"Wh...at...?" Ruby's felt her voice die in her throat as her throat ran dry and her gut clench, her lips quivering as they opened but no words came out.
Her knees suddenly felt weak, and the small reaper's eyes darted between both girls in question.
She crumpled with her hands on the ground as she stared at the floor in disbelief. The tears she tried to hard to hold in finally leaked out, running down the side of her cheeks at the mental image it conjured, a future without their friends by their side. "Penny and Pyrrha... they... didn't make it in reality?"
"Don't act all surprised." Adrian mumbled, causing everybody in the room to shoot him dangerous glares, some eyes even narrowing down as they gripped their weapons tighter.
"What he's trying to say is, it's not like you didn't heard all this from Dwiki all beforehand." Kevin sighed as he ran a hand through his hair while the students looked away, and the adults wondering whether they should believe the words of, putting it loosely, a stranger, especially if it's diminishing any motivation that included foretold deaths.
"We didn't believe his words, or forgot most of them since they were jumbled up and hazy, not to mention very vague. We only heeded Louis's warnings." Pyrrha sighed into Jaune's chest. "What Louis said overshadowed Dwiki's since there was a lot going on at the time, and we weren't as well informed since we kept things from each other."
"I couldn't blame you." Kevin shrugged.
"Even though I never watched this show of yours, both Evans and Louis do genuinely care what happens to you. All of you." He added as his eyes scanned over the group. "They summarized the synopsis as detailed as possibly can post haste. Both Penny." He pointed at the once bubbly android, who's lips turned into a flat line, expression unreadable. "And Pyrrha," He glanced over to see Jaune holding her in his arms, cradling her like it was the last time he was going to see her. "Died. Penny in the stadium, cut off by her own wires due to illusions cast by Emerald, while Pyrrha atop Beacon Tower, trying to stop Cinder."
"Funny." Qrow mused. "So in this 'world'," He sneered at the word, making air quotations with a sarcastic edge on his tongue. "Of yours with this 'show' going on, both my nieces made it out in one piece? Sounds ideal to me-"
"Blondie there lost her arm." Derrick cut off, shooting down Qrow's cocky smirk and causing it to instantly be turned into a frown. "She got cocky against the man you were fighting earlier for never having lost a fight before. Remember him?" He asked. "The one you fought before you passed out?"
"I would've cleaved him in two if your Louis there didn't interfere, effectively ending that prospect happening later." Qrow snarled. "Or even completely ending the fact that he almost killed my other niece!" He slammed Harbinger's hilt against the inner wall's of the ship, making a small indent. "That wasn't supposed to happen now was it?!"
"The point I'm trying to get across is... " Kevin continued and ignored Qrow, knowing he wouldn't attack, at least not yet. "Your silver eyes couldn't activate, at least not now, not without a sacrifice. It was still a mystery element in the show when these guys last saw it, and we don't know for sure what triggers it."
"But from what we know of it," Derrick added. "As far as I can tell it's a Deus Ex Machina, something that activates after the story gets desperate and needs a way out of the plot that doesn't really make sense, thus we can't rely on it here. Maybe in time we could use it, but for now..." He sighed. "It's too risky."
"So we're out of ideas on how to defeat it. That means we're back to square one, and the only option we have, we find your stupid frie- teammate." Qrow corrected when he saw Ruby looking pleadingly into his eyes, and Blake's narrowed dangerously. "Then we get out."
"As much as I would hate to admit it." Winter closed her eyes and let out a long sigh. "Qrow is right. The reason I made my presence known is because I have an objective. That objective being to leave with Weiss, alive." She added unnecessarily. "Qrow has a similar goal with his nieces, and I'm sure you foreigners don't want to throw your lives out for naught now do you?"
"Ugh... " Someone slurred sluggishly and stirred. "Did someone... call my name...? What's with... all the noise...?"
"Speak of the devil." Kevin scoffed.
"Weiss!" Ruby exclaimed. "Y-you're awake!" She tried to dash across to her partner's side but tumbled halfway, causing the heiress to be the one to approach the small leader.
"Careful you dolt!" Weiss caught her halfway through the fall. Her eyes widened the moment she realized her hand touched torn fibers of cloth and that she can feel a large scar across her hip. "What happened?!"
"Weiss get back to your seat." Winter demanded as she made to unbuckle, only to sit back down as Neo held out her parasol, shaking her head.
"Winter?! What are you doing here? Blake? Why is Yang unconscious? What's the midget," Neo's face twitched. "Doing here?! She tried to kill us and now she's helping us?! What's going on?"
"You don't remember?" The small leader asked hazily.
"No... agh..." Weiss held the side of her head, and when she pulled her hand away, sighed in relief to find that there was no blood, or if there was, it was all dried up now and the wound had sealed.
"What's the last thing you recall before you passed out?" Kevin asked.
"I remember... the man named Arthur Watts." Weiss recalled as she put a finger to her chin. "I remember now... He was a wanted criminal with expertise in mixing corrosive or bio-hazardous Dust, and was infamous for his abilities to hack into the toughest of security networks and access highly encrypted folders. Then..." Her eyes popped open. "The scorpion faunus... he lunged at you. Oh god, are you ok?!" Weiss's eyes roved up and down Ruby's body to check for toxic substances.
"I'm fine Weiss." Ruby's hands slowly pushed the heiress's away. "I-I'm fine." She repeated, her voice cracking slightly, still letting the facts sink in. "His stinger didn't manage to reach me in time."
"That explains the virus they may have planted." Kevin said as he carried Amber towards the glass tube at the end of the ship as he set her down directly below Evans's coffin, and sealed the glass chamber with a soft click, securing both bodies in place.
"And who might you be?"
Kevin's POV
"Kevin, friend of Louis." He introduced. "Look, I'm all for bed time stories, but we have no time to explain everything. Qrow, you said you wanted to get out of here as soon as possible, and so does Winter." Qrow and Winter nodded. "Good, then I'm going to need you to comply with us. Survey the forest for a glint of black steel. Your eyes should be well suited for it, with a literal birds eye view on the whole situation."
"On it." Qrow leapt out of the ship, and Kevin had to stop Ruby from leaping overboard the moment he did.
A caw then resounded from below the ship, before a black crow zipped and swerved the area in a wide radius, avoiding the area nearby dragon, who was almost done reforming entirely, leaving it's claws for last.
It seems as though grew twice it's size, though as Qrow pointed out, it's sheer massive bulk made it so that it couldn't not only fly, but even move out of place. It's legs kicked and twitched as it roared and screeched in confusion at it's immobility, lashing out at nearby Grimm that were trying to throw itself into the beast to become one.
The Grimm were mindless, and since the Amity Arena did crash and sort of merge along with the dragon Grimm itself, they must've confused it for an extension of it's body, and decided to repair along with it. Kevin observed as he peered over the edge of the opening, his feet half in the air, with only his center of gravity keeping him inside.
The Amity Arena is going to be made it's core, and if- when that happens, it's going to digest the dust, maybe even going as far as to infuse some of the lesser Grimm with it, enhancing them, making them grow stronger and more agile and probably the ability to breathe out elemental atta-
Wait...
"Ruby."
"Hm?" Ruby looked up along with Weiss who was stroking the girl's back to provide some form of comfort, and it took a moment for Kevin to realize she was sniffling, probably for feeling so helpless and frail. "What?"
"You and Weiss could combine your attacks can't you?" Kevin asked,drumming his fingers against the wall, getting a small nod in return. "How low does uhh..."
"Ice Flower." Derrick said.
"Thank you. Ice Flower bring the temperature down to?"
"Below freezing." Weiss scoffed needlessly. "Ice Dust could instantly freeze people, but it's more to keep something in place rather than hurt someone. They have Aura to keep their blood from freezing too fast and before the cold reaches their bones they could break it just by flexing their muscles if they're strong enough."
"Yeah but that's how it works on a person with aura."
"Yes..." Weiss raised her brow.
"But the creatures of Grimm don't have Aura." Kevin smirked, causing Ruby to perk up, though her face was still set in a sulk. "How far does this attack of yours travel."
"As far as Ruby can shoot her bullets."
"About 97 meters at most." The young reaper said. "And then the trajectory will start to change to gravity."
"How accurate can you place the shots with that zoom in your scope?"
Weiss stared at Ruby.
Ruby stared back.
They both met Kevin's eyes.
"Depends, how big is the target?"
Qrow's POV
Tch... Qrow thought as he soared the skies.
Always wants the hero, just like her mother.
"Qrow..." Summer didn't turn back once as boulders crashed in between, obscuring Qrow's vision. "Take care of my little petal for me..."
"I will S-Summer" Qrow grit through bloodied teeth. "I swear it."
"T-thank you..." Summer muttered an apology, clutching the wound above her hip.
ROOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR
"AAAGGH!"
"SUMMMER!"
"That look in Ruby's eyes." Qrow spat to the side as he hovered idly in the air. "It's the same one..."
So, he's that important to her? Well, looks like I'll have a fun time interogatti- questioning this guy, and what Ruby means to him.
The fact that he piqued Raven's interest as well...
Just... who is this Louis?
"Bring him in first, grumble later." Qrow reminded himself. "There's no use overthinking it now if he's gonna just end up as a corpse."
As he scanned the area, he swooped down low, encircling nearby the ruins which seemed to be mostly destroyed by a giant Grimm. In the corner of his eyes, a glimmer of dark steel accompanied by crimson glinted in the black night.
Qrow lips twisted upwards in relief.
Kevin's POV
"How sure are you that this will work?" Weiss asked, holding out Myrtenaster with one hand overlapping the other to get a stable grip. She seemed to have regained at least a small semblance of aura to work with in her slumber.
The white glyph rotated and glowed fiercely as Ruby jabbed the end of Cresent Rose to the metallic floor with a shrilled screech.
"You're asking me that?" Kevin gestured at himself as he made to raise his brow. "This is your attack, not mine."
"Remember, the only reason I'm allowing you to do this is the fact that we're doing this from afar." Winter sighed defeatedly after a couple of attempts to get up, only to sit back down due to the assassin before her placing the length of her parasol across her chest, shaking her head.
Weiss and Blake looked at her in confusion.
Gone was the cocky smirk they spotted on the train, the cruel smile and the prideful gestures that stated she was above them, with only relief remained.
"Don't worry, she's with us." Derrick stated. "Louis made it happen."
"He is in so much trouble once he gets back." Weiss gnashed her teeth against each other, and the glyph flickered brighter for just a few seconds. "I'm gonna make sure he stays in the ice block this time."
"No arguments on that." Blake chuckled. "Might need to secure him with Gambol Shrouds ribbon too, just as an extra precaution."
"If this last attempt to slay the dragon fails..." Glynda started. "And it notices us, we -"
"We bail, I get it." Kevin snorted as he tasted his finger, putting it up in the air to feel any wind.
There was a slight breeze in the air currently, which shouldn't affect the bullet path too much.
But...
With the avian Grimm nosediving and thrashing along with the horde as they eagerly sacrificed themselves to merge along with it, the Nevermore from before included, Kevin was sure it would change drastically when it came close.
With it's momentum diminished at that point, best case scenario is that, it could get caught in or ricochet off of a raised claw, completely missing their target by a few meters.
Worse case scenario?
It'd hit the dragon right in it's face, instantly alerting it of their position.
"It's impossible to predict I know," Ruby admitted, noticing Kevin's look. "But I have practice and experience with moving targets... So I'll just have to try to aim somewhere above it to avoid moving limbs."
Ruby looked to Kevin for confirmation, and returned it with an approving nod.
"The target I'm aiming for being where the Grimm are least piling up on top of each other, the area thinnest layer of Grimm."
"Effectively flash freezing those suckers." Kevin nodded again with arms crossed. "Then you fire an incendiary round immediately afterward through that area, if needed, enhanced by Elsa's-"
"Who?"
"Weiss's" He corrected himself. "Time Dilation to increase the speed of the bullet, blasting a hole through the ranks big enough for a man to walk through, then one final shot should connect with the turbines to blow the whole thing up." He repeated for both her and Weiss's sakes.
"Shields should logically be down since it only takes a Giant Nevermore to crash the whole system," Glynda looked away in embarrassment, muttering under her breath on how Ozpin and her are going to have a chat about this. "And we literally brought it down with enough force to take out Beacon. If what you say is true, then this attack of yours is colder then spraying liquid nitrogen all over that thing. It's absolute zero temperatures at best. If we get lucky, we'll trigger a chain reaction that'll freeze it inside out. Though one could only hope we'd hit a Dust reserve. No pressure though." Kevin added for the sake of everybody around him.
"Right..." Ruby mumbled as she laid down a cartridge filled with explosive dust enhanced caliber rounds on the ground next to her, pulling the bolt handle back to ensure there was no bullet currently loaded in the chamber. "None at all..."
"Hey, you gonna commit to your words or what?" Kevin asked with a raised brow. "I thought you wanted to get rid of the dragon."
Ruby's POV
"I do!" Ruby said quickly, a little too quickly before she shied back nervously. "It's just... I'd figured we'd do it together as a team. Along with Louis rather then being separated like this." She pouted. "I mean, if he's pulling something off this big why didn't he just tell us? We could've done this together, and it would've been better, more effective, and more efficient."
"Let's wait until your uncle comes back with him and ask him ourselves, shall we?" Kevin snickered at the thought of the beating his friend would get without having time to recover. "You're not the only one with a score to settle."
Taking a deep breath, Ruby nodded and peeped into her scope.
Her finger wrapped around the trigger guard, curling around the trigger itself slowly and rattling against it as she stabilized the huge bulk of a scythe, embedding it's blade on the edge of the hatch and pulling it back to infuse it with the floor, securing it into place.
"You... killed... mom..." She muttered under her breath.
She took another deep breath and laid down on her naval to calm herself even further.
"You killed my friends..."
Slowly, she let out the air in her lungs with one long breath that came out in a long hiss through grit teeth and angry tears that streamed down the side of her face, and...
Took the shot.
A loud crackle rumbled like lightning, a small flash of silver glinting through the black night as the bullet left it's chamber.
The Grimm never saw it coming. Frost spread through their ranks, freezing the limbs off of an amalgamation of Beowolves and Boarbatusks. An Alpha Beowolf tore off it's frozen limb, howling in pain as it turned it's neck around to see where the source came from.
The others... followed.
The shot rattled and shook the Atlesian airship they were in, causing the short haired girl to give out a startled cry as her body scraped against the floor, dragging a bloody trail across.
"Ruby!" Weiss cried out and ran to her side as the glyph flickered out of existence. "W-what happened?"
"Her stitches tore open." Kevin cursed as he went over to Weiss's side to check on Ruby, before a low hiss caught his attention. "Fuck, I didn't recount for that."
He turned his neck, and didn't fail to miss the ripped metal on the floor, and Cresent Rose faling to the side with a loud clatter. "And the recoil was too much for both Ruby and the plane to handle. She's used to jabbing and firing it on solid ground."
"What do we do?" Weiss asked, eyes darting around for medical aid.
"Screw the plan, we leave as per our agreement." Kevin said as he scurried to his feet to make his way towards the cockpit. "Tell Qrow via scroll to fly to us once he spots Louis and bring him to a rendezvous point. We'll send the coordinates later. Come on let's g-"He was halted by someone grabbing his foot.
"I can do this..." Ruby insisted with a small whimper, her head trembling to meet the eyes of the rotund man as her eyes teared up. "Please... give me another... chance. I-I... can do... this..."
Weiss exchanged glances with Blake, who took one look at open space to see if they still have that window of opportunity.
A scream tore away from Blake's throat as the side of her face tinted with a fierce glowed orange that seemed to flicker brighter, and brighter.
"Hold on!" The pilot exclaimed as the plane barely manage to swerve out of the way of a huge fireball.
"SHIT!"
Kevin's body lurched out of the plane.
"Kev!" Derrick shouted as he clung onto one of the seats, reaching out his hand but his range was too short.
Something grasped him by the collar, pulling him back in with tremendous force and somehow barely managing to barely pull him up.
He fell on his rear with a loud thud.
"Whew, that was close." Jaune wiped the beads of sweat trickling down his face with the back of his hand.
"Guess you're not so bad after all." Kevin smirked just as he finished panting from the sudden lurch in blood pressure, still feeling the effects of his heart rate jumping, and tried to keep the bile out of his throat.
"Save it for until we live through this." Jaune winked and smirked back, offering a hand to help him up.
Kevin took it gladly. "Guess we're even."
"I was actually indebted to you?" Jaune balked, earning a small giggle from the red haired champion. "I don't think I'd want to owe you favours."
"Come on, I won't be that bad." Kevin put a hand to his chin. "At least I don't think I will."
"I'm not going to take my chances..."
"Incoming!"
Another fireball hurtled itself towards the group.
The plane once again swerved to the left, finding itself in a very precarious position once again as the plane pulled a barrel roll in thin air, swerving out of the way while the passengers within clung on for their dear life.
"I think I'm gonna be sick..." Jaune put both hands over his mouth.
"Don't you f-in dare!" Derrick shouted aloud.
"What should we do?!" Weiss grit her teeth, jabbing her rapier to the ground to conjure up a black glyph that spread rapidly to the corners of the ship, it glowed fiercely, holding everybody in place.
"Don't die!" Kevin yelled over the noise of items being flipped on their heads.
"Other than the obvious!"
"We should go find cover, somewhere where it'll have trouble finding us!" Derrick suggested.
"What, the clouds?" Kevin asked, then nodded off to their pilot. "You heard em."
"Respect your elders sonny." The pilot said, now finally visible from Ruby's end.
An elderly man with dark skin complexity stood at their cockpit. A green cap and a bright yellow shirt was visible from where Ruby was, while a red vest rests over it. Standing or even squatting being the correct term, for he was on a wheelchair of sorts with 4 mechanical legs supporting him.
"Atlas Tech." Weiss whispered to Ruby, reading her expression. "Who are you?" She asked, finally acknowledging the person in charge of their lives.
"Ah, Penny's friends." He said, jerking the control wheel upwards and spinning it wildly to the left, doing another barrel roll to avoid a continuous jet of fire. "She's told me stories about you."
"That doesn't answer the question."
"Probably because father is busy." Penny said nonchalantly as she grounded herself with her blades.
"FATHER?!" Weiss gasped.
"Yes," The elder man chuckled mirthfully. "Allow me to introduce myself as Doctor Pietro Polendina. But you can call me Doctor P for short."
Qrow's POV
Qrow's mouth opened and closed but no words came out as he eyed the ship doing spins and turns that would have rivaled a roller coaster, avoiding what seemed to be, continuous barrages of volcanic fire.
What... the... FUCK?!
"You've got to be kidding me." Qrow facepalmed as he dashed through the forest as fast as he could.
Evans's POV
Are those... footsteps?
Don't do this to me now ears, don't play with my head in my last moments.
Qrow broke through the treeline.
Qrow stared at the bleeding armor sprawled on the floor.
The armor tilted it's head, staring right back.
...
...
...
"Out of anybody they could've sent, they sent you?"
"Ungrateful bastard." Qrow spat as he crouched down beside it. "Do you want my help or what?"
"Only if you aren't gonna kill me." Evans groaned the moment Qrow hefted him up over his shoulder, and made to clutch his bad side. "Guess they filled you in?"
"Sort of," Qrow admitted. "Another world huh?"
"Oh they spilled the beans." The dark figure muttered. "Why am I not surprised. Tell me, who was the first to crack?"
"The blonde one."
"Who? Yang?"
"The other one."
"Glynda?"
"The unimportant one."
"Oh, you mean Jaune."
...
...
"Damnit!" Evans shouted from within the armor.
"What? Left something back there?" Qrow raised a brow.
"No, it's just that I owe Kevin 5 for thinking Ruby would crack first. Fuck."
"Hey, that's my niece you're talking about." Qrow sniggered as he trudged through the forest. "Give her some credit."
"I should be the one telling you that." Evans said, tilting his head when a loud boom rumbled throughout the skies and the skies turned orange for a few seconds, before dying down and became it's natural color once more. "What's happening up there?"
"Despite my warnings not to be stupid and engage on the Elder Grimm capable to leveling a city..." Qrow started as they cut through a path, leading deeper into the forest, and Evans groaned, knowing exactly where this is going. "Looks like my niece and the Ice Queen's little sister decided to piss it off."
"The plan didn't work, did it?"
"Nope." Qrow answered with a frustrated expression. "But it was a good attempt, I'll admit that. Never knew Glynda could be that scary when she's mad."
"Did everybody at least got on the plane though?" Evans had to ask. "Nobody got left out.. right?"
"None as far as I could tell."
"Thank god..." The dark armor sighed in relief.
They finally broke through the treeline and into a clearing Evans recognized too well from their time spent there.
Qrow set him down beside what once used to be a boulder, and tapped his scroll to get in touch with one of the group.
"Come on... pick up..."
"You should get Neo. The one with pink and brown hair." Evans added when Qrow shot him a confused look. "She's the only one capable of teleportation and the only one who could move me onto that ship. I would ask for the ship to land here so that everybody could help me on but... you know how that's gonna go. I don't want to risk them as much as you do."
"Point taken." Qrow said as he leapt up, body twisting and shrinking into a small bird, before fluttering up into the evening night sky.
Ruby's POV
A small figure shot into the plane, almost squashing itself against the wall of the ship with the sudden jerks and rotations it was doing.
"Oh ehehehe... Hi Uncle Qrow..." Ruby said nervously as the bird shook and writhed around, like a dog ridding of water fresh from a shower, growing into a size of a grown man and glared at her, causing her to run a hand through her hair.
"I left... for FIVE. MINUTES!"
Ruby shrunk back to the corner of the plane as she refused to meet her uncle's eyes.
"You ugh! Hey, pinkie." Qrow jabbed his finger out and towards open air. "The big bad wolf is calling out for ya."
Neo nodded quickly, her half panicked expression stating she would rather be anywhere else then in a spinning plane.
Her image shattered and then, she was gone.
"Care to explain what happened, oh dear niece of mine?" Qrow asked, turning his back to face the Gryphon that came in screeching, not even bothered that it revealed it's own location as long as there was a feast, only to get it's torso torn apart. "I thought we agreed to lay low!"
"I... I just wanted to help..." Ruby muttered with her knees drawn up to her chest.
"Well a good fat lot that did huh?" Qrow gestured towards the metal underneath him, which was split in two.
"Qrow!" Glynda snapped. "She would've done what any huntress would. You don't have the right to say she's in the wrong."
"Whatever." Qrow bashed another Gryphon's skull in with the butt of his hilt.
A shimmer of light twinkled from inside the ship, before Neo materialized with a bulk dark armor that was leaking warm and fresh blood beside her as she laid the body down.
"Louis!" Ruby scrambled to her feet to try and reach the ironclad figure, only to go prone again once a third Gryphon actually managed to broke ranks by flying above Qrow's guard.
It squawked fiercely as it landed atop the small leader, almost deafening her and forcing her to put both hands over her head as she curled up into a ball.
"Get off my niece!" Qrow roared angrily as he wrapped Harbinger's blade around it's throat, pulling it back and beheading the creature clean off it's shoulders.
A spray of blood flooded the cabin's floor, spiling off the edge and onto the grassy tundra below.
"There!" Qrow yelled as he pointed at the heavily armored man. "Mission accomplished, let's go!"
"Not yet!" Ruby pointed at the frozen patch of Grimm, the rest around it detecting the external threat and spreading around once more. "We need to kill it otherwise it'll just keep sending more Grimm after us!"
"And who's fault was that?" Qrow snarled.
"We can take it out-"
"No means no Ruby! Get us out of here!"
The plane made to swerve again, but the sudden jerk in movement caused them all to stumble and stagger.
"What the-" Qrow's eyes widened as he scampered to the edge and poked his head out to take a look underneath the ship. "Shit."
What the land based Grimm lacked in terms of agility, they made for in strength and packs.
A chain of Beowolves scrambled atop each other, trampling and making a ramp to scale already tall trees as a base, chaining and linking together to make one enormous black tendril that seemed to have sprouted off of the ground. Qrow looked left and right to see Ursas, Boarbatusks and the rest doing the same using their hooks, tusks, claws, even jaws at some point to make sure the chain stays strong and unbreakable.
"GAH!" Blake stumbled as another massive tendril pierced it's hull and attempted to drag them down.
A third struck not soon after, piercing the plane's wing, the Beowolf at the very tip snarling as it happily gnawed on the chunk of metal, happy to be a sacrifice and used as an anchor to hold the ship in place as long as the others could feast.
The ground rumbled as Goliaths advanced, approaching them ever so slowly, with the group knowing if those trunks reach the ship, they could forget any attempt to escape.
"Hold on," Qrow said. "I'll cut them loo-"
The dragon's roar cut through his thoughts. And though it's position was distant, the oncoming ball of fire made of pure fire dust was not.
"Haaah!" Winter yelled as a huge wall of ice erected from the ground and encased the plane in a wide arc, then shattering instantly, spraying tiny shrapnels of ice back into the ship as ball of inferno blasted it away with a bright light.
"Agh!" She jabbed her rapier behind her for support and grit her teeth, using her body to shield who she could, prioritizing Weiss.
"Fuck!" Qrow yelled out in pain as the heat spread through his back, echoing the Atlesian Specialist and spreading his arms out to widen his span, if only just a little.
The two guardians forced one eye to crack open.
Winter looked at Qrow.
Qrow stared at Winter.
They both turned to look back in sync to see a purple shield spreading the fire evenly around the ship, dispersing the heat as it sizzled the outer rim of the plane.
"I'm out..." Glynda panted heavily as she fell on her knees. "Completely out of... Aura... I can't protect the ship from another blast like that."
"Uncle Qrow..." Ruby whimpered, silver eyes full of angry tears as she looked up to her uncle. Her voice cracked. "I-I'm sorry..."
"Close your eyes kiddo." Qrow sighed as he wrapped the small reaper in a tight embrace, holding out his hand to touch Yang's. "It's not completely your fault. I would've done the same in your shoes. I'm sorry for saying those things earlier."
"I forgive you..." The small leader sobbed.
"Heh... that's all I could ever wish for."
Something rattled in front of her.
"Lou!" Someone from the crowd yelled. "What are you-"
The screeching of metal against metal caused goosebumps to travel down their spine, and some to clutch the side of their heads from the sharp headache the shrill noise instantly applied on their nerves.
When Ruby made to look over her uncle's shoulder, it was to see the dark armor propping Cresent Rose up on his knee, with one glowing visor down the sights.
Her eyes darted around, and widened into dinner plates when she saw that his whole breastplate had fallen off- no, torn off by claws, spikes jutting out from the inside of it's chassis and evenly coated in blood.
"Open wide for me asshole." The umbral figure hissed through grit teeth as he wrapped a trembling finger around the trigger. "I got you a snack."
"What are you trying to do, tickle it?" Qrow asked with a sarcastic edge, and got his answer in the form of a ear splitting boom.
Blinding light washed over the plane as a streak of crimson energy blasted from the tip of Cresent Rose and tore through the fireball, and not quite believing her own eyes, caused it to get absorbed into what seemed to be a bullet, and blasted both it's spine and the army of Grimm clambering atop it to smithereens.
What remained was a cylindrical gaping hole the size of a Bullhead that had red hot hardened cracks and lines that glowed like red hot embers alongside it, as if it had just been blasted by lava fresh from a volcano.
The whole ship rocked back with a loud hum and even louder whirr, the Grimm around them roaring or howling in pain as their supposedly unbreakable makeshift links were torn off by the recoil alone, causing in most of their skin stretching like rubber before blood and gore gushed out off of their torn ligaments.
But they held on, more clambered on their backs to replace their fallen kin, biting down on their top halves while the ones below them clamped their jaws on their thighs.
The entire length of Cresent Rose's blade hissed, glowing bright orange as it slightly deformed at the edge, the cap, despite being made of solid steel, melted off from the heat that emanated from one shot alone.
StarDust... Ruby realized from the blood that dripped onto the cabin floors, with the source being the bottom of her weapon. He forced some StarDust into Cresent Rose's chamber and fired it...
"Tch..." He growled as his legs gave away. "I... missed..."
Something caught him by his shoulders.
The black figure craned his neck, crimson visors meeting silver eyes, and a warm but watery smile.
No words were exchanged, just a slight nod from the smaller of the two, with the latter staggering backwards to make space.
Her fingers trembled as it laid on her own weapon, it felt so familiar yet so foreign at the same time, now knowing the destructive capabilities of Star Dust.
A gauntleted arm wrapped around hers.
It wasn't forceful, and despite it's sharp claws, hard exterior and fact that it was cold to the touch, even slightly slimy from all the dried blood leaked and more that continued to cascade down, Ruby found it warm, gentle and somehow...
Comforting.
"You can do this..." He said as he crouched behind her.
"Right." She nodded again at the reassurance the presence gave her.
She peered down the sights, where the dragon roared and wailed in agony, writhing wildly and shaking off the Grimm that were trying their best to repair it's cauterized wound. She focused her crosshair on the Arena, the end jutting upwards and untouched by the black mass around it.
She took a deep breath.
Her heart pounded against her chest.
Her wound burned.
Her hands trembled, but another pair slowly wrapped around them, guiding her hands so they didn't shake too much.
She slowly let out the air in her lungs with a long hiss.
"This... is for my mother. And..." Ruby grind her teeth together. "FOR BEACON!"
Cresent Rose... shattered.
Another crimson streak tore free from the tip of her weapon, the recoil blowing her back against Louis's blood soaked chest as it tore the ship free off it's restraints, before the whole world went white and blasted the ship even further.
The deafening blast boomed throughout Beacon, then traveled far enough to even reach the city from the edge of the wall to the other side.
The shockwave blasted the ship even further back, sending it spiraling out of control and the Grimm caught by the blast radius was either obliterated or blown off their feet and was sent flying, splattering into a mess guts and viscera on whatever they impacted with the velocity they were going at.
"Hang on!" Their pilot yelled over the other noises as he tried to regain altitude, the displays flaring red, a warning that they're losing altitude and fast.
The plane spun a few more times in the air, doing barrel rolls as it tried to stabilize itself before slowly, it came to a slow and gentle hover.
"Whew..." Their pilot muttered. "Maybe he's right, I'm getting a little too old for this..."
Weiss tore her rapier out of the cabin floor, and only then did Ruby noticed the only reason they were still alive from the gravity defying stunt was because of the black glyph Weiss had quickly dispatched with her quick reflexes, saving everybody.
"Is..." Kevin gulped.
"Did we..." Derrick stared at the wasteland left by the blast, nothing but churned ground and black ashes, with a glacier jutting out of the left, and rocks and electricity occasionally crackling to the right from the residue of Dust left by the Arena, but no signs of life remained.
"Holy shit." Adrian added as the group finally realized what they achieved, and started cheering.
"I can't believe it..." Qrow's eyes widened.
"Did... did I... did we do it?!" Ruby's smile almost split her face in two as the small reaper wrapped her arms onto the back of the lumbering armour's neck.
"We did it Lou- Evans. We did it! Thanks to you we defeated the dragon. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"
"..."
"Evans...?"
"..."
Ruby barely noticed, but she heard it, a small thud-thudding of something against glass.
"Shhh." She said, bursting everybody's mood immediately.
Weiss broke free of her hug with Winter, opening her mouth and made to complain, she paused, for she too heard it. A soft thudding and muffled but panicked yells.
It was coming from inside the plane.
Their heads turned to the source of the noise.
Evans slammed his fists against the glass cabinet, his knuckles bleeding as his eyes widened in epileptic shock and fear.
He profusely beat on the glass coffin.
"Save... Louis..." His muffled and muted screams tore from his throat as bruises started to appear on his body. "Louis...! Save... Louis...!"
Everybody's eyes slowly locked onto the armour's, where the visors were all but snuffed out.
They were tinted black.
"Good... Job... Rubes..."
He slumped forward.
The armoured suit crashed down with a loud clatter.
A/N
You thought it was Evans, but it was me! Louis!
YEAH! Made it on time and finally finished before the new years! So glad I could make it throughout the Fall.
Half a year, almost 200 follows, 160 ish favs and over 50 K VIEWS!
Man this fic had come a long way. Let's hope for the best next year.
Well, for the aftermath, I think it's best I don't promise any dates. I don't want any chapters to feel rushed, but this fic should resume after the new years, could be before. Once again, no promises.
Thank you for all your support. If you could think of any loose ends I might've missed, please be sure to review that, for I'll be doing my best to tie as much as I can in the aftermath chapters.
Other than that, a Merry X mas and a Happy New Years to y'all!
Reviewer Session
DankAnon: Well Qrow was never the type to be subtle to people. Always delivers the truth like a speeding truck while others want their kids to enjoy.
paradox0.5white: Well thank you for reading my chapters, always glad to see that you enjoy them!