(AN: Big thanks to RokenDarkly for checking my work as well as adding plenty of additional content to my chapter. RokenDarkly has been a big help in discussing ideas for future chapters, as well as motivating me to do much better in terms of storytelling and character development. Check out RokenDarkly's work on FFN, they wrote some great stuff, and it's a big help to both of us.
As of now, I only have two beta readers. If you wish to also be a beta reader for my work and assist in working on future chapters and events, shoot me a PM.)
The following week was fairly intense, especially with Mistral in shambles. Sienna Khan had slipped away before she could be properly arrested, and Ghira later booked passage off of Mistral to go back to Menagerie to properly face the backlash the Faunus would inevitably yet unfairly face after the White Fang's involvement in the attack. But not before I managed to tell him everything that happened with Blake at Beacon.
Teams ABRN and SSSN would soon be making their way to Vacuo, and we all shared a tearful goodbye with Reese, who promised to make us visit when we can. Sun and Blake spent plenty of time with each other before leaving, Blake eternally grateful to Sun for his help in Menagerie, as well as helping her and Ilia rekindle their friendship. Ilia would also be returning to Menagerie to help Ghira with the White Fang as well.
Then there was the issue with Adam. I thought Blake would hold his death against me, but she didn't. Instead, she blamed herself for Adam's state of mind. It took a while to convince her that Blake hadn't changed Adam, it was Adam himself who changed. After some more talking and coaxing, I convinced Blake to talk to her team over the situation with Adam. Once all of team RWBY and JNPR was together, Blake finally opened up with some reluctance.
Blake opened up to all of us about Adam's history, his scar, his change from passionate to spiteful, and how she was roped into all of this. Despite her admittance to there being blood on her hands, none of us held it against her, as she had been misguided and naïve. Weiss also took it upon herself to admit something as well, that she felt that she had Faunus blood on her hands through ignorance and complacency in the Schnee Dust Company's cruel practices on businesses. I'd say that it was safe to say that Weiss and Blake had something to bond over and support each other with.
Because the battle of Haven was so chaotic, there was no way to hide Lionheart's involvement in the academy's destruction. Ozpin was barely able to spin the story to the late lion Faunus's favor, that he had chosen to sacrifice the academy to protect the students and teachers in a moment of weakness and panic. Even then, much of the kingdom saw Lionheart as a villain, not that it was avoidable. He made his choice, and it got him killed. There was no changing that.
Liya recovered from Tyrian's poison with no issue, for which I was glad. I took the time to talk to Liya about Beacon, and managed to explain to her how I felt about Liya not checking up on me. She apologized again, and after a few hours of talking, easing up tensions, and showing off my metal arm for all its glory, I felt pretty casual enough to no longer hold any resentment towards my partner. The two of us began our healing process, and by the end of the week, I felt comfortable with her again, properly rekindling our partnership.
Not that she would ever let me make cracks at her attraction to shoulders and collars without landing a hit on my forehead in retaliation.
Now, the thirteen of us were eating at the buffet in Mistral Central Station, the same place we ate at when we first arrived. We were lucky that the Grimm attacks throughout the city had been limited to Haven and areas closer to the top of the mountain. The city was undergoing intense recovery efforts, meaning that the Argus Limited would be slow to leave. We had a few hours to spare for the nearest departure, so we spent some of that time preparing for the train ride.
We bought luggage and supplies for the trip, in case we'd have to be trapped in the wilderness later on. I managed to buy a large suitcase backpack big enough to house all the things in my older bag - including Wilt and Blush, which was still being hidden - with plenty of room to spare for one of the sleeping bags Pyrrha bought earlier, and a Dust powered miniature lantern. When we were done, we had plenty of time left to spare so we decided to go and eat before leaving Mistral.
Pyrrha was hand feeding Jaune all sorts of Mistralian foods, mostly her favorites. And Jaune hand fed the greasy and unhealthy foods he was a fan of to Pyrrha. It would've been romantic if Jaune wasn't feeding Pyrrha sloppy and oily burgers and steaks with a fork, which made their plates very messy. Weiss mostly ate some of those fancy foods that Atlas would serve, alongside lots of coffee and a few pieces of cake saved for dessert. Nora was eating a little bit of everything - alright, a lot of everything - with Ren being content with a few healthy sandwiches and soup bowls.
Liya, Ruby, and Yang were more or less eating barbeque, though Yang was notably slower in eating. Ruby also had a dozen bags of cookies and cakes from the bakery section of the buffet. Oscar and Emerald ate much more moderately, having learned to control their eating speed and how much they ate. The last thing they wanted was a stomachache, after all.
Luckily, Roman left several thousands worth in Lien at the house after the battle at Haven, meaning we were set pretty well for a few months, as well as the large amount of Lien Ironwood stocked up for me several months prior. If we were lucky and smart enough, we could handle the threat to the train and make it to Argus with little to no delays, making our full trip to Atlas all the more quicker.
"I forgot how much of a cat Blake really is sometimes," I remarked, watching Blake pile on seafood entree after seafood entree into a tower of food on her plate at the buffet table, ignoring some of the customers who were watching her in morbid curiosity and confusion which only made it more hilarious.
"Yeah," Liya said, chuckling lightly as she watched the other cat Faunus of the group come back and to stuff herself. "It's like watching a car crash in slow motion. So horrifying that you can't look away."
"That's rude, Liya," Pyrrha lightly scolded, and Liya shot a dirty look at the Mistral four time regional tournament champion, daring her to say differently. Luckily, Blake didn't seem to notice - either too hungry to notice or care, or having long accepted her gluttonous ways with seafood. I'd never seen Blake stuff four entire tempura shrimp in her mouth before. Subconsciously, I pulled my own plate closer to me - worried she might try and steal the garlic fried salmon cakes I had on it.
"New topic. So, what's our team name gonna be?" I asked as I set down my fork. "Oscar, me, Liya, and Emerald. I'd say Team POLE."
"...I'm sorry, team POLE?" Emerald asked from a medium sized bowl of ramen loaded with more meat than noodles.
"Yeah. Pine, Onissa, Liya, and Emerald," I said, pointing at Oscar. "Oscar will be the leader."
"Wh-why me?" Oscar asked nervously.
"Cus you have the thousands year old wizard living in your brain, and he makes for a better leader than Ruby or Jaune," I said.
"Hey!" Ruby whined.
"And by that I mean he has thousands of years of experience because he's old," I said.
"Oh," Ruby said.
"What about you?" Liya asked, setting down her grilled cheese dipped in tomato bisque. "Team MOLE."
"MOLE sounds dumb," I said. "Hmmm. What about Team LEMP?"
"Team OOEE," Liya answered. That pronunciation was cursed in its own right.
"No. Hmmm, how about Team OPES?" I said, pronounced "Team Ops" like Ace Ops.
"No. Team OOPS," Liya retaliated. I narrowed my eyes as Liya burst into giggles.
"OSPE. Team OSPE," I said, pronouncing it Team "Osprey".
"A bird?" Qrow asked, plopping down with a plate stacked with burgers and a mug of coffee. He picked one up and bit into it, spilling sauce all over the other side of the burger onto the table, making Weiss cringe as some of the sauce nearly splattered on her own clothes and food. "Eh, could be worse."
"Anyways, what are we expecting at Argus?" Liya asked, changing the subject. "All I know is that Sanctum is there, where Pyrrha trained."
Pyrrha paled, having just bitten into a chunk of medium rare steak from Jaune, while accidentally jutting the forkful of honey sesame chicken into Jaune's mouth forcefully. Upon swallowing, she sighed. "I suppose I'll have to face my home," she said.
"And Jaune's sister lives there. Don't forget, she knows you and Jaune are banging," I said casually, making Jaune and Pyrrha explode in red.
"Ugh, we know too," Ruby said awkwardly as she leaned back in her seat tiredly. "Did you know that on the way to Mistral they'd sneak off to 'train' some more? Like, come on, be more subtle."
"You exposed my sister to sex? Did you turn her into a voyeur or some shit?" Yang asked darkly as she turned to the guilty couple, the both of them stammering and struggling to explain. Qrow barked out a laugh as he slipped some alcohol into his mug of coffee.
"Eh, just buy another sleeping bag if you can't control the urges. It'll look like two worms trying to roll over on each other," I said.
"Oh yeah, how'd you afford so much anyway?" Yang asked. "I'm pretty sure Qrow's not rich and Pyrrha wouldn't pay for this many people."
"I could!" Pyrrha said before falling silent. "Maybe not now..."
I'll forever remember Jaune as someone who managed to curb Pyrrha's tendencies to be pushover.
"Torchwick stole a bunch of Lien from gangs and we've been using that," Qrow said.
"Yeah. He said it was something he liked to do to pass the time," I said, though this statement was only half true.
Blake and Yang dropped their utensils and food respectively, as Ruby sighed. "He didn't even say bye," Ruby said as she twirled her half empty glass of milk. "He just left in the middle of the whole fight."
"Hold on. Roman Torchwick?" Blake asked in disbelief.
"Yeah. I recruited Roman after Beacon. Said he can get his partner back if he came with us. You know, short stack with pink and brown hair. Has an umbrella for a weapon," I said.
Yang somehow didn't comprehend the words "recruit" and "Roman" in the same sentence as she stood up and grabbed me by the collar. "You recruited him?!" she cried.
"Yeah. Cool guy. Smokes a bit too much, but Qrow got someone he can beat in cards now," I said as I pulled myself away from Yang's grip.
"Heh heh," the aforementioned drunkle Qrow said as he waved his flask. "Yep."
"I don't believe this," Yang said as she slumped back in her chair. "Ruby, you all have to be joking, right?"
"Nope," Qrow said. "He was on our side. He got pulled into the vault by Cinder seconds before you guys came along. Still, the brat says he's fine, so he's fine." Nice o know that I'm a brat.
"We all saw him. New outfit and everything. And his cane," Jaune said with a light grin. "I think Crater Face here was 'respectively' looking for a bit too long too."
"Whaaaat? Naah, what're you talking about?" Ruby asked.
"Don't try and hide it, you did say that green coat looked dashing on him," Nora teased, despite most of us knowing for a fact Ruby would never say a positive word about Roman Torchwick.
"Ruby, you better not be crushing on the racist terrorist thief," Yang threatened, as Ruby began to stammer and plead for the others to not tease and lie about this, Jaune and Nora looking the other way and whistling.
Emerald simply giggled at the antics as I munched on a fry. "Well, we should probably get ready," I said. "We've been eating a long time now."
"I agree. Let's double check our luggage and get to the train," Weiss said.
"I'm gonna go get some food to go," I said as I grabbed some to-go containers before heading to the buffet line. We spent ten minutes wrapping everything up, finishing what food we had and cleaning up after ourselves. I more or less filled all the containers I had with neatly cut sandwiches, fries, and steaks, alongside those tiny plastic dipping cups for sauces. I didn't bring soups, as that would've been disastrous in a backpack suitcase. I managed to load my backpack with a dozen containers, all pressed against each other so they wouldn't jostle around so easily.
It was overkill, maybe, but the Argus Limited was less than a day's worth of travel, including its many stops on the way, and we'd rather not pay 50% more for access to the dining car just for a meal we could have when we arrived at Argus. We had a lot of Lien but that didn't mean we could spend it all so quickly. Ozpin suggested saving when we could, after all. Plus, the thought of eating food you bring with you on a train was rather exciting.
We finished checking everything, and we managed to board the train moments after it was prepared to take on passengers, finding our designated rooms in the car without trouble. RWBY and Qrow took one room, with JNPR taking another and OSPE in the third, all of our rooms next to each other. Oscar had the relic, on insistence of Qrow's request to avoid his semblance affecting it.
Emerald lay bored out of her mind on one of the top bunks while Liya and Oscar talked casually while sitting on the bed under Emerald's bunk. I sat on the top bunk on the other side, quietly thinking to myself as the train continued preparations to leave.
We were all aware of the relic attracting Grimm, so a Grimm attack was likely to be inevitable. I told them of Dee and Dudley, and the need to protect them, as well as the train's capability of armoring and arming itself mid-transit. This gave us quite a bit of information to work with. I talked about the Sphinx and Manticores that attacked, but I also brought up how things would be likely to change, so we should expect something different.
Plus, there were personal issues for me to have to handle. How was I going to deal with everyone? It was hard enough pretending that everything was alright, as if nothing had happened. Alright, it wasn't all pretending, I genuinely was happy to be around them. Even if the animosity hadn't fully gone away, they were never the enemy. I couldn't afford to treat them as enemies either. Then there was Yang and the issues I had with her. Fixing those was gonna be such a pain.
"Hey, Markus?" Emerald asked. "Do you have any plans for Argus?"
"Huh? Not really, why?" I asked.
"Just curious," Emerald said, strangely cryptic. I turned to face her, just in time to see her looking away from me. Did I do something wrong?
"This is the Argus Limited, departure is in ten minutes. Please find your rooms and have your tickets ready."
The locomotive up front began to hiss, and I sighed. "I'm gonna go check on the others," I said as I hopped off the bed, landing on my feet before making my way to the door. "I'll be quick."
I made my way to RWBY's room, knocking and waiting for Qrow to answer. "Hey, how is everything right now?" I asked.
"Eh, nothing crazy is happening right now. Not yet, anyway, why?" Qrow asked.
"Just checking, is all," I said. "I'm gonna go check on JNPR-"
"Uhh, the girls wanna talk to you," Qrow said quickly as he slipped out of the room with his open flask in his hand. "I'm gonna go see if those two idiots still left the caboose open."
I sighed as I walked in. Ruby and Weiss were sitting by the window, and Yang was on the lower bed closer to the rear of the car. Blake sat on the other side of the room, twiddling her thumbs awkwardly. None of them were looking at me.
Why weren't they looking at me? Didn't they want to talk to me? Then I realized that Ruby, Blake, and Weiss were all looking at Yang, with Yang looking down at her boots.
...
Oh. I can see what was going on.
"She told you, didn't she?" I asked.
"Yeah," Ruby said. "She said that you never forgave us. Is that true?"
I sighed. I was really hoping I wouldn't have to deal with this, but I suppose it was unavoidable at this point. "You all left me there. I almost died..." I said. "How could I forget that? I know you apologized but-"
"No, we get it," Ruby said. "I'd have a hard time too if I were abandoned. Still...we wanna make things right. What can we do?"
"I think the real question is if we even can make things right at all," Weiss said.
"It's possible. Just...it's gonna take time. And a lot of it's on me. It's not that you're jerks or something, it's just me trying to find it in myself to forgive you. And I will. Just...I need time, alright? But that doesn't mean I don't want anything to do with you."
"So, it isn't something to worry ourselves with," Blake said.
Normally, I'd start making the others work for my forgiveness, but I didn't need a brain to know they never needed it. Team RWBY were fundamentally incredible people, and what happened was something they never meant and truly regretted. I knew they'd do everything they could to earn my forgiveness, so there was really no point in seeing if they really were good people or not.
"Yeah. Just...let's keep working together. All of us, alright?" I said. "The more we fight as one, the better we'll bond. And soon, things will be just like Bea-" I froze and saw Yang, who was hunched in on herself, practically on the verge of crying. "Shit, I'm sorry-"
"No, you're right," Yang said. "Let's keep working on it. It'll take time, like you said. But I won't stop until I make things right."
"...yeah," I said. "Just don't do anything crazy, alright? You don't have to cut your hair or something to prove you're sorry."
Yang gasped in genuine horror. "How dare you imply that I'd do something so crazy!" she demanded as I laughed. Her anger gave way to light giggles as the atmosphere around us slowly eased up.
I sighed. "By the way, Ruby. About your silver eyes. I think there's someone on this train who might be able to help you with that," I said. "Mind if you come with me to find her?"
Ruby blinked before gasping. "I can learn how to laser beam the Grimm?!" she cried.
"Yeah. Assuming she's here," I said as I slipped out the door, Ruby following me and slamming the door behind her. "I don't really know how big the train is, so chances are she's either not here or she'll likely be in her room or something."
"So she has silver eyes too?" Ruby asked excitedly. "Does that mean you know how they work?"
"She had silver eyes," I said. Ruby fell silent, easily lost in thought. The two of us searched the entire train, spending a bit too much time as the train departed while we were looking around. Luckily, we found our target in the dining car a few minutes into the journey.
Maria Calavera sat at a booth in the dining car, her kama cane leaning against the seat as she looked out the window. Opening the door, Ruby and I made our way to her booth, me clearing my throat to get her attention. "Miss Calavera?" I asked.
Maria looked up, her prosthetic eyes narrowing. "And who are you?" she asked.
"Umm...Miss Calavera?" Ruby asked. "My friend here said you had silver eyes, like me. Is...is that true?" I face palmed at Ruby's lack of tact, and Maria's eyes went wide.
"How did you...no, that isn't what's important," Maria muttered to herself. "Is it true you have silver eyes?"
"Yes, ma'am," I said promptly. "Used them on a wyvern during the attack on Haven last week-" I was interrupted when she smacked me on the head with her weapon. "Ow?"
"I wasn't asking what she did, but thank you for clarifying," Maria huffed. I raised my arms in confusion. What was the point in hitting me then? "How do I know you aren't tricking me?"
"...you can see my eyes, right?" Ruby asked, before she too got a smack on the head. "Ouch!"
"That's a very rude question to ask a blind lady! And for the record, they can!" Maria barked, before she looked down, grumbling to herself, something about her own eyes being colorblind. I had forgotten that her prosthetics didn't let her see color. "Nevertheless, I suppose that answers my question."
"That day, during the attack. She used them for the first time. She wants to know how to use them properly. What triggers them, what they represent, etcetera etcetera," I said. "So I figured asking the Grimm Reaper would help."
"I suppose asking how you know is rather redundant. Given that I don't have my own silver eyes any longer, I suppose helping another one will be useful," Maria said. "Still, to see another one with my own eyes..."
I backed up as Ruby began to ask her own questions, as well, before leaving the dining car, allowing the two to talk. Smiling as I walked away, I shoved my hands in my pockets while making my way to team JNPR's room. Knocking on the door as soon as I arrived, I waited and eventually received an enthusiastic, if loud, "Come in!" from Nora.
Entering the room I could see Jaune and Pyrrha, both looking like they were nursing bellyaches, in one corner with Nora and Ren in the other. Nora seemed to be stress testing her bed while Ren tried to convince her of how that was a bad idea.
"Hey Markus! What's up?" Nora said while finally getting off the bed after the last three hops, much to Ren's clear relief.
"Not much, I just came to check up on how everyone's doing, I just got back from team RWBY's room" I replied before seeing Jaune and Pyrrha. "Oof. Feeling sick?"
"Ugh, maybe eating so much food wasn't such a good idea, especially if the train's going to be attacked soon. I don't know how you do it Nora," Jaune groaned from his bed. Pyrrha was silent all the while.
"A queen always has her secrets fearless leader!" Nora laughed. "As embarrassing as it will be I'd be happy to see Jaune's sister again." Pyrrha said s a light blush manifested on her face. I snorted as I remembered how they first met. Who could blame her embarrassment with what she had said over the scroll that day?
"I'm sure she'll be ecstatic to see the both of you. Though, aren't you worried about going back home?" I asked. "You trained in Sanctum, so that means a lot of people will be wanting you to stay."
Pyrrha nodded, a slightly hardened expression on her face. "I'll deal with that when the time comes," she said.
I nodded. "We shouldn't get there anytime soon, not for a few hours anyway, so rest up while you can." And with that I turned to leave the room.
"I have a question."
I stopped and turned to the previously quiet Lie Ren who looked at me with a weird intensity in his eyes. "What is it, Ren?" I asked as I turned back around.
"You've said that you had knowledge of the future, from the fall of Beacon to even right now correct?" He asked in his monotone voice. But there was something else in it that I couldn't detect right now.
"Uhh yeah I do, it's why I warned of the train being attacked," I replied with a little uncertainty. What was this about?
"So you know what we had to face on our way to Mistral?" He continued in the same voice.
"You guys had to fight a Nucklevee in Kuroyuri...your and Nora's old home," I said. Ren's eyes widened at that, and Nora tensed up. I continued to speak. "And before that, you went up against Tyrian Callows."
Jaune and Pyrrha looked at Ren to see what his reaction would be, then back at Nora.
"...why didn't you tell us?" Nora asked, her face and voice seemingly portraying betrayal. "Why didn't you let us know? You let us-"
"Uhh, I was abandoned at Beacon, and knocked out for weeks on end," I rattled on, a bit upset at this. "Plus I spent another month in therapy, and I was busy trekking across Mistral on our own route, and..." I said, stopping my talking. "...I wasn't sure you'd consider me reliable or even a friend anymore."
Nora's anger gave way, and she looked away. Things were silent for a bit, and Jaune coughed awkwardly. "Uhh, Pyrrha. We should go, right?"
"Hm? Oh! Oh, yes! Yes, Jaune, we should go...see...Ruby!" Pyrrha said, just as awkwardly as the two began to leave.
"Ruby is in the dining car," I muttered. As the blonde and redhead left, I sighed. "I still have issues over...being left behind without a chance to explain myself. You know I was never an enemy. I've always been on your side."
"We know that now," Nora said. "But you had all this knowledge of...of what would happen, and you did nothing with it back in Beacon. Why didn't you-"
"Because I know the enemy's moves too," I said. "And if I did something to change all of that, everything would be different. They'd change their plans and make something worse happen, and I wouldn't be able to do jackshit about it if that happened. It sounds stupid, I know. But I needed this to happen."
"But you couldn't tell us?" Nora cried.
"Nora," Ren said, cutting off his childhood friend. "He's right. It may not be the best in our eyes, but it's understandable." He looked at me sadly before bowing his head. "You were never on the enemy's side. We should not have abandoned you so callously."
"I'm getting sick of the apologies, not gonna lie. I kind of get why you did. I just wish that you didn't," I said, softly. "I don't want sorry after sorry. I just want us to be friends again. To fight together again. Is that alright?" I asked.
Ren and Nora fell into thought, before Ren nodded. "It is," he said. Nora didn't say anything, and that was fine with me. I left JNPR's room and headed back to the one I was staying in. Climbing in my bed, I saw Oscar still in bed. Yawning, I rolled over and began to drift off. I could use the extra rest, after all.
Hours passed, and I woke up from my little nap. Oscar was still lying in bed, and Emerald was back. It was snowing harshly outside, with the view of the forest visibly blurred by the intense winds and thick snowfall. Shuddering, I knew we'd have to confront the Grimm in this weather, further throwing in regret at not having any sort of winter clothing.
"Hey, Em? Where's Liya?" I asked.
"She's with JNPR," Emerald said as she looked out the window. "Man, we have to go out there?"
"Yep," I said, cracking my neck and knuckles before slipping off and grabbing my suitcase backpack, slinging it on my back. "Ugh, I hate waking up from naps."
"Then don't nap," Emerald said, as if that solved everything. It probably did, but I was much too stubborn to just take it at face value.
"But sleeping is easy," I whined. "I'm gonna go bring some food to JNPR's-"
A little thud was heard above me, and I looked up. It sounded like a small thud, likely not much louder than a person. Maybe some rocks were crumbling off the mountainside. "Huh. Did you hear that?" I asked.
"Eh, it was probably nothing," Emerald muttered before another thud was heard, "Or...maybe it was something?"
Several thuds were heard, before an even louder and much more massive thud was heard near the back of the train. Looking out the window, I saw several black shadows flying by, as well as several rocks crashing past the window. Screams were heard, and Oscar woke up in a jolt. "What's going on?"
"Trouble," I answered as I ran out of the room, Emerald and Oscar grabbing their respective weapons and following me with haste. I reached the end of our car, turning to see the door on the right. Running to the door, I opened it and felt my blood run cold as I was struck with a massive gust of freezing wind and snow. Quickly moving, I swung outside and grabbed the ladder, holding on for dear life as I climbed up, scrambling to get onto the roof of the train car.
Around us, Manticores screeched and circled the train cars as Dee and Dudley stood on the roof of a car, several cars towards the back from ours, weapons at the ready as they looked around. But there was no Sphinx. Why was there no Sphinx? Nonetheless, the fact was that the Argus Limited was under attack. Running forward, I crossed the several train cars to meet up with Dee and Dudley, dodging a few rocks that were still falling. Were the Manticores causing this somehow?
"Hey!" I yelled to the two clumsy huntsmen as Emerald and Oscar climbed up behind me. "Need any help?!"
"Dammit, kid! This is a job for the professionals!" Dudley yelled back as he cocked the lever action on his gun and got ready to fight. "Get back inside, now!"
"You two against all these? I don't think so!" I called before the sound of a loud boom, like an explosion, was heard. The five of us looked around, frantically searching for the sound of the noise. "What was that..." Dee muttered.
The sound came again, much louder now. We were all looking around nervously, with Emerald unfolding Thief's Respite's blades, and Oscar extending Long Memory in preparation for a rough battle, especially as the sounds of rumbling and booming got louder and louder.
"Look out!" Oscar yelled. Dee and Dudley jumped back just as a rock shattered less than a meter in front of them. Soon, all of us were on the lookout for any faling rocks that were close to us.
We found what was making that sound as something violently landed onto the last three train cars from on top of the adjacent mountain, alongside several other rocks smashing atop the Argus Limited from above. The monster of a black and white millipede, looking around fifty meters in length screeched loudly, loud enough for the ear-piercing shriek to force us stumbling back.
The massive millipede slammed its body down atop the train cars as it used its massive legs to pierce into the sides of the train cars and lock itself in place, the terrible sounds of metal being drilled into and sheared apart filling the air. The millipede resembled the Scutigera Coleoptrata - or house centipede - but with ten times as many legs with extremely long triple jointed legs, massive stegosaurus-like spines, and and two massive crab pincers for arms on its front, right under its four mandibled jaw and ten eyes.
It's been said before that this was likely going to be a very different set of events ever since I got here, but holy hell, this was a lot.
"Gods damn Decius! Arm the train!" Dee yelled, and Dudley whipped out his scroll and began swiping, the locomotive and train cars rolling out armored plates and bars over the windows and wheels as the roof turrets extended. At once, they began opening fire on the Manticores above, rather than the immediate threat at the end of the train.
"Is there anyone in the back of the train?!" I called, having leapt over to their train car.
"A few workers! It's mostly storage!" Dee said over the wind. "And get back down there, we have this handled!"
"Emerald, Oscar! We need to get back down there and help them evacuate!" I ordered, ignoring Dee all the while. "We might not be able to dislodge this thing from the train, so worse comes to worse, we'll have to detach those cars!"
"I've never seen that kind of Grimm before!" Oscar croaked.
"It's a Decius, and they're nasty! But I thought they're native to Atlas," Dudley said.
"Or it just lives in snowy environments," I said as I rushed forward on the train cars. Behind us, RWBY and JNPR, as well as Liya and Qrow, were climbing up just in time to see the massive millipede screeching in the air once again.
Just as we thought that things couldn't get any worse, green started spilling out from its underbelly. Large amounts of acid began eating away at the roofs of the cars, before something else came out from under the multi-legged Grimm.
Multiple things, in fact. Dozens and dozens of Centinels began falling out of the Decius's belly, either landing on the roof and skittering towards the rest of the train, or falling into the holes burned and ate into the roofs.
Qrow growled upon seeing the situation. "Alrighty, here's the plan! We get over there and stop those things from getting to the rest of the passengers. Dee, Yang, Ruby, Blake, Liya, Pyrrha, you're with me!" he said.
"Hold on, we're in charge here!" Dee protested before the Decius impaled the fourth car from the back with its pincers, working on pulling itself to the next car and further up the train, towards the passengers.
No, towards the relic. Oscar still had it.
"Do you have a better idea?" Qrow asked. Dee looked conflicted for a minute before he shook his head and armed his two handed cudgel, the spinning electric weapon charging as he, Qrow, Ruby Pyrrha, Yang, Liya, and Blake began to run towards the swarm of Centinels on the roof.
"The rest of us will defend the passengers, then," I said before turning to the others. "Ren, Nora, Dudley, Weiss, stay up here and fight these things! Emerald, Oscar, Jaune, you're with me! We're going inside and helping the people get to the front!"
"Good luck!" Nora called as the four of us rushed towards the ladder, quickly climbing inside and running through the train cars to get to the back of the train, in hopes of cutting off the Centinels before they could continue to gain more ground.
As we continued to advance several cars in, we had to stop and focus on directing passengers to the front of the train, searching every car to make sure everybody was safely evacuated. And every car we came into, we were greeted by dozens of frightened passengers rushing to get away from the oncoming swarm of centipede Grimm. Maria was among them close to the back, being pushed around by the panicking passengers, still in a relatively calm state of mind.
"Miss Calavera, are you alright?" I called.
"I'm fine!" she said, seeming annoyed before she sighed. "You know, I'm not a frail old lady like you may think!"
"Sorry!" I said before a screech was heard. Turning, I saw a couple lock themselves in their room at the end of the car just as a Centinel attempted to get in, only for Oscar to dispatch it with ease. "Just stay safe!" I yelled, running past Oscar as he tried to get the couple to the front of the train.
Jaune and Emerald were at the front, fighting off Grimm in the narrow hallway, which worked to our advantage. I joined and whipped out my hard-light Dust, creating a barrier that covered the area in front of Emerald and Jaune, before pushing that wall of energy forwards, barreling into the Centinels and plowing them right out of the end of the train car, sending them flying out to be hurled off of the train or be crushed under it.
"Check each room!" I said, and the four of us got to work, opening rooms to see if anyone was left in the car. Luckily, it was empty. "Clear!" Jaune yelled.
"All clear!" Emerald said.
"Next car, come on!" I said. The four of us leapt to the next car, to see it too was overrun with Centinels. We cleared it with no problem, plowing through the dozens of insectoid Grimm throughout the hall, but unfortunately we'd find that this car was no longer able to be saved.
Bodies were torn apart and shredded by the swarm of Centinels that had trampled over them. The rooms were all empty, and blood and body parts were everywhere. "Son of a bitch," Emerald growled as Oscar struggled to keep himself from throwing up.
"Come on. Not much we can do," I said as we made our way to the next car. When we opened the door, we saw the entire front of the next car gone, the interior visible and full of Centinels. Above the car were several Centinels being fought by Dee and Qrow on the roof, with Yang, Ruby, Blake, Liya, and Pyrrha fighting inside with several corpses around them.
"Guys, did you find anyone?" I called.
"No, they're all dead!" Liya called as Yang pounded the last Centinel into the floor. "We need to detach that thing from the train, now!"
"Alright, let's go!" Qrow yelled as he and Dee leapt from the damaged train car to the safer one, as did Yang, Ruby, Blake, Liya, and Pyrrha. I was about to cut the car when I froze, my caracal ears somehow being able to barely pick up a sound other than the train, the wind, the screeching, and the endless gunfire.
Crying.
I turned to see one of the rooms closed inside the damaged train car, just as the crying was drowned out by another shriek from the Decius above. Leaping over to the car, I rushed towards the empty room as more Centinels began to fall from the holes in the ceiling. "Markus, what are you doing?!" Yang yelled as I disappeared from her sight.
I ignored her as I swept the Centinels aside. As I opened the door, I saw two terrified little girls huddled against the wall, surrounded by luggage. One girl wore a flowery dress with blonde hair while another wore casual clothes with short brown hair. Both of them looked around 13 years of age. This was a storage car, so there shouldn't have been anyone back here other than workers.
"Shit," I hissed to myself before I reached over. "Come on, I'm here to get you out," I said, gesturing for them to come over. They didn't move, crying as they crept away from me. I didn't have time for this as more Centinels were coming in.
One leapt for the door before I sent it flying out the window. "We don't have time, we have to move now!" I yelled. I didn't mean to be so harsh, but every second waiting meant another second that multi-legged Grimm endangered the entire train. The girls reluctantly did so, and I picked them up before rushing towards the end of the car, leaping over the large centipedes as the frightened girls pressed themselves against me.
The sheer horror on Yang's face when I came back with the girls probably would have been comedic if it weren't for the situation. "I thought you said you searched the whole train!" I said. Dee had jumped down onto the coupling between both train cars, his cudgel deactivated and on his back. Handing the first girl, the blonde, over. Dee took her and quickly passed her off to Yang.
"Make it quick!" Dee yelled as he reached back towards me, and I handed the second girl over. The train jolted, and Dee grabbed her arm and pulled her into his grasp just as the train rocked, saving her from a nasty end under a fast train. Dee backed off with the girl immediately, stepping off the coupling and putting the girls inside, where Yang took them deeper into the car.
"It's on the move!" Qrow yelled. Looking up, I saw the front of the Grimm shrouding the light from above as it reached for the next car. The massive spiny millipede-like Grimm was indeed moving forward to the next car, and I knew what had to be done.
If the next car was taken, then the people would have to evacuate again, likely increasing the chance of the crawler to destroy the entire train before everyone can move up. And there wouldn't be enough cars to carry everyone on this massive train if the Decius kept its advance.
We couldn't wait any longer.
"Detach the cars, do it now!" I yelled. Dee recoiled at my sudden demand before recovering. Drawing and raising his spiked spinning club, he slammed it down on the coupling, destroying it utterly and increasing the gap between cars. The massive Grimm shrieked angrily as it realized its prey was moving away, and it latched onto the rest of the train with its massive pincers arms. "Markus!" Oscar yelled as he saw me from behind Dee from the door. "What are you doing?!"
Liya and Pyrrha had moved to the roof and were working to dislodge the Grimm's arms from the roof when they saw me still on the detached set of train cars, fighting off the Centinels the Decius had dropped off. "Son of a bitch, get back here!" Liya yelled to me. Dudley and Nora joined them to see what was going on, before Nora yelled for me to jump across as well.
I turned to see the jumping distance between the cars was manageable, and I readied my chance to jump. If I didn't, I'd be stranded with this massive millipede and an endless army of centipede Grimm. I backed up a few feet and began to lunge...
...only for a large spike of pain to bite at my aura. Yelping, I collapsed to the floor as one of the Centinels tackled and pinned me down with its spiny legs atop my backpack - which I still hadn't taken off - biting while spilling acid from its jaws. "Go!" I yelled as my aura around my shoulder whittled down quickly. "Now!"
"Dammit!" Dudley growled before he opened fire on the arms of the Decius, his hunting rifle aimed at the joints of the limbs. He succeeded in damaging one after a few shots, forcing the millipede to retract and weakening its grip on the rest of the train. I could only fight back against the numerous Centinels that were crawling down the hallway as I killed the one on my back.
"No!" Yang screamed as she tried to jump across to me, only to be forced back by the Decius angrily swping its pincer back at the train.
I was going to have to be left behind. Everyone else was too busy fighting off the Manticores near the middle of the train to come back here. Clenching my fist, I whipped out my Dust and spun around, piercing the remaining arm and detaching the Decius's pincers from the roof of the train car.
Dee pulled Oscar back and slammed the door while the others on the roof yelled as the distance between us grew greater and greater. Smiling grimly, I turned to face the Centinels, all screeching at me as I readied myself for the worst. "Come get me."
Several gunshots cut down three Centinels before two green blades connected to chains whirled over me and impaled two more. Emerald landed beside me in the spacious doorway before rushing the dozens of Grimm. Surprised for a split second, I lunged forward to join her in fighting.
"What are you doing here?!" I yelled as we fought Centinel after Centinel throughout the car hallway. Luckily, the Decius didn't seem to be spawning more, but judging by the shaking of its legs pierced in the outer walls of the cars, it was mad.
"I wasn't about to let you die," Emerald responded sardonically. "We'd have to make Qrow our new leader."
I laughed. "Yeah, such a tragedy," I said before Emerald destroyed the last Centinel at the end of the hallway. "Thanks."
Emerald smiled back. "No problem. Now how do we deal with this thing?" she asked, looking up. The holes in the ceiling were dripping with green acid, from the earlier Centinels having forced their way down much earlier.
"We need to kill this thing. If we don't, it'll probably just follow the others back to Argus. Might take a few days but it'll reach Argus," I said. "Unlike us. Damn, are we really about to be left behind?" As we said this, a sickening squelching sound was heard, and several more Centinels began to spawn. There were a lot more compared to the previous time, the Decius likely seeing us as a bigger threat now that the rest of the train was escaping. Despite that, Emerald began cutting them down as I tried attacking the Decius directly, making large pikes of neural Dust and stabbing it right where the Decius was dropping the Centinels from.
That was effective, cutting off some of the Centinels and causing the Decius plenty of pain. A massive chunk of the wall was torn apart as its legs pierced deeper into the train car, nearly impaling Emerald, had she not ducked. "Shit!" she yelped before she cut down the leg at the unarmored joint.
"This thing will just keep up its attacks! Any ideas on killing it?" I called.
Emerald looked up. "How much wind and Fire Dust do you have?" she asked.
"Not a lot," I said. "Not a lot of Dust that can be compatible with neural Dust! What do I do with it?"
"I dunno, blow it up?" Emerald asked, pointing up. The hole revealed the bottom of the Decius, dripping with acid. The entire Grimm was segmented, with the underside of the head having a pretty exposed spinal part. Perfect. Once I killed another three Centinels, I began drawing out the two kinds of Dust I had left. Without waiting, I made a flaming tornado of fiery wind before sending it flying up into the biggest hole above us. The center mass of the Decius's "neck" exploded, and the entire train rocked.
"Think that did it?" I asked as the Grimm screamed in agony. "It's a pretty big Grimm."
"These things aren't too tough. They're just too scary to get close to," Emerald explained as she killed another two Centinels.
"I see," I said as acid began spilling uncontrollably from the blast zone. "Creepy thing."
The back of the Decius leaned over the side, but the head toppled over the front of the car, just as the entire storage car jolted in the air before the sound of sparks screeching filled the air. The cars were now derailed, and they were sliding towards the edge of the cliff the tracks were on.
"Oh no," I said nervously as I slid along the floor. "Uhh, how high up are we?" Emerald would never get the chance to answer as the screeching car rolled over a full one hundred degrees. Without missing a beat, Emerald and I grabbed onto each other and pressed ourselves against the wall railing, cocooned in as much neural dust as I could bring out at the moment as the car toppled. We were thrown around, snow and luggage flying about as we fell violently.
As we fell and tumbled around, I saw a tunnel, specifically - the tunnel where the Argus Limited had passed in the original battle in Volume 6. I realized that our crash would be much further away from Argus than where RWBY ended up originally. I felt my blood run cold - this time, not from the weather - as the idea of being stranded even deeper in the middle of nowhere seemed even worse than before.
Then we landed. We smashed roughly against rock and slid down before stopping against snow. Emerald and I were hurled out of the train car, as it shattered, falling apart around us before everything went dark in a painful bout of silence.