Fallen

"Glynda go to the student's they need you. I'll stay here with him." Glynda looked at Ozpin concerningly but did so all the same. As she was leaving Shen told her to take Cinder with her. She looked like a crushed doll just lying there barely conscious. Soon only Ozpin and Shen lived in the underground area of Beacon.

"It's just you and me so go ahead take me to the Relic. Also if you even try to trick me I will kill you and it will be quick compared to what I'll do to Glynda and the other students." Ozpin didn't speak and only began to walk at a leisurely pace. Shen followed behind him watching his every move closely.

Despite him warning Ozpin he didn't think the old man wasn't going to try something.

"I knew there would be a chance that a Maiden would defect. Because of that, I hid this Relic somewhere that anyone could reach if they knew the way. It's hidden so well that even if you destroyed Beacon you wouldn't be able to find it." As Ozpin said, he stopped in the middle of the large hall and walked over towards the wall.

Placing his hand onto a magical power ran through his body into his palm. This caused a reaction with the wall itself which began to glow a neon green and slowly slide down, revealing a dark staircase downwards. It was like a maze and it felt like it stretched on in every direction forever.

'A sealed door that only reacts to his magic, accompanied by a maze only he can navigate. If you wanted to hide something from the rest of the world, that was one way to do it.' Soon enough they reached a large stone door. It looked ancient as if it hadn't been opened for decades.

Ozpin spoke in a language Shen didn't recognize and the door reacted as symbols glowed across its surface. Slowly the stone split in two revealing a room. It looked like a king's throne room, light shined in from the glass windows despite the fact they were underground.

Everything was old and dusty yet still regal and in the center of the room was a cushioned altar. Shen's eyes shined when he saw the floating golden crown with jewels embedded into it.

"The Relic of Choice, gives its user the ability to see into the future and view an important decision they will make one day." Shen was speaking to himself as he walked towards the floating golden crown. Reaching for it he grabbed it from its place on the altar and stared at it.

"You're not going to put it on?"

"Of course not, knowing the future can be useful to me, but it being random means it's dangerous. I'll end up going crazy fretting about a decision I will never be able to predict." It was as he said that he heard the stone doors behind him closing. Along with it was the sound of gears twisting.

His eyes narrowed as he looked back at Ozpin. He was staring at Shen as the stone doors closed behind him. The gears in the centerpiece of his cane were beginning to turn and glow at an incredible pace.

"What are you doing?" For once Shen was actually lost. He didn't watch RWBY in its entirety so Ozpin's cane was a gap in his knowledge.

"The Long Memory, that's the name of my cane. It's been with me for thousands of years through every moment of my life. I knew one day I may run into a problem that needed to be dealt with forcefully. So I had this cane built with the special function of containing Kinetic Energy." Shen frowned as his body cracked with electricity.

"It's no use, even if you kill me you can't break this cane. It survived a lot worse. Thousands of years worth of Kinetic Energy is going to be released all at once. Normally I would put a barrier around myself to survive the blast, but it would weaken the explosion. But, to kill you? I'm more than willing to die here."

"This place will be your tomb as well as mine." The moment Ozpin finished speaking Shen transformed his body into lightning ignoring him and going straight for the door. Holding out his hand he summoned Gae Bolg striking it with all his strength. The door flashed with magical energy and cracks formed across its surface, but it didn't break.

Gritting his teeth Shen's entire body became engulfed in a dark fog-like energy. Activating his Devil Trigger, Shen's entire body transformed into that of a demon. Lightning coursed through Gae Bolg which quickly turned purple due to him using Karmic Retribution. Striking the door again Shen applied his Demonic Energy on top of everything else.

Striking at full force, it felt like an earthquake had suddenly hit. The magic on the door broke along with the stone itself shattering like glass. The moment it was open Shen rushed into the maze in a flash of light. Yet Ozpin didn't move, simply sighing as he looked up at the roof of the building.

'I wonder what body I'll be put into this time.' He closed his eyes as the cane hit its maximum capacity. In that instant, an uncalculatable amount of energy was released at once. It didn't matter what the material was, Kinetic Energy of this magnitude nearly ignored durability.

A fifty-meter area was instantly pushed around and ground into the dust around Ozpin in an instant before expanding rapidly. Despite his speed, Shen couldn't outrace the explosion. Turning his head he saw light completely engulf his vision.

'Well shi-' Before he could finish his thoughts his mind went dark. Above ground, Glynda had already left the Academy building and was walking towards the students while carrying Cinder. Spotting her Blake walked up to her glancing over Cinder but not seeing Shen.

"Where is he?" Glynda responded in a depressed voice.

"He's with Ozpin, he should have gotten the Relic by now." Blake's cat ears twitched. She felt something was wrong and right on cue a massive earthquake suddenly hit them. It felt like the ground had suddenly tilted. Fissures began to crack open the very ground as light poured out of them.

The entire Academy building began to tilt as its foundation became unstable. The fissures continued to grow stretching for over a mile in every direction. Team RWBY, Qrow, Glynda, Blake, and every other student could hardly keep their feet grounded.

But their eyes nearly widened into a disk when they saw Beacon Academy beginning to fall. The fissures and shockwaves rattled the tower as it cracked. Debris flew through the air and rocks as big as cars came down like meteors.

Beacon Academy which represented the hope of future Huntsman and people everywhere was now gone. It completely toppled over and crashed to the ground, at this point, it was too dangerous to stay where they were. Everyone began to run well, except Blake.

She immediately rushed towards the tower with her eyes completely focused. Shen was still underground, if this was the result up here then… The thought made her speed nearly double but she was pushed back from the massive gust of wind followed by the crash. A loud bang rang out for dozens of miles, heard by everyone.

After a few minutes, things began to calm down. The ground of Beacon Academy had sunken hundreds of feet, and the entire tower had crashed to the ground over. It left a long ditch-like crater from the impact and there was leftover rock and metal everywhere.

Getting back to her feet Blake began to search around frantically. A sense of dread and worry washed over her. The minutes of searching quickly turned into hours. Blake had the students and everyone else immediately locked up and sent away and ordered every soldier to search the wreckage of Beacon Academy.

'Where is he? Where is he! He can't be dead… I need him...' Standing atop a tall slab of rock her cat-like eyes gazed across the crater where Beacon once stood. Time seemed to have slowed for Blake but the rest of the world continued on. The searching continued for days on end and the news reached Neo, Taella, and the others quickly.

Their invasion of Mistral was immediately put on hold and they quickly made their way to Vale. But even after all that time, there was no sign of Shen. Eventually, the potential fact that he had truly died began to sink in.

…

"What's the status of things?" Torchwick was sitting at a table in an abandoned building. They were staying here temporarily while in Vale. Sienna sitting across from him sighed.

"From what I can tell loyalty is no issue, the army and everyone in it is still following orders. We've put all of our invasions on a halt for now focusing on the search instead. Mentally wise, Taella becomes more unstable without 'him' around and Blake has been searching nonstop for over a week now." After saying that she glanced at Torchwick.

"Neo locked herself in a room, even though I can't get through to her." The two of them were the only ones in their right minds capable of controlling the situation. The real issue is what happens if news leaks out about this situation. Shen is the pillar of all of this with him gone things had become iffy.

"I never thought he would actually die. He seemed invincible every time we were with him." Sienna nodded in agreement, the idea of Shen dying had long become a dream in her mind. Standing up, Torchwick stretched.

"Well, there's no going back now. We've gotten on this ride and even if he's gone we can't get off. If we stop now we all are going to die and I don't know about you but I enjoy living." Like it or not Sienna had to agree with him. The Faunus were viewed as enemies of the world now, stopping wasn't an option.

"Well keep information about Shen under wraps and continue searching for a trace of him and the Relic. Reinforcing our current position and taking care of the rest of Vale should be our top priority. Where it spread pretty thin as it is if Atlas or Vacuo wanted to interfere we might not be able to hold them back."

They had to run a tight ship now. They could use Shen's name but the physical effect he had was now gone.

"What about Mistral? Isn't there one last city that is still rebelling that we need to take care of?" Sienna shook her head.

"It looks like Shen thought ahead when it came to that city. Though I'm a bit iffy if they can actually handle it."

…

"I don't want to do this, I can't go through with it." Pyrrha looked hesitant as she stared ahead of her. The sound of fighting, gunfire, and explosions echoed through the plains around her. It made her vividly remember what had happened to Argus. Her entire body seemed frozen in place.

"You don't have a choice." Raven standing next to speak frankly.

"If you want the right to choose your future then you need strength. If you want revenge then you'll have to grow stronger. It's the only way." The two of them were standing on a battlefield. The reason Shen had split his forces was to deal with the final city still resisting their rule in Mistral.

Before sending them off he repeated what he said before. 'If you want to kill me, be my guest, but first, you're going to have to get strong enough to try. Depending on what you're willing to throw away, you might actually succeed.'

Those words and Raven's echoed in Pyrrha's mind. A conflict where her nature and what she needed to do was building in her mind. Staring at her, Raven said one last thing.

"You're a kind person Pyrrha, I can tell that much, you remind me of Summer in that way. Sadly, being kind won't change the world. Remember that."