Hello everyone! It's been a while, but don't worry because things are gonna pick up from here. Truth is, while I did know where I wanted this story to go, I never really planned each chapter beforehand, so writing it all up by inspiration kind of slowed me down a little bit. Now that I'm planning a little more, I hopefully should take a little less.

Enjoy the Dead Sands! And for those who thought I would kill Terry, nope, that'd be way too unoriginal. I mean, untrained boy who's a burden to the group following them into a dangerous place and getting eaten by monsters? Seen it (more like read it). So no killing Terry via Dead Sands. Pity, but that's life.

As Blake trudged down the hill, she was keenly aware of what she was doing.

The Dead Sands were a place so terrifying that in the past, Menagerie carried out death sentences by dropping people off in the Dead Sands. It was a cruel method, but unfortunately also the only one they could actually employ at the time. Without being an actual kingdom at first, Menagerie hadn't been allowed to carry out death sentences without the direct permission of Mistral, the kingdom they were once registered as a region of.

As time passed, Menagerie became its own Kingdom and the death sentences could be legally performed with either poison injected in the bloodstream, which was painless, or with a military execution via gunshot, which was used for the worst offenders. Even then, they usually had painkillers injected in their veins prior the execution. Dropping people off in the Dead Sands was forgotten and considered not just barbaric but straight-out inhuman.

She remembered that she'd actually been present when her father and the Guard Captain had approved the new law, which forbade any public or private transportation to the Dead Sands. If one wished to go, they would need to go on their own as Menagerie wasn't willing to risk their own people.

Immediately afterwards, she slapped her forehead as realization struck her. "Damn it! I was so busy with everything else that I completely forgot!"

"What?" a tired voice huffed behind her, making her jump slightly. She'd forgotten she wasn't alone.

"Nothing, Wei-" She cut herself off and turned around. The heiress was red-faced and huffing, probably more thanks to the heat than the actual physical strain of walking. Blake's amber eyes flickered up to where her white hood blended in perfectly with her hair. The black-haired girl facepalmed again. "Oh gods, this is a disaster."

"Is there a problem?" Pyrrha asked worriedly. The rest of the group also caught up and looked at her for an answer. She idly noted how Jaune seemed to be still rubbing his chest, and that he had light bags under his eyes, but she filed that information away for later.

"Two… maybe three," sighed the Faunus, shaking her head. How could have she been so stupid and blind? She'd gotten distracted and that was the price they had to pay! "First, I asked for a meeting with Mrs Tasso, the Guard Captain, and yet we left before we could even know if she was free. We should've gone to her for maps and everything else, but I was so caught in my worry that I didn't think about it!"

"We can still go back for it," Jaune pointed out with a shrug. The girls nodded as well, agreeing with his point.

Even Blake nodded. "Normally yes, but that leads us to the second problem – I forgot to dye Weiss's hair."

The girl scowled at the mention of such an act. "Why would you dye my hair?!" she exclaimed, jabbing a finger in her chest.

Blake pushed her hand away. "Because as I said, your hair is very easily recognizable. Without any obvious animal traits, even a white-haired Faunus wouldn't be welcome here. And the Schnee Dust Company the most hated enemy of the White Fang, which means that War Fang and Blood Fang are going to attack you on sight. We were lucky Terry didn't say anything."

The boy puffed out his chest. "Of course, I can keep a secret!" he exclaimed, winking at Weiss, who rolled her eyes with a sound of disgust.

"So either I go back to fetch what we need, or we'll have to get them when we go back," explained Blake, gesturing to the town, currently out of view thanks to the hill behind them.

"Why don't we send the little guy?" offered Yang, jabbing her thumb in the direction of the boy, who jumped at the motion.

"Who, me?" Terry pointed at himself for added clarification. "B-But I don't have any money!"

"You were on that ship, so you must've had some money," Jaune waved him off. He let out a yawn before turning to Blake. "Why don't we send him back, and meanwhile we go ahead? So when we get back, he'll be there with the hair dye. Besides, it's not like Menagerie's desert has many landmarks to see on the maps, it's just a bunch of sand dunes."

"I agree with Jaune, we don't need maps. Even if in Menagerie the Scroll connection is very poor, in that desert it won't help us to have a map. If we get lost there are no landmarks to use to orientate ourselves," Weiss added as well, drawing her hood a little lower on her head, as if fearing someone might see her hair. She was still red from the heat, but her breath had evened out a little bit. "If we send Terry back for some hair dye, we can go into the desert and once we get back, he'll be waiting for us."

Pyrrha stepped closer to Blake, so that they could whisper without being caught. "And besides, this isn't something we can tell him about. The Relics are extremely powerful. There's no need for Terry to be involved."

Eyes widening, Blake nodded. She'd forgotten about that part – mainly because she didn't think Terry would actually have the guts to follow them into the Dead Sands. "Alright, that sounds like a good plan. Terry, would you mind going back and buying some hair dye? You can then wait until we come back, which should be before sundown anyway."

The boy looked around, quivering slightly. She supposed he was really nervous about being in the centre of the attention. "Uh… I don't have any money…"

With the corner of her eyes, Blake saw Jaune staring intently at him. There was a glint, a reflection in his eyes, that almost looked like he was looking at something else entirely. Regardless, she focused her attention on Terry, who was currently being stared down by just about everyone in the group, although she was sure at least Ruby, Yang and Pyrrha didn't mean to be so intimidating. "We can give you some," she offered, taking out her wallet. Fortunately, Lien cards were waterproof and actually pretty hard to damage. They were designed to endure the kind of life a Hunter might have, which meant that anything short of ruining them yourself or falling into acid, they would still be usable even after a trip through the Grimmlands.

"Really?" Terry's eyes widened as he snatched the Lien, counting them quickly. "Fifty Lien for a hair dye? Didn't the mooring cost thirty for twenty-four hours?"

"That's because we docked in a place where only a small boat can fit. Normally, for the inhabitants the docking is free, and it's really unlikely for a foreigner to arrive on a small boat," explained Blake, recalling how it had been her parents who had decided to lower the costs for docking. "There's no point in making them pay a lot if we wouldn't use that space anyway. It's a token price, basically."

Weiss raised an eyebrow, and Blake could guess why. Her parents weren't greedy, so a lot of their decisions were aimed at making people happier, rather than profit, which was probably unheard of for the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company.

"Okay!" Terry nodded quickly, pocketing the money. He grinned at them, but soon it turned into a frown. "Wait… you aren't doing this just so you can get rid of me, right?"

Blake saw Jaune and Weiss roll their eyes in sync. Pyrrha and Yang probably wanted to, but at least they managed to restrain themselves. Ruby was looking at the sky while drawing circles in the dirt with her right boot. The Faunus snorted through her nostril. She agreed wholeheartedly, although she could guess that Jaune and Weiss wanted him gone for much harsher reasons than the rest.

"Of course not, we just really need someone as backup!" Ruby explained peppily, smiling at him. A bead of sweat dropped from her forehead into her eyes, and she broke the façade to furiously wipe her eyes while Yang snickered at her discomfort. "Ahh! It burns!"

This time it was Blake herself who rolled her eyes in sync with Weiss. The black-haired girl picked up from where Ruby had left off. "Terry, we need someone to remain here, to make things easier and safer for when we get back."

"You don't want Weiss-Cream to be attacked just because she's a Schnee, right?" Yang teased with a grin, and was rewarded by a blush appearing on the boy's face.

Blake felt bad for the poor boy. A crush on Weiss was the last thing she'd wish him. Except for maybe a crush on Jaune. Maybe.

With another groan of disgust, Weiss decided to pitch in as well. "It'd be really useful if you did," she swooned in the sweetest voice they'd ever heard her use, each word dripping with honey… and insincerity.

Ruby faked gagging behind her, which prompted Yang, Jaune and, albeit reluctantly, Pyrrha to stifle their chuckles.

But apparently he hadn't picked up on the disdain hidden beneath the surface, because his eyes started to sparkle like stars. The boy went from quivering in nervousness, to shaking in excitement. "Really?! Then I'll do it!" he exclaimed, pounding his chest proudly. "I'll be waiting for you!"

"Now off you go!" Yang prompted him, shoving him lightly towards the hill and, behind it, the town of Kuo Koana.

The boy gave a mock military salute and ran off.

Staring after him, Blake knew he would tire himself out way before reaching the city, but that was fine. They were still pretty close to the town and they weren't in a hurry of seeing him come back.

Turning around, she caught Jaune still staring at the retreating figure of the boy, still with that odd look in his eyes. "What's up?"

The Nightmare just shrugged and turned away, resuming to walk toward the Dead Sands. "Nothing, I guess. I'm just glad he's gone."

Blake narrowed her eyes at him, but let it go. If there was something wrong, then she knew that confronting him about it wouldn't help – Ruby had tried that, and it hadn't ended well.

"Okay then," she said out loud, looking at the white sand in the distance. "Let's go."

/-/

As far as the eye could see, the white glare of the sand cut into their pupils like shards of glass, forcing them to squint almost constantly. The dunes were hard to see, as there was little to no contrast against the rest of the desert. The sunlight and the reflection erased any shadow that might appeared, creating the illusion of a flat expanse of refined salt. There was no wind to cool the heat or to raise the sand, something that only added to its reputation.

The air was silent and just as empty as the desert itself, no sound drifting to their ears and no proof that there could even be life in the barren landscape before their eyes. The only noises they could hear were made by their boots sinking in the sand or their laboured breaths. The stillness of the air was unnatural and it weighted down on their shoulders, almost as if it were a physical entity, hindering their steps.

The heat and the tricky terrain made conversation difficult, as they preferred to use their breath in the vain attempt to cool themselves down. But that was fine by him – even more, he preferred it. The silence and the lifeless land were upsetting and intimidating, but it wasn't hard to ignore the dread that crept into his bones.

Lost in his thoughts, Jaune Arc trudged through the sand, idly following Blake's lead as they walked deeper and deeper into the white desert of Menagerie.

Ruby was near the back, for once silent, and Jaune felt a brief stab of hurt and guilt. He hadn't meant to yell at her, but what was done could never be taken back.

'Besides, she'd hate me if she knew why I got angry…'

His eyes widened as the rogue thought ran through his mind and shook his head. He couldn't afford to think that, especially here. The Grimm would come in swarms, and from what Blake had told him, the Grimm of this particular desert were anything but pleasant.

He cast his eyes around, but the glare of the sand was so bright he doubted he could've seen the Grimm even if any had been nearby. He supposed the fact they hadn't been attacked yet was a good sign, but other than that, they would have to rely on Blake's enhanced hearing since their sight was out of commission.

'Professional Hunters regularly die when they wander in here,' he thought dully, lowering his hood even further to try and shield himself from the sunlight's reflection. He wasn't bothered by it normally, but the sand was a perfect mirror and he didn't fancy losing his sight anytime soon. "Blake."

The girl, just a few steps ahead of him, cast him a curious glance from over her shoulder. "Yes, Jaune?"

"Why do you think Ozpin sent you girls?" he asked bluntly, not really caring if he came off as offensive. It was a legitimate question.

"You mean why do I think Ozpin sent teenagers instead of adults?" she corrected with a wry smile. She slowed down a little so that he could catch up and they could walk side by side. "Honestly, I've had this same thought a while back. We're just children, you notwithstanding. Would didn't he send someone more qualified for this job? Why not someone more skilled? We may be strong for our age, but if we even just consider the guardian of the first Relic, King Mordred, we only defeated him because we had you and your Dusk. More skilled Hunters might've been able to defeat him quicker simply by de-assembling him."

"And have you found the answer?" he questioned. He was slightly surprised by her admission. He'd already known Blake was intelligent and knowledgeable, but he hadn't heard any complaint on her part so he assumed she was a hundred percent behind the whole underage mission thing. The fact she'd questioned it too at least meant he wasn't the dumb one out for considering it.

"I suppose I may have found an answer," she replied, shrugging her shoulders lightly. Jaune glanced at her exposed skin for a second, wondering how she hadn't gotten sunburn yet, before looking back up at her eyes. "He may have chosen us not despite, but because we're still young. Older Hunters might not have believed him in the first place. And I suppose he also counted on our naivety not to sell the Relics. Besides, we can easily pass for a group of young Hunters looking for some live experiences, while older Hunters usually stay on their own."

He scratched his chin. He had considered that hypothesis, but it had sounded a bit too simple. Ozpin was a man of incredible cleverness and fully capable of gambling their lives if needed for a bigger objective. Glancing at Blake, he could see some of his own doubts shining behind her eyes, so chances were she wouldn't have the answer either. "Lucky us," he instead mumbled with fake cheer. "We get to risk our lives in the world's most dangerous locations for a bunch of old things."

The smallest hint of a grin seemed to pull at her lips for a second, but soon it was gone. "Well, for me and for the rest of the girls, we chose to protect the world no matter the cost. This may be something more dangerous than I believe we are ready for, but if it's what it takes to help, then we'll do it. The true unlucky one here is you."

"Are you trying to make me feel even worse than I already do?" A snicker broke past the barrier of her lips, but she immediately ruled it in, though her eyes remained amused.

Jaune rolled his eyes and glanced around again. They had been walking for almost an hour now, having entered the desert almost forty minutes prior, but the landscape hadn't changed. Behind them, the trees and the dirt of the road were quickly disappearing in the distance, but all around, the Dead Sands remained perpetually unchanging. He would admit it was really giving him chills despite the heat.

"Why were you staring at Terry, earlier?"

The sudden question caught him off-guard. He turned to her, taken aback, and found her staring right at him with intrigue and… something else… hidden in her eyes. The piercing stare only worsened the bad feeling he had, though probably unintentionally. "What do you mean?"

"When we sent off Terry-"

"You mean when we suddenly and brutally got rid of him instead of letting him come along and get killed here?" he cut her off, raising an eyebrow and smirking in amusement.

"Yes, though I'm actually glad we didn't let him get himself killed," Blake replied with an eye roll. "When we sent him off, you kept staring at him very intensely."

"And so? I'm allowed to look at people." Jaune's foot slipped on the sand and fell backwards. Before he could hit the ground, he felt Blake's hand grab his forearm and pull him back up. He straightened, slightly self-conscious, and dusted himself off. "Thanks, I guess."

"You're welcome," she replied idly, still staring at him. "But I highly doubt you would've just stared at him, had it been nothing. You would've glared."

"So would you," he defended himself, crossing his arms and looking away.

"Point conceded," she nodded. She really wasn't fond of Terry anyway. "But you looked more curious than anything."

Jaune shrugged. "Like any Demon, I can feel negative emotions. It's hard to tell which is which since it's a base instinct, like survival instinct, but I could feel a mix of negative emotions in that kid." The two of them, a bit ahead of the others, began climbing up another hill. "Which is weird since he looked so excited to be of use."

"Maybe he's worried about staying in Menagerie on his own, he's younger than Ruby after all," Blake hypothesised.

"For a single day? No… I don't know why he felt like that, I was just curious." Jaune snickered suddenly, glancing at her. "Although Weiss's reaction to him was hilarious."

Blake thought back to the disgusted, fake-honeyed voice the heiress had used to convince the boy to go, and felt her own laughter bubbling up past her lips. "I guess all the Grimm within miles felt that."

"I'm honestly surprised there are no Grimm in sight yet!" Jaune continued, glancing around at the still-unmoving white sand that covered the ground for miles and miles. "I swear, Weiss's hatred for him was so strong Grimm should've felt it all the way to Atlas!"

"Well, it's not like you'd be able to see them unless they were to come really close." She waved a hand to gesture all around. "Most Grimm in the Dead Sands hunt with their hearing, since their sight would be useless here, and are used to camouflage themselves in the sand."

Their laughter died as the words registered in both their heads.

"Wait, camouflage?" Jaune repeated in a whisper, trying to strain his ears to pick up any sound around.

"How could I have been so stupid!" Blake berated herself just as quietly, kneeling and pressing her cat ear to the ground. Her eyes widened and she shot back up with a frightened sound. "Everyone, watch out! Grimm incoming!"

"From where?!" Ruby exclaimed as everyone got into a fighting position. "I can't see anything."

"Spread out and keep moving! They're underground! The first line of attack of the Dead Sands are giant worm-like Grimm that burrow under the sand and can pick up sounds and vibrations from long distances," Blake explained, drawing Gambol Shroud and moving away from Jaune, who had already summoned Désespoir and was making his way up the hill. "We call them Sand Snatchers, because once they've got a good grip on their victims, they drag them under the sand to kill them. The sounds from the fight will surely alert all other Grimm nearby!"

"I can't feel anything yet," Pyrrha stated as she and Weiss placed themselves twenty feet apart. "It must not be close yet."

"Or maybe it's just deep underground," countered Blake, shaking her head. "It doesn't matter, once this Sand Snatcher shows up, the noise of the fight will attract every Grimm within miles!"

"There are no Grimm within miles!" Yang countered herself, glancing around at the pristine white sand. "There's just sand!"

"Camouflage, you wouldn't be able to see-"

She was cut off by a deep rumble underneath their feet, and for one Jaune was glad she had warned them, because he barely had time to throw himself downhill before something erupted from the sand behind him.

Jaune rolled all the way down with no way of stopping himself, the sand giving away every time he tried to grab onto it to pull himself back up. Finally he hit something that didn't slip away, and felt himself being grabbed and pulled up by a semi-familiar pair of hands. Looking up, he suppressed a groan when he saw Nikos's jade eyes staring back at him.

Something flashed in her eyes for a moment -was it concern?- but as quick as it came it was gone. The champion pulled him back into a standing position before drawing her weapons again, eyes fixed on whatever had just arrived. Jaune dusted his hair off and re-summoned Désespoir back to him, having lost it in the tumble, before turning around to face their enemy.

Like Blake had said, it was similar to a worm in general shape, but that was where the similarities ended, just like most Grimm and their animal or legendary counterparts. Its head was split into four jaws, each with a long red forked tongue. It had no teeth but the jaws were made of white bone beaks, which would cut or crush the victim just fine. The 'beaks' were connected to a round plating that covered the whole head segment of its body. Like most Grimm, it had red markings on its bone plating, demonic runes engraved in complicated ways to form glyphs or words.

Its body was segmented, with white bone plating making up most of it, and like the head at least six feet thick. To prevent it from being immobilized by the armour, the plates stopped just short of the ends of each segment, leaving a span of black skin between each plate, allowing the monster to move freely while at the same time keeping the vulnerable areas as small as possible.

Since he couldn't see any eye on its body, Jaune assumed it was blind and hunted using hearing and vibrations, which didn't help their cause much.

"Aim for the mouth!" he heard Ruby shout, and glanced up at his target. The beaks were heavily armoured, but the inside of its mouth was free of any protection. With a little bit of luck, they might reach its brain. "Blake, Jaune, distract it, but be careful! Weiss, try to immobilize it! Pyrrha, if anyone is in danger, you and I will try to hit those exposed spots to make it back off. Yang, don't get in close!"

Jaune frowned slightly, a thoughtful expression passing on his face for a second before he focused on the matter at hand. He nodded. "Right!" Turning to Blake, he noticed she had been separated from the others when the creature shot out of the ground in the middle of the group. "Blake, get over here!"

His right hand left Désespoir, and a small sphere of dark energy accumulated in his palm. The Grimm was already moving toward Blake, so he wouldn't have time to create a blast powerful enough to bypass the armour. But being annoying was his speciality, or so Weiss said, so he supposed it wouldn't really matter.

He thrust his hand out, sending the sphere flying, and immediately began creating another one. The dark energy hit the back of the creature's head, exploding in a small burst of dark blue smoke. While he was right in his assumption he wouldn't be able to hurt it, it still got its attention.

"Hey, big ugly! Wanna eat another of these?! WHOA!" Jaune yelped and threw himself to the side, leaving the Dark Matter sphere to explode where he was a second before, when the Grimm lunged at him with surprising speed. The explosion kicked up the sand, painting the smoke white.

However, instead of recoiling, the monster pushed right through it and into the sand, disappearing from sight with a flail of its tail.

"Keep moving!" Blake ordered again. Jaune pushed himself up and sprinted in her direction. If he had to play distraction, at least he wouldn't be the only bait. The ground rumbled again, and Jaune saw the Sand Snatcher coming out right where Ruby was an instant prior. "Ruby, look out!"

"I'm fine!" she replied with a thumbs-up, having dodged the monster's initial attack.

The Grimm seemed to look around, although Jaune was pretty sure it was just listening and had no way of actually looking, before turning back to Ruby. A gunshot courtesy of Blake bounced off its armoured head, and another hit its top beak, but both lacked enough power to actually pierce the plates.

"Over here!" Jaune shouted, creating a firecracker-sized explosion of Dark Matter on his hand. The sound of both burst and yell seemed to get the monster's attention and its head reared back up, staring at them. "Yeah, you heard me!"

Perhaps it was the wrong thing to say, because the Sand Snatcher roared and lunged at him with a speed that far exceeded his own. He yelped and used Dark Rose, the Luna he had copied from Ruby, to jump back in time, and then brought his hands up to shield himself from the spray of sand caused by the monster's landing.

"Jaune, watch out!"

He barely had time to react before the sand cleared – thanks to the Sand Snatcher's head snapping forwards, grabbing him and tossing him up in the air with just a flick of its beaks. He supposed there hadn't been enough space to grab him efficiently, since standing up he was taller than the monster's mouth width.

The toss hadn't been very strong, so he only flew up for fifteen or so feet before gravity got a hold of him again, inexorably dragging him back down towards the monster underneath.

Bang! Bang! Schhnnck.

Two bullets impacted the side of its head, courtesy of Yang and Ruby, before a wave of ice froze its middle, leaving only the head visible. Jaune awkwardly landed on the Grimm's neck and was immediately tossed off by its spasms. Rolling on the sand to get back in a standing position, Jaune's eyes narrowed when he spotted the neck's joint, where the vulnerable black skin was slightly more exposed to allow for more flexibility. "Ruby, use Pyrrha as a trampoline and cut its head off!"

"On it!" both redheads exclaimed. The champion positioned her shield over her head, kneeling down and bracing both arms against the metal to make herself as stable as possible. The younger girl used the recoil of her giant scythe to propel herself up just enough to land on the bronze shield, before both girls jumped, sending Ruby at least forty feet up in the air.

Weiss unleashed another wave of ice to keep it in place, even though the Sand Snatcher hadn't even managed to crack the first. The creature raised its head and roared, but three more shots from Yang's gauntlets got its attention again, and gave Ruby the chance to aim at her target.

Crescent Rose sliced through the black flesh, severing skin and muscle with relative ease. However, the momentum wasn't enough to fully behead the creature, and Ruby found herself skidding on the sand on the other side of the Grimm before she could turn around and deliver the killing blow.

The Sand Snatcher roared in agony as black smoke began to erupt from its wound instead of blood, and the ice began to show small spiderweb cracks. "It won't hold it for long," Weiss exclaimed, preparing her rapier for another go.

"Wait! Don't waste Dust for this, let's just finish it off on our own," Pyrrha exclaimed before turning to him. "Jaune, do you think you can kill it with your Dark Matter Luna?"

The Nightmare summoned another sphere of energy and took aim. The creature's pained spasm made it hard to aim correctly, but the wound was large enough to be an easy target. "Only one way to find out," he replied cheerfully, firing the sphere and grinning once it exploded, sending bits of Grimm flesh flying.

The monster, whose neck was now almost completely destroyed, twisted for a few more seconds before slumping down, lifeless. Black smoke began to pour out, hiding it from view.

"We did it!" Yang cheered, pumping a fist in the air.

"It's not over, I sense two more Sand Snatchers coming, as well as a pack of land-travelling Grimm heading our way!" Pyrrha reported, using her powers to pinpoint the Grimm's locations. "The land Grimm are trying to cut us off our escape route."

"If we go deeper in, they'll surround us, but if we try to retreat they'll ambush us instead," Blake reasoned aloud, her cat ears twitching as she tried to keep listening even while she talked. "Running across the Dead Sands is suicide, our best bet would be to turn back now and try to run for it, out of the desert."

"They're right beneath us!" Pyrrha called out, sprinting away from her spot.

Everyone else followed her example and moved away using their Lunas to move faster, all except Yang who didn't have any kind of speed-related Luna.

Behind them, two more Sand Snatchers burst from the dune, scattering the salt-like sand everywhere. Their shrill roars almost hurt their ears with how close and loud they were. The bone-plated monstrosities both turned to face the retreating group, ignoring the disintegrating carcass of their kin.

Ruby was the first to reach the top of the hill, where she stopped with an uncertain look on her face. "Blake! They're closing us in, we'll never outrun them!" she exclaimed, pointing up ahead.

When he arrived at the top, just a few seconds later, Jaune saw what was worrying her. Up ahead, there were four other dunes between them and the solid ground, four long, wide dunes of white sand. Squinting, he managed to make out the figures of a group of canine-like Grimm, rushing across the sands on their left. At the speed they were going, they were going to reach the next dune before they could even climb down the one they were standing on.

"Keep running, the worm Grimm burrowed down again!" Weiss warned as she ran past him, grabbing his arm to drag him alongside her. She slipped and that very same hold possibly saved her life, since he managed to pull her up and closer to him just as the sand in front of them exploded, revealing the armoured head and body of one of the Sand Snatchers.

"Pyrrha, watch out!" he heard Ruby shout as the second worm-like monster erupted behind the champion, trying to take a beaked bite out of her. She managed to dodge to the side before stabbing her spear at it, scratching the bone plate but not reaching the flesh underneath.

He didn't have much time to focus on the other Sand Snatcher, since the one in front of him was already turning around, and it didn't look friendly at all.

Still basically in his personal space, Weiss waved her rapier and a burst of blue ice encased the head and upper body of the Grimm, immobilizing it at least temporarily. "Can you kill it?" she asked, glancing at him.

He shook his head. "I'd have to blast a fully powered Dark Matter right into its throat, otherwise that armour is gonna protect it. I suppose a few blasts might crack it enough to kill it, but otherwise this sucker is too heavily armoured."

"So we need a heavy hitter. Keep an eye on it and distract it if it breaks free. Ruby!" she called out, releasing her hold on him to move towards the younger redhead, who turned around at the sound of her name being called. "We need you to do that move again!"

"Right!"

Jaune focused back on the Grimm as Weiss made a platform above her head. The Glyph was black… which if he wasn't wrong meant it was a propeller instead of a barrier. Ruby jumped on it just like she did for the first Sand Snatcher, and the Glyph glowed before the girl was shot up a few yards, twirling her scythe to add momentum to the hit. "Jaune, break the ice around its neck!"

"On it!" he exclaimed. He had no time to summon a Dark Matter powerful enough to shatter the ice and free the head of the monster, so he decided to weaken it first by throwing Désespoir at it while he charged up the shot. The dark blue sword sank in the ice, web-cracks appearing all around it, before he de-summoned it consciously, leaving a fracture.

The monster's struggles also helped as they widened the fracture and expanded the cracks, but eventually it was the sphere of dark energy that finished it off. The ice shattered when Dark Matter burst against it, freeing the creature's head. The Sand Snatcher chose than moment to roar at Ruby, which saved its life since the girl no more had a clear target and was forced to improvise lest she became Grimm food.

She swung Crescent Rose a little earlier, the blade slashed one of the beak's inside, and fired a shot at the same time, which propelled her back in the air just enough for her to avoid crashing into the monster.

However, she couldn't stop her fall in time, and crashed right into him, sending them both sprawled to the ground.

Groaning, Jaune pushed himself in a sitting position and pushed her off of himself. The girl sat up as well, smiling sheepishly at him. "Sorry, Jaune," she laughed nervously.

The Nightmare ignored her and looked back at the Sand Snatcher, that managed to free itself of the ice. The Grimm turned to face the two of them, whose fall had obviously caused enough vibrations for it to pinpoint their location, and roared again, preparing to attack.

Jaune gritted his teeth and summoned a Dark Matter in either hand. While he had used more Mana than he'd like for a single fight, he still had more than enough for this. If that thing wanted something to eat, then he'd give it a spice it wouldn't forget anytime soon.

However, before he could even fire both Dark Lunas at it, the Grimm suddenly turned away, facing the horizon, and dived down into the sand. Not too far away, the second Sand Snatcher burrowed down as well, disengaging from Yang, Pyrrha and Blake, all of who looked surprised by the sudden retreat.

"Perhaps they are leaving to allow other Grimm to attack?" Yang hypothesised, looking around. "Those dog-like things are leaving too, should we make a break for it?"

"Those dog-like things are called Cadejos, and no, Grimm don't stop attacking to leave their victims to others, not unless their Alpha demands the kill," Blake replied, still staring at the retreating canine Grimm. She turned to them with a frown on her face. "I don't understand, why would they leave?"

"Well, Weiss, you know everything, so what do you think?" Jaune asked, pulling himself up and dusting the sand off his clothes and out of his hair. Ruby was doing the same beside him, though the sand in her top was probably annoying her more than the sand in his hair did, if her muttered complaints were anything to go by. The Nightmare looked at the white-haired girl and shrugged. "When have Grimm ever ran away from people they could easily kill?"

"There is no reason, period," she replied, shaking her head. "Not unless they were in severe danger."

"Or maybe they are just regrouping," Blake interjected, shaking her head. "No, I don't think this is over. Whatever just happened, it wasn't normal."

"Blake." At the sound of her name being called, the black-haired Faunus glanced at Pyrrha, who was staring at something in the distance. "Do you think the Grimm would try to run away from a sandstorm?"

Blake frowned. There wasn't even the slightest breath of wind. "No, any Grimm can easily power through a sandstorm. Especially if they have so much armour."

Jaune came up beside Pyrrha and stared at the horizon too. Was it just him, or did the dunes look taller than they had three minutes prior? "Is that what I think it is?" he asked out loud.

Blake followed their eyes, squinting to try and ignore the glare of the sand. "That does look like a sandstorm, but there isn't any wind. This sand is easy to lift so it wouldn't need much, but we would still feeling it. Something's not right."

"Of course it isn't, Grimm don't run away randomly," Weiss replied, but Jaune tuned out the rest of their conversation, focusing on the incoming sandstorm.

He could see something amidst the raised white sand, so fine it looked like smoke. A slightly darker silhouette of something moving inside the clouds, which were getting bigger and bigger at an alarming rate. 'No sandstorm could ever go that fast, not without us feeling the wind too,' he reasoned with a dark frown on his face. 'And what is that thing? Is it a Sand Snatcher?'

His eyes widened when he spotted two red dots on top of that thing. Eyes. Red eyes. And Sand Snatchers didn't have eyes. Squinting hard, he paled when he realized that the thing moving in the sand was far bigger than any Sand Snatcher, comparable to the size of the very dune it was walking on.

'Didn't Blake warn us about a sandstorm in this particular desert, one that doesn't follow physics and is the most dangerous place in this entire desert?' he recalled, his alarm growing as he realized that the sandstorm, while massive, was still far and that he had underestimated the speed of the wind that was moving it.

'The Cursed Sands.'

"Run," he breathed, turning away and breaking into a sprint as he headed for the outer side of the desert. He grabbed Weiss and Ruby, bodily dragging them after him. "For Salem's sake, RUN!"