Chapter 58
It had been a couple of years since Salem's defeat when one Ghira Belladonna heard a knock on his door. Unable to contain his curiosity, he went and opened the door, blinking as he took in the woman before him. She was a human woman with violet hair and blue eyes, dressed in a dark magenta business suit, and carried a tape recorder with her
"Can I help you with something?" he couldn't help but ask.
The mystery woman simply cleared her throat before nodding. "Yeah, hi, my name is Nebula Violette and I'd like to interview Team RWBY and company."
Ghira gave the woman a flat look. "You aren't the first journalist to show up at my doorstep hoping to make a quick buck off my daughter and/or her friends."
"I know all about those reporters that have shown up here," Nebula declared, "but I assure you, I just want to get their side of the story...and if they want, I won't even publish anything that they tell me. Just hearing what they have to say will be enough."
"Wait, what?"
The woman in front of her took a deep breath before giving her reply. "Those people, those kids, have been through so much," Nebula called out, a few tears leaking from her eyes as she did. "The least that anyone owes them after everything they've done is to help them vent any undue stress that they might be bottling up."
"... you really do want to help them, don't you?" Ghira asked.
"Yes, sir." Nebula promised. "I do."
The chieftain smiled. "Elsa?"
Nebula backed away in shock as a flicker of blue light suddenly appeared before them. The light took shape as a chill ran down their spines. "Greetings." The Winter Maiden bowed in respect. "How may I help you, General Belladonna?"
"This girl claims she wants to meet my daughter and her friends." Ghira explained. "Can you tell me if she's on the level?"
"I can sense that her intentions are true and just, sir." Elsa replied. "Would you like to know what she is afraid of?"
"No thank you, Elsa." Ghira chuckled.
"It's currently me." She answered, anyway.
"I'm coming with you," a new voice declared.
Ghira blinked before turning to look at a young woman with dark blonde hair in a green dress approached him. "Dew? What are you…?"
"Like I said, I'm going with Nebula for this interview," the newly identified Dew Greene replied. "It's possible that Team RWBY and company would be more receptive of Nebula's interview if they knew that one of Ghira Belladona's trusted lieutenants had given her permission to be there."
"Very well: I'll allow it. Just be careful: even after all this time, those kids have a knack for attracting trouble," Ghira said with a teasing grin.
"I'll keep that in mind." Dew said with a grin of her own.
Ghira just sighed as he watched the pair drive away in a nearby Warthog. "Thanks again for the assistance, Elsa," Menagerie's chief declared.
"Think nothing of it, Chieftain Ghira," the Winter Maiden said with a grin. "After all, it has always been my pride and pleasure to assist the residents of Menagerie, and while the residents themselves have changed, my mission has not."
"So, you wanted to talk with us?" Ruby couldn't help but ask the duo sometime later.
Nebula nodded as Dew sat in a corner observing everything. "Now that everything has quieted down, there are no doubt numerous people, myself included, who'd like to know what your life has been like up until this point."
"Sweet!" Yang called out. "If this goes well, we might even get our own web series!"
Nebula couldn't help but smile in reply even as she looked upon the group of heroes before her. "Let's start the interview with something simple: what happened back on Menagerie?"
"Before or after we turned on the Temple of Procreation?" Yang asked. "Because if it's after, this is gonna get real NSFW."
"I don't understand."
"Well, there's this temple on Menagerie, right?" Yang explained. "And when you activate it, it makes you-"
"WE SAID WE WOULDN'T TALK ABOUT THAT!" Team JNPR shouted in unison, unable to look each other in the eye.
"Well, long story short, it was like an island-wide aphrodisiac!" Raven continued, unable to hide her smirk as she remembered her time with Taiyang. "Things got real Bohemian. Hm-hm."
"Can - ugh - can we please just change the subject?" Jaune pleaded, still not looking up.
"Oh, they're just grumpy because they got locked in a dark closet during the whole thing." Ruby said.
"I don't get what the big deal was." Coco shrugged. "My team felt perfectly normal."
"Surprising no one." Weiss muttered with a roll of her eyes.
"The subject!" Ren snapped. "Change it!"
"Uh, right," Nebula declared with a light blush. "Maybe that question was a bit too broad. Let's try this instead: what have you been up to since Menagerie's liberation?"
"Lot's of bullshit." Ren groaned.
"But my parents were kind enough to set us up in these cabins." Blake explained. "They said it was a 'thank you' for what we did."
"I mean, no more mercenaries? No more fighting for our lives?! Hell yeah, I was onboard!" Ren exclaimed, happily.
"Yeah." Yang rolled her eyes. "Some of us adjusted to retirement, easily."
"Don't hate the player." Ren shrugged.
"Raven got hopelessly depressed after not dying, heroically, in the final battle with Salem." Pyrrha pointed out.
"What?! That is a lie!" Raven snapped.
"But, you said-"
"I am hopelessly depressed after not dying, heroically, in the final battle with Salem!" Raven exclaimed in front of Team RWBY a few months ago. "We need a new enemy! Something to fight!" Just then, Team RWBY walked away, unwilling to deal with her nonsense. "Where are you all going?"
"Ever since Vernal took over the Branwen tribe, mom's been looking for a 'worthy opponent.'" Yang sighed.
"Well, excuse me, for wanting to stay in shape!" The elder huntress snapped.
"Of course, Raven wasn't the only one having trouble adjusting to retirement." Qrow added, prompting the group to glance at Winter.
"What?!"
"Luckily, we found her a tutor." Weiss explained, patting Ren on the back.
"Indeed," Ren said with a grin.
Ten months ago, Winter found Ren meditating underneath a tree. At the behest of her friends and family, Winter had been ordered to give the quiet life a day in court by spending the day with the most calm member of the group. "Help me, Ren." She pleaded. "Help me be the best at being lazy."
"You're not ready, padawan." He replied.
"I can try!"
"No… there is no 'try.'"
"That did not happen!" Winter called out with an angry blush.
"Well, alright, I might have embellished things a little bit," Ren said with an embarrassed shrug. "But you have to admit that you've been doing a lot better with containing your bouts of impatience and pride ever since you started hanging out with us."
"Well, I mean, I guess that's true." Winter said with a shrug before she took a knife out of her pocket and looked at it with a reserved sigh. "I just wish that Maria could have been here to enjoy the peace with me."
Ruby placed a comforting hand on her girlfriend's sister's arm. "If she's everything that you say that she was, then I know that she'd have forgiven you after everything was said and done...and that she'd be proud of how things turned out."
Winter just smiled in reply. "You truly are a worthy successor to the title of 'Grimm Reaper', Ruby Rose."
"Speaking of successors, Weiss, Winter, any chance that either of you are aware of what will happen with the SDC?" Nebula couldn't help but ask. "After all, even with Jacques Schnee's crimes, it's rumored to still be worth quite a bit of money, considering how much influence it had regarding the Dust Trade alone."
"Actually, Winter and I have officially shut down the SDC and distributed it's wealth and resources amongst the other businesses invested in the Dust Trade," Weiss declared. "The two of us still have a bit of influence here and there due to our past, but after everything we've seen, neither of us felt comfortable inheriting a company that was drowning in so much blood and misery. Between that and how Whitley was too much like our father and we didn't want to risk him pulling any gambits if we could help it."
"Oh, wait, that's right: you have a brother," Ruby remarked. "Whatever happened to him, anyways?"
"Don't worry too much, you dolt." Weiss said with a smile. "He won't be a problem."
"Let's shift the focus back to you." Nebula cut in. "How is life on this isle?"
"Well, it turns out this isle wasn't completely uninhabited when we moved here." Blake sighed.
Team JNPR found themselves running for their lives from a giant Grimm shortly after settling in at their cabin.
"AAAAAH, RUN!" Pyrrha screamed.
"I can't die as breakfast!" Nora cried. "Oh, the irony!"
"And while everyone debated whether or not 'dying as breakfast' was ironic, Ruby made friends with the Grimm." Jaune explained.
"Because of course she did." Ren huffed.
"AAAW, who's a good boy?! You are a good boy!"
"Ruby, get off of that thing!" Yang scolded.
"Tell him to fight me!" Raven demanded.
"Yeah, after Salem died, most of the Grimm became pretty docile." Ruby explained. "Now, they don't deliberately attack anyone unless provoked."
"It probably also helped that Jasmine, Alex, and Holly have been using their influence in the Doppelganger Resistance...well, Doppelganger Council now to ensure that the Grimm that had been under Salem's control would be taken care of," Blake declared with a sense of pride.
"That reminds me," Nebula remarked. "From what I understand, Jasmine, Alex, and the Doppelganger resistance were supposedly the only benevolent Grimm prior to Salem's defeat."
"Excuse me?" Holly asked with a glare.
"Uh, well, you are half-human, so I'm not sure if you counted." Nebula said with a nervous chuckle. "Eh, regardless, that means that there were likely a few Doppelgangers who might have still been willing to cause trouble: any news on what happened to them?"
"Yeah, a few of them have been causing trouble, but we took care of them." Ruby said with a grin.
"The darkness is my master!" A disturbed doppelganger shouted as he stood over a would-be victim. "You humans shall never integrate with my kind! If I have to personally slaughter each and every one of you miserable-!"
The villain was cut off by a blast of ice dust going in between his eyes, causing him to crumble to dust. Ruby cocked Crescent Rose and turned towards the doppelganger's accomplices. "Anyone else?"
Needless to say, the other doppelgangers dropped their weapons and surrendered.
Winter could only chuckle as Nebula and Dew starred at Ruby with wide eyes after the story had concluded. "Like I said, she's definitely earned the title of 'Grimm Reaper'."
"I'll say," Dew declared. "Makes me wonder what other crazy adventures you've been on." She then winced as she looked towards Nebula. "Sorry, I didn't mean…"
"No, it's fine: just because I'm giving an interview here doesn't mean that you can't ask your own questions," she declared with an easy-going grin, before looking towards the group with a raised eyebrow. "Especially seeing how she raises a good point: what else have you been up to lately?"
"Well, there was the time we ran out of pancake mix, so someone got impatient waiting for our next supply run and decided to go around eating wild plants!" Pyrrha noted with an exasperated look as she looked towards a certain hammer wielding girl.
Nora found a patch of glowing mushrooms a few yards away from the cabin. "Oooh, hey there, sexy…" She remarked, licking her lips.
"Oh, and as it turns out; the mushrooms on this island are basically crystal-meth on crystal-meth!"
Nora was running around the entire island at hyper-speed, startling everyone she ran past while muttering unintelligible nonsense. "Hi!Ho!Hey!How'sitgoing?!I'mdoingjustfine!AtesomemushroomsandnowI'mrunning!Okay,seeya,bye!"
"Well, at least I didn't waste an entire summer trying to learn Fijan!" Nora snipped.
Pyrrha sighed. "I thought 'Fijan' was French for 'French.'"
"No, 'Français' is French for 'French'," Ciel declared with a flat expression. "'Fijan' is the language they use in Fiji."
"How many times can I say 'My bad'?" Pyrrha said with a groan.
"I don't know, but I think you've just about broken the world record," Ilia declared, only to frown. "That...that admittedly was a bit funnier in my head."
Blake simply patted her old friend on the back. "It's okay: no harm done."
"Yeah, not everyone can be pun-ctual when it comes to humor like I can," Yang said with a grin, much to the displeasure of all her companion's displeasure.
"Let's just move on," Dew declared with a groan.
"Indeed," Nebula remarked with a dry nod before clearing her throat. "So, I've noticed that Ciel Soleil is the only member of Team CPPR among you. Where are Svetlana Crimsonoff and Jean Purple?"
"Svetlana and Mikhail went back to rebuild Rushland with the money General Ironwood left them." Ruby went on. "And she made investments with a good portion of it, so now, they're technically billionaires, but most of what they make goes to charities and rebuilding purposes. They also hired Dr. Oobleck and Jean. Ciel went back to Atlas; apparently Ironwood left it in his will that she was supposed to take his place as leader of the Atlesian Military if she wanted it. We let them stay here for a while but… our cultural differences caused some… issues."
Two days after settling into their new homes, Ruby was awakened by a horrifying wailing noise coming from another room. She quietly slipped on her slippers, trying not to wake up Weiss, who was sleeping next to her. But it turned out to be for naught, as another wail made the former heiress bolt upright, immediately. Ruby stifled a laugh at her girlfriend's bedhead as the two followed the source of the noise. But as they got closer to the noise, Yang and Blake quickly pulled them to the side.
"Sorry, but you just walked into a security operation." Yang whispered. "We think a Grimm got into Svetlana's room. We're about to take it by surprise. On my signal… now!"
Yang and Blake broke the door down, startling their friends and silencing the noise. "What are you doing?" Svetlana asked as she and her husband adjusted their robes to ensure that they were decently dressed.
"We heard screaming." Blake replied, lowering her weapon.
"You heard singing!" Svetlana corrected, irritably.
"That was you?!" Weiss gaped.
"Yes." Mikhail nodded, proudly. "Why is this surprising? A true patriot sings loudly. And often. 'Glory to Rushland, Glinting in the Distance!' A hymn to the motherland. You wouldn't know it."
"It started as a poem written by the original Rushland's founder, and then evolved into our national anthem." Svetlana elaborated. "It's considered sacrilegious to be sung or spoken in any language other than the mother tongue."
"That's what the Rushian language sounds like?" Ruby scratched her head. "I didn't expect it to sound so…"
"Beautiful?"
"Terrifying."
"Ah, that would be the accent." Svetlana nodded. "And the volume. And the gusto. The ballads are much more intense."
"We still keep in touch with her." Ruby held up a postcard from Rushland with a picture of Svetlana, Mikhail, and a young robin faunus girl in a blue dress. "In fact, just last month, we heard that she and Mikhail were finally able to adopt a girl into their family. Her name is Cyan Robyn."
"Holly actually met her a while back," Blake said with a smile. "The two of them quickly became great friends...which isn't too surprising, now that I think of it, seeing how my wife and Svetlana have been jokingly called 'Remnant's Finest' by various people within the huntress community."
"Yeah, and even putting that to the side, Holly's been making leaps and bounds in establishing connections between the kingdoms." Yang declared with a hint of pride in her voice. "But then, just a little while ago, my daughter had to go and drop a major bombshell on us all!"
Despite being only five years old, chronologically, Holly Xaio Long was biologically a young adult - appearing almost as old as her mother - thanks to her doppelganger genes. As such, she had gotten a job, attended college, and pursued a career in professional women's boxing before she made a visit to her parents' new home. Holly nervously sat down in front of Yang and Blake in the living room as she took a deep breath.
"Mom, Dad… I love you both so much, and I appreciate how much you've supported me. So I hope you'll still love me when I tell you this… I'm straight!"
Yang and Blake gave an overly-dramatic gasp of shock… only for the three of them to burst out laughing at their silly game. "Okay, so what's his name?" Yang wiped a tear from her eye while still laughing.
"His name is Roman Hill...and before you ask, yes, he is related to Robyn Hill of Mantle. Her nephew, in fact. We sort of met during a political meeting and we just sort of...connected," Holly said with a blush.
"And he doesn't mind that you're half-Grimm?" Blake asked with a raised eyebrow.
"No more than he does how the media might have some issues with how the nephew of a politician is going out with the granddaughter of the infamous Raven Branwen," Holly said with a slight grin. "Even said that it makes sense that I have a bit of Bandit in my blood, as I stole his heart."
Yang snorted. "Cheesy pick up line, but decent pun. I could see myself liking him already."
"You would," Blake said with a good natured roll of her eyes. "Still, while this would make relations between Menagerie, Mantle, the Dopplegangers, and possibly even the Branwen Tribe run more smoothly, I want you to be certain that you aren't just going out with him as a publicity stunt."
"I'd never do that to Roman!" Holly declared, shocked that her father would even think such a thing. "Even if we've only known each other for a short time, I know that I love him too much to pull a dirty trick like that."
Blake just smiled. "Just wanted to be sure. I'll need to meet him for myself before I decide anything, but for now, I won't try and stop you two from hanging out."
"Having actually met him a while back, I can firmly say that that man is welcome in our household whenever he wants so long as he remains on his best behavior." Blake said with a grin.
"I can see that the two of you have raised a fine daughter," Nebula declared, before frowning. "However, there's something I need to know: regarding Barmak…"
"That thing was not my father," Holly growled out, before taking a cleansing breath. "But for all his scheming, he was right about one thing: my birth was a signal to all of Remnant that change was on the horizon. After all, while I might have the essence of the Grimm Doppelgangers flowing through my veins, I am human by instinct. It is only natural that I use my unique position to end the war between the people that make up both sides of my biology."
"There's something else I'm wondering about," Nebula declared, looking upon the cat ears on Holly's head. "How was it that you…?"
"Honestly, I'm not completely sure myself," Holly said with a shrug before pulling Blake in for a hug. "I just know that while biologically I'm of Barmak's essence, Blake Belladonna is my Dad regardless of that fact, and that is something I was sure of even back then."
"Dad?'" Dew asked, confused. "But isn't-? I mean, isn't Blake-?"
"Just-just go with it." Weiss sighed.
"Yeah, with all the other craziness that we've been through, Holly referring to Blake as her Dad is actually normal in comparison," Ruby said with a teasing grin.
"You're never going to let me live that down, are you?" Weiss groaned out.
"Nope!" Ruby snickered.
"What are they talking about?" Dew couldn't help but ask.
"Let's just say that this isn't the first time that this topic of conversation has come up." Yang said with a snort.
"Anyways, and getting back on topic, there's also the time that we found the Relic of Knowledge." Ciel added. "I have it safely tucked away in Atlas where no one can abuse it."
"The Relic of Knowledge?" Nebula asked, sounding impressed.
"It's a mystic artifact forged by the God of Light." Pyrrha explained. "It summons an all-knowing deity who can answer three questions every one hundred years. Ask it anything and you'll get an answer."
Nebula looked slightly less impressed. "... so, it's a search engine?"
"A sentient search engine!" Jaune corrected.
"In the shape of a lamp!" Ren added, as if that made it better.
"A lamp that runs on magic!" Nora added, enthusiastically. "A magic lamp!"
"You all realize you're making it sound progressively less profound, right?" Dew cut in.
"Oh, maybe we should tell her about how we started a band a while back," Ruby called out. "We'd be world-famous by now if we could just settle on a name."
"Red Zeppelin!" Ruby suggested.
"No, Pink Llyod!" Nora insisted.
"Uh, the Grateful Red?" Pyrrha chimed in.
"Hey, girls." Winter strode into the basement with a coy smile on her lips. "Qrow tells me you're all trying to start a band. Need a singer?"
"Yeah, sure." Ruby shrugged. "Can you sing, though?"
"Can I sing?" WInter boasted confidently.
"... Winter can sing." Yang remarked through a forced smile. "So good."
"Thank you." Winter nodded.
"Oh, and we're definitely not just saying that because she could kill us." Pyrrha added, nervously.
"So… good." Jaune put in.
Qrow then cleared his throat. "Getting back on track, there was also the time where we all decided that if everyone on the island was going to get along, we needed to establish a form of government."
"I vote anarchy." Ren decided.
"Ugh, you can't vote anarchy, you dumbass!" Pyrrha groaned.
"Monarchy!" Yang pumped her fist, activating Dragon Fang. "Whoever wields the magic sword!"
"Tribal leadership!" Raven announced.
"Military hierarchy." Winter replied.
"Oh!" Ruby raised her hand. "How about malarky?!"
"Ruby, that's not a type of government." Pyrrha corrected. "It just means meaningless talk and nonsense."
There was a long silence.
"Malarky won." Qrow chortled.
"Well, more accurately, we ended up establishing a Council between the various people living on the island whom would discuss various issues to try and help establish a working relationship between them, but yeah: Ruby's suggestion made us realize that fighting over the style of leadership is what got the war on Menagerie started in the first place, so having us work together was the best way to avoid it happening again." Winter said with a shrug. "So yeah: a lot has happened since the battle with Salem."
"And what exactly happened before the final battle with Salem?"
Winter sighed as she noticed her friends' saddened expressions. "That's… not an easy subject. We lost a good friend."
"I miss Penny." Ruby whispered, sadly.
"You mean the memory fragment of the Summer Maiden?"
"No!" Yang snapped. "She means Penny!"
"Easy, my Dragon," Blake declared with a soothing voice. "She didn't mean anything by it."
"Indeed," Ilia remarked as she and Blake both planted a kiss on the blonde brawler's cheeks before giving a smirk. "Save that energy for later."
"Penny and I used to talk like that," Ruby declared, much to everyone's everyone's concern and embarrassment.
"It's okay, geliebte," Weiss remarked, giving her a kiss for good measure. "I'm here for you if you need it."
Ruby gave a light smile at that. "I'm sorry: I don't mean to make you jealous of a dead woman."
"No need to apologize, and besides…" Weiss declared as she gained a grin that was more reminiscent of Penelope's, "...I've picked up a few tricks from our...nightly encounters if you feel the need to...reminisce."
"Ugh, guys, I'm standing right here!" Holly called out in embarrassment. She loved her family very deeply, including Ilia, her new Aunt, but she could do without all the bedroom talk.
"Ah, that's right." Nebula declared, hoping to get the conversation back on track. "You were there when Salem fell as well: how'd that end up going?"
"Oh, man, it was epic!" Yang exclaimed, happily. "My daughter and sister were a freaking dynamic duo! Ruby used her Silver Eyes to cripple her ass while she used the Meta's suit to help Holly finish her off! Not that she needed to, anyway. Turns out the Great Prophecy wasn't bullshit! Holly was throwing out divine powers you couldn't even imagine! I mean, if anyone knew us, and they'd been following us for a while, they definitely wouldn't have wanted to miss that!"
Nebula could only blink. "I suddenly feel a bit of unease, yet I don't know why…"
"Meh, you're probably just picking up on how the readers are feeling a bit robbed right about now." Nora readily replied.
"Excuse me, what?"
Ren shook his head in exasperation at their interviewer's question. "Yeah, she does that from time to time."
"Uh, right," Nebula said with a slight frown before clearing her throat. "One last thing, before I finish things off: you mentioned earlier that the majority of you were enjoying your time off, but have you ever considered getting back into the frey at some point?"
"I know I sure haven't," Ren said with a smile. "And I can't think of a single thing that might convince the rest of us to give up on retirement now."
"Guys, you're not going to believe this!" Velvet called out, her face as white as a sheet as she came into the room while holding up a digital recorder. "I was just testing out a scanner that I was thinking of selling to the military and...well, I think the recording of a broadcast I picked up speaks for itself."
"~ Are you there ~ this is ~ Polendina! ~ urgent! ~ real ~ call me back! ~ hope ~"
With that, the recording ended, leaving everyone in a stunned silence. Said silence was only broken by an angry, and bitter growl from Ren. "Gods fucking dammit…"
To Be Continued