The Generals at camp said nothing upon their return. The fresh food and wine at the altar said enough. A small note in smaller handwriting read: "We would prefer that y'all'll keep your crazy, disappearing asses over there." So they did.
The funeral services for Special Operative Cordovin were brief, her remains shipped off on the first flight out.
Jaune waited for the next flight in, the sun burning through the gauze, out of dodge of his suppliants and fangirls.
"Hey." Adam strolled over. "Thank you for- thank you for having my back, twice over now."
"Would that I were in charge, I'd throw her out. Remember when we first met?"
He snorted. "Feels like a dream. Hazy and indistinct. I'm so-"
"I hear those words too much, spare me."
"Alright." The airships landed, the first to unload was a smaller courier ship. "You're waiting for something?"
"Yes, you?" A soldier came over, pulling over two parcels, handing one to each of them. "Guess that answers that."
"Hello, again!" Pyrrha and Yang walked over, the latter hanging behind the redhead. "Good to see you, Adam." His brows knitted together. "You hang around long enough, you figure things out." Yang went over to a poor courier struggling with a massive stack, finding most were for her.
"Jaune." He turned to a hand on his shoulder, Ruby pointing into the distance. "We need to get back to camp."
'He'saloneandheshouldn'thavetobe. Daddy,you'llhaveYangtotakecareofyou.'
"Jaune? You're crying."
He blinked. "...Oh, it's just the pollen." A auburn eyebrow raised. "Let's go."
So the five of them, and Yang's ten boxes went back.
'What's wrong with me?' He counted ten fingers, ten claws and five small scars. 'I don't...oh gods.' He looked at Ruby, who was squeaking away to a indifferent Yang. 'She...lied. She...'
"Jaune." Pyrrha handed him her kerchief. He pinched it into his hands. "We'll talk later. You're not doing well."
Qrow was laying in front of the firepit, eye half closed and glowing, Winter holding him in her lap, everyone ready to move at a moment's notice. "He just collapsed. This is not okay."
"May I?" Pyrrha sat besides him, linking her hands over his rings, her eyes shining gold as she fell away, Jaune careful not to disconnect them as he set her in his arms, holding a ivory shimmer over the both of them.
'...I can'ttellhimanythingIcan'ttellhimI'mthegirlwhocouldn'tevendie... Itcan'ttbealeapofjudgementto extricatemys-'
'WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME? I DON'T NEED TO HEAR THIS!'
"They suffer." The crick in his neck cried mercy as he looked at her, shattering his twin trains of thought. "I'm not happy with this." Winter stroked Qrow's face. "Two people shouldn't have to suffer for fifteen."
"We're here to be there when they wake up..." Jaune pulled Pyrrha's braid off of the floor. "Where's Blake?"
"I'm here." In a box, reading a book.
"Stop being difficult." Weiss scoffed, curled into her cloak, watching Ruby sharpen her plain scythe.
A knock at the door. Oscar answered it, a man's voice slipping through the door. "We are not available at this time. Return later."
"High General Clementine has arrived. Please come at your earliest convenience." He stepped away.
Another log burned in the firepit.
The seers rose from absence, eyes clouded over with light. Nobody rushed them to stand or speak. Taiyang added a few twigs to the coals.
"We have to get out of here..." Blood seeped from Pyrrha's mouth. Jaune redoubled his efforts. "Over the gorge. Past it. Something waits. Then we leave."
Qrow reached for Pyrrha as she reached for him. "How many days until that?"
"We must hurry. We cannot stay." Pyrrha took the proffered kerchief.
"I wish you didn't have to suffer, love." Winter bit back tears as Qrow staggered to his feet, Raven running to hold him out of the fire.
"We are well acquainted with suffering, amiright Pyrrha?" She nodded, retaking his hand as a anchor to stand. Jaune and Ren holding her up, the former careful not to graze the ink haired boy.
The sound of screaming reached over the hills, smoke and shock waves went with it.
"The rest of you would have broken by now." The haze faded from their eyes, she called Milo and Akouo, Psallo still clipped around her waist. "Blake." Ears flattened. Everyone grabbed their gear. "I will punch you into next solstice if you do not stop hanging out in corners, listening to everything and saying nothing. You will be here, present in all ways, even if I have to break your legs to do it."
Nora unfurled Magnhild. "I will do it again."
Another pang hit the seers, eyes flickering gold.
"Let's go!" Qrow grabbed Harbinger Winter running behind him.
They all but ran down the hill. The camp was in shambles. A woman in Atlesian military dress stood on the stage, and at her feet laid destroyed rations, upturned tents and a hole in the temporary communication center.
"Stop...That's her." Qrow pulled on his hood, signing away. Glynda's eyes flashed purple, a yelp catching Tai's attention. "Hide. Remain as uninvolved as possible. Don't waste your time or energy until necessary." Hoods went on, they snuck around the back, Ren greying them out until they were thin as air.
"High General!" A man in orange stood at attention. "We have rounded up the Faunus threat and will begin executions imme-"
A explosive round sent brain matter into her neon orange hair.
The stage and the grounds in front of it were empty.
She watched the blood of her underling flow off the edge.
"Who's there?"
The four generals were dragged in front the stage, auras flickering, pistols at the back of their heads. Brigadier General Stone lording over four of his subordinates.
Something ticked.
"Good job, Stone, finish-" The lights fell off the front of the stage, crushing the floor in, setting the crumpled debris on fire. The woman tumbled off stage, drawing a thin saber from her belt.
"We're being watched." Stone drew the hilt, the hand guard exploding into a claymore, dust filtering through veins in the metal. "Them grandstanding freaks on the hills. Speak to no one, stay to themselves, preventing our plans."
"Burn down the cam-" A shot landed in her shoulder, dust eroding her Aura, the bruise setting in. "Shoot them already."
Four matching blades swung in, blocking the shots. The quartet took their chance and punched their way out of their bonds, one pair hitting the High General, the others killing Stone's henchman.
"Well, I thought I was from the wild west..." Emmett lit a cigar, the accent suddenly missing. "Didn't know you would come all the way out here just to put people in cages."
"General Emmett, you must understand that the Faunus thre-"
"You're a threat." General Florence pulled swords from dust itself, the slashes in her shirt revealing greenish blue scales against dark skin. "You fucked and killed your way to the top. And now- it's your turn." Schwarz drew twin pistols, Ciel plucked a harmonica from her jacket.
Tunes flowed from that little jukebox, hitting octaves that its make would deem impossible, her allies glowing blue. Florence swung first. Schwarz taking shots as he waltzed with Ciel, Emmett whizzing around Stone at the speed of sound, as more of Clementine's personal henchmen marched in.
The Calvary split down the line of the times, Ozpin staying behind to manipulate the odds, the other half ran to the first battleground, where more than half the soldiery was being herded off the edge, a hole blown into Ironwood's wall, the airship's cannons being loaded with dust. They dare not go quietly, many meeting their deaths at the hands of the Atlesian military.
"Oh shit." Thorns creeped up Oscar's legs, his hands shaking. "That's what Auntie was talking about! ...I mean Raven, sorry."
"WAIT. Do that, over there, cover the hole! Qrow, go with him." Taiyang waved at the breech. "Yang, Adam, we're blowing up that ship. Blake, I swear to the gods, if you don't pull your weight, I'm punching you next! Raven and Jaune, get as many as you can OUT. Send them to Glynda."
"But-"
"NOT NOW, FLICKS, We'll talk later!"
"Understood."
-.-.-.-. * -.-.-.-.
High General Clementine sat in the dust, Aura flickering, blood running into her eye. "That's impossible, what sorcery is this? NOTHING TOUCHES YOU!" The four generals stood over her, Stone fallen behind them. A blackish red portal opened, Fauni poured through, a cloak with a purple hem escorting them to the meadows. A explosion went off in the distance. "What the hell is that!"
A whirl of red and pink shattered the woman's femur before disappearing without a trace. A cerise strike crushed in her rib cage, neon orange eyes squeezed shut in suffering.
"Amazing. They're helping from on high." Schwarz shot her in the other thigh. "Unamazing for you, you get to be executed for war crimes...Where's Stone?"
Stone grabbed Schwarz by the ribs, sucking away his Aura, his screams echoing into high heaven. A scythe separated Archie's wrists from his elbows, singing through the air back to its master, Schwarz falling to the dust.
"I...hate this shit." Qrow snarled, covered in red blood and red only, storming into camp, catching Harbinger in a open hand, the rest of the crew at his heels.
"Feathers..." Raven stumbled through the portal, the last of the Fauni running out, Jaune last as it snapped shut.
"I HAVE HAD ENOUGH!" His eyes burned gold. "I didn't retire to do this shit any more!"
The rest of the Cavalry returned, Winter held back by Ozpin and Jaune. A unmarked airship landed, the exit gate falling open, soldiers in white and orange pouring out.
"I am tired of watching people fight and divide themselves over stupid shit!" Phantasmal scythes appeared from dark feathers, slaughtering soldiers as they filed out of the exit ramp, hooking around certain necks and sparing others. "You." He stepped on High General Clementine's chest, arm bringing Harbinger over his head, the blade raised for war. "You've done enough damage. Not again."
"Qrow Branwen, my old friend, it was good seeing your childrens' beautiful white feathers arrive to dress my mantle."
"You..." He bit back tears, a wicked smirk sliding across her bloodstained teeth. "YOU BITCH."
Pyrrha cried out. A navy and white airship landed, the White Fang emblem emblazoned on the side.
A blue feather blew past his ear.
The phantasmal scythes faded away.
The gold eroded from his eyes, he stepped away, walking towards the rest, folding Harbinger.
The old crow stammered. Pyrrha hugged him, the both of them still shaking.
"Lost your godsdamned mind? I knew you could do it, Uncle." Emerald met red, a cheeky smile on her face. "Let's get you in a seat before you pass out?"
"I don't feel good." His eyes were flat and far away.
"I know." She sat him against a tree, ignoring the 'i need less kids'. "Blake, go handle your compatriots." They filed out of the exit gate, wearing the white and blue uniform of the Fang.
"How did you do that with the scythes? Uncle?" Ruby patted his face. Winter sat at his side, mouth pressed shut. "Uncle..." His eyes glazed over. Ruby shut them for him.
Blake stared at them, at his hair growing white in patches, aura flickering. "I'm not going out there." Nora threw her into the march of white coats, she skidded into the dust in a heap, the velvet hemmed cloak wrapped in Nora's fists.
"Lady Belladonna?" Cried the activists. "You live?"
She turned around.
The Cavalry had left her behind.
Sun WuKong approached her, wearing the white coat that she used to. "Hello, Blake the Flake, good to see His Grace spared you yet. We saw it...the important pieces..." He stepped over bodies to the High General and her subordinates. "We, the White Fang, level charges of genocide against you. Fellas, take them away."
Blake stood there.
"Are you going to say anything for yourself or are you going to stand there?
"Will you forgive me?"
"No." He came towards her, and with a single tug broke the sun gold necklace around her neck. "You haven't done anything worth forgiving. This isn't even your doing." He waved at the mayhem, the remaining forces cleaning camp and caring for themselves. "To think I loved you even for a minute...how pathetic of me. Your father said hello, and to come home. If His Grace will allow you."
"I am bound by duty."
Sun turned back into the ship. "Men, attend to our brothers and allies."
Ruby watched over him for hours. Then Winter. Then Jaune. Blake fell into the door, arms aching from carrying things. Then his sister. Yang woke up screaming at three in the morning. Then Taiyang. Then Ruby as she woke up again.
"Uncle?" Red met grey. "He's awake!"
Pyrrha craned out of the door. Dawn broke once again. "One day won't kill us. Get the rest up." The fire was abandoned. Ruby consolidated packages, most of it being clothing for everyone in shades of black, grey and white, her eyes ringed with dark circles.
The old crow sat up. Got himself together. Came back.
"Your hair is turning white." Winter plucked a loose feather from his head.
"I'm stressed out, you should have seen me af-" She hugged him, the 'don't scare me like that' lost in his chest. "Oh...Snowball. I'm sorry."
"Does this mean you're over it now?"
"I was over it...until I saw her. I'll get past it..."
She strung the blue feather on a chain, hooking it around his neck. "There. And no, I'm not jealous or angry."
"How did..." Pyrrha stuck out her tongue at him, finishing with her bag. "Pyrrha..."
"They wanted to know why you didn't just kill her. She was quite the woman..."
General Rouge approached camp at her normal seven o' clock to find them standing all outside.
"What is it?"
"The Generals thank you for their lives." The four of them came up the hill, all with some degree of injury, bowing as they did, offering Winter a nice honey whiskey, Raven a red silk dress, and the rest of them premium dust. Rouge pressed a small box into Raven's hands. Emmett looked away.
"Just take it." He signed. "What do you need? We're leaving."
"We figured." Florence spoke first, the tank top displaying greenish blue scales under her mantle. She bowed as she offered Qrow a top shelf bottle of bourbon. "I...apologize for masquerading."
He took the bottle. "Comes with the job description. I apologize for my...rough handedness." She bowed again, turning away, stepping back. "What is it?"
"High General Clementine has been shipped back to Atlas..." Schwarz spoke up. "As well as Stone. Good luck out there."