Back above ground, Lionheart bursts into his office and runs behind his desk, frantically opening drawers trying to look for something. Suddenly, he hears ominous clicking noises, and looks up to notice a Seer floating menacingly in front of his desk. A familiar voice comes from it.
"And where might you be going?" the voice demanded.
Lionheart stammered, "Uh, your grace!" as he nervously chuckled, "I was just looking for something." he said.
"Leonardo, do you have something you wish to tell me?" the voice asked.
Lionheart doesn't say anything for a bit, before telling Salem his response.
"It was Cinder! She altered the plan! Huntsmen showed up here! Qrow! Several students, one with the Silver Eyes! A group of strange individuals arrived! The White Fang attack, it was stopped!" he stammered, "I don't know that they'll be able to recover the Relic..." he paused, "Your grace, I can still be of assistance! If I leave now, I- I can avoid the authorities and come find you, I'll do whatever it takes!" he exclaimed before pausing again, "Your grace?" he called.
Out of options, Lionheart aims his weapon at the Seer, but it uses one of its tentacles to knock it off his wrist. Lionheart tries to run, but the Seer wraps one of its tentacles around Lionheart's ankle, causing him to trip and fall, "Please, ma'am! I'll do anything! I can still be useful!" he begs rather pathetically as the Seer aims its sharp tentacles at Lionheart. He tries to crawl away, but more tentacles wrap around his body, "Please! PLEEEAAASE!" he cried but despite his pleas, Lionheart is dragged towards the Seer offscreen. The sound of a stab can be heard, "Please..." he said in his dying breath can be heard as another stab is heard as well.
bzzzttt...
In the Land of Darkness, the dark queen herself stares at the Seer in front of her on the table, leaning her head on her hand in disappointment.
The dark queen's is a deathly pallor, covered with deep red and purple veins that run up her arms and face. The sclerae of her eyes are jet black and her irises glow red, shining brighter when she is agitated. She has a black diamond-shaped marking in the center of her forehead. She wears a very long black robe with red designs resembling eyes. She also wears a ring resembling an insect on her right index finger. She has white hair formed into a bun with six offshoots from which ornaments are suspended. This is Salem.
Dark Queen of Remnant
Salem
"Coward..." Salem muttered.
bzzzttt...
Back at Haven, Oscar is seen defending an exhausted Qrow while Ruby and her friends hold off their opponents, who are all exhausted as well.
"That's enough! Just give up." Ruby demanded.
Mercury snarls and yells in frustration, slamming his fist into the ground.
The platform leading to the vault is heard coming back up. Everyone stares as Yang, alongside Oga & Baby Bel, Ike, Prince and Rey, comes back up with the Relic of Knowledge in her hand.
Everyone looks up to her and smile, "Yang..." Ruby said with a smile.
Hazel seethes while tears stream from Emerald's eyes. Yang smiles back down to her friends and shares a brief glance with Blake, who looks down for a bit before looking back up to her. Emerald falls to her knees and begins to sob as Mercury and Hazel slowly back away.
"Emerald, get up, we need to go." Mercury said as Emerald shakes her head and remains stationary, "Emerald!" he yelled.
Emerald looks around as her breathing gets frantic. She holds her head and lets out a loud scream, activating her Semblance. Suddenly, the room turns dark as black smoke rises from the ground nearby. From it, a giant effigy of Salem, limbs bent and deformed, towers above everyone in the room. The giant Salem opens her eyes, and lets out an ear-piercing scream as it swoops down over everyone. The screen goes black for a moment. Afterwards, everything returns to normal, Ruby shakes in fear as she comes to terms with what she had just witnessed. Everyone in the room is still present, with the exception of Emerald, Mercury and Hazel, who have disappeared.
"Wha- what was that?" Blake asked in shock.
"An illusion." Ozpin replied, "But an accurate one. That... was Salem." he claimed.
"That's Salem?" Death the Kid pointed out, "Now we know what she looks like." he mused.
Meanwhile outside away from the academy, Hazel is seen running and carrying an unconscious Emerald over his shoulder, with Mercury following not too far behind him. Up in the tree branches, Adam watches his allies run, before he too leaves.
Back at Haven, Blake sighs in relief now that the battle is over, before she hears the sounds of her parents, Sun, Ciel, Alisa and Nana run into the great hall. The Belladonnas share a hug together while Sun looks on as Alisa, Ciel and Nana went towards the others.
"The police rounded up the remaining White Fang members. Haven is safe." Kali said.
"Unfortunately, it appears that Adam escaped." Ghira pointed out as they all look down.
"It's okay." Ilia spoke walking into the building, "He was the only one to escape tonight." she pointed out, "Those in the White Fang that followed him? Won't support a leader that abandons his people." she said, "He won't have their help after this. He'll have no one at all. And the White Fang will be left divided." she stated.
"We've been fighting amongst ourselves for too long." Ghira said, "Perhaps it's time for a new brotherhood. A new family for Faunus truly working towards a better world." he claimed.
"And they'll need a new leader." Kali pointed out as Ghira nods in acknowledgement.
Sun peeks behind Ghira and notices his old friends from Beacon, waving to them. He then wraps his tail around Blake to turn her around and have her see her old friends too. She slowly walks towards them nervously while Sun and her parents smile.
Yang walks down the stairs and hands the Relic to her uncle, "What happened?" Qrow asked as Oga & Baby Bel stood next to Yang.
"We fought your sister and taken down Vernal but we discovered that she doesn't have the maiden's power... your sister has it." Oga explained.
"Dyaabu!" Baby Bel quipped in agreement.
Qrow sighed, "I knew it." he muttered, "Where is Raven?'' he asked.
Yang shook her head, "Gone." she replied.
Qrow nodded, "Well, we're all glad you're still here, firecracker." he said placing an assuring hand on her shoulder as Oga & Baby Bel walks away.
Suddenly, Ruby groans and falls to her knees as Weiss catches her, "Are you okay?" the former heiress asked in concern.
Ruby sighed, "I feel like I should be asking you guys." she said with a grin. They both look up to see Blake approaching them as Yang walks over and drops to her sister's side, "So Blake, what're you doing here?" the little red riding hood asked.
"I... I was gonna ask you three the same thing." Blake replied.
Ruby, Weiss, and Yang, share glances with each other, "That's... a looooong story." she mused.
"Well... I'm not going anywhere." Blake claimed.
"That's all that matters." Ruby giggled, "That we're all here together. Right?" she asked as looks to Yang as she says that. Blake briefly looks away with a sorrowful expression on her face.
Yang looks up at her and smiles, "Yeah." she said.
Blake looks back over to them and smiles as Weiss offers a hand out to her, and the cat Faunus eagerly joins in to Team RWBY's first group hug after a long time of being apart. The four girls embrace each other while their friends look on smiling, Robin watches his sisters reunited with their team, he smiled before walking away.
Blake then noticed something odd on Ruby, "Umm... Ruby? How come you never told me that you're a faunus?'' she asked as she stares at Ruby's wolf ears.
Weiss, Yang and Ruby giggled, "That's... another loooooong story." the little red riding hood mused.
Qrow, still holding the Relic, then approaches a panting Oscar, who is kneeling on the ground, "I don't know how, but we did it, Oz." he pointed out, "You okay?" he asked on concern.
"I'm alright." Oscar replied.
"Kid?" Qrow asked in surprise.
Death the Kid turns to him, "Yes?'' he asked.
"Not you." Qrow groaned.
"He's resting." Oscar replied, "Too much energy fighting." he stated as he let's out a groan but Qrow catches him. He lays the exhausted farm boy on the ground and looks over as Team RWBY finishes their embrace. Qrow then stands back up, and looks to the Relic he holds in his hand. The lamp is seen glowing brightly as the indistinct whispers are heard again, making him sigh.
As Ruby, Weiss, Yang and Blake have their reunion, we see Jaune, Ren, Nora, Lloyd and Eijiro watching them from the jeep with Jaune leaning his back on it.
"Aww... they're back together~ Ain't that sweet~" Nora cooed.
Ren chuckles, "Indeed... I'm happy for them.'' he said.
"It would have been better if this stupid music from this stupid jeep would stop!" Eijiro exclaimed banging the radio referring to the Mexican tune.
"Don't bang it like that, it will just play louder!" Lloyd exclaimed as the music got even louder, "Great... it just got louder." he grumbled.
Jaune rolls his eyes, he then brought out a walkman, he then puts on his earphones and pressed a button, Jaune smiled as the music plays.
(Play I'm Alive by Celine Dion)
As the music plays, we see Shadow, Mina and Carol entering Lionheart's office and discovered Leo's corpse, Shadow checks the body before shaking his head, Mina and Carol looks at each other wondering who killed Lionheart.
Back at the Great Hall, Tukson met up with Qrow while Ruby introduces Blake and Sun to the other members of the Death City Squad as Death the Kid offered Blake, Yang and Weiss honorary membership which they agreed. Sun also decided to join the Coalitions, Blake then noticed Ilia standing a few feet away from them, Blake gently drags Ilia and introduces her to everyone, and after a few talk, Ilia decided to join the Coalition.
Yang then learns that Robin was here, she looks around for Robin but Luluco told her that he already went back to Neo-Earth, much to Yang's disappointment but Liz reassures her that she'll meet him again.
Jaune then walks towards Ruby, the two then shares a hug which shocks Blake and Sun, Ren told them that the two are a couple which further shocks the faunus duo.
Outside, we see Ghira and Kali with their Menagerie brethren gathered around them, Ghira announced a new brotherhood for Faunus equality be formed, much to everyone's joy and relief. However their cheers were replaced by laughter when they saw Tukson getting chased by numerous gay faunuses and the guy who kept asking him about Electronic Arts.
Meanwhile, we see Brook, Patty, Gundam, Kanonno, Gelman, Odd, Luluco and Fabia hanging out and having a conversation when Rhodey approaches them and the the moment he joins them, they quickly left him behind, much to his confusion.
The next day, everyone decided to head towards Menagerie, there Ghira met up with Mario Martinez as the Menagerie forms an alliance with the Heroes Coalition.
Meanwhile, we see Eijiro and Ren fixing the jeep's radio but to no avail as Saber approaches Ciel and had a conversation. Behind them, we see the Belladonna household getting renovated with Kali observing, Ilia then stood next to her and shared a smile. Meanwhile at one house from the village, we see Mata saying his goodbyes to his mother before checking a pamphlet of the Heroes Coalition, revealing his intention of joining the Coalition.
At the docks, we see Rhodey alongside Qrow, Nana, Alisa, Ben, Rook, Kiba and Akamaru, Rhodey is seen boasting that he is the one who defeated Sienna Khan until Tukson walks towards him and pushes him into the water, much to everyone's delight. At one outdoor cafe, we see Oga & Baby Bel, Ike, Rey and Prince having a conversation while sipping their drinks when Baby Bel suddenly cried electrocuting all four of them.
Meanwhile, we see Nora cuddling Oscar to death as Weiss, Blake, Yang and Sun watches in amusement. Suddenly, Ichika and Tomomichi arrived alongside Jim Guardian, and everyone were taken aback at the sight of the tin can but what shocks them the most is that Jim is a Blessed. As this going on, Yang noticed Jaune and Ruby sitting at one log looking at the sky while holding hands, the blonde let's out a smile.
Meanwhile in a place called patch, we see a man coming out from one house. The man has a blond hair that has two small strands sticking out from the top and blue eyes. His facial hair consists of a soul patch and a small stubble along his jawline. On his right arm is a tattoo similar to a heart. His hair was once a bright shade of gold, but in his older age it has notably grayed somewhat, still blond, but just far more subdued. He wears brown cargo shorts with a dark brown belt, black shoes, a red bandana on his left arm, and a brown leather vest over a tan dress shirt with the right sleeve cut off. For armor, he wears a metal spaulder, leather vambrace, and a brown fingerless glove, all on his right arm. This is Taiyang Xiao Long, the father of Ruby and Yang.
Former Hunter
Taiyang Xiao Long
Taiyang is seen tending to his garden. He then hears the sound of flapping bird feathers and notices a falling black feather as Taiyang let's out a sigh.
A/N: Inspired from someonestupED, damnlastwords, Hope the Victor and Ace Neptune. All OCs and concepts not created by moi were given permission for me to use by it's respected creators.