Volume 3 Opening
Soft piano music plays as a rose petal falls in the moonlight, drifting down to a single rose
Maybe red's like roses!
A horde of Grimm trample the rose, charging.
Maybe it's the pool of blood
The innocents will lay in
When in the end, you've failed to save them!
Team RWBBY, Team JNPR, and Team SSSN are shown.
Then Emerald, Mercury, and Cinder are shown.
Their dying eyes
Are wide and white like snow...
Grimm overrun Beacon.
And now they know
The cost of trusting you's obliteration!
The Grimm climb/approach Beacon Tower, and Professor Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch watch as the window shatters into fragments.
Mirrors will shatter,
Crushed by the weight of the world.
General Ironwood stands with his men, ready for battle.
Blake walks past an army of White Fang, led by a smirking Adam.
The pillars collapse in shame.
Team RWBBY and Team JNPR charge into battle, leading an army of Atlesian soldiers against a horde of Grimm.
There'll be no rest,
There'll be no love!
Yang battles Mercury.
Blake fights Adam.
Rhea faces a swirling, red portal with wide eyes.
Weiss slashes at Emerald.
Ruby fights Cinder.
There'll be no hero in the end
Who will rise above!
Winter Schnee stands with her little sister, Weiss.
Rhea waves awkwardly at Qrow Branwen as she stands between Yang and Ruby, the man's eyes wide.
Qrow and Winter face-off and glare at each other.
And when it ends,
The good will crawl...
A photo of Team STRQ.
A spinning gear, from Qrow's scythe.
The shining light will sink in darkness.
Rhea looks down with teary eyes at a Grimm-mask much like that of her mother, only white and turquoise instead of white and red.
A swirling red portal threatens to consume her as the rest of Team RWBBY faces her, waiting.
Rhea looks up.
Victory for hate incarnate,
Misery and pain for all...
Team RWBBY and Team JNPR are shown in free-fall, in a circle.
Pyrrha is the first to fall away, followed by the rest of her team.
Rhea looks away in shame, then changes into a raven and flies up.
When it falls...
Team RWBBY is shown in a circle, spinning under a spotlight with defeated expressions.
/\/\/\/\
"We need all of you to agree... Is it alright if Team RWBBY competes with one extra teammate?"
"Eh, she doesn't look like much."
"It's fine."
"What's she gonna do with that sword? I mean, seriously?"
"I'm chill."
Well... Those were the words of Team ABRN around ten minutes before our match.
They regretted them on the battlefield, to say the least.
Rhea is so awesome!
She and Yang kept tag-teaming against the leader of Team ABRN, Arslan. When they were in the Fire-Dust field, Yang took over. The ice was Rhea's territory. In the center, both of them were fighting the powerful Huntress.
Finally, we won the match using the most fun team attack! ... By that, I mean we just threw Yang at them.
/\/\/\/\
Later that morning on the fairgrounds, we celebrated our victory.
"WE DID IT!" I cheered, then slouched. "Is anyone else starving?"
"I may have worked up an appetite." Blake admitted, then blushed feverishly as her stomach growled. Weiss deadpanned, annoyed.
"Gee. If only there was someplace on campus to get food, around here." My partner sighed. "Oh, wait." I placed a hand on her shoulder.
"It's okay, Weiss. I forget about the fairgrounds, too."
"I was being facetious."
"Well, if you were hungry, why didn't you just say so?!"
"Come on." Yang smiled. "I know just the place." Rhea rolled her eyes and smiled at our antics.
"I'll pay, guys. It's the least I could do to thank you for sending Yang and I to the doubles-rounds."
"I still think I should have gone." Weiss pouted. Suddenly, Rhea's eyes narrowed dangerously, and her hand closed around a wrist.
"Excuse me." Rhea glared as we turned to see a stunned Emerald. "Were you trying to steal my sister's wallet?"
"No, I-"
"Rhea, that's Emerald! Remember?!" I tried. "She's our friend! She wouldn't steal from me!" Rhea continued glaring at Emerald, but she grudgingly released her wrist.
"My mistake."
Emerald told us that she'd seen our fight and thought we were awesome, and she told us that she and Mercury were progressing.
We told her that Yang and Rhea were moving on, and she wished us luck, saying that if we met them in the arena to not expect an easy fight.
/\
We sat at the noodle-stand, eating our meals and talking with Team JNPR, who decided to join us.
"How could you guys possibly eat that much food?" Rhea asked. We were all done with our meals, and she was half-way done with her meal, which was half the size of ours.
"We're growing girls!" Yang complained, earning glares from Jaune and Ren. "... I'm not debating it."
"Are you sure it's wise to have eaten before a fight?" Ren asked. Pyrrha nodded enthusiastically.
"Of course! It will give us energy!" She insisted. Nora let out a loud burp, and Rhea smirked.
"My God, there's an Ursa-Major on the loose in the fairgrounds. Everybody, run for your lives."
"Ugh..." Jaune glared slightly at Pyrrha before slumping over. "If I barf, I'm blaming you..."
"Ooh!" Nora grinned deviously. "Aim at the enemy!" We all laughed at that, and Ren rolled his eyes.
"Nora, that's disgusting!" Then, Ren pondered the idea. "But, if you do feel the urge..." Jaune held a thumb-up in consent with the plan.
"Got it."
"Well." Pyrrha stood, smiling. "We should be off."
"You guys think you're ready?" I asked, and Nora smiled brightly.
"Of course! We've got a world-renowned fighter on our team, what's basically a ninja, I can bench five of me, Jaune..." She paused. "We've trained all year, our weapons are AWESOME, Glynda barely yells at us anymore, and... Jaune!" We laughed as Ren frowned.
"Are you going to take that?" JNPR's ninja asked. Jaune sighed.
"She's not wrong."
"I'm kidding!" Nora smiled brightly, though her eyes were pained. "He knows I'm kidding! Don't be so nervous! The worst thing that could happen is we lose!" We watched as Nora's happy exterior slowly deteriorated. "Then, it's just a few more years of walking around school with everyone knowing we're failures. Our friends will slowly abandon us to preserve their social status. We won't be able to show our faces in class. No one will sit with us at the cafeteria. And Ren and I have no parents, so we'll have no home left to go to! We'll be officially renamed Team LOSIPER!"
Nora bust into sobs and slammed her head on the counter.
We all stared at her, stunned by what had just happened and by what we had just learned about our friends.
Ren and Nora had no parents? No home to go to? She really had that much fear that she'd be abandoned?
"So, yeah..." Ren tried to break the awkward silence. "We're feeling pretty good."
"Don't fret." Pyrrha placed hands on Jaune and Nora's shoulders, smiling. "If anything, we should be looking forward to a fight with actual guidelines and not... Well... Murderers."
No one saw Rhea look down, her eyes both narrowing and becoming sad at the same time.
"Yeah!" Yang agreed, grinning. "Don't sweat it! We've all faced WAY worse before."
"Let's see." Blake smiled. "Grimm invasions, violent extremists, a destructive sociopath..."
"And that's all while we were still in training!" I beamed. "Oh..! Imagine what it will be like when we graduate!" Rhea summed it up in one word.
"Hell."
:Will Team JNPR please report to the battlegrounds immediately?: Professor Port asked over the loud-speakers. Doctor Oobleck chimed in.
:Yes, just like they were scheduled to. SEVERAL MINUTES AGO!:
"Well, it looks like this is it." Pyrrha smiled brightly. Team JNPR got up and walked off.
"Go get 'em!" I cheered. Rhea crossed her arms.
"They're screwed."
/\/\/\/\
That afternoon, after the team-matches, Weiss' sister arrived.
Uncle Qrow showed up and fought her, then had to go and tell Professor Ozpin something.
Even later than that, Uncle Qrow came to the Team RWBBY dorm. He looked around expectantly, eyes narrowing as they fell on Rhea's bed.
"Where is she?" Qrow asked. Yang and I tensed up.
"Who do you mean?" I asked. Qrow glared at us.
"You know who." He stated. "Where is Rhea?"
"She went to catch some more of the doubles fights." I admitted. "Pyrrha and Nora, and Sun and Neptune, are fighting today."
"Hmph." Qrow sighed. "So... I guess you know the truth."
"Why didn't anyone tell us?" Yang finally asked. Qrow looked down.
"We didn't know how to... Branwens are dangerous, Yang. The females have been especially known for their... Volatility." He explained. "You've already seen how dangerous your twin-sister is. But let me ask you this... What do you think Raven was training her into for the last sixteen years?"
"A Huntress." I replied. "Rhea's one of the best we've ever seen! You should see her, Uncle Qrow!"
"I have... I was there, at the Entrance Exam. I saw that she was alive, but she is FAR from safe."
/\/\/\/\
Later that afternoon, Yang and Rhea were up against Flynt Coal and Neon Katt of Team FNKI.
"Ooh!" Neon observed my sisters. "It's like looking at a weird mirror!"
"We get that a lot." Rhea admitted. Flynt lowered his glasses and gazed at the two, frowning.
"You two sisters or something?" He asked curiously. My sisters nodded.
"Twins." Yang smirked, cracking her knuckles. Rhea and Yang exchanged glances, then nodded.
Had they somehow agreed on which person they'd fight?
"Ooh!" Neon grinned. "You look like you'd be a good roller-skater, Blue! I'm just no so sure about your sister. She's a little bit too... Top-heavy."
"EXCUSE ME?!"
/\
"Oh, boy." I rolled my eyes, sighing. "Here we go."
/\
Rhea and Yang locked eyes, and they nodded again.
They switched opponents.
The arena divided into the Fire-Dust field, a crystal quarry, an abandoned city, and the desert.
:Three!: Port began. :Two! One..!: Time for Oobleck-
:BEGIN!:
Flynt played his trumpet and released a sonic blast that propelled Neon forward, Rhea dodging and driving her Ice-Dust blade into the ground to remain stable while Yang chased after Neon.
Rhea took a more indirect approach, she and Flynt circling each other. Rhea placed a hand on the hilt of her sword, looking focused.
"What's your move, Birdy?" Flynt asked, smirking as he raised his trumpet. Rhea's eyes narrowed dangerously, briefly tinting dark-purple.
/\
"Oh no." I winced. This was not going to be good.
I could see Cardin paling in his seat on the other side of the arena.
/\
"Checkmate." Rhea replied, drawing her blade of Fire-Dust so fast that her hand was a blur. Rhea swiped the sword, sending an arc of fire flying at her opponent.
Flynt barely dodged the flames, and Rhea exchanged the Fire-Dust for Wind-Dust as he started playing his sonic-trumpet, countering his attack with her own, green cyclone.
/\
I turned my attention to Yang, seeing Neon making her angrier and angrier. I smirked, knowing that the show would come when Yang activated her semblance, then looked back at Rhea.
/\
Flynt used his trumpet to blow a fire-geyser's flames at Rhea, but she drove her Ice-Dust blade into the ground and blocked the attack.
"Hmmm..." Flynt frowned. "You're as good with Dust as that no-good Schnee heiress on your team. Tell me, how cold is that Ice Queen?"
/\
Weiss gasped from next to me, hurt in her eyes.
A few months ago, this wouldn't have bothered her, but now the Ice Queen wasn't as frozen.
Blake and I placed hands on her shoulders.
/\
Rhea's purple eyes were getting closer to red as she raised her Ice-Dust blade, gritting her teeth.
"Weiss Schnee and I don't always get along, but..." Rhea's eyes momentarily flashed red. "Never insult my friend in front of me!"
Rhea charged, dodging the sonic-blasts from Flynt's trumpet. She was getting closer, and his weapon was mainly long-range.
That's when the boy divided into four, the four Flynts playing their trumpets together and sending the blast at Rhea.
My sister stomped each of her feet, small silver spikes leaving her soles and driving into the ground as she drove her Ice-Dust blade in to keep stable.
Flynt glared as he realized that his plan hadn't worked and went back into one person.
"You just can't quit, can you?"
"Nope." Rhea smirked, then stomped and shattered the ice. She drew a purple Dust-blade.
Gravity.
Driving the Gravity-Dust blade into the ground, Rhea caused all of the shards of ice to rise. Then, Rhea drew her Wind-Dust blade and swiped, sending the shards flying at Flynt.
They were too small and pointed for his sonic-blast to deflect, and the boy was knocked into a geyser with his aura half-depleted.
Flynt looked up as Rhea stepped onto the edge of the geyser.
"H-hey. We can talk this out." Flynt tried to smooth-talk his way out. Rhea seemed to ponder this, then my sister gave a cruel smirk.
"Love from Team RWBBY." Rhea turned and walked away as the geyser went off, finishing Flynt's aura. "I'll give Weiss your regards."
/\
Weiss smiled brightly from next to me, and I beamed.
Maybe the long feud was over.
...
Probably not.
/\
That's when Rhea noticed Neon skating circles around Yang.
"I'm not saying you should go on a diet! I'm saying that you really, REALLY need to go on a diet!"
"That's it!"
"You're fat!"
"HEY!" Rhea snarled, eyes flaring red as Neon and Yang noticed her. "Nobody talks like that about my sister!"
:It looks like the RWBBY Twins are angry!: Port laughed. :You wouldn't like them when they're... Upset.:
Rhea and Yang both charged at the cat-Faunus both of them with burning red eyes.
Yang used Ember Celica to tear up the field, and Rhea used her Ice-Dust blade (she called her swords SilverWing, didn't she?) to make the place even worse for the skating Huntress.
Finally, Neon tripped up and was sent rolling into a geyser. Yang fired the final blast and took her out.
"YES!" The twins high-fived, their red eyes returning to normal. Then, Yang hugged Rhea.
"Thanks for the defense, little sister! You are the best!"
"Too... Tight..."
"We lost?" Neon asked, stunned and covered in ash. "We lost?! TEAM FNKI LOST?! That was... Amazing! You guys were like super-crazy awesome! We should definitely party together, sometime! Right, Flynt?!"
The trumpet-player stumbled over, looking at my sisters. He slowly smiled.
"That was pretty cool, defending your teammates like that... I dig it."
Blake, Weiss, and I ran over, hugging out teammates.
"Good job, you two!" Blake smiled as we pulled away. I nodded.
"Yeah!" I agreed. "Who's heading to the finals?" Yang punched Rhea's arm, beaming.
"I think Rae earned it."
"Are you sure?" Rhea asked. "Yang, you know you want to be the one to head to the finals."
"Nah. Besides, this way I can embarrass you from the stands! Ruby and I will be holding up terrible signs and showing people bad pictures, shouting that's our sister!"
"... I hate you." Rhea deadpanned. Yang and I hugged her, and I giggled as she tensed up.
"No, you don't!"
/\
Cinder Fall frowned as she watched the match on her scroll.
"We're making another slight alteration to the plan." Cinder announced, looking up at Emerald and Mercury. "Mercury, you will not be getting injured in the finals... We need to get Rhea Branwen out of the way: for good."
"Why not let me fight her?" Mercury asked. Cinder sighed.
"As skilled as you are, Mercury, Rhea is stronger. And she already suspects that all is not right with us. No, we need Rhea Branwen to fight someone she wouldn't dare harm. Someone she's grown close to..." Cinder smirked evilly as she looked down at her scroll, a new picture having popped up on the screen from a just-won match. "Perfect."
/\/\/\/\
That night, Team RWB(B)Y, Team (S)SSN, and Team JN(P)R watched from the stands as the randomizer spun rapidly. It slowed down, stopping...
:Rhea Branwen and Sun Wukong!:
Okay, okay. I know what you're all thinking. In the words of Lily from How I Met Your Mother: Youuuu son-of-a biiitch! But all of this is happening for a reason. There's a method to my madness... I only own my OC. Please read, review, check out my other stories, etc. Thanks!