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-CHAPTER START-

Realm R38Y

Neo stared up at the massive door-shaped wall of stone that was once the door to the Relic of Knowledge's hiding place.

"Now you understand" Cinder said, fiddling with a conjured dagger as she sat on a boulder. "I've got to get the Relic before it can be secured in Atlas. It's the only way that Salem…" she sighed. "It's the only way we can accomplish our goal. You're not the only one who wants Ruby dead. But unfortunately, Salem does not feel the same way…"

Neo walked over toward her.

"I've been… instructed not to kill her…" Cinder melted her dagger. "But you… You have no such orders. You can do as you please. Help me get to Atlas, help me find her… and the rest is up to you."

-Break-

Everyone was quiet as Maria finished her story – a life of adventuring cut short when one of Salem's elite agents attacked her. She lost her eyes, the agent lost her life.

"I can't believe it…" Qrow breathed out. "You… You're the Grimm Reaper. You were a legend! And then you disappeared… You never used your name, never showed your face. Lots of us thought you were just layin' low. Eventually, we just came to accept that you were probably dead. But the stories about you… I based my weapon off of yours. I wanted to be as good as the Grimm Reaper."

"Well, I'm nothing but a disappointment," Maria replied, "so you're well on your way."

"How can you say that?" Blake asked.

Maria sighed. "Child, a Huntress is supposed to protect others to the bitter end. But after I lost my eyes, I only ever looked after myself. Even after my surgery, I was too afraid to fight. Afraid someone would find me again, finish what the others started. You shouldn't aspire to be like me, especially when some of you are clearly stronger already."

Yang looked down sadly; she wasn't…

"Well," Ruby said, "maybe you can do something now. Teach me to use my powers the way you did."

They were all quiet for a moment. Then, the silence was broken by Ruby's holoscroll ringing. Pulling it out of her pocket, she gasped in excited surprise.

"It's Jaune!"

Yang stopped the bike as everyone reacted with surprise. "How?" Weiss asked.

Ruby answered her scroll. "Uh, hello?"

"Ruby! Oh thank you! I've been checking my Scroll for your signal ever since we made it to the city!"

"The city? Wait…"

Looking at the signal strength, she pointed her scroll toward the road ahead, watching the signal improve. Yang drove them up a hill ahead, the snow coming to a halt as they neared the summit. At the top, they saw a walled city up ahead along the ocean.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Yang smiled, "we have arrived in Argus."

-Break-

After locking Yang's bike and the trailer in a garage, the gang took the time to admire the sights. Then, a certain pink-clad petite powerhouse spotted them.

"Cute! Boy! Oooooz!-!"

Turning in confusion, Oscar was promptly tackle-hugged by Nora. The rest of Team JNPPR followed in her wake, fretting over the arriving group.

"We were so worried!" Jaune said.

"It's been kind of a crazy trip" Yang replied. "Between the train crash, some… unpleasant revelations, and dealing with willpower-sucking zombie Grimm…"

Pyrrha went pale; being from Argus, she was familiar with the rare and dangerous Grimm people were warned about in this region. "Y… You guys ran into a pack of Apathies?"

"A whole damned horde of them" Qrow replied. "It… got ugly. We'll tell ya about it later."

"Who's the old lady?" Nora asked, gesturing to Maria.

"Maria Calavera, retired Huntress" Ruby replied. "She stayed on our half of the train and… got caught up in our little odyssey."

"That's puttin' it mildly" Maria said with a wry grin.

Soon, everyone was aboard a trolley, being ferried through the sizable city.

"It's a lot bigger than I thought it'd be" Yang remarked.

"It's actually one of the largest non-capital cities in all of Remnant" Ren said.

Ruby gasped. "No way! But wait, wouldn't it be harder to settle something this big away from the main Kingdom?"

Pyrrha cleared her throat, happy to explain about her hometown. "It was, until Mantle showed up. Early settlement attempts by Mistral didn't see much success, but colonists from Mantle were able to help them endure the cold climate and return for goods that Solitas couldn't provide."

"The two nations worked together to create a hybrid city" Ren continued. "While it falls under Mistral domain, Atlas keeps a military presence here to help keep the people safe and keep trade between the two nations steady."

"Until Ironwood's recent paranoid turtling led to trade restrictions that have made things slow to a trickle…" Nora griped.

The trolley came to a stop, and everyone disembarked.

"We should probably start looking for a ship" Blake remarked.

"And we oughtta find a DDF comm relay" Rattrap added. "Dere's some stuff that the big-wigs gotta hear…"

"So," Oscar asked, "where have you guys been staying?"

"Uh…" Jaune let out a nervous chuckle.

"There you are!"

On the other side of the street was a blonde woman holding a baby boy in her arms, waving at them with a big grin.

Yang looked hard at the woman. "Is that…?"

Jaune smiled and waved back. "Hey, Saph."

Ruby looked back & forth between the two blondes, going big-grinned and starry-eyed as she put the pieces together.

-Break-

Soon, everyone reconvened in the living room of Saphron Arc's home.

"I can't believe I'm meeting your sister" Ruby said excitedly. "I have so many questions."

"Oh, I can give you the rundown later" Nora replied.

"Will you guys knock it off?" Jaune grumbled.

"What~?" Saphron said in a teasing tone. "I love telling stories about my baby brother."

She pinched his cheek, and he groaned in annoyance, flailing his arm at her. "I am not a baby! That is a baby."

He pointed down at little Adrian, who frowned and huffed at him, tiny arms crossed. This drew some cuteness-struck squees from Yang and Weiss as they fawned over the baby.

"So Saphron," Blake started, "you're the only Arc living here?"

"Yep!" the young woman replied. "Moved the second I could. Jaune and I are the only two living away from home. I guess he wanted to be just like his big sis~."

"I, uh…" Jaune groaned.

"Aww, you didn't deny it!"

The two siblings started play-fighting. Then, the front door opened, and in walked a young woman with glasses, her skin tone and hair color matching little Adrian's almost exactly, some bags of groceries slung over her arms. Seeing her, Saphron smiled warmly.

"Everyone," she said, "this is my wife, Terra Cotta."

"Hello!" "Hey there!" "Nice to meet you!" "Hey, a woman named Terra!"

Terra chuckled. "Hello there! Wow, quite a party; you weren't kidding. …Uh, what do you mean 'a woman named Terra'?"

Qrow pulled up his Omnitool, displaying a certain young Keyblade Master's image. "This big guy's name is Terra. He's with the DDF, helped us during the mess at Haven."

"Huh. …I've never met a man named Terra before. …Anyway! Hun, can you help me with these? Oh, and someone get the door for-"

"I've got it!" Pyrrha sprung up, heading for the front door.

"She seemed pretty eager" Weiss remarked.

"Well, when you see who it is, you'll understand" Pirika replied with a little grin.

Pyrrha soon came back in, followed by a woman wearing a fur-lined brown coat and carrying a couple more groceries. The woman had bright green eyes behind her red-rimmed glasses, shoulder-length hair the same shade of red as Pyrrha's, and a familiar-looking smile on a familiarly-featured face.

"…Well!" Mrs. Nikhos said with a smile as she saw all the new additions. "It's a good thing we got extra food!"

Ruby gasped, starry-eyed again. "We get to meet one of Jaune's sisters and Pyrrha's mom?!"

"I can take these, Mrs. Nikhos" Jaune offered. "I'll help Saph and Terra get everything put away."

"Thank you, Jaune" the woman handed the bags to him. As he headed into the kitchen, she turned to her daughter with a grin. "Again, I have to say I'm so glad you found love with someone who has strength and kindness."

Pyrrha blushed with a little bashful smile. "Yeah…" she twirled a lock of hair with her finger. "Almost a shame it took Beacon falling for us to finally confess to each other…"

"At least you both bounced back and are working to try and make things better for everyone." Mrs. Nikhos' gaze shifted to where Team JNPR's weapons were resting against the wall, Jaune and Pyrrha's shields right next to each other. "You can keep each other safe."

"Yeah, those things are built way tough" Nora said. "Jaune's shield even stood up to attacks from an Elder Nuckelavee!"

Mrs. Nikhos giggled, as a hint of mischief made its way into her smile. "Yes… It's good to see that my daughter and her boyfriend are using good protection~."

Blake choked on air, Ruby and Pirika blushed, Weiss and Rattrap groaned, Ren and Qrow shook their heads, and Nora & Yang burst out laughing. (Link was clueless.)

"Mother!-!" Pyrrha squeaked/screeched, her face as red as her hair.

-Break-

Later on, JNPPR were helping prepare sandwiches for everyone. Pyrrha still went red whenever she looked Jaune in the eye.

"And you're sure it's alright if we stay here and at the Nikhos' house?" Weiss asked.

"Of course" Saphron replied, with Pyrrha's mother nodding.

"We're happy to house Hunters" Mrs. Nikhos added.

"You all risk so much to keep people like us safe" Terra said. "It's the least we can do." She turned to Qrow. "Especially for such an elite Huntsman like yourself. Although, I will say I was surprised to learn you had students helping you. Is that even… legal?"

"Uh… of course" Qrow replied. "Think of it as an extended training mission. Trust me, I was a professor. Even went to the same academy as them. Lemme tell ya, these kids are way better than we were at their age. …Well, not better than me specifically, but a lot of students-"

"Shut up, there's food!" Ruby interrupted as the others came in with plates of sandwiches.

Soon, everyone dug in. However, they were interrupted by a buzzing scroll.

Terra sighed. "Excuse me, I'll be right back." She left to take the call.

"Everything okay?" Blake asked.

"It will be" Saphron replied. "Terra's a technician for the town's relay tower. Unfortunately, the military's radar system is also housed there. It's been on the fritz lately, and she's been catching heat for it… So, what's your plan for tomorrow?"

"Well…" Ruby swallowed. "We're trying to make our way to Atlas. We'll probably start with the military base, and failing that we can ask the DDF to give us a lift…"

"Fair warning" Terra said as she came back in. "The base commander is… well, she's not a pleasant person. Atlas' leadership kinda-sorta… stationed her way out here in order to get her as far away from them as possible…"

"Oh, that don't bode well…" Rattrap remarked.

-Break-

The next day, Teams RWBY & JNPPR, Qrow, Maria, Link, and Rattrap all gathered at the gates of the military airbase/seaport, trying to negotiate with a pair of extremely eccentric guards to let them through. When they showed Weiss off, the two men marched off (very weirdly) to fetch their commanding officer.

"Hmm…" Maria glowered.

"What's wrong?" Ruby asked.

"Well, I… may know this commanding officer…"

"That's good, isn't it? If she's your friend, then maybe she'd be more willing to help us!"

"I wouldn't exactly call us… friends."

"Acquaintances?" Weiss asked.

"Not quite."

"Colleagues?" Blake suggested.

"Getting warmer."

"…Enemies?" Yang said with a bit of dread.

"That's the one!"

"Wait, what?" Oscar double-took.

"Oh, yes. I come through here about once every 10 years to get my eyes checked up in Atlas. You bring outside cashews on one flight, and suddenly you're placed on the additional screening list for life!"

"You gotta be kidding me…" Qrow groaned.

"Now, now. Let's not give up hope yet. …Maybe she's dead!"

Suddenly, the gates swung open, and the two bizarre guards returned.

"Introducing!" "Special Operative!" "Caroline Cordoviiiin!-!"

An old woman around Maria's age and height in an Atlesian military uniform strolled out, a severe look on her face. She scowled as she caught sight of Maria, the two little old ladies glaring at each other.

"Cordovin" Maria said coldly.

"Calavera" Caroline responded in kind.

Qrow cleared his throat as he stepped forward, drawing Cordovin's attention. "Qrow Branwen," he pulled out his Hunter License, "sole remaining active member of Beacon's Team STRQ." He began gesturing to the others. "My nieces, daughters of the other members of Team STRQ. Weiss Schnee, whom you already know. Blake Belladonna, daughter of Menagerie Chieftain Belladonna. Team JNPR, also from Beacon. Link and Rattrap, representatives from the Dimensional Defense Force. And Maria, who we kinda picked up on our way here."

"By that," Maria chimed in, "he means we survived a couple of heavy Grimm attacks and a train crash together. It was rather exhilarating, Cordovin; you should try it sometime!"

"I'll pass, thanks" Cordovin replied flatly.

"Ey, Qrow" Rattrap suddenly spoke up, checking his Omnitool. "We got a signal! Maybe we can bypass the middleman…"

Eyes slightly widened for a moment, Qrow called up his own Omnitool, typing in the passcode for a specific high-security channel. To his surprised excitement, the connection was successfully established. After several seconds, General Ironwood's face appeared, drawing gasps of shock from Cordovin and her guards.

"Qrow? What's going on that needs the secure channel?" Ironwood leaned in closer, looking at the scenery behind Qrow. "Are you in Argus?"

"Yeah, we are. I assumed you've heard by now, Jimmy, that Haven Academy is no longer secure. So…" Ruby stepped into view, holding up the Lamp of Knowledge. "We gotta get this to Atlas Academy's Vault."

Ironwood gasped softly, then composed himself. "Of course."

"What is that?" Cordovin asked.

"You're not cleared to know, Cordovin. But suffice to say, that 'package' is extremely valuable… and dangerous if it gets into the wrong hands. With Haven Academy and its vault no longer secure, that thing needs to be put into the top-level vault deep inside Atlas Academy or Shade Academy. Qrow, who else is with you?"

Qrow panned the Omnitool around, letting Ironwood get a look at Qrow's sizable entourage. A few seconds later, a tall white-haired young woman slid into view beside & behind Ironwood, followed by a girl in a green dress with orange hair.

"Weiss?"

"Winter!"

"Ruby!"

"Penny!"

'These people are personally familiar with the General and his inner circle?' Cordovin couldn't believe her eyes.

"By the way, James" Qrow said. "While we're on the line, I wanna report a dangerous Grimm concentration. A handful of kilometers south of Argus, there's a place called Brunswick Farms. Or, what's left of it. Turns out, the head of the homestead tried to cut down on Hunter costs by making the people calmer and less emotional… and he did that by catching a pair of Apathies and sticking them in the tunnels under the farm. Problem is, he didn't seal the tunnels up 'til next morning, at which point the whole damned horde had followed their missing members. By the time we got there, everyone was dead."

"…How many?"

"Two dozen, at least."

Ironwood and Winter looked distinctly rattled. "We'll send soldier drones to secure the farm. If need be, we'll use digger bombs to sterilize the site. How did you all get away from such a large horde of Apathies?"

"Barely" Maria replied. "We almost didn't realize what was happening before it was too late. We had to set the whole place on fire just to slow them down enough for us to escape."

Ironwood sighed. "And who are you? A retired Huntress, I'm assuming?"

"This" Qrow replied "is Maria Calavera. But you might know her as the Grimm Reaper. Or at least, she was until one of Salem's agents slashed out her Silver Eyes…"

Cordovin looked confused, but Ironwood's shock was clear. "…Cordovin, let them through. Let them all through. I'll need to debrief them in person."

"S-Sir! A recent storm caused a bit of damage to our long-range airships; they're almost repaired, but the engineers don't want them lifting off until they're at 100%. It will take three, maybe four days."

Ironwood nodded. "Very well. As soon as a ship is ready, let Qrow's group use it to get to Atlas. Is there anything else?"

"Yes, actually" Maria spoke up, tapping Qrow's side with her scythe-cane. "Anything that can help a man quit alcohol cold-turkey?"

Ironwood's eyebrow quirked. "…Qrow?"

Qrow nodded. "These kids almost got killed by a horde of Apathies while I was too sloshed and lost in self-pity to protect them. …That can not happen again. I need to quit, now."

"If you were a civilian," Cordovin said, "I'd tell you not to stop all at once; they say alcohol withdrawal can be very nasty. But since you're a Huntsman with an active Aura, that should soften the blow. I believe we have some resources you can utilize to help you, Mr. Branwen."

The man nodded. "Good to hear."

"I'll be waiting for when you folks arrive. Contact me if anything huge happens. Ironwood out."

The transmission was cut. Cordovin walked over to Maria.

"…I always wondered how you lost them" she looked at Maria's artificial eyes.

Maria hmph-ed. "My assailant took my eyes, I took her life. It might not have turned out that way if my attacker didn't have that Semblance of hers that let her temporarily supercharge her Aura Barrier. By the time her Semblance wore off, she'd already taken down my barrier, and then…" she sighed. "Still, just because I was blind, bleeding and panicking, didn't mean I was completely helpless. That was the last mistake she ever made."

Cordovin nodded. "I'll let you people know once we have a dropship ready. And if this 'package' is so important, perhaps a fighter or two as escort. In the meantime, you'd best try and get comfortable."

As most of the group sauntered away, Cordovin turned to Qrow. "I'll get you those resources to help you overcome your alcoholism as well; the fact that you actually want to quit will definitely help. …Hmm. You mentioned those two girls are the daughters of the rest of your old team. Was their father…"

"Huh? …No, no. Taiyang's not like that. He did everything right. But… Yang's mother turned out to be a selfish coward – abandoned her husband & daughter because she was too scared of the responsibility that came with being a parent, among other fears. Summer stuck around to help us raise Yang, she and Tai fell in love, they had Ruby, she was a great mom to both of them… and then she was killed in action."

"…I see why you were driven to drink, Mr. Branwen."

Meanwhile, the kids were in relatively high spirits.

"This is great!" Ruby said. "We're on the fast track to Atlas! All we gotta do is wait a few days and we're home free!"

"Hey, Ruby…" Yang spoke up. "Not to bring down the mood, but… I think there are some things we need to tell JNPPR about."

-Break-

Jaune's fist almost tore a hole through the wall.

"Salem is immortal" Nora said angrily, trying to wrap her head around it. "She's immortal thanks to a pair of gods, who made it so she can't die unless she learns some 'lesson' about the importance of life & death – a lesson she can't learn because of how her Grimmification has corrupted her mind & soul. And Ozpin didn't even have a plan until the DDF came along, and now it's just 'hope someone from the DDF can solve the problem'. …That about sums it up, is what you're saying."

"…Yeah" Ruby nodded. "Oh, and because of this being revealed and everyone turning on him, Oz has succumbed to despair and locked himself away deep in Oscar's mind and refuses to come out, so deep he can't even see or hear or feel anything Oscar does."

Pyrrha was shaken. "All this time, we thought… thought he had the answers… and he was just as lost as the rest of us?"

"It was all for nothing…" Jaune growled. "Everything we went through was to follow a 'plan' that didn't even exist!" He rounded on Oscar. "And sooner or later, the Oz-collective will consume Oscar and make him into that… that…"

"No… It won't" Oscar replied. "Because after everything we learned… I'd rather die than be consumed and made a part of Ozma. And that's why I've made an arrangement with Qrow: when the time has come and I'm about to stop being 'me', I'm going to have him kill me."

That shocked and horrified JNPR enough to douse their anger.

"…H-Hey, no" Jaune came closer. "Oscar… We'll figure something out. We're not gonna let you disappear, by death or by soul-Heart-whatever merger. We'll find some way…"

"Guys, come on" Ruby spoke up. "So Salem can't be killed in a conventional manner. That's not exactly new for the DDF! Heck, Dyspear was born from the collective despair of an entire kingdom, so she probably can't be killed in a normal way, either. And if Maleficent is ever killed – which, as a faery, isn't easy – all it takes is somebody to remember her, acknowledge that she existed, and she comes back from the dead. And Megatron may not be immortal, but as a Cybertronian he's a lot tougher to kill than any regular organic. This isn't a new problem for the DDF."

"Plus," Blake added, "the DDF have deities on their side, too. They might be able to find a way around the Brother Gods' curses."

"Right now, the biggest concern is keeping the Relics out of Salem & company's clutches, so she can't use them to bring the Brothers back 'early' when Remnant is still divided."

"…Right" Pyrrha nodded. "We need to buy as much time as we can for the rest of the DDF to put together a solution."

"Okay" Jaune said. "Okay… We'll take things one step at a time. So, what's our next move?"

"We could try to get a little more training in while we wait for a working dropship" Ren suggested.

"As good an idea as any" Maria replied as she walked in. "Ruby, meet me in the backyard."

Ruby followed the old woman into the backyard, the two of them sitting beneath the lemon tree.

"Now, then, let's discuss those eyes of yours. First, tell me what you know about them so far."

"Uh… Silver-Eyed people are supposed to be legendary Grimm-slaying warriors. Or something. And at the Fall of Beacon, I formed some kinda… field or barrier that killed lesser Grimm on contact and repelled the huge Wyvern."

Maria sighed, shaking her head.

"Look," Ruby pouted, "if I already knew everything I wouldn't be asking for help!"

"Calm down, calm down. It's not your fault. I had my father to teach me, and even he didn't have all the answers. But what he told me makes sense, given what I've seen."

"Was he a Huntsman, too?"

"It wasn't really an official title back in his day. I only knew him as an old soldier and an excellent teacher. I never attended one of those fancy academies of yours, but I scored higher on the license exam than any other Hunter that day."

Ruby smiled. "You must've been proud."

"Heh. He would've scolded me for showing off. He'd never been able to find much information about our abilities. Just legends of warriors whose eyes shone like mirrors, reflecting the light of the world onto darkness. He found so little, in fact, that it made him cautious. How could such powerful bloodlines be so rare? Unless something was actively seeking to destroy them…"

"Salem…"

"I tried to keep my powers a secret, but as you know, it wasn't enough. I owe my life to my training, and my Semblance. At the end of the day, those are still your most powerful tools."

"What is your Semblance?"

A lemon dropped from the tree above, and Maria reached out and caught it without looking, before it could hit the plate of fruit next to her.

"Preflexes!" the old woman replied. "A silly name I came up with. Hard to explain, but I can sense everything better than most and react to attacks almost before they happen. Combine that with my training and secret ability to turn Grimm to stone, or blind them, or vaporize them, and that's how you become the Grimm Reaper!"

"So… How do I laser-beam monsters with my eyeballs?!"

Maria promptly whacked Ruby over the head with her cane. "First, you stop thinking like that! I want you to think of all the times you've triggered your powers. What did those moments have in common?"

Ruby concentrated. "I… was scared and stressed. Is it emotional? Like unlocking a Semblance?"

"It's emotional, but more focused than that. Think: What is it you wanted?"

"…I wanted to protect my friends."

"Precisely! It is the desire to preserve life which fuels the light inside you. And make no mistake, it is light. Preservation is an extension of creation, or, at the very least, an enemy of destruction. The Creatures of Grimm were made by the God of Darkness, but your light comes from his brother."

"How do you know that?"

"I always knew how to use the light, but never why it only worked on the Grimm. Then, Jinn showed us her vision. Were you paying attention?"

Ruby gasped. "The God of Light… His eyes! Okay, where do we start?"

"Well, not here. The light will only work in the presence of creatures of Darkness, like the Grimm or those 'Heartless' I've been told about. Meaning the only practice you'll get will be a trial by fire. But, what you can do is focus on creating a state of mind that you can tap into when you need it. Don't think about your light as a means of destroying evil, but as a way to protect the people of Remnant."

Ruby nodded, taking Maria's words to heart, and she & Maria went back inside. …Unnoticed by either of them, a raven with dull-pink markings around his beady eyes took flight from atop the lemon tree, then vanished through a small Corridor of Darkness, returning to his mistress and her cohorts…

-CHAPTER END-

With how patriotic (nationalistic) Cordovin is, it's not unexpected that the word of General Ironwood would make her immediately make nice with the heroes if that's what he wants.