Big Issues
AN: Final chapter for a short time, one that brings Volume 3 events to a close. I do hope you all enjoy this chapter.
Survival - Part Four
The assembled Huntsmen and Huntresses stared up at the Wyvern as it looked down on them. There was an eerie silence as nothing moved. Then Beowolves and Ursa seemed to come from nowhere and the Wyvern roared.
Glynda was the first to react, using her semblance to gather the debris from the ground around them, broken glass, rent metal, shattered concrete, and spent shell casings flew through the air and tore into the smaller Grimm like a tornado. With those pests dealt with, Glynda guided the shrapnel into the Wyvern's hide from multiple angles. The soldiers, Qrow, Ruby, and Ironwood added their bullets to the attack, though nothing seemed to truly bother it, regarding the assault as an annoyance and it shook its head to clear it.
"That's not good." Qrow grumbles as he switches the blade back up.
"This thing could stomp the whole school flat by morning!" Weiss says loud enough to be heard by all. Apparently, so did the Grimm as it slammed a foot on the ground with three eyes focused directly on her.
"Stay away from her!" Ruby shouts as she steps in front of Weiss and pulls her trigger, Crescent Rose aimed at the eyes… only to hear an empty click. A few more clicks were followed by the girl patting herself down for extra bullets. Her ammo pouch was empty. Her belt was empty of every bullet that had been there.
"Uh-oh." The cloaked girl nervously laughs as Weiss resisted the urge to facepalm, only kept from doing so by the imminent danger of the Grimm watching them. But she wasn't any better as she had used up nearly all of the Dust she had on hand and she wasn't carrying as much as usual like for a mission. Even then, both girls were extremely low on aura.
Qrow leapt into action, literally, as he jumped high enough to slash into the Grimm's face. While the damage was minimal, it was something that caught the massive beast's attention quite well. As was the shotgun to the eye.
As the Wyvern was chasing after Qrow, who kept taunting it with words and action, the rest of the group was left to deal with their relative ineffectiveness. "You three, take up defensive positions over there. You three, over there. You four, the other side. The rest, back in the Manta and provide air support." Ironwood orders and the soldiers acted immediately.
"What about us?" Ruby asks.
"You two need to get back to the safe zone and evacuate now." He says, standing at his full height.
"But we can still fight!"
"You are both exhausted and out of ammunition. It's admirable that you want to continue the defense of your school, but you also need to know when to retreat." The man tells them without looking, instead he was watching the Grimm trampling another building as it chased the usually drunk Huntsman. As much as he worried for his friend's safety, he also knew that he was one of the few he could trust capable of doing what he was doing now.
"But-"
"Miss Rose, it's best that you leave." Glynda interrupts the young reaper.
"They came to get Pyrrha." Denko stepped up to the Headmistress and General. "Why not let them finish that."
"Are you sure?" She asks the shorter blonde.
"If she's still in the tower, then Anya is there with her. It'll keep them out of the way." Denko shrugs at the end.
"Hey!" Apparently neither young girl appreciated the dismissal.
"Very well then, both of you get in the tower and find Miss Nikos and Eaglewing." Glynda tells them sternly.
"Get going, you're not in any shape to fight much more." Denko tells them, stepping behind them only to push them towards the tower a bit.
"Fine. Let's go Ruby." Weiss accepted the orders and with her going, Ruby relented.
With the girls now in the tower, the youngest turns to the adults. "So… what is the plan?"
—-
"Did that beat her?" Pyrrha asks, looking over her shoulder with a wince, the slight twisting moved the foot with the arrow pinning the foot to the floor.
"Beat? Yes. I was actually hoping to kill but I think she managed to survive." Anya scoffed as she slumped over but stared at the half melted portion of the room that was still glowing from the heat. Her eyes turned to her gauntlets, specifically the chambers that held the vials. Both glass containers were empty and the one that had held the power from Cinder was cracked, making it useless.
"Kill?" The redhead seemed unsure about the choice, despite the fact that she had just come up here with the knowledge that someone was going to die… with a reasonable assumption that it would be herself.
"You know how the powers of Maidens are passed on. I just wanted to try getting them away from Her." The way Anya said the last word made it clear that she wasn't talking about Cinder herself, but someone else.
"Her?"
"Information for a later time." The older girl dismisses before stowing the vials in her ammo pouch. With a sigh, she kneels down next to Pyrrha and examines her foot.
"How bad is it?" She was almost afraid to ask, knowing that she couldn't see. Staying still was hard enough thanks to the pain she was in, but her other injuries and tiredness were catching up as the adrenaline faded from her system.
Anya could see the small pool of blood on the floor and was sure that her boot was full of the liquid. The fact that the glass projectile had entered at her heel and exited her sole and stuck into the floor added to the situation.
"You're gonna have to deal with some pain for a bit." Anya grabbed a nearby plant that had been in a pot earlier in the night and stripped it so the stem was left. "You'll want to bite this, just in case." She advised, watching as the girl took it in her mouth, her hands busy trying to keep herself still.
Once Pyrrha gave her agreement that she was ready, and they tuned out the sounds of the Wyvern stomping and roaring, Anya slipped one bladed arm under her foot while the other hand held it. With a quick slice, Anya cut through the arrow to leave the head in the floor.
Now that she was free, Pyrrha was helped to sit down on the floor with her foot high above her. Another quick cut removed most of the shaft outside, leaving the rest inside Pyrrha to keep the wound relatively sealed.
"There's no safe way down, is there?" Anya comments as she looks at the sorry state of the elevator with its holes and bends and buckles in the walls, the scorching not something she was too concerned about but the partially melted console was.
"I'm sorry." Came from behind her, making her let out a sigh..
—-
Qrow was having the time of his life. Specifically that he was watching major moments of his life playing through his head every time he had a close encounter with the Wyvern and there were many to keep it focused on him. The spars with his sister back when they lived with the tribe in Anima. When they arrived at Beacon and were accepted. The initiation test that got them teamed up with Summer and Taiyang. The crazy missions they completed as a team and the trouble they got into.
When Yang was born, being able to hold her in his arms for the first time with Summer and Tai by his sister's side. The look of satisfied pride and joy on Raven's face at seeing her daughter. Tai's devastation at Raven abandoning her family. How Summer stepped up to take care of the father and daughter. When Ruby was born and Yang's elation at having a sister. The family of four and Uncle Qrow sharing the happy days in that house they built for the team from the ground up. His days teaching at Signal.
Summer's disappearance on a mission and the near collapse of the family. How he managed to get Tai into teaching at Signal to help not only distract him but to help provide for his girls. When they first ran into Denko and Itazura in Vale. When the pair went into the Huntsman classes and soon began to dominate. The first time Yang activated her semblance. When Yang first broke the punching bag at Signal… one of many. When Ruby began tinkering with tools and building things. The time Ruby unlocked her semblance during training. Denko and Itazura's graduation. The pure joy and pride of Yang and Ruby when they built their first weapons, prototypes of what they used now, at the forge at Signal. The news that Yang had graduated from Signal as the best combatant of her year. Then Ruby being accepted into Beacon by Ozpin.
And so much more. Things he was ashamed of. Things he was proud to have accomplished. Things he had resigned himself to accept. Everything kept flashing back to him as he kept slashing and shooting the massive Grimm, doing what he could to keep it away from Beacon Tower, unfortunately demolishing several buildings in the process. But they weren't as important as the tower; they didn't sustain global communications.
In the back of his mind, he knew that doing this was likely to bring anyone who survived the invasion and was hiding or wounded in the buildings to an abrupt end but he couldn't be sure that anyone was still there. The bodies that he did see on occasion he was sure that they would be unrecognizable soon after his passing through the area.
He dove through the jaws once more, briefly transforming to fit through the teeth only to switch back to human and stab his blade into the gums of the beast, eliciting another roar of pain and he was able to push off to safety as it flailed its head.
Then there was a blast of flames from above impacting its head, followed by a shower of ice shards.
Qrow grinned as Talon dropped onto the Wyvern's head, plunging her blades into its skull and releasing fire and ice from the weapons. As expected, it roared and shook its head, trying to dislodge the girl but failing.
He had no problems with having another target that was as mobile as himself to keep the Grimm busy as he leapt back into the fray, noticing that there was a Manta coming to flank it. Moments later, the ship fired the two missiles that it carried and its rotary gun spat bullets, all striking true.
The only problem was that the Grimm was too big for the damage to do much, another reminder that this thing wouldn't be defeated without a fleet of those things or one of the big warships that Ironwood was so proud of to get off the ground and shoot it with its big guns.
—-
Ruby looked at the elevator shaft through the open and broken doors, noting that it went very deep below them and it lacked the light to see the car above her. What she could see were the locks that were meant to ensure the car stayed put on the floor were broken. Weiss stood next to her, a hand on her shoulder to ensure that the shaking wouldn't accidentally drop her partner down the shaft.
"How does it look?" The heiress was far from having any engineering expertise. She could maintain her weapon and equipment but much else beyond navigating a computer… not much else went beyond that.
"Not good, it looks like something forced the car to move. Can't tell if it fell or is up top. It's too dark to see." She allowed Weiss to pull her back from the edge and they took a few steps towards the middle of the room.
"Is there anything we can do?" There were two other elevators but everyone knew that they only went as far as the communications room and some service floors. Only the one that was broken could reach the top to Ozpin's office… as well as somewhere far below the school.
"Not that I can think of. Will your glyphs be able to take us up there?"
"I don't think I have enough aura to sustain them long enough to reach."
"And we don't know what's up there either. The car could fall if it didn't already."
"So… we're stuck here."
"Seems that way… unless we find an airship to fly up there."
"Do you even know how to fly if we find one?"
The cloaked girl began to look bashful at that question. "Um… no. Maybe?" She withered under the scrutiny from Weiss. "I remember Yang taking some classes to be a pilot."
"And she's the only one of our team to even have a driver's license." Weiss adds, reminding herself that she was lacking in other areas as well. She should be more self-sufficient, as a Huntress and to show up her father; she didn't recall if the man knew how to drive any vehicle, just how to drive any competition to his business into bankruptcy.
Ruby drew in on herself as she recalled the condition her sister was in when she last saw her, pale and covered in blood, her arm barely held together. She wrapped her cloak around herself as reality sank in.
Weiss noticed and pulled the younger girl into a hug. "I'm sure Yang will be fine. She should be in the hospital by now and the doctors working on her."
"I hope so." Ruby mumbled into her shoulder. She barely remembered her mother and only really knew her from pictures and stories, and without Summer around, Yang had been forced to take her place. A young girl shoved into the role of taking care of her sister who wasn't much younger than herself, and her father who had broken down at the loss of his wife. It's what made the girls so close, though they had been able to settle into a more normal sisterly relationship as their father got his feet under him again, though Yang never really stopped watching out for her as much.
The roars and the shaking of the ground became worse and the two separated to run outside to see what was going on.
Outside, they found that the Wyvern had given up the chase after Qrow and had returned. Talon had joined the fight but with only Denko, Glynda, and Ironwood still capable of fighting that were available to hold it off. And things weren't going well.
No matter what Glynda threw at it, it didn't seem to do much. The fire and ice from Talon only seemed to annoy it. As were Qrow's blade and Ironwood's bullets. The Manta that had come to support them was apparently out of ammunition and circled around the battle. Denko was probably doing the most, having gotten back on the Grimm to shock it, causing it to stumble in its attacks against the others.
"We need to help them!" Ruby shouts as she reaches for Crescent Rose.
"We don't have anything left in us to help them! We'll just be in the way." Weiss reminds her
"But what can we do?"
"There's an airship, we can get their attention and use it to get Pyrrha and Anya from the tower." Weiss explains, already having a plan to keep them out of the danger zone. Raising Myrtenaster, she pointed at the Manta flying around and created a glyph at the end, making it flash in a code that she was sure the pilot would know.
It took a minute or two for the pilot to notice, understandable as there was a Grimm larger than most buildings fighting nearby the Tower, but the ship did adjust to come towards the girls.
However, the Wyvern had noticed the flashing as well, remembering that they couldn't fight and were easy targets. It was also smart enough to know that Cinder had wanted it to destroy the Tower before it was interrupted. It settled on completing its task and the easy kills at the same time, it's skin oozing the tar-like substance that produced its smaller kin to keep the other humans occupied.
"Damn it!" Denko yelled as the sudden surge caught him by surprise, getting kicked by the beast and shattering his aura, upon landing on the ground he felt something break in his left arm near his wrist.
Qrow and Talon were the only ones on the Grimm when it moved but had to deal with Beowolves that formed from the skin beneath their feet, forcing them to bail and do their best to avoid the wings and legs.
James and Glynda had to cover for Denko as he lay on the ground from the Grimm targeting him, unable to do much to even slow the Wyvern.
Ruby and Weiss were focused on the Manta coming their way, the sounds of combat not far away was only background noise to them. They didn't notice the shift in the battle until after the Manta changed course and began flashing its own lights to communicate to Weiss.
"What?" The girls looked to their right just in time to see massive jaws wide open and about to close on them.
Yet for Ruby, she saw how Weiss stood out against the pitch black of the inside of the beast's mouth with nothing but pure fear on her face. The desire to do anything to protect her friend filled Ruby's entire being.
"WWEEEEEIIIIISSSSS!"
And everything seemed to go white in the world.
—-
It had been two days since the invasion began on Vale by the Grimm and White Fang. Smoke still hung heavy in the air as fires continued to burn here and there. Buildings would occasionally collapse under their own weight thanks to the damage done to them, raising clouds of dust into the air. Grimm were still occasionally found within the city and the roaming Huntsmen and soldiers would slay them as fast as they could. It didn't help that many of the watchtowers outside the walls were now destroyed, unable to take out or report packs of Grimm coming to attack the city.
Civilians were sequestered in the few buildings that were lucky enough to survive the attack, or at least were reasonably sound to be occupied, Junior's Club being one such place. Warehouses near the docks became filled with people and the Vale Defense Force broke out as many supplies as they could, mostly in the form of tents and medical supplies.
But it was the clean up efforts that were the real problem as the destruction and death was so widespread that few knew where to begin. From the walls and the turrets that defend the city, to Beacon that trained the Huntsmen and Huntresses that saved so many lives to various buildings that were central to running the city; all needing extensive repairs including vast areas of residential and commercial areas.
At least the main hospital had been well defended, only suffering minor damages to the outside, things that would be fixed among the last in the city. Part of that may have been thanks to the hard light barriers that it could erect as well as the turrets mounted on the roof to ensure that it would be among the last buildings to fall. It also helped that it was built to withstand Huntsmen and Huntresses and most of their Semblances, thus capable of weathering most attacks from Grimm.
Inside the building, many of the faculty were run ragged from trying to provide aid to as many patients as possible since the wounded began pouring in. Due to the nature of such a large-scale devastation, policies were already in place that had been tradition for centuries; save those who were most likely to survive with the fighters getting preferential treatment over civilians. The reasoning was simple as getting a trained fighter back on their feet to defend civilians was faster than training a new fighter and the experience could be passed onto the next generation.
It's not that civilians didn't receive treatment, but they were secondary because of the tried and true tradition. However, given that many of the Huntsmen and Huntresses that fought to defend the civilians did so until their final breaths, there were relatively few that occupied any of the beds. But for those that did…
Denko sat in a chair as he had for the past day in the room occupied by Team RWBY. To be fair, he was the only one with serious injuries on his team, though Talon was feeling the bruises she had received that night. Anya had simply been physically tired and so had Itazura. The three girls occupied themselves with other tasks, mostly helping with the civilians turned refugees in their own home, providing meals to the people with what supplies that they could get ahold of.
But only two of the beds were occupied in the room. Ruby lay in her bed on the other side of the room, sleeping as she had been since that night, and wrapped in some bandages to cover the numerous cuts and scrapes she had accumulated. He had also heard the doctors saying that she had pushed herself too far, more than what her body could handle and was now full of minor muscle tears and tiny bone fractures. Beyond that, she had exhausted her aura and he was aware of the power that she had used.
Weiss sat in a chair next to Ruby, though she was asleep with her head in her arms on the bed. The girl was tired but had the fewest injuries of her team, waking to eat and use the restroom, otherwise she tried to relax as much as she could without leaving her team.
Yang was still asleep in her bed, though part of that was medically induced, leftover from her surgery and giving the wound some time to heal before she could wake. The blonde may have had the fewest injuries of the team but had the most severe, having been in the OR until sunrise yesterday to put her arm back together. The limb now in a cast that went up to her shoulder down to halfway down her forearm, her hand laying free against her belly, limply. The arm held against her body by a sling that looped over the back of her neck and over her chest.
All of the room's occupants are wearing hospital gowns and those in the chairs kept those in the beds comfortable with the blankets pulled up to their chests. And Denko ran his right hand through his hair, noticing that the strands were longer than he normally kept them, vaguely remembering that it had been some time since he had a haircut.
A slight groan and some movement got his attention, Yang's head rolling to the side as she began to gain consciousness. Her eyes pried themselves open, barely enough to allow her to look around until she found him against the light coming through the window.
"Hey, about time you woke up." He gave the girl a small smile, genuinely glad that she was recovering.
Her mouth opened only for a dry rasp to escape her lips. But he got the message and poured a cup of water and stuck a straw in it for her. A few sips helped Yang to relax as her mouth and throat were moisturized once again.
"What happened?" She manages to ask after letting the liquid settle in her empty stomach.
"Short version? Vale got caught with its pants down." He replied with a shrug. "And Atlas got played." He adds.
Yang's head rolled back so she could stare at the ceiling as memories began to come back. The fight between Pyrrha and Penny that ended with the latter killed. The takeover of the broadcast where it was announced that things were set up to be that way. The Grimm over running the walls. White Fang in the school. The flash of pain through her arm.
Her eyes trailed down to her right arm, not feeling anything from it. Her left sluggishly moved to reach over herself to feel her own limp hand, Denko simply letting her do so on her own.
"Yeah, it's still there. You just have a few extra bits and pieces in there than before." He points at her upper arm where the cut was.
"Ho-how bad?"
He let out a sigh as he used his left arm to hold up three fingers tight together. "This much was keeping you in one piece. You got lucky this time." His right hand gave her left arm a small squeeze on her bicep, sinking into the soft skin and relaxed muscle easily. "I saw a bit of the medical record about what they did for you. That titanium lattice around the bone was a nice touch. Plus they had to stitch your muscles, arteries, veins, and nerves back together on their way out."
Lilac eyes widened.
"Yeah, you're gonna have a hell of a scar there. Nothing that we're not used to." He holds up his right hand to show that he didn't have his wrist covered, the scars from the shackles clear to see. "But save the competition until later when you don't have your arm in a sling."
"Your arm."
"Huh? Oh. Yeah, it got broken. I guess we're cast buddies too. Wanna sign it?" He offers easily, prompting a small smile from the girl.
"If you sign mine." At least she was getting her humor back. "Where's Ruby?" And her primary concern was back as well now that her mind was working correctly again.
"Next bed over." He points to her right where she could see her sister sleeping a few feet away with Weiss' distinctive white hair laying on the bed as well, prompting her to smile at the sight of the friends being so close.
"How is she?" Yang asks, unable to see much of Ruby beyond her head that had some gauze taped to her forehead.
"Outside? Not too bad. Some cuts and bruises. Inside? A bit more of a mess, gonna need to stay in bed for a bit to heal. She'll be sore for a while though. It's what happens when you push yourself well past your limits." He explains.
"Sounds like Ruby." Yang gives a fond smile to her sister, imagining her doing her best to play the hero like from the stories she used to read to her for bed.
"Weiss is just tired, mostly. But sleeping like that is going to be murder on her back." He adds, though winced at his choice of words. Yang looked at him for the same reason but relaxed when she saw the regret on his face.
"I don't see Blake? Is she here?" Yang tried to look around, but her belly kept her from seeing more than the corners of the bed directly across the room from her.
"She's in the hospital." Denko answers vaguely.
"Denko?"
"Don't worry too much. She's up and moving." That didn't clarify much at all.
—-
"Thank you for recovering her." James says with a small bow of his head.
"No problem General." Itazura tells him with a slightly forced smile. It was a bit disturbing to put Penny into a large carry case that was rigged to sustain her functions long enough to make it back to Atlas. She may have not known the girl much but from what she had heard from Ruby, she was a person with her own hopes and dreams and personality. Virtually indistinguishable from any organic girl from the outside but with an inside far more advanced than the Knights she had destroyed two days ago. There was nothing that involved aura in those mechs, the fact that Penny did meant that she was alive in her own way.
"You just make sure she's taken care of."
"I'm sure Pietro will appreciate what you have done. It's almost enough for me to overlook that you've been snooping through classified files." His eyes narrowed.
The fox laughed nervously as she scratched the back of her head. "Don't worry, I didn't pry too much. And I won't say anything about what I saw to our enemies."
James narrowed his eyes and grunted at her words, letting it go at that as she was one of the few he knew he could speak openly with about certain secrets of the world.
"In any case, how are things with your friends?"
"I should be asking you that. Have you been able to find Ozpin yet?"
That made the General let out a sigh that was full of regret and frustration. "Not yet. But with the way things are in the city, we can't just pull Qrow from Grimm duties to go down and look."
"They still pushing at the walls?"
"Unfortunately, yes." James responds wearily. He had gotten very little sleep since the attack and it showed with bags under his eyes and the stubble on his jaw. "They keep probing, seemingly drawn to the monster by Beacon Tower."
"I thought most of the Grimm fled when that thing got frozen?"
"They did but they have been coming back. It's taking everything we have to set up defensive lines as it is. Thankfully, Huntsmen have been coming in from all over the kingdom to assist in the extermination before they get to the walls."
"And the other kingdoms?"
"It's difficult to tell right now. Beacon Tower may not have been destroyed but it's been damaged so that communication is spotty at best. Essentially, communication between kingdoms has been cut until repairs are complete."
"And that could be weeks at best." The fox finishes.
"With the destruction of Vale and Beacon, the people are the priority, especially with winter coming soon."
"And you know all about the cold." She tries to interject some humor to the situation.
That did get the uptight man to laugh a little, making him look alive for the first time in days. "True, we of Atlas know the cold better than anyone. I'll make sure that equipment is sent down to the refugee camps."
"Anything will help at this point. Just don't use any of your mechs." She warns him.
"Believe me, security is our top priority. We'll be going through every system we have to make sure they can't be breached."
—-
"Blake, you're going to hurt yourself again!" Sun almost yelled as he held the struggling cat girl as tight as he dared. She was making another break for the door and it was up to him to stop her.
"I can't stay here! Everyone just gets hurt!"
"We're fighters! We're going to get hurt!" She squirmed in his arms, making him think about using his own clones to assist in holding her, only for the girl to go limp.
It was sad to say that this wasn't the first time that they've had this argument and struggle. Not even the third time. Sun actually lost track after the third time since he wasn't keeping track anyway but he was getting frustrated from having to do this with Blake.
He remembered when she ran away from her team during the first semester, where they had shared a hotel room for the weekend. Most of it was to keep her company at the time but they had learned to trust the other to some degree then. He gave her the space she desired but refused to leave her in a weird balance that eventually got her to open up about herself at that teashop. She shared secrets with him that she still withheld from her team for over a week after they were reunited and made up. It had taken a bit of nudging on his part to get her to open up to the humans.
Even then, he had noticed that she didn't tell them as much as she told him during that weekend.
The investigation was another sore spot, seeing so much hatred being stoked in the faunus of Vale against the humans. A reminder for Blake that she had been there for the turn from peace to terrorism and once again, she had shared secrets that he noticed that weren't shared with her team.
After the Breach, he learned that she had finally opened up to her team, a little, but nothing compared to how she had done with him. And while they were together now, she had revealed that she had opened up to her team again… in the vaguest of terms.
On one hand, he could take some pride that he was the one that she trusted the most with her past, her fears, and hopes. On the other hand, it upset him that she was still holding back from those she depended on with her life and in turn depended on her with theirs.
As for where they were now… they were locked in a closet… again.
He had found Blake trying to sneak out of her team's hospital room, barely out of surgery to close the stab wound in her stomach. The confrontation had escalated until Itazura came along and tricked Blake into a closet with him following right after. They had been stuck in here since then. They were just lucky that this was a supply closet so they were able to care for their 'needs'.
Food and drink were slipped through the door for them during that time, with a nurse checking on Blake's healing wound, so long as Sun made sure she wouldn't use the opportunity to escape.
"But it's my fault…" Blake mutters weakly as she sags in his arms and he let's her slip to the floor, sitting with her.
"C'mon Blake. You can't stop us from caring for your safety, or make decisions for us. You make your own choices and we make ours."
"Why?" She asks, tears running down her face again. "Why do you want to be with me? Everyone just gets hurt."
"Because for some of us, you are worth getting hurt for." Sun tells her, his words full of conviction. More than enough to silence her for some time.
"I still need to go." She finally says.
"Why?"
"I… have things I need to do. Something I put off for years."
"Then I'll help you do it."
"What? But it's my problem."
"Maybe, but I think you're gonna need a friend to make sure you do it."
Tears built up in her eyes again before she buried her face into his shoulder.
"But you need to do something here first." He tells her, making Blake's ears twitch and focus on him, she hadn't been able to get a new bow to hide her ears. "You should at least tell your team why you are leaving them."
Silence reigned for some time within the closet.
—-
"She tried to run away? Again?" Yang was agitated, to put it mildly. Denko made sure that she stayed in bed. Just because she couldn't feel her right arm didn't mean that it wouldn't get worse if she moved too much.
Her outburst had the effect of waking Weiss from her nap. "Try to relax for a little. Sun caught her before she could get out."
Yang blinked at that and stopped struggling to sit up. Denko kept his hand on her good shoulder and cast across her leg.
"Wait, they're together? Again?" The blonde girl asks.
Weiss looked a bit embarrassed. "You could say that." She knew about how the pair were locked in a room together before the dance and now they were again here in the hospital.
—-
Nora was bored.
It was hard for the hyper girl to sit still for long but with a cracked pelvis and a bunch of bruises all over made for a good reason to not move much. Ren wasn't much better with a few cracked ribs but he had no problems with sitting still, using the time to meditate.
Jaune was in the best shape of the team, his aura strong enough to weather the assault through the night. But their real worry had been Pyrrha, the girl having been brought in the hospital early the next morning with holes in her right foot with some bones shattered within. She had to go through reconstructive surgery so that she could be able to walk, though she wasn't going to be doing so for a few weeks. Not even crutches were provided yet so as not to tempt the girl to move.
Nora looked at the television, seeing that the screen was off. There wasn't much point to turn it on as there was little beyond some news stations on the local networks talking about the attack all day long. As if they needed another reminder why the team and their friends were in the hospital in the first place. There was a music channel but she didn't feel like listening to what was provided, it wasn't her choice of music most of the time there.
So she managed to drum on her belly. So long as she didn't hit herself too hard, she didn't worry about aggravating her injuries. The small ripples across her body actually felt rather good, even to her bruises. The songs she played through her head were an excellent distraction from the troubles that they were going through and her soft rhythmic slaps and pats filled the room with something beyond the medical equipment that monitored Pyrrha as she rested with her foot raised.
Jaune was the one who made sure that his team was cared for, anything to keep himself busy from getting them drinks and food to fluffing their pillows. Even the magazines in the room were read from front to back. At least he wasn't pacing… much. But with Ren being his usual quiet self, Pyrrha sleeping, and Nora simply not wanting to talk much, there wasn't much to do.
"Hey." A voice came from the doorway, making Jaune turn to see Neptune standing there.
"Hey." The blonde's lackluster response was taken in stride, noone faulted him for it due to the recent events.
"I see your team is like mine. Sage broke his leg and Scarlet fractured his wrist."
"What about you?" Jaune asks, only for Neptune to lift his hospital gown to expose bruises on his upper leg that looked like a bite mark, his lower leg and stomach having marks like large clawed hands had gripped him tight. It didn't take much to figure out what had happened.
"I got lucky that I killed the Beowolf just as my aura broke." He shrugs it off as he drops the gown to hide most of the bruising. "But how are you holding up?"
Jaune let out a heavy sigh, he had too many thoughts that ran through his head at once. Thoughts that made it hard to sleep and filled him with confusing feelings. "I… I could be better." He says quietly.
"We'd do better if you could relax." Ren spoke up, his words directed to his friend and team leader.
"But I can't! I can't relax. I don't know what to think about everything that happened that night!" Now the blonde was up and pacing, clearly frustrated.
"Then it may be a good time to learn to meditate." Ren responds evenly.
"But… I don't know…" Jaune trailed off, too much in his mind trying to pull him in different directions.
"Dude, you need to calm down. At least try for your team." Neptune says, a hand on Jaune's shoulder when he got in range to stop him from pacing. The leader looks back at him before looking at his team with Pyrrha still asleep, Nora watching him with worry clear in her face, and Ren was calm but a raised eyebrow practically was him screaming that his point was proven.
With a heavy sigh and slumping shoulders he walks to his calmest teammate and drops into the nearby chair. "Okay, I'll give it a shot."
"Try to stay cool man." Neptune tells him before giving the team a small wave. "I'll move onto the other teams and see how they are doing. They have most of us all on the same floor."
—-
Team CFVY were mostly alright beyond a few cuts and bruises as were Team ABRN. Both teams were in the same room together, not so much for medical attention beyond some observation since Velvet had a slight concussion from being punched by the Paladin, but because of Nolan who had been recovered from the shelter with a group of civilians. The boy had seen his team killed in front of him and was helpless to save them, thus the other teams doing their best to comfort him. Part of that meant that Coco told him of how her team had to deal with the loss of Lower Cairn and their failure to save anyone there, including the family she had attempted to lead to safety through a cave.
They all just hoped that the support and their different perspectives would be enough to help the young man get through the loss of his closest friends. Neptune had joined the little session and offered the hand of friendship to Nolan, which was wearily accepted.
—-
It was nearing noon when Itazura, flanked by Anya and Talon and an on hand nurse, unlocked the closet to release the 'prisoner'. Blake emerged clinging to Sun like a lifeline, looking absolutely terrified at what she was about to face. After all, it wasn't every day that one would confront the people that she tried to remove from her life, justifying that she was doing so for their own safety while neglecting their opinions completely.
It was due to her apprehension and the odd walk she forced herself into that made them take so long to reach the room of Team RWBY. There was a slight attempt to flee from the door, Sun's hold on her shoulders keeping her from doing so.
"Please. Just try to relax and explain yourself to them." Sun urged her once again. "They will understand if you do that." He was really hoping that things would go that smoothly. Yang was known for her temper and Weiss for her sharp tongue when roused. But this was the third time that Blake had harmed their trust in her, setting a pattern of behavior that was hard not to notice. He just hoped that letting her explain why she had to leave her friends would smooth things out between them. Either way, he'd be there for her, yet again.
The door opened and he guided Blake through, subtly noting that the Eaglewing sisters took positions on either side of the door on the outside while Itazura stepped in after him before closing the door to lean on it.
The occupants of the room had mixed reactions, mostly of surprise. Weiss immediately stood up and wrapped her arms around Blake, being careful to avoid her left side where her wound is. Denko controlled his expression better than the girls but his right hand moved to hold Yang's left arm. As for the blonde in the bed, Blake could see, once Weiss let her go to have a clear view, that Yang was openly surprised to see her but there was the hint of distrust that the faunus was keen in seeing thanks to her time with the White Fang and the rallies when they were peaceful. Obviously, her teammate had been told of her attempt to run away… again.
Then there was the lack of reaction from the team leader who was normally the most excitable. The girl was still in her bed, sleeping away her exhaustion. The sight of Ruby, Weiss, and Yang like this made her heart clench and she broke down in tears, needing to be helped to a chair by Yang's bed by Weiss and Sun.
Every time she blinked, looking at Yang, she could see the girl covered in her own blood. Sometimes it was with how her arm was barely connected, others with the limb completely severed. Then there were the worse possibilities, thanks to Adam making his motives clear when he attacked her last Shadow, where Yang had lost her head or had her chest cut open.
Then there were the thoughts of what would've happened if her other friends had been in Yang's place. Ruby would have been attacked just as coldly just to torture Blake. As would have Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren. Sun… if he knew how close he was to her would likely be worse than the others. But Weiss… she knew that Adam would have done everything in his power to ensure that she would last as long as possible with as much pain as he could squeeze out of her.
She knew how deep his hatred of the Schnee's ran, how he wouldn't hesitate to cut down the security guards. How much his quest for vengeance ran through his life and poisoned his thoughts. How those feelings turned a once respectable young man with a promising future into a creature of violence and revenge willing to destroy anything in his path, even those he claimed to be protecting- a sacrifice for the greater good, he had begun to call them when she was still with him.
But she shook those thoughts away, the comforting grip on her shoulder helped as well.
She could see that her team, her friends were here, injured but alive and on the mend. Still, she was tempted to throw herself on top of Yang and bawl her eyes out, begging for forgiveness for trying to abandon the team without a word. She remembered the talk the blonde had given her before the dance, about how her mother ran away and the other vanished on a mission to be presumed dead… the girl's heart scarred by those close to her leaving. And now she was another to that list… twice over.
"Ruby… is she? Is she going to be okay?" Blake asks, hoping to buy some time.
"The doctors said she was going to be fine. She just pushed herself way beyond her limits." Weiss responds easily enough as she had asked the doctors and nurses when they came to examine their leader. "I still don't know what happened back at the tower; we were getting attacked by that big Grimm, then there was a bright white flash. I woke up here and Ruby hasn't woken yet."
Only Itazura seemed to have noticed that Denko looked at her, their eyes locking in understanding before switching to the silver-eyed girl briefly, then back to the conscious girls.
"That's good." Blake was completely honest and she could tell that everyone else felt the same. "Um, how's your arm?" She asks Yang, still trying to buy herself time but this was also the first time she saw her friend awake since Adam attacked her.
"I dunno. It's there but I can't feel it." Yang answers, somewhat stiffly.
"That's because of the drugs they put in you and the fact that your nerves were cut. It's gonna be a while until they reconnect." Denko reminds her, but also clarifies things for Blake.
"I'm sorry." Blake hung her head, unable to look at anything but the floor right now… or to be more accurate, her chest, her belly, and her thick thighs that occupied much of her view.
"You're going to need to be more specific." Weiss flatly said, though she stayed by Blake's side. Maybe that was partly due to the short girl's wide hips being squeezed in between the arms of the chair she sat in. Blake knew her own backside filled her chair to overflowing, oozing through the gaps of the arms and back.
"I… I… I tried to run away again!" She admits and flung herself onto Yang's lap, rubbing her face into the legs underneath the blankets as she shed more tears.
She was surprised by the hand on her back, one was warm and strong that she knew to be Sun's but the smaller, colder one could only be from Weiss. "You may want to explain a little." The heiress tells her in a voice that almost seemed to be the gentle tone she reserved for Ruby.
It took a few moments for the cat to collect her thoughts and not immediately go into blaming herself for everything. Too many times to remember where Sun had talked to her about that since she had woken up from her own surgery.
"Adam… his name is Adam. He- he was once someone very… close to me. Back when I was in the White Fang." She began, letting her friends know about herself, Weiss making the connection to the very vague story that Blake had told them about her past after Ironwood had told them about Yang's disqualification from the tournament.
"But he came here to destroy Vale. But when he found me… he made a vow to kill everyone I love. I can't let him do that! That's why I need to get away from you. All of you." She broke down from whatever little control she had again.
"But we can…" Weiss' words died on her lips. She was going to say that they could take care of themselves but Blake had been beaten and stabbed by Adam and Yang nearly lost her arm to him, far too close to her life as well. Even then, there were the SDC employees that would be captured and executed… something that was very likely the orders, if not the handiwork, of a man who was willing to attack an entire kingdom.
"You can't make our decisions for us." The heiress corrected herself but said firmly.
Blake didn't need to look at Sun to feel the slight smug satisfaction coming from him. But the conviction in Weiss' face told her enough that she wasn't going to win that argument with her. She couldn't with Sun which was why she was here in the first place.
Then amber eyes moved to lilac, still holding some distrust but also understanding now. "Why else are you leaving? The real reason." Yang spoke for the first time since Blake entered the room.
Blake looked away towards the empty bed, the one that she had woken up on yesterday. That also meant that she had a clear view of Sun's encouraging smile, though it lacked the usual warmth that she felt that was out of place on him.
"My parents." She admits.
"Your parents? But you've never said anything about your parents. We just kind of assumed…" Weiss trailed off.
"It's been years since I've seen them."
"Don't you have pictures? We may be able to help locate them for you." Weiss offers. It wasn't too hard to know why Yang was remaining silent about the subject of parents.
"I… have pictures of them. But I'm too ashamed to look at them."
"Why? What happened?"
Blake let out a sigh as she recalled the bad memories. "About six years ago now, the leadership of the White Fang changed. My parents decided to leave when that happened." Sun knew that she was being vague and withholding details again but let things play out, this may be the best that she was able to do with as upset as she is.
"But I was young and I yelled at them." Blake shuddered in her seat at the memory. "Calling them cowards… was probably the nicest thing I said to them before I ran away from them that day. I haven't seen them in person since that day."
Weiss saw how broken the cat girl was and found that she could relate, in a fashion. She had her own parental issues to deal with but she could see them just about any time she wanted… though she'd prefer her mother if given the choice.
As for Yang, she remembered some of the times growing up, acting out as a younger teen and getting into arguments with her dad. Sure, there may have been a time or two where she really let out her frustrations on him verbally that she wished she never had said, but glad that Ruby hadn't been around to hear her at those times. But she had made up with him soon enough after those times, usually after spending some time with Denko while she calmed down.
Denko and Itazura had little in the way when it came to interactions with adults in such a way. There were a few attempts from Spider trying to recruit them back when they were in Mistral for a bit and the one or two adults who bothered them in Vale before Qrow took them under his wing. So their closest experience with bad adult figures came from the bitch that ran the orphanage but they had left her for dead when they escaped. Not really comparable.
"But you want to go home and apologize to them?" Yang asks, the distrust fading from her eyes to be replaced by sympathy. Blake could only nod in confirmation. "I guess I can't fault you for that." The blonde sighs.
Blake snapped her eyes up to Yang. "You- you're not mad?"
That made Yang's eyes narrow into a glare. "I am mad that you tried to leave us… again." Her voice was low but heard through the room, Blake curling in on herself out of guilt. "But I'm glad someone could get my sister to explain herself."
That got the attention of everyone. "Sister?" Weiss was the one to speak since Blake was gaping like a fish.
Yang rolled her head back on her pillow to stare at the ceiling. "I came to Beacon with one sister. Looks like I'm leaving with three." She shifted to look at the pair for the last words.
"Sisters?" Blake squeaks out in disbelief.
"Yeah dummy. I see you as a sister, both of you." Yang gives them a grin.
Weiss was the one to act on those words, leaping up to give the blonde a hug and switched to embracing Blake. "Oh! I have more sisters! I see you two the same way!" The heiress gushes, giving Blake another blast of positive surprise that she wasn't prepared for.
"You… want me to be your sister?" Blake finally asks as her brain finally begins to catch up.
"If you want, sis." Yang responds, keeping her smile.
That opened the floodgates in the cat as she flung herself onto Yang to hug her, getting a pat on the back before three pairs of hands pulled her off Yang's arm, though that left Weiss open to have arms wrapped around her.
The three girls basked in the acceptance of each other, the boys enjoying the fact that they are doing so.
"Damn it Jacques!" A familiar voice could be heard yelling out in the hall, breaking the peace in the room of Team RWBY. "I told you that you can't land here! All pilots are ordered to shoot down any aircraft that doesn't have the passcode within Vale's airspace as a precaution. That means yours too since I know you don't have those codes."
The room's occupants looked at each other awkwardly… aside from the light breathing of Ruby sleeping through everything.
"Yes, Weiss is safe but you can't just take her back to Atlas." James Ironwood could be heard pacing the hall outside. "I know she's your daughter but she is also a student of Beacon." There was a short pause. "It doesn't matter if Beacon has been shut down from the attack, she is a student of Beacon who has been fighting to keep the people of Vale as safe as possible."
Weiss suddenly found herself the center of attention as they listened. It wasn't hard to notice that the background noise of the hospital staff and occupants of the other rooms had gone silent so that the General was the only source of sound.
"Don't forget that I have two seats on the Atlas Council. Every Atlesian citizen within the borders of Vale is under my protection, which includes every soldier and Huntsman and Huntress. That includes Weiss making her have double the protection from two kingdoms. Now turn your ship around and don't call me until you are back in your home office!"
"Damn… sounds like you have people fighting over you." Yang comments, garnering a snicker from Itazura and an eye roll from Denko. Sun was stuck in a half hug with Blake, frozen in their excitement thanks to the outburst outside.
"James! People are trying to rest, this is a hospital so it would be best to keep your voice down." The voice of Glynda Goodwitch could be heard through the door, though much quieter.
"And someone is getting burnt." The fox at the door laughs, though the knock made her stop as the door slid open.
"Forgive the intrusion but…" Glynda entered but seeing Yang awake and looking at her made the teacher stop and have an odd combination of joy and shame on her face. "Miss Xiao Long, I'm glad to see you've woken."
"Hey." The blonde on the bed waved her left hand weakly, already getting tired of the wild mood shifts in the short time she'd been awake. She hadn't even had a chance to eat anything yet.
"And Miss Belladonna, I see Mr. Wukong has brought you back."
The cat girl curled in on herself, regretting her actions of trying to abandon her friends, even some of what she had said to Sun while they were confined. At least he didn't take anything personally and the few times she had hit him were shrugged off. As for Sun himself, he simply gave a nervous laugh as he always got awkward around the stern teacher focusing on him.
Ironwood walked in the room, already making the room feel a bit crowded. As if it wasn't enough, having five plus-sized women, three men, and a small girl in a hospital room that has four beds and some equipment in it. "Ahem, I do apologize for the commotion outside." He did look as sheepish as possible for the normally stern man. At least he was also properly dressed, the mismatched sides of his body were rather disturbing to those who didn't know or weren't ready for the sight of half his body being prosthetic and the other soft flesh, that had gotten softer thanks to the Issue.
"Is my father really coming to take me away?" Weiss had to ask.
"That shouldn't be an issue anymore. The airspace around Vale is fairly secure."
"Would you really have shot him down?"
James let a small smile slip. "I'm sure a few warning shots would have made him get the point." That got a few grins from around the room, even from Glynda.
"But that does bring us to another subject; what to do with all of you and the other students." Glynda takes over the conversation. The reactions of surprise were expected but she pressed on.
"With the amount of damage that Beacon has sustained, all classes will be suspended until rebuilding efforts have reached a point that we feel that it is acceptable to resume. I am assuming that construction will still be extensive around the campus at the time of reopening, but that time is unknown as of now." She paused to let that sink in to her students. Even if the visiting students like Sun, Denko, and Itazura wouldn't be affected by the closing of the school, they had their friends here to worry about.
"In addition to the damages to Beacon, Vale has suffered heavy damages as well and will require extensive reconstruction. Thus the rebuilding of Beacon will be delayed while the city is undergoing repairs. Which means I have to figure out what to do with the students I do have." It was unspoken that there were some students that didn't make it through that night or succumbed to their injuries since then.
"However, we have come to some decisions so far." James took over now so Glynda could regain her composure. "For now, we are accepting any students who are willing to volunteer their services to continue to defend Vale and Beacon while assisting the cleaning up of the damages. For others, they will be sent home to recover."
He didn't need to say anything to imply that Yang would be among those returning home. Ruby was likely as well as she had yet to wake up.
"Yes Yang, you and your sister will be returning to Patch." Glynda confirmed the thoughts. "However, Mr. Mori will be going with you as he will need time to heal and I will be assigning him to protect the island until I call him for another mission." The blonde boy simply nodded, giving a wave with his immobilized wrist in confirmation.
"But what about the rest of our team?" Weiss asks.
"Well… we believe that it may be best for you to get away from this for a short time." Glynda sounded regretful.
"You're sending me home?"
"Actually, going home would be your choice. However, I could have you receive some training while in Atlas and go on some missions to help those hurt from the events of the Fall of Beacon." Ironwood tells her.
"But why back to Atlas? I could help here."
"Because, even though the vast majority of the damage has occurred here in Vale, much of the attack was broadcast to the rest of the world and Grimm attacked everywhere. Every Kingdom suffered their own damages and outlying towns have varied reports of destruction. Some of them were reporting full evacuations before communications failed." He spoke in a practiced, almost detached tone, as though he had said this many times before. If he was going room to room and speaking to people there and others not in the hospital, it was presumed that much of the emotion would have been lost after several repetitions.
"We simply feel that it would help you to return to a more familiar, home environment to assist the people there with your skills so that you may return to Vale stronger mentally and physically."
"I see." Weiss narrowed her eyes at the man, finding that it was odd to take her home but not home.
"If it helps you, your return to Atlas will be with someone you are familiar with while I assist Glynda with organizing efforts here."
"I'm not happy about leaving my team, just so you know." Weiss made sure to get her point across as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"Noted." James gives her a nod.
"Professor Goodwitch?"
"Blake, since we are not in school, you may call me Glynda." She says gently.
"I want to go home, Glynda." Blake stood up, almost dragging Sun with her but holding onto him for support, but not so much for the physical aspect. "I need to go home. I… have things that I need to take care of."
The blonde woman didn't look too surprised, as she had known a fair portion of the girl's history soon after her application to Beacon was submitted. But what she knew was only the basics, enough to get an idea about her past better than most. Yet this seemed to be highly personal. At the same time, she had an idea of what was likely her problem and what she could do to help.
"I see. And I'm assuming that Mr. Wukong will be accompanying you?"
The teens looked at each other with some surprise and embarrassment, Sun silently asking for permission and willing to help her.
"If he wants to." Blake managed to say, the monkey boy straightening up in surprise with a wider smile.
"I'll do my best to not let you down." He declared with no small amount of conviction.
"Very well, I'll see what I can do to set up arrangements for you two." Glynda drew her scroll and input some notes.
"What about my team?" Sun asks, the concern for his friends clear.
"They will be flying back to Mistral with most of the teams from Haven. They do have injuries that they need to heal from and they will be in place to help their Kingdom when they are ready." Goodwitch informs him, making him slump a little at the news.
"I guess we should see them before they leave and let them know." The blonde shrugs, now it was Blake who seemed to be the support.
"What about Team JNPR? Are they okay?" Yang asks, not having been told about them yet at all. Blake wasn't any better as she had been 'occupied' with other problems. Weiss was better with knowing about their friends but her concerns were spread thin with the worry for her own team.
"Miss Nikos' surgery went well and will hopefully be walking again in a few weeks. Miss Valkyrie and Mr. Ren are restricted due to their injuries but they and Mr. Arc have volunteered to help here in Vale." Glynda provides, giving the group some relief.
"As much as we would like to stay and talk some more, we do have others to talk to." James cuts in to end the conversation. "Please, do try to relax so that you may heal well."
With that, both adults left the room leaving the students to their own devices.
—-
Two days later and it was time for Blake and Sun to leave. Glynda had gotten in contact with a Captain that was taking a ship full of faunus to Menagerie out of Vale, where the pair would serve as security, with Itazura going with them as the team leader. The trio was seen off at the hospital lobby by their teams, though Ruby was still asleep in her bed.
Later that day, Winter had returned to Vale to pick up Weiss, with an airship full of fresh personnel and equipment to help with the clearing and rebuilding efforts, as well as to take many of the injured soldiers and any Atlas students and civilians they could take at the same time. Once again, Ruby was still asleep but had received parting hugs from the girls before they left the room for the last time.
As for Yang and Denko, they tried to find ways to occupy themselves in the room that could be done with one arm each. It wasn't that Denko couldn't use his left arm, but he didn't feel like stressing the mending bones too much so early or making it look like he was mocking Yang with her right arm not able to even feel anything. Honestly, their greatest amusement came from him repositioning her right hand into gestures and seeing how long it would take for her or someone else walking in to notice.
It wasn't until the next day that Ruby finally awoke, and was still groggy by the time Taiyang Xiao Long arrived an hour later, finally able to make it through the traffic of Vale from Patch. While the man had been given the briefing from Glynda about their injuries, having set up an office of sorts in a room next to the lobby to be near her injured students and to coordinate things with the rest of the Vale Council that she was now a part of as the Headmistress of Beacon, for whatever good that title was at the moment.
"Oh, my girls! I'm so glad to see you!" The man greeted his daughters with a hug, though being gentle with Ruby and cautious of Yang's arm. Though Denko wasn't spared the embrace either, not that he minded too much affection from one of the few adults he truly respected and felt that he owed a lot to for getting himself and his sister off the streets.
The girls did gripe a little over the display, if out of habit and hoping that this didn't set him off to be more overprotective than normal. Yet with the youngest now conscious, the doctors were able to give her a proper checkup and a meal so she had more than an IV drip to sustain her. The family were allowed to stay the night so that they could return to Patch in the morning, after one last examination from the doctors before they left.
"We'll try to keep in touch." Ruby told Jaune as they stopped by to say goodbye.
"Maybe we'll be able to stop out for a day, get a break from work." The boy awkwardly half joked with a shrug.
"Give us a call if you do get over to the island. It'll be good to see some friends." Yang told him. If she was going to say anything else, she was stopped by Nora moving as fast as she could through her pain to give the sisters and Denko a hug, followed by Ren giving each a handshake, and the three stopping by Pyrrha's bed for a handshake.
Ruby was wheeled out by her father soon after, followed by Yang and Denko, the former a bit off yet from some of the medication she was on yet combined from the slight atrophy of being confined to the bed for most of the time to rest and as the hospital staff admitted, staying out of the way as they were too busy with the influx of patients to deal with those already in wandering the halls, even if the movement would benefit them.
Luckily, there was a rental car that would take them to the port where the ferry was likely waiting to take them and other passengers to Patch.
—-
Deep in a mysterious land that seemed to be absent of sunlight, the clouds overhead were so thick as to barely allow the difference between night and day to be known. Instead, dark violet crystals dotted the landscape that seemed to glow with a light of their own, plentiful enough that their light reflected from the overcast skies, adding to the dim light that created an eerie sight. That was amplified by the sparse vegetation, the little that grew seemed to be thorny vines that grew in patches around the otherwise bare rocks.
As desolate as the land appeared to be, there was life about; Grimm of all varieties wandered around, particularly concentrated around tar-like pools that dotted the ground. Then there was the large castle that was situated on a high hill that overlooked much of the land around it, the glass windows and balconies offering grand views.
But it was the occupants of the castle that were of note.
A large male figure, highly muscular and tall sat in a chair in the shadows, seemingly content to be left alone and not bothering others.
That contrasted with a shorter but still tall man with a very slim build that sat on a plush chair, reading a thick tome by the fireplace and candles.
Another male seemed to be squatting in another corner, appearing to rock in the shadows and quietly giggling to himself.
A young woman stayed as far from the latter man as possible, appearing nearly as scared of the castle and its occupants as the man in the corner.
Another young man sat near the girl, relaxed almost as if he were on a vacation.
Yet it was in another wing of the castle where another young woman lay in a bed, wrapped in many bandages so that it was nearly impossible to tell who they were. The smell of medication heavy in the air around her.
And the woman who was looking down on her, the Mistress of the castle, looked at her with a passive expression on her pale face. The black dress she wore seemed to be made of shadows that contrasted with her nearly white skin and hair.
"Dear Ozpin, it seems that this time you have lost. It matters little that my goals have not been fully realized, just that you continue to suffer as you watch everything that you've strived to build falls apart around you. But rest assured, that Beacon was only the beginning." Her voice was smooth and haunting, the tone calm but carried more than a hint of a threat and pleasure at the pain that had already been inflicted.
AN: And there we have it! Volume 3 stuff is done with a chapter that's over twelve thousand words long, easily the longest in this series yet. I do apologize for the delay in my normal update schedule, but life was draining me dry of a lot of my energy, making me really feel that the little break will be a welcome one.
But as you may have been able to tell, the parting of Team RWBY has been one of better terms than what was given in canon, though there were some stresses. Also, Pyrrha made it through this time! Ruby still used her Silver Eyes powers, this time saving Weiss and herself. And we have a glimpse into the Land of Darkness and the castles occupants.
Things coming up when we return are going to be quite different from what many of you are used to but I'm sure that less than three weeks will be enough to leave you wanting for more. As always, reviews are welcome and art for this series can be found on my DA page.
I'll see you all again on the 28th for the anniversary!