Hi.
This is awkward.
I'm not gonna sugar-coat it people: this is the last official chapter of this story.
In my defense, it snuck up on me.
I had only planned up to about thirty chapters, ending this story after season seven, and now that we're here... I see no reason to drag this story on if I have nothing planned. If I do keep writing, the quality will be sure to drop and I don't want to do that to you all.
I have more to say but it shall be said at the bottom.
Once more into the breach!
They stared at one another, one in forlorn contempt, the other in bitter amusement. They said no words, they had nothing to say to each other. A form shifted to the right, but neither offered them any attention.
"My queen?"
Salem held a hand up slowly and Cinder went silent, the room going back into the awkward, deafening silence it had been in for the last sixteen consecutive minutes.
"Fitting that you've taken the form of a child," the queen said suddenly.
"Fitting that you've taken the form of a whore. Oh wait, my apologies. Nothing's changed," the wizard returned.
Somehow, despite seeming impossible, the room grew even more silent.
Roman slowly turned to Glynda, raising his eyebrows in a 'yeesh' look. She shook her head with a small glare, knowing that meant he was about to do something incredibly stupid.
Her fear was confirmed when the thief stepped forward, too sudden for her to stop him.
"Okay, I think that's enough silent brooding from you two," he said, clapping his hands and striding forward to stand between the two.
Ozpin glared at him. Salem glared at Ozpin. Roman shot both of them a disappointed look.
"Sally, glaring like that is bad for your skin. You'll get wrinkles," he said matter-of-factly. She immediately looked frightened and felt around her face. Ozpin rolled his eyes.
"And Oz, what kind of example are you setting for the kids?" he asked the child-man. Ozpin looked at him as though he were the ancient wizard. AKA, shocked and aghast.
"Says the man having sex with the enemy!" Ozpin shouted.
"Hey now, that's unfair. Glynda's having sex with her too," he stated confidently.
Said woman tore a brick out of the wall and beamed him over the head with it. He hissed as he rubbed above his eyebrow and winced. That was gonna bruise.
"Do you even know what you've done!? James has an army! A maiden! All the people you've dragged here will die if they ever go back to the normal world!" Ozpin berated, ignoring his ex wife for now. Roman snorted.
"We have a maiden and an army too. Not to mention that unlike Ironwood's army we don't have to go and tell our soldier's families that they'll never see their loved ones again if they die," the thief shot back. Nobody said anything after that. The statement was not lost on them. Grimm were infinite. Humans were not.
Roman sighed as he regarded the others in the, at the moment, quite cramped throne room. They'd been in for quite the shock when they'd first arrived in the Grimmlands.
Oh what a shock it had been to them. Qrow looked on edge, never keeping his eyes in one place. Neo's team had taken it in relative ease, already knowing no danger awaited them here as long as they kept their hands to themselves. Relatively speaking, of course.
Yang and Blake had a hard stare set upon their faces, not quite a glare but certainly not at ease. Ruby tried to console her team, telling them that it was a lot more homey than it looked and that they just had to give it a chance. Nora, being Nora, was simply excited to be in a new place, while Ren was too stressed trying to contain the girl to really care about his surroundings.
Pyrrha had pretty much been contemplating her life choices and how she managed to stray so far from what she thought her life would be like when she went off to join Beacon. Jaune was in a similar boat, but was also doing his best not to stare at the giant man hunched menacingly over Oscar's shoulders. It was that Hazel guy from Mistral, and he looked ready to tear the boy limb from limb.
Willow seemed interested. Having confined herself to the mansion and it's gardens for so many years now, any new sight was more appealing. Whitley had the credence to freak out twice as much to make up for his mother's casual disposition of the situation at hand. Weiss did her best to console her brother, which would've been sweet if she too weren't panicking.
"Level with me here Oz, what do you think Sally's gonna do with the relics?" the crook asked.
He opened his mouth to reply but stopped. He brought a hand to his chin and squinted at the ground, eyebrows knit close as he thought.
"Really?" Salem asked incredulously from her throne, "You're just that petty?"
"It's not pettiness when we've been fighting this war for a millenia," he grumbled, "we need not recall repeat nine."
Salem shivered. No. They never discussed repeat nine.
"All that time and neither of you ever just tried having a conversation?" Roman asked.
They both at least had the decency to look slightly ashamed. It passed quickly however.
"Well, to be fair," Salem began, "the last time I saw him was when he was trying to hustle my children away from me in the night."
"They wouldn't have needed to be hustled away if you hadn't gone off the deep end and proclaimed your want to be the new gods of this world," Ozpin argued. Clearly the man still didn't appreciate the thought of that particular idea. Not that Roman could blame him, the gods sounded like total dicks.
"Oh I'm sorry, I was only mourning the loss of my husband for two hundred years! Besides, that didn't mean we had to be the same as those foolish brothers! Who said we couldn't give the people what they desired?" Salem asked.
"If we simply gave everyone the same kind of powers we had the world would never know peace," Ozpin claimed.
The two returned to glaring at each other. Roman just sighed and waved to the other occupants of the room.
"Well, while we all settle this why don't you all go get settled? Neo and Red can show you around. Glynda stick around please?" Roman ordered as he placed his hands on his hips. The faster he got these two to stop bickering, the faster he could take a well deserved break.
He had just pulled off a huge heist and flown a bullhead from Atlas to the Grimmlands by himself! Not to mention he needed to unwind after getting shot at for so long.
As the others filed out he sent a wave to Salem's forces.
"You all should leave too. I don't think you need to worry about your queen dying or anything," he said. Watts nodded and stood, leaving without a word. That's why he was Roman's favorite. Never wanted to get into something he didn't need to be a part of. Man after his own dreams.
Cinder glared but left, which obviously meant that little scamp left with her. He heard Mercury send a jab her way that dissolved into some argument between the two. Old habits die hard, he supposed.
Tyrian and Hazel were not as easily persuaded. Tyrian stood staunchly by Salem's side, not willing to leave his goddess defenceless! Hazel still stood over Ozpin, awaiting the word from Salem to end the man.
Roman sent Salem a look and pouted a little. The woman rolled her eyes but sent a chilly glare at both men. Tyrian wilted visibly and scampered from the room. Hazel grunted and turned his body to leave, but didn't let his eyes stray from the wizard.
When the door finally closed it was just Salem, Ozpin, Glynda and him in the room.
"What is your plan with the relics?" Ozpin asked. Salem raised an eyebrow but shrugged one shoulder. Truthfully, with the staff of creation now retrieved she didn't really see much of a threat anymore.
"You need all the relics to bring those stupid bitch-boy gods back to Remnant right?" she clarified.
"When all four are brought together, yes. The brothers will return. At least, that's what they'll have me believe," he answered. She already knew the information, he'd told her after all. There was no point hiding it from her. She had the relic of knowledge and creation at her disposal. He thanked his stars that she didn't have the relic of destruction. That'd be a terrifying thought.
It wasn't like he was anymore interested in the gods return mind you. He just wanted to end this horrible parasitic curse he'd been bestowed. In a way, he understood why Salem had lost a few marbles. He'd taken over all too many lives during his immortal battle with the woman.
"Then I think that will do," she stated, all pretenses of animosity gone in an instant. She casually checked her nails.
"What?" Roman asked, confused at the sudden shift. Ozpin and Glynda looked equally as confused.
"If you need all four to bring them back, then you may go live your life as you please. Or I suppose, let the boy live his life as he pleases. I'll keep the relic of knowledge and creation here and away from the other two," she decreed.
The other three just stared at her.
"Allow me to get this straight," Ozpin started, "we've been fighting a silent war for who knows how long any more, sacrificing thousands of lives along the way, and your plan to end all the fighting... is to just ignore it?"
She closed her eyes and hummed in thought, tilting her head one way before tilting it the other. She finally opened her eyes again, a passive look on her face.
"Yes."
Glynda's hand hit her face before she even realized it was moving. It was like Roman's simplistic idiocy when it came to solving problems was rubbing off on everyone around him.
Would that happen to her!? The thought scared her.
"Surely... you cannot be serious?" Ozpin asked slowly, unfathomably even.
"I'm as serious as I can be," she replied, "if all of this fighting is to see who can collect all the relics it will never end. So instead of doing that, I'll simply keep two and you can keep the other two. I have no use for them anyways."
Roman spread his arms wide.
"Sounds good to me!" with that he began a jaunty stroll out the room.
"Wait! No! I didn't agree to any of this!" Ozpin exclaimed. The thief stopped and groaned, continuing to groan as he walked back to the place he once stood. Glynda spoke up this time, understanding the man after working with him for so long.
"Ozpin," Glynda began, getting the man's attention, "surely you can see the merit in this. She's agreeing to end all the cloak and dagger and leave you and the maidens and relics be. What can't you agree with here?"
"The Grimm will still attack the people of Remnant," he said. Salem scoffed.
"The Grimm were around long before you and me both you old fool," she pointed out, "they'd continue attacking regardless."
The man sighed deeply. He knew that. It was more of an argument for argument's sake.
"How can I trust your word?" he asked instead. What, if anything, could the woman offer him that would be incentive enough for him to know she wouldn't stab him in the back as she had so many before?
"If you don't trust me, I'll let you bring all the relics together if that's what you want," she stated.
Roman and Glynda gasped at that. Roman looked nervous.
"Sally, if the gods came back and saw you, that'd mean we'd die," he said. She nodded.
"I am aware. As would all the people in this tower. And everyone beyond it as well. Every single one. Is that what you're willing to put on the line Ozma?" she asked the wizard.
He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath as his shoulders relaxed slightly. He opened his eyes and the fight in them was all but gone, somehow managing to make Oscar's young face look generations older with just his eyes. He shook his head with a humorless, defeated chuckle.
"So many years, so many wasted lives, and all it took was a random chance at taking in some thief I took off the streets to get you to make this happen," he said.
"Hey, I'm not some thief! I'm the greatest thief of all time!" Roman declared. Glynda smacked her hand over his mouth. Salem chuckled.
"Have you ever had a conversation with the man? He's very good with words," she replied. There was a bark of laughter, that soon devolved into a fit of hysterics.
The room was shocked silent as Glynda laughed out loud. It was long and drawn out, and she clearly found the statement hilarious as she continued laughing. Every now and then she would point at Roman as she laughed, just to emphasize what she thought was so funny. Once it started getting awkward she finally caught her breath.
"Wow, ouch Glyn. Way to hurt a guys feelings..." Roman mumbled, disposition hurt. She just looked at him and turned slightly towards Salem.
"You want to talk about feelings do you? Did he tell you about his new find?" she asked. Salem raised an eyebrow and turned to him. Glynda turned her eyes on him as well.
"Roman, what does she mean?" the queen asked. The room grew a little colder.
"Ah! Well... ya see—" Roman felt a hand land on his shoulder and looked down to meet Ozpin's eyes.
"Good luck my friend. You will absolutely need it," the wizard said, zero remorse in his words. He turned and opened the doors, leaving the room. As he did he called out into the halls.
"Oh Ms. Willow? Roman asked of you in the throne room!" Ozpin called. Roman shot the man a betrayed look and Ozpin spared him one last glance.
"In all fairness Roman," he said as he started walking down the hall, "you did fuck my wife."
Roman slowly turned and was met with Glynda and Salem glaring at him now.
"And just who is this Willow?" the queen asked. Roman chuckled.
"Well, it's not like that— it's really just like—" he was cut off as the white haired woman entered the room.
"I'm here as you requested Mr. Torchwick," she said, a hint of something sensual to her voice.
"My gods the woman is forty percent ass," Salem whispered. Glynda nodded, a slightly defeated look on her face. It seemed the Schnee children took after their father in looks. The woman was as... well equipped as they came.
"Would this be the Salem you told me about?" she asked, not hearing the woman.
"Uh, yeah. This is Salem. Salem this is Willow. She's rich and has a giant ass— personality," he said. Everyone ignored his correction in the middle.
"She's very beautiful," Willow said as she gazed upon Salem, not a hint of deception in her voice.
"You truly think so?" Salem asked. The woman bowed slightly and hummed.
"I've seen the nastiest of people at dinner parties and galas," she said softly, "you're hardly the scariest person I've laid eyes on."
Salem let out a deep, hearty chuckle at this. The woman wasn't half bad. She could allow this as well, she supposed.
"So," Salem said as she stood, directing her attention towards the thief, "it seems we've allowed you to become greedy."
The doors and windows glowed before they slammed shut. He felt a chill go up his spine.
"Yes," Glynda added as she stalked forward towards him, "it appears a certain degree of respect and communication needs to be established."
When had his jacket come off? And his belt? He watched his hat levitate off his head, a purple aura surrounding it. Ah. That explained it.
"I must say," he froze as he felt Willow lay her hands on his shoulders, "I didn't think this would happen so soon. But they're right. I hardly want to be a part of anything if it means these two lovely ladies are hurt in the process."
"Perhaps I misjudged you Willow, you have my respect yet," Glynda stated.
What was happening soon? What respect!? He was tired! He needed a bed and a day of rest!
When he felt the Schnee matriarch press her breasts to his back, followed shortly by Glynda's and Salem's own breasts on his arms, he realized very quickly what was happening.
He would not be getting the rest he wanted.
He would likely be awake for a day or two. Even that was generous, all things considered.
"Uh, what's the safe word?" he squeaked.
"Harder," they all replied in unison.
It was then that most would say Roman was one of the luckiest men on the planet.
How wrong those unknowing fools were. This wasn't luck. It wasn't skill either.
This was a death sentence.
"I... think I've bitten off more than I can chew," he said slowly.
As he felt the remainder of his clothes leave his body and several hands grab several parts of his body, he could only really say that he'd had a good run.
Neo had her knees bent, wagging the toy in front of Chew, who was poised and ready for her to throw it again. She did so and he bounded off happily, bringing the stick back and shaking it viciously before dropping it at her feet again.
"I can't believe you guys steal a magical relic, capable of creating infinite and endless amounts of power and all manner of things, and you're using it as a dog toy," Weiss chastised, watching as Neo once again threw the staff of creation for Chew, who happily brought it back as he'd been doing for the last twenty minutes.
"What's wrong with that?" Ruby asked, "If it can create anything then we're just using it to create fun for our dog!"
Be it from just how ridiculous the situation had gotten or from the sheer shock that somehow, as Ozpin had come back to inform them all, the war was over, none of them had the presence of mind to press the matter further.
"So it's really all over? Just like that?" Qrow asked the wizard, who was reclined comfortably in an armchair.
"Hm. The Grimm will most certainly still roam and attack those in their way or who exude enough negativity, so they will need to be stopped. But yes, it appears the war is over," he concluded.
"Did we win?" Yang asked.
"More like we didn't lose," Ozpin corrected.
Not lose. That was like a win right? Close enough anyways. And none of them died! Score!
"And all it took was that lucky bastard fucking his way through the mist powerful women in the world," Qrow groused. Ozpin laughed.
"I wouldn't say he's lucky. Certainly not now at the very least," the ancient soul claimed.
The screams of pain, pleasure perhaps but certainly not in their entirety, could be heard as Oscar walked away from the throne room. Ozpin did not feel sorrow for the man. He had dug his own grave.
"At any rate, if you have need of me I'll be present. It's high time I let Oscar have his life back," he said as his eyes glowed and his body slumped a little. Oscar blinked a few times as he took in his surroundings.
"Is anyone going to explain any of this to me?" Whitley asked as he sat and very tentatively stroked Dante, who dwarfed the boy by a large margin.
"Well brother, it all starts, apparently, with a very complicated love life," Weiss started.
"Ya know what," Nora cut her off, "it actually can all be summed up as a very complicated love life."
The others all voiced their agreement in various ways. Oscar winced a little as the man in his head bristled.
"That... still explains nothing," Whitley said, even more confused.
"Later," Weiss promised, "I think we can all agree that we need a break from thinking about all of this."
Once again agreement rang throughout the room.
"Hey I have a question," Jaune began, "if Roman's got your mom in there with him, does that make you and Neo like step sisters?"
Neo and Weiss slowly turned to one another. Both had gone pale at not only the thought of their respective parental figures having sex, but going so far as to get married in their strange, polyamorous relationship. Both wretched at the same time.
"Jaune, perhaps that was too soon?" Pyrrha elbowed him in the side. He coughed into his hand and looked away. The others all laughed and continued talking. Neo absentmindedly threw the staff again.
Chew once again brought it back and shook his head back and forth. This time however, Neo was staring off into space as she sat cross-legged on the floor.
"Neo?" Ruby asked quietly, making sure nobody else was listening, "you okay?"
She blinked the surprise away. She'd spaced pretty hard there. It was because she was thinking. Thinking about how strange she and Romans lives had gotten. Better for sure, but different in almost every way.
They still had each other, and judging by how much Salem had taken a liking to her, they'd still be together until the end. But now they had a new family too.
They were dumb, dysfunctional, loud, and overall tactless, but they'd all grown on her. As she stared down at Chew, staff of creation in his mouth and not a care in the world, she smiled. She turned to Ruby.
I'm fine. Just thinking about everything, she told the young reaper. Ruby nodded.
"Yeah, it's been pretty crazy," she said, "what are you gonna do now though?"
Neo placed a finger to her chin and looked up. That was a good question. She had no desire to go back to the criminal life, especially since she literally had the choice to live in a castle, but she also wasn't the type to sit in one place for too long.
What are you gonna do? she asked instead. Ruby hummed and leaned against the mute girl.
"Well you heard Ozpin! Grimm are still gonna attack people. And since the Grimm listen to me now I can be a huntress and a Grimm whisperer! So I'll probably still do the whole 'go around and save people's thing," she reasoned. Neo nodded. That was about as much of a Ruby answer as she'd been expecting.
"And just think!" Ruby said jumping to her feet, "I can find a gryphon or something and fly around on it! I'll be like an angel of battle and death!"
Neo rolled her eyes and swatted the girls rear, making her temp and blush as Neo stood. She smirked at the reaper and flicked her forehead.
You're a weird one, she told her. Ruby just smiled goofily and kissed her cheek.
"Yep! But I'm also you're weird one," she said. Neo just rolled her eyes again. This girl was just as strange as the day they'd met. She found that she didn't mind all that much.
Yang shoved her way between the two and three her arms around their shoulders. She was smirking at both. Ruby was blushing while Neo smirked challengingly into the brawler's eyes.
"As cute as you two are, what do we do now?" Yang asked.
"I have your answer actually," someone called from the hallway.
"Who are you?" Blake asked skeptically. The man bowed.
"Arthur Watts, at your service," he greeted.
"The guy that Jimmy said was dead?" Qrow asked. Watts snickered into his hand.
"The very same, though it fills me with joy to know that James still despises me that much," he claimed, genuinely sounding proud of the fact.
"So what's this about then?" Qrow asked.
"Well you all would be hard pressed to return to the real world anytime soon unless you want to incur the wrath of Atlas upon you," he stated. They all winced at that.
They'd all technically just become enemies of humanity, hadn't they?
"However, since her majesty seems like she'll be taking a break from any scheming, she has told me to extend an invitation to all of you."
"An invitation?" Blake asked.
"You want us to join the forces of Salem?" Ren asked, straight to the point as always.
"Well there's not quite any force to join anymore," he mused, "but yes. Her majesty extends the olive branch to all of you that she will make sure no harm comes of you as you all filter back into society on the grounds of keeping her existence a secret."
"She doesn't want anyone to know about her then?" Pyrrha asked. Watts looked at her with a deadpan expression.
"Would we have had a thousand Grimm drag James's glorified cellular tower into the backyard if she didn't want people knowing about her?" he asked.
Ah. That was fair.
"At any rate, you'll not be asked to do anything but pretend that none of this ever happened," he concluded.
"And if we declined?" Blake asked. He chuckled.
"Likeliest answer? Death," he said simply.
"We accept happily," Jaune said quickly. The others nodded as well.
"Wonderful! Welcome to the family then," he said as he turned and left.
"What a lovely individual," Miltia scoffed.
"But hey, an offers an offer. We had to get back to Junior and mom eventually," Melanie said.
As they talked and relaxed from the stresses of the time they'd spent together since Ruby first bumped into the thieves, they staunchly ignored Roman's cries for help as he was dragged from the throne room towards the master bedroom.
Neo was excited to travel the world with her new family. She knew Roman would be proud.
James considered himself a calm man, and one who knew when not to react too harshly to certain situations.
"I'LL BEAT HIM TO DEATH WITH MY BARE HANDS!"
Currently he'd even say that this was a mild reaction, all things considered.
"General Ironwood, I apologize that I was unable to best Goodwitch in combat," Winter said morosely, one arm in a sling from her fight with the witch. James let out a grumble, the best he could do to console the specialist.
After all, he was also down an arm due to Glynda. The woman could match the maidens in pure carnage when she felt like it. He pinched the bridge of his nose with his real arm (and subsequently his only arm at the moment).
"Winter, there was nothing that could be done. Between Torchwicks cunning and Goodwitchs and Qrows raw ability there was little that could be done," he said in a commanding tone, reeling himself in for the first time in the last two days.
One day ago, Roman Torchwick, under what he was sure was the orders of Salem, had stolen the staff of creation and swapped it with a stone that he only could assume would do something devastating. As if to spit in his face, he even somehow managed to steal the entire Amity project and drag it god knows where.
The stone was being watched by the ace-ops at all times, but what brought up more questions was why Atlas had yet to fall. Was it the stone? Or was there leftover energy from the staff that they hadn't anticipated? It wasn't like they could study magic and considering Roman had stolen Ozpin away too, it wasn't like they could ask.
Not to mention that a solid thirty percent of the academy had been completely and totally destroyed and was unable to be insured due to the insurance not covering "regular giant dogs" and only accounting for giant Grimm dogs.
Yes, in every way possible, Atlas had lost. And almost all to one man.
They still had the maiden, but what use was that when Salem had her own maiden and two relics? Not to mention that Roman had somehow stolen Willow Schnee and all her assets (and by the way the woman had been eyeing the crook, all of her assets) which meant the only thing keeping him from being the richest man in the world alongside the most wanted man on the planet was Jacques still technically being married to Willow.
"At least they don't have any economic sway..." he mumbled. There was a ding and Winter raised an eyebrow as she pulled out her scroll. Her eyes widened in shock at the sheer length of the message, but she nearly dropped her scroll when she reached a particular line.
Winter coughed and held up the scroll for him to read. It was a message from her father.
James wanted to scream all over again, but by this point it just came out as an undignified groan of defeat.
The message from Jacques was a wall of text and insults, but none of that mattered more than the one line in all capital letters.
YOUR MOTHER DIVORCED ME AND TOOK ALL THE COMPANY FUNDING!
Which meant that Roman was now the richest man on the planet.
He was about to ask Winter if she would do him the kind honor of tossing him off of Atlas when his own scroll rang. They both tensed. Nobody should be able to call him right now. Especially considering his scroll was encrypted and only private personnel could contact him.
He slowly opened the device, glaring at the screen and hoping for all that was holy that it was one of the ace-ops.
It was an unrecognized number.
He nearly crushed the device in his hand.
Fearing nothing more to lose however he answered the call. He was surprised to see Ozpin, or Oscar, on the other end of the call. He appeared to be speaking with somebody.
"— are you positive the call will go through? I know you said you could hack your way in but that doesn't mean that James will just—ah. Nevermind he picked up. Very well, thank you Arthur," Ozpin said as he looked off screen.
"Doctor Watts," Watts corrected.
"Arthur," Ozpin said back. There was a scoff and a door slamming before Ozpin looked back towards the general.
"Hello James. I'm sorry I didn't get to say goodbye upon my last visit, I was preoccupied," he said casually.
"Ozpin what the hell is going on!?" James shouted, causing the wizard to wince slightly and rub his ear.
"Yes that is a fair reaction I suppose," he said.
"Fair reaction? FAIR REACTION!?" he raged, "Do you have any idea the state that this city is in right now!? How much danger the world is in!?"
"From my conversation with Salem yesterday, not a lot of danger, actually," he informed.
"What?" James spat.
"Well, it went like this," Ozpin began.
Ten minutes later and James was sitting on the floor, slumped against his desk and nursing a bottle of whiskey.
"My school destroyed, my country up in arms, my trust shattered... and all of it was solved because Torchwick fucked the problem away?" he asked incredulously.
"I'd rather not be reminded that my ex wife has moved on, but yes, that about sums it up," Ozpin claimed.
"I must be dead."
"I assure you, you're not."
James rubbed the back of his hand down his face, the cold bottle soothing the headache that had formed due to a lack of sleep and an abundance of rage.
"What now then?" he groaned. Were all his efforts in vain? Had he spent the last decade of his life worried about nothing?
"Well she has agreed to sway the Grimm away from the kingdoms but has told me that there is no way to be rid of them permanently. The Academies will still be needed to assist villages and outside settlements."
"Just like that?" he asked, void of emotion and dull to the world.
"As unbelievable as it sounds; just like that," the wizard replied, managing to make Oscar's voice sound every bit his age.
James stared out the window. A giant nevermore was flying towards the city, likely from the massive amount of negativity caused by the explosions and gunfire throughout the academy. Once the giant thing got close enough to the city it slowly circled back and flew the opposite direction.
"Just like that," he mumbled as he watched the bird Grimm fly away from the negativity.
"There are obviously other matters to discuss, but I would rather do them in person. Salem's forces have agreed to leave the children to return to society so long as they say nothing of her existence. I will be returning with them," he explained.
James assumed he had nodded. He didn't quite know. He was so out of it that he didn't even register that he had the bottle to his lips for the last twenty seconds. Was this how Qrow felt? He understood the man so much better now.
"My apologies for involving you in all of this James. But rest assured, the war is over."
"And who's the victor?"
"There's not so much a victor, more like there is no loser."
Apt, the general thought.
"You and your students better help the revival efforts here in Atlas," he said tiredly. Ozpin nodded.
"They'll do so. Likely begrudgingly, but you can rest assured they'll help. The one's returning with me at least," he claimed. Ironwood raised an eyebrow at that.
"Who's staying?"
"Roman for obvious reasons. It appears Glynda wishes to remain as well. There will be much travelling with Ms Politan and the Schnee children to see their... families," he said, grimacing at the mention that Roman had quickly become the technical husband to three of the most powerful women on the planet, in their own ways.
"Does Willow have any intention of resuming the SDC's mining operations?" he asked. They'd still need dust, regardless of if it was being used for weaponry or not.
"The reigns have been passed to her children. All three of them. Effective immediately, she has claimed," he told the man. Winter finally reacted verbally at the revelation.
"What!?" she shrieked.
"Ah, hello Ms Schnee. Congratulations on you and your siblings new promotions. May you do better with the SDC than your father did," he said nonchalantly.
James nearly laughed at the rainbow of emotions the specialist went through before she grumbled and shrunk into herself. She threw out a quick "thank you" but no more.
"Anything else I should worry about?" James asked, finally feeling exhaustion catch up to him.
"Other than the fact that, by technicality, Ms Politan is now a princess? No," the wizard shivered. James frowned. That was definitely one of the most harrowing thoughts he could have. Did they have to extend diplomatic immunity to her!?
"For all it is worth James," Ozpin stated as he stood and prepared to hang up, "thank you for fighting with me all these years."
James smirked. It was small, and due to his current haggard appearance, it looked somewhat pained, but it was genuine.
"We finally got that peace you wanted," he said.
"Indeed we have," the ancient man sighed. The call ended a moment later.
"Sir! What are our next orders?" Winter asked, ever the astute specialist. He shook his head, a small smile gracing his features.
"Take a short vacation Winter. We have to regroup and rebuild. And you have a new role to take care of," he smirked at the last part. She frowned.
"I think I will offer my third of the company to Weiss and Whitley. They'll do more with it than me," she said. He shook his head but didn't argue with the woman. After all, who was he to turn away his best soldier?
"Plus I now have to come to terms with the fact that Roman Torchwick is now my step father," she said, turning green.
That managed to get a laugh out of the general.
Roman looked off of the balcony of the tower at the stars. He was without his hat or jacket and was smoking a cigar. It had been a strange run for him. Got a job, became a huntsman, had sex with three different insanely hot women at the same time, became a traitor to humanity, all in the span of about two years.
Overall, still not as hectic as his academy years.
He heard someone walk up behind him and come to stand beside him. He turned slightly to see Glynda stood there, clothes barely hanging off her body.
They said nothing to each other, but he was shocked when she stole his cigar away and took a drag before handing it back. She noticed his look and glared lazily as she let the smoke fall from her lips.
"You're not the only one who needs a smoke after sex," she snarked. He laughed and shrugged.
"Never thought I'd see the day where such a goody-two-shoes smoked with the criminal," he teased. She swiped at him but it was lacking any aggression. No, that had all been spent in the last day in the bedroom.
"We technically are now both criminals for the same thing," she pointed out.
"Aht aht aht, but I made the plan," he claimed.
"And I saved your sorry ass in every phase," she retorted.
They were silent for a moment before it was broken by soft laughter.
"It's been a weird one," he said. She hummed and leaned against him.
"Yes, but with you I have a feeling that's the norm," she said.
He laughed. That was fair. Weird was normal for him.
"Hasn't turned you away yet," he boasted.
"Hmm," she hummed.
He raised an eyebrow and looked down at her. That wasn't her normal snark.
"What?" he asked. She played with one of her curls.
"I was late last week," she said calmly.
"Late for what?" he asked. She rolled her eyes.
"Not late Roman. Late," she reiterated. He blinked and stayed quiet for a moment.
Wait a minute.
"Wha...?" he asked. She sighed and looked at him again.
"I think I'm pregnant," she said, ripping the band aid off all at once.
He just stared at her.
Pregnant?
"Are you—"
"It's likely."
"Ah."
They were silent again.
"Well... Neo is going to have a day with that information," he said after a while. She scoffed and looked up at him, still leaning on his side.
"No freaking out or running away?" she asked. He looked at her in indignation.
"I'm a criminal, not a scumbag! Besides, if you were staying with me after a threesome like that I'm pretty sure we wouldn't be leaving one another any time soon," he pointed out. She just stared at him in disbelief for a moment before smiling and lightly slapping his shoulder.
"You are an enigma Roman," she whispered.
"And you're just as strange for sticking around," he said back.
They stood on the balcony for a while longer, talking into the night and discussing what parental life would be like. Roman assured her that one kid was enough for him for now and that he only had to deal with Neo after she was a baby so he never had to deal with kids like that before.
They both agreed not to tell Salem for a while.
That woman would want her own.
\/\/\/\/\/
/\/\/\/\/\
Grimm.
The creatures of darkness were indeed strange. They were drawn to negativity and were said to be mindless, only having the destruction of humanity in mind.
That seemed like a pretty narrow mindset, she thought to herself as she shooed the giant ursa major away from the village outskirts.
"Oh thank you miss! I don't know how you did it but all the Grimm have turned tail and fled! Please, accept anything we can give you, it's the least we can do!" the mayor of the village said to her.
She was about to ask if she could have all the money from the nearest establishment but someone slapped a hand over her arms before she could fish out her scroll.
"Helping is just what we do! Right babe?" the woman next to her asked, a dangerous glint in her eyes. Even though they were currently tied for fights right now, she was sure she could sway that in her favor again. Regardless, she didn't argue when she used the 'be a good person' eyes on her.
As the villagers thanked them they walked out of the village and towards the city. It wasn't a far walk but it was dangerous for civilians. It wasn't as dangerous to them because they were hunters.
Well, that and they had the blessing of a particular magical woman.
"Neo, what have I said about harassing people we save for money!?" Ruby asked as they walked through the woods. She had grown over the years, and while she was taller than Neo before, she stood even taller now, especially when she wore her boots.
Her new outfit followed the same color scheme as her one from when they'd first met, but the hood was much shorter now, a result of the wear and tear of travelling for so long. She wore two now though, one the hood her mother gave her, the other the cape her uncle once wore.
He lost it in a bet when she said she could out scythe him now.
"Well I just assumed that a little extra cash woulda been nice!" Neo replied, her new scroll reading the text out much more fluidly. It even had a new voice courtesy of Watts. It sounded just as cute as she looked and she had made sure he had gotten it right!
She wore a longer jacket now, having taken a page out of her dad's book and getting a longer coat. It was still white, but unlike her dad's it had four pockets on the outside, two by her breasts and the other two near the bottom front of the coat. The top two pockets were brown and the bottom two were pink. She also wore boots that made her taller but was, unfortunately, still the shortest person among all their friends.
"I swear if you teach your siblings that stuff I will never forgive you! Or them!" Ruby claimed.
Neo feigned hurt but waved her off.
"Relax babe, I would never. Besides, Glyn would totally beat my ass, and not in the way you did the other night," she smirked at the way the reaper still blushed. Never got any less funny.
As they returned to the city civilians pointed in awe at the two women.
"It's the Rose and Thorn!"
"They're so cool!"
"And hot!"
Neo puffed up with every compliment while Ruby shrunk in. They were like night and day with the praise.
"Are we still meeting everyone today?' Ruby mumbled, smiling awkwardly as she waved at a group of teens pointing their way.
"Should be," Neo said as they neared the bullheads that would take them out of Vale and into Beacon II.
It was actually still called Beacon on forms and in the news and stuff, but people had begun colloquially referring to the rebuilt school as Beacon II. It meant more to the huntsman than it did to the politicians.
As they rode up to the school they took in the city below. The kingdoms had all expanded in the last fifteen years, the lack of Grimm attacking the kingdoms was enough for people to start moving further out. There were even plans to go and salvage the wreckage of Mountain Glenn!
Of course, the Grimm were still a problem. They circled the kingdoms but never entered. This still left the villages unprotected and many families broken. As a result the Huntsman academies remained an important part of Remnant.
As they looked out over the rebuilt Beacon, they stared at the tower, looking nearly identical to the one from their own time there.
The bullhead landed and they stepped out. It was summer, so there weren't any students around. Huntsman still filed about, sending the two nods or waves of respect. Under the recommendation of the new headmaster, many huntsmen now reported to each academy's headmaster in order to prevent the disaster that was Haven all those years ago. If someone like Leonardo could circumvent background checks by passing it through the council then it was important that huntsmen got their missions directly from the source.
The two looked around for a moment before they heard hollering.
"RUBY! NEO! OVER HERE!" a ginger girl waved and jumped. Beside her, a raven haired man stood passively, not even flinching at the volume.
"Nora! Ren!" Ruby called as they went over. Ren nodded to the two, a small smile on his face. Nora jumped one final time, landing with her hands on her hips.
"It's about time!" she claimed as she stared the two down, "Almost everyone else is already here!"
"Sorry! We got caught up helping a village on the outskirts!" Ruby laughed as she scratched the back of her head. Neo shook her head and sent the two a quick hello. They replied in kind.
"We should probably hurry," Ren said, "Jaune likely has his hands full and needs our help. Again."
They all chatted as they walked deeper into the school grounds. When they reached the gardens it was to find a group of people gathered.
"Look who decided to finally show up! Late!" a woman in white claimed as she stood rigid and straight.
"Easy Weiss. If you don't pull that stick out your ass you'll get constipated," Yang said as she stood and slung an arm around the icy woman's shoulder. She huffed harder in spite of her. Beside them, on a small bench was jaune and Pyrrha, both looking like gods of battle in their armor.
"Hey guys!" Jaune greeted, "How ya do—Bleu! Put that down!" he scrambled off the bench to chase a little girl who was trying to eat a butterfly on a stick. Pyrrha giggled into her hand as she watched her husband wrangle their daughter.
"What took you guys?" Yang asked as she finally let go of Weiss who sneered at her and straightened her prim outfit out.
"Somebody's hero senses were tingling," Neo said. They all got a laugh out of that. Three people in particular walked over to Neo and pulled her into a hug.
"How ya doing oh leader of ours?" Mercury asked. The man had eased up even more over the years if at all possible. He'd also lost an arm, now being three fourths prosthetic limbs. He always claimed "I'm handling this better than Yang would if she lost her arm".
"Yeah bitch, we barely hear from you when your on the road," Miltia said.
"And don't even think about saying that there's no signal out there!" Melanie added. The twins had acquired more accessories over the years, a choice that Mercury told them was impractical but that they said made them look like queens.
"The twins are right," someone else piped up. Ruby and Neo turned to see Blake walk over, a mug in hand. Evidently she had gotten bored waiting and had left to get tea. Her ears were on display and she had since gotten a piercing like her mothers in her left ear.
"Since Weiss and her brother took over the SDC progression on out of kingdom technologies has nearly tripled," the faunus stated. Weiss stood a little taller at that.
"Yes, that would be Whitley's doing. He handles the company well while I supervise our bigger developments," she said proudly. Yang mimicked talking with her hand, which Weiss, without turning around, slapped away. They all chuckled at that.
"I'd call more if it weren't for somebody having a knack for getting us into every fight she sees," Neo said. They all slowly looked at a whistling ruby, who was very interested in the sky. That earned another round of laughs and a red Ruby.
"I gotta say kiddo," a slightly raspy, snide voice called from behind, "I didn't think I'd beat ya here."
Neo turned and dashed, not even waiting to see who it was before she leapt and tackled them in a hug.
"Damnit Neo I'm old now! You can't be doing this shit!" Roman said as he held the girl aloft in a hug. Someone cleared their throat angrily from his side and they all froze. As ever, Glynda's stare held an intensity that matched no other force on the planet.
"Ooooooh," a short girl by Glynda's side teased. "Dad said a swear word!"
She had ginger hair, lighter than Roman's and roughly the same length. It curled naturally like Glynda's and framed her face. Her eyes were a striking green and she had a cheshire grin that screamed "I'm better than you".
"Where's the swear jar mother?" a boy asked from Glynda's other side. He was blonde but his hair was much shorter, cut in a clean and uniform way. He had a small piercing in his ear that matched Glynda's earring and held the same eyes as the girl opposite of him.
"I know," Neo said as she let go of Roman and ran over to the two teens, putting her arms around their shoulders, "such language!"
"Neo, I may be old and, according to your sister, getting kinda dad fat, nut I will still whoop your ass," he threatened. Glynda scoffed and gave him a look and he coughed.
"Ash," she said to the girl, "Merlin," she said to the boy, "Excuse your father," Glynda said to the two teens, "he's just as tactless as the day I met him."
Roman humphed and pointed to a statue in the courtyard. It was of him, standing in a relaxed way with Melodic Cudgel in hand and a cigar in the other. It was made of gold.
"Does that look tactless? They made that statue after I blew up the Emerald Forest during the attack on Beacon!" he said proudly. They all stared at him in deadpan and Glynda rubbed her temples.
Suddenly there was a woof and Neo snapped up. She crouched down and caught a speeding mountain of dog. Dante strolled over daintily after, looking the same as he did before. Grimm didn't do a whole lot of changing in such a short amount of time.
"Chew! Dante!" Ruby cheered as she leaned down and pet the dog. He barked. It was deeper and reverberated through the air and the body.
"For an old dog he's holding up pretty well," Yang claimed. Roman waved her off.
"Lucky bastard has aura and doesn't have to deal with kids all day long," he moaned, causing Glynda to elbow in the side, making him straighten up, "which is fine because I love these little bastards!"
"Smooth dad," Ash said as she and her brother walked over to hug Neo. The mute girl hugged her siblings happily, never having gotten tired of the two. When Roman had told her she'd be getting siblings she was a little hurt. But now? These two were too cool to be upset about. Especially when they'd use their tiny hands to grab things that she couldn't! Not that she ever told Ruby or especially told Gynda.
"Good to see everyone can still gather like this," a new voice said. They turned and saw a man with olive skin and freckles and a small beard. He stood tall and had filled out well, his arms looking strong and looking like he had worked on a farm all his life.
Well, he had worked on a farm for a long time.
"Is that you kid? Or is that the old man?" Roman asked. Oscar smiled.
"It's me. Oz said he'd talk when he felt like it," Oscar said as he strolled up to the group. The boy had been offered the seat of headmaster by all of them but he'd turned it down. Ozpin said he'd have much more purpose as a huntsman than sitting in an office all day. Ozpin had already had a headmaster in mind and it had shocked everyone, the new headmaster included.
Speaking of which...
"Does anyone know if Hazel is in today?" Oscar asked.
"Yeah, Glyn and I ran into him earlier, he asked about Nyx," Roman said. Oscar nodded. Nyx was Neo's third sibling and Salem's daughter. Weiss shivered and thanked the Brother's that Roman and her mother never had kids. That would've been terrifying.
Hazel had initially wanted to murder Ozpin when the man suggested he be the new headmaster. When Ozpin told the man it was a chance to prevent more people from dying like his sister had the man almost accepted immediately. Likely to show Ozpin that it could be done without losing any students.
Reverse psychology. Never failed.
"Well now the gangs all here," Roman said, "let's get a move on then, I don't need these two barking up my ass that they're bored."
Ash and Merlin argued with their dad, who gladly argued back. This in turn dragged Neo into the argument, which also prompted Glynda to start yelling at all of them.
It was as hectic as ever.
But not once did any of them seem to care.
And scene.
Well this is certainly new for me. I never planned on this fic getting the amount of attention that it did, let alone did I expect to pump out this much for it! I gotta say, it's weird to see it off. Like writing any other fic now will seem wrong in some ways.
Thing I loved most about this story is just how easy it was for me to get into it. Originally, I planned a much shorter story, just to dip my toes in the water so to speak.
But when I got into it and saw how much people liked it? I just felt like I had to keep going.
And that's what started wearing down on me about this story.
I felt like I kept needing to add more to it. I know I don't have to and that I am not obligated by anyone to, but I felt like I had to keep doing more every time. When I was writing this chapter out though I had a really big moment of realization.
You guys are too damn cool for me to care.
You all made writing this fic worth every word. Every joke, scene, and wacky ass take on a character was received so well by y'all and I never hated a moment of this fic.
Sometimes it got a little cracky, sometimes it got a little steamy, but in the end, I can look back and say that I am happy to have written this story for you all and for myself.
STAY TUNED! My next story "Talk About A Role Reversal" will be starting soon, I am still figuring out how I want to do certain things with it. Overall I have it mostly planned out, I just have to implement everything. Exciting!
Thank you so much for favoriting, following, and reviewing.
I hope you all have a wonderful time, and stay happy, healthy, and hopeful.
And for the final time (unless I decide to do it in TAaRR)...
Please,
Don't bite off more than you can chew.
You'll get there eventually.