Beneath the Broken Moon

by Zeroth17

In the World of Remnant, a secret war rages between the Kine and the monsters that go bump in the night. The Huntsmen fight and die in this shadow war so that the people live in the light, while paranoia and depravity run rampant through the streets like a disease on rotting flesh. But perhaps the strength of an honest soul can light the way... (Cover Art by Symptom99)

1. Does the Black Moon Howl?

Hey, guys! I made this as a little side project like with Wrath of the Ultrabots, but this idea just couldn't leave my head. But before we begin, let me explain something.

I've known about World of Darkness from even before Hunter the Parenting by Bruva Alfabusa, due to me playing Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines about when COVID hit, but I didn't get the chance to explore more until Alfabusa began said WOD series. After that, it became my second favorite RPG (my first being Warhammer 40K obviously) of all time.

Still, due to the vastness of my chapters with Embrace All Chaos, I haven't been able to do much. But now that I'm taking a little break, I can do this.

Anyway, rated M for Ultraviolence, Foul Language, Sexual Themes, Nudity, Horror/Grotesque Scenes, Surrealism, Mind Boggling Imagery, WOD in general, References to Heavy Metal Music, References to Hunter the Parenting, Themes of Addiction, Themes of Abuse, Themes of Mental Illness, and Badasses doing Badass things.

Let the Madness start!

Beta read by Dragon King of the West

---

It was a tale as old as time.

A teenaged boy, no older than 17, left from a coffee shop, humming as he left his boss to lock up for the night. A tall male with short brown hair, blue eyes, dressed in a brown coat over a white shirt, black pants and white shoes. Finishing a cup of coffee, he let out a sigh of content numbness, feeling the buzz in his veins before he let out a sigh, thinking about what's going to happen tomorrow.

The boy rested on the doorframe, looking out at the city of Vale, his breath visible like a cloud in the cold air, letting his thoughts wander. There were rumors circulating throughout the streets of disappearances and murders, homeless people and vulnerable people disappearing and reappearing dead and drained of their blood, torn to shreds, or worse.

before he looked at the trash can by the front door.

Giving a small smile as the idea popped into his head, the boy threw his cup at the trash like it was a basketball. The cup flew into the air in an arc before it landed in the open can perfectly.

He let out a whoop with raised arms, before relaxing and laughing straightening himself before he turned to the door and opened it, yelling inside, "Hey, Liam! I'm going!"

"Alright, Josh!" His manager shouted out, "See ya tomorrow! Remember to get back early! We have to take inventory!"

"All right! See ya tomorrow, Liam!" Josh shouted back, waving goodbye before he closed the door. Taking a breath, he then pulled out some headphones and put them on before connecting them to his scroll, as his favorite song played.

Feeling the song playing in his ears, Josh began his walk home.

(Incubus - Anna Molly)

It was snowing, the cold breeze biting his skin as he walked down the dark and empty streets of Vale, the only sounds that graced his ears being the crunch of the snow under his feet and the shrill but gentle breeze brushing through his hair like the touch of those past yet refuse to rest. His eyes looked around; at night, it seemed like these streets were mere building shaped silhouettes with window shaped dots of white than actual buildings.

Josh pursed his lips and sighed, shaking his head as he let his mind wander.

It was twelve years since his mom died, leaving his dad to raise him and little brother alone. Sure, there were some bumps and leaps, but other than that, he tried hard for his sons. The man was a saint; worked two jobs, had to pay the bills, and still made the time for him and his brother. Now that his dad couldn't walk anymore due to losing his leg in the accident, both Josh and Louis had to pick up the slack to support him.

And what with the rising number of Grimm attacks and disappearances around Vale, he's been hard pressed to find a job.

However, when he got to a crossroads, Josh saw a Faunus couple being harassed by a bunch of drunkards, laughing out that horrid lynch mob laughter as they threw empty beer bottles at them. One of them, a goat Faunus, got angry and punched the nearest one, but unfortunately that proceeded to piss them off before the rest of the drunkards attacked him.

Josh looked away, not wanting to get involved.

He stopped by a headlight on the corner of the roads that flickered, oddly when he noticed a pattern to it. He then shook it off, things like this are what caused the disappearances in the first place. If you get too curious or not cautious enough, you'll end up as another one of those disappearances.

Thus, was his hurry to get back-

CRUNCH

(music stops)

Suddenly, Josh stopped when he heard the sound of snow crunching behind him, turning around in fright where he saw... nothing. Blinking, he rubbed his eyes and looked around for anyone around him, but there was no one there. At least, no one that he could see.

Thinking that it was probably an alley cat, Josh shook it off and just kept walking.

CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH

Josh stopped again upon hearing the crunches again, now knowing that he wasn't hearing things. He turned to the left, trying to find the source of the sounds, looking behind him again if something was following him. There was still nothing there, just the empty street with the snow falling softly.

The man looked around again, trying to find out where those crunches were coming from. And... if he had an ear for that... they almost sounded like footfalls.

He shook it off again, deciding not to think about it and get home before anything happened.

This time however Josh noticed that the crunching had stopped, at least for now. This time, he decided that he'll get home quicker than usual, but as he then jogged down the street, a feeling that he couldn't explain came over him like something's piercing gaze was boring down into his skull.

But he paid it no mind, lest he be killed.

After several minutes of nonstop sprinting and bumping into several people long the way who looked at him like he was going crazy, Josh managed to reach the street where his apartment building was. A small but well-kept place, white paint on the exterior with alit windows and a smoking chimney, though the bottom part had a lot of graffiti and trash around it, due to gangs and hobos respectively. The other buildings around it were the same but were more quiet and with less lights on, the shadows heavier and thicker.

He reached the entrance, grasping the rails of the front steps as he panted heavily, trying to catch his breath as his mind raced.

He looked around again, seeing that he was alone. But something kept telling him that there was still something there. The streets were empty, the lights keeping the darkness from swallowing him whole, his breath visible in the cold dry air. The occasional car would then pass, throwing snow into the air as he tried to keep his heart from jumping out of his chest.

Josh looked around again, trying to find whatever was causing that crunching sound. Nothing still was there, even as he looked more, eyes peering deep into the shadows around him to see if there was anything that might be hiding. The snow seemed to fall harder, piling on the non-plowed roads as his eyes came to the building.

Nothing happened.

A sigh of relief came from his throat, appearing as a small cloud of white that disappeared as quickly as it appeared. Maybe he was just overthinking things, he thought to himself as he got up the steps to the front door of the apartment building.

Then, just as he touched the doorknob...

Crunch crunch crunch crunch crunch

Josh froze as the crunching returned, this time softer and more tepid like a slow and calm walk.

And it was right behind him...

The man slowly turned around, expecting a mugger or something scarier like some crazed hobo who was trying to get his money for skag, but to his surprise, it was nether.

Standing in the middle of the street in the snowfall, was a man. Josh couldn't make out any features as the headlights didn't reach him, but what he could see was that the man was wearing a sort of ragged trenchcoat that reached his ankles as it and his short hair flowed in the wind. He couldn't determine the height or stature of the man, only that his hands were resting in the pockets of the coat, but there was no twitching of muscles or shivering in the cold air.

Josh stared at the man owlishly, his mouth opening and closing randomly as his eyes never left the one in the streets. For a while, the two just stared at each other like they were images in a mirror.

"Uh... Hey..." Josh tried to speak, hoping that this guy was just some hobo, "Are you lost or... do you need help?"

The man didn't respond, not even fidgeting or shaking, only his hair and coat fluttering in the wind. Josh gulped, feeling something... dangerous about the man, like he was some kind of... monster in human skin.

It was then that he noticed something insanely odd; the man had no shoes on. It was a little hard to make out, but he could see that the man's bare feet were on the cold snow-covered ground, yet they didn't seem frostbitten or even blue, but he could not tell what state they were in. All he could tell was that the coat was the only attire the man had. Even with that, he still wasn't shivering or shaking in the cold.

"Hey, dude?" Josh shouted out, bewildered by the man's lack of attire, "Why are you barefoot? It's freaking freezing out here!"

The man still wasn't shivering or shaking, nor did he respond, only staring down at Josh like a statue in the cold freezing wind. No car came and no person came, letting the two continue their stares in silence. The man suddenly exhaled deeply, letting out hisses of white from his nostrils that faded as quickly as they formed.

Before another word could be said, the man suddenly walked forward a few steps. He reached the barest edges of the nearest lamppost, showing his bare feet and the edges of the ankle-length coat that he wore, and letting Josh faintly see his lips.

Just as he was about to comment, the man's lips suddenly parted like they were being pulled by hooks on a corpse, revealing thick yellow fangs resembling those of a wolf's on black gums, caked in blood with pieces of skin and bloody raw meat stuck between them. A growl seemed to issue from the man's throat, drool mixed with blood leaking down his chin and neck.

"Hungry."

Josh felt the blood in his veins freeze in terror at the deep baritone voice that just came from the man's mouth.

"W-... What?"

CR-CRACK

Suddenly, the man seemed to spasm as the sounds of bones breaking rang out in the air, causing Josh to jump with a yelp. His muscles bulged as the raggedy trenchcoat ripped apart, hands became rending claws, becoming 8 feet tall with black fur growing in. The face deformed as it stretched into a snout, ears migrating to the top of the skull and warping to resemble a wolf's, teeth becoming like daggers, bones tearing and reforming, before finally it was done.

Before the petrified Josh was an 8 foot tall thing resembling an unholy fusion of man and beast, black fur with silver streaks around the arms, chest, and legs, while piercing yellow eyes glared down in a wolf's head, the lips of the snout peeling back to bare its fangs, muscular legs and arms with rending claws that would tear even a tank to ribbons.

Josh made a whimpering sound as the wolf snarled, taking a few steps closer as its claws tensed, eyes burning with hunger. The man lost his nerve and screamed, scrabbling away as the monster roared, sounding like the howl of a mad wolf.

Before the man could even get a few feet away, the wolf caught up to him in but the blink of an eye, ramming him to the ground with enough force to break his ribs and shoulders, causing him to cough up blood. The man cried out in pain which turned to horror as the werewolf grabbed him by arm and forced him to lay on his back, making him see the hungering visage of the wolf.

Drool spilled from the wolf's hungry maw, dripping onto Josh's terrified and despair filled face. It reared its head back, its yellow fangs visible and slick with blood and drool, parting in a rumbling growl.

The sounds of ripping meat rang out through the night as the last thing he ever saw was the open maw coming towards him faster than he could react, ripping into him as Josh began to scream.

---

Imagine if you will, a world where man and Grimm were hunted by the things that hid in the dark. Where myths and legends were not only true, but still had tentacles that latched onto the modern days of Remnant.

The decadent ambience and rebellious fervor of the World of Darkness...

Violence blends with elegance as wealth and privilege mix into the panoply of fear and cultural conflict. In cracked squalid cities, people dance and while away the hours in glittering social clubs, trying to ignore the urban centers' decay. The towering buildings of downtown scene cling to art-graven styles. By contract, slums roil with strife and warfare, as desperate masses of humanity claw at their pieces of turf...

Under the gleaming spires of the church, the halls of justice and the artifacts of society, the masses strive for lives of comfort and refinement. The gothic image of looming architecture is everywhere, chased with gold and silver as it watches over the dispossessed. In contrast, punk nihilism echoes in the overpowering despair of dreams destroyed.

Ignored by society, the less fortunate rebel. The upper classes revel decadently in their wealth while gangs, criminals, the insane, and the deprived, maraud through crumbling neighborhoods. The buzz of technology is nearly overwhelming, as disenfranchised groups revolt through shocking displays of brutality, art, faith, and mysticism.

The Kine with the huntsmen and huntresses, acting as the heroes for the less fortunate, protecting them from the dark shapes that are the Grimm.

The Kindred, both of the Camarilla, the Sabbat, and the Anarchs, infesting each city and attempting to keep their masquerade afloat while preying on the unfortunate.

The Garou acting as the dread protectors of the fallen world as they hunt the horror things of the Wyld, the Weaver, and the Wyrm, each worming their way through the cracks.

The Milklings desperate to escape from the Arcadia and from their Fae masters, wanting to return to the lives that were stolen from them.

The Wraiths wandering the lands where they died, trying to either find a way to complete their unfinished business and move on or merely wail on for all eternity.

The Fallen, squandering themselves in the Abyss, clawing upwards and upwards until they reach the world and possess the weakest sac of flesh nearest to them.

These monsters, either knowing or not knowing each other, fight for control over the world that they inhabit, hiding themselves from humanity while controlling them for their benefit.

The World of Darkness careens through a fast track of self-destruction, and everyone wants an escape.

But imagine, what effect could be had when a simple more honest soul shines so brightly in this World of Darkness?

---

It was a calm and quiet night for a young girl, who was walking back to Beacon Academy from another night in the town. She was wearing a black long-sleeved blouse with a high collar and red trim on the sleeves, over which is a black waist cincher with red lacing up the front, and a matching skirt with red lining. She also wears a pair of thick black stockings and black combat boots with red laces, red trims around the top, and red soles.

Her outfit is topped by a red hooded cloak fastened to her shoulders by cross-shaped pins. Her emblem appears as a large silver buckle on her wide black belt, which is slung around her hips on an angle, and attached to her belt are a pocket and a row of bullets.

The folded Crescent Rose at her side, coming down the street as her cloak helped against the cold wind bristling through the city.

She smiled happily, thinking about her team.

Her big sister, Yang. The mellow Blake. And the stuck-up Weiss. Despite that, she's really been enjoying being their leader, even if Weiss was a little pompous. Still, maybe she had a point that she could take her studies seriously...

Something about tonight though, filled her with worry as if tonight would change their lives forever.

Suddenly, there was a scream. One so loud and deafening that it nearly burst her eardrums. It wasn't the kind where it was like when you scream when watching a horror movie, but the kind where you are in intense blinding pain.

Ruby flinched when she turned around, hearing the screams as they came from another street that she was walking besides.

The scream... something about it terrified her to an extent that she didn't think it was possible. Despite that, her desire to help burned bright in her soul, causing her to dash down the street in a flurry of rose pedals.

Racing down the street, the red reaper flew to the source of the scream, turning a corner to reveal an apartment building before she saw something under the light of a lamppost on the sidewalk next to it. Ruby could not suppress the gasp of horror that came from her mouth when she saw the scene.

It was what she could only describe as a black werewolf with burning unnatural yellow eyes and scar-like streaks of silver around the arms, chest, and legs feasting on the mutilated remains of... what she assumed was a man. The flesh on the face and chest was ripped off, revealing the skull and ribs as whatever was left internal organs hung from the wolf's snout that it quickly ate, before it then tore the ribs apart and ripped out the heart and lungs, messily devouring them. The arms were crushed, reduced to meat and bone pulp with only the lower half left with the legs barely covered.

For some reason, beside the gore, Ruby was suddenly stricken with unnatural terror at the sight of the werewolf. Her legs felt weak, her stomach was in knots, her hands were shaking, unconsciously stepping back as she remained stricken with this odd terror at the sight of the wolf, nearly forgetting the gore as her sight wavered in terror.

Suddenly, the wolf turned to her, its unnatural eyes burned into her soul like it was the very emissary of death itself.

Just as it lunged at Ruby, claws outstretched to rend her to ribbons, the maw of daggers open to reveal tearing fans, it suddenly found that she was gone when it landed, leaving only a flurry of rose pedals in her place. It turned to see a trail of the same pedals that were briefly in the air as they fell to the snow-covered ground, leading into the forest nearby.

The werewolf, stunned, briefly caught one of the pedals in its claws, only for it to dissolve into red flecks as quickly as it appeared. Growling, it swiftly followed the trail of fallen pedals, turning a corner as it ended the forest, racing between the trees as the trail led it deeper and deeper into the forest. It soon reached a clearing, the snow falling heavily as they turned to see the trail leading into another part.

However, once it turned to the tree line, the trail of rose pedals suddenly ceased.

The wolf looked around, unable to find her with its eyes so it then decided to use its best tool for tracking, its nose. The wolf raised its pointed snout to the sky and deeply sniffed at the tepid air, nostrils flaring as it tried to take in whatever scent it could track. Immediately, it picked up a rosy scent and turned its head west, smelling roses tickling its nostrils as it started coming on all fours prowling like the beast it was.

It kept sniffing the ground as it followed the scent through the trees, looking up to see the leafless and snow covered branches. Still having the scent of its prey in its nostrils, the Garou kept on all fours, not shifting to its lupus form incase its prey attacked while it was still distracted. The smell seemed to grow stronger now actually seemingly like the rose pedals its prey had generated.

Suddenly, its ears picked up a groan before the voice of his prey perked up from above it, "Stupid, Ruby! Of course, it would have a wolf's sense of smell!"

It's head immediately snapped toward the source of the sound, revealing Ruby standing on a thick branch in the trees above it. Ruby gasped with wide silver eyes and her hands quickly covered her mouth, realizing her mistake, "Andofcourseitwouldhaveawolf'ssenseofhearing!"

The wolf growled and shot to the tree, claws extended to strike her down, only for the yelping red cloaked girl to jump out of way, causing the rending claws to rip through the bark and wood like it was but melting butter. It landed a few feet away, growling and bearing its bloodied teeth.

Ruby, after letting out a surprised squeak, immediately unfolded Crescent Rose into its scythe configuration and slashed the black furred werewolf, the strike upwards and gouging out one of its eyes in a spray of red and ocular fluid. The werewolf screeched as it staggered back, pressing its clawed hand against the blood gushing socket for a brief moment before it turned it head back to Ruby, the wound and socket healing as an eye grew back in, growling lowly in tranquil fury.

And it was at that moment, Ruby, who now had a nervous smile that pulled at her lips against her will, knew... she fucked up.

The Garou roared and lunged at her, only for the girl to dash away in a flurry of rose pedals before she slashed Cresent Rose across its back. It screeched out and tried to strike again, but the girl dodged and twirled her scythe, slashing its chest and leg which healed in but an instant. The Garou attempted to bite her head off, only to see her disappear in a flurry of rose pedals before her to reappear behind and then attempted to slash across its back again. That attempt was foiled when the werewolf suddenly caught Crescent Rose with a single hand, gripping the shaft.

Ruby blinked in surprise before she attempted to pull it back, but the Garou's grip was like iron as it resisted her pulls. A second later, the wolf yanked the shaft back, pulling a yelping Ruby to it that then grabbed her by the neck, its claws threatening to dig into Ruby's neck, but it was held back by her aura.

The young huntress choked as she felt her aura struggle against the Garou's claws, the face of its snarling wolf burning into her skull as its yellow eyes blazed with fury.

"NOBODY FUCKS WITH MY SISTER!"

That shout was followed by the Garou turning to the side at the source of the noise... only to for a fist to connect to the snout before it was then blasted in the face, letting go of Ruby, who hit the ground, and sending it flying before hitting the nearest tree. The beast nearly broke the tree in half from the impact, rolling to the ground as it tried to get back to its feet.

It was a tall fair skinned woman with lilac eyes and long thick wavy blond hair that faded to pale gold at the tips. She wore a tan jacket that bares her midriff, with golden brown piping and short, puffy sleeves with black cuffs that feature two gold buttons. Underneath this, she wears a low cut yellow crop top with her emblem on the left breast in black.

She also wears a brown belt covered by a pleated brown piece of material reaching from hip to hip around the back of her waist, with her emblem emblazoned on the right-most pleat in gold. Underneath this is a long, white, asymmetrical piece of material reaching to her knee on the right side, as well as a pair of tight black spandex compression shorts that reach her upper thighs. She wears a pair of brown, knee-high boots and orange over-the-knee socks, with the right sock pushed down just below the knee. A gray bandanna is tied around her left knee and an orange infinity scarf and black fingerless gloves complete her outfit.

Just behind her were her teammates, Blake Belladonna and Weiss Schnee.

Blake was a fair skinned young woman with wavy raven hair that held a black ribbon is tied with a large bow on the top of her head and amber eyes with purple eye shadow in cats eye style. She wore a black, buttoned vest with coattails and a single silver button on the front. Underneath this is a white, sleeveless, high necked, crop undershirt and white shorts with a zipper on the front of each leg, emblazoned with the YKK logo.

She also wears black low-heeled boots and full stockings with a color gradation of black to purple at her ankles. Her emblem is visible on the outside of both thighs just below her shorts in white. On her left arm is a black detached sleeve with a silver cuff around her bicep, and black ribbons are wrapped around both forearms. A small, loose, black scarf is wrapped around her neck, and a gray magnetic backpack is strapped to her back, hidden by her hair. She often keeps her weapon attached to the magnetic backpack when she is not using it.

Weiss is a pale-skinned young woman with pale blue eyes with a scar which runs vertically down her left eye and face, and long white hair that is often pulled back into an off-center ponytail or braid on the right side and pinned with a silver, icicle-shaped tiara. She wore a thigh-length strapless dress with a faint color gradation from white to pale blue at the hem. A small piece of black lace sits in the front of her neckline and the hem of the dress is scalloped and stitched to resemble snowflakes, with layers of white tulle under the skirt. Over this, she wears a bell-sleeved bolero with the same color gradation as her dress from shoulder to wrist, lined in red and with a ruffled collar. On the back of the bolero is the Schnee Crest.

She also wears a small apple pendant on a silver chain and thin, rectangular silver earrings. Her boots are white, wedged heeled, and higher at the back than the front. They have a small silver decoration across the top of the foot and are lined in red. A thin white sash is tied around her waist with a pouch attached to the back.

"Rubes! Are you okay?!" Yang shouted as she immediately raced to Ruby, helping her sister to her feet. Ruby rubbed her sore neck, coughing before she then noticed Weiss and Blake running up to her, looking out of breath.

"I... Yeah, I'm... okay..." Ruby finished as she panted, her lungs trying to get air in as much air as possible, "How'd you find me?"

Yang pulled out her scroll, the holographic screen shows their aura levels. The levels for Weiss, Blake, and Yang were near full, but Ruby's was nearly empty! "Our scrolls started going off and we saw your aura levels dropping like crazy! What the fuck happened Ruby?!"

However, instead of chastising her for swearing, Ruby was instead staring at something, her eyes wide and her body shaking in fright. Yang blinked, knowing something must be really wrong if her sister didn't chastise her. It was then she noticed that Weiss and Blake were the same, backing away with their pupils shrunken to pinpricks.

The blonde brawler then traced their gazes to whatever they were looking at... and she felt her heart begin to stop.

She shouldn't have been scared of this thing, after all it looked like a Beowulf without the bony mask or spikes, but for some reason... when her eyes took in the sight of the monster, she was gripped with some old primal terror.

"Uh, R... Ruby?" Yang said in a surprisingly fearful tone, stricken with the same unnatural fear as her sister and her teammates, "What is that?"

"I... I don't know..." Ruby could barely squeak out, too scared to even speak.

The werewolf stood back up while shaking off the pain and standing back up as it felt the broken ribs heal. It had to admit, that hurt.

The Garou turned and snarled at whomever just interrupted its next meal, seeing a blond girl helping the red haired one up with a black haired one with a bow and a white haired one in a white dress. The werewolf suddenly paused when another scent came into its nose, sniffing the air in curiosity as it looked around, with the girls looking at it in a mixture of fear and curiosity.

Abruptly, they flinched when its eyes turned to Blake.

It couldn't identify it but the black haired one seemed to emit a stench that it found repulsive. Its lips peeled in a snarl as it glared at the black haired one, who paled at the hateful gaze of the werewolf.

All the girls slowly backed away from the beast with fearful expressions, especially Blake who seemed paler than the heiress.

"Uh, Blake?" Weiss asked tremulously when she managed to find her voice, "Why is it staring at you like that?"

Blake looked like she was about to faint at seeing the snarling visage of the werewolf, having an inkling as to why it was staring at her like a starving predator taking in its prey, "I... I don't know..." She could barely speak from the terror in her heart.

However, as the Garou stepped forth, they instead tensed and raised their weapons, attempting to muster their courage against it, much to the beast's surprise. Were they capable of resisting the Delirium?

Ruby forced her nerves to steel, raising Crescent Rose up and steadying her breath. The fear was still burning inside her, but the rest of her was trying to resist it as she shouted, "Ready, guys?"

Yang was shaking but some feral vigor began to burn inside her, her eyes turning red as a grin spread across her face and her hair started to blaze with fire, the Ember Celica forming around her fists, "Ready!"

Weiss was almost as still as a statue, before her leader's encouragement began to bubble in her, attempting to maintain her grace while gripping Myrtenaster as the revolving chamber turned, "Ready."

Blake felt her instincts roaring out inside her to run, but she didn't seem to feel whatever it was that her teammates felt, regardless something inside her forced her to raise Gambol Shroud in its pistol configuration, "Ready!"

A grin almost appeared on the Garou as it rammed its fist into its palm, cracked its knuckles. This was going to be fun.

The wolf roared as it swung its claws at the girls, who dived out of the way before Ruby and Weiss slashed at it from behind, but it ducked and swiped them both. The hit sending them both flying as their Aura took the brunt of the damage, before they got back up.

Suddenly, Yang dashed in with a feral cry before unleashing a flurry of punches against the wolf, Ember Celica firing wildly. The dust rounds exploded on its chest, scorching its fur and skin but it then let out a roar before it slugged Yang across the face, staggering her and leaving her open for a kick to the stomach that sent her to the snow.

The Garou attempted stomp on her when it was suddenly punched in the gut by Yang, before then being slashed across the sides by Ruby and Weiss. It roars but just before it could strike again, the ribbon wrapped itself around the Garou's wrist before its arm was pulled back. Before it could pull back, several shots hit the Garou's shoulder, making it bleed but barely getting a grunt as the wounds sealed after the bullets popped out of tensed muscles.

Suddenly, the Garou swiveled around as it attempted to throw a punch at Blake who was flying at it, who only swived out of the way and slashed the sheathed blade of Gambol Shroud through its arm. It bit down a yelp of pain before it attempted to grab Blake by the neck, but the shape that its fingers wrapped around was a shadow as the real Blake then slashed at its chest.

The Garou, not reacting to the pain, merely yanked the ribbon around its arm tautly, attempting to send Blake toward it but then its ears pricked at the sounds of snow crunching. Acting swiftly, it abandoned its attempt on Blake and then swerved around as it swept its foot through the snow, sending the flying flakes at the eyes of RW_Y who attempted to attack from behind, blinding them in the process.

But before it could attack them whilst they were distracted, Blake yanked the ribbon still wrapped around its arm, throwing it off its balance before unsheathing Gambol Shroud and slashing it across the gut with a feral cry. Its guts nearly came out, but it slammed its hand on the open wound before any of its organs could fall out and then spin kicked Blake across the face faster than she could react, the ribbon unwrapping around its arm in the process. Blake was sent flying, crashing against a tree which would have snapped her in half had she not possessed Aura, but the blow shattered it and knocked her out cold.

"Blake!" Ruby shouted and swung Crescent Rose downwards, only for the Garou to block it with its other arm under the blade, before kicking her away and then sidestepping away from a thrust from Myrtenaster and moving its head away from a blast from Ember Celica. Just as the wound had clotted and was beginning to heal, the Garou used both arms to block another strike from Crescent Rose and Myrtenaster, glancing off the fur before it swung at Weiss who ignited her rapier instinctively with a shriek of terror, the blade igniting with fire dust. The now flaming rapier nearly scorched its side before the beast ducked and moved its head out of the way of another pair of strikes, before it snapped its jaws at her, barely avoiding her face being bitten off by ducking back.

Before it could attack again, Yang then slugged it across the face and Ruby slashed it across the chest, distracting it and giving Weiss the chance to strike. She trusted the flaming Myrtenaster at the werewolf... only for shock to come over all of the three girls when the beast caught the blade between its teeth. The flames burnt its mouth and tongue, but it used that pain as more motivation before it slashed Weiss across the chest with its claws, her aura shielding her barely.

It spat out the flaming rapier as it then attempted to slash her across the face, only for a white glyph to stop its claws, causing its eyes to widen before it scowled and then curled its other hand into a fist and threw a punch. The strike shattered the glyph and slugged Weiss across the face before she could even register the broken shield, shattering her aura and sending to the ground, unconscious.

"WEISS!" Ruby screeched before she and her big sister roared out in uncharacteristic fury and attacked without a plan. Yang roared and unleashed a fury of punches at the beast that, to her and Ruby's surprise, it matched blow for blow before it uppercutted the blonde and then rammed its foot into her stomach. Just after that, Ruby then swung Crescent Rose, this time swifter than even the beast could react, splitting the bicep and triceps of its right arm.

The red cloaked girl then lashed out at the beast again, dodging and weaving her way out of its flurry of feral strikes, the intense fear she felt made her act more instinctually than her usual graceful style, more reacting than acting. After getting to a considerable distance, Ruby switched Crescent Rose to its sniper rifle configuration and fired at it without aiming in her haste. The bullet struck the werewolf in the shoulder, causing it to howl in agony before it was silenced by Yang slugging it in the snout.

Yang ferally struck at the beast over and over without letting up, keeping it from recovering and counterattacking, only take the blows or parry them but she stopped it from gaining ground. Siezing the opportunity, Ruby tried to steel her nerves before she took aim at the head of the beast. Just when the sight was taken into her scope and Yang, having jumped back to land her final attack, was out of the way, the reaper then curled her finger around the trigger and fired.

The crack of the gunshot echoed as the beast's head jerk, causing Ruby to pause, thinking the shot connected ...only for her eyes to bulge in horror when the werewolf then turned its head towards her, revealing the bullet that it caught between its fangs.

It then spat out the bullet before tensing his shoulder, the bullet popping out as the hole sealed. The Garou tested its arm before its curled its hand into a fist and threw a punch at Yang who was about strike whilst it was distracted. She ducked under the swing and kicked it in the gut with all her might, but it didn't even get a flinch from the beast who then headbutted her, staggering her. Before it could strike again, its back erupted with sudden pain as Crescent Rose pierced through its shoulder, Ruby behind it with an uncharacteristically fierce glare.

Roaring in agony, the werewolf spun around with such speed that the sniper scythe was ripped from Ruby's grip, before it slashed its claws across her face with such force that it nearly shattered her aura upon contact, sending the girl flying. She hit the side of a massive rock before she hit the ground with a yelp and tumbled around before stopping. Ruby, despite being uninjured by both thanks to her Aura, then attempted to weakly push herself back up, but she faltered, hitting the ground as her aura flared and then shattered, falling unconscious.

The Garou grasped Crescent Rose and then ripped it out of its shoulder when suddenly a deafeningly loud shout came from a rather extremely pissed off Yang, "YOU BASTARD!"

Yang, not caring about anything other than making this bastard wolf pay, channeled every single ounce of her aura into her fist and then launched herself at the beast before it had a chance to react to her shout. Yet the wolf did see her, but she was too fast for it to dodge as her fist reared back for a punch. The only thing it could do was raise its limp arm to act as a shield just as Yang closed the gap and threw her fist forth.

The punch caused the radius and uina to snap in half, piercing the flesh of the arm as blood sprayed and chunks of bone were visible, nerves firing in mind-blistering agony. The Garou barely even gave a grunt before it wheeled around and backhanded Yang across the face faster than she could react, snapping the bones back in place, and then threw a fist with its right hand but was surprised when she suddenly caught it.

She suddenly raised her head with a savage grin, revealing her scarlet eyes as the flames seemed to burn from her hair. Before it had a chance to react next, Yang threw a punch at the wolf's ribs, nearly caving them in and sending it back. The Garou skidded to a halt as his claws dug into the ground, growling with excitement as both it and Yang matched fierce gazes, shaking its left arm to test it as it finally healed.

Both of them launched themselves at each other, fists flying as one attempted to overpower the other. Yang's aura tanking its blows and the beast's healing tanking her blows at the same time, sometimes dodging or parrying but never relenting. It snapped its jaws at Yang in an attempt to bite her head off, but she leaned her head away and its bite snapped at air.

Yang bounced away, feeling like she was on nirvana from fighting. Something about it, something about fighting so ferally and without restraint just brought this frenzy inside her that burned like an inferno. A grin of adrenaline intoxication was plastered onto her face, her aura trembling like a hungry beast, the flames in her hair flaring like a forest fire, her eyes a deep crimson.

The Garou meanwhile merely spat out the burnt skin that was left in its mouth, licking its healed gums with fangs slick with drool. It hadn't had a fight this good in a long time, almost like the fight it tore the head of that disgusting Fomori. It punched a fist into its palm before cracking its knuckles and popping its neck, black fur bristling in the cool air as its rictus grin seemed to widen, the Rage burning brightly inside of it.

Suddenly, just before the blond brawler could attack again, the Garou then grasped a nearby tree, claws digging into the bark before it let out a fierce roar and the forceful yank. Yang gaped as she saw the werewolf uprooted the tree and wielded it as a makeshift club, dirt and snow flaking off as it reared it back for a swing.

The beast swung the tree at Yang, who ducked under instinctively before she then struck the wooden club, shattering it into splinters. Just after, the werewolf threw the trunk at her that she batted away, only for the Garou to strike her in the head with a two-handed hammer fist while she was distracted by the throw. Yang was thrown to the ground, but she rolled out of the way of another strike that would have shattered her aura, kicking the Garou's shin and staggering it as she then attempted to strike from behind.

It leaned out of the way of her fist, the world seeming to slow as the beast rammed both its fists on her chest, sending Yang back as the world sped back up. She skidded to a halt, snow flying around her that melted from the heat of the flames of her hair, seeing the werewolf gazing back at her. The two exchanged veritable flurries of fists, some connecting, others missing, before they blasted each other back from the force of their fists connecting to each other.

The two didn't let up, this time matching each other blow for blow, the beast's knuckles becoming bruised and Yang's aura straining more than ever. The clash was then halted when Yang uppercutted the wolf in the snout and the beast left hooked her across the face. Both of them skidded to a halt before they seemed to reach an understanding as crimson eyes met golden eyes. Their fists clenched, their stances were taken, their minds set as the Rage of both boiled inside.

It was time to end this.

Thump-thump

The muscles in the werewolf's leg tense, veins visible and claws digging into the dirt.

Thump-thump

Yang's fist clenched even more, the flaming aura like an inferno.

Thump-thump

Her crimson eyes narrowing like pits of heat.

Thump-thump

The beast's sickly golden eyes piercing like lances of light.

THUMP-THUMP

They both launched themself at each other, their hearts pounding against their ribs. Yang let out a furious roar which was matched by the Garou's feral howl, their fists rocketing towards each other like the comets of the night sky as the snow bellowed around them. The air seemed to blister as their Rage blazed out like the mouth of hell itself.

Their fists glided over each other before they connected to their opponent.

Yang was knocked back as her aura finally shattered, the werewolf's fist nearly shattering her cheekbone as the left hook sent her flying.

The beast was knocked back as it stumbled and howled in agony, Yang's fist nearly snapping its mandible off its head and letting it hang limply.

The blond brawler hit the snow, tumbling and rolling before stopping as she laid on her back, groaning lightly before she fell unconscious. However, instead of a pain expression, what was plastered on her face was a tired smile like that of a good fight.

A growl bubbled from the Garou's throat as it felt the muscles reconnect its jaw to the rest of its body before it grasped its dislocated jaw and reset it. It snapped its jaws enough to get the feeling back in it, blooding flowing back into the veins in the gums and feeling the teeth damaged in the blow relocating and testing its tongue before it then turned to the girls.

That had been the greatest fight it had in years, better than when it fought that swarm of Fomori with its pack. Something like this would grant these four a quick death.

But then it caught a whiff of that scent again, something familiar yet uncanny, like the scent of beast and man mixed together. Its snout turned to the one with raven hair, crawling close as its nose continued to sniff at whatever scent that it kept smelling.

Then it seemed to pick up something else. Something more horrid. Something more... abominable.

The wolf growled, looking at the four as it curled its claws to a striking motion, ready to rend them to pieces...

However, before it could land the final blow could be struck, the Garou paused when it heard the sounds of sirens blaring. Its eyes turned to see red and blue lighting appearing in the neighborhood near the forest, the police were coming.

It scowled, forcing itself to cool the Rage before it turned to the unconscious huntresses in training for a few moments... and whispered in the Garou tongue.

"We will meet again."

And with that, the Garou took off into the forest, leaving its prey behind before it could be discovered.

---

Just as the sounds of cars stopping came, Ruby's silver eyes opened with a groan, feeling the cold ground under her. She picked herself off the ground with what little strength she had left.

What happened? It was likely they were fighting something and then it was all black. Her aura seemed to flare and recede as her mind attempted to piece things back together what happened.

Then there was a flash, like there was a spike in her brain, a hot feeling in her skull and then the snarling face of the werewolf that came from nowhere were branded in her mind.

And then suddenly, words and voices erupted in her skull like an explosion of thought.

IT DOES NOT LIVE.

BRING IT PEACE.

BEHOLD THE TRUTH.

TAKE BACK THE NIGHT.

INHERIT THE EARTH

Her silver eyes rolled back into her head before she fell unconscious just as a police officer got out of the car and ran to the girls.

The officer immediately ran to the girls, his partner coming behind him as he checked the pulse of the girls before he yelled out, "They're still alive! Unconscious, but alive! Help me get them to the car!"

Both of the officers immediately hoisted Ruby up and carried her to the car, stirring her slightly but by the time she opened her eyes, she found herself sitting in the back of a cop car.

Ruby's hazed vision took in the cops carrying Weiss, Blake, and Yang back to the car with them, stuffing them in the back seat with her one by one, none of them waking up. Just as the cops entered the driver and passenger seats, Ruby's eyes closed, unable to stay awake.

Little did they see that the silhouette of a wolf hiding behind the building where the car had just departed from, keeping so still and steady that not even Blake's Faunus hearing could pick up. Just as they came out of sight, the wolf slowly shifted, fur retracting as it made its way to a trash can. After opening the lid with its now prehensile paw, the figure exacted a plastic bag from the bin, before it looked around and ran off into the night.

---

3 hours later...

Vale Police Department

Ozpin drunk from his cup of coffee, keeping calm despite the situation. He had gotten a call from the VPD that they had found Team RWBY at the edge of Vale in the forests, but the nature of the scene caused them to contact him directly. He had come as quickly as possible, asking Glynda to take over his duties in the short time he was gone.

Now, he was currently sitting on a glossy wooden bench in a sky-blue painted hallway, waiting for one of the police to inform him of what had happened.

Nearby, the professor saw that two coroners were wheeling away a gurney with a filled body bag to the morgue. But when Ozpin took in their features, he immediately knew something was amiss; they seemed in a rush to get the body out of the station, like it was infected by a plague or something that required more secrecy. Even then the coroners, whom were not strangers to gore, seemed green around the gills, trying to get it away as swiftly as possible.

Just what had happened to that body?

However, thankfully, coming out of the evidence room next to them was one of the police.

The man in front of him was a tall but unkept man with currently pale skin and heavy bags under his yellow eyes, short unkept brown hair with the bangs framing his cheeks and his forehead exposed, a decently trimmed goatee, shaking with what seemed like a rush of some kind. He was dressed in a black dress shirt with a cornflower blue tie under a cornflower blue dress jacket that was under a longcoat that reached his knees, midnight blue slacks with polished brown shoes.

This was Detective Sergeant Victor Graves of the Vale Police Department. Ozpin disliked the man, what with his views, his behavior, his temper, and his reputation, but regardless he was on the side of the law and willing to keep secrets. Something that he needed for a while now.

Oddly, his clothes seemed new and expensive, unlike the clean but worn clothes that he usually wore. But Ozpin pushed that thought aside for now.

"Detective Graves." Ozpin greeted, shaking the man's hand.

"Headmaster Ozpin." Victor replied, his accent heavy, his pupils dilated and looking both tired and trying to shake off whatever high had taken hold of him.

"What happened?" Ozpin inquired, skipping the pleasantries, something that the detective sensed almost immediately.

"Well, it started when we got reports of a body on the sidewalk downtown." Victor began, pulling out a flask from his coat and taking a swig of whatever alcoholic liquid that was inside it after twisting the cap off, "When we got there... oof." Victor let out a sound of disgust and took another sip, "The body could barely be called a fucking body. Poor fucker was torn apart from armpit to arsehole."

Ignoring the crude manner that Graves described it, Ozpin looked to where the bodybag that had been placed. A young cop got curious and attempted to peek into the bag, only to recoil and then rush to the bathroom, his hand clamped over his mouth before several of them heard the sounds of vomiting.

Ozpin was unfazed before he turned to Victor, "Is it really that bad?"

"I'm not drunk enough to tell you." Victor deadpanned, taking another drink from his leather-bound flask before he continued, "And then the officers on the scene heard gunshots, cries, and what they described as 'roars.' Two of them went off to investigate just as the sounds quieted. They found the girls there, their auras were shattered, and a lot of stains of blood on the snow."

The headmaster had an alarmed look, "The girls' blood?"

"No, actually." Victor said when he then looked around to make sure no one was eavesdropping before he leaned in and whispered, "Another odd thing. The boys found a bunch of footprints, but they didn't know whether to call them man or beast. Not Grimm either."

Ozpin's eyebrows shot to his hairline. Could it be what he thought it was?

"Where are the girls now?" He asked the detective.

"Oh, they're in that room right-" Victor suddenly coughed into a napkin, rather violently at that, getting a look of concern from Ozpin and the attention of the other police officers. The detective stopped, clearing his throat before wiping his mouth.

"Are you alright, detective?" Ozpin gently asked, putting a hand on his shoulder as he continued to cough.

"I-I'm fine, Oz." Victor said before he coughed again, giving a sheepish smile, "Gotta quit smoking."

The headmaster nodded as he entered the small room, hearing Victor's coughing become more violent.

Team RWBY were all sitting on a bench, towels around their necks and backs, looking rather tired and uneasy. However, he then noticed the features of all four; Yang had a face akin to that of utter cathartic relief, almost drunk with the comedown of adrenaline. Weiss had a shaking expression of disbelief, her eyes seemingly darting around as she tried to make sense of the experience. Blake was calm, but the fearful shrunken pupils in her amber eyes and the tightening white knuckled fists around her lap told of a different story.

Ruby however was different. She seemed the second most relaxed, aside from her sister, humming as she played with her fingers. There was no fear or mental exhaustion in her, but there was something else in her that Ozpin felt. Something that he knew from so many lifetimes.

Just as he entered, he saw the girls immediately relax upon seeing him, as if he exuded this aura of calmness that allowed them to feel safe. But he still saw hints of uncertainty in the eyes of both Blake and Weiss.

Knowing what he was dealing with, Ozpin smiled gently at the girls, "Hello, girls. Are you all right?"

"We're all right, headmaster." Ruby said brightly, despite the situation, "Just a little roughed up."

"A little?!" Weiss screeched at her leader before she paused and composed herself, red dusting her cheeks due to being in the presence of the headmaster, "Excuse me, headmaster."

"It is all right, Ms. Schnee." Ozpin dismissed, before he decided to get straight to the point, "Now, may I ask what happened to you four?"

Their reactions to that question were as varied as themselves. Blake and Weiss looked at each other with uncertain and doubt, Yang let out an exhausted sound but kept smiling, while Ruby just gulped at the mention.

"It... It was a monster..." Blake shook, looking more scared than all of them combined.

"It looked like a Beowolf... but with no mask." Ruby described, looking incredibly physically exhausted at recalling the fight, "It was so strong and fast... we could hurt it, but it healed so fast. It caught a bullet with its teeth!"

"That fight though..." Yang mumbled, resting her chin on her hand, "Everything felt like a blur. It felt like we were fighting on instinct rather than our skills."

That certainly got Ozpin's attention, raising both of his eyebrows before he asked, "And what was this feeling like? Can you give a description?"

"I don't know how to describe it." Weiss said as she put a hand on her chin, "When I saw it, I just felt... scared. It was like my body and my head were suddenly filled with this... animalistic kind of fear. Like my instincts overrode my thoughts."

Blake and Ruby nodded, the former answering, "Yeah, that's the best way I can describe it."

'The Delirium. They encountered a Garou.' Ozpin noted in his head, looking at them in pretend surprise, "I see... Is there anything else you can describe about the creature?"

Team RWBY blinked at the question before they all pondered on what other things they could think of about the creature. "Well," Ruby began, "It had all kinds of silver streaks on its knees, chest, and arms, its teeth were yellow and so were its eyes. That and it seemed to savor fighting. And it was pretty clever too."

"And for some reason, it really hated Blake." Yang noted, causing Blake to shiver at the memory. The snarling visage of that thing would be forever burned into her memories.

"I see..." Ozpin noted, before he stood back up, "I will inform the police and the Huntsmen about the creature. For now, all of you need to get back to Beacon and rest. You've done enough for now."

The team nodded, looking close to passing out from the events of tonight. However, Ruby tensed as something pricked inside her, remembering the three words that had been burned into her brain. She gulped and played with her thumbs before she decided to speak up.

"Uh, Professor Ozpin?" Ruby raised a hand, getting the headmaster's attention, "There's something else I wanted to tell you."

Ozpin rose a brow, while the rest of her team looked at her in curiosity. The red reaper gulped, but she steeled herself with a look.

"Just after the cops put us in the car, I felt... a pain in my head." Ruby tried to describe, putting a hand to her head, "There was this feeling and then I hear several words or phrases in my head. But the one that keeps I keep thinking about is INHERIT THE EARTH."

While her teammates just blinked in confusion, the look of alarm that appeared on Ozpin's face was worth a thousand words before he composed himself but a second later.

"I see. Thank you for sharing, Miss Rose." Ozpin said, his placid face masking the shock he felt underneath. Just as he opened the door and exited the room, a weight then formed on his shoulders, something that he felt before with someone who also possessed the Silver Eyes.

'She's been Imbued.' Ozpin thought as he closed the door, his thoughts racing at a mile per minute.

In his many years, Ozpin had trained Imbued Huntsmen before, many times in fact. Some were Avengers and Judges, others were Martyrs and Innocents, but many, many more became Waywards when they inevitably discovered Remnant's dark truth. But, regardless, he had only ever encountered an Imbued Huntsman whom also possessed the Silver Eyes once before.

If there was a way for him to be able to begin again with her... maybe it would finally give him something that he had been lacking for so many years.

---

Detective Victor Graves cleared his throat before he stuffed some uppers in his mouth and washed it down with another swig of his leather-bound flask. Feeling the cocktail slither down his throat and into his awaiting stomach like a hungering beast, the detective shuddered as he pressed his hand to his forehead, already feeling their effects as they rushed through the blood in his veins.

Breathing out in exhaustion from a long, long day and thankfully feeling the headache from his hangover recede, Victor laid back against the bathroom wall before he slid down, just glad that it was almost time to go home.

The detective looked at his flask, wondering how things ended up this way. He tried to think about how it started, how he turned from some poor slump who wanted to do the right thing to... him. Was it when he realized that there was something more to it? Was it when he discovered the hidden side of Remnant? Was it when... that happened?

...Was it when he stopped caring about other people?

Before he had a second to think, the cough suddenly came back with a vengeance, nearly steeling his breath as whatever his body was trying to reject. He scrambled to his feet, as he kept coughing and wheezing like he was somehow in a fire. The detective pulled out a napkin from his coat pocket and pressed it against his mouth, catching himself on the restroom sink.

Victor kept coughing, wheezing out whatever it was that was coming from his lungs. When it ceased, he started rubbing his sore throat as he tested his jaw, licking his lips, only to pause when he felt a familiar taste on his tongue. He looked down at the napkin and blinked when he saw blood splattered on the white paper.

Swiftly turning to the mirror in alarm, Victor behind the sight of his mouth covered in ruby liquid, dripping down his hairy chin.

The detective quickly started wiping his mouth from the disgusting red, smacking his lips as he dried them with the napkin. The next look showed him that he was largely successful, but strangely the droplets were gone from his beard as well.

Ignoring that, the detective licked around his gums, before he felt something between his teeth.

Leaning into the mirror, Victor bared his teeth, showing off their disgusting yellow coloration. He then dug two fingers into his mouth, shifting his fingers around before he pinched down on something, and with a small little yank, pulled out something between his teeth.

It was a small piece of flesh, raw and red with small slivers of skin. No blood came out of it, and whatever blood that was there was diluted with saliva and coagulated in chunks.

Victor stared at that piece with wide eyes, bewildered at the sight of this thing between his finger and thumb. "Where the fuck did this fucking thing come from?" The detective wondered out loud before he shook the thought off and flicked it away.

Uncaring where the piece of skin and meat landed, Victor ran a hand through his black hair rendered moist by grease and melted falling snow, screwing his eyes shut as he tried to keep himself calm.

"Just keep it together, Victor. Keep it together." The detective whispered to himself before he gazed at the unpleasant sight of himself in the mirror. Golden eyes met golden eyes as he tested his sore jaw, grousing as he did, "Damn, those bitches can hit hard."

Not one to keep himself occupied; Victor forced himself to stand on his tired legs before he stumbled out of the bathroom. The familiar sounds of police work, calls ringing, shuffling of paper, and others of the dislike coming into his ears, letting Victor have a sense of ease as he straightened his jacket.

The detective craned his neck and rubbed the back of it to get the sudden knots out, before his eyes caught something. A Faunus couple had come into the department, the goat one having some cuts and a black eye, sitting down while his girlfriend, a blue haired cat Faunus, complained about something while the officer they were talking to stoically just jotting down their words.

Victor just scoffed and gave a scowl at the couple, "Damn dirty Faunus." He then walked up to the officer, not caring to remember his name, "Oi, officer. What are these dirty animals complaining about?"

Ignoring the glare that the two Faunus sent his way, the officer turned to Victor with a jaded expression, "The two said that they were assaulted by some gang of drunkards. Threw bottles, harassed, and beat them up."

"Aw, the poor little cunts." Victor mocked the two in faux sympathy before he turned to the officer, "Just keep them out of my sight."

He didn't care about the couple's reaction to his words as he turned away; the world kept spinning, swimming through his head as he held it. Another groan escaped his lips, and he ran his hand down his face, stretching it before his hand slipped off and let the skin snap back. There was another shudder, his brain pounding in his head, eyes bloodshot, fidgeting and scratching the side of his head.

Another pang came to him, meaning that something else was coming. Which meant that he had to get out of here before-

"Victor?"

The detective stopped, trying to keep his expression stony and his irritation in check before he immediately straightened himself more when he saw that the one that called him was Professor Ozpin.

"Yes, professor?" Graves said, internally cringing at the sound of his voice when in the gaze of the headmaster. The gaze of the headmaster made him sweat invisible bullets that, even if that was not what the former intended. Behind him was the girls, one black haired with red tips, another white with icy blue hues, another black with an odd cat-like bow, and the last a blonde whose hair reached her waist.

"Come to Beacon, tomorrow. I want the full report on what happened to Team RWBY when you arrive." Ozpin told him in a genial tone, "Also, should you be unavailable, another officer can take your place."

Victor exhaled softly enough that the relief was barely audible, just enough that he managed to reply with a steady tone, "That's fine, headmaster. I can be there by the afternoon."

"Good." Ozpin smiled before it turned to a concerned frown, "Also, can I ask a favor? Please take a shower."

At seeing the disgusted looks of the girls, especially the raven haired one, Victor blinked at that request, before he nodded, "Sorry, headmaster. Been a hectic couple of days. Anyway, you and the girls have a good night."

"Good night to you as well, detective." Nodded the headmaster as he left with Team RWBY, disappearing out the entrance of the police department.

The moment they left the department, Victor immediately turned to the other officers and yelled out, "Alright, people! Get all the evidence and info we have on the attack! Compile it up and I'll deliver it to the headmaster in the morning." His voice then took on an intimidating inflection, "And it's not ready by the time I come in tomorrow, someone gets thrown to the wolves."

Many of the detectives and officers gulped at his glare. Regardless of their thoughts on Victor and his... proclivities, he still had authority over them, and they had to follow that unless the commissioner told them otherwise.

"Other than that, I'll be off." The detective finished before he paused and then asked, "Do I really smell that bad?"

The chorus of agreement that came up, only making Victor frown with a deadpan stare.

"Yeah, seriously, Victor, you smell like a wet dog." One of the officers responded.

"This coming from wanker stuck as a desk jockey?" Victor shot back, vindictively.

That remark, to his surprise, ended up getting a laugh from the other officers as the one that spoke blushed in embarrassment. Unable to stop himself from laughing at his own joke, Victor chuckled before he straightened himself out, "Alright, I'll see you all in the morning."

And with that, he trudged out of the department, letting the cold air brush against his hair and skin after pushing past the glass doors and the black placement mat. A second past before he allowed his feet to carry him wherever they wanted to go now.

However, when he was far enough away from the department, Victor's expression melted into utter worry.

Something inside him told him, outright whispering into his ear, that something was coming.

Something big.

---

The silent, almost dead streets of Vale was only occupied the sound of a soft whistle. Snow carried winds blew between the buildings, brushing trash in alleys, and chilling the homeless hiding under blankets of paper or hiding in the dumpsters. Droves of snowflakes rained down on the quiet buildings while the lights began to disappear one by one.

Walking down the street, it was a man that had slanted, dark-green eyes and bright, long, orange hair, with long bangs covering his right eye. Black eyeliner traced his visible left eye. Tall and lanky, he wore a red-lined white suit with long black pants and black shoes. His accessories included a small gray scarf, black gloves with buckled sleeves, and a black bowler hat with a small feather tucked into its red band.

This was Roman Torchwick. The bowler hat wearing criminal whistles casually as he swaggered down the street with his lackeys marching behind him, twirling his cane with a cigar in his mouth. The men from the Xiong Family dressed in black dress shirts and dress jackets with red ties, black slacks and black shoes, and with red sunglasses and black hats.

Roman inhaled, the ashen end of his thick cigar burning orange more of it was reduced to smoldering particle that he tapped off with a finger. Another day, another lien in this place. Just as they got to their destination, he briefly let his head tip up as he saw a bullhead flying into the air, brushing the snow away with its engine fire.

The criminal rose an eyebrow at the sight, wondering what that could be about. Regardless, he shook it off and kept walking.

After a minute or two of walking, he and his lackeys stopped at a warehouse, this one at the edge of the town where the very faint sounds of working were heard. And with but a knock in a certain pattern, the door opened, and he sauntered in.

Inside the grey interior of the vast rectangular warehouse were several members of the White Fang, dressed in their white and black uniforms and working tirelessly as they heaved up crates filled with dust and other stuff to platforms and delivery bays to be shipped off. All working like a well-oiled machine. He had to give his benefactor credit, getting all these animals to work like this would be difficult on a good day.

One of them, likely trying to prove something, attempted to raise a bunch of crates in front of some female White Fang. The main problem was that said crates ended up being at least three times his height and weight, causing him to fumble and fall uncouthly. The crates broke and out spilled several hundred pounds of various kinds of dust spilled out in streams of red, yellow, and blue.

Roman just stared at the one responsible before he rolled his eyes. Then with but the snap of his fingers, the dust seemed to lift from the floor and the broken crates, watching as they opened as the Lien lifted from the former and the dust from the latter.

"Try to impress the ladies at a later time, boys." Roman sardonically scolded them, causing them to meekly just resume working before more humiliations came. A sigh exited from his lips as he put a hand on his bowler hat, before sitting down, when he suddenly realized something.

"Where the hell is Neo?"

Roman then paused when he felt something that crawled up his arm. Something that felt like a hundred pinprick skittering legs along the sleeve of his coat. Rigidly, incredibly rigidly, the criminal forced his eyes to turn to his arm.

The sleeve was covered in several dozen small spiders, skin black as night as they danced on his coat sleeve. Their mouths suppurated and dripped with emerald venom, staring at him with hungry eyes.

The mastermind cringed at the sight of the spiders before he calmed himself, and said through clenched teeth, "Neo, what did I say?"

The spiders merely began to crawl up his arm and onto his shoulder, causing him to flinch and try to keep calm. There was a subtle skittering, before he straightened when he felt several thousand arachnid legs crawl up his back, collecting around like a solid mass. Two masses of spiders then extended from behind his shoulders, crawling and overlapping each other before they began to thin and shape themselves into human arms. They soon fused together, black chitin turning to fair skin, muscle and bone, before the newly formed arms then wrapped around Roman's chest.

Upon seeing this, Roman turned to see Neo's grinning face staring back at him, her pink and brown eyes that matched her hair as her bare form pressed against his back. Her chin was resting his shoulder, while the pink and brown eyes held a mischievous look in them.

Roman just gave her a flat look, "You know that crawling thing freaks me out."

Neo just gave a teasing grin before she fell back and shattered into several pink fragments. Roman blinked and looked around for several moments, not seeing Neo anywhere around him, when he suddenly felt a tap on his shoulder.

His head snapped to the right, where he saw Neo fully clothed with her parasol resting on her shoulder.

The multicolored haired girl was wearing a white cropped wide, broad tailed jacket with a pink interior, collar, a single pink button and large pink cuffs. She wears brown pants with a dark belt that has a gray buckle and an additional narrow belt under it. Under her jacket is a brown overbust corset, curved in the middle and at the bottom, exposing her hips. Around her neck were a multitude of black beaded necklaces, which hung haphazardly on her chest. She also wore black and white spat styled under the knee boots alongside black gloves.

Roman shook out the shivers before he smiled at his partner, "You are something, you know that?"

Neo beamed and signed, 'I do my best!'

Suddenly, before their conversation could continue, there was a rhythmic knocking at the door to the warehouse. The two turned to the door and then back at each other with surprised expressions, before Roman got to his feet.

Per his benefactor's instructions, she and her lackeys would signal their arrival via knocking rhythms on the doors of the warehouse so that they knew who was coming. Each of her team had different rhythms, so that Roman and Neo would know who was coming in or if it was a trap or counterattack. That rhythm belonged to someone in her team, which was fitting as his benefactor was currently upstairs.

With that, he walked up to the doors of the warehouse, grasping the handle to the massive sliding door and slowly pulled the doors open to reveal whoever was outside.

Standing outside was an unpleasant but familiar face, one that made Roman frown before he greeted with a deadpan tone.

"Detective Graves."

Victor had changed his outfit into a black dress shirt and vest with a bright red tie, a black leather duster that was closed with red lapels, black slacks and black polished leather suede shoes, hands covered in black leather gloves and a black fedora with a red line around it on his head. The man himself was twitching, scratching his bearded chin and cheek, his greased hair now cleaned and gently groomed, and that gods-awful smell that normally irradiated off him was finally gone.

"What is it?" Roman whispered, knowing that if Victor was here, something really serious must have happened.

"We got a problem." Victor whispered back, his yellow eyes looking almost crazed with worry as was his heavy accented voice, "A big problem."

Roman leaned his head out of the door, looking around for anyone that might be eavesdropping. And when he saw that they were alone, Roman merely motioned with a nod of his head for him to get in. Victor walked in, the both of them closing the door behind them before they began.

"Well, Vicky, whatever problem we got must be bad if you finally showered." Roman joked, getting a silent snicker from Neo.

Victor merely rolled his eyes, saying nothing before his eyes turned to the numerous White Fang members around him. Holding in a scowl of disgust, the detective turned to a humming Roman and whispered, "How do you put up with being in the same room as all these fucking animals?"

"You get used to it." Roman said offhandedly, as the three ascended the stairs to the upper walkways of the warehouse. Roman let a hand glide on the guardrails, humming all the way while Neo and Victor followed behind him silently, coming to a room where the windows had been boarded shut and there was only a solid metal door that separated it from the rest of the walkways.

"Ominous." Victor deadpanned as he took his fedora off.

"Indeed." Roman agreed in the same deadpan tone, "Say what you will about our benefactor, she quite the sense of theatrical whimsy to her." And with that, Roman did a rhythmical knock on the door, likely the password for entry.

On the other side, there was the sounds of several heavy piecing moving and the thick clanking of machine parts. The detective rolled his eyes, waiting with the two while whomever was on the other side undid the myriads of heavy sounding locks on the door.

"So, Vic." Roman asked his associate who raised a brow in attention, deciding he might as well strike up small talk, "How was work?"

"Oh, you know, terrible." Victor shrugged, looking around with an apathetic air to him, "Needed a bottle of scrumpy to get through the day. So, basically your typical Monday."

"Tell me about it." Roman groaned as well, "Don't get me wrong, while the expanded business is giving me Lien hand over fist, it can be tiring."

"Oi." Victor nodded in agreement, "Paperwork is a cruel mistress."

"Yeah, a pig like you would know." Roman insulted the cop.

Victor just gave an unamused look, "Well, at least, I don't need an ice cream colored midget to watch my backside."

Roman scowled but did nothing as he kept walking while Neo just scowled and raised her middle finger at Victor.

"Oh, was I rude? Then go cry to yer mommy." Victor mockingly apologized, before he spitefully sneered, "Oh, wait. You don't have a mommy."

Something inside Neo snapped at that remarked as she glared fiercely at the detective, her face distorted into a snarl as her lips pulled back to her ears, revealing sharp needle teeth slick with emerald drool. A hue of black beginning to appear on her skin, something growing on her fingertips that pressed against her gloves, and small lumps appeared on her forehead like sockets.

Instead of being scared of that vicious snarl, Victor was entirely unfazed, glaring back at her with equal intensity and even reaching a hand to his gun. For a tense moment, it seemed like Neo and Victor would attack each other, her hand gripping her parasol tightly, his hand curling on the grip of his revolver. Pink and brown eyes met gold eyes, as it seemed like they would attack each other.

Before anything could come of it, the door opened. The two looked at the open door before back to each other, glaring until they relaxed, causing Roman to sigh in exasperation. A shape seemed to come into the doorframe, looking to the sides before then a hand then immerged from the shadow, pale and hairy with amber claw-like nails, beckoning them to enter with a finger.

"Careful not to insult them, Vic." Roman mockingly warns the cop, "They might tear you to shreds."

"Oh, I'm pissing my slacks already." Victor sarcastically replied as he and the other two entered.

At first it was merely filled with shadow, before a light overhead turned on. The only thing the light revealed was a group of people, several clad in black and one woman in red sitting down.

Sitting on an ivory chair was a fair skinned young woman with amber eyes and ashen-black hair that covered her left eye with lipstick and violet eyeshadow, her fingernails are painted dark red. She wore a dark red, off-the-shoulders V-neck mini dress with yellow designs and a blue feather-like accessory on her right hip at the top of an open portion of her dress. The dress ends in an upside-down triangular tail in the back, ending just above the knees.

There is a quarter-circle shaped keyhole on the dress' upper back at the same height as her chest. The sleeves end in a triangle shape, which are wrapped or tied around her middle finger, with the gold designs of the sleeve taking over at the wrists, black shorts underneath her dress, as well as a black choker on her neck. A golden loop earring with a black gem dangling from it on her right ear, and dark, glass, high-heeled shoes and a jeweled anklet on her right leg.

Around her were several people were clad in black hooded robes with silver markings and rings around the arms and legs, and their faces hidden in ether silver wolf-like masks or crimson masks shaped into snarling mouths of sharp teeth. However, one had a deer-like mask with large antlers, and another had a mask akin to that of a rat, and the last had a mask of a shark. Victor raised an eyebrow, so these were the monsters under their benefactor.

"Detective Graves." Cinder Fall purred with a voice of refined calmness, her amber eyes like decanters of liquid fire, resting her narrow chin on her fingers, "What a pleasure."

Before he could respond, Victor suddenly coughed harshly, using the sleeve of his black duster to cover his mouth and set his fedora down. After a few seconds, he stopped, heaving breaths and tasting something metallic in his mouth. When he managed to control his breath, the detective panted out before he spoke in his heavy accented voice, "Cinder."

One of the masked ones immediately pulled out a handkerchief and handed it to Victor who wiped his mouth with it. The detective muttered a thanks before he coughed into it again.

"You okay, man?" Roman asked with a raised eyebrow, wondering what all the coughing was about.

"I'm fine." The detective muttered as he then wiped his mouth, "Regardless, you all know there's a reason I'm here."

"Yes, indeed." Cinder cooly replied, leaning in as she spoke, "Now... tell me why you deemed this event necessary."

The detective inhaled deeply as he prepared him for whatever their reaction might be, "One of the Garou frenzied tonight. I don't who or from which Tribe, possible a Bone Gnawer or Glass Walker, but I do know it was a Garou." Victor explained to them, seeing that the masked ones tensed, evidently a sign that he got their full attention, "Killed a teenager on the sidewalk. Poor fucker was torn to shreds."

Cinder merely raised an eyebrow but said nothing. Roman just raised an eyebrow unimpressed, while Neo just pouted in disappointment, the criminal mastermind speaking first, "Seriously? That's it? Victor, you know what to do if something like this happens; just cover it up and blame it on some hobos." He dismissed with a wave before he took another drag of his cigar.

"Oh, Roman, if only it were that easy." Victor shook his head, taking in some smug pleasure at their confusion before he indulged them, "The frenzied fucker attacked a team of huntresses in training."

Roman choked on his cigar smoke while Neo stared in shock, and the cloaked and masked ones suddenly went rigid, their gazes firmly on Victor. Cinder's visible eye widened as her brows raised to her hairline in shock, before she asked, "What happened after that?"

"The four girls survived, but they told Ozpin everything after they were taken to the station." Victor continued, "Ozpin's already taken them back to Beacon, and he expects me to present the case we have on the attack tomorrow. And because I haven't identified who the Garou is, I have to improvise, and I had to come to warn you that the Huntsmen are likely gonna up security."

"You're kidding." Roman asked with a shocked expression, "Tell me you're kidding."

"I wish I was, Torchwick. I wish I was." The detective replied, before he turned back to Cinder, "I swear I wouldn't come if I wasn't desperate. My boys are good, but they're not that good. I need something that'll throw them off from our tracks."

"Can't you just frame some hobo for the murder and claim that the girls were high?" Roman desperately interjected.

"The girls told Ozpin everything, Roman! I can't make this go away!" Victor shot back, before he again looked back to Cinder, "The headmaster requested that I give him the evidence and files on the case. And I don't throw someone to the wolves," He paused before he looked to the assembled Garou, "No pun intended." After they just brushed it off, he continued, gesturing wildly, "Then you'll be fucked, I'll be fucked, and we'll all be fucked!"

Cinder remained composed, silent in the face of Victor's rant. She remained silent for a moment, before she motioned for all of them to leave the room. The others side so, but she held a hand out to Victor, making him pause and remain in the room even after the door closed behind Roman while Neo closed it.

And with the heavy thud as the door closed, it was just him and her in the room alone.

The woman in red rose from her chair, walking up to Victor in a graceful strut as the suddenly nervous man abruptly found himself without a breath. Just as she came close enough, Cinder raised a hand that brushed on Victor's bearded chin, causing him to flinch even as her fingers gently slid on his cheek. The detective looked away, suddenly unable to look into the hot amber eyes that she possessed.

"Is it done, Victor?" Cinder asked in a calm and collected tone, one that seemed to scare this weasel of a man.

Wiping something red off his lips, Victor gave a nervous smile, showing off his disgusting yellow teeth, "Yeah, it's done. He's dead." He then collected himself enough to speak more clearly than before, "But I wasn't lying when I said I need to throw Ozpin off our trail. He and the others are likely going to get suspicious, and I need something that'll get them to look in the wrong direction."

Cinder paused and cupped her gentle hand on her narrow chin, turning her amber eyes down in thought. Victor stayed silent, letting the woman ponder with her cold mind on what could be done for this bluster. An air seemed to tense as she seemed to affect the very area around her with her thoughts.

A moment later, the woman in red turned her amber eyes to Victor's golden ones, causing him to stiffen.

"I will have false evidence delivered to you through a dead drop." Cinder began, "When you present it to Ozpin, word your report in a way that will make Ironwood suspicious of a mole in his ranks. It will take suspicion off of you and will give coal to the fires of Ironwood's paranoia. Make him easier to exploit."

Victor nodded, breathing out a sigh of relief at the thought of avoiding Ironwood's wrath. He then looked up at her, genuinely thankful for her assistance, "Cinder, thank-"

She silenced him by gently putting a finger to his lips, stopping his words as she cooed, "I do not need a thank you, Victor." She then smiled lasciviously, leaning in while her hand was raised with the tip of her thumb and finger.

And then at the snap of her fingers, the room was bathed in shadow once more.

Before he could react, something soft pressed against his lips. He didn't know if it was her lips or another part of some body that she had lying around, but he didn't care as he heard the splitting of flesh and the liquid come down his throat. Immediately, the euphoria hit him like a shot to the gut.

The detective felt his eyes roll into the back of his head, lapping up all that was coming in his mouth. After what felt like an eternity, his lips parted it with a wet smack and the moistness was still around his mouth.

If Victor were to describe the feeling right now in his own crass way, he'd describe it as like a unicorn barfing rainbows, shitting lighting, and pissing light in his brain.

When it was over, there was another snap, and the light came back on.

As the lights came back on, he saw that Cinder had an intoxicated smile on her face but kept herself steady and composed, yet her posture was more relaxed. "Better than sex." She breathed out a heated breath, "Right, Victor?"

"Yeah..." Was all he could mutter as he rubbed his eyes and let out a delirious giggle, before managing to compose himself.

It was when he took his fingers from his eyes that he then noticed there was a blotch of red on her neck that trailed down to her chest, staining it with an even darker shade of red, but it was at least clotted enough that she wasn't in danger of bleeding out. Cinder didn't seem to care, just gently guiding him out of the room.

With that, Cinder whispered to him, her breath running through his hair like a lover's hand, "I'll see you soon, detective."

She closed the door just as he exited, leaving him to walk down the walkway and descend down the stairs.

The detective let an intoxicated and delirious grin spread across his face as he chuckled drunkenly and ran a hand through his hair.

"Well, well, the pig immerged from his pen."

A familiar and annoying voice came back as he then saw Roman leaning against the wall of the warehouse. The criminal rolled his eyes at the deadpan look Victor sent back, merely crossing his arms as he asked, "So, can you tell me what so special about this 'Vitae?'"

"I... I can't explain it." Victor tried to say, looking rather irritated, "It's like this... shite that makes you feel like a unicorn is crapping a rainbow in your brain." At Roman's surprised expression, he continued on, "One time though... I was forced to go without it for eight fucking months." The detective shuddered at the horrid memories, "I was chugging down vodka and downing Ketamine like candy just to get rid of the headaches."

Roman looked like he was gonna laugh at that, "That's it? A hit? You're more pathetic than you seem."

Victor sighed before he chuckled like his sanity was hanging on a tether, "...Rommie." He then looked at Roman with those piercing yellow eyes, "I had killed 10 men in those eight months. 4 of them with my teeth. At one point, I injected a speedball of contraband cocaine, heroin, and bath salts into me system, and at another point, I then drank a cocktail of all kinds of uppers and downers with moonshine, because I was just that desperate to simulate the thrill of the stuff. They didn't even fucking compare."

Roman blinked before he found, "So, under all that, you're just a junkie."

"Oh, I don't think you understand, Rommie." Victor replied, becoming dangerously close with his golden eyes shaking, "I am a freak. And I will kill again. And I would have literally blow up this warehouse for even the smallest possible pint of that shite. If she didn't give me what I wanted, I might've just tried to take it meself. And if I tried to take it, you'd both probably killed me, so you both would have had the blood of Vale's detective sergeant on your hands. And quite frankly, I was so desperate for a fix, I didn't really give a fuck!"

Roman was quiet after that, as was Neo, as was every other Faunus that listened in. After a moment, Roman leaned in and asked, "Is it that good?"

Victor laughed, his voice turning to a more jovial tone, "Try it if you dare, Roman." Then his voice tone turned much more threatening, glaring at him with his piercing golden eyes, "Try it if you dare."

And with that, the detective left the warehouse, putting on his fedora as the cold wind making his coat flutter.

---

Beacon Academy

Ruby stirred slightly, trying to sleep but something in her wouldn't allow her. The memories of the fight kept coming in her head, along with those words, over and over again like a jackhammer into her skull.

INHERIT THE EARTH.

INHERIT THE EARTH.

INHERIT THE EARTH.

INHERIT THE EARTH.

INHERIT THE EARTH.

INHERIT THE EARTH.

It finally reached a breaking point as she shot up from her bed, panting as sweat soaked her skin. She looked around her dorm room, seeing that the rest of her team were sound asleep to varying extents. Yang was out cold; while Blake was curled into a ball under the sheets, and Weiss seemed to toss and turn in her sleep but was still in the realm of dreams.

Sighing, Ruby slid out from her bed and walked to the bathroom. A hand on her forehead as that phrase kept repeating in her skull, not stopping nor imbedding as she tried to kick it out.

Giving up on trying to get rid of it, Ruby splashed water on her face and looked at her reflection in the mirror. She had tired dark circles under her silver eyes, the exhaustion visible in them while her crimson tipped black hair had become frizzed and unkept. Her pajamas consist of a black tank top featuring a heart-shaped Beowolf design on the chest and long white pants decorated with pink roses.

Trying to think, she walked to the window, staring at the night sky as the clouds had parted, letting the snow-covered ground sheen and she took in the sight of the broken moon in the sky.

It was then that she couldn't help but think to that time where she was by her mother's grave, seeing the snow fall and the Beowolfs attack, only for her to cut them to ribbons with the same ease that she normally did.

At the same time, her eyes turned to the shelve where her mother's emblem laid. She remembered the promise that she made to her mother just before she disappeared that night after reading her and Yang one of her favorite stories: The Girl Who Fell Through The World.

It was then that Ruby looked at Crescent Rose resting by her bedside, folded up and loaded. She made that weapon with her own two hands, crafted and maintained from her own blood, sweat, and tears. And it was then that she remembered why she made it.

In her childhood, she always wanted to be a hero like the ones that she read about in the fairy tales that her parents read her on those cold nights. Where the heroes manage to overcome the impossible odds, slaying a dragon, saving the princess, defeating the evil king. The stories inspired her to do the same thing, to help people and protect them against the monsters that would prey on them.

And now something was telling her that she had a chance to do just that. Not just from the Grimm. But from things that she had only read about in the fairy tales that she heard in her childhood.

A determined look overcame her face then.

She couldn't stand by and ignore them anymore.

She had to act.

Defend the innocent and helpless. Protect those that can't protect themselves. That was what it meant to be a hero to her.

Suddenly, there was another feeling in her skull. The feeling like a fire that was them tempered into something stronger and greater.

And the voices returned once more.

DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT DARK NIGHT

OLD AGE SHOULD BURN AND RAVE AT CLOSE OF THE DAY

RAGE

RAGE AGAINST THE DYING OF THE LIGHT

THE WISE MAN AT THEIR END KNOW DARK IS RIGHT BECAUSE THEIR WORDS HAD FORKED NO LIGHTNING

THEY DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT

GOOD MEN

THE LAST WAVE BY

CRYING HOW BRIGHT THEIR FRAIL DEEDS MIGHT HAVE DANCED IN A GREEN BAY

RAGE

RAGE AGAINST THE DYING OF THE LIGHT

WILD MEN WHO CAUGHT AND SANG THE SUN IN FLIGHT

AND LEARNED

TOO LATE

THEY GRIEVED IT ON ITS WAY

DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT DARK NIGHT

GRAVE MEN

NEAR DEATH

WHO SEE WITH BLINDING SIGHT

BLIND EYES COULD BLAZE LIKE METEORS AND BE GAY

RAGE

RAGE AGAINST THE DYING OF THE LIGHT

AND YOU

OUR DAUGHTER

THERE ON THE SAID HEIGHT

CURSED

BLESSED

NOW WITH FIERCE TEARS WE PRAY

DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT DARK NIGHT

RAGE

RAGE AGAINST THE DYING OF THE LIGHT

YOUR SOUL IS BRIGHT LIKE THE SUN AND GREATER THAN A BOON

SO, FIGHT BACK

TAKE BACK THE NIGHT

AND INHERIT THE EARTH BENEATH THE BROKEN MOON

The feeling stopped and she suddenly heard the voices quiet.

Ruby smiled, almost like she'd been given something more than she could ever have asked for, before a wave of unimaginable exhaustion overtook her. So powerful that she could barely manage to get back to her bed and pull the covers over her before she passed out.

However, just before she fell asleep, Ruby mused that things would never be the same from now on.

...and in the future, she would regret how right she was in that moment.

---

And that's a wrap!

Bear in mind that this is my first RWBY fic and I'm not expecting it to be perfect, so please go easy on me. To give more context, this is just before the start of Volume 2, so Team RWBY and JNPR have already been formed and Blake has been revealed to be a Faunus to her teammates.

Also, spoilers for Volume 9, but YES! IT FINALLY HAPPENED! BUMBLEBEE CONFIRMED, BITCHES! LET'S GO!

...Ahem, as for my thoughts on the season, it was great! Sure, the pacing was a little off, but other than that, it developed the characters in a nice and believable way. And let's be real, after at least two volumes of cliffhangers, it was nice to see a season finale that ends on a happy note.

Also, the design for the Garou Team RWBY encountered is basically Gabriel's werewolf form from the 2004 Van Helsing movie. Seriously, it's freaking awesome!

For those that were wondering why the fight between RWBY and the Garou was so erratic, and savage was because I'm still trying to get used to translating each character's fighting style into writing and the Delirium affecting each of Team RWBY. And to those who thing that the Werewolf was too OP, this is what happens if you're not prepared to fight a Werewolf in World of Darkness.

If you don't have silver weaponry and aren't quick enough on your feet during the fight, you are FUCKED if you can't escape, which in of itself in a feat.

As for Victor, he was inspired by Bruce Robertson from the book and film, Filth. Hell, he even looks like James McAvoy, and he even has a Scottish accent. But if I had to pick a VA for him, it'd be unironically also be James McAvoy. But let's just say, there's a lot more to Victor than meets the eye.

Anyway, review and please no flaming.

See ya!