Beta-ed by xenosaiyan
"Are you alright? Are you hurt? Does it hurt anywhere? Ruby, does it hurt anywhere?"
"Dad, come on," Ruby groaned, bursting into rose petals to escape her father's crushing hug. Of course, as soon as she noticed Erza's stink eye on her for blowing off her parent, she immediately rushed back towards him and gently placed her small, nimble hands in his huge, protective palms. "I'm fine. My aura wasn't even broken."
Her father's ocean blue eyes stared at her, pleading for her to be telling the truth, before he finally let out a sigh of relief. He'd engulfed her in a bear hug the second she'd come through the portal, and as embarrassing as she found it that he'd been checking her over like she was five in front of all her badass huntsmen and wizard friends, she could understand his terror. Especially when Yang hadn't come back home.
Home. It felt strange being back in her house on Patch. As alien as it felt to return after the Fall of Beacon, feeling so much older since she left for school, now doubly so after all she'd learned on the trip to Haven. Especially since her living room didn't just have Wendy and Carla in it now, but most of the Strongest Team, her android friend that she'd thought was dead, and her headmaster reincarnated into her new farmboy friend. Suffice to say, seeing Penny and Erza alongside the coffee table she'd stained with chocolate when she was six was a surreal experience. The only thing stranger was seeing Raven of all people sagged back in a recliner, very pointedly looking away from Taiyang, whose eyes never left Ruby.
Not everyone was there of course. Nora and Carla had taken the heavily injured Pyrrha and Ren to lie down upstairs, along with the still unconscious Wendy. They'd offered to take Blake as well, but she'd declined, merely sitting herself on the couch while casting a worried glance towards Oscar for some reason, enough that Lucy had noticed and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"It's Yang we need to worry about," Blake muttered, smacking a palm over her face. "How could I let her run off like that? How could I be so stupid?"
Ruby instantly took that as her cue to relieve herself from her father and dash to her teammate's side, carefully engulfing her injured friend in an embrace. "This isn't your fault. If you guys hadn't shown up when you did, who knows if we would have won against Emerald, Mercury, and Happy. What Yang did was… well, Yang. She does that."
"Maybe," Blake sighed. "But I should have stopped her before—"
"Not. Your. Fault." Ruby emphasized. She pulled back and flashed Blake a small friendly smile. "The world isn't a fairy tale, but we're here to make it better."
Blake's amber eyes locked onto her leader's silver, her face warped by hesitation. Yet, after a long moment of staring into the red hooded girl's gaze, she managed a tiny upward twitch on her lips. "It's really good to see you again, Ruby."
The requip wizard giggled. "You show up with Lucy and Loke to save the day and it's good to see me again? You really need to give yourself more credit, Blake."
"Seconded," Lucy chimed, patting the cat faunus on the shoulder. "You saved our butts back on Menagerie too."
"Menagerie?" Gray piped up, plopped down in a chair while Penny looked him over with some kind of scanner. "Did the Gates hit there as well?"
"Yeah, this scorpion guy named Tyrian showed up looking for Blake and when I was freed from my sphere, he—" Lucy paused in her explanation, her eyes flickering to her guildmate. "Wait, 'as well'?"
Gray frowned, Penny seeming to concentrate even harder on going over him.
"Those ships we saw at Haven," the Ice Devil Slayer said. "They weren't exactly traitors."
He told them all what had occurred in Atlas, how his sphere had been opened by the mystical backlash from Penny's initial creation, how Atlas Intelligence had recruited him and used him to draw in Weiss with the promise of protecting the kingdom from Adam Taurus. And how Esper Rosenflos had used the mask of COMMAND ESR to manipulate her way into taking over the entire kingdom, claiming the power of the Winter Maiden… and decimating Weiss's family.
By the end of his story, everyone's faces were white with dread. Oscar's eyes flashed green as Ozpin took control, leaning all his weight on his cane as his palm pressed into his forehead.
"Esper Rosenflos," he murmured. "I never suspected. There was a knife at James's back and I never even suspected."
"This ain't on you, Oz," Qrow growled, his fists clenching at his sides. "Ironwood… he wouldn't want you to blame yourself."
The scythe-wielder snatched up his flask from his hip and raised it in a silent salute, before downing a huge swig from it.
"Perhaps," Ozpin replied. He sighed and turned to Taiyang. "I doubt that the Council wouldn't notice an Atlas military craft entering Vale airspace after the Fall of Beacon. What's our political situation?"
Ruby's father tilted his head in confusion. "Oz?"
"Yes, it's me, Tai. I understand the confusion but please…"
"Right, right, sorry. Just, didn't think the whole reincarnation thing would be a kid," the blond huntsman said, awkwardly rubbing his elbow. "Politics wise, we're on alright ground for now. Glynda cleared out the Grimm from Beacon and took over your old council seat as headmistress. She's been going to bat for us. Fortunately, the rest of them aren't exactly happy about the news about Atlas breaking the Treaty of Vytal, so they've gone along with her granting Weiss asylum as a Beacon student."
"Good old Glynda. Always got our back," Qrow chuckled, before a slight frown took over his face. "So… did you tell her about James?"
Taiyang sighed. "She's handling it."
"Where's Weiss?" Ruby inquired, eager to reunite with her partner after so many months, especially when they'd both been through so much. "I'd think she'd jump at the chance to fight back after everything that's happened."
Raven shrugged, The Relic of Knowledge jingling on her waist. "She wasn't here when I portalled in."
"She's out training," Gray explained, though he couldn't hide the shadow of worry that fluttered over his face. "She does that a lot these days."
"Every day where she doesn't have to provide testimony for Professor Goodwitch in council matters," Penny elaborated. "She wakes up at six-thirty, eats breakfast, and then heads down to the lake. She returns at precisely noon for lunch, and then heads back out until dinner at six, and meditates until bed at ten. She is exceptionally punctual."
Ruby and Blake shared a fond grin, Lucy and Erza both sniggering.
"That sounds like Weiss," Ruby remarked. Her partner had no way of knowing what was going on at Haven and the time zone difference meant that while it had been the dead of night in Mistral's capital, it was mid-afternoon on Patch. They'd been lucky Raven had caught Gray and Penny at home.
"Someone should head out and get her," Loke advised, his eyes narrowed at the Relic of Knowledge. "That lamp is a divine artifact of Ankh."
Qrow cocked an eyebrow. "Who?"
"The God of Light."
"He has a name?"
Loke sighed. "He does. And that thing has his power infused into its very being. Without the vault to hide its mystical signature, it's basically a giant beacon for Umbral Spirits."
"What?!" Everyone but Ozpin gasped.
Well, almost everyone. Raven just stared ahead unamused. She casually removed the ancient divine artifact from her belt and tossed it onto the coffee table with a resounding thunk.
Loke glanced at Ozpin, almost looking… saddened?
"You didn't tell them?" the Celestial Spirit asked.
"I had hoped it wouldn't be necessary. The ideal situation would have kept the lamp in the vault," Ozpin replied, though he glanced away as if ashamed of something.
Erza raised an eyebrow, her gaze flickering between the pair. "You two know each other?"
The Lion Spirit and the time wizard shared a look. They didn't speak, but Ruby had had enough silent conversations with Yang and Weiss to know when one was taking place in front of her. She couldn't tell exactly what they were communicating, but judging by their facial features, Loke wanted Ozpin to say something to the rest of them, and the headmaster was… scared? He was desperately pleading for the Celestial Spirit to help him.
After a few moments, Loke sighed. "We're old friends. His first life's parents held my contract when I was younger. A lot younger. Like Lucy and Aquarius."
Ozpin flashed the Lion of the Zodiac a grateful smile before turning his gaze on Lucy. "Indeed. Though, I lacked any talent for my parents' magic. Something I've been told is the opposite in your case, Ms. Heartfilia. It is an honor to meet such a friend to the Celestial Spirits."
"Oh, um…" Lucy stuttered. "Thank you, Sir Ozma. From what Loke's told me, you're a good friend to them too."
"Ozma?" Taiyang queried.
"My first life," Ozpin explained, though he looked a little piqued at its mention, glancing at Lucy and Blake. "How much did he…"
"Everything we need to know," Blake declared with a frown.
Lucy raised her hands in a reassuring manner. "Nothing you need to be afraid of."
Ruby, along with everyone else outside the quartet of Ozpin, Blake, Lucy, and Loke, tilted her head in confusion. What the heck was going here?
Eh, if it was important, they'd tell her. In the meantime, she had something far more crucial to get to. A certain partner of hers who'd been through way too much recently.
"I'll go grab Weiss," the red hooded huntress proclaimed. "If Grimm are going to start coming down on the town, we need to get her back behind the fortifications. We can alert the guards on the way."
"Don't. The CCT's been repaired enough for calls within the kingdom," her father informed her. "I'll call up the militia and Signal. You get your friend."
"Thank you, sir," Blake said, rising to her feet with a wince. "Let's go, Ruby."
"Uh, I can handle it myself," Ruby assured her injured teammate. "You shouldn't strain yourself."
"I'll be fine. My aura's back up and the only threat is Grimm," Blake pointed out. "With my magic, I can take care of them easily if she's in over her head."
Ruby pursed her lips before giving in with a shrug. "I've been hunting the Grimm around here since I was thirteen. Honestly, I doubt anything around here could even make Weiss break a sweat."
Gray leaned forward and frowned as Penny helped him to his feet. "On that, you can be sure."
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She stood at the center of the lake, poised and ready as the water swished over her shimmering glyph. Grimm bore down on her through the surrounding trees, snarling and preparing to pounce. It was strange that so many strong specimens had come so close to Patch's settlement.
No matter. She only had interest in listening to one source.
"Open the Gate."
The voice sounded through her head every time she called upon her summons now, dark, deep, and brimming with ancient power. She'd been frightened when she'd first heard it back home, but now she knew better than to be so cowardly. Her enemy was far too towering to flinch from the strength she'd need.
"Open the Gate."
She understood the symbols interwoven through her summoning glyphs so much better now, understood their meaning as she spawned the white sigil beneath her. Winter had often told her that their semblance was like a muscle, growing stronger with use. She felt like she had reached a new level of that, like she'd been pulling her summons through a tiny crack in a door before and she'd finally figured out how to tug it open properly. Just a fraction though. The actual door, this Gate, was metaphysically enormous. She doubted she'd ever be strong enough to wrench it open completely.
"Open the Gate!"
The Grimm surrounding her charged, sloshing through the lake, their claws hungry for her flesh.
She knelt down and jammed Myrtenaster beneath her feet, spawning a summoning glyph right beneath her feet. But this glyph was not white as it once would have been. Her magic flowed through it, turning the glow pitch-black, as dark as the glyph that had kept her from saving her sister.
As black as Esper Rosenflos's heart.
"I'll kill you," she growled, ice erupting out across the lake and bashing the Grimm aside in a hail of frozen fog.
From the dark mist, her new champion towered above them all.
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"Alright, I am ninety-nine-point-seven-nine percent sure we have nullified all the Bane Particles in your system," Penny happily proclaimed, detaching Gray from the blood filtration equipment they'd borrowed from the local hospital, an icy mist rising from the holes in his flesh.
Lucy couldn't keep the concerned frown from her face. "Did you not think he was clean before you went to Haven?"
"No," Penny revealed. "Then I was ninety-eight-point-six percent sure."
"I'm not sure how I—"
"No, no, it's more than a full percent increase," Erza remarked, her brow furrowed in calculation. "That's better."
A bead of sweat dropped down Lucy's forehead. "Yeah, but it's not that much…"
"I'll be fine," Gray assured them, rising to his feet and stretching his hands over his head. "I've been filtering out my blood and running it through my magic for months. Bane Particles can't hold up against Devil Slayer power, so it was just a matter of getting them all out."
Lucy supposed that made sense. Remnant's medical technology was more advanced than what they'd had on Earthland, especially given the lack of magic. And Laxus hadn't exactly told the rest of them that he was still suffering from his infection. By the time Gray had found out, they were about to go into battle at Hargeon, and there hadn't been enough time for such a time-consuming detox process.
Penny stepped back and flashed the three Fairy Tail members a glowing smile. "Sensational! In that case, I will assist with the others' medical care so you three can reacquaint yourselves after being separated from each other and isolated from the natural flow of time for countless eons!"
Lucy's mouth twisted as she tried to figure out how to respond to that. Fortunately, Penny marched down the house's upper hall and strode into Ruby's bedroom, where Wendy and Ren were being tended to by Carla and Nora, before the Celestial Spirit Wizard could put her foot in her mouth.
"What a pleasant girl," Erza remarked, smiling after Penny. "Ruby really knows how to pick her friends."
"I'll say," Gray chuckled. "She really pulled our butts out of the fire back in Atlas."
Lucy cracked a smile at that. Even if Penny was a bit odd, and given she was apparently a robot that might have been expected, she had saved her friends when they were in trouble. That made her honorary Fairy Tail in the blonde's book.
Of course, then there was the matter of her full Fairy Tail guildmates in the room. Lucy had dreamed up a lot of ways of being reunited with her friends after she'd sealed them away during the battle with the White Witch. And yet, in the middle of Yang's bedroom, standing over Ruby's unconscious friend Pyrrha, stranded thousands of years in the future, had somehow not been among them. All these years and she still hadn't learned to expect the unexpected.
Not to say it was without familiarity. Erza was heavily injured and covered in a swath of bandages, while Gray had somehow lost his shirt the moment she'd looked away. Different world, different time, her friends were still her friends.
All except the dearest two of all, for some reason…
Tears peeked at the edges of Lucy's vision. Forgetting the extent of Erza's injuries, the Celestial Spirit Wizard lunged forward and engulfed her guildmates in a hug.
"Lucy?" Gray squeaked in surprise.
"What's wrong?" Erza fearfully inquired.
"Nothing," Lucy blubbered, clutching her guildmates even closer. "I'm just… I'm so happy to see you guys again. You and Wendy and Carla and… and…"
Erza frowned. The Titania carefully extracted her arms from the embrace and brought them around to pull Lucy in herself. "Happy and End."
"Happy and who?" Gray said. "Where's Natsu? And why isn't Happy here then? Did he get kidnapped by Salem too?"
Erza sighed and quickly explained what they knew of the situation. Gray's face dimmed with every revelation.
"Okay, Natsu being missing in action, I can believe. Happy somehow getting tricked into working for Salem, I can believe a little less, but he can be an airhead sometimes, so it isn't impossible. But this End guy being E.N.D.'s original personality? That's impossible," the ice wizard declared. He looked to Lucy. "Even if he really was, we saw the book disappear. Any demonic part of Natsu would have died with it and Zeref."
"Maybe," Lucy muttered. "But what if… what if it didn't? I mean, I was trying to separate Natsu's human and demonic sides and erase the demon part so he wouldn't die with Zeref. What if… what if by trying to do that, I created this other identity but also broke its tie to Zeref?"
"That's assuming an awful lot," Gray pointed out. "The book was still destroyed when Zeref died."
"Was it? I mean it's not like any of us have any other experience with Etherious books. Maybe what we thought was it being destroyed was just some self-defense mechanism activating, like when it tried to kill me when I was rewriting it," Lucy argued, her face suddenly turning pale as a pit of realization fell through her stomach. "When I… tried to kill the identity that I created."
Gray cocked an eyebrow. "I don't know. That still sounds like way too much of a leap based on what we know. Besides, how did Salem of all people get her hands on it then? Even if Hell's Core could make it a body of its own—"
"It has Natsu's body," Erza informed him. "Wendy confirmed it with her senses."
"So? Sting said that Larcade guy smelled just like Natsu too," Gray reminded them. He planted a comforting hand on Lucy's shoulder. "We don't know where the hell old flame-brain really is or how this lookalike came to exist. But until we get some better information about it, there's no point in beating yourself up like you did something wrong trying to save Natsu back then."
"Maybe," Lucy murmured, her insecurity still plaguing her with doubts. "But then there's the Fairy Spheres I casted. I know you guys know about Remnant being the future, but Loke told me and Blake some details about how it came to be. He doesn't know everything that's happened since our time, he doesn't know anything about this End, there's some stuff you should know. Stuff that… well—ow!"
Erza bopped her over the head, shocking her out of her self-esteem issues through sheer pain. Lucy was about to ask why she'd felt the need to nearly shatter her skull with one of her love taps when she caught her senior glaring at her.
"Don't you dare say you regret putting us in those spheres," Erza commanded.
"Yes, ma'am!" Lucy shouted, her body instinctively snapping into a salute.
"Good." Erza's face softened, glancing back and gazing at Pyrrha with tender affection. "If you hadn't, I wouldn't have the daughter I do now."
"Yeah, exactly," Gray added with a shrug. "Besides, it's not like we had any better options back… then…"
The Ice Devil Slayer's eyes slowly widened just as Lucy's did, the pair of them registering exactly what their friend had said. Slowly, the wizards turned towards the unconscious huntress in Yang's bed. Then they looked at Erza. Then they looked back at Pyrrha. Then they looked back at Erza. Then…
"Daughter?!"
Erza's grin blossomed even wider, focused entirely on Pyrrha while ignoring her friends' various flailing limbs.
"But… but… but…" Lucy stammered. "How?!"
Erza shot the blonde a cheeky smirk. "Lucy, I've seen your underwear collection. I know you're already well aware of the answer to that question."
"No, not that 'how'! 'How' how?!" the Celestial Spirit Wizard clarified. "She's a full-grown woman! How long have you been out of your sphere!?"
"Eighteen years."
"Eighteen—how?! You haven't aged a day!"
Erza grinned, striking a pose that somehow made her look gorgeous even while completely wrapped in bandages. "Good diet and constant exercise."
Lucy wanted to object that such measures, while important, wouldn't keep her from not changing at all in nearly two decades, but since it was Erza, she found she could only deflate in defeat. She really should have learned by now that in terms of raw, implausible beauty, the only one who could compete with the Queen of the Fairies was Mira. And Yang, but that was more the key-wielder's personal opinion which was probably more than a little biased.
"Erza's daughter…" Gray muttered. The man who trained naked in blizzards was shivering like a madman, staring at Pyrrha's bedridden form like she was a monster from his darkest nightmares. "Mini-Erza… two Erzas…"
Erza clamped him in another tight hug, jittery with excitement. "Oh, I can't wait to introduce her to her Uncle Gray and Aunt Lucy! Oh, she's going to love you!"
"I'm sure she will," Lucy smiled, the redhead's enthusiasm infectious. "But Ruby and the others told us about Pyrrha during their time with the guild, right? Were you always her mother then?"
"Eh. It's time travel. If we think too hard about it, things will just make less sense. Right, Gray?"
"Erza time-traveling… millions of Erzas across time and space…"
"See, Gray gets it," Erza nodded. "As long as we can make sure not to accidentally erase everyone we know and love from existence by drastically altering our own timeline, I find it's best to focus on the now."
"I suppose that makes sense," Lucy admitted. Even still, her brow furrowed in thought, her mind flickering back to her last moments on Earthland. "But right before I sealed myself away, something didn't add up. Mira's reaction to Sitara when she mentioned Ruby, like she'd just realized something horrible… and what she said before I cast the Sphere, it was like she knew it was the last time she'd see me—"
"Wait, Mira?!" Erza exclaimed, dashing in front of Lucy and frantically grabbing onto the blonde's shoulders. "Mira was there when you sealed yourself!?"
"Uh, yeah? The entire guild was at the battle. Except Juvia for some reason. And I guess it was kind of weird that Jellal wasn't there either, he was hunting the White Witch—you know that's not important," Lucy proclaimed, cutting off her terrified rambling in the face of the Titania. "Yes, Mira was there. Sitara healed her after you… stabbed… oh."
Tears of happiness trickled down Erza's cheeks. "She survived. She survived. Really should have seen that coming. Never could beat her in a straight fight."
Lucy flashed her friend a soft smile and wrapped her in a hug. "She is pretty amazing."
The women stood there for a few moments, united in the solidarity of their friendship. Whatever insanity had bombarded their lives, however many years they'd been apart, that bond would never waver.
"Gray," Erza suddenly growled, not even turning around from hugging Lucy. "You better not have just conjured an ice stick to poke at my daughter."
Gray, who had already inched the frozen pole towards Pyrrha's shoulder while hiding behind Yang's dresser, immediately dissipated his stick. "… no. I'd never, ever do that. Heheh… so, who's her dad? Some guy you met here on Remnant?"
"Gray!" Lucy scolded.
"What? I've been here for over a year and I don't think I've met a single unattractive person. Even the politicians were hot!"
Erza removed herself from her hug with Lucy and turned towards Gray, a tinge of red dusting her cheeks. "No. Pyrrha's father is… well… someone you know… you remember that night before we left Ishgar?"
Gray shrugged. "Sure, Natsu thought you and Jellal were fighting… oh."
Lucy sighed. She had a hunch that might have been it, what with Erza having been out of her Fairy Sphere for eighteen years and Pyrrha looking about eighteen. Though, at least the redheaded huntress could be reassured that her father would be with her if he could. The Celestial Spirit Wizard doubted Jellal would be happy about having accidentally left Erza a single mother.
Of course, thinking about parents abandoning their children, plus the fact that Raven Branwen had saved them from Haven and they were currently in Yang's childhood bedroom, caused Lucy's mind to wander to the Fire Devil Slayer.
The blonde mage meandered over to the side of the room, her fingers grazing over tattered boy band posters and worn motorcycle manuals. A fond smile fluttered across Lucy's face as she gazed over the trappings of Yang's childhood. She may have been haunted by the fates of her mothers, but the Devil Slayer had always been the earnest, passionate girl Lucy had known on Earthland, willing to risk anything for those she called friend. Fairy Tail had only amplified that particular trait. Though given it had led to her throwing herself into Salem's den, the Celestial Spirit Wizard would be lying if she said she wasn't a bit concerned.
After all, Yang might have been trying to save her friend, but she didn't know she was also up against one.
Loke had told them what he knew, but he'd only known so much. And the only one who knew more was Ozpin.
Lucy hoped the ancient wizard would tell them on his own, just as Mavis once did regarding her own tragic past. From what little she knew, he had been a victim of forces he couldn't control and a few hasty mistakes that anyone could have made. Blake had her own feelings on her old headmaster, many driven by her previous experience of having her dedication to a cause manipulated to make her a pawn, but Lucy couldn't help but feel sorry for Ozpin. In many ways, he was a good man driven to do things he hated to protect the innocent.
But that didn't make all of what he'd done in his fear right. The one thing she, Blake, and Loke had all agreed on was that the others needed to know the full truth regarding Salem. One way or the other, they had to be allowed to choose if this fight was one they wanted to pick, and to do that, they were owed all the relevant information. They'd give Ozpin a chance to come forward on his own, but if he didn't…
They'd be jumping into the lion's den to save Yang and Jaune. With any luck, they could save Sitara from herself as well. But either way, they had to know what they were up against if they were going to come up with the most effective strategy possible.
No one could fight this war alone.
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"I shouldn't have let her go."
"She's a wizard, Tai. I don't think you could have stopped her."
"I could have found a way."
Qrow shrugged, pulling himself off of his partner's bedroom wall. "Maybe you could have. But I don't think siccing Zwei on her would have been enough this time."
The blond huntsman huffed to the side, the scythe-wielder only sighing at his old friend's turmoil.
After Ruby and Blake had run off to grab Weiss, and they'd called Signal and the town guard about the imminent Grimm rush, Tai had bowed out to his bedroom post a short toast to Ironwood with Oz and Raven. Qrow wasn't completely settled from the news of James's fate, but he'd seen his partner mope himself to near-death before, and if ol'Jimmy had been there, he probably would have given him some speech about how he couldn't let his personal feelings get in the way of doing what was right. The tin bastard could be a real sanctimonious ass like that.
Damn, he was going to miss him.
Tai had shut the door to his bedroom behind him like he always did, but Qrow had had to figure out how to sneak into his partner's room after he'd pretty much locked himself in there after Summer's death. And since the blond had specifically not closed that route off afterward to make sure the scythe-wielder would always be able to knock some sense into him, a little wiggling through the vents in bird form had gotten him inside.
As expected, Tai was hunched over his bed, Zwei cuddling up against him on one side while he eyed his closet on the other. More specifically, what they both knew was in the closet, calling to them both all the more since Raven had arrived back in the house. And since Yang had run off to save the world like someone else they both remembered.
Eventually, Tai couldn't resist the call. Qrow only could because he distracted himself with a swig from his flask like he did every other time he felt its summons.
The muscular blond set Zwei on the floor, the corgi whimpering at his master's grief, and strode up to the closet, pulling the wooden door open and retrieving a single framed photograph.
Tai was good with people, Yang had inherited her ability to charm everyone she met from him. But as a consequence, he wasn't great when people he loved were taken away. Though he'd certainly loved Summer with all his heart, it was no accident that Raven's name had never been uttered under their roof once the blonde, purple-eyed toddler had first called the white-cloaked woman 'Mama'. Every picture Qrow's sister was in was removed from the house proper and stuffed away in the master bedroom closet where no one could see them, soon to be joined by those of their departed leader when Yang finding one of Summer's old family cabin led to her and Ruby nearly getting themselves killed.
Thus, Tai found himself holding one of the few pictures of Team STRQ in existence.
"I should have gone with her at least," he muttered. "Screw the house, screw Signal, I should have gone with her. I should have learned from when I let Summer—"
"Summer was a huntress, a wizard. Yang and Ruby, they're the same," Qrow reminded him. "It was the Ophiuchus. If you'd been there, he would have just kicked your ass too."
"Maybe," Tai sighed. "So, when are we going after Yang?"
"Probably whenever Wendy wakes up to heal everybody. A day or two, most likely," Qrow mused. "Though, it might be best if you stayed back here."
"Stayed back—" Tai slammed the picture frame down on his dresser and whirled on Qrow. "My daughter has been kidnapped by Salem! If you think there is any force on Remnant that'll keep off this mission—"
"It's the Grimmlands, Tai!" Qrow shouted back. "Our only way in is Raven's semblance, and we both know Salem's been working on a way to mess with it since Hazel first told her about it! If something goes wrong during our entrance, we're going to need an anchor back here for her to use to get us out!"
"Then you stay behind!" Tai yelled. "I'm just as good a fighter as you!"
"You don't have magic!"
"You turn into a bird!"
"The Grimm don't attack animals!"
"And that's worth having your semblance drag down the entire mission!"
Both men reeled back from those words, Tai's clear blue eyes instantly clouding with regret. "Qrow, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that—"
"No, you shouldn't have," Qrow snarled back, but there was no real venom in his snip. At least not for his partner.
He turned over to the dresser and gazed wistfully at the old Team STRQ photo. It was nicer than Qrow's copy, framed and lacking the rim marks or tear stains. The four of them looked so confident and proud, even Summer who was hunched over and hiding half her face behind her hood. The coolest team to ever graduate Beacon. The best of the best.
And the asshole with the semblance that cursed them all.
"James is dead, just like Summer. Leo betrayed us, just like Hazel. Hell, for all we know Theodore might have had a heart attack over in Vacuo by the time the CCT gets back up," Qrow remarked. "Our generation is dying off, Tai. And the kids… even with Fairy Tail, they're not ready. Oz had years to train us and we weren't ready. Maybe if I'd been the one to die instead of Summer… maybe they'd still have some sort of support structure to help them."
"And maybe Ruby would use knives instead of a scythe. Or maybe Yang would find out she preferred cutting people to punching them," Tai parroted. "Stop thinking about crap like that. Your semblance isn't you, and it isn't responsible for every bad thing that happens in the world. Other people make their own choices, and they're responsible for them, not you. Besides, how all-encompassing can your Misfortune be when Raven's survived by your side all your lives."
"Heh, call that more bad luck on my account," Qrow sniggered, before shooting his partner a worried glance. "How are you doing? You know, with her being… back?"
Tai took in a deep breath and let in all out in a lip trill, rubbing his fingers over his forehead. "Honestly, I'd probably be a lot more conflicted about that if I wasn't currently dealing with one daughter being captured by Salem and the other one preparing to go on a potentially lethal rescue mission to get her back. Though if she really wants to piss me off, she can keep expecting me not to see her spying on us."
A squawk from the window drew Qrow's eyes outside, a flutter of black feathers floating down the sill. The scythe-wielder sighed.
"You know, don't expect me to say you should give her the time of day, but she did come back for us," he pointed out. "Not exactly much after all these years, but it is something."
"She abandoned us for eighteen years to pillage the Anima countryside," Taiyang pointed out. "Whatever her issues with me or us…"
The huntsman petered out, leaning over his dresser like he'd just run a mile.
Qrow nodded. "I get it, you know. Despite everything you still care about her, even after all she's done, everyone she's killed. Why do you think I've been trying to get her back all these years?"
Tai raised his gaze, staring at the photo of Team STRQ. "The past is gone. The future's uncertain, possibly… probably harder than we could ever imagine. But looking back won't do anyone any good."
"No," Qrow replied. "No, it won't. But that doesn't mean we can't win. Oz had a plan to beat Salem long before Fairy Tail showed up. Now that they're here? We'll have Yang back by the end of the week and won the war by the end of the month. Even if my semblance decides to get all uppity, it'll only delay it for two months, tops."
"Heh, I'm sure," Tai chuckled, only for his face to drop again. "I can't lose them, Qrow. Yang and Ruby… I can't…"
Qrow snatched the Team STRQ picture off the dresser and stowed it away back in the closet. With a final sigh, he sealed the memory away. There was nothing left to gain from it. Summer was dead, their team was fractured. His semblance… him…
He did good. With Ozpin guiding him, showing him how to beat Salem, it didn't matter how much crap his semblance lumped onto his loved ones. He'd push through. And even if he didn't…
"Ruby and Yang aren't kids anymore," Qrow smiled. "You should have seen them at Haven. Yang came roaring out into the atrium covered in flames, and Ruby? I thought I'd stepped back in time to take orders from Summer again. And their teammates? The Belladonna girl can turn into a Grimm and I've taken too many hits from Winter to think the mini Ice Queen's anything less than first-rate. And then there's Fairy Tail—"
"Weiss…" Tai suddenly spoke, a concerned frown marring his face. "She's… she's been through a lot. Ever since she got here… she reminds me of Yang, how she was right after The Fall."
Qrow cocked an eyebrow. "Makes sense. I mean if Fullbuster included everything she went through up north, I'd be more surprised if she wasn't focused on getting payback on Rosenflos and Watts. But you don't need to worry about it. These Fairy Tail people, all those stories Ruby was yapping on about? Erza Scarlet convinced Raven to help us and beat a Gate who was also the Fall Maiden."
"That is more than impressive," Tai conceded. "Still can't believe Scarlet Nikos was actually Ruby's wizard teacher from the ancient past."
"Eh, it's time travel. No need to break your brain trying to understand it as long as it works," Qrow proclaimed. "The point is, they can win. We can finally win."
Tai sighed. The blond huntsman pulled away from the dresser and trudged over to the door, Zwei peddling at his heels. He snatched up the knob and paused in his tracks.
"Qrow, I think you believe that. You believe that now things have changed, and if we hit Salem with everything we've got, we'll wipe her away and save the world," he said. "But… what if we do… and you're wrong?"
The blond and his dog hustled out into the hallway, leaving only his words to echo behind.
Qrow snorted, striding out and slamming the door shut behind him. Tai was letting his paranoid dad feelings get to him, trying to sound all dramatic to keep it together. He wasn't wrong. Ozpin had been working on his plan to kill Salem for centuries. Now that they actually had the firepower to go mano-e-mano with the Gates, and a bypass through the hordes of Grimm guarding her castle?
They were going to win. For once, in decades, they were going to win. Once and for all.
RWBYRWBYRWBYRWBYFTFTFTFT
"Holy crud…"
Blake couldn't help but nod absently at Ruby's exclamation, both girls gaping at the scene before them.
The forest that Taiyang had said was outside the walls? Wasn't. Scores of mighty oak trees, sturdy enough to withstand attacks from Ursa Major without damage, had been cut down, their decapitated trunks laying beside what remained of their roots. The cat faunus would have thought a crew of the world's fastest lumberjacks had come through when they weren't looking, but the slash marks on the stumps were too even with each other, the exact same height, not even an inch of difference. Almost as if they'd all been cut down by the same blow.
Blake pawed over to one of the wooden corpses and ran her hand over the smooth, strangely freezing stump. "What could have done this? Some Grimm?"
"Not any Grimm I've ever seen around here," Ruby noted, drawing Crescent Rose in its inactive form. "At most this forest gets a few Beowolves, usually young enough that they don't even have armor. The militia usually feels confident enough to bring a few fishermen down to the lake without hiring any huntsmen. Heck, dad started letting me go through here to mom's grave on my own, and he's super-overprotective."
"Pretty sure that's all fathers," Blake replied. "You know, except Weiss's."
"But that's why she has us—look!"
Blake whirled to where Ruby was pointing, her eyes narrowing at the sight of a trio of Alpha Beowolves dashing through the annihilated forest, thick, boney armor covering their snouts and claws. Usually there wasn't more than one in a pack, especially for a Grimm population as small as Patch's. Apparently, the Relic really was drawing them in.
Ozpin hadn't exactly gotten a chance to tell them about the Lamp's side effect before Loke had revealed the information, so Blake couldn't blame him for that. But considering the other information he had hidden from them about Sitara and the true nature of the threat they faced…
She wanted to sympathize with her headmaster. He had let her into Beacon fully knowing her past, given her the chance to become a huntress when he would have been well within his rights to turn her over to the police. From what Loke had shared of his past (most of it he'd said was not his to tell), he had the best intentions.
But she'd dedicated herself to a cause while being deceived by her superiors before. Sienna had always had good intentions and even Adam had deluded himself into thinking he was doing what was right. Never again would Blake follow someone who told her that everything would be fine as long as she 'did what she was told'. She and her friends needed to know the details about what they were fighting and why they were fighting, so that they could decide for themselves what they should do. And if they decided to join, so that they were actually capable of helping Ozpin instead of just being his mindless weapons pointed at the enemy.
He knew that Loke had revealed some of the truth to her and Lucy. She prayed that he took his chance to come out and tell them the rest on his own.
In the meantime, she conjured up a Griffon arm over her wrist to make sure the Alpha Beowolves identified her as a friend. Ruby unfurled her scythe, ready to wipe the Grimm away as soon as they attacked.
Except, they didn't.
The wolf-like Umbral Spirits completely ignored the two huntresses and charged off deeper into the forest of stumps.
"What just happened?" Blake asked mindlessly.
"I don't know," Ruby muttered. "Maybe there's someone nearby producing a lot of negativity? Like Torchwick did during my fight with him during The Fall?"
Blake raised an eyebrow. "There's Relic in the town. It'd have to be a lot of negativity."
"Yeah. But it looks like they're headed towards… the lake!"
Ruby and Blake whirled towards each other, eyes wide as they instantly understood who was producing the gargantuan well of negative emotion. "Weiss!"
The huntresses dashed deeper through the paths, eventually spotting ranks of healthy, stalwart trees on the horizon.
Until there was a thunderous, frigid crash and they all tumbled into the dirt, a cloud of dust and grim rising in their wake. Wait… not just dust and grim. Also… ice? Shavings of black ice.
Blake and Ruby trudged through the smog, only to leap back at the sight they found.
A towering, jet black Arma Gigas stood in the center of the sizable lake, the water frozen into a solid black glacier, littered with the swiftly dissipating corpses of Alpha Beowolves, Ursa Major, and even a dozen King Taijitu. The titanic armored Grimm bisected the trio of lupine spirits that Blake and Ruby had seen coming in with a single swipe of its gargantuan greatsword, a slash of frozen razor wind carrying on from its blade and shearing through the scattered trees that still bordered the area.
"Uh, Ruby?" Blake stuttered. "Are there any Arma Gigas on Patch?"
"I have been away from home awhile," Ruby replied with a squeak.
The armored Grimm heard the adorable sound, its dark visored helmet whirling towards the huntresses. The goliath of a phantasm, apparently so filled with malice that even its own kind felt the urge to strike it down, stomped towards the Fairy Tail wizards, its wide blade swinging casually at its side.
"Silver Spirit Wail!" Ruby roared, not wasting any time unleashing her breath attack on such an obviously imposing threat.
The column of silver light burst from the red-hooded girl and slammed head-on into the black knight. Blake held up her hand to shield her eyes from the blinding shine and dismissed her Griffon arm, hissing at the brief pain that sparked through her from her mere proximity to the glow. She almost felt sorry for the beam's actual target. After all, that same blast had disintegrated a Wyvern in a single… shot…
Blake's eyes widened as the glare of the breath attack faded away and the Arma Gigas was still there! Not only standing, but seemingly completely unfazed by the attack, a trail of gigantic footsteps suggesting it was able to walk through the stream.
"That's… new," Ruby murmured, brandishing Crescent Rose. "Maybe if I use Full Magnolia?"
"Or we can cut to the chase," Blake declared, coating her legs in a Griffon's hind legs and shooting towards their foe.
Resistant to Spirit Slayer power or not, the Arma Gigas was still a Grimm, which meant her Take-Over could absorb it. And if it was somehow immune to that too, her semblance and speed would enable her to clear out before Full Magnolia's barrage hit.
With the fraction of the Grimm's legs amplified by her aura, Blake crossed the short distance between them and their foe in the blink of an eye. She reached out her hand and slapped the side of the Arma Gigas, activating the most basic function of her magic.
Just as she'd feared, nothing happened. Except, when she'd touched the Grimm, it didn't feel like metal. It felt like…
"Ice?" the cat faunus whispered, gazing on the creature in a new light. "It's covered in ice?"
Under normal circumstances, suddenly pausing within an enemy's striking distance wouldn't be the wisest thing to do in the middle of a battle. But Blake had a new feeling that this Grimm was not their enemy.
Indeed, the Arma Gigas twirled its sword in a familiar elegant flourish before planting the weapon in the ground blade first. Kneeling before the hilt, an elaborate black glyph lit up beneath it. White sparks glittered up from its dark form before the sigil went silent a moment later.
"Was that supposed to do something?" Ruby queried, her eyebrow cocked in confusion at Grimm's dark form.
Or, if Blake's suspicions were correct, the now-departed Grimm's true armor.
Indeed, the black ice evaporated into a fine mist an instant later, revealing…
"Finally! Do you know how long I've been waiting for you guys to get back!? I've had no way to test my anti-Spirit Slayer armoring for over a month now!"
"Weiss!" Ruby cheered, rushing in with a flurry of rose petals and engulfing her partner in a hug. The white-haired former heiress flinched once the other girl grabbed her, but it only took a single deep breath before she returned the embrace, a soft smile blossoming over her pristine ivory face.
"I missed you too, you dolt," Weiss murmured, only extracting herself from the hug to pull Blake into one of her own. "And you, my one sane friend."
"Glad to be so esteemed," Blake joked, a relieved grin dominating her mouth. Though, a tinge of teasing mirth did taint it as she appraised her teammate's form. "Though, what are you wearing?"
She was used to seeing Weiss clothed in the heights of fashion no matter the occasion. Even her version of casual wear included an elegant leather jacket that wouldn't be out of place on a magazine model. But now, well, a beige button-up shirt and uniform jack with a mismatched black and red combat skirt? Not exactly what one would expect from someone who talked fashion with Yang and Coco.
The white-haired huntress groaned. "Unfortunately, being a wanted terrorist doesn't do wonders for one's bank account. I fled Atlas with literally nothing but my sword and my underwear. Mr. Xiao-Long offered to buy me a new wardrobe, but he was already putting the three of us up, so I didn't want to be rude."
Ruby shot her a gleeful smirk. "And you're in my clothes because…?"
Weiss sighed. "Yang's were too big on me."
"… and you're in my old Signal uniform because—"
"Because you quite literally own nothing else with even a shred of decorum!"
"We're Fairy Tail wizards! Who cares about decorum?" Ruby pointed out. "More importantly, when did you master summoning? More, more importantly, when did you figure out how to turn an Arma Gigas into a freaking mech suit?! That's awesome!"
All at once, Weiss's face darkened, her crystal blue eyes narrowing into orbs of tempestuous azure.
"Esper Rosenflos," she hissed, as if speaking the devil's name. "She's a Spirit Slayer like you. Only her eyes are gold instead of silver."
"Golden Eyes?" Ruby repeated, her brow furrowing in thought. "Like Cinder?"
"Maybe. She called them the next generation of Spirit Slayer magic."
"Like Laxus is a second generation Dragon Slayer? So she's stronger than me?"
"Not necessarily," Blake pointed out. "Being the magic's next generation just means that its form is somehow functionally different. Strength ultimately still varies from wizard to wizard."
"But Esper is strong," Weiss growled, her dainty hands curling into fists at her sides. "She framed me. Crushed me. She only transformed to show me just how outgunned I was. We only escaped because Winter… because Winter…"
Ruby and Blake immediately took hold of each of Weiss's hands, clutching their friend's frigid fingers in their warm grip.
"We're going to save your sister," Blake promised. "We're never going to let Esper hurt you ever again."
"Yeah!" Ruby affirmed. "Once we save Yang and Jaune, and take out Hell's Core, Atlas is our next stop!"
Weiss flashed them both a soft, radiant smile. "Thank you. Both of you, I really am so glad that you're back—wait, save Yang?"
"Oh right, so while we were at Haven, Jaune got captured holding off this guy called End who looks like Natsu and Yang…"
Blake decided to sit back and let Ruby catch their teammate up to recent events. Their leader was better at relating the high-speed action of the Battle of Haven anyway, and if it was her words, there was less of a chance she'd accidentally let something that Loke had told her slip.
And something about the look that had flashed through Weiss's eyes at the mention of Rosenflos… she didn't think she'd respond well to the half-guesses the cat faunus currently had at the full truth. The glimmer, wrathful and full of barely contained fury… she could hardly say it was unearned considering everything that had been done to her friend…
But it had still been the same look of vengeful madness that she'd seen in Adam's eyes so many times.
"That flame-brain worshipping moron did what?!"
An amused snigger escaped Blake's pressed lips. Maybe she'd just been seeing things. Weiss wasn't Adam. And even if she'd been seeded with similar roots of retribution, she had her, and Ruby, and Yang, and the rest of their friends to cut them off before they consumed her. She'd be fine.
She'd be fine…
Reunions galore! Tried my hand at more comedy in this more lighthearted chapter, as well as showing off what Weiss has been working on during her training since she fled Atlas. With the Volume 5 Arc concluded, we're going to spend a few chapters on a short wrap-up, reunion, and lore mini arc before we head into the next big arc.
Thank you for Reading! I hope you enjoy what comes next!
Go Forth and Conquer!