The team was exhausted, Raven and Tai where leaning on each other, falling asleep. Glynda and Winter were quietly talking about something involving dust spells. Qrow was just sleeping. Shade was pacing back and forth.
"Shade, take a seat." Winter says, catching his arm.
"I can't!" Shade says. "There's too many variables! What if they didn't wake up! What if they just died!" Winter pulls the young Iron Lord into a tight hug as Glynda places a hand on his shoulder.
"Calm down." The Schnee says. Shade nods. "They'll be fine. Just relax. Sleep." Shade nods off in his friend's embrace. Winter smiles down on him.
"You'd make a wonderful mother." Glynda mutters. Winter smiles softly.
"I rather think of being an older sister." She says, before telling the pilot to take the return trip a little slower.
Linebreak)
The Bullhead landed a few hours later. Shade was the first one off, rushing past Ozpin, Ironwood, the other three members of SSSN, RWBY, JNPR, and CVFY. Ruby quickly used her semblance to cut him off.
"Forgetting something?" The young leader asks, holding out Luna's sword. Shade smiles slightly as he slings it over his back. Blake then walks into his field of view, glaring slightly.
"I'll let this one time slip, for the Vanguard." She growls, "But never blow me off like that again, you hear?" Shade nods, and tears fill her eyes as she embraces him. "Thank the Brother's you're alright."
"I promised, right?" He says, and she nods into his chest. "Hey, look at me." He lifts her chin until their eyes meet. "I'm okay, alright, no need to worry." She smiles and quickly places a chaste but passionate kiss on his lips. A few moments later they part. "You okay?"
"Yeah." She says, smiling. "Now go get 'em tiger." Shade smirks and nods. Running off towards the infirmary, he slides through the doors, startling the nurse at the desk.
"They're down the hall." The nurse says. Shade nods. Making his way down the hall he stops just outside the door of Luna's room, his hand resting on the doorknob. The Scout takes a deep breath and opens the door.
Two bright, alert, blue eyes stare back at him. Luna's purple hair shining in the sunlight.
"Who are you?" She asks. "You look too young to be a doctor or nurse, so student. Why are you here?"
"I'm…." Shade says, his voice croaking at the sound of her voice. "I'm Shade Kurogane, I-I'm your student." Luna looks confused.
"My- Student?" She asks. "But I don't- I don't have a student."
"You've been trapped in Kuroka's semblance for just over five years." Shade says. Luna furrows her brows.
"How do I know you're not lying?" She asks, her eyes sharpening. Shade wordlessly offers her the sword.
"You told me that you'd never give anyone this sword, unless you thought you were going to die." He says, "This is your blade Master…. Or should I say, Nee-san." Luna's eyes narrow on the sword, before she gasps at his final words, clutching her head in pain. "Luna!" Memories flash before her eyes, all leading up to the final moments of the Dead Zone battle. Shade rushes to her side, placing a hand on her back to support her. After a few moments, she looks up at him with a small smirk.
"Heyo bro." She quietly says, tears filling her eyes as she looks up to meet Shade's glowing emeralds. Tears fill his eyes as he quickly embraces his surrogate sister. "Let's go wake up 'Tia and Kuroka."
Shade quickly helps Luna into a nearby wheelchair, and make their way to Celestia's room. The pink-haired woman quickly snaps her attention to them.
"Luna, what's going on?" The elder sister says.
"We've been asleep, for over five years." Luna says. "Haven, July 17th." Celestia's eyes widen as the memories flood through her mind. "You alright sis?"
"Yeah, yeah. Gods Shade, you survived living in the Zone?" The Support asks. Shade chuckles sheepishly and nods. Celestia chuckles. "Only you. At least you've survived. Shall we catch up?"
"We gotta wake up Kuroka, but only you two know how to do that." Shade mutters, Celestia sighs with a smirk.
"Let's go." With that, Celestia stands up and hobbles over to the last room in the hall. Inside is Kuroka Night. Her midnight colored hair glinted in the sunlight, and her lavender eyes stare straight at the three. Kuroka cocks an eyebrow at Celestia's weary smirk.
"What's wrong?" Kuroka asks, and Celestia just walks up and plants a firm kiss on the Guardian's lips. Scythe raises an eyebrow and Luna bursts out laughing. Kuroka winces and clutches her head as her memories returns. Celestia backs away, but Kuroka grabs the front of her shirt and pulls her back into another kiss.
"Welp, that's a thing." Shade mutters. "And here I thought this whole thing was gonna be more emotional." Luna drags Shade towards Kuroka's bed as she swamps everyone into a giant bear hug.
"I honestly thought we were gonna die." The female Scout whispers, tears filling her eyes.
"Imagine what it was like to be me, thinking that you all were dead for five years." The male Scout mutters, hugging them tighter. "Gods it feels good just to hear your voices again." The three of the vanguard smile softly as they all hug each other tighter.
"We're not going anywhere this time." Luna says, and Shade nods, tears finally escaping as RWBY looks in from the hallway.
I don't know where we should go
Just feeling farther from our goals
I don't know, what path we will be shown.
But I know that when I'm with you
I'm at home.
A/N: So I'm back? Sorry that this is super short, but this was the last few sections of the previous chapter. Thanks for sticking with me through Shadows of the Past.
Join us for Season 3
Dark Forces are rising,
But the light of the Iron Lords shines brighter, unknown to the darkness.
It's time to take the fight to them.
It's time to emerge from the shadows,
To show the world that we are here,
And expose them as the villains they are.
It's time to reclaim our world.
RWBY Dead Zone
Season 3
Reclamation