"Maybe it is just that you are not intelligent."

Pyrrha lowered her weapon. Her eyes never moved off the Grimm. It had spoken. It had said something in all its growling and snarling. Actual words that they could all understand. A verbal Human language. She wasn't sure how exactly she should have reacted.

Tsuruya stepped forward, kneeling down in front of the Creep so she was level with it. "You can understand us now?"

"Now? Always."

"Then why wait until now to talk?"

"You… not until now could you offer us anything."

Pyrrha raised her rifle again. "Offer you what? Nothing's changed. We are still natural enemies."

It answered Pyrrha's question, but never turned away from Tusurya. "Escape… from this wretched Remnant. This worthless remains of a dead world. All we desire is to return to our home in the darkness."

Tsuruya turned back to Pyrrha. "The darkness? Outer space?" The answer hit her like a brick wall. "The darkness between worlds. I know where that is. That's the place I came through to get to Remnant. I… they want back into that darkness. It's where they came from, and I know how to get them there."

"Tsuruya, you need to stop and think about this." Pyrrha poked her weapon at the Creep. "These things live to destroy Humans. Think about how you got here."

It was true that the portal was open from Remnant to Earth, and the darkness was between them. If she led the Grimm into the darkness, they could launch an attack on Earth. There were too many lives at stake there, so she couldn't risk it. She knew that. The portal had to still be open, otherwise there was no way for her to get back.

"Then I need to… hmm." She stepped back and mulled it over. There had to be a way to save Remnant without condemning Earth. "I show the Grimm to the portal, and then close it from Earth. I don't know exactly how to turn off that… thing… that Emiri gave me."

Pyrrha stepped in front of her, still watching the Grimm closely. She was facing away from Tsuruya, but she was talking directly to her. "Think carefully about what you're saying. You may save Remnant, and even if you stop them from getting to your world, you'll be doing exactly what the Grimm want you to do. You'll be helping these monsters."

"You know nothing, halfbreed."

Pyrrha fired her rifle, blasting the Creep's left leg off. "What did you call me? Say that again! What did you call me?"

Tsuruya grabbed the gun and pulled it to the side. "Stop. Hold on." She addressed the Grimm. "What do you mean, calling her a halfbreed."

It struggled, snapping at the air, writhing around on the ground with the loss of a leg. It howled at them angrily. "You fools! You are abominations and you do not even know it! Halfbreed mixes of Human and the other race! Why else do you think you can breed with them? Every being on this planet that dares call themselves Human carries their blood!"

Pyrrha stopped struggling, so Tsuruya released her weapon. The redheaded warrior lowered it and spoke to the Grimm again. "You're talking about the Faunus, aren't you?"

"They are no different. All of you halfbreed."

"Um…" Tsuruya cleared her throat. "I'm not actually from this world."

"I can smell their blood. There is not a man, woman, or child in this world that does not carry it. Your blood is different. It is fresher. More pure. More Human. But only by a few generations."

Tsuruya looked to Pyrrha. "What? What does that even mean?"

"I think…" Pyrrha shook her head. "I don't think we should be taking this thing at its word, but I think it's saying that someone in your family, only a few generations ago, was from Remnant."

"…Well, then maybe that's why I have an aura, and it's not just something every Human has. Maybe it's that… other race?" Tsuruya shrugged. "So, cool. I'm an alien. I have another question for you, Mr. Grimm. Could you always speak English, or does that have anything to do with my semblance? If it isn't my semblance, then I need to keep trying to figure out what that is."

It suddenly seemed more eager to answer. Somehow talking about her semblance was far more important to it than the ethnicity of Remnant's population. "Your abilities are the only reason we would talk to any of your kind. You are no translator. You are just… the only one worth communicating with."

"So my semblance is not what allows us to talk to each other, but it is what you want to talk about?"

It sighed. A very strange sound coming from a Grimm. "You are our key to escape from this wretched hive. We would not be here if we could leave on our own."

Tsuruya was silent. She was trying to piece together the puzzle. The Grimm wasn't exactly being specific, but she got the main concept. She still wasn't sure what it meant. Sure, she had opened up a portal into the darkness, where they wanted to go, but she didn't know where it was. There had to be an answer, but it sounded like this Creep wasn't going to be very forthcoming.

"There has to be a way I can… make a deal with them. If I can get them into the darkness, they can stay there and I can go home, and Remnant will be saved. Everyone wins. We can make a deal."

The Creep just howled, its body rumbling and shaking the ground under it. The shaking grew stronger until the ground split open underneath it. Pyrrha stepped in, firing one shot into its head and finishing it off. It didn't stop the tremors.

Pyrrha grabbed Tsuruya's hand and headed for the door. "We need to get out of here. I think hiding place has just turned into a death trap."

Once they were out in the subway, they could see the damage that was done. The pillars were crumbling and the ground was breaking apart. They turned to rejoin the others, but were immediately cut off as three serpentine heads broke through the ground and slithered after them.

Switching her weapon to its spear form, Pyrrha stabbed one of the heads and pinned it to the ground. Tsuruya drew her sword and slashed the other two, severing them from their necks. They ran the rest of the way and reached the group just in time to see the way up to the street collapse.

Most everyone was preoccupied batting at anything that got too close and firing wildly into the shadows. Nebula was still down, and her teammates stood over her protecting their leader. Penny was effortlessly dashing through the shadows, slashing apart everything she came across. Pyrrha took her place with her team as soon as she was there.

Tsuruya made her way to May, who was beside the three remaining members of NDGO. She patted her new friend on the shoulder. "We got a plan to get out of here, right?"

"Yeah. It just collapsed. What's plan B?"

Sun and Ren rushed past, heading away from the collapsed exit. Sun called back. "Everyone this way! We need to keep moving!"

May shrugged and followed them. Everyone else was close behind. Tsuruya, remembering how Nebula was injured, turned back to see Qrow and Dew had stopped to help her up. Octavia was warding off every attack directed at them on her own, so Tsuruya jumped in to help.

Qrow turned to the two girls once Nebula was up. "One of you is gonna have to clear things up ahead of us."

Before they could think of choosing who would be in front and who in back, the subway tunnel began to crumble around them. The ground split open right under Qrow's feet and he fell in, taking Nebula and Dew with him. Tsuruya and Octavia ran to the edge and peered down to see that Qrow had managed to wedge his scythe in between the two sides of the gap. He held on to his weapon with one hand and had his other arm wrapped around Nebula. Dew had fallen and was now hanging off his leg. There was a cavern beneath them, impossible to tell how deep.

Qrow motioned to the two girls above. "I'm gonna throw her to you. Catch her." Without waiting for a response, he indeed threw Nebula up to them. They caught her, and Tsuruya shifted her over to Octavia entirely. Qrow looked down at Dew. "Now you climb up before we both fall."

Dew did as instructed and climbed up Qrow's leg. She grabbed onto his shirt and pulled herself up level with him. She reached up and caught Tsuruya's hand. As soon as she moved to climb out, the scythe broke through the concrete that held it in place and Qrow dropped out of sight.

Tsuruya helped Dew up as Octavia leaped over the gap with Nebula. The two were about to follow when the ground fell away under them. Just as they fell, and black shadows began to swallow up Tsuruya's sight, she caught sight of something flying out of the dark, coming up to meet them.

Qrow shot out of the cavern, catching the two girls and landing safely beside the gap. He set them down and unfolded his scythe. "Now hand me Nebula and everyone run."

There was plenty of time to make up for. They were nearly a minute behind the rest of the group, and at the speed they were running is was going to be hard to make up the difference. There was sufficient encouragement behind them in the form of unseen but very well heard hordes of Grimm. Tsuruya and Octavia bolted ahead, leaving Dew at the back of the group.

Qrow pointed ahead of them. "I see light. Head up there. Go!"

"Such heart. Such defiance. If I could, I would destroy all of them. Alas, they are nothing but a distraction. They are only half of what I despise. The Human race, strong and pure, lives worlds away on Earth. The center of everything is there, and I must return to where I was created."

The Black Queen of the Grimm stood from her throne. Her lavender eyes glowered at the red skies above her. As she stepped away from her throne for the first time in many years, her raven black hair flowed behind her like a cloak. The dark dress she wore wrapped around her body scarcely. The black wings unfolded from her back.

"The girl from another world offers us a deal. I do not take deals well, but we shall humor her so far as it serves us. Every step closer to Earth is a victory. I must find the light and feed. And we shall all feast on the masses of the Human race. Rise, my legions! We go to Vale! Every one of us! Rise! To war!"

The hellish landscape before her erupted with myriads upon myriads of Grimm of all sizes. Dragons swarmed to the skies, carrying the wrath of the Grimm in their wings. The Great Black Dragon rose up beneath her, turning its head to Vale. She rode her massive beast of burden as it made its way to the feast. Of course, the White Queen would remain. Salem was just like that. She could not bear to leave these remnants the way they were.

The Black Queen's march had begun.

Author's Note: I want to have some Qrow awesome in this story. Expect that there will be some. And our narrator in this story, like in RWBY canon, is the villain. Obviously. The Black Queen is on the march.