Okay, so this update took forever, but now we shall see the conclusion of the Wurfel Arc and the slow end to our second season. It has been a month of ups and downs for all of us as despite my promise last chapter I struggled to write this one out of fear and guilt of defaming it's creator and ruining his work. But I have come to realize that as long as we continue to create new works and love RWBY we're keeping the memory alive.

RWBY: The Darkness Within

Season 2- Chapter 23

The Wall Has Fallen

Seal the Breach

Luxus sent out a message to his father via his scroll as Knives treated Caradin's wounds while Deverou climbed the tower to get a better view of the fighting. "Yes father, the White Fang have been dealt with. Please send in the security forces to apprehend them and work on the reconstruction of the wall." He closed his scroll and turned to the rest of his team. "It'll take them time to restore that hole in the wall that was destroyed by explosives, and if we want them to restore it faster I need to assist them." He said grimly, "I mean I'm already out of bullets, so I won't be much use to you all in combat."

"It's fine," Knives said as he patted his friend on the shoulder, "I just need you to rebuild the wall, our first job is to protect the people right? I'll cover you and Caradin and Deverou will assist Beatrice. We need to get that wall up, so we'll need masonry tools, welding equipment and some extra guns." He said as his eyes were distant as if he saw the battle unfolding in his mind. "Luxus put the word out and get who you can to bolt the pieces down while the security force guards the exterior wall."

"We'll help!" Melody yelled as she ran up to them with her father and her younger cousin Martin. Martin's parents had died on the road and Vino treated him as his own son, raising the boy well, where he got along with Lilith. Vino had a spackle and a cart with a cement mixer while Martin who had grown into a young man since Luxus had been away carried the cement bags. Melody held the blowtorch tight and hugged her cousin. "This is our town as much as anyone else's and I don't wanna see it wiped off the map."

"Don't worry anyway Luxus; your beloved aunt is manning the tower atop our casino." Vino joked as a bang rang through the town as he saw the blonde woman atop the tower with a high impact sniper rifle. Knives smiled and shook Martin's hand before stepping over the rubble with Caradin and Deverou as Luxus looked back at his cousins and his uncle.

"I'll be fine I promise, and I'll protect all of you." He said as he raised all the pieces of the detonated wall high into the air with his semblance as the rest of his team took positions.

"Hope you've made peace with us Luxus, because from here on out it becomes bloody." Knives said as he looked towards the horde of Grimm headed towards the city.

"I wouldn't have it any other way, don't die now." He said as he set the first few pieces in place as Vino got the mixer running.

"Don't be such a bitch, I'm Bloody fucking Knives, I'm gonna be fine!" He said with a grin as he turned to look at the Grimm once more and frowned, knowing it'd be an all-out test of stamina and fortitude from this point on.

The Titans Clash

Cyan and Sandman were a flurry of movement across the sand as they feinted, slashed out, doubled back, and attacked again. The scythe and scimitar hummed across the dunes as the clashing of weapons resonated around them. Cyan leapt to his left and took off at a full sprint while Sandman ran after him, Cyan swept backwards with the scythe kicking up sand as Sandman ran to the left to get around it and so Cyan swung and caught him with the scythe-blade as the Sandman raised his scimitar to deflect the attack and rolled to run away as Cyan continued his relentless assault trying to either bleed the man dry or bury him in sand. Sandman scampered away quickly as he began drawing the knives off his bandages and tossing them at Cyan as he retied the bandages around his body. Cyan merely batted the knives away, but the rate and consistency of the projectiles proved to be a tad much for his defenses in his weakened state and he soon found a knife in his left leg, abdomen, and right shoulder.

He staggered a bit as he drew the knives from his body and faced his opponent once more who held his scimitar with another blade he'd drawn from his cloak that appeared to be a yataghan. With a flick of a small trigger fire shot from the yataghan towards Cyan who rolled out of the way and took off towards his opponent. The Sandman took off at Cyan, and as they clashed he let out another burst of flame to drive his opponent back as he lashed out with the scimitar. The blow struck Cyan and carved a mark across his left shoulder as the man gritted his teeth and swung wide with his scythe as the more agile man rolled away and slashed up with both swords, though he was out of range the blades seemed to glow faintly as the sand around him kicked up and tore into his body. "Great, he has Earth Dust folded into his blades." Cyan grumbled as the opponent ran towards him not giving him a moment's rest, "As if he wasn't troublesome enough." The Sandman slashed again, this time using the scimitar to kick up sand and he cranked the heat intensely on his yataghan turning the sand into a wave of impromptu glass that sliced into his skin as he staggered away, gripping a small bit of glass and snapping it off like a small icicle. His opponent rushed him once more as Cyan drew ready and left his guard wide open, the Sandman leapt in for the attack as Cyan put all his energy into focusing on the attack and the movement of his body blocking out all else. He felt the attack coming and side-stepped quickly as he jammed the piece of glass into the side of the Sandman and doubled back to increase his distance from his target.

The Sandman staggered and drew the shard of glass from his body as he looked at Cyan's bloodied hand and looked at the dying man and back to himself. They'd both taken a beating and Cyan was more the weary, but would the caged animal kill him in it's final death throws? Sandman took the risk as he flicked his yataghan and the segmented blade collapsed into a knife as he sheathed it with a satisfying click as the sheath locked into place turning his blade into his tool for survival. He readied his scimitar in one hand and his sheathed knife in the other as he rushed Cyan in a last ditch effort to win. Cyan widened his grip on the scythe, grabbing the butt of the weapon and positioning his other hand close to the blade as he got ready. Sandman clicked on his knife as the last of the Fire Dust shot through the vented end of the sheath like a flare, colliding with the weapon and staggering Cyan. He put his offhand weapon away and gripped the scimitar with both hands as he drew in for the killing blow. He leapt through the smoke and ash and slashed across Cyan's chest leaving a large gash across the man as he released his hand to use his semblance to dry out Cyan. He saw the faintest glimmer of something in Cyan's left hand as the knife plunged into his chest, he saw Cyan draw the knife out and wipe the blood off it before fitting it back into the butt of his scythe.

"Congratulations, you're the third man to force me to draw my knife from the inside of my scythe pole. The other two are dead as well, and I'm sure you can tell them that you came close to killing me." Cyan said as he removed his jacket and started tearing it to bandage his wounds. He coughed up blood and fell to his knees as the Sandman took out his sheathed knife and loaded in a new cartridge of Fire Dust, as he parted his bandages and cauterized his wounds as he grit his teeth while Cyan wheezed at him through crimson stained teeth. The man fell into the sand as the blood slowly oozed from his body and Sandman smirked before slowly trudging towards the city of Würfel.

"You were an admirable opponent Cyan Silver, but I do not rest until my opponent is bled dry." He suddenly hacked up blood as the realization of Cyan's target hit him. The assassin wasn't aiming for his heart but rather his lung. As the blood filled his lung he found it hard to breath as he broke out into a full sprint toward the city wall trying to regurgitate the blood as fast as he could to no avail. By the time he reached the wall, he collapsed and vomited the blood as he began to seize up from lack of oxygen.

"There's a man down there!" He heard as he faded out, "Poor bastard…medical team…collapsed lung…" And soon he settled into the darkness.

The Beasts Rage

Knives slashed a Beowolf as it slipped in past Deverou and Caradin as they fought to get the White Fang Leader and his Lieutenant behind the wall while keeping Grimm away from the city. They passed Knives and stepped over the rubble handing them over to the security forces as they returned to the fight and the security force aided in restoring the wall. Sweat trickled down Luxus' brow as he put piece after piece in place as the Zebros and security force slapped on quick-dry cement and welded the steel beams back into place. "How's it coming!?" Knives yelled as the Grimm started driving Beatrice, Caradin, and Deverou back to twenty five feet from Knives.

"Not great! The welding is going fine, but the cement construction of the wall will take months before we can fix up a new wall!" Luxus roared.

"Then what the fuck are we doing!?" Knives yelled back as he ducked under an Ursa and chopped off it's head with the Ripper.

"Buying time for us to construct and impromptu wall while my dad orders the parts we need from Vale!" Luxus called back as he set another piece in place after the cement from the first batch had set, so it could dry the pieces in place.

"Goddammit!" Knives roared as two Beowolves slipped past and closed in on him. He ran towards the first one and chopped it's arm off with the Ripper before plunging Jack into it's heart. As he cast it aside, the other slashed a gash into his chest and he screamed in pain.

"Knives!" Luxus screamed losing his concentration for a minute as the blocks started to fall from the air.

"Don't drop the wall!" Knives screamed back as his blood lashed out and raised the Beowolf into the air before slicing it to pieces. He panted heavily as his vision hovered and two more charged him. He snapped himself in and focused on the first one letting his blood flow down his arm as he shot out a tendril fast and deadly like a whip tearing apart the Beowolf as the other clamped down on his arm and he gritted his teeth in pain before Deverou's chain-scythe buried itself in it's head.

"Knives fall back! You're too weak to fight them!" He cried as he kicked a Beowolf away and drew his chain-scythe back switching it into sword mode to strike down the beast.

Knives staggered and moved towards the fighting as he saw men in grey uniforms surround him, "Protect the kid!"

"Drive 'em back!"

"Get him to safety!" The men cried as they grabbed his arms and dragged him across the rubble into the city and set him down as the medical team got to work on him. He looked around and saw the familiar face of the assassin Romeo Blue and the Sandman, he saw a strange woman standing over them with her finger on her sidearm as she turned to face Knives and ran over to him.

"Hey kid, you're gonna be okay they'll get you patched up!" She cried as Knives looked up at her. She ran back to her charges and kept restless watch over them as Knives faded in and out as they patched him up.

Outside the wall, Deverou and Caradin had more to focus on without Knives at the rearguard. Caradin had already switched to scythe mode as he spun and danced through the Grimm rending them apart as limbs and heads flew from his wake. The sound of his mother's high powered cleaver and Luxus' aunt's rifle could be heard ringing as they blasted and hacked through Grimm. Deverou thought they were starting to turn the tide as the security force mounted an assault with them and started tearing apart the Grimm with their high-powered automatic rifles. Then he saw the King-Taijitu slither from the forest, it wasn't like the others as it's external bone armor was thick and it's scales shimmered like steel. It's fangs were the size of longswords and were as sharp as them by the looks of it, it hissed and the Grimm surged with renewed vigor as they began to overwhelm Beatrice as she called to the boys to fall back. They ran back to the edge of the wall and hacked and slashed, trying to keep their ground as the forces fell back behind the wall and began to open fire from their position as the Elder Grimm grew closer. As a resounding bang followed by a blast of fire that tore a hole in the Grimm's armor drew everyone's eyes to the wall where Dreyer Rayfor von Würfel stood with a custom silver revolver with a black handle and a black revolver with a gold handle, glyphs appeared in front of him. A golden glyph with a clock on the bottom, a red glyph with a dragon's face, and a silver glyph with a crosshair.

"Get the fuck out of my town." Dreyer said as he fired from both of his high impact revolvers each bullet rapidly accelerating, catching on fire, and glowing like a sun tore into the Grimm making dents in the armor, but it was enough for a skilled marksman like Maria to make use of. Her bullets punched into the flesh of the King Taijitu as they watched small patches of red appear on the beast. Beatrice added her Dust Gauntlet and bullets to the mix as the three adults began to slowly drive the beast back as the Grimm at the wall who were hesitating were mowed down. They continued their onslaught as the Grimm began to retreat and returned to their forest far on the outskirts of town.

"We won," Deverou said in disbelief. The men behind him cheered as they all lifted Deverou and Caradin high into the air and returned inside the safety of the walls as the citizens of Würfel sighed a sigh of relief as their town was once more safe.

Well with this we come to and end of the Arc, next three chapters of the season will be full of feels and a little less of the comedy. I'm going to take this story in a serious direction towards Knives and his team maturing as individuals, and start making Ruby and Knives relationship...a bit more headcanon. So look forward to actual romance and less of the banter or shyness. We're going to get bold here people, and I hope you join me for Season 3 of Darkness Within!