3

Ruby hit the ground in a deep crouch before immediately taking off at a light jog. Her first thought had been that she needed to find Yang and fast but what she and Shirou had said made her slow down. Yang was absolutely certain that she would make plenty of friends in no time and Shirou had reaffirmed that opinion. Shirou had even said that she was really nice and could easily make friends if she just talked to people. While she still really wanted to be on a team with Yang, maybe it wouldn't be so bad if Yang wasn't her partner. She certainly would have no complaints with Shirou being her partner and she might even be fine with Weiss. There were also those two Shirou had been talking with that morning, Nora and Ren. If Shirou could get along with them so well, maybe she could too?

So lost in her thoughts was Ruby that she didn't notice the other person she was running towards until it was too late. With a cry of surprise and a mighty crash, Ruby found herself lying on top of the absolute last person she wanted to literally run in to.

"Get off me, you dolt!" Weiss scream as she pushed at Ruby. In a flash, the black-haired girl was on her feet and trying to help Weiss up.

"I'm sooooo sorry, Weiss! I was thinking and wasn't watching where I was going and then I saw you but it was too late and—"

"It's… alright," Weiss said testily as she stood up and dusted herself off. "I was equally distracted and didn't hear you in time." Ruby let out a sigh of relief and let her shoulders slump only to jump back when she suddenly found Weiss' finger in her face. "Still! This is the second time you've run into me or my belongings! Watch! Where! You're! Going!" With each of those last words, Weiss thrust her finger towards Ruby, forcing her further and further back until she was flush against a tree.

"I-I-I-I I'm sorry! I-I-I I really will be careful from here on out! Promise!"

Weiss sighed as she let her hands drop to her hips, "Worse yet, because of that stupid rule, this means you'll be my partner for the next four years." Ruby started to relax again and pulled herself off from the tree, a hopeful expression creeping across her face at Weiss' words, only to end up right back where she started. "Listen up! I won't accept anything less than the best from my partner so you better shape up or I'll shape you up! You got that‽"

"Y-yes ma'am!"

"Good!" Weiss spun on her heels and started walking off. "Come along, then. I don't want to stay in this forest longer than necessary."

"Coming!"

OoOoOoO

"So, what's your Semblance?" Ruby asked after they had been walking in silence for a few minutes.

"I suppose you should know. My Semblance is the ability to create glyphs. They can either be used on their own or alongside the Dust stored in my rapier for a variety of effects. I'll give you a more detailed explanation later."

"That's really cool! It sounds like you can do a lot of things!"

Weiss smiled slightly at that, "I suppose I can. What about you?" Ruby smiled and was suddenly gone, replaced by a flurry of rose petals. A startled Weiss blinked a few times before following the trail to its source: one Ruby Rose now standing a good twenty feet away.

"I'm really, really fast!" Ruby said with an excited wave. Weiss shook her head and made her way over to the younger girl.

"I see that. Simple but effective. A few of my glyphs would work especially well with that. Tell me, do you always leave rose petals behind when you run?"

"Yep!"

"Why?"

"I dunno! But, hey, my name's Ruby Rose so it fits!"

"Fair enough. It's a bit of a shame you can't use it for stealth, though."

"I'm no good at that sneaky stuff anyway. I'd much rather fight things head-on."

"Yeah, I figured as much. Regardless, we've wasted enough time. We need to get going. I refuse to start the term off by getting a bad grade."

"Hey, did it just get darker?"

"The sun must have gone behind—" Weiss fell silent as a low growl came from somewhere to her left. In an instant, Weiss drew Myrtenaster while Ruby readied Crescent Rose in its scythe form. The two girls remained silent, their backs to each other, as they carefully scanned the area. Several red eyes could be seen peering at them from the darkness.

"I'm not sure whether to be annoyed or grateful," Weiss said as she tensed her body, ready to spring into action at a moment's notice. "On one hand, this is going to slow us down. On the other, killing a few Grimm should only improve our grades."

"This also gives us a chance fight with each other. Might as well get used to that now," Ruby replied as she drummed her fingers.

"True. In that case, I suggest we—" One of the Grimm, a Beowolf, launched itself from the shadows directly towards Weiss. Without any hesitation, Weiss took two deep steps forward, her body low to the ground, and lashed out with Myrtenaster, the tip of the blade flashing like quicksilver as she drove it into the Grimm's chest in three places. A graceful spin took her well out of the Beowolf's range and out of the way of Ruby's scythe as she slammed it down into the monster's skull.

Ruby's attention shifted from the fading Grimm before her to the one charging from behind. She shifted her stance, ready to dodge at the right moment, when movement from Weiss made her change her plans. A white glyph bearing an elaborate snowflake appeared before her and acted as a barrier. The Grimm collided head-on with it and was quickly forced onto its hind legs. Acting quickly, Ruby hooked Crescent Rose around the glyph and behind the Beowolf's neck. Aided by a shot from her weapon's rifle, Ruby jerked Crescent Rose towards her as Weiss released the glyph. As the headless Grimm fell to the ground, Ruby twirled Crescent Rose back into a ready position and returned standing with her back to Weiss as the remaining ten Beowolf surged forward.

Ruby met her half of the charge head-on. With a war cry, she knocked the swiping claw of the nearest Beowolf aside and countered with a quick slash to its torso before following up with a spinning slash up its back. She fired off another shot and let the recoil carry the butt of her weapon into the face of another Beowolf moments before it could grab her. A retreating slash to its temple was enough to finish it off but she was quickly forced to spin away from the previous one and then leap backward to avoid an overhead blow from yet another.

For her part, Weiss adopted a reactionary position, Myrtenaster held low with a slight upwards tilt, and let her prey come to her. Two of the Grimm came at her at once from the front as she smoothly shifted her weight to her back leg. The instant she saw their bodies tense for a leap, she sprung forward between them and let Myrtenaster lash out with flawless accuracy. She punctured the inside leg of both Beowolfs at two key places before following up with a spinning slash while they were midair, up the side of one and down the other. When the Grimm hit the ground, they immediately collapsed towards each other and on to a pale blue glyph. Weiss quickly stabbed Myrtenaster into the ground at the edge of the glyph and released the white Dust from its chamber, combining it with her Semblance to cause a series of ice spikes to spring from the glyph and tear the Grimm to shreds.

Ruby swung Crescent Rose with her whole body and sliced clean through the arm of a Beowolf before using a recoil swing to ram the blade through its chest. Another one leaping at her from behind forced her to relinquish her hold on her weapon and roll backward between its legs. She lept out of her roll with her hands and nailed the Beowolf in the back with a dropkick. The Beowolf staggered forward into the shaft of Crescent Rose and toppled forward onto it. The force and positioning of the fall swung Crescent Rose back into Ruby's awaiting hand where she then raised it into the air and used the recoil of a shot to crush the Grimm's head with its butt.

Ruby quickly took in the position of the remaining five Beowolves and she could practically feel the gears in her head turning as she considered what Weiss told her not moments before and what she had caught of glimpse of her doing. "Weiss! Can you shoot something that'll punch through them?" she called out to her new partner.

Weiss spared Ruby a quick glance, "Of course! Who do you think I am?"

"Then get ready!" Rose petals surrounded Ruby as she dashed towards and then past her first target as she nailed it with the side of Crescent Rose's blade. She then used the blade as a pendulum to swing around a tree and towards her second target. With lightning speed, Ruby struck the remaining five Grimm with stunning blows that made them stagger and Weiss watched on, mildly impressed, as she realized Ruby's plan.

"Now!" Ruby screamed as she struck the last Grimm and moved out of the way. The remaining five Beowolves were now in a fairly neat line before Weiss and she immediately carried out her role. A yellow glyph appeared in the air as she held Myrtenaster vertically in front of her and spun the barrel over to yellow Dust. With a deep thrust into the center of the glyph, several bolts of lightning shot out and tore through the Grimm before striking a tree deeper in, the heat from the electricity superheating the sap inside and making the tree explode.

Ruby casually walked back to her partner, flourishing her weapon before holstering it. "Hey, I saw we make a pretty good team!"

Weiss looked at the rapidly fading bodies of the Grimm around, "So we do. I must admit that your plan wasn't a bad one."

Ruby giggled happily as she swayed side-to-side, her hands clasped behind her back, "Aw, it was nothing! You're the one with that big awesome lightning bolt thingy!"

Weiss smirked as she sheathed her weapon, "Indeed I am. Well, let's be off. We've spent long enough here."

OoOoOoO

"The last pair has been formed, sir," Glynda said as she walked up to Ozpin, Scroll in hand. Ozpin, for his part, barely acknowledged her approach as he focused on his own. "Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren. Poor boy… I can't possibly imagine those two getting along."

"They've been close friends since childhood and I suspect that there's something more between them," Ozpin remarked as he took the last sip of his cocoa. He grimaced as he realized it had cooled in all the time he had been standing atop the cliff.

"I'm not even going to ask. All that leaves is Emiya Shirou without a partner as planned." Glynda paused for a moment and considered her words carefully before facing Ozpin and pressing on, "Sir, I don't understand your treatment of that boy. Qrow finds him half-dead in a ditch in the middle of nowhere after witnessing what he described as a tear in the sky and you not only take him in but reveal to him some of our most closely guarded secrets. I will admit that he is a curiosity but why are you placing so much trust in him?"

"Emiya Shirou is a very unique being. There has never been anyone quite like him in all the years I have lived and I highly doubt there ever will be even if I were to live until the end of time itself. He is a wildcard in this game I've been playing with Salem and one I believe that can change the course of fate."

"How could one boy possibly hold such power? Is it that— what did he call it— magecraft of his?"

"That is part of it, yes, but it is much more than that. Shirou is someone who shouldn't exist. Frankly put, he doesn't belong here and, as far as Nelka is concerned, he never will. That alone would make him invaluable in attempting to manipulate fate."

"Nelka? That's… an old name for the world, right? What does that have to do with this?"

"Correction: It is the true name for the World. Nelka is the entity that embodies the World's will to live and to protect her children— that is, all life that lives upon her. Shirou is an anomaly to Nelka and as such, like all anomalies, must be corrected."

"So, what you're saying is that… the planet is trying to kill Mister Emiya?"

"Not right now. While I can't say for certain, I believe that she is currently confused by him. He is a being virtually identical to the Humans she is trying to protect yet so utterly alien that he might as well be some eldritch creature. I feel that she will closely monitor Shirou for now and decide what to do later. I highly doubt Shirou will ever get in her good graces but he should be able to avoid angering her easily enough."

Glynda shook her head with a sigh. She hated when Ozpin started to go on like this because she understood exactly none of it and it more often than not just made her head hurt. "What about Miss Rose?" she asked, moving on to a topic she could actually understand. "You still show a keen interest in her yet, from the sounds of it, Mister Emiya is the one you expect to change everything."

"That's because I don't expect Shirou to change everything. What I expect is for him to simply even the playing field and maybe throw a spanner or two into Salem's works. Ruby is still the one who I know will bring this bloody revolution to an end. She's not only in possession of the Silver Eyes, she also has a simple soul and that, above all else, is what we need the most. Shirou was also once in possession of such a thing but his past has left him too scared and tainted to be of use there.

"When I assigned Shirou to watch over Ruby, what I wanted to happen is for him to realize how similar they are— or were, at any rate— and try to prepare her for what he knows is coming. While we and the other professors will teach her as best as we can, the simple fact is that Shirou, due to his age and personality, can influence her in a way we cannot. He will sharpen the weapon known as Ruby Rose and temper her soul so that she can save us from the approaching darkness."

"You know, sir, with all due respect, when you put it that way, it sounds almost… callous."

"Perhaps but I do believe that they will be, and already are, all the better for it. Just look at the recent interactions between Ruby and Weiss for proof. By all rights, according to their personality profiles, they should have been at each other's throats and yet here they are now, walking calmly along, Weiss explaining her Semblance to Ruby in detail, after they slew a pack of Beowolves with impressive speed and efficiency."

"You believe Shirou to be the cause of that?"

"To a degree. I believed that they would be perfect for each other from the start— that's why I was hoping that they'd become partners or at least be on the same team— but their current relationship is much more amiable than I expected. I'm almost certain that his hand is in this somewhere."

"Maybe your initial estimate was just off."

"Perhaps. Either way, this turn of events is most fortuitous."

"If you say so," Glynda said as she returned to her Scroll and switched the feed to one of Pyrrha and Jaune. "What about this Jaune fellow? I don't care what his transcripts say, he's simply not ready for this level of combat. I honestly feel sorry for Miss Nikos. That boy will only drag her down. I guess we'll find out soon enough. At their current pace, they should reach the temple within just a few minutes. Speaking of which," Glynda deactivated her Scroll and turned back towards Ozpin, "what did you use as relics this year?"

Ozpin smiled.

OoOoOoO

"So, that white one is your Semblance without any Dust?" Ruby asked as she and Weiss continued through the forest.

"More or less. I could use Dust with it but, since it isn't primed to channel it, doing so would produce less than useful results."

"So you just use it as a wall, then."

"That's one use for it. I can also use it as a midair platform for jumps and a few other things. For example, I can control the surface friction of it to do this." Weiss took off in a sprint, white glyphs appearing on the ground in front of her, but something about her movement seemed odd to Ruby. It took catching up using her own Semblance for her to realize that Weiss was no longer running but was skating on her glyphs as if they were made of ice.

"That is so cool!" Ruby said as she ran alongside her partner. Weiss basked under the praise, grateful that someone actually approved of this travel method for a change. Wanting to impress Ruby even more, Weiss decided to end things with proper flourish and executed a picture perfect double Axel before coming to a stop. "Hey, do you think I could try?"

"I don't see why not. I have an excellent range with these after all."

"Cool! You're the best, Weiss! So, what do I gotta do?"

"Nothing too complicated. Just copy my movements and you should be fine. Just be sure to get a running start so you'll have good momentum."

"Got it! Whenever you're ready, Weiss!" Ruby said as she got into a running stance. Weiss created a few glyphs about fifteen feet away from her and then watched as the younger girl disappeared into a flurry of rose petals.

It was at that moment that Weiss realized she had made a terrible error. It was also at that moment that Weiss realized there was nothing she could do since, for all of her abilities, rewinding time wasn't one of them. All she could do was watch helplessly as Ruby took one step on the glyph, slipped and fell on her butt, and was sent rocketing uncontrollably forward, flipping and tumbling as she collided with the ground, trees, rocks, and low hanging branches.

"Ruby!" Weiss cried out as she took off after her partner, skating as quickly as she could in an effort to keep up with the other girl. She was immensely grateful that Ruby's Semblance left a trail of rose petals in her wake and that it had evidently not turned off for she was afraid she would have lost her otherwise.

When Weiss finally caught up with her, Ruby was laying upside down in what looked like a pile of leaves and long grasses, her eyes almost visibly swirling as she moaned in pain.

"Are you okay?" Weiss asked as she skidded to a stop.

"I am never doing that again," Ruby replied as she looked up at Weiss and tried her best to make the world stop spinning.

"Jeez, I can't believe how much of a complete dolt you are! I know I said to get a running start but that didn't mean to run into it with your Semblance!"

Ruby shook her head and pouted up at Weiss, the expression looking very odd as she was still upside down, "Hey, so I like to go fast! Big deal! I didn't know that'd happen!"

Weiss groaned and massaged the bridge of her nose with her left hand when a nagging feeling forced her to stop and look around. There was something really off-putting about this little clearing they found themselves in. In fact, if she wasn't crazy, it looked just like a—

"Hey, did it just get darker?" Ruby asked as she rolled backward into a sitting position.

"Oh great," Weiss said as she went back to massaging the bridge of her nose. "You managed to stumble your way into a—" The sound of cawing and large wings flapping was heard overhead and was growing steadily louder. "Oh great." The pair looked up as a very large Nevermore slowly but surely started making its way down to its nest which they just so happened to be standing in the middle of. "Do you want to fight that?" Weiss asked a rather pale and wide-eyed Ruby.

Ruby slowly shook her head, "No, not really."

"How about we run, then?"

"Yeah, running seems like a pretty good idea."

OoOoOoO

The abandoned temple, as the name would suggest, looked absolutely nothing like a temple by most people's reckoning. It was a large stone rotunda nearly thirty meters in diameter with only a small section of ruined wall on one side and five pillars that held up what might have once been part of a roof. Just inside the perimeter of the stone floor were eighteen pedestals atop which were chess pieces of black and gold and currently examining those pieces were two long-haired young women who also happened to be of black and gold.

"Chess pieces?" the black-haired girl asked as she looked around in confusion.

"Some of them are missing. Guess we weren't the first ones here," the blonde, Yang Xiao Long, replied.

"Well, I guess we should pick one."

Yang hummed thoughtfully as she examined a few of them before picking up the gold knight, "How about a cute little pony?"

"Sure," the black-haired girl said with an amused smirk before walking towards her partner.

"That wasn't too hard!"

"Well, it's not like this place is very difficult to—" A loud rustling from one end of the clearing made both girls ready their weapons only to drop their guards in confusion as red and white blurs burst out of the tree line.

"Oh, hey! We made it! And we didn't get eaten!" Ruby said as she skidded to a stop, Weiss not half a step behind her. Weiss was about to reply when Yang spoke up.

"Ruby?" she asked as she started walking towards them.

"Yang!" Ruby was off again as she quickly glomped her older sister. "It was awful! We were almost eaten by a giant Nevermore!"

"Oh, quit exaggerating," Weiss said as she slowly made her way towards them. "It wasn't that bad. That Nevermore didn't get anywhere close to us."

"So you got partnered up with Weiss, huh?" Yang asked as she gave the other girl an appraising look.

"Yeah and she's super cool! We killed twelve Beowolves really fast! She was all 'Hoooo waaaaaah' and stabbity-stab with her rapier while I sliced 'em up with my baby! Then I lined up the last few and Weiss zapped with lightning like 'VOOOOM' and then it hit a tree and 'BOOM', it exploded! I didn't even know trees could explode!"

Yang smiled fondly at her little sister's usual wild storytelling even as Weiss rolled her eyes in exasperation. She had been a little worried, truth be told, about who Ruby would be partnered up with and Weiss certainly hadn't been on the top of her preferred list but it was clear that there was nothing to worry about. Even if they ended up on different teams, her precious little sister would be just fine.

"Come on, Ruby, let's grab a relic and go. I think I've had enough of this forest for one day," Weiss said.

"Oh! Yeah! The test! Right! Hey, who's that? Is that your partner, Yang?" Ruby moved to step around her sister only to stop when she caught sight of the black-haired girl standing a bit away. Ruby couldn't help but notice her striking yellow eyes and cute black bow.

"You bet! Ruby, this is Blake Belladonna! Blake, this is my little sister, Ruby Rose!"

"It's a pleasure," Blake said as she approached the other three and extended her hand.

"Likewise!" Ruby said before moving into the temple after shaking Blake's hand. She quickly grabbed the first relic that caught her attention, the second golden knight, before returning to the others.

A high pitched scream pierced the relative silence of the forest. The quartet turned in the direction it came from and watched as, not a moment later, Jaune Arc came flying out of the forest and into a nearby tree.

"Did that guy just come flying out of the forest?" Blake asked no one in particular.

"Jaune, are you—" Ruby started to make her way over to the dazed blond only to stop when a loud cry came from another part of the forest. The group watched as an Ursa came bursting out of the tree line, swiping and thrashing like mad, before a blast of pink energy hit it in the back and made it crash to the ground. The most surprising part was the orange-haired girl, who Ruby vaguely recognized, that came rolling off of it, having apparently been riding the beast.

"Awwwww… It's broken," she said, the perfect picture of utter heartbreak. As she started examining it, a boy with long, black hair came running up to her, panting heavily.

"Nora!" Ren, and Ruby was certain this had to be Ren, said as he leaned on the slowly vanishing corpse. "Please… don't ever do that again." Unfortunately for him, Nora had already run off and was now in the temple, a gold rook resting on her head.

"I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!" Nora sang while dancing about.

"Nora!"

At Ren's shout, Nora immediately stopped and saluted her friend. "Coming, Ren!" she said cheerfully as she skipped off to join him, relic in hand.

"Did that girl just ride in on an Ursa?" Blake asked no one in particular as the others stared on, dumbfounded.

"I think those two are—" Ruby was interrupted once more by a screech coming from the same direction Jaune had flown in from. Everyone turned to see none other than Pyrrha Nikos running for her life from the giant scorpion-like creature chasing after her.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha called out as she saw her partner dangling from a tree.

"Pyrrha!"

"Did she just run all the way here with a Death Stalker on her tail?" Blake asked again.

Yang rubbed one of her temples as she growled in frustration, "I swear, if anything else crazy happens, I'm going to blow my stack."

Blake's eyes narrowed as she faintly heard something in the distance. She looked up into the sky for a moment before asking one more question, "Is that a giant Nevermore headed this way?"

"It followed us‽" Ruby and Weiss exclaimed in unison.

Yang threw her arms up and screamed in frustration as she gave up.

"You know, we should probably help her," Blake pointed at as she gestured to Pyrrha who just barely managed to avoid one of the Death Stalker's claws. Everyone ignored Jaune's cry for help.

"On it!" Ruby said as she readied Crescent Rose. Yang and Weiss called out for her to wait but both were too late as Ruby took off in a flurry of rose petals.

Pyrrha leaped forward and barely dodged another claw swipe but was too slow and too off balance to dodge the second claw. As she was launched away, Ruby rushed forward with a war cry, Crescent Rose at the ready. The Death Stalker move to strike her with its claws so Ruby countered with a spinning slash into the side of the attacking claw. Much to Ruby's shock, Crescent Rose failed to puncture the Grimm's tough shell and the attack that should have been stopped was merely redirected.

The claw clipped Ruby's shoulder and sent her spinning towards the stinger that was coming down at her. Unable to dodge, Ruby altered her rotation enough to bring up Crescent Rose and intercept the stinger with its shaft. The forced of the impact launched Ruby backward and into the ground, making her bound off of it once before she managed to get her feet back under her and dig them and her right hand into the ground as she brought Crescent Rose's gun form up and opened fire.

"Ruby, get out of there!" Yang said as Ruby's shots did little more than piss the Grimm off. Conceding that fighting this thing alone was a bad idea, Ruby holstered her weapon and turned to run back to the group only to be stopped by a line of feathers fired by the Nevermore, one of which pierced her cloak and pinned her in place.

"Ruby!" Yang cried out as the Death Stalker lashed out with its stinger. Unable to free herself and unable to draw her weapon in time, Ruby could only watch helplessly as the stinger seemed to close in on her in slow motion. While her Aura would certainly soften the blow, that thing hit like a truck and she wasn't entirely certain it could completely absorb the blow given the damage she had already taken.

Yang set off at a dead sprint, praying for speed she never really had so she could reach her baby sister in time. She barely took three steps before a white blur, moving at speeds approaching Ruby's level, shot by her. Weiss skated forward as fast as she could, Myrtenaster readied with white Dust to save her partner, but she could never be fast enough to beat the streak of silver that seemed to appear from nowhere to severe the beast's stinger from its tail.

Surprised, the group looked to where the silver streak had come from to see a red-headed young man in silver-white armor standing on a small hill, his black bow held at the ready as he reached for another arrow. He stopped, however, when Weiss regained her awareness and finished her action, stabbing her rapier into a pale blue glyph on the ground and encasing part of the Grimm in ice.

"Jeez, I can't believe you did that," Weiss said as Ruby finally managed to free herself. "Wanting to save people is good and all but make sure you don't die in the process."

Ruby seemed to shrink into herself in embarrassment as she turned to face her partner. "I know. But thanks for saving me, Weiss. I'm glad to know you've got my back."

Weiss huffed as she crossed her arms and looked away, a light blush dusting her cheeks, "Don't thank me. Shirou's the one who saved you."

"Is everyone okay?" Shirou called out as he neared the group, his bow back in its sword form and sheathed.

"Just fine!" Nora called out as she thrust her fist into the air. Yang, meanwhile, gave Shirou a thumbs up and appreciative smile before running off to envelop her sister in a bear hug.

"That was a great shot, Shirou. Your timing was impeccable," Ren commented.

"Honestly, it's kind of annoying. I always seem to be late to things like this. It would have been much better if I could have been here earlier and stopped it before things got this desperate."

"Well, you know what they say: The hero always arrives late!" Nora said.

Shirou's smile was just a tad bitter as he replied, "Maybe but I really wouldn't call myself a hero."

"Uh, guys?" Jaune said, having gotten down from the tree and back to the group with Pyrrha's help. "That thing's circling back around! What are we going to do?"

"Look, there's no sense in dilly-dallying. Our objective is right in front of us," Weiss said, gesturing to the temple.

"She's right," Ruby said, nodding to Weiss. "Our mission is to grab an artifact and make it back to the cliffs. There's no point in fighting these things."

"Run and live; that's an idea I can get behind!" Jaune said.

Jaune and Shirou both made their way to the ruins. Jaune grabbed the second gold rook while Shirou, after checking the other relics, grabbed the gold bishop.

"Time we left!" Ren said as he noticed the ice pinning the Death Stalker starting to crack.

"Right. Let's go!" Ruby said as she beckoned everyone onwards.

As Shirou watched Ruby pull ahead of the group and leap on to a boulder, motioning them ever onward, he couldn't help but agree with Ozpin's assertions. She was hyperactive, a bit unfocused, and perhaps undisciplined but Ruby Rose had an undeniable charisma that drew people in and would undoubtedly push them onward. She tackled life with an unshakable belief in herself and her cause and with a boundless enthusiasm that was easy to get caught up in. While the way she spurred everyone on made his heart pang with grief, he reaffirmed the promise he made to himself the previous night.

If anyone could save Remnant from the threat of Salem, it was Ruby Rose and Shirou would do everything in his power to get her ready for it.

OoOoOoO

The group of nine tore through the forest as fast as they could go without pulling ahead of the others. They were reaching the edge of the forest now and were coming upon a ruined road that led to a ruined tower suspended over a great chasm. If they could get on top of the tower, they could easily reach the top of the cliffs and make their way back to Beacon Cliff. The only wrinkle in their plan was the giant Nevermore that swooped by above them and perched itself on the tower they had been running towards.

The second it passed overhead, the group scattered and took cover behind the ruined archways as the Nevermore cawed.

"Well that's great!" Yang said in annoyance as she as she peered around her cover.

Jaune, meanwhile, looked back in time to see the Death Stalker burst out of the treeline and charge towards them. "Ah, man, run!" he screamed.

Just as Jaune started screaming, Shirou stepped out from behind his cover and readied his bow. He knocked the arrow and waited for half a heartbeat for the Dust to trigger before letting it fly. The arrow tore through the air like a meteor before hitting home in the Nevermore's chest, exploding on contact. Shrieking in pain, the Nevermore took to the skies even as Shirou continued to pelt it with normal arrows.

As fast as Shirou had been with his attacks, the Death Stalker had been even faster with its charge. Just as he let the last arrow fly, it was on him and rearing back to strike him with its claws only to be stopped by Blake and Ren intercepting it with a cross-slash. Weiss was then by his side and grabbing ahold of his arm, a glyph already forming under them. The two jumped away as the Death Stalker turned its attention to the now fleeing Blake and Ren.

"Go, go!" Pyrrha called out as she skidded to a stop and shifted Milo into its rifle form before firing away at the Death Stalker, Ren quickly reaching her side and lending his own shots. When the Death Stalker about to swipe at them, only then did they stop firing and turn to run.

The group ran across the bridge at top speed, their destination almost within reach, when the Nevermore came back around and used its wings to destroy the center of the bridge. Shirou, who had been at the exact center of the bridge, watched helplessly as his world exploded around him. He watched Ruby, Weiss, Yang, Nora, and Jaune make it to the tower while he fell helplessly towards the endless abyss below.

Time slowed down for Shirou as his life flashed before his eyes. There was not enough time to project a rope for an arrow. There wasn't a weapon in the whole of Unlimited Blade Works that could be used to get back up. No matter how hard he thought or what he contemplated using, there simply was no way for him to get out of this. This was it. He was going to die.

As he plummeted to his certain doom, Shirou was surprised to find that he didn't want to die. After all of the hell he had gone through, after all the lives that had been sacrificed in his place, after all the pain and suffering and torment that he had endured; he still wanted to keep living. Whether it be due to his sense of self-preservation somehow still existing or due to the fact that he didn't want all of the sacrifices that had been made for him go to waste, he wasn't sure but that didn't change the truth of it.

"Shirou!" Ruby called out as she watched her friend plummet from the bridge. On the other side, Blake looked down and caught hold of his ochre eyes. She could see the fear and helplessness burning inside them and so she dove towards him before what was going on even registered. She quickly caught up to Shirou and grabbed his outstretched arm before tossing one end of Gambol Shroud, aided by recoil, towards one of the structures that ran alongside the bridge. Together, they swung around the bridge's base before Blake tossed Shirou up on top of it, joining him not a moment later.

"Emiya Shirou but please call me Shirou," Shirou said the second they were both relatively safe.

"Blake Belladonna."

"I'd just like you to know that I now consider you to be a very good friend."

"I think I can live with that."

"We need to take that thing out!" Ruby said after she made sure Shirou was okay.

"Then let's hit it with everything we've got!" Yang suggested. The five of them readied their weapons as the Nevermore came back around for another pass. As one, they assaulted it with a barrage of gunfire, arrows, and ice shards but nothing they used had any effect as it destroyed the platform they were standing on with its wing. The quintet quickly jumped from debris to debris before coming to land on a higher section of the bridge nearer the cliffs.

"None of this is working!" Weiss said. Ruby watched as Blake used Gambol Shroud to whip to a higher area, Shirou in tow, and Yang fired futilely at it with Ember Celica.

"I have a plan! Cover me!" Ruby yelled as she launched herself towards Blake and Shirou. Weiss readied Myrtenaster and charged in without hesitation.

(A/N: Play "EVO" by Wild Child Bound)

Back on the lower section of the bridge; Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren were battling the Death Stalker. "We gotta move!" Jaune said as they ran forward. Jaune and Pyrrha blocked the Grimm's claws with their shields while Nora opened fire on its exposed head with her grenade launcher and Ren charged forward, firing his guns.

Jaune and Pyrrha were quickly forced away by the creature's brute strength as Nora stopped to reload. Ren flipped over its attempt to grab him with both of its claws and launched into a series of spinning slashes as he sailed over its back. Just as he was about to touch the ground on the other side, its tail came down and slammed him hard into the ground before batting him away and into a nearby wall.

Ren groaned in pain as he pried himself from the wall and Jaune watched in amazement as the other boy was enveloped by a faint green aura. "Ren's glowing! Why is Ren glowing‽" Jaune asked as he ducked under another claw swipe.

"Soul Surge!" Pyrrha answered as she batted away the creature's other claw with Milo. "It's another attribute of one's Aura that I forgot to mention! It's a really powerful attack that can only be used under certain conditions!"

"Can it kill it?"

"Probably!"

"Ren, what do you need?"

"Get it in the air!" Ren replied as he entered into a low stance and began concentrating his Aura.

"On it! Nora, get ready! Pyrrha, with me! Trip it!" Jaune and Pyrrha rushed forward crossing in front of each other in a serpentine pattern before slashing at the Death Stalker's outside legs and knocked them out from under it. "Pop up!" Nora fired off a grenade at the underside of the scorpion-like Grimm, the explosion lifting it only its back legs. "Lift!" Jaune and Pyrrha quickly moved underneath it and used their shields to hold up the creature, lifting its front end slightly higher. "Launch!" Nora's laughter was slightly maniacal as she twirled her hammer and slammed it into the underside of the Grimm, the resulting explosion launching it into the air. "Now, Ren!"

Ren surged forward a speed greater than was usual for him, a trail of afterimages left in his wake. He lept high into the air, bounding off the back of the still rising Death Stalker to get above before flipping upside down, his arms extended above him and crossed at the wrists. "Succession Art:" Green wind coalesced around as he began to spin rapidly and endlessly fire StormFlower, "Spiraling Lotus!" Ren's surging power broke and he was launched downwards at incredible speed, punching through the Death Stalker's thick armor like it was made of wet tissue paper.

Ren landed in a deep crouch in front of the others as the corpse of the Death Stalker fell into the ravine. They all turned to look up with concern at the battle raging on above.

Shirou and Blake stood atop a pillar, weapons at the ready, and watched as the Nevermore circled around. Blake opened fire as Shirou loosed arrow after arrow to draw the creature towards them. With perfect timing, they took to the air, Blake throwing Shirou even higher as she landed on the giant bird's back and slammed Gambol Shroud into its temples before using it as a reign to steer the beast around. It cried out in defiance only for a falling Shirou to lose an ice arrow into the base of its mouth, the resulting ice formation wedging its beak open.

The second Shirou's arrow was away, Blake removed Gambol Shroud and threw one end down to Yang, who had jumped into the air using Weiss' glyphs. With the help of Blake and the combined recoil of their weapons, Yang looped above the Nevermore before being slammed down, fist first, into its skull. The force of the impact shattered the ice, sending razor-sharp shards down its gullet, and caused it to black out and start plummeting.

The Grimm crashed into the bridge near where Ruby was waiting, the bridge shattering under the strain. Ruby's hair, cloak, and skirt began to flutter in a mysterious updraft as rose petals materialized around her. She brought her attention to a razor focus on her target and held her breath as she counted her heartbeats, waiting in agonizing patience for everything to be perfectly aligned. When she finally surged forward, she moved with speed of a raging hurricane, Crescent Rose a blur as she bounced from falling stone to falling stone, crossing the Nevermore's path every which way.

With one last spinning slash, Ruby launched herself downwards, Crescent Rose tearing down the Nevermore's stomach, and towards where Weiss and Shirou waited, lightning glyph and lightning arrow at the ready. The Nevermore regained consciousness and instinctually spread its wings in an attempt to stop its fall only for the prepared attacks to be released, their aim true as they sundered the Nevermore's wings from its body.

Ruby loaded a special cartridge of high-velocity rounds into Crescent Rose and prepared herself where she stood on one of Weiss' glyphs. The instant the attacks were launched, a series of glyphs appeared in front of her forming a ramp aimed straight at the Nevermore's mouth as it cried out in pain and anger. Ruby took off again and hit the nearly frictionless surface of the glyphs in front of her, skating along and up them as she launched herself towards the falling Nevermore. She readied Crescent Rose at her side, the blade folding further back until it looked more like a sickle as she kept it close to her body and angled it to start her spinning faster and faster. The girl and the monster finally met in midair and Ruby disappeared. One heartbeat passed and then another before a string of shots echoed out and countless cuts and holes appeared on the Nevermore's body. It let out one last scream as Ruby burst through the other side and landing on the remains of the bridge in a crouch, letting Crescent Rose rest across her shoulders, the point of the blade on the ground, as the Nevermore's corpse fell into the endless abyss below.

A/N: I am continually astounded by how much support this story has gotten. You all are really great and every notifaction I get of a new fav/follow and especially review really brightens my day. You guys keep being awesome and I'll keep doing my best to put out good content.

This chapter was really fun to write. Not only because of it being the first big battle of the series but also because of all of those sweet lore drops and the chance to explore some fairly major changes Shirou's meddling has caused. Now you should have a good idea as to what I mean in my note at the end of the first chapter about changing RWBY's lore a bit. You should expect more things like this going forward.

This chapter is also where I introduce the concept of Soul Surges. Originally, I was just going to have the characters do these super cool finishers at the end of big fights and I referred to them as Limit Breaks in my notes for the sake of simplicity. However, I eventually decided to make it an in-universe thing since the idea was too much fun to pass up. I never get the chance to properly explain the concept in the story, sadly, so I'll just explain the conditions Pyrrha mentioned here. A Soul Surge is a massive boost in power that allows for the usage of special techniques. They can only be used when a person is pushed to their utmost limits. Normally, this means having their Aura reduced to, say, 12% or less in a serious fight but it can also come about if they're pushed to the brink emotionally. Like a person's Semblance, a Soul Surge consumes their Aura; a great deal of it, in fact. In most cases, a Soul Surge is a death-or-glory attack since it'll leave you with no Aura.

To any Blake fans who were worried that I was writing her out or something, I hope this chapter reassures you that I most certainly am not. Her being ignored for the first two chapters was an unfortunate side-effect.