Fairies of the Shattered Moon

by TheMaster4444

When Team RWBY discover a mysterious book right before the Vytal Festival, they are blasted to a place of magic and wonder. A few days later, they return, having spent six months as Fairy Tail wizards, forging bonds that would stay with them for the rest of their lives. But answers still elude the young huntresses. Who sent the book? And what link does it have with Fairy Tail?

80. Chapter 80

Happy New Year, everyone! Worked real hard to make sure this was ready for the final day of 2021.

Quite a few pre-chapter things to work through, so let's start with the final poll. The fan-favorite PLOT TWIST of the first half of 'Fairies of the Shattered Moon' is... ERZA is PYRRHA's mother!

So glad you guys enjoyed that twist so much! It is one of my favorites as well, tying the two worlds together even tighter while setting up the mystery of why Erza didn't have her memories and the really fun arc of the Scarlet Nikos identity and what Erza means to everyone in the guild. Thank you so much to all of you who have participated in these polls! They've been a blast to do and a super fun way to celebrate the story as the first half winds down!

Secondly, I'd like to give a huge shout-out to East44 and all the others who have added to this story's various TvTropes pages! It has been a joy to check up there often and see how people have analyzed and reacted to this story across the various pages, including the Awesome Moments and YMMV pages (I'm especially curious if there are any Ensemble Darkhorses among the cast or if there was any particular moment where this story Grew the Beard :) ).

Finally, I'd like to give a big thank you to the artist alex-kellar on Deviantart (check him out, all his stuff is INCREDIBLE!) who was commissioned to create a fantastic fan art of the Erza vs. End. The commissioner wished to remain anonymous from the public, but both him and the artist have graciously given me permission to use the picture as this story's new COVER ART!

Now then, time for the finale of the Grimmlands Arc and the first half of 'Fairies of the Shattered Moon'!

Beta-ed by xenosaiyan and MasterPrince713

---

It was familiar, the light finally returning to her eyes. The hospital room was more advanced, machines sleeker and the blinking lights more Atlesian in design, but Erza could have easily mistaken it for the place where she'd first met Rouge nearly two decades ago. Well, except for the fact that she still remembered who she was. Though admittedly, such relief was counteracted by the continuing absence of sensation in her arms and legs.

Perhaps that was a blessing in disguise though. As Erza glanced down from her slightly slanted-up hospital bed, she caught the barest fringes of skin grafts peeking out from her heavy casts. She remembered how her wounds had felt in the moment End's attack had incinerated her nerves. Having such agony remain continuously would test even her pain tolerance.

Erza's tired eyes looked around the room, a faint smile of relief growing on her face when she caught sight of Pyrrha and Ruby sleeping on chairs against the wall, the two warriors adorably draped over each other's shoulders. Perched on the back of the red hooded girl's seat was a familiar black bird, its beady eyes twitching towards the awakening Titania.

The bird fluttered off the chair and morphed into a figure Erza was surprised she was relieved to see.

"You're alright," Raven breathed, the Spring Maiden's voice filled with joy.

"For given value of 'alright'," Erza said, nodding at her deadened limbs. "How long was I out?"

"Days. Enough time for us to get back to Vale. Glynda is housing most of them at Beacon, but you needed more advanced treatment than the infirmary could provide," Raven glanced back at Pyrrha and Ruby. "Those two played hackysack with the rest of your guild over who was most stubborn about leaving your side."

Erza flashed a smirk. "And you?"

Raven suddenly looked very nervous, glancing away with a blush. "Ruby and Glynda have been working to arrange an audience with the Vale Council to 'pull back the curtain' on everything. It wouldn't help their credibility if the infamous bandit Raven Branwen was spotted on Beacon grounds."

"So you've been keeping a bird vigil over me?" Erza teased.

"It's just my normal cowardice. Being around Qrow and Tai hasn't gotten any easier since what happened with Summer and Yang," Raven stubbornly insisted. "Maybe I should stick with it more. Taking your advice to try acting like a person they can forgive only blew up in my face."

Erza's good cheer dimmed. "What happened?"

Raven told her everything that she had missed during the chaos of the Grimmlands, everything the group had stitched together since they'd had the time to compare notes. Gray, Nora, and Ren destroying the Neo-Hell's Core when they saw what they thought was Jaune being tortured, only to inadvertently fracture the poor boy's mind with Franmalth and Aries's and start a chain of events that would see Ren's added to the Eclipse Etherious's peril and the abundance of Crash Magic that had devestated Salem's castle. The reunion of Team STRQ that had ended in Summer becoming unbalanced by Raven and Tai's resistance and Qrow's suicidal thoughts going into her final battle with Weiss and Ruby. The fallout of her death and Carla's well-intentioned lies leading to Yang's murderous fury and Ruby nearly giving in and rewriting the timeline, only for the guild to save the latter from making such a horrible mistake at the last second. And at last, Wendy's gambit and Lucy's stand to buy them time.

Erza collapsed back into her bed, the weight of so much more than her useless limbs sagging through her body. "This is all my fault."

Raven winced. "Technically, yes, you were in charge and that means you're responsible for everything, but I doubt anyone's going to put this on your shoulders. You couldn't have predicted this."

"You warned me that we'd be scattered if we went immediately. I should have waited the few days we needed to for Salem to take down the barrier," Erza regretted. "We would have been together, Jaune would have been safely ascended…"

"And maybe something else would have gone wrong," Raven pointed out. "You tried to face the problem head-on and it blew up in your face. It happens."

"You just said you trying to do that with Summer only caused more problems. I was so worried about her that I didn't even consider End could have been genuine in his desire to help and look where that got me," Erza snarled, gesturing with her head towards her arms and legs. "Tell me, Raven? What did we get for not listening to our fear and waiting a few days?"

"Well… um…" Raven stammered, rocked by Erza's force of personality. However, in a moment, she was able to gather herself, staring down the redhead with confidence and certainty. "We confirmed that Happy is on our side. Wendy, Oz, and Irene have infiltrated Salem's faction. We convinced Salem to go after the Umbral Spirit King instead of the gods and Ruby figured out the start of a plan for when he gets here. We know about Acnologia's Fairy Sphere and can use the Relic of Knowledge to find its location at our leisure. Hell's Core is down until Watts gets the Atlas one up and running, and without Summer they'll have to integrate a new puppet with the kingdom's public and government. And there's–"

"Me?"

Erza's heart stilled, her earthy, brown gaze listing to the side of the bandit queen, a new warmth lighting in her eyes as a familiar figure nervously trotted through the doorway.

"Juvia as well. She'd be here, but the doctors refused to let anyone but Pyrrha and one friend to stay over in the room," Jellal explained, the Wizard Saint awkwardly raising a large, wrinkled paper bag. "I brought breakfast."

Erza could barely register her lover's impossibly mundane words, recalling only what she'd thought was a hallucination from the pain back in the Grimmlands even with Raven's confirmation of the tagalongs to Ruby's time travel adventure. She stared at him numbly, shock coating her face.

"You're here."

Jellal nodded. "I'm here. With breakfast." He opened the bag and pulled out a golden muffin with delectable ruby chunks scattered on top. "Strawberry muffins? Pyrrha told me about a place near the docks that's–"

"You're here," Erza repeated, her eyes welling with tears, for perhaps the first time in her life uninterested in something strawberry-related. "You're real."

Raven stepped back, glancing back and forth between the two wizards. "Okay, I'm sensing you two want some alone time, so I'll flap by the door. Tell Ruby to come find me if she needs a portal back to Beacon."

"Raven," Erza spoke out, the bandit queen pausing in her attempt to shuffle away. "It didn't work out but… you tried to do good. That attempt is worth something."

The Spring Maiden allowed a tiny, grateful smirk to tinge her lips. "Oz once told me that sometimes attempts are the best we can do. If you can do all this with just that, I look forward to seeing what happens when we succeed… Titania."

Erza never cared for the title she'd been given long ago, but she recognized the respect it was spoken with. To have Raven of all people believe in her still, after everything that had just gone down under her watch… it was a welcome balm to her self-blame.

Of course, as the bandit assumed her avian form and fluttered outside to the hall, she was left face to face with the master of that particular brand of loathing.

"It's a change of pace. Me having to talk to you about dumping guilt on yourself," Jellal noted, pulling up a chair to take a seat beside her bed. He glanced over at the slumbering Pyrrha. "Hopefully she doesn't inherit that tendency from either of us."

"Have you told her?" Erza asked. "That you're her–"

"No. No, not yet," he replied, setting his breakfast bag on the bedside table and nervously rubbing his hands together. "I didn't know how you wanted to play that. All these years you had to raise her and I wasn't there–"

"Don't get started on that, you're helping me with my guilt for once. Besides, you didn't know she existed. You could hardly have gotten here any way but how you did," Erza chastised him. "Anyway, it's not as if I had to raise her alone. Rouge was always there to help."

"Her aunt," Jellal briefly smiled at Pyrrha before looking back to Erza. "Your sister."

"Ergh. I don't know how I'm going to explain all this to her," Erza groaned. "She's going to make fun of me for having such a younger boyfriend. And before you say it, yes, I know, the others have told me I haven't aged a day."

Jellal cocked an eyebrow, confused. "What do you mean? Of course you've aged."

"I… ah… what?" Erza gasped, suddenly very pale and utterly confounded. "What do you mean? If there are wrinkles, it's probably just from the heat from End–"

"No, no, not those. There are lines though, memories of all you have lived through, proof of a moment that you were alive and filling this world with your light. Your eyes… I don't have the words," Jellal explained. His hand rose to cup the redhead's cheek, gazing over her face with utter adoration and loyalty. "You've always been beautiful. And age has only made you moreso, like a strawberry ever ripening."

Erza blinked, her cheeks as red as her hair. "Are you… being romantic? Are you flirting?"

"Trying," Jellal gulped. "Is it working?"

Erza leaned in and kissed him full on the lips, the sterile hospital room suddenly filled with dazzling light. Jellal didn't delay in answering the gesture in kind, cupping his hands around the Fairy Queen's face and holding her close like a lost treasure.

After several moments, the pair finally parted, though their meeting eyes confirmed that it would not be their last meeting of the kind between them.

"I suppose there's one silver lining about this whole thing. I'll need someone to feed me," Erza smirked. "Care to pass me that muffin?"

"Uh, do you guys need a minute?"

Erza and Jellal both piqued up and whipped around towards the chairs by the wall. There, nestled under Pyrrha's still sleeping head, Ruby stared at them with wide silver eyes and a face as white as a sheet.

"Cause, uh, if you're doing stuff from Blake's books…" Ruby pointed back at Pyrrha. "I'm pretty sure it's gonna be loud."

Erza sighed. Admittedly, while she would like to indulge in more of her romantic reunion, she knew it was a reprieve she'd have to put off. Doing it while Pyrrha was in the room was probably not the wisest idea, especially when it would take them some time and effort to figure out how to work around her deadened limbs.

But also, there was work to be done. Battles left scars. Some of them even more difficult to heal than crippled limbs.

---

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"She's unsettled. Off her game."

Blake cocked an eyebrow at the sparring arena below, Nora lying flattened on her back as Penny ran over to see if the friend she'd just laser blasted was alright. "She seemed like normal to me."

Beside the cat faunus in the stands, Professor Goodwitch shook her head. "Ms. Valkyrie has always been exuberant, reckless even at times. But she's not stupid. She knew very well that Ms. Polendina's systems include infrared vision. A standard clone would not be an effective decoy for a charge. She needs to create one that affects infrared if she wishes to combat her."

"Can she make an illusion like that?" Blake asked.

"I see no reason her magic cannot affect the entire electromagnetic spectrum. If she can refract visible light, then there's no reason she cannot grow that ability to infrared, radar, ultraviolet, or anything else," Glynda proposed, frowning down at the arena as Penny used her own magic to extend her arm to help Nora up. The hammer-user accepted the hand, but rose without any of her usual pep. "Ms. Valkyrie has a gift for seeing unlimited possibility in everything except herself. All she thinks she can do is hit things."

"Ren and Jaune being gone doesn't help things," Blake observed. "You spend so long with people like that, they become a part of you. And when that part is gone, it takes time to figure out that they're just that: a part."

"Speaking from experience?" Glynda queried.

Blake sighed, a nostalgic feeling fluttering through her heart. Being back at Beacon, reclaimed from the Grimm by its new headmistress, and hearing the veteran huntress's sharp yet insightful critique brought back wisps of feeling from a time long past, before they'd even met the guild, when they were just naive kids who didn't truly understand how cruel the world could be despite what they'd already been through. As Glynda suggested, she'd had plenty of experience in that regard. Back then, it had been Adam.

Now, it was Yang.

"I keep wondering if there was something I could have done, something that might have given her the reassurance she needed not to do what she did," she confessed to her old teacher. "I feel like I'm trying to blame myself, that I want it to be my fault. Because if it's my fault, then at least that makes sense."

"I've dealt with Ozpin, James, and Qrow for years, all of whom took turns ignoring my advice and doing whatever the hell they wanted to create messes I often had to clean up. Leonardo was only the one who ever seemed to listen without complaint, and he turned out to be a traitor," Glynda noted. "We can only do what we can, Blake. Perhaps a different choice might have resulted in a different path, but what's done is done. The actions of others' are their responsibility and theirs alone. Ozpin lied, James left himself vulnerable, Summer killed, and Ms. Xiao-Long took Ms. Schnee's eye. Blaming yourself won't change any of that."

"Doesn't make it any easier. I watched Adam become a monster, and now Yang's one step away from being the same," Blake said. "And yet, I want to give her the chance to walk back from it."

"She may not take that chance."

"Maybe. But if I try, she might."

Professor Goodwitch shrugged, pulling a folded bundle from her bag. "In that case, for if she doesn't."

Blake curiously took the package, unwrapping it to reveal a familiar dark weapon. A combination short sword and gun with a custom bladed sheath.

"Gambol Shroud," the cat faunus whispered, her amber eyes flickering up to Glynda in shock.

"I don't know if it will fit with your current fighting style, but we found it while clearing out the school. I've also prepared your team's room and all the 'questionable' reading material within," the blonde professor smirked. "Ninjas of Love? Really, Ms. Belladonna? Outside of the Dark Kunoichi Saga, it's all garbage."

"Shogun Assassination isn't… you read Ninjas of Love?"

The headmistress pushed her glasses up her nose, a glint of light gleaming through the frames.

Blake chuckled, glancing down at her old weapon. A melancholy smile took over her face, before she looked up and over the practice arenas, Nora already pestering Penny for another round while the towering obstacle course of pink ice from Gray's semblance practice filled the other sparring stadium.

"Thank you for getting this place back," the cat faunus said. "Having a place to come back to… it means a lot."

"This academy has often welcomed those with nowhere else to go. And without that Wyvern to rally the Grimm, it was a simple matter to clear them out."

"Still, holding down the fort…" Blake murmured. "I know it can be a thankless job."

"Dealing with the council is less than thankless," Glynda simmered. "James may have had his faults, but dealing with politicians is certainly frustrating when one is actually trying to do… well, anything."

Blake's brow furrowed, sensing something more behind those words. "You loved him, didn't you?"

"Once, yes," Glynda confirmed, a single tear misting in her eye. "He told me once that he thought Ozpin was hiding things from us. I never suspected he was right."

Blake gulped. "Ozpin… he didn't do it to be cruel."

"No, he never did. He always did whatever he thought was right, no matter the protest. Perhaps that is why he always trusted James, no matter how much they stepped on each other's toes," Glynda observed. "Sometimes it paid off, when he allowed you or Ms. Rose to attend and Mr. Arc to remain after we discovered his false transcripts. Sometimes, such as when he sent only your team and Bartholomew as 'scouts' to Mt. Glenn instead of actual huntsmen teams and did nothing to root out the infiltrators he knew were in our midst, it did not."

The new headmistress turned around and headed for the exit. "The council is resistant to an audience but I'm owed enough favors to ensure you all get to speak your piece. If you don't want to have to follow our predecessors' gambles, I suggest you prepare."

Blake raised Gambol Shroud up, thinking on her old blade as Glynda's words rang through her head, slowly morphing into Sienna's warnings of the necessities of monstrous actions. When she held the weapon she forged when she was in the White Fang, that she used as a terrorist, it was easy to remember how good it felt to take action, to feel like she was doing something.

But, it was also the weapon she used when she decided to be a huntress. The weapon she wielded when she became a Fairy Tail wizard. It was a part of her, both the good and the bad. And, while she'd certainly fallen to her worst aspects before, she liked to think she'd made progress towards being her best self. Whether that self still needed Gambol Shroud wasn't something she knew, but if she could make her way back from her mistakes, maybe Yang would too if she gave her a chance.

After all, a freaking Grimm did. She trusted the Deathstalker within her and it had protected Weiss without strings. If she could find a way to negate or weaken Seram's Madness, they might gain crucial insight and power for the inevitable battle with the Umbral Spirit King.

And an old friend had provided her with the clue she needed to figure out a way to do that.

Blake strapped Gambol Shroud to her side and withdrew a small letter with the symbol of Fairy Tail embedded into its broken wax seal.

Ruby had given them all the guild's farewell letters that she'd acquired on her trip. All of them were wonderful and made them tear up from the love of their family. But the one in Blake's hands was a special one for her. After all, of Team RWBY's mentors, hers was the only one that hadn't made the trip to Remnant.

Dear Blake,

You're in quite the pickle, aren't you? Old friends who've lost their way, an impending apocalypse with no clear path out, and a struggle with aspects of your magic we could have never predicted during your training? Ruby didn't skimp on the details.

I wish I could be there with you to help. I'm so sorry I can't. But never forget, you are never alone. You are a Fairy Tail Wizard, Blake, and you are surrounded by people who love you and are made stronger by having you with them. No going running off on your own because you think that'll somehow help them.

Blake chuckled, a warm smile perking up her lips. Mira would have liked Sun. Both of them were constantly trying to keep her from shooting herself in the foot when it came to her friends.

You are stronger than you've ever given yourself credit for. If anyone can help Yang find her way (other than Lucy and/or Natsu and/or, but in a different way, Ruby), it's you. Just like if there is anyone who can figure out the new facets of your Spirit Soul, it's you.

On the subject of the latter matter, I wanted to give whatever advice I could for wrangling these Umbral Spirits you've absorbed into a safe ability. While I haven't encountered anything exactly like Seram's Madness before, I've been studying methods of combining the fragmented minds within one of us to help control the equilibrium with the rare subjects that can retain their full consciousness even after we've used Take-Over on them, it was how I managed a Take-Over of Seiliah despite her being one of Tartaros's Nine Demon Gates. Perhaps with Loke's help, you could perhaps pull off something of the reverse with the Grimm within you.

I believe in you, Blake. Whether you believe in yourself or not. Which you should!

Love Always and throughout all time,

Mira

P.S. I trust that Remnant has adequate bondage equipment for your continued training. To help encourage you, I have left you every 'Raiders & Maidens' book you missed, the new spinoff series 'The Queen's Bodyguards' (they finally got their own series!), and the various spreads Jenny and I did for them. Don't let Ruby tell you she doesn't have them. Whether their 'filth' or not, they're yours.

The rest of the note was covered in childishly sunny drawings of smiley faces and hearts that couldn't have been drawn by anyone but Mira. Blake made sure to wipe her mouth before any more drops of drool dripped onto the paper, the wet dots of her previous readings of the postscript taunting from the page. The ones near the top and around the middle were tearstains, but the others…

On a more serious note, the Black Fairy's brow furrowed as she thought over her mentor's advice. She knew the issue with the lack of control of her Grimm Soul Take-Overs wasn't on her end, it was on the spirits', Seram's Madness flooding through both their and her mind when they touched together. She'd kept their consciousnesses separate when she made her deal with the Deathstalker against Yang, bore the entire weight herself while allowing the Umbral Spirit into the driver's seat of her body.

Mira's suggestion wasn't without precedent for working. Salem could keep Seram's Madness at bay and remain functional with enough willpower. While Blake didn't have that on her own, if she could get more minds to help her, minds that didn't bring their own dose of the divine infection to the party, they could, in theory, relieve the infected Grimm of their burden while allowing the Take-Over Wizard to access their power while maintaining the full faculties of her mind, at least for a time. It could even open the door to more advanced techniques, like combining the Grimm she currently had into something similar to Mira's Algeria Form.

But Mira was clearly operating under the assumption that Blake would have access to Loke to help her test that theory, perhaps by having him recruit some Silver Celestial Spirits willing to assist. However with Lucy captured and Loke's key gone anyway, that plan wasn't something she could put into action at the moment.

Of course, there was one another way that she could get access to spirits that weren't afflicted with Seram's Madness.

Blake whirled on her heel and left the arena as Penny morphed her arm into a giant fist to punch Nora into the air.

---

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Weiss was glad to see the cafeteria repaired. Last she saw it during The Fall at distance, it had been in flames, the roof Nora had once playfully smashed Yang through collapsing to ruin. But with the Grimm cleared out and Professor Goodwitch's semblance being what it was, restoring it was hardly a trial.

Yet, it still felt haunting to the White Fairy. Most of the student body had been sent to Shade Academy in Vacuo to continue their training and keep the flow of huntsmen in the world intact, and those few that had stayed behind to help with the cleanup hadn't yet begun their new semester. That left Weiss as the only person in the massive hall, the crumbs of her breakfast her only companion in the brisk morning.

Her only companion… save her reflection.

The tables had been shined to a perfect polish, and Weiss found her own visage staring back at her from the countertop, making it obvious just how much she'd changed since that festive food fight at the start of their second semester. Her cheeks had taken on a gaunt quality, losing the perfect statuesque sharpness she'd had all her life, her despair hanging off her face. And of course, her left eye socket was covered with a new white eyepatch, the ends of her scar poking out from the edge of the snowy covering.

She was harrowed. Reduced. She thought back on how she'd looked in the glassy surface of the Patch lake she'd trained at, full of fire and fury for Esper Rosenflos, sure that she would burn the woman who'd taken everything from her to ash. And then she saw another reflection of herself, with her lost teammate as the mirror.

Yang's demon visage flashed over the cafeteria table surface, true fire and fury spilling from her crimson eyes. So submerged in her grief and rage that she would stop at nothing to get her justice.

It was sobering, to see it from the outside. Especially as she knew now that Esper… that Summer had been telling the truth about not being behind the Crash Magic explosion. The ridiculous, convoluted theory that she'd made herself believe had been for herself, so she could justify tearing the Gate of the Maiden apart until her foe could only choose between matching her escalation of the fight or letting herself be killed. And even then, she'd backed down in the end, pulled away when she'd thought she'd subdued her and Ruby, chosen to walk back from the stake of death that Weiss had set… and then given her life to save Ruby.

She would have killed her partner if the woman who'd murdered Klein hadn't given her life. It was hard for her to blame Yang when she thought about it like that.

It was a different kind of loneliness than she'd known before, but no less crushing.

"This seat taken?"

Weiss looked up from the reflective tabletop to find Gray standing on the other side. The Devil Slayer was missing his shirt, but given the caked sweat covering his defined muscles, she suspected it was probably intentional for once.

"All yours," Weiss replied, her teacher nodding his thanks as he took the seat. "How'd semblance training go?"

"Pretty good. We've tested out a lot of reflective surfaces and I can bounce off all of them. But it has to be a surface. Juvia tried submerging me and I couldn't do anything," Gray explained. "She asked me to wait here with you while she whips up some post-workout grub in the kitchen."

"With me?" Weiss queried. "Did you tell her–"

"Not yet. I wanted to ask how you wanted to do it," Gray said. "But we do have to. She deserves that."

"Agreed. I just…" Weiss sighed. "I don't want to give my friends any more reasons to hate me."

Gray pursed his lips, obviously knowing what was really occupying most of her mind. "You've been avoiding Ruby."

"Of course I have. What am I supposed to say? 'Sorry that I didn't listen to anything you had to say and would have killed you if your long-lost mother hadn't sacrificed herself' or 'Man, it's a bummer that my actions had consequences including your sister giving into her demon corruption because she wants my head on platter'?" Weiss parroted, before deflating to the table. "She hates me."

"She doesn't hate you."

"How can you be sure?"

"Call it an educated guess," Gray said. "You don't hate me, after all."

Weiss rolled her eyes. "Why in the world would I hate you?"

"Summer used me to get to you in Atlas. I knew something was up with Intelligence, but I was so desperate to get back to you, I ignored my better instincts," he confessed. "Then I didn't listen to my fear of being wrong at Neo-Hell's Core and gave you something to blame on her."

"Jaune was screaming in agony right in front of you with Cinder Fall at the controls," Weiss grumbled. "I'd say you didn't make the most impossible mistake in the world."

"Still made it though," Gray noted. "Makes you wonder if Ruby could have brought Salem around if I hadn't."

"Maybe. Actions have consequences. Summer earned my wrath by what she did in Atlas. And I earned Yang's through mine in the Grimmlands," Weiss said, her fingers brushing over her eyepatch. "Those who carry out consequences still take action."

Gray's eyes narrowed. "As someone who Natsu's rightfully punched in the face twice for nearly using Iced Shell, you're not planning to let Yang kill you, right?"

"... No," Weiss finally spoke after a long silence. "I failed everyone who cares about me already. I can't do it again by putting the burden of this mess on them if I let Yang kill me."

"Not exactly the logic I would use, but I'll take it," he replied, before looking down guiltily. "I'm sorry. I should have helped you more back on Patch, before it got this bad–"

"You were busy healing from Bane Particles and I shut myself away from everyone. Probably should have noticed something was up when I stopped getting the uncontrollable urge to strip," Weiss cut in. "You tried to get through to me in the forest, but I didn't listen. That's on me. Not you."

"What happened in the forest?"

Weiss exploded into sitting up straight, her and Gray's eyes both wide as Juvia appeared at the table. With a beaming grin, the water wizard shoved two enormous plates of elaborate rice, vegetables, and meat in front of both of her ice-making companions. Each one was topped with a vegetable portrait of their respective slayer, the details captured with devoted love and care.

Juvia slipped down beside Gray with an excited, adorable smile. The Devil Slayer returned her affectionate look, before his face fell as he glanced nervously at Weiss.

"Were you out training in the Emerald Forest?" Juvia asked, her mouth suddenly pursing with concern at Weiss. "You know you shouldn't be out there so soon. They may only be Grimm, but it'll take time for you to adjust to your new depth perception in a fight. You should train with us! We've figured out most of the angles of darling Gray's marvelous semblance, I need to practice with my new aura if I'm going to catch up to you two."

"That's… That's wonderful, Juvia," Weiss responded, her eyes falling to the scrumptious meal with her cartoonishly happy face on it. "Thank you."

"No trouble at all! Now eat up. You'll need your strength for the fight to come," Juvia grinned, as she raised a spoon. "If you need help, I can feed you after I'm done with my darling."

"Uh… thank you for the offer, Juvia. But I don't need you to feed me," Gray stuttered. "But this looks delicious! I can't wait to eat it!"

"Oh, thank you, darling! It's nutritious and delicious to help you get the most out of your training!"

Weiss gulped. Dammit, she was just too sweet. She knew that there was an undersea volcano of jealous ire hidden under that appearance, but it wasn't a facade. Juvia was so devoted to Gray that she'd leaped through time and space to get back to him, and she'd saved Weiss's life without a moment's hesitation in the process.

Yang had begged her to delay her fury and she'd seen the consequences of not honoring that friendship. She couldn't repeat that error by not honoring her bond with Juvia, no matter what the truth would bring in its wake.

"We weren't talking about the Emerald Forest, Juvia. It happened back on Patch, before we went to the Grimmlands," Weiss confessed, her eyes meeting Gray's. With a nod from her friend, she continued. "I was… fervently against the idea of even considering an alliance with Salem's group due to my experiences in Atlas. Gray was sent to convince me that it was necessary to at least try. The conversation got emotional and…"

"We kissed," Gray finished.

"Oh," Juvia said. She looked on ahead at nothing for a second, and then shrugged. "Okay."

"I know we hadn't really defined what our relationship was before I left on the hundred-year quest," Gray continued, not noticing his love's reply. "But I do love you, Juvia, and I do want that kind of relationship with you… huh?"

"This was just a mistake, a one-time thing," Weiss added, trying to help. "It was a highly emotional moment, we'd both been worn down for months, please don't blame him for… wait, what did you say?"

"Okay," Juvia repeated, utterly nonplussed by the ice wizards' bafflement. "I said okay."

"... okay?" Weiss echoed slowly, as if trying to understand how the mysterious word was pronounced.

"You're okay with this?" Gray said, equally confused. "But I… and we… and you…"

"Darling, I was dead," Juvia emphasized, taking Gray's hands in her own with a gentle smile. "As far as you knew, I had died of old age thousands of years ago and you were never going to see me again. I would never want you to be miserable forever just because I was gone."

She looked over to Weiss with only slightly less affection. "And if you can make someone else I love happy as well? All the better."

Weiss and Gray both stared at the blue-haired woman with awe and a bashful red tint to their cheeks.

"Wow," Weiss murmured. "Juvia… that's…"

"Of course, now I am here and my darling and I can live happily ever after!" Juvia cheered, engulfing Gray in a massive hug. "The power of love shall stop Salem and the Umbral Spirit King!"

Weiss raised an eyebrow. "Wasn't Salem's love for Ozma and Ankh's love for Seram a big reason for all of this in the first place?"

"Love!"

Weiss could only smile at that earnestness, especially as Gray's blush deepened as he lovingly wrapped his arms around the water wizard, returning her hug with just as much love.

Though, neither of them could keep their eyes from falling when their sight met once more.

"What was that?" Juvia suddenly said, her brow furrowed as if she'd sensed something.

Weiss and Gray immediately paled with utter terror.

"Nothing," They both quickly stammered.

Juvia's eyes squinted like a hawk, her head swiftly whipping back and forth between the two ice wizards. After several long moments, she finally let out a tired sigh.

"Darling, I know you love me," she said. "But you love her as well, don't you?"

Gray gulped. "Um… uh… well…"

A pit dropped into Weiss's stomach and for once it wasn't because the more than platonic feelings between her and her mentor were being brought up. It was because they were being brought up in the presence of her dear friend who had once nearly thrown her off a cliff at the mere possibility of such feelings developing!

Indeed, Juvia morphed into her liquid form and melted under the counter, reforming into human shape when she emerged onto Weiss's side of the table.

"Now, Juvia," Weiss stammered. "I know you may be upset–"

"Do you love him?" Juvia asked point-blank.

Weiss froze, her eyes meeting Gray's for a panicked second before she finally let out a sigh. "Yes. But we're two intelligent, self-sufficient women! Are you really going to kill me over a guy? I mean he never even said that he liked me back–"

"I always thought it'd be Lucy."

Weiss's face twisted into an expression of pure shock and confusion. "Eh?"

Juvia's face, now solemn and studious, stared Weiss straight in the eye like a master to their prized pupil, her arm rising to clasp the white-haired huntress's shoulder in a firm grip. "The day we fought on Mt. Hakobe, when you led me to reveal to my beloved the reason at the heart of my devotion to him, I realized something that it took me a long time to truly accept. Gray has so much love in his heart, for all our guildmates. And as the treasured wonder he is, it would not be unusual for someone else to share such feelings for him. After a great deal of thought, I came to the conclusion that I wouldn't let such a thing stop me from being with my darling, even if I had to share him with another trusted guildmate. With you gone, I thought it would be my staunchest love rival, Lucy, even if I shared Mira's opinion that she would be best with Natsu and Yang. But when Ruby returned, I thought I could help bring you two together!"

"That explains why I got body pillows of you too," Weiss said, stunned as the pieces came together in her mind.

"I thought, at the very least, I could cuddle with you two in spirit," Juvia declared. She tugged Weiss in and embraced her in a loving, backbreaking hug. "But now we can do it all in person! Isn't that wonderful!?"

"Ugh… yes?" Weiss stuttered. Once more, her eyes flickered over to Gray's, the Ice Devil Slayer blinking in bewilderment that she was sure was mirrored on her own face. Of all the outcomes she'd expected from revealing the truth to Juvia, this… this was not one that she'd seen coming. It was confusing but much, much better than she'd ever imagined.

And that only made the pit in her stomach sink lower.

After everything she'd done in the Grimmlands, after what she'd done to Ruby and Yang, why was something this wonderful happening to her? Why was her friend being so understanding about this mess? Why, when she still had so much hatred in her for Summer even now, even seeing what that wrath had done to her dearest friends?

What had she done to deserve this blessing?

Fortunately, a loud crash sounded from the door to the cafeteria, the three wizards turning in time to see a black-haired cat faunus tumble down from a wall ledge that had hidden her from view.

"Hi," Blake sheepishly smiled, trying to stealthily stuff a notebook and pen back into her outfit's folds. "I didn't hear any of that."

Weiss glared at her. "I don't believe you."

"Good. I heard all of it and I ship it."

"Oh, to clarify," Juvia spoke up. "While my darling Gray loves both of us and we both love him, Weiss and I merely hold each other as our dearest, most beloved friends. This is not a Natsu-Lucy-Yang situation."

Blake nodded affirmatively, bringing her notebook back out and jotting down the new information like it was secret codes to the CCT. "Harem. Not threesome."

Weiss summoned her glyphs and glided over to her teammate, imperiously snatching away the notebook. "This is not a harem! And I will not have you writing a Ninjas of Love fanfiction based on us."

"I would never!" Blake protested.

Weiss glared at her.

Blake pouted. "It was going to a Raiders & Maidens fic."

"I am shocked and appalled at you, Blake," Weiss declared, purposefully overexaggerating her distress. "Shocked and appalled!"

Juvia tilted her head in confusion while Gray cocked an eyebrow. "It's Blake. What part of this is out of character?"

"Irrelevant!" Weiss shouted, snatching Blake's wrist. "I apologize for my teammate's improper behavior! I will now take her far away to reprimand her!"

With everyone present looking at her as if she'd suddenly gotten polka-dotted skin, Weiss summoned a line of speed glyphs and raced out of the cafeteria, Blake in hand and away from complex emotional issues she wasn't sure how to process.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, she noted the irony of that.

---

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Yang didn't need to watch the video of Weiss murdering her mother that Cinder's gang had recovered from Watts's server, various different cameras having caught most of the battle from a few different positions, some coated in the black sheen of God Slayer ice and some not. She'd seen the battle's conclusion in person, with the footage of her former teammate brushing aside Summer's pleas to stop the battle and then dragging Ruby into the mess beforehand only intensifying the burning pulse of hatred in her demonic limbs. Tears flickered down from her crimson eyes, sizzling to steam as they dripped onto her cheeks. To her surprise, those same tears fell from Cinder's eyes.

And to her equal surprise, they did not come from Salem's. She just looked absolutely terrified as the enormous spear/scythe sprouted from Weiss's glyph and tore Summer in half.

"Ruby mentioned she knew something to look into for forcing the Umbral Spirit King onto Universe Omega," Salem recalled, shutting off Emerald's scroll and returning it to the green-haired girl. She turned to Wendy and Oscar. "Did you know about this?"

"I did," Oscar admitted. "Weiss asked Ozpin about her evolving semblance right before they came here. Ruby was with them when they talked about it, but they didn't have time to tell the others before they left Patch. But… he didn't think she was strong enough to do this. No one has ever done this."

"Weiss has a habit of defying expectations," Yang growled. "She has to die."

"Agreed," Cinder chorused, wiping her tears from her face. "If she comes to think she can control that thing and unleashes it on us–"

"She will not get the chance," Salem declared. "We will need that power to force the Umbral Spirit King onto Universe Omega but it is far too dangerous to be left outside of our strict control."

"We have two Schnees in Atlas, do we not?" Sienna pointed out. "Ironwood's dog and the brother?"

"Whitley Schnee is untrained. And a child," Hazel argued. "We don't even know if the inherited quality of the Schnee semblance extends to male offspring."

"As long as we have his sister, it should prove unnecessary to encourage the boy's development. He's more useful ensuring the SDC remains efficient," Salem decided, a disgruntled frown pulling down her lips. "Arthur has expressed… ideas for the older sister that may prove to be our solution for harnessing this power. Summer was against them and I agreed with her but… we cannot fight the Umbral Spirit King with one hand behind our backs."

"And Weiss?" Yang asked again with a glare.

The Queen's head reluctantly lowered. "She has made clear that this bridge is burned. We will do what we must."

"We have permission to kill?" Cinder queried.

"For Weiss. For the others… only if necessary."

Cinder grinned, drawing a warning snarl from Yang, the Devil Slayer drawing the unconscious Lucy deeper into her arms as she strode over to take a protective stance over Jaune's body. She and the Gate of the Archer may both have been Summer's daughters, but that didn't mean the blonde was any more fond of her new sister than she was when she found out about their 'relation'. She may have wanted Weiss's head too, but if she used it as an excuse to go after Ruby as well? There would be blood between them.

"Emerald, come here please," Salem requested, before turning to Wendy. "My friend, I apologize, but after all this… I have to be sure."

Yang might have objected to that idea once, just a day ago even. But that was before Weiss had betrayed her after she'd begged her. Before Carla had lied to and manipulated her. Before she'd been forced to realize just how little her devotion to some of her friends was reciprocated. Before she realized how little she mattered to them.

Was Wendy like Lucy? Or Carla and Weiss? Yang had no idea. And she was no longer willing to rely on mere trust to secure such a knife at her back.

To the Sky Dragon Slayer's credit, she didn't hesitate a moment before lowering her aura and extending her arm towards Emerald.

"Of course, old friend," she gracefully replied. "I have nothing to hide."

---

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Irene was fully aware of everything they had to hide.

They were surrounded, in the heart of the Grimmlands with nowhere to run, by the most powerful beings on the planet, none of whom would take kindly to the fact that their group was the latest in the long line of betrayals that had plagued them.

Fortunately, they had planned for this eventuality. Wendy had discreetly transferred enough of her magic power to Irene to allow the High Enchanter to cast a memory enchantment to alter the Sky Dragon Slayer's mind. As of the moment the blue-haired girl stepped forward, all she could remember was that she was a true believer in Salem's plan to conquer the world to save it. Not happily of course, they needed her to be believably Wendy, but the Maiden of the Sky now firmly thought she'd come to the conclusion that there was no other path forward.

Which meant that when Emerald's hand closed around Wendy's auraless wrist, her Gemini abilities seeking out and copying the girl's memories, Irene had no concerns.

At least, until the green-haired Gate's eyes flickered towards her.

Irene recoiled back, double-checking to make sure her spectral form was invisible as normal, then that she had removed Wendy's knowledge of her having enchanted herself into the young girl from the Sky Dragon Slayer's memories. Both were exactly as they were supposed to be, so why then had she–

Emerald's gaze turned away, focusing back on Wendy herself. Cinder and Mercury impatiently edged towards her from the surrounding circle.

"Well?" Cinder demanded after a long moment. "What's the verdict? Who's side is she on?"

Emerald scowled and glared back at Cinder before turning to Salem. "She's clean. She and the farmboy aren't happy about it, but they're true believers."

The Queen let out a sigh of relief before shooting a radiant smile towards Wendy. "I'm sorry you had to go through that."

"It's alright," Wendy replied with a sweet grin. "It only took a second. And it's not like it hurt or anything."

Did it? They were certainly physically unharmed, their infiltration safe for now, but Irene couldn't help but wonder why. Had Emerald's eyes simply flicked around from the rush of absorbing Wendy's memories and just happened to dart in the High Enchanter's direction? Even if Gemini was built to safely transfer such memories, they'd seen firsthand with Erza how horrific it was to be endowed with an entire lifetime of pain all at once.

After all, what was the alternative? If something had gone wrong and Emerald knew Irene was there, surely she would have told Salem.

What reason could she have possibly had to keep their secret?

"RREGGFFFAAAAAHHHHH!"

The ground shook as an unearthly wail split through the air. The gathered group all turned towards the Grimm mud lakes, the ebony ooze suddenly bubbling like boiling stew as the tip of a large snot poked out from beneath the surface.

Then, more followed. Much, much more.

---

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"Is that…" Oscar murmured in terrified awe. "... a whale?"

"A flying whale?" Sienna reiterated, the former tiger faunus's eyes wide.

For once, Cinder could empathize with the newcomers' horrified awe. The Grimm whale that had risen up from the pools and taken to the skies was easily the biggest she'd ever seen, even larger than the towering ancient spirits that had circled the castle. Hell, it was nearly half the size of the island that Atlas floated atop, only this beast gushed down a churning waterfall of black mud, enlargening the lakes it had emerged from with its every spit.

"Yes, a Monstra," Hazel noted, as if observing some mildly unfortunate weather. "How long's it been since he was able to get one of those through?"

"A decade. Before that, it was a century," Salem growled. "He's widening the portal on his end, getting stronger and stronger Grimm through faster."

"Then we best take care of this one before it makes them any bigger from this end," End proclaimed. "With your leave, your grace?"

"Give me a moment to gather some of the new mud. I'll need to conjure a new Seer to contact Watts and Tyrian for an airship," Salem smirked. "After that, consider it your last mission before your leave."

End shot her a roguish grin. "It will be my genuine pleasure."

They were so casual about it. A Grimm the size of a small island had sprung up out of nowhere, signaling that the apocalypse was ever closer to being upon them, and they were joking about it. Sure they were concerned about the implications of the Umbral Spirit King's progress, but they were joking.

This was the kind of power, the kind of friendship, she'd have to surpass to get the safety she needed. It was a towering task ahead of her.

But she at least had a start.

'She's an infiltrator for Fairy Tail. Same with the cat and the farmboy. Say something with my name if I should tell Salem, without it if you want to keep it secret.'

Cinder smiled as Emerald came back over to her and Mercury, putting on a show at looking upset with the Gate of the Archer. Meanwhile, a projection of the green-haired girl appeared in front of both her co-conspirators.

One of the most underrated uses of Emerald's semblance was for undetectable communication. The moment she'd touched Wendy, the Gate of the Twins conjured the same hallucination she was casting now to inform Cinder of the Dragon Slayer's game and find out how she wanted to play the situation.

Choosing to keep the Fairy Tail infiltration a secret was a conscious choice on Cinder's part. While revealing their presence would have seen Wendy ruined, the Gate of the Archer no longer cared for petty revenge for such a minor slight such as their battle at Beacon Tower. No, she was playing a bigger game, with far more at stake and people she needed to protect by playing as good a hand as she could.

She, Emerald, and Mercury were strong, but they were both outnumbered and outgunned by the rest of the Gates. Figuring out how exactly they were going to whittle down their opposition and angle themselves into position to get enough power to not immediately die against Salem and End. Having a trio of Fairy Tail infiltrators who didn't know she knew their secret around could prove quite useful in diverting The Queen's attention and weakening her forces.

"So, turns out that as long as the magic power is less than mine, I get a chance to copy all the souls attached to a body," Emerald's illusion spoke to them with a cheeky smirk. "Ever heard of Irene Belserion?"

Cinder made sure not to grin as Salem began sculpting her new Seer. But on the inside? She was smiling like no other.

Friendship was already paying dividends.

---

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Ruby was very glad that Erza and Jellal decided to wake Pyrrha. It warmed her heart to see the Mistralian girl hug her newly awakened mother and brought relief to her mind that she wouldn't get stuck with her friend's parents in another… intimate moment.

"The doctors said there's no way to heal your nerves, but they did say they could get us a good price on prosthetics if you wanted to amputate," Pyrrha hurriedly said. "Well, not a good price, but we're rich, so we can afford it."

"I know, sweetie," Erza replied, trying not to hurt her daughter's feelings. "Did they say where they'd get them from?"

"I believe they said a facility in the city," Jellal reported.

"I checked it out," Ruby revealed. "They make perfectly good civilian stuff, but nothing that can hold up in a fight. Only Atlas makes replacements like that."

"It doesn't matter. We don't need to replace them," Pyrrha suddenly backpedaled. "We just need to get Wendy back and she can heal you good as new."

Jellal winced. "Wendy is as fine a healer as exists… but healing magic has limits. It can't regrow destroyed nerves."

"Then maybe she can just enchant new ones. She has Irene's knowledge, right? She's my grandmother, she'd help–"

"We can't pull Wendy out," Ruby sadly declared.

Pyrrha whirled on her. "What?! Ruby, we have to–"

"Wendy, Oscar, and Happy have their job: get Natsu a body and take Salem's faction apart from within," Ruby bluntly stated. "They have enough on their plate. We try to dump this on them as well and we jeopardize everything."

"Well we have to do something!" Pyrrha roared. "Mercury had combat prosthetics. Where did he get those?"

"An underground craftsman on the run from Atlas for illegal experimentation. An old associate of one Arthur Watts here in the city," Ruby revealed. "The police just found his body burned to a crisp."

Erza frowned. "Cinder."

"Most likely," Ruby confirmed. "She couldn't have a witness floating around who knew something that conflicted with her Beacon cover story."

"So what?!" Pyrrha exclaimed. "We have to do something!"

"No, we don't. And we shouldn't," Ruby said. "Not yet."

"We can't just leave her like–"

"Pyrrha," Erza spoke, cutting off her daughter's panic. She inched herself up on the bed and kissed the younger redhead on the forehead. "I'll be alright. Get back to Beacon. Rest with your friends."

The Invincible Girl choked up, tears trickling down her cheeks. She sniffled and managed a nod as she wiped them away. She gave her mother one last hug before exiting the room.

"Jellal," Erza said. "May I have a moment with Ruby?"

"Of course," the Heavenly Body Wizard replied, looking after Pyrrha. "I'll… I'll…"

"Tell her," Erza insisted. "She deserves to know. And at this point, she could use some good news."

Jellal sighed, his eyes low and unsure. But he still headed out after his daughter, leaving the room to the Titania and her apprentice.

"Do you hate me?" the Scarlet Reaper inquired, though not as seriously as she had that bright morning on her house's rooftop.

Erza chuckled. "Why would I hate you?"

"I failed you. I broke. Gave up on everything the guild stands for," Ruby recounted. "Using the book to change the timeline was evil, even if I got talked out of it, even if I chose not to in the end."

"Yes, you did. And, yes it was," Erza replied. "And yet, you did make the right choice in the end, even managing to bring Jellal and Juvia to join us."

"I had to choose between giving up, doing what I needed to do, or doing what I could do," Ruby ruminated. "I chose what I could do."

"And then you stopped," Erza remarked. The Queen of the Fairies glanced at her crippled limbs with an exhausted sigh. "Stopping is not so easy to do. And all the more catastrophic when you can't."

Like Summer. Like Salem.

Ruby flashed a sealed letter into her hand, smiling in an attempt to lighten the atmosphere a little. "In the interest of encouraging your whole 'not hating me' instinct, I've got farewell letters from the rest of the guild. I gave everyone else theirs, but yours, well…"

"Read one to me," Erza requested. "Please."

"Which one?"

"You know which."

Ruby did. She gingerly undid the seal of the letter in her hands, the penmanship within precise and elegant. "Dear Erza."

"All those years ago when you first walked into the guild talking about how Rob sent you, I could never have anticipated what you would grow to mean to me. I love all the guild, all my children, but you became one of my most treasured family members so quickly. To have suffered so much, yet still have so much light to give, and be so willing to accept love in turn, you are more incredible than any magic. A quality Ruby tells me you have only polished in your time on Remnant, gaining a brilliant daughter of your own. My only regret is that I will never be able to meet this beautiful grandchild.

In all honesty, I am struggling to find the words for my emotions here. You know I love you. You know I could not possibly be more proud. So, I suppose I'll confess something you don't know.

I gave you the nickname Titania.

Now, it wasn't some big intentional thing. You'd just become S-Class and I was out drinking with Bob and Goldmine, raving about how incredible you were, and I think I mentioned something about how you could be queen of the fairies. I didn't remember it through the hangover the next day, but Bob did and you know once something is known in Blue Pegasus, it's known everywhere.

Originally, I found the whole thing embarrassing, especially since you didn't seem to care about it one way or the other. But the more I thought about it, the more it fit, especially as I watched you grow, form the Strongest Team, and face your past with your friends by your side, chosen to trust and stand with them rather than try to foolishly sacrifice yourself as I did so many times.

I have been brought back from death itself. But the greatest blessing of my life was having you for a daughter. And though it pains me to place this burden on you, I have no doubt that you will do wonders with it that I could never imagine.

From Mavis to Precht to me to Macao to Gildarts to me to you to back to me (because you kids just couldn't let an old man go) to Mira and whoever she made choose after her, and finally back to you again. I don't know how many that will be, but what I do know is that the old era will be over by the time you read this. It will be up to you, Erza Scarlet, First Guildmaster of the second era of Fairy Tail, to create what the guild will mean to Remnant.

And no matter where, or when, you are, even if I can't see you, I'm always looking your way. I will watch over you forever.

With all the love in this or any time,

Makarov"

Ruby lowered the letter, hoping to keep the tears dripping from her silver eyes from staining the parchment. When she rose her gaze from the note, she found Erza slumped back in her bed, a smile on her lips even while her cheeks were stained by her own salty waterfalls.

"He always knew what to say," Erza fondly mused. "Even when I was at my lowest and the whole world was crumbling, somehow a few words from him could make it all seem just a single spark brighter."

Her smile fell as she looked at her bandaged limbs. "How unfortunate I can no longer fan the flame."

"Don't talk nonsense," Ruby spat. "No one could make a better guildmaster. He knew that."

"He knew me as a warrior. A fighter that would stand against the most fearsome opponents in the world and inspire her guildmates when she stood on the battlefield," Erza pointed out. "Now, I can't even stand."

"Being guildmaster is more than just fighting," Ruby argued.

"But the fighting is what I'm good at. The negotiating, the diplomacy, the logistics, I'm competent there but no more. You had the most influence on the parley with Salem," Erza countered. "And for the matter of raw inventive madness… that was always Natsu's specialty."

"The Gildarts to your Makarov," Ruby said. "But Gildarts couldn't have been master. He literally split the moment Makarov tried to hoist it onto him!"

"Like he's hoisting it on me?"

"He's bequeathing it to you," Ruby emphasized. "You keep us in line, focus us, corral us. We choose you to keep us in line because we trust you to protect us from ourselves. You know, without going mad with power. And even if you can't fight like you used to or you need help talking with the council… even if you're leader, asking for help doesn't make you weak. You taught me that, the night you stopped us from sneaking out of Fairy Hills."

Erza snorted, but a smile tinged up over her lips. "You would have made your own way."

"Wrong," Ruby declared, iron in her voice. She shuffled over to Erza and took a seat next to her mentor's bedside.

The pair looked at each other, unsure, yet solemn and loving. The battered queen and the humbled maiden. Master and apprentice. Knight and reaper. Twin sparks in the midst of a hurricane.

Yet, as long as one burned, they could relight the other.

"Do you have a plan?" Erza inquired. "For the Umbral Spirit King?"

"I do. A story I heard when I was back at the guild gave me the idea," Ruby revealed. "But I don't know if it'll work. And the only one who experienced the story firsthand, who can tell me if what I'm thinking is actually a workable solution, is Natsu."

"Which means we will have to put our faith in Wendy," Erza surmised. "We'll hold off Salem's forces until she can make him a new body. Then extract them all."

Ruby chuckled. "Against the Gates plus the Atlas Military? It's a good thing we specialize in the impossible."

Erza smiled, her tears drying as her brown became rich and welcoming like well-tilled soil. "If Natsu is to be my Gildarts, I will need a me too. A field leader. Are you up for it?"

Ruby nodded. "Always."

The flame of Fairy Tail may change, but it would burn on.

And it would burn bright.

---

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Winter had often been called a cold woman. She'd never much either way for the designation, her priority was just to carry out her duties as a huntress and a soldier, not care about what other people thought. Those that mattered, Weiss, the general, and her former teammates knew the warmth she could show and they were the only ones who needed to know.

However, she would not argue that months in Glacial Cliffs Military Prison had helped her disposition. Nor had the company of her former friends.

"... and Holly's been sent to Argus to make sure the promised reinforcements go smoothly. Can't leave something like that to Cordovin after all," Ana rambled, pacing in front of Winter, who was bound in a gravity dust bola on the bench of her cell. "I wish I could be like Robyn. She's taken to being governor with ease! She's like how Ironwood used to be at organizing the troops, galvanizing Mantle's recovery with the new Outer Ring construction. Esper told her to get everyone out of the crater as soon as possible, but seriously!"

Winter merely stared on ahead, absorbing the details her former teammate revealed about the outside world for later, for use once she escaped. At the moment, she was more focused on the third figure in the cell. While Ana had often come to talk to her imprisoned friend, Drizzella had not made an appearance in months. But this time, she was leaning against the edge of the doorframe, her side to Winter as she made a conscious effort not to look the Schnee's way.

"Thank gods for Clover. Without his advice, I don't think I'd be surviving as Specialist Commander," Ana groaned, only to send a pleading look at her prisoner. "If you came back, you could have the job. You'd be a lot better at it. You could do a lot of good."

The offer was genuine. Desperate, even. The Tremaines would concoct some cock and bull story about the dastardly COMMAND ESR brainwashing the loyal Specialist despite her valiant efforts to resist. And because Esper would back it, the public would eat it all up. Winter could say the word and she'd not only be a free woman, she'd have back all the former status and power she'd lost that day at Amity Coliseum.

Ana had made the offer several different ways over several different visits. And Winter had always kept her silence, let the redheaded drunk stew in her guilt, a bit of petty revenge. But after nearly six months of suffering through sickening offers, she found her lips opening.

So that her tongue could stab out with frozen venom.

"I am going to get out of here. Someday, somehow, I will get out of here," Winter vowed. "And when I do, I will kill you both."

Ana shrank back, her lips quivering as she turned away in tears.

"Yeah. That makes sense," Drizzella resignedly observed, a broken sigh rushing out of her lips.

Suddenly, the cell door whished open, another figure entering that had all three women on guard.

"Commander Tremaine. Special Agent Tremaine," Arthur Watts cordially greeted, a pair of Altesian Knights behind him. "Ms. Schnee."

"Dr. Watts?" Drizzella queried, her hand falling to her holstered pistols. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, just a little bit of logistics," Watts waved off. "I just need to move our special inmate here to my laboratory's private detention facility. Right by Atlas Academy."

"What?!" Drizzella shouted.

Winter narrowed her eyes in concern. If Drizzella was raising her voice like that, this was incredibly serious.

"You can't do that!" Ana protested, whirling on the doctor. "The First Citizen commanded that you can't touch her–"

"The First Citizen is dead," Watts informed them, far too casually for the subject matter of his statement or the shocked reactions that reverberated across the cell.

"Esper… is dead?" Winter muttered. She'd prayed for such justice, but to have it come so suddenly, out of nowhere, was… jarring.

"How?" Drizzella demanded. "Who could–"

"This one's sister. Utilizing the same ability that has led the Queen to approve my experiments," Watts informed them. He snapped his fingers and the Altesian Knights came around to take Winter by the arms. The bound woman was yanked to her feet and led towards the door.

"Wait!" Ana called, stepping forward.

"Ana," Drizzella cautioned.

"You can't," the redhead pressed on. "You can't take her."

"I'm afraid I both can, want to, and must," Watts answered. "The Queen will be quite displeased if I am not at least underway when she arrives."

Ana and Drizzella immediately froze. Winter paled, a thousand different horror stories passed from Ozpin to Ironwood to her flooding her mind all at once.

"Salem is coming here?" Drizzella whimpered, unable to keep the dread from her voice.

"Indeed. Perhaps you should rethink who you attempt to ingratiate yourself with," Watts taunted. "Pretty words or not, this was a monarchy. The people will expect Madame Rosenflos's daughter to take over her former post. And you'll find that the new First Citizen is not quite so sympathetic to your family situation."

He looked to Winter and chuckled. "Though, she's even less than that to yours, Ms. Schnee. Perhaps it would be better for you if you did not survive the experiment. Though I would encourage otherwise. I expect your soul to create no less than an army."

Winter was often called a cold woman. But as she was led off into the custody of the demon doctor, even she couldn't help but shiver in fear.

---

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"So…" Qrow inquired, a tray of two steaming cups in his hands. "You want some tea?"

"Is it poison?" Carla asked, slumped up against the cot of her Beacon room.

"Tastes like it," Qrow said, sitting down beside the Exceed. "But it's relaxing and good for you and shit. Or do you prefer water?"

"I'd prefer something stronger," Carla murmured. "A lot of it."

"Well, you and Tai have something in common then," Qrow noted. "Two things if you count disappointment in me for having ditched all mine before you could ask."

"You got rid of your alcohol?"

"Yeah," Qrow shrugged. "Figured it was about time. My head has enough troubles as it is."

"Congratulations," Carla genuinely complimented. "Are you doing alright–"

"Oh no. You don't get to do that. You're gonna try to help me work through the complicated mess I'm feeling about Summer and Yang so that you can distract me from helping you deal with your own self-loathing," Qrow scolded, before a teasing smirk popped over his face. "Don't take this from me. I rarely get to be the one with my head on comparatively straight."

Carla groaned. "What is there to work through? I fucked up. I lied to Yang, manipulated her, destroyed her trust in me and the rest of her friends, all for nothing because my future vision of Wendy kneeling before Salem once again didn't include the context! That is fact! It is what happened! How can I possibly work through that?!"

Qrow whistled. "It's certainly a tall order. A proper cat like you doesn't use language like that for nothing."

"Haha," Carla sighed, lumping back on the bed. "How are you going to make me feel better about myself? Hell, why do you want to? I destroyed your niece's psyche."

"Yang's had her own issues for a long time. You didn't help matters, but in the end, she's responsible for her choices," Qrow sadly reminded them both. "As for why I want to help you? You helped me, never gave up on me. Figured it's only right I return the favor."

"And how are you going to do that?"

"Well, I thought I'd start by reminding you that you keeping us together is a big reason why we were able to get out of there at all," Qrow said. "But, I'm also guessing that you haven't stopped being terrified for your girl even if she is just behind enemy lines instead of actually joining the enemy."

"She can handle it," Carla said. "If this experience has taught me anything, it's that not trusting my friends is the biggest mistake I can make."

"Good. Then trust me when I say you're one cat that's still got a whole lot of good to do," Qrow declared. He grabbed his steaming tea cup while sliding the Exceed's across the tray. "We've got parlor tricks aplenty. Time to work on a real act."

Nervously, Carla sat back up, snatching up her tea. She took a long look into its murky contents before glancing up at Qrow. "Thank you, my friend."

Qrow smirked, raising his steaming cup. "To doing what we can, luck and life be damned."

They clinked their tea together and took a long drink.

---

RWBYRWBYRWBYRWBYFTFTFTFT

Blake reached out her hand and spread her palm across the beak of the shining white Nevermore. With a flash of light and a rush of her Take-Over, the luminous Umbral Spirit was sucked into her body.

"That's the last of them," Weiss announced, rising from her knees as her summoning glyph disappeared from the floor of their old dorm room. "Aside from my Arma Gigas, you now have every Grimm I was able to summon. Are you sure you don't want that one as well? It's my most powerful."

"And the basis of the closest thing you've got to a Full Devil Form or Dragonforce. Probably best you keep that one with you if we're gonna be going to war," Blake pointed out. "Unless you can resummon those I've already absorbed?"

Weiss sheathed Myrtenaster at her side and glanced at her hand, her fingers trembling as she held up her palm. "I think… I think I could. I can still feel the connection, feel them inside you, but it's… faint. If I can summon them again, I'd be pulling them from you, not the Umbral Spirit World. It'd only work if you were nearby and even then, given the complexities of Take-Over Magic, I'm not sure if I can pull out any but the weakest ones."

"Yeah, probably best you keep your Arma Gigas then," Blake smirked. "At least until you figure out that Godforce thing Summer talked about."

"Maybe even after. She did say I wouldn't want it," Weiss remarked, clutching her wrist as she looked away in shame. "Gods know I should have given what she was saying the benefit of the doubt before."

Blake frowned, a melancholy filling the air that felt out of place in their Beacon dorm. This was where Team RWBY had slept, the prodigy talents at the top of their year who'd thrown together bunk beds just so they'd have more space. Somehow during the chaos of The Fall, Ruby and Yang's top bunks had remained upright despite their perilous rope and book supports, a testament to the strength of youthful idealism and ingenuity… or Professor Goodwitch had fixed them up when she'd returned Blake's smut collection to the shelf.

Either way, this was where four disparate young women had truly become the most kickass huntresses Beacon had ever known. The action in the Emerald Forest had thrown them together, but the quiet moments of Yang introducing Weiss to popcorn while the latter helped them study, Ruby mandating a movie night while teaming up with her sister to make sure their partners didn't make them watch an 'artsy' film from Mistral, everyone teasing Blake for hiding from Zwei when he visited, those had made them a team. Returning to its walls after everything that happened in the Grimmlands, Weiss's snowy eyepatch providing irrefutable proof of how drastically everything had changed, it was painful to realize just how truly gone those carefree times were.

However, Blake was not so blind as to forget that she'd not come into those times from the best place either. If her despair from leaving the White Fang could fade with time, then this pain could be healed as well. And even if the youthful joy of Team RWBY's Beacon days would never return exactly, that didn't mean they'd never know happiness like it again.

"She gave you more than enough reason to doubt her," the Black Fairy comforted her friend. "What happened with Yang–"

"-Was my fault," Weiss insisted. The white-haired girl closed her trembling hand into a fist, her shivering legs carrying her over to the bookshelf by the window to support herself. "I started that fight. I saw what I wanted to see, I listened to the Umbral Spirit King. And do you want to know the worst part?"

Blake shuffled over and placed a gentle hand on Weiss's shoulder. The other girl, the imperious God Slayer, nearly flinched at her touch and only to slowly look up and nod in gratitude.

"I don't regret it. Not what happened because of it, what I did to Ruby and Yang and everything else that came out of it, I hate myself for that," Weiss clarified. "But actually killing her? The fact that the woman who ruined my life, who killed my mother and Klein, made me stab my brother, captured my sister, and subverted my home is dead? It's outweighed by everything I lost, but there is… satisfaction in that justice. Not as much as there should have been, but not nothing. I'm… happy. That she's dead, that she finally got what was coming to her."

Blake gulped, knowing the feeling. The kidnappings and executions that the White Fang had conducted on SDC executives, sometimes even their families, had horrified her whenever she'd heard about them. The innocent should never have been dragged into the conflict. But some of those executives, those men and women of status… that had not been innocent. Or kind, or good, or well-intentioned, or anything that could have offset the casual cruelty they'd unleashed on the faunus race for nothing but profit, or, in the worst cases, some sick power fantasy. It had been hard not to be glad when Adam or Sienna had cut their throats, even knowing intellectually that the action was morally wrong.

There were many books she'd read that had told her vengeance felt empty. There were many that had told her it was a grand quest that would bring peace. She'd like to say the former was the truth, but if it was, why had any of them ever sought justice?

"Ruby and Yang lost their mom, again, because of me. Yang begged me to wait and I didn't. I failed them, betrayed them, and I'm happy?" Weiss murmured, horrified at her own emotions as her glassy eye leaked a tear. "What kind of person does that make me? What kind of monster feels like that?"

"A human one."

Weiss paled, her body frozen stock still.

Blake sighed, turning around towards the new voice. "Ruby."

The Silver-Eyed Warrior stood in the doorway of their old room, her sterling gaze ignoring the maniac trappings of her team's youth. She silently cut through the dorm, her scarlet cloak ruffling over her form as the silver Fairy Tail emblem shown on her back. Soon, she came up on the opposite side of Weiss from Blake, the heiress flinching away to keep her partner in the would-be sight of her lost eye.

"Look at me," Ruby commanded, soft, yet unwavering.

Weiss's lip quivered, her whole body quaking with dread. Blake wished she could say that her friend was making a big thing out of nothing, but the last time she'd been confronted by one of Summer's daughters, Yang had made it clear that it was the furthest thing from nothing. Their leader had ordered Blake to protect the God Slayer then, but she'd had hope that Neo-Hell's Core might have still saved her mother at the time. Now, with the stroke of the Umbral Spirit King's scythe final, even the Black Fairy had to wonder…

… would Ruby take the other eye?

"Look at me, Weiss," the Spirit Slayer repeated.

Her fingers gripping the top of the shelf so hard the wood cracked, Weiss slowly turned towards her leader, her head low as her eye glistened with a captive tear. The entire time, Ruby stood there waiting, her silver gaze unflinching.

"You've been avoiding me," the red hooded huntress observed. "I thought you needed time, so I let you. But that's not an option anymore."

Weiss's tear was released to slide down her marble cheek. "I'm sorry."

Ruby said nothing for a moment, the window's filtered sunlight glittering off her dark hair. Then, the girl who could move faster than the eye could see slowly raised her arm and pulled her partner into a soft, but firm hug.

"I forgive you," Ruby whispered into Weiss's ear, clutching her lithe frame and alabaster hair. "For whatever parts of it need my forgiveness, I choose to forgive you. And I'll say it as many times as you need until you can forgive yourself."

Blake smiled, internally laughable at her earlier worry. Ruby asked for a lot of faith at times, but there were few better at seeing that faith rewarded.

Weiss let a round of choked, shaky breaths, crying as she grabbed onto Ruby for dear life. "But… but… you heard–"

"I heard," Ruby confirmed. "That doesn't change my choice."

"Why?... Yang… I… I…"

"You let her down. You let me down too," Ruby said, without condemnation, but not without reproach. She opened the embrace so that she could look Weiss in the face again. "Don't mistake what this is, Weiss. You are my partner, my teammate, and my sister. But you were a complete and utter dolt back there."

Weiss shivered, trying to collect herself under her leader's disapproval. "I… I know."

"Good. We can't afford screwups like that anymore," Ruby replied. "We're going to war. And no matter what Salem decides on the matter, Yang and Cinder will be coming for you. And I will not forgive you if you let them kill you."

Weiss blinked numbly. "If I… let them…?"

Blake sniggered into her hand, snatching something from her waist. "I have something that might help with that."

Weiss turned around, only to have Gambol Shroud shoved into her arms. The white-haired huntress's eye widened, instantly shooting up to look at Blake in shock. "You can't be serious."

Blake held up her right hand and playfully wiggled her fingers. "A Beowolf's claw can't exactly fit through the trigger guard. I'm afraid my fighting style has outgrown my old weapon. Though I will be keeping these though."

Her left hand rose with different ammo clips of multicolored dust lodged between her fingers. "If my Grimm forms can use my shadow clones, they should be able to use my elemental clones as well if I get enough control. Something you've already helped me with, both by giving me this and your summons. Only seems fair that I return the favor."

"A weapon is an extension of a person, a part of them," Ruby mused, smiling for the first time since she'd entered the dorm. "You're putting Gambol Shroud in good hands."

"Wha… you… you…" Weiss stuttered, her head rapidly swinging back and forth between her teammates. Eventually however, she pulled her head to the exact middle of them, clutching Blake's gift tightly before strapping it to her belt. "I won't let you down. Either of you. I prom–"

"Don't promise," Ruby frighteningly cut her off, throwing a hand on the God Slayer's shoulder. "Just… do what you can. That's enough… it's enough."

Weiss held her rattled gaze for a second, only to return a shaken nod. She strapped Gambol Shroud to her belt on the opposite side of Myrtenaster before rushing out of the room.

The moment the patter of her footsteps disappeared down the hall, Ruby's stoic facade disintegrated. The Spirit Slayer released a ragged, desperate breath, her knees buckling out from under her. Blake rushed in and snagged her leader under her armpits right before she hit the ground.

"I got you," the cat faunus comforted, holding the younger girl close. "I got you."

She pulled Ruby up and trudged her over to her bed, the two of them sitting down on the covers side-by-side. Blake rubbed her friend's back as the silver-eyed girl heaved over.

"Thanks," Ruby gasped, slowly gathering her breath. "Why… why was that so hard?"

"Because you're only human," Blake reminded her. "Erza?"

"Awake. Crippled, but awake," Ruby revealed, managing to sit up. "The council wants to talk to our leader. She's it. She'll need help though."

"I think we've got more than a few people willing to chip in," Blake chuckled.

"Ha! Just a few," Ruby chuckled, only to glance over at the cat faunus with a wry smile. "Why did you become so funny?"

"I was always funny. I just didn't bring it up," Blake replied. "Before we met, before I fell in with Adam and Sienna, I was a lot like you. But, the world wore me down. Turned me into what I was when we first met."

"It wore me down, until I used the book. I just got lucky that my try at erasing everyone failed," Ruby sighed. "Luckier than mom. Luckier than Yang."

Blake frowned. "Do you think she's really gone?"

Ruby shrugged. "I don't know. When she saw me reaching out my hand back at the Grimmlands, I thought she was going to take it for a second, but then… she didn't. I've felt like I've had some idea of what's going through Yang's head, but now… now I have no idea. Going after Weiss is one thing, I get that after what she saw, but not coming with us?"

"It was still so soon," Blake argued. "Maybe if she just has some time?"

"Time to what? To think more about how Carla lied to her? How Weiss ignored her when she begged? I see mom's death when I close my eyes, Blake. I can't imagine she doesn't," Ruby surmised. "Yang has a tendency to overreact when things don't go the way she wants them to. Something like this? I don't think her eyes will be violet again any time soon."

Blake's head lurched back, her gaze narrowing on her partner's bed above her. "I'm not giving up on her. Not yet."

"And I hope you're right to," Ruby said. "But don't do anything reckless."

"Reckless? When have I ever–"

Ruby cut her off with a flat look.

"Right, right, fair enough," Blake replied.

"What I said to Weiss applies to you too," Ruby advised. "It applies to me, and Erza, and Pyrrha, and Gray, and all of us. We can't afford screwups. Reach out to Yang if you can, but if you can't… then you can't."

Blake's eyes widened. "She's your sister."

"She is," Ruby said simply.

She swallowed a gulp, resting her forehead over her knuckles. A single tear trickled down her cheek. Blake reached around her and pulled Ruby into her chest.

"You were lucky. So was I, that Ozpin let me in here instead of arresting me, and you guys accepted me when you found out the truth," Blake concurred. "But, I think part of being hopeful is accepting luck when it comes. And working to help others get lucky too."

"Heh. That's a nice fairy tale," Ruby snorted. "And the world is not a fairy tale."

"No, it is not," Blake smirked. "Up to make it better?"

Ruby grinned. "Nope. But I'm up to try."

Blake mirrored her leader's cheer. Here they were, battered and bruised, but alive and kicking. Where before their old dorm room and Beacon as a whole had felt out of place amidst the brutal consequences they'd been dealt, now, with that single spark back in place, it felt like home again. And with it, a bit of that youthful optimism trickled back in.

Fate of the world on the line? Forces of unimaginable power and emotional complication bearing down on them? Just another day for huntresses.

Just another day for Fairy Tail wizards.

"Great," Blake said. "First thing on that list, I believe Mira gave you some books for me."

"Uuuggghhhh," Ruby groaned. "Why? It's just–"

"Filth, I know," Blake cut in with a playful, cat-like smile. "First rule of war. Make sure your troops are fed, and make sure they have their porn."

Ruby's face fell into her hands. "Fine, fine, they're yours. I'll put them on the shelf with your Ninjas of Love. But I have two conditions!"

"Seems unfair given Mira gave them to me," Blake snarked. "But go on."

"One!" Ruby shouted, hopping to her feet and holding up a finger. "If Erza wants them read to her, you are doing the reading!"

Blake shrugged. "That's fine. It'll be nice to repay her for sharing her collection with me while we were at the guildhall. Plus, you could never do the voices right–"

"I don't want to know," Ruby declared. "Now then, number two. Requip!"

Light flared in Ruby's hand, but smaller than it did when she was conjuring a sword or even a dagger. Even when it faded, the object she'd summoned was encased in her fist.

When she opened it up, a Fairy Tail guildmark stamper lay in her palm.

"Mira gave you a gift as well," Blake gladly observed.

"Erza's first order as guildmaster," Ruby said. "Help me gather everyone up. We've got some new members to induct."

"And then we party?" Blake prompted.

"Wouldn't be Fairy Tail without it," Ruby smirked, her face brightening as she rolled the stamper in her hand. "You know Blake, you say you used to be a lot like me, but I hope I can be like you. You make mistakes, but you keep going, and you never lose yourself."

Blake looked at her own hand, the hand that she knew could be a Grimm's claw with a thought. A monster's claw.

A monster who kept their word when she gave them a chance, who saved her friend.

The cat faunus beamed and rose to her feet. "In that case, let's find the others."

And in time, all the others. Those who were lost, and those they had lost.

The benefit of an eternal adventure was that things could always get better. And there was always a way back.

---

And... drop curtain!

Holy shit, there was a lot of stuff in this chapter. I didn't even include everything I had planned, decided that certain things with Pyrrha, Nora, Raven, and Jellal could be pushed off and better utilized in the first arc of the second half. But with all that is here, I think it makes a fitting conclusion to the first half of the story.

I first announced this hiatus in Chapter 70 and now ten chapters later, it has arrived. I will likely not be posting any fanfiction for a long while as I focus on getting my career in a stable place. And when I do return, my focus will be on finishing The Third Faction at last and getting One to Find All to the end of its Volume 1. However, I don't want all you guys to lose heart. I love this story, and I have every intention of finishing it. Over time, I have grown to have regrets over certain mistakes I made in 'RWBY/Zero's first half and this story truly feels like the next stage of my growth as a writer as I'm given the chance to not only avoid those mistakes, but apply them as strengths in different contexts and styles. I LOVE writing this story and I love interacting with all of you as we talk about it. I look forward to the day I can return to writing it.

But in the meantime, leave me your thoughts on this chapter and the story's first half in your reviews. It is a privilege to have such wonderful, thoughtful readers and I look forward to your thoughts on this epic tale!

Thank you for Reading! I hope you enjoy what comes next!

Go Forth and Conquer!