Volume 4 Finale – Chapter 53:Together We March

The heated conflict is cooled by the winds of Menagerie as Dylan, Blake, and Sun return to the Belladonna residence with their unconscious captive in tow. They land on the balcony, where Blake and Sun first pursued Ilia.

"I'll take her," Blake swiftly pulls out the comendered scroll. "You take this and show it to my father. I'll bring Ilia to a room we can watch her in." She holds her arms out to brace a body.

Sun takes the scroll before Dylan hands over their new friend. "Why're we even looking at the scroll if we already have the girl?"

"Who knows how long it'll take for her to give us anything good. Besides that," Dylan opens the door for his companions. "She can lie."

Blake and Sun enter the building, followed by Dylan who closes the door behind him. Blake diverges immediately while the two boys go for the stairs where they can hear Ghira and Kali speaking. Of course, the two old Faunus instantly hear the younglings enter the house so they're eagerly awaiting the news.

As soon as the two young Huntsmen-in-Training come into view, the first question both ask is, "Where's Blake?"

"She's fine," Dylan reassures with a nod. "Just putting someone else to bed. We were right to worry about the White Fang," Dylan and Sun stop before the parents before the feline gestures the monkey to hand over their bounty.

"A scroll from the one who was watching us," Sun gives it to the former White Fang leader. "We thought you'd be able to find out anything useful."

"Well, thank you," Ghira accepts it. "I'll look into it after I know who else is in our house."

"We caught the girl," Dylan answers. "She was wearing the mask, which I know for a fact isn't what the White Fang do here on Menagerie."

"Not officially," Ghira whispers, staring at the scroll in deep thought. Kali places a hand on his shoulder, snapping the man back to reality. "Right, well, I'll look into this."

"I'll check on Blake," Kali says right before patting Ghira's shoulder and passing by the young ones.

Ghira gives a respectful nod to the boys and goes off on his own, leaving the two alone.

"Well, that went well!" Sun slaps his hands on his hips.

"Maybe," Dylan crosses his arms and huffs. "Also, be more careful. Really, your Aura was gone and you weren't on guard?"

"I was distracted!"

"By nothing. They were just standing there. You do realize you can talk to someone without looking at them?" Dylan turns around, arms still crossed. "See," he shrugs. "I can easily talk without looking at your mug."

"Hey, you-"

A small tendril of water wraps around Sun's legs and trips him. Dylan smirks when he hears the man fall flat on his face.

"See, I can even attack you."

"Oh ha ha," Sun gets to his feet, brushing himself off. "Forgot you even had a sense of humour."

Dylan turns around, proud of himself. "It comes and goes. But what isn't gone is my sense of duty. Feel like that's the same for you. Blake, her entire family, maybe, could be in trouble. While stopping Ilia is important, the fact that she was compromised could hasten any other plans."

"Or stop them entirely," Sun proposes.

"It's possible," Dylan nods. "But the White Fang was stopped a handful of times at Beacon and..." He takes a deep breath, letting out a bit of anxiety thinking of that day. "We know how that ended."

"Then we'll make sure that can't happen again," Sun raises his fist accompanied by a smile brimming with conviction.

Dylan can't help but find the smile contagious and does it himself. "Right. You're right," he reassures himself. "But for now, I think I'll get some sleep. I trust Blake to watch over the girl."

"Yeah," Sun stretches, his tail wiggling. "Hitting the hay sounds good to me. Then we'll be all ready for some White Fang butt kicking!"

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Despite having trained with Jaune for hours during the night, you wake up feeling surprisingly refreshed. What's more of a surprise is that everyone is already awake and packing up their things for today's journey. It's quite shocking since, over the majority of your travels, you've been extremely acute to any noises or happenings around you whilst you slept. Yet somehow everyone could wake up and do whatever they wished without you even realizing it. That level of safety when sleeping, when any enemy could sneak up on you, isn't something you realized until now. Still, even if it's possible that having all your friends around is comforting on a basic level, that doesn't dismiss your stance that both this journey and the enemies you'll inevitably face, are far beyond what they are capable of dealing with. Yet, you're also aware that they won't leave so easily, so you may as well get used to it, and perhaps soon they'll realize your objectively true point.

But, worrying about that now is a waste of time. You're not too far away from Mistral at this point. Truthfully, if it was just yourself and Neo you would've just leapt there to save time and effort. But with seven people, even going this short distance would be extremely strenuous on your Aura. In truth, that taxation is one of the only reasons you don't just teleport them all straight back to Ruby's house and press on with your journey. You'd be stuck there too and they'd all be yelling at you, and the yelling is the best case scenario. Not to mention Tai would be there too, and after last time, well, it's not your idea of a good time.

To your surprise, Ruby approaches you with a plate in her hand. You're still a little groggy from just waking up so processing your current situation.

Ruby kneels down, handing you the plate with a few eggs on it. Not much, but it works as a breakfast. You immediately notice the way it's cooked - just the way you like them. Of course Ruby would know that.

"We're going soon, so eat up," when you take the plate she stands up straight. "Unless you want to get left behind," she coyly remarks, turning around and leaving you.

With one of your eyes still half closed, you shake your body and realize her tease. "What?" You shout, but she doesn't respond.

Dismissing the little encounter, you start eating the food provided while getting a good look around. Qrow is notably missing, so, in your mind, he either left or he's doing a little scouting. Ren, Nora, and Jaune are all packed up and chatting away. Neo is on her own, also ready to go.

She's visibly a little off from all of this, which you can imagine is an awkward situation for all parties. You dismissed Neo's allegiance earlier, having full trust in the woman that, to everyone else, has been nothing but an enemy. However, none of them have the same relationship and level of trust with Neo as you do – being friendly enemies, sparing each others' lives, having the cute back and forths, it's something they lack with her. So, really, you can understand why they wouldn't be so trustworthy of your little mute companion. But that's something you certainly won't compromise on. It's clear they're not going to heed your warnings and keep out of a fight that's far beyond their skill level, you can't really force that. Even if you DID teleport them all back to Vale, you're certain they'd just march back with even greater anger. But Neo, they have no say with her. She is your comrade, just as much as they are, and unless there's a reason to choose sides, you won't. You're all on the same team right now, it'll just take time for both parties to realize that. At least, you hope they realize it. If not, and conflict arises, you really don't know who you'd side with from neutrality.

Speaking of neutrality, Ruby seems a lot less angry with you then she was last night. Sure, she could have cooled off after venting everything out, but to make food and even say a playful line. At least it's better than being slapped or yelled at...again. Still, teleporting the young girl away would stop both of those as well, so you have options.

While in thought, you eat your provided breakfast and brush off what little crumbs there are. The fact they're using paper plates isn't surprising, since it's easy to get at any of the villages and doesn't require cleaning. With its purpose fulfilled, you toss the plate into the fire pit. Perhaps some other travellers will make use of it.

You turn around and walk back to your resting place, stopping and kneeling down in front of your equipment. You slept in your general clothes, but your vest armour, coat, and sword are laid to the side. Seeing you're preparing yourself to move out, Neo meanders around the outskirts of the camp to reconvene with you. While you're suiting up, Neo takes it upon herself to pack up your sleeping bag. At the same time, RNJR notes your preparation. They're already good to go, just mentally preparing for another day of walking.

While RNJR thought there would be more conflict when on the road, everyone's hopes are up after last night. Jaune told everyone what happened between you and him, Ruby never revealing she saw it herself. Learning of that brief moment where you let this persona down shows that there's a part of your old self still in there, somewhere. After the conversation, they all came to a few conclusions as to why you're acting this way, especially after Jaune's interaction with you. Thinking they're too weak, being betrayed and killing your new family, people you let yourself trust, watching friends from Beacon die, even if they don't agree with your methods they do understand that you're already in a deep pit. But it's not one you can't be pulled out from with their help. Both as your friends, and, for Ruby, your girlfriend, they don't want to see you spiral out of control and get yourself killed. All they have to do is keep pushing themselves onto you, breaking that shell so your true personality can shine through once again.

As you finish up reattaching your chest plate, Qrow becomes visible from over the hill.

"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby shouts and waves. "How was it?"

Qrow doesn't reply until he's closer, not bothering to raise his voice. "Just a few stragglers. Nothing I couldn't handle. But listen," Qrow takes out his flask, showing his apathy in drinking at the early hours. "I'll keep an eye on you, but it'd be best if we don't travel together."

You raise your brow while sliding your hands into your pockets.

"What? Why not?" Nora leans forward with her hands on her hips.

"Well," Qrow rubs his neck. "It'll just be easier, trust me. Besides, Mr. I Can Handle Everything will be with you," he eyes you with a playful smirk. "So I'm sure you'll be fine till I get there. I'll never be far."

"But..." Ruby is clearly a little upset from her Uncle's absence, something Qrow notices.

He rustles her hair. "Trust me, it's for the best. When we get to Mistral I'll settle with you."

With a smile at her uncle's actions, Ruby looks up at him with glimmering silver eyes. "Okay! We'll see you there. Alright RNJR, lets move out!" She points ahead. "Oh, wait," she pulls her hand back and turns to face you. "RNJR and friend..." Ruby's eyes drift to Neo, still extremely distrusting. "sssss," she carefully adds on.

"Right," you grab your pack and toss it around your back and start walking down the path. "No point standing around."

You pass by the others with Neo beside you, mirroring how it was when you left the village before. This time, RNJR quickly catches up, Ruby getting on your left while Jaune, Ren and Nora go to your right, beside Neo. The outsider is confused that other people are so close to her, but she knows exactly why. Neo's silent, not stupid. Qrow, from behind, smiles that your group is together and moving forward. Momentarily, he takes out Ozpin's cane and stares at it, his hand slowly clenching it.

"We'll make it, Oz," he whispers before turning away, preparing to move in his own special way.

"What're you doing?" You look down to Ruby.

"We're walking by your side, duh," she says as if it's the most obvious thing on the planet. "So, did everyone sleep well?" She asks all around.

"I did!" Nora throws a hand in the air. "I was surprised, considering what we learned last night. Thought my head would be spinning all night."

"It certainly puts more context and importance in our mission," Ren adds. "To think that there was more going on then we knew."

"We were only students, but..." Jaune thinks of Pyrrha's situation, deciding to absorb the power and becoming such an important person in the grand scheme of the world. "I guess they aren't going to wait for us."

"Who knows. Salem has been around forever, right? That's what Uncle Qrow said,'' Ruby raises a finger to the side of her mouth. "I wonder why she hasn't won yet."

"Hey!" Nora blurts out.

"Well, Ozpin's only a bit older than our parents, right? So who was stopping her before?"

That question locks in your mind. "Who was stopping her before..." You whisper. Was this always a closely guarded secret between the strongest Huntsmen and Headmasters? The group of Huntsmen you took down knew of Salem and the Tawnys' involvement, but do most other Huntsmen know? It's hard to say for certain. Besides, it has to be a secret that's been passed down over hundreds of years. Salem had to have recruited people for generations to keep any plans going, just as Ozpin and his predecessors had to have. That also makes you think of your perspective on solving things. Even the great Salem, a threat to the entire planet, uses others to her advantage. But if she's really so powerful then why doesn't she just attack? Why doesn't she just take down everyone in her path by herself?"

"You sound more like Harrier."

You shake your head, trying your best to throw Tai's words out of your mind. There's no way you have the same thought process as him. It's impossible. Someone so despicable and arrogant... you'd never do what he did. You're trying to protect everyone...

"Harrier did too. Wanted to help Ozpin... wanted to help the world."

"You okay?" Ruby leans forward to get in your view whilst the others jabber on. "You seem more spaced out than just ignoring us. Which, by the way," she pouts a bit. "You shouldn't be ignoring us."

"Heh... yeah, I suppose," you smirk for a second.

"Huh, hey, that's a smile!" Ruby nudges your arm. "That's what I want to see. A sad boyfriend makes a sad girlfriend, you know."

The very fact she still refers to you as her boyfriend is surprising. "And when did you become such a relationship expert?" You fire back.

"I've had a lot of time to mature, you know!" Ruby puffs her chest in pride.

You misconstrue that, seeing the gesture and her words you believe she's implying bodily maturity.

"Interesting thing to boast about. I suppose considering what you're up against I get the competition."

"Wha-" Ruby looks at you, then looks down and views her puffed out chest. She immediately blushes, covering herself up in her cloak. "THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT! WHY WOULD YOU THINK THAT! I SWEAR, ALL THIS TIME AND ALL YOU CAN DO IS-"

Ruby's flustered ranting comes to a screeching halt when she sees a smile spread across your face. Perhaps you don't even know it's there, or aren't caring to hide it. Either way, you're clearly not keeping to the brooding persona that you've been putting out.

"You haven't changed at all."

Ruby pouts but then she smirks, looking ahead as you are. "That makes two of us."

Despite the relatively positive outcome of the conversation, Neo is left a little distraught. Yes, she far preferred your old self with jokes and energy, and she's pleased that you're showing more hints of that. In fact, you were close when you first met the Tawnys, but that was quickly snuffed out upon the discovery of their betrayal. The problem is... it's not her who will do it. If this does work, if you're pulled back to your roots, it won't be because of her.

That is extraordinarily upsetting.

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With such a large group traveling together, you're taking much more time than you would if you were just a two man group. Still, it's not like there's the biggest rush. With Qrow's reassurance that the headmaster will be watching out for Salem's goons, you can afford to take another day or two. Or at least until you get close enough to leap everyone there without completely sapping your Aura.

It will be interesting to see Headmaster Lionheart again after so much time. After all, you did spend a portion of your upbringing in Mistral, training at the Academy. It wasn't official of course, as someone so young couldn't be granted access. At least, that's what you think. Those times are very hazy, especially the earlier years. You could also attribute that to a mix of shock and memory repression from the incident with your parents. It's a lucky thing you're a bit more strong willed nowadays, else Beacon would've had the same traumatic effect.

Maybe it has in a way.

"Anyone else getting really hungry?" Nora asks before slinging her arms up behind her head. "Know what I could go for!"

"A map?" Jaune brings up.

"You can't eat a map, Jaune!" Nora states like it's obvious.

"Well... you COULD," Ruby joins in.

"That wouldn't be very nutritious," Ren shakes his head.

"Well that's not MY fault!" Nora retorts.

"If you ate a map... that is your fault," Ren says, almost disappointed. "But I do wish we could get a grasp of where we are."

You peer over at Ren for a second before closing your eyes and stopping. It takes only a few steps for everyone to halt and turn around.

"What're you doing?" Jaune asks. "Is everything okay?"

"I'm seeing how far away we are. Just be quiet for a second."

As you do when utilizing your Semblance, your astral vision spirals out of your body and traverses through the trees, over the mountains, and gives you a magnificent view of Mistral from the clouds. You spot a few airships but they're closer to Mistral and asking for a ride would be impractical considering how far away your group is. But you'll need a practical place to leap and relax, which means the higher levels of It takes a moment, but there's a nice spot overlooking the sights, nearby a running fountain. You lock onto the place and open your eyes.

"Well, that should work. Qrow!" You shout to the forest. "Come out for a second! I got something!"

"What're you talking about?" Ruby steps closer.

"I can't teleport you all there at once, there's just too many of us. But if I split the trip up we can get there tonight."

"Which means no sleeping on the ground!" Nora stretches. "That sounds like a plan to me."

"Me too," Qrow approaches from the treeline.

You don't say anything about it, but Qrow's sudden appearance confuses you. You've become quite astute during your time wandering, so that fact that Qrow managed to get the drop on you is impressive for him.

"The faster we get there, the better."

"Right, so..." You look between Qrow and the crew. "Qrow, Ruby, we'll start with you two."

"What? Why? You're making me go first?" Ruby immediately complains.

"Yes," you nod. "I doubt your uncle would do well for conversation with anyone else."

"Hey," Qrow frowns, stopping beside his niece. "My skills are vast."

"Mhm," you doubtfully nod. "Now, come on," you step between the two, grabbing Ruby's hand then gesturing to your shoulder. "No point wasting time. Not while my Aura is full."

Neo doesn't let it be seen, but she's a little annoyed how you so casually grabbed Ruby's hand. Qrow places a hand on your shoulder and sighs. "Alright, kid. I was wondering when you'd offer to-"

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You all appear in Mistral out of shadows, spooking some of the bystanders who were loitering.

"Teleport... eeeeh," Qrow takes his hand off you just to go for his flask. "That's an odd feeling."

"Yeah, still feels weird," Ruby nods.

You take a moment to breath, recognizing how that took a decent chunk of your Aura. From your estimation before and now this field test, you'll be able to take two more people here, then a trip back before having to take a break. With that in mind, you know exactly who to teleport next.

"I won't have to worry while I'm gone, will I?"

"At least have some faith in me," Qrow replies, dampening the insult with his drink. "I can appreciate the view, at least."

"Thought it'd be nice," you fire back. "Alright, round two."

You burst into shadows, leaving the family alone. Qrow looks over at the young girl, noticing some of her anxieties.

"You're doing ok, kiddo... making it all the way out here."

"Really?" Ruby approaches the railing and leans on it. "I thought so too..."

"Hm..." Qrow shimmies in place. "Still thinking about what he said?"

"Well," Ruby squirms. "I, uh... I actually saw him helping Jaune and what he said..." Ruby smirks and scratches the back of her head. "It made me really happy. But, still... what if we really aren't up to it?"

"Listen, Ruby, he's just worried about you, like I am."

"But that's just it. He never used to be so worried back at Beacon. Do you think we're not strong enough?" Ruby looks back at her uncle.

"Well," Qrow rubs the back of his neck. "Listen, Ruby, there's a lot of dangerous people who want to see us stopped, maybe even you specifically thanks to those eyes of yours," he taps his under his eye socket. "It's more than you were trained for."

"So he's right..." Ruby looks down dismally.

"Maybe so," Qrow mirror's his niece's position, save the dismal part. "But everyone was at one point, and you're quite the tough cookie for someone who never finished their first year," he playfully teases. To his pleasure, this makes Ruby chuckle a bit. "You said that we're going to do this together, right? So... why not think how you can stand beside him instead of having to catch up? This isn't just fighting Grimm anymore. You're going to have to think outside the box, practice fighting real people..." Qrow looks away, figuring out something that'll perk up his niece. "Maybe we can have a few training sessions."

"Wait, really?" Ruby finally looks up at him, her once teary eyes now full of hope.

"I don't see why not," he proudly replies. "We are going to an academy and I am still a teacher. Besides you're not even close to my skill with a scythe," he says with a cocky smirk.

"HEY! I'm really good with my-"

You, Jaune, and Neo appear out of a burst of smoke. Your Aura immediately starts flickering, followed by a little heavy breathing.

"Yeah... yeah, I'll need a break," you huff.

Ruby turns around to greet the new group and gets a shock through her spine. Neo is holding your hand, still, even after Jaune has let go of your shoulder and approaches. Noticing Ruby's spiteful gaze, Neo responds with her own coy glance and wraps her arms around yours. You don't bother acknowledging it.

"Still weird," Jaune shakes his body.

"I get it!" You shout. "It feels weird, everyone says that," you sigh. "Alright, I'll be waiting with Ren and Nora," you use your free hand to rub your neck. "You should probably find somewhere better to relax. Somewhere more comfy than this."

"Is that you caring?" Ruby she playfully asks, leaning forward with a raised brow.

"Hm... I'd much rather want to be on a bed instead of a bench, but hey, it's your call," you shrug. "Alright," you pull your hand away from Neo and take a step back. "If you're not here when we get back, we'll search the nearby inns."

"Be careful!" Ruby calls out before you can teleport.

"Of what? We're just standing around," you shake your head. "Don't worry about me," you say before leaping away.

Ruby sighs, now having to deal with Neo being around. But Qrow pushes off the railing and starts walking. "Might as well get a few rooms ready. Come on."

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You appear back with Ren and Nora, Aura flickering once again. You're well aware that it's about at the limit. You'd only have half a dozen steps at this point. But you're not too worried. Ren and Nora are still extremely efficient at taking down Grimm if a group was to attack you. Even then, the speed which you've improved on over the months would make a regular Grimm be as slow as a Goliath. In truth, it would be insulting to say you're useless without your Aura, especially after all the training you've done. Plus, it was better to leave you with two others from Beacon. If it had been just you and Ren, Jaune, or any of them with Neo, it may have left a bad taste in everyone's mouth. This way Neo is together with a group, making them feel safer, and you know that your trio will have each other's backs if anything happens. After all, Ren and Nora likely have the best camaraderie out of the group.

"Wow, you two are the same," Nora looks between you and Ren. "So in your own head. Why not just say it!"

"Huh?" You both return to reality.

"Exactly!" Nora throws her hands in the air.

"Eeeh, right. Sorry," Ren turns around, looking down the path where a signpost can be seen but not read. "I just... have a feeling."

"You think there's something around here?" You take a seat on a rock.

"Maybe... but I think we're safe," Ren focuses on you and Nora again. "Especially if you're around, right?"

Nora giggles a bit, always enjoying the moments where even Ren has a sense of humour.

You roll your eyes. "Yeah, glad you're all taking the lesson to heart. It's the reason I'm here instead of cozying up in Mistral."

"You're bordering the line of caring and condescending," Ren points out.

"Take it as you will," you shrug. "Just, you know..." You huff. "It's not because I hate you guys. I just want you to be safe."

Nora approaches you, leaning forward and putting a hand on your shoulder. "(Y/N), please, we all entered an academy so we could fight killer monsters. I don't think 'safe' is on any of our minds," she ends with a few rapid blinks and a playful smile.

Nora backs off, happily standing a bit away from both you and Ren.

"Yeah, maybe, but wouldn't you agree that this is different? It's not just the Grimm anymore, it's powerful fighters that're trying to tear apart our Kingdoms."

"Of course it is!" Nora blurts out. "This is waaaaaaaay more important! If you think we're gonna let you go off and have all the fun on your own then-"

"Fun?" You snicker. "This isn't fun, Nora. Killing Grimm, sure, can be tons of fun. This? No," you shake your head. "There's no fun here."

"Yeah, with you around there's no fun," Nora pouts.

"Tsk..."

"Stop acting like you're the only one affected by Beacon," Ren calmly scolds. "We were too. We lost a teammate."

"I... I know that... I think about it every day," you look away, sick of having this conversation. It's the most you've discussed this in a long time. Usually it was just your internal thoughts or loose ramblings to Neo.

"But you're the only one who won't let it go."

"Let it go?" You face Ren, standing up. "You just said you lost your teammate and now you're fine with letting that go?" You unconsciously start shouting.

Ren stands his ground, as composed as ever. "No, but there is a difference between using it to move forward, do better, and torturing oneself over it. I noticed that as a trend – being unable to defeat Harrier, the loss of your parents, and now Beacon. Your hold these on your shoulder so-"

"And what gives you the right to try and analyze me like that, huh? You don't know what it's like to lose everything again and again, always having a way to win the battles that don't matter but-"

"I do," Ren cuts you off. "Do not think you're the only person who's lost people, who's lost homes." Immediately recognizing the context, Nora steps beside Ren, taking a hold of his hand. "We have too."

You intently stare, unsure how to respond.

"We know how you feel," Nora nods. "We do. So please understand why we're worried."

Before you can answer, you hear a bleep from the skies that catches everyone's attention. In the distance you all spot an airship flying over the mountain range. You recognize the ship's design not changing at all from it's boat-like appearance. Certainly different from Atlas or Vale.

"Hey! We can try and get their attention!" Nora steps away from Ren whilst pulling out her grenade launcher.

"Wait!" You dash towards Nora and push down on the weapon. "Firing that could attract something we don't want. I..." You pull your hand back and look towards the ship. "I can step in there... then we can get a free ride."

"Well... aaaalright," Nora returns her weapon to her back.

You squint at the ship, noting how this will take up most of your dwindling Aura supply. But that won't be a problem if you get a ride to the capital. You shift through space, appearing inside the airship with shadows accompanying you. Once again, your Aura flickers, on the brink of breaking entirely.

But that's the least of your problems, as you're immediately met with sudden shouting and the barrel-end of guns.

"Who are the hell you? How did you get in here!" The female soldier demands answers, her voice rough and hard, pretty standard as most soldiers you've met in the past. Having thought that, you immediately realize the fact that if you say the wrong thing she'll have no problem gunning you down, which is not exactly reassuring.

Because you're trying to ask for their help, you should be as compliant as possible. You raise your hands, clearly signifying that you mean no harm towards them. "I'm a Huntsman-in-Training travelling with some friends. I'm hoping you might be able to bring us to Mistral."

"Bring you to... but you just... appeared. Why not just do that?" The man asks, his voice significantly calmer and younger, juxtaposing his comrade. He at least makes sense with his question.

"My Aura's too low," you bluntly answer. "I already transported my other teammates there, including a Huntsman who's supervising us."

The two soldiers are a little weary of you, but they lower their guard. "Well..." The man speaks up again. "We can... but after we finish our mission."

"The mission's pointless. If ships are going missing around here, why send a ship?" The woman complains. "What if we go missing too?

"Ships are going missing?" You slowly lower your hands, noting they aren't objecting to the action.

"In this entire region, yeah, particularly near this abandoned town" the man replies, followed by a sigh. "Saving some kids would be a good reason to go back."

"Kids?" You repeat, a little insulted.

"Fine," the woman turns around. "Come on, let's tell the captain where to get your-"

All three of you are knocked off your feet, slamming into the left wall.

"The hell was that?" You ask, sliding down the wall onto the floor.

The two soldiers are on their stomach while you're on your feet.

"I don't know! We need-"

The ship is suddenly hit again, spinning it round and round. Instinctively, you plan how to get the soldiers to safety. Problem is, you don't have the Aura to just teleport everyone out of the ship. To make matters worse, you have no idea what happened to the ship and why it's falling. But that comes second to assuring everyone's safety.

You draw your blade with such power and ferocity that as you let the cut follow through, the air is pushed forward; making a loud boom followed by the tearing of sheet metal and a massive influx of violent winds. After this swift display, you cut the palm of your hand to provide your sword with a steady source of blood. With that, you send crimson tendrils to the screaming soldiers, tethering the blood around their waists and flinging them out of the ship. With them out of the ship, muster your remaining Aura to leap into the cockpit. You appear to the left side of the captain, who's tightly bound to the chair, eyes closed, muttering swift words under his breath. You lunge for his shoulder grasping onto it tightly and leap outside of the ship where the soldiers you rescued are currently falling; too petrified to speak but scared enough to scream. You manipulate your blood to latch onto the Mistrallians while you fall, assuring their momentum is slowed down so all of this doesn't result in splattered soldiers. After all, landing strategies are ingrained into your brain.

Using the blood, you delay the fall as much as you can, until you reach the ground, your efforts breaking your fall. Seconds later, the ship they were all on crash lands, shredding through the forest, the screeches of tearing metal ring out. But thankfully, the ship doesn't explode.

"There's... no, Winny!" The woman falters to her knees. "You... you didn't save him!" She screeches, her tearful eyes sullied with anger and sorrow.

Astounded at everything that just happened in the last ten seconds, the rescued crew look to you, their savior, their Huntsman, for direction. All they all see, however, your Aura finally shatters, cracking like blood stained glass around your body and fizzling away. Your breathing has hastened, both by the rush of what happened and the anxieties of letting someone die. This lack of focus stops the flow of blood to your blade, allowing the residing liquid to progressively plop on the thin strands of grass.

"What? I thought-"

"It's not his fault, Tela," the other soldier kneels down and comforts her. "He didn't know."

"I..." You tighten your fist, mentally slapping yourself for not being thorough. You were so focused on saving who you knew about with your remaining Aura that you failed to double check the ship for anyone else. "Damnit," you silently cry out under a heavy breath.

The fear and anger from the others ignite the burning Curse Mark, searing into your skin. Your hand hurriedly slaps over the mark to hide it. Without your Aura to quell its advances, you need to calm the three down so you don't become yet another threat.

"Hey, Captain guy," you try to keep your voice pain free. "You see what hit the ship?"

The captain, holding his heart locket with a picture inside it, shakily answers your question. "I... didn't see. It wasn't a flying Grim-"

His voice is cut off when a sudden flimsy yet focused arm slithers through the tree line and rams straight through him, pinning him against a tree. His blood slowly drips down, pooling above the black hand and down the rough tree bark. With his last bit of energy, he kisses the shaky locket, staring at it for but a moment before going limp against the Grimm's hand. The locket falls to the ground into a puddle of his own blood.

The insanity of the situation makes the woman cry out in fear, having never experienced something like horrifying. Her partner holds her close with one arm while shakily aiming gun with the other. It's clear the rifle is meant for two hands and is practically useless being used as it is. You, on the other hand, keep one hand over your face, the eye closest to the mark wincing, while looking for any movement from the direction the Grimm arm came from. You're a little on edge since you can already deduce some things about this Grimm from that attack alone. His arm coming from deep within the forest shows it either has extremely long arms or can extend them, making you assume that this is the thing that knocked down the ship and potentially the other ships you heard about. This also shows that it's intelligent enough to attack ships consistently and figure out where you all were. The last problem is that you have no idea what Grimm can do. You've never once seen a Grimm with arms like that, so whatever you're fighting is going to be completely new to you. Learning a brand new Grimm without Aura is dangerous, even for you. One wrong move, one surprise, could end in your death. Everyone's deaths.

From far away, the creature howls like nothing you've heard before, the shriek rustling the leaves, blow away loose branches, and whips your hair around. This distracts you from the two wiggling fingers that pierced the Captain to extend even further, circling around and running through the two soldiers. You hear that and immediately turn around, spotting the fingers zooming towards you too.

Knowing everyone you just saved is dead and sulking about it would end with your swift demise, your mind flips to battle mode. You jump to the side, slashing at the fingers to dissuade their advances. Black smoke erupts from the attack, but despite their stringy appearance, they're clearly denser than you assumed. Unfortunately, another hand speeds towards you, catching you while your mid air and striking at your side. The momentum sends you busting through a few trees before tumbling across the ground. You cough a bit, holding your side while getting back on your feet. You check where you were hit, noting only some chips in your armour and coat.

Dior, looks like your handiwork saves me again. Still, I think that might've broken a rib or two. Can't risk too many more of those.

You hear the scream in the distance again, coming closer and closer. Add that with the sound of trees tipping over and birds fleeing the scene, it's clear the Grimm is approaching. With subtle whisps in the wind you hear a hand dart out of some bushes and tries to strike through you. You flip over and slash it while the hand buries into the ground. Almost instantly, the other hand bursts forth from the ground towards your face. You barely manage to lean back, its boney nail cutting the very edge of your nose while you backflip then jump away to get distance. The two hands immediately chase after you, each of the four fingers splitting off to move on their own.

This place is too cluttered. There was a town not too far away, it should be easier to fight with the open space. I gotta lure whatever this thing is over there.

With a plan in mind, you hop back three times before spinning on your heel and sprinting towards the direction you remember the town is in. The beast lets out a screech and, by the sounds of it, is chasing after its new prey. You strafe to the side, avoiding one of the hands, then quickly jumps forward to skip over its stretching fingers. You then push off the ground, elevating yourself to reach the treeline so you can use a branch to use as a launchpad forward. Midair, you spiral to your left and spot the other hand slinging in pursuit, so you spin yourself to narrowly avoid its fatal fingers, watching the pure black arm zoom past you. When your front side is facing the arm, you push off with both hands, completely redirecting your momentum. You flip forward, bracing yourself for a heavy landing. Your feet hit the ground and you let your knees bend completely to absorb all the sock, then immediately use that energy to burst forward, uprooting the grass and dirt that so graciously acted as a landing pad. The arm which attacked you curves as it retracts in an attempting to swipe at you again. Still midair, you twirl yourself around to just pass under the arm and skid across the ground, blades of grass and bits of dirt whipping underneath. When the hand has completely passed by, you spin around to face the ground and propel yourself off it, getting a bit of air so you can land on your feet. You stumble a bit, losing momentum, but you keep yourself moving and hastily return to a full sprint.

Being acute to the movement and noise of your surroundings, you pick up the an increasingly louder cantering from your left. You pivot on your foot and hop to the right, soon witnessing a tree in front of you shatter to bits. That's a mere backdrop to the black horse with bits of white bone around its hooves, tail, knees, visible ribs, and face. There are multiple veins running through the horse's body, along with small marks on its face and eyes that are emitting a familiar, burning green glow.

That's one of...

Before you can even fully process the thought, the horse pulls its head in and strikes, forcing you to block with both your sword and sheath crossed. The power behind the attack overwhelms you, flinging your vulnerable body through multiple trees and rolling across the damp ground until you grind to a stop mere centimeters away from a lone tree.

You slowly push off the ground, coughing up small bits of blood. The booming sound of the trees you broke through crash landing swirls through the forest.

"Yeah... a few broken bones. The hell... is..." You hear the slow approach of the hooves, soon coming to a stop. Looking up, you see the Grimm in its entirety. The massive horse is undoubtedly mutated by Merlot, but the being attached to the back of the horse is new. It's a skinny yet tall humanoid Grimm with the lanky arms you've been begrudgingly avoiding. It has bone structures on its chest, the same visible ribs like the horse, and a mask with two very long horns. His mouth has strings connected and loosely sewn it together, only allowing small bits of the green tint within its mouth to shine - the same glow that its eyes and mask markings have. There are massive green crystals protruding from its back, acting like malformed bones from the spine.

What... the hell... is that thing? I've never heard of a Grimm like this before, mutated or not.

The Nuckelavee's head cracks side to side as it stares at you, body starting to shake. It then throws its hands to the side, leaning forward and screeching so intensely that you can see the ripples in the soundwaves. You immediately cup your hands over your ears in a desperate attempt to drown out the agonizing sound piercing your ears. Even with your meager defense, your ears and nose start to bleed from the terrorizing screech.

Damnit, without my Aura this'll kill me in no time.

You lean over and swipe your weapons, immediately formulating a plan to stop the noise. You spin to the right, cutting close to the base of the tree with your sword and knocking it over with your sheath, all in one smooth motion. You spin around a second time, winding up your sheath like a baseball bat to shoot the tree towards the Nuckelavee. The mere pressure of its screams slows tree's velocity down, allowing the horse to easily knock the hulking trunk away before howling its own tune.

Okay, definitely time to go!

You turn around and sprint away, almost instantly hearing the horse gallop after you. Knowing you can't be too far away from the village means you need to keep moving. You can't let yourself be trapped fighting here, especially not with this thing so close on your tail. Of course, seeing you flee incites the Nuckelavee to throw its arms at you to pin you down. You lean to the side, dodging one, then jump into the treeline to escape the other. You soar from tree to tree, the lanky arms breaking every branch you used in its attempt to put get you. Not only that, but the horse is uncaring of what's in front of it, so collapsing trees are commonplace right now. One of those tumbling trees falls forward, smashing against the one you're going towards. The thick trunk of the tree moves in front of you while a fatal, organic spear is behind. With nowhere to go, you pivot your foot forward to land on the tree and use it to flip back, passing right over the fingers just as they pierce through the tree. You land on its skinny arm, using it as your platform to sprint forward while your eyes desperately search for another set of branches you can use. To your dismay, the tree domino effect has rendered most ahead of you unusable.

I have to get ahead of these, or stop it entirely.

You vault off the hand and land on the side of a skinnier trunk, launching yourself off it with such power that it falls over. You go from trunk to trunk, using them as springboards for speedy travel. Looking ahead, you notice that from the side you're approaching from, the right side, there's no stable trees to launch to. So, as you zoom towards it, you hook your hand around the bark to spin yourself around the tree and launch off. The second your feet leave the tree, the Nuckelavee bursts through it, a powerful neigh coming from the horse that only propels you further, faster. You land on your feet and immediately go into a fulltilt dash.

Fortunately, the end of the treeline is in sight, meaning a more suitable battleground is close. That doesn't mean you're not still in danger, as one of the Nuckelavees slithers to claim its prize. You jump into the trees, again using the branches as stepping stones. The rider vocalizes his anger, pushing the horse to run even faster. This time, the Nuckelavee throws its arm far off mark, to the right of you, while its left arm goes straight for the target. You jump higher, passing above the lush treeline, only to see the other hand swerving in for a slap. Pushing your agility, you feed blood to your sword and instantly create two small platforms right under your feet to propel off of. You barely dodge the arm, and with the village so close you make another small blood wall to hurdle yourself towards the town.

You momentarily get a look at the village, and it's much like the others – it's gray, abandoned, and likely the resting place of many poor unfortunate souls. Hopefully yours won't be added to the collection. Just as you turn midair, one of its arms manages to wrap around your left leg and immediately flick upwards. The strong momentum causes your arms to fall back as you're dragged high into the sky by your leg, then a sudden jolt down.

With no Aura, you twist your body to the side and shift your arms to protect your head from hitting the concrete. With immense force, you're slammed against the ground. Your head bounces off your arms, taking damped damage from the hit.. You're more and more thankful for Dior's genius engineering, since you may have died right there if your clothes didn't absorb most of the impact. Still holding onto your leg, the Nuckelavee swings you back in the air, arcing you around until it releases you right into a building. You break through the wall and dent into a stone fireplace.

"GAH!" You feel a hard SNAP in your arm on impact. You tumble to the floor, only fanning the flames of your wounds even more. "Gods... ah," you roll on your back and look down at your arm. It's going in a direction that definitely isn't natural. The only lucky thing is that it's not your sword arm. "Son of a... mmmmmmmm," you grind your teeth while slowly looking around for your blade. It's cut completely through the back wall, only stopping because of the guard. You hastily get to your feet, a mix of adrenaline and determination keeping you going. Your arm slowly rises, shivering until it stabilizes on the hilt. You pull the sword out, funnelling blood into it again. With that, you bring the blood up your sleeve, across your body, and to the broken arm. You close your eyes and snap it back into place, using a small pool to act as a pseudo cast for extra insurance. You still remember the comment made back in Beacon - that your body seems to have a very diluted version of your father's Semblance. It won't heal your arm right away, but if left alone, it should at least repair itself slightly.

The Nuckelavee slowly walks into the town, the horse huffing a few times as it enters familiar territory. The humanoid's head twitches, eyes searching for any sign of movement. That doesn't take long, as you casually open the front door and walk out of the house with some blood dripping down your forehead, splitting at your nose. You won't appear weak, even to a Grimm. It doesn't matter how much pain you may be in right now. Eventually your brain will shut it off... though, at that point, it might be too late. With your attention focused completely on the Nuckelavee, you fail to notice the reaction Salem's Mark has when your blood runs over it. The symbol shows itself, feeding off your lost essence.

"Are you finally ready to fight seriously, you monster?" You twirl your sword arm a few times to warm up. "Doesn't matter what you are, all of Merlot's creations will die the same."

Almost like it's responding, the Nuckelavee unleashes one its signature howls that blows back your coat a bit. You take a deep breath before seemingly disappearing from place and appearing beside the horse, holding your blade in a reverse grip to stab the horse. As your blade is about to pierce, the green veins expand to that location, crystallizing the area so your blade comes to a halt.

Of course, it's like the one in the labyrinth. It'd be too easy if it wasn't. Wouldn't want that, huh Merlot?

Using your sword, you push off the body, gliding across the ground for a few feet before skidding to a halt, kicking up small dust clouds that flock to your coat.

This is different. The Minotaur has crystals that formed outside it. This seems like it's on the inside. How much of a difference will that make?

With a wound already on your palm that hasn't been healed, blood surges out and covers the black blade of Crimson Blaze to its legendary red form.

It's all still the same. Disrupt its healing, cut it to pieces.

With the hands still extended beyond your from its previous attack, it finally retracts them, curving both to catch and pull you closer to the beast. You notice and backflip over them, cutting through the right arm. It reacts like any Grimm, with black smoke swirling out.

Its arms don't have the same durability. I should be able to funnel my blood through them easily!

The moment your feet touch the ground you swiftly approach, swerving through three other fingers before sliding to a halt and thrusting your blade down into its hand, it's weak, but still enough to punch through the Grimm. More blood flows from your hand, to the sword and into the Nuckelavee's right arm. Its pure black colour shifts to one of a slight red tint, bulging a little.

The beast throws its constricted body forward while it roars. You first think it's just out of frustration, but further down the arm, a section of it is ripped apart from the inside. A brand new hand regrows itself, instantly stretching out towards you. On reaction, you jump straight into the air to avoid that hand but the second one swipes you from the side, dragging you along in the air until you slam into the side of a central clocktower, dropping your weapons on impact. It drags you across the stone structure until you're in the air again, arcing high in the air then thrown down towards a bridge.

You bounce off the ground, coughing up blood, before falling down two dirty stone platforms and landing in a dried up river bed. Your body shakes as you try and push off the ground but your one arm is still extremely injured. The sharp pain of that combined with everything else pulls your body right back to the comforting cool stone. Your eyes slowly drag to see a dead water flower, here for who knows how long.

"I'm not ending up like you..." You cough up some more blood, some landing onto the flowers petals – a clear bad omen. "Yeah... probably more than a couple broken bones by now. Stupid... Merlot... Maybe I'll..." Your eyelids start to get heavy as the pain fades. "When I wake back up... I'll kick its ass..."

The first thing you see is Ruby, standing with her hands together as if she's praying for you. But dark hands pull her back, bringing Harrier and Cinder to the foreground while glowing red eyes loom above them. The people who wronged you, who killed so many innocents, they have to die. They have to pay for everything. That desire, that determination, brings you back from this night.

Your eyes don't open, but you start to push off the ground. "Not here... not against this thing..." Faltering a few times, you eventually get yourself back on your feet. "I have to keep fighting... this is my fight. Mine!" You open your eyes, vision being a little blurry at first. This addition to your senses makes you stumble, but not fall over. You widen your stance, taking a full, deep breath so your body can reset. You spring into the air, landing within the arena your battle was in. "I don't care what you are, I won't die to something as insignificant as you," your sharp gaze locks on the twitching Mutated Grimm. At this point, your adrenaline is the biggest factor in your ability to keep in the fight.

"(Y/N)!" Nora shouts as she and Ren enter through a gate.

Ren? Nora? What are they doing here? It's too dangerous. Hm?

Even at this distance, you take note of Ren's keen, vengeful gaze towards this Grimm. That's not a look Ren would normally give a Grimm, even one that harmed his friends. You can't be certain, but it's a good guess Ren has seen this thing before. Maybe...

Seeing your beaten and bleeding state, on top of knowing you're out of Aura, the two students spring into action. Nora switches to her grenade launcher and fires off several rounds that connect with the horse and rider, inciting the beast to turn its attention towards them and howl. The partners move in different directions, assuring the Grimm has to split its attention. While the two have history with this Grimm, they also recognize the changes this Grimm has undergone since their last interaction. Ren and Nora were there against the Hydra, they know what it'll take to beat this thing. At least, they should, but Ren is more interested in watching this thing die than any rational thinking.

Taking this chance, you sprint towards the belltower where your weapons have to be. On the first step you feel immense strain and pain in your left leg, but you can't let that stop you. If you can't halt the Nuckelavee's regeneration then all three of you are goners. As you run, you take a quick glance at your friends getting completely dominated by the Mutated Nuckelavee. Despite it being larger than a house, the speed which the arms can attack and move are deceptive, and it's slowly overwhelming them.

Ren circles around the Nuckelavee, firing at it with everything he has. The Grimm swipes at him, wrapping the young man in its hand before tossing him up and then smacking him right back down, shattering the pavement with his body. From the side, Nora leaps at the distracted Grimm with her hammer wound back for a major strike. The horse, however, notices her actions and turns itself, pushing off its hind legs and driving both its front feet into Nora's stomach, then pushes her right against the ground. The horse rears itself up, neighing as it readies to crush the girl again, but Nora rolls to narrowly avoid it, quickly finessing her way to her feet, spinning, and slamming the side of the horse's head with her hammer. This hit knocks the whole Grimm backwards, retracting the arm that kept Ren pinned down. He immediately gets to his feet and starts firing bullets at it.

Their efforts give you the time needed to find your weapon scattered near the bell tower. With Crimson Blaze back in your hand and fueled with blood, you rush back into the fight.

The beast, angry that its prey has escaped, attempts to pin them down again with its lanky arms. Ren vaults over one, quickly backstepping to cut through the arm as much as he can before it retracts its arm and tries to strike again. Nora, on the other side, keeps her distance and fires as many grenades as she can. Despite the pink explosions, Nora notices the sudden green glow where her grenades impacted it.

The Nuckelavee, with both Ren and Nora now on opposite sides, throws both hands towards one of them. Ren slides under one, cutting through the wrist before dashing towards it. Nora jumps back, still midair when the fingers slither forward after her. She starts to pull her weapon up, but you speed at her, catching the girl and moving her right out of the way. You slide across the ground and put Nora down, taking a few deep breaths.

"Thanks. Are you okay?"

"Not really, but I'll get over it. We have to try and break through its armour"

"That green stuff?"

"Yeah, I can't disrupt its healing withou- REN!"

Ren, just charging in and being reckless, doesn't notice the hand he dodged has retracted back at him. It swipes Ren's foot, lifting him up to slap him against the ground once, twice, three times then pulling him towards the back of the horse. Right as Ren approaches, the horse kicks it with its powerful back legs. Ren's Aura shatters on impact, leaving him vulnerable as he collides with a large tree near the gate and rolls to a stop, barely conscious.

The horse turns towards Ren, readying itself to charge and finish the young Huntsman-in-Training off. Three spiraling grenades hit the horse's head, butt, and the rider's chest, batches of pink smoke erupting from each explosive. The horse reels, looking for the source of the attack only for you to burst off the side of a building, using the smoke as cover to get the drop on the Nuckelavee.

You pool your strength into a blow, slicing a smile into the beast's abhorrent visage, cutting through most of the fleshy strings holding its mouth . Your feet land on the horse's neck while you spin your sword around and stab into the Nuckelavee's mouth, a place where it cannot solidify.

It was Nora's idea. Instead of trying to break through the durable exterior, exploit its openings. The Nuckelavee's deranged green eyes begin to shake while still gazing at you, seemingly becoming outraged. You miss it, but Nora watches as the green veins on the horse expand to cover its entire body, going all the way up to the rider. The arms also gain the green layer, overcoming its only weakness. The green crystals on its back start to widen, the same coloured glow within its mouth burns brighter, and it finally releases a terrifying screech that whisks you off the horse and tumbling on the concrete.

You stab the ground to stabilize yourself from the air current it made. Once again, the frequency and intensity causes blood to run down your ears.

Is it powering up? Calling for help? The hell is going on?

The Nuckelavee pulls its hands back and throws them at you faster than it ever has before. This sudden jump in speed catches you off guard, letting it push you through a house and into the stone, immediately forcing you to cough up blood.

"(Y/N)!" Nora calls out, only to draw the attention of the Nuckelavee.

Nora's speed is nowhere close to yours, so she's easily caught in the Nuckelavee's grasp. Before it can throw her, Ren rushes in, twirling over the riders to try and do any damage, then, after landing on the other side, jumps back and fires his guns. The Grimm immediately tightens his grip on Nora and swings its arm at Ren, slapping the partners together prior to splatting them against the ground, grinding an Auraless Ren between the stone and his friend. Nora does her best to act, grabbing onto Ren and twirling herself so she's the one to take all the damage. The Nuckelavee quickly flicks its arm up then down, striking the two on the ground so they can roll close to a house. Nora's Aura promptly shatters as a result, leaving all combatants vulnerable to the immensely powerful Grimm.

With neither of their weapons, Nora is the first to push off the ground and bear witness to the Mutated monster running after them. Nora grabs Ren's shivering body and pulls him underneath a house as meager protection and waits.

But there's no impact.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

You crawl out of the house, huffing and puffing, doing everything you can to keep yourself fighting. The first thing you see is your friends being thrown towards a house and Nora's Aura hitting its limit. The horse drags its foot on the ground a few times in preparation before charging.

There's a moment where you watch, completely injured, no power, and yet your friends are in danger. For some reason, there are flickers of Beacon, of you resting against a wall, beaten, unable to move, and Cinder approaching you.

Pyrrha...

She never stopped protecting her friends, even when she had nothing left, even when it would assure her death. She kept going.

The flashes disappear as Nora drags Ren under the house, holding onto him tightly like it may be the last thing she does. You tighten your grip on Crimson Blaze and bolt towards your friends. No matter what happens, you cannot allow loss. Not again. Never again. You throw yourself off the ground and towards the house Nora and Ren are under, spinning to land on the wall, and burst off toward the Nuckelavee.

"HYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" You let out a howl before attacking, releasing most of what little energy you have left.

You tightly grip your sword with both hands in front of you with such force it hurts, and spin round and round as if you were a charging ball. Like a buzzsaw, you chip the creature's body apart more and more, but not enough to truly break through it's green armour. However, the best is slowly lifted off the ground by your attacks, violently swaying and shouting at the lack of control it's feeling. You stop spinning and push off the horse's chest, keeping it in the air for a second longer while you wind up a massive final hit. With an exhausted roar, you swing your sword and collide with the beast's crystalized body, knocking the whining Nuckelavee a near mile into the town. The echoes of trembling buildings fill the barren streets and beyond.

You stare forward, arms numb as you huff and puff. Within seconds you fall to your knees, dropping the blade. At this point you don't know if this dizzying, draining feeling is because of blood use, over exertion, or the wounds you've received. Either way, you're looking worn and used.

"Ren... Nora!" You weakly call out. "Are you okay?"

You shakily look over your shoulder and peer over at the two as they get out from under the house. You notice Ren now has an ornate dagger instead of his normal weapons. It may be all the blows to the head you've taken, but he even has a calmer aura to him than when you saw him fight first. Though, he also has blood slowly pouring down from his hairline.

"What about you?" She runs to your side, helping you get back on your feet. "(Y/N)... you're so pale."

"I'm... fine... Listen... we probably got one more chance," the two get on either side of you, gazing towards the Nuckelavee's approaching screech. "I can only screw with its regeneration one more time. But we have to break through its armour. Nora," you look over at her with a weak smile. "You're one of the strongest girls I know. The two of us should be able to blow its back out. Ren," you turn to him. "Distract him so we can break his shell. I'll make sure it can't heal, you make sure it dies."

The two synchronously nod, more confident in this fight than they've ever been. "Alright, lets do this!" Nora runs towards the belltower ahead of you.

You look over at Ren, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Be careful. Without your Aura-"

"You're one to talk," the stoic one retorts. "I can handle this."

You nod, quickly chasing after Nora. Ren peers to his shoulder where his clothes have been stained with blood. Despite your calm nature, it's obvious that you're hitting a limit. The young boy takes a deep breath and attunes himself to this important place. His rampant emotions have been quelled, thanks to Nora, so he can feel the air. He won't let himself stop here. Not when you're putting yourself in such peril for then. Not while Nora's still with him. Not when there's people to save.

Ren twirls his dagger and gets into position to fight. The Nuckelavee rushes through the dust, throwing both its arms at Ren. As he passes by, you and Nora stand on top of the belltower, watching Ren engage the Nuckelavee. He has to lead it closer to the belltower so you both can land the best hit.

"You know, Nora... you inspired me once," you say while watching. "I dived off an airship and..." You smirk then peek over at Nora, who's giving you all her attention. "Nora... want to smash?"

A wide, eager grin grows on her face.

Ren rolls over one of the arms and slides to a halt, stopping in front of the belltower. He immediately dashes towards the Grimm. The Nuckelavee howls at him, throwing one arm at him while retracting the other one. Before Ren can act, two large, blood blades drop from the sky and pin down on the hands – blood expanding and hardening to prevent any movement. From high above, far beyond the clock tower, you and Nora dive down with two hammers; yours a blood extension of the sword. You both spin and spin, gaining as much momentum as you can before...

"SMAAAAAAAAAAAASH!" You both shout while hammers slam down right behind the rider, completely shattering through the green layer and near snapping the horse in half.

You and Nora tumble off either side of the horse, but you're the one that gets back on your feet, hastily darting back to the impact zone and shove your sword in the soft section of the wailing horse. Yet again, blood flows in bulk out of your hand and into the body of the Nuckelavee. The green tint the rest of its body is muddled with red.

"R-Ren... DO IT ALREADY!" You yell as the humanoid half shakes and seizures, violently slamming into you as a desperate attempt to free itself.

Ren, his dagger in reverse grip, sprints towards the immobile Grimm.

For my mother.

Ren swings to the right, cutting through the weakened arm and eliciting a painful screech from the Nuckelavee. Ren quickly switches to a normal dagger grip as he slightly dashes towards the other arm and cuts down.

For my father.

Ren vaults himself towards the Grimm, the moment he's been wanting for years is finally here. The Grimm that took his family, the Grimm that took his childhood... the Grimm that brought him to this point. Everything stems from this one beast, and he has to be the one that puts him down.

For all you have slain...

"For myself!" Ren proclaims, decapitating the Grimm in one determined swing. The Grimm almost immediately turns to dust, resulting in you dropping right to the ground, your sword pattering beside you, and Ren going through the smoke and landing on the other side, huffing and puffing.

Ren takes the moment of reprieve after this life-threatening battle. But that's immediately disrupted when Nora ambushes him with a hug, laughing that they're alive. She joyfully kicks her feet over and over while Ren hesitantly returns the hug. Finally, after all these years, they've overcome this horrifying portion of their life. Even when it was greater than they imagined, their friend was there to get them through.

Their friend.

The two's eyes widen when they realize they briefly forgot your desperate state.

"(Y/N)!" Nora hurriedly gets off Ren and runs into the smoke, wafting it out of the way to get a better view. Nora, desperately looking for you, accidentally splats on the ground, her leg hooked into around your ribs. "Ah! I'm so sorry!" Nora hurriedly gets to her knees and pats you, feeling you're still breathing. She waves some smoke out of the way, finally noticing you're unconscious.

"Of course he is. He isn't making any jokes," she lightheartedly says, using it to keep her calm.

Nora carefully drags you out of the smoke and sets you down close to Ren. "He's still breathing," Ren says with relief. "But he needs medical attention. Maybe the ship has a radio that's still operational," Ren proposes while standing up straight.

From the corner of his eye, Ren spots his misplaced weapons scattered in town. He slowly collects them, taking it slow since he got a little damaged himself. Just as he kneels down to grab the first one, a faint, repetitive beeping becomes audible for the two. Nora, still holding you in your arms, gazes up at the incoming Mistrallian airship. Relief washes over both Ren and Nora just seeing something friendly. Ren hurries to retrieve his other weapon while the airship lands and a trio of soldiers come out to assist. Nora carefully picks you up and brings you towards the ship.

"You'll be alright, (Y/N)," she jogs back, collecting your sword from where the Grimm fell. "You'll be okay."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hours have passed since you dropped off the others in Mistral. By this point, everyone knew you should've returned with Ren and Nora. Qrow, having found a house to use as a base for the time being, left Ruby, Jaune, and Neo back at the house. Of course, that only makes the students anxious, both not knowing where their friends are and having to be stuck with Neo. Granted, Neo has no positive thoughts on being tasked with looking after people who she despises, but she's willing to play the good girl... for now. After all, you not coming back right away means that something or someone is keeping you occupied. It could be an enemy, it could be some commoners requiring assistance. Either way, she's confident in your abilities enough not to be pacing around the room like a certain red hooded girl.

"Why didn't we go with him?" Ruby mutters to herself. "There would be more people to search, more of a chance to find them! What if they got hurt!" Ruby shouts at Jaune, who's sitting uncomfortably on a red couch.

"Well, uh..."

"See? Even you don't know! How're we supposed to- gak" With a sharp swing of Neo's umbrella, Ruby crumbles to the floor.

"Hey!" Jaune stands up, reaching for his sword.

Neo crosses her arms while tapping Ruby with her foot. The red rose starts mumbling, making clear that she's fine. Jaune hesitantly relaxes himself, but that showing alone terrifies him. Ruby was pacing around the room, Neo was sitting on the couch diagonal to Jaune, yet she was still able to appear behind Ruby and hit her before either of the students realized. Clearly, you weren't lying when speaking of Neo's abilities.

Neo hooks her foot under Ruby, kicking her up in the air then thrusting her palm into the young one's stomach with just enough force to knock her on the couch. Ruby's limp body rolls into position, lying lengthwise on the couch like she passed out from a wild night. Neo gingerly returns to her spot on the couch, staring at Jaune in a manner that makes the lone boy uneasy. He fiddles in place, trying not to acknowledge her gaze.

But even Qrow's absence stretches to over an hour, leaving the novice warrior drawn into the same slumber Ruby's still in. Neo is alert as ever, and is immediately aware of noise approaching the front door. She hops onto her feet and skips over to the kitchen area, swiping a glass and filling it with water. Right as she turns off the tap, Ren and Nora open the door, followed by Qrow who's carrying you on his back. With their Aura back and having time to clean up, the other members of RNJR look like they haven't even been in a fight.

This rumbling wakes Jaune right up. "Guys! You're okay!" He stands and jogs past the middle table. That's when he sees you, unconscious. "Wait, what happened?"

Neo skirts along the side of the couch where Ruby's head is, standing still as a statue for a few seconds prior to dumping the water on her.

"WAH! Hey!" Ruby shakes her head, getting loose droplets everywhere. "What was... oh, Qrow! Oh... (Y/N)!" Her tone shifts from excited to horrified. "What happened?"

"He was in custody of the police," Qrow moaned, walking towards one of the bedrooms on the left. "He needs rest."

"Is he-"

"His Aura is already back," Ren informs. "He just needs time to recover. We..." Ren clears his throat. "Found a very dangerous Grimm."

"Dangerous?" Nora exclaims, followed by the sound of Qrow opening a door and entering. "It was one of those green Grimm!"

"Green?" Ruby stops in place. "You mean Merlot's Grimm?" She turns on her heel to face the others.

"Yeah... and a Grimm that..." Ren pauses for a moment. "That we saw a long time ago."

Ruby, Jaune, and Neo can tell there are hidden connotations beneath those words, but that can be looked at later. Ruby quickly dashes into the room where Qrow has already removed your coat and chest plate, and is now putting you in bed. Ruby rushes forward, jumping right on the bed and landing beside you, on her knees.

"He's... wait, why was he in jail?"

"Remember we talked about the Tawnys? Local authorities weren't too happy about that. Took a lot of convincing to release him into my custody," Qrow rubs the back of his neck. "But from how the kids say it, he was already pretty roughed up. Doubt he'll be awake for a while."

Ruby doesn't respond, instead just staring at your sleeping form. Qrow takes this as a cue to just leave the room so you can have some time together. Neo is standing at the door, shifting so Qrow can pass. She watches as Ruby kicks off her boots and lays down beside you... then lightly smacks your forehead.

"You're so... dumb," Ruby whines quietly. "But you're okay," she wraps an arm around you and pulls herself, nestling closer to you. "We're together... and we're okay."

Neo's eyes drift down, becoming a white tint. She turns around, hooking the doorknob with her umbrella to close it. You made it. You're in Mistral, you're with your friends, and you're going to stop Salem's plan. But where does Neo fit in all that? The girl takes a seat on the solo chair as Ren and Nora retell the events to Qrow and Jaune. All these people are smiling, their connection so close to each other, to you, and yet Neo...

Neo's not a part of that at all.

So, this finale actually was a lot longer than I was expecting. I thought maybe 12 pages or something, nope, 25. Oh well, I hope you all enjoyed it! We'll be officially moving into Volume 5 now! Look at that, I'm over halfway caught up with the main show... oh god, the main show. Yeah, that doesn't actually make me happy at all, it's literally all downhill. There is no happiness ahead. Oh well, I guess I'll keep suffering to provide this. Especially after that finale... Volume 8 is so bad, it's so easily the worst one. Aaaaaaaaaaaahh

Anyway, like I said, I hope you all enjoyed! Volume 5 will... certainly be better than the show's. At least, I hope. I have some ideas, some plans, everything that will make for an entertaining time. At bare minimum, that ending portion will be a lot better. We'll see.

Funny enough, I was going to say you'll have to wait a month for more, but this chapter was made in, like February. I made a fun, and terrible, April Fools story. Name and I really enjoyed making it, so if you're looking for a really dumb waste of time then check it out! I'll be starting up Volume 5 right away!

And another little edit, the next chapter is actually already done! It'll be coming... soon? Sooner than this one, I promise.

That's all for me! Until next time!

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