Chapter 16: Old Wounds
I do not own RWBY, RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum (R.I.P.) nor do I own any media that may appear in the story. I only own the OCs, Enjoy! Remember to Favorite, Follow, and leave a Review. Back from Hiatus, Mother Fuckers!
Carmine laid in bed between Blake and Weiss, he stared at the roof of the Captain's quarters and thought to himself 'I can't believe the 184th would work for someone like Torchwick, after we fought back to back in Vacuo, they turn around and aim their tanks at me.' Carmine's mind raced with a multitude of thoughts, Carmine was snapped back into reality when a knock came from the door "Hey Carmine, come to the bridge when you can." Laurel said through the door, Carmine internally nodded as he slowly pulled himself out of bed, being careful to not wake the two beautiful ladies that lay asleep in his bed.
Carmine left his room and made his way to the bridge where his team was gathered, the blue ocean gleamed like diamonds in the sun as the Valor plowed through the water "Hey! There's the man, the myth, and the legend. How'd you sleep?" Celadon asked as he leaned against the wall by the door, Regalia and Laurel were looking at a map while Yang and RNJR conversed amongst themselves. Everyone turned their attention toward Carmine who stood in the doorway, Regalia walked over and handed him a hot cup of coffee "Drink up, we got questions." Regalia said in a serious tone of voice. Carmine shrugged and hammered the coffee back, he sat the cup onto the counter as he sat back into a rolling chair "Alright, shoot." Carmine said as he placed his hands behind his head.
Yang stepped up first and cleared her throat "What did you do before attending Beacon?" Blonde fury asked curiously, everyone in the room seemed to move closer slightly in anticipation of his answer, Carmine sighed as he scratched his beard "I was a mercenary, my team and I would take contracts for people, factions, or groups; we had rules though, one of which was to do no harm to the innocent. We would get contracts from all over, but they were mostly from Atlas and Schnee Dust Company, a couple of years ago we got tasked with assaulting an Atlas base over in Vacuo that had been taken over by the White Fang and an unknown group. We linked up with the 184th Mistral Militia and attacked the base, I fought side by side with a man named Titus Quinn. He was a great man, wore his heart on his sleeve and looked out for his people." Carmine said as he recalled the events of his past.
Sun raised his hand slightly "You said 'was', did he…" Sun asked hesitantly, Carmine shook his head "I don't know what happened to Titus, the last we heard of him was that he chased a herd of Goliaths out into a valley and annihilated them with his Challenger 2." Carmine said as he remembered Crimson showed him the video. Celadon stepped forward "Yeah, I got a question; how did you get those two rectangle scars on your side?" Celadon asked the rifleman, Carmine lowered his head and sunk a little in his chair "That was from when I came face to face with pure evil, a man named Alastor who was a member of a mercenary group called the Grimm Reapers. He specialized in torture and interrogation, he gave me that scar when he used a scalpel to cut out two strips of flesh out of my side and tried to feed it to me. They would beat me until my aura fell and then they would get to work, cutting me up like a hog but I wouldn't give up my team." Carmine explained as he rubbed the scar on his arm.
As they chatted amongst themselves, the radar alarm blared as it announced the presence of something large in the water. Carmine stood up out of his chair and walked over to the monitor, he adjusted the screen as a large green blip popped up on the screen followed by several smaller blips that quickly dissipated but the large one remained. A giant dorsal fin rose out of the water but quickly went back under the surface, Carmine slid over to the monitor to his right and started to type in commands to the ship's defense system and one by one the side guns came to life.
"Laurel activate the depth finder and give me a sit rep on this thing!" Carmine said as he entered the defense parameters into the side guns 'target=positive=grimm=engage (friendly=human;faunus=disengage)' Carmine tapped enter and stepped away from the console, Laurel watched depth finder screen as Regalia grabbed her Honey Badger that was leaning against the wall "I got it! It's off to the port side and is swinging around to the starboard side." Laurel said as the giant fin rose out of the water once again, the ship rocked as the beast bumped into it and shook the crew inside of it. Carmine pulled the main throttle back and let the Valor float freely without any propulsion, the room was quiet as they waited for the beast to make its next move.
Celadon moved over to the main gun targeting system and moved the joystick, the main guns rose to life as they slowly raised up into the sky. Cobalt ran into the room from the cargo hold "Everything is secure, we should be good. When did Carmine get here?" Cobalt asked confused, Celadon sighed and patted Cobalt on the shoulder "I guess we should tell him." Celadon said, Verde chuckled "That thing has been tailing us since Mistral, they didn't want to wake you since you've been working so hard." Verde explained as he scratched his chin, Carmine lowered his head as he thought about what was just said "I really appreciate it guys but next time, if there is something like this then please let me know." Carmine said as he placed his hands behind his head. The targeting alarm blared as the starboard guns started to fire, the large rounds ripped through the dorsal fin that had rose out of the water and in an instant, the guns fell silent again.
The ship shook as a Sea Feilong rose from the water and roared in anger "Oh, it looks pissed!" Yang said as she watched the sea dragon that stood out of the water, it reared its head back and breathed a bolt of lightning that hit the bow of the ship. The phalanx cannons spun up and ripped into the serpent's face, it roared in pain as the bullets ripped into its hardened body, Carmine grabbed the joystick and moved the stream of bullets to rip through its wings. The bullets shredded the thin red wings into strands that blew around in the wind, the sea dragon roared in pain before it dove back underwater. The dragon circled the battleship underwater before it breached from the port side, the 127mm guns sprung to life and fired into the sea dragon, the casings ejected out the sides of the smaller turrets as the rounds shot from the twin barrels.
The rounds hit the Sea Feilong and ripped into its chest, the rounds exploded on impact and ripped the Grimm apart before it exploded into black smoke, the autocannons fell silent again as they went back into their resting position. Verde pushed himself off the wall and walked out of the bridge, he grabbed a large broom and swept the spent shells into the ocean "Wait, isn't that pollution?" Sun asked about the spent artillery shells, Carmine shook his head "No, they sink to the bottom and become artificial reefs for the fish and sea life." Carmine said as he pushed the throttle forward again.
Jaune cleared his throat "So you were telling us about the scars on your side." Jaune said, reminding Carmine of what they were talking about "Ah right, yeah I got captured by the Grimm Reapers and was rescued by my team, the Grimm Reapers were the evilest people we ever encountered, I mean they raped, murdered, kidnapped, tortured, and sold people on the black market. So, when we hunted them down, we didn't arrest them but put a bullet in their head and set their corpses on fire. There were eleven of them: Diablo, Loki, Cerberus, Leviathan, Abaddon, Astaroth, Alastor, Belial, Lilith, Paimon, and Sabnock. Diablo was their leader, Loki was second in command and led the assault on the Schnee Gala a few years back." Carmine explained as he looked out the window over the bow of the ship.
"Is that who you fought that night?" A voice asked from behind the group of people, Carmine turned around and saw Weiss standing in the doorway. "Yeah, the one called Loki was waiting for you in your bedroom but thankfully you went somewhere else." Carmine said as he leaned against the main console, Weiss looked down at the floor as she put her hands behind "I… I do remember that night and I remember you saving me from the men who busted down the front door." Weiss said as she fought back tears, Carmine tilted his head in curiosity "So what brought the memories back?" Carmine asked, Weiss looked up at the rifleman and walked closer to him.
She placed her hand on his chest and looked into his crimson red eyes "It was your scent, it was one I could never forget." Weiss said as she wrapped her arms around his torso, Blake leaned against the doorframe and looked at the pair "It's kind of funny, both of your girlfriends have had prior encounters with you when your team was alive." Laurel said as he read the radar.
Blake walked over and joined in their embrace, Carmine placed his forehead against the top of her head as the scent of strawberries rushed his nose combined with the scent of vanilla coming from Weiss's hair "Mmm, strawberry-vanilla, my favorite." Carmine said as he savored the smell.
Qrow walked forward and stared at Carmine "Wait, we were locked up together right?!" Qrow asked, Carmine nodded "Yeah, my brothers had to come bail us out." Carmine said as he wrapped his arms around Blake and Weiss, Oscar walked up and looked up at Carmine "Ozpin says that Sapphire was very polite to everyone and she wouldn't stop talking about you." Oscar said as he looked up at Carmine, Carmine smiled as he fought back tears "I bet she wouldn't stop, that's just how she was." The rifleman said as he looked up at the ceiling.
As they conversed, Verde walked back into the bridge "Hey Carmine, you might want to check this out." Verde said, Blake and Weiss let him go before he followed Verde out onto the deck. Verde pointed at a shape in the distance that was covered up by fog, Carmine looked at the gunner "Can you do anything about that?" He asked, Verde nodded and placed his feet shoulder width apart, he put his fist together as the wind around them started to pick up. The gusts of wind blew across the ocean as they slowly pushed the fog away and revealed a slightly submerged Atlas patrol vessel.
"Celadon! Rifle!" Carmine called toward the bridge, within minutes Celadon leaped over the railing and jogged over to Carmine with 'Charon' in hand. Carmine took the rifle and looked down the scope as he pointed it toward the submerged craft, he noted that it had a hole in the side of the hull along with burn marks "It looks like it either hit a sea mine or it was hit by a torpedo. It looks like it's been there for a while though there's no telling what happened." Carmine said as he handed the rifle back to Celadon.
Just then a medium sized vessel came out from behind an island and cut across the open ocean, Carmine and Celadon raced back to the bridge while Verde caused fog to rise from the ocean water. Carmine ran into the bridge "All hands to battle stations! This is not a drill." Carmine said as he activated the Valor's counter-measure system, the attacking ship had two 25mm autocannons on the front and two quad barrel MK-60 missile launchers that fired AGM-176 Griffin missiles. "Cyclone-class patrol boat off the port bow." Carmine said as bullets bounced off the hull that the patrol boat fired at them.
Carmine activated the laser designator on the bow and targeted the patrol boat "Come on! A little more." Carmine said as the designator locked onto the vessel, Carmine tapped the screen labeled 'TLAM-1' and pressed a red button that began flashing.
A cover in the middle of the Valor raised up as smoke started to rise from it, a BGM-109 Cruise Missile shot out of the chamber before the jet engine engaged and thrusted the missile into the sky, the bridge watched as it raced across the sky and impacted the patrol boat.
The boat exploded into a ball of fire as a mushroom cloud of smoke rose into the sky, the shockwave raced across the ocean and rocked the Valor as it hit the side of the ship. "What was that?! Who were they?" Yang asked confused, Carmine chuckled "That was a Cruise Missile and they were pirates." Carmine said the burning wreckage sunk into the ocean.
"Pirates?! Out here?!" Cobalt asked confused, but Regalia nudged him in the shoulder and pointed at the holo-map "We're in international waters now and I have a feeling that their base of operations is nearby." Regalia said as she pointed at the island, Yang punched her fists together "Then let's go give them a piece of our mind." Yang said as she was gung-ho on fighting them, Carmine chuckled "Nah, we'll just give them a little salvo barrage." Carmine said as Laurel walked over to the joystick on one of the consoles and shifted it right, Carmine spun the wheel to the left and caused the ship to turn left, the main batteries shifted right as they lined up.
A screen lowered down and displayed a targeting range of the main guns, Carmine pulled back on the throttle and let it slow to a stop as it sat seventeen miles from the island. "Laurel, please activate the eye in the sky protocol." Carmine said as he watched the screen, Laurel nodded and pressed a button on the screen. A MQ-8 Fire Scout rose out of the back and took off into the sky, Celadon shifted a joystick forward as he piloted the drone toward the island.
"Sir, visual is coming up on the screen." Celadon said as the screen displayed a collection of buildings on the island, armed people walked around the makeshift village while others loaded weapons and boarded small boats. Celadon pulled back on the joystick as the pirates started firing at the drone, within minutes the drone returned and landed in the back of the ship.
Carmine pulled back on the joystick which caused the barrels to raise up into the air, a line trajectory popped up on the map and displayed the circle of impact of the shells. The radius closed tighter before Carmine pressed a button labeled 'Fire all'.
All sixteen barrels exploded and rocked the ship as the 406mm shells exploded out of the guns and screamed across the sky, everyone on the bridge watched as the shells impacted the makeshift village and peppered the ground in explosions.
The explosions ripped through the wooden buildings and ultimately leveled the village of pirates, Carmine pushed the throttle forward and turned the ship back on course toward Atlas.
"So, pirates. I didn't actually think those were real." Yang said as she crossed her arms, Carmine chuckled "They're just water bandits. Right, Verde." Carmine said before he looked over at his gunner, Verde shook his head and laughed "Water bandits, that's a good one." Verde said as he leaned against the wall again. Carmine looked out over the bow as the ship pushed through the water, the radio feed clicked and crackled as a frequency came through the speakers.
"So Carmine, where are you heading to now?" A voice asked through the radio, Celadon walked over to the console and picked up the handset for Carmine "Wouldn't you like to know, Torchwick." Carmine said with venom on his tongue, a chuckle came through the speaker before the line cut out.
Carmine pulled back on the throttle just as a VTOL flew overhead, the Bullhead hovered overhead as the Battleship slowed to a stop, the radio crackled again as the side of the Bullhead opened and revealed Torchwick who held on to one of the straps with a robotic arm "Alright you little rat, let's finish this once and for all." Torchwick said before the VTOL flew off to an island in the distance, Carmine was about to head for the airship when Blake and Weiss moved in front of him.
"We won't let you go alone, take us with you." Weiss said, Carmine wrapped his arms around his two ladies and pulled them into his embrace "I promise nothing will happen, I'll finish this and then get us to Atlas." Carmine said before he kissed them both on the lips, the rifleman turned around to look at Oscar who let Ozpin take over his body "Finish this, Mr. Sable." Ozpin said as the others nodded in agreement.
Nora cracked her knuckles "Break his legs, do it for Beacon.!" Nora said, the others rallied around her as Carmine walked into the armory to prep his gear. Laurel and Verde followed him in as he was pulling on his black hoodie, Laurel lifted the Heavy IBA up and lowered it down over his body. Verde pulled the straps tight on one side as Laurel tightened the other side, Carmine pulled on his steel plated, carbon fiber gloves and strapped them on.
Carmine pulled on his steel toe boots and laced them up as Laurel prepped his bag for him, Laurel loaded his bag with magazines of regular, fire, ice, electricity, and gravity dust ammo along with a few fire dust grenades.
Carmine sheathed his Ka-Bar and picked his gas mask up off the table, he holstered his weapons one by one. "S&W 500 Magnum, Ithaca 37, MP7." Carmine said as he clicked a button on the side and transformed it into its Bowie Knife form before he switched it back and holstered it.
Carmine loaded a fresh magazine of .308 and slapped it into his Scar-H, he pulled back the bolt and chambered a round into the receiver, he clicked the rifle's safety on and switched it to its sword variant before he switched it back and attached it onto his bag. Carmine pulled the bag on with the straps on his shoulders, Laurel checked the magazine in the tactical Five-Seven before he handed it back to the rifleman.
Carmine pulled the slide back and chambered a round before he put the pistol into his waistline, he covered the handle with his hoodie. Carmine hooked the gas mask onto his tactical belt and let it hang down, Carmine walked out of the armory with the gunner and the breacher following behind him.
Carmine walked back onto the bridge and got everyone's attention "Alright, I'm going to go take care of this. I'll be back in a bit, Celadon take overwatch on the bow and Regalia, keep an eye on the map and radar.
Weiss, could you give me boost there?" Carmine asked his white-haired girlfriend, she giggled nervously "Y-Yeah, just, please be careful, okay?" Weiss said before she followed him outside, she wrapped her arms around his torso and hugged him tightly "I love you, Carmine." Weiss said as he looked out over the ocean, he wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her deeply, he broke the kiss as a string of saliva connected their lips "I love you too, Weiss." Carmine said before she formed a glyph on the deck behind him.
Carmine stepped onto the glyph and stared at the island as Weiss raised him into the air slowly, he pulled on his gas mask and tightened it onto his head as the glyph powered up, Ozpin's voice came into his head 'Remember your landing strategy.' Ozpin's voice echoed through his head. Carmine crouched down as Weiss shot him through the air toward the Island, as he neared the island he charged his supernova in his right hand "I sure hope you were right, Thomas. Wherever you are." Carmine said as he started to descend toward the island.
Carmine detonated the supernova above the ground and created an air cushion which allowed him to roll to a stop, he shot up off the ground and raised his rifle at the man in a bowler hat. "I really wish you would just died on the ground as Beacon burned to the ground." Torchwick said as he raised his cane, Carmine chuckled "Come now, Roman, you know that is just not my style." Carmine said as he clicked the safety off.
Roman fired two shots at Carmine who rolled out of the way and fired six rounds at the man, Torchwick projected his aura outward to block the bullets but Carmine used this as an advantage and transformed his rifle into its Saber variant. He slashed at the man, but he parried with his cane, the two fought as they pushed their weapons against each other. Roman attempted to thrust his knee into Carmine's gut but he blocked it with his elbow that he slammed into Torchwick's chest.
Torchwick stumbled backward as Carmine ran forward and kicked him in the chest with a straight kick, followed by a roundhouse and a heel kick across the face that sent him to the ground. Torchwick pushed himself off the ground as Carmine put his rifle onto his bag, he bounced in place and jabbed at the air "Let's go, Roman! I'm fired up now, so show me that face of yours so I can beat it in." Carmine said as Roman stood up and brushed off his jacket. "Aren't you curious as to why the 184th attacked you?" Roman asked as he tried to provoke Carmine, the rifleman chuckled "Well, I figured you fed them the wrong information and wanted us to kill each other. So, where is Titus?" Carmine asked, Roman laughed to himself "Buried somewhere in Mistral, I didn't do the dirty work." Roman said.
Carmine pulled out his scroll and flipped through his contacts until he found Titus "Well, seeing as we're on the outskirts of Anima, I figure our scrolls should still connect." Carmine said as he pressed call, the dial tone rang three times before someone answered.
"Go for Titus." A man said on the other end of the line, Carmine chuckled "Titus, it's Carmine! How are you doing you son of a bitch?" Carmine asked, Titus laughed "Carmine! It's good to hear from you, son. I heard about Beacon, I'm so sorry." Titus said, Carmine nodded "Yeah, it sucked. Hey, listen, I got a question for you then I got to run." Carmine explained.
"Shoot." Titus said, Carmine looked at Roman who was lighting a cigar "Have you been in contact with a man named Roman Torchwick?" Carmine asked, Titus paused for a few seconds "No but Aero founded out that he was in contact with Diablo." Titus said, Carmine suddenly remembered that they never got to Diablo, Diablo managed to escape when the Joint Operations team of the Wolf Pack and 184th Mistral Militia zeroed in on him. "Thanks man, that's all I needed. You take care, bro." Carmine said before he closed his scroll.
"So, you tried to revive the Grimm Reapers, huh. Yeah, we killed all of them except for one and that one was the fucking leader." Carmine said as he fixed his gloves, Torchwick snuffed out his cigar and spun his cane around "Ready to dance?" Roman asked, Carmine raised his fists and moved his feet shoulder width apart "Ready when you are, fuckboy." Carmine said before Roman dashed forward and swung down at Carmine, he raised his arm up and blocked the cane strike. The handle shot out and wrapped around his legs, Roman swept him off his feet but he put his hands down and caught himself, he used his tethered feet to strike Roman in the jaw with both feet.
The tether came undone as Roman stumbled backward, Carmine stood up and ran toward Roman. The rifleman tackled him and proceeded to ground and pound him, Carmine straddled his chest and proceeded to wail on him repeatedly "This is for Onyx!" Carmine yelled as he punched him in the face repeatedly "This is for Nightshade!" He yelled again as he grabbed his wrist and broke it in one quick movement.
"This is for Crimson!" Carmine yelled as he dislocated his shoulder. "This is for Grullo!" Carmine yelled as he unsheathed his knife and stabbed it into Roman's thigh. "This is for Keppel!" Carmine yelled as he broke the man's nose. Roman coughed up blood as he laid in agonizing pain, Carmine stood up and looked at the man. "This is for me." Carmine said as he pulled out the 500 Magnum and shot Roman in the head.
The gunshot echoed across the open ocean, Roman laid on the ground as blood leaked from his open wounds and the massive one in his head. Carmine shot Roman repeatedly until the revolver was dry and clicked against the spent shells, Carmine ejected the spent shells and loaded five fresh rounds before he closed the cylinder. He put the revolver back into the holster and clicked it closed, he reached down and pulled the Ka-Bar from the fresh corpse, he wiped the blood onto Roman's white bloodstained coat before he sheathed it again.
Carmine spun around and looked at the giant Battleship that sat on the calm ocean, suddenly dozens of glyphs formed on the side of the ship and across the ocean all the way until it stopped at his feet. Carmine stepped onto the glyph and was suddenly sent flying across the top of the water and up the side of the ship to where Weiss was standing with her rapier extended outward.
As she lowered her rapier, the glyphs disappeared, and Weiss's knees buckled, Carmine moved forward quickly and caught her in his arms. She looked up into his crimson red visor and smiled at him "My hero." Weiss said flirtatiously, Carmine carried her back into the main bridge and sat her down in a chair.
Carmine sat down in a chair and pulled his gas mask off as he took a deep breath, he looked at the roof and sighed "It's over. It's finally over, he's fucking dead." Carmine said as he leaned back against the chair, he held his hand up "Laurel, target VTOL with secondary cannons." Carmine said as he stared at the roof.
The autocannons rotated left and raised up slightly, two of the guns fired and sent two 127mm shells down range as the Battleship started to pull away. The shells impacted the beach and blew the VTOL apart, Roman's burning corpse was sent flying through the air until a Nevermore snatched it out of the air and swallowed it. The autocannons raised and fired on the giant flying Grimm.
The 127mm ripped through the flying Grimm and caused it to explode in midair, the Nevermore was reduced to smoking hunks of Grimm bits. The chunks of Grimm crashed into the water and dissipated slowly into the sea, the guns returned to their resting positions as the ship pushed through the water.
"Well, Roman's gone so that just leaves Adam, Hazel, Mercury, Emerald, Cinder, Arthur Watts, and Raven. Am I missing anyone?" Carmine asked as he made a list in his head, but Regalia was next to him writing down the names. "Uh, how about Tyrian Callows." Ruby said while standing next to Yang.
"Tyrian? Eh, add him to the list. At this point, we can never be too careful now." Carmine said the ship sailed through the open ocean.
Carmine looked out the window "I can't believe Penny was a robot." Celadon said, Carmine chuckled to himself "We were on ground zero when Penny was being transported to Atlas, her acronym was P.E.N.N.I or Pseudo-Emotionality Neuro-Network Intelligence. We had to get her out of Vacuo, there was a Dust Scud that went off and it was during the chaos, that I was kidnapped by the Grimm Reapers." Carmine said, everyone looked at him surprised.
"Everyday, we learn something new about you." Blake said as she sat beside Carmine, Weiss sat to his left and rested her head onto his shoulder, Carmine stood up and walked out of the bridge, he looked out over the bow and looked up into the sky, he opened his mouth and exhaled a large cloud of steam into the air. The white cloud floated up and dissipated into the sea air, Carmine turned around and walked back into the bridge. He sat back down between his two ladies and resumed their Moment of Zen,
"I never asked, but when did I happen to stab you?" Blake asked as she lifted her head and looked at Carmine, he sighed and scratched the back of his head "You remember the day on the train when half of the train cars suddenly exploded and was ripped apart?" Carmine asked, Blake nodded as she looked at her boyfriend. "Well, it was on that day. I guess you remember the six men who boarded the train and went after the man in the steel mask, right." Carmine asked, Blake nodded again. "Well, I was the guy you faced off against on the top of the train, we did a number on each other." Carmine said as he laughed lightly.
The Valor sailed through the ocean until it was surrounded by open blue as far as the eye could see, Carmine walked over to the map and examined it closely "Hey, there's an island nearby. How about that vacation I promised you?" Carmine asked as he adjusted the course.
After thirty minutes of sailing, the Valor pulled up close to a large Island and dropped anchor off both the port and starboard bow. "Ladies and Gentlemen, if you'll make your way to the Harbinger, I will gladly escort you to a proper summer vacation." Carmine said as he led them to the airship.
Everyone boarded the Harbinger as Carmine jogged to the cockpit and initiated the start up sequence, he flipped a series of switches before he turned the key and fired up the engines. The Harbinger took off slowly into the sky before it flew toward the island, the airship circled slowly before it landed in a clearing and extended its landing gear. Sand and palm leaves were blown across the island as the engines cut off and the walkway extended to the ground. Everyone walked out confused "Carmine, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we don't have any swimwear." Ruby said which caused him to mentally facepalm.
"Right, shit. I totally forgot, I was so used to para-military lifestyle, I forgot what normal people did." Carmine said, Cobalt flew up into the sky and looked around the island as he hovered. An object in the middle of the island grabbed his attention "Hey! Carmine! I see something over here!" Cobalt yelled as he flew toward the object, Carmine and company took off running toward the object.
When got to the location, they found the crashed remains of a cargo transport that had been taken down by, from the look of the claw marks, a Nevermore. Laurel ripped open the side hatch and pulled out crates "Hey look, they have clothes inside of them." Laurel said as he opened the boxes.
"Well, what do you know. Plot convenience saves the day again." Carmine said as the huntsmen and huntresses dug through the clothes to find their sizes, they all managed to find swim wear that fit them perfectly. Laurel chuckled "What was that you said about moving a plotline?" He asked sarcastically, Carmine shook his head as he walked around the crashed airship.
He found the skeleton of the pilot against a tree, he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound and the bones in his legs were fractured and broken. "You poor soul, out here alone and scared. Your legs broken and in so much pain, you take your own life because of approaching Grimm." Carmine said as he examined the tattered clothing he wore. Carmine grabbed a piece of metal and used it to dig a grave for the deceased man, Blake and Weiss walked around the corner but stopped when they saw Carmine at work digging a hole.
He dug a four-foot hole in the island and dragged the body into the hole, he knelt beside the grave and said a mantra to himself as he seemed to bless the remains. He scrapped the dirt and sand back into the grave to cover the skeleton completely, he jammed the metal into the ground as a makeshift headstone "May you find peace, friend. Rest easy and let your soul be free." Carmine said as he stood back up.
He turned around to see Blake and Weiss standing there watching him "How much did you see?" He asked, Weiss giggled "All of it, that was so sweet of you." She said with a smile on her face, he smiled back as he walked over to the two girls he loved.
"Hey Carmine! Let's go!" Celadon said before he leaped into the water, he looked at his girlfriends and realized they weren't in their normal clothes anymore, Blake donned a black two piece with white stripes and Weiss wore a white and red two piece. Carmine led his girlfriends to the beach and climbed up on a rock "What all did you find, Laurel?" Carmine asked, Laurel chuckled "Well, literally everything we needed; clothes, food, accessories." Laurel said as Cobalt flew over and landed on a palm tree that was growing sideways.
"Good job on the find, Cobalt." Carmine said praising the eagle Faunus. He bowed his head in appreciation, Carmine stared out over the ocean as Blake and Weiss laid out on two beach towels in the sand. Ruby, Yang, and Nora swam in the ocean while Ren and Laurel sparred with each other, Celadon did up-downs and pushups in the back with Verde and Jaune while Regalia practiced her hand to hand with Ilia and Sun. Qrow sat against a tree and drank while Oscar felt awkward, Carmine noticed and whistled him over "Uh… Sir?" Oscar asked nervously, Carmine looked at him "Listen man, you don't need to feel nervous or anything, you got one hell of a spirit guide within you. He can help you with whatever you need." Carmine said as he referred to Ozpin.
"You're right, sir. Thank you." Oscar said as his posture became more open and he joined the Ren and Laurel to help get better at hand to hand. "You did good, kid." Qrow said as he walked over to Carmine, the rifleman looked up at Qrow "You think so?" He asked as he looked over the scene of tranquility, Qrow chuckled "You definitely aren't the same haphazard guy I shared a cell with." Qrow said as he playfully slugged Carmine in the arm.
Before they knew it, the sun was setting on the horizon and the air had started to get crisp "Alright guys, back to the Harbinger." Carmine said as he made his way toward the airship. Everyone boarded and took a place in the cockpit, Carmine fired the engines up and took off toward the battleship. They slowly landed and exited the airship as the sun had finally set, Carmine looked out at the island and could have sworn he saw someone wave to him. He waved back and watched as the person disappear back into the brush, Weiss and Blake looked at him confused "Who are you waving to?" Weiss asked, Carmine smiled "Someone who gets to rest now." Carmine said as he led them back into the ship.
He lifted the anchors back into the ship and pushed the throttle forward before they slowly pulled away from the island and got back on course for Atlas. Everyone looked tired and content as they sat around the bridge "Hey guys, the quarters are down the hall to the left and down the stairs. You guys go rest." Carmine said as he sailed the ship.
Slowly one by one, everyone made their way toward the quarters while Blake and Weiss went to the Captain's quarters. Carmine was left alone on the bridge except for one person. "Jaune, what can I do for you?" Carmine asked, Jaune stared at the ground in thought "Wha… How? How can you be okay with all this?" Jaune asked as he sat down next to the rifleman, Carmine looked at the ground and sighed "It's because I'm not Carmine, the real Carmine died years ago in a Helicopter crash." The rifleman said, Jaune stepped back and drew his sword but Carmine busted out laughing "Oh god, you should have seen your face." Carmine said laughing.
Jaune sheathed his sword and looked at the rifleman "What is wrong with you?" He asked, Carmine looked at the blonde and got serious. "Listen man, after all the shit I've been through, this isn't something new. It's kind of like a repeat, but I learned that you got to slow down and laugh occasionally, or you'll go insane from all the bullshit life throws at you." Carmine said as he turned the ship's navigation flood lights on and illuminated the dark sea.
"You should go get some sleep." Carmine said to Jaune, the swordsman was hesitant at first but left to go to bed. The bridge was now barren except for Carmine, his smile quickly disappeared as he looked to the corner of the room where a man in black stood "How long have you been there?" Carmine asked, the man shrugged "A little bit before blonde boy left. How you been Carmine?" The man asked, Carmine shrugged "I feel like I've been through the ringer man, I've been shot, stabbed, blown up, thrown off a tower, and tortured multiple times. I'm honestly getting tired of this and just want to retire but I guess once in the life, in it forever." Carmine said as he stood up.
He walked up to the man and wrapped his arms around him "It's so good to see you, Carmine." The man said, Carmine squeezed him tight "It's great to see you too, Phantom." Carmine said as he held the man in a bear hug.
A/N: WHAT?! Phantom?! If you don't know who Phantom is, I recommend you read RWBY: Wolf Pack to understand the back story. New chapters will be better than this pile of hot garbage when the new season starts. I'm writing a collaboration story with The Burning Ruler and RebelKira called Team BAWM. Remember to Favorite, Follow, and Review, and as always, This is Nightmare 6-4, signing off.
