Chapter 16

Pyrrha fell a good ten feet before she hit the floor. She made the mistake of rolling with the landing, as the entire area was soaked in muddy water. When she came to a stop, her ponytail arched over her head and plopped in the center of her forehead, spraying mud all over her face.

"...Ew…"

Slowly she stood with her arms out stretched, and wrinkled her nose in disgust. Her clothes were covered in mud and pressed tightly against her body. There was a nasty odor emanating from it too. Pyrrha brushed her ponytail out of her face and wiped the mud out of her eyes.

After blinking her eyes a few times, Pyrrha looked around at where she had landed. It wasn't a sewer, thankfully, but a large cylindrical tunnel, maybe about seven or eight feet in diameter. The walls were rough and uneven, hastily carved through pipes and maintenance ways underneath the roundabout, which explained where the water had come from. The soft gurgling of water echoed from all sides of the tunnel, and save for the light from the hole she'd fallen through, it was swallowed in darkness.

Pyrrha recognized the signs and felt her blood run cold. The Creeps were capable of rapid tunneling, that was a fact, but their tunnels often either collapsed behind them or weren't large enough for a human to follow. A Grimm Tunnel of this size and magnitude suggested that they hadn't simply come across a simple pack, but a nest of Grimm.

It was hard to decide what was more disturbing. The fact that a nest was located right under a very large public school, or that the Grimm had only just now decided to attack. Grimm could use strategy, if they were old enough. But this was an entirely different level, and it had been devastating. If the Alphas hadn't caught that Beowolf, which Pyrrha now knew had to be some sort of scout, the campus would've been overrun within hours before the Grimm were pushed back.

That, was a sobering thought. They would have to count their blessings that they'd caught the initial breakout, and had such an effective weapon to use against them. Pyrrha would definitely have to ask Butters where he had gotten his sword from.

Pyrrha blinked and looked at her hands. Her blood froze in horror as she realized that, in her fall, she had dropped the hilt. A quick reach with her Semblance showed her that her sword and shield had fallen into the water, but she couldn't sense Butters' sword. Of course, that was because it was made of wood not, steel, she couldn't sense it no matter how much she wanted to!

Pyrrha fell to her knees with a splash and started swiping her hands through the water, in a frantic attempt to find what she had lost. Despite her efforts, all Pyrrha managed to find was more mud, and cover herself in more of the murky water. The hilt was nowhere to be found.

"No, no no no," she cursed under her breath. Slowly she fell back until she was sitting in the water, and covered her face, "No! How could I have lost it!?"

The fall had caught her off guard yes, but Pyrrha wouldn't lose her weapons so easily. Obviously that wasn't the case, she'd dropped every weapon on her in the fall, and now the most powerful weapon against Grimm she had seen was lost. Pyrrha let her hands drop to her side and ball into fists. She wanted to shout, to scream in frustration at how such a stupid accident could happen to her, but no anger came, only bitterness. Maybe she was a Huntress, but no one was perfect.

Pyrrha took a deep breath, and closed her eyes. Just because she couldn't immediately find the hilt didn't mean it was lost forever. It would just take more effort than frantically splashing in possible sewer water. In fact, Harry could probably whip up a spell to find it if need be. The sword wasn't lost, just misplaced, and they would find it.

The knot of bitter anger slowly uncoiled, and Pyrrha released her pent up breath and opened her eyes. Something flashed in the corner of her vision. She looked at it and her eyes widened.

Lying just a few feet away, resting on a piece of broken rubble and untouched by the water, was the wooden bamboo hilt. The tiny fragment of steel left in the base had evaded her notice in her first wide sweep, but it shone like a beacon to her Semblance now. Pyrrha scrambled over to it and carefully picked up the hilt in her hands, and sighed in relief.

"Oh thank goodness. I don't think I could ever live that down.

"Which part, the falling in the hole bit, or the being covered in sewer water bit?" Harry called from above.

Pyrrha's eyes shot up to the shattered ceiling, where Harry and Butters had gathered around the edge, the big wizard grinning like a doofus. "You're going to need a long shower when we get back to the Alphas apartment, we can smell you from up here."

Ignoring the comment, Pyrrha stood up and smiled, "Well, I never said what I did couldn't get dirty, did I?"

"If that's the closest you can get to making a joke, then we need to work on your material," Harry replied. He dropped his staff until he was holding it by the top, and swung it down. "Now grab on, we need to split before the local po-po shows up."

Pyrrha frowned at the staff and looked down the tunnel, "Not yet Harry. This tunnel is too big for a few Creeps to have dug in the past few hours. We need to investigate this, there could be more Grimm."

Harry sighed and retracted his staff, "Of course there are."

He nodded to Butters and vanished. Pyrrha heard him yelling to someone, probably Murphy, while Butters approached the edge, and slowly eased his way down until he was sitting on the ledge. With one hand still on the ground, Butters heaved himself forward and started to fall toward the ground.

Pyrrha was already moving to catch him, but stopped in her tracks when she saw that Butters wasn't falling at all. A hook attached to a nylon rope had been hidden inside his oversized robe, and an orange cloud hung over it. Butters gently descended to the ground until his boots touched the water. The hook popped off with an audible 'click!' and he splashed into the water while it slithered back into his robe.

"H-how… how did you do that?"

Butters smoothed out his robe and grinned, "Magic."

"Of course," Pyrrha shook her head, but smiled and offered his sword to him. "Here you go, I almost lost it in the fall."

Butters smiled and took the hilt from Pyrrha, wiping it off with the end of his sleeve before slipping it into the robe. "Thanks Pyrrha. Glad to see you're okay."

"Well of course, I can handle a little drop."

The short man shook his head, "Not the fall, you. You're doing much better than the last time I saw you, and when Harry brought you with him, you were wearing the thousand yard stare."

He wasn't wrong, Pyrrha had let her recently revealed memories get to her, and they were still pestering her. But she had set aside her feelings for the greater good before, and she could do it again, no matter how painful they might be.

"There are bigger things at stake here than my personal feelings, Doctor," Pyrrha said, then gestured at the tunnel, "This is a sign of very terrible things, but it is also my element, the path I've chosen to walk. When this is over… I'll do something about those other problems."

Butters frowned and opened his mouth to say something, when something splashed in the water next to them. Pyrrha's weapons flew to her hands in an instant, and Butters had unsheathed his sword and pointed it at the intruder. Harry slowly stood up with his arms raised in surrender and grinning.

"Boo."

Pyrrha lowered Miló and scowled, "Harry, that wasn't very smart."

"It was funny though," Harry chuckled, and lowered his arms.

Butters sighed and put his sword away, "I'm sure Murphy would think the same thing if we'd lopped your head off on accident."

"I made sure to keep my distance," Harry said, then grew more serious. "Murphy and the Alphas are evacuating with the civilians. We've got five, ten, fifteen minutes tops before the cops show up, so let's make this quick."

Pyrrha shook water off her weapons and jerked her head toward the tunnel, "If anyone has a flashlight, we could use it now. Fighting Grimm in the dark is a suicide."

Harry pulled a necklace from around his neck and held it out in front of him. A five star pentacle hung from it, and with a whisper of words, a circle of soft white light stretched out ten feet around them.

"Stay behind me," Harry ordered, and strode forward with the pentacle held at arm's length in front of him.

They marched single file through the damp corridor, Harry at the front, Pyrrha in the middle, and Butters covering the rear. It didn't take long for the light of the sun to fade, leaving Harry's pentacle as the only form of light in the tunnel. Long shadows stretched across the ceilings and walls like clawed hands, grasping and reaching for the uneven edges the Creeps had left in their wake. The muddy water sloshed against their ankles with each step, and was the only other sound, save for the constant dripping that seemed to come from all sides.

Pyrrha suddenly felt a very distinct case of deja vu, down there in the caves. She cleared her throat, and Harry stopped. "What is it?"

"If you see an orange light, do not go towards it," Pyrrha said. "If we're in a Grimm Nest, then it likely belongs to a Deathstalker."
"A what?" Butters asked.

"Giant scorpion, big as the King Taijitu we killed." Pyrrha explained.

Butters went a little pale, "Oh. You could handle it if we came across one though, right?"

She shrugged, "Maybe. But I doubt there is one. I just wanted to warn you so… nevermind."

There were a lot of things Pyrrha was willing to share with Harry and his friends, but the tale of the Deathstalker was one she would take to her grave. She had to preserve some measure of dignity, after all.

Harry and Butters exchanged a look, but they continued on. Shortly after, the tunnel began to angle down. It was a small slope, but Pyrrha knew that the farther down they went, the less room to maneuver they would have. If they ran across even larger number of Grimm, it would be difficult for all three of them to escape. Pyrrha could, but Butters and Harry couldn't match her speed and stamina, and had no aura to protect them. She hoped it wouldn't come to that.

Harry stopped suddenly.

"What's wrong?" Pyrrha asked.

The wizard frowned and looked around, "I thought I heard something, like…"

The sound of steel grinding against stone rolled up the tunnel in a hair raising hiss. Pyrrha's grip on Miló tightened, and Butters drew his sword and held it up. The difference was night and day, almost literally. The light of Butters' blade was warm and comforting, and filled every nook and cranny with its soothing glow. The grinding stopped, and the dripping took over once more.

"Right… Butters, take point," Harry said.

"On it," the little man said. Pyrrha fell back to cover their backs, and the trio continued moving.

Not wanting to be joined by silence alone, again, Pyrrha said, her voice low, "How does his sword do that?"

"Hmm? You mean Fidelacchius?" Harry asked.

"Yes, I've never seen a weapon so effective against the Grimm before. What is it?"

He scratched at his head and sighed, "That's… complicated, since you didn't grow up here."

"Why?"

"There's a lot of theology behind that sword. Do you guys even have that where you're from?"

Pyrrha raised a brow, "Of course. There are several religions in Remnant. I'm a Spiritualist myself, we worship and remember the souls of our Ancestors. They watch over us and guide us. Are you saying that sword works on a similar process?"

Harry raised a hand and wobbled it side to side, "Sort of. I'll give you a full run down later, but what Butters has is called a 'Sword of the Cross'. Its one of three forged from ancient religious artifacts to combat evil across the world. Butters is a Knight of the Cross, chosen to wield the sword into battle. Butters is basically the closest thing our world has to a Huntsman."

Pyrrha glanced at the little man as they walked. He certainly didn't have the look of a Huntsman, but physical appearance had no value on a person's actual capabilities, and Butters had shown he could go toe to toe with the Grimm and come out on top.

"I believe he may be superior, actually. Just one of those swords could be devastating against the Grimm."

Harry smirked, "Then I'll give the other Knight a call when we get out of here, even the score."

The thought of having two of those Swords on their side made Pyrrha grin with anticipation. It was a rare sight to see Grimm fleeing in terror, and now she was friends with someone who could do just that.

"Harry," Butters came to a stop, and raised Fidelacchius. "Do you hear that?"

Again they listened, and again they heard the grinding sound, and more. A faint tremor ran along the ground and walls, a rolling beat every other second. Pyrrha shuddered and rubbed at her chest. But more disturbingly, was the sound of a breeze gently passing along the tunnel. Pyrrha shivered and Harry sighed.

"That can only mean good things." he grumbled.

Butters lowered his sword and the light visibly dimmed until it was barely bright enough for them to see. Their pace doubled, and they descended deeper into the nest. The corridor twisted twice more, and the breeze grew stronger, accompanied by a familiar smell that had no business underground. The fresh scent of pine needles.

And then, suddenly, another source of light appeared ahead. It started out small, but quickly began to grow. After a minute, Butters put away Fidelacchius, as the new light was bright enough for them to see. The rumbling grew stronger, a physical tremor comparable to a small earthquake, shaking dust and pebbles from the tunnel with each pulse.

Ice suddenly stabbed at Pyrrha's heart and she stumbled for half a step before catching herself. Harry and Butters didn't notice her fall as they walked. Pyrrha grabbed at the center of her chest and took a deep breath. With each pulse, the familiar cold tore at her core, filling her veins with frigid ice. Pyrrha remembered the feeling well, and knew for sure what they were going to find. She pushed herself forward and caught back up with the others as they finally reached the end of the tunnel.

It opened into an enormous cavern, dozens of feet deep and larger than aircraft hangar. Three pillars of stone supported the roof overhead, and all of the rock had an eery smooth sheen to it, as if cut by precision machinery. They stood on a ramp that spiraled to the right into the depths of the cavern.

Which was where a horde of Grimm blanketed the ground. A sea of black fur and scales, dotted with bone white masks and hundreds of fiery red eyes, filled the cavern. Beowolves and Ursa had gathered at the bottom of the cave in the dozens of not hundreds. There were no Creep to speak of, and while their numbers were great, they looked smaller than they should've been.

That meant the attack above had cut their strength down significantly. Pyrrha still wasn't dumb enough to think they could hope to take that many on, even with Butters sword. There were simply too many, and the greatest strength of the Grimm would always be their numbers.

"Oh… shit." Harry cursed under his breath, and pointed in the center of the cavern.

Pyrrha looked and agreed with the wizards words. Dead center of the cave, ignored by the milling Grimm, was a raised dais with three Blackstones arrayed in a triangular formation. Red script burned on their surfaces with an intensity so great that Pyrrha could see it even from where she stood. Held between the three as if balanced on their ends, was a glowing portal.

The shifting, two-dimensional shape was immediately familiar to Pyrrha and Harry, but this one was larger than the original by several magnitudes, large enough that an ursa could comfortably walk through it. Which was exactly what happened.

An Ursa fell through the portal on all fours, and lumbered into the horde, quickly joined by another, equally as fast. Between their falls from one world to another, Pyrrha saw flashes of the Emerald Forest of Vale. That explained where the Grimm were coming from, and confirmed two things.

Someone was consciously sending Grimm to Earth, and that Torchwick, despite his protests, was indeed aware of it. That lying scumbag would have a lot to answer for when Pyrrha got her hands on him, but for the moment…

Pyrrha leaned against the cavern threshold, taking deep breaths to ease the pain in her chest. Harry glanced back at her and cursed under his breath, "Crap. What's wrong?"

"Remember what happened the last time we saw one of those?" Pyrrha asked, careful to keep her voice low.

Harry winced, "Right. You're not in any shape to fight, are you?"

She shook her head, "Not at this moment. Give me a few minutes though…"

"Um guys," Butters said, "I don't think we have a few minutes."

Looking back over the edge, they could see the Grimm were beginning to move again, towards the ramp. Another curse from Harry, and he began tapping the bottom of his staff against the ground.

"I can destroy the portal, but that'll just stop more from coming through. We'll need to seal the cave off somehow." he said.

Pyrrha pointed up at the nearest pillar, that stood next to the ramp, "Destroy the pillar, the cave ceiling should come crashing down."

"That could cause a lot of damage on the surface," Butters pointed out.

"Compared to the Grimm, it'll be worth the damage," Pyrrha replied.

"And if the tunnel collapses on top of us?"

Harry sighed, "I can deal with that too. I'll open a way to the Nevernever after I destroy the portal and the pillar with my magic. Pyrrha, you still got that Dust we got from Lara yesterday?"

The girl reached into her pocket and fumbled the vial out into view, "Right here."

He nodded, "Good. That enough to destroy the tunnel?"

Pyrrha glanced at the vial that fit comfortably in the palm of her hand, and wobbled her free hand side to side, "Sort of. I'll explain later, but I should be able to block the tunnel with it."

"Then do it now," Harry said, and glanced down at the portal once more. "I've got the rest."

The runes on his staff began to glow a bright orange, and to Pyrrha's surprised, over seventy more ignited along its length, each a blazing fire that sent smolders into the air. Harry pointed his staff down at the ground, and took a deep breath.

Forzare!

His baritone boomed, blasting off the cavern walls. A wall of silver erupted from the end of his staff, rolling through the air faster than a speeding bullet, and hit the trio of stones dead center. The closest was reduced to dust, the other two shattered into the gravel from the impact. The dais detonated into a cloud of debris, before the ruined spell released the pent up energy that had been focused through the three stones.

Three bolts of red lightning arched from where the stones had once stood, carving deep furrows into the ground and walls. Any Grimm caught in their path was instantly incinerated. Harry jumped back in surprise as one reduced the lip of the cliff into ash and sand, and continued upwards to the left, crashing into the other stone pillar. It shattered under the raw energy, and stone rained onto the hapless Grimm below.

The furious howls and bellows of the Grimm sounded a moment later, and the entire cave began to shake.

Pyrrha clutched the vial in her hand and focused. She was no master of Dust manipulation, but she knew enough about it that she could create a decent sized explosion if she needed. When the stones were destroyed, the ice in her heart had promptly vanished, letting her focus on the vial of raw energy in her hands.

Her Aura, her soul, her very being, poured into the particles of dust, supercharging the already volatile substance until it began to glow red hot. Dust on its own was unstable enough to be used as a basic propellant for firearms, it was how Atlas was able to use a machine army. But in the hands of a Huntsman, Dust could be bent to the will of their Aura for whatever purpose they needed.

And what Pyrrha needed now, was one hell of an explosion.

Harry shouted again, and the pillar by the ramp exploded into rubble and showering the stampede of Grimm racing up it. Pyrrha ignored the carnage and focused more of her Aura into the Dust, more than she would normally ever do with such a condensed amount. But this was no normal situation, obviously.

Only when the vial began to tremble in her hands did she stop, ignoring how exposed she felt with her Aura drained. Instead, she turned back toward the tunnel, and flung the vial as hard as she could. The following crimson explosion shook the entire cave, and smoke began to billow out of the entrance. The sound of crashing rubble followed a moment later.

Aparturum!

New light flooded the cavern as Harry tore open a Way into the Nevernever with a wave of his staff and a harsh yell. Frigid air poured out of the Way, and Pyrrha saw spires of ice on the other side, briefly. Harry didn't give her or Butters time to gawk, opting to grab them both by their collars, and heaved them through the way with minimal effort. Howls of rage echoed behind them, and Harry spared one glance down the Ramp.

An Ursa was leading the charge up towards them, dozens of bony spikes rising from its back. It roared bloody murder, a noise no animal could hope to imitate, and flung itself through the air at Harry. That was when the ceiling finally gave way, and a piece of stone, the size of a truck, crushed the Grimm with a solid 'thwump!'.

Harry took that as his cue to leave, and jumped through the Way, closing it behind him as he did.

He face planted into a snow covered floor a moment later, and sighed into the snow. The Mantle of the Winter Knight protected him from the cold, but landing face first on the ground was never pleasant, no matter the circumstances.

When no one bothered to help him up, Harry sighed and pushed himself up and wiped the snow off his face, "Everyone alright?" he asked, and blinked his eyes clear.

"Oh… fuck."

They had landed in a snow covered courtyard, but Harry couldn't make out the details, on account of the dozen or so hellhounds that surrounded them. The dogs were huge, like mastiffs crafted from shadow and ash. Their muzzles were pulled back in warning snarls, and they made no move aside from that.

Pyrrha and Butters were back to back with their weapons raised, but hadn't moved yet, thankfully. Harry stood up and said, "Guys, weapons down, now. You'll just make things worse."

"Harry, are you crazy?" Butters hissed.

Pyrrha did as she was told without a word, sheathing her weapons and raising her hands in the universal gesture of surrender. She trusted Harry's judgement, and if he thought they weren't in any serious danger, she would trust him.

Butters looked pained at the thought of thought of lowering his weapon, but ultimately did, hiding it within his robes once more. The moment he did, a woman's voice echoed across the courtyard.

"Ah, much better. I would hate for things to have escalated between us, mortals."

Pyrrha glanced up at the stairs and did a double take. A woman stood at the top of them, a living statue of near perfection. Her features were sharp and her hair was a coppery-red that fell down her back in rivulets. She wore a simple dress, primarily sea green and a deep blue along the bottom. Her skin was unnaturally pale, and her eyes were… Not human.

They were the color of amber, and the pupils were slit like those of a cat. The woman made eye contact with Pyrrha, and smiled. Her canines were noticeably sharper as well. The gesture unnerved Pyrrha, and she shuddered.

The woman's eyes fell back on Harry, and her smile grew wider, "It has been far too long since we last saw each other Harry, and a surprise visit to my manor? My my, what is a godmother to do?"

Pyrrha looked at Harry in surprise, but he didn't acknowledge her. He focused on the woman, his godmother, and bowed his head, "I...apologize, for dropping in, unannounced, Lea. If you give us just a minute, we'll be out of your hair as quick as we can."

Another hellhound strode up next to Lea, and she idly scratched at its ears, "Ah, but you are a guest here, my godson, and besides… There is so much catching up to do."

A/N: I'm back! Where did I vanish to? School, tests every day of the week, and a crippling Dark Souls addiction, mostly. I am going to try and update more in the future though. Headsup though, on November my updates may drop again, as I'll be participating in Nanorambo, which will take up my free time. Anyway, minor other announcement to clear things up, Remnant takes place right before Season 4 of RWBY would've taken place, just wanted that to be clear.

Oh! And someone, I don't know who, has recently put up an article on TVTropes for this very fanfic! I am honored someone did this, but it is a little sparse, so if anyone feels like adding to it, please go on ahead.

Otherwise, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, review and let me know what you thought, and I will see you guys next time!