Summary:
Grimm Creatures are literally falling out of the sky. It feels like the world is ending.
Ozpin uses his most powerful spell ever.
Notes:
Anyone excited to see Ozpin use magic?
Still posting art for this fic on my Instagram.
Chapter Text
It was Hell on Earth.
Creatures of Grimm eclipsed the fragmented moon, covering the sky in the darkness of their existence and raining terror on the populace.
More terrifying than that, though, was the presence of Apathy Grimm all over the city. The strange, humanoid creatures were on every corner, their glowing eyes a portal to Hell itself as their silent yet screaming visages cast a spell of lethargy on their victims.
How could this have happened?
xXx
About an hour earlier, James, Glynda and Winter moved swiftly to the still-floating Amity Coliseum, intending to carry out their orders. Word had already been sent to the Huntsmen on duty there, and evacuations should have already been underway.
xXx
The atmosphere in the Amity Coliseum remained stifled by the events that had happened just a few minutes ago, and the next matches were suspended temporarily.
"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen," the voice of Penny Polendina was heard.
"I apologise for the unexpected intermission, but do recall that the main event is still approaching. Before that, though, let us address the elephant in the room, or the bull as it were."
"The ones who lead you are not telling the truth."
The words sent shock throughout the arena, their starkness unexpected from Remnant's Defender.
"Do you think that the council is unaware of what happens to those people? Do you think the Academies do not know about the mines?"
"Never mind the police, in fact," she spat out, "what about all of you? When you go to the happy house down the street to calm down, what do you think is happening to those people there? Some of them are debt slaves, some of them kidnapped, all of them victims."
"You never mind your victims, though, you squeeze out every last drop you can from them. Use them, discard them, and for what? This depraved and hollow existence? This eternal fight against the darkness?"
"As the Protector of Remnant, I have only one thing to say…"
As this was said, the evacuation order was being announced.
"Too late," Arthur whispered through Penny's lips.
The Hard Light Dust barrier above the Amity Coliseum suddenly shook; it was suffering an onslaught from a Nevermore.
What happened? Where were the alarms?
Atlesian Knights and Huntsmen poured out of their stations, frantically sending people to the escape pods.
In their alarm, no one noticed Penny Polendina floating nonchalantly above the crowd, smiling wistfully and whispering something to herself.
"James, I'm waiting for you."
xXx
The members of Teams SYBR, DLR and NVL had left shortly after Adam did, wanting to check up on Weiss after what had happened. Words couldn't articulate the feeling in this group.
Jaune looked worriedly at his team leader, whose mental state was on some sort of edge, remembering the words he had spoken to Adam in the arena and understanding what he meant. Although Adam and his cohorts were now meeting justice, it felt too unsatisfactory. Jaune wished he could say something, but words failed him. The rest of his friends were the same too.
The scene suddenly transformed.
The group who were in a metro, moving towards the city hospital, were suddenly suspended above ground.
The vehicle had been hit, and by something huge.
Pyrrha reacted first, using her Semblance to make sure the car they were in remained stable and didn't injure anyone. The next moment, Russell Thrush used his own Semblance, Blink Transport, to teleport them outside. He only managed a few metres away because moving almost ten people at once was a real stretch of his abilities.
Once outside, they saw that the previously uninhabited street was occupied as far as the eye could see with Grimm Creatures.
What was happening? What about the City's defences?
"There's no time for questions," Pyrrha said firmly, interrupting the thoughts of everyone there, "we need to protect this city and bring down the Grimm."
"Your girlfriend's so bossy," Cardin said with his signature morose tone as he unslung Executioner.
xXx
In the lower levels of Beacon, Ozpin stood with Long Memory, wiping the timeless cane after just having dispatched the Creatures of Grimm from the building and ushering staff outside.
From what he observed, Cinder was directly teleporting the monsters into the city.
If this goes on, the city will be overrun,he said to himself as he rushed downwards to the lowest levels. He would have already reached his destination had he taken the elevator in his office, but he needed to make many preparations as well as give support to the Huntsmen and AKs who were currently fighting off the hordes of beasts.
"Ozpin!"
A roar was heard from above him before a giant brute landed on him, trying to turn the grey-haired Headmaster into grey-haired paste.
As the smoke cleared, Ozpin looked up with a rueful smile and said, "Mr. Hazel, to what do I owe the pleasure?"
xXx
Once again, in the Amity Coliseum, the sounds of panic prevailed as more and more beasts penetrated the barrier and poured in.
"Penny!" Ironwood shouted, seeing the floating synthetic human.
"What are you doing? You need to defend the people."
"Why," she said with a gleeful and half-mad smile, "I'm waiting for you, my dear James."
The words were punctuated by a bright green beam that tore towards the trio, catching Grimm, AKs and people in its path as it did.
xXx
On the ground, Lieutenant Russo stood next to Adam and Banesaw in front of a mix of AKs, White Fang soldiers and Huntsmen.
All of them were equipped with the latest Atlesian ammunition and armour, courtesy of the abundant preparation of James Ironwood. Although the guerrilla White Fang had some issues operating these, Atlesian technology was extremely intuitive, and they would have no issues after they got used to them.
"This is a direct order from General Ironwood," was her declaration, "due to the sudden Black Storm (a Black Wave would sometimes be called that), we'll be working in tandem with these White Fang members. This information has been conveyed to all other sectors, so put aside whatever differences you have and defend this city against these monsters from Hell."
Immediately after saying this, she gave the floor to Adam, although she couldn't help but give a curt look before she did.
"Brothers of the Fang," he began, "this is the most important day in our history. It is a day that we take off our masks, no longer scared of the light but standing together against the darkness. We stand before the world not as criminals to be judged, not as monsters to be feared, not as slaves to be disregarded, but as equals. We march for freedom, because freedom must be earned in blood."
"We do not fear pain, because we were in pain from the beginning," he said, taking out Wilt and brandishing it with savage red light above his head, "we do not fear death because death will come for us all one day."
"We do not fear damnation because onlycowardsgo to Hell!"
"Only cowards go to Hell!"
xXx
Wynn watched the speech from Adam in awe, the glaring red aspect of her General capturing her entirely.
Immediately the order was given, she ran forward, prepared to fight to her last breath for this dream, this desire. Although it seemed merely a dream, they stood shoulder to shoulder with the greatest army in the world and the Huntsmen who were the guardians of the light. They, mere criminals and thugs (and in lives before the Fang, even less dignified than that), were treated as equals.
Was it possible? Was freedom a wish she could reach? She had to try.
xXx
Ozpin's expression was hardened and cold as he faced the glowering Hazel. His gaze was always like this when he faced withherfollowers.
"I need you to move aside, Mr. Hazel," he said evenly, making an attempt to walk past him as he did.
"I don't care what you need," was the enraged reply.
"Let me rephrase, then," he said, wiping down his glasses, "move or Iwillkill you."
The temperature of the hallway dropped to almost sub-zero temperatures at this declaration.
"Like you killed her?" Hazel asked angrily, his voice barely audible through his grinding teeth as he did.
"So, in order to have vengeance for the brave sacrifice of that young child, you decided to bring an army of demons into my school."
"You're the one who put them on the frontlines, you're the one to blame."
"Look around you," Ozpin replied, his arms outstretched as though he were attempting to cover the globe by his gesture, " this whole world is the frontline. Daily, we suffer the assaults of Hell and all its creatures. Daily, we rage against the dying of the light. Daily, we barely survive. If I do not teach these children now, life will teach them later. There is no escaping the Creatures of Grimm."
"How convenient it is for you."
Ozpin rolled his eyes at this and took a battle stance; the conversation was over.
He rushed a Hazel, Long Memory tracing a series of trajectories that connected to his body and sent him flying away. Ozpin wanted to finish this as quickly as possible.
xXx
Below them, the charming Cinder made her way to the unit that held the fallen Maiden.
"Shh, it'll all be over quickly."
xXx
While the students struggled against the creatures, Pyrrha felt something tear through her like a bullet. Causing her breath to catch instantly. Her faltering gave the Deathstalker she was entangled with the opportunity to swing its venomous sting at her.
"Ugh!"
Ren's face paled as he felt the creature's venom erode his Aura slowly. The recluse student had taken the blow for Pyrrha.
"Ren!" she shouted, before sending her Akouo flying, embedding the spear halfway into the Scorpion-like creature's head. Not done yet, she drop-kicked it till was buried fully and then used Polarity to viciously rip it out, splattering the gore everywhere.
After making sure that the coast was clear, she went to check on her fallen teammate.
Due to the intensity of the battle, Ren's Aura was already close to spent before taking the venom, so even with Jaune's Aura Amp, he wouldn't be able to fight reliably without extended rest.
"We need to fall back," Jaune said, observing how she held on to the black-haired Mistralean, "we bought enough time for the people of this sector."
"Yeah," Ruby agreed, looking at her scroll, "the AKs have formed a perimeter about a dozen blocks down, we can join and give them support there while resting some of ours."
"You guys go ahead," Pyrrha said, her eyes set on something beyond the horizon, "I need to do something."
"What are you talking about?" Nora asked incredulously.
"Yeah," Yang agreed, "this isn't the time to play hero, we need to be smart."
Ren didn't say anything, but his sombre eyes pleaded with her to fall back with them.
"Wherever you're going," Jaune said, "I'm coming with."
The declaration shocked all the students there, he was supposed to help convince her to return.
Pyrrha shook her head faintly before looking at Cardin, her gaze signalling something to him.
Suddenly, the Winchester heir grabbed Jaune by his hood, his Semblance making it impossible to resist, and shoved him into a nearby rocket locker. He steadily set the coordinates for a sector that had been secured by the AKs and sent him flying off.
Pyrrha mouthed a small thank you at this and turned to the rest of her friends.
"I have to go, and I need all of you to trust me. Get to safety."
It beggared belief, but the sincerity with which the Mistralean elite spoke gave them some measure of assurance, and although they still hesitated, they finally gave in, seeing that Ren, Russell and Shouter were all at their limits.
"Stay safe, fearless leader," were Nora's last words to Pyrrha.
xXx
Ozpin looked down on the incapacitated Hazel, his cold demeanour becoming frostier by the second. Due to him being occupied, Cinder had already reached Amber. The Fall Maiden was dead.
Rage contorted the sagely wizard's features for a second as he raised his cane to deliver the final blow. Wind lashed around violently as he brought Long Memory to a stop just above the felled giant's head.
"The only reason you still draw breath is because of Gretchen's memory," he said solemnly, before walking past the man and deeper into Beacon.
"Her blood is on your hands, Ozpin!" came the unrelenting cry of Hazel, "All those innocents, their blood is all on your hands."
The declaration gave pause to Ozpin's grave step, and he seemed to think for a few seconds before there was the sound of laughter.
Yes, laughter.
Hazel felt his blood chill. He had only known this sort of fear in the presence of one other person,her.
"The blood of innocents?" Ozpin asked afterwards, his cold demeanour not betraying any of the hilarity his earlier laughter had implied, "You don't know the half of it."
With that, he disappeared.
xXx
Atop the CCTS tower in Beacon, Cinder's distant form stood, looking at the mayhem and knowing that it was only just beginning.
She stretched out her arms, feeling the still-digesting power course through her entire system.
Before long, a roar shook the entire city as the great shadow of some winged creature blotted out the fractured lunar satellite of Remnant.
"A Wyvern," Ozpin said solemnly, somehow able to see the creature though he was underground.
He was right, but unlike the Wyverns in textbooks, this one glowed a forbidding green light. One that he knew from the tragedy of Mountain Glenn. The green light suggested only one name: "Merlot".
Somehow,shehad gotten the formula and used it to mutate this creature.
xXx
"What in the name of the gods is that?" was the hysterical question from Nora as she saw the giant… thing cover the sky.
As it soared above them, great masses of some strange ooze fell from its body, engulfing different parts of the city. The incredibly alert students dodged out of the way, but not everyone was as fortunate. As the substance made contact with them, they were suddenly engulfed in it, disappearing.
The very next second, the ooze hardened, and something emerged from it.
It was like watching a chrysalis transform in seconds. Rather than a butterfly, though, it was a humanoid creature that stepped out from the demonic cocoon.
Staring at them from where a human once stood was a Creature of Grimm. An Apathy.
What the fuck?!
xXx
Arthur Watts noticed the shadow of the Wyvern and couldn't help but "tsk" in disappointment; he had thought he'd be able to outdo Cinder with his capture of the synthetic human, but "that maniac", as he called her, had one-upped him.
Arthur was, above all, reasonable. Seeing that that creature had arrived, he knew that it wouldn't be long until Vale would be unsafe for him.
"Well, James," he said silently, as he used a special dark red ring (one of the perks of his last stunt) to command a Gryphon towards him, "I hope we can continue this at some other time."
xXx
Ironwood remained oblivious to the actions of the mad scientist as she remained embroiled in the battle with Penny. The sight of the giant Grimm Monster in the sky surprised him, though, and he found himself unable to dodge in time as a powerful green beam came at him.
"James!"
"General!"
The wide beam dissipated and gave way to a bright red glow. Standing before the Atlesian General was Adam Taurus.
"Penny," he said with a smile, "we never got around to that second dance."
Ironwood gave the taurine class rep a look before stepping forward.
He didn't want to have to use that, but the situation was getting more and more dire.
"Winter, Glynda. Get ready."
The two ladies understood what was needed instantly and nodded while Adam took his position in front of all of them, apparently the designated tank of this operation.
xXx
Raven ran through the streets of Vale, slicing through creatures one by one as she tried to get back to Beacon Academy in time. If not for Ozpin's insistence on defending civilians, she would have been at his side by now, taking down the rogue Maiden. The appearance of the Wyvern had changed things, though. Now she needed to hightail it to his location.
Not before dealing with these nuisances, though,she said silently, replacing her blade with Ice Dust and freezing the half a dozen creatures surrounding her before slicing once more, shattering them like glass.
The very next second, she saw a Warhammer in her face, sending the Branwen tribe veteran flying in another direction.
Despite the force of the hit, she managed a deft landing, cocking her neck and dusting her clothes suavely as she placed her hand on the hilt of Omen, the bloodthirsty blade ready to claim a soul whenever she desired.
"Lucky shot," she said quietly.
Behind that "lucky shot" was the red-haired and enraged Nora Valkyrie, who spat only one word furiously: "You!"
When Nora saw the Branwen tribe member, she felt like something shattered in her mind as memories poured back into her.
She recalled her recurring dream, the manic drawings of men with the faces of Grimm, and she was certain.
That person had been there, she had been there on that day. The day she lost everything.
Gripping her hammer more firmly, she made to strike the woman once more, determined to beat out an explanation.
Before she could, though, no one other than Lie Ren stood in the gap, his pale face pleading with his friend to stand down.
His face didn't just reveal imploration, but also guilt.
You knew!She asked internally, although absolutely certain that he heard her.
"Please, Nora," he said tiredly, "we need to leave this area."
The chaos had separated the three teams, and with Nora exhausted and Ren in the state he was in, it would be no time at all until they were overrun.
Seeing that the young girl wasn't making her charge, Raven turned around calmly and walked away, looking to clear the field and reunite with her brother and Ozpin. Once all three of them were together, there was no doubt that they'd be able to win.
xXx
Pyrrha arrived before the CCTS tower, somehow able to cleave through the sea of Grimm that lay between her and her destination in almost no time. She wanted to face Cinder for what she had done; the pain she felt when Amber died was like losing an arm. She felt as though Cinder had stolen something dear to her.
"Come on out!" she shouted towards the sky angrily, rousing the still dreamy Cinder from her reveries.
"Do I know you?" she asked with her singularly sultry voice, made all the more alluring by the promise of danger that the almost fully realised Maiden powers had given her.
Pyrrha shook her head in response, but still brandished her weapons, unmoved by the obvious disparity in their abilities.
Inuwa, give me strength.
xXx
Underground, Ozpin stood before the pile of crystals that he had shown to Weiss earlier. This was his last resort to save Beacon.
Ozpin had once split his power between the crows many ages ago. And while this gave him security, it meant that he wasn't as strong individually as he had been before. To compensate for this, he always had fail-safes and plans for the worst-case scenario. This was the worst-case scenario.
He looked at the names of his deceased students with great tenderness. He had carved each and every one of their names by hand. They were even more indelibly carved into his memory.
Memory.
Everyone's magic had a unique path, and this was his.
He had lived through countless lives, through countless loves, through countless trifles, through countless trials. He stored all these things in his heart and they gave him strength.
"My dear students," he said gently, "I know that you're resting, but this fragile Kingdom of Vale needs you once more, your juniors here at Beacon need you… I need you."
As he spoke, a green spark leapt from his outstretched finger and onto the pile of crystals. The spark consumed all of the crystals in a second, and a bright green flame cast its glow all over the room.
One by one, the forms of past students became visible, filling the room.
This was Ozpin's most powerful spell, The Guardian Light. By channelling the power of memories, he was able to summon past guardians for help.
Without a word, their illusory forms spread out, reaching the very ends of the city in almost no time.
Only one remained standing in the middle of the room. She gave a warm smile to her former mentor before rising above the ground and disappearing too.
"Thank you," Ozpin said silently.
xXx
Pyrrha was on her knees, her trusted blade now just slag beneath the feet of the new Fall Maiden. In the end, the power of magic was out of the reach of normal people.
What was I thinking?She asked herself despairingly.
What did I think I would accomplish?
"No one will save you," Cinder said, her voice ethereal, as though she was no longer a part of this plane, "we're all brought into this world alone. The only thing we bring into this world is ourselves. That's why power is essential, because when it all comes down to it, we can only rely on our own ability."
Pyrrha, despite the wound in her leg from the arrow, couldn't help but crack a smile. She stared up at the woman as though she'd heard something amusing.
"Since you're going to kill me, you should get it over with."
The air of defiance from the hitherto Invincible Girl was jarring to Cinder, and she woke up from her musing, looking at the redhead with interest.
"You don't believe me because you've never suffered," she said with a twisted smile, "I have the scars to prove what I say."
"The fact that you've suffered doesn't make you right," Pyrrha replied, her tone dismissive as though she didn't see the point of this conversation.
Her apparent disinterest further enraged the Maiden, and she grabbed her face in fury and stared at her.
"No, but the fact that you're under my boot, with no one to help you, does. When life was easy and you were gaining plaudits, the people flocked to your feet like you were some sort of goddess, but now, in your time of need, when death stalks you like a famished beast, they're nowhere to be found. Youarealone."
Pyrrha didn't argue again, but instead looked back into her opponent's eyes steadily, unmoved by pain or threat.
"Finish it."
Cinder intended to do exactly that, notching another arrow and aiming it directly at the Pride of Mistral.
Suddenly, she felt herself lose her feet and was flung into the CCTS. Surprisingly, what had stopped the fatal attack from landing was nothing but a rocket locker of all things.
"You know," a familiar voice started, "the bullying didn't stop when I got to Shade… In fact, it got worse. I was shoved into one of those lockers every single day."
As the voice spoke, Pyrrha felt her depleted Aura climb back up and her body regain its energy instantaneously.
"One of the first tricks I learned was how to hack those lockers and send them back at the person who shoved me into them."
With this, she felt a firm hand lift her to her feet.
"What I'm trying to say is that I never stopped learning, never stopped training, never stopped growing. I wasn't strong enough to be at your side then, but I'm here now."
"And this time I promise," Jaune said, "I'll never abandon you again."
Notes:
When I started this fic, this was one of the scenes I wanted to write more than anything; I wanted to show the contrast between the Jaune at the beginning, who has to leave because he's too weak, and the Jaune of now, who stayed. I also wanted to have some payoff for the fact that he used to get shoved in rocket lockers in volume one, but is now using them to save the girl he loves.
All in all, it just took about 100k words to get here, so it was worth it.