crystal that Aurelius himself found morally acceptable to use.

Now, for the question. As I'm sure people could guess, Aurelius and Adrienne are both human. Considering Ruby's claim that Aurelius made the faunus to help a family, do you think the two of them should turn into faunus at some point as well to fit in with the fact that every Rose in the last 1500 years would have been a faunus and accept what their family has become or do you think they should stay human due to their history?