Vol: 7 Chapter 20: The Last Wish
(Play: Red Fraction from "Black Lagoon" Eng cover by AmaLee)
I have a big gun
I took it from my lord
Sick with justice
I just wanna blame you
(A somewhat dirtied image of a Lien card flashes momentarily before it swaps to a blood stained wall of the Schnee manor a cigarette being smoked and an image of either Weiss or Winter from behind holding their weapons which seem bloodied. This then switches to a panning shot of Wolf's Pack going down its barrel.)
I am your angel
Only a call away
You make wanna break you
No matter who you are
(A bullet casing goes flying, showing Weiss' reflection before it cuts to a newspaper article mentioning a shooting in the Forgotten Shore with Weiss being shown holding a side arm, which she fires a few times)
It's all up to you
No one lives forever
Been burned in Hell
By all the pigs out there
It's always been Hell
Ever since I was born
They make we wanna break them
No matter who they are
(The next shot shows the same side arms barrel as Weiss points it at the area in front of her and a cigarette that she had in her mouth falls out as she pulls the trigger and then drops the magazine.)
Get down on your knees
Got a good head on your shoulders
If for you, I'd
Go to the end of the earth
Do what you want
Do it with dedication
I'll put out your misery
(The next shot shows a blood splatter that stains a flurry of feathers that had been blown away by the force of either a gust of wind or gunshot. Another shot shows that an empty bullet casing is rolling on the ground of the streets of Mantle in a pool of blood before it's blown away by the same wind that carried away feathers)
You made a mess
For Christ sake, this rotten world
Shit out of luck
Go with my vision
Light up the fire
Right on the power
A weapon … I have it all!
(Weiss is seen sitting in the middle of the streets of Mantle for reasons unknown as the feathers drift through the air around her as the sunset flashes a few times. Then images of Jaune, Sky and Wolfgang are shown before 'Rise of the Iron Wolves: Forgotten' appears on the screen… And is shot at a few times and filled with bullet holes.)
-Atlas Flagship, The Saint-
"Alright Team RWBY, Team JNPR. You all know what your objective is for this mission, right?" Clover said to the kids as he, Qrow and Winter finished briefing the two teams on their mission.
"Right. Our objective is to get inside the Dreaming City and fight our way to Riven." Jaune nodded.
"And then once we find her, we kill her. Rip out her heart, and use its power to restore the Dreaming City by getting rid of what's corrupting it." Ruby added.
"Right. And make no mistake, this will be one of your toughest fights to date." Winter told them.
"Pull this off, and you'll all be known as elite Hunters." Qrow added with a nod.
"And apparently, right up there with god killers." Yang whispered to Blake.
"We'll drop you off at the entrance to the City. Everything from that point on is up to you." Clover said.
"Make sure to watch each other's backs. Especially in Yang's case." Qrow added as he looked at his niece. He didn't want her to lose her child in this raid.
"We'll keep each other safe. Don't worry." The cat faunus told the former drunkard.
As the group dropped down, they soon stood at the front door of the Watchtower and then they suddenly started hearing someone talking in a voice they recognized as Wolfgang's voice.
"Welcome Lover slayers, spawn killers. All that strength and you're still nothing but a pawn to the old wizard." The voice said to them. "You could be so much more. All you need to do is wish it. Come, I would quite like to meet you."
"Who's that?" Nora wondered as they proceeded.
"That would be Riven, I'm guessing." Ruby replied as she looked around, eyeing the architecture.
"Yeah. But don't listen to her. She's just trying to punk us." Jaune told her. Continuing forward into the Watchtower, they soon came to what looked like some sort of wall with odd mirrors on them. "Hey Oscar, any idea what this is?" The Knight asked.
"Oh boy. Be careful with that thing. That's a wishing wall. Put in the wrong combination of symbols and you could wipe yourself from existence." The boy warned seriously, causing everyone to gulp… Except Nora.
"Oooh!" Nora said giddily before she zipped around and started pressing the buttons on the wall at random.
"Nora no!" Ren exclaimed in alarm, but was careful about it to avoid falling victim to his Law. The symbols glowed for a bit before they suddenly heard someone else start talking.
"Hey! What the hell is this?" Nomad said in their heads instead of the comms before realizing what was going on. "Is that you, sister?" He asked Ruby.
"Uh… yeah?" The girl said in confusion at the development.
"Aw I see, you made a friend. A friend you can wish to." The man said as the teams continued on. "Haven't you heard? Those things never give you what you wish for! Well, seems I'm stuck in your head for a while. What're we doing today? Hunting your wish friend? I'm game. Woo!"
"This is gonna take some getting used to." Yang muttered as she held her head.
"Ditto." Blake muttered in agreement.
As they continued forward into the watchtower, they soon reached something called the Blind Well, and as they did, Riven spoke again in Wolfang's voice. "Have you come to save the Witch Queen's spawn? They will resist. Darkness is their shape now. What is it you want? Weapons? Glory? Peace maybe? Or is it something simpler than that?'' The female Ahamkara asked.
It was at this moment that an Enthralled portal appeared and a young woman burst out of it. She had paracausal energy flowing off her and was wearing an Autumn colored dress. She had blonde hair, brown skin, and orange eyes, and figure wise, she looked similar to Blake.
"Witch Queen's… That's one of Ozpin and Salem's daughter's?!" Weiss gasped in shock, realizing the meaning behind Riven's words.
"That's Autumn. The second eldest sister and the second most powerful next to her older sister Winter." Oscar noted. "But, she's supposed to be dead. All of them are."
"There's only one way for them to be alive again: Xol. He used Necromancy to revive them." Sky pitched in. "But for what purpose?"
"I have a bad feeling. You guys remember how the Hive came to be, right?" Oscar asked as both teams started fighting the magic wielding daughter of Ozpin and Salem.
"Yeah! Why?!" Yang exclaimed over the gunfire before it dawned on her. "Oh hell no!" She exclaimed angrily.
"That is BEYOND wrong!" Sky seethed, coming to the same conclusion.
"Uh… What?" Nomad asked, not getting what they meant. He was still relatively new when it came to knowledge of the Hive as a species.
"Xol is using Ozpin and Salem's daughters as breeding stock to create his own Hive!" Ruby growled as she shot at the Enthralled woman.
"... I've seen a lot of depraved shit in my time, but that?! That is WAY over the line!" The immortal man growled angrily. Jaune and Pyrrha both glared at the corrupted girl before them, before she started chanting and activating some sort of magic spell.
"What's she doing?" Ren asked as he reloaded Stormflower.
"I don't know, but I don't wanna stick around to find out." Jaune said before eight doors on the wall of the well opened.
"Everyone! Into those openings now, quick!" Ruby called to everyone else as they dove into the openings. As soon as they did, an ontological blast rippled through the well and the doors opened again. Enthralled Hive in its place. "That was close." Ruby said as they ran out and continued fighting the Enthralled and trying to subdue the witch.
"Yeah. This could be tricky." Jaune said as he cut off the head of a Thrall.
"I'd suggest doing as much damage to Autumn as possible within her conjuring phase. Maybe if we cause her aura to break, it could cause her corruption to break as well!" Ren suggested as he shot at the magic using girl.
"Sounds like a plan!" Ruby exclaimed as she fired off several rounds at the reanimated woman.
"Alright everyone, switch to your ranged weapons!" Jaune told them as he drew his sword and then what looked to be another seed of magic before merging it with Croerca Mors and causing it to be set ablaze. As he held the sword he then stabbed it down and then a well of light started surrounding them.
"LIGHT 'ER UP!" Nora hollered as she opened fire. With that everyone started shooting shot after shot at Autumn and started depleting her aura bit by bit, until the Well of Radiance dissipated.
"Okay, now switch to your supers! She's starting to conjure her weapon again!" Ruby called as everyone started activating their supers.
"This should be fun to watch." Nomad said with an amused tone. The two teams then activated their supers, and it was a rather interesting load out.
Ruby had her Stasis Scythe, Pyrrha her Shade Bringer scepter, Ren with his Stasis ice hooks, Nora having her Solar hammer, and Jaune with his void shield. Blake and Yang meanwhile had a Void knife, and Yang being a Behemoth like Sky. While Weiss…
Hers was as if she had taken Stasis and used it on Myrtenaster to make it seem like the rapier-revolver was made of the stuff. The girl breathed as her breath became visible from the cold and then summoned her glyphs and surrounded Autumn with them and her Arma Gigas's swords and Stasis ice blasted her and stabbed her all at once, leaving her open for attacks from the others.
Ruby and Ren attacked first, trapping her in ice and shattering it several times and injuring her in the process. Yang continued this trend and punched her to freeze her while Blake shattered the ice with her blades and Jaune kept up the pressure with his shield attacks. Then finally, Pyrrha and Nora attacked together with the girl freezing the witch and Nora sending her flying with her hammer, shattering her aura.
Autumn (not Sky's sister) struggled to get up, but her legs were too shaky to do so. Soon the corruption started to shoot out of her as she screamed in agony, until it was completely gone, causing her to collapse. Joan chose to take a gamble, and approached the woman cautiously and did a scan.
"Well good news is, she's completely corruption free." She told them.
"And the bad news?" Jaune asked.
"I'm picking up the signature of two of her sisters. The second one is here in the watchtower, but I have no idea where the third is." The drone said.
"We can worry about the third one later. Let's focus on the second." Jaune said, getting a chorus of agreement from everyone else. "Come on guys, let's go!" He called his team.
"You heard the man, let's go girls!" Ruby told her team. "Hey uncle Qrow, think you can pick up Autumn?" She asked as they started running.
"Which one?" He quipped.
"Really? You're going with that joke?" The girl asked flatly.
"Sorry, couldn't resist. I'll head to where you fought her and get her back to the ship." The bird man told her.
"Thanks." Ruby smiled. It was at this point that Riven spoke again.
"Aww, you're so tiny. But yet you continue to make enemies of so many gods and monsters." The wish dragon chuckled in their dead friend's voice. "You want battle? Fine, I'll give you war." She continued with a growl.
"I think we just pissed her off." Yang noted.
"Like that's gonna make a difference." Jaune snorted. Continuing onward, they soon were sent into the Ascendant plane, only this time they were met by a floating orb of light.
"What's this?" Yang wondered.
"Greetings, pawns of the Light God." A voice said from the orb. Immediately, Oscar recognized the voice.
"Toland?" He asked in shock.
"Who's Toland?" Weiss questioned.
"He was another of the original human race, and was a devout follower of Urba and the Sword Logic." The boy replied. "Oz mentioned him a couple times. He was particularly known for practicing phanatonotics."
"What is that about?" Ruby wondered.
"It's trying to gain knowledge by causing near death experiences." Sky explained.
"Come, young squanderers." Toland told them before the orb floated away, as if telling them to follow its lead.
"I guess we're following him." Blake shrugged as the group of eight followed their very ancient guide. This soon led them out of the Ascendant plane and onto a cliff side, where a bridge led to the next section of the Watchtower, which was being guarded by a girl with lighter skin than Autumn, brown hair, green eyes and was wearing a summer green dress. She was also Enthralled.
"Let me guess: judging by the dress, her name is Summer, right?" Yang asked.
"Yep." Oscar confirmed.
"This is going to be seriously difficult for me…" Ruby sighed.
"It's that way for just about everyone here, Rubes. You're not alone." The blond brawler told her little sister.
"Okay so, plans?" Jaune asked as they went to the marked area, where Summer had yet to take notice of them.
"Hm…" Pyrrha hummed as she looked around before taking notice of a trio of crystals. "Perhaps we can make use of those?" She asked before Riven spoke again.
"You've desecrated the sacred architecture of a culture you can't even hope to understand. All so that you can say that you've won." She said in Wolfang's voice. "Could that be what you're driving towards? Do you really have the audacity to wish for my death? Perhaps you and I can work together. The wizard and witch kept me here for so long. A kinder fate than what my kin suffered. But paradise is always a prison, when you can't leave. I would so love to repay the hospitality of those who used my words to help carve this city into the screaming surface of reality."
'Yeah, like we'd work with you.' Jaune thought as the group got ready.
"Am I the only one who finds that chick creepy?" Nomad asked as the two teams all made a mad dash for the crystals as ads started to appear everywhere, Enthralled of all kinds.
"Nope." Everyone chorused as they fought the trash mobs off. After grabbing three crystals, Nora, Yang, and Jaune all blasted Summer in a triangle, causing her to stagger and become vulnerable.
"Alright everyone! Aim and unload!" Both team leaders yelled as they all started attacking the young witch with their melee weapons as hard as possible.
Summer let out a pained scream as she was assailed and felt her strength drain under the barrage. With the first phase done, they all jumped back and started using their ranged weapons. With Weiss using her time dilation to boost their speed as they started unloading clip after clip onto her while also trying to beat the ads. As Summer's strength started to wane, Weiss then charged Myrtenaster with fire dust and then used her glyphs to blast the girl with fire and unleash a barrage of fire jabs at her that depleted her aura of critical levels, and allowed a double slash from Ruby and Jaune to finally take Summer down.
"Ya know, I have half a mind to adopt these girls." Ruby said.
"Don't get any ideas, Ruby. You're way too young to be thinking about that." Qrow told her.
"You had no problems with Yang being a mom at her age. What's the matter with me thinking the same?" Ruby challenged.
"Yang's practically a full adult. You're just barely 18. There's a difference." The former drunkard told her as they continued forward.
"Continue your work, children. Find Riven and tear out her heart! It is the only way to end this." Fey told them. A couple minutes later Nomad chimed in.
"Man, that Fey is one somber lady. "Tear out her heart?" Ooh. I like her style, but even I gotta admit that's hardcore." He said as they reached the next level after tearing through a horde of Enthralled, which was being guarded by an Enthralled Ogre. "Man, the Enthralled really do hate you, don't they? They must have hated what you did to their god. You show em how little that means to ya, yeah?"
"I guess so." Yang chuckled as she got some fresh shells into Ember Celica and checked her prosthetic arm's Solar Dust supply. The group walked towards the Ogre and saw that it had huge bulging growths on its body, making it seem like a Corrupted Hulk almost.
"Oh now that's disgusting." Weiss said as the creature started to stand up. As the creature stood, as more lower level Enthralled started pouring in everywhere as Riven started talking again.
"There is no end to the Enthralled. You have stolen more from them than they could ever take from you. So you are destined to fight forever." Riven said as Enthralled strength orbs started to appear as the teams worked to clear ads, damage the Ogre, and gather the orbs all at once.
Suddenly, Ruby, who had two orbs, found himself unable to move. "What the-?! Guy's, something's got me frozen!" She exclaimed to everyone else.
"Ruby!" Yang said in worry before she rushed over to her and started trying to help her cleanse the energy from herself. She did so, and took the orbs from her little sister and freed her in the process.
This process seemed to be a trend because Pyrrha, Ren, and Blake all ended up being stricken the same way with Jaune, Nora and Weiss cleansing them. After the orbs were taken from the Ogre they all blasted him with them all at once and caused it to fall on its hands and knees.
"Now! Everyone, aim for those growths!" Ruby yelled. Everyone basically unloaded into the growths with a vengeance and took it down pretty quickly.
"That was… Oddly easy." Pyrrha noted with a raised eyebrow.
"It was probably because we had those strength orbs on us." Jaune shrugged.
"Woo-hoo! You really gave that Ogre a beating! And you used his own power against him to do it! Here I thought all you Kingdom folks were soft. Come play Gambit sometime, we'll have some real fun." Nomad hooted, causing everyone to chuckle before Riven spoke again.
"You don't hesitate to reach into the deep." Riven noted as they continued on. "Your kind is so brave. "People with convictions pair best with my kind." She added as they reached the final room to enter her lair. "Like you, like the forgotten rogue. Shall we be friends?" She finished with Wolfang's voice before Enthrallen started pouring in, and Enthralled Knights led the charge.
"Uh, no." Yang said flatly as she shot several Enthralled Acolytes.
As they kept fighting, the Knights posed a particularly serious problem since one swing of their swords broke their auras. So dealing with them quickly and efficiently was definitely the top priority.
Speaking of which, Blake used one of her clones to jump away from a Knight and have its sword become stuck in earth Dust, allowing her to rope its arm with her ribbon and slingshot herself into it and stab it in the face, before unloading a clip into its mouth, killing it.
Jaune dodged the blade of another Knight and bashed it in the face with his gravity dust pulse, causing it to be blown backwards, drop its blade and stagger. The Law of Pacifism then lept at his target and delivered a swift slice to the neck, decapitating it.
Everyone quickly dealt with their Knights and then took the strength orbs they left behind before standing on numbered plates on the floor and cleansing. This caused the door to activate and a sort of symbol based lock system to appear on it.
"Is that a locked vault? I love locked vaults! Let's open it and see what's inside." Nomad said before Riven spoke again.
"You're so close friends. Come, enter my lair and kill me. My heart is yours, come and take it." The dragon hissed in an aggressively seductive tone, the fact that she was using Wolfgang's voice made Weiss shiver.
"Okay guys, before we open this thing, we should go over the plan again." Jaune said to his team.
"Okay… Wait, what was the plan again?" Nora asked. This caused everyone to facepalm.
"Nora, do you have any idea about what you're doing?" Blake asked.
"Heh Heh." Nora chuckled nervously without thinking. Blake was about to talk when Jaune cut in.
"Wait wait wait!" He exclaimed with a small snicker. ""Do you have any clue what you're doing?" The only response you got was: "heh heh heh." THAT'S FUCKING IT!" He chortled despite the situation.
"Okay okay." Weiss said while trying to contain her laughter while looking at Nora. "Nora. Basically you're doing fuck all, you're going to be killing ads." She explained.
"Nora, your number one jobs are as follows: Never shoot Riven's eyes, EVER. And also… Also… Do not shoot the Wizards, we will shoot the wizards." Ruby added.
"You know how it's gonna look if we wipe; it's gonna say she has six eye kills." Yang said. Wiping referred to when a mission started over from the last checkpoint. A phenomenon that usually only happened in places where magic and paracausal energy was prevalent.
"Wait so can I just use my grenade launcher so that I don't have to aim as much?" Nora asked, transforming her hammer into said weapon mode.
"Nora…" Ren said as everyone groaned. "Her mouth is… R-Riven's mouth is the size of a fucking canyon. If you can't hit that, then I'm really concerned." He continued in exasperation.
With that out of the way they started unlocking the door and going inside. "Okay so, Weiss, Pyrrha and… Fuck, Blake. You guys are gonna be on that Crystal's side so if you know your roles, you should sort that amongst yourselves now. Me, Jaune and the others will try and contain the noise." Ruby told the teams.
"A porridge!" Nora exclaimed randomly, causing everyone to look at her with bewildered looks.
"... What?" Yang asked in a baffled tone.
"I'm—I'm fucking done." Blake said with a facepalm.
"I'm so confused!" Ruby added as she threw her arms in the air.
"Ya know what? She's obviously trying to mess with us. Let's just go." Jaune sighed as Nora started laughing, She was indeed screwing with them.
It took some time to open the door but once they did, Nomad spoke again. "Eight Huntsmen in a dark cave. Really takes me back." He sighed.
Ren, meanwhile, was trying to make sure Nora didn't do anything while Jaune was busy trying to get ready for his role.
"Follow me when you're ready Nora." He told her.
As their encounter began, Enthralled started coming in droves. Enthralled Cabal soldiers, Faunus, humans, Viral, various Grimm and Hive. This all soon led to the room rumbling and then a giant reptilian figure crawled out of a hole inside the wall in front of them. It was Riven.
Riven seemed to have the form of a gigantic clawed and tentacled serpentine beast, with a head covered in numerous eyes, protected by folding bone plates that act as secondary jaws.
'Huh. Riven's mouth really is the size of a canyon.' Most of the group thought. Though as they stated trying to clear ads when she closed the plates over her face, Ruby noticed something rather distressing.
"NORA'S ON THE WRONG SIDE!" She yelled as she used her semblance to dodge a wizard's blast, zip behind it and slash it in half.
"NORA, YOU MOROOOOOOON!" Yang yelled angrily as she punched an Acolyte's head off.
"Alright, alright. We'll two man this side." Jaune said as he killed two enthralled hobgoblins with his bow and Pyrrha sliced apart a few goblins with her spear-sword.
"It was going to be a two man team thing, let's face it." The redhead sighed.
"How did this even happen?!" Nora yelled as she tried to wail on several thralls.
"I said to follow me!" Ren yelled as he kept shooting.
"You're about as useful as a paper condom and twice as thick, fucking hell!" Yang ranted at Nora.
"You're a pin head, you're a fucking pin head my gal." Blake groaned.
"Who're you calling a pinhead?" Weiss said indignantly.
Everyone kept desperately trying to stay alive for a few minutes until the ads were eventually dealt with. This then allowed everyone to start shooting Riven as she revealed her face.
"Okay, Nora, whatever you do. Don't step near the tentacles, we're gonna clear those first." Jaune told the hammer user as he and Pyrrha tried baiting the left one. "Me and Pyrrha are gonna bait left."
"Me and Weiss'll bait right." Ruby said as she and her partner got into position.
"Don't worry, I'm not into that shit!" Nora said before both she and Ren jumped back as the tentacles stabbed down into the ground. Then everyone started shooting the appendages, freezing, burning and zapping it until it shattered.
This caused Riven to shriek in pain as her two appendages were cut off, causing her to glare at the fireteam of huntsmen before her before crawling back into her cave.
"I think we pissed her off." Blake noted.
"Good. We're on the right track." Ren said.
"Okay, team JNPR you have L1 and L4." Ruby told them as Pyrrha ran to a Enthralled strength orb and started attacking ads before cleansing in front of the symbol of a U snake.
"I'm out of Dust ammo, fuck." Nora cursed as she noticed her lack of Dust grenades.
"HOW?!" The blond brawler questioned in disbelief.
"Magnhild." Ren shrugged. The teams then kept trying to clear ads until Riven appeared again, Ren being the one with the Enthralled Strength orb this time and was blasting away until it was time for him to cleanse.
"Okay, we are looking for S snake." Ren's AED said.
"Go down three steps." Joan told him. Ren did as suggested and then cleansed. They all then started gathering around as Riven came out and started breathing fire at them, ads appearing as she attacked them. Jaune brought a well of radiance up as everyone gathered around him.
"Okay, Nora, Blake go to your right—no wait, to the left left!" Ruby said as the two tried to do so.
"You mean this way or—?" The ginger haired girl called as she kept swinging her hammer before Yang spoke up.
"N-n-n-no, the other side! That's your right, babe!" She exclaimed as Nora scrambled around. "Where Blake is, where Blake is!" She continued loudly. As the girl tried to correct herself by running in that direction she was soon met by several Enthralled Cabal legionaries. "No UP UP UP!" Yang yelled. "THERE THERE! MELEE MELEE!"
"This is going well." Jaune chuckled. "L1, R3." He added as he kept shooting at Riven's mouth with his bow.
"Get ready to shoot." Ruby said as she aimed at Riven's eyes. Everyone then aimed and started shooting, managing to take out six of her nine eyes before she closed the plates around her face and hid away again. "Good shit. Good." The silver eyed girl said.
"Right, clear these ads." Jaune said as he chucked a vortex grenade at several Thralls. As they picked off the ads, a portal opened and they started falling down an Ascendant cavern where they saw Riven and started shooting at the growths on her body.
"It's not about Atlas' auto rifles here, my dude, it's all about Crescent Rose!" Ruby said to herself as they fell.
"... I have no Dust ammo." Nora said, causing the cloaked girl and her fellow leader to let out wheezing laughs.
"HOOOOOOOOOW?!" Yang yelled as she kept throwing shotgun punches.
"Fucking hell!" Jaune chortled. "You know what? No. That's gonna be the title of this in the report: 'I've somehow run out of fucking ammo!' Unbelievable." He laughed as they fell to the ground and started running back into the room as ads appeared.
As they started clearing ads again, Riven appeared with her bone coverings covering her eyes as she started blasting them with fire again. "Jaune, help me stack it up on her my guy." Yang said as the two started shooting the mouth.
Weiss meanwhile used her glyphs to summon a small army of her Lancer Queens and made them pick up the ads and slam them to the ground, killing them before they disappeared and then she summoned three of her Arma Gigas's arms around Riven's face and started prying her coverings open.
"Alright, eyes, everyone ready?" Jaune asked as he and Ruby lined up their shot. They all nodded as they started shooting and took out the rest of Riven's eyes and then swapped to shooting the Enthrallen blight in her mouth.
"Kill her!" Weiss yelled.
"Yes! Do it! Kill me! KILL ME NOW!" Riven yelled at them as they kept shooting at her mouth… Until a massive heart shaped group of grenades launched themselves into her mouth and blew up, killing her instantly as she fell to the ground, mouth wide open. "Ah… I've waited so long to grant… One… Last… Wish." She said before her voice faded away.
"What was she talking about?" Blake wondered as she caught her breath.
"I have no idea." Ruby replied.
"Into her mouth!" Nora yelled in a gunho tone.
"Oh I'm first? Motherfucking why?!" Yang groaned as she went in first. They quickly ran into the mouth of the creature and soon saw Riven's heart… and it was being attracted to Nora instead of Yang.
"Woo hoo hoo hoo hoo. Alright alright alright. Let's see what kind of treasure this Riven's been hoarding for us!" Nomad said… before Nora picked up the heart, much to everyone's collective horror.
"OH NOOOOOO!" They all started yelling.
"What?" Jaune and Ruby asked as Nora ran past them.
"Nora's got the heart!" Yang yelled. This made the two leaders go pale.
"Okay, wipe it." Jaune said automatically.
"Yeah, there is no way she's surviving on her own!" Ruby added.
"Wipe it! Wipe it!" Weiss and Blake started saying.
"We need to start over." Pyrrha sighed.
"Yep. Nope. Fuck that idea." Ren added as they wiped.
(Later)
After reentering Riven's mouth after having wiped, Ruby was the one with the Heart this time and was sent to a different section, allowing the teams to continue forward… until their progress was halted by a massive Knight and it was currently beating the shit out of Jaune.
"JAUNE!" She yelled in alarm. Quickly she tried to run to his aid with the others, but all of them were knocked aside, the impact shattering her aura as she fell to the ground. The Knight then raised its ax and was about to strike Jaune down.
Pyrrha looked in horror and then turned to Argos, her AED, as he appeared. "Boost my aura to maximum capacity!" She ordered.
"On it!" The drone replied, understanding the situation as he boosted Pyrrha's aura to maximum. The girl screamed as she rose her arms and then suddenly they glowed black as all the metal in the room started flying towards the Knight and hitting him aside, skewering him and killing him as soon as Ruby reappeared and the heart started choosing someone else.
"What just happened?" The scarred girl asked as she looked around.
Pyrrha looked at her hands as Jaune looked back at her. "I think… The invincible girl just made a comeback." The Knight said.
"Please don't choose Nora…" Ren prayed.
"Yeah, she's gonna go on the last fucking run and not know where to go. She'll take it where the chests spawn." Blake added.
"Hey! I can hear you ya know!" The girl pouted… right as the heart chose her.
"Nora, grab it and follow me!" Yang barked as the hammer girl did so. Quickly everyone followed and tried to direct the girl where she needed to go. "Go down the hole!" She told her.
"Drop down the hole, Nora!" Jaune exclaimed as he shot some arrows into some Thralls.
"Nora, up the stairs!" The blond Queen exclaimed. "Up these stairs, babe!" She added as Nora almost went up the wrong stairs.
"Everyone go go go go go go!" Ruby started yelling as they kept running, until they were suddenly at the well again as Nora slammed the heart into it. This caused everyone to start celebrating like crazy.
"HOOOOOOOOLY SHIT! It fucking happened!" Jaune yelped in amazement as the two witches they had beaten before appeared to deal with the heart.
"You live a hard life, Sisters." Nomad said to Team RWBY as the girls disappeared. "You think those witches knew I was here? Probably not. Story of my life. I came here to see what you're like away from Gambit, and now I know." He added. "You are insane. If I wake up in your heads tomorrow, I'm taking a bullet, so is my drone. Nah I'm kidding, I dig it." He chuckled before he left their heads… and it was replaced with Riven imitating Wolfang.
"Oh, I thought they'd NEVER leave!" The wish dragon said from beyond the grave. "You and I are not done. We're inseparable now, through your actions we've forged an age old bond between my kind and yours." She added. "One wish granted deserves another. And I cannot WAIT to show you what she asked for… O murderer mine."
"She?" Weiss wondered. Ruby, however, realized the implications behind Riven's words.
"Salem was here before us." Ruby said with wide eyes.
"This is not good." Oscar said.
"What did we just unleash?" Qrow asked as a door opened to a room full of treasure chests.
"LOOOOOOOOOOOOT!" Nora yelled in glee as she rushed in.
"Well, we did work hard." The group shrugged as they entered the room.
(Later)
After arriving at Atlas Academy again, the teams gave their reports to the Ace Ops, Winter, Ironwood and the Prowls, while Oscar and Ruby were busy trying to explain everything to Summer and her sister Autumn—who they decided to call Fall—as to not confuse her with Sky's sister Autumn.
"So… All of this… Is the future?" Summer asked as they looked around.
"And you're one of our father's other lives?" Fall asked as well.
"Yes, on both accounts." Oscar nodded as Ruby hugged the two girls, who were barely their age, probably only thirteen to fourteen at the most. This made them slightly smaller than the two.
"And don't worry. We're going to find your sisters. I promise." The girl told them. The two children looked at Ruby and couldn't stop themselves from melting into her embrace. Oscar joined in as well, since they were his kids too, technically.
Meanwhile with the representatives of the two teams (Pyrrha and Weiss), the report had just been given. And—despite themselves—everyone in the room was trying their hardest not to laugh from it and the video footage that was taken by the AEDs.
"D-did Miss Valkyrie actually…?!" Fey snickered.
"Yes. She actually did." Pyrrha nodded.
Winter quickly cleared her throat before speaking. "Well, I'm glad you have your semblance back, Miss Nikos." She said.
"Thank you, Winter." The redhead said.
"Well, that's all we'll have for you for a while. With Amity two weeks away from completion, and everything else that's happened, I think we've all earned ourselves some down time." Ironwood told them before looking at Weiss. "But you should go with Winter and I to meet the council, Weiss. They're eager to meet you before this election wraps up." He added.
"Fair enough." The girl nodded before signing. "Who knew the process of becoming a god killer could be so taxing?" She said to herself.
"I'm pretty sure Sky knew." Pyrrha shrugged, causing the whitette to look at her.
"Quiet, you." She said flatly, causing the redhead to giggle.
(Later)
A few days later, Team RWBY, JNPR, and everyone else was back in the Dreaming City, and they were watching Oscar open the doors that separated Riven's lair from the real crown jewel of the entire city… Aether's Pool of Creation.
As they entered the room, the shimmering crystalline water shimmered as exotic plants grew from its banks. Ruby and Oscar then turned to Penny who seemed rather nervous.
"You ready Penny?" Ruby asked as she took her friend's robotic hand. Penny looked back at Pietro who gave her a loving smile before turning back to Ruby with a serious expression on her face.
"I am." She said firmly.
"Then go and become a real girl." The silver eyed girl urged. Penny looked at the pool before she stepped in, her form disappearing beneath the surface. For a moment, nothing happened. After another, the girl felt herself start to change from the water's power. Everything metal… became flesh and bone. Circuits became nerves and veins, processors became brains. Everything changed.
A few moments later, the girl rose from the water. Wet, and very much human. Slowly she opened her eyes and looked at Ruby and then herself… before she hugged her best friend tightly.
"Do hugs always make you feel this warm inside?" The now flesh and blood girl asked.
"Yeah… Yeah they do." Ruby sighed happily as she held her now human friend. Pietro, meanwhile, made his way to the two.
"Wow…" Penny gasped as she separated from Ruby and hugged her father next. "More!" She said giddily as she started going on a hugging spree, ending it with a group hug between Emerald, Autumn and the twins.
"You've definitely earned this." The Fall Maiden chuckled, Blaze giggling happily at Penny's positive aura.
Sky smiled as he and Yang watched the two former enemies become friends. This was definitely a great day. "Sure wish you were here, Wolfgang. You would've loved this…." The Grimm Knight sighed.
(Elsewhere)
Meanwhile in the Hellas Basin of Solitas, more specifically in the caves not far from the main bunker where Rasputin called home, a young woman was sitting in an icy cave. She had blonde hair, light skin and blue eyes. She was also wearing a blue dress that left her cleavage exposed with a gold belt around her midsection, and had slits on both sides that showed off her legs.
Soon it could be seen that the girl was sitting on the large and long coiled up body of Xol, the Will of Thousands. As the worm god looked down at her, his mandibles clicked.
"You have done well, young Winter. But you still have much to do." He told the girl. "Are you ready to continue your work?" He asked her as his Knight, Brutus, approached them. He was clad only in a robe, and as he walked towards them, he started to untie it.
"I am ready." She nodded as Brutus approached. The girl slowly spread her legs as her dress was moved, revealing that she was completely bare underneath, and the Grimm Knight then entered her warm, wet and tight entrance like he had so many times before. Winter moaned as she felt him enter her, hearts forming in her azure colored eyes.
"Yes, make love to me. Breed me with another generation of Hive soldiers!" She moaned.
They had a lot of breeding to do.
ThermalsniperN7: It took us two days to make this. Two. Days. Also, this ending makes me wonder if Yang and Blake are gonna give birth to Hive or not.
Dragon Emperor0: Probably not because Sky is more human than Grimm, while Brutus is the exact opposite. The reasons why will be explained in Terramind, but trust me it'll make sense.
ThermalsniperN7: Right. Also, do you guys recognize where we got some of our material from? I'll give you a hint: Lore is his specialty.
Dragon Emperor0: That was a hoot to write. Also… PENNY'S A REAL GIRL NOW! Hallelujah praise Jesus, God and the Holy Spirit. Our little girl finally made it!
ThermalsniperN7: She deserves it. You know what else? She just unintentionally dodged a bullet.
Dragon Emperor0: People who have seen Volume 8 know what we mean. And don't worry. This latter part of Vol. 7 and the entirety of Vol. 8 will be completely rewritten to fix the dumpster fire that the RT writers (who besides a couple are utterly incompetent) call 'good writing'. Anyway, see you all next time with our next canon chapter!