I'm A/N: welcome back!
How did you like seeing ancient technology make a comeback?
Just imagine the terror when word gets out that the bullet is meant to kill humans.
Like puny ants, you will all scatter, and the Wizard will return to Patch alone, having failed humanity once again.
I wonder how his power will evolve this time.
"I still have faith in the lives of the people."
The people who's lives you control, manipulate, and change.
That is your power, great wizard. What you truly are, is a fool.
All the way back to the first wizard, Enoch.
The wizard of Noah, who tried to save himself from the downfall of his time.
And the son of his son, his descendent, the wizard Silas, who manipulated his powers to help humanity.
All the way to you, who finally used the powers in the ways of Enoch and Noah.
Unlike them, you will fail.
"There is no way to fail. The choices humanity makes, are its own. The choices you made, Salem, were your own. You have only yourself to blame for your state."
Is it evil to want to live forever?
To want to rule over all?
To be scared of death?
To want power?
"To live forever is to leave behind humanity, if you do so, you have no right to rule over all, just as death is a gateway to eternity, you have no reason to fear it, and you sought power that was not yours to take.
You have won battles Salem, but even your wins have been calculated against you.
In the end, because in giving up humanity, you gave up your death, you will cease to exist, you walking corpse."
Ozpin opened his eyes. He was done talking with Salem, it was a lost cause. He looked out the window of his tower.
It was true, the bullet was back, and with it came fear. Salem's followers must have recived the knowledge from her, a new way to lure Grimm into the city, a new plan of destruction.
There was much more Salem was planning, the two chess masters would one day face off, but Ozpin would not be the chess master of humanity at that point.
He knew it would be his successor, he had grown along in years, and Salem had reached immortality, at the cost of her humanity.
He knew his tower would fall, and he would need to get to Patch in order to preserve the world. His apprentice would find him there. Maybe.
It could turn out completely different then what he was planning. But then, chess is about the twists and turns, the unsuspected moves were what made the game interesting, if not agrivating.
He sat up in his chair, today's first match would be Pyrrah Nikos and Penny Paladina, and the match had just begun.
Today was also the day Amber's life support would run out.
Today was the day Ozpin dreaded.
High above the top of his tower, Amity Colleseum floated lazily in the sky.
In it sat Ruby, and team JNR, their P stood down below them in the rink, looking ready for action.
Emerald sat on the other side of the Colleseum, even though the rest of her team had gone back to Haven, she had told Ruby that she wanted to catch the rest of the tournament in person, and that she might never get another chance to do so.
Mercury was the exception, according to Ironwood, he'd broken out of custody, and disapeared, his team had no idea where he was.
Down in the arena, Pyrrah battled Penny. That's when Ruby's sniper skills noticed Emerald's soft red eyes flash a deep sharp scarlet red, like that of a bleeding rose. Ruby immidietly looked down into the arena,
"Oh no..." She whispered, and stood up. Despite Jaune yelling out her name to get her to stop, she bolted down the nearest hallway and into the staff area.
Once there, she stopped cold.
Mercury, fugitive and all, stood before her, arms crossed and a smile on his face.
"Mercury?" She asked, he continued to smile at her, wide and unsettling.
She recognized the look.
It was similar to that of Rado.
It was disturbing.
"What are you doing here?" She yelled, before realizing she was loosing time. She tried to go around him.
He blocked her path.
"Alright, fine." She stated, and started zigzagging from left to right. She used her semblance in her newfound way. Moving quickly through the air instead of the ground.
She was nearing a clear way past Mercury when seemingly out of nowhere, He lifted his foot and slammed it into the soft flesh of Ruby's stomach.
He shot a round of dust through the weapon that was his shoe.
With a sharp yelp, Ruby flew backwards.
She hit the ground with a large thud and sat up. She looked to where Mercury was still standing, arms crossed, and that horrifying smile still wide on his face.
Thinking fast, she pulled out her scroll, team JNPR was closest to her, as well as SSSN and CFVY, so she dialed Jaune's number.
A shooting sound was heard. A bullet flew out of Mercury's left boot.
It flew strait at Ruby, and hit her scroll. The scroll flew out of her hand, breaking into pieces upon impact with the ground.
Ruby's attention shot up at her attacker. The boy she had once considered a friend stared down at her with a heartless stare.
"Mercury, why?"
Mercury stared at her, "I prefer to win." Was the only thing he said before walking towards her.
Ruby scrambled to her feet, turned around, and sped towards the door.
She could hear the shots coming from both of Mercury's boots. One shooting bullets and another shooting dust.
She was close to the door, and running as fast as she could.
Rose petals scattered across the floor of the hallway, but as Ruby neared the entrance, she noticed another person there. Green hair, and red eyes. Emerald stood in the doorway.
Ruby skidded to a halt in front of her friend, rose petals flying out from behind her as the wind she'd created rushed past her. Emerald hardly flinched.
"Emerald?" Ruby asked, before peering behind her.
Mercury stood there, in all his glory.
"Emerald, what's going on?" She pleaded with the girl she called a friend, but the green haired teen said nothing to her.
"She really wants a little kid cause she has 'special' eyes?" Emerald wasn't talking to Ruby, she was looking past the fifteen year old and towards Mercury.
Ruby stared back and forth between the two in confusion. 'Special eyes?' What did that mean?
Mercury shrugged.
Ruby had to get out of this situation. Her saving grace was when she tuned back into the conversation between the people she decided were not her friends.
An argument had somehow sparked.
Emerald had even taken a few steps away from to door in her anger.
Ruby inched towards the unguarded door.
At the last second, she burst through the door and ran down the hallway. They wouldn't attack with so many witnesses around. She ran towards the stands.
Ruby froze the moment she saw the outcome of the battle. The reason why everything was quiet, the reason why the only sounds to be heard were Ooblek's voice yelling those familiar words,
"Kill-the-Feed!"
Her world slowed down. For the first time in a very long time for Ruby, time seemed to crawl at the speed of a snail.
She fell to the ground, not even thinking.
Her only thoughts were on the fact that her friend, someone she'd opened up to, someone who'd confided her biggest secret in her, was laying in pieces on the floor of the ring.
Her other friend stood in horrified shock, swaying unsteadily on her feet at the sight. Green eyes dilated in her oun distraught.
Ruby stared at the ground, numb to the world around her, tears streaming out of her eyes.
Had they not been hidden by her hair, anyone who looked close enough would've seen a flash of silver light every so often.
Down in the tower below, Ozpin stared at his screen in horror.
This girl from Atlas was a robot?
Ironwood had indeed been experimenting with aura.
The screens turned red. Ozpin's memories flew into the past. All the way back to Silas.
Screens turned red, people lost control over their own technology, a message of war was given, and Grimm destroyed the entire civilized world.
Ozpin stared in shock as a voice of a woman began to speak,
"This, is not a tragedy, this is what happens when you trust those with the same amount of power as you, if not less. You put your trust in men who think they have so much power, but are in fact, just men."
The voice paused, and Ozpin tightened his hold on his cane. So many huntsman and huntresses had lost their lives, even their freedom to this never ending war. Trapped in a place where the passage of time froze, where clocks lay stagnant.
The voice of Salem's follower continued,
"One man was audacious enough to not only control the kingdom, but the protectors of the kingdom as well. You all choose to look the other way as he takes control of an unsuspecting kingdom."
A hint of anger resounded in the voice of the woman,
"Why, I ask you all, did Atlas feel the need to create a robot masquerading as a young girl? Do the Grimm even know the difference?"
An err of defiance arose in the woman's voice, and in the distance, the calls of airborn Grimm could be heard,
"So, as you find yourselves in a never ending night, forced into hiding by things that want nothing more then to kill you, who do you trust? Where do your loyalties lie?"
The screen returned from its deep red to normal hues of blue.
But the silence lasted for only a few minutes.
In her dorm, Yang heard the cries of Grimm.
Frantically she turned on her scroll. She tried to tune into the channel playing the tournament, but all she heard was,
"Where do your loyalties lie?" Before a red screen turned back to the screen of cut feed from amity Colleseum.
Thats when the beeping sounded.
Blake and Weiss sat in a cafe, Weiss' coffee sat untouched on the table, Blake's tea was in her frozen hand.
Both drinks had long since cooled down.
The girls weren't paying attention to their drinks though, their eyes had been glued to the screen above them since the moment one of their closest friends had been torn apart.
Then that woman had started speaking on the screen.
Then the beeping sounded.
"Pyrrah!" Jaune yelled.
It wasn't her fault, he had to get down to her!
The beeping began as he banged on the shield separating him from his teammate.
Ren, Nora, Coco, Sun, Neptune, and the rest of their teams stared in shock, until Ren looked up towards the sky, Yatsuhashi doing the same.
High above them, large Grimm could be seen, flying down towards Amity Colleseum.
The beeping sounded all around them, but with the current situation, it seemed to fade into the background.
Qrow and Tai were sitting in the Qrow bar, both stared up at the screen in shock, the beeping began to sound.
"You go help people get to a safe place, I'll go find Ozpin!" Qrow yelled, at his old friend before running out of the bar. Tai looked at the bartender, who stared back at him in confusion.
"Find Ruby and Yang!" He yelled after his old partner, who rounded the corner.
"Got it!" The voice of Qrow sounded, before a flash was vaugly seen, and a crow flew by the entrance in the opposite direction.
Glynda was running as fast as she could towards the tower when a crow started to fly alongside her. A flash could be seen before Qrow was running next to her,
"What'd'ya think Oz is goin to do?" Qrow asked as they entered the building.
"Do we want to know?" Was Glynda's answer as the two stepped into the elevator.
All the while, the computerized voice commanded people everywhere to stay calm.
Ozpin watched the Grimm fly by, he wasn't planning this, he needed to choose a successor from a living generation.
He needed to do it fast. Of three people, he had two good candidates.
But one definetly wasn't ready.
The other, was Qrow.
He didn't have the time to tell him everything though. He just needed to cement the link.
Right on que, Qrow and Glynda rushed into his office. His screens had long since been muted,
"Oz, what do we-"
"Glynda, get to the city, set up a safe zone, Qrow, come with me!" His voice was loud, boarder line angry.
Qrow and Glynda shared a look before Ozpin yelled again,
"Hurry!"
Glynda turned on her heel and left the room, taking the elevator down. Ozpin sat down in his chair and put his head in his hands. By normal standards, he was old, but by Wizard's standards, he was still the youngest since Enoch.
"The legend of the Maidens, we both know it well." He looked up at Qrow, who stared down at him in confusion.
Grimm were attacking Vale, Pyrrah Nikos had just killed someone, granted if it wasn't a robot, Aura would've been sufficient protection. People were dying as the two spoke, but regardless, Qrow nodded.
"Have you ever wondered what happened to the Wizard?"
Qrow seemed confused by this question, and crossed his arms over his chest,
"I always assumed he died or something." Qrow's speech pattern sounded remarkably like Ruby's, reminding Ozpin of the true family relations.
"Would you believe me if I told you I was the wizard?" Ozpin asked, eyes trained on the face of the person he'd just chosen to succeed him.
Should Salem capture him, his power would transfer as though he was dead. If he was killed, his power would also transfer, you know, because of the whole death thing.
"Oz-"
Ozpin cut him off yet again.
"How old do you think I am, Qrow?" He looked up at Qrow in curiosity, and Qrow shrugged,
"I dunno, fifty, sixty?" Qrow hazarded a guess.
Qrow himself was almost thirty-five, Summer would be thirty-four, had she not disapeared at twenty-two years old.
Tai and Raven were close to the same age as well, being the same age group was lucky considering Beacon excepted students at all ages above sixteen, mostly seventeen, sixteen if you skipped a grade, Ruby was an anomaly.
Summer had been sixteen, Tai had been eighteen, Raven was Qrow's twin sister, though Qrow always liked to boast that he was older by three days... People always got really confused by that.
Ozpin smiled slightly in amusement,
"No, much older then that," he paused, taking in Qrow's surprise, "around one-hundred and fifty-two years old actually."
Qrow opened his mouth to speak, but closed it again, his face taking on a look of utter bewilderment.
"I'm not the origional Wizard, or even the second, far from it actually. I'm also not the oldest Wizard," Qrow gave a weak smile, and Ozpin continued,
"The way things are going now, I may stay the youngest." Ozpin stood up,
"As it stands now, I may stay the youngest. And you may take my place."
Qrow froze, and held a hand out, his arms still mainly crossed over his chest,
"Hold on, Grimm are attacking the city, Amber is about to die, Salem and her cronies are about to destroy the kingdom, and we're talking about ancient powers that I may or may not get!?"
"Qrow!" The younger man stopped in his rant, and looked at the older man in question, ignoring the loud sounds of the Grimm, right outside their window,
"Do you understand what this means!? Silver eyes, a power given by the Wizard, manipulated by the wizard, and modified into maidens, combined with the very power that made it!?
Wether or not you want this power, if it doesn't fall into your hands, the only other elegable person who will treat this power correctly, isn't even ready for the power in the first place!"
Qrow stopped, and looked at the man in question, "Who, are these people?" He asked, and Ozpin sighed,
"James Ironwood will not use the power correctly, you know that, and Jaune Arc is just not ready." Ozpin sighed. Then he turned his eyes out to the window,
"So, will you take up the torch if and when I am through?"
Qrow gave a soft groan before answering,
"Yes, I will." His eyes dropped to the floor.
Ozpin drew his eyes away from the window, "Good, now, please go join up with Glynda, and take those contacts out and use that power of yours for once."
Ruby sat on the ground, the woman's broadcasted message had stopped long ago, and tears streamed out of her eyes.
The beeping stirred her into action.
Getting to her feet, Ruby stood shakily, she looked down into the ring below her.
She looked up at the shielded roof above her. An ancient Nevermore was banging on the strong dust powered shield.
She looked down again, Pyrrah was swaying on her own feet, her eyes had never left the severed remaines of a robot that had been so alive. Ruby looked up at the Nevermore again, the shield broke.
Ruby disapeared, rose petals scattering.
Pyrrah hadn't moved since the moment Penny had been killed by her own weapon.
The girl had seemed so alive, so naïve, so, motivated.
They had fought, and she'd seemed so courageous, so excitable, then, in that moment, when her swords had multiplied by the hundreds, she adjusted her semblance accordingly.
She never expected the cords that controlled Penny's weapons to slice her in pieces.
She never expected that she would be pitted against a robot.
She never expected to watch a person her age die.
She stood staring at the mangled remains of someone who she knew hung out with Ruby a lot.
Oh God.
Ruby.
What would her younger friend think?
Would she hate her?
Pyrrah didn't want one of her only friends to hate her.
Her hand covered her mouth and tears began to form in her eyes.
She heard banging above her, but she didn't care enough to look.
She heard someone yelling her name, but she didn't care enough to listen.
This... Thing, seemed so alive, so, human...
Had she murdered someone?
Did this girl have an aura?
She had an aura meter.
A shriek from a Grimm she just realized was there could be heard.
Pyrrah looked up.
Flying down out of the broken barrier was an ancient Nevermore.
It was flying strait towards her.
Move!
Her mind shouted at her,
Pick up your weapons and fight!
Pyrrah Nikos did not move.
she couldn't, she couldn't, she couldn't.
It's going to kill you!
Pyrrah Nikos stood in her place, staring up at the Grimm in horror. It was going to kill her.
Run.
She stared up at it,
Run!
It screeched and wind whipped her hair.
To her own disgust, she watched the remains of Penny Palindina slide across the floor.
She never noticed her leader running towards her, they both flew backwards from the blast of air.
Jaune stood up quickly, but Pyrrah stayed in her sitting position.
Get up and RUN!
She did not move.
Rose petals flew strait past her, a moving flash of red, Ruby Rose was flying strait through the air towards the Grimm.
Ruby Rose was proficient with almost every type of weapon imaginable.
Except for a mace. An early version of Crescent Rose was more like her uncle's weapon, part sword as well.
But the sword didn't feel right in the end.
Didn't mean she wasn't good at wielding it.
And as the observers of the tournament weren't allowed to carry weapons, one of Penny's swords would have to do.
Ruby had also grasped the new aspect of her semblance and had become very adept at traveling through the air as well as on the ground.
The thought had occurred to her that maybe, just maybe, she could change directions in midair.
But these were all things that were far from the mind of Ruby Rose as she picked up a sword belonging to her dead friend, and flew through the air at incredible speed, slamming the sword into the face of the Grimm threatening her other friend.
She twisted it into the black, soulless flesh of the Nevermore before ripping the sword out of the bird Grimm, and landing on the ground, between a compromised Pyrrah, a nervousness Jaune, and a dangerous creature.
She held the sword just the way her uncle had taught her, she yelled in a shaky, tear driven voice, filled with unbridled anger,
"Leave her ALONE!" She yelled, and watched the bird take flight.
She angled the sword just as her uncle had taught her, keeping an eye on the bird as it circled her and her friends.
Flashes of metal could then be heard and seen, zooming in through the broken barrier.
Ruby stared at them past the sword in confusion, the bird fell out of the sky, and teams upon teams jumped over the railing and bypassed the broken barrier, retrieving their weapons.
SSSN, CFVY, JN(P)R, FNKY, NDGO, all her friends that she'd made stood before her, all retrieving weapons from the lockers they'd used as weapons.
Ruby watched in awe as the Nevermore tried to get back up.
It's massive body shuddering in the closest thing to pain it could feel, and within seconds, all the students, working as one unit, defeated something even seasoned hunters wouldn't take on alone.
With the pressing danger out of the way, Ruby turned to Pyrrah and Jaune. Jaune backed off so Ruby could speak to the girl.
But Pyrrah was already in tears, she clutched a piece of fabric in her hands and looked up at her youngest friend,
"Ruby..." She took a shuddering breath, "I'm so sorry." She clutched the fabric even tighter. And looked at her friend, tears streaming from her brilliant emerald eyes.
Ruby smiled softly, sadly, "It's okay, it wasn't your fault."
"Yeah," Jaune was walking over, Pyrrah's weapons in hand.
He helped the other girl to her feet,
"That woman on the broadcast, she's the one who did this." He held out Pyrrah's weapons and gave her a warm, goofy smile.
Pyrrah returned his smile, soft, and slightly forced.
She took her weapons from his hands, and the two turned to look at Ruby, who smiled at them both.
Screeches from Grimm sounded near the top of the Colleseum.
Strange lion-like flying creatures rimmed the roof.
"Griffins." Ren voiced the name of the Grimm everyone saw, and Ruby frowned, setting down Penny's sword gently,
"Sun, I need your scroll." Sun nodded and used his tail to retrieve his scroll from his pocket, and toss it at Ruby.
The fifteen year old caught it and opened an app, pressing her thumb to the screen it read her fingerprint, then she typed in the coordinates.
She spun around as her locker slammed into the ground some fifteen feet behind her.
She threw the scroll back towards Sun, who caught it and put it away, she then ran towards her locker, of which automatically opened after ten seconds.
The moment she reached the metal box, a large griffin landed on top of it and snapped at her.
She shielded her face from the attack. Within seconds, shots from a range of weapons was heard, and the Grimm fell to the ground before disintigrating.
"Thanks!" She yelled towards her friends before grabbing and deploying her scythe. She turned to the many people standing in the arena with her.
She looked up at the some twenty Griffins beginning to converge on them. She held onto her weapon a bit tighter,
"Let's get them." She stated, and lunged upwards, trying the aspect of her seblance she'd wanted to try out for a few weeks now.
Flying straight up, rose petals scattered below her. To others, she looked like a red streak.
One aspect deemed possible, she used her scythe to slice a griffin's wing off. She also used that momentum to change directions.
While Ruby zipped around above them, killing whatever she could, Pyrrah shot her spear upwards and impaled a griffin in the chest.
As she called her weapon back to her, the griffin fell to the ground before shaking itself off.
That is until Yatsuhashi crushed it with his sword.
Coco deployed her weapon and began shooting at every flying Grimm that she could. The strength of her weapon let her decimate everything she hit.
Grimm were falling down everywhere and disintegrating upon contact with the ground. Within a minute, all the nearby Grimm were dead, and vanishing.
"We should go." Ren spoke up, looking to where another mass of Grimm could be seen on the horizon, and nearing fast.
Most everyone nodded and as a group, ran toward an exit.
Yang looked at her beloved pet dog and sighed. She stood up, and ran towards the door,
"Come on!" She yelled to Zwei as she opened to door and ran out. In the empty Hallway, she opened the scroll she'd never put down and called her partner.
Blake answered almost immidietly, "Yang!? Are you okay?" She asked and Yang ran down the hallway. Growling could be heard as she ran past a dorm room whose door had been thrust open by something large with claws.
"I'm fine, but Grimm are over running the school!"
"What!?" Weiss' voice yelled over Blake's side of the scroll.
"It's fine, I'm fine, have you seen Ruby?" Yang asked, ignoring the heiress.
"No, I thought she was with you?" Blake stated as sounds of Weiss taking out a young beowolf could be heard in the background.
Yang stopped running and stared at her scroll. Blake sensed her unease from the silence on the other end.
"I'm sure she's fine Yang, she's our leader after all." Blake assured her partner. Yang sighed,
"Yeah..." Before hanging up and putting her scroll away. She continued down the hallway and towards the stairs. The elevator seemed a little dangerous right now.
Ruby had run along with her group of friends towards the airship docks. They all skidded to a halt at the sight of General James Ironwood, walking up the ramp into his ship.
"Hey!" Ruby yelled, skidding to a halt just in front of him. He turned around.
Saying he looked stressed was putting it lightly. He looked tired, angry, stressed, and maybe, just maybe, a little tiny fraction scared.
Jaune spoke next, and Ruby was thankful to not be in the spotlight for any extended period of time.
"What should we do?" He asked, motioning to the people running around trying to evacuate the Colleseum. The General sighed and turned to completely face them.
"Grimm have over run the city, the White Fang is attempting to take over during the chaos, and some..." He stopped and looked around at the children he was in the presence of, then he turned to look at his ship, flying off into the distance.
"Some, bag-a-bon has stolen my ship."
"How can we help?" Pyrrah spoke up, looking up at him with eyes still glistening from unshed tears. The General sighed,
"You have two choices. Stay, and fight for the protection of your city, of your school, or run away. Flee, save yourselves." His gaze softened, and he added in a lighter, empathetic tone, "No one will fault you if you do."
With that, he turned and continued into his ship. The ramp lifted up and closed behind him, leaving the students to look at each other in shockSun laughed nervously, "Oh come on, now who in their right mind would run away during this?" He turned and motioned for the rest to follow him to an empty airship.
the large group of children climbed in, and Flynt and Neon, hailing from Atlas, and the only ones who knew how to fly a ship, started the engines. The airship lifted off the ground. Ruby stood next to Sun and Ren, staring out the glass covering of the ship.
Close by, she could see the general's flagship flying, a plan came to her, a crazy, ludicrous, plan.
"If you see Apanyone from my team, tell them I'm okay." She stated to no one in perticular, the ship was mostly silent after all, before running back towards the ramp that had closed.
She pressed the button to open the hatch as she passed it, and ignoring Sun's yell of her name, she jumped out before anyone could do anything.
Ren quickly closed the hatch. "Do you think she'll be alright?" He asked, turning to the rest of the students on the ship.
No one answered him
Qrow had found Glynda and Taiyang in the city. Vale was overrun, members of the White Fang were everywhere. Grimm were running about.
And Qrow had a lot on his mind. His patience was slipping. His blows weren't as strong as they usually were. He needed to fall back on the power he was given at birth.
"Cover me!" He yelled to the two teachers he was with, and retracted his sword. He jumped in between the two and took his contacts out.
"Ready?" Shouted Tai, as he killed yet another Grimm.
Suddenly, the robots of Atlas that had been dispersed around them stopped moving, and a strang whirring sound could be heard momentarily.
They all straightened up.
They turned around, guns pointed at the three people standing there.
Tai raised his fists, a weapon much like Ember Cecilia attached to them.
Glynda raised her riding crop.
Qrow, contacts in hand, opened his brilliant Silver eyes and stared at the Grimm, all of which stopped their advancement. The Grimm seemed to be watching his every move in anticipation.
The robots moved forwards.
The Grimm moved forward.
Tai and Glynda launched themselves at the robots as a Qrow's eyes emitted a silver glow.
The Grimm all froze in place, and as Tai and Glynda began to take out the robots, the grimm began to disintegrate, all the while, the light glow pulsated from Qrow's eyes.
The Grimm were gone. But another, larger wave of robots was approaching.
The three readied themselves.
That is, until a fourth showed up. Ironwood in all his narcissistic glory came walking around the corner. With three shots of his pistol-like weapon, he took out the humongous wave of his own robots.
"This sector is clear, we can use it as a safe zone..." He stopped talking, Qrow was staring at him.
"You never told us you had silver eyes." He tried to get Qrow to speak, but he only withdrew his weapon. It unfurled first into a sword, then into a scythe. He began running towards the man, picking up speed as he went.
Tai and Glynda didn't move.
"Qrow! I didn't do this!" He yelled holding his hands up in surrender.
The man continued towards him and jumped into the air. With one mightily slash of his scythe, which was much larger then Ruby's, he sliced a Griffin in half.
His weapon had barely penetrated the Grimm, yet whole body of the soulless creature fell in two, completely stopped from reaching its unsuspecting target.
He landed around six or seven feet away from Ironwood and laughed.
Glynda stepped forward, "We know it wasn't you." She stated in an annoyed tone. Ironwood focused back on Qrow, "Silver eyes?" He asked, confused.
Qrow shrugged, "What can I say, a lot of people want me dead." He said nonchalantly. Ironwood nodded, they could talk about that later.
"Qrow, we need to go find the girls." Tai stated, pointing towards the school.
"I need to get to my ship." Ironwood stated. A loud sound could be heard above them, and the group looked up.
Ironwood's ship crashed into the ground. They watched as it fell and a small explosion rattled the ground around them upon impact.
Qrow turned, amusement dancing in his eyes ad he scratched his head, a trait Ruby had obviously picked up from him, "well." He decided to look on the bright side for once, "Won't be much of a walk."
Once Ruby jumped out of her friends' ship, she used her weapon to propel her back to the Colleseum. She landed on her feet and ran back into the deserted structure.
She entered the arena and ran towards her locker. Quickly she checked to make sure it would still work. Once that was decided, she dismantled the system that told the locker where to go, and wrenched the blade of Crescent Rose into the system that controlled directions.
With a simple press of a button, the rocket took off. Ruby used her beloved weapon to control what direction she went in. She passed by the ship that her friends were in, and was pretty sure they noticed her. If they did, she hoped they wouldn't follow.
She directed the locker towards Ironwood's flagship. As she neared it, she readied herself to jump onto the top.
Now!
She wrenched her weapon out from the locker's system, and jumped off the locker. She landed with a loud thud on the ship spinning her scythe around to help her balance. Slowly she stood up and scanned the roof for an access hatch.
She had hardly moved more then five or six feet when the girl with the weird hair, (Neo? She thought she'd heard Roman call her by) exited through a hatch she'd been looking at. Umbrella closed, she looked at the girl with a smile before snapping a picture of her surprised face and typing something into her scroll.
Ruby frowned. She didn't have much time to think though, as the weird brown and pink girl lunged towards her. Ruby tried to hit her with the back of her weapon's blade, but the small girl was too agile.
She was almost a foot smaller then Ruby after all.
After about thirty seconds of neither person being able to land a hit, Neo managed to slam Ruby backwards. All without opening her umbrella. Ruby stood up, fighting the wind to keep a foothold.
When she looked up, Roman Torchwick was standing next to Neo. He smiled a deep, annoyed, smile before speaking.
"Well Red, we always seem to meet in the most agrivating of places. Do we not?" He asked, leaning on his cane. Ruby just scowled at him.
"What are you doing? We need these ships, or the Grimm will take over!" She yelled above the wind in an effort to get the man to realize his error. The man just shrugged, his smile ever present. A smile Ruby was beginning to associate with evil.
"That's the plan!" He yelled back before shooting a round of dust through his weapon at her. Ruby spun her scythe to block, and slid back a few feet.
"But why!?" She yelled, running towards him, scythe at the ready. Torchwick nocked her down easily.
"Why?" He asked, watching her get back to her feet, knowing that her effort was in vain. "Why not?" He asked, his smile widening.
"But people will die!" Ruby argued, scrambling to her feet. She swung her weapon at Roman who easily moved out of the way. Her silver eyes glinted in annoyed anger.
"Sometimes that happens!" He yelled, nocking her back to the ground, "you want to know why?" He asked, but didn't wait for the answer. "Because the real world is dark." He slammed his cane into her side, ignoring the fifteen year old's gasp of pain,
"The real world is painful!" He hit the girl with his cane again, and Neo smiled in the background, "the real world isn't all sunshine and rainbows!" Ruby scrambled to her feet before the man could slam his cane into her again.
"But why do you have to do this?" She yelled, holding Crescent Rose so that it curled around her protectively. She was close to the edge of the ship now. Looking down, one could see the thousands of Grimm taking over the sky's below. Ruby decided not to look down.
Looking forward Ruby saw Roman Torchwick. The ship took a giant lurch as a Grimm flew up the side of the ship, snapping at Ruby who easily killed it just before loosing her balance because of the lurch.
She fell off the side of the ship, but luckily for her, Crescent caught the edge of the hunk of metal, giving Ruby a strong hold on her flying lifeline. She looked up to where Roman and Neo now stood, towering over her. Neo smiled and pointed the tip of her closed umbrella down at her.
"This is where it ends Red." Torchiwick yelled, he sounded elated, almost giddy. Ruby thought fast. The tip of Neo's umbrella was incredibly sharp, long and pointed. But her umbrella was closed. Looking closely, Ruby noticed a button. If she reached forward she could probably just barely reach it.
She only had a few seconds anyway.
Ruby leaned forward, and pressed the button as fast as she could. The umbrella popped open, the sharp point retracting into the top of the weapon as it opened.
Immediately the wind dragged the umbrella away from Ruby, just in time to let the younger girl see the look of surprise on the shorter girl before the wind picked her up, and dragged her off through the Grimm infested sky's.
"Neo!" Roman yelled, his voice filled with anguish. He turned back just as Ruby heaved herself over the side of the ship. "You!" He yelled, his voice deep and full of anger. He advanced towards the girl with the scythe, cane raised in complete fury.
"People die." He stated, walking towards her, "people lie, cheat steal, and kill." He stated, coming even closer, "Do you know why I'm still alive?" He asked, five feet away from her now. Ruby raised her scythe slightly.
"It's because," Riman took another step forward, "I lie, cheat, steal," he raised his came to smack her away, "and I survi-"
Ruby had noticed the large Grimm coming up behind him, but she hasn't really been in a position to warn him. She stared up at the ancient Nevermore that had just eaten her attacker when a thought came to her mind. Holding crescent rose behind her, she jumped up just as the Grimm lunged towards her.
She came down fast and hard, sending the Grimm flying into the vessel she was standing on.
High up in the sky's above Vale, the ship began to explode in a few places, and turn to angle towards the ground.
Looking down, you could see the rapidly approaching city that was vale.
The streets were dark, save for the glowing, evil eyes of the Creatures of Grimm. Explosions rang out throughout the city, and in the distance stood Beacon.
Fires ravaged the school, explosions and flashes littered the grounds. Aiming for the airship docks at the school's cliffs, Ruby jumped off, using her weapon to slow her decent to the ground far below her.
She hit the ground lightly and began to run towards the school, the ship crashing into the ground behind her.
Blake and Weiss ran through the fair grounds. Blake was looking for her family, Weiss was helping. They made it to the stall that the family Blake had just reconnected with had managed. No one was there. Blake scoured the surrounding area. Only two or three people were in the vicinity.
"Maybe we should check the evacuation area, they're Mistralian, right?" Weiss asked her friend to alleviate her worries. Blake nodded and took off in that general direction. Weiss groaned and ran to catch up.
They reached the place where people from the other three kingdoms were boarding. Blake scoured the crowds before she saw them. Silver hair and silver ears, black hair and silver eyes, silver hair, ears, and eyes, there was her family. Blake breathed a sigh of relief.
"Mom!" She yelled at the top of her lungs, the word seemed foreign to her, but at the same time, it seemed right, "Dad! Jake!" She ran towards them just as they looked in her direction.
"Blakie!" Jake yelled, waving his hands above his head. He pumped her into a hug the moment she got there. Weiss ran as fast as she could to catch up.
"Are you guys okay?" Blake asked, looking her parents over. Remembering what Yang had told her, she looked for signs of her father's power. There was none. Not in Jake either. Maybe Yang was wrong.
Her parents nodded, "we're fine sweetie, we just need go back to Mistral. Are you going to come with?" Her mother looked at her with such hopeful eyes that it stung Blake to the core.
"I can't." She whispered, closing her eyes and hugging her sibling even tighter. "But," she looked up at them again, "one day, I'll get to Mistral, and I'll find you all, and we can be a family for once." She released her brother from his hug and bent down to speak with him.
"Jake, you be good, and work hard, and if I'm not back when you're strong enough, you come and find me too, okay?" She asked him. His eyes lit up, and he nodded.
"Last flight to Mistral!" Yelled a voice, and Blake watched as her family once again disapeared from her grasp. Once the bull-head took off, Blake turned and walked in the direction of the school. Once she was sure Weiss was following her, she broke into a run.
Once they got there, it was total anarchy. Students ran in every direction, an air-ship was touching down next to the statue, and Grimm as well as Atlesian soldiers chased the students of Beacon. Off in the distance near the docks, they saw a flash of red landing before swinging an oversized weapon to keep balance.
Ruby had arrived. The airship powered down, and the ramp opened. Teams JNPR, SSSN, CFVY, NDGO and FNKY stepped out. WB nodded to them and began to take out whatever they could, the soldiers were attacking, take them out. A Grimm got too close, kill it.
Soon everyone was working as one unit, when Yang ran out of a nearby building. She saw everyone and relief lined her scarlet irises. Running towards the group, she yelled a question that had been on her mind since the alarm had sounded about an hour or two ago.
"Where's Ruby?" She yelled, taking out a Grimm that was about to lunge towards her partner.
"She's here somewhere, I saw her land on the docks." Weiss supplied, shooting ice at an Atlesian soldier. Yang ran off to find her sister. Blake saw that, and glanced at Weiss, who nodded. The Faunus girl ran after her friend. No way Yang was running off alone yet.
The two girls ran in the general direction of the docks when something caught Blake's eye. She looked into a gaping hole that used to be the wall of the cafeteria. Inside tables were strewn around, fires had started here and there, rubble sat in disorganized piles that covered the floor.
Adam Touras stood among the rubble.
Ruby Rose was facing him.
A/N: Hello again! Family trip was great, thanks for asking! (No one...) I hit writers block but I persevered. Also, I decided that soon the novel will end, and I'll start the plot line up in a different story, so, yea... But it won't be for a while, maybe even a few months. Please review if you feel so inclined, please feel inclined. Please.
