Hello anybody and everybody! This is my first fan-fiction. Ever. In fact it's probably the first story I've willingly written down. I expect it to be pretty rough around the edges, though I think I've edited things decently well. I would absolutely love it if you guys could leave a review, especially ones giving advice on what I'm doing wrong, what I'm doing right, and how you think I could improve my writing!

I'm not entirely sure if this is how others put in their author's notes or whatever, but it's my first time posting anything to the site and this was all I could think of to get them in, if you know of a better way please tell me.

Well, that's all I have for this author's notes thingy. The story is going to start off a tad slow, but the plot should pick up within the first few chapters. Let me know what you guys think!

"As for me, I'll do what I do best..." Roman's voice echoed coldly as he stalked towards Ruby.

This wasn't how things were supposed to go. Cinder had shown up and ruined everything, then to make it worse Red had shown up again and again and made his life a living hell. Cinder had almost incinerated Neo right in front of him after the Paladin incident, and had only been saved when Roman convinced her just how useful Neo was and that he wouldn't make another stupid mistake. Over and over again Red's heroics had nearly cost Roman and Neo their lives, but this...this was another level. She had sent Neo flying off into that swirling abyss of Griffons and Nevermores'. The only person he cared about anymore was off in those dangerous skies, terrified and alone. He was done. He'd let Red off easy before, after all she was just a kid, not all that different than himself at that age. Just trying to do the right thing. Not anymore though. Red was not making it off this ship alive, not after all the shit she put them through.

"... lie, steal, cheat, and SURVIVE!"

Suddenly the world was dark. He remembered hearing a roar as he was about strike down Red, and then a glimpse of a boned beak. But now the world was nothing but darkness; choking, stifling darkness. He could still feel Melodic Cudgel in his hand, but he couldn't think properly enough to use it. Where was he? Why was it so hard to breathe? Which way was up? He could feel himself growing more tired with each passing second, his aura slipping away bit by bit by this crushing darkness.

Suddenly everything lurched forward.

The darkness all around him started to dissipate, wisps of darkness trailing into the air steadily being replaced by the world that he knew. A world ablaze.

Roman collapsed onto the floor, still gripping his cane with a death-grip. Looking around, he realized he was back inside the bridge of his commandeered Atleasian ship. Only this time everything was on fire and a giant hole above his head gave him a pretty good idea of how he got back in here.

That was about the time the smoke stung his eyes, throat and nostrils.

"Fuck, ah, where the hell!?" Sputtering and coughing so much he felt like he was hacking up a lung, he staggered out of the bridge and down a corridor before arriving to a significantly less smoke filled room.

He immediately ran to the window and looked out it, confused as it seemed that the lights of Vale looked strange and slanted.

"You have got to be kidding me." Roman pulled off his hat and wiped the sweat of his forehead as he gazed out the window of the very large ship that was currently pitching down directly towards Vale.

Explosions could be heard rocking across the ship, but Roman merely stood looking out the window pinching the bridge of his nose.

"One fucking day is all I ask! I've been out of prison for a couple hours and this is the shit you throw at me?!" He yelled at nothing, thinking he'd lose it.

Well, he lost something, but it wasn't his sanity this time. Just his footing.

Slamming onto the cold hard metal he cursed as the ship continued to pitch down towards a soon to be fatal crash.

Hooking his cane onto a nearby table that was welded onto floor, he used his other hand to hold his hat onto his head. "Never thought I'd see the day where I was thankful for military standard anything, let alone a goddamn table".

He quickly took note of his aura levels, and realized that his plan was even riskier than he had first thought. The figures 30% blinked red on his scroll. Using his semblance to move as far as he wanted was already going to be exhausting, but at that level of aura he might use up the rest of it completely.

"Well, not like I have much of a choice," he muttered as he watched Vale grow closer out the window.

Figuring that he was close enough by now and that he couldn't wait much longer, he squeezed his eyes shut and pictured the spot he had in mind.

He gasped as his hands and knee's suddenly slammed into the concrete of Vale's streets. A wave of nausea washed over him as he struggled to stand up with heavy assistance from his cane. Looking up he watched as the ship he had just been on crashed with a violent explosion into Vale a dozen blocks away or so.

"For fucks sake, can this day get any worse?!" Roman groaned as his rhetorical question was answered by the growl of a Beowolf.

Spinning around with Melodic Cudgel in hand, he quickly pointed the muzzle at the beast that had just rounded the corner of the hardware store he was standing outside of. He briefly hoped that the sounds of screaming, fires, explosions and fighting that echoed all throughout Vale would be enough to cover the sound of his flare. He then pulled the trigger as the Beowolf began its charge towards him. The signature scream of his deadly flares echoed around him as his cane launched an unstable dust flare right into the beast, and it promptly disintegrated into nothing but black mist.

Breathing out a sigh, he checked his aura and realized he was running on fumes. "Three percent? Dammit, I knew teleporting so far was going to be rough but that's more than I thought."

Glancing around to make sure he was safe for the moment, he quickly dashed down road and hung a right onto a larger street before being greeted by an unwelcome sight.

Civilians ran in different directions, all trying to escape the Grimm that tore through the streets of Vale. Several buildings had their doors torn off and a few had flames bursting out of them. Atleasian soldiers and Vale police officers stood in scattered groups of 2 or 3, desperately trying to save as many as they could while shooting at any Grimm that drew too close. He watched as an Ursa trampled right over a man in a suit on its way over to a lone Atleasian soldier who was frantically firing his rifle at the beast, only to be promptly torn in half by a large clawed paw.

"Cinder what the fuck?!" Roman spat as he crushed a creep with the crook of his cane. He knew the bitch was crazy, and he knew that she was probably going to be causing some chaos on her quest for whatever lay inside Beacon, but he definitely wasn't expecting this level of chaos.

"Ok, ok, think Roman. Think" He muttered anxiously as he ducked behind a wall. "Find Neo then get the fuck out of Vale."

Where could he go for the moment though? Only one place came to mind.