( Yknow, I talk to people who leave comments on this story a lot. Most of the time in their own comment threads, but there's even a chad I've become, i hope, friends with, even if we don't know much about eachother.

I've gotten...pretty emotional in some threads...I let out a lot about who I am as a person, my outlook on life, my thoughts on religion and even death. I thought it would help me in a way. That maybe talking about this stuff would actually help somehow...I don't know...fill this absence in my heart I've always had. But in the end im still stuck here in the same spot. Maybe im a bit better, but not by much.

Part of me wants to believe this is the booze talking, and no I don't have a drinking problem, tonight was one of the rare times I actually drink. But I'm not drunk enough to make this shit up. And it makes me envy even more those who have already moved on. Passed away. Fallen. Died. Vanished.

Wherever they are...they probably don't have to deal with this...shit. If there really are those who are blessed, its them...anyways, 200 wasted words later, let's go...)

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3rd Person Pov

Beacon dormitory hallway

Robot: "ACCESS. DENIED."

Y/n: "What the fuck do you mean 'acces denied' ? I live here!"

Y/n finds himself standing, with the help of a crutch, just outside the door of his teams dorm room, endlessly frustrated at the days events. It was the 4th day of the festival, and the singles matches had begun. He wasn't surprised at all to find that his team had made it that far, and that they had chosen Yang to fight in the singles round.

Of course, nobody was ready for her to break Mercury's leg in seemingly cold blood after winning her fight against him. Which is why he found himself here. He hadn't been watching the matches when it happened, for once he actually slept in. He only learned about it when Ruby, Weiss and Blake stopped by the dorm to tell him what happened, as well as the fact that they were all disqualified as a result.

After being tbouroughly briefed, and consoling Ruby for a short while, he encouraged them to go enjoy the rest of the matches while they were happening, and he would go talk to Yang.

And so here he was, arguing with one of the two Atlesian Robots that were guarding his dorm room.

Robot: "AS PER THE GENERALS ORDERS, NONE ARE PERMITTED ENTRY INTO BEACON DORMITORY 42, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF RESIDENTS."

Y/n: "Jesus, how stupid can you be you pile of scrap metal?! Look!"

Pulling his Scroll from his pocket, he held forth his student identification, waving it in front of the stoic androids lifeless eyes, praying that any sensory input would allow the mindless husk of metal before him to understand the he was on of these 'residents'.

Robot: "RESIDENTS ONLY. ACCESS. DENI-"

And finally, Y/n lost his patience. Summoning forth several figures of shadow that proceeded to violently dismantle the two robots while Y/n pocketed his scroll. Once his gang of clones were done, they dispersed, only leaving behind the pile of scrap that remained of the two robots. Before heading into his dorm, Y/n stuck a sticky note on one of the severed heads of the robots.

'Next time, let me in my fucking dorm room, James.'

Straightening himself and kicking some scrap out the way, Y/n opened the door. It somehow didn't surprise Y/n at all when he saw Yang laying on her bunk, mindlessly playing a game on her scroll, though clearly distracted. Not looking to the door, she spoke out, not noticing Y/n move closer.

Yang: "I'm telling you sis, don't worry about me. Go hang out with Y/n and the others for a bit."

Y/n: "Actually, I sent em all off to the festival to watch more of the singles matches."

Suddenly fumbling with her Scroll, Yang finally turned her head to see Y/n sit down on Weiss's bunk, setting his crutch down finally as he looked up at his teammate with a smile.

Yang: "Y/n? Why are you here?"

Y/n in response, placed his hand on his chest in a mock fashion, pretending to be hurt by Yangs words.

Y/n: "Yang, im hurt you think so little of me! I merely wish to talk!"

Rolling her eyes, but failing to aurpress the grin that came to her face, Yang say up, dangling her legs off the side of her bunk. Her smile wavers slightly however as she looks down at Y/n, the boy staring back up at her with a passive smile.

Yang: "Ha Ha Ha. You know what I meant. You're here cause of the match...you probably also heard we got disqualified because of it."

Y/n: "It was mentioned."

Yang nervously rubbed her elbow, regret and guilt ran through her, suddenly not able to look Y/n in the eye.

Yang: "Are you...upset?"

The initial silence only served to stimulate her nerves. She definitely didn't like this, she was never one to be nervous.

Y/n: "Why would I be upset? It wasn't your fault. You kicked ass out there. And besides, its just some dumb tournament."

That certainly shocked Yang. How was it not her fault? Her actions, voluntary or not, got them disqualified from the Vytal Festival Tournament. Wasnt that a big deal?!

"You fought that Mercury guy, right?"

Yang: "Y-yeah. Honestly it was a pretty easy fight...but..."

Y/n: "You saw something that didn't really happen, right? Don't awnser that, I know that's what happened. That guy and his group have given me a bad feeling since they showed up. I'm pretty sure his teammate Emerald has some sort of illusion semblance."

Yang stared dumbfounded at Y/n from the rapid deduction. How the hell did he put that together?

Yang: "How do you even know that?"

Y/n: "Call it a hunch. They've been pulling shady shit the entire time they've been here. They can't trick my eyes though. Guess its just another talent of mine."

Yang: "But why would they do that? What do they get out of it?"

Y/n: "Honestly, I have no idea. Thats what worries me."

Yang didn't seem any reassured by the conversation. She definitely didn't feel as guilty, but it was mostly replaced with a sense of dread. Whats going on? Y/n drew her attention once again however as he went to stand up, but was clearly having some difficulty. The walk to the dorms from his room in the Beacon tower had clearly tired him out a bit.

Hopping down from her spot on her bunk, Yang helped him to his feet, allowing him to stand on his own with his crutch.

Y/n: "Thanks. I'll get out of your hair for a bit, you're probably a little tired too."

Yang: "You sure you'll make it back alright?"

Y/n: "I'll be fine. Walking is pretty easy, its just the whole getting up and down bit that sucks."

They shared a short embrace before Y/n moved towards the door.

"Be safe Yang. Times are weird, and I don't know whats gonna happen."

Yang: "You too."

With the subtle opening and closing of the door, Y/n left, leaving Yang to herself for now. Stepping over some of the still sparking remains of the androids he destroyed, he began his trek back towards the tower. Strolling through Beacons courtyard, he looked to the sky where Amity could be seen floating high as one of the singles matches began. He could almost hear the roar of the crowd from where he was. Must be a good match.

Actually, he knew it was. Since he got booted out of the tournament, his opponent Jeremiah was re-entered to take his place. Only reason he knew that however was because he actually ran across the mammoth of a student on his way to visit Yang. At the time, Jeremiah was on his way to get ready for his match. Apparently he was matched against another student from Vacuo.

It was honestly humbling for Y/n. Despite the cold and stoic front Jeremiah put up during their match, the boy was quite kind outside the arena. Throughout the entire encounter he was nothing but polite, and even promised to win his singles match in Y/n's place. Of course they couldn't talk long however, seeing as Jeremiah had a match to get too, and Y/n himself was on his way to see Yang. But he did tell Jeremiah he'd be rooting for him from the ground.

Unfortunately, the slow walk back to the tower clearly was taking too long to watch the match from his room. As a matter of fact, the already late afternoon was starting to show signs of sunset by the time he reached the looming pride of the academy grounds, and after taking the stairs to the private floor he was on, threw open the bedroom door with a groan. He hadn't done much today, but he felt like he'd just run a marathon.

Throwing shut the door, he quickly moved to sit down at the foot of the bed, happily discarding his crutch to the other side of the room with a toss. Looking around for the remote to the TV he spotted it on the nightstand. Without even gesturing at it, a mess of shadows picked the remote up and carried it to his open palm.

Turning on the TV, he absently flicked through the few channels the device had until he found what he was looking for, the broadcast for the tournament. The TV's speakers filled the room with the cheer of the crowd held in the arena walls as Port and Oobleck spoke over them.

Port: "I think its safe to say we've had an astounding round of battles this evening, with excellent performance from students all around the world!"

Oobleck: "Yes Peter, we really are seeing the cream of the crop here in these singles matches, and now we have potentially the most exciting of them all, wouldn't you agree?"

Peter: "Absolutely! For our last singles match of the day, our randomizer has selected two fighters that have performed exceptionally all throughout the tournament. Hailing from Mistral, but fighting for Beacon Academy, we have the invincible girl herself, Pyrrha Nikos!!!"

The crowd erupted once more as the camera showed Pyrrha stepping into the ring from the side of the arena, waving to the crowd as they applauded.

Oobleck: "While her opponent might not be as well known, she has shown breathtaking ability to dispatch her opponents, ladies and gentleman, all the way from Atlas, Mrs. Penny Polendina!"

Y/n felt his heart sink as the camera moved to show Penny standing politely on the opposite side of the arena, smiling as cheerfully as ever.

Oobleck: "Let the match, BEGIN!"

Y/n quickly moved to stand, his burst of adrenaline rendering his discarded crutch pointless as he tried to move for the door. He didn't get far though, as seemingly from nowhere a mysterious pair of hands forced a heavy sack over his head from behind and catching him in a headlock, squeezing hard as Y/n found himself clawing for air being pulled further away from the door.

Y/n planted his feet, twisting his whole body forwards and forcing his attacker over his shoulders, the unknown assailant colliding violently with the work desk with a loud crash and a groan. Finally able to breathe, Y/n ripped the sack off his head, spotting his injured attacker in front of him, dressed in the unmistakable attire of a White Fang grunt, the only difference being a red stripe across his robe.

Turning to the balcony, he witnessed seven more assassins, including a substantially sized Ox Faunus flip over the balcony railing, charging into the room with shortswords and daggers.

Y/n groaned in frustration as he met the first of the artackers head on, grappling for a moment before stealing his sword and delivering a gut punch that sent the assassin backwards colliding with another as they tumbled into the balcony railing.

Two more attackers quickly took the place of the one he just sent away as he struggled to block and deflect slashes and stabs from the both. Gaining his footing, he sidestepped a forward stab from one, grabbing his wrist and squeezing to force the dagger out of his hands before kicking him backwards into the wall. The remaining attackers teal aura flared for a moment as his speed increased, forcing Y/n to wait for an opening. When it finally came, in a blur of speed he swept the attackers legs out, grabbing the Airborne Faunus by the leg and throwing him across the room, sending him flying through the bedroom door, and then another wall.

Y/n watched as the six remaining assassins collected themselves, allowing him to roll his shoulders and stretch a moment as he felt his strength returning slightly. The Ox Faunus remained in the back, arms crossed observing.

Y/n: "Yknow, this is a good warmup."

The assassins exchanged glances with eachother in confusion, before turning back to Y/n as he cracked his neck.

"But I don't have time for this shit."

Two of the assassins towards the back suddenly found themselves held captive by clones, which jumped off the edge of the balcony and sent the two Faunus plummeting.

Instantly, Y/n was in the face of the nearest assassin, delivering a blur of slashes and stabs, incapacitating him in barely a second. Y/n then grabbed the poor Faunus by his arm, swinging him around like a club to bat away another assassin and send them both into the wall. The remaining lackey trembled for a moment as Y/n set his burning silver gaze on him, and the lights in the room flickered violently.

Cracking under the pressure, the assassin abandoned his dagger and ran, throwing himself off the balcony. Now it was just Y/n, and the Ox.

Huffing in a deep tone, the Ox finally drew the longsword on his hip, and retrieved the shield on his back.

Ox: "Shame, boss wanted you and the kitty cat alive. She isn't here though. And I think he'd be alright with just her."

Y/n grit his teeth as the giant Faunas chuckled deeply to himself, running the edge of his blade over his shield.

"How about this, tell me where Blake Belladonna is, and I'll make sure I kill ya quick. How's that sound?"

An almost primal growl escaped Y/n as the lights flickered again, suddenly bursting in a shower of sparks, forcing the Ox to raise his shield to his eyes. Lowering his shield, but keeping it in a defensive position. He peered into the now inky black room as his confidence wavered for a moment, his natural night vision failing to pierce the abyss before him.

A sudden rush of air invaded his senses as he was hit hard with something heavy, splintering and shattering the wooden shield in his hands and sending himself to the floor, loosing his grip on his sword. A hand forcefully grabbed him by one of his horns as he was painfully dragged out of the room and onto the balcony.

Y/n froze for a moment as he gazed out at Beacon, fires starting in several buildings as the ant like figures of people could be seen fighting far below. Amity was swarmed with airborne Grimm, and in the distance, over the bay, Vale burned under the shadow of a colossal, drake-like Grimm.

Snapping out of his freeze, Y/n lifted the Ox by his horn and smashed his face on the balcony railing several times taking out all his rage as he continued to beat, bash, kick and fracture his face before throwing him to the ground.

Y/n: "I'll ask you one time."

The beaten and bruised faunus lifted his head to watch Y/n unholster a small sawn-off shotgun from behind his back, loading both barrels with a type of round he had never seen before. Once done, the gun was right in his face. Y/n's irises pierced the dark night with silver fire as he spoke.

"Who is responsible for this."

The Ox choked on the blood in the back of his throat as he forced himself to his feet, leaning on the railing with a wicked grin.

Ox: "Were gonna kill them all...all your little friends...and then...your world...will burn...hehe-"

Y/n didn't even flinch, pulling the trigger, letting both barrels make red mist out of the assassin's face. He watched the headless corpse of the murderer tumble to the ground far below.

The entire tower shook as the monsteous Grimm Y/n saw in the distance soared overhead, smashing through Ozpins office and sending debris showering over the balcony, destroying the platform. Reacting quickly, Y/n was forced to abandon his stolen weapon, digging his fists into the the concrete wall of the tower before catapulting himself upwards as he began leaping from rock to rock, gradually approaching the top of the tower the hulking beast now circled. The clang of metal and gunshots made it clear that a battle was happening on top.

If there was anywhere he'd find the one responsible for this, it was there. His hate clouded thoughts were hampering him however, as broken glass and shards of stone fell onto him while he climbed, scratching and cutting him, draining his already weak body even further. He powered through however. He was so close.

But...

You can only defy gravity for so long...

Eventually, Y/n ran put of rocks...

A silver light like fire sprayed every direction from the tower...

And the howling wind carried him 26 stories down.

???

Y/n Pov

'Do you have any idea how weird it is do die twice? Thats a stupid question. Of course, people doe all the time in their own heads, but we all know that doesn't count. In the moment of death, a tsunami of endorphins cloud you. You feel everything you ever felt or could've felt. And then, an ocean of synapses fry themselves, followed by a surge of nothingness.

You just vanish. In an instant. And the second time around, it hurts.

Maybe it hurt so much this time because I actually had something to lose. New friends. New family. Ruby...

At the end of the day I broke my promise. I wish I at least went down fighting. Maybe then they'd find my body. But nobodies gonna find me under the rubble.

Its almost pathetic right? I mean, I guess I can't say its all my fault, I didn't really have many options there. Guess thats something still human about me. I'm torn up about shit I couldn't even control.

I never saw them, but somehow I know it was those three creeps. Cinder and her puppets. Those fucking miscreants...if I had just said something to Professor Ozpin, anybody, who knows what I couldve saved...'

I'm sure I couldve sat there, on my knees in the dark forever. Slowly convincing myself it was all my fault, until I actually believed it. But, I was dead. Again. Which means I wasn't alone for very long.

Have you ever met someone you know, but haven't seen in months, and the first thing they do is something you would never expect? Not even that they're incapable, just that its so far from what they used to be like, it catches you off guard?

Prime example, I knew the Kindred. And the last thing I expected from them, well, Lamb I guess, was a hug of all things. Catching me completely off guard as my kneeling figure was embraced by her, kneeling down to my level. Even Wolf managed to wiggle his disembodied head under my hand, the closest thing to a whimper he can manage escaping him.

Lamb: "I'm sorry..."

For the first time since my first night at Beacon, I broke. I just sat there on my knees, with literal death as my only company as I wept. I cried, and cried, and cried until I couldn't no more. Until it felt like I had cried my very soul out. And even then I still found myself stuck there, helpless. What do I even do now? Whats waiting for me? Is there even anything else left to do?

Is it all just gone?

Everything i did, everyone i met, all the memories I made.

Is it all just washed away?

Eventually The Kindred pulled back from their embrace, standing before me as I couldn't even raise my head to look either in the face. I was finished crying but I was far from done hurting. I wouldn't be for a long time.

Wolf: "You will leave us soon."

Y/n: "..."

Lamb: "We thought this might be your true end, but it seems we were wrong."

...

"I'm...sorry I didn't tell you about this. Or about your...inhumanity."

...

Wolf: "It is one of our curses. We cannot change what will be. We can only watch. Wait."

The Kindred: "Take the broken pieces of the aftermath. Guide them to the beyond."

I still didn't move. But the but I could feel the dark moving. Twisting and turning, like I was caught in a free fall, and gravity didn't know which way to pull me. It was tossing my soul around again, I could feel it this time.

Lamb: "We don't know where you'll be this time. And it will take us much longer to find you. We're...going to be busy for a while..."

Wolf: "But we will find you."

The Kindred: "Hopefully not here."

And all over, I was alone again.

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(To be continued...eventually. Alright so I know this is kind of a cheese spot ro leave this, but I'm getting a better idea of how I want this story to go forward. I cannot possible thank you all enough for nearly 93 THOUSAND reads on this story! It honestly blows me away that I managed to pull anything worth viewing out of my crime case of a brain.

I'm happy I could share this with you all, and like I said before, i don't olane on canceling this story! Ever! Not till its finished. Whatever that entails. But I'm leaving for the navy in 15 days, and it's gonna get really hard to keep up.

Again, im so happy I could do this. I really hope I can manage to keep up for you guys. I don't wanna let this go. So as always...)

(Until Next Time!!!)