RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and created by the late Monty Oum.
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RWBY: Destiny of Remnant
Chapter 31: Quoth the Raven
The next day most members of Team Beacon were ready to go for tomorrow's journey to Vacuo. It would be hard to say goodbye to all of Team JNPR, as well as Fox and Sage, for the time being but they knew it was just a temporary goodbye. What they didn't know was that a certain Raven landed on a tree close by to observe them.
Glynda had given them the day off from patrols so they could train for the coming mission and presently in one of the public training grounds in Vale a shirtless duo of Jaune and Sun fought off a team consisting of Ren, Scarlet, Neptune, and Yatsuhashi. Jaune expertly blocked a few jabs from Scarlet before kicking the redhead in the knee, delivering a series of five punches to Scarlet's abdomen, and finally an uppercut to the chin which knocked his opponent out of the fight.
"Whoo! Go fearless leader!" Nora cheered.
"Come on Scarlet!" Sage moaned as his partner limped away.
Ruby watched the fight from the sides, listening to the cheers from the stands as Pyrrha, Nora, Coco, Velvet, Fox, Sage, Penny, Blake, and Weiss observed the sparring session. Yang stood next to her little sister, her vest off as she was getting ready for her own turn as she watched the fight.
"I take on the winner!" Yang called eagerly, unwittingly making all of the males, bar Yatsuhashi, hesitate at the prospect of fighting the fearsome Yang Xiao Long, which got a big laugh out of the bombshell.
Pyrrha giggled as the fight continued, but made no attempt to hide the blush on her face due to the sight of the topless Jaune. While she had seen Jaune shirtless before there was something about seeing his newly well built muscles in action out in action, glistening with sweat in the sun...
She shook those thoughts out of her head and tried to get her mind back on the fight as Jaune and Sun both dodged Yatsuhashi's mighty fists. Her attention was now drawn to the two scars Jaune now possessed as mementos from the Battle of Haven: a scar on his right side courtesy of Damien Ante and one on his chest, the one that had nearly killed him that had been caused by... her. The Spartan inadvertently clenched her fists before she watched Sun deliver a series of punches and kicks to Yatsuhashi's torso who grabbed the Monkey Faunus and threw him into Jaune.
"Oh no!" gasped Penny.
"Woo! Go Big Y!" Coco cheered.
"Umm... I don't know who to root for, I mean Yatsu is my partner but Jaune and Sun are my friends..." Velvet said nervously, blushing because deep down she couldn't help but find the sight of two muscular boys like Sun and Jaune hot as the sun.
"Oh relax Velv." Coco said as she put an arm around the Rabbit Faunus. "We're all friends here. At least you're not as blonde crazy as Kitty Cat over there." She finished as the thumbed over to Blake.
Blake, who was also blushing and seemed to be in a trance, was staring at the shirtless Sun and Jaune and would occasionally glance over to the tank-top clad Yang who was doing stretches and if one looked closely they would see something resembling drool on the side of her mouth.
"Girl's got a fetish." Coco whispered, making Velvet blush and Blake's ears snap to attention.
"Coco! Please don't be so lewd!" Velvet objected.
"Don't you dare say anything else." Blake threatened.
"Not even about your nose bleed?" Coco asked.
Blake quickly moved to wipe her nose only to realize that there was no blood coming from her nose.
"Good one boss." Fox deadpanned as he held up his hand for a high-five, which Coco accepted.
"Adel, I swear to Oum I will get you back for this." Blake swore.
"Oh relax Blake, it's just a little teasing." Weiss said.
Blake was oh so tempted to point out that to her knowledge Weiss and Ruby had been ignoring the fact that they had kissed ever since Haven.
"Well just remember Blake that Jaune is off limits." Pyrrha said, half serious and half joking.
"And that Ren is mine!" Nora declared in a dead serious voice.
"She's not kidding." Ren called as he fought Sun.
While her feelings for Jaune were strictly platonic and were not at all like the ones she felt for Yang and Sun, Blake couldn't lie that Jaune had become quite the attractive man since she first met him nearly a year ago. He wasn't as ripped as Sun, Sage, or Yatsuhashi but his muscles were more developed and more obvious than those of Ren, Fox, Neptune, or Scarlet. Blake knew Pyrrha was proud of her boyfriend and she had every right to be, as the knight had come such a long way since initiation, both physically and mentally, but she knew that he was still the same kind, goofy blonde that had endeared himself to the rest of Team Beacon.
Penny, who had been silently watching the back and forth between her teammates, was utterly confused but then again she didn't quite understand the romantic part of human nature yet nor the physical attractions one would naturally feel.
"Sometimes I have no idea what you girls are taking about and I don't think I want to." She voiced which made the others laugh.
"Good, it's better that you stay that way." Velvet said.
"Oh Penny, to be innocent again." Coco mused.
"Shut up and pay attention to the fight!" Nora complained.
Everyone looked back to the fight to see Yatsuhashi was currently recovering from a powerful attack brought on by both Sun and Jaune while the Monkey Faunus was currently battling Ren and Jaune was taking on Neptune.
Jaune sidestepped a kick from the bluenette and slammed a palm to Neptune's collar bone.
"Ow!" cried Neptune, the pain distracting him long enough for Jaune to grab his goggles, pull them away from his head, and let them snap right back, causing the bluenette to cry out in pain before Jaune tackled him to the ground. Neptune fought back by elbowing Jaune in the gut, which distracted the blonde enough for Neptune to kick him in the chest, knocking him on his back. "Gotcha Jaune!" he said as he moved to attack him with a slam attack only for the knight to roll out of the way and let him crash to the ground.
"Nice try." Jaune commented before he grabbed Neptune's right arm and used his Semblance to hoist him up and throw him into Yatsuhashi who was about to grab Sun from behind.
Sun noticed this and said "Thanks!" as he dodged a kick from Ren, only to take a punch to the shoulder from the green clad ninja, which forced Sun back enough for Ren to open up a barrage of punches.
"Oh that was a nice one Ren." Sun complimented as he grimaced in pain before catching another kick from the stoic warrior.
"Thank you." Ren returned before he jumped over Sun and kicked him in the back, resulting in Sun falling to his hands and knees.
Before Ren could turn around to attack Sun again he was blown down my a strong punch from Jaune. "Sorry Ren!" he quickly said.
"It's okay." Ren assured him.
"Like heck it is! Take no prisoners Renny!" Nora demanded.
Jaune couldn't help but laugh, something that Ren took advantage of as he kicked Jaune's feet out from under him while Sun made himself busy by fighting Yatsuhashi.
"Come on Jaune, keep it up Sun! I know you guys can do it!" Ruby cheered from the sides.
"Who are you gonna cheer for next round, me right?" Yang inquired.
"Well of course!" Ruby answered, even if Jaune and Sun did win she'd have to root for Yang, sisters' code of honor and all. She then noticed this odd look in Yang's eyes, a look that seemed to be uncomfortable. "What's wrong?" she asked.
"Nothing Rubes, I just got this weird feeling like... like I'm being watched." Yang explained As Yang went back to exercising Ruby glanced up and saw something familiar on a nearby tree branch: the raven that had been in their window last week.
She stared at it for a moment or two before she realized it was actually staring back.
All of a sudden the familiar voice of her Uncle Qrow spoke to her from behind. "How you kids doin'?" he asked.
"Oh! Uh, fine Uncle Qrow, just watching the guys spar, later me, Penny, and Weiss will be taking on Pyrrha, Velvet, and Coco." She said, still a little weirded out by the bird, her eyes wandered up to look at it and Qrow noticed this.
He looked up to where Ruby was looking and gasped when he was the familiar sight of his dead sister's avian form.
"No..." he whispered to himself, but Ruby and Yang noticed it.
"Uncle Qrow?" both girls asked.
"What?" he asked.
"Is something wrong?" Ruby put forth.
"No, it's nothing. I came to say that I've made the arrangements for us to leave tomorrow around noon. Ross will take us to a town on the edge of Vale where we can meet up with our transport. Now just keep training, I got things to do..." Qrow said before he walked away.
The sisters looked to one another, not knowing what to make of their uncle's odd behavior. Ruby looked over to the tree branch only to see that the raven was gone.
Once he was out of sight Qrow began running. He went into an alley and once he was sure nobody could see him his body transformed into a crow. He shot up from the ground and into the sky, getting a brief glimpse of Raven flying over the town.
He called out to her but she didn't look back. He didn't give up, he couldn't! If there was even the slightest chance his sister was alive he needed to keep flying so his wings were beating as fast as they could.
Was it really her? Could it just be an ordinary bird and he was just imagining it was her out of desperation?
No, no it had to be her! He knew his sister when he saw her, what's more is that he could feel it was her! You don't grow up with someone, know them so well, and not know them when you see them.
He called out to her again but she still ignored him as she flew past a truck filled supplies, startling the workers who were unloading it. Qrow swooped down and back up to gain speed as he tried to get a better look at the bird to make sure it was her and sure enough it looked exactly like his sister's raven form, and it wasn't just some random bird either, he could tell it was her by the red eyes that no doubt belonged to his sister.
He could see the eyes glance back at him and he knew, without a doubt in his mind, that they were those of his sister. He beat his wings as hard as he could, mentally bemoaning the fact that she had always been a better flyer than he was. They continued flying through the recovering city, the buildings rushing past them as the wind blew lazily.
Raven flew up and into one of the still damaged buildings and threw a broken window. Qrow tried to follow but he cut his wing on the jagged edge of the broken glass. He cried out in pain and landed on the wooden floor of the large empty room they had entered as his aura began healing his wound. He turned into a human and glanced at his healing wound just as a bright light flashed up and vanished just as quickly.
"Raven!" he shouted as he got up. "I know it's you! I'd recognize you anywhere! Please come out! RAVEN!"
There was no response and no sign of the bird at all, nothing could be heard in the abandoned room other than the sound of his own breath.
Qrow slammed a fist onto the wooden floor hard enough to crack it as he cursed "Damn it! Why didn't you just let me die and save yourself?!"
Yet again there were no answers.
Qrow sighed as he got up and transformed back into his crow form to fly away. He had no idea what the hell was going on but he knew he had to find out somehow.
Elsewhere a pure white portal opened up and a raven flew out before shapeshifting into the form of Raven Branwen who landed on her feet with a scream of frustration as she jumped forward and slammed her fist into a tree, shattering the bark. The angry scream and the sound of the punch echoed throughout the dreary limbo realm she had entered, the noise fading away after a few seconds.
5 Months Ago
Raven's eyes snapped open as her body jerked up. She could see there was a figure next to her, but it seemed to have no intention of attacking her, but she had learned to be prepared. She reached to pull out her sword but felt nothing... then she remembered what had happened.
Qrow, Cinder, Taiyang, Kasai, Arc, Ruby, and... Yang.
Oh god no.
She was dead. She had her aura taken away from her by Cinder Fall and had taken a fatal stab meant for her brother. She had felt her life slip away, she had felt death take her, she had died in her brothers arms.
So what the hell was going on?!
She looked at the figure she had noticed, an old man with slicked back gray hair, a dark gray robe, and a sympathetic look on his face. Raven lurched forward, grabbed him and yelled "Where am I?!"
"Calm yourself Miss Branwen, you are safe." He assured her.
"Calm? I'll be calm once I know what the hell is going on and what happened to me!" she shouted.
"That's rather complicated but it has something to do with your Semblance..." he said before she interrupted him.
"I died! I felt myself die in Qrow's arms! What the hell is going on?!" she demanded.
"I'm trying to tell you! You are no longer among the living so your service to the dead begins now!" he said quickly.
There was a long silence between the two until Raven finally asked "What do you mean?"
"People with your Semblance, our Semblance, have a duty to perform after we die. We are the guardians of the dead, we take souls from the realm of the living to one of the four places: Elysium, Hell, Purgatory, and The Nothingness. The last one is your duty by the way... I am Gabriel." The man said before he transformed into a crow.
Raven collapsed onto her knees and struggled to breathe with all of this information as Gabriel turned back into a human. "I am truly sorry for what happened to you." He said as he reached a hand down to her. "Come, you have much to see and learn."
As it turns out, people who had the Semblance of transforming into birds were appointed to a very specific task in the afterlife; they were to guide the souls of the dead to their designated afterlives. Those who turned into ravens, such as herself, usually were allowed to rest in piece as the souls they were assigned to, people who had been so evil that not even hell could take them so they were to be dumped in the Nothing, were very much few and far between. Raven had been unlucky enough to be chosen as the new guardian since they only needed one.
The ones like her brother and Gabriel who became crows carried souls who weren't good enough for Elysium but not evil enough for hell to purgatory and as Raven understood that place was rather busy and was now home to Ashe Kasai. When Gabriel told her he had guided Ashe's soul to purgatory she felt pity for Kasai but at the same time was happy for him upon hearing that he had been reunited with his love who left Elysium for him.
Deep down she wondered if she would be so lucky when someone else took her place. Would Taiyang, Qrow, Summer, Ruby, and Yang be there waiting for her? Who knows?
Doves took the good and pure souls to Elysium, and as Raven had noticed the doves tended to be incredibly kind and loving people who did their best to comfort the dead about passing on and what awaited them in the next life, trying to assure them that their family would either be there already or would join them in time.
And finally there were the sparrows who took souls to hell, which amused Raven as she always figured that job would belong to bats, not tiny little things like sparrows but apparently having your soul taken to hell by small, swift creatures that could rip one's body apart in sufficient numbers was more than enough.
As Raven had had very little to do since she arrived, the only soul she had collected in her time here was that of Saul Jude, she had taken many trips to the realm of the living to watch over her family, especially Yang. Raven took comfort in knowing that her daughter mourned her, that she regretted never saying 'I love you' back. She took no joy in it, she was just comforted by the fact that her daughter did in fact love her. This journey had been close as she had been spotted by Ruby and Qrow, who had nearly caught up with her, and if he had cornered her he would have doubtlessly demanded an explanation, which was flat out forbidden for reasons Raven didn't understand.
She rested against the tree and tried to think about her predicament. Qrow was now going to think he was either going crazy from grief or think she had somehow faked her death, neither of which were true. Plus Ruby had seen her several times in her bird form but had only gotten a glimpse at her human form, so what the girl thought Raven hadn't a clue but as far as she knew Yang and her former husband didn't know anything about her.
"Visiting family again, I see?" asked a taunting voice she had come to despise. Raven turned to see a lanky man who appeared to be in his sixties with wild graying-brown hair, a cruel smile, and an odd, dingy brown suit that looked to be decades old. This was one of the guardians who turned into a sparrow and took souls to hell, he had taken up the name Azrael, after one of the legendary angels of death. From what Raven understood Azrael's life on Remnant hadn't been a very pleasant one. She was unaware of the details but Gabriel told her that Azrael wanted to keep it that way for everyone as he was one of the few guardians of the damned souls who enjoyed his job.
If one actually enjoyed taking people to hell then Raven knew she wanted nothing to do with them.
"What do you want Azrael?" she asked.
"Oh nothing, I just don't get you." The old man said. "I mean, from what Gabriel told me you squeezed out your daughter, stuck around for seven or eight months and then left her and your blonde boy-toy to go off an fight wild and free or some pretentious crap like that." He said mockingly.
Raven glared at him and said "Be happy you are dead, I have killed men for less."
"Oh I don't doubt it. But what I don't understand about you is that why do you want to be with your family now after avoiding them for so long? I might be a nut but at least I'm consistent." He stated.
"What do you..." she sighed, knowing he wasn't going to go away until he got an answer "I wasn't around enough when I was alive. I owe it to all of them to watch over them as much as I can. Besides it's not like there's a surplus of dying people with souls evil enough to take to the Nothing." She briefly thought of Cinder Fall and clenched her fist.
"I guess that's true, I mean you've only taken one soul since you've come here while I've guided two souls just this morning. You want my advice?" he asked.
"No."
"Too bad, you're getting it anyway. My advice is get the hell over it. You were barely there at all for her and from what I've been told you had to be forced to give her an arm. So there are three things you've given her in life: breast milk, constant abandonment, and an arm that your brother made you deliver." He said.
"I saved her life!" Raven snarled.
"Oh? And did you run off immediately after doing so?"
Her silence answered him.
"That's what I thought. You see Branwen we're more alike than you'd like to think, I mean our outlooks on life make a frikkin' funeral look like a child's birthday party, you were happy to let her be for nearly eighteen years so why are you getting so sappy about it now? So get over it, because your family is clearly better off without you." He finished.
Raven's response was a punch so powerful and devastating that his head was nearly slammed off as he flew into another tree. He looked at her as his face healed itself and remarked "If we had been alive that would have killed me."
"No it wouldn't have, it would have merely crippled you enough so I could torture you to death without you struggling." Raven spat.
"Oh I like you!" Azrael said before portal opened up and two figures came out of it.
The first was the familiar figure of Gabriel and the second was a woman wearing a flowing white gown with light brunette hair who appeared to be in her early thirties who Raven recognized as being named Samantha, one of the doves who escorted people to Elysium or heaven or whatever it was called.
"Azrael, are you bothering Raven?" Gabriel asked in a stern tone of voice.
"I..."
"Yes, get him out of here before I begin experimenting with ways to erase a soul from existence." Raven threatened.
Samantha looked taken aback by that but Gabriel just smirked before looking to Azrael warningly and saying "You heard her Azrael, get going."
The man, whose face was still healing up from Raven's devastating punch, simply sighed in defeat as he opened up a portal before walking into it.
Once he was gone Raven looked to the two new arrivals and said "Thank you, has he always been this way?"
"Yes, he and I have been here and while at first he was quiet and rarely even spoke time and his appointed task took their toll on him." Gabriel explained before saying "I take it you were out watching over your family again?"
Raven nodded and said "Don't tell me I'm the only one here who has any regrets about life, surely both of you have visited your families in secret? Watched over them? Dreaded the day they die?"
Samantha drew back a little but Gabriel said "Yes, I have visited my family many times and I am sad to say I have taken several relatives to purgatory. I watched over them, mourned for what my life could have been but I have accepted my fate. I know that one day I shall be able to pass on from this plane of life and onto the next where, hopefully, the ones I love will be waiting for me."
Raven nodded again, deciding that that sounded reasonable but Gabriel had been doing for nearly five decades, or so he said, she honestly didn't know if she could stand this life that long. She wished the previous raven guide had at least stuck around to talk to her or give her some advice, but to be fair she would have ran off the first chance she got too.
"My advice to you is to hold on to the hope that you will be with your family again one day and keep seeing them. It may be hard but I think it will be worth it in the end." He finished.
Raven sighed and said "Thank you, it's hard for me to wait... ever since I jumped in front of Qrow my life has been just one big mess. I'm incredibly tempted to just transform in front of Qrow and tell him what's going on."
"Oh yes, I can picture how that meeting will go; 'Hi Qrow, I'm dead but technically not also I'm a guardian of extremely damned souls. How've you been?'" Gabriel joked.
"Smartass." Raven snapped.
"Wait, you've turned into a human while in the land of the living?" Samantha asked.
"What? Is that against the rules?" Raven asked dryly.
"Um... I don't think so, it's just that I've never tried it." She admitted meekly.
"It takes a great deal of effort and concentration but it is very much possible. I could show you if you'd like." Raven offered.
Samantha gave the older woman a kind smile and said "That would be lovely! Some other time perhaps? I need to leave and go back to my duties. It was nice to see you Raven."
With that Samantha turned into a small dove and flew away, a portal opening and closing for her.
Gabriel looked to Raven and said "Talking about family is hard for her, she was always wonderful with children but she died before she could have one of her own. She's perfect for her task, which is to guide the souls of children to Elysium."
Raven considered Samantha and wondered how someone with a depressing task like that could be the way she was.
Gabriel spoke up once again. "In all seriousness Raven I think that if you deeply want to you should reveal yourself to your brother, husband, and daughter. If one dies and has unfinished business, especially when it concerns relationships with loved ones but they try to ignore it... well it can eat away at a person and drive them mad."
"Has it happened to you?" Raven inquired.
"No, but I have witnessed some guardians lose their way. They ignore their pasts, like Azrael has, deny their unfinished business and eventually they give into a lust for revenge against those that have wronged them in life... usually the ones responsible for their deaths."
"You're afraid I will try to take action against Cinder Fall, aren't you?" Raven guessed.
"Yes, while I find you to be a flawed but good person I cannot deny that you have a dark side, one that is no stranger to revenge and all it entails." Gabriel stated.
"What happened to the guardians of the dead who took vengeance on their killers?" Raven asked.
"By the time they had been caught they were too far gone, souls who become evil after death, corrupted by hatred and rage... it's not a pretty sight. They were ultimately banished into the Nothing. It may seem harsh but we can't have guardians of the dead going around the realm of the living killing people, no matter how bad they may be." He finished.
"Don't worry, I won't kill Cinder Fall, I believe I have too much competition for that job... but I want to be the one to take her soul when she dies." Raven said darkly.
"Oh, I believe that can be arranged quite easily." Gabriel said before asking one last question. "So, how will you approach your family?"
Raven looked at him and answered "I'm still thinking about what I will do and what I will say, wondering how they'll react. It's... going to be a while before I'm ready."
"I understand. If you ever need to talk Samantha and I will be happy to listen." He said.
"Thank you, I'll be alright now, just leave me to think." Raven said.
Gabriel nodded and left via a portal, leaving Raven alone with her thoughts.
The next day the time for the majority of Team Beacon to depart from Vale. Ross would take them from the capitol to a city near the Vale/Vacuo border called Brandofi where they would meet their main transport for Vacuo.
Winter watched from the ship as Team RWBY said goodbye to JNPR, even though they would only be gone for a month at the most it was hard to say goodbye to fellow Hunters who had been with them for so long.
Ruby hugged Jaune tight and said "We'll call you as much as we can, don't forget to keep training and listen to Pyrrha!"
"I know Ruby, I will. We're both going to be facing some big stuff but I'm more worried about you guys." Jaune said.
"Yeah, the White Fang might be waiting for you and they might have some help from Cinder!" Nora stated.
"I highly doubt that, there hasn't been a sighting of Cinder since Haven, my contact has told me that Mercury and Emerald have been the only ones to meet with them." Blake informed her.
"Somehow that fails to comfort me." Pyrrha said, absentmindedly rubbing the scar on her chest.
"Don't worry P-Money, if we get into trouble you guys are just a phone call and an airship ride away." Yang said cheerfully, now dressed in her new outfit that consisted of her black combat boots, a pair of ripped up black trousers that covered her legs, her brown vest over a dark yellow sleeveless shirt, and a strong black glove that covered her left hand.
"Hopefully we won't need you and this will be a simple in and out rescue mission." Blake told them.
"Knowing our luck? We'll probably have to fly over there before the end of the week." Jaune joked as Pyrrha hugged Ruby.
Pyrrha noticed something around Ruby's neck. "You're taking Ashe's whistle?" she asked.
Ruby held it up and said "Yeah, think of it as a good luck charm or a way of honoring him. I think it suits me."
"I suppose it does, I guess Ashe made the right choice when he gave it to you." Weiss said. The Schnee heiress was wearing an outfit that resembled Winter's but with a white vest instead of a blue one and the coat wasn't as long and hands were covered by red gloves. Her combat skirt ended just above her knees where they were met by knee-high gray boots. Around her neck she wore a beautiful neck collar that donned a blue gem of some kind.
"Thanks Weiss!" Ruby said as she looked over to see Penny talking with her dad. Dr. Polendina had been up on the science vessel going over the remains of the various Grimm Knights that had been left behind at Haven and had been so busy that whenever he came down from the ship he was too tired to spend time with Penny.
"Now remember Penny to be careful, if your skin is torn make sure to cover it so the metal doesn't rust and if you have to go into the desert..."
"Make sure my internal cooling systems are operating at sufficient capacity, I know daddy. I'll be okay, I have my friends with me! They won't let anything happen to me, besides this will give me a chance to see Vacuo! It's the only one of the kingdoms I haven't seen in person yet. I will be fine." she said sweetly.
"I know Penny, I'm just old and when you get old you worry about the ones you care about." he told her.
"I don't think that means you are old daddy, I think it means you are a good person." she said.
Ruby smiled at the scene as she looked over to see Coco, Yatsuhashi, and Velvet saying goodbye to Fox.
"Bet you're happy to have a room all to yourself, eh?" Coco teases as she hugged Fox. The leader of CFVY was dressed in tight black and brown combat boots that went up to her shins where they met yellow knee-pads which met with a brown and black skirt that was held to her waist by a black and yellow belt while her torso was clad in an amber sleeveless shirt which was covered by a black vest while a brown scarf covered her neck and collar and of course she kept her black beret and sunglasses.
"You know it... but I'm going to miss you guys. The only reason I'm so quiet is because you're talking all the time." Fox joked, which earned him an affectionate slug from his partner.
"Just remember to do what Jaune says, he's your boss until we get back." Coco reminded him.
"And make sure to help keep Beacon safe while we're gone." Velvet, who was wearing her civilian outfit which consisted of a pair of white boots, dark grayish-brown pants which had a green stem shape on the side of the right leg, a dark violet-red dress shirt that went down to her thighs and met the stem shape with a yellow sunflower shape on her right hip, and around her hips was a brown belt with several pouches.
"Don't sweat it Velv, I bet the place will be back to normal once we come home." Coco remarked.
Yatsuhashi, whose outfit was pretty much the same save for a new shoulder armor in dark green color, shook hands with his smaller partner, simply giving him a respectful look and a friendly nod.
Team SSSN was currently saying goodbye to Sage, with Neptune being the only one to change outfits; which was simply a pair of dark green trousers and a red t-shirt that had a belt with several pouches around his hips.
"Take care man, won't be the same without you." Sun said as he shook Sage's hand.
"I'm sure, I don't know how I'll survive without you guys since you know, I won't be doing anything dangerous while you're all going up against the White Fang." Sage joked.
"Hey, I'm the funny guy, don't go gunning for my job." Sun joked as Scarlet hugged his partner.
"Stay safe out there, Scar." Sage said.
"We'll call as much as we can, just get over that Saber bite so we can go on the next one as a whole team." Scarlet encouraged.
Neptune hugged Sage as well and said "Wish us luck buddy 'cause we're gonna need it!"
Ruby had just said goodbye to Fox when she heard a familiar happy barking. She turned around to see Zwei running towards her and Yang with her dad not too far behind.
"You made it!" she cheered as she knelt down to hug Zwei, who instantly began licking her.
"Sorry, we got held up at Patch." Taiyang said as he hugged Yang. "I was worried we'd miss you." Taiyang was coming to help fill in most of Team Beacon's place while they were gone and decided to bring Zwei along as well.
"Well you made it just in time dad." Yang said as she petted Zwei while Ruby hugged her father.
"He sure did." announced Qrow as he, Ozpin, Glynda, Port, and Oobleck arrived. Qrow looked at Taiyang and he briefly remembered his encounter with what he knew was Raven but repressed the urge to tell him.
"Hello Taiyang, good to know that you made it." Glynda greeted him.
"Hey, I would want to miss this." he said before Ozpin spoke up.
"Members of Team Beacon, this is your first official mission together, and while it is true some of you will be left behind to perform other duties most of you will be going on what is most certainly a challenging mission but I have every confidence that you will succeed in this endeavor. From what Miss Belladonna has told me is that the man you will be saving, Claudandus Pircini is the original founder of the White Fang and can help us discredit them. This is a personal mission for Miss Belladonna and I must admit Claudandus is an old friend of mine as well, but I know you can save him. I wish you all luck on your mission." Ozpin said.
"Thank you Professor." said most of Team Beacon.
Winter stepped forward to say "If we leave now we can arrive in Brandofi before nightfall and our transport can have us across the border and a bulk of the desert by this time tomorrow."
"You heard her kids, let's get moving." Qrow ordered.
Most of Teams CFVY and SSSN quickly boarded the ship along with Penny. As Team RWBY embarked onto the ship Yang couldn't help but feel she was being watched again but simply shrugged it off. Before Ruby vanished into the ship she turned around and said "Take care guys! We'll do our best!"
"We know you will Ruby, good luck out there." Jaune told her, secretly in the back of his head he was a little worried since he was going to be the only team leader who would stay behind, but he knew that the others would be there for him, plus he always had Pyrrha.
"If anyone can save this man you guys can." Fox stated.
"Have a safe journey everyone!" Pyrrha called.
"Kick some butt!" Nora cheered while Ren simply bowed respectfully to his departing friends.
"What she said." agreed Sage.
Qrow and Winter walked onto the ship while the various members of Team Beacon said their final goodbyes to their friends and teammates.
"You ready for this Schnee?"
"Quite ready, what about you Branwen?" Winter asked.
"I can handle whatever the White Fang punks throw at me." Qrow said with a small smirk as he turned around and waved to Ozpin, Glynda, Taiyang, and the others.
The door closed and a few minutes later the ship lifted off into the sky and flew away.
"Think they'll be okay without us?" Sage asked.
"They have three leaders, a ton of awesome weapons, the right fighting skills, and Blake's knowledge of the White Fang. I think they can handle this." Jaune said.
"I hope so, Mr. Arc." Glynda said quietly.
Pyrrha looked to her boyfriend and said "Up for a training session?"
"You know I am, what about you guys?" Jaune asked the rest.
"I got a lot of pent up energy that I could stand to let out." Sage stated.
"I'm in." agreed Fox.
"You know it!" Nora said eagerly.
"As long as it's not as bad as yesterday's." Ren said.
As the students walked away Glynda looked to Ozpin and said "Are you sure they'll be alright?"
"Yes. With not only one of my best agents but one of Atlas' top Specialists in charge of this mission I have every confidence in them." Ozpin told her.
Glynda nodded and voiced "Then I hope everything turns out for the best."
"So do I Glynda, so do I." Taiyang agreed.
As the adults walked into the building they didn't notice Raven in her bird form watching them from above, never once taking her eyes off of Taiyang. Once the door closed behind the Hunters she took off into the sky, utterly unnoticed.
Next Time: A really useful mode of transportation...
Oh my god, the shortest chapter ever and I'm not really sure what to think of it. It really exists to act as an answer to what's been going on with Raven and what's up with her.
To be completely honest I'm not too happy with this one, I think parts of it are good but I think it's altogether a weak chapter, probably the weakest I've done for this story. Sorry if it's crap.
Don't worry, Team JNPR, Fox, and Sage won't be gone for long, as we'll be checking in on them every few chapter to see how they're doing.
Okay Yang and Weiss have some new designs while Ruby and Blake will have their V4 designs (except Ruby has Ashe's whistle) as does most of CFVY and SSSN. Also Velvet's new outfit was inspired by isaiahjordan's first Velvet Battle Gear design on Deviantart.
If you enjoyed this and you're on FF. net then leave a review and fave and follow. If you're on Ao3 then leave a kudos and a comment, please give me feedback, tell me what you liked and what you didn't so this story can improve. Thank you all so much.