A/N: Hello again, friends. Chapter 4! Woots! Wasn't sure I was gonna be able to get this up this weekend, but I managed it. Anyway, please enjoy!

Relentless

"-and so we got here as fast as we could." Ruby took a breath. "We expected the worst whenever we saw the smoke, though I guess that was just all the dust kicked into the air by the attack." She motioned toward the now-closed gates. "Fortunately, Beacon's still here."

"Thanks in much part to Team JNPR!" Professor Port exclaimed enthusiastically. "If not for their swift and decisive action in battle, we would surely be in a far sorrier state!"

Said team had vastly different reactions to the praise. Pyrrha stood up straight, puffing out her chest with pride, mainly for their leader's sake, who was looking at his shoes with a sheepish expression on his face. Nora was beaming widely while Ren showed no reaction whatsoever. He was far too busy trying to gather his strength, leaning on Nora while he concentrated. There was no telling when another scuffle could break out, and he needed to have a sufficient amount of Aura if he expected to be of any help.

"Yes, quite extraordinary! Well done JNPR!" Oobleck added. "And let us not forget team RWBY as well!"

"Yes, well, we couldn't really let our school be destroyed," Ruby awkwardly said. She hadn't really been prepared for praise. "Anyway, back to the matter at hand. We need to work out what our next step is."

"I'm more interested in how they're controlling the Grimm," Peach said, her eyes hard.

"It's possible that they've discovered some new property of Dust that we're unaware of," Weiss provided. If this was true, she was going to have to have a serious discussion with her father.

"Is that possible?" Pyrrha asked. "Controlling something using Dust?"

The heiress shrugged. "Honestly, I don't know. We're still years from understanding Dust entirely. We're finding out new properties practically every day. It is completely possible that there is an undiscovered type of Dust that could grant this sort of power."

"I just...feel like there's more to it then that. Grimm are soulless creatures. They can't understand logic or strategy. Yet the Grimm that assaulted us seemed organized. They seemed like they could think."

"That could all just be a side effect of whatever they're using to control them," Pyrrha pointed out. "If that's the case, it doesn't become such a farfetched idea."

"Even so..."

"Jamie," Oobleck talked over her. "We can worry about the whats and hows later. For now, Miss Rose is right, we need to focus on what we should do to better insure we survive."

Professor Peach puffed out her cheeks for a second before sighing resignedly. "Fine, whatever." She shrugged. "I'm gonna go reinforce the gates and talk with the students. Someone needs to calm them down." She walked off toward the students that were meandering near the wall.

Ruby watched as she laid a hand on a young girl's shoulder as she was weeping over the body of her friend. She winced, getting the feeling that it would be a scene that was going to be played out far too many times before they got through this.

"You'll have to forgive Professor Peach," Port was saying. "She's always had a thirst for knowledge, and if she doesn't understand something it will bother her greatly. At times she can let it overshadow the more important issues at hand."

"Yes, we all know what she's like, Peter. On to more urgent matters!"

"Right, of course, Bartholomew." Port stroked his mustache for a moment, letting out a low 'hmmm' as he did so. "The way I see it, there are two tasks set before us that we must accomplish. First and foremost," he held up one finger, "is to secure the school against further attack." Those around him nodded. Another finger came up, "The second is to try and asses what exactly it is our opponents want. The first should be easy enough. We'll need to activate the school's Aura shield."

Jaune cut in, entirely incredulous. "The school has an Aura shield? That seems a bit…impossible."

"Well it's not, Mr. Arc, and if you have been paying one bit of attention in my class you would have known that Aura shields have been around for decades!"

Jaune just looked at the man with a blank expression. "Professor Oobleck, sir, I hardly think now is the time to be bringing up class."

Professor Oobleck paused for a second. "…You would be absolutely correct, Mr. Arc. This is a first!" Jaune sighed in exasperation while everyone else laughed. "Back to the matter at hand. I shall go activate the shield. I shall retrieve myself a glass of coffee as well! The rest of you see if you can't formulate some idea as to what's going on." With that, Oobleck zipped away, leaving Teams JNPR and RWBY alone with Port.

"So...any ideas?" Jaune questioned the group.

"We couldn't find anything out when we were in Vale, unfortunately," Blake noted quietly from beside Yang.

"We shoulda brought those losers from the alley along for the ride." Yang put an elbow on her partner's shoulder leaned against her, cocking her hip out. "Could've interrogated them 'til they told us exactly what was going on."

Weiss shook her head. "That wouldn't have worked, Yang."

The blonde just smirked. "Oh trust me, Princess, I can be very persuasive."

"I think she meant that they probably wouldn't know anything, sis."

"Oh...well...would've at least made me feel better," she mumbled.

"And we all know that's the most important thing in the world of Yang," Ruby said wryly.

"Oi oi, those are fighting words, sis." She cocked her gauntlets with a grin, taking a step forward. Blake laid a hand on her shoulder.

"Let it go, Yang. We've got more important things to worry about."

"Just trying to lighten the mood."

"And a valiant effort indeed, Ms. Xiao Long." Port puffed out his chest and began walking, the students following him. "However, I fear we are no closer to discovering our enemies' objectives for it." Yang rolled her eyes. Professor and veteran Huntsman he may be, Port suffered from enjoying his own voice too much sometimes.

"I've got it!" Nora suddenly exclaimed, holding a fist up in the air. "They wanted to die!" Her companions all stopped walking, staring at her with wide eyes.

"Um..." Ruby couldn't quite find the words. "Nora...what...?"

"Well, why else would attack us? We're Beacon! Everyone knows you don't mess with Beacon!"

There was a few moments of silence following that statement.

"You know, I wasn't honestly expecting that answer to make any amount of sense," Yang admitted. "But...she's kinda right. Attacking Beacon is basically suicide."

"They probably knew that most of the staff wasn't here," reasoned Blake. "If we take that into account, then attacking the school isn't all that ridiculous of an idea."

"While that may be true, we still don't know why they'd assault us in the first place." It was the first time Ren had added his input into the conversation.

Ruby sidled up beside him, gently laying a hand on his upper arm. "Ren, are you alright?"

He nodded and gave her a small smile, trying to ignore the warmth that threatened to spread to his cheeks. "I'm fine. I just needed to gather my strength for a bit. I used too much Aura. If another fight breaks out, I should be able to hold my own. At the least, you won't have to come save me again."

She chuckled. "Just because I won't have doesn't mean I-"

And suddenly the rest of her sentence was lost as the world exploded.

Weiss' ears were ringing. Her head was spinning and her vision was blurry. She was face down on the ground, her cheek pressed firmly to the dirt. What...?

She saw her leader struggle to her feet, red cloak flapping away in the wind behind her. Her sister as well stood. Weiss blinked, trying to clear her eyes. What had happened? Why was everyone on the ground?

She pushed herself to her hands and knees, a small tremor running through her body as she did so. She glanced up again, still trying to put the pieces together. Ruby and Yang were firing their weapons, and she heard Pyrrha and Professor Port's voices saying something as well. She glanced about, noticing the rubble and bits of stone that lay on the ground.

God no. She turned to Beacon's wall and saw exactly what she had been hoping she wouldn't.

Where once the stone had stood high and unbroken around Beacon, there was a now a gaping, jagged hole torn straight through where the gate had been only minutes before. Through the gap poured Grimm, setting upon those students still left standing or forcing themselves to their feet. Weiss shook her head, trying her best to clear it.

She felt a hand grip her under her arm and pull her lightly upward. "C'mon, Weiss," Blake murmured as she set her on feet. The heiress stood shakily on her own for a second, Blake's hand on her shoulder to steady her. Concerned amber eyes watched her apprehensively. "Are you alright?"

Weiss closed her eyes and took a deep breath, forcing her trembling nerves to cease. "Yes, yes I'm fine. I just needed to re-orient myself." Blake nodded, removing her hand.

"Weiss," Ruby called, glancing back over her shoulder. "Are you okay?"

Somehow she still had the energy to roll her eyes. "I'm fine, Ruby. What's the situation?"

"They've blown straight through the wall somehow," Pyrrha commented, suddenly beside them, an injured Jaune leaning heavily on her. He seemed to be favoring his right leg quite heavily, and was wincing every time his left foot touched the ground.

Ren was there, Nora close behind him. His sleeve was torn, and a small amount of blood trickled from a gash underneath, but he seemed not to notice. His magenta eyes were blazing, and his muscles were tense. "We need to join the fight. Hold them off, push them back out of the breach." With that, he and Nora were gone, weapons glinting as they attacked.

"Indeed, into the fray we must plunge again!" Port was there too. "Onward, students of Beacon!" he roared, before charging forward. Weiss glanced at her partner, who shrugged and rushed after him. Weiss pulled her rapier up, and glided off across the ground. She flew straight to a Beowolf, piercing it through the chest as it was bearing down on a freshmen.

She looked at the chaos that surrounded her as the Grimm vanished. What she saw disheartened her. If the first attack had caught the students unaware, then this one had basically snuck up on them while they were sleeping. They were trying their best, but Weiss could tell that it wouldn't be enough. She watched as a Beowolf pounced on Professor Peach, teeth digging deep into her shoulder, blood sprayed from the wound as the blonde teacher fell. Professor Oobleck was lying unconscious on the ground a distance off. It looked as though he had been struck by debris.

Weiss turned back to the bulk of the battle, summoning a glyph under an Ursa trying to get the drop on Ruby with a lift of two fingers. The confused Grimm spun helplessly, and the red-cloaked girl barely spared it a glance before slicing it in half.

She gave Weiss a nod of thanks, and the white-haired girl could see in Ruby's eyes that she knew as much as Weiss that this was a losing battle. No matter how amazingly they fought, with the gates gone and no way to secure their perimeter, they would eventually be overrun.

Think, Weiss. There has got to be some way out of this. Something we can do...she wracked her brain, and it came to her. She had forgotten thanks to the explosion, but now she recalled.

"The Aura shield!" She exclaimed, and Ruby shot her a sidelong glance.

"Exactly, Ms. Schnee," a voice behind her called out, followed swift by a loud bang. A Beowolf tumbled by her, missing an entire chest cavity, from the looks of it. Professor Port stepped up beside her, laying a heavy hand on her shoulder. His gaze was grim underneath his bushy brows, his normally jovial persona gone. "We must activate the Aura shield around Beacon immediately if we are to have any hope of repelling these invaders."

"How?"

He motioned with his weapon to the tower that housed Beacon's namesake. "There, the lights. They only need to be fed enough Aura, and the shield will activate. It will also alert Ozpin about the sit-hrrrk" his sentence abruptly became a pained gurgle.

Weiss stumbled back in horror, bumping into Ruby unintentionally. Her partner spun around, expecting an attack, but froze when she saw Weiss and the expression on her face.

"Weiss? What's wr-" she question tapered off abruptly as she looked up at Professor Port though, eyes widening as she tried to understand what she was looking at.

The portly man was grasping at a white, curving protrusion that was jutting from his chest. Blood gushed from around it, turning his burgundy jacket dark. A small stream of crimson dribbled from the corner of his mouth. Behind him, a Boarbatusk snorted and pawed at the ground. It had to be young, its tusks having no significant curl to speak of. One of which was gored through Professor Port. He grit his teeth, spinning his weapon in his grip and tucking it underneath of his arm. He fired once and heard a squeal of pain. The tusk was pulled form his chest with a sickening squelch as the Grimm reared back in pain.

Port turned and, before the beast could recover, cleaved its head clean in two. After that, the only thing he could really manage to do was fall backward, his Blunderaxe slipping from his grip.

"Professor!" Weiss cried, running to him and skidding to her knees next to him. "Oh-Oh god!" The amount of blood that poured from his chest...there was no way. She knew it. He knew it.

He struggled to speak, coughing thickly. "Ms. Schnee...Weiss." She took his hand, and he smiled. "You must activate the barrier, or else Beacon will fall. Your friends are relying on you." He coughed again. "Consider this an old mentor's final assignment. I know you won't let me down." His eyes closed, and he looked almost peaceful. "I...I wish I could have seen the outstanding Huntress you will be..."

And then he was still. Weiss gently laid his hand back on his chest, taking a moment to lean her head on top of it. Ruby stood over her, eyes darting from left to right.

"Weiss," she said gingerly. She hated to be that person, but right now they couldn't focus on this, they had to keep moving.

"I know," her partner replied, and Ruby shivered at her voice. She was trying so hard to hold it all back, but Ruby could hear the hidden pain in the slight waver. "There will be time to mourn later." Weiss pushed herself up and turned to face Ruby. Unshed tears shone brightly in her ice-blue orbs, but she wouldn't let them fall. She had a mission. "We need to activate Beacon's shield."

Ruby nodded. "Where is it?" She asked gently.

"At the top of the tower."

"Right." She cocked Crescent Rose and positioned it behind her. "Help everyone hold down the fort until I'm back."

The white-haired girl clamped her hand around Ruby's arm in a vice-like grip. "You're not going alone."

"I'm the fastest, Weiss."

"There could be some that got further into the school. You are not," she hissed, her grip getting ever stronger, "going alone. I'm not risking losing you too."

Ruby chewed on her lip for a second. Taking Weiss along probably wouldn't slow her down that much, and besides, she was right; there could be more.

"Yang!" Ruby called. The blonde brawler launched an Ursa into the air, where it was promptly cut to ribbons by Blake, and turned to her sister. "Weiss and I are going to activate the shield. Hold them off until we're back."

"Be careful, you two," she shouted back as Blake landed beside her.

"You too!"

She turned back to face the tower. "Ready?" she questioned Weiss without looking. She didn't answer, instead springing forward on a glyph. "Take that as a yes," Ruby mumbled before firing herself off after her.

Weiss glanced back over her shoulder at the receding body of Professor Port.

Goodbye, Professor.

The two raced across the rooftops of Beacon, not once slowing down. Ruby reigned in her speed slightly. There would have been no point in bringing Weiss along if she just ditched her along the way. The sounds of battle faded away behind them, and soon enough, a relatively complete silence surrounded them.

They reached the tower within a few minutes, fortunately with no undesirable encounters along the way. They climbed it quickly, Ruby reaching the top first. She collapsed her weapon and strode toward the green globes of varying sizes suspended all around the circular chamber. Weiss landed lightly behind her, letting out a small huff of breath. She had used up almost all of her stamina trying to keep up with her leader.

"How do we activate it?"

Weiss walked forward, laying a handing against the closest globe. "Professor Port said that we just needed to channel some Aura into them."

"Which one?"

"I'm not sure. But at a guess," she pointed to the largest of them, in the dead center of the room, "I would say that one."

"Right. Let's do this." Ruby leapt upward, planting her feet on the light and grasping hold of the pole it was nestled in. She touched a hand to it and concentrated, pouting as much of her Aura into and out of her palm as she could.

At first, nothing happened, and Ruby began to panic. What if something was wrong with it? What if the attack had somehow taken it out of commission? She doubled her efforts, feeling every ounce of energy she had left over leave her body. She knew it was dangerous to overuse her Aura like this, but she was desperate. It was a risk she was more than willing to take. Black was beginning to creep in at the edges of her vision whenever the orb finally reacted.

It seemed to flicker once or twice, and then suddenly flared to the life. The light it gave off blinded her, and she threw her arm in front of her face. It pierced through her eyelids anyway. It blasted outward, a wave of green that rapidly expanded toward the edges of Beacon's grounds.

"Ruby, it worked!"

The young huntress-in-training smiled to herself. Her friends would be safe. At least for now. The darkness finished taking over her eyesight, and she slid from the top of the orb, barely hearing Weiss call out her name in panic as she plummeted toward the floor below.

A/N: So that was ch. 4 guys and gals. What did we think? It was a little rough starting this one out for me, but once I got into it, I felt it flowed a bit better.

Also, I should warn you, this is probably a pretty good feel for what a lot of this series is going to be like. Expect some angst (if any of you have read my PJO fic, you know what you're in for)

Anyway, I'd say we're sitting at about a third of the way done with Book 1. As I said, it is far and away the shortest of the three. It could end up being longer, I'm not sure. It really depends on how fleshed out my writing gets from my outline to the page

As always, please review review review! Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeease (I don't know how to do a puppy-dog eye emoticon else I totally would)

Until next time!

EDIT: For the reviewer Zero who asked what the pairings were, and for anyone else who's curious, I guess. The only two I will confirm are Bumblebee ('cause I ship that shit harder than the Titanic) and Ren/Ruby. Ren/Ruby's a bit of an experiment, and I will be delving more into how it came into being, so don't worry. It's not just gonna be imma just throw it in your face and be like 'HERE THERE LIKE EACH OTHER K?'