Darkness Burns in the Deep

AN: Here is where our group travels into the darkness of Moria.
Chapter 10 special!

Sorry again for being late, I have a lot on my plate these past few weeks.

Anyway, here we go!

In Haven Academy, Saruman and Locus were standing in the Headmaster's office. Saruman had his hand over the Palantir; he shifted his fingers around it a few times as his eyes began to squint. He kept shifting around until he let go out of frustration.

"What is it?" Locus asked.

"I lost them." Saruman said with anger in his tone. Locus cocked his head, "What do you mean you lost them?"

Saruman looked to Locus with annoyance in his eyes, "I mean as I say! I can't see them anymore!"

"I thought you said this thing could let you see everything!?" Locus asked as he walked around the Palantir with frustration.

"It's the Palantir, not the Eye of Sauron. It has limits to its vision!" Saruman said as he sat down on his desk. He leaned forward over his desk and held his head up with both his hands.

Locus walked up to the desk and lean on it, "Where were they before you lost them?"

Saruman sat up and leaned into his chair, "They were entering Moria. They were attacked by a Watcher just before the gateway collapsed behind them."

Locus pushed himself off the desk and then walked back and forth, "Moria… Goblins took that labyrinth months ago… It'll take them within 3-4 days to reach the other side, it would be longer if they prioritized stealth."

Saruman stood back up and walked over to the Palantir, "Stealth won't be an option for them."

"What do you mean?" Locus asks with confusion.

Saruman held his hand over the Palantir and revealed something in the orb; it was mostly blacked out, but Locus could see two burning red eyes looking at him from the orb. "The Valkyries of Moria dug too carelessly and too deep for their own good. They dug up something that hasn't been seen for over 10,000 years… maybe more…"

"What could possibly live that long down there?" Locus asked with a bit of fear creeping down his spine. Those burning red eyes almost looked like they were looking directly at him, as if it was peeking into his soul through his helmet.

Saruman let go of the orb and looked at Locus with a more neutral, "Let's just say that there is a darkness down there… a darkness that burns in the shadows." He then put's a silk veil over the orb and walks over to the elevator, "Come, my friend. We have our own priorities to worry about."

Locus snapped out of his fear-trance, "But our orders?"

"There's nothing we can do until we receive word that they are topside. And they will be." Saruman says as he presses the button to the elevator, "Until then, we have our own priorities."

The group held their weapons at the ready for the first few hours of their walk through the mine. They passed by an old tramway system that ran through the whole labyrinth. Unfortunately there was no power for the tram, and the entrance to the tunnel was caved in, they were given no other alternative than walking though the city on foot.

As the first 'night' came and they set up camp, they found an old house built into one of the cave walls that were big enough for them all to fit inside.

Jaune and Boromir took the first watch shift. While Boromir was sitting near the front entrance, Jaune was counting their inventory they were able to salvage after the collapse.

After searching through the last bag he walked up to Boromir and sat on the opposite side of the doorway to him, with his back to the wall. "Anything?"

"It's quiet and I can hardly see anything…" Boromir whispered as he continued to look outside the house. "This is the worst place to be…"

Jaune adjusted his body so that he'd be more comfortable, "Well, you'll get no argument form me."

Boromir then leaned his back against the wall and sat down opposite from Jaune. "Well, what do we have left?"

Jaune rubbed his head a few times and then started counting his fingers, "Well, we used up a sizable amount of Dust against the Watcher. Our food supply is low; two bags didn't make it when the tunnel collapsed. And since we are thousands of kilometers underneath granite and solid rock, there is no possible connection to the CCT down here."

Boromir sighed quietly, "How sizable is the amount of Dust?"

"We used up 35% already. We can last with what we have for two weeks." Jaune says as he draws his pistol and drops the magazine to show Boromir the Dust he currently has, "But if we were to get into something big, like against three packs of Grimm, we would only have enough for one fight like that."

Jaune sighed, "This was a bad call…"

"I could have told you that." Boromir said with an annoyed voice.

"Yeah, well, I wanted to say it…" Jaune said as he pulled his knees into his chest, "How many have you lost?"

"What?" Boromir asked.

"How many good men have you lost because you made a bad call?" Jaune asked more elaborately. Boromir could see that Jaune was genuinely curious about his answer to the question.

Boromir looked to Jaune as if he was talking to a cadet in boot camp, "Bad calls happen all the time, Arc… You'll run into them soon enough."

"I already have…" Jaune stated.

"Really?" Boromir asked with curiosity.

"It was a few weeks after the Battle, I had gotten word that some of the Grimm that scattered after the battle were going for villages that didn't have much protection after the Atlas forces were gone form the Wall." Jaune said as he gripped his hands tightly, "I ordered a few dozen of squads to block the Grimm as the civilians were evacuated."

"That doesn't sound like a bad call…" Boromir said with a curios look.

"What I didn't know was that most of those hoards had War Beast class Grimm with them. Death Ravagers, Goliaths, you name it…" Jaune gripped his hands tighter, "Out of the 14 squads I sent in, only one made it out with any survivors. And that was by the time we learned of how big the enemy force was."

Boromir sat up and looked Jaune in the eye, "You can't let your mistakes eat away at you, Arc… You let them and you'll fall apart when your team needs you most. To risk the lives of men in battle is one of the heaviest burdens of leadership." Boromir spoke with a tone of experience. "Gods know I encountered a few of those in my service."

Boromir may not have been the nicest of people in the group, but he was the most sympathetic when it came to the burden of command. He may still think the Battle of the Five Armies was mistake on behalf of a childish impulse, but he had a small bit of respect for Jaune in saving both Vale and Atlas lives that day.

The rest of their watch went on without another word; Blake and Yang replaced Jaune and Boromir when their shift ended. While Jaune lay down next to Pyrrha, he kept going over what Boromir said to him. "Burdens of leadership…" He then looked to Ozpin, who was asleep in the corner, and then he looked back down at Pyrrha who moved a bit closer to him as she sensed his presence beside her.

Making Pyrrha the maiden may have been a risky move, but it was a risk he though would save the kingdom. It ended badly, but it wasn't a bad call. But that was four years ago, a lot has happened since then. And Pyrrha was back, she was alive, and they got their kingdom back. "The only burden he's suffering now is my anger towards him… and he doesn't deserve that. Dad would think so too." Jaune closed his eyes as he wrapped his arm around Pyrrha and went to sleep.

The time came for them to travel again and they made their way though one of the mines of the labyrinth. As they entered, they had to walk through some narrow walkways and catwalks that were over deep chasm.

For Weiss, it looked a lot like how most Dust mines looked, only this one didn't have a faint glow from any Dust fragments in the rock face.

Ozpin stopped the group and shined his light down the chasm, "The wealth of Moria was not in Dust, but in Mithril…"

"Diamond steel, as most call it." Nora states with pride.

"I've heard of the substance… It is as hard as the strongest steel, and weigh no less than a feather." Boromir said with interested.

"Jaune, I believe your sister was given a shirt of Mithril rings a few years ago?" Ozpin asked.

Jaune remembered, "Yeah, she said that the Lady of Moria gave it to her as a gift."

Nora laughed a bit, "That would be a gift fit for a KING!"

"Yes, indeed," Ozpin agreed. "Your father never told her, but that shirt alone was worth more than Beacon Academy's total cost of building and maintaining."

As they continued, Ruby couldn't help but brush her hand over her belly to feel the chainmail beneath. "Holly OUM!"

They continued down the mineshaft until they made it to another doorway that brought them deeper into the city. They then found themselves climbing up a staircase and pass by several houses that were build along it's walls.

They climbed up for what felt like hours, they kept going until they found themselves at a fork in the road. They reached the top of the stares, but now they were faced with three hallways. Ozpin walked to the first one, then walked across it to the second, then the third.

"What's wrong?" Boromir asks in a confused tone.

"I don't know where to go…" Ozpin says with a concerned voice.

Everyone looked to Nora but she shook her head, "I'm used to taking the tramway, I don't know my way on foot."

Jaune looked left and walked up to another house, he looked around and saw that it was open enough for the group. "We can stay here for the night, and decide where to go in the morning."

Everyone agreed and made some fires in the house's fireplace. Yang and Blake cooked up some sausages and ham for their dinner. Nora told them that since the labyrinth was so wide that even if someone or something smelled the food, the air current inside the mountain would have scattered the scent too much for them to find the group.

Sleep took everyone quickly; spending two days walking in the dark is a lot more tiring than one would think. Jaune didn't wake up until 8am for his shift of the watch, he walked out of the house to find Ozpin awake and sitting on a stone in the middle of the three hallways.

Jaune woke up Blake to get the others ready, while he walked over to Ozpin as he was sitting.

Jaune sat down on the rock beside Ozpin and cleared his throat, "Ozpin... you have a minute?"

"Sure." He said as he was still debating on which path to take.

Jaune lowered his head as he spoke, "You don't have to say anything... I just think it should be said... I'm sorry I didn't forgive you sooner."

Ozpin's mind stopped in that instant. He slowly sat up straight and looked to Jaune as he continued. "When I became a Star Knight, I had to make my own decisions that put the lives of those who trusted me at risk." Jaune's hands began to grip tightly, "And given all that we've been through the past few weeks, just to keep that Ring out of Salem's hands, it makes a lot more sense why you tried to keep all of us out of it back then."

Jaune lifted his head and looked Ozpin in the eye, "I still think you were wrong to keeping me in the dark; but you were keeping my father's promise…" Jaune looked away, looking back on what happened as a result of him not letting go of his anger, sadness, and doubt.

"Last time I let my darkness consume me it almost costed my friends, my family, and my life... I don't want it to consume me anymore." Jaune lowered his head and squinted his eyes tightly, "I'm so sorry that I made you think that I hated you…"

Ozpin rested his hand on Jaune's shoulder and brushed his thumb across the top, "I never thought you hated me…" Jaune slowly looked back to him. "And I believe, without a single doubt, that your darkness will not consume you again."

Jaune smiled a bit, for a second there he almost thought he was talking to his father. "They are more alike than I thought…"

Unknowing to either of them, Pyrrha was listening not too far away, she began to smile with both comfort and pride in Jaune. Just then she heard Ozpin say "Ha!" which made her feel that she was spotted, but then she heard "It's that way."

Everyone in the house picked up their things and rushed out when they heard Ozpin spoke aloud. Blake ran out while throwing her bag over her shoulder, "You know the way out?"

"Somewhat." Ozpin said as he started walking down the middle hallway, "The air down this corridor isn't as foul, which means that the bad smell is escaping somewhere."

Everyone began to follow Ozpin as they walked down the hallway. "When in doubt, always follow your nose."

"Your nose knows, eh!" Yang said with a wink as she raised her hand up to Boromir. He looked at her and rolled his eyes as he walked down the corridor. "Oh come on! That was a good one!"

Everyone then shushed her due to the fact that she was almost yelling in the middle of an echo chamber.

As they continued down the hallway, they found themselves entering a wider area. Ozpin shined his light a bit brighter and revealed several large pillars in the darkness. "Behold, the great realm and ancient Valkyrie city of Dwarrowdelf."

Everyone marveled over the giant pillars, they looked to be solid stone, carved into the near perfect shapes they were in now. Nora looked at them with a bit of pride, "Valkyrie craftsmanship was legendary back in the early days of Vale."

They made their way through the hall, trying to find a proper guide to find where to go from there. At most they were wondering in the dark looking for any sign of an exit or map to the current area they were in.

As they were walking, Nora felt she was in a familiar place. She though she'd feel happy, but something made her feel dread. Ren saw her discomfort and walked up to her, "Are you ok?"

Nora shook her head, "I feel like I was only hear last week, and now I can barely remember it." She stopped walking and looked Ren in the eye, "Do you think my grandma got out in time, or any of my people."

Ren put his hands on both her shoulders, "Your grandmother is tough, like you always say. If there was a way to her self and your people out, she would have." Nora nodded and gave Ren a quick hug and then they continued down the hall.

Less than an hour later, they found what appeared to be a beam of sunlight shining down into a doorway. Nora looked on the walls around the doorway and read the inscriptions, and when she translated the words she shouted, "NO!"

"NORA!" Jaune shouted back as she ran into the room with the sunlight.

Everyone else ran after her and entered the room and found it to be a tomb of some sort. There were several bodies everywhere, judging by their armor, they were Valkyrie soldiers. Nora walked up to a stone coffin in the center of the room and dropped her hammer. "No…"

She fell to her knees and put her hands on the stone as she put her head against it as she began to cry. Ren walked up to her and knelt down beside her, putting his hand over her shoulders, letting her know he was there. She quickly turned to him and hugged on him tightly, Ren could feel her tears dripping into his shoulder.

Ozpin walked up to the head of the coffin and read the inscription out loud to everyone, "'Here lies Sif Valkyrie, Lady of Moira'. She is dead, then…"

Jaune walked up to Nora and Ren and put his hand on her shoulder, "I'm so sorry, Nora…"

Ozpin looks down to see a soldier holding a book, it was old, but appeared to be mostly intact. He picked it up and opened to the last few pages, hoping to find a little more insight into what happened to Moria and her people.

Blake walked up to Jaune and whispered, "We can't stay here. We need to keep moving."

Just before Jaune could respond, Ozpin read the last passage out loud. " 'They have taken northern entrance and the second hall. We have bard the passageways to the East and West, but we cannot hold them for long. As far as I know, the civilians were all transported to the western gate and are being escorted by some of our men. Lady Sif has ordered us to ensure that those civilians have a chance to escape, so we have ensured our won fate to die here in order to save our people. We can feel the ground shake beneath our feet, and hear drums beating in the deep. We cannot get out. There is something else down here, something that we have never seen before.' "

Ozpin stops he looked hesitant to continue, Jaune looks to him in confusion, "What, that's all of it?"

Ozpin looks down to Nora and says what is written in the book, " 'This last passage must be given to Nora Valkyrie.' "

Nora lifted her head off of Ren's shoulder as she heard Ozpin say her name. She stood up from the ground and looked to Ozpin, she nodded at him to continue. "'Nora, our people are heading west, most likely to Vacuo. Find them. Keep them safe. Ensure the survival of House Valkyrie.' " Ozpin then reads a small scribble at the bottom that he tried to read, he could only make out three words, "They are coming."

Ruby was looking around and saw an old Valkyrie war hammer, bigger than the one Nora had, leaning against a wall. She lifted it up to find it to be very heavy, but soon found herself off balance and backed up sharply, trying not to fall. The hammer's rusted head broke off its neck and fell down a well behind Ruby tried to reach for it but it was too far out of her grasp.

Everyone turned dot her as the loud banging and crashing echoed though the well and echoed through the mine below. Everyone stood completely still as the crashing continued for less than a minute, but it felt longer. Then the crashing stopped and everyone held their collective breath, waiting to know if anyone or anything heard that. Everyone then let out a sigh of relief as no new sounds were made.

Weiss walked up to Ruby and slapped her upside the head, "Damn it, Ruby! We're trying to be DISCRETE!" she hissed in loud whispers.

Their moment of relief ended quickly when they started to hear the beating drums echo the halls. Blake closed her eyes and recognized the sounds of the creatures that were coming for them, "Goblins!"

Boromir ran over to the doorway to see if there were any coming, but he backed up quickly as two arrows flew past his head and hit the door. He then closed the door just as Jaune closed the other, "And they have a Golem!"

They both used old rusted weapons as locks and pinned the door shut just as the Goblins started pushing against it. The Fellowship readied their weapons for battle. Ruby seemed the most nervous, "What's a Golem?"

Boromir unsheathed his sword and activated his collapsible disk shield, "They're big and hard to kill."

Nora held her hammer with both hands and made a very serious face, "Let them come! There's still one Valkyrie left in Moria that breathes!"

Blades and axes were pounding the door; everyone had their long-range weapons ready. Just as an axe opened a small hole in the door, Ren fired a shot though it, hitting the Goblin behind it. Jaune did the same when he saw a sword break though the other door.

Just then both doors were broken down and a hoard of Goblins rushed in, everyone opened fire on the first few creatures that were unlucky to be first in line. They kept coming in to the point that some of the Fellowship had to engage in close quarters.

Ruby switched to scythe mode and swung her weapon widely, decapitating a half a dozen goblins with one swipe. Weiss used some of her glyphs to knock some Goblins off their feet and then shot fire dust at them to blast them away. Blake unsheathed her sword and used it and the sheath as she swung at the goblins with both blades. Prior to the breech, Yang loaded her gauntlets with short range shot gun shells, so whenever she punched one, the body part she hit was obliterated by the blast.

Jaune swung his blade fiercely, cutting some goblin's arms off while decapitating others. Pyrrha quickly converted her rifle into a javelin and proceeded to fight four Goblins at once, similar to how she fought CRDL on her won. Ren moved fast, slitting goblin necks or shooting some in the chest. Nora swung her hammer hard and with anger, there were some that she collapsed their rib cage and others that had their heads shatter like an egg.

Ozpin swung his cane faster than the goblins could react. One minute he was blocking a strike, the next he had already hit them in the face, knocking them to the ground. He would even blind a few with the light form his Dust shard, and then he would knock you down three times over. Boromir proved to be worthy of his position when he cut down several Goblins at once with a single swing. He even bisected a Goblin across its chest and then decapitated another with his shield when it was trying to blind-side him.

It was only the first minute of the fight and they felt that they had it under control, until they heard the loud stomps just outside the doorway come closer. Ruby looked to the doorway and saw something out there, and then it turned into what looked like a liquid and moved inside the room. The liquid then formed into a large body that was all black and had a white skull for a head. It looked to be almost twice the size of an Ursa and had little to no white bones except the skull.

"That is a Golem." Boromir said after hitting a goblin with his shield.

Just then the beast's arms formed into black broad axes and started swinging at the team. Ruby ducked down and tumble rolled under the beast's feet. Once on the opposite side she readied her sniper rifle and aimed for its skull. It turned around to her and was shot right through the forehead, almost instantly the forehead bone reformed and the beast's eyes squinted at Ruby, "Uh oh."

It then put its hands together to make a large hammer but was stopped when its arms were caught on a hook. Behind it, Blake had Gambol Shroud in its scythe mode and wrapped around the beast's wrists. She, Boromir and Jaune pulled hard until Ruby could get up and out of the way.

Instead of turning around, the Golem turned its head around, reabsorbed its hammer into its hands and then grabbed onto Gambol Shroud with one of its hands. Jaune and Blake let go just as the beast pulled, but Boromir wasn't so lucky.

Boromir was sent flying into a wall and hit the ground hard. As he was getting back up, he saw a Goblin run at him while he was down. Just then Gambol Shroud impaled the goblin's gut and killed it. Boromir looked to see Blake standing in a pose telling she just threw something. She gave him a nod, and he returned it.

The Golem then ran into the center of the room just as Nora was firing some of her grenades at its chest. Some of the blasts proved to slow it down, but it didn't look harmed. Nora then converted her weapon into hammer mode just as the Golem swung its arm down towards her. She jumped out of the way; just as her hammer swung around and hit the Golem's skull jaw and broke it clean off.

Pyrrha was fighting on one of the high rises in the room, spearing a few unlucky goblins like a shishkebab. She then dodged a rock that was thrown at her from below and saw it came from the Golem. It looked to be throwing another, and she jumped over the rock, use her magnetic semblance to carry her enough to land on the Golem's head. She converted Milo into a gun and fired straight down on its head, all that seamed to do is piss it off.

She quickly got down before it had a chance to crush her between its arms. Weiss formed a glyph and shot several ice shards at the beast's back. When the shards hit, it howled.

Boromir grabbed Weiss and moved her out of the way just as a clay axe flew at her direction. Boromir then helped her to stand, "Elemental Dust attacks are the only things that hurt it; regular bullets just add more to the mass!"

With that new information, Ruby switched her bullets to electro Dust. She fired three shots at its left leg and heard the beast howl in pain. It then turned to her with rage filled eyes, "Crap!"

Ren grabbed Ruby and lead her to one of the high raises as the Golem chased them. It swung a big hammer down on them just as Ren pushed Ruby behind one pillar while he dove behind another.

The Golem looked around for Ruby behind her pillar, she quietly loaded an ice round as the beast moved its head around the pillar. She evaded the head by walking around the pillar just ahead of it, and did so again when it tried going the other way. Just as she pulled back on the bolt back and pushed it forward, the pillar she was leaning against was smashed between two large hammers. The shockwave form the pillar exploding pushed her against the opposite wall, face first.

She looked up to find a large black hammer coming down; she quickly fired an ice round at the hammer and froze it solid. The Golem backed off, looking at the arm in confusion, then the hammer shattered when Ren started firing both his pistols at it on full-auto.

The Golem then swung it's broken bits at Ren, forcing him to hide, and then grabbed Ruby by her leg as she was standing back up. Jaune saw Ruby in trouble and ran as fast as he could.

He sheathed his sword and formed his Long Sword mode. He then energized the blade and sliced the beast's arm right off at the elbow, assuming it had one. The burns from Jaune's aura made the Golem back off, but it didn't look like it was done.

Ruby quickly got back up and aimed her rifle at the beast's face but was knocked away with Jaune as the Golem smashed another hammer down in front of them.

Ruby looked to her right and saw that Jaune was too dazed to get up, the Golem howled at her as it swung an axe in her direction. She blocked the axe with her scythe just before it could hit Jaune on the ground.

From behind, Ren and Blake were firing their pistols, trying to get the beast's attention away from Ruby. The beast continued to press its axe down on Ruby with no sign of stopping. Ruby then directed the axe blade into a wall and then quickly swung her scythe up, cutting the skull off the beast.

The skull went up and landed back on the black mass, it reformed its connection to the body and growled. The Golem then swung its axe at Ruby again, and this time it formed finger spikes and stabbed her in the chest with three of them. Ruby let out a gasped; Ren and Blake could see the shock and pain all across her face.

"RUBY!" Blake shouted.

The Golem let her go and drew back its axe. Just as it was about to drop a hammer down on them both, a burning Yang jumped on its back. She was screaming as she was shooting at its skull with fire dust.

The Golem flailed around, trying to shake Yang off it's back, it even tried to shoot spike from it's back to try to impale her. But every spike that came out was broken when it hit her aura field.

Boromir, Ozpin and Pyrrha finished off the remaining Goblins as Ren, Nora, Blake and Weiss helped Yang finish the Golem.

"Yang, get off now!" Weiss said as she formed a large glyph that shot out a big wave of ice and super cooled air.

Yang jumped down in time as the Golem froze in place; it was almost like a big ice statue. Blake could see the opportunity they had and shouted orders, "Nora, Yang, aim for the head!"

Yang and Nora both ran at the frozen Golem and hit the skull as hard as they could. The frozen Golem shattered to pieces. As Yang landed, she immediately ran to Ruby, while Nora kicked one of the larger ice chunks, "Is it dead?"

The ice then began to evaporate the same way any Grimm would, Ren smirked, "Yeah, it's dead. RUBY!"

Pyrrha ran to Jaune and helped him up, he looked to see Yang lift up Ruby and see her breathing heavily. "Ruby!"

"She's alive!" Yang called with joy.

Ruby stood up and hugged Yang, "I'm ok…" She sounded like she hand the wind knocked out of her.

Everyone ran over to Ruby and saw that she was ok, although she appeared to be having slight difficulty breathing. "A blow like that would have killed an Ursa!" Boromir said with complete shock.

"I think there's more to this reaper than meets the eye." Ozpin says with a bit of a smile.

Ruby pulled down the V of her shirt to reveal the Mithril shirt beneath. "Mithril…" Nora said with her eyes full of joy.

"I didn't think that still fit you." Jaune said.

Ruby winked at Jaune, "Luckily I got it resized."

Their moment of relief was ended quickly as they heard more sounds coming form outside. Ozpin looked back to everyone, "Quickly, to the Bridge of Khazâd-Dûm!"

(Cue the Lord of the Rings music!;))

Everyone grabbed their things and then sprinted out the door of the tomb. Little did Jaune know that when he grabbed his bag, the ring-box that held the ring he bought for Pyrrha fell out. He didn't even hear it hit the ground, due to the sound of inbound Goblins and whatever else they had with them.

Everyone ran together, trying to stay in Ozpin's light. Jaune and Boromir both formed light barriers to their swords to help light the way, but the city was so big, they could only see 30 ft. in front of them and still couldn't see the end of the city.

As they were running, Ruby looked back to see hoards of Goblins running past the tomb they were just in and running after them. Weiss looked up to see some of the Goblins crawling out of the cracks in the celling, almost like ants or cockroaches, "Disgusting!"

They kept running until they saw another hoard of Goblins run right at them. The Fellowship stopped and circled around with their weapons at the ready.

Jaune held his hand out to Pyrrha, she quickly grabbed tight as their fingers interlocked. Yang stood a bit more in front of Ruby as a means of protecting her. Blake and Weiss stood at the ready. Ren and Boromir's look of determination could almost make a bold man blink. Nora converted her hammer and growled, "COME ON! COME ON!"

The Goblins looked to be ready to slaughter them but then quaked in fear when a loud bellow echoed throughout the city of Dwarrowdelf. All the Goblins cried out in fear and ran away, some ran up the pillars while others ran down into the cracks in the ground below.

In her ignorance, Nora started laughing, thinking that they scared them off. Her laughter was stopped when Ren tapped her shoulder and pointed to the green glow emitting down the hall behind some of the pillars.

"Uh, Ozpin… What is that?" Jaune asked in complete confusion and a bit of fear.

Ozpin closed his eyes as he listened to the growl that echoed in the distance, "A Balrog…" His eyes opened, "It is a Grimm that is supposed to be extinct."

"The Demon-Class Grimm? I thought it was just a myth…" Boromir hissed.

Ozpin gripped tightly on his cane, "This beast is beyond any of you… RUN!"

Ozpin then ran toward the exit they were originally running towards. Everyone ran behind him but they were clueless as to why he was so scared.

They made it to the exit corridor, Boromir ran ahead to ensure there were no surprises, but then he found himself trying not to fall off the edge of a cliff. Blake and Ren ran up to him and pulled him back before he could fall off.

Ozpin leaned against a rock and appeared to be out of breath. Jaune walked up to him, "Ozpin…" He looked down to see that Ozpin was bleeding from a wound on his leg.

"You need to lead them to Menagerie, Blake knows the way from there." Ozpin said as he pressed down on his wound.

Jaune turned to the corridor and almost looked like he was going to face whatever was coming after them, but he was stopped when Ozpin pushed him against the wall. "Do as I say! You aren't strong enough to face something like this yet."

Jaune's eyes squinted, "Yet?"

Ozpin pointed behind Jaune, "The bridge is close, we need to hurry!"

The group then proceeded to go down an open stairwell that was right over a chasm below. As they were walking down some steps, they reached a gap in the stairs. Pyrrha jumped down first along with Ren. They turned to help the others jump down, that's when they heard a loud crash and growl come from behind them.

Ozpin turned to see a green fire blaze from the corridor they were just at, "It's following us…"

"Ozpin!" Pyrrha said over the loud crashing. Ozpin jumped down, and landed between them. Just then they heard an arrow land right next to Boromir's foot and snap. They all look up to see several Goblin archers in a sniper position.

Jaune drew his pistol, Pyrrha converted her rifle and Ren drew his pistols, they all started firing to give the others a chance to jump down.

Jaune got a bull's-eye on one of the goblins and Ren got a few good shots on three to the right.

Boromir, Weiss and Blake all jumped together, once they jumped off their half of the stairs, it collapsed. Nora, Yang, Ruby and Jaune had to back up in order not to fall. Jaune motioned for Yang to come up to the edge and then he pushed her off, with their combine strength she landed across with Pyrrha and Boromir catching her.

Jaune looked to Nora, "Your next." Jaune grabbed her shoulder, "Just a push, don't toss me!" Nora said as she put her weapon on her back.

Jaune pushed her hard enough for her to land on the opposite stairs, but she wasn't fully balanced. Ren quickly acted and grabbed onto the only thing he could, "AH, NOT THE SKIRT!" Nora shouted.

Ren pulled her up enough for him to grab her hands and pull her closer to him, just then the ground beneath their stairs began to collapse. Everyone backed up until they were safe, but now there was a big gap between Jaune, Ruby and the group.

Ruby looked to Jaune, "Now would be a good time for those wings of yours!"

Jaune rolled his eyes, "I don't know how to bring them out, okay?! We'll figure something out!"

They heard the Balrog crash against the wall behind them, causing parts of the ceiling to fall and hit the stairs behind Jaune and Ruby. They felt the section they were on start to give way; it started shifting left and right.

Jaune grabbed onto Ruby's shoulder as they were trying to balance themselves. Then Jaune had a quick idea, "Lean forward." He said as he held onto her arm tightly.

Ruby leaned forward and the stairs began to fall toward the group. "Get ready to jump!" Jaune shouted over the loud noises.

Their stairs collided with the groups, Jaune jumped into the arms of Ren while Ruby jumped into Yang's. They all got their balance back and then ran down the stares, just as the old one fell down to the chasm below.

They reached the bridge, Ozpin stopped right at the start of it and shouted for them to get across, "GO! GO!" Jaune stopped at Ozpin but was pushed to keep going, "Hurry!"

Ozpin turned around to find green fire burn behind him, and then he saw a flaming figure walk through the flames as if it was a river. It was the Balrog, it wasn't just breathing fire, its whole body was engulfed in it, as if it were hair.

The bridge was narrow, but they managed to run all the way across before the beast could overtake them. Ozpin stopped half way across the bridge and turned to face the Balrog. "YOU CANNOT PASS!"

Everyone stopped to see Ozpin standing between them and the Demon-Grimm. "OZPIN!" Ruby shouted.

The beast stood more upright and widened its wings, as more green fire erupted from its underbelly and brightened the whole cave.

"I am a member of the Order of Light, wielder of the Grey Diamond Dust shard." Ozpin stood his ground with no sign of fear or doubt in his eyes. His face and eyes began to change the same way they did when he expelled Salem from Dol Guldur: green skin and red eyes. "Your darkness will not protect you, spawn of the Dark One!"

The Balrog formed a green flame around its hand and then turned it into a large fire sword. The beast swung the sword down on Ozpin, the sword shattered as it made contact with Ozpin's green barrier. "AAAGH!"

Ozpin growled, "Go back to the darkness!"

The Balrog made more fire and formed a new weapon form the flames, it appeared to be a whip. It swung the whip around and the struck it against the cave wall beside it, the clap of the whip almost sounded like a lightning strike, it even made the same flash as one.

Ozpin took his cane with both his hands and shouted, "YOU SHALL NOT PAAASSS!" He then slammed the tip of his cane into the bridge, making a bright flash. To everyone else, it didn't look like anything happened, so when the Balrog took a step on the bridge they were all surprised to find half the bridge brake off from where Ozpin was standing. The beast fell, yelling out a loud screech as it plummeted into the void below.

Ozpin's face returned to normal as he let out a sigh of exhaustion. He turned around to face the others but felt something hot wrap around his leg and pull him off the edge. He quickly grabbed onto the edge of the bridge and held on tight.

Ruby tried to run to the bridge and help Ozpin but was grabbed by Yang. "No, no!"

"OZPIN!" Ruby shouted as she was trying to get Yang to let go.

Jaune was about to help Ozpin but saw that the remaining half of the bridge was about to give way. Ozpin looks at Jaune in the eye and speaks softly, "Lead them well…" he then let go of the edge and fell into the darkness below.

"NOOOOOOOOOO!" Ruby shouted at the top of her lungs.

Jaune was frozen solid, he was in complete shock, and he could barely hear Boromir shout his name. Pyrrha only broke him out of his shock, when she took his left hand and pulled him to follow her. He looked up to see arrows flying toward them and he knew that they couldn't stay there anymore.

Jaune followed Pyrrha, along with everyone else. He didn't even notice until they reached the surface that tears were dripping down his face. The sunlight was a welcome sight for them, but it didn't improve their mood over what just happened.

Once they were out in the open, everyone mourned in their own way: Ren held Nora back from going back into the mountain, she was crying and shouting that she could go in and find him but Ren wouldn't let her go. Pyrrha hugged Jaune tightly, she was doing it more for him than for her, first his father, then almost Pyrrha, now Ozpin. Jaune didn't know what to think, Ozpin's last words just kept repeating in his head like an echo. "Lead them well…"

Blake fell to her knees and put her hand over her mouth as she cried into it. Weiss sat beside her, with her hand on Blake's shoulder, she was crying too. Yang was on the opposite side of Blake, holding onto her with her arm over her shoulder; she had tears dripping down her face, but she wasn't crying out loud.

Jaune broke out of his trance of shock and started thinking like a solder. First he let go of Pyrrha and looked to Yang and Boromir, "Get them up."

"Jaune?!" Pyrrha asked in an almost angered tone.

"Give them a moment, for pity's sake!" Boromir said with anger.

Jaune looked to Boromir with a cold look in his eyes, "Sundown happens in an hour, and when that happens, this whole area will be swarming with Goblins! And with all our sadness, the Grimm will come in droves!"

Jaune looked back to Pyrrha, she didn't like it but he was right. She nodded back to him and walked over to Weiss and Blake. She and Yang helped the girls to their feet.

Jaune looked to Ruby, she was sitting on a rock, looking him right in the eye. The tears on her face were dripping like a waterfall. Jaune walked up to her to help her to stand but found himself to be hugged tightly by her. He could hear her muffled cries as she pressed her face into his armor. He hugged her back as more tears dripped down his eyes.

He let go and pulled her back to look her in the eye, "We need to keep moving… okay?"

Ruby tried to wipe the tears off her eyes as she nodded. Jaune then looked to the others, "We need to get to the coast and catch the next boat to Menagerie. From there, Ozpin said you would know the way, Blake."

Blake lifted her head; she sniffed hard and nodded, "Yeah. I do."

Everyone gathered their belongings and prepared to move out. Not before Jaune organized everyone who had guns, including Nora, and pointed them in the air.

"Fire." Jaune said.

All but Weiss fired three times, to honor the dead. Not just Ozpin, but Lady Sif and all the other defenders of Moria that succeeded in saving the remainder of the Valkyrie tribe.

Nora and Ren were the last ones to lay eyes on the mountainside. Ren put his hand on her shoulder, Nora simply said, "I'll find them… when this is over…"

And with that, the Fellowship lost a member, but was determined to continue with their mission.

AN: I'm not goanna lie, I almost cried when I wrote both Nora crying over her Grandmother's grave, and when everyone was mourning Ozpin.

I will be posting a WoR and a Grimm Dossier about the Balrog on Deviant Art soon, check it out when you have a chance!

I hope you guys liked this chapter it wasn't easy to write.

As always, Arkos…