To Hold The Skies


Ruby fired at her side and launched herself through the air to get out of the way of the Emperor Taijitu's lunge. She expected it to come crashing into the roof. She did not expect it to twist its cobra-like head up and spit a stream of glowing, green ichor at her. Another shot sent her flying off to a rooftop besides Yang's. Her sister seemed busy fending off the arachnid Grimm, every punch lobbing a deadly shell at them, but while one died instantly, five more had risen to take its place. She was quickly getting surrounded.

"Behind you!" she called to Yang. Then, there was a rasp of steel, and the din of battle suddenly faded. Lights darkened. The pungent smell of a burning city ceased. Her limbs were numbed. All she saw were the spiders, each the size of a hound, leaping upon Yang while she was distracted, fangs digging deep and their bodies blocking her sight of her sister beyond an arm twisted at a horrid angle. She didn't hear Yang shouting, or see any gunshots or her fire or anything and why wasn't she moving—

A hiss sent a chill up her spine. It was behind her. The blood hadn't even time to go cold in Ruby's veins. She turned to find the white brother of the head she was attacking, lunging with its maw wide and only a foot or two away. It'd burst through the building's roof without her somehow noticing. She couldn't even bring up her rifle in time. Ruby didn't understand: how did it all go this wrong this fast? Her thoughts faded into a confused haze. Her eyes burned with heat that just wouldn't stop.

The side of the Emperor Taijitu's face detonated into a fireball that sent it reeling. A screech ripped from its throat as it thrashed about, and just like that, the cacophony of war slammed back down onto Ruby. The smell of dust and ash was like a punch to the gut that left her eyes watering. She snapped back around to look for Yang, only to find her atop the black head of the serpentine Grimm, gripping tightly onto one of its spines and punching down wildly at its armored back. The spiders weren't even close to where she saw them. Yang wasn't even close to where she saw them.

Confused, she stumbled backwards until she bumped into something.

Someone.

"Really, Ruby, I would have thought after that close call you would have started paying more attention..." Cinder all but purred to her.

Ruby whipped around, shakily moving her rifle from the girl in the red dress to the thrashing, white snake. Emerald stepped out from behind her, and Ruby realized just how bad a position this was: both of them probably at full aura, her at half, the stress had to be getting to her for her to have seen what she did before, and having to fight the Grimm, too?

Ruby gulped. "What do you want?" she shouted, deciding to keep Crescent Rose trained on them. They were more dangerous.

Emerald and Cinder looked between one another as if they thought she was crazy.

"You don't really think I wanted it to happen like this, did you?" Cinder placed a hand on her chest in mock despair. "I'm here to do the same thing you are: help." Her eyes followed the serpent, not Crescent Rose. Even in a horrible situation like this, she had that thin smile.

Ruby furrowed her brow. Her eyes widened as exactly what was going on struck her. "You're just trying to cover your butts!" She brought up her scope. Cinder didn't budge.

"Oops, I guess you caught me." Cinder brought a hand to her mouth, chuckling. "I suppose we shall just have to stay here and do nothing then, hm? That's what you want, right?"

Now, it was Ruby's turn not to move.

Cinder merely shrugged and motioned behind Ruby. "Suit yourself."

Ruby glanced back as the white cobra head dived down at her, scales melted and cracked on one side of its face. She dived out of the way and swung for its side, but it was almost as fast as she was: twisting mid-lunge to snap at her again. Ruby rolled backwards and fired a shot for its eye, only for the Grimm to coil out of the way. They were both more agile than they were strong. If she were at full aura, she could chip it down, but all it'd take is one, maybe two bites from the Grimm and she'd be finished.

A swift lunge at Ruby left her barely holding its maw open with Crescent Rose, feet digging into the concrete behind her in a desperate attempt not to be tossed aside or picked up. Her aura crackled with strain. Despite her mind telling her not to, she looked over at Cinder.

Emerald swiped away spiders trying to leap from the building Yang was on, but Cinder herself only watched her with that constant little smile. A red Dust crystal sat poised in her hand, yet she was perfectly content to let her die.

Crescent Rose creaked in her grip.

"Fine! Please, help!"

Cinder's sickly-sweet smile grew wider. "Well, only if you insist."


"Stand! Still! You! Stupid! Snake!" Yang punched down at the Emperor Taijitu's armored back with each word. Every strike cracked the plates just as much as it did her own aura, but she didn't care: her aura was as good as gone, anyway. The only thing she had to hold onto was one of the crystalline spikes jutting out as the snake thrashed about like a bull. However, whereas a bull would just jolt her, every bump and toss from the snake left her floating for seconds on end.

It was on one of these bucks that she saw that just where the Emperor was turning: towards the breach. Her eyes widened: it was getting ready to dive.

"Oh no you don't!" Yang focused on every wound and fracture of her aura, let that pain turn to heat, that heat into energy, and punched. Her fist flared with fire as it crashed into the Emperor's back and shattered the armor plating altogether. She could feel the force vibrate through its entire form. It screeched in pain and thrashed its head about in confusion, drawing her into the air once more in its desperate bucking.

The spike she held onto snapped. The snake swung its head up just as Yang came falling down. The world flashed white, and the next thing Yang knew she was flying down the street watching her aura and blood both trickle away in the air. The ground was advancing fast. If she had any aura left at all, it'd pop if she bumped her big toe too hard, let alone smashing into the ground like this.

Too exhausted to even feel grief, Yang could only find the energy to snort. What a shit way to go.

It took her a moment to realize she wasn't hitting the ground. Yang furrowed her brow and looked around to find a black glyph bearing the Schnee crest pulsating around her.

"Honestly, what would you two do without me?" Weiss said with a sigh from behind her.

She wriggled in the grip of gravity so that she could lie on her back and stare at Weiss. Her head was still pounding, blood flowed back from her aching nose into her throat filling her mouth with the taste of iron. She was pretty sure she was going to get a black eye from how the Grimm struck her, too.

Yang gave her a big, bloody grin. "Nah, I had that!"

Weiss rolled her eyes and set Yang down. "Utterly barbaric."

Yang, however, was a bit busy staring at the two Atlesian soldiers she had at her sides, one checking around them, the other taking pot shots at the Grimm around them.

"Who's your new friends?" She took a shaky step forward, and Weiss slipped over to help support her.

"Atlesian soldiers, who are doing their duty in defending themselves and the citizens of Atlas." As the Emperor Taijitu's black head writhed and thrashed in its death throes, a pair of Atlesian dropships burst from the smoke above and riddled the Emperor Taijitu's now-unarmored back with countless bullets, finishing the job that Yang started and leaving the already-wounded black serpent's head melting away as it dropped back down into the breach.

"Is that 'defending themselves', too?"

Weiss smiled knowingly. "We took some liberties."


The white Emperor Taijitu rose up and coiled in pain as Ruby dug deep into its side with Crescent Rose. Dragging its body through the entire building in an attempt to escape, it left the roof crumbling in its wake. High caliber bullets and spears of fire chased the Grimm as it retreated. Ruby let out a sigh of relief as it slithered for the breach. That could be enough.

"I wouldn't let it escape: Taijitus can reform from just one head," Cinder said, already jogging to the edge of the roof.

Ruby bit her lip, feeling just plain lost by this turn of events: why would Cinder want to ruin her own plan? It was working, wasn't it? With the entire building falling apart beneath her feet, however, Ruby didn't have a choice. Cinder and Emerald followed behind the serpent, leaping as one to the building ahead: the closest to the breach itself. Ruby jumped close behind.

"Why are you even bothering? Isn't this the whole scheme?" Ruby asked as she raised her scope up. With a perfect shot at the cobra's eye, she pulled the trigger. Crescent Rose clicked. She was out of ammo.

"Is this really the time to be asking that?" Emerald huffed. Contrary to Cinder, she was focused only on the Grimm around them. A sweep of her scythe-like kama tore through another one of the numerous spiders.

"I've already told you, Ruby..." Cinder began. A spider sprung at Emerald from behind and was incinerated in an instant.

Emerald smiled sheepishly at Cinder.

"This isn't what I wanted."

Ruby opened her mouth to protest, but with her mind still swimming from seeing Yang get swallowed up by the Grimm—yet turning out completely fine—and Cinder helping her at all, she couldn't think of anything. A flicker of white in the corner of her eye caught her attention.

"It's getting away!" She pointed to the snake all but lunging for the safety of the darkness below. Cinder raised the Dust crystal towards it. Emerald fired away at its scales.

A hole blew itself through its eye before Cinder could fire. A rain of missiles incinerated what was left in a multicolored burst. As one, the Grimm let out a howl that shook the city, and Ruby turned back to find where in the world that came from: more Huntsmen?


"Hold the line and keep this street open!" Adam's voice was just barely audible over the gunfire and growls. The shouts of over four dozen faunus, however, was easily heard. Ruby didn't think she'd ever be so happy to see another wave of black and white, but with Adam and Blake at the head, the lines of White Fang defectors turned a faltering defense into a winning one: the waves of firepower at least doubled, and the Paladin prototype—cannon still smoking from its execution of the Emperor Taijitu's white head—was certainly helping. The Grimm, suddenly confused and lost without their leader, were being mowed down en masse.

Adam only halted when he spotted the tell-tale colors of gold and ice-blue mixed in with the chaotic lines: Yang and Weiss resting in the back of the skirmish. Ruby practically teleported to the three the second they'd gotten together. Blake looked up to where she came from, and Adam followed her gaze.

Cinder gave a friendly little wave of her hand from atop the roof. Her eyes reflected only mockery. He scowled at them, but both she and Emerald jogged away... towards the breach. There was no way they could follow. Blake looked like she was still about to try until Weiss stepped in her way.

"I think... I think we've done enough, today, wouldn't you all agree?" Weiss asked, still holding up Yang. Ruby sidled up to her other side, helping support her sister.

"I don't believe we even can do more," Adam replied, checking his Scroll. The fact that Yang and Weiss were even still conscious with their aura being slowly chipped down to this point amazed him: Yang was standing with a whopping one percent left. "The best we can do now is keep a way out open for as long as possible."

Ruby watched the all-out war going on only meters away: people from all corners of life and the world fighting as one to save everyone they could from the waves of Grimm. They couldn't hold forever, especially if they wanted to pull back to protect the civilians a mile away, but, they could hold for long enough.

"But my team—" Blake began.

"Must have a lot of confidence in their ability to do whatever they're doing alone if they didn't ask you to come along in the first place," Adam finished. He stumbled further away from the epicenter, missing the brief look of horror on Ruby's face.

Her team. Blake's team. She didn't know her team was evil, Ruby thought! She could've been friends with them, and she'd failed to save one of them.

Yang squeezed Ruby's shoulder. "Oi. Whatever you're worried about, don't. No one's gonna judge you, alright?" She patted her back.

Ruby couldn't help but smile: leave it to her sister to just be able to hone in on what she was feeling, like that.

Yang grinned and wrapped her arm around Ruby, strong even without her aura. "Besides, look at you, being the big hero! You're the one who practically saved the day!"

"Uh, hello? The reason for Atlas coming to help is right next to you, you know," Weiss protested.

"And once again, the faunus are chopped liver," called Adam as he slumped down against an overturned car.

"Yeah, it was all of us!" Ruby agreed.

Yang just rolled her eyes. "Alright, alright, I get it! You all helped, all three of you..." Her smile dipped for a second as her gaze drifted over to the battle lines once again. A whole defense of a district and thousands saved... and she did, what, exactly? Get put on her ass by a midget? Mostly kill a big Grimm? Something in Yang twisted at that, fighting with the pride burning in her chest.

Unaware of the thoughts tumbling in Yang's head, Blake stepped forward. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I don't think even this many people is going to stop the Grimm and the White Fang from blocking the way out. Not for an entire mile." She sighed and turned her gaze down. "This is still bleak."

Yang looked back at the mixed army of Huntsmen, Atlesian military, White Fang, and Vale police. Allies. If they needed more people... then maybe she could be more useful, after all! She yanked her Scroll from her pocket.

"But I bet a few more Beacon students wouldn't hurt any, right?" She was already scrolling through her contacts: she knew more than a few people who would be itching to help out in the fray. Some needing more convincing than others. "Especially with Ruby and I's patented—and absolutely not dangerous—rocket locker entry strategy!"

"You... might wanna tell them to land a little further away from here," Ruby mumbled.

"Huh? Why's that?" Yang was bringing her Scroll up to her ear when Ruby tapped her side. So focused on gathering up her own allies, she hadn't noticed RWAY's eyes turning to the sky. She looked to Ruby, then followed her gaze.

Descending through the clouds of dust and ash were Atlesian battleships.


The bridge of the AAS Atlas Telemon was in chaos. As radio operators shouted new orders, soldiers sprinted through the halls and officers demanded new status and situation reports; however, it quickly became clear that the chaos running through the air was not full of dread or fear, but a sort of nervous excitement.

"Dropships 93 and 94 are refusing to return to base! They said they're protecting a valuable Atlesian VIP!"

"We're getting reports of skirmishes across the district between White Fang and defectors! Unconfirmed reports are saying the defectors are even fighting alongside Vale militias!"

"Multiple locker launches detected from Beacon Academy headed for the Ildaite ward: the remaining students just started flooding into the quarantine!"

"The Grimm have lost cohesion! Dropship 91's saying Beacon and Haven students led a strike on some sort of Grimm leader!"

"It's a madhouse down there, General," one of his officers commented from his side, watching images and videos flood in. While the majority of the district was listening to the orders of their council, there was just one little problem-child near the epicenter: a major highway leading out of the breach that even the police were refusing to abandon.

"It certainly is..." Ironwood, however, was focused on only one of the blurry images they could capture through the dusty clouds: one of red, white, black and yellow. Ozpin's students. He knew, deep down, that they were the ones who no doubt were spurring on this thorn in the Vale Council's side. Ozpin had asked him whether or not you send in the scouts or the flag bearers. Ironwood fought back a smile. Those four were so impatient that they decided to take both jobs.

"Orders, sir? We may be able to turn this around," the officer asked, and the bridge finally grew quiet.

Any urge to smile faded. Whether or not they took both jobs wouldn't matter if they died all the same, Ironwood thought. Try as this team might to bring hope for a valiant defense, they'd never have the manpower to hold it back forever, nor would they have the influence to keep Vale from locking them in. Just like Mountain Glenn.

Ironwood looked to his other side. Penny stood with her gaze on the ground, having been thoroughly reprimanded for not returning immediately and disobeying orders. Even so, her eyes still flicked up time and time again, trying to catch yet another glimpse of the same photo Ironwood focused on most.

Victory could never come without strength.

They were lucky that he would provide it.

"Let the Vale Council complain." The crew were all but holding their breath. "As the owner of Remnant's largest military, it is Atlas' duty to hold up the world when it cannot hold itself. Send a full contingent of Knights to support the soldiers still fighting. All batteries, fire at will!" In contrast to the streets below, there was no cheering or even a raising of voices, yet as the operators went to work relaying orders, dropping hundreds of androids to the earth below and opening fire on Grimm, Ironwood could feel the mood brighten.

Only then, did he allow himself to smile.


Five minutes later, from a Bullhead watching over the war-torn district, Glynda Goodwitch raised her crop, reached into her soul, ignored her hatred of the Council, and focused. Rubble across the city began to rumble, entire streets rattling and breaking apart. Purple aura gathered into an intricately designed tiara of light placed atop the district itself. Glyphs etched into the sky burst to life, linked together like a circuit by wires of aura. For five long, arduous minutes, they had flown around the perimeter of the area she would be forced to lock off. Five long, arduous minutes of setting up and preparing one of the grandest feats of Semblance usage she had ever done.

It was something she had to do: try as she might to remain stoic and unaffected by the world, Glynda could not take having to raise wall after wall, closing off over a hundred thousand people bit by bit.

So she did it all at once.

With a flick of her wrist, her vast aura drained itself almost to nothing. The district erupted into a purple glow and quaked as her grand spell weaved itself into existence: entire roads tore themselves out and stretched into the sky, reinforced by rubble from the collapsing city itself. The rising wall arced around the perimeter, glyphs guiding and powering it along its path at the speed of a train.

It would take six more minutes, but by the time it was finished, the entirety of Ildaite City's government district would be closed off by a wall of concrete and earth... except for a certain highway leading to the breach.

Exhaustion claimed her before she could finish it, Glynda would claim.


Within the ward of the Vale metropolis known as Ildaite City, the quarantined Government District held one hundred and fifty thousand people. Fifty thousand were able to escape down and through the highway. Eighty thousand more would be able to find safety in the areas secured by the mix of White Fang, defectors, Vale militia and Atlesian machines.

The media would call it a tragedy.

The one hundred and thirty thousand survivors would call it a miracle.


"Oh, glorious sun, I've missed you so much!" Yang groaned and all but melted into her seat of the Bullhead as it took off for the safety of Beacon.

Sunlight poured in through the open doors of the VTOL. It was the first time they'd seen the sun in its full glory in what felt like weeks. Weiss shielded her eyes but couldn't hide her smile. Ruby and Adam shared in their joy, but their eyes were still drawn to the smoking district cut off from the rest of Vale. They could still see white figures moving along its outskirts.

"Why didn't the defectors come with us?" Ruby asked.

"The White Fang doesn't want them, Vale doesn't want them, and some are legally dead." Adam shrugged and winced: his shoulders were still sore. "We agreed that it was the best place for them to hold out and still assist the populace. I'm keeping in touch with them."

"So, are you going to go back to leading the faunus, then?" Weiss asked, carefully guarding her emotions.

Adam didn't look away from the district. It was a distinct possibility: with the defectors out there, he could keep watch on Beacon and Blake from their territory. He'd learned to coexist with humans and, even now, his true goal was to one day retake the White Fang and forge it into a weapon of justice once more. And yet...

"And leave you three?" Adam smirked and turned his gaze back on them. "Please. You'd flounder without me."

Ruby kicked him in the shin, and the four fell into laughter. They were content to remain in silent bliss for the rest of the ride to Beacon docks, though that might've just been because talking still hurt. It almost hurt as much as it did trying to just stand up and walk out of the Bullhead. Their knees felt like machines that hadn't been oiled in years, and their muscles were as tense as steel.

This was why they nearly fell over each other when they noticed Doctor Oobleck waiting for them on the platform, still clad in his exploring attire. He sipped at his coffee.

"Full marks. You'll receive your full report when we are fully settled." He spun around to leave, only to glance over his shoulder. "You've all done an excellent job, tonight. Today. Both."

"So... extra credit?" Weiss asked with a coy grin.

"If you believed yourselves good enough to assault the train, you should have been good enough to stop it. So, no. But a good try, nonetheless! Rest up!" And in a blur, he was gone. It was in those few seconds that they realized that they were back home. They were safe. No more Grimm. No more White Fang. Just classes, students and a really, really long walk back to their dorms. The most important thing to them at the moment, however, was no more adrenaline.

Yang flopped down onto her back. Ruby and Adam all but faceplanted into the ground. Weiss collapsed onto her knees and slowly eased herself into sitting.

"Maybe we should just sit here for a while," Weiss suggested. A trio of groans replied back.

"No one's gonna care if we cut class tomorrow, right? Or forever?" Yang struggled to lift her head. Her eye was already darkening from getting rammed by the Emperor Taijitu, and her jacket and shirt beneath were both full of holes and slashes from where Neo's rapier could slip through her weakening aura.

"Screw grades," Adam grunted and forced himself to roll over. "We saved... Ruby, how many people have we saved?" The tip of his horn was chipped off, and entire sections of his coat were shredded from smashing through steel, glass and chainsaws alike, revealing parts of his skin already beginning to bruise.

"Scroll's busted. I was using Penny's on the train." Ruby barely even bothered lifting her head. She had been the luckiest: bar some exhaustion and ruffled clothes and hair, she'd been fine. Her aura had even mostly patched up any marks from Torchwick or Mercury by the time she'd even gotten into the fray.

Adam groaned. "Yang! How many people have we saved!"

"Uuh... looks like fifty thousand and growing."

Ruby let out a tiny, giddy giggle at the thought.

Weiss' Scroll buzzed. "And it looks like Penny's just fine," Weiss added. "Atlas scooped her up when she went to go look for you two." With her leg having healed, Weiss was perhaps the second-most free of genuine injury, besides a nasty gash along her side. She looked more like she'd been hit by a bomb: parts of her clothes were blackened, soot still marred her face and half of the sleeve of her bolero was outright missing.

"By the way," Weiss said, "if you're ever going to do something that stupid again, first off: don't. Second: warn us first, would you?"

"Heh, uh, my bad." Ruby waved her hand. "Kinda freaked out."

"Plans aren't stupid if they work," Adam added. He groaned as his own Scroll buzzed, and dragged it out of his pocket like it weighed a ton. Then, he sat up with a sharp gasp of pain and shock both. "What!"

Weiss raised an eyebrow and leaned onto Adam to see. Yang curled up until she could watch over his shoulder. Ruby didn't even move bar a lift of her head.

Blake had sent a picture. She and Cinder were shoving Neo into a police car. The girl was cuffed, but looked perfectly fine with her predicament. ["Cinder and Emerald caught the mastermind near the Breach. Torchwick's minion. No clue where Torchwick is."]

"They turned one of their own in?" Yang asked.

"Wait, what?" Ruby pushed herself up onto her elbows.

"Cinder turned this... 'Neopolitan' girl in," Weiss said.

"That's the one that hurt Yang, right? Mmh..." Ruby flopped back down. "Don't care."

Weiss just rolled her eyes. "What bothers me is that we haven't the slightest clue as to where Torchwick went. If he's even alive."

"They could be using this girl as another hostage," Adam said. "It'd keep Torchwick loyal in case he gets any ideas. He seems the type who would sell out every other ally he had at the drop of a hat."

"But why wait now?" Yang chipped in. "Unless... ooh, maybe he went rogue."

Adam snorted. "Yeah. Right. He must have truly realized the error of his ways and broke away from Cinder's schemes."

"Pssh, whatever. You doubt me now, but I bet we'll see him Roman around in the future. Ah? Get it? Roman? Roamin'?"

Adam threw Wilt at Yang, knocking her back over while she giggled. With their adrenaline gone and replaced with the knowledge of what they had just done, laughing came all too easy to the four. Soon enough, it died to a comfortable silence.

Adam glanced over at his side, namely, "Weiss?"

"Hm?"

"You're still leaning on me."

"So I am." She didn't move.

Adam only rolled his eyes. Quiet tried to set in once more, but as they thought back on their time in Mountain Glenn, one memory in particular began to stick out more and more to them. The very one that arguably started the chain of events dragging them there.

Ruby let out a great sigh and rolled over onto her side. "Um, guys... there's something I have to tell you."

Adam and Weiss did not think it was possible for them to tense up more.

Yang, on the other hand, had laid back down, arms behind her head. "Yep. We know."

Ruby winced and curled in on herself. "Yeah... yeah, I kinda guessed. I know you probably think I'm all messed up now, but—"

Her sister actually chortled. "Uh, no? Ruby, Rubes, sis..." She crawled over to hug Ruby and pointed off to Weiss. "Her company's basically into slavery." She pointed at herself, ignoring Weiss' halfhearted glare. "I punched a chick onto an exploding car." Yang pointed at Adam. "And he's literally a terrorist."

"Ex-terrorist," Adam grumbled.

"We've all done some crappy things, Rubes. It'd be just a little weird for us to judge you on that, right?" She tousled Ruby's hair, leaving her trying her hardest not to pout. "You're still my innocent little sis!"

"And a fine leader," Adam added.

"And a great friend," Weiss said with a smile.

"Your best friend?" Ruby asked hopefully.

"Don't push it." Her smile grew anyway, and the two chuckled.

Ruby wiped at her eye. "Sorry for not coming to you two, I just... I just thought..." She sniffled, and her smile wobbled.

"A~alright, that's it! Group hug!" Yang pulled Ruby tighter against her and forced the two up so she could reach out for the other half of their team.

Adam and Weiss barely had time to glance between one another before Yang just yanked Adam in. Weiss grabbed onto his sleeve so she wouldn't flop onto the ground, which only made it easier for Adam to drag her with him. She only wriggled to get herself more comfortable. Adam, though he'd claim he had at least tried to resist, brought his arms around the three.

Surrounded by her tattered, bruised, loving team, Ruby managed a bright smile and closed her eyes, letting the tears flow freely. "You guys are the best..."

Sure, their mission wasn't a complete success: Vale might've been saved, but Torchwick was free, Cinder was lurking and the White Fang weren't swept away. But her team was here with her. Her second family.

And right now, that was all that mattered.


"It's not too late to join them." Ozpin sipped at his mug, facing away from the windows showing the early dawn, and away from the visitor who watched from them. A plated helmet styled in the shape of a Nevermore's head sat upon his desk.

Raven clenched her fist. "I've made my choice," she muttered.

Ozpin let out a noncommittal hum filled with not a fragment of belief, and Raven was so quickly reminded of why she despised him: he always acted like he could see right through her.

"Yes, I suppose you have, which brings me to my first question: why are you here, Raven?" He turned in his chair to face her.

Raven did not move, but her red eyes followed the movements of his reflection.

"I've come to warn you."

"Oh? I had thought you'd done a rather good job of that before this school year began."

"Make no mistake: Beacon is still going to fall." She drummed her fingers on her hilt and gathered her thoughts. "I know what you're doing, Ozpin. Creating another Team STRQ. Another set of 'Guardians'."

Ozpin leaned back and swirled the hot chocolate in his mug. "They are essential to Remnant. You may have given up, but this world still needs hope to survive. That's exactly what you guardians were meant to do."

Her eyes left his reflection, staring out once more at the docks. "Do you know why I warned you, at all? Even with how much I despise you?"

Ozpin said nothing, so she continued on.

"It was so you could make your little contingencies. Run away. Hide. Whatever you wanted, so that you wouldn't do this." She turned to face him. "So you wouldn't make your next 'guardians'. We gave everything to you, Ozpin, but I don't care what Qrow says: you can't make us give our children to you, too." She walked past him and snatched her helmet.

"This is their decision to make, not yours," Ozpin replied.

Raven glared at him over her shoulder and slipped her mask on. "How well did that excuse work for Hazel?"

Ozpin pursed his lips, and he was silent once more.

Taking it as her victory, she drew her blade and slashed open a swirling mass of black and red.

"Don't bring them into your war. I will drag them out of it, no matter the cost." She stepped through, and Raven was gone.

Ozpin watched the space she vanished into for a second longer, then rose from his chair and walked to the window. As Headmaster, an unrivaled control over aura was par for the course. Without even trying, he could see the four members of RWAY with their arms around one another, laughing and stumbling as they tried to support each other to just walk to the dormitories.

This wasn't a mistake.

He knew it wasn't.


END VOLUME 2


Roman woke up with his eyes already open. Like he'd never fallen unconscious in the first place. The first thing he could focus on was the dark, reflective slab of a table he sat at. His eyes darted around to his surroundings without sparing a glance at himself: the last thing he saw was his own cane flying at his face, so he was definitely captured. That meant he needed an escape, and the countless windows surrounding him could do wonders for that.

Wait. His prison had windows. Elegant windows leading out towards a night sky dyed burgundy, where the clouds were broken up only by the shattered moon. Jagged cliffs just reached into his view from where he sat, gleaming black crystals adorning them. Nevermores were flying freely through the sky like any other bird.

Slowly, Roman looked down at himself: in the cold, burgundy glow from the outside, it was hard to make out if there were any signs of dirt, blood or Dust on him, but he could see no tears. No scratches. Even the knee of his pants which he had blown off to catch the heiress by surprise was patched together. His hand shakily reached towards his head. His hat was there. His other hand twitched around his cane.

He had his cane. He had his hat. He could move his hands.

"You have got to be kidding me," Roman muttered under his breath. He was in Hell. There were no if, ands, or buts about it. The Ice Queen actually had the brass balls to kill him? Still in shock, he leaned back into his chair. Shock gave way to frustration while he rubbed at his temples. He should've cut his losses and ran when he had the chance. Now, the best thing he could hope for was Neo figuring out he was screwed and getting out of there as soon as possible.

He'd just shifted to stand when he realized two things. The first was that he still felt his mechanical leg. Call him superstitious, but he was pretty sure if Hell went through all the trouble to patch him up after a fight, he wouldn't still be lugging around that thing.

The second was that he was being watched.

A white Nevermore, barely the size of a crow, was standing atop a throne of black crystal. Light glimmered and twisted across the crystal's surface, turning its edges a faint violet. Its eyes, beady and red, stared solely at him. Roman wondered whether or not being in Hell would've been better or worse than his situation as he turned away and pretended he didn't see that.

Merlot was across from him. He wasn't there before. He stared ahead lifelessly, and his cybernetic eye was dull and inactive.

"Merlot," Roman whispered across the table.

Merlot didn't move.

"Merlot!" He hissed, keeping an eye out on the movements of the white bird.

Merlot jolted. He, too, awoke with his eye already open, and his other activating with a flash of red light. Merlot began quickly scanning his eyes across the area, going through no doubt the same thing he, himself, had when he woke up. Except there was no time for that with a weird, decidedly not Merlot-made Grimm watching.

"Over here, you old rat! I thought you got out fine; can't I trust you to do anything right?" Torchwick chastised him with a snarl. Always be confident. Never show weakness. That was what it meant to be Torchwick.

"I..." Merlot blinked. For the first time since they'd met, the old scientist looked completely lost. "I was. I... I was traveling away through the lesser tunnel systems as our plan went into effect, I opened the final door to the outside and then"—he flicked a hand to the room around them—"we're both here. My eye cannot even identify where we are. It is clear, however, we are far beyond the CCT..." Merlot stopped short as his gaze fell onto the pale Nevermore.

"No, no... Merlot, look at me, this isn't the time to get distracted!"

"My, my, what an interesting subject you are..." His cybernetic eye ticked and whirred as it zoomed in. "I have never seen anything like—" Merlot's breath caught in his throat with a strangled noise.

Torchwick, reluctantly, yet resignedly, followed his gaze.

The bird wasn't there any longer.

"Roman Torchwick. Werner Merlot." A monster sat in its place in the shape of a woman, clad in black. Her skin and hair were white as snow, leaving every dark vein showing clear as day. Her black eyes were broken up only by red irises appraising them both, drinking in their horror.

The witch smiled.

"We have a lot to talk about."