CODE: RWBY

Turn 1

"The New World"

I destroy worlds and create it anew

Lelouch

The last thing Lelouch saw before he left this world was the face of his sister bound in chains. Her pearl eyes swelling with tears with the realization of the Zero Requiem. That he had fooled the world, made it look like he was some undefeatable evil, the worst dictator in the history of the world, and the source of all the hatred in the world. He defeated the world's heroes, The Black Knights, and overthrew the U.F.N. He became the first one in history to rule the world under his name and he had lied every step of the way there, his intention about being Zero, his intention with the world, and even his true self.

Now the rule of "Lelouch the Demon" has come to an end by the hands of Zero, the masked incarnation of justice, the symbol he created. With his breath fading Lelouch passed on the title of Zero to Suzaku, cursing him to leave his own happiness behind and uphold the peace. At that moment he believed Suzaku finally understood his goals, his means, and the reasons behind all of the death, Euphemia, Shirley and all the other countless souls that were caught in the middle. The two shared a moment of understanding and Lelouch fell by his sword, down across the Britannian flag down to his sister's side.

"Oh, big brother! I love you!" she says holding his hand, tears streaming down her face. She was always such a caring girl, much more than he could ever be. 'This was the way it was always going to be'.He thought. Ever since he became Zero, this was the only way it would have ended. It was a bittersweet feeling, knowing she would mourn him, even after all he has done. Even when no one else would.

Lelouch looks out at a world that he would never get to see. He looks back through all that has transpired. The loving moments with Shirley. His final kiss with Kallen, where he kept silent despite her pleas. The shock of seeing Nunnally alive again and having to cast aside his joy for the requiem. Thwarting his father's scheme and rejecting his ideals of the world and how their lives should be lived. Shirley's unfortunate death and her promise to see him again in another life. Being forced to kneel before his father. His time with Rolo. A tender kiss from C.C. Euphemia's fall and being forced to kill and persecute her for her own dream. All of the antics that he went through at school, never realizing how much he loved it. The formation of the black knights and the beginning of Zero. His life's flashback ended by remembering the days of his childhood with himself, Nunnally, and Suzaku and held that moment close to his heart. With his breath going staler he looked at Nunnally one last time and mutters one last sentence with his final breath, where only the both of them could hear it.

"I….…destroy worlds…..and create it….…..a…new."

His vision now starts to fade. Only his memory of Nunnally and Suzaku to keep him company. The world around him dissolves away. First, it is with the streets as the people around him curse his name, his former comrades who stare at him in awe. Even Suzaku was no longer with him, gone in the ever consuming seas of white. It was just Nunnally and him right now. Slowly he sees the tears begin to fall. He wanted to hug her one last time, to hold her, but he could no longer have the strength. But now he must leave this world, Nunnally's world. Slowly the world of white consumes his vision and even the thought of Nunnally was no more. Everything was nothing and he was at bliss.

Until he was hit by a blast of rose petals that is.

Ruby

So having a JNR v RWBY fight might not have been the ideal way to start the day, but it was bound to be the one that let off the most stress. After Weiss almost dying, Professor Lionheart actually dying, that really scary image of Salem firmly implanted in everyone's mind and having her bad guy catching 1-to-10, Ruby felt like everyone could use a break. She then remembered the food fight they had in Beacon so long ago and thought it would be a good idea to recreate it, but with a twist. So the 8 of them (9 of them? Does Oscar being two people count?) went to the forest outside of Haven to have their little skirmish. Oscar was permitted to be on Jaune's team to level things out as Ozpin still hasn't recovered from his fight with Hazel so he couldn't give them an overwhelming advantage. The walk was anything but silent as Team JNR were having a "discussion".

"Cause that would require Oscar being the leader," Nora complained

"But we are all out of options at this point," Ren replied

"I am not replacing Jaune with a literal child" Nora answered

"I am 14…." Oscar spoke up, feeling slightly insulted.

"A CHILD!" Nora perked

"How about NORJ?" Jaune asked

"I don't think that's a color" Ren sighed

"This is obnoxious" Weiss interrupted while wedging herself between the group.

"What you don't like the name?" Jaune asked sounding a little bit hurt.

"No, I..." The Heiress paused for a second "well actually yes Jaune, it is actually a horrible name, but that's not the point."

She turned to face Ruby, who was busy looking at the map, which her sister had gracefully re-aligned for her, so that she was now looking at it right.

"Did we have to travel this far from the city for this little match of yours?" she implored

Ruby had predicted that her partner would question the idea of having fun, so she had a retort already for her.

"Because Weiss, we need the open space for our wonderful day of adventure I had planned, and not even you can deny our need for that".

'Haha. Nailed it!' Ruby thought. She had worried that with all their time being apart that her ability to be the team leader for RWBY had deteriorated, but it seems that Ruby had it under control.

"But couldn't we do all this at Haven academy?" Blake asked, "They're bound to have a training room like they did at Beacon, right? Why go all the way out into the forest?"

'…Oh No!' Ruby did not have it under control, she didn't even think about using the school, she had to come up with something fast in order to preserve her decision-making skills.

"Well it would be out in a realistic environment! It's like Professor Goodwitch always said ʻYou can't fight all your battles in the classroom'. Ruby finshed adjusting a pair of invisible glasses on her face.

"I guess that makes sense." Her Faunus friend relented.

'Wow, I am on fire right now' Ruby thought, riding a self-confidence high she created after successfully pulling that saying out of her butt. She wasn't even sure if Professor Goodwitch had ever said something like that, but it SOUNDED like her….

"But wouldn't the realism make it more of a training exercise than a fun get together?" Yang inquired.

"But..."

"Also what about all the Grimm we could attract?" Blake added

"Well…..."

"And what about..." Weiss started to ask

"Guys!" Ruby gleefully interrupted before they had the chance to ask any more questions

"We just came out from an impossible battle and we came out on top! We got the Relic, Jaune unlocked his semblance, Weiss isn't dead, and the best part" She then grabs her teammates and holds them close.

"Team RWBY IS BACK TOGETHER!" she screamed. Using all her strength, she gives the biggest hug she can for all of her team. This is the first time since the Vytal festival where they have all been together in relatively good spirits. The very thought of those memories made Ruby's smile even wider. "Nice save" she heard Nora whisper very loudly as they continued walking to their site. It was a bit far from the city itself, at a foot of one of the mountains that surrounded Mistral. There was a clearing big enough for them to use for the "battle" without bothering anyone.

"Okay everyone here is the name of the game. It is a 4v4 challenge and the goal is to stay within the boundaries of this clearing!" She gestured to the tree line that surrounded them, the clearing was at the border of the mountain range, which was visible through the tree line.

The two teams agreed to meet at the opposite end of the clearing to start. Then Nora asked something that sent chills down Ruby's spine…..

"Why don't we make it interesting?" she asked

Ruby felt absolute dread. After spending months with Nora, she was well accustomed to her antics. One bet she lost, Nora forced her to drink Ren's smoothies every day for 2 weeks. Jaune and Ren have gone through similar treatment at Beacon, and that attitude continued throughout their travels. Then of course then there was...

"Nora?" Jaune asked, "This is not going to be another 'Kaneshon incident', is it?"

"NO!" the rest of the RNJR collective screamed out at once much to the surprise of everyone else.

Ruby shot Jaune a death look (or the closest she could make anyway). They had all agreed to never speak of the incident ever again. Ruby herself was particularly bitter about it as the end result banned them from riding the trains throughout Anima. She has done her best to block the entire ordeal from her mind.

"You know, Jaune…what happened in Kaneshon stays in Kaneshon," Ruby told her friend flatly.

"I wanted to be prepared," Jaune said with fear creeping into his voice. "I still have nightmares about those straws," he finished, looking at his hands. Ruby noticed that they had started to shake. She shook a bit herself, understanding it all too well.

"Umm….what happened at Kaneshon?" Yang asked

"Nothing!" Team RNJR yelled out all at once.

"Okaaaaaaay then…" Yang said, curiosity not fully sated.

Before she could try to inquire further, Blake stepped in.

"So…..what are the conditions for this bet, Nora?" Blake turned to ask their normal energetic friend who had, for some reason, seemed a bit pale now.

"Errr…right…conditions…" Nora's color came back in full swing right after Blake asked. "So how about 800 lien for the winning team and the losing team would have to do whatever the winning team says for a week!" Nora punctuated her statement but putting her hands on her hips and laughing into the sky.

Ruby made an audible gulp and was almost positive Blake made one too. Ruby did not like the idea of being in service to Nora even if it was for a week. She loved the girl, and for the past 8 months she has become one of her closest friends, but she knew all too well what that girl was capable of. While Ren probably wouldn't do anything too reckless and Jaune is too concerned about everyone to put anybody in real danger, he will be willing to get on board with Nora if push comes to shove. And while he wouldn't do anything too rash, Jaune has a creative mind and he and Nora work well together whether it be on the battlefield or with mischief in hand.

Ruby thought back to beacon. While he was knocked out in the beginning, he was the one giving out orders during the "Great Beacon Food War" at the start of the second semester (he even gave Nora that darned pie). 'I mean, we DID win that battle….' Ruby thought to herself.

But then there was the status of her team. Sure they were able to go head to head with the big baddies but was more their individual skills than their normal teamwork. Because no matter how you slice it has been almost a year since team RWBY have been back together. They all had gone on their own paths and were different because of it. Weiss for instance, since mastering her summoning has been implementing it in her battles more often than her glyphs which has made her more likely to go one on one in a fight. The downside is that right now she is trying to rely too much on her summons without using her older combat style and has had no real combat experience since the battle of Beacon. 'and Cinder almost killed her' Ruby remembered.

Then there was Blake, and from what little Ruby has seen from her friend she could tell that she has changed a lot too in her time away. As for her style of fighting, she wasn't sure… She didn't see her fight during the battle because she was dealing with Mercury and Emerald inside, and Blake only came in after the fighting had ended with the White Fang outside. She could only hope her fighting style was still the same.

The only one Ruby was confident is with was Yang. Ruby was aware of how much her sister has changed, but she was not worried about it. She was so much more in control of her power, she used her semblance less, but that was because she didn't seem to need to. Ruby absently thought of how dad must have trained her and her new arm after the fall…

Ruby looked at her sister and Yang nodded back to her in return. There was nothing to be said. The two of them could finish each other sentences if they wanted to. They knew each other really well. 'We are all here for fun there is no need for any extra...shenanigans' Ruby concluded. She was glad that Yang understood that.

"Make it 1000 and a month and you got yourself a deal!" Yang said with a big smirk on her face.

"Deal"

You could almost hear Ruby's mental glass shatter after Yang upped the ante. Her thoughts were a fuming jumbled mess as the team walked back to their edge of the clearing. What was going on, why had Yang just went on ahead and agreed to the terms as well as made the whole thing much worse. As soon as the team reached their end of the clearing Ruby spun on her heel, looking pointedly at her sister.

"What was that!" She exclaimed, "Why did you up the ante and why did you even agree to it?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Yang asked, confidence still brimming under her leader's questions.

Ruby just stared at her older sister, who gave her a look as if she had already known the answer.

"…Well, I thought we could just maximize our reward for our victory" she answered like it was the simplest thing in the world.

"Look," Yang continued after noticing Ruby's concerned look, "Jaune may have gotten stronger but he is still Jaune, semblance or not. Oscar is just Oscar at the moment so that won't be too much of an issue. So that just leaves Nora and Ren. I can handle Ren pretty easily and Nora is all strength but she not even she can take on all 4 of us at once. You see? We got this in the bag!" Yang finished, giving Ruby a thumbs up.

'That might have been true a year ago' Ruby thought, seeing Yang's overconfidence hasn't quite diminished… 'She's underestimating everyone's improvement'.

Jaune was always a good strategist and has no doubt picked up on everyone's weakness and strengths. Oscar improves every time he switches with Ozpin, who has literally thousands of years of experience. She saw how he fought Hazel, and he took a fully charged hammer strike from Nora without even slowing down! Even Ren and Nora have improved their hand-to-hand combat and aura training with Ozpin for the past month. Then there is the most important part.

'JNR have been together for the past 8 months, unlike us'

"They will be making us pancakes in no time!" Yang continued smiling, unaware of what they were REALLY getting into.

That promise seemed more and more unlikely by the second (which sucks, because pancakes awesome, especially on long-winded expeditions). She shook her head of the thoughts of pancakes. Now that her fun little get together has turned into a fight to the emotionally charged death, Ruby decided to take what she has and just roll with it. Her situation might not be ideal, but she can work with it.

Team RWBY all huddled up, preparing for battle. "Alright team, here's the plan" Ruby started off but was interrupted by the sound of Nora's grenade launcher exploding in the sky, announcing the start of the round. 'Oh no!' Ruby quickly announced a makeshift strategy.

"Weiss you get Ren. Yang, you take Nora, Blake you get Oscar! I will take Jaune" She said with little confidence as they began charging into the center of the clearing.

As the teams rushed towards each other, it was Yang and Nora clashing first. The two met each other with a clash of fire and lighting as Yang blocked Nora's hammer strike shattering the ground beneath them and sending out a small shockwave. Nora used the momentum of the blocked swing to flip herself over Yang and kicked her in her back, sending her stumbling forward. Nora pressed her advantage by throwing in a few quick successive strikes, but Yang got back on the offensive after countering one of her hammer swings and judo flipped her to the ground. Nora skidded across the ground like a pebble across a lake. After skidding to a stop, she quickly got back up and the two went back at it again.

Her Partner was more subtle in her approach, falling back into the edge of the clearing. The cat faunus wanted to keep the element of surprise over the farm hand until she had the opportunity to strike. Oscar's eyes followed Blake toward the tree line, where she vanished. He stayed there, noting the surrounding battles around him without a care in the world. It came as no shock to Ruby that he was anticipating Blake's plan. As she waited for Oscar to seemingly show more attention to the ongoing battle, she struck. Oscar dodged the oncoming blow with practiced ease, surprising the faunus as she was forced to block a counter-strike from Ozpin's cane. Every following strike she missed seemed to be returned to her by Oscar at double the force, sending Blake on the backfoot.

Weiss just summoned her white knight right out of the gate and had it charge at the silent huntsmen. Not a single swing from the lumbering giant had managed to land, Ren being too quick. After the fifth swing, Ren took the opportunity to grab hold of the knight's transparent armor. As started to climb up the side of her massive summon, he slashed and stabbed at every crack he could find in the knight's armor. Seeing no effect, he landed on the knight's shoulder and unloaded an entire mag into the giant's visor. The giant fell down from the assault, dissolving back into white ashes as Weiss glared at a visually unexhausted Ren. After landing safely, he charged right back at Weiss who quickly summoned the queen lancer to defend herself.

'She isn't a fast learner, is she?' Ruby thought to herself, focusing back to her encounter with Jaune. Instead of going with a headstrong approach like Weiss or Yang, Ruby decided to hang back and user her sniper rifle for damage instead. She jumped back and pulled out Crescent Rose, loaded some ice dust and went on the look for her Blonde BFF. Her hope was to immobilize him and follow up with a round of high energy dust, knocking him out of the ring, then she would join up with another member of her team and one by one knock out another member of team JNR.

A problem arose with the plan as soon as she started shooting though, 'Jaune is blocking all of my attacks...' As Ruby shot, he would either block the rounds with his shield or roll out of the way. With each dodge and block, Jaune made it closer and closer to Ruby. As he kept moving forward, she was forced to move back to keep her range advantage. As she started to fire her sniper faster to make more ground, she hadn't realized she was backtracking straight to her cat-eared friend, until it was too late.

Ruby backed into Blake, knocking her off balance and causing her to face plant the ground. "Oooh my gosh, Blake! Are you alright?" Ruby quickly asked her friend.

"Yeah," she said standing back up. "I didn't expect this boy to be so well trained." Ruby looked over to see Oscar standing in Blake's line of sight, resting on his cane and his eyes studying Blake and Ruby like a hawk.

"Well he is the reincarnation of Professor Ozpin, so he was bound to pick things up fast," she noted.

"Yeah," Blake responded, turning back to face the boy. You could almost hear Blake's thought process halt as her ears and shot up and she turned back around to Ruby, unintentionally lowering her weapon. "Wait, WHAT!?" Blake yelled, her voice mixed with confusion and shock. It was at this point Ruby realized that Blake was still in the dark about the whole Salem/magic thing. She did see the whole Salem projection, but they never really explained the whole thing to her, did they?

"Well…ummm…you see" Ruby started to say, but it was too late. Oscar took advantage of Blake's confusion and launched himself toward the Faunus. She tried to raise her weapon to defend herself, but Oscar was too fast and knocked her weapon out of her hand. He pummeled the faunus girl with a series of quick jabs with his cane before she could even muster any kind of response. Before Ruby could intervene, the farm boy had managed to use his cane as a baseball bat to knock the faunus out of bounds and out of the game.

ʻ…Oops' Ruby lamented as she saw Blake go flying into some nearby shrubbery. Now that Blake was out of the game, that just left Yang, Weiss, and herself against team JNR + O. She had to think fast or else they would all have to bow to their whim. She turned her attention to Jaune, who had finally caught up with her.

"Well looks like its time for Team JORN to shine," he said, still out of breath from catching up.

"That isn't much better" she replied "But it definitely sounds cooler than ORNJ"

"Thank you." he replied as he still had his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath.

Ruby extended Crescent Rose back to its Scythe Mode ready to attack, causing Jaune to fully stand back up and grab Crocea Mors from his back. He twisted his sword handle, extending the sheath outward into its bladed form. He twirled his sword around in his hand and stood ready to take on Ruby. 'That stance…' she was familiar with that stance. He always practices it while watching some of Pyrrha's old training videos.

The two leaders clashed with Ruby bringing Crescent Rose down and Jaune bringing Crocea Mors shield sword up to block. The two traded blows for a while, Ruby not able to land more than a glancing blow, slowly chipping at his massive aura. 'He sure has improved since he stumbled his way into Beacon' She thought with a fractured smile. Their two weapons clashed again, but when he parried she was able to hook her scythe over the sword and pull up her scope. Jaune realizing Ruby's plan extended the shield on his sword, but it just wasn't fast enough. Ruby shot a high impact round of dust into him launching him back at a supersonic speed barely holding onto his sword and shield.

"No hard feelings Jaune" she yelled. At this rate, he would be out of bounds in no time.

"Keep them" he yelled back, a small smirk visible (to Ruby, anyway) on his face.

'What does he mean by that?' Ruby wondered. She quickly followed his trajectory and realized…'Oh no!'

She had sent Jaune right in the path of Weiss. The heiress was still busy focusing her energy on controlling her summons to realize Jaune was quite literally on a crash course for her. 'No no no no no…!'Ruby activated her semblance to try and knock Jaune away before he ran into Weiss, but by the time she did, it was already too late.

Jaune drew his sword in front of him midair and activated his semblance. This time he was amplifying his own aura to increase his durability and power. He had managed to yell out "Hey, Snow Angel!" before he transferred his momentum from his flight to his sword. To Weiss' credit, she noticed him fast enough to try and block his sword with Myrtenaster, but Jaune's momentum from Ruby's shot was far too much for her to block effectively. Jaune let out a grunt as he managed to smack Weiss clear out of the ring, leaving only Yang and Ruby left in the fight.

Ruby arrived just in time to see Weiss land in the bushes, then turned to look at Jaune. He just smiled wider and said "You can give her the hard feelings if you want"

"This 'fun day' isn't going at all as I planned." she frowned exhaustingly.

"I wouldn't say that Ruby." Jaune said, still smiling "I'm having a blast."

Ruby glared at Jaune. "You knew I was going to knock you back to Weiss, didn't you?"

He shrugged. "I had to get to her out somehow. What I didn't expect was the shot to hurt so much." He winced while rubbing his chest where her shot impacted.

"But how?"

He shrugged again. "Well I would tell you, but it looks like you have a sister to save." He pointed his sword behind him causing Ruby to turn around.

Yang was being double teamed by Nora and Oscar.

She was doing her best to fight them both off, but they were giving her a hard time avoiding all of her strikes and landing some solid blows. 'When did Oscar get there?' Ruby thought. He was right behind her when Jaune showed up. Why did he go over to Yang? Why not help Jaune?

Then it hit her. 'He twirled his sword, even with how heavy it is with the sheath on it…it must have been a signal for Oscar to go and help Nora!' She realized. She had been played! As Ruby was lamenting her new mistake, Yang had managed to catch one of Nora's hammer swings.

"Is that all you…" Ruby snapped out of her revelation upon hearing her sister, she looked over and saw electricity releasing from Nora's hands, up into the handle of her hammer. It shocked Yang as she fell to the ground. As she grunted and got back up, Yang tried to raise her hand again but noticed it was unresponsive. 'Nora short-circuited her hand? But how…?' Nora, whose back was to Ruby, raised her hammer ready to deliver the final blow.

"Ready for the home run?" Nora asked Yang with a smirk on her face.

Ruby once again activated her semblance. Her vision quite literally turned red as she went full power to smash both Nora and Oscar out of the ring, leaving Jaune and Ren behind in a plume of red rose petals. She had her Crescent Rose in 'war scythe mode' and ready to swing. But before she realized it, before she could correct herself and before Yang could get up, Nora swung her hammer.

Ruby then noticed that it didn't connect. Instead, Nora continued spinning until she was no longer facing Yang. 'She's gonna hit ME' Ruby realized too late.

With the sound of thunder, Nora launched a shot of electricity towards Ruby, causing her to overcompensate to avoid it. She redirected away from Yang, leaving behind a sea of red pedals leading directly into one of the mountains. 'This is gonna hurt..'

Lelouch

"Urghh" was the only sound that he was able to make. All of his senses returned to him in a flash of light.

'What is happening? Am I alive?' he thought, slightly panicked. He took a shallow breath and immediately released it along with some blood. The pain was proof he was indeed alive or at least for now anyway. He was in pain, but it didn't feel like he was dying anymore. Something had happened, Lelouch just didn't know what. Where was he? He was no longer on the throne float next to his sister. It felt like a cave of sort, but he couldn't get a good look around. Most of his senses did return, but they were all just a blur and it was hard for him to process. He tried to get look up but he felt like he was weighed down by sandbags and his body just wouldn't obey his mind.

'Where is Nunnally? Where am I? How am I still alive?'

Then he started to hear some voices….

"RUBY!" one of the voices yelled. It was a female voice showing signs of concern "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," said another one. It seemed like another female, though this one was a higher pitch. It almost reminded him of his sister, though this girl seemed way more energetic. "I guess I am out 1000 lien and my dignity" The voice continued.

"Yeah well, that what happens when you take Nora head on." A third voice had said. This girls voice was calmer than the other two. It almost sounded tired, like the girl had been up for several hours. It almost reminded him of Kallen at school. Trying to mask herself by acting sick and feeble.

"This wouldn't have happened if you hadn't raised the stakes!" The high-pitched voice yelled out. "I needed that Lien! How am I supposed to buy my comics now!?" She groaned and then sighed. "Now we have to work for Team JNR….errr…JORN? ORNJ?...for the next month!" the high pitch girl exasperated.

"It may have worked if someone wasn't knocked out of bounds in the first 5 seconds." Intoned a fourth female voice, this one sounding icy and composed.

"Hey! How about that fact that our old headmaster somehow became a child? I swear ever since I came back to stop the White Fang, all I have been getting from you guys have just been very vague answers and comments" The tired sounding voice again.

"Guys! Guys! I know it been a while since we have been fighting together, but we just need time and practice. Soon we will be right back on top!" The first voice exclaimed with confidence.

Lelouch felt the weight starting to release his off of his back. The air flowed through his lungs again and he left out another big heavy cough, still wondering how he could survive a sword through his heart.

Before he could do anything the thought had already escaped his lungs...

"How...?" he croaked

"Good question, Weiss." That hyper voice got out with a small grunt. "We have only been back together for a couple of days, ORNJ over there have been working together for months"

The icy voice ('Weiss' I suppose) spoke up, sounding confused. "I didn't say anything"

"What?"

"I didn't say anything!"

"Well, who did?"

"Rude..." Lelouch mumbled out of his mouth as the people above him were completely oblivious to his suffering. If it weren't for his constant pain and what could very well be a broken heart, this rudeness would be killing him. He coughed again further aggravating his chest pain as more blood spilled out of his mouth. He let out another moan because of the pain. Suddenly all the voices quieted down.

The 5 people started looking around the cave and didn't notice anything out of place until one looked under Ruby's feet, that is. "Hey Ruby, what are you standing on?"

"Huh?"

The pressure on Lelouch's back was gone, as it felt like someone just walked off it. Lelouch then realized that the high pitched girl had been standing on him the entire time and she and her friends just didn't notice. The girl quickly jumped off his back and held her hands on the sides of her head.

"AHHH! OH, MY GODS!" That one called out shrieking.

"Oh my gods, I am so sorry are you alright?"

"I will go get Jaune!" The one called Weiss said before running off.

"Yang, go call for uncle Qrow!" the high pitched girl said as she helped Lelouch to his feet (Though he felt that she was hesitant in doing so). His sight was still blurry, but he did finally get a look at the girl. She had silver eyes and black hair that seemed to end in a red tint. Her face was dripping with concern as if she had found a small bird dead on the side of the road. For a split-second, Lelouch actually thought she was his sister.

"Don't worry! You're gonna be fine!" The girl said, worry clear in her voice

"Nunnally? ...no you're not…," he said, mind still a little hazy.

"No, my name is Ruby. What's yours?" she asked him.

Lelouch was worried where in the world he was. It was apparent that the girls here didn't recognize him. He decided to play on that before he passed out from the pain.

"No ... I have no idea" he lied. Back to his bad habits.

"Oh great…." The other, still un-named girl sighed

"Umm ok….Next question," Ruby paused for a second "Why are you naked?" her face started to blush as she asked.

'What?' was the last thought he had before he passed out.

Hazel

Hazel didn't mind being in debt to people. These two misfits of Cinder could still be useful, so when the girl freaked out and stopped all of those children, he scooped them up and ran. No maiden, no relic, and their own maiden was MIA. 'killed, if that blond one got away with the relic' Hazel grimaced. Adam ran off after some of his White Fang followers were captured by what seemed the remnants of the former White Fang. His so-called 'play for power' only left them with more obstacles in his master's path.

As they all stopped to catch their breath, they had to plan their next move.

"What the hell happened back there?" Mercury violently asked the hulking man.

"I could ask you the same," Hazel replied more evenly, setting the still unconscious Emerald on the forest floor.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe that whole rage thing you were doing?"

Hazel just grumbled at him. "I don't expect you to understand. It was my mistake to make."

"And now that bimbo killed my boss, cause you couldn't handle it with a level head." Mercury snarked back at him.

Hazel punched a tree next to him in anger, causing it to break and fall with his pure strength.

"The only thing to do now is to report our failure to Salem," Hazel said after calming back down.

"'Our failure'? I was handling them ju…."

"By toying with them, instead of finishing the job." Hazel interrupted him. "Now we have nothing to show for our incompetence other than a possible candidate for the fallen Cinder's powers."

Mercury sighed. "And are you even sure the bigger boss won't just kill us instead?"

"No"

"Great…." Mercury sighed again. "Well, I guess we don't have much more of a choice anyway. Lead the way, oh fearless leader."

As they got back up to leave, Hazel started thinking how to encounter a Seer Grimm. After their defeat in Haven, the Seer Grimm would be long gone by now. 'Perhaps it has run towards other Grimm in the deep forest' Hazel reasoned.

After exploring the forest in darker recesses, Hazel found a pack of ancient Geist. Taking the forms of the nearby trees, they became enraged at their presence. 'Not good' Hazel realized they were not going to get through this easily, if at all.

Hazel, still weakened by the fight, was forced to fight back one-handed as he held onto Emerald. Mercury had been faring better, but an ancient Grimm was another level entirely. Hazel took a tree trunk to the chest, sending him and Emerald sprawling backward into the dirt. As he looked back, he saw Mercury getting blindsided by a Geist as he was flattened to the ground, aura flicking out from the force of impact.

They would have been dead if not for a passerby who had stepped in and took the pack without their help, and with seemingly little effort. He cut the one above Mercury clear in half, followed up by dodging a strike from another and cutting the attacking appendage off. The man almost seemed to dance around the Geists, never even scratched by them as he cut them all down with tactically precise movements.

Needless to say, he had peaked Hazel's interest.

After the dust cleared, Hazel could only mutter one question "Who are you?"

Hearing his tale, he asked if the man would accompany him. After some persuasion, he agreed.

After getting through the forest, they had found the seer grim in the far cliff sides of the kingdom boundaries. It was staring off in the distance almost as if it was pondering something. Hazel stepped in front of the Seer to garner its attention.

"Sire" He Kneeled before the Grimm. Without warning, the monster's tentacles wrapped around his throat, threatening to suffocate him.

"I am well aware of your failure." The grim voice crackled "I am not at all convinced of your abilities or usefulness if you are bested by a band of children"

The tentacles loosened from his neck seconds before his vision he would have gone black. He looked up at the face of his Master, whose face shone through the Grimm as a dark light.

"Tell me why I should spare your lives?" she threatened.

Hazel grunted as he stood up facing his master.

"It is true that the last battle did you not fall in your favor. We lost the Relic and quite possibly the Fall Maiden." He began.

"You are not doing a good job so far, Hazel" Salem sounded disappointed as the tentacles around his neck started getting tighter.

"Cinder's apprentice is a good candidate to receive the power, if she has perished, so she would still have value. We will still be able to open the Beacon Vault" he continued. The tentacles laid off a bit, however, he was still on his guard.

"The Relic is removed, but knowing Ozpin and his arrogance, he would not have it returned. He would likely keep it with him as he leaves for the next relic, thinking it would be safer this way"

"Ozpin? He has already returned?" Salem asked, interest now peaked.

"Yes, Sire. His reincarnation process is complete," Hazel said, anger rising in his tone. "He has taken the life of a Child, he now follows his will." He thought of his sister again. How she DIED following his whim. Hazel clenched his fist and tried to steady his breathing. This didn't go unnoticed by Mercury or their new guest.

"Hmmm" Salem hummed to herself "I knew he would return but in a body of a child. That is an interesting move…." Salem put her finger under her chin in contemplation.

'Move?' Mercury thought. He would think that the information of your greatest enemy's return would drum up a different response. 'I mean if I found out my old man was somehow still alive...' He hadn't expected Salem to react so calmly to this. 'And the way she reacted it was almost like it was a game to her'. He still wasn't sure what to think of this 'Salem' person, even after all the time they spend in her castle, but she if she didn't creep him out before, she really does now.

"One last thing" Hazel added. "On the way here we came across a man who you might find useful"

"Oh? How so?" Salem was looking back at Hazel to answer.

"On our way here we were plagued by a swarm of Grimm, which he single-handedly killed with just a sword. He claims to have the ability to predict his opponents move"

He could hear his master scoff. "He sounds no different than an average Huntsman. I have no use for something as commonplace as that"

Hazel understood his master's suspicion of his tale. There are many Huntsmen in this world, even those at the lowest of strength can take on more than one Grimm. "You misunderstand, he is no Huntsman because he has no active aura or semblance, and all the Grimms were Omega levels"

This got Salem's full attention. "Is that so?"

"Yes. And for his ability," Hazel added, "I believe them to be of a more mystical nature."

She started to muse, her attention was now upon the man over by Mercury. He was a abnormally tall man, imposing at a massive 7 feet, even taller than Hazel at 6'10". Even with the rags he stands in now, he still looks at intimidating as any other grimm a lone soul may find across their path. Yes, he will do nicely. "Call him over, Hazel."

"Of course, Sire"

The man stepped forward and away from the boy and the unconscious girl. The man had faded purple shoulder-length hair framing his face and, curiously held one eye closed, a large scar running down his face. He could be no more than 40, with the cracks of old age beginning to show through his face. But despite not being a Huntsman she could sense a history of fights radiating off him like the sun. The posture and the way he walks he could almost be mistaken for a soldier.

He looked at the Grimm with interest and curiosity. In respect of his station, he bowed his head to Salem.

"Your subordinate says that you can help me with my request." He stated, staring at the now amused Salem. "Perhaps…" She responded vaguely.

"Then I would like to offer my service to you, In return for your help" he offered.

"And if your request is something that is beyond my power?" she asked, wondering what his answer would be.

"My former master died trying to unite the world together with his might. You strike me as someone who wishes to bring order and has a high sense of purpose and honor like he did. It would not bother to be under your hand."

"What an interesting man you have brought me, Hazel," she said. Hazel nodded. He too could see his unbidden potential, if he had the prowess to defeat that many high-level Grimm without aura….

"What is your name?" Salem asked the warrior.

"My Name is Bismarck Waldstein, Knight of One of the Holy Britannian Empire" he stated with pride and anger opening his left eye. Salem could clearly see the power emanating from within it, causing her smile to widen.

"And I wish for you to return me to my world."

This is my next story, sorry for those who actually read my stories. I have been preoccupied and just basically bad at keeping up with all my old fanfics story. So naturally, I started another long-winded story making it the single longest chapter of anything I had written before.

but seriously I am going to make a better effort in updating my stories. I am on Spring break right now and I plan to Update my other two ongoing stories

Thanks RandomName3064 for editing this chapter