After they managed to find the culprit responsible for taking the map (Skyler was given the silent treatment for the rest of the day), the members of Team RNJRS walk down a sunny road. Skyler was now in the back of the group, nowhere near the map, sulking. Ruby was in front, looking at a map.

"So the next town is... uh-huh... uh-huh..." Ruby said, "We're lost."

"We're not lost," Jaune pointed out, "The next town is Shion. My family used to visit it all the time."

"Don't you have, like, four sisters?" Skyler remembered somewhat.

"Uh, seven..." Jaune corrected awkwardly while Ruby giggled.

"You know, that actually explains a lot," Nora spoke.

"Wait, what does that mean?"

"So, what did you guys do there?" Ruby asked for his sake.

"Oh, all sorts of stuff! Over here is a great hiking trail, and over here is where we went camping all the time. I got my own tent because I was special. Also, so my sisters would stop braiding my hair."

"What, didn't like the look?" Skyler laughed.

Jaune laughed with him, "Yeah, they just kept doing pigtails, but personally, I think I'm more of a 'warrior's wolftail' kind of guy."

"That's just a ponytail," Ruby pointed out.

"...I stand by what I said."

"Alright then, Sokka," Skyler shook his head with a wide smile.

Nora suddenly stopped short, nearly causing Skyler to bump into her. Soon after, Ren stopped too, visibly tense.

"Uh, guys?" Nora said quietly.

Jaune and Ruby looked up from the map and Skyler looked past them. Their eyes widened and jaws dropped. In front of them was a desolated village, the sky gray and two columns of smoke rising into the air. A gazebo had a broken tower and lampposts were askew from the ground. At least one dead body could be seen on the side of the road approaching the town.

Jaune and Ruby dropped the map, only to be picked back up by Skyler (not for nefarious purposes this time), and all five of them rushed forward. They briskly moved into the town, looking around, Ren tossing his backpack on the ground and moving ahead while the other four gathered in the middle of a road.

"There could be survivors!" Ruby said hopefully.

"Over here!" Ren called out.

The others rushed to where Ren was leading them and found their friend next to someone. On the ground, sitting propped against a broken building wall, was a young man in armor, breathing heavily and holding his hand against a bleeding wound in his abdomen. Ren dropped by his side and put his hand on his shoulder.

"A Huntsman!" Ruby realized.

"What happened?" Jaune asked, "Who killed all these people?"

The dying Huntsman coughed, "Bandits. The whole tribe... Then, with all the panic..."

The Huntsman couldn't finish, coughing repeatedly.

"Grimm..." Skyler muttered drearily.

Ren stood up and walked a few paces away, placing his hands atop his head. Ruby, Skyler, Jaune, and Nora stepped away to confer.

"Alright, we can get him to the next village and try to find a doctor there!" Ruby suggested.

"Yeah," Jaune agreed, "Ren, Skyler, and I can take turns carrying him there."

"Will he even make it that far?" Skyler asked, sadness in his eyes, knowing the reality of the situation.

"I agree with Skyler," Nora replied, "I don't know if he'll make it."

"He will," Jaune insisted, "He has to."

"If we get going now, our chances will be better," Ruby said, "I can run ahead and look for help!"

"Guys."

The other four turned towards Ren's voice and discovered that the Huntsman was completely still. He was already dead. There was a short moment of silence.

"Should we bury him?" Nora questioned.

Ren walked right past them without a backward glance, "We should go. It's not safe here."

"Ren..." Nora responded, turning and following her childhood friend.

Skyler puts a hand on Jaune's shoulder, seeing how his friend was looking stressed and saddened, "Hey... It'll be okay."

"I know, I'm just..." Jaune barely got out, "I'm just tired of losing everything."

Skyler sighed and turned to see that Ren and Nora had stopped and were looking at something on the ground, their eyes widening. Skyler walked over and looked down to see a giant cloven hoof print was impressed into the ground. While the two childhood friends made silent eye contact in knowing, Skyler merely grimaced at the thought of a Grimm that could've made a hoof print that big.

~Ooooh! Looks like something you'll need me for later down the line! I'll be waiting!~

'Shut up,' Skyler thought angrily, 'I won't need you then or ever, whatever that means!'

"We better keep moving," Skyler told them all, "There could be a second wave coming. Better safe than sorry."
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"Skyler, why did you abandon me?!"

"This will be the end, old friend."

"You let us die!!"

~You can't resist me for long! One day, you'll meet an opponent you can't beat, and when you do, I'll always be there!~

Skyler woke with a gasp, immediately sitting up and breathing heavily. He quickly looked around, relieved to see it was all a nightmare. He knew he should've been used to it at this point. He'd been having similar recurring nightmares ever since that voice started talking, where his friends and loved ones laid dead at his feet, different voices of both allies and enemies taunting him or asking why he let them die, and the dreams always ended with the voice forewarning him.

Skyler shook his head angrily. He knew that these dreams weren't a result of PTSD (though he'd be lying if he said he didn't have a minor case of that too). No, they were a product of the aforementioned unwelcome visitor in his head. If anything, the nightmares were having the opposite effect the voice seemingly intended. Skyler never knew what it meant by 'letting him take over', but he knew that it was obviously nothing good. He was determined to never let that happen.

He then looked around again and noticed two of his current teammates were not in their sleeping bags. Though he saw Ruby entering back into the clearing with a sad look on her face.

"Why the look?" Skyler asked, startling her, "Sorry. Where's Jaune?"

Ruby looked down, "He... he's awake. I found him, but he doesn't look like he should be disturbed..."

Skyler frowned sadly and nodded, "Oh... okay, I get it."

Instead of returning to her sleeping bag, Ruby walked over to her childhood friend and sat down next to him. Skyler gave her a confused look.

"I just..." she said, "I wish Jaune wasn't so hard on himself... and that he'd come to us and talk rather than suffer alone."

"The death of a loved one can do stuff to a person," Skyler replied, "We all have our own ways of handling it. I should know..."

"But... you're fine... aren't you? I mean-"

"It's okay, I'm alright. But yeah, I'm fine now. It doesn't make me miss them any less, but I've moved past the pain. You just have to let Jaune handle it himself for now."

"But you seemed to get better once you started talking to us."

"Yeah, but how long did it take me to actually approach you guys on the matter?"

"...Fair point. I just... it's my fault..."

Skyler's eyes widened and he quickly responded, "Hey, hey! Don't you dare think like that! It wasn't your fault."

"But if I had just been a little faster-"

"Then you might've only delayed the inevitable!" Skyler put his hands on her shoulders as tears began to leak from her eyes, "Then we might have lost two people we cared about! There was nothing you could've done, Ruby, so don't you even try to start going and blaming yourself."

Ruby sniffed and practically tackled him in a hug, Skyler beginning to rub her back as she cried her heart out and he continued quietly, "If I felt horrible when I learned that Pyrrha died, just imagine how I would've felt if who I consider my own little sister died with her..."

"I'm sorry..." Ruby hiccuped, letting go of him.

"It's fine, Rubes. How about we get some sleep. We need it."

"Yeah... you're right," Ruby yawned, wiping her cheeks and heading over to her bag, "Good night, Skyler."

"Good night to you too, ya little gremlin."
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So, I've made it clear that, due to SHDW's limited involvement in RWBY Volume 4, chapters will be a bit shorter than I originally intended. Considering Skyler was with the group who got the most screen time, added with Dante being with Yang (who got the least amount of screen time), I thought things would be fine.

Unfortunately, as I look at the chapters of this story, while RNJR did have the most screen time, it was very spread out. So also added with the fact that Yang had fewer scenes, some of these chapters are shorter, like this one. I stretched it out as much as possible, but I doubt the same will work for others. Till next time guys!