Author's Note

Oh? What's this? An update? Someone give me an award! Sorry it's short though but it works better like this. OK, so I have 2 announcements. First is that I have my last exam On the first day of exam week and the new semester starts on February 1st so, I have one week of doing absolutely nothing. So, I refuse to do anything else but work on NEW until it's done, and I will post the rest of the chapter's as I finish them so no worries.

The last announcement is I have started a YouTube channel where I read a bunch of stuff but I want to do more with it but for now I read the first chapter of some of my favorite stories and I want to turn NEW into a full out audio book but I need suggestions to make it better. So, type J Wolf Silver into YouTube and look for my profile pic, it should be the first thing to pop up and look for the first chapter reading of NEW.

So that's all for Now, later!

========

My humanity was gone and all that was left was a void and the demon Next. I got nothing to live for now. I can't go home, no matter what happens I'll lose Weiss and Grant, well Next will probably kill him too. I'm hopeless. I pretty much lead them all to their deaths.

"He has no humanity left!" Next growled, "I devoured every last drop.

Ruby was on the ground clutching her arm after Next had swung my sword at her, "That can't be true!" Ruby yelled adamantly.

"Well, I'm sorry...well not really but yes it is." He hissed.

"No!" Ruby said, "I mean, Alex was technically human so if you just trapped him in his mind, he IS still in there."

After hearing that little spurt of logic from the most....unlikely source, I smirked. She was right of course and she made me realize that it was also still technically my head so what goes on in it was under my control.

I shut my eyes and focused as Next continued his assault. It didn't take long for my hands to faze through the chains, giving me full access to the white room which had turned to black when Next broke out. I looked around and only saw a void I closed my eyes and concentrated but it remained black.

If only I could see the chairs and stuff so then I could find the right direction at least. With that thought I took a step forward and walked into the couch.

"You got three minutes bro!" I hear Grant's voice echo through my head.

I soon found the chair and with that, my direction. The odds of him still being there was small but it was my best bet. I ran for not even a minute, then I saw it, the one eye. As I got closer I could partially make out a silhouette. Cautiously placing my hand on his...well I hope it was at least appropriate.

"Hey, are you there?" I said quietly.

"Yes." He said in a raspy voice.

I lifted my hand and held it where I presumed his silhouette was. "Come on, we have to go."

He touched my hand and I immediately felt light headed so I collapsed to one knee and gripped my head but something had changed. I felt my ears, or, more to the point, the lack of wolf ears on the top of my head.

I shook the questions going through my mind and grabbed the man, slinging his arm over my shoulder so he could use me as support and walked over to the silhouettes of the furniture.

It's a little brighter than it was before. I thought to myself but I didn't have time to think of that as I sat the strange beast on the couch. His one red eye had faded to a dull pink so I could now see a dark circle in the middle which I had presumed to be my eye. He was maybe a few inches shorter than me and I tried to strain my eyes to see more detail as I pulled the chair in front of the couch.

"Who-" I started but I was interrupted buy yelling outside my head, causing me to shut my eyes to see what was going on.

"Weiss! Are you ready?" Grant yelled.

"Yes!" She yelled from somewhere in my blind spots.

"You guys ready?" Grant yelled again but he received no answer as a red blur moved around Next at high speeds, no doubt Ruby's handy work.

Next flailed, trying to claw at the red blur, but had no such luck. Eventually Ruby's cyclone started to suck the oxygen from the inside. Me, Next and the beast started choking. Next fell to his Knees and that's when Ruby stopped. Weiss made her presence known when my body grew cold. When Next looked down, I could see ice encasing my body. Weiss was about half a foot behind us, her rapier dug into a hill of Ice, effectively trapping Next.

Grant grabbed his head and pressed his own against Next's forehead, "Give me my brother!"

Next growled, "Never!"

Wow, what a cheesy line. I thought.

"Then we'll have to pull him out ourselves." Grant smirked and for me, grant and the Beast, time slowed.

"Listen to me Alex," Grant said in a rough voice, "I'm going to help you but you need to trust that you can take over again."

I wasn't sure what he meant until the room got lighter, as did the beast.

"My semblance is time, I'm turning the time to when you and the beast had a strong connection." Grant explained.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean??" I asked out loud in my mind.

"Ah, so you are still in there." Grant smirked.

Next let out a roar.

"Look at the beast and you'll see.

I looked at the beast and my breath hitched. He was no beast at all, he was me. He was who I used to be. He was the kid who popped up in Ozpin's office with his shaggy brown hair. The same kid who went with Next to destroy an ancient grimm. However, that boy never returned to Beacon, he was changed physically and emotionally to who I am now.

Something was different though. He was almost grotesque. All of those wounds I had gotten from the ancient grimm still looked fresh on his body. His rib cage was crushed, one of his eyes were missing and his one green eye was bloodshot. His face had so many gashes that you could barely make out the facial features and his jaw just seemed to hang there.

"Now," Grant continued, "you two need to merge."

"What?!" I exclaimed, "How the hell am I supposed to do that."

"Grab my hand." My old self told me in a raspy voice, sticking his out weakly.

"You have got to be kidding me." I groaned, his hands had like no skin and had broken fingers. It was kind of gross.

"Do it damn it!" Grant yelled.

I sighed and took his hand and I could feel my hands get gooey as we began to get encased in green slime. It was all the way up our arms when I heard a scream, Weiss's scream. I closed my eyes just in time to see that Next had broken fee and grabbed Weiss's rapier from her then effectively stabbed her in the chest.

"Weiss!" I called as Ruby caught her as she went unconscious.

Next laughed wickedly and took a step to Ruby who, was too weak from trapping Next with the large gashes in her legs, she couldn't move anymore. I saw green ooze start to form on Next's body and I realized that it was almost the exact same stuff that changed me in those woods all that time ago.

He was right in front of Ruby and Weiss, Ruby holding Weiss protectively. Next bared his claws and looked at them with a maniacal grin on his face.

Just before the swipe of his claws reached the girl's I instinctively tried to pull my hand away and said, "Don't touch them." through my clenched teeth.

"Alex?" Ruby asked.

I flinched in shock when I realized my hand had stopped millimeters from Ruby's face and she had heard me say, don't touch them, in my own voice.

Next cursed under his breath an continued to try to gain control but the more I focused the faster the ooze formed on his body. Then something both amazing and weird happened. I watched as the beast and I's hands merged together and for ever little bit of our bodies that merged into each other, he moved closer and eventually Next could no longer move, just cry out in pain and anger. As our shoulders started to merge, I could feel the pain I did when Next changed my body. Next and I both screamed out but the beast gave me a warm smile, like he was happy that he wouldn't feel the pain he has endured for so many months.

As we continued to merge, I could feel me shrink those few inches and I felt my hair fall on my forehead. Everything went dark but I was still conscious. Then I became overcome with pain and relief as my skin burned then healed over. I saw light but it was all blurry but slowly, my vision was returning.

Soon all of the pain, everything, it was too much, we all blacked out.