Okay, with RWBY Volume 2 finished, so too does this arc reach it's climax. With the four assassin's closing in on their targets and a confrontation on the horizon with the White Fang, it's all coming to a close soon. And so with this I announce news that is both great, and terrible. First off, after the next two chapters there will be another Q&A so please, ask questions, I do love answering them. It can be ANYTHING! What's Knives' favorite food, who do I ship who with, what can you expect in Season 3 of the fic? So that's the great news...sorta, the bad news is that Season 3 will be our third and final act. It will take it's own course and we will see lots of the Sins as well as Cain. However, there will be a sequel, called RWBY: The Light After the Darkness. With the end of Season 3 we will see many faces we know and love disappear, but it will begin a new story with tons of new faces and a few old ones. Without further ado, the chapter!

RWBY: The Darkness Within

Season 2- Chapter 18

You Must Put it to the Grindstone

The Hammer must Strike when the Blade is Hot

Deverou had removed himself from the events around him and found his way to the tower so he could find to practice his techniques. He focused on his eye and the semblance he had used for years being done wrong, and he focused on the ability that his mother didn't know about; the Eye of Truth. It was the second talent of the Eye of Still Waters that let him see people's aura. He realized now it was just a heightened perception and he decided to focus that to work his semblance. He imagined he was a spider in a web and he saw all the little people around him glowing with their auras, it would be impossible to pick one out of the crowd to find their intentions, but if he removed himself from his location he could test his hypnosis out on them.

"Deverou." He heard from behind him as he turned to find Luxus, worse for wear, with a horrified Faunus in a vice-grip. "This guy hurt someone close to me, find out what the White Fang are planning from him. Don't worry, I've confirmed he's a member." He tossed the Grimm mask at Deverou's feet and the young man's eyes filled with undeniable rage.

"Very well." He extended his palm and imagined it was his eye as he closed his eyes, "You will tell me your name."

"Lupin Frees." He said blankly as Deverou focused on maintaining his power as he continued with his line of questioning.

"What is your ranking in the operation? How many of you are there?"

"I'm a squad leader, we have at least 35 men, and we have six squads of five and then there is the elite squad of three. Two squad leader report to a cell leader, and they report to the lieutenant who reports to our commander." He explained as Luxus took note of each thing.

"Where is your base of operations?" Deverou asked, struggling to hold the semblance without eye contact.

"Paradisio Casino." Deverou broke the trance and turned to Luxus.

"I can't hold it any more, I'm sorry but all we know are their numbers and their chain of command." Deverou said sadly, readjusting the glasses he was given.

"It's no problem, I took down this guy and his squad so the others must be nothing."`

"I guess you're right, what about Paradisio?"

"Never heard of it, we'll have to ask dad." Luxus said with a grimace.

"What about the White Fang you took out?"

He turned angrily to face the man before them who was practically vibrating with fear, "We treat them humanely, and send them to jail to await trial."

The Faunus was sweating but cracked a smile, "You'll regret this kid, we'll come in in force and slaughter all of you, we will be a purifying wave to," He didn't get to finish before Luxus punched him into the ground and audible crack being heard from his face as he went limp.

"He's unconscious again." Luxus said coldly as Deverou saw a side of Luxus he didn't think existed. "I'll round his friends up and see that they see justice. After that, I'm going to return to get some treatment and see you out on the battlefield again."

"I'll investigate the city to find out more." He said as something caught his eye it was brief but he thought he saw a tendril of blood on a rooftop. "Did you see that?"

"Knives has found an enemy." Luxus said as he got ready to go before Deverou raised his hand.

"I'll handle this." Deverou said removing his glasses.

"Are you sure?" Luxus asked as they locked eyes and he no longer felt the hypnotic power rushing over him.

"I can handle it Luxus, go receive healing and see me when you're ready." He ran and leapt from the tower feeling an immense amount of confidence and a new sense of purpose.

Consistent Pressure and Attention to Detail makes a Fine Blade

"Thanks!" Caradin yelled at the cashier as he left the Dust Shop and restocked his weapon. It was time to focus on the lesson his mother told him to practice, as he focused on projecting his aura around his body and strengthening it to make a bright golden barrier that coated his body. He lowered it and moved on thinking about where he should start with the investigation when he spotted someone out of place, "YOU!" He screamed at the man in the blue jacket and blue hair.

"Ah shit." The man declared as he took off and Caradin followed in hot pursuit.

"Get back here Romeo!" He cried as he followed the assassin through the streets to the alarm of the citizens. They moved further and further out until they reached a large empty street, "Nowhere to run."

"Who said I was running?" Romeo said as he fixed Caradin with the gaze of a predator as he quickly drew his SMG and opened fire. Caradin spun his coffin around and set it with the back facing Romeo as he withdrew his weapon and leapt over the coffin to charge the man. He had seen through this ruse as he drew his revolver and opened fire with Ice Dust rounds.

Straight out the gate with Dust rounds? He's serious. Caradin thought as he activated the Solaris edge and slashed through the bullets causing steam to rise and fill the alleyway. "Dammit." He muttered as he shifted the weapon to axe mode for closer quarters fighting. The man quickly rushed him from behind and pinned him to the wall with his knife-gun and rushed in to finish it with his sword. I need more room! Caradin screamed internally as a pole extended in front of him.

"Grab on!" A woman cried as he did as he was told and was yanked free of the wall and onto the roof. It didn't take but a second for Romeo to blink to the opposing rooftop as Caradin saw his rescuer was a tall woman who looked a lot like Sarais.

"Who are you?"

"Sinon Campbell, the Phantom Sniper. And that man over there is a nuisance of mine." She said gritting her teeth.

"Good to see you too love! Thanks for getting in my way again, just goes to show how much you love me!" He roared dripping with sarcasm.

"Um, am I in the middle of something?" Caradin asked.

"Little bit." Sinon replied as her sniper rifle she'd used to lift him from danger transformed into a Voulge. He shifted his weapon into scythe form and stood beside her, "What are you doing!?" She declared.

"I don't run from a fight."

"He's a professional assassin."

"He and I have a score to settle." Caradin said fiercely.

"You and about everyone else in Vale." She mumbled as she drew back and got ready to fight. Romeo eyed his new opponent as well as his old one and drew both his weapons this time, ready for a tough fight. It was Sinon who rushed over first, with a heavy chop she destroyed the area where Romeo had been standing. He had blinked behind her and leveled his pistol with her back as Caradin rushed him and swung the scythe as Romeo blinked out once more above the two of them, shifting his sword to SMG form and opening fire on both of them in a whirlwind of bullets as he spun in the air. They jumped and dodged as he fell and then blinked behind Caradin with his revolver aimed dead center on Caradin's head. Caradin leapt across the building before Romeo could fire as Sinon had shifted her weapon back to it's rifle form and opened fire on Romeo. He kept blinking from location to location getting closer to her with each blink until he was within sword range. He swung as she fired, and his blade scarred her face with a cut across her face and her nose. He flew across to the other rooftop coughing up blood as his aura had barely cushioned the blow, he removed the bullet from his gut and stood, shooting himself with a Ice Dust bullet to freeze his wound closed as Sinon received healing from Caradin.

"It's not a bad wound, but it is deep. My aura will heal it, but you will have a scar." He told her.

"Do it." She said, wiping away the blood as he closed the wound and healed any damage. It was a clean scar from her left cheek to her right, crossing the bridge of her nose. Romeo chuckled.

"You look good."

"You too." She replied with sass as he coughed up some more blood.

"Well this is a losing battle, even if I were able to land a few more blows, you'd both end up killing me." He said sadly, "Well, until next time I guess!"

"Stop!" Caradin yelled as Romeo was about to blink out of there and froze, as Caradin had cleared the distance quickly and put the scythe blade to his throat. "At least let me see you injuries first.

"You can't be serious!?" Sinon screeched as Romeo blinked his eyes in shock.

"After I tried to kill you, you're going to help me?" He asked in surprise.

"It's the way I am. I will incapacitate an enemy or I kill them," He stated, "I don't like leaving anything half-finished. So you can let me heal you, or I can take your head off."

Romeo said nothing as he raised his hand and shattered the ice that kept his wound closed. Caradin stepped forward and began to heal his wounds as Romeo waited patiently. When the healing was finished he got up and left without saying a word, and when Caradin turned to talk to Sinon she had left as well. "Well that's fucking great." He said as he scratched his head and decided to head back to the mansion.

Be careful not to Erode the Blade

Knives danced carefully around his target, whose sword sung as gales of wind tore across the area. The scimitar was a terrible blade, and Knives' kilij was similar, these were weapons for cutting alone, nothing but reaving apart flesh. Knives tried to keep his distance as he gathered blood in one hand and morphed it into a small throwing knife as he hurled it towards his opponent. The stranger quickly loosened a bandage and a throwing knife dropped out as he threw it and Knives' blood knife broke apart and the small droplets of blood controlled by Knives' semblance shot towards his opponent like sharpened needles. He simply stood still as the projectiles collided with his aura and turned to red dust. "What!?" Knives cried as the man rushed forward at breakneck speed, and grasped Knives wrist as Knives hastily broke free and backed away. He looked at his wrist and it throbbed with pain as the blood began to recirculate to the area. "He's like sand, he wears out the moistures and chips away at objects. Erosion is it?" He asked as the man gave him a thumbs up before loosening another bandage that had multiple blades attached to it. He did the same with another, and soon had two bandages extending from his elbow area with small knives on it like a vine with thorns. He drew back and rushed flipping overhead and snaring Knives in the bandages as the blades pierced his skin, and Knives screamed in pain.

"Hey!" A voice called as a scythe blade swept past the Sandman. Deverou dropped down as the Sandman released Knives and put some distance between him and his new opponent. "You okay Knives?"

"Right as rain Deverou, so what's the plan?" Knives asked as he drew the blood in his body, and tried to hold it.

"Well all we have to do is force him to retreat. So I suggest we use Demon's Dance." He said locking eyes with Knives.

"You sure you can keep up?" Knives grinned.

"Don't have to if I use hypnosis." He grinned back.

They shot off together towards the Sandman as they then crossed paths, Deverou taking the right and Knives taking the left. The Sandman began evaluating his new targets as Knives drew his kilij and Deverou drew his blade in katana mode. They leapt simultaneously as the Sandman jumped into the air. Deverou released the hypnosis that kept him and Knives in sync and Knives drew his other blade as he landed and kicked off into the air in a flurry of motion that the Sandman countered with difficulty. Deverou shifted his weapon into chain-scythe mode and lashed out locking it with the loose bandage and swinging him into the ground. Knives dropped down and as the Sandman lashed out with his other bandage, Knives was ready as he grabbed it ignoring the pain and used the Ripped to anchor it to the ground. He rushed in with his kilij and was ready to strike when the Sandman grabbed the bandage Deverou had and struggled enough to toss Deverou into Knives. He quickly loosed the bandages from the chain-scythe and the Ripper. He took off quickly from the rooftop and made his retreat as the two boys stood alone in the night. "Well that was lucky." Knives coughed.

"We'll get him next time." Deverou finished as he helped his teammate move. "Let's get you back to Caradin so we can treat those wounds. It was the end of the first day, two more until the storm was unleashed.

Okay, so that was boss. Had a lot of fight scenes I tried really hard to coreograph in my head to make them RWBY worthy. I doubt I did it, but who cares because for once I'm actually pleased with my work. Now just submit your questions via Review or PM. If you're going to PM me a message please put the title as RWBY Q&A. Have fun my lovelies, please Read, Review, and Favorite/Follow and as always it's been a divine pleasure crafting these for you.