Ozpin was concerned. Nearly seven or so months Jaune Arc had been missing. Qrow had come up with nothing besides a strange wind marking on the ground from the tracks up from the forest paths up north.
He was not overly concerned with Jaune's wellbeing. While it was concerning that the knight could not be found, it was more concerning that his replacement, Jack Lantern, could not quite act as the same metaphorical glue to the teams. JNPR was falling apart, especially his hopeful replacement Fall Maiden. Pyrrha was becoming more and more despondent, and it was worrying.
Beyond this, RWBY was also starting to fray at the edges. Ruby was missing her friend, and was worrying about him.
His Aces in the hole, a huntress team of incredible value, including a silver eyed warrior, and the Invincible Girl of Minstrel, were starting to become… uncontrollable. Less useful that he had hoped.
The inconclusiveness of Jaunes case was non beneficial to his plans. While he had hoped that the Arc would live up to his family's calling of being a great warrior, he knew that he was taking a gamble when he let Jaune into his academy.
Ozpin knew that boy had potential, and only needed experience.
But potential did not explain why not even Qrow could find the boy. It was like he had disappeared from the face of Remnant.
And when Qrow could not find someone, then they had truly disappeared.
Ruby trudged along the halls, walking at the languid pace she had taken to using. Her cap no longer flew behind her as she ran from class to class excitedly. She had hoped that her friend would return to her, to them, by now. It had been seven months since he had left to Ohm know where.
"He should have come back by now…" the young Rose said glumly. It was the hope that the knight would return.
Wiess rolled her eyes. "Dear Oum Ruby. he's not coming back. The dolt is too stupid to survive on his own." Wiess stated, annoyed at Ruby's constant moping. Jaune Arc was an idiot. How could Ruby be so sad over a faker who lied his way into this school.
She spied her favorite person, Pyrrha Nikos, across the room. The white themed girl approached the spartan, ignoring the bloodshot and hateful glare she received from her.
"Hello Pyrrha, how are you today?" Wiess asked cheerfully. Pyrrha looked up at her, forcing a smile. "I'm fine, thank you."
Wiess nodded, sitting down next the Spartan. Pyrrha scooted away slightly, closer to Nora and Ren.
"So, Ruby, how was your morning?" Ren asked, measuredly. He ignored the rest of her team. Ruby nodded.
"I'm ok." she said with a gulp. She ate quietly as the gloom that surrounded them. She glanced at Jack, where Jaune should have been sitting. But this arrogant man was in his place instead, smiling and laughing.
She wondered what Jaune was doing now. She hoped he was having a good time.
Jaune, was, decidingly not having a good time. The near literal armada had met the fireteam from beyond the Breach. A seemingly unending number of Thrulls and Knights met them upon the other side of the crack.
Jaune dove behind his Rally barricade, his Magnus thrumming loudly as Astra crouched next to him. "So, what's the plan?" The warlock asked, panting.
"You have Nova bomb up?"
She shook her head. "Nah, Just used it. Took out that smoking clump over there." Astra nodded in a direction. The faint vapors of void light wisped off as countless thrull ran through it. The Wizards in the back shot load after load of plasma and energy.
"Barrier is breaking! Think of something quick!" Astra yelled, hiding behind the barrier.
Jaune thought for a moment. "We need to meet back up with Star and the others. Follow me, we're going to make a break for it!" Jaune replied in equal measure. He switched to his sword, full on ammo. "We will clear a path. Now go!" Jaune commanded, throwing a Thermite Grenade. The lines of fire burned a path for Jaune to rush forward, lunging with his sword forward. Astra Night just ran after him, clearing any enemies that might slip past his stupidly amazing sword work. It wasn't fancy or particularly flashy, but damn was it brutal. And effective. A smack of the shield was always followed by a stab to the neck or gut. An open slash was followed by a shield charge, and his every move advanced his position. He was like a Rook on a chess board, marching onwards, a bastion of unwavering defence. He led her through the thrull swarm, they lept and spun and dodged and fought until they saw a familiar purple dome.
"STAR!" Jaune yelled, hightailing it towards the Ward of Dawn. Star turned to look at the duo, running for their lives.
"What?" he responded, reloading his Fusion rifle
"WE HAVE COMPONY!" jaune yelled, sliding into the bubble as the Thrulls crested the staircase they had sprinted up.
"Travellers light, what did you do!?" the exo yelled, wheeling around his aim.
Jaune shrugged, opening fire onto the wave.
Stryder blinked in from the side. "Portal's open to the Pylon room. It's time." he said, already pulling B0lt through the perverted and corrupted Vex Portal. Alpha followed right on their tail. Jaune turned to go, but looked back at the swarming thrull, threatening to breach their barrier with the lack of three guardians firepower. "Star, Astra, Go! I can buy some time." the blonde titan yelled.
Star turned, looking at him like he had lost his marbles. "Kid, you are not sacrificing yourself for this! Absolutely not!" the fireteam leader yelled, turning to try to drag the Arc back with him. Jaune merely shrugged the titan off. "Take him though, i'll be right behind you." he said, welling up his inner light. Astra nodded, pulling the large exo through. Jaune willed his light into being, the power of burning stars wrapped around his fingers as he grasped a familiar handle.
Jaune, before experiencing the full power of Light, had asked Astra what it was like. She said it was like being able to pull on the strings of reality, feeling the very fibers of our world, and subtly pushing and pulling the light into it's own creation.
For Jaune? Well, Jaune was a Titan. "Subtle" was not his motto.
And light? It felt like pure, unbridled power. And now? It was in the form of flaming hammers.
They fell from the Titan like great stars, smiting the ground below him in fire. It was only when a gap that he was satisfied with had formed from the smoldering corpses.
"Jaune! Time to go!" Astra yelled, causing for the blonde titan to sprint for the portal. A final shoulder charge pushed him through as Alpha closed it with a shot to the control panel.
The portal closed behind them with a woosh. Jaune breathed heavy as the rushing light left his system. "So, what's next?" he asked, catching his breath.
Star gave him a glare. "Don't do that again."
Jaune nodded, looking around. Three great crystals were placed in a triangular pattern in this open hall, with a hovering, supportless platform connecting them. This platform made a triangle, with stairs on the inside center of each line.
The fireteam looked around, keeping close to each other. They were on edge, and this place exuded darkness and shadow. While Stasis, the weakest but most pure form of darkness was used by some Guardians, this shadow had malice, harm, and evil will woven into it's very being.
"I have a bad feeling about this…" Stryder said, reloading his trusty scout rifle. The six of them entered the rune triangle pylon connection grid. A rumble was felt throughout the room.
"Uhh, what was that?" Alpha asked. Jaune looked around, noticing a small marker on his HUD. the buff "Inherit power charge: 2:00" was displayed in the corner of his view.
"Guys?"
"Yeah kid?" Stryder asked, looking around for the enemy.
Jaune looked at the countdown. "I have a buff called Inherit power charge, with a two minute countdown. Anyone know what that means?" he asked.
Before he could even get a response, a burst of dark energy came from the center of the room. A large Hive wizard labeled the "Gatekeeper Archon" rose from the floor.
Star looked at the giant and just sighed.
B0lt reloaded a hand cannon. "We shoot the thing?".
Stryder considered it for a moment, before shooting the Gatekeeper Archon in the face. The immune tag flashed from the damage point.
"Apparently not."
The archon had not taken well to being shot in the face. It wheeled down on the guardians, launching orbs of energy and setting parts of the ground on fire.
The group scattered, running and gunning at the various ads that they could kill.
The count down continued as the guardians survived the battle. When it ended, the three pylons came to life, the iron banded rings flowing with a sickly green light. One with Moon, A Sun, and a planet. Jaune looked down at his own HUD. the buff had changed to "Terra Pylon Charge"
Jaune looked around for the pylon that matched. "Guys! I figured it out!"
Everyone turned to him. "Go to your pylon!" he yelled, leaping to the pylon with planets on it. "Who else has planets?"
B0lt only screamed as she ran around, trying to avoid the even more aggressive gatekeeper.
Astra was hovering by the Solar pylon, an angry red beam of light tethering her to it. She tried to use a grenade, only for it to not work.
"Gah! Why am I tethered? WHY AM I TETHERED?!" she yelled, scampering in a random direction. Jaune sighed. Taking a deep breath in, he did his best not to scream in rage.
"EVERYONE! YOU ALL SHOULD HAVE A BUFF CALLED A PYLON CHARGE. GO TO YOUR APPROPRIATE PYLON YOU UTTER DIPSHITS!" he failed in not screaming in rage. Everyone stopped to look at him, leaving the room in definitive silence. "Well, get on with it." he sighed. The standard battle chaos ensued once more as the fireteam got their act together.
'We're a bunch of idiots, aren't we?" jaune sighed as the Gatekeeper Archon began his chant.
Stryder nodded. "We are, and that does not look good." he said, nodding to the Archon. Energy pulsed from the pylons to the Archon as the cosmic energies wove between it's fingers.
"We shoot it now?" Jaune asked, making a small cocky frown with a turn of his head. Stryder nodded in response, switching to his heavy ammo Bow. jaune just loaded up his SMG.
"Yeah, we shoot it now." Jaune chuckled as they unloaded round after round into the Gatekeeper. The showers of explosions from Heavy Grenade and rocket launches railed into the Archon. Star's personal favorite Thunderlord flashed like lighting as a stream of bullets found their mark. The health bar above the Gatekeeper went down as they ran out of heavy ammo. The wizard stopped it's chanting, the Pylon energys rushing away to their own pylons. With a burst of energy, the room flashed white. Jaune blinked away the bright flash blindness. Looking down, he saw that he was tethered and his pylon had changed. "Lunar it is." he sighed, hopping over to the opposite side of the triangular room.
"Oh, hey Jaune. How's your day been?" Alpha said, joining him at the pylon. Jaune grunted, tossing a grenade at a group of adds. "Ya now, it was going real well until I had to deal with a literal army. The reports never said anything about an invasion force." Jaune joked, the possibility weighing heavy on their minds once it was said in the air.
They fought in silence for a moment. "You don't think, do you?"
"Nahhh."
The two of them continued firing until the Gatekeeper Archon started his chant again. The guardian fireteam opened fire once more on the Archon, bringing his health bar down to the smallest sliver of health remained. They were so close, and Jaune had a full sword of ammo. He leapt at the Gatekeeper, lunging with his sword. It took only three slashes to end the Archon. It screamed in pain and rage as it fell, dissolving into darkness and dust. It reminded him of something, but he could not quite pin it. The image of a skull, draped in red lines like blood, flashed through his mind.
He shook his head clear of the thought.
"You ok there, buddy?" Rose asked, sensing his flashback.
"Yeah, Yeah, i'm fine." he swallowed, looking at the ground.
B0lt caught the attention of the two guardians. "Hey guys! Loot!" The exo hunter yelled, pointing to the chest. The fireteam gathered around the spiky black and green chest. It cracked open as everyone got their loot.
B0lt's face lit up as whatever loot she got was added to her inventory. "What did you get?" Alpha asked her.
She smiled as she did a giddy little dance in a circle. "I got the Sniper!" she said happily.
Astra smiled. "Oohh! What does it do? What are it's perks?" she asked, being a bit of weapons nut, much like Rose in that way. The two of them got along very well. Jaune often liked to listen to the two of them as they chatted.
"Lets see… Snap shot sights, arrowhead break, Rapid hit and steady rounds, Rangefinder. Not a bad DPS either." B0lt said, switching to the weapon, replacing her other sniper rifle with the spiky, spined brown and black long rifle. Jaune gathered his loot, looking at his HUD.
A single item, the icon of an unnamed, ancient looking black iron coin appeared in his inventory.
"Uhhh, what the fuck?" Jaune said, looking at his inventory confused. He had gotten tokens, glimmer, weapons, keys, armor and blueprints. But never a fucking book.
Astra gave him a look. "What you get? A blank?"
Jaune shook his head. "I got a coin." he said flatly.
The fireteam blinked. "I'm sorry, what?" Alpha asked. Stryder just looked at him. Stryder did not speak often, and when he did it was precise and short. One had to learn how to understand his looks and silent language.
Star looked around. "Well, we can deal with that later. Right now, we need to get going. I think we screwed up the breach stability. Let's get going."
The fireteam nodded, gathering the rest of their loot. They ran as fast as they could though the Hive Subspace. It reminded the two oldest guardians of the first attack on Crota's throne world. Backtracking their visible path of destruction to the breach, the six of them saw something.
"Uhhh, that just might be a slight issue." Jaune said, pointing at the massive Gatekeeper Knight.
Stryder just tilted his head at the knight, turning from Jaune to the Knight, and back to Jaune.
"You don't fucking say." he said flatly. The veteran hunter had already started to draw and aim his bow. The damage markers went off as the gatekeeper charged at the group.
Jaune dove to the side. "Scatter!" was Star's order. The fireteam ran to the sides, evading the Knights charge. It raged and swung it's sword at the guardians, desperately defending the breach with zealot-like fury. It's thick armor seemed to block any damage that the guardians could throw at it.
Jaune grumbled, burning though heavy ammo with his sword as he ripped through the legions of lesser knights and thrulls. "Why can't we do any damage to the damn thing?" he cursed as he slid, dodging the great sweeping arc of darkness.
"Guardian Down." Came Rose's voice from Jaunes mindscape. Jaune looked around, seeing Sierra, Astra's ghost, up and standing by for resurrection. Jaune felt anger. Jaune felt rage.
But above all, Jaune felt fear. Fear of losing another friend. It was a different fear than the one he felt in his dreams. The ones where the red headed girl yelled and screamed at him. The ones where the girl with the scythe, the one that Rose was named after. It was not the same as the man with the pink eyes and the girl forever by his side, looking so disappointed and turning their back on him.
No, it was not the same fear.
This was primal, it was powerful. It was rage filled. But it was, above all, it was bone chilling.
Jaune was moving before he knew it. A blazing hammer of Sol formed in his hand, blazing like a miniature sun. Jaune slammed his shoulder into the Gatekeeper Knight from his left side, his hand gripping his sword so tightly that the grip was starting to stain with blood. In his right, his blindingly bright hammer swung low, prepping to undercut the knight in the chest. The very ground it passed began to scorch and melt as it swung it's great arc, the sound of it breaking the knight's armor and ribs was loud.
But the sound of very atoms that the hammer struck breaking and melting into light overwhelmed the sound of snapping plates and bones.
The sound of breaking the very atoms of carbon plates rocked the room. The Gatekeeper Knight stumbled back, clutching at the gaping hole in his chest. Jaune reached to his holster, pulling out his shotgun.
BLAM! Click.
One shot went into the gatekeepers chest.
BLAM! Click.
Two shot
BLAM! Click.
Three
BLAM! Click.
BLAM! Click.
BLAM! Click.
Six shots were blasted into the gatekeeper knight, Jaune planted firmly between Astra's soul and the dying knight.
Click. Click. Jaunes shotgun had run out of ammo. That did not matter to him. He merely drew his sword once more, slamming the shield into the collapsed behemoth knights face. The blade part, however, ripped and stabbed into the hole in the gatekeeps chest. He could hear and feel the bullets of his fireteam whizzing by him, also damaging the gatekeeper knight. It finally fell, gasping for air and life as its dark ichor left it.
Jaune stopped to breathe for a moment, his entire body heaving as he looked at the dissolving corpse. The thrull directly behind the now dead body was in clear view of the Titan. It looked from Jaune to the knight, and back to Jaune. Shaking its head, it noped out of there.
"J-Jaune?" came a familiar voice from behind him. Jaune turned to see Astra on the ground, blood and dirt covering her tunic. Jaune took a deep breath in, sighing in relief. He bent down, almost falling to his knees, holding a hand out to his partner
"Thank gods you're ok." he said, helping her up. Astra stood shakily, regaining her balance from her post death resurrection.
Astra saw the sword too late. She could feel her chest being cleaved in two, and the pain of her organs being ripped out before she fell into the warm, fuzzy white aspect of the light. It was somewhere between life and death. She only had to wait a couple moments, or maybe it was minutes? Time had always been difficult to tell in this light twilight zone.
She was revived shortly, whatever the case. Then she felt it. The wave of heat. It felt like fire. No, not like fire.
It felt like a star. Like the burning force of a nuclear explosion. It felt like… felt like power. When she could, she looked at the epicenter of the detonation.
Smoldering embers danced on the ground and at the edges of a hole in the Gatekeeper knight's chest. A starburst pattern around the Gatekeeper knight was burned into the floor. Jaune turned to astra, ripping his sword out of the Knight's chest with a gutteral jerk. The way his eyes blazed was full of fury.
It was terrifying to think that Jaune, so gentle and kind, could be so angry. Could be so dangerous.
"J-Jaune?" she managed to squeak, trying to scuttle away from him instinctually. Jaune turned to her, his eyes literally flaming with wraith and solar energy. It quickly died once he recognized his partner's face. He fell a little, almost to a knee. Offering her a hand, he smiled. "Thank gods you're ok." he said, helping her up.
"Can we leave now?" B0lt said, tossing a thrull out of her way. Star nodded, looking at the Breach suspiciously.
"Yeah… the Vanguard will want to know about this. Let's go." Star grunted, jumping though. Stryder and B0lt followed after him. Jaune hobbled Astra to the breach, Alpha watching their back.
"I'm just saying it now, Star owes us Sushi for this bullshit." Jaune laughed, scooping Astra up into his arms. The poor warlock squeaked at the action, turning red behind her helmet.
"I hear you there, brother." the male warlock sighed, jumping through after Jaune and his partner had passed him. "Idiots in love." he shook his head as he was hurtled through time and space.
The six of them landed back in the remains of the space station? Asteroid belt? Something man made was once here, but now is left to rotate and orbit around the Breach.
"Star…" Jaune said gravely, causing the titian to turn to him.
"Yes?"
"You owe us dinner at the Sushi bar." he said, giving him a demanding look. Star considered it for a moment.
"Eh, sure. That was more than we bargained for anyway." Star said, calling up his own starship. "Let's go home. Stryder, with me please."
Jaune took a sigh of relief as he and Astra got on Astra's red and brown ship. "You're driving."
"You would let a severely injured person fly a ship?"
"You want me to fly the airship?"
Astra blanked on this, thinking about it for a moment. "Yeah, i'll fly. Can't have more than one disaster per day."
Jaune gave a deep breath out as he collapsed in the secondary chair that Astra had in her ship.
"Let's go home."