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Chapter 123: Beginning of the End
"Hey, she's gonna be okay man….the doctors say she's gonna wake up anytime now" Arctus felt Felix's hand on his shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze but the only sounds following the Lion Faunus's words were the rhythmic bleeps of several machines which Diamond had been fitted to as they monitored her vital signs, Arctus himself remaining silent as he stared at his partners' motionless form, not trusting himself to speak without weeping and shattering the flimsy facade of calm he'd managed to put in place.
The four of them had been moved from Halo Academy shortly after Ozymandias Eldritch had fallen from the edge of the heavily damaged campus; Goodwitch had stated that whilst the academy was currently airborne she would not take the risk of having students and medical staff return there. From the moment that Team FADE had been transported to a hospital within the city they had refused to leave Diamond's side despite their own injuries. All of them suffered several cuts, bruises and minor fractures that their Auras would attend to over the course of the next few days but Felix's skin was cracked and peeling all over his body and he had been left shivering as though freezing and barely clinging to consciousness for several hours after the hitherto unseen transformation had taken its' toll on his body. The left side of Eagle's face was a mess of deep purple bruises lined with sickly yellow and several of the blood vessels in her left eye had been ruptured by Ozymandias's final blow to her face. Arctus's abdomen was hidden beneath a layer of bandages, his belly having been stitched back together although it was certain that the Bear Faunus would carry another scar after this; he also had a cocktail of medications being pumped into his body through his left arm, the bag and pump being fitted to a wheeled stand after Arctus had informed the doctors in the bluntest possible terms that if they didn't make it portable then he would rip it out as he refused to be apart from Diamond, his own health be damned.
Diamond herself was covered beneath the fresh and impersonal white sheets of the hospital bed, though Arctus knew that beneath them her upper body was wrapped in layers of bandages and the remains of her left shoulder had already been fitted with a nerve cap intended to work with a future cybernetic limb; much like Arctus she was receiving several different forms of medication intravenously through her remaining arm and a clear oxygen mask over her face fogged with every breath she took.
Then, slowly her breathing began to change and her eyes began to dart around beneath her eyelids as the digital beeping of the machines monitoring her began to accelerate
"BIG GUY LOOK OUT!" her words were a panicked scream as she bolted upright, cherry red eyes wide and several sensors being pulled from her body and their attendant machines letting out warning sounds in response as she ripped the mask away from her face
"Hey, hey I'm here….It's gonna be okay, I promise it's gonna be okay" Arctus's voice cracked despite his best efforts to keep tears from falling as Diamond's face morphed through a dozen expressions as memories came rushing back to her and her entire body began to tremble as she caught sight of the empty space where her left arm should have been
"Oh my Oum, oh fuck, Arctus my arm, my arm" Arctus took her hand in both of hers and positioned himself gently on her bed and allowed Diamond to simply bury her face into his neck whilst both of them gave in to tears. The Bear Faunus heard Eagle start to say something, most likely about possible cybernetics though Felix quickly asked her to go and find Diamond's doctors and inform them of the developments, plainly remembering how little comfort such offers had given when he had lost his tail. Eventually Diamond pulled back, still shaking and taking deep and unsteady breaths
"What happened?" she demanded quickly, turning to Felix "Eagle got me and Arctus to medical, I blacked out….where are we?"
"The Summer Rose Memorial Hospital….apparently it was called that before Aunt Ruby donated a load of money to it" Felix began, his attempt at a smile utterly failing "We couldn't stay on the academy….I think Goodwitch might actually have to land it for repairs, but we won"
"Won?" Diamond breathed the word out incredulously, as though the very concept were ludicrous to her
"We helped to take down the Hydrakken, there are still a few pockets of Grimm scattered around the city but the situation on the ground is pretty much under control….A lot of the airships are forming a perimeter to make sure no more Grimm get drawn towards the city" Arctus paused for a moment before adding "Oz is gone"
"He fell" Felix chimed in.
"How long have I been out?" Diamond asked, everything about her voice making it clear that she was terrified of what the answer could be
"Almost a day" Arctus answered, resting her forehead against hers. Diamond struggled to find another question to ask, anything to keep herself talking and thinking about anything other than what was so inescapably wrong. Slowly she found herself melting back into Arctus's embrace and felt his heart hammering in his chest as if he had never left the battlefield, the horrors still playing in his mind
"I'm so sorry" he eventually croaked out "If I'd been faster, if you hadn't had to get me out of the way, if-"
"Don't do this Big Guy, please do don't do this" Diamond's voice was as fragile as his and Felix quickly that this was a moment that he needed to excuse himself from.
"I'm gonna catch up with Eagle" he offered "We need to find everyone else; everyone's scattered across the city" the exhausted Lion Faunus rose to his feet and trudged towards the door only for it to be flung open from the other side with enough force that he narrowly avoided being struck
"Diamond?" a pair of figures burst into the room and Diamond broke apart from Arctus just enough to take in the sight, though her hand never left his. There was no mistaking the cherry red eyes that she had inherited from her mother or the silvery grey hair she had inherited from her father as both of her parents burst into the room
"Mum, Dad?" she managed to ask in utter disbelief "How?"
"I'm a pilot and I've got contacts, I managed to get clearance to get through the blockade and…." Mercury's words trailed off as he saw the nature and extent of his daughters' injuries "No, no not my little girl" Emerald had rushed to Diamond's side in an instant
"What on Remnant happened?" she gasped, tears already spilling from her eyes "We heard you were injured but nobody could give us specifics so we came and-"
"Grimm" Diamond answered simply "Big one….But everything's gonna be okay, right?" Diamond's lip quivered for a moment before the calm and composed persona that she prided herself on keeping even in the worst of circumstances came crashing down around her and before she knew it she was bawling uncontrollably into Mercury's shoulder as her father wept along with her.
"Arctus, can-"
"I'm not leaving unless she asks me to" the Bear Faunus growled, seeming to sense what Emerald's question would be; the older woman who Arctus realised looked so much like her daughter screwed her eyes shut before speaking again
"I need you to give us some time with our daughter, please" Arctus quickly nodded in understanding
"Okay, I'm sorry….I'll go" with that he slunk out of the hospital room with no destination in mind, just desperate to be somewhere where this waking nightmare couldn't find him.
Despite her refusal to allow students back onto Halo Academies' campus until its' ongoing safety and structural integrity could be assured Glynda Goodwitch herself had returned to the aerial platform the moment she was able. She had been discharged, albeit begrundgingly from a hospital where legs had been set and placed in casts and she had been plied with Aura stimulants. The ageing Headmistress had then gathered a group of engineers to ensure that the hasty repairs made to the academies' power supply were enough to keep in airborne until such a time as it could land safely, along with staff from the hospital to collect the body of Professor Jasper Cimmerian whilst Goodwitch herself had made her way through the academy, alternating between using the crutches she had been provided and her Semblance levitating her own body to carry her along and allowed herself a small measure of relief upon seeing that the majority of the campus itself was undamaged until eventually she had reached her office.
She sunk into the familiar and comfortable chair behind her desk and took note of the blinking lights on her computer, a few pressed buttons began the process of rebooting the system and whilst she waited Glynda removed her glasses, they had been broken in her battle with Ozymandias and she was truthfully unsure why she had bothered to keep them. Her head sunk into her hands particularly damning fragments from the preliminary reports that she had forced herself to read flashed before her eyes, tragedies and failures described in the most uncompromisingly frank terms. Eventually Goodwitch heard the sound of her computer starting up and began entering the necessary authentication, breathing out a sigh of relief upon learning that the security measures that locked her office and rendered it all but immune to any form of eavesdropping were still in place and unaffected; they would have been unable to stop Ozymandias and Glynda doubted that they would be of any use to her now but they were comforting nonetheless. With only a moments' hesitation she began a video call to any members of the shadowy cabal that she was a founding member of, almost certain that at least one of her fellow protectors of Remnant would be monitoring this secure channel for any attempts to make contact.
"GLYNDA?" the uncommonly alarmed voice of General Winter Schnee gasped as she came flickering into view "I received word from the scientists attached to Specialist Donner that Halo Academy was evacuated, warships have been deployed-"
"Call them off, it's over….you're too late. Donner is dead" Glynda bowed her head solemnly and Winter visibly stiffened, the news hitting her like a physical blow
"I see" she managed to force the words out, though they were almost lost beneath the voice of a newcomer in the video call
"What the hell is going on?" a frantic looking Antonia Arc demanded "Penny is being sent to Atlas half dead for recovery and I just heard from Eagle, she says she fought Oz, I can't make contact with Qrow and all flights to New Vale have been cancelled, I need-"
"Arc!" Winter bit out more harshly than she intended
"Eldritch made his play" Glynda began, taking a moment to massage her temples and push through the dull throbbing pain in her skull as she chose her words "A three pronged attack, Project Legacy was sent to the home of Ruby Rose and Penny Polendina….From my understanding Project Legacy has been destroyed, though Qrow was severely injured in the process" Glynda saw Antonia's eyes dart away suddenly, perhaps the scientist knew more than she was saying.
"The second prong was to use vast quantities of Eco-Dust to destroy the perimeter around New Vale's Exclusion Zone and the Spawning Pit within, causing a large scale Grimm incursion which required deploying all available Hunters and allowed Eldritch himself to attack the academy in search of Pantheon….The Grimm was released and we have no way to track its' whereabouts" there was a tense silence between the three of them for a moment as Winter and Antonia processed the information. Eventually Goodwitch spoke again and this time her voice was harder and unforgiving
"Atlas owes this Kingdom a debt and I expect it to be paid Winter. You will inform the Atlesian Council that they will be sending resources to help us rebuild and paying restitutions to the families of those who fell"
"Glynda I understand that you're angry, but-"
"Let me make myself clear Winter" Goodwitch snapped "New Vale has had bled because of Atlesian terrorists and Atlesian secrets and so help my Oum if this isn't made right somehow I will see those icy rats' nests that Atlas calls cities dug out of the ground!" by the time she had finished ranting her knuckles were white and her acid green eyes furious; Antonia Arc visibly recoiled whilst Winter nodded solemnly and nodded in understanding whilst at the same time trying to comprehend that her colleague and long time friend had all but declared war.
"How many students?" she finally managed to ask and the way Goodwitch's head bowed was enough for Winter to know that the answer would be bad
"Almost every student is injured in some capacity; three teams are dead….First Year Team GLOW, Second Year Team VYLT and Third Year Team PSTL. Twelve dead students Winter, twelve children died because I sent them into battle-"
"Atlas will make restitutions" Winter murmured, swallowing a lump in her throat "And for what little it's worth, from one headmistress to another….I am sorry"
"I'll have assets sent from other branches to New Vale and begin production of the necessary cybernetics the moment I receive the information I need" Antonia chimed in, suddenly fidgeting nervously and Glynda knew that she was preparing to tackle the problem the only way she knew how, by keeping herself occupied and powering through it
"Pantheon's escape is unfortunate" Winter mused, almost quailing under the glare that Glynda treated her to "However the creature is most dangerous in conjunction with large amounts of Grimm….As the nearest Spawning Pit is now a sizeable distance from the city and Eldritch is dead it seems that the immediate crisis has passed"
"The entire Exclusion Zone is gone" Glynda mused "There's no Spawning Pit there any more….there's no reason that land can't be reclaimed; by Oum we could take back Beacon" a dozen possibilities seemed to present themselves to the headmistress in that moment; a new chapter in her Kingdoms' history was upon them and it seemed that the heroic sacrifices that her students had been forced to make would not be in vain.
"What about the Vytal Tournament?" Antonia asked, her own mind clearly racing just as much as Glynda's albeit in different directions "Should it be cancelled, or relocated to another Kingdom-"
"Vale will be ready" Goodwitch promised with a determined smile "Come what may Vale will be ready"
Arctus slumped against the tiled wall of one of the hospitals' many bathrooms wiping vomit from his chin whilst absently fiddling with the tube which pumped medication into his body, the supply seemed to be running low yet he couldn't quite bring himself to care in that moment. Felix and Eagle had departed, each of them searching for their loved ones who were scattered across the various hospitals within the city and Diamond was still with her parents whilst the Bear Faunus had been pacing aimlessly and desperately trying to force the images that flashed before his eyes every time he closed them at bay.
Without bothering to rise to his feet he withdrew his Scroll which had fortunately not been destroyed or lost power during the struggles of the previous day which to Arctus felt as though it were a lifetime ago and at the same time still happening, his fingers worked of their own accord as he started a video call to his mother
"Arctus, Arctus is that you? Oh thank Oum you're safe, I've heard-what's happened?" Weiss only had to look at her sons' numb expression and know that something had gone horribly wrong and she quickly turned to Coral, whose pincers had begun to clack with sudden anxiety the moment she saw her adopted bothers' haunted expression "Coral, go find Gangrel please" the Crab Faunus nodded silently and dashed out of the room, her footsteps fading into the distance before Weiss spoke again
"Arctus what happened?" her sons' attempt to speak was lost beneath a strangled sob and fresh tears spilling from his eyes
"Diamond….She was hurt, it's bad"
"Oh my Oum no" Weiss's tone was reduced to a hushed whisper and she found herself asking a question that she had hoped her son would never have to answer "Is she….Is she going to live" Arctus gave the barest of nods before forcing the next words out
"She lost her arm Mum"
"DIAMOND LOST AN ARM?" the frightened exclamation came from Athena-Jade who had obviously followed Gangrel into the room "ARCTUS YOU'RE ON A DRIP, WHAT HAPPENED?" she had obviously also spotted the tube pumping medication into him that Weiss had plainly seen but elected not to mention until her son was ready
"Gut wound" Arctus mumbled out "It's fine, don't worry about me, I'm-"
"Kinda hard not to kid" Gangrel noted, amber eyes filled with concern "Listen to me Arctus, Diamond's in good hands. She's gonna pull through"
"She lost an arm!" Athena repeated, seemingly horrified and dumbstruck by the idea that anything so awful could happen to her brothers' girlfriend, who was one of the coolest people the young Faunus had ever met; in response Gangrel simply gestured to his own cybernetic arm.
"I know you're not okay and it's a ridiculous question to ask" Weiss began and Arctus shook his head, understanding what she would say next
"I just, I can't….I don't know what to do Mum" he rested the back of his head against the bathroom wall and both Weiss and Gangrel saw their son visibly shaking
"When you come home-"
"I'm not coming home, I can't….Not now" Arctus interrupted Weiss, the idea of returning to Atlas grating to him in a way that he couldn't describe, though both of his parents seemed to understand
"You want to travel to Mistral?" Weiss asked gentle and Arctus merely nodded silently
"I'll send you anything you need from the manor" Gangrel offered "I've read some initial reports, I don't know how much of your stuff you'll actually be able to get from the academy before you leave"
"I thought you would have been too busy to be at home?" Arctus fought to keep the accusation out of his tone, though by Gangrel's expression it had still been keenly felt
"Eldritch is gone" the older Faunus said simply
"Felix's doing" Arctus nodded "I was too injured to-"
"You fought like a damn hero and I don't wanna hear different" Gangrel interrupted his son before that particular train of thought could gather momentum before returning to the initial topic "With Eldritch gone my request to be reassigned has been granted by Winter….I'm gonna organise Donner's funeral and then I'm leaving the Specialists; Chiffon is gonna take over"
"Dad's gonna be home every night from now on" Athena-Jade beamed, no amount of bad news enough to quite overshadow that fact for her
"What are you gonna be doing instead?" Arctus asked, oddly apprehensive
"The Combat Instructor at Atlas Academy is moving to Menagerie, gonna be working with Team CFVY to build an academy there….I'm gonna be a teacher" this was a step to far for Arctus, in his fragile emotional state such an absurd idea was enough to reduce him to full blown cackling, tears of laughter streaming down his face and wheezing as he struggled to catch his breath before he was done. Eventually he looked Gangrel in the eye and asked
"Dad you know that's still gonna involve paperwork right?" Gangrel merely snorted and shook his head whilst Weiss's face became serious
"Promise me you're going to take care of yourself while you're away" she wiped her eyes and sighed "You've been through a lot….all of you have"
"I promise" Arctus nodded slowly
"Now go find Diamond" Gangrel suggested simply "You're gonna need each other" the older Faunus's weary expression made it clear that he was speaking from experience in a way that even the presence of his own mechanical left arm, severed at the shoulder just like Diamond's didn't convey
"Yeah, yeah I'll do that" Arctus nodded "I love you"
"We love you to" the call was brought to an end and Arctus pulled himself to his feet, talking with people who understood had helped and although he knew it would be a long time before he could be described as okay, he at least felt capable of helping the people who mattered the most to him.
The sight that greeted Ruby as she stepped into Qrow's hospital room was one that brought tears to her eyes and her hands flying to her mouth.
"It's not that bad" Qrow, who seemed to be remaining conscious through sheer unwavering willpower drawled, his usual gruffness replaced by fatigue
"The doctors" Ruby swallowed a lump in her throat as she struggled to find the words "The doctors said that you're-"
"Yeah my ballet career is pretty much over" Qrow grunted and in an instant Ruby was at his side, flinging her arms around his shoulders
"Hey, easy kiddo….these old ribs and shoulders aren't what they used to be"
"You could have died, everyone could have died!" Ruby sobbed, wiping her eyes on her cape
"But we didn't…." Qrow's crimson eyes widened a fraction as he seemed to realise who was missing "Where's Penny"
"Unconscious and being shipped to Atlas….Nickel hurt her pretty badly but Antonia says she's gonna be okay" Ruby paused to wipe her eyes "Yang and Blake managed to get onto the mainland despite the blockade, Blake pulled some strings and they're gonna take the twins to Patch for a day or two"
"I don't think there's much Antonia can't do" Qrow sighed with a fond smile "I'm never gonna walk again but she's already promised me a work around"
"Qrow I am so sorry, I should-"
"This is on me kiddo" Qrow shook his head "All these secrets, this one came back and bit me. If I'd told you everything we knew about Project Legacy from the beginning we could have done things differently….It's all over now though"
"Maybe not, there's still a chance to do things differently" Ruby began, suddenly timid
"What?" Qrow breathed out, a single eyebrow raising as he regarded his niece; Ruby had no desire to utter her next words but after all she had raged against her uncles' secrecy to give him anything other than the truth would be cowardly
"Nickel isn't dead"
"She…..What, how?" Qrow demanded "Ruby you've gotta find her and-"
"She's in my basement" Ruby screwed her eyes shut and forced herself to continue "Penny all but begged me to save her after I ripped her power supply and self destruct system out….I've got her Aura generator hooked up to a power supply. She's basically comatose"
"Why the hell would Penny do that?" Qrow gasped out it utter disbelief
"She thinks she should be given a second chance….and despite everything I agree" Ruby answered "I don't know what was going through Doctor Polendina's head when he made Nickel, but all she's ever been to anyone is a weapon….I just don't think she should die without ever getting to be a person, she deserves that if nothing else-"
"She deserves to be in prison!" an appalled voice declared from behind them, both Qrow and Ruby turned to see Eagle, with a heavily bruised face and scuffed and dented armour standing in the doorway
"We're taking precautions" Ruby assured Eagle "We're going to bring her to Menagerie and she's going to be kept unconscious until your Mum and Penny can work out how to….I don't wanna say 'fix' her, but try and y'know-"
"That's not the problem here!" Eagle snapped "Ruby she's a literal killing machine-"
"And there isn't a prison on Remnant that could hold her if she woke up" Qrow cut across his daughters' protests "Keeping her locked away indefinitely is what started this whole mess, if we keep her in stasis forever then we run the risk of her getting out eventually….I don't like it but Ruby's right here, we've got two choices Eagle, we can try to rehabilitate her or we can kill her now. Which would you rather do?" Eagle folded her arms across her chest and glowered
"Fine, you're right"
"Uncle Qrow I'm gonna go, I need to be helping with the recovery….there are still small packs of Grimm in the city" with that Ruby gave her uncle a final hug and whatever lingering differences there had been between them seemed to melt away. Eagle watched Ruby leave before turning back to her father
"Dad?" her voice wavered and the brave voice that she'd been struggling to put on thus far crumbled as she hurried to Qrow's side "The doctors-"
"Eagle look at me" Qrow reached out and cupped her cheek "I haven't suffered anything that I wouldn't do again a hundred times for my family"
"But your back-"
"Is completely shattered and I'll never walk again" Qrow nodded, stating the facts flatly and without embellishment "Too much damage for an augmentation like Barty, but if that's the trade I have to make so that you and Felix, Ruby and Penny or the twins can be safe I'll do it again and again"
"When you get out of the hospital I'm gonna move in with you….If you want me to" Eagle offered "You're gonna need-"
"I've already got some new living arrangements in the works kiddo, everything's gonna be fine. But I appreciate the offer I really do" Qrow promised her and Eagle realised that he was attempting to keep up his own brave facade for his own sake as much as hers, the idea of what his life would be like from now on daunting to say the least
"Now are you gonna tell me who gave you that black eye so I can go pay their parents a visit?" he chuckled, reducing Eagle to peals of weak and watery laughter and for a brief moment the two of them allowed themselves to believe that things could go on as if nothing had changed.
"Mum, Mum I need to breathe" Felix gently tapped on Yang's back until she released him from the bone-crushing hug that he had been subjected to the moment that the blonde woman had seen him; no sooner had the Lion Faunus been freed from Yang's grasp than Blake had pulled him into a hug of her own as he tried to catch his breath, butting her head gently against his cheek in a familiar display of affection. Eventually being released again Felix quickly crouched down and spread his arms wide to allow Tai-Jaune and Summer Pyrrha to rush from behind Blake and Yang, throwing themselves at their cousin for yet more hugs.
"I heard you two were really brave?" he murmured softly as he gently ruffled twin masses of curly, copper coloured hair.
"Not as brave as Corey and Neffy" Summer mumbled to which Felix merely nodded silently.
"Where is Corey?" Blake asked quickly, eyes scanning their surroundings as if she expected to see her eldest child rounding a corner at any moment. The five of them had met close to the docks which had fortunately been left relatively unscathed by the waves of Grimm, with only a handful of flying monsters having made it this far out from the Exclusion Zone; Felix looked up and saw the airships hovering above the city with a plethora of fighters and transports swarming between them and whilst he couldn't see his sister he knew her to be present in the air somewhere, he had managed to make contact with both Corvid and Helios after leaving the hospital Diamond was being cared for in.
"Corey isn't gonna be joining us" Felix explained, realising that his sister had obviously left the task of explaining her choices to their parents to him "She says she's a qualified Hunter with or without her license so she's gonna stay here and help the cities' defences….Helios is gonna make his way to Patch as soon as he can, he's got something he needs to deal with first though"
"Oum damn it Corey….she could have told us" Blake sighed "Is she okay?"
"Physically, yeah" Felix nodded "But she's shaken up by Uncle Qrow…." Felix trailed off, the news that his Great Uncle had been gravely injured had come as a shock and he'd had to console a crying Eagle before she had departed for the hospital he was being cared for in.
"She's throwing herself into her work" Yang sighed, playfully nudging Blake as she added "I wonder who she picked that up from….What about you Felix, are you okay?"
"I will be" he breathed out after some consideration, though his gaze became distant and haunted as he added "My whole team are lucky to be alive, some people I've known for years weren't so lucky…..But I've gotta be okay, 'cos what's the other option right?" Yang and Blake both pulled Felix into another hug, this one far more gentle than the previous frantic and crushing embraces
"I see you got your new tail as well" Yang noted gently "Looks like it's got some interesting features"
"Yeah….would you believe me if I said it actually saved my life?"
"Fluffy, Yang….we should go" Blake sighed as she took Summer Pyrrha and Tai-Jaune by the hands and began leading them away "I had to call in a lot of favours to get us passed the blockade, but-"
"I um, actually need to wait a couple more minutes" Felix fidgeted uncomfortably and gestured to where a very familiar car had just pulled up in the distance; a trio of people were clambering out and the smallest among them, a young and bespectacled deer Faunus rocketed towards Felix only to be picked up off of the ground by the Lion Faunus
"Hey Astra, you okay?" Felix's half brother gave no verbal reply and merely buried his face in the older Faunus's neck; Myrtle Mars joined them a moment later, cupping Felix's cheeks and frantically asking him if he was okay.
Yang and Blake watched their son interact with his biological mother, both remaining silent though Blake's hand quickly found its' way into Yang's and squeezed gently
"We're sorry to keep you from getting home" Redwood mumbled to Blake and Yang, realising that they had most likely been attempting to leave "But Astra really needed to see his brother. I don't think he would have believed that Felix was safe until he did"
"It's fine, we understand" Yang nodded
"Oh and, um the car we came here in….it belongs to the blonde girl on Felix's team; so does this" the deer Faunus produced a shield that Blake and Yang both instantly recognised as Sentinel in its' dormant form
"We'll take them and see that they make their way back to Eagle" Yang promised, taking the proffered car keys and shield from him. The three of them remained in a silence that was peaceful, if frail as they watched Felix interact with Myrtle and Astra, the Lion Faunus introducing his half brother to his cousins.
"That car is something else….rocket launchers built into it and the shield turns into a turret" Redwood sighed, breaking the silence with a shake of the head "No way would Astra have made it to a shelter alone; I saw how many Grimm were out there….I could have lost my little boy yesterday" Redwood's voice cracked at the thought, a gruff and stereotypical blue collar worker he may have been but some things could not be endured stoically and despite the vast differences between them Yang rested a hand on the mans' shoulder
"It's over now and Astra's fine"
"And you have now idea how grateful I am for that" Redwood took a deep breath and a moment to steady himself as though his next words were something he were not quite prepared for "I got a good look at who the Hunters holding the line in front of the shelter we were in were….Kids, they were Oum damned kids and we were all hiding behind them, ready to let 'em die for us; that's not the kind of man I am-"
"You couldn't have fought those Grimm" Blake answered bluntly
"No but I should have done something, hell I should be doing something right now" another deep breath "I recognised them, Team NEON right? The redhead that Felix is dating and the Cat Faunus with the bushy tail, the one who Astra's a fan of…..Made me think, Faunus, human, whatever. When the Grimm are kicking the door down it doesn't make a damn difference does it. Blake, the Coalition are gonna be involved in putting the city back together right?"
"Definitely" Blake nodded, whilst she was yet to hear from Obsidian Eadala exactly what resources would be made available and how many workers from the Atlesian, Mistrali and Vaccuan branches of the organisation would sent to Vale to aid the Kingdom, as the head of the New Vale branch of the organisation Blake could unequivocally say that she would be diverting every available resource to the task of making New Vale safe again.
"Then where do you need me?" Redwood asked, seeing Blake and Yang's confused expressions he added "I've got a degree in engineering and I've spent twenty years experience taking ships and cars apart…..I can also get the dock workers unions who haven't joined up with you to do it"
"That would be…..helpful" Blake murmured slowly "Thank you" it was shocking but immeasurably welcome to see that real change could be made and whilst the cost had been unacceptably high and there were still important matters to be addressed between them both Blake and Redwood were ready and eager to build a better tomorrow for their families.
Corvid had needed to keep herself occupied, everything that had happened within the last twenty four hours conspiring to keep her mind racing in ways that she simply could not deal with at that moment and so, as soon as it had been possible to do so she had donned the Omega Wing, which whilst in need of repairs was still mercifully capable of flight and taken to the air; surging across New Vale's skyline until she reached the perimeter of warships that hung menacingly in the air above the city and picking out the battle-scarred form of an airship she recognised named the Tempest; the moment its' hangars had opened to deploy Bull-Heads Corvid had swooped inside and asked the stunned and frankly galled crew of the vessel to alert their captain, Dew Gayl that she had come aboard and was eager to help in any way possible. Captain Dew Gayl, alumni of Shade Academy and former member of Team NDGO had met Corvid before during a mission in Team CLIR's second year and this combined with other factors such as Captain Gayl having served with Team RWBY before, New Vale needing every resource it could spare at present and the older woman simply being impressed by by Corvid's tenacity had resulted in Corvid being given a detail and put to work patrolling the skies along with several small fighter craft.
A job she was still undertaking and frankly growing infuriated with.
It had been hours since the last Grimm had encroached upon what could be considered Corvid's area of control and all the thoughts and emotions that she was desperately trying to delay dealing with were making themselves harder to ignore with every passing minute until a casual downwards glance brought a small ferry to her attention; her eyes narrowed the cybernetic one whirring faintly as it did so, the blockade was largely an attempt to keep the Grimm at bay but it was intended to be total with a few politically required exceptions which this ferry was almost certainly not one of. Corvid was about to contact Dew Gayl and bring her attention to the vessel below before she caught sight of a familiar small car travelling aboard it and realised that it was the ferry that Blake's political clout had allowed for; quickly she drew her Scroll and sent a text message to Felix asking her brother to pass her love on to both of their mothers before she primed her the Omega Wings' rail-guns and kept a watchful eye out for any motion in the water around the ferry until it was out of range and she was forced to return to her uneventful scouring of the skies.
Just as her ceaselessly racing mind threatened to drive her to madness a further distraction was provided in the form of an approaching ship
"Easy people….they're with us, despite what they look like" Dew Gayl's distinctive Vaccuan drawl warned across all comm channels. It was a relatively small thing and yet it's design was somewhere between a freight vessel and a battleship, replete with several weapons and a small runway for a Bullhead to land or take off, in size was most likely the result of it being a scaled down prototype intended to serve as proof of a concept. The thing was clearly Atlesian in origin although its' once pristine minimalism had been stripped away and replaced by a mismatched patchwork of metals and paint-schemes where the once wrecked hulk had been rebuilt from whatever was available and the entire chimeric result had been covered over with a layer of painted glyphs and markings which whilst Corvid couldn't read she instantly recognised as the language of the tribes of Anima; to finish the image a mast had been bolted to the ships' deck and fitted with sails that served no practical purpose, instead they were a flagpole bearing a bloody red icon which declared that no quarter would be given to those who crossed those aboard this vessel.
The Nemesis Kharybdis had left the Broken Coast.
"Breaking formation" Corvid warned the Bull-Heads around her before muting and silencing her comms and diving towards the incoming ship without hesitation. She surged downwards and was momentarily confused by the quartet of Faunus seemingly already waiting for her on the deck as she landed, the Omega Wing peeling away from her body.
And then she saw Onyx and all other thoughts were pushed from her mind.
"I-" whatever the Puma Faunus wished to say was lost as Corvid gripped him by the front of his shirt and pulled him to a slow but fierce and demanding kiss, her hands wrapping around the back of his neck and her body melting into his as he kissed her in return
"I love you" she said simply as the broke apart, bringing a hand up to his lips as he attempted to speak again "I love you and that makes things complicated as hell but I don't care right now. I don't know how things are going to work between us but I want them to work, I want to try" Onyx's face split into a comically wide smile and his greenish yellow eyes shone with happiness as he hoisted Corvid into the air as though she were some treasure and pulled her close to his chest once again, his deep voice rumbling in Corvid's chest as he spoke
"Corvid I have loved you for as long as I have known you" he planted a gentle kiss atop her head "Take the furthest and most dangerous missions you can find, fly far from this Kingdom for as long as it takes for you to carve out a legacy….Know that I will be here when you return, always" Corvid's steely grey eye filled with tears as she buried herself into his chest for a few moments before the remaining members of Team GORE made their presence known, or more accurately there presence became unavoidable as Marauder let out an ear-splitting shriek as he swooped down from the skies to land on Hellion's armoured forearm
"Uh, hey" Corvid fidgeted in an awkward way that she was unaccustomed to, unsure how to act after such a public baring of her soul and quickly changing the subject even as Onyx's massive and padded hand closed around hers
"I spoke with Eagle….She's gonna need some moral support as soon as you're free" Corvid informed Hellion "Her Dad, my Great Uncle Qrow….He was hurt"
"Thank you for telling me" Hellion nodded, Dragonfly wings buzzing "If I'd known I would have stayed behind when our teams went their separate ways"
"You were needed here" Carcharodon rasped "This vessel is automated but I will never trust a machine before my scout"
"With a ship like this you don't have to worry though" Corvid paused and winked at Onyx before delivering her punchline "You can see danger coming and just say Frigate"
"Xiao Long I can tolerate you coming aboard my ship without asking for permission just this once but I draw the line at your puns" the Shark Faunus rasped out, yet his stoic facade cracked for a moment and the smile upon his face was soft and warm; a rare and genuine smile as opposed to a baring of fangs and Corvid realised that Carcharodon had attempted a joke, which reminded her of something she needed to do
"I'm assuming you told Team FADE that you were heading for your ship?"
"We did" Carcharodon nodded "Grimm will come from the water, the battle in the city will draw them"
"That'll be why Felix asked me to pass this on to Raffia then….He says thanks for catching him" the Axolotl Faunus, who thus far had not deigned to join the conversation turned towards Corvid who was shocked to see his face crudely stitched together above and below the left eye in a way that had clearly been done by his team-mates rather than a doctor, closing a wound that he had received that would give him his permanent scar since discovering his Semblance
"For me?" he demanded incredulously, Corvid reached over to the Omega Wing which hovered beside her in its' aerial drone form and plucked a small bag which hung from beneath it. Felix had given Corvid the bag when they had met each other and said simply that it was for the Axolotl Faunus, that it was intended as a thank you and that he would understand; Corvid threw the bag to Raffia who regarded it suspiciously for a moment before opening it and immediately giving in to a fit of his distinctive demented laughter and plucking out the contents.
It was a pirate hat, taken from a particularly cheap looking costume
"Oh this is spectacular, exactly as promised!" Raffia declared as he donned the hat with an exaggerated flourish "I cannot believe I would ever say these words….I think I can just about stomach being a Huntsman and a hero after all"
"Small things for small minds I suppose" Onyx rumbled, Corvid gave no verbal response and simply pulled him into another kiss.
"You didn't have to join me" Syneffo murmured to Helios who stood beside her, the setting sun glinting off of their armour as it painted the sky red and gold behind that countless pillars of smoke that rose from the fresh wounds carved into the city of New Vale.
"Of course I did….I remember the last time you were here" Helios chuckled and earned himself a playful swat from his sister. The two of them had reached New Vale's inter-Kingdom airship terminal where, despite the blockade which was expected to last for at least another day or two a private airship had been charted specifically for Syneffo from New Vale to Mistral's Capital City of Anquan-Jia where an emissary from the Nikosi tribe would be waiting. Apparently upon learning of a second large scale attack on New Vale in a short period of time the Mistrali Council had honoured the terms of some long standing agreement between the tribe and the Kingdom to arrange safe passage for any members of the Nikosi who wished to return home; from what Helios could gather there had initially been some resistance of the part of New Vale to honour this agreement which they declared that they had no part in until Kataigida Nikos herself had stated in the bluntest imaginable terms that failure to comply and return her daughter to her would be taken as an act of war and the entire might of the Anima tribal diaspora would be levelled against the Kingdom.
All of this was irrelevant to Helios as he stared first at the airship terminal and then back to his sister, whose bags he was carrying. He promptly dropped them and flung his arms around her
"I know this Kingdom isn't to your tastes Syneffo" he chuckled, his voice oddly fragile "But it's going to be strange to be without you….And I don't know when I'll see you again" that revelation shocked Syneffo, she had almost allowed herself to forget that her brother had chosen to live apart from the tribe and her body stiffened with her as she was reminded
"You could come with me" she offered, voice shaking "I know it's selfish to ask but damn it Helios you're a Nikosi….you belong with us and if I could command you to come home then I would"
"I'd disobey that command" Helios said simply, ruffling his sisters' hair gently as the two broke apart "My place is here"
"I'm going to miss you" Syneffo mumbled weakly
"And I'm going to miss you too" Helios nodded "And mother….and my hounds, take care of them all for me, let them know that I carry them with me wherever I am"
"Of course" Syneffo nodded "And give my regards to Ruby and Penny and all of your friends who tried to make me feel welcome here….I have been an insufferable blight on their lives-"
"And I can assure you that they've loved every second of it" the elder Nikosi laughed. Syneffo looked uncertain of herself and upon seeing this Helios rested his hands on her shoulders, his vivid green eyes meeting her shimmering silver as he spoke firmly
"One day, when the time is right you will go on to do great an unimaginable things….The future of the Nikosi is in the safest possible hands and I am so proud of you" Syneffo dragged her brother into a hug that made his armour creak and the taller redhead hiss in pain at the sensation of pressure on his ribs which had been bruised in battle.
"Just promise me that this isn't a goodbye" Syneffo sniffed
"I promise, we will meet again" Helios assured her and with a final goodbye, spoken in the ancient tongue of the Anima tribes the two broke apart; Syneffo taking her bags and making her way into the airship terminal. Helios watched a tear and was filled with indescribable pride as he watched her leave, New Vale had despite its' complications made them both the people they were always meant to be and he could not be more happy.
By the time night had fallen over the city of New Vale Officer Fawn Bordeaux had managed to work herself into a state of near manic paranoia. Within an hour of her capturing Rhodium Torchwick the gangsters' frantic claims that Ozymandias Eldritch was planning something within the Exclusion Zone had been given credence and sirens had begun to wail as calls to arms went out across the city.
Fawn had made no effort to answer them.
Instead she had disabled the tracking device within her patrol car and promptly placed enough dead weight on the accelerator to send the car itself careening into a building several miles away from where Torchwick and Eldritch had shared their base of operations and watch as the wrecked vehicle caught fire; intending to explain to her superiors that her patrol car had been destroyed in an encounter with the Grimm and that she had been unable to rendezvous with the larger effort to push back the monsters that had once again invaded the Kingdom.
Torchwick himself had naturally been removed from the trunk of the patrol car before Fawn had destroyed it, the Mastiff Faunus had kept the Aura dampening collar around his neck firmly in place and kept Rhodium unconscious with a series of blows to the head as she stuffed him into the back of a nondescript white van that she had hastily procured for this purpose and then proceeded to wait for further instructions; her patience wearing thinner with each passing moment as the urge to simply take her shotgun, drag Torchwick out of the van and execute him there and then became almost too much to ignore until finally, after an entire day of laying low and remaining unseen she had received word from Hie 'Junior' Xiong.
"Don't move, don't make a sound" Fawn snarled as she heard her prisoner stirring behind her once again, Rhodium let out a few pained groans but otherwise complied and she paid him no mind as she drove the van through the upper reaches of one of New Vale's Hive Towers. Making her way from the lower reaches of the city towards her current destination had been enlightening in a horrifying way as it revealed to her the true scope of the damage; the areas closest to the Exclusion Zone which had been sealed off to create a perimeter were all but entirely ruined with several of the Hive Towers in the area still aflame and threatening to collapse under their own weight, from there the damage spread outwards into the rest of the city like roots or veins and was highlighted in places where a fighter, large Grimm or in several dreadful cases entire warships had crashed into the gargantuan structures and laid waste to everything around them.
But as was seemingly always the case, the richest of New Vale seemed to have been spared the consequences. Few Grimm if any had reached the gated communities which Fawn now drove through and the only real indication that anything was amiss was that the interior lighting which mimicked a day and night cycle within the Hive Towers had been deactivated and replaced with harsh and glaring emergency lighting. Fawn paid little mind to the cities' plight however and focused her attention on what was to come as she brought the van to a halt outside of a small mansion built into the confines of the Hive Tower, the path to its' entrance flanked by several statues of towering and powerful bears.
Fawn hopped out of the van and readied her shotgun whilst giving a nod of recognition to the armed guards flanking the mansions' entrance; they opened the door as the Faunus made her way to the back of the van and dragged a struggling Rhodium Torchwick out, realisation crossed his face and he desperately tried to break free of his captors' grasp but with his hands cuffed behind his back and his Aura nullified it was utterly futile and Fawn calmly and silently led him inside and through the darkened hallways of the mansion to the room that Fawn had frequented several times before.
"Mister Xiong has been looking forward to this meeting" Fawn snarled as she opened the door and dragged Torchwick inside then quickly threw him to the floor "Don't get up" she warned as she pressed the barrel of her weapon against his back.
The room was entirely Spartan and devoid of decoration with the exception of plastic sheets adorning the walls and floor which had obviously been laid in preparation for what was to come and a single chair in which sat the hulking form of Junior himself
"You know who I am and you know why we're all here" Junior rumbled as he rose to his full imposing height and hefted a baseball bat, behind Torchwick Fawn grabbed him roughly by the shoulders and dragged him onto his knees; irritably fidgeting as she waited for the vengeance that she had waited years for to finally be administered, yet Junior merely examined the baseball bat a while longer before he spoke again.
"You know, I've spent months planning how I'm gonna kill you Rhodey….I've been planning how I was gonna make you scream and cry for your mama worse than your friend Vert did, he died like a coward y'know. But honestly I don' think I can come up with a way to hurt you enough to make up for what you did to my Melanie" Junior set the baseball bat down and the briefest and faintest spark of hope could be seen in Torchwick's eyes, only to be snuffed out by the older mobsters' next words "I don't need to kill you Rhodey….I just need to watch you die, Bordeaux he's all yours, do the honours"
"Any last words?" Fawn chuckled evilly as she cocked her shotgun. Torchwick took a single shuddering breath before he answered
"Same thing I told your brother; I fucking hate cops"
The shotguns' booming report sounded twice and Torchwick's lifeless body collapsed forwards with a pool of blood rapidly forming around him.
"Bastard" Fawn's knuckles popped as she gripped the smoking shotgun tighter, Torchwick's last words having been enough to get under her skin and rob some of her sense of victory from her leaving her too furious and distracted to notice when Junior produced an oversized and distinctive pistol from his pocket and fired.
"I still love this thing" he declared as the forcefield fired by Aegis Thunder reduced Torchwick's body to nothing by a rapidly dissipating red mist, ensuring that any and all evidence of what had transpired could be removed by a simple thorough cleaning of the room.
"So what now?" Fawn asked after a few tense moments
"I keep my end of a deal" Junior shrugged "Someone's gotta run this city and I can make you untouchable….This seems like something my top enforcer should have" the Mastiff Faunus was taken aback when Junior casually tossed Aegis Thunder to her and she was left silently examining the weapon which had once belonged to an Atlesian Specialist for a few seconds. Fawn's mind raced as she contemplated that after everything she had done to see her brothers' murderer brought to justice that she had become nothing more than another crook, taking orders and table scraps from a man who was no different from Torchwick.
"This calls for a drink, I've got a bottle of-" Junior never even saw Fawn move and in an instant she had raised Aegis Thunder and fired; Hie Junior Xiong vanished as his body was simply unmade by the moving forcefield that surged towards him.
"You have the right to remain silent" Fawn grinned as she offered the quip to the now empty room before pocketing the weapon and walking away.
Despite all odds he was alive.
Ozymandias's remaining eye flickered open and he let out several agonised gasps as he tried to force air into lungs that felt as though they had been shredded by fragments of ribs that were clearly broken in countless places and the corrupted Wizard could not feel his legs at all; the unnatural powers that had saved him having proven incapable of healing his ruined body in the time that he had been unconscious.
Continuing to force himself to breathe despite the pain and his bodies' apparent unwillingness to comply he peered up at the night sky the aerial platform which housed Halo Academy that he had fallen from hovering tauntingly above him; yet it was as broken and scarred as he was with its' propulsion systems sparking and guttering unevenly and a quartet of massive airships connected to it by a series of impossibly large anchors and cables which both transferred additional power into the gravity defying platform and served to keep it from crashing should its' damaged systems fail entirely.
Then the sound of powerful wings beating reached Ozymandias's ears and a sense of elated anticipation sprung within the Wizards' belly as a vast dark shape soared into view and dove downwards. The ground shook as it landed and as if encouraged by the Grimm's presence the powers of the Wizard sprung into life, knitting Ozymandias's ruined body together enough for him to drag himself to his feet, albeit agonisingly slowly until he could finally see Pantheon in all their glory, the Sentient Grimm having recovered from the wounds that had been inflicted on them.
"I see you found me my child" the voice that escaped Eldritch's cracked and bleeding lips was not his own, instead it was that of the feminine voice which had whispered its' plans and urges into the mans' mind until it had finally broken and bent to her will; hearing the voice brought an immediate change over Pantheon, the Grimm plunged Flesh-Seeker into the ground and tucked their wings flat along their back as they stooped into a low and reverent bow
"Mother" they whispered, an odd sound from such a terrifying creature which continued to sound like countless distorted and tortured voices speaking in unison. Ozymandias, or more accurately the being speaking through the man gazed at their blasted and ruined surroundings within what had been the Exclusion Zone and relish the feeling of their plans finally coming to fruition before speaking again.
"It's time, you know what to do my child" Pantheon nodded slightly, without ever raising their bowed head before turning their scythe like upper limbs towards their own armoured and streamlined chest before plunging them inwards. A snarl of pain escaped Pantheon as they tore open their own ribcage to reveal the deep violet crystal of condensed Grimm matter that the Atlesian scientists studying the monster had sought to experiment upon; even as their chest began to rapidly heal and close the wound Pantheon reached one of their more humanoid lower arms into the chest cavity to touch crystal, closing around its' surface and forcefully breaking a jagged chunk of it away and taking a moment to allow their body to recover.
They then proceeded to plunge the jagged chunk of ancient and condensed Grimm matter directly into Ozymandias's heart, piercing his heart.
The changes that overcame Ozymandias's body were immediate and horrifying to behold; the man that had been Ozymandias Eldritch died almost instantly as his body decayed into a blackened and skeletal form within a fraction of a second. The shard of fossilised Grimm tissue burst open and began to weave itself around the bones which glowed with the poisonous green light of the Wizards' power, veins of Grimm tissue crawled along the bones and bloomed into pulsating tissue which began to shape itself over the course of several minutes until finally, with a shriek of agony a new being stood before Pantheon.
She appeared different in this incarnation, appearing younger and yet still unfathomably timeless. Her flesh was the purest alabaster and covered with layers of Grimm tissue that that had sculpted themselves to resemble fabrics; long and slender legs were wrapped in flowing skirts and robes that reached to her calves and revealed that she was barefoot whilst upper body was encased in something that resembled armour of the deepest shade of black, hugging her figure in a way that made it clear that it was in fact not a separate item. Her forearms and hands were hidden beneath armoured gauntlets that extended her fingers into cruel and grasping talons whilst inky black veins course from the point where armour met flesh and trailed along her shoulders, neck and back which was left visible as she no longer wore any form of robes or cape; instead obsidian Grimm matter sprouted from her shoulder-blades and formed uneven, wing like appendages which formed a single crescent shape and were littered with fragments of chitinous bone armour that served to give her the appearance of having a shattered moon growing from her back. Her face was largely unchanged though perhaps her cheeks were more hollowed and gaunt; her chalky white and tied back hair now cascaded over her shoulders in a series of twisting braids that seemed to move with a mind of their own whilst the familiar gem of pure midnight rose to the surface of her forehead and as the transformation was completed her abyssal eyes regained their glowing crimson irises; all in all her reincarnated form took the appearance of some nightmarish warrior Goddess and as Pantheon bowed before her once again it seemed a fitting comparison.
She had waited for this moment since the Wizard and the Silver Eyed Warrior had conspired to tear her from the natural flow of time and leave her stranded in the moments between moments but now she was finally free.
Salem, the Mother of Grimm had returned to Remnant.
Authors Notes:
And THAT LADIES, GENTLEMEN AND OTHERS IS HOW YOU END ON A CLIFFHANGER!"
So, Vol.9 is done, Third Year is done and I have finally, finally got to write the big reveal I've been holding onto since 2017.
We're now three quarters of the way through the story; three arc left to write and I need you to understand that the rules have changed now, we're heading into final battle territory and characters can and almost certainly will die.
I've got a rough plan for Vol.10 written down but I still need to plan out the volume chapter by chapter so I apologise if there's a week or so hiatus while I get things done, but don't be surprised by it.
Anyway, let's summarise shall we:
Just going straight for the jugular with the feels this time.
So Felix's Super Balrog Form has an even bigger come down than the original which is fair.
Yeah there was no way that Arctus was gonna be kept in a separate room to Diamond under any circumstances.
I imagine that those connection points for cybernetics get added as soon as possible after an injury.
Look Eagle means well, but come on she did jump straight to telling Felix that they could replace his tail and it didn't help.
There better be something named after Summer somewhere in Remnant.
There was no way that Mercury would let something like a little blockade stop him from getting into the Kingdom.
So, PTSD all round….Dig in, don't be shy we brought enough for everybody.
Yeah Halo Academy is actually gonna have to land at some point.
Of course broken legs aren't gonna stop Goodwitch, she can use her telekinetic Semblance on herself.
Of course Penny has been sent to Atlas to be patched up, that's not something Ruby could do at home.
And of course Antonia knows more than she's saying, if Ruby can't patch up Penny she can't patch up Nickel either.
I know somebody is gonna think Glynda was being too harsh to Winter there but….twelve dead students, twelve families that Glynda has to explain things to on top of the dead Hunters, soldiers, police officers, countless wounded and the massive damage to the city all because of what was essentially Atlas being unable to handle it's own shit internally.
It's a thin silver lining but it is there, there's now a lot of land available and a massive threat to New Vale has been removed.
So for Fourth Year New Vale is playing host to the Vytal Tournament….in theory.
Oof, that's gonna be a lot of therapy for Arctus….hell for Team FADE as a whole; Halo might need to hire some more therapists, Neptune is gonna have a lot on his plate.
I think Athena-Jade is all of us sometimes….Or at least she speaks for my readers who privately message me to ask what, precisely the fuck is wrong with me.
Yeah, Diamond and Gang both lost the same arm at the same place…..Weiss also has a scar along her belly from the battle of Menagerie, so Arctus and Diamond are out here inheriting wounds.
So Arctus is finally gonna be spending a summer in Mistral with Diamond.
Gangrel is now "Out of the loop" and is gonna be working as a professor/combat instructor at Atlas Academy….Although Winter will almost certainly throw some rules out the window to keep him informed if she needs him.
"Yeah my ballet career is pretty much over" well yeah that's one way to put it; Antonia is gonna hook him up though, think Pietro's walker-chair from Vol.7….but more spidery; there's also his Crow form to consider.
So yeah, Nickel is gonna be out of commission but she's being kept in the back pocket in case of me needing something absolutely epic; Ruby had to have that talk with Qrow before she left as well.
Qrow makes a valid point and Eagle is never gonna be okay with premeditated murder.
Qrow has some new living arrangements….Now I'm sure at least one of you can look at who's dead and out of commission and read between the lines to figure it out.
I know the whole blockade seems like more and more of a joke with every person that gets across it but a) it's more intended for Grimm and b) Blake lives within Vale's territory and has a lot of political clout.
People were doing a lot of darting around all over the city behind the scenes this chapter.
Corey is baby Blake, confirmed yet again.
Someone had to pickup Sentinel and the Lightning Bug and it would be weird if Myrtle and Astra didn't search for Felix as soon as possible,
So Redwood is becoming less of a twat.
So Dew Gayl is actually one of Qrow/Winter/Goodwitch's operatives and I actually gave serious consideration to having her ship be one of the ones that the Hydrakken took down.
So Nemesis Kharybdis is up and running and ready to patrol New Vale's coastline….They're not flying the stereotypical pirate flag either, they're flying the "Bloody Red"
AIR-RAID SHIPPERS, COME GET Y'ALL JUICE!
So yeah, Team GORE obviously left the hospital as soon as Team FADE were admitted so that they could get their ship ready.
"Just say frigate"…..I needed to write a Corvid pun this chapter, okay?
Raffia now has a facial scar, because his Aura was depleted and he kept on fighting….Proof that he can be wounded.
Felix promised Raffia a pirate hat and there it is….Everyone is getting wardrobe updates in Vol.10 and I think the pirate hat is gonna have to be part of Raffia's new look.
So yeah Syneffo's going home….which basically means that both Silver Eyed Warriors are gonna be absent in Fourth Year, right when the Kingdom needs them the most.
The Nikosi are one of the larger and more powerful tribes on Anima, if Helios and Syneffo's Mum sent out a call to arms most of the other tribes would answer it; hell Team GORE might be forced to if there were some long standing treaties between the two of them.
New Vale looks pretty damn wrecked, but it'll all fix
I'm sure you all knew how this was going to end for Torchwick.
Rhodium died with a shotgun blast to the back, the exact same way Roman did in The Downward Spiral….The bleakest case of like father like son.
I've known that Rhodium's last words were gonna be "I fucking hate cops" since I unwittingly made it his catchphrase.
Junior dying as well was a decision that I made a lot later but it fits….Stop doing business with unhinged people.
At this point New Vale's criminal underground is free to be taken over; Fawn just killed the two biggest players.
"You have the right to remain silent" I honestly did not plan that line, I just needed a closer for the scene and it came to me as I was writing it.
No body no death and we didn't see Ozymandias die; you knew this was coming.
And this is what we've been building to since First Year, that's what the fossilised Grimm tissue in Pantheon's chest was for, this is who the feminine voice was, this is the 'Mother' that both Pantheon and Phobos spoke to, this was Ozymandias's plan all along. This is what I've been building to since 2017 and I am STILL not done, I've got more tricks left to show you…..What if I said we're gonna get multiversal in the final quarter?
I wanted reincarnated Salem to have a different look and I took a lot of inspiration from the Mortal Kombat 11 character "Cetrion" to give her the warrior Goddess vibe; she actually does have a rock formation floating behind her kind of like wings, I just added Grimm tissue and shaped them like a crescent moon….And it's not just for decoration.
Thank you to SumoSnipe, Funlander, Ferrous and LDOLDAL for their reviews on the last chapter.
I know but it's anime logic and rule of cool dictates.
Grabbing is great in a one on one but if you're getting swamped then you're gonna need to let go to hit the other three at some point, throwing them across the room and keeping the group separated might actually be smarter.
The thing with how hot Felix burns is still up in the air, he's hot enough to burn and weaken Nickel but then look at Yang's Semblance; she grabbed Adam's sword and the heat didn't seem to transfer into it all…..There's still an open question as to whether Aura fire is magic and how it works which is don't want to fall back on it too much.
He could have phased Pantheon's tail into the floor (He's done it before to another Grimm) but on an aerial platform like Halo how thick is the floor? Pantheon could have ripped it free again, or just cut their own tail off which they're definitely smart enough to do.
Together, together, together indeed; soul to soul contact.
I mean Nickel is currently comatose, her power supply is fucked so she's had to be hooked up to an external one, she has no Booster left in the tank and both of her arm mounted weapons are gone.
Oz aint dead yet…..Well yes, but also no.
You thought I outdid myself with the reveals last time, but no I had more.
Congrats on catching up, don't worry I have more.
As always thank you to everyone that reads this, with a special thanks to those of you that follow, favourite and review.