Epilogue-

March 7, 2019: A week after the end of the Whale War

Blue Whale King looked out the window of the hallway on r/ArkosForever, surrounded by some of his friends. Behind them, portraits of Lord Penguino and Governor Wingnut had been added to the wall of leaders past. Dimension Defender's portrait had its honorable position restored.

"Look how far we've come," said Strike Freedom, as they gazed out on the citadel surrounded by natural beauty. "I can't believe a year ago, I was just a mercenary with an unofficial squadron."

"I was just an ordinary soldier of a relic nation," said Vaniellis.

"I can't believe I was a gangster cultist," said Also A Pun.

"And I was just a loser picking fights in bars," said Blue Whale King.

"We're proud of you, Your Blueness," said Optimus Pyrrha.

"I couldn't have done it without you all," Whale replied. "I'm proud of everyone here. And especially everyone who couldn't be." He looked back at the portraits.

"And I know they would be proud, too," said Vaniellis. Whale nodded, holding back tears.

Captain Jackson Creed entered the hall. "The delegations are here," he said.

"Thank you," Whale replied. "Strike, Vaniellis, everyone else, let's go." The two Co-Moderators followed Whale into the conference room, with the various other officers following behind, but they all gave one last look at the portraits.

Rade Blunner, Torrasque, Venom Ahab, Generic Usernaym, McDouggal, Clem Prime, Umbrione, Puzzarian Ideal, and several others sat on one side of the gigantic square table. Jannis, Link, and several other White Rose representatives sat on another.

Blue Whale King, Strike Freedom X2, Vaniellis, Optimus Pyrrha, Rex Burnside, Untitled Mann, NinJonic X, Only T. Results, Carsales Guy, Also A Pun, Maldevinine, Unholy H. Grenade, Stormxz, Sam Shazam, and too many other Arkosians to count took the seats on the remaining two sides of the table.

"Welcome to our Subreddit, Inquisitor Rade Blunner of White Knight," said Whale.

"Thank you, Grand Admiral Blue Whale King of Arkos," said Rade.

"Have you made your decision?" Strike asked.

"For the most part," said Rade.

"Though it wasn't unanimous," Generic muttered.

"Hush," said Venom.

"We just need a statement from Whale," said Rade. "What do you have to say for yourself and your nation?"

"I would like to apologize for all the harm that I caused," said Whale. "And to say that I'm giving up my motto of 'Never forget, never forgive.' My new creed will be, 'Never cruel or cowardly. Never give up, never give in.' And above all, 'Be the ship that makes people better.' Like it did for Jaune and Pyrrha. Like it did for me, and for all the Arkosians here."

Rade smiled. "Then you passed the test." He snapped his fingers, and a flag unfurled in the conference room. It was the god Jaune Arc's symbol, surrounded by the symbols of Pyrrha, Ruby, and Weiss, with a rainbow swirl behind them, representing all other gods and goddesses to ship Jaune with.

"The AAA is reborn today," Rade said. "But not as the Anti-Arkos Alliance. From now on, we will be the Arc Appreciation Alliance." Everyone clapped.

"I gotta say," said Jannis, "I'm impressed. Even after the loss of your planet, after you lost to us in Ship Survivor, you rebuilt each time. You even took mercenary work from White Rose even after you lost to us, you spared r/CinderDidNothingWrong, and now you're working with your former enemies. I'm proud of you."

"What can I say?" Whale asked. "I'm a builder of alliances now. And Arkos is a Phoenix Nation."

And that was only the beginning. The AAA won Ship Wars 4 and put their winnings toward the betterment of the RWBY Sector, after they rallied everyone to defeat an invasion from Tumblr. r/ArkosForever continued to grow for a long time afterwards, and its members gave Arkos a good showing in many more Ship Wars and Ship Survivors. r/CinderDidNothingWrong stayed out of trouble... for the most part. Oh, and I married Rosa Cossette D'Elise.

Arkos was not dead, it was stronger than ever, fueled by stories of the gods from a thousand alternate universes. Its true end was a long way off yet.

With that, I'll turn this back over to u/Blue WhaleKing. Be sure to leave him lots of comments.

-u/StrikeFreedomX2, the narrator

Thank you to everybody who read my story! It's meant as a "National Epic" for r/ArkosForever, and to a lesser extent, r/CinderDidNothingWrong, my greatest rival Subreddit. I hope I have succeeded.

I'm sorry to everyone who I left out, didn't give as much screentime as they deserved, or put in a role that they didn't like.

I'll leave you with some song lyrics I wrote, to the tune of "Forever Fall" by Jeff and Casey Lee Williams.

Like a bad dream, you died on me, my world destroyed that day.

Light seemed to fade, hope went away, the colors turned to gray.

And though all my dreams were devastated, I refused to waste the chance you gave, for I would not depart, despite my broken heart, from the promise of an Arc.

I'd keep what you told, till I grew old, and fight on through the cold.

I'd suffer through this never ending winter, and fight on till my journey's through, for at the end, on this I could depend, I'd reunite with you.

Some people fall in love for life, I thought we'd never get it right, love gave its cruelest call. But one thing I did not believe, even in my wildest dreams, you'd be sent back to me!

I hope that you know, I won't let you go, together we're at home.

I'll stay by your side, for all of our lives, until the end of time.

And since I thought in life I'd never see you, my existence was a living hell, but now all is well, I hope you can tell, how much you mean to me.

'Cause you are all I need.

We thought we lost our love for life, but now we finally got it right, love's stronger than death's call, and one thing that I promise you, even to the edge of doom, I'll never let you fall!

THE END