My first foray into the RWBY archive. My first story in quite a long while. Some of the best writing I've ever done.

Send me some prayers, guys.

I'll need them for where I plan on taking this.

DEFIANCE

Chapter 1:
Mission Failure

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Dylan Thomas

"ETA in one." The auto-pilots artificial voice rang through the Bullhead's hold. I closed the old poem and stood with a sigh and a stretch.

Static greeted me for a brief moment as the communications system in my helmet flickered to life, before being replaced by the voice of the person who put me up to this.

"Are you there, Dawn?" I grunted in affirmation, moving over to the hatch's release switch and smacking the lever. Wind immediately began to rush into the Bullhead, the hatch sliding open. "Speak, please. It's not good to get into the habit of responding in grunts and growls."

Completely ignoring what had been said, I grimaced and grabbed hold of the handle hanging from the ceiling. The scenery outside was quite breathtaking – as in, the roaring of wind was trying to steal whatever breaths I could get. The clouds passed below me sedately, a beautiful puffy white.

Finally, after a few seconds of taking in the sight, I responded.

"Yes Ozpin, I'm here."

"Ah, splendid," Came the response. "You're thirty seconds from the drop point. Do you remember the mission parameters, Dawn?" I sighed again.

"Figure out what's birthing the Grimm here and destroy it. Everything else is a secondary objective." On the wall beside me, a red timer appeared with a single red light shining brightly above it.

00:22

00:21

Time was ticking away.

"Correct. Identify the beast before engagement; we need to know what can birth these creatures so easily. Wipe the horde after, then make your way to the pick-up point." Ozpin said.

00:15

"I know, Ozpin. You briefed me multiple times." I said, and with a few quick glances, assessed the state of my gear.

The matte black armored suit I'd been given for this mission seemed to be in perfect order. A simple press of a button had the web like membrane pop out and connect my limbs to my body. A few glances proved the wingsuit to be in perfect order as well. Triggering another button shot a small bit of energy out of the multiple thrusters arrayed around the suit. The metal plates reflected most of the ambient light, seemingly distorting and directing it away from my body. .50 Caliber BMG ammunition was strapped onto two belts that went from my right shoulder to my left hip. The helmet that I wore was no doubt giving me the same information, but I had the visor lifted.

Everything was working perfectly. I smiled lightly; it was always annoying when someone messed up something I would be wearing into combat. My weapons were already in working order, I knew. I had checked them over right after I'd gotten on the Bullhead.

00:09

"Just making sure." Ozpin's sounded mirthful. His next words were not. "Be careful down there, Dawn."

00:05

I grinned "I'm going to be reckless as all hell just because you said that, you know that, right?"

00:02

I could tell he had a smile on his face, no matter how small it may be. "Just be careful, Jaune."

I only had time to grunt, as the next moment, the timer hit zero, the light turned green and my mission officially started.

So, knowing that it was time for the action to begin, I slapped my visor down, pumped my legs with aura, and threw myself from the back of the Bullhead into the cloudy sky.

Why was I doing this again, exactly?

Oh, right. Because there was no one else there to take the job.

My name is Jaune Arc – I hunt Legends. Those titanic Grimm that rule the world and can destroy Kingdoms with hardly any effort. The horrors that draw armies of Grimm to them merely by existing. The beasts that parents talk about to their children to make them go to sleep at night. The quite literal Boogeymen of all of Remnant.

Why?

Because, by force of habit, I defy everything.

And if everything includes a monster that can shatter continents with its power?

So be it.

By the time I had passed through the cloud barrier I was already going well over the speed of sound. Normally it was an impossible feat, but by angling yourself just right and using Aura to decrease wind resistance, it was trivial.

Briefly taking a moment to orient myself like a wooden plank, I snapped my arms and legs out to unfurl the wingsuit while simultaneously activating the thrusters at full power.

The resulting backlash of going from over eleven-hundred miles per hour to a little under two-fifty would have been a major cause for concern had I been anyone but myself. But, seeing as I was myself, the Aura that was constantly circulating through my body had me barely feeling the effects.

All in all, I only felt a little nausea where others would have blacked out from something like internal bleeding because their organs violently shifted.

Below me lay an enormous island. Most of it was covered in a vast forest; the trees towered over the world, hundreds of feet high and half as wide. To my left was a vast mountain range laying in the islands center, the forest surrounding it on all sides and trying valiantly to climb its steep slopes. There seemed to be a large patch of deforested land right at the base of the tallest mountain – it was crawling with the darkness of Grimm. To my right lay the large ocean that separated this island from the rest of the world.

From the rest of humanity.

I was only a fifteen-hundred feet above the rest of the world and would be hitting ground quickly – as in, I was going to touch down in seconds – so I decided on a landing position as quickly as possible and tried to not fuck up.

And, of course, I fucked up spectacularly.

I missed the clearing I was aiming for by half a mile and apparently didn't have any juice left in my thrusters.

"Fuck me," I muttered – just in time to plow a great wide trench into one of the many trees surrounding the area.

Slowly and carefully, I pulled my head from where it had gotten stuck inside the wood. Glancing up from where I was – about thirty-five feet within the trunk – I grimaced.

Great, I thought to myself. Now I'll have to dig myself out from this damned thing. So, with great annoyance and a glance at my Aura levels, – still at 97%, so far so good – I reinforced my arms and hands and began to carve my way out.

A few minutes later I managed to fully pull myself out and drop down onto one of the trunks large – and I mean large, they were probably as wide as a Bullhead – roots. Blinking a few times, I finally realized that my helmet had been damaged in the fall. There was a large portion of the visor missing.

I scowled as I pulled the device off of my head and fished the communicator from inside. Finally prying the earpiece loose, I slipped it on.

"Ozpin, you there?" I asked, touching the device with a finger to activate it. Static greeted me. "Shit." I gave it a little while, but after a minute of static, I gave up.

With a sigh I tapped the earpiece five times.

'Aura at 96%.' A quiet robotic voice answered. I grinned, glad that the function still worked. Giving it a triple tap with three of my fingers activated another function – the one that, admittedly, I like the most.

Music began to play from the small headset, the light and airy sound of a piano and violin.

Lowering my hand, I cast a quick look to gain my bearings and set off at a brisk run towards the mountains and the last known area of the mystery Grimm.

While moving I went over everything I knew. This island was the home of a lab of sorts that was run by the Atlas military.

A week ago the entire place went quiet.

So, with the guys who knew about this place freaking out, Ironwood had been quick to send a team to check the place out.

The report that was sent back was horrifyingly expected. The entire are that once held the lab was gone. Completely and utterly eradicated from the face of the earth. No rubble, no debris, no bodies.

No proof that the site ever existed.

Ironwood immediately called for the team to evacuate the island, stressing that they get back onto their airship and get the fuck out of there.

He got the blurry video of some human shaped monster with a single word attached instead:

Help.

Sadly enough, I was the help. And I was four days too late to help anyone.

I leapt from overly large root to overly large root, keeping track of how close I was getting to the mountains the entire time. Going my current course would lead me to running into the Grimm filled area soon – the place where the lab once stood.

After only a couple of more leaps I ran into my first opposition. I crouched upon the next root I landed on and took a few moments to survey the area. A large pack of Grimm was moving through the forest in front of me.

Ten feet tall and fifteen long, Kitsune's were an intimidating sight. Predominantly black in color with small white bone plates in strategic areas, they were highly lethal. Their fox like features, razor sharp teeth, and claws that could cut steel would have been enough. Problem was, they also have nine diamond hard tails that can extend up to forty feet.

They could also breathe fire.

And there was thirty of them. Joy. I didn't like fighting Kitsune's. The only real way to deal with them was through overwhelming power or great knowledge of their weak points. I could do overwhelming firepower (it was what I was best at), but it would most probably drain my Aura reserves more than I wished.

I'd just decided to take a breather and wait for them to pass – but suddenly, they all locked into place and turned to face my direction.

ALRIGHT, HOW IN THE FUCK-

I cut my train of thought and leaped up, going fifty feet high in a moment. Reaching out, I managed to grab ahold of a jutting piece of the tree's trunk and glanced down in time to catch the tree root I was on utterly cease to exist. I grimaced.

Alright, they wanted to play? I can play.

See, one thing that people never really seem to notice is that you can do a lot with Aura. You don't need to have a Semblance for super strength to tear down a brick wall, or a speed Semblance to move quickly.

All you really needed was good Aura control. And I had damn good Aura control.

That in mind, Aura coated my fist and I pushed off from the tree trunk.

I went from zero to terminal velocity in an instant, slamming into the ground near the middle of the Kitsune pack. My fist was planted into the solid ground up to my elbow. I could feel a grin stretch across my face as I released the Aura around my hand.

The earth exploded.

… Well, not really. The ground around me shone for a brief moment – the only sign that my aura was traveling through it – and then cracked, shattering apart and erupting all at once. Dirt and rock went flying hundreds of feet into the air, the pack of foxlike monsters going with it with a multitude of yelps and roars.

I stood from the only undamaged surface and drew the blade that was sheathed at my waist.

Crocea Mors came out with the ever-so-slight sound of steel on steel. The beautiful silver sword reflected the dull sunlight that made it through the canopy and glowed like the moon would on a clear winter night.

I let out a pleasant sigh and shifted my grip. It's been a long while since I've taken Crocea into combat.

"Too long."

I grinned, looked above myself, found a target, and leapt from the ground.

The Kitsune had about, oh, a quarter of a second of so to look surprised before my ancestors blade pierced it's skull and rent its way through and into its chest cavity. My feet slammed into it a second later, carrying the newly made corpse and myself higher into the sky.

Twisting my head back – and wow, the ground was suddenly pretty far away – I kicked off and flew towards another one of the canine like Grimm.

"I wonder if you can take them all out before they hit the ground." A wizened voice taunted in my thoughts.

I just plunged my blade into another Kitsune as my answer – right past a small chink in the bone plating that covered the beasts 'heart'.

Even if I was better at overwhelming power, I still needed to save my Aura reserves. Thus stabbing them in their soft and squishy parts.

I jumped off of the Kitsune the same way that I did the first; by planting my feet and shoving off. I launched myself to the side this time, the corpse flying off and slamming into another foxlike Grimm hard enough to break its neck.

"Four down." Crocea whispered as I sliced my next target in half with contemptuous ease. I landed on one of the trees feet first, slamming the ancient blade right below me to use as a perch.

With deft movements I grabbed the weapon that was magnetically clipped to my back, mecha-shifted it into its rifle form, pulled the charging handle, took aim, and fired a .50 caliber BMG round straight through three more of the Grimm.

Contra Esse was of my own creation and design. A horrifyingly powerful tool that could mecha-shift from a rifle into an overly large revolver that held eight shots – even if the recoil from one-handing it was a bitch to deal with. There were two blades to the top and bottom of the weapons muzzle that could shift together to be used as a gunblade as well.

It outer shell was made of black carbon nanotubes; the same silver metal that made up Crocea Mors being used as its inner workings. Lastly, its name was engraved on the side in glimmering gold.

I managed to take out three more Kitsune with two rounds before they reacted. Within the blink of an eye I'd extracted Crocea Mors, shifted Contra Esse into a pistol and fired straight down with an Aura infused shot.

The sheer kick of the weapon had it almost smacking me in the face. And that was ignoring the fact that it had launched me a good sixty feet up, spinning like a top and allowing me to dodge the multitude of fire blasts that slammed home against the trees trunk.

Gaining my bearings and shooting a smirk towards the heavens while it flew through my vision, I shot Contra Esse into the air and launched myself right back down towards the still falling kitsune.

Landing blade first on one of the smaller ones – which also meant that it was higher in the air – I cut through its chest with my left hand while my right aimed and fired another round through one ones who was close to touching down.

The difference in momentum was too great, though, and instead of stalling us it sent us spinning. Using this to my advantage, I kicked off when an opportunity presented itself.

Allowing a trickle of Aura into Crocea Mors had the blade sharpen substantially – which I then used to lop off a Kitsune's head as I flew by.

Realizing that I was about to miss my target, I shot to the side and managed to catch myself right in the jaws of another Kitsune.

Literally. The Grimm pressed down on me instinctively with its horribly fucking sharp teeth ow you fucker – and I barely maneuvered Contra Esse enough to blow its brains out. Dark Grimm matter splattered upon my face as I pulled myself from its jaw.

"Aura at 88%" My communicator voiced out.

"Fuck off!" I growled back – just in time to be slammed from the side by another snarling beast. Its claws tried to rake their way down my chest, but I just batted them away with Crocea, spun a whole three-hundred and sixty degrees and pulled the trigger of Contra –

Click.

Fucker.

Still spinning I made a wild slash and managed to lop off one of the things hands. How close were we to the ground? Flowing Aura to my eyes whilst jamming my blade through the fox's throat, I managed to make out the details around me as I spun.

And goddamnit, did I miscalculate.

I slammed into the earth a moment later, crushing through the torn apart ground leaving a good sized crater.

"Aura at 84-" The Kitsune I'd just killed slammed atop me. "83%"

"Crocea," I hissed out, throwing the Kitsune away. "Number count."

"Fifteen down," The blade whispered, sounding disappointed. "You only got half while in the air."

"Fuck you, Crocea." I stated, reloading Contra and blowing another Kitsune's head off. "It's sixteen now."

"So it is."

I flipped myself over and drug myself onto all four of my limbs. Shaking my head for a brief moment, I glanced up.

"Oh shit." I said.

"Indeed." Crocea agreed.

"ROAR!" Said the Kitsune as they launched too-damned-many tails at me. Twelve times nine was a hundred and eight, right? Jesus.

Oh well, at least I could actually MOVE on the ground. So, that thought in mind, I launched myself straight towards the attacking Grimm and made sure to keep close to the ground and my weight centered.

I struck the middle-most grim like a round fired from Contra; In other words, I blew its fucking head off with my feet. Finishing with an impromptu backflip, I landed and took off towards the largest concentration of Kitsune and fired Contra towards the others.

Hearing the noise of air being displaced, I scrapped my current plan and dove towards the side. Rolling through the displaced soil and rock back to my feet, I heard the muffled sounds of tails implanting themselves into soft earth.

I wounded the closest foxlike Grimm with a round from Contra and finished it off with a swipe from Crocea. Ducking below the swipe thrown at me from another Kitsune, I stabbed its buddy right in the muzzle, batted it next swipe away and blew its head off.

Twenty down? I think that's twenty. Let's call it twenty.

Firing the last three rounds in Contra allowed me to take out two more and injure another. From then on, it was a game that I liked to call, 'Stabby, Stabby Fuck you'. How do you play it?

You stab everything to death. Simple.

I finished off the second to last Kitsune by giving it an unexpected lobotomy and sighed. Sheathing Crocea Mors allowed me to open Contra Esse and drop the spent casings. That done, I easily shoved one last round into the weapons chamber and flicked it closed.

Mecha-shifting the weapon back to its rifle form, I spun around, took a knee, and blew the retreating Kitsune's head off with barely any thought. I stood and began to reload the weapon again.

"That was sloppy." I stated, keeping my eyes on my surroundings as my hands went through the motions of reloading the rifle.

"Aura at 80%" My communicator said. I sighed.

"Do not feel so bad. The last time you fought them was months ago on your own terms." Crocea said, his voice sounding like the ringing of steel. I flinched.

"And I was still cocky, Crocea." I grumbled. "But alright, no need to give me a headache." I shoved the last individual round into the weapons cylinder. I only carried four spare speed loaders at a time, even with a pouch that was wider on the inside than the outside. When you have to use a speed loader meant for .50 cal ammunition, you tend to not carry many.

Releasing a low sigh, I holstered Contra Esse and loosed some Aura to my legs. With a slight grunt of exertion I launched myself up to the trees branches.

Time to go find the target.

I sat on a tree branch three-hundred feet away from the tree line.

It was basically a fucking mosh pit out there. Too many Grimm to count. So many that there wasn't even a single area that was left without Grimm.

Except for one area.

There, standing in the middle of the clearing stood a humanoid figure. Tall, maybe twelve feet a distinctly feminine. Its body was made up of the normal black and white Grimm motif, but there was an underlying color of green and blue that reminded me of the ocean. Black droplets of liquid dripped from her form, spawning a new horror every time one would hit the ground.

"Ozpin," I whispered worriedly, having finally managed to get through to the man. "It's… Ozpin, it's Tiamat."

There was silence on the other end of the line.

"Ozpin," I muttered, staring at one of the strongest Grimm in existence. "What the fuck do I do?" I could hear muffled shouting from the other end of the communicator, like the argument was happening a good distance from the device. After a few more seconds of my nerves continuously growing, the shouts quieted down to nothing.

And then Ozpin picked back up. "Jaune," He stated, voice quivering. "Is Confundis Mors still in working order?"

I shot a glance over my shoulder at the large hilt that poked over it. "Ozpin..." I trailed off. "Are you sure of this?"

"No." Ozpin said instantly, sounding like he'd just he was attempting to not sob. "Can you Defy her?"

I shook my head, knowing the man wouldn't see it. "Ozpin, looking at her isn't telling me "Fuck whatever you are, I don't care.", it's telling me nothing. Absolutely. Nothing."

I could faintly hear Glynda's horrified whisper: "Ozpin…"

But Ozpin continued. "How bad is that, Jaune?"

My retort was instantaneous. "The last thing out of my league showed me Death, Ozpin. Capital D death. The Entity itself. To not even see Death means that this thing would do more than end my life."

There was silence. And then Glynda made her opinion shown.

"Ozpin!" Her voice roared through the communicator. "Get him out of there! NOW!" I stood, prepared to hightail it to the Bullhead and get the hell off of this island.

And then I felt pressure.

There was a small scuffle of noise through my comm, the sound of flesh meeting flesh, and Glynda was suddenly the one controlling the mic.

"Jaune, the extraction point is that initial clearing that you were meant to land in. The Bullhead will touch down in one minute, so get-"

"Glynda." My throat was dry, my voice hoarse. "Glynda, she's looking at me."

There was silence. Not just over the line, either. No. The horde of Grimm ahead of me, the beasts that shouldn't be able to be so deathly silent, didn't make a noise. There was an army of white and black bodies with malevolent red eyes staring straight at me and they made no sound.

And then there was her. Tiamat stared straight into my eyes, her ocean green orbs burning their way into my soul. They threatened to drag me under, to pull me beneath the waves and not let me out. They wanted to drown me and never let me reach the surface again. They were the deep, dark abyss that swallowed all light and I was light. My soul was light. She wanted my soul. She wanted to consume me devour me neverletmeescapeforeverkeepmetrapped-

My eyes bled as I tore them away from her gaze. I'd barely Defied her.

I never wanted to see those orbs again.

"Jaune. Run." Glynda's voice whispered.

I turned on my heel and took off, weeping tears of blood the whole time.

The entire island erupted in noise.

I evaded a swipe from a Beowolf and didn't bother killing it.

What would be the point when thousands of other hoped to take its position? It'd probably be killed by something more determined to end me, anyway.

I'd only been running for only a dozen seconds and already I was having to deal with a swarm of Grimm. Beowolves, Boarbatusk's, Ursa, Kitsune and any other land based Grimm were hot on my heels. In the air flew Nevermore, Griffon's, Raiju and more.

Speaking of Raiju, I shot a burst of Aura through my legs and lunged ahead – the Grimm that were the closest to me being taken out by the large bolt of lightning. The large, cat like figure overhead roared in anger.

Behind all of them though was the one thing on this island that could kill me, though. Tiamat always seemed to be a set distance from me every time I glanced back. Always three-hundred feet. Never more, never less. Always watching, waiting to drown me in the ocean that she was.

I grimaced. It was never good to garner the attention of one of the Legendary Grimm.

Releasing a small cloud of Aura behind me, I ducked away from the tails of a Kitsune, pulled a Fire Dust Crystal from my pouch and threw it over my shoulder.

Fun fact: Dust will ignite if presented with a large enough source of Aura. So, chuck a crystal into a cloud of highly condensed Aura and it'll blow.

A firestorm erupted behind me, screams of the dying and already dead Grimm making their way into my ears. Hearing the clicking of some kind of insectoid had me draw Contra, and use it along with Aura to launch myself past the horrifying spider/lizard combination that was trying to flank me. Touching down again, I leapt and once more propelled myself with Contra Esse.

I continued like this for a time, continuously dodging anything that got close enough to harm me. Tiamat was always there, always the same damned. Distance. Away.

Light shone through the trees ahead of me. Moments later I burst into the clearing from earlier, the Bullhead, my only chance of escape, lay waiting for me.

But there was a goddamned army right on my ass and they were going to do their best to make sure I didn't leave this place alive.

But I've Defied Death before, and I was damn sure I could do it again. With that thought in mind I reached over my shoulder and grabbed the large hilt that rested there.

With a smooth pull I had Confundis Mors in my hand.

It was a great sword that stood taller than even I. It needed to collapse just for me to be able to carry it on my person. With a hilt that was a foot long and a blade of six and a half feet, seeing me wield it was, as someone had so well put it, "Fucking insane.". And they had good reason for saying that, seeing as the weapon would've been horrifically impossible to wield had it not been for Soul Magic Bullshit and its extremely light weight.

If you consider sixty-seven pounds light in any case. The thing was, I rarely used the weapon as a blade.

With the mechanical noise of gear's clicking and metal grinding, the Confundis Mors mecha-shifted into its alternate form. The first thing to emerge was a grip and trigger, swiftly followed by the rest of the goddamned thing.

It was a beauty to behold. Gleaming silver lined with gold, followed swiftly by a black metal that sucked in the light around it. Grimm silver, they called it. Created by scattering the dust of a freshly killed Grimm across silver during its manufacturing process.

It was hard. It was light. And it was a damn good conductor of Aura.

Sliding to a stop at the open hold of the Bullhead, I took a knee and pointed the newly formed barrel straight at the horde of Grimm that had just burst from the trees.

See, Confundis Mors alternate mode is an Aura cannon. The only one of its kind.

It takes a fuck load of Aura to fire the thing without killing yourself.

I have a fuck load of Aura. Hell, I could only pour half of my Aura into it safely – any more raised the chances of the weapon quite literally melting in my hands or creating a gravitational singularity. How? I don't know. There were limiters on the blade that kept me from pushing half of my Aura into it.

And there were ways past them. I flicked a few switches, dropped some blood on the device, and finally spoke.

"Confundis Mors, release limiters."

Something foreign slipped into my mind. Different than Crocea Mors, something defiant.

"So, it's come to this…" I smiled.

"I'm sorry, Confundis. I promise to reforge you."

I took the silence that followed as permission. My Aura was sitting at seventy-nine percent after everything that had happened.

I dumped every last drop of it into the transformed great sword.

The cannon hummed, a brilliantly bright white light beginning to arch from it in larger and larger amounts. I could see it begin to smoke, a clear sign of the stress that was being put on its inner components. The area around the Bullhead became so bright that you could imagine that the Heavens were shining upon it.

"Fully charged." Whispered Confundis Mors voice in my mind. He sounded expectant.

He sounded resigned.

But even still, I grinned.

"Come on, Confundis. I named you Defying Death for a reason."

I felt an agreement come from the sentient sword. The Grimm had gotten close, a tide of monstrous beings coming down on me like a tidal wave to drag me under.

Standing in the center of it all stood Tiamat. Exactly three-hundred feet away. The Queen of the Oceans. What was believed to be one of the very first Grimm. She was watching.

Waiting.

Expecting.

I snarled and answered her expectations.

"Fire."

The world became light.

I drug myself onto the Bullhead. I was completely exhausted. Not enough energy. Not enough Aura. Not enough willpower to get the hell off of the floor.

Confundis was missing a full half of his body. Not destroyed. Not melted off or blown away.

Just gone.

I still expected him to come back to me in full, even if he was currently missing half of himself.

I did not name him Defying Death for fun.

Finally making it up the ramp of the Bullhead, I turned around to look outside and slumped against what was left of Confundis.

"Auto-pilot," I called out. "Get us out of here."

"Yes, sir." The robotic voice called back and I closed my eyes.

I'd made it. The horde had been utterly decimated by Confundis. The dust that was left of their bodies completely coated the clearing outside, completely erasing any color that was not a shade of black. Tiamat had left as well, hopefully with her curiosity sated-

"NOT QUITE."

My eyes opened up in time to catch ocean green inhuman orbs staring into my own.

AndthenIwasbeingcrusheddrownedruptureddestroyedrebuiltshatteredrippedagonythisagonymakeitstopmakeitstopmakeitmakeitstopmakeitstopmakeit-

Somewhere deep inside, in some vault that was locked beneath the waves that were currently erasing my existence, in some room that was permanently sealed off from the rest of the world, my soul roared.

My eyes opened wide and I could only see red. I blinked once, twice, and my vision slowly returned in my right eye; the left seeing nothing.

Standing in front of me, not ten feet away, stood Tiamat. Not the three-hundred she was always at before, but right at the edge of the airships ramp. Her previous height of twelve feet was now halved, standing at a simple six foot.

She looked human. Cloths that were in shades of black and white with accents of blue and green. Her inhuman eyes gave her away. They glowed brightly and, when locked on you, came with a horrifying sense of pressure. The kind of pressure that comes from being at the very depths of the ocean floor, surrounded by utter darkness and being crushed by the world's water.

The worst thing is that she looked like a female version of me.

She smiled.

And then she spoke.

"YOU ARE QUITE INTERESTING, DEFIANT ONE."

My mind felt like it was breaking and reforming with every word that she spoke. As if someone was hitting a window with a hammer constantly only to pick up the pieces and haphazardly reform it every time it shattered.

"I SHALL ENJOY WATCHING YOU GROW."

The Bullhead had begun to raise its hatch and liftoff, the horrifyingly powerful entity in front of me disappearing ever so slowly.

"LEAVE, KNOWING YOU HAVE GARNERED THE INTEREST OF TIAMAT."

The hatch closed and my mind finally shut down. Darkness rushed forwards to greet me, bringing with it music that was light and airy.

I met it with open arms.

AN: Welcome to Defiance.