I rearranged the structure of the story. I ended up writing more than I was supposed to so I cobbled chapters one and two together to make space for two more chapter. Finale could be out tomorrow or the day after, depending on reception of the story.

Without further ado, I give you Chapter Four - Black Souls.


Beware that the light is fading;

Beware if the dark returns.

This world's unforgiving, even brilliant lights will cease to burn.


Something was terribly wrong.

She turned fitfully in her sleep; her dreams were rife and full of nightmares.

See you on the other side, Blake.

"YANG!"

Ruby woke up with a shout, reaching for the ceiling.

Opening her eyes, Ruby saw that she was lying down on a Dustship cabin. She touched her hair and found them damp. She was sweating, soaking the sheets with perspiration. Crescent Rose was resting by her side. She moved to take the weapon and..

. . . the moment she touched the crimson steel, she felt it again.

Her breath hitched - she pushed herself back against the cabin bed in terror. Something . . . someone. . . had died. She didn't understand how she knew it. She just did.

It's like a piece of her soul was missing.

Ruby held her breath, trying to calm herself. Her shaking lessened and the panic attack faded.

Something is terribly wrong.

She closed her eyes and tried to remember.

A ghastly image appeared in her mind. It was the dust shop owner, and he was standing still in the middle of the street. She and Weiss watching him from atop a building. Grimm surrounded the old man and his shop in all directions and all varieties. Ruby screamed at him to move, to run away, but he didn't respond. She tried to draw Crescent Rose, but realized that she couldn't move at all.

The Grimm descended. The last thing she saw was his empty, haunting eyes.

Those eyes.

"What a dream." Ruby frowned. She took her Gunscythe and strapped it to her back. Stretching left and right, she recognized the cabin she was in. It is Weiss's. The room was purely practical, excepting a single vase on the bunkside (that's the word for it, right?) containing a single white rose.

It was also the room Weiss told Ruby to never enter while she was in the ship. Thinking about that now, isn't that odd? The only thing anybody would find there is the rose vase..

In any case, this is nice of her. Ruby thought. For some reason, she wasn't as enthusiastic as she should be. She shook her head, trying to clear away the bad thoughts, and stood up. I'll thank her with some.. let's see.. cookies?

"Weiss?" Ruby mumbled, trying to shake off her drowsiness. Ruby opened the cabin door and wandered into the small corridor of the Dustship. It was pretty big for only one person to use. She made a mental note to order Weiss to give her and the team free rides around Vale, though she doubted the heiress would comply.

Ruby pinched cheeks and made silly expressions, loosening her stiff face. She opened the door to the cockpit room and saw Weiss sitting on the pilot's seat. The Dustship was on autopilot, but for some reason Weiss kept her hands on the control stick. She stared at the dark night sky unwaveringly. The soft thrum and hum of the aircraft was the only voice she can hear.

"What time is it? Did Ozpin give us another night mission?" Ruby asked.

"Ruby…" Weiss looked at her. There were dark circles under the heiress's eyes, and her usually lustrous skin was pale and dirty. Her hair was let loose instead of being wrapped up in her trademark ponytail and she was "You don't remember?"

She sounded tired - the kind of exhaustion that permeates the heart, body and soul. Her fingers visibly shook,her movements were slow and her breathing was shallow.

Her partner looked like half the woman she used to be.

Shell. . . Husk. . .

Empty.

Memories flooded her mind.

The Grimm in the city, number in the thousands. The old man from the dust shop, who vanished like a ghost. Those empty, blank eyes - the last thing she saw before she fainted.

"Th-The old man." Ruby stuttered, crumpling to the floor.

"You were unconscious." Weiss said hollowly. "It was difficult, but I managed to bring you back to the shipyards. We took off a few minutes ago. I've documented what has happened and-" A beeping sound from the cockpit equipment stole her attention. "-hang on. . ." she tinkered with the buttons and dials for a bit more before falling back to her seat, thoroughly spent. "We're going back to Beacon. We need more help if we're going to retake the city. Everyone needs to know what's going on."

"But what is going on?" Ruby breathed. "We don't know anything. We're supposed to be the defenders of this world.. and we KNOW NOTHING!" Ruby shouted, Crescent Rose suddenly extended. She swung and struck the cabin door in a bout of frustrated rage. It shattered, shards and iron pieces scattering across the interior of the Dustship.

She looked as if she was about to do more, but she restrained herself. Even through her anger she recognized the fact that she was acting irrationally. Crescent Rose retracted to its original form and the red clothed girl, leaned against the wall, feeling weaker than ever. Even after all this time, fighting and practicing to protect the people she loved, she was still too weak. She couldn't protect herself. She couldn't protect her mother. She couldn't protect the people she cared about.

Then what good is she?

"They believed in us.. the people of Vale." Ruby whispered sadly. "And we FAILED them!"

The heiress knew how her partner felt, but she had expended all her energy dragging an unconscious Ruby back to the shipyard. Without her aura and semblance, she had to resort to physically carrying the girl. It was wearisome, and considering she haven't even had a proper breakfast this morning she's running on fumes.

Ruby slumped by the wrecked pieces of the cockpit door.

The soft humming of the Dustship's engines returned the malignant quiet.

".. 'm sorry 'bout the door." the scythe wielder mumbled.

"It's.." Weiss started, but didn't continue. Ok? Nothing? No Problem?

She didn't say anything - or rather, she didn't know what to say. She doubted empty words of consolation would be of any help. She was horrified at the situation as well, but she'd been fairly acquainted with death and darkness for most of her life. The White Fang made sure of that. But Ruby.. it must've been so horrifying her mind would suppress her memories than to accept reality.

Ruby walked slowly to the copilot's seat and sat still, buckling herself in.

Weiss placed a hand on her partner's arm. Ruby leaned and rested her head on the smaller girl's shoulder, seeking comfort in the white haired girl's familiarity.

They remained like that for the rest of their journey home.


"Hey Crimson, where do you want me to set her down?" Chen asked, straining to turn his head to see the leader of the Beacon Four. No one could tell any of the sixteen fighters apart in their uniforms, but Crimson Scarlet, the S and ace of team STRK, emanates a deadly elegance anyone could sense the moment he enters their presence. It still unnerved him

"Go for terminal nineteen in the Eastern Shipyard." Crimson said, hunching over him.

"Roger that. Estimated arrival time, eighteen minutes." Chen said, adjusting knobs and dials controlling the Dustship's speed and altitude. He silently mouthed several calculations, entered a few commands to the computer system and switched back to autopilot.

"Done." Chen said, brightening up. "Sit back, kick back and enjoy Chen Air."

"Hey." an exasperated voice interjected. "How about me?"

Mauve, his co-pilot, gave him a glare from the seat to his right. Chen sighed and tilted his head, as if he was thinking hard. After a moment of pondering Chen snapped his fingers and said, "Mauven air?"

"That was horrible. Please do not attempt any further word plays." Mauve said.

"Seconded." Crimson said from behind in good humor.

"You're both no fun." Chen complained.

"We're not paid to have fun." Mauve said.

"We're not paid at all." Chen pointed out. "In fact, we're paying for this."

"Ignore him." Mauve told Crimson.

"I already am." the ominous leader of the Beacon Four said.

"Hey!" Chen said.

"Making weather route calculations.." Mauve mumbled. She glanced back at Crimson. "Are you sure you don't want to buckle up? You wanted speed, so we're going to run through some turbulence."

"There's no need for that." Crimson said. "We're not exactly your average commercial passengers."

"Suit yourself." Mauve returned to adjusting the cockpit equipment.

"That I will." Crimson said, opening the cockpit door.

Outside the room, he wondered whether or not his decision to keep the boy Jaune in the dark, and whether or not the boy is smart enough to realize that Crimson had lied to him. His friend Ren certainly did, but if the dual wielder had any say against it he didn't let it show. It was obvious from the first year's tone and a raised eyebrow that he didn't buy the western perimeter defense one bit. Beacon Academy stood on an easily defensible hill. There's still enough power to keep the automated defenses online for another twenty four hours and its inhabitants are more than capable of taking care of themselves, so the Beacon Four must have been out for something else entirely.

Crimson had read the boy's dossier - he would make a good candidate to replace him in leading his year's Beacon Four. He'll make sure to give his recommendation for Headmaster Ozpin.

If he was even alive, that is.

The Dustship flew through the pitch black clouds in baleful silence.


Where is everybody?!

Jaune growled in frustration and burst through the infirmary doors, blatantly ignoring the rules for the sake of his ailing friend. Ren's situation was growing worse by the second. He was barely breathing, and heart was beating erratically.

The first thing he did after getting over the initial shock of seeing his teammate keel over was to contact the other half of team JNPR. Pyrrha picked up the Scroll. He tried to play it off as an unexpected sickness, trying to keep them calm, but Nora audibly wrenched Pyrrha's scroll and asked him in the darkest tone imaginable.

"Where is he?" the hammer wielder asked.

"We're headed for the infirmary." the blonde swordsman said. "Nora, please calm do-"

The call ended abruptly and Jaune sighed.

Nora is a normally easygoing girl. Although somewhat eccentric, she is one of the most powerful warriors in their year, rivaling Blake and Pyrrha in combat practice. Her inexplicable love for pancakes and princess lore served only to increase her charms. But all that disappears the moment she heard something happened to Ren. Jaune had seen it several times over the course of their year together - during each and every event she would drop everything and run for her partner's aid. The eccentric, oddly charming girl would disappear in place of a serious, dangerous teammate.

And now..

Ren coughed some more, then fell back on the infirmary bed, looking more dead than alive.

"Hang in there, buddy!" Jaune said. He hooked Ren up to a bioanalyzer, the only medical apparatus he knew how to use, but that's about it. He cursed himself over and over again for being so ignorant about medicines and medical equipment. It wasn't on the curriculum and he'd always thought that their auras were sufficient to take care of their bodies. Assuming things would go well always ends poorly. He should've known. He was their leader. He was responsible for their safety, and he failed his friend in not knowing what to do in this situation. He'd never make that mistake again.

Sitting by the corner of the bed, Jaune tried to keep his calm while his friend fought for his life.


The sky was something else, Mauve decided. She couldn't see the sun, or the two mysterious moons that orbited their world. The stars were gone as well. It was void black wherever she looked - pure darkness from horizon to horizon.

Another fact that unsettled her was that there was no turbulence. According to the Dustship's sensors they should be going through a storm's worth of trouble right now. But instead of turbulence, they were met with tranquil silence. The clouds were unmoving; static and rooted to the spot. When the Dustship passed a cloud formation, it did so without a single jolt. It was as if those clouds were immaterial.

Mauve had seen a lot of shit go down in her three and a half years of being a Huntress, but this disappearance thing had topped everything off. Yeah, yeah, she's officially still in training, but Ozpin had seen to it that all of Beacon's Hunters had had at least fifty missions under their belts before the Council sends them off to every corner of Remnant to battle the Grimm. She tallied at sixty four, a feat to be proud of, but Chen had surpassed most students in Beacon with his record of eighty nine missions. Despite his easy going attitude, he is an absolute terror on the battlefield and she would rather no one else by her side. Actually, amend that. Perhaps it is because he'd seen so many battles and deaths that he adopted an easy going attitude.

Hmm. She'd have to ask him late-

Shwung.

Mauve grunted as she fell forward. She would've crashed in headfirst to her control panel if she wasn't belted in tight. She pressed the emergency ballasts and the Dustship corrected itself sharply. It was only a temporary measure, however - the pilot would have to balance the ship itself.

It was then that she noticed that their Dustship had been slowly going to a nosedive. She glanced to the pilot seat and saw Chen's hand slacking. His head was drooping.

Great, he's nodding off.

"Chen, adjust angle of descent to acceptable levels." Mauve said. It's just like Chen to doze off in the middle of what is probably the most important mission of their lives.

"Hey Chen, we're stalling, dimwit." Mauve said, discarding any pretense of pilot-copilot formality.

No response. Mauve frowned. Chen is an absolute pain the ass when it comes to getting serious, but even he should know the gravity of the situation well enough not to make childish pranks. Chen merely looked forward, his helmet not moving a single inch to her direction.

But then again this is Chen she's talking about. The idiot who unlocked all of Professor Port's pets in their second year. Mauve unbuckled her belt and placed her hands around her hips, trying to look intimidating. If that doesn't work, the threat of her fire flail should.

"CHEN!"

Still no response.

So that's how it is, huh?

"This isn't the time to be fooling around." she raised her fist to mock-punch Chen.

Her hand passed through his limp head and struck the leather of his seat instead.

Mauve gasped and jolted back. The pilot seat swivelled from the blow, fully showing the apparition of what used to be her partner. The stall worsened and Mauve felt her seat belt snap.

"Oh shi-" Mauve swore, bracing herself against-

Dark.

She went limp. Her body fell out of her chair crashed to the cockpit windows with enough force to crack the bulletproof glass. Blood spurted from her gaping mouth and she shivered.

What.. is..

The stall was in full swing. The crack on the cockpit glass grew as the pressure of the fall increased, slowly creating a beautiful web that promised death. Safety bolts began popping off like killer fireworks. The body of the plane were slowly being torn apart by their rapid descent.

Chen.. she mouthed, hammered to a wall of the cabin by the pressure. She reached for her silent partner, but their fingers never touched, and never will.

The loud pop of a set of bolts marked the end of her forays in this world.

She saw a flash of steel before her eyes. Red pain flared through her mind and she died, entering the cold embrace of oblivion.


Pyrrha is worried about Nora.

She would have been happy with the loudmouthed, impulsive girl she usually was. She'd take a pancake to the face to see that girl again. Even a broody, pouting Nora isn't that bad.

But the girl running beside her right now is nothing like the Nora she knew. Even her unusual aloofness in the cafeteria paled compared to what she was now. There was this dreadful look on her, as if the only thing anchoring her to calmness and sanity was a thin thread that threatens to snap any moment.

Nora must have seen him injured before. Earlier this year during Initiation and several points through their time together each and every member of their team has been wounded in one way or another, herself included. She'd usually try to throw a recovery party or get the injured teammate to a pancake parlor to help them improve, although she was usually the one who ended up feeling better.

Perhaps it was Jaune's tone, the unspoken distress he left unsaid. Sometimes there are more to be learned from what was not said than what was. Ren was badly injured

Was their bond that strong?

And what could hurt Ren in the first place?

Her train of thought was stopped by low murmuring.

"Too slow.." Pyrrha heard Nora say in the midst of their run. "Too slow.. must be.. get there."

"Nora?" Pyrrha asked.

Magnhild whirred to life and she blasted off into the distance, propelled by the power of her Grenade Hammer. She continued to blast away, ripping apart chunks of the school grounds in her desperate sprint to her friend's aid. She didn't pause for a moment, opting to leave her teammate behind in favor of getting to her childhood friend.

"Dammit." Pyrrha said, before picking up her speed again. If she still had her semblance, she could simply use Akouo to glide over the buildings in her way. Beacon is awfully large, something she would normally be proud of, but in this situation it was a liability. Instead, she was forced to take the long way around. Without their aura, they were truly pitiful. If they ever get out of this, Pyrrha swore she'd make sure that she would be able to do her job without it.

Something else struck her as odd.

Why was Nora trying to get there so fast? Pyrrha thought in frustration. This is ridiculous! It's not as if Ren was going anywhere anytime soon.

Unless..

It seemed like forever had passed when she finally arrived in the infirmary.

She burst inside the patient rooms breathlessly. Team JNPR were the only students present. The others had settled on taking refuge in the main auditorium, where the student council resided. Nora was standing beside an occupied bed, and Jaune was sitting down on the floor. The blonde warrior glanced at her, but looked away.

"What happ-" Pyrrha asked, following his gaze. And stopped.

No. . .

"It can't be." Pyrrha breathed. How? Why?

Her pondering went unanswered by the cruel reality before her. Ren was lying still on the bed, the biomonitor showing a single straight line. Nora stood like a statue, hovering beside the bed silently. Jaune lowered his head.

"It's too late." he said mournfully. "He's gone."


"What's that?" Ruby asked, pointing to the emptiness before them.

"It's the Helios." Weiss said, reading over the identification information on her radar. She broke into a smile. "The Beacon Four! They're heading for the city with heavy armor. They're going to exterminate the Grimm!" Weiss brightened.

Ruby sighed with relief. "We're saved.."

Weiss changed the direction of their dustship and aligned it with the Helios's speed and vector.

"Helios! Helios!" Weiss talked into her mic. "This is the Hermes. We have the most recent information on what is happening in Vale and can provide armed assistance if necessary. Do you have any news about Beacon? Over."

No response.

"Helios, if you're going in secretly and am unable to respond, can you at least press the acknowledgement button? Over." Weiss said. "Hmm.. maybe they want to talk in Morse? Let's see."

While the heiress pored over what she'd learned about the Morse code Ruby grabbed the mic and yelled.

"THIS IS NOT THE TIME FOR RULES, GUYS!" she shouted. "WE'RE ON THE SAME SIDE, SO WHY ARE YOU ALL BEING SO DIFFICULT?!"

The silence that followed exacerbated Ruby's fury.

"It may be that they're not allowed to respond to any hailing from other ships." Weiss tried to reason.

"Seriously? Are they that strict?" Ruby said angrily.

"I'm not so sure about that." Weiss said, staring at the Dustship with suspicion and worry.

"What do you think they're doing?" Ruby frowned.

"It's.. stalling." Weiss breathed.

"CHEEEEEEEN! MAUUUVEEEEE!" Crimson shouted, bursting through the cockpit door. "WHAT THE HELL IS-"

The frame of the dustship gave way. Hydraulic lines tore and snap, supersteel alloy broke and were wrenched apart by the force of the wind and the glass shattered, raining murderous shards on the leader of the Beacon 4. Without his aura, the red eyed prodigy was helpless in the barrage of steel bolts and aerial glass. They punched through his Sentinel armor like paper at the speed of sound and he fell back, killed instantly.

Beacon's strongest floated with one empty eye socket and a glassy eye in the other, staring at the clouds with empty indifference.

The deadly debris continued on their journey to the fuel tanks on the sides of the plane. A simple spark was the beginning of its end. It erupted into a raging inferno that consumed the dustship in a malevolent fireball

The frame broke completely and its remains were scattered in all directions. The Helios broke through the cloud layer in a hail of bodies and burning steel, like a twisted form of a shooting star.


To wish upon a star..

Legends scatter.

Day and night will sever.

Hope and peace are lost forever.


The sinister bleep that marked the death of their friend was thankfully silenced when a certain warhammer obliterated the equipment entirely.

"Leave us." Nora said, a gaunt expression set in stone.

"Nora..." Jaune said. "We can't leave you here."

He stepped towards her but hesitated, feeling the murderous madness pent up within her.

"I said leave." Nora hissed, placing a hand on Magnhild menacingly.

"Jaune.." Pyrrha said tearfully. She grabbed his arm pleadingly. "We have to go."

Jaune looked as if he was about to do exactly that, but his eyes steeled and he stood his ground.

I'll be damned if I lose you, too.

"NORA!" Jaune shouted, standing up to his full height. He never had to use this card but this time she forced his hand. "I AM YOUR TEAM LEADER AND I AM ORDERING YOU TO-"

"TEAM?!" She laughed - a twisted, forlorn laughter. Her breath hitched, eyes flashing with anger and sorrow. "What team?"

"Nora.." Pyrrha said, deciding to try and help. "We're still here. No matter how bad things are, please remember that-"

"..-on't understand." Nora whispered.

"What?" Jaune frowned.

She snapped.

The sound of Magnhild discharging a grenade was all the warning they had before part of the wall caved in. Nora stood up slowly and looked them in the eye. Her seething gaze was incomprehensible, irrational, inconsolable.

"-NOTHING!" she screamed.

Magnhild smashed through an adjacent bed. It broke instantly, the sound of snapping wood rending their reality.

"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING!" Nora exploded.

"NORA, YOU'RE OUT OF CONTROL!" Jaune shouted to no avail. The hammer wielder was beyond them now - her grief had formed into reality and they had no way of stopping it.

"GET OUT! GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT!" Nora shrieked, swinging Magnhild to and fro. The walls of the infirmary crumbled, furniture snapped and the lights flickered. The windows were crushed by her acts of ruination and glass scattered everywhere like transparent bullets.

Jaune looked at the rampaging girl in shock and disbelief. Pyrrha tackled him out of the way of a toppling cabinet. Nora cried out again and again, using up every single round Magnhild had, wrecking the structure, blasting apart the supports, destroying its foundations.

"Don't you understand?" Nora smiled bitterly. "When you lost Ren, you've lost me, too."

She sagged down, holding on to Magnhild to support herself. It was then that Jaune gasped in horror at the sight of a dozen shards of glass embedded to her back. Nora wheezed, coughing blood as she tried to hold on to reality.

"Go." she said.

Jaune held back a choked sob as Pyrrha dragged him away, crying openly as the corridor collapsed, blocking their view of the orange haired girl.

"Goodbye.." Nora whispered.

She crawled on the bed beside Ren, gathering him in her arms. He looked as handsome and cool as ever - only his ominous stillness gave away the fact that he. . .

That he . . .

Black spheres appeared all around here, swallowing up everything within its reach. Rocks and bricks fell prey to the ever hungry void, dooming the building to fall apart. She looked at the spheres impassively. They.. fascinated her, somewhat. Perhaps it was because she recognized them as reflections of her heart. They continued to consume everything in their path, and

The lights went out.

"Hey Ren." she said, caressing her partner's face softly. Amongst the rubble and rain, between the darkness and the pain - it all didn't matter. With him in her arms, she felt content. The ceiling began to crumble.

They were there, those words. Three simple words on the tip of her tongue, threatening to spill over.

"I.."

But she didn't say it. She couldn't. She wouldn't. It made no difference. In the end, she didn't. Instead, she recalled a familiar memory and said, "Remember the time when.."

Even now, on death's door..

The ceiling fell.

She really can't say it, can she?


promises not kept

Part Four of Five