RWBY: The Redeemer

Beta-read by Starlight's Poet

Prologue

Legends - stories scattered through time. Mankind has grown quite fond of recounting the exploits of heroes and villains, forgetting so easily that we are remnants, byproducts, of a forgotten past.

Man, was born from dust, strong, wise, and resourceful; but he was born into an unforgiving world. An inevitable darkness - Creatures of Destruction - the Creatures of Grimm - set their sights on man and all of his creations. These forces clashed, and it seemed the darkness was intent to bring back the man's brief existence to the void.

However, even the smallest spark was enough to ignite a change; and in time, man's passion, resourcefulness, and ingenuity led them to the tools that would help them to even the odds - the power was appropriately named 'Dust'.

Wrath of Nature in hand, men lit their way through darkness, and in shadow's absence came strength, civilization, and most importantly, LIFE. But even the most brilliant light will eventually flicker and die…. And when the light dies, darkness will return.

So go ahead - prepare your guardians, build your monuments to a so-called 'free world'. But take heed, there will be no victory in strength.

A roar echoed through the air of dark night tainted with the scent of dust, grime and blood; coming from a massive horde of black creatures - illuminated by the light of (partially) shattered moon. The creatures assumed various forms, some of them resembling birds, mammals, primates, reptiles, even other beasts that people only found in fairytales. All of these monsters were covered in black fur, complete with bone-like protrusions with red and yellow linings that served as some kind of armour.

A group of 8 people was assembled before the horde. However, all of their appearances showed that they had seen better days, as they stood their ground before their enemies - who were growling, gnashing, looking at them with hunger and malice in their glowing eyes.

The rear of the group was consisted of four people supporting each other on their feet - and they were in bad state.

One was a man with slanted, dark-green eyes and bright, orange hair with long bangs covering his right eye, and his face was covered in light scratches. He was clad in red-lined black suit with long white pants and matching shoes. His appearance would have looked rather flashy and immaculate if it were not for soot covering his white pants; he was also clearly, barely holding himself up from his laboured breathing and sweat running on his face. His right arm was holding a cane that supported him, while his left arm hefted another person.

That another person was a young man with short blonde hair, with two small strands sticking out on top of his head - which was also trickling blood that flowed down to the bridge of his nose. His eyes were bluish lilac, and his attire consisted of cargo pants with dark brown belt, black shoes, an orange bandana on his left arm, and a brown leather vest over a tan dress shirt with the right sleeve cut-off. He was also sporting a metal spaulder, leather vambrace, and brown fingerless glove - all of them were equipped on his right arm. The lack of weapons on his person hinted the possibility of the man being a bare-handed combatant.

The next pair was a man supporting a woman to stand up. The man - covered in dust and soot - possessed a black, spiky hair and a pair of dull red eyes. His attire was a grey dress shirt with a long tail, black dress pants, and matching shoes. A red, tattered cloak - shorter than the man at vanguard, was also attached on his back. While hefting the woman next to him, his free arm was holding a large scythe that he used to support himself.

Lastly, the young woman was holding down the pain that came from his bleeding waist. She possessed a fair skin and black raven hair that was let loose to her back with a cowlick sticking out a the top; wore a shallow-cut red and black dress, five necklaces with an assortment of beads, a red girdle belt, and a pair of matching gauntlets. On her hip was a sheathed sword - with the scabbard containing a rotary chamber filled with colourful substance. The woman was clearly beyond exhausted, as she was barely awake with her eyes dropping, struggling to remain conscious. Her fluttering eyelids revealed a pair of red eyes, not unlike the man supporting her, gazing upon the vanguard of the whole group.

The vanguard of the group was another four people in better state - the one at the rear was a young man with tall - kind of lanky build and green hair. He was clad in dark brown leather coat over khaki buttoned safari shirt - that was stained with dirt, and a pith helmet. His hands were holding what appeared to be a long metal torch with flame dancing on the tip.

In front of the green-hair, was a man with shorter build, yet his posture showed a certain robustness. His face, however, looked haggard - making him looked kind of older than the rest despite his age being in late teens. His black hair was immaculately gelled and he was wearing a burgundy suit with gold piping and buttons. However, the said suit was ruined with several tears here and there, few buttons missing, and soot that covered the whole attire. He was also pointing a blunderbuss with an axe blade attached to the stock.

The next one was a young woman with fair complexion, shoulder-length black hair with black-to-red gradation, and a pair of silver eyes glaring at the beast. Her attire was covered with a white hooded cloak, while her hands were holding a twin-bladed weapon.

Finally, the spear-tip of the group was a slightly older-looking young man with a similar appearance with the woman behind him, complete with silver eyes as well. The only difference was that his hair was swept back, revealing more of his face. He was also sporting a hooded cloak, but unlike the woman's, the cloak was red in colour and did not completely clasped to cover his attire, which was consisted of a leather pants with shin and knee-guard, along with matching boots, and a sleeveless armour with several round plattings on his torso that revealed his well-toned arms. The said each arms were equipped with a sizeable sword and metal heater shield with black and silver theme, with a silver rose emblem embedded on the middle.

Their day was not supposed to take this kind of turn. It all began when their professions required them to do some joint reconnaissance on foreign land, as well as search & destroy should there be hostiles inbound.

However, just when they were about to conclude their joint-operation, they discovered a massive horde of creatures of grimm moving in a unison towards the nearest human settlement. It took a minute to debate and reach an agreement that the 2 teams of 4 would call for reinforcement from the Kingdom of Vale. However, because the distance needed to be covered, and the grimm creatures were too close for comfort towards a nearby village, everyone agreed to hold the monsters off until their back-up arrived.

And here they were - while each of them was formidable combatant in their own right, the grimm finally overwhelmed the humans with their sheer number that was virtually endless.

"How long until our reinforcement arrives!?" the vanguard - the man in red cloak, shouted at his comrades behind him.

The one with orange hair grimaced as he laid his cane on him so his arm could see his handheld console - scroll. "...ETA 6 minutes!"

The man took in the reply, and he glanced at his fellow vanguards - particularly at the woman with the same silver eyes as his. Silent communication from the trust they had built over the years were exchanged, and they nodded in agreement. "Pops, Summer, with me!" the man looked at the woman and the tall man, whom nodded in return.

"Barty, you and Rome will make sure the rest of the STRQ make it back to safety! The rest of us will buy you some time!" he ordered at the green-haired man.

'Barty' looked unconvinced, but another look from his (presumably) leader made him nodded in affirmative, as they had too little time to argue. 'Barty' then spewed a massive stream of fire from his torch, creating a firewall that kept the monsters at bay, before retreated to the rear group and turned to the man with orange hair. "We heard the man, Rome. Let's move out!"

"Oh, so now he wants us to retreat!" 'Rome' replied with sarcastic tone, which 'Barty' only replied with a pointed look. "...Ugh, fine! Come on, big guy. Man, you sure are heavier than you look!" 'Rome' said as he tugged at the 'Big Guy' to keep up.

"...Well, excuse you, pretty boy!" the 'Big Guy' retorted with a grunt, despite his injured state.

'Barty' only huffed while shaking his head in little amusement, and he alternately followed the withdrawal and keeping an eye at any incoming hostile, his torch - flamethrower at the ready.

'Rome' then turned his head at the remaining pair - the man and woman with black hair and red eyes. "Come on, this way! We gotta go, we'll only get in their way at this rate!"

As the group began to walk however, the woman with raven black hair wheezed out. "Wait… What about them? What are they doing?" her voice sounded weak, but still audible enough to be heard by her comrades.

"You know better than to doubt my and your leader respectively." Roman was the one to reply with confident smirk. "...By the looks of things, they will catch up with us as soon as reinforcement arrives. We all will make this out alive, go home, then you and my boss can be all over each other or whatever again." he finished with a knowing smirk.

The woman only gave a narrowed glare as she reluctantly hefted by the man next to her, who was sporting amused expression. She pursed her lips as she turned her head at the battle, her red eyes lingered at the back of the so-called 'boss' for few seconds, before she reluctantly withdraw.

When the rear group moved, the grimm also took it as their cue to launch their onslaught as well. However, the vanguard beat them to it. "POPS!" the man in red cloak shouted while fierce look and grin on his face. "...FUCKIN' LIGHT 'EM THE FUCK UP!"

The woman - Summer gasped and turned to the 'leader' with mortified look. "Brother! What did I tell you about swearing?!" she shouted back with indignant tone at the man who was apparently her brother - whom only maintained his grin at the scolding.

"Got it!" 'Pops' replied after a short amused laugh as he just finished loading something on his blunderbuss. He pointed the gun upwards, and he fired what it seemed to be a ball of shrapnel - which exploded in the air, unleashing explosive pellets that rained down upon the beasts beyond 'Barty's' firewall.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Massive explosions erupted in the middle of the grimm horde, causing disruption and disorientation among the monsters.

"Now, give 'em hell!"

Using the monster's moment of weakness, the leader shouted and the three vanguard jumped through the firewall, attacking the nearest monsters.

Their seemingly last stand had just begun.

oXo

At one location of the warzone, 'Pops' was using his bladed end and the blunderbuss end alternately, swinging and twirling his weapon with fluid movements of his short frame - decimating his own fair share of the beasts. One beast - one akin to a werewolf tried to flank him and swiped its claws across his back, but while the clothes covering 'Pops' back was shredded, there was no sign of his skin shedding blood whatsoever. 'Pops' then turned at the offending grimm and retaliated with a nasty haymaker that launched the wolf grimm to a distance hurling through its compatriots that unfortunate enough to stand in the way.

Across the warzone, however, grimm were falling down one by one as white blur zig-zagging through them, the twin-blade carving through the black mass to smoke. At one spot, the woman in white cloak - Summer appeared, brandishing her twin blade sword in her arms. She then began to dance, swinging her arms and blade - decimating the grimm into pieces left and right. She finished her onslaught with an overhead strike that cleaved a gorilla-looking grimm in half.

Then, suddenly a hulking bear grimm came from behind her, ready to pounce on her seemingly defenceless back.

ZAP!

However, the grimm found itself pouncing an empty air, and the second it realised that its surprise attack had failed, a blade pierced through its skull - courtesy of the young woman who somehow managed to 'warp' above. Then, when she was about to have a quick moment to breath, she looked up and saw two giant black birds flying towards the direction where the rest of her comrades were retreating. There was not any sign yet of reinforcement arriving - she could not let the two massive flying grimm to reach her teammates. She then closed her eyes in deep concentration, as if trying to tap into some hidden power within her.

In that moment, the grimm around Summer took her silence as an opportunity to strike her down, and several werewolves and bear-looking creatures jumped on her. However, for the woman, times seemed to slow down when she opened her eyes, which was gleaming in silver light, glancing at the surrounding grimm that were still in mid-air, as well as the two air-borne bird-grimm.

It only took a fraction of second, the light in Summer's silver eyes suddenly grew brighter, engulfing the area and nearby grimm surrounding her. The black creatures suddenly vanished into smoke when the light touched them, as if the light was cleansing the taint in the world. Then, the woman shot up towards the nearest, giant bird-grimm in a blur - no, she shot like the white light itself.

The first bird-grimm let out an agonizing caw as a bullet of light pierced through and left a sizeable hole on the centre of its body. As the bird fell down, the white light had blitzed towards the second giant black bird. Summer tightened her grip on her blade, and with her current velocity, she dug her blade deep through the bird's hide, and she pushed forward, cleaving through the giant bird into half.

Not bothering to check her handiwork, Summer kept blitzing around the air as she decided to engage more airborne black monsters.

Back to the ground, the 'leader' just witnessed the feat his (apparently) sister just pulled on the night sky above. After decapitating what appeared to be a bear-like creature, the 'leader' smiled gleefully - feeling that he also needed to step-up his game as well.

He then sheathed his sword into his heater shield. However, when the clicking sound was heard from the weapon conjoined together, the sword handle that was attached to the shield suddenly extended; as for the shield - it rotated 180 degrees before the plating surrounding the silver rose emblem puffed out a small steam, then separated and re-adjusted their positions.

When the whole mechanism had done its job, the man was now sporting a great axe.

The man then ran towards what appeared to be a giant elephant grimm with his great axe in tow, and as soon as he entered the range, he jumped with his great axe raised high. While in mid-air, electric current could be seen running on his torso, to his arms, until the electricity concentrated on the axe-head, before he slammed the weapon upon the beast's head.

BOOM!

An explosion of electric sparks erupted as soon as the hit connected, followed with an electrical aftershock-wave that knocked back the surrounding grimm as well . Despite the elephant's thick boney-mask, the force behind the swing was more than enough to crush the elephant's skull, even caved in the ground beneath. The elephant then evaporated into black smoke, signifying its demise.

Another grimm immediately lunged at the leader's back, but a white blur appeared and the beast's attack was stopped by a nasty stab through torso, all the way to the ground. The large blade keeping the dead creature in place.

The leader turned to address his apparent saviour. "You're still here." he said in joking tone.

"Well, someone has to watch your back." Summer then brandished her weapon and the two warriors began to fight back-to-back, all while talking.

In the midst of the fight, the leader disassembled the great axe into a sword and shield again, then turned to see Summer's silver eyes glowing. "Awakened already? I just finished warming up here." he said with quirked eyebrow and cheeky smile, before he turned to redirect a black werewolf grimm's claws, and quickly threw a lethal stab to another grimm that followed just behind the first one, which he performed several killer combos with his sword at.

"Well, what you're looking at is my way of warming up." Summer replied with smile of her own, all the while separating her twin-bladed into twin swords, and decapitating a pair of grimm at the same time. "Besides, you miss few spots up there..." she pointed at the sky where several aerial grimm were flying. "Gotta cover them for ya." she finished with a wink.

"...You know I can also fly if I want to, don't 'cha?" the leader said as he just bashed a charging grimm off with his shield.

"True, but I'm the faster one." she ran towards her brother, whom quickly understood her intention and bent over - allowing Summer to vault over his back and decimate another grimm.

"Honestly, yours is not exactly flying in my eyes. You're more like blitzing through the sky like an arrow." the leader recovered and began to engage another grimm.

"Meh, scoreboards, bro. Scoreboards." Summer ended their short argument with a wave of her hand, before she shot up to the sky again to engage more airborne grimm.

However, as she just decimated the nth grimm, she failed to react when something else was coming at her fast.

"Aagh!"

The scream made the leader turning his head around, to see something just struck his sister down to the ground. "SUMMER!" he yelled out in dread as the woman's body fell from the sky, leaving a small trail of blood in the air.

"I got you!" Fortunately, 'Pops' happened to be nearby as he quickly caught Summer's body - cushioning her fall. The haggard-looking man breathed out in relief once he confirmed that the woman in his arms was still breathing.

When the leader caught up with them, 'Pops' loaded what appeared to be a red crystal into his blunderbuss, and fired to the air like his first volley. However, when the pellets dispersed, the explosion also ignited a good amount of flame that blazed to keep the grimm at bay like firewall that Barty deployed earlier.

While the grimm was still busy dealing with the firewall before them, the leader quickly took a look at his sister. There was a noticeable tear on her clothes, her shoulder to be precise. Both men saw a small gash on the same spot beneath the torn fabric, leaking a little blood. However, the amount of red stain on the white cloak signified that the wound was supposed to be worse than its current state. The girl herself was barely awake - breathing heavily from extreme exhaustion. To begin with, the vanguard was not exactly in their prime condition when they made their stand.

"Looks like the Awakening managed to heal her enough before deactivating…" the 'leader' summarised with critical eye. He could confirm his theory later - the current problem was what sort of bastard dared and managed to harm Summer.

When the two men turned their heads, their eyes frozen at the new sight - a new grimm towering in front of them.

"By the gods…."

"...The fuck?"

'Pops' and 'leader' were looking at something… abominable, to put it simply. According to history, creatures of grimm were created by god of darkness with one goal in mind - destroying life. The grimm then set their sights on mankind when the god of darkness' brother - god of light created humanity to end the feud between light and darkness. Thus, it was only natural that grimm creatures assumed beast and wild animals that could be found attacking humans in general.

However, if some of species that creatures of grimm took on, could be traced to fairy tales, the towering creature at the back of the horde was more something coming out from horror story.

It was a titanic, ominous looking monster – making it easily looked taller and bigger than the rest of the grimm. It stood on two legs, making it somewhat humanoid, but by no means the creature resembled any human at all. The fur covering its body looked even darker than the rest of the creatures, like an everlasting void. What discerned it from the rest of the grimm beneath it was the fact that, the bony protrusion looked more similar like armour that covered its face, limbs, and torso, with several large spikes adorning its head like a crown. Its rather small mouth was filled with multiple sets of pointy teeth. Its shoulders, wrists and fingers were clad in skeletal armour with red linings, carved with an appearance of multitude snakes' heads with sharp fangs, with the fingers being large claws. Its knee-guards had the appearance of snake skulls. Lastly, a large, spiked tail was hanging on its back.

It released a blood-curling howl, snapping the warriors out their stupor, making them winced at the sheer volume of the sound. The surrounding grimm around the behemoth also howled in unison, as if they were cheering at their King.

The 'leader' of the group looked around between the grimm horde and his compatriots. From his observations, things would go south if he did not make a decision. Summer was unlikely to join the fight anytime soon; 'Pops' might still be able to go on, but he might as well running on fumes soon enough; he was probably in a better condition than the two, but who knew how long he would be able to hold.

He then took a quick look at his scroll – it was still another three minutes before their back-up arrived, but it was a matter of minutes, maybe even seconds before the grimm attacked them again – they believed that they had taken down quite amount of them, but their numbers did not seem to change. In fact, the appearance of the titanic grimm only made the situation worse. At least the creatures had become cautious as they had yet to make their own move - perhaps they gave the humans time to breath out of arrogance instead out of fear.

Lastly, he looked up to the sky. He was not sure how long the whole ordeal had gone on, but he noticed a change in the colour-hue in the sky, as well as the fading light of the shattered moon - dawn is approaching, and there were clouds visible to his eyes. He could work something out.

The 'leader' finally came to a decision. "Peter…" he turned to 'Pops' - Peter. "…Look after Summer and get out of here." He gestured at the down young woman.

Apprehensive look appeared in Peter's eyes. "What about you, then?" He asked a question which he dreaded the answer already.

"I'll stay here and hold the line a bit longer." gone was any light-hearted sign from the leader's eyes.

Now the apprehensive look turned mortified in Peter's wide eyes. "Are you out of your mind!? We can't leave you alone here!"

"Yes, you can." But the leader vehemently replied.

"No, no, no. That's not happening." Peter argued. "Boss, we just need to hold on for another few minutes until reinforcement-!"

"We don't have such luxury!" the leader shot back. "Summer is out for the count, we both know we can't fight and protect her at the same time! Just get the hell out of here and I'll catch up! That's an order!" he finished his sentence with looks that demanded no argument.

Peter winced; both men then looked down to see Summer's hand reached out and grabbed the hem of the leader's red cloak. The woman moaned weakly as her fingers clasped the fabric. "C...laude…" She tried to say something, but could barely spelled out the leader's name - Claude, because she was too tired to even form a word. Her eyes were fluttering between consciousness and unconsciousness.

Claude's eyes softened upon the woman before he took off his cloak and wrapped it around Summer like a blanket. "Just rest up, sis…. Things are gonna be fine." He said in soft and reassuring tone, running his hand gently across Summer's head - lulling her back to sleep, before his eyes hardened and turned to Peter. "…Go, now!"

Peter grimaced – he bit his lower lip with closed eyes, before he stood up with Summer over his shoulders in fireman carry – displaying a feat of strength despite his short height. "...Everyone, especially the two ladies…" Peter glanced down at Summer. "…Are so going to grill you later." The man said with pointed look.

"What's with that line? Nothing like, 'it's been an honour, sir' for your kick-ass boss?" Claude cheekily replied.

"That only happens if I were actually going to stand by your side, which you did not allow. Not to mention, you are not exactly an exemplary leader." Peter merely replied with light shake of his head. "...But good luck, sir. We will be waiting for you." he said with a smile before turning back.

The leader only snorted as he turned around to face the enemy horde. "...Just go."

Peter nodded one last time before he took off. As if sensing that one of their prey was about to get away, the grimm charged again. A large two headed, black and white serpent was the first to shoot towards the retreating Peter.

Then without warning, a massive axe slammed upon the giant snake, the section that connected the two heads and the body. The leader then turned his glare at the horde, his silver eyes began to glow. "...COME AND GET SOME!" he roared while hefting his axe over his shoulder.

The grimm howled in defiance, and both man and monsters charged at each other. The former raised his axe high, and the cloud above flashed to send a lightning bolt on top of the axe, followed with the sound of thunder. The axe crackled with blue sparks of electricity and the man brought down the weapon to the ground.

BOOM!

The mighty impact of the metal and the earth produced what appeared as 'thunder shockwave' that bulldozed a massive amount of grimm, along with the entire ground as well, with a single blow. However, the titanic grimm also possessed its own nasty surprise.

Its limbs seemed to… entangle themselves. What was once a solid mass suddenly morphed into a mass writhing growling snake-like creatures. Each snake possessed blood red eyes and sharp fangs. What was more horrifying was the grimms face; its maws opened to reveal another set of mouths with fangs overlapping each other. Its body haunch over, making its form looked more monstrous than it already was.

The leader only groaned at the grotesque sight. "...Oh, for fuck's sake…"

The titan grimm unleashed another earth-shattering howl - which was followed by by streams of flame-like energy fired, not only from the beats' overlapping maws, but some from the serpet-like heads that made out his limbs as well, destroying the landscape around Claude, not bothering to regard the lesser grimm that were caught in the crossfire.

The man zig-zagged through the onslaught, grunting while shrugging off the sheer heat across his skin, despite avoiding any contact. He knew that he could no longer holding back if he wanted to stand any chance against the abomination before him. He had people he needed to protect behind him.

He charged forward while closing his eyes - at the same time, the clouds above started to gather again and let out flashes of lightning and thunder. He awakened the dormant potential within him, and when he opened his eyes, he roared, causing the nearby grimm around him to vanish from the bright light that flashed from his person.

The lightning and thunder brewed out into a storm as the man shot up to the air, sparks of electricity running around his frame, making his body and silver eyes brimming with unaldurated power, all while the lightning and thunder kept dancing around him.

The abomination directed its full attention at the man flying at him, and both of them - man and monster roared at each other defiantly. The latter bore all of its limbs, claws and fangs while the former prepared his great axe for a decisive battle.

Then a massive lightning struck.

oXo

The group that retreated earlier was in the middle recovery at the edge of some remote village. 'Rome' just finished bandaging the head of the 'big guy', with a tap on the head. "There, good as new."

"You kind of suck at this first aid thing…." the 'big guy' shook his head a bit before smiling. "...But thanks."

"Gee, you're welcome." 'Rome' replied with a light scoff, then he saw 'Barty' was approaching him, the last pair of the injured could be seen behind him, having been patched up and all as well. "How's Tai, Roman?" 'Barty' asked about the 'big guy' - Tai's condition.

"He will live." 'Rome' - Roman simply replied as he stood up and addressed his teammate. "...How are the Branwens?"

Barty glanced behind at the man and woman pair - the Branwens. "You know those siblings are strong. Raven and Qrow will recover sooner than we thought."

"Fair enough; makes me wondering who's gonna get more credits later, the Roses or Branwens..." Roman shrugged when the sound of several engines were heard from the sky.

Everyone looked up to see at least a dozen aircrafts were flying at the direction where they fought the grimm horde. "...Tch, they're late." Roman clicked his tongue at the sight of their supposedly reinforcement.

"By close to one minute, but I suppose that's better than never." Barty added after checking his own scroll.

Then, not long after, the group saw Peter carrying Summer on his shoulder running towards them.

The first who reacted and approached first was the woman with black hair. She used her sword as a crutch to support her weight, followed by the man with black hair, Tai, Roman and Barty.

The first two men who followed the raven-haired woman quickly took Summer off Peter's shoulder and tended to her. "...Where is he?" the raven-haired woman asked Peter after looking around for one missing person. She did not have to elaborate who she was asking about.

Peter's expression soured as he bit his lower lip, before he turned back towards the direction where the fight ensued. From a distance, everyone could see what appeared as lightning storm.

"No…" The woman's face got pale as she mustered herself to walk forward. "...We have to go back!"

"No, you stay here, Raven!" Peter kept the woman - Raven from taking another step. "...We will go back." Without another word, Roman and Barty took by Peter's side.

"He just had to play hero by himself again. The nerve of that guy..." Roman groaned while rolling his eyes. Barty could not help but giggle in agreement.

However, just when the three men turned their heels around, they saw a giant ball of plasma erupted from where the fight took place, followed by the sound of thundering explosion. The plasma exploded, kicking up massive wind and dust to blow all the way towards the location where the group was.

Everyone shielded their eyes from the ensuing bright light and the airborne grime. When they regain their sight, everything was silent.

"CLAUDE!"

Everyone turned to see Summer jolted out from unconsciousness. She quickly stood up and strode towards the rest of the group in seconds, regardless of the other men's attempts to keep her down. "P-Peter, Claude…! My brother-! We gotta help him!" she stumbled in her speech, as her expression was filled with dread.

Raven, Peter, Barty and Roman could only stare at babbling Summer with mixed confusion, before they turned to look at the place where the explosion happened. For more reason than one, they had a very bad feeling about this.

True to their premonition, as the dawn broke, everyone went home while grieving and mourning over the lost of not just a leader, teammate, but also an irreplaceable family member.

oXo

Inside a dimly lit chamber in the middle of nowhere, a visage of a woman in black robe and deathly pallor skin was seen standing in the middle.

She was not doing anything in particular when her body suddenly winced. She collapsed to her knees on the floor. Her body began to shake as she brought her hands to her head.

Few seconds later, she threw her head up, revealing jet-black eyes with red irises, as her mouth was wide open, letting out an anguished scream.

"▂▂▂▃▃▃▄▄▄▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅!"

Many years later…

In a certain location, a battle was taking place - or to be precise, it was about to end; as three people were ganging up on a woman. The said woman possessed a light-brown complexion - with shoulder-length, straight brown hair and a beauty mark below her left eye. She was looking weak, exhausted and in pain - all while being held down by two other people.

The two were a young man and woman. The former possessed a well-built physique and an unkempt grey hair, with his trousers torn revealing two prosthetic metal legs with black boots. The latter was a young woman with medium-brown skin, dark red eyes, and mint-green hair that was tied into a ponytail.

Lastly was another woman standing before the woman in captive; she possessed short, ashen-black hair and a pair of bright amber eyes. She wore a dark-red mini dress with separated sleeves, which was also held up by straps tied around a neck in a bow.

The woman was Cinder Fall - and she was having a good day, judging by her cruel smirk and condescending look upon the woman below her. Her agenda for the day was to seek out and capture a powerful vassal that hosts (literally) thousands years-old force of nature, which represented four seasons: the Seasonal Maidens - Spring, Summer, Autumn/Fall and Winter. In this case, however, the woman she just captured was the embodiment of Autumn - The Fall Maiden.

It had been a fierce, protracted battle when she and her two disciples - Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai ambushed the Fall Maiden in the middle of the road between Kingdom of Vale and Vacuo.

True to the stories and legends, the Fall Maiden was powerful - having the power of nature and elements at her fingertips, she managed to stand her ground despite her odds in numbers.

Then again, there was a reason why Cinder recruited Emerald and Mercury in the first place; combined with her quick-wits, tactics, as well as several tricks and weapons bestowed by her 'master', Cinder and her two disciples managed to subdue the Fall Maiden.

And now, Cinder had to suppress her grin from showing up, because at last, all of that power would be hers. According to what she learned, the power of Seasonal Maiden could be passed on from host to host. However, due to the nature of the succession, it was unlikely for Cinder to succeed the power through conventional means. Thus, she had to improvise - by force.

The Fall Maiden was powerless - she could not muster enough power to break free from her hold, due to the wounds inflicted by a couple of arrows on her back. She could only watch as the woman in red before her - Cinder, put on a white glove with red symbols and markings on the back of the hand.

As Cinder pointed her glove-covered palm at the Fall Maiden's face, a black insect suddenly emerged from the palm, and shot a black substance that latched on the maiden's face - forcing her to let out an agonizing scream.

"AAAAAARGHH!"

Cinder's eyes widened in anticipation as she could feel the power of the Fall Maiden flowed into her. The maiden's body jerked and lashed out at the sheer pain inflicted on her, causing Mercury and Emerald had to tighten their hold to put the captive down. The process went on for couple of minutes as the maiden's scream kept echoing.

However, Cinder suddenly sensed a shift in the atmosphere around her. While maintaining her connection with the Fall Maiden, she took a careful look around. It seemed her other two disciples also noticed the anomaly in the air and began to look around as well.

The first sign they found was the gathering clouds in the air, and that alone was enough to put them on edge. Cinder turned her gaze at the Fall Maiden, and she was still under the effect of her glove. The transferring process had gone for few minutes, so it was unlikely for the maiden to have enough power to pull another one on them. Could it be another Seasonal Maiden was in the area?

If there was another Seasonal Maiden around and she were to interfere, things could get ugly. "Keep her down, I am almost finished." Cinder quickly ordered Mercury and Emerald, whom nodded and focused on the Fall Maiden in their grasp, while Cinder made herself be the look-out.

However, when lightning began to flash and thunder began to growl, things begun to feel wrong for Cinder. If she were to be another person, let alone another Maiden, who wanted to rescue the Fall Maiden, she would let herself known by now. The fact that nobody showed up while the bizarre phenomenon had reached such a stage, told Cinder that she had to wrap things up as soon as possible.

Just a little more…

However, Cinder suddenly shot her gaze upwards when she, along with Mercury and Emerald, saw the air above them suddenly looked distorted, with lightning gathering and dancing around the distorted space. The distortion glowed, and when it flashed out sparks and formed a ball of plasma, the first thing that came from the distortion was a massive axe that fell down right in between Cinder and Fall Maiden, the blade prematurely severed the black substance that connected the two women.

"No!" Cinder yelled out as the glove and black insect on her hand dissolved into nothing. She then glared up at the space distortion - which seemed was about to blow up.

BOOM!

The three offenders had to leap away to avoid damage, while whatever came from that distortion forced the dust and debris to fly around, covering their vision. "Emerald, Mercury, secure the Fall Maiden!" the transferring process had yet to complete, Cinder was not yet the real Fall Maiden. She could not afford to lose her target, not when she was so close to succeed.

The two disciples took heed of the order and were about to act, when another figure suddenly jumped into the fray. It was a middle-aged man with greying black spiky hair, clad in a casual dress-suit with long tails, and wielding a great-sword.

Cinder immediately recognised the newcomer, who was standing protectively over the woman laid on the ground. "Ozpin's lap-dog…" she growled softly under her breath.

Mercury and Emerald quickly tried to blind-sided the newcomer, but the man simply spun his heels around and performed multiple slashes that almost struck both teens - whom quickly realised that the newcomer was clearly no push-over.

As the man glared over them, Emerald quickly used her Semblance - the ability that born from her very soul, to manipulate the interloper's perception. Truthfully speaking, her power was already drained enough during the fight with the Fall Maiden - Emerald could not put anything fancy inside the man's head. However, she at least could still make sure that the man would not recognise their faces.

Seeing the man's narrowed, unfocused red eyes, Cinder knew that Emerald was working her magic. However, for how long? The woman probably only had a minute at best to decide her next course of action.

On one hand, she had yet to complete her mission - the Fall Maiden was still alive, if barely, and she would only take even less than a minute to finish the job.

On the other hand, she could feel the raw power of Fall Maiden coursing through her, as a heart-shaped black tattoo appeared on her back - signifying her status as Pseudo Fall Maiden. Simply put, she had the majority of Maiden's power on her beck and call. In that sense, her mission was completed.

Besides, Mercury and Emerald were unlikely to have enough power and stamina to go for another bout, not against someone on this huntsman's calibre. While she could order them to buy her some time to finish the job, risking and losing her two subordinates so early would harm her future agenda in a long run.

She decided that withdrawing was her best option. She still had yet to know about the space distortion from earlier, but she could find out about it later.

Using her newfound power, Cinder's eyes glowed like flames and she conjured a fiery explosion beneath the huntsman's feet, prompting him to carry the unconscious Fall Maiden and jump out of the harm's way.

BOOM!

That moment of distraction was enough for Cinder, Mercury and Emerald to vanish and make their escapes. Now they could proceed to their next step.

oXo

Qrow Branwen was having a bad day - a graduate of prestigious Beacon Academy for Huntsmen, former member of team STRQ. He had been tasked by the headmaster of Beacon Academy himself to meet up with the Fall Maiden and guide her to Vale, where she would meet the headmaster to discuss a certain matter. Even the Fall Maiden herself went far enough to set another appointment with Qrow to smooth things over.

However, on the night prior appointment day, Qrow had the gall to drown himself in liquor and ended up waking up late on the next day with nasty hangover. To make things worse, his Misfortune just had to act up - he sighted a pack of grimm approaching the village where he was staying, where the fences and walls around the border were not nearly enough to hold them at bay. He was a huntsman, and he could not, in his good conscience, leaving the village to fend for itself. Thus, Qrow had to deal with the immediate threat, delaying his meeting with the Fall Maiden.

The grimm was not much of a challenge, Qrow was glad that it did not take too long to finish them. Still, time was of the essence - not only Fall Maiden, the other Maidens practically had giant target painted on their backs as soon as they became one. Who knew what sort of people that would wish ill towards them.

As if his Misfortune decided to spit him in the face, as Qrow was running as fast as he could through the woods towards the meeting venue, he suddenly saw tornado and storm clouds gathered… right at the location where he was supposed to meet up with the Fall Maiden. Something was happening.

"...Shit!" Qrow sped up his running, and his heart sunk when he heard a woman's scream few minutes later. "No, no, no, no, no!"

To make things even more complicated, Qrow saw a lightning-strike, followed with another huge explosion that kicked the dust and debris to fly around - that was when he arrived at the location and made his entrance.

The first thing he recognised was the unconscious body of the Fall Maiden, then the woman in red who he assumed to be the perpetrator - judging by her get-up. The third thing he registered was the two crooks that were futilely trying to down him from behind, as he brandished his Harbringer and easily forced the two youngsters to back off.

However, when he was about to properly look at his enemy's face, he blinked as the woman in red's face became static in his eyes, preventing him to make out any discerning features of the woman. "A work of a Semblance…? Just what I need." he grimly thought to himself.

Then, he suddenly felt the ground beneath him glowed in fiery colour and he quickly jumped away with Fall Maiden in tow, just in time when an explosion took place. When he recovered from the explosion, the assailants were nowhere to be seen.

Clicking his tongue at his failure, Qrow then looked down at the unconscious Maiden in his arms. The Aura that was supposed to protect her was gone, her face was badly scarred with black marks, and there was only a faint pulse on her. She was dying and required medical treatment as soon as possible.

However, Qrow's eyes caught the sight of something else and he froze on spot. It was a great axe that he would recognise anywhere. The colour, the metal the weapon was made out of, the design… there was only one such weapon and there was only one wielder.

When Qrow decided to close in to get a better look, he found something - someone else laid not far from the weapon, and his eyes widened. For a second, he thought that the alcohol and hangover were still messing with his head.

It was a body of a man lying face-down on the ground. His exposed, well-toned arms were covered in wounds, his clothes and armour were in tatters and had seen better days. While Qrow could not make out of the unconscious man's face, he could recognise that appearance anywhere.

Swallowing a lump, Qrow slowly closed the distance between him and the downed man, and carefully flipped his body over. A breath escaped him when he saw the familiar face - the face of a friend he thought had lost so long ago.

"No way…."

The last thing that Claude remember when he was facing the abominable grimm, was a flash of lightning, followed by images of his life. Feeling his body to be weightless inside what it seemed to be a void, Claude believed he was dead, or at least about to somehow.

He remembered the moment when he and Summer learned about their heritage, as well as the destiny that awaited them. For a while, he loathed the fate where peaceful and normal life was out of his reach forever.

Then, he remembered how his sister - Summer, was able to keep her happy demeanor and lived her life spectacularly, not bothered by her destiny whatsoever. It was actually thanks to her that he was able to live a good one in the end.

Then, he remembered the faces of his friends who he met along the way, his team - CBPR and team STRQ.

Roman was one of the biggest, if not the biggest, assholes - he ever had the pleasure of knowing. But in the end, through thick and thin, Roman was an asshole who Claude was willing to trust his life to, and they both had been watching each other's backs for years.

Barty was, simply put, a historical nerd. There were too many times when Claude just wished the green-head to chill out and not talking anything about history and literature for once in his life. Then again, there were also too many times where Barty's intellect managed to pull the team out of tight situations, and Claude owed him big time.

Peter, a.k.a 'Pops' - was a bit lacking in height department, as well as strangely looking older than his peers despite his young age; not to mention he was a total stuck in the mud when they first met. And boy, it was a riot when he and Roman started on a wrong foot - the latter had the guts to call the former P.P., much to his chagrin. They gradually became closer and went along better after constant prodding from his other peers, and they finally learned that Pops was a closet pervert, much to his chagrin and everyone's amusement. In the end, Pops' attitude in respecting the rules was what that keeping the team in check.

Then, STRQ came into his life, the team where his sister was assigned to.

Qrow Branwen was probably one of the coolest guys Claude ever had the pleasure of knowing. Despite the quirks that came from his Semblance, Claude never regretted the time he spent with the guy - especially when booze, women or alcohol were involved. The man was also a terrific combatant, and during academy hours, Qrow and Claude had developed a sense of rivalry with each other.

Tai Yang Xiao-Long was… kind of cool guy, but in a different sense compared to Qrow. He was always the powerhouse and the happy goof-ball in the team that would always try to brighten the mood; and his reactions whenever Claude and Roman pulled pranks on him were never boring. If only Tai actually knew how to pull off some good puns or jokes, he would have been more popular with girls.

Then there was Raven Branwen. To be honest, Claude always thought that Raven was an opposite of Summer, even kind of a bitch sometimes. Even now, he could not fathom what Tai saw in her that made him infatuated to her for a while. Then again, Claude never met any woman who was as daring as her. To put it simply, through dozens of various awkward (even intense/hostile) moments and interactions shared between each other over their academy years, Claude finally learned about the hidden sides that Raven never showed to anyone else, and those sides were actually what made her so… damn attractive to him. Now, Claude believed that both he and Raven wished that they could be something much more than friends.

Finally, there was Summer Rose. Call him cheesy and all, but before everyone else, his little sister had always been his light in the dark - the sole reason why he could believe that Remnant, the world where they lived in, was not such a bad place and was worth fighting for. Her (over)optimistic attitude tended to make him worry for her, but every time, without fail, Summer always exceeded his expectations in one way or another. Honestly, Claude still believed about the heritage and the ensuing destiny for him and Summer, yet she always pulled him through it all. In fact, if it were not for Summer, Claude would not bother attending Beacon, or becoming a huntsman at all, which led him to be the person he was now.

Claude finally sighed as he reminisced the good ol' days. He wondered how everyone would react when they found his corpse. Would there even any remains of him to begin with? Claude finally felt stupid about himself - his teammates would be pissed beyond belief. Who was going to keep Roman in line? The guy was already a big enough of a problem child. Maybe Barty and Peter could manage, but things would not be the same.

As team STRQ… His junior team by one year. While Summer would definitely be heart-broken; once the rest of the team, especially Raven, got their hands on him, either one of them would probably kill him all over again.

Claude sighed once again, this time with some tears escaping his eyes, when he realized how much he would miss all of them.

However, not long after that, Claude suddenly felt his surroundings getting brighter, and he gradually regained the sense of his body, followed with subtle noises that gradually becoming louder by seconds.

That was when it dawned upon him; he was certainly not dying. He had been actually sleeping like a log, and he was about to wake up.

oXo

When Claude blinked his eyes open, the first thing his mind registered was, that he was lying on a bed inside some kind of infirmary. He slowly woke up into sitting position, turning his neck around to let some bones popping, before he turned to look at the window next to his bed. It was night time, and… strangely enough, Claude never recalled so much light and buildings in Vale, if he was actually in Vale at all. He stared down to find himself clad in hospital gown, and when he looked at his bed - the sheet, the blanket and the mattress looked… so clean that it felt off to him.

He then looked around the room, and he saw that everything in his room - interior, furniture, etc., were looked so different. When his eyes landed on what he assumed as television, he blinked at how thin the device looked.

When he looked around again, his eyes finally noticed that there was someone else sitting on a chair not far from his bed, as well as another person standing next to it. Claude's body instinctively tensed up, only to relax again immediately when he recognised the person on the said chair, while as for the next person - the woman… looked awfully familiar to him, but he was not sure of who it was.

The person was a middle-aged man with tousled silver hair and thin brown eyes, with black eyebrows; his skin had light complexion and his facial features were sharp. He was wearing shaded glass spectacles and a small, purple, cross-shaped pin on the cowl around his neck. His outfit was mainly consisted of an unzipped black suit over a buttoned vest and green shirt, complete with black trouser shoes and long dark-green pants. Both of his hands were holding a white mug with an insignia of Beacon Academy with a steaming drink inside.

The woman standing next to him, however, was in her middle-age and had very light-blonde hair tied back in a bun with a curl hanging down the right side of her face. Her eyes were bright green and she was wearing thin ovular glasses. She had dangling teal earrings that match the hanging pendant on her collar. Her body was clad in a white long-sleeved, pleated top that had a wide keyhole neckline and gauntlet cuffs that flared in pleats at the wrist. Her lower body was covered by a black high-waisted pencil skirt with bronze buttons and black-brown stockings. She was also wearing black boots with bronze heels, and a cape that was purple inside and black on the outside. The cut of the cape was stylized to end in flames and arrows, with a row of diamond-shaped bronze beads on the back.

The same woman was reading something on her handheld tablet before she put it away to look at him with stern, yet somewhat soft gaze.

"...Ozpin." Claude greeted his headmaster. Ever since he laid his eyes upon the man for the first time, he always thought that Ozpin was very shady - it was the reason why Claude never bothered to call him with his proper honorifics. However, over the years he spent watching the headmaster working, Claude concluded that the man was worthy of trust as well as respect.

As for the woman next to Ozpin, Claude only offered a polite nod, which the woman returned with her own subtle nod and stoic expression. Seriously, Claude began to truly believe that he had seen this woman somewhere, but he could not remember when and where.

"...Claude Rose." Ozpin smiled lightly with a nod. "Welcome back to Beacon. It is good to see you again."

"So I'm back to Beacon, after all..." Claude nodded while regarding his room again with amusement in his eyes. "...I gotta say, you renovated the interior so quickly and nicely since the last time I was here..." he then sent questioning glance at the view beyond the window as well. "...Although since when did Vale have this much lights and buildings?"

Ozpin and the woman shared a glance - the latter's gaze had more concern than the former, before addressing Claude again. "Tell me, Mr. Rose…" Ozpin called. "...What date is it today?"

Claude turned his eyes back to the headmaster, he was about to reply, but he paused to put up a thoughtful expression. "Err… Not sure, to be honest. I mean, how long was I asleep again?" he asked with confused look.

Ozpin only breathed out softly before asking again. "Let me rephrase my question, then. What year is it now?"

Claude blinked at the change of tone in Ozpin's voice. He had no idea what was going on, but Claude chose to play along for the time being. "...20XX. What is this about?"

The woman next to Ozpin visibly tensed up. Claude narrowed his eyes slightly at the woman for a second before he turned it back at Ozpin, who took out something like a scroll…? The device was much thinner and smaller than the ones Claude recalled, with a see-through screen just suddenly popped out from two pieces of metal.

"Mr. Rose, please look at the screen and tell me what you think." Ozpin said while showing his scroll's home screen to the younger man.

Claude starred at the older man for few seconds. He had his own questions, but he chose to humour the headmaster one more time and looked carefully at the screen, which was kind of similar with the scroll he was familiar with.

"Well…. I say I'm impressed with the new look. The thing seems more sleek and easier to be carried around, although… " Claude then pointed at the date and time display. "...You probably want to reset the time settings. I mean, the year was way too far off by 20 years."

Both Ozpin and the woman closed their eyes and took a deep breath. Claude frowned at the sight - he did not like where the conversation was going. "...Okay, seriously. Ozpin, what's going on? Who is she, anyway? Why does she look so damn familiar?" Claude asked as he gestured at the woman.

"Mr. Rose…" Ozpin recomposed himself as he addressed his student. "...I first would like you to stay calm for the rest of our conversation. You may ask as many question as you want after we are done with our story."

"...Okay, and I think I'm already calm. So will you please just get out with it?" Claude then narrowed his eyes further, wanting for the man before him to no longer going in circles.

Ozpin nodded as he showed his scroll again. "Firstly, while your comments about the interior is appreciated, I want to let you know that it actually took some time for me to re-decorate the whole interior of my school, and Beacon Academy has undergone renovations for four times."

Claude blinked owlishly at the first information. The whole school of the size of Beacon Academy had been renovated for four times? Where was he when the renovation was happening?

"...Secondly, I assure you that my scroll is up to date and is not suffering any malfunction whatsoever. In other words, the date and time displayed in here is precisely the current date and time we are in at this moment."

The next words came from Ozpin made Claude furrowed his eyebrows. He wanted to retort, but he decided to keep to himself and let Ozpin finish with whatever he had for him. Not that Claude know that what he would learn later would change his life forever, to put it lightly.

"...Thirdly, you actually have met this lady over here, who is also my assistant for 10 years now." Ozpin gestured at the woman next to him. "...I believe you met her for the first time during the 30th Vytal Festival."

At this point, Claude's heart began to quicken as he ended up letting out a word. "...What?" he whispered as his eyes wandered at the woman. He met her? 30th Vytal Festival?

That was when it hit him - Claude swallowed a lump as things finally clicked in his mind. "...Glynda Goodwitch?"

"...Took you long enough, Claude." the woman - Glynda Goodwitch replied with soft breath as she folded her arms on her chest.

Claude was speechless, to say the least. The woman before him was clearly different than the one he last seen. "Gl- Glynda-... You… But you're…." Claude stuttered as he could not process what was in front of him. "...You're old."

Glynda's eyes twitched at the remark, while Ozpin had to take a sip from his mug to suppress a smirk forming on his face due to the mood in the room.

"Moving on." Ozpin spoke up again. "Speaking of Glynda, I believe there is one other person that you should meet. He's also the one who brought you back here in the first place."

As if on cue, the door of the room slid open - Claude noticed that the door was now a sliding door instead of the conventional one, revealing a man with graying black spiky hair.

Claude stared at the newcomer. Again - just like with Glynda, the man looked even more familiar to him. When Claude's jaw dropped slightly while staring at the man, the said man snorted while putting up a small smile. "... What's up, Zapper." he greeted casually.

Claude blinked at the greeting - again, it hit him. The damnable smile, that red eyes, that facial structure, and more importantly - the nickname he just used to greet him; there was only one person he knew who called him 'Zapper'.

"...Qrow?"

"It's good to see you again, Claude. We have a lot of catching up to do." Qrow's smile dimmed as he spoke.

Claude began to sweat, his hands were clutching his bed sheet tightly until his knuckles went white. Things started to fall in place - the foreign sight of Vale outside of Beacon, the drastic change of his surrounding, and most importantly: the appearance of Glynda and Qrow, the people he knew. There was one possible explanation that came to mind, but Claude could not believe it; he refused to believe it. He even waited for a moment while biting his lower lip, hoping everything was just one nasty dream; or for everything was only one nasty prank being pulled on him.

As Claude's mind was in turmoil, the other three occupants of the room suddenly noticed the light inside the room suddenly began to flicker, even the screen on Ozpin's, Qrow's and Glynda's scrolls began to show some statics. Qrow, who happened to be nearest to the door, also noted that the light outside the room - possibly the whole building, was flickering as well.

Glynda gave Ozpin a look, and the latter quickly turned to address his ward. "Claude, please, I told you to stay calm." he said while not leaving his seat.

Claude closed his eyes tightly and took several deep breaths to compose himself. Soon all electricals inside the building returned to normal, much to everyone's relief.

Few minutes had passed - Ozpin, Glynda and Qrow did not say anything, allowing Claude to calmly digest everything that was told to him.

"Ozpin…" Claude finally spoke with another deep breath, as he turned his gaze to him. "...How long have I been sleeping?"

The expression of the other three in the room dampened - things were a lot complicated than that. "Mr. Rose, I'm afraid the question is not how long you've been sleeping…" Ozpin replied, causing Claude's eyes to gradually widen again. "...It's how long you have been missing."

As the conversation unfolded, unknown to everyone else, Glynda's tablet was still displaying the last page that she read when Claude woke up.

Beacon Academy's Team Profile

Team CBPR (Copper):

Claude Rose (Leader), Bartholomew Oobleck, Peter Port, Roman Torchwick.

…Perhaps victory lies within simpler things that you have long forgotten - things that require a smaller, more honest soul.

Then again, in the event where that soul is in a great danger and brink of despair, there is also another soul that vows to protect that one simple soul.

I've been planning this project for some time, and I actually pulled it off! For those who are following my One-Punch DxD, rest assured that the next chapter is on the way. For now, please let me know what you think of this story. Ahsoei, over and out.