Damn, this story is getting more popular when I write more chapters. Unfortunately, due to following the 'USUAL RWBY PLOTLINE' story, I don't have the chance of altering the way I like it to be. But it's definitely going to changer in the next few chapters. Now, onto the story!

Dark Souls Embers of Remnant

Five

Apathy

'Don't you dare go Hollow.'

Walking up of a flight of stairs that led up to the Kiln of the First Flame, the Ashen One had two emotions happening right. The first he was tired. Tired of even relinking the first Flame over and over after seeing how decayed the world had become. The second was resentment to whoever idea it was to even keep the First Flame going in the first place.

It doesn't matter right know. He may have the duty to relink the First Flame. But he wasn't going to.

Instead, he is going to extinguish it.

Reaching the top of the stairs, the Ashen One saw a field that were surrounded with flowers and weapons of those that once belonged to warriors who managed to make their way to this place and were either slain by the guardian or were used as kindling.

In the middle of the field was the guardian that sat down on the Bonfire of the First Flame. Its armor consist of all those who have linked the Flame by simply how it had been mended together. All of that for one single entity.

The Ashen One let out a sigh to cool himself. Knowing that his fight with the toughest individuals such as the Abyss Watchers, Friede, Lorian, Midir, Gael, and the Nameless King made him the person that he currently is, he knew this fight wasn't not going to be exactly in his favour.

Looking at his weapon, the longsword that has been fully upgraded and infused with a sharp gem, brought memories for the Ashen One. It was a poetic thing for him since this was the first ever weapon, he wielded since his awakening in the Cemetery of Ash and how he is going to be using it to end this madness once and for all. That could have been the same for his shield. Yet, for the final fight that would determine the fate of the entire world, he decided to use the Kite Shield since it was reliable to use.

"Better not stand here then?" He muttered to himself without any emotion shown.

He was aware how tired he was. Carrying the burden of the entire world and those he grew closes to. The Firekeeper seemed to be concerned of his wellbeing, yet he seemed to dismiss it.

None of that matters anymore.

The Ashen One is going to do what he believes is right for the entire world…

Even if the Age of Dark would consume him and anyone else that was still sane.

-?-

Ash opened his eyes to see that the fire had died down within the Fireplace. He was still in that resting position. Looking around, he saw that everyone was fast asleep. Even was Qrow was asleep as he had multiple Bottles next to him. He looked down and thought about that dream. "Why was I thinking of that fight on the Kiln? Is it telling me something or am I traumatized of what happened in Lothric? As well as Ariandel and the Ringed City?" That was something he needed to sort out when he could possibly find the Firekeeper if she was in the land in the first place.

Having a little sense of nostalgia when thinking of her, he decided to pull out his bottomless box to get something. It was his Longsword when he woken up in that Ashen Cemetery. He slowly wiped his hand through the blade. It was heavily damaged during that final fight that snapped the blade into three. He would have discarded it, but it brought some good memories and wouldn't even dare to do such a thing. Instead, he decide to place all of them in the box. Silently letting out air due to the sense of reminiscing of the old memories, he put the sword back in his bottomless box before clipping it back to his belt.

A bottle was dropped, which immediately woke up Ruby. She let out a gasp. She looks around before rubbing her eyes and getting on her feet. She walks over to the window and opens the curtains much to the dismay of a certain individual. "Close the window!" Weiss muttered while she was sleeping.

Ash got on his feet and grab the Wolf Knight Sword that was leaning near the Fireplace. As he didn't want to awaken the others, he headed out of the house to wait for them. While doing so, he thought of what he learnt yesterday. Somehow, he had the feeling that the two Gods weren't really what Jinn had told them. Who knows, she was being vague.

A few minutes went by, and he saw the rest heading towards the outside. There, he saw Weiss using Myrtenaster to weld a metal ball to a makeshift trailer hitch attached to Bumblebee. Looking closely at Weiss, Blake, Yang, Qrow and Oscar, their pupils appear to be dilated, while Ruby's are their usual size.

"Strange." He muttered to himself. Whatever caused this to happen, it must've been the reason why he had that strange dream. Why wasn't he feeling the same way as them and are they showing early signs of Hollowing?

Seeing Blake and Oscar sitting down near his position, he overheard the awakened group talk. "Can we just go back to bed?" the kid tiredly asked.

"If we're all so tired, maybe we should make breakfast?" The Faunus groggily suggested while burying her arms on her knees.

"You wanna make it?" Oscar asked kindly.

"Not really." She answered while shaking her head.

There definitely showing signs of hollowing from what Ash saw. He heard the sound of something being pushed and he saw Ruby and Qrow push the flatbed trailer behind Yang's motorcycle, Bumblebee. Once it's in position, Ruby walks up to Yang.

"You guys got the bike ready?" Ruby looked at her sister, which she gestured to her bike.

"Well, it's done now." Qrow said, as he put his foot in the tire. "So, let's hook this thing up and—" Just a few seconds later, the tire on the opposite side goes flat. He lets out a frustrated groan before he checked on it.

At least there was something that wasn't in a bad mood. "You people are just beacons for bad luck, aren't you?"

Frustrated with all of this nonsense, Qrow just walks over to a nearby fence post and sits on the snowy ground. Yang also sits on the ground next to the well. "I'm starting to think the universe just doesn't want us getting to Atlas."

Ruby just let out a sigh when she heard her sister's comment. "It's just a flat tire, I'm sure there's a spare."

"It's not just that, it's everything." Her sister admitted while still having that tiresome expression. "Storms, crashes, monsters..." As expected by Ash, she let out a tiresome sigh. "I'm so tired..."

"Me too." Blake agreed with the blonde brawler. "It feels like we're always having to fight to get by."

"Yeah. But that's what we signed up for." Ruby countered her teammate's words.

Oscar saw a point. At the same time, he saw a flaw to it. "We signed up to try and save the world, not just... delay the inevitable."

"Last night, I..." Weiss muttered while placing a hand on her arm. "I couldn't stop thinking - why are we even going to Atlas?"

Everyone shares troubled looks. What happened yesterday certainly took a toll on all of them. But still, Ruby was determined as always. "Weiss, we have to."

"Why?" Yang asked her sister as she stood up and had that same tiresome expression as everyone else. "Ozpin hid the Relics behind giant doors under enormous schools, but... how long would it take Salem to find a Lamp in the middle of nowhere?"

This caused Ruby to blink at her older sister's words. "What? The Grimm might—"

"They'd find it eventually, sure, but bury it or just throw it down the well, it would take years." Yang added up prove her point. "It might not even happen in our lifetime. But we could be done with it now."

Ruby took some time to consider the words that Yang had made. Without a second, she proceeded to detach the Relic of Knowledge from her belt, glancing at it before looking up at her teammates, who appear to all have dazed looks as if they were in a trance. She continues to stare at the object one more time before walking over to the well. despite not hearing her mutter while her pupils were dimmed, this caused Ash to shake his head in disbelief. "Oh, you idiot! don't—"

All of a sudden, Ruby was snapped out of her hollowed-like state and accidently drops the Relic into the well. She helplessly watches it fall into the darkness below. "No! No! No!" She began to panic. "I didn't mean to!"

Her teammates continue to stare at her with those same dazed looks. Weiss comforted her leader. "Ruby, it's okay."

"No! No, there's something down there! I saw it, it was looking at me!" Ruby said, pointing at the inside of the well to only see what she saw gone.

Without any doubt, Ash got up and walked towards the well. Peering down, he took a couple of seconds to think what he was going to do. Seeing that he had the Silvercat Ring on, as well as having that Regenerative Ring, he saw no harm in dropping down into it. He thought of what to obviously do. "I'll go grab it instead."

Ruby looked in awe at Ash's remark. "Wait, don't—" It was already too late as she saw him leaping down the well.

"Hey, it's okay." Yang reassured her sister while placing a hand on her shoulder. "You just said you're tired. It's probably nothing. Now let's go."

Her words caused Ruby to swat her arm off her shoulder. "What's wrong with you?! We can't just leave; we have to go down there! We have to get the Lamp back and not abandon Ash!" She facepalmed due to her previous action. "Oh, what was I thinking?!"

"All we have to do is fix this trailer." Qrow answered in his apathetic tone, ignore the presence of the lamp as well as Ash. "Hey, farm boy, check the shed for a spare."

"I'm not leaving without the Lamp and abandoning Ash there!" Ruby shouted, causing her teammates to dazedly stare at her.

Blake tiredly groan as she saw how stubborn Ruby was when mentioning the two. "I'll go down with you..."

"We'll go down together." Weiss added as she didn't want anything bad happen to Ruby or Ash when they retrieve the lamp back.

This caused Qrow to irritably let out a groan. "Fine." He got up from the snow. "Get the stupid Lamp as well as Ash. Oscar, fix the stupid tire."

-Scene Change-

Ash landed on the ground. He might have felt some pain while doing so, but the Silvercat Ring had nullified the impact, That and how the Sun Princess Ring would help heal any injuries he got. He scanned his surroundings to find out where the Lamp went. "Now, time to find that lamp."

The dark had clouded his eyes to see where the object of interest was located. Yet, that wasn't for long as a blue hue caught his attention from the distance away. He let out a breath of relief. "There you are. What are you doing there?"

He went to where the Lamp was and knelt to grab the object. Yet as he clipped it into his belt, his ears heard multiple groans. This made him turn to see something that made him grab the hilt of the Wolf Knight's Great Sword.

Meanwhile, Team RWBY were in the well together, into a vast underground waterway system. Ruby and Yang had taken out their Scrolls and turn on their flashlights to shine if there was anything that blocked their away. "Maybe the current carried it away." Yang had guessed as they didn't see it right where it was dropped.

All members of Team RWBY proceed forward cautiously. Weiss notices more tunnel openings along the path. They continued sloshing through the waterway of the basement. "Oh, come on, where is it?" Ruby had asked.

"Turn off your lights and just look for the glow?" Blake suggested on how to easily find the missing object.

"Okay…" Ruby nervously replied before turning the light on her Scroll off. Yang did the same thing when all of a sudden, they heard something being cut from where they were. This caused her to pull out Crescent Rose. Before she and the others could do anything, all saw Ash running towards them. There was obviously something wrong. "Um…, hi there Ash—"

"Run!" He told them and saw that none of them move. He didn't blame them as he saw all having horrified expression on their faces as they saw multiple humanoid-looking Grimm of different sizes bunched together facing towards them. "What did I just say?! RUN!" His voice snapped Team RWBY out of that state, and they followed behind him.

While doing so, Ruby had the idea of shooting the Grimm with her rifle…which didn't do anything to them. Ash quickly glanced and knew it had only made them angrier. "Weapon doesn't seem to be effective. I think they're a special type of those creatures." That that wasn't a complete lie though. The Wolf Knight Great Sword was effective to kill them. But NOT as an entire horde that could drain life energy.

"You can say that!" All saw Maria waiting for them. She then joined to get out of the basement. They see daylight coming from the well, but more of the Grimm appear and block their path. Another ear-piercing scream is heard, which greatly affected the five women except for Ash. He just shook his head in irritation.

"Knock it off" He snarled at them, feeling that he was having his energy being drained.

Ruby notices this and had a feeling that Ash was hiding something. That didn't matter due to the situation they are in. She saw another tunnel entrance next to where everyone was. "This way!"

Team RWBY, Maria, and Ash run into the tunnel. They continue to run through the complex underground passages while avoiding more of these unique type of Grimm along the way. They then make their way to an underground room. However, Team RWBY and Maria notice a much larger group of the Grimm at one end of the room. They make a run toward the other way, but one of those Grimm lets out another scream, causing Team RWBY and Maria to collapse on all fours. Ash almost did the same but stood his ground. Again, he shook his head put of irritation.

"I can't... do this... I can't..." Yang spoke, feeling like her energy has been drained.

Maria gets back up, using her cane to support herself before collapsing again. On her fall, she feels a set of stairs in front of her. "An exit. An exit!" She pointed out to them.

Ruby looks up and notices the stairs leading up to the cellar door. She crawls forward to Weiss to support her. "Come on!" She then hears a weapon drop behind her and notices Blake collapse to the ground, while the Grimm continue to inch toward her. "Blake... get... up!"

"It's fine..." She told her leader while lying down on the floor and having her pupils diluted. Out from the opposite side, more of those humanoid Grimm emerge from the entrance they came from. Ruby only looks on in horror and in her desperation, she crawls and attempts to reach out towards Blake, who continues to lie down motionless. The Grimm reach their hands down to the cat Faunus which caused Ash to intervene when he heard Ruby shouting.

"BLAKE!" Upon yelling out her friend's name, Ruby's eyes start to glow brightly, causing the Grimm to back away in pain. Ash backed away as well and felt some odd power emitting from her. This made Blake gasps and was snapped out of her trance. Her eyes back to normal and saw Ruby helping her. While doing so, Weiss, Yang and Maria also get back up. "I've got her!"

"What just happened?" The Elderly lady asked out of surprise.

"I do not know." Ash answered her question. Narrowing his eyes at Ruby behind his helmet, he felt that exact same power. Looking at the eyes, he can tell that it was the source of where that light came from. "So, it's the eyes. I have a feeling that it may have been why those Grimm have been in pain. I do not know why I am also affected in a minor scale?"

Seeing that more of those Grimm arriving, he saw Weiss and Yang trying their best to bust the door open and saw Maria crawling over towards Ruby for some odd reason. Having a feeling that it had become dire Ash groaned to what he was going to do. "Hopefully, they'll be attracted to this." Ignoring his surroundings, heopened the Bottomless Box on his belt and grabbed a skull that was letting out smoke while hueing a light blue color before quickly closing it, which didn't attract anyone as they were too distracted. He threw the object to the furthest corner of the room in order to attract all the Grimm to buy Ruby and Maria some time. turned to where it was alluring them towards and began to follow it.

"Perfect," He quietly spoke to himself. They were too distracted to see what was about to occur. It happened again when a silver light appeared in the room again, which forced Ash to cover his eyes. The distracted Grimm look where it came from and soon, they were disintegrated.

Maria and Ruby looked in awe of what had ensued while Weiss, Blake and Yang recover. The blonde crawls up the stairs and punches the doors open with her prosthetic arm while firing from its gun. They run out and find themselves in the basement that Ruby and Weiss discovered the day before.

"We're back in the house?" Blake spoke while looking at the surrounding before her.

Everyone then turned to the side to see Qrow leaning on the counter. It was obvious that he was passed out. Ruby walked towards her uncle and began to shake him. "Uncle Qrow, get up!"

"Hey! Get off me! What are you doing here?" The Huntsman had woken up.

"We're leaving, you idiot! Come on!" Maria shouted at him before she, Blake, and Yang ran out of the room towards the outside.

While doing so, Weiss was looking back towards the basement entrance and saw the wine bottles that were laying there. An idea popped out to her head. "Not yet…"

"You better go." Ash told her, which caused her to look back at him with disbelief.

"What—" She was about to say.

"Don't worry. I can handle this, Lady Schnee." He interrupted with confidence. "You and Lady Rose take Qrow out. I can deal with this." Weiss narrowed her eyes at Ash before knowing that he was serious with his words. She went over to where her partner was and proceeded to help her carry the drunken Huntsman out of the room.

"Stop it! Stop! What's wrong with you?! What's..." He spoke before seeing Ash facing off a horde of humanoid Grimm. This caused him to look back at the two girls. "You both are going to leave him there!?

"He can handle himself." The former Heiress told him. "Don't worry. He's going to go out soon..." She wasn't too sure about that. None of them had an idea of what Ash was about to enact.

Now that the coast was clear, Ash could now finally test out that Pyromancy Spell he wanted to try for a while now. He may not be an expert, but at least he knows the basic. "Better do this quick." With flames appearing on both of his hands, he puts them to the ground and flames spurred out of the ground. It engulfed the humanoid Grimm as well as the Room. As much as he wanted to cast more to make sure that none survived, he knew that he was delaying everyone who were waiting outside.

Glancing back once more, Ash proceeded to head out of the room to where everyone was waiting and casted off his Pyromancy. He walked out of the open door and sees everyone looking back at him. He quickly turns around to see that the entire house was on flames. Maria could only look in shock to what happened. "What did you do?"

"Does it really matter?" He avoided her question as he didn't want to reveal his Pyromancy spell to them. He hoped onto the edge of the flatbed trailer and sat down, which singled Yang to start up Bumblebee. She then proceeded to drive out of the burning house with everyone on board.

-Scene Change-

Yang continued driving through the snowy road while everyone sat down on the flatbed trailer. Maria was telling them the Grimm they encountered on the house from a book that she picked up on. "The Apathy. They're not strong or ferocious. They drain your will to go on. Bartleby's estate was hemorrhaging money towards the end. He wanted to cut costs on Huntsman protection, but in order to do that, he needed everyone calm... always."

Oscar was near where the elderly lady sat. He then started to read from the book. "Managed to get two away from their pack. Hike back was miserable but got the bastards in the cellar. Wife thinks I was out sealing the waterway entrance. I'll do it tomorrow and tell her the truth once these things take the edge off of everyone. I'm tired."

Ash let out a silent sigh by hearing this. Turns out things haven't changed at all. "All of that because of the greed of man."

"The next page proves that he did, but not before the rest of the pack followed their missing pair all the way home. My guess is they made their way beneath the estate through the water tunnels that Bartleby sealed up the next morning. Bartleby's plan worked." Maria had concluded as she took the book off of Oscar. "No one was angry or sad or scared. No one was anything. And then... no one was left." She took one mor look at the final page of the book before tossing it out into the snow. It was seeing the object being tossed that Ash saw a shadowy figure trailing them before hiding behind a large tree. At this point, he knew that someone was stalking them and was annoyed by this.

"How long until that nuisance would reveal themselves?" He thought as he could tolerate the presence following them.

"I'm... sorry for what I said... about giving up." Weiss apologized to everyone.

This caused Yang to stop on her track. "Me too. We can't quit until the lamp is safe."

"It's not your fault." Blake told the two as she and those who were there recollected to what happened earlier. "It was those... things."

"I should have known. The signs were all there, but I'd never seen an entire settlement withered away like that." Maria bitterly mumbled before groaning as it had already happened. "I suppose my mind just isn't what it used to be."

Hearing her words caused Ruby to look at her. "Miss Calavera? How do you know so much about the Grimm? And in the tunnels, you knew exactly what to say to make me... to make my eyes do that. How?"

Maria smiled at the younger girl. "Well, isn't it obvious, girl? I had Silver Eyes. "There's that thing again.

Silver Eyes.

Ash was now interested about this topic. He decided to turn around slight as he and everyone else began to hear how she knows those types of subjects and who she really is.

That Was certainly a wham scene at the end. Not really since I butchered a couple of moments, as well as the bad grammar seen in this chapter. But I guess that what occurs when you are making alternatives for a Fanfiction story. That and how many chapters have been published at the time the story's creation, which led to the cost of Grammar and Sentence Structures.

But let's get onto the positive side, shall we?

Ash can now cast Pyromancy spells? That is surprising. To be exact, it was the Chaos Storm that he used in thsi chapter. I had planned on that but didn't expect to write it out on this chapter. I also planned that he is suffering from PTSD from the Events from Dark Souls III, which the main contributor is due to a certain City that he had unintentionally destroyed by simply touching an object. Yet, he stopped caring at all. Now, if you have been paying attention, he is getting fed up with that shadowy presence following their every move. Soon, that fight is about to happen, and I have big plans for it.

Now onto the reviews…

Fatswordsman: Oh, don't worry, I have plans for that fight. The Ashen One won't show his true strength and WON'T die. Because I have that secret of his being revealing in a couple of chapters, which includes the Atlas Arc.

Fennal: Ozpin revealed himself to Ash because he felt a powerful energy within him. Hinting that the First Flame may not have been completely gone.

Arawb: Don't worry, he will help Ozma and Oscar. It will soon begin in the next chapter.

benjadu22: Yeah…I hope I get to write original scenes in Fanfiction stories.

That was a lot than last time. I didn't expect that many to ben excited with this Dark Souls III/RWBY story.

Now, with that over and completed, I will see you all in the next chapter. Whenever the next one is published