RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and created by the late and great Monty Oum.
Shameless promotion time, I highly recommend these two RWBY stories, they are fantastic:
4 Years at Beacon by smstanton: One of the best, most adorable Arkos fics I've ever read but it also has a great dramatic story about both Jaune and Pyrrha's lives.
Overcoming Darkness by dracohalo117: A dark, mysterious fic that has only two chapters so far but I cannot wait to see where it goes.
Read, review, and tell me how I can improve, what you liked and what you didn't. Your feedback is appreciated, thank you! Thanks to all the reviewers, I appreciate all your kind words and thoughts.
RWBY: Destiny of Remnant
Chapter 11: Dark Reflections
Jaune's eyes had now adjusted to the dark, barely lit room and he could see better, and what he saw was both amazing and horrifying. This girl who called herself Fotia Drakos looked and sounded exactly like Pyrrha. The only differences were her hair being shorter, her eyes being a bright shade of red, and her skin being incredibly pale. But Jaune could tell, he could feel that this was Pyrrha.
He grabbed her and hugged her body to his. "Oh Pyrrha, what has that evil witch done to you?" he cried.
All of a sudden he was forced off of her and pushed into the wall. Pyrrha, or Fotia as she called herself, glared down at him and said "What did you call me? Pyrrha? I am aware that you were once partners with Pyrrha Nikos but I am not her, Arc, and whom were you calling an evil witch?"
Jaune got up and said "Cinder Fall, or her master Salem. I don't really care anymore. At this point all I want is to have you back to normal and see everyone working for Salem dead."
He was sent to the ground with a powerful slap to the face from Fotia. "Watch your tongue! You have no right to speak of Lady Cinder that way and I should punish you here and now for even thinking that way about Mistress Salem!" Fotia cried.
"Pyrrha, please, listen to me! They have done something to you, don't you remember anything? What your life was like before?" Jaune begged.
"I remember what my life was all too well. The beatings, the harsh words, the nights I was forced to sleep on the floor cold and hungry! They saved me from that life and I intend to repay them for their kindness." Fotia said as Jaune got back up.
"No, no! That's wrong! You are not Fotia Drakos, you are Pyrrha Nikos! You were not abused as a child; your parents loved you with all their hearts! I met them! They were devastated! Cinder killed you, I don't know how you're alive but..." Jaune began before another hit from Fotia knocked him onto the bed.
"Lies! They said you were delusional, but I had no idea it was this bad. You do need our help." Fotia said.
"Your help?" Jaune asked.
"Yes, our help to see the light, to see the truth. This world is terrible and cruel, it needs to be punished, it needs to be cleansed and Mistress Salem is the best way to achieve that." Fotia said without a shred of doubt in her mind.
Jaune began to realize just how bad the situation was now. Pyrrha wasn't dead after all, but she might as well be with this new 'Fotia Drakos' persona.
"Cleansed? Pyrrha, the only ones that need to be punished are people like Cinder! You have to try and remember who you really are! Please! Remember the Emerald Forest..." Jaune began before Fotia stopped him.
"I have never been there and I refuse to listen to your nonsensical blabbering anymore, this was a waste of my time." Fotia said as she made her way to the door.
"Pyrrha, wait!" Jaune pleaded before Fotia turned on him.
"Stop calling me that you..." she was interrupted by the door opening to reveal Cinder and several Grimm Knights.
"Fotia! What do you think you are doing in here?!" the Fall Maiden demanded.
Fotia quickly dropped to her knees and said "I am sorry Lady Cinder! I was curious about our guests and I found a keycard to Arc's room so I..."
"Enough, leave us. I will speak to you in a few minutes. Right now Jaune and I need to talk." Cinder said firmly.
Fotia nodded, she got up and quickly walked out of the cell as Jaune glared at Cinder. Once Fotia was gone Jaune yelled out "What did you do to her you bitch?!" as he charged at Cinder.
Cinder rolled her eyes and quickly used her wind powers to slam Jaune into the wall and hold him there.
"I brought her here, I did not disintegrate her as Ruby probably told you I did, I merely teleported her. I was ordered to bring the 'Invincible Girl' to my master so she could be transformed into a living weapon for us to use however we see fit." Cinder said as she got closer to Jaune.
"What did you do to her?! Why does she look like that?! Why doesn't she remember anything?!" Jaune yelled frantically.
"Did you honestly think I was stupid enough to just kill her? That I would be so foolish as to kill someone as powerful and with as much potential as her?" Cinder asked. Jaune did not respond, he simply glared back at her. "Oh no, we are too smart to do something as idiotic as that. Now to answer your questions; do you think she'd turn against the world so willingly? No, you see, unlike the others under our employ Pyrrha had no hatred of the world at large; we needed to... persuade her a bit. A little bit of brainwashing and mind rape make all the difference." Cinder said smugly as she enjoyed the devastated look on Jaune's face.
"She... she didn't even recognize me..." he said.
"Oh Jaune, don't be too sad, after all it's only a matter of time before you join her." Cinder said.
"What do you mean?" Jaune asked.
"You and she are contingency plans for one another. My master has conceived a wonderful idea; take a promising and beloved young Hunter and transform them into what they and the world at large hate the most: a Grimm. You see; she came up with a way to organize the Grimm, to make them less chaotic. Grimm Commanders; all we needed was a few decades worth of experiments and a few dozen failed attempts before we got it right. We injected the essence of the Grimm into a person's body, but we needed a person who was powerful enough and filled with enough anger and hatred to be worthy of surviving the process. The first two were commanders from the last Faunus war, thought to be dead but my master's agents saved them and brought them to her, where they were kept hidden for years. The third was a Huntress named Ziz from Vacuo who was left for dead by her team, her hatred has kept her going for quite a while. Your beloved Pyrrha is the fourth thanks to our mind alteration and she will control the Wyverns, and you my boy, will be the fifth." Cinder said with a look of pure enjoyment on her face.
"Never." Jaune hissed as harshly as he could.
Cinder tightened her fist, choking the life out of him.
"Now Jaune, you are but a backup should something go wrong with Fotia. We have a way to deal with you should you not cooperate but I want you to think about it: The Invincible Girl and the heir of the Arc Bloodline, together, leading an army of Grimm! The fear, chaos, and hate it will breed! It will be wonderful." Cinder said, but she noticed Jaune's cold glare remained. "Okay Arc, I'll make you a deal; if you join us I will have Fotia's mind altered again. She will remember she is Pyrrha Nikos and all that entails, but I will make her realize the truth about Ozpin and his inner-circle; how they planned to turn her into a weapon. I'll make it so she remembers you but she will remain loyal to us. Think about it Arc, you can be together with her again, partners again. Only this time you'll be leading the Grimm instead of killing them. Your friends and your family will be protected and unharmed so long as you do what we say. It's a win-win for both of us; we get you and Pyrrha as Grimm Commanders and you get to be with the girl you love again."
She pulled him off the wall and brought him close to her face with her wind and she asked "What do you say Jaune?"
Jaune spat directly into Cinder's eye and calmly said "Fuck you."
Cinder sighed in annoyance before she slammed Jaune into the ceiling, then into the wall, then into the opposite wall, and finally into the floor, knocking him unconscious. She watched as blood seeped from his bruises and reopened wounds and as she walked out of the cell she muttered "Fully deserved."
Jaune didn't dream with Pyrrha again.
Deep inside of Jaune's mind she curled up into a ball, repulsed and terrified by what Cinder had done to her. On one hand she was a little excited because if her body was still around then that meant there was a chance of being whole again and coming back, however unlikely it was. But on the other she was scared of what Cinder had done to her, she had heard Jaune's conversation with Cinder and while she wanted to go and comfort him, and seek comfort for herself, she was utterly shocked by what had become of her physical form. She was disgusted and feared what Cinder could have done to her in the four months since the fall of Beacon.
Fotia sat in the damaged throne room with Emerald, Mercury, Neo, and the recently returned Ziz who tried to comfort the younger Grimm Commander.
"Relax kid, that little asshole was just trying to mess with you. People do that all the time, lie to you to get you on their side. At least you were smart enough to see through his little trick." Ziz said proudly.
"Thank you my sister, but he looked so sure! He was convinced that I am Pyrrha Nikos! But that's ridiculous! Lady Cinder killed her, so how could I be anyone else?" Fotia asked.
"You can't be. Trust us Fotia, he's nothing but a pathetic little liar who's so whiny over the loss of his partner that he'll do anything to bring her back, even say that someone who looks like her is her." Mercury said as Emerald nodded in agreement.
"Why did you even go in there?" Ziz asked.
"I found a keycard to his cell, one with a note that read 'open this door and you will find an answer'. I honestly don't know..." Fotia said before Cinder's voice stopped her.
"Don't know what, dear Fotia?" asked Cinder as she arrived.
Emerald, Mercury, and Neo drew back a bit but Ziz stood her ground.
"I... don't know what to make of it all, Lady Cinder. It's all so confusing." Fotia said, deciding it would be best if she did not mention the whispery voice she heard earlier.
Cinder seemed to calm down a bit before she asked "And who do you think gave you this note?"
"Honestly, I have no idea, not even the slightest. I threw the note away because I figured I wouldn't need it." Fotia said.
Cinder moaned mentally but tried not to let her frustration show, she knew she needed to keep 'Fotia' deluded for as long as possible and getting mad would only make the newest Grimm Commander question things.
"And why are you confused Fotia? Why did you feel the need to go to that cell and see who was inside?" Cinder inquired.
"Well... things have been odd ever since Rose and Arc arrived; you've been acting distant and so have Emerald and Mercury and Neo... well Neo is Neo." Fotia admitted.
Cinder looked to her three underlings; Mercury looked suspicious, Emerald looked nervous, and Neo looked as if everything was normal.
"I see. Understand Fotia, we need to make sure Rose and Arc see the light of Mistress Salem, make sure that they see that their ways will only lead them to ruin. We need to convince them that we are the way of the future, no matter how hard that task may be. Our Mistress had ordered us to make them see the light, and I plan on satisfying her. She has plans for both of them and she will be very disappointed if we do not manage to convince them of our point of view. Sooner or later Arc will accept that his partner is truly gone and then he will be one of us." Cinder said.
"What about the Rose girl?" Ziz asked.
"She will be difficult, she may take a while but sooner or later we will break her. Everyone has their breaking point. Fotia, you may retire for the night." Cinder finished.
Fotia nodded, she got up and respectfully bowed to the Fall Maiden, then she departed for her room.
Cinder turned back to her underlings and said "Who gave her that keycard?! We came dangerously close to disaster tonight; Arc has a Semblance when he's not supposed to have it yet, who knows what it could do? If this happens again she could realize who she really is."
"Don't look at me, I just got back." Ziz commented.
"And I wouldn't want her getting back with Arc! That loser may be stronger than we thought but I got no respect for him. You know me boss, I wouldn't dare." Mercury said honestly as he eyed Emerald. "But someone here might."
"What are you insinuating?" Emerald demanded as she pulled out her weapons.
"I'm just sayin', you looked pretty shaken up after our little session with Arc today. Do you pity him? Do you feel sorry for him, master thief?" Mercury prodded.
"Shut up, Black! You have no idea what you're talking about! I would never betray our cause for those worms." Emerald said as she was getting very tempted to cut or shoot Mercury's arms off to even him out.
"Enough. Mercury does have a point Emerald, when I watched the recording of your session with Arc I noticed you looked unsettled, you looked like you regretted what you had done." Cinder said as she approached the illusionist.
"No! I was only weirded out that he saw through my illusion! Please Cinder! I swear to god I would never betray you after all you have done for me! You saved me from a life starving on the streets, I am loyal to you, I promise!" Emerald said as she got on her knees.
Cinder touched Emerald's head and rubbed it. "I believe you; I know you are loyal to me, my thief. What about you Neo, after all you seem to be very friendly with Drakos." Cinder said to the silent girl.
Neo shook her head, honesty in her eyes.
"We need to know more about Nikos, is there anyway we could open up her old memories and look through them so we can get the illusions right?" Emerald asked.
"No, not without risking the true Nikos breaking free, we can't have that. It's a miracle it has lasted this long with no sign of deteriorating so I would rather not risk having her true self get out." Cinder said.
"Then what are we gonna do? Emerald's tricks won't cut it anymore, so what?" Mercury asked, annoying the angry look Emerald was giving him.
"Zhan, Damien's enforcer is much more advanced with illusions than Emerald, he can even have them affect the physical world around them. If harsh words and pain won't break Arc then maybe all we need is something a bit more... intimate." Cinder said wickedly.
As the group dismissed Cinder grabbed Mercury by the shoulder and whispered to him "Keep an eye on Emerald, if she shows the slightest bit of pity or remorse I want to know about it."
"You got it." Mercury said with a cocky grin.
As Cinder was left alone in the throne room she thought to herself, maybe she could work this little mishap to her advantage. After all, Arc would do anything to get Nikos back and he clearly has some guilt issues... yes, his feelings for Pyrrha would be his undoing.
On the edge of the city a raven landed on top of an angel statue. Once it was sure it was not being observed it transformed into a human.
Raven looked around and said "Alright, let's begin the search."
She jumped off the statue and transformed back into her avian form and flew into the massive city to search for Ruby. As she flew overhead a legion of different sounds and smells filled her senses. She had familiarized herself with Ruby's scent and aura signature, but in a city this huge it would take time to find her.
She decided to fall back on a tried and true method of investigation; find the person who claims to be in charge and then find out who is really in command. Raven knew enough about Haven's recent criminal activities to know who was the reigning crime lord; Damien Ante.
She flew over the gigantic city and into the dark night.
It had taken Ashe longer than usual to get back to the warehouse as the events of today had taken a toll on him. He had taken a break and stood on a bridge over a train yard to watch the engines go by. He had always loved trains, even when he was a toddler, but now that he was an adult there was something about them that he could relate to; they were always wondering around with no real home. Going north, south, east, west, and everywhere in between, with nowhere to really call home like him. It was probably why he had tried to start a life as a train guard about eight years ago but all that did was push him right back into the life of a Guerrilla Huntsman. He had sat on the bridge for an hour watching the trains go by, listening to their sad horns and whistles, sounds that would vanish into the distance and leave a mark on certain people's hearts, whatever the age or race. Those trains and their sad sounds were lost forever between towns and cities, not knowing or caring where they had been or where they would go. So it was with all trains ever.
He didn't know why, but trains made him sentimental.
Maybe it was because he hadn't really had a place to call home for such a long period of time. The last place he thought of as 'home' was in the village of Sarin, where Mila lived. His home was with her but it was taken away. He had walked all over Remnant and no matter what he was always put off by people who wanted to travel. Some people wanted to go out and see the world because they were tired of home. People like Ashe traveled too much and all they wanted was a place to call home.
Ashe shook his head as he unlocked the door to the warehouse and quickly locked it behind him. He went to the center and placed the case down on the floor and opened it up, revealing the Aura Crystal.
He activated the anti-gravity shield in the case, but he made its rang shorter but taller and the crystal rose up seven feet in the air.
Ashe knew what the crystal had shown him, it was what Cinder and Salem planned to do. Something so horrible it made him sick to his stomach. He couldn't believe his sister was willing to take part in this, the big sister who would always play with him when they were young, who even in her teenage 'rebellious' phase would always give him a reassuring smile and affectionately rub his hair. He remembered how she would spar with him, even after their father forbade it.
It was so hard to believe that his big sister had become... this.
He knew that by the end of this he would be dead and he would have to try to take his sister with him.
He got on his knees, looked up to the crystal and spoke to it.
"Oh mighty Aura Crystal, relic of Remnant's past! I speak to you not only as your guardian, but as your servant and your weapon. Remnant is in danger and it needs your help more than ever, if you refuse to give it millions will suffer. I beg of you to speak to me, to give me a sign of what I must do to prevent the Mistress of Grimm's plans from coming to fruition. If you can help me with this task I know of another who can be your guardian. Once this is over I will pass you on to someone else, someone far more worthy than I, but please, help me."
For a total of five seconds all was silent.
Then a beam of purple light shot out of the crystal once again and into Ashe's eyes, but this time it didn't hurt. He did not scream. It felt different, it didn't feel painful, it felt soothing.
Ashe looked around and saw a blank white void with nothing in it.
"Is this what mom had to put up with?" he asked himself.
"Yes." Answered a voice out of nowhere.
Ashe jerked around to see a rather pretty woman in her mid-thirties standing before him. She had violet eyes, jet black hair, and a gentle and loving face.
"Mom?" he asked calmly.
"No, we are not Ember Kasai, for our avatar we merely chose a form we felt you would be comfortable with talking to." The figure of his mother said, which explained why his mother's eyes were now purple instead of their original yellow.
"'We'?" Ashe asked.
"Yes, we are the inner-being of the Aura Crystal. We have existed since Remnant came into being after the original world was laid to waste by the war." The avatar said.
"What are you, really?" Ashe asked.
The avatar rolled its eyes and said "We are a mighty source of aura, empowered by the souls of all those killed in the war, the collective aura was gathered up and placed with this crystal but we also have bits of the aura of our former guardians, all those who protected us and fell still reside here."
"So my mom is still in here somewhere?" Ashe asked.
The avatar nodded and said "Affirmative, but not the real Ember, just an imprint, a shadow."
"Okay, now can you please give me some advice on what to do and how I can find a way to help stop Cinder?" Ashe asked.
"We have been quite aware of what has been going on outside so we felt it appropriate to speak with you. We know of Salem's plans because of our age, we have been around for three and a half thousand years and the Mistresses of Grimm have tried to get their hands on us for nearly as long. We must never fall into the hands of the Mistress of Grimm, she has been playing this game for a long time but it is at an end, if she gets her hands on us or the remaining three Maidens the world will fall into darkness, it will fulfill what she thinks is its destiny." The avatar said.
"And what is Remnant's destiny?" Ashe questioned.
"Destiny? That is not for us to know." The avatar replied simply.
"Okay, so can you please tell me what to do? I need to know how to save Jaune and Ruby and I also need to know how to stop Cinder from pulling her master's plan off. I mean if we can't stop it a lot of innocent people will die and I will not allow that to happen." Ashe said.
The avatar eyed Ashe and said "We are conflicted, we do not completely trust you."
Ashe groaned in frustration and said "Don't completely trust me?! Why the hell not?!"
"Because we know you still love Cinder."
"Of course I do, she's my sister! Don't worry, I won't join her and I'll try to take her out if I can." Ashe assured.
"No you will not, while your emotions give you power they also betray you. You still love your sister and that love will be your downfall. She will kill you and take the crystal because you aren't good enough. She will win if you let her." The avatar said.
Ashe sighed and answered with "Listen, I can't kill her. I can fight her but she's my sister, I love her and no matter what I can't bring myself to end her. Let somebody else do it, okay?"
"That is the likely outcome. We already know a great battle is in the near future, you and many of Ruby Rose's friends and allies will align together to attack Cinder's factory. We know that you will fight for your young friends but you will not face Cinder. We sense you have something else to talk to us, about your time as the guardian." The avatar said.
"Yes, I do. I plan on rescuing Jaune Arc from the factory and once we're out of there I want him to become the new guardian of the Aura Crystal. He's a good kid, he's got a lot of potential, and I know he won't give into the darker urges of violence like I have." Ashe said.
"Can you be sure? We know little about Jaune Arc, but we do know that he is in danger. If Cinder wanted him alive then Salem must have plans for him. Arc could face the same temptations that Cinder gave into." The avatar pointed out.
"No, he won't! He's stronger then that, he won't give in. He's kind of a dope but I know he can guard you better than I can. He's better than me. Give him a chance, but I will make sure he hasn't given into any of Salem's tricks, I promise, okay?" Ashe said.
"We remain unconvinced, if Salem gets her hands on us it will happen again."
Ashe knew what the avatar was speaking of, he had seen it in the last vision the crystal had given him. The voice that possessed him said 'there will be another' and the mere idea of that happening again...
All of a sudden Ashe felt a massive power come out of nowhere, the avatar itself looked surprised by the immense power.
"Is that you?" Ashe asked.
"No, it is someone else." Said the avatar as a figure emerged from the empty void.
An average sized man with tanned skin and dark hair, wearing dark clothes but he wore a friendly smile and had an aura of wisdom and trustworthiness about him. "Hi." The figure said.
"Uh... hi." Ashe greeted, unsure as he watched the avatar bow down before the stranger.
"My lord, to what do we owe the pleasure?" the avatar asked.
"I've been meaning to talk with this guy, figured now would be the time to do it since he's already mentally within you." The stranger said.
"Excuse me, but who are you?" Ashe asked as calmly as he could.
"He is the creator." Answered the avatar.
It took a few seconds for Ashe's mind to fully process what was going on. Then it hit him.
"Oh my god." He said.
"Yeah." The stranger said modestly.
The avatar dispersed to give Ashe and the new arrival privacy, but Ashe fell to his knees, overwhelmed by what was going on.
"Please don't start groveling and doing the stupid 'I'm not worthy' thing. If there's one thing that gets on my nerves its people who have no confidence." The stranger said as he sat down next to Ashe.
Ashe looked at the deity and said "Wait a minute, if you're who I think you are then you have the power to help us out!"
"Oh boy, listen, this story isn't mine. I'm just a cameo, so to speak." The stranger said.
"Listen, I want to make a deal, you supernatural things are always making deals to take souls and crap like that so I want to make a deal, okay? I will give you my life if you get Jaune and Ruby away from Cinder and to someplace safe. Trust me, they are worth it." Ashe said as the new arrival simply laughed and shook his head.
"I'm sorry, but no. You and the others will have to save Ruby and Jaune yourselves. I won't interfere."
Ashe moaned as he smashed his fist into his head in annoyance. He got another idea.
"Okay, well what about Pyrrha Nikos?! Come on, my life for hers. Take me to the land of the dead and bring her back to life. If anyone deserves a second chance she does. Kill me, let me be with Mila again, bring Pyrrha back and then she and Jaune can be the guardians of the stupid crystal and have a happy ending, okay?! Just do it! Bring her back!" Ashe demanded.
The man sighed sadly and said "Not a day goes by that a prayer like yours is not heard; as we speak a mother offers her life for her sick child, a Hunter for their village, a captain for his soldiers, but I am sorry, there will be no trade or bargain. What is, is what must be."
"Destiny?" Ashe asked.
"No, well... that's one word for it. I used to like the concept of destiny but after a while I realized that destiny is nothing but a poor justification of death. It is at best a coincidence and at worst a lie." The stranger said.
"A lot of people would disagree with that." Ashe pointed out.
"And they are free to." The man said as he got up, which Ashe did as well.
"So if Pyrrha's gone for good and you won't help me save those kids what am I supposed to do?" Ashe asked.
"Just do your best, no one can ask anything more of you. Work with the others, fight as hard as you can, do the best you can, and try to win. Good luck and remember the power of the crystal, it will help you out when you need it most." The man said as he vanished.
Ashe was now left alone in the white void. He looked around, expecting the avatar for the crystal to return, but it did not.
"Hello? How do I get out of here?" Ashe called.
Just then another figure appeared; he looked to be in his early sixties but was somewhat muscular. Ashe could tell this was the avatar in a different form because of the purple eyes.
"You will leave this place once we are done talking; right now we need to go over what we know of Salem's machinations with you." The avatar said.
Ashe nodded and sat back down. While he knew the basics of it and the general purpose of what Salem was trying to do a little more info couldn't hurt.
Oh how wrong he was.
Blake watched as the village's police vans departed from the forest, containing forty-one members of the White Fang. She had noticed that Kane had gotten away and that worried her, as it could mean that any chance they had of taking down Adam was gone, but a part of her knew there was still a chance. She watched as Yang and Neptune soaked up the praise from the town's chief of police.
"Oh it was nothing sheriff, just another job well done for us." Neptune said as modestly as he could.
"And I needed to get some rage out of my system, might have overdone it a bit." Yang admitted as she shook the sheriff's hand.
"Nonsense, these punks deserved it, especially after their attacks on Vale." The middle-aged man said thankfully.
"No prob, we're just here to help a friend." Yang said as she nodded to Blake who stood next to Sun.
The sheriff nodded and said "I'll be going back to town, the next Atlas patrol is supposed to be here tomorrow night so I'll hand them over to the Atlesians; Atlas is better equipped to deal with them anyway. If you kids need help let me know." He went back to his car and followed the prisoner vans back to town.
Yang turned to Blake and Team SSSN and said "Okay, what are we gonna do now?"
Sun considered this and looked to his fellow Faunus. "Blake, you said something about knowing how to get to Adam, what is it?" He asked.
"When they had me tied up I listened in on Kane talking to Adam." Blake began.
"Who's Kane?" Scarlet interrupted.
"The Flying Fox Faunus, he was the commander here. Anyway, Adam said he was sending a ship to come get me and bring me to him. They said it will be here by tomorrow morning and even though Kane did get any I don't think he'll have anyway of warning Adam before then. We can ambush the White Fang operatives and take the ship. I know where the main White Fang base is, I saw its location before they captured me." Blake elaborated.
Team SSSN looked to one another and Yang just stared at her partner.
"You mean we've got a way of taking that son of a bitch down?" Yang asked.
Blake nodded, "All we have to do is sneak in, find Adam, kill him, and then escape with no one else even knowing we were there if we're careful enough. That was my plan." She said.
Team SSSN looked to one another again. "What about Ruby?" asked Neptune.
"Is something wrong?" Blake asked, sounding worried about her team leader.
Sun shrugged, "We don't really know. We helped her, what's left of Team JNPR, and some guy called Ashe determine that Cinder is in Haven and then we left to find you." He said.
"Cinder's in Haven?!" cried Blake.
"Seems that way, a couple days ago we saw Ruby and Jaune on the news, apparently Damien Ante, a crime lord, was trying to catch them. We suspect that Ante is working for Cinder, but we have no idea if Ruby and Jaune are okay." Sage said.
"So we have two options for tomorrow when that ship gets here: either we hijack it and go to take out Adam or we go to Haven to find out what's going on and help Ruby out. Which one are we gonna do?" Neptune asked.
"We help Rubes out, of course." Yang stated.
"We don't fully understand the situation, for all we know Ruby could be fine, but we know where Adam is and he may not stay there for long. We have a chance to take him down and throw the White Fang into chaos, which will be a heavy blow to our enemies." Blake pointed out.
"But since that Kane guy got away we'll have lost the element of surprise, the ship might not even come." Scarlet pointed out.
"I don't think so; I beat him pretty bad so even if he is flying right now he won't be doing it very well." Sun said.
"Blake has a point, taking the White Fang's leader out will take them out of the game for a bit, Cinder has relied on them several times in the past and if we remove them from the playing field it might be a big victory for us." Sage said.
"But I've been calling Ruby and I haven't gotten one answer, not one! Either she lost her scroll or she's in danger. I say we should go to Haven." Yang said.
"What about Jaune, Ren, and Nora? Have they answered?" Blake asked.
"I don't exactly have their numbers..." Yang admitted.
"Well I'm with Yang, the White Fang have been quiet for months so we can take care of them later, but right now we need to find out what's going on in Haven." Neptune said.
"Blake, what do you want to do?" Sun asked.
Blake looked at the blonde and asked "What do you think?"
"Me? I do what you do... but I think both choices have their good points and there bad. I mean if we go to take out Adam we'd be outnumbered like a hundred to one and we'd probably not make it out, but we could also take out a big threat. One the other hand if we go to help Ruby we'd make sure she was alright and help her take down Cinder, but we'd lose our chance to do some major damage to the Fang. I'll do what you do." Sun said.
Blake smiled and said "Thank you Sun." Blake considered her options for a few moments and then she gave made her choice. "I think you're right... we need to help Ruby and since we don't know what's going on it means she could be in over her head, she's my leader and my friend. Adam can wait."
Yang smiled and said "Thank you."
"What about the White Fang?" Scarlet asked.
Blake sighed and thought about it. "Later. Right now my team is more important than my past. We can take Adam down later but for now... my friends... my family need my help." Blake said.
Yang rushed forward and hugged Blake. "Thank you! Trust me, later we'll hunt that Adam douche down and I'll shove my new hand up his ass and turn him into a hand-puppet, but right now I'm just happy that you want to get back together." Yang said.
"Do you really think RWBY can get back together?" Blake asked.
"Of course! Weiss will be a little grumpy that you ran off but you know Ruby, she's not one to stay mad." Yang said.
"Okay so once that ship gets here we kick their asses, hand 'em over to the cops, take the ship, and make our way to Haven and meet up with them at the warehouse and hopefully we can all work together and take that Cinder bitch down. Everyone happy with that?" Sun asked.
"You know I am." Neptune said.
"Doesn't really matter to me." Sage said neutrally.
"Sounds good." Scarlet said cheerfully.
"Okay then, we'll camp here tonight and wake up early. I'll go back into town and get the cops again so they can arrest the flight crew. Sage, you good to fly?" Sun asked.
"I think I can pull it off, I've gotten better thanks to the simulations and my lessons from Professor Wright." Sage said.
"Do I even want to know?" Blake asked.
"A few weeks before I met you we were on a mission and Sage had to fly the airship, didn't turn out so good." Sun explained, vaguely to save Sage from embarrassment.
"Seemed like such a good idea at the time." Sage muttered.
"Well let's get some rest, the earlier we wake up the better a chance we'll have of taking that ship." Neptune said.
It was decided that Team SSSN would sleep in one of the remaining tents while Blake and Yang would sleep in another.
As Blake settled in for the night on a cot she asked "So what's the story about your new hand?"
Yang smirked as she pulled a blanket over her body and said "I'll tell you tomorrow, trust me, it'll get you up faster than a cup of coffee with a side of tuna."
Blake smiled and said "Thank you Yang, for everything."
"Hey, you're my partner Blake. I'd do anything for you." Yang said.
Soon enough they all went to sleep.
Within the factory, Victor Giger stood alone in his main laboratory; a massive, long room covered with various exhibits of past, failed experiments on the Grimm. The remains of failed Grimm Commanders filled jars that lined the shelves. To the right of the room a large, six feet thick steel door kept the Chimera locked away in its concrete chamber. At the top of the lab was the area where the Grimm Commanders were created and given their abilities. The Grimm Commanders were quite difficult to get right, it had taken over twenty attempts before Shear Kaa, the original Grimm Commander, was a success as all others before him had died in the process.
Kaa was a tiger Faunus who had been a general in the last Faunus war. He was thought to have been killed in the final battle but he and another commander officer, Steppenwolffe, had survived long enough for Salem's forces to find them. They had been frozen in cryotubes for a decade until aura healed their wounds with the aid of medical technology.
When they awoke they pledged themselves to Cinder so they could exact their revenge on humanity for the injustices Faunus-kind had been forced to live with, even if it meant working with humans.
They were not the first to be subjected to Giger's attempts to create a being that could command the Grimm. Salem's other subjects were used as trial and error until it appeared that they were getting to a success. Eventually Shear Kaa underwent the surgery that injected the essence of the Grimm into his aura and his body, transforming him into the first Grimm Commander.
Steppenwolffe had been less fortunate, as the surgery had gone wrong and the Grimm essence had done something to him. To this day Giger could not really describe what had happened, but it had mutilated the back of the wolf Faunus, forcing him to wear a cloak for the rest of his life to hide his scars.
After that Mistress Salem had instructed him to make a flying Grimm Commander, one that could lead the winged creatures of Grimm into battle. At first he had experimented on Faunus that shared traits with bats or flying squirrels, but none of them survived the process. But one day he had the idea to take the wings of a Grimm and graft them on to a person who could survive. This was where Ziz came into play, she had been found by the Grimm and taken to Salem, as was often the case as many of Salem's agents were found by the Grimm who would sense that hatred and anger within them and then bring them to Salem, who would judge them accordingly to see if they were worthy of being her warriors and Ziz fit the bill just perfectly.
It had taken a while to graft the wings of a juvenile Nevermore onto her shoulder blades correctly, as it was quite a painful procedure and the anesthetic had not been enough to dull the pain, as she had woken up screaming in pain several times and each time she had to be held down. Eventually it was a success and Ziz was able to successfully fly.
The most recent Grimm Commander was Pyrrha Nikos, or Fotia Drakos as she was now known. It had been a simple matter of healing the wounds Lady Cinder had inflicted on the girl, which while the arrow to the sternum was indeed a devastating blow to the girl's body it was nothing for the healers and medics who worked for Mistress Salem. After she was delivered to him with the wounds tended to by Mistress Salem's healers he made her into the newest Grimm Commander within a few days with the help of Shear Kaa's Semblance of mind manipulation. Kaa's Semblance had been paramount in the experiment as it had completely buried the memories of her life before and had even managed to suppress her Semblance of Polarity thanks to the mental manipulation. But Kaa's Semblance had opened up future opportunities for them, as they could now turn whomever they wanted into Grimm Commanders; however Kaa was now in Atlas, waiting for Salem's orders to move against the Winter Maiden so he could not help Giger out with the Arc boy. Nikos was now completely fooled into thinking she was Fotia Drakos, a girl who had been raised on an abusive farm in Mistral who believed her fighting skills came from her own past of self-defense against her abusers and the Grimm that would attack the farm. The Grimm essence within her was that of a Wyvern, bestowed upon her by Mistress Salem so that she could control the dragon Grimm/ The injuries Lady Cinder had given Nikos had proved to be a problem, as she needed pain killers and medication to deal with the arrow wounds in her chest and heel, even though they had gone away by this point but after all that the illusion was kept up and she had no idea of who she truly was.
Giger himself had but a mere passing interest in the Grimm Commanders; they were more or less Mistress Salem's concept and he was but the worker paid to construct the building.
His true passion lay within the Chimera.
The Chimera was not the idea that had gotten Salem's attention so many years ago, it was an old idea that he had when he was a student studying Grimm at a Vale science academy; his proposition was to find a way to find a way to train the Grimm, to turn man's greatest enemy into an asset. For that kind of thinking he was thrown out, but Salem had taken note of him and he had been in her employ for the past thirty years.
The Chimera had been a more recent idea; he had been inspired to create the creature about ten years ago when he had a dream, or a nightmare depending on how one looked at it.
In the dream he had seen many types of Grimm, but all of them in one being that possessed the collective traits of all the creatures of Grimm. From then on he had worked himself to exhaustion coming up with the right combinations, the types that would be perfect for his beast, and he had even decided to add a bit of human to it so it would posses Aura, to give it a healing factor that it would otherwise lack.
He looked at the monitor that showed the Chimera pacing about in its chamber, seemingly restless. Giger laid his hand on the screen and was a bit unnerved as the Chimera approached the camera and licked it, as if it was aware he was looking at it.
Giger drew back, disturbed by what had just happened. He remembered those old stories about mad scientists who created abominations only for the monsters to turn on their creators and brutally kill them.
He pushed a button on the console and a large slab of meat was dropped into the chamber. The Chimera ran away from the camera and began to devour the food that pacified it, but Giger was still left curious about the Chimera.
Despite creating it he was not entirely sure about the Chimera. While he was certain it was no smarter than the average Grimm, the combined Grimm that had been used to create it may have amped up its intelligence as he was not sure of the individual Grimm's age or their experience but in all honesty the Chimera seemed to act on pure Grimm instinct but there was the possibility that it would gain knowledge as it went on.
He would have to keep an eye on it.
Ruby looked down and saw the dead body of the thug she had accidentally murdered. He was on flat on his back, still mouthing a word out with no sound coming from his mouth, instead blood gurgled out of his mouth.
"No, no, no! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to kill you!" she cried as she fell to her knees. The thug reached up and grabbed her by the throat and quickly pulled her down. Ruby could now hear what he was saying to her.
"Murderer."
"No!" Ruby cried as she pulled herself free. She fell backwards and began to push herself away as fast as she could only to bump into something. She looked up and saw Pyrrha, standing above her with the arrow sticking out of her chest.
"Failure." She said.
"Pyrrha! I... I'm sorry I couldn't..." Ruby tried to say before a golden flash surged through Pyrrha's body.
"Couldn't what? Save me? You failed. Some hero you are." Pyrrha said as she disintegrated into the golden dust yet again and scattered into the darkness around them.
"No! Pyrrha! I'm so sorry I couldn't save you! I'm sorry I failed I..."
"Ruby?" asked the shaky voice of Penny.
Ruby whipped around and saw the torn apart Penny, looking up at her with cold, unmoving eyes.
"Penny! No, please stop it!" cried Ruby as Penny kept staring at her.
"Why couldn't you save me? Didn't you care? Why weren't you fast enough? Why didn't you save me?" Penny asked as she began to crumble apart into scrap metal.
"No! Penny I'm sorry I wasn't good enough! Please don't..." Ruby tried to say before Penny looked back at her.
"Why didn't your silver eyes shine when I died? Did you not care about me? Was I not good enough?" Penny asked as her face began to rust and rot.
"I don't know! I don't understand my powers; I don't know why they didn't activate or whatever but I do care about you, I promise I do care about you Penny! Please forgive me! I..." Ruby said as her robotic friend fell apart, leaving behind nothing recognizable but a frozen face.
Ruby held the face of her friend and wept. She had no idea why the power of her eyes did not awaken when Penny died and did when Pyrrha was killed.
She didn't know anything.
"Ruby... help me..." said the voice of her sister. Ruby turned around again and screamed out in horror as she saw Yang lying on the ground with blood pouring out of her arm.
"No..." Ruby whispered quietly.
"Ruby, don't blame yourself... it was my fault." Yang said weakly as she closed her eyes.
"Yang! Don't leave me please! You can't die on me sis!" Ruby begged.
"I'm sorry I'm ditching you like this Rubes... I wasn't strong enough." Yang said as she shut her eyes.
"It's my fault." Said the voice of Blake. Ruby looked behind her to see Blake, lying on her side.
"Blake!" Ruby cried as she jolted over to her she grabbed Blake's hand and she could feel that it was stiff and cold.
"Blake! Blake please wake up!" cried Ruby, she got no response. She looked into the cat Faunus' eyes, almost closed. Her eyes did not move at all, they just looked at Ruby.
"No, no more! Wake up! This has to be a dream, wake up!" she said as she smashed her fists against her head.
Ruby felt a chill go down her spin and she shivered as she opened her eyes and saw a frozen statue of Weiss. "Ruby, I'm so cold..." the statue said as it began to crack.
"No, wake up, wake up, WAKE UP!" Ruby screamed at herself as the statue shattered into shards of ice.
"No!" Ruby screamed as she tried to keep the statue together but it simply fell apart.
"Stop it! Please!" Ruby cried, fearing what else she would be forced to see next.
"Ruby..." said another voice. Jaune's voice.
Ruby turned around yet again and her eyes could not get any wider at what she saw. She saw Ren and Nora dead on the ground, their hands intertwined as it looked like they died as one. She saw her Uncle Qrow impaled on his weapon the Reaper. Professor Goodwitch lay on the ground, covered with bruises, seemingly trampled to death by something. She could see many of her friends: Team CFVY, Team SSSN, Dr. Oobleck, Professor Port, Zwei, and even Ashe were all dead.
But Jaune was still alive.
Crocea Mors was stabbed into the ground and Jaune was leaning on it like a cane, he had multiple arrows sticking out of him, with four in his left leg, two in the right, seven sticking out of his back, nine in his chest and stomach, three sticking out of his right arm, five in his left arm, and one sticking out of his right shoulder.
"Jaune!" Ruby screamed as she ran over to him. She grabbed him by his upper arms and tried to pull out some of the arrows. It was then she noticed that Jaune was not bleeding, his body was slowly burning.
"Why didn't you save us Ruby?" Jaune asked.
"Jaune, I'm sorry I can't..."
"You were supposed to be the best Huntress ever, you have the power of legends within you. Why don't you use it? Why didn't you save us?" he asked as the burns spread, his body beginning to glow.
"I... I..." Ruby tried to say before another arrow flew out of Jaune's chest, eliciting a scream of pain from him.
Ruby cried out in surprise as Jaune turned into the golden, burning dust just like Pyrrha, revealing Cinder standing behind him with a sinister grin on her face.
"You!" Ruby screamed in anger. She tackled Cinder to the ground, wrapping her hands around Cinder's throat. "Why?! Why are you doing this to us?!" Ruby screamed as she slammed Cinder's head into the ground.
Cinder answered with nothing but a demented, insane laugh.
Ruby looked up and saw Salem sitting atop a throne and watching Ruby's attack on Cinder.
She smiled, nodded in approval and said "Good."
Ruby looked back down and saw that Cinder was dead. She jolted up and looked around as she could now see that Emerald, Mercury, Neo, Ante and his enforcers were all dead, with trails of their blood pointing to her.
"Kill for me Ruby, do not deny what you truly are: a killer." Salem said.
"No! I'm not... I'm not... I won't be like you! I won't kill for you!" Ruby yelled as she turned away only for the dark landscape around her to be wiped away by a brilliant flash of light.
Ruby shielded her eyes and once the light died down she looked up. Her jaw dropped at the sight of her mother, standing tall, covered with her white hood, and giving Ruby one of her kind, motherly smiles.
"Mom?" Ruby asked as her mother approached her.
"Don't give up Ruby, if you do then they will win." Summer Rose said as she hugged Ruby to her.
"I just want to go home mom, I wish none of this had never happened."
"Everyone wishes that at one point of another in their lives, sometimes things get bad, they get so dark you begin to think that the sun can never rise again but I promise you Ruby things will get better. There will be a light at the end of the darkness." Summer said to her daughter as she rubbed her back.
"I've failed mom, two of my friends died and more of my friends are suffering all because I wasn't good enough. What should I do?" Ruby asked as she cried.
"Do what you always do Ruby, keep going on regardless of how dark things may seem. A lot of things depend on you Ruby, but you will not do it alone, you will always have your friends and your family with you, my little Ruby." Summer said as Ruby began to wake up.
Ruby woke up in her cell, feeling how weak her aura was thanks to the binders Cinder had placed on her that kept the aura to a low level. She didn't really remember what had happened towards the end of her 'training session' but whatever had occurred had Cinder scared, even if she would deny it.
Ruby began to think about Cinder, her newest 'teacher'. If she wanted her aura to be kept down then obviously Cinder was weary of Ruby's silver eyes and the powers they granted her. Ruby did not understand these powers of hers at all, but if training with Cinder was what she needed to do to get a better understanding of them then so be it.
She was not going to let Cinder or Salem win. She would fight them every step of the way.
Her thoughts strayed to the men she had killed. She regretted taking their lives and she would likely regret it for the rest of her own life, but she would not let her guilt control her. She had killed but only in self defense not out of anger or hate. While it wasn't the right thing to do, she couldn't let that hang over her head. All she could do was pray for forgiveness and fight on.
She couldn't give up. Her friends, her family, and the world needed her.
She wasn't going to stop trying.
The sun had been up for over an hour by the time Ren was awakened by his scroll ringing. He looked to the nightstand next to the bed Dr. Chloris had given Nora and him and grabbed it and saw that the caller was Weiss Schnee.
"Nora, it's Weiss..." Ren began before he noticed Nora was already out of the room. Ren could hear her singing down the hall, meaning she most likely in the shower. Ren answered the phone as he got out of bed. "Hello Weiss, are you in town yet?"
"Not exactly Ren, we had to stop at the fueling station a few hundred miles away last night to rest up but we're on our way again, we should be to Haven in an hour." Weiss said.
"Good, you still have to coordinates to the warehouse?" Ren asked.
"Of course I do." Weiss answered quickly.
"We'll meet you there, but I have to warn you, Ashe has been acting a bit odd." Ren said.
"Yes, this Ashe fellow... Ren are you sure we can trust him? If he really is Cinder's brother then we should..." Weiss began before Ren stopped her.
"Look, I am suspicious of Ashe as well but he seems to have good intentions. He has had a very hard life Weiss and he has recently learned that Cinder herself is responsible for a part of it." Ren said.
"Care to elaborate?" Weiss asked.
"When he confronted Cinder she revealed that she was the one responsible for the death of their mother, after she had fooled Ashe into thinking that his father was the culprit. I think it is safe to say that Ashe will not join her any time soon." Ren said.
"Oh right, I think Nora mentioned that to me when I called her a couple days ago." Weiss remembered. While she did feel some sympathy for this Ashe person she was not convinced he wasn't a threat.
"Add to that his recent attempts to 'communicate' with the Aura Crystal and the sad truth he recently uncovered about his past the other day..." Ren began before Weiss stopped him.
"What could have been worse than finding out your sister is responsible for the death of your family?" Weiss asked.
"Finding out your lover was pregnant when she died to save you." Ren answered.
Weiss was silent for a few seconds before she said "Oh. Oh my..."
"I know, life has not exactly dealt him the best hand. Last night while Nora and I were scouting out the factory Ashe apparently 'talked' to the crystal again. He left afterwards, telling Arslan and the others that he needed to do meditate with the crystal alone at the warehouse." Ren said.
"Is this crystal dangerous?" Weiss asked.
"I don't really know, it shone a beam of light into Ashe's eyes when he tried to communicate with it, he appeared to be in pain for a moment but then acted as if he was alright, but I do not think he would have left for the warehouse unless he was sure the crystal could harm others. Really I am not sure about anything." Ren admitted.
"What about Ruby and Jaune? Do you know anything? Penny has been very worried and frankly so have I." Weiss said.
"We don't know anything. From what we know so far Cinder has not left the factory or sent Jaune and Ruby away because she may plan to use them as bait to get her hands on the Aura Crystal which we know would not be a good thing. How has your rescue team been holding up?" Ren asked.
"We've been as good as we can. Their aura has healed them up and they're rested. See you soon Ren." Weiss said.
"I look forward to it." Ren said before he hung up.
Ren got dressed and walked out into the hallway to see Nora coming out of the bathroom and Arslan taking her place.
"Morning Renny!" Nora greeted cheerfully. If there was one thing that Ren had always loved about Nora it was her outlandish ability to be happy, or at least act that way, even in the most insane and dire of circumstances.
"Good morning Nora, once everyone here is ready we should head for the warehouse, Weiss will be there in an hour or so and I think we need to introduce them to Ashe personally instead of them meeting him. I also think we should see if he has made any progress with the crystal, who knows what could have happened during the night." Ren said as he began to walk down stairs.
As he got to the bottom step his scroll began ringing again. He looked at the caller I.D. to see it was Jaune's oldest sister Bianca. It wasn't really surprising as Bianca had called twice since the night of Jaune and Ruby's capture, asking for updates on the situation, hoping to give good news to her parents.
"Hello Bianca, I'm sorry but we still haven't..." Ren began before Bianca stopped him.
"Ren, we're in Haven." She said.
"What? Who is we?" Ren asked.
"Myself, Shani, Sienna, Violet, and Indigo. Olivia and Azure stayed home to keep mom and dad busy." She answered.
"Okay, where are you?"
"At a hotel, we just got here, where are you?" Bianca asked.
"Wait a minute, why are you here?" Ren asked, feeling very confused. He looked up the staircase and noticed that Nora was paying attention to him.
"We've come to help you rescue Jaune." Bianca stated.
"Bianca, you are an artist, Shani is a florist, Sienna is a pilot, and Indigo is a musician. Violet is the only one of you capable of helping us because she is a police officer." Ren said calmly, trying to get the eldest Arc child to see reason.
"Look Ren, we decided to come to help save our little brother, he needs us!" Bianca argued.
"He does not need you getting hurt to save him, besides we have help coming as we speak and while I am grateful that you want to help I think we..." Ren tried to say.
"Listen Ren, we came all the way over here to help, we are not going to leave just because you tell us to. Now where are you?" Bianca asked.
Ren looked to Nora who was now right next to him so she could hear the whole conversation. Nora nodded optimistically and said "We need all the help we can get."
Ren sighed and said "Okay listen, I'll text you the location of a warehouse we'll be going to and meet up with some friends, there we can have a proper talk about this, okay?"
"Sounds good to me, we'll see you there." Bianca said.
Ren texted the location of the warehouse to her and then he looked to Nora. "This entire ordeal gets stranger by the day." He said.
"I know, it's pretty exciting." Nora said as cheerfully as she could.
Ren gave his best friend a smile and said "I suppose it is."
"Yo! When we goin' to check up on Ashe?" asked Reese from behind them. The two turned to see Reese in her outfit, ready to go.
"We'll leave for the warehouse soon Reese, right now we should just prepare ourselves. We honestly don't know what we'll find when we get there. We know next to nothing about the Aura Crystal and the way Ashe has been acting should have on our guard." Ren said.
"I don't really trust the guy a hundred percent but I think he'll try his best. I mean he seems like a guy who just got royally screwed." Reese said.
Ren nodded. It seemed like life was doing its best to screw everyone over recently.
Bianca looked at the text Ren had sent her, including the location of the warehouse they were to meet at along with a message that said 'Don't go in until we get there.' She didn't know why he felt he needed to add that but she didn't question it right now.
"Okay, Ren told me where to go, looks like it's way over on the edge of town but I think it won't be a problem." Bianca said to her younger sisters. Violet nodded as she loaded up her standard issue pistol with a Dust cartridge, Sienna looked to her and gave her a thumbs up as she finished making the arrangements for the location of her airship, which was what they had come to Haven in. Despite what Ren had said the Arc sisters were no strangers to fighting as they had all taken self-defense classes
Shani nodded, "As long as they got a way to get Jaune back I don't care how far we have to go." she said.
"Right, I mean if they got help coming along then we got a better chance of actually pulling this off." said Indigo.
Sienna spoke up and asked "Girls... what will we do if Jaune is dead?"
There was a brief silence before Bianca answered with "He won't be. You know Jauney, too stubborn to give up on anything. He went to Beacon, he became a team leader despite all the odds being against him."
"I still can't believe you made us pay for that bet." Violet muttered. When Jaune had left most of the Arc sisters, as much as they loved him, didn't believe that Jaune would make it. Bianca however did and she bet them all a hundred lien each that he could last more than a month. She of course won.
"If he's made it this far he won't give up, no matter what that Cinder woman tried to do to him. I have faith that he'll be okay, you all should too." Bianca said.
"Can we please not bet on it this time?" Shani asked as she made he way to the door.
Bianca laughed as she followed her sister out the door, but all the same she silently prayed that Jaune and his friend would be okay.
'We're coming for you bro.' she thought as she and her sisters left their hotel room and made their way downstairs.
In the upper countryside of Mistral an airship belonging to the White Fang hovered above a large forest, slowly flying to a White Fang base within the woods. A dozen White Fang operative sat inside the ship as it approached the site; one captain, one pilot, and ten troopers.
"Begin hailing them, tell them were nearly there." said the captain of the unit.
"Yes sir. Come in Uisco Base, this is ship V19, here to pick up your prisoner. Come in, over." said a communications officer into the radio.
"Roger that V19, come on down, we'll be happy to let you take the traitor off our hands, over." said a muffled voice.
The captain of the unit nodded as they got closer to the site of the base. When the base came into view they were met with the strange sight of no one there. There was no activity whatsoever.
"What's going on? Where are they?" asked a female soldier.
"Set us down, we'll investigate." said the captain.
"Are you sure that's wise sir?" asked the pilot.
"We can handle whatever is going on, set us down." the captain repeated.
The ship landed in an empty area next to the base and a group of nine soldiers disembarked from the ship.
"Get 'em on the radio." the captain said to the communications officer as he followed his troops.
The officer nodded and spoke into the radio again, "Uisco Base, we have arrived but we do not see you, is something wrong?"
"Yeah, you could say that." the voice from the radio said.
"What..." the officer said before he was knocked out with a swift blow to the head.
Blake appeared out of the shadows behind him and then she whispered into her scroll "Now."
The pilot of the ship sat in the cockpit and he had noticed the communications officer's sudden silence.
"Gables? Is something..." he was interrupted by a loud 'thud' on his windshield. He looked back and saw Sun Wukong.
"Hey, how's it going'?" Sun asked cheekily.
The pilot reached for both his weapon and his radio when he felt a weapon being pointed at the back of his head. "Stand down." Blake ordered.
The pilot looked in the reflection of the window to see the traitor standing behind him, Gambol Shroud in its gun mode. He raised his hands up and surrendered.
Outside the White Fang soldiers were looking around the base camp for any signs of their comrades. "Nothing, looks like there was a fight though." said one of the troopers.
"I think we should leave, maybe Belladonna had help." said the female soldier from earlier.
The captain nodded and said "You're right, we need to contact Taurus and ask what our next step should be."
"You're next step should be surrendering." said a woman's voice.
Before the White Fang captain knew what was going on, six of his soldiers were shot down by Yang, Neptune, and Scarlet.
The captain looked to see another one of his men engaged in a very one-sided sword fight with Sage, who quickly dispatched his opponent.
The captain pulled out his rifle and was about to fire when Blake came out of nowhere and sliced in half with the katana form of the Gambol Shroud.
"Belladonna!" the captain cried as he realized he and his two still conscious troops were surrounded by the local law enforcement.
"Drop your weapons and surrender, you White Fang creeps are not walking out of this." said the sheriff.
"Just give it up, I promise no harm will come to you." Blake said to the captain who just laughed as he pulled off his mask, revealing he had the ears of a dog.
"Do you? What do you know, traitor? You're convinced that we can all live in some laughable fantasy world where we all get along. Well do you know how roadkill will sometimes includes cats? How when you see dead animals on the roads you never see dogs? You see raccoons, possums, squirrels, chipmunks, mice, birds, and cats. That's because cats think they're so damn smart, they think they're better than everybody so no one gives a damn when a cat gets killed by a car, but when dogs die? People care. That's what you are Belladonna, you're a little bitch of a cat who thinks she's better than everyone else! You'll be some dead corpse on the side of the road one day and no one will give a shit about you!" the captain yelled.
Blake glared at the canine Faunus before she gave her response.
A physical response that left the captain unconscious with his blood on Blake's fist.
"You okay Blake?" Yang asked as she put a comforting hand on her partners shoulder.
Blake gave her a look and gave the blonde a small smile "I think I know why you like punching people so much, that actually felt good." she admitted.
Yang grinned as the sheriff and his deputies began rounding up the members of the White Gang, reading the few that were still awake their rights.
"Okay Sage, get into the cockpit and get ready to get us out of here." Sun said as he approached Blake and Yang.
"You got it boss." Sage said as he jogged over to the ship.
Blake took the captain's radio from his pocket and said "I have an idea." she began "If we keep check on all of the White Fang's radio frequencies we'll have a way to fight them."
She ran after Sage and got into the ship and checked the communications officer's equipment and found a list of the White Fang's radio frequencies, a list to be used in case the comms officer was injured in battle. Blake memorized them and wrote a few of them down just to be safe, she then returned to the outside as the police put the captain inside of one of the prisoner vans.
"Sheriff, give some of these radios and this list to the Atlas patrol when they come through here tonight. It will give them an advnatage over the White Fang forces." Blake said as the man took it from her.
"Will do Miss Belladonna, our village sure owes you kids a lot for taking these punks down." he said.
"We take these guys on so often we should start charging for it." Neptune joked.
"Let's get moving, the sooner we get to Haven the better." Sun said as he made his way to the ship.
A few moments later the sheriff waved goodbye as the airship rose up and made its way to the southern end of Mistral.
Sage sat in the pilots seat controlling the ship easily, happy that those lessons paid off, while the rest of Team SSSN along with Blake and Yang sat in the back.
"So you think we'll see your mom in Haven?" Blake asked. She had been amazed by the story Yang had told her of her mother returning out of the blue to give her a new mechanical hand. How she had gotten over her years of pent up anger against her mother for abandoning her with the help of a simple punch and a hug.
"Maybe, she tends to work in mysterious ways so even though I know she's in Haven looking for Ruby I wouldn't be surprised if we never got a glimpse of her." Yang said.
"I hope we do, I'd like to meet her." Blake said.
"Don't do anything harsh Blake, I mean I despite our differences we're all on the same side here." Sun reminded her.
"I won't, I'll tell her that... I know what it's like to run away and leave the people you love behind, thinking it will be better for them. I'll tell her it's not." Blake said as she held Sun's hand and smiled at Yang.
"So you never running off again? No more stray kitty cat?" Yang teased.
"My days of being a stray are over. I know where my home is, it's where ever my friends are." Blake said as she extended her other hand to Yang who accepted it without hesitation.
For the first time since the last day of the Vytal Festival Blake felt truly happy.
Originally the next chapter was going to be about Blake, Yang, and Team SSSN going ahead and fighting the White Fang and Adam but I decided to save that for a later part of the story as right now I want to get to the big battle scene at the factory. I also felt that it would be more in Blake and Yang's characters to forego revenge on Adam and help Ruby and I didn't want to rush it, I decided Blake and the White Fang's story could not be done in one chapter and it needed more development so it will be done after the big battle scene in a few chapters.
This chapter was supposed to be pretty big but as with Chapter 9 I decided it was long enough to be a chapter as is and that after how huge the last chapter got I couldn't make a simple one like this that big so I decided to split it up so I won't make the chapters too long, also so I can keep interest in the story up.
I've also changed the way the dreams scenes are presented, I removed the underlines so they could be easier to read.
Look up CSLucaris' art of the Arc sisters, as those fantastic pictures are how I picture the Arc sisters until we see them in canon.
Anyway, expect the next update either Wednesday or Thursday. Thanks for all the support and reviews, they mean a lot to me and they keep me going. Tell me if you what you liked and what you didn't and all that.