I do not own RWBY or Warhammer 40,000, only my original characters.

Return of Faith

Chapter Twenty: New Dawn

Vale burned brightly as night fell over the city, its streets aglow with flames and pillars of black smoke that traveled hundreds of feet into the air. But these flames did not devour buildings nor spread unchecked through the wrecked city. These flames were stoked and fed by the Faithful of Vale.

Word had spread of the newly christened 'Grimm Angel', Chaplain Rickard Castimere, and his quest to destroy the idols of all false gods in Vale. It had lit a spark in the minds of the fanatical and the desperate, to show their devotion to the Emperor by aiding the Grimm Angel in his quest.

Across Vale, idols were torn down, temples ransacked, and religious texts destroyed. Priests of the Seasonal Maidens and Fraternal Church were driven out of the city or beaten to death by zealots fueled by over eight decades worth of pent-up resentment. The shattered and ruined scraps of these false faiths were piled high in the streets and lit with Burn Dust, creating great bonfires that illuminated much of the city as day gave way to night.

Despite the fierce skirmishes and brutal fights that had engulfed Vale during the Black Lions' assault, the city was still largely intact. The majority of damage had been caused by the Dragon Grimm and its spawn, and the Black Lions' efforts to kill it, but that had been contained to only a single district of Vale. Shattered buildings still marked many areas of the city, but much of its infrastructure had been left untouched, which would assist in the reconstruction efforts.

It was better off than Mistral and Atlas. The eastern kingdom of Remnant had suffered for their love of wood and paper buildings. Much of the city still burned as their depleted civil servants struggled to combat the flames while cutthroats and opportunists looted what they could. Atlas was nothing but a smoldering ruin. What few survivors remaining were hunted down by the Black Lions' 9th company while squads of terminator armored veterans cleansed the undercity of Mantle of all who would dare stand against the word of the Emperor.

The abhuman nation, that aptly named land of Menagerie, had also tried to fight back, but following a swift and brutal display of force in which squad Ferandir slaughtered the White Fang insurgent cell based in the island nation's capital, their leader quickly surrendered.

Only Vacuo, that bastion of lawlessness and defiance, had escaped the Lions' wrath, submitting to the Space Marines without a fight.

The strategeium of the Wrathful Roar had been filled with the chatter of chapter serfs and servitors as reports came in from across the planet. Objectives were secured, threats neutralized, strategic points taken. Standing before the main hololith projector, Chapter Master Alexander Castimere watched as the hololithic representation of Remnant rotated slowly. At the invasion's start, the land masses had flared a vivid red, and key locations marked with the crests of one of the four kingdoms of this world. Now, nearly all of Remnant's surface had shifted to a bright green, and their crests had been replaced by Imperial Aquilas.

The sight filled him with pride, and righteous vindication. The God-Emperor blessed His subjects with strength and courage in return for their devotion of Him on Terra, yet these Remantites had spurned His Light in favor of false deities and atheism. It had made them frail and weak, reliant on mercenary-witches for protection against the monsters that plague their world. Even Atlas, the only nation with the sense to have a standing army, proved itself unprepared and weak in the face of Imperial retribution.

The Chapter Master's silver eyes drifted to an Aquila icon on the northern coast of the Anima continent. The word 'Argus' floated just below the Aquila. That city had proven more difficult than the rest to take, defended by a sizeable garrison of Atlesian soldiers and a titan-equivalent war machine that the Inquisitor's spies had somehow missed in their investigation of the planet. The titan proved resilient and formidable, possessing an extensive array of weapons and defensive capabilities. Indeed, it may have succeeded in throwing back the Black Lions entirely, if it had not fled to fight an equally massive Creature of Grimm approaching the city from the sea, accompanied by a swarm of lesser beasts.

Their primary weapon diverted to battle this new threat, the mortal defenders of Argus were brushed aside by the Imperials renewed assault and the city quickly fell. Just as the titan managed to slay the beast, the city's defensive cannons opened fire on it. Already seriously damaged, the titan was unable to sufficiently defend itself and was destroyed, its metal carcass now laying shattered and broken in Argus Bay.

Argus had shown that perhaps not all of Remnant's people were weak, only most of them. That would change. Before departing for Remnant, Castimere had sent a high priority astropathic message to both Holy Terra and the sector's primary Administratum hub, detailing the situation. Though he knew that the Imperium's bureaucracy was a slow and cumbersome beast, he held faith that the Emperor would see his message received swiftly and the occupation force deployed soon to ensure Remnant's assimilation into the Imperium.

Even with the seal of an Adeptus Astartes chapter master and an Imperial Inquisitor, Castimere was under no illusion that it would take time for such a force to be approved and assembled, much less reach Remnant. However, he could not wait that long. Since arriving in system, the fleet's astropathic choir had received dozens of missives requesting the Black Lions' immediate aid on multiple worlds. The Imperium remained beset by countless foes and the Black Lions could not afford to remain on Remnant any longer than duty and honor demanded.

The vox bead in his ear buzzed. "My liege," spoke Captain Davos, "I have the Inquisitor on the vox requesting to speak with you. He claims it is important."

"Inform Kress that I am still overseeing the pacification of the planet and that I shall contact him as soon as possible." Friend of the chapter Kress may be, but you do not call on a Space Marine chapter master as if he is some servant. Kress brought him here to purify this world and return it to the Imperial fold, and that is what he will do.

"I have sir, repeatedly," Davos replied. "But he will not accept it as a valid answer. He is becoming agitated."

Castimere sighed. "Have the master of vox patch him to me," he instructed. Moments passed, then a harsh, mechanical breathing wheezed out from the vox bead. "Inquisitor. What news do you bring that demands my attention so urgently?"

"Chapter Master," Kress began, and the static of the vox made his already mangled voice almost indecipherable. "Move one of your strike-cruisers above Continent Secundus, over the region resembling a drake's head. Bombard it."

"There are no enemy fortifications in Secundus, nor any large population centers," Castimere argued. "For what reason would you ask me to waste ammunition upon empty wilderness." Though a question, Castimere asked in a way that made it a demand, not a request.

"It is not empty, Chapter Master," Kress said, "newly gleamed information points to that region being a major breeding ground for the Creatures of Grimm. Destroying it will weaken the Grimm's ability to reproduce significantly."

The chapter master did not reply, instead turning to the hololith. Continent Secundus met his gaze, its strangely draconic profile roaring down at an unknown foe. To his knowledge, the Inquisitor's spies had not visited this land, as the human population of Remnant avoided it at all costs due to the high number of Grimm that resided there. A breeding ground in such an isolated location made strategic sense, it would be hard to find and harder to reach for any native army, limited to the planet's atmosphere by their Dust powered machines.

The Imperium suffered no such limitation, however.

"Very well, Inquisitor," Castimere intoned. "I will have the order relayed. Was that all?"

"Just one more thing, Chapter Master," The Inquisitor said. "I would like to commend you and your battle-brothers, Chapter Master. Vale and the Beacon Academy are ours now, as is much of the planet. You honor Rogal Dorn in your thoroughness and diligence."

"We do only what we were made to do; fight the Emperor's foes." Castimere recited, then cut the link before Kress could reply. He then contacted Davos. "Move Salem's Will over Continent Secundus' head. A significant Grimm force has been identified there. Have them destroy it."

Davos relayed an affirmation and went to alert the captain of Salem's Will. As the mighty strike-cruiser moved into position, Castimere regarded the hololith, eyes narrowed at Continent Secundus. No chapter forces had been sent there, as there were no recorded settlements or cities, though they had received strange readings from the continent ever since they came into close augur range of the planet. Was this breeding ground the source of the energy signatures, or maybe it was a secret facility constructed by one of the Kingdoms for unknown reasons.

It did not matter. Whatever secrets resided in that place would be destroyed by the Will's bombardment cannon, and another threat would be cleansed from Remnant. The thought that the region could be empty, and that the augur anomalies had been caused by intense mineral deposits crossed his mind, but Castimere dismissed them. Depriving them of such resources would serve as their penance if this were the case.

As Castimere returned to overseeing the last moments of the invasion, Salem's Will broke formation and made for Continent Secundus on Remnant's dayside.

~o0o~

It felt strange being back in her dorm room, like it had been years since she'd seen it rather than just a few weeks. Yang and Blake's makeshift bunkbed had collapsed and at least one of the beds was now completely destroyed. The books that had served as posts lay strewn across the floor, their covers damaged and papers torn free. Ruby and Weiss' bunkbed had still been holding together when they entered, but that had changed five minutes later when one of the ropes suddenly came loose and the front of Ruby's bunk smashed down onto Weiss'.

Qrow flinched when it happened, a guilty expression on his face that he tried immediately to hide.

They had come up here, Ruby, Jaune, Yang, and her father and uncle, after Yang had released Ruby from a bearhug that would have broken her spine if she didn't have Aura. Her family had all expressed their relief at her being alright, with Yang being the most vocal. They had asked questions, a lot of them, about both Ruby and Jaune, but mainly Ruby. Before she had even tried to answer any of them however, a pair of soldiers carrying a stretcher with a wounded woman on it loudly – and explicitly – demanded they get out of the way.

So, Ruby decided to bring them back to the dorm.

The trip was quiet and awkward. Signs of battle were everywhere, from destroyed defense turrets and broken shield projectors, to blood stains and bullet holes stitching the walls. No one was willing or ready to bring up just how many of the students and staff had died in the Angels' assault, and all Ruby could do was assure herself that they had brought this fate upon themselves. The Angels only killed the deserving, after all.

"Ruby…" Qrow began, his voice sounding gruffer and more tired than she had ever heard it. He looked at her, opened his mouth, shut it, then ran a hand through his dark peppered hair with a loud sigh. "I don't even know where to start here." Yang reached over and awkwardly patted the Huntsman on the back.

"Did they hurt you," her father asked, his face stern as he clenched his fists at the thought of what the general may have ordered his men to do to his daughter.

Ruby nodded, slowly, "They did, but not as much as I thought they would. They mostly just zapped me with stun sticks once and a while." She looked over at Jaune, he'd been healed of his injuries by his Aura, but he still looked weak from being the punching bag of the Atlesian soldiers. "They were worse to Jaune. A lot worse. I think they didn't hurt me as much because of Professor Ozpin."

Both men reacted to that information in their own way. Qrow hung his head and muttered a curse under his breath, while Tai slammed his fist down on the bed they sat on. "That bastard! I knew he would do this, Qrow! I told you! He did it with Summer, now he's trying to do it with Ruby!"

"I know, Tai! Brothers, I know," Qrow said, defeated. "I just… I didn't think he'd go this far…"

"What are you talking about, go this far for what?" Jaune asked, as confused as Ruby and Yang. Qrow and Tai looked at each other before Qrow turned to Ruby.

"Before… Before all this," he said, gesturing at the window and the turmoil taking place outside, "When you got in trouble, did it ever feel like the punishment you got didn't match up? A slap on the wrist for starting a food fight or copying homework? A week's worth of detention for sneaking out to fight criminals? Yes, I know what you and your team did, both times."

"I mean… now that you mention it," now that he said it aloud, Ruby realized how strange it had been. Every time RWBY found itself in trouble, Professor Ozpin had been there to bail them out. He had even helped them get to Mountain Glenn, despite them only being first years and the mission posting requiring they be at least second years to go. Before she hadn't thought much of it, and had assumed that Ozpin merely saw that, whether or not he knew about her faith, they were doing what Huntresses were supposed to do. Be heroes.

"That's because he was planning to turn you into a weapon," Tai all but growled. "Just like your mother and us, Ozpin saw your potential as a Huntress and wanted to turn you into one of his game pieces in this damned war of his."

"Tai, not now," Qrow tried, but they were the wrong words.

Tai rounded on Qrow. "You're still defending him!? After everything he's put this family through?!"

"NO!" Qrow shouted back, causing the teens to flinch. "I'm not. What he did to Ruby was too far, but this isn't the time and place. We have more important things to worry about right now."

Tai glared at Qrow, who glared right back at him.

"What war?" Both men turned to Jaune. "You said Ozpin wanted Ruby for his war. What war?"

Ruby's eyes went wide with realization. "Holy Emperor, did he know the Angels were going to come back? Did he want to use me to fight them!?"

"He was going to have Ruby fight those things!?" Yang shouted, horrified and outraged.

"What? No!" Qrow corrected. "No, Ozpin had no idea about these guys, or if he did, he sure has hell didn't tell me." The old Huntsman sighed. "Listen, Ozpin has- had a lot of enemies. People that for one reason or another he saw as threats to peace on Remnant. He needed people he could trust to fight them, discreetly. It's been going on for years, long before he brought us into it."

"You're a secret agent?" Ruby responded, stunned. Qrow let out a chuff of laughter.

"Guess you could call it that," he said.

"You could also call it being his attack dog," Tai bit in, causing a scowl to grow on Qrow's features.

"So why Ruby?" Jaune asked, cutting in and preventing another argument from breaking out. "I mean, she's a great fighter and a good leader, but I'd think he'd want someone like Pyrrha. No offense Ruby." He added quickly, and the red reaper only shrugged. He wasn't wrong.

"Do you remember the first thing Ozpin said to you, when you met him," Qrow asked. Ruby's brow furrowed as she tried to remember. When she failed to do so, Qrow provided the answer. "Silver eyes. The old legends say that people with silver eyes were unstoppable on the battlefield and were so powerful that they could even make the Grimm feel fear." Qrow gave one of those ironic smiles, "was definitely true when it came to Summer."

"Only time I'd ever seen an ursa major flinch was when she was staring one down," Tai added, a fond sadness tainting his words, before they shifted to a sterner, more resentful tone. "Ozpin wanted your mother for his secret war because he knew about her abilities. It's the same reason he enrolled you into Beacon two years before you should have gone. He wanted to turn you into his secret weapon." The blonde man looked at his youngest daughter with pride. "Only he didn't take into account your faith in the Emperor."

"Oh, he did," Qrow's words had Tai whip his head around to stare in shock at the drunk. "Don't act so surprised Tai. Ozpin already knew about Summer's faith, same as he knew she converted you to it and raised Ruby and Yang to believe in it too," He looked over at Tai, glaring. "And no, I didn't tell him."

"But then why didn't he do anything about it," Ruby asked, and Qrow looked back at her. "Whenever a student was found out to be a part of the Faith, Ozpin immediately handed them over to the police. If he knew I was a part of it, why didn't he do anything?"

"Same reason he tolerated it with Summer, I'd wager." Qrow said. "Your potential as a Huntress was more important than obeying the law." He paused, then added, "and, maybe he thought if you started Beacon younger, it would be easier to make you see things his way."

"You mean renounce the Emperor," she said, and Qrow nodded. Ozpin had tried to worm the idea into her head after her arrest, even said he would provide her with proof of the evil her Faith had committed. She had called him out on it and refused to read the lying books and documents he had provided her with.

"Pretty much, not that any of this matters now," Qrow said, letting out another breath and running a hand through his dark hair. "Ozpin's gone, you're free, Vale's been taken over, and nothing on Remnant is going to be the same ever fucking again." He pulled out his canteen and took a long swig of its contents. "Still doesn't feel real."

"Yeah…" Yang muttered, eyes downcast. Then, she looked up at Ruby. "Ruby… I… I never meant to… I didn't…" Yang went silent, opened her mouth, then closed it. Her face was a mask of guilt and regret, then flashed with brief anger as she slammed her fist down on the mattress with a soft 'thwump'. "I'm sorry, Ruby," she said, "I am so, so sorry."

Ruby stared at her sister. She wanted to be angry at Yang, – she was angry at Yang. She wanted to scream at her, to curse her out for ratting her out to the Atlas Military and betraying the trust they shared as sisters. Yang had never held the Faith as closely as Ruby, never heeded the Emperor's teachings. Ruby would be completely justified in her anger toward her apostate sister. She was completely justified.

But she couldn't. Despite how much she wanted to, Yang was her big sister, and her intentions, however misguided, had been pure. It was not her who called the soldiers to take her and Jaune away, that had all been Weiss. She had wanted to protect Ruby from this very scenario and was now plagued with guilt for inadvertently bringing it about anyway.

"I can't forget what happened, Yang," Ruby said after a long silence. Yang flinched but said nothing. "I don't think I'll ever forget it, or your part in it. But… I think I can forgive you. Not right away, but… eventually."

It was the best she could do. A look to Jaune told Ruby he felt the same, though his slightly narrowed eyes told her he might take longer than her to forgive Yang's actions.

Yang looked up at Ruby. Tears that had been threatening to spill out now streamed down her cheeks freely. She met her little sister's eyes, nodding. Then, Yang stood up and went over to Ruby, taking the younger girl's hands in her own, squeezing them. "I'll make this right. I promise."

Yang then embraced Ruby, wrapping her arms around the young reaper before she even had a chance to reply. Her sister's golden hair filled her sight and her nose filled with the scents of the expensive shampoos and conditioners she used in it. For a moment, Ruby wasn't in Beacon, she was back on Patch. She sat in a red wagon. Cold air caused her breath to puff out in gentle clouds. She was outside, far from home, and Yang had her arms wrapped tightly around her with uncle Qrow watching in the background.

Yang had apologized back then too, bawling out her regrets as coherently as a four-year-old could.

Then, Ruby was back in Beacon, and she returned her sister's embrace.

~o0o~

They were taken to the auditorium. There were other survivors there, mostly students, but some civilians and even a couple Beacon staff members too. The students were huddled in groups, sticking to their own teams or others from their respective Academies. Soldiers patrolled through the space, normal soldiers, carrying advanced long barreled rifles and wearing expressionless masks. Survivors looked away when the soldiers drew close. Some of those grey women were here too. They wore lighter armor than the ones outside the bunker and each carried a strange, scary looking device on one arm.

She watched one of the grey armored women kneel beside a student, – a Shade student from his casual uniform –, a soldier standing sentinel beside her, but she could not see what she was doing from this angle. Instead, she looked around, taking in the sight, making note of the number of survivors present, taking in the number of Beacon, Haven, Shade, and Atlas school uniforms she saw.

To her silent horror, Weiss could not see any Atlas uniforms, and she wondered if she had made the right choice.

When Weiss had opened the door to the bunker, the black armored giants had not shot them all dead as she and Blake feared. They had taken their weapons, of course, but it had seemed like the one named Captain Ando was keeping true to his word. His men marched their group out of the bunker, past that terrible, ugly boxy mech that seemed to radiate pure hatred, and toward Beacon.

Then someone tried to run.

It happened so quickly. A young man – a civilian or Huntsman-in-training, Weiss wasn't sure – broke ranks and bolted for the tree line. He didn't make it five feet before a black armored gauntlet burst his head like an overripe melon, splattering those people unfortunate enough to be close to him with splotches of red. Weiss was stunned by the speed of the whole thing. She hadn't even seen the giant move.

Then the screaming started. A few more tried to run but were held back by their fellows or frozen in place by the icy glares and raised guns of the giants and their allies.

"Keep moving," ordered one of the giants, voice inhumanly deep and ladened with contempt. Some of the prisoners met the giants' gazes with glares of their own, Blake among them, but to Weiss' immense relief, continued walking.

Thank every god that Beacon Academy is built on a plateau, Weiss thought to herself, otherwise all this hatred and fear would see us swarmed by the Grimm.

They reached Beacon Campus with no further incidents. Signs of battle had been everywhere. Debris littered the once pristine grounds, the decorative gardens and hedges had been trampled down, one of the mighty aqueduct arches had been reduced to a crumbled ruin, and the flagstones were splattered with drying blood. Weiss also thought she could see a shape in the early night, something huge and black over by the skydocks, but it had been too far away and too dark for her to make out anything else.

Once inside the auditorium, the group was handed over to the soldiers guarding the space. The soldiers, many of whom Weiss noticed wore dark red tabards depicting the same roaring black lion's head as was worn by the giants, accepted their charges with deference, bowing their heads to the giants and calling them 'lords' or 'masters'. The giants merely nodded, turned around, and left, no doubt to hunt down more stragglers.

The soldiers split her group up, spreading her band of survivors widely through the auditorium, though for what reason Weiss couldn't understand. She had lost Nora, Ren, Pyrrha and Penny in the crowd, though she thought she saw Pyrrha's distinct long, red ponytail the few times she'd dared raise her head up to look around.

"What do we do now?" The question came from Weiss' left, where Blake was sitting. None of the prisoners, for that was what they were now, were allowed to stand unless ordered to by the soldiers.

The faunus was looking everywhere, her eyes darting this way and that, watching the guards, marking the exits. Did she really think they could escape? "Nothing," Weiss told her quietly, "all we can do now, is sit here and wait."

Blake stared at her in shock, but as the expression morphed into outrage, Weiss leveled her with a glare. "Don't cause a scene," the heiress warned, jutting her head toward a nearby soldier. Blake turned to the soldier, and for a moment, Weiss feared her teammate would do something she would regret. Thankfully, when the trooper turned their helmeted head in the two girls' direction, Blake wisely looked away and kept quiet.

Silence fell between the two after that, though the whole auditorium echoed with the mutterings and whispers of the others. The guards and the grey armored women, who Weiss discovered were a sort of medical officer when she finally got to see one tending to a wounded civilian, moved through the throngs, ever vigilant for a reason to put those weapons of theirs to use.

As they sat there, stewing in this tense half-silence, Weiss' thoughts drifted back to Captain Braedon Ando's words. Was Atlas really gone? Surely, it had been a lie. Was her family alright? Winter was somewhere here in Vale, no doubt showing these brutes the true strength of the Schnee family, but what about her mother and younger brother, loyal Klien, hell, even her damned father. Had they somehow managed to escape… whatever had befallen her Kingdom? Were they safe? Taken prisoner like her? Were they…

Weiss closed her eyes, trying to banish that last thought before she could finish it. But the harder she tried to push it away, the more vivid the thought became. Weiss imagined her home on fire, the Schnee manor a burning ruin. She saw her family strewn out on the ground, their bodies brutalized and eyes open and vacant. Weiss tried to think of something, anything, to escape these terrible possibilities her stress addled mind was conjuring, but she just kept imagining worse ways in which her family was killed.

When she finally managed to focus on something besides these morbid what-ifs, forty minutes had passed. It wasn't due to her finally thinking up something to preoccupy her thoughts either.

"Prisoners! Face the stage!"

The shout had come from one of the guards and had shocked Weiss out of her thoughts. She and all the others turned to auditorium stage, the very same one that Headmaster Ozpin had stood upon when he had welcomed the new students to Beacon Academy.

But now, in place of that peculiar but great man, three human skulls floated in the air. Strange machinery had been grafted onto them, with jutting radio antennae, large camera lenses fitted to their eye sockets, and what looked like speaker grills in place of their lower jaws. The skulls stared vacantly out at the crowd of frightened prisoners, then two of them moved, taking position at the right and left edges of the stage. Without warning, all three pairs of artificial eyes ignited with emerald light as a holographic image materialized on the stage.

It wasn't a smooth projection. The image was choppy and grainy, like it was just seconds away from collapsing. It held however and resolved into three people. They were human, two men and one woman. They were dressed in well-made but simple suits that would have made them look distinguished, were all three not bound, gagged and on their knees.

Terrified murmuring filled the auditorium as a fourth figure stepped into being, a massively armored brute that towered over the three kneeling humans. His macabre armor was painted shades of green by the holographic projection, and his skull helmet made him appear like some form of ghost, but there was no mistaking him for anything but one of the invaders, and important one at that.

He kept his back to the kneeling prisoners, gesturing to them with a wide sweep of his weapon, a mace with a winged skull as its head. When he spoke, his voice was even deeper and gravelly than Captain Ando's and Weiss was just barely able to comprehend his words.

"Behold," he barked, his voice projecting across the entire auditorium, "the fate of the apostate."

Three loud booms barked from the speakers, and the three prisoners' heads exploded, blown apart by unseen weapons. Everyone in the auditorium screamed, shouted or wailed in fear and shock and the guards barked for them to quiet down, with a number resorting to bashing prisoners with the butts of their weapons.

The skull helmed invader remained silent. Even when the last of the louder prisoners finally calmed down, he did not speak. Then, he spoke again. "This is the fate that awaits all who turn their backs on the Emperor and His Imperium. Death and shame. Remember this and do not stray from His light again."

The invader paused, his skull helm scanning across the crowd of huddled, fearful prisoners. Again, he waited what seemed like a fraction too long to Weiss before speaking. "Thousands of years ago, the God-Emperor guided our forebears to your world, bringing with them His holy light. They brought you the gift of His word, His divinity, and His love. Your world knew peace and prosperity and yet, when our forebears deemed it time to return to the stars, what did you do?" The question hung in the air, like an executioner's axe. "WHAT DID YOU DO!?" A muffled, static-filled noise flared from the speakers in reply. Weiss almost thought it was voices. "You allowed heresy and corruption to take root! You showed tolerance to the infidel and the pagan and the atheist! You stood aside as they decried your God, humanity's God, in favor of their heathen idols! You believed in their power and suffered for it but look!" He swung his mace about in an all-encompassing gesture, "Look how that power broke before the might of His faithful! Look at what you, you true Faithful of Remnant, have achieved in but a single day, against what they have needed eight decades to accomplish!" He raises up both his arms, "Behold the power of your faith!"

The noise again, only this time louder and clearer. It was voices, many voices, all cheering. It was distorted and choppy, but after years of singing concerts, that noise was unmistakable to Weiss. The invader wasn't addressing the prisoners in Beacon, he was addressing a crowd of fanatics somewhere in Vale.

"By your hands, this Kingdom is free once more!" More cheering followed this, so loud it almost popped the speakers. "By your hands, you have saved the souls of your countrymen. The Emperor sees the work you have done this day, and declares it good!"

Weiss glared daggers at the invader's hologram. Good? What was good about butchering innocents in cold blood?

"His eye is on your world, brave crusaders of faith! By His will, Remnant shall be welcomed into His great embrace and be made a part of His glorious and holy Imperium! No longer shall you be alone in the galaxy but be a part of something greater and more beautiful than you can yet imagine!" The invader thrust his winged maul into the air, looking for all the world like some great conqueror out of legend. "Imperator vault!"

And with that, the feed cut off, the lenses in the skulls' eyes faded and the terrifying things floated away to gods know where. A soldier took their place on the stage. She stood with her hands behind her back, in a way that reminded Weiss of the few times she saw General Ironwood. She also wore a red beret instead of a helmet, revealing a hard, grizzled face that glared at the prisoners. For some reason, Weiss found herself noticing a strange symbol on the soldier's beret. It looked like a stylized 'I'.

"Congratulations," the soldier barked, her voice hard and demeaning, "as of today, you are all now citizens of the Imperium of Mankind!"

Silence greeted this ridiculous declaration, and Weiss was gratified to realize she was not the only one glaring at this woman. There still weren't any of the giants in the auditorium, just normal human soldiers, and if what she heard about them was right, they didn't have Aura. She had yet to see what sort of damage their guns could do, but she doubted they could pose a serious threat to a Huntress-in-Training like herself.

But then what? What would they do after they beat the guards? Run? Fight? How many would die in the attempt at freedom? Could they escape before the giants came, and if they didn't, how many would be slaughtered?

The soldier continued talking, not caring about the many glares leveled at her or the quiet whimpering that seemed to be spreading through the crowd. "Your world's long isolation from the rest of humanity is over. Comply, and both you and your families will prosper. Resist," the soldier tapped the holstered pistol on her hip, the grin she wore reminding Weiss too much of her father when he toppled a rival. "Any questions? None? Good!" The soldier placed a finger to ear and said something Weiss couldn't hear. Then, one of the doors leading into the auditorium opened, and a number of soldiers pushing carts full of sleeping bags entered. "You'll all be sleeping here for the night. Tomorrow, a shuttle will take you down to Vale where you will assist in rebuilding and clearing out debris." Nobody moved. The woman raised an eyebrow. "Well? Grab a damned sleeping bag!"

She punctuated the order by placing a hand on her gun again. That had everyone rushing to their feet and running to the carts. People were pushing and shoving each other to reach the carts, terrified that if they weren't fast enough, they would be shot. The guards tried to keep things controlled, pushing back with their rifles and shouting at the prisoners to calm down and line up, but they weren't listening.

A loud 'boom' cut through the clamor, and everyone turned to see the soldier had pulled out her pistol and, judging from the smoke trail lifting from its barrel, had just discharged it. It looked like a smaller, more compact version of the guns she had seen the giants wield, and recognized the sound as being the same one from the hologram.

She sneered at them, disgusted. "In an orderly bloody fashion, you Throne-damned idiots! There's plenty for everyone!" The soldier ordered, then shook her head and muttered something as she walked off the stage.

Everyone obeyed. They were still terrified, but the brief stint of panic was over and rough lines formed in front of each cart. After about fifteen minutes, everyone had a sleeping bag. They were then all corralled to the center of the auditorium, the guards surrounding them like fence posts around livestock. It seemed unnecessarily paranoid to Weiss; they didn't need to be this close.

The Heiress sighed and lay down on her sleeping bag but didn't close her eyes. Strangely, she found it quite difficult to sleep with armed soldiers looming over her. Instead, she stared up at the ceiling, searching for the hole caused by the soldier's gun. It didn't take her long to find it.

"We'll get through this," she whispered quietly to Blake, eyes still on the small crater punched into the ceiling, "we just need to stick together, and… and…" She hesitated then said, "we'll go to Atlas. It's still there, I know it."

"And if it is gone?" Blake asked after a long silence.

"It isn't," Weiss insisted, turning to fix Blake with a defiant glint in her eyes. "These people may be powerful, but there is no way they could destroy a whole Kingdom in a single day. It's impossible." As she said this, Weiss felt her confidence grow from the logic of her statement. Not even the Grimm could hope to wipe out a whole civilization in under a day. They might have conquered Atlas, but there was no way they could destroy it.

And even if they did conquer it like they did Vale, the people of Atlas wouldn't make it easy for them. She knew her countrymen would resist their occupation by any means necessary. "Atlas stands." Her eyes softened and she reached over and took Blake's hand in her own. "And so does Menagerie."

The faunus girl flinched at the words, then squeezed the heiress' hand. "Weiss, I…" Blake began, but Weiss cut her off.

"We can't think like that," she told her teammate, "If we do, then they've already won."

Blake raised an eyebrow at Weiss, a near invisible smile on her lips. "This doesn't count as them winning?" she asked, gesturing with her head to the huddled prisoners around them and the armed guards.

"It doesn't," Weiss confirmed, and she was surprised to realize she believed it. "We-"

"Hey, you!" barked one of the guards as he navigated the mass of prone prisoners to stand over Weiss and Blake. "You got something you'd like to share with the class?" he asked, the sneer audible even through his helmet's audio filter.

Weiss glared up at the man, but looked away as he moved his finger onto the trigger of his gun. "She was trying to comfort me," Blake piped in, sitting up and earning the attention of the guard. "I-I was-" whatever she was about to say next was cut off by the guard slamming the butt of his rifle into Blake's head, knocking her back down.

"Shut up!" growled the man as Weiss moved to check on her friend. It hadn't wounded Blake, her Aura would have protected her from the blunt force, but that did not mean it wouldn't still hurt. Plus, it put Weiss between the soldier and her downed friend. "Lieutenant said go to sleep, so go the frak to sleep!"

"Yes, sir," Weiss said, trying her best to sound like a timid prisoner despite the rising anger building in her. The guard snorted at her, and though his expression was hidden behind his helmet's mask, Weiss could hear the contempt he had for them. He stood there for a while longer, as if debating whether he should shoot them or not, then he turned and made his way back to his post.

Blake rubbed the side of her head as the guard left, glaring hateful daggers into his back. Weiss placed a hand on the girl's shoulder and shook her head. She mouthed, 'talk more tomorrow' and, after a moment, Blake nodded and rolled over on her sleeping bag.

Weiss did the same, once more staring up at that ugly crater punched into the ceiling by the woman's gun. It reminded the heiress of Yang, strangely enough. Powerful and direct, but crude and lacking any sort of finesse. The memory of the blonde brawler brought up a mixture of conflicting emotions, emotions Weiss did not have the luxury to sort through right now.

Weiss had managed to get them all… to get most of them out of the shelter alive. Now, she needed to figure out the next step. But she couldn't. The adrenaline that had been fueling her throughout this maddening day had faded and fatigue had finally caught up with the Schnee heiress. As she lost the fight against sleep, all her mind could picture was that small, brutal crater in the ceiling.

Then, blissful darkness.

~o0o~

Salem gazed out upon her realm, her kingdom of Grimm and death. She stood atop one of the many balconies that festooned her fortress, looking down at the black, barren land that only her chosen could enter and survive.

Her eyes fell on the black lake, that pool of pure destruction from which death itself crawled out. Even now, Creatures of Grimm pulled themselves free of its inky depths, newborn babes desperate to leave their mother's hateful womb, completely ignorant of the change engulfing the planet.

Salem's eyes shifted skyward, up toward the eternal crimson darkness that shrouded her realm. Stars rarely shone over her lands, but tonight, she could see lights in the sky, looming above Remnant with malicious intent. One of these new stars began to move, breaking off from its fellows to take up a new position over the world.

"Fools," she sneered, turning back to enter her fortress. She had sent her servants out into the world to do her will, so the fortress was entirely empty save for the Grimm Witch. She preferred it this way. Yes, her recent batch of pawns had proven extremely useful in her designs, but that would only last for so long. Cinder was a prime example of that.

Salem had felt the girl's death just hours ago. The Grimm inside her, that cunning little creation of magic and darkness, was tied to the Grimm witch, a means to keep track of her most vital pawn. When it had ceased to exist, Salem knew Cinder had died, and given the chaos engulfing Remnant, it was rather obvious who was responsible.

Salem did not mourn Cinder's death. She felt only frustration at the destruction of her key to the Relics. Salem would find another candidate in time, but her plans would be set back years, possibly decades due to that girl's idiocy. She let out a breath through her teeth as she walked, her footsteps echoing loudly through the empty corridors of the fortress.

They would be coming soon, like they had all those thousands of years ago. The black armored warriors who descended from the heavens in metal pods, wielding their roaring swords and booming guns. The self-proclaimed Black Lions. They would butcher her Grimm, level her fortress, force her to start all over again.

They would try to kill her, but they would fail. The Brothers, in their arrogance, had seen to that. How she had come to both loathe and appreciate their accursed gift over the centuries. She would see those two arrogant creatures brought low and made to grovel at her feet for all the torment they caused her, even if it took her another ten thousand years. She would make them pay.

The Grimm witch strode out of her fortress onto the lifeless rock of her domain. A hot, fetid breeze blew against her, carrying the decaying stench of the black lake across the land. She ignored it, as she always did, looking up at the sky once more.

The wayward star had come to a stop at last, its artificial light gleaming down over Salem's realm. It flashed momentarily brighter, and a second star split from its mass. Then another. And another.

Four comets that were not comets raced down to Remnant, straight for her and her fortress. Salem narrowed her eyes, and called upon her magic, ready to smite the invaders before they even reached the ground. After ten minutes, she brought her right arm up, a spear of black energy clenched in her fist. Salem threw the bolt with the contempt of an immortal, knowing it would make short work of the armored containers hurtling down toward her.

The spear flew. The pods kept falling. Nothing happened.

She frowned in annoyance. The spell should have found its mark without any difficulty, piercing through the armored skin of the pod and killing the warriors it carried in a great fireball. Salem readied another spell, but stopped when she noticed something. Though distance and heat obscured much, she could discern that these pods were far larger than the ones from millennia ago. They were louder too. The pods from before descended with a sound like whistling thunder, similar to the artillery shells fired from the kingdoms' cannons during the Great War.

But these pods were deeper, a low, ever creeping rumble, like a stampede of goliaths in a thunderstorm. No… that wasn't it. It was something else… something… familiar, like…

Like when the fragments of the moon smashed into the world's surface.

Her eyes widened as she realized these were not pods carrying warriors, but something far more destructive. The very air started to vibrate. The fetid odor of the lake burned away. Grimm instinctively ran or howled in futile challenge. Salem quickly dispelled her magical lance and raised her arms up, a red and black rune appearing over her as she cast a shield of arcane energy around herself.

Light, brighter than the aura of the elder Brother, flashed across the barren land. Salem felt her eyes burn, then boil away as intense heat followed the light. Her shield strained and shattered as a force unlike anything she had felt in thousands of years smashed against her body, tearing it apart and scattering it like leaves in a strong wind, before being incinerated in the fraction of a nanosecond.

The castle was obliterated, erased from existence by the sun that had bloomed in the land of destruction and death.

Then the other three shells hit.

While the bombardment of Atlas had been carried out with low yield munitions, leaving the city leveled but its floating foundations relatively intact, the Salem's Will had held nothing back. Grimm died in the millions in the initial explosions, with hundreds of thousands more caught in the wave of flames rolling across the land or shattered by the force of the shockwaves. Earthquakes shook the continent, triggering tidal waves and avalanches that claimed even more monsters. The very geography of the continent was being changed, forever altered by the Strike-Cruiser's bombardment.

Even on the other continents, the aftershocks caused by the bombardment were felt. Ships were rocked and capsized by waves that had been calm moments earlier. Landslides smothered villages. Mines collapsed, Dust deposits detonated, and a population that was already beaten and bloodied by otherworldly invaders cried out in desperation and fear.

The tremors subsided, the devastation slowed, then ceased. The people of Remnant were left shaken, confused and even more fearful than when the Black Lions had descended onto their world, but they were alive.

As was Salem.

The Grimm witch had revived, only to find herself buried and in pain as thousands of tons of debris pushed against her body. Bones snapped, organs were pulped, her consciousness faded. Then she was once more alive and in agony. As she returned life once more, she used her magic to try and punch herself a way out, or at least, to give her more space and prevent another death. As a space was created, she held the loose rock and stone in place with another spell, sparing her a fourth death and giving her a moment to collect herself. Salem reoriented herself, calling on her magic to discern which direction she would need to head in order to free herself. Once that was done, she began to dig.

It took her nearly an hour of digging, and when she emerged back onto the surface, shock and rage intermingled within her black heart.

Her fortress, the cliffs and mountains, all gone, replaced by a crater thousands of feet wide and a hundred deep. The dark stones had turned white with heat, steam and smoke rising off them and tainting the sickly hued sky even more. Even the black lake, that terrible font of destruction and the birthplace of the Grimm, was nowhere to be seen. It had been buried beneath the rubble just as she had, perhaps even destroyed.

Was such a thing even possible? Could the well of destruction itself be destroyed?

Salem pushed the thought aside. Of course, it couldn't be destroyed. It was just buried. All she needed to do was dig it out. This was a setback, nothing more. Her Grimm would return in time, their numbers would replenish, the relics would be hers. She would not be denied her revenge.

Salem looked up toward the sky again. The clouds of smoke obscured everything from sight, but she cared not. She glared up at where that 'star' had been, desperately wanting to rip it from the heavens and tear it to pieces for centuries of work it had destroyed in a handful of seconds.

They would all pay, she vowed. The Brothers, and these Black Lions.

They would know Salem's wrath.

~o0o~

Author's Note: I'M ALIVE! I am so sorry this took so long! This chapter was surprisingly difficult for me to write, both motivationally and just because for a while I had no idea what I should do. A lot of other stuff was also a factor, brother's wedding, new job, eye surgery, and holidays. Not to mention I've been playing a shit ton of Darktide and Rouge Trader. My life has gotten a lot busier as of late, so I haven't been writing as much. Still, I wanted to get this chapter out before the new year cus… well you guys have been waiting for fucking ever.

This chapter isn't my best work, not going to lie there. I think it's because there are just so many things I could have covered but felt there wasn't enough time or it wouldn't flow well if I had them in. Not to mention a few rewrites with several scenes. However, I finally managed to get it done. Again, not my best work, but I think it's not my worst either. I hope it was worth the wait.

As always, please fav, follow, and review! Thank you!

DeadRich18 Out!