RWBY: Destiny of Remnant

by UGX7

In the wake of the fall Team RNJR sets out to bring Cinder Fall to justice while the new Fall Maiden overlooks her master's plan in Haven City. Meanwhile Weiss tries to help a friend, Yang struggles with the loss of her arm, and Blake deals with guilt over the White Fang. Meanwhile someone from Cinder's past returns and Salem's newest pawn rises. Arkos, WhiteRose, SunnyBees, Renora

86. A Time To Mourn

Dedicated in loving Memory of my great grandmother Cleo. 1929-2020.

Chapter 85: A Time to Mourn

Trooper sat on an uncomfortable chair with his hands crossed together in front of him beside the incapacitated form of Damien Ante in an isolated section of the palace's infirmary. Medical machines beeped and whirred loudly as they performed their functions to replenish lost blood and help the leader of the Enforcers breathe while his personal semblance worked slowly to heal him.

West, aided by several hooded medics, had spent hours trying their best to stabilize Ante's severe wounds from the severe beating he had received at the hands of the Son of Salem. After Ante's condition was finally stabilized both West had left to attend to other patients.

Trooper glared hatefully at Watts whenever he saw him, but kept his attention on the prone form of Ante who was in a medically-induced coma in order for his regenerative semblance to heal his wounds. He volunteered to watch over their leader while the other Enforcers rested.

He watched in silence as the medics double-checked Ante's vital signs on the machines' screens and made sure that the blood bags and medical fluids were all in order, with a look of intense scrutiny on his face while having one hand on his holstered service pistol. After the confrontation with Watts hours earlier, he wasn't taking any chances that the Atlesian doctor would still try something to get back at him.

When the medics had eventually left, Trooper rested his assault rifle across his knees, his eyes never leaving the display screens that showed all of Ante's vital signs. One of the medical staff told Trooper that he should be in the infirmary with a weapon, but was silenced when the ex-soldier shot him a contemptuous glare so fierce that all of the medical staff knew better than to disturb him.

The lone Enforcer scowled as he remembered how other Enforcers he had served with since Haven City had died thanks to the machinations of Salem. He felt his hands clench together tightly as he remembered Zhan's being killed at point-blank range by Saul Jude's robotic arm, Douglas dying after getting his neck snapped by Cinder and most recently Fireball getting set on fire and mercy killed by Trooper himself.

When Damien Ante first threw in with Cinder Fall, Trooper hadn't given it much thought other than thinking that it was the usual job, but after witnessing the consequences of both their victories and their failures, as well as the type of dubious and manipulative individuals he had to work with, the Enforcer knew that it was very unlikely they would be getting anything worthwhile out of the deal with Salem, and more than likely that they all would end up in unmarked graves after their usefulness had been fully exploited.

If he was being honest with himself, Trooper had his own doubts about Salem promising them everything if they helped her win the war against the Guardians of Remnant. Knowing Salem's character, he was more than she wouldn't be the type of person to share whatever power she had or would gain with anyone but herself. And if Salem was as powerful as the whispers he had heard about her, why hadn't she already wiped out the Guardians and Knights by now and made the world of Remnant hers? Unless she was manipulating her pawns into killing each other until there was no one else to share in the power she would get once Remnant was under her iron-fisted rule.

And while he wasn't in contact with his ex-wife and child, Trooper knew that they definitely wouldn't survive in whatever world Salem would create once she fulfilled her goals. He might not be a good man, but he knew he would be damned if he didn't do something to spare them from the horrifying fate that would befall them if the Mistress of Grimm triumphed.

Making it look as though he was checking over his own wounds, which he had no shortage of after being patched up by the infirmary's medics, Trooper reached down to one of his pouches discreetly and checked that the hidden Atlesian-made communicator was still there. Jaune and Pyrrha had its mate, and the Enforcer had promised to send them any vital information he overheard or managed to dig up that would hopefully give them and their allies a better fighting chance against Salem's forces in the next phase of the conflict which would most definitely be more brutal and frightening than anything he had ever seen in his life. The battles of Vacuo City, and those he heard about the Grimm incursions taking place across Atlas, would be trivialities compared to what he suspected to be coming soon.

Frankly, he was living on borrowed time, and Trooper had a feeling that it's going to run out sooner rather than later. The best he could hope for would be that his next actions, or his death should the situation come to it, would make a difference for Remnant's future.

"Trooper?" He looked up and saw the slim figure of Emerald standing at the edge of Ante's bed, one of her hands resting on the metal railing.

"What do you want?" The Enforcer narrowed his eyes at her.

"How's Ante doing?" She asked quietly.

Trooper grunted before saying, "He's out of danger, but he's not going to wake up for a while. Again, what do you want?"

"A new assignment just came up, one which our superiors think that your unique skills would be most suitable to handle," The dark-skinned thief mentioned, "I was sent to come get you."

The Enforcer raised an eyebrow, "They haven't specifically asked for my talents before. Besides, I thought Ante normally takes orders who whoever's up there holding your chains, like Cinder, before he gives us the orders himself."

"First time for everything." Emerald's face softened as she glanced at Ante's unconscious form, "Besides, Ante still needs time to heal, I doubt he can meet with Cinder to receive his assignments."

"So…what's the 'special' assignment?" Trooper inquired, knotting his fingers together above his knees.

"I'm sorry, but I've been ordered only to come get you." Cinder's disciple shook her head.

"Fair enough, I could use a change of scenery anyway." Trooper said before taking one last look at Ante, and tapped a quick message to his scroll that had Lao walking in to take his place by Ante's side. The swordsman Enforcer had two bottles of beer in his hand, he gave his comrade a questioning look.

"I'm going with Emerald to handle some matters. You stay here until I return. Save that beer for me," He told Lao who nodded, "Keep an eye out for anything, if you see anyone doing something suspicious, call in the other Enforcers."

"Got it." The other Enforcer nodded, eyeing Emerald before adding "Stay safe, see you later."

"You too," Trooper slung his assault rifle across his back and gestured with one hand to the exit, "After you."

Moments later, Trooper didn't like the fact that Emerald was leading him into the dark, foreboding depths of Salem's palace, past long abandoned rooms and chambers that seemed haunted and shadow-covered corridors that felt too long and twisting for his liking.

"What's all this about?" He asked her when he thought they were deep enough, while eyeing every dark alcove and side tunnel as though a Grimm would spring from the darkness, "And why only me?"

"Cinder told me that she only wanted to speak with you," Emerald turned her head a little to make sure Trooper was still following her, "As for what she wanted to talk to you about, perhaps you can ask her yourself when we get there."

"In case you're thinking of pulling something, I have a message on my scroll saying that you're bringing me on some secret assignment. One press and my colleagues will know." The Enforcer replied, "Tell me honestly; this isn't a trap set by Watts, is it? I can tell I made an enemy out of him yesterday, and there are far more subtle ways of quietly killing me than luring me deep into the castle."

"Watts isn't involved in this. He'd be one of the last people Cinder would want to know about this." Emerald remarked lightly as they went through an antechamber whose stone doors have crumbled and the dust of many ages covered everything, "And trust me, nothing makes me happier than to see someone taking that smug doctor down a peg. I almost wish you went further and shot him in the knee yesterday."

"I considered it, I really did, but I doubt I would live very long if I had," Trooper said as he glanced back over his shoulder, getting the strange feeling that something was following them, "Couldn't we have met somewhere that doesn't look like the set of a horror movie?"

"This is one of the few places in the castle that's totally empty. Apparently, from what I heard this was where some kind of experimental Grimm got loose and killed some of Salem's old minions decades ago. Apparently she left this particular part of the castle alone ever since, and maybe forgotten about it after sealing the outer chambers." Emerald elaborated in a quiet voice, clearly uneasy due to the creepy atmosphere that surrounded them and the entire derelict section, "Cinder came across it some time ago and used it as a place to be alone with her thoughts."

"Yeah, but what's so important we couldn't talk about it in her chambers?" Trooper asked as he stepped over some rubble.

"This is something important enough that she wants to keep it between the three of us, she obviously doesn't want anyone not trustworthy eavesdropping." Emerald told him as they walked through another neglected chamber, past strange, twisted hunks of metal that were once parts of important machinery.

"Call me curious, but what could Cinder possibly want from me?" Trooper demanded to know as they walked into the final chamber, where he could see a dozen large pods arranged in a circular manner surrounding what could only be described as a bat-winged and demonic-looking fanged statue with a large beak-like protrusion and horns upon its head, evidently carved out from a huge slab of obsidian marble, or something close to it. Rusted cables both thick and thin snaked under their feet, amidst shards of broken glass that cracked when stepped upon. Trooper especially found it troubling that the majority of the cables were connected to the statue in particular, and momentarily wondered what kind of twisted experiment had been previously run here in the darkness. He found that he really didn't want to know the answer, and averted his eyes from the disturbing statue.

"To understand you, Alexander Camos," Cinder's voice reached his ears as she suddenly stepped out from a darkened alcove behind them, startling the pair. She looked at Trooper with judgmental eyes as she slowly walked forwards, "Your actions yesterday intrigued me, for a mercenary you're quite loyal to Ante and your fellow Enforcers. Loyal enough to give a suffering comrade the mercy of a swift death."

The Enforcer's eyes widened as he looked over to Emerald, "Y-you saw me…"

Emerald nodded as Cinder continued, "Oh yes, and she also saw you return the Aura Crystal to Arc and Nikos. If Salem knew about such treachery…well, you witnessed what she can have her minions do to people who fail her. Imagine what she could personally do to a traitor."

To his credit Trooper didn't look away or back down, he simply clenched his fists and met Cinder's stare. Eventually he sighed and spoke, "Fireball was suffering after his flamethrower's fuel tanks was accidentally ruptured. I couldn't let him live with such horrible pain, and so I did what I had to do by giving him mercy in the only way I could. And as for the Aura Crystal…I don't know about you, but I won't let that monster you call a master get even more power. Yes, I've helped those kids out a couple of times discreetly because…I want my fellow Enforcers and I to remain useful and perhaps live a little longer. And most importantly, I know that if Salem wins this battle the entire world will suffer for it." He glared at Cinder and added defiantly, "There, I said it. So I'm to be executed for treason, right?"

Cinder looked at him for a few tense moments, before shaking her head and replied, "No. I would not waste someone with considerable…talents such as yours. In fact, I think this means we can trust you to help us in our mutiny against Salem."

Trooper was shocked and speechless. That was not something he had seen coming from someone within Salem's inner circle.

"Surprised?" Emerald asked him.

"I…that's an understatement. I don't know what to feel about this; you actually want to betray Salem?" He asked Cinder, confusion writ large on his face, "I thought you were one of her most loyal subordinates. You might not grovel like Callows or Watts, but aren't you her top student or something?"

"She claims to love me like a daughter, and yet she did this to me." Cinder told him as she pointed a gloved finger to the Crescent Rose-inflicted scar on her face, "Ruby struck me with her weapon back in Haven, true, but Salem was the one who burned it onto my face as punishment. It would have healed by now, had she not branded me for my failure."

"So you finally realized that your loyalty to her wasn't as much as you expected it to be, huh?" Trooper shook his head slowly, "After seeing what happened to Ante yesterday, I think he's also going to be taking a real hard look at his relationship with Salem as well."

"Something like that." Cinder snarled as she crossed her arms, "So if she's going to treat me this way, I'm going to make sure she gets the exact same treatment from me in return."

"Cinder's not a snob like Watts or a psycho like Tyrian." Emerald spoke up, "Salem might be constantly preaching about making the world a better place, but yesterday we all saw what that would entail if she gets her hands on the Relics, the Maiden powers and the Aura Crystal; domination over everyone and everything on Remnant, maybe even global destruction."

The Enforcer glanced at the demonic statue behind Cinder for a moment and was instantly reminded of the Gargoyles that served as Salem's elite guard. He still felt the phantom impression of their stone claws wrapping around his neck, and he very much doubted he could sleep well after that encounter. He returned his attention to Cinder and said, "I don't want innocent people to die. I'm no stranger to death, killing or even collateral damage, but what happened yesterday was…evil. And I get the uneasy feeling that yesterday was just an opening act for whatever she's got planned for the rest of Remnant, which I'm pretty sure involves wiping out nearly every living thing on the planet."

"Indeed, it does involve too much death for even the likes of us. Deaths that are ultimately unnecessary, since who wants to rule over a planet of ashes and ruins? That's why we need to stop my master before her plan reaches the point in which she would toss us aside once she gets what she wants. If you join us, we can do our best to ensure that such pointless catastrophes will never come to pass. It wouldn't be an easy path for us, but if it means making the world a better place and overthrowing Salem, then it's worth the risk." Cinder explained before asking him, "So are you in or out?"

Trooper thought carefully about his options and said, "Do I really have a choice? It's either give my allegiance to you…or you reveal my traitorous actions to Salem, and even if I tell her about your own treachery she'll just write me off as a desperate man trying to save himself. Well…I suppose I'm tired of being an accessory to evil, so I might as well try and make the remaining time in my life mean something."

Left unsaid was that the Enforcer knew he was choosing the lesser of two evils; but still an evil nonetheless. His continued survival now depended on how useful he could be to Cinder instead of Salem, while she now had an unbreakable hold on him through her knowledge of his actions which she could use against him should his usefulness to her end. Trooper had gained a bit more time to live, but not much considering the circumstances facing him. But at least he isn't instantly incinerated by Cinder or dead from a broken neck from a Gargoyle, so perhaps his luck was still holding for the moment.

Cinder smiled at Emerald before looking back to Trooper with a triumphant smirk, "That's what I want to hear, Camos. I could use someone with your skills when the time comes for my rebellion to strike. You won't regret this."

"We'll see, won't we?" He remarked as Cinder offered him one of her gloved hands, and after a slight hesitation, Trooper accepted it and shook before asking "So…if you don't mind me asking, you've got an actual plan to overthrow Salem?"

"Yes. Sherizawa, when given the task to get the prototype cannon from Europa Base, he managed to obtain a box of bullets infused with energy left over from Ruby Rose's silver eye attacks," Cinder mentioned, "If those bullets can freeze or kill Grimm, imagine the effect of that energy if Salem was to be hit with one of them during the chaos of battle?"

Trooper considered it, and while he had seen the power Ruby's eyes had at thee Battle of Haven heard of tales regarding the incredible powers of the silver eye warriors he wasn't really sure a single special bullet could kill Salem outright. He didn't let his disbelief show on his face though, and instead asked, "That's your plan? Please tell me there's more to it than that, right?"

"There is indeed, and you will know the rest of my plan in due time. However, we need to wait for the opportune moment, since Salem didn't survive for so long without being careful and cunning. She cannot be underestimated, so we will have to be careful while planning for our mutiny, wait for the right moment and strike when her attention is focused elsewhere." Cinder explained.

"Yeah, but we're gonna need more than just the three of us to pull this off." Trooper pointed out.

"As a matter of fact, I already have some other individuals in mind, such as Mercury." Cinder elaborated, "We just don't want his rashness and sadistic streak ruining things for us until we can be sure of his loyalty."

"Truth be told, I was wondering why he wasn't here," The Enforcer remarked before thinking for a few moments, "And if you're looking for other potential candidates...Ziz would be a good choice."

"Ziz?" Cinder inquired with a slight tilt of her head.

"Back at the Battle of Haven I saw her help Nikos and her friends escape, and she even killed some of the guards so they could get away. I asked her why, and she told me that Pyrrha helped her discover something important about her old team that caused her to stop hating them." Trooper Explained.

Cinder gave his suggestion some thought, recalling what she knew about the winged Grimm Commander, "Yes, Ziz was rather fond of 'Fotia'…" She murmured to herself, "While her betrayal at Haven is a bit…irritating, it could possibly prove beneficial. I have noticed that ever since that night she's been keeping her distance from Salem and not speaking as brazenly as she used to. Her behavior now makes sense."

"Adding to the fact Ziz also seems quite protective of Mavis…perhaps we can consider bringing her into our rebellion too?" Emerald suggested softly.

"Hmm…Mavis may be a bit too kind-hearted for this line of work, despite the anger within her," Cinder tapped her chin in thought with a gloved finger, "But yes, I do see your point. They could both potentially prove to be useful to our cause."

"And some of my fellow Enforcers too," Trooper continued, "Many of them don't like this job anymore, and the only reason some of them haven't left is because we're all in too deep, and I highly doubt Salem would take kindly to deserters. It wouldn't take much convincing for Lao, Little Steve and Merrick to help us, I know they can be trustworthy, and Tom-Tom might be a dumbass at times-"

"Might be?" Emerald snarked.

"But he never liked working for Salem, so we might be able to count on him too." Trooper finished.

"After his little slip-up yesterday, I hope you'll forgive my skepticism." Cinder remarked with a look that all but conveyed what she thought Tom-Tom.

"Can't say I blame you," Trooper admitted, "But he'll definitely listen to me. Any others?"

"Cinder's also thinking about Anastasia, but I'm honestly not so sure." Emerald voiced as she shared a look with Cinder.

"Anastasia? What can she do? Whine Salem to death?" Trooper shook his helmeted head while the Fall Maiden smirked.

"Anastasia is a petulant child, she's quite impatient and easy to anger. If we handle her carefully and play to her personality, she could still prove to be valuable to my overall plan," Cinder countered easily, "Thorn isn't a likely candidate, however. She's afraid of Salem, but unlike Anastasia she is mature enough to think things through and has quite the crafty mind. So she's obviously out; we need more allies, yet we have to be extremely cautious about who we choo-"

The Fall Maiden went silent, as she suddenly heard something move from behind her. She pivoted around agilely, reaching out and grabbed something that Emerald and Trooper couldn't see. The Fall Maiden then slammed an invisible figure forward and onto the dirty ground in front of her, the brief flicker of the individual's camouflage ability revealing a lithe outline clad in a stealth suit while the figure let out a soft grunt.

Emerald and Trooper drew their weapons, while Cinder formed balls of fire in her hands as the spy's invisibility swiftly deactivated, revealing none other than Ilia in her stealth outfit that worked in tandem with her Semblance. Instead of drawing her Lightning Lash, Ilia instead held up her own gloved hands to show that she had surrendered.

"Ilia?" Emerald gasped, looking surprised.

"It appears the Red Fang's spy needs to work on her stealth skills." Cinder remarked as she glared down at the Fusion Faunus.

"Wait! I'm not-" Ilia was cut off as Emerald wrapped the chains of her sickle-guns around the infiltration agent's torso while Trooper roughly forced her up and into the nearest stone wall, pinning her tightly in place.

"How did you find us?" Cinder demanded to know.

"I'm a spy, so it's kind of a force of habit for me to be nosy," Ilia told the Fall Maiden quickly, "I was in the room next to Emerald, remember? Last night I heard her murmuring that she 'hoped Cinder knows what she's doing' before entering her room, and then this morning I overheard her telling Mercury that she was going somewhere else in the castle on an assignment for you. I had my own suspicions about your actions, so I got curious and decided to follow Emerald and Trooper discreetly, just in case this hunch of mine turned out to be promising and it looks like it was."

"And was it worth it?" Cinder asked with a menacing glare.

"It was." Ilia answered before adding, "I want in."

The Fall Maiden raised an eyebrow, but kept her flaming hands ready to strike, "Pray tell, why would you want to join us?"

Sighing in defeat, Ilia couldn't hide her shame as she answered, "Because this whole time, I hated someone who didn't deserve it. I let anger taint my soul and I followed a madman in pursuit of vengeance, and now I'm following something much worse. I also know that if Salem gets her way, it would mean the end of everything, and she won't hesitate to sacrifice all of us in order to make it happen, regardless of the consequences. If helping you means stopping the impending apocalypse from happening, then you can count on me."

Cinder considered what Ilia had said and posed her next question, "What of Hui and the other members of the Red Fang?"

"Directionless. Hui doesn't know what to do anymore, and because Adam worked for Salem, he'll most likely follow her into oblivion because he doesn't have anything else except a vendetta against humans. You can't count on them like you can with me." Ilia told the Fall Maiden, "They're all angry at the world for how the Faunus had been treated, they clearly don't care even if things are better now, and frankly they will definitely follow the path of vengeance to the bitter end."

"And what about you?" Trooper questioned as he kept his assault rifle aimed at her.

"Me? I just don't want to see the world end." Ilia answered quickly.

Cinder scrutinized Ilia carefully, and could find no signs that the Red Fang agent was lying to her. Glancing at Trooper and Emerald who were both looking back at her, she extinguished her flames within her gloved hands and said, "Very well Ilia, I can tell you genuinely wish to help us. What do you have to offer us?"

"Information retrieval, sneak attacks, spying, I can also get into places others can't, " The Fusion Faunus agent listed, "And most importantly, I have a connection to someone who's pretty openly opposed to Salem."

"And who might that be?" Cinder asked as she raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Blake Belladonna." Ilia revealed, and Trooper's eyes widened a little as he realized there was another spy other than himself.

"Belladonna? I thought you hated her." Emerald commented.

"Not anymore. I lied to you about sneaking away successfully when she was distracted by the Sphinx. We fought against each other…but then she talked some sense into me, and managed to get the lust of vengeance out of my head. We understand each other's reasons now and I…I promised to help her spy on Salem and all of you, and keep her and the rest of Team Beacon informed of what you're all up to." Ilia informed them hesitantly.

"What?" The mocha-skinned thief gasped, "You volunteered to be a secret spy for them? Are you crazy?"

"Hey, coming from someone who's joining in a mutiny against Salem herself…aren't you all insane?" Ilia responded as she looked at them guardedly.

"She's gotcha there." Trooper muttered to Emerald.

"Hmm…while I don't approve of aiding the enemy too much, especially a friend of Ruby Rose, there is potential in this. If we leak out certain information to our enemies it could possibly damage Salem's plans, and force her to make rash actions which she would otherwise avoid," Cinder's face looked pensive for a moment, "But it is risky, I spoke to Salem this morning and I would be a fool not to pick up the hints she was dropping throughout our conversation. She's paranoid of betrayal, so we could use that to our advantage…but it's also a double-edged sword. We could subtly leak what she tells us to you, Ilia, and in turn you can report on those details to Belladonna, who would in turn inform Ozpin and his allies."

"Glad you see my point." Ilia gave a careful nod, and released a breath of relief as the chains of Emerald's sickle-gun weapons around her loosened and Trooper released her.

"In any other situation I would have incinerated you and or reported you to Salem…but in this care you've shown me your resourcefulness and spying skills. Regarding your offer, you must have Belladonna be cautious since I know that Salem has an agent on the Atlas Council, though I don't know who. Have Belladonna make sure only Ozpin and Ironwood know about you, and have them keep it between themselves so as to make sure Salem's agent doesn't know about you."

"I'll see to it. At least I fixed my relationship with Blake and got rid of any misunderstandings, but now I know she cares about me enough to make sure I'm not in any danger," Ilia agreed and then added, "Speaking of which, should I tell them about what you're planning?"

"No. I'm their sworn enemy, and if they were aware that you have sworn allegiance to me, they won't trust you at all. Omit any detail of us in your message…but you can inform them that Salem's associates and allies will be making our moves on the Relics in a week, maybe two since Salem needs to translate the writing on the stolen Relic maps to find out where they actually are. When we do find out the locations, then we will leak them to you so you can report them to Team Beacon and the Guardians of Remnant. If we do this carefully enough, we can throw a wrench in Salem's plans and make her paranoid of everyone under command." Cinder surmised.

"Even you." Trooper commented.

"True, but we can make it a tangled web , that way she won't know who to suspect. This could serve as the perfect distraction for us to plan and make moves of our own. Ilia, you have my permission to report to Belladonna on Salem's plots, but keep in mind that if you betray me…" Her gloved hands suddenly lit up again with flames, lighting up the dark chamber to some extent with flickering shadows around them.

Ilia nodded frantically, shaken slightly by the intense look on Cinder's face and the harsh light of the flames within her palms, "I understand, and I won't betray you. There's no backing down from this anyway, we either pull it off…or we die."

Cinder smiled, "Well said. Once it's safe to do so, you can report to your friend."

"Wait, why not just have her tell the Guardians of Remnant and the Knights where this palace is and let them eliminate Salem for us?" Trooper asked as he looked at the Fall Maiden, "I mean, I don't have a clue, but you probably do."

"Out of the question. If they were to strike this palace directly and with all of their available forces, then we would go down with Salem. I can't have that if I want to get what's rightfully mine," Cinder answered with a stern glare, "We will leak the location of this place only as a desperate last resort if we are found out. Which is a situation that won't occur, will it?"

"No." Emerald, Ilia and Trooper all answered at once.

"Very good. This path will not be an easy one for us. It could prove to be the greatest risk any of us have ever taken, it will be a complicated and tangled web of lies and subterfuge, but if we succeed…" Cinder said and let her unfinished sentence hang in the air.

"No way you can be any worse than Salem." Emerald remarked.

"I really don't think she's sane anymore." Trooper commented.

"Anyone who wanted to destroy the world probably isn't." Ilia agreed ruefully.

Cinder nodded with a smile, "Exactly. We will rule the world once Salem's gone, the Grimm will be driven to extinction and I will be revered as a hero for liberating the world of Remnant from the Grimm threat and the manipulations of Ozpin and his fellow Guardians. Now, I take it we all understand what's at stake here and what we must do to reach our goal?"

The thief, the Enforcer, and the Fusion Faunus all nodded.

"Good. Now let's get back before anyone else becomes suspicious of our absences." She told them.

The group began moving out of the obscure underground halls of the enormous dark palace, all the while Ilia was secretly worried about how she would bring down Salem, stop Cinder from gaining power and possibly even trying to dominate the world herself, and most notably keeping Salem and her friends safe from the evil machinations of both wicked women.

This wasn't going to be easy.

---

Ozpin and Taiyang sat on a bullhead travelling to Atlas, watching the screen hanging in front of them.

"This is Lisa Lavender of the Vale News Network, bringing you the latest news. Less than twenty-four hours ago, the capital of Vacuo and almost the entirety of the Solitas continent came under attack by massive Grimm incursions which inflicted severe damage to the people and infrastructure of both Kingdoms. While Atlesian forces have managed to beat back the Grimm attacks, the aftermath of the battle for Vacuo City is clear; the capital barely escaped being brought to its knees. Now that the battles have been concluded and the smoke cleared, our journalists in both Vacuo and Atlas have been roaming the streets, gathering first-hand witness accounts and the latest updates on the relief efforts and rescue operations, and seeking out answers as to how these catastrophes happened. Although the majority of the information we've received remained unverified, the Council of Vacuo and the Council of Atlas, have issued swift statements to the public once the overall situations have been effectively contained."

"Thank you, Lisa. This is Cyril Cid, reporting live for the VNN in Vacuo City. As you can see behind me, a good portion of the capital has been reduced to burning rubble and wreckage during the battle against the combined assault of the Grimm hordes without and the gang uprising within. Search and rescue efforts are still ongoing by firefighting and ranger teams, who have spent many hours searching the debris of the office and residential buildings for survivors, and so far more than a hundred and forty-five trapped civilians have been rescued. The more serious cases will be stabilized before being airlifted by airships to the nearest hospitals for emergency treatment, and Shade Academy has even opened up its infirmary wing to bring in wounded civilians. The Council of Vacuo would like to remind citizens to remain calm and stay in their homes, while the Kingdoms' authorities deal with any remaining threats within the city and its surroundings. Once all threats have been neutralized, an all-clear signal will be issued. Combined efforts from the Hunters, the Vacuo Rangers, Desert Guard units and police have already cleared most of the Grimm from the city, with help provided by Atlesian military forces deployed from the Allegiance and its accompanying fleet."

He went onto report that Red Fang members had been spotted by some civilians or Hunters, seen aiding the various criminal gangs, but were defeated by Rangers and Desert Guards though some fled into the underground. There were unconfirmed reports of looting in the streets and even talk of groups of survivors clashing with rangers and other security forces in regards to delayed rescue efforts and distribution of supplies within districts that were and the Vacuo Council officially condemned anyone who takes advantage of the current situation to engage in illegal actions, and urge civilians to cooperate with the authorities to expedite their efforts in helping those in need. Faunus communities within the city were helping out with the search and rescue efforts.

"Thanks Cyril, now we're getting word from Irmengard Ivory, also in Vacuo." Lavender announced as another, older looking reporter came on the screen.

"Thanks, Lisa. I've spoken to several civilians who have claimed that they have witnessed a young woman who was apparently identified as the "Summer Maiden" reveal her true identity publicly in the main courtyard of Shade Academy when word got out that she was sighted at Shade Academy, and if what they have told me so far was true then this "Heliosia Ainea" was conceivably confirmed as one of the Maidens from the ancient legends, details of which have remained vague ever since the Vytal Disaster and the death of the previous Fall Maiden. An unknown number of civilians gathered at the main gates of the Academy to see the Maiden, and the situation apparently nearly escalated into a riot until the Maiden showed herself and called for the people to remain calm and work with the Kingdom's forces by returning home and wait for further information from the authorities. Unfortunately, none of the civilians I've spoken to have been able to capture any video evidence since there seemed to be some kind of transmission scrambling blanket that caused all scrolls and other devices to be rendered unusable during the event. Eyewitness accounts stated that the Maiden looked no different from any other Huntress on the streets, but it was her incredible powers, which reportedly was capable of manifesting a huge burning mythical phoenix and even changing the weather for a short period of time, that proved she spoke the truth about who she was. Many of those witnesses, upon seeing a Maiden in the flesh, considered her so far beyond a human, possibly even close to a real-life goddess. While the Council hasn't issued any official statements with regards to the Maiden's current whereabouts or her present status, there have been a significant increase in pilgrims and visitors making their way to the Grand Temple of Vacuo and the various shrines dedicated to the Maidens within Vacuo City to make offerings and pray for her blessings.

"However, we have something more surprising to report, we've gotten reports that many citizens have witnessed armored warriors clad in heavy armor suits fighting alongside Vacuoan military forces all around the city, even at Shade Academy. According to both official and anonymous sources, these armored combatants were identified to be the legendary "Remnant Knights", a secret order of holy knights. While there have been several mentions of such an order in historical records, many believed that the Knights were little more than a myth until now."

Ozpin groaned as he lowered his head against the top of his cane while Taiyang reclined in his seat, muttering "No way we can cover this one up."

"They aren't just there, Irengard, there's also reports of them from Atlas as well. Can you tell us anything else about these Knights?" Lisa inquired.

"Several of those knights have also been seen to be protecting the Summer Maiden, and a substantial number of them were spotted within Shade Academy itself where the Maiden was last seen. However, it seems that the Knights have possibly returned back to wherever they came from, since there weren't any new sightings of them and the Vacuo Council have yet to speak about anything with regards to their current whereabouts, nor that of the now-revealed Maiden."

"What can you tell us about the Atlesian forces?" Lisa asked.

Ivory went on to talk about a statement from Captain Samson, assuring the citizens that the fleet's purpose was to help the people of Vacuo. While the presence of such Atlesian troops on the streets won't sit well with many civilians and certain branches of Vacuoan authorities, they've nonetheless been indispensable in terms of clearing out any remaining Grimm and the quick evacuation of survivors to the nearest hospitals. While reports on the streets indicated that anti-Atlas sentiments were still lingering among some Vacuoans, the Council repeatedly stressed that the Atlesian troops deployed in the city were only following orders they were given and genuinely wanted to help the people of the city.

Taiyang perked up when rumors of the traitor within Shade were mentioned, though the details the public had were still very sketchy for the moment. With Luna refusing to confirm or deny anything.

"You know anything about that?" He asked Ozpin, who sighed and nodded.

"Luna's assistant. He was in a situation not that different from Colonel Cy." The Headmaster informed his old student as Ivory told the viewers about Tom Allcroft's heroic deeds, with many Vacuo authorities and citizens calling for him to be honored for his bravery, Headmistress Luna and Captain-General Canis among them. A number of valorous ranger and police officers were also commended by their respective superiors for helping Team Beacon to lure the Elder Deathworm into the trap.

"What about those gangs? Any information on them?" Lavender asked.

"We've been told that Madame Viper, the notorious head of the infamous Black Vipers gang, has been taken into custody by the rangers. An anonymous inside source mentions that she may have been working with other felonious individuals in orchestrating the gang uprising in the capital. The same source also said that Viper was apparently defeated by Huntsman Qrow Branwen in a fight and arrested by the rangers..."

"Qrow always managed to get some attention," Taiyang muttered with a slight smirk as the news changed subjects to the Atlas situation.

"The Kingdom of Atlas suffered from what was considered the worst Grimm incursion in history," Lisa Lavender continued, going on about the cities and villages that had been attacked by the Grimm, killing thousands of people and severely damaging the existing infrastructure, while quite a few military bases were also decimated, but were fought off by the Atlas military forces, Hunters and even the Knights, who had saved Hapheastus City from the Grimm with a massive battleship.

"I've got the feeling Seraph will have quite a lot to deal with," Ozpin muttered.

"We all will, Oz." Taiyang retorted.

"General Ironwood and Head Chancellor Alexandra Maximilius of the Atlas Council have issued statements saying that the Allegiance and its fleet will leave Vacuo once the capital has been brought back to its feet and is safe and secure, and then they will be recalled to the northern Kingdoms' available military forces around Remnant in light of the recent immense Grimm attack. Head Chancellor Maximilius has also issued a statement regarding the upcoming new rules on the Kingdom's embargo on Dust exports to the other Kingdoms, citing that it is an attempt to prevent conflict and ensure that the Atlas military forces are sufficiently well-supplied for any potential future Grimm invasions. Polls in Atlas currently show a 65% support rating for this announcement, while approximately 75% of the Hunters of Atlas approve of these measures to protect the Kingdom. Only time will tell if the people of Atlas made the right decision in supporting the actions of their Kingdom's Council."

"This is a risky move on their part, it could easily damage the relationships between the kingdoms." Ozpin stated.

"I see your point, though I get where she's coming from. Vacuo only got hit in the capital, Atlas got hit everywhere." Taiyang reminded Ozpin, while Lisa Lavender continued.

"That's all the news for now, and we'll keep you up to date with current events as further reports come in. For now, Vacuo City and Atlas were both out of danger and slowly recovering, united in their cause to protect their citizens, and are more than ready to repel anything and everything that dares to disturb or break the Kingdoms' spirits. This is Lisa Lavender of the VNN, signing off. Good night."

---

It had been two days since the attacks on Vacuo City and Atlas. The combined death toll was now estimated to be around fifty thousand while the property damage was easily in the billions range. Huntsman Academies all across Remnant had sent aid in the form of their top teams to help with the recovery, be it fighting off any Grimm hordes that remained or assisting with search and rescue operations. The Councils had worked quickly to arrange shipments of food and medical supplies to those who desperately needed it, while clinics and hospitals have been packed beyond their limits with huge numbers of civilians with varying levels of injuries. Children had been rendered orphans, parents had lost children, and countless more had lost their husbands and wives while some unfortunate families had been wiped out altogether.

Adding to the terrible cauldron of grief and mourning were far worse news; since the world had known since the Fall of Beacon that the Seasonal Maidens were no fable, they now knew for a fact that neither were the Remnant Knights, who had been hiding in plain sight or operating in the shadows for centuries. While many were satisfied with Heliosia's actions or had more pressing ordeals to worry about, just as many were furious about the secrecy and began asking uncomfortable questions or straight-out demanding answers from the Kingdoms' Councils, which the Guardians of Remnant and the Knight Order were presently working on the best possible way to answer them without compromising any remaining secrets that would likely cause even more panic.

Hyperion One was currently on the way to the Kingdom of Atlas, flying agilely between the Breath of the Wild Storms and Endless Inferno. All three airships had their stealth systems activated while travelling on their assigned route given by the Guardians of Remnant, so there was no way of detecting their presence nor progress since no one else aside from those who served within the clandestine Order knew about them. Where they would be going once arriving at Atlas was a mystery too, as that information would only be told to them once they successfully pass the borders of Solitas and make their way to the capital, Atlas City.

As for Team Beacon themselves, they were still reeling not just from the attack, but from the bombshells dropped by Ren and Nora, as well as Blake. The whole team, plus Qrow, had gathered in the commons lounge to hear what some of their members have to disclose to everyone else. Ren and Nora finished telling their friends what they had learned the day before in the data package sent by the Atlas military forces through a highly secure channel, and the revelation that someone as sweet and spunky as Nora Valkyrie was actually the daughter of a notorious crime lord's top lieutenants had indeed shocked them all, not to mention Nora's likely theory that her parents had fled when Odinson became an ally of Salem, which lead to them being hunted down by the dreaded Nuckelavee, which in turn led to the complete destruction of Kuroyuri and Ren's family which made everyone else greatly sympathize for the two.

Nora cried rivers as she tearfully recounted what she could remember of the fateful night she and her parents fled Mistral City, but her friends and allies did their best to comfort her with friendly hugs and kind words while Ren sat close by her side and embraced her in a warm, comfortable hug with Pyrrha hugging her from the side, doing her best to comfort her sister-by-bond.

"We have to tell Ozpin and Ironwood." Coco concluded, "They need to know about this to make Odinson for it."

"She's right," Sharp Strike agreed as he looked at the orange-haired girl from his place seated between Ruby and Jaune, "However, I think it will be difficult to charge Odinson as an accomplice in the destruction of Kuroyuri and all the deaths caused from the Nuckelavee's attack."

"Why?" Pyrrha asked the knight errant a little hesitantly.

"While I don't doubt the truth of Nora's account, what we require is actual proof of Odinson's dealings," Sharp Strike explained, "Considering the fact that he's an illicit businessman of sorts, he must have kept detailed records of his dealings with his associates. Since Nora's parents were forced to run after a falling-out with Odinson, he probably would have issued a kill order after soliciting the services of assassins. If we somehow obtain tangible proof, then Odinson would be definitely charged with these crimes."

"Shiny here makes a good point," Qrow relented, leaning back on the couch, "A given account of Odinson's actions, no matter how detailed, won't stand up in court without any proof."

"True, and the theory that the Nuckelavee followed Nora and her parents to Kuroyuri, which caused the consequent massacre there was also probable too." Penny mentioned after thinking about it, "But that same theory cannot connect Odinson to the town's destruction and deaths since it's the Elder Grimm who did it."

"Unless somehow Odinson confesses to his involvement with Salem or any of her associates, or any proof was recovered by Winter and the Atlesian elite task force that captured him linking the criminal businessman to them…it would be quite difficult to convict Odinson." Sharp Strike continued speaking, "But it's still worth a try to let General Ironwood know so his people will know what to look for when investigating Odinson's dealings."

"Way to go Sharp, snuffing out that slim ray of hope." Sun commented dryly.

"I'm only speaking the truth." The armored knight replied cordially, "And I meant no offense."

"But I…it's been so long. What i-if he deleted the kill order for my parents from his crime database, or whatever?" Nora pointed out as Pyrrha firmly held her hand, while Ren gently rubbed her back to soothe her.

"Perhaps seeing the daughter of two of his top lieutenants, people he once trusted, and then had ordered to be silenced, alive and well…might probably get a reaction out of him, which could be proof enough." Yatsuhashi put forth.

"And hopefully that will cause him to confess to whatever else he did during his involvement not just with Salem and her associates, but maybe with the attack on Kuroyuri too." Jaune voiced optimistically, "While we won't be fighting Salem, but if you can get anything while meeting with Odinson, then Nora's parents and everyone who died that night will get the justice they deserve."

"That's if we can get a reaction out of Odinson, and since he's been in the business a long time it'll probably be hard to prove he had anything to do with Kuroyuri's destruction." Sage commented as he tapped a pen thoughtfully on a drawing pad, "For all we know the Nuckelavee could've attacked the town by itself after coming across that place that night."

"No, I remember something was following us," Nora shot down, "We didn't know what it was, but we could hear it. We thought we had reached safety when we got to Kuroyuri."

"She does have a point," N1CK3L voiced, "A Grimm like that would have evolved and learned from their experiences and would have avoided taking unnecessary risks. Kuroyuri, according to the descriptions Nora and Ren gave of it, would have been the sort of town it would have thought twice about attacking."

"What do you think, Uncle Qrow?" Ruby asked, as she noticed he had been mostly silent.

Sighing as he put his flask away, Qrow nodded, "I guess it's worth a shot. I talked to Ironwood about it this morning through a secure channel, and he told me that Winter and Task Force Omega practically caught Odinson dead to rights as a Specialist within the elite team managed to hack into Odinson's computer network and managed to download quite a lot of juicy details about his shady dealings. However, they also know they'll undoubtedly have a problem getting some testimonies from any of Odinson's victims since most of them have…disappeared, so Nora here might be our best show at getting a full confession out of him."

"Wait, what?" Nora asked, "By myself?"

"No, Nora. I will be there with you during the questioning." Ren said softly.

"Right, we wouldn't let you do it alone." Pyrrha quickly assured her.

"We're in this together, Nora. As long as we can do anything about it, you'll never be alone." Jaune told his fellow teammate kindly as he gave her shoulder a comforting squeeze.

Smiling happily, Nora wiped away some tears and thanked them.

"But what about the Nuckelavee?" Velvet asked, causing everyone to look at her, "It vanished after the massacre at Solitarius town, it's still out there, right?"

"Affirmative, according to the reports from Captain Katsagari, her team could not find any sign that the Nuckelavee had attacked from afar, as they could find no tracks outside the mining town's perimeter. It is almost as if the Grimm had teleported just outside of the town." N1CK3L stated.

"And we all know Salem's crew likes their portals." Sun observed, slowly shaking his head.

"That would explain how it got to Atlas from Mistral." Ren admitted after giving some thought, "It's…it's not easy, knowing that no one has been able to slay that monster since it attacked my home."

"I have heard of the stories from my family," Yatsuhashi commented, "Many brave Hunters have tried to kill that abomination, but none have ever succeeded and instead it only led to even more deaths. Many people have labelled such attempts as suicide missions for good reason."

"That will change if we get a shot at it." Yang spoke up, cocking her robotic arm.

"Yeah, considering the monsters we faced yesterday, fighting the Nuckelavee can't be that hard…right?" Ruby agreed with a smile, until the clinking sound of Sharp Strike's gauntlets meeting each other caused her to look at the silver-blue armored knight again.

"A word of warning, the Nuckelavee is an incredibly cunning beast. Even we Knights have attempted to end its reign of terror, and the known accounts I've read of the mission are…nightmarish." The knight errant told everyone in a grave voice while looking straight at the silver-eyed girl.

"He's right, squirt." Qrow agreed with an oddly stern look, "The Nuckelavee might not be as big as some Elder Grimm, but it's apparently among the smartest of them. It knows when to hide itself, when to stalk its prey without its knowledge, and when to strike once the opportunity arises. That's why no one's had any luck in killing it. Many have tried, especially those lucky enough to survive its attacks a first time. I remember I once heard a story in a bar about one guy who lost his family to the Nuckelavee, he hired a group to help him hunt it down...and eventually a passing trader found the site of the battle, with the would-be avenger as the only survivor, and even he died of his wounds shortly after."

A few of them shuddered, Ruby swallowed and nodded, understanding how grave a mistake it would be to underestimate the notorious beast.

"What about you?" Jaune turned and asked Sharp Strike, "Have you encountered any of the Elder Grimm before joining us?"

"I've fought against quite a few Elder Grimm with other fellow knights on some of my previous missions…" The knight representative remarked in a serious voice, "…and I can tell you frankly that Qrow is definitely correct. Don't ever underestimate the Elder Grimm, as they can be unusually cunning and vicious even to veteran Huntsmen and Huntresses. Make a single mistake, no matter how small, and it probably won't go well for you."

The gathered group of Team Beacon members and N1CK3L all gave nods of agreement at the Remnant Knight's words, knowing that what he had just spoken was probably from his own experiences.

Ren sighed sadly and hung his head, his hand tightening into Nora's. Jaune looked to Pyrrha, then down at Nora, and finally at Ren before his face took on a determined look and spoke, "That doesn't mean it's invincible."

Everyone else just stared at the blond, while Qrow simply gave a small chuckle as he shook his head slowly.

The green ninja looked back up at the leader of Team JNPR, just as Pyrrha added, "That's right. After all we've been through, and all that had happened to us, I don't think anything is really impossible by this point."

Smiling, Nora got the hint and hugged Ren from the side, "Especially when we're all in it together."

Ren smiled, touched that he was lucky enough to have a team that cared deeply for him like this. He may have lost his parents, but in turn he gained Nora, and eventually Jaune and Pyrrha, and Team RWBY, as well as everyone else in Team Beacon. He remembered an old proverb his mother Lie An had told him once; 'There is no great loss without some small gain'. It was a saying he never quite understood until that terrible night when he lost his parents, but gained Nora.

Then Blake, with some nudging from Yang and Sun, stood up and confessed to the members of Team Beacon that her battle with Ilia had not been as it seemed. She then told them about Ilia's feelings for her, the former White Fang agent's tragic past and about Ilia's decision to spy on Salem's group and secretly report what she could find out to Blake.

"Blake, are you sure about this?" Weiss asked in a very serious tone of voice.

"With all honesty? No. Leaking anything she knows of Salem's plans could get her killed." Blake admitted.

"That's not quite what I meant. Are you sure you can trust her?" Weiss clarified.

"She's got a point, Blake. I mean, this Ilia girl was actively trying to kill you yesterday." Neptune agreed, knotting his hands together.

"That was before we came to an understanding, before I talked sense into her," Blake countered, "Ilia finally understands that she let anger and sorrow drive her actions for too long, and she wants to make up for it. However, I don't blame you for thinking that, even I was suspicious at first, she assured me that she has had a serious change of heart, and genuinely wants to help us."

"You know Blake is way more careful about who she trusts than she used to be," Yang defended, "That's why it took so long for her to open up to us. We're her team and we didn't know she was a Faunus for like a month."

"That's right, Blake's nothing if not careful," Ruby agreed, "I know this may sound nuts, but if Ilia can give us a heads up about whatever Salem and the other bad guys are up to before they strike again, it's a chance we can't afford to waste!"

"After Adam, Blake is a whole lot more cautious about who she trusts," Sun voiced supportively, "She chose to tell us this, which means she trusts all of us, and if she thinks Ilia can be trusted, then we should have faith in her."

"Speaking of Adam, this Ilia girl was one of his agents, right?" Coco spoke up, a little suspicious, "Who's to say she wasn't in love with him and all this talk of helping us is some kind of elaborate scheme to avenge his death? And can we really trust the information she'll give us? For all we know it might be a trap."

Yatsuhashi, Fox and Sage all nodded in agreement, what the fashionista was saying made a lot of sense.

Blake shook her head, "I thought that's why she was trying to kill me at first. Until I learned that I was the one she had feelings for, not Adam. She also didn't know anything about his amputation victims back at the White Fang headquarters, just like Razor and the rest of the Elite Guard. She didn't even volunteer for the Fusion Faunus experiments, Adam forced her into doing it."

"Just when I thought Taurus couldn't be anymore despicable," Penny remarked, sharking her head.

"Miss Belladonna, I am not convinced of this," N1CK3L admitted from beside his android sister, "This Ilia woman is part of a dangerous and wanted terrorist organization that threatens the security and stability of Atlas and the other Kingdoms. Even taking into account the other factors you speak of, there is still a significant high chance that this could be a trap set by an acolyte of Adam Taurus."

"I know that N1CK3L, but she was just a misguided spy, not a monster. And as for the White Fang, they've changed dramatically under Razor's command, or did you already forget the groups of White Fang agents coming to rescue at Nashville and Borea?" Blake pointed out, as she had been incredibly happy when she learned of the reformed White Fang's heroic actions, for the Atlesians no less.

N1CK3L nodded at her words, "That is true. During my early programming I was taught that the White Fang were a threat to the people of Atlas and my first mission was against a Red Fang cell with substantial combat strength. I suppose I will need more knowledge of her actions before I can draw my own conclusions and properly classify this Ilia as friend or foe."

"So with this girl and Trooper, maybe we've got more allies than we think," Qrow spoke up, having been informed by Jaune and Pyrrha on how they have managed to reclaim the Aura Crystal, "We're gonna have to tell Ozpin, Glynda, Ironwood, Seraph and possibly the rest about them offering to help us from within Salem's ranks. It's too good of an opportunity to pass up, but we need to be careful about the information they sent us. Blake, how exactly do you plan on contacting her?"

"We have an old White Fang communications channel that Adam had us use during important missions in the past. We have each other's scroll numbers too, so we can message each other on that frequency. I took a look at it, and it looks like the Red Fang are using different frequencies and Ilia's decryption code is legitimate because I can read her messages just fine." Blake explained to the group.

"It'd be wise to test it out first and make sure it goes undetected, before you send or receive anything else," Coco advised and the Cat Faunus agreed with a nod, "And I hope you know what you're doing, Blake."

Blake had taken the fashionista's advice and had soon gotten a response from Ilia, telling her that she did not want many to know the truth about her spying on Salem, so as not to tip off any other hidden agents who were spying on Ozpin, Ironwood and the others, which the members of Team Beacon eventually admitted was a sound, reasonable request.

It wasn't long afterwards before the small fleet landed at Hellenic Base, a military facility located not too far from the Atlesian Mountain Ranges, where General Ironwood and a somber Snow Blade awaited them. Disembarking from their respective airships, Amethyst quickly took the opportunity to hang out with Team Beacon again, with Heliosia joining shortly after Wind Runner and Fire Walker passed the pair of Relic maps to Ironwood who then had his trusted Specialists seal them away within armored cases to be secured at a securely-protected location until the meeting.

They were later led to a heavily-shielded meeting room within Hellenic Base and informed that a series of arrangements had been made for a funeral to be held for Elsa and Kaifin in a cathedral nearby, Ozpin and Taiyang were on their way to join them from Vale while Glynda was left in command of Beacon. Upon learning this, Ruby, Pyrrha, Amethyst and Heliosia made a request to General Ironwood, and it was one he was kind enough to grant, having the monks and pious sisters who lived and worked in the cathedral make preparations for it despite the need for secrecy to protect the remaining Maidens. However, as Ironwood had several other important matters that required his attention, everyone within Team Beacon had agreed that it would be best to wait until the funeral to speak to the Guardians of Remnant and the Knight Order about the recent developments.

Time soon flew by quickly, with night falling and dawn rising, and now the funeral was just an hour or so away. While privacy had to be maintained with regards to the demise of the Winter Maiden, Ironwood had made an exception by bringing in Elsa's parents in to grieve for the loss of their elder daughter as a gesture of kindness, along with Elsa and Kaifin's old teammates who had been sworn to secrecy as well. A detachment of Winter Templars, minus those who had been seriously injured or died while defending the Winter Maiden, also arrived from The Indomitable Bastion to honor the lives of the deceased Maiden, her loyal guardian and those who fought and gave their lives to protect her.

As Teams CFVY and SSSN gathered around with Ciel and Ross in the commons lounge, they observed quite a few Knights from the Winter Templars working with Atlesian soldiers and Atlesian Knights-300s, vigilantly guarding the area while more Atlesian soldiers carrying stood at the ramparts of the base's perimeter walls. Sharp Strike had joined his fellow Knights in guarding the Spring and Summer Maidens, while Qrow had joined up with Ozpin, Taiyang and Ironwood to discuss a few more matters of importance within the highly secure meeting rooms of the base.

"If you ask me, it's seriously kind of weird that we're going to a funeral in our normal outfits." Sage remarked as he buttoned up the thick jacket he had been given to keep warm in Atlas's cold climate. He had been taking advantage of the downtime to sketch some of the landscapes around them, an old hobby he would get back into every now and then.

"Well, it's not like we had the time to go shopping with everything that's happened, and even if we did there are way more important things to do than buying new clothes." Neptune replied as he straightened up his vest, making sure he looked proper and respectful for the funeral.

"Normally, I'd make a quip about you being wrong…but right now I can't even joke about something like that." Coco said as she glanced in their direction momentarily, before looking back out at the huge cathedral in the distance, where the two remaining Maidens were inside of already as they were escorted there earlier by their respective knight detachments, "I hope Amethyst and Heliosia are doing okay."

"They both need time to privately mourn their sister Maiden. They may not be blood-related, but we know that the Maidens are all sisters in spirit," Yatsuhashi spoke in a quiet voice, "And it's never easy seeing someone you care about as a lifeless body."

"Tell me about it, I hate funerals." Fox voiced, the white-eyed Huntsman now wearing a thick black coat, "I understand that we gotta show respect and all that, it's the other things that unsettles me even though I used to live in Vacuo's deserts, where death is pretty commonplace. The tears and the weeping by those who mourn them, the sight of the corpse in the casket, that faint scent of embalming fluid…but I know that it's disrespectful not to go. It's unfortunately a burden we all have to bear. I know I'm not the most emotional guy around, but it really gets to me since I have witnessed more than my share of it."

"Don't worry," Velvet said as she came alongside the white-eyed boy, gently taking his hand, "We all know how that feels, Fox. The one positive thing about funerals is that you're never grieving alone."

Fox smiled at her and nodded as Yatsuhashi spoke, "Still, it feels strange. We never even met Elsa and Kaifin, so I can't help but feel as though we're intruding."

"I guess you're not wrong," Velvet conceded, "But Ruby, Jaune, Pyrrha, Amethyst and Heliosia all knew and cared deeply for Elsa and Kaifin, the Maidens especially. If they invited us to be there, then we owe it to them to be there for them and to pay our respects, if nothing else."

Yatsuhashi knew his petite girlfriend was right, so he nodded while giving her a small smile just as N1CK3L stepped into the commons lounge, "Team CFVY, Team SSSN, the Hyperion One has just received a message from Sharp Strike, he has told me to inform you all that we can now proceed to the cathedral for the funeral ceremonies."

"Thanks, Nick. I'll check on the others." Sun told him, walking past the android and towards the cabins, before turning his head back and adding, "You guys go on ahead, I'll catch up in a bit."

"Gotcha." Coco answered as she helped Fox to make some last-minute adjustments on his collar.

"Nick?" N1CK3L repeated, unsure what to make of the moniker.

"It's short for N1CK3L. It's a nickname." Neptune explained, smiling.

"Yes I see, a name that is Nick." The enhanced tactical android's face relaxed a little, "It does not offend me, so I suppose that it is acceptable."

Coco snickered as she turned to look at N1CK3L, saying, "Stick with us, kid. We'll have you acting more human in no time."

"From what I have seen so far in terms of my interactions with humans and Faunus, I'm not entirely certain how many positives and negative effects that would possibly bring." N1CK3L remarked.

"Way more positives, believe me." Neptune assured Penny's android brother as they began heading towards the elevator.

"You go on first, we'll also catch up." Velvet said as she held Yatsuhashi's larger hand, giving him a look of concern.

"Sure thing." Coco winked at the couple before leading the group out of the room.

"Are you okay? Still nervous?" Yatsuhashi asked the Rabbit Faunus once he was sure they were alone.

"YYes, I think so…we had way too many close calls the other day, when we were fighting through Vacuo City. We nearly lost some good friends, and while we made it out more or less okay, so many innocent people didn't." Velvet confided in her teammate and partner, "A part of me feels…feels like…"

"Like we could have done more." Yatsuhashi finished for her.

"Yeah…how many people were devoured by that Elder Deathworm before we managed to blow it up? How many people could we have saved if we were just a little better? A little faster? A little stronger?" She put forth, tightening her hand on her partner's when he reached out to gently hold hers.

"We cannot dwell on such things, we can't change the outcome no matter how much we wish to. We can't go back, so we have to go forward." Yatsuhashi told her as he placed his large hand on her shoulder, giving the Faunus girl a gentle squeeze of comfort, "We fought with everything we had and did everything we could."

"I know I shouldn't…but still…" Velvet began to sniff, one hand coming up to her mouth as though to hold in a sob.

"Velvet, you were amazing that day." Yatsuhashi assured her firmly while patting her back, "You may be reserved and shy, but you've come a long way and became an incredibly strong and skilled Huntress. I'm honored to be your partner, and I couldn't wish for anyone better."

Velvet smiled at her larger partner's words, tears welling up in her eyes as she turned to face him, "Yatsu…I'm going to be truthful with you…I was terrified throughout the entire battle, with the Elder Deathworm and then with the Sphinx. I-I was afraid of losing you, or Coco or Fox, or Nora, Ren…pretty much anyone in Team Beacon. Those monsters could have eaten us alive."

"I noticed that you were tossing and turning in your bunk last night," He brought up, "Nightmares?"

The Rabbit Faunus confessed with a meek nod, "I froze up when I saw that monster eating buildings and people and you had to save me from that Boarbatusk. If I had messed up even worse, someone could have died because of me."

"That will never happen. Being scared is not the same as being a coward. I know you, Velvet. You've been strong enough to face bigotry, brave enough to get past Beacon's initiation...you're an incredibly brave person. I'm truly happy to have known someone as strong as you as my partner, because you're far more than that to me." He admitted, giving her an earnest smile.

"I know, and that's how I feel about you." Velvet said as she reached up and caressed his chin before leaning forward to hug him, snuggling into his lower chest.

Yatsuhashi smiled and wrapped his arms around her thin waist and lifted his partner up onto his lap, gazing happily into her beautiful chocolate-brown eyes. They always seem to mesmerize him whenever he looked at them, and he could tell that Velvet was truly in love with him too, "Velvet, I personally think it's very likely we might face another Elder Grimm someday, but when that time comes, I assure you that we'll face it together with Coco and Fox, and all the others. You always have my word."

Wiping her tears away and smiling at him, Velvet showed her appreciation for Yatsuhashi's heartfelt words by leaning upwards and kissing him lovingly, her hands resting against his neck and shoulders while her partner's larger ones held onto her back and waist in return.

No other words need to be spoken, because their actions were enough.

Meanwhile Team RWBY and Penny were inside of the team's cabin, getting ready for the ceremony.

"You sure you're up for this?" Yang asked Weiss and Ruby, "I mean, sure you're both rested up, but something like this is going to be pretty emotional."

"My head isn't spinning, and I can walk on my own two feet." The young scythe-wielding Huntress replied, "I'm sure I will be fine."

"We can handle this just fine, Yang. If I can handle pouring nearly all of my aura into summoning and controlling Arma Gigas, then throwing some flowers off a balcony shouldn't be a challenge." The Schnee heiress remarked as she made sure she looked good enough in the mirror, inspecting her visage to make sure her braided hair was neat and that her normal outfit now enclosed by a white waist-length jacket with her family emblems present at the back and at the wrist cuffs.

"This isn't just 'throwing some flowers off a balcony', Weiss. This is for Elsa." Ruby corrected her partner with a serious look, "She was a good friend to Heliosia and Amethyst, plus me, Pyrrha and Jaune."

Sighing, Weiss instantly regretted her callous statement and nodded and quickly apologized, "I know. I'm sorry if I was rude, Ruby…my nerves are still a little on edge."

"It's okay. Considering everything that had happened to Atlas, you have every right to be on edge," Ruby tilted her head upwards as Yang helped to check her collar one final time, "Speaking of which, are you sure it's okay for us to stay at your family's mansion?"

"Yes, Ruby. My father agreed that we can all stay at the family estate until Headmaster Ozpin, General Ironwood and the other Guardians of Remnant come to a decision they can all agree on about our next course of action," Weiss told her with a straight look, "Though I don't know why we would be involved in all of that."

"Maybe because we've been fighting their battles for them so much, Ozpin and his allies just decided that we're the perfect crew for the job." Yang guessed, "And since we know about the existence of the Maidens and Salem, they can't just cut us out of the loop."

Chuckling a little, Ruby answered, "Maybe you're right."

"I know I am, Ruby." Her blonde elder sister chuckled, "Besides, we need all the information we can get if we're going to fight Salem and her agents effectively."

"Speaking of Ironwood, I've got a response from Ilia last night," Blake spoke up, "She says she wants as few people as possible to know she's our source of information, as she has heard that there's someone else high up in the Atlas government who could be secretly working for Salem."

"What? Still?" Weiss asked, surprise evident in her voice.

"It was never determined how Salem managed to take control of General Ironwood, all those doctors who repaired his cybernetics after the Battle of Beacon came up clean, at least from what I've been told," Penny mentioned cautiously, "We suspect that he may have been infected with it by someone who snuck into his hospital room when he was recovering from the surgery to maintain the cybernetic parts of his body, but the investigation remains inconclusive."

"That means the traitor could be anyone within the Atlas government, maybe even someone sitting on the Council." Yang muttered, one robotic finger on her chin.

"And they probably didn't do it willingly, remember Colonel Cy?" Ruby pointed out.

"Exactly, but we must be careful since there are people who willingly work for Salem for whatever insane reason. We're going to have to make sure that only the people Ironwood absolutely trusts get to know about Ilia's spying, otherwise if Salem's agent within Atlas finds out this is going to go really bad for her. I caused her enough pain without knowing it, I can't get her killed when she's doing her best trying to help us." Blake voiced, concerned.

"Don't worry, we'll make it pretty clear that only a few people know about her." Yang assured Blake just as a knock came on their cabin's door.

"Come in!" Penny called, and so the doors slid open to reveal Sun clothed in his new black jacket and pants.

"Hey girls, looking good," He greeted them with a smile, "We got word from Sharp Strike; we're good to go."

"Okay, thanks Sun." Ruby told him as she stood up from her bed, looking over herself, "I guess I'm ready as I'll ever be."

"Don't worry sis, you got us at your side." Yang assured her.

"We know you're mourning Ruby, but as long as I-we can help it, you'll never have to do it alone." Weiss assured Ruby kindly.

Ruby smiled at her teammate's heartfelt words, "Thanks guys, because I'm really gonna need you all."

"And we'll always be here for you." Penny stated with a smile as Blake gave the younger girl an equally encouraging smile.

"Okay, I'm ready. Let's go." Ruby decided, her face turning determined as they all got up to leave.

As this was happening, Team JNPR were also discussing the various matters at hand while getting ready.

"Okay…so according to the information from Atlas military high command, they've got Odinson in custody and under armed guard at the capital, though that hasn't been disclosed to the public yet." Jaune told Nora.

"Good. Hopefully we can get some answers out of him before Salem makes a move to off him permanently." Nora replied, "I mean, she's not exactly the type to pull off a 'daring rescue to save a friend', right?"

"I think Salem's definition of friend is very different from ours," Pyrrha remarked morosely, "But still, if we can get General Ironwood to agree to it, you and Ren can talk to Odinson and find out for certain if he really have a hand in what happened to your parents, and the people of Kuroyuri."

"And if he is…can we really control ourselves?" Ren wondered softly, "We both lost so much that night, and we only survived and made it this far because we had each other, and eventually both of you. I know I may seem calm and reserved, but to be quite honest…I'm at a loss for words. I really don't know how to describe how I feel or what I would do if Odinson says anything that upsets Nora."

"You're not alone there, we've all felt like that before." Pyrrha told him earnestly.

"What if we lose it?" Ren asked as he looked at both Crystal Guardians, "What if he admits to it, or says something worse simply to spite us and we can't control ourselves?"

"No, you won't. Because you're better than that. Both of you are," Jaune assured him, "You might get angry, no one could ever blame you for that, but you have enough control over yourself to never do anything that bad. Besides, we'll be right there with you. Though if you were to punch him in the face, I'd be tempted not to stop you."

"Jaune," Pyrrha softly chided, shaking her head a little, "Seriously, we will be there, but I know that the both of you have enough self-control to keep from doing anything you'd regret."

"You really think that?" Nora asked her, looking anxious.

"Of course I do. It's like you said Nora, you're not as big of a goofball as you let on. I believe in you." Pyrrha told the shorter girl sincerely.

"We all do." Jaune added.

Nora smiled and wiped away a tear, "You know, I've been thinking, if I hadn't lost my parents...I'd never have known you guys. I'd never have met you, Ren." She said as she stood up, "I-I guess there was something good to come from that."

Jaune looked to Ren, who was clearly taking his partner's words into consideration with a pensive expression on his face. "Look, I never knew either of your parents, so I can't speak for them...but I think that if they had any sense at all, they would be really proud of who you are right now, and the Hunters you'll become. Because I'm very sure I'd never want anyone else making up Team JNPR other than the four of us." Jaune spoke sincerely, doing his best to sound reassuring and kind to his teammates.

Ren looked up and gave a small smile, "I don't know how different things would have been had our parents survived, but I think it's best not to dwell on what might have been. I think we should just keep them in our hearts, and do our best to make them proud of us. Besides...if we ever see the Nuckelavee again, we will be the ones to bring it down and avenge everyone who died because of it." He spoke firmly, sounding determined and the other members of Team JNPR nodded in agreement.

"You got that right, Renny!" Nora declared with a shining grin.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door, "Hey guys!" Ruby's voice sounded from outside, "We're good to go into the cathedral! Are you ready?"

Jaune looked to the others as they nodded, "Yeah Ruby, we're ready…"

---

Not far away from the Atlesian mountain range where Hellenic Base was located at its outskirts, there was a long and wide fjord of the sea. It was nestled between a pair of incredibly high snow-capped cliffs that rose high towards the bright skies, said to be formed by the submergence of a glaciated valley before the earliest settlers of Atlas took their first steps on Solitas soil. If one ever wanted to watch the sun rise from a wide expanse of oceanic horizons, it was among the top choices for Atlesians and visitors from other Kingdoms.

Due to its somewhat remote location and the fact that it had no strategic or symbolic value, the inhabitants of the sprawling ice and seafood-producing town of Arendal on the shores of the fjord had fortunately escaped the catastrophic attacks, although a substantial number of Atlesian soldiers and armored vehicles were sent from Hellenic Base to ensure their safety.

It was on this fjord that the Kalter Berg cathedral was located, an enormous structure forged from ancient white and graying stone that managed to withstand the trials of time and Solitas' unforgiving weather. While it wasn't as massive as an academy, it was nonetheless a sturdy and impressive building. The multi-level areas of the cathedral's sides were connected by thick flying buttresses, and a towering silvery-white spire extended upwards from the center into the blue skies above with two grey bell towers topped by conical spires which flanked the main building. In the areas between the inner curved wall and the tall outer walls were dome-covered gardens which were in turn covered by long rows of crenelations around their circumferences. A large circular and beautiful-looking stained-glass window greeted visitors above the main entrance's great doors, and once they passed inside the architecture was just as remarkable.

Elegant caryatids depicting Huntsmen and Huntresses of old, from both Mantle and Atlas, supported the upper levels and balconies, while the ceiling was decorated with wonderfully colored paintings depicting humanity rising from the dust and working together to recover from a great cataclysm which was brought about by the great shattering of Remnant's moon, the formation of the four Kingdoms, the Great Wars and the King of Vale ending the terrible conflicts in order to reshape Remnant with the Treaty of Vytal, the construction of the Kingdom's capital Atlas City and Atlas Academy, and of a certain tall slender woman with radiant pale skin, cold blue eyes and long ashen-colored hair. Her painting showed her sitting on a huge throne with a golden scepter and a coronation orb in both of her hands, clothed in a flowing royal white gown and wearing a simple tiara studded with sapphires atop her head, a benevolent look on her pastel features as armor-plated royal guards and the common people of the northern Kingdom bowing down in respect and reverence to the historical Queen.

The main floor was lined with a hundred pews on each side carved from the finest oaken wood, and even more pews were on the upper levels. Thick grey stone columns and time-stained marble walls held up the immensely vast and vaulted roof, and lined of stone statues of pious monks, nuns and even more than a few armored warriors who looked like ancient holy knights occupied the alcoves set at regular intervals within the cathedral's walls. Two smaller chapels flanked the main entrance, and at the far end was the huge high altar flanked by chancels for the choir and with a stained-glass windowed apse behind it. The marble-tiled floor in front of the high altar had opened up to reveal a small sunken pool, where a large blue and white sarcophagus containing the bodies of both Elsa and Kaifin, their wounds dressed and covered, their hands clasped together in death which was a detail they had requested in advance to the Guardians of Remnant, as they knew that there was always a chance of them being killed by Salem's agents. The faces of the deceased Maiden and her guardian looked peaceful, and in their combined grasp was a bouquet of Freesia flowers.

Despite the funeral being a private event that was closed to all outsiders on the strict orders of General Ironwood, but there was still a substantial number in attendance; The entirety of Team Beacon, Qrow, Taiyang, Ross, Ciel, Winter Schnee, Commander Central, Ozpin, General Ironwood, Grand Knight Master Seraph, Head Chancellor Maximilius, Headmistress Mapel, Doctor Polendina, Elsa and Kaifin's family members and old teammates were physically present, while life-sized holograms of other important individuals occupied another set of pews through the assistance of a series of crab-like robots with hologram-displaying capabilities. Glynda, Luna Aria, Jason Argo, Councilman Sleet and Councilwoman Camilia of the Atlas Council appeared via hologram as they were too busy with the current crisis at hand happening across the other Kingdoms to physically attend.

Security was tight as General Ironwood's staff had carefully screened everyone who came or had been brought there by the Manta transports that were sent to secretly ferry them there. While armed Atlesian troopers were forbidden from entering the cathedral due to their weapons, a small number of security officers were allowed in to perform their assigned duty of protecting Maximilius and Doctor Polendina. In addition, a sizable number of elite military troops from the 101st Company was stationed on board the Resolute which hung in the cold sky above the fjord, ready to respond should anything threaten the cathedral or the safety of the Maidens. With The Indomitable Bastion still holding anchor outside Hephaestus City the Knight Order had also wisely kept their own stealth airships out of sight so as not to attract any more attention than necessary, while Hyperion One was undergoing maintenance back at Hellenic Base.

The number of Remnant Knights present at the funeral was astounding; there were no less than twenty knights from each of the Winter Templars, Relentless Crusaders and Eternal Warriors Knight Legions standing separately at the trio of aisles that led to the main altar. They all wore mourning cloaks of deepest black which were fastened to their armor-plated shoulders with the help of metal clasps in the shape of snowflakes, and they remained as still as the many ranks of statues which populated the entire cathedral. The contingent was led by Argentius and Soul Seer, while Snow Blade, Fire Walker and Wind Runner accompanied by the prognosticators Spirit Dreamer, Flame Weaver, and Storm Bringer stood at the head of their respective knight detachments. Of those knights present; Sharp Strike could identify Cold Steel, Steel Punch, Spear Dancer, Stone Claw, Moon Hunter, Hawk Shot, Tranquillity, Shadow Reaper, Iron Fist, Eagle Eye, Razor Wing and Swift Talon, among many others. As his helmet's lenses roamed across the ranks of Winter Templars which stood lined up down the central aisle from his position beside Penny, he grimaced at the reminder that Blade Storm and Lance Spinner were absent due to their injuries sustained from the attack on Watchpoint Glacies.

The knight errant knew that in the hours leading up to the funeral, both Amethyst and Heliosia had privately met with Elsa's parents, Hanson and Idurina Vorst, who had been devastated by the death of their eldest daughter. Even though he stood at a respectful distance along with Fire Walker and Wind Runner, Sharp Strike could hear sincere words of condolences and apologies coming from the Maidens, and Elsa's parents politely accepting them and thanking both Maidens for being such good friends for their beloved daughter. He also noticed that Snow Blade was not present, thinking that he was perhaps unable to bear the shame of facing Elsa's parents for being unable to protect her, although Spirit Dreamer came forward and quietly promised her parents that those who killed her would be brought to justice, no matter what.

Amethyst and Heliosia also requested to give their own personal eulogies, as opposed to the cathedral's high priest giving a sermon, which he agreed to after a brief discussion, after which he had also graciously assured them that the funeral would be performed according to Elsa and Kaifin's wishes. They had also offered Pyrrha a chance to speak, but the Spartan politely declined, as she felt she didn't know Elsa well enough to give a eulogy.

Two balconies overlooked the pool where Elsa and Kaifin's sarcophagus rested, with Teams RWBY and JNPR with Penny occupying the right balcony, while Teams CFVY and SSSN stood on the left with N1CK3L. They had taken their spots up there after Ruby, Pyrrha, and Jaune had tearfully paid their respects to the deceased Maiden and her guardian while also giving their condolences to Elsa's parents and former teammates, and were now ready to make their own small contribution to the funeral. A while later Sharp Strike joined the balcony occupied by Ruby and Jaune's teams after exchanging a few words with his superiors, resuming his role as knight representative to Team Beacon and mentally thanking that he could witness the funeral from an elevated position with the rest of his team.

The devout clergy of Kalter Berg cathedral had turned up for the funeral, as the rest of the other pews and smaller aisles were occupied by many bishops, priests, nuns with their attendants and acolytes. Yet more thronged the pews on the other levels looking down at the procession, their own faces either solemn or downcast while clutching gently-smoking censers, books containing spiritual texts on the Four Gods of Remnant, as well as a variety of other religious icons and paraphernalia in their hands as they murmured prayers.

Despite only the head priest and his closest associates being the only ones who knew that Amethyst and Heliosia were the Maidens and also been sworn to silence by General Ironwood, when the pair of Maidens were admitted through the great doors of the cathedral with their respective knight protectors the murmuring sounds that was the constant backdrop within the surroundings gradually faded to silence as the holy men and women gazed upon them. As they made their way towards the great altar through the central aisle, the Remnant Knights lining both sides all turned to face them while bowing their heads and clasping one hand to their chest-plates where a snowflake badge was prominently displayed. Several of the cathedrals' staff, upon seeing the Maidens, lowered their heads and murmured verses from their books that had significance to the mythical Seasonal Maidens. Several of the gathered acolytes on the lower levels quietly sang mournful hymns as Amethyst and Heliosia walked past them while escorted by their knights, while others fell to their knees and pressed their heads on to the tiled floor between their hands until the Maidens reached the altar's steps, clearly overwhelmed by emotion and holy awe when they saw not one but two Maidens in person.

The chanting and choruses gradually quietened before fading into a soft drone as the high priest lifted up both of his hands for silence. Amethyst and Heliosia's knight protectors from the Eternal Warriors and Relentless Crusaders Knight Legion pivoted smoothly to take their places behind them, lifting their halberds high and clashing their weapons against their shields four times. They then knelt while clasping their halberds in front of them, lowering their helmeted heads and allowing the Maidens to come forward and ascend the platform. They then stood behind the high altar with their heads bowed and gloved hands clasped before them, allowing the assembled chorus to sing a haunting, melancholic song of mourning that echoed throughout the cathedral.

Once they were finished and silence reigned once more, the head priest turned to bow his head in the direction of Amethyst and Heliosia. The Spring Maiden nodded to her Sister Maiden and stepped forward to the altar, leaning a little forward to the microphone and began to speak, "Elsa, O fearless, kind and gentle Winter Maiden. You, who showed us boundless love and brought us endless joy, and Kaifin, her faithful guardian with a will of steel and a courageous heart, inspired us with his loyalty and dedication to the woman he loved. They both showed me that love will always live on, and I will carry and cherish the memories of them forevermore within my heart. She will always be my beloved sister, and I loved her because of her many admirable qualities and strengths, and in spite of her faults and weaknesses which made Elsa the person she was in life."

The violet-eyed girl gazed at Elsa's and Kaifin's serene faces within their sarcophagus and continued speaking, "Elsa was a Maiden of Winter, but the cold she brought was always comforting and she encouraged me to dream of unexplored possibilities in life. She taught me a variety of important life lessons and her stories throughout her adult life never cease to amaze me with what she had personally experienced. Elsa taught me to believe in my own abilities, and filled my mind with bright visions of unity and peace which I promise I will help make them a reality once the enemy we face is finally defeated. I will be forever grateful to have had people like her and Kaifin in my life, no matter how much time we have spent together."

The Spring Maiden's voice wavered, and she closed her eyes for a moment as tears streamed down her face, her gloved hands gripping the sides of the podium to brace herself as she began to shake slightly. The closest of her knight protectors looked as though they were about to intervene, but Wind Runner gave a small shake of his head so they remained still as Amethyst said, "I know that someday, we will meet again, though I do not know when nor where. When this long and river called life meets the mysterious sea beyond, I know I will find both of you waiting there for me. May your souls shine on in the afterlife, and I hope you find peace there. Shine on, eternally bright, in our hearts and minds…my beloved sister Maiden Elsa…my true friend Kaifin…forever."

Amethyst finished quickly before her sorrow got the better of her. Letting out a small sob, she turned away from the podium and wiped her eyes, walking over to accept a comforting hug from Heliosia. From his position on the balcony Sharp Strike looked over to see Snow Blade standing between Wind Runner and Fire Walker at the head of the knight detachments they each commanded, and noticed that his hands were tightly gripping his broadsword Frost Edge and his armored body seemed incredibly tense. Argentius and Soul Seer both took note of his body language, as they knew Snow Blade felt incredibly guilty over the deaths of Elsa and Kaifin, and at some unspoken command both Wind Runner and Fire Walker placed a firm hand on their fellow Knight Vanguard's shoulders in an attempt to comfort him, although it was scant relief at best.

Nevertheless, Sharp Strike knew there would be consequences awaiting Snow Blade once they returned to Tintagel. For his failure to protect the Winter Maiden, he would probably submit himself to severe disciplinary action before the Round Table and then most likely be sent on a mission to redeem himself sufficiently in the eyes of his Knight Castellan…if he was lucky. The knight errant had heard whispers and came across a few entries within the tomes he read within the fortress's grand archives during his training about Remnant Knights who failed the missions they'd been given, and knew that there was a high chance he wouldn't see Snow Blade again unless the Grand Knight Master personally intervened on hims behalf.

After the Spring Maiden had calmed down and regained her composure, Heliosia stepped forward to give her own eulogy. She glanced over the entire cathedral, occupied by those who personally knew Elsa and Kaifin, but her eyes widened a little as they momentarily lingered on a hooded woman clad in dark grey robes embroidered with tiny patterns of both the crocus flower and snowflakes sitting beside Elsa's parents, and suddenly felt her heart tighten in painful sympathy when her mind gradually recognized the figure's pair of auburn braids peeking out from the depths of her hood. She kept her face lowered deliberately, holding what looked like a snowflake-shaped hair clip between her blue gloves while sporting the signature metal snowflake clasp which held a detachable black cloak around her shoulders. Heliosia knew who it was, and also knew that she had to speak with her at the earliest opportunity.

She forced her melancholic feelings behind a mask of control, and glanced up at the faces of Team Beacon giving her looks of encouragement and respect, and so drew strength from them all as she prepared to deliver her own eulogy. However, the Summer Maiden couldn't help but wonder why she particularly felt her burden within her heart lift a little more than usual when Sharp Strike looked back at her and gave a minuscule nod of his head, and eventually put it down to the knight errant having absolute trust in her.

"Everyone, you have my deepest thanks for coming to honor Elsa Vorst. There's honestly not much I can add to what my Sister Maiden said so powerfully and earnestly, as I'm not that good at eulogies myself," She spoke as calmly as she could, "And while we all grieve not just for the loss of Elsa and Kaifin, but for all the innocent lives lost in these atrocious attacks, we must remember that those who are dead are not dead, and that they have gone beyond our world and into the warm embrace of the Four Gods."

She briefly gazed out across the gathered people, various heads of the Kingdom of Atlas, Guardians of Remnant, Remnant Knights, the many priests, nuns and their acolytes who had attended the secret funeral, and knew that death was all too familiar a companion to each and every single one of them, and had been too much of a daily presence in their lives one way or another, that quite a number of them had sported watery eyes at the moment. When she saw their solemn faces Heliosia felt the beginnings of tears in her own eyes, but she continued speaking, "Their bodies may lie devoid of life, but their souls are eternal and everlasting. They have been taken from us, but they have moved beyond this mortal coil to a better place, to a new beginning. For within each seed there is a promise of a flower, and within each death, no matter how small it may seem to us, there is always a chance for new life to flourish anew."

Her sharp eyes noticed that soft sobs were escaping the mouths of a few individuals scattered around the cathedral, including from Idurina who was being supported by her husband with both of his arms when she staggered slightly. The hooded girl was quietly crying too, and was comforted kindly by a tall, muscular man with blonde hair and light-brown eyes who gave her the support she needed. The rest of the Knights and Atlesian security officers looked on in silence, and Heliosia noticed that there was no other expression on their faces except for sympathy and understanding. It was always heart-breaking to see others grieve over the loss of a loved one, and neither she nor Amethyst was immune to it.

"Elsa once told me that no matter how hard and dark things may seem, as long as there are those who believe in you, even if it's just one person, you can accomplish anything. Throughout my years as the Summer Maiden, I've never forgotten what she taught me," Heliosia continued as she felt her fingers tighten a little on the podium's edges, "So we shall mourn them, but we shall also do our best to bring these murderers to justice and make things right, so that no more needless deaths such as theirs would happen to anyone else on Remnant. It will take time, but I will personally find comfort in knowing that out there somewhere beyond this plane of existence, our friends who are no longer here will be looking over us."

She took one last look at Elsa and Kaifin's bodies within their sarcophagus, bowed her head for a few moments and finished with, "We're all sorry that they've been taken from us, but we must remember that with the passing of Winter, there is always the promise of a new spring. Farewell, brave and loyal Kaifin. Goodbye Elsa, my beloved Sister Maiden. Until we meet again."

Gazing upon the beautiful Maiden, Sharp Strike remembered a book he had found in Tintagle's archives, a tale written long before the moon had shattered, and a particular line came to his mind, 'Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet princess; and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.'

The Maidens both looked up and nodded at those situated in the balconies above them, giving Team Beacon the signal to begin.

They all reached down into the baskets placed before them, which was filled with Marigold petals that General Ironwood had requested from the various flower shops and greenhouses in the capital and shipped in secret to the cathedral, and threw the Marigolds off the balconies which caused it to rain flowers and petals of gold, yellow, orange, red and violet, creating a breath-taking sight. The other priests, nuns and their acolytes soon joined in at a gesture from their seniors, throwing copious amounts of flowers and petals from their own baskets from the other galleries.

Amethyst, face wet with tears, reached out with her maiden powers over plant-life and caused the falling flowers and petals to flutter down in beautiful, dance-like motions, which served to enhance the already gorgeous sight.

Marigolds were flowers with vibrant colors and a strong smell, and because of these characteristics it was wildly believed in Mistral that they were used to guide the souls of the dead into the afterlife, but in other parts of the world of Remnant the flowers represented sudden pain and suffering, like how the Maidens felt when learning two of their dearly-loved sisters had been so cruelly ripped from their lives. However, those same flowers were also said to be flowers of purity and courage elsewhere, but in the cold lands of Atlas they represented the fragile nature of life itself.

Whatever they meant, Elsa adored them, and now they rained down on the bodies of her and her love.

Heliosia looked up at Ruby, who had come up with the idea, and smiled gratefully at her. The silver-eyed girl smiled back as the others kept tossing out the flowers until their baskets were empty, and she gasped when she noticed something and pointed with a finger for the Summer Maiden and the rest of Team Beacon to take note of.

They all looked, and saw that Amethyst was using the petals to create the image of a snowflake surrounding Elsa and Kaifin's sarcophagus. As they aren't allowed to draw their weapons within the cathedral, the gathered Remnant Knights from three separate legions clasped their fists to their chest-plates in one synchronized movement as an honored salute to the deceased Winter Maiden and her faithful protector, the sound of their actions a thundering clash of armor.

The Summer Maiden looked at Amethyst and smiled at her, even as Elsa's parents and her other family members came up to the sarcophagus to bid them one final goodbye. Once they were done, they walked away slowly and the two remaining Maidens approached the podium, opening up a compartment that hid several buttons on its brightly-lit panel.

Looking at each other, the two reached out to press the main button together. With a whir of grinding gears and machinery, the area around the pool retracted into halves and the sarcophagus was lifted up, revealing that it was set on a platform as the bottom of the pool split apart, revealing a small cave with an underwater lake underneath the cathedral, with a conveyor belt track rising up from the water's depths. The sarcophagus was then lowered down and the platform slanted itself over, gently letting it slide down onto the caterpillar conveyor belt where a number of magnets locked onto it, guiding it gently down into the darkness underground where it would later be properly buried by the priests into the extensive labyrinth of burial catacombs deep beneath the Kalter Berg cathedral.

No one could bring themselves to say anything else.

With all of their attention focused on the slowly descending sarcophagus containing the bodies, a pair of invisible figures silently gazed at the solemn ceremony from one of the uppermost levels towards the back of the cathedral's vaulted roof, with two Guardians of the Dead who was in their dove forms.

"Do you think they'll be all right?" Kaifin's spirit asked softly.

"The road ahead of them won't be an easy one, but as long as they have each other I believe they will persevere and be the heroes this world needs." Elsa's spirit told her lover's before gazing down at her family members, her and Kaifin's teammates from Atlas Academy, her sister Maidens, the assembled members of Team Beacon, the Guardians of Remnant, the Remnant Knights, and everyone else within the cathedral who attended their funeral out of respect and friendship.

"Thank you. All of you." She whispered, and prayed that Amethyst, Heliosia...all of them would survive whatever hardship that was to come. She also hoped that they would discover the wisdom within the farewell message that she had left for them within the Maiden mindscape.

"It's time." A soft feminine voice caused both spirits to turn and look at the female guardian, her hand and that of her colleague extending towards the couple, "Are you ready?"

Elsa and Kafin faced each other and smiled, with the spirit of the Winter Maiden saying, "I suppose we are, thank you for this precious gift."

The dove guardian smiled warmly as the couple took her hands, and without another word they followed them to Elysium.

---

With Elsa and Kaifin laid to rest, the cathedral's entire congregation slowly dispersed through the other smaller entrances set within the various levels back to wherever they were needed to continue their duties. The majority of the Winter Templars were instructed by Seraph to perform their patrol duties while Knights from the other legions were dispatched back to their respective Kingdoms to do as much as they could to help, as now that the world was in chaos and with Atlas' military badly hit by the attacks, the Order's warrior were needed more than ever, though a few stayed behind to keep watch over the Maidens.

Meanwhile, the members of Team Beacon along with Sharp Strike and N1CK3L walked down the staircase steps from the balconies to the lower levels of the cathedral where they saw a small team of Atlesian soldiers assisting technicians in dismantling the portable holographic robotic units which were then carried away by Atlesian Knight-300s.

They were met by Winter, who informed them that there would be an important meeting at a later time with the Guardians of Remnant and the Knight Order at Atlas military headquarters, and they would be joined by Ozpin, Qrow, Taiyang when they leave Arendel. Everyone within Team Beacon knew that the meeting would be about discussing their next course of action as was now time to make their own moves against Salem, and no doubt Ironwood wanted them there because of their valiant efforts and their own experiences in dealing with her agents.

But for now the various groups within the cathedral could rest and talk among themselves, as many others including the priests and nuns were still giving their condolences to the pair of Maidens and Elsa's family.

While waiting, Ruby and a few of the other members of Team Beacon had noticed the saddened look upon Amethyst's face, one of deep anguish. After she had accepted the comforting words from the head priest, the Spring Maiden turned and walked back to a pew in the middle of the church and sat down slowly, linking her fingers together and then placing them in front of her mouth. The purple-haired girl remained silent, but her violet eyes were clearly misty. Wind Runner followed her and gently laid a hand on Amethyst's right shoulder compassionately since he was the one nearest to her, while Storm Bringer, Stone Claw, Moon Hunter and Hawk Shot vigilantly maintained a respectful distance away as though they were on guard, perhaps knowing that they weren't the best individuals to keep Amethyst company at the moment.

"Think she will be okay?" Ruby asked quietly.

"Who knows? We don't know her particularly well, but everyone has their own particular way of handling the death of someone they care about." Neptune replied.

"It will take some time," Sun added softly, "I learned that when my dad died."

"She could really use our support right now," Velvet shared a look with Yatsuhashi who nodded in agreement, "I think a few of us should speak with her, or at least keep her company for a while."

"Same here," Pyrrha agreed, "Most of us will have to stay here to save our places in line, considering how many people are still here."

"So one of us from each team," Jaune surmised before informing Pyrrha, "Well, you're obviously the best choice for Team JNPR, since you spent some time with her."

"You should talk to her Velv, since she seems to particularly like you." Coco suggested to the Rabbit Faunus who nodded when the fashionista gently pushed her in the direction of the Spring Maiden.

"I'll speak with her too." Ruby agreed, stepping forward with Penny.

Neptune also agreed to go and the five different members of Team Beacon walked over to the Spring Maiden. Wind Runner inclined his helmet a little at their approach, retracted his hand and whispered, "Please be gentle with her, Amethyst's still hurting."

"We will, thank you." Velvet assured the Knight Vanguard who withdrew to a respectful distance.

"Hey, Amethyst." Ruby began to get the purple-haired girl's attention, "We noticed that you looked really…well…"

"Miserable?" Penny finished for her friend, which caused Velvet and Neptune to look at her with alarmed looks even as some of them began to sit down near the younger Maiden.

Pyrrha quickly butted in to recover the situation from the android's bluntness, "What she means is, we know you're hurting over the loss of Elsa and Kaifin, but you don't have to grieve alone. We're all here for you."

There were a few uncomfortable moments of silence before Amethyst glanced up at them with slightly reddened eyes and a deadpan expression, "Guys, I…I understand what you're all trying to do, I really do…but I'm not in the mood for condolences and platitudes, I've enough of them already."

Ruby, Pyrrha, Velvet, Neptune and Penny were taken aback by how blunt the Spring Maiden was being, and a few of them even wondered if Amethyst had activated her Semblance once more to cope with, or even temporarily escape the emotional again.

"I'm sorry, Amethyst," Velvet said to her as she laid a soft hand on the mourning girl's own, "We don't want to come off as condescending, but we do care about you and we want to make sure that you'll be alright."

"No matter how alone you might feel, you're not." Ruby told her gently but firmly, "You are not the only one who has lost someone you love deeply."

"Ruby's right," Neptune spoke up as well, "We've all gone through that, and we've all experienced the same feelings you're suffering right now, in one way or another."

"It's going to be okay, Amethyst." Penny said compassionately, "Time will eventually heal all wounds."

Amethyst wiped away her tears and looked up at them, a slight blush on her face as her expression softened greatly, "I…I'm sorry. I didn't mean to give you the wrong impression that I don't want your sympathy or compassion. It's just quite hard to deal with all this." The Spring Maiden apologized as she gestured in the direction of the sunken pool where Elsa and Kaifin's sarcophagus had disappeared into, before adding, "At least I know I'm not in this alone."

"None of us are, no matter how bad things may seem. I used to believe that I will always be alone," Penny told the Maiden before smiling at Ruby and added, "But now I know that I'll never truly be alone because of the many friends I have made."

Amethyst smirked a little, "Friends…I sure could use those right now."

"And you have us." Ruby told her gently, "Trust me, with Team Beacon you'll have more friends that you'll know what to do with, and no matter what happens we'll always be there."

The Spring Maiden smiled and replied, "I've got a feeling that's true after seeing what you guys are like. I only hope Heliosia and me get to stay with you guys, though I know that's not very likely."

Wind Runner glanced at Amethyst as she said that, and looked over to Seraph who was speaking quietly with Ozpin, Ironwood and Maximilius over at the far side of the cathedral. The Grand Knight Master lifted his winged helm a little and clearly noticed the young group. The leader of the Eternal Warriors knight detachment locked lenses directly with his superior for a few tense moments, as though silently communicating with him, before giving a nod to an unspoken question. Seraph also gave a small nod before returning to the hushed conversation with the other Guardians of Remnant.

"Well, whatever happens next…we'll try to keep in touch." Velvet promised her, "Besides, I'm sure we will meet again even if it takes a while."

Amethyst looked at her and said, "Hey, Velvet...I just wanted to say I think you're really cute. I know you and Yatsuhashi are together, but I hope we can still be friends."

Velvet, with a rather bright blush of her own, smiled warmly and answered, "Of course we can. I may not be attracted to women in that way, but I'd be happy to have you as a friend."

Amethyst nodded back at them, before looking at Pyrrha and saying, "I've been thinking…what do you think it's like to die? You died before Pyrrha…how did you feel?"

This sudden, somewhat morbid question surprised the small group and even Wind Runner who was standing some distance away, felt his eyebrows raise in concern behind his face-plate while Storm Bringer's gauntlets tightened on his staff.

"I…I don't know, Amethyst, I don't think anyone does." Pyrrha eventually said, "I never actually died, despite what a lot of people think. But I felt more awful than I ever had when Cinder shot an arrow into my chest. Jaune also came close to dying, but he also didn't die since he was saved by the Aura Crystal. I personally think no one actually knows until it happens to them. That's why death is one of the great mysteries of life."

Amethyst looked at the female Crystal Guardian for several seconds, before nodding and saying, "I guess that's about right. So I'll fight on to protect others, until death finally claims me. I…I just hope I can make a difference when the time comes, and that Elsa and Kaifin are happy together in…whatever afterlife that waits for us when we all pass on from the mortal plane."

"I'm sure they are." Velvet assured her, "And they're also grateful for your precious gift."

"We make the best of the lives we're given in this world," Pyrrha told Amethyst, "And every life is precious, including yours."

"Thank you." The Spring Maiden gave them a grateful smile. They kept her company for a while longer, before Neptune took notice that the rest of Team Beacon were about to reach Elsa's parents and Yang was giving them a signal that it was nearly their time to go up and meet with them.

"Go ahead Ruby, we're in no hurry." Pyrrha told her, as she turned back to speak to Amethyst.

Ruby made it back just in time to join Yang, Qrow, Taiyang, Weiss and Blake as they approached Hanson and Idurina."Um, hello, Mr. and Mrs. Vorst." Ruby opened, "I'm…"

"We know who you are, Ruby Rose. Most of Remnant is aware of Team RWBY and Team Beacon by now," Hanson told the scythe-wielding girl, "Elsa didn't get to tell us about you personally, but given your touching gift of those marigolds…I can tell that you truly cared about her."

"I might have only met her in person once, but I'm happy that I could count her as a friend." Ruby said respectfully.

"And while we never met her in person, Ruby, Pyrrha and Jaune had told us a lot about her and Kaifin, and we know and empathize with your pain as we have all lost loved ones to violence." Weiss told them, remembering how Faunus extremists had killed her and Winter's mother.

"But none of us have lost a child," Taiyang spoke up, clearly sympathetic to the couple's situation, while looking at his own daughters. "I have no idea what I would do if I lost my girls. The thought of that kind of loss honestly, scares me more than any Grimm ever could."

"Thank you, Mr. Xiao Long, for your condolences." Idurina spoke calmly as Hanson shook Taiyang's politely.

"I hope you'll never know our grief. Having to bury your child is a terrible thing that no parent should ever have to experience. We might not know you kids personally, but from what I heard about and learned I have a feeling that if anyone can bring our daughter's killers to justice for their actions, it's you." Hanson remarked in a voice that sounded both tired and drained, and it was clear that he had shed tears for his elder daughter.

"I promise you we'll do our best to bring them down." Ruby swore, and there was no hint of exaggeration or lying in her voice.

Idurina's blue eyes began to grow moist as she managed to say, "Thank you, Ms. Rose."

"You'll have the deepest gratitude of our family for doing such a thing for us." Hanson replied cordially, and the pain in his own eyes lessened just a little.

As they walked away to allow Team CFVY to give the grieving parents their condolences, Qrow couldn't get the deep emotional pain that he saw in the eyes of the two Vorst parents out of his mind for a long time. The feeling of losing someone close to you, especially if that person or people were related to you by blood, is always a heart-breaking one, and Raven and he had lots of experience in that department since they were born and raised within a bandit tribe. Life was always hard trying to carve out a living outside of the Kingdoms, but one does what he or she can for the family. And that was everything to the Branwen twins until their parents were killed.

Qrow knew that he and Raven had kept many secrets from Taiyang and his nieces, and considering that they report to Ozpin and the other Guardians of Remnant he knew that it was to protect his brother-in-law and his precious nieces from harm of knowing dangerous secrets. Qrow personally disliked being so secretive, but was cautiously reminded by Ozpin that he had taken an oath of secrecy, and what they were doing behind closed doors were necessary in order to protect all life on Remnant from Salem.

It was a heavy burden for Raven and him to bear, considering that Taiyang had been particularly understanding and like a brother to Qrow throughout the years they spent as a team. Now that his sister was dead he had to shoulder those secrets alone, and the burden only got heavier with time. The alcoholic was also aware of the fact death might come for him at any time because of his occupation, and so perhaps he should speak with them about certain things while he had the chance.

It was time to come clean, or as clean as he could manage it without breaking certain oaths.

When the group reached the far end of the cathedral's doors, Qrow sighed and said quietly, "Ruby, Yang…I have something important to tell you both."

"What is it, Uncle Qrow?" Ruby asked.

The dusty Huntsman glanced at Weiss and Blake before glancing at Taiyang, the look in his eyes conveying his intentions enough to let the blond man know that he was about to confess something to Ruby and Yang.

"Something private, uh, it's a family matter." Qrow said, still looking at the other half of Team RWBY.

"We understand, Mr. Branwen." Weiss assured him.

"Yeah, we'll be with Sun and the others in the meantime," Blake said, and judging from the uncomfortable look she saw on Qrow's face she had a feeling he was probably going to tell Ruby and Yang something he wasn't proud of. She knew that kind of look all too well.

The family of four walked up the nearest staircase and out of the large doors on the upper levels of the cathedral, eventually reaching the parapet of one of its secondary balconies. They all took a few quiet moments to admire the beauty of the land around them, the distant capital city over the horizon with some specks of airships flying around on patrol, the surrounding snow-covered forests and icy plains, the expansive fjord nearby and the tall monolithic mountains with large numbers of snow-topped pine trees lined up along their slopes. Gusts of cold wind blew at them from the direction of the fjord, but the warm jackets and clothing provided by Hyperion One's cabin supplies kept the worst of the chill away and kept the biting cold at reasonably tolerable levels.

"Uh, so it's a nice view here…but what's up?" Yang asked slowly, "I mean, judging from the look on your face whatever it is you want to tell us must be pretty serious."

"It is, Firecracker," Qrow admitted as he leaned against one of the balustrades with a faraway look on his face, "There are some things on my mind that I'm going to tell you. I wanted to wait until Ruby was old enough herself, so you wouldn't have to hide the truth from her like what Raven and I did, Yang."

"So, what is it?" Ruby inquired, curiously, "Is it about mom?"

"No…well, it's about Raven and me." The veteran Huntsman confessed as he turned away from the view of the mountainside, "When you were little, you asked why you didn't have grandparents from the Branwen side of the family, and I told you that our parents were killed in a Grimm attack many years ago before your birth. That was a lie."

"It was?" His younger niece said, surprised, "Why…why would you lie to us?"

"I'm not proud of what I'm about to tell you now, but after getting a poisonous stinger through my abdomen and lying in that bed, feeling doctors and nurses patch me up…reminded me of the fact that I won't live forever," Qrow admitted after releasing a breath that came out as a faint plume of mist, "Besides, seeing how easily people like the Vorsts lost their children in this war against Salem, it reminded me about how lucky I am to have you two in my life. So I don't want to hide things from the people I care about, and I care about you two more than anything."

"Oh, Uncle Qrow…" Ruby said as she walked forward and hugged him, "It's okay. We love you too, and whatever you are going to tell us won't change anything."

"Same here." Yang smiled as she came up and hugged her uncle as well.

Qrow looked at Taiyang with his arms crossed and a grin on his face, saying, "Told you so."

"Don't rub it in." Qrow muttered with a smirk before releasing his nieces who stood back, "Okay, there's no way I can put it nicely, so I'm going to tell you truthfully now…you see, Raven and I were born to Rook and Magpie Branwen, the leaders of the Branwen Tribe in Mistral. Our tribe was the most powerful of all the bandit tribes, feared more than any other."

Ruby and Yang were evidently surprised by the truth. Whatever they had been expecting, it wasn't that. They both heard plenty of stories from Qrow before, mostly on the adventures of Team STRQ across Remnant and their humorous times in Beacon Academy, but Qrow had been cagey at best when it came to details about his past even though he never gave them reason to doubt him before.

"We were raised with the philosophy that you can only survive in this world by being strong and merciless, while the weak and kind-hearted are prey who must suffer around killers and thieves, and to show mercy to no one except those strong enough to deserve it. Mom, dad and the rest of the tribe like dad's apprentice Vernal all drilled that into us mercilessly, teaching us things that anyone else would find appalling." The scythe-wielding Huntsman spoke in a voice that told his present family that he had personally witnessed such things.

"Our tribe did terrible things; they would kill travellers, kill Huntsmen who tried to stand against us and leave villages defenseless so they would either pay us for protection or we would strike enough fear in them to get the Grimm to attack, and if it's the latter then the tribe would swoop in and scavenge from the ravaged village, since the survivors would be either long gone or in no shape to oppose us. We were trained to be expert thieves and killers from the day we could pick up a weapon, but deep in my gut I always knew that there was something incredibly wrong about what we were doing, no matter what other elder members of the tribe told me. However, having two kids slowly warmed my mother's once cold heart over time. She changed even more when she and I saw a group of Hunters-in-training, probably second years, bravely defending a group of settlers who were being attacked by Grimm. They could have ran off to save their own skins, but instead they risked everything to save people they didn't know. For the first time, I saw what true strength and courage really was.

"Mom and I helped them out, and that was when she realized the magnitude of the terrible things we were doing, and from that day on she understood our little 'partnership' with the Grimm was wrong, and that our clan could do some good by killing the monsters instead. She managed to get it through my dad's head what a dangerous threat the Grimm were, so he made it an order for our tribe to kill all Grimm on sight and only kill Huntsmen if they were a big enough threat to us. Mom and dad soon began training Raven and me to kill Grimm, and I was honestly a hell of a lot better at that than I was at stealing. As time went on, I saw my Mom got even softer as she became more merciful towards our targets and even let them escape with their lives and keep some personal treasures, only taking what our tribe needed and nothing more. Now, her actions weren't exactly a popular choice among the members of the tribe despite Mom's status…and soon whispers spread about her 'lenient actions' were slowly weakening the tribe. Especially with Vernal..."

"You mentioned she was Grandpa Rook's apprentice?" Ruby noted.

Qrow nodded and said, "Yeah, I knew her since I was a baby. Mom and dad found her in the desert before we were born when a horde of Creeps killed her tribe, but she had been strong enough to survive and fought off those beasts. They took her in, so she was like a big sister to us, but we all knew there was a ruthlessness to her that was practically unmatched by anyone else in the tribe. Mom told me that losing her tribe had messed her up, and after becoming such an important figure within the tribe she had a lot of people who were loyal to her. She resented our parents for changing, as she saw it as an unforgivable weakness that was hurting the tribe's effectiveness. Dad stood firmly by Mom's choices, which led to a lot of heated arguments with Vernal and the rest of the tribe. There was a lot of talk about my Dad turning weak, which he tried his best to quash, but Vernal was getting more and more followers who agreed with her. Eventually, when she had over half of the tribe siding with her, and that's when she made her move.

"One night her forces suddenly launched their attack, but luckily someone faithful to my parents managed to raise the alarm before they stormed our tent. Our parents fought Vernal and those who she managed to rally to her side until their aura were drained. I watched as Mom was viciously beaten to the ground, bleeding from her wounds and mouth before Vernal took her sword…and impaled her with it." The avian Huntsman's voice wavered a little, and he swallowed as though to hold back any remaining unshed tears.

Ruby and Yang were stunned, they didn't know what to say to that, but Qrow could tell by the looks in their eyes that they felt sorry for him. Still, he knew he wasn't ready yet to tell them about his ability to shapeshift…it would most likely scare them. Not even Taiyang knew about it, as Raven and him had agreed between themselves to keep their Semblances a secret upon entering Beacon Academy. It raised too many questions.

He produced his flask, took a sip to stiffen his nerves, and said, "Dad ordered Raven and me to run while he and those loyal to my parents held off Vernal's supporters. We ran as fast as we could through the Mistral plains, sometimes looking back and getting glimpses of people we had known all our lives either dying to protect us or trying to kill us. But we kept running and running, putting as much distance between us and the encampment, until we were sure we weren't followed. We managed to find a cave of sorts to hide and it was in the darkness that Raven and I swore to each other and on the lives of our parents that we would return to the tribe and take it back, and make those who killed our parents pay for their betrayal."

"And…did you?" Yang asked, wondering why she had never heard of the Branwen bandit tribe.

"It took a…very long time. We decided to become Huntsmen, as we knew that was the best way to train our bodies and hone our skills in order to take Vernal down. As the years went on and we were eventually taken in by an orphanage in Vale where I learned right from wrong, I felt ashamed of what my parents had done and knew that I could never return to the life of a bandit, and while I wanted justice for my parents as much as my elder sister, I wanted to devote my life to protecting others and redeem the Branwen name. Raven, however, was more stubborn about that and didn't come to see it my way until we actually faced our old tribe when we were Huntsmen-in-training during our senior year at Beacon." Qrow enlightened them.

"That's when he and Raven came clean to us about the truth." Taiyang spoke up, "Summer and I suspected that they were hiding something for a long time, but I was not prepared for the story you've just heard. Even now…I don't know what to feel."

"Neither were we, dad." Yang admitted, still not sure what to think.

"It was during the Fall break of the senior year that we went on our mission to bring Vernal down, and there's nothing we could do to stop your dad and Summer from coming with us. Long story short, we worked with the Mistral authorities and eventually we found and confronted what's left of the Branwen tribe. Although by this time they had set up shop in some abandoned ruins and had renamed themselves the Raptor Clan," Qrow explained as he shook his flask, making the liquid slosh around inside, "We gave them a chance to surrender peacefully, to face justice for their actions...they didn't listen to reason. We fought as hard as we could, and it was not easy to stay alive since Vernal and the rest had learned some dangerous tricks since we last saw them. I would've gotten my head lopped off had Summer not saved me." He stopped briefly and smiled at Ruby, remembering how her mother stopped the swinging sword with her weapon and kicked the murderous bandit so hard he was sent flying across the entire area.

"Anyway, while Summer went about subduing the bandits with her speed and Taiyang kept the majority of Vernal's bodyguards from coming to her aid, Raven and I fought Vernal. She had become even more ruthless and deadly over the years, in addition to being cunning and armed with her upgraded wind and fire blades. She fought like a wild animal cornered, and dished out a whole lot of punishment against us," He reached down with one hand and rubbed at his side, "She shot me right here when my aura was low, and nearly blew me off the roof of their headquarters. I was left hanging by one arm, and Raven dived towards me to catch my hand before I let go. As I climbed back up I saw Vernal moving to finish us off, and shouted a warning. Raven brought up her sword quickly, but she was still pulling me onto the roof and so wasn't quick enough to block Vernal's descending blow, when Taiyang here came to our rescue by delivering a sudden hard punch to her face that sent her sprawling."

Qrow smiled at his brother-in-law before adding, "He held her off while Raven hauled me off the edge, just in time to save Taiyang from getting himself killed."

"Vernal had shot me in the shoulder and slashed me across the chest, she would have finished me off had Raven not blocked her sword," Taiyang added with a face that seemed a little mournful to Ruby and Yang, "Raven and I had been together for a while at that point, but I had a feeling she didn't really take my feelings all that seriously since I was rather…high-spirited at times, but when she saved me in the nick of time I knew she did love me, at least in her own way."

"We all fought Vernal, eventually wearing her down and injuring her until Raven managed to break Vernal's aura and cut off her right arm. As she laid on the ground bleeding out she knew she was done for, but Vernal had made it clear to us that she wouldn't be taken alive. She kept taunting us, calling us weaklings who didn't have what it takes to do what was necessary to keep the bandit tribe strong, that our parents died because they were weak cowards…and something in Raven snapped at the last insult. Before Taiyang, Summer and I could stop her, she gave in to her rage and cut off Vernal's head."

"Woah." Ruby commented, enthralled with her uncle's story.

"So Mom avenged our grandparents." Yang surmised with an understanding nod.

"But she did it by killing an unarmed prisoner. By that point, my moral code had improved enough to know right from wrong. Vernal never wanted to be taken alive for her crimes and after losing to us, and so probably wanted to die quickly rather than spend the rest of her life in prison. She knew Raven was easy to enrage, Raven proved to be Vernal's way out. Despite Raven's actions the Mistral authorities didn't give us too much trouble after Ozpin stepped in and had a talk with them, and they instead thanked us for helping them take down the Raptor Clan…but Raven was never quite the same after that night. She understood that our parents were wanted criminals, almost as bad as Vernal after discovering some horrid details about the things the Branwen Tribe had done. Yes, they managed to change for the better over time…but there was still a lot of blood on their hands. Both Raven and I know that we'd never wash it clean in our lifetimes, but we could still do some good as Hunters." Qrow finished.

"We kept this a secret from you for so long because both Qrow and Raven wanted it to keep their past a secret until we felt you were old enough to know the truth and make your own decisions." Taiyang explained calmly, while still looking at his daughters.

"And even as you became Huntresses, I was afraid to tell you the truth. I didn't want you to think that I was a bad person or even hate me, nor did I want you to feel burdened by the truth of who your grandparents were." Qrow said to Yang sadly, "But now that you know the truth, I won't blame you if you actually hate me."

"Uncle Qrow…we could never hate you." The blonde brawler told him gently.

"Yeah! You and Aunt Raven were just kids, you couldn't help who your parents were," Ruby added understandingly, "I mean, yeah it's kind of annoying you kept this a secret for so long, but it doesn't change the fact that we love you."

Qrow smiled, feeling so happy and relieved that he had finally come clean about most of his past to his nieces and they didn't think any less of him for it. However, he hoped that they wouldn't be so judgemental on his personal actions when they knew of the other secrets he had to keep and the actions he had to do when serving the Guardians of Remnant Order.

"Thanks girls, I really needed to get this off my chest." He told them kindly, "And thank you so much, for not hating me. I'd rather face Salem on my own than lose you two, because having two beautiful and incredible nieces has made my life richer than I ever would have been as a bandit."

Without another word, Ruby leapt forward and hugged her uncle as tight as she could, making him grunt in pain at the sudden movement. "Oh, sorry Uncle Qrow!" She quickly apologized as she let go.

"No problem, pipsqueak. I can take it." He smiled as he Ruby after a while and Yang began to ask a question.

"So, does this have anything to do with my mom leaving Team STRQ?" She inquired.

Sighing, Qrow answered, "That's part of it. I think Raven felt like she couldn't keep on living a lie. She always had a dark outlook on life and she didn't want it to rub off on you, despite Taiyang here giving her a brief period of happiness. She thought her daughter deserved better than having a mother who came from a bandit tribe. That's also why she became one of Ozpin's top agents; she wanted to do her best to redeem the Branwen name by spying on and bringing those who worked for Salem to justice."

"She gave her life fighting Cinder. She died to help us, to save Ruby…I'm proud to be her daughter. I might be a Xiao Long, but I'm also a Branwen too." Yang said as she went over to hug Qrow.

Smiling happily, Taiyang joined the family hug, wrapping his thick muscular arms around his beloved daughters, "Your mothers would be so proud of the Huntresses you've become, because I know we are." He told them with a bright grin on his face.

"Damn right." Qrow remarked, as he savored the happiness of being with his family.

---

Meanwhile, Team JNPR had decided to walk around the cathedral and admire its beautiful architecture and stained-glass windows that displayed a variety of famous historical events of Remnant's past, even a fairly new one that depicted the Fall of Beacon which showed small black figures of Huntsmen and Huntresses fighting bravely against the Grimm creatures that sought to overwhelm them with their numbers.

"Huh, I don't see us in there." Nora noted after taking a closer look.

"Well, there's Ruby and the Grimm Wyvern on top of the tower." Jaune pointed out, gesturing to a section of the stained-glass window which showed the Grimm Dragon attacking the Beacon tower and a cloaked figure wreathed by a halo of silver light. He also noticed how uncomfortable Pyrrha looked, and knew that she didn't want to be reminded of what happened that night.

"Wonder if we'll ever end up on one of these." Nora mused to herself.

"Considering how things are going recently, there's a decent chance of it." Pyrrha commented as she walked on ahead, arriving at an antechamber that led to the base of the east bell tower, "Anyone want to go up? I'm sure the tower probably has a spectacular view."

"Well, they don't have it closed off so I don't see why not." Jaune replied with a shrug.

"I'd like to just stay around this area and admire more of these windows, the artwork is truly magnificent." Ren told them as Nora took a look at the stairs that occupied the structure's insides and led up to the top of the bell tower, which consisted of slightly narrow steps that tightly hugged the walls of stone that made up the tower.

"Uh, count me out. Sorry, but I'm getting tired just looking at all those stairs." The hammer-wielder commented.

"Okay, see you soon." Jaune bid them before he joined Pyrrha as they embarked up the stairs.

It wasn't an easy journey up the numerous flights of stairs, but the couple made it to the top of the tower where a large bell made of well-crafted metal hung from the ceiling which was suspended by firm chains, with open windows that granted them a breathtaking view of the valley.

"It's beautiful." Pyrrha said, very impressed by the view. The snowy valley was covered with a scant few clusters of homes and small woods and in the far distance they could see the outline of the Atlesian capital, with some military airships flying nearby in patrol formations still on high alert. In another window they could see the massive mountains, the sight of one of the base guard towers peeking out from the nearest mountain's lower ridges.

"You said it, we should take some pictures." Jaune mentioned as he took out his scroll, "I'd hate for the others to miss this."

He snapped some pictures with his scroll's camera function, including one of Pyrrha in front of the valley. "So what did your mom say?" She asked when Jaune put it away, remembering how Joanna Arc had called him numerous times in the past two days.

"She's still worried about us, she hates it when we're this deep in the action, but I keep assuring her that we'll be okay. She's also worried about my sister Sienna, she has to fly emergency supply deliveries to Vacuo as part of her job." He informed her.

"I hope she'll be all right." Pyrrha mentioned.

"Sienna flew her airship fantastically at the battle of Haven, from what everyone had told me, so I think she'll be fine. Still, everyone in my family is probably worried about me most of all, because they all know I'm right smack in the middle of all this." Jaune told her.

"Well, you are the first Arc in several generations to be a Huntsman and their only son, so I know they'd all be heartbroken if anything happened to you. Besides, you have become a hero worthy of the Arc legacy, you're someone for them to look up to." Pyrrha replied as Jaune sat down beside her in front of the window.

Jaune blushed at her praise and said, "Well…I wouldn't go that far. I mean, I'm self-aware enough to know that I'm still a dork at heart, but I'm really happy my family cares about me and thinks that much of me."

"You've made them proud," Pyrrha told him truthfully as she leaned in to kiss him on the cheek, "Speaking of families, my dad talked to Glynda, and he's volunteered to help teach combat classes at Beacon Academy to help speed up the classes, which the Vale Council suggested so they could prepare the new students to protect the neighbouring towns and villages from the Grimm."

Jaune nodded, he had seen Zeus in action before in his sparring matches and had even gone up against him once in a friendly match which was not an easy fight in the slightest, "Not a bad idea, your father is awesome at hand-to-hand combat, so I'm sure he'll be an excellent guest teacher."

Smiling, Pyrrha nodded as she sat on the rather wide stone sill of the window, leaning against the grey bricks, saying, "He taught me most of what I know about physical combat, and I don't think I would be as good of a fighter without his advice and teachings. I remembered the first time I bested him in a sparring match, he was so proud of me he actually cried."

"I'd be proud too." Jaune answered as he looked out to the spectacular view before sighing sadly, "You think Ren and Nora will be okay?"

Pyrrha gazed at her love and gave him an understanding look as he said, "I don't know about Ren, but I don't think he'll become obsessed with destroying the Nuckelavee, but if we have to fight that monster I don't know if he will freeze up or go berserk, but if it's too dangerous for us I will order a retreat since I won't risk all of our lives for a vendetta, but I think Ren is smart and stable enough to not let himself get consumed by vengeance."

"So do I," Pyrrha agreed, "And I think we both know that we need to be there for Nora if she's allowed to confront Odinson. It's like what she said in the Bahai Gardens; she acts happy-go-lucky so she doesn't get sad, but I fear that seeing the man who might have condemned her parents to death might make her snap."

"She won't do that. Not so long as she has us and Ren to support her. She talked sense into me when I needed it, so I'll be there to make sure she doesn't do something she'd regret." Jaune said as he turned to face her, placing his hand atop hers.

"Me too. I might have lost one honorary sister, but I'll always have Nora, as well as Ruby, Weiss…all of them." Pyrrha mentioned with a smile as she looked back at the wonderful view the bell tower offered.

Jaune kept his eyes on her. She was so beautiful in the afternoon light, but she was hurting, mourning...and so many things were happening and it was affecting everyone in their own ways. He wanted to make her feel better, but he didn't know if what he was about to do would have the desired effect he hoped to have on her.

"Pyrrha, I…I want to ask you something." He managed to say, obviously quite nervous.

Pyrrha looked at him, "Hm? What is it?"

Jaune felt his heart beating faster as his blush intensified. He wanted to ask her a very important, intimate question that couldn't be taken lightly. In his mind he imagined the event this question would lead to; she was in a stunning wedding dress, so happy and gorgeous, and just the thought of getting married to her made the blond's heart beat rapidly.

But then doubt began to form in his mind just as quickly. He didn't have Ashe's ring, it was back at Beacon. Besides, Pyrrha was hurting because of Elsa's death, and asking her to make such an important choice at a time like this was wrong, he dreaded the chance of taking advantage of her feelings...

"Is something wrong?" She asked when he went silent, "You look like you are zoning out."

Jaune shook his head, "Sorry. I'm okay, I was just...thinking about something."

"What did you want to ask me?" She inquired, curiosity evident in her eyes.

"Oh...uh…" Jaune tried to think of an answer as he ran his fingers through his rich locks, which gave him an idea, "Oh! I just wanted to ask you if you think I should get a haircut! Yeah!"

Pyrrha gave him an odd look at first but smiled and said, "No, I don't think so. Long hair looks good on you."

"I kinda like it too," He agreed, trying to shake off the awkwardness of the pause, "Though it might get in the way when I'm fighting. You think I'd look stupid in a ponytail?" He asked.

"No. Well, as long as it's done right." She replied with a smile as she scooted over and leaned into him, "Jaune, I know you well enough to know that's not what you wanted to ask me."

Jaune mentally cursed himself for forgetting how deep their bond was, a kind of special bond most people couldn't understand. Because of the nature of their bond their spirits were eternally linked when Pyrrha unlocked his Aura, as well as the nature of being the Guardians of the Aura Crystal, it meant it was rather difficult to fool one another. Sighing, he eventually admitted, "It's not. I...I don't think I'm ready to ask you the question I had in my mind. I'm sorry."

"It's all right, I understand." The Spartan assured him kindly, reaching out to lovingly caress his face, "Whatever it is, it can wait until you're ready. I don't blame you anyway, it's been a rough couple of days, hasn't it?"

"Totally, you'd think we'd be used to it by now." He replied as he wrapped an arm around her.

"I don't think we can ever get used to it. We can't let this keep happening. All this death and tragedy...do you think it will ever stop?" Pyrrha asked with a crestfallen look

Jaune gripped her tightly as he pulled Pyrrha into a tight hug, "Yes. One day it will end. And I promise you we'll be there to see it with everyone we know and love by our side."

Smiling, Pyrrah took hold of Jaune's chin in her hands and made him look at her, so that she could see into his blue eyes and realize that he wasn't just saying it to comfort her. He meant every word. Without another word between them, their heads leaned forward into a tender kiss.

This chapter was co-written by Relentless Crusader.

The next chapter will be the final chapter for this arc and then we'll be taking a break for a while.

If you liked this story fave, follow, and review.