Chapter 7: Lighting fires.

Masks, on their own, are a perfectly fine phenomenon. The troubling parts are those who need to wear them constantly and those who forget to take them off.

For an outside observer, the situation unfolding in the valley would be a perfect example of an idyllic camping trip. A company of friends; a ruin to explore; a bonfire to ward off the cold of today's morning. However, upon diving into details, "idyllic" would rapidly become the last word to describe what was happening where there once was a temple to deities of old, whatever those could be. The "bonfire" was actually a cape engulfed by flame, hastily taken off and thrown on the stone floor of the shrine to avoid giving the fire any more food. The company of friends were, in fact, trained killers, here to prove they have earned the right to hone their murderous craft even further. Six Hunters-in-training, currently gazing in utter confusion at two more, running away from a giant black scorpion clad in white bone plating, its golden stinger hanging above them akin to a guillotine blade. As the two were rapidly gaining distance, the beast had lost interest in the hunt, slowing the pace and lying down, almost like it was waiting for something.

The party then turned their eyes skywards, where another monster roamed the sky, its size dwarfing even that of the Death Stalker. A gigantic bird-like creature, piercing the sky with slow flaps of its wings, black as death itself. Yet on its body, a small white spot could be seen which, upon further investigation, turned out to be a girl in a strict white skirt, desperately clutching to one of its claws as if her life depended on it. Which it did.

Down on the ground, a girl in a white and black outfit questioned her comrades in a seemingly bored manner, although her amber eyes were studying the bird's every move, waiting for a signal to jump to arms.

"So… I guess there's only one left?"

Through nothing short of a miracle, Blake's ponderings were heard by the girl gripping the Nevermore's claw, to which a dramatic statement came, serving as both a question and an accusation:

"How could you leave me-e-e-e-e…"

"I said 'jump'…" The reply was uttered by a small girl in a red dress, clearly the youngest of the group, her voice growing more silent by the letter. Despite not making a great first impression on her teammate, Ruby was not looking forward to losing her in the very first day of their cooperation, even if it was far from pleasant. Please don't die in the first day? Darius can catch her too, right?

"She's gonna fall," Blake remarked in the same melancholic tone, looking wholly disinterested in the situation. Does she even know what emotions are?

"She'll be fine…" For some reason, not a single one of the group seemed convinced by Ruby's reassurance, not even herself.

"She's falling," another melancholic reply came, this time from a boy in a green jacket with a purple stripe in his otherwise dark hair.

"Should I catch her, too? I don't remember the two of you getting along too well." Darius' comment on the situation was asking the public a question, but the girl saw clearly that he had long since made his choice, taking deep breaths to concentrate.

"Yes please? We're kinda teammates now… and we just started to get along… I think."

"I see," without further ado, the boy in pitch-black armor extended his hand outwards, amassing the same cloud of black smoke he used to catch Ruby when she jumped ship. However, the repetition of exercise inevitably caused a certain amount of strain, forcing Darius to extend his other hand to not break his concentration, clearly not accustomed to manipulating his Semblance in such twisted ways. "You know," he said, "That night when I met the two of you I told Yang that saving damsels in distress was not my specialty. It seems like fate has been bent on proving me wrong ever since. What were you doing there so late at night anyways?"

"I… I was just looking for Yang. I wanted to tell her something," Ruby's hesitance to answer did not go unnoticed by Darius, but he decided to not pry further, too busy levitating a cloud of smoke with a person on it. Her sister's opinion, however, wildly differed from her own:

"Ruby told me she got accepted into Beacon two years earlier by Ozpin himself! She said it was for stopping some kind of robbery, right, Ruby?" Did you really have to do this, Yang?

"Well, I didn't actually stop it… And I messed up the street pretty badly… And he almost killed me if it wasn't for Goodwitch…" Every word visibly chipped away at whatever shreds of confidence Ruby had left, until her shoulders slumped in defeat. Seeing her sister's miserable mindset, Yang decided to cheer her up with an energetic hug:

"Aw, come on, Ruby, don't be so hard on yourself! I'm sure Ozpin had his reasons when he offered for you to come here."

"And I'm sure you're about to break my back, Yang…"

"Oh, sorry."

"Seeing this kind of family relations brings a tear to my eye," Darius' voice was dripping with amusement as he lowered the cloud another ten meters. "And who was the unlucky perpetrator?"

"Haven't you seen the news? It's this Torchwick guy… Darius what are you doing?!" Ruby's surprise grew into panic within a heartbeat as the man's head snapped to her, gazing straight into her eyes for answers. This also broke his focus, making the cloud dissipate in an instant and its passenger fall several meters to the ground; thankfully, Weiss nailed the landing, alighting with such grace you'd think it was a premeditated stunt and not wild improvisation. Darius, on the other side, immediately made a low grunt as all the energy expended into forming the cloud just disappeared into the ether.

"What was that supposed to be?!" The high-pitched voice was buzzing with shock and anger, "Why'd you drop me mid-flight? You could have killed me!"

The man in the armor slowly turned towards Weiss as his usual grey eyes replaced the bottomless wells he had a mere second ago and spoke, more dumbfounded than angered by the lack of gratitude:

"Is this really the kind of thanks I get for saving your life? I'm regretting my choice already, but you could at least thank Ruby for convincing me to do it." He then turned his head to Ruby looking at him with an empty stare and quickly winked at her. But I didn't… oh.

"What was that supposed to mean?! Are you telling me you wouldn't…" Her ramblings were rudely interrupted by her teammate, weary from having to put up with Weiss' arrogance:

"Look, Weiss. Do you really have to make it worse for all of us? It worked out in the end, didn't it?" she raised her hands in frustration, "And if you haven't noticed, we have two very large problems to deal with."

"I suppose…" Had her Semblance been an ability to kill with a stare, Ruby would already be cold on the ground, closely followed by Darius. However, their staring competition was cut short by exhausted breath emanating from a pair of Hunters slowly walking towards the shrine where the rest of the gang was standing. Both Jaune and Pyrrha were breathing heavily, having to run for what seemed to have been kilometers from an overgrown scorpion intent on killing them, yet appeared unharmed. The Death Stalker, meanwhile, had recuperated from the chase and continued its march towards the temple, each of its ten eyes burning with bestial hunger.

"Great, the gang's all here. Now we can die together!" Yang's optimistic tone somehow did not lift the spirits of the group.

"Not if I can help it!"

"Where are you…"

Darius' words became dampened by the sound of wind rushing past Ruby's ears as she charged towards the spawn of Grimm, pulling out a sniper rifle she had been keeping on the small of her back the entire time. With a satisfying metallic clank, Crescent Rose as she called it, transformed into a scythe of ridiculous proportions; easily twice the size of the girl's fragile frame. Taking the weapon with an iron grip, Ruby put the blade behind her and pulled the side grip, discharging one of the shells. A blaze appeared in front of the scythe's tang, accompanied by the thunderous sound of a bullet being shot and the recoil propelled the girl with triple the speed. While in mid-flight, Ruby made a full spin to further amplify the force of her strike… but was met by the Death Stalker's claw, bouncing from it like a rubber ball and impacting the earth with a loud crack.

The world in Ruby's eyes temporarily went black as air escaped her lungs in a matter of a second and her head split into a thousand pieces, each vibrating from piercing pain. Must've… hit the head… Barely retaining consciousness, the first thing she did is try and draw in another breath, which proved to be an impossible task as she has seemingly forgotten how to breathe. A second attempt bore fruit, though, so she stood up, grimacing from a wave of pain going off in her right leg as she shifted her weight onto it. Cracked a bone? No… feels more like I've strained a muscle. I can work with that.

"D-d-don't worry! Totally fine."She took aim and fired another round at the nearing menace, yet the high-caliber bullet that would normally pierce an armored vehicle like butter bounced off the creature's plating with a pathetic "chink". Damaging the monster, however, was not the goal. The goal was to get away from it, which Ruby successfully accomplished by letting the shot's recoil give her an initial boost in momentum, folding the scythe back and hanging it on her waist as she began the sprint, limping because of the strained muscle. It's not over yet, is it?

And indeed. She saw Yang begin running towards her while rallying the rest behind her, but at the very same moment a deafening screech bellowed from above, indicating they were not going to make it in time; the Giant Nevermore has joined in on the hunt. Freezing in place and flapping its wings, it unleashed the same feather barrage that Ruby and Weiss barely escaped a mere thirty minutes ago. As the torrent of razor-sharp feathers neared the ground, Ruby picked up the pace even further, her lungs beginning to burn similarly to her leg. She saw black mist envelop Darius' figure, but wrote it off as a sign of coming delirium from oxygen deprivation as he started phasing in and out of her vision, getting closer and closer to her, but not close enough. Can't escape the barrage… Am I going to get impaled by the feathers or by the scorpion?

A feather impacted the soil several meters behind her, raising a small cloud of dirt around it. There goes. Ten more followed suit, each one entering the ground closer to Ruby until one of the massive feathers struck mere centimeters away from Ruby, or so it seemed. Upon making another step, Ruby has found herself struggling for air again as the cloth of her cape cut into her throat, increasing the burning tenfold. Suddenly she felt her legs losing power and collapsed on the ground, still pinned by the Nevermore's feather, drawing exhausted breaths as the clatter of the Death Stalker's legs neared her. I messed up. Again.

The feathers kept bombarding the ground around her, enclosing her in a black cage, the bars harder than any metal out here. Several of them landed right in front of the extraction party, keeping the prisoner inside and the rescuers outside. Whipping out their own weapons, Darius and Blake began slashing at the feathers, trying to hack a way to Ruby. A futile attempt as neither of their blades were fit for lumberjacking, especially for these kind of trees. She saw Weiss take a careful look at the obstacle and then get down on one knee, all while tracing some elaborate symbols in the air, a faint white mist condensing around her. Yang's muffled cry reached her ears:

"Ruby, get out of there!"

I'm trying. Ruby gripped her cape and gave it a weak pull, but the cloth didn't even flinch, impaled into the ground by a jet black feather about half a meter in diameter. Her vision even more blurry than before, she glanced behind her, where a lumbering beast was preparing to strike. Can't dodge, can't block and I don't even have any armor. I messed up. Again. Probably for the last time. As the scorpion's stinger began its descent, Ruby instinctively covered her eyes, even if this childish reaction would not stop the attack. Endgame, Ruby.

"You are so childish."

"Weiss?"

"And dim-witted. And hyperactive. And don't even get me started on your fighting style!" As she ripped Myrtenaster out of a thick layer of ice it was lodged in and turned towards Ruby, Weiss couldn't help but notice the overall miserable state of the girl. Ruby's entire body was shaking from the shock, she was still trying to catch her breath from the sprint and consequent suffocation by the cape; her eyes, formerly silver, were now pierced by a red web of burst capillaries. Suddenly Weiss felt a small pang of guilt. The last thing she currently needs is more pressure. Maybe I should tone it down a bit. She then continued in a lighter tone:

"And I suppose I can be a little bit… difficult." She paused for a second, trying to understand where she was going with this. "But if we're going to do it, we're going to have to do this together. So, if you could stop trying to show off, I'll be… nicer."

"I'm not trying to show off! I want you to know I can do this!"

Weiss let out another sigh, taken aback by the sincerity in Ruby's voice. She really means it, doesn't she? And people were always saying I'm the one with an inferiority complex.

"You're fine." She extended her left hand and touched the feather her companion was still leashed to with the tip of her sword, watching ice spread out of Myrtenaster and onto its surface. A light tap and the resulting sculpture shattered into a million pieces, finally freeing Ruby from her captivity. As she was walking back, she pressed a hidden switch on the rapier's hilt, opening up one of the wrist guards. She then took out the barrel and checked the dust chambers. No more ice Dust. Great. I should have another one. Hopefully it will suffice for today and I won't have to waste so much of it while rescuing someone else.

Checking inside her dress, Weiss extracted a small cigar box and opened it. Inside were twelve Dust capsules, every row containing two of each color: red, blue, cyan, yellow, purple, white. An unorthodox loadout, to say the least, but one she had found working out the best for herself. She took out the white capsule and replaced the one in the barrel with it, putting the empty one back into the cigar box. I'm not sure how much I have brought with me to Beacon. Might want to check when we get back. If we get back.

A sound of running attracted her attention. Closing the box and concealing it in her dress, Weiss glanced up before seeing Yang storm past her towards her sister. Looking slightly to the side, she saw Blake and the boy who caught her earlier sheath their weapons, as breaking through the feather wall was no longer necessary. For some reason, the man's eyes were fixated on her weapon, studying it with disbelief. Another gun nut? Wasn't Ruby enough?

"Don't you know that staring at people is rude?"

The man in question looked at Weiss, blinked a couple of times and shook his head in confusion, seemingly caught off guard by the question. He did get a handle on things rather quickly, though, and was soon staring right at Weiss, frustration in his eyes and barely contained anger in his voice:

"You really could use some basic human decency, Weiss, you know that? You still haven't thanked me for saving your life and you even started berating Ruby the second her sister wasn't there. Although I'm surprised you, with your attitude and whatnot, even bothered saving her at the expense of using up Dust, considering how little of it fits there."

And how would he know?! Doesn't matter, though. He looks… a little too angry, actually. Am I going to end up with a child and a psycho this year? She took a deep breath, considering her options for the second time today. I made up with Ruby. Maybe it'll work with him, too?

"Look, I admit I was a little harsh on her. Even admitted it before her. And I suppose I shouldn't have lashed out on you back there. I was a little shocked, if you hadn't noticed. So maybe we could not start this year as enemies and begin by introducing ourselves? You know my name but I don't know yours, which strikes me as a little unfair."

The man raised his left eyebrow and tilted his head slightly to the left, observing the white-haired girl with surprise. A half-smile crossed his face as he nodded in agreement:

"The fact that you're wearing the Schnee Dust Company logo on your back really doesn't leave much room for speculation, but yes, it does seem unfair. My name is Darius, and I guess I should apologize for my little flip-out right here. To be honest, I can't say I'm thrilled to meet you, but I suppose not everything goes smoothly."

What a strange name. Pseudonym?

Pseudonym or not, this was the only name she was getting. He seems friendly enough, though. If he makes it through, his name will be announced anyway, so maybe there's no point getting worked up over this for now.

"A-a-and here are the sisters. Could it be that we actually get a second to breathe out and get our brains together?"

"Em, Darius…" Jaune's nervous voice attracted the attention of the group. "That thing's circling back. I don't think we've got a second." The boy in white armor shifted his gaze from the sky and looked around, his arm raised to the sky. "What are we gonna do?"

Well, there are nine of us and only two of them. We could take them. Do we need to, though?

"Look, there is no point in dillydallying," Weiss said while pointing at the shrine, where the chess pieces were waiting to be claimed. "Our objective is right here."

"She's right." For once, agreement was reached between Weiss and Ruby, as the latter chimed in. "Our objective is to grab one of the artifacts and get back to the cliffs. There's no point in fighting these things."

"Run and live. That's a strategy I can get behind," Jaune was very clearly relieved by the fact they didn't have to engage the monsters. One by one, the members of the party nodded, acknowledging the plan… except Darius, who was none too impressed by the tactical genius of the two girls.

"Guys, you do realize we're dealing with a Nevermore, a flying Grimm? The only way we're reaching the cliffs is through this itty-bitty bridge over there," he pointed at a thin bridge in the distance, the only thing connecting the chasm. "If that thing decides to land on the other side, we're suddenly cut off and will have to deal with a Nevermore and a Death Stalker on very, very flimsy terrain. I say it's a bad idea."

"Does this mean you have a better plan?" Pyrrha's not buying any of it.

"I do not. Which is why I'll have to go along with this one. I just want you to understand that if we mess this up even slightly, we're going to start losing people. Case in point: literally two minutes ago."

"I agree," this time, Jaune didn't sound intimidated or nervous. Upon taking a look at his eyes, Weiss found them startlingly different from what she saw last time, back in the forest. Instead of his usual blue eyes, she was looking at two icicles burning with determination, planning and calculating. "We've gone too far to start making mistakes now. Once me and Ruby grab the pieces, we start moving. Nobody runs in front of the group, nobody lags behind. No splitting up unless we have to fight." He's kind of cute when he's serious like that. Although it seems like this ship has already sailed.

"Yeah. Let's get going!" Ruby's rallying cry sealed the deal and she, along with Jaune, proceeded to the temple. Ruby picked a white knight, Jaune took a rook of similar color. Ren and Nora, having picked their piece already, were on lookout. Standing near Darius and Blake, a strange thought occurred in Weiss' mind. For the first time today, surviving the initiation was a very real outcome and not an ephemeral dream.

"Seems like Vomit-boy actually has some guts. Who could've thought?"

Yang's lighthearted quip threw Darius out of his thoughts, forcing him to blink a couple of times to recollect them. Jaune's sudden transformation had him thinking. He had no doubts that there was more to him than met the eye, but couldn't pinpoint just what it was. After all, he would not have been accepted otherwise. He obviously had his aura unlocked back in the forest, but something like this? As clichéd and corny as his speech might have been, the inspiration from it was very real, affecting everyone in the group, including himself. He could see the spirits lifting and eyes lighting up, ready to kill and die on command. And then there was this redhead that took him under her wing for the time being, absolutely stupefied by his zealous speech.

"Seems like it. Besides, you generally have to possess guts to earn such a nickname, don't you find?"

"Hey, I am one who puns here, forgot about this?"

"Those are no puns, those are wits. Puns require setup, using wit does not."

"Are you implying?."

"Nah."

"I'm watching you." Yang pointed at him with forked fingers and narrowed eyes. She then immediately shifted the latter towards the redhead, who still showed all symptoms of being star-struck. "I guess someone got more inspired than the rest. Should we tell him?"

"I'm sure they'll work it out if he keeps this up. But consistency may become a problem… Who is she anyway? She looks familiar. I think I saw her picture somewhere along the lines of a year ago…"

"Her name is Pyrrha Nikos and I have no idea what kind of rock you have to live under to not have heard about her," Weiss joined the conversation in her typical manner. "She currently holds the record of winning the Mistral regional tournament four times in a row and don't make me explain to you what that is. To your credit, though, the last tournament did take place precisely a year ago."

Mistral, then? She's more than likely been initiated into the Church. That's going to make it significantly harder to get along with her. Pity.

"You seem to know quite a bit about her."

"I'm a Schnee, remember? I have to keep track of everyone of even slight significance. Forget about a birthday of some important numbnut and you've got yourself another scandal, which may or may not attract attention of the media. It's a pain at times."

"Fair enough."

The talks came to a short halt as the participants ran out of topics to discuss and took whatever little time they had remaining to steel themselves for the upcoming march. Taking out the clasp of the cape out of his pocket, Darius took another look at the image. End of the line. It's gone well so far. Hopefully it'll end just as well. A-a-and here are our lookouts.

"Time we left. The scorpion's about to break free," Ren's voice put an end to the silence looming over the Hunters, setting events in motion. Pyrrha finally awoke from the stupor and began arranging the formation of the small squadron:

"Alright people, we don't have a lot of time. Me and Jaune will be running in the front and someone else will have to stay in the back for suppression fire. The rest runs in pairs, depending on who you got paired with. Do not break the formation. Questions?"

"Em, Pyrrha? Why do we have to be in the front?" Seems like Jaune's zeal is all gone. Very strange.

"Because we are the only ones with a shield, Jaune. If anything flies at us, we can block it."

"O-o-okay…" Jaune was very clearly not looking forward to leading the charge, but went along. Not that he had much choice.

"Guys? We should start moving. The Death Stalker's almost out!" Ruby pointed at the blob of ice that was restraining the scorpion, by now covered in cracks, pieces of it falling to the ground as the beast was doing its hardest to demolish its frosty chain. "Let's just go?"

"Agreed. I'll get us some coverage from the Nevermore."

Darius took a deep breath and raised his hand to the sky, channeling whatever available energy he had remaining. Obeying his will, smoke began pouring out of his palm, eventually forming a blanket above the heads of the party. "It won't protect us, but it will hide us from the bird. Let's hope it won't attack what it can't see." The boy shut his eyes and pressed on the bridge of his nose, trying to keep his concentration through pain. The exhaustion from constantly using his Semblance was piling up. So was anger: irrational and unnecessary in this situation, Darius' thoughts were slowly but surely getting shrouded in a red haze. How much has it been? The fight with the Beowolf pack, catching the girls, running after Ruby, now this? You don't even have any Dust to recharge with. You'll fall flat in the middle of the run.

No you won't. Finding strength is easy. Forget the tiredness, forget the pain. Just… give in.

As the group began their sprint, nobody noticed a scowl etch itself on his face, more fitting the monsters they were fighting than humans.

"Nevermore incoming! Cover by the pillars!"

Seeing the party scatter around, Darius immediately dispersed the black veil he had been holding several meters above his comrades, concealing their location from the enormous bird flying above them in confusion. He, Ruby and Yang ended up hiding behind one of the right-side pillars leading up to the bridge above the chasm. Before them lie a lone watchtower in the middle of literally nowhere, followed by a cliff that was their destination. However, just as he predicted, the flying monster chose the watchtower as its perch, cutting off their escape route and trapping them between a rock and a hard place. A sigh escaped his mouth as he tried to merge with the pillar, desperately trying to cool both his body and his mind, boiling alive under the armor and going insane from the anger and exhaustion. So tired… We're going to need a lot of stopping power to deal with the scorpion. The shield bearers and the girl with the grenade launcher should suffice… Nora was her name?

"Well, that's great." For some reason, Yang did not sound excited to begin this fight, which was quite unlike her, or so Darius thought.

"What are we gonna do now?" Somehow Jaune's exclamation reached Darius' ears, making him open his eyes and survey the situation. The Nevermore was still perched ahead of them, as proved by another screech, but the Death Stalker was rapidly closing distance. He quietly groaned and struck the stone with his fist. Get yourself together!

"I have a plan. We split up: Jaune, Pyrrha, Ren and Nora will charge the scorpion before it comes too close while the girls make for the bridge and try to shoot the bird out of the sky. I'll help the ground troops first, then swing around. Blake!"

"Huh?"

"When I give you a signal, I'm going to need you give me a little bit of momentum."

"How will I know?" Blake sounded perplexed, not quite understanding what he meant by that.

"I'll be screaming your name at the top of my lungs, really shouldn't be hard to recognize." She'll get it, I hope.

"Works for me. Nora, distract him!" Ren shouted, pointing at the sky. With a maniacal laugh, the little girl sprinted towards the middle of the passage, dodging the incoming feathers like it was child's play. Having reached the small hill in the middle, she took out her weapon from the back and pressed the trigger, sending three pipes flying towards the monster of Grimm, still laughing like a madman. One of them directly impacted the monster's ugly maw, leaving a crack visible even from where they were standing. This absolutely suicidal tactic bought them the time necessary to regroup and begin their assault. Letting Jaune and Pyrrha rush past him, Darius picked up the pace, running towards the hulking beast lumbering towards them. As they neared the scorpion, it raised both its pincers, ready to smash whoever dared come near it. The redheaded girl and the knight in shining armor just happened to be the closest.

As the beast roared and brought down its pincers, Pyrrha screamed "SHIELDS UP!", raising hers and getting Jaune to do the same, taking the brunt of the attack. The recoil sent the Death Stalker staggering back and the duo rolled to the side, letting the more nimble fighters to join the fray. Ren rushed up to the dazed beast and jumped, grabbing the stinger with one hand and firing a long burst from the other. With deadly precision, each bullet struck one of the eyes of the monster, popping it with a sickening noise and leaving it to blindly stumble. Unfortunately, one of the consequences was the beast going into a frenzied fit, waving its tail in all directions and sending Ren flying straight into one of the pillars.

My turn. Taking out his scythes and immediately merging them together, Darius dashed to the scorpion, but almost got impaled by its stinger as it hit the ground and got stuck, forcing him to roll to the side. Seizing the opportunity, he slashed at it with the curved blade of the scythe, but did not quite manage to sever it, although he came close. By this point, white hot rage was clouding his mind, demanding blood be spilled today, no matter if his or that of his enemies. A pincer flew in his direction as the scorpion shrieked from pain again. He spun the scythe and struck the side of it, sending the massive claw to the side of him, barely scraping his arm. Continuing to spin the scythe, he jumped at the beast and brought the blade down, piercing the white bone and lodging it in the Death Stalker's body. With a savage roar, Darius pulled the weapon towards himself and ripped it out, chipping away a hole in its plating, revealing the flesh of bright pink color. He raised his scythe, preparing to end the fight… but the monster finally managed to free its tail and stumbled back yet again, disrupting his balance and making him fall down on the cold stone.

His vision obscured by red fog, he raised his head, only to see the scorpion lifting one of its claws above him. It might not have been able to see him, but easily sensed the scent of sweat and blind fury seeping out of his pores. Not even caring about rolling away or running, he planted the blade into the ground, preparing to either block the strike or perish… but at the same moment Jaune bellowed behind him: "Pyrrha!" and a quiet hiss reached his ears. The next thing he saw was a metal disk swishing past him, severing the weakened connection between the Stalker's tail and the stinger with a meaty "chop". Like a guillotine, the hunk of the golden-looking bone pierced the spot recently exposed by Darius' scythe, eliciting a squeal out of the beast and forcing it to spaz in agony. As he was about to jump at the monster yet again, another command from Jaune caused him to abort this plan of action:

"Nora, nail him! Darius, watch out!"

"HEADS UP!" He heard Nora's boots impact something solid and then, three seconds later, a loud bang. Without looking, he jumped back, gasping for air as a small meteor landed on the Death Stalker, pummeling the stinger with its hammer and raising a fountain of blood, accompanied by the animal's dying wail. The battle, however, was far from over. Taking a look behind them, Darius saw the four girls standing on a dome towering above the chasm, unloading every bullet in their clips into the Nevermore, who was on a collision course with the structure. He sheathed his scythes and began running towards the chasm, seeing as the girls already managed to recover from the fall. He then commanded the voice recognition software in his mask to increase the energy intake of the boots to two hundred percent, feeling the electronics inside buzz as the Dust extractors started working. As Darius took the leap of faith straight into the chasm, soaring above the ground, he funneled every last bit of air in his lungs into one syllable:

"BLA-A-A-A-AKE!"

A gun barked in the distance, sounding more like singing of the gods than a mere weapon to the boy above the grey abyss as a black leash surged towards him. She got it. Clever girl. Grabbing onto the leash for dear life, he felt his stomach drop as he was flung in the direction of the Nevermore stumbling in the air, currently trying to chew on Yang as she unloaded countless shells from her gauntlets into its mouth. The girl looked back by instinct and, seeing a black missile speed towards her, immediately jumped ship, landing on a conveniently placed jump pad of blinding white color. Just as he was about to fly past the giant bird, he spun around to face it and buried the scythes into the flesh of the Nevermore, unleashing torrents of thick red blood. Disregarding the horrific wails of the monster, he pulled up on his scythes with a roar of his own; jerking the blades towards himself, he merged the two weapons in mid-air and jammed the blade into the spot where its dorsal fin met the head plating, eliciting yet another shriek from it. Suddenly the monster's movement lost all logic, reminiscent of the moment when Ren shot out all the eyeballs of a Death Stalker. In an attempt to hold his balance. Darius gripped the scythe with two hands and jammed the blade even further inside. A terrible mistake, seeing as the two were heading straight for a cliff.

In the very last moment, the wannabe Nevermore rider managed to rip the blade out of the monster's skull and jumped off, watching as it crashed into the rock and wincing. One more second and I would have been in similar shape. As in: very flat. Just as he stood up, he saw a white flash rush past him and towards the Nevermore. The flash turned out to be Weiss, stopping before the blinded bird and conjuring up a pile of ice, freezing the monster's tail and locking it in place before dashing back. What a weapon. Too bad there won't be another one like it… Another gunshot made him look to the left of him, where Blake and Yang were spanning Blake's ribbon between two columns before the bridge. I feel like I know where this is going… Yep. Corresponding with his thoughts, the girl in a red dress took off the ground and landed onto the improvised slingshot, held in place by another one of Weiss' discs. Feeling like his work here was done, Darius just sighed and sat down on the stone floor of the bridge, mere meters before a drop of unknown depth, enjoying the show. After a small delay, the slingshot flung Ruby directly at the crazed Nevermore, desperately trying to free its tail, stumbling like a blind kitten. As the girl landed on the cliff's incline, the monster's neck just so happened to be trapped at the edge of Ruby's blade. A series of familiar discs appeared before her, directing the path. And then she just ran, somehow dragging the Nevermore's giant body on her scythe, faster and faster, constantly firing from Crescent Rose to give her even more… Just as there was no cliff to run upon, a sickening crunch echoed in the valley as the raven's head separated from its body, raining blood over the area below. Ruby's silhouette disappeared above the cliff while the remains of what once was a Nevermore slowly fell down on the ground, the loud thud of the impact serving as a final accord of a symphony.

The boy sitting on the bridge closed his eyes and rested his head on the cold surface of the bridge, his mind slowly clearing up and his bloodlust subsiding, breath by breath. Alright, that was awesome. Can I just sit here for a minute now? With a quiet voice, he spoke:

"Give me a sitrep."

"Aura levels critical. Adrenalin levels in blood critical, but subsiding. Total stimulator supply at: 17 percent. Minor laceration on right shoulder. Boots energy supply at: 36 percent," a generated voice replied. The airships should be arriving soon. They could patch me up, right?

A muffled sound to the left attracted his attention, making him open his eyes and slightly turn his head. Blake just jumped the chasm and was headed towards him, a small smirk on her lips. Here's company. Not that I mind.

"Nice stunt. Mind if I take a seat, too? The day has been rather hectic."

"You've a whole bridge for yourself. Or what's left of it," Darius quietly laughed, observing the ruin. The bridge was trashed by the late Nevermore, split into three parts, supported by pillars going all the way down into the white fog. Blake chose a spot in front of him, sitting down as well.

"I didn't expect you to be so literal with the signal. You might have screamed louder than the Nevermore."

"I'm certain my vocal cords will pay the price eventually," he said, interrupted by a coughing fit. "See?"

"You're bleeding, you know," she pointed at Darius' shoulder. He raised his left hand and moved it over to the right, feeling something warm trickle over his fingers.

"Just a scratch. Probably got hit while jousting the Death Stalker. The vest took most of the impact, which wasn't too hard to begin with. Oh. I see the rest of the party is coming."

"Nice moves, the two of you!" Yang's cheery voice made the two exchange glances in silent sorrow. "You could say that Darius came out swinging." None of them found the strength to rebut in any way, shape or form, resorting to quietly groaning in frustration.

"Aw, lighten up, you two! We just killed a Death Stalker and a Giant Nevermore, and we haven't even begun our training! Really no need to look like you two are stalking me."

"I abhor you. The only reason I still haven't stood up and murdered you horribly is because I'm currently running on absolute fumes because of helping both you and the other group. About that, though…" he raised his head from the railing and looked around, soon interrupted by another coughing fit. "Anyone got a vial for me? I didn't expect to use up every last bit of aura I was going to have in the coming week within a single day."

"I have some," Darius easily recognized Weiss' voice as she crossed the chasm, along with Jaune, Pyrrha, Ren and Nora. "But don't come crawling to me later today when you go stark raving mad from Dust withdrawal. Which one do you want?"

"Judging by your style, I'll go ahead and assume you don't have any of the darker ones. Red will do. Appreciate it." Catching the small capsule, Darius stared at it for a second, watching the subtle changes in the shades of Dust. Dust absorption, one of the most ancient techniques in the Hunter arsenal, was equal parts powerful and dangerous. Dust is, essentially, an energy source activated by infusing it with aura, and the wielder is free to choose where to direct this energy, including their bodies. The effect has a terrible price, in the fact that the resulting euphoria proved to be extremely addicting, which is why the technique is highly advised against and not taught weak willed individual should engage in such practices. In a pinch, however... He felt a smile crawl across his lips as the Dust lit up with the brightness of a thousand suns… and then turned into black ash, having lost its charge, now no more useful than regular dust. Emptying the vial and returning it to Weiss, he let out a content sigh as he felt energy return to his body and his tiredness faded into the nether.

"Thanks again. I owe you one."

"Sure. Could you take the mask off already? It's kind of creepy."

"Oh. Forgot I'm still wearing that."

"Why wear it, anyways?" a sudden question from Blake came. Darius glanced at her, then at the mask he was still holding in his hand, looking at its empty eye slits, recalling the days of distant past:

"It's… standard issue where I was training. Our teachers always said that, eventually, one finds their own reason for wearing it. Aside from all the useful software inside, that is."

"Masks are generally worn to hide behind them. They don't really have any other purpose," Blake was not impressed with his explanation, but went along. I assume you've had some experience with them.

"Guys? It's getting kinda cold here. Maybe we should make a campfire or something?" a small white cloud escaped Jaune's mouth in confirmation.

"Sure. You're on firewood duty," Ren's reply caused everyone to burst out in laughter.

"What?.. Aw, dammit."

"It's good warmup!"

"I'll help Jaune!"

"Obviously. Gather round, friends!" Darius' voice was barely heard over the laughter of the group, "There are stories to be told and dignity to be lost!"

For an outside observer, the situation unfolding on the bridge would be a perfect example of an idyllic camping trip. A company of friends; a ruin to explore; a bonfire to ward off the cold of this frosty day. This time, the outside observer would be right. As the landscape began to go gray, signaling the coming of the dusk, and the low hum of the airship engines put an end to the friendly chatter, a thought crossed the mind of a boy in pitch-black armor holding a clasp of his missing cape with a peculiar image on it. I've done my part. All I can do now is pray to the Lady that they will take me for who I was here, not what we were seven years ago.