Ending 3: Flight to Vacuo

Hello everyone and welcome to the third ending for Volume 8! This will be the third, and currently final, of the endings I've written so far which means I also have an announcement to make. For those familiar with my Re:Zero story, 'A New Crusade', I intend to start writing a series of alternate side stories known as 'A New Crusade IF'. I'll post my first one the week after next, so feel free to start sending in story ideas for that one. And as always, a big shout out to all of my readers who've supported this story up to this point. And all I can say, DCDGojira, is another headache for Cinder and Neo. Now then, onto the story!

The Kingdom of Atlas

'Alright,' thought Wayne as he and Aegis emerged from the recently formed portal, 'first things first, get the word out.' The two looked around the subway station they'd emerged into, noting several other portals had opened along the sides of the tracks. But for some odd reason, there were a lot fewer people than they expected. "Hey Wayne," said Aegis, "I just had a thought. You and I might be used to this whole weirdness by now, but the average person might be more than a little frightened of a bunch of magic doors suddenly popping up everywhere."

"Well that's about what we were expecting," said Wayne before removing his helmet and holding it under his arm. He then let out a whistle that echoed down the train tunnel. "People of Atlas, there's no need to be alarmed! As you may have noticed, we're having issues with kingdomwide communication."

He paused for a moment, straining his senses for movement as he took stock of the fact that people were indeed present. "But fret not. My name is Wayne Ursario and I, along with my brother Aegis, am a licensed huntsman." He and his brother held up their Huntsman Licenses projected on their scrolls then. "We're here along with a large group of other huntsmen and huntresses to evacuate you and the citizens of Mantle to safety. Now in order to do that, we'll need you all to pass through these gates which have been created for that specific purpose and fear not, they will not harm you."

"Check it," said Aegis as he made a show of putting his hand in and out of the glowing passage, "not even a wrinkle. Though there is the possibility of a mild case of airsickness if you're the squeamish type."

"Yes, as you can see," continued Wayne, "the doors are safe, but Atlas is not. For those of you who don't know, Atlas is falling and will soon crash into Mantle. We're short on time, but, there's no need to panic. Simply go through the doors and the huntsmen and huntresses on the other side will guide you to another main gate which will lead to safety. So for those who wish to survive today, please step forward!"

For a moment, he received no answer. Then a family of three slowly approached them, followed by a family of four, then a husband and wife couple followed by even more stray civilians. The first few went through the gates reluctantly, but then a couple poked their heads back out and waved to their friends, signalling that the gateways were indeed safe. This encouraged the remaining citizens to begin pouring into the gate in a bunched up but still relatively orderly fashion.

"Looks like we managed to convince the folks here," noted Aegis upon spotting less and less hesitation to enter the gates.

"Then the Happy Huntresses, Jaune and Nora can help with the directing from here," said Wayne as he and Aegis approached another portal, "we need to keep spreading the word about the evacuation and the communications blackout that Watts has caused." Aegis nodded in agreement as they entered the portal and headed to their next destination. The following two stops were much like the first with them encouraging civilians to enter the gates, but their last two stops were a little different. One involved them splitting up so that Aegis could warn team RWBY while Wayne spoke to some Atlesian military personnel who were at a loss for what to do now that they couldn't contact Ironwood or anyone else from the chain of command.

Wayne was thankfully able to set them straight and get them moving into the gates with the rest of the citizens while also encouraging them to grab what supplies and weapons they could on their way. 'The more people we have capable of defending the civilians the better,' thought Wayne as he rejoined Aegis to go through the next gate. This time, the brothers were greeted with a surprised Winter as they hopped out of a portal in front of a closet of all things. "Oh, it's you two," said the Elder Schnee sister, "have you gotten the evacuation started?"

"It's rolling along pretty well now," said Aegis with a thumbs up, "just had to jump around from place to place to spread the word."

"So what happened to the main channel wasn't limited to just the broadcasting network," said Winter with a hand to her chin.

"Afraid not," said Wayne as he held up his scroll to show the 'technical difficulties' symbol displayed on it, "kingdomwide communication is down too. Given the timing, I'm fairly certain it's not some sort of technical problem."

"You'd be right," said Winter while resting her hand on her saber's hilt, "I can think of only one person who'd want to shut off all communication at a time like this."

"Watts," said Aegis, voicing the answer that was on all their minds.

"Is Ironwood already secured," questioned Wayne as he pulled out his weapons.

"He's in a cell and still unconscious," affirmed Winter, "if we move quickly, communications can be restored and the evacuation can proceed unimpeded."

"We'll take care of that then," said Wayne as he and Aegis were about to start down the hallway, "you help with the evacuation. There are some soldiers who-."

"No," said Winter, interrupting him with a hand on his shoulder which also drew Aegis's attention enough for him to stop, "we can't afford to have two of our more powerful fighters running around looking for a single individual. I've walked this facility for years and I know it like the back of my hand. I already know where Watts is most likely to be, so I'll handle him."

"Are you sure that's the best idea," Questioned Aegis, "Wayne and I can track him down pretty easily too. And someone needs to be leading whatever amount of the Atlas military that makes it through the gate."

"And I'd have a better chance at doing so if communications are restored," Winter pointed out, "once Watts is taken care of, I can use the main communications network to broadcast orders to the remaining military forces who might be hesitant to enter the gates. And before you say you can do it, remember, I'm the highest ranking member of the Atlas military at this time, so they'll only listen to me."

"Well if you're dead set on it, what do you want us doing?" Questioned Wayne.

"Continue to aid the evacuation for the time being, and then head into Vacuo," said Winter, "I imagine you have a good idea on how long Lie Ren can maintain his semblance, so try and be there the moment it goes down. We'll need as many fighters as we can get once the whole kingdom's negativity becomes known to the Grimm."

"I guess it's more fun than doing crowd control the whole time," said Aegis before pointing to Winter, "but remember not to take too long dealing with Watts or organizing the military. We're still on a time crunch here."

"You let me worry about that," said Winter, "now get going." The Ursario brothers both nodded in understanding before heading back through the portal.

Some Time Later: The Created Space

'I have to admit,' thought Cinder as she moved along with the rest of the crowd in Atlas, 'this plan was beyond bold. I never thought these children would actually be willing to sacrifice the whole city of Atlas in order to use the relic of creation.' She stood to the side and allowed more of the crowd to pass by her, taking a moment to admire the numerous golden portals and walkways they'd created. 'They even planned ahead enough to make Vacuo their next location, bringing them within reach of the relic of destruction.'

She was about to continue forward when a hand on her shoulder stopped her. The annoyed Maiden turned to the owner of the limb, a brown haired girl wearing a grey, frilly long-sleeved shirt and wide-brimmed hat. A sudden flash of pink in her right eye told Cinder that it was Neapolitan who signaled with a tilt of her head towards one of the larger gates. Cinder grit her teeth a little upon seeing what, or rather who, she was indicating.

The Ursario brothers were here, helping direct some of the crowd. Cinder was confident enough in her abilities to know that she could take on team RWBY almost single-handedly with such a huge crowd around and Neo lying in wait. But the Ursario brothers had more experience fighting her and at least Wayne had demonstrated repeatedly that he could best Neo in single combat so long as he had his Aura Shadow active. It was frustrating to think that two extra huntsmen could possibly throw a wrench into her plans but she'd learned that being cautious, and in this case patient, would afford her a better chance at victory.

And so she instructed Neo to split off from her and continue to move amongst the crowd while she herself waited a little longer before rejoining the flow of people. She'd need to find another place to lie in wait, though, for the moment she got too close to either of the Ursario brothers was the moment she risked one or both of them catching her scent. And so she watched and waited, moving at an exaggeratedly slow pace while faking a slight limp to make her lack of haste seem more convincing.

It was beyond annoying, but at last the moment she was waiting for arrived: the two brothers stepped through the gate leading to Vacuo. She couldn't help the malicious smirk that crossed her face as the time had finally come. And then she flung her cloak off and unleashed some of her maiden power, blasting several people off of the platform she was on. The time had come to claim what was hers.

Vacuo

"Ah, jeez," grunted Aegis as he shielded his eyes while Wayne quickly put on his helmet to keep the swirling sands out of his own. "I guess this is what they mean when they say no accounting for weather."

"If nothing else it's just our luck," said Wayne as he looked around at the gathered refugees who were currently grey thanks to Ren's semblance. The huntsman himself was currently kneeling with his hands on the ground, spreading his power as far to the limit as he could.

"Wayne, Aegis," said Emerald as she approached the two, "glad you two are here. Any idea where Ruby's group is?"

"They should be right behind us," informed Wayne, "all they need is a little opening in the crowd in order to slip on through. With luck it should only be a few minutes."

"I hope so," said Emerald as she held a hand up to cover her face against a fresh blast of wind and sand, "because as long as this storm is blowing, we've got no communication with Vacuo."

"Oh isn't that wonderful," said Aegis as he decided to try his scroll, "yep, got jack nothin'. And let's not even talk about the sand getting in my bear ears."

"Believe me I ain't touching that topic with a ten foot pole," replied Emerald before turning her attention to the arrival of Oscar, Tobias and Jen who'd been patrolling the area.

"Wayne, Aegis," said Tobias, "glad you both could make it. Haven't hit any problems, have we?"

"Watts is on the move and shut off communications around the kingdom," explained Wayne, "Winter's handling that. As for Penny, she should be showing up with Ruby's group here in just a minute."

"Then they'd best make it a quick minute," grunted Ren suddenly as his aura broke, releasing his semblance, "because I'm spent."

"Okay, someone may want to get in there and hurry this along," said Jen as her ears pricked up at a sound in the distance, an unpleasant sound. "We're going to have company soon."

"On it," said Oscar as he turned and ran towards the gate. But the moment he came into contact with it, he fell back as if he'd hit a solid wall. "What in the-why can't I get back through?"

"Oh dear," said the voice of Ozpin, "it appears Ambrosius has done it again. We called this portal a 'one way ticket' to Vacuo, correct?" Oscar's eyes widened as he realized the implications before hurrying back to the others.

"We can't get back through," said Oscar frantically, "the portal won't let us!"

"Won't let us," questioned Aegis, "but Wayne and I were hopping all over the place with the other portals."

"It was unintentionally part of the design," said Oscar, "Ambrosius incorporated the phrase 'one way ticket to Vacuo'. So that's all this portal is able to do."

"So we can't get back through and help the others if something is happening?!" Exclaimed Jen before the sound of screeching drew everyone's attention.

"I think we'll have enough to deal with here," said Tobias as he and everyone else drew their weapons in preparation to fight the large, bat-like Grimm known as Ravagers.

"Then we'll just have to trust that the others can handle whatever's happening on the other side of the gate," said Wayne.

"Couldn't have said it better," commented Oscar before pointing his cane towards the enemy, "so let's buy as much time as we can!" The assembled huntsmen and huntresses shouted in the affirmative as they dove into the fray, shootng, slashing, burning, blasting, kicking and punching their way through any Grimm that came at them. Wayne was continuaully switching between his SMG mode and his wires while swatting one Ravager after another out of the sky. Emerald used a similar strategy with her own weapons as she made use of both her high-powered guns and their kusarigama mode.

Ren and Oscar worked as a team due to the former's low aura with Ren shooting down the more distant Ravagers while Oscar swatted away any that got too close to them. Aegis, meanwhile, smacked one Grimm after another out of the air while using an extra-long glass spearpoint which he was dubbing 'sword-staff mode' while adding ice dust to it which slowed the movements of any of the flying monsters he only happened to graze instead of full on slash. It proved surprisingly useful given that the Grimm were adapted to the desert conditions and not ice. As for Jen and Tobias, they had a similar but more destructive strategy than the one Oscar and Ren were using.

Tobias was shooting down what Grimm he could while also using his semblance to create walls of flame between the civilians and the Ravagers. Jen, meanwhile, was punching and kicking through any Ravager that got too close, occasionally using her explosive dust combination to send whole groups of them flying. And on the few occasions a Ravager grabbed her and tried to fly off, she'd make them regret it with the use of her paralysis paw semblance. These tactics, along with the help of the Happy Huntresses and other assembled military and security personnel, made for a good start in holding off the Grimm attacking the civilians.

A good start, but one that would start to go sour with the arrival of small, horned insectoid Grimm with three, heated tails known as Sulfur Fish. They weren't large by any means, in fact they weren't much bigger than Ruby's dog, Zwei, and in very small numbers they were actually somewhat frightened of people. The obvious problem here, was that there wasn't a small number, there was one swarm after another coming at them. Wayne and the others found themselves not only having to keep their guards up in between attacks from the Ravagers but also had to keep extra vigilant if one of the critters slipped by them to attack the civilians.

It meant more running around for them along with fighting other Grimm who showed up, and Wayne and other powerful semblance users couldn't use their full strength whenever a Sulfur Fish broke through their lines to attack the people. But they fought on, shooting, kicking, punching, smashing and blasting as many Grimm that came their way as they could while the minutes wore on. 'Come on Penny,' thought Jen as she knocked away several Sulfur Fish with a powerful spinning kick before slamming her fist into the face of a Ravager that tried to fly past her, 'whatever the situation is, you have to remember that the people are priority one.'

As if in answer to her thoughts, a familiar scent exited the portal. "Hey, Wayne, Aegis, Joanna, anyone!" Called Nora frantically, "we need help back here! It's Cinder and Neo, they're after Penny and the rest of team RWBY!"

"Nora," said Jen as she leapt over and put her hands on the huntress's shoulders, "what's happening exactly, are the others holding out?"

"For now," said Nora, "but we have to hurry! If we don't bring help then-."

"We can't," said Jen, "believe me I want nothing more than to go storming back there, but we can't."

"What," said Nora with more than a hint of disbelief in her voice, "but why not? We managed to get everyone evacuated but we still need Penny and the relics! Surely you can spare someone-!"

"Nora," said Jen, shaking the girl slightly so she'd calm down, "like I said I want nothing more than to go back there, but we physically can't get back through. Ambrosius designed this particular gate to only be one way."

"'Only one way'," repeated the orange-haired girl as her eyes widened in both realization and horror, "No, that can't be, it can't!" She turned and ran back towards the gate then before slamming into it and getting knocked backwards. She didn't let that keep her down for long, springing back up and hitting the gate with the strongest punch she could muster. The light of the gate seemed to dim a bit, but otherwise remained sealed as Nora punched it again and again and again with all of her might.

But each time she gets the same result until finally collapsing to her knees, banging on the portal with her fist as she tries to hold back the tears threatening to fall from her eyes. By this point, Jen, who'd had to take out another couple of Grimm, rushes over to Nora and pulls her to her feet. "Nora, stay with me," she said, "now's not the time to be quitting."

"But our friends are back on the other side," said Nora, "they're right there and we can't do athing for them!"

"I know the feeling," said Jen, "I've had people die right in front of me who were just out of reach, who I could've saved if not for one tiny obstacle in the way. But you have to believe in your friends. They're strong and they won't go down without a fight, right?"

"That's…..right," sniffed Nora in response as she finally looked up at Jen.

"And not only that, you've got friends on this side of the gate too," Jen reminded her, "and many more people who you can help, right at this moment. You're a huntress now, remember, so take that weapon off your back and save as many people as you can!"

"I will," said Nora as determination returned to her features. She drew Magnhild from her back then and charged into the fray, blasting and smashing any Grimm that got in her way. Even despite the situation, Jen couldn't help the small smirk that came to her face as she thought of how far she and the others had come since Beacon. And so, the fight raged on.

Nora's help proved quite a boon to the exhausted huntsmen and huntresses as the normally energetic girl put her all her efforts into smashing through every enemy that came their way. But even she had her limits and they began to show along with everyone else's as they began to make more and more mistakes due to their exhaustion. Every time a civilian was taken, hurt or killed, the nearby huntsmen and huntresses would fight more desperately to prevent another from being lost. But this was a war of attrition, the type a swarm of Grimm were quite good at, especially when the defenders were already tired from numerous other trials in Atlas.

"Wayne," said Tobias as he lit his body up for a moment to burn off a couple of Sulfur Fish who'd jumped on him, "this is getting bad."

"No kidding," replied his huntsman son, "even with my endurance being better than it used to be, I won't be able to make full use of my semblance for much longer. The Aura Shadow could help for a little while and it's not like we aren't already attracting Grimm."

"'A little while'," Tobias repeated, his face taking on a contemplative look while he shot down a few more Ravagers and Sulfur Fish.

"I know that face even if I'm not looking at you," said Wayne as he cut through a Ravager's neck with his weapons, "what are you thinking?"

"That everyone could use a break," said Tobias, "or at least a moment where the pressure is let off them for a bit. Moreover, it might not be a bad idea to try getting a signal out to Vacuo in another way."

"You got a plan to lead the Grimm away and get a signal to Vacuo at the same-," Wayne stopped his sentence upon realizing his Father's intentions, "that's practically suicide if you're thinking of doing what I think you're gonna do."

"If you're thinking that I'm gonna use the Aura Shadow to lead a bunch of Grimm away and fire some blue flames in the general direction of Vacuo, then you'd be right," said Tobias, "and at this point there ain't a lot of options that aren't suicidal, so, remember that I love you and your brother and Mother more than anything in this world, and that I'm extremely proud of my sons." His body flared with both the Aura Shadow and his Cerulean Blaze semblance then as he quickly formed a wall of flame between him and Wayne.

"Dad, NO!" Yelled Wayne as his Father took off like a bullet with numerous Grimm changing their course to head in his direction. 'Alright,' thought Tobias as he slashed and shot his way through several Ravagers and Sulfur Fish, 'just gotta put a good bit of distance between me and the civilians, and then put on the greatest show of my life.' Despite him knowing that this was definitely a suicidal course of action, he couldn't really say he was all that frightened of it at this point.

He'd lived a good life, made a lot of friends, became a huntsman, married the most incredible woman he'd ever met, got wrapped up in more ridiculous adventures and situations than even he could recall at this moment, and helped countless people to one degree or another. Sure, there were bad times where he'd made mistakes, picked the wrong choice, said the wrong thing, been in extreme pain on multiple occasions. But thinking on it now, the only real regret he had was that he wouldn't see his now huntsmen sons get married and raise children of their own. Of course, it was only because he was doing this that he was confident they'd get that chance in the first place, so he figured that was just part of the trade, or so he thought.

"DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!" Called the voice of his eldest son as he glanced back, his eyes widening to see Wayne in full Aura Shadow gaining on him. "The plan was to save as many people as we could and I'll be damned if I let my own father die when help could be so close!"

"Are you kidding me right now son," said Tobias as he and Wayne sliced through several Sulfur Fish, "if we both die what'll that accomplish?"

"Alone, you or I would definitely die to this onslaught," Wayne shot back as he kicked away a Ravager, "but two Silent Furies working together is something that hasn't been seen in years if not decades. If we fight together, we just might be able to accomplish both objectives and survive long enough for Penny and the others to arrive."

"Gah, now this is frustrating," commented Tobias as he shot down another few Sulfur Fish, "I never thought I'd actually be annoyed at a son who has my reasoning ability and your Mother's stubbornness."

"It's seen me through plenty so far," said Wayne, "so let's put on a show this side of the desert won't ever forget!" Tobias, knowing it was too late to argue now, nodded as he unleashed several of his flames in multiple directions and lit up a good portion of the path behind them to set ablaze the land-based Grimm who'd been chasing them. Wayne, meanwhile, joined his sickles together into his blade staff before leaping high into the air. He unleashed several ring projections and crescent blade attacks while twirling his weapon around his body.

He landed back to back with his father as the two of them raised their weapons and fired a powerful blast into the air, tearing through Grimm and sandstorm alike before slowing and dissipating in the sky. More flashy attacks flowed afterwards as Wayne incorporated his lightning dust into his next several attacks while Tobias kept his own weapons constantly lit with his semblance. From a distance, it seemed like a flaming poltergeist was dancing around large, angry fireflies and lightning.

This was exactly the thought on the minds of a couple of Vacuoan scouts as they witnessed bits and pieces of the spectacle from a distance. "What in the world is that?" Questioned one of the scouts, an iguana Faunus with pointy spines for hair as he looked through his binoculars, "is that a horde of Grimm out there?"

"I'm seeing what you're seeing," said a falcon-eyed Faunus, the second scout stationed at the tower, "whatever's out there ain't natural or at least ain't friendly to the Grimm. We'd best call this in." The iguana scout agreed as he got to work making use of Vacuo's special messaging system which was designed specifically for storms like these. Though it would still take a good bit of time for any type of investigation team to be sent out. Time Wayne, Tobias and the others didn't have.

'Come on,' thought Wayne as he shot down another couple of Ravagers before kicking away several Sulfur Fish, 'just hold out a little longer.' The plan to lure away the Grimm was indeed working like a charm, which was also the problem. Even back to back and with Tobias continuaully setting fire to the area around them, Grimm were still able to get through and attack them. Evading was becoming more and more difficult even with their Aura Shadows on and whenever they managed to counterattack, it seemed another Grimm was there to strike at their blindspots.

Missed attacks became glancing blows, glancing blows became torn clothing, torn clothing became shallow cuts, but the father and son fought on in hopes that buying even another second of time might prove beneficial. Things came to a head when a larger yet faster Ravager suddenly dove towards the both of them, causing the other Grimm to scatter as it reached for the huntsmen with outstretched claws. Wayne and Tobias summoned up what they could of their semblances, deciding to lower the protective aspects of their auras to raise what remained of their fighting reserves. Then, just as the large Grimm was upon them, a slash of frozen wind bisected the Grimm down the middle as it's dissolving carcass landed on either side of the duo.

The two huntsmen turned around, small smiles gracing their features as they saw, Winter? If not for his helmet, Wayne would've rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things, but a quick glance in his Father's direction told him he was just as surprised. The reason being was that Winter Schnee was hovering in the air via wind power with blue flames radiating from her eyes, just like a maiden. Wayne nearly blurted out the question of whether or not Cinder was dead but stopped himself as he saw the older Schnee sister's grief-stricken features.

It was clear what had happened then, Penny was gone. She'd somehow managed to pass her powers on to Weiss's sister, making her the new Winter Maiden. Wayne also noted the portal had disappeared, leaving him one more burning question that he wanted to ask. "I'm sorry Wayne," said Winter, anticipating his question as tears rolled down her cheeks. That statement alone told the Older Ursario brother all he needed to know.

Jaune, Ruby, Blake, Yang…and Weiss, they were all gone. And for a brief moment, Wayne just shut down. For a brief moment, the sandstorm, the people of Atlas and Mantle, the Grimm, the pain and exhaustion in his body, didn't matter. Even his Aura Shadow disappeared for a moment as his entire posture slumped in defeat. Tobias made a move to comfort his son, but stepped back as the Aura Shadow returned with a vengeance, filling the air with palpable bloodlust as the Silent Fury turned his attention towards the nearest thing he could tear apart, which in this case were more approaching Grimm.

Winter didn't blame him one bit as she too directed her anger towards the Grimm. Howls of anguish and roars of anger filled the air that day, louder than any wailing citizen or snarling beast as Aegis, Jen and the rest of their friends joined in releasing their grief against their enemies. The first Vacuoan huntsmen and huntresses to arrive on the scene that day said they weren't witnessing a fight, but a slaughter. It would be much later when they finally rejoined the other huntsmen, huntresses and citizens of Atlas and Mantle.

In time, they'd come to learn that Ironwood had interfered with Winter's arrival along with everything else that had transpired during Cinder and Neo's attack from Nora. Neo was gone, but Cinder had made off with two of the relics which she'd undoubtedly delivered to Salem. It was now more imperative than ever that they found the remaining relics and kept them out of her hands, along with coming up with a new plan of attack against Salem's remaining forces. One way or the other, Wayne knew as he looked upon the partially broken moon shining on the desert that night, that Vacuo would again become the site of another decisive battle, this time with the world at stake.

And with that we have our third, and currently final, alternate ending. It might be the shortest by far but hopefully it was still as impactful. Now comes the wait for Volume 9, though the possibility does exist that I might make another ending if you, my fellow readers, think of one. But in the meantime, feel free to leave a comment or review about what you liked/disliked or if you've got any neat ideas for future chapters, and don't forget to start sending in ideas for 'A New Crusade IF', too. Be sure to stop in next time as we find out which of these endings is closest to canon! 'Til then.