after the incident a month ago with reaper, jaune had made it his mission to become the best version of himself but doing so meant he had to completely change the way he did things and the way he felt the best course would be was to take Pyrrha's weapons and armor, melt them down and graft them to his gear and recreated it all and himself into something terrifying and no one wanted to be near him.
ren and nora became a deadly force to be reckoned with and made sure everyone knew of it, nora stopped being as bubbly and joyful and ren got even more unreadable but every now and then had outbursts of anger in the training area fighting hard light reaper, but everyone felt he hated himself for what happened.
Ruby struggled to reconnect with her team like the once had before Cole entered their lives but she at least took small steps to at least try, weiss talked with her sister about finding the reaper and red baron but only found bits and pieces about either one.
Just as everyone else had their way of grieving pyrrha was being mourned by yang but she couldn't let her passing get to her too much so she threw herself into schoolwork with weiss and actually started getting good grades but as for fighting style it only got more destructive but more precise while on solo missions to prove she could fight on her own (not that she had to, to begin with).
With the help of ironwood, ciri and geralt glynda was working to find out who the baron was and where the reaper came from but nothing came up, geralt searched tirelessly to find everything he could find on rayla but it was for naught, she just didn't exist anywhere and she needed to keep it under the table because the students took a liking to her but the staff were told to be wary of her when geralt reported of a girl absorbing grimm smoke through her mouth and eyes and it wasn't a first time report either but she looked different from rayla but not by much so he felt the need for ciri to use her teleportation power and get him home and her portals might get her in trouble but at the moment he needed to escape what he witnessed.
"Glynda, please get some sleep its 4 in the morning; you can't work like this." Ciri pleaded, but as always her words went unheard as the headmistress kept typing on her keyboard grading papers and sifting through applicants for first years who showed potential.
"Ma'am im not kidding, you haven't slept in days and refuse to eat. you can let me handle the rest i am here for that reason"
Glynda stopped typing and took a look up at her and replied impatiently "im almost done here then ill come to bed, i just need to-"
Ciri didn't let her finish the statement as she grabbed her wrist pulling her out of the chair and walked her to the bed in a separate room and pushed her on the bed and scowled at her boss, "i know you need to get that work done but you also need to take brakes and rest otherwise I'll have to take your job"
Glynda let out a huff and said quietly "i know I've been working myself ragged but Qrow hasn't reported back since last month and i have double the students coming to beacon and you have finals to worry about, i can't ask any of you to take this off my shoulders"
Sighing loud ciri sat on the bed and looked at the headmistress "you really are a fool if you believe that i wont help lighten the workload, besides your stubbornness you have a tendency to think you don't need help when your drowning"
Glynda gave no comment and quickly fell asleep and ciri went to work on the mountain of paperwork that needed sorting through and emailed each professor their respective material in their classes.
Hours ticked by and ciri had just finished grading her class' assignments and tests, when she had gone to bed in Geralt's room for insurance, both slept so deeply that day they had failed to hear alarms going off throughout the academy.
Hours earlier*
High above emerald forest a black airship hovered in place for a moment and on the comms the pilot said "half a mile straight down; you all have ten minutes, if ya ain't back by then you can walk on back to base"
Completely ignoring him reaper spoke up "remember the plan: when you get to the academy plant your bag and try to leave undetected, we only get one shot at this"
"don't forget reaper, if you want your pet you have to do it quick we don't have long" Baron said nonchalantly cutting a adolescent nevermore in half with his sword as he fell to the forest floor over his earpiece.
"yes sir, I'll be quick red baron, grabbing her i just need to ask why you came with; beacon is gonna be an easy job" put a hand over his mouth pointing to a giant dire wolf sleeping directly beside him in a cave entrance. he put a finger to his lips mouthing "move slow and keep quiet"
reaper scoffed and shot the beast with lightning turning it to a burnt pile of rotting meat and walked by without a care in remnant. red baron glared at him as he walked by still mildly crackling with electricity smirking at him.
"better hope we weren't detected you idiot" red baron said splitting off from reaper towards beacon academy.
"like i care old man" he muttered sprinting toward his snow angel's location smiling wide.
beacon grounds*
the sudden explosion of lightning startled a flock of birds causing one to smack into the window. Weiss shot up from her bed panting and sweaty as she frantically looked around the room cole once slept in.
getting out of bed yawning and stretching she walked over to the window looking out at beacon academy and to her everything look about as normal as the school could be especially nowadays.
she figured it was nothing so she went back to bed mumbling an incoherent "stupid birds" comment and went back to bed snuggling under the covers sniffing cole's fading scent of orange citrus and bodily musk "i miss you so much cole, i wish you were here" she said before falling asleep sniffing his old bear pelt he'd used for blanket, oh how that sentence would bite her hard in the end.
while she slept soundly a few newly hired hunters made bodyguards heard the thunderous blast and raised the alarm with other guards oh high alert but were choosing to make it look like patrols were just getting beefed up and the remains of team JNPR was being trained to be guards on the second floor for rookie jobs; being so close to graduating they knew everyone had to take academy guard duty positions and tonight's job would prove harder than the other shifts they'd taken on, but jnpr had to make due with Neptune as a temporary addition. Joining the security Neptune too note that Team rwby was missing but sadly couldn't do much about it.
"bravo team, look into that explosion; teams echo, chulu, Alta and hipster are going with you in pincer formation so make it quick"
a faunas with bird wings flew off and replied "roger that sir, taking to the sky for a better look" after a moment of silence black smoke billowing in the distance caught her attention. Flying lower to get a better look she'd spotted some hunters, "this is the perfect-" just as she was about to call it in an ice round pierced her neck dropping out of the air and just as she did she pushed a button on a capsule the size of lipstick falling to her death.
her body disappeared in the sea of green leaves but her comms switched to an open line to everyone in beacon just as her corpse stopped snapping twigs and branches as well as twisting her body in an abnormal position, blood slowly leaking out of both sides of her neck.
"havoc, what's happening...damn it you had better not be staring off in the sky again!" her radio returned static and laughing men.
"told you i was a good shot, right in her neck" one said shooting her twisted and mangled body in the back and watched the ice blow out of her like it was an explosion getting preserved in her neck creating red ice. Her head was scattered in the ice and all her body did now was spasm and twitch.
on the other side of her radio the man exclaimed into his with 100% numbing rage "all hands prepare for hostiles, count unknown, level unknown; raise security to omega-327. i want reports coming back every damned minute, now move out!"
and just like that reaper used his short burst sprint augmentation to get to the dorm buildings where weiss and her team slept and went straight for trying to find her room, the only problem he had currently was he didn'tknow where she slept nowadays. "if i was a sexy pale princess, where would i be" he chuckled as he used his static pulse to look for a light blue light amongst the sea of other auras. His suit was a thing of technological beauty and he loved what it was capable of.
'aaaaannnnd found her~' he sang out loud and creepily smirking at the fact she was conveniently sleeping near the window. Despite her fondness for a dead man's room she wasn't by far in trouble with him, he knew she'd change her mind about him soon enough. 'I'll be your new cole' he thought as he started his ascension up the drain pipe and jumped to a windowsill.
He'd plan was going to be to move to the next one when a bouquet of tulips flew out the open window accompanied by arguing between two men but reaper decided it could be ignored when who they were arguing about caused him stop where he hung and had him invested in their spat.
"and i told you that weiss is mine, ive had my eyes on her for a while and i wont let you go and ruin it!" another voice shot back.
"your just jealous i have the guts to go after what i want"
"fuck you!"
that started a fist fight to break out as they threw each other around the room while reaper chuckled at them moving on to get his prize three windows over.
using simple electromagnetism he unlocked the window and pulled it to the side letting cool air in but it didn't last long climbing through like a bug, as soon as he touched the floor he went to closing it behind him. Standing up to his full height he saw weiss unconscious in bed.
"so gentle yet so dangerous, heh just like a fox, your beautiful and strong...my love you will know the meaning of being mine soon enough, I promise you that much" he said picking her up and silently made his way out the window and ran straight for the landing docks, "Baron, it's reaper, i got my snow-"
"get to Ozpin first you fool, do you not know how to follow orders?!" Red baron yelled cutting reaper off.
"i thought you were doing that?" he asked feigning innocence. "besides, beacon is on lockdown cause your goons probably-"
he was cut off yet again when an alarm went off blaring loudly waking all of beacon.
weiss woke up startled and tried going for her weapon only to roll on her side falling off the crate reaper had placed her on.
"wha- where am i" she looked up and saw him masked smiling tenderly at her but she couldn't see it. "your in my ship little snow cone" he replied as he knelt down to look her in the eye taking her gently by the arm helping her to her feet.
"why am i here?" she demanded yanking her arm away glaring at him.
"no need to be hostile, i was just collecting you from your dorm. you might thank me someday" he replied as he poked her forehead putting her to sleep with a sedative needle hidden in his gauntlet and held her up so she didn't hit her head anywhere.
"besides, beacon was an ugly stain like the rest of the schools" he said setting her down on the chair next to him carefully. "someone like you deserves better"
as soon as he was sure weiss was out cold and was tied up enough so she wouldn't be going anywhere he left her in the ship and ran back towards beacon academy to do his actual job and hoped he would get it done quick for her sake and his.
men and women were running around yelling things he had trouble understanding so he just opted to dodge through the bulk of the crowd pack in hand.
surprising was the first word that came to mind when reaper saw how large beacon really was and had to check his map a few times and as quick as possible he climbed buildings and threw the charges into ventilation shafts, and a few in laundry pipes.
"that should do it" he said jumping down from a ledge and dropped to the ground-
THUMP*
"Oh fuck m-"
BOOM*
reaper flew to the left after an explosion of fire and metal hit his armored chest plate throwing him to the ground ten feet from his drop sending him crashing to the ground breaking a stone bench in half twisting rebar and mesh around his back.
he coughed hard trying to breath and rid his eyes of the black dots and sat up far enough to see a blonde haired man with cold and hollow eyes holding a grenade launcher in the shape of a bat and tossed it behind him as he stalked towards reaper without a word.
reaper held up his hand blasting red lighting at him but somehow he dodged it and rushed him grabbing his hand wrenching it to the side crushing it in his grip, like a vice he clamped down on his hand and reared his other hand back in a fist and slammed It into metal making a loud clanging noise causing the metal to ring like a bell tower but not nearly as loud.
"you really think that's going to work a second time?" the blonde asked tightening his grip on his flesh hand and threw reaper across the way hitting a pot of roses getting dirt and concrete everywhere.
"your not as weak as i took you for blondie-" he began before a fist smashed against the front of his helmet cracking it down the middle as it hit the ground. The visor broke showing reaper's eyes and portions of his nose and cheekbones.
"you once asked me, 'how does it feel to know no one is running when you hit the ground?' hehehe well, hows it feel to be on the receiving end...Cole Foster!"
reaper rose to his feet shaking and disoriented looking up at jaune 'deja vu' he thought smirking that their positions were reversed and then burst into laughter, it was slow at first but when he looked at the blonde he laughed even harder until the blonde growled angrily as he threw a punch but reaper dodged it going in low and elbowed him in the stomach and uppercut him watching him fall on his back gagging and gasping for air.
reaper stomped on his chest and said still chuckling, "im not cole you idiot" reaching down he grabbed him by his neck and picked him up choking him with his left arm "i'm the messenger of death; I killed the beast you knew as cole valentine, and you jaune arc have lost this fight!" tightening his grip he whispered "be grateful i don't finish you right here"
as he said that jaune grabbed a six inch fire wand crystal from his boot and stabbed reaper's robot arm and broke it in half just before he was released and blew his arm off throwing them in opposite directions, reaper went through a window while jaune hit the wall scorched and burned and passed out smirking at a metal arm hitting the ground twitching and sparking like crazy before powering down going limp and lifeless.
Ruby woke up with a yelp looking around the room and rushed out the door wearing grey shorts and a tank top and saw students scrambling out the doors weapons in hand, she grabbed her phone and read a text from ren "ruby get your team and get outside, the entire academy is under attack"
she sent an 'okay' and got dressed in a pair of pants, an old Mistralian button up shirt and strapped to her chest were pouches of dust crystals and put her scythe staff on her back rushing out the door running into yang.
"rubes, where's weiss, is she in here, are you okay-" yang ranted.
"whoa, yang slow down what happened" Ruby asked failing at calming her down.
"its weiss, we can't find her anywhere and she isn't answering my calls" she grabbed her phone and saw her seven failed calls and it hit her, weiss said that before reaper left her alone in that room in her house he'd be back for her. hot tears shedding didn't stop her from suddenly running off with a pale and terrified look on her face.
"wha- ruby wait for me!" yang said chasing her down the halls but because of her semblance yang lost sight of her half way outside the door and slammed into ren who was holding nora up, all three ended up on the ground as soon and an explosion went off over their heads.
nora sat up groaning in pain holding her bloody and bandaged stomach, as she saw yang she asked "yang, what are you doing, are you okay?"
as they helped each other up she replied "Weiss's missing, probably hoping Rubyis looking for jaune and pyrrha, and i think the white fang are attacking us"
ren pulled a clip out of his pouch and slid it into his pistol "well you can deal with your team while you help us fight for beacon; dont hold back yang" he said taking nora with him into the building to let her rest.
"take care you two" she said running into the chaos of grimm showing up and students desperately fighting for their home.
reaper woke up with red baron carrying him into the airship weiss slept in and noticed his left arm was tingling and burned like it was lit on fire from the inside out.
"this...worth...or I'll...you both" he heard red baron say as he came in and out of consciousness and smiled when he saw weiss next to him and reached over to touch her cheek but saw his left arm from his shoulder down was gone and leaking mechanical fluids, sparked furiously and ached all over.
"well fuck, that's not good" he said before passing out completely.
While writing this, its donned on me that I need to find better things to put up and hopefully it'll improve my story but I need help; msg me if you have anything I'd appreciate it.
My reddit has been posted multiple times and I have with the same name.
Love ya'll...goodnight.