Half-Life 2 references aside, this is what happens when you spend too much time on /r/RWBY, there was this one post discussing the future of character relationships and the very last one involved Pyrrha being flung into the future where she meets Jaune's descendants and then things happen and then they bang.
Unfortunately, I can't find that post anymore to give the proper sourcing.
So to the person that wrote that post, if you are reading this, drop me a PM so I can properly thank you for making my muse itchy.
I'm so sorry Jaune, sorry Ruby, I wish things weren't this way… Pyrrha thought as darkness overtook her.
All of a sudden she could feel herself falling, endlessly, it was as though everything below her had just given way and now she was falling through an endless blackness where she could not even see her hands in front of her face. All of the pain in her heel and chest seemingly vanished, replaced with an incredible feeling of lightness, as though she was flying and soaring through thin air.
Wha-? What's going on? Where am I? She tried to speak but nothing came out as she wildly flailed about in her fall.
Not your time yet…A voice echoed out.
What? Who said that?
This isn't your destiny…
Not my destiny? What does that mean?
There are still things that need to be done…
What things? I'm dead aren't I? What can I possibly do?
Not now, not yet, same place…
Same place? Wait what're you doing?!
But a different time…
What's going on?! What's happening to me?! Pyrrha could feel herself slowing down to a stop.
Different people…
Pyrrha could now other voices now, garbled and murmured noises, but voices nonetheless, and they seemed to be slowly growing louder and louder. It was almost as if a veil was being lifted from around her, and she could slowly feel some of her senses come back to her, she could now feel a gentle breeze on her skin even though her vision remained dark. She could also now feel small vibrations, little thuds like the footsteps of someone walking close by.
"Who is it?" A dull female voice sounded.
"I dunno, she seems familiar though, and goddamn she's hot!" An energetic male one responded.
"Aren't you the least bit concerned this might be a trick?" A sigh of resignation came.
Time to wake up Pyrrha Nikos…
Who're you? What's this all about? Where am I waking up?
"Who cares? Those curves, those legs, that chest…"
"And then she jumps up and bites your face off."
Hey…
What? Who're you? Why are you doing this? Where am I?
"Hey I think she's coming around! Can you hear me sleeping beauty?"
Don't you think it's about time you woke up?
Pyrrha struggled and fought to move her eyelids upwards, and when she finally did, she found herself looking straight into the eyes of one Jaune Arc. Or at least she figured it was Jaune Arc her boyfriend-for-all-of-ten-seconds before she unceremoniously shoved him into a rocket locker and went to do battle with the woman threatening to take everything from her and wipe out Vale and Beacon by extension. I mean the boy before her certainly looked a lot like him, maybe older except…
'Jaune' had silver eyes.
Since when did Jaune wear color contacts?
With a headache that felt like a hammer being smashed into her head as quickly as possible, she squeezed out her first few words.
"J-Jaune?" She tried as she made to sit up.
"You knew dad?" His eyes lit up and he leaned a little closer, "hey Dawn the pretty lady knows dad!" He called out to someone else before turning back to her, "what was he like? Was he some giant that crashed through Grimm like an avalanche? Did he really take part in the Battle of Beacon and the Fall of Vale? Was he an 'incorrigible' flirt like mum said?"
Dad? Mum? What does he even mean? Don't tell me… Pyrrha tried to straighten out her thoughts as she pushed herself into a sitting position.
"Oh for crying out loud give her some room Hope!" He was pulled back by a girl who looked his age. Pyrrha rubbed her eyes a little and stared…at Ruby? Or at least it seemed like it could have been Ruby, Jaune's team-leader-in-arms and one of her closest friends at Beacon, she had barely glimpsed the young girl moments before on her hands and knees staring at her in horror as Cinder had killed her. Well there was just one teeny, tiny problem with that assessment.
'Ruby' had blonde hair.
Since when had Ruby dyed her hair?
"Ruby?" She tried a little nervously.
"Wait a minute, did she just say mum's name? Did you know mum and dad?" Not-Ruby/Dawn turned from Not-Jaune/Hope to look at Pyrrha with an expression of curiosity. Pyrrha looked at the both of them cautiously, but before she could say anything else…
"Guysguysguys! Heads up we've got company! I spy lots and lots and lots of Grimm coming our way! I think that fire bitch or one of her friends just found us!" A loud voice echoed out, Pyrrha turned to look at where the voice had come from, her head still pounding.
She found herself looking at Nora. It must have been Nora, the hammer maiden with her loud, cheerful and bubbly disposition with a game-winning smile that would never slip from her face no matter how hard things were or might have been or would have been, and also one of her team members back at Beacon and last Pyrrha checked, was still battling Grimm with her partner Lie Ren while Pyrrha ran off with Jaune. On the other hand…
'Nora' had a rather masculine voice.
Since when had she changed her voice like that?
Pyrrha gave it one last shot, "Nora?" She tried.
"Oh hey! The lady knows my mother too! Did you know my dad though? His name is Lie Ren?" He suddenly turned to look at the three of them.
Mother? Father? Wait a minute; don't tell me these people are all…!
"You're the children of Ren and Jaune?" Pyrrha asked incredulously.
"Yup! That's us! You know our parents lady?" Hope asked.
Children? But that must mean…I'm in the future?! Pyrrha took a moment to look around her, she was back at the top of the tower…or what remained of it at least, the gears lying about were now rusty and falling apart, the ruins had clearly been worn down over a long period of time.
"You alright lady? Nothing broken?" Hope looked at her with an inquisitive expression.
"N-no…err…who are you?"
"My name is Hope Arc, the girl over there is my twin sis Dawn, and that guy is Ben." Hope gestured to the both of them.
"Hope you're not supposed to be telling every idiot who we are!" Dawn growled.
"I'm sure it's fine, I didn't catch your name though sleeping beauty."
Cheesy flirting already? He really is his father's son. Pyrrha thought with a smile.
"My name is Pyrrha Nikos, is your father-" She was interrupted by an explosion.
"Woo! Take that you ugly bastards!" Ben hollered down over the edge.
"Explanations later, for now we need to get out of here, can you walk on your own?" Hope stood up and held his hand out, Pyrrha took it gratefully.
"Yes, where are we going?" Before Hope could answer, Dawn interrupted loudly.
"Hang on a minute Hope! We have no bloody idea who she is, for all we know she could be a spy!" She shouted.
"She knows mum and dad, that's good enough for me, besides I have the strangest feeling about her, it's a good feeling, like you know when you-"
"Argh! Alright enough talk, we need to get out of here! There's no way I'm sticking around for that." Dawn jerked her thumb over the edge of the tower, when Pyrrha and Hope went to look; they saw a large dark mass heading straight for them.
"Grimm." Pyrrha swallowed hard, so the war continued on even after all this time?
"Yeah, lots of em', come on lady." The trio walked over to the other side of the tower, it was now that Pyrrha could finally get a good look at them. Dawn appeared to be wearing a full suit of silvery armor with gold outlines sans helmet, on forearm was mounted a large buckler, on the other arm she carried a large spear that appeared to also be some kind of gun judging from the magazine near the midsection a white scarf around her neck with the symbol of a red rose on two yellow crescents completed the look.
Hope wore a much lighter looking outfit with an open khaki vest with pouches all over and dark blue leggings with military style boots, he carried a large rifle on one shoulder, a pistol in its holster on his belt, and what looked like an assault rifle on the other shoulder, a veritable walking armory.
Ben meanwhile had the simplest look, black jacket over a white shirt and a pair of blue jeans; on the other hand he carried a massive hammer that looked a little like Nora's Magnhild.
"You wouldn't perchance know what a landing strategy would be?" Hope cocked an eyebrow as he looked out over the edge.
Pyrrha smiled, "Of course, I was there after all." Hope raised a curious eyebrow.
"Were you now? Huh…well then I guess there's no need to worry right?" He smiled and stepped right to the edge with the other two, Pyrrha followed.
"Don't worry about anything going wrong, just let me handle it!" Ben grinned and gave a thumbs up.
"Alright, if you say so." Pyrrha nodded.
"Then let's go!" Dawn smirked and calmly stepped over the edge, allowing herself to freefall down, everyone else rapidly followed suit.
Ok, so I'll just use the side of the tower and use polarity to slow myself down using it, this should be fine. She could see Dawn jam her spear into the side of the tower to brake while Hope dived straight down, near the bottom he kicked off from the wall and fired several shots, converting his vertical force into a horizontal force and landed with ease. Pyrrha focused her semblance, gripping the side of the tower and bringing herself down before releasing it and falling the last few meters to the ground with a roll.
Ben was last, and to her surprise, he floated down as though he was a light feather before dropping and landing easily on his feet.
"Semblance?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Mass control, I can make things really really light, or really really heavy." He grinned.
"We all good?" Hope turned to each of them, everyone answered in the affirmative.
"Right ok, our ride is just over here," He gestured to a four-wheeled, four-seater vehicle with a machine gun mounted on railings on top. The group jumped into the vehicle, Ben taking the driver's seat with Hope in the passenger seat while Dawn manned the gun with Pyrrha in the backseat.
"Are there any weapons? I can fight too!" Pyrrha said, as Ben gunned the engine and started driving away with the dark mass behind them.
"Use my spear, just twist the front down and push it back, it's a rifle now, here's the ammo." Dawn tossed several magazines at Pyrrha who shouldered the rifle and checked its sights.
Looks good, it's no Miló but it'll do. Pyrrha smirked to herself; she was finally in her element.
The vehicle zipped through the forest on some long forgotten track, Pyrrha could see nevermores approaching from the rear while beowolves closed in from the sides.
"Here they come! Shoot them down!" Hope ordered, while Ben kept driving the other three opened up with their weapons, machine gun and rifle fire spat out furiously, scattering and killing beowolves, Pyrrha aimed high and knocked a nevermore out of the sky with a several well placed shot, onward the crew drove, and onward the Grimm came.
An ursa grabbed onto the side of the car, Pyrrha jammed the spear into it and pulled the trigger, blasting the Grimm apart.
A griffon tried to land right on top of the vehicle, Dawn blasted it to pieces at close range.
A rain of nevermore feathers saturated the area, everyone ducked down in the vehicle, their auras deflecting and protecting them.
"We're almost there guys; just hang on a little longer!" A sharp turn to the right later and they were now on a more familiar paved road.
Several griffons exploded as Pyrrha and Hope put out accurate rifle fire with every shot.
"We've got a problem in front of us guys!" A large King Taijitu lay right across the road, remarkable its mid-point was right in the middle of the road.
"Pyrrha suppress the right head, I've got the left head, Dawn, you know what to do." So saying both he and Pyrrha opened fire. Dawn's hands left the machine gun and she raised them in front of her, her eyes glowed and a large transperant white barrier formed in front of the vehicle.
"Here we go, everyone duck!" Ben shouted and hit a button on the side of the steering wheel, the vehicle lurched and roared as it got a tremendous boost to its power while everyone hunched over. The vehicle crashed into, and through the King Taijitu, Ben held the wheel steady even as the vehicle shook wildly.
"First roadkill of the day!" He cheered.
"Don't let up! We're not safe until we clear the tunnel!" Hope growled out, and so they continued firing at their pursuers, who relentlessly continued on no matter how many were shot out of the sky and blow apart on the ground. After what felt like ages, Ben finally announced the news everyone had been waiting for.
"I see the tunnel! We're almost-" He was interrupted when a piercing, screeching noise echoed out throughout the area, Dawn, Hope and Ben went white while Pyrrha just looked confused.
"What was that?" She asked nervously.
"Razorwings." Dawn hissed, as if they heard her, dark masses, swarms of miniature flying things erupted on both sides of the road, heading straight for the vehicle. Dawn acted quickly, releasing the machine gun again and lifting both hands, a transparent silvery bubble encased the vehicle which prevented the swarms from getting closer although they continued relentlessly throwing themselves at the barrier.
"Hurry Ben!" Dawn strained.
"Almost there! Just a little bit longer." The shield contracted under the weight of the assault, Pyrrha felt helpless to do anything as Dawn strained to hold back the swarm that was almost completely blocking their view forward.
"Ok we're nearly there…" Ben struggled to keep the vehicle on point as the swarm clouded around them. Suddenly the shield began expanding again pushing the swarm back further, Hope turned around to see what his sister was doing
"Dawn?! What're you doing?" He questioned as he watched his sister stand straight on the back of their vehicle.
"How can we leave without saying goodbye?" Dawn smirked, Hope's eyes went wide.
"Don't! You could kill yourself!" He shouted.
"I won't die, now shut up!" Dawn growled back.
Pyrrha watched in amazement as Dawn's raised both her hands in front of her, both hands began glowing brightly and the shield around them that seemed to shudder and vibrate; it became less and less transparent as a loud humming noise seemed to fill the air all around them. And then something incredible happened.
With a mighty roar that would have shaken an Ursa to its core, Dawn slammed both of her hands outwards to her sides, the shield expanded in a flash, turning into an expanding hemispherical explosion of power that utterly annihilated the pursuing swarms of flying razors in a brilliant white light that dazzled Pyrrha for a moment just as she shut her eyes in time to avoid being blinded.
When she did open her eyes a moment later, she was shocked to find the entire area cleansed of Grimm, there was not a single one in sight as they thundered into the tunnel and a different darkness engulfed them.
"Ok we cleared them." Hope noted with a sigh of relief.
"Well that was interesting." He responded, just as Dawn fell over backwards into the vehicle unconscious.
"Sis! Goddamnit!" Hope called out worriedly as he turned around; Pyrrha pulled the fallen girl into her arms and checked her over.
"She's fine, but she's really low on aura! She'll die of exhaustion at this rate." Pyrrha told him, his face contorted in anger.
"Yeah tell me something I don't know lady. We need to get back ASAP, Ben hop to it!" Hope gave a grim look, without answering Ben floored the accelerator harder, an equally grim look on her face. Pyrrha meanwhile, decided to try something, she put her hand over Dawn's chest and pressed her forehead against the unconscious girl, focusing her aura until it glowed around her and Dawn.
"What're you doing?" Hope noticed this and turned back to look at them.
"For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder, protect thee." Pyrrha said, and gasped as she felt herself get drained away, she pulled back panting and with her head swimming wildly.
Hope was looking at her warily, "What'd you do?" He lifted an eyebrow.
"I…I transferred a portion of my aura to her, she should be fine now." Pyrrha answered as she clutched her head, "Wow, your sister sure has a large aura reserve." Hope smirked on hearing that.
"Yeah apparently we got it from dad." He nodded, just as he said that they were answered with a spluttering cough from Dawn.
"Oh shit, what…the hell…was that?" She pulled herself up straight and rubbed her forehead.
"Sis! You're alright!" Hope's eyes lit up.
"Yeah yeah I'm fine, what happened? I feel like I just ran a marathon or something." She waved him off and shifted back into her seat.
"Pyrrha here just saved your ass is what just happened." Ben answered.
"Oh…I see…thanks a lot." Dawn sighed and leaned back with a glance at Pyrrha.
"You're welcome." Pyrrha smiled as she turned to watch the front, "so…where are we going?" She asked.
"Oh yes, we have a pickup on the shore that's going to take us to our floating base." Hope nodded.
"Floating base?" Pyrrha raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, you should totally see it! It's a whole island made of metal that can float and move on its own and it's totally cool and awesome!" Ben grinned from behind the wheel.
"I see, well then lead the way." She smiled.
Sometime later, they emerged out of the tunnel, Pyrrha saw they were now streaking down a coastal road with the beach on a gentle slope right beside them, in the distance, dark clouds could be seen gathering with lightning flashing brightly.
"Looks like there's a storm approaching." Dawn announced, "And it looks really really wild." She lowered her binoculars.
"Crap, that's gonna make extraction a bitch…" Hope growled and grit his teeth, Ben pulled the vehicle to a stop at the side and the four looked out over the beach
"Storm's rolling in." Dawn remarked dryly as several drops of rain fell down, and then all of a sudden a deluge swept in, drenching all four in the vehicle.
"Wind's picking up." Another dry remark as the wind began to howl, high waves were beginning to pick up on the sea.
"Where's our extract? It should be here by now!" Hope banged his hand on the dashboard in irritation, just as he said that a dark shape dropped out of the clouds in the distance. To Pyrrha's eyes it looked like the bullheads she always used to ride, well they had the same basic shape and form any way, although…
Since when did bullheads have four engines?
And when could they float on water?
And why were they so much bigger? Although she supposed that could be answered by the fact that it probably needed to carry the vehicle they were riding out as well.
"That's our pickup! Go go let's get outta here!" Hope pumped his fist and waved it around, the radio crackled to life, "Seafire to Alpha-zero-one, come in over."
"Alpha-zero-one to Seafire, bloody good timing, we're on our way just hold it for five over."
"Roger, Alpha-zero-one, and pick up the pace we're not going to be able to hold for long in this weather over."
"Alpha-zero-one acknowledges, floor it Ben!"
"Seas are looking really wavy! Everyone hold on!" Ben shouted as he spun the wheel and guided the vehicle straight onto the beach and aimed right for the water, he then floored the accelerator, and the vehicle roared onwards toward the choppy seas.
"What're you doing?" Pyrrha asked incredulously, "You're going into that water?!" She looked at the both of them.
"Oh yeah we forgot to tell you, this is an Amphibious Combat and Reconnaissance Vehicle or ACORN, it goes on water." He turned back and looked at her, "sounds neat doesn't it? There is a catch though." He returned to watching the front.
"What catch?"
"It wasn't really designed for water as rough as we are looking at now." Dawn answered for him.
"That's a-ok though, I'm the best goddamn driver in the whole of Remnant!" Ben cheered as the vehicle hit the water and kept going, skimming across the surface lightly. Or at least it would have skimmed across the surface lightly if it were not for the meter-tall waves being kicked up by the storm, the wind gusting about them or the rain that was pounding into their eyes.
It made for a considerably unpleasant experience.
Pyrrha held one hand over her eyes in an attempt to shield them from the water being splashed all around them and the rain getting in her eyes; somehow all three of her companions had don-ed goggles to protect their own eyes. Meanwhile, she was being endlessly tossed from side to side and at one point, knocked her head on the seat in front of her, this combined with the continuous rocking and the lack of proper vision made it for her the roughest ride she had ever gotten, and she was an ace fighter used to flipping and moving wildly around an arena.
She wondered briefly if Jaune had had a point about motion-sickness.
When things calmed down momentarily and she was finally able to grab onto something to stabilize herself, she spared a glance at Dawn, who was looking at her with what was clearly a bemused expression on her face even though it was hidden beneath the scarf and goggles. Pyrrha quirked an eyebrow as Dawn raised the arm next to her.
Causing Pyrrha to realize that she grabbed onto Dawn's still-armored arm with her hand.
Pyrrha quickly pulled it away, "I'm sorry!" She cried out although she was drowned out by the storm. Dawn seemed to register it though; she gave a small nod and then waved a spare set of goggles in Pyrrha's face, Pyrrha seized it and snapped it on in a moment. With the unpleasant experience partially negated by the goggles, Pyrrha tried to make herself comfortable as they approached the not-bullhead, a single man was standing on the ramp waving them in. Ben pushed the engine one more time and then the ACORN jolted forward pass the cargo doors, instantly they were out of the storm and the sound had lessened to a dim hum outside the hull.
"Alpha-zero-one to Seafire, package is aboard! Go go go!" Hope shouted and made several wild gestures with one hand.
"Roger, we're green!" And just like that the aircraft lurched forward, and began leaving the area behind.
The group stepped out of the ACORN completely drenched, Pyrrha watched as the trio hooked the vehicle down onto the aircraft's deck and secured it tightly before Dawn and Ben slumped against one side of the aircraft against each other, meanwhile Hope dug out a water canteen from the back of his belt and took a long drink.
"So…what is this?" Pyrrha rapped her knuckles against the side of the craft.
"This Ms. Nikos is a hammerhead heavy VTOL, it was developed a few years ago due to complaints about a lack of lift capacity on the bullhead when long-range missions with heavy equipment like the ACORN became the norm rather than the exception." Hope explained as he sat down opposite Dawn and Ben.
"That's interesting…" Something suddenly occurred to Pyrrha, "Hope can I ask you something?"
"You just did." Hope stated with a smirk, before Pyrrha could respond though he was talking again, "don't worry I get what you mean, what's up?"
"How long ago was the battle of beacon?" She asked with worry, how long have I been gone? She wondered internally.
"Oooooh that's a tough one," Hope scratched his head, "it was way before I was born though, my best guess…err…thirty years give or take?"
"Twenty-seven." Dawn's voice broke out from where she and Ben were leaning against each other.
"Yeah twenty-seven thereabouts." Hope nodded
I've been gone for twenty-seven years? I wonder everyone is doing? Pyrrha swallowed hard but shook those thoughts out of her head, she would deal with it when she came to it.
"And how old are you?" Pyrrha queried, "I mean…if you don't mind me asking…" She gave a weak smile.
"Oh me and Dawn are eighteen this year, Ben is nineteen." Hope smirked on seeing Pyrrha's incredulous face, "what…? Too young for you?"
"No it's just, no offense but you look a lot older." Pyrrha returned the smirk.
"Yeah well, having to fight for your life and limb since you were a kid can do that to you." Hope's expression changed momentarily, his smile fading and being replaced with a dark frown, in a moment it changed again and he was smirking again.
"S-since you were a kid?" Pyrrha stammered, she had no idea what that must have been like, then again she still had no idea about what kind of world Remnant had turned into in the past twenty-seven years.
"Yeah, I, Dawn and Ben, the three of us have been together since forever, there's no one else I'd rather have watching my back." Hope nodded, Pyrrha smiled, he was a lot like his father, except unlike the dorky and cheesy Jaune she knew, Hope seemed to brim with confidence and was almost a little cocky in his mannerisms.
Wait a minute, his father? Pyrrha realized something.
"I've wanted to ask you Hope, your father is…Jaune Arc correct?" Pyrrha gently prodded.
"That's him alright, and from the sounds of it, you knew my mother too right? Her name's Ruby, used to go by the last name Rose." Hope smiled.
"Yeah, they were both good friends of mine." Pyrrha smiled, remembering some of her best memories ever made, it's good to know that Jaune moved on eventually, and I can't think of a better person than Ruby, I'd hate to see him wallow in regret and self-hate because I left. Her train of thought was broken when Hope spoke again.
"Say, if you knew mum and dad, then that means you probably know aunt Weiss right?" Hope raised an eyebrow and looked directly at her, Pyrrha's eyes widened.
"Weiss? As in Weiss Schnee? Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company?"
"Not too sure about the Schnee Dust Company part, but I do know that Admiral Schnee is the overall commanding officer of the floating fortress Titan and her escorts, our home and base of operations." Hope shrugged and paused, "also where we're headed to now, since I didn't make that clear initially.
"I…see." Pyrrha's eyes widened, twenty-seven years, which means Weiss is forty-four now! Wow she has really made her own way. Pyrrha thought happily, she wanted to ask more about all of the rest of her former friends and companions, especially Jaune, boy would he be shocked to see her again, and Ruby too, she wondered how their relationship took off. But she held off for now, Hope was probably exhausted from the mission and wanted to rest.
"Thank you for your time Hope." Pyrrha smiled, "sorry if I seem like a bother to you."
"My pleasure, and don't worry about it, I could never say no to such a beauty." Hope made a flirty wink; Pyrrha felt her face heat up a little and looked away.
He acts a lot like Yang strangely enough. She thought to herself.
"Instead of standing around looking silly, why don't you grab a seat and catch some shut-eye, I'll wake you when we get there." Hope patted the seat next to him.
"Ah of course, thank you." Pyrrha sat down next to him, to her surprise though, Hope folded his arms and turned away from her leaning his side against the side of the aircraft.
"Not a problem." He murmured, perplexed by his action, Pyrrha hesitatingly turned away and curled up on the seat, feeling surprisingly exhausted despite not having done much the whole way, sleep overtook her rapidly.
She was awoken by a gentle shaking.
"We're here." Jaune…no…Hope stated.
"Oh thank you." Pyrrha nodded and got up; Hope walked up to Ben and Dawn and clapped his hands loudly.
"Wake up you two, we're home!" Ben was awake in an instant and cheered.
"Woohoo that felt great!" He cheered as he jumped up and stretched his back…
Leaving Dawn to fall on her side.
Dawn hissed and growled but struggled up, her eyes blinking rapidly as she sat up straight and let out a loud and exaggerated yawn. A voice suddenly came over the system.
"Seafire touching down in 3…2…1…touchdown." A shudder went through the ship as the aircraft landed softly. Hope walked over to the cargo doors and hit a button, opening the doors of the aircraft.
"Welcome to the floating fortress designation: Titan, an entire mobile military base on water." Hope grinned.
"Home sweet home!" Ben grinned.
"I need a bath, I reek." Dawn deadpanned as she sniffed herself and drew back with a disgusted face.
"Hey Pyrrha could you give us a hand with this?" Hope patted the ACORN as Dawn and Ben began releasing the chains holding it in place.
"Of course," Pyrrha grinned, I don't think I need to hide it anyhow, she thought as she lifted her hand, feeling her aura pulse through and putting her semblance to work. To the complete surprise of the trio, the ACORN slid down the ramp of the hammerhead easily and was out of the craft within the minute.
"Whoa that was…" Dawn looked at Pyrrha.
"Your semblance yes?" Hope gave a knowing look, "let me guess, telekinesis?"
Pyrrha smiled, "close, it's polarity, I can control metal."
"Whoa, that's going to be really handy around here." Ben noted.
"Alright enough talk troopers, we just need to get this back to maintenance." Hope nodded.
"Sir yes sir." Dawn rolled her eyes and the group exited the aircraft, Pyrrha eyes went wide when she stepped off the ramp.
She was in a military base of some sort; soldiers busied themselves moving from place to place, heavy equipment and weaponry was being shifted all over the place. Large robots not dissimilar to the Atlas mechs that she remembered shuffled about, overhead other aircraft streaked by across the slowly darkening sky, engines roaring and spitting fire.
It was breathtaking.
"Wow," was all Pyrrha could come up with.
"Yep, sure is a sight isn't it?" Hope stood beside her and folded his arms, and then he snapped his fingers.
"Say, why don't I take you to see the Admiral? I'm sure you two have a whole shit load ton of things to catch up on." Hope grinned, Pyrrha smiled back.
"That would be nice."
"Dawn, Ben…can I trust that you will deliver the ACORN back to maintenance properly?"
"Yeah sure we can bro; we'll just do all the heavy lifting while you just wander off with the pretty lady in arm." Dawn rolled her eyes and gave a thumbs up.
"Perfect, well then follow me Pyrrha." Hope gestured and began walking off, Pyrrha hesitatingly turned back to Dawn and Ben, Dawn made a shooing motion as Ben got into the driver's seat and she into the passenger seat, with a nod Pyrrha turned back and followed Hope as the duo drove off.
Off they went, zigzagging through large hangars, crossing long roads, up and down ladders, long hallways and narrow corridors, passing through doors large and small. All while the inhabitants of Titan scurried about shifting munitions and paperwork and supplies all about them, a few giving terse greetings to Hope and more than a few ogling Pyrrha as they went by. Eventually they came to a stop outside a large metal door; Hope opened it and gestured for Pyrrha to follow.
"Hey Azure, is the Admiral in?" Hope asked a young woman seated at a desk doing paperwork.
"Yeah she is." Came the response.
"Is she busy? I kinda need to see her."
"Not particularly, go right on in," So saying she pressed a button on a phone on her desk and spoke into it, "Ma'am, Specialist Hope is here to see you."
"Send him in." A dry voice sounded over it, Azure nodded as Hope went to the door behind her and knocked on it before opening and entering.
Admiral Schnee's office was rather barebones; there was a window behind that opened out to look out over a large part of the floating fortress, other than that the walls were bare except for a vent in the ceiling.
So this is Weiss? Pyrrha peered over Hope's shoulder and wondered at the figure in a military uniform bent over a wooden desk, studying and signing some papers.
"Admiral, Specialist Hope Arc is reporting for duty." Hope stood at attention and made a mock salute while grinning widely.
"Good to see you Hope, how was your mission?" Admiral Schnee did not even bother looking up from her desk.
"It went alright, and I found something really interesting, I think you might like it." Hope continued grinning.
"If this is another one of your surprises Specialist, I will chuck you into the ocean from here." The admiral deadpanned and still did not look up from her desk.
"It is a surprise Admiral, but I swear you're going to like it." Hope clasped his hands together.
"Oh fine then, hurry up and tell me who your new girlfriend is." The admiral reached across her desk to take another sheet of paper and began looking it over and marking things out with a pencil.
"Ahem," Hope cleared his throat rather exaggeratedly, "Presenting!" He did a mock drum roll and stepped to the side with his hands outstretched, "Pyrrha Nikos!"
The pencil snapped with a loud cracking noise.
The room dropped several degrees in temperature.
"It's been a long time since I've heard that name…" The admiral hissed as she slowly stood up and looked straight at the two, Hope was doing his best –and failing- to not shiver as Admiral Weiss Schnee, former heiress to the now defunct Schnee Dust Company and overall commanding officer of Battlefleet Titan glared at him, and allowed Pyrrha to get a good look at one of her former comrades from Beacon.
Pyrrha gasped, Admiral Schnee looked nothing like the Weiss she remembered.
Where once there was a face full of pride and perhaps a hint of haughtiness, they had been replaced by a sense of deadness and tiredness. Wrinkles had already crept into most of her once healthy and almost porcelain perfect face. Hair that had once been long and tied into a long, off-center ponytail had been cut short and tied into a rather stiff looking bun, and it looked much grayer then before. Eyes that once shone with determination and strength had been replaced with dull and lethargic orbs with dark eye bags sagging below them…well at least one of them had, the other was hidden behind a black eyepatch with a red outline.
When Weiss directed her gaze at Pyrrha, the expression changed. Pain and sorrow crept its way onto her face as she moved past her desk and in front of the both of them, it was at this point that Pyrrha noticed Weiss had grown considerably taller, where once Pyrrha towered over her; she now stood eye level with the former heiress.
"I'll err…just leave you two to it, ma'am." Hope said awkwardly and slipped out the door quietly.
Silence reigned.
"So…long time no see Weiss." Pyrrha tried weakly, to her surprise Weiss lifted one arm to look at a wristwatch.
"About twenty-seven years Pyrrha," Weiss dryly remarked, "welcome back…for what it's worth anyway."
A long silence passed between the two as Pyrrha tried to think of things to say.
"So…how's everyone Weiss?" Pyrrha asked timidly.
"Oh…well…I'm sure they're fine, certainly they're doing better than I am." Weiss looked away and out the window into the distance aimlessly.
"Ah I see…so…I wanted to ask, how has Jaune been? And Ruby? I know they must have been really torn up about my death but I'm back aren't I? And Nora and Ren, I wonder if they're finally together-together you know? And-" Pyrrha rattled off attempting to lighten the conversation, but was interrupted when Weiss spoke again.
"Pyrrha." Weiss gave a foreboding look and cast her eyes downward; Pyrrha stopped everything in that moment and shuddered a little.
"W-weiss?" Pyrrha swallowed hard, realizing she was not going to like what Weiss was going to say next.
Weiss finally shifted her eyes back to Pyrrha, her voice catching in her throat, "They're all gone Pyrrha, I'm the only one left."
Originally, they were going to be named Argent Arc (M) and Chalice Arc (F), but although that might have been keeping in theme with the color naming rule, I felt it didn't have any real meaning in the long run, so I changed it to Hope and Dawn.
Ben was just because I wanted something that rhymed with Ren, his weapon's name is thunder-strike, he can load it with a dust crystal that unleashes its effect when he lands a blow, he mostly uses lightning dust though as a homage to his mother.
The ACORN vehicle is something similar to the SOC-T from Black Ops 2, you can google it easily.
I imagine the Titan to be somewhat similar to the floating fortresses from Red Alert 3, although I imagine them to be a lot bigger, they're basically a moving military base on water capable of both offense and defense.
Dawn's spear is basically the rifle-spear from Bloodborne, I'll think of a name later.
Hope's set up is similar to Vincent Valentine's guns in FFVII: Dirge of Cerberus.
Based on the astoundingly hilarious notion that all of the BS in Remnant is a result of a shipping war between Ozpin and Salem...
I give you...
Shipping wars
"You won't win witch, arkos is my most developed and prize ship ever!" Ozpin growled out.
"Then I'll just have to torpedo it, and at the same time, get a certain Reaper to...hm...comfort a certain despairing knight, and then of course..." Salem trailed off with a wicked gleam in her eye.
"Then I shall give the Spring maiden to one who would bring her back!"
"It's far too late for that."
"It's never too late to re-float a ship."
"Oh but I've already won, here I have a little thing..." Salem fished a scroll out from under her robes.
"Ruby and Jaune's wedding." Salem mustered the single smuggest smirk the universe had ever seen.
Ozpin's eyes went wide.
"No...you couldn't possible have..."
"Oh I do, in fact one of Cinder's own pawns is at the wedding right now..." Salem narrowed her eyes, "...with a live broadcast." So saying she pressed a few buttons on her scroll and a window opened up, showing among other things, Ruby in a white bridal gown and Jaune in a white and yellow bridegroom outfit with tailcoats.
Among other things in this case being, Weiss presiding over the ceremony with a very bored and rather annoyed expression on her face. Ren as the best man, Nora, Yang and Blake as the bridesmaids. And various side characters as the audience including but not limited to Teams CFVY, CRDL, SSSN, BRNZ, NDGO, ABRN, the three professors of Beacon and all of Jaune's unnamed relatives and Ruby's named relatives.
"Ruby Rose, do you take this dolt to be your husband, to promise to be true to him in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. To love and honor him all the days of your life?"
"I do." Ruby said while blushing madly, Weiss rolled her eyes.
"Jaune Arc, do you take this dunce to be your wife, to promise to be true to her in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. To love and honor her all the days of your life?"
"I do." Jaune Arc smirked at his blushing bride.
"Fantastic," Weiss dryly remarked, "now you may stop wasting my time and kiss the bride." And so saying Ruby more or less leapt into Jaune's arms and slammed her lips onto his, Weiss facepalmed and sighed while everyone else clapped and cheered.
Salem toppled over backwards as a burst of blood erupted from her nose while Ozpin screamed a brown note that echoed out over the dimension.
In the ending of Volume 4, we will see the first tentative steps towards a relationship, a look here, some blushing there, sitting together just the two of them talking with each other, bantering about the setting sun or something.
Then a long way down the road, like Volume 8 or some shit, after X no. of volumes worth of classic "will they won't they" X-Files style Unresolved sexual tension, they finally while under great duress admit their feelings for each other and kiss.
Assuming its not a totally bleak ending where everyone dies, RWBY ends with Jaune and Ruby looking back over their lives as they finally settle down to raise a family.
