SNOW

Screams and cries flood the docks as the students and bystanders alike impatiently wait for the transport ships to arrive. Amidst all the confusion, the White Fang began releasing a horde of grimm towards us.

Coco pulled out her mini gun and began mowing them down with ease, but it wasn't enough. The constant juggling of protecting the people and defeating both the White Fang and grimm were starting to take its toll. Atlesian drone after Atlesian drone began to break down, and ammo started to run dry. And this is just Amity, we haven't even gone down to Beacon yet.

"There's too many of them!"

Neptune yelled, while me, Sun, and Ruby try our best to whittle down the influx of incoming grimm.

"Just shut up and keep shooting!"

Sun yelled back.

Just as we were starting to get overwhelmed, a squad consisting of Atlesian soldiers, along with General Ironwood stepped in to save the day. Their action was swift, powerful, perfectly timed. Who knows how long we could have lasted with their arrival. With no room to celebrate, we rush to his side, hoping to get some clarity out of all this commotion.

"What's going on!?"

Ironwood stepped in, his usual stoic face slowly crumbling into a panic, though he tried his best to hide it from us.

"Grimm are crawling all over the city. The White Fang's invaded Beacon, and to make matters worse, some... Vagabond has seized control of one of my ships. Until I take back control of the reins, the skies are out of our control, so I'm going to take it back."

Vagabond? If I remember correctly, there's only one criminal shrewd enough to pull off such a feat.

"Torchwick. Roman Torchwick is who's in command of your ship... Take caution general, their crew has some sort of advance malware that can hack into Atlesian software some sort of way. No sure how, or to what extent."

Ironwood furrowed his brows and pointed his gun at me.

"Of course you would know. Hmm... who would have thought the OWL that tried to steal THE Project Polendina Schematics was a teenager."

I raise my hands up in the open and slowly backed off.

"Easy general, I'm not your enemy, at least not this time."

But the general wasn't so easily swayed.

"So you say, but pray do tell how these malware was uploaded into our systems in the first place?"

No ifs and buts about it now, I have no other choice but to tell the truth.

"I uploaded them through Beacon's security system once Atlas software synced with the Academy's. I had no idea what the malware contained, I swear. Just following orders."

Ironwood cocked the hammer of his gun, raising it a little higher, aiming it straight at my forehead. I shook my head back forth, only to see that what remaining trust I had with the students slowly began to fade after hearing what I just said.

"General, now's not the time! Like you said, we need control of the skies! You can't waste anymore time dealing with a criminal like me!"

The dock fell into an ominous silence, everyone stood frozen in their spots. All eyes were on me. I don't think I can count on Jaune saving my bacon this time around.

"A criminal like you is what caused all of this. OWL."

Everyone's been so caught up with our confrontation that they all failed to see the Beowulf sneaking up behind Ironwood. I quickly activated my helmet, tilting my head to the side while simultaneously grabbing the general's wrist, pulling him close to my chest. I raise my other hand, exposing the barrel out of the gauntlet and shot the the rushing grimm straight in the head.

I can barely hear the gasp of the people watching, as my ears were still ringing from the sound of Ironwood's gun firing. I can feel the heat from the mark his bullet left behind after barely grazing my helmet on its side.

"I told you, I'm not the enemy. If you want to punish me, do it after we save the kingdom, please general."

Ruby and Jaune rush to my side, as I unfold my helmet again, to plead with the general.

"Please, we need all the hands we can get."

Ironwood shook his hand off my grips, and fixed his collar. He stared at me momentarily and began to walk away.

"We're coming after you at the end of all this, OWL."

"I know."

Jaune looked back as the general began to retreat to his ship.

"What should we do!?"

The doors on his ship begins to close. He elegantly turned around, crossing his hands behind his back and looked at us with the stoic and resolute face we'd seen him wear so often.

"You have two choices. Defend your Kingdom and your school... or save yourselves."

Everyone began to look around, gauging each other to see if anyone was brave enough to do... either of the two.

"Just know that no one will fault you if you leave."

Ruby placed her hand on my shoulder and offered her sympathies.

"Are you okay?"

I force a smile her way, though it was fairly obvious that I wasn't doing just that: forcing it.

"Yeah, I am. Hey, that's an open ship right there. We can use it to get to Beacon."

We all rush to the airship, quickly boarding it. Coco, the most knowledgeable of everyone about piloting, began typing the coordinates to Beacon Academy in the cockpit. We all dropped our shoulders, thinking that we have at least a few minutes to ourselves before we jumped back in to the chaos, but when looked back at Amity, our eyes began to widen in horror as we all watched the Atlesian droids that were left behind began to glow that same ominous red from the television earlier. The droids mercilessly raised their weapons and began open firing at the civilians, slaughtering what was left of the survivors in Amity.

"NO!"

Ruby could do nothing but yell at the horrifying sight. Before she could mourn them however, Ruby saw something out of the corner of her eyes that made her sprint to closes window, knocking down Sun in the process.

"Hey! Watch it!"

Curious to see what Ruby was panicking about, we all watched as the airship Ironwood was boarding began to explode and lose altitude. Seeing this, one thought immediately crossed my mind. I began to deperately shake my head left and right trying to look for Ruby, who was already leaning against the airship's bay door that was on the verge of closing.

"Ruuuby! Don't!"

But I was too late, she was all but ready to jump out. Sun ran towards her and jumped with his arms stretched out, trying desperately to stop her. But all his efforts were in vain, as Ruby slipped right through both from clutches and the closing door.

"Ruby! What do you think you're doing!?"

She began to freefall in the sky, then she used her semblance to barely land back at Amity.

"Dammit no! Ruby that's reckless! Why would you do such a thing?"

Ren came up to me, concerned for her safety. All of them were.

"What!?"

"Ain't it obvious!? We just watched the general's ship crash and burn! She can only be going to one place now: Ironwood's ship."

I ignore everyone else and made my way to Coco, who was silently piloting the ship.

"Coco, open the rear hatch, Ruby can't take Torchwick alone. I'm gonna go after her."

But Coco sternly refused.

"And why would I do that?"

The students in the ship fell silent as everyone's gaze began to shift towards me once more.

"Don't think we've forgotten what we've seen Ezra!"

Neptune came close towards me and began pushing his finger in my chest.

"Don't forget you caused all of this!"

Another student yelled. I slowly back off as soon as I realize all of them were starting to corner me.

"Don't be stupid, Sun! Beacon still needs support, and no one in this ship has the ability to get to where Ruby is! Unless one of you are secretly hiding a pair of wings!?"

Doesn't matter how rational I approach this, their anger are far too embedded in their psyche that no amount of logic can pierce through.

"We'll take your wings off and use it to help Ruby!"

"Oh for Remnant's sake! These wings are designed to be used with my semblance!"

"Then we'll change course and help Ruby real quick, then high tail it back to Beacon!"

"Fools! Beacon will be gone by then! Listen to me! I need you all to trust me!"

Flynt Coal clenched fist around his hat, violently yanking it off his head and threw it on the ground, one can practically see the smoke coming out his head.

"THE NERVE! FOR YOU TO SAY THAT! TRUST!? HOW DARE YOU!"

His blind rage began to infect the other students as they stampede towards me, pinning me against the wall.

"Tie him up!"

"YEAH!"

"Tie him up then throw him outside!"

"Traitor!"

"Murderer!"

Left with no other choice, I don my helmet once more, as the students began to punch me in the face and all over my body. I use all my strength to try and break through their clutches, but all of them, even with Ren, Jaune and Nora helping, were simply too much.

"STOP, ALL OF YOU! I KNEW!"

Pyrrha yelled at the top of her lungs, grabbing everyone's attention.

"I KNEW!"

Sun, shocked began to loosen his grip on my hand.

"Pyrrha, what did you just say?"

She stood up, as she timidly grabbed her arm and looked away.

"I knew... not since the beginning, but I knew... before the voice on the intercom told us. I knew that Ezra was OWL."

Everyone's attention began to shift towards her, their grip and anger began to disappear, dropping me on the ground.

"I-I kinda knew too... I overheard your conversation, I didn't mean to, but I heard... everything. So, I knew too."

Neptune started to angrily wave his arms.

"You knew and you decided to trust him!?"

Pyrrha bit her lips at first, out of fear and shame, but when she tilted her head back up, the look she had on was that of determination.

"Yes! And I regret nothing, Ezra is more than the mistakes he committed, and he's doing everything he can to save Beacon! He's not the mastermind you make him out to be, he's on our side now. Please, give him a chance!"

Neon stood up amongst the crowd, unafraid to voice her opinion.

"Look, this isn't this man's first rodeo! This man is also wanted in Atlas! Me and Flynt know the damage he can do."

Pyrrha was undeterred.

"That was OWL, this is Ezra we're talking about! All of you! Coco! Velvet! You hung out with him! You shared a piece of you with him! You can't mean to tell me that that meant nothing to you!?"

Velvet also began to softly speak her mind.

"Pyrrha, OWL and Ezra... they're the same person. Just cause he's had a change of heart doesn't mean we just forgive him for his... betrayal. It's true, we gave him a part of us, our trust, which makes this act all the more heinous and... painful. He needs to answer for his crimes, not redeem himself. That comes after."

Pyrrha looked around the room, her face began to slowly panic as she discovers that the rest of the students agree with Velvet more than they do with her.

"T-then if you want Ezra, you're going to have to go through me!"

Jaune stood beside Pyrrha and pulled out his sword. His hands were shaking, and I could tell that a part of him was unsure of his decisions, but he made them anyways.

"And me!"

"AND US!"

Ren and Nora stood along side Jaune and Pyrrha, as they form a barricade around me. The tension in the room began to slowly rise. I know for a fact that it wouldn't be long before this all goes south, so I decide to step in, before any more chaos can ensue.

"STOP! STOP! This won't solve nothing."

I struggle to get up, still shaken from the beatings I got from the other students. Nora and Jaune grabbed my arms and slowly stood me up.

"What good would it do if we began fighting each other before we even reach Beacon? I know you all hate me, that much is clear. So just let me go so you won't have to deal with me."

I took a deep breath and limped my way towards Coco.

"Coco please. Beacon needs help. NOW. And so does Ruby. I'm the only one that can help her immediately, and believe me, she's going to need it. Worse case scenario I get picked off by a Nevermore on the flight there and everyone gets what they want out of me."

Coco sighed and clicked her tongue.

"Or you could keep me here and brawl it out with me and JNPR, cause I'm not giving up on saving Ruby. You go that route, nobody wins."

She took a deep breath, then slowly pulled down her sunglasses. Coco stared at me for moment, like she was testing me. Satisfied, she pushed her sunglasses back after she's gone and taken a good look at my miserable face.

"Alright Ezra. Let's do it your way."

The students began to protest, but none offered any real resistance. Coco quickly made her way back into the cockpit and opened up the rear hatch.

"Thank you, Jaune, Ren, Nora, Pyrrha. It means a lot."

The four of them nod at me as I make my way towards the door.

"Wait!"

I turn around, only to be met by Sun who grabbed me by the collar.

"Don't you dare die, you hear me! Don't you dare!"

I tap him on shoulder and nod.

"I won't. I still have crimes I need to pay for, right?"

Sun nodded and slowly let go.

"Go! GO! Save Ruby!"

Choosing to not waste anymore time, I hopped of the airship, opening my wings to fly up towards the Atlesian command center. I was really hoping I didn't just jinxed myself from saying I'd die along the way, and I thankfully did not. Though I have this gnawing sensation about what just transpired at the airship, like poison eating away at my brain. In hindsight, I probably should have apologized. That might have been the last time I see any of them.

I just hope I make it in time to save Ruby.

Jaune

"I can't believe the two of you knew and you never told us!"

This normally would be an occasion Nora would celebrate. It's not often Ren would scold anyone other her after all, but Nora too shared his frustrations.

Me and Pyrrha sat by each other as Ren and Nora began to lecture us about trust and camaraderie.

"I'm sorry you two, but the secret wasn't mine to tell."

Pyrrha argued. I kept my eyes up, wary of the other students who were sitting opposite of us.

"Well, how about you Jaune?"

Nora shoved her face close to mine.

"I- what Pyrrha said."

"Oh no mister." Nora wagged her finger at me. "You don't get the liberty of using the same excuse."

"Answer me this then."

Pyrrha raised her voice at Ren and Nora.

"How would you have reacted have you known?"

The two fell silent and looked at each. Ren was the first to answer.

"Probably with violence and anger... the way all of us just did."

Then Nora.

"I- to be honest, if it wasn't for the two of you, I probably would have eventually sided with them... Ezra. Gosh, we don't even know if that's his real name."

Pyrrha wrapped her arm around my shoulder and Nora's, urging Ren to do the same.

"If it happened to one of us, if one of us were in Ezra's shoes, wouldn't you want to have the support of each other? You guys are my family now. Family to each other."

All of us clutched each other a little tighter.

"...and after tonight, Ezra probably just lost his. Again."

Nora somberly whispered as she came to the realization what Pyrrha already knew ages ago.

"I put my faith in him and I intend to honor it. You don't have to if you feel differently, all I ask is you give him a chance. Can you all promise that at least?"

The three of us looked at each other and nodded.

"Yeah, we promise to give him a chance."

Ren and Nora added, but I decided to do more than that.

"I promise. You all found out about my secret, and you accepted me anyways. I owe that all to you, and I promise to return the favor. Ezra will always have a place with the four of us. I swear."

Pyrrha looked at me with tears in her eyes.

"Thank you, Jaune."

The four of us dropped to our knees, hugging each other tightly as we await our landing to Beacon.

Ruby

I admit, sneaking out of the ship to salvage what's left of Ironwood's mission was probably a big mistake on my part. I didn't even think about the fact that I left Ezra with a pack of angry wolves back there. Oh! I hope he's okay! But now is not the time to fret over my clumsy decision making. Not like I can circle back now.

"Little Red, little Red, you are just determined to be the hero of Vale, aren'tcha?"

Neopolitan came rushing at me, easily dodging my swings at her while she effortless vaulted over me. I roll to the side and dodge her strike, countering with a sniper shot her way, only for me to hit an illusion that revealed Roman, pointing his gun at me.

"AHH!"

The impact from his shot sent me flying several feet away. I frantically jam Crescent Rose on the ship's hull to stop myself from going overboard.

"What are you doing!? Without these ships, the Grimm will destroy everything!"

"That's the plan!"

He's insane!

"Like it or not, the people that hired me are going to change the world! And you can't stop 'em! I certainly can't! You know how the saying goes, 'If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!"

The two flash a mischievous grin my way and began to rush me. Neo sprinted straight at me, while Roman jumped to attack from above. Just then Ezra came out of nowhere, kicking Roman in the chest, knocking him back down, as I block and counter Neo's attack.

"OWL! What the hell are you doing!?"

"Evening the odds."

I flip Crescent Rose up my shoulders and looked at the determined Ezra.

"What happened to the rest of the students?"

Ezra smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

"Had a scuffle. Thankfully, there's some good people back there that had my back."

"Jaune?"

He pulled out his katana and pointed it at Neo and Roman.

"The rest of his team."

Nice to know JNPR has my team's back.

"I've got a bone to pick with the two of you."

Ezra glared at the two menacingly, keeping his blade pointed at them.

"That so? Fall in line."

Roman arrogantly twirled his cane. Ezra looked at me with cheeky smile and nodded.

"Ice Flower?"

Heh.

"Ice Flower."

I morph Crescent Rose into a sniper rifle and began firing shots at them that Ezra changed into ice bullets, creating spiky walls of ice that slowed the two's approach. He quickly rushed Torchwick, ignoring Neopolitan, leaving her to me, as the two men began exchanging blows, locking themselves to a standstill while I try my best to fell Neo.

"GAH! Take this!"

It doesn't matter what angle to try to slice her from, Neo's way too.. flexible and nimble for me to hit her consistently. She effortlessly dodged every single one of my strikes and clutched Crescent Rose with the end of her umbrella, knocking me off balance as she sent me flying to edge of the airship.

"Ruby!"

My clumsiness distracted Ezra long enough for Torchwick to steal the momentum away from him, pinning him down on the floor.

"OH! This is classic! You two are amateurs! Surprising, since I expected more out of you OWL..."

Torchwick planted his foot on Ezra's chest, as he knelt down and continued to mock him.

"I always knew you were overrated... Ezra."

My fingers began to slowly lose its grip, as Neopolitan slowly made her way towards me with a blade, tightly wrapped around the palm of her hand.

"Ruby!"

I desperately struggle to find a way out of my situation, till I spot the button on Neo's umbrella.

"Ezra!"

I pointed my finger at her weapon, hoping that he understood what I was pointing at. Almost immediately, Ezra squirmed his hand through his utility belt and pulled out a kunai that he threw at Neo's weapon, barely grazing the button. Her parasol suddenly swung open, and the strong gust of air catapulted her out of the airship.

"NEO!"

Distracted, Ezra grabbed Torchwick by the leg just as a Nevermore landed right next to them. Roman glared at the grimm's burning red eyes before losing half his body from the beak of the massive grimm.

"EZ! MOVE!"

I use my semblance to dash to Crescent Rose, quickly transforming it into a sniper and firing a shot at the Nevermore before it could snag Ezra. The force of this was enough to knock the bird out of the sky, giving the two of us, a little bit more of a breathing room.

"Ezra!"

I ran towards him and grabbed his shoulders, as he got up.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, are you?"

We looked at each other, the two of us desperately catching our breaths, relieved that we were both okay.

"We gotta stop the virus from controlling all those droids! Let's go to the bridge."

Before I could stand up, Ezra grabbed me by the shoulder and shook his head.

"No! That'll take too long! We have to crash the ship. It'd be faster that way. Everything is controlled here, at least with this ship gone, that's one less thing the enemy has control over. Not like we can fly this things without a full crew anyways, the malware was doing that for Torchwick."

So if we remove the software, the ship crashes anyways.

"How do we do that then!?"

Ezra twirled his bladeless katana and holstered it back in his belt.

"I got it taken care of before I helped you. Really hoping you'd hold off Roman and Neo till I finished rigging the whole thing. Good job."

Normally I'd blush after hearing such a compliment, but now's not really the time.

"Alright cool, where's the detonator?"

Ezra slowed his breathing down as he began to walk back away from me.

"Ruby, I'm the detonator. It's my semblance."

"WHAT!? Ezra no! There has to be another way!? You can't just sacrifice yourself!"

Ezra chuckled at my plea.

"It's not like that, Ruby. I can get away with my wings, I just need you to stand clear."

Oh, had me nervous for a second there.

"Then I'll be fine too! We can use our semblances together to get out of here! I'm not leaving you again Ez! Leaving you on the airship with a bunch of angry students... I shouldn't have."

He smiled at me softly.

"It's okay, Ruby. You were always the type to jump in head first into danger to help another. It's the thing I admire about you the most."

That's not it.

"No EZRA! Listen, I shouldn't have, because I knew! I had a hunch you were OWL! The time at train, I heard your voice and saw OWL! Back at the docks, do you really think that little of me to not know what one of my bestfriend's semblance look like!? I've fought and trained with you so many times, I've always had the suspicion that it was you all along!"

Again, Ezra only smiled while he scratched the back of his head.

"See Ez, I've known but I did nothing! I trusted that you would do the right thing, that something was hanging over your head, and you're being forced to do all this, and I'm glad that there are! I'm glad that I'm right, that you're not doing this cause you're some evil maniac! I'm glad that you're doing the right thing now, and that's all that matters!"

Amidst all this, tears began to leak out of my eyes.

"But I should have been there for you! I should have talked to you about it! I should have confronted you! I should have stepped in when everyone blamed you! I knew you were in trouble but I didn't do my job as your friend... I didn't save you when you needed saving! I- I didn't do my job as your sister."

Ezra began to held back the tears in his eyes, as the distance between us slowly grew.

"Sister huh? Wow, what a blast that would have been. Listen Ruby, I never said I'm sorry, so let me apologize to you for all this madness that I've caused. I'm sorry for hurting you sister. I'm sorry for hurting our friends. I'm sorry for betraying you. If I can take it all back I would."

I'm glad that he's apologizing, but why does it feel like a goodbye?

"Ezra, it's going to be okay! Trust me."

He nodded his head and took a couple more steps back.

"I know it will for you! And I do trust you. Ruby, it's been a wild ride!"

I knew it! I began to slowly make my way towards him, but flying debris and the constant gushing of the howling winds prevented me from taking another step.

"Ezra! Don't do anything stupid, I'm coming with you!"

Ezra's chuckle turned into a full on laugh.

"You know, we never did figure out how to put my name in the acronym huh? BERY and RWBEY were all very hilarious, but I think everyone can agree that RWBY just fits way better, like it was meant to be! Cause it was! Best keep it that way!"

I gather what strength I have to use my semblance and dash towards him, but I felt this strong force holding me back, like my feet were glued- no, frozen on the ground. I look down, and sure enough, Ezra sneakily used his semblance to freeze my feet on the spot.

"EZRA, YOU STUPID IDIOT!"

With his hair fluttering in the wind, and his big brown eyes shining, Ezra flashed a huge childish smile my way.

"Goodbye Ruby. Thank you... for everything."

With a snap of his fingers, massive stalagmites made out of ice began to erupt all over the airship, ripping it in half. It was like watching a firework show made out of ice.

As I fall down with Crescent Rose in hand, the ice beneath my feet began to melt. The last image I saw of the sky were that of falling snow and Ezra's smiling face.