Beyond Two Worlds Chapter 12: Forever Falls

"The Only Thing We Have To Fear Is Fear Itself." -FDR

The next morning I woke up to the sound of a door opening followed by the sound of a few small footsteps that got louder before there was a chorus shout and a small body landed on top of mine that was still laying in bed.

"Morning Big Brotha!" Hana cried out as she buried herself against my chest while I gave her a small hug as she glanced up at me and grinned while I just returned it to her.

"Looks like someone didn't get much sleep last night." I heard Pyrrha say to me as I turned to see her walking into my room.

At first I didn't answer her but instead I chose to lightly glare at her but she was resilient as she just crossed her arms under her chest and grinned at me.

This little game we played was one that we did every once in a while. It was our version of what would be a playful argument. And I would of won had I not yawned a moment later which she had to look away as she tried her best to not laugh but she was failing at that.

"Well a lot of things happened last night and I only got around 3 hours of sleep," I looked back down at Hana who was smiling against me, "And I missed my pillow." I said making her ears twitch slightly.

"I'm not a pillow." She replied slightly confused at what I meant.

"Nope, you're my pillow." I said tickling her sides making her break out into a fit of giggles as she struggled to get out of my hold but it wasn't very effective.

"No…stop…I'll...be...your pillow!" She cried out while I stopped and she broke away from my hold and scooted off the side of the bed and holding her arms out she rushed over to Pyrrha's side hiding behind her leg while still giggling.

Pyrrha placed a hand against Hana's head, gently petting it as she smiled, "So I take that you have trouble sleeping without her next to you." She asked in a snide tone but the smile on her face meant she was teasing me.

Truth be told, a lot of things kept me up last night. Whenever I closed my eyes I would see Muramasa, and its wielder posing to strike me, then there was Roland. That wolf in sheep's clothing. He was planning something big and whatever it was he wanted me to be a part of it. Last of it all was Jaune, a part of me thought I shouldn't have said something but then the other half thought it needed to be said.

I let my thoughts drift away and returned to the smirk that she was giving me, "I guess you could say that. But I wouldn't mind if it was you sometime." She broke her smirk for a moment as I saw a light hint of pink spread across her cheeks before she regained her normal complexion but I could see this shy look on her face still.

"I might just take you up on that one day." She said this time making me grumble as took my attempt to get at her and turned it around and got me with me.

"Bleh." I said getting up and stretching my arms out trying to wake myself up. But when I finished and looked at Pyrrha, I saw she was staring at me for some reason. I followed her train of sight and saw what she was looking at.

"Oh, umm…" Since I had just woken up I forgot that my tail was hanging out rather than being coiled around my waist.

"When did you get a tail?" She asked me as she continued to stare at it, "Oh, it moved." She said as she continued to stare at it which for one I didn't mind but it wasn't something I let anyone see.

Sure enough I felt it move from one side to the other, "It sort of grew out not long after I first met you." I told her as it started swayed for a moment before it stopped.

"Can, can I touch it?" She asked me and I held my arms up to form an 'X' in front of me.

"Sorry, but I don't let anyone touch my tail." I said crossing my arms over my chest and turning my head to the side in an attempt to deny her this.

But she was quiet and I cracked open an eye to look at her only to see this grin on her face that wasn't going away, "Oh, is that so? Then why is it wagging back and forth?"

I looked behind me and saw it was doing just as she said, I quickly grabbed it but it was still wagging slightly in my hold.

"Fine, just be gently ok." I said surrendering as she and Hana both shared a small victory cheer.

"Fang are you alright? You look exhausted." Ruby asked me as we were walking along the path within the Forever Forest.

My head was hanging to the side as I turned to her, "I lost any dignity I had left earlier today." I told her as she just titled her head to the side wondering what I meant by that while the others tried to guess. Then I heard Pyrrha chuckle behind me.

"What he means is that earlier I found out that Fang has a tail hidden away under his shirt." Pyrrha told them which made the whole of team Rwby turn towards me and stare at my waist for any signs of movement, "And he likes it when someone pets it."

"I do not!" I shouted out embarrassed enough that she told them that, but it seems that my outburst caused Miss Goodwitch to turn and give me a single look which I simmered down from.

"Um, Fang your shirt is moving." Ren said as I let out a groan. My tail was wagging from inside my shirt forcing me to uncoil it and let it out into the open so it could stop.

"I hate you." I said towards Pyrrha who just smiled in return.

"I know." She said in reply as we kept on walking with Ruby and Yang trying to grab my tail every now and then with me swatting their hands away.

Miss Goodwitch stopped us in the middle of an opening where she stopped and turned to face us. She started saying something but I didn't hear it because I heard Cardin laughing and I glanced over my shoulder only to see him with his arm draped over Jaune's shoulder while he was holding the box from last night and six empty jars to collect tree sap jelly which was the main reason we were here in Forever Forest.

"Yes students, the forest of Forever Falls is indeed beautiful, but we are not here to do sightseeing. We are here because to Professor Peach has asked all of your to collect samples from the trees deep within the forest. And I am here to make sure that none of you die while doing so."

She stopped in the middle of the path along with everyone else.

"Each of you are to gather one jars worth of red sap. However this forest is full of the creatures of Grimm so make sure you all stay with your teammates. We will rendezvous back here at 4 O'clock. So have fun!" She finished and most of the teams went off to do their own gathering while Juane went off with Cardin's group again.

I noticed Goodwitch look at me, and she waved for me to follow her, once I met up with her I asked, "Am I not going to collect sap?"

She shook her head, "I need you to keep help keep an eye on the groups alongside me. While I have no doubt you truly wish to collect sap," She said sarcastically, "I would rather you keep an eye out for any Grimm in the area and if needed take care of them before they reach our students. Are you fine with that?"

I nodded to her, "Leave it to me." I told her and I took off into the trees to found the different groups.

Team JNPR minus their fearless leader was collecting sap, funny enough Nora was drinking the sap while Ren was filling it up and handing it over to her. Pyrrha seemed fine, she noticed me in the tree's and waved I just put a finger to my eye and blew a raspberry to her while she just chuckled at my gesture and I turned to see Team Rwby doing just as they were supposed to, collecting sap.

"Now, where is my favorite team?" Just as I was about to leave there was a loud roar that caught everyone's attention.

"Crap." I took off in a burst of speed as three members of Team CRDL rushed past me from below.

It took me only a moment to find the source of it all.

There were two large Ursa that was about to attack Cardin when Jaune stepped in and saved him.

Pyrrha, Weiss and Ruby showed up just in time to see Jaune push the Ursa's arm away and slash at its chest and dodge just as it thrust its arm at him missing while it threw side swipe that Jaune jumped over which was good but was still but at the same time not so nice since the Ursa took that chance to strike and knocked him backwards but while he was stumbling backwards, he quickly recovered and charged towards the Ursa jumping into the air to strike it but once more the Ursa knocked him behind it which Jaune landed on his feet and turned to face the charging beast.

For a moment he looked as if he was going to back down, I readied myself to jump in at a moment's notice but his expression changed and he charged forward towards the Grimm as they both threw one last attack at each other.

Only Jaune was going to be hit but the Ursa first, his body was wide open. That is until this dark hue covered his shield and before the Grimm could hit him, his shield moved in its way saving his life and giving him the power behind his strike as he arched his sword and cut clean through the Grimm's neck as its head went flying off and its huge body that was 3 times Jaune's size fell to the floor.

He stood the victor of his own battle, and something told me that it wasn't just the battle he had won. I watched he turned to Cardin and helped him up before telling him something and from the look on his face he was serious.

"Good job Jaune." I said disappearing into the trees as I noticed Pyrrha, Weiss, and Ruby walking back. So I dropped down next to them.

Ruby and Weiss jumped from me suddenly appearing next to them but Pyrrha knew I was there.

"You used your Semblance didn't you?" I asked her and she just smiled to me.

"Even if I didn't you were going to help him just as I did." She told me and honestly she had me there. I was going to send electric shocks through the earth to freeze the Grimm's body but what she did was better since it could go unnoticed when compared to my more flashy abilities.

"Well you have me there, but still. I feel that this will help him grow," She smiled and nodded, "He's a good guy Pyrrha and with your help he'll become a strong Huntsman." I told her as she agreed and I walked away with Ruby and Weiss wondering what we were talking about.

"Dang it Nora let go of my tail!" I shouted out as I felt myself being held back by the ginger haired Valkyrie while the rest of the gang just laughed at my expense. I swear I'm going to get Pyrrha back for this, one way or another.

Back at Beacon Academy with the Headmaster, Ozpin was staring out of his window inside of his office when he heard an alert from his tablet.

He reached into his pocket and pulled it out to see a message from someone whose name was blanked out. Letting out a hum he opened the message to find a rather crude message inside.

"A wolf in sheep's clothing is hiding among us." The message read along with a video, the picture was blurry along with it breaking every now and then but what Ozpin was able to make out was the sounds of people crying out in pain and fear.

There was another sound, one that he knew all too well as grows echoed out of his speakers.

Grimm, they were attacking some town, but there was something strange about the video being recorded. The person that was recording didn't run away like everyone else. No, instead they were trying to focus in on something, or someone.

Among all the chaos the person zoomed in on someone walking alongside the Grimm they weren't attacking the person but it looked to be that they were walking between them.

The person raised a weapon above them that was glowing red as their eyes glowed in a similar manner to how the Grimm's did. The weapon began to pulse with red veins before the person appeared before the person recording and the video cut off.

Ozpin noticed something at the end of the video but when he went back frame by frame he saw something that he wasn't expecting to see.

"This complicates things." He said to himself as he looked between the picture on the file he opened to his right and the paused video on his left. Even with one of them being dark and blurry the features they both shared were undeniable.

And the person in both pictures was Fang.

-TBC

As requested I'm back.