A/N: This chapter hit me right in the feels.
Disclaimer: I don't own these shows, Rooster Teeth does.
0ooooooooo0
Beacon launch pad, Vale
York
York and Maine stepped off the Bullhead, the only two passengers on board when travelling to beacon, and a horde of students pushed past them, eager to go enjoy the rest of the day.
Up ahead, Cole Grey spotted Team RWBY, and Kyle Margent, a hulking figure in a white T-shirt and black-leather jacket and jeans with combat boots, followed the man to the four.
"This is our welcoming committee. I was expecting a bit more of the squad." York said, looking at the four. Maine just growled.
"Well, perhaps this is more to your liking." A voice behind him spoke, one that York had longed to hear for many years but had assumed he never would. He turned and hugged the woman of his dreams, burying his face in her red hair as tear leaked into it.
"Ren, what's happening?" Nora's voice called.
"I have no idea."
"'Lina, I thought I'd never see you again."
"'Lina?" Jaune asked incredulously.
"Sir, I'm sorry, I think you have me confused with someone else." York was pushed off by a pair of arms until he saw what was before him.
"You're not Carolina." He said stupidly.
"No, I'm sorry. I have no idea who that is." The girl before him stated honestly.
"I am sorry for any discomfort I may have caused." York apologized. "You just sound like someone I loved."
Pyrrha blushed. "I'm flattered, Mr. York, or should I call you Grey?"
"If you'd excuse me, I need to talk a walk." York told them, then hurried off.
0ooooooooo0
Maine
York was right, the girl did sound exactly like Carolina it brought back memories both Freelancers tried to suppress. Maine stared at her, then heard another voice behind him. "Well, that was interesting."
Washington! He whirled around and got ready for a fight, then saw a man that certainly wasn't Washington.
"Easy there." The man reassured, the silver-haired man wore a suit with a zipper and a buttoned vest underneath it, a dark green cowl sticking out above it that matched his trousers. A walking cane was in his left hand, and a mug in his right.
"Oh, Professor Ozpin, this is Agent Maine."
"Agent of what, exactly?"
Maine growled at the little girl, signaling her to shut up, then stared at the man.
"So, an agent of what, Maine?" Ozpin questioned again, and the Freelancer growled, not really threateningly, but enough.
"Oh, Maine is mute. An injury in his throat."
"My, my, that is most unfortunate. Was it in the line of duty?"
Maine nodded.
"Hey, York's coming back." Weiss called.
They all looked to see the man was indeed coming back, and Ruby ran to him. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, Ruby, I'll be fine." He said wearily.
"York, I presume?" Ozpin asked.
"Great, now I'm hearing Washington." He said to himself.
"I don't think I'm the man your hearing, Mr. York"
York looked up and stared at the Headmaster. "No, I don't think you are." He said, "And it's just York." He then looked to Ruby.
"Let's head to the forges."
"Actually, I'd like to speak with you, get to know you."
"Later, please, Headmaster Ozpin. I need to work something in my hands, to clear my head." York told him.
Ozpin nodded. "Of course, I understand."
York gave a weak smile and said to Maine, "Let's get some new weapons."
0ooooooo0
Everything was dark inside the forge except for the sparks of light that came with a loud clang! It illuminated the face of York, who hammered into the metal with all his emotion. Ruby and Maine watched from behind, as he shaped the metal that would become his new weapon.
But none it was like the inside of York's heart, darkness was surrounding part of the flickering light that represented his hope. The hope that he would see Carolina, the hope she was still alive somewhere on this world. Words rang out in his head, some in the past, some were Delta's own consoling words.
I understood why she did what she did, I just wish she hadn't.
She would have wanted you to move on.
We must stay strong.
I miss her.
He felt a hand on his shoulder, firm and strong. He knew it was Maine's. It was a simple gesture, but to York, it gave so many words.
I know you loved her.
I'm sorry.
It's time to move on.
I'm here.
York felt the hand leave, and he relaxed, then went back to work.
He needed to get this weapon finished, so he could go hit something.
0ooooooooo0
"And you're both all done." Ruby told them after a few hours of work. York wiped his brow, and Maine was draining a water bottle. In the scythe-wielder's arms there were to bundles wrapped in leather, waiting to be revealed.
"When Will we get to see them in action?" Yang asked, trying to sneak a peek by greeting close to the package.
Ruby smacked her older sister's hands away and pushed the packages into the Freelancer's arms.
York pulled back the cover to reveal a longsword with a golden crossguard with a silver eagle in the middle, Identical to the tribal eagle on True Freelancer, with the start of the blade behind it. The blade was sliver with a red tinge, tribal gold flames along both sides. At the pommel was a red ruby, with the Freelancer symbol on top of it. Next to it was a crimson scabbard with a silver top, where the hilt would touch it.
"Why don't you switch to its other mode?" Ruby suggested. "We used a density- alternator that Delta gave us blueprints for, so the metal could change properties. A computer in the hilt controls what properties is has, solid for the sword…."
York twisted the pommel and the sword seemed to split in half, but instead of along the middle of the flat of the blade and down the hilt, it was at the edge of the blade.
Two identical sections of swords came out to make a double-sword, then York pressed the center, where the pommel was, and the sword seemed to bend forward, a steel cable appearing from the middle of the flat of the blade into a bowstring.
"Where are the arrows?" Blake asked, recognizing the sword as a longbow. This is where Ruby gave a triumphant smile.
"It makes them from a dust clip in the middle combined, or a supply of plasma battery kept in the hilt. It stores a lot of power in the crystal."
Weiss spoke up. "I can get you a supply of Dust"
York smiled and nodded his thanks, then pressed the pommel and the crossguard jewel in quick succession, and the sword-bow seemed to melt into another form, that of a Barret .50 caliber sniper rifle with an extended clip. The crossguard was now acting as the scope, the crystal having split to make a sight, and the pommel was the bar of the bolt. Finally, York pressed the jewels in the opposite order and it liquefied again into a sword. He bowed, and a few of the students laughed and started clapping.
Maine was up next. He threw his cover off, revealing once again a weapon much like his brute shot. In fact, the design and everything was the same except for two canisters of fire dust atop an attachment the top.
"This weapon is a grenade launcher that also has a flamethrower on top. It simply shifts into either an RPG, powered by fire propelling the grenade forward, or can shift into a staff with that curved blade on the top which can also turn into a scythe. That can be propelled much like Crescent Rose by the fire Dust." Ruby stated, overcome with glee.
Yang looked to the brute Freelancer. "She begged you to let her make it a scythe, didn't she?"
Maine nodded behind Ruby's back while she protested. "I did no such thing! It's not my fault he has an awesome taste in melee weapons!"
"Yep, and she made York get the sniper rifle in there." The blonde brawler confirmed.
"Ludicrous!" The scythe-wielder exclaimed.
"Why can't you just make it so the sword can turn into anything?" Pyrrha asked.
York answered. "The computer I used can only hold that many modes, or else I would need a bigger one. Which just wouldn't work."
Everyone around nodded, then the two Freelancers heard a cough behind them and the stolen voice of Agent Washington. "Now, York and Maine, if we might talk in my office?" The headmaster said with a smile.
A/N: Oh, no! York and Maine are getting sent to the office! How horrible. Will York manage to lie straight faced to Ozpin, or will he cop to it about being the Gargoyle?
