The City of Atlas and Mantle was still a warzone, however, it slowly died down with the slaughter of the Blood Fang terrorists.
There was still a war happening within the air with the flying Grimm.
Dracula stared at Noodles the Whale with his blood red eyes glowing before hearing James' voice on the intercom "Vlad! The CCT tower is up and running!" Dracula placed two fingers to his ear and spoke with his Romanian accent "Good. I vill be up there. It's time to call out Salem."
James asked "Vlad? What happened to your voice?" Dracula did not answer as he disappeared into black most then reappeared within the Amity Arena. He looked around to see James at the Announcer's table so Dracula turned into a shadowy wraith and flew towards him.
He landed next to James and spoke "Go on James, I vill handle this. Make sure everyone is safe." James looked at him with worry "What are you going to do?" Dracula looked at the camera and back to James "I shall challenge Salem. It's time to end this var."
James looked hesitant before nodding and walking away towards his ship. Dracula stood in front of the camera and pressed a button to make the camera record and be broadcasted live over the world.
Ruby saw Weiss walk towards her so the Red Reaper turned into a tornado of roses and appeared in front of Weiss and wrapped her arms around the vampire princess. Weiss suppressed a wince as she hug her girlfriend. "Are you OK?" Ruby asked when she broke the hug, making Weiss gasp at seeing her mechanical eye destroyed. "Ruby... Your eye!" Weiss pressed a hand onto her cheek with her thumb under Ruby's eyelid. Ruby pressed her hand on top of it. "I'm alright. They can just make me a new one."
Weiss sighed with a smile and placed her forehead in the crook of Ruby's neck and muttered "You dolt." making Ruby giggle and hug her girlfriend.
Yang found Blake sitting on a curb with her knees to her chest. "Blake!" Yang rushed towards her girlfriend and knelt down in front of her. She placed her hands made of a warm flame on Blake's knees "Blake, what's wrong? Talk to me." Blake rose her head to look at Yang "Are we monsters?"
Yang looked at Blake with confused eyes "What do you mean Blake?" Blake asked again "Are we monsters? Are we just killers putting on a public image? I had to kill a clone of myself. Is that we have to do for the rest of our lives?" Yang moved her hands to Blake's cheeks to give her warmth and make her look at her blonde girlfriend.
"Blake, we've trained for this our whole lives. To defend kingdoms from Grimm. What we faced was just Grimm. It doesn't matter if they could talk or know who we are. In the end, they're just Grimm. Grimm that want to destroy everything we've strived for. We're not monsters... Except for me."
Blake looked at her as she continued "I have to drink blood now to stay alive. That means I'd have to kill people. But we already knew that... We knew we'd have to kill other people when we fought in the training center. The only way I could kill or drink with a clear conscience is to do it to very bad people. But I'd be alone."
Blake looked at Yang for a good while when Blake demanded "Turn me into one." Yang's head snapped up. "What?" Blake repeated "Turn me into a vampire. You're not alone. I want to spend my life with you. Yang... I love you."
Yang gasped lightly. It was the first time she ever said those three words. Yang has wanted to say those but felt fear that Blake wouldn't return those words. Yang brought her forehead to Blake's and whispered "I love you too." Blake smiled before shifting her head to the side, exposing her neck.
Yang bared her fangs and growled as she inched closer towards her.
Before she could bite Blake, the screens turned on to reveal Dracula in his armor. He shouted "SALEM BRUJA TEPES! I'm calling you out to finish this! Once and for all! I'll be vaiting in the Amity Arena. Come to me and let us settle this!"
James watched the screen with confusion "Did he just say... Tepes?" Oscar watched and said "Yeah... Salem is Vlad's daughter. There's so much Ozpin never told us." Oscar could feel a tingling in the back of his mind. He paid no heed to it. "And Vlad knew?" Oscar shook his head "Not for a long time."
Qrow and Winter made their way into the command center where James was and he looked at Winter "Lily, is she...?" Winter said "She's sleeping peacefully." Qrow held Winter's hand who held it tightly.
Salem glared at the screen before unfurling a three pairs of Nevermore wings. She wore her Grimm armor which consisted of a bony breastplate, along with gauntlets made of crooked sharp bones. She shot up into the sky, breaking her castle ceiling before flying towards the floating arena. Little did she know, several camera drones were placed inside, waiting and broadcasting throughout the world.
She landed down at the entrance, allowing the wings to sink back into her back. She walked inside through the dark tunnel.
Out of the tunnel and into the light stood Salem, the Queen of the Grimm. There for the whole world to see. To see the woman responsible for the Fall of Vale and the Attack at Haven.
She walked up the stairs to see Dracula sit in a throne made from the stone in the arena. He sat with a glass of blood in hand when he saw his daughter. Salem stared at him with a hint of distaste as she greeted with venom "Father."
Dracula took a sip before greeting back "Daughter."
Salem walked closer "After so long... You've come back. You came back to a world you don't recognize. I bet you hardly even remember me."
Dracula stared into her black and red eyes "Vhen the gods banished me, they locked my memories away. So you're not wrong. I never knew you existed. Ah... The miracle of a Jinn. To show a fairy tale of vhat happened."
Salem frowned "Then you know why I aim to destroy the Gods." Dracula took another sip of blood and sighed "Being immortal, you rarely look back at mistakes made. You think you're capable of anything. Vith no thought of vhat your actions can cause. That's what happened. You couldn't accept Ozpin's death and caused distrust amongst the gods and humans."
Salem closed her eyes and took a deep breath before opening them. "You were the cause of my pain. You were the reason all this happened. Because you locked me away after Mother's death. You preached that the Gods took her away. I was left alone for 5 years. For what purpose? What was your glorious reasoning, Great King of Vampires!?" By the end, her eyes glowed with hatred as she balled her fists, barely containing her magic.
Dracula took another sip of blood before pulling a stuffed animal from his belt and placed it on the armrest. It was stuffed beowolf with a little tongue sticking out. "The true honest answer? To keep you safe. My wrath vas legendary. My anger vas blinding. I could not afford to hurt you. I never vanted that. I couldn't live with hurting you because of my blind rage."
Salem tore her gaze away from Dracula to look at the stuffed Beowolf and released a gasp with her eyes widening a bit. "Beo..." She whispered which made Dracula smile a bit. "Yes. You're very first toy that your mother and I made for you. Ve made your room... Painted it and made it to your liking. It vas always one of our favorite creations, but you... You vere our greatest creation."
Salem had tears threatening to spill when she looked at him "Why did you keep Beo?" Dracula brushed his thumb against little Beo's head. "For a long time, after my banishment, I felt a hole. I always felt something missing. I saw Beo and felt that the answer was there vith him. But I could never see it. Not until Jinn showed us the truth. It all clicked. Even with a new family, I felt that piece of my heart missing. We could've been a big family, but now I realize... It's too late."
Salem wiped her tears away and looked at Dracula with steeled eyes "I always did want a sibling... Sister... Brother, it wouldn't have mattered. But You're right. You're too late. Too late to stop me from killing the Brothers. They will pay for what they did to me. To Ozma. To Mother."
Dracula closed his eyes in sadness before standing up, making the throne crumble and Dracula reverted back to his original form with white hair and facial hair. Salem smirked "Look at you. A sad old man who believes himself to be a king."
Dracula chuckled as he took one final sip of blood "And what is a man? But a miserable pile of secrets." He tossed the glass away, spilling blood and glass everywhere. Salem launched herself towards Dracula who waited for her to appear in front of him before punching her in the midsection, making her gasp for breath before being sent into the air.
She caught herself by unfurling her six Nevermore wings and floated as she created two orbs of light and dark magic and combined them together to create a large orb of swirling magic then hurled it towards him.
Dracula raised his hand and caught it with one hand before tossing it away, destroying a large portion of the stadium.
Dracula unfurled his bone wings before launching himself toward Salem with his sharp nails ready to taste blood. She released a wave of black magic to which Dracula twisted out of the way before bring his right hand down, sending her slamming onto the ground. She quickly got up to see Dracula land down only to be back handed hard by her.
He snapped his head to the side before punching her face and punching her midsection twice before placing his palm on her face, releasing a blast of flames that made her scream in pain as she tried backing away with her hands in front of her face to block the flames.
Despite her being immortal, she could still feel pain, so being burned was excruciating. She screamed again, this time in rage as she batted his hand away and released a beam of light magic, sending him tumbling across the arena.
She panted heavily as the burning marks on her face and hands faded. She snarled as she placed her hands behind her with and launched herself using light and dark magic towards Dracula whom caught himself and slammed his feet onto the ground with slabs of the stone breaking.
He caught Salem by her cape and slammed her onto the ground before bringing his fist up then brought it down, only to break the entire arena as she moved out of the way. Salem stood up and released a rapid stream of dark and light magic orbs towards Dracula who took the blunt force of the rapid stream and dust clouds filled the whole arena. After a while, Salem stopped her rapid fire to see the dust slowly settle.
Salem snarled "You may be the King of Vampires, but you're a dead race! I am the Queen of Grimm! I will be the Goddess of Remnant!"
When the dust settled, Dracula was seen hunched with his arms dangling. His armor was breaking and showing his pale chest. He grunted in pain as he could feel his body weakening. Years of resurrection at the hands of Death or a priest has only weakened his body. The only way to counteract it, was the amount of souls he has consumed, but even that was failing him. It seemed Fate was whispering to him "It is your time. Finish this and be free of immortality." A scar in the middle of his chest began to glow orange as cracks started to form on his skin.
Dracula growled as he stared at Salem "I am no simple King... I am A GOD!!" He rose up in the air before a purple glyph appeared and purple electricity surrounded him and a large ball of red and purple magic started to expand. The Demonic Megiddo. A large explosion of holy flames. Red flames began to expand and destroy everything around it.
Salem brought her hands up but could feel herself breaking, her skin was burning from the holy flames, it was burning the darkness inside her as she could feel herself being pushed from the force of the blast.
The explosion then reached a large proportion and destroyed the Smith Arena in its entirety.
The screens that showed the fight cut to static as everyone watched in shock and suspense.
Dracula panted heavily as he could feel himself growing even weaker. His strongest attack, the Demonic Megiddo was the breaking point. He looked around to see them out in the Tundra. The floating Kingdom of Atlas and the walls of Mantle could be seen approximately 150 yards from him.
Dracula began to limp towards the walls when he heard a weak voice call out "Father..." Unlike Salem's cold voice, this one sounded... Innocent.
Dracula looked behind to see Salem on her back. Her skin was peeling away, turning to ash. Her eyes were no longer black and red. Instead, they were a color Dracula had not seen in so long. Green...
Her hair was a mess. It was no longer the large bun and ribbons were little around her. Dracula limped towards her before kneeling down and brought her up to where she rested on his knee, she stared into his eyes while weakly asking "Where are we, Father?"
Her voice... It was as if she woke up from a very bad dream. She was shaking as more of her skin peeled off into ash. "I'm... I'm cold..." Dracula couldn't stop the bloody tears from dripping down his cheeks. He placed his hand on her cheek "Shh... It's alright, my little witch. You're gonna be OK."
Salem had tears trickling down her cheeks as she said "I had a bad dream... I was... Surrounded by Grimm... I felt... Awful." Dracula stroked her cheek gently, brushing the tears away "It's OK... It was just a dream. It will be OK." Salem released a little hiccup as she asked "Where's Mother?"
Dracula released quiet sobs as he pulled Salem closer to him, giving her a gentle yet tight hug. "Mother's... Mother's asleep. She won't wake up."
Salem was silent before saying "True Love's kiss will break it... You can break it..." Dracula shook his head "No... You were her true love. A mother's love is the purest and truest form of love... You can break it... But it requires you to sleep. Sleep, my little witch."
Salem asked "Will I dream? I don't want to have bad dreams anymore." Dracula shook his head "You won't. In dreams, you're in a world that is entirely your own. You could climb the highest cloud, or reach for the stars... Or swim in the deepest of oceans. Dream, my child... Dream and find your Mother."
Salem looked at her father with blurry vision "Will you dream with me?" Blood dripped onto the snow as Dracula cried more "I will be right behind you. In fact, I have someone for you take with you."
Dracula held his hand out and Beo appeared. Pristine, as if nothing happened to it. He gave it to Salem who took it into her arms "Beo..." She hugged it gently while pressing her face into Beo's head. It would've been such a cute scene if it weren't for the circumstances surrounding them.
Salem whispered as her whole body began to break down into ash and looked at her father "I love you Father." She broke down into ash, leaving Dracula with nothing but ash on his arms and hands. He began to cry harder before releasing a roaring cry of sadness and loss.
He sobbed hard as he hugged himself tightly.
It was a full ten minutes of Dracula crying before his voice became hoarse and his eyes red and puffy. He couldn't cry anymore as blood dripped down his cheeks and onto the white snow, corrupting it red.
His very first child, killed by his own hands. He did not care if she was evil, no parent should ever have to out their child down.
After a while, Dracula managed to calm himself down enough to stand up. He noticed Beo was gone. Salem truly did take it with her to sleep. At least she won't be alone. He only had enough magic to do one last teleportation so he used it and disappeared into black mist.
Team RWBY, JNPR, Raven, Vernal, ATSS, Ilia, Summer, Taiyang, and Willow.
Captain Price along with Soap, Gaz, and Ghost. Woods, Mason, Reznov, and Hudson made their way to the group as well.
Ruby said "We have to find him! He's out in that tundra."
Willow spoke "He'll come back. I know he will."
Weiss gasped when she saw Dracula appear. His armor was broken and torn, showing an orange hole in the middle of his chest with cracks appearing along his skin. Weiss ran forward and tackled him into a hug. He grunted but wrapped his arms around her.
Price put a hand to his radio "Command, this is Price. We've got him here. Prep medical!"
Dracula collapsed onto his knees which made everyone else rush forward as he struggled to get up, with the assistance of Weiss, Yang and Willow, they moved him to where he sat against the wall. Ruby asked "Salem?"
Dracula closed his eyes as to stop a new fresh batch of blood tears from escaping. "She's... Gone. She's finally asleep."
At first, everyone was relieved, but everyone could see the grief and guilt in his eyes. Alucard knelt does in front of Dracula "There was nothing you could've done. I wish such a fate was never placed down on you."
Dracula panted as he looked at his son "I know... It shouldn't have happened in the first place. I shouldn't have striked you... I shouldn't have hurt you..." Dracula gripped his son's arm and whispered "I love you Adrian... I always have. I always will."
Adrian looked at him "Father, why are you..." He stopped when he saw the glowing hole in his chest. "You're dying." Dracula weakly nodded which prompted Willow to shout "No! No you can't!"
She made him look at her in the eyes "You're not dying on me. I will not fucking have it!" Dracula simply stared into her eyes and released a small smile "I'm afraid... I must disobey that order, my Queen. I love you so much, Willow." Bloody tears stained her pale cheeks as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Dracula held her by her waist with only one arm.
Willow released her hug after a few minutes and Weiss knelt forwards "Father..." Dracula smiled and brushed his thumb against her cheek "Weiss... Oh Weiss... You've grown so much. I'm so proud of you." Weiss smiled sadly as she placed her forehead against his. "Lead the family of House Tepes into glory. I love you, Weiss."
Weiss released a sniffle as she nodded "I will... I love you too, Father."
Dracula smiled and looked at Ruby "Ruby... You've shown so much progress since first saw you. Your innocence... It... It gave me faith... Faith that maybe... Maybe humans can be tolerable. You've all given me hope. Hope that I want you all to show to everyone else."
Ruby nodded with tears in her eyes and he continued "I'm glad that you make Weiss happy... Keep her happy. Stay with her... I... I give my blessing." Ruby couldn't help but blush with a sad smile as she put a hand on Weiss's shoulder.
Dracula looked at Blake "Blake... You've shown me courage that no one else would have. Courage to leave the past behind. You've already helped me make strides to bridge Faunus and Humans together. For that... I want you to... Lead The Pack. Lead them into a golden age of equality."
Blake looked at him with tears in her eyes and nodded as she hugged him tightly "I will..." Dracula smiled before Blake released her hug and then looked at Yang "Yang... You've given me confidence. Confidence to be who I am... Regardless if I was a vampire. Stay with Blake... Keep her happy and lead the Pack with her..." Yang nodded with teary eyes of determination. "Count on it." Dracula chuckled "That was... A good pun."
Yang released a sobbing laugh as he wrapped her arms around him.
Dawn was coming. The orange glow of the sun began to rise. Dracula could see it and whispered "Beautiful..." The military in the group stood at attention and saluted at Dracula.
Dracula's body began to break into ash as he closed his eyes and...
Dracula was no more.
AN: Fuck... This was a tear jerker. It didn't help that I was listening to Remember Everything by Five Finger Death Punch. So this is not finished just yet. I have an epilogue on the way. I really hope you all enjoyed this story. I really just want to thank you all for staying with me through this series. I'm working on the epilogue right now so it may be released tonight. Stay tuned for the epilogue.