Chapter 8- Betrayals, Surprises, Major Consequences and curses!
Be prepared for a few new twists! :)
Akili means Intelligent in Swahili.
After this chapter, the Disney knights won't be seen until the very end of the story to sync up the time travel part.
Enjoy!
The next morning (On the day of the attack)…
Sky got out the time watch we had used to travel here as we had our packed things ready for our trip back.
"I do wish you could stay with us when we meet Leo tonight" Oscar sighed.
"I mean that would probably even the playing field, but we can't risk being spotted by anyone in association with Salem" I replied awkwardly.
"We'll miss you" Ruby stated as her eyes began to water.
"We'll miss you too. Ruby, I…." I began.
Then I faltered for a minute.
"Good luck with tonight, guys. You're gonna need it" Patch added, quickly.
"Goodbye!" We called out as team RNJR and the others waved at us as Sky used the watch to bring us back to present day Remnant.
-In Present Day Remnant (Unknown Volume era)-
Yang was waiting for us in the ruins of Atlas as the whole of Remnant was in ruins while Oscar was in chains in Vacuo as Sneachta gave Salem Ozpin's cane while in a broadcast.
"Patch, why did that guy have Ozpin's cane?" I asked, suspiciously.
"I don't know what you're talking about. I suggest we leave this place immediately or someone will spot us" Patch said, cautiously.
I gave in as we quickly teleported to Disney castle.
"Ah, Disney knights you're back! You did well in your latest mission together except for Patch. Before we give you your next mission, Patch, would you like to tell them what you did?" Mickey asked.
"I stole Ozpin's Cane. Oscar has a fake cane, He's….he has a sour future" Patch confessed.
"Who did you give it to?" Sky asked with a cold stare.
"Team VRSZ and then they gave it to Sneachta" Patch sighed.
"How could you…? I can't believe you did that! My own cat?! I thought you were loyal to me" I said, darkly.
Patch hung his head in shame.
-Back in the Volume 5 era-
Green was on the boat with Blake and the other faunus as it got closer to Mistral.
"Green, rendezvous to Disney Castle. You will be assigned your next mission but please leave Remnant before someone from Salem's group spots you!" Oswald's voice warned him.
"Guys, I have to go. Nova, Nuri; take over from me ok?" Green suggested.
They nodded as Green used a portal to escape Remnant in time.
"Nuri, you keep an eye on everyone here. I'm going to go on ahead to assess the area" Nova stated.
"Good luck" Nuri stated.
Nova nodded and then got out a speedboat to get Mistral faster.
"Good luck, Nova" Sienna whispered.
-Back in Disney Castle-
"I'm sorry, I wanted to find a way to help them more by getting someone else to help indirectly" Patch whispered.
"Someone stole my scroll and we ended up in the black market near the Criminals' meeting place; Then I made the deal and stole the cane. They'll probably do the rest when we're not there" he added, softly.
I clenched my fist.
"Patch, I love you buddy, but this is not what a knight would do. We need to have some time part, so I'm not going to speak to you until you make up for what you've done" I stated in a strained voice as tears began to swell up.
"I understand, Grace. I….saw part of this coming" Patch admitted, quietly.
Then he fell silent as Green appeared to join us.
"Once the Rouges arrive, you will go forth on your keepers' mission but first! Grace, after the wedding, you'll be going to the world of the 'Seven deadly sins' to make sure its safe on your own while Green will be going to Drake City to keep an eye on Necrafa leading up to the new year on a solo mission. The rest of you will help set up for Christmas and New Year's Eve when they are on those solo missions" Oswald explained.
"Understood, sir but….how will this keeper mission work?" Bernice asked.
"You get to go inside a book" Mickey winked.
"Oh, and Patch. Your punishment will be to stay on the castle grounds and help everyone with their tasks" Oswald added.
"Yes, sir" Patch muttered, sadly.
Oswald got a private call and cleared his throat.
"Guys, Danyal has decided to wait for the new year to uncover the mystery of her blank book. So, the Rouges are available for the next mission" Oswald confirmed.
"Guys, head to the Disney Archives. The Rouges will meet you there. We're going to keep an eye on Remant's timeline due to what Patch did and we're aware that Nora knew about this act as well" Mickey ordered.
Everyone but Patch nodded as we headed off through the corridors.
"I hope the timeline wasn't damaged too badly because of this" Oswald sighed as he and Mickey looked through the screen onto Volume 5 remnant on the night of the attack with the other monitors showing other points in time for RWBY's timeline.
-Back in the Volume 5 era-
Later that night…..
-Third person POV-
The full moon (which was in pieces this time) illuminated the night sky above Haven Academy.
On the school grounds, Qrow led Team RNJR, Weiss, Yang and Oscar Pine followed close behind. Ruby stopped and looked up to admire Haven's CCT tower, before following the rest of the group to a nearby building. They entered the building and were almost immediately greeted by Leonardo Lionheart, who was standing on a terrace at the top of the stairs that was being held up by a white goddess statue with golden chains.
"Why hello. Thank you for... coming. (nervously) There… seems to be more of you than last time." Lionheart greeted them with a very nervous chuckle.
Qrow and the rest of the group stopped to look up at Lionheart.
"Eh, you know what they say, "The more the merrier." So, what's going on with the council?" Qrow asked.
"Why… did you bring your weapons?" Lionheart asked, suspiciously.
"What? Leo, we're Huntsmen. You okay?" Qrow questioned in surprise.
"Of course! Of course, sorry. Just haven't had my evening coffee." Lionheart replied in a jumpy fashion.
"Look, it's nice to see you, but we got work to do. Are we getting support from the council or not?" Qrow insisted, cautiously.
While the two talked, Yang noticed from the corner of her eye a black raven perched on a balcony railing.
"Mom?" Yang questioned.
Everyone's attention turned to the bird.
It flew away just as Qrow shot at it, but he missed. The bird flew down behind Lionheart, transforming into Raven Branwen, donning her mask. Everyone glared at her.
"Raven…" Ruby said, gravely.
"They… they really are magic…" Nora realised in surprise.
"If you're going to shoot me, shoot me. That was insulting." Raven stated while taking off her mask.
"What are you doing here?!" Qrow demanded.
"I could ask you the same thing. You've been scheming, little brother. Planning to attack your own sister." Raven replied, matter-of-factually as she came down the stairs.
"Leo… what have you done?!" Qrow cried.
"I…" Lionheart began.
"Leo did what any sane person would in his position - he looked at all the information he had in front of him, assessed the situation, and made a choice. And it seems you all have too." Raven stated.
"You have the Spring Maiden." Qrow said, angrily.
"I do." Raven confirmed, calmly.
"Then hand her over and let's work together! We can beat Salem!" Qrow exclaimed.
"All that time spent spying for Ozpin and you still have no idea what you're dealing with. There is no beating Salem!" Raven insisted.
"You're wrong. We've done things that most people would call impossible, and I know the only reason we were able to do it is because we didn't do it alone! We had people to teach us, people to help us, we had each other. Work with us. At least I know we'll have a better chance if we try together. Please." Ruby begged as she held out her hand.
Raven glared at it.
"You sound just like your mother." She stated before she promptly drew her sword and created a portal with her Semblance.
From the portal, a fireball was launched and hit Ruby square in her torso which caused her to land several feet back.
"Ruby!" Yang cried with concern as she ran to help her.
Then Cinder stepped out of the portal.
"Hello boys and girls." She greeted them, casually.
She was then joined by Vernal, Emerald and Mercury as they too stepped out from the portal.
"Cinder…" Ruby said, darkly while glaring.
Cinder and her group lined up alongside Raven, while the rest gasped.
"C'mon guys, is that any way to greet your old friends?" Mercury asked, in a mocking tone.
Yang growled at him.
"Everybody, stay calm." Qrow stated as he held his hand out in front of the teens.
Suddenly they heard the doors open behind.
"Oh no…" Oscar said, worriedly.
Nova snuck in with her semblance as she had extra bombs equipped on her.
Hazel closed the doors behind him as he entered the room.
"The White Fang is prepping demolition and securing the school grounds. No one's getting in, and no one's getting out." Hazel reported, in a threatening manner.
Outside, a White Fang soldier was placing a bomb on the CCT tower with more bombs all primed set by more White Fang soldiers. Adam Taurus looked on as they were at work.
"Once the charges are set, move back to perimeter watch. Tonight, Haven falls." Adam ordered as he then smiled evilly.
Back inside, everyone watched Hazel slowly approach them. They turned their attention back to Cinder.
"Raven, tell me… how long have you been with them?" Qrow asked, with anguish.
"Aww, don't take it personally, little bird. Your sister was a recent addition. The lion on the other hand… Entrance into the Vytal Festival was a real treat, but Leonardo's been sending Salem all sorts of information for a very, very long time. Isn't that right, professor?" Cinder replied, mockingly.
"Stop it…" Lionheart remarked in shame.
"It was you… you sit on the Mistral Council. You had information on every Huntsman and Huntress in the Kingdom, and you gave it all to her." Qrow realised out loud in shock.
"I—" Lionheart began.
"I couldn't find any of them, because you let her kill them!" Qrow cried.
Lionheart didn't respond yet his sad face said it all.
"Aw now, don't beat yourself up about it, Lionheart, I'm sure Tyrian and Hazel would've found them on their own eventually." Cinder stated with a remorseless smile.
"What is wrong with you? How can you be so broken inside… to take so many lives, and then come here and rub it in our faces like it's something to be proud of?!" Jaune cried as all of his anger that had been building up since Pyrrha's death had reached a breaking point.
"Jaune…" Nora began with concern.
"All with that damn smile on your face!" Jaune exclaimed with rage as tears streamed down his face.
The rest of the group drew their weapons.
"Everybody, stay calm!" Qrow cried as he held out hands between the teens and Cinder's group.
Cinder just glared.
"I'm gonna make you pay for what you did! Do you hear me?!" Jaune exclaimed.
"Kid!" Qrow yelled in a warning tone.
"Well?! SAY SOMETHING!" Jaune shouted.
There was short pause before Cinder decided to speak.
She turned to him with an uncaring look.
Cinder: "Who are you again?" She asked, nonchalantly.
In response, Jaune transformed Crocea Mors to its two-handler form and advanced forward. Cinder summoned an obsidian scimitar and blocked Jaune's attack.
"Jaune!" Ruby cried as she leapt into the air, but a chain wrapped around her and she was pulled to ground by Emerald.
"You're not getting near her." Emerald stated, grimly.
Jaune was then pushed back by Cinder and the two begin their duel. Yang ran forward to join the fight, but Mercury landed in front of her.
"Hey there, blondie. I'm thinking you owe me an apology for my leg, don't ya think?" Mercury teased.
Yang growled and used Ember Celica to project herself forward.
"Take out the heiress. Don't bother wasting your power, she's not worth it." Raven ordered Vernal.
She then drew her sword as Qrow used his sword to lock blades with his sister.
"Running away was one thing, but this… you've crossed the line!" Qrow exclaimed.
"Sorry, brother. Sometimes family disappoints you like that." Raven remarked.
"We're not family anymore." Qrow stated, grimly.
"Were we ever?" Raven asked.
"I thought so, but I guess I was wrong." Qrow replied, soberly.
The two then proceeded with their fight, while Vernal confronted Weiss.
"Let's see what the Schnee name really means." Vernal challenged as she drew her weapons while Weiss held Myrtenaster in a en garde stance.
"I'm more than a name." Weiss remarked.
"Hm, prove it." Vernal stated.
Weiss activated a glyph below her and projected herself forward to fight the Spring Maiden.
Meanwhile, Oscar snuck up the stairs to Lionheart while Hazel confronted Ren and Nora, who held up their weapons defensively.
While everyone was distracted, Nova planted bombs in the corners of the room so the CCT tower would still fall as planned.
"I don't wish to fight either of you." Hazel stated.
"But we will if you're with her!" Nora cried.
"Very well, then." Hazel said as he cracked his knuckles and rushed towards them.
As Lionheart watched the fights going on, he then noticed Oscar walking up behind him.
"Young man, I don't know who you are or what you think you're doing, but for your sake, I suggest you leave. Now." Lionheart suggested, cautiously.
Oscar defiantly remains stationary before taking a few more steps toward Lionheart.
"I'm warning you!" Lionheart cried as he held out his wrist-mounted weapon, while Oscar prepared to draw something from behind him.
Lionheart's weapon was a wrist-mounted shield with several Dust containers beneath a cross, from which he can conjure glyphs to fire combined Dust projectiles such as flaming rocks.
When inactive, it took the form of a bracer with a large cross on Leonardo's left arm and contained at least eight different Dust variants, including Fire, Earth, Ice, Lightning and Gravity Dust. When a type of Dust is selected prior to discharging a shot, the stone in the centre changed colour according to the type chosen at the time of each shot with the ability of firing shots rapidly.
"That's enough!" Lionheart cried as he selected the red stone on his weapon which fired a flaming rock at Oscar, who held out his arms in front of him defensively as the attack exploded. Oscar was unscathed, though his Aura shimmered as he continued to proceed up the steps and draws his cane.
"Ozpin?" Lionheart asked in shock as his eyes widened.
"Not quite." Oscar replied, rushing forward as his attacks force Lionheart on the defensive.
"This can't be… I knew you would be back, but… you made it here! You found Qrow! How?" Lionheart asked, in surprise.
Ozpin: (mentally) Leo… what happened to you?
"Wait. You can't have had this form for long. You're… not really Ozpin right now. Boy. Child. If I deliver you to Salem, she'll have to be pleased with me, and I can finally get out of all of this! I can finally be free!" Lionheart cried as his tail came out from his jacket.
Lionheart, now determined, prepped his weapon again.
"What do I do?" Oscar asked.
Ozpin: (dryly) Fight.
Oscar proceeded forward.
Meanwhile, Weiss leapt around on her glyphs, dodging Vernal's weapons as she threw them like boomerangs. Weiss was then forced on the defensive and created a large ice wall. She then stabbed Myrtenaster into the ground as her Arma Gigas summon crawled out of her glyph. Suddenly, a large beam destroyed the ice wall as well as the Arma Gigas before it could be fully summoned.
One of Vernal's weapons knocked Weiss back several feet.
"Don't think I'm going to let you take the easy way out." Vernal stated as she caught her weapon.
On the other part of the hall, Jaune was knocked to the ground.
"I'm starting to remember you, you're the dense one that can't tell when he's out of his league." Cinder stated while chuckling mercilessly.
Jaune got back up and clashed blades with Cinder again.
Ruby watched them fight, but was snapped out of her distraction by Emerald. She then transformed her weapons into their revolver forms and fired at Ruby, who twirled around Crescent Rose blocking Emerald's shots.
"Why are you doing this?! Salem's—" Ruby began.
"I don't care about Salem! But I owe Cinder everything. You want to fight her that bad? Be my guest." Emerald confessed.
She then activated her hallucination Semblance, creating a wall of fire which Cinder emerged from and charged at Ruby. Suddenly, Cinder's form disappeared, while Emerald tripped Ruby. Ruby fired a bullet that narrowly missed Weiss, who was blocking Vernal's shots with Myrtenaster. Weiss attempted to summon, but Vernal was too quick and prevents her from doing so.
Eventually Weiss managed to launch Vernal out of the way and prepared to summon again.
Suddenly, Vernal appeared in front of her and landed an attack that depleted Weiss' aura as Weiss let out a pained scream. Jaune heard her scream and looked in her direction as tears welled up in his eyes.
"Are you going to let her die too?" Cinder asked.
"Stop messing with me!" Jaune cried.
"If that's what you want…" Cinder trailed off, playfully.
Cinder then ignited her scimitar, which is now fully coated in flames. Cinder and Jaune proceed forward to clash. Ruby looked behind her and noticed this. She briefly thought back to the moment when Pyrrha Nikos died, and her eyes started to shine bright again.
"NOOOOOOOOOO!" Ruby cried as a bright light engulfed the area, but died down when Ruby was knocked unconscious in her head by Emerald.
Suddenly, Cinder fell to her knees, holding her arm in pain. She looked up, and barely missed Jaune's attack as it chipped her mask that concealed the left side of her face. As Cinder moved out of the way, Jaune tripped and fell.
Cinder got back up enraged, activating her Maiden power while doing so.
She then stepped on top of Jaune to hold him down.
"Did you think you actually had a chance against me?! You?!" Cinder cried in rage.
Jaune struggled to reach for his weapon while Cinder calmed herself and deactivated her Maiden power.
"You're just a failure with a death wish." Cinder stated.
"If I die buying them time, then it's worth it. They're the ones that matter." Jaune remarked while he struggled against her.
Cinder looked to Jaune's comrades as they fought against their respective foes, before smiling evilly back down to him.
"You think so?" Cinder questioned.
She then notices Weiss get knocked back several feet away, and begins to slowly proceed toward her while she conjures an obsidian spear.
"No… (he helplessly watched while Cinder continued to advance towards Weiss) NOOOOOOO!" Jaune cried.
Cinder threw the spear and it impaled Weiss through her abdomen. She gasped in shock as everyone stopped their fighting and stared in shock as well. The spear then disintegrated as Weiss went motionless and slumped forward.
The spear had caused her to fall into a deep sleep as she was gravely injured.
"WEISS!" Jaune cried.
Cinder was smirking as Jaune quickly got up and ran past Cinder. Oscar watched Jaune approach and pick up the unconscious Weiss from his position. He then looked over to the unconscious Ruby Rose.
Enraged, he smacked Leo with his cane, causing him to fall down the stairs like a cardboard box and into Hazel, who remained unfazed as Lionheart fell to the ground. Oscar quickly ran over to Ruby, with Nora joining him.
"Ruby, get up! Get up! We need you!" Oscar pleaded.
Hazel picked up Lionheart by his collar, lifting him off the floor.
"You're lettin' that boy make a fool of you." Hazel stated, gravely.
"That's not just a boy! It's Ozpin. (Hazel's eyes widened when he said this) He's already reincarnated!" Lionheart cried.
Hazel dropped Lionheart and looked over to Oscar, who was still trying to nudge Ruby to wake her up. He then noticed Ozpin's cane being held in the young farm boy's hand.
"Ozpin?" Hazel asked.
Suddenly, the usual calm demeanour of Hazel slowly turned to infuriated. Ruby stirred for a bit.
"Ruby! You—" Oscar began.
"OZPIN!" Hazel cried.
Oscar looked up.
Ozpin: (mentally) Oh no…
"You thought you could hide from ME?!" Hazel cried as he ripped his coat off, and then grabbed a two pairs of lightning Dust crystals from a couple of pouches on his legs.
"You'll pay for what you did, you'll die over and over again!" Hazel yelled in a fit of rage as he stabbed the lightning Dust into his arms, with his blood vessels turning yellow and popping out from his skin as well as having some lightning coat them. His eyes glowed yellow, and he let out an intimidating roar.
Oscar slowly backed away, holding his cane up cautiously.
"Do- do we fight?" Oscar asked in uncertainty.
Ozpin: (afraid) No, run!
Hazel leapt forward to charge into Oscar, but Qrow pushed him out of the way in time. Qrow transformed his sword into its scythe form while Cinder watched. Raven and Vernal walked to her sides.
"Ozpin is here?!" Cinder asked while seething.
"Is that a problem?" Raven asked.
"I'm not sure, but right now we got the upper hand. Let's not waste it. Leo! Open the path to the vault!" Cinder stated.
Lionheart got back up and approached the white goddess statue in the room. He took out his pocket watch and placed it in a small niche on the statue. The hands on the watch gradually spun faster and the statue lowered. Yang watched the situation in front of her before looking to Jaune and Ren as they tended to Weiss, and then over to Nora who was still trying to wake Ruby up. Nora looked over to Yang.
"Stop them! We've got your team covered!" Nora yelled.
Yang lingered a bit before heeding Nora's advice, but she got kicked to the ground by Mercury who then joined by Emerald.
"You wanna get to them? You're going to have to get through all of us." Emerald stated, coldly as she used her Semblance to create multiple copies of Mercury, which surrounded Yang.
Meanwhile, Jaune used his hands to apply pressure on Weiss' wound, while Ren held her wrist checking her pulse.
"Ren, talk to me!" Jaune cried, desperately.
"This is bad." Ren said, sorrowfully as he shook his head sadly.
Jaune's eyes widened in horror.
"No, no, no, no, not again! Weiss, c'mon, please!" Jaune begged.
Meanwhile, Vernal stepped onto the platform leading down to the vault.
"Make sure they leave Ruby alive. This won't take long." Cinder ordered to Lionheart.
Nova snuck onto the platform in order to set up a few more bombs near the vault and then close to the CCT tower
Cinder stepped onto the platform. Raven looked back a bit as she heard her daughter fighting vainly, shaking her head before she stepped on the platform too. The platform then started to go down.
Oscar was currently dodging out of the way as Hazel slammed his fist into the ground.
Ozpin: Oscar.
"No!" Oscar yelled.
Oscar dodged another attack from Hazel.
Ozpin: Oscar!
"I told you, no!" Oscar reaffirmed in defiance.
Oscar got punched back by Hazel several feet into a column.
Ozpin: Please, let me take over! I can handle him!
"You told me I needed to fight for myself! (standing back up) So I will." Oscar stated in confidence.
Ozpin: This is not your fight!
"What does that mean? Why is he so upset with us?" Oscar asked.
"He didn't tell you my tale, did he, boy? (he approached Oscar menacingly) I thought you looked familiar, to think that evil was inside you when our paths first crossed. (he held his fists in the air) Your blood won't be on my hands, it'll be on his." Hazel stated in his distorted voice due to the dust in his bloodstream.
Qrow jumped in the way to block Hazel's attack, but he slammed his fist into the ground, the shockwave knocking both him and Oscar back. They both got back up as Qrow engaged Hazel in battle.
"What was he talking about?" Oscar asked, in confusion.
"Tell him, Ozpin! Tell him how you KILLED HER!" Hazel cried.
"Her?" Oscar asked in a lost voice.
Ozpin: Gretchen Rainart was Hazel's sister. Despite her brother's wishes, she enrolled at Beacon Academy to become a Huntress and tragically lost her life on a training mission. Hazel… holds me responsible. Please, let me fight. I know Hazel. He's wounded in a way that cannot be healed.
Oscar looked shocked at the revelation.
"There's definitely more to that story" he muttered to himself.
"You know now! (tossing Qrow aside) You can forgive me for what I'm about to do." Hazel stated once he saw Oscar's expression.
"Did she know? Did she know the risk of being a Huntress?" Oscar asked.
"She was only a child! She wasn't ready!" Hazel cried.
"She made a choice! A choice to put others before herself! (holding his cane up defensively) So do I." Oscar assured.
Hazel just glared at him.
"Then you've chosen death!" Hazel yelled.
Oscar glared back with determination.
Ozpin: I'm sorry.
"What?" Oscar asked in surprise.
Oscar's eyes glowed and his body fell to the ground as Ozpin forcefully took over him. Ozpin looked up, and Hazel looked back at him, enraged.
"OzzzzPIIIIIIIIN!" Hazel bellowed.
Meanwhile, Jaune and Ren continued tending to Weiss.
"She's hardly breathing. I… I don't know what we can do…" Ren said, solemnly.
Both of them looked down to Weiss as she struggled to breathe, before suddenly stopping.
"No, it wasn't supposed to be like this! Please! (voice breaking) I can't lose anyone else…" Jaune lamented.
Jaune sadly closed his eyes. Suddenly, a faint shimmering sound was heard as a white aura started to coat over Weiss' body. Weiss suddenly gasped for breath again.
Hazel and Ozpin fought each other intensely. Lionheart tried to intervene by launching another attack from his weapon, but was stopped by Qrow. The two of them fought each other, with Qrow blocking Lionheart's projectiles.
Ozpin and Hazel engaged against each other again. Hazel tried to smash him with his fists, but Ozpin was too fast for him.
Eventually, Ozpin managed to knock Hazel down on all fours. Ozpin then twirled his cane and prepared to deliver the finishing blow, but Hazel roared and smashed his fists into the ground, creating another lightning shockwave.
Meanwhile, Weiss started to gasp and breathe normally again as the white aura encoating her continued to glow.
"Huh? Wha- what's happening?" Jaune asked in surprise.
"Weiss!" Ruby yelled as Nora helped her up on her feet and then quickly ran over to her teammate's side.
"What happened? What's going on?!" Ruby cried.
"I think she's going to be okay! She seems to be stabilizing." Ren reassured her while smiling.
With Weiss breathing again, Ruby smiled, relieved that her friend's life was not endangered anymore.
She then heard her sister struggling and looked over her shoulder to see Yang was getting knocked back by Mercury. Yang charged forward, but Mercury's form disappeared as a result of another one of Emerald's Semblance hallucinations.
Emerald then created an image of Raven, which Yang was hesitant to attack. Yang then blocked another attack from Mercury, but she was then knocked down again.
Ruby then looked over to Oscar fighting Hazel, with the latter's attack becoming too wild and unpredictable for the young boy. Oscar was then hit by one of Lionheart's projectiles, and held his shoulder in pain. Hazel was about to punch at Oscar again, but Qrow pushed Oscar out of the way and took the blow in his back, launching him upwards. Ruby then lifted Jaune's hands up to see that Weiss' wound had closed.
"Whatever you're doing, don't stop!" Ruby urged.
"I won't." Jaune stated, calmly.
"Good. Oscar needs help." Ruby pointed out.
"I'm on it." Ren replied.
"Jaune and Weiss still need cover!" Ruby urged.
Ren took out StormFlower, while Nora approached his side holding Magnhild.
"No one's gonna touch 'em." Nora stated with confidence while smiling.
"Okay, make it happen, RNJR!" Ruby exclaimed as she smiled back and then stood up while transforming Crescent Rose into its scythe form and flipped over.
She landed to her sister's side, knocking Emerald back. Emerald's Semblance copies of Mercury then disappeared, reforming back into the main Mercury.
"Thanks, sis. (standing back up) You okay?" Yang asked.
"No, I'm angry." Ruby replied, darkly as she proceeded forward to engage Mercury in battle alongside Yang.
The sisters switched positions and leapt forward to take on their opponents. Yang knocked into Emerald while Ruby took on Mercury. He used his left boot to kick Crescent Rose out of her hands.
"Uh oh, what're you gonna do now?" Mercury asked, sarcastically.
Mercury tried to throw a left cross, but Ruby ducked and headbutted him upwards - in a similar manner to what Ozpin taught her what to do. Mercury stepped a few feet backwards and held his nose in pain, before growling at Ruby.
"Whatever it takes to shut you up." Ruby replied as she picked up her weapon.
Meanwhile, Cinder, Raven and Vernal were riding the platform down to the vault with Nova in the background, unnoticed by them for the time being.
"Are you nervous, girl? The first Maiden in - why, I'm not sure anyone knows how many years - is about to open a vault. I would say it's quite an exciting time. Don't you feel honoured?" Cinder asked, curtly.
"No, I'm not concerned with any of this. All I care about is my tribe - my family. This is a burden, not an honour." Vernal replied, coldly.
"(chuckles) You've conditioned her quite well, Raven." Cinder complemented.
As the three continued to ride down the platform, they saw the vault under Haven Academy - a massive cavern with a large tree that has glowing orange flowers.
The platform reached the bottom, and the gate protecting the vault was lowered into the ground.
"Hm, it's certainly grander than Beacon's. I wonder what the extra effort was for." Cinder said, curiously.
"Can we please not linger?" Raven complained.
"After you." Cinder offered, courteously.
Vernal stepped off the platform first, followed by Cinder, and then Raven, the latter putting her mask back on.
-Raven's POV-
I followed Vernal and Cinder towards the Relic chamber.
As a white Fleur De Lis on the floor glowed with the circle glowing blue as two more circles with the same symbol glowed in a straight line to the Relic chamber's door.
The tree's flowers then glowed even more, and it's petals gently fell and floated around the vault.
One petal fell into Vernal's hand.
"Having fun?" Cinder asked, playfully.
Vernal glares back at Cinder as the petal in her hand dissolves into particles.
"Vernal, stay focused." I said in stern voice.
"Oh, come now, Raven, let her enjoy this. It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience." Cinder reasoned.
"How does this work?" Vernal asked.
"Once the Spring Maiden places her hand on the door, it will open. For you - and only you. Then I will walk into the vault, and retrieve the Relic. No one else. Is that clear?" Cinder stated.
"Yes." Vernal replied, coldly.
"It doesn't matter to us. Let's get this over with." I insisted.
"Alright then. Vernal, when you're ready." Cinder stated.
Vernal approached the golden door with a blue vine design.
I slowly reached for the hilt of my sword.
"You know, I've heard so many stories about you, Raven. They say you're a cunning leader, that you're strong, that you're clever." Cinder began as I stopped myself from getting my sword as she spoke.
Vernal hovered her fingertips close to the door.
"It's a shame that they're wrong…" Cinder finished as she then fired a blue, frost-like projectile from her hand.
"VERNAL!" I cried while reaching out but Cinder's attack froze me in place.
Vernal took her hand away from the door and took her weapons out on Cinder, but she was stabbed by something in her stomach. She looked down and noticed an elongated Grimm hand - similar to a Geist's - coming from Cinder's left arm.
"It's nothing personal, dear. (she approached Vernal) You're just not worthy of such power. (face to face with Vernal) But I am…" Cinder stated, over confidently in a menacing tone.
Vernal was pushed to the ground, and screamed out in pain as she struggled to get the Grimm hand out of her stomach.
I managed to make the ice coating begin to crack.
"So I will take… what is mine…" Cinder said, in a power-hungry way.
Eventually, Vernal stopped struggling, and went motionless and quiet.
Cinder smirked as she looked down on Vernal's body, but then realized that something was wrong.
"Wha- what is this? Where's the power?!" Cinder cried in confusion.
Then she heard ice crack from behind and turned around.
"You won't find it, because Vernal isn't the Spring Maiden… (took mask off) I am!" I announced.
I opened my eyes with a red flame-like effect glowing and trailing from them and looked at Cinder grimly.
-Third person POV-
While Jaune continued to heal Weiss, Nora suspected that Jaune unlocked his semblance, which allowed him to heal people. However, Jaune noted that he was not actually healing Weiss, just amplifying her Aura and not worrying about his own due to having a large amount of it.
Suddenly, Weiss opened up her eyes, stirring.
"Jaune?" Weiss asked.
Nora smiled before standing guard again.
Meanwhile, Lie Ren was taking on Hazel, who punched the former back into the wall.
Hazel then launched an electrical charge from his lightning-Dust enhanced arm, electrocuting Ren, causing him to scream in pain before falling to the ground.
"REN!" Nora yelled.
"Go! I've got her!" Jaune urged.
Nora nodded at him before proceeding forward.
"Jaune… what's happening?" Weiss asked, weakly.
"You took a heavy hit, you need to stay with me while the others fight." Jaune said, softly.
"That's… (sighs) … annoying." Weiss stated while rolling her eyes.
"Heh, good to have you back, Weiss." Jaune smiled.
Meanwhile, Qrow was knocked back into the wall and then fell to the ground next to the downed Ren, who struggled to get back up as well.
Ozpin used his cane to block flaming rocks being fired from Leo's weapon. Hazel charged forward and punched Ozpin several feet back.
"Hiding behind the face of a child? A monster like you must be stopped!" Hazel exclaimed.
Hazel made anger grunt as he prepared to attack again.
Nora charged at Hazel with a loud battle cry. She leapt into the air, but Hazel caught Magnhild and slammed Nora into the ground. Hazel then grabbed Nora's head, electrocuting her with his lightning Dust-enhanced arms. She screamed out in pain.
"How many more children must die for you?!" Hazel yelled.
Suddenly, Nora grabbed Hazel's wrist as her screams changed to determined yelling.
"Huh?" Hazel asked.
Nora, inadvertently enhanced by Hazel's electricity thanks to her Semblance, stood back up and flipped him over her shoulder. He rolled back several feet away. Nora then held Magnhild up defensively.
"His Semblance… he can block out pain. It's how he is able to handle injecting so much Dust into his body." Ozpin remarked to Nora.
Nora stared back at Hazel, who got back up.
"I don't need him to hurt…" Nora began, darkly.
Hazel screamed and charged forward again.
"I just need him to GO DOWN!" Nora cried as Hazel got hear her and prepped to swing Magnhild.
She then swung her hammer right into Hazel's chest, her counterattack launching him through the wall and outside onto Haven Academy's quad. Adam Taurus and White Fang soldiers looked on.
"What's going on in there?" A white fang soldier asked his leader.
"None of your concern…" Hazel replied, casually.
Adam and his followers stared in amazement as they watched Hazel get back up. He then took out a pair of red Dust crystals and stabbed them into his arms. He let out another roar as Ruby watched from inside the building. She then looked back to her friends and allies, all of them looking tired and worn out from the battle they've endured.
"Stay focused! Our friends are almost done here." Adam ordered.
Meanwhile near the CCT tower
Ilia in her shadow form was looking for the bombs that the white fang had planted when she was attacked by 'Blake'.
Ilia got out her whip and tried to strike her.
'Blake' blocked with her katana and switched the dust compartment to fire dust with a dial before blocking the attack.
Then she quickly got behind Ilia and knocked her out as quietly as possibly.
"Sienna, begin Phase 2" 'Blake' ordered into her scroll.
Then she switched the contacts.
"Akili, make sure the rest of the white fang are near the city for the big ambush" She instructed.
"We're on our way" Akili replied.
The line ended and 'Blake' changed back in Ilia before going back into the shadow in order to spy on Adam from afar.
Adam and his followers began to go back to work.
"ADAM!" a familiar voice cried which made them stop in their tracks.
They all looked up and saw Blake standing proudly on top of the roof of a nearby building.
"Blake?" Adam asked.
"Who is that?" Hazel wondered.
"Stand down!" Blake cried.
The White Fang soldiers aimed their firearms at her.
"Wait! (putting his hands up as the White Fang soldiers stood down, before laughing evilly) To think that I went through so much trouble to find you, only to have you deliver yourself to me." Adam gloated.
"This isn't what's right for the Faunus! Stop what you're doing and we can end this peacefully." Blake reasoned.
"You're wrong, Blake, and you can't stop us." Adam responded.
"No, I can't. Not by myself." Blake admitted.
"That's why she didn't come alone!" Sun cried.
Adam and his followers turned to the left in surprise as they saw Sun standing in front of a massive legion of Faunus all armed with blunt weaponry, their shields bared the old White Fang symbol.
"What?!" Adam cried.
"Who's there?" A white fang soldier asked.
They then turned to the right, and saw 'Ghira' leading another massive legion of Faunus.
"Your brothers and sisters." 'Ghira' replied.
One of the White Fang Soldiers lowered his weapon, recognizing one of the Faunus in the crowd.
"M- Mata?" that soldier asked, in shock.
Mata was the crowd holding a club and shield.
"Please… stop this…" Mata pleaded.
Adam and his followers looked all around them assessing the situation.
"Make no mistake, brothers! These are our enemies! And we will not let them ruin-" Adam began.
He was suddenly interrupted by a Mistral airship shining its searchlight down on himself and his group.
The Mistral police captain was on the airship with Kali.
"Adam Taurus, this is the Mistral Police Force! Lower your weapons and surrender peacefully." The mistral police captain announced on the ship announcer.
More Mistral airships arrived seconds later.
Back inside, Ruby knocked Emerald back a few feet. Emerald then hears the sounds of the Mistral airships as their searchlights shone through the windows. Everyone stopped what they were doing. Weiss leaned up as Jaune continued healing her.
"What's happening?" Weiss asked.
"I'm not sure. How are you feeling?" Jaune asked.
She sat back up.
"Better. (Weiss activated a summoning Glyph in her hand) Much better. Keep it up." Weiss replied, proudly with a small smile.
Back outside, Blake landed to the ground from the roof.
"How?! How did you do this?!" Adam exclaimed.
"Adam, it's over." Blake said, gravely.
Adam looked around as the crowds of Menagerie Faunus goy closer to him and his group. He then pulled out a detonator.
"Then it's over for all of us." Adam threatened.
"Adam! Remember me?" a voice cried.
He stopped and turned around as Sienna came out of the crowd to face him.
"I thought I killed you in cold blood" Adam remarked, icily.
"Well, you didn't, and I wasn't meant to die anyway. This is not what I wanted, and you know it. I still want peace even if I use violence sometimes" Sienna pointed out.
Adam growled.
"You have taken this too far, Adam and now you're getting justice" Sienna stated as her eyes narrowed in a serious way.
Adam readied his sword.
"You were willing to kill everyone even your FOLLOWERS to escape this mess YOU created! And remind me why you're doing this again" Sienna taunted.
"I am making humanity pay for WHAT THEY'VE DONE!" Adam exclaimed with outrage.
"And what was that deed that they did to you again?" Sienna whispered in his ear.
Adam's anger began to boil over.
"What do we do?!" Adam yelled at Hazel.
"This… is your business. Not mine. Fix it." Hazel stated, nonchalantly while cracking his knuckles.
Adam just glared back at him before facing Sienna.
Sienna smiled and activated her semblance to enact 'phase two' of the plan.
She rushed at Adam and he blocked her attack with his sword.
The two of them slashed towards each other with their weapons at a fast pace.
Adam managed to slash Sienna right cheek as her dark orange aura flashed for a second.
They both huffed as they stopped fighting.
Adam got his scroll out.
"VRSZ, tell the criminals that they can attack Mistral now" He ordered in a hushed voice.
"Roger that" Violet replied as the connection cut.
He put his scroll away before turning to Blake.
"I told you, Adam. It's over…" Blake echoed.
Adam, not having any of it, yelled out in frustration and charged forward toward Blake. He took out Wilt from Blush to slash at her, but Blake used her Semblance to get out of the way and she knocked him down by balling her fists together and hitting his back. Adam fell to the ground on his knees.
"KILL THEM!" Adam barked.
And thus, the battle between both Faunus groups began. The White Fang soldiers drew their weapons and attempted to fire at the Mistral airships. Sun leapt around twirling Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang in its staff form, while Ilia fought with her whip.
Hazel observed the situation in front of him, but was then suddenly impaled by a white, glowing stinger. He was then pulled back inside the building and sat up to see that Weiss was back on her feet with a summoned Lancer flying above her.
As she prepared to fight again, she gasped as she noticed someone entering the building. Yang and Ruby looked back as well and gasped when they see Blake, her eyes widening as she sees all of her teammates in the same place.
"Yang?" Blake asked.
Yang stared back at her in disbelief like she was in a trance of emotions.
"Yang! Go!" Ruby yelled while point at the vault's entrance which snapped Yang out of her trance.
Yang ran forward.
"No!" Emerald cried as she tried to stop Yang from leaving by reaching out for her left arm but missed as Yang kicked her to the ground while running.
Mercury grabbed her prosthetic arm which made Yang's eyes briefly turn red before turning back to normal.
She detached her arm and continued forward, causing Mercury to lose his balance for a bit. She jumped down the hole leading to the vault. Emerald and Mercury attempted to give chase, but they were stopped by an ice wall that suddenly appeared in front of them.
They turned around and see Weiss with her Lancer summon as she prepared to fight the both of them. Jaune watched from his position and smiled. Ruby then turned back around to look at Blake, and both noded at each other as the cat Faunus went back outside to join the battle.
Back down in the vault, Cinder looked to the motionless Vernal.
"Vernal was a decoy the whole time. (turning her attention back to Raven) The last Spring Maiden must've trusted you a great deal before she died. I bet that was a mistake…" Cinder said, bitterly.
Raven growled and shot her sword out of her hilt, and the two Maidens began their battle against each other. They struck at each other with a flurry of vicious sword strikes. The two eventually clashed, the strike broke Cinder's weapon and the shrapnel hurting her Grimm arm. She held her arm in pain.
"Aura can't protect your arm, it's Grimm." Raven stated.
Cinder pulled the shrapnel out of her arm and faced Raven again.
"You turned yourself into a monster just for power" Raven chatised.
"Look who's talking…" Cinder remarked as she created another sword while glaring.
The two proceeded forward to clash again. During their bout, Raven quickly switched between the various coloured blades in her hilt to counter Cinder's various weapons that she conjured. As their battle intensified, Cinder conjured a giant flaming sword while Raven used her Maiden powers to create a massive ice sword.
Nova snuck to the lift and waited for the fight to end.
Hopefully, back-up will get here at the right time so I can finish this off she thought.
In the background as Raven and Cinder fought at high speed a song played in the background, seemingly addressed to Cinder.
Their clash created a massive shockwave that shook the cavern, with the combatants above ground also feeling the tremors. Due to their battle, the giant stalactites hanging from above started to drop. Both Maidens jumped back to dodge out of the way. As Raven prepared for her next strike, Cinder's Grimm arm elongated through the dust and grabbed Raven's neck.
As the Grimm arm slowly drained her powers, Raven noticed something and smirked. She sent out a frost-like attack from her palm and froze Cinder's feet in place as more boulders from the cave in crashed down on her. Raven, now free from her grip, did a massive leap into the air and landed on top of one of the falling stalactites. She looked down and noticed Cinder survived the cave in, using her fire powers to fly up to her. The two fought their way around the falling stalactites. Eventually the stalactites landed back on the ground, and both Maidens wereon their knees, panting in exhaustion while their Auras shimmered as they were about to break.
"Had enough yet?" Raven asked as she got back up.
"Shut up!" Cinder yelled.
"If you were stronger or more clever, then maybe… you'd remember to watch your back!" Raven remarked.
Cinder glared at her, wondering what the Spring Maiden was talking about, but then gasped as she looked behind her and noticed the dying Vernal aiming one of her weapons at her and fired.
Cinder blocked the attack, but Raven quickly dashed up behind her and landed a devastating lightning attack on her face, shattering her mask and revealing the heavily scarred left side.
The sheer force of the attack sent Cinder over the edge of the vault's walkway and above the abyss. She stared back up at Raven, who used her powers to freeze the Fall Maiden into an ice statue. Cinder's frozen body fell down into the dark depths of the abyss, fading from view.
Raven looked down as she watched her enemy continue plunging, before deactivating her Maiden powers and sighed.
"Thank you, Vernal." Raven said, solemnly as she sadly looked over to the now-deceased Vernal, whose eyes remained open on her lifeless body.
Raven walked over to Vernal's corpse and gently closed her eyes. Raven then proceeded to the Relic chamber's doorway. She activated her Maiden powers again and began the process to unlock the chamber. Eventually, the door opened up, and on the other side, a massive desert was shown with a path leading to the Relic of Knowledge, which rested on a stone pedestal.
Just as she was about to enter the chamber, Raven heard the sound of Ember Celica and turned around to glare at her daughter landing behind her. Yang did a three-point landing pose and stood back up to face her mother.
To be continued-
Next time on RWBY AU,
It will be the end of Volume 5 my way but this will not be the end of my story.
And don't worry, Neo have a bigger presence in my version of 'Volume 6' with Team VRSZ.
I'm going to continue working on this in late June after all my exams are over.
See ya next time, guys!
Grace, out!
