Author's Note: Hey guys, sorry if the last chapter just ended abruptly, like to the point where it was barely even a cliffhanger. I had a lot of stuff going on and I just wanted to get a piece of it out, so if this one doesn't feel as… intense at the start, then just know it's because I wasn't planning on having this be a two-part fight. I probably screwed up my 60 chapter limit for this story because of it too, but oh well. I'm also currently deciding whether to focus on finishing the new chapter for the Desertion remake after this one is out, or just go on to make the next chapter for Part Two.

I'll most likely stop and work on both between the next update since It might be awhile until another post comes out, but in regards to this chapter specifically… I'll make sure to not pull any punches by the end of it. Hell maybe I'll even surprise a few of you like I did in Part One's finale, and after I post chapter 51, we'll finally be free from this arc! Then we can hopefully breeze through the final chapters of Part Two after a little change of scenery… but only time will tell, however. Not to mention we're not even halfway through this year's RWBY drought :(

Again to everyone who's stuck with me across this entire storyline, thank you for enduring every new character that's been introduced, every new injury Gage's received, (also yes, I know at this point it's getting ridiculous.) and every time the RWBY canon just seems to work out in my favor! Now, I only hope that this finale is able to satisfy everyone... even if the end result is a little unexpected. Please, enjoy!

(Thanks to my friend Mercury for helping me edit this chapter as well, specifically with all the military lingo!)

Important Edit: I know that there's some people coming here to escape from what's going on in the world right now, but I feel obligated to let you guys know that I live near where the first cases of the virus showed up in California. Not trying to be dramatic, simply wanted to let y'all know in case something happens with the lockdown here. Previous introversion has helped with quarantine, so I'll make sure to inform you guys if there's a new development. But in the meantime… i chose to extend this chapter a little bit more, to the point where we hit a new chapter length milestone, just so you guys can waste a lot of time reading this update.

To everyone reading this, please make sure to stay safe and vigilant, and I'll be wishing you the best of luck during these crazy times. Bless y'all.

Song: The River by Blues Saraceno

…

Chapter 50 - This Is Who I Am: Part Two

Gage came crashing down from that crumbling rock he was on before and made damn sure that he landed right on top of Neo while she was still writhing there painfully on the ground. He planted his good leg on her waistline and his bad one on her chest, before he bent his bandaged knee forward due to the pain of the landing and managed to push himself off of Torchwick's apprentice. He performed a small hop and started to fire Alizarin's AK-47 successfully at Draco and Ethan, as they weren't able to block all of the rounds, and when the ghost's feet hit the floor again… he crashed right through each of them in the blink of an eye.

The second he looked towards the rest of Team DEFN he zoomed ahead with a white line trailing behind him thanks to Summer's semblance. A trail of white and black roses followed the ghost, and during that instant a heavy slash formed across Draco, Ethan, and Fenrir's bodies that came from the AK's rifle bayonet. It turned out that Gage's plan of attack was able to stun the entire team… and so he kept running towards the other end of the fourth floor.

This was because the second his grenade detonated on his rocky platform the entire stone island began to break apart, and due to that formation landing in the middle of the fourth floor… the entire level became hollowed out and began to collapse just like the fifth one. This one didn't take as long to fall either, so Gage kept blasting ahead while the stone under his feet cracked and fell yet again. However, he wouldn't be buried like last time.

Payback can be a bitch sometimes, and the ghost could only glance back at Draco and the others as the level began to shatter beneath their feet. Before Gage knew it, all four members of the strike team were dragged down by the debris and tiles. So as he and Summer both rejoiced on the inside, the phantom's semblance carried him from the floor and upwards so he could stab the assault rifle's bayonet into that floor's upper walls, and it kept him from falling down into the now deeper chasm.

As he closed his eyes and hung there, the light from Summer's white and red aura started to wither and eventually faded until the thunderous crashing and settling of stone eventually ceased. Only then did Gage take a deep breath and look down, just to see that the fourth floor was gone… Well, everything except for a thin catwalk that seemed to be crafted by the two (still unheard of) gods themselves, along with a cable that came down from the ceiling and was connected to a glass elevator that could be seen below. The third level had caught everything else and appeared to be relatively stable aside from looking completely trashed, but with it being the largest area of the mall, it surely wasn't going to fall like the two floors before it.

"...THAT'S for Minnie, her father, and all of the other innocent people you killed, you smug CUNT!" Gage called out, to Neo specifically.

Following that and his brief exchange, the ghost started to pant and he bowed his head from momentary exhaustion. He didn't know where that came from, and since he didn't have a good guess at the time, he chose to question Summer about it. "*pant* ...Summer, what's happening? I don't remember getting this tired when we fought Cordelia, and I could've sworn that we caused more damage than this too…" He asked the rose wearily.

"We weren't as coordinated back then, so I'm guessing that destructive power we had gave itself up to fix your semblance so it would stop harming you. But at the same time, your body recognized how much stress came with having my aura and semblance on top of yours. Time just seemingly balanced things for us..."

"Well, having that would make this fight a whole lot more fair, for us at least…" Gage murmured to himself, now feeling like his good luck was finally starting to run out. His phantom was still able to remind him of the upsides of their situation, or more like the advantages they had left until those chances were spent. "We still have my speed though, so we can use it if we have to dodge or run. Mix that with your semblance, and we can still take a few risks." They both knew that was bound to happen, without a doubt.

The fact that they could read each other's emotions and ideas was a plus, and even though she knew it was a lot to ask of him, the ghost felt a little more encouraged by her plan of attack. He didn't have anything on that front, so in his mind he figured that her way was the only option they had left. That, and the fact that Team RWBY, JNPR, and RIM were on the way. "Let's just hope we can hold out until help arrives..." Then with all of this extra reassurance in mind, Gage did his best to get down to the third floor as safely as possible.

He first tried to slide down the wall at a slow pace with his assault rifle's bayonet in place, but when he realized how long that would take, he just blew caution to the wind and pushed himself off of the wall once he looked down and saw a large almost ramp-like slope that was sticking out like a sore thumb from all of the broken debris down there. As you'd expect, he launched himself out and fell towards it without going feet first to avoid any more damage to his leg, and the ghost braced himself once more as he crashed onto the surface of the stone ramp with his sides before he just tumbled to the bottom of it.

Gage also got a mouthful of the dust, soot, and silt that was in the air, so once he finally landed and rolled until he was on his back again, he started to choke on the harmful smog as Alizarin's AK-47 clattered onto the floor next to him. "Augh! *cough!*…Fuck, okay, no more jumping from here on out…" He sputtered, now holding his waist while his injured knee also pulsated through what was left of the A-Stim's numbing effects.

His first instinct was to grip his weapon again and ready it as he struggled to lean up yet again, but after his vision cleared and he was able to scan the area in front of him with the weapon in hand, he relaxed and started to get back on his feet. From what he could see, this level was indeed bigger than the other floors and was the mall's main food court/dining area, as there weren't any shops in sight.

Ones that weren't completely buried at least, and now the entire place had been reduced to a barren wasteland covered in rocks and stone, with the occasional pipe sticking out of the ground with water being blasted from it. The place was also slightly carved out in a circle going around the main court in a ring or moat-kind of fashion, so if you fell into that ring of nothingness, you'd be thrown down to the second floor… and the only other way to leave was to get across one of the few small bridges that connected the food court to the mall's side exits and access stairs.

By the time Gage processed this information, he had set his rifle and used it as a pillar of support to help him rise up for what needed to be the final time. He then checked the AK and changed it's magazine to the only one he had left on him, and started to look around in circles for any signs of Team DEFN before they could get the drop on him.

"So… You gonna kick em' while they're down?" Summer asked him, only for her courier to limp out slightly towards the center of the court, furrow his brow, and reply to her ominously. "They'd do a lot worse to me..."

After more of his own paranoia started to seep back into his senses, the ghost sauntered between two giant mounds of debris that almost created a small trench between them, and soon enough he realized that things had gotten too quiet. The dust and destruction had finally settled… and nothing else came after it, that was the problem. He made a lot of noise coming down for sure, and he was unharmed, so the enemy team should've at least been groaning in pain or digging their friends out, but instead there was just silence.

It got the Ghost of Remnant so confused and anxious of what would come next, that he even thought about using his invisibility right off the bat to hide easier when he needed that aura to fight. And he surely would've used his semblance… if a woman's shrill voice hadn't suddenly shot out, sound like she was screaming bloody murder,

"HELP ME-SOMEONE, PLEASE!"

"Is that…" It pierced Gage's eardrums and made him feel unsettled just by how desperate it sounded… and when he heard a second younger voice crying out in a type of fright that would've been normal for a child, the ghost lowered his weapon and rushed right to the source of the two voices. His eyes expressed instant regret and resentment for his actions, and Summer's emotions only worsened that feeling. "-OH NO!" She exclaimed internally.

Her speed helped him get to the back end of the third floor in a short burst of petals and autumn leaves, as he basically drifted around a pillar that landed vertically and had another one come into view once he got around that bend. There, the ghost saw the giant support beam as it had landed on top of various dunes of tile, stone, and rebar… as these voices could still be heard coming from the other end of it. Gage's body basically teleported behind that pile of junk thanks to how fast Summer's semblance carried him, and he finally laid eyes upon the hysteric woman.

She was digging at the bottom of the junk mound with bleeding hands and a large laceration as it went across one of her black cat ears and caused some blood to get mixed in her sable colored hair, and when she looked back at the Ghost of Remnant… he dropped everything and ran towards her. Because as he looked through the wide hole she managed to claw through, he saw what looked to be her son trapped under the rubble with tiny gasps and yelps coming from him. The first thing the ghost did was go over and help her dig, but not without telling her exactly what he was thinking, "YOU WERE SUPPOSE TO LEAVE WITH THE ATLESIANS!"

"We lived in Atlas-*gasp*-and came here to escape their persecution! *sniffe* …but now the White Fang are taking their own kind as hostages?! I JUST DIDN'T KNOW WHO TO TRUST!"

The boy shuddered and whined even more once they heard them both yelling, and Gage just chose to drop the argument when he saw that the kid's hand was poking out of the tiny hole. "If that's the case, then you have to trust me, because I'm not letting either of you die here!" That was when he noticed that the burrow's entrance had a pole/steel beam poking through it, and he chose to instead bend down and look at the child.

He was expecting another bloody mess, but in reality, he wasn't harmed at all aside from being scraped up a little bit. He was most likely just scared because of everything that's happened, and the fact that he was trapped… so Gage shouted down at the boy and reached for his hand. "Take my hand and bend your legs, I'll pull you up!" The child had been shoved in there pretty deep with barely anything to grab onto and pull himself out aside from bits of sharp metal, so when the ghost just wrenched his metal arm down into that tiny tunnel, the boy hugged it like it was a giant stuffed animal.

After that, the ghost roared as he dragged the kid up the burrow all the way until they reached the pole that was blocking it's opening, and he could only watch as the mom grabbed onto her son and began to pull him back and forth vigorously in an attempt to get him out of there. She was doing it out of pure emotion, but once her son started crying out in pain Gage used his free arm to push her back. Next, he took the boy's hands and placed them on the base of the pole so he could at least hold onto something solid other than his prosthetic.

"Gage, you need to be quick, otherwise they'll get caught in the crossfire!"

"YEAH-I KNOW!" He actually said this out loud thanks to the pressure he was put under, and after that he placed his hands on the other end of the pole/bar and started to bend it back slowly with his metal hand. While he did this, the mother thought to scrape away at the mouth of the burrow in case they still had to drag her child out of there.

Soon enough the piece of metal in Gage's grip snapped in half, and once that obstacle was out of the picture, and the boy's mom reached down to pull him out safely, the ghost started to cut at the hole's opening with his claws… until a large crack could be heard from somewhere on the other end of the third floor. This made the ghost stop and he listened as the sound became louder and louder, not due to its escalating volume however, but because the source of the destruction was heading right for him.

It had to be Team DEFN for sure, and he knew this. So the first thing Gage did after hearing the incoming destruction was look at the disheveled woman next to him and saw that she had stopped at the same time too with shaky breaths now coming from her. "...Oh no. T-They're coming!" The woman shuddered.

And with them both aware of what was on the way, Gage chose to hastily whisper some instructions as he pulled her close for a moment, to the point where their eyes met. That was when reality was restored in her head, and she finally noticed who was talking to her… who ran to help save her son during such a disaster as this, and now the woman just couldn't believe that a dust and blood covered, bandana-masked nineteen-year-old was the Ghost of Remnant.

"Take him and leave, or hide if you need a better opening to run… *huff* ...After that just head outside to the soldiers and cops-they'll get you to safety, I promise!"

She didn't have time to ask any questions after this hit her all at once, and could only stare back at the ghost as she dragged her son halfway out of the burrow, and watched while Gage stood up and turned his back to the pair so he could face the danger ahead of them all. "And no matter what you hear… you don't stop for anything."

He then started to walk away from the mother and son, and could barely hear the woman whisper, "T… Thank you…" With tears in her eyes as she pulled her boy out and held him in a brief bearhug. The next thing Gage did after they were no longer in his peripheral vision was unholster Javix, put his last six rounds into it's chamber before he flicked it shut, and shifted his weapon into it's kukri form.

At the same time he was finding the courage and stamina to continue this battle with those two in the back of his mind, Draco and Fenrir were clearing the floor of any rubble in an effort to catch the ghost in case he was 'napping'. With their two semblances combined, they would freeze any large section of debris solid before shattering to pieces with their weapons, and soon enough they had already cleared half of the level. The only thing recognizable behind them was that previously mentioned elevator shaft.

Ethan tagged behind the two of them as well with a bloody and torn Neo, who refused to lean on him when he offered, even though she could barely walk after what Gage did to her. Each member of their team were individually roughed up and pissed off after the reverse card that was just pulled on them, not to mention their auras were a whole lot less sturdy than they were a minute ago. But either way they had strength in numbers with the more devout half of their team using that to their advantage, while Draco and Fenrir just wanted to see how far the Ghost of Remnant was willing to go in order to survive.

Things would become rather odd a few minutes later. Because after DEFN froze and broke through to the back half of the debris, and one of the giant columns were frozen solid and cut down into pieces…. The ghost could be seen sitting on a small piece of rebar in the middle of the tiny trench he ran through earlier once the icy mist from Fenrir's semblance and Draco's sword slash dissipated into the air.

The dragon faunus became the center of his attention despite looking at the salamander through the corner of his eye, and that quickly ended once Fenrir, Neo, and Ethan all came over and got in formation with Draco. No one charged Gage right off the bat or even lined up a shot, instead the four victimizers slowly approached him with their hands at their sides while he just stared back at them menacingly.

"...If you came here and did all of this just to hear me beg… then you're gonna be disappointed. That option's already passed, and I won't do it a second time. Not for the likes of you."

"Why, 'cuz we're faunus?~" Ethan taunted him.

The white wolf shrugged too even though he didn't take a second to factor in Neo like others would've, and needless to say, Gage wasn't gonna let that type of crap fly. He didn't have to prove anything anymore, so he chose to lay into Draco, Fenrir, and Ethan specifically since the small pink tyrant had been seared enough already, "...Because you're all just another group of Adam's mindless drones. You might be stronger than the rest, but it still doesn't seem like any of you can think for themselves!" He wanted to cut deep into them.

That was when he stood up again and was quick to remember the words of a faunus he'd apprehended with Yang, Emile, and Jackson all that time ago, before he repeated them in an effort to help the three faunus in their group see the errors of their ways. But since the two older faunus had already been swayed in secret, Gage ended up only putting Ethan's arrogance to the test.

"The three of you could be helping people-saving people-but instead, you're here causing even more harm by doing his dirty work, while he continues to drag the 'precious' name of The White Fang through the mud! ...All because I made him look vulnerable at the height of his power."

With his clawed prosthetic hand and Javix's blade resting at his sides, the ghost looked across at Team DEFN only to see that Draco and Fenrir just kept a stone-cold stare aimed right at him, while Neo was seething with rage while she watched him. As for the young sniper in their group… he gripped his weapon's hilt tightly once the bull's name and actions were mentioned, until a short pair of fangs appeared in his mouth. Then once Ethan couldn't think of any clever insults to throw out thanks to the sudden surge of anger, he just cursed at the ghost ferociously.

"YOU TORE HIS THROAT OUT LIKE A FUCKING ANIMAL-!" And he even went to shift his hammer back into it's sniper form so he could take a shot at Gage, but soon Fenrir put a hand out and stopped him before he did something else stupid. In reality, he was simply trying to save their target from another bullet wound. "Mind him, he's just trying to buy some time by running his mouth. It's what he does best, especially when he's desperate..."

"Yeah I bite, and thanks for reminding me… *pant* ...of both those things." Gage smirked at them in return.

Their white wolf growled under his breath, but didn't choose to attack then either. Instead Ethan huffed intensely through his nostrils and started to circle around the Ghost of Remnant who still didn't move or disappear with his semblance, even when Neo, Fenrir, and Draco all started to circle him around him as well. Thankfully they weren't aware of what he was stalling for, aside from backup.

It was like a gam of sharks who could taste a hint of blood in the water. Team DEFN paced around their target until they got close enough to box him in so he wouldn't be able to escape as easily. Only then did Gage react to their odd approach, and he did so with a shrug and an audible half laugh/gasp as he was still short of breath from helping the woman and her son, "Heh… my offer to talk still stands!"

By now they all had their weapons at the ready, with Ethan and Neo being equally antsy at this moment, but as Fenrir tried to hide a small grin from the rest of his strike team… Draco broke their circle and stepped towards the ghost as the four of them stopped to form one corner of a cube shaped formation around him.

The dragon faunus stepped carefully towards Adam's nemesis and figured it was a good time to get Gage's blood pumping for whatever came next... as the short research Draco did on their foe was unveiled along with a faulty sinister smile. "Unlike most faunus, you were surely raised behind the safety of a kingdom's walls. But after you ran from us the first time… after your Desertion, you must know by now, that out there in the wild…" And as he saw the ghost's fake, cocky demeanor shrivel before his eyes, the salamander simply pointed Yato's blade at him and bowed his head delicately. "...this IS how we talk."

"...Oh, that's a fuckin' lie-!"

However, the second Gage tried to call bullshit on the man's claim, Neo's fuze finally erupted from all of the waiting around and she rushed him with everything she had left. The illusionist flew ahead with her umbrella/parasol named Hush (just found that out by the way!) and tried to crack it against his injured knee, but he was able to dodge it with Summer's speed as she took control of his movements for a moment. Her semblance was also so much more developed than Ruby's that it even looked like he teleported a centimeter away from the pink umbrella's path, and the ghost just looked back as Neapolitan passed by him.

He knew that'd probably never happen again, and much to his disappointment the pissed off siren had been waiting for him to evade in some way. She skidded past him and stopped suddenly so she could spin around before she finally clipped her umbrella to her side, causing it to act almost like a sword sheath as she grasped her weapon's handle and pulled her hidden cane-sword out of it's pink folded-up canopy.

She then took a knee, bent her arm and held her blade at a defensive angle before she inhaled and swiftly threw herself back at Gage a second time while he was still trying to look back at her… which was when the rest of DEFN chose to jump the ghost in unison. Neo lunged at him in a similar way that Weiss would've done with Mrytenaster while Draco jumped towards him with an incoming overhead slash, Ethan ran and slid in an attempt to smash his hammer against the ghost's bad leg, and Fenrir tried to slash his torso vertically with Blazeburner as he charged ahead with his bastard sword.

They covered every angle to a point where he knew that dodging this one was impossible even with Summer's speed, so he took the easy way out by activating his own semblance and had the team pass right through his body and crash into each other instead. Draco was able to push himself back thanks to his dragon wings, but the rest of DEFN fell into that trap… with Neo being the only one to momentarily withdraw her attack. Fenrir pretty much trampled over Ethan and fell to his knees, but he also had a back up plan to follow up with.

Despite his wolf faunus 'brother' being basically flattened, the assassin chose to perform a combat roll to mask Blazeburner as it started to shift into its second form. Gage of course couldn't get a glimpse of everyone with only two eyes, so when he jolted back and saw Fenrir spin around and aim what looked like a bigger, more advanced crossbow at him… he wasn't ready for what came next. The assassin fired a bolt square into the center of the ghost's tactical vest before he seemingly pumped the thing and shot a second bolt into his armor. This was pretty much automatic compared to Mistletoe, so Gage wasn't aware of what was going on until the third bolt smashed against his aura.

Thankfully that barrier and his vest protected him from the bolt's broadhead tips, but the impact of three of those things knocked the wind out of him all the same… which got a very different reaction than anyone would've expected. Insead of him just pulling out Javix and firing a shot off towards Fenrir's face, Gage instead used Summer's speed to aid his movements again as he turned away from a fourth bolt flew that past his neck, and used his free hand to wrench Mistletoe off of his back and essentially dual wield it with Javix.

"Good thinking, just try and keep them at bay-!" Then with Summer's encouragement he held his model out in front of him with one hand, leveled it, and blasted the silver-haired wolf faunus away with it. Fen was knocked to the floor and slid away as his aura was rocked, and after that the ghost flip-cocked his model again and tried to find someone else with a scowl now plastered across his face. Gage then glanced behind himself, held the shotgun out again like you would a pistol and was barely able to hit Neo in the leg with his second round as she was about to launch into another sloppy charge, and since he could still hear the flapping of Draco's wings… the ghost chose to just throw caution to the wind and went for something he could brag about.

He had the mind and mobility to flip-cock his shotgun again before he slung it back over his shoulder to the point where it's barrel was pointing behind his body and at the dragon faunus as he pulled the trigger again. The blast made his ears ring indefinitely, but in that brief time it took for his hearing to return to normal, Gage flinched and tried to take another deep breath… until he opened his eyes and saw that Ethan was getting back off of the ground.

Thanks to their auras the others were surely still recovering from the barrage of buckshot, and the white wolf took it upon himself to stall until they were ready for another counter attack. He ran ahead with his hammer and was able to catch Gage by surprise since he was still having his little moment of clarity, and Ethan was inches away from bludgeoning the ghost with a smack to the top of his head. In the end the young sniper fell short in his judgement and remained enough of a distance away for the ghost to put Mistletoe out in front of himself and block the hammer's blunt end as they both became locked in a standoff.

"Wait-GAGE, BEHIND YOU!" And at the same time… it turned out that Draco hadn't been hit by the previous shotgun blast that came from Mistletoe, as he creeped behind Gage and went to slash up his spine with Yato. He was able to get a good warning from Summer though, and he blocked the attack just in time as he reached back blindly over his shoulder with Javix's blade as it was still in his other hand. His kukri clashed with Yato as the three of them all became awkwardly interlocked… and for a moment the ghost couldn't decide who to look at.

He kept turning between the two faunus to see who would get the idea to attack first, and it didn't take long for the clash to be interrupted. It didn't happen cleanly either… because as he watched Gage turn back one more time, Ethan cheekily kicked the ghost's fucked up kneecap and made him erupt with agony. Mistletoe was lowered out of pure reflex and Summer did her best to use her semblance so they could push the dragon faunus back in a flash of white rose petals, and it was so forceful that his shoes scraped against the tile floor in an attempt to hold his ground.

Afterwards the Ghost of Remnant looked back one more time after he got some distance away from the white wolf, until he saw that the young sniper was still trailing behind him. He had even gripped his hammer with both hands and started to rush over, just as Draco started to push back as well.

They were going to sandwich him again if he didn't do something fast, and without a second thought, the ghost growled to himself until it sounded like he was sucking in air… when in reality, he was sucking up a lot more than that. It was revealed too as soon as Ethan got within two feet of his target, because when the rifleman raised his weapon over his head, Gage spat in his face like he was doing a spit-take. Whatever bile/bloody disgusting residue that was left in his mouth and throat after the beating that Lars gave him earlier that day was launched directly into the young faunus's face, and the sniper honestly couldn't believe it.

"PFFT! PAH-WHAT THE FUCK?!" Obviously he didn't know what happened initially, but needless to say it stopped him dead in his tracks… which was long enough for Gage to grunt like an ape, flip-cock Mistletoe again, and fire his shotgun into Ethan's chest. Just like Fenrir he was thrown back onto the floor, except his aura had been completely broken by the shot and he had to take a second to groan painfully as he held his chest and wiped his face clean.

That left Draco alone yet again, and the first thing he did following that shotgun blast was to reach for Mistletoe and grab it by the barrel with his free hand before he threw it onto the ground next to his own feet, and kicked it back away from them both. Gage wasn't able to fight back since he was looking away, so all he could really do was punch the salamander in the face with his metal hand for some petty revenge. But instead of just taking it and continuing their deadlock, the dragon faunus let his body go limp and he was thrown away just like his two other teammates in case Neo chose to come in with a surprise attack.

And she was intending on attacking… but not by herself. After the siren recovered from the previous impact, she instead waited until Fenrir was back on his feet again and walked up beside him. Soon enough he turned his head towards her, and as the two of them locked eyes, Neapolitan nodded at him and began to re-approach Gage with the armored assassin in toe with her.

Unbelievably, Neo still had some of that overpowered synergy she was known for and was just waiting to clear her head instead of rushing in blindly like she had done before… so with that, the small remainder of her aura, and the fact that Fenrir still wanted to see Gage's resilience for himself, they both paced into a full on sprint towards the guy as Draco hit the ground.

He didn't see either of them coming, and before he could do so, Neo slid from behind him and clumsily slashed the side of his injured ankle in a way that resulted in the loss of her cane-sword as she accidentally let go of it, only for her to continue on unarmed. As for the silver-haired wolf, he tried to slice the back of the ghost's neck as he took a knee from the cut to his leg, just in time for Fenrir to conveniently miss his head, again.

Summer tried her best to do something and get her courier out of this trap, but despite having some help from the enemy team… their shared body couldn't possibly react fast enough to escape what came next. As Gage gasped and raised his head back up… he came face to face with the duo as they circled around to face him, and had what could only be called a volley of damage pound relentlessly against his aura.

He tried to raise a hand up to interrupt the first hit only for Neo to move her head past it and kick his shoulder (while she was still wearing high heels, by the way) which made him lower that arm since she made contact with a joint. Then she sent a haymaker right into the side of his head, and Fenrir followed that up with a backhanded slash from blazeburner. You could see a large neon-green incision form across the ghost's right cheek as the cut was so fierce that it nearly cut through his aura and scarred him, and after that Fen spun his sword back and held it like you would a tonfa, grasping it by crossguard with the handle facing out instead of it's large blade.

The assassin chose to bash him in with that instead as he smashed it against his neck, Neo comboed that with another punch to the eye, and Fenrir backhanded him again with the blunt end of his sword's hilt before they both continued to pummel him equally around eight different times between different areas of his face and chest. During every hit that followed, Gage tried to stand up and block or dodge, only for either of the pair to intervene halfway through. He even got a chance to raise his hand up and fire Javix once at the pint-sized psychopath, but the older wolf faunus managed to reach over and stop the bullet with Blazeburner's blade! The bullet simply clattered to the floor, before Fen tossed his sword to Neapolitan.

She didn't even look at him while she took the thing and held it out in front of her, which happened right as the ghost had another chance to send a punch her way… and he hit the blade of the bastard sword again at the last second. Neo took that moment to jerk the sword back and ended up scratching the paint off his prosthetic's knuckles, and she soon threw Blazeburner back to Fenrir so he could catch it out of the air just like her. Then she sent an uppercut right into Gage's chin as it made him fall back onto his knees, and the assassin ended their little tag-team attack as he caught his sword, spun it again until it was leveled normally, and found the strength to reach over and bury it's blade into their target's left shoulder.

"Gaugh!" I'd be lying if i said Neo didn't use her semblance in there somewhere, but it's not like that could be telegraphed anyway. Either way, they dug into his body deeply… deep enough for Fenrir's sword to cut through the fabric of the tactical vest the ghost was wearing, which fell off of him once it's shoulder strap had been sliced.

Thankfully there wasn't any loss of limbs this time since Fen hit the left shoulder, the one that had the metal prosthetic attached to it, but it still hurt like hell and Gage had begun to seethe with rage as he tried to mumble something. "*huff* ...I'm not going to let-" It was more of a whisper until he found the right bit of anger to use in order to get his message across. "-YOU GET AWAY WITH THI-!"

Yet, right as he was about to scream at the top of his lungs, the assassin used Blazeburner to pull him in close enough for Neo to silence him with another swift kick to the face that knocked him back onto the floor. She didn't even hesitate to continue after that too, as the siren gave the guy a bloody smirk before she ran over and started to stomp on him with her heeled boots. There wasn't any sort of mercy coming for him this time unfortunately, and as their entire team regrouped and surrounded him again, Ethan joined in without a second thought.

He was full of blind rage as he kicked at Gage's sides, and when he and Neo both appeared to be caught up in the moment… Draco stopped in front of the ghost and looked across at Fenrir. They both stared at each other whilst wordlessly trying to think of what to, but soon realized that they couldn't order them to stop without raising some suspicion. What excuse could they make up for that anyway? So as the two of them came to the same conclusion, Fenrir took the initiative and began to lightly kick their target as he covered his head and curled up. The dragon faunus did the same thing with some hesitation once Ethan started to stomp on him too, and now their entire team were slowly stomping the life out of him together.

Gage couldn't even fathom the situation or how to get out of it just yet, so he just braced himself, grunted, and screamed with each hit as his white and green aura was being smashed to pieces with every second that passed. Maybe this could've been enough of a distraction for the mother and son to escape if they were still around, but in the end… he could only pray for Team RWBY to bust through any second now. If not, then things were gonna get bloody in a few minutes.

…

Meanwhile...

…

Time passed slowly inside the Spearhead APC, at least for Yang, and after what felt like hours of hearing military radio chatter, the song that blasted from the vehicle's speakers, and some unintelligible banter that came from some from the marines, she began to tune back into her reality as the inside of the vehicle suddenly lit up. Because in the center of the APC's passenger bay was a small circular disc, which soon displayed a hologram of Winter Schnee as she contacted the vehicle herself.

A small ball of light formed before her figure and body blossomed from it for everyone to see, and Weiss was the first one to say anything. "Winter!" She almost shouted this, and it stirred everyone else to sit up with a more serious posture as the lieutenant's projection appeared before them all.

Winter was nearly brought out of her stance due to the presence of her younger sister, to the point where she could barely hide a warm smile. This was shown to Weiss exclusively for a brief moment before she composed herself again, and got her head back into the situation at hand. "...Team RWBY and Zeta-Three, what's your ETA?" This prompted the marine leader named Gunner to swivel his co-driver chair around and face his superior with a blank expression.

"It's still three minutes if you count all the stairs… ma'am." He said sarcastically. Yang and the rest of her team gave the guy a varying range of dirty looks, to the point where some of the marines couldn't help but snicker at the guy. Thankfully for him, Sora shook that remark off and questioned the lieutenant further.

"Ma'am, what's the situation in the mall?" And Winter didn't miss a beat with her response.

"Most of the civilians have already been evacuated, and a majority of the assailants have been dealt with… except for an elite team of fighters that The Ghost of Remnant is currently battling against on the mall's third floor. In fact, the group as well as the rest of the attackers have been identified as a strike force belonging to The White Fang, and were most likely sent by Adam Taurus himself."

Some of the marines leaned back in their seats after hearing this, with some even exclaiming variations of 'what?!', until Gunner squinted at Winter's projection and raised a hand up while looking visibly confused. "How? Our intel said they were part of the outsider group-"

"It turns out that the situation was still developing, as Team FRST and your resident specialist were able to provide us with new evidence." The elder Schnee then waved her hand over towards Sora, who smugly raised her own scroll up towards the sergeant to reveal that the usb Gage gave her was sticking out of the device's bottom port.

Everything had already been sent to Winter as they left the saloon, but just in case her word wasn't enough… Yang chose to suddenly break her silence to set another thing straight in case Gunner had any more concerns. "And by the way, the refugees had children and elderly with them too. Just in case you don't have that on record..." She relayed to them.

"And you know this. How?" The sergeant asked her, rudely… before Ruby answered for her sister in a dead tone that was foreign to her at the time. It kind of shocked Yang too once she heard it to be honest. "We were there when it all started. They were eating ice cream and M.R.E's while the kids were playing with toys, and then… it just happened." So as you'd expect, Gunner shut his mouth once the sixteen year old girl was able to bring the mood down even more than the person they were all taking orders from.

"...Nevertheless, he's been marked as friendly after we established contact with him, and now the plan has changed." Winter put her foot down along with the team, but made sure to get things rolling before it was too late to work this new development into their new tactic, and she continued on before anyone could question it. "Team RWBY will aid him in detaining the strike team while the marines cover all the exit routes, and Sora is to move to a specific checkpoint and wait for backup that've been called in by the ghost."

Before anyone could ask as to who was coming, the lieutenant turned to face Ruby and the rest of her team to ask something that seemed inconsequential… well, to her at least.

"You four wouldn't happen to know a 'Team JNPR' by any chance, would you?"

"YES, I knew they'd be alright!" Her referencing them was enough to cheer Ruby up immediately, enough to where Blake and Weiss couldn't help but smile upon hearing their involvement… It was hard to believe that Gage was able to somehow rangle them into this, but it was good news regardless. "They're on their way with the three outsiders 'the ghost' trusts the most, so it'll be more than an even fight if your help isn't enough already."

That was a good enough note for the team to end on… but not for Gunner, who couldn't help but feel a little anxious about this new plan after hearing that a potential enemy was involved in it now. "This is so… just-fucked, as unprofessional as it sounds!"

Winter felt compelled to stare daggers at him for just that, appearing to lash out at her word, and like a lightswitch she raised her voice and got his attention back on her. "Sergeant, if i didn't think you could adapt quickly, i wouldn't have given you the mission! Furthermore… it still seems like your platoon is up to the task." When she was done momentarily scolding him, she also took a second to point out the fact that while he sulked in his seat… his fellow soldiers had already started to get prepped.

Helmets and armor were adjusted, and weapons were switched out to more compact rifles for close quarter situations. Each individual marine did this without question while he had something to say, and they froze once their sergeant's attention was brought back onto them as a unit.

"Are they now?" He said to himself.

Team RWBY could feel the air get denser as he watched his soldiers stop what they were doing and sit back like they were trying to stand at attention despite being strapped down into their seats, and it made him laugh. Just from their reaction, and how the roles were switched for once compared to what you'd usually expect.

Pretty soon though, he remembered that her orders were final, and he had to follow them. No matter if he liked them or not. "Hmph. Well then… Lieutenant, would you care to help me correct my tune?" Still though, he chose to pester her into getting everyone back in line, including himself and his own role as a sergeant… which, as cliche as it sounded, meant that there had to be a bunch of yelling. So again like a switch Winter smirked as she put her hands behind her back, raised her voice once more, and gave in to the theatrics that Sora had asked not to see. "Marines! What are you-!"

"WE ARE DANGEROUS!"

Team RWBY and Sora pretty much melted into their chairs upon hearing that first line, and they knew where it was going. The funny thing about it though, was that with every question that followed, the soldiers smiled, laughed, and enthusiastically roared after every word that came out of the elder schnee's mouth. She could help but feel a little nervous considering Weiss was there to witness her in that stupor, yet she continued anyway.

"And do you know weakness?!"

"NO MA'AM!"

That was when Gunner came back in at the last second before he spun his chair back around, got settled next to the APC driver who also joined in at the same time, shouted back at his unit with a grin as well, "-Now boys let me hear the chorus!" Before Winter rounded things off again at the most abrasive octave that could come from her, and ended the sentiment with both her and the sergeant in mind.

"WE ARE HOSTILE, MOBILE, AGILE! WE DO NOT KNOW FAILURE! WE FIGHT TO LIVE AND LIVE TO FIGHT!"

"Oorah Marines!"

"OORAH!"

And in the rush of their loud abrasiveness, Team RWBY couldn't help but feel a little out of place as they kind of awkwardly sat there staring at everyone else while Sora looked embarrassed to be associated with them. However, when things started to wind down and Winter had seemingly nothing else to say, Yang chose to raise a fist and her feet up as she cheered half-heartedly, "Whooo…!"

Blake was the only one to give her a weird look, as before everyone else in the APC could turn their heads over to the blonde, the spearhead's driver suddenly put his own hand in the air and relayed some important information to his passengers.

"SIXTY SECONDS!" Then once again everyone was bathed in the light of a new brightened color, with a piercing green light now shining bright as a small siren started to blare throughout the vehicle. Winter then turned to Weiss and quickly mouthed the words 'good luck' to her younger sister before her hologram disappeared and the marines began to brace themselves for something.

Sora urged Ruby to do the same, and that message was passed along the team until Blake's bow wilted and she turned towards Yang with one of her eyes closed, being clearly annoyed by the volume of the warning signal. "She said Gage was on the third floor, and since I'm sure there aren't any working elevators left… we're probably going to have to run for it the second we get in there." The stray suggested to her partner, and couldn't help but feel like that's all they've done today.

Although, with it clearly being Ruby's call, Yang knew that was the way things were gonna go… but despite the fact that they were about to crash through the door to Eve's Square, the blonde couldn't help but joke about her sister one last time as she made sure that her seat was secure...

"In that case, I hope there's a bakery still up there-then Ruby can lead us right to him!"

…

Unfortunately the stomping continued for what felt like minutes and remained uninterrupted as Gage still did his best to try and break free from the trap. His ears were ringing from the few blows to the head he received from DEFN as they crowded around him, and after a while the dirt and dust from their shoes covered his clothes. Not that much later he felt like the air around him was just being sucked away due to all of the constant movement, and only then was Summer able to gain control over him.

With time now seemingly beginning to slow in addition to his ringing eardrums, she was able to reach out to his senses more easily as his body became stiff and he laid there in the recovery position. His eyes were shut while this occured, and when he felt the urge to open them again and try to recklessly push his way back out with no sense of direction along with his injured leg… the phantom called out to him as clear as day, and gave her courier a clear set of instructions that would help them escape...

"Gage?"

"Gage… I'm still here. We can still get out of this-and it's okay if you're scared, because we can use that in that favor. Just like we did against the manticore, remember?! When we were cornered in that alley, with one arm tied behind our back!"

"Do you hear me? We can end this-!"

She could feel that he understood without him having to say anything, and after it was clear that he didn't have to be told twice… the phantom began to overwhelm his consciousness for a second time. What came next, could only be described as Gage's life flashing before his eyes. She took her courier out of his mind just like before, and was able to see various versions of himself from the start of his life, to the present.

He witnessed his seven year old self training with his mom back at their old ranch house in mistral, then later on as he was a preteen fighting against other students like Pyrrha Nikos at Sanctum, and even his young teen self on the day his mother died… sitting there next to a hospital bed, holding Miriam's bandaged and charred hand.

"I know that we can, because you're not one to sit by, and watch as the future changes for the worst."

Life went on to where it was just him and his dad when they lived together in the cold, freezing streets of Mantle/Atlas, as he witnessed all of the since-forgotten memories of his friend Malice Mauve and the quaint life he was going to lead from that point on… until that fateful Christmas day came, where he was informed of the death of his father. After that, a blur came along with the memory of his desertion.

"You've already set things in motion. You've already broken your own cycle, and Remnant's going to need you if the rest of humanity is to survive it's own conflict!"

He saw himself grow from a boy to a man. His hair and eyes darkened, his muscles strengthened, his bones were bruised and his skin was sliced, and he drew blood from another creature for the first time. Grimm were slaughtered, animals were hunted, and a horse was raised as a companion, all in the name of survival… before the world drew him back in once again with only a few explosions, a goliath, and a group of four other dumb teenagers.

"Yang, Ruby, Weiss, and Blake, I know that no matter what happens between the five of you, that they'll be at your side during your darkest hour. Wherever this war takes you Gage, I know that you'll never be alone."

Gage, Summer, and the rest of us already knew that tale. Leaving Mountain Glenn, arriving at Beacon, falling in love and dating Yang, joining The Collectors, fighting against the White Fang before eventually squaring off with Adam Taurus… and the rest is history. What he didn't expect to see, was what the future possibly had in store for him and his allies. Things like the fabled Amity Coliseum, what looked to be Beacon's mess hall set ablaze, and the kingdom of Atlas under siege by the creatures of Grimm.

"Because throughout all our days, and anything that lies ahead of us… whether we're brought down to a skeleton crew, or the rest of the world ends up standing with us in the end…"

"...I'll know for a fact that I'll always be with you."

At the end of all the destruction and darkness was a light that brightened up only for him… until what looked to be a shining visage of himself appeared yet again, except this one looked a little bit older. He stood at what looked to be Summer Rose's gravesite on the island of Patch, as the sun was shining brightly over that familiar forest. The older Gage turned back from facing the grave, wearing what looked to be a black leather jacket with a brown poncho over it, which had its front end pulled up and over this ghost's shoulders in a way that made it almost look like a cloak.

He stood at that edge of the cliff, and looked back at his present self with a chip on his shoulder like the world couldn't touch him. Following this spectacle, the light from the vision began to seemingly build up until our Gage could see nothing but the color white as it felt like he was coming back to the present. Time sped up again and he could hear his own body as it was still being trampled.

Turns out there was a good reason for hyping him up with those memories, and what was probably another fake vision, because as the Ghost of Remnant continued to lay there on the ground while his four oppressors continuously stomped and kicked his body… he slowly opened his eyes again and was somehow able to blind the entire team with one giant flash. In truth, silver irises were revealed to them before the color white overwhelmed the team, and the ghost used that surprise to launch into one final offence with Summer being the one to help him rise up yet again.

Her red and white colors quickly returned to Gage as they sparked luminously together, and before he knew it, his body had been repulsed up from the floor with his phantom's speed while his attackers remained stunned from the 'silver flare' he just dished out. He was a foot above the ground when Summer relayed the situation back to the ghost through her own thoughts, in case he forgot about everything during the internal episode he just experienced.

He somehow remembered that there were still five rounds left in Javix, and all he had to do was push them back like he'd done minutes ago. Just needed to get on his feet and follow up once this was done… and only when her courier understood completely did Summer call out to him again, "Also, you should know that my aura is still dwindling too... so after this, you can't treat it like a boost anymore. Just a heads up-!" She warned him.

Then out of nowhere, Gage landed on his feet and fired off four shots from his revolver. He fanned two of them off into Neo and Ethan that hit them both directly before he swayed back and individually blasted Fenrir and Draco. This didn't do much though since everyone still had some aura to fall back on… well everyone except for Ethan, who in turn took a round to his right arm and winced quietly to himself. Surprisingly, he didn't choose to rush in due to the rage he was channeling and continued to stare at their target while his arm dangled at his side, and with Neo and Draco being knocked back from the shots, there was an opportunity to take the white wolf down.

Immediately after the four shots rang out, Gage closed his stance up and switched hands with Javix so he was holding it in his metal hand. This would in turn help lock his defense down even more… because the second his right hand was free, he made a fist and allowed for Cynica's blades to shoot out of the gauntlet on his right wrist. Just like old times, he flipped Javix so he could hold it backwards with it's curved blade being pointed back. This was held out in front of himself while Cynica covered the rear, and in essence his stance now looked like one you'd take if you were firing trying to fire a bow horizontally, except it wasn't closed off as tightly.

"...Like Winter said, no matter the cost!" He whispered to himself, which made Summer feel uneasy.

He stayed in this formation and scanned the three followers that were standing before him… until Fenrir reappeared from behind, and tried to tear down Gage's back like he'd done earlier. The ghost was quick to spin around and used Cynica to successfully block Blazeburner. He put his hand out in front of himself, with his knuckles facing his own chest, and let the sword smash against the underside of his gauntlet's two blades. And before the two of them could become locked up again, Javix was raised up and came down onto the assassin's right shoulder.

"HRGH!" It got through his aura and caused Fenrir's right hand to let go of Blazeburner, which was enough for Gage to disarm him. He retracted Cynica, grabbed onto the sword's crossguard as he pulled it away, and instead used the end with it's hilt like Fen had just done moments earlier.

The ghost held it like a tonfa too and began to beat the handle against the assassin with a whole lot more force, as he jabbed his chest twice with it, slammed it down onto his head once, and reared the weapon back before he slammed it into the side of the faunus's face. He'd drawn his arm back so far that Fenrir was nearly launched away again, but Gage chose to toss the sword lightly across the court and turned away to focus on whoever was next. Just then Draco sliced the air with Yato and sent an ice dust-infused slash towards him before the dragon faunus looked over and saw someone in his peripheral run after their target.

Draco lost sight of them as Gage blocked the ice-slash, only for the chilled dust inside of it to release a giant cloud of snow and water vapor that surrounded him. It was another trap for sure, and he couldn't see a thing other than the tiny snowstorm that kept DEFN from being seen. It was almost like he was trapped in a snow globe, and after being left unharmed for around thirty seconds… our ghost was filled with paranoia and started to look back and forth around himself anxiously.

He held Javix out in front as he kept glancing at every angle of the fog he felt could've been a blind spot, and he still didn't see anyone. Again and again he spun around to try and find something that was out there… right as the color yellow started to radiate behind his back. His first thought was that it was a gunshot or some type of fire dust, so he put his arms out to block whatever it was before the golden glow faded away.

Knowing that color and the person who flaunted it the most, it quickly drew him in just by its presence. Gage's second guess was that it belonged to someone's aura, and he lowered his guard after he realized that nothing was coming at him. The sight of that color was the only thing he needed to feel some relief, and he began to furiously limp towards it.

Him and Summer both had this instinct to follow the light, and it distracted them so much that his own white and red aura simmered back into nothingness. They both couldn't think of anywhere else to go, and after he looked behind himself one last time, Gage turned back towards where the light appeared and wafted the fog away with one hard swipe from his metal arm, his desperation now showing.

When the air cleared and he was able to see clearly… he blinked, looked down, and nearly had his jaw drop as he saw Yang kneeling on the ground before him. She was conscious and panting heavily, appearing like she had just gone through hell to get here. Her lover stood there in front of her clearly awe-stricken, and couldn't do anything else but stare as his blonde brawler slowly raised her head up and stared back into his eyes helplessly.

"...Yang?" He questioned her. "A-Are you okay? W-Where's everyone else?!"

His girlfriend acknowledged his question but continued to remain silent, trying her best to stand only for her to barely get onto one knee with the strength she had left, as her skin and outfit appeared to be slightly singed and scuffed. The strange thing about her presence though, was the fact that she was wearing the same old combat outfit she would wear any other day at Beacon…

...But without thinking he still panicked and held a hand out to her, and that was when all hell broke loose. They both kept eye-contact as the lull between them grew larger with Yang looking like she was on the verge of a tearful breakdown… until she blinked at him slowly, let a smug grin form across her cheeks, and she opened her eyes again to reveal that her lilac irises had been replaced with pink and white colored pupils.

Sadly the connection wasn't made in time, and as Summer screamed at him internally, Yang suddenly pulled Neo's cane sword out from behind her back and sliced at Gage in an upwards motion, "THAT'S NOT YANG-!" He was barely able to move his head out of the way, and the mirage of his love ended up scraping her blade up his chest and to the base of his neck.

"W-WHAT-WHAT THE FUCK?!" The shock from this outcome caused the ghost to stumble, as his mind and emotions couldn't fathom something like this happening. He froze up and couldn't do anything else but continue to limp back and stare into the evil Yang's eyes. It was exactly what the copy had planned, and so she went on to slash Gage up without a second thought.

His neon green aura sparked and stuttered with every hit that landed, as the blonde doppelganger slashed his chest twice in an x-shaped formation, launched the sword past his head and roughly drew it back so it'd scratch over his ear, and followed this flurry of attacks by taking a step back and elegantly flipped her blade before she slashed the covered up wound on his left leg.

The entire time he screeched and recoiled from the cuts, but that got the most out of him. He had to bend his other leg forwards and kneel to avoid falling on his ass again, and that was when the evil Yang went in for the killing blow. She waited long enough for the ghost to look up at her one last time, only for the copy of his beloved to bite her lip and peer down at him seductively. Then she smiled at him with a sadistic lust in her foreign eyes, reared Hush back in a more straightened style, and stabbed Gage below his right lung.

"-AUGH!"

His own aura finally broke and left him defenseless as the blade punctured his abdomen, but even then he did his best to prevent it from digging into him that deep. Gage was able to grab the blade early on with his right hand and pushed back against the mirage of Yang… despite the sword cutting open his palm more and more as he struggled. This in turn prevented it from getting too deep and messing him up further on the inside, but he still couldn't do anything aside from sit and stare at the imitation.

She didn't let up and was able to sink in the blade a little more as he snarled and cried out in pain all while he continued to eye this Yang from head to toe. It had her expressions, her looks, and even her complexion down to a tea… he had no idea what the hell this was, and even thought that the actual Yang was being mind controlled, until he noticed something that was off.

It was a split-second switch in tone for the ghost as he went from fearful… to looking just like he had cracked some sort of code, and that was when he found some strength left in his leg to use against the copy. I say that, because he finally noticed that this doppelganger was too short to actually be his girlfriend. By a whole foot. This realization gave him some confidence as he groaned and roared while he rose again, his injured leg shaking and his palm being covered in blood due to him holding the blade back, and soon he found himself being nearly a foot and a half higher than this girl.

Gage now knew that this was Neo, and needless to say, his blood began to boil. Summer intensified this tenfold, and without saying anything, the copy of Yang visibly sulked before she got her comeuppance. It was hard for him to do it nor less convince himself to attack… but as his voice reached its lowest octave, the ghost shouted back at Neo heavily, and he brought Javix down onto her cane sword.

He cut the tip of it off in one fell swoop, as the sharp end remained stuck in his body, and with her now seperated from it, Gage huffed once… closed his eyes, and socked this version of Yang right in the nose. And as a screech came from Neo, he cut her off and ended her trick with one upwards slice with Javix. He uppercutted the illusionist with his kukri, and opened his eyes as his lover's image disappeared from Neo's body and her blossom colored aura shattered just like his.

She dropped her sword and landed on her side not that far away from it as she clutched her head whilst breathing heavily, and when she raised her head back up, Neo revealed a giant gash that went up her face. It went from under her chin, all the way through the edges of her lips, and right past her left eye. It was one giant straight line. Blood coarsed out of this wound like a stream, and she actually chose to back away from Gage after this.

The thing about him though… was that the second he saw her lying there, getting all panicky just because of one cut on that pretty face of hers… he still thought he was going to see Yang in her place. He felt worried, and angry… just conflicted, until he just couldn't comprehend what he was feeling. But soon enough after he processed that it was Neo who was on the floor, he took one step towards her and shakily removed Hush's broken tip from his abdomen.

Gage limped towards her, and didn't say anything. He simply stared down at the girl blankly with his mouth slightly open, and couldn't take his eyes off of her… right as his anger could be placed on one specific action of hers, and he could think clearly. Out of everything that just happened, all of THAT BULLSHIT… Neo played with his heart, and no one else had that right. Not even a fucking copy, and it caused him to abruptly explode,

"...You tried to FUCKING take ONE THING from me, and it's how I'm able to see her?! REALLY?! You don't have any goddamn restraint-some fucking line!" His eyes flashed the color red while they also became a bit teary, with both Gage and Summer expressing themselves equally. For a moment they went quiet, until one action passed through their mind… and it was able to bring them together again. "I can't even think about… RRRGH, I'm gonna kill you for this! Do you hear me?!"

His hands started to shake during this, and it caused the ghost to drop Javix onto the ground while he began to sputter and huff without thinking. They were at their boiling point, after what she just did, the promise Gage made to Weiss was thrown out the window… and when he realized that the fog Draco created was still lingering, he grabbed the sides of his head, and threw his arms down in an almost demonic fashion,

"You wanted to RUIN HER, FOR US! *huff* I… I swear to OUM, I'll-!" Then before Neo could try and get up to run away, Gage charged towards her without any weapons and pounced the illusionist in an act of blind rage. He was seeing red, and found himself on top of Neo as both his voice and Summer's violently echoed their chillingly shared intent...

"-I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!"

Her eyes shrunk to the size of grapes as he straddled her, and pinned her to the ground without much of a fight. Without aura or a semblance, Gage had the height advantage and used it thoroughly… as he reached for her face, and she desperately tried to swat her hands at him. It was all she had left and he took it before he reached down towards her throat and wrapped one of his hands around her neck tightly while his metal one tried to fight it's way up there.

They struggled so much that he accidentally grabbed onto one of the various necklaces she was known to wear and ripped it apart until he found his way over to her neck and wrapped both of his hands around her. Gage then snarled as he began to squeeze and push down on her airway, and soon she started to cough and gasp whilst continuing to punch and claw at his head, but he countered this by raising her up and slamming her back onto the ground to knock the wind out of her even more… not even giving her a chance to fight back effectively at all.

He pressed everything he had onto Neo as she continued to choke and reach for something, anything, despite Hush being knocked out of her grasp, only for her to realize that there was nothing aside from bits of gravel and dust. Gage had full control whether she liked it or not, and when there was no other option, the illusionist just wrapped her hands around his wrists.

It only made him tighten his grip further and that was enough for Neo to finally let everything sink in, as she couldn't inhale at all anymore. Her throat felt like it was burning on the inside as the pressure on it grew before she found herself staring up into the ghost's eyes… and that was when she became truly worried. The entire time he'd never taken his eyes off of her own, and when she made eye contact with him again, Gage forced his strength onto her neck for a third time as he held his breath.

He could feel her legs kick and flail helplessly under his body while audible wheezes came from the mute girl. She continued this desperation by thrashing her head back and forth with her eyes shut tightly before the siren tried yet again to get him off, which came in the form of her just using one of her hands to feebly turn his head away.

"Auh-HUH-hyu… s-s…STU-OGH!" His rampage was almost enough to actually get a word out of her if he wasn't already preventing her from breathing, let alone speak as Neo shook herself violently like a fish out of water, and she even moved her mouth like one too. The need for that one breath was insatiable for the small psychopath, enough for her to uncharacteristically scream as Gage raised and slammed her down one more time.

That shut her up immediately, and as soon as she laid her head back, the ghost raised his body up and pressed his injured knee on her chest to take her breath away entirely. She couldn't get anything in after that and remained frozen under Gage… with her only being able to look up at the man she played with and use the rest of her strength to squeeze his wrists like before. Her pink, white and brown hair were now frayed with some bangs obscuring one of her eyes, while the other was partially blinded by the cut to her face. So the only thing she could look at was his rage-filled eyes as it looked like hers were about to pop right out of their sockets.

She couldn't even fight back or make a sound now as she remained breathless, and as this was starting to feel like her end… tears welled up in Neo's eyes before a few rolled down the side of her face, and that was when Gage finally put everything he had down against her windpipe. Not when she was brought down initially, or when she was kicking or screaming, but when she was finally afraid.

He continued to only breathe and grunt in a hushed tone as he could feel the strength in her arms and legs wither away minute by minute, her wet and reddened eyes beginning to feel heavy at the same time. Not long after this, her mouth remained agape while she slowly wheezed and tried to inhale… up until she kind of gurgled, and slowly went stiff under his weight. Gage never let up on her throat, even as Neo's eyes finally lowered and turned away from his own… and in that single instance, it truly felt as if she was gone.

However, when Gage became caught up in that unforgettable sight… something blunt came down onto his head and bounced off the front of his skull without him flinching at all. His ears began to blare a lot more intensely than they have before, and he turned his gaze away from Neo's blank eyes just in time to see Ethan rushing to push him off of the illusionist before the two clashed together once the ghost was on his feet again.

The white wolf had his now bloodied hammer in one hand and continued to smack his sides with it… until he crossed over and hit near where Neo had stabbed him. That impact made the ghost finally react despite still being dazed, and he caught the hammer's head as it was being brought back again.

His metal hand wrapped around Ethan's wrist and bent it back until the rifleman let go of it without much of a struggle, which was when he grabbed Gage's other hand and let some… low type of yowl to escape from the depths of his voice. The white wolf wanted this to happen, because as they both became trapped together… he opened his mouth to reveal that two of his canines were starting to grow into a pair of fangs. His nails followed suit, and he used his free hand to dig into the ghost's right shoulder.

That was when Ethan took the time to smirk at his target like a predator would gaze at a freshly-killed deer, and began to chastise the man face to face… but despite them having eye-contact, Gage instead chose to turn away and look behind the young cultist. Because the second he was pushed away... Neo rose up again as if she was struck by a lightning bolt, coughing and gasping as her lungs became enriched with some fresh air. She survived… and it broke something inside of him.

"Every last one of them…"

"...Every. Last. One of them."

"...I'm going to kill-EVERY, LAST, ONE OF THEM!"

Even though the marksman started his own fang-filled rant whilst pushing the ghost back further and further… Gage heard his own voice whisper this inside his head thanks to Summer, and with those old words being able to jog his memory a bit… he thought back to the night he fought the White Fang at the Archive, and the fire he felt that night made a quick return. Through these whispers and the ringing in his ears, memories of Cordelia and Adam flashed by him quickly, and they made his eyes stay a solid crimson once more.

"What are you going to do now, you waste of breath?!"

"That's funny…"

"Y-You… Y-You said that you would let me live!"

"...I lied."

Only when he was reminded of the end results of those encounters did Gage snap back into reality, and he just faced Ethan directly as he was still screaming at him by now. "-You have the fucking audacity to denounce Adam while he's paving the way to freedom for all of faunus kind... and to silence him, the voice of the White Fang, with your TEETH?! Not even with the decency of a blade-!"

"*huff*...It's the lowest thing I could wish upon someone, and because of that… I'm going to return the favor for him!" He declared this and pulled Gage uncomfortably close to himself while his fangs almost looked like they were shining. What big teeth he had… and once the ghost's eyes widened as he stared at them, he chose not to express his own fear. He knew what Ethan was going for, and he just stared at the faunus like he was some pesky rat that needed to stomped on.

Nothing came from The Ghost of Remnant and considering that the rifleman was a bit of a trash-talker, he growled like a dog and shook once he didn't get a reaction out of him. "What? Nothing else witty to say?! HUH?!" He went on to take a step further by moving his clawed hand up from his shoulder and got a handful of Gage's auburn hair as he gripped the back of his head tightly and started to bend it to the side so his neck was vulnerable.

Those sharpened nails of his dug in and scraped against his skin long enough for the ghost to wince loudly underneath his breath, but he kept any comebacks he had from being released. He didn't even try to fight or pull his head back, and that was when Ethan finally had enough. The cur's eyes dilated as that raging bloodthirst took over his senses, and he lurched his head over towards Gage's throat… but not before taunting him one last time.

"C'MON, SAY SOMETHING! ...I CAN'T FUCKING HEAR YOU!"

Ethan's jaw opened up as he went to snap onto the ghost's jugular, and it almost extended past what a normal person was capable of. It stretched open like he was some type of monster… but when he actually got close enough to snap onto his victim… Gage ended up trapping him instead. The moment he was lunged at, he let go of the cur's hand and raised his prosthetic arm up just in time to block the bite, as Ethan's fangs sunk into his metal limb instead.

Then as soon as he got stuck on his prosthetic, Gage's other hand came around and pressed against the back of Ethan's head so he couldn't escape. He'd been played like a fiddle when it came down to it, and as the young faunus tried to pull away and looked into his opponent's eyes… the ghost snarled and settled the score by showing how that same feral tactic belonged to him alone.

With a bit of irony, he lurched over Ethan's head and bit down onto his right wolf ear with all the strength he could muster! Gage's teeth clenched and crushed all of that furry flesh as blood seeped out and sprayed all over his face and the faunus's white hair, while the young cur let out an unholy muffled scream. Within seconds he started to beat and wiggle his head to try and pull away, which proved to be unsuccessful and only worsened things for him.

The ghost kept his jaw stuck firm on that ear with enough tension in his body that a few veins could be seen popping out on his neckline, and despite the taste of blood, he only stopped once he felt the flesh finally separate from the rest of his ear. He soon pulled his head away, taking the tip of his right wolf ear away with it, turned towards the ground, and spat the piece of flesh onto the floor before he looked back at the still screaming rifleman with his glaring red eyes.

"*cough!* ...I bite, asshole-NOT YOU!"

To finish things off as Ethan quivered onto his knees, Gage forcefully pulled the kid's head away from his prosthetic limb, snapping off one of the wolf's fangs in the process before he threw his head forward again and slammed it into his metal forearm. The sniper screamed the entire time with blood now pouring out of his mouth and down from his ear, until that blow to the head silenced him.

He went quiet and the ghost simply let go of him, letting out a slight gurgle/growl as he let Ethan hit the ground. The cur then curled up with one hand on his torn ear and the other covering his mouth while he reeled there in pain next to Neo's legs, who still had her hands around her neck and continued to gasp for air while Fenrir was also on the ground not that far away from her. Gage paused for a moment to watch them all sulk respectively, where he thought about finishing them all off so they'd be out of the way…

...But the harder he thought about it and was reminded of the things he said to Weiss back in the saloon, about his regret and frustrations with the other people he's hurt or killed, it made his head ache… especially after he got a second look at Ethan on the floor and was reminded of the other young wolf faunus he basically executed at Bolin Peak. For a moment he even thought he saw the sniper's hair color change from white to black, and it mirrored the same cut as the long-dead teenager. He was even humbled to the point where one of his eyes changed back to its normal turquoise color.

That was when the painful ringing in his ears returned, causing the ghost to wince and brush his hands through his hair before he saw Javix out of the corner of his eye, and leaned down to pick it up. When he raised it up though, and rested his right hand on the spot where Neo had stabbed him… things slowed down a bit, as he turned his palm of flesh away from his abdomen and saw that it had been caked with blood.

"Oh c-crap-nevermind-just take my aura and run with it!" Summer tried to go back on what she said minutes ago, and he silently conceded as the phantom's white aura returned and partially sealed the hole in his abdomen. Like anything else, aura wasn't able to fix it completely, it only restricted his blood loss a little more before he chose to shut it off from himself. "There's only one left Gage, so make this quick and clean-with everything we've got!"

Gage nodded slightly after hearing her inside of his head, and since neither of them knew the true severity of the wound, he already felt obligated to move on to Draco in case collapsing from exhaustion was a possibility now. As much as he wanted to at least slit Neo's throat while she was at his mercy, he had to feel contempt with just taking her out of the fight along with Ethan and Fenrir. It was still slightly satisfying, nonetheless.

What he didn't know however, was that Draco had been watching the ghost from afar ever since Ethan was bitten. Whether he chose to just watch or not, the dragon faunus continued to stare at him with fascination and awe. He didn't expect things to last this long or for Gage to go the same lengths he reached during his fight with Adam in order to survive.

It felt as if he'd even gone further beyond that limit, because as the ghost turned around and gazed eerily at the dragon faunus with one eye… Draco honestly thought he was staring at a deranged zombie, in the same way Riley had done a while ago. The pale skin, different colored eyes, and that crimson essence trailing down from his lips, head, and stomach, it made him truly appear to be undead...

"Everything they've said about you, what you're capable of… it's true. You really are crazy-" Draco stated this with Yato lowered as he did nothing else but look Gage in the eye, while he did the same and held his stomach softly. "You bastards took everything from me, and now it's happening all over again… so why wouldn't I be?!" He garbled angrily through the blood in his mouth.

Despite feeling sympathetic towards him, Draco still chose to talk down to Gage… and made the mistake of blaming others aside from him. "This wouldn't have happened if you and your friends kept to the shadows." Then surprisingly, he brought up someone else that they were both familiar with. Not like it made anything better though, "Blake… she was going to be the only one to suffer, but now i know that Adam won't stop until your head is on a pike in line with the rest of her team."

"...That's why he needs to be stopped!" The ghost shouted.

At the same time he winced from his wounds, Draco's gaze slowly moved down towards where Neo had impaled their target… and he didn't appear to express any type of glee. There wasn't a smile, grin, or any light in Draco's silverish-grey eyes, almost like his emotions could only be set to neutral… and Gage tried to reach out to him with his words the second he realized this.

"Adam's too far gone, too obsessed with silencing his problems instead of fixing them! He isn't even doing his own 'chores' anymore… You are." Next he chose to approach the salamander slowly with his weapons still drawn, but was ignorant to the fact that the blood from his injuries were beginning to drizzle onto the ground as he limped on over. Small splotches inked the front of Gage's shoes and the tile between his feet, until he stopped and stood roughly seven feet away from Draco, who raised his voice after witnessing the power-move, "You're to blame for that, after what you did to him..."

"...Don't start echoing that pipsqueak back there-" The ghost replied as he slightly nodded back at Ethan, and continued laying into Adam relentlessly. "-He can still spout off and breathe, and I can still use one hand if the metal one's trashed! Your faith is clouding your judgement..."

"During times like these, the faunus still struggle to live in a civilized world alongside humanity while Adam and his White Fang continue to blaze a trail towards equality. Whether that path's created from fear and blood shouldn't matter… because it's the only choice we've got."

The dragon faunus knew well that Adam's decisions were destroying the cult's identity even as he formed these words, but they were still coming from his heart. At this moment the White Fang was surely the one place the faunus went and looked to for inspiration. It really was the only choice they had… but it just needed to change, like Blake and her family had been trying to advocate.

Gage also knew that if they kept instilling fear... it'd bring the Grimm to wherever their influence could reach, and if that persisted long enough, everything would be destroyed. That couldn't happen, so in the end he could only pray that this metal-colored firedrake standing in front of him had the common sense to realize this too...

"You're wrong… and you know it." The ghost huffed.

"Maybe…" Draco's head may have bobbed up a smidge after hearing that… but he had to keep his and Fenrir's front up so the others wouldn't know that they'd already been swayed a while ago. So even after everything that was said, he still gripped Yato and raised it's hilt above himself to prepare for his next strike. "...But I still wasn't wrong about you!"

They both remained still in their positions, with the dragon faunus at the ready while Gage slouched tiredly in his stance with Javix and Cynica still drawn, even though they were steadily kept down at his sides. A little less than three meters of tile were the only thing that kept them apart, and it was beginning to feel like they were waiting for an announcer to start the fight for them…

...Until, Orca 2-2, the helicopter Lars and Eren had commandeered, suddenly ascended over the building and began to hover. It had been trying to reposition itself the entire time after the destruction of the fifth floor, and since the mall's roof was slightly cracked open in the blast, it let the sound of the hammerhead's rotors through the cracks… along with some new music that was coming from it's radio.

And the moment that new tune was heard, Gage and Draco clashed together in a flurry of sparks and dust, "...Let's kick his ass-!"

"-SHOW-THEM-HOW YOU SMILE!~"

"~IT'S ONLY FOR A WHILE!~"

Gage had to gallop over before he swiped his Kukri at Draco's thigh and went to stab Cynica into his shoulder, only for the firedrake to bend his leg back and parry the bladed gauntlet with his katana at the same time before he started to hack away at the ghost whilst slowly retreating one step at a time, which caused a slip up.

"~-Take what you need, leave them to bleed!~"

He jumped back just in time to dodge both Javix and Cynica again as they were aimed at his head, and it left a gap open that allowed Draco to land two precise cuts on his opponent. The first went over his stab wound while the other hit his injured knee, but it turned out that his intentions in this instance weren't that black and white.

Gage pulled back for a moment to check himself… only to see that a thin layer of ice had frozen over those two spots. When he looked up and saw that Yato was glowing blue thanks to the ice dust emanating from its blade, he was greeted with a small smirk that the winged-faunus flashed at him briefly,

"And for the record… I do like a fair fight."

As crude as the solution was, this decision temporarily numbed the pain along with slowing his blood loss once the frost hardened around those injuries, but it wasn't like either of them could predict how long the ice could last for. So without thinking about it too much, Gage took Summer's advice… and launched towards his opponent with one final burst of the energy he had left. "Then it's your loss-!"

"~Let them know bitter while your, revenge is sweet-!~"

Much to everyone's surprise, Gage was able to zip forward with Summer's semblance and had enough momentum behind him that the faunus had to backpedal again, and to the point where he almost slipped on his ass once he noticed that the floor around them had been partially dampened in water.

They had the destroyed plumbing from the fifth floor to thank for that, and in Draco's case, he was able to use this to his advantage on the fly as he moved his free hand over the ground and kept his eyes on the ghost while… his palm began to glow, and the floor started to freeze over. His palm radiated the color silver while this happened, and Gage didn't notice as he pressed onwards and slashed down at the faunus in an x-shaped formation, only for it to be blocked as Yato was held out vertically.

It was a weak defense considering the sword was only being held with one hand, and Draco knew this… so he made sure not to cause a lull long enough for the ghost to catch on. That was when he shot his glowing palm up in front of his chest and jumped back again just in time for a small column of ice to rise up from the thin layer of frost on the floor.

"~You might think that 'maybe they're changing' ...You'll pray that their hatred is waning! That's when it hurts most to find-~"

It was a split second action, and before Gage could move out of the way, the dragon sliced through it horizontally and kicked the new block of ice right into the ghost, who still blindly went right into it and didn't stop. Cold mist and frost soon covered the front of his body, but Gage didn't even think of staying his feet as he zipped through the ic, and slashed right into Draco's side with Javix. It was reared back and chopped into him yet again with a small yip to go with it, until the ghost's hand was caught and Yato was brought down onto the kukri's blade.

It didn't break surprisingly but since Gage was holding it with his prosthetic hand, he instinctively let go of his knife before his metal fingers could be lopped off and used that brief escape to stab at Draco's upper chest twice with Cynica. His aura was taking all of these hits, so after he stabbed into that silver barrier two more times, the ghost stepped to the side, ducked and rushed past the dragon.

Then as he spun around and faced the silver wyvern's back, he pulled Javix out from the edge of his waist and jammed it into Draco's back… which went through his aura without breaking it. It created a crack just like Neo had done to the ghost earlier, but this faunus didn't stop to take a breath like the rest. No, he turned around once Gage pulled his knife out and delivered a heavy, inaccurate slice that almost decapitated his target. "RRRAGH!"

He nearly lost his cool to be honest, as he wasn't expecting that… and he wasn't exactly trying to kill him either. The only thing he wanted to know was if this 'Ghost of Remnant' could be merciful to a faunus like him, and it made him stop his motion with Yato before it was finished. This caused the katana to stop inches from his target's neck, and because it happened so quickly, Gage didn't notice and casually swatted the sword's edge away with his blades.

"~The story unfolds-and their cruelty's exposed-you'll be glad you're not-THEIR KIND!~"

Following this, their eyes met again before Draco growled and brought his glowing hand up… and a collection of ice stalagmites grew from the wet ground as his ice sheet began to spread across the court due to his pain and rage. This was all in a vain effort to keep the vigilant courier's movement to a minimum however, as the ghost just kept coming.

The thick blue ice grew all around him on the ground along with the spikes that formed from the thin sheet below his feet, but it just became a new obstacle as Gage basically skated across the tundra with Summer's speed… Slicing off the tips of any spikes or the base of any stalagmites that stood in his way.

Anything frozen was cleared from his path while Draco kept raising more crazy looking spikes, to the point where thin branches of ice launched out of the glazed floor and stretched out in an attempt to skewer the ghost. But they all somehow missed their mark, the ones he didn't evade early on at least… and before either of them knew it, Gage knocked a stalagmite so it was pointed towards it's summoner and used it as another ramp with the speed he had left.

"-COME ON!" He came at the salamander like a javelin and sliced downwards with Javix and Cynica, breaking Draco's guard in a way that made him stumble backwards, and almost eat shit on the icy floor he'd conjured. This knockback was enough for the ghost to land before quickly following up with two upwards swipes with his blades that made the faunus slide back on the ice.

There was enough of his silver aura left for him to take it all in stride, as he closed and remained still until his body stopped sliding. He then composed himself once again, opened his eyes, and chose to hold Yato upside down with his left hand while the other still stayed over the chilled surface below his feet. After that, and after realizing that his gunslinger counterpart was still barreling towards him, Draco briefly gripped Yato with both of his hands and slashed upwards in an underhanded motion, which in turn launched another chilly mix of ice chunks and mist towards his target that blinded him for a second.

It hit Gage right as he thrusted Javix out in front of himself so he could stab the faunus in the stomach, and the cloud gave Draco enough time to back off and anticipate whatever frontal attack that was coming his way. His gamble resulted in Javix being swatted back by Yato, and the impact of their blades caused some of the ice dust on the katana's blade to spread onto the kukri and the ghost's metal hand, just as planned. Then as Javix forcefully recoiled back from the hit, Draco reached out and grasped his target's metal wrist with his right hand, the one that was still glowing silver, before Gage trapped Yato between Cynica's dual blades, effectively locking both men together for a final time.

The two of them struggled in their own ways of breaking free, and after a while it was clear that they were both putting the same amount of energy into it, choosing to go all out at the same time. It was honestly kind of jarring, because regardless of aura quantities or personal intentions… they were matched. On a better day they could be even equals, if they both actually wanted to kill each other.

Daco knew that Gage's mind was already set on that though… so while he was focused on pushing forward with Summer cheering him on internally, the faunus used his semblance to expand the ice residue all across the ghost's prosthetic arm. A good bit of the frost was already smeared on his metal wrist, thus allowing the entire hand along with Javix's hilt to become encased in less than a minute.

He couldn't feel the artificial limb anymore, even his fingers were stuck in place as the salamander started to twist his metal hand around, turning it over violently until Javix suddenly fell from the ghost's grasp and clattered on the tundric tile floor that was between them both. Gage's main tool was out of play now, and before he could think of a way to counter this, Draco pushed him back with a kick to the chest and was about to put his entire body into his next sword strike, only for Yato to be scraped across his opponent's waistline.

The ghost's keeled over from this and was barely able to swat the katana away with Cynica again, only for the faunus to backpedal once more, pull his sword back, and thrust it carelessly past Gage's right earlobe as he was able to turn his head away just in time. Just the sound of the air being sliced through sent shivers down his spine, and at the same time… he clenched his prosthetic hand tightly as he turned to look Draco in the eye again.

That mistake was too close for comfort, especially with him being down a weapon, so Gage knew that he had to end this now. And as he glanced down from the fire drake's greyed eyes… he saw that Draco's right hand was still glowing with his aura's energy, which was a conduit for all of the ice that was materializing.

An opportunity came to him before he could even plan it out, and as the silver-haired wyvern flipped his katana with one hand and was about to deliver a downwards slice… the ghost planted his feet firmly on the frozen floor, and hesitantly brought Cynica up one last time to block the hit. I say hesitantly because Gage knew for a fact that this was going to be a heavy hit, and he didn't want a repeat of what happened during his fight with Neptune all that time ago.

But sadly, it was a necessary sacrifice. His old double-bladed gauntlet clashed against Yato one last time and took the brunt of the attack… before both of Cynica's blades broke loose and fell out of their slots. The weapon then shattered into pieces as it rested on top of Gage's right hand, while it simultaneously gave him a window to end this struggle.

However, this resulted in that same hand being freed from the breakpoint, and he was able to seamlessly reach over, grab onto the hilt of his enemy's katana, and pulled it under his own armpit so it's mobility was ghost then simultaneously crunched his prosthetic hand into a fist, broke through the icy barrier that went over his fingers, and grabbed onto the dragon's left wrist before he pushed it upwards and pressed Draco's icy hand against the side of his own head.

"~SHOW-THEM-HOW YOU SMILE!~"

"~IT'S ONLY FOR A WHILE!~"

"GRR-AAAGH!" Like a maniac Gage sceamed his fucking lungs out while Draco honestly panicked and tried his best to jolt out of the grip or at least stop his semblance, but that touch instantly froze the left side of his face completely, blocking his ear, eye, and other nostril as it washed over his skin.

It debilitated him within seconds as it was the last thing he expected, and only after he went partially limp did the ghost let go of him… but he still thought to savagely rip Yato from the silver samurai's hand, before he stepped back and just clocked the faunus in the face with his prosthetic fist. The ice shattered as Draco crumpled onto the ground and landed on his side, just for him to groan and incoherently glance up at Adam's nemesis.

"~-Take what you need, leave them to bleed!~"

Gage panted like a dog and stood there with his free hand resting over the wound on his chest while he gripped Yato tightly in his metal one and slowly began to shuffle towards the dragon faunus. Draco suddenly pushed himself back and started to crawl away too, as it looked like the Ghost of Remnant was beginning to re-enact something you'd usually see in an old slasher movie.

This bloodied 'undead zombie' forcefully limped towards DEFN's last man standing with the same ill-intent he'd experienced during his 'intimate' moment with Neo, and he still didn't care that this faunus was at his mercy. Gage didn't know what he was trying to do or what his plan had been the entire time… and now Draco was too stunned to raise his voice and break the cover he'd been trying to keep for himself and Fenrir.

All he could think of to do was back away as the ghost got closer and closer, until he eventually caught up. Gage let out a haunting exhale, one that sounded like a whisper from another plane of existence, before he stomped his good foot down onto Draco's left ankle and raised Yato above his head to cleave through the cultist's skull in one motion…

"~-Let them know bitter while your, revenge is sweet!~"

...Right as something latched onto Gage's metal arm and kept him from killing Draco. He went to swing down and was halted abruptly, taking a second to stop and question what was happening before he looked back at his arm, just in time to see that a flexible piece of iron had entwined itself around his prosthetic and the hilt of his foe's katana. It was rope, or whip-like in fact…

What he didn't know at the time was that someone was pulling back on whatever line or weapon this was, but the second the ghost went to touch it, it's wielder reared back using all of their strength and pulled him along with it. Gage's body forcefully turned 180 degrees back as Yato was yanked from him and the metal cable kept him facing that direction, allowing the ghost to watch as the sword slid across the icy floor… and was promptly stepped on.

He then looked up and saw a woman standing on top of the blade while she held whatever was anchoring him in her right hand… which was revealed to be a metallic whip that was equipped with a revolver hilt. The person in question also turned out to be a girl whose skin and eyes kept changing between various shades and colors until they faded, allowing for her real complexion to appear.

She had dark grey eyes, dark brown hair that was tied back in a curled ponytail, and had tanned skin with some darker spots across her arms, legs, stomach and face. She also appeared to travel light since she was wearing only a glove on her right hand, a sleeveless black and grey bodysuit that was cut off above her knees along with a pair of cuffed black boots to match. Gage remained stuck in place as his own eyes met with hers, looking visibly confused as the mystery girl could only glare back at him menacingly while he was trying to figure out if she was a human or not.

Draco unfortunately already knew the answer to that however, and he couldn't decide whether to rejoice or become sullen by her presence. (For Gage's sake) Either way, the second the dragon faunus had his eyes set upon his apparent savior, he couldn't help but mumble her name under his breath out of pure disbelief,

"Ilia…"

This young maskless member of The White Fang, who turned out to be a chameleon faunus named Ilia Amitola, couldn't help but grin once she saw him looking over with so much desperation being expressed in his voice. That's what she thought it was at least, and it made her chuckle. "You really can't finish your own fights, and I REALLY wanted to witness Adam's 'ghost' for myself. So leave it at that, and nothing more." Ilia replied coldly.

"And I have to say…" After that short exchange, she moved on to look and address Gage directly before he could try to escape. It wasn't much of an interaction, but the agent still gave him a piece of her mind. A thought that wouldn't be shared by most of the faunus in their ranks, especially after today. "...that even after what happened to Adam, Cordelia, and all of the other faunus you've killed.. I still don't see what's so special about you-"

It became more of a scathing review, because while she still had Gage's arm tethered, Ilia suddenly grasped the trigger on her lash's hilt and caused a wave of lighting dust to swiftly travel along the whip until it reached his prosthetic… which still wasn't magnetized. He remembered that same warning from Weiss all that time ago and could only gasp as the yellow parks from the electricity reflected off of his pupils, before he was inevitably fried like an insect that was caught on a bug zapper…

"-AAAAAAAGH!"

The ghost tensed up, clenched his teeth, and screamed his lungs out as the current from her Lightning Lash spread across his entire body, to the point where he started to convulse and twitch as he fell to his knees. That display didn't mean anything to their new challenger sadly, and she kept it going while Draco could only lay there and watch in internal horror… he even swore he saw Gage's skeleton project itself between the flashes yellow of lightning.

Ilia was practically cooking him alive by now, and from the ghost's of view, Summer was screaming there along with him as her courier started to see black spots and streaks of red and white light across parts of his vision until everything went dark and his body finally became limp. Gage blacked out from the shock and collapsed onto the icy floor while the agent still kept zapping him with electricity.

She only stopped when one of his legs were still twitching, and retracted her whip before she kicked Yato back over to Draco, who hesitantly grasped it as he slowly got back on his feet again. A thousand yard stare was now being expressed though, as he didn't know if she ended up killing Gage with that violent electrocution. "T… Thanks for the help."

He tried to sound thankful despite his own circumstance, and once Ilia acknowledged him with a small nod, the rest of Team DEFN joined up behind her. Draco shrugged them off though, as he was distracted by the ghost on the floor while Fenrir 'miraculously' became conscious again and tried to help Neo and Ethan. The assassin had Neo's arm around his neck so he could help her walk (as she still gagged and gasped for air), choosing to focus on her because… 'ladies first', and all that. Meanwhile the young rifleman had to cover his own ripped ear and limped next to them until Ilia came over, relayed new information to the entire team, and covered his wound for him,

"Extraction is on the way, and my job was to pull you guys out… but I'm sure Adam'll prefer that we killed two birds with one stone."

"...Is he dead?" Fenrir asked the agent bluntly after he saw Gage lying on the ground behind her. Their group of five then watched their shared foe closely for almost a minute to determine the outcome. Draco watched him continuously whilst wondering if he was really looking at a corpse now instead of a person… but that perception was shattered, as Gage suddenly turned onto his back with a large wheeze escaping from him.

His entire body had that pins and needles sensation going after what Ilia had done to him, and when everyone saw that he was still alive, their new addition huffed and angrily approached him with her Lightning Lash lowered.

"Gage? Gage-COME ON! Y-You have to get up!" Summer desperately shouted for him to stand up, only for her courier to open his eyes to a blurred image of the world. He could still see black sparkly spots in the edges of his vision, and his eyesight was only able to clear up as Ilia stood over him.

The second he saw her face and felt her crouch down next to his knees, he raised his blackened metal hand up and tried to grab onto her forearm… only for the agent to growl at him, swat his hand away, and pick him off of the floor by grasping his neck. "Still persistent, even after a shock like that… heh, you must really hate us then." She snickered at him.

Her attitude was rather sobering for him, and it brought Gage back up to speed with the whole situation mentally, but he still wasn't doing that well physically. All he could do was watch as Ilia raised herself up and looked down on him as she kept a tight grip around his throat… however, nothing kept him from answering her question with sincerity. So much in fact, that It nearly broke him down to his core...

"...They killed my mom and dad..."

He told her this meekly, feeling her grip on him loosen all of a sudden before he audibly winced and went on. "...Turned me from a dumb teenager back down to a scared kid, that could only run away and hide! From you, and the monsters… so mark my words..." His grainy voice then reached its peak, as Gage oddly chose to grab and hold onto Ilia's shoulder as his body shook with every word he said next. "...The White Fang's going to pay for all of the people they've hurt, whether it's today or somewhere else down the line!"

Her skin seemingly flickered a blue and white mixture of colors for a moment before she unpredictably leaned back and flew into a rage after hearing what he had to say, enough to where her body settled on a mixed color of red and yellow for the next minute as she tried to pull his hand off, "A-AND WHAT ABOUT YOU, AND YOUR KIND?! All of the faunus enslaved, mutilated, and oppressed by the human race... This is just our way of keeping things even-!" Gage realized that he hit a nerve there somehow, and he gradually hammered the final nail in his own coffin at this seemingly random girl's expense…

"*cough!* -By holding other faunus hostage?! Like the girl I spared, who thanked me for saving her from the likes of your forces..."

He asked her this rhetorically, and this grounded Ilia as she continued to wring the ghost's neck. Her body returned to it's normal tanned shade, and she momentarily turned to look at Team DEFN like a mother who was just told that their child was misbehaving. It was demeaning, but this was mentioned just as the pulsing settled a bit in Ethan's still functioning eardrums, and he was quick to defend that action while also admitting to it.

"She was a traitor... seduced by humanity's lies, and too afraid to take that necessary step. Just like your 'old friend', Blake…" He would have gotten electrified right then and there if he was talking to anyone else, but Ilia simply gave the white wolf a death stare in return… right as Gage took this new info, and threw it back in her face shamelessly, "...Even after Cordelia tried to divide us with her secret… I couldn't bring myself to kill her, and Blake still didn't run away like she had with the rest of you. She came after me… and that, should say enough about your 'Ghost of Remnant'-!"

Gage almost ended with a tiny chuckle too before Ilia cut him off with a hard punch to his stomach, which destroyed the ice Draco had put over the ghost's stab wound. Silence came from him instead as the agent exhaled sharply and threw their target towards the middle of the court, "*sigh* ... Alright, I've had enough."

He hit the ground on his side and rolled on the ice until he came to rest with his chest against the floor, his head barely facing DEFN with the debris from the fifth floor being the only thing that was behind him. Everyone else then began to watch Gage as he struggled to get back up… except for Draco, who barely saw something move out from behind the remains of the upper floor.

The salamander just so happened to be closer to Gage than everyone else, and was at a different angle where he was able to see… what looked to be a woman and her child staring back at him through a tight path that was made from both halves of a bisected pillar. He quickly realized that these two were faunus as well, both sharing cat ears… and that was when Draco got the answer he was looking for. He thought he heard screaming earlier after everything collapsed, and Gage must've found these two after he got down. It all made sense now, why he was so desperate to win and why he became so animalistic in doing so… it was clear where The Ghost of Remnant's stood with the faunus, to Draco at least.

However, the admittedly flustered and confused mother had been too scared to move or run when most of Team DEFN had been down for the count, as she foolishly went against the ghost's wishes and became concerned with his well-being. Whether it was a dumb decision or not, she didn't want his death on her conscience for the rest of her life... But either way, when the firedrake made eye contact with her, he simply mouthed the words, 'Go. He'll be okay' to her and the boy.

And with the threat of being detected in her mind, she quickly turned away without another word and actually started to head down to the first level. You could hear her frantic footsteps if you listened close enough, but thankfully everyone else was already too caught up in the moment to notice.

Gage didn't hear it though, as Ilia began to rant over his thoughts while he could barely push himself back up. "...Say that you've won all you want, but when it comes down to facing The White Fang, you'll never have a chance… and your friends? The others you wastefully put your faith into time after time..." The agent then waited until the ghost looked up at her again, and she effectively spat on Team RWBY's reputation without any remorse.

"They're all weak."

Her words made Gage raise his head up slightly, and he couldn't help but grit his teeth as she continued to look and talk down to him condescendingly. Going to the length of mentioning the biggest mistake he's made so far in his quest. "It makes sense why you left them behind, and once they're gone... there won't be anyone left to remember who you were or what you've done." But, her threat ended up being the opposite of demoralizing.

It instead caused Gage to push through his fatigue just a little bit more so he could rise up onto his good knee, and glance over towards the group of five with his prosthetic arm dangling down like dead weight as he made a final stand with his morals. To show that if this really was his end, and his body would be broken to its core by their hands… his confidence in himself and Team RWBY would remain intact until his last breath, much to Ilia's dismay. Although... the ghost also made sure to try and strike some fear into them all, whether his statement was true or not.

"There's still… thousands of other people out there, just like us-waiting for their stories to be told, ready to step out of the darkness and fight for Remnant… for everyone… *cough!* Extra parts or not-!"

He had the bravado to talk… but could still barely keep himself balanced in that crouched position. At this rate he would have to crawl if he wanted his movements to be painless, and with Summer's aura already being at a critical level, he was effectively dead in the water. Ilia knew this along with the rest of Team DEFN, and when Gage didn't end up attacking as a follow-up to his rant… the agent turned over to Draco and presented him with a proposition.

"You still care about your pride? ...Then go ahead and finish him off. This was your battle, after all." She said before taking a step back, like she expected him to go ahead and do it without question. The dragon faunus expected this behavior as well, and knew that he couldn't appear to falter in front of Ilia at all.

Much to his disliking, he had to suck everything up and follow through… because there weren't any other options. Himself and Fenrir could try and switch sides right then and there, but with everyone's auras either broken or in a fragile state, it would turn into a bloodbath quickly with Ilia present. No one knew about Team RWBY's whereabouts other than Gage too, and with the Atlesian Military still surrounding the building… there wasn't any way out other than leaving with The White Fang unless he wanted to die or be arrested.

So to save face and keep their shared front up, Draco sheathed Yato, put his left hand around his right wrist… and activated his semblance once again. His silver aura shined in various streaks with the light going up both of his arms while every particle and bit of his ice slowly started to rise off of the ground. At the same time a small ball of frosty energy appeared within the palm of his free hand, and soon he could only stare back at Gage silently while it continued to expand all on it's own.

Everything was being put into this orb to make sure that the firedrake wouldn't have any aura left, and therefore have his attack come off as authentic to everyone else in case his loyalty would be doubted in the future. It may have been selfish in the grand scheme of things, but Draco still hoped that the ghost could take this like a champ… even after Fenrir put a hand out towards his partner and combined their semblances to form a barrage of icicles. They both wanted to test him initially, so why not?

…As for Gage, he began to look around while every bit of ice and frost levitated into the air, along with the leftover water that was coming from this floor's exposed plumbing pipes. It was all going to be used against him in what he assumed to be one swift power move, and in the moment he could only think about weighing his options.

Either he could try to escape from this blast and let this floor collapse just like the others before it, risking the lives of more Atlesian soldiers as well as the woman and child he thought were still somewhere in the building, or he could take the entire attack head on and reduce its destructive capabilities. It wasn't that hard of a decision to make in the long run, since the last time the ghost thought careless about a plan, he nearly got two more people killed… so he chose the latter.

Maybe he could buy RWBY more time to get here too.. but at this point he was giving himself false hope. Summer didn't have to say anything to agree with him, as they both felt that taking the hit was the right thing to do… but she still had that split-second thought of running. That was buried deep by rage soon after and Gage fueled her anger... as it was starting to feel like this could be his last day on Remnant. "...Summer, if we don't make it-"

"WE'LL SURVIVE-Just like you always do!"

She snarled this back at him, but still had a few cracks in her voice to go along with the fear she was trying to hide. Her courier could obviously feel it and didn't want to make things worse… so he still finished what he was trying to get across, but tried to sound appreciative more than anything else. "…Thanks for being here. You aren't as perfect as I imagined, but I know that you think the same way about me... and I wouldn't have it any other way." But he inevitably brought Summer to tears.

This became evident once his own eyes started to well up despite being in a different mindset, and he chose to just let them flow as he brutally pushed his body back up so he could stand, and telling by the pain, Gage knew that he wasn't getting up by himself again. He was huffing and puffing by the time he stood up straight, and when the two were finally on equal footing… Draco closed his eyes, and jutted the frozen orb in his hand out towards the ghost with a painful war cry.

Once the orb was released, every bit of ice that was conjured by the dragon broke away and flew with it through the air. The now levitating glaciers in the air were launched straight ahead, every piece of the frozen stalagmites that remained were ripped up thrown over along with every bit of the icy tile floor that was still attached to them, and the the leftover water was shot towards Gage like it was a geyser…

...Just before it was mixed in with everything else. Every projectile was smashed together along with the ice orb and was absorbed by the torrent of water before it was turned into what looked to be a frozen cyclone. Some swirling icy vortex of death that was armed with sharp winds and snow, and had the force of a blizzard raging behind it. Soon it even formed what looked like a giant arrowhead as it barreled towards Gage with the sound of a deafening storm, and when it closed the gap between himself and his tormentors in less than thirty seconds, he just balled his right hand into a fist and held it up as Summer's white and red aura returned to him.

"GIVE THEM EVERYTHING WE HAVE LEFT, YOU HEAR ME?!"

It's color was more vibrant, and influenced him with more of her anger as it traveled up his body... and became concentrated across his right arm instead of his entire body. This caused him to shine white and red when the rest of the world was seemingly frozen, and before the vortex could smash into him like a freight train, Gage angrily drew this glowing hand back and drove it forwards into the blast with his own desperate roar to match.

When the two forces clashed however, things didn't go as planned. The ghost of course landed his hit against the wave of frozen energy… but Draco kept replenishing the blast with his semblance. Unstoppable force/immovable object could explain this outcome, but Gage obviously couldn't keep this up as much as he wanted to. Whatever bit of the storm he couldn't hold back with his body simply brushed past him and effectively started to cover his limbs in frost, while he just kept getting pushed back due to his weak leg. He was slowly sliding away with every passing second, and he could barely open his eyes due to the harsh winds blowing onto his face.

He struggled to get past that hurdle, but after he was able to see with both of his eyes again, he pushed his head back and was met with another peculiar sight. Gage had now pressed both of his hands against the storm despite his metal arm being charred earlier, and when he looked over to his glowing right one... he witnessed the now hoodless apparition of Summer Rose for the first time.

Through his eyes only the phantom appeared to be standing right next to him, the two of them almost perfectly in line with each other as she had one hand clasped over his right palm while the other was wrapped around his bicep, where his bandana would usually be. Seeing her face to face almost in the flesh without that cloak of hers obscuring anything was pretty trippy, and sure he may have seen her like this in the vision they both shared earlier, but that felt more like a dream than anything… This was like actually seeing a ghost reveal itself to him.

The wilted rose only had the thought to glare at him momentarily before he realized that she was just still inconsolable on the inside, and they both turned back towards the storm as one. He could feel the frustration and fear she had about dying again… and leaving Yang with a void in her heart that would be hard to fill. It would've been a double whammy in other words, and after the pair both felt this reality hit them where it truly hurt… Gage and Summer both screamed at the blizzard with everything they had left in them while the phantom's aura essentially began to bleed.

Sharp winds and shards of icicles shredded against the ghost's face/upper chest just as a thin layer of frost began to spread from his fingers and up his arms, and he still refused to break formation. Gage's body wasn't the thing that was keeping the storm at bay, it was their shared aura that acted as the barrier, and this was proven to be true as a crack formed across the projection of Summer. She appeared to be cracking along with her aura as time went on, and her courier remained oblivious to it while multiple fracture lines popped up around her figure, with white light shining from within her.

Soon Summer's face was nearly separated into sections like you'd see in a shattered mirror, and when her left hand suddenly ruptured and faded away in a trail of white sparkly dust… she knew that they were out of time. It was a short run but an intimate one in the end, so she chose not to draw any of Gage's attention towards her situation. She'd still be with him if he lived, and if he didn't… then at least she went out (again) with style.

Throughout this process her courier felt the same severances as her, and exerted himself further as pieces of the mother started to fade away. He desperately extended his hands out to push back just a little bit more, and by now he almost felt like he was going to pass out by how much he was screaming back at the blizzard… but, that stopped once Summer's voice was cut off abruptly. She was yelling right with him to the end, until her body finally broke apart into white petals and released the shining albino-colored light that was inside of her. Those reflective bits of rose disintegrated into nothingness soon after, and she kindly scattered once more.

Her courier was only able to hold out for a few more seconds before Summer's light blinded him as it matched the sight of Draco's storm… and his own rapid breaths blocked out the sound of everything else, with an unceremonious crack being heard afterwards. The sight of the phantom's aura breaking away from his body, again like a broken mirror, was the last thing he saw before the color white became blinding.

White noise joined that sensation immediately, and only one last breath could be heard as numbness overtook Gage's senses…

…

Downstairs...

…

Right as Summer disappeared, a loud explosion rang out across Eve's Square as Team RWBY and Zeta-Three's Spearhead APC rammed it's way through the first floor's entrance and came to a stop in the middle of that level. Alarms began to blare and broken glass was thrown across the ground as the transport lowered its rear ramp and allowed it's occupants to exit. Gage wasn't able to hear any of this as he lost consciousness, but Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang burst out of the APC in a sprint at the same time after Sgt. Gunner ran out ahead of them with a few marines in tow.

"MOVE OUT TO THE RIGHT-GO! GO! GO!" He immediately pointed his troops to the right past an elevator and towards an emergency exit that opened up a set of access stairs. That group and the remainder of his platoon went straight for it with the four teens right behind him… until each of them had the urge to look up towards the ceiling.

A light blue hue of color seemed to have spread throughout the entire mall like a disease, with frost and ice coming out of the air vents… and it was so intense, that snowflakes were beginning to fall down towards Team RWBY. Soon Weiss remembered that it was the start of spring and she caught a flake in her hand to see if it was created from dust, only for the ice to feel foreign to her. This caught her off guard, since creating snowfall with ice dust wasn't really easy. So it had to be made by a semblance.

"Oh no-" She whispered to herself, and right when Yang was going to ask what was wrong, Sora got them back on track. She waved at them, and started to back away towards the other side of the mall whilst racking the slide of her pistol, "HEY! Gunner is gonna clear a way to Gage for you, so go with him-and stay focused... I'll be back with your friends before you know it." After that though, Sora made another rational choice and unhooked a canister of biofoam from her belt before she tossed it over to Ruby. "Oh, and make this count If you have to!" She then turned away and began to run off in the opposite direction, giving Yang a wink while doing so.

Gunner called out to them at the same time, and it pulled the team back in. The four of them all turned and ran towards the hall before they regrouped with the sergeant. He was just at the base of the staircase while his pointmen went up first, but right as the first squadron was about to follow, someone else came rushing down in a teary mess.

It turned out to be the two cat faunus Gage was protecting. The mother and son had actually escaped just in time, and a few of the soldiers had to hug the wall and stair rails to let her pass them… until Gunner looked up and stopped them suddenly. He told them to wait with his hand extended outwards, and just when she was about to panic even more… the sergeant got one of his men to go over and pick up her child for her.

"GET THEM TO SAFETY-GO!" Gunner commanded him, before the marine took the woman's hand and helped them both move towards the first floor's destroyed entrance. They passed Team RWBY right as they made it through the emergency exit, and while Blake turned to glance at the woman… Yang looked at the entire staircase once she reached its base.

Just the sight of all those steps made her eyes turn red, and she could only huff before she started to charge up the first flight with Ruby hot on her heels, " "GRRRGH-WHY IS THERE LIKE THIRTY FLIGHTS OF GOD-DAMN STAIRS?!" She didn't need to run as much today, and with the brace that was wrapped around her own injured leg, these circumstances were beyond aggravating for her. But half of those flights didn't lead to anything anymore, and she forgot about that.

"Oh it's the third level Yang, don't start exaggerating now!" Weiss snapped at her while she grabbed Blake and started to pull her along. Everyone made a mad dash to climb up following this, and a few of the Atlesians nearly tripped doing so. Honestly, after hearing Yang's bine-shaking anger, a few of them were afraid of slowing her down.

They got up the first flight and wrapped around the bend in the stair set without stopping, and when everyone started up the second set, things got a little slippery. Some frost had started to appear along the floor and railings, and soon enough everyone in that stairwell could see their own breath from how much the temperature dropped. RWBY was the only one to notice this, as the sergeant got a head start and climbed up the stairs with the rest of his platoon so he could split them up upon reaching the second floor.

"First and second squads-stack up and breach that right side door!"

With those two squads walking up the stairs in a line in front of him, he simply pointed to the right once they reached the second landing and directed them towards a locked door that exited to the second level. Eight soldiers surrounded that entrance and went in once a female soldier was able to kick the door open, and only then did Gunner move ahead.

Himself, Yang, Ruby, Weiss, and Blake then wrapped around the second flight in that order and fell a little bit behind due to the brawler's still weakened leg, as she was pushing through the pain and exerting those sore muscles by now. It felt embarrassing but soon enough she looked like she was limping, and Ruby took that as a cue to grab her sister's hand and begin stringing her along each step. Nothing was said between them, and when they got to the base of the third flight… Gunner stopped, stood in the corner in front of the next set of stairs, and aimed his own energy rifle up at the top so they could get ahead of him.

"HUSTLE UP-LET'S GO!"

Their young leader turned and looked down at Weiss and Blake just as the stray waved Ruby off and called out to her. "RUBY, USE YOUR SEMBLANCE! WE"LL BE RIGHT BEHIND YOU!" She didn't need to be told twice, and as soon as the word 'semblance' was processed, the rose held onto Yang's arm tightly, gritted her teeth, and pushed ahead as hard as she could. "HOLD ON YANG-!"

The trajectory and turn radius was hard to figure out, but the blonde didn't even have time to say anything before the world became blurred. A red and yellow streak then flew up to the base of the third flight and drifted around the bend halfway until it reached an exit and burst through it, where the two sisters found themselves around five seconds later.

It opened to another backstage hall that went behind all of the stores on that level, just like the one Gage and FRST had gone through earlier, and Ruby's semblance gave out just as they both stopped halfway down it. Blake and Weiss were barely on the third stairwell by the time another squadron had regrouped with Gunner, but not that much later Team RWBY found themselves running across this new hall with a good distance between each other.

The marines were almost there by the time Ruby had over exerted herself, and she didn't even hesitate to push her older sister out in front of herself before the rose tripped and fell back in place with the rest of her team. Yang was rightfully the furthest ahead down the path… and despite the fact that her weak leg had gone numb, she just kept going once she saw another exit at the end of the hall.

...However, it seemed like some other force was looking out for her, as the blast from Draco's destructive ice storm suddenly punched right through the walls of the third floor and unknowingly shortened the path to Gage. She got 75% of the way there right as the blast passed in front of her, tearing through from the left side of the access hall and all the way out of the side of the building.

This devastating storm caught Yang by surprise and caused her to slip onto her butt… but only for a moment, as she saw that the hole it created was as big as tall as a Beringel, and she soon realized that this attack must've been aimed at Gage since he obviously couldn't create something like this.

Even then the brawler couldn't move up and run to her lover's aid… as this blizzard kept on blowing, and slowly pushed her and Team RWBY back as it raged on. This was the only thing that was keeping her away, this damned cyclone of tundric energy, and felt like it couldn't be stopped. Ruby, Weiss, and Blake were all blown back by the surprising strength of the storm's winds, but their brawler was able to get down on all fours and dig her hands into the ground to prevent herself from being blown back. Her strength in this regard was the only thing she had left to use during this moment… and she felt helpless.

She needed to stand, and somehow get through this vortex to save her lover, but she knew that there wasn't any sort of random power she could summon to help her now. So with a seething flame now burning across her hair and limbs, Yang screamed at the snowstorm and called out to Gage in one last attempt to let him know that she was here… that she had made it.

"GAAAGE!"

…

"I promise… i'll be here until the end…"

The sound of howling winds echoed out for what felt like forever as Gage's eyes seemed like they had been sewn shut… but when the storm fell, and things went quiet like they were minutes ago, he was finally able to see again. He had to push his eyelids apart as they had been covered in frost, and when he was barely able to look down at himself, he saw that the rest of his body was in the same condition.

Thin ice and snow covered him from head to toe, and it even seeped into parts of his skin. He tried to wiggle and just close his hand, only for the ice to crack open along with pieces of his flesh. That pain made him jolt for a moment, and in an instant bloody fractures spread across any part of the ghost's skin that had been exposed.

"Huh…"

Nothing came from him though aside from a pained wheeze and a gasp while some of the ice became stained with blood, as he had finally reached his physical limits. Gage didn't have any energy left to suck it up and break through the frost… but soon his body heat made some of the ice melt. It was still painful once he was able to move his neck and look at his surroundings, but when he did, he felt like he'd gone through a time machine.

Everything had been covered in a white winter blanket, as Draco had changed the climate of the place entirely. Just blue and white colors shining throughout the third floor, while the entire main court had been ripped of any remaining rubble. Gage glanced behind him and could only see a wall of ice that covered over the hole in the side of the building that was made by the blast. He was just a few feet away from his friends, and he didn't even know it… because in his mind, the ghost had been brought back to Bolin Peak.

To a fateful day that's already passed.

Snowflakes danced around him while he laid in the middle of what looked like a field covered in a foot of fresh snow, and he couldn't see anything recognizable from the mall. The aftereffects of the blizzard reduced his visibility, so the only thing he had left on his mind was to try and lean up off of the ground… grunting and huffing loudly as his limbs started to shake, not knowing if it was from this weather or from fatigue.

It didn't take long before the ghost began to shiver and a familiar sense of loss came over him. He didn't know what to do, how to move, or if his enemies were still coming for him… all he could think about was the cold. It was beyond freezing, and none of this had any sign of stopping. This feeling became justified quickly, because as he raised his gaze back up and looked straight ahead… Gage swore to some higher power that he saw himself appear out of the icy fog that surrounded the area. What looked like a past version of himself approaching him from afar, wearing the same black winter jacket he had during the mission at the mountain. It was beyond surreal as they both looked at each other… until our Gage's attention was caught by something that was shining amongst the snow.

That small chance of something, just anything to use in an effort to fight sombered the ghost briefly as he suddenly lunged forward and began to crawl toward whatever it was. Simply putting one hand in front of the other was taxing on his body, and as he created a trail of crimson amongst the white snow, the Gage in black walked a few feet ahead and exhaled,

"...Just stop..." He sighed.

"N… No..."

The other ghost looked down at himself slightly saddened, before he strolled softly over to the object, crouched down, and pulled Javix out of the snow before he gripped the revolver and dangled it at his side. The real Gage didn't even get close and flopped after his weapon was taken, laying there with his right hand pointed out towards his other self as the apparition stood up again with it's head now out of view.

Gage rested for a second following this, and when he stared back at this person… he came face to face with Draco again. His own mind had been playing tricks on him, and it unfortunately worsened his mentality. As for the dragon faunus… he popped out Javix's revolving chamber and fiddled with it for a moment before he stood over the Ghost of Remnant and caused the storm to die down a little with his semblance. That was when all of his allies reappeared behind him, and the firedrake chose to face them one last time to see if anyone was still willing to object.

Fenrir was the only one to look away immediately, indeed knowing that there wasn't another other way to stop this… while Neo and Ethan looked on with determination. They wanted to see this, and for a moment Ilia felt the same way too, until Draco looked directly into her eyes. His expression said it all with a reluctant grimace. Just how fucked up this situation turned out, and that was enough for her to look down from the display. There wasn't any happiness or annoyance, she just felt empty on the inside as Gage fell back down onto his left side and used his frozen metal arm to raise himself a few centimeters off of the cold floor.

Then, after seeing the change in Ilia's body language, the wyvern glanced down at Javix again as he simply flicked it's chamber shut and pointed it down towards the ghost's temple. Gage didn't have to think about the reason behind that as he knew there was only one round left in his revolver, and when he was finally facing down the barrel of his own weapon, the one he built with his own hands as a teenager… he was starting to ask himself if the spare round, that small convenience, was just fate trying to send him a message. That someone else had stolen his luck.

After thinking about his condition, the things he was seeing, and how he was on the opposite end of this familiar parallel, it seemed like that third element of his life was being passed on. It took a few more minutes of staring up at Draco before he hallucinated himself standing there with the gun in the faunus's place, and once that vision washed itself away… Gage got really quiet. That memory… the memory of the wolf faunus he killed all that time ago returned to him and corrupted his train of thought again. It overrode memories of Ruby and Yang, and even his own parents, right as it was all ripped away by Javix's new owner,

"...Do you have any last words?"

Another wheeze came from Gage after hearing this display of mercy, as he panicked during the next split-second. His thoughts were jambled as he kept switching between these things, his love, his friends/family, and his sins, up until he came to another realization. That death never waited for anybody, and he was unprepared… but with that being said, the ghost was still humbled by at least skimming through everything one last time. He settled, just as some blazing sunlight broke through the snow storm behind him.

...Which turned out to be his last wish. To see at least a glimpse of that yellow light, even if it was shining down on him. Like an occasional reminder, as Ileana said to him a while back, of life and the rest of this strange world. It was all surreal to encapsulate… so the ghost chose to stop now while he had a modicum of peace in his presence. He relaxed his eyes as he stared back at Draco, and couldn't even find himself smirking at this outcome.

Gage still felt the need to utter something in response, something like a cheesy one-liner or to swear vengeance from the hands of Team RWBY, although that wouldn't have felt genuine. What felt like an eternity of nothing came before he shook his head slightly, lowered his body back down, and leaned back in anticipation for what came next. Nothing else had to be said, and their unbroken eye contact indicated this to Draco immediately. It was a respectful thing to witness, therefore the dragon faunus chose to make it quick for them both. It was only fair… so with a deceptive declaration of allegiance to The White Fang, he took a deep breath, drew back the hammer on Javix, and pulled the trigger softly.

"For my faunus brothers and sisters…"

"*click*"

"*BANG!*"

...Just for both men to hear the revolver hammer slam forward without any sort of follow up. No gunfire, no nothing. Needless to say it made Draco smile... right as he was blown away by an explosive shotgun round.

Javix was dropped onto the ground in an instant as the salamander was blown back, and he slid across the floor until his allies rushed over and caught him. Ilia ran to him and pulled him up by his shoulders, just to snarl at him once he let out an audible groan and put a hand on the floor to keep himself from slumping over.

"Rrrgh, i knew you would screw that up somehow!" The agent huffed only for Draco to shake his head, catch his breath and cough out what he considered to be a decent comeback . "Well- *cough!* -I didn't see you volunteer..." She didn't have a follow up to this, and chose to drag the dragon back over to the rest of their strike team.

On the other side of that interruption, Gage had raised his elbow at the last second to defend himself from the blast, and was quickly devoured in a ploom of smoke after the initial explosion. It didn't push him away as much thankfully, but it made him become even more delusional than he was moments ago.

He actually thought that the revolver went off and indeed sent him to the afterlife… the smoky, ear-ringing, cough-inducing world that came after death, but that concern lasted for a few seconds at best. Because the ghost suddenly felt four pairs of hands press down onto his chest before he was also dragged away by them. Then as muffled voices bickered at each other, he finally figured out that he was still alive.

"Hand me the biofoam, he's bleeding!" A cold foamy substance was sprayed into his stab wound, stinging to the point to where he could barely contain his anguish. But just as he was going to lurch up and grab onto whoever was doing this to him, (which he assumed was Neo pulling another one of her tricks) a bubble of warmth washed over him along with the light of a few various colors. "You're gonna be okay Gage, we made it just in time!"

While this happened, Draco, Fenrir, Ilia, Neo and Ethan all watched the cloud of smoke right as yellow aura started to shine through it, and was followed by a purplish-black, a snowy white, and a bloody red hue coming one after another. The colors Red, White, Black, and Yellow flashed from within the smog, and it rightfully caused the enemy fireteam to step back cautiously. The silver haired samurai had gotten on his feet by then, and he was quick to move back and stand next to Fenrir who couldn't help but grin at what was occuring.

More voices could be heard along with Gage's as the fog started to blow away, and some of the ice started to melt from that side of the level. The wall of ice that was behind him had apparently been burned through by dust and flames just enough to where the water vapor in the air was steaming, and right as things went quiet, the ghost emerged from within this cooled mist. It was almost like he had been completely revived too, as he limped slowly out of the smoke and with Mistletoe hanging from his metal hand while his hand of flesh covered his chest wound. Someone had returned the shotgun to him, and while his enemies stood there in shock, Gage shuffled over to Javix and picked it up off of the ground before he brought something Ilia said back into question...

"...What was that about my 'weak' friends?"

They all were expecting a 'round two' sort of situation, but that was shut down pretty quickly… as Ruby, Yang, Blake, and Weiss then walked out and formed up in that order while he was in between the four girls. His girlfriend was to his right and got into her combat stance as Ember Celica shifted over her fists, while her younger sister took Crescent Rose and got into her own 'crescent pose', with the pole part of her scythe being held over her shoulders while the head and blade were pointed diagonally towards the floor. At the same time on his left, the heiress pulled back Myrtenaster's hammer as it's blade was pointed at the ground too, and the stray simply stood her ground and kept a hand on Gambol Shround's handle while it was still on her back within its sheath.

Things escalated quickly to say the least… but that didn't deter Ethan's mouth from running any further, because the second Blake showed herself, she couldn't help but be taken aback by all of the familiar faces. "Speak of the devil... it's her. Damned traitor..." He growled. Aside from Neo, the rest of their foes shared the same death stare that was aimed towards their 'betrayer', and the only thing the cat faunus could do was defend her actions.

"...I'm sorry for hurting anyone by leaving, but i'm still positive that i made the right choice. Especially now, after Adam's dragged you all into something this conniving. Just… look at what's become of you! The faunus are still going to be painted as monsters, more so now that it looks like we've turned on our own-!"

That statement sparked another fire inside of Ilia, and after hearing it from her old friend… her skin reflected that red and yellow shade again as she blindly tried to prove the stray's hypocrisy by pointing over at Weiss. "You did that yourself the second you became friends with A SCHNEE!" However, the heiress didn't flip out and try to correct the agent on anything. Instead she thought for a moment and nodded in agreement, as Ilila wasn't wrong about their relationship. "Actually... friends is about right, and I used to think such a thing wasn't possible. Guess you can thank Blake for showing me the error of my ways-"

"SHUT UP!" Ilia shouted back at her, which cued Draco to move and put a hand on her shoulder to keep her from doing anything rash. Ruby didn't make things any better either as she stepped up, and backed up her friends with basic logic."...They're both right. Because if The White Fang keeps lashing out with this much violence, people will only see you as fearmongers-just like the Grimm!" This pushed the agent over the edge, and she drew Lightning Lash on the rose.

Draco wasn't able to stop her immediately… as he became infatuated with Ruby's silver eyes once she spoke up. It was such an odd sight that it screwed up his reaction time, but thankfully Yang and Gage had been expecting this type of outburst. The ghost holstered Javix and struggled to cock Mistletoe while his girlfriend just pointed one of her gauntlets at the chameleon faunus while she pulled Ruby back with her other hand. "...Don't."

The salamander raised Yato up to block any incoming fire, and Fenrir released Neo so he could bring Blazburner up and aim it up at Team RWBY as it shifted into its crossbow form again. Thus sparking another standoff, but Yang was still adamant on shutting it down and gave them a few good reasons to do so.

"You're going to be surrounded by Atlesian Marines soon enough, and with that gunship in the air… shooting your way out is only going to make things worse."

Neo had some spite left in her to actually hiss at the blonde and a mutual glare was shared between the two girls while everyone picked another person to eye down. Of course Yang was right when she mentioned that they were basically surrounded, and it wasn't that hard for the enemy team to believe… but like Ilia had mentioned before, she was only there to pull Team DEFN out for extraction. So when another pair of thrusters suddenly started to make the building shake, the agent lowered her lash and exhaled.

"Oh I don't think so…" She said with a smirk.

It came out of nowhere to the point where Atlas ground teams barely had enough to react, and before Team RWBY could tell what was going on, the wall behind Ilia and Team DEFN was shot to pieces from the guns of a modified Bulkhead. It was able to tell where the strike team was thanks to the chameleon faunus's own scroll, and when that escape route was opened up… Gage got a good look inside of their airship.

Another hole was made in the side of the building and was big enough for the ship to open up one of it's side doors before Kane, the chainsaw wielding White Fang lieutenant reappeared as he gestured for his allies to jump aboard. Gage was honestly expecting Adam Taurus to be right there along with him… but the bull was still a no-show in the end. His eyes continued to bounce back and forth between everyone there to see if they'd make a move, but when he turned over and saw that Draco had already been staring at him, he got the sense to back off. No reason as to why and the sensation felt odd until the salamander bowed his head back at him, and pushed both of his hands out for one final use of his semblance. "-HRRRAGH!"

This caused the remainder of the frost and snow on their side of the level to sprout and spiral towards Gage and Team RWBY in a way that was similar to the storm blast that had decimated the place, only it wasn't as focused. Just a half-assed distraction that ended up working for the most part as Yang, Ruby, and Blake covered their faces and slid back a bit due to the sudden current. Weiss put up a glyph to defend herself, and Gage simply used his metal arm to block out the wind so he could keep one eye on their foes… however, it was all for nothing.

The attack had done its job and allowed for Draco, Fenrir, Neo, Ethan, and Ilia to run and jump into the airship while the dragon's small storm did it's job. Then as Yang and Gage both started to fire at the ship with their weapons… it's doors closed, and it flew off with everyone inside of it.

The bulkhead's enginesvcould be heard roaring away and it rocked the mall's walls even more to the point where it nearly knocked everyone over, and even prevented Ruby from using her semblance to chase after it. Thankfully Orca 2-2 was able to pursue the ship immediately after it's departure, but it wouldn't end up being fast enough to catch up due to it being a helicopter.

Soon once they had gotten far enough away all of the ice was reduced to water slush, and the worse seemed to have been over. They had gotten away much to Gage's frustration… but none of this was a victory for them either. Just a waste of valuable resources on Adam's part, and it would fuel his grudge for the ghost even more. Still though, this wouldn't be the last time he or any of his hand-picked members would encounter our heroes… not with their master plan still in effect.

It was a sudden conclusion, and the ghost still couldn't believe what just happened. Only when the room became cleared from any remaining natural fumes did it finally set in… just as his four friends came up next to him. They watched as he slowly lowered Mistletoe, holding it down at his side with one hand before they looked on at the new hole in the wall, and Yang finally broke their shared silence…

"...T-That's it? I was expecting like… a big fight, or something better than that..."

"*pant* ...Nope, that was all me... *cough!*" Gage huffed and tried to chuckle at her reaction, just to cough out loud while he felt his body sort of sway a bit. None of them really saw this, including him, and instead they all saw how disappointed Weiss looked as she lowered her posture and tilted her head to the side. "Still though… it was so… anticlimactic-"

She said this right as Gage suddenly collapsed in front of the team. He dropped his shotgun, fell to his knees, and put his hands out to stop himself from face-planting completely while Yang and Blake rushed to his side. Sure the team used each of their auras in that mist to jumpstart his own back into recovery, but the fatigue across his body wasn't fixed at all along with his wounds. His lover basically slid into a crouched position as she got next to him and tried to lean his body up, and the stray brushed his back while he gasped for breath.

"Hey-Hey! It's okay Gage... it's okay. You did it." The blonde said this and similar things to him until he finally got a breath in and laughed a bit through his gasps, as he still couldn't believe that he made it. It all just felt like a dream. "...You really did it!"

"Sorry we took so long…" Blake replied right as Ruby and Weiss both sheathed their weapons and rushed over. But upon hearing the cat faunus's voice, Gage randomly found the strength to raise his head up and sigh as he looked into her striking hazel colored eyes, "...Friends of yours?" He croaked out, seemingly with sarcasm.

His deadpanned tone made her think the worst and she kind of… looked away with even more regret, until he whispered to her between breaths, "-Not trying to be an ass… legitimate question…" And when she got the message, Blake became flustered as she looked into his eyes again and nodded gently, prompting the ghost to snicker once more. "...Heh, then i'm surprised you didn't kick my ass like they did… when i attacked you..."

"If I had, then everything Cordelia said would've come off as the truth, when I know that it's not. What happened that day isn't as black and white… i can promise you that."

She didn't hesitate to respond with this, and even though Gage was just trying to ease the tension a bit between them both, he couldn't help but sigh after he tried to think of a genuine comeback. He was already tired on top of things, and it only drained his mind further… so for now, he was just glad to see some guilt still weighing heavily on Blake, and left it at that. "We can talk about it later..."

"Y… Yeah…" She nodded in agreement with him after, right as Yang began to pull her boyfriend back up onto his feet. "Alright, c'mon tough guy…" The brawler then put his right arm over herself so he could remain balanced, and Blake helped him out a bit too by picking Mistletoe off of the ground and putting the weapon's gun sling over his head and under his metal arm so it could stay on his back a lot easier with the strap going across his chest.

They all turned around to see what had been occupying Ruby and Weiss since they hadn't said anything yet… and saw that the two partners were looking at the mess that had been left by Gage. There was blood from him all over the floor along with the gear he'd lost (except for Alizarin's AK-47) as well as the shattered parts of Cynica, and the piece of Ethan's ear that was bitten off. He looked over at his tactical vest that had been cut open and quickly determined that nothing in it could be salvaged, as everything including the radio he used to contact Riley had been destroyed by Blazeburner during his scuffle with Fenrir.

The heiress had gone through every bit of his kit that was left over and threw it all into the knapsack that Gage had also lost track of, but as she did this… she hadn't noticed that their team leader was caught off guard by all of the carnage that stained on the floor. There was so much of that dark red color, and it ate away at Ruby on the inside. "...You really gave them all you had, didnt you Gage?" She asked him.

He didn't know why it mattered at first considering he was still alive… but unbeknownst to him, it was because she wanted to even the score by saving his life on her own, like Gage had done the night he lost his left arm. She failed him in her mind, and soon she sounded like she was on the verge of tearing up as she picked up the two blades that belong to the ghost's destroyed gauntlet.

"Ruby-" He tried to stop her while she was ahead, and Ruby made sure to take a deep breath as the rest of her team stared back at her too. "I-I'm sorry, I... I just wish that we did more instead of running into more trouble... and getting stuck behind stupid walls every second-!" The rose said this while she turned away from the gore and began to approach the ghost and her older sister with Cynica's two blades in her hands,

She then tried to laugh it off with a small giggle, but Gage ruined it for her by expressing his gratitude again, just like he'd done with her mother not too long ago...

"*huff* ...You were there, when I needed you to be. That's all that should matter..."

Weiss came over to Ruby just as he said this, and after her partner brushed her back gently to calm her down, the rose was able to wipe one of her eyes once she handed the two blades back to Gage. She barely contained herself after this, and the team's 'ice queen' then continued to keep their spirits up as she smiled at the ghost smugly, "See Gage? I told you that 'power of friendship' stuff would show up eventually!" She humored him, making him grin before she gave back his old knapsack.

He mourned the loss of his old weapon for a moment and put the two blades in his back pocket before he took the bag from Weiss with his free hand. Only the other broken parts of his gauntlet and a few shotguns shells were in there along with the pictures of Yang that he'd kept close, but when he realized that a Cynica 2.0 could be made, he just took the shells and photos before he dropped his knapsack like it was grocery bag.

It was better to not carry around any extra weight with the condition he was in, and Yang was quick to get moving once everyone was settled again. "Now, we should probably leave before the whole building comes down… and for Gage's sake, let's try that elevator over there." She then turned her head slightly and gestured over towards the glass elevator shaft that Team DEFN had ignored and left intact.

Ruby was quick to zip in front of the elevator and press the lower button on it's main panel while Yang and Weiss walked Gage over to it. And amongst other things on his mind, like if Al's AK-47 was destroyed in the blast or if there was a way to tell him, Ileana, Riley, and Team JNPR that things were alright now, he couldn't help but worry about the soldiers that had brought Team RWBY here in the first place. "What about the Atlesians…?" He asked the girls.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it." Weiss replied, trying to reassure him that there was nothing to worry about. He didn't say anything back as he limped along… and after he put his leftover shotgun shells in his pocket, the ghost looked down at the pictures he had of his lover, before he stuffed them away too and cradled his head against Yang's shoulder.

Gage knew that the energy of her warm aura had what melted most of the ice when they came to his rescue, and since his body was still freezing, he clung to her like she was a heater. It wasn't a secret that Yang was enjoying every second of it either, and her cheeks started to blush a little… but not just because of how he leaned on her. "...You really kept those pictures of me close, during all of this?" Her boyfriend nodded of course, and continued to make her glow red after that.

"...It still doesn't beat the real thing. I know that now, and i'm sorry…"

It was hard to hide her emotions from him, so she could only remain silent as the warmth coming from her aura increased tenfold. Weiss and Ruby still heard this for themselves however, and did their best to not smile at them both as they stopped in front of the elevator. Everyone was there aside from Blake, and despite being glad to hear that Gage and Yang were already getting back into how things used to be, she became caught up in the mess that was left behind.

The stray saw the piece of wolf ear on the ground too just like Ruby, and forced herself to look away as she raised her hand up and gripped the bow on her head gently. Just imagining that was upsetting for her… and soon she looked over to where that Bulkhead picked up her old friends and Neo. Old memories of The White Fang flooded her mind for a short time, but were now tainted by what's become of past colleagues as she never could have imagined any of them participating in something this heinous.

Killing unarmed civilians and framing it on equally innocent people that were just trying to find a new home… the only person she thought would go along with this plan was Adam, but not such a huge group of his followers too. It became a frightening realization pretty quickly, just as a ticking sound could be heard coming from the elevator. It was on it's way up… and when Blake closed her eyes, all her hearing became focused on that tune as she tried to break away from her thoughts.

Then… things got strange. An odd rumbling could be heard ramping up within her eardrums, and it wasn't anything like tinnitus where her ears were ringing, no. It was a faint noise in the real world, and for some reason Blake was the only one who noticed it at the time. The enhanced sense of hearing she got from her cat ears was the source of this, and after it caused her eyes to open again, she was able to track this disturbance. She could hear it coming up from the floor below, and when the stray turned back to ask her team about it… the sound's pitch became alarming.

"Uh… Blake, are you okay?'" Ruby turned and asked, right as it sounded like an avalanche replaced the sound heard by Blake's keen ears. She groaned immediately by its volume, and before she could cover them out of reflex, the elevator let out an audible ding as it's doors opened to nothing. The lift's cabin was absent, but Blake wassnow able to hear a rapid anthem of whispers coming from within the elevator shaft. Something was on it's way up… and as she jumped to tell her friends to get back, a dark presence made itself known,

"YOU GUYS, LOOK OUT-!"

Weiss, Yang, and Gage all stared back at Blake once they heard her scream, and turned just in time to see what looked like nine giant black tentacles suddenly burst uout behind her, coming through the spaces within the third floor's circular moat before they twirled upwards and came to a stop just below the roof of the mall. A series of distorted yet maniacal laughter seemed to be coming from the pores of the nine limbs, while black ash or a smoky-type of element was coming off of them. It was almost grimm-like, in fact…

Another surprise came as a dark shadowy hue replaced the cold-blue color that had been left behind by Draco, and before anyone from Team RWBY could react… three more tentacles came out of the elevator shaft and swatted Weiss, Yang, and Ruby away from Gage with them all being pushed back to Blake, who unsheathed Gambol Shroud and dual wielded her sword with its bladed sheath.

"OH GODDAMN IT-!" Gage shouted. Their team leader rolled across the ground with her partner, but Yang was able to stop herself by activating her gauntlets and planting them on the floor as she slid and came to a stop thanks to the friction. She stopped in a crouched position while her younger sister and Weiss were starting to push themselves up and looked back at Gage simultaneously.

The ghost fell to the floor pretty quickly since he had been leaning on his girlfriend, landing while he looked back at his friends and was angered by what just happened. He winced and was going to try and lean up just as Yang was about to run back over… but then he saw her stop dead in her tracks. Ruby, Weiss, and Blake did the same, before the four girls looked at what was behind him and became fixated on a new target pretty quickly.

Gage had that 'it's right behind me, isn't it?' feeling form in his gut, and he froze up like he was in the eyes of a predator. Being unarmed and vulnerable made this a whole lot worse for him… but as he started to pant quietly to himself due to nervousness, he found the courage to turn his head over and face whatever was eyeing him down.

...That was a huge mistake.

Those three tentacles/limbs were able to keep the elevators open long enough for that same cloud of black ash to come up and eventually air out in front of him, and that was when someone was seemingly released from it. The black air came together to outline the figure of a person before they shapeshifted into a familiar face, for Gage at least… one that was known for three different things. Owning a chain-wrapped cricket bat, leading his own cult, and lastly, his revered ruthlessness. Fear was instilled within the ghost… as Orin Sable, the whistler, appeared in front of him.

"Hey kid."

The black leather clad, bloody and bandaged marauder addressed the ghost in a polite manner with a deeply-seeded rage hiding behind his tone, right as the old man smirked and took a step forward with his bat slung over his shoulder. He looked down at this 'kid', the one person that led Keji's downfall and helped exterminate what remained of The Skinwalkers, without an ounce of mercy in his heart, and Gage got that impression immediately.

Nothing was going to stop what came next, and with the amount of power that was already being presented, the future seemed just as bleak as it was a few minutes ago. This day was surely near its end, but even with Team RWBY at his side now, Gage was scared shitless. Because like Orin said to him once before, they were in the real world… and happy endings weren't always guaranteed...

"...Did you miss me?~"