Here we are at Chapter 118. Time to see how our two groups handle their current problems, while one of them gets a surprise visitor. I do not own RWBY or Tales of Berseria. They belong to their respective owners. I only own my OCs. Here's chapter 118. Enjoy.


Chapter 118: Answer from the Past

In the tundra, beyond Mantle and Atlas, things are not looking so good. Yang, Jaune, and Ren gives chase on the Hound Grimm as it flies away with the unconscious Oscar. The Hound looks back at its pursuers and banks left, with the group following its path. They follow it through the cold as it begins flying through a valley in the middle of some mountains.

"We can't let it get away. If we lose it in these mountains, then we lose Oscar too!" Jaune yells.

"Why would this thing want Oscar? Grimm have never taken prisoners before!" Yang says.

"I don't know, but best we don't let Oscar stay that way," Ren says, but then his hover-cycle starts shorting out a bit. He checks his monitor, and it shows that a part of the engine is starting to lose power due to the cold temperatures outside the city. "We'd better hurry. I don't know how long our bikes will hold up to the cold!"

"Well, Pietro did say that these things were basically prototypes. Wish they were the finished models that could stand the cold. It would be really nice if one of us could fly right now," Yang notes.

They move around some rock formations as they keep pace with the Grimm, but that won't last at this rate.

However, Jaune gets an idea, "Wait, that's it!" he opens up his shield and pulls back to be next to Ren. "Ren, I got an idea. I'm going to shoot you up there,"

Ren nods and takes out his pistols before he jumps off his bike and lands on Jaune's shield. Jaune then blasts Ren up into the air behind the Hound. Ren fires off one of his pistol blades, and it manages to wrap around the Hound's leg. The Hound tries to fly away, but the extra wait from Ren actually slows him down.

Yang and Jaune high-five each other, "Nice thinking, Jaune!" Yang cheers, though Jaune almost loses control of his bike. However, the Hound tries to shake Ren off by flying around and smashing him into the rocks or the sides of the valley. "Okay, maybe not so nice thinking,"

"Ren, you're slowing it down. You've just gotta hold on until we can bring that thing down!" Jaune calls out.

Ren runs along the side of the valley, "Like I really have a choice here!" he hangs on for dear life.

Ren looks down and fires off his other pistol blade to wrap around a stray rock. The extra weight slows down the Hound even more, allowing Yang and Jaune to get closer to it. Seeing its new problem, the Hound flies higher and maneuvers around, shaking Ren around until he loses the rock, allowing it to gain more speed. Seeing that things aren't working so well, Yang notices a rocky ramp up ahead and rides along it onto a higher level. She ends up right next to the Hound and tries to shoot it down with a few shots from her weapons. Seeing as how its enemies were gaining ground, the Hound decides to change the rules of this little game of tag. It releases Oscar into its claws and flies forth. It then sends out an ominous roar across the valley. A moment later, a swarm of Centinels and Teraptors appear out of nowhere all around the valley.

"Did that thing just call for backup?!" Yang is seriously creeped out.

"You gotta be kidding me!" Jaune notes as he slices the head off of one Centinel. "Just how smart is this thing?!"

"Come on, we can't let that stop us. If that thing gets away, then Salem will have both the Relic and Oscar!" Yang says.

While Yang does her best to evade the dive attacks from the Teraptors, Jaune has to deal with any Centinel that comes too close to him. However, as they move through the Grimm, one Centinel fires off an acid attack from its mouth and manages to hit Jaune's engine, damaging it.

"Oh, come on!" Jaune worries.

"Jaune, up here!" Yang calls out from above him.

Jaune looks back as a pair of Centinels make a spinning charge at him. He kicks off of his hover-bike, using his shield to bounce off of another Centinel, and then Yang catches him just as he's about to land and swings him around onto her bike. Meanwhile, Ren focuses back on the Hound and Oscar and starts climbing along his line to get closer. Yang and Jaune try to catch up, but more Grimm are in their way. Yang puts her riding skills on display as she weaves through the Grimm, only for a Teraptor to land right in front of them. Jaune throws his portable shield in front of them, and it lands next to a rock before coming on. Yang uses it as a ramp to fly over the Teraptor. They land while taking out a few more Centinels, but Yang's hover-bike hits a rock and gets damaged. They managed to make it past all of the Grimm and sigh with relief, however...

Jaune looks ahead, "Yang!" he points ahead.

Yang looks ahead and they both gasp when they see that their ride is over. Because at the end of the valley is a cliff with a long drop. Yang tries to stop her ride, but it goes out of control. They end up falling over the cliff as Jaune tries to stop themselves with his sword in the ground, to no avail. Just as they thought they were going to fall to their deaths, Ren appears and fires off his pistol blades again, with one wrapping around Jaune's sword and the other around one of Jaune's legs. Their fall stops, but then they see a Teraptor flying right towards them. Luckily, Ren uses his semblance to mask their emotions and presence, causing the Grimm to fly off at the last second as it and the rest of the Grimm leave the area. However, though they are safe, Ren looks on as the Hound flies away towards the Whale Grimm with Oscar still in its clutches. They failed in their mission to save him.

"Oscar... no," Ren mutters.

Meanwhile, off in the distance, the woman in the red and white dress watches them from afar.

"It seems I may need to intervene again..."

Meanwhile, back in Atlas, Velvet's group arrive at Weiss' old home, with Blake carrying Nora, and Ruby carrying her hammer while the rest have their weapons out.

"Are you sure about this? Won't someone tip off the military that we're hear?" Velvet asks as she looks around.

Weiss smiles back, "Don't worry, No one here will do that. Besides, I think they're too scared of you to try," she then knocks on the front door.

A moment later, Whitley opens the door, and is immediately displeased to see them, "Oh, it's you again. You picked a fine time to-," he quickly shuts up when Velvet aims her sword at his face.

"One more word, and you're going through EVERY window in this place. Move. NOW," Velvet orders him, to which he does, and they all walk inside.

Whitley groans, "Things are already bad enough after what you and your friends did to Father. Now you want us to harbor fugitives as well?"

"Your father helped a dangerous criminal tear Atlas and Mantle apart, and helped him orchestrate the deaths of innocent people, all the while so he could steal an election. Your father is hardly what I'd call an innocent victim. Not after what he's done," Velvet retorts.

"Look, I'm just saying that our family has a reputation to uphold," Whitley crosses his arms.

"Your reputation? Is that the only thing you care about? Not the thousands of innocent people that are in danger, or the giant Grimm horde that's practically right outside your front door? Honestly, can someone be this stupid," Velvet rolls her eyes.

"Look, we already lost the house staff, and Mother locked herself in her room, again. I'm just trying to maintain what honor and dignity our family has left," Whitley says.

Velvet is about to strangle him, but Weiss holds a hand out to stop her rampage, "Look, Whitley, maybe you haven't realized yet, but we have more important issues to deal with. Namely, trying to save Atlas," Weiss turns to her brother.

Ruby steps in to keep the peace, "Look, we just need a place to lay low while our friend gets better for a little bit, and then we'll leave and be out of your hair. Please..."

Seeing as how they weren't going to listen, Whitley concedes with a sigh, "Fine. Then what exactly am I supposed to do until then?"

Weiss points up the stairs, "Go to your room," she tells him, and he leaves with another sigh.

"Okay, let's take Nora somewhere we can treat her injuries," Blake takes Nora as she, May, and Weiss walk up the stairs to another room.

Velvet turns to see Ruby looking out the open front door.

She walks up and wraps an arm around her waist, "Hey, you okay?"

Ruby sighs and leans her head on her shoulder, "I'm worried about the others. I hope they're okay," she looks out into the sky.

Velvet kiss her head, "I'm sure they're okay. We just have to believe it to be so. When we see them again, we can mend things out and all work together again,"

Ruby just stares outside, "I hope so..."

Back with Yang, Jaune, and Ren, the trio walk through the tundra, trying to find shelter while Jaune pushes the damaged hover-cycle with them.

Yang checks her scroll, showing their aura levels dropping, "We need to get out of this cold before it depletes our auras completely. Ren, how much further was that outpost you saw?"

Ren clenches his fists, "I don't know," his irritation is clear to see.

Yang walks up to be right beside him, "You said you saw it while you were in the air, didn't you?"

"I did, before I had to let the Grimm get away in order to help you guys," Ren says, his anger growing.

Yang notices this, "Okay, is there something you want to get off your chest, because it sure sounds like it,"

Ren shakes his head, "No, I wouldn't want to waste any more time," he walks on ahead.

Yang stops, "Okay, what's your problem?" she runs up and stops him.

"It's not your problem," Ren retorts.

"Well, excuse me for being concerned for you after things went a little bad for us," Yang argues.

"A little bad? They've completely fallen apart!" Ren says.

"Look, sometimes things don't go your way. That's part of being a hunstman," Yang says.

"Guys-," Jaune tries to stop them.

"We were never ready to be huntsmen!" Ren doesn't listen.

"Hello? We saved Haven from Salem's forces, we took down a Leviathan, we got the Relic to Atlas-," Yang begins.

"And then we lost the Relic, along with Oscar, and we have no plan to boot," Ren stops her.

"We have the Winter Maiden!" Yang yells.

Ren walks in the direction of Atlas, "And because of that, we can't let Ironwood open the vault to the relic, and now the city is just floating there, right where Salem wants it. People are going to DIE, because of us,"

"So what? We should just give up, just like that? After everything we've been through? You think Atlas is going to be able to just fly away now that Salem is here?" Yang argues.

"Guys, that's enough," Jaune tries to stop them again.

Ren turns back to her, "I don't know! But, these are not the decisions people like us should be making. We are way in over our heads here. We made decisions that were not ours to make,"

"Guys, that's enough already," Jaune says.

"Look, I'm just saying what no one else wants to. Ruby's barely older than a kid, I'm just an orphan from the middle of nowhere-," Ren gets in Yang's face.

"Ren, that-," Jaune begins.

"You cheated your way into Beacon!" Ren yells out as he turns to him, shocking them all, including himself before he looks away in guilt for what he just said.

Jaune glances away in silent hurt/anger at that.

Just then, "I think that's enough," they hear and look over to see a familiar woman with long white hair in a red and white dress appear. "Fighting out here in the cold solves nothing,"

It's the woman they met back at the cliffs in Argus.

"You're... the girl from before. Who helped Blake and I against Adam Taurus," Yang realizes.

"But, how are you here now? And for that matter, what are you doing out here?" Ren asks.

"That doesn't mater. What does matter is getting you all out of the cold so you can rest and finish what you started. This is no time for any of you to be giving up. Now then," she hands them three blue cards, and they feel the warmth from them. "These cards will help keep you warm from the cold. It would be best to get to that outpost before it gets dark though. Come, follow me," the woman begins walking ahead.

"Wait... Who... Just who are you?" Jaune asks.

She glances back, "You may call me Lailah,"

Back in Atlas, Velvet and Weiss finish tending to Nora's injuries in her room, and have her rest in Weiss' bed as she's wrapped in bandages all around her body.

"So, now what?" Velvet wonders.

Weiss sighs, "I... I don't know. We've done all we can for right now. Hopefully, with enough rest, she'll heal on her own with her aura. But..." Weiss stares at Nora, "She really pushed herself too far this time. Her semblance lets her draw strength from electricity, but there's only so much her body can take before she overloads. Which nearly happened here. Hopefully, Penny and the others will be able to send out our message to everyone, and then hopefully people will come. I just hope they come,"

Velvet puts a hand on her shoulder, "They will. We have to believe they will. At the very least, they'll know about Salem and have time to prepare. We didn't back at Beacon, and it costed us dearly..." her thoughts drift to her old friend Pyrrha.

With that being said, Velvet takes her leave and starts walking around the manor. With the staff gone, she doesn't have to worry about anyone spying on her, or getting in her way. She walks by all the expensive collectibles and the doors and decides to check a few rooms out since she didn't get the chance last time (she was busy scaring the crap out of Whitley and making Jacques miserable). She opens up one room, thinking it was empty. She was wrong.

"Haven't you ever heard of knocking?" she looks to see Willow Schnee sitting in front of a window overlooking the kingdom, and the Grimm horde outside the barrier. "I'd tell you that I'd want to be left alone, but something tells me that you wouldn't listen anyway," she drinks her glass, again.

Velvet narrows her eyes, "Sorry, I have this thing about not listening to drunks," she walks inside after closing the door. "So, locked yourself in your room again after outing your bastard of a husband. From what Weiss told me about you and him, I'd figured you'd be overjoyed at him getting arrested," she stands in front of a second window and crosses her arms.

Willow sighs, "I should be, but right now, with everything falling apart, it really doesn't seem to matter. I guess Weiss told you me then,"

"Only the parts where you hid cameras in every room in the manor, and all the times you'd rather be stuck in here, having your next drink, rather than trying to help your children," Velvet notes.

"Didn't your mother ever teach you anything about respect?" Willow retorts.

"No, she didn't... She died when I was very little," Velvet stares out the window while Willow looks on in shock. "As did my father. I never really knew them. I was raised along with my younger brother, Laphicet, by our older sister, Celica, and... her husband. She taught me many things, they both did. But, I think Celica knew she could never fully replace our mother. I don't think anyone can replace the role of a mother. I care about Weiss, and I believe that you do, too. You are Weiss' mother... So, start acting like one," Velvet tells her and then leaves the room, leaving Willow to ponder on her words.

Back with Yang's group, they all make it to the outpost, and with Lailah's help, Jaune manages to get the heater inside the outpost to work so they won't freeze to death.

"Thanks for your help... Lailah," Jaune says, to which Lailah only nods in reply. Jaune then looks back to Ren, who watches the outside through a window. Jaune sighs, "You're right, Ren. I did cheat my way into Beacon. And I'm glad I had good friends nearby to show me that I was bigger than that mistake. I tried pushing people away too, but I learned that I was wrong. If you try to push people away, Ren, then you'll always be alone. And alone isn't good... for any of us," Jaune stands next to him.

Ren looks away, but then Yang walks inside, carrying a part, "Hey, I found a part to fix the hover-bike. So... yay," Yang says, lacking any enthusiasm. She then looks at Ren. "Ren, Jaune may have faked his way into Beacon, but he's worked really hard to get this far. As far as I'm concerned, him getting into Beacon was no mistake."

Ren is about to leave, but Lailah stands in his way, "Walking away and being alone won't solve anything, Ren,"

"You don't even know me," Ren retorts.

"I know that you are lost. I also know that you are worried about the others, about your friends... about Nora," Lailah says.

Now Ren is confused, "How... do you know her name?"

Lailah looks at all them, "You all have been through so much. You have all come so far, and went through many hardships. But, that is precisely why you can't give up. Still, to see how hurt all are right now; I can't help but think if only I could've done more. In the end, the only thing I can do is say... I'm sorry,"

It was not just the words, but the exact way she said them, that got the trio looking at her weirdly. It also scared them a bit, but it also drew one more question.

Jaune steps forth, "How do you know all about us? Who are you?"

Lailah smiles, "I'm glad to see how far you've progressed... Jaune," and flames flow around her body.

It was only for a quick moment, but they all widen their eyes when they see the girl's appearance change from her current look to someone else's... Someone they thought had died long ago.

Jaune is shocked most of all, "...Pyrrha?"


And that's the chapter Velvet's group find shelter at Weiss' old home. Meanwhile, Yang's group lose Oscar, only to find Lailah standing before them, who turns out to be their long dead friend, Pyrrha Nikos. How will Yang's group take this new development? Until then, please Read and Review.