Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or any references in this story. I would like to thank the RWBY Wiki for their informative website, which was beneficial in developing this story. Basically I decided to write my first fan fiction from a first-person perspective. This is merely for entertainment purposes only. Enjoy.
Also, before we begin the final chapter, I've got a Questions and Answers chapter that I will be releasing next week at the latest. Ask me anything about the story, me, future stories, etc. There's no limit per person. Just leave questions in the reviews section or you can send them to me in a private message.
With that out of the way, enjoy the finale!
After flying for nearly an hour, I see Beacon Academy appear over the horizon. I look to my right to see Blake sitting in the copilot seat, still asleep...or unconscious rather, from what happened back at the stronghold. During the whole trip home, I can only think about what I had to witness and hope that Ulysses got out of there in time before the place went up in an inferno.
As we fly around the main tower of Beacon, I decide to land in an open field that is adjacent to the main courtyard. As I touch down, I can hear an alarm being raised, but I simply ignore it. I struggle to pick up Blake in a bridal carry, due to having one of Ulysses' arrows go through my shoulder, but manage to do and begin to carry her towards the monument out front of the academy. Just as I walk about 15 to 20 feet, I slowly begin to black out, probably due to shock and blood loss.
"B-Blake...we...we're almost t-there. We're al–" and that's when I loose all the strength in my legs and fall to my knees, and I begin to pant from exhaustion. "–W-we're almost...home..." and that's when I loose consciousness and fall forward on top of Blake. I must've been out for a short time, because I begin to regain consciousness after hearing multiple voices calling out to me.
"Shane! Shane! Wake up!" I slowly open my eyes to see Ruby and Weiss dragging me by my ankles towards the main building. I look over to my left to see Yang carrying Blake in a firefighter carry.
"B-Blake..." I say faintly, catching the attention of Ruby.
"Weiss, he's waking up!" Ruby exclaims as she runs to my side.
"He's lost a lot of blood. We need to get him to the infirmary!" Weiss says with urgency.
"Shane, can you hear me?!" Ruby says as she rests her hand in mine. I manage to gently squeeze it and give a weak smile in response.
"Come on you dunce, I can't drag him by myself!" Weiss yells. That's when I begin to loose consciousness again, but this time...I see white fill my vision instead of black.
"We're loosing him...Shane...Shane..." That's when my vision goes completely white, then slowly fades to black. The last thing I hear is Ruby in tears as she whispers to me, "Don't leave us..."
A short time later, my vision begins to return, but I find myself not a Beacon any longer, or Remnant that matter. I stand in what appears to be a hallway with little to no lighting what so ever. I begin to look around for any that can tell me where I am.
"Hello? Anybody there?" I'm only met with silence.
Suddenly, a bright white light appears at one end of the hallway, and I am forced to shield my eyes for the first couple of seconds. I look towards the light and see a silhouette beginning to walk towards me.
"Hello? Who are you? Where am I?" I call out to the figure.
"You are home, my son..." a mans voice echoes back to me.
"Wait...are...are you...G-God?"
"I am called many things, but yes."
"I...I don't understand–"
"There are many things we do not understand in life."
"Am I...d-dead?"
"Not yet..."
"W-what do you mean?"
"At this given time, you are in a coma. I have brought you here to decide."
"Decide what?"
"Would you like to come home?" Just then, I see about a dozen more silhouettes appear from the light, and slowly become recognizable; Military uniforms, but their faces are blurred.
"Guys? Is that really you?"
"Yeah brotha. It's us." one of them responds. 'Wraith...'
"You've done some good work down there. We've been watching you; Joining and protecting Beacon, meeting that lady friend of yours, saving her life." another says. 'Mickey...'
"Yes–" God interjects, "–You've made a great sacrifice to protect the ones you love."
"Guys...I'm so sorry." as I bow to my knee.
"Shane...do not blame yourself for what happened. Our sacrifices are not in vain." Wraith says.
"How?"
"You protected Beacon and the ones closest to you. None of us would have had the courage to face the odds that you faced alone."
"Damn right! If it wasn't for you, Beacon would have fallen, your girl wouldn't be alive. You prevented all of that from happening." Mickey explains.
"That's right. I have been convinced that you should be offered the chance to be cleansed of all your sins." God says.
"I...I don't know what to say. I–" Just then, another light appears behind me, and I look back to see four silhouettes walk towards me and reveal themselves; Ruby, Weiss, Yang...and Blake, each of them in tears. "Girls?" I slowly stand up. "W-what are you doing here?"
"Come back to us–" Blake speaks up, "–Come back to me..."
"Don't leave us, Shane..." Ruby says with sadness, and Yang hugs her to comfort her.
"C-come back you...d-dolt!" Weiss says with just as much sadness, if not surpassing Ruby.
At this point, my face is drenched in tears, and I look back towards God.
"Lord...please..."
"Would you like to come home, my son?" as he offers his hand out to me, and the other silhouettes, including Wraith and Mickey, gesture me to approach.
"I'm want to go back." as I look back to the girls, "That is my home...they are my...f-family."
"You sure about this?" Wraith speaks up.
"After facing my worst nightmares and remembering they no longer exist...it really helped me realize what I do have in my life...them." as I point back to the girls.
"Very well my son. You may go." as God begins to step back towards the light, and the silhouettes follow suit.
"Good luck." Wraith and Mickey say in unity as the back away and wave a goodbye to me.
"See you on the other side..." as I turn and run towards the girls. "I'm coming home girls." As I begin to close the distance, the girls slowly fade away into smoke, and my vision darkens until it completely overwhelms me.
I slowly begin to wake up to see that I am in a hospital bed. I grunt in pain as I try to look to see that I'm still in my combat attire for the most part, only missing my combat shirt and ballistic vest. I look right and see Professor Ozpin sitting in a seat next to me, drinking his coffee. I also notice Donovan and a VPD detective leaning against the wall behind Ozpin.
"Good, you're awake." Ozpin says before taking a sip from his mug.
"W-where am I?" I say in a groggy voice.
"The infirmary at Beacon. You gave us quite the scare, young man."
"How long was I out?"
"About a week–" Donovan speaks up, "–You nearly bled to death when you got here..."
"Your team found you in the courtyard shortly after you landed. At first we feared that the school was under attack again." Ozpin says. Just as he finishes, the thought of Blake pops into my mind.
"Wait...Blake! Where is she?!" I ask with urgency as I sit up quickly.
"Ms. Belladonna is alright." as Ozpin raises his hand in assurance. "She is in good health, and waiting outside."
"I wanna see her...please." as I swing my legs off the bed so I'm sitting on the edge, remove the intravenous needle out of my hand, and look to see my right shoulder and chest all wrapped up.
"Very well. I'll go get her for you. Just take your time and get some rest." Ozpin says as he walks out the door. I begin to stand up to find my legs are quite weak, and Donovan runs over to hold me up.
"You good?"
"Yeah...I'm fine." Just as I say it, Blake enters the room and we meet eye-to-eye.
"S-Shane?" she says as a tear begins to roll down her cheek, and I walk towards her. She runs to me, and I embrace her in a tight hug, holding her for quite some time as she begins to cry.
"I'm here, baby girl. It's okay to cry..." I whisper to her as I kiss her on the top of her head, right near her bow, and I feel it twitch.
"Sir? Did...did her bow just twitch?" The detective asks in complete shock.
"What are you taking about, I didn't see anything." Donovan replies in a low tone.
The detective clears his throat to get my attention. "Sorry to interrupt Mr. Carbon, but I'm gonna need to debrief you on what exactly happened to you. I've already spoken to Ms. Belladonna, but we need your stat–" That's when Donovan raises his hand to cut him off.
"I don't see any indication that Mr. Carbon has regained consciousness at this given time...and I'm pretty sure you don't either." as he gives him a stern look. The detective pauses for a moment before giving a sight nod in response, almost seeming intimidated.
"No...wanna go get some coffee while we wait for him to 'wake up,' Sergent Hollis?"
"With pleasure." as the two of them head out the door, leaving only Blake and I left in the room.
"Blake?" She looks up at me with her tear filled amber eyes as I slowly reach up and undo her bow, revealing her violet cat ears, and I lay it on the table next to us. "No matter what happens to us, or what anybody says...I will always love you for who you are." I say as I brush her bangs away from her face. She begins to smile, then leans in and kisses me with a deep passion. I pull her in close, not wanting to ever let go of her again.
A moment after, we break off the kiss, and I close the curtains on the windows to my right. I then guide her to the bed, and we lay down together. Blake lays to my left with her head on my shoulder, and her hand on my chest. I begin to stroke her back as I kiss her on the top of her head, and she begins to purr after her ears twitch again.
"Have I ever told you how adorable you are when your ears twitch and you purr?" She just giggles in response. A short time later, the door opens and Ruby, Weiss, and Yang enter the room.
"You could've told us he was awake!" Yang says as she enters with a smirk at the sight of the two of us cuddling on the hospital bed.
"I glad you're okay. We were...really worried we lost you." Ruby says as she begins to fidget.
"Yeah..." Weiss says, following suit with Ruby. "I-it's good to have you back."
"It's good to be back–" as I look over to Blake, then the others, and we all smile to each-other. "–And I plan on being here for a long time."
After a while, everybody decides to head back to the dorm room to get some sleep, but Blake chooses to stay and sleep by my side. As I begin to fall asleep, I can't help but think about what happened to Ulysses; Not just whether or not he made it out of the base in time, but what he probably had to endure with being the test subject of Genesis III. The good thing is though, the project is destroyed, and nobody can be harmed further by it.
I hope that one day him and I will meet again, and maybe...just maybe, we can stand together with Blake by my side to see peace form between humans and faunus. After all, there's a saying that goes; 'Even the darkest night will end, and the sun will rise again...'
The End...
*VVV PLEASE READ! VVV*
VERY IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT:
Well ladies and gentlemen, this is it...the end of RWBY: Carbon. I'd like to take a moment to than each and every one of you for your support, and the time you take out of your life to read my story. Writing this whole story really has been helping me get through some of the lowest parts of my life at this given time. I think it's safe to say that writing this story and hearing the great feedback from you honestly gave me a reason to even rise out of bed each morning. For that, I thank you.
Before I end the chapter here, I'd also like to give another friendly reminder that I have a Q&A planned to be released by Friday of next week. So far...I have only received a handful of questions. In short, if you want to ask me any questions, please leave them in the Reviews section, or PM them to me.
I look forward to hearing from you (the reader), and posting the Q&A next week. Until then, farewell...