Disclaimer: I do not, nor do I claim to, own RWBY or any other media that may be referenced in this fic. All rights go to their respective owners. The only thing I lay any claim to are my OCs.
"Are you serious? If you're not even going to bother letting us argue our case for entry into Atlas, at least send a message to General Ironwood, heck, I'd settle for Specialist Schnee. Tell them that Huntsman Qrow Branwen and his allies are seeking entrance to Atlas," Qrow tries to reason with Cordovin.
"I don't expect you ingrates to understand the importance of our presence here, but that you think you can order us around like a post office? The idea is laughable," Cordovin tells them.
Rosa steps forward. "That isn't what Huntsman Branwen was trying to imply. Of course we understand the importance of border control. Without it, cases like what happened at Beacon would be all the easier. However, if you just checked with General Ironwood regarding Huntsman Branwen, I'm sure we'd be able to come to a compromise."
"There will be no compromise on our orders!" Cordovin practically spits out. "The only people allowed access to Atlas are residents of Atlas that have been stranded outside of their home kingdom." The woman sighs and puts on a fake smile. "So if Miss Schnee decides to come to her senses and return home, then the Atlas Military would be more than happy to escort her home. That hospitality does not extend to her friends of… questionable character."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Yang demands.
"It means we're done here," Cordovin says blandly, turning on her heel and letting the gate slam shut behind her.
"What do we do now?" Pyrrha asks.
"We'll find a way to get to Atlas. Even if it means we have to steal a boat and row all the way there, Rosa assures them.
Watts isn't too impressed with his trek out to the middle of nowhere, but orders are orders. He's been tracking this particular individual for nearing a week – a task made harder given their lack of electronics and cross-continental communications being down – so he doesn't want to lose the trail now.
A few more minutes and he's arrived at his destination.
A simple fire in the middle of a clearing, and a rough man sitting on the ground beside it.
"Are you Mars Gladiolus?" Watts asks.
"Who's asking?" the man grunts, picking a bit of stray meat off his tusks.
"My name is Arthur Watts, and I'm here on behalf of my employer. Word has reached us that you are quite… fond of fighting," the Atlesian explains.
"So?"
"How would you like to have far more opportunities to fight?" Watts questions.
The man grins, showing off slightly yellowed teeth. "I never pass up an opportunity for a good fight."
"Then I'm sure you will enjoy your time with us, Mr Gladiolus," Watts assures him.
While the others head out to help Saffron do grocery shopping, Maria sat down with Rosa and Mercury.
"So, what's going on Abuela?" Rosa asks.
"Not so much that something is wrong, but rather, something is right," the woman explains.
"We could certainly use something going right," Mercury points out.
"During the vision Jinn showed us, I discovered something about our shared trait," Maria says slowly.
"The silver eyes? But, Jinn was showing us what Ozpin was hiding from us," Rosa asks in confusion.
"That doesn't mean that was the only thing shown to us. The conflict between the gods, were you paying attention, Rosa?"
Behind her goggles, Rosa's eyes go wide. "The god of light's eyes! They were silver!"
"So, how is this good news?" Mercury asks.
"I'm thinking that it may be possible to cleanse Salem of the taint she collected from bathing in the Pool of Darkness," Maria suggests.
"Would that even fix anything? She was already immortal, and if anything, having a more human appearance would make it easier for her to go out in public to gain allies without drawing attention to herself," Mercury points out.
"But Salem's forces have been hunting Silver Eyed Warriors for centuries. Salem isn't dumb, and she wouldn't be wasting resources like that for no reason. Sure, we can put a dent in her Grimm armies, but Grimm respawn at a much faster rate that she can recruit people, so why waste time sending people after Silver Eyed Warriors?" Rosa argues.
"Indeed. The woman who took my eyes was only after my eyes. Once they were gone, she said that they were all she was after. My death would just be a bonus," Maria reveals.
"So, now what?" Mercury asks.
"We shouldn't tell the others. Not yet at least," Rosa reasons.
"That makes us as bad as Oz," he tells her.
"Telling them we might have a way to beat her when it is a long shot at best is cruel. Besides, we don't know where Salem hides, so neither of us could go after her regardless. Not to mention, you've yet to use your eyes even once. I've managed to use them a few times, but still. We aren't ready to face Salem even if we knew where to find her," Rosa explains.
"She's right, Mercury. For now, you need to continue focusing on perfecting the mind frame needed to call upon the eyes' power," Maria tells him.
"Fine," he concedes.
"Alright, how are we going to get to Atlas?" Rosa asks after dinner has been eaten and Saffron and Terra have gone out for a date (leaving little Adrien in his uncle Jaune's capable care).
"Well, we could always use your suggestion of stealing a boat and rowing there?" Jaune jokingly suggests.
"No," Weiss says swiftly. "For one thing, we wouldn't be able to fit enough supplies on a boat that small, and two, the seas between Argus and Atlas are… lets just say you'd need a very heavily armoured ship to make that trip."
"And all the ships that could make that sort of trip will be heavily guarded at the moment," Qrow points out. "Fishing vessels won't be, but the military will have locked down all the docks where the big boats are, too much risk of someone sneaking into Mantle waters."
"Well, considering our options are steal a boat from the military or convince the military to take us there, I don't think we have a very good chance," Mercury snarks.
"I could probably use my semblance to fly myself there, I'd bet Yang and Pyrrha could do something similar, and obviously Qrow can fly himself as well, but that doesn't solve our problems. Also, does anyone here even know how to operate a boat?" Rosa asks.
"I know how to fly an airship," Maria chimes.
"We know, Abuela," Oscar and Rosa chime back in unison.
"And you proved it back in Mistral," Mercury adds.
"Why don't we steal an airship then?" Jaune suggests. "It could actually work and with a bit of acting we'd probably be able to pull it off without them being any the wiser."
Everyone looks at him in confusion for a moment before Weiss asks him to explain.
"Well, they said they'd be willing to take Weiss back to Atlas. If we hide Maria in a suitcase, we can smuggle her on board. The relay tower is what supplies the whole of Argus with signal, so if one of us cuts the signal while Weiss is being flown towards Atlas, she can then take over the ship and kick out the pilots, Maria can take control and fly back to us where we'd be waiting for them outside of Argus' sights. Because the signal is patchy anyway, they'd assume it was just regular tech glitches rather than foul play. We'd get away and no one would be the wiser until we arrived in Atlas," he explains.
"Where we would promptly be arrested for hijacking an Atlas Military Airship," Qrow points out.
"But we'd be in Atlas and the chances of it coming to Ironwood's attention is a lot higher, so we'd be fine," he reasons.
Before Qrow can go to argue again, Maria interrupts.
"It's a plan and the only one we have right now. If we can come up with a better plan, then we will use it, but so far, this one at least has a chance for success."
As per the RAYNBBBOW luck, they don't come up with a better plan, which leaves Jaune to convince his sister to help them.
"Come on, Saf, its really important that we get to Atlas and the military won't even listen to us," he begs.
"You're asking me to put my family in danger for this, Jaune. If we got caught, Terra and I would lose Adrien. We'd be put in jail and we'd never get to see him again. I love you, Jaune, you're my baby brother you know I love you, but you're asking too much of me," she tells him.
"Saf, please just hear me out," he begs. "I wouldn't be asking for your help if it wasn't as important as it is."
"Then stop beating around the bush and tell me why!" she snaps at him.
"What happened at Beacon wasn't isolated, Saf. The people behind it planned an attack on Haven and we think the next target is Atlas. We need to warn them, but more than that, the lamp thing that Rosa's been carrying, it needs to be sealed away and one of the only places that can be done is in Atlas. It's been attracting Grimm ever since it left Haven and the longer it stays out in the open the worse it is going to get. It's the reason we got attacked on the train. If we could just dump it somewhere, we would, but if the wrong people get their hands on it, it could destroy the world, Saf. Please," he tells her.
Her blue eyes lock with his, looking for any sign that he's lying, and finds nothing.
"You've never done anything by halves, have you?" she sighs. "You decide you want to be a huntsman and you've ended up on what seems like the most dangerous mission of them all. I want to be mad that you brought something that dangerous near Adrien, but… I'll settle for you getting it as far away from him as possible."
"So, you'll help?" he asks tentatively.
"What do you need me to do?" she asks him instead.
"All we need is for you to see Weiss onto one of the military airships and keep attention off her suitcase. We'll handle the rest," he tells her.
"And if you get caught?" she challenges.
"Then you didn't know that we were plotting. We left you out of the planning and after a fight we had with Weiss over her leaving for Atlas, I asked you to make sure she got on her flight safely even if we didn't want to be there to see her go. If we get caught, you didn't know," he tells her.
"Okay. I'll help you."
Standing on the edge of a cliff, the group waits anxiously.
"Saffron just messaged. They're onboard and they didn't even get a chance to question her luggage," Jaune announces.
"Alright, as soon as Weiss and Abuela are out of local comm range, Blake needs to cut the signal so that they can loop back and pick us all up. Yang, Blake, you need to get back to the rendezvous point for pick up ASAP after signal is cut. I want this to be a clean-cut operation, no mistakes," Rosa orders to her group and her sister and Blake on the other end of the line.
She hears affirmatives from everyone, and they settles in for a tense few moments.
"You sure you don't need me to come with?" Yang confirms.
"I've got this, Yang, wouldn't be the first time I've had to screw with Atlas tech," she assures the blonde.
"Stay safe."
"I will," Blake promises before holding her scroll up to her ear. "Heading in on foot. Won't be long."
Watching as the signal from Weiss' scroll disappears, Rosa starts pacing.
"This is going to work, Rosa. It has to," Oscar assures her.
The signal picks back up again.
"No," Jaune whispers. "Why isn't the signal down?"
"Yang? Blake? What's going on?" Rosa asks over her scroll.
"I don't know," Yang's voice responds, "but I'm going to find out."
Weiss' scroll connects to the call and her voice sounds out. "Cover blown! Cordo is onto us and Maria isn't helping!"
"Weiss, tell Maria she's got maybe ninety seconds before Cordo gets fliers in the air to take you down, you need to get out of line of sight, NOW!" Qrow barks down the line.
"Uh, she's not sending fliers," Weiss tells them.
"Playing hide and seek, Blake?" Adam mocks. "You should know by now that I always find you."
"Leave me alone!" she yells at him as she tries to shoot him down.
"Now, now, that isn't very nice now is it? All I want to do is have some private, one-on-one time with you," he tells her, taking the opportunity to crush her scroll underfoot. "And having people trying to interrupt is such a nuisance."
While he talks, she takes a running leap off the edge of the tower. There's no point staying and fighting, not when her squad is on a time sensitive mission. With the coms not taken out, they'll be even more pressed for time.
He follows her easily.
"Let go of the past, Adam!" she screams at him.
"And just forget everything? No, I'm not going to do that," he spits at her.
"I don't want to fight you Adam," she tells him, shooting at him again and using her ribbon grapple to try and get away. He blocks the bullets and snarls as he chases after her.
"You're only delaying the inevitable Blake," he yells at her, continuing to chase her further and further away from the relay tower.
They skid to a stop on a stone bridge over a fast-moving river.
"It doesn't have to be like this! If you just leave, we don't have to fight!" she tells him, hand gripped around the hilt of her katana.
He chuckles darkly. "Blondie said the same thing. Salem won't be happy I killed a maiden, but I've more than enough to make up for it."
Her eyes go wide. "You… you killed Yang?" Her voice is small and shaky. He just walks towards her.
"She wanted to protect you, as if you would do the same for her, as if you wouldn't run like the coward you are. I'm not fool enough to let myself be outnumbered like that. I knew if I let her come to your aid, I'd probably not live through it. So I finished what I started back at Beacon," he almost hisses.
Blake stumbles backwards and he can see it in her eyes how scared she is.
"I ripped off her metal arm first, then the real one. Next I cut through her ankles. It was pathetic how she lay there. Useless as a baby. She didn't even make a sound as I cut off her head," he tells her, walking closer and closer.
"No, no," Blake mumbles, trying not to believe it.
"But you're right Blake, it didn't have to be like this. If it weren't for you, she'd still be alive. I didn't want to kill her, but she got it the way. All because of you. You're quite good at that. Ruining people," he admits. She crumples to her knees under the verbal blows.
One hand reaches up to his mask – she barely notices that it's changed since the last time she saw him – and takes it off revealing the brand across his eye.
"You didn't leave scars, you just left me alone. So, tell me, how does it feel to die alone?" he asks her.
She doesn't answer, just looks at him with tears in her eyes as she stares at his red blade and the blood on it.
He lifts his sword and the world around her is roaring, deafeningly loud as he brings it down.
She squeezes her eyes shut, bracing for death.
At least she'll see Yang again.
The blow doesn't come.
They ready themselves for combat, but they certainly didn't expect the mech that Cordovin pilots.
It's a behemoth, and Rosa knows just by looking at it that it'll be a hard fight.
"You can't seriously want to fight this thing?" Weiss asks over heir scrolls.
"We've fought big things before. This is just an old lady, in a big robot," Jaune points out.
A missile is shot after the airship and Pyrrha takes initiative to shoot it down before it can reach its target.
Unfortunately, this brings Cordovin's attention on them.
Rosa quickly puts an earth Dust vial into one of her swords as Cordovin charges up a Dust beam.
Maria flies the airship towards them, and Weiss jumps down to join the others.
Cordovin fires and she manages to react just fast enough to put a wall of earth between them and the attack.
"Okay, quick strategy meeting," Jaune tells them. "We need to turn our small size into an advantage. That this is built for big grimm, not small targets and isn't meant for manoeuvrability."
"So, if we keep moving and keep her attention split, we can figure out a way to take her down," Qrow adds on.
"Abuela, keep the ship safe, we're going to need it if we want to get out of here," Rosa says over scroll.
"They can take my driver's license but I'm not going to let them take this ship," she confirms.
"We're going to need to find a way to turn off shield generators. A piece of Atlas tech that size will have its own generators and long ranged attacks will be useless against it until those are down," Weiss points out.
"So we get up close and personal," Jaune reasons. "Qrow, use your bird form to get up close and try to figure out a way to turn off the generators. Everyone else, stay mobile and look for any weaknesses that we can exploit."
Yang's voice cuts through the roar of the world around her. "You're not touching her."
Blake's eyes snap open.
Across the platform, Adam picks himself up, and in front of her, Yang stands defiantly and without a scratch on her.
"Yang?" her voice shakes and she hates it.
"It's okay. Catch your breath. I can hold him off for now," Yang tells her without sparing her a look. Lilac flames spill out past her golden mane and across from them, Adam just growls.
He spares a quick look at both of them before stepping back and jumping from the ledge and down to the rushing water below.
"I thought… I thought…" Blake tries to say.
"I wasn't going to let something happen to you, Blake," Yang says, wrapping her arms around her. "Don't you get it yet? I'm not going to let anyone take you away from me without a fight. I didn't at Beacon, and I'm not going to let it happen now."
"He said… he said he killed you. He said he cut your arms off and cut through your ankles and then… and then… he…" Blake sobs.
Yang squeezes her gently. "I'm right here, alive." She pulls away and places Blake's hand against her chest. "Feel that? That's my heartbeat, it's not going anywhere, and neither and I."
The battle is chaos, auras dropping dangerously low.
Qrow and Mercury manage to drop the mech's shields, but it doesn't help much.
Rosa doesn't remember much of who does what or how they even get into the mess they do but she screams as a bullet rips into her shoulder as Cordovin unleashes a rain of bullets on them, pinning them in place.
Bullets assault their stolen ship where its crashed into the tree line, and Oscar screams in anguish as a bullet hits his Abuela in the throat, blood spraying from the wound…
A split second between one adrenalin fuelled heartbeat and the next passes as the bullets stop. Oscar races towards Maria, and the rest watch in horror as they realise why Cordovin stopped firing.
Jaune grasps Pyrrha's hand in his, sharing a last desperate look with her from where they were seeking shelter from the bullets.
Rosa doesn't even see it, the pain from the bullet in her shoulder taking up her attention.
Weiss tries to protect herself with ice, but she isn't quick enough.
Mercury is in the process of leaping towards Qrow to try and get him out of the blast zone.
.
.
.
A missile, short ranged, and deadly.
All in the blast zone have their pain filled screams cut short as their lives are snuffed out. Just outside the blast zone, Oscar turns just in time to see their last moments.
He feels something like glass shatter in his chest, and feels fire burn through him as he screams.
Time.
Stops.
A/N: Welcome back to the Grimm Reaper! Hope you enjoyed this chapter and the cliffhanger I've left you all on. Good news, I'm done with university for the year, so I have time to write again!
I also just want to take a moment to say that there are so many charities out there that do amazing work, but I want to shout out Canteen. It's an Australian organisation that supports young people that have been affected by cancer (either themselves, a close family member, or a close friend). Its a cause close to my heart as one of the people in my grade back in highschool passed away back when we were in grade 11 (our equivalent of junior year), my paternal grandma died of cancer before I was born, and I have a number of aunts and an uncle who have/had cancer, including my aunt Kaz who is terminal and has been fighting for years for every extra day. While I haven't personally been supported by Canteen, I know people who have and they do amazing work. So I encourage everyone reading this to either support Canteen (which you can do by buying a bandana from them) or to support another organisation that supports people dealing with cancer or works to find cures for cancer. I'm not afiliated with them in any way shape or form, I just feel very strongly about it.
Anyways, let me know your thoughts on this chapter by dropping a review (they really make my day) or send me a PM if you want to chat, otherwise, with a quick reminder that this is a no spoiler zone, I'll see you guys next week with another chapter.
- RebeccaMagic9