Small delay on this chapter, apologies for that. Studies are starting to pick up again, what can you really do? Still, I want to address something real quick.

While I appreciate the guest reviews, it irritates me to no end that I can't reply to them. I'm sure you've heard this all before, but create temporary accounts PLEASE, so that I can respond to you. I'm not about to do an answer thing in the A/N section here, it's not the way I do things. Just make those accounts. It literally takes three minutes at most.

Rant over.

"Ruby? Ruby!"

Ruby cracked open her eyes, feeling the shiver of her body at the after-effects of Aya's shock. She recognized Weiss' voice instantly, and turned to her left, looking around her inexplicably paralyzed arm. Sure enough, Weiss was there, though what was happening instantly filled her with fright.

Weiss arms and legs were subsumed by a purple, gooey substance that trapped her feet and hands. It curled around her, refusing to budge against any movement. She was watching Ruby with an equally frightened expression. Ruby looked up, and felt her heart drop as she saw the purple stuff around her own hands, binding her in a thick, slimy rope. Looking down to her feet, Ruby found her shoes trapped in a puddle, and was unable to even move.

"Thank god you're awake." Weiss cried out.

"What happened to you?" Ruby asked, turning her gaze back on her love.

"I met Vade in the middle of the night." she replied with an anger plain in her voice. "I was looking for you after I woke up, and ran into him when I looked outside. He said something about knowing about our plan, then about how he wasn't using any of his true power against Yang, and when I was going to fight, he knocked me out with something, if the soreness in the back of my head is anything to go on. What about you? Where were you?"

"Aya came to see me before you woke up. She took me here, used her dad's semblance to teleport." Ruby explained, trying to conceal the guilt of knowing that if she hadn't trusted Aya, none of this would have happened. "She asked me if I was okay, then told me she knew about our plan. Then she..." Ruby took a breath, feeling tears well in her eyes at the memory.

"What?" Weiss asked. "What did she do?" Ruby looked away in shame.

"She asked me if we were going to go after Vade. I said no, but she had ALL of Vade's semblances, and she knew I was lying." Ruby continued. "She said that she... that humans would only care about those closest to them. I think she wanted to be friends with us, but now she knows we're in league with Ozpin. She said 'now', then I was grabbed from behind. After that, she said that the friend of an enemy who's also her friend is just another enemy, and zapped me with something. Everything's a blank from there."

"Ruby, she's just trying to mess with you. Hey!" Weiss shouted. "Look at me." Ruby complied, looking into steely blue eyes. "Don't let it get to you, Ruby. We will get out of here at some point. Get back to Yang and Blake."

"All correct, up to this point." came a metallic voice. Ruby looked up, to see the golden armoured... man? Woman? Ruby really couldn't tell. It was standing before them, arms crossed, the pitter patter of something hitting the floor. Focusing on the source, Ruby realized that purple slime was dripping from the back of this suit.

"Who are you?" Weiss asked pointedly. "Let us out!"

"Not yet." the mysterious figure replied. "And to answer your query, I am the end time. The physical form of an age whose foundations are fading into a new age."

"What are you saying?" Weiss pressed. Ruby decided to stay quiet. It'd be better if she let Weiss do the talking.

"Exactly what was spoken prior." the stranger responded. "You should know that two women are, at present, doing battle with my two acolytes." Two women? Were they Yang and Blake? "They will lose, and be brought before me, be bound in the same binds that you are bound by."

"They won't lose." Weiss retorted. "One of your acolytes even lost to one of these women prior to this."

"You misunderstand your position, Weiss Schnee." the metallic voice calmly countered. "We are currently in my domain, Kurai Raiburari. She may have lost in your Beacon, but here, I would not be surprised if your two 'heroes' fall to the very library they fight within."

Wait a minute.

Ruby tuned out of the conversation for a second. The... guy, that's what she'd call it... said that 'she' lost. Who was 'she'? Was it Aya?

"Our teammates are much stronger than you think." Weiss replied.

"Enough prattle." their captor affirmed, getting closer, each footfall sending a vibration through their bounds. "I have no intention of holding you two for long."

Ruby's heart missed a beat. He was going to free them?

"In fact, truth be told, I disapprove of this plan." Gold said. Yeah. Gold fit him, until Ruby could come up with a better name. He had enough on his armour. "Yet Akikaen's strategy carries much worth, once our true target is drawn into the open, and the bounds are severed. Endure captivity for a little longer."

"Why should I... we, believe you?" Weiss asked harshly. Gold shook his armoured head.

"It matters little whether you do or don't. Belief in my truthfulness is not fundamental to our success, nor is deception. You may choose what to believe for yourselves." Gold responded. "All of the pieces are already in place, the two that must die are dead. Once the last move is made, I will have no further need to keep you, and nor will the one within this suit."

"Who is a completely different person from the one you're talking to, Weiss." Vade growled from out of sight. Gold moved aside to reveal him, who had the limp bodies of both Blake and Yang in his arms. Aya stood beside him, her face impassive, no emotion shown. Even though Ruby was watching her, mentally begging her to look at her, she seemed to be staring at a spot in-between her and Weiss.

A stab of guilt shot through Ruby as she turned away. Wet, slapping sounds could be heard from her left, and she knew that Blake and Yang were likely being strung up next to them.

It was over. They'd all been taken by Vade in the end.

Weiss turned her head just in time to see her love's fall in defeat. She could see the tears in her eyes, and honestly, Weiss couldn't blame her. They were meant to be the team that excelled at everything they did, but for all their strength and skill, here was a threat they couldn't best. She glared at the three now before them, Vade, Aya, and the man in gold armour.

Vade walked back towards his master, turning and standing with his arms crossed, a victorious smirk on his face, one that made Weiss wish she could just reach out and punch him. Aya stood beside him, little arms wrapped around her father's leg, glaring threateningly with her glowing blue eye.

The one in gold was walking closer though. He was barely within an arm's reach now. The slime binding her coiled tighter around her, as if daring her to even try to strike him.

"So the whole collection is present. How quaint." he said, his metallic voice ringing in her ears at this distance. "Now, there is only one last action to take. Before everyone gets the peace they deserve."

Peace that everyone deserves? What did that mean?

"Ruby Rose. Weiss Schnee." he continued. "You are the last keys."

Wait. They were the keys?

No...

"Oh, it's not what it seems." Vade added, stepping forward, not doing anything to dispel Weiss' sudden fear. "You don't even have to do anything. It's something you already have, something that simply being near will work, and something that our Master's been working on for some time."

As Weiss watched, the man in gold raised a hand between them, as if grasping a string attached to the pair of them.

"You love Ruby, don't you?" he asked.

"What's it to you?" Weiss retorted.

"What do you think it is?" the man queried, tilting his head.

"I..." Weiss fell silent. The man was getting closer, closer until his head was right in her face, the visor mere inches from her own head.

A deadly silence filled the air.

"Everything." the metallic voice hissed, before the man retreated, and held his hand once more between them. This time, it started to glow, with streams of white and red light coiling around each other, the sparkles dazzling Weiss' eyes.

And yet, as suddenly as it started, the light died, replaced with a blackness that surrounded the entirety of the man now, the gold barely shining through the dark, fog-like aura now surrounding him. As he stepped back, he clenched his fists, the aura swirling around him like a typhoon of blackness. But that wasn't the only thing happening.

Vade was holding his hands out in front of him, and there was fire. A flaming aura was surrounding him, too! Sweeping her gaze over to Aya, she saw her blue aura swirling around her own little arms in whirlpools of sleek, blue power. Whatever their leader had did, Vade and Aya were being affected as well!

A crash could be heard outside the room.

All three turned their heads.

They turned, without a word, and marched towards the door, each moving in perfect harmony, even the normally fragile Aya.

Leaving them behind.

Weiss wanted to yell, to call out to someone, anyone, the people making the commotion outside, to come and help!

But something prevented her from even making a peep.

As Vade, Aya, and the master exited through the pale, white door of the Dark Library's bedroom, they were greeted by one of many rooms made for the purpose of housing entrances to other rooms. Three more doors were in the perfectly square room, its style the same as any other room.

Only one thing was out of place in here, something that all three spotted.

"Greetings once again, Vade."

Ozpin stood in the center of the room, his visage bearing a harshness that most would have never seen play across his features. Several tears in his usual outfit were distinguishable, but otherwise, the old professor seemed no worse for wear.

Aya moved behind her father immediately upon seeing him, and Vade reached back and patted her. The Master stepped forward, in front of Vade, who nodded in appreciation. As Ozpin gazed upon him, he held his hands out, letting Ozpin see the black aura seeping out of him. His expression didn't change, but the eyes widened.

"Abandon hope of preventing my rebirth." the Master intoned.

"It's too late, Oz." Vade said, with a sad smile. "Checkmate."

"It doesn't have to be, Vade." Ozpin replied, his expression remaining the same inscrutable one he wore in situations like this. "We can still stop this together. Please, from one friend to another, don't do this. I came alone. There is no reason to keep doing this."

"You would rather let the calamity happen than stop it and make the future uncertain?" Vade asked, his expression turning to one of anger. "I bet you don't even know what my Master has in mind, do you? You never stopped to listen to the whispers of the Night Walkers, not even mine when I became one myself! Instead, when we were both entrusted with that knowledge, you would seek that end through all suffering?"

"It is an end that we know about!" Ozpin retorted, his voice giving way to his own emotions. "It is an end that sees us survive, both the Grimm and ourselves! Would you tear that away for the sake of saving lives?"

"Instantly." Vade responded. "And unfortunately, you saw fit to leave, to run away and teach than talk things out with me! You never found..." Vade's voice broke. "You never found out what happened to me. I lost the one trust I had, ten years past that time, when I realized that if you wanted something, if you truly cared about something, it was a care that no-one else shared!"

"What are you referring to?" Ozpin asked. "The day you sentenced three teams of hunters to death for the retrieval of your master's armour? Or the scheming and politicking around both myself and my colleagues to move it into your Dark Library? What was it you said? 'I didn't have a choice.' How dare you."

"Arg, I've had enough of you!" Vade yelled. "Fine, then I'll show you what really happened to me! What I've become!" His aura was crackling around him, and Aya skirted around the Master so that she stood by his other side, still watching her father with a subtle fascination.

"I may finally awaken fully. Now, none may halt me. My transcendence is nigh." the Master spoke, before a dread silence filled the room.

Light was flowing out of his body, a golden, soft, smooth light, burgeoning outward from the blackness. He clenched his fists and doubled over as the darkness billowed outward, coating him in a cloud of dense, black fog. It coalesced into a sphere, enveloping the man, hiding him from view. Then golden light flowed around it, like it was being sucked into the vortex that was the black sphere.

Bluish cracks appeared, as if in an egg.

Its whole surface shimmered.

A white flash filled the room.

CRASH!