Disclaimer: The following is a nonprofit fanfiction of RWBY. RWBY belongs to Monty Oum(RIP) and Rooster Teeth. Any likeness to writings of others is not intentional. To help with improvements: Read and Review!
Final Chapter A: Endgame-Arkos
The time was finally here. After Amber regained her consciousness, she had been staying in hiding to recover from her long coma. Qrow and Ozpin had filled her on all she needed. She knew about team RWBY and JNPR. She knew about the dragon and Cinder. She was even filled in on the information on Salem. Before she could have rushed out, Ozpin had held her back to have her recover more. The Fall Maiden was stubborn, and pushed to be released so she could contact the other Maidens and take Salem down.
Qrow had easily subdued her, pushing logic into her head and showing how weak she was at the time. She relented and agreed to stay in Beacon until she was fully back to health. The other Maidens were contacted and had snuck into the underground area Ozpin kept Amber in. There, they trained and honed their teamwork to take down the evil witch.
As summer approached, the four were ready and headed off to take on the queen. Qrow had scouted ahead with them to recon while Ironwood readied an upgraded fleet to contain any Grimm that got too close to the cities.
Goodwitch herself had contacted Arcadia personally to warn them of what was to come. The kingdom had readied their ballistas and troops for anything that came their way.
Vale Police Department had been called up to ready themselves and bring all civilians to a safe area. The clouds had darkened and it was a sign that it was about to get grim.
With Ruby and Co
"Stay safe, you hear me?" Coco hugged her boyfriend as he got on his flight to Vale.
"I wish I could stay with you, but you know they need me down there." Sun hugged his girlfriend tight, relishing in the feeling. "I'll be back as soon as the last civilian is safe. I promise."
Team SSSN had been called out to help rally the civilians to safety along with the other officers. Beacon's seniors and juniors were to be sent out to help the other kingdoms while the first and second years stayed behind to guard the school and the rest of Vale. It was unfair to them but with some of the teachers being off to other kingdoms and only a few staying, it was the only thing they could do.
"Let's go Sun!" Neptune shouted urgently. "Chief radioed in. Grimm wave spotted heading near the town. Estimated contact in twenty minutes. We need to get the civies into the safe houses before then."
"Got it!" Sun shouted in serious tone to his vice leader before turning to Coco. "I'll see you later."
Giving her a kiss, he jumped into his carrier and contacted his chief telling her they were on their way. "This is Wukong of team SSSN. We are on our way to the nearest safe zone. Will proceed to rally civilians from there."
As they took off, Coco walked back to the courtyard where the rest of the students would be sorted in different areas. Surprisingly, Weiss and Cardin had stood up to take charge while Ruby was at a high point on one of Beacon's towers scoping the sky and land with her sniper rifle.
"What's the news Coco?" The heavy armored teen asked her, not wasting time.
"Grimm wave spotted heading into the city." Coco repeated Neptune's words. "Expected time of arrival in twenty minutes. Civilians are still being escorted to safe zones."
The students had started to talk amongst themselves on the news Coco had brought.
"Some of us will need to go and help defend them in case there still civilians in the streets." The heiress told CRDL's leader.
"You're right." He agreed grudgingly. Turning to the crowd in front of them, he called their attention once more. "We'll need to send some of you into groups of two. I wont force any of you into it, but I'm asking for volunteers."
A fourth of the group had raised their hands, but looked hesitantly while doing so. Weiss and Cardin couldn't blame them. This wasn't one of those trial missions they were sent on. Team RWBY and JNPR were mavericks, but these students weren't.
"There aren't enough to group them in fours and send them to all safe zones." Weiss counted those that volunteered. "…I don't know what to do."
"…I do." The bulky teen said, fearing of what he had to say next. "Is that all who volunteer?"
Seeing no one else raise there hands, Cardin steeled himself on his next orders. "You all will be going in twos. There aren't enough of you to cover all safe zones. If you back down now… I wont hold you against it."
"Some of you guys, help us out." A student shouted to the none volunteers. "People need us down there."
"Screw you." A second year shouted. "I'm not going down there. We aren't ready for this!"
As the crowd argued amongst themselves, Cardin and Weiss watched on in disappointment of how they were acting. It took a gunshot in the air to silence them all. Turning to the source, they saw Coco standing on stage wit her weapon out looking at them with her sunglasses off.
"Listen up!" The fashionista shouted. "I don't care if you're staying or going. But people down there need our help. If you're staying, then defend the school. And if you're going …I'm coming with you."
"But Coco-" Weiss was about to protest, but was halted.
"This is the end game, Weiss." She muttered, putting her shades back on. "I'm going. And that's that."
Before Weiss could say anymore, her scroll had beeped alerting her to a call from Ruby. "What is it Ruby?"
With Ruby
"You wont believe this." She said urgently not liking what she was seeing through her scope. "The White Fang are here."
Down in the streets of Vale, she saw faunus wearing Grimm mask wreaking havoc as they attacked innocent civilians. It got even worse as she spied someone on a rooftop watching it all.
"It get's worse." She muttered, zooming in to get a better look. "Adam Taurus is with them. And he's brought Grimm with him."
Back with Weiss and the others
"We cant send them Cardin." Weiss said, turning paler than usual. "The Fang are down there. They're not ready for them."
Those that had volunteered had quickly switched sides and had opted to stay. Only a few had steeled themselves to go into the chaotic streets.
"If we stay we're dead." The bulky leader growled. "If we go, we're dead!"
"Where are the others when you need them." The heiress said grimly, lost on what to do herself.
With the others
"The White Fang arrived." Pyrrha shared the news she got from Ruby. "We have to go and help them."
"We'll need to go in twos." Jaune muttered, strapping his armor on.
"I'm going with Blake." Yang muttered darkly, flexing her robot hand. "This fight has been a long time coming."
"Take my shield." The blonde knight threw it at her. "I think you'll be needing more than me."
Reducing it into shield mode, Yang strapped it to her back and pumped herself up to get into the zone. Blake was looking down to the city and touched her cat ears deep in thought of the fight she'd be going into. Turning around to face the others, she looked at her crush and her rival standing close to one another and talking strategy. She had noticed the redhead getting even closer to him than she could ever hope. Seeing their Bullhead, she walked over to say her goodbyes.
"You ready to go, partner?" The blonde brawler asked, snapping her neck.
"One last thing." She said, walking up to Jaune. If she was going to give him up to someone who was a friend, she'd at least like to take something with her as a good memory.
"Just in case." Grabbing him by the collar, she placed a big wet one on him that lasted for ten seconds. Surprisingly, he tasted sweet like milk and cherries.
Letting go, she jumped into the Bullhead with her partner following and left him dazed and out of breath. "Now I'm ready."
Before she was completely out of sight, she gave Pyrrha a sad smile and mouthed something only she could comprehend.
'Take care of him.'
Nodding at the cat faunus's words, Pyrrha grabbed Jaune by the arm to bring him to their own Bullhead. Radioing Ruby, she informed then on Blake and Yang's departure. The little reaper had carried the message over to the other leaders and had continued to inform them on what was going on.
With Weiss and Cardin
"VPD have secured the last civilian." Scarlett's voice radioed to the school, much to Velvet's relief. "I repeat, the civilians are now secure. Requesting back up immediately to defend the city."
"You heard the man!" Cardin shouted, swinging his mace to the Bullheads. "Let's get this show on the road. I want each team to updae me on anything. You think you cant handle it? Update. You're done cleaning the area? Update. I don't want any casualties out there besides the enemy's. You need back up?"
"Update." The volunteers shouted in unison, running to their Bulheads.
"That's right." He nodded, getting into his own Bullhead with Weiss. Turning to her, he asked on the situation. "How's it looking for us?"
"Atlas sent over a few drones to help secure the area, but it's not enough." The heiress informed him. "Grimm in the sky are closing in, but Ruby and a few snipers are working on it."
"Anything else?" He asked, bracing himself as the Bullhead sped up abruptly.
"Team Bumblebee have gone to fight Taurus." She said sadly. "Team Arkos are heading to central Vale. And Coco went solo to VPD's team SSSN."
"What?" He shouted, not liking the last news. "I said for groups of twos. What is she thinking?"
"It's fine." Weiss told him, putting a hand on his chest to calm him down. "She's headed to a more tame area at the moment. Once she's there, she'll radio in."
With Coco
After using her landing strategy to land safely near the market area, Coco had rained down a stream of bullets on any Grimm that got too near her. Looking around, she saw bots helping dispatch Grimm while searching homes for any civilians hiding. The once peaceful and busy market area was running with bullets and howls and roars of Grimm.
"A huntress!" Shouted someone on the rooftop.
Looking up, the machine gun user saw a White Fang grunt pointing down at her. Ten more had joined him as they readied their weapons. Looking behind her, she saw Grimm watching her. Waiting for an opportunity to attack.
"Come get some." She muttered, spitting on the ground and taking her shades off.
The whole market area was filled with the sounds of Coco's weapon blasting bullets and the sounds of faunus and Grimm screaming.
With Sun
The monkey faunus was currently jumping through rooftops with his partner while taking down any Grimm or Fang grunts they spotted. Landing on a low building, he got a buzz on his scroll.
"This is Loudmouth reporting in. Cameras have spotted a huntress alone in the market place fighting Grimm and Fang members with no sign of backup. I repeat: Lone Huntress fighting in market area with no backup." Sun's radio called out to all VPD in the area. The two recognized the voice as Jenkins.
"This is Wukong here." Sun picked up his scroll. "Team Seamonkey is close by to the area. Any description on the huntress?"
"I got you Seamonkey." Jenkins answered back. "You better get there soon Wukong. I'm pretty sure that's your girl down there."
"WHAT?" The monkey faunus shouted, not believing what he's hearing. "Loudmouth this is Wukong calling in. I need fast coordinates to that area, STAT!"
"I copy Wukong." The officer confirmed. "Sending coordinates to your scroll right now."
Getting the coordinates in seconds, Sun and Neptune had made a mad dash to the area while killing as many Grimm as they could. The sounds of gunfire got louder the closer they got to their destination. They had made it just in time to flank any Grimm that got too near her as she concentrated on the grunts closing in on her.
"This is Wukong calling in." Sun picked up his scroll and sending a feed to everyone. "I've secured the huntress in the market area and am requesting backup. Do you copy?"
"Winchester here. We hear you loud and clear Wukong." He heard Cardin answer back. "Snowflake and I are nearby and are on a Bullhead. Requesting exrtaction?"
"Yes." The monkey faunus shouted over the bullets firing. "We need extraction."
After seconds of no one answering Sun was almost thinking they were taken down, but was relieved when a Bullhead flew overhead and opened it's hatch to show Cardin and Weiss throwing a ladder down.
"Someone call for an extraction?" The former bully joked, calling down to them.
"What took you guys so long?" Neptune shouted back, giving cover fire as the Fang grunts aimed for the transport.
One grunt had seen an opportunity and took aim with a sniper rifle after spotting Weiss. Seeing the bullet racing towards her, Cardin had pushed her out of the way but got hit on his left side. His aura had protected his vitals, but he was still bleeding as the bullet went through him. Wincing from the pain, the bulky teen fell out of the Bullhead and was dropping at a fast rate.
"CARDIN!" The heiress shouted, using her glyphs at the last second to slow his fall until Sun caught him.
Neptune took the opportunity to fire on the sniper and had downed him. "Let's get him up now! He needs treatment!"
After getting into the Bullhead with Weiss and Coco giving protection and cover-fire, the Bullhead had rose higher and sped off to Beacon. Weiss took this opportunity to radio in everyone.
"This is Snowdrop calling in." She said in her scroll. "Winchester has been badly hurt. Currently taking him back for treatment. Status report."
Dock's
"Team Matchstick reporting. We're under heavy fire, but the Grimm seem to be attacking indiscriminately." A student with a flaming sword answered while hiding behind a metal crate. His partner was aboard a ship and returning fire while dodging Griffins.
CCT
"Team Amp. We currently have a heavy defense around the CCT." A girl with a lightning lance shouted, firing a streak to a charging Creep. "No signs of any flyers at the moment.
Beacon Tower
"Silvereye here. Beacon is currently fighting a raid and horde." Ruby answered from her spot, sniping any Grimm or Fang member while protecting the rest who were fighting. "No serious casualties at the moment, but we're being outnumbered."
Courtyard Area
"Team Brownfox here. We're keeping the landing docks clear of foes, but we don't know how long we can take it." Velvet gasped, forming Yatsuhashi's sword to sweep the Grimm around her. Yatsuhashi was pushing back any Grimm that got too close to the airships and Fox was speeding around taking down any grunts that were aiming at his team.
Halls of Beacon
"Team Pink here." Ren called on his line while giving suppression fire long enough for Nora to surprise them with an explosion. "The halls are overrun but are being pushed back. Requesting anyone near for immediate backup."
Central Vale
"Team Redwing reporting." Scarlett answered, shooting a Grimm coming too close to the safe zone while Sage battled up front. "Currently at one of the safe zones being overrun. Calling in VPD for backup."
With Blake and Yang
"Team Bumblebee here." Yang radioed in while punching a grunt into the ground. "Currently near town hall on Adam's tracks. Last spotted entering the building. We are in hot pursuit."
Yang was forever thankful Jaune had handed her his shield. The two had tried to sneak on Adam but he had sensed them and made to cleave them in half. The shield had held strong and saved the two partners lives as Blake ducked behind it.
Adam ran after that, not liking that he was outnumbered and was now being overpowered. Giving chase, they found him entering town hall while Grimm blocked their path.
Back with Weiss and the others
"Good to hear." Weiss commented relieved they still had a chance. "Team Arkos you haven't updated. …Team Arkos you haven't updated! …Answer Team Arkos!"
Dreading something had happened, Weiss radioed VPD and any other student to keep a look out for them.
With Jaune and Pyrrha
A few moments ago
After landing in the park area, the two partners had dove into a fight between the Grimm and the White Fang like every one else. After clearing the area Jaune was about to radio in a success, but a sniper on the roof shot his scroll. As the two teams took cover, more Fang grunts had shown up and were currently trying to whittle away at their cover. Using her semblance, Pyrrha had grabbed onto a handgun and tossed over to her partner.
"I'm hoping you still remember how to use one?" She shouted, turning Milo into rifle mode.
"It's not Ren's, but it'll have to do." He nodded, giving suppression fire long enough for the two to bolt out of their cover and behind a building.
Running through the streets while killing Grimm left and right, a sniper had spotted the two and made a shot that caught Pyrrha in the ankle.
"Shit!" She cursed at the pain she was feeling. Her aura was healing her at the moment, but she couldn't run now.
"Come on!" Jaune shouted, giving her a piggyback as he ran for their lives. "I need you to aim for the roofs and in front of me."
Pyrrha had kept her shield behind the two to give them more protection as they looked for a place to hide until she could walk again. Seeing a familiar street, Jaune had looked around and saw a building he'd never thought he'd go to as a hiding spot.
Junior's Club
Hei Xiong AKA Junior was currently hiding behind his counter with a few of his men stationed in different corners in case any Fang or Grimm dared to step in. So far, nothing was happening and he'd like to keep it that way.
Hearing his door being kicked open, he signaled his men to hold fire until he knew what they were dealing with. Using a mirror, he saw a blonde kid carrying a redheaded girl into the bar and shutting the door behind him.
"We should be safe here for a bit until your leg heals." He gasped, catching his second wind. "We should radio in and tell them we're secure."
"Just give me a few minutes." The girl seethed, lifting her leg and showing her foot bleeding. "Why is it I always get shot in the foot?"
Taking out a few wraps and medic supplies out of his back-pouch, the blonde teen gently grabbed his partner's foot to clean and dress the wound. While he did so, the redhead took her scroll out to call in their status. Junior took that opportunity to stop them.
"Not so fast." He called out to the two, signaling his men to come out and take aim but to hold fire. Walking up to them, he grabbed the girl's scroll and crushed it in his hand. "Cant have you doing that."
"Hey!" Jaune shouted, getting up to stand taller. "We needed that to call for backup."
"You wont be needing it." Junior said gruffly, snapping his fingers and having two of his men go behind the two teens while the rest guarded the door. "Come with me. And take your girlfriend with you."
Picking up Pyrrha bridal style, he followed the bar owner as he lead them to the back of the bar. As they walked, he turned around to give the two a once over.
"You two look familiar." He said, striking a conversation. "I seen you around before?"
Remembering the owner and how they met, Jaune decided to open with something he said once. "Cool beard."
"Hah!" The older man laughed, looking forward once more. "Now I remember. The kid that wanted to 'join up.' Nice to see you're still kicking kid."
"Thanks." He said, still feeling nervous. "…Where are you taking us?"
"Relax kid." He said in the same gruff tone. "With what's happening outside, I'm the least of your worries."
Stopping at a door, he opened it to show twin girls sitting on a bed while prepping their weapons.
"What's going on boss?" The twin wearing white asked. "Who're those two?"
"Fill you in later Mel." He waved her off, motioning for the two students to get in. "Right now the girl's foot needs treatment."
What happened next was the two twins taking Pyrrha out of Jaune's hand to help with her wound. Junior had taken out his own scroll and tossed it to Jaune.
"Sorry about the scroll." He apologized. "But with the Fang out there and you students all sharing the same line, you cant be to careful. Couldn't risk you two tracking them in here."
"I understand." The blonde nodded, dialing in for Weiss and only her. "This is team Arkos reporting in. Scrolls have been damaged and are using another line. Partner has been injured are currently in hiding. Can't disclose area for safety but assure it's safe."
After a few minutes, he received a call back from Weiss.
"This is Snowdrop calling in." Weiss shouted, sounding relieved. "You idiots! I almost thought you guys were dead. Team Arkos, do you need an extraction?"
"Affirmative Snowflake." He laughed at the codenames they had given each other for the situation. "Location will be at Vale Park. Time of arrival will be in five hours."
"Roger that team Arkos." Weiss confirmed, estimating the time. "We'll be there at that time. Stay safe."
As the call ended, Junior looked at the blonde teen in front of him with an unsure stare.
"Are you sure your call was secure?" The bar owner asked the teen. "It sounded like she was using an open signal. Someone else could have been dropping in on the call."
"That's what this text message is for." He assured the older man, showing a message he typed out.
-Disregard last call. Pick up point: Dust til Dawn. Time of arrival will be three hours. Prepare suppression fire in case.
"Smart kid." He commented, patting him on the back. By that time the twins had walked out of the room with a few drops of blood on their hand. "How is she Militia?"
"Better now that we took the bullet out of her foot." The twin in red said, wiping her hands with a towel. "With her aura at work, she'll be up in an hours time."
"Thanks a lot you guys." Jaune nodded to the three.
"You can go in and see her if you want." Melanie winked, walking off to guard the doors with the others. Her sister had followed after, giving him a call me sign teasingly.
"I still don't know why you're helping us." He muttered, looking back to Hei. "I thought you guys were a gang or something like that."
"Well kid." The old man sighed. "Think of this as an investment. If I keep you two strong and kicking, that means less trouble for me if this whole thing blows over. I'm not looking out for you. I'm looking out for me."
"That makes sense." He muttered, opening the door to check on his partner. "Either way, thanks."
Closing the door, he didn't notice the smile on Hei's face.
Inside with Pyrrha
Walking over to the table Pyrrha was lying on, Jaune saw the bullet Militia was talking about. Her foot was bandaged up with a bit of dry blood on it, but it looked as if she was healing nicely.
"Looks like you wont be dancing any time soon." He joked, sitting on a chair next to her. The two shared a small laugh at his joke. "I called Weiss. She'll be sending an extraction in three hours. The pick up zone is at Dust til Dawn."
"That's good." She said, slowly sitting up. "What do we do until then?"
"We wait." He said simply, holding her hand. "And you heal."
Remembering Blake's kiss before she went off to look for Adam, Pyrrha stared at Jaune and debated whether to ask him about it or just ignore it. After going back and forth in her mind and seeing they'd be stuck in the room for a while, she decided to go for it.
"…So …that kiss Blake gave you." She muttered, feeling a blush rising to her cheeks. "That was a thing."
"Yeah." He muttered back, not looking her in the eye. "I-I wasn't really expecting that."
"So… are you going to do something about it?" She asked, dreading his answer. "It was obvious you enjoyed it from how dazed you were."
"I did." He admitted, his blush getting deeper. "But …I don't know. I don't think she meant anything by it."
"Are you sure?" She asked while putting on a calm exterior but was internally panicking. 'Why am I asking him this now? We have a lot more pressing matters at hand. …What id he admits he likes her more than a friend?'
"Pretty sure." He mumbled, twiddling his thumbs. "It was …different from that kiss we did during our film, but I guess it was sort of …off. Almost felt like a goodbye kiss than a loving one."
"…Oh." She looked down, understanding the meaning behind it more than him.
"I guess it's because they're headed off to fight a deranged swordsman who cuts people up without batting an eye." He mused, still being dense much to Pyrrha's slight annoyance.
After that, the two had stayed quiet with an awkward feeling hanging in the air. As minutes ticked by with neither of the two willing to say anything, boredom had started to settle in. Not being able to take much more of it, Jaune decided to break the silence.
"Remember the time my sisters came to force me to come back home?" He asked her, thinking of any memory he had in mind.
"Of course I do." She laughed, happy they were talking once more. "It's not every day I get to fight someone stronger than me and end up in jail in one of the most accomplished kingdoms of all places."
"I still cant believe you yelled out to start kicking them since it hurt more." He laughed at the memory. "…It was kind of the first time I saw that side of you."
"What side of me?" She asked, smiling from the memory.
"You're usually so composed and in control, none of us ever get to see you act out of line." He explained, hoping he didn't offend his partner who could break him easily if she wanted to.
"My partner and best friend was being pulled out of school without telling me properly why he was leaving." The champion pointed out, poking him on the nose. "Of course I'd be furious amongst other things."
"…I'm your best friend?" He asked with a smile. "For a while, I thought Blake was your best friend by how close you two were acting."
"W-well you are." She said, looking at the ceiling to not show her blush coming back. "From the moment we became a team, I considered you my best friend. I know Ruby is yours, but I think of you as my best friend."
"…Ruby's not my best friend." He said with a frown placing his hand on hers. "I mean, we hang out a lot but she's not my best friend. You are."
"I am?" She said, sounding surprised and happy at the revelation.
"You've always been my best friend." He laughed, squeezing her hand tighter. "I think you have been from the moment you speared me to the tree in initiation and saved my life. You've always looked out for me, and I've always been grateful for that. Even now, you're still here with me while stuck in a fight to defend the city while four super powered women go to battle another evil entity."
"O-oh." If she could look in a mirror right now, Pyrrha would not be surprised of how pink her face was. "Thank you Jaune. That means a lot."
Feeling her heart beating against her chest rapidly, Pyrrha didn't know why but she had started to lean closer into him. The pace quickened as she saw that he was leaning in towards he too. Slowly shutting her eyes, she was about to do what she had been dreaming of doing again for a long time now. Nothing could ruin this-
"Excuse me." Came the voice of the red dress twin. As she entered, Jaune had turned away to look at her much to the champion's disappointment. "…Ooh. Was I interrupting? Sorry. But I was just checking on you to see if your foots healed enough yet. The battle outside is still going strong and nothing's entered the club yet, but you know. Cant be to careful."
After flexing her toe and lifting her leg, the four time champion felt that she was able to run and hold her weight. Getting off the table, she leaned on her wounded foot and found no signs of discomfort.
"I'm okay now." She nodded, giving Militia a smile. "We'll just need to take a moment to ready our things."
"Alright." The twin nodded, slowly closing the door to give the two some privacy again. "Sorry about that."
After she left, the two had given each other a glance before turning away. For some reason Jaune had started laughing. It was apparently contagious since Pyrrha had joined him not long after. As they finished, he grabbed her sword and shield and handed them to her.
"Let's get going." He said, opening the door and stepping aside. "Ladies first?"
"Thank you, Jaune." She bowed, walking out the door and following him to the entrance. Poking his arm, she had something she wanted to ask. "Any plan on how we're getting to the dust shop?"
As they got to the counter where Junior handed them a scroll each, Jaune looked at the entrance where the chaos was and back to the room where they had just gotten out of. Checking the time, they had at least an hour and a half to get to the dust shop, which was an hour's travel if they ran. But with the Grimm and Fang around, the time would have been extended. Thinking things through, he had an idea as he looked to the club owner.
"Say, Junior." He said, hoping the man had what he was hoping for. "You wouldn't happen to have a back door or maybe a fire escape, would you?"
"The building behind us has one." He pointed to the back door. "Why? You got something planned?"
"Yeah." The blonde knight nodded, putting his sword on the table to limber up. "Time to put all my training to work. Think you can keep up Pyr?"
She had meant to give him a gentle punch on the arm. From the look on his face, it had still hurt. But on the plus side, he didn't fall down like the last time in their first days at Beacon. That showed improvement.
Rooftops of Vale
Jaune and Pyrrha were currently hopping through the roofs while trying to sneak by any Fang grunts in the area. If they got close to one, then they simply subdued them and went on their way. Pyrrha had also taken the time to pilfer any ammo for Jaune's handgun and some rounds for her rifle. Looking down below, they saw Grimm rampaging everywhere mindlessly charging into things including one another.
"We're almost at our destination." She whispered to her crush while using the scope on her rifle to check the area. "I see a few grunts around the roof surrounding the shop, but only three of them."
"Any sign of snipers?" He asked, keeping low enough not to be spotted.
After zooming in on their weapons, Pyrrha found nothing resembling a sniper. "None. Only blasters and a few rifles."
"Good." The knight sighed, searching for a way down without being spotted. "If we can just get through them without being spotted, then I can message Weiss that we're ready for extraction."
"I don't think that's necessary Jaune." She told him, seeing a change in the grunts' movements. "It looks like they're pulling out. No, more like they're headed somewhere else."
"…That's convenient." He muttered, seeing a few more grunts meeting up and running in a particular direction. "Wonder what's going on?"
"I don't know, but let's take this chance." The Amazon said, folding her rifle into a sword once more and taking her shield on her back. " I've got your back."
"You always do." He quipped, jumping to the next rooftop after all the Fang grunts had left.
As they made it to the rooftop of the dust shop, there were no signs of any White Fang anywhere around them. Looking below, they saw Grimm rampaging around and no hunter in the area to stop them but them. Taking this chance, they rained bullets down on them with all the extra ammunition they collected on their way here. The numbers seemed to be dwindling, but it wasn't enough as more would come to replace them. By the time they had killed over fifty, the two had run out of bullets.
Taking out his scroll, Jaune had decided to call Weiss on the status of their exraction.
"This is Arkos calling in." He said after dialing Weiss's number. "Status report on that extraction? We are currently out of ammunition and are at the extraction point."
"Got you Team Arkos." A new voice called in, not Weiss's. They knew knew that voice by her accent. It was Velvet. "This MarchHare answering. We are currently on our way and will be there in a T-minus ten minutes. Stay where you are and stay strong until we get there. Understood?"
"Understood MarchHare." He answered back. "MarchHare, where is Snowdrop? My dial show's her number, so where is she?"
"Snowdrop is currently in the med-bay tending to to some of the wounded." Velvet answered, sounding mournful.
"Who were wounded MarchHare?" Jaune asked, feeling scared for his friends. Pyrrha had leaned in, also wanting to listen. When she didn't answer, Jaune repeated himself. "MarchHare, who were wounded? …Velvet, please. Tell me who got hurt?"
"…Ren, Cardin, Russel, …Scarlet, Blake, Yang, Coco, *sniff, Professor Port, Neptune…" As Velvet listed the names while sobbing, Jaune felt a cold chill run up his spine.
Pyrrha had placed a reassuring grip on his arm and hugged him while burying her head into his shoulder. He didn't mind that his arm was getting wet. He didn't mind that her grip was cutting the circulation in his arm. He just wanted to get her back safely to Beacon and check on his friends.
"Thanks Velvet." He interrupted her, stopping her from painfully saying any more names. "This is Arkos out."
Putting his scroll away, he held Pyrrha tightly and bit back the tears that were threatening to pour out.
'They're okay. They're going to be okay.' He chanted in his head repeatedly.
As the Bullhead came to extract them, Jaune looked out to see Grimm still swarming the area. Greeting Velvet and pulling her into a hug, they took off to the school. On the way, Velvet informed them that Beacon was now secure and free of Grimm and White Fang.
Beacon – Medical Area
The knight and Amazon wasted no time as they ran to the medical wing. Velvet had stayed behind to manage the flights while communicating with another sniper that took Ruby's place. The little reaper had found out about her sister's return and called for a switch.
Reaching the medical bay, Jaune and Pyrrha saw Nora crying over an unconscious Ren. From the looks of things, his right arm took a nasty burn and his once long hair was singed and cut short. He was heavily bandaged up and was breathing, so they were still relieved.
"Don't you die on me." They heard Cardin shout, looking over to an unconscious Russel next to him who's heart was being monitored and showed signs of slowing down. "DON'T YOU GO DAMMIT!"
"Don't shout lad." Port scolded tiredly across form him, sporting a busted lip and bandages around his chest and belly. "Other's need their rest."
"Sorry." He said, tears threatening to spill out. "But…"
"Rest easy boyo." The professor placed a hand on his shoulder. "Have faith in your team."
Russel's heartbeat started getting stronger and his breathing started to get more pronounced.
"They just may surprise you." He said, patting a relieved Cardin he left to greet the two students coming in. "Nice to see you lads made it safely. We may get through this yet."
"Thank you professor." Pyrrha bowed, happy to see someone showing high spirits in these dark times. And it had only been a day.
Jaune was busy looking over his friend as he lay sleeping. Nora looked worse for wear. Her lip was busted, an eye was swollen, and her arm was in a sling. But she still had the energy to stay by her childhood friend's side.
"Wake up Ren." She sobbed, gripping his hand. "Please wake up. How can we be together if you're not here with me?"
"Let him rest Nora." Her leader said weakly, not liking the sight before him. "H-he'll get better. And when this whole thing is over, we can all go out. Just team JNPR having a fun adventure. You here that, Ren? You better rest up and get well soon or else… or else…"
He fell to his knees and weakly pounded his fist into the floor, not being able to finish what he wanted to say. Nora had placed a hand on his back while squeezing her best friend's hand.
"Just get better you sloth." He whimpered, hiding his face as tears fell to the floor. Pyrrha had helped him off the floor and pulled him into a hug that he returned.
"Let's go check on the others." She whispered weakly, her lips quivering and eyes stinging from the salty tears pooling up.
Nodding, they had gone to each of their friends and were relieved that they were all still alive. Neptune had gone back into the fray and got shot in the arm and leg by a sniper. He would have been done for if VPD wasn't around to save him and radio in an escape for him. Sage was currently by his and Scarlet's side while telling light stories to keep them entertained.
Scarlet wasn't that worse for wear either. It was more of a slipped disc and broken legs as a Griffin snapped his cable while he was swinging off to another building. He had fallen form three stories, but his aura had helped keep the injuries minimal. Sage was with him and had defended him long enough to get him back to Beacon for treatment. Glad that they were okay, there were now only three people left to visit.
Finding Coco was easy since all they had to do was look for Sun. The monkey faunus was fussing over her as he kept trying to keep her comfortable to her annoyance. Heading back into the battlefield, the White Fang had shot at her ship and had caused it to hurtle to the ground. She had jumped off at the last second and landed on one of the rooftops, but had popped a shoulder out of it's socket and dislocated her knee in the process. She managed to hold them off with one arm shooting, and had done it long enough for an extraction bringing a few students from the CCT after securing it.
"Good to see you safe …Big Mama." Jaune teased, smiling at the puffed cheeks Coco gave him while pinching her man's ear.
"You see what you do?" She muttered, pulling him closer. "You give me a nickname and now everyone thinks that's what they can call me."
Leaving the two, Jaune and Pyrrha found Ruby walking out of a curtain with a smile and dried tears on her face. Walking up to her, she gave them a hug before walking back to find her partner. As she left, the two took not of the bullet holes in her cloak and that she was limping a bit while leaning on her left leg.
Going into the curtains, the two saw something that had them double take at what they were seeing.
Yang's hair had been cut short to where it was now touching her shoulders. She had a few scrapes and bruises, and her robot arm had some dents and deep cuts with signs of a stab wound in her shoulder, but she was still conscious and smiling while holding onto a napping Blake.
Looking the cat faunus over, she had a piece of her cat ear cut and her arms and legs were covered with bandages that showed she'd ben cut up badly. But what took them by surprise was the weapon she held tightly as she slept. It wasn't Gambol Shroud she held in her hands, but Wilt and Blush, Adam's weapons.
"Does this mean you guys…?" Pyrrha pointed to the blade and to them.
"Yup." The blonde brawler whispered, rubbing the cat girl's head as she peacefully slept. "This is what happened."
Flashback: With Blake and Yang
After cornering Adam in the town hall, Blake and Yang ran in after him to see him standing out in the open. The area was dark, but with Blake's nightvision she had an advantage like him, but Yang was the odd one out.
"Nowhere to run." The blonde shouted, getting into her fighting stance.
"Yes." He nodded, slowly taking out his sword while staring at Blake. "It's been awhile …darling. How I've missed you."
"Get over yourself." The cat faunus scoffed, circling around him with her partner.
"How's the arm by the way?" He mocked the blonde he remembered disarming.
"Just shut up so we can kill you." Yang growled, showing him the bird with her robot arm. "It's fine by the way. Still couldn't find it but I think it hates you."
"Fine then." Done talking, he walked slowly towards them and anticipated their next move.
As they circled one another, Yang took the initiative to fire a shell at him. Sidestepping the shot, he didn't see Blake flank him using the shot as a distraction. Quick to act, the bull swung and cut her in half only to see it was a shadow.
"What?" Yang had fired another shot, grazing him on the shoulder and causing him to pull back. Blake had appeared above him and managed to nick him on his other shoulder before stepping back to stay with her partner.
"You two have certainly improved." He mocked them, cracking his neck. "And you've certainly gotten sexier as times gone by. I'm no match for you two so I'm going to wuss out now like a bitch and have you kill me."
"Yang." Jaune said rolling his eyes. "Tell us how it really happened, huh?"
"Fine." She chuckled, enjoying her laugh. "So he didn't say that. But the rest was true about double teaming him."
"I guess I'll have to take you seriously this time." He muttered, sheathing his blade to charge up an attack.
Blake was familiar with his stance, seeing it used hundreds of times whenever they went on missions together. Looking to her partner she saw her charging in, ready to knock him down. The smirk on the bull's face was all it took let them know that he was going to try and end things quickly. As she saw the blade come out, she charged after her partner to save her life.
"Look out!" Blake shouted, speeding up to grab her partner and throw on the ground with her. She had managed to catch her, but one of her ears had been cut in the process.
Gripping her bleeding cat ear and seething in pain, Blake looked up to see Adam charging another attack. Taking out her weapon in gun mode, she fired off a few rounds but was shocked when he just shrugged it off.
"Not going to work that easy." He smirked, getting in position for a downward slash.
As he released the charged energy from his sword, Yang grabbed Blake and rolled out of the way just in time to dodge the attack. Adam had stepped back a few paces to get some distance while readying another attack.
"Any ideas?" She asked the bookworm. "All I can think is to hit him hard and hit him fast."
"We need to stop his swing." She said, still clutching her bleeding ear. "It's easier said than done, but if we can he'll be defenseless and vulnerable."
"So hit him faster and harder." The blonde smirked, putting it in a way for that was her style. "Let's do this then."
The two had rushed him all the while dodging his charge attacks. Each time he would try to jump back, they would fire off a few shots to get him off his rhythm. It had worked as they were getting closer each time. He had abandoned his charging and had gone on the defensive to block their bullets and physical strikes.
Doing a hit and run maneuver, the had him on the ropes as he only managed to get a few small cuts in that they could ignore. Yang had to hold back after he had caught her with a stab to her shoulder. As Blake rushed in once more to give a heavy strike, Adam had unsheathed and released his blade swinging wildly in every direction to push her back. She saw it coming but could only block as much of it as she could.
The swings had cut into her arms and legs as she protected all her vitals. While she had her head covered, Adam took the opportunity to kick her down and grab her weapon.
"Enough of this." He snarled, panting while raising her weapon high in the air.
Closing her eyes as his arm descended, she heard something shatter in front of her. Opening her eyes, she saw Adam tossing her now broken weapon aside while his was held in front of him. He had destroyed her sword by slamming it into his blade.
Trying to crawl away, she found herself stuck as he had stepped on her chest and held her to the ground. He had sheathed his blade once more, ready to release a charge strike that would definitely kill her.
"No!" Yang shouted, getting in between the two at the last second and taking the hit form the strike before falling on her back. Her long blonde hair had been cut short and was fluttering in the air in front of Blake.
"Yang!" She wheezed through the pressure on her chest. Looking up, Adam was charging up another attack.
"This ends here Blake." He said darkly with a victorious smirk on his face as he looked down on her. Seeing an opportunity and Yang's body twitching, Blake thought quick on her feet.
"Yeah." She said, grabbing his leg. "For you that is!"
Sliding his foot off, she got him off balance for a second long enough to strike. She was still too low on the ground to reach his face, so she had decided on another target.
"Cock shot!" Adam swore he heard something squish as pain filled his entire body.
Dropping his sword and getting off Blake, he looked up to see her getting back up. She was staring at him with a vindictive smirk and had glanced to the side. Turning to what she was looking at, he saw Yang walking up to him while pulling the shield she had behind her back hidden by her hair.
"Forgot I had this thing?" She asked before she swung it into his face shattering his mask as it made contact.
Passing the shield to her partner, Yang gripped her mechanical arm to open a new function she kept secret. Flexing her fingers, a plasma cutter had came out.
Charging Adam who was close to recovering, she had sliced off one of his arms.
"That's for my arm!" She shouted as he screamed in pain. Pulling back, she had swung again and cut off his other arm. "That's for hair!"
"And this!" Yang growled, as she kicked him down and shifted her hand back to normal. "Is for Team RWBY!"
Delivering a heavy blow to his jaw, Adam's face had kissed tile as a loud crack echoed across the hall. As his head bounced back up, Blake took the opportunity to grab his sword and plunge it deep into his chest. They didn't get to see the look on his face but by how limp his body was, they knew he was dead.
"Goodbye Adam." She whispered, pulling the sword out of his back. Looking at her partner, she saw her picking up what was left of Gambol Shroud. "Yang?"
"I think Ruby can fix this up good as new." The blonde said, showing Blake her weapon. "The gun mode works fine, it's just the blade he broke."
Holding Wilt and Blush in her hand, she liked how light it felt in her hands. Looking back at her weapon, she remembered the history she had with it.
"I think I'll keep this one." She said, patting the katana. "For now at least. Once we get my blade fixed, I'll be practicing dual wielding."
"Sweet." Yang gave her approval, pocketing the broken blade. "What do we do about the body?"
"…I got an idea." She smirked, dragging the corpse by the leg. Yang had followed in suite grabbing the other. "I think it's time for their moral to hit an all time low."
A few minutes later
"Kind of makes him look like a martyr don't you think?" Yang muttered as they stared at their handy work from a rooftop.
"I've thought it over." Blake sighed, shrugging her shoulders. "The White Fang will always have something to complain about. Faunus are already getting their equality but they're still acting like a terrorist group. …Besides, I think it looks nice. A modern work of art."
They had strewn Adam on the statue of the town hall with him lying flat on his back with eyes closed and a smile on his face as the statue held him up like a hero.
As the two called for an extraction, a few grunts had seen the corpse of their leader and called all units to their area. By the time the small group had formed, Blake and Yang were on a Bullhead heading to Beacon with Velvet giving cover fire.
Present time
"And that's what happened." Yang sighed, leaning back to get more comfortable. "We got down, had our wounds treated, then Blake fell asleep not long after."
Nodding from Yang's tale, Jaune walked over to give them both a hug. He had to be careful though since they were still cut up badly. Before he let go, Yang had whispered something into his ear.
"If a good luck kiss from you got us out of that fight, I wonder what happens if it was a full on smooch and more." Yang teased, enjoying the blush on his face as he let go. "Be seeing you …Funbuns."
As the two headed out to give them some rest, Pyrrha had held onto his arm the whole time. He didn't mind as he needed comfort too after seeing most of his friends in critical condition. Walking out, they had decided to head back to their dorm.
JNPR Dorm
Walking in, the whole place seemed less lively than it used to. Usually Nora would be jumping on her bed while trying to have a longer hang time than the last, Ren would be either reading a script or taking a nap, and the two of them would be studying or thinking up newer strategies they could use in combat class. Pyrrha had wished the two could have some time alone together, but not like this. This was too sad for her.
"We should get some rest." She said, taking off her shoes and plopping on the bed. Rolling on her back, she saw partner sitting on a chair close to her bed staring at her. "Yes?"
"Nothing." He sighed, leaning forward. "I'm just …being paranoid I guess."
They had passed Ren again on their way out and had seen he was recovering by the twitching in his hand and movement in his face. Having talks with the rest of her team, Pyrrha learnt from Ren and Nora that Jaune was the type of leader that shoulder the blame on himself whenever one of the got hurt. Remembering that memory, she understood why he was being so quiet now.
"Come here." She said, sliding a bit to give him room next to her.
Seeing him not moving from his seat, she pulled his arm and had him lie next to her. He had taken off his armor after it had started digging into him uncomfortably. After he had finished shifting around, she pulled him close to her in a warm embrace.
"Hey." He whispered, staring into her eyes and seeing the worry behind it's green hue.
"Hello." She whispered back, doing the same. After a moment of silence she had talked once more. "He's going to be fine. They all are."
"I know." He said, gripping her hand tight but finding it getting tired. "I just keep thinking I could have done something differently. Maybe they wouldn't be so hurt."
"If you didn't come with me, I'd be nothing but a half eaten corpse with bullets inside me." She countered, pulling him closer. "We all made our choices. What happened after was for us to get through them."
"I'm sorry." He whispered giving her a smile.
"Hey." She teased giving a weak smile of her own. "That's my line. Always has been since we first met you."
The two didn't know why, but they laughed shortly at her teasing. After wiping a tear from her eye, Pyrrha saw Jaune staring at her with a different kind of smile. It was almost inviting. Feeling his hand coming to her cheek, she didn't fight as he pulled her in closer slowly.
"What are we doing?" She asked, feeling his breath on her lips as she was closing her eyes.
"Making a choice." He answered as their lips made contact.
It was salty from the sweat and dust from their battle outside, and was also sticky from the tears they had shed moments ago. But Pyrrha didn't mind. She was enjoying it and felt a sense of completeness as they locked lips for minutes. As they released, she saw him looking at her with a smile and a blush on his cheeks.
"Was that for good luck?" She teased, feeling extremely dazed.
"More than that." He whispered, pulling her into a tighter embrace.
The two had fallen asleep in each others arms as the stress and exertion had caught up with them. Chaos was still going on in the streets, but for now, they'd forget it just for a moment.
A few hours later
The two had woken up to find it was already evening and someone was poking them both in the cheeks fervently. Cracking an eye open, the redhead saw her energetic teammate staring at her with a teary smile.
"…He's awake." She said happily while wiping the tears in her eyes. "He's awake.'"
Medical Room
As the three had ran to the medic bay, Nora took notice of how close the two were running side by side and how Pyrrha was holding his hand. She decided to not comment as they immediately ran to Ren's bedside and saw him sitting up while holding onto his stomach. Nora was about to charge into him and pull him into a big hug, but someone had beaten her to the punch.
"REN!" Jaune shouted, hugging his male teammate close to his chest. "Buddy, you're alive!"
"No!" Nora beat on Jaune's back as he hogged her childhood friend to himself. "Jaune you jerk! It's my turn!"
"You had all worried there you idiot." He sobbed happily, ignoring the beating on his back. "Mwah! Blegh! You're head's sweaty."
"I thought I told you never to do that." The ninja grumbled, wiping the spot where he was kissed.
"I don't care how many times you tell me not to." The knight laughed, not letting him go. "If you keep scaring me like that, I'll go for the lips just so you'll never do something like this again."
"Raar." Yang hollered, opening her curtain to show her and Blake were listening and fully awake. "We'd pay to see that."
"I'd paint a picture of it to forever capture it's beauty." The cat faunus mumbled with a tint of pink on her cheeks.
"Let go!" Nora shouted, pushing Jaune and causing him to fall on her friend. "Oops. Sorry."
Blake and Yang took the opportunity to take a picture on their scroll while the others laughed at their predicament. For a while, things were going back to normal with friends all laughing together. Cardin was sitting on his bed while chuckling at the whole event.
"You better wake up soon bud." He whispered to his teammate. "You're missing out on the fun here."
"Let him rest you brute." A voice said behind him. Turning around, it was Weiss looking at him with a smile of her own. "When he wakes up, we'll all be going into the fray again. So let him get some strength in him."
"Yeah." He sighed, leaning back into his bed. "Thanks again for saving our lives. You're more a real snow angel than a snowdrop."
"No flirting with the nurse, buster." She rolled her eyes with a smirk. "And I haven't saved anyone's life yet. We're still in the chaos."
As the group made merry to forget about their troubles outside, the headmaster and Ruby had walked in urgently looking quite panicked.
"You all need to evacuate the area." He said, sounding very serious.
"Team RWBY." The little reaper called to her team. "We need to evacuate. Ready your supplies and weaponry and meet at the Bullhead in five."
Not wasting time, she had ran out to get her stuff ready as well. Seeing her go, Pyrrha had nudged Jaune to go follow her and ask what was wrong. Nodding ,he had ran off to find her holding onto Zwei who had accompanied her.
"What's going on Rubes?" He asked seriously. "Is it the Grimm?"
"Worse." She muttered, fear in her voice. "Salem got away. The Maidens and Qrow are fighting her, but she's traveling at a speed that they can't keep with. She was last spotted in Atlas and her next way point is here. …She left a Grimm wave in her wake wherever she goes."
Feeling dread from the news, he nodded as he went back to alert all of them. Ozpin had already filled them in and had readied a flight for all the weak and wounded. When asked what to do next, he only had one word.
"Survive."
At the Bullheads
As students headed into their respective flights, team RWBY, JNPR, SSSN, and CFVY had stayed behind to see CRDL off.
"Are you sure you guys want to stay?" Cardin asked while carrying an unconscious Russel. Sky and Dove had secured their seats and had readied themselves for takeoff. "You might die here."
"Trust in us." Nora smiled, holding onto her best friend. "We're mavericks in doing the crazy and impossible."
"Lead the others to safety Cardin." Jaune patted him on the shoulder. "They need you."
"Take care of Zwei for me." Ruby said, waving to the corgi sitting with Sky.
Nodding his head, the heavy armored teen pulled in and strapped his teammate to a chair as their Bullhead took off.
"So." Yang sighed, looking at them all. "The gangs all here. Now we can die together."
"Don't say that." Blake smacked her on the side of the head. "If worse comes to worse, we can just run away."
"You know?" Jaune cut in, holding Pyrrha's hand. "That's not a plan I can get behind. I'd prefer to live and win this one."
"Guess we're all in." Sun nodded, loading his nunchakus. "Any last wishes?"
"Would have liked to go to Arcadia once in my life." Coco pouted, poking her boyfriend in the chest.
"If we all get out if this, I'm taking all of you with me to Arcadia." The prince laughed, giving them all more incentive to live. "We'd stay in my mom's ranch."
"I take back what I said." The blonde brawler raised her hand. "We're all going to win this."
As the group walked away to prepare, a dark swirling portal had opened in front of them. They all went on the defensive except Yang who remembered seeing it before. Stepping forward, she wasn't surprised when Raven had stepped out with mask on.
"You all need to leave." She said in a cold tone. "Now!"
"We're staying." The blonde puffed her chest out to her mother. "We've all decided on fighting her."
"You don't understand what you're up against." Raven said angrily, taking off her mask to show her face. "Salem isn't some thug you can take lightly. It's going to be dangerous."
"Stay or run it'll still be dangerous." The daughter spat back, not willing to listen. "We're staying to fight and that's final."
"I am your mother and I am telling you to get out of here!" She pointed to her portal she kept open.
At that statement something snapped inside of Yang. All her therapy and talks with Velvet and her other friends had burned as anger filled her mind.
"My mother?" She spat out, her hair burning. "You haven't been my mother for years! Summer was more of my mother. At least she was there for me as a kid. Where were you?"
"I was out protecting you! You know that!" The dark haired woman shouted, losing it at what her daughter was saying to her. "I told you this the last time we met. I was trying to keep you safe!"
"Well Summer did that too!" She shouted back, tears welling up in her eyes. "She was there for me and had time for me. She always came back! So why couldn't you? Why couldn't you be there when I was looking for you all my childhood? Huh? …Why didn't you love me enough to stay?"
After getting all her questions out, Yang felt a bit better. The last time she talked with her, she had held all her questions in because she was happy to finally find her and was talking to her. But it was short lived as Raven told her reasons for leaving and had vanished before she could get a few more words out.
"Are you done?" The mother said, looking downcast and hurt by her words. Getting a nod, she sighed before talking. "I know I haven't been the best mother, but I did what I thought was best. You got hurt by my choices, and I'm sorry. It cant make up for all those years I've missed, but I want you to know I haven't stopped loving you. So please, just get in the portal and take your friends and sister along."
"I'm sorry too …Raven." Yang said, not ready to call her mom. "But we're staying. No matter what you say, we're going to hold her off long enough for the Maidens to get here."
Raven stood there deciding what to do next. After a few minutes, she ran a hand through her hair and stared at her daughter and friends a once more.
"Do you promise that once the Maidens have caught up, you'll run?" Getting a nod, the she firmly resolved herself to her own decision. "Then I'm staying with you. By the time Salem gets here, a Bllhead wont be enough to escape her. Your only safe hope of escaping is through portal."
Nodding, the group plus one more had devised a plan to keep Salem in place long enough for the Maidens to arrive. It wouldn't be easy since she would be bringing a horde with her, but if it was, then everybody would be doing it.
Salem's arrival
Like a dark cloud, Salem had arrived on a flock of Nevermores and Griffins. Down below her Grimm had flooded the streets once more, wreaking havoc and destroying buildings. By that time, the people had gone underground to escape with a few hunters and huntresses tagging along in case of danger. Among those protecting the people were Junior and his men. VPD had grudgingly accepted their offer to help but kept a close eye on them.
As the Grimm witch landed on the courtyard of Beacon, Ruby peeked from her hiding spot to see her looking tired and hurt. The Maidens were not joking in taking her down and had gone all out. Form the looks of her wounds. As she looked upon the statue of heroes, the powerful witch blasted it with a dark energy sending debris everywhere.
"Salem!" The headmaster of the school called out to her. Cane in hand, he walked towards her.
"Ozpin." She snarled, turning to him. Raising a hand she sent forth a flock of small Nevermore to attack him. A burst of fire had incinerated them as Oobleck appeared from his hiding spot.
Before Salem could send another wave, the debris around her had floated in mid-air and pelted her. She had shrugged it off but when the stone sword had been formed to impale her, she summoned a Grimm from the ground to take the hit.
"Now!" Ruby's voice echoed as Salem was blinded from the debris flying around. "Freezerburn!"
The whole area around Salme was covered in a white mist, obscuring her sense of sight. Dust and bullets had shot from random areas, confusing her as she was unable to dodge. Getting tired of their game, she forced a tremor that dissipated the mist and revealed her attackers. Looking around, she saw RWBY, JNPR, SSSN, and CFVY circling her with weapons raised. The teachers stood by them, ready to attack as well. A smile crept to her face as she found it amusing.
"Children, Ozpin?" She giggled, looking upon them with mirth and amusement while forming Grimm out of her shadow. "You're sending children to fight me? I find it laughable. Pathetic …but laughable. I will enjoy-"
BAM!
The teens didn't waste time in unloading more dust and bullets on her now that they were exposed. The plan was to hold her in place long enough for backup, but weakening her enough to slow her down would be more helpful. Ozpin had helped as well, but had held himself back to keep in contact with Qrow.
The Maidens were on their way and would be closing in on them in half an hour's time. All they had to do was keep on the attack long enough for them to take Salem down. From the looks of things, the headmaster could guess that all the attacks were starting to get to her.
"Shooters in position!" Ruby shouted, shifting into sniper mode. As the gun users came together to form a wall of guns trained on Salem and the Grimm around her, the little reaper called out their team attack. "Bullet Time Heaven!"
The next thing Salem saw was a screen of bullets flying towards her and bombarding her and her summons to the point she was being pushed back. As the firing stopped, she saw them scattering once more to prepare another attack as al her summons had disappeared.
"Swordsmen!" Weiss shouted as she skated around her with her glyphs while the teachers helped in keeping any Grimm at bay. "At the ready! Seven Seas!"
Blake had been the first to give a swing with Wilt after charging it up, followed by a dual cross slash by Jaune and Pyrrha from behind. Scarlet shot a grappling hook to Salem's feet and tangled her, stopping her from moving as Yatsuhashi and Sage hit her high and low with their blades causing her to fall on her back. As she got free from the rope, Salem stood up only to see the swordsmen quickly backing away from her. Turning around, she saw they had been a distraction for Weiss to summon two knight arms with swords in hand. She was too exhausted to move out of the way or summon a Grimm. As the knight hands descended, the witch closed her eyes to concentrate all her power.
"Enough of this!" The pale woman shouted, sending a shockwave that pushed them all back. The summon had dissipated before it could reach her. Looking around to see them standing up once more, she snarled at their tenacity. "You may be able to push me back, but it's not enough to end me!"
"We're not stopping!" Ruby shouted, readying her scythe. Salem had taken one look at her and finally took notice of her eyes.
"A silver eyes?" She gasped, narrowing at what was in front of her.
"That's right!" Jaune shouted behind her while pointing his blade his blade to her. His hood had came over his head, having him resemble the statue the pale woman had destroyed.
"You!" She snarled at the resemblance. "You're lineage still lives?"
Not willing to take a chance with the two leaders and their friends, Salem had tried to escape by summoning a flock of Nevermore once more. As the teams fired on her, the numbers proved too much as she was rising farther away from them.
"Not today!" Raven shouted as she appeared from a portal above Salem and striking her back to the earth with her blade. "No more running coward."
"You will all pay for this!" Salem snarled, plunging the whole area in darkness as Grimm formed out of the ground and encircled them. The ground trembled as a dragon had crawled out along with Griffins and Creeps and flew overhead to plunge them into darkness. "Know that this was all your doing."
The teams had huddled together as they battled the Grimm surrounding them. With the dragon flying overhead to block out the light above them, they were losing hope as they continued to fight on. As Raven tried to open a portal for all of them to escape, she found her powers being blocked. Ruby's powers had awakened once more, but it wasn't enough with their queen behind them. Jaune had focused on his aura to act as a light for all of them as they were surrounded by a sea of darkness. They were a light being swallowed in the dark.
"Yang." Raven whispered, getting closer to her daughter. "I'm so sorry. I couldn't keep you safe."
"I'm sorry too …mom." She answered back, never taking her eyes off the monsters around them. Her team was right next to her as they formed a defensive circle. "I just wish we all had more time to spend together as a family."
"If this is our last moments together, I'm glad I had it with you guys." Sun told them, swinging his weapon to a Grimm that threatened to get close. Turning to Coco, he placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'm mostly glad I got to meet you."
"Me too." Coco nodded, feeling despair as her bullets were running low. "I've had nothing but fun days with since I met you."
"Any last words before we kick the bucket best buddy?" The pink bomber asked her childhood friend.
"…I'm sorry Nora." He apologized with his back to her. "I'm so sorry I wasted both our times acting like an idiot. If I hadn't, we would've been more than together."
"Well." She huffed, brandishing her hammer even tighter. "Aint that a bitch."
"Jaune?" Pyrrha whispered as the Grimm came closer. "I want you to know, I've always had feelings for you. And I'm glad I got to-"
She never got to finish her confession as Jaune had placed a hand on her shoulder.
"I'm not giving up on us." He said, turning away from the Grimm. "I made two promises and I intent to keep them. I promised I'd bring you guys to Arcadia, and I meant it."
Turning back to the Grimm, he sliced one that had gotten too close before turning back to her. "And the other promise was that I'd bring a pretty girl back to the ranch and introduce her to my mom as my girlfriend. And…"
"An Arc never goes back on his word." She finished his sentence, feeling a new drive to fight to the end. "I would have liked to go out on a date first, but what can you do?"
"Let's take down as many of them as we can!" Ruby shouted glaring her silver eyes into the Grimm and watching as they faultered back in fear.
As the Grimm circle started getting closer, the team were now huddled together with weapons pointing in all directions as they prepared to take as many of them down with them. They could even feel the earth beneath them tremble from all the tension.
Suddenly, a ray of light appeared above them as someone had plunged into the circle. The ground cracked under the weight of the mystery person after hitting the ground and sticking a landing while sending swords flying to give them all a bigger circle once more. Standing up, Ruby was happy knowing who it was.
"Sal-u-tations everyone!" Penny waved to them. "I hope we're not late."
"Penny!" Ruby cried happily, shooting a Grimm in the process as it jumped towards her.
"And the eighth finally arrives." Weiss released a breath she held.
Up in the air
"Fire!" Ironwood shouted on his ship as they reloaded their cannons. "Salem may have ran us through every kingdom, but this ends here!"
"You ladies ready to end this?" Qrow asked the Maidens as they prepped themselves to jump out. "My nieces and their friends gave us enough time to catch up to her. Now it's time for us to show them what we got."
"After you." Amber said. He didn't waste any time as he jumped into the fray and landed next to Ozpin.
"Alright ladies, it's four in the morning and we haven't gotten our beauty sleep." The summer maiden called out to them to pump them up. "And we all know who's fault that is."
"Let's go burn a witch." Amber laughed, jumping down to go after Salem.
As the Maidens descended and surrounded the her, Salem had called all her Grimm including the ones surrounding the students to her for another battle with the four.
Raven felt her portals working once more and had opened one up for Yang and the others to get through. "Go. Now!"
"But…" Before Yang could protest, Raven had pulled her into a hug.
"A deal's a deal, sweety." She whispered into her ear and kissing her cheek. "Take good care of your sister and always know that I love you."
"Mom wai-!" She never got to say any more as Raven pushed her through. Turning to the others, she saw they were just staring. "Well what are you waiting for? Get out of here!"
"But we want to help." Weiss spoke for them.
"You kids have done more than enough." The mother said to all of them. "Extraordinarily if I say so myself. But it's time fore the adults to show how cool we can be too."
As they stepped through the portal, they all could see the resemblance between mother and daughter as Raven shared the same smile Yang had. They didn't know where the portal was heading, but they trusted her to send them some place safer.
Timeskip: Six years later
"Sorry it took a long time guys." The older looking blonde knight apologized to his friends as he drove them to his cottage in Arcadia on an old truck with hay in the back. "But with all of us being busy, it was hard to get us all together."
"We don't mind." Ruby smiled, enjoying the fresh air and the warm breeze. She had grown into a beautiful woman and had the figure of Yang when she first entered Beacon. "Still cant believe that a prince prefers to stay in a cottage by the lake instead of some giant castle in the middle of a kingdom."
"Blake and Yang don't seem to mind. Besides, Weiss is fine with it too so you know it's in her words 'passable.'" He pouted, looking in his mirror to see Sun holding his two year old baby girl while his wife laughed at the scene. Nora was currently playing with her man's hair as he dozed off as he enjoyed the feeling of the hay bed and her lap pillow.
The little girl's five uncles were hovering over, trying to get her attention as well while while Aunt Velvet sat on a corner taking pictures of them. It was nice seeing all of them after what happened at Beacon.
The battle in Beacon had ended with the death of Salem. But it wasn't a victory they could all cheer for. The fall and winter maidens had died after sustaining too many wounds. Research had been set up to see if any of their relatives would be the new maiden. Those among the deaths included a few Atlas soldiers, Ciel Soliel, Peter Port, …and Raven Branwen. The others had survived but had lost a lot in the process. Ironwood's vocal chords had been damaged and Winter was currently in recuperation after getting a bone spike into her spine. A lot more were injured, but Glynda and Oobleck saw to them along with the medical teams.
When Qrow had shared the news to his nieces, Yang and Ruby had broken down into a sea of tears along with their father and himself. The blonde daughter took it the hardest and had secluded herself away from them all for weeks.
When Raven had opened a portal for them, she sent them to Patch where her ex-husband's home was. It was the only place she could think of for them.
As time went on, buildings were restored, hearts were mended, people had grown, and seasons had changed. For what they all had went through, all students had been recognized as honorary hunters.
Ruby and Weiss had cheered at finally getting their dream. Taiyang and Qrow had been there to see their coronation along with Winter who was using a can at the moment help her reduce stress on her legs. It was also a comedic sight once Jaune's sisters and father had made an appearance to see him. The paparazzi had a field day once they found out Pyrrha Nikos was partners with the crown prince and was also his girlfriend.
The very first thing Blake did after getting her huntress license was to ask Jaune and his sisters for a job as a huntress for their kingdom. When the king had made a joke about making her Jaune's personal guard, she had taken it seriously and handed her resume. Yang saw it all and tried to join her partner, saying how inseparable they were. He relented and was rewarded by a Yang powered hug.
Sun's chief had proudly promoted him to sergeant a year after he got his license and congratulated him on a job well done in serving the community. He took the chance and had proposed to his girlfriend in front of all their friends and colleagues. After smacking him around for embarrassing her in front of all her friends, she had said yes. There was another battle as four of his guy friends had wrestled for the right as best-man. Jaune gave the right to Neptune after the bluenette had cried at the unfairness. Not long after that, Lirin, Sun and Coco's precious jewel was born.
"Oh, there's Weiss!" Ruby shouted, sticking her head and body out of the window and bringing Jaune out of his memories as they neared the ranch. Weiss was currently in the field horseback riding a white horse that personally belonged to Jaune. "Hi Weiss!"
Weiss had flown in on her personal ship to visit Jaune for his planned get-together. She had overthrown her father with the help of Jaune, Pyrrha, Blake, and the paparazzi as they showed his cruelty and racism. Being off duty during the time to recover, Winter had filled in the role as CEO while Weiss did her duties as a huntress. As time went on, Winter resigned from the army and had stayed as Weiss's advisor and assistant. But she was more of the owner herself and only needed her little sister's signatures for important documents.
"Ruby." She greeted with a smile while catching up to them on the horse. "You guys are late."
"Come on." The not so little reaper groaned. "We haven't seen each other in forever and that's the first thing you say?"
"What are you talking about?" The SDC owner huffed still smiling. "I just saw you two weeks ago when we went on that joint mission to Mystral together."
"But it felt like so long." She mumbled before changing the subject. "So when did you get here?"
"I only arrived recently." The dust user answered, petting the horse. "Once I saw Jaune coming to meet me on this beauty, I had to have a turn. …By the way: the offer still stands. I'm willing to make it six thousand Lien for the horse."
"For the last time." Jaune ground out rolling his eyes. "I'm not selling Cheval. She's one of the family here. You can take any of the others, but she's off limits."
After arriving, Weiss immediately fell in love with the mare and grew to love her even more after seeing how tame and intelligent she was. It also helped that she was as white as snow with no blemishes. It was like she was made for her.
"…Can I at least come by every once in a while to ride her?" She pouted, nuzzling her cheek into the horse's hair. After all the years they've been together, Weiss's love for cute and beautiful animals had not diminished.
Driving up to the cottage with Weiss in tow to see Sun's daughter, Jaune parked the truck and had helped take the bags down. Blake and Yang had walked out to greet all of them looking as great as ever. The blonde brawler's hair had grown back and had been kept the same as it was to resemble her deceased mother's in her memory while Blake had cut hers short so it reached her shoulder blades.
"Glad you could all make it." The busty blonde said as she pulled most of them into a hug. "Welcome to Casa el Yang and Blake."
"I thought this was Jaune's cottage?" Her little sister pointed out as she was released from her hug.
"Well it is." The blonde scratched her cheek with a grin. "But with him staying in the church to do his prince stuff and going out every now and then to his hunter missions, someone had to take care of this place. So Blake and I live here and have our own rooms and stuff."
"We all share the place." Blake cut it short, summarizing her partner's explanation.
"You sure that's okay?" Sun nudged his fellow blonde male with a teasing tone. "Your girlfriend isn't angry about this is she?"
"…Well." Yang said, turning away with a sheepish grin. Blake had formed a cat like smile on her face and had giggled at what the two knew.
"She's not his girlfriend anymore." The cat faunus said, still having that smile.
"WHAAAAT?" The whole group shouted besides the people who lived there. Weiss had fallen off the horse at the news.
"How could this happen?" She asked frantically, getting off the ground. "You two were like the greatest couple! …No offense."
Sun, Coco, Ren, Nora, Velvet, and Scarlet had turned away from her after they gave her a dirty look.
"But when did this happen?" She asked once more. "I saw Pyrrha a week ago and she was extremely happy while talking how great her life is with you."
Pyrrha had taken that moment to walk out of the cottage with bedraggled hair and wearing Jaune's acolyte robes as pajamas. The females of the group had run up to her much to her confusion while the males walked to Jaune.
"Such a shame." Neptune patted the prince on the back. "You let such a good woman get away."
"You schmuck." Scarlet sighed, wrapping him up in a one armed hug. "You'll find someone else. …Maybe Blake or Yang would have you."
"You'll be okay Pyr." Coco said soothingly to her friend. "At least tell me you guys are still going to be friends."
"We're here for you." Weiss hugged her left arm while Ruby hugged her right.
"What are you all talking about?" The redhead asked, not understanding what was going on.
"We heard you're not Jaune's girlfriend anymore." Turning to the blonde prince, he gave her a knowing smirk with a wink that she caught on once the two other females she lived with did the same.
"O-oooh!" She said, putting on a sad smile. "It's true. Jaune and I are no longer boyfriend and girlfriend."
"The pain!" Velvet placed a hand to her forehead at the information. "A couple has died. A ship has stopped!"
"That's right Velvet." Pyrrha sniffed wiping a fake tear from her eye as something twinkled. "A ship has stopped sailing."
"…Wait." Ruby narrowed her eyes, catching onto the twinkle. "What was that on your hand?"
"This?" The Amazon said, showing the ring on her finger. "It's the engagement ring my Jaune gave me when he proposed two weeks ago."
"B-but he said you're not his girlfriend anymore." Ruby said puzzled.
"Right." She nodded, still wearing a bright smile. "I'm his fiancée now. And in a few months, his wife."
"What was all that about your ship stopping?" Velvet pouted, not liking that they were had.
"Our ship is stopping, but more of that we're settling down." Velvet really had to hold herself back from punching the redhead in the teeth by how she was smiling at them.
"Ooooooooh!" Yang had to give props to Pyrrha's word play. She felt like she was responsible for it.
"That's right." Jaune said, hugging his fiancé. "We're getting married a few months from now. It's mostly preparations, but we can wait."
A dark cloud had descended upon the group as they had completely processed the info. Staring at the two, the male and female had one ting to say on this.
"DIBS!" They shouted before looking at one another with narrowed eyes.
"You were best man the last time, so I'm being it this time." Sun pointed to Neptune.
"You guys are all wrong." Ren shook his head. "It's obviously me since I'm the brother he never had."
"Man, f-" Whatever Sage was about to say was stopped as all men had slapped a hand on his mouth.
"Not in front the kid." Scarlet scolded his partner.
While the males were using words to decide who would be the best man, the women were also doing the same of who was to be maid of honor. Although, Jaune didn't know why he felt a cold chill from them as they talked. Pyrrha had covered his ears so he wouldn't have to hear what they were talking about. The soon to be married couple hoped that the girls didn't find out that Jaune's solder sister had named herself maid of honor.
Seems that no matter what happened, they hadn't changed that much. But they didn't mind.
"Just like those days, huh honey?" The blonde nuzzled his chin into his fiancée's neck.
"Indeed." She laughed, happy they were all together again. "Just like those days indeed."
END
AN: Welp! That was the Arkos chapter. If you guys were expecting a mushy gushy chapter focusing on only one couple, I was thinking about it but decided to make it more serious.
For you Knightshade fans, it'll also be serious like this chapter. There's just going to be a butterfly effect added in.
Love it, hate it, I wont judge. It's your choice and opinion. I'm just doing what I do.
ANYWAYS!
Phew. 43 pages, 14849 words minus disclaimer and AN , and me almost feeling bad for hurting them like this as I wrote this chapter. But, you need to feel the pain sometimes in order to find your happiness. Don't remember where I got that quote from, but I still remember it.
Look forward to next chapter: Endgame- Knightshade. It's obvious who the ship is, but how will it form? MUhahahaha!
