A cracked signed bearing the name Kuroyuri rested against ruins. An upwards pan and several cuts showed the dilapidated village. Jaune and Ryu walked down the road, still carrying Qrow on a stretcher as Ruby stood beside her uncle, Nora up front with her weapon out, guarding the group's front as Ren dragged behind, moving forward hesitantly as he held StomFlower out to guard the group's rear, but it was clear being in this city bothered him, as he appeared to struggle to even step forward. They paused and looked around unhappily.
"Oh, man." Jaune said in horror.
"We told you, it was destroyed by Grimm. It was one of the most horrible events I've seen across all my lives." Ryu explained.
"Come on. We need to keep looking." Ruby said. They continued forward, looking for any buildings that could possibly have anything to help Qrow's condition. "Any of these places look like a pharmacy?" She asked.
"It's... honestly hard to tell." Jaune said.
"So many of these buildings are destroyed or barely standing. Even if we did find a pharmacy, anything inside it might be ruined." Nora said worriedly.
Among the ruins is an abandoned bicycle. Ren looked around, looking heartbroken and furious. "Ren really didn't want to come here, did he?" Ruby asked.
"Uh... didn't seem so." Jaune confirmed.
"Do you know... why?" Ruby questioned, looking to Ryu.
"This was Ren and I's old hometown. Our families lived here. And we lost them here." Ryu explained. He then began telling the story as the group continued on and the image panned away from them to show a withered waterlily on the ground atop a minuscule puddle.
Dante and Weiss locked their blades together, Dante pushing her back, attempting to hit her with his Stinger attack, then follow up with his Thousand Stab attack, but Weiss managed to use her time dilation to evade all the attacks and create a blade of ice, similar to when she took out a small group of Beowulves circling her during the breach and delivered a powerful slash that knocked Dante back. She then created a glyph underneath herself that launched herself forward, gliding towards Dante at blinding speeds and thrusting her sword forward, stopping a mere centimeter away from Dante's throat. Dante chuckled at this. "Not bad at all, sis. At this point, you might even be able to give the Ace Ops a run for their money." Dante praised.
Weiss smiled, but rolled her eyes. "I don't think I'd go that far. They ARE Ironwood's personal elites after all." Weiss said.
"And you were one of Beacon's elites. One of the greatest at THE greatest combat school on Remnant. I bet you could handle them no problem. At least one on one." Dante said.
"Well, hopefully we'll never have to find out." She said.
"Right." Dante agreed, before hearing a beep on his scroll and checking the device. "Alright. My guy's waiting for us at the warehouse. Time to go." Dante said.
Weiss looked unsure for a moment. "Dante... Are you sure we're doing the right thing? Running away now after we already caused a big scene at the party could make people suspicious. What if Winter thinks we did something horrible?" She asked, second guessing herself.
"Come on, sis. It's Winter, not Whitley. She loves and trusts us just as much as we love and trust her. You know she'd give an arm and a leg to help us. And besides, she might need some help with their search in Mistral. Who better to help her than family, right?" Dante asked.
Weiss smiled at this and got a determined look on her face. "You're right. We know we're doing the right thing. And surely Winter does, too. And it's like I told father, the best way for us to do the right thing is as a Hunstman and Huntress." She restated with determination.
"Couldn't have said it better myself. Now let's get going. That rat Enzo's already charging me an arm and a leg to get us to Mistral. He's probably tacking on a 100 lien late charge for every minute we're not there. I'll be as broke as you after Dad cut you off if we don't hurry." He said, heading to the door.
"Hey!" Weiss protested, crossing her arms in annoyance.
Dante chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, sorry. Forgot you're still upset over that." He said as they left.
Ruby's group was making their way through Kuroyuri, trying to make their way through the city at a fast pace while still being cautious of Qrow's condition. Ren had taken Jaune's place holding the back end of Qrow's stretcher while Nora and Jaune had split off on occasion to find some medicine, but as expected, their search turned up dry. "I told you we wouldn't find anything here." Ren said, still rather moody, but not stubborn and standoffish like before.
"It was our only option, Ren." Nora said.
"Ren, I know it's hard, but like we said before, you need to face your problems. You can't avoid them your entire life." Ryu reminded him.
A creature made a loud noise from off in the distance, causing both Ruby and Jaune to turn. Jaune's hand immediately went to his sword and looked around for the source of the noise.
Ren, however, looked horrified. "That sound... There's no way..." He said.
"It's far off." Ruby assured them all.
"But it won't be for long. We have to get moving NOW." Ren said urgently.
"Ren. You need to stop. Please." Nora told him.
"There's almost no chance it's what you think it is. Even if it is, we'll face it together." Ryu assured his childhood friend.
Ruby looked at the squabbling childhood trio, then to Qrow before stepping ahead of them all and turning to face them, looking down at the ground. "I'm sorry." Ruby apologized.
"Huh?" Jaune asked, walking closer to her, though she was not looking up.
"This is all my fault. I should have never dragged you guys into this." Ruby said, starting to tear up.
"Ruby..." Nora started.
"You didn't drag us in. We wanted to come." Jaune told her.
"But you didn't know about Tyrian and Azula, about—" Ruby went on, but Jaune cute her off.
"Ruby. We lost... We lost lost Kratos, too. But you lost so much more than that. Your team, and in a way... your sisters. But you're still here, despite everything you've lost, everything you could still lose, you chose to come out here." Jaune explained. Ruby turned to face Jaune and became emotional as he continued. "Because you felt like you could make a difference." He went on and Ruby lifted her head and looked at him. "You didn't drag us along. You gave us the courage to follow you." Jaune told her.
Ryu and Ren set Qrow down and walked up as well. "It's like I said from the beginning, the road will be long and treacherous, but we knew that from the beginning." Ren told her.
"But we wanted to be here for you." Nora added.
"You always try to do what's right, Ruby. It's an amazing quality. And more often than not, your decision turns out to be for the best. You make things better wherever you go. So we wanted to be there for you and help make it better where we can. And I know Kratos, Yang, Bayonetta and all the others who aren't here with us now would believe the same thing and try to help you. Because you're a beacon of hope in this dark world." Ryu told her.
Ruby began to tear up and started crying, running at Jaune and hugging him, the rest of the team quickly joining in and sharing a small moment, before gathering Qrow and continuing forward.
An arcing slash of fire moved across the black screen, quickly followed by another. There was a brief beat before two more fiery arcs slashed across the screen. An irregular circle of flame burst outward from the center, revealing behind the black a panting Cinder Fall.
She was in a large, empty room. Behind her iwa a darkened arched hallway. On either side of the arch, the walls of the room had a low ledge the bear several burning white candles. Four Beowolves approached Cinder, moving in a semicircle formation. Cinder swung her left arm at them, sending another slash of fire. It cut through the middle of all four Grimm and they disintegrated away.
Cinder panted again, still upright yet taking a breather. She did not get long, as heavy footsteps approach from her left. She gasped and looked in their direction. A Beringel leapt into the air, ready to deliver a blow to her with its fist. Cinder, however, pulled back her right arm and pushed a ball of flame right at it. It, too, disintegrated.
As its body disappeared, Cinder fell to her knees, breathing heavily. "Enough." Salem said as she walked forward while Cinder continued to struggle for normal breathing. "I thought you were the girl who wanted power. Did you lie to me?" She demanded. Cinder winced on the force of Salem's question before looking upward. Turning to face Salem, Cinder clearly shook her head negatively. "Then stop holding back. If you wish to master your new powers, you must-" She began, but was cut off by the sound of heavy doors opening. On the opposite end of the stone hall, a sobbing Tyrian entered, followed by Azula, who was struggling not to sob herself, tears streaming down her face.
"Mistress, please. I need Watts!" She pleaded, struggling to prevent her arm from falling off.
Tyrian fell to his knees once in the room, both hands flat on the floor and his head bowed. "I'm sorry." Tyrian whimpered quietly. "She'll forgive me. Pleeeease." He pleaded, raising his hand to his chin. "Forgive me..." Tyrian said and bowed again on the last word.
"Tyrian! Azula!" Salem snapped and stood before them. He raised his body but remained sitting on his legs and Azula looked fearfully at Salem, while Cinder rose from the stone floor behind Salem. "Your task - were you successful?" She asked, holding out her arm imperially.
"N-no." Tyrian bowing his head.
Cinder's eye widened. Salem also looked surprised for a moment before narrowing her eyes and walking away. Cinder watched their leader for her further reaction without looking at Tyrian.
"But-but hope is not lost! My tail, my stinger... I-I poisoned him, Qrow! He will not be a nuisance to you any longer, no... no longer! I've done that... have I done well? Have I pleased you?" Tyrian begged and turned his body to remain facing Salem.
Azula glared at him and looked at Salem. "He may yet live, Mistress! He wasn't dead when we left." She told Salem. She remembered from her last life, lying to the one person above her would only lead her to ruin. "They're still on their way to Mistral! They could make it in time to save him! But if you send your strongest Grimm in Mistral after them, we can be rid of Qrow! And one of the revived that could harm you! I injured Ryu Hayabusa. He's weakened! A strong enough Grimm may be able to end him! Then you will be rid of one of your only true threats and Ozpin loses his great spy!" She informed.
"And so take out the last eye. Well done, Azula. I appreciate your honesty. Watts hasn't left yet. Find him quickly and you may not end up like Cinder." Salem instructed.
Azula bowed her head to Salem and hurried off to find Watts, smirking at Cinder, believing herself now in Salem's best graces, more so than Cinder. "Yes, I'd hate to end up like you." She taunted on her way past. Cinder growled at her, her fists flame.
Salem smirked at this, then glared at Tyrian. "You disappoint me." She said, then left.
Tyrian fell forward, wailing. A Beowolf approached, all focused on Tyrian's negative emotions. It ignored Cinder and leapt upon him. Tyrian sent it away with a single blow and it landed on its back. Still wailing, Tyrian opened his weapons and leapt atop the Beowolf. He slashed at it repeatedly, tears streaming down his face. His wails gradually turned into laughter as he vented his grief into the butchering of the Grimm. Cinder watched, horrified.
Outside of her home on Patch, Yang spray painted her robotic arm and half of Ember Celica bright yellow. "Much better. The silver didn't really suit you." Bayonetta said.
"Yeah. Not really my style." Yang agreed. "You get everything packed?" She asked.
Bayonetta nodded and showed Yang their provisions. "Enough for a solid week for the both of us until we get to Mistral." Bayonetta confirmed.
"Great." Yang said, then sighed. "I guess it's time then." She said as they went into a tool shed and Yang took the tarp that had been covering her motorcycle, Bumblebee, off.
"I don't remember saying that you were ready." Taiyang said as he was leaning against the frame of the open shed door, arms crossed.
"Oh yeah? You're gonna try and stop us?" Yang asked without turning around.
"I'd advise against that, since it would be 2-on-1 this time instead of a free for all." Bayonetta warned him.
Tai chuckled at this. "No. I think I'm still too sore after our last fight. And there's no way I can take the both of you. I just wanted a better goodbye than a letter. And, I also have a question for you." He told them.
Yang turned around. "And what would that be?" She asked.
"Where are you going?" He asked them.
"That's fairly obvious. Mistral." Bayonetta told him.
He sighed at this. "You know that's not what I meant." He said.
"What do you mean? Yang asked.
Tai moved into the shed. "Well, despite asking him numerous times not to, I know that Qrow told you where your mother's been at these days. I know how much you wanna see her, Yang. I've stopped you in the past, but I won't anymore. Although, we know that's a decision you'll BOTH have to make together. You can't go somewhere the other doesn't want to go. And we all read the note. We know your sister's headed to Mistral. So, where are you going?"
Bayonetta and Yang looked at each other for a moment. Both of them were unsure and considered all their option. Bayonetta, of course, was wholeheartedly against the idea of going after their mother, but both of them knew a critical piece of information from their uncle that almost guaranteed a solution to their problem. Yang got a determined look and nodded. Bayonetta let out a "tch" noise and looked away with a scowl, but then sighed, looked back and nodded, before the two of them looked at their father, their decision made.
Ruby and her faction were almost out of Kuroyuri, before suddenly a loud, bellowing noise put them on high alert. "Did you hear that noise? What was that?!" Jaune asked worriedly.
Ryu recognized the sound and the creature that suddenly came upon them. "It can't be..." He said in disbelief.
Ren's eyes grew wide and he fell to his knees, clearly alarmed. "No..." He said in horror.
"Ren! What is it?!" Ruby cried out. The sound of plodding footsteps could be heard coming closer.
"Wait, you guys hear that?" Jaune asked.
"No..." Ren said quietly in weak protest.
"Ren?" Nora asked, concerned.
The footsteps came to a stop. A bone horse head breathed loudly, exhaling black smoke. Within the bones were glowing red lights and around it was the black flesh of a Grimm. Ren lifted his head. "It's been over a decade. I can't believe it's still alive. The creature that took everything from us that night." Ryu said, still shocked at seeing the same Grimm from so long ago.
Weapons could be seen, stuck into an off-screen body that had bones sticking out perpendicular to its spine. Slowly, a torso raised, revealing a horned, humanoid Grimm. The horns and front part of the face were bone while the mouth was merely thin strips of Grimm flesh stretching across an opening. The mouth, the bones and the eyes all glowed red. The Nuckelavee twitched its head and roared before everything went black.
A/N: Another chapter done! I hope you all enjoyed this! For those who are curious, Weiss already knew of the ace ops when she and the rest of team RWBY, JNR, Oscar and Qrow were arrested by them, so it stands to reason that she knew about them most of her life, or as long as they've been a well-known team, so therefor it stands to reason Dante would know of them here as well.
Also, please subscribe to my YouTube channel, Sai Blade, where I am currently playing both Devil May Cry 5 and God of War 2018 and did a full review of RWBY Volume 7. It would really help me out and allow me to do more writing.
