The Atlesian Military's airship descended to the ground along with the soldiers inside of it. As soon as the ship had reached the ground, the soldiers marched forward out of it.
The afternoon was setting in, the fight had been won and all participants had returned with an unconscious Alector Nirvana in tow, delivering him and his cat Milena right before general Ironwood, who told them he would take care of him. They had been informed that Lie Ren managed to arrive with the device and that Ozpin had used to awaken all three students out of their vegetative state. They were currently in the infirmary for treatment to see if there had been any permanent damage caused.
The remnants of the two teams looked up at the giant Atlesian airship commandeered by Ironwood as his soldiers marched out, preparing to take their new prisoner with them.
And there he was, Alector Nirvana in cuffs being escorted among the route to the airship by Ironwood's forces.
He took a glance at the people who had beaten him. Ruby stuck her tongue out in a mocking expression against him, while her sister cracked her knuckles upon seeing him. Ren just looked at him with his usual stoic demeanor while Jaune and Nora where staring daggers at him.
And then there was Blake, who was looking down, not willing to meet his gaze.
"Blake…" he yelled out marching forward until one of the soldiers pulled him back in line. The cat Faunus looked at the man she had loved, her heart wanting to say something but her mouth was not moving. As soon as she met his gaze she once again turned away, and a worried Ruby was there to comfort her.
Ironwood marched up the drawbridge leading to the aircraft, his soldiers saluting him as he walked past them, until he reached where Nirvana was standing.
"You're making a huge mistake general" the captured Nirvana told him, a look of contempt spreading across his normally stoic face, trying to restrain the clear anger building up in him.
"Is that so?," Ironwood asked as he moved his head forward to meet Nirvana's eyes "you put three students into houseplants just to rescue a cat. Yeah it is a huge mistake to not get you out of here and behind bars as soon as possible."
Nirvana gritted his teeth at his statement, restraining himself just enough, not helped by the tight grip of the soldiers.
Another soldier came forward with Milena, her paws tied together and her mouth muzzled. As soon as Nirvana saw this he yelled out at the soldier.
"Get your hands off her" as he once again tried to move but was held back by the soldiers once more.
"If you want her so badly take her" the soldier said as he forced the cat into Nirvana's cuffed arms. The man almost growled at him until he saw his feline companion and held her close.
The soldiers forced him to move towards the airship. With a salute towards the teams Ironwood joined his soldiers aboard, and the imprisoned Nirvana gave one last look at the two teams as the doors of the airship closed.
And then he was gone.
The Infirmary:
Weiss was silently staring at the head nurse who was examining her. Headmistress Goodwitch stood beside her as she kept a look out towards all the students.
Weiss could barely recall her experiences. She felt she just had to experience her own doubts over and over again. Her father's controlling demeanor, her mother's absence, the intense fear she felt at only being wanted for her name and not who she was. To be her own person with her own destiny. In her short time being out of it she had seen so much and relived every horrifying feeling over and over again.
"Well you seem to be physically fine, I will return a bit later. For now have some rest" the head nurse said. As soon as she was out of sight the door swung open and Ruby Rose ran over to envelop her partner in a hug.
"I'M SO GLAD YOU'RE FINE!" she squealed as she hugged her friend.
"Ruby calm down she just came out of a coma," Yang told her sister as she pulled her off of Weiss "glad to see you up again Schnee."
Blake softly walked behind them, her face still down as the last time she had spoken with Weiss things has not entirely gone the right way. They hadn't faced each other since that fight.
Weiss had noticed her.
"Hey Weiss," Blake mumbled softly as she moved closer "look about last time…I'm sorry and I didn't mean too…" she was cut off as Weiss embraced her friend.
Several seconds went by before Blake returned the embrace, hugging her friend and teammate as if she had been gone for years.
"It's fine Blake really….he….he wasn't who I thought he was" Weiss said.
Blake didn't respond, how could she? Despite everything her feelings about the man pretending to be their professor where still confusing her. On the one hand he had put her friends, teammates and fellow students in danger, but on the other he had accepted her, loved her. It felt genuine? She wanted to hate him.
But she couldn't. She just couldn't do it.
"No he wasn't. We've both been fools it seems" Blake said as she slowly let go of Weiss who looked upon her team with a smile.
"So what happened to Firen…..to Nirvana?" she asked.
"Mr. Nirvana has been taken into custody by general Ironwood, who will oversee about what to do with him," a suddenly appearing Ozpin said as he joined the now again completed Team RWBY "I think I owe all of you a great apology. I should have looked further into him and seen the red flags before this all happened. I hope you forgive this old fool."
"You are forgiven Ozpin, you worry too much about it" Goodwitch said to him smiling.
"Headmaster…" Blake started as Ozpin turned to look at her. "Yes miss Belladonna?" he asked curiously.
"What are they going to do to him?" she asked.
"I cannot answer that question for I do not know. But he needs to be held accountable for his actions" Blake nodded at that statement.
"I still can't believe he did all of this for a cat" Yang chimed in.
Blake's heart sank again. She tried to push her grief down over everything that had happened for the sake of trying to be there for her team. They seemed to understand the predicament she was in, though she could never tell them about everything that truly happened between them.
"Love can be a powerful motivator miss Rose," Ozpin said as he looked around the room "clearly he loved his cat so much that he was willing to travel through worlds to find her and bring her to safety. I suppose his lessons rang true, there is always a certain balance to things, even the most horrible acts can be done for the noblest of intentions."
"That being said my previous statement still stands. He needs to be held accountable for his actions and I'm sure Ironwood will see to it. Now I suggest you all get some rest, it has been quite a day."
With that Ozpin left the infirmary, leaving the team to talk amongst themselves. Jaune, Nora and Ren where hugging a conscious and happy Pyrrha. Cardin looked at them, his face filled with what almost could be described as somewhat regretful.
Weiss looked at Blake with a reassured smile and took her hand.
"We were both fools Blake, but we'll get over it, together" she said.
Blake nodded smiling. Deep in her mind she knew she couldn't forget him, even if she wanted too. In such a short time he had become to mean so much to her, it left a pit in her stomach thinking he turned out just like Adam, a monster hiding in plain sight.
But she just smiled and stood there with her team. Even if the thought hurt, she knew with friends like this, everything was possible.
On the airship:
Night approached as the Atlesian airship was moving forward through the darkened sky. In it a dozen of soldiers, General Ironwood and a cuffed Nirvana, who was looking at the stoic general as he was inspecting the glowing disk that was meant to be used as a portal device, he had earlier confiscated it from the man in his captivity.
"I must say you certainly are quite capable having created this. If only you had used it for more noble practices. Tell me why did you create this?" Ironwood asked.
Nirvana smirked at that question.
"What does it matter to you anyway general, I doubt you will use it considering the risks involved" he said.
"It matters because you, Mr. Nirvana, are now in my captivity and I want to know how you came to this world, if that is indeed what you claim is true" Ironwood said leaning forward.
Nirvana smiled, a wicked grin plastered on his face.
"The people I work for…they task me with many projects. So when they tasked me with creating a portal to another world…well you already know how that went," Nirvana placed his hands around Milena who was sitting in his lap "I lost Milena and so I went to find her, not telling them where I went, taking one of the lower level grunts with me as help. As far as I know they do not know where I am yet."
Ironwood's stoic expression did not budge.
"That is good to hear, we don't want more people like you here" he said.
At hearing this Nirvana burst into laughter. "Something funny?" Ironwood asked annoyed as the captive man continued to laugh at him.
"More people like me ha," Nirvana said "you can't compare me to the people I work for General. Not by a long shot. I can imagine you do not have a high or good opinion of me, but believe me, you can't compare me to my superiors."
"And why is that?"
Nirvana leaned forward as he spoke "I'm just a cog in their machine, disposable unless I keep in line and do as they say. The people I work for desire one thing and one thing alone. Control. Wherever they may be or wherever they may go, that is what they seek above all. They are way beyond me in terms of horrible actions."
Ironwood raised his eyebrow at that statement.
"The Conduit, as they are called, do not back down, do not discriminate, be you man, women, children or in this world's case Faunus, you are all the same to them. So I advise you to keep that device close to the vest and not let it get out of sight for if the Conduit discovers where I am, they will come here and leave you with two choices."
"And those are?" Ironwood asked.
"Well very simple General…subjugation or….well to be honest subjugation is the only option. People don't tend to go with decimation all that much" Nirvana said smirking.
The general's expression remained stoic and unmoving, a clear sign that he wasn't buying what Nirvana was selling. He was a man caught, he had nothing to lose so spinning elaborate tales as this isn't the weirdest action.
"You make your superiors sound quite threatening. But they are not here and you are. And you," he said pointing directly at the man in front of him "you put three young students and an old professor into a vegetative state, committed identity theft, messed around with young Weiss Schnee's feelings, stole from the Atlas military. And you did it all for the sake of that creature in your arms. You can spin it whichever way you please, but at the end of the day, in my book you are the monster here."
Ironwood leaned his head back as he saw Nirvana's face turn into another grin.
A grinning Alector Nirvana moved forward again as he spoke "you may view me this way now General Ironwood, but let me assure you that all I did is child's play compared to what the Conduit is capable off."
Ironwood looked at the man in his captivity, he was still grinning, the cat in his lap was staring daggers at him as she cuddled up to her owner.
"And," Nirvana continued "if you think I'm evil, just wait until you meet my superiors" he finished as he leaned back with a satisfied smirk, the aircraft moving its course to take him to his new home away from home, indefinitely.
Author's Note:
So with that the story has come to an end. I really hoped you guys enjoyed this story. I had a blast making it and hope to start soon on the sequel. I cannot state much about it yet but I can tell you it will take place during RWBY volume 4, after the fall of Beacon and most likely will feature my OC's return. But how and which you will have to wait and see.
Once again thank you all so much to those that have loved and followed this story. I hope to see you all again soon for the sequel.