Rwby: Of Guts and Blood

by bankerrtx01

After a defeated battle with the godhand instead of feasting on his corpse the apostle were too terrified of guts and send him to a new universe where he believes he is making a difference but in reality he isn't. Of course Guts is always a struggler… M for Berserk (RubyXGutsXCasca) Rewrite in progress!

22. V6: The lingering Dark: End of Arc 2

Rwby: of Guts and Blood: Chapter 21: Volume 6: The Lingering Dark

Hello and welcome to the next chapter enjoy.

Trigger warning Berserk this should not surprise you.

Key

Grimm-Apostle talk

Angry talk

Ozpin talk

{Text Chat/ phone call}

flashback

Chapter start

"Salem can't be killed... you all heard her too, right?" Yang said

Team RWBY all angrily glare at Ozpin, whose head is still down. He looks up, with tears streaming down his face. Qrow Branwen just looks away. Guts was silent thinking but also angry at the betrayal.

Ozpin looked down "I-."

Yang was enraged "There was so much you hadn't told us! How could you think that was okay?!"

Ozpin doesn't say anything, he just hangs his head back down in shame.

Ruby glaired at Ozpin "Professor…" Ozpin looks up at her. "What is your plan to defeat Salem?"

Ozpin looks down ashamed "I... don't have one…"

Suddenly, Qrow punches Ozpin in the face, sending him into a nearby tree trunk.

Qrow growled "No one wanted me... I was cursed... I gave my life to you because you gave me a place in this world... I thought I was finally doing some good…"

Ozpin looked up tearfully "But, you are!"

Qrow shook his head "Meeting you... was the worst luck of my life…" he said

Guts stepped forward and Swung Dragonslayer one handed embedding it into the tree stopping just enough for the blunt force to just stop before hitting Ozpins neck. Guts turned away.

"I told you Oz what I would do if you betrayed me. But to this limit you haven't. You've told me what you thought you could do with the gods. But you're clearly not up to snuff clearly the Gods… whatever they are I believe they are just your planes Godhand were wrong to choose you as their hero." Guts said

Ozpin stares back in disbelief upon hearing Guts say that, before looking down dejected.

"Maybe you're right…"

Ozpin's eyes glow as control is transferred back to Oscar Pine. He holds his cheek in pain from the effects of Qrow's punch. "Ah!" He groaned

Ruby looked confused. "What happened?"

Oscar looked up "He's... gone."

Yang roared "That bastard! Tell him we're not done yet!"

Oscar looked up "No, this is different. He's gone. It- It's like he's locked himself deep inside my head. Our head?" He grunts as he holds his head in pain "I hate this! I want it to stop!"

Weiss huffed "He just left us?"

Blake looked around "What are we gonna do now?"

Yang growls in anger.

Guts stands in front of Oscar "move." He said livid

Oscar does so as Guts grabs the pills up causing the tree to snap and fall onto the snow as Guts retrieves Dragonslayer.

Maria walks forward "Enough! We need to get a move on. It'll be dark before we know it, and every one of you is spewing negativity!" She helps Oscar up with her cane "There's a trail over there, trails usually lead somewhere."

Yang growled "Lady, I don't know who you think you are but-."

Maria slammed her cane "No buts! I understand that you're upset. Honestly, I'm still coming to terms with the fact that this is humanity's second time around. But, if we don't move, we die. And I'll be damned if I've lived this long just to die out here in the cold!"

Ruby looked to Guts who nodded "She's right. Come on."

Everyone grabs their belongings and whatever Dust they can carry with them. Maria sits on Bumblebee as Yang walks her bike. Ruby walks over to Oscar and hands over the handle of his cane.

Oscar sighed, grabbing the cane "I'm just going to be another one of his lives, aren't I?"

Ruby smiled hesitantly and puts her hand on his "Of course not. You're your own person."

Qrow walked past him "Don't lie to him, Ruby." As he drinks from his flask "We're better than that…."

Ruby and Oscar look down sadly before walking to join the others.

Guts snarled "Qrow is that all you have to say?" He asked

Qrow looked back "what else is there to say?" He asked hollowly

Guts Stared in disbelief "I…I was wrong about you. Your the weakest person I've ever seen." Guts said shaking his before he brushed past him. Knocking Qrow into the snow.

Everyone looked at Guts shocked of the words Qrow looked down shocked as Ruby looked at Guts' back as he walked away.

Maria shook his head "he's not wrong." Before turning to Ruby.

"How do you know him? Who is he?" She asked

"He's my boyfriend. And…he's the Blackswordsmen."

Maria was shocked "oh…"

"Wait you don't know?" Ruby asked

"You don't know who she is?" Weiss asked

Maria shrugged "should I?" She asked

"Um, our faces were all over the Vytal festival tournament." Yang said

Maria shrugged "I don't pay attention to that anymore. Many people have too much gusto and not enough form." She said

"Ruby Rose is known as the Legendary huntress of our time. And she's not even graduated yet." Blake said

Ruby blushed "Blake!" Ruby moaned

Blake shrugged "sorry I'm just repeating the chatter from my home. Your name has spread quiet fast."

Maria looked at Ruby

"You don't look so tough." She said

"She fought against Guts one on one and Won easily." Weiss said

Maria nodded "Ok maybe you can hold your own." She said they continued to try to catch up to Guts.

In the land of Darkness Salem stands alone as Everyone left her

Salem growled

Suddenly the door opened behind her interrupting her thought.

Salem not thinking throws a bolt of magic thinking it was one of her lackies

Unfortunately it was Femto Who walked through

Femto however made two portals on either side of him making the bolt pass through and blow up the door behind him. He looked back at the flaming wreck of a door impassively.

Salem sighed "sorry." She apologized

Femto glaired at her "don't do that again!" He said

Salem sighed "you don't understand if the relics are taken to Atlas it will be impossible for me other than a large scale attack to be able to get them. You won't be able to bring the gods here and force them into your order…" Salem said

Femto spun around "then the answer is obvious…Atlas will. fall." He said before he floated away.

Salem sat down on her throne "I wish the answer was that simple…"

(Scene break)

Back in the snow, Team RWBY, Qrow, Oscar, Guts and Maria proceed on the trail. The snow starts to pick up even more.

Qrow sighs "Doesn't look like this is gonna let up."

Blake sighed "Just wanna get this stupid Relic to Atlas."

Weiss nods "Let's hope we don't have to walk all the way there."

Ruby looked to Weiss. "Any idea what exactly the surprise we will find in Atlas is?" She asked

Weiss signed, seeing no other choice answers her probably would boost moral too.

"Genetic modification…" she said

"Wait what?" Blake asked as Qrow was about to drink from his flask, spat it out on the ground.

"Atlas is trying to make Super-Huntsman genetically modified to be able to deal with any threat, even those of magic…that's what I am…" Weiss said

"Hold on really?" Yang asked

Weiss nodded

Guts turned to her and said "prove it." He said

Weiss looked at him "how?"

"…Punch me." Guts said

Weiss appeared before him and before he could react she slammed her hand into his gut and sent him into a tree.

"Guts!" Ruby called but Guts stood up panting.

"Damn women you hit as hard as Zodd!" He coughed

Yang stood impressed. "Ringing endorsement." She said

Weiss turned around coldly

"That….was a 20% punch…" she said to Yang

Everyone froze

"Oh…" Guts stood appalled

Weiss started moving "Let's go I don't want to freeze my ass off in the cold." She said

Yang turned to Maria, and said sarcastically "I thought trails led somewhere."

Maria huffed "Do you have nothing better to do than to harass a defenseless old lady?"

Ruby hushed "Everyone, quiet. Do you hear that?"

Everyone stops in their tracks. A metallic squeaking can be heard. A large farm can be seen, one of the front gates swings back and forth with the wind. A large sign above the entrance reads "BRUNSWICK FARMS". Everyone arrives at the gate.

Blake turned "Well, at least one good thing happened today."

Weiss looked around "It looks abandoned."

Ruby shrugged "It's still better than this."

Qrow scoffed "Come on, I think we could all use some rest."

Everyone proceeds through the farm's gates, with Qrow being the last to enter. The snow starts to pick up even more as the gate is heard closing with a metallic clang.

A snow storm appears at Brunswick Farms, making visibility nigh difficult. A wind howling is heard.

Ruby sighs "I don't get it. The empty towns I've passed through were all damaged or unfinished. But this place looks... fine.

Team RWBY, Qrow, Oscar, Guts and Maria arrive at the porch of a residence. Blake is shivering as she wraps her arms around her to keep herself warm.

Weiss looked around "Maybe everyone left in a hurry. Before things took a turn?"

Qrow tries to open the door, only to notice it was locked.

Qrow looked back "Hmm. Stay on guard." He nodded to Guts who punched the door in And grabbed the handle from the other side to open it , everyone proceeds forward with their weapons drawn. They cautiously look around the place.

Maria huffs "Close the door already! It's cold enough in here as it is."

Maria walks into the house. Afterwards, Blake and Oscar push a nearby drawer to block the door.

Blake looked "I saw a chimney from the outside. Maybe we could get a fire going?"

Weiss nodded. "I'll look for some blankets for all of us."

Qrow called out "Yang, go with her."

Ruby lingers by the entrance hall for the bit while the others look around. Oscar can be heard opening a door.

Oscar sighed "Looks like a study. Or, a library?"

Ruby walks forward to notice a group of pictures on the wall of the family that owns Brunswick Farms. Guts walks up next to her.

"What do you think?" He asked

Ruby looked at him "Something doesn't feel right."

He nodded "Let's look for some-."

Suddenly, a high-pitched scream is heard.

Ruby recognized the voice "Weiss!"

Ruby and Guts head up the stairs and run into the room Yang, Blake and Weiss were in. Qrow also arrives. They look on the bed to see a pair of decomposing corpses…

"Well found the family… here I'll drag thee two out someone can take the bed." Guts said as he lifted the two up together and dumped them out the window.

Later A fire is burning in the fireplace. Weiss watches it, still shaken from what she saw earlier. Blake wraps a blanket around Weiss before sitting on the couch Yang is on. The group hears the door open and close, and Qrow walks back in brushing snow off himself.

Qrow sighed "It's the same in every house."

Guts clenched his fist

Yang gasped "What?"

Qrow nodded "Bodies. Every bed in every home. It's like the whole estate just went to sleep and never woke up."

"I don't like it this place gives me the creeps." Guts said

Weiss looked at both of them. "Then we're not staying here, right?"

Qrow walks over to the fireplace to warm up "unfortunately We don't have a choice. Storm outside's only getting worse. We'd freeze to death before we made it anywhere."

"Believe me I hate to stay here as much as you." Guts said.

Maria stood up "Well, might as well get comfortable." walks over to a bookshelf

Yang sighed "Yeah, fat chance."

Ruby nodded "Okay, then, let's do something. If this place wasn't abandoned it might still have supplies we could use." She said

"Blake scoffed "I could use a comfy bed I could sleep in…as well as some alone time." Blake said

Ruby moaned "Nnn!"

Yang looked over to Ruby exasperated "oh don't tell me?!" She asked

Ruby slapped her hands up her legs "sorry we got interrupted by the Grimm attack!"

"Look just You two go upstairs get it out of our system. At least one of us will be warm." Qrow said standing up.

"What are you talking about?" Maria asked

Yang looked over deadpan "sex."

Maria sighed "oh…we'll just do long as your not loud enough to bother me I'm fine."

Qrow spoke to everyone "I'll do another sweep of the grounds for supplies. No one else goes anywhere alone."

Blake nodded "Yang and I can search the other buildings for vehicles."

Yang looked annoyed rolled her eyes "Fine, whatever gets me out of this house."

Yang and Blake leave, with Ruby moving the drawer to let them exit. Afterwards,

Oscar looks over to see Weiss at the doorway to the living room with a melancholic look on her face.

Oscar shrugs "Food always makes me feel better. He chuckles nervously "Just saying."

Weiss sighed "Right…"

Oscar and Weiss leave the room, leaving Maria alone together.

Maria thought out loud "Guts is right this place is place is creepy… I need to do some investigation…" she said as she grabs a book and sits down

Maria sits back down on the couch and begins reading with a sigh.

A loud thump is heard up stairs. As Dust nearly falls on her head.

Upstairs Ruby and Guts laid on the bed. Naked

"Ready to complete another round?" Ruby asked

Guts smiled "maybe we can preform experiments to see if Sex repels Grimm." He said

Ruby laughed in his chest "yeah just tell everyone to put a 3 child policy in place." She giggled.

Ruby shrank down on Guts second sword as she moaned

"Oh yea! Fuck fill me big boy!"

Guts smiled " I'm going to give you a pounding." Guts said as he slammed his hips up making Ruby gasp as she suddenly took him fully.

"Guh! Oh! Oh my gods! Guts ohhh oh fuck your splitting me!" Ruby moaned

Guts smiled

"I mean I could fist you." He said

Ruby put her hand on his "just shut up and fuck me HARD!" She yelled

Guts flipped her over and started to thrust

"Oh oh ohhhh!" Ruby moaned

Guts smiled and fucked her so much she came hard 3 times

"Oh duck oh fuck OH FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!" Ruby screamed as she felt Guts cum

Ruby laid back as did guts who smiled

"Wow…I feel energized…" she said

Guts smiled "good." Come on let's see how we can help the others." He said as he left.

Outside, Blake and Yang walk through the snowstorm toward a nearby shed. They enter it and find rows of shelves full of supplies on it and a tractor.

Blake looked at the tractor. "Something tells me that's not street legal."

The two of them continue walking through the shed.

Yang sighed "What do you think happened here?"

Blake followed Yang "There's that well in the square. Maybe water contamination?"

Yang didn't souls like she believed it "Yeah, maybe."

Yang stops and puts a hand on her forehead.

Blake, concerned, looked at her "Hey, are you okay?"

Yang sighed "Yeah... I mean, no. But, I don't know. I'm just tired."

Blake nodded "Yeah."

Yang continues walking forward.

Yang "Hey, I found something."

Yang sees a flatbed trailer next to a window.

"Let's head back."

Blake looked shocked "But what about-?"

Yang waved her off "We're fine. We can hook that flatbed up to Bumblebee in the morning. Should carry everyone. Mission accomplished."

Back inside, Oscar uses his scroll's flashlight to look around. He finds alcoholic bottles on the shelves. Weiss uses Myrtenaster to send small flames to light up the candles in the room.

Weiss: "There." She said

The two look around the room. Shelves are full of alcoholic bottles and a bar is seen as well.

Oscar sighed "On second thought, maybe we should keep this room closed."

Weiss looked to Oscar "Huh?"

"I'm just... Not sure how well Qrow is taking the revelation he doesn't seem to well and well, Ruby looks as if she's been scarred by his alcoholism as it is." He said

Weiss looked back "Oh."

Oscar sighed "Come on, we'll never get to Atlas on an empty stomach!"

He walks forward, though Weiss lingers and sadly looks down. He then opens up another door.

Weiss "Oscar? Are we really still going to Atlas?"

Oscar looked back "Why wouldn't we be? After all you wanted to go?"

Weiss sighed "I mean... you heard what Jinn said. If there's no way to kill Salem, then what's the point in all of this?"

Oscar "Weiss, you can't be serious."

Weiss sighed "Sorry, I- I don't know what I'm saying, I'm just really tired and I really, really hate this place. Anything in there?"

Oscar turns around and uses her flashlight to look around. She sees more alcoholic bottles arranged on a shelf on the right side of the room.

"Just More alcohol... At least we'll never have problems starting a fire."

Weiss looked over "What's that?"

The two notice a large, metal cellar door in the ground. Its handles are chained together.

Weiss sighed "A wine cellar? Great."

Oscar then looks up to his left and lets out a yelp before running over.

Weiss looked up "What? What is it?"

"Food!"

Oscar holds out a can that says "THREE BROS. BEANS: SHRIMP FLAVORED, EXTRA SODIUM".

Weiss looks incredulous "Canned food?"

Oscar waved her off "Oh trust me, you put enough salt on anything, and it will taste juuust fine."

Weiss sighed "Well, I guess it's better than nothing."

The two share a smile. Weiss walks over and helps Oscar grab a few cans of food.

"But I still seriously hate this place…"

The two then walk out of the room. Unbeknownst to them, the metal cellar door opens slightly, before shutting again with a startling bang...

Ruby Rose stares at the moon through a window, sitting on the staircase. Snow is drizzling outside. Ruby checks on Blake Belladonna, Weiss Schnee, and Yang Xiao Long, who are sitting on the rug and staring at the fire from the fireplace. Maria Calavera reads a book while sitting on the sofa and Oscar Pine is pacing back and forth. After checking on the others, Ruby stands up and walks toward Qrow Branwen. Qrow is sitting nearby the window, looking outside with his feet propped on the drawer. On the Stairs sits Guts holding Dragonslayer.

Qrow looked out the window "Storm's cleared up for now. We should be able to leave by morning."

Ruby smiled "That's good."

Qrow shook his head "No... I don't have a good feeling about this place, especially with me around…"

"We'll get past it Qrow, we've always have." Guts said

"You have…I…" Qrow didn't finish as he took another drink.

Ruby looks down at a wine bottle on the floor with Qrow's hand hovering near it, then looks at him.

Ruby stepped forward "Are you... okay?"

Qrow scoffed "Sure. Tell everyone to get some sleep. I'll wake you guys up just before sunrise."

Ruby walks away as Qrow drinks from the wine bottle. Ruby pauses and looks back at him before narrowing her eyes downward. Guts stares at him for a bit before following his girlfriend.

Back in the other room, the fire continues to burn. The book Maria is reading has a "III" on the cover, with the other two volumes on a nearby table.

Oscar looked at her "It's a diary?"

Maria nodded "The head of this household, Bartleby. Apparently, he and several other families founded this little settlement to try and live on their own. It sounds like it worked, at least for a spell."

"Grimm?" He asked

Maria sighed "Just one of many hardships. Slowed down their farming, made everything harder... It's a shame, really. He seemed like quite the ambitious fellow, always thinking of new schemes to overcome the odds."

Ruby walked back into the room with Guts "Hey guys. Qrow said we should get some sleep. We're gonna head out early tomorrow."

Blake sighed "Thank goodness."

Everyone gets up to get ready to sleep. Maria hops off the couch.

"Hmph, the last thing you'll catch me doing is letting some kid tell me what to do." "Go to bed!" She scoffs.

Guts rolled his eyes "no one is telling you what to do Grandma." He said as he turned away.

"Guts where are you going?" Ruby asked

"I like Qrow don't like it here. I don't think I'm going to get much sleep. I'll probably sleep in a different house." He said

Maria sits on an armchair, turns on the lamp next to it and continues reading from the book. Ruby shrugs and smiles before going to sleep herself. The fire continues to burn in the fireplace.

By next morning, the fire is out. Sunlight seeps through the curtained window while Team RWBY and Oscar sleep on the floor. Maria rests on the armchair, still holding the book she was reading. Qrow sleeps on the chair by the window, still barely grasping the wine bottle in his hand. A couple other wine bottles are also on the floor. The bottle slips from his hand and clatters on the floor, causing Ruby to wake with a start. She looks around before rubbing her eyes and getting on her feet. She walks over to the window and opens the curtains.

Weiss muttered in her sleep "Close the window!"

Ruby walks over to the entrance hall and picks up the empty bottle Qrow dropped before walking over to her uncle. She looked up to find Guts resting on the stairs.

"Uncle Qrow. Come on, get up." She shakes Qrow's shoulder

Qrow groans "Leave me alone…"

Ruby sighed "We overslept."

Qrow, still groggy, just lightly shoves Ruby away. Ruby looks at the empty wine bottle, and after a moment, her hand starts shaking. She angrily throws it against the wall, shattering it.

Qrow and Guts woke up startled "What?"

Qrow looks around, seeing Ruby stand before him and then to the shattered bottle.

Qrow looked down "Oh, right. Sunrise."

"Sorry Qrow I was too exhausted to do anything I think this is the first time I wasn't plagued by a nightmare." Guts said

Ruby's angry expression softens, and she hugs her uncle.

"You know, you can talk to me about stuff. Yang too."

Qrow hugs Ruby back "Let's just get outta here."

Qrow gets up from the chair, with Ruby following him but looks up at Guts first "I'm right behind you." He said

Later on, the group moves outside. Weiss is seen using Myrtenaster to weld a metal ball to a makeshift trailer hitch attached to Bumblebee. Weiss, Blake, Yang, Qrow and Oscar's pupils appear to be dilated, while Ruby's are their usual size. As is Guts

Weiss sighed "There."

Oscar and Blake can be seen sitting on the porch steps.

Oscar groaned "Can we just go back to bed?"

Blake sighed "If we're all so tired, maybe we should make breakfast?"

Oscar looked to her "You wanna make it?"

Blake sighed "Not really."

Ruby and Qrow push the flatbed trailer behind Bumblebee. Once it's in position, Ruby walks up to Yang.

Ruby smiled "You guys got the bike ready?"

Yang just gestures to it.

Qrow nods "Well, it's done now. So let's hook this thing up and-."

Qrow rests his foot on the side of the trailer, and the tire on the opposite side goes flat. He groans in frustration before checking on the tire.

Maria shakes her head "You people are just beacons for bad luck, aren't you?"

Guts glared at her "it's literally his semblance."

"Oh. I didn't know-." Maria started

"Hey don't be mad cause your right! I knew me coming was a mistake." Frustrated, Qrow just walks over to a nearby fence post and sits on the ground. Yang also sits on the ground by the well.

Yang sighed "I'm starting to think the universe just doesn't want us getting to Atlas."

Ruby sighed "It's just a flat tire, I'm sure there's a spare."

Yang looked at her "It's not just that, it's everything. Storms, crashes, monsters... I'm so tired…"

Blake nodded "Me too. It feels like we're always having to fight to get by."

Ruby sighed "Yeah. But that's what we signed up for."

Oscar looked at her "We signed up to try and save the world, not just... delay the inevitable."

Weiss sighed "Last night, I…" she put her hand on her arm "I couldn't stop thinking - why are we even going to Atlas?" She asked

Everyone shares troubled looks.

Ruby looked at her "Weiss, we have to. You said so yourself."

Yang stood up "Why? Ozpin hid the Relics behind giant doors under enormous schools, but... how long would it take Salem to find a Lamp in the middle of nowhere?"

Ruby looked appalled "What? The Grimm might-." She asked

Yang countuned "They'd find it eventually, sure, but bury it or just throw it down the well, it would take years. It might not even happen in our lifetime. But we could be done with it now."

Guts didn't like this but he couldn't argue with it his head was in a buzz and he could barely think."

Ruby detaches the Relic of Knowledge from her belt, glancing at it before looking up at her teammates, who appear to all have dazed looks as if they were in a trance. Ruby stares at the Relic one more time before walking over to the well.

Ruby "I am... really…" her pupils become dilated "tired…"

Ruby starts to have the same dazed look on her face as she holds the Relic out above the pitch-black darkness of the well. However, instead of dropping it immediately, Ruby hesitates for a bit before composing herself. She starts to pull the Relic back, but then notices a pair of glowing red eyes at the bottom of the well, startling her and snapping her out of her trance-like state and returning her pupils to their normal size. In her fright, she accidently drops the Relic into the well. Ruby helplessly watches it fall into the darkness below.

Ruby cried out "No! No! No! I didn't mean to!"

Her teammates continue to stare at her with dazed looks.

Weiss walked forward "Ruby, it's okay."

Ruby spun back "No! No, there's something down there! I saw it, it was looking at me!"

Guts was on her in a second "Ruby are you sure?"

Ruby glaired at Guts not knowing who to trust "yes." She nodded

Guts nodded back "I believe you." Ruby smiled

Ruby looks back inside the well, only to notice the glowing pair of red eyes are gone.

Yang puts a hand on her sister's shoulder "Hey, it's okay. You just said you're tired. It's probably nothing. Now let's go."

"No Yang it's not nothing I know your feeling tired I'm feeling it to…and I don't like it." Guts said

Everyone looked over. "I've always perceived through hardship and troubles not looking back. The fact I'm feeling it now means it's unnatural…" Guts said

No one heeded his warning

Ruby however did as she swatted Yang's hand off "What's wrong with you?! We can't just leave, we have to go down there! We have to get the Lamp back! Oh, what was I thinking?!" She facepalmed

Guts looked down "it doesn't seem like such a big well we could jump down and grab it." He said

Qrow sighed "All we have to do is fix this trailer. Hey, farm boy, check the shed for a spare."

Ruby turned and yelled "I'm not leaving without the Lamp!"

Her teammates continue to dazedly stare at her.

Blake sighed "I'll go down with you…"

Weiss stepped forward "No We'll go down together."

Qrow grit his teeth "Fine!" He gets up "Get the stupid Lamp. Oscar, fix the stupid tire."

Qrow heads to the house, passing by Maria on the porch.

Maria looks up at him "Where are you going?"

Qrow glaired at her "Where do you think?" He shakes his flask and walks back into the house

Maria just looks down. "Stupid…" she hissed

Maria takes a seat on the porch steps and continues to read another volume of Bartleby's diaries.

Team RWBY and Guts hop down into the well together, into a vast underground waterway system. Ruby and Yang take out their Scrolls and turn on their flashlights.

Guts tensed "I really don't like this…it's feeling stronger now…" he was ignored by everyone this time.

Yang shrugged "Maybe the current carried it away."

Team RWBY and Guts proceed forward cautiously. Weiss notices more tunnel openings along the path.

Back above ground, Oscar works on fixing the tire while Maria continues to read. She turns a page, and the words "I did it! I found my solution" are visible.

Back underground, Team RWBY continue sloshing through the waterway.

Ruby huffed "Oh, come on, where is it?"

Blake looked around "Turn off your lights and just look for the glow?" She suggested

Ruby nervously nodded "Okay…"

Ruby and Yang turn off their flashlights, and Ruby pulls out Crescent Rose and proceeds forward with caution.

Guts following looking behind them.

Back above, Maria continues to read, with the words "The huntsman pointed them out to me the other day." visible on the page. Maria narrows her eyes, reading more intently.

Underground, Team RWBY continues their search.

Blake seeing something "There." As she points at something ahead

Ruby looks to the direction Blake is pointing toward and notices the blue glow of the Relic of Knowledge coming from a tunnel along the path. Ruby runs forward by herself.

Above ground, Maria turns a page, revealing an illustration of a humanoid-looking Grimm with its name on the adjacent page: "The Apathy". Maria gasps.

Underground, Ruby arrives at the tunnel, and finds the Relic of Knowledge on the ground. She runs over and picks it up.

Ruby sighs in Relief " Guys, I-."

Ruby then looks up behind the Relic, adopting a horrified expression on her face. Multiple humanoid-looking Grimm of different sizes are bunched together. They turn their heads toward Ruby, reaching their arms out to her. Ruby lets out a terrified scream, and her teammates snap out of their trance-like states, their pupils returning to normal.

Yang gasps "Ruby?!" And start to run forward

Guts is faster as he pushed out of everyone's way and reaches the crossroads before Ruby can even run past

"GO! GO!" He yelled as he raised his hand and started to fire.

Ruby backs away and runs out of the tunnel. Yang, Weiss and Blake see her run out and approach her.

Yang grabs Ruby "What is it?" She asked

The rest of the team notice the skeletal Grimm slowly trudging out of the tunnel. Ruby takes out Crescent Rose and fires multiple rounds at them. One of the Grimm lets out an ear-piercing scream, causing Team RWBY to struggle to stand. Guts grits his teeth and roared countering the effects of the Grimm but only for him.

Yang moans tiredly "What is this...?"

Blake sighed barely able up lift herself "My weapon... feels heavy…"

Guts charges in and swings around Dragonslayer.

"Get out of here!" Guts called

Maria came down the tunnel behind them and called to them "Run!"

Team RWBY notices Maria appear.

"Now!"

Maria turns around and runs. Team RWBY watch the Grimm start to move toward them. Guts started retreating due the numbers of the hoard.

Ruby pants "Go, go!"

Team RWBY turn around and run, catching up with Maria. They see daylight coming from the well, but more of the Grimm appear and block their path. Another ear-piercing scream is heard, affecting the five women. Ruby notices another tunnel entrance next to her. Again Guts screams and this time activated the Berserker Armor.

"This way!" Ruby calls

Team RWBY and Maria run into the tunnel. Ruby turned back "Guts?!" She called

"Go I've got you covered!" He said

They continue to run through the complex underground passages while avoiding more of the Grimm's kind along the way. They then make their way to an underground room. However, Team RWBY and Maria notice a much larger group of the Grimm at one end of the room. They make a run toward the other way, but one of the Grimm lets out another scream, causing Team RWBY and Maria to collapse on all fours.

Yang sighed "I can't... do this... I can't…"

Maria gets back up, using her cane to support herself before collapsing again. On her fall, she feels a set of stairs in front of her.

Maria looks up "An exit. An exit!"

Ruby looks up and notices the stairs leading up to the cellar door. Ruby crawls forward to Weiss.

Ruby pants "Come on!"

Ruby then hears a weapon drop behind her and notices Blake collapse to the ground, while the Grimm continue to inch toward her. As Guts is in another part.

Ruby tried to call to her "Blake... get... up!" Ruby called

Guts looked back "damn it!" He hissed he was too far away to help Blake

Blake stared at her pupils dilated "It's fine…"

Blake starts get her dazed look from before. More Grimm emerge from the entrance Team RWBY and Maria came from. Ruby looks on in horror and in her desperation, crawls and attempts to reach out towards Blake, who continues to lie down motionless. The Grimm reach their hands down to the cat Faunus...

"Ruby a bit of help here?!" Guts said

Ruby activated her eyes screaming "BLAAAAAKE!"

Upon yelling out her friend's name, Ruby's eyes start to glow brightly, causing the Grimm to back away in pain. Blake gasps and snaps out of her trance, her eyes back to normal. Ruby helps her up while Weiss, Yang and Maria also get back up.

Ruby sighed "I've got her!"

Maria was shocked "What just happened?"

Guts grit his teeth "not now women get out of here!" Guts said

Weiss runs up the stairs and tries to get the doors open, but they do not budge.

Weiss huffed "They're locked!"

Yang growled "Out of my way!"

Yang runs up the stairs. The Grimm recover from their incapacitation, and another scream is let out. Team RWBY and Maria collapse once again.

Yang reached for the cellar door "No... No...!"

As the Grimm inch closer, Maria crawls toward Ruby, only able to see the world in shades of cyan.

"Ruby... what color are your eyes?" Maria asked

Ruby pants "They're... silver…"

Maria lets out a gasp of excitement.

Maria puts her hands on her temples "You have a family? Friends?"

Ruby "What? You know…Guts…" she said

Ruby looks up to see the Grimm getting closer, but Maria lays her head down and covers her ears. From Ruby's perspective, Maria's next words sound slightly muffled.

"Don't think about them. Think about the people who love you. Focus on the thought of them, the way they make you feel. Focus!"

Taking Maria's advice, Ruby closes her eyes and concentrates. While Maria speaks, Weiss tries to budge the doors open, and Yang reaches out in desperation before falling under a trance, her eyes even more blank than before.

"Life... is beautiful. It is precious. And it must... be protected." She said

After focusing, Ruby opens her eyes, the silver gleaming. She sits up and her eyes glow brightly once more, driving the Grimm back and disintegrating them all. Maria and Ruby stare in awe while Weiss, Blake and Yang recover. Yang crawls up the stairs and punches the doors open with her arm while firing from its gun. Team RWBY and Maria run out and find themselves in the basement that Ruby and Weiss discovered the day before.

Blake looked shocked "We're back in the house?"

Guts growled "not now run!" He said as he fired another gunshot down the hatch!

Team RWBY then look at the bar and see Qrow leaning on the counter, passed out.

Ruby runs over and shakes her uncle "Uncle Qrow, get up!"

Qrow sits up slurring his words "Hey! Get off me! What are you doing here?"

Maria yelled at him "We're leaving, you idiot! Come on!"

Maria runs out of the room, with Blake and Yang following her. Weiss looks back towards the basement entrance.

Weiss sighed "Not yet…"

Outside, Oscar has replaced the tire for the trailer and is filling it up with air. The noise from the air machine muffles the sound of people crying out his name.

"Oscar! Oscar!"

"Oscar!"

Oscar looks behind him to see Yang, Blake and Maria run out of the house.

Yang screamed at him "Oscar! We have to go, now!"

Oscar looks at them bewildered.

Back inside, Weiss grabs a few of the alcoholic bottles from the shelves and throws them towards the basement, shattering them.

Qrow still slurring his words "Hey... Hey! What are you doing?!"

As more of the Grimm slowly start to come out from the basement, Weiss uses Myrtenaster and a glyph to send fire toward the cellar doors. Using the spilled alcohol, she sets the Grimm on fire.

Weiss nodded "Now we can leave!"

Guts smiled "good show Weiss."

Weiss helps Ruby grab Qrow's arms as they drag him out of the room.

Qrow struggled in there grip "Stop it! Stop! What's wrong with you?! What's…"

As Qrow looks up, he sees the Grimm on fire still walking towards them. Qrow looks on in shock as he is dragged out of the house by his niece and her friend.

Outside, everyone sits in the flatbed trailer while Yang starts up her motorcycle. She wastes no time driving away from the now burning house.

Yang continues driving Bumblebee down the snowy road with everyone sitting in the trailer being pulled behind her.

Maria sighs as she reads "The Apathy. They're not strong or ferocious. They drain your will to go on. Bartleby's estate was hemorrhaging money towards the end. He wanted to cut costs on Huntsman protection, but in order to do that, he needed everyone calm... always." She hands Oscar the book

Oscar reading from the book says "Managed to get two away from their pack. Hike back was miserable, but got the bastards in the cellar. Wife thinks I was out sealing the waterway entrance. I'll do it tomorrow and tell her the truth once these things take the edge off of everyone. I'm tired."

Maria smiled bitterly "The next page proves that he did, but not before the rest of the pack followed their missing pair all the way home. My guess is they made their way beneath the estate through the water tunnels that Bartleby sealed up the next morning. Bartleby's plan worked. She takes the book from Oscar "No one was angry or sad or scared. No one was anything. And then... no one was left."

Maria takes one more look at the final page of the diary, the last words written down being "I'm tired". She then closes the book and tosses it out into the snow, the cover having "VIII" on it, while the group continues to drive down the road.

Weiss sighed "I'm... sorry for what I said... about giving up."

Upon hearing this, Yang stops driving.

Yang nodded "Me too. We can't quit until the lamp is safe."

Blake shook her head "It's not your fault. It was those... things."

"Blake is right, heck even I started feeling the effects eventually." Guts said

Maria scoffed and shook her head "I should have known. The signs were all there, but I'd never seen an entire settlement withered away like that. I suppose my mind just isn't what it used to be."

Ruby looked up at her "Miss Calavera? How do you know so much about the Grimm? And in the tunnels, you knew exactly what to say to make me... to make my eyes do that. How? I've been able to get them to work but not consistently."

Maria smiles "Well, isn't it obvious, girl? I had Silver Eyes."

Maria told her story of the final fight of the Grim Reaper. As everyone sat there shocked

"Tock was wrong about me. I wasn't a fighter ... I went into hiding soon after." She said

Maria is finishes her story to Team RWBY, Qrow Branwen, and Oscar Pine, who all have wide-eyed expressions. Guts sat still holding Ruby

Qrow was astounded "I can't believe it. You... You're the Grimm Reaper, you were a legend! And then you disappeared…"

Oscar looked up "How exactly does a legend just disappear?"

Qrow shrugged "You never used your name, never showed your face. Lots of us thought you were just layin' low. Eventually, we just came to accept that you were probably dead. But the stories about you, I based my weapon off of yours. I wanted to be as good as the Grimm Reaper."

Maria scoffed "Well, I'm nothing but a disappointment, so you're well on your way, if anyone I feel should look up to its Guts. or perhaps the one you already are." She said looking to Ruby who smiled "Anyways The Blackswordsmen Is as Famous as I am. Possibly more so heck I remember his story when I was young. How does that work actually? Was it your fathers that you inherited?" Maria asked

Guts shook his head "no consider it time travel fuckery." He said

Maria sighed "Whatever point is I'm no one special…" she said

Blake looked at her "How can you say that?"

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

Upon hearing this, Yang looks down sadly.

Maria smiled "It's... comforting, seeing that your generation seems up to the task of inheriting this world. I'm just sorry I didn't do more to leave it in better shape."

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

As Maria looks back at Ruby, a Scroll's ringtone can be heard. Ruby pulls her Scroll out and gasps in excitement.

Ruby looks up "It's Jaune!"

Yang stops her bike, looking back in surprise. Everyone says "Huh?" as they wonder how Jaune contacted them.

Weiss gasped "How?"

Ruby answered her Scroll "Uh, hello?"

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

Ruby looked up "The city? Wait…"

Ruby looks to her Scroll, her contact name for Jaune being "Vomit Boy". She looks at the little signal symbol under Jaune's portrait, watching it get better as she points her Scroll toward the road ahead. The group sees a hill where the snow ends. Yang proceeds forward to drive them up the hill. At the top of the hill, the group sees a walled city in the distance along the ocean.

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

At the entrance to the city of Argus, Yang inputs a code, "4-5-8", to lock Bumblebee and the trailer in a garage. Team RWBY, Qrow, Oscar, and Maria take the time to admire their surroundings. Through the crowd, a certain bubbly ginger-haired girl in pink zooms in.

Nora screams out "Cute! Boy! OZ!" She points her finger to the group.

Oscar looks over in confusion, only to get tackle hugged by Nora.

Nora moans "Oh, come here!"

Jaune and Lie Ren also arrive.

Ren walks forward "Are you all okay?" He hugs Yang

Jaune smiled "We were so worried!" He hugs Blake

Yang laughed "It's been kind of a crazy trip."

Weiss rolled her eyes "That's an understatement."

Nora noticed Maria "Wait, who's the old lady?"

Blake smiled "I'm so glad you're all safe."

Weiss sighed "Seriously…"

Nora waved her off "Ah! You're gonna love this place!"

As everyone else engages in their own conversations, Ruby and Jaune walk up to each other and give each other a big hug. After parting from the hug, Jaune looks down and frowns.

Ruby looked up "Hey. I promised, didn't I?"

Jaune smiled while tears well up in his eyes "Yeah, you did." He wipes his eyes "It's good to see you guys."

The two share a smile together.

Later on, the group is seen traveling through the city on a trolley.

Many of the passengers were looking at the group siliently. Ruby had her hood up trying to ignore them.

Maria looked at the crowd finally realized just how famous Ruby actually was.

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

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

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

Jaune nodded "Well, it was, until Mantle showed up. Early settlement attempts by Mistral didn't go well. But colonists from Mantle were able to help them brave the cold climate and return for goods that Solitas couldn't provide."

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

Nora sighed "Well, until recently…"

The trolley makes a stop and everyone hops off.

Blake looked over "We should probably start looking for a ship."

Oscar looked to Jaune "So, where have you guys been staying?"

Jaune rubbed the back of his neck "Uh…" he chuckles nervously

A voice calls behind him "There you are!"

As the trolley leaves, a blonde woman, Saphron Cotta-Arc, with her baby son, Adrian, in her arm is seen on the other side of the street waving to Jaune.

Yang looks at the two "Is that...?"

Jaune waves at her "Hey, Saph."

Ruby then zooms in, all starry-eyed. She looks back and forth between Jaune and Saphron, and gasps upon realizing who the woman is.

The group later reconvenes in a living room at a home.

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

"You can't believe of meeting me? I can't believe I'm meeting you! The Ruby Rose, as well as your boyfriend Guts! You're both so cool!" Saphron said

Nora smiled to Ruby "Oh, I can give you the rundown later!"

Jaune rolled his eyes "Will you guys knock it off?"

Saphron giggled "What? I love telling stories about my baby brother." She squeezes Jaune's cheek

Jaune groans "I am not a baby! That is a baby." points at Adrian, who huffs back at him

Yang and Weiss get all wide-eyed as they fuss over Adrian. Both of them make baby talk at him.

Blake rolled her eyes at the two cuddling the baby "So Saphron, you're the only Arc living here?"

A picture on the bookshelf of the Arc siblings all together can be seen, with the young Jaune at the center with pigtails and a deadpan expression while holding a sign that says "HELP" on it while his sisters do various crazy things around him.

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

Jaune groans " I, uh…"

Saphron laughed "Aw, you didn't deny it!"

The two siblings play fight with each other by pulling each other's cheeks. Then, a door is heard opening. A dark-haired woman with glasses is seen walking in with bags of groceries.

Saphron smiled "Everyone, this is my wife, Terra Cotta."

Everyone greets Terra.

Terra chuckles "Why, hello there! Wow, quite a party, you weren't kidding. Hun, can I get some help please?"

Saphron quickly runs over to help Terra in the kitchen. Later on, Jaune, Ren and Nora are seen preparing sandwiches for everyone.

Weiss looked over "And you're sure it's alright if we stay with you?"

Saphron nodded "Of course, we're happy to house Huntsmen and Huntresses."

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

Qrow, not paying attention, gets his arm bumped by his niece.

Qrow stutters "Uh, of course. Think of it as an extended training mission. Trust me, I was a professor. Even went to the same academy as them. Let me tell ya, these kids are way better than we were at their age."

Jaune, Ren and Nora walk back into the room with plates full of sandwiches. Ruby gasps happily upon seeing them.

Qrow spoke smug trying to ruffle his own feathers "Well, not better than me specifically, but a lot of students-."

Ruby cut him off "Shut up, there's food!"

Guts chuckled "Anyways the best way to end a conversation." He said as he picked up a sandwich.

Everyone heartily eats the sandwiches. Saphron and Terra share a look with each other, before the latter's Scroll is heard buzzing.

Terra sighs "Excuse me, I'll be right back." She answers her Scroll and walks out of the room.

Blake looked over "Is everything okay?"

Saphron nods "Oh, yeah, it will be. Terra's a technician for the town's relay tower. Unfortunately, the military's radar system is also housed there." Before making baby talk at Adrian "Guess what's been on the fritz lately and who's getting falsely blamed."

Terra peeking back into the room "Me."

Saphron sighed "So, what's your plan for tomorrow?"

Ruby with her mouth stuffed "Well…" she takes a gulp "We're trying to make our way to Atlas. We'll probably start with the military base."

Nora and Ren share concerned looks.

Jaune nervously "So, we kind of already tried that, and... it didn't go... super great."

Yang rolled her eyes "Come on, it couldn't be that bad…"

"Besides I have special codes that will ensure us our next flight." Weiss said

The next day, Team RWBY walks up to the Atlesian Military base on the island off the coast of Argus, only for the gates to abruptly close on them before they could even enter.

Team RWBY, Qrow Branwen, Oscar Pine and Maria Calavera and Guts are seen standing outside of the gates to the Atlesian Military base on the island off the coast of Argus. Yang Xiao Long puts her hands on the bars of the gate to speak to the guards.

Yang groans "Come on! You didn't even hear us out!"

The first Nubuck Guard spoke "Our orders are clear: The Mistral-Atlas border is closed!"

The second Nubuck Guard countuned "Please!"

As the other Nubuck Guard finished "Have a good day!"

Yang tried again "But-."

Both Nubuck Guards nodded "A good day!"

Qrow stepped forward and tried his luck "Hey, if you don't wanna believe that I'm friends with Ironwood-."

Both Nubuck Guards: "General Ironwood!"

Qrow rolled his eyes "Yeah, General Ironwood, then fine. But look, we have Weiss Schnee with us and we're trying to get her home safely."

Weiss looks down with reluctance upon hearing Qrow say that. The two guards look to each other before turning their attention back to the group.

Both Nubuck Guards turned to each other before announcing "Approach!"

Weiss shares a look with Blake Belladonna, who just shrugs. Weiss then walks up to the gate and the two guards step up and bend down to inspect her. After a moment, both guards stand straight back up.

Both Nubuck Guards nodded "Very well!"

Guard Nubuck 2 said "You may speak with our commanding officer!"

Guard Nubuck 1 finished "We will fetch her at once!"

The two guards turn around in sync, and chant "Hup hup hup" and "Atlas Atlas Atlas" as they run to get their superior.

Blake sighed "They were... kind of-."

Ruby sighed "Super weird? Uh, yeah."

Maria "Hmm…"

Oscar looked at her "What's wrong?"

Maria sighed "Well, I... may know this commanding officer…"

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

Maria squinted "I wouldn't exactly call us... "friends"."

Weiss looked over "Acquaintances?"

Maria shook her head "Not quite."

Blake tried "Colleagues?"

Maria nodded "Warmer."

Yang slumped "Enemies?"

Maria nodded "That's the one!"

Oscar gasped "Wait, what?"

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

Qrow slumped "You've gotta be kidding me…"

Maria smiled "Now, now, let's not give up hope yet. Maybe she's dead."

Suddenly, the gates open up quickly, and the two guards return.

Guard 1 "Introducing!"

Guard 2 "Special operative."

Both Nubuck Guards: "Caroline Cordovin!"

Footsteps can be heard approaching before the camera lowers down to reveal a short-statured elderly woman around Maria's age wearing the standard Atlesian officer uniform. Cordovin steps forward and glares at Maria.

Cordovin glaired "Witch."

Maria countered "She-devil."

Cordovin looks at the group "Hm. I've seen you've chosen larger contraband to smuggle this time."

Maria smiled "Oh, Cordo. You know they say time changes people, but I see you've still got that stick right up your-."

Ruby interrupting "H-hello! Miss, uh, Cordovin. My name is Ruby Rose, and I was wondering if you would hear us out about-."

Cordovin ignored her mostly announcing in a polite tone "I've already heard what your other little friends had to say, Miss Rose. What are you doing back here?! I thought I told you to leave!?"

Cordovin scoffed "You civilians are clearly incapable of comprehending the importance of our mission here in Argus. So allow me to say this slowly, with smaller words: This base, that relay tower, the very safety of Argus are all gifts from the glorious Kingdom of Atlas!

Guard Nubuck 1: cheered "Such wit!"

Guard Nubuck 2: "Such tenacity!"

Maria chuckled "Or maybe Atlas just wanted to get you as far from the kingdom as possible."

Cordovin growls "You're just like the rest of these Argus ingrates! This city wouldn't even be here if it weren't for our Atlesian ancestors, and what do we get in return? The entire world is ready to put a knife to our throats!l

Ruby pleased with them "Please, we know your kingdom had nothing to do with the Fall of Beacon. We were there."

Weiss scoffed "none of this is working, move!" Weiss hissed

Cordovin tilted her head as Weiss took a deep breath,

"ATTENTION!" She roared

Both Nubuck Guards suddenly snapped to attention as did everyone else who looked shocked

"Good now that I have your attention. My name is Weiss Schnee I have a urgent orders to bring myself and my colleagues to General James Ironwood. As a priority 1 Black Hawk mission, silent running and all cloak.

"Cordova tilted her head "that's not a…" she said

"mission parameters 137404!" Weiss hissed as she leaned in

"Unless you want to go in front of the General directly and explain why you disobeyed his direct order to arrange us a passage." She hissed

Cordova looked back

"Fine. However we will not accommodate your…friends of questionable character." She said

Weiss frowned

"That's not part of the deal either, we all go. Or none of us go." She said

Cordova shrugged "fine. That's fine by me. For the note I don't believe your spec ops." She said as she turned back and marched away.

Weiss huffed "Rotted bitch." She huffed

Qrow starts to walk away.

Ruby looked back "So... where are we going now?"

Nora nodded "Yeah, what's the plan?"

Qrow looked back bitter "The plan? The plan just got shut on our face three times over. I'm going for a drink."

Ruby ran over to her uncle "Uncle Qrow, I really think we should try and come up with something…" Qrow keeps walking away before she could finish "...together." She looks defeated

Jaune sighed "What's his problem? It's not your fault we can't go on."

Nora shrugged "If he's gonna be a jerk then we'll just come up with something without him. I mean, we've got Ozpin with us! He usually knows what to do."

Upon hearing this, Oscar looks down sadly, and Weiss, Blake and Yang exchange troubled looks.

Ren noticed their reaction "What is it?"

Back at Saphron's home, Jaune punches the wall, leaving a very large crack in it.

Ruby stood up "Jaune!"

Jaune hissed "Everything we did was for nothing!"

Blake stood up "That's not true."

Nora looked angryly "Really? Cuz it sure does sound like it."

Blake sat down "I, um…"

Ren asked "If Salem can't be killed, then how are we supposed to win this?"

Guts stood up "obviously we kill the ones that cursed her." He said

Everyone remains silent.

Jaune sarcastic "Wow... Great plan, can't kill one unkillable monster, so why not try and kill two!" He glared at Guts

"We're not all like you and have the ability to defy there fucking fate Guts!"

"No but you could be." Guts turned to Weiss "tell 'em."

Weiss explain the idea of Genetic modification to make Super- huntsman.

JNPR was shocked

"Is…Is that possible?" Pyrrha gasped

Guts nodded "She punched me at 20% force. It felt like getting hit by an apostle. And if these are successful at going up against Maiden's I'm pretty sure they can take down a godhand." Guts said

"But that's only theoretical." Pyrrha said

Guts nodded "we'd need a power boost. As well as weapons bathed in demonic blood…fortunately there has been quite an influx of them as of late." Guts said

Everyone was appalled Pyrrah asked

"How…how many demons did you kill before it was able to do that?" She asked

"I lost count but a good few we could probably get away with a drop quench in Grimm Apostle blood." Guts said

"But Grimm Apostle's don't bleed I remember fighting the Nuckelavee. That was a tough as hell fight. And you expect us to do a marathon of that." Jaune hissed

Oscar raised his hands "Look, none of this is great, we know. But we're not the bad guys here."

Jaune looked at Oscar hostilely "Are we sure about that?"

Oscar jumped back "What?"

Jaune jumped up "He's in your head, isn't he? Did you already know about this?" He angrily walks over to Oscar

Weiss stood up "He didn't know any of it!"

Jaune grabs Oscar and shoves him against the wall "How much longer can we even trust him?!"

Yang called out to him "Jaune!"

Jaune growled "How do we even know it's really him?! What if we have been talking to that liar this whole time?!"

"Jaune!" Ruby said, angry at the accusations. Guts stood back looking at the interaction

Ruby angrily glares at Jaune, who glares back at her. He looks back over to Oscar, who is cowering in fear. Jaune, realizing what he has done, lets go of Oscar with an apologetic look on his face. Jaune then goes upstairs. A door can be heard opening and slamming shut.

Yang looked over "Is he... gonna be okay?"

Nora shook her head "I don't know!" She gets up and leaves.

Ren follows "I think it would be best if we had some time to ourselves." He leaves and heads upstairs as well.

Team RWBY Guts and Oscar remain in the living room.

Blake sighed "Maybe we could all use some space."

Everyone stays silent. Oscar looks down sadly.

Later on, Ruby heads outside onto the backyard porch with her Scroll to her ear.

Ruby grumbled "Come on, please…"

Ruby takes away the Scroll from her ear, looking at the screen with Qrow's portrait on it and text above it in red letters saying "NO ANSWER".

Ruby growled frustrated "Where are you?!" She throws her Scroll into the yard. "Fuck!" She hissed

Maria spoke from behind "You know, I came out here to avoid the yelling."

Ruby notices Maria sitting next to a small table with a plate of fruit on it.

Ruby stood up "Sorry. The others went to get food for tonight."

Maria looked up "Why not go with them?"

Ruby sighed "I don't know…" she sits down on the porch "I don't know anything... What do I tell Jaune and his team when we don't even have a plan? Qrow's out drinking, Ozpin hasn't come back and even if he did, I don't know if I could trust him. And there's always Jinn, but... we only have one more question we can ask her. I feel like I'm letting everyone down…"

Maria closed the book "You know, you don't give yourself enough credit."

Ruby looked up "Oh…" she chuckles "Thanks."

Maria shook her head "That wasn't a compliment."

Ruby looked down "yea kinda figured…" she sighed

Maria sighed as she realized Ruby missed her point. "If I have to explain it to you, it will just defeat the purpose. But if you're tired of not knowing anything, how about we discuss those eyes of yours?"

Ruby looked up "Oh!" She stands up "Yes, ma'am, I would be honored!"

Maria scoffed "Sit back down, for Pete's sake."

Ruby does so.

Maria sighed "Let's start with what you do know. Tell me."

Ruby thought for a second "Uh... Silver-Eyed people are supposed to be legendary warriors. Or something. And at the Fall of Beacon, I turned a giant Wyvern into stone."

Maria shakes her head "Oh, boy."

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

Maria pinched her ears "Yelling…" she said

Ruby looks back up with a sorrowful expression on her face.

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

Ruby looked up "Was he a Huntsman too?"?

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

Ruby smiled "You must've been proud."

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

Ruby looked down "Salem…"

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

Ruby Asked her "What is your Semblance?"

A lemon is shown dropping from the tree, which Maria catches before it could hit the plate of fruit.

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

Ruby smiled excitedly "So, how do I learn to control my eyes?" Ruby asked excitedly.

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

Ruby rubbed her head "I... was scared, and stressed. Is it emotional? Like unlocking a Semblance?"

Maria nodded "It's emotional but more focused than that. Think, what is it you wanted?"

Ruby clenched her hands "I wanted to protect my friends."

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

Ruby tilted her head "How do you know that?"

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

Ruby closes her eyes and thinks back to when the God of Light destroyed all the Grimm in the Land of Darkness. The God of Light transforms into his dragon form, revealing his own pair of Silver Eyes.

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

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

Ruby sighed "That's hard."

Maria nodded "of course it's hard. But it wouldn't be satisfying if it was easy would it." She said

Ruby went to think on this but Yang called her

"Ruby!"

Ruby notices Yang at the door. Ruby walks back into the house to see Weiss and Blake present as well.

Ruby looks over "Oh, hey guys."

Jaune was walking into the room with Pyrrah, Ren and Nora

"What's going on?"

Blake sadly "It's Oscar. He's missing."

Ruby, Jaune, Nora, and Ren become shocked to hear Oscar went missing as Ruby and Jaune look at each other with concerned looks on their faces. In the living room Guts was sitting on the couch thinking…

(Scene break)

In the Land of Darkness at Salem's keep, Emerald Sustrai is sitting on the floor while Mercury Black is training around the room with punches and kicks.

Emerald sighed "I hate being kept in the dark like this…"

Mercury trained "Yeah, Cinder was a pain, but at least she kept us filled in."

He continues training

Emerald sighed and looked up "Can I ask you something?"

Mercury sighed "You're gonna…"

Emerald looked up "Why did you come with us, the night Cinder and I found you?"

Mercury "Why are you asking-?" He asked

Emerald cut him off "Just answer the question."

Mercury shrugged "Just made sense."

Emerald "It made sense?" She asked

Mercury nodded "All my life, my father trained me to be a killer, an assassin like him. And then moments after I killed him, you two showed up looking for someone with my exact skills. Just felt like it was meant to be."

Emerald incredulous "That's it?"

Mercury turned around "Hey, what's your problem?"

Emerald sighed "I mean, there has to be something you want from this, right?"

Mercury shrugged "I mean Salem's promised us everything. We win this thing for her, we'll be top dogs in her new world. What more do you want?"

Emerald was unconvinced "I just... she sighs "Cinder was the only family I ever had. She cared about me, taught me things... But without her here, I don't know if what we're doing-."

Mercury growled "Wake up, already…"

Emerald looks at him in shock upon hearing this.

Mercury glaired at her "Cinder didn't care about you! She Didn't care about either of us!"

Emerald scowled up "You don't know what you're talking about!" She said

Mercury scoffed "You're in denial. And if you're gonna start having a crisis of identity or some crap... keep me out of it."

At this, Emerald angrily jumps forward and starts to attack Mercury with punches and kicks, but he dodges them and catches her wrist.

Mercury sighed "I'm sorry you didn't have a mommy that loved you, but I had a father who hated me!"

Mercury shoves Emerald back a bit. She takes a defensive stance as he slowly approaches her.

Mercury growled "He never went easy on me! Every day of training was a beating. And when I unlocked my Semblance, he stole it with his!" He throws a punch and a kick at Emerald, who dodges them, while he quotes his father's words "This is a crutch!" "This makes you weak!" He told me I could have it back when I was strong. So I got strong, but I never got it back! I've had to work harder than anyone to get where I am. You may not like it here without Cinder, but I think I'm right where I'm supposed to be!"

Suddenly, the two hear a certain voice as Hazel steps through the door.

"Oh yes, the world is mean, and I'm a big, bad man now just like the others." Hazel said

Mercury growls as he angrily walk over to "How long have you been standing there?!"

"Long enough." Hazel said

Mercury huffed "You don't know me!"

Mercury tries to kick at Hazel, but he dodges and kicks Mercury back. He holds him down to the ground by keeping his tail at a short distance away from Mercury's face.

Emerald "Hey!"

"You don't understand anything." Hazel said

Emerald gasped "What?"

"There are things you don't understand, things you can't, you shouldn't be here." He said

Emerald "So, what? Are you saying we should just leave?"

Hazel shook his head "leaving is impossible."

Mercury growled "Then what did you come here for?"

Hazel sighed "To say farewell. There's been a change in plans. We must act swiftly if we are to prevail. If General Ironwood comes to his senses and calls upon aid from Vacuo, all may be lost for us! And so the good doctor and I are being sent to Atlas... to prepare."

Emerald paused "Prepare for what?"

Watts stepped out "Hazel!"

Arthur Watts can be seen at the end of the hallway leading into the room.

Watts nodded "It's time."

Hazel steps off of Mercury, who gets back up on his feet.

Hazel walks away towards Watts letting out a little chuckle. Emerald and Mercury watch him leave with disgusted looks.

(Meanwhile, in Argus…)

Jaune called out for Oscar! "OSCAR!"

Jaune Arc, Pyrrha Nikos, Lie Ren, Nora Valkyrie, and Saphron Cotta-Arc are walking down a sidewalk at night.

Nora called out as well "Oscar?"

Ren sighed "This city's enormous, he could've gone anywhere."

Jaune sighed "This is all my fault... I overreacted."

Saphron shook her head "I still don't really understand what happened. Was it about the mission?"

Nora sighed "It's... kind of hard to talk about."

Saphron nodded "I know, I know, "top secret". Did he... do something wrong?"

Jaune looked down "No... he didn't. We just got some new information and... it's going to be a lot harder than we thought."

Saphron smiled "I mean, if it was easy, then it wouldn't be important. Right?"

Ren looked to her "I think we're all just a bit unsure of what to do next."

Saphron sighed "You could... stay in Mistral, get your licenses at Haven, and come back to Argus. There's a lot of good you can do here. I know your mission is important, but it's not like you're the only ones who can do it. It's not the only mission that needs doing."

Jaune looked down "It's... not that simple."

Saphron lingers a bit behind while Jaune, Pyrrha, Ren and Nora walk forward, before turning around to look back at her.

Saphron looks away. "Well, uh... I should go pick up Adrian from daycare. I'll let Terra know what's happened, and we'll meet you later. Good luck."

Team JNPR members watch Saphron leave before looking down sadly.

Nora looks down the road "Hey, there's a cafe over there. Why don't we get something to warm up?"

Jaune sighed "I'm okay. You two go on ahead."

Ren and Nora watch Jaune walk away with sad looks on their faces. Jaune takes a seat on a nearby bench. Pyrrha was looking down the street.

Nora looked at him "You don't want anything?"

She and Ren then exchange a brief glance.

Ren looked back "We'll be right back."

Ren and Nora walk away, leaving Jaune and Pyrrha alone. Jaune keeps his head down while the wind blows, and a dried maple leaf flies in in front of Jaune. He notices this and follows the maple leaf as it flies in the wind. Jaune follows the leaf into a nearby park. Suddenly, Jaune stops in his tracks and notices something.

A statue of the Pyrrha Nikos is standing solemnly on a stone pedestal, with her head down, eyes closed, and shield in her hands below her waist. Jaune slowly approaches the statue and looks up at his fallen friend and teammate. He then kneels down and notices a plaque with Pyrrha's respective symbol and words inscribed on it written:

IN HONOR OF PYRRHA NIKOS, ONE OF MANY STUDENTS WHO FOUGHT VALIANTLY AT THE FALL OF BEACON

Jaune sadly closes his eyes and stands back up to look at Pyrrha's statue again. He starts to walk away as footsteps are heard approaching.

Red-Haired Woman spoje "It's really beautiful, isn't it?"

Jaune stops and turns around upon hearing her voice. A woman with short, red hair and spectacled, green eyes in a brown coat reminiscent of Pyrrha's armor looks up at the statue with a bouquet of red flowers in her arms. Jaune also looks back up to the statue.

Jaune sighed "Yeah... uh, why here?"

Red-Haired Woman smiled "She trained here, Sanctum Academy. Everyone was crushed when she chose Beacon over Haven. No one wanted to see her go, but... it was where she wanted to be. I'm just glad she was surrounded by such amazing people."

Jaune looks to the woman with a surprised look on his face. Tears start to well up in his eyes.

Jaune sighed "how do I know you?" He asked

"You don't…but I do…hello Sis." Pyrrha said from behind,

Red-Haired Woman looked shocked "Pyrrha?"

Jaune looks back at her in confusion. "Sister?"

Pyrrha nodded "yes…it's nice to see you again." She said

The red haired women nodded "yes…very much so." She said

"Look sis I'm sorry. I know you still must hate me for me breaking your dreams-." Pyrrha said

"But you didn't." She said making Pyrrha look up. "You freed them." She said

"I…when you became the famous Legendary warrior you did, I…I wanted to because a huntress not because I wanted to. But because I didn't want to lose you." She said

Pyrrha looked down with tears in her eyes crying. "I'm sorry." She said

"No pyrrha when you beat me so soundly, that day I realized something, you didn't train to be the best because you felt obligated to, you did it because you enjoyed doing it and you enjoyed helping people, I did it for the obligation because I wanted to be close to you, but by beating me that day, you made me realize there is more to me than just being "the sister of Pyrrah Nikos, I am Alexa Nikos, and I am honored to have you as my sister," she said as the two embraced,

Pyrrha sniffed

"I thought you hated me for the longest time." She said

"I did…but I grew out of it, I'm a painter and sculpture now, in fact this was my first peace I did as a commission." She said

Pyrrha looked up

"It's beautiful." She said

"I hate it. It's not you up there. Your eyes are more vibrant and have a goal behind them… those eyes are longing…longing for a future they don't know what will come." Alexa said

Pyrrha smiled "that's why I like it…there your eyes, this isn't a symbol of just me. It's a Symbol of our family bond." She said

Alexa wiped her eyes,

"Would you want to stay for dinner? I'm sure mother would love to see you again?" She said

Pyrrha smiled but then looked dejected "that sounds…actually I unfortunately can't…one of our teammates was lost and were looking for them as we speak." She said

Jaune put an arm on Pyrrha shoulder, "Go, enjoy family, I gave you time with mine you should too." He said

Pyrrah nodded and lunged at him giving him a hug "thank you." She said

Jaune just patted her on the back before he pulled away and pointed teasingly "I expect you home before Midnight."

Pyrrha giggled "yes love." She said before she kissed him on the cheek, Jaune smiled

And started to head back as Pyrrha and Alexa talked

"So boyfriend?" Alexa asked teasingly Pyrrha rolled her eyes

Ren came back with Nora and found Jaune walking to them "Jaune?"

Nora walked over Jaune, where is Pyrrha?" She asked

"She's spending the night at her families,

Jaune sighed "I'm sorry. I've been a terrible leader, and a terrible friend, and I-."

Ren looked at him "Jaune, this has to stop."

Nora "You're not being fair to yourself. We love you, just like we love Pyrrha. We're teammates, family."

Ren nodded "We don't want to lose you too."

Jaune ponders his friends words before looking back up to Pyrrha's statue.

Jaune smiled Nora hands him a hot drink.

Ren spoke to her there attention "We should check back in at the house. Come on."

Ren and Nora start to walk away. Jaune lingers for a bit to take one last look at Pyrrha.

Jaune walks away and joins his teammates as they head off. A maple leaf can be seen blowing in the wind, passing by Pyrrha's statue.

Back at the house

Ruby Rose is looking down with a look of disapproval on her face. She lets out a disappointed sigh. Guts stands there with her,

Yang sighed "I've never seen him this bad."

Ruby, along with the rest of Team RWBY Guts and Maria Calavera, find Qrow Branwen passed out on some stairs leading up to a house.

Ruby sighed "Come on, let's get him up."

The two sisters grab their uncle's arms and sit him up. Qrow groans and rubs his eyes.

"Why am I on the stairs?"

Guts scoffed "Probably because no one's home, Uncle Qrow. We've been out looking for Oscar."

Qrow looked up "Oscar?"

The group hears footsteps. They turn to see Jaune, Ren, Nora, as well as Saphron and Terra, who is holding Adrian in her arms, walking towards them. The two mothers look at Qrow.

Terra hissed sarcastic "I'm sure this looks great to the neighbors."

Saphron lightly elbows her wife while Jaune and his teammates walk up to the group.

Ren looked hopeful "No luck?"

Blake shook her head "No, you?"

Jaune shook his head "Don't worry, we aren't going to Atlas without him."

Ruby looked back "We?"

The three Team JNPR members share a smile.

Jaune turned to Saphron "Sorry we won't be staying."

Saphron smirking put her hands on her hips "No you're not."

Terra rolled her eyes "How about we get out of the cold?"

The door to the house is heard opening. Everyone gasps in shock as a familiar voice is heard.

"Oh, I was wondering when you'd get back."

Oscar Pine stands at the doorway, now wearing a fancy green olive coat with shoulder pads and a belt both of dark red. Underneath, he wears a white collared shirt and bandages wrapped around the neck. His gloves are a slightly open U-shape with black X-pattern wrist straps. He also wears black trousers and red boots colored orange at the toe.

Everyone gasped "OSCAR!"

Nora screams in joy as Oscar initially has a confused look on his face, and then one of comical terror as the seven students all leap forward and tackle hug him. Now inside the house, Ruby helps Oscar up as everyone shares a laugh.

Weiss sighed "You had us worried sick!"

Ruby was worried "Are you okay?"

"Ruby, he's fine look?" Guts said

Nora was grinning "Not with that outfit What are you wearing?"

Oscar smiles and rubs the back of his head "Uh…"

The rest of the group steps into the house.

Terra sniffs around "Is something cooking?"

Oscar sighed "Oh, uh, yeah. I thought you guys would appreciate a hot meal after... spending all day looking for me, apparently."

Jaune sighed "It's my fault we were all out there in the first place. Oscar, I am so sorry for earlier. I was way, way out of line, and what I said-."

Oscar shook his head "No, it's okay. These past few days, I've been scared of the same things you were. I don't know how much longer I'm going to be... me. But I did some thinking, and I do know that I want to do everything I can to help with whatever time I have left."

Jaune smiles "Good. This team isn't the same without you, Oscar."

Everyone shares a smile. Suddenly, a smoke alarm goes off.

Oscar gasps putting his hands on his head "The casserole!"

Saphron giggles "We're on it, chef."

Saphron and Terra step into the kitchen to take care of Oscar's cooking.

Ruby looks up and down on Oscar "Uh, combat gear looks good."

Ruby and Oscar share a smile. Then, the group notice Qrow walking up the stairs.

Ruby spun around and spoke sternly "And where are you going now?"

Qrow sighed "I don't want to get in the way of your celebration."

Ruby huffed "You've been gone all day! Just sit with us."

Qrow sighed "Look, Ruby, I'm glad you kids worked out, uh, whatever all that was. But the fact is, we're not a single step closer to Atlas."

"No thanks to you." Guts huffed.

Jaune stepped forward "Actually, I think I have an idea. But... it's sort of a "no-going-back" kind of idea."

Ruby turned to them "Well, let's hear it."

Jaune sighed "With Cordo on watch, only Atlas airships have the clearance to leave for Solitas. So... we... steal an Atlas airship." nervously shrugs at his last statement.

Everyone gets shocked looks on their faces. Adrian giggles in Maria's arm.

Weiss huffed "That's not just breaking the law. That's... that's definitely worse..."

Yang looked confused "How would we even get onto the airfield?"

Jaune rubbed the back of his head "That part I haven't quite figured out yet. But I-."

Qrow had enough "Okay, stop. Just... stop! Look, if this thing goes south, it's not something we can just fight our way out of. This is the Atlas Military we're talking about." He sighs "For your sake, just drop this."

Everyone looks down with discouraged looks on their faces. Ruby notices this and turns back to Qrow with a determined look on her face.

Ruby spoke with her tone that said 'I'm in charge for a reason so hear what I have to say' "I want to hear him out."

Qrow looked at her despondently "Ruby…"

Ruby snarled "I want to hear him out! I know you're trying to protect us, that you're afraid we can't do it, but right now, I don't really care what you think!"

Qrow gains a shocked expression upon hearing this.

Ruby kept going "Just because you don't have an idea, doesn't mean we're out of options! Oz hasn't been here to tell us what to do, but we still managed to get this far anyway. We've been in bad situations before, and we don't need an adult to come save us or tell us what to do. We just did it our way! And I say we do it our way. And if you think you can keep up with us "kids"... we'd be happy to have you."

Qrow looks down sadly.

Maria laughs "Looks like you didn't give her enough credit either."

Qrow doesn't say anything, he looks back to Ruby while she looks back at him determined.

Guts sat as they talked about the plan,

"Ok one Weiss you have codes for all sort of emergency situations due to your apparent Spec Ops status, you can use that to wrestle controls of a Gunship, from its flight path reroute it to our location and we will be able to fly right to Atlas." Jaune said

Weiss nodded "the only problem is that, There's a radio tower that will notice us flying back."

Blake stepped forward "I can deal with the radio tower."

Terra stepped forward "not without me I've worked too hard on that tower just for you to mess it up and make me spend 6 months fixing it again." She said

Blake looked down,

Guts looked over "look you don't need to, we don't want Atlas to give our reprisals should this go sideways," Guts said

Terra rolled her eyes. "Trust me we can deal with Atlas. You do your thing we will do ours." She said.

Guts sighed and nodded,

Jaune smiled "ok with that happening, it's up to us to make sure we are not being followed,

"My semblances can mask us from Grimm but if someone spots us physically we're screwed." Ren said

"That's fine as you will have a ace pilot on your side," Maria said

Guts looked over "are you sure you wanna help?" Guts asked

"Well I can't let you have all the fun can I?" She said,

Jaune sighed. "Alright I guess it's time we do this,

"Wait, what about those who are not or do not have a role to play where do we go?" Qrow asked

"Stay by where the Ship will pick us up. We will come for you and make our way to Atlas.

(Later)

The heist was screwed up the minute it launched, Weiss and Maria were on the ship. Blake disabled the tower as planned but unlike before, Cordova still caught on and locked down the area. With Anti-air/ Grimm batteries,

However the fight goes a lot differently as seeing as the Colossus wasn't pulled out, when the Grimm horde appeared they had that with them, however Cordova was flying on a manta Chasing down Maria,

"I've got you now! Maria!" She said as she started to fire the dust round

Weiss snarled and used her Rapier to block the attacks from the other manta,

"Get me a clear shot at her!" Weiss hissed

"Ok." Maria said as they dived. Cordova laughed, "clearly when we confiscated that licenses of your all your smarts of flying flew out the window." She taunted,

Weiss stood on the doors of the manta and staired at Cordova, she growled

"You bitch." She hissed

Weiss drew her A1 pistol and leveled it at her and fired

The shit cracked the cockpit window and buried itself in the seat next to her,

Cordova was shocked "but…no Atlas weapons can breech Cockpit glass, unless…I think I just fucked up." Cordova said.

Cordova grabbed the radio,

"All forces converge on my position, at once."

However another soldier on the other side spoke "Ma'am, we've been trying to reach you! Argus is in danger!"

"What?" She looked back and saw a large pitched battle occurring outside of Argus with the Lithivan.

Cordova growled

Suddenly the manta controlled by Maira shot past her, with a determined look on their faces. As Oscar, sat in the co-pilots Seat,

"We have to get closer to distract it." Weiss said

"I got it." Maria said

Cordova sighed. She realized they could have easily escaped, with the confusion, but they chose to stay and fight,

Cordova screamed in the radio. "All units, prepare to open the Mountains. I'm on my way," she said

"But Madam." One of the Nubuck guards said

"Argus is our priority launch all fighters." She said

The giant Grimm launched an attack at the fence. As they flew over the Grimm turned to face them

"It's on us!" Oscar cried

"Hang on!" Maria said as the preformed evasive maneuvers.

However the Blast of the grim clipped the back of the Manta,

"We're hit we're hit!" Maria cried before her eyes cut out.

"Oscar grabbed the handles trying to stabilize the ship, "oh crap we're going to crash!"

Ruby and the others watched as the manta pulled up just so it could crash on the manta Runway of the Atlas base,

Oscar coughed and looked up as he saw several men holding armed weapons at them.

"Well…this is bad." Weiss said

The others were shocked this was worse than anything that could have happened. As Cordova's manta landed, she hopped out,

"WHAT ARE YOU BUFFOONS DOING!?" She screeched

"But Madiam we caught the thieves?" One of the guards said

"Because they came back to stop the Grimm from blowing up the fence! Get to your fighters, we need to buy time for me to get the Colossus ready."

She turned to Maria. "I don't like you, but you've came back when we needed you to. If you fly this Manta and help us Save Argus I'll give you passage to Atlas." She said

Weiss nodded

"These are acceptable terms. Ruby!" Weiss yelled on the scroll

"I heard you, tell Cordova we're on our way!" Ruby said

Cordova smiled "get here quick I don't know how long the fighters can last against a Grimm of that size." She said

Ruby and the others join the Atlas Base and several Guards wave them down,

"We've gotten manta 3-7 ready for you, we're screening the attack but it's going to take at least 20 minutes for Cordova to get online." The Atlas personal said

"20 minutes is enough." She said as they flew off,

Ruby glaired at the Grimm, "get me as close as you can." She said

Maria looked back "are you doing what I think your doing?" She asked

"Trial by fire you said right?" Ruby said

Maria sighed "I didn't mean it like this." She said

"We don't have any other choice." Ruby said

"True…hang on." Maria said as they dived towards the Grimm.

"This is manta 3-7 All Guns focus your fire on the largest Grimm keep it distracted for our approach over." Maria said

"Manta 3-7 loud and clear ALL GUNS FIRE!"

The Argus base fired upon the Grimm which it let out a powerful roar, which allowed Ruby to atttempt to use her eyes on it,

At the same time Pyrrha ran to the gate

"Citizen we cannot allow you access please get to safety." The guard said

"But those are my friends." Pyrrha said

"Sir what do we do?" He asked

The Atlas captain looked over "tell me can you fight?" He asked

Pyrrha nodded

"Let her in." He said

"Help us deal with the grimm." He said

Pyrrha ran off to the wall,

"Guys I'm here what can I do?" She asked

Guts answered "that grimm has a powerful breath attack and we need to keep it from hitting the town again." He said

"Got it!" Pyrrha said

The second attack wave began, this time however the Grimm was onto them.

"It's tracking us!" Weiss said

Ruby hissed

"Weiss…" she said

Weiss looked at her leader to see her salute to her,

"RUBY NOO!" Weiss screamed as Ruby jumped off,

Weiss grunted as she summoned a Queen lancer, and Ruby landed on it, she looked back

"You owe me." She said

Ruby nodded sheepishly

As Ruby flew towards the Grimm and used her powers, thinking off all the happy memories she had with her friends,

As the Grimm was only simi frozen, but Cordova, stepped up

"All squadrons, fall back to evacuation procedures. Disengage Leviathan! I repeat, disengage! Over!" The Air control said

"Wait we can-" Weiss said

Cordovin spoke up "I'll take it from here!"

Suddenly, Cordovin shows up in the Colossus as the Mountain opens. the Colossus begins to run toward the semi-petrified Leviathan.

"After all, I was sworn to protect the people!" Cordovin said as she slammed her drill into the Leviathan, killing it,

The Colossus then walks over to Ruby. Its cockpit opens up revealing Cordovin herself standing in a stern military manner.

Ruby Sighed "Thank you. And... I'm sorry."

Cordovin speak professionally "The Atlas military can handle the stragglers."

Ruby looked up confused "What, uh... What are you saying?"

Cordovin smiled "I'm saying I don't think anyone would notice if one more ship went missing in my lengthy report."

Ruby smiles back at Cordovin, who then turns the mech around and runs off to join her men in taking down the remaining Grimm.

The airship Ruby and her friends are in flies through the night sky. Qrow sat in one seat up front Maria was flying as well.

Maria spun around "We should have just enough fuel to make it."

Ruby smiled "Thanks, Miss Calavera."

Qrow sighed "Hey, Ruby. You did great out there today, kid. Just don't go giving me heart attacks like that again."

Qrow is about to take a drink from his flask, but ultimately decides not to. Ruby hugs her uncle.

Ruby smiled "I love you, too."

Qrow smiles at his niece as she walks away to join her friends.

Maria looked over to him "You weren't half bad yourself today, Qrow."

Qrow smiles before sighing "I feel like they did all the heavy lifting."

Maria looked over "But you were there to help when they asked for it, and you were there to catch them when they fell.

Qrow smiled "Thanks. You know, it was pretty incredible getting to see the Grimm Reaper in action."

Maria laughed "Ha, you should have seen me when I was your age!"

Qrow smiles as the two of them look out the cockpit's window to the night sky.

In the back of the aircraft, Weiss, Blake and Yang sit together.

Weiss sighed "I'm just glad we were able to get there."

Nora nodded "Took the words right out of my mouth.

Everyone then looks to Ruby.

Ruby shook her head "Hey, stop it!"

Ren didn't "You petrified a Leviathan... after diving out of a airship!"

Ruby laughs "Don't act like you all haven't done crazy stuff before! I mean, Oscar made a successful crash landing! He's a fourteen-year-old farm hand!"

Jaune looked over "That was seriously impressive."

Blake nodded "We'd have been stranded without you."

Oscar sighed "I... thanks, but... I've been meaning to tell you guys... I didn't land the ship on my own."

Oscar thinks back to when the airship was about to crash land.

Oscar is panicking "We're gonna crash! We're gonna CRASH!"

Ozpin spoke "Stay calm, it's going to be okay."

Nora was appalled "Ozpin took control?!"

Oscar shook his head "No, he guided me... And then he was gone again…"

Yang growled "Does that mean he's been watching us this whole time?"

Oscar "I don't know, but... it at least means he was looking out for us."

Everyone ponders this revelation before Qrow speaks up.

Qrow smiled "Hey, if you've never seen Atlas in person before, you don't wanna miss this."

Ruby and her friends walk up to the cockpit window. Guts stands in the back

Ruby panted "Is it weird that I'm sorta nervous?"

Yang shook her head "No, I'll believe we've made it to Atlas when I see it."

Weiss smiled "Well... believe it."

The airship comes out of the clouds, and the floating city of Atlas is seen coming into view.

Nora watched shocked "Wow!"

Maria smirked "You know, you make the trip up to Atlas over and over, but you never get used to that view." her prosthetic eyes start to act up again "Oh, come on!"

Weiss leans forward and has a nervous look on her face. Ruby notices this.

"Weiss, what is it?"

Everyone looks up, and notices above the city of Atlas many Atlas Airships.

"The Atlas air fleet... I knew all of our ships were called back, but…"

Qrow narrowed his eyes "They're set up like they're expecting an attack…"

Suddenly, the radio turns on.

Atlas Air Control spoke "Manta 3-7, welcome home…"

Weiss stepped forward and held the scroll to Maria who connected it to the dashboard.

"I don't like the idea of the fleet here. We should ditch the Manta." Qrow said

Before Weiss or anyone could argue they started to descend into mantle.

(James)

Stood in his office as Clover apperoched "General Sir. We've just received word that A stolen Manta has entered Atlas airspace." He said

"Stolen why has it not been shot out of the sky?!" James asked

"Because it was broadcasting Weiss Schnee's codes sir." Clover said

James turned back "I see…she did it. Very well where is the ship now?" He asked

"They descended into Mantle sir." Clover said

"Why? I told Weiss we'd give her clearance to land on the docks…unless..something is wrong.

"Send word to Blue Team to sweep both Atlas and Mantle again. Don't harass people if you don't need to." Clover I'm sending your team to link up with Weiss bring them in." He said

Clover nodded

James spoke again "do not Incite combat unless they attack first," he said

Clover nodded,

James sighed as he looked out the window, "Weiss…what is wrong…" he thought

(Atlas border)

At the edge of the border. Watts was flying in a lone Airship to sneak onto Mantle his silent companion just sat there content to watch Watts fly.

"I hope you know what your doing…" he said

His companion stood up, and walked to the door, which opened he looked over showing a Hawk helmet.

"Just do your job Doctor, and I'll do mine." He said as he Jumped out the Manta and spread his Wings as Femto flew over the city, letting out a terrible screech.

(Eoc)

Here we the end of Arc 2 and moving onto Arc 3. We know where this goes. Keep reading. Bankerrtx01.