Please enjoy, and constructive criticism is appreciated. (I do not own RWBY, but I do own all the OCs except three, Nick and Isabel, which belong to my real life friend, although I did design them; and Shade, who belongs to my online friend The Burning Ruler)

Blood of Grimm: Chapter 9

Valke awakens in a strange land, lying on the ground. He looks around, seeing deep pink clouds shrouding the sky, with purple crystal formations all around him. The earth is a deep reddish-pink. He stands up, noting his gear is in all the right places, and that the coagulant had worn off, meaning he had full movement again, and also that it had been at least twelve hours.

"So, you're finally up. That's good; now we can talk," a female voice says. It sounds strong and somewhat venomous, as though she had a reason to hate the world. He looks towards the voice's owner, and sees a woman on a staircase. She is dressed in a long dress, literally made of shadows, with red patterns on it, with bone white skin and hair. Her skin has red markings, and her eyes are black with pupils of an even deeper red than Valke's. She's standing on a staircase, which leads to an open cliff.

"Are you the one who revived Connor and Selyn? Look, thanks for the favor, but I don't really enjoy getting stabbed by the two people closest to me and getting abducted, you know? So tell me where they are and let me go."

"They're right here, although one was being… rebellious, so I have to punish them." Connor walks down the stairs, his weapons on his back, and stands in front of Valke. Selyn floats forward, bound in shadows. The mysterious woman places a small Grimm on Selyn that begins to shock her, causing Selyn to cry out in pain.

"STOP IT! What do you want?!"

"What do I want? I want you to fight against the Kingdoms for me." Valke runs up the stairs, slashing at her. She stops him by placing Selyn in front of him, stopping his attacks. He tries to free her, but shadows around her are too strong. He tries pulling, cutting, even shooting them, but to no avail. "You'll never free her like that. Surrender your will to me!" He keeps struggling. "Alright then, you can die then; I'll just revive you."

Play Inside the Fire by Disturbed.

Suddenly, Connor rushes in and stops Valke, slashing at him. "What are you doing? She's the one that can help us! With her, we can take revenge on Atlas, and everyone that hated us for being monsters!" He pushes Valke back.

"That's not something I can just sacrifice everything for! Not everyone in the world is a bad person! I know plenty of good people!" They continue fighting until a pale skinned man with red eyes and shaved black hair wearing a black suit with gold buttons and stitching walks up.

"I sensed two of my people here, and a mysterious presence, and what I find is a manipulator and my brethren fighting. Hey there Valke."

"Vlad? What do you want? I'm busy here trying to save my undead girlfriend here." Valke barks before returning to the fight.

Vlad pulls off the white glove on his left hand and pockets it, revealing a tattoo of a skull wearing a crown, which starts to glow. He summons a very odd sword. It is black with red accents, with a thin, double-sided blade. The blade is segmented by several red arrows running along the blade. The hilt is in a simple wrap, with a hand-guard shaped like a butterfly. He charges toward Connor, slashing at him. The blond teen blocks with his shield.

"Valke, go! I'll hold this renegade here for you," Vlad says. He starts fighting similarly to how Valke fought Weiss, with sweeping cuts and quick jabs. Connor attempts to stop Valke, but is forced to focus entirely on Vlad's quick attacks.

For his part, Valke takes on his Reaper form, charging once again at the mysterious woman. Selyn is placed in front of him once again, but he grabs her, flipping over her, then thrusts his weapon in spear form at the mysterious woman. A shield of shadows deflects it and tendrils of shadow sprout from the ground and surround Valke. Valke tries his best to evade them and slash them down, but he can't detect them fast enough with so many of them. "The instinct of the feral side is gone, so I can't track as many enemies in this form as before? Damn it!" He jumps away, breaking the blade on his weapon and creating a shield of blades around him. "Vlad! Use your semblance. We need to escape! Blinding smoke!"

Vlad nods and raises his right hand, and several spots erupt from the ground, spewing an oddly colored smoke. Valke dashes into the smoke and explodes his weapon shards, creating a flashbang. This is calculated to stop enemies from seeing normally, and also stop anyone using night vision or thermal vision. "DAMN IT! Selyn, I will save you, or die trying."

Vlad and Valke return to Vale, where Valke's friends are worrying about him. However, they don't go to Beacon. Instead, Vlad leads Valke to a place where there is a congregation of other Reapers, who Vlad is the leader of. They do this to make plans to stop the woman from earlier. Vlad is explaining the situation to Valke.

"That woman from earlier is named Salem. She desires the power of the Reapers, and has been drawing them away to fight for her. Nobody else noticed but my group, as it got smaller and smaller. Unfortunately, I acted too late. Some king I am, eh?"

"As you saw, she has the ability to resurrect and modify beings, but only to a limited extent, or she would just resurrect and modify all the dead Reapers. It seems she can only revive a certain amount of people in a certain amount of time. She draws the rest of us with promises of revenge, wealth, power, or even the revival of loved ones, such as with you. She must want your special blood though."

Valke nods, knowing what he's referring to. Valke is the special mix of a human and a Reaper, and for some reason, this makes him stronger and more resilient than most other Reapers, hence why he can take streams of bullets in a row while other Reapers can't. "I just need to-" Suddenly, the TV in the room releases a screaming, horrified sound. They both look to see a robot girl in ruins on the floor, and Pyrrha Nikos on the field with a traumatized expression on her face. Then, a female voice speaks, speaking about how the combat schools are teaching unnecessary violence and how Atlas is trying to over display their military power, and how the Kingdoms are heading towards war, trying to instill fear. The message cuts out, and a level nine Grimm warning blares. Several Reapers cry out and several Grimm enter the building. The Reapers dispatch them, and Valke looks at Vlad. "Follow me. We need to go to the arena."

They run out, seeing the Grimm running rampage amongst the city, and several enemy airships flying in, opening to reveal White Fang members. The duo runs through the city, heading to the arena. They arrive on top of the arena in time to see several students work together to decapitate a giant Nevermore. Out of nowhere, several Griffin Grimm rush by, circling the arena. The students are stopped from fighting them by Professor Port and Doctor Oobleck.

"Well Vlad, up for saving some old geezers?" Valke says, tying his string around a throwing knife, specially made to hook onto things. Vlad nods and jumps down, so Valke throws his knife and ties the string to a nearby antenna. He ziplines down to the field, in front of one of the Griffins. He stabs it in the legs, then climbs on top of it. From there, the Grimm takes off, and Valke shoots at several other Grimm with stone bullets, before stabbing his mount in the back and jumping off.

Meanwhile, Vlad jumps onto a Griffin, and places his hand on its head. Black tendrils shoot from his hand, webbing around the Griffin's head. It's eyes glow silver, and it follows his commands. He orders it to land and jumps, summoning his sword. It segments where the red lines are, becoming a blade-whip. He wraps it around another Griffin's legs, then swings, bringing the beast to the ground, where Professor Port beheads it. Vlad uses the swing to land on another Griffin and takes control of that one.

They finish eliminating the Grimm, and Vlad says to Valke: "That one's yours. Go save your friends. I'll as many people as I can." Valke climbs onto said Griffin and rides it, heading towards the school.

He flies over the courtyard of Beacon, and sees Velvet fighting several Atlesian Paladins, in the Atlas colors. That means that someone took over the Atlas control systems. Velvet seems to be doing okay, and a lot of the others are with her, so he flies away, trusting them to do the job. He sees flashes on a large Atlas airship, so head that way. He approaches and sees the strange girl from the warehouse and Roman Torchwick fighting Ruby. Ruby is barely able to fight back due to the team work of the two criminals, until Ruby sends the girl flying by opening her umbrella. Roman beats her, but she fights back admirably. Roman is about to kill her when Valke arrives. He jumps off the Griffin and orders it to attack Roman, who gets eaten. Valke sees Ruby jump off as he lands on the airship, following it down to the ground. He sees the Atlesian robots stop and crash, so he assumes the ship is the control ship. He jumps off the wreckage of the ship, and follows a large trail of sword slashes and gunshot marks. It leads him to the cafeteria where he hears a man yelling, and Blake crying out in pain, until Yang runs in, and he hears a slashing sound. He arrives just in time to see Yang being carried off by Blake.

Valke enters the cafeteria, where a White Fang leader dressed in black is standing, facing away from him. Valke walks in and looks at an arm laying on the ground, one of Yang's gauntlets on it. He picks up the arm and pulls off the gauntlet, turning it into storage mode, and places it into a pocket. "You know, cutting off arms and hurting those you care about isn't okay. People you care about should be protected at all costs, their feelings considered. I should know, I killed to avenge one of my loved ones. I killed those responsible for her pain."

The man turns and fires at Valke, who rolls to the side. "Who are you? Have you come to die?"

Valke laughs. "Die? Oh no, I won't be dying here. If anyone, you will die." He draws his weapon and loads it. He dashes toward the enemy, kicking at him. The Faunus simply dodges to the side, then launches his sword at Valke. Valke sidesteps to the right, avoiding the sword. He sees a red chokuto flash by. "Oh, I didn't know you were Jetstream Sam. I thought you lost to Raiden?"

The man simply shoots at Valke with an old style rifle. Valke cartwheels to the side, shooting his own gun at the man. The White Fang leader dodges, taking the opportunity to grab his sword. "Die!" He dashes at Valke, swinging the sword in a skillful downward arc. Valke spins, holding out his left arm. The sword slices through his arm like butter, and it goes flying before dissolving. The tendrils of blood start crawling up Valke's arm as the man backs away.

Valke walks toward him. "You wear Grimm masks because you are branded as monsters? Do you really believe that? Come, I'll show you what a real monster is like!" He coats his right hand in blood and smears it on his face, forming the Reaper mask. The man swings his sword, and Valke blocks with the bony gauntlet on his left arm. "It's time to die!" He places a Scroll on the table next to him, which, miraculously, hadn't been destroyed. It starts playing Die by Jeff and Casey Lee Williams

Valke summons the spear as the man jumps back. He starts walking slowly towards the man and several shots pass through the gaps in his skeletal body. Valke swings the spear in a large arc, narrowly missing the man. Passing the spear around his back, he switches hands, jabbing the man in the stomach with the butt of the spear. He then uppercuts at the sadistic Faunus, and he blocks just in time, leaving only a light scratch on his chest. Pushing the spear away, the rebel sheaths his sword and jumps back. They circle around the room slowly until Valke dashes toward the man. The man draws his sword as Valke nears, slashing. Valke hangs back for a split second, his reaction time improved due to the adrenaline from the fight. The sword narrowly misses, and Valke punches the man into the wall behind him. Valke slowly walks toward him. The man gets up and stabs Valke in the chest, where the heart should be. Valke smiles a very toothy grin, then pushes the man into the wall, pinning him there with his spear.

"You Faunus have hearts, right? Well, this is what's inside a monster." He grabs the sword hilt protruding from his chest and twists it, then draws it from the left side of his chest to the right. "Nothing. I have no heart, no guts, and no nerves. Just blood and a soul." He pulls the sword out and stabs the man right below the ribs, prompting him to grit his teeth. "You're tougher than I thought. Goodbye. You'll probably be saved before you die if you scream loud enough. I can hear some of your men coming." Valke grabs his spear and walks away, heading towards the Beacon docks.

Meanwhile, Nick, Isabel, and Sara are in the city, where they had been searching for Valke. They had lost the doubles round after they had been distracted by news of Valke's abduction. They had been some of the first to respond to the attack, and are currently evacuating the edges of the city.

Sara shoots a railgun round at an Ursa before turning and blocking a Creep, pushing it off then slashing it in half. "Clear!" Nick and Isabel come out of a nearby building, along with several civilians. They lead them to the next house, where Isabel and Sara switch places, with Isabel staying outside to clear Grimm as Isabel and Nick guard the civilians. Suddenly, a man and a woman, both with black hair and red eyes come into view, pushing several large Grimm back with a flurry of attacks. The man is swinging a cutlass while darting around, and the woman is chopping through with a battleaxe. A few seconds later, the Grimm are all gone, and the two walk over. Isabel approaches from outside.

The man speaks: "See, I told you I smelled some people."

"Fine, you're senses aren't as bad as I thought they were." She turns to speak to the three students. "We cleared a path to the inner city. You can go right now. Hurry!"

The three shrug and lead the civilians to the inner city. Once there, Isabel asks the question on everyone's mind: "Were… those more Reapers?"

"I think so…" replies Nick.

"There are more of them?" asks Sara. "I thought all of them but Valke were killed."

Vlad walks up to them. "Greetings. I assume you're Valke's teammates?" They nod. "My name is Vlad. I'm an old associate of Valke's. I'm a Reaper too."

"You see, after the escape from the lab of our origin, we split into many groups. Valke's village was one of about one hundred. His group was pretty peaceful. Some turned criminal, and others, are nomadic vigilantes and philanthropists. I'm the king of one such group. Valke traveled with us in Mistral for a little. I pity him for his history, but he is such a great fighter." He clears his throat. "Anyways, Valke is okay. He's at Beacon right now, saving the rest of his friends. I'm here to direct my Reapers on what to do." A man calls his name. "I'm afraid I must answer that. You may wait here or go to Beacon; the choice is yours." Trusting Valke's skill, they decide to wait and see if they can help in the city.

Valke, back in human form, is just arriving at the Beacon docks. He finds a large congregation of other students, including Blake and Yang, Ren and Nora, Sun, team CFVY, team SPKR, and several other teams that had participated in the tournament. He walks up to Blake and Yang. "I'm sorry. I was too late to stop that man. But I did get revenge for you both." Blake looks sharply at him, and he laughs in response. "No, I didn't kill him, kitty cat. I left him with major injuries and broken pride, but his men should have saved him." He takes out Yang's other gauntlet and gives it to Blake, since Yang is unconscious.

Next he walks over to Ren and Nora. "Where's Jaune and Pyrrha?" Both are pretty majorly injured; they have trouble even speaking, much less standing. "We don't know… Weiss and Ruby… went to look for them."

"I'll help in a bit. Let me check on everyone else." He walks over to team SPKR. "You guys okay?" He looks at them, observing a few scratches on them, but nothing too bad. "Good luck to all of you. Shade, I'll see you later." He grips Shade's arm in an odd handshake, then walks over to team CFVY. "Hey there. Anybody hurt too badly?" They shake their heads. He looks at Velvet. "I saw you fighting the Paladins. Good job. I didn't help because you all looked like you had it covered."

Velvet smiles from the compliment. "Thank you. Are you coming with us to Vale? The airship should be arriving soon."

"With any luck, but I have to help find Jaune and Pyrrha." Just then, he hears static in his ear.

"Weiss! Please, you have to stop her!" A pause. "Pyrrha! She's going after that woman… At the top of the tower! She doesn't stand a chance!"

"What the… I thought it was broken…" Valke mutters. Velvet looks at him curiously. "Nothing. I know where Pyrrha is. With any luck, Jaune will be okay, but he sounded panicked."

He turns and is about to dash for the tower, but Velvet stops him. "Wait! You'll be okay, right?"

He breathes in, examining the situation. The enemy has unknown powers, but is in Ozpin's tower, meaning she likely beat Ozpin. Pyrrha doesn't stand a chance. He begins to lie. "Of cour-" He stops, then suddenly changes his mind. "Goodbye." He runs off before she can stop him.

Reaching the tower, he meets Vlad. "Something you need help with?"

"Yeah. Follow me. We need to get into the elevator." They run inside, and climb up the elevator shaft, using their enhance speed to catch up. Just before the doors open, they enter.

"Hello Pyrrha."

"Valke? What are you doing here?"

"Saving your life. Sorry, but I need to do this." He punches her, knocking her out instantly. "Okay, Vlad? I need you to take Pyrrha and hide her. Don't let anyone know she's still alive. One day, somebody will come to you, either me or somebody else. Only then can you let Pyrrha go. Imprison her if you need to." He picks up Pyrrha's weapon, handing his own over to Vlad, including his glove, revealing a shiny black hand. "Keep these until I come for them too." Taking Pyrrha's sword, he creates a small slice on her finger, drawing some blood. Vlad nods and exits the elevator. "I hope this works, I've never tried to become a female before." He licks the blood off the weapon. He begins to transform into her. He nods.

Valke rises up to the top floor, then exits the elevator.

He sees the fire-eyed woman from before. He immediately throws the spear, then the shield, both attached to a string he had cut off his glove. They return to him, and he copies Pyrrha. He and the woman fight, but the woman has strange magical abilities, not a semblance, but something else. He manages to lock the blade at her neck, but she melts right through it. She ruins Ozpin's office, and he uses the wreckage by tying string from a distance by tying weights to the string, which allows the string to wrap around the wreckage, simulating Pyrrha's semblance. He fights her with the shield and the wreckage, but she eventually over powers him, shooting him in the right ankle, disabling it temporarily. She talks to him about being promised stolen powers.

He copies something Pyrrha would say: "Do you believe in destiny?"

"Yes."

"Good, because my destiny is to come back." The woman summons her bow, aiming at his chest. Ruby appears over the edge of the tower as Valke feels a piercing sensation in his chest. The magical arrow drains his energy, and he feels his eyes getting heavy. He dissolves, fading away.

Ruby sees Pyrrha getting shot and goes berserk, missing the circlet changing to Valke's necklace. The woman, confused, picks it up as Ruby's eyes start glowing. The second part of the necklace drops, but before she can pick it up, Ruby attacks, and she barely escapes.

Qrow appears to find Ruby. Picking her up, he notices a sparkle on the ground. Finding Valke's necklace piece, he picks it up and pockets it. He walks off carrying Ruby to the docks.

Valke awakens back in the mysterious purple lands. He sees Connor smirking, and Salem smiling. "Welcome to the winning side." Cinder had brought his necklace to Salem, who had revived Valke after receiving it. Selyn, now free, goes to hug him, and pets her head, like the good days, thinking of what he just got himself into.

Play Divide by Jeff and Casey Lee Williams (DO IT! It's so good!)

Next chapter is the last until the first few episodes of Volume 4 come out! Again, any suggestions for sidestories and backstories is appreciated. The next Chapter will be completely of my own storyline, no basing it off the episodes, so wish me luck!