"DAMN IT!"

Qrow kicked the coffee table over, the contents on it being spilt and scattered all over the floor. Sun, Illia, the remains of team JNPR and Oscar were all wide-eyed at the display. Meanwhile, Ozpin was deep within Oscar's mind, trying to use centuries of knowledge to find an answer to the mysterious disappearance of RWBY and Winter. It's been almost two weeks since RWBY and Winter vanished from the face of Remnant, and there has been no word about their whereabouts. There were multiple accounts from the survivors in Meade about the team and Specialist retreating into the forest, while the now confirmed suspicion of the entire Grimm horde were on their backs.

Qrow used his vast network in Mistral, even trying to send a letter to Ironwood for some assistance of any kind. But alas, it proved fruitless, all his sources having no luck with being able to find their missing people. Desperately, Qrow went to Malachite for information, but there was nothing, no word whatsoever. With dead ends and no word from Ironwood's end, this all led him to a grim reality. That didn't sit well with the teens and the senior huntsmen. As they all may need to accept the reality of an impossible situation that team RWBY and Winter faced.

Understandably, Qrow took the news extremely hard. He remembered the time after Summer's passing, and now her only daughter is gone and so is his actual blood-related niece, Yang. It was the reason why he started drinking in the first place, to temporarily forget about the darkness shrouding this world, and the passing of one of his closest friends. Now Ruby, Summer's only legacy, is gone. He was responsible for his nieces, and every young Huntsmen and Huntress under him, how can he now forget?

"How could I live with myself?" Qrow mumbled to himself as he slumped over the couch next to the ruined table.

"Hey come on, you need to rela-"

"Don't touch me!"

Sun was standing behind the couch that Qrow tumbled on, and reached out to place a sympathetic hand on the drunkard's shoulder. But upon contact, Qrow got up, looked back and yelled. Sun wanted to comfort the older man. It's was quite frightening to see a seasoned Huntsmen, who can kickass better than himself, breakdown like this. It's disheartening, and certainly doesn't do well with the morale of the group.

Upon the yell, Sun immediately backed off, afraid to invoke the wrath of a skilled Huntsman. Qrow looked around to see all the faces were looking at him now. Faces of fear, sympathy, all worried about his wellbeing, and how's he handling. He didn't need their pity, he didn't ask for it, nor did he want it. There was only one way he could quell the nightmarish memories of his nieces, the same way he got pass the memories of Summer.

Letting out a frustrated huff, he set his eyes on the front door, and made his way to it.

"Where do you think you're going?" Jaune stood up and confronted the man. Like the person he was, he wanted to help Qrow in anyway, shape or form. Even though he used RJNR as bait, and was part of the reason why Pyrrha wasn't with them anymore, he couldn't hold that against him, not now at least. Well, especially now that Ruby and her team, plus Winter were nowhere to be seen. He couldn't make the man feel more guilty.

"Where do you think?" Qrow snarled back, not even giving a glance to the fearless leader. As he said that, he opened the door.

"Hold on a second there Qrow! Remember Ruby wanted you to stop drinking?"

"Well Ruby, Yang and their team's GONE!"

*SLAM*

The door closed with a resounding slam. All was quiet in the room, speechless, trying to comprehend what was just said. Much like Qrow, everyone was taking it hard.

In team JNPR, or what's left of it; Jaune was rather fiercely determined. He was more angry than fierce, angry at Salem, Cinder, the world… himself… he felt helpless, and he hated it. But for those paying much closer attention, it was all a mask. He was close to breaking, Pyrrha's death was a major blow on him, to his spirit, and to him emotionally. He couldn't stand by and watch more of his friends vanish, and he wouldn't know how to continue forward. Pyrrha's death was almost too much for him to even comprehend at times, it was jarring how reality was to him.

Ren was silent, trying to rein in his emotions. He too felt the heaviness of the air, and the empty void in his heart for team RWBY. Throughout his time, RWBY felt like an extended family to him, besides his own team, and Nora especially. It was nice to have people to trust, to rely on, to have your back, both in the battlefield and out. Sure he hasn't spoken to them a lot, the exception being Ruby, but he unequivocally trusts the rest. As much as he wants to let all his emotions out, he doesn't want to repeat the events that occurred in the ruins of Kuroyuri. It wouldn't do anyone good if he just let's loose again, and he doesn't want to worry Nora again.

Speaking about the Valkyrie, she was noticeably quiet, as she was when they lost Pyrrha. Even though they were a different team, they were family to her, and family meant everything to her. She was homeless, with no one to care for her, until Ren, than eventually Jaune, Pyrrha, and RWBY. For the first time in her life, she had others like Ren, brothers and sisters, and they just lost a lot today. The loss of Pyrrha was difficult, but they managed to keep moving forward, even if they haven't fully recovered. Now, a whole team was gone. 'Is this even worth it? How many people will die if we keep going?' Her dark side was creeping up on her, she leaned on Ren, seeking comfort.

Illia and Sun, although mourning the lost of one Faunus in particular, were also feeling the lost of the rest. Illia never did trusted any humans, until she met RWBY and JNPR. For the first time, she felt Blake's dream for her equality to be a reality, a reality that she can accept. She never knew they could be so nice and caring, and all of it within the couple of days of just knowing them. If Blake was truly gone, she would do her best to keep her friend's dream alive, and a reality.

Sun was frustrated, and rightfully so. Being the ever-so optimist, it was difficult to have that positive outlook in life when everything else wasn't so bright. It was clear to everyone that he cared deeply for Blake, going as far to creepily follow her to Menagerie. But in the days before their untimely disappearance, Blake did express her gratitude for his presence. That all the more made him even more upset. Ironic to his own name, he started to dim down a bit, even amongst his team. It was worrying to say the least.

"What are we going to do now?" Nora voiced out, asking what everyone else was itching to ask.

"Mourn." Oscar's voice rang out the room, everyone's focus shifting to the boy. Only that his voice was different, mature and sophisticated. They recognized it to be Ozpin, speaking through Oscar. "We have the time to properly mourn the los-"

"They're not dead!" Jaune interrupted Ozpin, with the man, or kid in this case, looking up at the blonde leader. "We don't know that."

"I understand your frustration Mr. Arc, I do. But we can't keep waiting for them, and in this line of work, especially in our hidden war against Salem, you always have to expect the worse." Ozpin reason. "I personally know that through experience."

"What are you talking about!? This is team RWBY and Winter Schnee we're talking about here! They wouldn't just die like that! I know that they're out there, somewhere!" Jaune almost yelled, with determination clear in his voice.

Upon seeing this, Sun caught this infectious sense of sheer will and determination. He stood up. "I agree, they've been through worse, a lot worse than any of us have. And until we see bodies, I do think they'll still out there."

"Yeah! We can't give up on them! They're our friends, our…" Nora stood up.

"Family…" Illia finished Nora's sentence. She managed to form a shaky smile, a warm feeling flooding her chest at the mention of a family. Sure she hasn't been with them for awhile, but their comradery was plainly there for all to see. She's glad to be a part of it, and wishes them to be back.

Everyone in the room all agreed, they can't lose hope. They just won at Haven Academy, that just shows that they can do this. They had to do this, and hope was the only thing driving them forward, they had to find Team RWBY.

"I admire your will, I truly do. But please, for your own sakes, don't place you expectations too high, you'll only disappoint yourselves." Ozpin reminded the younger Hunstmen and Huntresses in the room. He's knows from experience.

Qrow walked the streets of Mistral absentmindedly, plagued with memories and visions of his nieces. What could have he done? Should he have gone with them? Was Winter somehow responsible for their disappearance?

The more he thought about it, the more he blamed himself. He should've gone with them, they just recently got back together, of course they'll be rusty at being a team again. Maybe he shouldn't have left them under the care of Winter, someone who doesn't even know Salem, and her goons. He should've said no, he should've tagged along. How would Tai react to this? Will this be the final straw? Will Tai ever forgive him? Would he be alone again, drinking his sorrows away?

It was too much to even comprehend. If he was a better uncle, and better guardian, this shouldn't have happen.

Qrow wiped his face, and ran a hand down his hair, as he passed by blurry faces of strangers around him. He kept a steady pace, hopefully heading the right way, and hopefully the bar had a strong refreshments. But not paying attention had its consequences, as he failed to notice a group of three that was on a collision course with him.

*Pft*

"Ah!"

"Oof!"

Qrow fell to his ass, rubbing his chest, where he took the blunt of the force.

"Watch where you're going Huntsman!"

*BAM*

Qrow felt the butt of a rifle hitting him on the temple, and immediately after he forcefully fell, his head hitting the ground hard. He didn't activate his aura, his head is throbbing, vision now purposefully blurry. Closing his eyes, he tried to get his bearings, tried to remember what happened. Slowly getting up, he opened his eyes to meet the people he provoked.

There were three individuals, two soldiers and one woman. One soldier, who was most likely the one who rifle butted him, was standing over him, while the other rested by the side of the woman. The woman herself was in a formal business attire, and was also on her ass, rubbing her head.

The soldiers were not like any that he had seen. They didn't look like they came from any of the four kingdoms, at best they could have come from Atlas, but the kingdom was in complete lockdown since Beacon. If these men were Mistralian soldiers, they certainly didn't fit with how Mistralian soldiers typically looked, even with their Special forces.

They were in complete ballistic padded armour, head to toe, all except for the neck, he could see the gap on their armour. They had ammunition pockets on their thighs and the whole set was pitch black, except for their glowing blue eyes. There was enough light for him to see the strange 'H' symbol on their right breast pad, and looking at the other soldier not standing over him, he saw a name on his right upper arm. He didn't recognize it, 'Horzine.' Looking at the woman, she too has the 'H' on her blazer.

Looking in front of her, he saw a fallen briefcase that was wide open, with papers and documents everywhere around it. The woman quickly recomposed herself, got to her knees, and quickly started to gather the notes. Qrow took one last peak over the documents and saw a quick image of something of interest. He didn't get a clear look over it, but he saw what looked to have been a cylindrical device, it's main appeal, a large spike below it. He connected the dots. But before he could take a closer look, the woman snatched it, and placed it back into her briefcase.

Qrow shook his head. "Hey, lad-"

*BAM*

The Branwen fell back hard, while clutching his nose. It was bleeding, he could feel the warm fluid dripping through his fingers. That's what happens when you get kneed in the face. He activated his aura, in order to repair his nose and prevent any further injuries from the soldier acting tough.

With one hand, he got up and looked at the three. Surprisingly, there wasn't a crowd around them, people just kept walking pass. "You're starting to piss me off." Qrow grumbled.

"You should've paid attention to your surroundings Mr. Branwen." The woman said as she dusted herself off.

"You know who I am?"

"Everyone knows who you are. If your flask in one hand is empty, there's only one place the mighty Branwen goes." The woman hissed.

Qrow growled. "You know, I'm in a really bad mood right now, so why didn't you just, oh I don't know… get my attention?" He sharply got up. "Or better yet, move out of my way?"

"Don't be a dumbass Mr. Branwen, look around us, it's more crowded here than NYC. By the time we saw you, we gave you a warning, but you speedily bumped into me." She snarled, Qrow was immediately reminded of Glynda.

"Whats NY-"

"And one more thing Mr. Branwen." She stepped up to him. "People move out of our way, you got that? Stay out of our way, we'll stay out of yours. Understood?" Her eyes dangerously narrowed.

Qrow kept his eyes on hers, until he took a quick glance at her briefcase. That was a mistake, she noticed.

"Interested in what you saw huh, bird brain?" She raised her right hand, and snapped her fingers.

'Bird brain!?' The Hunstman was startled by the name.

Getting the signal, Qrow immediately backed off, and tried back peddling away from the three. But upon her snap, the soldiers moved quicker. Qrow was about to pull Harbinger out, luckily he still had his aura activated. But that would prove useless, one of the soldiers manage to get the first successful move, attaching something to Qrow's neck. Then all of a sudden, he felt weak, disorientated, drained. Once again, collapsing, hitting the ground hard, he lost his grip on Harbinger.

Face first, on the ground, he grumbled out. "What… d-d-did you-u… doto… meh-me?"

The two soldiers picked him up. "How about a small detour before you knock yourself out from drinking. You should be lucky, a fine woman is picking you up for once." The woman gave him a sultry smile, before a black bag covered his face.

He last felt himself being hauled away.

The skies over France, the outskirts of Paris.

Over in the skies of France, two French EC725R2 transport helicopters were nearing the capital city, Paris. One helo is for tactical support if needed, the other contained team Remnant, on route to their extermination mission.

"Noooo..."

"Yeeeesss!" The blonde brawler excitedly answered her squad leader.

"NOOOOO…" Rye groaned back.

"Yeeeesss!" Yang enthusiastically reassured him.

"NO-OH for FUCKS SAKES!" He cursed out loud.

"EEK!"

"LANGUAGE!" The Specialist loudly scolded her squad leader. All the while Ruby covered her ears.

"AAAGGGGHH! WHY DOES EVERYONE GET BETTER WEAPONS THEN I DO?" Rye exclaimed, throwing his arms up in the air.

Ruby heard her squad leader's cry for equality, and since she's already sitting next to him, she hugged him. "I know! Me want cool weapons too! Stay strong Rye! We'll get through this together!" The fake tears that were running down her cheeks were from Rye's 'borrowed' water canteen.

Rye hugged the rose back. "Shut up! Don't touch me!" His tone perfectly matched the former heiress during their time playing 'Remnant: The Game.' He couldn't help it, Ruby gave him the green light as she hugged him and said those exact words, he had to follow through.

At that exact moment, Ruby and Yang burst out laughing, while Pyrrha giggled, not only remembering that exact day, but also watching that moment from the show. Winter slightly narrowed her eyes at her squad leader, she knew it was all fun and games but her sisterly instincts kicked in whenever someone joked about Weiss. Speaking about Weiss, she was conflicted between being offended and amused at the playful mocking. Leaving her a spluttering mess, unable to grasp any words to respond with.

"B-B-B-B… ah… ah, uh… R-RYE!" She mustered all her brain power after the short circuit, just to say his name.

Blake couldn't really catch a break, could she? All she wanted to do, was to read a book. The environment around their room was very similar to that of the days at Beacon, just with more people to cope with. She puts her book down, and places it safely away in a backpack she intends to leave in this helicopter. Looking back at her team, she sighs, remembering the good old days with her team at Beacon. Before she gets whisks away in her own world, she hears a giggle. Looking ahead of her, she sees the red short haired champion giggling at her.

"Huh?" She curiosity stares at her second in command.

"That's exactly what you said after the whole board game debacle! YES!" Rye cheerfully exclaims. He then leans over to Pyrrha, offering his hand, which she high-fives. "Nice work Pyrrha!"

"Bu-uh… uh?" Blake simply had no words. She couldn't believe this man was the one leading this squad, the exact same squad that she's in! Is she in safe hands? Apparently, she wasn't the only one who shared her thoughts.

"I can't believe your my squad leader. Is it too late to request a newly appointed leader? Reason being lack of competence?" Winter asked. It wasn't meant to be insulting, just a little jab at the 24 year old. A jab she fully knew that would lead to a retaliatory counter attack. Luckily, her foot was ready.

"Ah… quiet there you bo-" She struck his shin using her foot. "AAH! MY SHIN!" No kidding.

Winter just wore a smug smile, looking directly at the sight of her squad leader rubbing his shin. She did kind of felt bad for doing that, as they were on their way to their next extermination mission. But moments likes these were used to relax from the pressure placed upon them for this particular mission.

Rye looked at Winter with faux-annoyance. "Do not harm your fellow squad mates before the start of a mission." Although his tone was more or less lighthearted, the actually meaning was not lost to the squad.

"Ahem."

"Oop." Rye remembers a certain overhead operator. "We read you loud and clear Trader." His hand was over his recently and newly acquired throat microphone. "Um… you heard all that?"

"Oui, but I'm just glad you and Ms. Xiao-Long are alright. Last time I check in, all I heard was shooting, explosions, while Ms. Rose and Ms. Arc were trying to call in air support."

"Thanks again Trader. Always saving my bacon, I owe you… again." Rye reluctantly added. He couldn't deny it, the Trader saved his and Pyrrha's life on multiple occasions and in various missions. Much like what Briar said, their eye in the sky, their team's guardian angel.

"Its my job to keep you all safe and give the help needed. A beer would be nice at least. De toute façon, are you girls okay?"

"We are, thank you for your concern Trader. The week off is one that we much needed. We are all now fit for combat." Pyrrha happily replied.

"Excellent! Alors, Rye do have the mission details?"

"Yes I do." With that, taking off his sling backpack, and retrieving his mission tablet, he looked over the details. "A good seven waves, about 1500 zeds, and a Patriarch leading the damn swarm. It's going to be difficult but we should manage. We were briefed on the new enemy variant, E-DARs, both on the three E-DAR variants and their shared weakness, the hard to hit glowing red cores."

"That or a butt-ton of bullets!" Yang enthusiastically added.

"Were you briefed on their tactical advantage?"

"Yes we were, they're walking EMP grenades if you take them down correctly."

"Yes, do I also need to remind you about the trappers?"

Rye sighed at the mention of the trappers. His team was lucky that they never encountered them on their last mission, but the reports coming in from the week and three days he was out from combat made him nervous. Trappers were a very unique E-DAR unit that shot a dart containing a paralysing agent. Intelligence originally believe this was to let the swarm have it's way with the helpless victim, but instead the reports and combat footages showed otherwise. These trappers were faster and more agile than the other two units. After being paralysed, the E-DAR would quickly move to its victim, stripping their gear, equipment and weapons, then just plainly kidnap them. It is still unknown what would happen to the kidnapped, but most believe the intentions are to gain more test subjects, as Horzine trained and equipped bandit clans roaming throughout Europe were slowly being annihilated by Tripwire forces.

"No, you don't need to remind us about the Trappers, we're lucky that they only shoot those darts once before an apparently lengthy reload process. It's just an incentive to stick as group." With the mention of the Trappers, the mood instantly shifted to the opposite. The calming smiles and soothing tones were now nervous frowns and dead silence. The job just got more dangerous.

"Luckily for you, you guys will not be entirely alone. Johann Clause will be your reinforcement if you request for it. Merde, hopefully you won't need reinforcement."

Pyrrha let out a chuckle. "Don't you mean Santa Claus?" Rye chuckled at the correction, the man did referred to himself as Santa Claus. Others just called him badass Santa.

The Trader giggled. "Oui, oui, Père Noël. Alors, I wish you all the best of luck down there." With that, Trader ended her transmission to the team.

"Santa?" Ruby asked with child-like curiosity. "He's here?" She asked excitedly.

"Well, actuall-"

"YES! He's here Ruby! He's real, and he's here! Helping us fight the zeds!" Yang interrupted Pyrrha, who just froze in place, worried about unintentionally doing something wrong. Following that, Yang covered Ruby's ears tightly, looking deadly serious. "I swear, if any of you ruins her childhood I will beat you to a bloody pulp."

Everyone could already imagine the intimidating red irises glowing as she protectively embraces her younger sister. With that, everyone simultaneously nodded their heads as if they were taking orders from the blonde brawler. With that, Yang smiled and calmed herself, letting go of Ruby then laying back on her seat.

"YYYYaaaaaannnnngggggg! I know Santa isn't real! Rye just got my hopes up." Ruby pouted. A small part of her hoped that the big bellied man in red was real, but every time she asked for her mom to come back, the opposite would happen. Ruby's frown was seen by her partner, she knew that look from their various conversations with one another, and wanted to move on from the topic.

"Who's this Johann Clause?" Weiss asked, looking at both Pyrrha and Rye.

"I don't understand much of the details, other than why he's part of Tripwire and ZedEx. Rye?" Pyrrha looked at her squad leader.

"Alright, where to begin? Let's start from the beginning, Johann Clause was a single son from two German-"

"German? Like Ms. Ludwig?" Blake repeated.

"Yeah." Rye clarified, and moved on. "Anyways, two German parents. They move to America shortly after he was born. Later on in life he married and they had a daughter, they all lived in Paris." Rye was about to continue, but Weiss already had a bad feeling at the mention of the city.

"I think I know where this is going…" The former heiress said out loud, becoming increasingly timid as she predicted how this all ended.

"Yeah…" Rye only said before continuing the story. "Anyways, he was a family man, and because of his appearance, many referred to him as Santa Claus.

"The fact that he loved his daughter a lot, that grew his love for making children happy in general. So on top of his duties as a firefighter, he became the local mall Santa." The chuckled. "Hell… the mall he worked at was famous for putting up Christmas decorations way too early, so it was perfect. Until the Zeds came." With that said, everyone's focus was on Rye. Even Pyrrha never really understood the whole story, all she heard was there was a crazy axe wielding guy who dresses up as Santa Claus. His character was on show 24/7, he never broke, giving him the title of being a lone wolf. A title she knew only one other person held as well, her squad leader.

"It was about seven months ago, a month before I found Pyrrha…" Rye gestured to said person. "… we discovered a mall in Paris that could be used as a killing floor. So me and a squad were sent to scout it out, and look to see if the design and structure was tenable. But we soon discovered that we weren't the only souls there. Deep inside the mall, a small group of survivors were encamped there, from kids to elders, they were all happy to see us. Johann Clause was their de facto leader, and the only one who actually defended the group from the zeds, with his fire axe and Tommy gun." Rye smirked when seeing the man himself, he truly was a badass Santa, the facial hair, his sleeveless red coat that showed his muscles, the eye patch and weaponry. Rye also had an affinity for vintage weapons, with the Chicago typewriter itself being the top of that list. The only downside to Johann's character was how he became that way.

"So how come this guy is in the Santa character?" Pyrrha asked.

Rye sighed, and continued. "We found the room where they kept their dead. Among them were his family." Everyone's frown deepened. "We don't know the complete details because of how Johann is, but we assumed that when he lost his family, he just broke. His mind couldn't bear it, and it became the one thing his daughter loved him in the most, his role as Santa. We interviewed the survivors and luckily among them were some family friends to the Clause family. They said that his daughter would always brag about how her father was Santa, and she'd always get the first present every Christmas Eve before any kid around the world." It was a tragic tale, a family broken apart because of the outbreak, and they were only one family, out of thousands of others.

"The human mind is such a fragile thing, the day his family died, so did Johann, and in the ashes of the fallen, a vengeful Saint Nick rose up and taken up an axe, to kill every last Zed." Rye finished his tale, it wasn't very festive tale, but these weren't very festive times. A result from this bloody war.

"That's tragic." Winter voiced out after the deafening silence.

"It is, so do the man a favour, and humor him. After the war is when he needs the most help, to get back to reality."

"When you put it like that, it sounds like your using the poor man as a killing machine. Using his mental instability as fuel for him." Weiss argued, slightly disgusted at the idea of it. Rye only shook his head.

"Its not using him when he personally volunteered to be part of the mercs of Tripwire. Howler was against his application due to his mental instability, but being short of manpower and experienced veterans tends to make higher ups more desperate." Rye cleared out any bad moralities when it came to Johann Clause. The mood was already too gloomy, so Rye at least wanted to end this talk in a light note. "Besides, we already have someone in a full Knight's armour, someone who's wearing a chicken costume, a murderous robotic assistant, and a cryogenically preserved German soldier from World War 2. Having a man who dresses and behaves like the jolly old man of Christmas, just makes the mercenary division in Tripwire more… umm…"

His team decided to fill in the blanks.

"Awwwwwssomeee!"

"Out of place."

"Unfit for conventional combat?"

"Weirder."

"Wickedly cool!"

Rye and Pyrrha shared a glance before looking back at the team.

"Diverse." They simultaneously said.

"ÉCOUTEZ! ÉCOUTEZ! ÉCOUTEZ! NOUS APPROCHONS DE LA ZONE DE DÉBARQUEMENT, PRÊT!" The pilot said over the internal comms. Rye got up turned to the pilots.

"Très bien merci beaucoup!" Rye responded and looked at his team. "Alright ladies! Time to shine!" He said while looking at Pyrrha, who only smiled and shook her head. With that order, the whole team got up and readied up, all standing up ready to get their boots on the ground.

The helicopter was landing on the rooftop of a mall, the same mall that Johann Clause was found in, and now converted into a killing floor. If one were to peer into the skylight, they would be able to see the glowing lights of a large Christmas tree, along with various other Christmas orientated decorations.

Upon seeing such festive colours, Ruby's eyes lit up with excitement. Remembering all those memories during the wondrous time of the year, the warm and fuzzy feelings she felt with family and friends. But all those feelings now faded in obscurity when seeing some Zed corpses lying around the mall floor.

"Where the hell is Johann? He's supposed to be up on this rooftop." Rye exclaimed in the comms.

"Je ne sais pas! He is supposed to be up to meet you all. Check within the DEZ, he must be clearing out before your eventual use. ETA fifteen minutes before the swarm's arrival, find him and ready up by then."

"Wilco, Roger that Trader. Remnant 0-1 out." Rye looked back at his team. "Lets head down quick and get ready." Rye led the team to the maintenance door, that led to the interior. While walking, Rye handed his mission tablet to Pyrrha. "Get logged into the system, and prep the music alright? Just don't look at the playlist okay?"

The champion took the tablet, with curiosity in her eyes. "Come on, you've kept this playlist hidden from all of us, including me! Can't I just take a early look at your choices? Or…" Her eyes turned mischievous as she begun to toy with the tablet. "You're a bit self-conscious about our opinion in your taste?"

Rye turned to her, a genuine smile plastering his face with calm eyes. "It's a very special list of songs, one that I hope all of you will appreciate, cause I did put a little thought into it." He said in a gentle tone, almost as if he's excited about the upcoming mission, if just for the songs alone.

Curious, but also seeing and hearing him, she nodded her head, promising that she won't take an early sneak peek. The group continued to walk, opening an 'employee only' door, and exiting the maintenance area, now at the third floor of the mall.

The mall was at a very messy and desolate state. Trash everywhere, some blood stains, broken windows that led into the stores, and in the stores themselves, it didn't look any better. Most of the lights luckily still worked, no doubt the doing of the Santa themed merc that arrived here before them. But the lights just showcased how abandoned this place looked, it was scary to think that this used to be a prosperous mall, filled the brim with people, tourists, businessman and woman alike. It was ironic how a mall such as this was supposed to be lively, now reduced to a place where death had a very constant presence.

They would pass some Zed corpses, some would have fatal bullet wounds, most would be in pieces. Sliced in half, both vertically and horizontally, arms, legs, heads were chopped and just now lying around. Rye recognized these as Johann's work, he's seen him in action, very proficient with a fire axe.

The group turned a corner to find a very dead Fleshpound, lying near a set of elevator doors. The elevator itself led to the killing floor below. The giant corpse of the Fleshpound is certainly a recent kill, cause the axe that killed it is very much still lodged in the skull of the thing. Weird part is, Johann was nowhere to be seen. Until the team heard a couple footsteps resounding ahead of them, to the right.

"Ho, ho, ho-oh my, looks like somebody's been a very naughty boy now, haven't they? I'm afraid that I've run out coal, so an axe will have to suffice." From a ruined store, out stepped the man himself, Johann Clause. Or in other terms, Badass Santa Claus himself.

The man is big, tall, taller than Rye, and was jacked the fuck up. Starting from the bottom, he was wearing winter boots with fur trim on top. Next was his red cargo pants, he has a knife strapped to his right leg, while his pants were held up with a brown belt, with an additional strap to hold his flashbang grenades. Said flashbang grenades that were repainted to look like candy canes, he definitely went all out for sure. Finally we have his upper body, he had a sleeveless black undershirt, and a sleeveless torn Santa coat that looked a little too small for him. His arms were out on full display, showing his raw, veiny muscles for all to see, with a tattoo on his right arm saying 'HO HO MFs.' Over his apparel, he had a bandolier with some repainted 40mm grenades, its ends looking like cookies, and bottles of eggnogs with a cloths hanging from each opening. No doubt those were actually Molotov cocktails in eggnogs bottles. He had backpack that looked like a miniature toy sack. To top it all off, he had the signature Santa beard, along with a bandana, eye patch, and of course the hat.

Overall, if one were to imagine how Santa looked if they were a warrior, Johann would be that image. He was basically a next level version of the Santa from that one movie, Rise of the Guardians.

Johann marched over to the dead Fleshpound. Gripping the handle of the axe, and forcefully yanking it off the head of the very large yet very dead Zed. Vertically swinging the axe, the blood stained on the head of the axe was whipped to the ground.

He shouldered the axe. "Ho, ho, oh…" He just noticed the team standing a few metres from him. He then found Rye. "Well halle-fu-" Johann saw a very young and innocent Ruby. "-Fffflipin-lujah! If it isn't the mercenary that's on top of my nice list." He extended a welcoming hand to Rye, who did the same.

"How's the jolly old Saint Nick been doin? It's been awhile." Rye smiled at the older man. Older yet buffer man.

"Tis always the season of giving, and I'd be giving all these naughty zeds a piece of my mind. Specifically some colt!" Johann excitedly exclaim, followed by his signature rough and ragged laugh. It sounded like laughing mixed with coughing.

"You mean coal?" Blake asked the Santa wannabe.

"Nope young lady." It was at this moment, he pulled out an M1911 from outta nowhere, and cocked it. "Colt." He now started laughing harder, with Rye chuckling along, and even Pyrrha slightly giggling. The rest of the team didn't understand.

Rye looked back at RWWBY, and clarified. "It's a gun pun, I'm sure Yang would laugh if she understood too."

"Damn I feel left out." Yang pouted and crossed her arms.

Then Johann started to ease his cackle, and wiped an imaginary tear from his eye. "Ah, no worries you youngsters. Anyways, it appear Rudolph and the other reindeers are waiting for me, aren't they?" He looked back at Rye.

The squad leader nodded. "Yup, and if crap hits the fan, we need you to go down the chimney, alright big guy?"

Johann started his walk to the maintenance door leading to the roofs. "Indeed, until then, you people deck the halls with Zed blood." He turned to the girls. "Do it for old Saint Nick, got that?"

The girls all agreed, and Johann started to walk away out, an axe on his shoulder, and his Tommy gun hanging from his other shoulder.

Winter watched the whole thing with a raised eyebrow, finally being able to speak. "He's certainly, um…"

"Cuckoo?" Yang did the cuckoo gesture. In which Blake just elbowed her to knock it off.

"Unique." Weiss finished her sister's sentence, with Winter nodding at the word choice.

"Well… he did lose his entire family, people do have different ways to cope with the loss." Ruby put her own two sense into it.

Pyrrha stepped up. "I know he seems strange, and trust me, he is. But deep down, he's a genuinely nice person, it comes with the persona. He's kinda like Professor Port, only more festive and more… sadistic." Pyrrha cringed, she hated using that word to describe someone she considered an ally. It felt more of an insult than anything. But then she remembered what Ruby had said, and worriedly turn to Rye.

Rye noticed the perturbed expression that's directed at him. He couldn't help but frown, remembering how he became the man he is today. The scars that no one else can see, that wasn't on his skin.

He shook his head to refocus, they were on a time limit. He checked his watch. "Come on girls, we now only have six minutes. Pyrrha, you all set?"

"Yeah, I'm logged in, here." She passed the tablet back.

"Alright, Team Remnant, let's move!"

"Relax Ruby! You'll be fine! What happened to the exciting and romantic life of being a Huntress?"

"I was fighting Grimm! Not zombies!" Ruby shrieked back to her squad leader. She's standing ground level, in the middle of the mall, her back against a running fountain. She nervously hugged her M14. It didn't provide the same amount of comfort that Crescent Rose gave her, but it was something, rather than nothing.

Why was she down there, in layman terms, (or how Yang called it 'Rye-man terms,' to which everyone groaned,) it's for individual testing. They've had enough time to study and get comfortable with their weapons. Rye needed to know whether they can stand mostly toe-to-toe with zeds, and live to tell the tale. He needed to know and see if they can hold up on their own against zeds, without him or Pyrrha always coming to their aid. But the reason why 'mostly' is in italics is because a mercenary isn't always completely alone. This is how it's set up.

The killing floor that they were deployed to, code named 'Shopping Spree,' was divided up to three distinct areas; the underground parking, the ground floor, and the second floor… or first floor, because it's the first floor after the ground level.

Rye shook his head to concentrate.

The majority of the team was on the floor above the ground level, handling the zeds that came pouring out from the third floor above them, or the multiple ventilation shafts. But in every wave, one squad member would be on ground level, fending off the zeds down there. If they were able to mostly manage, Rye would be certain that they had graduated from his teachings. Of course, the lone squad member wasn't completely alone. They had over watch support from the second level, consisting of two. One to provide an actual over watch for the lone member on the ground level, and other to protect the over watch support.

In this case, Ruby's the first to show her Zed killing skills, with Weiss providing over watch support, and Blake covering Weiss from anything that would sneak up behind her. A three person duty, as everyone would have a chance to be grounded, over watch, or cover support for the over watch.

"Well actually, they're clones! Zeds!" Weiss couldn't help but clarify. Clarity and specifics always help, even for the most minuscule of subjects and topics. It what her sister had taught her.

"NOT HELPING WEISS!" Ruby screeched, now shaking nervously. Even with help from above, she couldn't help but feel extremely nervous about being down here, all alone. These zeds, they're so human like, yet monstrous in appearance. But also, deep down inside, she's experiencing those same feelings she had when sparring for the first time in front of a class at Beacon. All those eyes, with two more years of experience, judging and seeing how she can compete with them.

"Actually Weiss, Zed is slang for zombies, and zeds do like to feast on human flesh. So Ruby isn't actually that far off." Rye sheepishly smiled, then realizing that he was receiving many 'are you serious' looks from the majority of the team. Ruby now looking like she's down right terrified. Realizing he just scared the poor little rose even more, he could only mutter a single word. "Oh…"

"Are we done correcting each other?" The Faunus in the group said in an irate tone.

Yang looked over the railing and to her sister. "Ruby, just relax, okay? Weiss and Blake will make sure you come out without a scratch, I promise Ruby, okay?" Ruby only nodded, yet she still looked unsure and unsettled about her current setup. Being the best sister in the world, Yang had to do something. The team could already hear the distant sirens coming from the loudspeakers of the incoming little bird. It was at this moment, Yang vaulted over the railing, landing on the ground level, and heading over to Ruby.

Hearing the commotion, Rye and Pyrrha looked over the railing to find where Yang was. Rye was about to call out, before she felt a pressure on his hand. Looking over, he saw Weiss looking at him, her message clear in her eyes. Rye just watched the sisterly interaction.

Yang immediately hugged the little rose, with Ruby hugging back. "Ruby, it's okay to be scared, its natural. But you have to remember why we're here, people need us to be here. The innocent people of this world, and back home." Yang pulled back, yet still hugging her younger sister. She wanted a better look at her. "Think about dad, uncle Qrow, Zwei, Jaune, Nora, Ren, and Oscar. They need us back at home too, this is just one of the steps back home. Okay Rubes?" She placed both of her hands on her cheeks, using her thumbs to softly rub Ruby's cheekbones, which she greatly appreciated. "We're Huntresses, Ruby, just like mom." Yang gave Ruby a bright smile.

Ruby couldn't help but smile back, feeling much better. "Yeah, just like mom."

It was at that moment, their moment was ruined when they heard the little bird zoom pass the mall, and it's siren turning off. Taking this at her cue to move back, Yang gave Ruby one last hug. "Good luck down here Rubes." She then ran back to the escalators, back to the floor above, with the rest of the team.

With the majority of her worries now melted away, the young reaper now had the motivation to fight. Not only the motivation to return home, but to save it as well. Ruby looked up, to find Rye holding his mission tablet. He peered pass his tablet to look at Ruby, giving her a proud yet excited smile.

"Kickass Ruby Rose, show these zeds who's the real boss around here." With that, he tapped his tablet.

With that, the malls loudspeakers began to play a familiar tune, a tune Ruby especially knew. Instantly, memories flashed before her, memories of watching this moment from the show, and actually experiencing it first hand. Team RWBY's first Grimm kill, the battle against the Nevermore during their initiation.

Surprising even herself, tears formed in her eyes, getting emotional about the significance of this song, especially to her. Looking up, she saw Weiss and Blake both smiling at the song choice, and Rye smiling down to Ruby. He gave her a wink, before disappearing over the railing, and out of her line of sight. A moment later, Rye roared out loud for all to hear.

"LETS DO THIS! TEAM REMNANT, ENGAGE, ENGAGE, ENGAGGGGEEE!"

"Lets do this!" Pyrrha exclaimed afterwards.

"Lets ROCK!" Yang exclaimed after her, and Ruby could not have felt even more motivated to fight. Her own song was playing at the background, her kickass song! She wouldn't let the moment go to waste, a couple zeds were now approaching her, and that was their last mistake!

A rioter appeared along with the incoming group of zeds, at this moment she hears the gunfire from the floor above.

*BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG*

*RTATATATATATATA*

*POM, POM, POM, POM, POM, POM, POM*

"I couldn't take it, couldn't stand another minute

Couldn't bear another day without you in it

All of the joy that I had known for all my life

Was stripped away from me the minute that you died"

Ruby readied her M14 at the rioter, at the moment the rioter roared, Ruby knew what that meant. Every time a rioter would dramatically roar like that, it would release hormones through the pores of it's skin. Any and every Zed that comes in contact with it would be enhanced, becoming fiercer, quicker, and more unpredictable. Only for a period of time before the effect would wear off.

The zeds around the rioter were starting to reacting. But before any of them can move.

*BANG, BANG*

A headless rioter, now stumbling around before it topple onto the ground. But too late! Some of the zeds were enhanced, and started sprinting after her! Ruby started to back up.

"I know you didn't plan this

You tried to do what's right

But in the middle of this madness

I'm the one you left to win this fight!"

*BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG*

With precision, and her signature quick reflexes and overall speed, she nails all the incoming zeds running towards her.

Slasher?

*BANG*

Cyst?

*BANG*

A regular clot?

*BANG*

A gorefiend ambushing her from behind?

"RUBY LOOK OUT!"

*PFT, PFT, PFT, PFT*

The fire select was switched to semi automatic for precision, along with using her Scorpion Evo, Weiss was a force to be reckon with.

*PFT, PFT, PFT, PFT*

It took two to three headshots for each Zed to finally put a group of incoming gorefast/fiends down. With Ruby realizing the looming threat, and switching to her M9.

*POP, POP, POP*

"Be more careful Ruby!" Weiss called out, as she reloaded her weapon.

"Thanks Weiss! I knew I could rely on you!"

"I know you've lived a nightmare

I caused us so much pain

But baby, please don't do what I did

I don't want you to waste your life in vain!"

With that, they begun to fight. Both Ruby and Weiss were synchronizing with each other, and the music. Weiss always having Ruby's back, while Ruby dealt with all that was coming after her. Every time Ruby reloaded, Weiss was more perceptive, as her partner was the most vulnerable during a reload.

"Red like roses

Fills my head with dreams and finds me

Always closer

To the emptiness and sadness

That has come to take the place of you."

Ruby was reloading her M14, but Weiss was too preoccupied in one of the last batches of zeds heading for Ruby. Too caught up with her weapon, a lucky clot managed to sneak up to the little rose. At the last second Ruby heard it, turning around the clot was about to reach out to her, roaring in the process.

"EEK!" Ruby raised her empty M14, the mag dropping to the floor. Instead of grabbing her, the clot grabbed the gun. It begun shaking the rifle, almost like it was trying to tear it away from her. A moment later, the head of the clot pulled back, ready for a chomp.

"RUBY!" Before Weiss took a shot, using the rifle, Ruby bashed it in the clot's head, the receiver of the weapon getting bloody. Now using both hands to grip the barrel, Ruby swung the rifle like a baseball bat. The butt of the rifle hitting the head, and making it explode in the process, much like how Rye just punches a Zed in the head.

Ruby's now panting from the exertion it took, it wasn't an easy feat. The rifle was heavy, and gravity did most of the job in obliterating that Zed's head.

"See!? This is why my baby is so good now! We could avoid things like that!" Ruby complained, sure using Crescent Rose in an indoor environment wasn't very smart nor practical, but it just gave Ruby a chance in close range combat.

"You're doing fine Ruby! Don't worry!" Weiss called out, as she too quickly reloaded.

Cocking the M14, the little rose found the last Zed of the wave.

"I got it!" She called out.

Aiming at the moving cyst, Ruby pulled the trigger.

*BANG*

"It's your blood that's red like roses

And no matter what I do

Nothing ever takes the place of you."

Rye tapped the tablet, stopping the song.

"Thermals and building surveillance says that's all for now. Fantastic work down there, especially the young Ruby Rose, très bien!"

They all then heard a helicopter above them. Looking up, they saw a Chinook helicopter, sling loading a pallet filled with weapon cases, ammo boxes, other miscellaneous containers with more supplies. The skylight was purposely shattered for this reason, it lowered the pallet down through the skylight, landing with a soft thud in the middle of the mall floor, right next to Ruby. The rest of the team got down by vaulting over the railing, and Rye taking the escalators down, they all regrouped by the resupply pallet.

"RYE! THAT WAS INCREDIBLE! THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!" Ruby frantically said as she rushed over to Rye, and hugged him tightly. A big smile on her face, her cheery demeanour seemed contagious as Rye quickly smiled and reciprocated the hug.

"No problem Ruby, I'm really glad you enjoyed it. It not everyday you fight while listening to a song about you." While hugging the little rose, Rye looked up to his other teammates, all of them with smiles and expectant expressions, especially from Yang.

"Ooh! Rye! What's my song!? Can you tell me? Please?" Yang rapidly and excitedly asked, her fists up and close together, looking at Rye with bright eyes and an equally bright smile.

Weiss looked a bit conflicted. "I don't know if my song is all that good for this. I just sing about how lonely I am…" Although at first she had her hopes up, who wouldn't want to fight with a song about them playing in the background. But the more she thought of it, the more she realized her song didn't match a similar mood for the killing floor. The thought made her a bit upset.

"Mine too, the lyrics just explain what the White Fang will do. It's like a kid friendly version of Adam's perspective and goals for the White Fang. About the life I left to become a Huntress." Blake couldn't help but feel a bit ashamed and guilty. Her time with team RWBY, Beacon, has ultimately led her to see who she was back then, before Beacon. She was like a crook, a literal criminal, hurting people to achieve their goals, which as a matter of fact are quite political. She was a terrorist. With that in mind, she couldn't help but feel ashamed about her song showing her passion and determination of being part of the group. If there was one bright side to her song, it showed her passion and commitment to what the White Fang used to stand up for. Equality, 'From Shadows' showed her drive, her will, her goal, a noble goal. She looked up to Rye. "To be honest, I think the only song that fits their character would be Ruby's and Yang's."

"I don't think so…" Yang said as she continued to load back up on shotgun shells. "Sure, 'I Burn' fits me perfectly, but thing is… I'm not that person anymore." Yang looks over to her right arm, closing her right hand. She looked back up to Rye. "I'm better."

"I don't think I have a song." Winter quickly added to the group. Well in Winter's head, she actually did have a song, but thing is, no-one but her own sister knows this song is actually about her.

Rye was quick to quell everyone. "Calm down girls, calm down. Like I said earlier, I put much thought into it, and I already realized that problem. All you need to do is trust me." He turned to Yang. "And yes, you are better, as a matter of fact." He turned his gaze to everyone. "All of you are better, better than the time you first entered Beacon." Winter didn't want to correct him, he was trying to make a point. Rye's expression turned soft, a genuine smile on him as he looked at every single one of his teammates. "The music will reflect how much better you all are."

There was a small pause, long enough to let his words sink in. Before Ruby raised her hand up. "Um… Rye?"

"Yup?"

"If that's the case, why'd you play a song that came from the first volume for me?" She then realized something. Looking back at her squad leader, she narrowed her eyes and raised an eyebrow, looking slightly offended. "Does that mean I didn't change at all?"

"No, Ruby…" Rye placed both his hands on her shoulder. Her attention now fixated on Rye. "I'm sorry Ruby, I couldn't find a song that fitted you. At least I played something other than your trailer song." That didn't seem to make her feel any better. "Okay… I'll buy you a buttload of cookies to make it u-"

"Deal." With that she quickly resupplied.

While Ruby was gathering her supplies, Yang walked up to Rye, who was still and staring at the little rose. "You know she just conned you for cookies, right?"

Rye just stared at the smiling Ruby Rose. "I just realized."

Yang just shrugged. "Yup, and as matter of fact, she's getting better. It almost scary, she's slowly becoming like Nora and caffeine." With that, she walked away, towards the escalators.

With what little time they had left to resupply, they finished up loading up on their weapons. As the helicopter was leaving, Rye contacted the Trader on a private channel.

"Trader, who is the requisition officer on board the resupplying bird?"

"Lemme see. One Second Lieutenant Madison Leeway of the British army. Why do you ask?"

"I'm going to make a special call, I don't feel comfortable fighting the Patriarch with my team just yet, we haven't faced a boss alone. We need more firepower. Once the next wave is over, get in contact with Leeway for me, got that?"

"Understood Rye."

Weiss approached Rye. "So…"

"So?"

"My song?"

Rye smiled and look at her. "Trust me, you'll like it."

"Times up tout le monde, go kill some zeds."

With a smirk, Rye quickly ran up the escalators while shouting out orders. "Ruby! Provide over watch for Weiss! Who's covering Ruby?"

"I will!" Yang responded.

"Great!" Reaching the floor above, where the rest of the team was, Rye looked over the railing. He took his tablet out, and is on the verge of playing the music. "Lets spice things up, shall we? And let's all remind each other, that all of our lives, are ours! No one else's!" As he finished his sentence, Rye played the music.

Weiss' eyes widened at what Rye had just said. Upon hearing the opening notes of the song playing, she knew what this song was, and actually had forgotten about it, ever since she sang it. That concert, her song, it was one of the only moments back at Atlas, after Beacon, that was memorable. That song was her power, her strength, her will, she was able to express herself right under her father's nose. It was basically a 'fuck you' to her dad, and to her delight, it went over his head.

She looked up at Rye, with a happy and appreciative smile on her face. Her beautiful light blue eyes showcasing her gratitude to playing this song, a face Rye will never forget, it was simply too adorable.

Nodding to her, he turned his attention to the incoming zeds. With Rye out of her vision, she too focused her attention to the incoming zeds.

To Weiss now, all there was in her world were her weapons, the zeds, and her. Entering into somewhat of a flow state, much like she did in her trailer. She stood still, preparing for the fight ahead.

"Mirror, can you hear me?

Do I, reach you?"

Weiss cocked her Vector.

"Are you, even listening?

Can I, get through?"

A crawler was making its way to her, letting out an ugly hiss before scuttling towards her. But Weiss was not affected at all.

"There's a part of me that desperate for changes.

Tired of being treated like a pawn."

*BANG*

Ruby shot the crawler before it got closer. With concern, the Rose looked at her partner, wondering why she isn't moving. Heck, why we're her eyes closed?

"Weiss?" She called out.

"But there's a part of me that stares back, from inside the mirror.

Part of me that's scared I might be wrong."

"Weiss!?" Ruby called out once more.

"That I can't be… strong."

With her eyes still closed, and multiple zeds now converging towards her, all Weiss did was holster her Vector, and pulling out her tactical knife.

Ruby widened her eyes and aimed down her sights, ready to take the zeds down. But before she could even pull the trigger, Weiss then starting moving.

"I've been afraid, never standing on my own.

I let you be the keeper of my pride."

With ferocity not seen in Weiss, she started moving and attack the zeds with her knife. With practiced movement, that allowed her to move with such elegance and efficiency, she brutally cut the zeds down with her knife. Efficiently she deflected the blade of a gorefast, and stabbed it in the temple, then kicking the body to the gorefiend behind it, staggering it. Then using the dead gorefast as a stepping platform, she jumped the gorefiend, taking it by surprise and planting the knife in crown of its head.

Ruby was certainly surprised by this sudden change, but nonetheless she willed herself and kept providing over watch. Taking down the zeds that tried to sneak up on her partner.

"Believed you when you told me, I was nothing on my own.

Listen when I say, I swear it here today.

I will not surrender, this life is mine!"

At that, the were multiple dead zeds surround the former heiress. All taken out by her knife, Weiss herself was rather bloodied yet still standing, her strength never wavering, her will, unflinching.

Her time training to be a Huntress had allowed her to train with a variety of weapon, not just rapiers. Any sort of bladed weapon, and Weiss could easily use it with deadly efficiency. A Huntress should always be prepare, and should adapt to the situation. So when using a knife, she already knew how to wield it properly. All she wanted to do was the release some of he anger onto these poor zeds. It was rather cathartic for the former Heiress.

Weiss looked up to her partner, giving Ruby a reassuring smile, and a nod, before pulling her vector out. Ruby smiled too, and continued to provide fire support.

"Amazing how you conquered me.

Chained me in servility, and made me see.

The world the way you told me to.

But I was young, and didn't have a, way to know the truth."

Using what Rye had taught her, for the most accuracy, she switched her Vector to semi automatic, and started to 'pop some heads.' At least, that's what Rye called it.

*PFT, PFT, PFT, PFT, PFT*

Heads started to literally pop, spraying blood, brain matter and eye balls everywhere. To Weiss, it was still disgusting to see, and she was still trying to get used to it. But right now with her adrenaline pumping and the music just starting to get to her, she was in her own zone.

"I'm shattering the mirror, that kept me split in pieces.

That stood between my mind and my heart.

This is where I'll start."

A fresh magazine in, she decided to let loose. Switching the fire mode to fully automatic, she wanted to give these zeds (and metaphorically her father) a piece of her mind.

"I'M NOT YOUR PET, NOT ANOTHER THING YOU OWN!"

Right at the start of that explosive chorus, a group of cysts, clots, and one bloat was coming right after her, she let loose.

*BBBBBRRRRRTTTTTTTT*

*BBBBBRRRRRTTTTTTTT* *BBBBBRRRRRTTTTTTTT*

Filling their guts full of lead, Weiss riddled the poor zeds with bullets, maybe too many bullets. But Weiss just shook that thought away, she didn't really care. It was really cathartic.

"I will not surrender, this life is mine!"

The music started to pick up, an electric guitar now playing. As it did, a new batch of zeds started to charge at her, she needed to reload her vector! Quickly changing to her Scorpion, she was luckily covered by her ever faithful partner.

"Don't worry Weiss! I gotcha covered!"

"Like you always do." Weiss muttered to herself, smiling at the fact she stated. Ruby always had her back, whenever they were together. It was a thought that brought a warmth inside of her, someone who isn't her family being there for her, through thick and thin. But not just Ruby, but her whole team! Especially Blake, they've been through so much together, at first she almost hated her, but now, her life felt almost incomplete without her, without her team.

Her body now automatously moving on it own, killing zeds here and there, she couldn't help but reflect about her life. How far she has gone, how much she has been through, and even though there were bad memories and rough times, she wouldn't trade that experience for anything else.

"Shame that it took so long, to rescue me.

From the guilt you used, to tie me to your family tree."

She was a Schnee before, an up tight, bratty, spoiled girl who thought she deserved many things. Something she got from her father, something she needed to get rid of. With the help of her friends of course.

*RTATATATATATATA*

*BBBBBRRRRRTTTTTTTT, BBBBBRRRRRTTTTTTTT*

"I guess your training failed, you're not in charge I'm free.

Your patriarchal prison won't hold me."

She grew up, she became a better person in the end. Being there for her team, at the battle of Beacon, helping those who she wouldn't have helped before, like Velvet.

*BANG*

She threw a flashbang, disorientating some zeds before she gunned them down.

"Now this conversation's finally over.

Mirror, Mirror, now we're done.

I've pulled myself together now.

My mind and heart are one.

Finally one!"

When she escaped Atlas, to find her team in Mistral, she proved to herself and to her father, that she is strong. Stronger than she thought she can ever be, strong enough to overcome her father's wishes for her, to break the chains that kept her within his grasp. Strong enough to break that damn mirror.

Now, she wasn't just another Schnee. She is not like her father, and she will never be. At this very moment, right now, she wasn't a Schnee, she was Weiss fucking Schnee.

With that realization in hand, she quite literally punch a Zed in the head. Much like how Rye did it, the head exploded, leaving a stumbling alpha clot.

"I'm not your pet, not another thing you own.

I was not born guilty of your crimes.

Your riches and your influence, can't hold me anymore.

I won't be possessed, burdened by your royal test.

I will not surrender, this life is mine!"

"WEISS!"

The former heiress was snapped back into the world around her. Shaking her head, she looked ahead to find her sister looking worriedly at her. Then she noticed their stances.

At the call of her name, Weiss flinched and threw a punch towards the source, her sister. Luckily Winter caught and now that was their current position.

"You were in your own little world there Weiss, you alright?" Rye asked her, everyone else was on the ground level, and all looking worriedly at Weiss.

Pulling her arm back, Weiss nervously fidgeted for moment, before moving once again. She went up to her three teammates, grabbed them, and pulled them all in a hug. In which her teammates happily reciprocated.

"Thank you." She softly muttered to her teammates. "Thank you for being the reason why I became the woman I am today." She sniffed a few times, a couple of tears rolling down her cheeks.

"We wouldn't be here without you Weiss." Ruby replied with a warm smile. "Thank you."

"Thank you Weiss."

"Thanks Weiss-cream."

Weiss pulled away from her team, and looked at her sister. Immediately, she rushed forward and gave Winter a big sisterly hug, in which Winter immediately returned. No words were shared with her, they knew what the gestured conveyed, they let the action speak for itself. Two sisters hugging each other tightly.

"The music really got to her, didn't it?" Pyrrha ask Rye.

Rye smiled at the scene. "I guess it did. That's a much more powerful reaction then I initially thought I would get out of her."

Pyrrha smiled. "Well, it's a very positive reaction, congratulations." Pyrrha already knew what her song was. There were seven waves, one for each of them, and if that hint Rye dropped when they were in the helicopter is anything to go by, she'll be dancing the wave away. "Speaking of reactions, I wonder what will happen when Blake and Yang hear their songs."

Rye shrugged. "We'll just have to wait and see."

While hugging Winter, Weiss looked over to Rye. They made eye contact, and Weiss just mouthed a thank you, in which Rye gave a firm nod.

Just a minute before the start of the next wave, it was Blake's turn, with Yang providing over watch, and Weiss protecting Yang. So far, everything's going sm-

"Don't think we're up to the task?"

Rye's thoughts were interrupted by the Faunus that snuck up to him. He didn't really flinch, but quickly snapped his head in Blake's direction.

"What're talking about?"

Blake looked at him. "I heard your earlier radio message, it was strange, I didn't hear it in any of our comms, just yours." Rye just raised an eyebrow. Forgetting that Blake literally had four ears, and her cat ears giving her super hearing. "You don't think we can kill the Patriarch?" She asked.

"I rather be safe than sorry. A single Patriarch can easily outgun us, and out strength us. Worse of all, he's a coward." Blake nodded, remembering the debriefing Rye gave them about the various Zed bosses. How the Patriarch will run away, hide, heal itself, and rush back into the fight. "So just for the sake of caution, I made sure to unfairly tip the odds into our favour."

"How?"

"You'll see Blake, but right now, you're up." Rye patted her back, indicating her to drop down to the floor below.

Blake took a step back, and vaulted over the railing, doing a superhero landing. Rye rolled his eyes.

Getting up, Blake got to the centre of the room, right near the Christmas tree. She looked over to see Yang, holding her AA-12. Blake's face pale.

"Um… Yang?"

Sensing what was wrong, Yang immediately calmed Blake. "No worries! Don't worry! Rye told me to load in slugs, they'll fly straighter than an arrow!"

Blake sighed in relief, she didn't need to also worry about friendly fire now. Turning over she found Rye, looking over to her with his tablet.

"Keep an eye out, incoming zeds!"

With that, Rye tapped on the tablet, and disappeared from her line of sight.

Again with the piano, always starting out with the piano! But this time, it wasn't her trailer song, as a matter of fact, Blake didn't recognize the song playing at first.

"You don't know what it's like to live in shadows.

Always regretting what you've done."

But it was familiar for sure, she just had to sift through all that she remembered from watching the show. Luckily for her, she wasn't the only one who didn't recognize it at first.

"Hey Rye, I know I heard this before, but where?" Yang asked.

*BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG*

"Umm… when Blake was fighting that sea dragon Grimm thingy, umm…"

"RYE YOU IMBECILE! BEHIND YOU!"

*BANG, BANG, BANG*

"Hey! You don't have to insult me when you're saving me Winter!"

"It's the only way of getting your attention!"

"There are nicer ways of getting my attention you know!"

"Ah silence you boob!"

*Slap!*

"Ow! That's my line!"

Tuning out their constant bickering, Blake now focused on the zeds, but she couldn't help but listen to the song as well.

"Spending time, counting every little mistake.

Knowing it's always easier to run."

She cringed, nodding her head in acknowledgement, now know that this is indeed her song. It frustrated her to no end about how this was a common habit for her, fleeing. She felt like a coward, someone who couldn't accept reality, and would just run. She couldn't help but somewhat compare herself to the Patriarch.

A siren approaching her was about to shriek, but Blake saw it, and was ultimately faster.

*BAM*

Before is even opened it mouth, Blake flicked to her target, shooting it in the head with one of her Desert Eagles. Now looking around her, she decided that now should be a time to fight, and not to remember her regrets.

"You can't just wish it away.

The past is the past, it'll never change.

That was before, this is now.

And when we have a chance to make it better if we try."

Blake was facing a large group of zeds. The only place she could find the best defensible position was at the rim of the fountain. But it was blocked.

A husk surrounded by trash zeds was about to fire, until it exploded, killing all the zeds near it. Blake looked over to find Yang waving at her.

"Get a move on!" Yang shouted at her teammate. Blake nodded and rushed towards the fountain.

"Oh, but I will not endanger one more friend!"

Blake heard that lyric, she couldn't help but look at Yang, who too heard the same line. They shared the same thought, with Yang giving her a sad smile and rubbing her metal arm.

Blake refocused towards the zeds ahead of her.

A shimmer caught her attention, her feline-like eyes catching the stalkers instantly. The shimmering effect was more profound than when Emerald tried to ambushed them at Meade.

Aiming her AF2011-A1s, she took shots at it. With two bullets, multiple stalkers died, but the shimmering refused to stop. Blake immediately unloaded several rounds, killing a whole group of stalkers. With them all dead, she almost missed a creepy chattering noise that appears to be happening to her right.

Seeing a bunch of crawlers rounding the corner of the advertisement booth, she immediately started to unload the rest of her bullets towards to creepy crawlers.

*BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG*

"You're free to do the things you want, but listen, so am I.

I've made my choice, and now I'm making mine."

Sun, Blake was immediately reminded of Sun. How he followed her to Menagerie, and aided her in her quest to fight the White Fang in her home. On top of that, helped gather support for their militia force, to help fight off against the attack on Haven.

To be honest, it made her blush, how committed he was to helping her. How far and how much he went through just because of her. He was like the total opposite of Adam, and she loved that about Sun.

"BLAKE!" The Faunus heard her squad leader call out to her. She quickly realized that now the majority of the wave has now directed its attention to her. Cyst, clots, slashers, crawlers, gorefast/fiends, sirens, stalkers, bloats, rioters and a couple of husks.

"Don't worry Rye! Blake and I got this in the bag!" Yang reassured their squad leader. Yang then looked over at Blake, and smiled. "But the cat's out the bag. Right Blake?"

Blake felt her lips curving upwards, forming a smile. It was a horrible pun but she smiled anyways. She nodded back at Her partner. "Right Yang."

With that, the duo focused their attention at the massive group of zeds.

"Go where you need to, know I won't leave you.

I'll follow you like morning follows night."

*BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG*

*POM, POM, POM, POM, POM, POM, POM, POM, POM*

It was a Zed slaughter, a true testament to what these killing floors were designed for. Zeds being gunned down, blood and guts flying everywhere. Husks exploding, killing even more zeds, and either launching zeds far, or just launching their body parts to comically high heights.

To Rye, Blake reminded him of Tallahassee from Zombieland, that scene where he was surrounded by zombies, and was dual welding two pistols. The only difference was that Blake didn't have the safety of a booth, instead she'd kick a Zed, if it got too close.

"You can run 'til your pain's through

One thing I won't do, is to let you go alone to face the fight."

That hit her the most, knowing that her past was extremely dangerous, and at times will bite her in the future. The thing is though, she didn't want her friends to be bitten as well.

But after a tearful lesson Blake learnt from Sun, about how her friends are always there for her. About how she doesn't have to run away, she doesn't have to carry all of her burdens, because her team… her friends, would gladly help her carry some of the burdens. Maybe at times, even carry all the burdens. She's forever grateful to have friends like them, like RWBY.

"Life's not a game you can play to get even.

We all make mistakes but we need to move on.

I know that you hate when we stray.

Forgiving yourself is the only way.

Just look ahead, yesterday is gone."

While thinking about the lyrics, Blake heard a familiar robot sound emanating behind the Christmas tree, and past the elevator shaft. Panicking, she snapped to that direction, and found something she was hoping she wouldn't face alone.

Sure, at this moment in time, she wasn't feeling confident about handling any larger zeds by herself. But this particular E-DAR was something even Rye wasn't too excited about.

A trapper E-DAR was quickly making it was towards her. Its… well, intimidating steps were hard, forceful, bone crunching.

"BLAKE!" Yang yelled out. But before the Faunus can look at her partner, she was grabbed by an Alpha Clot. It was trying to claw her, with Blake struggling to fight back.

Yang aimed her AA-12.

*Click*

"No, no, no, no, no, NO! I'M OUT." Yang was at a panic, her HZ12 wasn't loaded with slug rounds. Overall, she was out of slugs, the resupply pallet only had a limited stock.

"YANG SWITCH WITH ME!" Weiss called out. Now switched, with Weiss now providing over watch. But as she switched to her Scorpion, set it to semi automatic, and aimed down, she just saw the E-DAR firing a dart to Blake.

But the Faunus had her quick reflexes. She pulled the clot, and made it a meat shield for the incoming dart.

*Plup*

The dart hit the clot, and immediately it stiffened, Blake could feel the tense muscles of the Zed. Not wasting time, she pulled out one of her Desert Eagles, while still holding onto the Zed, and aimed it at the core of the E-DAR.

*BANG*

Her accuracy true, it hit the red core, releasing an EMP blast wave, which now exposed the stalkers that were around it.

*PFT, PFT, PFT, PFT.*

Blake and Weiss were now gunning down the stunned stalkers, as well as any other zeds that were coming close.

"I know you think you're being selfless but you're not.

I refuse to risk another's pain again.

The pain is when you shut me out, and take off on your own.

No matter what, you'll never walk alone."

While fighting, Blake couldn't help it, she felt guilty again. Her enhanced hearing meant she can hear the lyrics without sacrificing the effort it takes to hear incoming zeds. She heard the lines, and cringed. But on the bright side, she was now grateful to Sun for talking some sense into her. Knowing her friends would gladly share the pain and burden. Blake now had the urgent need of tightly hug Yang again, for all the emotional distress she caused on her. Even though they spoke before, and were on good enough terms, Blake just wanted to hug her nonetheless. Reassure the brawler that she would never leave again, and that she so sorry.

The bridge was now currently playing. Blake quickly reloaded her four guns, and glanced up to Weiss. The former heiress gave her teammate a smile and a nod, showing her that she was ready for the next group of zeds. With that Blake looked all around her, she was surrounded with yet another massive group of zeds.

The Faunus only smiled at her situation. Now… it's impossible for her to miss.

As soon as the rapping started, shit hit the fan… for the zeds. It sounded like every syllable was accompanied by its own gunshot.

"What I feel, what I see

What's going through my mind."

*BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG*

*PFT, PFT, PFT, PFT, PFT, PFT*

Blake's currently showing just how much of a badass she actually is. Shooting left, right, down, and sometimes up. Moving left, right, forward, back, kicking this zed, punching that Zed in the head, and putting in multiple shots on a single Zed's head. It was headshots galore. With Weiss helping of course.

"Go where you need to, know I won't leave you.

I'll follow you like morning follows night."

She was out of ammo, she pulled out her Bowie knife that Rye gave her. Blake started to slash the remaining zeds.

"You can run 'til your pain's through

One thing I won't do, is to let you go alone to face the fight!"

As the music stopped, with adrenaline still pumping, Blake threw the knife at what she thought was a Zed behind her. But before she knew it, she mistakenly threw her knife at Yang, who actually caught rather quickly with her metal arm.

"Oh, Yang! I'm so sorry!" Blake covered her mouth in shock.

Yang only smiled. "Don't worry about it, I should've called you out before approaching." Yang giggled as she took hold of the knife. Blake noticed Weiss and Ruby coming up behind Yang. "Plus, you're not the only one with quick reflexes too, and um… a metal arm helps as well."

Yang continued to smile, as Blake nervously approached. Taking her knife back and sheathing it, but not taking steps back. The Brawler notices how close Blake was and the expression on her.

"Hey, you alrig-" Yang was cut off when Blake abruptly hugged her. A tight yet comforting hug, comforting for Blake at least. Yang was certainly surprised by the gesture, but didn't let it get in the way of returning it with her own. Yang chuckled. "Not that I mind but, what's this for?"

"I'm sorry, I'm just so sorry." Blake wasn't crying, but the emotion was clear in her tone. She sounded regretful, and guilty. "I'm so sorry for leaving you, pushing you away and just hurting you even more. I thought I was protecting you, I didn't mean it, I'm so sorry Yang."

Yang started to run her hands through Blake's hair, calming the Faunus. "Hey, don't worry. We had this talk, remember? I miss you, and there's nothing to be sorry about. You help us out immensely at Haven. Without your arrival, we wouldn't have won. I should be sorry for being so angry at you." Yang chuckled, as a thought occurred to her. "Man, if these song got these reactions from Weiss and Blake, I wonder what Rye has in store for me." Blake's only response was to chuckle along with the brawler, as they still hugged each other.

The two stayed that way for awhile, with Weiss and Ruby just smiling at the scene. It seemed picture perfect, until the commotion behind them started to get a tad bit louder.

"Come on! What's the big deal, it's a small drop!"

"I know it's a small drop Winter! I just don't want to break my shins!"

"You're over exaggerating Rye, just vault over the railing."

"Over exaggerating!? You kicked my shin on the ride here!"

"Ah, stop being a coward! You're the squad leader for pete's sake! Are you afraid of heights!?"

"I'm actually good with heights, it's the sudden stop I'm cautious about."

"That's what they all say!"

"Don't worry Rye! I'll catch you!" Pyrrha adorably made herself known, encouraging Rye like he was a toddler.

"No, that's okay Pyrrha. I wouldn't want to hurt you!"

Winter snorted. "Hurt her? If you impact the ground, you'll cause an earthquake."

"SHUT IT WINTER!"

"Here, an SPX." While heading up the escalators to the floor above, Rye handed Blake a rifle. "Pistols can only get you so far, especially when you're trying to cover someone from a distance."

Blake took the lever-action rifle, and examined it. It looked very modern; an adjustable stock, railings to add additional attachments, and a red dot scope on top. Although she knew how to handle a rifle like this, she was comfortable and confident enough in her abilities in her pistols. She did primarily use handguns in her life.

"I appreciate the gesture, but I'm sure I can get the job done with the guns you gave me before hand." Rye only raised an eyebrow.

"Are you willing to risk Yang's life because you're that confident?" It wasn't a jab at her skills, but weapons do have limits. Rye was just concerned that Yang wouldn't get nearly as much protection as any of the girls would, when they had over watch. He wanted to clarify. "I'm not questioning your skill, I'm questioning your weapons Blake. Even Hayato has a rifle in case his pistols aren't up to the task."

Blake could see his reasoning, although it was a slight blow on her pride, she reluctantly strapped the rifle to her back.

"Thanks Blake." Rye gave her a smile, in which she only nodded back and walked over to the railing. Nearby, Rye also leaned over the railing, to see the Brawler in the middle of the mall floor. The floor was already filled with dead corpses, blood and guts of zeds. Luckily all of it were just as artificial as the zeds themselves.

"Times up Remnant! More zeds incoming!"

"Thanks trader." Rye radioed to their trader. He shifted his attention the blonde brawler below. "You ready down there!?"

Yang pumped her fist up in the air. "Heck yeah! LETS ROCK!"

"That's the spirit Xiao-Long, perfect for this song." Rye tapped the tablet, and immediately, they heard a piano playing, again.

"Seriously? Piano? That's like Weiss level, and maybe even Blake. But it's not me!" Yang couldn't help but comment. It was not the best way to start a wave of killing zeds.

*ROAR* *REV, REV*

"Scrake!" Pyrrha reminded everyone, making sure they carefully watch their surroundings for any incoming scrakes.

Yang saw some incoming gorefiends, and started to engage.

*POM, POM, POM, POM, POM*

True to their name, they were just a pile of gore. In which Yang couldn't help but comment on.

"Ha, looks like you really are just a bunch of GORE-fiends." She started to get used to the graphic violence this occupation came with. Part of her tolerance was the fact that she played many violent video games while growing up. From first-person shooters, to open world crime games, and to her favourite violent fighting games, such as her favourite 'FATAL FIGHTER!'

But she just shook that thought away, to focus on the incoming zeds. It was at this moment, she heard her song picking up.

"It happens every night, I watch my world ignite.

But there's no waking from this nightmare."

"Huh?" Yang couldn't help but say it out loud. She loved to listen to music, blasting out music from her Scroll or through her headphones, she'd listen to music in many different occasions. Studying, partying, sparring, practicing, kicking butt in a club? Yup. Music had a very special place with Yang, hell she was ecstatic when she heard from Rye that they used music to fight the zeds. So in her passion for music, she always made an effort to listen to the lyrics, especially if she really liked the song. So hopefully in the future, she can sing along.

But those opening lyrics, it kind of left a taste in her mouth, and froze her on the spot. She took a moment to listen for a bit longer.

"The stage is always set, the place I can't forget.

The hidden eyes, that I can feel there."

At that, the guitar started to play, and the zeds were really close now.

*BANG, BANG, YANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, YANG*

Shots rang out, Blake was at the railing with Ruby's red cloak vividly behind her. Ruby was covering Blake, and Blake looked out to Yang.

"Come on Yang! Smash!"

She didn't need a to be reminded again. She smirked at the incoming zeds, to her and her AA-12, anything that wasn't a Fleshpound, Quarter Pound, or Scrake, was a trash Zed to her.

The guitar started playing extensively now, Yang matched it's intensity with her own.

*POM, POM, POM, POM, POM, POM*

*BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG*

Blake provided over watch, doing her best to accurately hit zeds from afar. That rifle on her back was looking rather tempting now.

"My eyes are open wide, I'm racing to her side.

There's nothing that I won't do for her!"

"What…? Rye?" Luckily, all the zeds converging on her were dead, so she was able to think about the lyrics she just heard. She couldn't help it, her thoughts drifted to that night.

"But this is not a dream, my mind repeats the scene.

I can't forget it and it's torture."

"RYE! WHAT IS THIS!?" Blake angrily shouted to her squad leader. At the shout, she forcefully holstered her AFs and took out the rifle.

Meanwhile, Yang had brief flashes of that night. Her metal arm now balling up into a hard fist. Her face, one of fear, shock, horror.

Zeds were creeping up on a paralyzed Yang, as Blake fought them off.

*BANG, CHICK-CHICK, BANG, CHICK-CHICK, BANG*

Rye pushed himself to the railing, his back against it while firing his HK416 at an incoming pissed off Scrake.

"KEEP LISTENING AND KEEP FIGHTING BUMBLEBEE!"

"That was before, but not anymore.

I've left it behind."

"Huh?" Yang was shaken out of her stupor at the lyrics she just heard. It sounded… relatable.

"As much as I lost, once I'm across I'll find!"

She then notices the incoming zeds, and immediately put an end to their existence.

"I've found the strength to grow so much more.

A whisper to a roar.

No more crying.

It's time for me to soar!"

She felt… empowered. The adrenaline, the clarity, the familiar fire that now burnt so much more hotter, so much more… brighter.

"YANG!" Yang turned to the floor above to see Rye looking at her, with eyes that showed fiery pride, and encouragement she had previously seen in her father's eyes. Rye one yelled on thing that cause her to take off.

"FIGHT!"

"Feel like I'm finally unbroken.

Feel like I'm back from the dead.

My strength back and confidence growing."

That was it, Yang felt like she's in her element. She let loose, like she did when she was at Beacon, except the only difference between now and then is that; she's now better.

*POM, POM, POM, POM, POM, POM*

"Out of my way, 'cause I'm armed and ready."

"Armed and ready!" Rye sang out loud for all to hear. Yang couldn't help but laugh at the blatant pun the song made about her right mechanical arm. At the line, she literally punched a gorefiend away from her.

"Ready."

"Armed and ready!" Pyrrha joined in on with Rye.

"I'm ready."

"Armed and ready!" They continued to sing along, with Yang finally realizing that she never heard this song on the show before.

"Ready! Ready!"

"Armed and ready!" The guitar continued to play in the brief period of time. At this time, they all heard it.

*ROAR* *REV, REV*

"Should be the last Scrake for this wave!" Pyrrha called out for all to hear. Yang looked up to Blake, and almost teared up at the sight.

Blake was looking at her, with proud wide and bright eyes. She looked as if she was ready to cry out in joy. Joy in seeing Yang like this, fighting and enjoying the moment. Blake could only muster a smile as she shakily reloaded her weapon. At that, Yang looked at the approaching zeds.

"Remember all too well, my time of living hell.

The night my enemy would conquer."

Yang let out a frustrated sigh after deposing a group of bloats, the smell as vile as that lyric. She was in a good mood now, and those lines had to remind her of that night. The only thing that made it worse was that she wasn't even fully over what happened to her at Beacon. Even the smallest, most subtle references that she catches, can easily remind her of that painful night. She remembered that one time with a shattering glass cup.

She shook that thought away, it wouldn't help her in the long and short run, especially now.

"But now I've been set free, lived through the tragedy.

You'll wish you'd killed me; now I'm stronger!"

Yang smirked, as she now did what she knew how to do, fight and pummel anything that came close to her.

A Scrake entered her field of vision, each step being more prominent than the last. With its left hand, it point to her, indicating who's next to kill.

Yang couldn't help but mischievously grin at the serial killer like Zed, they did both had one thing in common. They both didn't have a right arm. Other than that, she is better on every single level.

Using her left hand, she pointed at the marching Zed as well, her grin widening. The Scrake seemed to realize the mocking, and that ticked it off.

"YANG!" Blake called out, as she switched her SPX for her dual Desert Eagles. Rye went to the railing, to see what was up.

Using it's chainsaw, the Scrake thrust forwards towards Yang. But she had something it didn't know she had.

Electricity was forming at her right hand, as she too propelled her mechanical arm towards the chainsaw.

*CLUNK*

Yang caught the chainsaw, jamming the teeth in the process. The Scrake looked at the chainsaw, and at her in a confused manner, until it noticed the electricity coursing through the mechanical arm. Soon it travelled from her arm, and to the chainsaw, then ultimately at it. The static discharge shocking and stunning the Scrake.

Using this window of opportunity, Yang used her left arm to wield her AA-12, and started to 'unload' it onto the Scrake's face.

*POM, POM, POM, POM, POM, POM*

*PLOP*

As the body hit the floor, Yang continued to slaughter any approaching Zeds.

A spike of jealousy hit Rye, as he remembered their earlier conversation in the helicopter. "Umm… who's idea was it to equip Yang's mechanical arm with a Static Striker mod?"

"Mmmmmeeeeeeee!" Ruby called out.

"You were jealous of something that was your own idea?" Rye chuckled as he turned to the petite reaper.

"ITSACOOLWEAPONMAN!" Ruby defended herself as she then return to covering Blake.

Rye laughed and shook his head while turning back to Yang. "Yeah, it is."

"My misery, my agony.

Has taught me to fly!"

Blake was starting to like the SPX. Although she knew that she had to primarily use her pistols, due to her equipment being too heavy for her, but she'd like to have the SPX for times like this. The only downside to the weapon was it's reload. To her, it took way too long.

"The pain I went through, left me with a new;

War cry!"

"YEAH!" Yang cried out loud as she vigorously fought off every single Zed. She even destroyed an incoming blaster EDAR, shooting it a twice before blowing up and stunning the surrounding Zeds. With Blake's help, they cleaned up the stunned zeds.

"I'll live my life like every day's the last.

No living in the past.

Best day's ever, I'm never looking back!"

Yang just simply smiled, as she reloaded her AA-12. She truly felt like a new person, and in some way, content with her mechanical arm. Sure, she faltered when she lost her arm, her partner, and Beacon Academy. But when the time came, the time to prevent another Beacon, to aid her sister, and to save the world, she rose up to the task. Yang Xiao-Long was never one to back down. You can beat her down all day, but she'll always get back up. She'll always keep fighting.

"Feel like I'm finally unbroken

Feel like I'm back from the dead

My strength back and confidence growing

Out of my way

Cause I'm Armed and Ready."

"Armed and Ready!" Rye and Pyrrha sang out loud. Yang now wanted to follow along.

"Ready!"

"Armed and Ready!" Rye, Pyrrha and Yang sang out loud, motivating Ruby and Weiss to follow.

"I'm ready!"

"Armed and Ready!" Rye, Pyrrha, Yang, Weiss and Ruby followed.

"Ready! Ready!"

"Armed and Ready!" Everyone else followed. Blake reluctantly sang as well. She wasn't much of a singer, yet she wanted to be part of this as much as Yang was. Meanwhile, Winter was in her own situation, but she couldn't help but sing along as well. Remembering why music was being played in the first place, and to not block it out, instead to fight with it.

"Call me sweetheart and I'll tear you apart.

Just call me, 'sir '"

"Yes SIR!" Rye called out loud, making Yang laugh out loud as she was fighting the Zeds.

"Try to resist once you meet my new fist, bye-bye!"

At that moment, using her mechanical arm she punch an suicidal Husk. Preventing a lethal explosion from happening, and Blake letting out a relieved sigh.

"Just look at the fire in my eyes, and bring my strawberry sunrise."

"Rye! You're buying me one back at The Platform!" Yang couldn't help but demand from her squad leader.

"What! WHY!?"

"It was you who began it."

"Pleasseee." Yang drawn out with puppy eyes. Rye couldn't say no.

"Now you're saying:"

"God dammit." Rye said along side the song, in which Pyrrha couldn't help but laugh at.

"Next time, there's no compromise.

Feel like I'm finally unbroken.

Oh, now like I'm back from the dead.

Strength back, confidence growing.

Out of my way, cause I'm Armed and Ready!"

"Armed and Ready!" Everybody sung out, as they finished the remaining Zeds.

"Ready!"

"Armed and Ready!"

"I'm ready!"

"Armed and Ready!" Everyone continued to sing out. With each chant growing more enthusiastic than the last.

"Ready! Ready!"

"Armed and Ready!" Rye pressed the tablet to stop the music, as the last Zed fell just before the last chorus begun.

"WOOOOHOOOO! THAT WAS AMAZING! ENCORE!" Yang exclaimed out loud, both hands in the air and achieving the impossible. She's smiling even more brightly than anyone has seen her smile before, in recent memory.

Yang laughed, clearly enjoying the wave, and walking over to where the resupply pallet was. But before she got there, she was tackled by an over exuberant rose.

"YANG! YOU WERE AMAZING!"

"I KNOW I WAS! YOU WERE AWESOME TOO RUBES!"

"DON'T GIVE ME CREDIT RIGHT NOW! YOU WERE AWESOME AT YOUR TIME! AND YOUR SONG WAS AWESOME TOO! TWO OF YOU COMBINED, IT WAS AWESOMETACULAR!"

"THAT'S NOT A WORD!"

"I KNOW IT NOT!"

The sisters finished their rather loud conversation with an loving hug. A loving hug in which they pulled their respective partners into, and Weiss pulled her sister into as well.

Rye and Pyrrha looked at the scene, and Rye couldn't help but take a picture of the moment. He knew once this mission was over, he'd be taking a picture in the end, to cherish the memory.

Ruby looked up and noticed the two bystanders. She smiled and gestured at them. "Come on, it's a group hug, there's always room for more."

Pyrrha brightly smiled, and quickly joined the fray. Rye was more hesitant, not wanting to ruin a moment with his presence. He didn't think he really belong in the group.

Yang noticed his hesitance, and she too gestured for him to come over. "Come on Rye, you too." Her tone was playful, like addressing a young child that was being invited over as well.

"Ah, I don't know, this is more of a RWBY show kind of group hug, I don't think I want to interru-"

"Rye, come on. We wouldn't be feeling like this and we wouldn't be here if it weren't for you. Come here." Yang gently explained to the squad leader, with a smile that could light the cosmos.

Rye smiled back, and reluctantly joined the group hug.

"You all set down there?" Rye asked the lone Winter Schnee at the bottom level. The ground level had to be cleared of some bodies, as there was simply too many. So with Yang and Pyrrha's help, they dragged some of the trash Zeds to the elevator shafts, and dropped them there.

"I'm ready here Rye. Just rather curious about your song choice, because I'm not aware of any song revolving around myself." The show is called RWBY for a reason, not Winter. She's just a part of that show, a part of Weiss in a way, a side character. Although that did pang her heart the wrong way, she knew better. For all she knew, maybe in a different world, there is a show about her.

"Yeah, to be honest, I did have trouble finding something. My first choice is rather ummm… debatable? But I ended up using it. I think if I used something else I'd just be disrespecting you, which is something I don't want to do. Especially now." Rye was debating on whether using this piece, or a song from somewhere else in the show, like maybe 'I May Fall,' or 'Caffeine.'

Winter was at first skeptical, she didn't expect him to find anything that could potentially match her. But she did appreciate his thoughtfulness, that he did spend some time finding something that fit her. So like how a soldier will trust their comrade to have their back, Winter did somewhat trust Rye to find an appropriate song for her wave.

"So far, so good people. Let's get back to work."

"All right people, here we go! Expect Fleshpounds to appear! Do your best to dodge them, and let them ram themselves to any obstructions, disorientating them and getting them out of their rage states!" Rye reminded out loud, as he looked over the railing and towards Winter. "Be careful down there Winter! Pyrrha has your back, and I'll be covering her."

Winter gave him a firm nod. "Understood!"

Rye continued to look at Winter, a grin forming. "And don't lose your cool Winter."

Winter narrowed her eyes at her squad leader, as she heard the 'Y' in RWBY laughing at whatever Rye just said. Rye only gave her a glance, before tapping his tablet and running out of her line of sight.

At the moment, she heard the music beginning to playing, and Pyrrha laughing.

"Rye! Don't be like that!" Pyrrha tried to scold her leader in-between her laughs.

Winter then started to glare at the last place she lost sight of Rye. She didn't know what was really happening, because at first, she didn't recognize the song that was playing.

It sounded fantastical, and instrumental. A mix between orchestral and electronic, it was certainly upbeat, appropriate for a flashy tournament style fight.

"Sounds like something used in a fighting game, like 'Life Caliber.'" Yang spoke out, Rye trying to process what 'Life Caliber' is, before realizing she meant 'Soul Calibur.'

Before Winter could ask, Weiss first spoke up. "Hey, I think I recognize this. Wasn't this the music that played when Winter was fighting Qrow?"

Winter's eyebrow twitched.

"Yeah… that's why I said debatable." Rye spoke up, still out of Winter's sight.

*ROAR*

*ROAR* *REV, REV*

"Oh, so that's what you meant…" Blake started.

"Yup…" Rye interrupted, and Yang interrupted him by laughing hard. She was still in a good mood following her wave. Rye then looked over the railing, only showing his eyes as he looked at the Specialist. "Sorry Winter!"

"Oh, you'll really be sorry after this stupid wave Rye Carpner!" With that out of the way, she focused her attention on the incoming Zeds. While also trying to fight down the embarrassment she felt after the brawl with Qrow, and watching the moment in the show.

Oh, she'll make Rye pay for sure.

A Fleshpound was making it way towards her, stomping and almost lazily walking towards her general direction.

"Nikos!"

"Yes!?"

"Target prioritization!"

"Okay!"

With that, both the champion and the Specialist started to focus their fire on the large, moving brute known as the Fleshpound. Bullets were riddling it head, sometimes being deflected off the spikes covering it's eyes. The times it did hit the flesh of its head, each round chipped away a piece of flesh, bone matter, and sometimes brain matter off. But only a couple of rounds in, it was pissed off.

"WATCH IT WINTER!" Pyrrha yelled out to the Specialist.

*ROAR* *POUND, POUND, POUND*

True to its name, the Fleshpound roared and pounded it's massive grinders into the ground. With a red glowing core, it started sprinting towards the Schnee, the grinders covering it's core. Winter had her back against one of the two advertisement booths, knowing what to do, Winter waited for the Fleshpound to get close.

As the Fleshpound was on her, it swung its massive grinders from the sides, and towards her. With its legs spread far apart, Winter dove in between them, dodging the grinders as they hit the booth behind her.

The Fleshpound hit the booth, it's grinders getting stuck on it, and struggling to get it out. It roared out, frustrated about its predicament, core glowing red once more. Winter took this time to take it down for good.

Grabbing a grenade from her body, she climbed onto the back of the Fleshpound.

"What are you doing Winter!?" Pyrrha exclaimed. Riding an Ursa was one thing, as she remembered Nora constantly trying to pull off. It was another to try and ride a Fleshpound, minus having aura.

"Trust me! I know what I'm doing!" Winter called back.

Pyrrha was growing worried, she could jump down there to help her out. But decided against it, trusting that Winter knew what she was doing. All she did was kill any Zeds that was going to take advantage of a distracted human. Pyrrha reminded herself of Winter's rank as a Specialist, and hoped she proves her rank right here.

The Fleshpound roared, now attempting shake off the human on it back. But Winter was stronger, holding on tightly while still climbing to its shoulders. Reaching its shoulders, Winter pulled the pin of the grenade, without letting go of the safety lever.

The Fleshpound is about to roar again, this time, the Schnee was ready. As it opened its mouth, Winter released the grenade's safety lever, and jammed the armed grenade in the mouth of the Fleshpound. Jumping off the back of the Fleshpound, Winter raised an arm to cover her herself from the incoming mess.

*BMFF* *SPLAT*

The head violently popped, and only some of the blood, bone and brain matter splatted on her. The body of the Fleshpound being a much larger and shielding her from the gory mess. Its body slumped down, while its grinders were still stuck on the booth.

Winter smiled to herself. "You're crazy." Winter looked up to Pyrrha, who had a look that showed her surprise by the stunt, and also looked rather impressed by it as well.

Winter got up, and held her SCAR. "I'm sure our 'teacher,' has done crazier stunts." She air quoted teacher.

Pyrrha shook her head, while shooting some incoming zeds. "Maybe, but he has yet to do something like that." Pyrrha giggled a bit, before refocusing her attention to a small group of zeds approaching Winter. "Heads up Winter, Zeds coming up behind you."

Her head shot up, along with raising her rifle. She switched her SCAR to semi-automatic, and started to accurately nail headshots.

*BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG*

With that, Winter entered a flow state, focusing on her weapon, the zeds around her, and herself.

*BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG*

In a clockwise pattern, she circled around, often switching her aim in all sorts of angles. A bloat by her three, a shimmering at her seven, a husk ready to fire by her ten, she maneuvered around her circle. Dodging fireballs, swipes from slashers or blades from gorefasts/fiends, vomits from bloats, and kicking or punching zeds away from her to give herself some breathing room. All the while aiming and killing those same zeds around her. Remembering that movement is key, and to not stay still.

*BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG*

She reloaded her SCAR, then kept shooting and moving. To anyone watching, her leg movement looked as if she was dancing. Her steps, precise and efficient, with the touch of Schnee elegance. Each step, swipe, drag, heck even her kicks look like it deserved to be shown through an artistic medium. To say the least, she was good, and deserving of the high ranking title of Specialist.

*BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG*

The music… Winter could only mentally sigh at. She remembered that embarrassing memory, a moment that showcased her hotheadedness. Even if she was provoked by the drunkard, she needed to remind herself that she is a Schnee. That ones mannerisms and etiquette had to remain professional, to solve things in a more dignified manner. Incidents like that would only lead to bad PR for her father's company, her family name, and herself especially, with her ranking being called into question. It was at that day that she was immensely thankful of Ozpin's policy about media coverage in Beacon, about how their presence can distract students from their education. If it wasn't for Ozpin, Weiss and Pyrrha would've had a horrid time at Beacon. For Winter, that whole Qrow debacle luckily remained in Beacon, thanks to the headmaster. The story not reaching the same heights as it normally would, if it would've occurred outside campus grounds.

With her song playing overhead, Winter couldn't help but think about herself. When everyone else had a song playing, it spoke about how they changed, how they became a better person, how they went through so many trails and tribulations to be the person that they were now. Then there's her song, a song about an embarrassing moment. Don't get her wrong, she was proud of team RWBY, about how they all overcame the obstacles that were in their way. She was especially proud of Weiss, her sister escaping the iron grip of her father, to reunite with her team, her friends, dare she say it, her family. She admired her little sister, as much as Weiss admired herself. About her song, Winter just wished her song had the same affect team RWBY had with their own songs. A song that spoke about her character, and her burdens that she had to overcome.

She sighed, and did hope that in some way, shape or form, that the show will showcase more of her human side. She wasn't all business serious, just most of the time. Her job required her to be professional most, if not all the time. She represented herself, her family, her military, and her kingdom.

But there were times where she did let her hair down, where she truly did represent herself, not anyone or anything else, just herself. A perfect moment in the show was the moment with Weiss, helping her attempt to summon fallen foes to aid her in combat. She smiled at the perfect sisterly moment, a moment where she wasn't Specialist Schnee, or the eldest daughter of the Schnee name, but Winter Schnee. Winter, who loves Weiss with all her heart, who loves to sing almost as much as Weiss, to listen to music, who also loves puppies, chocolate, movies and pizza just as much as she loves Weiss.

Yet, she is also the one who accepted a deal to have arranged marriage with a suitor of her father choosing. A deal with the devil, her father.

She still couldn't believe she accepted those terms, and was lucky to hold off the suitors this far. She couldn't help but think about her growingly hopeless conundrum. About how her freedom from her father wasn't very free at all. As a matter of fact, freedom at the cost of her freedom in a sense. To live out her dreamed life, she needed to give her life to someone like her father. In the end, she realized that she just accepted to be part of his scheme to gain more power. To marry someone with power, wealth and high social status to increase the Schnee name. She was just a pawn, and all Winter wanted was to live her own life.

It was ironic, despicable, stupid. She could go on and on, but there was one word to perfectly describe her position in all this. It was unfair…

For once, ever since she was just a child, she just felt like crawling to a corner, to quietly let a few tears fall. She felt, vulnerable, unable to escape her legacy, her father. Her own mother couldn't even do much to influence her father's action! She was just as helpless as herself.

"WINTER!"

Winter was brought out of her musings by Rye, who stood in front of her with worry.

Rye had to stop himself from commenting about how he called out her name at the exact moment Ironwood did at the end of the song. He felt giddy and excited, he wanted to fan girl in the spot. But had to stop himself when he saw Winter's expression. A sense of longing, a look of many hidden sorrows.

"You alright Winter? You don't look that well. Come on, you can talk to me. Actually… I think Weiss would be more appropriate." Rye shook his head, its better for her to talk to someone closer to Winter than himself. Hell, he wasn't even that close to her. He turned to Weiss, but before he could call out to the former Heiress, he felt Winter's hand on his chin.

Winter forced Rye to look at her, and she raised her hand.

*SLAP*

"That was for playing that song!" Winter said.

Rye simply nodded, thinking he kinda deserved it. "Owwie…"

Winter raised her hand again to slap him again, but stopped herself. She didn't want to vent her frustration to Rye, all he tried to do was to help her fight. It wouldn't be fair to him. So instead, she just took his hand, and squeezed it. At the process, she took a step closer.

"But I appreciate the thought behind it." She lets him go, and walks to the resupply pallet. Her voice, sounded like one of resignation, sad acceptance. Rye couldn't help but wonder why, why did this piece affect her like this? Maybe he could ask Weiss about it later.

Back at the pallet, Weiss whispered to her older sister. "Are you okay? Was it the song?"

Winter titled her head from side-to-side. "Partially." She spoke in a soft tone.

Weiss could see the look in Winter's eyes, she knew that expression all too well. "The marriage thing?" The was a momentary pause, hesitation on the Specialist's end. After what felt like an eternity, Winter only quietly nodded, and Weiss moved to hug her sister. "We'll figure something out, I promise." Weiss comforted her older sister, with Winter hugging back.

The sisters stayed like, before heading to the escalators above.

"That's what happens when you play a song like that Rye." Yang smirked as she leaned on the railing.

"Are you sure you're okay Rye?" Pyrrha asked from the floor below, it was her turn to show her Zed killing abilities. To be honest, she actually didn't need to be down there, everyone passed and everyone knew she could kill zeds. She just wanted to be part of the fun as well. It was good because her song was next.

"Just peachy Pyrrha." Rye unenthusiastically said while tinkering with his magnifier sight on his HK416. His rifle was set to semi-automatic, with the magnifier scope to zoom in more with the already attached holographic sight. Sure, he could've gotten a optic that allowed him to change the zoom level, but he thought the magnifier added more character to his gun.

The more he thought about his reasoning… the more he thought about a certain weapon fanatic who cosplayed as a more badass little red riding hood.

Winter could only cringe at Rye's tone when he spoke. She had a very bad feeling that after this, that she'd cause more physical harm to him than the zeds. Maybe she could talk to him soon, explain why she acted like that. He does already know about her personal situation, than she cringed again about how he got to know it in the first place. She felt like she was in a fanfiction, with the author attempting and failing to build chemistry between them.

"Keep it up! More enfoirés incoming!"

"Alright people! Congratulations you all passed with flying colours!" Rye voiced out loud, receiving enthusiastic cheers from them, especially Yang and Ruby. "Don't get your hopes up though! Still gotta graduate, and in order to do so, you just gotta survive." Then there's the sad 'awws' and a 'boo' from Yang. "But right now, time to shine."

Pyrrha smiled at the comment. "Indeed it is Rye, indeed it is." With that, she nodded to Rye, who played the song.

"Baby, it's time to make up your mind.

I think that tonight is when our stars align.

Honey, it's time to leave the doubt behind.

Take my hand 'cause you and I are gonna shine."

With those opening lines, Pyrrha actually sang along side it. Her voice, while not as refined as Weiss, her raw voice sounded, melodic. There's a certain sweetness to Pyrrha's voice, she sounded like the embodiment of relaxation and rejuvenation. She certainly looked like it as well.

"I was cold in the dark, it was empty in my life;

From the outside it looked so bright, but nothing felt right... to me.

Like a sky with no sun.

Like a night that has no day.

My heart was eclipsed by the dark, then something changed."

*ROAR*

*ROAR*

*ROAR* *REV* *REV*

*BANG, BANG, BANG*

As the music took on a more calming tone, Pyrrha merely started to walk around, almost unaware about the zeds coming towards her. Rye took the initiative to easily take those zeds out, he knew what she was like when this song played. No matter how far they were in a mission, she'd always had her fun when 'Shine' was playing. Right now, she wanted to make this moment perfect. That meant, she had absolutely trusted Rye to take out the zeds coming to her, even having her eyes closed.

This was her song, when she heard this song play for the first time in the show, she remembered this song playing on the night of the dance. It is her song, more importantly, it is hers and Jaune's song. Every time she felt down, hopeless, remembering that faithful night at Beacon, or after a brutal extermination mission, this was her go-to feel good song. Cause it always manage to make her feel better. Remembering Jaune in a dress, dancing the night away, with her no less! She smiled at the memory, and became way too excited to one day meeting him again. Hopefully that day would be coming soon.

With this song being her favorite, she took the time to read the lyrics as well. With those recent lyrics definitely talking about her time in the limelight, where ironically it was one of the darkest moments in her life. Her days in her pedestal, unable to find her way down and to talk to someone. Then, he appeared, her hero, her literal knight in shining armor. He made her feel, like someone, like truly herself. Not her fame, not her status, but as Pyrrha Nikos, the girl who just wanted to live a life.

With that, Jaune made her feel… unique, special. Not like 'celebrity' or 'skillful' special, but a friend-like special. The feeling you have when you're with someone you know you can trust with your life, someone you can confide in. Pyrrha blushed at the thought.

"I saw a little ray of light come through.

The tiniest of sparks came into view.

And then, you made me hope again."

As the music picked, so did she.

*BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG*

*SWISH, SLASH, SWISH, SWISH, SWICH*

*POP, POP, POP, POP, POP*

*RELOAD*

*BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG*

*CHICK*

"Grenade out!"

*PLOP* *BOOM*

With her L129A1, knife, and pistol, she killed eight cysts, three slashers, three clots, a bloat, two stalkers, five crawlers, another three gorefasts/fiends, an unlucky husk, one elite crawlers, and a mighty Fleshpound. With Rye's help of course.

But funnily enough, she was dancing as well. No, it wasn't like how the Schnee sisters were looking like they were dancing. Pyrrha was legitimately dancing. There was a sway to her hips as if she was humming along, her arms flowed with her knife, and her jump kicks like Broadway-like. It looked like someone dancing while doing their chores, but instead of cleaning, Pyrrha was killing zeds, while having fun of course.

Rye laughed as he shook his head, he envied how much fun Pyrrha was having. He did take the task of killing zeds seriously, but seeing Pyrrha be like this, confident in their abilities, it was quite a sight. He certainly enjoyed seeing her smile and have fun, but there was one thing he noticed. He has never seen her smile this widely and brightly before.

"I've been watching you, helping you, wishing that you'd see.

That the girl you've been waiting so long for could be me."

Pyrrha blushed, remembering her many attempts to get Jaune to recognize her as more than a friend. It did break her heart that he pinned for a certain heiress, during the time. But that all changed after the dance, that he seemed to actually notice her more. It all accumulated to that moment she regretted the most, besides her own death. That talk with Jaune, about her destiny. But before that happened, when she leaned onto Jaune, she mentally fangirled. All that work, helping him, watching him, being by his side, was all being fruitful. It all lead to that sweet, yet short moment.

"Now - I've never been in love, but I think this is it;

It might seem like a school girl crush.

But I have to admit, I wanna take a chance and make you see.

I think that you're the one who'll rescue me.

This time, you're finally gonna see you should be mine."

*BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG*

Concentrated gun fire made a headless Scrake topple to the floor like it wasn't even that much of a threat, thanks to Rye and Pyrrha. The champion started to sweep the floor with Zed blood, it looked like they weren't even a challenge anymore. Like she was playing a video game on easy. But to everyone else, she looked just as skillful and precise, as she did back on Remnant. For RWBY, when they caught a glimpse of Pyrrha, they couldn't help but be impressed and happy. Happy that the Pyrrha they knew was coming back to them.

As for the champion, she cringed at the lyrics. She sounded guide possessive over Jaune. But she did have to admit, after seeing Jaune in volume 4 and past, her feelings for him had only gotten stronger. She knew who he was during the first few months of school with him. After spending that much time, she did start to develop feelings for him. At first, it really was like a schoolgirl crush, but the more she was with him, the more she learnt about him, her feelings grew exponentially. Some part of her knew, that he really was the one, it was almost like a miracle for her. Her first true friend she made, who saw her for her, could really possibly be her one and only true love.

That or she was reading too many fanfictions. But she did know her feelings for him are pure.

"But baby, it's time to make up your mind.

I think that tonight is when our stars align.

Honey, it's time to leave the doubt behind.

Take my hand 'cause you and I are gonna shine."

"Hey! This is the song from the dance! I just realized that! The song team JNPR danced to, oh my goodness! This is sooooo coooooll!" Ruby practically squealed in excitement. She remembered it vividly, both in experience and watching the show. Seeing Jaune in that dress, watching them dance, and in the show, seeing what led to Jaune's wardrobe change. Ruby was quite curious about how Pyrrha was doing. So she peaked over the railing, and her jaw dropped.

Pyrrha was mimicking the exact dance team JNPR pulled off from the dance. Not even caring about the nearby zeds, as Rye easily took care of them. Once the song reach "….shine." a husk exploded behind Pyrrha, making her final pose, before killing more zeds, look so beautiful, tantalizing, a moment that one should really take a picture of.

As the song continued, the more Pyrrha started to take the swarm down. Then a thought occurred to Rye. It didn't really hit him until he saw it for himself, how far Pyrrha has come in the few short months that he worked with her. She's now part of ZedEx, Howler's personal task force that were made up of the most skilled and experienced mercenaries in the Tripwire Coalition. They were assigned special missions to actually combat Horzine, not just the Zed horde, and Pyrrha was part of them, like himself! Rye couldn't help but feel so proud of Pyrrha, and that he help her along the way as well.

He couldn't help but think, 'this is probably what Pyrrha must've felt when she saw Jaune fight. The pride of helping someone go far.' He smiled at the thought.

"But baby, it's time to make up your mind,

I think that tonight is when our stars align.

Honey, it's now we leave the doubt behind.

Take my hand 'cause you and I are gonna, light the sky until it's dawn and, baby you and I are gonna shine!"

"Woooohooo!" Pyrrha exclaimed out loud. She lifted her rifle up in the air, as she twirled around and danced happily to herself. She looked absolutely adorable.

Rye got caught up in her excitement. "Aw man! That's my girl! You go Pyrrha!" He vaulted over the railing ran over to the cheering champion, his arms open wide for a hug.

Pyrrha turned to face Rye, and she too started to make her way to him. She jumped to his arms, hugging him tight and laughing as well, as Rye twirled them around.

"I love it when you play that song! Thank you Rye! Thank you!" Rye placed her down, yet the two were still hugging.

"No problem kiddo." He took her baseball cap off, and ruffled her hair. He heard what she said and laughed.

"What so funny?" She asked as they separated.

Rye shook his head while scratching the back of his neck. "Just remembered why you love that song so much. It's practically your song, I didn't know when I was calling you Mabel."

They both laughed, remembering the time Rye allowed Pyrrha (at the time, Mabel) to play the song out loud and in a loop. It almost drove him insane.

Rye stared at Pyrrha with proud eyes. He had to say a few things. "You know, I'm really proud of you Pyrrha. You went through so much, came so far, and looking at you now… it brings a tear out, you know?" Rye eyes drifted off to the distance, a smile playing his lips.

Pyrrha playfully punched him on his shoulder. "Aw, don't get soft on me now, you still have a wave to complete down here."

Rye softly chuckled, before placing both his hands on her shoulders. "Hey, I'm being serious here. I'm really proud of you. After all you went though, you're a different person than you were the first time I met you. Much like everyone else behind me, you're better." His soft tone touched Pyrrha's heart. "I'm really happy for you." He softly said, as he brought her into a hug. A hug that Pyrrha's immediately returned. They separated, with a few tears rolling down Rye's cheeks. He laughed. "Damn, now I really do know how you felt when it came to training Jaune."

Pyrrha laughed as well. "Sense of accomplishment?"

Rye titled his head from side-to-side. "Hm, sure, yeah that's part of it. But I'm really just happy. Happy for you."

The champion smiled. "You know, I wouldn't have gotten this far if it wasn't for you. Really, I have all this because of you, and I really appreciate it. There are no words that can explain how thankful I am." Tears started to roll down her cheeks too. "I owe you so muc-"

"No you don't." Rye interrupted, his hand raised to stop her. "You don't own me a thing, I really just want to see you happy. Cause you were dealt a bad hand, and it cost you your life. Seeing you smile is a reward in itself."

"So cheesy, you've been reading some fanfiction too?" Pyrrha giggled.

"Hey, I'm trying to be sincere here."

"I know, I know." Pyrrha laughed, before quickly calming. "I… t-thank you." That was all she could say, she didn't know what else to say.

Rye moved to hug her once more, and Pyrrha returning the gesture.

"Hey Pyrrha?" Rye whispered.

"Hm?"

"This is coming from a fellow and massive Arkos shipper such as yourself, I'm telling you to get you butt back to Remnant, tell the knight you love him, and live a happily ever after, you got that?"

Pyrrha smile could've given life to the dead, her face too adorable, almost matching that of Ruby's puppy face. She separated from the hug, and gave Rye a salute.

"You don't have to tell me twice!"

"Last wave, last song! Save the best for last, so we can end on the best note possible! HOORAH!" Rye yelled out loud, clearly too excited for his own good. Everyone else was leaning on the railing, looking at Rye as he prep himself for the last wave.

"Oh lord…" Blake muttered. "He didn't need to rub in how good he is by being the last person down on the test ground."

"Indeed, it's getting to his head." Winter scoffed.

"Well technically, he is better than all of us. That's how a teacher, student dynamic works, right? He has to be better than us to teach us." Weiss defended Rye. Sure the act was feeding his ego, but much like Pyrrha had her fun, so did Rye.

"Yeah, that makes sense. I just thought he'd be more, I don't know… reserved about it? I'm not too sure." Blake responded.

"He's just excited guys, don't worry." Pyrrha happily chirped.

"Me too! Cause we'll be a team after this! A Zed slayin' team!" Ruby squealed. The council will treat them more seriously now.

"Heck yeah! That's the spirit Rye!" Yang yelled out to Rye.

"Whoop, whoop!" Rye raised his arms in the air.

Yang followed suit. "Whoop, whoop!"

"Oh dear…" Weiss face palmed.

"Oh! P-money, I wanna ask, what's Rye's song?" Yang turned to the champion.

"Oh, you'll hear it soon. It's the same song I heard when I first met him." Pyrrha remembered, hearing the song and fighting from a distance.

"Wait… you mean that lullabies he sang to you? 'You'll be in my heart'?" Ruby asked, confused in why that would be his song.

Pyrrha shook her head. "Nonono! Not that one, that wouldn't even fit!"

"But you said…"

"I meant a song before that. When I heard the fighting from a distance, it's that song I woke up to." Pyrrha clarified the confused rose, who only 'ohh'd' and nodded.

"Last wave before the boss, you were all very excellent! Très bien! One more wave, and one more boss fight, and you'll be the youngest mercenary team in the Coalition. Se battre bien les filles!"

"Alright ladies, let's do this! Remember Winter, you're over watch, I'll cover you!" Pyrrha ordered the team.

"Understood." Winter took position, her SCAR aiming down to Rye, her rifle set to semi-automatic.

"Ready up people! Rye you ready!?" Pyrrha look down on Rye.

"Hell yeah!"

"Good! Let's fight!" With that, Pyrrha tapped on the tablet that Rye gave her, and the music started playing.

The music started with six simple notes, then the guitar kicked in. The music was loud, rock and roll, Winter looked at Rye, to see him head banging along with the music.

"Okay… this is different from our songs for sure." Winter commented, mostly to herself. But behind her, Pyrrha agreed.

"Yeah, unlike us, where our songs were meant for us, Rye just picked a song he loves to listen to while killing zeds." Winter slightly turned to Pyrrha, as she heard her. When she did, at the corner of her eye, she saw Yang head banging to the song as well.

"I! I see the weight of hollow death residing in you!

Take now your final breath, exhale the truth!

I see the fear of nothing left, dead fragments of youth.

You hold it in yourself, I feel it too!"

At that, with Rye singing along as well, the fighting begun.

*BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG*

Rye immediately took off. With a fast trigger finger, his HK416 in semi-automatic, he nailed headshot after headshot. Winter at first was struggling to get a clear target. Not that she was bad at her current task as over watch, but simply Rye was too fast, and would kill a Zed before Winter could zero in.

"I mourn your blindness, I die along.

And swallow darkness, in misery is where I belong!"

"RYE! GIVE ME SOMETHING TO SHOOT AT!"

"Gotta be faster Winter!" Rye spent two years in this war, with no breaks. The only time he had to relax were the two day weekends. Most, if not all the time, he'd be in a killing floor, or on a secret mission under Howler's and the Council's orders. It was all part of being ZedEx. So he had a lot of time with Zeds, and knew how to take them down. With his experience, he'd grown into one of the best Zed killers and mercenaries out there. But he did have a penchant for kill stealing. He'd often want to kill a Zed before anyone else does, a lot of times he do it unconsciously and had to remind himself that he had teammates to aid him.

Plus sharing was caring.

"Collapsing in on yourself.

I don't know why I try!"

"I try!" Rye sang along.

"Collapsing in on yourself.

I don't know why you deny!"

*ROAR* *ROAR* *ROAR* *ROAR*

"Quarter Pounds!" Rye yelled out loud, and at that four Quarter Pounds came rushing towards Rye.

"Something to shoot at." Winter muttered to herself as she begun to fire.

*BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG*

*BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG*

"Winter! I got these Quarter Pounds, just focus on the zeds converging on me!" Rye order, with Winter nodding.

With that, Rye took down the Quarter Pounds with a series of headshots, and controlled firing. As the last Quarter Pound fell, at the corner of his eye, he saw a husk preparing to fire. As quick as he could, he caught the fall form of the dead Quarter Pound, and maneuvered himself behind it. The husk fired, and just in time hitting the corpse as Rye got behind it. Seeing the fireball, Winter turned her sights to the husk, and put a bullet into the gas canister. The husk exploded, killing a number of zeds around it.

"I, I know the light is burning dim and dying in you.

I know the pain that lies within, I feel it too!"

Any Zed that got too close, Rye had to rifle but them away, giving him ample room to pull out his side-arm to pop its head. It was almost Call of Duty like, about how pulling out a side-arm was quicker than reloading. As many times as possible, when he would rifle butt or pistol whip, he would always go for the head. Sometimes he would miss, but would intend for the hit to push them back. But when they do hit, with the right angle and correct force, it would obliterate their head. That crunch at impact would always satisfy him.

"I mourn your blindness, I die along!

And swallow darkness, in misery is where I belong!"

"Hey Winter!" Rye called out as he kicked a clot at its thigh. The clot fell face first onto the ground, and with a quick dead space style stomp, he crushed its head.

"Yes!?" Winter responded as she put one last round into a siren's head before she could scream.

"I saw your little stunt with the Fleshpound. I'll admit, that was impressive." Rye angered a Scrake with a series of headshots, and as it approached, he finished it off with the double barrel shotgun blast to the head.

"Um… thank you!?" Winter took out an EDAR bomber, releasing an EMP blast and revealing several stalkers. She took them all down.

"No problem! As a matter of fact!" Rye punched a Zed in the head, obliterating it. "I wanna try it out!"

"Oh Oum…" Winter rolled her eyes. 'Of course he'd want to try it out.' She then finished off a bloat. "Just please be careful!"

Using his G18 in fully automatic, and mowed down a group of cysts, clots and slashers. He snorted. "Ha, I always am."

"Collapsing in on yourself.

I don't know why I try!"

"I try!" Rye was certainly having fun.

"Collapsing in on yourself.

I don't know why you deny!"

*ROAR*

"There's one Winter!" Rye cheered out.

The Specialist shook her head in disbelief. "Of course there's one, and he had to do this right when the guitar solo starts!" She muttered to herself. Behind her, Pyrrha quietly giggled.

"I call this move, the Winter Schnee manoeuvre!"

"I'm honoured…" Her sarcasm is much appreciated.

A Fleshpound came marching towards Rye, it's core still yellow and calm. The squad leader gestured for it to come at him.

"Come on big guy! I've seen dildos bigger than your grinders!" Rye taunted. Winter had to stifle a laugh.

Taking the taunt, the Fleshpound became enraged.

*ROAR* *POUND, POUND, POUND*

Rye positioned himself in front of a pillar. He holstered his rifle, and with his right hand, took out his double barreled shotgun. On his left, he took out a knife as well.

The Fleshpound sprinted towards him, roaring at the same time. His steps thundered and grinders spinning, it looked intimidating. Luckily, Rye managed to dodge the incoming hit by diving under his grinders. The Fleshpound hit the column, slightly dazing it and taking it out of it enraged stated.

Taking this time to act, Rye jumped up as high as he can, onto the back of the Fleshpound. The knife embedding into the shoulder, he pulled himself up to get himself leveled with the head. With his double barreled shotgun, he aimed point blank at the back of its head.

"Just die!"

*BOOM*

Firing both barrels at once, the head of the Fleshpound exploded into a bloody mess. The body still stumbling around, until it started to fall.

Backwards… where Rye was.

"Oh nonononono!" Quickly getting his knife out, Rye jumped out the way before he could become a Rye sandwich.

Sheathing his knife, and dusting off his hands, he looked up to Winter. She had a raised eyebrow and smirk playing on his lips.

Rye shrugged. "See? I'm good."

"Right…" Winter nodded. She gave him a moment before returning to the task at hand.

*BANG, BANG, BANG*

"Collapsing in on yourself!

I don't know why I try!"

"I try!" Even though Rye was singing the entire song, he sang this part especially loud.

"Collapsing in on yourself!

I don't know why you deny!

Collapsing in on yourself!

I don't know why I try!"

"I trrrryyyy!" Especially loud.

"Collapsing in on yourself!

I don't know why you deny!"

As the song ended, the carnage over with, Rye stood over the killing floor. It certainly lived up to its name, there were a lot of Zed corpses scattered around. It really is a nasty sight, seeing so much blood, guts and bodies around. So while many other people would find the image difficult to stomach, to Rye, it showed a job well done.

The rest of the team joined him, he turned to face them.

"Mission's almost done girls, and I've said this to Pyrrha on the last wave, but I do want to say it to all you right now. I'm proud of you all, you certainly proved to me that you can kick butt without relying on your auras. That alone is what I believe is an achievement."

They all smile, happy at what Rye said.

"Now let's hammer the final nail, we got a boss to kill."

The pallet was lowered down, with Team Remnant already gathering around it and taking the necessities needed for this final fight. Ammo, extra equipment, quick maintenance and possible repair. But for Rye, it was a completely new loadout for him to change into.

"JUST LIKE YOU REQUESTED REMNANT 0-1!" The radio came to life.

Rye slaps the top of the box. "Much obliged Leeway!"

Pyrrha notices the container Rye slid out from the pallet. "Is that what I think it is?" She pointed at the container.

"OH, what is it?" Ruby adorably squeaked, looking at the case with curiosity.

Rye gave her a firm nod. "Yup, it is." At that, he went into the Pallet once more to grab a large weapon. An MG3. Ruby was practically drooling at the sight of the machine gun. "Ruby! Those four ammo boxes, can you grab 'em and place that on the container here?" He places the MG3 on top of the container.

"Yeah, here…" Stirred from her thoughts, Ruby takes the ammo boxes, and places them next to the large weapon.

"You do know that it is a two manned system right?" Pyrrha asked, she has seen them at use.

"WHAT IS IT THOUGH!?" Ruby desperately wanted to know.

Rye nodded. "I know, but sadly, you can't be the exterior operator. I need you to lead the squad while I get changed and set it up."

"Wait, then who's going to be the EO?"

Rye gestured to Winter. "Her."

The Specialist pointed to herself. "Me?"

"Why not me!?" Ruby was behind Winter, jumping and flailing her arms around. Weiss and Yang had to drag her back and calm her down.

Ignoring what just happened, Rye nodded to Winter. "Yeah, I need your help right now. This could help us against the Patriarch, tipping the odds to our favour."

"But, what do I have to do?"

"I'll tell you as we get ready. But right now…" Rye moves to the pallet, and grabs a container filled with C4s. "… I need you to lead the squad while Winter and I are out for a moment, okay?" He places down the C4 in front of Pyrrha.

"Okay, I can do that." Pyrrha picks up a block of C4 and looks around the team, trying to find the right person for the job. Her eyes fall to Blake. "Blake, you're agile, you know what to do. Boss tactics, remember?" She tosses the C4 to the Faunus, who nods.

"Okay, you have to distract him for as long as possible then." Blake said, her eyes focused, with a hint of nervousness.

Pyrrha nodded. "Don't worry, you'll get it, and I'll be helping you as well." She looks around RWBY. "You all know what to do, correct?"

"Hit the Patriarch as hard and as fast as possible." Yang said as she cocked her AA-12.

"Maintain a steady distance away from him. Don't get too close or he'll hit us hard, don't get too far or he'll resort to ranged attack. His minigun and rocket launcher to be precise. If he uses those ranged attacks, find cover immediately." Weiss eloquently explained.

"While all of you are keeping him distracted, Pyrrha and I will place as much C4 as we can on his body. If he does escape to heal himself, we can kill him before he gets the chance." Blake clearly explained.

"While all this is happening, use these EMP and cryo grenades to slow him down. That way Blake and Pyrrha will have time to plant the C4s while we have to dish out a lot of damage." Ruby put a final note into the strategy.

"Good job team RWBY. Remember, this is all about distracting the Patriarch, if we get his attention off healing himself, we can pin him down and finish him off without him even healing once. At the same time, control the amount of damage we inflict on him." Pyrrha reminded them, she then looked at Rye and Winter. "We're good here, how about you two?"

"Remember Pyrrha, there's help on the rooftop. He's just waiting for the call to go down the chimney. Don't hesitate to call it in if you really need help." Pyrrha nodded, understanding the reminder. Rye the looked at the large container he hefted out. "I should get ready." He looked at the Specialist. "Come Winter, help me lift this up!"

With that said, Winter and Rye carried the container and gun to a nearby closed store. They shut the door, locking it just in case. Pyrrha and team RWBY gathered up the last of their equipment, and got prepared for the fight ahead.

"Incoming Patriarch Team Remnant! Bonne chance!"

Pyrrha looked down at the tablet she was holding. A finger hovering over the play button, she smiled at the final song Rye picked. Although a bit of a contradiction to what Rye aimed to do when it came to music selection, it's still a good nostalgic piece to end off the mission. There's one thing for sure that'll happen, and that this will be the day Team Remnant will stand victorious! This will be the day that they'll be one step closer to home! This will be the day that they will prove that they be a team! This will be the day a Patriarch dies!

"This will be the day we've waited for." Pyrrha just had to say it.

Then, they all heard it. They all heard, him.

"I'M BACK, AND I GOT SOME NEW TRICKS!"

*ROAR*

"GET READY TEAM REMNANT!" Pyrrha yell out loud, as she pressed the pay button.

The guitar started to play, and as the familiar melody played, it hyped up the members of RWBY.

"OH THIS IS SO COOL!" Ruby exclaimed, too excited that she forgot about a certain boss fight.

"I know right! We're gonna kick ass!" Yang equally exclaimed as she fist pumped.

"Focus you two! We still have a very real threat to take out!" Weiss reminded the sisters, as both Pyrrha and Blake scanned the killing floor for the Patriarch.

With her enhanced senses, Blake saw the approaching blur making its way to them.

"There he is!" Blake called out. But at that moment the Patriarch deactivated his cloak, and roasted his minigun.

"RAHHH!" He yelled at loud.

"TAKE COVER!" Pyrrha ordered, the girls taking cover behind the advert booth. RW_Y took cover behind one booth, Pyrrha and Blake behind the other.

*GGGGGGRRRRRRRTTTTTT*

"YOU KNOW WHAT TO!" Pyrrha yelled out to RW_Y, so she can be heard over the bullets riddling their cover, they nodded to her. The champion looked over to Blake. "Remember! The back!"

"I know!" Blake nodded, raising the bundle of C4 she was carrying.

"Good! TEAM REMNANT, FAN OUT!" Pyrrha order.

"They see you as small and helpless; they see you as just a child.

Surprise when they find out that a warrior will soon run wild."

RW_Y moved out of cover, getting the Patriarch's attention.

*BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG*

*POM, POM, POM, POM, POM, POM*

*BBBBBRRRRRTTTTTTTT*

"Come on you oversized nut sack! Come get us!" Yang taunted the Zed boss.

"SUPERIOR GENETICS ALWAYS TRIUMPH!" The Patriarch said out loud, as he gave chase to the girls running and gunning away.

"Prepare for your greatest moments; prepare for your finest hour.

The dream that you've always dreamed is suddenly about to flower."

At that moment, Blake and Pyrrha chose to strike, as they moved out of cover to chase the retreating form of the Patriarch. Catching up to the monster, both Blake and Pyrrha tossed their blocks of C4 onto the back of the Patriarch.

The Patriarch felt something attach to his back, then turned around to face the Faunus and the Champion. "RAHH! SO MANY BULLETS! I SPRAY, YOU PRAY!"

Once again raising his minigun, Blake and Pyrrha heard what he was about to use, and took cover behind the booth again.

*GGGGGGRRRRRRRTTTTTT*

"We are lightning!

Straying from the thunder, miracles of ancient wonder!"

Ruby saw the predicament Pyrrha and Blake were facing, and turned to her sister and partner. "Come on, we gotta distract him!"

"What do we do Ruby?" Weiss asked.

Ruby looked at the scene again, and formulated a plan. She looked back at them, first turning to her sister. "Yang, you dish out as much damage as possible! Not too much remember! Just enough to gets its attention, but not enough to make him flee."

"You got it Rubes!" Yang gave her a firm nod.

"Weiss, you and I target it weak spots. I'll throw some cryogenic grenades to slow it down once we get it's attention. That way Pyrrha and Blake could attach more C4!"

Weiss understood. "You lead the way Ruby!"

With that, the three ran for the Patriarch, and started to fire. Yang putting rounds in, with Ruby and Weiss targeting joints and mechanical parts.

"This will be the day we've waited for!

This will be the day we open up the door!

I don't wanna hear your absolution; hope you're ready for a revolution!

Welcome to a world of new solutions!

Welcome to a world of bloody evolution!

In time, your heart will open minds, a story will be told, and victory is in a simple soul!"

*POM, POM, POM, POM, POM*

*BANG, BANG, BANG*

*BBBBBRRRRRTTTTTTTT*

But no matter what they did, it kept firing on Pyrrha and Blake.

"Come on, come on! We're over here!" Weiss yelled out in frustration, trying to get the Patriarch's attention.

"Hey come on! Turn around! There're three cute chicks finally giving you attention! Must be a first!" Yang taunted once more.

It was at that moment, the Patriarch activated his cloak, and moved towards the pinned down duos. Ruby yelled out to Pyrrha and Blake!

"WATCH IT! HE'S CLOAK AND COMING FOR YOU!"

Upon hearing, they made a move to evade but the Patriarch uncloaked next to them and swung it's minigun. Luckily the agile warriors were quicker, and moved out of the way. They begun to run towards the rest of team RWBY, with Ruby herself arming some cryogenic grenades.

Cloaked once more, the boss chased after the two. Although it was cloak, one could easily see the two floating C4 blocks on his back. Using that as a way to find out where he is, Ruby threw her grenades.

*POOF* *POOF* *POOF*

The grenades exploded, and a short window opened up for Pyrrha and Blake. They quickly made their way behind the frozen Patriarch to attach two more C4 blocks, before retreating the quickly thawing boss. It was at this moment, they found their rhythm.

"Your world needs a great defender.

Your world's in the way of harm.

You want a romantic life; a fairytale that's full of charm."

They found a rhythm, distract, grenades, freeze, attach, retreat, and repeat. The scene, loud, almost chaotic yet everyone was in sync, knowing when to strike, when to retreat and take cover.

*POM, POM, POM, POM, POM, POM*

*BANG, BANG, BANG*

*BBBBBRRRRRTTTTTTTT*

"YOU'RE DRIVING ME BALLISTIC!"

*BOOM, BOOM*

*POOF, POOF*

"Lets move Pyrrha!"

*Attach* *Attach*

"GOGOGOGOGOGO!"

"RAAHHH! YOU'RE STARTING TO PISS ME OFF!"

"Beware that the light is fading; beware if the dark returns.

This world's unforgiving, even brilliant lights will cease to burn!"

After performing this rhythm, along with the tactic Rye called 'control damaging,' they managed to attach eight C4 blocks. Blake couldn't help but ask Pyrrha something, as they were going in for another set.

"Does he even feel those charges on his back!?"

"Sometimes he does. But most of the time, he's too stupid or preoccupied to even notice!" Pyrrha quickly answered.

"Huh really? So much for superior genetics." Blake commented, with Pyrrha snorting at the response.

They were going to move, but the Patriarch noticed them.

"EVERYTHING IS SO SIMPLE, WHEN YOU HAVE A ROCKET LAUNCHER FIR AN ARM!"

"BLAKE ABORT, RUN!"

The duo started running the other way, finding cover.

*BOOM*

The explosion didn't hit them, but it did impact near them, disorientating them. Especially Blake.

"Blake! You okay!?" As quick as she could at the moment, Pyrrha went to Blake's side.

"ARGH! My ears!" She covered her cat ears through the bow.

Luckily, the Patriarch's attention shifted to RW_Y, with Rye or Winter still not here yet. So using the breathing room, Pyrrha looked over Blake, but finding just a few scratches and bruises.

"You'll be alright Blake! Just hold still." Pyrrha dragged Blake to a small restaurant. Dragging her behind the counter to relax for a moment or two. "Stay here and relax, if any zeds appear, call out to me and fend them off. Okay Blake?" Blake wordlessly nodded, still dazed from the explosion. Pyrrha reach over to her radio. "Rye! Where are you!? Blake's disorientated, she won't be able to fight for awhile."

"Just hold on Pyrrha, we're almost done! Just get Blake to secure position." Rye responded back over the radio.

"Already done." Pyrrha said, as she looked over Blake once more with concern. Blake just gave her a confident smile, reassuring the champion that she'll be okay.

Pyrrha gave her a firm nod, before leaving to fight the Patriarch.

"Legends scatter.

Day and night will sever.

Hope and peace are lost forever."

"Pyrrha! We're good! All members of Team Remnant, focus fire on the Patriarch while Pyrrha plants as many C4 she can. Let's this!" Rye radioed to all of team Remnant.

Ruby wanted to know what Rye had planned. With a big gun, and references to wearing something, she could practically shake on the spot. If it wasn't for the fact that she had to focus her attention on the stupid boss.

Ruby spares a quick glance at the direction Rye ran off to, and her jaw dropped.

She didn't even recognized Rye at first, she just saw a heavily armour individual wielding the same gun Rye ran off with. Behind the walking fortress was the Schnee Specialist herself, with one arm on the back of the armour, the other on her SCAR. She could even fainted at the sight of something so beautiful.. something so… well armed.

Pyrrha also noticed Rye's arrival, with him wearing a HBA, a heavy ballistic armour. The personnel in the Tripwire Coalition called them juggernauts. Juggernauts were used to fight heavier zeds, especially bosses. The user can easily survive a hit from a Fleshpound, and multiple rounds from a Patriarch. The armour also worked as an exo-suit, letting the user carry heavier weapons. But like mentioned earlier, they come with another person, the exterior operator, Winter in this case. They had to make sure everything outside the suit was running properly; the bullet feed, correctly padded areas, and so on. Luckily the armour also work as a shield for the exterior operator, when taking fire the EO would take cover behind the juggernaut.

Yang and Weiss noticed, all getting wide-eyed at it.

"Whoa…" They both said in unison.

"This will be the day we've waited for.

We are lightning.

Welcome to a world of new solutions."

The music died down, it was calming, only the riff of a guitar being heard. It looked like there was only the Patriarch, and Rye, with Winter of course.

"HEY SCROTUM FACE! FIGHT SOMEOME YOUR OWN SIZE!" Rye taunted the boss, with Yang laughing and Ruby putting a hand over her mouth.

"Seriously Rye!?" Winter questioned. But it seemed to get the Patriarch's attention.

"WHY DON'T WE SKIP TO THE END!? WHEN YOU'RE DEAD!" At that, the Patriarch used it minigun on Rye.

"WINTER TAKE COVER!"

"This will be the day we've waited for!

This will be the day we open up the door!

I don't wanna hear your absolution; hope you're ready for a revolution!

Welcome to a world of new solutions!

Welcome to a world of bloody evolution!"

As the music once again picked up, so did the fight.

*GGGGGGRRRRRRRTTTTTT*

Winter took cover behind Rye, holding on the grip handle behind the armour tightly. It was at this time, Rye fired back with the MG3.

*BBBBBRRRRRTTTTTTTT*

Two titans, neither one flinching or moving, as they were simply shooting each other. It was at this time, Pyrrha choose to move in, and plant the remaining C4 she had on the Patriarch's back. Once complete, as if on time, the Patriarch grew worried.

"ARGH! THIS ISN'T FAIR!"

"In time, your heart will open minds,

A story will be told…"

The Patriarch cloaked, and started to run away. It looked like ten floating C4s were attempting to flee.

It was now or never!

"PYRRHA! HIT IT!"

"and victory is in a simple soul!"

*CLICK*

*BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM*

The Patriarch exploded, blood, guts and gore flew in every single direction. The front side of Rye's armour was completely soaked and red. Rye's visor was completely red, he couldn't see anything. Luckily the Schnee behind him was spared of the mess. The rest of RW_Y and Pyrrha took cover as the explosion went off, saving themselves from the mess as well.

The entire mall ground was red, with body parts and piece of flesh here, there, and quite frankly everywhere.

Rye certainly felt bad for the cleaning crew too, who were responsible for repairing killing floors after every mission.

"Well… that ended with a Yang."

Yang snorted, and started laughing. "I like this chick, can we keep her?"

"Attention à tous les survivants avec le voisinage. L'essaim avoisinant a été éliminé et des mercenaires amicaux sont là pour aider. S'il vous plaît suivez le son de cet enregistrement à la DEZ à proximité, et être sauvé. Cette émission continuera pendant une heure jusqu'au départ.

"Attention to all survivors within the vicinity. The nearby swarm has been eliminated, and friendly mercenaries are here to assist. Please follow the sound of this recording to the nearby DEZ, to be rescued. This broadcast will continue for an hour until departure."

Rye was out of the suit, and back in his regular attire. He just finished returning the suit into the container that he first got it out from, sorting out the pieces to its correct slot so the box closed properly. He sighed to himself, and looked at the killing floor now. He was in of the ground level, right beside the fountain. There were a lot of bodies, a lot of dead zeds, and a freakishly huge Zed that they all agreed, Blake killed.

Closing the container, he sat on top of it, thinking about what just had happen. What concluded just ten minutes ago. All the blood shed, the music, the various reactions of his team, it was sort of tiring to the mercenary. Yet, it felt worth all the hassle. He knew his team is now a certified Zed killing merc squad, and that they would strive to finding a way home, while helping anyone along the way. Rye is excited for the future, working with the titular characters from the show. The nerd in him was beyond enthusiastic about the realization, actually talking to Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang, Pyrrha and Winter. Sure he had plenty of time with Pyrrha, but at the time he didn't know she was actually the red haired champion the supposedly died at Beacon.

Then it hit him, that technically, all this that was happening right now, was cannon. That Pyrrha was actually alive, and that somehow, he was part of it. Rye smiled and laughed to himself, it was so surreal for him. He felt like he was in a dream, a dream that he didn't want to wake up from.

"What are you laughing at boss?" Rye looked over to the makeshift ramp that led to the floor above. A part of it, to the left of the bar, collapsed, allowing another way up. Yang was currently posted there, waiting to see if any survivors would stumble upon the killing floor. While she was there, Blake was posted at the underground parking, Ruby and Weiss at other ends of the mall, with Pyrrha and Winter on the second floor to watch if anyone would come from the third floor.

Rye shrugged. "Just realizing the reality of all this. Especially you girls."

Yang giggled. "Well, believe that we're here. So if you want an autograph, all you have to do is ask."

Rye scoffed. "Knowing you, I'd still have to pay for an autograph."

She smirked. "Hm, I wasn't even thinking about it, but now that you mentioned it, sounds like a good idea."

"Ha… too bad we have to keep your presence a secret though. You know, government secrecy and what not."

"Yeah… kinda sucks, but I understand, I think." Then a question popped into her head. "Heh, how star struck were you when you saw us?

Rye scratched the back of his head. "Hell, I'm still star struck."

"Hmm… well with that in mind, remind me to double the price if you ever ask for an autograph."

Rye chuckled. "Then I won't remind you." They both laughed.

Once they calmed, the squad leader looked around, then remembering something that he had to do. He turned to the brawler.

"Hey Yang, I'm gonna check on the others, alright?"

"Sounds good, see you in a bit."

With that, Rye got up from the container, and headed to the direction where Weiss was at. He remembered that he had to talk to her about Winter. If he can even talk about her in the first place, he felt like the subject matter was rather sensitive.

Upon approaching the former heiress, he found her sitting on the ramp that led into the mall, her back to him. She was staring at the mangled, burning mess of the Eiffel Tower. The fire hasn't gone out in what've felt like an eternity.

"Hey Weiss." Rye caught the heiress' attention. She turned to face him.

"Hey Rye." She casually remark. She's now a much different girl than she was back at the first volume.

"Mind if I stay and talk to you for a bit?" He asked.

"I don't mind, I could use the company."

Rye stood behind Weiss, as the heiress still sat on the ramp, and was still looking at the burning tower. She had a look of empathy, sympathy, and a bit of horror. He had to ask.

"What's on your mind?"

Weiss gestured the burning Eiffel Tower. "That." She simple said.

"What about it?" Rye further inquired.

Weiss remain silent for a awhile, before elaborating. "I could tell, that structure in the distance, use be some sort of monument. Like the symbol of this kingdo- ah, umm… I mean country, besides a flag of course."

Rye nodded, as he too started to stare at the Eiffel Tower. "Yeah. Big tourist attraction, people would take their wedding photos with it present in the background. Its that iconic, I guess…" Rye looked back at Weiss, who continued to stare at the tower with sorrow. "There's more to this, for you, isn't there?"

Weiss can only wordlessly nod. It took awhile before she spoke again. "Yeah. First, umm… well… one thing's for sure, I wonder what it looked like before this war. Must've looked so beautiful."

Rye once again looked at the Eiffel Tower. Although he had seen it many times, he had to admit, seeing it destroyed like this was pretty demoralizing. He'd seen it destroyed many times in fiction, but nothing can beat seeing it in real life.

"Yeah, it certainly was." Rye then glanced over to Weiss, who was still looking at the tower. "You said first, you must have had more thoughts, other then wondering how it looked pre-war."

Weiss nodded, then looked at Rye. He could see the fear in her eyes. "Its just… this whole war, the more I think about it, the more scarier it actually is." She glanced back at the tower, before looking at the floor, lost in her own thought. "Think of it this way, you see a famous landmark that you've seen so many times, that you get used to it. Then something like this happens, and you see that landmark, that place that you've passed so many times, that you never really appreciated. But that place, that landmark, it's damaged… destroyed, unrecognizable."

She looks at him. "In Atlas, I don't know if they'll reveal it in the show, but Atlas has a massive floating landmass where a lot of the more wealthy individuals live." She pauses, shuddering before continuing. "You can say, the landmark is that floating landmass. But the worse image I can think about is that rock… on the ground." She whispers the last part, clearly terrified at the mere thought of it.

"Its on the ground, cracked open… buildings are burning and my home in ruins." It looks like the thought of it was too much to comprehend for the poor girl. Rye moves in to comfort her.

"Weiss?"

"But thing is, I know that it's actually okay, that everything is fine right now. That the thought is merely just hypothetical. But…" She turned away, looking at the tower once more. "The people who lived here, they thought so too. They thought they had stable, happy lives. They walk pass that tower, take the sight for granted cause they've seen it so many times and now, look at this city." She looked at Rye again. "This isn't hypothetical for the people who lived here, it's reality." Her voice trembled at the last three words.

Rye understood what was going on in her head. The shock of seeing something like this, a regular city, where people had lives and daily routines. Now just an empty shell of its former self. He too took the sight for granted, and much like his earlier thought, seeing it like this, was rather fucked.

"I know what you mean Weiss. I really do." He places a hand on her shoulder. "You want to know something messed up?"

"You want to make me feel better or worse?" She asked, it was a fair question, this whole topic was clearly something that needed time to properly comprehend.

"Yeah… okay, let's not then."

Curiosity got the better of her. "What were you about to say though? I'm already in a horrid mood, why not delve deeper I guess."

"Even after a successful mission like this? You want to feel worse or better, cause what I was going to tell you, it's pretty blunt."

Weiss considered, she certainly didn't want to bring the team's mood down for sure. "Yeah, I guess your right. Maybe another time I guess."

Rye nodded. "Alright, let's move to another topic. This one was pretty heavy."

Weiss snorted. "Yeah, it sort of is." She looked at him. "Was there something you want to talk to me about?"

Rye paused, and questioned whether he was going to go through with this. "Yeah, there is something I do want to talk to you about, although I don't know if it'll appropriate though." Rye nervously said.

Weiss raised an eyebrow. "What exactly do you want to talk about?"

There was a pause, Rye's a bit hesitant to start. He's gone this far, might as well keep going.

"Winter, and what happened during her wave." The squad leader cautiously asked.

"Oh… that… um, yeah I can see why you'd go to me for that." At that moment, Weiss sat back on the ramp, but now looking back at Rye. Her back towards the tower. "Listen, I don't know if I really should be talking to you about this. You should really ask her yourself. I'm maybe her sister, but I respect Winter's privacy."

"That's understandable, and I respect you decision. I'm just trying to find the path of least resistance. If I go to your sister about this, I'll most likely walk away with new bruises." Weiss cringed, that could certainly be the case. "I honestly just want to help, in any way I can. Its natural for someone in my place to worry about those around them. I care for my team."

Weiss was certainly conflicted, maybe he could help, but what does he know about Winter's problem? He could make their stay here as comfortable as they want, all she had to do was explain the situation. But that wouldn't really solve it. In the end, Weiss chose to explain some basics of her sister, nothing too big. Hopefully Rye can help in those small ways.

"Alright, I'll explain the small things you should know about Winter. Nothing too big of course, there's something called privacy. But maybe Winter does need a bit of outside help." Weiss then realized something. "Especially like right now, like we're outside our world."

"Okay, that sounds fair." Rye commented.

"There is one thing I want to make clear here about my sister, alright?!"

"Umm… go ahead."

"On the outside, she maybe one of the coldest, strictest, and emotionally detached person you'll meet…" Ouch, that was certainly a description. "…but once you get to know her, she is the nicest, most caring person you'll ever meet in your life." Weiss' tone was thick with many emotions. The former heiress looked directly in Rye's eyes.

"Winter and I were, and still are, very close. You know how Ruby looks up to Yang? That how I look up to Winter. She inspired me to be a Huntress, to think more independently, for myself. When we were younger, it was us versus the whole world. She'd always be there for me, play with me, accompany me when I was alone and scared. We would do so many things together, play hide and seek, bake whatever we can behind the kitchen staff's back, and we'd sing as well." Weiss laughed to herself. "Did you know that Winter was the reason why I started to sing when I was younger?"

Rye's eye widened at the new development. "Whoa, really?"

Weiss nodded. "Yes, she knew how to sing, and I wanted her to teach me. She did, and those were some of the memories I truly cherish to this day." Weiss smiled, her eyes starting to get watery.

"Wait… Winter can like, sing? Like she knows how to sing like you know how to sing?" Rye asked.

Weiss titled her head from side-to-side. "At first, yes." She pauses, before she starts to elaborate. "When it came to Winter starting her lessons, because she was the heiress at the time, my father found out my talent for singing. But thing is for Winter, is that there was simply no time for some unnecessary lessons, like singing. So my sister didn't learn as much about singing, as I did. So while Winter was studying about her future career of running the company, I had my own tutors, lessons and vocal teachers."

"Wait, how did Winter teach you to sing at first?"

"At first Rye, she taught me the basics because all she knew were the basics. We were young Rye. And while I had more extensive practice with my voice, Winter didn't get much practice. It was when her title of Heiress was taken from her, is when she attempted to go back into singing. While she was in the military, of all places."

"Ah, I see." Rye nodded, letting Weiss continue.

"Oh, um… anyways, it was at this time, our lives truly changed. Gone were the days where we played and had fun, in came the time where our family name took hold of us. Winter and I were trying to seek father's acceptance and love. It came to the point where it started to change us, almost turning us into him. Like how I was in the first volume."

"And that's partially why Winter has her ice queen exterior?" Rye asked.

Weiss glared at Rye. "I prefer the term, iron maiden. But yes, partially the reason why. Being heiress had downsides, one of them was feeling isolated, like no one was truly looking out you. Only looking at the title, or worse, the body." They both shivered. "I would know, I had experience. And in a way, I understand why Pyrrha never really liked her pedestal." Rye nodded.

"You do know iron maidens hurt in the inside." He clarified.

Weiss gave him a sad look. "Exactly." Rye was confused, before Weiss started to explain. "In a way, Winter is hurting in the inside." She sighed, she had to explain this. "Listen, when you're have our name, while living under my father's rule, sure we have a lot of benefits and little downsides, but thing is, those downsides are rather steep. Another one of them were having little to no friends, that's why Winter means so much to me. In a way, she's my first best friend."

She continued. "Another one of those downsides is having our father basically control our lives. As we were trying to change ourselves to seek his love, he was molding us to be what he wanted us to be. With him being a strict man, and the head of the family, his word was pretty final. So when things don't go his way, he does get upset. So when Winter expressed her desire to join the Atlesian military, my father took her inheritance away. I was then the heiress of the company."

But there was one thing Weiss kept out. One thing he learned about, straight from Winter herself.

"So when does this whole arranged marriage thing fit in?" He asked.

Weiss' eyes widened. This topic was exactly what she wanted to avoid. "H-How, did you know about that?"

"Oh, so she did tell you about that." Winter didn't confirm to him that she told Weiss, but she didn't deny it either.

"Wait, Winter already told you about herself? Then why are asking me about it when you know?" Weiss asked.

"Because I didn't know Winter was upset about this problem when she was fighting down there." Rye didn't know how, but the song he played somehow reminded the Specialist about her whole arranged marriage thing, and he felt really bad about it. But there was something else that bothered Rye. Knowing that Jacques Schnee is a businessman, that there had to be something happening here. "Wait Weiss."

"Yes?"

"Is there something else at play here? Winter said she accepted the deal because her other punishment was being disowned. But there has to be something at play here, he wouldn't just disown his daughter like that."

Weiss raised an eyebrow. "Is that what she told you? Well, she isn't wrong, but she clearly didn't tell you everything." Weiss stood up from her seat. "Well, if she didn't tell you that, then I certainly won't. I'm not going to tell you something that Winter should tell you herself. Maybe you can help her out."

Rye looked confused. "How about you? Doesn't she tell you about this, asks you for help?"

Weiss sadly shook her head. "She may tell you what her problem is, but she won't ask for help. Doesn't want to burden people. Saying it out loud, it sounds like Blake talking. No offence to her."

Rye was thinking, how does he get Winter to open up to him? He titled his head down to scratch a itch behind his neck, but then noticed something. There was a pool of blood below them, coming from a dead cyst. Thing is, he noticed the reflection, a reflection of the floor above them. Over the railing, he saw a figure, a figure that looked a lot like a certain Specialist they were talking about.

As quick as he could, he turned his head to look up. He saw Winter for a split second, she panicked and then disappeared from sight. Weiss also noticed Winter's presence.

Rye grimace, while hissing through his teeth. "I have a bad feeling I'm getting that Winter Schnee beat down that I mentioned earlier "

Weiss was a more optimistic. "Well, the fact that she didn't vault over the risking to do so, means you're in the clear." Rye sighed in relief. "With that being said Rye, if you're this adamant in helping my sister, I think you should talk to her. She could use a friend, someone who isn't me." Weiss smiled at Rye, encouraging him.

Rye smiled back at the former heiress. "I'll certainly try Weiss. But there are the other girls she can be closer with, doesn't have to be me."

Weiss continued to smile. "Yet you're the one who's pressing this issue. An issue that needs to be known and solved. Thank you for trying to help her, I appreciate it."

Rye only nodded to the former heiress.

As if on cue.

"Times up people, time to bring you all home."

Note: Very long chapter to compensate for being missing for awhile. Don't worry, there is still a lot to come!

If you find any spell errors, or grammatical mistakes, I deeply apologize. I usually read these things twice before I post it. But I only read it once because I really want to send this out as quick as possible. So I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Till next time, peace!