9 Months to Live
Chapter 24: 7 Deadly Sins
Disclaimer: *Bursts into the room* I found it! I found the rights to RWBY! I DID IT!
Meep: Lone, that's just a some poor farm boi that you left out of the story. You're piss drunk.
Lone: whatthefuuuuuckyoutalkingabout-*Passes out on the floor.*
Do not own the rights to RWBY.
AN: Well, Thank you all very much for your feedback as usual and sorry for the long wait. Turns out Final Fantasy 7 is on phones and I had to try that out and that practically took my writing time. Damn you RPGs with addicting gameplay and interesting stories! Also; Volume 5! As now tradition, I give my two sense on the episodes out so far. Ruby beats up a little kid, then Ozpin beats up a little girl, Raven makes a grave mistake kidnapping Weiss, as Jacques is more likely pay her not to return Weiss, Blake is an idiot (rant for a later day) and her parents are awesome, Yang punches so hard she sends people into looney toons physics, Lionheart is into BDSM while Watts watches, and in other breaking news, Adam is a dick. and Ilia… well, Idubbz says it best, and Weiss gets the Pyrrha Nikos experience of being impaled by Cinder to make Jaune and Ruby more interesting characters. Now, I've already answered any Volume 5 related questions that might pop up in my Update over on the RWBY Amino app (my username is exactly the same. Much original. Such wow.) So yeah.
and now without much further ado,
*swan dives out the window, receiving a perfect 10 across the board*
Emerald wasn't doing this. She couldn't be doing this.
But she was, and by god if he made one sly comment, she'd shove that cane right up his pompous little ass, even if she had to fight the insane midget.
She set up the private line, casted an illusion for the camera, and locked the door, and pressed dial on her scroll. A bit of paranoia, yes, but if she was doing what she was planning, she needed this to be on the down low as long as possible from the Jackass.
The call connected by the 3rd ring.
"Why, what brings a girl like you to call me? Mommy isn't home till at least three and you haven't called since the divorce. How is it going Emerald? Impress your new boss yet? Got that shiny new promotion? Or made fun of no legged orphan boy?"
Emerald groaned "Hello Roman." She said, trying her hardest to force the pleasantries out of her. "Look, can I ask you a fav- fuck it. I hate you, you hate me. So let's just cut the bullshit."
Roman clicked his tongue. "Straightforward. I like it! So tell me, what is it that I have, that you want? Cause I ain't giving away my dashing good looks."
Emerald braced herself "Tell me old man-"
"Old man? I'm barely over 30, you little-"
"You've had a run in with Red's friends, haven't you?"
Roman paused for a bit. "I had an encounter recently, yes."
"I can't help but notice that you haven't reported it to the Captain"
"Look, my business is mine alone, and he his little reports and shove them right up his a-"
"Good."
"What?"
"Look Roman, we've gone over this. Me and Mercury both don't want to do this. Mercury hates the guy, and...I have my reasons." Emerald said cautiously. "So I need your help coming up with a plan to get us out."
"That's not gonna be easy Em." The mob boss sighed across the phone line "You're both very recognizable people, or at least to the dangerous ones."
Emerald tensed herself for this part, as this was going to be the hard part. "It's not just me and Mercury… in fact, we're not the primary ones we want out of the Captain's grasp."
"So who do you want me to smuggle? The ghost of Cinder?" Roman asked sarcastically.
"Ruby Rose."
Emerald could almost hear Roman's blood pressure rising. "HELL NO! I just got my hide tanned by her little friends because she got herself kidnapped and I had no idea where she was, much less even knew she was! Now you're telling me not only do you know where she, but you want me to help lead the rescue plan to save the person responsible for landing me in jail!?"
Emerald cringed back "Essentially, yes?"
"What's your angle in this. The Emerald I know is a spiteful little shit, not a goody two shoes. Little Red getting to you?"
"The Captain crossed a line. Turns out the kid is pregnant-"
"Sweet Jesus, he raped her?!"
"Would you let me finish my sentence? She was pregnant before the kidnaping, dipshit."
"Wait, so that means that Box Top...HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! OH GOD, THIS JUST KEEPS GETTING BETTER!"
Emerald was lost as to why the gangster found the situation funny. Who was "Box Top"?
"Look, the Captain wants to use Red's kids for...something. He's always been vague to us on this kind of thing." Emerald stated, then thought Cinder was the same way with her plans. I bet the heroes never have this kind of trouble.
Professor Ozpin felt a strange sense of smug coming over him.
Glynda looked over to the headmaster "Ozpin, why are you smiling?"
"Am I not allowed to smile?"
"Yes, but that is your I just launched the freshmen off a cliff into a dangerous forest and one of them definitely has no previous training or even a landing strategy smile."
"I have no such smile." Ozpin said, sipping his coffee, a small smirk on his lips. "Besides, when was the last time anyone heard of a headmaster of a school of higher learning showing such blatant disregard of his students?"
Meanwhile, in a entire different world, in a dimension quite similar to our own, but a bit more magical, Professor Dumbledore let out a sneeze - (AN: Okay, I'll stop.)
Roman snorted "Well, at least he has some brains."
"What does that mean?" Emerald growled.
"You don't see me telling my goons about my plans on cutting their paychecks?"
"Oh, screw you, me and Mercury are more than some simple solders."
"Exactly. So find out more first than report back to me." And with that, Roman hung up.
Emerald looked at the scroll, letting a groan escape her. "God damn it Red."
Ruby was not giving up easily. She had at this point had 5 escape attempts, knee'd several guards in the groin enough to make Yang proud, and was still holding onto hope.
The Captain was trying to rob her of that. She knew that much. Well, if he thought he could just kidnap her and her unborn children, then he was poorly misinformed.
Since they obviously wanted her children, the Captain had made clear orders not to physically harm her, as to avoid causes problems in the pregnancy. Ruby figured this out after the third time she slammed into the person handing her the food tray and they did not retaliate.
She, of course, has made ample use out of this one command.
"Quite the ruckus you been giving my men, Ms. Rose."
Ruby turned to see the person in question standing in front of her cell.
"Ms Rose, I realize that I may have not made the best first impression on you."
"Gee, you break into my home, beat up my sister, burn it to the ground, and kidnap me. Really making yourself out there."
"Yes, but it was the most forward way we had at the time to get to you." The Captain said. "Tell me, Ms Rose, how much do you know about the grimm, about Ozpin?"
"What does Professor Ozpin have to do with any of this? Why me?"
"All in due time." The Captain spoke. "First I must tell you the truth. The Grimm have a master, named Salem. She was behind Cinder, and she is planning something, something big. The defeat of one of her favorite pawns angered her. I believe that your children could be the heroes needed to defeat her. The combination of the silver eyes and the vast aura reserves of the Arc family would be a deadly presence on the battlefield."
Ruby blinked. Salem? Cinder? She recalled when Qrow had killed Cinder, how while everyone was celebrated him as a hero, he seemed on edge, like this was just the beginning, and now it made since. But why was she doing this? Why did this man so dead set on using her children. "Why, why do you want to make my babies into weapons for some war that's not even here or may never come."
"Because unlike Ozpin, I will not wait for Salem to strike first. I will not let hundreds of innocents die before we can raise an army that might, might, be able to defeat her. You and Mr Arc's children may be part of the key to defeating her."
"Why do you hate Ozpin so much, who are you?"
The Captain paused for a moment, then took off his hood. "My name is James Ironwood, and I have lost everything following Ozpin. I have had my body ruined to the grimm, my rank and status stripped from me, and I have seen where Ozpin's leadership ends. I follow him no more, and make my own path. You can choose to follow too, Ms Rose, or rot in the cell while Ozpin leads your friends to ruin." Ironwood proclaimed. "Make your choice soon, Ms Rose. War is coming. It may not be today, it may not be tomorrow, but Salem will come for humanity, and I doubt Ozpin will lead it to victory."
"What do you see?"
Sun looked up from the small telescope, glaring at Neptune. Team SSSN and Glynda had managed to track down the location of the Summer Maiden, as she was currently being held down by a group of what seemed like pirates, hired according to Glynda by either Ironwood or Salem, as both seemed to be able to contain someone one that level of power a maiden packs. So they decided to play it smart, and scout out the area, rather to Sun's usual method of charging in and getting it done.
Sun needless to say, was quickly learning that patience was a virtue he sorely lacked.
"You asked me this 5 minutes ago Neptune. They're doing that same thing they've been doing for the past 5 minutes. They're just standing there, talking!" He gritted out as quietly as he could.
Neptune returned his scowl "Well, excuse me for being curious, as I'm not the one with the telescope! You could just give it to me…"
"No. Leader gets the telescope."
"Not if he's never there with his team…" Neptune muttered under his breath.
"Look, I said I'm sorry!" Sun put down the telescope, looking the blue haired hunter "So why don't you and the rest of the guys just drop it?!"
"We did the first dozen times you did it! You always leave us to ourselves every time the opportunity presents itself, especially with Blake involved. Whatever happened to Bros before ho-"
Blake suddenly violently sneezed, while Weiss managed to sniffle a cough.
"Why do I get the feeling someone blonde we know said something stupid?" Blake said, than glared at Yang
"What?" She held her arms up in confusion. "Why do you just assume it's me?"
"Because you're you."
Yang shrugged "You got me there."
Sun glared at the blue haired hunter. "Why are you even here?" He questioned Neptune
"To cover your monkey ass."
"Who said my lovely ass needs covering?"
"The fact that you always seem to find trouble, cause you have the attention span of a flea."
"Look, just shut up!" Sun yelled at him.
"What was that?"
Sun and Neptune both looked at one another and uttered a single word as probably half the pirate camp headed towards their not so hidden anymore hiding place. "Shit."
However, the monkey faunus thought fast "Call Goodwitch, get her to get Sage and Scarlett over here. Tell her that her plan sucked and we're going with mine."
"You mean the Let's just beat their heads in and charge in head first kind of plan?"
Sun spun his gun chucks around, swinging them around his neck "Well, when you say it like that, it sounds stupid."
"CAUSE IT IS STUPID? HOW THE HELL DID YOU GET MADE LEADER AGAIN?"
"Because of my dashing good looks?"
"If that was the requirement, than it would at the very least be a democracy." Neptune said as he cocked his gun.
"Bet I can get knock out more goons than you."
"Challenge accepted monkey boy."
With that, Sun and Neptune found themselves surrounded by a dozen seafaring bandits.
The leader of the group, a large man with a majestic beard with hints of grey in it, and dust crystals embroidered into it. "Well, well, well, wha-"
"What do we have here?" Sun finished the man's sentence. "Did you have to open with the most cliche line there is? I mean what next, when we beat you, you're gonna say something along the lines of I would have gotten away with it if it weren't for you meddling kids and your stupid leader too? Jeez, you here one villain, you hear them all."
The leader scowled deeply at Sun "Well, I was gonna barter with ya and have you work for your freedom, depending on your reasons fir being here, but now...now I'm just gonna kill ya." he said, pulling out an intimidating cutlass, then lead the charge at the two.
A group of pirates closed in on them, Sun acted quickly, shifting his gunchucks to their staff form, spinning it around at in rapid succession, hitting the circle of goons. Neptune shifted his gun to it's trident form, using it to break the lesser quality weapons and taze the ones attacking him.
"You just had to open your mouth." The blue haired huntsmen glared at the leader.
"Hey, I thought I might try talking our way out of it."
"In what world is that talking our way out it? They weren't gonna kill us, now they are!"
Sun rolled his eyes. "Oh hush and start fighting. Wanna use the Sea Monkey?"
Neptune grumbled as he punched a goon's teeth out. "Fine. Let's just get this over with."
The two acted fast, making quick work of the goons. However, the leader, a man they believe to be Barabus Sangreed, raised his arm. Or the giant cannon where one should have been, as from the elbow down it was a giant steel gun, aimed at the good looking gents.
Sun couldn't help but "You have gun arm? That is so co-"
BOOM
"SON OF A BITCH, I THINK THAT BURNED OFF SOME OF MY TAIL HAIR YOU ASSHOLE!" Sun yelped as he quickly dodged the cannon fire. "So, tell me Captian Ginger pupes-"
"IT'S BLOODBEARD YA MONKEY GIT" Barabus roared as he continued firing at Sun, little disregard given as his missed shots hit some of his crew.
"You know, I have a friend kinda like you, red hair, pirate motif, calls me a git from time to time. However, lot less fat and definitely easier to look at. Seriously, it has to be a semblance to be that ugly."
A sword stopped mid air, less than an inch away from Sun's face. The monkey leader turned around to see Glynda Goodwitch, riding crop raised, with Sage and Scarlett joining into the fray.
"Thank you Ms. G!" Sun called out, receiving a scowl in return.
"Shut up Mr Wu Kong." She growled as she wiped her crop back, sending a whole wave of unfortunate thugs flying to the right. "Go save the maiden, we finish this up."
Barabus looked up from the wall he fell into "What makes you think a wee lass like yourself stands a chance against us?"
Glynda fixed her glasses "God, I have been stuck with the equivalent of frat boys and their pointless bickering and stupidity for the past 3 days. And now, you think I should be afraid of you? No, if anyone it should feel fear, it should be you…"
It might have been a trick of light, but Barabus saw nothing but a merciless glint of the glasses on her face, hiding eyes of a person losing their shit. He made one quick note. Never trust a suit with a stache that good. He's man enough to grow facial hair, but doesn't have the balls to go all the way with a beard. "I ain't afraid of naughty teacher out of 'er element." He said, trying to bluff his victory.
"Tell me, how about I give you a real beard of blood after I rip your's off?" Glynda spoke quickly, raising her crop.
Barabus paled several shades. "Awh shit."
Sun looked under the deck to find what he assumed was the Summer maiden, gagged and bound, struggling in her bonds.
Sun smiled. Time to be the dashing hero. Cutting the ropes with one of the cutlasses dropped by the thugs, Sun looked at the lady, a woman about 3 to 4 years older than him. She had long blonde hair, similar to Yang's, but much straighter, and had a solid tan to her, marked by many days in the sun, and was wearing clothes meant for warm weather with hunter gear mixed into the mix, with her right shoulder having a spaulder across it.
"There you go, you'r-" Sun started, but was cut off as the Summer maiden bashed her head against his dazing the monkey faunus.
"OW! Son of a bitch, that hurt!"
"I will be your prisoner no more! I am the Summer Maiden, and I will not be held hostage any longer!" The woman growled out, grabby the cutlass Sun dropped and pointing it at him.
Sun held his hands up in surrender "Look lady, we came to rescue you! We're not with those assholes!"
The maiden lowered the sword and flipped her mood in an instant "Well, why didn't you just say so? You with the Academy?"
"Yup." Sun replied, rubbing his surely now bruised forehead. "Why don't we go up deck? I'm sure Ms G would explain it better than I could."
"The Olympian Fortress. That's where they have her."
Jaune, team WBY, Tai, and a returning Qrow stood in Ozpin's office.
Jaune looked over a picture of the fort pulled up on the big screen. "The base being used by Ironwood was that of an old fortress from the Great War, one that was thought destroyed beyond use. However, with the info from Junior and the dust transcripts me and Weiss got, we determined that Ironwood had renovated the place."
"I remember reading about that when I was studying at home" Weiss spoke up. "The Olympian Fortress was built in the cave of a mountain in Atlas, and was primarily used in the Great War. However, after a particularly bloody conflict, the structure supporting the frames where deemed to weak, and most of the fort had caved in."
The headmaster nodded "Very good Ms. Schnee. However, it seemed that Ironwood had made the base a bit of back up plan, as it turned out that during his time as General of the Atlesian fleet, he'd worked on restoring the Olympian Fortress to its former glory and beyond."
This made things difficult. Jaune had no idea what the fort had in terms of weapons or man power. The only thing they had were dust records and a location. But it was all they had.
"So, Professor, I was thinking-"
Ozpin's held a weird expression on his face. "Mr Arc, I would like to congratulate your motley crew on getting this information. But with recent information from Qrow, I've decided it would be in the best of our interests to focus on locating the maidens."
Jaune blinked "What do you mean, we already have teams looking for them, why do we need more?"
"One of Salem's servants attacked Qrow. They're getting bolder, taking more action. Not only that, the Summer Maiden would have been in Salem's hands if team SSSN been a day later in their rescue. We need to find the maidens now, as much as it pains me. Ms Rose is not the primary objective."
Team WBY looked shocked at this, Jaune and Yang both furious, the latter being the first to make it vocal
"And you expect us to go searching for some random girl while my sister is alone with some traitor who'd exprimate on her?" Yang lashed out.
"Ms Xiao Long, I know this is a hard thing to do, but we are in a war. Sacrifices must be made."
"This isn't a sacrifice." Blake said quietly "A sacrifice has a choice to lay their life. This is leaving your own to die. Ruby is one of the brightest huntresses of our year, and this is how much you care?"
"Students, please understand the stakes here."
"The longer we wait, the more Ruby is at risk, that's the only thing at stake here" Jaune said. "We attack the fort, get Sun and his team, my team and family to help us and we get Ruby back!"
"Mr Arc, as much as it pains me to say, we cannot let up the search for the maidens. Salem will take this as a moment to strike, so we can't leave them defenseless. We cannot relive them of their search to aid you in a reckless plan to save Ms Rose. We must find the rest of the maidens before further action."
Jaune slammed his fist down on Ozpin's desk, causing it to crack. "AND YOU WANT US TO JUST STAND HERE WHILE THEY DO GOD KNOWS WHAT TO RUBY?!"
"Mr Arc, calm down!"
"No, I will not calm down! Ruby and my children are stuck with some crazed military leader, being used for her eyes, and you want us rather than go after the bastard behind it, to search for the Maidens!?"
"We cannot allow Salem to get the maidens."
"I don't give a damn about the maidens! Maybe Ironwood had a reason to betray you." Jaune spat out.
The headmaster's eyes widened in shock, but then turned cold. Ozpin stood up. "Out of my office."
"What?"
"Out of my office. Now, Arc." The headmaster said darkly.
Jaune glared at the headmaster for another second, the two exchanging looks, than he left, the rest of them following the knight.
The elevator ride down was a very tense one. No one spoke a word.
Even when they reached the bottom floor, Jaune just stood there, hands on his head, looking at the ground. Raising his head, he saw everyone looking at him.
"What's the plan, Vomit Boy?" Yang spoke up.
"Now." Jaune said "Now, we save Ruby."
Sun hung up the scroll, everyone looking at him.
"So what now?" Scarlet asked, voicing the main concern.
The monkey faunus was a simple man. He knew the smart thing to do would be to listen to Ozpin, and get the maiden to them. But, Sun was never one for the smart option. Life isn't fun without a little stupid decisions. "Well, normally we would go straight to Ozpin, but a good friend of mine needs to rescue his girlfriend, and they need all the firepower they can get."
Neptune stood up "Wait, so you want to go running off into some dangerous situation, disobey the words of headmaster, and go into odds that would basically get you killed?"
Sun looked at his team, who was agreeing with Neptune "Guys" He said taking a deep breath "I'm an asshole. And probably one of the worst leaders of our generation. I run off and leave you all behind when the mood suits me. But now, there's something bigger than us. So yeah, I'm gonna go to Jaune and them. But I'm not doing it to impress some girl, not doing it for the fun of it, I'm doing it to help my friends. Now who's with me!?"
Sage, Scarlett, and Neptune all looked at each other, nodded, than went to their leader.
"Oh, thank you guys so much-OW!" Sun yelped out as the rest of team SSSN punched him in the arm. "What was that for?"
"That was for running out on us so many times. But we're with you."
Sun grinned as he rubbed his arm, than turned to Glynda "So, are you gonna try and stop us, or..."
Glynda let out a sigh "Throughout my years at Beacon, I've felt I was the only adult in the entire teaching staff. Ozpin heart is good, but he is not always right. I will not stand by and let one of students be held captive by James. Besides, I have a few choice words I would like to say to him anyway."
Sole let out a light cough "Um, no offense, but how exactly do you plan to get to your friends? We're sorta halfway across the world?"
Sun looked at the airship, the gleaming wood and metal seeming to call to him. They needed to get back to the others, and it would be a shame to just let this thing go to waste…
"No, Mr Wu Kong." Glynda said.
"But we have to get to the others, and do you have a faster method?"
"This is a vehicle that was used for criminal activities!"
"You just don't want to be in a pirate ship. Let's have it go for a vote. All in order of commandeering the airship over using a regular boat to get back? One that would have us be in...water, per say?"
Neptune hand shot up immediately at the mention of not going in the ocean, and Scarlet looked like christmas came early for him.
"You kidding! I wanted to be a pirate since I was a lad!" The red haired hunter squealed in excitement.
Sage finally raised his hand in agreement "I get the distinct feeling I need to make sure you idiots don't get killed by diving headfirst into something you idiots didn't think through."
"Well, it's settled then!" Sun grinned as he picked up the red coat the captain had been wearing and threw it over his shoulders, wearing it in a cape like fashion. "Gentleman, Ms G, Sole, I hereby commandeer this here airship for the huntsmen, and rename it the Nimbus! Now let's do this and take this baby on a journey to the east!" The monkey faunus yelled out, grinning as he slid along one of the masts. "Scarlet, take the wheel, Sage, man the ropes, Neptune, be our navigator, Ms. G, could use please use your semblance thing to adjust the masts, and Sole, can use your maiden powers to create a draft towards our destination?"
"Gladly, monkey boy" The maiden replied happily.
"HEY!" Sun yelled. "That's Captain Monkey Boy to you!"
Omake: The great Schneeme
"YOU KIDNAPPED HER?"
Raven held her hands up in defense. "Now Yang, you need to understand, the Schnees are a very rich family, the amount of money we can earn from ransoming her to her father is more than we could make in months of pillaging…"
Weiss glared at the leader of the bandits "There is no way she'll agree to this, right Yang?"
"YANG?"
The blonde held up a hand "Now let's here the woman out Weiss Cream."
"SHE. KIDNAPED ME!"
"Just imagine the amount of lien we can swindle from your dad! I could get my arm some new features. I could get my own wifi. My own wifi, Weiss!"
"She left you as a child! This woman is gonna pawn me off like some piece of jewelry!"
"Actually," Raven interjected "It would come with it's own benefits. If you so wish, we could steal you back from Mr Frosty Pringles as soon as we get our lien. We could even offer you a cut."
"There is no way I am doing this!" Weiss fumed.
Yang placed her real arm on the Schnee's shoulder. "Weiss, just think, with that money, we could use it to buy more dust, or noise cancelling headphones that you've been wanting since the first week at Beacon. Plus, I really want my robot arm to get some of the newer functions they offer. Mama needs the vibrate function."
"YANG!"
"For devastating attacks, of course!"
Raven and Weiss both let out a sigh "Oh thank god that's where you were going with that."
"What do you think I would use it for?" Yang asked, curious
"Don't ask." Raven stated. She successfully avoided giving any stupid birds and bees talk, and she intended not to talk about...things with her spawn. The only thing she regretted on that was not seeing Tai trying desperately to explain puberty to two little girls. Maybe next time she ran into her brother she can see if he filmed it.
"So you in?" Raven asked, extending their hand.
Ruby was shocked to see Weiss and Yang. Oh god, her sister…
"Yang…" She started, the waterworks beginning "I'm so sor-"
The blonde brawler cut her off, giving her a massive hug. "I missed you Ruby."
Weiss let out an awkward cough as the heartwarming scene played out. The sisters looked at the Schnee then nodded at one another. "Get in here, Weiss Cream!"
It said the Schnee's heart grew three sizes that day, as Weiss entered the hug. She hadn't felt this welcome since… since… she honestly couldn't remember.
However, all this was cut off as Yang's arm started vibrating
Ruby's eyes widened "Sis, does your new arm have a vibrate function! But that costs an arm and a le- I mean a small fortune!" She questioned, inspecting the robot limb "how did you get the money for that?"
Yang gave a shit eating grin to Weiss, who's heart had shrunk down six sizes on the spot, imploding into a black hole which no human emotion could escape from
"Well, you see-" Yang started.
"Don't. Ask." Weiss gritted out.