WAR

Whitley reached into the cabinet in the bathroom and pulled out a first aid kit. "This'll be a good start." he stated as he kept digging around the drawers for any other potential item that could help Nora.

"Whitley…" Weiss put a hand on his shoulder and he stopped for a moment when she did.

A tinge of fear crept up the boy's spine as he turned to face her, expecting her to scold him or be angry with him.

"I know I haven't been the best sister in the world." she began. "I want to be better, because you deserve better than what Winter and I left you with…"

The boy wasn't quite sure how to respond to that as he avoided eye contact with her for a moment before meeting her gaze to see if she really meant what she said.

"I haven't been the best brother either." he remarked, looking at the roll of bandages in his hand. "I mean I purposefully set you up to lose your title as heiress to the company…" he couldn't help but chuckle now. "That turned out to be a waste of time anyway given the state it's in now."

"Father's to blame for getting himself arrested." Weiss coldly affirmed.

"You're right…" Whitley handed her the bandages now. "It is his fault, and no one else's."

The two siblings began to walk towards Weiss's room, when the scrolls in both of their pockets went off.

Weiss was slightly quicker to open hers up to see that global communications were now restored. "It worked!" she smiled.

"You had something to do with this?" Whitley seemed genuinely impressed.

"Y-Yeah, that was our plan from the get-go! We'd restore global communications and a special message would play with the hopes of getting us help." Weiss explained as after a few short moments, the message turned on.

They decided to stop and watch it right where they were…

What was once fertile farmland for Atlas was nothing more than a warzone now, as ships flew overhead and opened fire on the Grimm that were starting to creep closer to the city. Tanks, and Paladins were on the ground front, squaring off against the larger Grimm, but slowly getting swarmed by the smaller Grimm.

Across the field, hard light shields were brought out as the soldier's last line of defense. The few huntsmen that remained in the Kingdom were present as well, with a white haired woman with red eyes wearing a specialist's attire, glared forward with a crossbow slung over her shoulder, her eyes were scanning around for Grimm that got too close. A large Centinel suddenly burrowed out of the ground from in front of her, she fell backwards, and the soldiers around her started opening fire.

Inside of Monstra's Mouth, Salem stood in front of her throne, directing the sludge that was coming out of Monstra's mouth and spawning more Grimm like the conductor to an orchestra.

Emerald stood near the edge of the chamber, narrowing her eyes at what she was watching before hiding her visibility from a passing by seer with her semblance.

From inside his office, Ironwood could hear the sounds of Monstra as it thrashed about, spewing out Grimm like a waterfall.

"Sir… Are you absolutely certain? Shouldn't the students be our last line of defense in the case of the worst?" a female officer asked him in concern.

"We are at the precipice of disaster… We need as many able-bodied fighters out there as possible. Unless, you're hoping to join them." he threatened now as his officer backed up.

"N-No, of course not!"

The general turned his attention back to the footage playing from his desk computer. "I thought so." he moved to call the Ace Operatives.

Ruby sat by the window, staring at the storm that hung over Atlas like a thick veil, being serenaded with the moans of Monstra as it kept thrashing about. "This is all so much, so fast." she gripped her skirt tightly.

The bandaged up Nora, turned in her bed and groaned. "What am I even useful for now?"

Weiss held her hand and frowned. "She needs some serious help."

"Maybe we should try and engage the Grimm that invaded the Kingdom?" Blake asked.

Weiss just shook her head. "That'd only put us in Ironwood's line of fire, and I get the feeling he wouldn't waste his chance, even if we were helping."

"Ruby, what do you think?" Blake asked, hoping her team leader, would have a plan for this scenario.

"I…" before Ruby could speak up anymore, May Marigold entered the room.

"Have you kids decided what you're doing yet?" she asked with her arms crossed.

"Do you have any updates for what happened with Yang's group?" Weiss asked, while standing up now.

"Not a thing." May sighed. "Fiona told me that their friend was grabbed by a Grimm and they went off in pursuit. They may very well be as good as dead now."

Tears started to form in Ruby's eyes. "No, they couldn't be, not them." she stood herself up and glared at May.

"Hey, I'm not going to sugarcoat the truth for you kids. I'm just saying it as I'm seeing it." the huntress explained. "Look, now we can either go help down in the crater, since stragglers from that thing are falling down towards Mantle, or you can stay here and fight your losing battle."

"I couldn't just leave everyone here." Weiss glanced towards the corner of her room, noticing Whitley was looking at his scroll and sighing before typing something down on it. "Don't you have family here too, May? Shouldn't you at least care enough to get them to safety?"

May scoffed at that remark. "The Marigolds made up their mind a long time ago. Similarly to how your family decided to abandon you for Whitley. The Marigolds had my cousin, Henry. They decided they didn't want their son anymore, so I decided they wouldn't even get to see their daughter."

Ruby then put herself between them. "Let's stop fighting, right now. This is the exact kind of thing the enemy would take advantage of, and I don't know if you've been looking out the window, but any bit of negativity is just gonna make us a magnet for whatever's out there."

The two just turned away from each other, with May storming out of the room. "I'll be waiting in the foyer for you kids to make up your mind."

Whitley glanced up from his scroll at the group who seemed troubled.

"So long as this world turns, you shall walk it's surface… That was the curse the Gods placed upon Salem." Ozpin explained to Hazel.

"That's a nice story, but Gretchen's death taught me to not believe anything that comes out of your venomous mouth." Hazel adjusted his wrist bracers as he walked over to Ozpin.

"I'm not lying when I'm telling you she plans to end the world by bringing all the relics together to summon the Gods-" Ozpin stopped speaking.

"Let me, please." Oscar insisted.

"Oscar, you know how much of a risk that is." Ozpin knew exactly what he was thinking.

"I have to try." Ozpin closed his eyes and gave Oscar control back.

Hazel grabbed him by his collar and reeled his fist back. "Her name is Jinn."

This caught Hazel completely off guard as he took a step away. "What?"

"Say her name to make her come out of the lamp." Oscar looked him in the eyes.

"You're just, giving her the password, after all that I just put you through?!" Hazel pulled him down now. "Did i finally make you crack?!"

"I'm not giving it to her." Oscar stated. "I'm giving it to you. If you really want to know if we've been telling you the truth, then go out and seek the truth yourself."

Hazel wasn't sure how to respond to this as he just dropped Oscar to the ground and stormed out of the cell.

Just as he did, Emerald deactivated her semblance and held a hand over her mouth, her eyes narrowing as she ran to the only other person she knew she could trust.

Mercury was starting to pack his bags when Emerald had barged into his room and went off about all this stuff she overheard during the interrogation.

"Slow down, Em." Mercury slung his bag over his shoulder.

"You're seriously still going to go to Vacuo after what I just told you?!" Emerald seemed visibly annoyed.

"He was probably just being delirious, hours of long interrogation can do that to someone. There's no way Salem wants to end the world. I know better than to go against what she wants."

"Of course she does!" Tyrian's voice sang out from behind them, as they immediately turned their attention to him. "Oh, sorry, did I butt in?" he laughed.

"Salem doesn't want to end the world, she wants to make a new world." Mercury insisted now.

"Our mistress is destruction incarnate herself!" Tyrian laughed as he approached the pair. "Of course she wants to see the end of it all, there's nothing more beautiful than that!"

He clasped his hands together as his tail hung over his shoulder. "If you didn't see that from the start, well… You're just plain out of your mind!"

He put an arm around Mercury's shoulder now. "Come now, Mr. Black, we have a date with the desert!"

As Mercury entered the Manta shuttle with Tyrian, he gave Emerald a solemn nod before the ship flew off.

"Mercury…" Emerald balled her hands up into fists before marching back inside.

Ren, Jaune, and Yang sat in the bullhead as it flew over the destruction that Monstra was causing, watching the struggling efforts of everyone battling with it.

"We managed to grab Arc, Xiao Long, and Ren." Harriet explained to the General.

"Good, don't let them escape your sight." Ironwood's voice responded.

"What's the situation with Monstra?" Vine asked the General.

"I have the science team working on something that can hopefully destroy it from the inside. I'll need you to help hold the line until then." the General finished before hanging up his call and giving proper coordinates on the ship's navigation.

Yang struggled with her restraints, but found it impossible to move with the restraints attached to her seat. "So what? We're just your prisoners now? Do you see all that's going on out there?! We can help!" She struggled more.

"I'd shut up if I were you. Although, maybe it'll just give me an excuse to let some steam off before I get started on the Grimm." Harriet chuckled, cracking her knuckles.

"Oh I'd like to just see you march over here!" Yang sat up, while Harriet marched over to her and raised a fist back, only to get headbutted by the blonde in the face.

Before Harriet could punch Yang, Vine caught her fist with his semblance and pushed her back to the wall. "That's enough, Operative Bree."

"Look, we just need to get into the creature." Jaune explained. "One of our friends was taken into there by the enemy. W-We can be your test run for the bomb, help you find the best route through it!"

Elm just shook her head. "I get that you kids are the optimistic type, but if your friend was taken in there, then he's probably long gone."

"Not with what he knows." Jaune argued back, Ren was about to speak up, but he remained silent. "They're probably trying to get information out of him, Oscar won't break that easily, so we still have time."

"So he wasn't dead?" Harriet was a bit surprised. "Well, I still don't see the point of what you kids are doing. When we lose someone, we just replace them."

"You can't be serious…" Yang spoke up in shock.

Harriet stood herself back up. "This is a job kid, not the playground. It's like we said. Work relationships outside of work are a liability. Case and point."

Jaune just stopped struggling in his seat now. "So you're telling me you'd just replace someone in a heartbeat? Someone you've gone through countless battles with and saved the life of numerous times?"

She flicked her nose. "Of course I mean why do you think someone like Marrow's on the team? He replaced Tortuga, and now Winter's replaced Clover. When you lose someone, you just replace them and move on, there's nothing more to it than that! Work is work."

Ren forced himself to his feet now. "Stop it." he insisted now

"I'm telling the truth-" before Harriet could say anymore, Ren cut her off again.

"No one's replaceable!" he had somehow managed to slip out of the gravity bolas on his wrists before looking around at the other Ace Ops, Elm seemed more guarded at the fact that he wasn't restrained while Harriet was ready to go on the offensive.

"What would you know?!" Harriet pointed at him as Vine moved himself between her and Ren.

"You don't actually think people are replaceable Harriet. You're stricken with anger over the loss of Clover…" Ren told her flat out.

"Clover's gone?" Jaune seemed surprised.

"Yeah, because blondie's uncle killed him!" Harriet argued louder now.

"You know he didn't do that, yet you just refuse to believe the truth." Ren looked over all the Ace Ops now, he could make out their emotions clear as day. The petals that floated around Harriet were burning red with her anger, Marrow's was blue with sadness, Elm's was yellow in defensiveness, and Vine's was green, showing that he was still completely calm and level headed.

Ren looked over towards the others, a faint glow in his eyes. "Ren, your eyes…" Jaune realized it as well.

"Seems as though your semblance has upgraded." Vine remarked.

"Then you know I'm telling the truth. The four of you lost to team RWBY because you spent so much of your energy fighting your own emotions."

"You don't understand a damn thing about us, brat!" Elm reeled her fist back to punch Ren, who stood still before Winter moved over to Elm and shoved her back before Vine could do anything else.

"That's enough!" she studied the expressions their three prisoners had and let out a sigh. "Fine, we'll let you go."

This outraged Harriet to a point that Ren could easily see with his new semblance power. "You can't be serious! They're traitors to this Kingdom and wanted fugitives!-"

Winter firmly held her ground against Harriet. "I outrank you."

The restraints were released from the group and Vine was giving them their weapons back. Harriet sat in the corner, indignant to Winter's actions.

"We'll give you a short window of time, if you're not out before then, we're going to drop the payload off anyway." Winter stated to the team as the ship neared it's landing spot.

"We understand." Jaune affirmed as he stood ready with the others, but Vine stopped him from exiting.

"We need to make it seem like you escaped." he explained as he jumped out of the ship and onto the battlefield.

"R-Right." Jaune looked sadly in Marrow's direction.

Ren put a hand on Marrow's shoulder. "I know you don't want any part in this."

"I don't, but I still have a job to do." Marrow affirmed now before firing a shot off as he jumped from the ship.

Harriet and Elm jumped out next and Winter stopped briefly, staring out ahead at the monster.

Ren's gaze focused on her for a moment and saw a variety of colored petals around her before she entered the fray next.

"Well?" Yang readied her weapons.

"Ready when you guys are." Ren assured them with a slight smile.

May was leaning on the door frame when she saw Ruby, Weiss, and Blake approaching. "So, have you kids made up your mind on what you're doing?"

Ruby nodded. "When Nora's able to move on her own again, we're going to search for a way to help Mantle from up here."

"Then we're taking the fight to Salem." Weiss affirmed.

That didn't seem to be exactly what she wanted to hear as she pushed herself off of the wall. "Your plan is to wait for a dying girl to get better, then to act?"

"She's not dying!" Ruby argued back with a glare. "And we'll act while she's recovering. I'm… Sure there's something we can do from here."

May just scoffed. "I'm going back to the Crater to actually help then." she opened the door, and stopped. "Look, I'm sorry about what I said about your friend. I do hope she recovers. I just need to go."

Before more could be said, May Marigold was gone, the ship taking off with her in it, leaving the three members of RWBY there to ponder their next move.

"Well what now-" before Blake could ask another question, a knock echoed from the door.

Weiss drew out Myrtenaster, not wanting to take any chances as she opened the door, a figure stood on the other side of it, wearing what seemed to be a familiarly shaped hat.

"Klein?!" Weiss was surprised to see her family's most loyal butler at the door, wearing a suit and bowler hat.

"I heard there was someone that needed medical attention." he explained with a smile. "It is good to see you again, little snowflake."

She immediately hugged him, something Klein graciously returned. "So tell me where she is…" he glanced ahead, towards Whitley who stood at the base of the stairs now.

"She's in Weiss's room. Just upstairs and-"

"I haven't been gone that long!" Klein's grumpy voice responded.

Whitley just stepped aside and let Klein get to work. "I knew Klein had medical training so I asked him to come over."

Weiss walked over to her brother and gave him a hug. "Whitley, I promise to be a better sister."

He returned the hug. "As do I with you, sister." he smiled.

Blake couldn't help but smile at the siblings reconciling with each other finally after all this time.

Ruby frowned and was clearly thinking about what May said about Yang's group going missing.

This moment was cut short by the sound of crashing outside, followed by another loud crash, and then an even heavier crash.

The four rushed to the door and looking at the front lawn area of the Schnee manor, they'd see a couple of small craters, followed by a larger crater.

Ruby moved forward first, with her weapon on standby as she saw Penny laying in the crater, one of her boots' engines slowly turning off now after being on.

"I-I'm sorry…" she apologized, reaching out towards Ruby as her eyes flickered between red and green before she passed out, unconscious in the crater…

Commentary: If it's war that you want, then you've got it~ We mostly tackle things from that original chapter and pretty much start off the arc involving the Battle with Monstra.

I did start with a little bit before Ruby's message broadcasted out, to sort of establish the awkward tension between Weiss and her brother.

Back on point, the real bits of this chapter that mattered to me the most is the stuff with Emerald and the group in the Bullhead.

Emerald's real turning point is right around here, she's finally realized that Cinder doesn't care about her, and that she's part of a plot to destroy the world as a whole. She doesn't want to stick around anymore. Incidentally I'd argue this is also Hazel's turning point, but it's not quite done yet.

The stuff with Yang's group in the bullhead mostly transpired pretty similarly. Yang did get a little physical though(I mean let's be real here, who didn't want Yang to smack Harriet upside her rude head?) Ren fully reveals his new semblance ability and I did actually decide to make a visual tell for when he's using it, it's pretty much just his eyes glowing a slightly brighter pink. Although, I imagine it's something he can still use even with his eyes closed.

May's argument with RWB was more just her frustration in how passive they seem on the whole situation, her top priority is always Mantle, so that's the only front she cares about. I did just HAVE to jokingly make that false Neo tease with Klein, something I'd imagine would drive people crazy if they saw it in the show proper.

Next time, things are about to get a little dark in Schnee Manor...