(A/N) I kinda decided to axe the Winter Character Short mainly because what I had planned for it would only need to be explained to the rest of the cast later. And I kinda hate repetition. So you guys get this a week earlier than you would've otherwise. Also, it turned out to be ~500 words, so yeah… not a huge loss.

Also, this thing was originally scheduled to air on Sunday, but, due to a freak snowstorm trapping me in my house for the past two days, I'm slightly ahead of schedule, meaning that this week's chapter (plus ASH) are airing now. Awesome!

One more thing, I apparently said in the timeline that they'd landed in the Vacuo desert, this is not true and hadn't actually been true for quite some time before it was posted. I just must've missed it when I was going over the chapter before the thing got posted and, will be fixed once I get that far with the rewrite (don't panic, it's just me making minor fixes to the older chapters. The events depicted are otherwise exactly the same).

With that out of the way, time for Volume Two to being in earnest! Enjoy!


Volume Two

Chapter One – Keep Moving Forward


/-\ Ruby Rose /-\

Crash site


I was only a few feet away from our crashed Covenant OIP when I remembered that my suit still had a functional radio. Needless to say, I immediately clicked it onto a UNSC frequency…

…only to be met with deafeningly loud static…

I groaned and ran several diagnostics on my suit, thinking that I'd just damaged it. If that was the case, then I could turn back and use one of my teammate's radios, seeing as I was still practically leaning against the pod.

Unfortunately, everything came back green. The only abnormality coming from outside my suit. Specifically, from the sun.

'Great…' I bitterly thought. 'Hasn't been one since I got here, so wouldn't it be great if a solar flare happened now?' I huffed and resumed my walk to the section of covvie ship, knowing that it'd likely be our best shot at surviving until the stellar storm abated.

The walk itself was quite boring, taking an hour or so to complete. Before me stood the scorched remains of an unknown section of the Assault Carrier, the only visible breach being a partially collapsed diamond-shaped gash that lead into a dimly lit room. At this point, I briefly lamented the fact that I'd forgotten my weapons aboard the carrier, but then I remembered that, if I grabbed even one, it would've meant leaving a teammate behind.

Needless to say, my regret vanished in an instant.

I drew my only weapon, a knife, and slipped my way into the ship, scanning the edges; no covvies save for the dead Brute in the corner. I moved towards it, still wary of the many shadows in this place, and picked up its discarded Spiker.

Now armed, I proceeded to scout the wreck…

…all two rooms of it…

I would've been disappointed, had the second room not held two mostly functional vehicles; a Revenant and a Spectre. The only issue was that the area where the door was supposed to be was currently squished under several tons of nanolaminate hull.

Fortunately, where the covvies provided an obstacle, they also provided a solution in the form of a large pile of plasma batteries in the corner.

I quickly got to work moving both vehicles to the far side of the room, out of the blast zone, before preparing to detonate the batteries near the weakest point in the collapse.

The blockage itself was more a product of the adjacent room caving in rather than this room doing the same, meaning that if I removed it, the room I'm in shouldn't do its best pancake impression. The operative word being shouldn't.

With that in mind, and the batteries in position, I took cover in a particularly sturdy-looking doorway and shot a few spikes at the makeshift-explosives, detonating them.

A slight tremor shook the wreck as the explosion boomed throughout the hull, accompanied by a deafening -CRACK- and the not-so-subtle groan of metal stretching to its breaking point.

When the smoke finally cleared, I was greeted by a hole about six meters in wide and four meters tall; more than enough to fit both vehicles, albeit not simultaneously.

I brought out the Revenant first, parking it a ways outside the wreckage in case something happened, before going back for the Spectre.

As I sped away in the Covenant ISV, I gave a slight chuckle at the irony that the Covenant may have unintentionally saved us from dying in this god-forsaken desert.


/-\ Winter Schnee /-\

Crash site


My eyes snapped open as I shot up, the nightmare still fresh in my mind. It took a few moments to realize that it was just a memory, one that had happened years ago.

Just as I'd calmed down, I realized that I was still wearing the helmet from the raid, given that the orange-ish HUD was still only a few inches from my face.

Instead of dealing with an odd pain in my right arm, I took to examining the small alien room that I was currently entombed in. At that point, I realized that I didn't remember anything past fighting through the hallways of their ship.

A thousand possibilities ran through my mind, the most disturbing, and likely, being- 'Was I captured?'. I moved my limbs to check for any restraints while simultaneously looking for weaknesses in the structure.

My movement was restrained, but upon closer inspection, it seemed that it was by the unconscious forms of my sister's team rather than actual restraints. My thoughts suddenly amended my current worst-case-scenario to be 'Were we captured?'.

The pain in my arm started to get worse, but I again pushed it away, this time in favor of trying to figure out why a strange alien ball sat on my lap.

Deciding I didn't want it there anymore, I shoved it off with my left hand and stood up, though my muscles groaned in protest at my decision.

I stepped over the forms of my companions, who I noted were also unrestrained, and arrived at a shattered console of some kind. My sister stirred, muttering something under her breath, but did not fully wake.

I couldn't make out any actual words due to them being written in an alien language, but there were a few obvious buttons on the remains of the screen. Taking a wild guess, I pressed one and in response, the side doors opened to reveal a desert.

I blinked. 'When did we get off the ship?' I mentally questioned as I strode outside. 'The last thing I remember was-' My eyes widened and my breath hitched. '…that Elite cutting through my arm…'

A searing hot pain shot through me, causing me to look down at the offending… stump.

I stood shock still for what seemed like hours, just staring at what I'd lost, before clutching my arm and letting out a terrified scream.

"WINTER!" I heard later, though I'm not quite sure how much later. Suddenly, my sister appeared before me, helmet discarded. "Winter! Look at me!" She said.

"Weiss? Wh- wha-"

"Not important." She said. "You're going to be okay." She turned her attention to something behind me. "Blake! M- Medkit!" She looked at me again, a barely noticeable shake in her hands, as I faintly heard some shuffling behind me. "Winter, you saved my life." She said, a reassuring smile on her face. "Just take deep breaths, Blake here will take care of you."

As soon as the words left her mouth, the helmeted Faunus in question knelt down beside me and examined my injury. "Beyond giving her some painkillers, there's not much I can do." She said after a moment, giving me a pair of small, white tablets. "It's like Ruby said, she's not bleeding at all, but she still needs to get to a hospital as soon as possible to prevent an infection."

I turned to face her. "W- What about my arm?" I asked through gritted teeth.

She hesitated for a moment. "We… uhh… kinda just… left it on the ship…"

I gazed downwards, towards my stump. "So, I'm…" I sighed. "I'm… stuck like this, then…"

I felt my sister cup my cheek, bringing my gaze back to her. "No, we'll get you a prosthetic."

"Where?" I asked. "Atlas is gone, Weiss. We were the only ones on Remnant with the technology to make any real replacement."

"…Right…" My sister admitted.

"…What about the UNSC?" Blake suggested.

Weiss blinked. "That's… actually a good idea." She nodded. "Yes, Kat had one during Reach."

"Who are you referring to?" I asked, confused.

"One of Ruby's old teammates." My sister explained. "They grew up together and served in the same squad a number of months ago."

I was about to ask what she was referring to when my arm acted up, causing me to wince in pain. My action was mirrored by Blake, who had just torn off her helmet as well. I couldn't stop my eyes from wandering up to her ears, having rarely been assigned to work with Faunus due to my heritage.

She noticed my action and raised her eyebrow. "Are you anything like your father?" She asked.

I huffed. "Only in name." I growled out.

She looked to my sister for confirmation and received a nod. She turned back to me with a neutral expression. "Good." She said, simply.

At about that time, the fourth member of our little cadre rolled out of the little pod. "Uhh, guys?" She asked. "Where's Ruby?"

We all glanced at one another, blank looks on our faces. After a moment, I spotted a set of deep and large bootprints trailing their way through the arid soil towards a chunk of alien spacecraft. "She may have gone over there." I said, pointing to my observation.

Suddenly, Blake froze, her ears twitching wildly. "We'll look for her later, we've got Grimm inbound." She said, calmly.

I immediately reached for my sword…

…and promptly remembered that my primary arm had been… severely shortened…

Wincing, I awkwardly grabbed the hilt of my saber with my left hand; twirling it around as I brought it to bear. "How many contacts?" I asked.

She tisked. "A dozen, maybe a couple more." Her ears twitched again. "Sounds like Lesser Grimm; mostly Creeps with the odd Beowolf mixed in."

My sister nodded and turned to me. "Can you fight?" She asked.

I nodded. "Yes."

Her gaze grew soft. "Its okay if you need to sit this one out, we can handle this."

I shook my head. "No." I said. "You forget that I am proficient with dual weapons. I am an Atlesian Specialist, not some helpless babe."

She nodded. "If you need a breather, let us know." She said before turning to Blake. "How long do we have?"

"About sixty seconds." She said.

"Okay. Yang!" She said. "You're with Winter on the left flank. Any ideas for a callsign?"

"Uhh… Fire Blizzard?" She half-suggested half-asked.

My sister shrugged. "Good enough. Blake, ETA?"

"Thirty seconds." She said, drawing a knife.

Yang's gauntlets deployed as the faint, yet familiar, sounds of Grimm in the distance reached my ears.

"Fifteen." Blake announced as I began twirling my sword experimentally.

Swinging my blade with my off-hand, while obviously possible, was extremely awkward.

"Five."

I involuntarily glanced down at my stump, momentarily saddened, before pushing away that feeling for later as the familiar black-clad figures of Grimm crested a nearby hill.

"Contact." She announced, somewhat unnecessarily.

Just as the noirette had predicted, the horde was mainly comprised of Creeps, about ten or so of them, and four Beowolves. Luckily, no alphas of either species were among their number.

"Winter, after you've been engaged, hit them from behind. I shall join you."

I smirked under my helmet. "An excellent plan, sister." Moments later, their numbers crashed into ours.

I bobbed and weaved to avoid their strikes, be it from claw or jaw, though a strike or two got through due to me still not being used to only having one arm to work with.

After engaging for a few seconds, I summoned a propulsion glyph under my feet and leaped onto another of its kind over my head, propelling me behind them where my sister was already hard at work.

I immediately took up a position guarding her flank, slicing a Beowolf in two in the process. Together, we hacked through the miniature horde, though I occasionally stumbled; my balance thrown off due to being roughly five pounds lighter on my right side.

I sighed, stabbing my saber into the fallen form of the last Creep on the field, as I reflected on my… poor performance this day; an action thankfully unnoticed by my comrades.

I idly flicked the evaporating Grimmgore off my blade as we all scanned the area for more contacts. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Blake's ear flick.

I looked at her, eyebrow raised. "Vehicle." She said. "Sounds like…" Her eyes narrowed for a moment before widening. "Covenant!"

We all took up positions behind the pod, those with ranged weapons pointing them at the general direction of their approach.

After a few seconds, a lone Spectre shot over the hillside, a familiar red helmet sticking out of the cockpit.

We all immediately relaxed our guards as Ruby pulled up next to us.

She quickly dismounted. "Saw you guys havin' a party, everything alright?" She asked.

"Uhh, you were over that hill…" Yang observed. "How'd you see us fighting those Grimm?"

She shrugged. "Smoke kinda gave it away." She gave us all a quick visual once-over. "Well, everyone looks like they're still in one piece…" Her gaze hovered on me. "…More or less…"

"Hang on a minute." My sister said. "Where were you and how did you get that thing?"

She thrust a thumb at the wreckage in the distance. "There's also a Revenant back there." She then clapped her hands together. "Wait, Alice was supposed to tell you where I went."

"I uhh… I thought she was with you."

She facepalmed. "Alice, get out here."

Suddenly, a voice that was not my own emanated from my helmet. "You called?"

"Alice, you were supposed to calm Winter down when she woke up…"

"Oh… right…" She said. "I've been busy, okay?"

Ruby's head tilted a few degrees to the side. "'Analyzing things'?" She asked sarcastically.

"Yes, actually." She responded, making me feel quite awkward considering that Ruby was looking right at me, yet not talking to me.

Ruby sighed. "You're jumping ship again."

"Okay, whenever you're ready."

"Winter, I'm just gonna get her chip outta your helmet, quick."

I blinked. "When did she even-"

"After we landed." She dismissed with a wave before reaching behind my head and retrieving a computer chip of some kind. She examined it for a moment before inserting it into her own helmet. "Okay, with that out of the way, who here knows how to drive?"

Blake and I both raised our hands.

She just stared at me for a minute. "Winter, no offense, but it's hard enough to drive a gravlift vehicle with two arms the first time around."

I unconsciously slumped a few degrees. "Understood." I said.

She then turned to the other prospective driver. "Alright Blake, mount up." She ordered. "I'll teach you the basics of driving this thing while we go get the Revenant."

She nodded and quickly assumed her position before they drove off. I, meanwhile, took a seat on the dry ground and slumped against the pod.

I sighed. "Weiss," I called. "can you… help me get this helmet off?" I asked, knowing It would be difficult for me to do it with only one hand.

"Of course." She said, quickly taking a knee beside me and removing my helmet with a -snap hiss-. I was immediately greeted by an almost overwhelming heat wave, the dry air not helping things.

My sister still wore her helmet, though her visor was depolarized, allowing me to see her look of concern. We locked eyes for a moment before she looked away and settled down beside me in silence.

I could tell that she wanted to say something, but she just couldn't put it into words. After several minutes, she settled on merely snuggling up to me and resting her head atop my shoulder plate, our armors clanking awkwardly as they contacted.

At her gesture, the somewhat tense silence turned into a comfortable one. It wasn't long before my eyelids started becoming heavy. Even though I'd woken up less than half-an-hour ago, I was still worn out by the stress of 'today's revelations.

Moments later, I slipped into unconsciousness, a ghost of a smile on my face.


/-\ Blake Belladonna /-\

Somewhere in the desert; nighttime


We'd been driving for hours now. Ruby and her sister leading our duo of vehicles in the Revenant while the Schnee sisters and I rode behind them in the Spectre.

Occasionally, we came across a small pack of Grimm. The smaller ones were easily dispatched by a combination of their plasma mortar and our mounted turret, though the larger ones also happened to be slow enough for our vehicles to outrun.

Comms were still down on account of the 'solar storm' Ruby told us about earlier, meaning the first time any of us knew there was any danger was generally signaled by someone on either vehicle opening fire randomly.

Currently, my teammates occupied each of the passenger seats, Weiss having abandoned the notion of manning the turret 24/7 long ago due to exhaustion; both mental and physical. Her sister was given the duty of holding the Oracle that we'd retrieved from the assault carrier.

'It's not like their lack of morale isn't justified, though…' I mentally noted. 'I mean, if Kuo Kuana was glassed and we Faunus were forced to abandon our home, I would be pretty depressed, too…'

I was brought out of my ruminations when Ruby's Revenant slowed to a stop in front of us. I pulled up next to my leader, who made a slicing motion over her throat, prompting me to shut off my vehicle and hop out.

Still not knowing what was wrong, I approached her and asked. "We've been on the road long enough, its time for you guys to rest." She said, stretching her arms over her head. "Can you get a bead on which direction we need to head in tomorrow?" She asked.

After we'd arrived back at the pod, Ruby had figured out that we had landed in a different desert than the Vacuoan one, considering that the clocks on our suits showed it should've been around 2am when the sun was high in the sky. This led us to believe we were somewhere in the east, either on Anima or Menagerie.

Knowing that both deserts lied to the east of the nearest civilization, Ruby had led us west. Now that it was nighttime, though, it was time to see exactly where we were.

I looked for my favorite childhood constellation, the Wandering Feilong. If we were in Menagerie, it would be visible in its entirety. But if we landed to the north, in Anima, only its tail could be seen.

After a few moments of scanning the myriad of lights, I found what I was looking for and let a small smile climb onto my face. Before me was the full form of the Wandering Feilong; its maw agape, pointed towards the west, while its coiled body pointed north.

"We're in Menagerie." I announced, pulling off my helmet. "Ugh, these helmets were not meant for Faunus…"

She just shrugged. "Alright, then. Get some rest, I've got watch covered for tonight."

I raised an eyebrow. "You should get some too… at some point, at least."

She climbed aboard the Spectre and took a seat next to the turret, her Spiker lazily leaned against the turret ring. "I'm a Spartan, remember?"

I rolled my eyes before letting out a long yawn. "…Fine…" I relented. "Just… wake someone if you're tired, okay?"

She just shrugged as I walked away. The others, already having overheard our conversation, were sat In between the two vehicles, doing their best to find a comfortable position.

I sighed as I sat down, my breath forming a barely visible fog in the crisp nighttime desert air, and settled in for what was probably going to be a very long night…


My eyes fluttered open… again…

'How many times is that, now?' I mentally asked myself. 'More importantly, did I actually manage to get some sleep this time?' I glanced around at my surroundings, trying to gauge how much time had passed.

My partner looked like she'd completely given up on sleeping and was now laying in the center of our little camp, eyes scanning the stars. I couldn't tell if they were lilac or blue, as there wasn't enough light for my own eyes to register color.

Winter and Weiss looked to be having more success than either of us were at sleeping, though I couldn't really tell beneath their polarized visors. A quick shushing motion from the elder of the two sisters told me otherwise, though.

I quietly craned my neck over to where I'd last seen Ruby and, surprise, surprise, she was wide awake. Her helmet silently scanned the perimeter, moonlight occasionally glinting off her silver visor.

"She's awake, you know." Ruby said, suddenly.

Her partner sat up straight, having previously been slumped against Winter, and gave a huff of annoyance. "Doesn't mean I can't try to not be…" She muttered, taking off her helmet in the process. She gave off another sigh. "Well, Winter, I guess I was wrong."

"Oh?"

"It is actually possible to have a worse birthday than my thirteenth." She commented, dryly.

Winter, still unable to take off her helmet with one hand, reached up and depolarized her visor, revealing a pair of sorrowful eyes.

"Weiss…" She trailed off, causing her sister to practically latch onto her.

My Faunus ears heard a faint sniffle come from her form, her breathing becoming slightly ragged. "I…" She started. "I know I don't say it very much but… I love you…"

I saw a single tear trace its way down the Elder Schnee's cheek. "I love you too, Weiss."

A few minutes passed in silence, Yang and I just awkwardly sitting and/or laying about before they released their embrace.

Winter turned to our resident Spartan. "You said that this wasn't a suicide mission…" She trailed off.

"Yeah, so I did." She said, shrugging.

"You also said that you have been on true suicide missions before."

"Mhmm…"

Winter's eyebrow raised. "Care to elaborate?"

"I guess I did say I'd tell you later…" She sighed. "Gather 'round kiddos, its storytime…" She said without any enthusiasm.

Yang sat up to face her sister and I merely took a spot next to her.

"What do you guys think of me?" She asked, suddenly. "I mean of my abilities, specifically."

"Honestly?" Yang started. "They're uhh… they're amazing."

"We've seen you drag a multi-ton car around like its nothing." Weiss commented.

"You beat Adam in melee combat and took his weapon." I answered.

"The Covenant that were butchering my troops shook in fear when you arrived." Winter added. "What does this have to do with my question?"

"Just hang on a minute, I'm getting there." She said. "Just so ya know, I wasn't always this way." She said, causing us all to collectively blink in surprise. She looked down at the ground. "I was fifteen at the time. Augs were a few years behind me and I'd already had a few major engagements under my belt. I was pretty confident in my abilities at the time and I had a score to settle with the covvies after I fought on Actium a few months earlier."

She gave a dry chuckle. "Oh, if only I'd known just what the hell they had in store for us…" She trailed off. "Anyway, ONI somehow found a covvie fuel refinery in the 51 Pegasi system and decided that it needed to die." She tsked. "Naturally, the brand-spanking-new company of three-hundred-one Spartans came to mind."

"Three…" Yang almost babbled in disbelief. "Three… hundred?! Three hundred of… you?!"

"Heh, well… not exactly…" She trailed off. "We didn't have MJOLNIR, nor did we have aura… And most of the company was only twelve."

"Twelve?!" Winter shouted. "They put children on a mission you described as suicidal?!"

Her head snapped to winter. "There's a very old saying in UEG space, one that goes back hundreds of years." She said. "'When extinction is on the line, every alternative is preferable.'"

"But they were-"

"It doesn't matter what they were!" She shouted, suddenly. "Because they're all dead… All of 'em except Me, Tom, and Lucy…" She sighed. "No more questions. I promised you I'd tell you what happened, and I'm gonna do it then get back to pretending it didn't happen."

She sighed again. "Where was I? Oh yeah… I really don't wanna go into details about this, so I'll just give you the abridged version. Shit goes sideways and Lisette and I were separated from the main group from the get-go. After we caught up with them, we immediately had to dive into the ocean to avoid being obliterated by a nuclear blast. We couldn't find our exfil craft, so we waited for more covvies to show up."

She sighed. "When they did, they bring along this huge Brute, fucker took us both on at once and won." She said. "Lisette was wounded and we pulled back. In my panic to save her, I let my guard down and… she had to jump in front of the Brute's hammer to save me…"

Her helmet declined a few degrees before she continued. "I… I don't know what happened for a while after that. Everything went white and when I came to, all the covvies in the area were dead." She paused for a moment. "I barely noticed it at the time, but that is when I'd unlocked my aura. I escaped that planet on the corvette, but they were sloppy and left invasion plans for Draco III pretty much pulled up on their console. Instead of going back, I wanted revenge, and so that's where I went."

"And became the infamous 'Reaper of Draco'…" I commented, remembering that she'd mentioned it during the showing of her time at Reach.

"Yeah, pretty much…" She said. "So there you have it. Three-hundred-one Spartans go in, three come out. Sounds pretty suicidal to me…"

There was a long pause before Winter spoke up again. "…How do you deal with this?" She asked.

"Not really much you can do…" She said. "I guess just take things day by day. It's what's kept me going…"

"What did you do after that… mission?" Winter carefully asked.

Ruby hummed. "After ONI did some tests on me, I got issued a set of MJOLNIR MkIV and sent on various solo missions." She shrugged. "So, I guess I became a lone wolf. 'Bout a year or so before Reach, I got this armor. Afterwards… well… you guys know the rest."

Winter raised her eyebrow. "I don't."

Weiss waved her off. "I'll fill you in later." She glanced towards her partner. "There is no need to bring up any more memories at the moment…"

Ruby gave her a Spartan Smile. "Thanks, Weiss." She said. "Anyways, you guys should get some sleep. The sun will be up in a few hours and we're moving out at dawn."

With that, we all assumed our previous resting positions and tried to get some sleep.


/-\ Professor Ozpin /-\

Beacon Academy


I gazed out the window of my office, specifically to the strange dreadnought that hovered above Vale. We'd not heard anything from them, nor did they send any emissaries to us.

I sighed. 'Perhaps I should be content they did not simply attack us like the Covenant did…' I mused as another shuttlecraft was disgorged from the ship's ventral hangar, no doubt loaded with refugees as all others had been.

I looked downwards, toward our courtyard, where Glynda stood at the head of a crowd of students. Their individual forms were almost lost in the crowd from this distance, but I could still sense their weariness.

I'd given her orders to house the Atlesians in the guest dorms. We would be hard pressed for space once the Mistrali students arrived for the Vytal festival, but, as always, we at Beacon shall endure.

Suddenly, I heard my desk chime, signaling that someone was requesting entry. I spun my chair around and saw it was one Jaune Arc. I let out a hum as I accepted his entry into my office.

Around a minute later, the elevator doors opened, revealing the somewhat fidgety teen.

"Ah, Mister Arc." I greeted. "What can I do for you?"

"Uh-umm… I'm just wondering if you had any updates on Team RWBY…" He asked.

My ever-present smile dropped slightly at their mention. "Unfortunately not, Mister Arc." I said. "The last they were seen was on board the strange dreadnought over there, though I'm told that they, along with Specialist Schnee, were planning to board a Covenant capital ship in orbit and destroy it."

He blinked. "Umm… how did you know that?"

"Mister Xiao Long as well as Mister Branwen forwarded me the information."

He nodded. "Oh yeah, they helped us out at that crashed dreadnought over in Bar." He paused. "Did I tell you about that? I can't remember…"

"You, personally, did not. However, you did inform Miss Goodwitch, who, in turn, informed me."

"Okay…" He said. "Just… please let me know when you find out anything…" He said, walking back towards the elevator.

I nodded. "Very well, Mister Arc." I said as my desk chimed again. This time, it was General Ironwood who requested entry.

I hit 'accept' the moment I saw his name flash across my screen. The elevator dinged and James strode out, replacing Mister Arc.

The man before me wore a wary look, the ever-present bags under his eyes only having grown since I last saw him.

"Ozpin." He greeted.

"General." I reciprocated.

We fell into a somewhat tense silence for a few moments before he sighed and dragged a chair over to my desk, promptly collapsing into it after it was placed.

He ran his fingers over his tired features. "One old battlecarrier, one barely-flying dreadnought and five destroyers…" He said, finally. "That's all that made it…" He sighed. "Ozpin, what do we do?"

"This foe is one unlike any we have faced." I said. "As reluctant as I am to admit it… I am just as lost as you are, James." I paused. "Though I am quite curious as to why you didn't retreat to Mantle instead of Vale."

He sighed once more. "…Because Mantle legally belongs to the Schnee Dust Company, not Atlas…"

I blinked. "Care to elaborate?"

"I'm sure you remember the Atlesian Recession a few years ago." I nodded. "Well, it was caused, in part, by civil services in Mantle draining the economy too much. When Jacques learned of our troubles, he offered to buy the city behind closed doors." I sighed. "One of the clauses of the agreement prevents an 'Atlesian Occupation'," He said with airquotes. ", in other words, our military isn't welcome there. Period."

"So in other words, you have an army, but no state with which to support it." I surmised.

"Yes…" He said, grimly. "Ozpin, please. My men have nowhere to go. I don't care if we're assimilated into the Valerian Defense Force, we just need a home."

I sighed. "If it were up to me, I would accept your proposal right here, right now." I said, causing a wave of relief to flash across his face. "However… this is too big for someone in my position to give the final say on." His face tensed once more. "Unfortunately, I must get the council involved in this, though it is within my power to offer you a safe haven until they have reached a decision on what to do with your soldiers."

"Thank you, you won't-"

"On one condition." I added.

"…Name it." He reluctantly said.

"Your men have experience fighting this so-called Covenant. I want detachments sent to every branch of the VDF in order to prepare them for the threat, should it arrive on our shores as well."

"Done." He said. "Now that we're on the same side, what is the strength of the Valerian Air Navy?"

"Last I checked, three Warden-class destroyers and one old Emerald-class cruiser, though it's been mothballed for a number of years, now." He started walking away, but I caught his attention again. "One more thing, I would like at least one of your Specialists to accept a teaching job at Beacon." I said. "My students will likely take part in the defense, should we be attacked as well, and I want them to be prepared."

"I'll see what I can do… Last I checked, Specialist Schnee was the only remaining member. I last saw her boarding a green airship with one 'Spartan B-312'."

I raised an eyebrow. "Miss Rose? Hmm… that complicates things." I said. "She and her entire team are currently missing, last seen on the strange dreadnought about to board and destroy a Covenant capital ship in orbit."

"Survival would not be likely on such a mission…" He responded with a heavy heart. "If I am correct, would a fourth-year student from Atlas Academy be acceptable?"

I nodded, grimly. "Do the best you can, James."


/-\ Blake Belladonna /-\

Near Kuo Kuana


I couldn't help but be a bit nervous as we approached the gates, given that we were driving two Covenant vehicles. Thankfully, though, Ruby had thought ahead and stopped us before we had come into visual range of the city.

While we were stopped, she told Yang and I to take off our helmets, showing that we weren't as alien as the vehicles we were driving. I'd advised against the Schnees doing the same, considering that many here in Menagerie harbored a significant hatred for their entire family. It was much better for them to be faceless soldiers rather than hated Schnees.

We also decided that my vehicle would lead our tiny caravan, seeing as they would give the Chieftain's daughter little trouble when entering the city.

I slowed my vehicle as we approached the wooden walls of my hometown, a stylized purple visage of a Belladonna plant adorning the gatehouse.

"Huh…" My partner, who was sitting beside me in one of the passenger seats, let out. "Kinda looks like your uhh… your emblem…"

I rolled my eyes as we came to a stop. "Yes, but mine doesn't have the full plant, only the flower." I commented as a trio of guards warily approached.

"State your business." The lead one said, his subordinates' weapons drawn.

"We crashed out in the desert." I started. "We have very limited resources and seek refuge in Kuo Kuana."

He raised an eyebrow, obviously not recognizing me. "You'll need to see the Chieftain," Ruby visibly winced at the title. "he is a very busy person and I doubt he would have time for-"

"You doubt he would have time for his daughter?" I interrupted, eyebrow raised.

His eyebrows practically shot into space, now noticing the family resemblance between my mother and I. "I'm uhh… I'm gonna need to see some ID."

I nodded, reaching into my pocket and producing my Beacon Student ID.

He checked it over for a moment before handing it back. "Open the gate!" He shouted before turning back to me. "Sorry about this, Miss Belladonna. We weren't expecting you."

I gave a hum of acknowledgement. "It was a surprise for us, too."

With that, we proceeded inside the walls, leaving our vehicles in a garage just inside, and started our walk towards the 'palace', if you could call it that…

We received several strange looks along the way, not that I could blame them, though. Most were directed at Winter's missing arm, others, at our armor. I walked close to my partner, glaring at those who would sneer at the fact that she obviously wasn't a Faunus.

Though they were few and far between, it was still enough to make Yang stick to me like glue. She didn't do so for fear of her own safety, as she could more than easily enough dispatch any attackers, but instead out of nervousness and lack of confidence.

The looks Winter got, however, were one of pity. People would look at her and feel sorry for her, a fact that I could tell, even under her helmet, made her angry. Though her helmet remained facing forward, I could tell that she was giving out death glares like cotton candy.

Other than those who noticed us, Menagerie was a welcome change from the warzone that had engulfed Atlas. People went about their daily lives as if nothing was wrong in the world: vendors peddled their wares to just about anyone walking by; children ran throughout the crowds just being… children; people took their significant others on lunch dates, or maybe even just treated their families.

I sighed, wondering if everything would remain the same when the news got here of Atlas's fall. Already, I heard a few offhanded complaints of how the CCT was down, though no one knew why.

Ruby, as we crested Kuo Kuana's overlooking hill, spoke up. "Heh, maybe I should've called you princess, Blake."

I rolled my eyes. "Ugh, I'm no more a princess than Weiss."

The girl in question cleared her throat. "I'll just point out that the Belladonna home is larger than the Schnee mansion when you account for GDP differences between Menagerie and Atlas."

Ruby chuckled. "See? Even she's on board!"

"But the Schnee mansion is bigger." I pointed out.

"I'm sure you have more servants per capita than Schnee manor."

I smirked. "Actually, Menagerie has almost five-and-a-half million inhabitants."

"Are you guys seriously having a 'no, you're richer' fight?" Ruby interrupted. "Because that's what it sounds like."

My cheeks heated up when I realize that, yes, we were having a 'no, you're richer' fight. "Well, we're almost there." I said, trying to change the subject.

A pit formed in my stomach as we ascended the steps, going through scenario after scenario of my family's disapproval of my actions.

When I crested the top and reached for the door knocker, I hesitated.

"Something wrong?" Ruby asked.

"N- No…" I said. "Just…" I sighed. "I haven't seen them in a long time, okay?"

"Heh, well, at least your family didn't think you were dead."

Yang gave out a nervous chuckle.

"I suppose…" I said, taking a deep breath and using the offending item.

I winced as the loud -bang - reverberated throughout the air, involuntarily taking a step back.

I stood nervously for several seconds before the door opened, revealing the hakama-clad form of my Mother.

She scanned our little group with her eyes before settling on me. She gasped. "…Blake?"


(A/N) I know, I know, kind of a dick move to cut it off there, but this thing is already long enough, given that it's 6.4k and climbing. Also, there is a lot for Team RWWBY to unpack to Kali and Ghira… …like the fact that Atlas no longer exists because of aliens. Really sounds like a conspiracy theory when you put it like that…

On the fact that Mantle officially belongs to the SDC, and therefore, Jacques, I wanted the Atlesian Remnants to pretty much flock to Vale for reasons that will be addressed later and this seemed like the best way to accomplish that. Look at it from this perspective: Atlesian gov has a financial problem; the SDC can summon literal fleets of trucks laden with money at a moments notice, but they also need a place to do their less-than-moral things; one carefully-worded contract later, and everyone's problems are solved. The Atlesian Council doesn't care about the military clause because "Its Mantle, who gives a shit about it anyways? It's not like we'll ever need it for anything…"

There was only one review that really needed addressing over the past ~4.5 months, and that's that someone was wondering if I'd ever do a 'canon RWBY reacts to Ruby B-312' or something similar. The short answer is 'no', but the long one is 'possibly in an indirect way involving both Team RWBYs'

Anyways, that's all I had to say on this chapter. Have a wonderful day, and 'For Those We Cherish' is next up.