Home stretch, folks, let's do this.
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RWBY Watches Classic Movies
Chapter 68
A short while later, Pyrrha was contained within a steel box that was loaded onto a truck near the entrance to the city. Jaune glared at every member of the crew who went along with it, but none of them would hold his gaze.
"So, I guess this is how it ends, huh?" He said, walking back to the gathered crowd of Atlanteans. "Fine. You win. You're wiping out an entire civilization, but what do you care? You're gonna be rich. Congrats, Ruby. Looks you and your dad will be able to open that second garage after all. And Nora, you can start a whole chain of flower shops. I'm sure your family 's gonna be very proud of you. But that's what it all comes down to, isn't it? Money."
"The guilt trip is a subtle art." Jaune joked, "One that requires years of practice and multiple test subjects to master."
"And your sisters?" Nora asked.
"A master, every single one of them."
"Get off your high horse, Arc." Adam said, walking past him, "You've read Darwin. It's called natural selection. We're just helping it along."
"Commander, we're ready." Sienna called.
"Yeah, give me a minute. I know I'm forgetting something." He began ticking things off on his fingers. "I've got the cargo, the crystal, the crew… oh yeah." He spun around and punched Jaune in the jaw hard enough to send the man flying. As he landed, his family portrait fell out of his bag.
"Look at it this way, kid." Adam stepped on the portrait as he approached Jaune. "You're the man who discovered Atlantis, and now you're part of the exhibit." Jaune glared at him even fiercer as he wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. The crew watched as Jaune carefully moved the shattered glass out of the way and pulled the picture free, trying to hold back tears.
"Let's move people." Adam ordered.
Ruby sat in the driver's seat of her car, warring with herself mentally.
"That was an order, not a suggestion." Sienna shouted, "Let's go!"
'Aaaand, cue changes of heart.' Blake thought to herself.
Ruby sighed an angry sigh and climbed out of the truck. She quickly moved to help Jaune stand, though he would not look at her. She glared at Nora and Neptune. Nora nodded and stood on the other side of Jaune, helping him stand tall. Then, Ozpin got out. He looked at Glynda, who simply took another drag from her cigarette. Oz nodded and Neptune joined him as they walked over to stand beside Jaune.
Glynda exhaled, the smoke pouring out of her. "We're all gonna die." She said before climbing out and joining the defectors.
"Alright, souls confirmed." Weiss said with a little relief.
"Good thing, too." Yang agreed, "Ruby had me worried there for a minute."
Adam looked in the mirror and saw the traitors. "Oh, you cannot be serious right now."
"This is wrong and you know it!" Ruby yelled.
"We're this close to our biggest payday ever and you pick now of all times to grow a conscience?"
"We've done a lot of things we're not proud of." Nora said, "Robbing graves, plundering tombs, double parking, but, nobody ever got hurt. Well, maybe somebody got hurt, but nobody we knew."
"As if that makes it better." Blake scoffed.
"For some people it does." Ilia said, earning her several looks. "I'm just saying on behalf of everyone who lives in the morally grey areas."
"And for that, we thank you." Qrow said in her defense.
"Well, if that's the way you want it, fine. More for me." he climbed into his truck as Sienna climbed into the other. "P.T. Barnum was right."
As the trucks began to cross the bridge, the waterfalls ran dry. Looking behind them, Jaune could see the crystal necklaces the Atlanteans wore losing their shine.
"We can't let him do this." Jaune said, running after the trucks.
"No, wait." Nora said, holding him back.
As the trucks cleared the bridge, Adam picked up a pre-positioned detonator and turned the plunger. The bridge erupted in a series of explosions that destroyed it, and what pieces of the bridge that weren't annihilated fell into the lava flow beneath it.
"Okay, now you can go." Nora told him.
"I'll say it again; this movie is really good with it's comedy." Weiss said.
"Wolf, was this seriously a kids movie?" Blake asked.
"It was produced and released by a company famous for making excellent children's movies. However, it mainly appealed to older audiences by breaking from the company's musical number formula. Apparently, the team who worked on it wore shirts that said 'ATLANTIS- less singing, more explosions.'"
"Now there's something I can get behind." Yang grinned.
"Indeed. It remains today as a cult classic film."
"Jaune!" they heard Sun yell down. "You better get up here."
"How's he doing?" Jaune asked as he enter the throne room to see Sun with a stethoscope to the king's chest.
"Not good." He said simply. "Internal bleeding. There's nothing else I can do."
"What a nightmare. And I brought it here."
"Oh, don't be beating yourself up too bad. That bull has been after that crystal since Mantle."
"The crystals! Sun, that's it. These crystals have some kind of healing power. I've seen it work."
"No." the king said, putting his hand on Jaune's. "Where is my daughter?"
"Wait a sec, did he not see the giant crystal version of his daughter come up from the chamber?" Sun asked.
"And how did they even get her out?" Neptune added.
"Just chalk it up to plot and leave it." Blake said with great strain. She hated plot holes herself, but now was not the time to debate them.
Jaune tried to find the right words, but how are you supposed to tell a father that his daughter has merged with what is basically the soul of an entire people, been turned into a crystalline version of herself, and taken by mercenaries who would sell her to God only knows.
"Then she has been chosen, like her mother before her."
"What?"
Blake immediately leaned forward in anticipation of the coming exposition.
"In times of danger, the crystal will chose a host, one of royal blood, to protect itself and it's people. It will accept no other."
"Wait a minute, choose? So this thing is alive?" Jaune asked, sitting down next to the king.
"In a way. The crystal thrives on the collective emotions of all those who came before us. In return, it provides power, longevity, protection. As it grew, it developed a consciousness of its own. In my arrogance, I sought to use it as a weapon of war, but its power proved too great to control. It overwhelmed us, and led to our destruction."
"Pyrrha, I'm sorry, but your dad is starting to sound a lot like mine." Weiss groaned.
"How so?"
"One: most likely married into a powerful family."
"It would explain why he wasn't chosen when the light passed over him at the start of the movie, but his wife and daughter were." Blake muttered.
"Two… actually, just the one now that I think about it." Weiss said.
"That's why you hid it beneath the city. To keep history from repeating itself."
"And to prevent Pyrrha from suffering the same fate as my wife, my beloved Helen."
"And he cares about his wife. Sounds like what Jacques could have been if he were literally anyone else." Winter commented. She noticed Sienna give her a quizzical look. "What?"
"It sounds like you hate your old man as much as most White Fang members do." Sienna commented.
"I don't want him dead, if that's what you mean." Winter frowned.
"Let's just say that Mr. Branwen would have been a better father, and leave it at that." Weiss said.
"What do you mean? What's going to happen to Pyrrha?" Jaune was standing now.
"If she remains bonded to the crystal, she could be lost to it forever. The love of my daughter is all I have left. My burden would have become hers when the time was right, but now," he took off his necklace and gave it to Jaune, "It falls to you. Return the crystal. Save Atlantis. Save my daughter." He sighed as his strength finally left him and he passed on. His guards knelt before him as Sun put away his tools.
He took a deep breath. This was hardly the first time he had lost a patient, and he knew it would not be the last. Instead of dwelling on his failure, he focused on what he could do and turned to Jaune.
"So, what's it gonna be?" he asked Jaune.
"Excuse me?"
"I followed ya in, and I'll follow you back out. It's your decision."
"My decision?" Jaune said angrily, turning on the topless monkey faunus. "Let's take a little look at my decisions thus far, shall we? I lead a group of plundering vandals to the greatest archaeological find in known history, thus enabling the kidnap and/or murder of the royal family, not to mention delivering the most powerful force on Remnant into the hands of a mercenary nutcase, who's probably gonna sell it to the Kaiser! Have I left anything out?!"
"Well, you did set the camp on fire and drop us down that big hole."
"QED!" Jaune said and threw the Journal to the floor.
"I mean, when you put it like that, anything would sound bad." Pyrrha said in Jaune's defense.
Jaune chuckled. "Just say it, Pyr; I fucked up."
Sun picked it back up. "Of course, in my experience, once you hit bottom, the only place left to go is up."
"And who gave you that gem?" Jaune replied snidely.
"Fella by the name of Johnathan Arc."
The name of his grandfather was all Jaune needed to hear. He looked at the crystal in his hands and gripped it tightly. Sun could practically see the fire in his eyes as Jaune strode out of the palace with a confidence he had never felt before. It surprised the crew, and they all wondered what had happened in there.
"Where are you going?" Ruby asked.
"I'm going after Adam." He told her.
"Jaune, that's crazy." She told him.
"I never said it was the smart thing to do, but it is the right thing."
Ruby sighed in exasperation and a small grin formed on her face. "Come on, we better make sure doesn't get himself killed."
"It's so good to know you care, Crater Face." Jaune joked.
"Oh, shove it, Vomit Boy."
They followed Jaune until he found another of the stone vehicles.
"Jaune, what are you doing?" Ruby asked as he climbed on top.
"Just watch." He said. He did exactly as he did with the last one, but kept his hand on the pad as the engine revved to life. "It's real simple. All you gotta do is-"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, shut up, we're very impressed." Ruby said as she climbed up behind her and reached for the pad. He tried to stop her, but he was too late. Luckily, the fish they were riding only went backwards and rammed into the wall.
Jaune golf clapped as Ruby bemoaned her double's impatience.
"Gently!" Jaune said as the engine died.
"Hey, Jaune, you got anything sporty? You know, like a tuna?" Nora asked.
"How is this done?" one of the Atlantean guards asked.
"All you gotta do is use the crystals." He told them. "Pyrrha showed me how." He ran over to another hammerhead shark. "Half turn right, quarter turn back. Keep your hand on the pad." The air was soon filled with the sound of engine humming to life after centuries of dormancy and gasps of wonder and awe from the new riders.
"At least they have enough juice to do this." Sun said, "I got a feeling this will be a great final battle."
"Saddle up, pardners!" Oz said, hopping onto the back of his tuna, shotgun in hand. "Bring jerky n' ammo."
"This movie's Oz and Glynda are my favorite parts right now." Qrow chuckled. It was just so not them, and that made it great to him.
"Alright, this is it!" Jaune said, "Save the princess, save the city, or die trying! Now let's do this!" the Atlanteans cheered as the small fleet soared overhead.
At the base of the shaft, a stormtrooper fired something like a mortar straight up at the ceiling. It impacted and a light shone through. Adam stood amidst the rubble and looked up at it.
"I love it when I win."
As the Atlantean fleet sailed over the lava flow and into the caves, the expedition forces deployed a large hot air balloon and began to attach the box holding Pyrrha to it.
"Alright, here's the plan." Jaune said as they closed in on the expedition, "We're gonna come in low and fast, take 'em by surprise."
"Jaune, I've got news for you; Adam is never surprised, and he has a lot of guns." Ruby told him.
"Great. Well, do you have any suggestions?"
"Yeah: don't get shot!" Nora yelled up.
As the box was hoisted into the air, the fleet came into view of the expedition.
"There they are!" Jaune said.
"We got company." Adam alerted his men, who quickly began to fire upon the aircraft. The Atlantean warriors returned fire with arrows. The expedition began to deploy small single-man flying craft who quickly began to engage their flying opponents.
"Son of a-" Jaune yelled as he dodged fire from one of the flyers. "You told me he only had guns!"
"I also said he's never surprised." Ruby retorted.
"He probably considered this eventuality." Jaune said, "Why else would he bring military grade weapons and a freaking hot air balloon on an expedition?"
"You think he planned for a girl to turn to crystal, and then have to engage in a limited air battle against native and defector forces on his way out?" Ruby asked skeptically.
"Okay, maybe not exactly this specifically, but maybe elements of this, which when combined and liberally interpreted, bear a close resemblance to this."
Nora began to take fire from a machine gun and ducked low to her fish for cover. Inadvertently, she laid her hand on another inscription pad, and the mouth of her fish began to glow before an energy beam came from the mouth and destroyed a pair of trucks carrying anti-air cannons. She looked at her hand and smiled.
"Okay, now, things are getting good." She said.
"Is it still cheating Mercury?" Emerald said.
"Meh, at least now they have a way to put up a decent fight." He shrugged.
"Nora, heads up!" Jaune called out to her. "We can't let them reach the top of that shaft."
With their new-found firepower, the Atlanteans began to put up a stiffer fight, even managing to destroy the truck that was launching the flyers. Nora decided to play chicken with one of the flyers and when neither one blinked, she fired her beam and destroyed the craft. Face covered in soot from the smoke cloud and a manic grin on her face, Jaune came up beside her.
"Nora, new plan. You and me are gonna be decoys. Ruby, Sun, you guys fly up underneath that thing and cut her loose."
"Copy that, good buddy." Sun replied with a thumbs up.
While Jaune and Nora held Adam and Sienna's attention up top, Ruby was crouched on the top of the steel box, taking Sun's saw to the chains.
"I thought you said this thing could cut through a femur in 28 seconds!" she yelled at him.
"Less lip, more saw, Red." He fired back.
"I love that there's this little Ruby x Sun side ship going on in the background." Ilia commented.
"It needs a name." Nora said. "How about Red Sun? It's either that or Strawbanana."
"Go with the first one. Simplicity is key."
Jaune flew right at Adam, who was firing at Jaune with a machine gun in hand. He turned to fire at Jaune, only to have it shot from his hands by an energy beam courtesy of Nora, who gave him a flippant salute as she flew by.
Adam looked down and saw what Ruby and Sun were doing as Sienna ran out of ammo for her pistol and threw it away.
"Looks like somebody's working overtime." He commented. Sienna responded by releasing one of the gas canister for the balloon. It dropped like a lead weight and exploded behind Ruby, destroying her and Sun's ride.
"That's it! We're done here." Sun said, pulling Ruby away by her overalls.
Seeing that his plan had failed, Jaune circled back around and above the balloon.
"Alright, Jaune, this is it. Any last words?" he asked himself, making a silent prayer to whatever god was listening. "Yeah, I really wish I had a better plan than this." He angled his shark towards the balloon and rammed it into one of the four secondary balloons, jumping off at the last minute and grabbing onto the rope mesh on the main balloon.
"Okay, yeah, that was stupid." Jaune said.
"I agree." Ren nodded. "Even if he had Aura, the fall would have done some serious damage."
Adam saw the back-up balloon go down and saw the ground coming back towards him.
"We're losing altitude!" he said over the din of battle. "Lighten the load!"
Sienna quickly helped him clear out anything non-essential. She finished by heaving an empty oil drum over the side.
"That's it, unless someone wants to jump." He reported.
"Ladies first." Adam said, grabbing her arms from behind and pushing her over.
"Fucking- every time. Every damn time with him." Sienna growled.
Quickly, she grabbed the railing as she fell and swung back up, kicking Adam full in the chest as she regained purchase up top.
"But you're not going without a fight." Kali said, rubbing her friends shoulder.
"Damn straight."
"You said we were in this together." She growled before she kicked him again, this time to the face before following up with a roundhouse. "You promised me a percentage." She made for another roundhouse, but Adam caught her foot and used it to push her over for good.
"Next time, get it in writing. Nothing personal!" he never expected Jaune to then immediately coming swinging down from above, but that's what happened. The two fell over the side, but Adam grabbed a rope and used it slide down to the lower level of the balloon, forcing himself to suffer the burn from the rope. The pair collapsed on the narrower walkway and Jaune nearly fell into the spinning blades that helped keep the balloon aloft.
Jaune managed to pull himself up to see Adam with his eyepatch removed and why he kept it covered so insistently. His other eye was horribly mangled, bloody with a grey iris and white sclera, and over it all, a brand of three letters; SDC.
"Blake, is that for real?" Weiss asked.
"Yes. It happened when he was younger, after his parents had died working in a particularly bad Dust mine."
"Don't bother asking for a name." Sienna said, almost sadly. "Shortly after I took power of the White Fang and aggressive tactics became more common, he gathered a small strike force and killed the man responsible himself. That was about when his popularity really began to rise in our ranks."
"Well, I have to hand it to you, you're a bigger pain in the neck than I ever would have thought possible." Adam said. Jaune rose and made to punch him, but Adam easily caught it, threw it back in his face and sent Jaune flying with a kick to the gut. He landed so hard against the railing that it broke off from the walkway, bent backwards and got caught in the blades, stopping them. "I consider myself and even-tempered guy. It takes a lot to get under my skin. But congratulations, you just won the Golden Gus Trophy."
Down below, Sienna groaned as she came to. She looked up and saw that the balloon was still in range of her last weapon. Straining under the effort, she drew her flare gun and aimed at the balloon.
"Nothing personal." She said as she fired at the main balloon. The ball of fire flew up and found its mark with an explosion, leaving only two support balloons to try and carry the weight.
"If I'm going down, you're coming with me this time, asshole!" Sienna cheered.
Adam grabbed the emergency fire axe and climbed down after Jaune. If he was going down, that human prick was going with him. He swung at Jaune, missing him twice and on the second time he smashed the glass that was containing Pyrrha. Thinking quick, Jaune grabbed a shard. When Adam hoisted him up and held him aloft before he swung the axe a third time, Jaune slashed the inside of the man's forearm.
Adam cried out in pain and lost his grip, allowing Jaune to escape up the railing. He wanted to follow, but he felt something wrong with his arm. Looking down, he saw a layer of crystal beginning to rapidly form on it. He tried to get it off, but it spread too quickly, engulfing his entire arm in less than a second, and soon his entire body was crystalized.
"Man, talk about a way to go." Yang commented.
"Hardcore." Nora agreed.
Looking down, Jaune sighed when he saw the man frozen in a shriek of horror. "Thank God. It's over." He screamed when he saw Adam's crystalized arm reach up and grab the railing he was hanging on and pull himself up. Not even thinking beyond 'get away', Jaune went over the other side. Physics then took over and Adam was shattered by the spinning blades he seemingly forgot about.
"Okay, I stand abso-fucking-lutely corrected." Nora said, "That is a hardcore way to go."
One of the crystals had enough velocity to break the chains holding Pyrrha's box up and it fell with a thud, one that Jaune softly matched when he landed next to it.
"Oh great." He said as he looked up and saw the flaming balloon drawing alarmingly closer. He quickly recovered and began to push the box down the hill and at least out of the way of the flaming ball of metal and death. Neptune, Nora, Sun and Ruby landed nearby and rushed to check on him.
It was then that they heard a great rumbling. From the wreckage of the balloon, fissures began to spread outward in the earth.
"The volcano," Neptune said, horror dawning on his face. "She awakes!"
"Hey, I had nothing to do with it." Nora said, holding up a light stick of dynamite that she quickly doused.
"This here would be a good place to not be." Oz said from his fish, Glynda riding behind him with a camera in hand.
Velvet gasped at the sight of it. "Coco, look at that thing! Talk about retro, right?"
Sun gave Coco a questioning look. Coco just shrugged. "She likes cameras."
"I gathered." Sun replied.
"Agreed, but we have to get her back or the whole city will die." Jaune said, grabbing some chain and hooking it to the top of the box.
"And if we don't get out of here, we'll die." Ruby shot back, grabbing the other end of the chain and looping it around the tail of her and Sun's fish.
"It's the only way to reverse this. Just do it!" Jaune climbed onto the back of the fish just as sun began to drive off.
However, nothing is ever simple.
As they took off, the female end attached to the box snapped off. Seeing this, Jaune slid down the chains against Ruby's protests and ran to the box. The hook was still good, so he looped the chain around the top of the box, underneath the lip of the roof, and hooked it together.
"Go!" he yelled as he jumped on the side of the box. The fish took off, and Jaune was left with nothing to do but hang on for dear life as the box trailed behind as more and more fissure formed and erupted with molten rock.
"And talking about absolutely stupid fucking ideas." Jaune nearly shouted in exasperation.
"I've noticed you've stopped scolding the students about their language, Glynda." Ozcar said.
"I give up at this point." She sighed. "They're basically adults at this point, who am I to judge their vocabulary? So long as they use it properly."
"I like to think we taught them better, as did their families before us."
The remainders of the fleet emerged from the tunnel mere seconds before the lava erupted out, taking the abandoned digger into the greater lava flow with it. They landed at the palace steps, a crowd waiting for them, and unhooked the box from the ship. Jaune immediately grabbed a spear from one of the guards and used it to pry open the box.
"The fissure is about to unleash its pyroclastic fury!" Neptune said, hopping in fearful excitement.
"Jaune, Mole says, the wall's gonna blow!" Sun translated.
With one last burst of effort, Jaune managed to partially pry open a part of the box. This turned out to be enough as the box burst open, the pieces hanging in the air around Pyrrha. As they began to circle around her, the carvings on the entirety of the palace mount began to glow like the runes on the airships. These lights even stretched down into the Heart Chamber, where the stone faces too began to glow and rise up from the pool. They broke through the floor of the plaza and Pyrrha rose with them.
The stone faces began to circle her in increasing speed until they were nothing more than a blur. Suddenly, a beam of energy shot from the Heart and struck a sunken ruin. A pair of blue orbs glowed beneath the water, and the ruin began to move, revealing a giant stone sentinel. More lights shot out and struck ruins, and even more sentinels rose from the depths. Some had been integrated into the city planning over the long centuries.
"We saw these in the beginning as well." Weiss said.
"Yeah, they put up that barrier that saved the city." Ruby said.
"And doomed everyone not in it." Ren added. This earned his a slap on the arm by Nora.
As one, they strode to the edges of the city and stood at perfect intervals around the city. As one, they clapped their hands and spread them apart, and as they did, an energy barrier formed, one that blocked the fireballs that rained down on the outskirts of the city. The barrier formed into a dome with the Heart at the very peak right as the lava began to overflow and wash over the city. Sooner than was possible, it hardened into solid black rock. Soon after, cracks began to form that emitted soft blue light. They stretched down the entirety of the rock and it soon began to fall apart, as did the rock that held the water in the city. It broke away in between the sentinels and the water began to empty, cooling whatever lava was left and leaving a thick cloud of steam behind.
As the steam began to clear, Jaune saw a beam of light behind him. Looking up, he saw Pyrrha descend from the clouds, no longer crystalized. He prepared to catch her if she fell, and waited until she had her feet on the ground and gravity had a hold of her before really touching her.
She sighed when she felt the warmth against her and smiled a bit. Opening her eyes, she looked to see Jaune's face filled with concern.
"Jaune?" she asked, but stopped when she felt something in her hand. Opening it, he found it was the bracelet she had lost all those centuries ago, when her mother was taken. The dam burst and she cried into Jaune's shoulder. He hugged her back for as long as she needed. Soon enough, he noticed that the steam had cleared enough to allow a view of the city and his eyes widened. He pulled her away and directed her to what he saw and she smiled. The waters through out the city were draining, revealing ruins long thought lost to time. Jaune and Pyrrha smiled at each other as they watched it unfold. Without thinking, Pyrrha took his hand.
A few days later, a large narwhal ship was being filled with gifts and treasure to take the remaining crew back home. Before they left, Pyrrha gave each of them crystal necklaces.
"Atlantis will honor your names forever." She said as she laid the necklace around Nora's neck. "I only wish there was more we can do for you."
"Oh, thanks anyway, but, I think we're good." Nora said, looking back at their reward.
"That is one shiny-ass penny right there." Coco said, lowering her glasses.
"They just saved an entire race of people." Velvet said, "I think they've earned it."
"But how are they gonna get paid for it? People are gonna wonder where stuff like that came from."
"And those people will spend the rest of their lives trying to figure it out."
"As it probably should be." Blake commented.
"They'll take you as far as the surface." Jaune told them.
"We're really gonna miss you, Jaune." Ruby said.
"You know, I'm gonna re-open the flower shop." Nora told him, "And I'm gonna think of you guys every day. Monday through Friday, 9-5. Saturdays until 2. Sundays, I'm probably gonna take Sunday off, but maybe I'll go in for a couple of hours, you know. But, uh, August. I'm gonna take August off."
"Sounds like you." Ren teased his friend.
Next, it was Ozpin's turn. "I ain't so good at speechifying, but I wanted you to have this." He handed Jaune a greasy can full of… something. "It's the bacon grease from the whole trip."
"Oz, I-" but Ozpin cut him off before he could start crying. Then he felt someone jump on his back and plant a kiss on his cheek. He turned and saw Ruby get ready to take a shot.
"Ah-ah, two for flinching." She joked, giving him a couple light taps. "See ya, Jaune."
"Hey, Jauney-boy!" Neptune came up and offered him a big hug.
"Ah, Mole." Jaune hesitated when he saw the flies buzzing around the man and how dirty the man was. He settled for patting the man on the head, the least dirty place on him. "Goodbye, Mole."
"Hey, Logan, would it be possible for me to have this entire movie erased from my mind?" Neptune whined, "Or at least the parts that involved me?"
"You sure you wanna stay?" Sun asked. "There's a hero's welcome waiting for the man who discovered Atlantis."
"Ah I don't think the world needs another hero. Besides, I hear there's an opening down here for an expert in gibberish."
"You take care of yourself, Jaune Arc." Sun said, offering him his hand.
"You too, Sun." Jaune took the hand and was immediately pulled into a crushing bear hug. "Uh, Sun, before you go, could you, uh…" he pointed to his neck.
"No problem." Sun said as he turned the man around and cracked his neck the same way he had the night everything had gone to hell. "Oh, you'll be getting a bill for that one, by the way."
"Can we go home now?" Glynda asked.
"Sure, but first, let's get one last shot in front of the fish." Sun said, leading everyone to the pile of treasure and leaving the camera in the hands of an Atlantean.
"Say gohck!"
The resulting picture was way, way off, as was expected.
The next thing they knew, they were in Oobleck's study. They were all wearing fine clothes, and even Neptune looked respectable.
"Let's go over it one more time." Oobleck said, "Just so we got it straight. You didn't find anything?"
"Nope," Nora said, a match still in her mouth like a toothpick, and new diamond stud earrings in her ears. "Just a lot of rocks and fish. Little fish. Sponges, mostly."
Oobleck looked down at a picture of the fleet that saved Pyrrha, Jaune at the head of it.
"What happened to Sienna?" he asked.
"Well, we lost her when a flaming zeppelin come down on her." Ozpin said until Glynda jogged his memory with a whack from her umbrella. "Ahem. She's missing."
"That's right." Oobleck said, "What about Adam?"
"Nervous breakdown." Sun said. "You could say he 'went all to pieces.'" Nearby, Neptune was chaffing at his new clothes.
"In fact," Ozpin added, "You could say he was transmorgified and busted into a zillion- " Glynda raised her umbrella. "Ahem. He's missing too."
"What about Jaune?"
"Went down with the sub." Ruby answered. Of course, she, Sun and Oobleck had already been to see each of the Arc girls, and told them the truth about their brother, that he was safe and sound in a place where he was doing good work alongside someone who loved him and he loved back. Sure, they had mourned the fact they would likely never see him again, nor any of the potential nieces or nephews he would have given them, but they took solace in knowing the truth.
Their debrief was interrupted when Neptune began burying himself in a potted plant nearby, his clothes discarded. He giggle-moaned to himself once he was comfortable.
"Please, just scrub the memory of this me from my mind! I beg of you!"
"Emma, give me strength." Sun said, facepalming as he petted Jaune's chocolate lab, who had taken quite a liking to Ruby since they had met.
"I'm gonna miss that boy." Oobleck sighed as he flipped to a photo of Pyrrha and Jaune standing next to each other, holding hands. "At least he's in a better place now." He flipped to the last page where he found a small package labeled
To Oobleck
From Jaune
Opening it up, he found it was an Atlantean necklace wrapped in Jaune's family photo. On the photo was some writing.
Dear Mr. Oobleck,
I hope this piece of proof is enough for you. It sure convinced me.
Thanks, for both of us.
-Jaune Arc
A year later, Jaune smiled as he put the final chisel into the project he and a team of craftsmen had been working on for the past months. He stepped back and turned to Pyrrha, now dressed in the garb of her new role as Queen of Atlantis. He himself was now dressed in formal attire that showed off the double crescent tattoo he bore on his left shoulder. With a mournful sigh, she stepped forward and touched her crystal to the massive stone than now bore her father's face.
The carvings began to glow and the stone rose up from the now rebuilt plaza in front of the palace. As it rose, Pyrrha grabbed Jaune's arm like a teenager and together they raced to their special place at the highest point in Atlantis, trying to keep up with the stone face. They arrived just as it passed the tip of their spot and watched as it joined it's ancestors in orbit around the Heart of Atlantis, which now floated above the city for all to see.
"So, Weiss, anything to say?" Ruby asked smugly.
Weiss rolled her eyes and smiled. "Definitely not what I was expecting, at least not from a cartoon."
"Good story." Blake agreed.
"Great soundtrack." Sun added.
"How about a quick break to restock before the next one?" Jaune proposed.
"Take as long as you need. I need to take a break myself."
Phew! Glad that's done. Don't get me wrong, I am so glad that I got to do this movie. It's one of my favorite Disney films. But the reactions are a whole other beast entirely. And some days are good for writing reactions, and some aren't, especially when you're feeling burnt out on something.
That's why I'm going to be taking some time off from writing this story. Maybe put some more time into Wolves of Remnant or something. I don't really know much at this point, except that I will be returning to this.
