Its been about a year and a half since the Fall of Beacon was stopped and things have changed. Vale and Beacon were repaired towards then end of the one-year anniversary thanks to help from the other Kingdoms. New protocols and defenses were added to try to ensure that something like that would never happen again. Although, the Kingdoms were still weary of each other, all unsure if they truly could have peace between them after what had recently occurred. With Vale still trying to get back on its feet, Atlas was slowly trying to close their borders to be safe, Mistral was having difficulty controlling the Grimm and not losing ground. While Vacuo was still being Vacuo. The Councils of all the Kingdoms settled that what happened to Beacon was an isolated incident caused by a group of dangerous people, rather then to point fingers and potentially cause another Great War. The smartest thing they'd done in a long time. The White Fang took most of the blame for the attack, but Adam and his branch had been laying low since the attack and White Fang attacks in general had lowered over the last year or so.

Aside from that, Beacon had reopened its doors to its students and they were about to wrap up their first semester since then. A lot of students submitted applications when they did open back up. They either wanted to make sure something like the Fall never happened again or just attend the school as the Elemental Swordsman. It was released to the public by the Council that Jaune Arc had a good hand in stopping the terrorist attack, as a way to keep up hope. They even went as far as to try and leave a statue of him in one of the Kingdoms many parks. But that was shut down by Ozpin and the Arc family. They all knew Jaune hated the spot light, they knew even in death he would prefer his privacy as much as he could. The Arcs took a heavy hit when Jaune's death was confirmed and when they saw his message to them on his scroll. They all had ways of dealing with the pain, either by throwing themselves into their work or studies. Although, Marron had convinced herself that there was no way her Big Brother was gone. Most days she would wait in the living room for him to come through the door. Sadly, he never did and that just made the young girl cry silently to herself as her mother held her close.

The others took it hard as well, especially Team RWBY and the remainder of JNPR. They all came to terms with his death and decided to honor his memory by doing what he asked of them with his message. They all stayed in Vale to help as much as they could and even stop Grimm from reentering some of the destroyed areas of the Kingdoms. All of that was counted as their Second year at Beacon which allowed them all to start their third year of their training. They all honed their skills further and even started to learn how to wield the swords he left to them, to further honor him. Ruby even went as far as to modify them to help fit their fighting styles a bit more and all agreed that Ruby would be the one to do maintenance on them, since she knew the most about them from all her time questioning Jaune on them.

Ruby Rose threw herself into mastering her boyfriend's sword to starve off the pain. She took her role as leader more serious than before. She made it her job to make sure that everyone that went on a mission with her came back. She also became the impromptu leader of NPR which they accepted with no issue, she was not about to let Jaune's team fall apart on her watch.

Weiss Schnee started doing everything in her power to improve herself, not just as a Huntress but as a person. He father kept trying to bring her back to Atlas but continued to fail. He cut her off completely but that didn't matter to her. She didn't need his money. Her team was there for her and she was going to make Jaune proud of her by honoring her family name as a Huntress.

Blake Belladonna stopped hiding who she was. She stopped caring what everyone thought of her. She would show everyone the true strength of the Faunus and not the evil the White Fang was sowing. She would even stand up for any Faunus that couldn't do it themselves. She would fight for them, just as Jaune had.

Yang Xiao Long started to keep her anger in check and stopped relying on her Semblance as much. Her run in with Adam showed her that it wouldn't always save her, the scar on her arm was a reminder of that. She also took on the role as a protector for their group. She would be damned to lose someone else she cared for.

Pyrrha Nikos became more focused on her training, to the point where she almost closed herself off from everyone around her. Jaune's death left a void in her life that threatened to pull her into an abyss of darkness. It took an intervention from her team and RWBY to snap her out of that funk and slowly she was able to be who they remembered her to be.

Nora Valkyries and Lie Ren finally got together after the death of their honorary brother. They each helped the other keep from drowning in the negativity that threatened to consume them, which helped them to support everyone around them and help them in their time of depression. It was because of them that the Arc family just didn't implode in on themselves.

The two teams were rising stars in Beacon. They were the top team of the third years and every student wanted to learn from them and a few of the guys wanted to date them. Although, they were out of luck. None of them could open themselves up to another person the way they did with Jaune. Even after all this time, they knew they had loved him more than anything and they couldn't even imagine being with anyone besides him. They all knew that he'd want them to move on and to love again but that was the one thing they couldn't do.

That brings us to today. Ozpin had just called RWBY to his office for a mission. The four Huntresses were riding up in the elevator with some light conversation, each one with their weapon and sword. Yang followed her partner's example and had Kakiri across her back, so she could reach it right handed. Blake had placed Fukiri on her belt on her right side, so she could grab it left handed and it wouldn't get in the way if she had to dual wield with Gambol Shroud. Weiss had Suikiri on her left side, opposite of Myrtenaster, having it across her back was distracting to her but she'd never admit it to her teammates. Ruby decided to go with Yang's idea, if she had Raikiri on her belt it would get in the way of Crescent Rose, so it was across her back and under her cloak. But she had it over her left shoulder.

Eventually, the doors opened to reveal the Headmaster's Office, exactly the way it was before the Fall. Ozpin was sitting behind his desk on a call with someone. "Look, Rien, I understand your stance on this but there is no other way. I need you to trust me." Ozpin was saying to whoever was on the other end of the call. The girls all heard the other person sigh and say something before the call was ended. Ozpin looked from his desk to the Team in front of him. "Ah, Team RWBY, thank you for coming."

"What do you need from us, Professor?" Ruby asked with a respectful tone.

"I have a mission for your team. Although, it is highly dangerous. Honestly, I would be sending Team CFVY, but they are already away on mission along with JNPR." Ozpin informed them.

"Well, its not like we haven't handled missions that were outside the norm for most students." Yang answered cockily.

"Well, this one is a bit…different, Miss Xiao Long." Ozpin said as he typed away on his desk. Soon a map of Remnant appeared on the screen. A red mark was glowing on the map. "There is a Huntsman on a mission for me in the badlands between Vale and Vacuo's territories. He is investigating an anomaly with the Grimm there and he has information that he wants me to see."

"Why wouldn't he just send the data to you, sir?" Blake asked, her curiosity intrigued.

"The files are too big to be sent without the aid of the CCTs and the information is highly classified, so he wishes to deliver them himself or to someone trustworthy to deliver them directly to me. Our usual in-between is on another mission and we have no way of locating him since he is so far from the CCTs." Ozpin explained.

"So, our mission is to travel out there to either get the documents or escort him back to Beacon, sir?" Weiss asked.

Ozpin nodded, "That is correct. Although, I would prefer if you could convince him to come back with you." They all looked confused. "For whatever reason, he has been refusing to come back to the Kingdoms. He says that its because the matter out there is too severe to leave alone but I can tell that he isn't telling the complete truth. He very well maybe out there to get himself killed and I would prefer for him to not get his way. I have a responsibility to watch out for him."

The four women looked between each other, they were curious but knew that this was something that Ozpin didn't want to elaborate on. Ruby turned back to their Headmaster, "We accept the mission." She said cheerfully.

Ozpin gave them a small smile, "Thank you, Miss Rose. I already had your bullhead fueled so you can leave whenever you're ready. I'll also send you his most likely location." They nodded and left to gather their supplies. They were in the air about an hour later. Ironwood had given Team RWBY their own Bullhead after their actions during the Fall. They were surprised by that and even more so when it turned out to be the latest Bullhead model, a Mark II Quicksilver. A few hours later and they were at their drop off point. They all jumped out and told the pilot they would send him a signal when they were ready to leave.

The four members of RWBY were standing in front of a massive forest, nearly as huge as the Emerald Forest. They could all feel an ominous feeling coming from the forest, something was definitely off with this place. "Well, we better get going." Ruby pulled them from their thoughts as she started to walk into the forest. Her team followed right after.

The location that Ozpin gave them was located towards the center of the massive woodland, so it took them a few hours to reach the destination. The whole way, they were on guard. But the weirdest thing was that there were no Grimm. Not a single one. That set off alarms with all four of them. Was the anomaly the lack of Grimm here or was something else going on that had the Grimm going somewhere else? They eventually came to a small clearing, it was probably only twenty by twenty feet, but it had clear signs of someone camping out there. There was a small fire pit near the center and many of the trees had cuts in them, although all the signs were old, probably a few weeks or a month.

They all met up in the middle of the clearing, "Great. What now?" Yang asked annoyed.

"We might be able to track him." Ruby suggested. "Blake?" she asked their Faunus teammate.

She just shook her head, "No one's been here for a while. The trail would be cold, even for a Faunus."

"Well, we can't search this entire forest." Weiss added. "It would take weeks and we don't have near enough supplies for that."

As they were discussing what they should do next, they heard growling around them. They all turned to see red eyes glowing from between the trees. They all spun and were back to back as they deployed their primary weapons. That's when the dozen or so Beowolves started to walk into the clearing. The team was about to charge at them when something black landed in front of Ruby, causing her to flinch. Weiss and Blake turned their heads slightly to see what had happened but still had their attention on the Grimm surrounding them. Yang just kept her ears open since turning around would be too risky.

That's when the black mass stood up and turned to the Huntresses. It was a tall figure dressed in a black pants and a long sleeve shirt that hugged his form. They knew it was a man by the build of his body. He also had black boots and gloves. He two belts crisscrossed at his waist, each with multiple pouches on them. He had dark grey armor sown into his clothing for extra protection; vambracers, pauldrons, greaves and cuisses. He also had a small chest plate over his shirt that only covered his chest. A long black cloak that was torn and ragged at the bottom covered him and the hood covered his head completely. The thing that stood out the most was the mask that covered his face. It was steel grey and made from metal. It looked similar to a hockey mask due to it covering his entire face. The place where his mouth would be, was a lighter shade and had two horizontal lines cut into it. The most unnerving was the eyeholes were covered by green lenses that glowed slightly. His whole look was intimidating. "I got this." He said with a voice that was clearing being distorted by his mask.

Before any of them could respond, he reached behind himself and beneath the cloak to pull a completely black broadsword with no features or designs to it. He spun and effortlessly cut the head off the Beowolf that tried to attack him. Before it hit the ground, he shot off with his aura and cleaved through two more Beowolves. The rest of the pack ignored the Huntresses-in-training to attack the Huntsman. Three Beowolves charged simultaneously, he just stabbed the one on his right with his sword. As the middle one pounced, he punched it in the chest with his left fist, that immediately had its chest and back explode. The last Beowolf managed to get behind him with that. The man just pulled his sword free and spun it into a reverse grip to stab behind him. He impaled it through the chest as it was about to bite into his neck. The three Grimm fell, and he charged at the last six. He pulled his blade over his left shoulder and twisted the handle slightly and the blade narrowed but extended to three times its original length. He swung and cleaved the remainder of the pack. He raised his sword and the blade returned to normal as he sheathed it under his cloak once again.

He turned to face the stunned students and began to walk towards them. They were all stunned silent until Blake heard something from the trees behind him, "Look out!" she shouted.

As she did, an Alpha burst from the trees in his blind spot. As it was going for a swipe, he dropped to the ground and used his arms to push himself to drive both his legs into its chest. As it was pushed back, he flipped back to his feet and drew two black, featureless daggers from his bracers. He held them in reverse grips as he started to slice into the Alpha mercilessly. The Alpha regained some momentum and went for another swipe, but he brought his arm up to stop it, they all saw his dark purple aura shimmer from the attack. That's when he drove his daggers into his chest and throat before slashing in two separate directions. The Alpha gave one last cry before it fell backwards and started to dissolve. He placed the daggers back into his bracers and turned back to the Huntresses. "Well, that took care of them. Thanks for the heads up." He said simply.

Ruby was pulled from her thoughts with that, "That was awesome! Where'd you learn to do all that!?"

The Huntsman just shrugged, "You learn a thing or two out here. Or you die." He then looked at each of them up and down. The girls felt like he was appraising them in some way. "So, you're the Team that Oz sent."

Ruby nodded, "Yes we are. We're- "

"Team RWBY, top third year team at Beacon. Consisting of Ruby Rose as leader, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao Long." He replied easily.

They were all stunned by that, "How do you know that?" Blake questioned, unnerved by how much he knew.

"Oz sent me your files. That way I'd know who I was looking for and if they would need help upon arrival." He replied nonchalantly as he walked towards a big tree near the edge of the clearing to their right.

That annoyed the blonde brawler, "We had that covered. Few Grimm aren't that bad."

He just looked at her before he turned his attention to the tree again, "Never said you couldn't handle yourselves, Oz wouldn't've sent you otherwise. But the Grimm out here can be tricky to deal with. Luckily for you, this part of the forest has been low on Grimm and since I knew you all were heading here, I decided to just meet up with you here."

"Wait, how'd you know we were coming here?" Weiss asked.

He didn't answer. Just reached out to the tree and slowly pulled out a metallic device from the tree. It had a black glass-like ball at the top that was the size of a marble, while a half inch long metal spike extended down from it. He showed it to the Huntresses, "I have motion detectors all over this forest and cameras in hot spots. The data is sent to my scroll and then to my mask, where I can then analyze it easily." He placed the camera in one of the pouches, "I have eyes and ears everywhere here. Besides, this was the last location Oz had for me, so where else would he send you four?"

"Wait." Ruby said with confusion, "I how do you power all of that and get a good enough signal for it to work?"

He chuckled slightly, "Sorry. Trade secret." She pouted with that and they heard him sigh after a second or two, "I can only say I know a guy with a lot of cutting edge tech. But that's all I'm saying."

They were quiet for a while as he walked towards them, "Not to be rude but who exactly are you?" Weiss asked.

He stopped at her question, "Right, got a little side tracked." He placed his hand on his chest and bowed slightly, "I'm known as Rien. Nice to meet you all." They all said hello or something similar. "Now, Ruby, if you could take out your scroll, that way I can transfer the files to you." Rien said as he pulled his scroll from his belt.

"Actually, Mr. Rien." She started nervously, "Professor Ozpin wanted you to deliver the files to him directly."

Rien just looked at her for a second before he shook his head with a sigh, "Of course he did. Well, hate to break it to you but that's impossible." He turned from, them to deeper into the forest. "The Grimm here are a problem and if they are left unchecked, they could shake all of Remnant." He said seriously.

"What's so different about the Grimm here?" Yang asked.

"Classified." He said simply. He then checked the time on his scroll. "Damn. It'll be dark soon. Better get you four out of here before then. We don't have enough time to escort you back to your drop off, so we'll have to go further into the forest. There's a box canyon not too far from here, that should be a good spot to call your Bullhead. As long as they haven't moved there yet." The last part was said almost inaudibly but Blake heard it. "Come on. Can't have you four dying out here." Was the last thing he said as he started to walk away from the clearing. The four looked at each other before they followed.

They traveled quietly for the next few minutes before Yang became bored, "How much farther is this place?"

"Twenty minutes or so." He said and that caused her to groan. Rien chuckled slightly and it sounded…familiar to her but couldn't place it. "To pass the time, how about we ask a few questions to each other? You know, get to know each other better."

"Oh, I'll start." Ruby said. "Did you make your weapons and what else can they do?"

"Yes, I did and not much. They are just simple weaponry with no mecha shifting properties." He said simply.

"How long have you been out here for?" Weiss asked as she looked around their surroundings.

"Hmmmm, probably close to six months now. Maybe more, hard to keep track after the first month." He answered.

"Don't you get lonely?" Blake asked next.

"A little but honestly, its best for me to stay away from people. My Semblance can be a bit dangerous." He said barely elaborating.

"What's with the mask?" Yang asked bluntly.

"Besides letting me view my cameras easier, it helps protect my face. Plus, I prefer if people don't see what's under here." He said as he tapped the mask with his knuckles. "And no, I'm not gonna say why. Very personal." They walked for a few more minutes as the girls asked him a few more mundane questions and he answered them. That changed when the lenses of his mask lit up. He stopped and started to scan through the information he was receiving. "Damn it, no!"

The girls flinched from his outburst. "What's wrong?" Ruby asked.

"Gotta get there quick." He said mostly to himself. "Time to pick up the pace." He told them as he started to use his aura to increase his speed. Team RWBY quickly did the same to keep up with him. They managed to get to the edge of the box canyon in about five minutes, with the students out of breath as Rien observed the scene below.

The girls looked down and gasped at what they saw. Dozens if not a hundred or so Grimm were all gathered in the canyon. Beowolves, Ursai, Boarbatusks and Creeps were all gathered and looked like they were fighting with each other. While Nevermore and Griffons were flying above the massive herd and diving down every so often or fought each to her in the air. They could also see a Death Stalker and King Taijitu also in the fray. The girls were stunned, they hadn't seen this many Grimm in one location before. They were pulled from their thoughts when Rien spoke out loud, "I was hoping they wouldn't gather here so quickly. Looks like I was wrong."

"Does this happen a lot!?" Weiss asked, shocked.

Rien just nodded as he spoke to himself, "With this many Grimm, it'll definitely come, and it'll be powerful." He said worried.

"What will come?" Blake asked, not liking the tone he was using.

Rien turned back to them, "The mission has changed." He said seriously. "Those Grimm cannot be allowed to finish what they have planned. I'm going to engage them and disrupt them. You four need to stay up here and out of the way."

They were appalled by this. No one more so than Yang. She grabbed him by the shoulder, "Hey. We don't need you to save us from Grimm. We were sent here to bring you back and we aren't about to let you get killed."

Rien didn't even turn to look at her. "You misunderstand. I'm not trying to protect you from the Grimm." That's when his dark purple aura came to the surface and pushed them back a bit. "I'm protecting you from me. I can't afford to hold back in this situation and I don't need you getting in the crossfire."

He threw his arms to the side and as he did, his aura condensed into his palms. That's when two softball sized black orbs were formed. The girls were shocked but couldn't say a word as he threw his hands forward and the two orbs were fired off like bullets. The orbs tore through several of the aerial Grimm before he pulled his arms back and the orbs redirected themselves to fly back towards the other aerial Grimm. Rien than opened right his hand once again and another orb was formed before he squeezed it. It quickly shifted into a black featureless short sword. That's when he used his aura to leap into the air and directly into the Grimm several storied below them.

The girls were staring as he started to cut through some of the lower level Grimm. "That wasn't what I think it was, right?" Yang asked unsure of what she was seeing.

Blake just nodded dumbly, "No, it is. It gives off the exact feeling as it."

"But that's impossible." Weiss said trying to regain her senses. "Only one person had that power. And he is…" she trailed off.

Ruby just kept staring down there. "Maybe not. If Jaune was the only one to have that power than how did Rien get the ability to use Void?"

Rien was using his Void sword to cut through any and all Grimm that got close to him. His eyes would flick up to the sky to see his Void orbs before mentally sending them towards more Grimm. During one of those instances, an Ursa Major was on him and tried to crush him with its paw. Rien raised his left arm and another Void orb formed at his forearm before it flattened into a two-foot diameter disk that acted as a shield. The Ursa was stopped which let him stab it in the chest, killing it.

He looked around to see that the surrounding Grimm were getting too close for comfort. He quickly threw his arm to the side and the Void disk flew from his arm to act as a buzz saw, tearing through all the surrounding Grimm as it revolved five feet around him. Rien looked up to see that the aerial Grimm were dealt with. He raised his sword and the two orbs made a beeline directly towards it. The first orb met the sword and was absorbed into it, shifting it into the broadsword from before. The second orb acted exactly like the first and the sword shifted into a longsword. The disk started to fly back towards him, so he reached out with his left hand and it shifted back into an orb as he grabbed it. He then shot off towards the Creep in front of him. He slammed the orb into the beast's chest and shot the orb off along with the Creep. The Grimm slammed through many of its kin before the King Taijitu roared at Rien and he shifted its trajectory to have the Grimm get caught in its throat. The Grimm was confused until the orb expanded, destroying the black half of the King Taijitu and many of the surrounding Grimm before it imploded.

Rien stopped to regain his breath as he looked around. "Okay, fifty or so Grimm left, including half a Taijitu and a Death Stalker. If I keep my head, I should be fine." That's when her heard several different shots fly through the air and some of the Grimm captured in ice. He turned to see Team RWBY land behind him, "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

"Giving you a hand." Yang stated as she got back into her stance. "Keeping you alive is part of our job and we have some questions for you."

Before he could argue, they all heard an ear-splitting screech. They all turned in shock to see the remaining half of the King Taijitu biting into the carapace of the Death Stalker as it flailed around helplessly. The girls stared in horror, "What's it doing?" Blake asked in fear.

"We're too late." Rien said before the Death Stalker died and dissolved into smoke. The smoke started to gather around the Taijitu along with all the smoke of the already dead Grimm. The smoke clad Grimm then started to tear through the remaining fifty or so Grimm, their smoke adding to the mass. When that was done, the Taijitu gave one final hiss as it stopped, and it shifted into smoke as well. The smoke didn't dissipate though, it kept shifting and condensing and as it kept doing that, a dark red glow started to come from it. The black smoke condensed one last time before a flash of dark red erupted from it, pushing the five fighters back.

When they looked back, the girls were terrified. Standing there was another Grimm. It was as massive as the Grimm Dragon from the Fall and looked almost identical to it. Except, it didn't have wings and was on all fours, along with a more serpentine neck. It had bone armor around its forelegs, chest and from the tip of its massive tail all the way up its back to its head. Bone spikes stuck out across its spine. Each foot ended in five massive claws. The mask had two massive spikes coming off above the eyes and stretched backwards. Its eyes glowed a deep red like the markings across its body. It opened its maw to reveal many sharp teeth before it roared loudly. That pulled them from their stupors as they shook slightly. Except Rien. He just stared at it a she gripped his sword tighter, "The Drake."

They all turned to him as they saw his aura shift to the surface again and for his longsword to grow into a greatsword. He quickly shot into the air with both hands on his sword. He was intent on trying to capitalize on it just being formed to take it by surprise. That's when he saw the markings on its chest glow a deeper red and for it to spread up the markings of its neck to its mouth. It opened its maw once again to show a massive amount of red energy gathering there. He had seen this tactic before and knew he could dodge the attack and kill it. But that was when his eyes widened behind his mask, and he looked at the path of the attack would take: directly at RWBY. He looked back to the Grimm in time for it to fire the massive red laser. He pulled his blade in front of him and let it go for it to shift into a massive eight-foot diameter shield. But the shield was being pushed back by the force of the attack. Rien put his body behind it to stop it from gaining. Cracks started to form around the edges of his impromptu shield and just as he thought it would break, the attack stopped. He relaxed for a second before the tail of the beast smashed the shield and into him. That sent him flying into the wall of the canyon with a large amount of stone and dirt flying as his Void shifted out of existence.

The team of students turned from the canyon wall back to the Grimm. They all knew they couldn't just let this thing run free. They all fired everything they had at it. But sadly, their ammo didn't even penetrate the beast's flesh and the ice that formed on it from Weiss just shattered shortly after. The beast just tuned to them as it raised its claw into the air. "Move!" Ruby shouted. They all ran and dove out of the way just in time, but the force still sent them all tumbling. They got back to their feet and Ruby issued her orders: "Weiss, we need the big guns, Yang cover her!" the girls nodded as she turned to her last teammate. "Blake, you and I will run distraction." The Faunus nodded and the two took off at the Grimm.

Ruby was using her Semblance to move around the Grimm and fired her lightning dust rounds at it. That annoyed it, but it couldn't attack her due to her speed. Blake was meanwhile flipping around its legs and chest with the help of Gambol Shroud's kusarigama form. She would slash at it with her blades or use a fire dust enhanced Shadow to leave an explosion. Again, the Drake couldn't deal with the two Huntresses. It looked to see the two remaining humans and that one was near a giant white circle. It sent its massive tail at the two. Yang jumped in front of it to try and hold it back, but she was slowly losing ground. She had no chose but to use her Semblance, her hair stated to shine as her eyes turned red, and with that the tail stopped a few feet away from Weiss. "Weiss!?" she asked.

"Done." She replied as her Arma Gigas was summoned from her Glyph with its sword in hand. It wasn't the same size as the Drake, but it would back a punch. It ran forward as Ruby and Blake got clear and fired a few last shots at it. The summoned Grimm started to slash at the Drake leaving deep cuts into the chest plate. It roared in anger before it slammed its claw on top of the knight. It raised its sword above its head to stop it but was still forced to its knees. The claw lifted slightly for the Drake to capture it in its jaws. It raised it into the air before it crunched down and shattered it. Weiss was just looking up in shock, her strongest summon was taken down easily.

Ruby and Blake landed on their feet, "Bumblebee!" the leader shouted. Blake tossed her weapon to her partner as the two started to spin her faster and faster. Blake threw her, and Yang put all her power behind her punch as she kept firing to make herself fly faster. She landed a hit strong enough to severely crack the bone armor on its chest. The beast roared in pain as Yang landed on the ground, completely exhausted. The beast turned its head down to the three Huntresses with nothing but anger.

It failed to notice that Weiss had placed a series of Glyphs up the canyon wall with Ruby running up them. The last Glyph turned black to hold her in place as she loaded a gravity dust clip. The Glyph shot her off toward it as her speed was amplified further from her Semblance and the shots from Crescent Rose. When she was close enough, she shifted it into its war scythe form and stabbed into the severely cracked bone to stab into the Grimm. The Grimm stilled and gave a roar of pain once again. They believed that they did it until it started to thrash around violently.

Ruby was thrown from the Grimm and she was sent tumbling away from her team. As she stopped she laid there as her nearly broken aura tried to dull the pain her body was feeling. She slowly rose to her knees and saw she was probably forty to fifty feet away from the Grimm. The Grimm was charging up the same attack as before but aimed specifically at her. It stared her down with pure hatred as it fired. "Ruby!" she heard her sister yell as she tried to run to her. Ruby knew she couldn't move in time, so she just closed her eyes as tears slowly fell, 'Sorry Dad, Uncle Qrow and Yang, I couldn't do it. I'll see you soon Mom. Jaune…'

She then felt someone pull her to their chest and the light she was expecting to consume her, never came. She opened her eyes to see that Rien was knelt in front of her and pulled her to his chest as he held her close. He had the same Void shield behind him, stopping the laser. Ruby suddenly had a flashback to when Jaune did the same thing to protect her from the Nevermore back during the Fall. Why was she thinking about that now?

Rien looked over his shoulder to see his shield cracking and he growled slightly, the shield was the last of the Void he could create right now, "Come on. Hold, damn it." A few seconds passed, and the energy attack stopped. She leant over to see that it was charging for the exact same attack. "Now." As he said that, the shield shifted into a giant Void spike and fired off directly at the Drake. It stabbed it into the bone covered chest. It wasn't enough to kill it but the energy it was charging was discharged in random directions from the entry point as it roared in pain. Rien turned back to Ruby and looked at her for a few seconds, "Forgive me."

She didn't know what he meant by that until she heard the familiar sound of a sword being drawn. She looked to see that he was now wielding Raikiri. Before she could protest, he had taken off at an extreme speed with his aura. He cleared the distance between them and the Drake in seconds before he jumped into the air and onto its back. He used all his strength to impale the short sword through the armor plating and into its back. He managed to penetrate it and as he did that, he pulled the trigger and release all the lighting dust into the Grimm. The beast stopped moving, possibly paralyzed. Rien pulled the sword free and leapt into the air again with his aura, as he was above the Drake's head, he reangled his body and used his aura to shoot himself toward the head. He surrounded the blade in the remainder of his aura, the blade glowing a dark purple, as he started to spin. He aimed the blade for the base of the creature's skull and with the speed and aura behind his swing, he sliced the head clean off. Rien started to fall to the ground as the Drake slowly started to dissolve into smoke.

He turned back to the ground and used his aura to soften his fall but still left a decent size crater. As the dust cleared, he was knelt down and trying to regain his breath. He slowly stood and looked down at the blade in his hands. He heard footsteps coming closer and looked to see Team RWBY standing there in shock. He looked at them and walked towards Ruby and as he was standing in front of her, he held the sword out to her in both his hands. "I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't've used this without asking first, but I was desperate." Ruby took back her sword and sheathed it.

They all looked at him and were about to ask him several questions before they heard him have a severe coughing fit. He was gripping his chest with his right hand as his left tapped on his mask. The lighter piece was his mouth was opened and he doubled over and he coughed up an alarming amount of blood. He kept coughing and trying to regain his breath, "Damn it, pushed myself too far." He said quietly and hoarsely. No one heard him besides Blake and her eyes widened. That's when he collapsed to the ground.

RWBY immediately knelt beside him and rolled him to his back, his breathing was choppy at best. Weiss took his scroll and saw his aura was very low. Blake started to transfer some of her aura to him, since she had the most after the battle. They all stared down at the still masked man, all thinking the same thing. "I just can't be." Weiss said out loud. "Can it?"

Yang shook her head, "I don't know. But how many people can use Void?"

"Plus, he used Raikiri like it was second nature." Ruby added. "Not many people can pick up a weapon and use it flawlessly like that. Besides, when he protected me, it made me think of Jaune." She added the last part quietly.

Blake pulled her hands away when his aura was stabilized and breathing was calm, "….his voice is similar." They all turned to her. "You didn't hear it but when his mouth piece was gone, his voice sounded a lot like his."

They were all sat down just looking at him until Yang reached for his mask. She was about to grab it when Weiss grabbed her wrist, "What are you doing?"

She just turned to the heiress, "Come on, we're all curious."

"That's not the point. He said what was behind his mask was personal. You taking it off without his permission would be like someone ripping off your shirt or someone ripping the bow off Blake's head when she used to wear it."

Yang looked away and pulled her hand away from him. "But, what if it is him?" Blake asked and the two just turned to her. They were all unsure on what to do. Ruby had said nothing during that conversation and was just staring down at the mask. She silently made a decision and started reaching bother hands out to his mask. Her teammates saw this but didn't say or do anything to stop her. Her fingers trailed around the edges of the mask until she felt small buttons near his ears. She pressed them, and the mask started to collapse and condense around the lenses, forming a pair of steel framed sunglasses. They could now see the pale skin of his face and Ruby put both hands on the sides of the glasses and slowly pulled them away. When they were off his face completely, they gasped. Laying there in front of them was there formally dead friend turned boyfriend. The love of their lives, Jaune Arc.

A/N- Its finally here! Man, I've missed typing this but I really needed that break. Now, I know I could've waited to reveal that Jaune was alive but come on, with the title it should've been clear. Now a few things to get out of the way. First, not all the chapters are going to be this long, this is just a longer one. Second, picture the characters as how they look in Vol. 5. Finally, if you need a reference for what his distorted voice sounds like, go look up Xionic Madness 4 part 3 and listen to the voice of the Mysterious Robot. That's close to what I'm imagining it as. With all that said, hope you all enjoyed and here's hoping this will be as good as the original!