Chapter 44

"Oh my. Pardon my manners. Please, make yourselves at home first."

Mrs Nikos' warm and gentle smile was welcoming after the cold and dread they'd dealt with after leaving the train. The group of tired travellers sat down around the room. Nine people and their dog took up quite a bit of space, not that Mrs Nikos seemed to mind. Her smile never once faded as they claimed their seats. She sat waiting patiently with her tea. Once they were all seated she spoke again.

"So. Introductions."

Pyrrha stood up again with a polite smile. "Alright! So, mom, this is Ruby. Over there is her dad, Taiyan,g and next to him is her uncle, Qrow. Sitting there is our friend Oscar and that's…" she pointed to each of them in turn but paused at Maria. Oh right. We didn't really explain Maria. Ruby realised.

"Maria Calavera! Pleased to meet ya!" The old woman announced with a grin.

"The feeling is mutual, Ms Calavera." Mrs Nikos replied easily.

Pyrrha cleared her throat. "And this is my mother, Helena Nikos!" She said excitedly.

"Hello." Helena greeted them once more. Ruby and her group all greeted her back.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs Nikos. I hate to cut this short but we have some important things to talk about. Things that our friends need to know." Ruby spoke calmly.

Helena scanned her face for a moment, her smile never dropping, before she nodded. "I understand. I'm sure you've had a rough journey so I'll leave you all to it. Rooms have been prepared and dinner will be ready in an hour." She stood, taking her cup with her, and left.

"What's so important?" Jaune asked once the door had closed.

"We used a question," Ruby replied. "I asked what Ozpin was hiding from us and… well it was more than any of us expected."

Ruby swallowed and took a deep breath before launching into as detailed a recounting as she could.

The room was silent for a long while after Ruby finished. It wasn't a lack of questions, but more from too many of them. Ruby knew that feeling well.

"She's… immortal?" Jaune finally croaked out. "We can't even beat her…" He looked to Ruby with pain in his eyes. She knew what he was thinking.

"How does she feel, knowing the creature that caused her team's deaths can't be killed?"

She felt a lot. That was the easiest way to put it.

"We can't kill her. But we can stop her. She's relying on her servants to get things done. As long as we continue to stop them we'll be fine." Ruby replied. "No matter our feelings on Ozpin he was right in one thing. If we can't beat her, then we slow her down. Every generation we get stronger. Look at how we've advanced! An entire profession dedicated to slowing her down. It's wrong that he lied to us, but his work has saved countless lives."

A part of her didn't want to admit it. She wanted to be angry at him, and she was, but he had done a lot to save the majority of people. What was the other option anyway, let Salem do whatever she wanted? No. The lies hurt, especially after everything they'd been through to stop Salem. However, with Huntsmen and technology Atlas had developed they were in a better spot than ever before.

All because of Ozpin eternally fighting. She'd give him the credit he deserved, for his mistakes and successes.

"I've made more mistakes than any man, woman and child on this planet." Ozpin's words came back to the surface. It was so long ago when he said them. In many ways, she found it hard to fault him. He'd done so much in this war against Salem. She mentally sighed. She wasn't going to get anywhere worrying about Ozpin and whether she should hate him or not.

"I won't allow Salem to win. Not while I still draw breath. Even if we can't beat her, someone down the line may figure it out. They'll only get a chance if we continue to fight." Ruby looked each of her allies in their eyes. Slowly they all nodded.

"Then we need to get to Atlas." Ren said.

"There's the base in the bay but…" Pyrrha trailed off.

"We tried to talk to them but they rejected us. They won't transport us." Jaune finished.

Tai hummed. "Maybe I can get somewhere. I'm a licensed Huntsman. Hopefully, they'll want to help."

Ruby nodded. "We can go down tomorrow."

A moment later Ren spoke up again. "When you spoke of the Gods fighting each other, you mentioned the elder brother using some form of light-based attack to kill the Grimm. That sounds familiar to me…" He looked at her.

Ruby swallowed. "Yes. It does… It looked a lot like what I did on the tower."

Maria seemed to focus on the conversation at that. "What do you mean?" She said, leaning over to get closer to Ruby.

"Uh. Well apparently having Silver Eyes means that you can turn Grimm to stone or kill them with a look." Ruby waved it off. She hadn't exactly been able to use it a second time so it was hard to believe.

"You have Silver Eyes!?" Maria looked shocked. "Well, that changes things!"

"Huh?"

"I used to have Silver Eyes as well! Before I lost them in a fight and got these obviously." She tapped her goggles as emphasis. Ruby's eyes widened.

"You… used to have Silver Eyes!?" The whole room turned to face the elderly woman, who seemed to laugh at their surprise.

"I was a well known Huntress in my time you know! They called me The Grim Reaper!" She added a spooky tone to her title. Qrow's eyes widened in shock while Tai suppressed a giggle.

"You're the Grim Reaper!?" Qrow blurted out.

"Wow!" Her father finally let out a laugh, a large smile on his face. "Your idol is a cranky old woman!"

"Idol?" Ruby asked. Qrow glared at his old teammate.

"Yup! Qrow idolised The Grim Reaper. He uses a scythe because she did. Which also means she is the reason you do, Ruby." Tai answered.

"Cranky am I?" Maria asked. Tai froze.

"Uh. I meant lovely." He tried. He really tried. Maria glared for a moment and then burst out laughing. It broke some of the tension and the laughter soon spread through them all.

It wasn't much, but it made them all feel just a little bit better.

"Argus. What a pathetic looking city. They're only successful because of lucky placement." Adam growled.

Ilia stood behind him as they looked out over the city from a nearby hill. They'd snuck into the train and took it all the way into the city but after seeing that Ruby had left the train early, they decided to leave and watch for their arrival.

Well, Adam had decided. Ilia followed. To suggest otherwise would mean her death. She was sure of that now. Whatever Adam had been before, it was gone. The Hero of the White Fang had died with Blake.

All that was left was a vengeful beast.

Adam had a look of feral excitement on his face. He wanted to attack so badly, but he had said they'd wait.

"It would be so much better to attack when they act. When they try to leave we'll crush them! Rip victory from their grasp and watch as despair fills them! That is the only suitable punishment!"

That is what he'd told her. She was frightened. So very frightened. At a moment he could turn and claim her life and she couldn't stop him.

But if she joined forces with his enemy…

I can't let him know my plan yet. Once we attack I can betray him. That's my best chance at making it out alive.

But that was easier said than done.

"Nope!" The guard said, slamming the gate shut.

"W-what?" Ruby stammered. She hadn't expected that as their response to her question.

"Nope!" The guards… twin brother(?) replied. She wasn't sure what the relation was between the two, but they seemed like twins. They reminded her a lot of Dee and Dudley from the train. Maybe they're all siblings. It'd explain how annoying they all are.

"Look Qrow and I are pro Huntsmen. We need to get to Atlas and inform General Ironwood of important information related to the events that occurred at Beacon and, more recently, Haven." Her father tried to explain.

Instead of responding the two marched to the side, allowing a small older woman to walk up to the gate. Despite her short stature, she had the air of an important military officer. She looked between them all with disinterest. Until she laid eyes on Maria.

"You!" She shouted, pointing towards Maria.

"Oh look. It's you." Maria responded.

"You two… know each other?" Ruby asked.

"Yup! That's Cordovin. She doesn't like me very much."

"You broke the law and attempted to bring contraband into Atlas!" Cordovin responded with venom.

"You did what?" Ruby was confused.

"It was just cashews!"

"What?" Ruby deadpanned and quickly checked out of the following argument between the two elders. The moment there was a second of calm she interrupted and brought them onto the reason they were here. "Look! We just need to get to Atlas. We have important information. Ironwood needs to hear about it!"

"The borders are closed! I shall send your request back to Atlas but do note that with the CCT Network down it shall take…" she did some quick maths on her fingers. "About a month! Have a pleasant day!" She said with a sneer. She walked away before Ruby could respond.

"Damn it!" She cursed quietly. "Well. Ideas?" She asked, turning back to her friends. As they walked away her father spoke up.

"I have a couple. If they won't help us, then we need another way across."

"Right. Pyrrha does Argus have any airships we could hire?"

"Sadly no. There are a few but they run trade to other towns and Mistral itself. Travel and trade with Atlas is mostly handled by them. The oceans are dangerous and they have better protection so Mistral leaves it to them."

"Damn." Her father cursed and then sighed. "Our only other option then is… less than legal…" he winced as he spoke.

Dad wouldn't ever suggest something like that unless the situation was dire. Which it is. Damn. He may be right though.

"Which means we need an in…" Ruby trailed off.

"My dad has been called in to consult on their security measures." Pyrrha brought up.

Jaune raised a hand. "My sister's wife works at the CCT Relay as I recall. We could ask them to help out."

"Asking your families to help doesn't sit well with me… but it may be our only hope." Ruby was worried. She didn't want to get others in trouble just to help them.

But it might really be their only chance. If they could break in and steal one of their Manta-class ships they could get to Atlas in no time and even sneak in too. Ruby bit her lower lip and wrestled with the idea for a while. Eventually, she sighed.

"Alright. Stealing a ship is our only chance of getting to Atlas. Let's ask for help. But make sure they know we don't expect it."

The others agreed. This was their best chance.

A loud knock on the door caused Adrien to start crying. Saphron's eyes twitched. She'd just gotten him to be quiet while she started on lunch! Sighing, she picked up her child, who went silent pretty quick, and marched over to the door. She pulled it open. "Yes?" She said, irritated.

"Hey, Saph!" Her little brother said with a smile.

Saphron blinked for a moment in confusion. Once it finally processed through her tired brain she beamed. "Jaune! Oh my god! Come in, come in!" She quickly opened the door all the way and let him in. And his friends. She was surprised to see so many as well! Three whole friends! And two girls!

Oh, I'm so proud Jaune!

After guiding them into the lounge she got some quick introductions done. He'd brought some of his team and a friend. No girlfriend though. She couldn't help but be just a little disappointed. "So it's Ren, Nora and Ruby, right?"

"Yup!" Nora said with a grin.

"So Jaune, what brings you out to Argus! I thought you'd be in Vale. Or home."

"Well… we're trying to get to Atlas at the moment. We've been working as Huntsmen after Beacon fell and well… We have information for the General that he needs to know, but the base won't help us out."

Saphron narrowed her eyes. Adrien giggled as Nora played peek-a-boo with him. "So you already went to the base…"

"Uhhh…" Jaune clamped his mouth shut. Ruby facepalmed.

"So you only came to ask for help." She let out a heavy sigh. "Look Terra might work there but she can't just convince them to do something they can't do!"

"We don't want her to try and convince them." Jaune replied, shaking his hands and head to say no.

"Then what do you want?" Saphron asked, folding her arms. Jaune paused, but his friend Ruby answered

"For her to help us steal a ship."

"Hey, dad…" Pyrrha pushed open the door to his office. Her father was a larger man, and all of it was muscle. Dark brown hair, a big beard and a few scars gave him a rough look, but he was really a big marshmallow. At least to her and her mother. When others met Chrysanthos Nikos they were all intimidated, which he used to his advantage as a security consultant.

"Pyrrha!" His deep voice was filled with happiness at seeing her. "Come in! How can I help?" She walked in, closing the door behind her, and sat down across from him. She always felt a little small when sat near him. He was imposing, even knowing how soft he was with her.

"Well, we need your help. My friends and I, I mean."

"Of course. How can I help you all? I need to repay them for helping keep you safe!" He beamed. He knew she was strong, but he was still a father. Pyrrha swallowed a lump in her throat and squeaked out what they wanted

"Well, ummm… we want to steal a ship from the base."

A/N: Say hello to Pyrrha's parents! Or at least my version of them. Helena and Chrysanthos(Chrys for short) Nikos! I spent about 4 hours trying to figure out good names for them. I obviously wanted to keep to Pyrrha's inspiration of Achillies, so I looked to the Trojan War. Helen of Troy was an obvious choice, and as it means something along the lines of "light" or "bright" it fit the colour naming rule. I added the a because I liked how it sounded, and Helena apparently means something like "shining light". She was simple. The father... not so much. At first, I looked at Helen of Troy's Greek husband but he didn't follow the colour naming rule. Instead, I looked to other Greek heroes and soldiers from that war. Eventually, I found "Chryses", which means golden and was the father of a woman captured by Agamemnon during the Trojan War. I wasn't too much a fan of that name but felt gold would fit, so I had a look for similar names and found Chrysanthos! I liked it and it looks like it means "golden flower". Thus was my journey to find names for two characters that will be around for a couple of chapters! Ya love to see it! At least I can reuse them anytime they show up in other fics. At least until canon gives us names and personalities.

So after that wall of words: The gang pretty much figure out the same stuff, in some cases faster and some slower. Cordovin is still a b*tch. Though no Faunus for her to be racist too. Is that a plus or a minus though? Hmm. Oh, and Ruby is sort of forgiving Ozpin. A little. She understands that as much as it hurts to be lied to, he did his best and they are only alive because of his efforts. That's kind of what I loved about Volume 6. Cordovin, Ozpin and team RWBY and JNR all had good reasons for their actions and thoughts. None of them were wrong. Cordovin did her job, even though she could have been far more accommodating and less racist. Ozpin lied but he had reason to be paranoid and has done so much for everyone. RWBY and JNR are putting their lives on the line and need to get the Relic to safety, even if it means breaking the law.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed and I'll see you all next time!