Halloo everybody!

I'm back. Not that I was every truly gone, but I have admittedly been shirking my duty to the Zeitgeist. Not to mention, neglecting my friends and comrade writers in this bizarre collective of ours. I can only hope you all forgive me for my trespasses.

-Trespasses which include this abomination I now present you. Admittedly, I haven't become any less tweaked in the head after Dust to Dust, but hopefully I'll be able to devote a little more of my time and bipolar energy towards this one. I've already written out five chapters of this red-headed stepchild, and will be posting one, probably every two days or so to give people a chance to read it and catch me on my mistakes. In this life, we cannot afford to be insular.

So, enough of that. Please, read, review, and above all, enjoy.

And try not to take anything I say too seriously.

They won.

Not that there had been any doubt, of course. No sir-ee! There was no way they (she) could fail the entrance exam- fail before even starting, ha! Sure, there had been some rough parts which admittedly hadn't been entirely due to her awkward social interactions. But difficulty was to be expected of the premier huntsman academy, right? Right! Beacon Academy was the best in their magical/eldritch world of Remnant in turning teenagers with poor decision-making skills and a penchant for violence into productive members of society. And now she was among the best- amongst roughly a dozen others who had successfully completed the dangerous and strange task assigned to them by the headmaster (who was at least one of those things).

High off this feeling of accomplishment- quite literally high, perched as she was on the lip of a sheer cliff face, Ruby Rose stared down at seven of those compatriots in pure satisfaction. Yes, things hadn't gone exactly as planned (and she wasn't going to point fingers, but her new partner didn't really help with that). But in the end, they had come together as a group and slain not one but two elder Grimm which had been in their way. It might not have been that much compared to the probable thousands of other soulless monsters plaguing their world, but for her and her newest friend at Beacon, it was a personal best.

Yes, things were looking up for the youngest of the prospective students.

Ruby looked up to the horizon.

"Uh-oh."

"What was that?"

Not having their comrade's vantage, the other students down below were given no warning as the stones under their feet shook and rattled them like tuning forks. Battlements quaked and tremors traveled the anchors keeping the ruins suspended over an abyssal pit. Rather a strange architecture, if Weiss Schnee had to be honest (and if she were to actually care about such things). Although, to be fair, since day one at Beacon, nothing had quite gone as she thought it would.

Actually, things had been sideways since day zero! It all started when that annoying and irresponsible child (who was incidentally now her partner) had accidentally blown them up within five minutes of stepping onto the school's front lawn.

Naturally, Weiss figured Ruby had something to do with this too, as the she did with every bit of craziness thus far. But it was hard to blame the hyperactive girl when she was so far away from them and the shaking. Put out by the lack of someone to vilify, the heiress to the Schnee Dust Monopoly was further disheartened by the fact that no one seemed to have a clue what was happening.

Not to mention, whatever it was, was getting closer.

"Whatever it is, it's probably not good."

Vocalizing Weiss's unformed opinion was the least-vocal member of their unofficial group. In fact, the normally calm and collected dark-haired beauty was currently embodying the wrongness felt by all, visibly as well as physically shaken. Skittish as a stray cat in a dead-end alley, Blake Belladonna kept her balance on the trembling stones by balancing on the balls of her feet. She was ready to dash away at a moment's notice, and none could fault her for being wary after the trial they just went through.

"Eh, I'm sure that together we can take it!"

Then there was Blake's partner and Ruby's sister who, lacking the superhuman senses of the former and the vantage of the latter, did not appreciate the danger which was palpably mounting. But that was just Yang. Admittedly, though they had all just met, Yang Xiao-Long struck them as the type of person to roll with whatever punches life threw at her with a grin and a solid retaliation.

However, it was dubious that she or anyone else was quite ready for what was headed their way.

"Hey, um, any of you guys feel that?" Another blond like Yang (but totally unlike the voluptuous and rightfully self-confident woman) asked as he approached with the remaining three students.

It was fair to say that this young man, one Jaune Arc, might have been a bit out of his depth with this whole 'huntsman thing' (and 'life-thing', if we're going for complete disclosure). But he didn't need those battle-honed senses to let him know that he had said something stupid. Jaune had seven sisters for that.

"What do you think, Captain Obvious?" For Weiss, Jaune was always saying or doing something stupid, like trying to woo her with his undeserved swagger. In her eyes, the boy was worthy only of her contempt and not the sincere position of leader (Ironic foreshadowing).

"I believe what Jaune meant to ask is, does anyone know what is going on?"

On the other hand, Jaune (the lucky bastard)'s partner, Pyrrha Nikos, was someone who could demand Weiss's attention with just this passive question. But the three-time tournament champion didn't flaunt her prowess. Ever humble, she was also extremely wary of the newfound trouble that seemed to be getting closer with every earth-quaking event.

"Why don't we ask your partner?" Lie Ren offered with a patient logic that made his newfound comrades feel like they had known the boy their whole lives. "She should be able to see something from up there."

"HEY RUBY! WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY YOU WANTED TO PLAY I-SPY?! IT'S NO FAIR IF YOU GET A HEAD START!" -Which was why it was both a blessing and a tragedy that the calm young man was paired up with someone who made Ruby and her speed-abilities look like a sloth on a sugar-crash. Being the only lifelong friend of Ren (and pronouncedly height-challenged when paired up with the gangly boy), Nora Valkyrie leapt up on his shoulders to try and get a better vantage. "COME DOWN SO WE CAN- oh, you're here."

Faster than any of the seven could see, Ruby had alighted from her bird's-eye view and appeared before them in a flurry of rose petals which served as her calling card. However, it was as if the girl had captured every dark cloud erstwhile in the blue sky above, tucked them under her scarlet cloak and drawn it up tight over her dour countenance.

"Guys," Contrasting her incredible speed, her words were deliberate and slow to make sure they didn't get scrambled with her trembling lip. "We should go. Now."

Even with no uncertain terms, the seven stared dumbfoundedly as they tried to pair up the dire prediction with the happy-go-lucky girl. The combination was wrong- but so was everything else, so it was quite difficult to appreciate just how much.

"Ruby, what do you-"

The dichotomy was so distracting, that no one had noticed that the rumblings had stopped.

Really, they should have. They were (almost) all trained warriors and should have picked up on this glaring silence. They also should have listened to the words of the reckless teen who was unafraid of a bus-sized scorpion but paled at the mere mention of whatever it was that awaited them.

But they didn't.

Although, it is safe to say they paid attention when the tremors returned.

With a vengeance.

Even the most coordinated of the group had their balance stolen and replaced by vertigo as the structure undulated under their feet. Stones moved like water, ripples emanating from one massive impact.

Ruby's warning became moot as everyone moved at once without having to be told, running away from the source- which is to say, uphill, since the ruins started to collapse and fall into the pit upon which they were built.

"Is…everyone… alright?"

No one had dared look back during their mad scramble- in some cases literal, as fingernails tore themselves on the cracks in the stone floors as they became walls. Even after they had all escaped, there were those who were afraid to see the gigantic plume of dust rising out of the abyss for fear of what might emerge from it.

"I… think…so." Pyrrha answered for everyone, as winded as the others after having to rescue her inept partner multiple times in that escape which probably lasted all of 20 seconds.

"What… was that?!" Not bothering for once to smooth out the ruffles in her designer dress, Weiss straightened her body as best she could on wobbly legs and glared at her partner.

"How should… I know?" Even the speedster Ruby was out of breath. Though it might have had more to do with the way her heart was trying to beat her in a race.

"Didn't you… see it?!"

Ruby shivered despite the sweat on her brow and shook her head as if denying ever having gazed upon the thing which had tried to bury them.

"I-I don't- yes, but! I've never seen anything like it before, it was-" Ruby fired out a litany of descriptors all at once, each of the shotgunned adjectives whizzing past their heads incomprehensibly. "…Big."

"And?" Her partner asked more tentatively, not sure if she wanted to know with the way her partner was so shook up. "Is that it? Surely you must have seen something."

"I don't know, okay? It was like, a horse? A squid? But huge! Definitely taller than the trees and-and with lots of wiggling things, flailing all about like- you know those inflatable signs? No- wait! If it was a squid, I think they were tentacles!"

"I saw it." Jaune offered this remark from the back of the group and Pyrrha's shoulder. His breathing was slow but ragged, and it didn't look like he would be able to say much else until he forced himself to. "I think it was more like a mammal than a squid. A river-dolphin or beluga or something. I remember seeing one of those as a kid…" Knowing he couldn't retreat into memory, Jaune shook himself and tried to recall the creature behind the maw that nearly swallowed him. "I- I didn't really get a good look other than mouth, really, ha, ha…b-but it had teeth, and I'm pretty sure those weren't tentacles. I think… I think they were tails."

"Was it…" Before anyone could remark on the strange image conjured for them, they heard Yang's fearless voice pipe up shakily. "Did it look like that, perchance?"

Coming to know the blonde woman, some of the group hoped that her penchant for bad puns extended to bad jokes. They hoped that the image being painted through the rising mist was just an illusion of their addled minds. Or maybe it was still part of the test, and therefore something they should be able to handle.

They were wrong.

It wasn't big. It was huge, with its body alone nearly eclipsing the entire bluff. Hooved, like a horse. Or a mountain goat, rather, as it stuck impossibly on that near-vertical cliff. Its back was furred like a Beowulf, but its face was swept backwards as if that lupine creature were a pet that liked sticking its head out of car windows. It all merged into a hard, shoveling jawline that was fully capable of burying them in the pit which was the only thing between the two parties. Then there were the tails, all five of the woven appendages were ornately splayed against the rockface in an organic pattern which left no room for miscounting.

And, as they regarded it, it was undeniably looking back.

"Oh cra-"

"Oh my."

"Hm?"

The headmaster halted his mug of cocoa mid-sip and glanced over his shoulder. Looking for an explanation to the outburst, he instead found his second in command staring with unwavering concern at her electronic tablet. Whatever was displayed on there, it had the dutiful Glynda Goodwitch so engrossed that she did not notice him waiting on her for an answer.

"Sir," Still unable to tear her eyes from the device, she all but shoved it into the headmaster's face as he loomed ever closer in curiosity. "We might have a problem."

Setting aside his guilty pleasure and taking the screen, the graying man looked at the live feed being broadcast from Beacon's drones set to monitor the preliminary entrance exams.

"Oh my, indeed." Parroting the tidy blonde's words, the wizened headmaster yet had none of the worry of his subordinate. Just a smile which tugged at the corner of his ageless face and an unconscious tick as he straightened out the tie of his emerald suit. "Another one in just six months. Things are getting exciting around her, aren't they?"

"Ozpin."

He simply chuckled at the one-word reprimand and handed back the tablet. Once this duty was passed off though, the man in charge was free to adopt an appropriately serious expression. A commander preparing for battle, he squared up his pointed jaw and rested both his previously idle hands on the silver head of his cane.

"Well, Ms. Goodwitch, you know what to do."

"Are you sure, Sir?" Despite her boss's certainty, the woman's sever expression did not alleviate. If anything, her frown deepened. "Do you really mean to call… Him? His recent mission in Vacuo was fruitless. He might be a tad… difficult." More than usual, anyway, which was left unsaid.

"On the contrary, I would say he lives for these opportunities." More than knowing he was right, Glynda knew that the headmaster wasn't speaking figuratively, either. She knew this and yet was hesitant to unleash their proverbial watchdog with the students still in the crossfire. "Besides, I believe that it is his job. Unless you have some other reason to object, Ms. Goodwitch?"

"No, Sir."

Calming herself with a sigh, Glynda resigned herself to action. Activating protocols on her tablet, she then traded devices for an ancient walkie-talkie that hadn't been used since the last war between Kingdoms.

Well, at least not since the first time they made this call.

"Good morning," Professionally polite, Glynda did not let any of her reservations transmit across to the sole receiver. "In case you weren't already aware, there is a matter which could use your expertise. Sighting is five kilometers south of home base, grid coordinates Seven-Foxtrot-Niner."

Taking her finger off the button, Glynda waited. There was a crinkling on the other end which sounded like the rush of wind through the trees, possibly the heavy breathing of some large animal. Though more likely, just static due to how old the device was. Having killed the drones' recordings just a few seconds prior, there wouldn't be a way for them to tell what was going on until the report came back. Possibly seconds, possibly hours later.

But for all Glynda's worries, lack of a response wasn't one of them.

"I'm already on my way."

"We're going to die."

Jaune had been sure of this before, back when they were battling the two, giant, man-eating beasts. Now, he was doubly sure as they faced the one, Grimm-like monstrosity which regarded them with a poise and intelligence he'd not known Grimm capable of.

To be fair, Jaune didn't know a whole lot about the monsters which plagued their world and kept humanity on a perpetual brink of extinction. But he didn't have to in order to be correct.

"No, we're not!" The young prodigy she was, Ruby declared with more righteousness than truth. "We beat the other guys, now its eight of us on one! Who cares if he's a little bit bigger? Every Grimm has a weakness, and we just have to figure out what it is! And together we have enough firepower to take it!"

To the surprise of Jaune and a few notable others, Ruby's determined, rational speech had started to rouse them from the unaccountable fear they had been seized with.

"H-hey, yeah!" Standing on a baseless bravado, the yellowing Arc threw his sword, Crocea Mors, into the ring. "Ruby's right. H-he ain't that big. We just have to be smart and take it on with a plan, right guys?"

Before the confidence had the chance to disseminate to the others, every antibody of hope was shaken from their bones as the beast landed on their side of chasm with a single, vast leap. Balanced with all four basaltic hooves on the lip, it leered at them with a strutting underbite and eyes that burned their bodies to ash at the same time it froze their souls.

"O-okay, maybe it was bigger than I thought…" Jaune withered under the massive shadow.

Contrary to what most people probably thought of her, Jaune's famous partner shared in his anxiety. There was unlikely to be any living being, human or Faunus that would not be affected by the presence of this primordial monster. Pyrrha simply did not let it hold her back, rushing to the front with spear and shield brandished and prepared to fight to the last.

"Stand firm!"

No, Pyrrha knew she wasn't as invincible as the title bestowed on her. But, surprisingly, this truth didn't matter, because she was no longer fighting for that title. Though it had only been for a short time, she had found friends worthy of sacrifice.

And this feeling was reciprocated. Or something like it at least spurred the others to take up her flanks. Weapons drawn along with wry smiles, or solemn looks and a defensive stance where the former was not possible. Yes, these were people she wouldn't mind losing with.

"Are we really doing this?"

Even Jaune realized that they didn't have much choice as he reluctantly shuffled up to join his partner in the harsh life he had unknowingly signed up for.

"What's the plan?" Pyrrha asked, more than willing to be the point of the spear but wanting someone else to wield her.

"It's fast," Ruby observed, remembering how quickly the creature had crossed the skyline. "-But maybe with its size, not so maneuverable. If we can lure it back into the pit, that'll buy us enough time to-"

For as fast as Ruby herself was, the beast was faster, older, more experienced and more intelligent than she gave it credit for. Just one of its tails, which were larger than she was tall, was enough to reach out and end her proselytizing with the ease of swatting a fly.

Ending her story before it even started.

At least, that's what she though happened. The ultimate awareness of the young heroine being the gritty taste of dust coating her open mouth, and a deep regret for wasting her short time on earth trying to be like other people.

"Between the thought and the action…" She heard a voice reaching out to her- Not necessarily comforting, because it was deep and gravely and sounded exactly like what she imagined might await her in the afterlife. "…Lies the shadow."

A shadow drenched the figure which appeared suddenly in front of her, dripping from his hunched shoulders upon which also rested the massive tail like the weight of the world. Both things looming large over Ruby's head.

Yet he was holding the appendage back with his two bandaged arms that looked like they were still broken in all the wrong ways. And if this weren't feat enough, he then tossed it aside as if it weighed nothing and rushed the beast without hesitation or fear. Ruby would have yelled at him to stop, but she couldn't get her mouth to work with all the dust and amazement caught in it.

And because she found that she wasn't that scared for him.

He would have outrun her warning anyway, just like he dodged the hoof trying to flatten him. Trumping reason and now gravity too, he ran up the monster's leg and vaulted in the air. There he came face to face with the creature that was every bit as odd as he.

And within that half-second of hangtime, the Grimm itself tried to reconcile this development. Ruby swore that she saw the beast try to form an emotion with its face made of bone. A mask behind which there shouldn't have been a soul, much less a spark of intelligence.

However, all the calcified armor in the world couldn't seem to stop the man's kick which lashed out almost faster than the eye could see and sent the giant Grimm flying back into the pit.

"Woah…"

"No… no way."

Rushing to her side, Ruby's sister expressed the astonishment the girl herself was unable to manifest.

"What… who is that?"

Most would simply be relieved with the timely arrival of someone who could banish their nightmares with the ease of a flicking a switch, and not stop to question from whence he came. Most were not Pyrrha Nikos.

"Hey, you!" Or Weiss Schnee, for that matter, who viewed this man's raggedy appearance and intervention almost as offensively as the Grimm's. "Do you have any idea what you are doing? We're in the middle of Beacon Academy's entrance exam. -Actually, scratch that. Do you have any idea who just asked you a question? I'm Weiss Schnee and that's the Pyrrha Nikos, and I- she'd like to know just who the heck you are!"

"Uh, Princess, did you trip and hit you head while I wasn't watching? This guy just saved our butts." Saying this, Yang still held her own reservations about the figure who was as tall as Hei "Junior" Xiong while still hunched over. And unlike the criminal bartender whom she previously emasculated, this man actually worried her. "Besides, he's probably supposed to be here, right?"

"That's… debatable." Standing without straightening, the man shook out his cloak of rags and turned to the assembly of students. Winning the staring contest by default, none of the teenagers could see what lay beyond the shadow of his wide-brimmed hat. But at the same time, it didn't feel all that different from the monster he just banished. "But I guess you could say that I am on… contract with the headmaster. Ozpin calls me up to handle these big guys. You kids don't need to worry about the test right now; We're kind of on time-out, as it were. Or maybe you'll get a pass. It's been a while since I've had to interrupt initiation, and I honestly forget how Oz fixes it…"

Shrugging his shoulders made their guts lurch along with it. Something was definitely up with this man, but a good portion of them were reluctant to find out what it was. He was giving them a free pass with a verbal stamp of approval from the headmaster. Even if it turned out to be a trick (the reason for which was too obscure to fathom), they could pretty easily give the man's unique description to the authorities.

"Sorry if the dramatic entrance spooked ya," He spoke words which were obviously geared to put them at ease, but did the opposite because of how rehearsed they felt. "I don't get the opportunity to socialize much, so you can't blame me for having a little fun."

"You call this fun?" Even the gung-ho Yang was dubious about this description, though she wouldn't admit to having been- nor still being- a tad bit worried.

"So, who are you, that the headmaster of Remnant's premier huntsman academy feels the need to call in your help?" Pyrrha, in contrast, did not bother to hide her skepticism, approaching the stranger with even more caution than she gave said Grimm and a hand gripped firmly around her spear, Miló. "And what was that Grimm, anyway? I've never heard about this species."

"Well, the 'Tailed Beasts' are rather unique. And I guess you could say that I am uniquely gifted to dealing with them." Despite the cloaking garments and the fact that his back was turned, the students began to pick up on the undertone of humor in his voice which was about as funny as breast cancer.

"Hmph. I will have you know that we are professional huntresses… in training." Hiding her nervousness with defiance, Weiss crossed her arms and averted her eyes from the man who felt like he was picking her apart from within the shade of his wide-brimmed hat. The dish-shaped accoutrement drew their eyes for lack of a face, a bright red and white color scheme to contrast with the faded and unkempt everything-else. "Besides, that one didn't seem so tough."

"Thank you. I saw that you all didn't do too badly yourself… for younglings." With the way he worded it, they couldn't tell if he was referring to them or the Grimm they had faced. The only thing for certain was the veiled smirk as he turned back to the chasm. "But this is far from over."

As casually as this statement, the cloaked figure stepped aside and avoided getting crushed by one of three tails which flicked up from the abyss. These black appendages bit deep ruts into the ground, trying to find purchase and haul the monstrous Grimm back up.

"Now, I would recommend you all leave this to me, run along and complete your exam." Now beneath the humor, there was resignation laced between the cobbles of his voice. It was as if he somehow knew that his advice would be ignored even before the eight dropped into fighting stances. "That is your mission, isn't it? Go through the forest, find your partners, retrieve the relics... and survive. You'd be awfully poor hunters if you couldn't follow those simple orders."

"-And we'd be even worse ones if we abandoned someone, even a stranger, to fight such impossible odds alone."

Prepared to rush into battle herself, Pyrrha waited on the stranger who she could tell hadn't stopped staring at her. For as wrong as he felt, she knew it was the right thing to do.

"Hah!" More a bark than a laugh (and more a growl than either), the man turned his hunched back on the huntsmen and huntresses-to-be. "You might regret that attitude, Girl. But who am I to judge the impossible? You can stay, but just do me a favor- actually, make that two."

Before listing any conditions, the stranger leaped backwards towards them as a fourth tail sprouted from the chasm and swept the ground where he had just been.

"One: don't get in the way."

Missing the first time, the tail whipped back for another pass. Flailing blindly, it still would have found its target the second time- along with the students who were now adjacent to him. If, however, it wasn't for the man who sliced it apart with clawed gauntlets concealed behind the threadbare bandages.

Screams echoed from the pit up to the heavens which were blasphemously blue, even as black blood rained on all the huntsmen.

"And two…"

Blinking the misty essence out of their eyes, the teenagers gradually understood that the blades attached to his arms weren't blades at all. They were part and parcel of his arms, which were as black as the shadows which hid his face- black as the Grimm staring out angrily from the pit.

They noticed this oddity but did not register it, not until something unfolded under his trappings and shrugged off the tattered robe like the yolk of reality. Three tails, black as tar emerged from the threadbare garment as if awakening from a slumber, and they stretched high into the sky to blot out the sun. Everything was darkness except for the armored exoskeleton which was as white as the clouds passing by overhead. Fluffy deities completely unconcerned by the profanity happening on the ground.

The heavens might have turned a blind eye, but the mortified students found another set staring back at them.

Grimm had red eyes. He had red eyes. But simply calling them red was as much a disservice to their depth as labeling the other monster 'big'. They were fathomless, dyed crimson from centuries of untold bloodshed but with black humor still able to dive in and out of their broken mirrors.

And as they stared down the tubes of those kaleidoscopes, the world they thought they knew became madness.

"Don't blink."