The Recidivist Ch.55

Dedicated to Monty Oum (1981-2015)

NOTICE: I know the series is not finished yet. So if some events from an episode changes the characters or experiences, think of this story that its in a different universe. Like after the characters of RWBY have nothing to do.

RWBY along with its characters that you might obviously know DOESN'T belong to me. The series belongs to Rooster Teeth productions and the creator, Monty Oum. The plot in this Fanfiction and some characters you'll know who are OCs are from me.

Be sure to watch RWBY on Roosterteeth's site, Youtube, or Cruchyroll!

NOTE: Errors may be seen because of autocorrect.


Chapter 55: "I Know a 'Man'…"

Regroup for a next important meeting.

-(High North of Forever Fall)-

(Ruby's POV)

"There it is." Ivy sighed as she stood on the edge of a small cliff.

My team, along with Jaune and his, stood with her as we saw a horrific crash sight just around a mile away from where we stood. The airship looked like it was crushed on the ground so badly that it seemed like it was flattened halfway down its height. Huge amounts of smoke raised up in the air in different spots of the crash site. Especially in the engines, since the fuel was most likely still in there. Some of the crimson trees of the forest was on fire, but was being contained by Valean fire department. The sight just quickly reminded me of the Stock Exchange bombing a few months ago when Ammit killed over fifty people and fatally wounded over one hundred of them.

"Why…?" Nora whispered as she just kept staring.

"Why attack civilian flights like that?!" Blake bit her lips. "What's the purpose of it?!"

"They want more people to fear them." Weiss sighed. "The White Fang would do anything to scare others to show how merciless they can be. They're no longer an organization. Just a terrorist group of animals that would choose to kill rather than be civil like most faunus."

"It's a good thing there's more like you in the world." Yang smiled and patted Blake's back.

"You don't need to give me credit for being who I am." Blake gave a weak smile.

"So, what's the plan?" Ren asked. "We look for survivors and help take out the fires?"

"I can handle the flames with the fire department." Weiss stated as she took out her Myrtenaster.

"I'll assist he firefighters too." Ren nodded.

"Looks like most of us will be focusing on finding survivors." Jaune said.

"You can use some of your aura to heal some survivors, but only when their wounds are close to being fatal." Pyrrha said. "Just don't use too much of it. I'm sorry, but we can't save everybody." She added.

"Let's get going before more people die down there." I told everyone and jumped down the cliff, landing on my feet.

Ivy and the others followed as we ran across the forest. The smell of burning fuel and smoke was getting stronger as we got closer to the crash site. Not only the smell, the hot air blew in our faces until we finally reached the crashed airship.

Valean soldiers were carrying the wounded out of the destroyed aircraft as more and more injured civilians just kept coming. What made me feel even more saddened was the body bags back near the trees. Some of the survivors cried right next to their friends or loved ones inside the bags as the soldiers zipped it close without expressing any emotion. Not because they were heartless and didn't feel bad. But I understood why because they didn't have time to cry over their people dying. They had to save the others or else the other survivors will end up as fatalities.

My eyes looked back at my team and Jaune's as I could tell they tried to hold in their emotions. They weren't looking at hunters or soldiers dying like what we saw in Fort Knots. But just innocent civilians who are scared out of their minds trying to fight their wounds and prayed that their friends or loved ones were still alive from the crash.

"Let's make this a quick one." Ren said as he quietly walked away to help the firefighters.

"Ren?" Nora bit her lip nervously as he walked away. "Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine. Just help the others on finding more survivors."

"No. I'll help you out with the fires too." Nora declared.

"No, Nora. You're staying with the others to help round up more survivors." Ren refused her offer to help him and Weiss.

"Nu uh." She declined.

"Nora, please."

"Ren," I called out, "maybe you should just let her go with you. I'm sure we have enough people to help find survivors of the crash site."

"Well…" Ren looked at Nora as she gave the cutest puppy eyes, "…I guess."

"That's more like it." She grabbed his hand and pulled him to the area where firefighters needed help the most.

"Those two are so inseparable." Pyrrha gave a small smile.

"Yeah." Jaune chuckled and patted Pyrrha's shoulder. "Come on. We have lives to save."

"Indeed we do." Pyrrha smiled even more when he patted her shoulder.

"Weiss," I looked at my white haired friend, "don't you think you should help the Nora and Ren out with assisting the firefighters?"

"Are you sure you don't need any help with the wounded?" Weiss asked.

"Your ice abilities are more needed to take out the fires. Don't worry about it." I smiled.

"Fine. Just be careful. Okay?" Weiss said as she followed the path where Ren and Nora went to.

Ivy's scroll vibrated in her hand as she commanded iVii, her artificial intelligence unit in her armored suit, to connect to the call while she moved some heavy objects to make a path more open for medical units to head inside and find survivors.

"Ivy, are you there? This is Captain Riley." I heard her scroll's speaker come up with Nathan's voice spoken out loud.

"Ivy Nao. Go ahead." She responded.

"I just arrived with a squad on the supply train wreckage. It's a mess…" Nathan sighed on the line and coughed. "A lot of debris coming the burning crates of supplies. Better be careful though. For all we know, some of the crates can contain munitions and cause a fatal explosion."

"I better not hear from your superiors that you're K.I.A after this." Ivy chuckled. "Just be careful out there, okay?"

"No worries. I'm leaving everything to the rest to the squad after I'm done securing the wreckage." Nathan said. "Also, there's no need to come on over to the train wreckage. We got it."

"Thanks. Stay safe out there."

"You too." Ivy ordered iVii to hang up the call as she focused back on making the crash site have more entrances to get inside the wreckage.

A sound of a dog whining in pain was heard from under one of the fallen wings. Me, Yang, and Blake headed over too it as we used all out strength to lift it up. Under there was a three month old puppy as its left hind leg was gone. This made my heart drop even more seeing a defenseless puppy being seen like this. In my mind, I kept hoping I wouldn't see dead children like what I saw at the stock exchange.

Blake lowered down as Yang and I held the wing up. She grabbed the puppy gently and carried the poor thing out as it shivered in her arms. We put the wing back down after it was clear and tried to comfort the puppy.

"I'm surprised your cat instinct ignored your hostility with dogs." Yang patted Blake's head.

"I've gotten used to it after your dog, Zwei, has been staying with us for a bit." She said.

I smiled as Blake sat down with Yang on watching over the puppy. One of the medics arrived and assisted them on treating the poor puppy's lost leg with a bandage.

"I should look around the airship to look for more survivors in need." I told them.

"Okay. Be careful out there, please." Yang said.

"Good luck." Blake gave a smile.

I began to make my way around the airship, seeing new parts of the wreckage as that was already taken care of by the Valean soldiers. Even though I wasn't technically in the military, most of the soldiers gave a quick salute when I passed by them. I saluted back to each of them as I finally reached the engine in the back. Nobody was there as it was just me.

While behind the aircraft, I examined the engines as the flames were still alive from the crash. It was not as bad as before, thanks to the firefighters and maybe Weiss, Ren, and Nora. But I still had to keep my distance due to how hot it was. It was a good thing the passengers weren't that close to the engines in the back, since most of the fuel is used there.

Everything was quiet until I heard someone walking behind me. When I turned around to see who it was, nobody was there. I swear, it was clear that somebody was there. Scanning deeper behind the trees, nothing. In the upper parts where the leaves were, nothing too. I turned back around towards the engines and saw a masked figure standing in front of me. I jumped as I reached for my Crescent Rose, but realized it was gone.

"Ms. Rose, you really need to work on your senses a little bit more." The masked figure said as he gave my Crescent Rose back.

Then I realized the mask and armor was the same as the one I saw at the night of the Faucon Celebration. It was Ostanes, Wyvern's Master.

"Ostanes? What're you doing here?" I asked, surprised to see him in the crash site.

"I saw the airship going down from the skies and witnessed the fatal crash. Doing what I had to do, I headed to this crash site to save as many people as I could. Unfortunately, a handful of them died upon impact. I was able to get most of the passengers out until the Valean military arrived." Ostanes answered. "What're you doing out here?"

"Ivy was told that two attacks have happened simultaneously on the supply train nearby and this airship." I told him. "Since I was with her, I decided to help her out and find out who was responsible."

"Well," Ostanes shook his head and looked back at me, "you don't need to look any further for evidence on who is held responsible."

"What do you mean?"

"While I was inside the aircraft, trying to save as many civilians as possible, I sensed a familiar presence nearby. It was Ammit. When the airship was going down, he was most likely waiting around this area for the right time to collect as many souls as possible. Fortunately for these people, I was there to save them. As for Ammit, knowing I was here, he retreated and didn't take a single soul to use for energy."

"So Ammit is responsible for all this…?"

"Without a doubt, yes he is." Ostanes sighed and looked at the crashed airship. "A pitiful sight, isn't it?"

"Why wouldn't it be?" I clenched my fists. "These airships can hold up to three hundred passengers, and who knows how many died because of this."

"I know. But sometimes the heroes can't save everybody. That's the harsh reality of this world and life in general. When I was young, I was naive to believe I could save everyone of my friends, family, and my kind. But now look at me. I'm the last pure Antediluvian from The Great Flood of Darkness wandering around Remnant for one million years, trying to protect humanity." Ostanes said.

Silence surrounded the air around us. This made me think of how much pain Ostanes had to go through. Being the last of his kind, the loss of his family and friends, and fighting the Grimm for that long without going crazy.

"How many times have your seen something like this 1,000,000 years ago?" I asked.

"Almost twice everyday." He answered before letting out a small sigh. "Every civilian desperately tried to find a way out, even if the aircrafts were severely damaged. If there was no chance of surviving the flight, they would rather die by the crash than be ripped apart by the ancient Grimm."

I frowned by the thought of innocent lives with no hope choosing to die like that. "Coming from a man that is many many years old, you must be pretty used to it."

"Indeed I am. But try not to think I don't care about these people. It's just that I've seen it happen so much that I can no longer express my emotions for it. I still gives me great sadness when it comes down to this." Ostanes picked up a small children's toy from the wreckage.

"Why would Ammit do something like this…?" I asked broken-heartedly. "Don't you think it's more dangerous for Wyvern to go after someone like him?!"

"No matter how many times I told him how dangerous it will be, he still wanted to fulfill his quest to end Ammit. Not out of revenge for his friends, but to make sure Ammit will never make others overcome the grief he has been through. If removing Ammit from this life will risk his, he will willingly do so."

"I don't want him to die!" I bit my lip.

"He's already been trained under my wing for fifteen years. Surely he will accomplish this alive with my help." Ostanes said.

"B-But…"

"Are you doubting my student's success?"

"N-No! It's just…"

"I'm sorry, Ruby. All you can do is trust and believe in him. Can you do that for me, and for him?"

"…" I frowned even more as this was the only choice I had to choose. "I believe in him."

"Very good, child." He patted my shoulder,

"But I have a question, if that's okay."

"You may…"

"Why couldn't you just go after Ammit yourself?" I asked.

Ostanes looked away. "I'm afraid I can't tell you my reason. However, I can assure you that Wyvern is not alone on dealing with Ammit."

"That's good to hear, at least." I gave a weak smile, knowing Wyvern has Ostanes by his side too. "Is there anyone else who knows more about Ammit more than us?" I asked him, hoping he would have an answer.

"I know a man." Ostanes looked back at me, then my scroll. "May I use that?"

"Sure."

I handed over my scroll to him as he dialed a number and called someone. Obviously, I had no idea who he was talking to, but he was speaking to the person over the phone in Drahenese, which gives me the idea that he's talking to someone in the Drahen Empire. However, it can just be him talking to someone who knows Drahenese that doesn't reside in the empire's territory, and was intentionally speaking in that foreign language in order to make not understand to what they were talking about.

The call lasted for a few minutes as Ostanes and the other caller on the line hung up. He looked down at me and gave my scroll back. The phone number had the country code of the Drahen Empire, which I was right about him calling someone there.

"Ruby, I want you to text Wyvern, your team, and Jaune along with his team to get ready to head over to the Drahen Empire." Ostanes said.

"Wait, what's going on?" I asked.

"I was having a short conversation with a very good friend of mine who is able to help you and the others. He has also agreed to give you a little bit of training to prepare all of you to who you're dealing with."

"Wait, this friend of yours knows you're still alive?"

"Yes. Perhaps he's one of the only few people who knows I feigned my death."

I still needed more information. "Where are we going?"

"On an island, west of the Drahen Empire's mainland, there is an independent academy that teaches students to become Huntsman, like the other four academies. However, this one is a lot more different than Haven, Shade, Atlas, and Beacon. One of the reasons is that the students are Drahenese, which means there are none from any of the four kingdoms or local villages outside of the Drahen Empire." Ostanes explained.

"Really? I had no idea the Drahen Empire had their own huntsman academy…" I commented.

"The man I was speaking with is the Headmaster of the academy, and he would be glad to assist all of you. I have also requested him to pick all of you up and notify Ozpin to come along with a few others as well."

"Okay." I nodded, "So…what is this academy called?"

"The Academy of Reclamation." He gave out the name. "As of right now, I want you to notify Wyvern and your friends to get ready."

"Alright." I nodded and looked him in the eyes behind that mask, "Ostanes, thank you."

Ostanes just gave a smile and a nod before slowly walking to the forest, disappearing behind the trees. I looked down at my scroll and began to write down a text message about what is going on without mentioning Ostanes.

"I hope Wyvern is okay with Somnus…" I whispered to myself as I sent the message to all my friends.


-(South of Forever Fall)-

(Wyvern's POV)

All I can do right now is follow Somnus as he was retreating from something that was able to scare him off. In my mind, I just kept thinking what was trying to come after him. At first I was thinking it was a powerful Grimm he doesn't want to face. Picking up the speed to reach up for him as we ran, I looked at him and asked a few questions.

"What are we running from?!" I asked.

"My damn father! He's found me!" Somnus answered.

"Why is he after you now?"

"What do you think?! I ran away from the headquarters he stayed at, and now he's hunting me down to take me home, and probably punish me for running away." He said.

"How did he know where you were?"

"I don't know."

The two of us just kept running through the red forest as an uneasy feeling started to form around my body. It wasn't as uncomfortable as Ammit's presence, but it still sent shivers down my spine. This spine-tingling aura made Somnus run even faster as if it was getting closer to him. It turns out, it was getting closer. I knew for sure someone was just inches away from having us on his grip.

Suddenly, someone came down from the trees in front of Somnus and punched him in the stomach, sending him back towards me as we fell on the ground. Hard. The one responsible was the same man I saw back at Fort Knots that was attacking Yang. Still wearing that somewhat armored robe while holding a medium kama blade, Somnus got back up and stepped back away from him as he approached us slowly. No doubt this was Ahriman.

"Somnus, how many times did I tell you NOT to run off without my permission?" He huffed angrily.

"No matter how many times you'll tell me, I'm not going to follow your orders anymore." Somnus said while readying his sword.

"My own son taking out his weapon against his own father. How rude." He glared at him, then narrowed his eyes at me. "Ah! I forgot my son has befriended another zhulong. Wyvern, it's been so long."

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised about you knowing about me because of Ammit." I glared back at him threateningly.

"Well," Ahriman smiled and stepped forward more, "that, and the time I met up with you a few months ago."

"I only saw you back at Fort Knots. What makes you think you knew me back then?" I asked.

"Well, I shouldn't be surprised that you don't remember me due to how dark it was in your room, and how much tears blinded your vision when Blake put all the blame on you." Ahriman told me, giving out a huge hint.

Then, I suddenly realized the figure that visited me that night had the exact same voice as Ahriman. Plus it wasn't a coincidence that he actually mentioned what I was in sorrow for about a few months ago when Blake and everyone else was so hard on me because of that misunderstanding with Llyweilun.

"You really surprised me that night because I didn't expect you and that rabbit to come to the docks and find Llyweilun. I still regretted saving him because of how much he hated zhulongs when he was aware they still existed. Nobody looks down on my son like that." Ahriman huffed and gripped his kama scythe tightly.

"So you really are the one that visited me that night." My eyes were widened in surprise at this point, knowing Ammit's ally actually helped me that night. "Why did you help me?"

"Call it a favor for getting you out of despair. Now in return, hand over my son and you won't be dealing with your own savior." Ahriman glared.

"I'm not going back to that cage full of bloodthirsty animals." Somnus stepped back.

"Well, it seems my son is being awfully rebellious right now, isn't he?" Ahriman gave a false smile and stabbed a tree with his kama, shattering half the trunk on impact. "I'm not going to repeat myself, Somnus. Get over here, and I'll spare your fingers when we get back."

"Wyvern, if you give me back to him, he can cut off my fingers and tongue to prevent me from telling you more secrets. Or worse, he'll just kill me, depending on how upset he is." Somnus whispered.

"Make your decision quick. I'm growing tired of waiting." Ahriman called.

"To hell with that." I stepped forward, standing up for Somnus.

"Fine." Ahriman's body began to glow, with his aura already fired up. "I'll be sure to bury you after I'm done." He suddenly dashed towards me.

I unsheathed my scimitars quickly enough to block his attacks, but I wasn't expecting a forceful kick immediately after. The force sent me back towards Somnus as both of us broke a few trees in the process. Getting back up on my feet, I looked up and saw Ahriman doing the same charging attack towards me again. This time, I blocked and slid a kick on his legs before kicking him with the same leg I used, sending him towards a boulder, breaking it. I quickly charged towards him with my swords sheathed back into their scabbards and began to send a numerous amount of punches on his torso and face, which lasted for twelve seconds straight. He then pushed me away as I took my swords out again, still surprised that he was still able to stand up.

Ahriman spat out blood and grinned. "Impressive work."

"I aim to please." I went into a defensive stance, ready to block any attacks he has up his sleeve.

He suddenly swung his kama on the ground to throw some dirt on my face. I was able to still block his attack because of my instincts. I disarmed him from his weapon and elbowed his head hard enough to stun him. Then, I kicked him back to keep my distance away from him. But he wasn't done yet.

"I'll be honest with you. You're being quite the nuisance!" Ahriman huffed and changed in without his kama.

"What? You feel like quitting? I thought you can do better than that, old man." I smirked.

"I just don't have time to face you. That's why…" Ahriman dashed passed me quickly enough to not catch him. He then grabbed Somnus by the throat as he smashed him against a tree, causing it to shiver. "…I decided to skip you and get my son, since violence on you is not my priority."

"No you don't!" I growled and dashed towards him with one of my Dragon Tail Swords ready to decapitate one of his arms. But I stopped when he put Somnus in front of his body to block my attack without using his weapon. My blade was just a few inches away from him as I froze like a statue, knowing I almost sliced him. The silence lasted for a few seconds before I felt my stomach get punched hard by Ahriman. Then, I got kicked back in the head as I hit another tree trunk.

"Ha! I see now. You don't want to hurt my son." Ahriman laughed. "Try to attack me, I'll use Somnus to block all your attacks." He said while raising Somnus being gripped by the throat.

"What kind of father uses his own son as a body shield?" I growled as there was a taste of my blood in my mouth.

"Pfft." Somnus chuckled as he looked at him. "He's not my real father at all. He never will be."

In response to his words, Ahriman smashed him on the ground and picked him back up, gripping his neck even tighter.

"May I remind you that I was the one that saved you from that god forsaken orphanage and gave you all the food, water, medicine, and everything for the sake of your life?" Ahriman glared as he squeezed his neck even tighter to interfere with his breathing. "That's something a son shouldn't say to his father."

"And what you're doing to him isn't something a father would do to his son." I charged towards him for the second time with my swords. However, he used the same move against me again.

I stopped my attack again as Ahriman used Somnus to make me halt my sword from coming closer. He kicked me away from him as I was trapped on how to deal with him without harming Somnus. Then, he suddenly charged at me to begin another swing of his kama. But it was blocked by another sword instead of mine nor Somnus'. A figure stood between us as he had the Valean Army logo on his back. It was the man I recognized back at Fort Knots. He kicked Ahriman and Somnus back as his blade twirled around.

"Big Bear. It's been so long." He gave a friendly smile to the bloodthirsty father.

"Captain Nathan Riley. Great." Ahriman sighed and got up. "Now I have to deal with a man that would rather run his mouth than take action."

"The leash that Ammit uses on you is rather too long. He should be careful to let his toys go crazy." He shook his head, taunting him.

"I'm about to put one on you for being such a military lapdog." He growled. "My neck has no leash from anybody."

"You won't be having a neck anytime soon." I pointed the tip of my sword at him.

"I agree. Not now, though." He chuckled and grabbed Somnus by he neck and took out a device from his pocket. "Until next time." He said before dropping it on the ground and stomping on it, making his body along with Somnus slowly disappear from thin air.

"Damnit!" I cursed to myself when I tried to stop them.

"I hate those things." Nathan sighed.

"What was that?"

"Some White Fang agents use those to recall back to their main headquarters in order to get away after completing a mission, or simply escape." Nathan explained about the device. "I myself had some run ins to agents who did that. Cowards." He shook his head. "I don't understand why Ammit hasn't used those yet, since he's one of the best agents in the Venom Group."

"He probably did that on purpose in order to meet me face to face." I huffed and put my swords away. "We need to find Somnus."

"Listen, I don't know who that boy was, and I understand you wanted to save him. But there's nothing we can do about it."

I walked around with frustration filling up my chest for failing to save Somnus. All I could due is sigh loudly to force the negative feeling off my body and breath calmly. Captain Nathan Riley was right. There's nothing we could do now after Ahriman used that device. Even if we tried to pull off a rescue operation, that would just be a waste of time to focus on Ammit, and be a suicide mission.

"There is another way, right?"

"I'm afraid not. All I can say is to forget about him."

"What?! Why?!" I asked.

"I'm sorry we didn't save him in time. But we got important things to do." Nathan gave his scroll to show a message from Ruby, informing someone has summoned them to the Drahen Empire's territory. She then gave the exact location, which was an island far off the mainland of Doragon. "Your friends and some others are making their way to The Academy of Reclamation."

"The Academy of Reclamation…" I whispered to myself, recognizing that place.

"Apparently, the Headmaster of that academy has called in most of everyone involved in Ammit's search to come and speak with us. Didn't you get a text from Ruby?"

I took out my scroll and saw the message from Ruby, saying the same thing that Nathan told me.

"I don't know the rest of the details, to be honest." He admitted. "But what I've told you is pretty much all the info I had about this plan."

My mind began to raise even more questions about why was everyone else going there. Did Ozpin give out the order? Or was it somebody else who knows about Ammit? Although I kept asking myself these question, I nodded and followed Nathan out of the forest without hesitating to stop. I didn't have to ask myself why the academy was expecting me to arrive on their campus.

I remember the place and my purpose of being there from the past.

And I personally know the Headmaster of that academy.


(Information in RWBY: The Recidivist Universe)

The Academy of Reclamation is the Drahen Empire's independent academy for huntsmen. Hunters and Huntresses attending this mysterious academy are mostly Drahenese students with no immigrants from the other four kingdoms due to the empire's hermit state. Another reason is they're believed to hold secrets that the rest of the world doesn't know about. Wyvern has attended and graduated from this academy before transferring to Beacon for reasons unknown except for Ostanes' orders.


(Since my homework is becoming more less and I only have two classes that have finals, I guess I can try to put more time into this story, but not doing requests. Anyway, hope this chapter was decent enough for you guys. Stays tuned!)

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