Chapter 1

A dragon with batlike wings towered over him, over all the buildings. It expelled darkness from its body, and when it hit the ground, it spawned Grimm. That was the reason they were losing, Beacon was burning, the towers were crumbling, Beacon had fallen.

The dragon's eyes were fixed on him, almost seeming to recognize him. Jaune raised his sword and shield, preparing to charge forward again. His goal was to kill the dragon, the rest of the creatures didn't matter to him. If the dragon disappeared, there was a chance they could win. Every second that the thing continued to exist lowered the odds.

He approached it, carefully running over the path. It could have bitten him in half. If he was careless, he'd be finished.

The dragon roared, snapping at him, baring its large, sharp teeth. He dodged, spinning on the ground, and cut at one of its legs from behind, where it was not protected by the bone protruding from its body. The blade sank into the darkness, getting stuck. He was barely able to pull it out before one of its wings crushed him as it turned around abruptly.

Jaune was breathing heavily. His armor was covered in scratches and there were a few cracks, his Aura was active, but almost depleted. His bones protested with every movement. Despite his Semblance, he was on the verge of ruin, physically and mentally.

He had known from the beginning that he couldn't do this alone… but the situation had developed like this. He had to fight, here and now, or surrender to the tragedy that was already written.

He hadn't come this far to give up.

He howled, giving himself strength, and went back to attacking. He slashed at its legs, slashing at its feet as it raised one to crush him. No matter how many times he slashed at it, it didn't seem to be making a dent in the huge creature. At least, it had stopped generating more Grimm, as that made it vulnerable for a few seconds, or that was the reason he supposed.

He wondered if he was doing something crazy, if that dragon could really die. He tried to put the thought out of his mind.

It flapped one of its wings, catching him off guard. He only had time to raise his shield, not move away.

The impact sent him flying backwards, as if he weighed nothing. When he landed, he cracked the ground. Or maybe he fell into a crevice. It was hard to tell, everything was shattered.

As he tried to get up, the shield crumbled before his eyes. His heart sank, but he wasn't surprised that this had happened. He had seen that it wasn't going to hold on much longer.

He got down on his knees, braced himself against the ground with his sword, and fell back down. His whole body ached, he felt as if there was a dagger embedded in his spine. He couldn't take it anymore. Not anymore.

"Come on," he felt hands on his shoulders, pulling him up. Ruby, her dress tattered, stained with blood and dust, but alive. The edge of her scythe glistened like a shard of the moon, "it's too soon to give up. We have to fight. Fight with me. Are you okay?"

"Yeah… yeah, I'm fine" That was probably the biggest lie he'd ever told in his life. He let out a hollow, weak laugh. He tasted blood in his mouth, and swallowed it down "And Pyrrha?"

"I haven't seen her. That doesn't matter now, concentrate" she replied.

The steel in her gaze was sharper than any sword. Seeing that, his heart sank. Ruby's innocence was something that could not be regained, even if they killed the dragon and lived to see another day.

Jaune nodded slowly. The dragon was getting closer, death was getting closer. The ground was shaking with each of its steps. Everything was trembling.

He heard the screams of students, of teachers, mixed with the howls of the Grimm in the distance. He heard the crackling of the flames. He heard his heart, beating like the blows of a hammer, slow but strong, painful.

Ruby ran towards the dragon, turning into a blur that he couldn't follow with his gaze, leaving rose petals behind her.

They attacked together, synchronized. Jaune held the sword with both hands and that must be why his attacks were faster, more precise, the blade entering and exiting the darkness with an ease that it couldn't before.

They hadn't fought together in this world, but he remembered other battles, he had watched them fight several times, so it was almost as if they were teammates. They fit together perfectly.

His biggest obstacle was his own body, not the dragon. He wanted to stop and rest, to catch his breath, but he wouldn't let himself, and so it protested louder and louder. The time would come when he would collapse, whether he wanted to or not, if he continued like this.

Jaune howled like a dying animal, as if he could make the pain go away. His Semblance was active, protecting his body, healing his wounds, but it wasn't enough. He could feel himself dying.

The dragon flapped its wings to rise a few meters from the ground.

To his surprise, he found within himself the strength to stand.

It opened its mouth and spat out something, not fire, but darkness, crashing in all directions like a flood. Jaune had started to run before it even reached the ground, because he knew what was going to happen, but the wave of thick, bubbling darkness caught him. He ended up almost buried in it, only one hand, the sword and his head sticking out.

He thrashed around in the ocean of darkness, desperate, sweating. It was an impulse. He knew there was no escape.

His right hand was free, but he couldn't move it enough to tear through the darkness and escape. Even if he could, it wouldn't be fast enough.

The dragon swooped down upon him from the night sky, roaring, proclaiming its victory to all who would listen.

"Jaune!" Ruby shouted, approaching him, but not even she could get him out of there in time. He knew that from experience.

He closed his eyes, trying to calm down.

" Here we go again," he thought.

Seconds before the dragon crushed him, the darkness of his closed eyelids was devoured by a white light and he felt everything fade away.

[T/N: Huh?! WHAT! New book already! Yeah, I'm still going to do the other book but I can't just do that one, otherwise the lack of various going to make me quit. Anyway, why don't you leave a comment, write a review for this new book, and drop some stones. If you don't know I've got a few good books I'm busy with right now so why not check them out, just go to my profile, or search for the books, Invisible-A Harry Potter FanFic, and A Gamer in Game of Thrones. Or if you want to read some advanced chapters then check out the P@treon, or the Ko-fi.]

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