RWBY & All associated trademarks are property of Rooster Teeth (RIP Monty Oum)
I claim no ownership of anything except my own original characters.
I am making no money from this.
Chapter 125: Graduation Day
Butterflies fluttered and swarmed in Corvid Xiao Long's stomach and no amount of reputation for coolness or affected unflappable persona could hope to cover up the tempest of emotions that her head currently played host to.
The day had finally come.
Today Corvid along with Team CLIR as a whole and their fellow students would graduate Halo Academy and receive their Hunter Licenses. She had awoken soon after the break of dawn and had been shortly thereafter joined by Helios who routinely woke up long before the others to train, often making breakfast for the family that had taken him in, much to Blake and Yang's approval despite the many times that they had told him that he didn't have to. It was a testament to just how nervous Corvid was that she couldn't find it within herself to torment the redhead with whom her younger brother was plainly smitten; instead Helios had spoken to her about a rite of passage that all members of the Nikosi were expect to complete at the age of fifteen and which had made him an adult in the eyes of his people long before he had first come to New Vale, the story had been distracting enough to allow her to forget, if only for a while that her time as a student was over and that she would soon be making her way out into the world.
Before long her mothers and brother had awoken and the five of them had managed to share a breakfast together before Taiyang arrived; pulling his eldest Granddaughter into a hug of the bone-crushing variety that was the hallmark of the Xiao Long family before explaining that he would be the one driving them to all to Halo Academy as there was simply nowhere else on Remnant he would rather be than at Corvid's graduation and that the rusting but undeniably resilient jeep which he had once used to patrol the island of Patch as a Hunter, whilst older than Corvid herself would be a more sensible way to travel than she and Felix balancing behind their mothers on the backs of their respective motorbikes; a sentiment which Yang and Blake had agreed with, though not without some well meaning bickering.
Presently Corvid was dragged from her own cluttered and chaotic thoughts by a gentle tap on her shoulder
"We'll be there in a few minutes" Yang informed her, she and Felix flanked her on either side of the jeeps' back seat whilst Blake was discussing politics with Tai as he drove. Corvid looked passed Yang and took a glimpse of the streets that they were currently driving through; in her opinion it was fortunate that they had passed through what she supposed could considered the borders of New Vale itself as she had seen enough of the damage that been inflicted upon the city over the summer to ensure that she would never forget it, though their current locale could hardly be said to be any better. They had crossed the threshold of what had, until mere weeks ago been the Exclusion Zone and the streets that they passed through were a ghostly and haunting reminder of the Kingdoms' past with more recent additions in the form of warning signs and cordons indicating which areas of the newly reopened territory were officially cleared of Grimm; Corvid remembered her own initiation and the formation of Team CLIR in these very ruined streets what seemed like lifetime ago, she also remembered bringing Felix here with his own team so that they could earn some easy Lien, Corvid would openly admit that she had far more respect for the place now even if the monsters that dwelt within it were largely gone.
Then Halo Academy itself came into view.
It seemed far larger from this angle and Corvid couldn't help but let out a low whistle which Felix let out a silent nod in agreement with. In the space which the Spawning Pit which had produced the Hydrakken had once occupied an unspeakably large docking system for the airborne campus had been erected, a monolith of steel and girders comparable in size to a sports stadium even without the mass of the campus sitting atop it; freshly resurfaced roads and newly made ramps led up to newly opened entrances in the exterior of the campus which was surrounded by cranes, elevators and miles of fencing; behind which construction and engineering crews swarmed over the surface of the academy. It was bittersweet knowing that the campus which had been her home for the last few years would rise again, better than ever before but being acutely aware that she would most likely not see it again for a very long time; Felix gave her an understanding and gentle smile before winking mischievously and murmuring
"You wanna go graffiti your dorm after the ceremony? Just so the next students to get it know that it was yours?" Corvid chuckled and swatted her brothers' arm playfully
"You're joking right? Goodwitch would drag the entire airship I'm on back from halfway to Menagerie with her Semblance alone just to make me scrub it off"
"If she didn't I'd bring you back by your ear" Yang assured her children in the sternest tone she could muster before bursting out laughing as Taiyang glanced over his shoulder to give her a disbelieving stare, no doubt about to remind his daughter of some instance or other of her acting out at school. The joking and conversation continued, allowing Corvid to distract herself until Taiyang brought his jeep to a stop within Halo Academies' parking lot, which was currently filled with many vehicles that Felix realised as he clambered out that he didn't recognise, though there was at least one which he did and its' presence brought a smile to his face
"It's a shame Beacon didn't have on sight parking like this until I after Team STRQ graduated" Taiyang muttered "Would you believe Hie Xiong got caught trying to steal a Third Year students' car from where it was parked a few streets away back when I was a First Year" the tale made everyone present laugh, all present forgetting for a few moments that the mob boss turned politician had been declared missing ever since the battle of New Vale. A few moments later Corvid, Felix, Blake, Yang and Taiyang had all made their way out onto the upper layer of the grounded anti-gravity platform which housed the campus itself and Felix was immensely relieved to see that the evidence of his climactic battle with Ozymandias Eldritch had been erased, in truth he had been worried about being forced to relive the experience though he still found a lump forming in his throat at the sight of several new plinths which stood in parallel lines flanking the yellow brick road which led to the main entrance; golden statues of the students who had given their lives were not yet made but would soon stand alongside those dedicated to the students of Beacon Academy who had fallen in the war against Salem.
Then a distraction came.
Felix had known Eagle was present from the moment he had seen the Lightning Bug parked below, yet it seemed Corvid had failed to notice the compact car judging by the look of utter surprise she wore as Eagle swooped low in her avian form before shifting back into her true self in a flash of pure white Aura and sprinting the last few steps before throwing her arms around her
"Oh my Oum congratulations, I can't believe this is actually happening, remember Team FADE's first year were Team CLIR kicked the crap out of us in class? It's crazy it feels like it was forever ago but still feels like it was only a week ago y'know" Eagle's words fell out of her at an inhuman, chattering rate; as though they would vanish if she didn't get them out as quickly as possible.
"I'm gonna miss you too" Corvid laughed, returning the hug for a moment before catching sight of Penny and Ruby drawing close with Summer Pyrrha and Tai-Jaune close by, the twins seemingly playing tag with Sentinel who trundled along beside them.
"Salutations!" Penny beamed and Corvid, along with every other member of the family present was pleased to see that the copper haired android was almost entirely repaired from the injuries inflicted on her by Nickel with only a handful of ruptured blood-vessels and a slight discolouration that would soon fade marring the recently replaced parts of her synthetic flesh indicating that anything had ever been amiss,
"Didn't think we'd miss this did ya? Rover and Artemis are covering our shift on the perimeter wall for us" Ruby smirked, reaching up to ruffle Corvid's hair, her expression faltering for a moment as she added "Sorry Uncle Qrow couldn't be here, medical thing….it couldn't wait"
"I get it….how is he?" Corvid shrugged, Ruby and her family had spent much of the summer in Qrow's home in no small part due to the damage that had been done to their own.
"He's good" Ruby assured her "And don't worry we're gonna record the whole ceremony, he's proud of you"
"We all are Corey" Blake added, gently butting her head against her daughters' cheek. Corey swallowed thickly and in a moment of particularly bleak humour found herself grateful that she only had one eye left to cry with as it suddenly became watery. Mercifully she saw a familiar burnished gold cybernetic arm glinting in the summer sun close by and realised that not only was Iris here with both of her parents who had clearly put their differences aside in spite of the occasion but Lux and Rusty were also with them; surrounded by Lux's parents and extended family though Rusty's mother was, as expected nowhere to be seen.
"Come on, you guys wanna meet my teams' folks?" she suggested before leading the way towards the rest of Team CLIR.
The future was before her and Corvid Xiao Long would meet it with unwavering determination and a team made of the best friends she could ever ask for at her side.
If there was one silver lining to be found in the aftermath of the destruction of the Exclusion Zone Corporal James Garland of the New Vale military defence force would have argued unequivocally that it was that the Kingdom of Atlas had been as good as their word and thrown the full force of the industriousness and the ingenuity that the natives of the icy Kingdom were known for into helping New Vale to rebuild. Impossibly vast amounts of construction materials and equipment had been shipped over and one could scarcely drive through the city without seeing the relief effort in progress, entire Hive Towers were encased in scaffolding whilst modified airships and transports lowered materials into place and massive cranes filled the spaces between the monolithic towers like moss protruding from cracks in pavement; Atlas had also greatly helped in the defence of the city as well, it seemed that almost all of the graduating class of Atlas Academy had applied for jobs in New Vale whilst General Schnee had provided an entire battalion of Atlas Knights alongside countless soldiers, engineers and others whose expertise would be needed whilst also commissioning several new warships to replace those which had been destroyed.
It would take years to rebuild, but in the meantime Corporal Garland could enjoy the new toys Atlas had provided.
The Atlesian Squire was a smaller, lighter and more manoeuvrable take on the Paladin unit intended for close quarters and urban combat, a cockpit which vaguely resembled that of a fighter craft which was left with no shielding or protection beyond a roll-cage attached to a power supply which thrummed reassuringly and powerful and oversized yet somehow spindly limbs whose limited armour left their pistons and gears on display to give the vehicle an almost skeletal appearance, its' legs ended in wide-set, three toed feet and its' arms featured what could best be described as mining drills in place of hands with heavy duty machine guns mounted on the backs of the arms and a powerful laser weapon mounted on the back which reached over the cockpit. For Corporal Garland the Atlesian Squire represented the future, he had been promoted from Private First Class upon becoming part of the first detachment of New Vale's military to pilot the vehicles and realised that his current detail of being placed in charge of a small section of the cities' perimeter wall, commanding a group of Atlesian robots and other soldiers was simply him being prepared for a more senior commanding role.
More importantly to him at the moment however, the Atlas Squire was the only thing between Corporal Garland and the Grimm that were trying to kill him.
"How the hell did they get this close without being seen?" a Private Second Class demanded frightfully as they emptied their magazine into the face of a Beowolf a moment before it could pounce on him, quickly collapsing behind a pile of sandbags for cover on trembling legs.
"Less talking more shooting, keep the gate covered!" Garland barked over the comms and he pinned a Beowolf to the ground before utterly eviscerating it with the melee weapons of his vehicle whilst at the same time using its' laser to gun down another. They had received word of the attack when the driver of a truck bringing a Dust shipment in from one of the outer settlements had called ahead to say that that he could see the Grimm in front of him, Garland had reasoned that they couldn't simply close the gate without leaving the driver and their shipment at the mercy of the monsters so he had instead chosen to meet the challenge head on.
The Atlesian Knights had even managed to bring down a Grimm before being mauled beyond recognition, which had seemed like a good omen at the time
"Sir the Beowolves are going down but there's something else approaching" another of Garland's squad warned him, a sniper who had maintained her position on the perimeter wall to provide cover fire
"Where the hell is the Hunter we called for?" he demanded
"Inbound sir" she replied, her voice betraying the faintest hint of nerves; Garland quickly looked ahead and used the long range viewfinders of his vehicle to get a better look at the incoming Grimm, bile rising in his throat at the sight of the things' bulbous and segmented body, the abdomen of the insectoid Grimm visibly pulsating and tipped with a long tapering stinger of some sort, whilst its' body was seemingly comprised of thick and fibrous black hairs with the exception of wings which buzzed at speeds that rendered them invisible and its' bone covered skull.
"What the fuck is that thing?" Garland muttered to himself before snapping orders out to his underlings "Cover each other and bring the last of these mutts down, send word along the wall in case any of the pack broke off….I'm gonna go squash a bug" with that the Atlesian Squire thundered along the open road and Garland aimed the machine guns directly at the Grimm which resembled some sort of fly and fired, only to be alarmed when it weaved around the streams of gunfire with almost lazy ease. Remembering that there were civilian vehicles close behind the Grimm he decided to handle the situation at close range rather than risk friendly fire and pushed his vehicle to its' limits; the Atlesian Squire charged and collided which the Grimm and visibly stunned it for a moment and Garland let out a roar of triumph
Then his blood ran cold as the thing latched onto the cockpit and he felt the sensation of hair brushing against his cheek as one of the Grimm's legs slipped through the roll-cage that protected him; the Corporal may have considered himself a brave man but he would never pretend that the sound which escaped him was anything other than a whimper. Quickly he began thrashing with the Squire's arms, desperately trying to rip the insectoid monster way and successfully managed to rip several of its' legs and a wing to shreds yet the thing continued, seemingly undeterred as it lined its' bulbous and pulsating abdomen up with the cockpit and drove its' stinger inside.
Garland screamed in pain as the stinger-like protrusion tore into his left shoulder and almost vomited as the things' body visibly contracted as though it were pumping something into him. His hands slipped from the controls and his vision became blurry until, just as it seemed that there was no hope left for him to cling to a comet of golden light, wreathed in crackling golden lightning struck the Grimm with a dull boom as the sound barrier was broken; the Grimm exploded with the impact and the Squire was flung aside in the process.
Garland's vision was still blurry when a man with the tail of a husky strode towards the downed mech, lightning still crackling around him as he removed the gunmetal coloured and featureless mask he wore to reveal light brown skin and a full beard
"What's your name soldier?"
"Garland" he hissed out through clenched teeth, the pain and realisation of just how much blood he was losing suddenly hitting him "Corporal James Garland"
"Rover Tan" the Husky Faunus replied, clearly an effort to keep the solider taking and conscious "Medical evac is inbound, you're gonna be fine….you got people to go home to?"
"Got a wife, just moved off base" Garland informed him before his tone turned accusatory "What the hell took you so long if you're so damn fast?"
"Graduation day" Rover chuckled "A lot of people booked it off to see family leave the academy" Garland fought urge to grumble and complain further, though he didn't entirely manage to keep the bitter sarcasm from his words as he retorted
"Well good for them"
Corvid stood in a line of students which spanned the length of the stage in Halo Academies' amphitheatre behind Professor Goodwitch who stood at a podium overlooking the assembled crowd; around the edge of the stage were the professors with a small open space in their ranks to mark where Professor Jasper Cimmerian would have stood; the sight of the missing man formation brought a lump to Corvid's throat which she quickly willed herself to swallow. Looking away she found her own parents in the crowd and suddenly found herself fighting not to let out a bemused giggle; Blake had been the one to cry on both Corvid and Felix's first days of school and Corvid had expected today to be similar yet now it was Yang who had tears of pride and joy streaming down her face. There had also been a private moment between Yang and her father as the crowd had been ushered inside where they had paid their respects to Raven Branwen at the golden stature erected in her memory, both of them wishing that she had been able to see her grandchildren grow; certain of the fact that she would have adored them.
"Before we begin with the graduation ceremony proper" Goodwitch's voice was as stern and demanding as ever, effortlessly commanding the presence of all who heard her even as Corvid noted a rare hint of emotion in in "There are others who must be honoured first….whilst none of them were old enough to have graduated from this academy both I and my peers in the council of New Vale feel it only proper to present full Hunters' licenses and the medal of honour and conspicuous valour to each member of Team VYLT, Team GLOW and Team PSTL"
Now Corvid was crying, utterly unashamed of the fact as she wiped her remaining eye and saluted to the parents of each of the twelve students younger than herself who had died defending the city; daring to look at her fellow graduates she realised that she was hardly alone in that regard and that many of the students she had shared classes with for the last four years still bore the scars from that battle, the rabbit Faunus named Carat who lead Team CAMO whom Corvid had briefly dated in her First Year during the Vytal Tournament in Mistral had lost part of one of the rabbit ears adorning his skull and his right cheek had seemingly received a skin graft at some point whilst Venenum Smoke of Team SMKE now sported a cybernetic right leg.
"And now for Teams CAMO, CLIR, CHRM and SMKE" Goodwitch spoke again, the applause offered to those parents receiving rewards in their children's stead dying down "The road you have travelled since you first stood in this amphitheatre has been far from easy; each of you have faced down monsters and terrors that those outside of our honoured calling will never know and will sleep better in their ignorance. You have given of yourselves defending both this Kingdom and Remnant as a whole. Even as students each of you have displayed the behaviour, bravery and moral character that exemplify what it means to be a Hunter and it is my honour and my pleasure to announce that each of you have graduated from Halo Academy with flying colours and that I have no doubt that each of you will go on to do many more great things….Team CAMO, step forward to receive your Hunters' licenses"
Corvid cheered for her old friends, she may have been the first to do so but truthfully she wasn't sure all that mattered was that a moment later the entire hall echoed with the sound of thunderous applause and cheering which would have seemed out of place if it were offered to those who had fallen; Corvid watched as each of the first team to graduate received by physical and digital copies of their licenses and shook hands with Professor Goodwitch as an equal before seeking out their favourite teachers, Maroon a mammoth of a man who served as the muscle of the team openly bawling as he pulled Nora into a hug and thanked her for believing in him since First Year.
Then they left the stage and Corvid's heart hammered, blood pounding in her ears with the Headmistress's next words
"Team CLIR, step forward to receive your Hunters' licenses" Corvid was numb as she stepped forward, flanked by her team yet as she reached the podium she found her eyes honing in on a lone figure at the back of the amphitheatre who gave her a wave which brought a bright smile to her face. The next few moments were almost dreamlike, Corvid felt Rusty slap her back as the digital license stored on her scroll was changed from student status to 'Active, Class B' with Team CLIR having been allowed to bypass the customary post-graduate Class C due to both their experience and the nature of the mission they had been offered. She felt Iris wrap her cybernetic arm around her and give Corvid a playful spin as she received her own license; seconds later she had shaken hands with Professor Goodwitch and offered hugs to both Nora and the Professor of engineering who oversaw the campus workshop and who Corvid was sure she given no end of headaches over the years.
Then Team CLIR had exited the stage and Corvid's attempt to walk deliberately but slowly soon gave into a full sprint as he raced to the back of the amphitheatre to throw herself at the person who was waiting there for her
"Did you really think I'd be anywhere else today?" Onyx's voice rumbled in her chest as she locked her legs around him and slung her arms around his neck "You earned this and I'm proud of you"
"You made me wait" Corvid reared back just enough to treat him to a mocking pout "So shut up and kiss me" the Puma Faunus happily obliged and Corvid gently lowered her feet back onto the floor and cupped his cheeks as he kissed her slowly and deeply, one hand at her waist and the other running through her hair
Until the sound of a throat being cleared brought them both to their senses.
"So, you gonna introduce us?" Yang snorted as she folded her arms across her chest, wearing a bemused expression. Beside her Blake shook her head and laughed to herself as she muttered something about young love whilst Felix hung onto Lux and Eagle's shoulders as he and Eagle along with Corvid's team-mates howled with laughter; a condition only worsened by the fact that Summer Pyrrha and Tai-Jaune were openly miming vomiting in response to the display of affection.
"Um, yeah….yeah" Corvid stammered, her usual confidence taking a moment to reassert itself "Blake, Yang this is Onyx; we're um….yeah we've been dating for a while actually it just took as a while to make it official. Onyx, meet my Mums"
"It's an honour" the towering Faunus bowed his head to them both
"Well we've still got plenty of time to get to know each other" Taiyang spoke up
"Granddad Team CLIR fly out tomorrow"
"We know" Tai assured her "But I asked Ruby and Penny to push their flights back to a little later in the day and Helios is actually with Nyanza, Sun and Amethyst getting Miltia's bar for a graduation party; your team and their families are all invited….Come on Corey, you didn't really think we were just gonna let you leave home without a proper send-off?"
"Oh my Oum, you guys!" Corvid wrapped her arms around Taiyang's neck and once again found herself almost overcome with emotions and somewhat annoyingly found herself utterly bereft of any suitable puns to use in this situation.
Late afternoon was slowly fading into evening though the late summer sun would still not set for several more hours, Penny and Ruby however had already returned home from Patch after spending some time with their family as they had final preparations to make before leaving for Menagerie the next day.
Penny and Ruby, knowing just how much that Corvid had always looked up to the copper haired android ever since she had first been adopted by Blake and Yang had presented their niece with a gift that moved her tears and left her hugging them so tightly that Penny's internal structure had groaned under the strain. The swords which Penny wielded that doubled as laser pistols were evidently not the same swords that had formed part of her photon accelerator, all but one of those weapons had been scrapped along with her original body whilst Ruby, after picking it up form the stadium floor during the battle of Vale had carried the sole surviving sword for over twenty years and today, after much discussion between them they had given it to Corvid with the simple explanation that it was in case she ever found herself without the Omega Wing.
Soon after they had departed back to the mainland and the twins were currently at Qrow's house along with the ageing and now crippled Huntsman himself and Ruby who had been flitting between Qrow's home and her own with the use of her Semblance, loading suitcases, boxes and bags of their families belongings into the back of their Bull-Head before quickly making a final pass of the Rose family home which still bore heavy damage from Nickel's attack to ensure that no favourite toys or photo albums would be left behind.
Penny however had remained in the basement for several hours
"You're sure about this" Antonia Arc asked as she leaned over the shoulder of the android who had once considered her an older sister, though the scientist understood and respected that their relationship had been damaged by the circumstances that had led them to this point and would likely never fully recover.
"Entirely" Penny nodded without looking at Antonia "I'm not going to kill her whilst she's deactivated….that's what you're really asking isn't it?" Antonia looked away but made no effort to refute the claim
"I'm sure my parents and my sisters, even Eagle would all call it dishonourable"
"And cowardly" Penny added calmly as she turned back to her work. The two of them had been working on an Atlesian steel container, roughly five and a half feet in height attached to an impressive external power supply and lit from within whilst several displays and monitors mounted to the exterior of the freshly made stasis pod revealed that the container was functioning as expected, it's opened canopy revealed the occupant to be none other than Nickel Polendina; the rogue android had been repaired though Penny had been sure to leave both her built-in weapons and the system that allowed her to process the drug known as Booster deactivated; her hair had grown longer over the summer and the platinum dye that Nickel had used to hide her natural copper only reached from the tips of her hair to just below her jawline.
She looked oddly peaceful.
"I deserved that" Antonia sighed "I know I deserved that and I know that we're never going to go back to you being my dorky adopted sister….I just need to know that you've thought this through completely; there aren't enough Hunters to stop her if she goes rogue on Menagerie, it'll be a massacre-"
"She won't" Penny answered forcefully "She's going to have a life of her own because it's the first time that it's ever been an option. It's the first time she's ever been a person to someone and not just a thing"
"You know you've never been just a tool, you know that right?" Antonia asked, her voiced wavering as she saw Penny's insistence for the crisis of faith in her own personhood that it was and realised just how severe it was
"Then why was I an obsolete model rather than an older sibling….and what difference is there between Nickel and myself that makes her a machine and me a person, other than convenience?" Antonia quailed under Penny's harsh glare and found herself unable to give any answer that didn't require rambling about hypothetical vagueness, so instead she simply acted.
"Stasis pod's sealed, all readings are normal" she stated flatly as she closed the armour plated canopy of the pod "Arc reactor readings are nominal, with the Eco-Dust powering it you should be able to keep her stable for at least another twenty years….I really hope you're right Penny and I hope it doesn't take that long"
"Sensational" Penny nodded as she hefted the stasis pod and carried out of the basement, where Antonia knew that it would be secured inside of the android's Bull-Head for transport. The scientist remained there for a moment wondering if between her daughter, Penny and Qrow as well as always being the odd duck amongst her family of warriors there were any personal relationships in her life which she hadn't ruined somehow.
"Thank you for your help Antonia" Penny's voice called down from the stairs leading to the basement felt unmistakably like a dismissal "Not just with this, it's sensational what you're doing for Qrow….it means more than Ruby can say"
"I'm just fixing my own mistakes" Antonia sighed as she ascended the stairs, voice wavering as she asked a question whose answer she feared "This is goodbye then?" Penny stared at her for a moment, the obvious answer refusing to come. She had been lied to and her family put at risk by conspiracies which Antonia had a hand in and frankly she wished to remove every trace of Atlas from her memories, the Kingdom in which she had been made had never felt less like home to her; yet she realised that if she could forgive Nickel for her actions, regardless of the circumstances then her stance towards Antonia, who had been one of the first living humans she had encountered and had never once treated her as less than a person was simply unfair
"For now" Penny finally corrected "It's goodbye for now….feelings are complicated"
"That they are" Antonia laughed, unable to stop herself as she pulled Penny into a brief hug "And I'm sorry for being a bad role model in that regard"
The Black Bear bar, which had once belonged to Hie Junior Xiong when the mobster had temporarily relocated to Patch after the fall of Vale was simply alive with activity; whilst many of Corvid's graduating class from Signal Academy had gone into lines of work that did not require a full Hunters' License two of them had studied at Haven Academy and somehow managed to find flights that would bring them home, with members of both of their teams that same day whilst another had studied at Shade Academy in Vaccuo meaning that by the time the sun had finally dipped between the horizon four graduation parties were in full swing, with the newly qualified Hunters having been carried around Miltia Malachite's bar on the shoulders of their old Signal class-mates shoulders and practically doused in champagne when a bottle had been opened to celebrate.
Currently however Corvid had found a secluded table in the corner of the bar with Onyx and was fighting the urge to climb into his lap and kiss him until he needed air as she knew that Blake and Yang would be joining them any moment, she could see them being served by Amethyst who at eighteen years old was finally old enough to work at her parents bar, despite the fact that she had been doing so for years already.
"I think Blake dislikes me" Onyx noted, Corvid turned away from where Felix and Helios were dancing whilst some of her brothers' old school friends including Grease Thunderbird of Team GRAY tried to cheer up an unhappy Nyanza
"What? Nah Blake likes you….she's just not as loud about it as Yang" she assured the Puma Faunus, both of them sharing a look and laughing to themselves at the memory of Yang immediately challenging Onyx, who was in fact the first person Corvid had dated seriously enough to bring home to an arm-wrestling competition; which Felix had proceeded to make a substantial amount of Lien by betting on.
"I'm honestly glad we're doing this" she continued, murmuring softly as she leaned in to Onyx's side "Going….Public" Onyx merely rolled his eyes at the pun and wrapped an arm around Corvid's shoulders, utterly content.
Then he felt a strong hand clamp down on his shoulder, hard enough to bruise
"Stand up. Don't reach for the axe" Onyx glanced at Jotun Fang which had been unslung from his back and was currently propped against the wall within easy reach; he rose and turned to face a blonde and tanned Monkey Faunus who wore an open shirt which displayed his muscular chest and arms; his appearance would have been more intimidating were Onyx not a little over six and a half feet tall and comfortably able to loom over the man
"Sun what the hell man?" Corvid demanded
"Sorry about this Corey but it's gotta be done" Sun turned to Onyx "You've been in this bar haven't you, started a fight a that got out of hand and threw a few pint glasses around?" Onyx saw that all eyes were on them and with the exception of the music which still played the entire bar had fallen deathly silent; he flashed a wide smile and gave a low rumbling chuckle
"It was three years ago, you're still mad about that?" a faint smattering of laughter throughout the bar did little to break the tension and Sun's narrowing eyes informed Onyx that he had said exactly the wrong thing
"Well my daughter still has a scar on her face, so yeah I'm still mad" he never saw Sun move, he was just aware of blinding pain in his jaw and a deafening chorus of 'Oohs' 'Aahs' and assorted cheers and jeering as he collided with his and Corvid's table, then collapsed to the floor; spitting out a mouthful of blood contained a broken tooth as he struggled to right himself.
The bar erupted into mayhem as Felix seized Sun around the waist and physically dragged him several paces back, the Monkey Faunus blindly flung an elbow back to free himself, entirely unaware of who it was that had grabbed him which in turn caused Yang to pin her former classmate against a wall with a warning glare.
Silence fell across the bar in a wave as Miltia's clawed gauntlet sunk into the surface of the bar with a resounding thud.
"Next person to throw a punch gets fucking skinned alive!" she bellowed, immediately bringing order to her bar once again and Corvid was suddenly reminded that was the twin sister of Melanie Malachite, the one time undisputed ruler of New Vale's criminal underworld
"Corey" she barked "Scrape your boyfriend off the floor and get him out of my bar….Next round is on the house everyone, the party's still going!" Corvid helped Onyx off of the floor and led the bloodied Faunus towards the exit, silently mouthing to Blake, who seemed to have been moving into position to throttle anyone who harmed Yang that they should stay and enjoy the party.
"You okay?" she asked as she led Onyx out into the fresh night air which couldn't quite be described as cool.
"Never better" he chuckled, only slurring his words slightly as his Aura flickered into life and stemmed the bleeding from the missing tooth that due to his Faunus heritage he would regrow over the next few weeks.
"I cannot believe that happened….and damn it, you've missed the last ferry" Corvid sighed "You think Car will bring the Nemesis over for you?"
"Would you want to see his reaction to what just happened?" Onyx chuckled "How about we have our own party?" the two of them had only taken a few steps away from the bar and Corvid heard his answer with a smirk already forming on her lips.
Seconds later Onyx's back hit the wall of a nearby alley way and Corvid's lips and teeth were put to work on his neck as she fumbled with his belt; in response the towering Faunus quickly took charge of the situation, grasping at her rear and hoisting her up to kiss and bite at her lip before pinning her against the wall whilst her legs wrapped around him. Corvid let out a gasp of pleasure that swiftly devolved into mewling whimpers as Onyx's hand slipped beneath her tank-top, his padded thumb ghosting over her nipple as he roughly grabbed at her breast whilst he kissed at her neck.
"Wait, wait stop" Corvid panted out, Onyx pulled back yet she remained wrapped around him and gave him a sultry look
"Why the fuck are we doing this in alley?" she demanded "Come on, my place is gonna be empty for at least a few more hours…..it's my last night in New Vale I wanna fuck you until I forget how lonely Menagerie is gonna be" Onyx kissed her fiercely and gave a low purr of pleasure before allowing himself to led away.
Corporal James Garland of the New Vale military defence force had discharged himself from the care of the chief medical base that he was stationed at. Whilst he did not have the Aura reserves of a Hunter or the control over his own Aura required to manifest it as a shield it was unlocked and the injury he had received from the Grimm had already begun to heal at an accelerated rate, it had been disconcerting to learn from his commanding officer that the bulbous and cumbersome insectoid monster he had encountered was not something that could be readily identified though blood tests revealed that despite its' pulsating abdomen the things' stinger hadn't injected any kind of poison or acid into body.
The solider walked through the streets of the Hive Tower that was his home, he had moved off base to live with his wife whom he had married only a few months prior to the attack on the city and found himself grumbling about both the possible risk to his career prospects that the damage the Atlesian Squire unit he piloted had received could represent and the consequences of the battle of New Vale as he went; the environmental controls in this part of the tower were not operating at full capacity and the heat was sweltering, his wife had taken the car that morning and the monorail station nearest to their home was currently being rebuilt which had added a considerable amount of time to his daily commute.
He tried to tell himself that the additional travelling in overcrowded carriages and walk through the inhospitable climate of the damaged Hive Tower were the reason for the sweat which dripped from his brow and plastered his clothes to his body uncomfortably; even as a deep and primal terror coiled in his gut told him that he should never have left the hospital.
"It's fine" he muttered to himself as he wiped the sweat away again with a hand that trembled and felt a shiver pass through his body despite the heat; he forced his concerns aside and reassured himself by remembering that it was not uncommon for those with weak or locked Auras to suffer medical conditions which often manifested as a bad case of the flu, he had seen it happen often enough over the last few years owing to the apparent increase in Grimm activity around the Kingdom.
Eventually he saw his home and allowed himself a sigh of relief which was abruptly interrupted by a coughing fit and sudden chest pains that sent waves of tingling numbness out to the tips of his extremities.
"Fuck it I'll talk to the doc tomorrow, get some antibiotics for it" Garland muttered as he drew close to his front door, both the lights already on and the car parked on the curb outside informing him that his wife was already home.
No sooner had he opened the front door than another wave of chest pains, this one utterly dwarfing the last left him staggering though the doorway and struggling not to vomit in response to the blinding agony as the pain reached lower and it felt as though his innards were being forcefully rearranged; the sound of him slamming the door shut behind him brought his wife rushing into the hallway
"James, James are you okay?"
"Don't touch me" he held up a hand to warn her "Something stung me at work, I think I'm coming down with a case of Grimm pox or something, I don't know if it's contagious-" He doubled over and dry heaved as his stomach cramped painfully
"James you need a doctor right now!" his wife cried, terrified by the sight of her husbands' skin becoming puffy and inflamed as black veins crept and burrowed their way across his body in a display that was clearly unbearably painful
"Yeah, yeah you're right" he ground out, looking at her and revealing that several blood vessels in his eyes had burst "Call an am-"
Corporal James Garland of the New Vale military defence force exploded.
His wife let out a piercing scream at the sight of his body seemingly being torn apart by a single fluid and jerking motion from within; blood and gore painting the walls and pooling on the floor as his torso was sundered. Her scream guttered out and gave way to terrified and desperate hyperventilating as she saw several writhing forms in her husbands' remains; tubular and bulbous bodies which tapered to a narrow tail tipped with a small stinger, small heads with hungry and glowing read eyes adorning a pitch black body covered in bone armour so new that it was still translucent and hardening.
Maggot Grimm, dozens of the things which each grew at an impossible speed, having already reached the size of a persons' arm and showed no signs of stopping.
The deceased soldiers' wife let out another horrified scream, only to realise her mistake as the swarm of Grimm turned their attention towards her and began advancing towards her.
"Still can't believe you turned our ride into a clown car" Rusty muttered, earning himself a rude hand gesture in response which was playfully returned. Team CLIR's Bull-Head, the aptly named 'Old Unreliable' had been given a paint-job which was primarily a particularly eye-catching shade of yellow with large sections of the front of the craft and wings painted a vibrant electric blue in an incredibly stylised flame pattern with further details and highlights all across the hull picked out in acid green and magenta.
It was an unspeakably jarring collision of colours that Corvid had somehow managed to avoid making look ugly and she was proud of her work.
Currently she sat in the rear of the craft, Rusty, Lux and Iris had packed everything they intended to bring with them to Menagerie weeks ago and Corvid had brought her friends' belonging to Patch and stored them in the Bull-Head meaning that they were ready to leave as soon they had awoken after having spent the night sleeping at the Xiao Long family home. Looking into the cockpit from her current position sitting on a stack of suitcases and polishing the sword that had once belonged to her Aunt Penny she could see Iris focusing intently as she piloted their personal transport as though it were the most delicate and precious thing on Remnant whilst beside her Rusty had taken his customary seat in the co-pilot and gunners' chair and Lux had managed to fill an inordinate amount of space in the cockpit as he draped himself lazily across his fiancé like a spoiled house-cat.
Corvid found herself wearing a soft smile, she tired, excited, more than a little sore and entirely at peace.
She and Onyx had made love more times than she cared to count before her family had returned home the previous evening, leaving bite marks and scratches on each others bodies and breaking both the frame of Corvid's bed and the wall nearest to it in the process before falling asleep still wrapped around each other as close as physically possible. Fortunately neither of her parents had thought to check in on her before going to bed themselves, unfortunately however both Blake and Yang seemed to be of the understanding that Onyx had returned to the mainland ad Corvid had been in no mood to disabuse them of that notion; which had led to a failed attempt to sneak Onyx out of the house through a bedroom window, only to be caught as he tried to avoid detection by hiding under Old Unreliable. Corvid had been mortified, Onyx had awkwardly tried to excuse himself from the situation whilst Blake, Yang, Felix and the rest of Team CLIR had found the situation utterly hilarious; eventually however the teasing had given way to a final tearful goodbye where she promised her family that she would speak to them as often as possible and that she would stay safe on her mission, promised Felix that she would convert all of Menagerie to fans of Team FADE by the time the Vytal Tournament began and told Onyx that she loved him, promising the Puma Faunus that she would contact him as soon as possible.
"There's the airship" Iris announced and Corvid promptly hopped to her feet and made her way into the cockpit, collapsing her new sword as she did so. The vessel that would carry them to Menagerie was a massive one, a civilian liner capable of housing several hundred people as well as enough luggage for each of them to start their lives from scratch and any vehicles they may own, including Bull-Heads. Currently it hung in the air above the terminal it had departed from allowing any passengers who, like Team CLIR needed to dock their own smaller aircraft inside of it before departure.
"This is the airship Journeyman to the transport approaching from our six; say again this is Journeyman to the airship with the….um interesting paint job" Rusty gave Corvid a pointed look which she ignored as she answered
"This is Corvid Xiao Long of Team CLIR, we're bound for menagerie please check your records and open a docking bay for us" there were a few moments of silence before the captain of the airship spoke again, giving Corvid the distinct impression that were sitting a little straighter as they did so
"Welcome aboard Team CLIR and congratulations on your graduation. Ruby Rose is currently docked in hangar one and is expecting your arrival" the unmistakable feeling of butterflies filled Corvid's stomach as she watched a docking bay towards the rear of the airship slide open and the massive crafts' shielding by deactivated to allow them entry; as Iris brought in for their final approach Corvid beamed brightly and turned to her friends
"This is it, we did it….we're Hunters now" the smile became wider as she added "It's all CLIR skies and plain sailing from here"
Groans filled the cockpit.
Authors Note:
So much of this chapter was bittersweet to the point that I was getting fucking emotional writing it.
Do you know how hard it is for me to get emotional with my own writing? Seriously the only time I can think of was when I killed Jaune in The Downward Spiral.
Obviously Team FADE were background characters (Hell Arctus and Diamond were absent) this entire chapter; this was Team CLIR's moment and they deserved a proper send-off….I'm not saying we'll never see them again but they definitely won't be coming back this volume, they along with Ruby and Penny are out of the picture.
Anyway let's summarise shall we:
I'm assuming graduation day is emotional and your head's a mess…..when I went to a college it was pretty much a "Fuck off and we'll send you the paperwork in the post" affair and the less said about my time in school the better.
Helios has just seamlessly integrated himself into the Xiao Long family and it makes sense for being able to relate to Corvid's graduation nerves in a way, the Nikosi Tribe have different milestones and he's been through most if not all of them already…..I leave it to your imaginations to decide what the rite of passage was.
Taiyang having a 4×4 just makes sense to me.
So Halo Academy is now based inside what was the Exclusion Zone….which actually puts it in the same general area of where the remains of Beacon are; although its' a big area.
Corvid definitely at least considered tagging part of Halo Academy to leave a mark on it.
So Fawn got away with killing Junior….which logically means she killed all of his people at his home just to get rid of witnesses.
Team VYLT, PSTL and GLOW will be getting statues.
Penny's back and combat ready.
I would have liked to have Qrow in this chapter but I'm holding him back for a reason.
Qrow and Ruby have patched things up enough for the Rose family to be living in his house for a while.
Winter sent everything Atlas had just in case Goodwitch was serious about a declaration of war….because Goodwitch was pissed.
Of course the graduating class of Atlas came to New Vale, relief work for their Kingdoms' allies looks good on a resume and it gets them away from military service in a frosty nowhere.
The Atlesian Squire is loosely based on the new Warhammer 40K Indominus War-Suit.
You know it's a good day when the Atlas robots actually manage to do something.
I didn't give it a name but the bug Grimm was inspired by a botfly….don't google that shit unless you want even more body horror than this chapter already gave you.
Everyone's a bad-ass until the giant bug monster strokes your face with its' hairy legs.
Rover to the rescue.
Blake cried when the kids started school, Yang cried when Corey graduated….makes sense to me.
Yang and Tai talking to Raven's statue as a parallel to Ruby talking to Summer's grave, right in the feels.
Close followed by another feels moment….There's no way that a student Hunter who dies on the job doesn't get a posthumous license.
I'd actually named all of the Fourth Years teams over the course of the story and the characters that had their injuries mentioned have been background characters a couple of times already, just for consistency.
Goodwitch's Speech was based on Ironwood's speech in Vol.7 Ep04.
Maroon was mentioned way back in Vol.1 for his abysmal performance in a Vytal Tournament in Team CLIR's first year; so him thanking Nora for always believing in him was a little nod to that.
We know that there are apparently different Hunter classes but we don't know what the distinctions are, however I refuse to believe that Team CLIR are only a Class C.
Air Raid shipper, did you really think I'd let you down?
Meeting the parents….not exactly as planned.
Of course the family was gonna throw her a party.
Penny and Ruby giving Corey one of Penny's old swords wasn't something I planned but it just seemed right.
That last minute scouring before a move.
"And cowardly" Penny is just casually handing out roasts and snatching wigs.
So Nickel is alive but deactivated, she can be brought back into the story at will but for the moment she's comfortably out of the way.
Antonia's concerns are warranted.
I think everything about the way Nickel's existence was handled by Atlas is an affront to Penny's personhood and a large part of Penny's attempt to rehabilitate her is because of that….Also, I'm aware that revelations in RWBY Vol.7 Ep07 effectively rule anything like Nickel existing in canon, however since her father in this story was not the Pietro Polendina from canon it's a moot point; this story is what it is.
Feelings are complicated….Truer words were never spoken.
There had to be more than just Corvid who graduated her class at Signal, so where did those students all go? In my head having a couple go to other academies whilst the majority either joined the army or got jobs in things like security makes a certain kind of sense; it's how Atlas soldiers survive getting rag-dolled in canon despite not being Hunters.
And obviously half of Patch turned up for the graduation party of their home-town heroes….Especially Corey, who never left Vale and kicked ass in two Vytal Tournaments.
Despite how much of a flirt she is and how many people she's hooked up with Onyx is the first person she's ever brought home.
Yes Yang beat Onyx in an arm-wrestling match.
That would be Vol.1 biting Onyx in the ass…..to quote Smokey, in a film I'm sure we've all seen "You got knocked the fuck out!"
That bar fight could have got very nasty very quickly; Sun realised he fucked up the moment Yang grabbed him but that doesn't mean nobody else would have used it as an excuse to do something dumb like throw a chair.
If Car or Raffia had come to Patch no amount of justifications would have stopped them from burning that bar down with people still inside it.
Okay I'm sure someone will have a problem with it so yes Corey was blunt and crude and wanted to be fucked….This is Corvid Xiao Fucking Long; she has never been and will never be demure and start blushing when sex is mentioned.
A lot of that scene was world re-building, showing how New Vale is coping after its' biggest kicking yet.
Also men reading this….why the fuck do we do this? Especially in countries where we have sick pay and healthcare, why do we just shrug off obvious health problems...fuck I do it as well.
Grimm Pox…..I doubt it will ever be a canon thing but it just makes sense to me; Nyanza mentioned a few volumes back that there must be some sort of health risk from breathing in the fumes of dying Grimm all the time; obviously people with locked/untrained Auras are going to suffer the worst of it, it's just a rare illness to actually see because most people with locked Auras don't survive a run in with Grimm.
If you recognised the Botfly Grimm for what it was I'm sure you saw where this was going.
Alien aint got shit on me.
Maggot Grimm, just when you thought shit couldn't get any nastier….Hey, Salem did say she had a plan to get her Grimm inside the city.
Old Unreliable has an absolute cluster fuck of a paint-job.
Corvid got that good dick, hope y'all shippers are happy.
Yes Corvid had a cliché moment where she tried to sneak her boyfriend out of her parents house; because it was funny to me.
Ruby and Penny aren't going on a mission with Team CLIR, Ruby and Penny are working in and around Menagerie's largest city 'Port Alistair' and will be taking jobs at Team CFVY's academy once it's built; Team CLIR are protecting the people surveying locations for a new settlement….but obviously they need a settlement to land in fist, so they're on the same flight.
And Corvid's last line before she rides into the sunset had to be a pun, it had to be.
Thank you to SumoSnipe, Funlander and Ferrous for their reviews on the last chapter:
Captain Morgan is the classiest look Raffia has ever worn.
As for the harnesses, discounting the usual jokes about certain RWBY characters managing to magically stick their weapons to their back Felix and Corey aren't wearing jackets, Helios has no chest armour or pouches on his torso, Eagle has armour but no pouches and her sword isn't on her back any more, Arctus's jacket is Atlas military gear it probably comes with a sheath built in and Diamond's holsters and pouches are all worn over her hoodie so it doesn't get in the way….The worst offenders really are Team GORE but I honestly never think of them as fitting pouches to their armour, they wear stuff closer to Helios's than anything tactical, just lighter and less pretty.
Arctus was sweating because A) climate and B) what's in the package.
Well Dust Nukes were already a thing in Downward Spiral, that mistake is what made Salem
I'm a little concerned that everyone has latched onto the idea of a third story in this series….by that point Team RWBY will all be in their 50s.
Although I promise we'll at least see an older AJ in the epilogue (Which I've had had a bit of planned for a while)
Eagle is valid….even if she does have a little bit of a T-Bird gang look going on.
There's always trauma going on, I suppose the fact that they're not completely desensitised is probably a good thing if we're honest.
As always thank you to everyone that reads this, with a special thanks to those of you that follow, favourite and review.