Weiss and Dante walked down a long, carpeted hallway of blue, white and gray. Protruding columns from the walls were decorated with black sconces and lit candles. Nature paintings were hung in an alternating pattern between the columns. There was also the occasional cushioned chair or round coffee table placed along the walls.
Next, they were seen walking along an upper-level balcony above a large dining hall. A white and green floral centerpiece decorated the white-clothed table. Every column both above and below bore a sconce, but these candles were not lit. Beside the Schnee twins on the balcony were large arch-shaped openings with white gauze curtains. Through one of the curtains, a crystal chandelier could be seen in another room. There was a shut, brown wooden door in the direction Weiss and Dante were heading.
They walked down a wide stairway with curving balconies on either side above it. Large armor statues filled the space on either side of the bottom stairs. Behind them, a paned triptych of arched windows let in the sun, casting her shadow onto the blue-carpeted steps in front of her. The floor at the bottom of the stairs had a blue and white oval design in its center. Both levels had open archways leading to other rooms.
Walking in another room with blue and white floor patterns, they strode pass a life-size statue of a King Taijitu without looking up. Once again, both the lower level and the balcony level have open archways and unlit sconces. A chandelier hung from the ceiling.
An upward view showed that the chandelier was in the middle of a blue and white circular pattern that matched the floor pattern from the previous room.
From the point of view of a music room, our heroes were seen walking down another hallway. In the music room was a large grand piano with open sheet music. A portrait on the wall showed their brother, Whitley Schnee.
Weiss and Dante walked along in the hallway, Dante trying to think of something to say to Weiss to lift her spirits or put some kind of life back in her that returning to Atlas seemed to have stolen, as she never looked up the entire time until she had a startled reaction to hearing their brother's voice coming from right in front of her.
"Good afternoon, sister. Brother." Whitley greeted each of them. A teenage boy, somewhat younger than the two of them, stood before them. He had his hand on his chest and he affected a bow. "A pleasure to see you out of your room for a change." He said.
"Not much of a reason to come out. If it weren't for Klein's cooking, you'd never catch a glimpse of us." Dante explained, walking past his brother.
Weiss, however, sidestepped their little brother and turned to speak, since he moved to face her the effect was that of the two of them briefly circling each other. "Hello, Whitley. You're in a cheery mood today." She said.
"Klein made crepes for breakfast." Whitley explained as he clasped his hands behind his back and smirked at her.
Dante didn't even turn around, merely looking over his shoulder and seeing Whitley's posture and expression. "I know that look." He said quietly.
Apparently, Weiss did, too. "What do you want?" Weiss asked in annoyance.
"I heard Father shouting with someone in his study earlier." He explained.
"Mother?" Weiss asked.
"No, she's already drinking in the garden. I think it was a man." Whitley explained.
Weiss looked up at him on this. Dante sighed at the news of their mother drinking. "Then I have somewhere else to be. Give pops my regards." Dante said, doing a 180 and walking away from his father's office.
"Dante..." Weiss sighed, but smiled, happy at least one of them was willing to defy their father and put their mother's help above what was almost inevitably a scheme from their father to make more money.
Whitley was shocked at this. "What?! But... Father wanted to see BOTH of you! You have to go!" He shouted after his brother, quickly growing angry that he'd defy their father.
"Yeah, well it's about time the old man doesn't have everything go his way." Dante said as he continued.
"That bastard... He's as stubborn and callous as Winter!" Whitley snapped.
Weiss glared at this. "No, he shares Winter's pride and conviction." She said. Behind Weiss, the Schnee Dust Company emblem could be seen above the archway she was walking toward.
"They're both simply ingrates who throw father's kind wishes back in his face!" He argued.
"No, they have the will not to let father control them. Something you sadly lack." Weiss countered.
"If being loyal to one's father is so shameful, I'll embrace it gladly." Whitley said as he turned and walked away. As he did so, the lower half of a family portrait could just be seen on the wall between where the two were standing. "Well, then... good luck with Father!" He said darkly, walking away.
After he was gone, Weiss responded. "Thank you." She said as she continued walking, wishing she had the will to walk away as Dante had. There was a close-up view of the family portrait. Clockwise they were Jacques, Dante, Weiss, Whitley, Winter and Mrs. Schnee. Jacques had black hair that was graying and a full mustache. Mrs. Schnee had a stern look on her face, Winter and Weiss were frowning, Whitley was smiling and Dante was visibly glaring at his Jacques, who had a neutral expression.
Cut to black and a blurred, echoing voice was heard.
"You! Will not see the end of this day!" Kratos' voice rang out.
As the former Spartan spoke, small white circles, again blurred, moved slightly around a center screen that remained black.
"A fitting final act." Cinder's voice rang out.
"Jaune!" Kratos' voice shouted.
Ruby's voice was heard shouting Kratos' name, just as she had when her latent power activated at Kratos' defeat. With a gasp, Ruby opened her eyes. She was lying in a red sleeping bag on a clearing in some woods. Nora, Ryu and Ren were also in sleeping bags around a long burned-out campfire. Magnhild rested beside Nora and Ryu slept close to her. Ruby sat up and looked around. Birds could be heard tweeting and all seemed peaceful. Ruby, however, put her hand to the side of her head and sighed as though she was in pain. Ryu, who had woken up from the noise Ruby made in her sleep, looked at her, concerned for the young girl.
All five members of Team RNJRR walked down a sunny road. Ruby was in front, looking at a map. "So the next town is... uh-huh... uh-huh... We're lost." She said.
"We're not lost. The next town is Shion. My family used to visit it all the time." Jaune explained.
"Oh yeah. Don't you have, like, four sisters?" Ruby asked.
"Uh, seven." Jaune corrected. Ruby giggled.
"You know, that actually explains a lot." Nora said.
"Wait, what do you mean?" Jaune asked.
"Nora..." Ryu lightly reprimanded. "She's just joking, Jaune. Don't let her get to you." He assured the blonde.
"So, what did you guys do there?" Ruby asked.
"Oh, all sorts of stuff! Over here is a great hiking trail, and over here is where we went camping all the time. I got my own tent because I was special. Also, so my sisters would stop braiding my hair." Jaune said.
"Didn't like the look?" Ruby asked.
"Yeah, they just kept doing pigtails, but personally, I think I'm more of a 'warrior's wolf-tail' kind of guy." Jaune explained.
"I can agree with that sentiment." Ryu agreed, flipping his own "wolf-tail", as Jaune put it.
"That's just a ponytail." Ruby said.
"I stand by what I said." Jaune said.
Nora stopped short, raising her hands to her lips as her eyes widened. Ryu stopped shortly after and soon after that, Ren stopped, visibly tense.
"Uh, guys?" Nora called back to them.
"You need to see this." Ryu said.
"Huh?" Ruby questioned.
"What?" Jaune asked.
Jaune and Ruby looked up from the map. Their eyes widened and jaws dropped. In front of them was a desolated village. The sky was gray and two columns of smoke rose in the air. A gazebo had a broken tower and lampposts were askew from the ground. At least one dead body could be seen on the side of the road approaching the town.
The map was dropped and all five rushed forward. They briskly moved into the town, looking around. Ren tossed his backpack on the ground and moved ahead. Ryu jumped onto a rooftop for a better view while the other three gathered in the middle of a road.
"There could be survivors!" Ruby said.
"Over here!" Ren called.
The other four rushed to where Ren was leading them. On the ground, sitting propped against a broken building wall was a young man in armor. He breathed heavily and held his hand against a bleeding wound in his abdomen. Ren dropped by his side and put his hand on his shoulder.
"A Huntsman!" Ruby said.
"What happened? Who killed all these people?" Jaune asked.
The dying Huntsman coughed. "Bandits. The whole tribe... Then, with all the panic..." He started to explain, but couldn't finish and coughed repeatedly.
"Grimm." Ren finished for him, standing and walking a few paces away, placing his hands atop his head. Ruby, Jaune, Nora and Ryu stepped away to confer.
"Don't speak any more. I'll help you." Ryu said, using his Ninpo to heal the dying Huntsman. It wasn't as powerful as it was in his old world, the Huntsman wouldn't be back in fighting shape like Ryu could do to his former partners, but he could stop the man from dying.
"Alright, we can get him to the next village and try to find a doctor there!" Ruby suggested.
"Yeah. Ryu and I can take turns carrying him there. You girls and Ren could handle any Grimm or bandits." Jaune agreed.
"Good plan." Nora said.
"No... It's too late." Ryu said. He tried, but it seemed that he hadn't gotten to the Huntsman in time. He was dead. "Someone else I couldn't save..." He said sadly, starting to walk away.
"Ryu..." Nora said sadly, turning and following him.
Ren walked right past Jaune and Ruby without a backward glance. "We should go. It's not safe here." He said grimly.
Ruby put her hand on Jaune's arm. He was looking stressed and sad. "It'll be okay." Ruby said.
"I'm just tired of losing everything." Jaune said.
Ryu stopped and looked at something on the ground, his eyes widening. "No..." He said as he grit his teeth, clenched his fists and glared at a cloven hoofprint impressed into the ground. Nora and Ren came up to his side. They saw the same mark and their eyes also widened in recognition. The three of them silently looked between each other.
Mrs. Schnee was sitting on a bench out in the gardens of the Schnee mansion, pouring herself a large glass of wine. "Hey, you're using a glass again. Does that mean you aren't going to drink the whole bottle?" Dante asked as he approached.
"Dante..." She said, turning to face her son. "It's good to have you home, son. Your jokes are always better than that joke of a father of yours." She said, taking a large swig from her glass.
Dante sat down beside her and took the bottle of wine away as it looked like she was preparing to top off the glass. "Why do you keep letting him do this to you? To your father's company? Divorce him and kick him out." He suggested.
Mrs. Schnee sighed at this. "You know it's not that easy. He controls the SDC now. I doubt even the best lawyers in Atlas could get him to turn it over to me. Besides, he'd be the one who has the best lawyers. He could probably divorce me, keep the company, take the house and the Schnee name." She said sadly.
"So, Whitley says he's been yelling at some guy all day. What's his issue now?" He asked.
"He's fighting with Ironwood about the embargo and how he can't get Dust out to the other kingdoms, so he's losing money. And he's blaming others for believing Atlas was behind the attack, when he knows as well as I do the news showed Atlas' robots attacking everyone. How could they not think to blame us?" She asked.
"He doesn't care about what anyone else thinks except him. He doesn't care about the people themselves, either. Dozens lost their lives during the fall, more probably will and he just wants to turn a profit." Dante scoffed.
"Well, excuse me for trying to feed you and get you the wine you can't seem to live without." Jacques snapped as he approached them.
"Jacques..." Mrs. Schnee barely acknowledged him.
"Well, this must be important to lure the troll from his cave." Dante said, standing back to his feet.
"Watch your tone, boy, You were supposed to meet me in my office along with Weiss." He scolded his son.
"Yeah, but then I thought I had better things to do then listen to you try to con back the money you're losing." Dante said.
"I am a legitimate businessman! My work is perfectly legal! Or at least it was, until Ironwood ruined everything! Thanks to him, Atlas is forbidden from exporting Dust to other Kingdoms. 'A precautionary measure', as he puts it, 'until we're certain no one is going to declare war'. How anyone could possibly find that to be sound logic is beyond me." Jacques ranted.
"For a genius at making money, you're an idiot when it comes to the simplest things. How about I spell it out for you: angry people make war. War needs weapons. If angry people don't have weapons, NO WAR. Any questions, class?" Dante taunted his father.
Jacques glared furiously at his son and growled. "Just one, do you want your sister to lose her rights as heiress to the company?" He countered.
Dante growled at this, but lowered his head. "No, father." He said.
"Good. Now, as I would've told you if you had came with your sister to meet me, the Schnee Dust Company will be holding a charity concert in the coming weeks. Weiss will be singing at this event and you will play the music." He explained.
"And this was her choice? You're not making her?" Dante asked.
"She has as much of a choice as you have." Jacques said, twisting it to make it sound like he was giving his kids a choice, but definitely wasn't.
"Fine." Dante said, storming off.
Mrs. Schnee could only glare at her husband. "How could you just use our children like that?!" She snapped.
"The same way I used you to get where I am now." He said with a huff, walking off.
The scene changed to the same blackness bordered by moving yellow circles that we saw earlier before Ruby woke up for the day.
"Jaune!" Kratos' voice snapped. There was the sound of a sword being drawn. "Jaune! Jaune!" Kratos' voice shouted at the blonde again.
Ruby sat up once again, holding her head as she tried to push the thoughts of Kratos' defeat out of her mind. "I see you can't sleep, either." Ryu said
Ruby looked to him and discovered he was standing several feet away with his arms crossed, looking up at the moon. There were little will-o-the-wisps floating around, looking very similar to the white circles in the dream. The campfire was still burning but had died down. Ren and Nora were asleep while their weapons were once again at their sides. Jaune's sleeping bag, however, was empty. "Yeah. All I can think about lately is Cinder blasting him off of Beacon's tower. How I could've saved him if I'd been a little faster, or that I could've done more. That he may never fight again and it's all my fault." She said, starting to tear up.
Ryu turned and walked up to her, kneeling down and wiping her tears away. "Trust me, Ruby. You aren't the only one with these feelings. I was probably the most useless member of my team that night. Dio attacked and defeated me. Kratos and Dante saved my life that night. And there was nothing I could do for Kratos when he needed help most. And now I may never get the chance to repay him." He explained.
"So... What can we do?" Ruby asked.
"We just have to move on. Sometimes, there will be people we can't save. It's inevitable. No matter how strong we are, how fast we are... Sometimes we just won't be there in time. I've lost more people than I've ever wanted to. But I've learned from it. There's nothing I can do to change it, so I just have to move on and do right by the ones I couldn't save by being there for the people I still can. The only thing we can do for those who aren't with us anymore is just to live. They wouldn't want us to stop living just because they're gone. And just remember, Kratos isn't gone yet. And though we can't be there for him now, we can hope he'll pull through and we can be there for him when he does." Ryu explained.
Ruby listened to the ninja in awe at his wise words, before smiling and nodding. "You're right. He wouldn't want us to feel weak and sorry for him. He'd want us to move on and put a stop to Cinder once and for all. And we will." She said determinedly.
Ryu nodded at this. Then, suddenly, through the trees beyond Jaune's sleeping bag, Kratos' voice could still be heard, but it was muffled. "Again." It simply said.
Ruby got up and she, along with Ryu, walked toward the voice. She took a moment to play with one of the wisps as she looked around, uncertain. Ryu rolled his eyes, but chuckled at her antics. Moving forward, they spotted something and Ruby's mouth fall open and Ryu's eyes to widen in surprise, but he soon nodded in approval. Gazing with concern, Ruby moved next to a tree and watched from there while Ryu simply watched from the open.
A slight distance in front of the two, but facing away, Jaune drew the Blades of Chaos. He posed with them, before dropping his shoulders and turning to his right. His Scroll was set up on a stump.
"Again. A Huntsman must practice a move until preforming it is as simple as breathing." Kratos instructed, being a recording on the scroll. Jaune lifted the blades in a stance reminiscent to Kratos'. "Keep your grip tight." Kratos told him. Jaune tightened his hands on the blades. "Make sure your foot is forward." He said. Jaune hadn't forgotten and didn't need to move. "Now... Go!" He ordered. Jaune tossed up the blades and caught a length of their chain, swinging the blade in his right hand, turning and stepping forward with his back foot and swinging the left blade, turning and stepping once more for one more swing with the right blade, cutting at the air and making a fighting cry.
"Again!" Kratos ordered. Jaune repeated the first two swings, but on the final swing, he swung his arms back and then forward in arcing manner, causing them to swing around in wide half circles, before coming together and passing each other in a move that would've decapitated the target by the blades slicing through both sides of the neck.
"But... Kratos said to do that move again. That's not the same move." Ruby said.
"And again." Kratos instructed. This time, Jaune did a completely different move, a downward swing with both blades, right quickly following the left, then spun and repeated the motion with powerful upward swings, finishing it off by jumping into the air with the sword behind him, swinging them to the ground with incredible force, putting a lot of feeling and effort into his next cry. It cost him quite a bit and he panted heavily.
"He's trying to force himself to the next lesson. He's trying to get through Kratos' entire moveset with with the blades. He's trying to force himself to be as good as Kratos was." Ryu explained. He had approved at first, believing Jaune was simply training with the blades, but now watched with concern as Jaune went on to moves he likely wasn't ready for.
"Good. Now, again. A warrior must never slow down. They must never stop. Always press forward." Kratos said.
Jaune prepared to start back up, but suddenly, Pyrrha's voice was heard. "Warriors also need rest. That's a good place for him to stop for now. As long as you're not cheating, Jaune." She said, a bit teasingly at the end, stepping onscreen and pushing Kratos out of the way slightly. Jaune sighed in relief and stood upright, letting his head fall forward a bit, closing his eyes.
"I know this can be frustrating..." Pyrrha started and Jaune turned toward Pyrrha's image on his Scroll. "...And it can feel like so much effort to progress such a small amount, but I want you to know that I'm proud of you. I've never met someone so determined to better themselves. You've grown so much since we started training. Especially with complicated weapons like the Blades of Chaos." She added. We now only saw Pyrrha's recorded image on the Scroll. "And I know this is just the beginning." She assured him.
"Complicated. Grimm dung. I've used them from the first day I could hold a weapon." Kratos huffed in the background.
Pyrrha looked back at him with a "Really?" expression, then turned her head, struggling with her thoughts for a moment, before finding the words and confidence, placing her hands over her heart. "I want you to know that I'm just happy to be a part of your life. I'll always be here for you, Jaune." She said in a deeply sincere and heartfelt manner. Jaune took a step closer to his Scroll. Pyrrha then looked back to her brother. "Is there anything you would like to add, O great mentor?" She asked teasingly again.
Kratos rolled his eyes at this, but stepped forward as Pyrrha giggled lightly and moved towards the back where she had pushed Kratos to, allowing him to take center stage. The green lights of the once tall and unbroken Beacon Tower, the place where the Nikos twins would make their greatest stand and sacrifice, glowed behind them. "Jaune, I know I've doubted you in the past. But I was wrong. And I push you hard now because I see your potential to grow. Deep down, you are indeed a warrior with the ability to become great like you family before you. And one day, you will become a man worthy of my sister's love and affection. And so I'll be there and continue to push you and stand beside you, until you are that man, able to stand on your own. You're already well on your way." Kratos told him supportively.
The Scroll rewound the video of Pyrrha without being touched. Jaune dropped to his knees, stabbing the Blades of Chaos into the ground and letting out an angry, yet pained shout, as Pyrrha now wasn't there for him and Kratos may never stand beside him again. However, the Scroll soon finished rewinding the video and played it once again, Jaune forcing himself back to his feet. A Huntsman must practice a move until preforming it is as simple as breathing.Keep your grip tight. Make sure your foot is forward. Now... Go!" The video repeated. Jaune sighed in pain before belatedly re-following the instructions and resuming the exercise.
"Shouldn't we do something about this?" Ruby asked.
"There's nothing we can do for now. Everyone grieves in their own way. Jaune is trying to force himself to move on. He is trying not to let himself feel it. Only when he does can we help him." Ryu explained, before returning to camp.
Ruby watched with pained eyes before turning away. "Again!" Kratos' recorded voice came once more and Jaune made one extra fighting cry and slash.