Chapter 10: "Airship Down"
The next morning, Ruby remained in the bedroom upstairs, sulking from the event of her mother's passing as she heard a knock on the door.
"Come in."
As the door slowly opened, she was met with Raider, who spoke softly to her as he sat down beside her.
"Hey, Ruby. You, uh... doing okay?"
"What do you think?"
As he looked upon her dismal face, Raider sighed before she spoke again.
"You're right, you know."
"Hmm? About what?"
"I am just a kid. I don't know what I'm doing, no matter how much I try to work out everything."
"Ruby..."
"I see the good in everyone even when it isn't there. I still expected good things to come out of what we do, but none of it ever showed up. I thought Crimson was on our side, but look how that turned out. I thought I was over what I did to Yang, to my friends, but I still remember what I did. I thought I could be with my mom forever, but then... she faded away again."
As tears came down her eyes at the recent trauma, Raider tried to cheer her up.
"Ruby, I can see where you're coming from, in a way. I really do."
This only earned Ruby's instant snap as she glared at him.
"What does that matter?! We've been fighting a war we can't win all this time, Kazan's been stealing the relics for himself, and we can't even get to Argus! None of this would've happened, and I mean none of it, if I just let the lamp fall in that well!"
As Ruby panted from exhaustion at her shout, Raider, who still maintained his caring, sensitive look, spoke to her again.
"Ruby, what I said to you back then... that couldn't have been any more false. The truth is, if you'd dropped the lamp in that well, Salem would've had it a lot sooner. And then, taking in the fact that Kazan has the other relics, she'd be one step closer to ending humanity as we know it. But you chose not to let it happen. You went back for it. You knew it wasn't easy, but you did it anyway. Because you knew the stakes. And, if it helps, Summer knew her own stakes, too. She wanted to make the world better for you with all of her heart. She even gave up her own life to do it."
As Ruby looked out the window, she still expressed agonizing sorrow over her mother's second death.
"She deserved better."
"Maybe she did. But even then, all she ever wanted was one more moment with you, one where she could say goodbye to you. And thanks to you, she had that. Your mother really wanted to stay longer, but she couldn't."
"And that wasn't fair."
Seeing a familiar pattern, Raider tried to calm her down.
"Ruby..."
"THAT WASN'T FAIR!"
As her voice shouted at him, Raider tensed his hand as he spoke.
"Wasn't it? Your mother knew there was a delicate balance between life and death. She didn't want to interfere with that. And neither did Ozma. But Salem did. And look what's happened now because of it."
"What's your point?"
"My point is, you're better than that. You always were. You're nothing at all like Salem or Crimson. Because as of everything that's happened since we left for Argus, you're the only one around here who's actually grown up. Summer wouldn't have left if you weren't ready. That's how much she believes in you."
"You know she's not here, right?"
"Not in Remnant. But up there, in the afterlife. You know it's real. And you should know she'll always be counting on you. Everyone here is doing the same. Think about it."
With that, Raider walked out of the bedroom as Ruby pondered what it meant while putting her hand on her chin. As she looked outside, she noticed a white petal on the window before she looked to the sky in determination.
"I promise I won't let you down, Mom."
Downstairs, Ilia and Bella were just brought up to date about everything from yesterday ranging from their search to the plan by Skye as Ilia spoke her concerns.
"We're actually going through with this?"
"Are you sure about that, Skye? The Atlas Military didn't exactly welcome you with open arms."
"This is our only chance, guys. Would I be willing to go back towards them if I wasn't so sure? And besides, I know you guys had your fair share of unpleasant experiences."
Ilia and Bella looked to each other before they responded in unison.
"Touché."
"But right now, we need to let it go this one time. And that's coming from me. So you should know how important this is."
At that moment, Ruby came down with a look of determination as Oscar spoke to her.
"Ruby. You doing alright?"
Ruby looked his way before she smiled back at him.
"Just fine. Now... let's do this."
At the temple in a forest, Canis knelt before Kazan and Rain as the former spoke.
"So... do you care to explain why the Argents' bodies aren't in my presence?!"
"That's the good news. They're in Argus already, but the Atlas Military won't allow them to cross. And... one of the Argents. She just... disappeared. Had a time limit when she met up with her kid."
This made Rain curious.
"And it's good news, because?"
"Because now... Summer Rose is dead."
This earned Kazan's widened eyes in shock as he spoke to Canis.
"Are you quite sure?"
"Yes, sir. I saw it with her own eyes."
After a brief silence that followed, Kazan began giggling to himself before he burst in a proud laughter as he spoke.
"What luck! That leaves only one Argent to worry about, and a little girl no less!"
As he resumed his laughter, Canis rained on his parade.
"But she's still strong, sire."
As he abruptly stopped his laughter, Kazan grew curious.
"How strong?"
"Strong enough to make the silver light upgrade her weapons, sir."
This only earned a light growl as he stood up.
"Get the wolves ready. We're attacking the Huntsmen now. NOW!"
This made Canis back up in fear before dashing from the hall as Kazan continued his order.
"Now, now, now, now, now, now!"
As he ran out the temple, he spoke to the Beowulves, who followed him in a dash as he gave his own order.
"Move! Move, move, move, move!"
As the Beowulves followed him, Kazan growled in angry abandon as he spoke to himself.
"How is it that a little girl can possibly be the bigger threat?"
As an answer, Crimson's voice spoke up as she walked from the shadows to him.
"The smaller soul that ignites hope is often the bigger threat. And for good reason."
Upon seeing him, along with Selene, Maurice, Tyrian, Hazel, and Arthur by his side, Kazan spoke out of suspicion, mainly towards Crimson.
"How did you get here, Huntsman? Confused, perhaps?"
Crimson glared at him as Kazan spoke onward.
"We don't welcome your kind in these walls. We exterminate them."
"Perhaps you're the one who's confused, Kazan. I am no simple Huntsman."
This made Kazan realize what he was as his Grimm arm exposed itself.
"Ah... a Grimmite. For what reason did you come here?"
"To recruit you."
This made Rain look to Crimson out of concern about his choice as he spoke onward to him.
"And to present you with proof of our worth."
With that, Selene exhibited four colored orbs resembling the four virtues, making him widen his eyes in surprise and joy before he smirked and spoke.
"Let's talk."
At Argus, Weiss, Ryker, Skye, Saphron, Adrian, and Logan were walking in the base as Cordoven spoke to them.
"I was relieved to hear that you came to your senses, Ms. Schnee. But to hear that one of Councilman Barack's most trusted workers have captured the Grinnwalker. Oh! That got me in stitches! Many of us were devastated when we heard you were attending Beacon Academy. Knowing that you'll be returning to Atlas just warms my old heart."
"It was time to get our act together and go back to our roots."
"Oh, I can't wait to see you follow in your sister's footsteps."
Having realized she'd forgotten about her sister, Winter, Weiss spoke hesitantly.
"Absolutely..."
"I'm sending two of my best guards to personally escort you. Make sure General Ironwood hears that part."
As Logan saw Cordoven's face, he smiled a bit himself.
"Okay. We'll consider it."
With that, Cordoven began to walk away as one of the soldiers made an offer.
"Allow me to assist you with your bag. Hup! Hup!"
As he tried to pick it up, Weiss tried to get it herself as they exchanged dialogue.
"My! What a heavy bag!"
"Oh, it's alright."
"Nonsense! Allow me to assist as well!"
"I can take care of it by myself."
As this drew Cordoven's suspicious look, Saphron looked to her young son.
"Just like we practiced."
This earned a confident nod from Adrian before Logan saw his cue to cover his ears as the young boy let out a soundwave of his cry while Saphron played along.
"Oh, no! Look at that! He's just going to miss you so much! You should hurry on out of here!"
Fortunately, the guards took the bait.
"A crying child?!"
"We must console it!"
With that, the soldiers went to Adrian and tried to cheer him up, withdrawing Cordoven's suspicious look before she walked away as Weiss, Skye, Ryker, and Logan went inside with the bag as Weiss and Logan sighed.
"That was close."
"Thank goodness. I think my ears are still ringing."
At that moment, Ruby spoke to her via scroll.
"Is everything okay?"
Maria then spoke up in the suitcase, offender by the comment by the guards earlier.
"Call me heavy... it's all muscle! I'll show them a thing or two about heavy!"
Ignoring Maria's rambling at the moment, Skye spoke to Ruby, who was in the forest by the sea with Teams JNPR and CMNE, along with Taiyang, Raven, Qrow, Raider, Oscar, Bella, Ilia, Qrow, and the two soldiers found in the sewers previously.
"We're on board."
"Alright. We'll all watch our scrolls. The second Weiss goes out of range at the comm tower, that means she'll be out of radar, too."
With that, Yang spoke up next as she drive with Blake to the drop off point.
"And that's where Blake comes in. We're almost at the drop off."
At that moment, Terra spoke to Blake.
"Okay. And remember, one, Barack's going after this Relic of Knowledge you have, so you can expect soldiers to be coming around here and there. Two, the radar box is separate from the rest of the communications equipment. So, if you disconnect it properly, you won't take out comms for the rest of the city. Three, this conversation never happened."
Blake spoke confidently at this.
"Don't worry. This isn't the first time I've disabled Atlas security."
Terra only maintained her stern look before she spoke again.
"Never... happened."
Once they got there, Blake jumped off and started to walk to the forest as Yang piped up.
"You sure I shouldn't come with?"
"More intruders means we're more likely to be seen. Besides, stealth isn't exactly your, um..."
Catching wind of what was about to be said as Yang crossed her arms, Blake took her words back and spoke again.
"I mean, you're great! And I'll hurry back."
This earned a light smile from Yang before she spoke.
"Go."
Blake smiled back at her from this before doing so just as Blake spoke to Jaune via scroll.
"Heading in on foot. Won't be long."
"Yes! It's all going to plan."
Seeing that his team was watching his reaction, Jaune corrected himself before he spoke.
"Ahem. I mean, uh, roger."
As Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren looked to each other and rolled their eyes at this with a smile, Oscar and Ruby stood by each other overlooking the scene before turning to the two soldiers as well as Qrow with the first two having a faithless look, making Ruby show concern before Oscar cheered her up.
"Hey. This is gonna work."
Ruby then looked over to see a road on their right before she spoke.
"Yeah."
Meanwhile, Kazan rode on the Malevolent above the forest with Salem and Selene as he spoke.
"Quite a rush, isn't it? To have two Relics, soon to be three, in your grasp?"
Salem looked farther ahead upon the square where he statue resided, making her gasp as she spoke to him.
"And what about the people? You should know that some casualties are unacceptable in my eyes."
"Strange. That wasn't how you felt back at the Fall of Beacon, now was it?"
As this earned a glare from Salem, Kazan spoke onward.
"Besides, it's a trivial sacrifice when all of Remnant is my reward."
Maurice, sensing Salem's incoming change, took charge as he spoke.
"Then would you finally be satisfied? Will the subjugation of the whole world finally make you proud of yourself?"
"Hmm, it's a start. And I might also convert a basement into a dungeon. And when I do, you'll be the first one in it."
As they flew above the clouds, Maurice spoke to him further, trying to understand his goals as he struggled to maintain his own temper at what he did to Maria all those years ago.
"Why do you seek the Argents' destruction?"
That was a touchy subject for Kazan as he glared at him.
"And who wants to know?"
Salem then spoke for herself.
"Before you do anything to them, tell me why you want them killed. That is an order."
This earned a sigh from Kazan before he spoke.
"Fine. The old man won't be around much longer afterwards, anyway. When I was a boy, my parents were descended from Atlas. Unlike the corrupt officials they hired today, they gave people hope and support. They always told me that one day, Argus would be mine. But it wasn't enough for me. I wanted the relics I heard tell about. For I knew they would grant me the power I need to rule all of Remnant. But my parents felt as though I didn't deserve it. So, they consulted a fortune teller. She spoke that if I continued my path, I will be defeated by Argents of red and white. So, naturally, I had to defend myself from that fate. Hence the Argents' extinction. When I was done, my parents didn't return kindness upon me. Instead, they banished me from the city, forever. And now, here we are. One Argent, dead already. And that leaves only the girl."
As the Malevolent grew closer to the city, Maurice spoke to him out of compassion, putting aside his own hate in order to help him if possible. He could speak to Salem, but that'd give away his reason for sticking around despite their kid napping.
"Kazan, the cup you choose to fill has no bottom. For your own sake, you must stop."
"And why on Earth would I do that?"
"So your parents can rest in peace."
Kazan only tightened his grip before he spoke.
"My parents... hated me. Do you understand? They-they wronged ... I will make it right."
"Although I've never seen them myself, I'm certain that they loved you, Kazan. I'm certain that they loved you so dearly that having to send you away, no doubt, killed them."
Processing this, Kazan only dismissed it as an old man's notion.
"You... know... nothing. The dead exist in the past. And I must tend to the future. Salem, here, has done this for a long time."
"That may be true, but if you continue this path, neither you nor Salem will ever find happiness."
"Happiness must be taken. And I will take mine."
As he gave this cold answer, Salem looked to her descendant and saw her concern before Selene spoke.
"What about you, Salem? Did you have to take yours?"
As she held her head down in deep thought, the Malevolent continued its journey just as Weiss noticed the communication being far enough away as the bars on the scroll ran out as she looked to Logan and spoke.
"You ready?"
"Ready when you are."
With that, the two of them went over to the guards before they spoke to her.
"Ms. Schnee, for your own safety, we must request that—"
Before he could finish, Logan and Weiss attacked them before they called out.
"Traitors!"
With that, Logan placed a parachute on one of them before Weiss bound them together as he spoke.
"Have a nice life."
Logan then kicked the two guards out of the airship before one of them shouted.
"This parachute won't excuse you of your treachery!"
Suddenly, the black glyph blinding them disappeared before one of the guards held onto the other's legs just as they saw the Malevolent flying above them in surprise.
"Oh, no!"
With them off the ship, Logan felt a rush of adrenaline.
"Whoo! About time they got ejected."
With that, Ryker was given his cue by Logan to uncuff Skye before letting Maria out of the suitcase. After which, she walked up to the seats of the airship with Logan and Weiss before he spoke as Maria adjusted the seat.
"And you're sure you can fly this thing?"
"Boyo, I was the Grimm Reaper. What part of best Huntress of her generation don't you understand?"
This made Weiss confused before she spoke.
"Right, but your eyes."
Maria found an easy fix for that as she took a small device from the front of the controls and installed it into her new eyes before the sensory data was transmitted, upgrading her eyes as she spoke.
"You were saying?"
"But you said your eyes were in desperate need of repair."
Logan had an idea as he spoke.
"Well, they were. But now? I think she just about covered it."
With that, Maria steered the airship towards the base as everyone waited in the ground with Ruby seeing Weiss's signal out of range.
"Alright, guys. This is it. Blake, you're up."
When she received no reply, Ruby tried to get to her.
"Blake?"
As the radio silence persisted, Ruby got a bad feeling and spoke to Yang.
"Yang, what's going on?"
"I don't know."
With that, Yang looked at the tower to see it still functioning before looking at her scroll to see Weiss's signal pop up again. Suddenly, she heard a whoosh behind her before she turned to see Crimson as he spoke.
"I've got some bad news. Blake is not going to leave that comms tower alive."
At the base, Barak was called over by one of his men.
"Sir, we've got something on radar."
"Seriously? Who'd be stupid enough to enter our airspace without any warning?"
"Apparently, us, sir."
Barak then glared at Cordoven, making her nervous before he turned to the soldier.
"Patch that ship in now."
At the airship, Weiss, Logan, Skye, Ryker, and Maria intercepted a call from the Atlas Military as it spoke.
"Uh, Manta 5-1, this is Argus base. We see you've circled back. What's your status. Over?"
This made Weiss concerned before she and Maria spoke.
"Why can they see us?"
"Somebody dropped the ball. Don't worry. I worked with Atlas forces before. I know their jargon."
With that, she took the radio transponder before she spoke in it.
"Argus base, this is Manta 5-1. Feel free to gaff off. Thought we were going to scrub due to FOD, but we're back up and green across the board. Over."
She then chuckled to herself before the disastrous results came up.
"Manta 5-1, return to base immediately or you will be treated as hostile, over."
This made Ryker concerned as he spoke.
"I thought you said you knew their jargon!"
"Jargon was fine, but our pilots aren't elderly women."
This made Ryker and Logan glare at her before she admitted her pratfall.
"Well, they got me there. Whoo! My mind really is going. Why would you kids let me fly this thing?"
Then, Barack's voice spoke to her with venom.
"Because they didn't know any better! If you think you Huntsmen can escape from me, you don't know how dead wrong you are! Either you return the Craft now, or you'll die along with it!"
As a response, he only heard Maria eating outside cashews before she spoke.
"You hear that, Councilman? That's the sound of me not caring!"
As Maria cackled in celebration, Ryker spoke to Ruby via scroll.
"Uh, we got bad news. Cordo's onto us, and Maria isn't helping! Why is the radar still up?!"
"We don't know, Blake isn't responding."
Out of concern for their friends, Oscar went over to her as he spoke.
"What do we do?!"
As Ruby attempted to call Yang, she only heard Crimson's voice as he spoke.
"I see you still chose to follow that parasite. So you can't blame me for what happens next."
Ruby then tensed her hand as she remembered the one who left her mother before she disappeared.
"Crimson..."
As this happened, Crimson spoke with Yang as the two walked in a circle, glaring at each other.
"What did you do to Blake?!"
"Nothing... yet."
"Then it's not too late. You don't have to do this."
"Give me one reason I shouldn't."
"Because Summer is gone!"
This made Crimson stop in his tracks in surprise before he looked at her with shock.
"What?"
"After you left, Summer heard what you did to Ruby. She called you a dead man. Then, after that, she died."
Scared at the thought of Summer dying with her hating him, Crimson grew angry and barked at Yang.
"No... NO! I don't believe you!"
"She abandoned you, Crimson! And she's not coming back!"
This made Crimson yell in anger as he sharpened his Grimm claw and slashed at her.
In the forest, Ruby began to assume the worst before Taiyang spoke to her.
"What's going on?"
"It's Crimson. He's back and he got to Yang."
Raven felt the plan to be more necessary just as Nora tried to come up with an idea on how to help as they spoke.
"My daughter can handle Crimson. She's fine it before, but Weiss and the others need our help."
"Maybe we need to fly over to help Yang and Blake first?"
Before they could decide which is best, one of the Atlesian soldiers spoke to them.
"What happened?! It's chaos out there! What happened to getting that airship?!"
Having overheard Crimson and Yang's argument, Qrow could only assume the worst.
"Darn it! Cordo's gonna scramble her fighters. We've got maybe 90 seconds before they're in the air and all over Weiss and the others. And as if that weren't enough, Crimson's found out what happened to Summer and blames us all for it, again! This is all my fault."
Jaune felt it to be concerning as he spoke.
"What are you talking about? Your semblance?"
"Every choice I ever made has led me here and I dragged you all along with me. Oz, myself, the others, we're responsible for this mess the world's in now. Crimson was right. I am bad luck; I shouldn't have come. I shouldn't have let any of you come! What was I thinking?!"
As an answer, Tyrian spoke up from afar.
"A very good question. What were you thinking?"
As the group looked behind the trees and saw Tyrian with Hazel, Roman, and Arthur walking towards them as he snickered to himself, sending them on edge as they got their weapons ready before they looked at their faces and became more appalled as Ruby and Neo spoke.
"Roman?!"
"How are you...?"
"Hello, little red. Miss me?"
Meanwhile, at Argus base, Barak went to the controls and turned to Cordoven and her men.
"Evacuate this room, immediately. I'm taking this in my own hands."
As per his orders, Cordoven and the Atlesian soldiers went outside as the doors closed before outside, the base's doors began to open and the mountain above it crumbled away as a giant dark grey Paladin emerged as he spoke.
"You wretched Huntsmen have plagued this world of Remnant for so long, you e made the people of Argus forget that their peace was a result of the night of Atlas!"
Seeing the giant Paladin, Ryker spoke up via scroll.
"No way... we've been piloting that thing this whole time?!"
"Consider this a reminder!"
With that, Barak used it to charge and fire a yellow pulse of energy before it struck the airship, frying the systems momentarily as they shook around and Maria's eyes spun around for a bit, worrying Skye.
"Are you alright?"
"I am, but Barak's clearly lost his mind!"
"That was merely a warning shot. But the next one won't be."
At the faraway section, Ruby and the others turned to see the airship veering toward them as the Paladin marched with Barak speaking to them with a semi-deep voice.
"By the law of Atlas, Huntsmen, your regime ends today!"
As Ruby widened her eyes at this, Tyrian spoke up.
"We've been preparing for this moment for quite some time, as you can see, little rose. But there's still one more guest who hasn't arrived yet."
On cue, the Malevolent roared as it flew toward the group with such a speed, it gave off a sonic boom, surprising both the passengers in the airship and the Paladin before it landed in front of the Huntsmen and roared with Kazan on top of it alongside Salem, Selene, and Maurice as Ruby glared at him with fierce determination.
"Greetings, Ruby Rose. We meet at last."
Meanwhile, Blake was running as she dropped her scroll with Ryker and Ruby's messages unable to get through properly through Weiss's scroll.
"Why is the radar still up?!"
"We don't know. Blake's— in— responding."
At that moment, an eloquent voice chuckled before a foot stepped in the scroll, breaking it as Blake took cover behind a spire as she caught her breath. When she looked to her left, she saw a corpse of an Atlesian soldier before she backed up in fear. At that moment, a shot rang out before she ran to another direction in vain as she ran out of places to hide before looking below her to see Baron putting his sword back in and looking up at her before speaking through his mask.
Play Les Friction Music: "Dark Matter (Instrumental)"
"It's nice to have sometime alone. Wouldn't you agree?"
"Leave me alone!"
As she shot at him with her Gambol Shroud, Baron countered it with his sword.
"Not until you pay your debt. With your life, that is."
With that, Blake took off to a platform and attempted to use a rope to slide down before Baron cut it down with a shadow slash, sending her to his platform before he lunged at her, only for her to counter with her Gambol Shroud before dodging his sword and kicking him in the face, breaking his mask as it seemed to have a crack as he spoke.
"You've made the White Fang into quite a revolution. You made them forget their place."
"What does that matter to you?!"
"It doesn't. But I have a feeling it'll concern you. So much of their blood was spilled because of you."
This earned Blake's gasp as she widened her eyes in horror before she spoke.
"No..."
"And I'm not going to stop there. I'll make sure you're lying helpless as I kill the girl, and you can't stop me!"
Then, Baron went toward Blake as he attempted to stab her, only her to parry his stab and slash at him before he dodged and used the momentum to perform a shadow slash, forcing her into the air before she used her semblance to leap atop another platform. After which she drew it out in preparation before Baron reappeared and gripped her by the throat, earning a scared look on her face as he set her over the edge.
"Looks like you're out of ideas."
Blake could only cough before she spoke strangled.
"Not... quite..."
Unexpectedly, Blake thrust herself backward, sending herself and Baron tumbling down to the trees, both opponents hitting the branches before they hit the ground. Tired as she was, Blake stood up on her feet as she spoke while panting her breath.
"I'm not... going to let you hurt... anyone! Do you hear me?!"
Baron only chuckled as he stood up and looked back at her.
"I'm not merely interested in your friends. Salem, on the other hand, has her own plans."
This earned Blake's concern before Baron spoke onward as her yellow eyes widened.
"She saw your plan from the beginning. So did her father. And now..."
Baron then got his sword ready to slash again as he spoke onwards while Blake prepared herself.
"...no one will walk away alive. Least of all, you."
Then, Baron performed a shadow slash towards Blake, her petrified face seen as it neared her.
End Les Friction Music: "Dark Matter (Instrumental)"