Remnant's Maiden Of Dawn

Chapter 63: Revertion

Weiss: I'm...sorry for what I said... about giving up.

Upon hearing this, Yang stops driving.

Yang: Me too. We can't quit until the lamp is safe.

Blake: It's not your fault. It was those...things.

Maria: I should have known. The signs were all there, but I'd never seen an entire settlement withered away like that. I suppose my mind just isn't what it used to be.

Ruby: Miss Calavera? How do you know so much about the Grimm? And in the tunnels, you knew exactly what to say to make me... to make my eyes do that. How?

Maria: (smiles) Well, isn't it obvious, girl? I had Silver Eyes.

Flashback~

Wind is heard howling. In a mountainous region, a lone, cloaked feminine figure with a skull mask concealing her face crosses a rickety bridge. Halfway across the bridge, she hears the screech of a Nevermore.

She turns to her left to see the Nevermore appear from the fog, and she draws her weapons - a pair of sickles.

The young Grim Reaper backflips off the bridge just as the Nevermore rams through it, splitting the bridge in half. She throws one of her sickles at one of the Nevermore's wing and uses the gravity Dust imbued in it to pull herself back up, while also dragging the Nevermore down.

She grabs her other sickle on her way back up, getting above the Nevermore, and uses the recoil of her weapon to spin and grapple onto the Nevermore. She then throws one of her sickles to a mountain, pulling the Nevermore with it.

The Nevermore crashes into the mountainside, losing its balance, before crash landing to the ground. Maria's other sickle is called back and lands on the ground in front of it.

Maria takes out the sickle from the Nevermore's wing, catching her breath. She looks over to the Nevermore's head, whose eyes stare back at her, causing her to gasp.

The Nevermore tries to snap its beak at Maria, forcing her off. It swipes at her, knocking Maria back and forcing her to drop her sickle. The Nevermore charges forward, but Maria's eyes glow brightly, engulfing the area around her.

She stands back up and notices the Nevermore petrified in midair, before dropping down and crumbling. Maria walks over to her sickle to pick it up, using the gravity Dust to call her other sickle back to her.

Suddenly, Maria deflects a bullet aimed at her. She notices three men - one with a giant hammer, one carrying a rifle, and one with a machete - come out of hiding. Another woman, a crocodile Faunus named Tock, then walks up behind her.

Tock: Well, that's a fancy trick now, innit? 'Fraid it comes with a price though, love. (crushes a small piece of the petrified Nevermore in her hand)

Maria turns around to face Tock, while the three men ready their weapons.

Maria: I don't think you realize who I am.

Tock: Course I do. (takes out an alarm clock, setting the timer and placing it on her belt) You're the Grimm Reaper, and these... are the last sixty seconds of your life.