RWBY & All associated trademarks are property of Rooster Teeth (RIP Monty Oum)
I claim no ownership of anything except my own original characters.
I am making no money from this.
This story exists in the same universe as my ongoing story "The Downward Spiral" certain OCs and deviations from canon found in that story will carry over; also as this story is set ten years after Vol.1 and considering that The Downward Spiral is still ongoing I would highly recommend reading that story first or avoiding this one altogether if you don't want to know who has plot armour and who well….doesn't.
Our Happy Ever After
It had been ten years since she had been accepted into Beacon, a child prodigy who had gone on to become a living legend across the four Kingdoms. She like her team-mates and friends had been forged in the greatest baptism of fire seen on Remnant for generations, the war against Salem. Those that remained after the fighting was over had been left with the seemingly herculean task of rebuilding the world but they had persevered and now, years later there was was more than a passing semblance of normality as order imposed itself once again. She had shed blood sweat and tears for the cause and had grieved for close friends but despite it all Ruby was happy and content with her life, or more accurately she would be if someone wasn't intent on interrupting her sleep.
"Oum damn-it" she grumbled as she felt someone gently shaking her shoulder, dragging her reluctantly into the waking world
"Ruby, Ruby we need to get up" rubbing her eyes and rolling over to face the source of the noise she was greeted with a pair of deep green eyes set in a pale face dusted with freckles and framed by shoulder length coppery hair; after ten years together Penny Polendina was still as beautiful to Ruby as when she had first met her
"Fine" she gave a dramatic sigh as she rolled out of bed and stretched "Have we got time for a shower together or?…." letting the question hang in the air, Penny shook her head as she slipped out of the thin pale green nightgown she wore to bed
"I just received word from Freelancer 'Black-Katt' we need to be combat ready ASAP" this caused a somewhat feral grin to spread across Ruby's face, without the threat of the destruction of entire civilisations hanging overhead hunting Grimm was merely an adrenaline rush that she was getting paid for, it was like exterminating Beowolves on Patch when she was fourteen but better
"Then let's go" she pulled the black T-shirt emblazoned with the words 'My Waifu has Wi-Fi' that had been a gift from Yang over her head and cast it aside; Ruby gave Penny a wink as she caught sight of the blush that crept across her cheeks. The years had been more than kind to Ruby Rose, she was now taller than Penny standing at a more respectable five foot six boasting a figure that rivalled that of her sister and a lithe yet muscular physique the small collection of scars adorning her pale skin only served to make her appear more dangerous, a stalwart and hardened defender against the Grimm. Another notable change from her childhood self was that Ruby Rose loved tattoos, several adorned her body from Penny's emblem on the inside of her right wrist which she had acquired as a grief stricken sixteen year old to the names of fallen friends written in looping cursive upon her upper left arm, the Rose family emblem which she had inherited from her mother taking up most of her back, the word 'Reaper' in a Gothic font along her collarbones which she had acquired after her induction in the Atlesian Freelancers and a single rose whose stem made its' way up her left leg to bloom on her upper thigh. Ruby Rose was someone that most would be Hunters idolised, aspired to and in most cases had harboured a crush on at some point.
"So what are we looking at?" she asked as she prepared her combat gear for the excursion "If we're getting woken up at five in the morning it had better be good, Penny who was doing the same paused for a moment
"Old military outpost in the frozen wastes, reports say it's been turned into a shanty town filled with old residents of Eisenstadt Siebte" Ruby nodded as she fastened her cape, Eisenstadt Siebte, the smallest of the hive cities built into the giant mountains of Atlas was of the least tactical and financial importance and had also been the site of a large White Fang stronghold during the war, as such the Atlesian council had been less than generous in their efforts to rebuild it to its' former glory following the war, there were always other priorities
"And because they live outside of Atlas and don't pay taxes to the Kingdom…." Ruby sighed, an irritated edge to her voice
"The Hunter Corps won't be sent….Spec-Ops maybe if it's as big of a job as Katt thinks it is, but we should be the first on site" Penny finished. Ruby turned to face her lover and partner
"Sensational"
Penny's personal fighter, The Pearl prowled through the gloom of the pre-dawn Atlesian sky silently, it had been based upon a Bull-Head originally but Professor Polendina had refitted the craft with with an insane amount of enhanced and additional features that Ruby and Penny had then further added to over the years resulting in something that truly defied all classifications. Ruby sat in the passenger compartment situated at the rear of the fighter rechecking Crescent Rose. Her combat attire still retained the spirit of her original outfit, black knee height armoured boots with armour plating around the shin, heel and toe, black combat skirt with red accents showing of an amount of leg that her father had long since given up trying to chastise her for and matching corset, grey sleeves could be seen under the light armour plating fastened over her shoulders which years of use had stripped most of the original black paint from, fingerless crimson gloves extended to her elbows with reinforced plating across the knuckles and backs of her hands for those times when she found herself unarmed and needed to simply bludgeon a Grimm to death; ammunition adorned the twin belts she wore crossed over her hips, the bandolier slung over her left shoulder and an emergency supply of high explosive rounds was strapped to her right thigh, a single sword from Penny's original body was sheathed at her waist. Her signature red cape, tattered and torn after over a decade of being worn on battlefields was fastened with a single stylized rose shaped pin, she wore a matching scarf with it now, usually pulled up to cover the lower half of her face, combined with her hood most people agreed it gave her a menacing appearance and were left dumbfounded upon finding out she wore it to prevent herself from swallowing bugs when moving at the speed of sound. Her hair had been allowed to grow out, flowing down her back and occasionally obscuring her eyes.
"Unknown entity detected, they appear to be moving to intercept" P.E.A.R.L, the AI after whom the craft was named informed them in her computerised yet distinctly feminine voice
"Grimm?" Penny asked as she turned back from the pilots' seat, Ruby glowered and focused her silver irises glowing as if lit from behind as she tapped into her powers utilising them in a way she hadn't learned until after the war, reaching out and searching for any unseen Grimm in the vicinity
"No"
"P.E.A.R.L, switch to autopilot and try to get an ID on them" Penny instructed as she rose from her seat and stepped into the passenger compartment. Her own combat attire had changed drastically, form fitting urban camouflage fatigues with matte black carapace like armour worn over it covering her chest and forearms, the twin blade pistols she had carried since her first body had been destroyed in the battle of vale hung from holsters on her hips
"Thermal imaging detects one airborne either human or Faunus" the AI informed them after a moment "Whatever vehicle they are using to follow us is proving impossible to target, no attempts to open a communications channel have been acknowledged"
"Shall we drop the rear hatch and say hello?" Penny asked, fingers brushing against the triggers of her weapons
"Nope" Ruby grinned, popping the P as she pulled her scarf over her face and switched Crescent Rose to its' sniper rifle form "If we open the hatch in the dark they'll get a couple of seconds to react when they see our lights, I've got an idea" rose petals materialised from seemingly nowhere around Ruby as she triggered her Semblance, floating in the air rather than falling as her entire form became blurry and indistinct, this was a technique she had learned from an older Huntsman gifted with speed like hers back at Beacon and had become as synonymous with Ruby Rose as her speed and her scythe, her ability to phase through solid objects. Time slowed to a crawl in Ruby's perceptions as she leapt forward her body tingling slightly as it passed unhindered through the hull of the craft, she landed in a crouch on the left wing and grabbed tight before scanning the darkness behind them; she instantly saw what was following them, there amidst the snowflakes that Ruby could make out individually in this state trailing behind them and just above while riding a glowing white and translucent summoned Nevermore; was Weiss Slate, formerly Schnee. Wordlessly, but with a grin stretching from ear to ear the younger Huntress phased back into the interior of the Pearl and pressed the button that opened the rear hatch, seeing Penny's questioning look and raised eyebrow she simply nodded to the sky outside
"Watch this" as if on cue Weiss and her conjured steed dropped into view in a burst of speed as it closed the distance, shattering into countless iridescent particles before it could collide with the rear of the Bull-Head Weiss strode across a platform of glyphs that filled the remainder of the gap. Ruby watched the display struggling to think of a witty answer to Weiss's casual mastery of her Semblance eventually settling for one of her sister's old catchphrases
"So….that was a thing"
"Indeed it was" Weiss agreed as the hatch closed behind her and she brushed the snow from the fur lined collar of her jacket, her attire was a mix of Atlesian military uniform and business suit which fit her well considering her dual roles as the head of research and development at the Schnee Dust Company and an advisor to the military, Myrtenaster hanging from her hip. Besides the even greater air of authority she carried herself with Weiss looked much as she always had, the same off-centre ponytail, same sapphire blue eyes highlighted by the scar marring her otherwise porcelain like skin and just as short, which Ruby almost always took to teasing her about.
"Okay so what's going on?" Ruby asked looking from Weiss to Penny as she pulled her scarf down "Penny why don't you look surprised to see Weiss?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about" the copper-haired android quickly looked away
"Why the 'frosty' reception?" Weiss asked with a grin, Ruby slapped her palm against her forehead
"Please Weiss no, the puns are bad enough when Yang does them….just stop" the former heiress gave a huff of annoyance that quickly gave way to a smile
"Can't I come on a hunt with my old partner?" she asked "The current projects in the labs are practically running themselves and I don't have any meetings today thank Oum"
"Of course you can, I'm just not sure how you knew about the mission we're on?" her eyes narrowed in suspicion, she trusted her old partner implicitly yet something seemed off; Weiss gave a sheepish grin
"I was at a military base yesterday for a conference on the new upgraded shielding systems we'll be implementing on our capital ships as of next year, snow grounded my flight home. You showed up on their surveillance when you took off, I heard some of the pilots complaining about Freelancers having better equipment and figured it was probably you so I followed" Ruby looked at the smile plastered across Weiss's face and knew without a doubt she was lying, the Pearl didn't show up on anybodies surveillance any more, but she decided to let it go for now
"Approaching Lagerfeuer Outpost. Warning, Grimm incursion currently under way" P.E.A.R.L informed the trio
"So silver eyes and aerial bombardment?" Weiss asked, Ruby gave a snort as she looked at the readings herself, Grimm couldn't be detected directly, but by checking the thermal signatures on the ground it was obvious that the defenders of the outpost-cum-settlement were fighting something, no electronic signatures precluded any rogue factions with access to Atlesian mechanised forces and any Grimm that didn't register on a seismograph was considered small fry as far as Ruby was concerned
"For this? Nah….they woke me up. Vengeance will be swift and painful" Weiss and Penny both chuckled, the rear hatch opening as the Pearl passed over the battlefield
"Oh and Ruby" Weiss got her attention "Happy birthday"
Saying Neon Katt was different now would be considered the understatement of the year. Those that remembered the brightly coloured and hyperactive Faunus that she used to be could point to three distinct moments that changed her, the first was the death of Perdu Callow known to almost everyone by his nickname of 'Squish' the reptilian Faunus a year above her and student at Beacon had been impaled by a Goliath in the battle of Vale. The second had been the entirety of the White Fangs' siege of lower Atlas, the horrors Adam's followers had wrought and the subsequent insanity had etched itself into the minds of all who suffered through it. The third was finding out that the warship her parents served aboard had been destroyed. Neon had been born into a military family and always wanted to avoid going down that path and she had succeeded, she was living her childhood dream of being one of the Atlesian Freelancers, Hunters not contracted by the council and free to help when and where they saw fit. Considering that the council had been and still was populated with rich humans with no regard for lives they couldn't make a profit from Neon had wanted to help those in need that the people in charge forgot about. Now she did, but there was a cold, ruthless and somewhat excessive edge to her that unnerved people around her.
"Pull back to the walls and take firing positions! Get that artillery working!" she ordered the ragtag militia that defended the settlement, in her opinion the men and women alongside her had more bullets than braincells and were currently running low on ammo
"You're gonna die out here on your own!" one of the defenders called back to her, taking his eyes off of the swarm of Grimm approaching for long enough for a Beowolf to pounce; Neon leapt forwards, shoulder mounted thrusters in her armour replacing her old skates propelling her forwards fast enough to catch the monster by its' throat and hurl in back into the oncoming tide, using her momentum to fuel her Semblance she planted her feet on the ground and launched a wide arc of shimmering rainbow coloured light forwards at chest height from her hand severing the bodies of over a hundred Grimm in a single attack
"Holy Oum" the man gasped as he pulled himself back to his feet and stared at the black clad warrior in front of him "The governor said one Freelancer is basically an army but I didn't believe it"
"There are more coming, get back to the walls. Tell the others that the red reaper will be here" he nodded with his mouth hanging agape at the news before running to the walls and screaming to the other militia members to do the same. Knowing her Semblance needed to be recharged after that attack Neon cracked her neck before deciding how best to deal with the oncoming Grimm. The armour she wore as a freelancer was a vast departure from her combat attire as a student and was the antithesis of the pristine whites of Atlesian military, all black and form fitting, thick stab proof fibre with glossy armour plating laid over it, her entire face was hidden by a featureless angular mask with a darkened visor the interior of which was fitted with an HUD linked to the considerable amount of weapons the Faunus carried with as well as displaying her Aura levels and other vitals; the only acknowledgements of her old self came in the form of the dyed streak in her tied back auburn hair and the smiley face and rainbow painted onto the backs of her left and right gauntlet respectively.
"Come get some" she hissed before springing into action, the thrusters arching over her shoulder-blades pushing her forwards faster than even her own Aura-fuelled muscles would allow she leapt into the air while reaching over her shoulder, simultaneously stamping down on the head of an oncoming Ursa with enough force to send the Grimm crashing into the snow and drawing one of her collapsed weapons, the mini-gun ripped through the horde with ease. Any that made it past her were cut down by the wall mounted defences of the settlement. Discarding her mini-gun as it ran out of ammunition she immediately withdrew a pair of machine pistols and opened fire while weaving between Grimm, the sheer volume of them confirming that her suspicions had been correct and calling in backup had been warranted. Throwing the latest weapons to run out of ammo aside her elbow connected with a snout as she withdrew a combat knife from her waist and left a trail of dissolving Grimm matter behind her as she hacked and slashed her way through them. Eventually the inevitable happened and she was taken to the floor by an Ursa tackling her from behind, a low growl escaped her lips as she braced herself and pushed her thrusters to their limits, the Grimm that had pinned her being consumed in flames before a warning flickered across her HUD reading 'Thrusters disabled'
"Fuck!" she spat before triggering one of her contingencies "Where are the fuck are they?" she demanded to the cold darkness as every flat surface of her armour slid to the side revealing rows of explosives which were fired outwards lighting the area with countless small explosions that sent shrapnel ripping through Grimm flesh. Reaching to her waist Neon drew her nunchaku and faced down the remaining Grimm. A Beowolf lunged, it died before it reached her, colliding with a glowing pure white glyph that formed between them before a bolt of glowing green plasma splattered its' skull across the surface of said glyph. Looking up Neon saw a heavily modified Bull-Head fly overhead, Weiss and Penny leaping from its' rear hatch. The copper haired android was a stunningly graceful killing machine, her weapons shifting between their plasma pistol and sword forms as she carved a swathe through the Grimm
"Salutations!" she called over with a wave as she caught sight of Neon. Weiss was living artillery, the armour of a Mantle Sentinel stylised to resemble an ancient knight surrounding her as she used her summoned construct as a shield while launching Glyphs into the Grimm like buzz-saws then adding insult to injury by using those same Glyphs as spawning points from which to summon her own Grimm, much larger and monstrous varieties than the ones they were currently facing, the small Huntress barely even needed to use Myrtenaster any-more.
"Hey Neon" the Faunus was snapped from her stunned daze by the sound of Ruby appearing seemingly from nowhere behind her, bisecting a Grimm vertically as it tried to pounce, before she could reply Ruby had sped into the rapidly thinning horde of Grimm and began tearing through them with her scythe so fast that Neon had to remove her mask due its' utter inability to track the caped Huntress resulting in several error messages flashing across its' display.
"If I wanted fashionably late I'd have called Adel" she noted dryly
"Next time you want help at a ridiculous time in the morning try and let us know the night before" Ruby countered as she slashed through the legs of a Beowulf sending it toppling into the path of one of Penny's shots before phasing through an oncoming Ursa and tearing through something vital within it, the beast collapsed to the floor fading away
"That's the last of 'em" Weiss gasped as she hunched over trying to catch her breath
"Not even close" the trio of newcomers looked at Neon confused, she rolled her eyes "You think I called for backup because of Ursa and Beowolves? Come on bring your Bull-Head back around, we're going for some unpaid overtime"
"You're sure?" Weiss asked as Neon pointed to a location on the holographic map
"I'm sure it's a spawning pit, most likely a small one recently formed" her tail swished from side to side nervously as she spoke "The sheer amount of Grimm attracted to such a small settlement, no variety in the species and how dumb those Grimm were; even Beowolves have the sense not to run into wall-mounted artillery like that unless they're freshly spawned"
"Agreed but what I meant was are you sure it's here" Weiss amended "I don't want to call in a Spec-Ops strike unless-"
"Whoa, whoa whoa" Neon cut her off before turning to Ruby and Penny "I don't know why you brought her along but one of you needs to explain to her that this is a Freelance job, Spec-Ops can keep their mitts off"
"She's right Weiss" Ruby sighed, loathe to side against one of her oldest friends "Besides we've got the artillery for the job, haven't we P.E.A.R.L?"
"Affirmative, primary weapon is charged and set for sustained discharge rather than rapid fire" the AI answered
"Okay fine" she relented "But if needs be I can have the Gespenst inbound for additional fire power within minutes"
"So how are we doing this then?" Neon asked turning her attention to her fellow Freelancers "Air assault on the pit itself and then drop down?"
"That won't be necessary" Penny smiled brightly
"We have our own way of dealing with big targets….and it's really, really cool" Ruby added with a mischievous grin
"This is why I don't do jobs with you two, you're way too happy" the Faunus sighed
"You were pretty outgoing and energetic once yourself Neon, I remember having to face you in the tournament" Weiss noted, there was a moment of deathly silence in the Bull-Head
"That was a lifetime ago Weiss, I'm not that person" Ruby placed a hand on her armour plated shoulder
"Hey, he'd want you to be happy y'know?" there was no need to specify who Ruby meant, Neon knew they were friends and that his name was one the many she had tattooed on her body; placing her mask over her face once again to hide any emotion that may creep into her expression, she didn't want their pity
"Maybe" she admitted tonelessly "But he's not here" awkward silence reigned for a few moments before P.E.A.R.L spoke up
"Approaching target area, initiating stealth capabilities" the rear hatch opened and Neon saw that the sun had finally risen and the snowfall had slowed somewhat, casting everything in the drab monochrome shades typical of the Kingdom
"Neon, what do your Faunus eyes see?" Ruby asked with a grin
"A happy-go lucky idiot who thinks she's her sister" came the instant reply, a few moments later her eyes narrowed behind her mask "There, at the base of those two mountains"
"P.E.A.R.L bring us overhead and hover" Penny instructed
"Confirmed" the four huntresses saw it, a pool of liquid darkness that had coalesced between the base of towers of snow coated rock barely big enough to be considered mountains by Atlesian standards, bubbling as it spat forth the occasional Grim; spawning pits were always tricky to find out in the Atlesian wastelands due to the lack of foliage and wildlife, everywhere else the miasma of death that reached out from such a place was an easily identifiable sign
"Weiss I need a mobile platform" Ruby's tone instantly became serious, memories of her first time dealing with a spawning pit in Mistral resurfacing, then again she thought as she looked over to Penny, that day wasn't all bad
"Ready when you are" Weiss had created a glyph for Ruby to perch on and used Myrtenaster to direct it like a maestro. The sword being used for delicate work more than combat these days, Penny stopped Ruby before she stepped onto the glyph and planted a soft kiss on her lips
"Be careful" Ruby returned to kiss and smiled
"We've done this before"
"I know" Penny admitted "But well, I'm still more durable than you"
"No one is dying today, you pair of dolts" Weiss sighed. Penny readied her weapons in case of emergency before addressing the AI
"P.E.A.R.L fire at will"
"Confirmed" with that the primary weapon deployed and fired, a photon accelerator much like the one Penny had been equipped with in her first iteration, albeit of a much greater scale; the entire area was cast in an eerie green light as the weapon discharged and struck the centre of the spawning pit with a sustained beam of light
"And now the fun part" Neon noted, when a spawning pit was destroyed it vomited forth some truly monstrous specimens, in warmer climates towering dinosaur Grimm capable of breathing fire and levelling entire cities had been documented
"Ruby has it covered" Penny answered, clearly tense. Standing on top of Weiss's glyph Ruby's eyes began to glow before blazing white light burst forth from them, her entire body glowed, lit by some unidentifiable source as the power of the silver eyed warriors coursed through her. Grimm began to pour forth from the pit in terrifying numbers and Neon could have sworn she saw the younger Huntress smirk; holding her scythe in her left hand she extended her right hand outwards toward the liquid darkness below, a pulse of silver light that seemed to distort reality itself burst from her hand expanding outwards as it rushed towards the ground; any Grimm caught in its' path were left imobilised
"Well I can think of a few times that would have been useful" Neon joked in an attempt to hide her amazement at the sheer jaw dropping power Ruby possessed, she'd heard the war stories, everyone had; but she'd never seen her in action like this before
"Switch to secondary weapons and destroy all targets" Penny ordered
"Confirmed" came the expected response from .R.L and moments later the ground was raked and blasted by missiles and gunfire
"Well that looks like job done!" Ruby called to Weiss who prepared to pull the glyph her old partner was balancing on back to the Bull-Head
"Seismic activity detected" the surface of the pit rippled and rose in its entirety before shaping itself and forming a behemoth of a Grimm, reaching to over a third of the height of the mountains around it its' gargantuan frame supported by eight legs that ended in feet that could crush houses, its' colossal head sporting three pairs of tusks and a trunk extending from its' bone mask resembling a spine, bone spikes each larger than a person jutted from the individual segments of the trunk, its' entire back was covered in overlapping armour plates revealing very few weak points. The Grimm threw its' head back and roared its' defiance
"What on Remnant is that?"
"P.E.A.R.L?" Penny demanded
"Unknown, target does not conform to any known species of Grimm. Logging for identification purposes"
"Whatever it is it's dead!" Neon snarled as she withdrew one of her 'last resort' weapons, a grenade containing an unstable mixture of Fire and Gravity Dust; when it connected with the towering Grimm the explosion shook the surroundings, melting snow that had settled and accumulated for years. The Grimm remained standing
"Shoot the damn thing!" the Faunus demanded furiously
"The photon cannon needs to recharge" Penny's worried expression stopped her tirade before it could start
"Weiss hold this platform steady!" Ruby called over as she shifted Crescent Rose to its' rifle form and pulled the magazine out hastily searching through her various ammunition
"Ruby you can't stay out there!" Weiss cried
"Just hold it steady" Ruby grit her teeth and crouched as she loaded a magazine containing a single round of her own invention before triggering her Semblance. Time slowed to the point of stopping as Ruby pushed herself to the limits' of her speed without moving and lined up the shot. Releasing her Semblance she watched the monster scream in pain as the round pierced its' eye; moments crawled by as Ruby waited for a sign that her weapon had worked, then it happened, a series of explosions lit the Grimm from the inside as a swarm of Polendina Tech Nano-bots swarmed through its' body, each of them carrying unstable Dust molecules. The Grimms' exterior was well armoured but its' interior was defenceless against the countless detonations. Ruby felt her platform begin to move as Weiss pulled her back on board the Pearl
"Dolt, don't worry me like that again. Only you could go up against an unclassified Grimm with an untested weapon and no support and come out on top, I swear-"
"Unclassified?" Ruby grinned "You mean I got to be one of the first people to see a new species of Grimm, then blow it up? BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!" her gleeful exclamation earned her a rare but genuine laugh from Neon, a flick on the forehead from Weiss and Penny pulling her into a crushing hug
"Well, that's the job done" Neon sighed as she pulled a small canister of Dust from one of her seemingly infinite hidden compartments and loaded it into the thrusters mounted on her back "I'm out; somebody has to keep an eye on the outpost, besides I left most of my favourite weapons in the snow back there"
"Are you sure you don't-" Ruby didn't get to finish before the Faunus leapt from the back of the Bull-Head, her Thrusters while not allowing her to fly turned an otherwise fatal fall into a carefree glide
"I worry about her" Ruby admitted
"Everyone does" Penny concurred, it was an open secret in the Freelancer community that Neon needed help but wouldn't accept it.
"So not to sound rude" Weiss began she and Penny shared a look and Ruby was reminded of her old partners' earlier obvious lie "But would you be able to give me a ride back to the manor? I know it's a long flight back to the capital but I don't know if I could summon a Nevermore for that long"
"No problem, hey who's looking after Arctus? I've got to tell him that his Auntie Ruby just found a new species of Grimm and blew it up" Penny chuckled at her long time girlfriends' antics before taking the pilots' seat and switching to manual controls.
The three of them stepped off of the Bull-Head, having multiple private landing pads installed at the Manor was one of the first things Weiss's brother Whitley had done when taking over the Schnee Dust Company, another of his early executive decisions had been to offer both of his sisters jobs within the company in flagrant disregard to their fathers' wishes; only Weiss had accepted but no one could hold Winter's decision against her considering she was now the General of the Atlesian military having succeeded Ironwood. The gigantic double doors opened as Weiss approached, Ruby and Penny behind her
"Welcome home little snowflake" Klein bowed slightly as she entered, the portly and now greying as well as balding man had been offered retirement with a pension most people could only dream of by Whitley yet continued to serve the family diligently "Ah young Miss Rose, Miss Polendina….I eagerly await the day I can greet you both with the same last name"
"Klein!" Weiss's hand shot to her mouth as Ruby flushed scarlet and Penny chewed her lip nervously
"My apologies Missus Slate" the old man gave a devilish grin and a wink "My tongue outruns my mind, these things happen when you reach my age. Arctus is in the sitting room, your brother is back from the office already"
"Thank you Klein" Weiss lead her two guests through the Manor which had seen great changes over the years, gone was the frankly ridiculous King-Taijitu statue but the most noticeable and heart-warming change was that the portraits on the walls displayed a family that actually looked happy
"Ruby please promise me you don't have multiple supplies of cookies hidden on your person to sneak into Arctus's possession when I'm not looking, Ruby squirmed under her old partners' stare
"Nope, negative, negatory, no idea what could possibly give you that idea" Penny stifled a chuckle, before Weiss opened the door, Ruby stepped into the room
"SURPRISE!"
"Wait what?" Ruby gazed around the room and saw the banner emblazoned with the words 'Happy Birthday Ruby'
"Oh my Oum you knew didn't you?" she turned to Penny and Weiss "You guys are awesome!" she pulled the pair of them into a tight embrace before pressing her lips firmly against Penny's
"Eww!" a child's voice called out
"I agree" an older voiced chuckled, Ruby shot into the room to see who had spoken
"Dad!" she pulled her father into a hug, the man looked much the same as always albeit with a few more wrinkles and the occasional grey hair, casting her eyes around the room she saw Whitley who had grown to an impressive height of six foot six and sported a full beard upon his angular face, he and Ruby had become surprisingly good friends since Ruby had first come to Atlas during the war against Salem. Standing next to him was Gangrel Slate; the six foot eight Bear-Faunus and Weiss's husband clad in his Spec-Ops uniform and stroking behind the ears of an overexcited mastiff puppy, he had grown from the ex-White Fang member that grew up in care with Blake and whose team had taken Team RWBY under their collective wing at Beacon to Winter Schnee's right hand for sensitive operations alongside Matte Skye, his snout like face wearing a toothy grin that was inviting despite his intimidating stature, the horrific horizontal scar under his left eye and the cybernetic left arm tipped with sharpened claws that glinted in the light
"Hey sis" Ruby turned to see the other half of Team RWBY, Yang and Blake Xiao Long. Their wedding was the happiest Ruby had ever seen her sister. The two looked much the same as ever though Yang had bags under her eyes that only teaching could produce and seemed to be in even better shape, refusing to let her battle hardened body and sculpted muscles lose their definition. The weapon system slung over the blondes' shoulder intended to interface with her prosthetic appeared to have been upgraded once again, seeming to be collapsible rail-gun painted to gold to match the gauntlet on her left arm. Blake still wore the right half of Ember Celica as she had for years, currently it sat in its dormant form over the sleeve of a lavender sweatshirt adorned with a smiling cat face and the words 'Stay Paw-sitive'
"Auntie Ruby! Auntie Ruby! Happy birthday!" Ruby looked down
"Oh my Oum look at how big you've all gotten!" the caped Huntress dropped to her knees and pulled the trio of children into a group hug. Arctus Slate was Weiss and Gangrels' six year old son, an 'oops' baby conceived not long after the end of the conflict, nicknamed the little Polar Bear by both Klein and Gangrel's father Bjorn who had retired after years of thankless manual work and was now one of the leading figures in 'The Coalition' the peaceful activist group whose members had made contributions in the siege of Atlas that could not be overstated, they had taken up the legacy of what the White Fang had originally stood for and made changes for the better in the Kingdom. Arctus was his father in miniature but with the alabaster skin, pure white hair and blue eyes of the Schnee family. The other two children were Blake and Yang's adopted son and daughter, they had taken the pair in after deciding that Yang had lost two mothers in her life and Blake had never known her family, if they could stop a single child from having to go through that then they would. They had stopped two, two years ago they had taken the pair from an orphanage, a dark haired grey eyed five year old girl named Corvid and a four year old lion Faunus boy whose name the authorities had never learned; all that was known was that he went wherever Corvid went and that was not debatable. Blake and Yang had taken both and named him Felix in honour of a childhood friend of Blake's who was murdered by Adam Taurus. Corvid now seven wore a frilly white and red dress and beamed up at Ruby with a smile that displayed her missing front teeth
"Get off" Felix now six complained, though his tail swishing gave away how excited he really was to see his favourite Aunt, Ruby ruffled the unruly mane of dirty blonde hair that adorned his head, Felix was a tough kid who needed a lot love to make up for whatever circumstances had led to his placement in the system, thankfully Yang and Blake had an endless supply to give.
"So who are we waiting for?" Weiss asked casting her eyes around the room before leaning down to fuss over the chunky and slobbering puppy as it bounded over to her, both she and Gangrel were dog people and the only reason it had taken them so long to get a puppy of their own was their inability to decide on a breed, an argument settled when Arctus had brought home a stray that had somehow wandered into Upper Atlas
"Sun can't make it, Amethyst is ill" Taiyang informed her, the blonde Faunus who had trained as his apprentice after Team SSSN had disbanded had gone on to become a great friend of the Xiao Long family
"Aww that's a shame" Ruby noted, she'd only met Sun and Miltia Wukong's four year old daughter once
"I know that Coco and Velvet can't come either, they're part of the expeditionary force Vale is sending to see if reclaiming part of Menagerie is possible" Gangrel's deep and gravelly voice informed them
"And how do you know that?" Blake asked with a raised eyebrow "New Vale are running that expedition covertly" her position as a key member of the coalition made her privy to certain information regarding the Faunus homeland
"I'm Spec-Ops, naturally I have eyes and ears everywhere….which is why Arctus is lucky he isn't grounded forever, I find out everything son" the towering Faunus turned to his child
"I just wanted to see if it still worked, someone should do that or it'll just get rusty" the six year old attempted to defend himself
"He found where Gangrel keeps breaker. Luckily it wasn't loaded" Weiss informed Ruby
"Oh" the younger Huntress said simply, Breaker had been the rifle Perdu 'Squish' Callow had used prior to his death, the same man Neon had spent a decade mourning had been Gangrel's partner on Team GRAP the Bear-Faunus hadn't used the weapon he had inherited since the war
"Can't even be mad at it, just really panicked" Gangrel sighed "Speaking of people who can't be here; shall we show her?"
"Show me what?"
"This" Yang grinned "Whitley kill the lights" he did so and the blonde reached for a remote and turned on the television which had been on standby mode
"They knew we'd see you so they sent us this" Blake explained "We haven't seen it yet either but we can guess what it is" the DVD Started, the screen showed two people that Ruby knew well
"Hey Ruby, I would call this your Birthday present but honestly this is just me proving that you don't get to have 'all' the fun" Nora Ren, formerly known as Nora Valkyrie exclaimed, Ren who stood behind her couldn't help but grinning before adding
"Happy birthday Ruby" Ruby wondered when her old friend had started wearing reading glasses and tying his hair back again, revealing the prominent scar from his left temple down to his jaw where a Nevermore had gotten past his defences during the battle of Vale
"Yeah happy birthday" Nora grinned "But now on with the show. Welcome!" the camera panned and showed a pristine campus with architecture clearly inspired by its' predecessor "To the Halo Academy of New Vale"
"Oh my Oum, its' beautiful" Blake gasped
"It makes me want to go back to school" Ruby laughed "Hopefully it won't have a dragon land on it this time"
"You fought a Dragon Auntie Ruby?" Corvid asked, awestruck
"I fought a Dragon twice and won both times, the second time your Auntie Penny helped blow it up" Ruby bragged "Which reminds me, we found a whole new kind of Grimm today….blew that up as well, I'm calling it a Mammoth"
"Whoa" was the unanimous response of all three children
"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that….mainly so I don't have to deal with the paperwork that comes with Freelancers embarrassing us again, I have people for that now" Gangrel smirked, the rivalry between Spec-Ops and Freelance affiliated Hunters was well known in Atlas
"Dolt" Weiss laughed as she elbowed him playfully
"Shh" Yang pointed to the screen where Ren and Nora had reached the main entrance which was lined with sheets that were thrown over what Ruby supposed were statues
"And this" Ren announced, is one of the two big secrets we wanted to show off today
"Shall we tell her the other news first?" Nora asked eagerly
"No, we're here now it'd be rude to keep them waiting" with that he pulled the sheets off of three of the statues. The first statue on their left was Squish
"Arctus look at that, that's the uncle you never got to meet" Gangrel told his son, his own eyes fixed on the screen studying the monument to his old friend; the statue was equal parts gold and smoked glass in an attempt to appear as if the diminutive Faunus were using his Semblance of invisibility, Squish would have loved it.
"Oh my Oum its' them" Yang gasped wiping tears from her eyes at the sight of the first and second statues on the right. Jaune and Pyrrha, the golden hands of the statues reaching out to each other, both stood weapons at the ready, together forever in death as they should have been in life
"Mom are you crying?" Corvid asked as she looked at Blake who indeed had tears in her eyes, Felix simply walked over and hugged his mothers legs
"All the others are here too" Ren spoke finally after staring at the statue of his old friends for a few moments "Every Hunter to graduate Beacon who died in the war is honoured at Halo"
"That place looks awesome" Arctus gushed
"Glad you think so" his father chuckled ruffling his hair "Because that's where you'll be going one day"
"Gangrel you can't just tell a six year old boy he's going to be a Huntsman one day" Weiss gasped
"The kid's gotta have a dream" he grinned "And there's no way he's going to Atlas Academy, all they train there is jar-heads….trust me I have to work with 'em"
"I wanna be a Hunter too" Corvid exclaimed "But Mom and Mama won't help me build a weapon"
"Well that's just no fun is it" Ruby winked at the little girl "It won't be for a while but when I get chance to come to Patch for a few days I'll help you build something"
"Really? You guys hear that, Auntie Ruby is the coolest auntie ever!" Yang gave Ruby a wistful smile knowing that her baby sister would indeed help her niece build a weapon but with Ruby and Penny's hectic and almost nomadic lifestyle it would be so far in the future that she needn't worry about it
"Want me to play the DVD again?" Whitley asked having taken the remote and paused it while everyone was speaking
"Yes please" the home video continued, Nora wrapping her arms' around her husband and gave him what could only be described as 'puppy dog eyes'
"So can we tell them now?"
"Yes we can" Ren smiled
"Headmaster Goodwitch offered us jobs" Nora exclaimed to the camera
"Indeed" Ren kissed his wife on the top of the head "You're looking at the history teacher at Halo Academy when it opens this summer" he indicated to himself
"And the combat instructor" Nora deployed Magnhild, her smile taking on a somewhat manic edge
"Those kids are…." Gangrel trailed off, remembering that their were children present "In very deep trouble"
"Neptune is going to be working here as well, he's going to be a counsellor which is something that honestly shouldn't have taken this long for the academies to realise was a good idea" Ren told the camera "When he heard about the vacancy he and Scarlet decided to move over from Mistral, Neptune told me he has his own demons to deal with and most of them live in Vale" the adults in the rooms knew what he was talking about, Sage Ayana the fourth member of Team SSSN had met his end in the battle of Vale
"So come and visit some time" Nora chastised Ruby through the screen "Seriously can you and Penny stay put in one place longer than it takes you to kill every Grimm within twenty miles, which by the way you do insanely fast, like I know you're fast but that's-" Ruby giggled as she tuned out the hyperactive rambling, Nora it seemed would always be Nora
"So that was their present" Yang noted "Who else brought Ruby something? There's no time like the….present" the pun got a few groans and half-hearted chuckles before Felix tugged on her sleeve
"Mama, your jokes are really bad. Just stop" the comment got a mixture of genuine laughter and stunned gasps at the audacity of the boy
"So" Blake reached into a bag that she'd placed in the corner of the room, deciding to bail her son out "I saw Rover and Missy in Vale when I was there, they're both on call; New Vale needs as many Hunters active as possible in the run up to Halo's grand opening, that's probably what Scar's doing if Neptune is working at Halo. Anyway Rover had something for you" Rover and Artemis Tan, the other two members of Team GRAP; Rover being the only person Ruby had ever met faster than herself and the person who had taught her some of the more creative uses of her Semblance including the ability to phase through objects. Ruby took the package and unwrapped it
"What is it?" Corvid asked standing on her tip-toes trying to get a better look at the object. Ruby grinned and placed it against her face, the components of the mask slid into place around her head; glossy black with a stylized red skull embossed over the faceplate, pulling her hood up completed the look
"Awesome" Felix grinned
"Is that the look Hunters are going for now?" Tai laughed "I mean red and black was practically Team STRQs' unofficial dress-code but still…."
"This thing is cool" Ruby defended "It's actually got a HUD I can link to Crescent Rose that can keep up with my Semblance which saves counting shots, Rover must have built it himself"
"The other Freelancers do already call her the Red Reaper" Penny noted with a smile, Ruby removed the mask pocketing it as it collapsed
"We got you these" Blake handed over a pair of gifts from herself and Yang
"Thanks, you guys didn't have to get me any-"
"Yeah we did, we didn't see you last year because you were doing strafing runs across half of Mistral" Yang pointed out, Ruby unwrapped the presents
"Fantastic Grimm and how to kill them" Ruby read the cover of weighty leather bound tome in her hands "This is Professor Port's life work"
"You get mentioned by name more than once….I couldn't help reading a little" Blake admitted
"So does that mean we can skip homework and just ask Auntie Ruby instead?" Felix asked
"No fluffy it doesn't, but nice try" Yang laughed as she ruffled her sons hair calling him by the nickname the family had for him. Ruby opened the second gift revealing a hardback special edition anthology of a manga that was one of her guilty pleasures
"We didn't get you anything flashy" Weiss admitted, handing over an ID card with Ruby's face on it
"What is this?" she asked
"Access to military hardware if you ever need it" Gangrel growled "Do not get caught with it" Ruby hastily pocketed the card knowing that Weiss and Gangrel had put their necks out to acquire that for her
"I asked around and got you this" Taiyang produced a photo album which Ruby gasped as she looked through
"Every picture anyone has of your mother, some even I hadn't seen before" Tai told her "And Sun sent a bottle of Junior's best"
"CAW!" the sound made Whitley jump, everyone else knew better
"Knew he'd get here eventually, just mention drinks" Tai chuckled, Gangrel made his way to the window and opened it allowing the bird to flutter inside, revealing its' true form
"Drunkle Qrow! Drunkle Qrow!" Corvid and Felix chanted in unison
"Wait, Drunkle?" Ruby gasped out, doubled over with laughter
"It's what grandpa said to call him" Corvid explained earnestly
"Hey squirt, smaller squirt, even smaller squirt than the last one" Qrow nodded towards Ruby, Corvid and Felix respectively. He had aged visibly in the last decade his hair having greyed and his beard grown out, he almost always walked with his scythe deployed using it as a cane which terrified the neighbourhood children "Yeah Tai here decided poisoning Firecrackers' kids against me was funny….jokes on him though I'm still cooler, right kids?" the children looked from Tai to Qrow
"Uncle Qrow" Ruby whined "Don't tease"
"Fine, fine" he relented
"So what kept you?" Gangrel asked "I mean seriously how smashed do you have to be to get lost on the way to one of the most recognisable places in Atlas?" Qrow gave a hacking laugh, he and Gangrel had always got on well mainly due to their blunt way of speaking and shared bleak sense of humour
"Admittedly more than I should have been. I got an air-ship over from Vale, this dusty old crows' wings aren't what they used to be. You won't believe who was piloting it" Qrow paused for effect "Mercury Black, ended up having a few drinks with him when we landed him and Emerald have got a daughter Felix's age, the name escapes me though"
"You're joking?" Yang laughed "Mercury Black is working as a pilot? Like a legitimate career?"
"Apparently it was a childhood dream" Qrow shrugged "He never wanted to go into his dad's line of work and after everything settled down a bit he went for it"
"Well if you see him on the way back tell him to get in touch, I haven't seen Merc in years" the blonde lamented, in truth nobody had seen Mercury Black or Emerald Sustrai since the war ended having made efforts to vanish completely, the reformed criminals had been instrumental in the fighting in Atlas and Yang had found a good friend in him when dealing with the loss of her arm
"So now that everybody's here" Penny started nervously, all eyes turned to her as she gave Ruby her own gift; the young Huntress's eyes widened as she opened the box and saw what was inside
"Ruby Rose" Penny started as she dropped to one knee "I knew when you literally ran into me in Vale and wanted to be friends that you were different to most people I just didn't realise exactly how much, after our first dance I think I'd figured it out though. You're one of a kind, which is sensational because you're the only person I've ever wanted to be with. It's been ten years and we've been through everything together, even death couldn't keep us apart and I love you more than I have words to explain. I think everyone here can agree that this has been a long time coming, but will you marry me?" Ruby stood for a moment that seemed to stretch into eternity, tears streaming down her face before she pulled Penny to her feet into a hug that neither of them wanted to end
"Yes! Yes! Oh my Oum yes!"
"About damn time!" someone called out as Penny slipped the diamond ring onto Ruby's finger. Ruby wasn't sure who it was, nor did she care.
Ruby clutched Penny to her, their lips meeting once again as they both basked in the afterglow of multiple orgasms
"I love you so much" she breathed into the copper-haired woman's mouth. Penny's hands ran through Ruby's hair
"I love you too Ruby" she kissed along her fiancée's jaw and down her neck, eliciting a series of gasps from her
"Penny, Penny stop" Ruby traced small circles on Penny's skin "I'm exhausted, I know you don't really get tired but I do" her admission caused Penny to giggle softly and rest her head on Ruby's chest before pulling the sheets tighter around them both. They had spent the night at Schnee Manor, having no Hunts to attend to the next morning and thus no reason to sleep in the Pearl or find a nearby base of operations for Freelancers, of which several were scattered around Atlas usually in the forms of decommissioned military bases or the kind of seedy taverns most people would expect to find Qrow Branwen lurking in
"We're gonna get married and be a family" Ruby murmured as she kissed the top of Penny's head, the smaller woman looked up at her, a curious look in her eyes
"You were giving the children strange looks all night"
"I want one" Ruby admitted bluntly "I want to be a parent"
"We don't exactly have the best lifestyle for raising a child" Penny pointed out "We're Freelancers, we're the nomad Hunters of Remnant that take the jobs that Spec-Ops wouldn't dare try"
"Well that's how the ad campaign goes" Ruby chuckled "Honestly Atlas is the only Kingdom where the majority of the Hunters are government contracted, we could settle down in any of the other three Kingdom's and operate from there"
"True" Penny said slowly "But we need to address the Goliath in the room, I'm not real"
"Of course you're real" Ruby countered hotly
"I know you believe that" Penny sighed "But I don't have DNA, it's physically impossible for me to produce a child"
"Oh" Ruby said simply pausing for a moment "Well, we'll think of something. I mean come on your Dad is one of the smartest people well….ever, he must-"
"Ruby you're a genius!" Penny grinned
"It has been mentioned" she gave a wink, Penny rolled her eyes
"My Father had siblings, if I can track them down and persuade them to provide an uh….sample"
"I could be the mother of our child" Ruby finished, a truly beautiful smile forming across her face as she pulled Penny into a searing kiss. The moment was ruined by Ruby's Scroll vibrating on the bedside table
"It's the business Scroll" she sighed rolling over to grab the offending device, seeing it was a video call on a restricted channel confirming that it was indeed another Freelancer contacting them, she pulled the sheets higher to ensure that she and Penny were covered before answering
"Reaper, Lucky Penny" the speaker came into view, a Rabbit-Faunus known in the Freelancer community as Baby-face, in reality Flax Scarlatina was barely two years younger than herself and was a hardened veteran having joined Vale's army after the Kingdom was brought low by Cinder Fall not long after his fourteenth birthday and received his Hunter training at both Atlas and Haven academies after being expelled from the former for his insubordination
"You picked a hell of a time Baby-face" Ruby seethed
"Yeah I heard through the grapevine you two are finally getting hitched, congrats"
"How?" she demanded
"Your uncle knows everyone and word gets around fast but that's not what I called for. I'm on a freighter in the sea between Vale and Atlas, Grimm just took the rudders clean off. Normally I'd call my sister but she's unavailable right now"
"You need back up to keep Grimm off of the repair crew" Ruby sighed
"I wouldn't call if it wasn't important" Flax's tone was apologetic "But we've drifted into Atlas waters and the crew are getting jumpy, so if there weren't a ton of beasties in the water before there will be now" Ruby looked to Penny who simply shrugged
"I'll fire up the pearl, try and get some sleep while we fly" Ruby kissed the top of her head
"You owe us one for this" she told the Faunus
"I know, you're a lifesaver. We'll talk more when you get here, I need to keep an eye on the water" with that the all ended
"We get engaged and finally think we're going to get some sleep for once then get asked to go on a mission at" she checked the time on her scroll as she slid out of bed "I refuse to even acknowledge that o'clock"
"Well we're Hunters, this is what we signed up for" Penny noted, Ruby smiled
"True, this is our happy ever after"
Authors Notes:
Okay so as I said, this takes place 10 years after Vol.1 and is set in the same universe as my ongoing (At the time of writing this) story 'The Downward Spiral' when that story is finished I plan on writing a next generation story following Arctus, Felix and Mercury and Emerald's as yet unnamed child in their first year, with Corvid (I have Corvid's weapon figured out and it is NUTS) in her second year
Besides, you know you'd love to see Combat Class taught by Nora.
So to summarise:
Puns and jokes on T-shirts, it will always be my headcanon that Yang buys them for people.
Seriously with the amount of power Ruby has to throw around, hunting Grimm without the threat of the end of the world is just fun.
I headcanon that Ruby gets really bad-ass looking as she ages.
She's also a legend, she's one of those Hunters that everyone wants to be a Hunter has heard of, like Qrow was.
Atlas is still run by dicks.
Weiss Slate, I know certain people who read "The Downward Spiral" squealed when they read that.
Weiss trying to make puns, it happened in canon, it didn't go over well.
Neon is bleak in this, all that hyper, happy go lucky kinda goofiness is gone, I kinda based her appearance on Tex from Red V Blue, she's hardcore now but she's also a grieving mess.
Ruby, Penny and Weiss showing off how bad ass they are now, you needed that in your life.
Spawning pits, if you know me you know nothing good can come of spawning pits.
The Gespenst, because even ten years later Atlesian ship and place names are in German, it's the "Spectre" it's actually Gangrel's ship, because like Winter before him the Generals right hand must have a stealth warship.
Also the Outpost/shanty town's name translates as 'Camp-fire'
"Neon what do your Faunus eyes see?" is a nod to the story "Blake, what do your Faunus eyes see" by TobiasHawk1
Ruby using the silver eyes to full effect is hardcore.
Ruby's custom made Nano-bot bomb rounds are hardcore.
Penny's Bull-Head is hardcore.
A Mammoth Grimm that steps on houses in fucking hardcore (Also it has eight legs because I'd just seen what the Mastodon Zord looks like in the Power Rangers movie)
Klein has no chill.
I like to think Whitley grew into a pretty cool guy, not like his predecessor at all.
Gang just looks like an even tougher SOB than ever.
Ruby is the coolest Aunt ever.
The kids, ah the kids, let the squealing commence.
Okay seriously I choked myself up when I wrote the part with the statues, I needed to take a minute.
Yang Puns will stretch into the far distant future….and they still won't be appreciated, even by her own kids (Especially by her own kids).
Fantastic Grimm and how to kill them by Professor Port, you'd read it.
At the mention of alcohol Qrow turns up, because of course.
Merc & Em living in completely legal domestic bliss, because I want them to be happy.
Penny popping the question, I didn't even plan that when I started writing this; and I wrote this in one sitting.
A Nuts & Dolts kid, you know they'd be adorable.
A Flax Scarlatina cameo at the end, because everyone who's read The Downward Spiral knows that Velvet's little brother physically cannot keep himself out of trouble.
In case it wasn't clear, this is how everyone's life went:
Ruby & Penny: living together (technically the Pearl is their permanent address) and hunting together.
Weiss & Gangrel Slate: Married with one son, Weiss is the Head of R&D at the SDC and works as an occasional advisor to the military, Gang is an Atlesian Specialist with his own ship to command.
Yang & Blake Xiao Long: Married with two adopted kids, Corvid and Felix. Yang teaches at signal and occasionally helps Sun out when he needs more fire-power. Blake is a political activist.
Lie & Nora Ren: Married with no kids, but now they're going to be teachers
Scarlet & Neptune: Are a couple, Scarlet is a Huntsman, Neptune is going to be the student counsellor.
Rover & Artemis Tan: Married with no kids, because what happened to Rover when fighting the Dragon left him unable to have any.
Merc & Em: together but not married (They were adamant about disappearing until their kid started going to school and didn't want to leave a paper trail) Merc is a pilot, not sure what Emerald would be doing besides kicking ass to be honest, most likely something to benefit the street kids of the city she grew up in.
Sun & Miltia Wukong: Married with a daughter, Amethyst. Sun is the primary Hunter on Patch since Tai's retirement and the Malachite twins have taken over Junior's bar, but not the shadier parts of his businesses.
Velvet & Coco: Still together, still hunting, currently going to Menagerie as part of a task force.
As always thank you to everyone that reads this, with a special thanks to those of you that favourite and review