Ruby couldn't bring her self to look any the Refugees the ship was packed full of people leaving Mistral, the wall may have been intact but with how everything collapsed most of the industry was destroyed meaning Mistral was gutted, Raven for all her injuries still took off towards Atlas to make sure they were okay, that was two days ago, and for now she was hoping that good news would be coming back, hugging her legs to her chest she began to think back, how the hell did life go so wrong so quickly, one minute she and her friends were preparing to search for Sephiroth, the next he dropped a building on them, how were they going to fight that
"Ladies and Gentlemen, we will be arriving in Vale shortly, anyone who wishes to disembark we ask that you gather your things now and line up now." a voice came over the intercom, with a frown Ruby looked over to Jaune who was sitting across from her Pyrrha resting her head on his shoulder
"You guys still wanna keep going?" she asked leaning back her eyes scanning the two, Nora got injured while they were escorting a few civilians to the crumbling ruin that was now Mistral with the massive amounts of negativity they assumed Grimm would be poring out of the woodwork but no, the creatures were strangely quiet for one reason or another, then again even now with the ships heading to Vale not a single one was attacked by deep sea Grimm with such silence from the creatures was a little worrying
"We're sticking with you, Ren and Nora are going to be staying in Vale for the time being, until Nora has recovered, and with what we saw out there... we'd be fools to leave you to deal with this alone." Jaune answered with as much of a smile as he could muster, Ruby returning it but quickly looked away towards a few crying children
"Thank you." she muttered and crossed her arms "Both of you, you've done so much for me even if I've done nothing but worry and be rude."
"We never saw what you saw, myself Nora and Ren, I mean, I don't think any of us believed that he could be so... powerful."
"Yeah... and now we just have to wait for word from Raven, and then we'll know just how much trouble we're in." Ruby said as she pushed herself up to her feet and leaned on the rail crossing her arms and let out a long and tired sigh her eyes moving down to the lower level of the ship where she found Weiss and Blake talking and guiding people towards the ships entrances, the both of them attempting to keep things orderly "I just wish we could have stopped this before it got too... too much." she reasoned as Pyrrha walked away to go find Ren and Nora while Jaune walked over and leaned next to her, taking a deep breath Ruby closed her eyes
"I didn't want to come back here until Sephiroth was dead." she muttered as Jaune rested a hand on her shoulder giving her a small shake
"I don't think I'll ever be able to understand how much you hate him." he commented earning a frown from Ruby
"He took everything from me, my father, my uncle, my school, my home, and now my future. Every door that was once open to me is now closed save one, killing him." she explained earning a look of sympathy from Jaune as he watched as Vale grew closer, he had hoped that the city would have been back on its feet in the past few months but it still appeared to be in disarray most of the taller buildings were still heavily damaged some parts of them were missing and others were lit up and most likely had people living within, with a frown he let her go and leaned next to her
(o)
Oscar knocked on the door of Glyndas' house, she said that she would go retrieve his cane from Beacon but he had no idea when, where, or if she had gone yet so he just... showed up here. After a few moments the door opened and Glynda leaned out, she looked exhausted but still smiled at him
"Good, you're here. Come in." she said gesturing for him to enter, walking in he looked around a bit, it was generally posh and fancy, closing the door she let out a sigh and made her way into the kitchen and returned with his cane in hand, quickly taking it he clicked the lever causing it to jut out with a warm smile towards it he felt a wave of calm rush over him
"So, what's the plan?" she asked as Oscars' posture quickly changed and he stood a bit taller flipping his cane and leaned on it with a neutral look, turning and walking over to the window and peered out at the city
"... Well, first things first, we need to get word from the other kingdoms, from what me and Oscar could find Vacuo is still fine, being Vacuo there wasn't much worry there, Mistral had recently fell silent in the past week or so, and judging by the waves of energy came from both Mistral and Atlas it could be assumed that both are no more... which is worrying, considering that indicates that the relics for both have been destroyed, it's worrying, and I know for a fact those acts are not Salems', she wishes to horde the power within them, not release them, or at least not release them so violently. I would assume than... I would assume that this Sephiroth is the cause." Ozpin reasoned as Glynda sat down on the nearby couch as the boy began to pace back and forth just as Ozpin would
"Well... what is happening then? I saw the borealis that covered the world, but what does it mean? He couldn't have actually destroyed the relics could he?"
"No it's entirely possible, they may not be human creations but they are made of natural materials, easily destroyed if the person in possession desires it, it then releases all it's power, I have no idea why he wouldn't just covet the items, doing so would probably have made him the most powerful person on the planet... he's just... a madman, a powerful one but a madman none the less." he farther expounded folding one of his hands behind his back a small frown crossing his lips as he turned back to facing her, and spoke once more "Have you any idea who we could call upon for aid? We've been away from the world so I have no idea who is left."
"Of our brotherhood all I know we have is myself and you. Huntsman wise, there's Port, Oobleck, a few low ranked huntsman who came here for work but mostly drink and sleep, and a girl who goes by the name Vernal, she doesn't have a license so I would count her as an unknown element." the woman answered as Ozpin turned once more and sat down next to her with a sigh, he then flashed green and Oscar quickly seemed to inch away from her a bit, not out of fear but out of pure awkwardness
"Oscar... if you don't mind me asking, would you tell me about your family." Glynda asked looking the boy dead in the eyes earning a scrunched brow from the boy, feeling the desire to trust her he began to speak telling her about his aunt.
(o)
Ruby watched as Nora and Ren walked off the boat, turning back Ren raised his hand to her and walked away, Nora leaning on him, turning on her heel she walked over to the captains cabin and knocked, after a few moments the door swung open and a man with a large bushy white beard leaned out smiling widely at her
"Hello, what can I do for you ma'am?" he asked in a warm tone which she greeted with a neutral look and a frown
"I wanted to ask you when you'll be making your way to Vacuo." she answered causing his smile to falter slightly
"A few days, we've been running the engine ragged for the past couple of days and it needs repairs, if you want I can send a message to wherever you're staying when we're shipshape."
"Don't bother, we'll be back in two days." she shot down then turned and walked away as he called well wishes her way.
(o)
Walking through the forest she came to a stop at the clearing and cliff face her eyes landing on the three slabs of stone resting at the peak each adorned with markings from each person they represented, Taiyang Xiao-Long 'The Candle That Burns The Brightest', Summer Rose 'Thus Kindly I Scatter', Qrow Branwen his epitaph was left blank as per his will, staring at the stones all she could feel was pain, a deep seeded pain in her heart, her hands began to tremble as she dropped down and hugged herself in some vain attempt to ease her pain as tears began to roll down her face, bowing her head she began to sob she wanted nothing more than to go back, to go back to when things were simple, crying her heart out she couldn't help but try to remember something, anything that would inspire her to push forward, and her mind continued to dwell on Yang, Weiss, Blake, Jaune, and Pyrrha the ones who will be following her after that monster, those who are willing and determined to protect what little is left, she would be strong for them, she would focus all her rage and hate onto a single point and make that man pay for every life he ruined and every heart shattered in his quest fueled by madness. Feeling clarity she began to think on what he was trying to do.
Thus far she knew that Sephiroth was from another planet, and he hates humanity. Apparently the relics have massive amounts of Mako energy in them whatever that means for the planet, then there was also the fact that sense that light show she hadn't heard hide nor hair of Grimm, everything just seemed so... surreal. At this point she couldn't quite tell what was real or not, the graves before her, were real, they were very very real... but could she really accept that... no she needed to accept that, she couldn't accept that, life was precious and those close to her needed to be protected, something which she has failed to protect time and time again, and yet they still choose to follow her, just like herself they seemed to be just as mad in their intent, except Jaune he was just following to keep the others from going too far, he would be their saving grace.
(o)
Yang sat in the dirt a frown held sharply on her face the charred black ruins of where she and her sister once laughed and played, her father would make breakfast while Qrow slept off his hangover on the couch, she wasn't able to protect them, then when Sephiroth attacked Mistral again she failed to protect anyone... she was just a failure. The sound of a portal opening behind her brought her back from the deep depths of depression, watching as the raven behind her shifted and grew greenish smoke dancing around it as it grew taller and expanded into a tall and familiar woman who looked at the charred ruin her frown deepening as she walked over to Yang and placed a hand on her head
"You are no failure." she muttered quietly attempting to not be heard, kneeling down she spoke once more "There's nothing worse than losing your home and family, I've done it multiple times now. It gets no easier, but I can accurately tell you this... even burnt remains have purpose, all things happen with purpose and this... this place can be rebuilt, with time and effort will become a home once more." she comforted shifting her hand down and behind her hair rubbing Yangs back causing the girl to breakdown and start crying quickly grabbing the older woman who awkwardly yet happily returned the hug whispering some form of comfort to the girl who finally after almost a whole year broke down.
(o)
Pyrrha sat across from Nora she was currently asleep having passed out when they arrived at this place, she couldn't tell if it was a hospital or a refugee camp but what she knew was that it was filled to the brim with those who didn't have a home and those who were injured, it used to be an apartment complex on the corner of main street but now all it was was a place for those who could care for themselves anymore. All of these people ended up here one way or another due to Sephiroths' actions, she was upset that her only desire for the past few months was proving that she was worthy of battling Sephiroth, she needed to reaffirm her desires, she should want to defeat him purely because he has harmed these people not because her injured pride, that was one of the reason why she was so proud about being on Jaunes team, currently he was out working hard to help people while she was watching over Nora, Ren was asleep across from her and that was telling, they've been here for a little over a day and he had yet to sleep. Should things go well they won't have to worry about a thing, but if things go poorly in Vacuo then Vale will more than likely be the last line of defense against whatever Sephiroth has planned, and at this point the more of them the better.
A/N We grow ever closer to the... I wouldn't say stunning, but we are gonna be getting closer to the conclusion. I will say that I have a few ideas for Vacuo but nothing too concert quite yet, we'll see when we get there. Next chapter though. Next chapter.