"This is getting ridiculous," Crystal growled as she sliced a beowolf in half before firing her cannon and tearing through a Paladin heading their way.

"Extractions coming, I finally managed to get a message out at that last ridge," Kagami replied as her scythe tore through Grimm, steel, and flesh all at once. That was one more Atlesian hunter out of the way.

They had been fighting for nearly a day and a half without rest. The fight would have ended much faster if not for the three Atlesian battalions that arrived to aid the squad they had ran into. And the fighting had drawn in a horde of Grimm hungry for blood. The other three were running on their last legs and Kagami knew she was running low on her reserve strength, she had used her semblance and magic too much, her dust was running low and she didn't have any more of her reserve supplies left over. They were out of medicine, bullets, bombs, dust, and grenades, and there were still more Grimm coming. Just as their enemies fell back to regroup before charging again a hail of bullets tore through them. Three bullheads arrived on the scene, and judging from the hail of bullets being fired from them, all three of the other command teams had come to help them. Ren and Coco were laying down a hail of suppressive fire while Nora's grenades and Ruby's dust glyph enhanced bullets were tearing through the heavily armored tanks and mecha as well as the larger Grimm. She could also pick up the telltale sounds of small arms fire from Blake, Yang, Velvet, Jaune, and Pyrrha. Then a massive laser blast tore through the area, destroying everything in its path. Looks like Penny was with them as well, although that should have been obvious as Ruby was here.

The bullheads flew low and the fire from them thinned as some of the hunters turned to help them on. A red prosthetic hand reached out for Kagami as Ruby said, "Sorry it took us so long, Qrow fell asleep at the logistics panel."

Metal hand clasped metal as Ruby pulled Kagami up into the bullhead, "It's fine, you got here before we died."

Ruby smiled at her. She was wearing her now standard long dress similar to her old prom dress with her long hair loosely hanging to her lower back. Her heals clicked on the metal floor as she turned around to start shooting again. It was absolutely hilarious that as a teen at Beacon Ruby had been the shortest of the group, but now she was the tallest, even without her six inch stilettos, which she had for some reason made similar to Mercury's, packing a gun in the heel, but more elegant, like Melanies heels. She picked up Crescent Rose and went back to shooting both her scythes wielding the assault scythe Weiss had given her as an engagement present, White Rose in her left hand. Had it not been for her missing right eye she would have been able to continue shooting while turned away. Weiss was shooting the gun-rapier Ruby had given her for the same reason and her left arm was bionic, similar to her fiancés, like a real arm but lacking the flesh. Unlike Ruby's though her hand didn't hide hidden devices, it did however contain large quantities of dust. Even containing cycling dust injectors to replenish what had been infused into her body with and extra charges for Myrtenaster. She was wearing a modified Victorian outfit, similar to what Winter had worn, due to her job as the CEO of the Schnee Dust Company and her face bore a second scar, this time sideways across the same eye. Blake was wearing an outfit similar to her old one but, like Weiss's, modified for business as she was Weiss's bodyguard. Her coat was longer, resembling a trench coat and her arms were covered by long sleeves and gloves that ran up into them. Her cat ears were also now proudly displayed for the world to see. She held her new chain scythe in both hands, firing rounds from both ends of the weapon. Her left leg had been lost to the White Fang assassin Adam, whom she had been forced to fight and kill during Weiss's inauguration as the CEO of her families company. Gambol Shroud was strapped across the back of her belt along with her wedding present from Yang, Shadow Fire, the dust katana was a little over twice as long as Gambol Shroud and like her other weapon its sheath was a blade as well. Kagami had seen her use the elemental weapon to do some incredibly terrifying things, unlike Weiss she didn't use magic but the blade took on the properties of the dust it was loaded with allowing it to burst into flame or contact freeze anything as it cut, she was arguably better with it than with any other weapon in her arsenal. Yang was wearing an armor like vest and her biker pants had metal plating on them, and hid her metal right leg, all of her clothes were also woven from a rather unique cloth to help deal with the immense heat she put off while fighting. She was firing her new assault shotgun gauntlets, Inferno Celica, as fast as possible, the cycling magazines were revolving at incredible speed. Penny was wielding a laser gunblade in both hands, which her job as Ruby's bodyguard had made her incredibly proficient with. She had had her body updated to look and function as an adults, apparently she was even able to have children now. However due to the war and her body being constantly damaged she had stopped using synthetic human limbs and was only using robotic parts. Her limbs had been replaced by stripped down versions designed specifically for combat that lacked the synthetic skin she normally had and were instead covered in armor. It was quite common for her to put on her regular limbs and wear clothes while at base, but in the field she normally had only her combat limbs and a form fitting body armor suit to protect her vital areas.

Rose fell against Kagami, already asleep. The bullheads quickly took off as the hunters and huntresses let loose a savage deluge of fire, putting down most of the enemies who had managed to come closer. As they left the area Ruby sat down next to Weiss and they interlocked their hands, resting their bodies against each other and enjoying each other's warmth and comforting presence. Blake had sat down next to Yang and was resting her body on the blond haired bombshell, basking in the intense heat she gave off. Yang was calmly petting the cat faunus hair and scratching behind her ears. After a little time Blake reached up and they interlocked hands, looking happily at their brand new wedding rings. They had gotten married just a week before, right before they had all gone on missions, which team DRCK (drake) was apparently the last to return from.

The bullheads quickly flew them back to the Vale staging area. The landing zone was unusually full, and as Kagami gently lifted Rose up so as not to wake her she saw that some of the bullheads and airships had markings from Vacuo and Mistral. Apparently Ruby had called them together for some kind of meeting, the only kingdom not present was Atlas.

"Lady Rose, there's a Grimm attack hitting our eastern defenses," the pilot said as he followed them into the base.

"Thank you for informing me," Ruby said as she made a beeline for the eastern wall near them. Kagami followed her, as did Ruby's teammates. By the time they made it to the top of the wall Ruby and Penny had already entered the fray. Penny was wielding a laser gunblade in both hands while twenty other blades danced around her and five floated behind each shoulder like wings, wreaking havoc across the entire area. However the destruction she was causing was nothing compared to what Ruby wrought. The red cloaked woman was dancing with blood and rose petals. The Grimm were falling as she danced, spinning on her heels as her double sided scythe, Blood Rose, twirled around her body as bullets fired from both ends as the shells rapidly shot from the weapon, tearing through Grimm just like the blades. The twin blades tore through Grimm in the legion as Ruby effortlessly slaughtered them. She split the double sided scythe in two and began to wield the short scythes in both hands as she cut through the army like they were nothing.

"You really like watching her fight don't you?" Rose asked as she looked at the fight before resting her head back on Kagami's shoulder.

"Of course, she's the only one who's ever beaten me alone," Kagami replied with a faint smile, the scars on her sides growing warm.

Later that day they met with the leaders of Vacuo and Mistral. Sun happily greeted them and the rest of team SSSN who stood as his guard smiled when team RWBY, JNPR, CFVY, DRCK, and Penny walked into the arena which had been repurposed as a place for the leaders to meet to try and reach peace. Kagami raised her fist and launched it forward as Sun did the same. Their stripped down metal fists clashed in greeting.

"How do your shoulders feel?" Kagami asked.

"Better now, it's been over a year since you ripped them off so they're almost completely healed," Sun replied, "how are Cardin and his team doing?"

"Better, they managed to save Cardins spine and liver, but he lost a kidney and is still in intensive care. The rest are in rehab," Ruby said as she walked up and hugged Sun.

Neptune and Weiss greeted each other with respect, but no affection remained between them. The extra scar and missing limb that Weiss had received, and the missing legs, hand, and damaged organs Neptune had received, from their last meeting had quenched any remnants of the spark between them. From another entrance they saw Emerald, Mercury, and Blair walk in. Emerald and Mercury clearly bore the scars of their encounter with team RWBY before the war. Mercury was missing his legs and left arm, and the left side of his face was covered to hide the horrible burn scars from his encounter with Weiss. Emerald was missing both arms and her right leg which Blake had taken from her. Cinder had been the only one who hadn't survived the encounter. Although it had cost Ruby an eye and her right forearm to Cinders fire and she had been forced to impale both of them to end her. It was a shock to all of Vale when their strongest and most well known huntress had been hospitalized. She had barely healed when news came that war had broken out, however that hadn't stopped her from taking charge of the army when she was needed.

"How's Neo?" Yang asked.

"She's already began to practice her acrobatics again, she wants to rejoin the fight but we haven't let her because she needs more time to heal," Blair said with a relieved smile. Kagami noticed the black haired cat faunus had quite the voluptuous body which was exposed to everyone by her short shorts and bikini and as she walked forward Emerald took her place at her shoulder while Mercury waited by the wall, like all the other guests.

Sun gestured to the circular table in the center of the arena as the leaders of the teams moved forward. The leaders of the teams and Weiss sat down and their bodyguards stood at their shoulder, Velvet for Coco, Penny for Ruby, Blake for Weiss, Pyrrha for Jaune, Neptune for Sun, and Rose for Kagami

Only Vale had managed to keep more than one of their elite hunter teams alive. They had in fact been very thorough about eliminating the other kingdoms hunters and command structure. The other kingdoms hadn't been able to keep up with the speed with which Vale had taken the initiative in the war as it had began to rapidly kill off every hunter and huntress the other kingdoms had. In spite of Vacuo's attempts to stay out of the war even they had inevitably been dragged in as a result of their taking in war criminals and refugees. The fighting hunters and huntresses of the other kingdoms had been cut down to almost a quarter of their strength before the war in less than half a year.

"I called you all here because after the temporary dissolution of the Vale council I have complete authority in Vale. I believe I am correct in saying that everyone wants this war to end. I am willing to offer a full pardon to all war criminals in exchange for a cease fire and peace treaty," Ruby said, cutting right to the point.

"Mistral accepts and, due to similar circumstances, I came here to offer the same thing," Sun said, his arms crossed and a calm look on his face.

"I agree to both and offer the same," Blair said with a naughty smile, "But we all knew that, that would be the result of this meeting. What we need to worry about is what we'll do about Atlas, Ironwood most likely won't agree."

"Then we form a military alliance," Ruby said, "and bring this war to an end in one swift strike!"

Kagamis POV Childhood Kagami shoved the girl out of the way, as the beasts claws descended. Her face was on fire. A woman in a white cloak was there seconds later, she cut the beast down. She tried to drag herself to her feet but collapsed, the pain was too much. The woman lifted her up easily and took them both back to the town.

Later that day the woman, Summer, and her brother in law, Qrow, came to visit her in the clinic. She nodded in greeting but said nothing.

"Ruby told me what happened, I would like to thank you for saving my niece," Qrow said.

Kagami nodded again, she really didn't feel like talking right now.

"We would like to repay you in some way, not that we can ever thank you enough for what you did," Summer said, "please, tell us if there is anything we can do."

"If possible I could use a place to stay," Kagami said feebly, "And I would like to learn how to fight."

Years Latter Ruby's POV She was talking with Jaune as they walked next to the little fountain. They were both lost so they were probably just going to wander around for a while. As they walked she accidentally bumped into someone.

"Sorry," she said quickly.

"Don't worry about it," a familiar voice replied.

Ruby looked in shock at the speaker. She had long silver hair that hung loosely behind her, stopping just below her waist, and a calm, beautiful face, she stood about six foot three and had colorless skin. She wore all black save for her heavy long sleeved windbreaker and the waist sash fell to around her calves, which was a pure white. The rest of her clothes consisted of a glossy, metal breastplate, boots and gauntlets, high cut shorts with two crossed white belts and a choker around her neck. The breastplate stopped just below her chest and left her smooth stomach exposed, her gauntlets had razor sharp clawed fingertips and ran up to her shoulder, covering the jackets sleeves and forming onto the breastplate, and her boots stopped just above her knees, which were covered in a razor sharp joint guard designed to form seamlessly with the boots when standing still. She also wore white headphone over her wolf ears with her emblem of a crescent moon inside a bleeding rose on them, similar to Ruby's own set, as well as on the back of her jacket. She had a slanted silver eye which had circular patterns in the iris, and her left eye was covered by a plain black eye patch. Unlike all the other students she carried no obvious weapons. Her bangs fell over the center of her face, where Ruby knew she bore faint scars from a beowolves claws. She was walking with a faunus girl who had bunny ears.

"Kagami, I didn't know you were back, what are you doing here," Ruby asked the girl, unable to look her in her eye.

"Attending orientation, did you graduate early?" Kagami asked in turn.

"Yes, um... Why didn't you tell us you were back, you could have returned to the island for summer break?" Ruby asked her, still avoiding her eye. Jaune and the Faunus girl were starting to look a little uncomfortable.

"Cause I didn't want you to know," Kagami replied, "who's your new friend?"

"Oh, Kagami this is Jaune Arc, Jaune this is Kagami Crescent, she's a childhood friend of mine," Ruby said.

"Nice to meet you," Jaune said nervously, his eye's riveted on Kagami's eye patch, a look of apprehension on his face.

"Likewise. This is Velvet Scarlatina, she's a friend I made during my observation period here last year, Velvet, this is Ruby, she's an old friend of mine," Kagami said.

"She must be, the first time I talked to you, ya made me look ya in the eye," The apparently shy Faunus said to Kagami before turning to Ruby and saying, "It's nice to meet ya."

Ruby smiled at Velvet, "So you're a second year student?"

Velvet began to scuff her feet on the ground, apparently uncomfortable being the center of attention, "yea."

There was silence for several seconds. The others shifted uncomfortably while Kagami cast her eye over Ruby and Jaune. Finally she said, "See you later," and she and Velvet walked off.

That Night Ruby was really uncomfortable, she didn't know where she was but Kagami was nearby. She could never relax when she was around. Yang seemed to have noticed, as they walked towards the beds which had been set up for them she voiced her concerns.

"Sis, you've been acting strange sense we met up again, what's the matter?" Yang asked.

Ruby didn't want to answer but she knew she had to otherwise Yang would just continue to bug her. "It's Kagami. She's attending Beacon. I ran into her earlier while walking with Jaune. I don't really think she's changed at all, except for the fact that she got taller and her hair is longer," she said.

Yang looked shocked, "Kagami's back?! Why didn't she call us?! Why didn't she head to the island for summer break?!"

"Yes, she didn't want us to know," Ruby replied.

Yang knew what the problem was now, but she obviously didn't know how to deal with it because she said, "Ruby, you need to deal with this, she never blamed you for what happened, why don't you let it go?"

"It was my fault! Besides she's going to be in the same room with us all night, it's not like I am going to get much rest."

Yang looked into the sleeping area, "Actually you can, she isn't here and I doubt she's going to show up, she really isn't much of one for large crowds. She'll probably sleep in a tree or something before coming here."

Kagami's POV Little did Yang realize how wrong she was. Kagami was very close, in fact she was just outside the window. She had also lied to Ruby about not going back to the island. It was painful for her but she always went back, every summer, even if only to check on Ruby and Yang. She didn't like to stay for long though and usually left once she knew they were alright, with no one the wiser. Besides she had an old friend to visit and she wouldn't be able to face her if she didn't check on them, it was, after all, her season. After she had cleared off any dirt and plants she would spend hours standing in front of her gravestone, sometimes even days. She usually talked to her. Let her know how Ruby and Yang were doing as well as what was going on in her life. Like in life, she had no secrets from Summer, she was the one person she would trust with anything.

At the time though she was watching Ruby, one of the greatest sources of suffering in her life, with her arms crossed and a dark look on her face.

'That idiot is going to be the death of me,' she thought as she watched her and Yang talk.

Every time she looked at her it hurt to see the guilt she carried over what had happened. Not to mention the last few times she had talked to her she hadn't even been able to look at her. She continued to watch their conversation, reading lips had been a skill she had developed when she had injured her ears a while ago, so she was able to understand their conversation even if she couldn't hear it. She was still a bit of an introvert apparently, that much hadn't changed. Turning she walked away and wished for the old days, when Ruby could look at her without causing both of them suffering.

"Damn that bitch, everything would have been so much better if she had just died with the rest of them," Kagami muttered to herself as she walked into the night.