Hello everyone and welcome back for the final chapter of this tale. It has been a long road with a lot of stress and writer's block thrown in. This chapter was an absolute pain in the arse to write since I had to tie up all the loose ends but I think I have one final surprise for you all that you will enjoy. So without further ado I present the end of all things.
It seemed to take an eternity, as the two rivals stared one another down. Ironwood's cold blue eyes were locked angrily onto Ozpin's own. Neither of them moved so much as a muscle as the two of them stared the other down. An eerie silence settled over the room oppressively leaving its occupants uncomfortable and unwilling to break the silence. Yet something had to give, and soon.
It was Ironwood who broke the stalemate, launching himself forward with a ferocious growl and lashing out with Harbinger in a savage strike designed to rend Ozpin in two. The blow was met with a metallic clang and a shower of sparks as Ozpin managed to raise his own sword to meet it. The old headmaster reeled a little behind the force of the blow and was knocked off-balance, stumbling a few steps back. The General didn't relent though and gave chase, slashing at his rival in a jealous rage.
Step by step, Ozpin was pushed back. He was forced onto the defensive, unable to counter Ironwood's vicious onslaught. Goodwitch watched on with an expression of complete helplessness, her breaths hitching every time that the two blades clashed. As he watched her Jaune could see a recognisable look in her eyes, a strong desire to help the one she cared about yet also the acknowledgement that she couldn't. As the fight wore on, the pained expression on Glynda's face seemed only to deepen more and more.
As the minutes wore on, the fight began to take turn after turn for the worse. Ozpin was completely outmatched by his opponent and it showed on his face. The headmaster's teeth were gritted against one another with the strain of deflecting Ironwood's attacks, and a large blood stain had formed high on his left arm were the General had gifted him with Harbinger's bite. The steel of its blade had been icy cold as it bit into his flesh greedily, splitting his skin like an over-ripened fruit. It had taken all that he had not to groan out in pain, but the wizened old man wouldn't give his enemy the satisfaction.
Ozpin fought back as best as he could against ever more unfavourable odds. He parried and slashed back at the General with all the strength that he could muster. As time passed by, and the two slashed and lunged at each other, they both accrued a greater collection of cuts and scratches. Before long, their clothes were tattered and stained red with blood until even the General's once pristine appearance was besmirched with the grime of battle.
"I see that you have lost none of your ability over the years James, you always were an excellent fighter. I think your military upbringing leant itself to your style." Ozpin managed to pant, even as their blades locked in a fountain of brilliant white and blue sparks.
"I wish I could say the same Oz." The General spat back "You've turned into an old man over the years. An old man far beyond his prime with one foot well and truly in the grave. Still, it will be my pleasure to help you along on your way."
With that, the General wrenched their swords off to one side in a vicious circle and danced away. He took the briefest of moments to recuperate before lunging forward again, attacking like a man possessed. The bright blade of his sword was slick with the crimson of his opponent's blood, evidence of his dominance throughout the fight. Harbinger hummed maliciously as it sliced through the air over and over, seeking to bury itself deep within Ozpin's body. Up, down, left and right; over and over these were the patterns that Ozpin followed, barely raising his sword in time to block Harbinger's cold edge from rending his flesh.
To Ozpin it felt as though every blow grew heavier, and harder to withstand. His wiry arms felt like lead as the fatigue of their fight began to set in. He may have been a huntsman once, but the years sat behind his desk had taken their toll on him physically. He was much slower than he had been, and his endurance was greatly diminished. It had been a great many years since he had last seen active duty and even longer since he had actually drawn his rapier in anger. The General it seemed had never stopped training, no doubt a side effect of his military lifestyle and apparent burning lust for revenge.
The stoical headmaster slammed into one of his bookcases with a hiss of pain as Ironwood closed again for an especially heavy attack. Before he could react, the General's fist closed around the front of his jacket and threw him clean across the room, slamming him into the opposite wall. His rapier flew from his hand as he slumped down against the wall. Across the room, Ironwood seemingly sensed his victory at hand and began to slowly cross the office towards Ozpin. Every one of his foot falls sounded like end of the world as his heavy boots boomed across the room.
"I knew that it would come to this Oz, ever since you stole her from me. I have lain awake at night dreaming of this moment and now my time of retribution is at hand. You may have turned Glynda against me this time, but there is no one who can save you now." James explained in a voice that practically oozed confidence. He towered over the downed headmaster, the icy steel of his sword glinting with a crimson light as blood dripped from the tip of its blade. The General seemed to savour the moment; after all, everything had gone exactly according to plan.
Yet then something happened which the General hadn't expected. A second set of feet tapped against the floor as Penny emerged from the group of students huddled against the wall and positioned herself firmly between Ironwood and his intended victim. She had a fierce look on her face, and her green eyes seemed to burn with contempt for her former ally. She stood with her legs shoulder width apart, the wounds that she had sustained still sparked ominously.
"General I don't think that you should do that. You have fed me lie after lie and now I'm going to put a stop to it, do you hear me? You have already killed countless numbers of innocents, and I will not let you kill another. Professor Ozpin isn't the one who deserves to die for what he has done, that honour is extended solely to you. My protocols are riddles with knowledge of, and reverence for, the laws of the kingdoms and I don't think that there is a single law which you have yet to break. As my programming demands, I am to stop you and turn you into the local authorities if possible. By force if necessary." She said sternly.
"Penny… I am the General in charge of the Atlas military? What makes you think that anything you say will change my mind? You are a machine, created solely for the purpose of replacing real and valued people on the battlefield. You are mere Grimm fodder, and you dare to question me?" He replied in shock, seemingly caught off guard by what he saw as Penny's insolence.
"That is not true." Penny replied, looking over at Ruby with a slight smile "Just because I have bolts and metal inside of me instead of squishy guts, it doesn't make me any less of a person than those around me. I am worth something, to my friends if not to tyrannical monsters like you. It is for their sake that I will stand against you General. For their sakes and for the rest of the innocents whose lives you threaten." With that, the remaining swords rose out of her back and floated around, pointing at the General viciously.
Goodwitch made to step forwards and intervene, but a steely look from Penny soon put flight to the idea. Looking on helplessly, Goodwitch backed up again to stand amongst the students. After all, it wasn't as though Penny were strictly a normal girl. She had battled against four hunters and huntresses in training as well as one fully fledged huntress and only lost by a hair. With those statistics in mind, it wasn't hard to imagine her utterly destroying Ironwood without a moment's notice or a second thought.
Yet even as she looked over the small automaton, her bright green eyes perceived the damage which Penny had already received and while Glynda may not have been the best when it came to robotics, it seemed fairly obvious that numerous holes cuts and scrapes to a Robot's exterior casing was not a positive at all. In fact, it left what seemed to be vital electronics open to the General should he wish to exploit them.
"Now Penny, are you sure that you want to do this? Is this what your father would want, you turning on your own people instead of those whom are allied against us? What kind of harsh cruelty is it that he should live to see his proudest creation betray both him and everything that he stood for?" The General spoke in a soft tone of more disappointment than rage. For a brief moment, the look on Penny's face seemed to switch to one of regret and perhaps even embarrassment. Her swords drooped a little behind her and lost their intimidating edge as the General took a slow and cautious step forward. Penny's eyes darted between the floor and Ironwood both as she tried to work out the dilemma which he had laid before her. Step by step the General drew nearer and nearer until he was stood just in front of her.
He reached out with his free hand and gently caressed her freckled cheek. For a long moment his face bore an expression of what might have been love before, in an instant, he drew back his hand and punched her straight through the chest as easy as if Penny had been made of paper. From a new hole torn in her back the General's hand protruded, some form of electrical core clutched tightly in his hand, the now disconnected wires sparking ominously. All light seemed to have vanished from Penny's eyes, the pupils having grown large and dilated as her optical systems shut down for the last time. Even as he watched on, Jaune found himself wondering; 'will she dream?'
The General smirked almost proudly and tore his hand back out of the deceased robot's chest. He dropped the core onto the floor of the office with a loud clang. Slumped against the wall, Ozpin looked up with sorrow in his eyes as Penny's limp mechanical form collapsed into a heap. Before either of the fighters could as much as move, there was a roar of such sorrow and grief that the world had never seen before. It was followed by a series of mechanical clicks and whirs which Jaune knew only too well.
Before he could stop her, Ruby had unsheathed and unfurled crescent rose and leapt at the General with a war cry of such ferocity that even the mightiest of men would have reconsidered their life choices and run for the hills. Yet with her semblance activated, Ironwood never got the chance to react. The cruel and curved blade of her scythe met with his arm, a little above the elbow and with the sound of tearing metal took it clean off. It landed to the floor a short distance away with a crash but Ruby wasn't satisfied there and used the wall to her advantage. Shoving off with both feet, she slammed into the general again, driving the bladed point on the haft of her weapon through the right side of his chest. The sheer momentum of the attack knocked the two of them back, allowing Ruby to firmly pin her opponent to the wall by driving her weapon through and deep into it.
"N-not bad little rose…" Ironwood coughed after a moment, leaving the whole room wondering just how he was still alive. The General raised his arm to look at the now stump where his elbow had once been. Once more the crackling of electricity filled the air as his tattered sleeve fell back to reveal complex wiring, similar to that in Penny.
'Oh come on! Is there anyone in Atlas that isn't entirely or at least part robotic!?' Jaune wondered with a groan.
Ruby growled again, her eyes burning in a way which rivalled only her sister's as she slammed her booted foot into the General's jaw. He must have felt it, since his sword flew from his hand as part of the shock. She kicked him a few more times for good measure before he seemingly recovered. Leaning in right next to him, her face a mere inch from his and loathing in her eyes, the little rose spoke. Her voice had an unusual quality which Jaune had never heard from her before, a certain edge.
"It's over General. Looks like the good guys finally won. I know that this isn't the happy ending that we were all hoping for, too many good people have died for that to ever be the case, but there is some good news in that you will be tried and found guilty. You will be punished for each and every one of your crimes both here and in the next life, and I hope that when you get to whatever hell you are sent, they never let you forget the names of the ones you killed, or the ones who stopped you." She growled. The whole while Ironwood listened to her speak with the same amused smirk on his face, as though the whole world were simply one big joke that only he could see and understand.
With a slight chuckle he twitched and darting his free hand out, he made to strike her, and would have succeeded had Goodwitch not taken action. His balled fist stopped dead, not an inch from Ruby's face, wreathed in a purple aura. Stood beside Jaune, Goodwitch was poised, an angry expression on her face.
"Ruby Rose, how many times must I bail you out of trouble when you are battling wanted criminals? This is just like our first meeting all over again… Will you never learn?" With a slight smirk at Ruby, who stood agape next to the General, Goodwitch flicked her riding crop. Ironwood's arm immediately folded back on itself at the elbow with a series of loud snaps as cartilage, tendons and even bone snapped in an instant. Ironwood gave a long and drawn out cry of pain as every nerve in James' elbow came alive and shrieked their warnings at him at a fevered pitch. Curse after curse sprang from his lips in a nasty train of syllables which brought shock to even Goodwitch's face. That was until she stepped forward and punched him on the jaw, knocking him unconscious and silencing the tirade of abuse.
The students in the room gave a collective sigh of relief, glad that their ordeal against the general was over. Yang, however, didn't seem quite so relieved. The blonde took a few slow and deliberate steps forward, until she was stood beside her sister. Tears were welling up within her eyes as she glared at the unconscious form of James Ironwood. With that look in mind she spat on him, a final statement of her opinions it seemed.
Ruby gave her sister a look of shock and a questioning glance. Clearly she was hoping for some form of an explanation from her older sister, yet none were forthcoming. Reaching out a hand, the tiny rose placed it on the brawler's shoulder and was surprised to find it trembling, though whether it was suppressed rage or sorrow she couldn't tell. With her silver eyes softening, Ruby gave Yang the best smile that she could muster given the situation, it was weak and offset by the tears in her eyes.
"Y-Yang… what's wrong…?" She asked, her voice was cracked and broken after all that had happened. Yang looked at her then, her lilac eyes were filled with tears in a way which Ruby hadn't seen for a great many years. She opened her mouth to speak and yet no sound came out, clearly there was something which she needed to say and yet there were no words which she could find to say it.
Goodwitch knew the expression of loss all too well and could sense what was to come. She ushered the remaining students back into the elevator and sent them down to the base of the tower. With the help of Oobleck, she tentatively pulled Ozpin to his feet before sending him down in the elevator as well. When she returned the final time to retrieve Ironwood in order to transport him away for incarceration, she found the damage already done.
Ruby had collapsed to her knees, her arms hanging limply by her sides and the tears falling freely, leaving glistening trails across her cheeks. He light was gone from her silvery eyes and Goodwitch knew that it would be some time before it would return to them again. Yang was in a similar state, on her knees with her arms wrapped tightly around her half-sister, clutching at her cape in anger at the loss of their uncle.
Taking slow steps over to the duo, Glynda crouched down beside them. Her brilliant green eyes had lost their usual edge, and when she spoke her voice was calm and soothing.
"Girls…Doctor Oobleck told me about Qrow, you have all of our condolences and support for as long as you need it. If there is anything that you need, please don't hesitate to ask. Qrow and I may not have seen eye to eye of very many things but I could tell that he was a good man at heart, and one who selflessly devoted himself both to his job and to the kingdom of Vale. He will be sorely missed by all of us and it seems unlikely that the world will ever see another like him." Glynda was surprised at just how easily the words came to her as she spoke. Qrow and she rowed and argued time and time again over the smallest and largest of issues and yet, over her lengthy career working with him she was surprised to find that she had been harbouring a significant amount of respect for him. He may have been a drunkard and a scruff, but he was one of the best at what he did.
"T-thank you Professor… it's just… he was always the one who looked out for us when our dad shut down… without him what will we do?" Yang asked, raising her head to look at the Professor. Glynda paused a moment, surprised to hear a new facet to Qrow's personality, and for a moment she was taken aback. It was unusual to hear Qrow being responsible in his actions.
"Well… Qrow may well be gone but the lessons he left you with aren't. Whether you may have noticed or not, the things he said and taught you have taken root within you. The more I think about it and the more I watch the two of you progress, the more of Qrow I see within you both. Ruby, you represent Qrow's more reckless side as well as his ferocity in defending the things he loved. You even took a version of his weapon for your own. And Yang, you hold his fiery temper and determination. Perhaps the two qualities which best defined him in his later life. Though Qrow may be gone physically, he will always live on through you two, his star students." She said with a slight smile. It was all true, and the more she thought about it, the more of Qrow's influence she could see within the two sisters.
Both of them looked at her for a moment, their expressions of sadness being briefly replaced by weak smiles as they considered Goodwitch's words. The tears still rolled down their cheeks and tumbled to the floor below them, but the two were no longer quite so hopeless in their grief. Though Goodwitch may not have known it, her words had taken root within their hearts and had granted them the measure of strength which they needed to hold their heads up and keep moving forward.
Both of the sisters swept the tears from their cheeks and dried their eyes. They looked at one another with determination burning in their eyes as they stood up. There would be many more tears before the grief left them. But for now they had to be strong, the two of them had agreed through silent consensus, that now was not the time nor was it the place to show their sorrow. The ordeal was not ye over and there was still work to be done.
"What do we do with sleeping beauty here…." Yang asked, her voice wavering a little.
"We take that Scythe out of him, take him down and out of the tower and hand him over to the Vale military where he will await trial in a few days' time." Goodwitch replied "I promise you girls, he will pay for his crimes."
The trial itself was delayed time and time again as the Vale government prioritised the rebuilding and repair works over the punishment of its biggest criminal. The hunters and huntresses of Beacon academy were widely praised and commended for their work in toppling Ironwood. Funerary services were held for the deceased from the battle of Beacon in the school's courtyard. As the school smouldered around the gathered few, a new statue was unveiled, a tribute and honour to those who had fallen.
It was not until three months after the guns had fallen silent that Ironwood was hauled before a military tribunal to answer for his crimes. The trial itself was a short one, due in part to the overwhelming amount of evidence condemning the general. The proceedings were broadcast across all of the kingdoms to serve as an example and to quell the public outrage which had sprea in the wake of the General's attack. Throughout his trial, Ironwood stood silent. Gone was his pride and in its place was left only resignation. The fire was gone from his eyes leaving them dead and lifeless, the eyes of a man with nothing to lose and aware of his fate. The jury's unanimous decision declared him guilty and he was sentenced without mercy.
"James Ironwood, for your crimes against the kingdom of Vale you have been found guilty on the charges of; treason, murder and attempted warmongering between the kingdoms. By the power vested in my by the royal family of Vale, I hereby sentence you to death and may your gods have mercy on your soul."
Hearing his sentence, the general began chuckling. It was a cold and mirthless laughter as though there was some kind of cruel joke which only he seemed to have caught the punchline to. He looked up with a feral grin on his features and stared down the judge in his high seat, no signs of fear in his eyes as he began to speak.
"Though I may die today, do not make the mistake of believing that this is the end. I am but one cog in a wider machine of destruction, replaceable and expendable. The one whom commanded me shall not prove so easy to cast down and destroy. The time shall soon come when you think you are safe and happy and it shall all turn to ash in your mouths. A time in which the streets of your kingdoms shall run red with blood and your women shall sing the lament of loss. For beyond me is an evil far beyond your comprehension, and one which you shall prove powerless to stop."
Two soldiers stepped in before he could continue and hauled him out of the courthouse and away from the eyes of the world. Yet the candle was lit, those gathered in the galleries whose eyes had burned with anger were filled with fear once again. Nervous mutterings spread like wildfire. In the front rows where teams Jasper and Burgundy stood, the eight teenagers stood in silence. Their eyes were filled with concerned as looks were passed from one to another.
"He… he wasn't telling the truth was he?" Ruby asked with an edge of unease creeping into her voice. Weiss gently placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, a bold smile etched across her regal features.
"So what if he is? We have been faced with unbeatable odds before and emerged triumphant. Let him send whatever evils he will, and when they come, we will be waiting here for them." She spoke with a confidence which ran deep, beyond a sense of false bravado.
"We have each other, and that is something way stronger than anything they can come up with." Yang said, cracking her knuckles. Yet despite her confidence, Jaune couldn't share in the sentiment. It was all well and good to say that they would handle whatever this unseen evil could throw at them; it was another matter entirely actually putting action to those words.
The more he thought about it though, the more the concept began to worry him. Ironwood had been one of the most powerful men in all of the kingdoms, yet this threat seemed to have even him scared. Just who, or what, was this unseen foe that he had mentioned, and had they been the real driving force behind the General's actions?
His thoughts were interrupted however by the feeling of a gentle touch upon his shoulder. Turning, he was met with the sight of his partner, a quizzical look on her face and slight concern in her eyes. She spoke in a hushed voice, so that the others might not hear.
"Is everything alright Jaune? You're awfully quiet and you have a look like you're struggling with some problem."
"Hm? Oh… I just can't escape the feeling that there's something much bigger at work here y'know? That maybe the General was only the tip of a much larger iceberg…" He explained with a soft sigh. There was no point in hiding it from her, Pyrrha always seemed to find a way to work out what was wrong whether he told her or not.
"I-I know what you mean. It all seems to be over but ever since we caught him, I kind of felt that something was wrong, that we hadn't really stopped anything, only postponed it. It's… scary to think that there might be something a lot worse heading our way. We are only students, and there just aren't enough hunters and huntresses to cope with another attack on this level, let alone a more severe one." She looked down for a moment, a visible shiver running down her spine. Jaune didn't immediately reply to that, after all how could he? What was there that he could say to comfort her? He had the same fears she did and it twisted his gut into a painful knot just thinking about it. Instead he paused a moment before stepping in and wrapping his arms around her. He pulled her in close and cradled her head against his chest, completely unaware of the look on a certain hooded huntress only a couple of feet away from him.
Weiss was quick on the uptake, ushering Ruby away and towards the door to the courthouse with promises of cookies. The rest of the group began to follow in dribs and drabs, leaving one by one until only Jaune, Pyrrha and Yang remained behind. As Pyrrha finally pulled away from her partner, Yang rested her fists on her hips with a playful expression.
"Jeez you guys… Get a room huh?" With that she turned and sauntered away to find the others, leaving the two of them alone, matching blushes on their faces. They stood in silence for a long while, each of them trying to speak and ease the tension but unable to find the words to do so. In the end it was Jaune who finally plucked up his courage and spoke.
"Uh… S-shall we go catch them up? I mean I could go for a quiet drink and some cookies after everything that's happened. What do you say, cocoa and cookies? My treat." He asked, offering her his hand with a nervous smile.
"I… Would really like that." She replied, the joy quite visible on her face as she took his hand in hers. She didn't know quite what this meant, but she was not about to pass up the opportunity. The two of them left the courthouse together, hand in hand and with smiles on their faces. As they were, the threats of the future seemed almost incomprehensible. But they were real, and unbeknownst to the two of them, already actions were set in motion that would shake the very foundations of their new relationship in ways that neither of them could have foreseen.
It was early morning when Ironwood heard the keys rattling in his cell door. Outside, the sun had barely begun to rise. Streaks of pink and orange lanced across the sky beautifully illuminating the world in a cheerful array of colour. He had not slept the night before, instead choosing to keep a vigil on the sky through the window of his tiny prison. He had watched the sky dim into twilight and the stars wheel overhead on their nightly journey, counting down the minutes until his time came.
The door swung inward silently on well-oiled hinges to reveal two grizzled soldiers, veterans of a great many years of service and the harbingers of his death. The General climbed slowly off of his dismal cot and to his feet, stepping slowly towards them. They each stepped aside to allow him through the doorway and into the corridor. Once he was out, they formed up around him, one in front and one behind with rifle in hand.
The two guards frogmarched him through long and dismal passages, up lengthy flights of stairs and through two enormous steel doors. As they swung open the sunlight streamed in, the General turned his eyes downwards, struggling to grow accustomed to the influx of natural light. His eyes smarted at the introduction of such bright lighting after so long in his dimly lit cell. A rifle barrel jabbed him sharply in the back and set him walking again, for a few seconds he walked blindly as his eyes fought to adjust, trusting only in the jabs of the rifle to keep him on the right track.
As his eyes grew accustomed to the outside world again, he took his first real look at his surroundings. He was in the Prison's large courtyard. It was a wide and empty space, enclosed on all sides by the thick curtain walls of the prison itself. They were thirty feet tall with a parapet wide enough for three men to walk abreast. Beyond those, James knew, was a set of barrack blocks wherein the garrison of guards were housed.
His guards led him off to one side of the large courtyard towards where a number of thick logs had been stood upright, the bottom foot being buried beneath the surface. Around the base of each log, the dirt was stained dark, the mark of past tenants James supposed. They marched him towards the central one and bound him to it, tying his wrists tightly and cruelly before standing on either side of him, rifles at the ready.
From a second set of steel doors within the curtain wall, a small column of soldiers cam marching. Their boots hit the packed dirt of the courtyard with rhythmic precision born of days of drilling. Beside them marched a Sergeant-Major, his pace stick swinging by his side as he called out the timings in a booming voice that rang out across the courtyard. James watched them as they marched right up to him, forming a line in front of his post.
"Detail! Halt!" The Sergeant-Major called, his voice cracking like a whip. Immediately, the men under his command halted, the drumming of their boots falling silent. By a series of further commands, they turned into line and were brought to ease. Once done, the Sergeant-Major made his way over towards the posts, drawing a pack of cigarettes from his pocket along with a matchbook.
"General. Would you like one final smoke?" He asked with a sense of distaste. It was clear that he was merely a formality and not out of any concern for the General himself. James shook his head and watched as the cigarettes disappeared almost as quickly as they had appeared. Next came the blindfold, which again Ironwood refused. He would not go out as a coward; he would look each of his executioners in the eye before drawing his terminal breath with dignity.
With the formalities done, the Sergeant-Major turned and paced to his position at the end of his firing squad. Turning in to face them he drew himself to attention and gave a slight pause. Taking a deep breath he issued his first command.
"Ready!" The firing squad snapped to, collectively placing their right foot forward and raising their rifles.
"Aim!" James found himself staring seven people in the eye across the sights of raised rifles. He stood up straight and composed himself, preparing for the end. Up above a single raven flew across the sky and James' eyes followed it, seeing every detail of its feathers as one final word echoed across the courtyard.
"Fire!" Seven rifles answered the call, spitting seven rounds straight at the General. Almost instantly James felt the hot metal rending his flesh and spilling his life essences. It was not what he had expected; there was no pain and no darkness. Instead there was a feeling of warmth flooding his body. He looked down, expecting to see the bloom of red on what remained of his white uniform but there was none. Instead his whole body had begun to glow a dull orange. Flakes burst from him, as he began to disintegrate and dissolve and yet still there was no pain. Confusion crossed the faces of his executioners as they watched on helplessly as Ironwood turned to dust before them, until in one final moment he was gone, glowing embers vanishing on the breeze without trace. Before any of them could do a thing, he was gone, though whether forever… no-one knew.
And that... is where it ends. But don't you worry! There shall be a sequel to this one! Really this time! No fakesies!
Honestly, I know that many of you may be a little annoyed with the fact that I have chosen to end with an Arkos ship and may even feel as though the whole thing was a little hastily done or improperly concluded. Let me reassure you that I shall be tackling that in the next fic that I write, it will be a direct sequel to this one and shall continue the story to answer what happened to James, how Jaune and Pyrrha progress and how Vale copes with the fallout of James' plans.
Volume three was somewhat of an emotional ride for me for obvious reasons, and for some time it did raise questions as to where I wanted to take this fic and how to write it when my main source of inspiration had just been cut off. But seeing as how AU this ended up being I cant see the canon affecting my writing too much from here on out.
Honestly Im looking forward to starting work both upon the sequel to this and an entirely new fic plot that I have been sitting on for some time. I think you're all going to like what I have planned.
All that remains now is to thank you all so much for staying with me for this long, your kind words of support and critical reviews have been so very helpful in bringing this tale to life and I am sincerely grateful. I do have the best readers on this site and I hope I can continue to provide content for you all to enjoy in the future.
So it is with a heavy heart that I sign off on this fic for the final time, but with excitement that I go on to start work on my third project! So, for the final time, please do follow and favourite and let me know what you thought of the ending in the reviews. I have been TheFlagshipArkos and I will see you all, in the next Fic!