This is it ladies and gentlemen the final chapter. Hope you enjoy.
The battle of the kingdom of Vale as it would later be known as was finally over.
A full week of clean up was only a start in amending what had been broken. And to all those left alive after the battle a lot had been broken. From families to friends and all those little acquaintanceships in between, their lives had been forever changed. Huntsmen and huntresses from all over the kingdom worked daily to find any who had been injured or lost. Some even hunted down stragglers of the white fang and eliminated Grimm when given the chance but a few decided to mourn over their losses.
In a hospital bed on the western side of Vale a lone huntress in training finally started to stir from her slumber. Her eyes were heavy and when she moved a little in her bed she was wracked with incredible pain from every part of her body. Ruby whined and drew attention from the other person in the room who hadn't left her side ever since she brought the small girl to the hospital.
Summer quickly rose from her seat and gently placed a hand on Ruby's should to keep her from moving around too much. "Shhhh it's okay honey your safe now". Ruby's hands clutched the bed sheets and she took short even breathes to try and calm herself down. The memories of what had happened to her came quickly enough and her eyes quickly scanned the room. She was relieved her mom was here but what about Adam Taurus and the white fang? What of the Grimm?
"Where are my friends" Ruby finally managed after a few minutes. Summer looked contemplative for a moment but finally answered as best as she could, "most of your friends are ok and they are helping the city clean up right now".
Ruby sank into her bed with a sigh before her eye's widened and she looked over to her mother with a concerned gaze. "Most of my friends? Not all of them"? When her mother didn't answer the young huntress tried to hop out of bed despite the pain she felt. Summer moved quickly and tried to stop her daughter before she could cause herself any injuries from moving so recklessly. In the end she needn't have bothered because Ruby froze halfway off the bed when she saw her left leg fly out from under the covers.
It was gone.
Ruby stared at the bandaged stub that use to be her left leg. She tried to wiggle her toes but nothing happened, no feeling of movement from below her knee at all. With a shaky hand she reached down and felt her leg, tracing her fingers over the bandages. Ruby's breathing hastened as realization slow crept into her mind. This was real. Her leg wasn't there anymore.
Tears started to stream down her face and she sobbed. Two arm's drew Ruby in and Summer allowed her daughter to cry her heart out into her shoulder. In between the muffled sounds of her daughter crying Ruby repeated two word over and over repeatedly. "My leg". Summer gently rubbed her daughter's back hoping to soothe her pain if only a little but even that didn't seem possible in this situation.
It took a while but when Ruby finally stopped crying she fell asleep again in her mother's embrace. Summer laid her little girl back in bed and drew up the covers. It hurt so much to see her cheerful little rose so hurt and in pain, so much so that she wished Taurus was still alive so she could teach him a mother's true fury. Lucky for him he got the easy way out.
Summer wiped Ruby's face gently so as not to wake her before standing up and planting a small kiss on her daughter's temple. She needed a breather from all this emotional turmoil that would no doubt continue to grow from here on out. Summer left her daughter's room and quietly closed the door before walking down the hall and out of the hospital entirely. Outside was her target. Qrow stood closer to the street then the hospital because he didn't dare risk his semblance causing any of the people inside any trouble.
His eye's caught sight of his wife and before he could even ask how Ruby was doing Summer pushed herself into his chest. He didn't hesitate to wrap his arms around her small frame. Qrow could understand, it was his daughter too after all.
When he'd gotten the news he flew like never before only to get stonewalled by his sister the moment he landed. Truthfully Qrow was ready to throw down with Raven right there when she blocked his path if it wasn't for Saphron putting herself in between the two and explaining why he had to stay back. 'Fucking semblance' he thought hatefully. Of all the times he had to keep away from his own daughter it had to be when she was in the worst position of her life. Qrow bite his lip in frustration, "such a useless dad I turned out to be".
Qrow gently rubbed his wife's back in a soothing manner. "How is she"?
Summer shook her head without leaving his embrace. "She only woke up for a little bit but after what she saw of her leg..."Summer's voice trailed off leaving Qrow to put the pieces together. Summer squeezed her husband a little tighter, "do you...do you think Ruby will ever be the same once she learns what happened to her friends"?
That was a difficult question to answer because his daughter would be facing all this for the first time. If it was him he'd be able to handle it a bit better since he already faced the death of most of his tribe and family which made him able to cope with loss a little better. That and the fact growing up in a tribe like his already messed him up as a kid. "I don't know if Ruby will be okay" Qrow answered his wife honestly "but that's why we're here". Summer looked up to meet Qrow's eyes and received a warm kiss on her forehead. "Even if things aren't okay now as long as we are still here for her they'll get better in time".
That was just like Qrow, always trying his best to comfort her when things went bad. Just like those times when Ruby was younger and kept hurting herself by accidentally using her semblance before she learned how to stop without crashing. Each time their daughter came back with more injuries Summer would blame herself for not being able to protect their daughter while Qrow was away. But just like now he would hold her and promise things would get better. They always did and she hoped that would be the case this time around too.
/
Vale
"Please sign your name here and you'll be given a number for food and temporary housing until we can find your family and move you to a more permanent residence" Yang repeated for what felt like the hundreth time today. She would have rather been out there searching for people who needed her help. Her hands clenched tighter as she thought of the one person she really wanted to find and who probably needed her help. Yangs eye's slid over to the other blonde in the vicinity. Ever since everything calmed down they had looked over the casualty and missing persons list to see if any of their friends had unfortunately made the cut. Seeing Jaune's name on the list wasn't a good feeling especially after Pyrrha returned with her fallen team leader in her arm's covered in blood.
There was a blank expression on Saphron's face, one she had been wearing ever since she had saw her brother's name on the missing persons list. Yang let another person take her spot and walked over to her adopted sibling before placing a hand on her shoulder. "Saph come on it's time for break". The elder blonde looked her way for a brief second before returning to her work. "Saph..." Yang tried again before Saphron pulled away from her and walked off entirely.
Yang let out a sigh before following after her big sis. When she found her fellow blonde neither of them said a word for the longest time until Yang broke the silence. "You know he's not dead right"?
Saphron tilted her head slightly "you don't know that. Not for certain".
That was true but... "we haven't found a body which means he could still be out there somewhere" Yang reasoned.
"If he is out there then why hasn't he come back yet"? Saphron questioned.
Yang thought about it but came up with nothing. "I don't know" she finally confessed. Saphron didn't look too surprised seeing as it had become a hot topic amongst Ozpin and his inner circle. Even more so when Vernal, Nora, Ren and Neo had all up and vanished without a trace. The biggest theory was that Jaune was playing as a double agent to destabilize the kingdoms and chose to align himself with Ozpin in order to remove two agents who threatened his plans. It seemed very ambitious but then again most of Jaune's plans involved him pulling strings from behind the scenes and learning about his enemies before actually striking at them. Hence the Jekyll persona.
Of course there was no telling if that was the case without confirmation but without anything to counter the idea it seemed the most likely idea. It would also mean Jaunes actual target hadn't been Beacon or Vale in the first place but rather to get close to Ozpin and his people in order to learn how they operated. Maybe to be better prepared to face them in the future she supposed. Saphron closed her eye's and sighed, she hated all these damn questions and wished there was a clear cut answer to if her brother was a bad guy or not. As his sister she whished she could believe that this was all a mistake but the lives of the people she loved would be at risk if she was wrong.
It didn't help that Jaune could kill people he cared about at will if it meant that he succeeded at whatever he wanted otherwise he'd have stayed away from Cinder entirely since they were practically like family. Then again she also knew about his relationship with Blake and how something like that could even compromise the most willful of spies. Could he have gotten together with the cat girl for his cover? Possibly but just like before there was no concrete answer to that question. Now she was really hoping someone would at least give her a hint as to what the hell she should do.
Saphron stood up, ready to get back to work when a man in worn and torn clothes bumped into her. The man didn't even say he was sorry or excuse himself for bumping into her. She was ready to tell the man off when her hand felt something touch her palm. Saphron looked down at her hand and saw a tiny note that hadn't been there before. Her eye's quickly scanned the paper before her head shot up in the direction of the retreating man's back.
Feeling Saphron's gaze on his back the man turned to meet her eye's. The man smirked and blinked revealing two very different colored eye's. Saphron chased after the man with Yang following quickly after mostly out of worry for her adopted sister but also because she had seen the change in the man's eyes as well. The man rounded a corner but when Saphron and Yang followed they were met with an empty street. Saphron lifted the small note and reread what was written to herself.
"Ok what was that"? Yang asked completely confused.
Saphron pushed the note she received into Yangs hands. On the small piece of paper there was a small message that detailed a place and time for some kind of meeting that was to happen along with a few other instructions. "Your not actually thinking of going to meet with that lunatic right"? Saphron raised a single brow which caused Yang to groan, "of course you are". Without going there would be no way of knowing why Neo of all people would risk her safety by meeting with them.
Saphron had looked for some kinda sign of what to do and this seemed like as good a sign as any.
/
A few hours later and Saphron arrived at the meeting place along with Yang. Whatever anyone had planned for them here either good or bad were going going to have to deal with both of them at the same time. With a quick nod to each other the two walked into the hotel that was doubling as the meeting place. Saphron walked up to the clerk at the front desk and handed over her note. The clerk took the small note and quickly looked it over before meeting her gaze, "the room is on the third floor, number 225. Please avoid making a mess".
Saphron nodded and motioned for her fellow blonde to follow. After taking the elevator instead of walking up the stairs the two followed the room number until they reach the correct room before knocking on the door. The door opened up to reveal an old woman at the door along with several other older people at a table playing bingo with the tv on in the background.
"I think we got the wrong place" Yang whispered.
Saphron ignored her younger sister and pushed on into the room with Yang nervously following behind. The second the old lady closed the door the sound of glass shattering was heard and the fake view changed instantly. In the room Vernal, Nora, Ren, Neo, Junior and Amber of all people were there with the malachite sisters on either side of their boss. "Now this is a collection of people I didn't think I'd ever see together" the elder Arc said as she moved towards the table everyone was sat at.
"Yeah well Jaune get's around" Junior responded.
"Care to fill me in on what this meeting is all about then"? Saphron asked as she took a seat. Vernal slammed a fist on the table drawing all eye's on her "this meeting is about Jaune getting his ass abducted by two of Cinders bosses minions"! The lack of use of Salem's name implied that someone amongst the group didn't know of the full story. If she had to guess it was more then likely to be the bearded man and the two girls next to him at the table because everyone else at the table knew of the maidens or Salem in some capacity or another.
Saphron focused on the brunette that had been with Jaune in Ozpin's tower, "how could you let that happen?! You were with him when he went off to face Cinder on the airship"! Vernal glared at the elder Arc, "I was knocked out along with everyone else when the airship crashed thank you very much. The only one that was up was Cinder and Neo. Neo was up only because Jaune had woken her up so she could help us while Jaune ran off to play hero alone". Saphron pinched the brig of her nose in frustration. "Okay fine, putting aside who's fault this is why haven't you all come forward to at least tell Ozpin your all still around?
It was Ren who answered. He held up two finger, "there are two reasons for that. The first is because if where going to have any chance of getting Jaune back we need to keep our movements obscured from the enemies that have him. And secondly there's no guaranteed that Ozpin and his inner circle won't impede our movements once they find out what we are trying to do". Saphron thought about it for a moment and couldn't help but agree with their decision especially after the theories Ozpin and the other's had come up with in Jaunes absence.
"Okay if you didn't want any outside interference why get in touch with me and her" Saphron asked as she motioned to Amber in the corner.
"Because your his sister and that woman owes Jaune her life" Junior answered.
Saphron raised a brow at the man "and how do you know that"?
Junior smiled knowingly, "information gathering is what I'm good at and that's all you need to know".
Saphron huffed angrily but let it go a moment later. "I don't get it, why are all of you willing to go so far from for my little brother"? Junior tapped a finger on the table, " I thought that'd be obvious with all of us here". When Saphron and Yang didn't get it Vernal slammed both hands on the table in anger, " it's because everyone of use owes him one way or another and we damn well can't repay him if he's dead". The elder Arc looked around to all that were in attendance only to receive small nods of agreement from some.
Ren raised his hand suddenly, "I'm actually just following orders" he said.
The elder Arc sibling chuckled with a large grin on her face. "I see, then with all that out of the way how do we go about saving my idiot younger brother"? Vernal coughed into his fist loud enough to gain everyone's attention, "this is actually what we had in mind".
/
Salem's castle
Watt's bowed at Salem's arrival to the dungeon. "My queen if I might ask wouldn't it be easier if we just killed the boy and be done with it"? Salems eye's glowed with with anger at the question, "we are already down several agents thanks to what happened in Vale, I won't discard a useful pawn and weaken myself further". The former atlesian scientist wasn't buying the excuse but wasn't about to point it out to the queen of the Grimm of all people. "Then might I inquire as to how you plan to bring him to our side when it's clear the boy has no loyalties to us whatsoever"? he asked
Salem stepped into the prisoners room and knelt in front of the young Arc who was chain to the wall. Jaune looked up to meet his mothers eye's from between his long bangs but spoke no words. It didn't matter because Salem smiled lovingly at him with sinister glowing red eye's, "if he won't join willingly then Ill just make him against his will". Her smile grew large before she whispered in his ear, "and it'll be just like old times".
It's the end it's finally over! Thank you all for sticking with me and my mess ups until the end. Trust me, you don't know how grateful I am for the support you've shown me this past what?! Year or two. Man it's been a long one. Anyway thanks for reading.
From your friend Nexus26. Peace!