RWBY Volume 10: One Fan's Ending - Flairindalin (2024)

Chapter 1: Chapter One

Chapter Text

Chapter One

Qrow was exhausted, mentally and physically. His eyes were gritty with sand, his feet ached, his throat was dry. But still, he persevered. His patrol had just ended and he was wandering the streets of Vacuo. The fall of Atlas was just weeks past, and Vacuo was still adjusting. Having a kingdoms worth of refugees dropped on your doorstep would challenge any city, and given that Vacuo wasn’t overly abundant in natural resources to begin with the challenges were great. But, they were coping.

The Atlesian military had constructed a series of simple barracks that housed hundreds, and Menagerie had shown up with several airships full of food and other goods. Still, there were far too many people crammed all along the streets and the fear and stress were palpable.

Not helping with the grimm, that. Qrow thought. As beings attracted to negative feelings, grimm were swarming to Vacuo like moths to a burning flame. Ah, well. Salem still hasn’t shown, and the huntsmen and Atlesian military were keeping them at bay. For now. While he trudged along, his hand absentmindedly went for his flask. He unstopped it and took a swig, belatedly realizing it was just water, then grinned wanly. Every damn day he wanted a drink, but so far he had stayed sober. One step at a time.

Before long, his feet had made the trail back to his usual haunt, and he stopped in front of the memorial that had been raised for team RWBY, Penny, and Jaune. Over the last weeks dozens of other names had been added, along with photos, mementos, and other tokens. He heaved a sigh. Despite how bad things were, he still saw good in people. People working together, trying to right past wrongs. Faunus and humans, rich, poor, Atlesian, Vacuan, it didn’t matter. They were all here together, working together, with a shared purpose he had never seen before.

Qrow placed his hand on Ruby’s name and said “I wish you were here. All of you. So you could see what you started. Because you did start something.” Tears filled his eyes as he bowed his head and stood there, hand still touching the monument, sand swirling about his feet.

His grief was suddenly snapped and replaced with buzzing adrenaline as a familiar noise emanated from behind him. He spun, hand on Harbinger’s hilt. The hell is Raven doing here, he thought, heart racing as he took in the scene.

There was the familiar slash of red shimmering in the air, and through it stepped not Raven, but… Air slammed out his lungs as he heaved in shock. There were five people there that he never thought he’d see again. Five youthful faces, tired and drawn faces, but faces still brimming with determination and hope. And behind them, smiling that sardonic smile like only she could, his sister Raven.

“Hey Uncle Qrow. We’re back.” Ruby grinned tentatively at him, tattered cloak susurrating gently in the wind.

“Hey kiddo,” he responded, voice cracking and smile splitting his face as the tears in his eyes began to fall.

*

As they stepped through the portal into the heat haze of Vacuo, Ruby’s breath caught in her throat. The city sat shimmering before them, an improbable oasis in the middle of a desolate wasteland of sand, and above it flew dozens of ships. Ships of every make and model, sporting the colors of all the kingdoms of Remnant plus Menagerie. And there, in the middle of them all, hovering serenely like a jewel in the twilight sky, was Amity Coliseum.

“How. . .” she started weakly.

“It looks like your message got out Sis!” Yang exclaimed happily, giving her a punch on the shoulder.

Weiss, hand shading her eyes as she surveyed the scene, said sadly, “There are so few Atlesian ships left.” As the kingdom with the largest military on Remnant, they had once boasted the largest air fleet as well. Now, she counted barely more than a dozen here. The fall of Atlas had taken a heavy toll, it seemed.

“Chin up, Weiss.” Blake moved to her and put a hand on her shoulder. “Just because we don’t see them here doesn’t mean they aren’t on missions somewhere.”

“True. I’m still worried though, my family. . .” She trailed off. Last she knew, her father had been in jail for treason, her sister Winter had been fighting with Cinder, and she hadn’t seen her mother and brother since the chaos at the portal.

Jaune moved in on her other side. “I’m sure they’re ok Weiss. All of you Schnees are fighters.” He looked her in the eyes, his expression soft. “We should get moving. The sooner we make it to the city, the sooner we can reunite with everyone.” He began to stride off over the sand, rusted armor glinting dully in the setting sun’s light.

Ruby started to follow when Yang threw an arm in front of her. “Yang, what”-

“Raven.” Yang’s eyes were hard, and crimson was beginning to swirl into her normally purple irises. The last time they had seen Raven was at Haven academy, and she had been fighting for the other side. Raven, Yang, Cinder, and Vernal had gone into the vault. And Yang was the one who came back up the elevator carrying the Relic. Ruby had asked once, tentatively, what had happened down there. Yang hadn’t volunteered much information, and Ruby had dropped it.

Now they watched, weapons ready, as a portal opened before them. Raven stepped through, face lacking her trademark mask, and locked eyes with Yang. Ruby’s hand inched up Crescent Rose’s haft.

“You’re alive.” Raven’s voice was soft with wonder, and to Ruby’s astonishment, there was a tear in the corner of one of her eyes. Ruby had never known Raven to have a soft side, and she was taken aback. This is weird, she thought.

“Yup. It’ll take more than a fall through space and time to kill me.” There was an angry edge to Yang’s voice, but Ruby could tell there was something underneath the anger, too. Yang herself was almost in tears. Very weird.

“Of course. I lost my connection to you and feared the worst.” Still keeping direct eye contact with her daughter, the daughter she had abandoned as a baby, she said, “Yang. I’m sorry. For everything.” She dropped to her knees and hung her head. “I know asking for forgiveness is a foolish thing, after everything I’ve done to you and your friends, but here I am.”

Ruby watched anxiously at this turn of events, hands twisting around the grip of her weapon. Jaune and Weiss had their weapons leveled at the kneeling woman, but Blake was at Yangs side, supportive hand on her shoulder, Gambol Shroud sheathed. Ruby felt a pang at this. She hadn’t acknowledged her sister and her friend’s new relationship yet, other than to yell at them for daring to find happiness when she herself was so down. She had been hurting badly at the time, but she still had some making up to do.

Yang moved forward and pulled Raven to her feet. “You can start righting wrongs by taking us to Qrow. I think he deserves an apology from you too, and it’ll save us a trip across this desert.” Her expression had softened a little, and the crimson was ebbing from her eyes.

Raven stood, single tear now just a shining trail that had traced its path down her cheek, and nodded. Without another word, she unsheathed her odachi and slashed the air open.

*

“Hey Uncle Qrow. We’re back.” Ruby felt a release of emotions she hadn’t known she was carrying at the sight of her uncle. Relief, happiness, grief, anxiety, sorrow, hope all hit her in waves that peaked and ebbed and mixed until she didn’t know which to feel. He just looked so tired. There were bags under his eyes, his clothing was worn and weatherbeaten, and his five o’clock shadow was more beard and less shadow. But he was here, which meant he was still fighting. He hadn’t given up.

“Hey, kiddo.” His voice cracked, and there were tears streaming down his face. He rushed forward and crushed her into a hug. “I thought we had lost you. I’ve never, ever, been so glad to see someone before in my life.”

“I’m glad to see you too.” Ruby was crying now as she returned the hug with as much force as she could muster. “So much has happened to us I don’t even know where to start. But we’re back.” They broke apart, both sniffing and wiping tears from their eyes.

Yang took this opportunity to crush Qrow into a hug of her own, hefting him into the air with the force of her embrace. He laughed and said, “Easy Yang! I think I felt a rib crack.” She chortled and dropped him back to the ground.

“It’s good to see you, Uncle,” she replied. “And someone here has something they want to tell you.” She stepped aside and left him with a clear line of sight to Raven.

Raven, who looked unusually out of sorts, cleared her throat. “Qrow, I ah. I’m sorry. For everything. I think you and the others deserve an explanation from me. But there are others who should hear what I have to say as well.”

Ruby looked at her inquisitively. Raven was an enigma to Ruby, who couldn’t understand a woman who would abandon her child and husband, fight against her family and the common good, and otherwise be such a righteous pain in the ass. Raven had been on a team with her father, mother, and Qrow, and had once, if it was to be believed, trusted them with her life. And then left them. Ruby, however, had grown a lot these last couple of years and understood that other people had the capacity to do so as well. She was willing to hear Raven out at least.

“Sure. I can bring you to Theo and Winter. They’re the ones heading up the defense of Vacuo right now. I can’t wait to see the looks on their faces.” He caught Weiss’s eye and smiled. “Winter is gonna lose it, Weiss. She’s hiding it well, but she misses you something terrible.”

Weiss, who had perked up at the mention of Winters name, said, “And the rest of my family? Did they make it?”

“Well, Willow, Whitley, and Klein are all here. There, ah, hasn’t been any word on your father yet. We believe that he and Ironwood both went down with Atlas. I’m sorry.”

“I see.” Weiss had had a complicated relationship with her father, and Ruby could tell she was having trouble processing the idea that he might really be dead. “Thank you, Qrow. Let’s not waste any more time, shall we?”

As this exchange was taking place Ruby noticed what they were standing around. A large stone monolith, etched with names and strewn with flowers and photos. Their names. And dozens of others besides. This memorial is dedicated to Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladona, Yang Xiao Long, Jaune Arc, and Penny Polendina. They gave their lives as Hunters, protecting the people. “In life, War. In death, Peace.” As she looked at a photo of a smiling man with a spear hung nonchalantly over his shoulders, she felt herself tearing up again. Her and her friends had returned, but there were so many more that had not. And there would be so many, many more if Salem got her way.

We can still stop her, she thought. We can put an end to this. In the Ever After, she had finally broken down. The pressure of leadership and failure after failure had crushed her normally optimistic nature. She had ended up nearly taking her own life. The tree had offered her a way out, but in the end, she had returned as herself. And her team had stood with her, forgiven her. They were still standing, still ready to fight, and they would do so together.

Her friends moved over to her, and Jaune and Yang placed a hand on either of her shoulders. “We can do this, Ruby.” Jaunes voice was low, earnest. “C’mon. Let’s go let everyone else know we’re back. Salem and Cinder can’t get rid of us that easily.”

*

Qrow couldn’t help but grin as he led the way to Shade. He absently fingered Clover’s talisman as he walked. His nieces and their teammates were alive, something nobody had thought possible. There were eyewitnesses who had seen them fall from the walkways into the interdimensional space that had linked Atlas to Vacuo, and surely there was no coming back from that, right? But there they were. Hurting, maybe, but here.

Ruby and Jaune, under their outer demeanor, both had far away looks in their eyes that Qrow knew too well. He had seen it in old warriors who had seen too much, fought too long. It hurt to see it on the faces of people so young. He’d have to make sure they got the rest they needed before getting thrown back into the fray. Weiss was quiet, but walking with a purpose. She was a force to be reckoned with, that one. Winters sister without a shadow of a doubt.

Blake and Yang, though, were on the opposite end of the spectrum. The two young women were all eyes and ears as they made their way through city, drinking in the sights and sounds. They bantered back and forth, and the looks they gave each other. There was such joy, tenderness, and honesty in those looks. He knew young love when he saw it, hopeless though he was in the romantic arts, and had been wondering if those two were gonna figure it out or not. They had been dancing around it since Blake had rejoined the group in Mistral, and it looked like whatever they’d been through had opened their eyes to what everyone else had seen for a while. It did his heart good to see them so happy. The world needed love, now more than ever.

Raven took up the rear, and even her presence couldn’t sour his mood. He had been at odds with his sister for years, but maybe it was a good sign she was here now. Ozpin was always going on about working together, after all. Even so, he was going to keep an eye on her.

Night had truly fallen by the time they reached Shade. The massive pyramidal structure rose up before them, twinkling with lights. It was an imposing figure, with a solid-stone curtain wall and towers bristling with gun emplacements. Despite the late hour, a bullhead was touching down on a landing pad, no doubt offloading or picking up a group of huntsmen. He addressed the group as they crossed the bridge, waving to the guards at the top of the wall as he did so.

“Theo is the headmaster here. He’s an extraordinary huntsman, but doesn’t like the position he’s been put in. He’d rather fight himself, instead of ordering others to do it, I guess is what I’m getting at. Don’t mince words with him. Tell him the truth, no matter how outlandish it seems. He respects strength and honesty, and doesn’t take any bullsh*t.” He paused here, frowning as a thought occurred to him. “What you’re about to tell him is probably gonna sound like bs, huh? Magic’ll do that I guess. And you lot are magnets for weird crap.” He sighed.

“Where’s Robyn at? She could corroborate our story if needed.” Blake remembered how they had used Robyn’s semblance when Ironwood had addressed everyone and told them the truth about Salem. It worked like a lie detector. Speak a falsehood when Robyn linked with you, and everyone watching would know.

“We can call on her if we need to, I suppose.” Qrow rubbed the back of his head. “Just do your best. Theo was part of Oz’s inner circle before the lot of you got brought on board, so his capacity for understanding is pretty high.”

They crossed a wide, open-air courtyard to the main building. It was teeming with carefully cultivated plant life. Noticing the looks of wonder, Qrow explained. “Shade is situated on top of a natural spring. It’s the primary reason that the academy was built here. The spring provides water to all of the city.”

Once they had all passed into the building, Qrow led them to the elevators. “Theo’s office is at the very top. Let’s go.”

*

Winter stood over the holo display as team RNO gave their report. It had been a simple reconnaissance mission, out to an old fishing village on the coast and back to see if it was viable to resume operations there. The logistics of supplying such a large number of refugees and citizens was a tall order, and any edge they could get would help.

Theodore was reclined at his desk, gently puffing smoke from the cigar clamped in his lips towards the ceiling. He was a trim, well-muscled man in his forties with skin the color of polished bronze. His jet-black hair, cut short, was silver at the temples, and he boasted an impressive, well-manicured mustache. He had on a sky-blue vest, tailored to show off his physique, with no undershirt to further emphasize his build. The outfit was completed with a wide, sand-colored sash at his waist, tailored pants the same shade as his vest, black boots, and jeweled gloves the deep red of rubies.

When Winter had first met him, she had been nonplussed by his fashion choices, expecting a headmaster to dress more formally, but, she had noticed, many Vacuans dressed in a similar fashion. And Theodore managed to pull the ensemble off flawlessly.

Ren, Nora, and Oscar were the remnants and addon of the old team JNPR. With Pyrrha and then Jaune both having been killed in action, leadership of the team had officially passed to Lie Ren. He took to the role well. He was a reserved, capable fighter with a cool head that took his job seriously. Nora was the bombastic one, and even though she had been rather quiet since the events in Atlas, she had regained some of her old flair as she recounted the grimm they had fought.

Oscar, the young man who would become Ozpin reborn as their souls gradually fused, added clarity and detail to Nora’s tale. Winter knew Oscar was a very capable individual, but she also knew the day would come when Oscar was no more and only Ozpin would be left. She thought it more than a little unfair that such an upstanding young man would fade away like that, and even though they relied on Ozpins advice and insight, she wasn’t looking forward to the day that Oscar was fully taken over.

Oscar, young as he was, handled the situation with more grace than anyone rightly should, and Winter deeply respected him for it. Not everyone would be capable of hosting the soul of a millennia-old warrior with the knowledge that that warrior would eventually consume their entire being without going some kind of insane.

Nora finished with a slight flourish, and Ren gave a summary. “With the substantial number of grimm that are congregating around Vacuo, I think it is reasonable to assume that we can resume operations in Blueshell Cove. The two deathstalkers were the only grimm we encountered, and, as described by Nora, they were both dispatched. The issue lies in getting the food back into city, but that’s the only complication I can see.”

Theodore took his feet off his desk and leaned forward. His voice was deep and mellow, with a slight rasp. “Very good. We’ll see to getting the boats repaired and protection for the workers assigned. Dismissed, RNO.”

Ren inclined his head, Nora curtsied, and Oscar nodded. As they turned to leave, a knock sounded at the door. Before anyone could respond, it opened and Qrow came in. That man still didn’t have proper manners, Winter sniffed to herself. Then the world was drenched in a swimmy sort of light, like she was at the bottom of a pool of water looking at the sun. Was that - no it couldn’t - Weiss? The odd veil over her vision suddenly made sense as she realized she was openly weeping. She rushed across the room, her body still moving faster than her brain, and swept her younger sister into a hug.

“Weiss.” Winter sighed the name, still not sure if this was real or an illusion brought on by stress and fatigue.

“It’s good to see you too, Sister.” Weiss sounded oddly constricted, and Winter consciously eased her arms from their crushing embrace. They were all standing there, plain as day, the young hunters that had died during the refugee transfer when Atlas fell. Except for one. Winter knew, with the Maiden power inside of her, that Penny was dead, had to be dead, but the sight of the others still caused a momentary flair of hope that maybe all of it was wrong and Penny would come in the door next, cheerfully saying “Sal-u-tations Winter!” But she didn’t. Winter shook herself out of her shock and hugged Weiss a second time, much gentler than the first.

Behind her, Nora was monologuing and sounded slightly crazed. “Hahaha this is it Nora, your brain is finally fried, you’ve taken too many zaps. Ren finally confesses to you but no, you can’t be happy, that would be too much. Your friends all die and it’s just you and him again, like it always was before, except even sadder some how and now when you finally think you’re moving forward the world says NOPE and you start to hallucinate and all of them are standing there looking at you like you’re crazy, and you are crazy, you have to be, there’s no other explanation”-

She stopped as Ren gently wrapped his arms around her shoulders. “It’s ok, Nora. They’re here. Really here. I can sense them with my semblance.”

Winter watched as Nora stood there, chest heaving, then threw herself forward, arms outstretched. In typical Nora fashion she managed to take Ruby and Jaune to the floor with her. “I missed you all so much! I’m so sorry we couldn’t help, we went through the gate like Jaune asked but there was this massive sandstorm and none of us could get back through and people kept coming out and then the grimm showed up and we had to start fighting them and then Winter came flying through, literally flying, and boy was she mad, and she was awesome, and scary, like a one woman army ripping like a force of nature through the grimm, but none of you came through and when we finally got to the city she said you were all dead and it was so sad but you’re here now and my feelings! I’m in a glass case of emotions!”

Jaune and Ruby awkwardly patted her on the back through this tirade from their position underneath her on the stone floor, and Ruby said, “I’m sorry we put you through that Nora, but we’re back now.” She paused. “Um, this is nice and all, but the floor is kinda hard and you, uh, you’re kinda heavy.”

“Oh, sorry!” Nora jumped back to her feet with alacrity and helped the other two to theirs as well. Then they were all laughing, and it felt so good to laugh, all the stress and tension bubbling away for the moment. Embraces and smiles were shared, and tears were shed. Theodore watched from his desk, smiling as the two teams reunited. Winter, even through her tears of happiness, had noted Raven standing quietly in the back, and saw Theodore’s eyes move her direction as well. She took his lead and kept her silence, however.

“This must be the much-lauded team RWBY, and Mr. Arc,” Theo eventually said, getting to his feet. “I see that the reports of your deaths were greatly exaggerated.” His eyes twinkled and his mustache twitched. “Welcome to Shade. I suppose you have a story to tell, if it’s not too much trouble.”

He had kept his composure remarkably well, and Winter straightened in response. She was still a highly trained military officer after all, and miracles aside there was duty to adhere to.

Ruby stepped forward, brushing down her skirt. “Are you familiar with ‘The Girl Who Fell Through the World,’ headmaster?”

*

Silence fell after Ruby finished her story. Nora was looking at Jaune with awe, Oscar was deep in thought, and Qrow was absently rubbing his beard. “So that makes two fairy tales that are really real,” he mused. He took a swig from his water flask.

Theodore had resumed his reclined position, and there was a small cloud of smoke hovering around his head as he took in everything Ruby had said. “Another world. . . How many days were you in this ‘Ever After?’” He asked.

“Um. Three total. I think.” Ruby was hesitant, because she had spent a portion of her time not exactly with the rest of the group and had glossed that over. She didn’t want to share her near suicide with everyone else just yet.

“Forty-two days have passed here,” Theodore said quietly. “And you, young man. You spent decades there, known as the Rusted Knight, and yet return to us as youthful as the moment you fell. I know many of my colleagues would dearly love a chance like that.” Theodore watched Jaune closely, marking the white streaks in the huntsman’s otherwise golden-blonde hair.

“Yeah, well, it wasn’t exactly a walk in the park, sir. Do you know what it was like, years passing, not knowing what had happened to everyone in Remnant? Not knowing who was still alive, or if Salem had won? Wondering if and when team RWBY would show up? Losing the only friends I had made while there? It was hell. I wouldn’t wish it upon anyone.” His voice, low at first, kept rising until he finished at a bitter shout.

Weiss moved next to him, bristling in his defense. “Headmaster, I hardly think telling him that this was some sort of wonderful opportunity was in good taste. Jaune thought he had lost everything, and he still waited for us. He kept doing his best to help the people he knew, despite everything that had happened to him. He’s a better man than any other I know.” Behind her, Blake and Yang shared a knowing look.

Theodore raised his hands in surrender. “My apologies. I didn’t mean to detract from your hardships, Mr. Arc. You all have given me a lot to consider. And Miss Branwen, don’t think I’ve forgotten about you.”

Raven, who had melted into the back of the room and watched the events from there, stepped forward. Back straight, head held high, she moved assuredly before Theo. “I’ve come to pledge my sword in the defense of Shade, and as a whole, Remnant.”

Silence greeted this proclamation, broken when Qrow barked out a short laugh. “You want to help now? After everything that happened? After you tried to steal the Relic of Knowledge? You’ve gotta be joking.”

“Actually, she let me take the relic.” Yang spoke up, watching her mother with curiosity in her eyes. “And, she’s the one who found us in the desert and brought us here, in case you’d forgotten already.”

“No, but Raven tried to kill me the last time we saw her. Could’ve given less than a damn if any of us had died. What’s your motivation, Sis? You’re always out for yourself.” Qrow was pacing, punctuating his words with sharp gestures towards Raven.

“You’re right Qrow. I have been self-serving for a long time now. I’ve seen, firsthand, a lot of the terrors that this world holds.” She closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, they shone with tears. “I’ve been scared. This whole time, knowing what Salem is, what she can do. It’s why I ran from You, and Tai, and Yang. I thought, foolishly, if I removed myself from the fight I could live without that fear. That getting away from Ozpin would mean that I could be free. I was wrong. For all my cowardice, Salem is tearing the world apart anyway. I’ve done terrible things, in my fear, but someone recently told me that true strength was being afraid and fighting anyway. So here I am.”

She took a breath and continued. “I know I can’t redeem myself just like that. All I can do is show you with my actions. I want to help. And, as the spring Maiden, it’s high time I did my part.”

“Wait, you’re the spring Maiden?”-

“You what?”-

“Did she just say?”-

The room had gone into an uproar after that revelation. The only people who hadn’t reacted were Yang and Theodore. Theodore rose, voice raised over the commotion. “All right, all right, everyone stow it. Raven. Show us.”

Scarlet flames grew like wings from Raven’s eyes. She began to hover over the floor, and wind started to spiral around her. She dropped back to the floor at a gesture from Theodore. “Well, this is certainly a surprise, to say the least. Oz, what do you think?”

There was a nearly imperceptible sigh from Oscar, who bowed his head and then straightened again, looking out at the room with ancient eyes. “I think we give her a chance. After all, we’re in this together, are we not? And my time spent with Teams RWBY and JNR has taught me not to underestimate the power of forgiveness. We’ve already convinced two of Salem’s associates to switch sides, and they have proved invaluable to our cause. Hazel, a man I thought would never in a thousand years come to my aid, gave his life in the defense of Atlas, and even now Emerald is awaiting the return of Ren, Nora and Oscar. Raven is a skilled fighter with powerful abilities.”

“Very well. Winter, looks like our night isn’t over yet. We’ll need to get Ms. Branwen up to speed. Qrow, we’ll need you as well. As for the rest of you, please show RWBY to the dorms. You could all use some cleaning up and rest. Your assignments will be given out in the morning.” Theodore went back to the holo display and started scrolling through menus.

Qrow, still looking at Raven with a hard expression, sighed. “Ok, but I’m keeping an eye on you, Raven. Ruby, Yang, we’ll finish catching up tomorrow, yeah?” He gave his nieces a quick grin and walked them out of the room.

“Sure thing, Uncle Qrow.” Ruby and Yang gave Raven one last look before the door closed. She stood there, in the middle of the room, looking more vulnerable than either of the young women had ever seen her.

*

Nora filled them in as they made their way through the school turned command center, happily chattering away. “So, your rooms will be on our floor, but between the extra huntsmen stationed here at the academy and the lack of space overall we’re having to make do with some makeshift and rather cramped quarters. The veteran huntsmen have all the good rooms.” She wrinkled her nose. “Only two beds per room, and water for the showers is being rationed, but it’s not all bad.” She glanced quickly at Ren, turned a faint shade of pink, and continued talking.

“So yeah. Jaune, you can bunk with Oscar, he’s got his own room. Emerald is. . . well, not a prisoner, not really, but kinda under house arrest? We keep trying to convince Theodore and Winter to give her some more freedom, but they haven’t budged yet. Want to make sure she’s not, y’know, still a bad guy. Anywho, showers are at the end of the floor there, and you can get your clothes laundered too. You might have to make do with some spare Atlas uniforms in the meantime, we didn’t really have a chance to bring much with us. Well, you know that, you were there.” She laughed. It seemed she hadn’t lost her penchant for talking everyone’s ears off, and was currently in high spirits, even by Nora’s standards.

“Here we are!” She had stopped outside of a pair of doors. “Me and Ren, and Oscar, are further down the hall.” She gave each of them a brief but powerful hug and said “It’s so good to have you all back, you have no idea. Good night!”

Ruby watched her and the others go, nodded to Jaune, who went with them, then turned to her team. “So, how should we do this?”

Weiss gave her a pitying look, grabbed her by the arm, and said, “We’ll take this one. You two can have the other,” and dragged Ruby inside, leaving a bemused Yang standing in the hall with an embarrassed Blake at her side.

“After you, m’dear.” Yang gestured towards the unoccupied room with a flourish and wink.

“Stop!” Blake smacked her arm, but she was smiling as she went into the room.

The inside looked like an old office that had been converted to sleeping quarters. There were beds against either wall, and a dresser crammed into the space underneath a small window that let the moonlight in. Blake sunk onto one of the beds and sighed. “I feel like I could sleep a week.”

Yang threw herself onto the other one and lay there, looking at the ceiling. “Me too.” She sniffed at her armpit and pulled a face. “However, I think a shower first is a good idea. I don’t remember the last time I took one.” She got up and started rummaging through the dresser.

“Hmm. I don’t really think this is my color, whaddya think?” She held up a stark white shirt with the crest of Atlas embroidered on the chest. “Too. . . bland.”

“I dunno, it might be fun to see you in a uniform,” Blake teased.

Yang chucked the shirt into Blake’s face and laughed. “Same to you, hot stuff. C’mon, let’s go find out how much water we get.”

Next door, Weiss was meticulously undoing her long braid. Ruby was curled into a ball on the other bed, staring out the window. “Weiss, I’m sorry I’ve been such a lousy leader.” Ruby was crying again, tears leaking out onto her pillow.

“Ruby Rose!” Weiss admonished. “You are not a lousy leader. In fact, I daresay it’s we who have been lousy teammates. You had been pushed to your limit and we failed to realize it. You were going through something awful and we weren’t there for you. I’m so sorry you had to go through that without our support.” She was watching Ruby closely.

Ruby turned those brilliant, tear-lined silver eyes to meet Weiss’s gaze. “But I yelled at all of you. And then tried to kill myself. That’s not how a leader acts. I was selfish and cruel.” She hugged herself tightly.

Weiss got up and sat down next to her. “You were not being selfish, Ruby. I think we all sometimes forget the terrible burden you carry. You’re that remarkable a person. You try your best, all the time, and we’re in a situation where dreadful things are just going to happen. It’s not your fault. There was this story my grandfather liked, and in it there was a character, an older captain, giving advice to one of his younger officers. He told them: ‘It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not weakness, that is life.’ You can’t second guess yourself Ruby.” She paused, rubbing Ruby’s back while the younger woman quietly sobbed.

“In the beginning, I thought Ozpin had made a mistake, making you the leader, remember? I was a prat, and I was wrong. You’re the thing that keeps us all together and going. And if you fall, we’ll be there to pick you up. I promise.”

Weiss sat there, rubbing Ruby’s back while Ruby let go of all the negative emotions she had had bottled up while the shattered moon lit them with its light.

*

Jaune couldn’t sleep. He was wound up, tense. Oscar had shown him to their room, and Jaune had dropped off his gear and then left again to wander the halls. It was odd, having a young body again. He wondered if this is what Ozpin went through every time he reincarnated. The aches and snarls and pains were all gone. He felt good. Other than the decades of memories rattling around his head, that was.

He had had at least thirty years to ruminate over the events that had transpired before he had fallen into the abyss between worlds. Ironwoods descent into madness. Watching his friends fall, one by one. Seeing Penny mortally wounded, and the actions he had taken at her insistence to ensure Winter inherited the Maidens’ powers. He had grieved, and lamented, and raged. He grew depressed, and apathetic. And then he had found Alyx and Lewis.

He had a purpose again, guiding and protecting the brother and sister as they explored the Ever After, and then the Cat Most Curious had taken that from him as well. He had failed again. He grew bitter and cynical, and then, when he thought all hope was lost, he had chanced upon team RWBY as they were attacked in the market by the Jabberwalker.

For them, the events had all happened quite literally yesterday. They were still fresh from the fight and trying to figure out this new world. Old memories had flooded back into him, and his grief and anger flared anew. He was so preoccupied with his own thoughts he had overlooked Ruby’s pain. And she had nearly paid the ultimate cost for it. Some friend he was.

He stopped before a large window and stared up at the moon. A moon that had been shattered by one of the Brothers, millennia past. The first time humans had inhabited this world, and failed. Would we fail again? Ozpin was told straight up he couldn’t destroy Salem. But maybe. . . maybe someone else could. He stood there, lost in thought, until a noise broke him from his reverie.

Piano notes hovered faintly in the air. Someone was playing, and the noise was enchanting. Without thinking about it he began to move in the direction of the music. The song was a slow dance, the bass steadily decanting the beat in a one, two, one, two, while the treble flowed through the melody.

He came to the room the music was emanating from, and hesitated. The door was ajar. Should he disturb the player? He peered through the crack and caught his breath. Weiss was sitting at a grand piano in what looked like Shade’s music room. She was illuminated in a shaft of pure moonlight, and breathtakingly beautiful. Her hair was loose, something Jaune didn’t think he’d ever seen, and flowed down her back like a silken white curtain.

As he watched, she began to increase the tempo. It picked up, faster and faster until her hands were flying over the keys. He knew she was a wonderful singer, but hadn’t known she was a master pianist as well. Spellbound, he continued to watch. The music got louder, and angrier, and faster still. Just when he thought she couldn’t possibly move her fingers any more quickly her semblance activated, and a pair of spectral hands materialized. They picked up the lowest and highest lines respectively while Weiss continued to play. She was effectively playing with two sets of hands. The skill on display was staggering.

And Weiss herself played like a woman possessed. She started banging out the notes in loud, almost discordant chords. Jaune noticed with a start that she was weeping as she played. There were bright spots of color high on her cheeks, and a stray lock of hair had obscured one of her eyes. But still, she sat ramrod straight. And played. And played. And played.

Jaune quietly moved inside, wondering if he should interrupt. Weiss was obviously working through something, and he decided against it. With a final, flourishing run of notes, her performance came to an end. She sat there with her head thrown back, hands still on the keys, chest quickly rising and falling, eyes closed, as the last notes lingered in the air.

Jaune gave a slight cough. Weiss started and whipped her head in his direction. When she saw it was him, she gave him a weak smile. “Jaune! You startled me. I was lost there, for a bit.” Her eyes, the color of fresh glacial pools in the moonlight, were still limned with tears.

“Sorry. I heard you playing and couldn’t help but listen in. You’re incredible, Weiss. I’ve never heard anyone play like that before.”

“That was my father’s favorite song. Well, the start of it was, anyway. He would not have approved of the way I changed it.” She moved the hair out of her face. “I must be a sight,” she said, sniffing and wiping at her eyes.

“Weiss, you’re beautiful. You’re always beautiful. You ok? I’m here if you need someone to talk to.”

Weiss moved over on the bench and patted the seat next to her. “I could talk, yeah.”

Jaune sat next to her and she immediately dropped her head onto his shoulder. With a pang, he remembered a far off and long-ago memory of Pyrrha doing the same thing. He let himself feel the momentary sorrow, then brought himself back to the present. Pyrrha, wonderful as she had been, was gone. Weiss was here now and needed a friend.

“Soo, what’s up?”

“Oh, you know, just trying to keep it together. Ruby cried herself to sleep, Blake and Yang have their first night alone, Winter is busy doing her thing. I saw a directory and noted this room. I haven’t had a chance to play in a while and thought it might clear my head. The only song that came to mind was that damn dance. ‘Rhapsody in Eden 5.’ It was the one my father always made me play. It was so boring though, and I started to spice it up. Extra trills, picking up the tempo, that sort of thing. He always yelled when I did. ‘You don’t mess with the classics! It’s not proper form!’ Even dead, he’s still in my head.” She laughed bitterly.

“Y’know, I think it’s ok for you to feel sad about your fathers passing. Even with everything he had done, he still helped raise you. People are messy, and gray. Good with the bad. That sort of thing.” Jaune tentatively put an arm around her, and she gently sighed.

“It just, I don’t know, isn’t fair. He finally got his comeuppance, and I thought maybe we’d have a chance to really talk to him, try to get him to admit what horrible things he had done. And then he dies. I’ll never have the chance to find out if there was a decent man under his scheming and politics. And that’s. . . confusing. He played such a large part of my life, negative as much of it was, and I’m not sure how to move forward with the knowledge that he’s gone.”

“One day at a time. And it helps to have people to talk to, believe me. Me, your team, Winter, your mother, Whitley, Klein. You have a lot of good people around you, Weiss. There were days, in the Ever After, where I just talked out loud. Even if I had nobody to talk to. Getting your words out can help.”

“Oh, Jaune. We’ll all been through so much, haven’t we? Nineteen years old with the weight of the world on our shoulders. Though you’ve been carrying that burden for a lot longer than us, now.” She peered up at his face, her eyes still wet. “Thank you. For everything. For waiting for us, for being there for us, for me.”

They sat for a while in silence, bathed in moonlight. Jaune felt as though something deep inside of him had finally broken loose. The weight of time and grief that had hardened around his heart was cracking. He felt at peace. Like he could start healing, finally. He rubbed Weiss’s shoulder. She looked up at him again, then kissed him, for a delicious, dizzying moment. She pulled away, eyes shining with the light of the moon. “Good night, Jaune.”

Then she was gone, leaving the taste of tears on his lips and the scent of flowers in the air. He looked after her, stunned, and touched his mouth in wonder. When he got back to his room, still in a daze, he found Oscar asleep. Jaune lay down, and for the first time in a long time fell into a deep, dreamless slumber.

Chapter 2: Chapter Two

Chapter Text

Chapter Two

Ruby woke up feeling emotionally drained. She had wept until sleep took her, and Weiss had stayed with her the entire time. She rubbed her eyes and rolled over. Weiss was still asleep, shock of white hair the only thing visible from under her covers. Ruby felt a wave of love at the sight. She remembered when Weiss had hated her, but now they were like sisters.

Ruby sat up and looked at the dresser. She didn’t like the idea of wearing an Atlesian uniform, but her combat outfit did need to be cleaned. And she kinda smelled. She sighed and sifted through the clothes, trying to find her size. Armed with fresh fatigues, she set off for the showers.

It took her a moment to figure out the token system that permitted her allotment of water. When she finally had one, she dropped her clothes off in a hamper, labeled it with her name and room number, and sent it down a dumbwaiter with forlorn regret.

The water, when it came spraying out of the showerhead, was cold. She eeped and got down to soaping and shampooing as quickly as she could. She had just barely finished rinsing, and the water was just starting to get warm, when it shut off. She toweled herself dry and put on her new outfit. Navy blue trousers and a white shirt emblazoned with the crest of Atlas. Not at all her style.

If I have a chance to get into the city, I need to pick up some spare clothes, she thought as she plucked at the stiff fabric. Once back outside of her room she hesitated and looked at Yang and Blakes door. There was still a conversation that she needed to have there. Better get it over with, Ruby. No time like the present.

She steeled herself, knocked briskly at the door, and then went inside. “Yang, Blake, I needed to”- She stopped, blood rushing to her face as she realized her mistake. Yang was sitting up, stretching her arms and blinking in the morning light. She was not wearing a top. Ruby could see Blakes ears sticking up from under the blanket next to her. “Ohmygosh, Yang I’m an idiot sorry sorry sorry!” And disappeared back out the door, leaving a handful of rose petals swirling in her wake.

She shut the door and sank to the floor, face flushed with embarrassment. Stupid Ruby stupid! You know better than to just open a door and go into a room. Even if Yang was her sister and Blake her friend, and even though they had shared living quarters and camps for the better part of the last two years, the dynamic had changed. She knew that the dynamic had changed. That was what she had wanted to talk about. And then she messed it up anyway.

Oh I hope they aren’t mad at me, she thought, heart still racing. She was never going to live down this embarrassment.

*

Back inside the room, Yang watched in amusem*nt as her younger sister vanished back out the door. Ah Ruby, she thought. Still such an innocent.

Beside her Blake stirred and sat up. “What was that?” she asked sleepily.

“Oh, just Ruby learning a lesson about personal space. She’ll be ok.” She watched as Blakes cat ears flattened and twitched in realization.

“Oh. Ummm. We should get dressed.” She hurriedly got out of bed and started pulling on clothes.

Yang called out “Give us just a minute, Rubes. We’ll be out in jiffy.”

A few minutes later, they were all seated in Ruby’s room. Weiss had woken up and was sitting on the end of one bed, brushing out her hair. Ruby was still an impressive shade of scarlet. She had apologized profusely, and Yang and Blake had both told her not to worry about it. “Live and learn, little Sis,” Yang said. “So, what did you want to talk to us about?”

“Uh. Well. I wanted to talk about you and Blake. And how you’re together, and how I’m happy for you, and how I’m sorry that I yelled at you about it before. And I’m still sorry for just barging in like that.”

Blake, who was light pink herself, said “It’s ok Ruby. We’re really the ones who should be apologizing to you. I don’t think any of us quite knew how bad you were feeling at the time. And we know you didn’t mean anything by it.”

Yang had lost her amused expression. “Blakes right, Ruby. I’ve been a pretty terrible sister. Yes, I was happy, but that doesn’t excuse me from not noticing your pain. I know I’m usually the first to joke about things, and that sometimes I might seem like I’m a little too carefree, but if you ever, ever feel like the only way out is to take your own life, promise us you’ll talk to each of us first.” There were tears in her eyes as she embraced Ruby. “Just, let us know before it gets that bad again, K? I couldn’t stand losing you. And I’m sorry it took you yelling at us for us to notice.”

“I promise.” Ruby squeezed Yang back.

From the other bed, Weiss chimed in. “And promise us to share the load, ok? We can help. You don’t have to do it all yourself.”

“I promise that too.” Ruby was rubbing her eyes again. “Ugh. I feel like all I’ve been doing is crying.”

“Hey, crying is healthy. Nothing wrong with letting it out. We’re all just glad you’re ok.” Yang still had an arm around Ruby’s side. “So, what’s the plan for team RWBY today?”

Blake, who like the others was dressed in spare clothes that the Atlas military had provided, said “Clothes shopping, please.” She scratched at the starchy fabric as she said it.

“Theodore said something about assignments last night,” Ruby said, looking for her scroll.

“Oh, don’t worry about that. Our assignment is literally ‘R&R,’ I already checked. It seems Headmaster Theodore, and Qrow, both want us to take it easy for a little while. Qrow specifically requested that you and Jaune meet with him at ten o’clock in the armory.” Weiss directed that last part at Ruby. “And we’ve all been given a huntsmen account that entitles us to free meals in the ‘mess’ (Weiss frowned over this), and a set amount of Lien to spend on whatever we deem necessary.”

“That settles it then! Breakfast, some light training, and then a day on the town. C’mon guys.” Yang got up, pulling Ruby with her, and walked out the door with her arm still wrapped supportively around her sister.

*

Breakfast turned out to be dried fruit, mellow white cheese, a small piece of crusty brown bread, and oatmeal. They also had their choice of water, tea, or coffee. Yang ate with gusto, Blake and Weiss ate more delicately, and Ruby picked at her food.

Part way through the meal, Jaune, Nora, Ren and Oscar joined them. The dining hall was relatively empty, and Ruby guessed that most of the huntsmen in the academy had eaten earlier or were out on missions. Jaune looked at her picked over food and said, “You need to keep your strength up Ruby. Even if you don’t have an appetite, your body needs fuel.”

Nora sidled over and handed her a small jug. “I, uh, liberated this from the kitchens. It’s honey. Makes the oatmeal wayyyy tastier.”

“Thanks Nora. I guess I’m still just worried about everything that’s going on. Should we really have a day off?” She unstopped the container and poured a small measure of honey into her bowl and stirred it in. Nora was right, it did taste much better.

“You can’t keep fighting if you don’t get rest. Someone important to me made sure I understood that, once upon a time.” Blake looked at Yang with affection over her cup of tea.

“Hear hear!” Yang drained the last of her coffee. “So what are you lot up to today?”

Oscar replied, “We have some down time as well. Theodore tries to keep teams rotated, so you have some time to yourselves between missions. We can show you all around, if you’d like.”

“That would be great, Oscar.” Weiss was daintily wiping her mouth with a napkin. “We were going to visit the training facilities and armory, then head out to the city for a bit.”

“Yeah, I wonder what Uncle Qrow wants with us.” Ruby looked at Jaune, whose gaze was lingering on Weiss.

“Oh. I dunno, maybe he just wants to show us around too. I do wonder why he specified just us two, though.” His eyes finally moved from Weiss to meet Ruby’s gaze. Blake, who had been watching Jaune as well, smiled into her tea, and Nora’s eyes were moving from Weiss to Jaune with suspicion.

“Maybe because we’re the team leaders?” Ruby ventured.

“Maybe. Though Ren, if you want to keep it I won’t argue,” Jaune said.

“No, the team is yours. I’m glad to step back,” Ren said. “I prefer to be out of the spotlight, thank you.”

“Hey, Oscar, did Theodore give you a license? I noticed that you’re on the roster as an official part of Ren’s team,” Weiss asked.

“He gave me a provisional license. Any student that applied for one got one. We need the manpower, and those of us that got provisional licenses were assigned to teams with full huntsmen. They make sure we don’t go on high-risk missions, and we all get field experience,” Oscar said, shrugging.

“Do you think that this is something you would have done, if things hadn’t happened the way they did?” Blake asked him.

“I don’t know. I was happy enough on the farm, but there was a part of me that wanted to see the world, and I’ve definitely seen quite a bit of it now,” Oscar said.

Everyone got quiet for a moment, thinking about how Oscar didn’t have much longer as Oscar.

Ruby broke the silence that had fallen. “Well, it’s almost the time he wanted to see us. We should probably get going.” There was a murmur of agreement as the two teams rose from the tables and set off.

*

Shade had dedicated most of the third tier of its structure to training and combat facilities. It was dominated by a large sand-filled arena where huntsman could square off against any number of foes, from fellow students to practice drones. There was an armory that doubled as a machine shop where huntsman could tune up their weapons and armor, and a weight training and fitness center.

Qrow was waiting for them, leaning against a wall and flipping a coin. “There you are. Ready to get started?” He pocketed the coin with a grin.

“We’re gonna look around. We’ll catch up with you two in a bit.” Yang and the rest of the group split off, leaving Ruby and Jaune with Qrow.

“What did you want to see us about, Uncle Qrow?” Ruby asked.

“Wanted to show you something, actually. Follow me.” Qrow went through the door he had been waiting next to. The room he went into was filled with a variety of standard weapons, from swords and shields to spears and bows. Qrow walked past all of these to another door that had a keypad mounted on it. He punched in a code and the door slid open with a hydraulic hiss.

Ruby’s curiosity was truly piqued now. She had always been a huge geek when it came to weapons, and wondered what sort of things Shade thought important enough to keep behind locked doors. The inside was even better than she thought.

There were weapons lined up along both walls, enshrined in glass and lit with lights. “These are the retired armaments of some of Shade’s best and brightest,” Qrow said. “Kept here until a Hunter or Huntress with the skill to use them comes around again. I’ve been given permission to show them off, just for you guys. I may have mentioned your obsession with weaponry.” He winked at Ruby.

Ruby had stopped in front of a maul that was bigger than she was. ‘Foehammer’ was inscribed on the plinth. Crafted by Gregor ‘Hammerhand’ Jet, whose semblance granted superhuman strength and stamina. She wondered what it weighed. Nora’s hammer, Manghild, weighed enough as it was, and this Foehammer was almost twice its size.

The next case held a pair of Chakram. They were beautifully inscribed with an old Vacuan mantra, and the craftsmanship was exquisite. Fox and Dove. Crafted by Xivia Silksong. The unique alloy used in the construction allows various elements to be imbued into the blades, whether via dust or semblance.

Ruby spent the next fifteen minutes happily bouncing from case to case, softly exclaiming over various things. Jaune hadn’t seen her this happy in a long time and was glad that Qrow had brought her here.

“This is cool, but I get the feeling you wanted me for something else,” Jaune ventured while Qrow watched Ruby gush over a crossbow that implemented magnetic slides to make it operate somewhat like a rail gun.

“Yeah, I was actually hoping you and I could spar. I have a theory I want to test out, and you’re the perfect candidate.”

“Oh. Ok, sure. I can do that.” Jaune was surprised. Qrow was a superb fighter, and Jaune didn’t know what he expected to get out of the exchange.

“Why don’t any of the other academies do anything like this? This is the coolest idea, to showcase your kingdoms history through the implements they used to defend against the grimm!” Ruby beamed.

Qrow chuckled. “Glad you like it kiddo. C’mon, let’s hit the arena. You ever want to come in here again just let me know, k?”

“Ohh, I would love to get some hands-on time with some of these beauties.” There was a slight bounce to Ruby’s step as they left the secure armory.

“Thinking about swapping out Crescent Rose? I’ll see if I can swing it with Theo. I don’t see why you couldn’t,” Qrow said with a wink.

“No! Crescent Rose is my baby! I just think the best way to appreciate these things is to get acquainted with them. And the best way to get acquainted with weapons is to swing them around.” She enthusiastically demonstrated, slashing the air with an imaginary sword.

Jaune listened to this fondly, remembering a conversation he had had with Ruby a lifetime (to him, at least) ago. They had just met on their first day at Beacon, and Ruby had told him his sword and shield combo were cool, because people just didn’t have an appreciation for the classics anymore. Jaunes weapons weren’t flashy, they didn’t turn into guns, and they were several generations old.

As they entered the arena floor, Jaune was surprised to see not just his team and the rest of RWBY, but Headmaster Theodore and Winter as well. As Ruby joined them in the stands, Jaune asked, “What’s everyone doing here?”

“Like I said, I have a theory,” Qrow said as he unlimbered his weapon, Harbinger. “And they’re invested in the results.” He began to twirl his sword, moving his feet through various stances as he did so.

Jaune took out his own sword, Crocea Mars. It had been broken in his fight with Cinder, and as he looked down at its riven length, a memory of the sword covered in blood flashed through his mind. He thrust the memory roughly back into the back of his mind. Now wasn’t the time for that. He clicked the button on his shield to extend it from its stowed state, rolled his shoulders, and took a couple slow swings, moving much more deliberately than Qrow.

The two combatants slowly circled each other, moving with the easy grace of practiced fighters. Qrow eyed Jaunes truncated sword. “Y’know, you should think about getting that thing fixed up, or replaced. We were just in an armory.”

Jaune looked again at his broken blade, and the moment he took his eyes off Qrow the other man dashed forward, sword angled straight at Jaune’s throat.

Jaune twisted, raised his shoulder, and let the sword glance off the face of his shield. Without breaking momentum, he planted his feet and bashed with his shield, trying to force Qrow off balance. Qrow, wily as he was, spun with the blow and came at Jaune from the back. The next few exchanges came in a flurry of attacks from Qrow, while Jaune steadfastly weathered them. Even on the defensive, he didn’t seem to be off kilter at all. Every block, every move of his feet, every deflection with his sword came with a practiced economy of motion. He wasted no energy, using every move as a segway into the next.

Qrow backed off, reassessing. There was a glint in his eyes that Jaune couldn’t interpret. “You just gonna play turtle all day? Hard to win fights like that.” He flipped Harbinger up and fired a blast from the underslung shotgun. Jaune ducked behind his shield again, slightly peeved at Qrows antics but otherwise still calm. He tends to attack in sequence, so the next blow should be... he jumped. Sure enough, Harbinger slashed the empty air where his ankles had just been. Qrow didn’t give him a chance to reset and hit him squarely in the back with a shattering punch. His aura soaked the blow, but as he turned to face Qrow, Harbinger, now fully extended to its scythe mode, hooked behind his shield and ripped it from his grasp. It spun away from him, well out of his reach.

“There. Now we can have a proper swordfight,” Qrow smirked.

Jaune was starting to get mad. His shield was laying behind Qrow on the sand, and he would be open to attack if he tried to retrieve it. Qrow had a significant advantage in reach, and Jaune had lost his defensive tool. He had thought this was going to be a friendly match, Qrow had said he wanted to test something, but Qrow was fighting for keeps. Fine then. Jaune let his mind slip into a focused state of awareness. Qrow was treating this as a real fight, and so would he.

Background noise faded to a buzz, time slowed, and he assessed his options. Qrow had reach. What did you do when an opponent had more reach than you? You closed the distance and got inside of it. His advantage was that he had an immense aura pool and could take a significant amount of damage before it broke. Ok then. Qrow wanted a fight, he’d get a fight. He lowered his center of gravity, shifted his stance, and charged.

*

After Ruby and Jaune entered the armory with Qrow, the rest of the group checked out the forge. Adjacent to the armory, it had everything a hunter needed to maintain and upgrade their armaments. You could even craft a new piece if you desired. They had all upgraded their equipment in Atlas, but Jaune’s had understandably taken a beating in his intervening time. As Weiss looked over a selection of ingots infused with various dusts, she wondered if Jaune would want to replace or repair his worn gear. She knew it meant a lot to him because one, it was a family heirloom, and two, he had incorporated some of Pyrrha’s armor into his own.

Her mind wandered to the night before, and her kiss with him in the moonlight. She didn’t know if she had been too forward with him. It had been an impulsive thing to do, but she hadn’t been able to help herself. She sighed internally. What was done was done. And it had been a nice kiss, she thought.

Weiss nearly jumped out of her skin as Nora suddenly appeared at her elbow. “Hi Weiss!”

“Nora! Sorry, I was lost in thought, I didn’t see you.” Weiss was flustered.

“You’re looking kinda pink. And Oscar mentioned that Jaune was out late last night. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?” Nora was looking at her far too slyly for her liking.

Weiss gave Oscar her best glare, who looked appropriately sheepish, then turned back to Nora. “We were just talking. As friends. Nothing more.”

“AH-HA! So you were with him. Yang said you’ve been making mooneyes at him ever since you saw him with that beard in the Ever After.” Nora’s eyes were bright and mischievous.

It was Yang’s turn to receive the glare. Yang just grinned. “Well, you have. He certainly has matured. And that beard looked good on him.”

Ren, Blake, and Oscar were watching from the sidelines as Weiss exploded in indignant fury. Ren chuckled. “It amazes me how Nora can pick up on something like that, but not realize you and Yang are together now. Congratulations, by the way.” He smiled at Blake.

“Thanks, Ren. I’m glad to see you and Nora making progress too.” Blake smiled back.

“She’s an amazing woman, that’s for sure. I spent so long compartmentalizing my feelings I didn’t see what was right in front of me.” He sighed. “She had to nearly die to make me realize what I would lose. I hope you and Yangs epiphany went more smoothly.”

“It was pretty textbook fairytale, honestly. I’ll have to fill you in on the details later, I think we’ve been rumbled.” Weiss was gesticulating towards Yang, who was still standing there, arms crossed, grin wider than ever. Blake walked up to her and slid an arm around her side.

“Why are we even talking about this when these two are already together!” Weiss was still pointing angrily. “You’re really going to tease me about Jaune when you haven’t even noticed the perpetual ‘will they, won’t they’ pair finally connected?”

Nora paused, looking at Yang and Blake. The two women stood there, arms around each other’s waists, and Blake gave her an apologetic shrug and a smile. “You- when, OHMYGODTHISISINCREDIBLE!!!,” she exclaimed happily. “You two! Things just keep getting better! We have to double date. Maybe triple if Weiss makes her move.” Nora was bubbling over with enthusiasm as she hugged each of them. Weiss was spluttering again at the last remark, and a bright shade of red.

“If Weiss makes what move?” Winter and Theodore had entered unnoticed during the commotion. Winter was looking at her sister inquisitively.

“Winter! I, well, um”-

“It’s good to see you youngsters in such high spirits!” Theodore stepped forward, beaming at the group. “I’d like you all to accompany us to the viewing area for the arena. I do believe Mr. Arc and Mr. Branwen will be putting on a display for us, and a good show deserves an audience.”

Winter was still watching Weiss. She had rarely seen her sister this flustered. The Schnees had a well-earned reputation for being cold as ice, and were usually great at keeping their composure. She had an inkling of an idea of what had gotten Weiss worked up, but would have to approach the situation delicately given that Weiss’s friends had already gotten under her skin. They’ve been back less than a day and already brought so much energy into Shade. Winter felt a blossom of hope in her heart, the first she had felt in a long time.

*

In the stands, Oscar watched Jaune and Qrow circle. He had a good idea as to what Theodore and Qrow were up to, and Ozpin agreed. If Mr. Arc has truly spent that much time fighting for the people of the Ever After, he should have the skills to back it up. You put a man with decades of experience into a younger man’s body, a body still approaching its prime, and that man can do incredible things. Oscar was inclined to agree. He and Ozpin were in a comparable situation, and while Oscar had improved immensely as a fighter, Ozpin could still do things while in control that made Oscar seem like a clumsy initiate.

Ruby sat down next to him. She was smiling a bright, cheery smile, and he smiled in response. He hadn’t seen that genuine a smile on her in a while. “Have a good time in the armory?”

“It was great! There were so many cool weapons, and cool designs, and little blurbs about the hunters who had used them.” She swung her legs as she talked. “How do you think Jaune is going to do against Qrow?” Down on the sand, Qrow had just ripped away Jaune’s shield, and Ruby winced slightly.

“I think Jaune is going to surprise us all. I believe in him.”

Ruby considered this for a moment. “Me too,” she said as Jaune charged back into the fray.

Oscar had trouble following the next exchange between the two. Jaune had... intensified. It was the only word that came to mind. Qrow had always been a flashy fighter, employing quick-change tactics to keep his opponents off balance. Jaune knew this and wasn’t giving him room to breathe. Without his shield, and with a broken sword his only offense, Jaune got into Qrow’s face and stuck to him no matter what. He was using his off hand to block and punch while his sword arm hewed mercilessly.

And it was working, Qrow was getting pushed into the defensive. Jaune was using his above average aura pool to take hits that most people would avoid. Hell, he was taking hits that would floor most people. And he was gaining momentum.

Qrow slashed with his scythe and Jaune ducked into it, left arm pistoning towards Qrow’s midsection. Qrow spun out of the attack and Harbinger boomed out a point-blank shotgun blast. Lightning quick, Jaune spun Crocea Mars up to deflect the spray of lead and followed through with a slash at Qrows face. Qrow fell into a backwards handspring and kicked a spray of sand into Jaune’s face as he did. Jaune bulled forward, undeterred, and nearly caught Qrow with another punch.

Qrow sucked his gut in and got his scythe behind Jaune, and then ripped it forward. Jaune grunted, scythe edge grating against his armor, and decked Qrow with the pommel of his sword. Oscar heard his companions cheering and looked at Ruby. She was on the edge of her seat with a mixture of anxiety and elation on her face.

Qrow shook his head and spat. Oscar could tell that the blow had rattled him, but he wasn’t done yet. He started to spin his scythe, faster and faster until it made a horrible keening noise that rent the air, then tore back into Jaune with a terrific flurry of blows. He spun in, scythe flashing high. Jaune blocked it with his left vambrace, but Harbinger kept moving, shrieking as its edge tore along Jaune’s armor. Jaune threw his head back, narrowly dodging the scythe blade, but now he was off balance. Qrow didn’t give him a chance to recover and Harbingers haft clocked him in the temple. Qrow kept spinning the scythe and hit Jaune in the midsection, then caught the blade edge around Jaune’s ankle and pulled his feet out from under him.

Jaune hit the sand hard. He rolled, and the scythe crashed into the ground where he just was. The cheering had hushed. Jaune scrambled back to his feet, and he was positively radiating energy. No, he actually is radiating energy, Oscar thought.

Ozpin mused; it seems Mr. Arc has physically manifested his aura. I’ve never seen it this powerful before. Remarkable.

Oscar knew that Jaune’s semblance was Aura Amp. He could magnify the aura of others and make them stronger. He had used this to great effect bolstering his teammates, but had never used it on himself. Oscar hadn’t known he could use it on himself. He thought Jaune had to use his aura as a sort of battery to charge up others. You couldn’t charge a device using its own power supply, that was a paradox. But something was happening. There was light, like a golden mantle, flowing down Jaune’s back. There was a shield of the same shimmering golden light on his left arm, and Crocea Mars was whole again. He looked like a knight straight out of a fairy tale.

Well, he is, Oscar. He’s the Rusted Knight from the ‘Girl Who Fell Through the World,’ remember? We’re seeing the proof of that right now. He is an incredible young man. Ozpin sounded satisfied.

On the battlefield, Jaune leveled his sword, and charged. Qrow spun Harbinger and dashed forward himself. When the two collided, there was a flash of intense golden light. Qrow’s aura crackled and shattered as Crocea Mars slammed into him. He stumbled and yelled, “I Yield, Jaune.” He leaned on his scythe, breathing hard.

As Jaune approached Qrow, Qrow stood and clapped him on the shoulder. “You did good, Jaune. Great, even. Gods, but that punch of yours hurts.” He rubbed his jaw ruefully. “So, did you know you could do that?” Qrow gestured towards the shimmering light that cloaked Jaune.

“I... no. My aura has never manifested like this before.” As he talked, the light began to fade, and he visibly sagged as fatigue hit him.

Everyone in the stands made their way down to the pair. Yang, Ruby and Nora got to them first. “That was incredible Jaune! You beat Qrow!” Ruby exclaimed, bouncing up and down.

“I went easy on him.” Qrow sounded indignant, but he was chuckling.

“You kicked ass, vomit boy!” Yang laughed. “Honestly though, that was impressive. I’ve never seen Qrow scramble so much in a fight.” She gave Qrow a friendly punch to the shoulder as she said it.

Nora was examining the fading mantle. “How’d you get all glowy? That was awesome, the way you just made weapons and armor out of light like that.”

Theodore stepped before Jaune, brimming with enthusiasm. “Excellent fight, Mr. Arc, quite excellent. I had half a mind to join in myself, but I didn’t want to spoil the chivalry of the one-on-one battle. How do you feel?”

“Well, tired, but otherwise pretty good.” Jaune rolled his shoulders. “Surprisingly good, really. I thought I would be more worn out after using so much aura, but I’ll be fine as soon as I catch my breath.”

“You were great Jaune,” Ren smiled at him.

“Remind me not to get on your bad side,” Blake grinned and patted him on the back.

Winter was watching Weiss hover at the edge of the cluster of people. She nudged her sister and said, “Go to him. There’s no shame in liking a man like that. He’s got my approval.”

Weiss reddened, but looked at Winter, searching her face for any sign of teasing. Seeing none, her face softened, and she quietly said, “Thank you Winter. It’s just, confusing, you know?”

“I wouldn’t, I’ve never had time for a relationship. But you deserve happiness. And don’t think I’ve forgotten how you fawned over the Rusted Knight when you were a girl.” She ruffled Weiss’s hair as she said this.

“Oh, please stop. My friends are going to give me no end of grief as it is. They don’t need to know that fact as well. At this rate I don’t think my face is ever going to go back to its normal color.”

“I’m done, I promise. I love you, Weiss. Now go.”

Weiss gave her sister a quick hug. “I love you too, Winter.” She stooped to pick up Jaune’s fallen shield, straightened her shoulders, and went over to him.

Winter watched her go with a smile on her face. Qrow and Headmaster Theodore had been right. Jaune had grown, and Qrow had managed to push him into a state that had unlocked his semblance to a higher level. Now to make sure he’s mentally capable as well, after his ordeals. Ozpin’s up to bat next. And, maybe, she thought with a smile, Weiss.

*

After the battle in the arena, the two teams were called back to Theodore’s office. He had told them he had information to impart to all of them. As they arrayed themselves before his desk, he paced back and forth, full of energy.

“I’m sending you all data that I believe will be relevant to your current assignment. Winter, you have the afternoon off. Take Weiss to see your family, they’re overdue in knowing that she’s back among the living.

“In a similar vein, Miss Belladona, I’m forwarding you the location that your parents are operating from. They have been indispensable in distributing food and aid to our people. I’m sure they’ll be thrilled to see you.

“Miss Rose, Miss Xiao Long, I’m afraid you’ll have to wait to reunite with your father, but rest assured, Taiyang is doing well. I’ll have more information for you later.

“Mr. Arc, your family is not currently in Vacuo. We’re working on discovering their whereabouts. I understand that you have a sister in Argus, and Argus still stands. A message is on the way to her as we speak.

“Mr. Ren, Miss Valkyrie, and Mr. Pine, I’ve given Miss Sustrai her freedom. She’s proven cooperative, and I believe it’s in our best interest to catch her up to speed. She will operate as a member of Team JORNE. Mr. Arc, you will resume leadership of this team.

“Dismissed, Hunters. Enjoy your day.”

Chapter 3: Chapter Three

Chapter Text

Chapter Three

Emerald was finally free, waiting in the entrance of the school by the elevator. After she had arrived in Vacuo with Ren, Nora, and Oscar, having fought their way through a horde of grimm, Headmaster Theodore had wanted to keep her ‘under observation.’ I mean, she got where he was coming from, she had been helping an immortal witch usher about the end of the world (not that she had known Salem’s end goal at the start), but she had also just risked her life protecting the people of Atlas while they fled through a sandstorm to Vacuo.

She also could have broken out, very easily. It was almost like Theodore was testing her. Maybe he had been. Either way, she had used the time to reflect on everything that had happened. What hurt the most was the way Cinder had treated her. Emerald had devoted her life to Cinder. When she thought Cinder had died at Haven, she had been crushed, but she had returned to Salem to help the work that Cinder was so invested in.

Then, when Cinder had returned, seemingly from the dead, Emerald was ecstatic. Except, Cinder wanted nothing to do with her. She was hellbent on revenge and was only using Emerald to get what she wanted. Then Tyrian had told her Salem’s real plan, which was the total annihilation of Remnant, Humanity, and the Faunus. She wasn’t quite sure she had believed Tyrian, but that couple with Cinder’s attitude made her question what she was doing.

When Hazel had brought her to the lamp with Oscar, and Oscar proved he had been telling the truth by summoning the spirit that lived within it, she knew she couldn’t stay. So, she had tried to leave. But Salem didn’t take kindly to her and Hazel leaving, and Hazel had died in the resulting confrontation.

She had been through a lot, with the manipulation and then emotional abandonment from Cinder, and it had been good to have time to reflect. She still didn’t know what she was going to do when she saw Cinder again. That wound was still very raw. But she knew she couldn’t stick with Salem. She had seen too many of the horrors Salem had unleashed for that. The fear, and hunger, and misery in the eyes of Atlesian children had been particularly painful for her. She had once been a hungry, scared, and miserable child. It had been a brutal display of what she had been party to.

She sighed. Emerald wondered who the J in her new team was. The rest of the team was obviously the three she had come to Vacuo with, and Ren, Nora, and Oscar had spent much of their free time keeping her company. Given the way the academies liked to name teams, ‘J’ was the new team leader. She was trying to come up with any hunters she had met with a J name when the elevator dinged.

“Emerald!” A red blur slammed into her as she looked towards the opening doors.

“But, you’re dead.” Emerald was dazed. Ruby of all people was crushing the air out her. Dressed in what looked like Atlesian military fatigues, but undeniably Ruby. And behind her...

“Common misconception,” Yang said cooly. Emerald still wasn’t sure where she stood with the fiery blonde, given that she had at one point used her semblance to make it look like Yang had cruelly attacked another person. In front of tens of thousands of people. She hoped Yang was as forgiving as the others were.

“But, how?” Emerald’s brain felt sluggish. She had thought team RWBY sickeningly cheerful when she first met them, but after her treatment at the hands of Salem, and worse, Cinder, she had grown to appreciate the young women. After everything she and Mercury and Neo had done to them, they had still (mostly) forgiven her, and welcomed her in. It wasn’t something she was used to. And then they had died, while trying to save an entire kingdom, and Emerald had felt the loss keenly.

“Oh, you know. They fell into another world, crossed dimensions, fought the bad guys there, came back. Just another day, really,” Nora explained with an air of nonchalance.

Emerald blinked at this. “...What? Not that I’m not happy to see you, I am, that’s just one of the most insane things I’ve ever heard.”

Blake smiled at her. “Have you heard the story about the girl who fell through the world?”

“Yeah, it’s a fairytale. A kids book.”

“Well, about that.”

They spent the next few minutes filling Emerald in. The green haired woman slowly shook her head as she processed the information.

“I know how it sounds, but we live in a world where it’s been proven that fairytales are based in fact.” Oscar gestured to himself. “Take me for example. I have the soul of an ancient warrior in me. The Maidens are real. And so is the world of Ever After.”

Emerald hooked a thumb at Jaune. “So you’re telling me boy wonder here is a renowned knight? I’ve seen him fight.” Wait, is he the ‘J’? He was team leader before...

“Not just now, you haven’t,” Weiss snapped frostily. “He took down Qrow without breaking a sweat.”

Jaune looked at her, without anger or malice, and there was a weight to his gaze. He wasn’t the same earnest, eager, dorky young man she had known. He looked out at the world with the heaviness of experience. And there were those white streaks in his hair.

“Ok, ok. Sorry. Sarcasm and cynicism come second nature to me, I didn’t mean anything by it.” Emerald was abashed, if only slightly.

“It’s ok, Emerald. I hardly believe it myself, and I lived it. I’m glad to have you on the team. Your skills will come in handy.” Jaune’s smile was genuine as he held out his hand.

“Oh. Right. I’m just glad to get out of this pyramidal monstrosity.” She shook Jaune’s hand. “Soo, what’s the plan?”

“Well, we were going to see the city. Some of us had specific destinations in mind, but none of us have been to Vacuo before. You’re welcome to join us.” Ruby was looking at her earnestly.

Emerald didn’t know how Ruby always seemed so chipper. It was anathema to her nature, but she still found herself smiling in response. It was. . . nice, to be with people who appreciated her for her, and didn’t just want to use her.

“Well, sure. Ok. Lead on.”

*

The group split once outside of Shade. Winter, Weiss, and Jaune went to meet up with the rest of the Schnees. Weiss had asked Jaune, very stiffly and formally, if he wanted to accompany them. Ren and Blake had simultaneously placed their hands over Nora and Yangs mouths before either of them could say anything. Thankfully, Jaune missed this as he awkwardly agreed to Weiss’s proposal.

The rest made for the old market. According to Theodore, the Belladonas and the newly reformed White Fang regularly gave out free meals there, and they could get some shopping done at the same time.

The streets of the city were a stark reminder of what they were up against. There were people everywhere, human and faunus alike, and wherever they looked they saw grief-stricken faces. Ruby had lost some of her earlier high and had started to trudge, eyes downcast. They had sacrificed so much, and still people were suffering. Was it worth it?

She squeaked as she bumped into someone. Yang had stopped abruptly, staring at something to the side of the road. “Ruby...” She pointed, at a loss as to what else to say.

Ruby followed the outstretched finger, and gasped. That was her. Someone had painted a stylized mural of Ruby herself, with the words “Remember Her Message” in bold red lettering.

On numb legs Ruby walked over to the mural, then, with shaky fingers, she touched her own painted face.

Blake and Yang joined her, marveling. “Ruby, this is incredible. People really must have taken what you said to heart.” Blake gave her a squeeze.

“Oh! I almost forgot! People have painted stuff like this all over! You really made an impact with that broadcast we got out, Ruby.” Nora was beaming.

Oscar said, “The people aren’t beaten yet. There’s still a ways to go in getting them truly united, and there’s a lot that needs doing to take care of them, but you made the spark that set the fire.”

Ruby bowed her head, tears once again glimmering in her eyes. Then she looked back at her friends with fresh resolve. She was a huntress. She would do everything in her power to protect the people. Reinvigorated, she nodded to her team, and they continued on.

*

Despite supply shortages and the sheer number of people in Vacuo, the market was booming. You could still buy nearly anything you wanted, provided you had the money. As the group navigated the narrow lanes, they were assaulted with sights, sounds, and smells. The air was full of fragrant spices, merchants were loudly hawking their wares, and brightly painted stalls lined the thoroughfare.

As much as she wanted to find some desert appropriate gear, Blake was keeping her eyes peeled for one thing in particular. And there, heralded by a cloud of steam, she found what she was looking for. A large wagon emblazoned with the familiar white wolf’s head on a blue field was parked along a side street. There was a long line of despondent looking people waiting their turn for a handout from the stall outside the wagon. A familiar face was ladling something into bowls and handing them out with a smile.

She quickened her pace until she broke into a run. The woman working the stall looked up and dropped her ladle with a clatter as her eyes widened. “Blake!”

“Mom!” Blake, laughing, buried her mother in a hug.

“Ghira! Ghira, get out here!”

The door to the wagon swung open as Ghira Belladona appeared. “What, what happened?” He stopped abruptly as he saw his daughter. With a delighted roar, he picked both women up and swung them in a circle.

While the Belladonas embraced, Ren stepped in for Kali and started ladling stew for the waiting people, some of whom were watching this reunion with smiles on their faces. Oscar quietly took the place next to him, while Ruby and Emerald stood by awkwardly and Nora beamed.

Blake, still laughing as Ghira set her and Kali down, said, “It’s so good to see you. I wasn’t expecting you to be in Vacuo.”

Ghira’s smile was radiant as he looked at his daughter. “Well, we knew someone somewhere was going to need help, and we already had a large number of supplies set aside when we heard that Atlas had fallen and that the refugees were in Vacuo, of all places. We knew what we had to do. The White Fang was meant as a symbol for peace and equality. What better way to show that than to help the people who need it the most? And what about you? We heard that you were dead, Blake.” His voice had softened.

“It’s a long story. I can catch you up later, right now it looks like you have your hands full.” Blake gestured towards the line of people.

“It’s ok Blake, we’ve got this. Catch up with your parents.” Ren had produced an apron from somewhere and was in his element serving food to the waiting people.

“Yeah! Team Journey’s first official mission! Let’s do this Emerald!” Nora grabbed the other woman by the arm and dragged her behind the stall. Emerald had a slightly panicked expression on her face.

Grinning while she watched as Nora tried to get an apron on Emerald, Blake turned to her parents and gestured at Ruby. “Mom, Dad, this is Ruby Rose, leader of Team RWBY.”

“Hi Mr. and Mrs. Belladona! Blake has told us a lot about you.” Ruby smiled and gave her best skirt-less curtsy.

“And this is Yang Xiao Long, another member of the team, and my girlfriend.” She looked to her parents, anxious as so many generations of people had been before her at the moment of introduction between their partner and their parents for the first time.

“Pleasure to meet you.” Yang held out her hand to shake with the Belladonnas. Kali bypassed the hand and went straight for a hug.

“Oh, this is such wonderful news! Congratulations, you two! We must celebrate.” Kali bustled into the wagon.

Ghira looked at Yang appraisingly while Blake watched, still a little nervous. He shook Yang’s proffered hand. “You love my daughter?”

Yang looked him squarely in the eyes. “I do. She’s one of the most sincere, smartest, heartfelt people I know. She knows what matters to her and doesn’t compromise. I consider myself incredibly lucky that she loves me too.” She smiled at Blake, who smiled back, blushing.

“Good. I think I like this one, Kali,” he said as his wife returned bearing a teapot and some cups.

“Of course you do. Who wants tea?”

They wound up sitting in a circle on the dusty ground behind the wagon. Despite the heat, sand, noise, and hard ground, Blake felt lighthearted and happy as her parents and friends chatted. Ruby was politely sipping the tea, and surreptitiously looking for sugar. Yang had launched into the tale of their journey, omitting the fight before they had fallen. Ghira and Kali listened attentively, asked the occasional question, and gave their daughter warm smiles as they sank into the realization that she was ok.

For the third time in less than a day, they recounted their experiences after their fall into the Ever After, taking turns in the telling. When Blake finished with how they had returned through the portal to the sands of Vacuo, and their arrival at the city, she said, “I know it sounds far-fetched, but we’ve had a lot of experiences in the last year that suggest many of our myths and fairytales are rooted deeper in truth than anyone would expect.”

“Yes, we’ve come to realize that. Theodore and Winter have been very forthcoming about the Maidens and Salem. They’ve been trying to get all of Remnant on the same page ever since Ruby’s message got broadcast. It’s slow work, but we’re trying to do our part.” Ghira had a contemplative look in his eyes.

“It’s too bad it took a war for people to get on the same page.” Blake watched the line of people who were waiting for food. There was a mix of human and faunus, and she spied more than one now-tattered outfit that would have been considered high fashion in Atlas before it fell. And they’re all here for the same thing. Doesn’t matter who they are or where they came from, at the end of the day they all have the same basic needs. There’s something to that...

Ruby broke her out of her reverie by asking, “So what’s with the new White Fang symbol? I like it better than the other one.”

“Oh, that’s not a new symbol. It’s the old one, from before Sienna Khan took over,” Blake responded. “How’s that going, by the way?”

“The militia that you helped raise back in Menagerie have done wonderful things in trying to clean up the White Fangs reputation, but we’re still running into issues. At least once a day some troublemaker with a grudge against the faunus, or Atlas, or authority in general tries to start something. And there’s a small splinter faction that refuses to give in, even though Sienna is dead and Adam has disappeared. There are more good people than bad though,” Ghira said.

“Um. About Adam, Dad. He came after me. Tried to take me by surprise when we were in Argus. Would have killed me if Yang hadn’t stepped in. We, we had to kill him. It was the only thing we could have done,” Blake said, twisting her hands and not meeting her parents’ eyes.

“Oh, Blake, I’m so sorry that happened to you. I’m glad you had Yang there with you, though,” Kali said, gently taking Blake’s hands into her own.

Ghira sighed heavily. “I had wondered if something hadn’t happened to him. We got a report of a slaughter that had occurred in Sienna’s court. Several dead White Fang, wounds consistent with that sword of his, and no sign of him. It’s too bad he went down that terrible path. I’m sorry you had to go through that.”

“We did what we had to. We didn’t want a fight, but he forced our hand,” Yang said, putting an arm around Blake.

“I tried to talk him down myself, many times. He had too much hatred in his heart. I don’t blame either of you for what happened,” Ghira said.

The moment was broken when someone cried out. Ghira heaved himself to his feet as a broad-shouldered, ram-horned faunus carrying a stack of boxes squeezed through the throngs towards the wagon. He was the one who had just yelped. An unshaven Vacuan with a scimitar tucked into the burgundy sash around his waist had just tried to trip him.

The ram faunus managed to keep his feet, and Ghira steadied him. “You ok, Mata?”

“Yeah, I’m good. Busy over here!” He smiled around his load at the man who had stuck his foot out, and the man spat.

“Waste of food, that. Feeding people who don’t contribute to society makes me sick.” His voice had the raspy edge of a desert wanderer who had been out in too many sandstorms.

Ghira towered over him. To his credit, the man didn’t flinch as the much larger, muscled faunus stared him down. When Ghira spoke, his voice was even and free of anger. “Everyone needs help sometimes. Doesn’t matter who you are. Society only functions when everyone takes care of each other. That’s all we’re trying to do.”

Yang had risen to her feet as well, scarlet slowly pouring into her irises as her temper rose. Blake took her hand. “It’s ok, Yang, my father can handle this.”

“I don’t see how helping freeloaders, especially Atlesian freeloaders, does any good, but whatever.” The man roughly shoved past Ghira through the line of people. A young faunus boy with mouse ears didn’t get out of the way fast enough and got knocked over, his bowl of stew splattering onto the ground and the man’s boots. The man aimed a kick at the boy but then froze, staring into space with a wild expression of horror on his face.

“N-no, not again, I”- He shrieked and fled, stumbling in his haste to get away.

Emerald, who had been staring intently at the man, watched him flee with grim satisfaction, then went to the child and helped him back to his feet. “Let me get you some more food,” she said warmly, taking him by the hand.

Blake had never heard Emerald talk with such compassion in her voice before. It seemed that the hard-edged, cynical street thief had a soft spot after all. And given the man’s odd reaction, Blake bet that she had given the man a vision of something using her semblance. Probably not a very pleasant one either, given his scream of terror.

She was broken out of her reverie when Mata noticed her and grinned. “Blake! It’s good see you again. I heard”-

“That we were dead, yeah. Been getting that a lot today. It just took us a little longer to get to Vacuo, that’s all.” She smiled at Mata. He had been the first citizen of Menagerie to join the militia that had helped defend Haven.

“Well, whatever happened, I’m glad to see you and your friends.” He heaved the crates into the wagon. “My brother will be here soon, Kali. We’ll be ready to take over for you and Ghira. We’re getting low on supplies; the airship is overdue. Fruit and bread on the menu tonight.”

“Are they ok?” Blake was worried. The grimm had been out in higher-than-normal numbers, and it wasn’t unheard of for swarms of flying grimm to go after even heavily defended transports.

Ghira sighed. “Atlas has been providing air support for us, and there are huntsmen teams assigned to every mission, but even then, things have been dicey. There are just so many grimm around the city that anything trying to get in or out has trouble. I’m sure they’ll be ok though. Your old friend Sun and his team are on that assignment from my understanding. He’s a, let’s say ‘eager’ young man, but may I say I’m relieved you chose someone else?”

“Dad!” Blake had colored, Yang was chuckling, and Kali was looking at him reproachfully.

“What? He’s started to grow on me, but I still think he’s a got some maturing to do.” Ghira grinned at Blake. “Besides, it’s an age-old duty for fathers to embarrass their children whenever possible.”

“Yeah, remember when Dad showed up to teach one day at Signal wearing short shorts to make a point about your outfit?” Ruby laughed and elbowed Yang.

“Yeah, that was certainly something.” Yang was laughing too, remembering the sight. “He did get his point across though, at least for that semester. I hope he’s doing well.”

“Theodore said he was. We’ll just have to trust in that for now,” Ruby said.

They all helped Kali, Mata, and Ghira get the fresh food unpacked while Ren and the others finished serving the stew. Blake noticed that the young boy was seated on an empty crate next to Emerald, bombarding her with questions. It looked like she had an admirer.

Before long, another ram-horned faunus came down the street. Blake recognized him, too. His name was Brezo, and he had been fighting on the side of the White Fang with Adam Taurus at the battle of Haven. She was glad to see he had joined his younger brother with the reformed chapter her parents were leading.

As the group began to leave, with the pair of brothers now overseeing the food distribution, the mouse-eared boy followed them. “Are you a huntress?” He stuck close to Emerald’s heels, staring up at her with wide eyes.

“I, um.” Emerald hesitated.

“She certainly is! This was her first mission!” Nora put an arm around Emerald’s shoulders.

“I thought huntresses fought monsters.” He wrinkled his nose.

“Hunters and huntresses serve the people. We help wherever we can, however we can. Sometimes that means fighting monsters, sometimes that means giving food to people who are hungry,” Ruby smiled at the boy.

Blake knew what Ruby was thinking. The boy reminded her of Little, the mouse that had accompanied them through their journey in the Ever After. He had the same naïve innocence that Little had had, and his ears were even the same color that Little’s fur had been.

“And believe me, hunger is a monster, gnawing away at your insides. I know that feeling too well,” Emerald said. Nora nodded seriously behind her.

He considered this; ears twitching as he mulled over this revelation. “Yeah, I guess it is. Thank you for the food. Nobody else wants to give any away. They all want money or something for it. I tried taking some, but got caught. The mean old lady hit me with a stick.” He rubbed the top of his head.

“We’re glad to help, little one. Do you have any family?” Kali asked kindly.

The boys face fell. “No. I was in the children’s home in the crater, and then everything got scary. People were running into glowy doors and Miss Lilac got us all together, but after we went through a door there were so many people and I got separated and I don’t know what happened to anyone and then I got here, and some people have helped me, but I don’t really have anywhere to go. But all of you are really nice.” He said all of this in a very matter of fact way that belied the tragedy it invoked, and Blake’s heart broke a little at the sorrow this young boy had endured. An orphan who had lost everything he knew, his home destroyed, and in a new, strange city having to rely on the generosity of strangers.

“What’s your name?” Emerald asked, still very much displaying a compassionate instinct that Blake found much more endearing than her usual sarcastic and snide persona.

“It’s Fen. Just Fen.”

“Well, ‘Just Fen’, my name is Emerald. Why don’t you come with us? We’ll see if we can help you find Miss Lilac or even a place to stay.” Emerald looked at the others defensively.

Almost as if she was daring us to contradict her, Blake thought.

The boy’s face lit up, and it was like watching the sun come out from behind a storm cloud. “Really? Really really? That would be great!”

“Of course, you can come with us. We’ll make sure you have a roof over your head, plenty of food, and a place to sleep.” Kali took Fen’s hand and smiled at Emerald. “We’ll make sure he’s well taken care of, Emerald. What are the rest of you doing now?”

“Well, we wanted to upgrade our wardrobes to better suit the climate. And to get some spare clothes so we don’t have to wear these. They itch.” Yang scratched her fatigues to demonstrate.

“I’m sure you can find what you’re looking for, provided you have the money.” Ghira frowned. “Merchants are the same no matter where you go. Always out to make a quick Lien, whatever the circ*mstance, even when people are suffering.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. Theodore gave us funds to make sure we were properly equipped. He called it a ‘huntsman account.’” Ruby pulled out the card Weiss had handed her earlier.

“Where are you staying? I’ll check in whenever we’re between missions, I promise.” Blake asked.

“There’s a district to the south where we’ve set up. There are about thirty representatives from Menagerie here with us, all helping how we can. Stop by whenever you want.” Ghira said.

Blake took the opportunity to give both her parents another hug, and the rest said their goodbyes as well. Emerald tousled Fen’s hair as she knelt to say farewell. “You take care, ok? I’ll make sure to visit you in between missions.”

Fen looked up at her and then hugged her fiercely. She looked surprised but gratified as she hugged the young boy back. “Thanks Miss Emerald!” He let go and took Kali’s hand again. They all watched as the trio walked away, the little boy waving over his shoulder until they disappeared in the crowds.

“That was very sweet Emerald, I didn’t know you liked kids,” Nora said as she looked at the other woman fondly.

“Yeah, well, I was once a kid all alone on the street. I know what it’s like, how it feels to be alone and hungry, and how it feels when someone finally offers you help,” Emerald said angrily, eyes fierce as she stared everyone else down.

Nora had an uncharacteristically melancholic look on her face as she replied. “We’re not making fun of you, really. Believe it or not, some of us know that feeling too. That’s why we help people, so there are fewer Fens in the world. I’m glad we have someone like you on our team.”

Emerald’s anger subsided and Blake thought she detected a flicker of embarrassment. “I keep forgetting how nice you all are. I’m not used to it. Sorry for snapping.”

“She’s right, we’re glad to have you. We’re really not judging you, and you’re not the only orphan in this group. That quality you showed with Fen exemplifies what we stand for. You’re going to be a great huntress.” Ren smiled at Emerald and followed Nora into the market.

Blake watched as Emerald thought this over. Two years ago, after the fall of Beacon, I never would have thought she’d be on one of our teams. But Oscar made the right call. He’s a good judge of character. She smiled to herself. Wonders never cease. And speaking of wonders, how were things going with Weiss and Jaune? Weiss seems genuinely interested in him. I hope he’s not too caught up in his own head to realize what’s happening.

*

Jaune sat on un uncomfortable divan, sipping cactus tea. Weiss and Winter sat across from him, each sipping at their own gently steaming cups. Willow, Whitley, and Klein hadn’t been home when they got to the address Winter knew they were staying at. Mr. and Mrs. Sahra, the old couple who had opened their home to the Schnees, were there, however, and graciously invited everyone inside.

Jaune tried to break the awkward silence. “This tea is interesting. I didn’t know you could make tea from cactus.”

“They brew it from the cactus flowers, actually. It’s supposed to have beneficial medicinal qualities. I’ve grown to enjoy it quite a bit in my time here,” Winter said, setting her cup down on the table.

“It certainly has a unique flavor. I think I prefer my coffee though.” Weiss sat her cup down as well. Her eyes briefly met Jaunes, then slid away again, cheeks faintly coloring.

Jaune thought, She’s been acting weird since last night. Does she think the kiss was a mistake? But if she thought it was, why did she invite me to visit her family with her? And then Nora was making those comments earlier, before we joined up with them for breakfast. Should I say something? Winter is here though, which makes things awkward. And she keeps looking between me and Weiss like she expects something. What should I say?

He was saved from agonizing further by the arrival of the Sahras. Savir Sahra was an elderly woman with a deeply lined face the color of coffee. Her white hair was pulled back into an elegant bun, and she wore sapphire-colored robes. Her many bangles quietly chimed as she set a plate of baked goods onto the table. Her husband, Khadra, had smile lines etched into his weathered face. He wore a head wrap in the style Jaune had seen many older Vacuans wearing, with a faded green tunic and desert-bleached trousers. He had a fantastic, bushy silver mustache with ends that curled up towards his warm brown eyes. He was carrying what looked like a picture frame.

“Young man, I noticed the crest on your shield when you arrived. I must ask, what does it symbolize?” Khadra had deep, smooth voice. He slightly rolled his r’s when spoke, pronounced ‘the’ as ‘zhe’, and spoke just as much with his hands and face as he did his voice. Jaune liked him.

“It’s my family’s crest. This shield, and all my armor, belonged to my great-grandfather. He had it in the great war. It was passed down to me. It’s been through a lot.” Jaune self-consciously looked at the rust that now stained his once gleaming armor.

“Your family name, does it happen to be Arc?” Khadra’s eyes twinkled.

“Um. Yeah, actually. How did you know that?”

By way of response, the older man showed Jaune the picture he was carrying. It was a group of men, all dressed in military fatigues. And there, in the middle of the photo, was Jaune’s great-grandfather, holding the shield that Jaune now carried.

Jaune took the picture and marveled at it. “Where did you get this?”

“That man, on the left there, was my father. This was his squad. He led a mixed group of men from Vacuo and Vale. One of them was Pierre Arc. I am very glad to know that there are still Arcs fighting for the people of this world.” He smiled his warm, crinkle-faced smile at Jaune and clapped him on the shoulder.

“That’s. . .incredible, Mr. Sahra. I only ever knew that my great-grandfather had fought in the war, I didn’t know any of the details.”

Khadra sat down next to Jaune. “Pierre actually saved my father’s life. Your ancestor is the only reason I’m here today.”

“I would love to hear that story, if you’re up for telling it,” Jaune said.

“I’m always up for telling it.”

Savir had seated herself with the other women opposite them. “Get comfortable ladies, my husband does love his storytelling.”

“It’s a great tale, full of bravery and sorrow.” Without further preamble Khadra launched into it, embellishing his words with grand gestures.

“There they were, deep in the heart of Mistral. They had been running a series of guerrilla missions behind enemy lines. Gathering information, sabotaging supply lines, that sort of thing. One day, they ran afoul of the garrison they were staking out. A fight started. My father, Zaratan, and his men made a tactical withdrawal. The commander of the garrison, however, was loathe to see them disappear into the mists again. They were pursued, and in the pursuit, my father lost two men.

“The chase dragged into a new day. Exhausted, grieving the loss of their companions, and still being pursued, things took a turn for the worse when the grimm showed up. A pack of beowolves, led by the largest alpha my father had ever seen, took them by surprise. Another of his men fell to snapping jaws, and my father himself was wounded. He told them ‘Save yourselves, I’ll hold them off.’ His men argued with him, and pleaded, but he pulled rank. ‘Someone must make it back and I’m losing too much blood to go any further. This is where it ends for me, lads. Now go.’

“His men reluctantly left him there in the rain, enemies on all sides, beowolves baying as they regrouped for another assault. He held his sword and shield steady and roared a challenge of his own. He could see the squad of soldiers that had been following them group up on a ledge overlooking his stand. They made themselves comfortable and settled in, sure they were about to see a bloodbath.

“And they did, but not in the way they were expecting. The beowolves charged, and Zaratan beheaded the first snapping jaws that tore at his throat. The second he skewered like a spit of roast meat, but there his blood loss caught up to him and his strength failed. He began to feel faint, and slipped in the mud as the alpha, howling, ran at him. His thoughts turned then to his homeland, so very different than these far away, mist shrouded lands, and he closed his eyes in anticipation of tearing teeth, and death.

“But the teeth never tore and death never came. He opened his eyes to see Pierre before him, sword thrust through the roof of the Alphas mouth. Before his exsanguination caused him to lose consciousness, he swore that Pierre was glowing with inner light, like an avenging angel.

“When he came to, many hours later, he was in a tent, swathed with bandages. Pierre was by his side, sleeping while sitting on a stool. A pretty young medic was tending to his wounds. This woman would later become his wife, my dear mother. When she saw he was awake, she shook Pierre gently. He woke immediately, and my father could see the exhaustion in the other man’s eyes.

’You disobeyed orders,’ my father croaked.

‘Yes sir, I did.’

’Thank you. What happened?’

‘I won the fight and got you out.’

‘The enemy soldiers?’

‘Not an issue anymore, sir.’ My father said Pierre had had a far away look in his eye when he said this.

“My father eventually got the story out of him. Pierre slew the attacking grimm. When the soldiers of Mistral saw this, they themselves attacked. Pierre killed them all in the defense of his commanding officer. His semblance had activated, you see. It was rare for the common enlisted to have one. They all had basic aura training, but semblances, as you know, are something else entirely. Pierre’s semblance allowed him to staunch the worst of Zaratan’s wounds, and had given him the strength to stand alone against a pack of grimm and a squad of soldiers. The fight must have been legendary to behold, but the only person who knows the truth of it has taken it to his grave.

“They made it back to Vacuo, just in time to witness the end of the war. Zaratan, still recovering from his wounds, and in the care of the lovely medic, didn’t take part in that final, terrible battle, but Pierre did. My father never found out what happened to him after that. He assumed he had fallen, like so many others. My guess is he retired his sword and started a family. That assumption has weight, given that I’ve met you, young Mr. Arc.” Khadra winked at Jaune as he finished talking and drank his tea in one long draft.

“Jaune, it sounds like your great-grandfather’s semblance was a lot like yours. Like, almost identical.” Weiss was looking at Jaune with wide eyes.

Jaune met her gaze. “It really does, doesn’t it. I wonder my father never told me any of this?”

“It’s possible that Pierre never talked about it. Many soldiers do their best to leave the things they’ve done in battle behind, to try to live normal lives,” Winter said.

“In any case, my family owes him a great deal. I wouldn’t be here today, sharing tea with you, if Pierre hadn’t done what he did,” Khadra said.

“Why do you think he never got back into contact with your father?” Jaune asked.

“My guess is that it brought up too many painful memories. Pierre was a great man, but even great men feel grief, and pain. He lost friends that day, and only he knows what happened to those enemy soldiers. He likely just wanted it all behind him, for the slate to be wiped clean and to start anew.” Khadra shrugged.

Juane thought this through, then winced internally as Penny’s face surfaced in his thoughts. He had managed to subdue it for a long while, but recent events and Khadra’s idea that maybe Pierre had done things he wasn’t proud of brought the memory sharply back to the front of his mind. The screaming, the terror, Ruby, Blake, and Yang gone. Penny, bleeding out in front of him, ragged holes in her chest where Cinder had impaled her. Her assured confidence that he could do it, that it was the only way to make sure the power went to Winter and didn’t fall into Cinder’s hands. That damnably calm look in her eyes as his sword slid under her ribs, how the light faded from them as her heart was pierced. His agony at what he had done consuming him.

Tears were bright in his eyes as Savir said, “You’re hurting too, aren’t you? I know some of your story from Willow. How you and your friends have been on the frontline for the fall of all three academies. It’s ok to hurt. We’re still proud of you, for all that you’ve done.”

Weiss came to him and wrapped him in a hug. “We’re here for you Jaune.”

“I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories. My apologies,” Khadra said, distressed, wringing his hands.

“No, it’s ok. I’m glad you told that story. It helps, more than you know. What my great-grandfather did may have been hard for him, but he saved your father’s life, and now we’re all here in this room talking about it. I’ve done things that were hard too, but I know I’ve tried my best for the people of Remnant. It’s just hitting me hard right now.” Jaune hugged Weiss back.

“You’re a stronger man than you know, Jaune. I wish Ironwood had had even half of your courage,” Winter said.

Jaune looked at the eldest Schnee from over the top of Weiss’s head. “I wish I felt that way, though.”

“Hurting, being afraid, and moving forward anyway is I think the only definition of courage that matters, young man. I don’t know what you’ve seen and done, but I know you’re a huntsman, and that you have our best interests at heart. That’s what matters,” Savir said.

“Thank you, all of you,” Jaune said, wiping away his tears as Weiss settled in next to him.

“Glad we could help. Moral support is about all that we’re good for, old as we are,” Khadra said.

There was a commotion at the door then as Willow and Whitley arrived. They came into the room, their normally pale complexions reddened by the Vacuan sun. Weiss smiled at them tentatively from her spot on the divan. Willow and Whitley had both frozen, and then Willow sighed, tears filling her eyes.

“You’re alive,” she said.

Whitley strode across the room and hugged his older sister. “We thought you were gone.”

Weiss had tears of her own in her eyes. “Well, we were, but we made it back. It’s a long story. It’s good to see you, Whitley, and you, Mother.”

“Oh Weiss, it’s so good to see you too.” Willow had joined her children in what was now a group hug.

Winter watched, and after a gentle nudge from Savir joined in as well. After a long moment, the surviving Schnees broke apart. Jaune had stood when Weiss did, and was now standing aside, unsure of what to do. Willow looked at him warmly.

“Do I have you to thank for returning my daughter to me?” She asked.

“Uh, well,” he started.

“You do, Mother. Jaune had the hardest time of it, but without him, me and the rest of my team would still be stuck in another world,” Weiss said.

Willow hugged Jaune as well. “Thank you.”

Jaune awkwardly hugged her back. “You’re welcome, Mrs. Schnee.”

“Oh, please, just call me Willow. I’m not a Mrs. anymore anyway. And what did you mean by ‘stuck in another world?’” She asked Weiss.

“Well...” Weiss told most of the story, omitting a few parts here and there. She was vague about how long Jaune had stayed in the Ever After, and didn’t mention Ruby’s breakdown at all.

Whitley had given Jaune the same sort of calculating look Winter had been giving him all day, almost like he expected something. Jaune really wished he knew what the various Schnees were thinking. Weiss had been alternatively warm and then aloof, and her siblings were both assessing him as though trying to determine his value. Willow was the only one he was getting a firm reading on. She was all smiles. It was the happiest and most genuine Jaune had seen her. Granted, he had only really met her once before, but he had gotten the impression she was a troubled soul who liked her drink.

The Sahras, Willow, and Whitley were considering everything Weiss had told them. Old man Khadra was slowly shaking his head. “How many more myths are we going to discover are real? First the Maidens, and now the Ever After. That tale was really something, young lady.”

“It was true. All of it.” Weiss sounded defensive.

“Hmm? Oh, I believe it, all right. Just wondering now which Gods are real, and if they are, why they’ve left us this mess.” He stroked his mustache, deep in thought.

Weiss, Jaune, and Winter shared an uncomfortable look. They knew that the Brothers were real, but had left millennia ago. That, however, wasn’t knowledge that had been passed onto the general public. Jaune caught Whitley watching them and knew the youngest Schnee was going to be hard to keep in the dark. That boy was sharp.

“So what have you been up to in Vacuo since you got here? And where is Klein?” Weiss asked, breaking the silence that had fallen.

“We’ve started philanthropic work. Atlas may be gone, and the economy is in shambles, but thankfully the other kingdoms infrastructures are still mostly intact. With Amity Coliseum working as a global transmitter, and thanks to some quick thinking on my part, a significant portion of the Shnee fortune is intact. We’ve been using it to help with the refugee crisis here in Vacuo. Klein is overseeing a construction project for more housing. He’s very versatile, our Klein,” Whitley said.

“Yes, it’s been rather refreshing, working directly with people who need it. I had spent so long in my self-imposed isolation I’d rather forgotten what my father stood for. The Schnee Dust Company is the largest company in Remnant. We should be using our influence to help people, not to control them like Jacques did,” Willow said.

“Mother, Whitley, that’s great!” Weiss exclaimed.

“It hasn’t been easy. A lot of Vacuans don’t trust the Schnees, and there are even citizens from Atlas that are mad at us. And for good reason. Father was rather ruthless in his business dealings, and then there was the bit where he sold everyone out at the end.” Whitley sighed.

“You’re doing good work. It will take time, but the people of Vacuo and Atlas won’t forget how you’re helping now,” Savir said.

“I hope so. We have a lot of work to do to restore the legacy our grandfather started,” Whitley said.

“You’re doing great Whitley,” Willow said. “I’m so very proud of you. Of all of you.”

“You seem like you’re doing well yourself Mother. I haven’t seen you this happy in years,” Weiss said, eyeing Willow appraisingly.

Willow laughed. “Well, part of it is the joy of seeing you again. And I must admit part of it is being free of Jacques too. To think the world is in the state it is, but I finally feel like my own person again. I’m almost ashamed.”

“What a mess we all are,” Weiss said sadly, shaking her head. “Father had such an impact on all of us, for better or worse. How are you handling it, Whitley? I know you were the closest to him.”

“I’m coping,” the young man said stiffly.

Jaune knew that Whitley had been the heir to the Schnee dynasty, after Winter and Weiss had both been disowned for daring to walk their own path. Whitley was the youngest and had spent most of the last year learning business directly from Jacques himself. He probably missed his father the most out of the three, despite how things had ended. Bonds could be complicated in that way.

Weiss put a hand on Whitley’s shoulder. “It’s ok to grieve. None of us will think any less of you for it. I’ve been grieving in my own way too. He helped to shape all of us, even if we rebelled against the shaping. That sort of thing leaves its mark.”

“I’ll be fine, Sister,” he said, but without the same bite as before.

“Will you all be staying for lunch?” Khadra asked.

“Oh, I wouldn’t want to be an imposition. We need to get back to our teams anyway,” Weiss said. “It was very nice meeting you, Mr. and Mrs. Sahra.”

“You’re leaving already?” Willow asked, disheartened.

Jaune looked at Weiss. “It’s true that we don’t want to impose, but I’m sure our friends will be just fine without us for another hour or two. We didn’t have any solid plans.”

Weiss shot him a look, then turned to the others. “May we have a moment, please?”

The others agreed, although Winter and Whitley gave the pair lingering looks as they left the room.

Once they were safely out of earshot, Weiss said, “I was giving you the option to bow out if you wanted, Jaune. I have a feeling you’re going to get cross-examined by my family if we stay.” She looked uncharacteristically flustered.

“But, don’t you want to spend time with your family?” asked Jaune.

“Of course I do. I just, well, um,” she stammered.

“You’ve been acting a little weird since last night. Are you doing ok?” Jaune was nonplussed. Weiss was usually eerily in control of her emotions. Sure, she had been through a lot, but it was almost as if. . . Oh. Oh. He took a deep breath.

“Are, are you worried your family is going to think we’re together? Like, together together?”

“What?” Now Weiss looked nonplussed. “No, of course not. Jaune, you lovable idiot, I’m worried you don’t want to be with me. I mean, I wasn’t kind to you when we first met, and then there was you and- and”-

Pyrrha’s name hung unsaid in the air between them, a weighted presence that briefly dimmed lights and dulled sounds. Jaune felt the old, familiar ache, but it passed softly. Time hadn’t removed that pain, but it had removed its sharp edges. And he had had a lot of time to get used to it.

“Weiss, that was a long time ago for me. I miss her. I’ll always miss her. But she would have wanted me to move forward. And I’m happy to move forward with you, if you’ll have me.”

Those piercing, glacier-blue eyes met his, and there were those spots of rose-petal red again, high on her cheeks. Gods but she was beautiful. She smiled.

“Of course, Jaune.” She nervously smoothed her pants. “Are you ready to face a meal with my family, as my boyfriend?”

“Y’know, it didn’t seem too bad until you just said it. But yeah, let’s do it.”

Chapter 4: Chapter Four

Chapter Text

Chapter Four

Qrow was pacing Theodore’s office. “She should have reported in by now. She was supposed to check on Tai, and then come back. Should’ve taken no more than an hour.”

“She’s only been gone a few hours, Qrow. We don’t know the situation in Patch. There’s a chance that she ended up in a fight, or helping out somewhere.” Theodore sat reclined behind his desk, cigar clamped in his lips.

“Yeah, and there’s a chance she scarpered. It’s her MO. She found out Yang was alive, got her back to us, then just ran again.”

“She swore an oath to us Qrow. I’m inclined to trust her.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time she’s broken an oath. Theo, I’ve got a bad feeling about this. We gave her a lot of information last night. I wouldn’t be surprised if she just used us.”

“Idle speculation does us no good, Qrow. Quit pacing, you’re going to wear a hole into my rug.”

Qrow flung himself into a chair and began to finger the clover talisman pinned to his chest. He exhaled noisily. “There are some days I reeaally miss drinking.” He took a swig from his water flask anyway.

At that moment, a red portal opened in the middle of the room. “Speak of the devil and she doth appear.” Qrow had stood up again.

Raven stepped through, sheathing her sword. Her hair was plastered to her forehead with sweat. Qrow planted himself in front of her, accusing finger pointed at her chest. “The hell took you so long? That was supposed to be an in and out, establishing communications for later.”

“Qrow, will you stop being dramatic? I said I would help, and I’m helping. There’s a complication,” she said to Theodore.

“Oh?” Was the headmasters only response.

“What does that mean?” Qrow asked, pacing again.

Raven shot him a withering look. “Grimm. I think Salem made her move against Vale. Patch just saw a refugee influx, and with it came the grimm. Tai and the other teachers from Signal are in the middle of a pitched fight at this very moment. Is Yang still at the Academy?”

“She’s probably in the city somewhere with her team. Why?” Qrow asked truculently.

“Because if I take both of you with me, and believe me, Tai will be glad of the help, I’ll need her somewhere safe we can port back to. I don’t want to show up in the middle of the city.”

“Of course. I can recall her at once.” Theodore tapped something into his console, and then moved beside the twins with a predatory grin. He shadow boxed the air, ruby gloves glinting in the light. “It’ll be good to stretch out this old frame. Desk life doesn’t suit me. After you, Miss Branwen.”

Raven slashed at the air, and after a moment’s hesitation Qrow walked through, followed shortly by Theodore and his sister.

*

“Huh. Theodore wants us back at Shade. Didn’t say why, but we’re on standby.” Yang had several cloth bags hung from one arm as she checked her scroll with her free hand.

“I’ll message Weiss and Jaune,” Ruby said at once, pulling out her own scroll.

“Wait, Theodore wants you guys back at Shade but not us? What’s up with that?” Nora sidled over, munching conspicuously on something.

“I dunno, but at least we got some shopping done.” One of the first things Yang had looked for was a new pair of sunglasses, which she had already donned. All of them had prioritized gear that would benefit them in the harsh desert climate of Vacuo. Ren said it was possible to be sent outside the Kingdom on missions, but most missions took place within Vacuo unless you specifically requested a different assignment.

“Nora, what are you eating?” Ruby looked up from her scroll and wrinkled her nose at the shriveled, pinkish meat Nora was munching on.

“Uhm, no thanks,” Ruby shook her head.

“Yoink!” Yang reached over and snatched the proffered piece of jerky from Nora and bit into it. “Hey, this is pretty good!”

“Told you! But you only get one, blondie. You’ll have to buy your own bag if you want more.”

“Nora, can I try a piece?” Blake asked innocently.

“Oh, sure.” Nora handed her a piece of the cured meat, which Blake promptly gave to Yang.

“Thanks, babe!” Yang popped it into her mouth and winked at Nora.

Nora gasped dramatically. “Blake! You dare betray my trust? I thought we were friends! Hmph.”

Ren, Oscar, and Ruby all laughed, and even Emerald cracked a smile. Ruby asked, “Are you all going to come back with us?”

Ren shrugged. “We may as well. Wouldn’t hurt to get a little training in. We should start getting Emerald familiarized with our strategies.”

“How do you think Weiss is faring with her family and Jaune?” Yang mused, still chewing on the jerky.

“Yeah, why’d she invite him anyway? I mean, I know we’ve all met her family before, but I didn’t think that Jaune had made any special connections with them,” Ruby asked, puzzled.

Yang and Nora shared a look. “It’s because Weiss likes him, Rubes. She’s just, y’know, about as awkward as you when it comes to that sort of thing,” Yang said.

“Yeah, Jaune liked her straight off, remember? But she shot him down, multiple times, and then there was him and Pyrrha...” Nora trailed off, eyes clouding over briefly. Emerald shifted uncomfortably at the mention of Pyrrha.

Nora continued. “Weiss probably thinks he doesn’t like her, and Jaune is oblivious enough to not see that the tables have turned and Weiss would reciprocate if he asked her again.”

Ruby had flushed slightly at Yang’s dig but didn’t say anything. Weiss had seemed more interested in Jaune than normal in the Ever After, but Ruby hadn’t really paid it much attention. And Yang was right, she found the idea of opening up to someone in a romantic fashion terrifying. She was awkward enough as it was with people, and then putting extra emotions on the line was a recipe for disaster. Still, she felt an unexpected pang of loneliness at the idea that she would be the only member out of the original teams without a significant other.

She realized she was being watched and gave a weak smile. “Oh, yeah, haha, hopefully it works out for them.” She trailed off, smile fading. Why does this make me feel sad? I should be happy. It was the same when Yang and Blake got together. What’s wrong with me?

Yang noticed Ruby’s downcast expression but didn’t push it any further. She would talk to her later, when they could have some privacy. She looked around when Nora called out.

“Emerald, what’s up?”

Emerald had stopped walking several paces back, one arm across her chest, hand resting on the opposite bicep, in a posture that spoke of shame. “How can you all just, accept me? Cinder is the reason one of your friends is dead, and you still let me in. Why?”

The group stopped walking, and looks were exchanged. “Well, you’re not Cinder, for a start,” Ruby said quietly. “You made a choice to follow her, but you also made a choice to leave her and join us. People grow and change all the time, and we need to be ready to help them when it happens.”

“We all miss Pyrrha, Emerald. I know you regret what happened. I know you’re still conflicted about Cinder. However, we’re here for you now. You can talk to us anytime,” Ren said gently.

Oscar walked over to her. “Ren is right. You chose to help me in Monstra. You could have just as easily killed me. But you didn’t. You even stuck with us and continued to help during and after the fall, and accepted Theodore’s decision when he wanted to keep you under observation. Emerald, you chose and have been choosing to side with us. If we didn’t give you a chance, how could we call ourselves hunters? If we can’t forgive people who are truly remorseful, we just invite further discord.”

Emerald didn’t look convinced. “I’ve caused so much pain, though. I told myself it didn’t matter, because Cinder had saved my life, so whatever she needed from me was worth it. I could dismiss what we were doing as trivial because Cinder was convinced it would make things better. But I was wrong. She just caused more pain, and sorrow. I’m sorry for what we did.”

“And that’s why we’re giving you a chance. Don’t get me wrong, I’m keeping an eye on you. And we’re gonna have to have a conversation about your old friend, but now isn’t the time.” Yang had crossed arms and narrowed eyes. “Jaune is really the one who should be going over this with you.”

Emerald gave a small nod. “Right. Thanks.”

“C’mon, let’s get back and see what the headmaster wants.” Ruby smiled at her encouragingly, and the group set off once more.

*

“All I’m saying is they could have warned us that the curry in red bowl was spicy. I mean, c’mon, look at me. You think I have a high spice tolerance?” Jaune was animatedly waving his arms, eyes still running from his earlier ordeal.

Weiss laughed. “Vacuo is known for its spicy cuisine. I thought you knew that. You could have stopped eating it once you figured it out, but you had to be a gentleman.”

“I didn’t want to be rude! And besides, it was good, even if it felt like my mouth was on fire.”

Jaune and Weiss were on their way back to the academy, having received a message from Ruby that Weiss was needed with her team on standby. Winter had stayed behind, taking advantage of her free time. Jaune felt like he had a ball of liquid fire resting somewhere just below his ribcage. The Sahras had served curry for lunch, in two varieties, and Jaune had served himself from the nearest bowl without thinking about it. It turned out that the Sahras liked their hot peppers, much to Jaune’s discomfort and the amusem*nt of the Schnees, who had served themselves from bowl that wasn’t spicy.

“Ugh. I’ll need to see if anyone has any good heartburn remedies. So much for good first impressions.” Jaune was rubbing his sternum and staring at the ground as they walked.

“Believe me, you had made an impression on all of them before today. Winter was the one who gave me the courage to invite you to see everyone.” Weiss had taken his free hand and was looking up at him lovingly.

“Winter did?” Jaune was more than a little surprised. Winter intimidated him a little bit. She was a high-ranking military officer, a superb warrior, and the obvious inspiration for Weiss’s ice queen demeanor.

“She did. Her words were, and I am not exaggerating for effect here: ‘There’s no shame in liking a man like that. He’s got my approval.’”

Jaune blinked. “Oh. I had the impression that she was evaluating me, but I didn’t know it was about us. It felt more like someone sizing up an opponent, or acquiring a target lock.”

“You’re sweet, you know that? You’re so good at reading tactical situations, but you have a lot of work to do reading people.” Weiss had stopped walking and reached a hand up to him. When he looked at her, she stood on tiptoes and pulled his face towards hers for a quick kiss.

“Oh! Your lips are still hot! I do not know how you ate all that curry.” Weiss had pulled back, fanning her mouth.

“Ha! ‘Hot lips!’ Jaune’s new nickname, calling it now!” Nora and the others had just turned onto the street down at the corner.

Weiss turned scarlet. “Oh please no, Nora, I didn’t know you were there.”

Yang cleared her throat. Nora sighed, and handed something to her. Seeing the expressions from Jaune and Weiss, she explained. “We made a bet. I thought that you two would be together by the end of the day. Nora thought you were gonna take a little longer. And now, Nora’s mole crab jerky is mine!”

“You made a bet about us!?” Weiss shouted.

“Mole crab jerky?” Jaune asked, carefully enunciating each word.

“Yeah, that’s been the topic of conversation for the last ten minutes or so. I’m glad to see you two worked it out, though,” Blake said, smiling at them.

“Yes, mole crab jerky, Jaune. The tastiest thing I’ve eaten since getting to Vacuo. You couldn’t have just stayed blissfully ignorant for like, twelve more hours?” Nora asked, in tones of mock despair.

Yang, who was already munching on the jerky, said, “I knew you guys would figure it out. Kudos!”

“It’s rude to make bets about people’s personal lives! I can’t believe you two!” Weiss, still shouting, said.

“It is Nora and Yang we’re talking about here. I’d be more surprised if they hadn’t made a bet of some sort.” Jaune shrugged.

“Jaune, you’re supposed to stand up for me!” Weiss stamped her foot and crossed her arms.

“Oh, right. Nora, Yang, that was immature and insensitive,” Jaune intoned.

“Oh, shut it, Hot Lips,” Yang laughed while Nora high fived her.

Jaune sighed. “And that’s why I didn’t say anything.”

Blake spoke up in their defense. “Leave them alone. We’re all glad to see you guys happy. You both deserve it.”

Weiss looked at her appreciatively. “Thank you, Blake. Now, if these jokers will quiet down for a minute, what does the headmaster need from us?”

“He didn’t say. We were just to return to Shade and wait on standby.” Ruby had a faraway look in her eyes that Weiss now associated with trouble. Something was bothering her old friend.

“I’m sure it’s ok, Ruby.” Weiss gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

“Hmm? Oh, yeah.” Ruby still looked distant.

I hope she’s not spiraling again. I need to make sure we’re keeping an eye on her, Weiss thought. She caught Yang’s eye, and Yang gave a small shrug.

Yang threw her arm around Ruby’s shoulders. “Well, whatever it is, we’ll face it as a team.”

*

“Qrow and Theodore are both gone?” Ruby asked. The teams had dropped off their shopping haul in their rooms, JORNE headed for the training hall, and then RWBY had gone looking for Qrow. They hadn’t been able to find him anywhere, and Theodore’s office was closed. This development worried Ruby more than she thought it would.

“Looks like it. Don’t stress, Ruby. They’re both highly trained huntsmen. I’m sure whatever they’re up to they’re fine. Let’s head back to our rooms, ok?” Blake said.

“Ok, yeah.” Ruby sounded unsure.

Yang looked at Blake and Weiss. “You two mind if I talk to my sister for a minute?”

“Of course not, we’ll see you at the dorms.” Blake and Weiss departed, leaving the sisters alone.

“You ok, Ruby? You’ve been a bit off since we brought up Jaune and Weiss.” They had stopped by a window and Yang leaned against the sill, looking out over the sun-soaked city.

“Yang, can I ask you something?” Ruby’s voice was small.

“Yeah, of course. Ask away.”

“Is it wrong to be worried about people starting new relationships right now?”

This took Yang aback a little. “You don’t approve?”

“It’s not that I don’t approve, I don’t know, it just feels like we should have bigger things to worry about, you know? Big picture, Salem wants to destroy the world. Shouldn’t we worry more about that than relationships?”

Yang considered this for a moment. “Nope. Ruby, relationships are how we’re going to win this. It’s our humanity, our bonds with each other, that give us strength. We need to be united, right? Love is a great way to achieve that. I think people finding it in the face of disaster is a beautiful juxtaposition. If we can’t love now, what are we even fighting for?”

“’Beautiful juxtaposition?’ What’d you do to Yang?” Despite herself, Ruby grinned.

“I may have started to read some of Blake’s poetry. She’s really into stuff like that. Can I ask you something?”

“Shoot.”

“Do you have feelings for anyone?”

“What? No! I mean, I don’t know, that stuff is confusing, and I try not to think about it too hard.”

“Specifically, did you like Jaune or Weiss? Just making sure. Don’t need a love triangle situation here if we can help it,” Yang doubled down.

“They’re like my siblings, really. I love them both, but platonically, y’know? I just feel, I don’t know, lonely, I guess? You all have each other, and I’m just Ruby.”

“Ruby, you still have us. Sure, we’re going to be with our partners more, but we’re still a team. We’re still friends. Me and Blake, Jaune and Weiss, Ren and Nora. We’re all still members of the two most kickass teams of hunters Remnant has ever seen.”

Ruby smiled at this. “Yeah, I guess we are. I do have one more thing, though. This whole mess started because Salem lost the man she loved and defied the Gods. What’s going to happen to us if we lose someone else?” Ruby looked at the ground, refusing to meet Yang’s eyes.

“We grieve. Loving with all your heart leaves that heart vulnerable, that’s true. That pain is just part of the experience. It’s better to love something and then lose it than to never love anything at all, right?”

“Geez, when did you get so wise? Thanks, Yang. This helped. I’m still worried, but I’ve been worried about someone else dying ever since Pyrrha, and then Penny. It just feels like the stakes are higher, that’s all.”

“Hey, what are sisters for? I’m just glad I could help. I love you, Sis,” Yang said as she hugged Ruby.

“Love you too. Let’s get back, I’m dying to change out this shirt.”

“Me too. And hey, as your big sister, you should know that I am duty-bound to tease you whenever you do decide to start dating. Just warning you now.”

Ruby rolled her eyes, but she was smiling again. “Yeah, yeah.”

*

Fifteen minutes later team RWBY was finally free of the itchy fatigues. Their outfits had all been laundered and returned while they were out, and they had their new clothes as well. Each of them had purchased a variety of clothing to replace everything that had been lost with Atlas, from sleepwear to workout clothes. In addition, they had all updated their combat outfits as well. Ruby had opted for supple, black-leather leggings to replace her normal tights, as she figured they would hold up better to the harsh, sandy environment of Vacuo. She had kept the rest of her outfit largely unchanged.

Blake and Yang had also picked up tops that would work better in the climate, having gotten long-sleeved tunics in the style that many of the desert nomads wore. Yang’s was royal purple, and Blake’s was sunflower yellow. All of them had also gotten head scarves on the advice of the merchant they were purchasing from. In his words, “Was it better to slowly drain your aura keeping the sun off, or to use a simple piece of cloth to do that work for you so you’re ready to fight?”

Weiss had changed her style the most, ditching the elaborate dress she had worn in Atlas in favor of a much lighter midi skirt in periwinkle blue. It had a slit all the way up her thigh to facilitate movement, and she had cinched it with her belts that contained her spare dust cartridges for her weapon. She finished off the ensemble with a pair of white leggings under the skirt, and a white cotton blouse with full-length, flowing arms that had a floral pattern stitched in blue over the breast and down one sleeve. When she had come out of her room, Yang hadn’t been able to help but comment.

“Dang, Weiss, looking good. You want me to call Jaune over, see if he approves?”

Weiss looked at her frostily, Myrtenaster out, as she had wanted to go through some practice motions to make sure her range of movement wasn’t hindered. “Yang, I always look good.”

She lunged with her rapier, leapt from the glyph she had summoned into a backflip, and landed perfectly with a flourish of her weapon. Satisfied, she put Myrtenaster back into its case.

Ruby stuck her head out of their room. “You know there’s a training hall, right? You don’t have to do that in the hallway.”

“Team Journey is down there right now. I didn’t want to distract from their training session.”

“Yeah, well, you’re currently distracting someone.” Yang nodded down to the end of the hall, where a small group of people had gathered.

“Looks like word has gotten out that we’re back. Probably just seeing if the rumors were true.” Blake was seated against the wall at Yang’s feet, book open in front of her.

“Wait, we know those guys,” Yang said, looking down the hall. “I think that’s team Auburn.” Team Ruby had battled and defeated Team Auburn at the Vytal Festival two years ago, shortly before everything had gone downhill and Beacon had fallen.

The other team approached. “Ho-lee sh*t, if it isn’t team Ruby,” Reese Chloris said. She still sported her neon green hair, cut into a punk rock style. “We thought you guys went down with Atlas.”

“Nah, we’re too stubborn to die. There was a bit of an issue with our trek here though,” Yang said from her position against the wall.

“It’s so good to see you all!” Ruby chirped, coming fully into the hall. “How have things been for you guys?”

“Interesting, but I don’t think we can hold a flame to your exploits. Team Ruby is spoken of in hushed tones around here,” Bolin Hori said, wide smile on his face. “You guys are legends.”

Reese snorted. “I wouldn’t go that far. But your team certainly has an air of mystique about it.”

Arslan Altan, the no-nonsense leader of Team Auburn, said, “We could exchange stories, if you’d all like. They’ll be serving dinner down in the dining hall about now.”

“I don’t see why not,” Ruby said. “We’re on standby right now, waiting for the headmaster to contact us. But I don’t think some food will hurt.”

“Cool!” Bolin exclaimed.

Minutes later the teams were seated in the dining hall. As they ate, they talked about the things that had happened to each of them since they’d last seen each other.

“So, you guys helped take down an organization that was attempting to overthrow Shade? Sounds like you’ve had your fair share of adventure,” Yang said, pointing a breadstick at Bolin.

“Yeah, it was pretty crazy. Team Coffee and team Sun played a pretty big part too. Turns out that big guy, Yatsuhashi, has a semblance that overrode the mind control Jax was using,” Bolin said.

“And Jax was the leader of the Crown?” Blake asked.

“Yeah, him and his sister were running the show. They wanted the academy overthrown, and for the monarchy to be restored. Jax and Gillian are descendants of the last king, I guess. They had gotten something like fifty people on their side by the time we had figured out what was going on. Thankfully we took them down. I think a couple hardcore supporters that were there of their own volition got away, but with Jax mind wiped by Yatsu they shouldn’t be an issue,” Reese said.

“I didn’t know Yatsuhashi had such a powerful semblance,” Weiss said. “Come to think of it, I don’t really know what Fox’s is either. Coco sure doesn’t like to broadcast her teams’ skills.”

“Yeah, Fox has like telepathy or something. It’s really weird having someone else’s voice in your head all of a sudden. It came in handy during the fight though,” Bolin said.

“What’s team Coffee up to right now anyway?” Ruby asked. She had eaten much more of her food than she had at breakfast, and her mood had lifted again.

“They volunteered for a mission to Atlas,” Arslan said. “The communications tower in Amity needs a lot of power to function, and so we need groups to go scavenge the fallen city for tech and dust. Something like six Atlesian Frigates, with a team of huntsmen apiece, plus their complement of soldiers are there right now. What really happened anyway? Did Ironwood really lose it? Word is he was going to bomb Mantle there at the end.”

“He almost did. He was blackmailing Penny to try to get her to stay in Atlas so Salem couldn’t get her Maiden powers. Penny wanted to save everyone, not just the people in Atlas, and refused. He actually tried to drop the bomb, but a member of the Atlesian Special Ops sacrificed himself to stop it. A lot of good people died that day,” Blake said sadly.

“Wait, Penny? The android girl that died at Beacon?” Bolin asked.

“Oh, yeah. I guess you wouldn’t know that. She was rebuilt. And along the way, she wound up with the Winter Maiden’s power. Unfortunately, she really did die when we were trying to get everyone to Vacuo,” Blake continued, voice low.

“It was rough,” Ruby said sadly. “But we saved who we could. And now we need to finish the fight. I’m glad there are still people like Team Auburn helping out.” She smiled at the other hunters.

“Of course. It’s what we signed up for, after all,” Nadir Shiko, the last member of Team ABRN, and who had been very quiet so far, said. He smiled shyly at her. “It’s also a huge moral boost knowing you ladies are back in action, too.”

“Oh, well, you know, we do what we can!” Ruby said, laughing awkwardly and looking sideways at Yang, unsure of how to take the compliment.

“We kick ass, we know,” Yang said, flexing her biceps.

Blake and Weiss both rolled their eyes at this, but they did so with a smile. “How are the other teams doing?” Weiss asked.

“Well, Indigo and Funky are both away on missions. Funky went to Atlas, and Indigo went out west, I think, to help out a settlement. Nolan is the only member of Team Bronze that survived Beacon, but he’s still fighting. He joined up with team Sun,” Bolin said.

“He lost his whole team? That’s terrible,” Blake said, covering her mouth.

“Yeah. Got wiped out by a nevermore, from what he said. Poor guy has been through a lot. But he fits in well with SSSNN, I think. Those guys better get back from Menagerie soon, I miss their particular brand of masculine energy,” Reese said, wistful look in her eyes.

“What, me and Nadir are chopped liver?” Bolin asked indignantly.

“I mean, you’re not bad, but have you seen Sun’s abs? That man looks like he’s chiseled from stone. You could sharpen steel on that body,” Reese said, faraway look still present on her face.

“Earth to Reese,” Nadir said, waving a hand in front of her.

She snapped out of it and sighed. “I hope they’re ok. They were supposed to be back two days ago.”

“They’re dorks, but they know their way around a fight,” Blake said. “Sun has some experience with Menagerie, too. Just you wait, they’ll come swaggering in like conquering heroes.”

At that moment, the doors to the hall opened, but instead of team Sun walking in, team Journey did. They spotted RWBY and ABRN and made their way over.

“ABRN, glad you’re back. How’d the mission go?” Ren asked, sitting down next to Arslan.

“Piece of cake. The town just needed their well dug back out after that last sandstorm. We provided some manpower and coverage from the grimm while they got it done. Nothing crazy,” Arslan said.

“That’s good to hear,” Oscar said.

Reese was looking at Jaune, who had sat next to Weiss. “Hey, weren’t you another one of the people that was supposed to have died with Atlas?”

“I suppose I was,” he said.

“Jaune took the long way here, like us,” Yang said quickly, before more questions could be asked. “How’d training go?”

“It went well! I’m really excited by the implications of using Ren and Emerald in tandem. They have semblances that I believe could be very complementary in battle. We’re also looking at giving Nora a boost, similar to how Hazel used raw dust. Since she can absorb lightning, we just need a way for her to amp herself up, and then double down with my amp, and I’d pretty sure she could one shot a goliath. We just don’t want to overdo it, especially after she overloaded that defense grid in Atlas.”

“Plus,” Nora added. “I don’t really relish the idea of jamming dust stones straight into my body. But the whole killing a goliath in one blow does sound pretty great.”

“Right, right,” Jaune said distractedly. “We’ll figure something out. Next, we need to focus on Oscar getting his semblance unlocked, and then I think we can really start to mesh everybody together.”

The rest of the group listened to this with a variety of expressions, from amusem*nt to bemusem*nt. Emerald said, “After that session, I take back what I said earlier, Weiss. Your man is great at this stuff. I’m impressed.”

“Of course he is,” Weiss said. She had been one of the people listening with amusem*nt while Jaune gushed about the potential stratagems he could employ with his team. She, along with the rest of RWBY and the old JNPR, had known Jaune had a knack for tactics ever since initiation day when they started at Beacon.

Yang got up from the table and stretched. “Well, we haven’t heard from Theodore yet. I think I’m gonna hit the gym, if you guys find anything out let me know.”

Blake got up too. “I’ll come with. A little bit of cardio would do me some good.” Together they left the dining hall.

Ruby looked at Weiss. “I think I’m going to head back to the room. We’ll meet up if we get word from Theodore, ok? Keep your scroll on. It was good seeing you again, Auburn.”

They all said goodbye, and Ruby made her way back to the dorm. She pulled out her scroll as she walked. Qrow’s name was dark in her contacts list, meaning he didn’t have a signal, wherever he was. She sighed. “You better be ok, Uncle.”

*

Back in her room, Ruby lay down on the bed and stared at the ceiling. She had a lot on her mind, but she felt pretty stable emotionally. What Yang had told her earlier kept circling around and around in her head. And the more she thought about it, the more it made sense. Love was what they fought for. It might sound cheesy, but it was the love of family, and friends, and partners, of places, and pets, and even your favorite foods or books or things that made life worth living.

Salem had loved too, and it was the death of the man she loved that had driven her to madness. She had been told no by the Brother of Creation when she had petitioned him to get Ozma back, and then she had gone to the Brother of Destruction and asked the same of him, omitting that she had already gone to the God of Light. He had given her what he wanted, but reneged when he discovered she had lied to him. Salem had then been cursed with immortality so she could learn the value of life and death, but instead of using her time to reflect, like the Gods had wanted, she had used her power to rally humanity to fight against the Gods.

And so humanity had been destroyed, due to their swayable hearts and Salem’s hubris. According to Jinn, Salem had then wandered the Earth, alone, until she found her way back to the realm of darkness. In her desperation, she had tried to drown herself in the fountain there. Instead of reversing her immortality, it had bestowed upon her a further curse. She was now an immortal being with an unquenchable desire for destruction.

Salem is the way she is because of her loss, but also because of the Brothers, Ruby thought. If they hadn’t left her alone to find the fountain of darkness, would she still be the way she is? What would happen if they knew what she had become?

Ruby lay there, thoughts such as these chasing themselves around her head, until sleep took her.

When she awoke suddenly, the sun had already sunk in the sky. She started as she realized her scroll was ringing. Yang was calling her.

She scrambled to answer it. “Hello?” she answered, voice thick with sleep.

“Ruby! Good, I was beginning to worry. I had to call like four times before you picked up.”

“Sorry, I fell asleep. What’s up?”

“Theodore and Qrow are back, with Raven. We’re supposed to meet in Theodore’s office.”

Ruby rubbed her eyes. Oh good. They’re ok. “I’ll be right up.”

A short while later Ruby had joined her team at the top of Shade. Theodore was reclined in his usual spot at his desk. Raven leaned against one wall, and Qrow paced back and forth.

“Good, you’re all here. We’ve got work to do. Well, you four do, anyway,” Qrow said.

“What happened to our day off? Weren’t we supposed to have some downtime?” Yang asked, arms crossed.

“Oh, I think you’ll find your new assignment plenty amenable. However, there is some work to be done, I’m afraid.” Theodore had stood up and walked around his desk. “Raven is going to take you to Patch. Tai is very eager to see you.”

“We get to see Dad? That’s great!” Ruby exclaimed.

“How’s he doing?” Yang asked.

“Better, now. We had to help him sort out a rather large incursion of Grimm. But he’s fine.”

“How large of an incursion are we talking?” Weiss asked.

“A swarm in the low hundreds that followed in a group of refugees. I want Team RWBY to spend some time in Patch, to reinforce the hunters there and to help them get better defenses in place.” Theodore paused, considering. “We also got confirmation that Salem was in Vale. She finished the job that was started two years ago, by all the accounts we heard, and then vanished again.”

“She finished the job? Does that mean?”- Weiss started.

“I’m afraid so. The survivors said a terrible woman, with chalk white skin, robes as black and red as sin, and complete mastery over grimm annihilated what remained of the city. She also seems to have reanimated the wyvern you petrified, Ruby.”

Ruby’s face was set with fierce determination. “We can go at once, Headmaster.” Her team nodded in affirmation.

“Do you happen to know what happened to any of the teachers and students that were still in Vale?” Blake asked.

Theodore sighed. “We do not. Professors Port and Goodwytch, and Dr. Ooblek, are all unaccounted for. The people we spoke to had fled blindly before the carnage and didn’t have a hunter escort. It’s quite frankly miraculous as many of them made it to Patch as they did. They traveled overland from Vale and then commandeered some boats. I plan on sending teams to investigate. Vacuo may be getting another wave of refugees in the coming weeks.”

Qrow said, “We can take care of all that, don’t worry about it. We just need you to help Tai out, get the people there situated as best as you can. Raven will be checking in regularly.”

Raven nodded. “Once a day, for as long as needed. If we need to reinforce you, we will.”

“Right. Well, no point in wasting any time. Whenever you’re ready, Raven,” Ruby said.

Raven moved away from the wall and unsheathed her sword. Before she could open the portal, Qrow spoke up.

“Good luck. Tai misses you guys, a lot. He’s also got a lot on his plate right now. Take it easy on him.”

“Thanks, Uncle Qrow,” Ruby said with a smile. “Let’s go, team.”

Raven slashed open the air, and they stepped through the swirling red vortex to the island of Patch.

Chapter 5: Chapter Five

Chapter Text

Chapter Five

Tai had coffee and tea ready for them when they arrived. There were bags under his eyes, and a bloody bandage wrapped around one bicep. Ruby had thrown herself into his arms when she saw him and he had laughed, swinging her around in a wide circle. He hugged Yang next, tears running down his face. Zwei, their corgi, ran around their feet, barking furiously. Ruby dropped to her knees to scratch his ears and rub his belly, saying, “Who’s a good boy? Zwei is! Yes, you are! I missed you so much you little fluff-butt!”

Tai, still laughing, said “I missed you both so much! Ruby, I saw your message. It was the first broadcast we had gotten that wasn’t local. You were great, kid. I’m so very proud of you. Theodore and Qrow filled me in on the situation in Atlas and Vacuo. What happened with Ironwood was terrible. Are you guys doing ok?”

“Oh, hanging in there,” Ruby said bravely, still scratching Zwei’s ears. “The last couple months have been really hard though.”

“We’ve had a tough go of it,” Yang said. “But we’re still standing. How about you? You look like you’ve been through the ringer.”

Tai looked at his bandaged arm. “Oh, this? Ursa. I’m sure Theo filled you in, we had a hell of fight earlier. A swarm of refugees, followed by an even larger swarm of grimm. Then Raven appeared, which was a very pleasant surprise, and we fended off the first wave. She went back for Qrow and Theo and then we mopped up the rest. And where are my manners? These must be the teammates I’ve heard so much about.” He smiled at Blake and Weiss.

“Right! Dad, this is Weiss,” Ruby said.

Weiss curtsied. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir.” Zwei ran to her, stub tail wiggling madly, and she took the opportunity to pet him and confirm that Ruby was right, he was indeed the best boy. Tai nodded to her.

“And this is Blake,” Yang said, moving to Blake’s side and putting an arm around her waist. “My girlfriend.”

“Hi, Mr. Xiao Long. It’s good to finally meet you,” Blake said.

Tai blinked when Yang introduced Blake as her girlfriend, and then broke into a wide, sunny smile. “About time she brings someone home! Great to meet you!” He enthusiastically shook Blake’s hand. “Oh, I’ve been waiting for this for a while. I’ll be right back.” He disappeared from the room.

Ruby had started chuckling. Weiss and Blake looked confused, and Yang had a look of dawning comprehension on her face. “He’s not...”

“He is!” Ruby chortled gleefully as Tai returned with a pair of thick photo albums in his arms.

“Oh no, Dad,” Yang started to protest weakly.

Tai slammed the albums down on the table. “Where to start! Blake you’re gonna love these. I’ve got all kinds of pictures from Yang’s childhood here. He flipped the first album open, and turned pages until he found was he was looking for.

“This is when she got into the cocoa powder when Summer was baking. I’ve never seen such a mess in my life! We were cleaning chocolate off the ceiling,” Tai chuckled. Blake and Weiss crowded in on either side of him to see the pictures.

“Oh, Yang! Look at your hair!” Weiss exclaimed. “It was so bushy!”

“And look at those chubby cheeks! You were adorable,” Blake said, grinning at her.

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up.” Yang rolled her eyes. “Hey Dad, find that one of Ruby from her twelfth birthday party.”

Ruby stopped laughing. “I don’t think I like this game anymore,” she said, starting to panic.

“Oh, right! That’s a good one.” He turned the pages. “Ruby had just gotten really big into comics. She wanted to match hairstyles with her favorite heroine and tried to dye her own hair, to surprise our guests. I thought she was going to have orange hair forever.” He found a picture of a gangly, pre-teen Ruby with a shock of bright orange hair.

“I didn’t know it was going to turn my hair orange! I was shooting for scarlet.”

“Ruby, you’ve already got such wonderful natural red highlights. What were you thinking?” Weiss asked, laughing.

“I don’t know! I wanted it all red, but I mixed it wrong, or messed up the bleaching process or something and it came out orange. Don’t tell me you’ve never done something like that before.”

“Ruby, dear, I had a personal hairstylist. I never had to worry about it,” Weiss said, patting her hand.

“Stupid rich people and their stupid servants,” Ruby grumbled.

“Oh, there’s a good one!” Blake said, pointing at a picture. In it a six- or seven-year-old Yang was pulling Ruby around the yard in a wagon attached to her bicycle. “You two were really cute kids.”

“Yeah, they were. It’s been a while since I’ve gone through these. Life was simpler back then,” Tai said, smiling sadly down at the photographs. He sighed. “And now my girls are all grown up and saving the world.”

“You ok Dad? You look exhausted,” Yang asked.

“Oh, I’m all right. Help yourself to a drink while they’re still warm.” He sat at the table and poured himself some tea.

“How’s the town holding up, with the extra people?” Ruby asked, sitting down across from him and pouring herself a coffee, adding liberal amounts of sugar and cream. Zwei curled up at her feet and huffed contentedly.

“It’s doing ok, I guess. The other hunters are holding down the fort, I got sent here to meet up with your team,” Tai said, taking a large gulp of his tea.

Yang had sat down with Blake and good naturedly looked on as Blake and Weiss continued to peruse the old photo album. “Theodore said he wants us to help, with the grimm and with the defenses. What are we looking at?”

“Ursai, beowolves, nevermores. The usual, mostly. Just way more of them than we’re used to. That swarm earlier was massive, I’ve never seen grimm in those number here on Patch.” Tai had settled into his chair, still sipping his cup of tea.

“What about the town’s defenses?” Ruby asked, sipping her coffee which was now at about a fifty/fifty ratio of coffee to sugar and cream.

“In bad shape. The wall needs repaired and expanded to accommodate the new folk.”

There was a sudden outburst of laughter from the end of the table. “Oh my gosh, Yang! You were caked!” Blake said, leaning into Yang while she laughed.

“Ok, I may have done that myself, at one point,” Weiss said, smiling.

The picture in question was of a young Yang, who had applied large quantities of make-up in a haphazard scrawl across her face. Yang rolled her eyes, but she was smiling too. “Try telling me you didn’t do that to yourself at some point, Blake.”

“I’m sure I did, but it’s your picture we’re looking at right now, Hun,” Blake said.

“Remind me to ask Kali to get out your photos next time I see her,” Yang said.

“Oh, she’d love to. And it’s only fair, I suppose.” Blake rested her head on Yang’s shoulder. “Thanks for showing us these, Mr. Xiao Long.”

“Just Tai, Blake, I don’t even ask my students to call me Mr. Xiao Long. And it’s my pleasure. I’ve been dying for Yang or Ruby to find a partner or bring friends over so I could share them.” He yawned and stretched. “I figured we could get started tomorrow, if anything happens overnight, we’ll hear the siren. I’ll go make sure the rooms are set up.” Tai got up and left the room, and they could hear him climbing the stairs.

“Your dad is nice,” Blake said to Ruby and Yang.

“Yeah, he’s pretty great,” Ruby agreed.

“Your house is so homey!” Weiss said.

“Well, we can’t all live in palaces, Ice Queen!” Ruby said defensively.

“I take it back. Thanks Weiss!” Ruby said. Yang chuckled.

“It sounds like we have our work cut out for us. What do you think Salem wanted with Vale?” Blake asked, head still on Yang’s shoulder.

“She may have been after the crown, but I thought Ozpin said it was somewhere else,” Yang said, absently running her fingers through Blake’s hair.

“Or, she’s a crazed psychopath who just wants to destroy everything. Which was basically confirmed by what Jinn showed us. She’s just confident enough now to move in the open.” Weiss sat back in her chair, arms crossed.

“We can ask some people tomorrow, see what they know,” Ruby said. “Try to get some more details about the attack, get a clearer picture of what she was after.”

They were all silent for a moment, each thinking their own thoughts. Yang suddenly broke it by addressing Weiss. “How do you think lover boy is going to do without you for a few days?”

“More like how am I going to do without him. I wish I’d had a chance to tell him what we were going to be doing,” Weiss sighed forlornly.

“I’m sure Theodore or Qrow will fill them in. Maybe if we see Raven we can request their team to join us, too,” Blake said, patting Weiss’s hand.

“Thank you, Blake. At least one of you appreciates my struggle,” Weiss sniffed, pointedly looking at Yang.

“Really, Weiss, I’m glad you and Jaune are together, and I do appreciate that you’ll miss him. It must really suck that you started going out and then had to leave him right away,” Yang said.

“It does suck! We really do have to see if we can request his team,” Weiss said.

There was a clatter as Tai came back downstairs. “Weiss, Ruby, you’ll be in Yang and Ruby’s old room. Blake, Yang, I’ve got the guest room set up as well. If you ladies need anything else, let me know. You’re welcome to food or anything else you need.” He gave his daughters another hug, then said “I’m gonna head to bed. That fight earlier wiped me out. We’ll tour the town tomorrow, see what we’re working with, ok?”

“Sounds good, Dad, thanks,” Ruby said. “Goodnight!”

Tai disappeared back out of the kitchen with a wave.

“A thought just occurred to me,” said Yang after he had left. “If I knew I was going to be back in my old home, where, you know, my stuff is, I wouldn’t have bought so much new stuff earlier.” She looked down at her shirt as she said this.

“Are you really regretting a shopping trip?” Weiss asked.

“Well, not really, but you get my point.” Yang yawned. “I don’t know about you ladies, but I’m ready for bed. I’ll see you in the morning.” She kissed Blake’s forehead and left the table.

“Good night!” Blake said to Ruby and Weiss, and then followed Yang from the room.

“I’m gonna stay up a bit, I think,” said Ruby. “I took a nap I didn’t mean to earlier, and that coffee is giving me a buzz right now. You want me to show you where the room is?”

“Please,” said Weiss. “I was up too late last night and am feeling it right now.”

Ruby walked Weiss upstairs to her and Yang’s old bedroom. Once Weiss was settled, she then went back downstairs and outside to the porch. She sat down in an old weather-stained wooden rocking chair, staring up at the stars and the shattered moon. Zwei had trotted out and lay down at her feet again. It felt good to be home. When she had last left, nearly a year ago, she had slipped out unseen, her only goodbye a note she had left on her desk. Her dad had deserved better than that, she thought.

It was late summer in Patch, and the night was comfortably warm, much more pleasant than the scorching heat of Vacuo. Looking east, she could see the faint glow of the lights from town washing out the night sky and hiding the stars. As her mind wandered, she thought back to her days at Signal. She wondered if any of her old friends orlassmates were still around. She had been moved up two years to start at Beacon early, which meant that this would have been the year her class from Signal would have graduated and started at an academy. Except Beacon had fallen. Ruby felt a pang of loss. She had been at the school for less than a year, and if things had gone normally, she would have spent two or three more years there. She had lost her chance at a normal education, and she sorrowed for it.

I’ll find out how bad things got in Vale in the morning, I suppose, Ruby thought. She let the night air, warm and smelling of the woods, settle over her. The crushing despair that had so frequently been present over the last weeks had retreated to a faraway distance, but the grumbling hadn’t completely vanished. She was too anxious about Salem for that. Ruby sat there, slowly rocking, watching the stars and listening to Zwei snore, until fatigue caught up to her and she went back inside and to bed.

Chapter 6: Chapter Six

Chapter Text

Chapter Six

Morning arrived with the sound of birdsong and the smell of blueberry muffins, frying bacon, and fresh brewed coffee. When Ruby awoke, she was alone in the room, and she could hear cheerful voices from downstairs. She yawned widely and got out of bed.

“Thanks for cooking breakfast, Dad,” she heard Yang say as she went downstairs.

The kitchen was full of the early morning light. Yang, Blake, and Weiss were all seated at the table, chatting animatedly and eating with gusto. Tai was at the stove, scrambling a panful of eggs and turning bacon strips. “Mornin’, sunshine!” He said cheerily as Ruby sat down.

“Morning to you too. Food smells great.” Ruby poured herself a small measure of coffee and started stirring in sugar as Tai set a plate down in front of her. Her stomach growled and she realized that she was ravenous, and couldn’t recall the last time she had really eaten a full meal. She dug in with enthusiasm.

“Right, so I thought we could start by touring the town. You all can see the layout of the current defenses, and then we’ll head to the school and meet up with the other Hunters.” Tai said as he sat down with a plate of his own.

“How many trained fighters are we talking about?” Yang asked between mouthfuls of egg.

“Talking fully licensed Huntsmen, it’s me and the other three teachers. We also have three students who are of age to be at an academy, but have stuck around, considering three of the four academies aren’t currently operating. After that it’s mostly first- and second-year combat school kids and the town militia. I would have said we were well off, Patch has never had a huge grimm problem, but the attack yesterday proved that wrong. We’re lucky Raven turned up when she did,” he said, munching on a bacon strip.

Breakfast was a joyful affair, with lots of laughter and talking. After they had finished eating, they all helped with the dishes and then got ready for the day. Ruby and her team geared up, making sure that their weapons were ready to go and they had plenty of ammunition. The town was a short walk away from the house and they started the trip full of energy and in high spirits. Zwei followed along, tongue lolling from his mouth, wide doggy grin on his face.

Patch, despite being an island town, was not a port town. High volume ports tended to attract marine grimm, and defending against marine grimm was harder and more costly. The founders of Patch had decided to forgo a large port and instead built an airfield. The town was inland from the sea nearly three miles, but on a day with a brisk westerly wind, the smell of the ocean would permeate the air.

Patch did still have a small port in a naturally occurring cove that received the occasional cargo or passenger vessel, with a permanent garrison of volunteer militia that ensured the cove stayed free of grimm. Tai had told them that it was presumably this cove that the refugees had been making for, but they missed their mark and landed too far south. They had been in three old trawlers and a ferry, all overpacked with people, and when they had made landfall, the grimm had beset them and harried them all the way to town.

As they approached the town, they could see the damage that Tai had talked about the night before. Large sections of the wall were destroyed, and several homes had been damaged. There were tents set up everywhere in a chaotic sprawl, and people were already hard at work moving lumber and wreckage around.

A man with a large double-bladed battleax waved at them and trotted over. He was of medium build, with tanned skin and brown hair. His face was broad, plain, and good natured. He wore simple leather armor, thick work trousers held up with suspenders, and a red flannel shirt, and his feet were shod in hobnail boots. “Tai, good morning! And Ruby, Yang. This must be your famed team of Huntresses.”

“Professor Slate! It’s good to see you!” Ruby said. “I see you and Myrtle are doing well.”

“Myrtle?” Weiss asked, with a look of puzzlement on her face.

“Myrtle is his ax,” Yang said. “Slate’s the smithing teacher at Signal. He helped me and Ruby forge our weapons.”

“Damn straight I did. Glad to see them still in good repair. And better still to see you young ladies back in Patch. We’ve heard tell of your exploits, even in this far off corner of the world.” He grinned at them.

“Yeah, I guess we have been around a bit, huh?” Ruby said.

“A bit? Don’t be so modest. From the way Tai tells it, you and your team have been in the thick of nearly every major engagement since the attack on Beacon,” Slate said.

“We do seem to find ourselves where everything is happening, that’s true,” Weiss said.

“Why don’t you all follow me? I know we were supposed to meet later but I couldn’t sit still with all this work to do.” He moved off through the town, talking all the while. Several people waved and called out to Ruby and Yang as they walked.

“The people here seem really fond of you two,” Blake said, taking Yang’s hand.

“They’re well loved, that’s for sure,” Tai said. “We’re all very proud of everything they’ve accomplished.”

“Dad, you’re embarrassing us,” Ruby said, shyly waving back to the townsfolk who called out to her.

“Your father is right, Ruby. We are proud of you. We’re proud of all the Hunters that attend Signal. We do our best to forge you into weapons of justice and integrity, and then send you out into the world. And we’re glad to see that you’ve both excelled,” Slate said.

As they walked around the town, Ruby noticed a lot of people with shell-shocked expressions. Judging by their ragged clothes and haggard faces, she figured they must be the refugees, and her heart went out to them. Salem had caused so much pain, made so many people homeless. Ruby turned her attention back to Slate as he continued to point out the sections of wall that were the most damaged and outlined his plan for repair and expansion.

“So, we need lumber, is what I’m taking away from this,” Yang said. “A lot of it.”

“Just so! We’ll meet up with the other hunters and work out protection for the logging parties. I also want to send a party to the ships the refugees took, see if there’s anything worth salvaging off them. There’s the school now.” Slate pointed at a large building constructed from massive pine logs. Signal Combat School wasn’t as flashy as some of the other combat schools, but it had a reputation for churning out quality hunters year after year. There was a cluster of teenagers in a range of ages outside the doors.

One of them called out eagerly, “Hey, that’s team Ruby!” The group turned as one to look at the new arrivals.

“Hey!” Yang said, tipping them a two fingered salute off her brow.

The young man who had called out rushed over to them. He had sandy blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail and a smattering of freckles on his acne covered face. His hazel eyes shone with admiration as he stared at Ruby.

“I started at Signal the year you went to Beacon. I was really excited to be in school with you, but you were just so good they moved you ahead. My name is Troy. Troy Broadleaf.” He held out a hand.

Ruby took it, very unsure of how to react to this. “Those things happen sometimes, haha. Ozpin himself saw me in action and well, the rest is history.”

“You were recruited by the headmaster himself? I didn’t know that part. And you’re Yang!” He moved to shake Yang’s hand. She shook with her prosthetic. Troy looked down at it. “Is that Atlesian tech? That’s so cool!”

“Yeah, not as good as the real thing, but it comes in ‘handy’ sometimes. You certainly have a lot of energy.” She looked at Troy with amusem*nt while Blake smiled at her bad pun and Weiss rolled her eyes. The joke sailed straight over Troy’s head.

“Give it a rest, will you Troy? They’re just another team of huntresses.” A girl, sullen, called out from the wall.

“Yeah, one of teams that fought Salem herself and lived to talk about it. Don’t mind her, she’s got a bad case of teenage angst,” Troy said, voice low.

“I heard that, nimrod,” the girl called out.

“Angsty, huh?” Yang said, elbowing Blake while raising an eyebrow at her.

“Haha,” Blake said without amusem*nt.

“Students! As Mr. Broadleaf pointed out, this is Team RWBY. They’re here in an official capacity, and as they are licensed huntresses, you will treat them with the same respect you give us teachers. Am I understood?” Slate called out.

There was a murmur of assent in varying degrees of enthusiasm, while Troy eagerly called “Yes Sir!”

The sullen girl rolled her eyes but nodded. “Good!” Slate said. Let’s meet with the rest and we’ll go over assignments.”

The students went inside the school, and the rest followed them. Ruby felt a wave of nostalgia as she entered the building. It smelled exactly the same as she remembered it, that faint essence of pine underneath the sharper scents of oiled leather, steel, and gunpowder. They followed Slate to the small auditorium, through halls at once familiar and unknown. Inside were the other two teachers and a few more students. Ruby scanned the younger faces for people she knew but was disappointed. All eyes turned to them as they entered.

“Tai, Slate, RWBY.” A woman in a buttoned blouse with wavy auburn hair nodded to them as they came in. She had a short jacket of red on over the blouse, tight leather leggings with high, buckled boots, a fencing saber at one side and a hand crossbow at the other.

“Hey, Professor Helsing! Long time no see!” Ruby called out.

Next to her was a small, balding, unassuming man with bottle bottomed glasses, dressed in a rumpled, time-worn suit. There was a pencil-thin tie in a loose knot around his neck. “My goodness, is that Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long? And those must be your esteemed teammates, Miss Schnee and Miss Belladona. Welcome to our humble school.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Sir,” Weiss said, giving her customary curtsy.

“We’re glad to be of service,” Blake said.

“And so polite, too. My name is Professor Hyde, and the pleasure is mine.” He had a wheezy, wavery, reed thin voice. “Now that we’re all here, Tai, did you want to do the honors?”

“You got it.” Tai said, and climbed onto the auditorium stage to address the small crowd. He cleared his throat.

“We have quite the job ahead of us. Preliminary census counts put the number of refugees from Vale at two hundred and seventeen. That may change over the coming days, if any more followed this initial wave. We need to ensure that they are all taken in and cared for. We will need to expand and repair the wall, and find a way to feed and house them,” Tai said, walking slowly back and forth on the stage.

“Right now they are road weary, sore, and grieving. I expect you all to treat them with kindness and respect. Once they have started to settle in, we need to get an idea of what professions and skills these people have. If any of them want to help now, we need to get them organized into work groups. Slate, Hyde, I’m leaving the town with you and the youngest students. Slate has been drawing up a plan for an extended wall and extra housing. You are to aid him in this endeavor.” He stopped in the middle of the stage and pointed at Ruby.

“Team RWBY, I want you to head to the landing zone on the beach. There may be stragglers. I want you to take Mr. Broadleaf and Ms. Rime with you. When you are confident the beach is clear, make your way north to the cove. There is another team there to rendezvous with. While your focus for this mission is to find any survivors, I’d like you to search the ships for possible salvage as well,” he said, smiling at Ruby.

“Professor Helsing and I will take the rest of you into the forest. We will be escorting a group of foresters. Our primary objective is to keep the foresters safe, the secondary objective is to find suitable trees for lumber. Questions?”

The sullen girl, Rime, raised her hand. “Yeah, do I have to be teamed up with Troy?”

“Yes. You need to learn the value of teamwork, and I believe partnering you with Mr. Broadleaf and Team RWBY will be beneficial for you. Let’s get to it!”

There was a low rumble of activity as the assembled trainees and hunters got up from their seats and moved out. Tai waved to his daughters as he led his team out of the room. Troy was practically vibrating with excitement as he turned to Ruby. “I can’t believe I got assigned to your mission! I won’t let you down, Ma’am.”

Blake raised her eyebrows as Yang snorted laughter. “Ma’am? Ruby is what, only like two years older than you.”

“Yes, just call me Ruby, please,” Ruby said, cheeks faintly colored.

“But you’re the team lead,” he said, puzzled.

“Yeah, we’re not super big on formality. Just follow our example out there, ok?” Yang said.

The girl, Rime, had trudged over and was now glaring out at them from under her bangs. Her hair was black, and she was almost as pale as Weiss. She had on black lipstick, black eyeliner, and her combat outfit was completely black as well. The only other color that showed was the silver of the various fastenings and studs on her clothes, and the bright green of her eyes. She had a pair of swords strapped to her back, each with a distinct hilt.

Ruby looked at her warmly. “Welcome to the team! I think we should get an idea of what you and Troy’s fighting styles are before we head out.”

She shrugged. “I fight with swords. I have a longsword and a short sword. I can fight with one or two blades, depending on what the situation calls for. I can also merge them into a zweihander, for the really big jobs. My semblance is ‘Soul Shatter’. I can infuse my soul’s essence into my blades, without a need for dust.”

“That’s really cool,” Ruby said. “Any ranged capabilities?”

As a response, Rime drew her longsword. It whirred and clicked as it assembled itself into a rifle.

“Very cool! Can you infuse your bullets, too?”

“Yeah.” Was the terse response. Rime obviously thought she had done enough talking.

“And what about you, Troy?” Ruby asked the enthusiastic young man.

“My semblance is Shillelagh!”

“Uh, pardon?” Ruby asked.

“I can make clubs out of wood!” He exclaimed brightly.

“That’s... cool, too.”

“Yeah, it’s very practical. As long as I’m near a tree, I’m good to go.”

“What if you aren’t near a tree?” Yang asked.

“Uh. I never thought about that. Patch has so many trees, you see…” He trailed off, frowning.

“Maybe you should bring a staff with you?” Weiss suggested helpfully.

“I do! Well, I normally do. I broke mine last night. I need to make a new one, I figured I would do it today when my aura wasn’t so low.

“Ok then! Let’s head out and get you a weapon!” Ruby exclaimed.

*

Ruby, along with her teammates and the two students, made her way to the eastern side of town. Troy said he was confident he could lead them to where the refugees had made landfall, and said he’d find a good ‘singing tree’ along the way, whatever that meant. Ruby talked to them as they walked.

“Like Tai said, our priority is to find and help any survivors. However, I need you all to know that there’s a good chance we’ll only find the less fortunate. Will you be able to handle that?”

Rime nodded once, curtly. Troy looked confused. “Less fortunate?”

“She means people who didn’t make it,” Blake said at the same time Yang said, “Dead people.”

“Oh. Ok then, yeah, I think I will be. I’ve dealt with the aftermath of grimm attacks before.” Troy’s cheerful complexion darkened briefly, then lit up once again. “Hey!” He ran off the path into the woods.

“Is it just me, or is that kid a little, ah, eccentric?” Weiss asked.

“Nah, he’s definitely a little weird. That’s ok though, every hunter needs at least a small dose of crazy. It’s the only real way to do the job,” Yang said.

“You got more than a small dose, dear,” Blake said, smiling. “But Ruby definitely got the largest dose in your family.”

“Hey!” Ruby said, as they followed Troy off the path.

“Remember initiation day?” Weiss asked. “You ran straight up the side of a cliff, dragging a nevermore with you, and decapitated it at the top. And then, when Beacon was attacked, you ran straight up Beacon tower and petrified that wyvern.”

“You also jumped into that mecha’s cannon arm in Argus to disable it, while it was charging up a shot,” Yang added.

“Don’t forget dangling yourself in front of that Leviathan, when you didn’t even know if you could get your silver eyes to work,” Blake said.

“Ok, ok. So I do impulsive stuff sometimes. I don’t think that makes me crazy,” Ruby said.

“Agree to disagree, Rubes. Hey, what’s he doing?” Yang asked.

They had caught up to Troy, who was stopped in front of an ancient, gnarled ash tree. He was chanting something in a lilting, sing-song voice. As they watched, the tree’s trunk began to groan and crack. It split and disgorged a knotted club before sealing itself back up again. Troy stopped chanting and picked the club up. “Shillelagh!” he proclaimed, proudly.

“Wow, that was really something,” Yang said. “Were you talking to that tree?”

“Yup!” Troy spun his shillelagh in a short arc, and with a crack split a granite boulder poking up from the earth.

“I would say that’s a little more than making a club from wood, Troy,” Blake said.

“Well, it is a club, isn’t it? I can use any old stick laying around, but it’s best if I can convince a tree to give me some heartwood. They’re stronger, that way. I think I’m able to awaken the trees aura and fuse it with the wood when I sing to them.”

“I didn’t know people could talk to trees, or that trees had auras!” Ruby exclaimed. “That’s so cool!”

“Ruby, your dog has an unlocked aura, which is not at all a normal occurrence for dogs. I’m confident the breadth and scope of things with auras far outmatches our imaginations for them,” Weiss said.

“Yeah, but he’s the first guy I’ve seen who can do it!” She stopped suddenly, and in a flash of scarlet Crescent Rose was out, blade ready. The rest of the team, students too, Ruby noted with approval, had also readied their weapons. There was something in the woods… There.

A pair of flaming eyes had retreated into the undergrowth, which was unusual. Grimm almost always attacked on sight. One exception was the old ones, the grimm that had survived decades or centuries. Those grimm were almost smart. Smart enough to avoid fights they weren’t sure they could win, at least.

“I think that was an alpha,” Ruby said. “Our mission hasn’t changed. We just need to keep our eyes sharp.”

“What about the town?” Troy asked.

“They’ve got Professors Slate and Hyde, plus the militia and younger students. I’ll message them, let them know what we saw. Let’s move out. Remember, eyes sharp.”

Now on alert, the team moved back to the path and towards the coast. A few minutes further into their journey, Blake tried to strike up a conversation with Rime.

“So, Rime, do you have a first name?” she started with.

“Yup.”

“Do you feel like sharing it?”

“Nah. I prefer Rime.”

“Ok, that’s fine. Why’d you join the school?”

Rime looked at her with teenaged disdain. “To kill grimm. Isn’t that why everyone joins?”

“No. I joined because I wanted to make a difference in the world. Yang is in it for the adventure. Weiss wanted to prove to her father that she was more than just the family name. Ruby does it because she’s always wanted to, and because she wants to help people. Sure, some are in it for the money, or fame, or whatever. The job description is to help humanity and the faunus survive grimm attacks. There are a lot of ways to accomplish that. And, one of those ways is killing grimm.” Blake smiled at the younger girl, trying to show she didn’t mean any harm with her words.

“Do you really think any of those things matter when the end goal is the destruction of grimm? Why does it matter why I fight, if I’m still ridding the world of those monsters?”

“Because if you fight without reason, you’re just going to burn yourself out. If you don’t know why you’re fighting, it’s going to be hard to keep yourself going. Sure, wanting to rid the world of grimm is a reason. But why is that your reason? There must be something more to it.”

“No, there isn’t.” Rime stalked up towards the front of the column, away from Blake and her well intentioned conversation.

Blake sighed, and felt fingers slip into hers. Yang gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. “Hey, you can’t win them all. But you tried. I feel like that girl has had a pretty rough past. Maybe she’ll open up to us, and we can loosen that prickly shell she’s hidden herself in. I remember another girl who had some issues opening up.”

Blake squeezed her hand back. “Yeah. Whatever hurt her, I hope she knows she doesn’t have to face it alone. She needs a friend, more than anything. Hey, do you think your dad sent her with us on purpose?”

“Wouldn’t put it past him. He can be pretty perceptive, and he did raise two daughters. Maybe he thought we were the ones who could help her.” Yang shrugged. “We’ll just be there for her, yeah?”

Blake nodded. “Yeah.”

“Eyes up!” Ruby called from ahead of them. “Blake, Weiss, two o’clock. Civilian. The rest of us will form a perimeter. Move!”

The team jumped into action. It didn’t take long for Blake to see what Ruby had spotted. A piece of bloodstained cloth tied to a branch that poked up from a hollow beneath a tree. As she watched, the makeshift flag waggled at them. She rushed to the tree, Weiss by her side. Together, they dropped to their knees in the dirt and leaf litter.

A pair of eyes stared up at them from a dirty, blood-stained face. A man had wedged himself into the tree roots. His arm had a nasty gash down the length of it, poorly wrapped in a strip of his ragged shirt. “Are they gone?” He whispered in a hoarse croak.

“It’s ok, they grimm are gone. We’re here to help,” Weiss said gently. “Let’s get you up.”

Together her and Blake extricated the man from the tree root hollow. Weiss tutted at his piecemeal bandage and began to strip it off his wound. He hissed in pain. “I know, I know, but we need to get that cut cleaned and re-wrapped.”

Blake pulled out a water bottle and a length of clean cloth. She soaked the cloth and began to clean the wound as gently as she could. He whimpered. “It’s not deep, but it is long,” she told him. “I’m going to wrap it again now.”

With Weiss’s help, she got the wound dressed. She handed the man a fresh water bottle, and he drank greedily, drops spilling down his chin and onto his chest.

“Slow! You don’t want to make yourself sick,” Weiss chided him.

He gasped and bowed his head but didn’t vomit. “Th-thank you. I could hear them howling all night, I was sure they were going to find me and finish me off.”

“It’s ok. Hunters killed most of the grimm last night, and the refugees made it to town. We’ll take you there now,” Blake said. “Can you stand?”

“Just give me a minute. Do you have any food?”

They gave him some dried fruit, and Ruby came over to check on them. “How’s he doing?”

“He’ll live. That gash is nasty, but not deep. It looks like his aura kicked in a little bit, but without the proper training it didn’t do much. He’ll probably want to get it properly cleaned back in Patch, and he’ll need to watch it for infection. But he’ll be ok,” Weiss said.

“Good. I’m glad I have you guys for the first aid stuff, I never know what to do with wounds.” Ruby paused, thinking. “We’re not that far from town. We’ll bring him back, as a group, and then head out again. I don’t want to split our forces with that alpha roaming around.”

“Sounds good. As soon as he gets his strength back, we can move,” Blake said.

Five minutes later, they were moving again, back to Patch. “Isn’t the other team going to miss us if we don’t make the rendezvous?” Rime asked.

“First priority is survivors. The landing zone and rendezvous will wait. This man couldn’t. Until I see you and Troy in a fight, I’m not going to risk splitting our group. We bring him back, and then head back out,” Ruby said in a no-nonsense voice she only adopted when she was fully in team-lead mode.

“Ok, just asking,” Rime said sulkily.

“Rime, I understand you’re anxious to finish the mission. But sometimes missions change or take longer than expected. We’ll be done when we’re done. And, if you’re like I was at your age and you’re spoiling for a fight, that alpha is out there and is going to cause a problem unless we take care of it. I’m thinking about hunting it down when we head back out, but remember, that call is mine and I expect you to follow my lead, ok?”

“Got it.” Rime lapsed back into silence, eyes scanning the woodland. Ruby watched her for a moment, and then went back to scanning the woods as well.

*

They got the man back without issue, and the townsfolk wrapped him in a blanket and whisked him away to one of the many pop-up infirmaries that were scattered about. Ruby took the opportunity to let her team take a brief break while they were in town, and then they set off once more.

When they reached the place where they had first spotted the alpha, she called for a halt. She peered in the direction she had last seen the beowolf and came to a decision.

“Right. I don’t like the thought of that beast prowling around behind our backs. We’re going after it. Blake, you’ve got point. Yang, back her up. Troy, Rime, you’re in the middle. I’ll take the rear with Weiss. This is an alpha we’re after, smart enough to leave a party of hunters alone. Be on your guard.”

Troy looked nervous yet eager, and Rime had perked up for the first time all day. The experienced members of RWBY all fell into line with the students safely in the middle of them.

Blake, with her heightened sense of hearing and light-sensitive eyes, moved ahead of the party, searching for tracks. Her ears twitched in annoyance every time one of her companions stepped on a branch or rustled a pile of leaves. They traveled deeper into the woods, and the trees rose ever higher around them, old, hoary, foreboding. Blake paused now and again, searching the forest floor for spoor, and then moved on. The foliage overhead thickened until the light dimmed and everything was colored with shades of grey.

Blake stopped and raised one hand to her companions. The group came to a halt, silent and waiting. She motioned at Yang to move forward and pointed at the ground. A pool of blood, dark in the light, soaked the leaf litter. Something, or someone, had been gravely wounded here. Yang locked eyes with the students and deliberately mimed arming her gauntlets. They got the cue and readied their weapons as well.

A howl suddenly split the air, bone-chilling in its intensity. A chorus of howls answered it, echoing from every side. The first beowolf materialized as if it had sprung from the very shadows themselves. Maw gaping, it lunged for Blake. She sidestepped and deftly thrust her sword into the nape of its neck. It crashed to the ground, essence smoking away into nothingness as it died. While Blake dispatched the first, six more pairs of snapping jaws lunged at the group.

Yang, already in a fighting stance, ducked under the beowolf attacking her and hammered into its jaw with a left hook. As she made impact, she fired her gauntlets shotgun, and the beowolf’s head disintegrated into black gore. She sidestepped, footwork immaculate despite the uneven, leaf-strewn terrain, and punched a second beowolf in the temple with her mechanical arm. There was an audible crack as its neck snapped.

Weiss, reflexes as sharp as ever, had retaliated with a lunge of her own. With a time-dilation glyph propelling her forward, the first beowolf died with her rapier thrust deep into its skull via its eye socket. She ripped the sword free and flashed past another, cutting its throat while momentum still carried her, Myrtenaster shining in the gloom. It staggered, coughing, as its essence bled away into the air, and then collapsed.

Ruby, Crescent Rose a shining blur as she spun the scythe in a killing arc, decapitated the last two grimm in one motion and returned the weapon to her shoulder. It smoked gently as her kills dissipated into the shadow from which they had sprung.

The entire encounter had lasted less than ten seconds, and the students had barely had time to react. Troy was looking at the huntresses, wide-eyed and admiring. Rime even looked grudgingly impressed at the speed and efficacy with which the older huntresses had dispatched their enemies.

“We’re not done yet. Stay ready,” Ruby said, scanning the dark woods. There. A pair a blazing eyes, ever watchful, melted away once again into the dark. She itched to use her semblance to go after it, but knew she shouldn’t rush ahead of her team. “We’re getting closer. Let’s move.”

They continued onward, deeper and deeper into the forest. Every few minutes, they would catch a glimpse of their quarry, always just at the edge of their vision.

“This feels weird, Ruby,” Yang said as they navigated a rocky ravine. “Like it’s leading us somewhere.”

“She’s right, I’m sure this thing wants us to follow it. I’ve never seen a beowolf act like this,” Weiss said.

“All the more reason we should take it down. A grimm that can think like this is a bigger threat than a pack of normal beowolves. If I get the chance, I’m going to engage it. Be ready to follow me in.” Ruby had drawn a bead with her sniper rifle on two occasions as they followed the alpha, but both times it had vanished behind a tree before she could fire.

As they clambered out of the ravine, they found themselves abruptly in a clearing. The sun shone high overhead, illuminating a tumble of huge, moss-covered boulders. A small stream trickled past, clear water burbling over smooth stones. Blake moved forward, scanning for signs of their quarry. She climbed onto one of the rocks to get a better view, shading her eyes from the light.

Yang leaned against another stone, taking a drink from her water bottle as she did so. Rime threw herself against the same stone with a huff, sliding to the ground with her back to the mossy boulder.

“This sucks. We’ve lost at least an hour chasing this thing. The further we follow it, the further off track we go. Are you sure we should keep chasing it?” She looked at Ruby as she said this.

Ruby looked back, her gaze even. “I’m sure. The last thing we need is a grimm of this intelligence waiting for us to get distracted while we help a group of people, putting those people at risk. No, we’re not able to actively look for survivors. And yes, this is taking longer than I thought it would. But as long as we keep it occupied, we know it isn’t hunting anyone else. And once it’s dead, we can return to our mission.”

Yang chimed in, saying, “So, fun thought, what if we’re being hunted? This is its territory, we’re at its mercy here.”

“Shh!” Blake hissed. “There’s something out there.”

The same ear-splitting howl they had heard before the last attack rent the air again. They all readied their weapons, and Rime got back to her feet. As they scanned the trees at the edge of the clearing, a rumble shook the earth. Blake, from her high vantage, swore softly as she was forced to adjust her balance.

“Blake, down now!” Weiss suddenly yelled, moving away from the rocks. Blake leapt down at once, landing gracefully next to Yang and Rime. The rocks they had been clustered on and around were rising from the ground, groaning and quaking as they did so.

Ruby stared, comprehension dawning. Those weren’t rocks, they were a carapace. The biggest deathstalker she had ever seen was heaving itself from its long slumber in the earth, dirt trailing from its claws as it raised them to the sky. It chittered in a basso rumble as its tail rose ponderously behind it, considering the tiny figures before it. Mandibles clicking, it whipped its tail forward lightning fast. Yang threw herself in front of Rime, and the stinger hit her square in the chest. She flew backwards, aura crackling as she smashed into a tree.

“Yang!” Blake screamed, emptying a clip from her pistol in futile rage at the monstrous creature. The fusillade of bullets rattled harmlessly against its stone-like shell.

Rime stood frozen, looking up at the towering scorpion. A crushing pincer snapped towards her and was deflected into the ground with a mighty crack from Troy’s club. “Move!” He yelled at her while falling back himself.

She stumbled into motion, drawing both of her blades as she did so. She slotted them together and they clanked and whirred as they combined into her zweihander. Eerie black runes glowed down the length of it as she activated her semblance, imbuing the sword with her essence.

Weiss, who had been the first to realize what was happening, was now engaged in combat with the alpha. It had struck the moment the deathstalker had risen, all rending claws and snapping jaws. The creature stood at nearly double the diminutive woman’s height, covered in a bristling thicket of bony spines, with razor sharp claws several inches long at the ends of its forepaws. Weiss and the alpha fought with inhuman speed and ferocity, movements blurring together in a symphony of violence. It took all of her speed and training to keep up with the monstrous, bipedal wolf, darting from glyph to glyph in a lethal dance around her foe. She stabbed it again and again, but the thick bones on the alphas hide kept turning her blade aside.

Ruby took all this in in an instant, and a plan formed in her mind. She saw Yang rising from the splintered tree trunk, hair aflame, eyes the red of coals. She saw Blake, agile as a dancer, staying in front of the deathstalker, its claws crushing her shadows one after another as she bought time for the students to get back. She saw Weiss and the alpha in their danse macabre, a flurry of furious blows back and forth.

“Checkmate, high impact!” She yelled at the top of her lungs as she shifted into a storm of rose petals. She flew to Weiss first and merged with the other woman, who had responded instantly to Ruby’s call and leapt toward her, propelled by a glyph. The storm of petals, now a mix of snow-white and rose-red, flashed to the deathstalker that was still trying to crush Blake. Weiss materialized, glyph already at the ready, frost coalescing in the air around her, eyes the deadly ice blue of a glacial crevasse. Ruby flew back to the alpha, which had given chase, and she reformed, scythe slashing at the alpha’s throat. It blocked the blow with its bone-crusted foreleg and huffed at her like it was amused.

Troy and Rime were indecisive, looking from the deathstalker to the beowolf, weapons half-raised as they tried to decide which way to go. Ruby spared them a brief glance, her eyes silver fire. “With me!” she called.

Behind them, Weiss flew in front of Blake as a pincer snapped at the lithe, elusive woman yet again. Weiss released her glyph and a wall of ice flashed into existence, sending waves of chilled air flurrying through the clearing, and the claw was caught halfway through it.

Blake egged the deathstalker on, keeping in front of its face, firing shots at its eyes when she could. Enraged, right pincer caught tightly in Weiss’s wall, it snapped that lethal tail at her, and she phased backwards, once, twice, thrice, leaving charged shadows in the place she had been. As the tail hit them, they burst into ice, and the stinger stuck fast. The deathstalker snapped its mandibles irritably as the ice-laden stinger dragged through the dirt, its tail now bogged down with extra weight.

The two women ran around to the now immobilized half of the deathstalker, already moving into their next attack. Weiss summoned a trail of white speed-enhancing time-dilation glyphs up the side of her towering ice wall, and Blake sprinted up them, spinning Gambol Shroud in a tight circle as she did so. At the top of the wall she leapt high into the air and threw her weapon to Yang. Yang, running back into the fray, caught the sickle grip with her right hand and Blake pulled; the dust infused ribbon snapped back in on itself. As Blake began to fall, momentum gone, Weiss caught her with a black immobilization glyph.

Yang, Gambol Shroud pulling her, fired her left gauntlet to gain extra momentum and rocketed towards Blake, hair streaming behind her like the tail of a comet. She flashed past, high into the sky. Blake, Gambol Shroud retrieved, threw it a second time, again to Yang. At the apex of her flight, Yang caught hold of Blake’s weapon, and began to fall back to the earth.

Blake snapped her ribbon again as Weiss summoned another line of white glyphs following Yang’s trajectory. Yang, pulled by the impetus of Blake and accelerated by Weiss, hurtled to the earth like a flame-shrouded meteor.

Ruby kept the alpha busy, scythe a constant blur of crimson before her. The beowolf blocked every attack, snapping at her with its fanged maw in between her blows. The students circled it, unsure of how to help. “Crack it!” She yelled at them.

Troy’s face lit up in comprehension, and his eyes flashed as he twirled his ash wood club and lashed at the beowolf. Rime darted forward at the same time with a massive overhead swing, sword glowing with that strange black energy. Ruby forced the grimm to protect its throat as she again slashed at it with her scythe. Arms now in front of it, the students’ weapons both impacted on the bony spines of its back.

It howled in pain, umbral essence smoking from the wound it had been inflicted, and turned on the hunters in training. They fell back, deflecting sweeping blows from its claws as it vented its fury, and Ruby wasted no time in capitalizing on this mistake. Crescent Rose swung forward, catching an arm at the elbow, and she ripped the scythe backward, severing the limb. It fell to the ground, already turning insubstantial.

The alpha roared in pain and turned a baleful eye to her. Her own eyes still flaming silver, she glared back. A sword tip erupted from its chest the same instant a club smashed into its skull. That baleful light went out, and she grinned at the two students as the beowolf went down. Troy grinned back, but Rime was staring at something in the sky.

Ruby turned in time to catch Yang streaking towards the ground like a missile, hair a fiery trail behind her and arm co*cked. Her fist impacted the deathstalkers back with a crack like the end of the world. The beast spasmed as its carapace was sundered, shattering the ice in its death throes. As it thrashed, tearing great gouts of earth up and felling trees, Weiss and Blake retreated to stand by Ruby and the students. It finally stilled and started to smoke and hiss as its form dissolved. Then, as they watched, Yang rose from the ruined body of the grimm, fists raised, the very picture of a goddess of war. She loosed a scream of victory to the sky.

“Holy sh*t,” Rime breathed.

Blake rushed to Yang and threw her arms around her, kissing her enthusiastically. Yang reciprocated, wrapping her arms around Blake and lifting her from the ground. They were quite lost to the world until Weiss pointedly cleared her throat. Rime and Troy had both gaped, and then started looking randomly at points around the clearing, clearly unsure of how to handle this public display of affection.

After the women broke apart, Blake asked worriedly, “How’s your chest? Are you hurt?”

Yang stripped her shirt off, exposing her well-toned midriff and a spectacular purplish black bruise. She stood in her sports bra, examining the wound.

“I’ll be fine, but that’s gonna hurt like a mother when my adrenaline wears off.” She poked the bruise experimentally and winced.

Blake kissed her a second time, softly. “Don’t poke it. You were amazing, now take it easy.”

“Hey, you were pretty amazing yourself, flipping over those pincers to buy the kids time to get away.” Yang looked deep into Blake’s eyes, and it looked like another kiss was imminent.

Troy, who was desperately trying to look anywhere except for Blake and Yang and failing miserably, said, “It’s a good thing your aura kept you from getting impaled.”

The moment now broken; Yang looked over at Troy. “Yup! And that, kids, is why aura training is important!” She poked the bruise again, and again winced.

“Hurt any less that time?” Weiss asked dryly.

“Nope!”

Rime, who was now looking at Troy with something approaching anger as the young man kept glancing sidelong at Yang’s abs, asked “What now?”

“First, I wanted to congratulate you two! Was that your first alpha kill?” Ruby asked, looking at the students glowingly.

“Yeah,” said Rime.

“Huh?” said Troy.

“Troy! Yes, Yang is very muscular, and attractive. And, if you hadn’t noticed, she is also happily taken. Eyes on me,” Ruby said, snapping her fingers at the young man while Yang looked on, very much amused by this in-charge, teacherly version of her younger sister.

Troy looked quickly back at Ruby, face flushing crimson. “R-right. Sorry, I”-

“Stow it. Was that the first alpha you had fought?”

Rime looked smug at the dressing down Troy had just received. Troy, eyes still fixed on Ruby, said “Yes ma’am!”

Ruby sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “It was a clean kill, and I couldn’t have done it without the two of you. I know that deathstalker caught us all off guard, but you reacted well and kept your composure. I know that’s not always an easy thing to do in battle. You did good.”

“Thanks,” Rime said. “You guys were the real stars though. I was tired and frustrated, and then I froze, and Yang got hurt because of me.” She looked at the ground.

“Yang took a hit protecting you. Any of us would do it, and she would do it again, Rime. The important thing is you drew your weapon and got back into the fight. It’s not every day you come face-to-face with a two-story tall deathstalker and a beowolf alpha at the same time,” Ruby said, putting a hand on Rime’s shoulder.

“Yeah, Rime. And, if you ask me, I’m positive it was that last stab with your sword that killed the beowolf,” Troy said, face still red.

“Troy, you’re an idiot. But thanks, for knocking that claw away and getting me moving,” Rime said, kicking at the dirt. “You probably saved my life, too.”

“Hey, don’t worry about it! Besides, if you died, I’d miss your pretty eyes,” he said. His own eyes widened as his brain processed the words that had just come out of his mouth and he froze, waiting for whatever snide remark he was sure was going to come his way.

But Rime, surprisingly, smiled at this ever so slightly. A faint smile, but it was there, Ruby was sure of it. Gods, are all teenagers this awkward? she thought. And then, Ruby you’re still a teenager. Ugh. She shook her head, trying to clear it.

“Thank you, Troy, that was actually almost sweet.” Rime said. Then, to Ruby, “How did your team know what to do, when you called out? You said three words and that was it. Weiss switched targets with zero hesitation, and then they killed the deathstalker without anyone saying anything else.”

“Well, we have codenames for various team ups. I’m red, Weiss is white, Blake is black, and Yang is yellow. So ‘checkmate’ is black and white, aka Blake and Weiss. That means I wanted them to use their strengths in conjunction with each other. ‘High impact’ was off the cuff, but since Yang is our heavy hitter I hoped they’d pick up on what I was thinking, and they did. We’ve also used that ice tactic against deathstalkers before, to good effect.” Ruby shrugged. “We’ve been fighting together for years, now. We have a level of trust and understanding that only comes with tons of training and practice. We’ve all saved each other’s lives, on multiple occasions. In short, we’re a good team.”

“You also have to be able to think on your feet, with Ruby as leader,” Weiss said, teasingly. “She comes up with some crazy ideas, but she’s rarely wrong.”

“I like the improvisation though. She yells something like ‘freezerburn!’ and then I get to figure out how I’m kicking ass with Weiss,” Yang said as she pulled her shirt back on. “She makes the call-out and we have the freedom to do with it what we will.”

“That’s the ‘trust and understanding’ part she was talking about, dear,” Blake said.

“Rime did ask a good question, though. What now? Do we try to backtrack through that?” Yang nodded towards the ravine they had come out of into the clearing.

Ruby said, “We follow the stream. It should lead us to the ocean, we’ll figure out where we are from there. Take ten, hydrate and refuel, then we’ll head out. I’ll keep watch.” Ruby stowed her weapon, found a nice tree to lean against while she kept an eye out for anything that may have noticed their fight, and listened to her team talk about the encounter. She grinned to herself as she listened to a blow-by-blow from a very excited Troy. These kids are alright. This mentoring thing is actually kinda nice. I hope everyone is still doing well back in Shade.

Chapter 7: Chapter Seven

Chapter Text

Chapter Seven

Qrow and Raven were sitting on a ledge high up the side of Shade. There was a cloth napkin with a variety of dried foods on it between them, and Raven had a bottle of spiced Vacuan wine. Vacuo lay spread below them, golden with hints of green in the midday light. It was a wonderful view of the city, but neither Branwen was enjoying it. There was a palpable air of discomfort as the estranged siblings each tried to think of what to say to the other. Qrow eventually broke the silence, wishing for something stronger to drink than water, and trying not to think too hard about the wine Raven had.

“So, ah, what happened to the tribe? Hard to believe you would just leave them behind like this.” He picked up a piece of dehydrated vegetable, something that had a vague resemblance to a carrot, if carrots were purple. The drying process had left it very chewy, and it tasted vaguely sweet.

“It fell apart. It’s almost funny. Without the huntsmen keeping order in Vale and Mistral, we had fewer people to steal from. We required the stability that the kingdoms provided to have villages we could steal from. After Beacon fell, and Salem’s methodical extermination of hunters in Mistral, a lot of towns packed up and moved into the cities or were destroyed by grimm.” Raven unstopped her bottle, but didn’t drink yet. She still hadn’t touched the food.

Raven sighed. “There’s not much of a tribe left, now. After Haven, and Vernal’s death, there was a divide.” She toyed with her untouched bottle of wine. “Vernal was the only person who knew I was the maiden. With her gone, I had no one to aid in the illusion. I also felt adrift. Yang had gotten to me in that vault, and I was questioning all the decisions I had made for the last two decades. Bandits are great at sensing weakness, as you know, and I was challenged. I didn’t fight it. I let them go, just like that.”

Qrow remained silent, and slowly started working his way through the medley of unfamiliar dried foods they had brought on their impromptu picnic. Vacuans would dehydrate anything they could, it seemed. Raven continued.

“My semblance forges bonds. Ironic, considering I ran from or broke every bond I had ever made. When Vernal died, I felt a hole open, where she had once been. It was… not a pleasant sensation. The tribe leaving didn’t even register. What was that loss, compared to the unfillable void now inside of me? A matching hole to the one Summer had left. And then I lost Yang, too.” She lapsed into silence, looking into the middle distance as she wandered through her thoughts. Qrow was content to let her, now examining a shriveled piece of whitish meat.

“My semblance doesn’t cross worlds, I guess. When she fell into the Ever After, she disappeared, just like the others had. It nearly broke me. My daughter, gone. I felt more vulnerable than I ever had. My shield, that uncaring, strength above all else mentality, failed me. What had I been doing with my life? What had I done that was really worth the pain of losing her? I left her and Tai out of fear, fear of not wanting Salem to destroy what we had made. I told myself that Tai would have to give up Ozpin’s crusade if he had a child to raise, and that my child would be safer that way. It had made terrible sense at the time. And what did it leave me? A daughter who doesn’t think of me as her mother, Summer dead, my tribe gone, and Salem stronger than ever.”

“Yeah, you made a pretty sh*tty call. Not gonna tell you otherwise,” Qrow said, wiping his mouth and taking a drink of water. “But, y’know, I’m actually feeling pretty hopeful, with the kids back and you here. Never was much of an optimist, but I don’t think it’s too late to start repairing those bonds of yours.”

Raven looked at him and sighed deeply. “I do have two more things I need to share. Can’t start working on forgiveness until you all know the whole truth.”

Qrow looked back, curiosity warring with wariness on his face. “Ok, I’m listening.”

“First, about the Spring Maiden. Yang thinks I killed her to take her power. I did kill her, but it wasn’t like that. She had run from Ozpin and Leo, and my tribe picked her up. We found common ground, both having fled that terrible responsibility of standing against Salem.” Raven paused here, thinking of those far off days.

“She wasn’t a fighter. Couldn’t stomach the thought of hurting anything, even grimm. I thought she was weak for it, but I persisted in trying to train her. Then, one day, the camp was attacked. It should have been easy for her, with her powers, but she couldn’t even muster the strength to fight for her own life. When I found her, she had been ripped open by a beowolf that was feasting on her even while she still lived.” Raven broke off at this, lost in that horrible memory. She shook her head slightly, then continued.

“She saw me and managed one word. ‘Please,’ she said. I killed her and the beowolf both with one sword stroke. And so, I inherited the maidens’ powers, very much against my wishes.” Raven finally lifted her wine bottle and took a long swallow.

Qrow let a long, slow breath out. “That’s terrible, Raven. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t feel sorry for me yet. I still need to tell you about Summer.” She swished the wine around and around, and then threw it back, throat working as she finished half of it off. She set the bottle down and took a deep, centering breath.

“She didn’t disappear on a normal mission. She had gotten one of her ideas and roped me into it. I knew her and Tai had gotten together, and I knew they had a daughter, too. Little Ruby. Summer’s idea wasn’t to run, though. You know what she was like. She wanted to fight.”

Qrow nodded, his eyes fixated on Raven, sudden grief making fathomless wells of them. “She was a fighter, yeah,” he creaked out.

“She figured that since she had silver eyes, and Salem was the mistress of grimm, they should work on her, right? At that time, we didn’t know where any of the Maidens were. She likely would have recruited them, if she could. She didn’t tell Ozpin, or Tai, or you, because she knew you would all fight against it. And she didn’t want to sit on it, she wanted to strike first. She felt she was ready, and instead of waiting for Salem to come for her and her family, she was determined to go to her. And I brought her.”

Qrow continued staring, silent, eyes welling with tears. Raven wouldn’t look at him. She continued speaking, addressing her clasped hands in her lap.

“We tracked her down. That place? The land of darkness? It’s a horrible, horrible place. Craggy peaks, pools of umbral essence, a sky all red and black. Grimm are born there, you know. We watched as they climbed fully formed, still dripping black water, out of those pools. It didn’t take Salem long to find us. Summers plan was simple. Start a fight, flaunt those eyes of hers, and wait for Salem to show her face. I wasn’t going to stick around, but once I was there, I knew I couldn’t leave her. She was so much better than me, in every way, how could I abandon her in this moment?”

Qrow was enthralled now, tears falling freely down his face.

“So we fought. We reaped a terrible tally on those plains, her and I, fighting the sort of fight they write songs about. And, just like Summer had planned, Salem came.” Raven stopped here, mustering her courage.

“Words were exchanged. Summer was going on about how we would stop her, and dammit, I believed her. Then the time for words was over, and we battled. We struck her with blade, again and again and again, and she wouldn’t fall. Summer had used her eyes, twice, and both times it had hurt Salem, but she used magic to negate their full power somehow. She was weakening though, we could both sense it. However the power of the silver eyed warriors worked, it was draining her.” Raven picked up the bottle again, considered the wine briefly, then set it back down.

“But Salem has terrible reserves of strength. The third time, Summer and I both fighting on with our own strength waning, we almost had her. She started to petrify, her limbs freezing in place and her skin flaking away as that silver light washed over her, and I thought we had her, we were so close. But then she broke out of it. My hope shattered and Summer collapsed. Salem seized Summer then, piercing her through the chest with a claw-like hand. She lifted Summer up, and Summer was silhouetted against that horrific sky, broken, her lifeblood running down Salem’s arm, and my resolve broke. And I ran.”

“Why, Raven?” Qrow’s voice was husky, thick with emotion.

Raven looked her twin in the eyes for the first time since she had started her tale. “Because we had lost, and I didn’t want to die.” She looked away then, shame burning inside her. “I didn’t want to die,” she repeated in a small voice, tears dropping into her lap.

“Why didn’t you take anyone else with you? That was madness, thinking two huntresses could take on Salem by themselves!”

“You know the answer to that, Qrow. You and Tai both would have gone to Ozpin, and Ozpin would have forbidden it. Summer was adamant that she could do it. And, fool that I was, I believed her.”

“You left her to die! You left her with the most terrible evil this world has ever seen!” Qrow stood, shouting now, precariously perched on the high ledge they had sat upon.

“I did, Qrow! And I’ve lived with that eating away at me for fifteen years! If I was less of a coward, I would have killed myself. But I don’t want to die. No matter how terrible life is, I’m too scared of death.” Raven wrapped her arms over her chest, as though if she squeezed hard enough she could hold herself together.

Qrow sat again, pulling out his flask, then swore and put it back. “Are you sure she was dead? Salem does terrible things to people with silver eyes.”

“There’s a gaping void in my heart where she used to be connected to me with my semblance. If she isn’t dead, I don’t know what I’d call it.”

“Did you hear about the hound?” Qrow asked. “Salem had used a person with silver eyes as a host for a grimm. It was an abomination, mix of grimm and man, with the intelligence of a man and completely beholden to Salem.”

Raven was silent, contemplating this. “I don’t know, Qrow. Summer was pierced through the heart, I’m sure of it. My connection to her was severed. Beyond that I can’t say.”

“How are you gonna tell Ruby about this? The kid deserves to know what happened to her mom,” Qrow said.

Raven sighed, voice wavering. “I don’t know. I agree, she needs to know, but I don’t know if I can face her. She’s so much like Summer it hurts to be around her.”

“Tell her the truth. You’re gonna have to face her judgement, it’s the least you can do. You were there, at the end. You’re the one who should tell her.” Qrows anger and grief had subsided, and now he just felt tired.

“I will. But will you be there for her, after? She’s not going to want anything to do with me, I think.” Raven still hugged herself, voice small, a far cry from the bandit leader she had once been.

“You should tell her and Tai when you check in later. I’ll be here when she gets back to Shade, but Tai needs to know too. Hell, her team should probably hear the whole story,” Qrow said.

“Yeah, ok. I will. I just need to regather myself first. I’ve been dreading this conversation for years. Thank you for not just walking out on me.” Raven rubbed the tears from her eyes, sniffing loudly.

“I thought about it. But those kids have really helped me get a new lease on life. Shown me the power of forgiveness, what can happen when you show support and understanding to someone.” Qrow absently fingered the clover talisman on his chest. “They’re better people than me and you, that’s for sure.”

“Don’t sell yourself short, Qrow. You’ve been with them this entire time, and I ran.”

“And you came back, Raven. It’s a start, at least. It’s a start.”

Chapter 8: Chapter Eight

Chapter Text

Chapter Eight

“So RWBY got an assignment, and we didn’t? The heck is up with that?” Nora was strolling back and forth in the mess, hands on top of her head.

“That’s what I was told. Something suddenly came up, and Theodore thought they were best suited for it.” Jaune shrugged, although he was a little annoyed he hadn’t been able to see Weiss off. They had woken up this morning to the news that Team RWBY had left late last night.

“They’ll be fine, Nora. They’ve survived just as much as we have,” Ren reassured her.

“That’s not what I’m worried about! We go waaay back with those ladies. It doesn’t seem right for us to not be on the same assignment. RWBY and JORNE are like, peanut butter and jelly, or milk and cookies, or mole crab and curry!”

“Are you still hungry? I’ve never seen someone eat as much as you and retain that kind of figure,” Emerald asked, looking at Nora with a tinge of jealousy.

“Aw, thanks Emerald. You gotta eat to stay in shape, need food to fuel your figure! That’s what I always say, anyway. And I’m always hungry for mole crab. Vacuo needs to share that stuff with the rest of the world.”

“I think they’re a little more concerned with the grimm army and Salem than they are with establishing foreign trade right now,” Ren said.

“Fair enough, I guess.” Nora threw herself into a seat and stole a piece of bread from Ren’s plate. Chewing on her grainy prize, she asked, “So have we gotten a new assignment for ourselves yet?”

“No, we’re still on standby. We’ll go through some more training exercises this afternoon, I have some more ideas I want to try out,” Jaune said, pushing his plate away from him and leaning back in his chair.

“You ok, Oscar? You’ve been kinda quiet,” Nora asked, pilfering the last piece of cactus fruit from Jaune’s plate as she did so.

“Hmm? Oh, I’m ok. Just been thinking a lot, that’s all.” Oscar had eaten the least of all his companions, his food mostly just pushed around on his plate.

“Well, if you need to run anything by us, we’re here for you,” Ren said, smiling at the younger man.

“Thanks, Ren. I’ve got this crazy idea running around in my head, but I don’t know if it’ll work or if it’s even worth the effort.”

“We like crazy, Oscar!” Nora said, eyeing his plate, still hopeful for more food.

“Well… you know how Mr. Polendina made Penny?” Oscar started.

“Yes. He used his own aura and put it into the robot he built,” Ren said, brow furrowed.

“What if he made another vessel, and tried to put Ozpin in it?”

There was a mixed reaction to this. Ren and Jaune were taken aback and thoughtful, Emerald looked politely interested and slightly confused, and Nora leapt from the table.

“Oscar! You’re a genius! A wonderful, cute, boy genius!” She leaned over and kissed his forehead. Oscar blushed.

That’s… an interesting thought, Oscar. One I hadn’t had yet. It may be dangerous, given that our merging is that of our souls, and trying to extricate my aura from yours is bound to be extremely difficult at this point, maybe even lethal to you. But, I think we should go talk to Pietro, at the very least, Ozpin opined from his place inside Oscar’s head.

Jaune said, “That might just work, Oscar. We’ll need to talk to Mr. Polendina and see what it entails, and we need to remember he’s lost his daughter, and his lab, and a good portion of his own aura. He might not be up for this kind of undertaking.” He looked at Oscar, knowing how desperately the younger man wanted to remain himself, and took pity on him. “If there’s anything we can do as a team to make it happen, we will. I promise.”

“Thanks, Jaune.” Oscar smiled and picked his fork up.

“Alright, team, change of plans. We’re going to Amity this afternoon instead.”

*

Half an hour later, they were onboard a manta and on their way to Amity Coliseum. After the attack and subsequent fall of Atlas and the destruction of Mantle, the Atlesian military had flown every surviving airship to Shade, including the floating coliseum with its newly constructed CCT tower. The military, no longer having access to their training facilities, barracks, or armories, had transformed Amity into a gargantuan flying military base. They used it to house off-duty soldiers, as a command center, and to help train the volunteer militia that had sprung up.

They had been running missions nonstop back and forth between Vacuo and the remains of their kingdom, salvaging anything and everything they could. As a result, Amity was one of the most important structures to the war effort in Remnant. Engineers were constructing massive gun platforms that ringed the structure to give it 360 degrees of anti-air coverage, and they were installing hard light generators much like the ones that had once been used to shield Atlas.

It was an awe-inspiring sight. The others had seen it already, but it was the first time Jaune had gotten a close look at it. Even bereft of their kingdom, the engineers of Atlas were undisputedly the best in the world. All you had to do was view this monument to war floating in the sky to know that as the truth.

The manta landed, and Jaune and his team disembarked. Jaune felt a momentary sorrow as he did. The last time he had been to Amity, it had been full of spectators at the Vytal Festival, full of excitement and life. Now it was teeming with soldiers and machines of war, and the atmosphere was more dire.

They had gotten special permission to see Pietro Polendina, and now used the ID card that had been given to them to navigate their way to where the scientist did his work. When they reached his room, the door was open and they peered inside. Jaune felt a jolt of shock. Pietro had already been old, but the loss of his daughter and kingdom had nearly killed the poor man. He had lost weight, and his skin and clothing hung loosely from his haggard frame. His eyes, once so bright and intelligent, had had the light go out of them and were now dull and listless. Jaune got the distinct sense that only his duty was keeping the old man moving.

Maria Calavera was present as well, augmetic eyes whirring and clicking as the hunters entered the room. “Jaune! Theodore told us you and team RWBY were back! It’s good to see you, young man. And it is good to see the rest of you as well.” The tiny old woman hobbled over to them on her cane, and Nora gave her an enthusiastic hug.

Pietro hadn’t seemed to notice them enter. He remained in his ambulatory carriage, poring over the screen in front of him and mumbling indistinctly to himself. Maria looked at him pityingly. “He hasn’t been himself since he lost Penny. His work is the only thing keeping him going. That and me. If I weren’t here, he would have starved or died of dehydration weeks ago.”

Jaune’s heart seized as Penny’s last moments surfaced in his mind again. His sword, piercing her heart. Her soft, soft sigh as her life left her, the blood on his blade as he pulled it free. Real blood. She had died as a real person, and not an android. Jaune jumped as Ren put a worried hand on his shoulder.

“You ok, Jaune?” Rens eyes, warm, worried, and insightful, searched his.

“Yeah. Sorry. Bad memory, that’s all.” He wiped away a tear that had formed in the corner of his eye.

The rest of his team still looking at him with concern, he walked over to Pietro and put a gentle hand on the old man’s shoulder.

“Mr. Polendina? We had something we wanted to ask you, if that’s ok.”

Pietro started as the hand touched him and he looked around, wide-eyed. “Is that young Mister Arc?” he asked wonderingly.

“It is, sir. It’s good to see you, and I wanted to tell you that I’m terribly sorry for your loss.”

“As am I, young man. As am I. ‘Beyond the dark horizon, our hearts will once more sing,’” Pietro intoned softly, staring into the place only those suffering immense heartbreak can stare.

Jaune could no longer hold it together and fell to his knees, hugging the old man, and together they wept. After some time had passed, and their tears had subsided, Jaune spoke quietly. “I was there with her, at the end. She died bravely, fighting as a true huntress. She saved thousands of lives that day. I’m just so very sorry I couldn’t save her.”

“It’s not your fault, Jaune. She was made to help people. I miss her so terribly much, but I also know trying to turn her away from that path was madness. She would have gone no matter what I said.”

But it was my fault. It was it was it was. It was MY sword that did it, me who stopped that heart… His breathing started to hitch again, and then Ren was there, and his mind stilled. He looked at Ren and nodded once. He took a deep breath and got back to his feet.

“What did you want to ask me?” Pietro asked, wiping his tear-fogged glasses down.

“Oscar?” Jaune said, directing him forward.

Oscar’s eyes were wet, too, and he had to clear his throat before he could speak. His voice was thick. “I had a question, Mr. Polendina. What would it take to make another vessel, and impart some of my aura into it?”

Pietro considered this for a long, long moment, staring as Oscar as he did so. Finally, he spoke. “It is no trivial matter, young man, to do what you ask. It hurts. Oh, it hurts, to have you soul torn in two, but then there is such joy, to see the life you have created.” He trailed off, thoughts doubtless turning to Penny again. “Why would a young man such as yourself want to do something like that?”

“Because, Mr. Polendina, there is a second soul mixed with mine. The soul of a man named Ozpin.” Oscar explained everything then, tying together what Pietro already knew of Salem with the new knowledge of Ozpin and how the older soul would eventually overtake his own.

Pietro considered this for a long time, stroking his ragged beard as he did. “It may be possible, but it won’t be easy. It took years for me to create my first prototype, and I no longer have my equipment. The files have survived, but I would need to create most everything from scratch. I suppose there is a chance that something survived the destruction of Atlas, but still. And then there is the matter of your conjoined soul. It is one thing to take a portion of a single soul and transfer it, but if what you say is true, separating this man Ozpin from yourself may be nigh impossible.”

“I understand. Thank you for considering this matter.” Oscar nodded to the older man and stepped back.

“I’ll put together a list of what I need and send it to Winter. She oversees the salvage missions to Atlas. Maybe her men can start to collect some things for me. We’ll also have to convince some people to divert resources to this matter, which won’t be an easy task. But I’ll see what I can do.”

“Thank you, Mr. Polendina,” Oscar said again.

“Please, just call me Pietro. And you are very welcome. Stop on by anytime, these old bones could use the company.”

“What, getting tired of me, old man?” Maria griped without malice from the chair she had sat herself down on.

“Never, Maria. You keep me going. It is nice to see faces untouched by time though,” Pietro teased, and there was a hint of his old shine back in his eyes as he said it.

“Yeah, I’m wrinkly. So what,” Maria said, but she smiled as she said it. “Now go on, you youngsters. We’ll let you know what we find out.” She shooed them from the room.

Once they were in the hall, she looked at them with gratitude. “You coming here may have been the best thing you could have done for him. Giving him another shot at his life’s work may put a bit of verve back into that old codger. Thank you, sincerely.”

“Not a problem ma’am. We’ll try to stop by more frequently, if time allows,” Ren said.

They left then, waving farewell to Maria, who waved back and then stumped back into the room.

Nora looked at Jaune as they walked away, her eyes still slightly red from crying. “I didn’t know you were still hurting about Penny, Jaune. I guess I never really thought about it, but you would have been one of the last people with her, huh?”

“Yeah. I was. Can we not talk about that right now Nora? I need some space.”

“Oh, ok. Yeah sure.” Nora stopped talking and looked hurt.

Ren took her hand in his and squeezed it. She squeezed back, but they both looked troubled. Jaune was in deep emotional pain, and Ren could see the darkness falling around him like petals of jet black, so heavy the other man was almost entirely obscured. He would have to talk to him about it, if Jaune would let him.

“You really going to go through with it, if Dr. Polendina can pull it off?” Emerald asked Oscar to break the silence that had fallen.

“I think so, yeah. If Dr. Polendina doesn’t give me good odds I’ll probably wait, so we don’t lose Oz before we face Salem again, but Ozpin agrees it’s something to try. He likes the idea of having a body that won’t die, so that he won’t have to keep taking over the lives of other people.”

Ren spoke up. “That’s something I hadn’t considered yet. If Ozpin gets a body like the one Penny had, he could theoretically use it forever.”

“And, to clarify,” Emerald continued, still talking to Oscar, “This man’s soul you have inside of you is Salem’s old partner? And he’s been cursed, just like her?”

“Not just like her, but still cursed, yes. She was cursed due to her selfishness and hubris; Ozpin was cursed because the Gods thought he was the one could unite humanity and show Salem what it means to respect life and death. He can’t rest until the Brothers return and pass judgment on us, but if they don’t like what they find they’re just going to destroy the world, which is what Salem is counting on,” Oscar said.

“Well damn. I had gotten some of the real story there towards the end, when me and Hazel got you out, but I didn’t know the specifics. That’s rough, Oscar.” Emerald shuddered as she recalled the things they had done, at Cinders insistence, to ‘make the world better’. She wondered, not for the first time, if Cinder had known what Salem was really after.

“Yeah, it is. Silver lining, though, I never would have met all of you, or Ruby and her team, if Ozpin’s soul hadn’t chosen mine to reincarnate into. Even with everything that has happened I don’t regret meeting all of you,” Oscar said, smiling at his friends.

“You really are one of a kind, Oscar,” Ren said, patting him on the shoulder.

“Yeah, you are. We’re all glad to have met you as well,” Jaune said earnestly, pain still showing behind his smile. “Let’s hope Pietro can pull off a miracle.”

I hope he can too, Oscar. You know as well as I do that I hate this part, when I end up overwriting the person my soul has chosen. And you are one of the purest and kindest souls I’ve had the honor of inhabiting, with a strength of character that exceeds most anyone else’s I know. This is an option that may end that cycle, once and for all, Ozpin said.

“Thank you all, for listening to me and acknowledging this idea. You guys still up for a training session when we land?” Oscar asked.

“You betcha!” Nora exclaimed. She looked sidelong at Jaune, who was still brooding.

“Hmm? Yeah, let’s go over some formations. I could use a good workout,” Jaune said.

*

Two hours later, after an intense training session, Jaune stood in the showers, letting the lukewarm water run over him. He needed to talk to someone about Penny, but he didn’t know how to broach the subject. The only person who knew the truth of the matter was Weiss, and she hadn’t judged him for it. He felt a wave of gratitude towards her, but still he worried. Ruby had been closest to Penny, and Ruby was in rough shape mentally right now. Would telling her what had transpired break her newly formed resolve? That wasn’t something he wanted to risk, but he knew his friends all deserved to know the truth, and Dr. Polendina deserved to know the truth.

He heaved a deep sigh and raised his face to the water. It shut off the moment he did. Right. The rationing. He sighed again, left the stall, and started to towel off. When he went to locker where he had left his gear, Ren was there, getting dressed as well.

“Jaune, can we talk about earlier?” Ren asked, concern in his dark eyes.

Jaune had a moment of déjà vu then, a memory where Ren was in a towel fresh from the showers and Jaune was asking him for advice, except this time Jaune himself was in a towel. “Yeah, I suppose we’d better.” Jaune sat on the long bench in the middle of the room.

Ren sat patiently, perfectly relaxed, as though he hadn’t a care in the world. Jaune knew that he could hold that position until the sun went out, if he chose to. Ren was just like that.

“When Atlas fell…” Jaune began. Ren sat and listened attentively, eyes still warm, friendly, and concerned. That look was what gave Jaune the strength to push forward. Ren emanated a trustworthiness that whatever Jaune said would be met without judgment or anger, and Ren would still be his friend.

“When Atlas fell, the fight went poorly. Cinder was taking cheap shots at civilians, and we were trying to fight her and protect who we could. We were off-balance, not fighting at our best. Then Yang fell from the walkway. Blake tried to save her, but her ribbon wasn’t long enough, and Yang just missed catching hold of it.” Jaune paused, that old memory fresh again in his mind, and then continued.

“That put a dent in our already shaky resolve. We thought we had just watched a friend die, right in front of our eyes. Neo had appeared from somewhere and was keeping Ruby occupied. She pulled Blake in too, when Blake went after Cinder. Then Blake, Ruby, and Neo all went over. Blake could have saved herself and Ruby, but when she hooked Gambol Shroud onto a walkway Cinder burned straight through it, and they fell from sight.” Jaune remembered all of this as clearly as if had happened yesterday, even though it had happened so very long ago for him.

“Two more companions, gone. Me, Weiss, and Penny were the only three left. Cinder, still killing indiscriminately, was now laughing at us. She got Penny next, that grimm arm of hers extending unnaturally, all five claw fingers going straight through Penny’s chest. Weiss took over then, dueling Cinder by herself while I ran to Penny’s aid.” Jaune paused here again, and the moment stretched into minutes. Ren remained calm and patient, waiting placidly for Jaune to continue. Eventually he did.

“She was still alive, barely, when I got to her. She looked at me with those huge green eyes, real human eyes, and told me to finish her off so Winter could get the Maiden power. I argued, and tried to start healing her. She told me it was too late, and that it was ok, Jaune, it was more important to keep the power out of enemy hands. Her eyes were wide, and calm, and reassuring. She was decided, she knew that was the best option we had.

“And damn me, Ren, I did it. I ended Penny on her terms, to make sure Winter got the power. I felt her life slip away as my sword pierced her heart. Her real, beating, human heart. The real, red, human blood on my hands as I pulled my sword free and threw it to the ground.”

Jaune paused here, tears streaming from his eyes as they fell fast and thick to his lap. He looked at Ren with anguish. “It was me, Ren. I couldn’t save Penny, and worse, I was the one who finished her off. I did it because she told me too, did it because it made sense tactically, and now her blood stains my hands, my soul, and I don’t know how to tell everyone else.”

Ren stayed quiet for a moment, then spoke softly. “Jaune, I forgive you. You were put into a terrible situation and did what you had to do. What happened is a burden no one should have to bear. Think of it this way. Penny asked you to do it. She knew what it meant, knew what was at stake. If you hadn’t done it, you would have gone against her final wishes. And if you need to blame someone, blame Cinder. Blame Salem, for setting Cinder against us. You didn’t kill Penny, Jaune, she was killed by the enemy. All you did was make sure the enemy didn’t benefit from it.”

“It hurts, Ren. It hurts so damn much. Decades have passed for me, and still that wound is raw, and ragged, and still my soul feels dirty.” Jaune’s hands were clenched into fists in his lap, and tears still fell from his eyes.

“That is what sets you apart from our enemy, Jaune. Do you think Cinder feels that stain? Does Salem? You have empathy, they do not. I don’t know what happened to Cinder to make her so broken, and we know Salem has been corrupted. It’s that pain that makes you human, Jaune. That pain is our advantage in this fight. We’ve already learned the lesson that the Gods wanted Salem to learn, that she still refuses to learn.”

“Why does being human have to hurt so much?”

“Because we also experience love, and joy. We know the bonds of friendship and family. Those bonds hurt when they break, but they give us strength as well. Salem is a hollowed-out shell of a person that has been filled with pure spite. She destroyed her own bonds and can’t remember the joy they used to bring her. She has people following her, whether by manipulation, or fear, but when it comes down to it, she’s alone. We still have each other, pain and all.”

Jaune hitched a breath in and let it back out slowly. He still felt raw, but getting everything out in the open, turning it over with his words and examining it while Ren listened and consoled with his soft, comforting voice, was helping. “Thanks, Ren. For listening. You’ve always been a good listener. You’ve also gotten pretty damn good at talking things out, too. I remember when you barely used to say anything.”

“It isn’t an easy conversation to have, and you took the first step in talking to me. It was brave of you to open up. And you can thank Nora, for me being better at talking things through. Me and her have done a lot of talking these past weeks. She’s really made me examine myself and think about how I feel, and getting to know your feelings is easier if you talk about them.” Ren paused, and then continued. “Speaking of the women in our lives, I take it Weiss knows all this, as she was still there when it happened?”

“She does, yeah. We haven’t talked about it yet. I’ve been afraid to bring it up.”

“Talk to her next. She knows Ruby better than me or you and will be able to help you prepare Ruby for the conversation. I also think you should have a talk with Ozpin. He might be able to give you some help, especially in dealing with the out-of-time experience you had. I can’t think of anyone better to go over that than a man who has lived for millennia.”

“Ok, yeah, I will. You’re a good friend, Ren.” Jaune hugged the other man then, tightly. Ren stiffened slightly, then hugged Jaune back.

When they broke apart, Jaune came to the realization he was still clad in just a towel. “Ah. Maybe should have put some clothes on first.”

“Hey, no better way to be vulnerable than when you’re naked,” Ren said, a little uncomfortable but trying to make light of it.

“Uh. I guess not.” Jaune cleared his throat. “Right, well, meet you at dinner then, yeah?”

“Yes, I’m sure Nora has already eaten her food and is wondering what’s taking us so long. Thanks for opening up, Jaune.”

“Thanks for listening. I feel better now, really.”

And Ren could see it. The jet-black petals were no longer falling around Jaune, and while he still had a grayish aura, it was a far cry from the abyss he had been in earlier. “It’s what I’m here for.” Ren got up then and left the locker room.

Jaune sat for a minute, thinking about what Ren had said. The enemy killed her. All you did what make sure they didn’t benefit from it. It felt a little hollow, but that was likely just the grief. Besides, it was right. The idea of Cinder with double her strength didn’t bear thinking about. She was monstrously strong as it was. Ren had listened, and not condemned him. A part of him still felt like he should be condemned, but it was a start. Jaune dressed and left to rejoin his team.

*

“Is Jaune ok? He seemed really down about something earlier,” Nora asked with concern as Ren joined her, Oscar, and Emerald in the mess hall.

“He’ll be ok, yeah. We had a good heart to heart. He’s still grieving the loss of Penny. He just needs time.” Ren started in on his food.

“They had a hard time of it, didn’t they? Cinder and Neo took them all on and won. Cinder is pretty intimidating.” Oscar said, toying with his fork.

“They did. All we can do is keep training, so we’re as prepared as we can be for our next encounter,” Ren said.

The group was silent for a while then, even as Jaune eventually joined them. The mess hall was unusually full that evening, benches filled with older groups of Vacuan huntsmen. They were raucous, swapping tales of daring and courage. When the call had gone out after Atlas had fallen, many hunters from across Vacuo had returned to Shade to aid in its defense. There was a strong sense of nationalism from these hunters. The other academies had all fallen, but Shade still stood. Would still stand, if they had anything to say about it. The other kingdoms had been weak, but Vacuo was strong. The other huntsmen were failures, they were not.

It was tiring to listen to. Ren, Nora, and Oscar had faced their share of scorn from groups like these. Ren knew that other teams, CVFY, SSSNN, FNKI, and ABRN among them, had also been shown derision. Those hunters had failed their academies, failed their kingdoms. Ren almost envied the Vacuans and their lack of knowledge about what the enemy was really like.

“Jaune, is it ok I go visit the White Fang? We still have down time and I have a promise to keep,” Emerald asked, looking embarrassed.

“Hey, that’s a good idea!” Nora said enthusiastically. “We can all go visit Fen!”

“I mean, sure, we can go, but who’s Fen?” Jaune asked, puzzled.

“Fen’s a little boy we met yesterday. He’s an orphan. Blake’s parents agreed to take him in and watch after him with the rest of the Fang, and we promised we’d visit,” Nora said.

“Ok. Yeah, it’d be good to get out into the city away from this for a while,” Jaune said as he gestured broadly at the room full of boisterous hunters.

*

In short order Jaune and his team were out of the school and on their way to the White Fang encampment. Once again, Jaune was struck by the sheer mass of people that lined every street. Cramming the populations of two cities together would tax any infrastructure, and it was a glaring reminder of what the refugees and natives were up against. If there hadn’t been any riots yet, it wouldn’t take long if they couldn’t get people spaced out and properly taken care of. It didn’t help that there was already bad blood between Atlas and Vacuo without the added stressor of forcing the two peoples to live with each other.

Jaune could see numerous construction projects as they traversed the city, from old buildings being refurbished to plots where new buildings were going up. There were tents and cookfires everywhere. As they walked, the only thing he could think of was how terrible the death toll would be if Salem attacked in force. The people here were way too cramped for comfort. He wondered what Vacuo had for shelters, and if there were more being constructed. He’d have to ask.

The White Fang had set up near the southern edge of the city, right inside the massive sandstone wall that ringed everything in. A pair of faunus waved them in through a gate set into a dilapidated fence, and they could see that the White Fang were operating out of an old, much-abused warehouse that had patched walls and a rust-pocked roof. As Jaune and his team approached, a large airship flying the flag of Menagerie landed in a wide, open area next to the warehouse.

“I wonder if that’s the supply ship,” Nora said. “Sun and his team might be back!”

Kali, Ghira, and several others came out of the warehouse as people began to disembark from the ship. Kali waved at them, and a small figure broke away and rushed over to them.

“Miss Emerald! You came to visit!” Fen cannonballed into Emerald’s knees, hugging them tightly.

“I certainly did. I said I would, remember?” Emerald ruffled the small boy’s mouse ears and produced a small bag of candy from one of them.

Fen beamed, smile wide across his face. “Wow, thanks! And did you see? The supply ship finally got here! A lot of the adults were worried, but everything is ok!”

“I don’t see Sun, though,” Nora said, frowning.

“Who’s Sun?” Fen asked, pulling a caramel out of the bag Emerald had given him.

“An old friend of ours. He was supposed to be with the transport. I don’t see any members of his team, either,” Ren said.

“Let’s go see what’s going on,” Jaune said, walking towards the ship.

As they approached, Ghira was talking to a woman and frowning prominently. As Jaune caught sight of the woman’s face, he thought she looked familiar, and after a moment it clicked. It was Ilia, Blake’s friend, and a one-time member of the radical sect of the White Fang that had operated under Adam Taurus.

“Totally irresponsible! Sun was supposed to stay with the ship and protect it. And you’re saying that he’s off on some wild goose chase in the deserts of Menagerie?” Ghira’s voice was rising, and several faunus were murmuring to each other.

“Mr. Belladona, Menagerie is still in good hands. The militia and police force are more than capable of handling the grimm, and the protection of the supply ship wasn’t a problem for me and my team. As odd as this may sound, I trust Sun on this. We had a solid lead on the Wild Woman of the Wastes, and Sun is convinced she may be the lost Maiden.”

“Lost Maiden or not, he had a mission to fulfill, and he abandoned it. I’ll be having words with Theodore about this.”

Ilia shrugged, then caught sight of Jaune. Her eyes widened, and she hurriedly excused herself from the fuming Ghira. “Jaune! Sun said you and Blake’s team were missing! Is Blake ok?”

“Hey, Ilia. Yeah, her and her team are fine. We, uh, had a bit of a detour, but we made it here,” Jaune said.

“Are they in the city?” Ilia asked.

“No, we’re not entirely sure where they are, except that they’re on a mission, they got dispatched last night.” Jaune said. “What’s this about Sun and his team?”

Ilia frowned slightly. “Well, you know what Sun is like. While he and his team were waiting for the ship to get loaded up, they were exploring the city. See, the thing is, there have been rumors in Menagerie for decades about a woman, an eagle faunus, that roams the desert, killing grimm and helping wanderers. She’s a local legend, but has never really been more than a mythological figure, or so we thought. In the last few weeks, after the attack on Atlas and Mantle, more and more people from outlying communities were coming to Kuo Kuana. Most of them talked about increased grimm activity, and more than one told tales about a woman with a proud crest of eagle feathers, dressed like an ancient tribal warrior, who had saved them from grimm.”

“And Sun, being Sun, wanted to find her and see what the deal was?” Nora asked.

“Pretty much. For what it’s worth, I think someone needed to check it out and see what was really going on. Sun convinced me it should be him. Seeing Ghira’s reaction, I’m not sure that was the smartest idea, but it’s too late now,” Ilia shrugged.

“Yeah, Sun isn’t known for thinking things through too thoroughly,” Ren said. “This wouldn’t be the first time he’s gone off on his own. At least he’s got his team with him this time.”

“Thanks, Ilia,” Jaune said. And then, “Alright team, we’re here, let’s help get these supplies unloaded.”

Team Journey got to work, and the faunus gladly accepted their help in unloading the ship. With the extra hands they made short work it. Once they were done and inside the warehouse, Kali served them all tea. After taking a sip, Jaune could see why Blake preferred it to coffee. Kali brewed fantastic tea.

Ren and Nora sat with their backs to a crate, Nora with her head rested on Ren’s shoulder and Ren with his arm around her. Emerald had produced a small leather ball from somewhere and was playing catch with Fen. The young boy had a surprisingly good arm for his size and was laughing cheerfully as he played. Jaune’s heart warmed at the sight. Oscar sat cross legged on a woven mat, watching the mouse-eared boy and street thief turned huntress with a smile on his face as he sipped his own steaming tea.

Ghira and Ilia joined them, and Ghira still had a thunderous expression on his face. “I still can’t believe that Sun would pawn off his responsibility like this. I thought he had grown.”

Kali put a hand on his arm. “We weren’t there in Menagerie with them, dear. It’s entirely possible that he made the right call. The supply ship got here, our people are all still safe, and we have company. Let’s just enjoy the night.”

Ghira heaved a sigh. “You’re right. Doesn’t mean I like what he did, but you’re right.” He took the cup his wife offered him and drank deep, then looked at Jaune. “I don’t believe that we’ve met yet.”

Jaune stood and offered Ghira his hand. “Jaune Arc, Mr. Belladona. Team Lead of Journey. I was with Team Ruby in the Ever After.”

“Ah, yes. We heard about you.” Ghira firmly shook Jaune’s hand as he eyed his tarnished, well-worn armor. “The Rusted Knight, in the flesh.”

“That’s what I was called, yeah. But please, just call me Jaune. That may as well have been a different life.”

“You’re much younger than I had imagined,” Ghira said.

“Time passed differently there,” Jaune said, not wanting to make a conversation out of the topic.

“Fair enough,” Ghira said. “So, do you think Sun made the right call?”

Jaune paused, considering. “Hard to say, sir. What do you know about this woman that he’s after?”

“She’s a myth, a legend. A woman who lives in the wastes of the desert, killing grimm, appearing to lost wanderers. The stories are spread by people who have spent too long in the sun, drunk on prickly pear liquor,” Ghira scoffed.

“You don’t believe there’s any merit to those tales?” Ren asked.

“Not much, no. There may have been a woman like that at one point, but if she was still around you’d think we’d have solid evidence of her existence.”

“Mr. Belladona, the number of sightings we had gotten in recent weeks gives more weight to the tales than you think,” Ilia said. “I believe them.”

“Just drop it, dear,” Kali said firmly to her husband.

“Fine, fine. He just better not show back up empty handed,” Ghira growled. He stooped to pick up the ball, which Fen had just missed, and tossed it back to the boy.

“Thanks Poppa Ghira!” Fen caught the ball and threw it back to Emerald.

“Aw, he calls you Poppa? That’s so sweet,” Nora gushed from her seat by Ren.

“It was his idea, not mine,” Ghira said gruffly.

“Don’t let him fool you, he likes it,” said Kali. “He may growl, but my Ghira has a soft heart.”

“Hmm,” growled Ghira, as he lowered himself onto a rug.

They spent the next hour happily chatting with the Belladonas and the various other members of the White Fang who stopped by. Jaune recognized several of them from the fight at Haven, including the brothers with the ram horns. Fen had tired himself out and was nodding off in Emerald’s lap while she gently stroked his back.

As they talked, a thought occurred to Jaune. “Mr. Belladona, have the Schnees offered any assistance to your cause here? I had a chance to speak with Whitley and Willow yesterday, and Whitley mentioned that they were trying to help with the refugees,” he asked.

“We haven’t spoken yet. I had heard that Jacque died with Atlas, but I know very little about the son that’s now calling the shots. There’s a lot of bad blood between that family and the faunus,” Ghira said.

“You’ve met Weiss, right? All of Jacque’s children take after their mother and grandfather more than they do him. I think you could really start making amends if you worked together,” Jaune said.

“You have a point.” Ghira stroked his beard, contemplating the idea. “I’ll reach out to them. Maybe if we present a united front we can get more done. And, it’s a great chance for the Schnee’s to start cleaning the stain off their name that Jacque left.”

“I think that the heirs have already started with that, given that Winter and Weiss both broke away from the family so Jacque couldn’t control them. Not to mention the work Whitley has started here,” Jaune said firmly, looking Ghira in the eye.

Ghira gazed back. “Yes, and who has he been helping the most, I wonder? Is everyone getting a fair shot, or is he prioritizing old Atlesian families?”

Jaune paused. He had assumed that Whitley was trying to help everyone, but that hadn’t come up in the conversation. “I got the impression he wanted to help wherever he could, but I don’t know for sure.”

“Then I’ll be sure to ask.” Ghira heaved himself to his feet. “It was a pleasure meeting you, Jaune. And thank you all, for stopping by. I should get some more work done, before the day is over. If you’ll excuse me.” With that, he walked away.

Jaune watched him go, mulling over his interactions with the fearsome faunus chieftain. Ghira was a levelheaded, intelligent man, and Jaune could sense the weight of experience the other man carried. He wondered how Whitley and Willow would handle the meeting with him. It’s in their hands now, I guess. I trust that they’ll come to an agreement.

“I know he didn’t say it, but Ghira was impressed with you, Jaune. Believe me, he would have let you know if he didn’t like you,” Kali said as she gathered teacups.

“Thanks, but I’m not too worried about what he thinks of me. I’m hoping Willow and Whitley treat him with the respect he deserves,” Jaune said, still watching the door that Ghira had gone into.

“I hope they do too, but that’s between them and him. Ghira has been doing this for a long time. He knows what his people need and isn’t afraid to humble himself for their sake.” She made her way around the circle to Emerald and the now sleeping Fen. “Oh, bless his little heart. Emerald, I’ll show you where you can lay him down.”

Emerald stood, making sure to jostle Fen as little as possible, and followed Kali deeper in the warehouse. Nora watched them go, smiling sleepily. “Fen has the right idea. I’m bushed. Ren, you think you can carry me back to Shade?”

“Sorry, Nora, I don’t think I can cover that distance carrying that weight,” Ren said.

“Hey, watch who you call fat, pretty boy,” she replied, elbowing him in the side.

“Nora, you aren’t fat. That was just a comment based in logic,” Ren said matter-of-factly.

“And I was just teasing you. You still gotta work on joke recognition, love,” Nora said.

“Ah,” Ren said, seriously.

“Well,” Oscar said. “Should we start heading back?”

“Yeah, may as well. Should get some rest in case Theodore sends us out tomorrow,” Jaune said.

“Hey, can you guys let Blake know I’m in town, or give me a heads up when you know what her team is up to?” Ilia asked.

“Sure, we’ll let you know when we find anything out,” Jaune said.

Once Emerald returned with Kali, they all said their farewells and headed back to the academy. When they had covered about half of the distance, one of the frigates above the city maneuvered slightly and barked out a shot with its massive railgun. There was the sound of dull thunder from the impact somewhere out in the desert. Jaune looked around, alarmed.

“Are we under attack?” he asked.

“Well, kinda always,” Nora said. “That ship probably just spotted a blindworm or something. Every once in a while a juicy target like that gets close enough for the ships to flex their muscles. The alarms will sound if the walls are in danger.”

“What, exactly, is a blindworm?” Jaune asked.

“They’re very large grimm that can burrow at alarming speeds through the sands of the desert. They can’t see, but have fantastic tremor sense. The old ones can get to be several hundred feet long, if what we’ve heard is true,” Oscar said. The ship above fired again, and its neighbor took a shot as well. The group paused, but after a moment and no sirens, they continued.

“Yeah, I’ve been dying to fight one. CVFY and SSSNN have both taken one down, and I want a shot at one too,” Nora said wistfully, hand absently going to the haft of Manghild.

“Let’s hope we don’t have to any time soon,” Emerald said. “Those things freak me out a little bit.”

“Wait, you’re actually scared of something?” Noras asked, incredulous.

“Hey, if you like the idea of subterranean grimm that are way faster than you in the desert, that you can only track by the bow wave of sand that they make, and that can swallow a person whole, then I don’t think I’m the one with a problem,” Emerald said.

“But if it swallows you whole, you can kill it from the inside!” Nora said. “I heard that’s how Coco and Velvet killed theirs.”

“I think I’m with Emerald on this one, Nora,” Jaune said. “I’m gonna have to brainstorm some ideas on how to fight those things that don’t involve my team getting eaten.”

“Ah, you’re no fun,” Nora said.

“I’m sure you’ll get your chance eventually,” Ren said, lacing his fingers through hers. “Just have patience.”

“Fine,” Nora said, now swinging her hand and Ren’s back and forth between them.

Before long, Shade loomed before them, and once they entered the building, they all retired to their rooms for the night. Sitting in bed, Jaune checked his scroll, looking at Weiss’s name in his contact list. It was dark, meaning that she was out of range. He sighed. He hoped she was staying safe, wherever she was. He turned the light off, said goodnight to Oscar, and went to sleep.

Chapter 9: Chapter Nine

Chapter Text

Chapter Nine

The ocean filled the horizon before Team RWBY. The smell of salt was heavy in the air, and the cries of gulls loud in their ears. The stream they had been following burbled happily down the last fifty feet to the surf, spreading into much smaller rivulets as it crossed the beach. Rolling bluffs blocked the view on either side of them, and with their limited line of sight they couldn’t tell if they were near either the ships or the cove.

“Any ideas on which way to follow the beach?” Ruby asked her team.

“I could take to the sky,” volunteered Weiss. “I can get the lay of the land from up high.”

“Good idea,” said Ruby. “We’ll wait here for you to get back.”

Weiss moved a few paces away from the group while Troy and Rime looked on curiously. She drew her sword and her eyes flashed as a large glyph materialized in front of her. A moment later a queen lancer, spectral white and icy blue, appeared. Troy whistled.

“So you can just summon grimm, huh?” he asked.

“I can only summon avatars of things that I have defeated in battle, and that challenged me to grow as a Huntress,” Weiss replied, climbing onto the lancer’s back.

“You’ve killed one of those things!? Holy crap. You guys just keep getting more awesome,” Troy said enthusiastically.

Weiss didn’t respond to this, and a moment later she was airborne and off over the bluffs. The group watched as she disappeared, and then looked to Ruby.

“Now we wait,” she said. “Keep your eyes open, of course, but there’s not a lot to do until she gets back. Good time to take a quick break.” With that said, she sat down on the ground, using her cloak as a blanket to shield her from the sand. She pulled out her water bottle and took a drink.

Yang, Blake, and the two students followed suit. As they sat there, Rime spoke up. “Blake, you wanted to know why I wanted to kill grimm.” She fiddled with a silver fastening on her shirt as she spoke. “I want to kill them because they killed the people that mattered to me.”

“Revenge, eh? Not a bad reason, that,” Yang said.

“Wanting to avenge fallen friends and family is pretty common. Lots of Hunters join for that reason. But what is your long-term goal? Killing grimm is fine, but you need something beyond that to keep you going,” Blake said.

Rime kept fiddling with the buckle on her shirt. “I guess I don’t want more people to have to deal with people they love dying,” she said.

Ruby smiled warmly at her. “That’s a much better reason than some I’ve heard from people who want to be or are Hunters. Just remember that everyone on Remnant is a person with hopes and dreams, fears and regrets. We have a duty to help them all, if we can.”

“Even if they’re jerks?” Troy asked.

“Even if they’re jerks,” Blake said.

“Well…” Yang started, then stopped when Blake elbowed her in the ribs. “Fine. Though making sure the jerks stop being jerks is part of it too.”

Their conversation broke off when the thrumming of wings alerted them to Weiss’s return. Weiss stayed seated, yelling over the hum of her lancer’s wings.

“There’s another ship and it’s under attack,” she said. “They’re still offshore, maybe three, four hundred feet. I don’t know how we’ll get us all there, unless you can take us that far, Ruby.”

“Weiss, how many people do you think you can get on that lancer?” Ruby asked, getting to her feet.

“I can probably summon a nevermore instead, but that’s going to tax my aura, especially after that fight earlier.”

Ruby considered for a moment. “Do it. I’ll take Rime, the rest of you are with Weiss. Rime, how good are you with that rifle?”

“Pretty good. I always score well in marksmanship, at least. Why?”

In response, Ruby pulled out Crescent Rose and racked the slide, chambering a round. “We’re going to be long range support for this fight. Brace yourself!”

Without waiting for a response, Ruby shifted into a storm of petals and swept Rime away with her. She sped down the beach in the direction that Weiss had returned from and reformed on top of a small bluff several hundred feet away from where they had started. Next to her, Rime swayed and nearly fell over.

“Oh my god. That was an experience I do not want to repeat,” she said weakly.

“Hey, it’s not so bad. Eyes up, we have targets.” Ruby had already planted her scythe blade in the sandy earth, using it as a brace for her sniper rifle. She tracked for a second, and then fired. Out over the waves, a griffon jerked and plummeted to the water, trailing black smoke.

Rime’s eyes widened as she took in the scene. There was a ferry, roughly three hundred feet out, and it was swarming with people and grimm. Griffons were thick in the air, diving at the hapless figures that were running around on the deck. She caught sight of a massive white nevermore swooping in from her left, and several griffons broke away from the ship to engage it. She unsheathed her longsword, the blade whirring as it transformed into her rifle. She planted her feet, stock firmly pressed into her shoulder, and breathed out as she tracked a griffon of her own. She squeezed the trigger, and her target was knocked from the sky with a shriek.

“Good!” Ruby said from beside her, sniper rifle booming as she took the head off another griffon. “Keep them off our team until they land on the ship, then pick off the ones that you’re sure won’t have civilians behind it.”

Rime kept breathing steadily as she tracked another grimm. Her first shot winged her target, and it stayed aloft. Swearing softly, she readjusted her aim. Her next shot took it in the throat, and it fell soundlessly from the air. Grinning in satisfaction, she started to hunt for her next target.

*

On the back of the nevermore, Weiss, Yang, Blake, and Troy held on tightly to its feathers as they soared towards the ship. Troy whooped as they flew, clearly enjoying the ride.

From her perch right behind the nevermore’s head, Weiss called out. “We’ve got hostiles incoming, hold on!”

As they watched, a pack of griffons broke away from their assault on the ship. One immediately fell from the sky, its head a smoking ruin. They could just make out Ruby and Rime on top of a bluff, providing covering fire for them. Now Yang was whooping too, cheering on her teammates.

Two more griffons were knocked from the sky, and then they were on them. Yang, knife-blade smile on her face, got to her feet, keeping balance on top of the nevermore through sheer force of will. She looked at Blake and called, “Try to keep up!” She leapt then, landing squarely on the back of one of the griffons. It shrieked as Yang broke one of its wings with a crushing blow from her prosthetic, forcing it down towards the ship.

Blake, grinning widely herself, unslung Gambol Shroud and threw its sickle blade like a grappling hook at another griffon. It caught fast around its throat, and she too leapt from the back of the nevermore.

“Showoffs,” muttered Weiss. Then, to Troy, “Get ready to jump onto the ship. Now!” She jumped off herself, gracefully tumbling once in midair before landing in a fighting stance on the ship’s deck and darting towards a woman who was backed against the railing by a griffon’s raking talons.

Troy leapt as well, flailing through the sky as he hurtled to the deck. He managed to tuck and roll at the last instant, but still hit the deck far harder than he meant to. He got to his feet, winded and shaking his head. “Ow,” he said. He didn’t have any more time than that as a griffon swooped at him.

He kept his shillelagh in front of him and dodged to the right as its razor-sharp beak lunged at him. He retaliated with a crushing blow to the back of the griffon’s head, and the beast collapsed, wings spasming as it died. “Ha! Got one!” he cried in triumph.

Yang crashed to the deck next to him, hair now aflame, her one-time mount crushed and dying beneath her as she landed. “Good one, kid,” she said, then rushed into the fray.

On the very top of the ferry, Blake landed gracefully on the captain’s cabin, a headless griffon falling to the sea behind her. She converted her weapon back into a sword and leapt from her perch. As she fell towards the main deck, she kept her sword to the side and slashed a griffon from flank to neck, using the resistance to slow her fall. She tumbled forward as she landed, and then sprung up and ahead, taking another griffon in the throat. It snapped futilely at her as it died, unable to move its head forward with the blade pinning its throat.

Above them, Weiss’s avatar called stridently as it caught a griffon in its claws and ripped the smaller creature in half. The fight was over within minutes, RWBY and the students having made short work of the hostile grimm. Ruby used her semblance to fly over the water to the ferry, bringing Rime with her. Rime came out of the storm of petals off-balance and was caught by Troy before she could fall over.

“Never. Again.” she said, pale face taking on an ashy texture as she fought with her gorge.

“Right?” Blake said in solidarity with the younger woman.

Ruby was striding the deck, and her and her team started checking on the survivors. “Yang, get Slate or Hyde on the scroll, let them know we have more incoming, including wounded.” She knelt before a young woman who was weeping as she cradled an arm that bent at an unnatural angle. “Here, let me get that in a sling for you.” Ok Ruby, simple splint and sling, you can do this, she thought to herself as she pulled out her first aid kit.

Similar scenes were taking place as the rest of her team, students included, began to help where they could. Weiss shook her head sadly as the man she had been trying to help convulsed and then died. He looked fine externally, but Weiss was sure he had ruptured something and had been bleeding internally. There was only so much they could do with their limited first aid kits, and heavy trauma care wasn’t something they were equipped or trained for. It was likely more would die before they could get them to town.

As Ruby finished wrapping the girl’s arm in a sling that she was fairly proud of, a broad-shouldered man with a ragged, grey-streaked beard approached her. He had bags under his eyes, his clothing was ripped and travel worn, and there was a bloody bandage wrapped around his head.

“Thanks,” he drawled, his voice scratchy and deep. “Didn’t think we were gonna make it when those bastards showed up.” He held out his hand, and Ruby shook it.

“It’s what we do, sir! I take it this group are from Vale, too?” Ruby asked.

“Yeah. We lost our lone Huntsman a few leagues back. Poor bastard was running on fumes, and we got attacked by a whaddya call’em, a shark gimm, carcharadon, yeah that’s it.” He snapped his fingers as the name came to him. “It was takin’ bites outta the hull and I thought it would sink us, but then that glorious sonuvabitch killed it. Shame he died in the process. Then these flying things showed up, and I thought we were doomed. Name’s Russet. Arlo Russet.”

“Good to meet you, Arlo. We’ve got a journey of about three miles to get to town. Can you get your people together, take stock of who might need help making the trip?”

“I dunno if I’d call ‘em my people, but sure, I can start roundin’ ‘em up.” He moved off, calling out to others on the ship as he did so.

There was a rough grating noise as the ferry ran aground on the beach, and the sound of people shouting as a makeshift walkway was lowered. Ruby rejoined her teammates as Blake finished bandaging a young man’s arm. His eyes widened when he saw her.

“You- You’re Ruby Rose. From the broadcast a few weeks ago.” He struggled to his feet; pain forgotten as he stared into Ruby’s silver eyes.

“Uh, yeah, haha. At your service!” Ruby said awkwardly. Internally, she started to panic. Oh shoot I never thought about getting recognized. What should I say? Crap crap crap.

Weiss, recognizing the panic behind her friend’s eyes, came to her rescue. “What’s your name?” she asked, gracefully inserting herself between Ruby and the young man.

His eyes snapped to Weiss. “I’m not important.” He impatiently pushed past her, undeterred. “Where were you when Salem attacked us?” His eyes were now bright, angry.

Ruby flushed, stammering. “Um”-

“We were busy with another mission,” Yang interjected, putting herself in front of Ruby as well.

“You’ve been through a lot, please, let’s take it easy and talk things over,” Blake said imploringly as she stepped forward as well.

“Do you know what we’ve lost!?” He was shouting now, and others had paused, no longer disembarking from the ship so that they could see what was happening.

“More than some, less than others, I’m sure,” Weiss said.

“Less? Less? My home and family are all gone. I watched my parents and brother die, right before me. My house flattened, neighbors killed, city I grew up in demolished, and you think I’ve lost less than some people?”

Ruby spoke up quietly, moving in between Blake and Yang. “You still have your life, right? I’ve watched friends get killed as well. I was there when Beacon was attacked. I saw Atlas burning as it fell from the sky. We’ve all lost something to Salem. I’m sorry we couldn’t be there. Believe me, our priority is still to stand against her.”

The boy continued, still angry. “We saw your message, how Atlas was under attack. How they needed help. And then we got attacked and got no help ourselves. I thought Hunters were supposed to help people.” His voice broke and he collapsed to his knees, sobbing huge, gasping sobs.

Blake crouched down next to him and placed a hand on his shoulder, and he didn’t try to move away. Arlo reappeared and sat on his haunches next to the boy as well. “Hey there. I know things are hard, but takin’ it out on these lasses isn’t gonna help anyone. We’ve all seen Hunters put everything on the line, again and again. They die just the same as us, and still they put themselves in harm’s way for our sake.”

The young man, boy, really, who couldn’t have been any older than thirteen, continued to sob, words lost to him. Arlo said, “You just take yer time. We’ll be in a safe place soon, and these Huntresses are gonna be by our side the whole way.”

Arlo stood and wearily rubbed the nape of his neck. “Sorry ‘bout that. We’ve all been under a lotta stress.”

“Hey, it’s no problem,” Ruby said bravely, shaking off the shock she had felt at the young man’s anger.

“We know how he feels,” Blake said sadly. “It hurts us, too, when we can’t save people. We just try to save who we can.”

Arlo nodded somberly, and then asked, “Did I hear right, are you really Ruby Rose?”

“Yeah, and this is my team. We arrived in Patch yesterday to help with the refugees,” Ruby said. “The younger two are students at Signal Combat School, under our mentorship. It’s all hands on deck, I’m afraid.”

“sh*t, younger two. Yer’all young to me. Kids puttin’ their lives on the line.” He shook his head sadly. “I’ll be damned I didn’t recognize you sooner, you were all over the feeds for a while there a few weeks back.”

“I’m glad people saw it. We tried our best to get a message out, wanted to prepare the world the best we could,” Ruby said. A matronly looking woman came over and put an arm around the sobbing boy, pulling him to his feet. He didn’t look at them as he was led down the makeshift gangplank to the beach.

Ruby, Arlo, and the rest followed them down. There were maybe seventy people all told, several of whom had wounds, and nearly a dozen that would need carried or dragged via travois to get to the town. There was also a line of shrouded figures, the bodies of the people who had died on the journey.

Arlo tasked a group of people to gather driftwood while Troy sang the pieces into shape. Arlo handily assembled them, using some canvas from the ferry to make a series of beds for the badly injured to lie on. As they took stock, and Ruby consulted with her team about which direction they would need to head to get to Patch, a piercing melodic whistling caught her attention.

Ruby’s head whipped around, her eyes scanning the bluffs. “Melody!?” Ruby called joyously as she spotted a trio of people coming across the sand, led by a brilliantly colored bird faunus.

“Ruby!” A vivacious, beautiful girl called back. She was brightly dressed in blues and yellows, her clothing evocative of exotic jungle-dwelling birds, flowing and graceful. There was a delicate pattern of jewel-colored feathers over her cheekbones, she had bright orange eyes, and a lyre in her arms that she was plucking at.

Now laughing, Ruby bolted over the ground in a swirl of petals and hugged the other woman. “Gahhh I thought everyone I knew from school had left! Dad didn’t say anything about you guys still being here!”

“What, no tearful reunions for me and Jack?” A blue-haired teen dressed in extravagant robes with a staff slung across his shoulders asked. Next to him was a massive, hulking young man with a bowl cut and a huge slab of metal that was vaguely sword shaped across his back.

“Well, not tearful, but it is good to see you!” Ruby exclaimed. “What are you guys doing here?”

“We’re the team you were supposed to rendezvous with,” Melody said, still plucking at her lyre. “Tai sent us to the cove, seeing as we’re the only academy aged students still on Patch.”

Ruby rounded on her mentees. “Did you two know who the team was at the cove?”

“Uh, yeah?” Troy said. “I didn’t think it was important, though. Hey Al, hey Jack.”

The other two teens nodded back at Troy and Rime.

“We spotted a white nevermore from the lookout and came to investigate. Which one of you was that? Unless it was an aberration, I’m sure it was summoned.” The blue haired teen, Al, peered at Weiss and nodded in satisfaction. “Ah-ha. A famous Schnee avatar, unless I miss my guess."

“You have me at a disadvantage, I’m afraid,” Weiss said cooly, arms crossed.

“Aoluine Quicksilver, at your service, m’lady. Called ‘Al’ by those afraid to pronounce my full name,” Aoluine said, bowing deeply.

“Ruby, I didn’t know you had friends at Signal,” Yang said teasingly.

“Oh shush, you. There were people I liked, and Melody was one of them. And as much as I’d like to catch up, we’ve got people to take care of. Can you three accompany us back to Patch? The extra eyes and hands will come in handy,” Ruby asked.

“Of course we can,” Melody said.

“Do you also happen to know the way back? We kinda took a detour through the woods to get here, and aren’t sure which way it is,” Blake asked.

“My dear lady, but of course,” Aoluine said. “Just follow us, we’ll not lead you astray,” he winked at her. Blake regarded him with bemusem*nt, eyebrow raised.

Yang, in no way whatsoever threatened by this, was looking at the huge teen’s sword while he stood there impassively. “I swear Jack, you’ve doubled in size since I last saw you, and you were about the size of an ox then. You can really swing that sucker around?” she asked.

He grunted in reply.

“Still not much of a talker, eh? That’s ok, you can let that bad boy do the talking in a fight, am I right?”

He grunted again.

“Well, nice chatting with you!” She caught Blake’s eye and made a surreptitious circling motion with her finger by her temple, and Blake grinned.

Arlo came over to them, rubbing the back of his head. “Hey, is there anythin’ we can do for the deceased? I hate to just leave ‘em there on the beach for the crabs and the birds."

“Allow me, my good sir,” Al said, walking over to the surf. He stooped to collect a handful of seawater, and then went over to the somber line of bodies. He planted his staff in the sand and cast the water over the bodies as a dun-colored dust stone on his staff glowed. A sheet of something like quicklime rose over the bodies, forming a tomb. He smoothed it out with a gesture from his staff, and then used the base of the staff to write an epitaph in the rock before it fully set."

“Here lie brave souls from Vale, perished on their journey. May they rest in peace.”

Everyone assembled bowed their heads in a moment of silence, and then looked at Ruby as she spoke up.

“All right! RWBY, students, Melody and team!” Ruby called, gathering their attention. “We have seventy people to protect and three miles to cover! Al, you’re on point with Blake, I need you to path find, and Blake will be our eyes and ears. Melody, you’re on morale duty! Weiss and Troy, Yang and Rime, I want you on the left and right flanks respectively. Jack, you’ve got rearguard. And I will rotate and cover where needed. Questions? No? Ok, let’s move!”

Melody struck up a tune, and began to sing in a clear, high voice. The effect was immediate, as the spirits of everyone listening picked up. Ruby remembered that she called her semblance ‘Inspiration,’ and that she could use it to boost the energy of everyone listening. Formation in place, the train of refugees began to trudge their way inland as the Hunters roamed their flanks, ever vigilant.

Ruby circled the group, splitting her attention between the woods and the people. Periodically, she would stop to chat with someone. Arlo in particular fascinated her. He had said that these weren’t his people, but she noticed how he always seemed to take charge, and that people listened to him. He had a habit of peppering his speech with light vulgarities, and he liked to talk. She got out of him a more or less cognizant version of the events that had befallen Vale.

“I was on a construction crew, helping with the rebuild. Beacon was still a no-go, of course, with that big wyvern bastard drawin’ in the grimm. Goodwytch and the others had cleared and kept clear a section of the city though, and well, we kept on a livin’ there. More fools us.” He sighed, shifting his grip on the travois he was trekking along with.

“She came with a wave of darkness. It blocked out the sky, like. Red lightning cracklin’ and just thousands of grimm swarmin’ everywhere. I saw her, briefly. Terrible face on that one. All the destruction she was causin’, and she just looked bored with it. Like the people she was slaughtering didn’t matter a single lick one way or the other.” He sighed, his expression far away.

“The Hunters tried to fight, o’course. She cut them down, one after the other. Goodwytch was goin’ toe to toe with the bitch last I saw. Hope she made it out, she was a good sort. The city was broken. All that work we had done, undone in hours. Didn’t really have a plan, just knew we needed to get gone. Lotsa people wanted to get to Patch, it was closer, see, and has the school. Last thing I remember seeing of the city was the wyvern atop Beacon taking flight, and the skyline in flames.” He paused there, stolidly moving forward in silence. After a moment, he continued.

“So to Patch we went. I dunno what happened to all the Hunters. I know a lotta the poor bastards died in the city, and a handful kept with us, trying to keep us safe. Bless their hearts. The group we were travelin’ with got smaller and smaller, and when we finally got to the coast it was maybe a hunnerd of us, plus the single Huntsman. Name a Siegfried. Wish I’d gotten to know’im better. He fought like a bastard for us.” He paused again as he recalled the last moments of the brave Huntsman who had given his life protecting the refugees.

“And now here we are,” he concluded, still stoically pulling the travois without complaint.

“And here you are,” Ruby said. “I’m sorry we weren’t there to help in Vale, but I’m glad we found you when we did.”

“Me too, lass. Now get on with ya, you’ve spent too long listenin’ to me. You’ve got a lot more people to watch out for.”

“Thanks, Arlo,” Ruby said, and then went to check on the right flank.

Yang and Rime were spaced a couple hundred feet apart, both keeping an eye on the woods as they traveled. “Hanging in there?” Ruby asked Rime.

“Yeah. Makes me nervous, having this many people to watch over though,” Rime said, eyes darting from shadow to shadow.

“Me too. We got confirmation from the town, someone is going to meet us part way. We’ll be ok, Rime.”

Rime just nodded, focused on her job.

Next, Ruby went to check on the left flank. Troy was ahead of Weiss, talking to the young man that had broken down on the ship.

“I’m sorry you went through all that. I know Patch is going to seem a lot different than the city, but we have a lot of good people here. There are the teachers, and other students, and we even have a militia,” Ruby heard him say.

The boy made a noncommittal noise, and then spotted Ruby. His face reddened, and he looked away.

“You doing ok?” she asked him softly.

“No. But, for what it’s worth, I’m sorry I got mad earlier. I just feel so helpless. I kept expecting someone to show up, but the nightmare just wouldn’t end,” he said, eyes down.

“I know the feeling. Atlas was bad, and it just kept getting worse, all the way to the bitter end. But, you know what? Despite all that, I know a lot of people that are still in the fight. There’s a huge effort under way in Vacuo right now, getting everyone together and preparing to take Salem on,” Ruby said.

“How do you do it? How do you keep going?” he asked, bitter, intense pain coloring his voice.

Ruby considered this for a long moment, and then spoke. “I almost didn’t. After Atlas, I went through a really bad spot. I didn’t want to hurt anymore, didn’t want to fail anymore, and almost ended it. My team helped me out, and I got through it,” she said. It was the first time she’d admitted anything of the sort to anyone that hadn’t been with her in the Ever After.

Troy paled at this, looking at Ruby with a fresh perspective. “I had no idea, Ruby,” he said.

“Not a lot of people do. I’m still working through it, honestly. I keep going, because I don’t want other people to feel this pain. I’m so sorry that you have to,” she said to the boy.

He sniffed, then said, “My name is Asher. Thanks, for coming to our rescue on the boat.”

“Hey, it’s what we do. As long as we’re standing, we’ll keep fighting.”

Troy nodded fervently. “You can count on us!”

Asher nodded, wiping his nose on his sleeve. Ruby patted him on the shoulder, nodded to Troy, and then dropped to the back of the group. Jack was plodding along, massive and solid as a walking cliff-face. His straw-colored hair obscured his eyes, and his ham-like arms swung slowly at his side. Ruby hadn’t really interacted with him during her time at Signal, and only knew he was ferociously strong and famously laconic.

“Long time no see, Jack!” Ruby said.

“Mmm.” Jack grunted.

I see you got a bigger sword,” Ruby ventured.

“Yep.”

“Well, keep up the good work!”

Jack nodded, and Ruby went looking for Melody. She found the avian faunus in the middle of the group, still singing brightly. Melody had been her closest friend, apart from Yang, before she had started at Beacon. Melody could get along with anyone, and had always made Ruby feel welcome in her presence, despite how introverted Ruby had been. Ruby, not wanting to interrupt Melody’s performance, just nodded at her and then moved up to Blake and Al. When she found them, Al was explaining some bit of esoterica to Blake.

“You see, grimm are in a constant state of flux. We kill them and they return to the umbral void from whence they came, only to be reborn and return. You could say that they are in state of ebb and flow, creation and destruction, and how do you kill that which cannot die? I posit that you cannot, but my thesis is rather difficult to defend without solid proof, and proof is so hard to obtain from something that vanishes when you destroy its physical form.”

Blake caught Ruby’s eye and raised an eyebrow. Ruby heard the unasked question, and yes, Aoluine had always been a bit odd. She nodded to Blake, then spoke out loud. “Everything clear up here?”

“Ruby! Indeed, we have encountered no resistance. An odd occurrence, giving the negativity that is surely brimming from these road-weary and despairing travelers, but not an unwelcome one.” Aoluine was using his staff as a walking stick, and the various dust stones embedded in the wood glowed softly in the afternoon light.

“Keep it up. We’ve got to have covered at least half the ground to Patch by now.”

“If I’ve got the geography correct, and I’m rarely wrong, we have three quarters of a mile to go,” he said, tapping his temple.

“Good. Keep the pace, and don’t slack. We don’t want to get surprised in the homestretch,” Ruby said.

Al nodded, and then continued his monologue to Blake. Ruby knew that Al had a near perfect memory and wasn’t afraid to let people know it. He had always been a bit egotistic, but from what she remembered he was rarely wrong. He could absorb books like a sponge absorbed water, and that made him a very valuable asset. His semblance, which he called ‘Alchemy’, was essentially just advanced chemistry. He used his encyclopedic knowledge to combine dust and other elements to create marvels out of thin air. Ruby remembered a memorable day when he had conjured a fireball and nearly burned the school down. Hopefully he had learned a little more control in the intervening years.

She continued walking for another few minutes, still scanning the woodlands for danger, when a voice called out to her.

“Ruby! Glade to see you made it!”

Ruby looked towards the figure on the hilltop and smiled. She called back, “Dad! We’ve got several wounded with us, is Patch ready?”

“Yup. We’ve got people standing by, ready to help. How’d the trip go?” Tai asked.

“It went well, other than the fight at sea. No more grimm attacked after we made landfall.”

“Glad it stayed quiet. Yesterday the grimm stayed on us, even when we got to Patch. How’d Rime and Troy do?”

“They were great! Even helped me take down a beowolf alpha. I’ll let you talk to them, but they handled themselves well. Credit to their teacher,” Ruby said, smiling.

“Credit to you and your team, Ruby. I know Rime can be hard to work with. Don’t tell her I said that, though.” Tai winked at her.

The remainder of the trip went just as smoothly as the first portion had, and once they got through the gates of Patch Ruby was gratified to learn that none of the gravely injured had passed along the way. Her team helped get the last of the refugees behind the walls, and then they grouped up.

“Good work out there everybody,” Ruby told them. “That was a long day, but at the end of it we saved a lot of lives. I’m proud of all of you.”

Troy beamed at the praise, and even Rime looked gratified. Blake leaned into Yang, who wrapped an arm around her, and Weiss smiled back at Ruby. Melody, Aoluine, and Jack all nodded to her. They basked for a moment, just enjoying the sun and the feeling of a job accomplished. As they stood there, Arlo found them, shadowed by Asher.

“Hey ya’ll. Just wanted to say thanks again, for coming to our aid,” Arlo said. Asher nodded beside him.

“Happy to help. You just take it easy for a while, Patch is safe,” Ruby assured them.

“I seen the work bein’ done on the walls, and I gotta say that sorta thing appeals to me. I’m gonna start chippin’ in. More hands make less work. You’ve given us all another chance, I mean to make the most of it,” Arlo said.

“I will too,” Asher said fervently. “Sorry again, for yelling earlier.”

“Don’t worry about it. Just keep your head up, ok?” Ruby told him.

He nodded, and with Arlo by his side, walked away. Melody came over to Ruby, and when she spoke her voice was hoarse.

“I haven’t had to keep my semblance going for that long before, and my voice is shot. But I’m so glad we got everybody here in one piece.” She grinned, flashing white teeth at Ruby.

“It was good we had you,” Ruby said. “That likely would have taken twice as long if you weren’t there to boost our spirits. How have you been? What have you been up to since I left for Beacon?” They started to walk towards signal as they talked.

“Just keeping up with training. I was so excited to go to Beacon myself, but then, well, everything happened. Attendance went down after that. Less kids coming into the school, and the others in our class decided to try to get to Shade when they graduated from Signal. Me, Jack, and Al are the only ones who stuck around to help Patch.”

“I hope they made it. It’s more dangerous than ever right now. Not even the kingdoms are safe, let alone the outlying settlements,” Ruby said, worried.

“They chose their path,” Al shrugged. “I wouldn’t mind testing my mettle in the wilds, personally. The time is ripe for adventure.”

“You wouldn’t be so quick to say that if you’d seen what we have,” Blake said.

“My dear lady, the world hasn’t seen Aoluine yet! I yearn to face challenge, for that is the only way to grow.”

“Why’d you stay then, if you’re so keen to challenge yourself?” Yang asked him.

“I have my reasons.” His eyes slid to Melody before he could stop himself, and Yang didn’t miss it.

“Oh-ho, staying for a woman, eh? Good for you.”

“Base urges do not appeal to me. There is still much for me to learn here, and so I stay,” he sniffed haughtily.

“You spent an awful lot of time chatting me up earlier, just putting that out there,” Blake said, joining in on the needling.

He flushed slightly. “I was making conversation! Is that not a worthwhile pastime when traveling?”

“There’s a difference in making conversation and just talking over the other person, Al,” Melody said. “You do tend to let your mouth run ahead of your sense.”

“I see. You’re all allied against me. Well, I know someone who enjoys my erudite company.” And with that, Aoluine dropped back to walk by Jack.

“Good to see some things don’t change,” Ruby said.

“He’s really not so bad,” Melody replied. “He has a fantastic mind for recitation, and the vocal elegance to back it up. Just needs to work on his ego a bit. Besides, someone has to make up for Jack.”

“Is Jack ok? I’ve never met someone as quiet as him in my life,” Weiss asked.

“Yeah yeah, he’s great. Just doesn’t like to talk. He’s a hard worker, never complains, and comes in handy in a fight, believe me. With him in the front, Al firing off his elemental marvels, and me bolstering them we make a solid team. Jack also gets along fantastically with Al, which will always amuse me because they’re such wildly different people.”

Ruby spared a look over her shoulder at the two. Jack was easily twice the size of Al, plain, broad, and simple. Al, diminutive in comparison, with his colorful hair and elegant robes, talking quickly and enunciating his words with extravagant gestures. They did make quite the pair, she had to admit.

They stopped outside of Signal and looked at one another. “We should go see if Tai needs anything,” Ruby told Melody.

“No worries! I need to take a few, let my aura recharge a bit. It’s so good to have you here!” She hugged Ruby tightly, and then went into the school. Al and Jack followed her in, Al steadfastly ignoring them as he expounded on social graces and manners to his large companion.

“Alright team, let’s go see what else we can do,” Ruby told her companions.

*

An hour later, Team RWBY was once again sitting around Tai’s kitchen table with a plus one. Raven had shown up as they were walking back to the house, quiet and subdued. They sat there in silence, a contrast to the cheerful night they had had before. Raven and Tai sat at opposite ends of the table, with Yang in the middle looking from one to the other.

“Things are going fairly well here!” Ruby said brightly, to break the lockdown.

Raven stirred. “That’s good. Will you need any additional assistance?”

“We wanted to see if we could get JORNE here, at least until the walls are back up,” Ruby replied.

“I’ll run it by Theodore,” Raven said.

“Are we not going to talk about how the three of us are in the same room for the first time in who knows how long?” Yang interjected angrily.

Tai cleared his throat. “Yeah, uh. It’s good, having you both here,” he said, shifting uncomfortably in his chair. Zwei whined at his feet.

“Yang, it’s going to take a while, for things to go back to normal. If they ever can,” Raven said, looking at her daughter.

“We don’t have to be a happy family, but we need some kind of closure, I think,” Yang said. “Why’d you leave us?”

“Uhm, should we, ah, wait outside? Maybe?” Ruby asked, already halfway out of her seat.

“I can’t speak for the other two, Ruby, but you should probably stay for this,” Raven said.

Ruby sat back down, fidgeting in her seat. Blake put her hand on Yang’s human one and gave it a reassuring squeeze. Weiss, arms crossed, leaned back in her seat but didn’t get up.

Raven sighed, a deep, forlorn sound. “Ok. Well. This isn’t going to be easy, but here goes.”

“I left because I was scared. Terrified, even. I had decided that Tai couldn’t fight for Ozpin if he had a child to raise, and I wouldn’t have to fight if I left. So, I left. I’m not saying it was a good choice, but it made sense to me at the time.”

Yang sat, tapping her metal fingers audibly against the table, but didn’t say anything. Raven continued.

“Then, a few years later, after you had been born, Ruby, Summer came to me. She wanted to take the fight to Salem. Salem was actively hunting silver eyed warriors. An attempt had already been made on Summer’s life, and she knew it was a matter of time before another was made on her, or even you, Ruby. So, she wanted to take out Salem first.” The tapping from Yang intensified, and Ruby leaned in, raptly listening to Raven.

“If Salem wanted to kill the silver eyed warriors, then she was afraid of them. And if Salem was afraid of people with silver eyes, then silver eyed warriors were a threat to her. That was Summer’s logic. She thought she could kill Salem. She didn’t tell you, Tai, or Qrow, because she knew you would have gone to Ozpin. I was the safe choice.” Raven laughed bitterly, without humor.

“So we hunted down Salem. We found her, in the Evernight, and we fought. There was something to Summer’s plan, at least. We hurt Salem, but we couldn’t defeat her. And… Summer was killed. I watched it happen, and I ran. Coward that I am, I ran.” Raven broke off, head down, tears falling into her lap.

“You left her? With Salem?” Ruby asked, voice small and broken.

“I did, Ruby. And I am terribly sorry for that.” Raven looked up and met Ruby’s eyes.

“You knew, all these years, what happened, and didn’t tell me?” Tai stood up, gripping the table edge, knuckles white.

“What was I supposed to say, Tai? After I left, I got your second wife killed? I couldn’t face you,” Raven said bitterly.

“You really are a piece of work, you know that?” Yang said, eyes a dangerous mix between purple and red.

“I am. I don’t deserve anything from you. I’m here now, to try to honor Summer’s memory. I needed you to know the truth, so you can be prepared.”

“Honor her memory? The memory of the woman you brought into the teeth of hell and then abandoned?” Yang stood now, hair starting to shine with incandescence.

“Yang, it’s ok,” Ruby said, standing and trying to pull Yang back into her seat.

“No, Ruby, it isn’t! She abandoned me, and Dad, and then Summer,” Yang shouted, pulling her arm out of Ruby’s grasp.

“Yang, enough.” Tai said.

“But Dad,”-

“Enough!” Tai thundered. “This was hard enough for Raven to do. We don’t need to make it worse. All of us are hurting, her too.”

Yang tsked and walked out. Blake followed, after an apologetic look at Ruby. After a moment there was the loud crack of shattering timber, and the crash of a tree falling over. Tai winced.

Weiss leaned forward, uncrossing her arms. “What I’m taking from this, personal feelings and character judgments aside, is that Ruby can possibly take on Salem, and win. Did I get that right?”

Raven looked at her, tears still in her eyes. “Possibly, yes. I don’t know if the silver eyes can actually kill Salem, but I know they can hurt her. I saw it happen.” She flinched and looked at the door when Yang loosed a scream of fury from outside.

Ruby, her own eyes wet with tears, said, “Raven, thank you. I wish things had happened differently, but thank you for telling us.”

Raven looked back at her. “I wish it had happened differently too, Ruby.”

*

Later, after Raven had gone back to Shade, Ruby sat with Tai in the living room. She was stroking Zwei, who was resting on her lap. Weiss had retired early, to give the family space, Ruby thought, and Blake and Yang were still outside. When Ruby had checked, Yang was crying into Blake’s arms while the other woman held her tight. Ruby was glad that Yang had someone in that moment, even if she was a little sad that it wasn’t her.

Her emotions felt muted, far away. She had spent so much energy on being sad or angry the last few days that it was hard to muster up much feeling right now. She was sure it would hit her later, though. It always did. She looked at Tai. “What do you think, Dad?” Ruby asked.

“I don’t know. I wish they would have told us what was going on. Summer left on what I thought was a normal mission, after putting you and Yang to bed. We said our goodbyes, and I didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. If I had been more observant, maybe”- he broke off and sighed. “How’re you doing, kiddo?”

“Ok. I hurt, but it kinda helps, knowing what happened. It sounds like she did it partially for me, to keep Salem from coming after us.”

“That’s Summer for you. Always looking out for other people. She was a great woman,” Tai said, smiling sadly. “And believe me, if she had her mind set on that course, it would have been impossible to turn her aside. She would have ended up going alone, if she couldn’t get anyone to help her. Despite how it turned out, she had Raven, at least.”

They sat in silence for a while, and Zwei started to snore. “You think Raven is going to be ok?” Ruby eventually asked.

“I don’t know. She’s always had her secrets. It really seems like she’s trying to make amends, but there’s a lot of ground for her to cover. Best thing we can do is be there for her. I hope Yang can get her head around that. Those two need each other, more than either of them knows. But Yang’s her mother’s daughter. Stubborn to a fault.”

“Yeah. Maybe Blake can help, those two have been through a lot together. I sometimes think they’re closer now than me and Yang are,” Ruby said sadly.

“Hey, you know you can’t replace the bond between sisters. Yang will need both of you, just for different reasons,” Tai said consolingly.

“Thanks, Dad. I think I’m going to head upstairs. See if I can get some sleep.”

“You got it, Ruby. Goodnight.”

“Night, Dad.”

Chapter 10: Chapter Ten

Chapter Text

Chapter Ten

Jaune slept poorly. The silence of the night had been sporadically broken by the sound of railgun fire, as the ships above the city fended off some unseen threat. It seemed that every time he started to drift into deeper slumber, a distant crack of thunder would jolt him awake. He'd have to check to see if this was a normal occurrence, or if Atlas’s air fleet had had an unusually busy night.

Oscar hadn’t slept well either. He tossed and turned, and once Jaune heard him call out in a foreign language. With a sense of foreboding, Jaune realized that Ozpin was the man sleeping in the next bed over, having taken control while unconscious. He wondered exactly how long Oscar had left, and would have to add that to his list of questions for Theodore. Would the mission to reclaim Pietro’s equipment be given the greenlight?

When dawn broke, Jaune reluctantly got out of bed and readied himself for the day. He spared Oscar (Ozpin?) a look before leaving the room. He was sleeping more soundly now, and looked heartbreakingly young in the dawn light. Jaune quietly left the room, making sure the door shut soundlessly behind him.

Despite the early hour, Jaune was not the first person in the mess that morning. He did a double take when he entered the room, blinking his gritty, tired eyes as he did. Sitting in the middle of the hall, bold as brass, were teams CFVY and FNKI. They two teams were loud and cheerful, eating and making merry. The scene suddenly froze in a tableau as Velvet spotted him and stood, gaping, finger outstretched, while the others turned to look at what she had seen.

Jaune stared back, seven pairs of eyes on him, and then chaos broke out as Velvet vaulted the table to hug him, knocking over cups and sending plates flying.

“Yo, Jaune! We thought you were dead, man!” Flint Coal exclaimed.

“He’s awfully solid for a ghost, Flint,” Neon Katt said as she poked Jaune’s shoulder.

“Jaune!!! Does this mean Ruby is ok too!?” Velvet exclaimed as she quickly hugged him and then pulled back, bouncing slightly as she awaited his reply.

“Did I catch that right? Jaune Arc?” Fox asked, blind eyes staring at a point slightly to Jaunes left.

“Hey guys! Yeah, Ruby is fine, Velvet. So’s her team. Unfortunately, Penny is really gone.” He paused there, barely enough to notice, and then continued. “Cinder killed her. The rest of us got lost between worlds for a while, we got stuck when the portals closed.”

“Oh no! That’s terrible,” Velvet said, covering her mouth. “I’m so sorry about Penny.”

“Yeah. Me too,” Jaune intoned.

“Did I also catch that Velvet jumped the table?” Fox asked, gingerly righting his spilled cup.

“Hey, cut her some slack. It’s not everyday a friend comes back from the dead,” Coco Adel said. She tipped her aviators down as she eyed him. “Good to see you, Jaune. I gotta say, the clean-cut look suits you a lot better than the scraggly schoolboy look did.”

“Uh. Thanks, Coco. Though I am thinking about growing out a beard, so, ya’know, not gonna be clean-cut for long.”

“Hmm. You might be able to pull that off. Better hope it doesn’t come in too thin, or you’ll just be scraggly again,” Coco said in a considering tone.

“It is good to see you,” Yatsuhashi said, very formally, inclining his head towards Jaune. “I am glad to know that you and RWBY are not among the fallen.”

“It’s good to see all of you, too,” Jaune said earnestly. “How’d the mission to Atlas go?”

“Well, the city is in rough enough shape to make anyone sing the blues. Grimm crawling all over, buildings collapsed, gutted with fires, flooded, or some combination of the three. But there’s still a lot there, if you’re willing to get dirty,” Flint said.

“Like the payload we secured,” Coco said, leaning back in her seat, arms behind her head.

“Yeah baby! We were the two most junior Huntsmen teams there, and we hit paydirt. No one can take that from us,” Neon said smugly, rolling on her skates in a circle around Jaune as she did.

“We got six Omega-class Paladins, still in their cargo crates, locked and loaded, ready to roll. They were the newest tech our engineers had been working on, before the fall. They’re a new generation that requires a pilot, to make sure there can’t be a repeat of the Watts incident, and had just started rolling off the assembly lines,” Flint said.

“They’re gonna be an asset in this fight, that’s for sure,” Kobalt said, joining the conversation.

“They’re giving them a shakedown at Amity right now, should be combat ready later today,” Ivori said in his smooth, mellow voice.

“That’s awesome! Did you guys get a chance to see how intact the military command center was?” Jaune asked as he took a seat at the table.

“It was pretty burnt out, but we didn’t spend too much time exploring it. Once we found the paladins, we focused on securing those,” Coco said.

“We’re planning on asking Theodore to approve a mission to try to recover some of Dr. Polendina’s equipment. I was just curious how much of it might be intact,” Jaune said.

“Like I said, we didn’t get too far in there, sorry,” said Coco.

“What do you want with his stuff? Wasn’t he focused on like, androids and stuff?” Neon asked.

“Dr. Polendina designed and created Penny. I studied some of his work, he’s a fantastic engineer,” Velvet said.

“Yeah, that’s exactly it, Velvet. We’re hoping he can replicate the process, but this time we want to try to get Oscar and Ozpin separated, if possible. Wait, you guys do know about Ozpin, right?” Jaune said.

“Yeah, we got briefed on the situation,” Fox said. “Must be weird, having another person in your head,” he continued, very deadpan.

“Yeah, wonder what that’s like,” Coco said sarcastically.

“Couldn’t he use his tech to bring back Penny again?” Velvet asked sincerely.

Jaune sighed. “It’s unfortunately not that simple. You see, Penny died as a flesh and blood person, and her robot form had been destroyed. We used the staff on her before Salem got it. Even if Dr. Polendina could recreate her, she wouldn’t be the exact same. But I don’t think it’s entirely out of the question. The only person who can really answer that is Dr. Polendina himself.”

“Then it sounds like we should head back to Atlas,” Flint said. “Missions have been going there nonstop since the fall. They’re trying to get the CCT up and running twenty-four seven, but between that and the other projects the engineers need a ton of resources. I’ve heard rumors that they’re even trying to get some factories set up here in Vacuo.”

“We were planning on running an Atlas mission by Theodore and Winter today, actually,” Jaune said.

“It’d be good to get out into the field with you guys,” Coco said. “I’m eager to see if my team still outclasses yours.”

“In your dreams, Coco,” Nora called from the other side of the room.

“Nora!” Velvet exclaimed.

“Welcome back guys,” Ren said, following close behind Nora. “Mission go well?”

“Damn right it did. We secured some heavy weapons for the fight,” Neon said cheerfully.

Emerald walked in behind Ren and Nora and stopped suddenly when she saw Coco and Yatsuhashi. “Uh. Hi, guys,” she said weakly.

Coco tipped her aviators down again, staring straight at Emerald. “I see you got your freedom. You still owe me a pair of glasses, if I remember correctly,” she said.

Emerald laughed nervously. “You remember right. I hope these will do.” She pulled a case out of one of her pockets and walked it over to Coco. “I was hoping to see you sometime. I picked these up yesterday.”

Coco took the peace offering and looked at Emerald with respect and an appraising eye. “I may have misjudged you. You’re back in my good graces, for now. Me and Yatsu still owe you for that loss, but keep being sweet and we’ll see what happens.” Yatsuhashi shrugged at this, apparently not worried about settling that old score.

Emerald blushed slightly, clearly a little flustered, and sat at the table. Nora gave her a very exaggerated wink, then winced as Emerald kicked her under the table.

“Oscar still asleep?” Jaune asked his team as they settled in.

Ren answered. “He’s not, just having a rough morning, I think. He seemed a little lost in some of Ozpin’s memories when we talked to him.”

Jaune sighed. “I was worried about that. I’m positive it was Ozpin sleeping in that bed last night, and Oscar had gotten pushed back while he was asleep. I don’t think he has much time left.”

“It will be ok, Jaune. We have a plan now, we just need to get working on it,” Ren said.

“Right. Well, let’s get some breakfast in us and go see Theodore,” Jaune said.

*

Before his team went to see the headmaster, Jaune stopped by his room to check on Oscar. The young man was awake when Jaune got there, but when Jaune saw his eyes, he knew it was Ozpin sitting in the bed.

“Good morning. Hard night?” Jaune asked sympathetically.

“Yes. I’ve been trying to wake Oscar, but he’s gone deep. I’m worried that he’s slipping away,” Ozpin said, concern tinging his voice.

“Yeah, we were actually going to head up to the headmaster’s office, see if there was a way to start working on Dr. Polendina’s project,” Jaune said.

“That’s good to know. It’s an ambitious idea, and I hope it can come to fruition. Jaune, can we talk about yesterday? Man to man?” Ozpin asked, sharp eyes piercing Jaune’s own.

Jaune sighed. “Yeah. I’ve been meaning to talk to you, just, been putting it off. I’m worried every time you come forward, Oscar slips away a little more.”

“Oscar feels the same way. I’m trying my best to give him time, but it’s inevitable. It always is.”

“How do you deal with it?” Jaune asked, pacing now in the cramped room. “How do you keep all those past lives straight, all of your memories in line? The memories of all the people who you used to be?”

“It isn’t easy. They eventually take on a dream-like quality, and it can be hard to separate one life from the next. Who am I, really? When there are so many different people that make up ‘me’?”

“Right? I just feel like the Rusted Knight was a completely different life, a different person, but it was still me. I’m having a hard time reconciling ‘Jaune the Huntsman’ with ‘Jaune the Rusted Knight’. I went through the Ever After without any of my friends from Remnant. How do you deal with people who have one version of you as an old schoolmate in their minds, and one version of the fairytale character you were? I had a version of the Rusted Knight from when I was a kid bouncing around in there, do you know how confusing that was, when I realized I was living it?” Jaune kept pacing, and Ozpin let him talk.

“When I met Alyx and Lewis, I felt like I had a purpose again. It didn’t take long from there to conclude that I was living the events of ‘The Girl Who Fell Through the World’. Only, they didn’t all match up. I drove myself crazy trying to live up to my own expectations.”

“I can imagine the difficulties, believe me,” Ozpin said.

“Even so, after we got all settled in, there were a lot of good times, in those early days.” Jaune chuckled.

“Try to keep those in mind, if you can,” Ozpin said. “They’ll help remind you why it’s all worth it.”

Jaune sighed and sat on his bed. “I’m trying to, but I have memories, from just before I fell, that have come back to me in sharp detail. They had been buried under a haze of time, but then I met back up with Ruby and her team and it was all fresh again. My two worlds had collided.”

“It isn’t easy, I know. Coming to terms that one life has ended, and another has started. Trying to get a sense of where things had been left, what needed to happen next.” The two men sat in silence for a short while, Jaune lost in thought.

“Have you done anything that you regretted, Ozpin? That you felt like you couldn’t come back from?” Jaune finally asked, Penny’s last moments playing over again in his head.

“I have more regrets than any other person in this world, Jaune. I’m sure of it.”

“How do you keep going?” Jaune asked, looking at Ozpin plaintively.

“I remember the good in the world, Jaune. There’s always good, age after age, despite all the bad. I keep those memories in mind and press onward. It isn’t easy. Gods, but it’s hard, especially lately. I just have to remember the good days, the good people. They’re what we’re fighting for. That’s what keeps me going.”

Jaune sighed again. “I’ll try. Thanks, for this. I needed to talk this out.”

“You’re very welcome, Jaune.” Ozpin said.

The two men sat in silence for a short while, then Jaune asked, “Oscar any closer to the surface?”

“Yes, thankfully. He’s waking up. Give him a little more time, but I think we’re ok, for now.”

“Good,” Jaune said with relief.

*

Half an hour later, the five members of team JORNE were on the elevator up to see Theodore, ready to face the day. The elevator dinged, and they exited the elevator into the short hallway that led to the Headmasters office. Raven and Qrow were standing in the hall already, and looked at the young Hunters as they lined up next to them.

“Ah, good,” said Qrow. “I think Theo meant to talk to you five. Save him some time since you’re already here.”

“Do you know what about?” asked Jaune.

“An assignment, most likely. That’s the usual reason, anyway.”

“You guys meeting with him too?” Nora asked.

“Yup,” Qrow responded.

Theodore’s office door opened, and Winter stepped out, accompanied by two Atlesian naval officers. One of them had a general’s pips on his shoulders. All three had grim expressions on their faces. Winter nodded to the assembled Hunters in the hallway, and smiled quickly at Jaune, but didn’t say anything as her and her entourage entered the elevator. She looks worried, Jaune thought.

“Welp. You lot coming?” Qrow asked as he and his sister stepped into the office.

JORNE all filed in and were greeted by Theodore, who was standing in the middle of the room and examining a large holographic map that was hovering around him. That looks like an arial view of the city, and the outlying desert, Jaune thought as he looked at it.

“Headmaster, did you get our plan for Ozpin from Dr. Polendina?” Jaune asked, not waiting for Theodore to greet them.

“I did. It’s a very bold plan, and I approve of it. However, it needs to be put on hold. We’ve got a more immediate concern.” He gestured at the map. “What do you see?” he asked. He was using an unlit cigar as a pointer.

“A top-down view of the city, with the defenses outlined,” Ren said promptly.

“Good. And do you know what these are?” Theodore asked, indicating a series of red dots that were scattered throughout the desert around the city.

“Those are mines,” Emerald said, stepping forward. “Designed specifically to destroy blind worms before they get too close to the city, without posing a danger to people on the surface.”

“Quite right.” Theodore made a waving gesture with his hand, and several of the dots vanished, leaving a wide swathe of unprotected desert that led straight to the walls. “We’ve lost sixty percent of them in the last twelve hours.”

“Salem is testing the defenses?” Oscar asked quietly.

“It seems that way, yes. I’ve never seen them targeted in this fashion before. The Atlesian Airforce confirmed thirty-four blind worm kills overnight, and the grimm kept going for the same mines until they had destroyed them. They were killing themselves en masse to clear out mines. I want to know why.” Theodore was pacing now, thinking out loud. “We know Salem was in Vale very recently. We do not know her precise objective there, but she seems to have made Beacon her base of operations. As far as I’m aware, the Crown is still safe, yes Ozpin?”

Ozpin nodded. “That contingency is still in place, though we may need to move into the next phase.”

“What phase? Oz, are you keeping things from us again?” Nora asked, anger tinging her voice.

“The less people that know about the crown, the better, Miss Valkyrie. Please trust me on this,” Ozpin said.

Nora crossed her arms and glowered at Oz but didn’t say anything else. Jaune was inclined to agree with her, as Ozpin had kept several things from them in the past that would have been good to know sooner. But, with the influence and reach Salem had, keeping the information out of the hands of the many probably was the smart choice. Jaune didn’t have to like it, though.

“So if the crown is safe, and she’s in Vale, what is she after? Surely she would be here in person if she was after the sword, and the Summer Maiden is still missing. Unless she got to her first.” Theodore continued to pace, frowning. The assembled Hunters watched him, waiting.

“We don’t know the whereabouts of Cinder, Mercury, and Tyrian. Their faces have been programmed into every Atlesian Knight and printed on wanted posters throughout the kingdom. So what is it? What’s her play?” He sighed.

He came to a decision. “Alright. Raven, I need you to go to Tai, let him know that we’re on high alert here. I want to recall RWBY, just in case they’re needed here. Team JORNE, I want you to go to the wall and keep an eye out. It may prove boring work, but I want as many Hunters as possible at the perimeter of the city, ready to defend it. Qrow, I’m sending you on reconnaissance. Fly out and see what there is to see, then report back to me. Radar is showing a potential sandstorm brewing, so keep that in mind. Any questions?” Theodore finished as he pulled out his punch cutter and trimmed the end from his cigar.

“Not so much a question as a statement, sir.” Jaune said. “We spoke with Ghira and the White Fang last night. It seems that team SSSNN broke off their original mission to pursue a lead they came across while in Menagerie. Sun thinks he may have found the Summer Maiden. Ghira isn’t so sure. He said he would talk to you about it.” Jaune stood straight while delivering this news, hands clasped behind his back.

Theodore paused, his lighter halfway raised to his cigar, and snapped it shut with a click. He pulled out his scroll and went through his messages, leaning back against his desk as he did so. His frown deepened, and then he sighed. “So he has. With everything else going on I hadn’t seen that yet. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.”

Theodore fiddled with his lighter, flipping it open and closed rapidly. “Let’s hope that lead pans out. For now there isn’t a lot I can do about it.” He finally sparked the lighter and lit his cigar, inhaling a deep pull of the fragrant smoke. “You all have jobs to do. Dismissed, Hunters.”

*

Jaune and his team had made their way to the outer wall. Theodore had designated a section of it for them to watch, and they weren’t the only Huntsmen team he saw on patrol. The Atlesian military was also out in force, Paladins, Knights, and foot soldiers all patrolling the top of the huge sandstone structure. Jaune’s team and the various soldiers were all standing on the first of two walls. The outer wall housed most of the Vacuo behind it, though the poor, desperate, or dumb had still built structures on the outside. Those buildings were all in ruins now, the increase of grimm activity making them entirely untenable. There was a brand-new shanty town that had sprung up directly inside the wall, in many cases built right up against the structure itself.

The inner wall protected Shade itself, and had its own contingent of protectors. Both walls had gun emplacements along their lengths, a mix of the older Vacuan cannons and the newer Atlesian artillery. Jaune could feel the tension in the city behind him, a living thing, sharp edged and vibrant. That alone would be enough to start drawing the grimm in. The people had survived enough to know that the increased military presence and the ships firing all night meant something was brewing, and every civilian was on high alert. He could see a string of people moving towards the inner-city shelters, survival instincts driving the people who lived right inside the wall to seek protection, even if they didn’t know what from yet.

Jaune stared out over the desert, that massive flat expanse of sand, dotted here and there by shrubs or cacti. He could see an ancient riverbed meandering its way off into the distance, dry as bone now. According to Ren, the river still flowed, but over the years drought and then sudden rains had sunk the river underground. It was the source of the city’s water, and the school itself was situated over the spring that the river fed.

Beside him, Ren stood stock-still, gazing out over the desolate landscape. Oscar was leaning against the wall, trying not to fall asleep in the early morning sun. Nora was also leaning against the rock, elbows on top of the wall and hands supporting her head, entire posture speaking of boredom. And Emerald was looking at the neighboring gun emplacement, apparently admiring the weapon.

“I know this isn’t the most riveting assignment, guys, but we still have a job to do,” Jaune said, marshalling his team’s attention and reminding them of what they were supposed to be doing.

“Right. Sorry, Jaune. Long night,” Oscar said, rubbing his eyes and refocusing on the desert.

“This is booooring,” Nora complained, not moving from her position. “Why can’t we at least be moving or something?” she griped.

“That’s an Atlesian Mark IV Lancer,” Emerald said, still looking at the gun emplacement. “It’s a type of energy cannon; it uses ultra refined dust to fire lances of pure destruction that can travel kilometers. They’re usually mounted on their airships. I didn’t know they had them available as stationary guns. I honestly feel a little better about hanging out on the wall with the thing there.”

Jaune looked at the emplacement, noting the sleek, silver-white metal of the barrel and the two-man crew that were seated behind it. “I didn’t know you were a weapons buff, Emerald,” Jaune said. “However, as cool as that is, we still need to have our eyes outward, please.”

Emerald rolled her eyes at this but looked to the horizon anyway. Nora sighed again. Jaune sighed internally. Only a few more hours of this. Hopefully my team doesn’t implode from boredom. I, However, will be very grateful if nothing exciting happens.

*

About the same time Jaune was catching up with teams CVFY and FNKI, Ruby awoke to the sound of a tray being set down on her side table. Stretching, she rolled over to see Yang seated by her bed.

“Morning, Rubes. You doing ok?” Yang asked. Her eyes were still puffy from sleep.

“Mhmm. How about you? Last night wasn’t easy,” Ruby said, sitting up and taking a piece of toast off the tray.

“I’m ok. I’m sorry I lost my temper last night. Summer was your mom, and I’m the one who blew my stack,” Yang said, subdued.

“Hey, you knew her longer than I did. She raised you, too. It’s only natural that you were upset,” Ruby said, nibbling at her toast.

“But, once again, something happened that affected you too, and I was only thinking about myself. I should have been there for you, and I wasn’t. I’m a pretty crappy sister.” There were now tears shining in Yang’s eyes.

“You’re not a bad sister, Yang. You’re human. And besides, you brought me breakfast in bed. I could get used to this kind of service,” Ruby said, smiling gently.

“I just, hearing that Raven left her, like she left so many other people, like she left me, just set me off. How can someone be so selfish?” Yang asked bitterly.

“You’ve seen first-hand what fear does to people, Yang. What it did to Lionheart, Ironwood. People don’t act rationally. And Salem is definitely something to be scared of.”

“How are you so calm, Ruby?” Yang asked, looking her younger sister in the eyes, pain showing clearly in her own.

“I’m sad, Yang. Of course I’m sad. I miss Mom. I wish things had happened differently. But, Raven is trying. I think we need to give her a chance. And besides, you really think Mom would have left Salem alone if Raven had said no? She would have fought her regardless. That’s just who Mom was.” Ruby reached out and put a hand on Yang’s shoulder. “I love you. Thanks for coming to talk to me.”

Yang sniffed. “Love you too, Rubes. Gods, I wish we didn’t have to deal with this.”

“Me either. But I’m glad I have you and the others with me for it,” Ruby said.

“Yeah. I’m glad we have you too.”

*

After Ruby finished her breakfast in bed, her and Yang went downstairs to rejoin everyone else. Tai was in the kitchen, sitting at the table and sipping his coffee. Weiss and Blake were on the lawn, observed by a very vocal Zwei as they had a practice duel. “Morning, girls,” Tai said, smiling as his daughters entered the room. “You both ok?”

“Yeah, thanks Dad,” Ruby said.

“Yeah. Sorry for losing my cool yesterday,” Yang said.

“Raven dropped a bomb on us. I would have been more surprised if you didn’t lose your temper, Yang. Maybe don’t tell Troy you punched one of my trees to death, though.” Tai said. “You guys gonna be ok, next time she stops in?”

Yang shook out her mane of hair and sighed. “Yeah. Ruby made me realize that Mom would have done it anyway, with or without Raven. Raven should have told us sooner, but I can’t fault Mom for being Mom.”

“Ok. Good. I think you two should try to sit down, talk things out.” Tai said. “Just my two cents,” he added hastily, raising his hands in response to Yang’s glare.

“You’re probably right.” Yang said, sighing again.

“What’s the plan for the town today, Dad?” Ruby asked.

“Continue the work. I’ve sent Melody and the boys back out to the cove, they’ll be patrolling that beach for the next few days. I still want to know if there’s anything of use on those ships that the refugees beached. You and your team are good candidates to go check them out. Me and Helsing will provide protection for the foresters. More of the same, really,” Tai said, draining the last of his coffee.

“Sounds good. Any grimm attack over night?” Ruby asked.

“Slate said it was quiet. I think we destroyed enough to have bought a few days of peace, but we’ll see. Grimm numbers have been on the rise since Salem’s forces attacked Beacon. I’m sure they’ll be back before long,” Tai said.

The door opened as Blake and Weiss entered the room, Zwei trotting at their heels. “Good morning, Ruby!” Weiss said as the two women sat at the table. “Are you doing ok today?”

“Hey, Weiss. Yeah, I’m ok. Grateful Raven told us what happened, even if it wasn’t happy news.” Ruby said, tracing the grain in the wooden tabletop as she spoke.

“We’re here for you, all of you,” Blake said from her seat next to Yang. “I’m sorry about Summer. If it’s any consolation, it sounds like she was a tremendous woman and mother, and she fought to the end trying to protect you.”

“We did always call her Supermom,” Yang agreed, leaning into Blake.

“It stings, having it brought up again, feeling it fresh, but we have some kind of closure now, at least.” Ruby said, petting Zwei.

“We always knew that there was a good chance that we would die, “standing against Salem,” Tai said. “It hurts, but like Ruby said, we have some closure now. She went out taking to the fight to Salem, instead of waiting for the end to come to her.”

The group lapsed into silence, everyone reflecting on Summer Rose and what she had stood for. Yang was the one to break it, getting up from the table. “Right, enough moping. We’re alive and kicking, and there are people to help. Let’s go.” Zwei barked his assent, and they made their way to town.

*

An hour later, as Ruby and her team, including the two students, were getting ready, Tai called her. “Ruby, Raven’s here. We’ve got some news from Shade. Meet me at the school?” Tai said.

“Sure thing, Dad.” She hung up the call and turned to her team. “We’ve got news from Shade. Tai wants us to meet at the school.”

“Good news or bad news?” Blake asked.

“He didn’t say, but Raven is back. A lot earlier than we were expecting her,” Ruby said. Yang frowned.

“Are we supposed to come with?” Troy asked.

“He didn’t tell you not to. And you’re still operating as part of my team, so come on.” Ruby started walking towards Signal.

“Is Raven that woman who helped out a couple nights ago?” Rime asked as they walked.

“Yeah,” Ruby said.

“She’s a pretty good fighter. I wonder if she’d ever be up for teaching,” Rime said.

“Good luck. She’s not really the nurturing, teacherly type,” Yang said.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Rime asked, bristling a little bit.

“She’s my mom. And a solid contender for worst parent on Remnant,” Yang said.

“Oh. Wait, so her and Tai?”- Rime started to ask.

“Yeah,” Ruby said quickly. “She was with him, a long time ago. But she, ah, left, when Yang was a baby.”

“Well, this just got awkward,” Troy opined, looking from Yang to Rime.

Rime shot him a withering look. “Yang, I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”

“Hey, I’m not blaming you. She dropped some bad news on us last night, wouldn’t be surprised if she’s doubling down now.”

They entered the school, and Tai and Raven were waiting for them inside. “Bad news,” Tai started. “Theodore is pretty confident Shade is going to be attacked soon, he wants your team to head back.”

Raven stood, calm façade on her face even as she avoided looking at Yang or Ruby. “I can take you back now, if you’re ready,” she said, gaze meeting Ruby’s briefly and then dropping again.

“Dad, you guys going to be ok here?” Ruby asked Tai.

“We’ll manage. You’re needed where you’re needed, I won’t stop you from going. Just be careful, ok?” He said, looking at his daughters.

“We will. Can we talk first, before we go back to Shade?” Yang asked, trying to catch Raven’s eye.

“Sure. Maybe somewhere private?” Raven said, giving Tai a brief, plaintive look.

“Abolutely. You guys do what you need to. Rime, Troy, sorry you two, but you’re coming with me. You’re still my students, after all,” Tai said.

“Well, it was fun being on your team, Ruby,” Troy said, holding out a hand for Ruby to shake. “Good luck fighting the big bad.”

“You were a pleasure to mentor, Troy!” Ruby told the young man. “Keep up the good work.”

“You guys are ok, I guess,” Rime said. Then she smiled. “Really though, thanks for taking us on. I’ll try to be more… open to working with others?”

“You did good, too, Rime. Just remember there isn’t anything wrong with relying on people besides yourself. Take care, I’m sure we’ll see you both again soon,” Ruby told them.

“Good luck at Shade. Kill some grimm for us,” Rime added.

“Oh, we will, don’t worry about that,” Yang said.

Their goodbyes said, Ruby, her team, and Raven faced off.

“Just so you know, I’m still mad at you, but I am sorry I lost my temper last night,” Yang said, defiantly looking her mother in the eyes.

“I deserved worse, I think. I’m surprised you didn’t yell at me too, Ruby,” Raven said.

“I’m not happy with you, but I’m not angry. I think that Mom would have gone and done it with or without you. It would have been nice to know, and I’m sorry you ran out on her, but I think you’ve been beating yourself up enough already,” Ruby said.

Raven considered this, then said, “That’s a pretty mature response, Ruby. I don’t know that I deserve it. I can’t just pretend like nothing happened, and I just hope it isn’t too late for me to help.”

“My personal feelings aside, I am glad you’re here. I’m still pretty pissed, but I think I would be more pissed if you weren’t here. So there’s that,” Yang said.

“While we’re clearing the air, I just wanted to say that I haven’t forgotten how you took me hostage,” Weiss said, eyes flashing dangerously.

“You did go on the run, and crashed your ship in my territory,” Raven said. “I wasn’t going to turn down that opportunity.”

Yang and Weiss both glared at her.

“But,” Raven continued, “I know that was wrong, and I’m sorry.”

“Hmph.” Weiss sniffed, but her expression had thawed slightly.

“What’s the situation at Shade?” Blake asked.

“Well, here’s what we know,” Raven started, and then she told them everything she knew.

*

Qrow, in corvid form, flew west over the desert. One of the perks of the form Ozpin gave him was his ability to cover ground fast without expending a lot of energy, which came in handy in the desert. He flew over dunes, shrubs, cacti, rocks; an endless parade of desert landscape flashed below him. Before long he came to the first spot that had once been mined, and he circled it, keeping to the sky. There was an odd circular pattern in the sand from the shockwave made when the mine detonated, a series of ripples that spread outward. Other than that, there was no indication that anything else had happened here. He flew on.

The other mines told the same story, and then he was past the limits of Vacuo’s defenses. Still he flew, and nothing out of the ordinary stuck out to him. There were no tell-tale trails in the sand that the blind worms left when burrowing, there were no people that he could see, and there were just a few grimm spaced out sporadically, all headed towards the city. Weather reports had suggested a potential sandstorm brewing, but there wasn’t even a sign of that.

After another half-hour or so of flight, he found an outcropping of stone and landed in its shade to take a break. He looked at the angle of the sun and knew the hottest part of the day was coming. Midday under the Vacuan sun was brutal. He turned back into a human and took a long drink of water. Pulling out his scroll, he sent a brief message to Theodore.

Nothing out of the ordinary spotted yet. Taking a break from the heat, west of the city roughly five miles. Will continue my search.

Message sent, he leaned back against the warm stone. The sun was making him sleepy, and he yawned. The horizon was clear, and the air was dead and still. Still no sign of any storm. May as well rest a bit, avoid the worst of the heat. Before long, without entirely meaning too, he drifted off into sleep.

He awoke suddenly to the feeling of sand pelting against his face. Throwing an arm up, he stood and looked out over the desert. sh*t. There’s that sandstorm, he thought. Should not have fallen asleep. There was a massive, billowing brown wall of sand on the horizon. He hurriedly took flight again, wings straining against the wind. The storm hadn’t caught him yet, but he knew they moved fast over the open desert.

As he flew, he kept one eye towards the storm. A shape emerged from the wall of dust, struggling through the wind and the sand. An Atlesian Manta, wings damaged, paint scoured and chipped, was trying to get ahead of the storm. There was a lone figure standing on top of the aircraft with what looked like a spear in their hands. It looked like they were trying to ward off the storm, and more, it looked like it was working. There was a bubble of safe space around the Manta, and it started to gain on the wall of sand behind it.

After a brief internal debate, Qrow swooped towards the ship. As he got closer, he saw the figure on the ship was a young Huntress dressed in green, wearing scaled armor under her clothing, and wielding a spear. She looked vaguely familiar but he couldn’t place her. He landed behind her, unnoticed as she focused on what she was doing.

The Huntress was twirling her spear in a slow circle, and the sand and wind responded to her movements. She must be using her semblance to create a safe space around the craft, Qrow thought. And then it hit him. This was one of the Huntresses that had been at the Vytal Festival. He had a vague, alcohol-soaked memory of watching her team fight against team SSSN.

He was content to hitch a ride as a crow, particularly since he didn’t want to surprise the person who was keeping the aircraft from getting knocked from the sky by the wind. If he could, he would have entered the Manta, but the sliding doors were shut against the storm. His peaceful ride was suddenly interrupted by a black figure emerging from the howling wind. It was a ravager, one of the bat-like grimm that inhabited the deserts of Vacuo. The Huntress deftly speared it out of the air as it dove, shrieking, at her, but when her concentration lapsed the bubble of safe space eroded and the Manta was buffeted by wind. She swore and pulled her concentration back together, but then two more ravagers came flying at her.

Qrow shifted back into human form and dashed in front of the Huntress, cutting both ravagers from the air, scythe slashing in a deadly crescent. He heard a female voice swear robustly behind him, and the Manta bucked as the wind hit it again. “Whatever you’re doing, focus on that!” he yelled over his shoulder. “I’ll keep the grimm off of you.”

He kept Harbinger in front of him, legs braced, trying his damndest to keep his balance against the slipstream rushing past him. Another ravager appeared out of the sand and dove at him. He flipped Harbinger and caught it with a blast from his shotgun. The corpse tumbled past, getting swept away by the wind as it smoked into nothingness. The Manta continued to gain on the wall of sand, and as Qrow watched he could see the silhouettes of hundreds of bat-winged figures in the topmost reaches of the sandstorm. Then, a gargantuan coiling figure, shrouded by the swirling sands, rose and fell again, like a leviathan breaching the waves. Qrow felt a chill. That was the mother of all blind worms. That must be what the others were clearing a path for. Theodore needs to know, now.

He fumbled for his earpiece, dialing Theodore by memorization from his pocket. He didn’t want to risk losing the scroll by pulling it out. Theodore picked up, and Qrow started shouting into the wind. “Theo! Sandstorm and grimm headed for the city. Hundreds if not thousands of ravagers. Blind worm, biggest I’ve seen, in the storm itself. Get ready!” He disconnected, hoping Theodore got the gist of his message.

He looked back over his shoulder at the Huntress. She still stood, fatigue showing on her face as she kept the storm at bay in the space around their ship. “I’m Qrow,” he called back to her. “Can you keep that up until we get to the city?”

“Do I have a choice?” she called back, glaring daggers at him.

“I guess not.” He spun and cut another ravager out of the air as it dove at them. The ship would have surely gone down if he hadn’t shown up, there was no way the girl would have been able to keep the wind off and defend herself against the grimm at the same time. He caught a glimpse of Shade rising on the horizon. They were getting close. He just hoped Theodore was ready.

*

Jaune and his team listened to the message that Theodore had sent out to all the defenders of Vacuo. There was a sandstorm full of grimm headed towards the city, and there was a huge blindworm coming as well. He could see the storm itself, a massive wall of airborne sand that reached several hundred feet high across the horizon. He had heard that the storms in Vacuo could shred the skin right off of you if you weren’t protected against them, and wasn’t looking forward to fighting in it.

As it approached, he could see the grimm, too. There were thousands of ravagers swooping around the top of the roiling sand. The noise was indescribable. The howl of the wind mixed with the screeches of the bat-grimm set his teeth on edge, and he wasn’t the only one. Nora had a grimace on her face, and Oscar had hunched his shoulders to put his collar up over his ears. Sirens had begun to sound in the city, and there was a din of commotion from behind them as the civilians scrambled for shelters.

The gun emplacement beside them began to fire, adding the shriek of its weaponry to the clamor. Beams of laser-red lanced out over the sands, cutting a swathe through the grimm. The other guns along the wall followed suit, filling the air with fire and destruction. For every ravager that was incinerated though, another took its place. The swarm seemed endless.

Jaune could make out a smaller ship, a Manta, racing ahead of the storm. There were two figures atop it, one dashing to-and-fro, cutting grimm out of the air as they attacked the ship. Jaune recognized Qrow’s fighting style, even from a distance. He couldn’t tell who the other person was, but they seemed to be doing something to keep the ship up.

Overhead, the frigates added their firepower to the mix. Many of them employed weapons like the lancer on the wall, and glittering beams of energy seared out into the storm. Dozens of grimm died, burning. It wasn’t enough.

The Manta roared overhead, rattling loose stones with its passage, trailing smoke from one engine, the storm hot on its tail. “Brace!” Jaune yelled as the wall of sand hit them. He could feel hundreds of minute impacts to his aura shield as the sand blasted him. His team all ducked behind the wall, weathering the immediate onslaught of the storm. Then the ravagers, high overhead, let loose a simultaneous howl that made Jaune’s earpiece shriek with distortion. Flinching, he pawed it out of his ear. He could still hear the feedback, a high-pitched squealing that cut through the wind and gunfire. That’s not great, he thought.

He was now cut off from Theodore and the military. If the ravagers kept up that howl, it was going to interfere with their radio transmissions. The fight had just gotten a lot harder. He risked a look over the wall just in time to catch sight of a titanic figure rushing the gate. His blood ran cold. A maw that looked like it could swallow the world opened, rimmed with fangs the size of trees. It hit the sandstone wall of Vacuo like a battering ram, smashing through the ancient gate as though it were paper. Juane’s team was knocked off their feet from the impact. As he clambered back to a standing position, he saw the huge worm laying half in and half out of the city, the void-like maw vomiting forth a tide of grimm. The wall breached, comms hamstrung by the ravagers, and visuals hampered by the storm, things looked bad. Very bad.

*

From his office atop Shade, Theodore watched the storm roll in. He didn’t see the red lightning that had always been reported when Salem was present, but the situation was still grave. He didn’t know precisely what the enemy was after, but their plan was brutally simple. And effective. Attack under the cover of the sandstorm. If it killed some grimm, so what. Salem could make more. Clear out the mines to make way for the huge blind worm that had breached his city and spewed forth legions of grimm into the streets. Use the ravagers as a screen, utilizing their natural ability to create sonic waves to interfere with their comms and debilitate the ships.

He couldn’t contact Winter. Raven was in Patch and would be coming back into hell. Through the tempest of sand, he could just make out the Manta he presumed Qrow was on setting down on Shade’s landing pad. Amity was also barely visible through the raging sand, the bulky figure beset by grimm. The floating command center was trying to gain altitude, the newly installed anti-air guns spewing thousands of rounds at the ravagers that were swarming everywhere. The frigates and other airships were similarly swamped, the ravagers making it difficult for the larger ships to bring their railguns to bear on the blind worm. Sirens continued their apocalyptic wail, rising and falling above the sound of the winds and the shrieks of the grimm.

Theodore pulled his ruby gloves taught, flexing his fingers. He rolled his neck and stretched out, leaning first one way and then the other. His spine crackled satisfactorily as it flexed. Then, with a predatory grin on his face, he opened his office window and leapt into space. It was time to go to work

Chapter 11: Chapter Eleven

Chapter Text

Chapter Eleven

Winter was in Amity’s C.I.C., briefing the officers on the potential threat they faced, and was going over protocol of what to do in case of attack. One of the adjutants that was present rushed over to her, slip of paper in his hands.

He snapped off a salute. “Ma’am! The scanners are picking up a sandstorm heading this way. It will hit us within the next thirty minutes.”

Winter took the report from the young officer and dismissed him. They had been anticipating a storm, but the scans she now saw showed a wall of wind and sand that stretched across a third of Vacuo. They were about to get hit by a monstrous storm, and the grimm had been clearing out the mines leading to the city. Her sense of foreboding deepened, and she was about to start issuing orders when a broadcast from Theodore came through.

“Defenders of Vacuo! I just received a report that the sandstorm heading our way is inhabited by grimm. There is no word on Salem, but we need to prepare for the worst. I’m dispatching all available Hunter teams to defensive positions. Good luck.” He broke the wide-band connection and then made a direct call to Winter.

“I don’t need to tell you what to do. I don’t like the idea of fighting in that storm, but it seems we have no choice. How are those new Paladins coming along?”

“They’re going through a final shakedown now, and pilots have already been selected for them. We’ll be able to count on them,” Winter told Theodore.

“Good. General Merryweather ready for his first battle command over the combined Remnant forces?” Theodore asked.

“Yes sir. We’re ready,” Winter replied. General Merryweather was a career soldier who had been in the Atlesian Airforce for thirty years. He had held the rank of Captain until the Battle for Atlas, and in the wake of that battle had been promoted to fill the gaps left in the officer files. Winter thought he was capable, if reserved, and he had been chosen to command the combined forces in battle to leave Winter and Theodore free to fight on the front lines. Time would tell if the Vacuans would follow his commands, and Winter hoped that foolish pride and nationalism wouldn’t get in the way.

She walked over to where the older officer was standing, hands clasped behind his back, staring out the observation window of the C.I.C. “We’re as ready we’ll ever be, Sir.”

“It should be you, you know,” he said mildly, still looking out the window.

“You have years more experience than me, Sir.” Winter replied, standing next to him and looking out the window herself. She could see the wall on the horizon that she knew was the storm.

“You were General Ironwood’s protégé. Everyone knew he was grooming you for command. And now you have Maiden Powers, as well.” Merryweather’s voice was still mild.

“And we all saw what happened to General Ironwood, Sir. The people know my association with him. I’m worried that they’ll think that I’ll snap like he did.”

Merryweather’s warm brown eyes met Winter’s ice blue ones. “And they’ve seen what you’ve done to protect them. I think they’d follow you, Winter.”

“Thank you, Sir. But I’m not sure I’m ready for that yet. I’m content working with Theodore and leaving battlefield command to you. I’m better suited for field work, anyway.”

He laughed. “I won’t argue with you there. But don’t sell yourself short. You’ve got great potential to be a leader.” Merryweather turned around to address the room. Most of the assembled soldiers were from Atlas, but there were a handful from other nationalities as well. Military representatives from Vale, Mistral, Vacuo, and representatives from Menagerie’s militia contingent, were all present to relay orders to their respective forces.

“Defenders of Remnant. We’re assembled here, in the first joint military operation ever in our history, as five nations united in one cause. There is an enemy force howling its way towards us. Salem herself isn’t confirmed yet, but we can’t rule her out. Something is commanding those grimm. We are here to stop them. Shade and its people are our first priority. The vault is our second. Many of you have experience fighting Salem and her forces, some of you don’t. I can tell you that they will not give any quarter. They accept no surrender; they know no pity. They fight to the death, and so shall we.” General Merryweather strode across the room to take his position in the command chair.

“All ships, you have permission to fire when targets present themselves,” he commanded over the officer’s radio band.

Winter snapped a salute to the General, and then left the C.I.C after he returned it and dismissed her. Her place wasn’t on the bridge anymore, it was in the fight directly. She made her way to the launch bay. The remaining members of the Ace-Ops, as well as the newly formed Omega Paladin squad, were waiting for her there, and she would be giving them their orders. As she walked, she felt a faint shudder through the decking as Amity’s weapons opened fire, and the gravity shifted under her as the thrusters fired. They were gaining altitude. She frowned, checking her earpiece, and then winced as a horrible shrieking noise emanated from it. She reflexively took it out to protect her hearing.

What in the world was that? She thought. Her walk turned to a trot, and then a run. She needed to know what was going on with their comms. As she rushed into the bay, Harriot, Marrow, and Elm greeted her.

“What happened to our comms, Ma’am?” Marrow asked as she joined them.

“I don’t know,” Winter replied. “They were fine a moment ago. I wonder if the storm is causing interference.”

Harriet started to tap a foot, a nervous habit of hers that had returned over the past weeks. “I don’t like this, Schnee. It feels too much like Atlas,” she said.

“Harriet is right, Ma’am,” Elm said, pointedly emphasizing the honorific while shooting a look at Harriet, which the other woman ignored. “It feels too much like we’ve been taken unawares.”

“Attention all crew, the grimm are causing radio interference. Repeat, the ravagers are the cause of the radio interference. Termination of this threat is high priority,” a voice said over the intercom.

“That explains that, then,” Winter said. “Let’s see what we can do about it. Reestablishing radio communications with our forces is our priority. I’ll go first, you take the Manta and follow me down after I create an opening. Omega Team, you are to prioritize the thickest fighting. Drop where you can do the most good, I trust your judgment.”

The Ace-Ops nodded their understanding and loaded onto the Manta, and Omega Team saluted her and made their way to their Paladins, nestled neatly into drop pods. Winter walked to the access hatch normally used by maintenance crews to access the outside of the structure, and climbed inside. Once the door sealed behind her, she tapped a code into the control panel to open the outside door. The sound of sand scouring the hull was deafening from this new vantage of hers, and she braced herself to leap into it. Only, the door didn’t open.

Frowning, she looked at the panel. It was flashing an error code at her. Hydraulic Obstruction. What on Earth? A fleshy black shape suddenly obscured the window set at head level in the door. Winter recoiled reflexively, and then saw the fiery red eye staring in at her. The ravager shrieked, scrabbling at the door. Well, that complicates things, she thought to herself. She was going to have to override the controls if the door sensors were jammed up as well.

She firmly pulled the red lever set next to the console out and twisted it clockwise. It came loose and exposed a red button. She punched this as well, and the door blew explosively outward, taking the ravager with it. Winter smiled, icy winds beginning to whip around her as her eyes flamed blue. She stepped into the whirling maelstrom of howling wind and shrieking grimm, expanding her own personal storm outward.

The Maiden powers surged through her, and she could feel the winds of the sandstorm pulling against the winds she had conjured. Winter focused, pulling strand after strand of the sandstorm into her own blizzard. It fought her. She could feel the primal forces of nature when she tapped into her powers, ancient and formidable, and the sandstorm dwarfed her. It felt like she was a child with a hand fan trying to redirect a hurricane. She slipped into a trance-like state, letting herself feel the storm, become the storm. With a surge of effort, she expanded her control in a wide burst, and tore the ravagers in the sky around the launch bay out of the air.

She let the wind slip from her control until she was only keeping herself aloft, and sighed in relief. Fighting and redirecting the sandstorm had not been easy. She put her earpiece back in and was gratified to notice that the feedback had mostly subsided. “Ace-Ops, Omega Team, launch!” she commanded. Behind her the Manta roared out into the storm, and she flew to land on top of it. Six more massive drop pods also fired from the underbelly of Amity, thrusters maneuvering them to advantageous positions in the city below. It was time for the counterattack.

*

“We need to do something about that blind worm!” Jaune yelled to his team as they sprang into action.

“Like what, Jaune? Do you see the size of that monster!?” Emerald yelled back as she fired a burst from her revolvers at a low-flying ravager. It tumbled over the side of the wall, smoke leaking from a half-dozen holes.

“I don’t know, but until it dies, we have a Monstra situation all over again.” He looked skyward, trying to pick out the airships through the raging sand. Almost directly above him, a Mistralian Sailship careened towards the ground, a dozen holes ripped into its sails and hull from the ravagers. A lone gunner on the deck continued to fire even as the ship crashed to the ground outside the wall.

“What’s the plan Jaune?” Oscar asked, eyes following the ship as it went down.

Down the wall, the lancer to continued fire searing beams of energy at the seemingly inexhaustible horde of enemies. Jaune watched this briefly, then said, “We can’t do anything to help the airships, and defending the wall is pointless since it’s already been breached. The soldiers are better equipped for that anyway, we’re best when we can be flexible. We’re moving towards the blind worm. Let’s go!”

“Hell yeah!” Nora cried, leaping from the wall top, Manghild crashing through the skull of a dromedon as she fell to the street below. A wave of grimm had appeared through the swirling sands, jackal-like anubis at the forefront. Nora charged them, hammer swinging.

Ren dropped behind her and covered her flank, Stormflower spitting out a hail of bullets that shredded the smaller grimm. Emerald sighed then followed suit, staying back a little and picking her shots carefully. Jaune nodded reassurance to Oscar, and together they leapt from the wall to the battle below. Jaune ran to Nora’s left, shield bashing an Anubis, which Oscar deftly picked off by cracking its skull with his cane. Nora herself was laughing wildly, Manghild creating a maelstrom of violence around her as she crushed skulls and stove in ribcages. The smaller jackal grimm quickly dispatched, JORNE headed along the wall, making their way through the sandstorm for the gate.

They had traveled less than a block when a new threat emerged from the whipping sand, a huge three headed monstrosity that loomed up suddenly and brutally kicked Nora through a shabby plywood wall. She crashed through it, aura flaring, and landed sprawled on her back in the middle of a terrified group of people. Groaning, blinking the stars from her eyes, she got back to her feet, hefting her maul. “Rude!” she yelled as she ran back outside.

Oscar stuck his head through the ruined wall into the run-down tenement. “Make for the inner city!” he told the people inside. “The wall has been breached. We’ll keep the grimm occupied, now go!”

The group bolted into the storm. Ren, who had just dodged another kick from the razor plated foreleg of the ziraph, activated Tranquility and masked the group of people as they fled towards Shade. It wouldn’t last long as they moved away from him, but it would buy them time to get away from the grimm. The massive beast, a horrifying parody of a giraffe, stood thirty feet tall. Its black hide was patterned with red leopard-print, and the three bone-plated heads each had a grotesquely long tongue lolling from it. It made a low warbling noise from the middle head as the right-most head shot snake-like towards Emerald.

Emerald performed a beautiful aerial cartwheel over the ziraph’s neck, blasting a series of shots into the back of its skull as she did. The thick bone deflected the bullets, however, and she cursed as she landed. She spun the cylinders out on Thief’s Respite, dumping the spent casings on the ground. Her fingers nimbly plugged new purple-hued rounds back into the weapon as she circled the grimm, moving at a run.

Jaune, shield up, was rapidly assessing options as his team danced around the ziraph. They needed to get on it, somehow, or bring it down to their level. “Ren, Emerald, go high!” He bulled forward, drawing the attention of the middle head as he did. Nora was running straight for its front right leg, maul raised over her shoulder.

Ren and Emerald, recognizing Jaune’s intent, scaled the hastily constructed buildings that the poor of Vacuo had built right inside the curtain wall, using the secondary functions of their weapons as grappling hooks. Nora, now in range, swung Manghild in a flat line at the ziraph’s shin bone. There was a satisfying crack as the maul connected, and the ziraph stumbled forward. As the heads dipped, Ren and Emerald leapt onto the grimms back.

Nora, not wasting her opportunity, followed through with an additional blow to the head that was now shoulder level with her. Manghild connected with a solid crunch to the side of the ziraph’s skull, fracturing the bony skull-plates. The ziraph shook that head groggily, and then the tongue shot towards Nora and wrapped around the hilt of her weapon along with her forearms, pulling the woman towards the grossly distended jaw.

On the ziraph’s back, Ren and Emerald took on the left and right heads respectively. Ren used the elongated blades built into the grips of his machine pistols as pitons to scale the neck. He left a trail of smoking wounds behind him as he climbed, and once at the top he drove his blades into the base of the ziraph’s skull with as much force as he could muster. The creature shuddered and the neck went limp.

Emerald used a different approach, leveling both of her revolvers at the point where the neck connected to the spine. Thief’s Respite thundered as she unloaded all twelve gravity infused bullets. The gravity dust lending the rounds extra mass, huge, cratered wounds appeared in the ziraph’s back. The right head also went limp as the vertebrae were severed.

On the ground, Nora was in a losing tug-of-war battle with the middle head. Her arms were now in the things mouth, razor sharp teeth ready to snap down on her. Jaune came to her aid, amping her aura as he stabbed the head right under the jaw. As Nora felt the boost of power, she bunched her muscles and concentrated the latent electricity in her body. Sparks flew from her eyes as she gave a titanic heave, ripping the tongue straight from the ziraph’s head.

“SCREW YOU!” she screamed at the grimm, crushing its skull with a final overhead slam from her weapon. With all three heads destroyed, the grimm toppled over sideways, taking another shoddy building with it as it fell. Ren and Emerald gracefully dismounted the corpse as Nora stood triumphant, maul raised overhead, lightning still crackling in her eyes.

Jaune, now that the threat was neutralized, was searching frantically for Oscar. He spotted the younger man embroiled in combat with another pack of anubis off to the right. Oscar had been ambushed as his team engaged the ziraph, and in the low visibility Jaune had missed it happen.

The training Oscar had been undertaking, along with Ozpins combat muscle memory, made him a formidable Hunter despite his age. As Jaune ran towards him, Oscar used his agility and speed to dart around the jackals, his cane breaking bones and cracking skulls. He made it look effortless as he flipped over an anubis, delivering a killing blow to its head, then landed lightly and half-spun to the left, cane cracking a second anubis in the temple as it lunged past him.

Jaune caught up and ruthlessly stabbed the last jackal grimm through the neck, ripping his shattered sword free in a spray of black shadow-ichor. “Oscar! Are you ok?”

“Yeah, I’m good. You guys had the big one to contend with, I didn’t want to distract you,” Oscar said, breathing easily.

“Good. I’m glad you’re ok. You’ve really improved, Oscar. That was impressive,” Jaune said.

Oscar nodded to Jaune, smiling. They rejoined the other three and continued towards the blind worm. Once again, they had only traveled a short distance before another group of grimm appeared, howling and shrieking. Jaune cursed inwardly. At this rate he might have to use Ren to get them to the blind worm uncontested. He was reluctant to expend aura that way, but they were going to burn it anyway if they got bogged down with fights. He was about to make the call when he spotted another group of civilians trying to run from the grimm. sh*t. Scratch that plan, we need to try to keep the people safe.

“Journey, with me!” he called as he charged the grimm horde, pulling their attention away from the terrified people they were hunting. With his huge aura pool, Jaune knew he could act like a beacon to the grimm. They had heard the reports from the battle with The Crown, and how the grimm had focused on Gillian when she had overcharged her aura. He would just have to make himself a juicier target than the panicking civilians.

The team of Hunters clashed with the horde of grimm, and Jaune set to his work with a will, hewing left and right with Crocea Mars, desperately hoping for something to turn in their favor.

*

As Theodore stood on his windowsill, sand-laden air whipping past him, he gathered his strength and leapt outward as far as he could. He angled himself in a head-down dive, the sandstone walls of Shade flashing past below him. When his trajectory put him in danger of colliding with the wall, he smashed downward with a tremendous hammerblow, gravity dust flaring. The blow cratered the side of Shade, and he flew outwards once more, tumbling in a somersault as he did.

Despite the speed at which he was moving, he had kept the landing pad firmly in his sights. The young Huntress, Dew Gayl, had collapsed from the effort of keeping the Manta in the air ahead of the storm. Qrow was fighting like a madman against a huge swarm of ravagers, his scythe a blur of steel as he ripped through the grimm, trying to keep them off the unconscious woman, while the Manta pilot took shots with his sidearm from the co*ckpit. They were making a good show of it, but would be overwhelmed shortly. There was no sign of the rest of Dew’s team.

Falling now with his arms spread-eagled, Theodore angled towards the fight. At the last moment he tucked his arms in and flipped forward, landing in a crouch beside Qrow. Still moving in one fluid motion, he straightened to his impressive height of six foot six, adopted a wide stance, and swung a haymaker at the first ravager that attacked him. His ruby gloves flashed pale green as he unleashed the wind dust stored within them. A shockwave emanated from the point of impact of his fist on the ravager’s nose, and the creature disintegrated. The shockwave spread outward at near sonic speed, smashing the rest of the ravagers in the immediate vicinity out of the sky. The air stilled for a moment, cleared of sand in the wake of Theodore’s punch, and then the storm resumed with renewed ferocity.

“Good timing, Theo,” Qrow panted, shielding his face from the wind. “That girl needs help. I don’t know where they came from, but when I found them they were already on the ship, racing ahead of the storm. She put up a helluva fight to keep this thing airborne.”

The Manta pilot clambered out of the co*ckpit and dropped next to the two Huntsmen. “Sir!” he said, snapping a salute to Theodore. “Reporting in from the mission to Wahatan! The town is badly damaged, Sir! A large blindworm destroyed most of it! Team NDGO has suffered casualties, Sir!”

“You don’t say,” Qrow said dryly, eyeing the ravagers high overhead, waiting for more to swoop down at them.

Theodore waved the Atlesian pilot off. “Secondary to the attack that is happening right now. Did any member of NDGO survive besides Ms. Gayle?”

“Sir, the others were all badly injured when we got them onto the ship! My copilot was killed, and I do not know the status of the Huntresses at this time, Sir!”

“Then your new orders are to get them inside and to the infirmary. Qrow, I want you to find Winter and link up with the defense wherever you’re needed most,” Theodore said.

“Got it. What are you gonna do?” Qrow asked the headmaster.

“Kill some grimm, of course.” Theodore’s eyes flashed dangerously, thin lipped grin on his face. “There’s one bastard of a big grimm that smashed my gate. I think I need to return the favor.”

“Good hunting,” Qrow said, grinning back. He ran to the edge of the landing pad and leapt off, transforming into a crow as he did.

Theodore watched for a moment as Qrow made headway into the wind. There has to be more to that form than meets the eye, he thought, as the crow defied physics and flapped resolutely through the storm. He shook his head, then made his way towards the city wall, keeping one eye towards Amity as he did so. He was waiting for the telltale sign that Winter was in the fight, but so far, he hadn’t seen anything. Tracer rounds crisscrossed the sky as the ships attempted to fight off the ravagers. Between Winter and Raven, we should be able to halt the storm. If we can do that, the ships can finally be useful against that blindworm. Those railguns better be able to punch through that thing’s bone plates.

As he ran through the city, past civilians and vehicles that still crowded the streets as people tried to get to shelter, the sound of gunfire and then screams drew Theodore’s attention. He made a snap decision and altered his course, heading towards the commotion. That had been small arms fire, and it was close, given that he could hear it through the storm.

He rounded a corner and came face to face with two men. One was dressed all in gray, with gray hair and matching eyes. Behind him a scorpion faunus was crouched over a pair of fallen men, steel tail dripping blood. Mercury Black and Tyrian Callows. The structure they were outside of was the Vacuan prison, and as Theodore charged the two men, Tyrian laughed wildly and tipped him a wink as he and Mercury disappeared into the building.

Cold rage engulfed Theodore, but before he could pursue the two into the building, a massive hairy fist decked him. He managed to raise his own arms in a quick guard, but the powerful blow still knocked him across the street and into a wall. He shook his head out, clearing the dust from his eyes, and sized up his new opponent.

The grimm that stood before him was a towering, eight-foot tall beringel. The ape grimm pounded its chest with its fists and bellowed a challenge. Theodore didn’t waste any time and rushed forward again, ducking under his foes swing and hammering into its jaw with a massive uppercut. The beringel’s head snapped back, but incredibly it stood its ground. The neck twisted unnaturally as the ape swatted Theodore away with a backhand.

Once again, Theodore was knocked away, his aura flaring. This bastard was tougher than it looked. As he sized up the ape with a fresh perspective, he watched as bony plates grew across its chin and jaw, providing extra armor. The vertebrae in its neck crackled as the head reset on its shoulders. That’s not a good sign, Theodore thought, mind racing. A grimm that can adapt on the fly. Hound? He didn’t have any more time to ruminate as the beringel rushed him, fists pounding the ground as it covered the distance at an alarming pace.

As Theodore raised his arms in a high guard, a low voice growled from the throat of the grimm. “THEODORE. KILL.”

I think I just discovered the enemies play, Thedore thought as he danced to the side of the rush and delivered a series of brutal jabs to the ape’s ribs, which the massive creature shrugged off. This just got more interesting. Let’s see how tough these things really are.

*

Ruby and her team stepped through Raven’s portal into a swirling, raging sandstorm several hundred feet in the air. There were hundreds of shrieking, bat-like figures swarming everywhere. Raven herself came through, the portal closed, and then all five of them were falling through the sky.

“Motherfu”- Yang started before Ruby intervened and swept everyone away in Petal Burst. As Ruby flew through the air, her form getting buffeted by the wind and sand, she spotted a manta barreling through the air, with a familiar corvid clinging to the hull. She made for it and circled the craft until a door slid open on the side.

Ruby bolted inside, deposited Raven and her team haphazardly across the interior, and took a big breath of relief. Qrow had followed them in, swearing as he returned to his human form. Marrow was sliding the door back closed as Elm helped a shaky Blake into a seat.

“Well, hi, guys! Long time no see!” Ruby said brightly to the three specialists in the Manta as her team and Raven all tried to cope with their unexpected fall and subsequent dematerialization and re-materialization after stepping through the portal.

“Ruby! Glad to see you and your team again!” Marrow exclaimed, tail thumping conspicuously against the wall. He got a wide smile from Ruby and weak smiles from the rest.

“Hare, I know you knew that that was me. The hell wouldn’t you open the door for?” Qrow griped as he moved towards the co*ckpit.

“Didn’t see you. And don’t call me Hare,” Harriet glowered back at Qrow.

“Bullsh*t you didn’t see me. You all got briefed on my shape changing and I spent a solid five seconds on your windscreen before I was forced to move to the hull or get torn away.”

“Enough, you two. We are on the same team,” Elm said, trying to get Qrow to take a seat.

Qrow shook off the larger woman’s hands. “Where’s Winter? I thought she’d be with you lot.”

“She was, but she thought she would be best suited trying to clear the ravagers from a frigate so we can get a shot at the blind worm,” Marrow said.

“I thought you were only anticipating an attack, not that an attack was underway,” Yang said, addressing Marrow.

“Well, we got hit. The grimm came with the sandstorm. Ravagers are swarming the frigates, making it hard for them to fight. A huge blind worm smashed in the gate, and the Huntsmen and Soldiers on the ground are fighting the grimm that it spawned.” Marrow sat, holding onto one of the overhead handgrips. “Winter told us to assist them while she dealt with the ravagers.”

They were all thrown sideways then, Qrow banging into a wall as he had not yet taken a seat. He yelled at Harriet in the co*ckpit.

“Sorry, I needed to take evasive action,” Harriet said. Ruby didn’t think she sounded all that sorry, though.

Qrow muttered some very nasty things under his breath, but took a seat and grabbed a handgrip anyway.

“Where do you need us?” Ruby asked.

“Well, you’re a Maiden, too, right?” Marrow asked Raven. “Maybe you can help Winter.”

“I think I’d be best suited somewhere I can see the whole city. Can you drop me on Shade?” Raven asked.

“We’re headed away from Shade, to the gate,” Harriet snapped. “I'm trying to get us somewhere we can be useful.”

Raven sighed. “I'm trying to get somewhere I can be useful. And I think the city needs me more than it needs you. Hang on, everyone.” She got up, opened the side door, and stepped into the air.

“The hell!?” Harriet cried as Raven dropped out of the ship.

Qrow chuckled as he slid the door back shut. “Trust me, Raven can be a bitch, but she's damn good at what she does. And I doubt she's wrong about the city needing her more. She’s basically a realized Maiden, and if you haven't seen one in action, I gotta say they're impressive. She thinks Shade is where she's needed, then Shade is where she should be.”

“I should have guessed your twin would be just as big a pain in the ass as you are,” Harriet groused from the co*ckpit.

“Guys, enough. Elm was right, we're supposed to be on the same side,” Ruby said, her temper starting to rise.

“I dunno, it kinda sounds like Harriet is asking for another ass-kicking,” Yang said, glowering at Harriet.

“Enough, Yang,” Blake said with a reproachful look at her love. “Look out the windows. We have enough to worry about without fighting with each other.”

Yang subsided, and Qrow bit back the remark he had been about to make. “Where did you all come from, anyway?” Elm asked. “Altimeter has us at almost seven hundred feet.”

“Yeah, so uh, Raven can make portals to certain people. Qrow is one of them. And since he was on your ship, well. There we were.” Ruby explained.

“You’d think she’d be able to tell if her portal was going to open somewhere dangerous,” Weiss said stiffly. “We could have died!”

Yang gave her a look. “You can summon a variety of things that can fly, Raven can fly, Ruby has her semblance, and it’s not like that’s the first time we’ve been thrown off something high-up.”

Weiss colored slightly but held her ground. “That’s rich, I heard you panic as soon as you realized where we were.”

“Hey, that’s just a natural fear response. I would have rallied,” Yang countered.

As Harriet was about to tell them all to shut up, an alarm started to blare. They all looked towards the co*ckpit and saw that the windscreen was completely obscured by flapping black shapes. Harriet swore as she wrestled with the controls, trying to keep the Manta level while relying completely on the instruments to do so.

“We’re going down!” she yelled.

Ruby reacted instantly, standing as a surge of anger welled up within her. They had all been bickering, despite everything they had been through and seen, and now they were in mortal danger. She had had enough. She could feel the silver light within her, awoken by her anger, and tried to harness it. She closed her eyes, focusing.

Ruby saw the breaking and bleeding city in her mind’s eye. Images flashed past, of the people and places she had so desperately tried to protect in the past. She grabbed onto it let it flow over her, bathing her in its silver light. She caught a brief glimpse of a golden dragon, and then it was gone.

She opened her eyes and looked out into the world. Her team, Qrow, and the Ace-ops were lit up, their auras, their souls, painting them in colored light. She could also feel thousands of presences in the city below her, and hundreds of anti-presences in the sky all around them. With a sense of wonder, she realized that the presences she could feel were the auras of the people of Vacuo, and the void-like anti-presences were grimm. She focused on the voids, and light began to flow from her and towards them. As the silver light poured into them, they drank it greedily, absorbing it until they burst and burned out, the pure light destroying the shadow essence that they were composed of.

The wave of silver fire washed over the city, and a fine layer of ash blew away on the winds. Ruby fell to the floor of the Manta, her consciousness flickering as it was overwhelmed by everything she had seen. I just saw everyone’s souls. And the lack of souls that the grimm have. She finally lost the fight, and her consciousness was swept into darkness.

*

Raven flew towards Shade, harnessing the winds to aid her. She wanted a high vantage if she was going to try to corral this sandstorm. As she flew towards the pyramid, she saw a crater blasted into the stone high up the side of the structure. What in the world caused that? she wondered. She reached the peak of the building, and hovered in the air, focusing her power. As she drew tendrils of the storm into her control, a pack of ravagers broke towards her. Chain lightning flashed, and thunder rumbled. The ravagers fell from the sky, burning. Her concentration unbroken, she kept at it, thunderclouds piling high into the sky above her, winds coming under her control.

Raven could feel another locus of power in the direction of Amity, frigid and tempestuous. The only thing she could compare it to was when she had battled Cinder at Haven. But where Cinder’s power had been a raging inferno, Winter’s were icy and knife-blade sharp. She sent a streamer of power towards Winter, trying to draw the other woman’s attention. Winter responded, and then they somehow connected. There was a brief moment when Raven’s consciousness entered a pseudo-realm, and she saw Winter clear as day. No words were spoken, but the two women reached an understanding in an instant. Winter nodded to her and then vanished.

Together, they combined forces to redirect the sandstorm. Raven had never felt so alive before. She had a vast storm at her fingertips. She could feel the wind and the lightning responding to her merest thought. Crackling feelers extended out over the city, and she could feel the sandstorm submitting to her. It was exhilarating. Winter, less experienced, followed Raven’s lead and leant her power.

As another swarm of ravagers descended on her, she started to call more lightning down, but before she could a wave of silver fire engulfed them and they burned to ash, still on the wing.

Gods. She’s stronger than even Summer was, Raven thought. She would have been proud of you, Ruby.

Her attention was suddenly pulled in another direction as a huge bolt of lightning was wrested from her control. Who the hell was that? She refocused her efforts, determined to redirect the storm, and tried to figure out what had just happened.

*

Jaune’s team had been fighting nonstop for the last two blocks, in some of the worst combat they had ever seen. Between the howling wind, the scouring sand, and grimm coming at them virtually unseen, they had been on a knifes-edge the entire time, reduced purely to using reaction speed and skill to prevail. They had seen other squads of Hunters and soldiers through breaks in the sandstorm, all of them fighting desperately against the tide of grimm. Jaune himself still had reserves of strength, but he could tell his team was starting to flag. Even though they had trained for it, high speed, high adrenaline combat took it out of you pretty quickly. They needed an alternative, but he wasn’t willing to risk the lives of civilians by masking his team.

As yet another wave of grimm rushed them from the direction of the blind worm, the temperature dropped noticeably. Jaune looked skyward and was greeted by the sight of a howling gale emanating from Amity Command Center. Winter had just unleashed her Maiden powers and counteracted the storm in a bubble around the floating structure, clearing a small portion of the sky in the process. Now that Amity had breathing room, a number of pods launched from the bays set in the bottom of the building.

One of the pods howled in Jaune’s direction and crashed down with a deafening boom. Bolts on the outside of the pod rattled off with a series of hissing pops, and the pod folded outward like a bulky steel flower. Towering fifteen feet tall, an Atlesian Paladin stomped out and into the fight. The gatling cannon on its right arm spun up and unleashed a torrent of high-caliber rounds at the grimm rushing down the street, then a shoulder mounted railgun barked out and punched a hole straight through the carapace of a deathstalker. The immediate threat neutralized, the mech turned to Jaune, smelling of ozone and oil.

A deep, augmented robotic voice emanated from a speaker. “Huntsmen. Our objective is to clear a path to the blind worm. I’ll provide heavy fire support.” It paused, barrels of its gun still ticking rapidly. Jaune had the feeling that it was staring at him, but the polarized glass plate of the co*ckpit was unreadable. Then it turned and started stomping down the street.

“HELL YEAH!” Nora yelled in jubilation. “Let’s kick some grimm ass!”

“Glad to have you, OCL-19,” Jaune said as they moved off, reading the serial number off the Paladin’s shoulder plate. “We’ve been trying to get to the gate, but there are just so many grimm.”

“I’ll handle the heavy lifting. You keep the small ones from flanking me,” it said in its monotone rumble.

“You heard ‘em, JORNE, we’re fire support,” Jaune ordered his team.

With the Paladin taking point, they made much faster progress, and Jaune and his team were able to recharge a bit with the help of Jaune’s semblance. As the group neared the gaping hole in the wall, yet another weather phenomenon lit up the sky. A thunderstorm was now swirling in the sky over Shade, crackling ominously with lightning. That has to be Raven, Jaune thought. Good. Things are finally going our way.

They rounded a corner and came face to face with the titanic blind worm. Jaune’s breath caught momentarily in his throat as he stared up at the huge, coiled figure. It wasn’t as big as Monstra had been, but the thing was still massive. They had their work cut out for them. The worm had coiled in on itself, presenting only bony carapace to the world. The courtyard inside the gate was flooded with black water from which grimm were still rising. They were also, as far as he could tell, the only team that had progressed this far. Other than some bodies floating in the water, he couldn’t see any other soldiers or Huntsmen teams.

The Paladin opened up with its gatling cannon, shredding the fresh wave of monstrosities that were rising from the flood of black water covering the courtyard. Right, now how do we kill it? Jaune asked himself, frantically weighing options.

Nora, Manghild in its grenade launcher form, started thumping off shots rapid fire at the masses of grimm that were rushing them. Ren and Emerald were firing as well, but they may as well have been spitting into a raging inferno for the amount of good they were doing. “Mask us, now!” Jaune shouted, catching onto Ren’s aura with his semblance and pumping energy into the other man. “Emerald, distraction!” he added, splitting his semblance in two and sending a stream her way as well.

He couldn’t see what Emerald did, but between her and Ren the wave of grimm veered off and ran into the city as they chased phantoms. Jaune breathed a sigh of relief. The Paladin had stopped firing as well, catching on very quickly to what Jaune wanted. He waved his team into cover, dropping his boost as he did. “Right, we need a plan. How do we kill it?”

“The railguns on the frigates should be sufficient to crack its carapace,” the Paladin rumbled. “They just need a break from the ravagers to bring the guns to bear.”

Jaune looked skyward. Amity was clear, but the other ships were still being mobbed by the flying grimm. “Well, that’s not something we can help with. We’ll have to table that for the moment. What can we do, now?” Jaune asked.

“Jaune, hear me out,” Nora started.

“No,” Jaune and Ren said simultaneously.

“Aw c’mon, you didn’t even hear what I had to say,” she wheedled.

“You want to go inside of it. Out of the question,” Jaune said. “No suicide missions.”

“Look, our big metal friend has a maul on their left arm that can probably be infused with dust, yes?” Nora said, nudging the Paladin as she did.

“It can be, yes. You want me to supercharge you. And then you want to get swallowed?” The Paladin asked.

“You got it, big guy! No armor on the inside of that thing. Easy peasy.” Nora said.

“No! Nora, I’m not risking you that way. We have to find another way,” Jaune said emphatically.

“We’re running out of time,” Ren said. “I’m losing strength, even with Jaune amping me.”

“Oscar, that cane have another blast in it?” Jaune asked.

“Yes, but it’s the only one. Ozpin and I both wanted to save it for Salem, if possible,” Oscar said.

“We might not get another chance at Salem if we die here,” Jaune replied.

Across the courtyard, another group of Hunters emerged and began battling with a fresh tide of grimm. They too had a Paladin escort, but even so they were fighting a losing battle. He needed to make a decision, now.

“Do it, Oscar, we need to end this as fast as we can,” Jaune ordered.

Oscar nodded and moved out of cover, the gears on Ozpin’s cane beginning to whir and glow. But before he could let loose the magic stored in the cane, a huge canid grimm of a type Jaune had never seen tackled the young man to the ground.

Oscar!” Jaune exclaimed, wildly charging towards him. That wasn’t another Hound, was it? Jaune bulled into the grimm, sword piercing its ribs as he did so. The creature cackled, jaws snapping at him. They caught his forearm and crushed the armor like a tin can in a press. He felt his forearm break under the extreme pressure and cried out in pain. The grimm continued to savage him, ripping its head back and forth. Jaune felt like his arm would be ripped from the socket.

There was a thunder of gunfire from over Jaunes shoulder, and the grimm’s head exploded. The body disintegrated into nothingness. Not a Hound, then. Jaune winced as he cradled his arm, turning to look for his savior. Emerald looked at him arm with horror, her twin revolvers smoking.

“I’m so sorry! That was a new one, I didn’t catch it with an illusion, and you and Oscar got hurt!” Emerald was genuinely shaken, her face pale.

“It’s ok, Emerald. Really.” Jaune shrugged off the pain and turned to tell Oscar to fire the cane again, but stopped suddenly as he caught sight of Nora. Ren was watching helplessly as she crossed the haft of Manghild with the Paladins left arm, which ended in a huge maul. Lightning coursed down the length of the weapons, and Nora had started to glow and crackle with power.

“Boost me, Jaune!” she yelled at him.

“Dammit!” Jaune screamed as he directed his amp in Nora’s direction. He had no choice. She would burn out if he didn’t help her at this stage. His aura surged, and he could feel the bones in his arms trying to knit back together. It was not a pleasant sensation.

As Nora’s hair started to rise in a halo around her head and electricity sparked from her eyes, a wave of silver fire washed over them. Jaune looked skyward. The ravagers had just been destroyed, burned to a fine ash. Ruby! Now clear of the swarms that had effectively taken them out of the fight, the frigates finally brought their guns to bear. The first one fired, the railgun round leaving a contrail in the sand as it hurtled towards the blind worm. Jaune and the others watched with bated breath as the round struck the blind worm dead on. And glanced off, ricocheting wildly into the sky.

Jaune groaned inwardly. Nora broke Manghild free and charged towards the monstrous creature. Jaune desperately poured as much energy as he could into her, trying to give her the best chance he could. He started to glow, golden light connecting him and Nora as she charged across the battlefield.

The grimm closest to them turned to the flare of aura like moths to a flame. Emerald, Oscar, and the Paladin turned to face the threat, weapons spitting out a hail of bullets. After a moment Ren tore his gaze from Nora and added his firepower to the mix.

Jaune couldn’t look away. He focused with all his might, doing his damndest to keep Nora from burning out. She had almost died once, attempting something like this. He wouldn’t lose her. She ran, leaving a trail of sparks behind her. Overhead, another railgun boomed, and again, the shot ricocheted off. The worm was moving now, coils undulating as it turned towards the pests shooting at it. One of the bony protuberances on its back bulged and then explosively launched outward. The bone spear smashed through the plating on the nearest frigate, and the ship started to list as it slowly fell from the sky.

Nora continued her sprint, lightning arcing from her splashing footfalls as she ran through the water. The thunderstorm atop Shade had responded as well, expanding rapidly to encompass the entire city. Either Raven was extremely strong, or Nora was channeling the storm itself. Lightning crashed to the ground around Nora, immolating the grimm that impeded her. As the worm turned its face skyward to issue a bellowing challenge to the remaining ships, Nora leapt, and a pair of coruscating wings sprung from her back, carrying her into the air. She disappeared into the worm’s mouth, a blinding ball of crackling power. Jaune could still feel his connection to her, and he held onto it desperately.

The world slowed to a crawl. Bullets inched through the air, lightning crept towards the ground, and bodies fell excruciatingly slow. Jaune could see individual grains of sand and drops of rain falling through the sky. He ducked as a clawed appendage tore at his face, drawing his attention away from the blind worm. His connection to Nora was still up. Please, he thought.

Thunder crashed, and the side of the blind worm’s head erupted, lightning fulgurating wildly over the bony plates. A mandible exploded outward, painting the nearest building with smoky black ichor. The creature reared, shrieking in pain. As it did, another railgun round took it square in its unarmored belly. It continued to thrash, and a figure was dislodged from its gullet. Nora, still sheathed in lightning, flew outwards in a wild fall. Jaune breathed a sigh of relief. She was still alive.

“I’M NOT DONE WITH YOU YET!!” she screamed at the blind worm, her wings halting her descent. She flew back to the huge grimm, Manghild crackling with power. As yet another railgun round punched through the creature’s stomach, Nora smashed her hammer into the side of its head. Forked lightning struck with her blow, and the worm bellowed deafeningly as the energy burned through it. It crashed to the ground, convulsing. As it fell, crushing buildings with its bulk, every last gun in the sky converged their fire on the beast. A fusillade of rounds pounded the huge worm as it thrashed. It finally stilled, but the airships continued to fire, ensuring that the beast was truly dead. It began to hiss as it dissolved, and thick plumes of roiling black smoke poured into the sky.

Nora’s wings gave out and she fell to the ground, exhausted. Ren sprinted the distance to her, discarding his weapons, and caught her just before she hit the ground. She looked weakly up at him, her lightning scars lit up in a bright arc-blue from the power she had harnessed, and smiled.

“How’d I do?” she asked as Ren stroked her hair.

“Wonderfully. I’m sorry, but I’m afraid you have to share that kill with the airships,” Ren said, smiling down at her.

“Yeah, what gives? I was more than a match for that big beastie. A girl can’t fight a monster worm hundreds of feet long on her own?” she griped.

“Nora!” Jaune exclaimed, skidding to a stop next to her and re-extending his semblance to her. “I’m so glad you’re ok. How do you feel?”

“Tingly. Did you see I can fly now?”

“Yeah, that was awesome. Just take it easy, ok?” Jaune told her, laughing even as tears formed in the corners of his eyes.

“You take it easy, mister. I saw what happened to your arm. You need your aura more than me, I think.”

Jaune just shook his head in negation, continuing to supply her with energy. He’d live. He needed to make sure she would too.

As the trio talked, Emerald and Oscar moved into covering positions around them, but they didn’t have much work to do. The pair of Paladins had mopped up most of the remaining grimm, and there were multiple Hunter teams and squads of soldiers now in the courtyard. The sandstorm had abated and been replaced with a thunderstorm. It was raining heavily now, the streets awash with water. There were cheers and laughter from the various defenders. The Vacuans in particular were staring at the sky in amazement, letting the water drench their upturned faces.

Jaune breathed a sigh of relief. That could have been worse. In fact, he had expected it to be. Salem hadn’t shown, and even though the air fleet had lost some ships and there was extensive damage to the gate and the city immediately inside of it, the fight had ended fairly quickly. Jaune shook his head. Whatever the case, he was just glad his team had made it out relatively unscathed. Nora was even sitting up already, joking with her teammates as her scars faded back into their normal color. Her ordeal in Atlas when she absorbed that defense field had almost killed her, but she had come out the other side stronger for it. His arm would heal. A small thing, really, compared to what could have happened.

As more soldiers and Hunters poured into the courtyard, celebrating in the rain, Jaune’s team started to relax. The fight truly was over. Now they just had the clean-up to deal with. As relieved as I am that things went this well, what was the purpose of this? Was Salem testing the defenses, or was that a true attack on the city? Jaune suspected that there was more to it than just a simple assault, but only time would tell.

*

Theodore and the beringel fought furiously, trading thunderous blows back and forth. Every time he landed a solid blow on the creature, it grew more muscle and bone over the affected spot. It was a juggernaut with ferocious recuperative abilities.

The beringel favored huge, well telegraphed blows, and so far Theodore had avoided most of them, but he knew he wouldn’t win a fight of attrition. He ducked a haymaker and unleashed a gravity powered right cross into the grimm’s ribs. There was a tremendous crack as the ribcage fractured, but then he was forced backwards as the monster tried to knee him. A normal opponent would have been floored by the blow Theodore had just delivered, but this grimm was a different breed.

The Hound that was in Atlas was a grimm that had been fused with a person. A silver-eyed person. Assuming this creature is a similar experiment of Salem’s, I should be able to stop it if I can find where the brain is housed. But how to get to it? Theodore’s mind was still calculating, even in his cold fury, and a plan formed. Not the greatest plan, but one that he was sure would work. If it could regenerate, then he’d just have to hit it faster and harder than it could heal, right?

He waded back in, feinting with another right cross, and then pummeled the beringel in the stomach with a left uppercut. This time he didn’t try to dodge the counterattack, and instead blocked it, letting his aura soak some damage. He knew a single blow couldn’t get through this grimm’s defenses, and he was going to have to rely on his semblance.

He continued his assault, throwing punch after punch into the ape. The more blows he could chain together, the more powerful his final attack would be. He took several blows in return, and he felt his aura shatter, followed by a rib. He grunted, ground his teeth, and continued his attack. He could feel the bone plates on his opponent cracking as he continued to pummel its abdomen.

He jabbed with his right fist, once, twice, and then performed an uppercut with his left. He could feel the muscles in the creature’s side beginning to separate. An elbow cracked him in the head, but Theodore didn’t relent even as blood obscured his left eye. Uppercut, uppercut, cross, jab, cross. Theodore let his consciousness, his pain, his body’s insistence that he needed to stop slip away. He fell into a trance. There were two things left in the world: the wall in front of him that needed to be taken down, and his fists.

He was a machine, fists pistoning into the beringel again, and again, and again. His ruby gloves started to glow with blue flame as his semblance charged. The beringel, unrelenting foe that it was, refused to back down and gave as good as it got. Theodore tried to punch with another left jab, but his arm refused to follow his commands. Ah. This is it, then. He co*cked his right arm and delivered a straight-armed blow to the grimms chest. He poured every last bit of accumulated power he had into the punch. Windows on either side of the street blew out, raining glass down over the pavement.

Theodore stood, arm still outstretched, as rain began to pour over him. When did that start? he wondered as the water dripped off of him. The beringel crashed over backward with a gaping hole straight through its chest. Theodore staggered forward but caught himself. He watched as the grimm form melted away, leaving behind a human corpse. The man that had been transformed had been huge in life, well-muscled and tall. He wondered who it had been.

On numb legs, he began walking towards the prison. He needed to catch Tyrian and Mercury. He needed- He fell forward in a faint, his will finally giving out to his body’s basic need to survive. He lay face down in the street, rain washing over him as frightened onlookers rushed out of the buildings and to his aid.

*

Later, as crews began reconstructing the gate and the city had started on clean-up and mourning the fallen, RWBY met up with JORNE, Qrow, Raven, Winter, and General Merryweather in Theodore’s office. The Headmaster was present, looking very much the worse for wear. One arm was in a sling, his ribs were wrapped tight with bandages, one of his eyes was a slit underneath a large protuberance on his forehead, and his bare knuckles were bruised and split. He had told them of the beringel ‘Hound’ he had fought, and of the presence of Tyrian and Mercury.

Emerald had paled when she heard that her old companions had been present and was looking at the carpet. Nora was leaning against Ren, looking drawn and tired. Ruby herself was groggy from her earlier experience, but stood firm next to Jaune, whose own arm was wrapped tightly in a cast.

“Callows and Black broke Jax and Gillian Asturias out of prison, using the attack as cover. They killed several guards in the process. The beringel intercepted me when I tried to go after them. I’m sure that this was the purpose of the attack. They both have very powerful semblances, and a reason to want Vacuo to fall. Knowing how Salem operates, I’m sure she wants to recruit them.” Theodore’s voice was low, rasping.

“They were the two that led The Crown, right?” Ruby asked, her voice soft.

“They were, yes. It doesn’t bode well that Salem has them,” Theodore said.

“Should we send a team after them? I’d be more than happy to lead the Ace-Ops in a mission to recover them, Sir,” Winter said.

Theodore sighed. “Callows is extremely dangerous. I don’t know that it would be a good idea, especially now that they have those two with them.”

“If I may?” Merryweather asked, clearing his throat. “I think now is the best time to go after them, before Salem can fully get her claws in them. I would readily approve a mission to achieve this goal.”

Theodore looked at the other man, considering this, and then nodded. “Fine. I’ll leave the disposition of the group to you. If I may make a recommendation, Yatsuhashi Daishi of Team CVFY would be an asset in this endeavor. He’s young, but his semblance directly counters Jax’s, and he’s fought the twins before.”

“I’ll make to sure to talk to him then,” Merryweather said. “Do you vouch for the rest of his team, as well?”

“I do.” Theodore rubbed his scalp with his good arm. “Jaune, I want to send your team to Atlas, to further that project we discussed earlier. Take some time to let your arm heal, but remember that time is of the essence.”

“Headmaster, permission to accompany Jaune’s team?” Ruby asked, stepping forward.

Theodore considered her for a moment, then smiled. “Granted, Miss Rose. Qrow, Raven, I’m afraid you’ll have to stay with me, if that’s not too much trouble.”

“Not at all, Theo,” Qrow said. “Just let us know where you need us.”

“We suffered a blow today, but all in all casualties were not nearly as high as they could have been. Thank you all for your dedication to the defense of the city,” Theodore said. “Now, if you don’t mind, I have another couple dozen meetings to get through.”

The group disbanded, everyone filing out of Theodore’s office. Winter and Merryweather returned to Amity, Qrow and Raven went off into the city after Qrow hugged his nieces and Raven gave them a stiff nod, and the young Hunters returned to their dorms.

Weiss made a fuss over Jaune’s injury, clucking at him. “You should be more careful! I know you have much more aura than the rest of us, but you’re still human.”

“To be fair Weiss, he saved my life,” Oscar said. “He got hurt because I was careless.”

“And you were in trouble because I was careless,” Emerald said.

“Well look at you three, being all selfless and taking the blame,” Nora said.

“I can’t believe we missed the fight,” Yang said, with a hint of disappointment. “We spent the whole thing in a stupid Manta with Harriet complaining at us the entire time.”

“Eh, you didn’t miss much, I had it covered,” Nora boasted.

“Yeah, we saw the light show from the air. I can’t believe you called all that lightning down,” Blake said.

“It was pretty sweet, I know,” Nora said, grinning. “But now I need a week’s worth of sleep and a mountain of pancakes,” she added, elbowing Ren in the side.

“I’ll see what I can do,” he told her.

“And we had Ruby over here, taking out most of the ravagers single handedly,” Yang said, hitting her sister playfully in the shoulder.

“Yeah, it was different this time, though. I could see your guys’ souls. It was really weird,” Ruby said, still sounding tired.

“You couldn’t before?” Blake asked.

“You could see my soul?” Yang asked, impressed.

“I think that’s what it was. Usually, I would just get a feeling of intense, I dunno, righteousness, or something, and then lots of silver light, and then a feeling of exhaustion. But this time I could see people’s auras, and the grimm were just like black holes.”

“You’re not turning religious on us, are you sis?” Yang asked. “Feeling holy all of a sudden?”

“What? No, not like that. Like I want to protect people, and it feels right to do it, that sort of thing,” Ruby said.

“Well, whatever the case, it’s good you’re back with us,” Oscar said, smiling warmly at her. “You and Raven made that fight a lot easier.”

“I don’t know about all that,” Ruby said, blushing. “You guys are all amazing, too, I mean your team fought that blind worm on the ground, and everything.”

“And you gave the air force a chance to fight back. Don’t sell yourself short,” Oscar said.

Ruby didn’t respond to this, other than to blush some more, and before long the teams were back to their dorms. As she threw herself into her bed, exhausted, Ruby thought about her earlier experience some more. I’ll have to ask Maria if she’s ever experienced anything like that. It feels like my power’s gotten stronger. I wonder what else I can do with it. Ruby drifted off to sleep then, dreaming of silver light and rainbow auras.

*

Hundreds of miles away, in a clockwork tower overlooking a broken city, Salem sat at Ozpin’s old desk and smiled. A seer floated serenely next to her, Tyrian’s grinning face fading from view. The assault on Shade had been successful. The Asturias twins were on their way to her, and things were moving ahead according to plan. Her next gambit was already in motion, her pieces far afield and ready to strike. Soon, very soon, she would finally have the thing she had waited millennia for.

It’s almost over, Ozma. Can you feel it? Oblivion comes for us all, and you’re just as powerless as ever to stop it.

Chapter 12: Interlude One: Aftermath

Chapter Text

Interlude One: Aftermath

Ciel Soleil was conflicted. She didn’t like being conflicted, and so had resorted to her favorite pastime: mechanical work. She was elbow deep in her Paladin’s hydraulics, tightening down a bolt after making sure the oil was topped off. She could be obsessive when it came to preventative maintenance and safety checks, and the aftermath of the assault on Vacuo had put her into overdrive. Omega Squad had a team of dedicated mechanics to refit and repair their Paladins. Ciel had impatiently waited for them to do their job, and then had waded into the work herself. If she was going to be piloting the machine in combat, she wanted to do her own checks. With the hydraulics taken care of, the next thing on her list was the gatling cannon, so she started to undo the panel that would give her access to the inner workings of her primary weapon.

As she worked, she thought about what was bothering her. The fight itself hadn’t been too bad. Her new machine had performed superbly, and had held up to the high standards that Atlas maintained for its technology. What was bothering her was the person she had met. When she had launched from her bay on Amity, her initial course was towards the gate. As she dropped lower, she had picked up a squad of embattled Huntsmen on her scanners, and decided to assist them. She landed, eliminated the threat, and then addressed the Huntsmen she was aiding, only to find out it was Jaune Arc and his team. One of the people who had last seen her friend Penny alive.

She had known that Jaune, Ruby, and the others had returned from wherever they had gone when they disappeared during the transfer. She also knew that Penny had not. The best she could ascertain, after needling Winter, was that Penny had died in the portal hub. Truly died, from what she had gathered. When she had tentatively brought the subject up to Dr. Polendina, he had quickly shut her down before withdrawing to mourn.

There was a certain Irony, Ciel thought as her ratchet chk-chk-chk’d, about her and Penny’s relationship. Penny had been a robot that wanted to be a real girl, and Ciel was a real girl who dearly wished she could become machine. At least in part. Machines were so straightforward. You built them to do something, and they did it. You didn’t have to worry about emotions, or trivial things like sleep, or eating. Sure, machines needed oil, or dust, or electricity, but it wasn’t the same as organics.

She had been unsure at first about her original assignment to be Penny’s minder. Dr. Polendina had wanted someone Penny’s ‘age’ to be friends with. At first, Ciel had taken the assignment very seriously. She kept Penny to the strict schedule that had been set for her, and taught her about human relationships. The problem was, Ciel herself wasn’t so great at those. People frequently confused her. That’s why she had preferred the military to service as a Huntress. In the military, you got orders, you followed orders, and that was it. People could be loud, and contradictory, and let their feelings rule their actions. Ruby Rose and her team, for example, were carefree and boisterous, doing what they wanted without thought of the consequences.

And Penny had been very taken with them. They had given her something that Ciel could not, a sense of what it meant to live freely, not bound to a strict schedule. Ciel had been terribly sad when Penny had died in Amity arena. She had collected the pieces and taken one of the first ships back to Atlas. It had been her that had given Dr. Polendina the pieces of his daughter back. Her that had been there when Penny 2.0 had been born. And she had felt true joy when Penny had said, “Sal-u-tations Ciel!” Her friend was back.

The second time around, she had tried to be more carefree for Penny. Doing more things off the cuff, taking her out to do things only humans would do. It had been a wonderful few months. Penny had become the ‘Defender of Mantle’, and Ciel had joined the pilot program in the Atlesian military. Then Atlas and Mantle had been attacked, and Penny had disappeared with Ruby, Jaune, and her old Valean friends again. She had disobeyed direct orders from General Ironwood. Ciel frowned as she remembered this. But… Penny had been right. General Ironwood had tried to bomb Mantle. That went directly against what the military and Penny stood for.

Things had kept going downhill from there, and they had evacuated through the strange portals that had sprung up everywhere. When she got to Vacuo, one of the first things she did was try to find out what had happened to Penny. Winter had told her that Penny, Team RWBY, and Jaune had all perished during the transfer. Winter had inherited the Maiden Powers from Penny. Ciel hadn’t even known that Penny had received them in the first place. And Ciel got …mad. Anger wasn’t something she was used to, but her friend had absconded to team up with the carefree Huntresses and their friends, and then she had been killed. It had been so careless a thing to happen. And they had returned, but Penny had not.

Ciel started as she realized that she had been attempting to tighten down the same bolt for the last ten minutes. She had gotten lost in her thoughts, something that wasn’t customary for her. The loading mechanism for the cannon was clean and moving smoothly. She gave it a quick spray with some lubricant and put the panel back on. Work done, she leaned back and wiped her brow.

Should I try to find Jaune or Ruby and talk to them about Penny? Is that what people would normally do in this situation? Ciel sighed. Maybe she would talk to Winter first. Winter was easier to talk to than most people. She was a soldier first. Most of the time, anyway. Her course of action decided, Ciel left the bay.

Later, after she had found and talked to Winter, Ciel sat by one of the observation windows that overlooked the city. Winter had been rather blunt with Ciel. She had told her that Jaune and the others felt very badly about Penny dying, and while she understood that Ciel was upset as well, it wouldn’t be a good idea to confront them in an accusatory manner. She needed to approach them as a fellow friend grieving the loss of Penny. Ciel was glad she had gone to Winter first, because she had indeed been wanting to accuse the others of getting Penny killed. It seemed pretty clear-cut that they had influenced that outcome, but they surely hadn’t wanted Penny to die. Why did people have to be so hard? She frowned to herself as she thought. Approach them as someone mourning the loss of a mutual friend…

*

Ruby, Yang, and Blake were taking their leisure in the lush courtyard outside of Shade, snacking on some fresh fruit. They had found themselves with some down time, given that they had volunteered for the mission to Atlas, and were trying to figure out what to do with it.

Ruby and Blake were sitting on the edge of a happily bubbling fountain, working out how best to help the people of Vacuo. There was a lot to do, and they thought it would be a good way to pass the time. Yang was sunning herself, laying on the warm flagstones of the courtyard beneath them, dressed in a crop top and shorts.

“What do you think, Yang? Want to help the White Fang distribute food?” Ruby asked, looking down at her older sister. She could still see the outline of the huge bruise Yang had gotten fighting the deathstalker, now a fading brownish yellow that spread out over her abdomen. It had been healing well, one of the bonuses of having an unlocked aura.

Yang finished off the piece of melon she had been eating and sat up. “Sure. My only request is to be able to soak up as much sun as I can before we go back to Atlas. Am I the only one that finds it ironic that we spent so much time shopping for new combat outfits for Vacuo, and we haven’t done any fighting in Vacuo yet?”

“Oh yeah, huh? We really haven’t seen much of Vacuo, have we?” Ruby said.

“We have not, no,” Blake said. She tossed her peach pit to Yang, who caught it in her mouth before realizing what it was, then spit it out with a reproachful look at Blake. Blake started to laugh, and then shriek as Yang tackled her into the fountain she and Ruby had been sitting next to.

“Yang Xiao-Long!” Blake exclaimed, spluttering through the water. “You got me soaking wet! What am I supposed to do now?”

“Oh, I can think of a few things,” Yang said salaciously, raising her eyebrows suggestively.

Ruby groaned, face flushing red at her sister’s antics. “Yang, please, we’re in public.”

Blake, who was also blushing, splashed water in Yang’s face and climbed out of the water. Yang just laughed and helped her climb out, water running down her face. The pair of them stood on the flagstones, water dripping from their soaked clothes, and shared a quick kiss.

Ruby, still embarrassed, buried herself in her scroll, desperately checking to see if Weiss had responded to her last message yet. Weiss had taken off right after breakfast to spend the day with Jaune, and had been radio silent so far. Ruby was broken out of her concentration by a prim, business-like cough.

Ruby looked up and met the brilliantly blue-eyed gaze of a young woman dressed in a unique Atlesian military uniform. Everything about her was clean and precise, with nothing out of place. The uniform was bright white, with blue and gold trim. There was a patch of some sort on one of her shoulders, and a mechanical style wristwatch on her arm. She stood at attention, arms at her sides, legs together, beret co*cked. Ruby stared at her for a long moment, trying to work out what this person wanted, when something in her memory clicked.

“CIEL!” She rushed to the other woman, leaving a trail of petals behind her, and wrapped Ciel in a hug.

Ciel stiffened, and very perfunctorily patted Ruby’s back. “Ruby Rose.”

“We haven’t seen you since the Vytal Festival! What have you been up to?” Ruby asked, beaming.

Ciel looked at Blake and Yang, who were both still dripping fountain water onto the flagstones, and sniffed. “Furthering my education, and training to become a pilot.”

“Pilot, huh? What do you fly?” Yang asked while wringing out her hair.

“I’m certified to fly the Manta, and the Bullhead, and to pilot the Paladin. In fact, I’m part of the newest squad of Paladin pilots, Omega Squad.” To herself, Ciel thought, This isn’t what I came here for. Why am I making small talk? And why are those two wet?

“Hey, Jaune said his team got a lot of help from one of the Omega Paladins! That's so cool! Can I check out your machine sometime?” Ruby gushed, still bouncing around Ciel.

Ciel, still rather flustered since this was not at all going how she thought it would, just nodded. She was still attempting to process Ruby’s enthusiasm when the reason for her visit reloaded itself in her mind. She straightened back to attention and said, “I've come to express my condolences for the loss of Penny. I know she was a friend of yours.”

Ruby immediately deflated. The sudden change startled Ciel, who had rarely, if ever, experienced an emotional swing that fast.

“She was your friend, too, right?” Ruby asked sadly.

“She was, yes.” Ciel was still standing ramrod straight, eyes ahead, not meeting anyone’s gaze.

“We’re sorry she's gone too. I wish she had had more time…” Ruby trailed off, voice quiet.

Is it normal for your emotions to swing that fast? Ruby was so excited, and now she’s so sad, Ciel thought. Out loud, she said, “I, too, wish she had had more time with us. I had wanted to talk with everyone who was there when she died. Do you know where your teammate, Weiss Schnee, is? And Jaune Arc?”

It was Blake who answered. “They’re with Team FNKI, we can show you the way.”

“We can?” Ruby asked. “Weiss has been ghosting me all morning. Why do you know what they’re up to?”

“She entrusted me with the information because she figured I was the least likely to bother her and Jaune without cause,” Blake replied.

“And the Ice Queen strikes again. That’s cold, leaving me and Ruby out of the loop. Why wouldn’t she trust us to give her some privacy?” Yang asked, now tipping water out of her boots.

“Because her and Jaune are both musically inclined, and they’re playing with Flynt and the others. She didn’t know if that was something you two would be interested in, given that she knows you think they’re annoying, Yang, and it’s kinda hard to answer your scroll when you’re playing music. But I don’t think she’ll mind if we interrupt for this,” Blake said.

“Why wouldn’t we want to listen to them play music? That sounds like fun,” Ruby said.

“Actually, Blake has a point. Sitting in a room with Katt for that long does sound like light torture,” Yang said. “I did kinda think that they were out on a date though, not hanging around here.”

Blake just shrugged. “I guess Weiss got the invite from Flynt last night, and her and Jaune thought it sounded like fun. Anyway, Ciel, we’ll take you to them.”

“Thank you,” Ciel said.

“Can we swing by our room quick to get changed?” Yang asked. “Be nice to get into some dry clothes.”

“I wonder why they got wet in the first place,” Blake said, giving Yang a fondly exasperated look.

“That’s a mystery we may never solve,” Yang said with a wink.

*

As Blake, now in dry clothes, led the way to the music room, the group could make out an upbeat, jazzy song playing. A female voice rose over the music, singing with a silky, slightly raspy edge.

Do your muscles ache?

You may need a break

It’s a common response for your hands to shake

I know it’s not easy, losing a match

Especially when it’s a girl kicking your ass.

“Is that Weiss?” Ruby asked, incredulous. “I’ve only ever heard her sing those high opera-like songs.”

“Damn, girl has range,” Yang said, impressed. “Ya’ll ready to crash this party?”

“Maybe we should let them finish before we interrupt,” Blake suggested. “Though it would be fun to see Weiss at the mic.”

They all looked at Ciel, who was wincing slightly at the music. Ruby shrugged, then with a grin, opened the door. Weiss was indeed at the mic, eyes closed, lost in her performance. Flynt was on trumpet, Ivori was on piano, Katt was playing the drums, and Jaune and Kobalt were on guitar and bass. Jaune was struggling a bit, considering one of his arms was still in a sling, but he wasn’t doing terribly. Yang followed Ruby in, also with a wide grin on her face, and Blake and Ciel came in last.

As Weiss finished singing and the song came to an end, Yang started to wolf-whistle and applaud. Jaune grinned, looking a little embarrassed, and Weiss’ eyes snapped towards them.

“Weiss you guys rock!” Ruby exclaimed. “That was awesome!”

Blake looked at Weiss apologetically and tipped her head towards Ciel. Ciel stepped into the room, still with a sour look on her face. “The guitar was slightly off-key, and off-beat,” she said.

“And that’s what practice is for, Miss Metronome,” Flynt said. “Hey guys, hope you enjoyed the music!”

“Do you know how long it’s been since I played? And, my arm is still broken. Cut a guy some slack,” Jaune said, hurt. Kobalt placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

“There a reason you crashed our jam session?” Katt asked, eyeing Ciel with distaste.

Ciel snapped to attention. “I wished to speak with Weiss Schnee and Jaune Arc.”

“You’re Ciel Soleil.” Weiss said, putting the mic back in the stand. “Atlas military, Pilot. Former teammate of Penny.”

“Correct. I wanted to express my condolences for the loss of Penny,” Ciel said, still standing ramrod straight.

“You don’t have to be so stiff, Ciel,” Flynt said. “Loosen up a bit. Especially if we’re talking about friends no longer with us.” He sat down and leaned forward in his chair, pulling out a cloth to shine his trumpet.

Ciel frowned, but did relax a bit. “I understand that Team RWBY and Jaune were the last people to see Penny, before she died. I… wanted to talk about that.”

Jaune stiffened, and his eyes dropped to the floor. Weiss moved to him and took his hand. Flynt, reading the room, asked, “Do you want us to step out? Cuz we can, if this is private.”

“You were friends of Penny’s too, were you not?” Ciel asked him.

“I kinda want to hear this, if that’s ok,” Katt said from her drumkit. Flynt just shrugged at this, and continued to clean his trumpet.

“Do you mind telling us what happened?” Ciel said.

“Cinder killed her.” Weiss said, meeting Ciel’s gaze. “She was picking us off one by one, knocking us over the edges of the walkways, and it came down to me, Jaune, and Penny. Cinder finished her. Stabbed her straight through the heart. There was nothing we could do about it.”

“Wait, what do you mean, stabbed her through the heart?” Flynt asked. “She didn’t have a heart, she was an android.”

“I too, would like to know the meaning of this,” Ciel asked, still frowning.

“Well, she got infected with a computer virus from Watts. He programmed her to open the vault and then self-destruct. We bypassed that by using the staff in the vault to make her a real body. She was a flesh and blood person when she died,” Blake said, trying to spare Ruby the effort of having to explain.

“She, she died as a person person? Not an android?” Ciel asked falteringly.

“You can use the staff on people?” Katt asked.

“Well, we don’t know if it works on people who aren’t robots, but it worked for Penny,” Yang said.

Ruby had moved over to Ciel. “She did, Ciel. It’s my fault. I had the idea to make her human, and then she died. I’m so sorry.”

“No, Ruby, I’m the one that should take the blame,” Jaune said suddenly, from across the room. Weiss looked at him imploringly, but he bulled ahead. “I couldn’t protect her from Cinder, I couldn’t heal her with my aura, and I- I”-

“Jaune, it’s ok, you don’t have to”- Weiss started.

“I killed her. Ok? I finished her off to make sure that Cinder couldn’t get the Maiden Powers. It was me.” Jaune sat down and buried his head in his hands.

The room fell silent. “Jaune?” Ruby asked meekly. “Is that true?”

“She asked him to do it. She knew that she wasn’t going to make it and didn’t want to risk Cinder getting more power. Jaune didn’t have a choice, and it was Penny’s last wish.” Weiss said in a rush. “Jaune, it isn’t your fault.”

Jaune didn’t respond, just kept his head bowed and his face buried. Ruby herself collapsed to the floor next to Ciel, tears starting to leak from her eyes.

“Well, sh*t, Arc. That’s a choice I wouldn’t wish on anyone,” Flynt said. “Kill a friend or let their power fall into the wrong hands? That’s harsh.”

The others were all looking at Jaune, with a variety of expressions on their faces. “So it was your fault. Winter told me that it wasn’t, she said that you were all mourning her death, but you really killed her,” Ciel said. Color was rising in her cheeks.

“Ciel, you weren’t there, you don’t know the position we had been put in. Cinder killed her. Cinder. Not Jaune. Jaune just made sure the Maiden Powers went to Winter. And Penny asked him to do it,” Weiss said, eyes starting to flash dangerously.

“Things were going so well. Then you all showed up, and Penny picked you all over me. Again. And then she died,” Ciel said. Tears were starting to show in her eyes. I’m really going to cry, she thought with wonder. She hadn’t cried the first time Penny died, and hadn’t cried over her second death. But now the tears were coming.

“Ciel, you know it wasn’t like that. Penny was trying to do what was right for the people of Mantle. Ironwood had other ideas. Wrong ideas,” Ruby said from the floor.

“General Ironwood,” Ciel corrected automatically. “We were trained to follow orders. We were supposed to follow orders, and Penny broke them to follow you.”

“She was doing the right thing. If we had followed General Ironwood’s orders, Mantle would have died. It almost did die,” Blake said.

“Yeah, the General went crazy, Ciel. We all witnessed it. And me and my team were on the front lines, following orders ourselves. I wish we had had the courage to stand up like the others did,” Flynt said.

“So has everything I’ve done so far in service to Atlas been wrong?” Ciel asked. “Have I wasted my life? Trying to be friends to an android girl who preferred other company, and following the orders of a mad General? Is that what you’re trying to tell me?”

“No Ciel, that’s not what we’re trying to say at all,” Ruby said, getting back to her feet. “I know Penny cherished her friendship with you.”

“Yeah, and you just told us you’re one of those new Paladin Pilots, and we know an Omega Paladin saved Jaune’s team in that last fight,” Yang said.

“OCL-19.” Jaune said, finally looking up from his hands. “That was the serial number of the Omega Paladin. We wouldn’t have gotten very far without them.”

“I’m OCL-19,” Ciel said. “It was me, helping your team,” she said nervelessly.

“See? You saved a lot of lives the other day. Jaune, Nora, and the others wouldn’t have gotten to the worm without you, and you all helped take it down. I wouldn’t call that wasted service,” Yang said.

Jaune looked at Ciel, but dropped his gaze again when she looked back. “I- yeah. You really helped us out.”

“Ciel, we all miss Penny. You don’t have to mourn her alone. Don’t isolate yourself, ok? We’re all here if you need someone,” Blake said. “And Jaune, please don’t beat yourself up. If you and Weiss say that’s what happened, we believe you, and I don’t think we’re really in a position to judge you.”

“You don’t know how badly I wish that things had happened differently, Ciel,” Jaune said, still addressing the floor. “I swear, the next time we see Cinder, we’ll make her pay for what she did.”

“I just miss her,” Ciel said simply, eyes still wet with tears.

Ruby hugged her, tight. “Us too. If you’re free, do you want to spend some time with us?”

Ciel blinked rapidly. “That might be… nice. Ok.”

Ruby unwrapped Ciel from her hug, and then walked over to Jaune. She knelt before him, and then hugged him as well. She could feel his shoulders start to heave with suppressed sobs. “Jaune, I’m sorry you went through that. This is Cinder’s fault, not yours.”

Weiss dropped down with a grateful look at Ruby, and wrapped her arms around Jaune as well. He continued to sob as Blake and Yang joined in as well.

“Thank you,” he finally said, quietly. “Thank you.”

Chapter 13: Aftermath, Continued

Chapter Text

Aftermath, Continued

On the cracked concrete floor of an old, much abused warehouse, dappled with dust strewn motes of light, a small boy with mouse ears rolled a marble back and forth. Fen was bored. All of the adults were busy, and Miss Emerald hadn’t visited him in a couple of days. Even Mata, who was one of Fen’s favorites among the people in the warehouse, hadn’t had time to play with him.

“Sorry, little one, there’s a lot to do right now,” he had told Fen, grinning an apologetic grin. Fen had scowled at being called little, but had gone off to play by himself anyway.

The city had been attacked, Fen knew that much. There had been a lot of wind and blowing sand. Sirens had gone off, so loudly he had tried to roll his ears in on themselves to help mute their air-raid cry. Then something else had started to make a terrible shrieking noise, and he had hidden under his bed. The sand eventually stopped blowing, but then he saw lightning and heard thunder, and it had rained.

That had been a pleasant surprise. They had never gotten proper rain in Mantle, unless you counted snow that melted as it passed through the climate barrier, and there hadn’t been any rain in Vacuo since he had been here either. The adults also got a lot happier with the rain, and Fen had come out from under his bed. Khali had found him and reassured him that everything was ok. Fen liked Khali. She was nice, and always had some sort of treat to give him. She, like all the others, called him little one, but he didn’t mind it so much from her. She reminded him of Miss Lilac a bit, or of what he imagined his mother was like.

Back and forth the marble rolled, the green band inside catching the light and glimmering softly. It disappeared in a flash as Fen heard the familiar deep rumble of Poppa Ghira. The mouse boy darted off, quick and quiet, and hid in his cubby by Ghira’s makeshift office. He had found out quite by accident that he could stay there, unnoticed, and hear the things they talked about inside. He was hoping to hear news about Emerald. He really wished she would visit him.

“Have you found anything else out, Brezo?” Fen heard Ghira ask through the wall. Fen knew Brezo was Mata’s brother, but he didn’t like him as much. He didn’t smile very often, and always had a scary look on his face. Fen pressed his ear against the wall, to better hear the reply.

“Nothing yet, no. We know that the men were carrying SDC emblems, but still haven’t figured out if they were working alone or with someone,” Fen heard Brezo say.

Ghira heaved a sigh. “Very well. The meeting will continue, as scheduled.”

“Sir, don’t you think that’s unwise, given the circ*mstances?” Brezo asked.

“I need to know if Whitley or Willow knows about the attempted attack on us. We will move forward, as originally planned.”

Attack? Everyone knows about the attack. Those sirens were too loud for people to not know about it, Fen thought, a little confused.

“Alright, but I insist that me and Ilia go with you. Preferably with a few more in reserve, just in case,” Brezo said.

“The meeting is taking place at a residence, Brezo. It’s not like I’m walking into the Schnee Dust Company headquarters. Willow and Whitley have been very accommodating so far,” Ghira replied.

“Of course they have been. If this is a trap”-

“Brezo, enough. If you insist, then yes, you and Ilia can come with me. That’s it.”

Fen kept frowning to himself. Poppa Ghira could be loud when he wanted to be, and he had scared Fen when the Grimm had attacked. Yelling orders, making sure that his people were accounted for and not running off into the storm. It had almost sounded like he was ready to yell at Brezo. Fen still didn’t know what exactly they were talking about, but he had recognized the name ‘Schnee Dust Company’, and it gave him an undefined apprehension. He associated that name with bad things, but he wasn’t sure why.

He kept hidden as Brezo left the office, scowling. After Brezo disappeared, Fen eased out of his hiding place and then scampered towards the front of the warehouse. Khali saw him coming and beckoned him to her.

“Good news, Fen! Emerald just got in contact with me, and she’ll be down this afternoon!”

Fen, his worries about whatever Ghira and Brezo had been talking about evaporating immediately, broke into a wide grin. Good! She hasn’t forgotten about me. I can’t wait to show her that disappearing marble trick I’ve been working on.

*

Ghira was getting himself ready for his meeting with the Schnees when Khali stopped in. His wife was carrying a gently steaming cup of her signature green tea. He knew that she had to be running low on tea leaves, as they weren’t being prioritized in the aid shipments from Menagerie, and savored his first sip.

“How do I look?” he asked his wife, setting down the teacup and straightening his jacket. Khali took his hands in hers and smiled at him.

“Like the Chieftain of Menagerie. Nervous?”

“Always, when dealing with these sorts of things. I really hope that Jaune Arc was right and that these two are cut from a different cloth than Jacques.”

“Jaune seems like a level-headed man. As unfortunate as that situation with those men is, I trust that the Schnees themselves aren’t behind it. They’ve thrown themselves into the defense of this city wholeheartedly. Are Brezo and Ilia going to be ok? I know they were very staunch supporters of the more… radical side of the Fang.” Khali asked with some worry.

“They better be, or they’ll spend the rest of their time here in the warehouse.” Ghira drained the cup of tea and picked up a small, jingling bag which he tucked into one of his trouser pockets. He gave Khali a quick kiss.

“Be careful,” she told him.

“Always,” he smiled back at her.

*

An hour later, Ghira was seated on an uncomfortable divan, sipping a very medicinal tasting tea while Ilia and Brezo stood on either side of the small couch, the first shifting uncomfortably and the other almost ominously still. Across from them sat Willow and Whitley Schnee, both of them with cups of tea as well. Whitley was surprisingly composed, Ghira thought, considering how young he was. His mother, next to him, kept nervously smoothing her skirt, very clearly uncomfortable. As well she should be, Ghira thought. Standing aside and letting her husband run amok with her father’s company.

Their hosts, the Sahras, were keeping out of the way. Khadra had greeted Ghira and the others warmly, welcoming them into his home. His wife, Savir, had served them refreshments, cheerfully told him it was a genuine honor to have him in her house, and bowed her way out of the room, followed by her husband. The two parties sat in stiff silence, neither one starting the conversation.

Ghira shrugged internally. He could be very blunt when he wanted to be, and decided to break the ice the uncomfortable way. He pulled the jingling pouch out of his pocket and tossed it onto the coffee table between him and the Schnees. It landed with a soft jangle of metal. Willow and Whitley both looked at it, perplexed. After a quick look at Ghira, Whitley picked up the bag and undid the drawstring and overturned it. Out of the bag slid three small snowflake shaped emblems.

Willow looked at Ghira. “I don’t understand,” she said, confusion coloring her voice.

“Where did you get these?” Whitley asked, eyes narrowing as they met Ghira’s.

“My people took them off the bodies of three men, who were found dead of apparent grimm attack behind our warehouse,” Ghira said, his voice even.

Willow gasped and put a hand over her mouth. Whitley paled, an impressive feat given how light-skinned he already was. “When did this happen?” he asked.

“During the attack on the city. My people were in the warehouse, or just outside the entrance ready to defend from grimm, when they heard gunfire and screaming. When they went to investigate, they found a pack of grimm and the bodies. After they had dispatched the grimm, they checked for survivors. None of the men lived, and they found two things. Those emblems, and a bomb.” Ghira leaned forward on the divan, eyes never leaving Whitley’s. To the young man’s credit, his gaze didn’t waver either.

“I don’t understand, are you saying these men were going to bomb your warehouse?” Willow asked, hands snatching convulsively, as though to grab a bottle or glass.

“That’s precisely what he is saying, Mother,” Whitly said. “And they all carried Schnee Dust Company emblems.

“Who would do that though?” Willow asked.

“There are plenty of malcontents who are not satisfied with how I’ve been using our money,” Whitley replied, sour look on his face. “Chieftain Belladona, do you know what happened to the deceased?”

“They were, ah, torn up pretty bad. They were taken away when the city was taking care of the fallen. I did have the presence of mind to take some pictures.” Ghira started to pull out his scroll.

Whitly winced. “That won’t be necessary. I notice that you haven’t directly accused me of sending them after you.”

“And you haven’t yet professed your innocence in the matter,” Ghira replied.

“I didn’t do this, or put anyone up to this, I promise,” Whitly said, his pale blue eyes meeting Ghira’s cat yellow ones.

Ghira held that gaze for a long moment while Ilia and Willow fidgeted, and Brezo oozed tension. Then he nodded. “I believe you,” he said, leaning back.

Whitly blinked, and Willow sighed. “Thank you. I thought it was going to be harder to convince you.”

“You had an adamant supporter claiming you were working very hard to clean the stain off of your family’s name. I trust him, and so I trust you,” Ghira said.

“That’s… very noble of you. What would you suggest, moving forward?”

“A statement made to my people from you directly wouldn’t hurt. You making it in person would be even better. I can assure your safety, if that’s a concern.”

Whitley mulled this over, twisting one of the emblems over in his fingers as he did. “Ok. I can do that.”

“Just like that?” Ghira asked.

“You’ve shown me a remarkable amount of trust, Mr. Belladona. It would be churlish not to reciprocate. I would also like to relocate the White Fang, if you’d allow it. Somewhere further into the city, easier to protect. You can pick the location, of course. I wouldn’t want to put you any further out of ease. I’ve been working on a number of projects with my associate Klein, and an aid distribution center is something we want to get going. As an act of good faith, I’d like you or your people to run that. Menagerie has been doing a lot for refugees in this city, that hasn’t gone unnoticed.”

“Will you get pushback from the other high-class Atlesian families?” Ghira asked.

Whitley laughed, without humor. “Of course. They’re already complaining about everything I’ve been doing here. But, thanks to my quick thinking, and my father’s merciless business practices before his death, the Schnee Dust Company fortune survived the Fall of Atlas mostly intact. As I was the sole heir, what happens with that money is my business, not theirs. I’ve been trying to establish a production facility as well. The other families are not thrilled with the idea of giving Vacuo a means to catch up to us from a technological standpoint, but as you may have noticed, Mr. Belladona, Atlas no longer has a place to call home. They can all ‘kick sand’, as I believe the Vacuans say.” Whitley sipped at his cup of tea.

“I must say, you are not quite what I expected. And these other families are very likely the culprits behind the attempted attack on us,” Ghira said with the smallest glimmer of amusem*nt at the younger man’s ire.

“I’ve been running through that in my mind, trying to determine who would be most likely to do something like this. I’ll have to get someone on that, someone that I can trust. I’ll keep you in the loop on what I find out,” Whitley replied. “Will you take my offer to run the distribution center I’ve been trying to get up and running?”

“Let me run that by my council, but I do very much appreciate the offer. And thank you, for taking the matter of the attack seriously.” From beside Ghira, Brezo made a small, contemptuous noise in the back of his throat.

Whitley nodded. “We are all in this together, which is an alien concept to a lot of my peers. I have had the benefit of two older sisters that recognized that from a young age and made their own way, leaving that narrow-minded way of thinking behind. It’s my turn now, to help where I can.”

“I just wish I had put up more of a fight after Jacques let his true colors show,” Willow said. “I hid at the bottom of a bottle and let things just get worse and worse as Jacques took over the company.”

Ghira gave the Schnee Matriarch a considering look. He knew that it had been her father that had started the company, and that after she married Jacques and her father had died, she had been content to raise her children and let Jacques run the show. All of her children had shown more fire than her, and she had let the company become a monopolistic tyranny of Jacques’ creation. Still, she was here now and no longer trying to hide.

“You’ve got a lot of ground to cover, to make up for all the hardships your company has put my people through. I know my people haven’t been blameless, either. I stepped down to let a more action-oriented leader take my place, and we all know how that turned out. However, a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step, and that step has been taken. I look forward to moving into the future with the faunus working with you as equals, Mr. Schnee.” Ghira stood and offered Whitley his hand.

Whitley stood and took it, looking surprised but gratified. “I’ll do my best not to let you or the Faunus down, Chieftain. Thank you.”

Willow stood as well. “Thank you for agreeing to this meeting, Ghira. I’m truly sorry that there are still people that would attack you and yours just for being different than them. I hope that we can make a brighter future, for all of us.”

Ghira nodded to her, and then with Ilia and Brezo in tow, left the house. As they began the walk back to the Warehouse, Brezo spoke up.

“You’re really going to believe that that boy didn’t have anything to do with the attack? We know what his family and the other Atlesians are like. I don’t trust that they really want us to take charge of a project either. This whole thing stinks,” he said.

“Brezo, are children beholden to the sins of their parents? That boy is not Jacques Schnee. He is of his blood, yes, but he is not him. I would hope that by now you could see that if we keep this cycle going, our future generations are going to keep fighting, if for no other reason than that they’ve always been fighting. Bloodshed and hatred, year after year, decade after decade. Someone needs to stop that cycle, and we have a chance, now, to do it. No, it isn’t easy. We’re trying to make peace while standing in a pool of blood from thousands of dead, surrounded by their bodies, still mourning their deaths. But if we don’t try to find that peace, thousands more will die.” Ghira’s voice was low, and tired. There was a weight to it, a solemn timbre of time and grief that made the younger man bite back the anger in his reply.

Brezo sighed. “I can’t just forget that my brothers died, working the mines or fighting for the Fang. There were seven of us. Seven. Now it’s only me and Mata.”

“And would you deprive your mother of her last two sons?” Ghira asked tiredly. “You’re already taking a huge risk, being here in Vacuo with me. I’m very grateful for your aid, and I know she gave you her leave to be here, but is her grief worth it?”

“If I kill someone that would have otherwise killed more of us, and that stops others from grieving, then it might be, yes,” Brezo said stubbornly.

“And what of the relatives of the enemy dead? Will they not mourn, and rage, and swear revenge? When will it stop, Brezo? How much pain does there need to be before it ends? How deep must that pool of blood go? How high must the bodies be piled? No, we shouldn’t allow them to massacre and enslave us, but we can’t do that to them, either. We must find a way to make peace.” Ghira’s voice had risen, and while he wasn’t yelling, he wasn’t far from it, either.

“The Chieftain is right, Brezo. Fighting each other only leads to more grief. I know it isn’t easy, to leave the past behind and move ahead, but we have to, for the sake of our future generations,” Ilia said, joining the conversation. “As long as Salem doesn’t kill us all first,” she added darkly.

“There is that,” Ghira mused, joylessly. “That’s up to the Huntsmen and Huntresses, though. We need to focus on what we can do, which is helping the people that can’t fight.”

“I’m still not sure I understand the merits of making peace with the Schnees and Atlas, but I’ll try to be more open-minded,” Brezo said, scratching at one of his ram horns, still scowling.

“Talk to Mata,” Ilia said. “He’s got a good head on his shoulders, and isn’t as stubborn as you.”

“Yeah yeah. He’s grown up, hasn’t he?” Brezo said.

“He has. He’s a fine young man. You both are,” Ghira said, smiling. “Come, there’s a lot to discuss with the others.

Chapter 14: Interlude Three: A Chance Meeting

Chapter Text

Interlude Three: A Chance Meeting

Willow was left slightly shaken by the meeting with Ghira Belladonna and the White Fang. Whitley had composed himself wonderfully, but she couldn’t help but feel judged. She knew of Ghira, of course. He had been the subject of much ire from late husband, Jacques, despite the fact that out of many of the Fang's leaders Ghira was one of the most level-headed and likely to search for a peaceful solution. She knew all the terrible things that her father’s company had done under Jacques’ leadership, had heard the hateful and derogatory comments her friends had made, and she had done nothing about it. Yes, she found it in poor taste, but silence was just as damning, she had learned.

Ghira had been larger than life, in person. The photos she had seen of him didn’t do him justice. The man was huge, in every sense of the word. Tall, broad-shouldered, well-muscled; he had a gravitas, a charismatic force you couldn't help but respond to, aided by his deep voice and intelligent way of speaking. She had found herself quite intimidated in his presence. And the very first thing he had done after sitting down was tell them of an attempted attack on his people. An attack that certainly came from within the Schnee Dust Company or from one of the noble families of Atlas. She had anticipated a discussion about the years of friction and violence between her family and the Faunus, and thought herself mentally prepared for it. However, the meeting starting with a fresh accusation of a new attack had rattled her, and she had spent the rest of the meeting drowning in guilt and wishing for a stiff drink.

The two younger Faunus that were with Ghira she hadn’t recognized. She knew Ghira’s daughter, Blake, and had meant to share her relief about Blake’s return with heartfelt sincerity. They had both been parents grieving the loss of a child when the impossible happened and their children had returned to them. The way Ghira had opened the meeting, however, had driven it completely from her mind. And while she didn't recognize the young Faunus who were with Ghira, she was still adept at reading body language. The young woman, the one with the rather pretty smattering of chameleon scale freckles across her face, had looked about as awkward as Willow had felt. The young man with the rams’ horns and goatee, however, had been positively radiating anger and contempt. The entire time he had sat there, arms crossed, jaw tense, refusing to drink the tea while his eyes kept darting towards the kitchen where the Sahras had retired to. It was like he had expected an attack, Willow had thought, which given the subject matter of the meeting wasn’t an undue fear. She had felt the muscles in her back and neck relax when they trio had left, and again felt a stab of shame at her fear.

Whitley had called Klein as soon as the White Fang had left, to discuss the moving of the Fang from their current warehouse to somewhere more secure. Willow was immensely proud of all of her children, who were growing into fine people despite her and Jacques’ attempts to ruin them. She had resolved to step up and be the parent they had all deserved. And so far, she felt as though she hadn’t done much. Her children had learned to cope without her, and now that she was back in their lives and sober, she had realized she didn't really know how to do it. Despite her intentions, she had been little more than a bystander in the meeting. Her guilt had locked her up and Whitley had done the heavy lifting. As she wallowed in pitying self-retrospection, inspiration suddenly struck, and she briskly left her guest room to find Whitley. No more being a bystander in her children’s lives. Willow Schnee was going to start being proactive.

Whitley was still seated on the couch when she returned to the living room, tapping away at a laptop he had set up on the coffee table. Willow gently cleared her throat and asked, “Where are the locations that you're thinking of setting up the White Fang at?”

Whitley paused in his typing and looked at his mother with faint surprise. “Well, while I wanted them to pick a location that they wanted, I was going to try to steer them towards a couple places that are mostly ready to go. The most likely candidate is an old dust distribution center that we already own. According to the records, it belonged to a competitor that Father either forced out or bought out. Either way, the deed is already ours, and even though it’s been sitting empty for years it’s still set up as a distribution center. Warehouse, offices, everything an aid center would want. Some squatters are living in it, and I've been trying to entice them to move out, but they’re being stubborn. Why do you ask?”

“I’d like to be the one to show Ghira and his people the places you have in mind. And I think I can handle the squatters too, if it comes to that.” Willow said, face set with determination.

“That would help a great deal, but are you sure you can handle the squatters? They’ve been peaceful so far, but if push comes to shove they may shove back,” Whitley said, looking at his mother with some concern.

“I’ll be fine, Whitley. I was quite adept at smooth-talking potential business partners many years ago, and though I haven’t gotten a lot of practice lately, I’m sure I can make some sort of deal with them. I already have some ideas.”

Whitley frowned, but acquiesced. “Take someone with you at least, please. The city is overflowing with people and Vacuans have a rightfully negative opinion of us.”

“Son, I have aura training and can use the family semblance. Besides, Klein figures into my plans, and I’ll be meeting with him. I’ll be fine.” Willow spoke with such fierce resolve that Whitley had no choice but to agree. He had never seen his mother be this assertive about anything before. It made a welcome change of pace from the withdrawn alcoholic she had been for most of his life.

“Ok, just be safe, Mother.”

“I will. I’ll be back later.”

*

And so Willow found herself, fifteen minutes later, navigating the crowded streets of the City of Vacuo. She had dressed modestly, so she wouldn’t draw too much attention to herself, and despite her earlier assurances to Whitley, had slid a compact handgun into a cleverly concealed holster just in case. She was sure she wouldn’t have to actually use it on anyone, but its sleek weight gave her comfort anyway.

She had rarely set foot outside of the Sahra residence since she had gotten to the city, and had forgotten just how cluttered it was compared to Atlas. Where Atlas was all clean-lines and engineered purpose, Vacuo was a haphazard sprawl of buildings that had gone up with seemingly no clear plan in mind. And there were thousands of people crammed into every street. It was loud, smelly, and overwhelming. Willow felt herself growing more nervous as she traveled and frequently checked the directions she had put into her scroll.

As she neared the building Whitley had told her about, she started to scan the crowds for signs of Klein. She had messaged him, asking him to meet with her, and he had heartily agreed. She paused on the side of the street as her eyes jumped from face to face, searching for Klein’s distinct bowler hat and mustachioed face. Her gaze paused instead on the profile of a rugged, dark-haired man that stuck out from the people around him. He walked with his hands jammed into the pockets of his trousers, which rumpled the fringe of his jacket in the process. There was a lethal looking sword strapped horizontally across his lower back, partially obscured by a red cloak. He emanated an air of easy grace and danger that made her shiver, and then he turned enough for her to get a clear view of his face.

That’s Qrow Branwen. I don’t think I’ve ever thanked him for all the time he spent with Weiss’s team. I should say something, she thought as she started to raise her arm to call out to him. Before she could, however, a number of people screamed, and she was jostled as the crowd suddenly surged and nearly knocked her off of her feet. As fear rose like an acidic wave in her throat, decades old reflexes took over and she started to activate her aura. She felt the familiar hardening around her, and then it shattered as something slammed into her. Ice-cold pain impaled her, radiating from just below her ribcage.

A dirty, disheveled man was panting in her ear as he twisted the knife in her side. She felt it grate over one of her ribs and she nearly passed out. “Yer a Schnee,” he leered. “Don’ matter what happens to me if’n my blade drinks enough of yer blood before I die. Your family is full of monsters,” he spat, driving the blade deeper still.

Willow was fast losing consciousness, the icy pain in her side throbbing as the world swam and started to turn gray. She could no longer understand what the man was snarling at her, and she tried to form words of her own as she met his wild, bloodshot eyes. A fine spray of something hot covered her face, and then the man seemed to be choking on something, his throat bulging around a weird object that protruded through his adam’s apple. Willow’s last coherent thought before the darkness took her was that the thing was the tip of a sword, and then the world went black.

*

Qrow was wandering the streets of Vacuo, as he was wont to do when he was thinking things over. His nieces and their team were going off to Atlas soon, and he was staying behind. He didn’t like the idea of them roaming the fallen city, even though there were going to be plenty of licensed Huntsmen there. He was just nervous, he guessed, about the possibility of them disappearing again. He didn’t think he could bear going through that sort of grief a second time.

As he walked, hands morosely stuffed into his pockets, he caught sight of a striking woman who was staring at him from across the way. He paused, startled. That’s Willow Schnee. The hell is she doing out here on the streets? She had raised her arm, as if to beckon him over, and then chaos erupted. He felt the jarring buzz of his semblance, a sensation that felt as if his entire body had been hit in the funny bone, and which he knew through painful experience heralded bad luck. sh*t. The people crowding the street surged and he heard someone yell something about a knife.

Instinct kicked in and Qrow drew Harbinger, eyes darting through the seething mass of people. Through a brief gap in the crowd, he saw Willow, standing transfixed as a man rammed a long dagger into her side. sh*t sh*t sh*t. His first attempt to cross the street was stymied by the sheer number of bodies that were running back and forth, and he had to force his way through, roughly elbowing people out of the way. As he cleared the press, he saw that Willow was now collapsed against the man who was shouting obscenities about Atlas and the Schnees. Qrow lunged, aiming for the man’s arm, trying to incapacitate him, but then he felt that whole body tingle again as his foot slipped on some loose sand. His thrust went high and took the man through the nape of the neck. Harbinger was not a weapon meant for finesse, and the blow nearly decapitated the man. He saw Willow get soaked with arterial spray and he pulled his weapon free, sending the man’s head tumbling to the ground. Qrow winced at this, but his next priority was making sure Willow was alive.

He dropped to his knees and cut a ragged chunk out of his cloak, stuffing the red cloth tightly into and around the stab wound. The material went a darker shade of crimson as it started to soak up Willow’s blood. He then undid his belt with his free hand and cinched it as tightly as he could around the wounded woman, trying to keep his makeshift bandage in place. With the immediate first aid taken care of, Qrow swiftly looked around for any more signs of danger or potential help. The dead man lay next to them, a large pool of blood soaking into the hardpacked ground from the stump of his neck. A group of people had circled around them, gawking at the blood and spectacle. Qrow pulled out his license and shouted at the crowd.

“Licensed Huntsman! This woman needs immediate medical attention! Clear a path!” As the crowd wordlessly parted, he scooped Willow up, being mindful of her wounded side as he did. Dumb bastards would rather watch than help, he thought as he carried Willow down the street. Few people would meet his eyes, other than the occasional defiant Vacuan. The refugees he saw from Atlas shied away from his gaze completely.

“Mr. Branwen!” A voice suddenly called. “My word, what has happened?” A roundish, shorter man wearing a bowler hat called out as he rushed to Qrow’s side.

“Klein, some nutjob attacked Willow. I was on the other side of the street when it happened, couldn’t get to her in time. She needs help, ASAP.”

“Set her down, set her down,” Klein said, gesturing emphatically. He pulled out his scroll and typed for a moment, and then knelt by his mistress’s side. “Help is on the way. That bandage your doing?”

“Uh, yeah. Not great at first aid, best thing I could do on short notice,” Qrow said. He kept a watchful eye on the crowds that were still gathered, hand hovering by the hilt of his weapon.

Klein sighed. “Well, it slowed the bleeding. Not sure about the cleanliness of the cloth you used, but it’s better than nothing.” The older man rewrapped the wound, settling the bandage more securely. “I wish I had my equipment with me. I was told to meet Miss Schnee here and was waiting when I heard the commotion. Terrible business, this.” He wrinkled his nose, his eyes turned crimson, and his voice gained a rougher accent. “I ‘ope the bastard that did this was taken care of?”

“Yeah, he’s dead. Was trying to wound and capture, but I fumbled my strike,” Qrow said, blinking at this abrupt change in demeanor.

“Good. Scum like ‘at deserves the worst.” Klein wrinkled his nose again, and his eyes changed back to light brown. “Dreadfully sorry. Sometimes my other selves come out without warning.”

“It’s ok. I’m just glad I was in the area, I’d hate to think what would have happened if I hadn’t been there,” Qrow said. He could hear the thrum of a Bullhead motor, and the air was suddenly filled with flying sand. The aircraft hovered directly over him and Klein, and a stretcher lift descended from its underside. Klein quickly and deftly strapped Willow in, then gave a thumbs up to the man waiting in the belly of the Bullhead.

“There. They’ll take her to Amity and tend to her wound. Thank you for rescuing her, Mr. Branwen. We’re in your debt.”

“Uh, don’t mention it. I just wish I could have been there sooner,” Qrow said.

“Lucky you were there at all. If you’ll excuse me, I need to let her children know what happened.”

Lucky… Qrow fingered the clover talisman on his chest, and wondered.

*

Willow awoke with a head full of cotton. Her thoughts were muzzy and indistinct, and her mouth was terribly dry. What happened? She thought, trying to marshal her thoughts. Memories crept in, an icy pain in her side, a man screaming at her, blood everywhere. She sat up suddenly and winced as she stretched out the stitches in her side.

“Whoa, easy there, you took quite a bit of damage earlier,” Qrow said from a chair at her bedside.

Whitley was sitting next to him, wringing his hands in worry. “Mother! I’m so glad you’re ok! I knew something like this would happen, I should have sent someone with you, I’m sorry!”

Willow eased back into her hospital bed, smiling at Whitley and Qrow. “I’m the one who was determined to go off on my own, Whitley. And besides, there was a dashing knight there to save me,” she added, beaming at Qrow.

Qrow cleared his throat, embarrassed. “I’m no knight. Just glad I was there in time to stop that man from killing you.”

“What happened to him?” Willow asked. Another memory surfaced then, her attacker’s wild eyes bulging as a sword tip erupted from his throat. “Oh. You killed him, didn’t you?”

“Yeah. Meant to take him down non-lethally so we could try and question him. Missed my strike though,” Qrow said, shifting uncomfortably. “Listen, I’m glad you’re ok, but I should go. This should be a family thing, yeah?”

“Nonsense, you saved my life. I need to find a way to thank you properly,” Willow said.

“It’s fine, really,” Qrow said, getting up out of his seat and looking towards the door nervously. It opened as he did and Winter stalked in, radiating displeasure. Qrow sank back into his chair, defeated.

“What on earth were you thinking, Mother? Going off alone, in the streets of a city that hates Atlas and our family! And you!” Winter rounded on Whitley. “Letting her go without an escort! I can’t believe the carelessness!” Winter was in a towering temper, bright spots of color flaring high on her cheeks.

“Ma’am, I’d like to remind you that there are other wounded being cared for and that it may be prudent to keep your voice down,” Klein said as he entered the room behind Winter, sweeping his hat off in the process.

“And you!” Winter continued, not dropping her voice in the slightest as she turned towards Qrow. Qrow mentally braced himself for whatever Winter was going to throw his way. He had never gotten along with Winter, from the very first moment they had met.

Time stretched and Qrow reluctantly looked up to meet Winter’s eyes. “Thank you,” she said, much more softly. “I still think you’re a scoundrel with no manners or social skills, but you saved Mother’s life. So, thank you.”

That was not what I expected, Qrow thought. He was sure that Winter was going to tear into him for not stopping the attack in the first place, despite that fact that it had been random chance he was in the area. Or was it? He absently fingered the talisman on his chest again.

“Yeah, well, couldn’t just stand by and let her get murdered. I may be a scoundrel but I’m still a Huntsman,” Qrow said with an edge of defiance.

“And one that I owe a dinner to, at the very least, for saving my life,” Willow said from her bed.

Qrow’s eyes widened ever so slightly in panic at this as Winter’s eyes narrowed. “Uh, sure. We can figure out the details later? I really should get going, paperwork to fill out for the guy that tried to kill you and stuff. If you’ll excuse me.” And with that, he nodded curtly to the Schnees and left the room.

“Really, Winter, I don’t know why you dislike that man so much. Sure, he’s a little rough around the edges, but that’s exciting, don’t you think?” Willow’s eyes were twinkling as she addressed her oldest daughter.

This cannot be happening, Winter thought to herself. No way is Mother interested in that hoodlum. She looked more closely at Willow, and noticed that, despite her life-threatening wound, Willow was in very high spirits.

“Mother, you’re in an oddly cheerful mood for someone who was just nearly killed,” Winter told her.

“I expect that may change later when it can sink in a bit, but really, that’s one of the most exciting things that has happened to me in over a decade. I feel alive, Winter. I’m not in a cage anymore, drinking away the years.”

“Ma’am, euphoria is a well-documented phenomenon in patients who have just had a near death experience. I’m sure you’re feeling well now, but I expect that it will pass. Please don’t dismiss the advice your doctors give you, and if you need someone to talk to, consider a therapist,” Klein said, frowning slightly.

Willow sighed. “I will, Klein. Thank you for your advice. Now, does anyone know where Weiss is?”

“She’s with Jaune, they were going to drop in after we left, they didn’t want to crowd you,” Whitley said.

“The hospital wing also has a standing policy in place of no more than two visitors at a time, which we already broke, due to Miss Winter’s insistence on seeing you,” Klein added helpfully.

“Like they could stop me from seeing my mother,” Winter glowered.

“Thank you, all of you, for coming to see me,” Willow said. “I’m sorry I worried you.” Her face darkened slightly. “What do we know about the man that attacked me?”

“He was a Vacuan. No name yet, but there are a number of reasons he may have done it. They don’t particularly like us here,” Winter said.

“But, Winter goes everywhere as she pleases! Besides, I didn’t wear my best clothing, I thought I was being careful,” Willow said, put out.

“Mother, Winter is a Maiden, and a high-ranking military officer. No one would dare do anything to her. You are not, and the blouse you chose had the Schnee emblem embroidered on the sleeve, if you hadn’t noticed,” Whitley told Willow with exasperation.

Willow thought this over. She had thought she had taken enough precautions, but obviously she had not. If only he had tried talking to me instead of attacking me. I knew we were hated, but enough for someone to try to murder me in broad daylight on a crowded street? Out loud she said, “We have more work to do than I thought we did to clear the reputation Jacques gave us.”

Winter sighed. “Well, at least you’re finally on board with that. Please don’t take anymore unnecessary risks.”

“Young lady, you are all taking enormous risks yourselves. As your mother, I cannot just keep sitting by while you do all the work,” Willow said fiercely.

Winter looked taken aback at this, and Whitley smiled grimly. “She hit me with that earlier. I think she’s finally coming out of her shell,” the young man said.

“Well, whatever the case, you still need to be careful. It wouldn’t do for us to lose you as soon as we got you back, would it?” Winter said, more gently.

Willow felt an upswelling of emotion at this. They still love me. After everything, the years I faded away and left them to their own devices, they still love me. “I will, I promise.”

“Well, I had better be off. Work to do and people to see,” Klein said as he donned his bowler hat. “Very glad that you made it, Ma’am. Please follow your doctor’s instructions, they do know best.”

“Thank you, Klein. And you take care of yourself, too,” Willow told him.

“I know my way ‘round a fight, if it comes to it. Never fear, Mum,” Klein said, his eyes briefly turning crimson. He tipped his hat to them and exited the room.

“I had better go, too. Duty calls,” Winter grimaced. “Klein gave you good advice, Mother. Listen to your doctors. And Whitley, if she tries to do anything like this again, please let me know,” she added.

“I’m only trying to rebuild our company from the ground up, big sister. And Mother, believe it or not, is an adult who can make her own decisions. I won’t babysit her if she’s determined to do something,” Whitley sniped.

“Fine. Mother, can you please let me know if you ever decide that you need an escort? I can assign a squad at any time,” Winter said, annoyed.

“I will, I promise. Now both of go, you’ve got plenty on your plates. I’m in good hands here,” Willow said, making a shooing motion. Both of her children hugged her then, being careful of her wounded side, and left.

Willow eased back into her pillow, wondering how long it would be before Weiss and Jaune visited, and if she had time to get some more sleep. Whatever pain medication they had given her was keeping her head fuzzy. Deciding it would be best to stay awake, she instead took a sip of water from the mug on her side table and pulled out her scroll.

Headmaster Theodore, this is Willow Schnee. I’m writing to you about an incident that just occurred in the city, and which I’m sure you will be informed of by the appropriate parties soon, if you haven’t heard of it already. I am fine, thanks to the actions of one Mr. Qrow Branwen. I was hoping that you could send me his contact information so that I may thank him appropriately…”

Willow smiled as she typed. Winter would disapprove, but honestly, she should thank Qrow properly for saving her. It helped that he was also quite handsome, in a rugged, ne’er-do-well sort of way. And, she hadn’t been in a proper relationship for ages. Her marriage to Jacques had been a sham, and she missed the companionship that came with a healthy relationship. I wonder what kind of food Qrow likes, she wondered, humming softly to herself as she planned her outing with her savior.

Chapter 15: Interlude Four: Menagerie

Chapter Text

Interlude Four: Menagerie

The deserts in Menagerie were somehow more alive than the deserts in Vacuo. Sun had been hiking through the wilds of Menagerie for several days now, and kept noticing differences. Where Vacuo seemed desolate and bare, the land having been brutalized by decades of abuse, Menagerie thrived. Everything here was just more vibrant. There was plenty of wildlife, and a variety of flowering cacti and shrubs dotted the landscape. And there were the grimm, of course.

His team, five strong now including him and their new addition, Nolan, had gotten into a scrap at least once a day since Sun had decided to try to find this Wild Woman that everyone in Kuo Kuana was talking about. They had won each one, easily, but still his team were starting to get restless. Neptune and Scarlet in particular were getting whiny. It was too hot, there’s sand in my boots, yadda yadda yadda. Sun had sand in uncomfortable places too, but he wasn’t whining about it. Well, out loud, at least. He had better find this lady, fast. He didn’t want his team to mutiny on him like they almost had back in Vacuo, and he really didn’t want to face down Ghira and Theodore if his hunch didn’t pay off.

The search had started strong, with plenty of eyewitness accounts of a woman that had a crest of eagle feathers on her head, a staff in her hands, and who appeared like lightning out of a clear blue sky when there were grimm nearby. Sun hadn't been able to tell whether that last bit was hyperbole or not, but since Maidens could control the elements, he got excited regardless and took it as a sign that they were in the right place.

And so he had convinced Ilia to take over guard duty for the transport back to Vacuo, talked his team into following him into the desert, and started the search for the lost Maiden. At first, they had welcomed the Grimm attacks. All of the stories they had heard agreed that this woman was a grimmslayer. Even when they ‘threw’ a fight, pretending that they were in trouble, she still hadn’t shown up. Sun was convinced it was his team’s poor acting, and his team was convinced that Sun’s ‘throw a fight’ idea was dumb.

Still, the battles had given them a good chance to really start to mesh and work together. Neptune was even starting to use his semblance, at the gentle encouragement of Scarlet and Nolan. The guy still freaked out when too much water got involved, but he had come in clutch, drawing up water from the sands for them to drink when the heat was becoming unbearable. Scarlet had made a fuss at first about not wanting to drink sandy groundwater, but then Sage had produced a filter and purification tablets that made it drinkable, and the complaints had subsided. Sun had pulled Sage aside and thanked him for his foresight, even though as the team leader he probably should have thought of it himself. But that’s what his team was for though, right? To think of the things he overlooked?

They had visited two different villages so far, both small and badly defended. Most of the residents had fled to the safety of the capitol city, worried about the increase in grimm activity, but there had always been a handful of stubborn holdouts. The last village had been home to a slightly crazed old goat Faunus, who had proudly proclaimed he could survive on anything, including leather and his own urine, and who would be damned if got scared off by some measly grimm. He had also been convinced that Sun was the reincarnation of some old mythical figure and had taken to following him around and offering him food and drink. Sun, remembering the old man’s first proclamation, had politely declined until he eventually fled with his team. Their leads, which had been promising at first, were starting to dry up.

Sun sighed and put his hands behind his head, lacing his fingers together as they hiked over the sandy ground. Neptune and Scarlet were bickering at the rear of the formation, Sage was next to Sun with his eyes resolutely on the horizon, and Nolan had their map open next to him.

Nolan, squinting at the hand drawn lines of the shabby map in the midday sun, said, “We should be coming up on the next town soon. If this map is accurate, anyway.”

“This one better not be abandoned, like the last one was,” Neptune said. “I need some shade and pretty girls to bring me cold drinks.”

Scarlet eyed him, askance. “I’d settle for a chance to dump the sand out of my boots and put my feet up for a day.”

“Hey, it wasn’t completely abandoned, there was the weird old goat dude. And c’mon, guys! We’re on an important mission here! Think of how huge it’ll be when we find the Summer Maiden!” Sun exclaimed, trying to bolster his team’s flagging reserves.

“Yeah, an old goat dude who was trying to get us to drink his ‘hydration mix’. I’m pretty sure that wasn’t lemonade, bro,” Neptune said.

“And this is a mission that you talked all of us into, and that hasn’t gotten us anything other than sunburned and blistered,” Scarlet replied sourly.

“He brought us along this time, at least.” Neptune said. “But yeah, man, this better get us somewhere soon or we’re in trouble.”

“It’ll work out! Trust me! And think of all the team building we’ve been doing, fighting all these grimm. We’re gonna get back to Vacuo stronger than ever!” Sun refused to let his team get him down. He’d worry about the repercussions later, if they didn’t find the Maiden. But we’ll find her, I know it.

Sage had steadfastly ignored his companions bickering and kept his eyes to the horizon. There was something there, but he couldn’t quite make out what it was through the heat haze rising from the sand. He was debating whether it was the town they were trying to reach, or if it was something else, when a column of fire shot towards the sky.

Wordlessly, he unsheathed his sword as Sun and the others stopped talking and gaped.

“Dude…” Neptune breathed. “You think that’s our girl?”

“I dunno. Remember that Cinder chick? She has a nasty fire semblance. And she’s after the Maidens…” Sun trailed off. “Yo! We gotta get over there, now!” And he took off over the sand, not waiting to see if his team was following him. The rest all shared a look, and then ran off after their leader.

“Bro, what’s the plan if it is Cinder? She took down Team RWBY without issue,” Neptune worried as they ran towards the towering flame.

“We’ll kick her ass, that’s the plan. For revenge, if nothing else. You really gonna let her go after what she did to Weiss, man? Plus, you’ve been working on your semblance. You’re like the perfect counter to someone who uses fire,” Sun yelled as they ran.

“You know how much water I’d need to put out that fire? Where am I supposed to get it from?” Neptune asked.

“Pull it out of the ground or something again, I dunno,” Sun helpfully replied.

“We believe in you, Neptune, you got this,” Nolan said, much more encouragingly.

“We’re doomed,” Scarlet said, rolling his eyes.

“Focus!” Sage barked. “We need to be on top of our game.”

As the Huntsmen got closer to the fire, the flames started to die down and black smoke poured into the sky. Sun could only see a shrouded figure with a deep, oversized hood on the other side of the flames, and the smoke made it hard to make out their face. There was a large bundle on the ground, the source of the flame and the smoke. The sand under the bundle was glassy, and the air smelled revoltingly of burning flesh. Sun’s stomach turned, and he whipped out his staff.

There’s something weird about that hood, Sun thought briefly before mentally shrugging and tossing the thought aside. “You’re going down! We're gonna make you pay for everything you've done!” He yelled as he split into three with Via Sun, charging around the pyre.

The figure quick-stepped backward, looking at him and pulling out a long staff of their own. A set of rings jingled on the end of it as the person fended off one of Sun’s clones. Sun himself twirled his staff and sent it hurtling towards the figures head. The person nimbly ducked the blow, slid to the side, and neatly looped one of the rings on their staff over Sun’s head as he went past. The ring expanded, encircling Sun’s shoulders, and then snapped tight, sending Sun face first into the ground.

“Owmf!” Sun yelped, voice muffled by the sand. His clones vanished as he lost concentration, disappearing with faint crackle.

Neptune leveled Tri-Hard at the figure and fired a shot that they gracefully dodged. “Sun! Hang on, buddy!” Neptune rushed forward, gun shifting into a trident as he did so, and jabbed at the figure. They flowed around the attack and caught Neptune with a second ring, neatly snaring him with the glimmering gold hoop.

“Wha- Hey!” Neptune exclaimed as he met a similar fate as his friend and toppled to the ground.

Sage, Scarlet, and Nolan all stayed back, eyeing the figure warily. Sun and Neptune wriggled on the ground, unable to free themselves from the golden rings. The cloaked and hooded figure stood easily, their staff jingly melodically as they stared down the last three members of Team SSSNN.

“Why have you attacked me?” the person asked. Their voice was a rich and smooth alto, exotically accented.

“Who did you set on fire?” Sage asked, keeping his sword between him and the woman.

“I set no living person on fire. This is a funeral pyre,” the person replied.

“Wait, a funeral pyre? So that person was already dead?” Nolan asked.

“Yes. And you have interrupted the memorial I was holding, attacking me without reason. Again I ask, why?”

“Mrrmph!” Sun said, his mouth still full of sand, as he unsuccessfully tried to roll over.

“I think there has been an unfortunate misunderstanding,” Scarlet said as he put away his weapons. “We thought you were someone else.”

“And who is this person, that you would clumsily charge headfirst into battle with?” the woman asked. Her voice betrayed no emotion. She could have been furious or amused, for all Scarlet and the others could tell.

“She’s a dangerous person, a killer, and when we saw the fire, we thought that well, you might be her, cuz she has a fire semblance, and stuff,” Neptune said. He had managed to get himself into a sitting position, despite having his arms bound.

“I am no killer. And I would have apologies from all of you for interrupting me.”

“We’re very sorry for disrupting your memorial,” Sage said, sheathing his sword and bowing his head towards the woman.

Nolan, Scarlet, and Neptune echoed the sentiment, and the woman rolled Sun over with her foot. He stared up at her, spitting sand and spluttering. “This thing is tight! Look, you could have been anyone, and in my defense, it looked like you had burned someone alive!”

The woman slammed the butt of her staff into the ground, and the golden ring that Sun was caught in lit up with electricity. “Ow! Ok, ok, sorry I attacked you. Now can you get this thing off of me?”

The woman relented and deftly hooked the ring from around Sun with her Khakkhara. Sun sat up, rubbing at his arms where the ring had shocked him.

“So, if you’re not Cinder, who are you?” he asked the robed and hooded woman.

In response, she pulled the hood down and offered Sun a hand. He took it, drinking in her appearance as he did. She was beautiful.

The woman was slim and dark, with a pair of graceful, spiraling antelope prongs that swept back from her head. Her eyes were large and brown, and her head was shaved on the sides, with elaborate braids between her horns. Her hair was black with a hint of deep purple highlights. She was dressed in leather leggings and a khaki-colored tunic underneath her cloak. She had on sturdy, well-worn shoes, and an elegant silver necklace set with a large amethyst was her only embellishment. Her staff was the kind known as a khakkara, with six golden rings hanging from a single loop at the top.

“My name is Zambara. I would say it is a pleasure to meet you, but I do not know that that would be truthful, just yet,” she told Sun.

“Uh, yeah. Sorry again for attacking you, that’s totally my bad. Who were they?” Sun asked embarrassedly, gesturing to the smoldering body.

“My mentor. She taught me everything I know, and gave me her strength,” Zambara said.

“How’d she die?” Neptune asked. Scarlet smacked him on the back of his head as he did. “Ow, what?”

“How insensitive are you, dude?” Scarlet replied.

“Sorry,” Neptune mumbled.

“She was killed by a fearsome creature that we had never before seen. It was grimm in appearance, but had speech and could change its form. When I killed it, it turned into an emaciated person,” Zambara said matter-of-factly, paying no mind to the interaction between the two men.

“Hey, we’ve heard of those. There was that thing in Atlas they called a hound. Did it look like a dog?” Sun asked.

“No. It was a winged creature, a dark parody of my master. It caught us unawares, after we had already been in a battle. If I had been more vigilant, maybe she would still be alive,” Zambara said, emotion coloring her voice for the first time.

“Hey, it’s not your fault,” Nolan said gently. “I’m sure you did everything you could. And I think we might have an idea of what that thing was that attacked you.”

“We do?” Neptune asked.

“Do you never read the reports that the Academy puts out? We know Salem can make human/grimm hybrids. And if she sent one after your master, Zambara, then she must have been an important person. What can you tell us about her?” Sage asked.

“How do you know of the eternal foe?” Zambara asked, frowning.

“Uh, Salem? Everyone knows about Salem. She’s kinda trying to destroy the world. Making solid progress, too. You been getting anything from the CCT feeds? I know they’ve been spotty lately, but I’d think you’d have heard, even way out here,” Sun said.

“My master and I try to stay out of the public’s eye, precisely so Salem cannot find us. What do you mean about the world being destroyed?”

“Oh boy. Well, it’s a long story. There somewhere we can get out of the heat so we can go over it?” Sun asked.

“How did you and your master know of Salem, if you’ve been out here in the desert this entire time?” Scarlet asked, eyes narrowing as he appraised Zambara.

Zambara mulled this over and came to a decision. “It seems that an exchanging of knowledge would be prudent. Follow me.” And without another word, she set off over the sands, leaving her master’s pyre behind.

*

“I knew it!” Sun was exclaiming. “I knew that we were on the right track!”

“So, you’re telling us that the Summer Maiden has been in Menagerie for generations, the power getting passed from person to person? And you’ve known about Salem the entire time?” Neptune asked, sitting cross legged on a sandy mat on the floor of the large cave Zambara had brought them to.

“You all thought I was crazy, but who’s laughing now?” Sun continued, overcome with glee.

“Sun, will you shut up for a second? We’re trying to learn something here,” Sage said.

“Right, right. But we did it! We found her! This is awesome!”

“Please excuse our friend,” Scarlet said.

“He is certainly energetic,” Zambara said, frowning at Sun. “And yes. I am the latest person to inherit the strength of the Maiden. I will need to find an apprentice after I’ve mastered the new powers I have.”

“We might not have time for all of that,” Sage said. “Salem is no longer operating solely from the shadows. Two of the kingdoms have fallen, a third is on the brink of falling, and a last stand is being prepared in Vacuo right now. We need, you, Zambara. Cinder, that woman that we thought you were, has Maiden powers as well, and has been hunting down the other Maidens. That creature that attacked you and your master was likely sent after you specifically to get the Maiden power.”

“If she is trying to get the power, shouldn’t I stay hidden?” Zambara asked. “It sounds like things are not going well for the people fighting against her.”

“Salem has nearly unlimited resources. If she knows you’re here, then the attacks won’t stop. You’ll be better off with the rest of the defense force,” Scarlet said.

“You can’t stay here!” Sun exclaimed, aghast. “I’m gonna get my ass kicked if I go back empty handed.”

“Is that the only reason you want her to come back with us?” Scarlet asked Sun.

“No! Of course not! We could use your help fighting Salem, too, Zambara. We’ve already lost some good friends. I don’t want to lose anyone else, and you can help us with that,” Sun pleaded.

Zambara considered this for a moment. “I’ll do it. I’ll journey west with you. My master always talked about keeping our power away from Salem and using it to help our people. It sounds like the best way to help now is to actively confront her instead of hiding away.”

“Just like that?” Neptune asked, incredulous.

Sun elbowed him. “Great! That’s awesome! You’ll love it in Vacuo! It has deserts a lot like Menagerie, Shade is an awesome Academy, Theodore is cool, you can meet the Winter Maiden, and I can’t wait to see the look on Ghira’s face when he finds out the Summer Maiden has been hiding out in Menagerie for decades!”

“Thank you, Zambara. I know it’s a lot, to ask you to leave your land behind, especially right after the loss of your master. We’re in your debt,” Sage said, inclining his head to the woman. Nolan nodded in agreement.

“Defeating Salem is the ultimate goal of the Maidens, right? I was always told that a time would come when we needed to be ready, and it seems that time is now. It would be better if you had found us sooner, and then maybe Okhozi would still be alive. Her mastery over the elements was unparalleled. I’m a poor imitation of her,” Zambara said.

“Yeah, sorry. You didn’t make it easy on us though. You weren’t very easy to find, believe me,” Sun said.

Scarlet rolled his eyes with a pained expression on his face. “You and Neptune have zero tact, you know that right?”

“What? They weren’t. I am sorry we didn’t find you soon enough to meet Okhozi. She sounds like she was great,” Sun said.

“She was. Fierce, independent, brave. The world is lesser without her in it.” Zambara bowed her head in a moment of silence. Sun and his team followed suit.

“It sounds like there is no time to lose,” Zambara eventually said. How will we get to Vacuo?”

“Easy, we just need to get back to Kuo Kuana and get on the next airship,” Sun said. “We can head there whenever you’re ready.”

“Let’s go, then,” Zambara said. She stood and picked up her staff.

“You, uh, need to pack anything?” Neptune asked.

“No,” she said simply. “I am used to living off the land. I will be fine.”

“Alright, let’s do this!” Sun exclaimed.

Together the five Huntsmen and the Summer Maiden started the journey back to Kuo Kuana. Sun, ever eager, had a bounce to his step. That was easy! I knew we were on the right track. Things are coming up Sun. I can’t wait to see Ghira and Theodore and tell them I was right.

*

High, high above the five figures trekking across the sand, a winged creature circled, and watched, and waited. Now wasn’t the time to strike. It could be patient, though, when it needed to be. There would be a time when the figures were less alert, and then it would make its move. Its partner had been too hasty and attacked before they had caught up to them. They had paid the price for this, but the surviving creature was the craftier of the two. It was confident that it would succeed where its partner had not. All it had to do was wait for the right opportunity, and then move in for the kill. Content, it kept circling, and watching, and waiting.

Chapter 16: Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Text

Part Two

Chapter Sixteen

Jaune and Weiss were relaxing on one of Shade’s balconies, taking in the evening air. A week had passed since the attack on the city, and Jaune’s arm had almost completely healed. They were rested and ready, due to leave for Atlas tomorrow, and were enjoying one last night before they were back on a mission.

Jaune could see the crater that Theodore had left in the side of Shade below them and to the left. When asked about it, the headmaster had said, “I was a little over-enthusiastic to join the fight. May have overdone it just a tad.” If Theodore’s got that much power, that Beringel he fought must have been a monster, Jaune thought. Theodore was still in a sling himself, and while most of his bumps and bruises had healed, the headmaster still wasn’t back to full strength after his intense battle with Salem’s experimental grimm.

The city was spread below them, twinkling in the dimming light. From his vantage, Jaune could see the cranes at the city gate, working around the clock to repair the damage that the blind worm had done. Other than the first courtyard and the buildings right inside the gate, the damage to the city had been minimal. Everyone considered this a well fought victory, and in a way, it had been, but Jaune knew that the enemy hadn’t really been looking to flatten Vacuo. They had been after the Asturias twins, and they had gotten what they wanted.

Weiss was humming contentedly next to him, her head nestled on his shoulder. He felt the familiar warmth in his chest, followed by a newer wave of something that was almost like guilt. He’d been meaning to talk to Weiss about it, but hadn’t found a good way to broach the subject.

The thing was, with his time in the Ever After, Jaune was significantly older than his schoolmates. Like, their parents age, basically. And that felt a little weird. His time spent in the other world continued to fade, dreamlike, and he continued to lose more and more of the memories he had made, but he still carried a huge weight of time with him. Weiss didn’t seem to mind, his friends didn’t seem to mind, but still, Jaune felt a bit awkward about the whole thing.

He was comfortable with Weiss, and he didn't want to mess things up. The old ache of grief in his chest disappeared when he was with her, and he felt at peace for the first time in years. He wanted to keep that. Still, he wanted to clear the air and make sure she knew how things sat with him. It was just a matter of figuring out how to do it.

He opened his mouth, and instead of telling Weiss how he was feeling, asked, “How do you think things are going with Qrow and Willow?” Dammit Jaune, you coward, he thought immediately after.

Weiss raised her head to look at him, frowning. “Mother seems rather taken with him. I'm particularly enthused, but maybe they'll be good for each other. I'm trying not to think about it too much, honestly.”

“They make a fun juxtaposition, I think. The high class lady and the rough and tumble Huntsmen,” Jaune said, trying for a light tone and not quite succeeding.

“Fun might not be the word I'd use. They do both have their demons to work out. I just hope they don’t relapse and start drinking again,” Weiss said, still frowning.

“I dunno, I think maybe they can keep each other straight, give each other encouragement if one of them is struggling,” Jaune said.

“Or they’ll take each other back down. Really Jaune, I’m glad Mom seems happy, but I’d rather not think about it, please. The idea of her dating again is just weird. Especially when its Qrow.”

“Are they dating though? I know Qrow has been a bit cagey about the whole thing. Ruby and Yang have been teasing him pretty relentlessly.”

“I don’t know, and I’m trying not to think about it too much,” Weiss said pointedly, starting to get annoyed.

“Right. Sorry,” Jaune said. “Other things on my mind, I guess.”

“Trying to avoid something?” Weiss asked, blue eyes glittering in the setting sun.

Damn, she’s sharp. “Uh. Yes. No, I don’t know. Not sure how to bring it up.”

“You’ve been distant off and on ever since we got back. You’ve been through a lot. If you need to talk about something, I’m here for you,” Weiss said encouragingly.

“I have been through a lot. I know time passed differently in the Ever After, but I still spent a long time there without any of you. Like, a long time,” Jaune said, not willing to meet Weiss’s gaze.

“Is that what you’re worried about?” Weiss asked.

“I mean, yeah. Regardless of how you factor it, mentally, I’m old enough to be your dad,” Jaune said, shifting uncomfortably.

Weiss surprised him by laughing. “Maybe I like an older man. But really, Jaune, I don’t think it’s that big a deal. We’ve known each other for a while now, and yes, you went through a lot on your own in the Ever After, but at heart you’re still the same Jaune I’ve known from the last few years.”

“Am I though?” Jaune asked, doubting her, doubting himself. “How do you know I’m still the same person I was before?”

“Jaune; you’re kind and selfless, loyal, honest, willing to admit your mistakes, and you’re always there to help people. I still see that in you. You’re a wonderful person, and despite my initial impressions of you when we first met, over time I’ve fallen in love with you,” Weiss said as she looked up at him, eyes gleaming, bright spots of color high on her cheeks.

Oh. OH. Jaune’s heart started to beat faster. “Weiss, I”-

She turned away, suddenly embarrassed. “I’m sorry, that was very sudden.”

She loves me. Even knowing everything that she does, my years spent alone, the bitterness and anger, what happened with Penny, she loves me, Jaune thought with wonder. He gently turned her face back to his and looked into her eyes. “Thank you. I love you too.”

She kissed him then, throwing her arms around his neck. He responded, cautiously at first, and then with more passion. They broke apart after a long moment, looking into each other’s eyes.

“What made you change your mind about me?” Jaune asked, his curiosity winning out over his desire not to ruin the moment.

“Honestly? It started with the dance, back at Beacon. When you convinced Neptune to come talk to me, despite being interested in me yourself. That showed me that you could be mature about things. And then you saved my life at Haven, and you’ve just been there, always, being a good friend and a good person. Is it really that surprising I fell for you?”

“A little, yeah,” Jaune said.

Weiss playfully smacked his arm, and then nestled her head back onto his shoulder. “You’re everything my father wasn’t, Jaune. That means a lot to me. Yang can talk crap all she wants about ‘daddy issues’, but the heart wants what it wants.”

Jaune cleared his throat, embarrassed again. “Ah man, she hasn’t hit me with that one yet.”

“Oh, don’t worry about her. I’ll put her in her place if I need to. Let’s get back to enjoying the night, before we have to go off and back into the fight again.”

Jaune wrapped an arm around Weiss and kissed the top of her head. “You got it.”

Together, they looked out over the city, hearts at peace.

*

Blake, Yang, and Emerald were hanging out at the White Fang’s new office in the middle of the city. They had spent the last couple of days helping to move supplies into the new warehouse and were now just chatting and relaxing. Blake kept an eye out for Ilia, hoping to talk with her, but Ilia had steadfastly kept her distance, much to Blake’s sorrow. Ilia had been very withdrawn for a couple days after learning about Blake and Yang’s relationship, and still didn’t like to be in the same room as the couple. Blake was hoping that their friendship could continue, but that didn’t seem likely at the moment. As Blake thought about this, melancholy, Yang suddenly and explosively sneezed. Blake nearly jumped out of her skin and flattened her ears in annoyance.

“’Scuse me. That came out of nowhere,” Yang said as Blake settled back in beside her, ears twitching.

“Someone’s talking about you,” Emerald called from the other side of the room. Fen was next to her, face set in a mask of concentration as he attempted the sleight of hand trick Emerald had been teaching him. His focus was so intense he hadn’t flinched at the sneeze, and he continued to shuffle the deck of cards he was holding.

He pulled one out with a flourish and showed it to Emerald. “Is this your card?”

“You got it!” Emerald said laughing. “You’re getting good at that, Fen. You’re a natural.”

Fen smiled in pleasure and ran off to show Khali his new trick. Yang watched him go with a smile on her face and turned to Emerald. “Good things, I hope. I gotta say, Em, you’re really good with that kid. He adores you.”

Emerald flushed, looking embarrassed. “Well, he needed someone to look after him.”

“And you’re a natural. I’m glad you’re there for him,” Blake said.

“I needed someone there for me when I was younger, and I didn’t have anyone until Cinder showed up,” Emerald said, frowning. “He reminds me a lot of, well, me. I just hope I’ll be a better influence on him.”

“Well, I think you're doing a bang-up job,” Yang said. “Y’know, I was pretty heated at you and your friend for a while. Actually, I still need to settle the score with him. But you’re doing OK, in my book.”

“Merc is… not a good person, not really, but he's also not really the villain you think he is. We were both lied to about what Salem really wanted,” Emerald said.

“I dunno, Em. He just helped break some bad people out of jail while good people died,” Yang said with a frown.

Emerald sighed. “Yeah. I was hoping he would have left Salem by now.”

“CVFY and the Aces have been after them for almost a week now. Maybe we’ll hear something soon,” Blake said.

“Maybe,” Emerald replied doubtfully. “Mercury can handle himself in a fight, and Tyrian is a literal monster. That whole situation sucks.”

“What happens, happens, I guess,” Yang said with a shrug. “My money is on Coco and the others, but hopefully they all come out of it ok. By the by, how’re you and Coco doing?” Yang asked Emerald slyly, eyebrows wiggling suggrestively.

“I’m not sure what you’re talking about. I made up to her for the Vytal festival, that’s it,” Emerald said, flushing slightly, and then quickly changed topics. “This place is pretty nice compared to the old one, Blake. How’d your dad get it again?”

“The Schnees gave it to us, actually. Their company owned it and hadn’t been using it. From what I understand they had to rehome some people that were living here, but they were all well taken care of. I think Willow got them all set up in one of the new housing developments that they’ve been working on,” Blake said.

“Damn. That kid is really making an effort, huh?” Emerald said, vaguely impressed. “I always thought the Schnees were a bunch of rich, stuck-up snobs. Never thought I’d see the day they were working with the White Fang.”

“They grow on you. Weiss used to be such a brat,” Yang said, laughing. “But yeah, Whitley and Willow are really trying to get out from under Jacque’s shadow.”

“It’s a good start, for sure. It makes me hopeful for the future.” Blake looked towards Fen and Khali, making sure the boy was still out of earshot. “Of course, we still have a hard road ahead of us. There are still people out there that want us oppressed or dead. Dad told me there was a botched attack on the old warehouse the day Vacuo was attacked.”

“No sh*t?” Emerald said. “You’d think with everything else going on people would try to be a little less murdery. We all share this world, and there’s a crazy lady trying to blow it up or something. I know I had my eyes opened.”

“Hear hear! To assholes turning a new leaf!” Yang said, raising a hand in a fake toast and winking at Emerald.

Emerald laughed. “To me! You guys really aren’t so bad. Well, Ruby and Nora can still put out insane levels of cheer and energy that make no sense to me, but the rest of you are pretty chill, I guess.”

“How do you think our fearless leader is doing right now?” Blake asked.

“Oh, I’m sure she’s in heaven. Ciel is going over the flight plan with her and promised Ruby she’d let her test drive her Paladin. Rubes has been doing pretty good these last few days. Getting more and more back to her old self. It’s good to see,” Yang replied.

“That girl is an ever-flowing font of optimism,” Emerald said. “I sometimes wish I had her outlook on life.”

“Ruby is one of a kind, that’s for sure,” Blake said. “She’s such an inspiration to so many people, just by being herself. I’m glad she’s doing better now.”

“I heard she had a moment in the market the other day,” Emerald said.

“Oh, yeah. That was fun,” Yang said, chortling. “She went out in her combat gear and got recognized and then mobbed. A whole bunch of people telling her they were so glad she was back, and that they were rooting for her, and all that. I think she even got propositioned by a couple people. Poor Ruby, she wasn’t built for that kind of attention. Ultimately, though, I think it gave her a good boost. After she spent the rest of the day inside and ate an entire box of cookies, that is.”

“I thought she handled it well, considering,” Blake said, also laughing. “She’s really come a long way from the awkward girl she was on her first day at Beacon.”

“Yeah, pretty proud of her,” Yang said, beaming. She stretched and checked her scroll. “Well, it’s getting late. We should probably hit the sack so we’re ready for take-off tomorrow.”

Emerald waved at Fen. The little mouse boy scampered over, grinning. “Hey Fen, it’s time for me to go. Remember, I’ll be away for a few days, but I promise I’ll check in as soon as I get back, ok?”

“Do you have to leave?” he asked, frowning up at Emerald.

“I do, I’m sorry,” Emerald said, ruffling Fen’s ears.

“We’ve got important Huntress business to do,” Yang said, puffing her chest out. She deflated immediately as Blake poked her in the side, tickling her ribs.

“We’ll make sure that Miss Emerald stays safe, ok Fen?” Blake said warmly, smiling down at the boy.

“Good,” he said seriously. Then, to Emerald, “I’ll keep practicing those tricks! I’ll be so much better when you get back, just wait!”

“I’m counting on it! Take care of yourself, Fen.”

Yang and Emerald waited outside as Blake took a moment to say goodbye to her parents, and then the trio made their way back to Shade. Tomorrow was a new day.

*

“Ren, I gotta say, you keep getting better and better in the kitchen. And I still can’t believe you talked those ladies into letting you use their equipment.” Nora and Ren were in the kitchens of Shade, and Ren had spent the last hour preparing dishes for a ravenous Nora.

Ren looked over at the quartet of women that handled much of the cooking for the Academy and smiled at them. They smiled back, one of them rather too hopefully, Nora thought. “They’ve been very kind. All I did was ask if I could cook for you, and they agreed,” Ren said.

“Hmm,” Nora said, eyeing the woman who had been eyeing her man. “I also think you’re too pretty for your own good.”

Ren just chuckled. “I think you have nothing to worry about. You’re the only woman for me.”

“Good. Now that you’ve finally expressed your interest, I’m never letting you go,” Nora told him firmly.

He leaned in and kissed her. “I wouldn’t let you. How’re you feeling? Have you rested enough since the battle?”

“Pshh. I’ve been good to go for days. This girl is ready to get back to it!” Nora flexed ostentatiously, making sure the other women in the kitchen saw.

“You took a very large jolt of energy. I just want you to be healthy and safe,” Ren said.

“Ah, I’m fine. That’s what my semblance is made for. Besides, I think those scars I got in Atlas are like, conductors or something. Now that I’ve survived it once, the electricity just follows the channels that got made and I can store more.”

“Um, I wouldn’t be confident enough in that to keep testing it until a physician confirms it,” Ren worried.

“Ren, it’s ok, really. I recovered a lot faster this time than last time. It’s sweet that you’re worried though.”

“I almost lost you then, I don’t want that to happen again,” he said, looking at her earnestly with his large, dark eyes.

“Dammit. You’re too pretty to say no to. I’ll be more careful, I promise.”

“Good. Though it is fun to watch you be strong and hit stuff.”

“Oh-ho, you like my muscles, eh? Well mama needs more protein! Chop chop!”

Ren just laughed, kissed her gently, and returned to the stove. After a moment Nora joined him and slipped an arm around his waist.

“I love you, Lie Ren,” she said, pecking his cheek.

“I love you too, Nora.”

*

A massive goliath trumpeted as it charged around a corner and down the street. Target locks blared, and Ruby squeezed the trigger of her joystick. She felt the tactile response of the shoulder mounted railgun firing, and saw one of the goliath’s tusks shatter as the round found its target, but the creature kept its feet and kept coming.

She opened up with her arm-mounted autocannon, and hundreds of rounds chewed up the street and peppered the skull plate of the huge grimm. It bellowed angrily and lowered its head as it gained momentum. Ruby twisted the Paladin’s feet and sidestepped as the beast barreled past. She swung with the thunder maul on her left arm and felt the satisfying thump as it smashed into the goliath’s flank. The grimm bellowed again in pain but stayed on its feet.

Ruby adapted quickly and spun the Paladin one hundred and eighty degrees on its horizontal axis, the legs staying in place as the torso rotated. It was a risky move, as it reduced her mobility drastically, but she wanted to make the kill. Her railgun spat another round that dug deep into the side of the goliath as it ponderously tried to turn, moving much more slowly than she had. Ruby kept up the pressure and fired the railgun again as the autocannon thundered.

The goliath finally went down, trumpeting balefully, its bulk dissolving into smoky ruin as it died. Ruby cheered as the simulation flashed MISSION COMPLETE across her screen. The co*ckpit opened and she jumped down, exclaiming happily.

“Ciel, that was awesome! That program is so good! Everything was so tactile and responsive. It really felt like I was in a fight. And the Paladin handles like a dream! I almost regret being a normal Huntress.”

Ciel grinned at Ruby. “It is very good, isn’t it? And you’re a natural. I could have killed the goliath on the first pass, of course, but I know many cadets that failed that scenario, some multiple times.”

“Oh it was so much fun! Can I go again?” Ruby was bouncing back and forth, eager for more.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Ruby,” Oscar called from the side. “It’s getting late.”

“Aw, c’mon, one more go won’t hurt.”

“Oscar is right, I need to calibrate the Paladin and do checks on the Devilray. It is getting late,” Ciel said.

“Oh, fine. Oscar, did you see me? I was awesome!”

Oscar, who had been watching the simulated fight via scroll, smiled and said, “You were awesome. A natural if I’ve even seen one.”

Ruby beamed. “I really want to take one of those babies for a spin in a real fight. I felt so powerful.”

“Ruby, you’re a walking, talking ballistic missile. I’ve seen you take on things bigger than that goliath on foot before.”

“Yeah but that’s different! I was the machine! It was a feeling like no other! Tell him, Ciel.”

“It is very exhilarating,” Ciel agreed, tool kit already open as she worked on her mech.

“Ok, ok,” Oscar laughed. “It did look fun. You think we’re ready for tomorrow?”

“Oh, absolutely. We’ll find everything that Dr. Polendina needs, I’m sure of it.”

“You think it will work?” he asked, more quietly.

Ruby put a hand on his shoulder. “Positive. Dr. Polendina knows what he’s doing. We’ll get you two separated, I promise.”

Oscar looked back at her, his hazel eyes meeting her silver ones. The moment stretched, and then he became keenly aware of Ozpin, trying very hard to hide in the back of his mind and not interfere with the moment, and it broke. He stepped back, clearing his throat and shuffling his feet. Ruby mirrored this and rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly.

“Thanks, Ruby.”

“Yeah, no problem, haha. Let’s get back, yeah?”

They waved goodnight to Ciel and headed back for Shade. Oscar did his very best not to think about the moment with Ruby, and Ozpin did his very best to disappear into the background of their shared mind. He could no longer completely vanish, however, and Oscar felt the familiar stab of resentment at this. It was my mind first, he thought sulkily. And then, Sorry, Oz. I know you didn’t ask for this either.

It’s ok, Oscar. I get it. I’m very sorry to put you through this. I will do everything I can to make sure that this plan works, Ozpin thought to him.

What are our odds, do you think? Oscar asked him.

Honestly? Maybe fifty fifty. We’ve had the technology to move aura around between people for only a short time, and Pietro is the only person who has successfully managed it. And he’s done it twice. If anyone can do it, it’s him.

What if it fails?

It won’t Oscar, Ozpin thought with as much reassurance as he could. Oscar could still sense the doubt underneath it, though. They were too far joined to hide things from each other anymore. Ozpin was worried that it would kill them. And while he would reincarnate, Oscar would be gone.

It better work, Oscar thought, stealing a glance at Ruby, who was walking with a bounce in her step, eyes bright and happy. It better.

Chapter 17: Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Text

Chapter Seventeen

The Devilray was an oversized, sleek, silver and black Manta purpose built for transporting larger squads of soldiers, with bays for two Paladin mechs or Knight squads. There were a pair of large mini guns mounted on either side of its nose, and it had a retractable energy cannon mounted on its roof. Ciel was piloting the aircraft, her Paladin snugly secured in one of the spacious bays. The other bay was ready to receive whatever salvage the Hunters managed to find in the fallen city.

Teams RWBY and JORNE were relaxing in the crew compartment, chatting and joking with each other as the Devilray ate the miles between them and Atlas. They were all in high spirits as they talked.

“So do I have any takers on whether or not Qrow and Willow will be official when we get back?” Yang was asking, playful grin on her face.

“Gods, I hope not,” Weiss said with exasperation.

“Aw, c’mon, Weiss, we’d be cousins!” Ruby exclaimed brightly. “That's a silver lining, right?”

“Maybe for you, Ruby, but that means Qrow would be my step-dad. And I am not into that.”

“Wait, I thought Qrow stood her up,” Nora said, puzzled. “I remember Winter being all mad about it.”

“He didn't stand her up, he had to reschedule. Big difference. Theo sent him on a mission the day they were supposed to meet up,” Yang said.

“Are you sure he didn't ask Theodore to send him out? He seemed pretty panicked about it when we saw him last,” Emerald added.

“Nah, Qrow wouldn’t do that. He's just worried because he thinks Willow is out of his league,” Ruby said, waving one hand dismissively.

“That's because she is,” Weiss said, arms crossed. Yang scoffed and imitated Ruby’s dismissive gesture.

“I think they make a good couple,” Blake said with optimism. “They have more in common than some of you think. It might not look like it on the surface, but the similarities are there. They both had family betray them, and they both have a lot of personal heartache. Jacques only married Willow for her family’s company, and Raven ran out on Qrow and tried to kill him at one point. They've both had problems with alcohol, and they both went through similar grief when we fell into the Ever After. I think they can find some common ground.”

“Ooh, good points from Blake,” Nora said, impressed. “What do you think, Ren?”

“I think they're mature adults who can make their own decisions, and we shouldn't pry into the matter,” Ren said primly.

“Pffht, you’re no fun,” Nora said. “What about you, Jaune? You've been suspiciously quiet so far.”

Jaune shifted uncomfortably in his seat and side-eyed Weiss. “I think, as a couple, they make for a fun juxtaposition. And like Blake said, they could be good for each other.” Weiss sighed. “But they do come from different walks of life. That might make things harder,” Jaune added to mollify her.

“Ok, ok. I know that my mother and Qrow make for interesting conversation, but can we talk about literally anything else?” Weiss asked exasperatedly.

“How about Sun and his guys?” Jaune was quick to come to her rescue, jumping at the suggestion. “You think they’re actually gonna find the Summer Maiden?”

“Sun’s prone to following his heart. And it usually works out for him. I think he’s onto something,” Blake said.

“Ghira seems pretty annoyed with him, though. How do you think that’s going to go whenever they get back?” Yang asked.

“If they have the Summer Maiden with them, I don’t see how he could stay angry. We need her, and it would be great if our side found her first,” Ruby said.

“What if they’re in the wrong place, though?” Nora asked. “We still haven’t seen or heard anything from Cinder, and Salem has two relics already.”

“They’re trying to be proactive. I think it’s a good thing they’re following this lead, because we need someone to be doing something about it, rather than just having everyone stay put in Vacuo,” Ren said.

“Do you think Sun’s team can handle Cinder, if they’re in the right place and she shows up?” Emerald asked quietly.

“Sun and Neptune are huge dorks, but they’re also solid in a fight. They can hold their own,” Blake said.

“But can they stop Cinder? She’s completely obsessed with the need to get all the Maiden powers. Not to put too fine a point on it, but she did kick your asses not that long ago,” Emerald continued.

“She’s strong, yeah.” Jaune said. “But we all have something she doesn’t.”

“And what’s that?” Emerald asked.

“Friends,” Jaune said simply.

Emerald opened her mouth to reply, looking angry, and then frowned and shut it again. Jaune had spoken without heat or anger, but his face was set in hard lines and his body language spoke of a man ready for a fight. He had not forgotten what Cinder had done, and looked like he wouldn’t forgive, either.

“He’s right, Emerald. Cinder doesn’t work with people, she uses them. I know you have a past with her, and it’s still sore, but she only relies on herself. Working together, I think SSSNN can give her a run for her money,” Ruby said.

Emerald sighed and rubbed arms, as though she was cold. “Yeah, sure. How much longer until we get to Atlas?”

“I’ll check,” Blake volunteered as she got up and went to the co*ckpit.

Ciel was seated in the pilot’s seat, headphones on and aviators gleaming. Oscar sat next to her, asking her questions about the various instruments and systems. He had taken an interest in piloting since the event at Argus, when Ozpin had finally resurfaced to help crash-land the ship they were on. Ciel had asked why he wanted to learn how to fly when Ozpin already knew how. Oscar had responded, firmly and with more than a little annoyance, that if things went well he would be his own person again soon. Ciel had gotten quiet as she thought this over, and then started walking him through her preflight checks with no more questions asked. It was unlike Oscar to snap at people, and it didn’t help that Ciel wasn’t great at reading cues. They were getting along fine at the moment, Blake saw with relief, and she asked them how much longer they’d be in the air.

“At our current speed, touchdown will be about four more hours. Provided no grimm attack us, that is,” Ciel said.

“Have you seen any yet?” Blake asked.

“Radar and line of sight have been clear,” Oscar said, checking the instrument panels in front of him. “How’re things back there?”

“Lots of pre-mission chatter and speculation. Everyone is in a pretty good mood, though. Ciel, you’ve been to Atlas since the fall, right? What’s it like?”

Ciel was quiet for a moment before speaking. “Everything is broken. The city fell from the sky, a lot of it burning as it did, and then it got flooded when it crashed into Mantle. It’s full of grimm and dead bodies.”

It was Blake’s turn to be quiet. Atlas had been Ciel’s home, and Team RWBY was part of the reason it had fallen. They’d made their choice to use the Staff of Creation to save Penny and had overridden the floating mechanism of Atlas in the process. And even though they had then used the staff to make the portals to get as many people out as they could, the city had still been shattered, and then Penny had been killed anyway. It was still a source of pain and bitterness for everyone involved. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have brought it up.”

“No, it’s ok. We’re on a mission, and you need to know what we’re getting into. Think about any urban ruin combat training you have, add extreme cold weather on top of it, and that’s pretty much it. Everyone will need to be on top of their game. There’s also a fair chance we’ll run into other teams. We’ve been working nonstop to recover as much tech and as many supplies as we can.”

“We’re headed into the old command center, right? Where Dr. Polendina had his lab?”

“Yes. That building suffered the worst of the fires, and there haven't been many salvage missions there yet.” Ciel’s face was impassive, and she remained staring straight ahead, focused on the horizon. “There’s a chance everything we’ll be looking for has been destroyed.”

Oscar tensed next to her and let out a faint sigh. “Let’s hope not, yeah?”

“Of course,” Ciel replied.

“We’ll find something Oscar, don’t worry,” Blake tried to assure him, placing a hand on his shoulder. She could feel how rigidly he was holding himself.

“Yeah,” was all he said in response.

“Let us know if you need anything,” Blake said as she made ready to head back to the crew compartment.

“I will sound the alarm if necessary,” Ciel assured her.

Blake returned to find her teammates and friends in another animated discussion, this time about what they thought the Summer Maiden would be like.

“She’s obviously going to be a Faunus, if she’s from Menagerie, right?” Nora was asking. “Oh! Blake! What can you tell us about these myths that Sun went chasing after?”

“The Wild Woman of the Wastes?” Blake said, resuming her seat by Yang and leaning into her. “If the rumors are right, she’s an eagle Faunus, and an older woman, too.” She looked over at Emerald. “Ciel says ETA is about four hours.” Emerald nodded in response.

“If she’s older, then maybe she’s fully realized. She could be scary powerful. You think the Summer Maiden has any powers the others don’t?” Ruby asked, bouncing slightly in her seat.

“Winter seems to favor ice, Raven thunderstorms, and Cinder likes fire. But Cinder’s semblance is also fire related. Maybe the Summer Maiden is like, really good with windstorms or something,” Yang mused, running her fingers absently through Blake’s hair as she did.

“But we know all the Maidens can use various elemental powers, they don’t seem to be limited to just one. There’s still a lot we don’t really know about them,” Jaune said.

“We could ask Ozpin,” Nora suggested brightly.

“That might not be a great idea right now, Nora. Oscar is struggling, I’m not sure he’d want to let Ozpin take control so we can quiz him,” Ren told her softly.

“Oh, right. Poor Oscar. I really hope we can make this work. And I dunno if anyone else has thought about this, but we’ve had this technology, right? Why hasn’t anyone suggested this yet?” Nora asked.

“Maybe because Dr. Polendina didn’t think it was possible to separate two auras without one person dying? He used his own aura to make Penny, but he was just splitting his own aura. And when Ozpin was going to transfer Amber’s power to Pyrrha, they made it pretty clear Amber would die in the process. Was dying already anyway, but still. I don’t know if being a Maiden changes anything or not, though,” Jaune said.

“Maybe Ozpin thought he’d die if he tried and would have to reincarnate again. Maybe he didn’t want to take that chance, or risk something bad happening,” Ruby said.

“If that’s the case, then why change his mind now?” Weiss asked. “If anything, this is the time we need him the most. We all like Oscar, but is this worth the risk?” There was some general grumbling at this, and Weiss got defensive. “Look, I’m just trying to think about it logically. If this fails, Oscar dies and Ozpin is lost to us again. That’s something that bears thinking about.”

“We don’t have to like it, but Weiss does have a point,” Blake said.

“We’ll make sure it works. I’ll make sure it works,” Ruby said with fierce determination.

“You a world class scientist now, Sis? Smarter than the guy who invented this tech?” Yang asked with faint amusem*nt.

Ruby colored slightly. “Well, no, but the last time I used my power it was different. I think it’s getting stronger, or something. I could see everyone’s auras. Grimm are like black holes, they just suck in the light, but people are all glowy and make light. Maybe I can influence them, or something.”

“That’s a big if, Ruby,” Jaune said. “Have you talked to Maria about this? See if she’s ever experienced anything like that before?”

“Uhm. No? It kinda slipped my mind, to be honest.” Weiss rolled her eyes, and Ruby’s blush deepened. “Look! There was a lot going on, and I had a lot on my mind, ok?”

“We’ll just have to make sure we ask her when we get back then,” Nora said. “Maybe you’ll get a chance to use it again in Atlas.”

“Have you tried to use it outside of combat yet?” Ren asked.

“Yeah, I've tried to get in the zone a couple times, I just haven't gotten it to work. I can only really tap it when I'm like mad, or angry, or frustrated.”

“That's a lot of words that mean basically the same thing,” Emerald said, bemused. Ren nodded sagely.

“Sooo we should just tick you off?” Yang asked with a mischievous gleam in her eyes.

“Maybe. Got any pointers on how to throw a tantrum?” Ruby shot back.

Yang laughed. “Fair play, little sis.”

“In all seriousness though, I really do need to find a way to practice. I want to be able to do what I mean to do, when I need to do it. There are a lot of people that are counting on us.”

“We’ve got time now. Wanna try?” Yang asked.

“Now? In front of everybody?” Ruby said, alarmed at the prospect.

“Yeah, why not? Should we make you mad or just let you vibe?”

“Uhhhh can I try the meditation route?”

“Go for it.”

Ruby closed her eyes, still very flustered. The compartment got quiet, and the only noise that could be heard was the hum of the aircraft as it soared through the sky. Ruby cracked an eye, only to see everyone watching her expectantly. “Y’know, it’s just a little weird you’re all staring at me. Like you’re waiting for a magic trick, or something.”

“Is it not magic? Little hazy on that front,” Emerald said.

“I gave up on whether or not all the cool stuff we can do is magic a long time ago, Em,” Nora said with an air of worldliness. “I can channel lightning, Ruby can turn into rose petals, Ren can sense people’s emotions. If none of that is magic I dunno what is. It hurts my brain too much to think of it in any other way.”

“Actually, there have been a number of scientific papers published on this very topic. Aura is measurable, to such an extent we have apps on our scrolls that can monitor it in real time, and semblances use aura. Since it can be observed, measured, and tested, it falls into the physiological sciences. Dr. Polendina, for example, is widely considered to be at the forefront of ‘Auraology’, mainly due to his work on Penny,” Weiss recited. She was greeted with blank stares from Nora and Yang, but Emerald and Ren were nodding along with her.

Blake had perked up as Weiss talked. “It really is an interesting area of study. There’s still a lot of unknowns with aura and semblances, like why some people never unlock a semblance, or the theory that every living creature has the ability to unlock aura. It's fascinating!”

“You two know we’re not in school anymore, right?” Jaune asked.

“Hot lips has a point. Why do we need to study this stuff? It's baaasically magic, so why worry?” Nora replied. Jaune groaned softly upon hearing his nickname.

“We never finished our formal education, and there’s nothing wrong with learning new things. Especially things that pertain to our profession,” Weiss replied with a measure of frost in her voice.

Yang was unimpressed. “That's what we have you smart people for. You focus on the details so we don't have to.”

“Yeah yeah yeah, Weiss and Blake are nerds, Yang and Nora are muscle heads, blah blah blah, but can you guys keep it down? I'm really having a hard time focusing here,” Ruby griped.

Nora, sensing Ruby’s annoyance, started to rub her hands together until a low crackle could be heard, and then poked Ruby on the arm with glee. There was a sharp crack and an electric blue flash as the discharge shocked Ruby. Ruby's eyes snapped open in pain and surprise.

“Ow! Nora what was that for!?”

“You said you needed to be mad to make the eye thing happen, I'm just trying to help.” Nora said with an air of innocence.

“Not like that!”

Nora just shrugged. “Worth a shot.”

“Hmph.”

“What about you, Jaune?” Ren said. “You can manipulate aura. Have you ever noticed anything about Oscar that might help?”

Jaune thought for a moment, considering this. “I can’t say for sure. I mostly just use my aura to boost others. I can feel a connection to whoever I’m boosting, but that’s about it. I’ve never felt two auras in Oscar, if that’s what you’re asking.”

Troubled silence greeted this as the Hunters reflected on the implications of Jaune’s statement. Blake, wanting to bring the mood back up, tried to encourage everyone. “Dr. Polendina’s instruments are much more sensitive, I’m sure. For now, let’s focus on recovering as much of his equipment as we can to make his job easier.”

Ruby sighed deeply, and then firmed her resolve. “Blake is right. We have a mission to complete before we worry about any of that. Let’s do our best when we get Atlas, everyone.”

*

Four hours later the Devilray was on approach to the ruined cities of Atlas and Mantle. The destruction seen from the air was staggering. The first time Ruby and the others had approached the ‘City in the Sky’ it had been nighttime, and Atlas had been hovering impossibly in the air, lit with lights, gleaming and beautiful. Now it was a smashed ruin, choked with rubble and covered in ice. Mantle, once the industrious sister-city to Atlas and home to the lower classes, was now indistinguishable from city that had always been above it. They lay entwined in death, no longer kept apart by everything that had separated them in life.

Ciel brought the Manta down on the outskirts of the ruins, landing the craft on the icy tundra. There had been a brief engagement as they had neared their destination, but the Devilray and Ciel were more than a match for the manticores that had attacked them. Ciel had blurted a quick ‘Brace’ over the intercom, which was followed by a quiet shudder through the frame as the miniguns opened fire. Moments later, Ciel chimed an all clear. Nora, who had gotten hers hopes up at the prospect of combat, leaned back in her seat, disappointed.

As the Huntsman teams debarked from the craft and took stock, they were once again reminded of the brutal cold of Solitas. Even garbed in their cold weather combat gear, they could all feel the sudden impact to their auras as it suddenly had to regulate their body heat. Breath smoked in the air as the Hunters performed a last check on their equipment.

“Ugh. I did not miss the cold,” Yang complained as she adjusted Ember Celica and her prosthetic to sit more comfortably on her arms.

“It’s not that bad,” Weiss said as she ensured she had a full complement of dust cartridges for Myrtenaster loaded. She snapped the weapon shut and slid it into her holster.

“Says the Ice Queen. I never thought I would say this, but I miss Vacuo’s heat.” Blake was shivering slightly as she tried to mentally reacclimate herself to the cold.

“Says the cat girl,” Weiss said with a friendly smile.

Ruby was ignoring her team’s chatter as she surveyed the ruins, Jaune at her side. Her expression was hard, her eyes sad. “It looks, bad, Jaune. We never really got a chance to see the consequences of our actions.”

“We made the right choice Ruby. We had to give Penny a chance, even if…” Jaune trailed off, his conviction faltering.

Ruby looked at him, and her expression softened. She put a hand on his arm. “That wasn’t your fault, either. C’mon, let’s get going. On me!” she called to her teammates. Jaune echoed the command a moment later.

As the Hunters assembled on the frosty plain, Ruby went over the plan of attack. “Right, our goal is Dr. Polendina’s lab. Thanks to the work of other teams before us, we have a rough map of the ruins. Everyone has it uploaded to their scrolls, and I’ve put a marker at the place we need to get to. Any questions?”

“Yeah, I’ve got one. Are we just leaving our ride out here, unprotected?” Nora asked.

In response, the cannon on the roof of the craft rose from its housing and started to sweep back and forth, checking for hostiles. Ciel clumped around the ship in her Paladin, augmented voice rumbling through the speakers. “The Devilray has an automated defense system. It will be fine.”

Nora ooohed appreciatively and smiled at the huge mech. “Ok, another one, then. What about combat? As much as I like to smash grimm, I bet there’s a ton of the beasties in there.” She gestured at the ruins as she spoke.

Jaune answered. “We’re going to do our best not to get bogged down with engagements. We are not on a sweep and clear or a search and destroy, we’re here to recover salvage. Fighting will be inevitable, but we want to save our energy whenever possible.”

The rest of them nodded in agreement. Ruby smiled at her companions. “No time to waste. Let’s get to it.”

The two teams of Hunters and the large mech moved into the city, eager to complete their mission to help their friend and teammate. Oscar’s face was set with determination. They would find what they needed, they would all make it back to Vacuo, and he and Ozpin would finally be separated. It was the only outcome he would accept. The only outcome he could accept. He had his own life to live, and he meant to live it.

Chapter 18: Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Text

Chapter Eighteen

Robyn Hill and her Happy Huntresses were on the move. For the last several days, they had been traveling eastward from the City of Vacuo, trying to make contact with the refugees from Vale. Intelligence had suggested that there was a large group of people heading for Vacuo, but so far no one had been able to find them. It was odd. A large group like that shouldn’t be very hard to find, and it wasn’t like the people that had been sent to search for them were slouches. Sure, her team were more used to tundra, snow and ice than the desert, but they were good at what they did. And the Branwen twins had both been sent out as scouts and had had no luck either. Raven was a Maiden, for the sake of the gods, and Qrow was, well, he was Qrow. Robyn felt herself growing angry as the Huntsman infiltrated her thoughts, and she shut them down before they grew too insistent.

“Fi, how are we looking?” Robyn asked her pathfinder, unable to keep her voice completely free of emotion.

“We’re getting close to that old canyon, maybe an hours march away,” the young sheep Faunus replied, studying the map that Theodore had given them. The other three women on the team knew why Robyn was annoyed, but none of them had confronted her about it yet.

“Let’s keep at it, then. There’s a chance someone holed up in there, and I’d like to get there today.”

Joanna, the huge, muscular, right-hand woman of the group, spared Robyn a glance. “You really think anyone is still out here? I know the professors at Beacon have quite the reputation, but trying to keep a bunch of civvies alive on a cross-country trip screams suicide to me.”

“Our job is to find and aid any survivors we encounter. And I had the chance to meet Glynda once, at a Vytal Festival ages ago. I can't see her going down easy to anything.”

May took a drink of water from her bottle and shook out her long braid. “And, if they’re alive, how do we even know if they’ve made it this far? It’s a long way to Vale.”

“We don’t. All we know is that a portion of the populace started westwards after Salem attacked. Like we were told, if we don’t encounter anyone after ten days of travel, we send a message and pop a beacon for pick-up. If we do find them, we send a message, wait for Raven to show up, and use one of her portals to get everyone back to Vacuo. We’ll keep searching until our time is up.”

With their quick break over, the Happy Huntresses moved out once more, heading for the canyon that Fiona had marked on the map. The last few days had been an education in desert navigation for the four women. Fiona, as always, had proven to be a natural and taken to the new environment with ease. The other three had readily followed her lead and were all now fairly comfortable amid the dunes. Except for the heat, of course. All four women, despite their best efforts, were sporting sunburns. Dealing with sun blindness from snow was one thing, dealing with an unrelenting force beating down on their heads was another.

Apart from the sun, they’d had only one small skirmish with grimm, and hadn’t yet run into any of the native fauna that they had been warned about. Robyn believed that the lack of grimm was a sign, knowing that a large group of desperate people would be pulling grimm from a large radius to them. If the grimm were getting drawn to specific location, then of course the Huntresses wouldn’t see many of them.

Robyn was a little disappointed about the lack of native creatures, though. She had heard tales of the unique denizens of the desert from various Vacuans, and had been hoping to see some of them. She particularly wanted to see one of the huge turtles that traversed the wastes. They were supposed to be massive creatures that the nomads would sometimes hitch rides on for miles.

Fiona suddenly called out, pointing to a large, weathered stone that rose from the sand. “Hey, what do you think that is?”

As the Huntresses moved forward, they could make out markings that had been graven into the stone. It was an old signpost, signaling that there was a village ahead, and upon closer inspection they could see that what they had taken for rock formations from a distance were actually dilapidated buildings partially covered with sand. Fiona pulled her map back out, the paper materializing from the pocket dimension that the Faunus stored various supplies in. “There isn’t anything on here,” Fiona said, frowning.

Joanna read the faded script, running her fingers over the rough grooves as she did. “Dunemarch. This ‘Dust’ Be the Place,” she said aloud. “That is a terrible pun. Must have been an old dust mining town.”

“How old, I wonder, if it isn’t on the map?” Fiona asked.

Robyn had readied her crossbow. “Keep sharp, ladies. Remember, grimm like to hang out in ruins.”

Together, the quartet continued past the stone sign, keeping their eyes peeled. There wasn’t much to see after years of neglect and blowing sand had had its way with the abandoned town. A few wind-blown husks of sandstone buildings and knocked over wooden signage were all that remained.

May stooped, brushing some sand aside with her hand, and picked up a rusted piece of metal. It was a sword, snapped off just above the hilt. She cast it aside. “Possibly wiped out by grimm, too. Another reminder of Atlas’s failings. Exploit a place to drag every last Lien from the ground, and then abandon it when it’s no longer lucrative.”

Robyn moved past her. “No point in spending more time than necessary, here,” she said. “Let’s keep going.”

Behind them, Fiona’s nerves were starting to act up, and she thought she was chasing shadows. There was something on the periphery of her vision that kept darting away whenever she tried to focus on it. A sixth sense kept warning her of danger, and she could feel the hairs on her arms trying to stand on end. “Robyn, there’s something out there,” she called quietly.

Immediately, the other three Huntresses went on guard, pulling out weapons and dropping into fighting stances. Fiona felt a surge of adrenaline and spun, crossbow raised, to once again see nothing. Her instincts kept screaming at her that something was wrong, but she couldn’t see anything, and her heart kept beating faster and faster. Another flicker in her peripheral vision, and she reacted lightning quick, moving without conscious thought. There was a soft thwap as she fired her crossbow, and then a high-pitched keening noise rent the air.

“Wraith!” Robyn cried, dashing towards the noise. Now wounded, the creature was visible as a flickering, semi-solid black figure. Wraiths were emaciated, winged grimm that had the supernatural ability to move through the environment. The young ones, like all grimm, attacked on sight. The old ones were much more crafty, and therefore more dangerous.

As Robyn charged, rapidly firing off bolts, the creature howled again and then vanished, leaving nothing behind but swirling sand. Robyn swore as it disappeared. “Sharp eyes, Fi. Nice shot. Alright team, stick together, we're taking it down. I don't relish the idea of it coming after us when the sun goes down.”

“Gods, Fi, how’d you even pin that that thing was here?” Joanna asked, impressed.

“My skin felt prickly all over. Like something was watching us.”

“Fi’s sixth sense saves us again. Good catch,” May grinned, ruffling Fiona’s ears. “Right, ladies, gather round.” May extended her semblance and the four Huntresses vanished in a shimmer.

They prowled off, Robyn taking point. Wraiths didn't leave much in the way of spoor, but the well-trained Huntresses knew that they tended to favor subterranean or shadowy areas, and so Robyn made a beeline for the nearest large structure that was still standing. She eased inside the building, checking the corners as she did so. May slid in second, followed by Fiona, and Joanna took up the rear.

Fiona’s skin started to prickle again immediately upon entering the building. Using hand signals, she conveyed this information to her team. Trusting her instincts, they spread out, covering each other’s backs as they worked on clearing the building. Joanna got their attention and gestured to a shattered hatch on the floor. Robyn waved them over, and slowly moved pieces of broken timber out of the way. She made eye contact with each of her teammates, gesturing to each in turn, and then dropped down the hole. May dropped down the hole next, quickly followed by Joanna and then Fiona.

The smell hit them in a rush as they landed on the level below. It was a rank, heavy scent of decaying meat that got up into their sinuses and wouldn’t let go. Fiona had to fight with her gorge as her stomach flipped and tried to empty itself. The smell was horrible. May got their attention and pointed to a corner that was faintly illuminated by a shaft of light from the main floor. A pair of legs framed by a spill of gore was heaped in an untidy mess, swarming with large black flies. There was no sign of the torso.

Robyn refocused everyone’s attention and pointed out a shadowy crevasse set in the wall next to the partial corpse. Once again, they went through one at a time with Robyn in the lead. As she ducked inside, crossbow sweeping side to side, Robyn grimaced. Her boots kept making a soft sucking noise whenever she took a step, as the partially dried blood tried to adhere her feet to the floor. The legs hadn’t been separated from their owner for long.

Robyn, who had expertly closed one eye when she first entered the building, now switched to using the eye that was now adjusted to the dark. Trusting that May was was still cloaking her, she moved deeper into the room. Her only clue that something was near was a quick intake of breath from Fiona behind her. A spectral claw swept past her head, narrowly missing as she ducked. How in the hell did it know where I was? She thought angrily as she snapped her weapon up, firing a quick brace of bolts.

She rolled to the side as the rest of her team rushed into the room, all firing their weapons. The wraith took a pair of hits and then slid through the wall, shrieking all the while. Wraiths were a type of Geist, the Huntresses knew, but instead of possessing inanimate objects they had the ability to phase through solid objects. A clever wraith was a ruthless and terrifying foe, able to nullify attacks by simply turning unsubstantial. The Happy Huntresses knew this, however, and were ready for it the next time it appeared.

It came for Fiona, clawed hands reaching through the floor, razor-sharp claws slashing at her Achilles tendon. Fiona, nerves singing, sensed it coming and leapt backwards in a handspring. Joanna didn’t miss a beat and grabbed the wraith’s arm with a massive fist while it was still solid. She yanked, ripping the surprised grimm from the floor before it could react and snapping its wrist. It started to fade once more, howling terribly. May didn’t let it, catching it with a fire infused bolt from her crossbow. The bolt trailed a fine chain, red hot from the dust, and it wrapped around the grimm neatly. They had the wraith trapped, now. Fire suppressed its ability, but didn't make the claws or the fangs any less dangerous.

The Wraith snapped at Robyn, who ducked under the jaws and jammed her blade into its ribs. She was forced backwards as it retaliated, but the blow was slow and easy to dodge. Joanna waded back in, wielding her crossbow staff as a cudgel and slamming it into the creatures head. Dazed, it desperately attempted to phase out again, but it was caught fast. Fiona darted forward, placed her crossbow firmly on its forehead, and pulled the trigger. The wraiths head snapped back, and then dissolved into mist.

“Good work, ladies. May, you didn't drop your semblance when I went into the room, did you?” Robyn asked, breathing hard.

May frowned. “No, why?”

“That wraith nearly took my head off. Must have been a lucky swing.”

Joanna sighed. “It could also be because you're pissed, chief. I can sense it, and I don't have grimm powers.”

Fiona looked uncomfortable, shifting on her feet, but May just nodded. “She’s right. Qrow really got under your skin.”

“Ok, we are not having this conversation right now. Finish clearing the building.”

Her team spread out, quickly hunting for any clues that could help them determine what had happened here. The room that they had killed the wraith in was worse than the first one. There were body parts strewn everywhere, and the air was heavy with the stench of death. Robyn called her team off after a short search, waving them back to the fresher air, and they retreated gratefully, climbing back up the broken hatch.

“Huntsmen team, or at least part of one. You could see the bits of armor. And those bodies were relatively fresh. Probably deceased within the last day or two.” Robyn was breathing steadily in through her nose and out through her mouth, trying to clear the thick taste of death that had settled on her tongue.

Joanna spat to clear her own mouth. “Some of ours, or do you think they were scouts from Vale?”

May spun a blood-stained dagger she had picked up from the floor and presented it. “See this stamp on the base of the blade? That’s from a well-known smithy in Vale. I’m guessing these poor saps were part of the vanguard for the refugees.”

“They’re close then. Let’s move, I’m ready to get away from this deathtrap.” Robyn left the building, blinking as she stepped back into the glare of Vacuo’s sun.

Something tickled her survival instincts and they screamed at her to move, but the weapon tip that had appeared suddenly, pressing firmly into her ribs, dissuaded her. She raised her hands in surrender, hoping her team had caught the danger.

Joanna came out next, crossbow staff already raised in response, but an axe swung in from nowhere and knocked it from her grasp. She growled, but then froze as a huge paw of a hand settled on her shoulder.

“Easy, now. I don’t think there’s need for a fight,” a gruff voice called.

Robyn carefully looked to the side, trying to catch a glimpse of whoever had caught her unawares. An icy pair of bright green eyes framed by unkempt blond hair met her gaze. “Glynda?” she softly exhaled.

Glynda Goodwitch removed the tip of her riding crop from Robyn’s ribs and stepped back. Robyn looked around to see Fiona and May slowly coming out of the building, wary of the flaming implement held at their back by a tall man with crazed hair and an equally unkempt appearance to Glynda.

“Sorry for the harsh welcome, ladies, but I hope you can understand our caution.” The short bear of a man who had gotten the drop on Joanna was speaking, and he sounded truly regretful.

“It’s no problem,” Robyn said. “You’re from Vale? We were sent to find you.”

“Quite so. May I ask what you were doing in that building?”

“Killing the wraith that had laired there,” Robyn said.

“I see. Were there any survivors?” the large man asked.

“No. It’s a mess in there.”

He sighed sadly. “A shame, that. We keep losing people, day after day. I say, how close are we to the City of Vacuo?”

“We can get you there within the day,” Robyn said.

“That’s excellent news. Barty, Glynda, weapons away, eh? No need for further distrust.”

The tall man, Barty, collapsed his weapon and the flames went out. He smiled ruefully. “Can’t be too cautious, ladies. We don’t know who our friends are, what with the way that Salem operates. Doctor Oobleck at your service. That fellow that resembles a barrel is Peter Port. And it would seem that you know of Glynda already.”

Glynda hmphed, and her eyes didn’t lose their icy glare. There was a long, half-healed scar down one side of her face, and Robyn noticed that she was missing several fingers on her left hand. It looked as though the famed professor of Beacon had been through the ringer.

“You’re all professors from Beacon,” Fiona said as her eyes darted from one to the other.

“Were professors, my dear girl. Beacon is no more,” Peter said sadly.

“We heard about Salem’s attack. We’ve been trying to find any survivors for a while, now,” Robyn said.

“You’ve found us, then. The main body of our camp is back that way,” Barty said, hooking a thumb over his shoulder.

“In the canyon?” Fiona asked.

“Indeed. There’s good natural shelter there, so we bunkered down and sent out a team to get the lay of the land. It didn’t work out, as we all now know. Only one poor lad returned to us. The grimm and the environment have been bleeding us relentlessly.”

Glynda spoke for the first time, her voice sharp and bitter. “If you can get us to the city, do it. We have a lot of people who need medical attention and proper shelter.”

“Yeah, we can do that. We’ll need to get to your camp, and then I can pop a beacon to transmit our location and we’ll get you all evacuated.”

“Let’s quit wasting time, then.” Glynda stalked off, tattered purple cloak trailing behind her.

“You’ll have to forgive her. She was the glue that held us together after the fall of Beacon, and when Ozpin didn’t return to us, she just kept going on her own. When Salem turned up at the head of that terrible army, Glynda fought harder than any of us. She killed Salem half a dozen times, but, well. Salem can’t truly be killed. I don’t think Glynda had really believed that until she saw it for herself. The way Salem can just pull herself back together…” Peter trailed off, lost in memory. He shook himself after a moment. “Salem killed so many of our best that day. Glynda eventually brought a building down on her to buy us time to go, and I had to drag her from the fight. If she wasn’t so weak from blood loss she wouldn’t have let me, I’m sure.”

Barty struck up the narration after Peter stopped talking. “We struck out westward, having heard Miss Rose’s message. Salem didn’t pursue us, content to watch us suffer, I think. And suffer we have. Our people are mostly broken. Glynda is once again the driving force that keeps us together. She is under immense strain.”

“You don’t have much further to go. We’ll get you and yours taken care of. I’m sorry for them, too.” Robyn nodded towards the building turned abattoir that held the remains of the Valean Huntsmen.

Peter’s face creased with sorrow. “They were just students, not that long ago. As their teachers we failed them. They shouldn’t have died like this.”

Barty put a hand on his shoulder. “To die so close to the goal. They were Huntsmen to the last, Peter. We should remember them that way, as valiant young men that perished in the defense of those unable to protect themselves.”

“So we shall, Barty,” Peter heaved. “So we shall. Please, ladies, follow us. Let’s not keep our charges out in this wilderness any longer, eh?”

*

Hours later, a single Bullhead touched down on the edge of the canyon where hundreds of displace Valeans had made camp. Glynda stared at it frostily as it landed. “One ship? That’s all? And a Bullhead at that? How the hell are we supposed to evac everyone with that?”

In response, the door on the side of the ship slid open and a figure with wild black hair dropped to the sand. “Glynda. You look like sh*t,” Raven said, appraising the taller woman. “Heard you’ve been fighting like an absolute bastard though.”

Through gritted teeth, hand gripping her riding crop firmly, Glynda responded. “Raven. Give me one good reason not to kill you where you stand.”

“I’m here to get you all to Shade, Glynda. And I’m on your side. We can hash out the details later.”

Glynda’s jaw worked as her teeth ground together, but then she turned on her heel and stalked off. Peter let out a huff of breath. “This is a surprise, to say the least, Ms. Branwen. But not an unwelcome one. Please, follow me.”

*

Qrow was with Willow when he got a call from Theodore on his scroll. “Robyn has found them,” Theodore told him with a smile. “Raven is on her way there now, and I need you back in Shade ready to receive our guests.”

“Got it, Theo.” Qrow hung up the call and sighed. “I sometimes wish that I wasn’t the one that had to hang around waiting for Raven to open a portal.”

“It comes in handy though, your sister’s semblance. Think of all the time you two are going to save those poor people,” Willow told him.

“Yeah. It’ll be good to see my old colleagues, too. And to get intel on what actually happened in Vale, instead of chasing rumors.”

“How do you think they’re doing?” Willow asked.

“Truthfully? Like sh*t. Beacon and now Vale are both in Salem’s hands, and they’ve traveled gods know how many miles, being attacked by grimm and weathering the elements. I bet a bunch have died in the process.”

“We’re ready to help how we can. The SDC and the White Fang have been collaborating, which is a wonderful thing to see.”

“You’ve got surprisingly good view on all that, considering that you almost got murdered.”

“Yes, but I wasn’t, thanks to a certain someone,” Willow said playfully, putting her arm through Qrow’s.

Qrow just sighed. “There’re still people out there that want to see you and your family dead, Willow. Plus the mystery faction that set out to blow up the Fang’s building. We haven’t gotten a positive ID on that man I killed, and chances are he was a vagrant that wandered in from a settlement. Vacuo has terrible records for that sort of thing. Anyone could have hired him, from Salem to disgruntled Atlesians. Hell, he could have just been a nutjob that hated Atlas and your family.”

“I think you’re being a bit fatalistic, Qrow. Klein is already looking into the matter of the attempted attack on the White Fang, and we’re all on alert now.”

“Being fatalistic is my job. There’s a conspiracy here, I’m sure of it. And Klein had better be damned careful. If someone catches him sniffing around they won’t hesitate to kill him.”

“Winter is helping, too. She’s got some specialists undercover. It’ll be fine.”

Qrow just grumbled. Willow was an intelligent woman, but she could have a very naïve outlook on things sometimes. He wondered if that was a side effect of her newfound freedom after years of alcohol abuse and self-isolation. It was great that she seemed so happy, but it was almost as if she was turning a blind eye to any potential danger. She was happy, and so she refused to acknowledge anything that might threaten that happiness. He wasn’t a damned therapist, though, so he had resolved to leave her psyche to the professionals. Other than that, she had proven surprisingly good company, and he had started to relax around her. Winter kept giving him the stink-eye when she saw him, but Qrow was content to let Winter brood. She had always been prickly, and it wasn’t his job to keep her happy.

The two of them had been walking towards Shade as they chatted, and the structure now loomed before them. Qrow and Willow walked through the gate in the huge sandstone wall and to the location Theodore had prepared to receive the refugees. Kali was there with a handful of White Fang members, and she greeted them cheerfully.

“Qrow, Willow! It’s great that Robyn found the refugees from Vale. We’re ready to help however we can.”

Willow hugged the other woman, and the two broke off to continue talking. All Qrow could do was shake his head. Those two striking up a friendship was something he thought he’d never see, but they had taken to each other immediately. He found his way over to Theo, who was observing the activity as everyone prepared for the refugees.

“This is gonna put even more strain on the city, Theo. We gonna be able to handle it?” Qrow asked the headmaster quietly.

“We’ll make do, somehow. We owe it to them. They’ve fought Salem in person and deserve a place to rest and recover. We’ll worry about the logistics later.”

“I’m not saying they shouldn’t be able to rest, but we’re sitting on a time bomb here. Food and water will eventually run out, and then we’re not gonna have to worry about Salem anymore, the city is just going to tear itself apart.”

“I know it, Qrow. But we’ll make do. Supply lines are being strengthened from here to Menagerie, and we’re starting to get more aid from Mistral, too. It won’t be easy, but I’m not giving up the city without a fight.”

Qrow sighed once again. Forever surrounded by optimists. But maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing. Gods knew maintaining a dour outlook for the last couple decades had nearly killed him with alcohol and depression. And dammit, he couldn’t help but feel a little hopeful himself. The feeling had grown and persisted ever since Ruby had returned from the Ever After, and it refused to be squashed. So instead of arguing further with Theo, he clapped the other man on the shoulder and went back to find Willow again. They’d find a way to make it all work. They had so far, so what was going to stop them?

*

It was past midnight when Qrow was jolted out of a doze by the sound of a portal. He stood and stretched, careful not to wake Willow, who had fallen asleep next to him. He ruffled his hair as he yawned, and the first person stepped through.

Glynda Goodwitch, Peter Port, and Bartholomew Oobleck spread out before Qrow. They all looked like they had been through hell. Glynda had a huge scar down her face and was missing several fingers. Peter, always a large-framed man, was still barrel chested but had lost a significant amount of weight. And Barty was skinnier and wilder looking than ever, shirt disheveled and dirty, missing his usual tie.

“Hey guys,” Qrow said.

Glynda just huffed and stalked past him to Theodore. Peter shrugged. “You’ll have to forgive her, Qrow. She’s been through a lot. We’ll have to catch you up later.” The other two former Beacon professors joined Glynda’s debriefing with Theodore as Qrow watched.

Over the next hour, hundreds of people streamed through the portal, and Qrow and Willow helped direct them to where they needed to go. They were, to a person, dirty, wounded, and sunburnt. These poor people had been through a lot.

Qrow was just wondering how long Raven could maintain a portal when finally the Happy Huntresses came through. He raised his hand in greeting, but Robyn ignored him. Joanna glared, May just nodded, and Fiona shrugged with embarrassment and gave him a weak grin. The hell is her problem? Qrow thought to himself.

At that moment, Willow slipped her arm through his as she stepped up by his side. “Not as many as we had hoped. Too many died on the journey, from the sounds of it,” she said sadly.

The portal finally closed as Raven stepped through, visibly exhausted. She saw Qrow arm in arm with Willow, and light danced in her eyes, but she refrained from commenting. A testament to how tired she was after maintaining her portal for so long.

“Glynda has a huge chip on her shoulder. Don’t blame her, sounds like she was the sole driving force that got anyone here alive at all. Maybe try avoiding her, if possible. Just a word of warning,” Raven said.

“I can’t just not talk to her, Raven.”

Raven just shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

“Not regressing on me, are ya? Thinking about walking away?”

The look that Raven gave him was so full of spite that he just laughed. “Thought so. We’ll talk to her together.”

The Branwen twins and Willow made their way into Shade and up to Theodore’s office, where the Valeans and Theodore had retired to speak in private. The night was wearing on, but there was still a lot of work to do.

Chapter 19: Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Text

Chapter Nineteen

Zambara made for an interesting traveling companion, Sun had decided. The Maiden had led a very different life from him and his friends and was full of surprises. She didn’t eat meat, for one, and started every day with an elaborate ritual that was mostly dance. Her accent was exotic and lyrical, she was smart, had a uniquely dry sense of humor, and loved watching the stars.

She could also wipe the floor with any one of them single handedly in a fight, and they had yet to find a two-man team that could take her down. She took her sparring very seriously. Even without her Maiden powers she was more than a match for any of them. Sun thought he might be falling in love.

Stupid! You only just met her. It’d be crazy to be in love already. At most it's just a crush. Sun shook his head vigorously to clear it. Neptune, he knew, was similarly smitten, but so far the other three seemed immune to her charms. Her innumerable, wonderful charms.

The last thing that set her apart was her scarily accurate knowledge of Salem. His team had questioned her the first night she had joined them, and they had learned a lot. According to Zambara, the power of the Summer Maiden had been passed down from generation to generation along with knowledge of ‘Tha Eternal Foe’. She knew that Salem made the grimm and could control them, she knew that Salem had a fortress in the Nightlands, as she called it, and she knew of Ozpin as ‘The Grandfather’. She didn’t have a very high opinion of Ozpin, Sun had learned.

“Why have you stayed out here in Menagerie, instead of trying to stop Salem?” Sun had asked after learning all of this.

Zambara had looked at him carefully, and then explained slowly, like she was speaking to a child. “The Eternal One cannot die. You know this, for you have spoken of it already. Why waste our lives trying to stop an unstoppable force? Too many times have the Maidens died in this fight. We are better served helping our people”

“The Maidens fought Salem in the past?”

“This should be obvious, I would think. The Grandfather would find us and convince us that fighting against the Eternal One was the only course of action. The Maidens tired of this and agreed to go into hiding many hundreds of years ago. The Summer Maiden has existed in this land ever since.”

It was at that point in the conversation that Sun had stopped asking questions to think about what Zambara had said, and it was that conversation that circled in his mind as he watched Zambara spar with Scarlet, Sage, and Neptune early in the morning a day’s travel outside of Kuo Kuana.

Ozpin had known of the Maidens. Ok, he was onboard with that. It made sense and meshed with what Theodore had told the Huntsmen back at Shade. Ozpin had also used the Maidens as soldiers against Salem, and the Maidens hadn’t liked that. Or had grown to dislike that. That was new information. Sun hadn’t really interacted with Ozpin much, but imagining the white-haired, spectacled man as a calculating tactician that would ruthlessly send people to their deaths chilled him. He wondered if Ruby, Blake, and the others had known.

He was shaken out of his ruminations by a joyful cry from Neptune. Sun looked up in time to catch Zambara’s aura break, and to see her fall back, laughing.

“You win! It took the three of you, and I did not use my powers, but you have succeeded!” Zambara exclaimed.

Neptune’s crow of victory turned into a deflated squawk. “You didn’t have to put it like that,” he grumbled.

“But it is progress! It was well-fought and well won.” She clapped Neptune on his shoulder, grinning widely. Neptune smiled back at her, and Sun felt a lurch somewhere in his midsection. Scarlet and Sage were breathing hard but smiling, and Nolan was cheering them from the sidelines.

The morning sun, rising slowly in the easterly sky, flickered briefly. This was the only warning the group got before hell broke loose. A rain of razor-sharp feathers whistled down from the sky, thudding into the sand around Zambara and the others. Sage, ever vigilant, was the only one to react in time. His huge sword, Pilgrim, flashed out and cut several feathers out of the air. Neptune cried out as his already depleted aura shattered and a feather imbedded itself into his bicep. Scarlet and Zambara hit the sand wordlessly, bodies pierced multiple times by the missiles.

Sun felt as though he was moving in slow motion as he pulled his staff out. The weapon telescoped into its fully extended position, gleaming in the morning sun. He saw that Nolan’s eyes had gone wide and flat, and the other man dropped to his knees as he stared at the prone form of Scarlet. Above them a winged thing was falling from the sky like a black thunderbolt, straight for Zambara.

Sage twisted, sword raised, and slashed at it. It gracefully swooped to the side, simultaneously striking Sage in the side of the head with a wing joint and hitting Zambara talons first. It started to flap its wings to gain height as Sage hit the sand, unconscious. Sun’s brain was still sluggish, trying to make sense of what was happening. That was a woman dragging Zambara’s body into the sky. Winged and feathered, with talons for feet and claws for hands, but very obviously a woman, nonetheless.

Nolan was still paralyzed, staring at Scarlet. He lost his last team to a Nevermore, Sun remembered suddenly. Crap. He’s in shock. This was not good. Scarlet was down, maybe dead, Sage had just been knocked out cold, Nolan was frozen, and Neptune had a foot long feather stuck in his arm. Crap crap crap.

Sun split into three as he charged, and his clones quickly laced their fingers and made a springboard for him to leap from. His staff whipped over his head and he slammed into the woman/nevermore hybrid. It wasn’t a graceful takedown, but it had the desired effect as he knocked her out of the sky. Zambara hit the ground hard as the thing dropped her, and groaned. The wave of relief that Sun felt at that sound nearly took him off of his feet.

Still twirling his staff, Sun squared off with the harpy. Behind her, Neptune moved in, his right sleeve soaked with blood as he yanked the feather from his arm with a grimace and threw it to the ground. Two on one. They just had to buy time, long enough for one of the others to come back to their senses.

“Nolan, buddy, we could use you!” Sun cried as the Harpy shrieked and flung more razored feathers at him. He knocked them out of the air and swung the staff at her head. She ducked it, wings going wide, and lashed backwards with ferocious kick. Neptune was forced to do an awkward side-hop to avoid getting his shins slashed open and had to abandon his attack.

Sun traded a flurry of blows with the razor-sharp claws of the harpy, and he split his staff as he did so. Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang boomed out a fusillade of shotgun blasts as the nun-chucks spun. The grimm woman morphed in response, her wings solidifying into a wall of scales that soaked the attack. Sun was forced into a desperate back handspring to avoid the tail which came swiping in from nowhere.

How is she doing that!? He thought furiously as he was put on the defensive. Behind her, Neptune was slashing and jabbing with Tri-hard, but that other Huntsman had lost a lot of blood and wasn’t moving very fast. The harpy had even gone so far as to ignore his attacks, letting the newly grown scales on her back and wings just take the blows. Sun sucked his gut in to avoid a disemboweling claw and risked a glance towards Nolan. The other man was crouched at Scarlet’s side, tears streaming down his face. He was holding one of Scarlet’s hands, but Sun couldn’t make out any more than that. He paid for his lapse in concentration by taking a hard hit to his shoulder. His aura absorbed most of the energy and stopped the claws from ripping his arm open, but the blow was still strong enough to knock him off his feet.

He hit the ground and rolled, scrambling to get back upright. The harpy followed with a terrifying fang rimmed smile on her face. Sun sucked in a breath and resummoned his clones to block for him and buy him time. As they grappled with the harpy, he yelled to Neptune. “This isn’t working! I’ve never seen a grimm like this. I’ll buy as much time as I can, you need to hit her with a fully charged shot!”

Neptune, face ashen from blood loss, just nodded and shifted Tri-hard to its rifle form. Lightning began to coruscate down the length of the barrel as it charged. Sun felt more than saw one of his clones wink out of existence as he turned back to the fight. The second one followed shortly after as it was decapitated by a vicious blow from the harpy’s talons. He knew he had at least one more summon in him before his aura ran out, and he used it. Digging deep, Sun split himself into five. He charged the harpy with his four clones, staves spinning.

The next few moments were a fury of action. The damned thing was smiling as Sun did his best to take it down. Smiling, fangs bared, blood-crazed silver eyes shining. Silver eyes. His nun-chucks spun and boomed as he unloaded shell after shell into her. The clones were unrelenting as well, vaulting over her and using each other to set up attacks. Staves cracked and thundered as the harpy wrapped herself in her scaled wings to weather the assault.

Sun shifted his weapon back to its staff form and lunged, trying to pierce through the harpy’s defenses. The weapon speared through a wing and hit home somewhere deeper. Sun grinned. They had her, now. His joy was short lived as he tried to retrieve his weapon. It was stuck fast, and then yanked from his grip. He stumbled forward as the wings opened once more, and he came face to face with the fang-filled rictus grin of his foe.

“Uh. Hi!” Sun said. “Glad you decided to rejoin the party! We’ve got a present for you!” Sun lashed sideways with his tail, getting caught by his clones and pulled to safety.

As the harpy shrieked, its attention got drawn by loud yell. Neptune was kneeling, his weapon fully extended and crackling with power. Nolan stood behind him, bracing him, his own weapon jacked into Tri-hard and powering it even further. Neptune squeezed the trigger and the gun bucked, sending a searing bolt of pure lightning straight at the harpy’s face.

The harpy screamed and convulsed, wings spasming as the electricity coursed through it. Her scales began to crack and steam and flake away. The bolt was so bright Sun had to avert his eyes, and it left an electric blue after image in his vision. Blinking vigorously, Sun looked back as the grimm as the light died out. She still stood, smoking and blackened; very much alive, and very much pissed off.

Neptune finally passed out, falling face first into the sand. Nolan picked up the fallen rifle and then cried out, dropping it. The metal was blazing hot to the touch. Sun was in disbelief. This thing was inhumanly strong. He had heard rumors of Salems hybrids, and knew that Cinder herself had a creepy grimm arm, but this thing was some unholy fusion of woman and grimm, and the damned thing wouldn’t die.

He twirled his staff again and moved back into the fray. He wouldn’t go down without fighting to the end, that was for damned sure. Before he could re-engage, however, a golden hoop caught the harpy around the throat. Four more caught her in rapid succession around each arm and leg. Zambara hovered in the air behind the creature, pierced through with feathers, eyes flaming purple. Her khakkhara was outstretched, an extension of her arm. The single remaining hoop jingled faintly on its tip. She dropped it in a slashing motion, and the hoops all seized at once, shrinking rapidly in size.

The harpy fell to the ground without a sound, neatly disarticulated. Zambara, not done, called down a pillar of fire from the heavens that engulfed the corpse, and Sun was forced to retreat from the blaze as the hairs on his arms burned away. Zambara was scary when she was mad.

As the fire began to die down, something tried to rise from the immolated body. An orb-like thing, trailing tentacles, feebly began to rise into the air. Zambara smashed it down without hesitation and crushed it into the sand with the heel of her foot. As it died, a chilling laugh rose from it and faded. Sun shivered as he heard it.

“What was that thing?” Sun asked as the flames around Zambara’s eyes faded.

“Monster.” Was all the woman said as she began to methodically scatter the ashes of her kill.

Sun left her to it and went to check on his team. Sage was starting to come to, shaking his head and blinking owlishly as he sat up. “It over?”

“Yeah man, take it easy. You got rocked.” Sage sighed and slowly rolled his neck out, testing out his condition. Sun moved on to Scarlet, and to his relief saw that Scarlet was still alive.

“Yo, Scarlet. How you feeling, man?”

“Like I got cut up by half a dozen foot long and sword-sharp feathers. How do you think I am, Sun?”

Sun just laughed with relief. “Alive and with attitude intact. Good enough for me.”

He went over to Neptune and Nolan next. Neptune was still down, and Nolan had wrapped a tight bandage around his upper arm. “How is he?”

“Lost a lot of blood, but I think he’ll live. Guessing he got nicked in the Brachial artery, but his aura managed to seal it off. It’ll take some time for him to recover.” Nolan wouldn’t look at Sun as he talked, instead focusing his attention on Neptune’s wound.

Sun clapped him on the shoulder. “I know that wasn’t easy for you, you doing ok?”

“Yeah, I will be. Sorry, seeing them cut down by those feathers was like the fall of Beacon all over again. Nevermore coming in from the sky, half your team down before you even know what’s going on, blood everywhere.”

“No need to be sorry. Living through that would mess anyone up. I’m just glad you’re ok. And we all made it through. Hang in there, ok man?”

Nolan just nodded, wiping fresh tears from his eyes. Sun left him and went over to Zambara. “How are you doing?”

The woman had finished scattering the remains of her foe and was now slowly extricating feathers from her body. She kept her breathing deep and slow as she worked, incinerating each plume as she pulled it out.

“Angry. We were caught by surprise, just like when Okhozi was killed. I should have been watching.”

“We all got caught out. It wasn’t any one person’s fault. And we’re all still alive.”

“Alive but badly wounded. What do we do if we get attacked again?”

“Uh. Fight? That’s kinda like our thing.”

She looked at him sharply, and then burst into laughter. “You are right, Sun. We will fight. It is what we do.”

They spent the next hour moving the wounded to a shady ravine nearby, and then Zambara left to forage for supplies. She refused to let Sun accompany her, despite her wounds. “I will be on my guard, you stay with your friends,” she told him.

She returned with a satchel full of various herbs and flowers and then busied herself with making a fire. Sun watched curiously as she filled a small copper pot with water and put it on to boil. That was another thing about Zambara, she knew about a million different old-world remedies for just about any ailment. On the first day they had met she had made a soothing ointment for their sunburn, and it had worked wonders.

Right now she was steeping the flowers she had gathered into some kind of tea, and while that was going she got out a mortar and pestle and started grinding up the other herbs she had gathered into a fine paste. After a few minutes of this, she handed some paste to Sun and the rest to Nolan.

“Here, Sun, Nolan. Rub this into their wounds. It will help sanitize them and start the natural healing process.”

Sun noticed that she had already smeared some of the paste onto her own wounds, and so he took the bowl over to Neptune. The blue-haired man had regained consciousness but was still weak.

“Here, buddy. Got something for your arm.” Sun gently pulled the bandage up and slathered a thick glob of the paste onto the wound.

Neptune hissed and spluttered. “Oh jiminy crackers that stings!”

“Jiminy crackers? That’s the best you got? Jiminy crackers? Most people just swear when they’re in pain.”

“Aw, c’mon man, you know how my mom feels about swearing.”

On the other side of the camp, Nolan was tending to Scarlets multiple lacerations. “None of these looks too deep, and Zambara insists that this will help.”

Scarlet endured the application of the medicine far more stoically than Neptune had, and looked at Nolan with soft eyes while he worked. “Thanks, Nole.”

Sage, who had suffered the blow to the head, accepted a steaming cup of medicinal tea from Zambara and sipped it gingerly. He nodded his thanks to the woman. Zambara passed out tea to Scarlet and Neptune as well.

“Drink this. It will kick-start your aura and help it regenerate faster. It would be best, I think, to stay here for the day and rest.”

“We’re close to the city though. Shouldn’t we try to get there so we can find a ship back to Vacuo?” Sun asked.

“We will get there in time, I do not wish to jeopardize the health of anyone further, Sage in particular. If he was concussed, he needs the rest.”

Sun looked at his battered team and decided that she was probably right. “Right. We’ll hang out until we’re recovered.”

“Good. Sun, can I get your help quick?” Zambara asked.

“Sure, what’s up?”

She handed him the rest of the paste then turned her back to him and lifted her shirt. There was a wide slash across the middle of her back, and it was apparent that she wanted him to apply the medicine to it.

Sun gulped. Sensing his hesitation, Zambara asked, “You are not afraid of blood, are you?”

“No, no. Uh. No.” He started to smear the ointment across the cut.

“It is just skin, Sun. And I cannot reach that cut myself.” There was a faint hint of amusem*nt in her voice.

“Right! Just helping patch up a teammate, haha.” He finished the job as quickly as he could. “There, that should sort you out.”

She dropped her shirt again and turned back, fingering one of the slashed left in the fabric. “I will need to mend this. Make sure I am not disturbed?”

“Uh. Yeah. Yeah, of course.”

She smiled at him. “I will be back there.” She walked to the end of the short ravine, where a large acacia tree had taken root, and disappeared behind the trunk.

Sun turned to see Neptune watching him closely. In a quiet voice, Neptune said, “She’s quite the beauty, eh?”

Sun just laughed and rubbed the back of his head. “Yeah, yeah I suppose so.” He sat down next to his old friend.

“You suppose? The last person I saw you make those eyes at was Blake.”

“Aw, c’mon man. You don’t need to bring that up.”

“It hurts, I know, but they’re gone, Sun. And there isn’t anything wrong with thinking another lady is pretty.”

Sun sighed. “Yeah. I just wish we knew what the heck happened to them. Like, they just disappeared. That doesn’t mean they’re dead.”

Neptune looked at his friend with a considering expression. “No, I guess that doesn’t have to mean they’re dead. But I think we need to move on.”

“You brought it up!”

“Oh. I guess I did.” Neptune grinned ruefully.

“And what about you? I’ve seen you looking at Zambara.”

“Well, she’s a beautiful woman! Who wouldn’t look?”

Sun just shrugged and nodded towards Nolan and Scarlet, who were chatting and laughing together.

Neptune followed his gaze, and his eyes widened as they made the connection. “Huh. I guess Nolan is a cool guy. I mean. Scarlet deserved someone who was gonna be good to him and Nolan fits that bill. I wasn’t sure about him at first, but he’s cool.”

“What about Sage? You think he’s into her?” Sun asked.

Sage, who was slightly apart from the others and working his way through a set of stretches that Zambara had taught them, met their eyes and then shrugged.

“Since when has he ever shown interest in women?” Neptune asked.

“Just because I don’t fawn after them like you doesn’t mean I don’t like them,” Sage said without breaking out of his stretching form.

Neptune just blew a raspberry at this and waved his hand. “So, Sun. We just sit back and let her pick?”

“I dunno man, what if she isn’t into us? I don’t want to make it weird since we’re kinda like her bodyguards.”

“As if. She’s stronger than any single one of us. She saved our butts today even though she got shredded by those grimm feathers.”

“Yeah, but we bought her time. She would have died if we weren’t there.”

“That is a good point.” Neptune went silent for a bit, and then spoke again. “What do you think the plan is after we get back? We’ve got two of the Maidens now. And Zambara’s the one that can get the sword.”

“I dunno. We don’t want Salem getting the sword. Maybe it should stay locked up.”

“But if it’s locked up Salem has no choice but to attack the city. You think we should risk people like that?” Neptune asked, worry on his face.

“Bro! That’s a good point. Maybe we should convince Theodore to let her open the vault so we can move the sword!” Sun was getting animated now. “And if we can find someone who can use the sword, even better!”

“I think you two are forgetting that Salem doesn’t necessarily know the whereabouts of the Summer Maiden. I don’t think she’ll make a move until she knows for sure about Zambara.” Sage dropped to the ground next to them, his stretching session complete.

“We shouldn’t bring Zambara back to Vacuo?” Sun asked, puzzled.

“I didn’t say that. I just don’t think we should announce her presence,” Sage said.

“Oh! I got it! We put her in a cloak, and she can wear this!” Neptune pulled a rumpled fake mustache out of one of his pockets. “If anyone sees the ‘stache, they’ll think she’s a he!”

“Why on earth do you still have that?” Sage asked.

Sun had pulled his fake mustache out as well. “It’ll be like the junior detectives all over again! I like it!” He and Neptune high fived while Sage just shook his head.

“You two are hopeless.”

“We’ve got ourselves a plan! Thanks Sage!”

*

The Queen of the Grimm sat behind a huge desk, regarding the kneeling figure before her.

“Rise.”

Cinder Fall rose and raised her head to face Salem. “My Queen.”

“The lost Maiden is in Menagerie. Antelope Faunus. Traveling with Huntsmen.” A seer floated forward, projecting a static image of a slim woman with purple, flaming eyes. Behind her was a man with spiky blond hair that Cinder immediately recognized.

“Sun Wukong. I know his team. A bunch of immature mess-ups.”

“Then you shall have no issue in claiming the Maiden powers.”

“No, my Queen.”

“Then go.” Salem waved dismissively.

“Without you, I am nothing.” Cinder bowed her head and left the room. A vicious smile spread across her face as she left. As she walked, she stepped over a roughly shaped silhouette of ash burned into the floor. A reminder of a past victory. Ozpin’s office really did look much better with it there.

As she drifted to the bottom of the elevator shaft, floating on fire, she grinned at the people waiting for her. “We have our destination.”

Gillian and Jax Asturias looked back at her. Gillian’s eyes showed reluctance, but Jax’s stare was as blank as ever. Yatsuhashi had really done them a favor, making his mind more malleable to Salem’s influence. He was firmly in their grasp.

“Come along,” Cinder said as she strode past them.

Jax followed obediently and after a moment’s hesitation, Gillian followed her bother. This will be fun. Cinder thought to herself. It’s been too long since I’ve killed something.

Chapter 20: Chapter Twenty

Chapter Text

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Chapter Twenty

“Yang, look.” Blake had stopped walking and was staring at a shattered building.

“What’s up?” Yang stopped next to Blake, looking to where she had indicated.

“I think that’s the club where we went dancing.”

Sure enough, there was a brightly colored sign sticking up from the wreckage. The last few letters were still visible, neon greens and blues standing out starkly against the white and gray of the broken building. Yang found Blake’s hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

“Hey, we still have the pictures and memories, yeah?”

Blake sniffed once, and gave Yang a weak grin. “Yeah.”

Ruby watched this exchange, her mood dipping. Entering the fallen cities was a grim reminder of her failure, and she was taking it a lot harder than she had expected. She was getting assaulted by memories. Memories of the last, frantic minutes as they tried to get the portals open and the people to safety. The fight against Cinder, desperate and violent. Fiasco after fiasco, steadily stacking up.

The ruins themselves were extraordinarily bleak. She had been in abandoned cities before, Mountain Glen being the most prominent, but Atlas and Mantle had been destroyed in part by the actions of her and her team. They had seen human remains, people who had been killed by grimm or who had been unable to get to the portals in time. They hadn’t seen a single building left undamaged, and many of the buildings were utterly destroyed. Grimm were out in abundance as well, still being drawn by the echoes of terror and despair that had permeated the cities before the end.

Ruby’s breathing started to come more and more quickly as these thoughts swirled through her mind. A hand on her shoulder made her jump and whip her head to the side. Jaune was there, giving her a reassuring squeeze. Weiss put a hand on her other shoulder, and together the two of them helped bring her breathing back in line.

“Easy, Ruby. Salem attacked this place. She’s the reason any of this happened, not you. You helped save thousands of people who would have died otherwise,” Weiss said. She, too, had a haunted expression on her face.

“Weiss is right, Ruby. Salem was going to go after Atlas and Mantle regardless of what we did,” Jaune added.

Ruby nodded once and wiped her eyes. “Sorry. Still hurts.” She took a deep, slightly shaky breath. “Okay. Let’s keep moving.”

*

Ren watched Ruby with some concern. Blue petals tinged with black were falling thickly through the air around his friend. She was hurting right now but trying to put on a brave face. “We need to keep an eye on Ruby,” he told Nora. “She’s having a hard time seeing all of this in person. I think she blames herself for what happened here.”

“That’s crazy though. It wasn’t an easy choice, but it was the best one we had to try to keep everyone alive. It’s not her fault Salem is a murderous pyscho and Ironwood snapped.”

Yang had followed Ruby off into the ruins, while Blake stayed behind, having heard Ren and Nora’s conversation. “Has Ruby or Jaune talked to anyone on your team about what really happened in the Ever After?” she asked.

“What do you mean, ‘what really happened’ Blake? What didn’t you guys tell us?” Nora asked.

“Ruby tried to kill herself, didn’t she?” Ren asked quietly.

Nora gasped. “No! No way. That can’t have possibly happened.”

“Ren is right, Nora. None of us realized how badly she was taking everything that was happening. You remember the tree we told you about? Afterans ‘die’ and then ascend at the tree. Ruby drank some tea made from the tree’s leaves to start the ascension process. The tree took her, and whatever happened in there, Ruby came back as herself.”

“Oh,” Nora said in a small, sad voice. “Why hasn’t she told us any of this?”

“It hurts for her to think about, Nora. Suicide is an option that people who feel as though they’ve been pushed to the brink and have no other choice take. It sounds like she changed her mind in this tree, but that was still a terrible decision she felt she had to make,” Ren said.

The trio started to walk again, moving to keep up with the rest of the group as Ciel plodded behind. “Ruby is the last person in the world that should feel that way. She’s always been so happy and optimistic. I’m gonna crush the assholes that did this,” Nora growled. She had started to caress the haft of Manghild as she talked. “Salem and Cinder better watch their asses.”

“You’ll have to tag team with Yang and Jaune,” Blake said. “Jaune owes Cinder for Pyrrha, and Yang still feels awful for not noticing how bad Ruby had gotten.”

A hand signal from Jaune ahead of them had them all suddenly alert. Grimm were nearby. Tranquility spread out from Ren like a wave until it covered all of his team and friends. Emerald stayed on standby, ready to send out an Illusion if needed. The tactic had worked well so far, and the large group of Hunters had yet to engage with the grimm.

As they cautiously moved forward, they passed a quartet of Sabyrs that were feasting on a corpse in the street. Nora’s hands kept up their incessant wringing on Manghild. She desperately wanted to kill the creatures, but knew that a fight would likely draw more and more in, and they didn’t want to waste their energy here. It felt worse because the person was very evidently a fresh body, judging by the amount of blood that was spread around everywhere. Either they had been an opportunistic scavenger whose luck had run out, or they had been a Huntsman that had finally met their end. Nora guessed scavenger, but either way it felt like a bad omen.

At the head of the group there was a sudden flurry of activity as Ruby went into action. Jaune threw his hands up in exasperation as Ruby disappeared into Petal Burst and rocketed towards the Sabyrs. She never even fully materialized as she attacked, there was a single crimson slash as her scythe emerged from the storm of petals, and then all four grimm blew away on the wind as inky smoke. Ruby reappeared a moment later next to Jaune, twirling Crescent Rose as she stashed the weapon.

“Ruby seems to be in a slightly better mood now,” Ren said as he watched this unfold.

“I would be too if I could get some action,” Nora grumbled. “But good for her. It makes me itchy leaving grimm behind.”

“We agreed not to draw attention to ourselves,” Ren argued. “Still, that happened so fast I think we're in the clear.”

As quietly as her speakers would allow, Ciel spoke from behind them. “It was an unnecessary risk that could have jeopardized the mission. It wouldn’t be the first time a small engagement snowballed into a flat-out brawl that left the Huntsmen dead. Mission protocol exists for a reason.” Even though the voice that emitted from the speakers was a low, augmetic, basso rumble, there was no denying Ciel’s irritation.

“Not you too,” Nora groaned. “I’m going to move up the column. You stick-in-the-muds can keep each other company. You with me Blake?”

Blake started to respond when the unmistakable sound of gunfire erupted from the next street over. She reflexively pulled out Gambol Shroud and looked at Nora. “Sounds like you might get your wish.”

“Whooo!” Nora exclaimed happily. She looked eagerly towards Jaune, awaiting confirmation that they could go loud.

Jaune and Ruby, who had been arguing about Ruby’s quick execution of the grimm, called out for their teams simultaneously.

“We’re helping whoever that is, RWBY, let’s go,” Ruby said.

“JORNE! On me, sounds like someone is in trouble,” Jaune yelled.

A deafening roar split the air followed by a scream of pain. Nora, needing no further encouragement, whooped and charged, eager for action “Jaune!” Nora gave him only this one-word warning before leaping at him feet first. Jaune, having been on the receiving end of this tactic more than once, reflexively raised his shield just in time. Nora hit the shield and dropped into a crouching position, muscles bunching and lightning crackling as she prepared to launch herself from it. Jaune braced himself in turn, grunting as he briefly held the full weight of Nora aloft, and then triggered the gravity dust pulse of his shield the same instant Nora leapt.

Nora rocketed into the sky with a shout of glee and disappeared over a broken rooftop. Her companions were quick to follow, using their own various methods to enter the fight. The sounds of battle once again rang out in the streets of Atlas.

*

As Jett dodged and weaved, firing off blasts from his shotgun and gutting grimm with his knives, he ruminated on what had led to this point. This fight was the culmination of a series of just awful days. He had convinced his team, Hunters all, Vacuan born and bred, that there was a fortune to be had in the ruins of Atlas. Young, dumb, and eager for riches, they had followed him north. Their first mistake had been to underestimate the horrendous cold of Solitas. They were all harsh weather survivalists, but had found to their extreme discomfort and pain that the cold was not the same as the heat. Fully trusting the environmentally stabilizing properties of their auras, they hadn’t purchased adequate cold weather gear and were now paying the price.

On top of being ill-prepared for the climate, they had also lost their transportation. Back in Vacuo they had pooled their meager resources to purchase an old dust hauler. The ancient aircraft, broad, squat, and with decades of high temperature desert flying on its engine, had died with a faint cough shortly after entering what had used to be Atlas’s airspace. Their ship falling from the sky, funnily enough, hadn’t posed much of a challenge for the young team. Initiation into combat academies frequently found young hunters-to-be flung or dropped from high altitude locations, and team JETT had handled this hurdle with ease, evacuating the failing craft without issue. The problem arose moments later as the dust hauler hit the ground and exploded into a dramatic fireball.

With their way home now a smoking ruin on the ice packed ground, their priorities had shifted from ‘finding loot’ to ‘finding a new set of wings’. Navigating the dead cities had also proved treacherous, from the unfamiliar obstacles of snow and ice to the multitude of grimm that inhabited the ruins. Things had gone from bad to worse this morning, when Jett had woken to his pack getting rifled through by a young, shaggy-haired teen.

“Oy!” Jett had yelled as he scrambled to his feet, drawing his weapon.

The young man had snagged the bag and bolted. Jett, frustrated, thought about shooting at him, but swore and punched a wall instead. The poor guy’s clothes were ragged and dirty, and it was obvious he was living here in the ruins. As bad a time as Jett was having, he was still a Huntsman, dammit, and he wasn’t going to kill some sad sap that was struggling worse than he was.

Ted, who had awoken immediately to Jett’s yell, tracked the youth with his rifle as he fled through the ruins. Jett frantically waved Ted down. They were not going to kill the kid for the theft. That was a step too far.

Topaz had woken up too, much more groggily than the two men, and yawned widely. “S’happenin, Jay?” she asked sleepily.

Jett sighed. “Just had my pack stolen. And no, we’re not going after the kid who took it. He probably needs it more than we do, by the looks of him.”

“sh*t, really? I thought everyone out here woulda been dead by now.”

“Well that guy wasn’t. Must have been desperate, stealing from a Huntsmen team.”

“Gotta say boss, this whole mission has been a sh*tshow,” Topaz grumbled.

“Yeah yeah yeah, rub it in. We can still recover if we find ourselves the right salvage.”

“Or we can get ourselves killed if we don’t.”

Jett had sighed, knowing she was right, and dropped it. Then his morning had gotten worse still. He had looked towards the fourth member of his team, and noticed with a frown that she hadn’t stirred yet. He walked over to her bedroll and gently shook her shoulder.

“Em, hey, how you doing?”

A very weak voice emerged. “So cold, Jett.”

Jett could feel the woman shivering, and his heart started to drop. “Hey, look at me, Em.”

She obliged and turned to face him, and his heart had dropped further still. Her skin, normally a rich umber, was waxen and pale, and her scales, normally a lustrous green, were faded and ashy. Unless he was wrong, she was going hypothermic, fast, and may have been on that path for a while already.

The next few hours had been a blur as his team tried to stabilize their companion. After losing a brief but fierce argument with Topaz, Jett had gone after the morning’s thief. His dust cartridges for his weapons were in that bag, and they needed the fire dust to try to keep Em warm. Jett’s day continued going downhill when he found the remains of the thief. The teen had run afoul of a pack of Sabyrs, and he had been spread liberally across a wide section of street. With the Sabyrs still in the area, Jett had been forced to retreat.

This had resulted in another argument when he got back to camp. Topaz had managed to get a fire going on the first floor of the building they were sheltering in, and her and Ted had wrapped Em in as many layers as they could. The problem was that they had very little to fuel the fire and keep it going. After another shouting match, Ted had groaned and run upstairs.

“You've attracted the grimm,” he had called before disappearing to a higher vantage point, snapping off shots.

Jett and Topaz swore and scrambled for their weapons, ducking beneath the windows of the building they were sheltering in. Jett racked his oversized shotgun, feeling the satisfying clack of shells being slotted into place, and leaned out of cover. He froze momentarily at the scene before him, and then his training kicked in and he started shooting. There was a mass of grimm swarming their building, and in his heart, he knew this was the end of him and his team. Cold fury began to rise in his chest. This was his fault. He had convinced his team to come here, he had picked out the airship, he had neglected to get appropriate gear, and now his team was going to die, because he was a sh*tty leader.

The least he could do was take some grimm out with him before he went, and maybe buy some time for someone to get away. He vaulted over the windowsill, shotgun booming. There was a scream of pain from behind him as something got their fangs or claws into Topaz, and something in him snapped. He had always called his semblance ‘CQC’, as in close quarters combat, and Em liked to call it ‘Danger Close’. Essentially, the more his temper or desperation rose, the faster and stronger he got to match. It also had an effect on nearby grimm, his heightened vitality acting as a lure to draw them in. It was a high-risk high-reward type of semblance as he drew the grimm to himself, but with his team behind him, the negative effects were easily mitigated. Em backed him up as the other CQC specialist, and the other two provided covering fire. Despite the fast rate CQC burned through his aura, the four of them could quickly end most fights.

This time, however, his team wasn’t behind him. His melee partner was dying of the cold, and one of his two marksman had just been badly wounded. It was him, his wits, his shotgun, and his knives. It really was just a terrible day. But really, had he wanted to live forever?

Jett ducked under a Manticore’s swiping paw and jammed the barrel of his shotgun into its throat, pulling the trigger. He was moving on even before the corpse hit the ground, katars fully extended from their sheaths. He ripped the wrist-mounted blade on his left hand through a Sabyr’s throat while simultaneously moving into a lethal spinning kick which had the blade mounted in the toe of his boot cracking the skull of a second Sabyr. Something heavy and sharp hit him in the back, and he flipped his shotgun over his shoulder and pulled the trigger. He was rewarded with a yowling screech of pain but couldn’t celebrate the minor victory due to the horde of foes still before him.

Already starting to slow, his aura having been sapped by day after day of extreme cold and burning fast with semblance usage, he nevertheless continued fighting. A dim part of his mind had registered that gunfire was no longer coming from behind him, and he hoped that that meant Ted was trying to extract his team, and not that his team was already dead. He slid under another Manticore, katar slicing through its stomach, and tried firing his shotgun again. Click. He had lost track of his shots fired, and the gun was empty. sh*t. The Sabyr he had tried to shoot grabbed his right arm in its mouth, razor-sharp teeth shredding his flesh through his depleted aura.

Jett grunted in pain, dropping the shotgun, and punched the Sabyr in the temple with his blade. The beast dropped, but the damage had been done. Between the cold and the blood loss, Jett was dying. He hit the street on his knees, his vision fluttering in and out. The ground trembled beneath him, and he looked up to meet his fate head on. A goliath thundered towards him, trunk raised, trumpeting in triumph. The smaller grimm scattered out of its way, and Jett shakily spread his arms, as if to embrace the beast.

Then, he started to hallucinate. An angel with vivid orange hair, wings of lightning, and a gleaming silver maul soared over a rooftop and hit the goliath like a thunderbolt. The massive creature was knocked from its feet, trumpeting in dismay, and Jett fell over and hit the ground as well. She’s like a Valkyrie from the old tales, he thought, mind slowing. She's come to take me to the afterlife.

Then a second angel appeared before him, a man who was haloed with golden light. The angel smiled beatifically at him, and told him everything would be OK. Jett tried to protest, he wanted the beautiful winged woman to take him away, but the words wouldn't come. Instead, his vision began to sharpen, he could feel the ice-hard ground under his head, and the pain of his wounds came back. He gasped as consciousness fully returned and saw that it was no angel tending to him, just a man with golden hair, rusted armor, and a seven-day beard.

Jett watched in amazement as his torn arm began to heal, the wounds glowing with a reddish, golden light. “My team?” he asked weakly, imploring.

“The ones in the building? There are others taking care of them now,” the rusted man said.

Jett struggled to a sitting position, and took in the scene before him. The woman he had taken to be a Valkyrie was pummeling the goliath, unrelenting, laughing while she fought. Further down the street a pair of women fought in tandem, so fast they were hard to follow. Rose red and snow white intermingled in a lethal dance, flowing around each other in a beautiful display. There were several other Hunters as well, all fighting grimm. Jett blinked rapidly, taking it in. He was saved.

Then, the ground trembled once more and a Megoliath crashed onto the scene with a tremendous bellow. A fiery blonde only just got out of the way in time, pulled out of harm’s way by another woman’s sickle-like grappling hook. The other duo, red and white, turned to face this new threat. The woman in white stabbed her sword into the ground and a blue-white glyph appeared, covering the width of the street. A moment later a huge, gauntleted hand punched through the glyph, quickly followed by the rest of a towering suit of armor. The spectral figure raised its sword in challenge to the Megoliath, but before the two giants could clash, a third figure bulldozed its way into the fight.

A crumbling building façade exploded outward as an Atlesian Paladin smashed through it, thunder maul crackling. It slammed into the monstrous grimm and vied to knock it from its feet. As the two grappled, the suit of armor charged, sword leveled. The Megoliath hunched its shoulders and tossed the Paladin into another ruined building with a mighty heave of its head. Then the armor arrived and slashed heavily at the grimm’s face. The grimm actually parried the blow with its tusks and bulled into the armor. As the armor struggled to keep its feet, the Paladin surged back from the rubble. It punched the grimm in the stomach with its cannon arm, skewering the beast, and then unloaded a barrage of bullets directly into its entrails as its shoulder mounted railgun fired a shot point blank into the elephant-grimm’s back.

Amazingly, the titan persisted, and it used its bulk as leverage against the long barrel stuck inside it. There was a shattering, wrenching clang as the cannon mount broke, and the Paladin stumbled. Before the Megoliath could capitalize on this victory, however, the armor stabbed it through the flank, driving its sword in to the hilt. Now pierced in two places, mortally wounded and dribbling umbral ichor from its stomach, the grimm fell onto its knees, bellowing in pain.

Jett had completely forgotten everything else that had happened in the face of this spectacle. His jaw was slack, his pain a faded memory as he watched the battle unfold. He noticed that the Valkyrie was back, high in the air above the Megoliath, glowing with power. She fell from the sky, once again reminding him of a thunderbolt, and smashed her lightning-shrouded silver maul into the grimm’s skull. The skull broke with an immense, flat crack, and the beast spasmed in death before smoking into nothingness.

The silence that fell after the death of the titan was deafening. Jett could hardly believe that he was still alive, and the absolute, brutal lethality of his saviors was stunning. He had never seen Hunters fight like this group had. The silence was broken as his lightning-winged angel started to cheer. Her mood was infectious, and Jett started to chuckle. He was alive. He was alive.

*

Getting into a fight had been a welcome distraction from her thoughts, and Ruby had started to rebound. They had saved a team from certain death, and that felt good. She felt like she was actually helping, and that helped her. The man who had been single-handedly trying to kill several dozen grimm was thanking Jaune profusely as Ruby approached.

“You guys have just the best timing. We’ve been getting hammered out here, mostly because I messed up and underestimated how hard it would be to operate in the cold.”

“We’re glad to help. You part of a salvage team?” Ruby asked him.

“Uh. Unofficial salvage, yeah.”

“Freelancers, then.” Jaune said.

“Yeah, Atlas is paying good money for salvaged tech and dust. I thought we could come up here and make our fortune.”

“You and every other small-time team. You know you can join an Atlas sanctioned mission, right? Get military back-up and all that?” Jaune said.

The man bristled slightly at ‘small-time,’ but then his face dropped and he looked ashamed. “You can make more money if part of your earnings doesn’t go towards the extra protection. We’re Hunters, I thought we’d be ok.”

“Lesson learned, I hope. My name is Ruby. What’s yours?” Ruby asked.

“Jett. Wait, Ruby?” He was now looking at Ruby with unrestrained curiosity and whistled when he noticed her silver eyes. “Holy sh*t. Ruby Rose.” He scrambled to his feet, looking around at the other Huntresses that had gathered, wide-eyed. “Your team is legendary. You’ve fought Salem and her followers, you’ve come back from the dead, you’ve even traveled to other worlds, if the stories are right.”

“Only partially right. We never actually died,” Jaune said.

“Wow, we’re legends now,” Yang said, amused.

“I’d rather the obscurity, honestly,” Blake said from beside her.

Weiss didn’t say anything, just moved to Jaune’s side.

“Are you really the Rusted Knight?” Jett asked him. “I loved that guy in the stories when I was a kid.” This made Weiss smile, though she tried to hide it from Jaune.

“Damn straight he is.” Nora had swaggered over, Manghild slung over her shoulders.

Jaune sighed. “I suppose you could call me that, but I’m just another guy. I didn’t ask to become the knight. And how did you know?” he asked, looking at Jett suspiciously. “And did you really believe it?” he added as an afterthought.

“Rumors around the city. Ruby Rose, back from the dead. Her team and a man they call the Rusted Knight with her. And crazier things have happened recently. I like to keep an open mind.” Jett shrugged.

Jaune looked at Nora with exasperation. “You’ve been telling people?”

“Hell yeah I’ve been telling people. Why wouldn’t I tell people one of my best friends is the amazing Rusted Knight?”

“It beats ‘Hot Lips’, I suppose,” Jaune said, still irritated. Weiss hid her smile again. To Jett he said, “Please just call me Jaune.”

“And I’m Nora,” Nora said, holding out a hand.

Jett shook it, and then cleared his throat, embarrassed. “When you came flying in over that building, I thought you were an angel, come to take me to the afterlife.”

Nora laughed at this. “Aw, that’s sweet, but I’m just me. Not an angel.”

“I can second that,” Weiss said. Yang snorted.

Oscar called from the doorway to the building. “You guys better come in here.”

Jett paled and rushed inside. Ruby, Jaune and the others followed him. Inside, they found Ren tending to a pair of women. One, a snake Faunus with bright green scales, was sitting up and warming herself by the fire, which was now crackling merrily. The other, a muscular woman with a shaved head and sharp features, had a wide swathe of bloody bandages around her throat. This woman glared at Jett as he entered the building. Jaune immediately went over to her and extended his aura, calmly assuring her he would help.

“Ted’s dead,” she rasped through her torn throat.

“There wasn’t a body, so that’s speculation,” Emerald called from the stairs as she descended. She looked around at everyone and noticed the glare she got from the sharp-featured woman. “Ok, fine, he’s probably dead, just trying to give you some hope.”

“How are you two doing?” Jett asked, worry on his face.

“Oh, just fine. Got my throat ripped out by a Sabyr after you charged that pack. Really, Jett, you’d think you want for us to all die here, the way”- her voice, already raspy, gave out and she aspirated blood onto Jaune’s armor as she coughed.

“Easy! Better not to talk until that wound closes,” Jaune said, pushing her back into a sitting position against the wall.

“Still feel weak, Jay, but I think I’ll make it,” the Faunus said.

Jett collapsed to the ground, put his hands over his knees, and hung his head between them. “I’m so sorry, Topaz, Em. We’re in this mess because of me.”

“Hey now, I know you’ve had a hard time, but things are looking up. We can search for your missing team member, and we can escort you back to your airship when everyone is ready to move,” Ruby said.

Topaz struggled up against Jaune again, but subsided when Em gave her a look. “We don’t have one. It crashed as soon as we got here,” Em said.

“In that case, we have more than enough room in our Manta. You can ride back with us when we finish our mission,” Ruby said.

“That would be lovely. My name is Emerald, by the way,” the Faunus woman said.

“Hey! Her name is Emerald too! You’re name twins!” Nora exclaimed, pointing at Emerald Sustrai.

Emerald from Vacuo smiled at the other Emerald. “I usually go by Em, so hopefully there isn’t much confusion.”

“Nah, we’ll work it out. I’m going to see if I can’t find a trail for the, uh, ‘missing’ guy,” Emerald said, and went back upstairs.

Ruby sat down next to Em and started warming her hands on the fire. “It sure is cold up here.”

“Too cold,” Em agreed. “Silly me, I was so excited to see Solitas, I didn’t think to take my trait into account.”

“Trait?” Ruby asked.

“Her Faunus trait,” Blake said. “Like how I can see well in the dark and have excellent hearing.” She waggled her ears to demonstrate.

“Ohhhh. So what cool stuff can you do?” Ruby asked the Faunus woman brightly.

In response, Em shook her dark hair back and flared her hood. Her neck extended and flattened outward, showcasing an eye-like pattern on either side of her head. She quickly retracted it again, shivering. “It’s great for regulating my body temperature in the desert, and also great at accidentally dissipating body heat in the cold.”

“That’s rough,” Ruby said, commiserating. “But pretty! Um. What does the other guy look like? So, you know, we can I.D. him if necessary.”

“He was on the shorter side, pencil mustache, dark hair, wire-rimmed glasses, slight build. Long rifle for a weapon,” Topaz rasped. “Don’t know what got him, I had my hands full.”

Em sighed. “I wish I had been able to help in the fight. My head was so fuzzy, and I had no energy. Even though I knew we were in trouble, it was a struggle just to sit up. I managed to get the Sabyr that attacked Topaz with Snake’s Bite.” she tapped the whip coiled at her side. “Ted never even screamed or called out. He was always a quiet guy.”

“This is my fault. I need to be the one to go find him,” Jett said.

“You’re staying here, Jett. We’ll handle it. Are you aware that when I got to you there was about six inches of Manticore horn sticking out of your back? It was in the process of dissolving, but I’m very surprised it didn’t rupture anything major,” Jaune said.

“I remember something hitting me in the back, but that was it. It’s all a blur now,” Jett said, frowning. He reached a hand around his shoulder to finger the wound in his back, and winced.

“We’re fresh, and we have a lot of combat experience in this environment,” Ren assured the other man. “If anyone can find your missing teammate, we can.”

“About that,” Ruby said. “I think we need to talk teams, moving forward. We can’t just leave these people here.”

“You’re right, and I’ve been thinking about it,” Jaune said. “We’ll need to split up. Ciel and the Paladin should stay here. She’s going to want to run some repairs if she can anyway, and I don’t think she’ll be able to fit where we’re going. If we need her for muscle, we can always call her in.”

“Ok.” Ruby said. “I also think Ren should stay here, as he can help mask everyone, keep them from getting attacked again.”

“That was going to be my next point. I should stay as well, especially if we find Ted and he’s in need of my semblance.”

“Right. Should we leave a fourth?” Ruby asked.

“If we have Ren, I think we’re ok. And Ciel is still going to be extremely lethal with that Paladin, even with her cannon down. You can take everyone else deeper into the city. Sound good?” Jaune asked.

“Sounds good. I’ll let everyone know.” Ruby got up to gather her teammates.

Nora looked at Ren. “You be careful, mister. Keep these people in line, and safe.”

“I certainly will,” Ren replied. He kissed her, and then she, Blake, and Yang followed Ruby outside.

Weiss looked at Jaune as the others left. “Same to you. Keep these people alive. We’ll get what we came for and be back before you know it.”

“I know you will,” Jaune said with confidence, looking at her with warmth. He kissed her then, and let it linger until Ruby called. “You better go. Love you.”

Upstairs, Emerald had been observing the bloodstained floor. The pattern was weird, and it bugged her. It was almost like the missing Huntsman had been stabbed, and then vanished. There was a large pool of blood in the middle of the floor, but none leading to any of the exits. It was like he had been hurt and then just vanished. She looked at the ceiling, and there was a large, jagged hole in the middle of it, open to the sky. But no blood that she could see. She was about to leap up to it and pull herself through when Ruby called from outside. She shrugged. A mystery for later.

Outside, Ciel was methodically dismantling the mostly destroyed cannon on her mech’s right arm. Pieces, most damaged and very few undamaged, were spread out around her in neat lines. Ruby expected that she would have been angry at the damage done to her machine, and while Ciel was frowning with intense concentration, she had sounded almost cheerful when Ruby asked her to stay and guard the wounded.

“That will give me time to work. Good. I underestimated the Megoliath. Most creatures wouldn’t be able to withstand a barrage of 30mm rounds directly to their internal organs, but that grimm did. Good data for the future. I won’t make that mistake again.” She spun a ratchet as she talked, hands covered in hydraulic oil.

“Glad you’re taking it well. Your close-range communications beacon still working?”

“Affirmative. I will check on you every thirty minutes. Please be near to your scrolls.”

“We will.” Ruby left Ciel to her work and rounded up the rest of her team. “Emerald! We’re heading out. You’re with me.”

Emerald’s head appeared from the second-story window, and then she neatly dropped over the sill and to the ground. She sauntered over as Yang, Blake, Weiss, Nora, and Oscar all gathered around Ruby.

“Right. Jaune, Ren, and Ciel are staying put to watch after Team JETT. We’re moving on. Ciel is going to send a check every thirty minutes to our scrolls. We also need to keep an eye out for the missing member of their team. Even if it’s just to confirm a K.I.A., I’m sure they’d appreciate closure.”

Oscar, who had been intense and quiet for the duration of the mission so far, just nodded once, curtly. Nora gave Ruby a jaunty salute, and the rest affirmed their understanding out loud. As the party traveled deeper into the ruins of the city, grimm shrieked and bellowed. Without Ren to mask them, fights were going to be inevitable. Ruby just smiled. Hunting grimm was what she was born to do. They’d get to the command center and get what they came for, and woe betide whatever tried to stop them.