AN: Two months... I can't believe it took me this long. But that's the downside of getting a job. Don't have as much time or energy to write as I'd like.


Too Close For Comfort

"…Aizen… I hate it when you're right." Weiss said as she stabbed a large purple creature with purple crystals jutting out of its body using Myrtenaster.

"Believe it or not, so do I sometimes." Aizen said as he fired an ether arrow upon it, but to his dismay, it didn't have the power he had begun demonstrating after training with Weiss.

"HIYAAH!" Ruby shouted out as she used Crescent Spinner against a white scorpox. Except Ruby was wielding Crescent Rose, not Roze's scythe. Fortunately, the insectoid wasn't as durable as the giant arachno they fought back in Forever Fall so she was making decent gashes on its white carapace. Roze meanwhile tried to shoot it, but just like Aizen's arrows, his ether shots lacked their usual power. Not to mention because of the particles in the air, the ether he does manage to get into his shots is lost pretty fast. Meaning that Roze's shots don't get as far as he's used to either.

Blake quickly stabbed with Gambol Shroud the tail joint of the scorpox Ruby attacked. Fortunately, the joint was indeed weak and allowed the katana to pierce through. But the insectoid monster didn't like it. Despite this, it was unable to retaliate because Yang was immediately whaling on it.

To the blonde's annoyance, the creature didn't seem to take any real damage from her punches. Until she hit a gash Ruby had made, and her fist actually punched through. The beast screeched as it used its pincers to snap at the blonde, who had the smarts to back off the moment she got a good hit in.

"I got it!" Nora let out as she came down with Magnhild and smashed the insectoid into paste with all her strength.

The one Weiss engaged was then drilled by Tora and Poppi.

Everyone took a look around. The little ambush that these things tried, seemed to have failed. Talos pulled his Megalance out of one scorpox that wasn't even twitching anymore, while Jaune returned Crocea Mors into sword and shield from the bastard sword form. Ren lowered Stormflowers as Otohime depowered her cannon.

"Is everyone okay?" asked Rex who sheathed Roc's Dual Scythes.

"A bit more exhausted than I'd like, but yeah." Nia said, barely able to even lift Dagas' Greataxe anymore.

"Damn it's hard to breathe," Qrow panted as he put Kasandra's hammer away.

"Still, this wasn't too difficult." Mòrag said as she also sheathed her Whipswords.

A loud thud, got everyone's attention. "Dragunov?" Yang called out in concern. The draconic Blade fell down on a knee as the red glow of his cracks shut down.

"I'm fine." Dragunov said as he got back up, "I guess…orange is the best I can do here."

"Which would mean that you can't go Sun Dragon here." Yang wasn't entirely sure if that was a good thing or not.

"I'm still surprised that the giant plant monster didn't attack us." Jaune said as he gasped for air. When they crossed a bridge over a river of poisonous water, they saw a huge plant-like monster waddling in it back and forth. Since it would be a challenge to fight it off completely at range when the thing had vines that it could easily reach them, the gang decided to make a break for it when it moved off elsewhere.

"Let's just leave before it comes back." Blake quickly said as she helped Nox to his feet. The dark Blade looked like he was ashamed of something. Probably himself.

With that, everyone moved away from the small clearing they were at that had many plants that released spores into the air. According to Joana, these spores are not harmful so no one was worried. Still they were a little more out of breath than normal. Hopefully they wouldn't face fights harder than this. They had barely even made it past the hole in the wall.

But then the gang moved on. Finding an opening for a pathway that circled around a bottomless pit. The pathway itself was also pretty narrow, so team RWBY and Qrow were at the front, two people at a time. With Tora and Poppi taking point confidently.

Meanwhile Weiss was looking at her Scroll with a small frown.

"Something wrong?" Ruby asked.

"…I don't know yet." Weiss replied before putting her Scroll away. They did lose a little bit of Aura, but that was to be expected from any fight.

The two got into a more spacious area at the end of that pathway to see a pretty steep stone bridge. Leading to higher ground. And when Roze looked towards the left side, he could see the entrance they got in from on the lower ground.

"Maybe we should go over that bridge?" Nora suggested, while Tora and Poppi were moving to the right side of the path they entered to.

"Well we could see what's up there." Yang shrugged as she moved up the ramp.

"Yang, get back!" Wulfric suddenly shouted.

"Huh?" Yang questioned, already halfway through before the bridge shattered and the blonde fell with a surprised shriek.

"Yang!" Everyone cried out in concern. Until they heard a familiar blast and Yang came back up high enough to grab the broken edge.

Ruby wasted no time in moving in and helping her sister back up alongside Blake.

Dragunov meanwhile looked below to see the fallen piece now in the poisonous water below. It seemed shallow and if the concerns of their resident water Blades were to be believed, then just contact with that stuff could be fatal. "Quick thinking there, Yang." Dragunov commented.

"How was I supposed to know that thing would give out." Yang snapped at her Blade a little.

"I meant about you propelling yourself back up." Dragunov dead-panned.

"Oh. Well…thanks." Yang seemed a little surprised.

"Everyone! Over here!" Tora called out, earning everyone's attention, "Tora and Poppi think this pathway lead further in."

"What about that way?" Nora pointed out the other way.

Roc moved a little ahead the path Nora pointed and took to the air to do a quick survey, "There's no path further in there."

"Guess it's this way then." Zeke said with a small sigh. And with that, the gang moved into the cavern Tora and Poppi discovered. It led to another upward spiral. Where the gang got ambushed by two white scorpoxes. And since the pathway was a bit narrow, it was a chore to take them down when Only Ruby and Tora could fit comfortably in the front.

But thanks to Tora and Poppi's defensive capabilities and Ruby deciding to use Roze's scythe for this one, they were still able to dispose of them. Especially when Ren, Oscar and Penny moved a little back in the spiral to get clear enough shots for ranged back up using their respective Ether Cannons. Although Jaune and Talos had to hold back Nora who wanted to use her grenades when the other one responded by firing powerful jets of water ether at the ranged fighters. The attack surprised Oscar and Herald enough to get hit, while Otohime and Kos-Mos reacted fast enough to put up barriers to protect their respective Drivers. Still, Nora got mad enough to unleash an explosive payload for hurting cute boy Oz. But no one felt like falling down if Nora somehow collapsed the pathway, so they stopped her. Fortunately, Tora used Steady Drill to finish off the scorpox that used a ranged attack and they were able to move on.

When the gang got out. they saw a caterpillar the size of Zwei crawling around, something that made Agate scream and hide behind Aegaeon.

"You really don't like bugs, do you?" Brighid commented almost sarcastically. Even against the scorpox, Agate didn't want to go anywhere near them.

"No I don't. Now get it away from me!" Agate said as she squeezed Aegaeon's shoulders hard enough to make him wince.

The caterpillar seemed to understand Agate as it wiggled away on its own.

"That was nice of it." Electra commented with a smile, which earned her a pat on the head from Nora.

As the gang moved on Dragunov suddenly stopped as he sniffed the air, "Guys, stop."

"What is it?" Weiss asked.

"I smell Riiks." Dragunov said as he sniffed the air, "And quite a few."

"…I don't smell anything bad." Nora said with a confused look.

"Not reek, Riik." Dragunov said in annoyance, "The type of monster. The ones with purple crystals in their bodies."

At that moment everyone got on guard and looked around.

At that moment Ruby happened to look up one of the stone pillars. "Above us!" Ruby cried out and the Riik that was on it tried to pounce on her. Fortunately, Ruby reacted to the incoming monster by smacking it away with Crescent Rose.

At this, everyone else looked up too and saw that several other pillars were occupied by these monsters.

"Scatter!" Jaune shouted out when the monsters tried to pounce on them.

Rex quickly used Wild Scythe to both avoid his attacker and to get a good hit in. Although he quickly changed with Wulfric to deal a little more damage.

With Jaune and Talos, the metallic champion responded to the attack by Spiral Phalanxing the Riik's belly, effectively piercing through. Talos wasted no time dropping the now dead beast from his weapon as he and Jaune quickly moved to help others.

Not that they needed too much help because Qrow used the shield function of Kasandra's hammer to block one Riik actually flipping forward and bringing the spikes on its tail on him. Although when Qrow then tried to bring the hammer down on it, the beast rolled over on its feet to avoid it to which the beast then got smacked away by Nora wielding Magnhild. From there, the beast fell off the cliff to who knows where.

Ren attempted to use Stormflowers to slice at one Riik, but its skin was tough enough to only get scratches. Fortunately, Jaune was able to give a more significant wound with Crocea Mors' bastard sword mode.

Weiss and Ruby were tag teaming another pair of Riiks. And while Weiss could use any of her more advanced Glyphs, most of them consumed Dust so she stuck to basics. However, she was avoiding the use of summoning right now.

With Yang, the blonde brawler was using Ember Celica to block a Riik's front paws before smacking them aside and then giving it a good combo punch on its face. Blake meanwhile moved behind it and stabbed at its back, but the wound was a little shallower than she would've liked. The beast struggled which in turn forced the feline to fall back. Which also made the beast to try and attack her. Except Dragunov then moved in and grabbed its tail before slamming it around every which way.

The draconic Blade finished it off by throwing it off the cliff.

Just as Mòrag and Zeke finished a couple more, the gang realized that the fight was over relatively quickly.

Although everyone was panting a little more than usual from the exertion.

"...I'm too used to wielding Nox's Dual Scythes." Blake let out after catching her breath a little.

"What do you mean?" Yang asked.

"Well, with him using his Shadow Eye to disrupt the enemy's ability to perceive me as a threat, using hit and run has been easy. But now… I have to make do." Blake looked to her Blade who still wasn't happy.

"My lady, with all due respect, this is foolish." Nox was shaking the scroll as if to emphasize the text. He had reluctantly focused on other enemies, but still focused on watching his Driver in case she needed help.

"Nox… I get it. You worry, but I'm also worried about you." Blake then said. Then Nox began to reroll his scroll. "Don't! If you dare show me a text that says 'My health does not matter', then I'm confiscating that scroll."

Nox looked down as he put the scroll away. He liked talking without using his voice too much to risk raising his lady's ire.

"Ruby… I feel like I'm not doing enough for you." Roze also said to his Driver.

"Roze, you're not at full power." Ruby said back, "I don't want to risk you shutting down."

"Then why do they get to work with their Drivers?" Roze asked, referring to all the Alrestians.

"Umm… that's…" Ruby stammered as she tried to come up with a proper excuse.

"You guys really didn't take into account your Blades' feelings, did you?" Nia asked with a shake of her head.

"But… we just want to protect them." Ruby pointed out.

The Gormotti scoffed at that, "Seriously? What do you think they are? Some priceless fragile glass dolls?"

None of the Drivers were sure of the others, but Nia probably could've used a different description. At least, that was the impression they got from Dragunov's cracks glowing red.

"Yang… That better not be what you think of me." the dragon growled out.

To her credit, Yang's reaction was giving her Blade a look that said, "Are you an idiot?"

"Miss Schnee, I take offense to that line of thought." Aizen said in a tone colder than Dahlia's Frost Queen.

"I'm not just pretty lady, you know." Dahlia added in, although she sounded less serious.

Nox looked like he wanted to say something, but he was still afraid of his scroll getting confiscated.

As for the JNPR Blades, Electra puffed her cheeks at Nora who had to vocally say that that wasn't her thoughts. Otohime gave Ren a look mothers give when their children say something they shouldn't have.

"Milord, do you truly think of me that useless?" Joana asked, sounding heartbroken, "If I have failed, you please have lady Brighid whip me for as long as you see fit."

"What?" Came out of Nia, Mòrag, Brighid and team RWBY.

"Joana!" Jaune dragged his palm across his face.

"Joana, your lord is too kind to hand out that kind of punishment. Don't you remember?" Talos said emotionlessly. Come to think of it, the rest of JNR didn't look phased by this.

Qrow was massaging the bridge of his nose. He had heard about religions where people whip themselves until they bleed in belief that all their sins would be forgiven.

Zeke and Mòrag both shook their heads at this sight.

"…I'm convinced that these kids have some weird fantasies that somehow infected their Blades." the Tantalese commented.

"I almost agree." Mòrag said as she turned to Otohime, "But that would not explain Otohime. Or Dragunov."

"What do you mean?" Pandoria asked with a head tilt.

"They seem… normal." Mòrag hesitated on the word, and even now questioned whether it was the right one.

"Guys!" Rex's voice rang out, ceasing all activity, "Let's just go." The salvager already moving ahead with Roc and Wulfric in tow.

"Roze, let's talk about this later." Ruby said as she moved ahead of the salvager alongside Tora and Poppi. The rest of Remnans managed to do the same thing with their Blades. Except Yang and Dragunov who gave off the impression that their conversation was done.

With that, the gang moved on once again. Unfortunately, when they moved into a new tunnel, Ruby unconsciously latched onto Roze's arm. Weiss was doing the same with Dahlia.

"Ruby, is something wrong?" Roze asked his Driver.

"The walls." Ruby said as she looked to the walls.

The reaper Blade looked towards the walls. The stone was gray, as usual. But there was some strange growth around the walls which looked like... "Oh." Roze let out as he realized that it kind of looked like spider's webbing. A very big one's too. "That's definitely not spider's silk."

Judging by how Ruby didn't loosen her grip, it didn't work.

As Ruby and Weiss were becoming slightly paranoid, Mòrag looked back to see Nia lagging behind a little as Joana was performing a Medical Scan on the Gormotti. The rest of JNPR also looked worried at the slightly sluggish girl.

"Rex, we've come a long way. Perhaps we should rest a little." the Special Inquisitor said.

"What? But-"

"Hold your horses. There's probably still a long way to go." Zeke piped up. It was at that moment, that Rex took a look at everyone. Especially Nia.

"I'm sorry everyone, I didn't realize." Now Rex felt bad, especially when he turned to his own Blades.

Roc shrugged, "I wouldn't mind a rest."

"There's no harm." Wulfric added in.

"Also, there's no need for you to apologize." Mòrag said with a smile, "I understand."

"Guess we're taking a break then," Yang said as she moved a bit away from others and sat down.

Blake decided to join her. Alongside Nox.

Nora also sat down before looking to Electra with a smile. The hammerer then patted her lap invitingly. With that invitation Electra brightened up and she moved close and laid down her head on Nora's lap.

Otohime actually smiled at this action as she took her seat. "Ren, if you would like, you could-" "I'm fine." Ren said quickly. The Imperial Mother accepted this with minor disappointment.

"Hey, Nia. You can rest your head on my lap too, if you'd like." Zeke offered tiredly as he took a seat alongside Pandoria on the ground.

Nia panted and stumbled a little, "Why don't you rest your head up your arse." And took her own seat.

As everyone took their seats, Tora turned to Poppi, "Poppi, now is a good time to cool drive furnace."

"Aye, aye, Masterpon." Poppi said happily before doing a twirl and releasing steam from... somewhere around her body.

"Mehmehmehmeeeh! Hothothothot! Mehmehmeeeh!" Right next to poor Tora. Ruby and Weiss were fortunately far enough to only feel a slight increase in heat.

"Masterpon! Poppi is sorry." And poor Poppi felt very bad.

After checking that Tora didn't get burns, everyone was allowed to sit down and rest for a while.

Yang looked towards Dragunov who was sitting against the far wall away from everyone. The blonde Driver let out a sigh at her Blade avoiding them. Then again, there was still some... issues the two have to work out.

"How are you feeling, Drag?" Yang called out a little awkwardly.

"I'm not about to collapse, if that's what you're asking." Dragunov said simply, "…What about you?"

"This trip is a bit more tiresome than I'd prefer, but otherwise, I'm okay." Yang shrugged in reply, before yawning a bit.

Blake was pretty sure she could cut the tension with Gambol if she wanted to. "Baby steps." Blake told herself.

As this happened, Rex moved up to Nia who looked like she wanted to lie down. He was also carrying some kind of canister with a mouthpiece on it. "Emergency air. It might help." Rex offered the small air container.

"Oh, thanks." Nia accepted the thing and put the mouthpiece over her mouth.

"Not like that." Rex interrupted the Gormotti Driver. "You have to hold your nose, and then inhale very deeply. Now stretch out and puff your chest."

"…Is this another one of your salvager tricks?" Nia asked.

"Go on. Just try it." Rex encouraged.

Nia let out a weary sigh before doing as instructed. She stretched out, puffed her chest, then put the mouthpiece over her mouth while holding her nose with her unoccupied hand. Then she released the air from the container with an audible hiss and inhaled deeply.

"Wow! That really did the trick." Nia actually felt energized from that.

"Right?" Rex said as he sat next to Nia. "When I was starting out, this was one of the first things the other salvagers taught me. They all acted like my parents, but they didn't teach me anything worthwhile. But I did manage to pick up a couple useful tricks."

"Parents bleh." Nia let out in annoyance, "My da was real enough, but I can't say he really taught me anything either."

"You have a dad?" Blake piped up, getting a little interested.

"Yeah." Nia said with a mild glare at the faunus before returning her attention to Rex, "He was a well-known lord in Gormott. A real big cheese. He made me study hard, but it was all about how to be a proper lady. Which fork to use. Nothing that's doing me any good now. Just useless shite."

Everyone else perked up a little as they listened. For Aizen, this explained how Nia was able to pick up the table manners he tried to teach back in Mor Ardain.

"…We have more in common than I thought." Blake commented with an astonished look, "Our fathers being important I mean."

"Guess we do." Nia shrugged before having a forlorn look, "I hated studying. But… looking back, those were the happiest times of my life."

Weiss frowned a little at Nia saying something like that, while Jaune, Ruby and Nora agreed with the Gormotti's sentiments about studying.

"There was my da… And… my big sis. The three of us." This caught attention of Weiss, Yang and Ruby.

"You have a sister?" Ruby asked in wonder.

"Had." Nia corrected off-handedly, "And she was very frail. I spent a lot of time on her bedside. My da brought doctors from all over the world to try and help her. He tried so hard. It was all he ever thought about."

As this explanation went on, Qrow found himself smiling. He could easily see Tai doing something similar if he was rich... Hell, he might just do it regardless.

"After that point, my memories aren't so happy," Nia then said as she looked up to the ceiling. No one liked where this was going. "Da spent all his money chasing a cure, and lost his position as a lord. From then on, we became drifters. It was a tough life. It took its toll on my sister. She died not long after." Nia closed her eyes briefly at the last part. In the back, Dagas shook his head a little at Nia's story.

A lord that lost everything while chasing a cure for one of his children? If he wanted his legacy secured, just one of them should have been enough.

"Anyway, I'm sorry for talking your ear-Whah!" Nia exclaimed as she suddenly felt a pair of arms wrapping around her.

"I'm so sorry, Nia." Ruby said sadly as she hugged the Gormotti, "I shouldn't have-" "Hands off!" Nia shouted as she managed to push Ruby off with a glare.

A glare that made Ruby wither a little, "Don't...do that...again."

"…Okay." Ruby said, a little put out by being rejected like that.

Yang frowned at Nia's treatment of Ruby. "You could've just said no."

The Gormotti shifted an annoyed look to Yang, "You guys are way too touchy-feely. Always grabbing at me." At the last part, the Gormotti glared at Blake who looked surprised.

And then the black-haired girl seemed to shrink as her ears folded at the memory of dragging Nia around in Uraya. "Nox, no!" Blake still manage to command her Blade who was giving Nia a cross-glare behind his Driver's back. The abyssal ninja stood down.

Nia shook her head, completely unfazed by the threat of Nox, before taking another whiff of the emergency air. "Thanks for the salvaging trick, Rex. It really worked." Then Nia stood back up, "Sneaky git. If you had this all along then why did you hold out on me?" The Gormotti then did a couple stretches before shaking her head furiously to get the cobwebs out. "I feel much better now. Shall we go, Rex?"

The salvager smiled at the Gormotti, "Yeah." And then he got up too.

However, Weiss decided to look at her scroll, and she didn't like what she saw. "...Guys... check your Aura levels."

"Weiss?" Ruby sounded out.

"Just do it." Weiss said more sternly. With that, all the Remnans checked their Scrolls for their Aura levels.

"Odd, shouldn't our Auras have recovered more?" Jaune commented on his Aura level that doesn't seem to have recharged since their last fight.

Weiss quickly took Dahlia's bitball and used Healing Circle.

"Oh! Now it's recovered a little." Nora said loudly.

"Nora, that's not the issue." Ren said as he realized what this meant, "Our Aura's only recovered from Weiss' healing Art."

"Are you saying that this place is also stopping our Auras from recharging normally?" Qrow let out in disbelief, "But what the hell could possibly do that."

"I have… absolutely no clue why that could be." Weiss said, being completely clueless.

"Perhaps this mist has effects on Remnans that we aren't aware of?" Mòrag theorized with a thoughtful look.

"Or this Aura stuff they use." Zeke added in.

"Either way, our Aura isn't recharging normally." Blake added in with a thoughtful look, "This means we can't use our semblances as freely as we're used to."

"Oh, come on." Ruby whined, "Why does Alrest have something that can stop a huntsman?"

"Why did Remnant have something that can stop a Blade?" Roze countered.

"…Point taken." Ruby muttered before sighing, "I guess this just means that we need be more careful than usual." After all, Healing Arts were indeed less effective, which meant that they don't recover Aura as well as normally either.

Talos looked a little down in thought, "Maybe my theory about these Maiden powers are close to the truth."

"What was that?" Jaune heard the Flesh Eater's mutterings.

"I just have a small theory that the magic that the Maidens wield is similar to the elemental mastery of Blades." Talos replied.

"What do you mean?" Nora asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"But what about, master's laser that you absorbed?" Kos-Mos piped up, "How were you... Master, was the laser you used powered by your Dust Reactor?"

"Yes it was, why?" Penny let out.

"And Dust is similar to ether, yet not the same." Kos-Mos said, looking to be deep in thought, "Further data is required."

"Talos, where did this theory come from?" Ren asked first.

"I was able to absorb elemental attacks from two different maidens. I know that Revenge Strike is primarily used to absorb ether-based attacks. So maybe Dust and this so-called magic have something in common with ether."

"Or maybe they're just similar enough that you can absorb them." Aizen piped up before curling a finger over his chin, "Either way, this is mildly intriguing."

Joana was giving an unsure look to Talos who placed his hand over his bloodstained Core Crystal. But it didn't look like the Flesh Eater had anything else to say.

"Has everyone gotten their rest?" Zeke then piped up as everyone stood up.

"Yeah, let's keep going." Oscar said before placing a hand to his head.

"Is something wrong?" Herald asked her Driver.

"Hm? Oh, it's nothing." Oscar said quickly. But the thing is, Ozpin still wasn't available. The farmboy wasn't sure if the wizard was… brain damaged or something, but he did feel that Ozpin's presence has grown just a little stronger. So… maybe he was coming back from whatever happened. Slowly, but surely.

As the gang made it to the end of the tunnel, they came across a huge cavern with what appeared to be no bottom.

"Okay, do not fall in there." Jaune said in worry at the sight.

"Thank you for stating the obvious." Nia snarked, not even wanting to go near the edge of the stone platform they were on.

Roc looked around the area, "Looks like there are some pathways we can take below us."

"Great, let's go." Rex said as he went to a nearby ladder and started moving down.

Nora looked a little further down to see a platform with a bridge that led to the opening of another large tunnel. "Maybe we could use our landing strategies to get down there."

"And risk falling down into the endless void?" Weiss pointed out, earning a grateful look from Otohime.

"It would be faster." Nora argued back.

"Sorry, Nora. But we can't take that risk." Ruby said not being keen on risking falling endlessly.

"Ruby's right." Ren also agreed, which seemed to make Nora accept it with a pout. A pout which was erased when Electra hugged her Driver.

"I don't want you to fall." Electra said, sounding slightly scared. Nora let out a sigh before patting her Blade's head reassuringly.

"And I'm not sure if I have the strength pick any of you up if you miss." Roc decided to add in.

"You calling us fat?" Yang jokingly asked.

"No, but with how dizzy this place is making me feel now, I don't think I should fly at all anymore." Roc stated.

Which reminded Oscar of Herald, "What about you, Herald?"

"…I wouldn't risk it either." Herald said simply.

"Guess using our flyers would've been too convenient." Blake shrugged, not expecting things to go easily. Though it would've been appreciated.

With that, everyone else moved to the ladder and climbed down. They also moved to a nearby cave to see if it led anywhere. Unfortunately, it was a dead end. So now they were wondering how they were getting further in.

Although Agate decided to check over the edge where they could see a pathway. "Umm... everyone." Agate let out in slight worry, "I think I just found our way forward."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Nia asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"Well... see for yourselves." Agate said while pointing down.

With that, everyone's heads popped over the edge to see Agate's way forward. It was several small cliffs that led straight to the pathway they saw.

Only problem was, one of those seemed to be a shallow pool of purple water, judging by an aspar laying in it.

"We have to go through that?" Aegaeon said, not liking the idea of moving through poisonous water.

"That does not look healthy." Dromarch agreed with Aegaeon.

"Oh come on, that snake-thingy is sleeping in it, doesn't that mean it's harmless?" Nora pointed out.

"It is far more likely that this Aspar merely possesses antibodies for this filth." Otohime said with a look of disgust at the thought of having to traverse through poison.

"Look, if we just move down quickly we should be okay, right?" Rex pointed out.

"Very quickly." Otohime said with a wary look.

"Like this." Ruby said before grabbing Roze's arm and with a burst of her semblance, moved down the platforms into the walkway.

"Ruby." Roze caught the stumbling Driver as they came out of the flurry of rose petals.

"I'm okay." Ruby said as the world seemed to spin a little.

It didn't take long until the rest of the gang came down quickly. Although the aspar tried to attack them, but was given a punch from Dragunov and Wulfric to keep it at bay long enough for everyone to get down.

Weiss looked like she was about to go off on Ruby before noticing her team leader swaying a little in Roze's arms. "Ruby are you okay?" Now she was worried instead.

It took a few seconds before Ruby shook her head and slapped her cheeks to snap out of the moment of dizziness. "I'm fine, just… had a bout of dizziness."

"From using your semblance?" Weiss guessed.

"Huh?"

"Looks that way." Roze replied instead.

"But... why? That's never happened before." Ruby said simply.

At that moment Blake stepped aside and left a shadow clone in her place. Then she held her head. "Nox, I'm fine." Blake said when she felt a pair of clawed hands on her shoulders. She also seemed to recover faster than Ruby. "Okay, I think... using a semblance causes a bout of dizziness."

"But why would that happen?" Ren questioned, "I understand if our Aura doesn't recover normally, but why would using our semblances make us dizzy."

"Maybe because using it consumes Aura." Jaune theorized, "I mean... if it doesn't recover normally, then what if using it up does something."

"You mean... something bad might happen if we run out of Aura down here?" Nora's question made everyone worry now.

"Maybe you guys should head back after all." Zeke said, "If your Aura stuff is affected, then who knows what might happen to you.

As everyone's attention was on Zeke, Talos whispered something into Joana's ear. The mecha knightess responded by deploying her helmet.

"Zeke we can't just leave you guys." Ruby said with a determined look.

"Yes we can, Ruby." Yang said earning horrified looks from her friends, "We can do a lot of things. Doesn't mean we're gonna." Then the blonde Driver smirked. Dragunov chuckled at this.

"Yang's not wrong," Blake found herself smiling despite the poor choice in jokes.

As this happened Joana's helmet folded back and she was frowning, "Strange, yours is recharging normally." Joana made sure to keep her voice low enough for only Talos to hear.

Talos' left eye widened in a motion that resembled quirking eyebrow. "Odd."

"What're you two talking about?" Jaune asked the two.

"Nothing important." Talos said quickly before Joana could respond.

"Okay." Jaune accepted the explanation while Joana gave a hurt look to Talos.

The metallic champion made a zipping motion across the lower hole of his visor where a mouth would be. Unfortunately, this caused the light Blade to look like she wanted to cry.

"Uhh... guys..." Blake suddenly said. "Do you see a large round thing with a Blade approaching?"

Everyone turned towards the pathway they were on and sure enough, a large red round thing, bigger than Dragunov, Talos and Wulfric, was slowly slithering on the ground towards them, with a brute Common Blade next to it.

"An Urchon." Wulfric said simply.

"But where's the Blade weapon?" Ruby questioned as she stared at the Blade and the creature, trying to spot the weapon. It wasn't on the brute Blade, and the Urchon doesn't have hands, or even tentacles to hold the weapon with.

"Is this really the time to worry about that?" Roze asked, seeing as this thing was currently in their way.

"Maybe it doesn't want to fight?" Electra said hopefully.

Unfortunately, the brute Blade raised its palms and formed an affinity link with the Urchon. Despite the thing not holding the Blade weapon.

"Doesn't look that way." Yang commented as she raised her fists.

"Its element is fire." Azurda informed everyone.

"Good to know." Rex said as he pulled out Roc's Dual Scythes, then he addressed the Remnant Team, "Be careful, Urchon's have spikes hidden in their bodies which they can use to guard."

"Thanks for the info." Ruby said before opening fire with Crescent Rose. But the brute Blade immediately deployed the barrier.

As this happened, Oscar moved to the bridge that was connecting to the opposite wall that had no path further to get a clear shot at the monster. Ren and Penny had a similar idea and took a spot next to the farmboy. Sadly, the brute saw the shots they fired coming and switched to block them instead.

This of course meant that, most of the melee fighters could move in. Most, because the ledge they were on wasn't wide enough for all of them to engage without risking getting in each other's way.

"Arclight!" Jaune was the first to attack. Despite the danger of their Blades losing their power, Jaune decided that using Joana in conjunction with Crocea Mors' shield would be better than with his huntsman weapon. The sword was of course sheathed and locked into the shield so that it won't fall off.

Mòrag unleashed Quadruple Slash with Aegaeon's Chroma Katana, earning the monster's attention.

Nia followed it up with Butterfly Blade using the Twin Rings.

Zeke was about to charge in, until he noticed that the thing seemed to be shivering for some reason. "Get back!" The Tantalese Driver called out as he lept away from the spherical monster.

"What? Why?" Jaune questioned even as Nia, Mòrag and Rex moved back. Jaune's answer came in the form of multiple long spikes sprouting all across the Urchon's body.

"Milord!" Joana tried to put up a barrier, but she was too slow and Jaune was hit by several spikes. Jaune's Aura held, but he was knocked back quite a distance. Unfortunately, this meant that the Arc Driver was pushed over the edge of the walkway along with Joana who he was knocked back against.

"Jaune!" Ren and Ruby called out.

"Joana!" Electra followed it up.

"I got them!" Talos let out as he used Pyrrha's semblance to pull the two back up by their armors.

"How did he do that?" Nora questioned Joana and Jaune being practically pulled through the air back to solid ground.

"Don't let your guard down!" Qrow called out, which caused the gang to look to their opponent. The brute Blade summoned his Greataxe and was charging at them.

"It's going for a Special Art." Dagas said as he braced himself.

"Nia, get back!" Rex shouted as he got in front of the Gormotti Driver.

"Dahlia!" Weiss called out as she switched Aizen's swords for Dahlia's bitball. Mòrag also changed Aegaeon's weapon for Brighid's.

The brute made a jump before slamming its weapon into the ground, releasing a wave of heat upon the party.

Everyone braced themselves for the impact in various ways. Some of the Blades tried to use the barrier, but it was hopeless against a Special Art. Although Nora and Qrow were able to stand their ground thanks to using the shield functions of their respective hammers, and their respective Blades giving all they had to powering the said shields. Unfortunately, Qrow was pushed off his feet.

"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby let out in concern just before the heatwave washed over her despite Roze's efforts to block it.

"Everyone okay?" Talos asked right before Jaune used Brave Soul to heal everyone. Although it wasn't much this time.

"Dammit, it's barely even a quarter now." Weiss complained after checking her scroll for their Aura levels. Or rather, the amount that was recovered.

"Well, that's to be expected," Pandoria said, "Healing Arts have become less effective the deeper we go."

"Aegaeon!" Mòrag called out as she had switched weapons. The water Blade unleashed Water Moon on their enemy.

"Talos!" Jaune followed it up. This can be followed with earth after all.

"I can't."

"What?!"

"I can't go beyond level 1." Talos clearly didn't like it.

"But Poppi can!" Poppi let out.

"Do it, Poppi!" Tora threw the shield to his creation.

"Poppi power!" Poppi pointed the shield at the Urchon as she was charging ether into it, "Noponic Storm!" And then unleashed what looked like a localized sandstorm on the monster. Which was followed by, "Blade Combo: Pandemic!" The land around the monster seemed to turn sick as it was writhing in pain.

"Nice one, Poppi!" Rex cheered as he charged in to attack the monster again.

However, the Urchon then raised from the ground on what appeared to be a stalk.

"Where did that come from?!" Weiss found it in herself to ask right before spikes came out of the Urchon's body and started slamming around like a giant flail.

Everyone who followed Rex guarded against the attack to varying degrees. Some more successfully than others.

"No! Rex!" Roc let out as he felt a great pain in himself which signaled Rex taking critical damage. The salvager was flung behind their lines which allowed Blake to inspect the boy.

And she did not like what she was seeing. "Weiss, Nia, Jaune! Rex is dying!"

"What?!" The three in question let out as the others were engaging the monster to the best of their ability.

When the three healers came in, they saw that Blake wasn't joking. Some of the spikes had pierced through Rex's torso. Some of which went through his lungs.

"All together!" Weiss quickly said.

And the three used their respective Healing Arts.

"The wounds are smaller, but the damage to the internal organs is still extensive." Joana informed thanks to her Medical Scan.

"Again!" Nia called out in distress.

"That will not help." Joana said, "We can fully close the wounds, but that will not heal the damage to his organs fast enough."

During this, Rex coughed up blood.

"Rex, hold on!" Nia called out as she began cradling the salvager boy. "No... I can't let him die... Not again... I have to save him this time even if it means..." were the distressed thoughts of the Gormotti.

"Out of my way." Nia was suddenly shoved by Qrow who placed a hand on the boy's now bloody chest.

"What are you doing?!" Azurda demanded, having now gotten out of Rex's helmet.

Qrow ignored the tiny titan and turned to Jaune, "Hey, kid. You used your semblance to heal Weiss, right?"

"Huh? Well, yeah, but I did that by amplifying her Aura."

"And Rex doesn't…have…one." Weiss added in as she pieced together where this was leading.

"For it is in passing that we achieve immortality." Qrow began chanting.

"What is he doing?" Nia questioned.

"Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all."

"Are you serious!?" Weiss let out, "We don't know if that's gonna work!"

"Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder, protect thee." Qrow finished as his red Aura flickered for a moment. Then the Core Crystal fragment on Rex's chest began glowing. Then Qrow backed off when Rex's body jumped like he was hit by a defibrillator.

"What was that?" Wulfric questioned just before an emerald glow spread from Rex's chest to his entire body.

"No idea." Qrow admitted, wondering if it actually worked.

"Sir Rex has an Aura." Joana informed.

"Are you sure?" Dahlia asked the knightess.

"Yes, as sure as of Milord having golden locks and eyes of blue."

With that, Jaune immediately moved over Rex's body and used his semblance to amplify the Leftherian's newlyfound Aura.

"It is working." Joana informed everyone. "The damage is being healed. External and internal."

Nia sighed in relief.

"We should still use our Healing Arts. If only to just keep their Aura's going." Weiss said, already following her own example. Nia stood back up and did the same.

Meanwhile in the fight, the rest of the gang who were still facing the Urchon Driver had enough.

"Everyone! Go for a chain attack!"

"The-what-now?" Yang questioned.

But Zeke already handed over Big Bang Edge for Pandoria to unleash Lightning Force on the Urchon.

"Oh, I get it!" Nora exclaimed as she tossed her hammer to Electra.

"This is for knocking Jaune off the edge!" Electra said before unleashing Bang Bang Bound. Electra had barely moved aside after the pounding she gave before Otohime unloaded Water Garden, a series of powerful explosive shots.

The Urchon's scales had now come off, revealing serious injuries.

The monster had no time to writhe in pain before it got the X-shaped dark ether shot of Nox's Black Mark right on its wound, which actually dug deep enough to finish it off.

"Good job, Nox." Blake praised her Blade. The dark Blade nodded in acknowledgement.

As the Urchon's Blade reverted, everyone gathered around Rex who looked to be less in pain every second.

"Rex, how are you feeling?" Roc was the first to ask.

"Better." Rex replied with a small smile as the white glow of Jaune's Aura amplified his own emerald one.

"Why is the Core Crystal glowing?" Wulfric asked about the piece on Rex's chest that was indeed glowing through this.

"Did the activation of his Aura cause it?" Ren also wondered aloud.

"Milord, sir Rex's vitals are now stable. The healing is a success." Joana then informed. Which was Jaune's que to stop.

"Can you stand, Rex?" Nia asked, sounding a little worried.

Rex got up off the ground and did a couple stretches. "I feel great." Rex said almost happily, "I mean, I almost feel fully rested."

"...Chum, you almost died." Zeke dead-panned at Rex's cheerful demeanor after a near-death experience. While also noting that the piece of the emerald Core stopped glowing.

"Yeah... But I didn't and that's all that matters." Rex said with a smile before frowning,"...Although... I do have to apologize to Pyra and Mythra."

"What do you need to apologize them for?" Ruby asked.

Dromarch's eyes widened a little, "Sir Rex's injuries... Lady Pyra must have felt them too."

And that made everyone realize that Pyra must have also suffered the same injuries Rex did mere moments ago.

"I hope they're alright now," Rex said looking a little down.

Nia felt her heart constrict. Rex just brushed with death again and all he's worried about is Pyra and Mythra. "And yet I let him die back then, and... hesitated even now."

"Let's keep going everyone." Rex said encouragingly. This mission was far from over.


AN: There we have it folks, Rex is officially the first Alrestian human to have an Aura. And now people are probably gonna ask me or suggest what his semblance will be. But the thing is, I already decided what Rex's semblance is long before this chapter. Still, feel free to guess :). Also Joana is getting more and more distressed at having to keep Talos' secret. But Jaune hasn't pressed the issue or asked her directly, so she can still keep her silence without feeling like she was stabbing her lord in the back and murdering all his loved ones right in front of him.

Even so, Aura seems to be not recharging properly with Remnantians... wonder why that is...

I'll leave you guys to your imaginations and see you all next time :)