Here we are at Chapter 76. Let's get back to Yang's group as they encounter another problem due to Eizen's reaper curse. I do not own RWBY or Tales of Berseria. They belong to their respective owners. Here's chapter 76. Enjoy.
Chapter 76: A Long Day
At the Branwen tribe camp, Yang's group and Raven's bandits hear the sounds of animals howling in the distance, only they know it's not regular animals. And it's getting closer.
"What did you people do?!" Raven yells at Yang's group.
"You should've listened to us in the first place. If you had, we wouldn't have to deal with this problem?" Weiss yells back.
"You see, Eizen's Reaper Curse brings misfortune wherever he goes. Had you simply done as we asked, this wouldn't have happened," Eleanor explains.
"Wait, does he possess a semblance just like Qrow's? Argh, just when I thought I was done with that crap," Raven thinks before putting her mask on. "Alright everyone, get your weapons ready. We've got Grimm coming, and they're not here for an afternoon tea," Raven orders her men, who all start moving to get ready for the attack. "And you need to get out of here. Hopefully, that will alleviate the problem," Raven demands.
"Unless it's to send us to my sister, we're not going anywhere. I'll make you a deal: we help you fend off the Grimm and in return, you take us to Ruby. Deal?" Yang stands her ground.
"And why would I agree to something like that?" Raven retorts.
"Because you can't afford not to. We're not leaving, and the longer we stay, the worse it may get. We help you, and you can get rid of both the Grimm and us. Do you really have a choice here?" Eizen says, Grimm roaring in the background to emphasize his point.
Raven glares at them before she grits her teeth, "Ugh, fine. Just make sure you pull your own weight and don't slow us down. We won't be there to save you if something happens to you," Raven says as she storms past them.
"Gee, thanks for the concern, Mom," Yang mutters, then looks to her group. "Alright guys, let's get this mess cleaned up, and then hopefully my mom will keep her word. Come on," she ushers them towards the exit of the camp.
They follow Raven outside, along with some of her men to see a large group of Grimm heading towards their camp. Raven draws her sword while her right hand-woman, Vernal, pulls out her pistols. The rest draw their weapons as they see what looks to be some Beowolves, Boarbatusks, and a few Beringels in the large pack. Raven aims her sword at the horde and her bandits start firing their ranged weapons. Weiss creates a glyph and sends out some fire balls, Yang fires off a few shots from her gauntlets, followed by Eizen who fires off a ball of energy at the horde. The shots take out some of the Grimm, but the rest race through the attack and get closer to the camp. Raven charges first, slicing through one Beowolf with a single stroke of her blade before going for the rest. Yang and Eizen work in tandem and through some punches at a few Beowolves. At one point, Eizen grabs Yang and throws her into the air to slug one Beowolf jumping at them in the skull, sending it crashing into the ground. Eizen sees a Boarbatusk rolling towards him, but he uses an arte to create stone pillars to stop it in its tracks. He then throws a hard left punch that sends it barreling backwards, knocking into some of its Grimm allies in the process.
Meanwhile, Eleanor thrusts her spear through the face of one Grimm, and then pulls it out to swing around at another coming from her left. Zaveid stands behind her, swinging his pendulums around at a Beringel a few times. The attack doesn't seem to do much, but then Zaveid conjures up a wind arte to create a small tornado to blow the gorilla-like Grimm up into the sky. Eleanor then jumps into the air and stabs her spear through the Grimm's chest, the pair falling onto the ground with Eleanor standing on top of it. Weiss swings her rapier at one Boarbatusk that runs by her, doing little damage. It then comes back around and starts rolling towards her. However, Weiss creates a glyph to stop it before it can hit her, and then spins around to shove her weapon through its left eye and into its brain, killing the beast. Weiss smirks before she notices a Beringel coming at her from behind. However, Yang suddenly comes in and punches the Grimm in the side of its face, knocking it back. The two smile at each other before getting serious again and facing the Beringel. The Beringel pounds it chest before it charges at them. Weiss creates a glyph for Yang to jump on and off of, firing a shot at the Beringel's face, staggering it. Weiss uses some ice Dust and stabs her rapier into the ground, sending out a surge of ice that freezes the Grimm in place. Yang then comes in and pounds the Grimm in the face with so many hard punches that its head eventually gets blasted off its shoulders.
Raven swings her sword several times, slashing through several Beowolves before sheathing her blade again. She gets ready to face off against a Boarbatusk heading towards her, only for Eizen to jump in the way and stop its charge with his left hand. He then throws am uppercut to knock it into the air, followed by several powerful hooks that send it crashing through a few trees. He smirks before stopping a Beowolf attacking with its claws by grabbing said claws, swinging it around and slamming it onto the ground. He then conjures an arte to create some stone pillars that impale the Grimm through its back. Meanwhile, Raven is in slight awe at how he fights.
"Using only his fists and some weird magic I've never seen before. Aside from the latter, his fighting style is similar... to Tai's," Raven mentally notes before getting back in the fight.
Zaveid and Eleanor are back to back as a pack of Beowolves come at them from all sides. The pair glance at each other before nodding. Zaveid then wraps one of his pendulums around Eleanor's legs and then starts spinning her around, while she simultaneously spins her spear around at the Grimm, ripping them apart before Zaveid releases Eleanor and she gracefully lands back on her feet. Meanwhile, Yang throws an uppercut into the skull of one Beowolf, sending it flying, only to see a Beringel charging towards her. Yang gets ready to face it, when suddenly the Grimm's head falls off and its body plummets to the ground. Yang is a little surprised, but then see her mother standing behind the dead Grimm, sheathing her sword. Yang glares at her while Raven just smirks back, before Yang fires off a shot at her head. Raven is a little spooked, only to see the shot fly right by her and nail an approaching Boarbatusk between the eyes. Raven looks back to her daughter, seeing her smirk before she runs off into another fight.
Eizen flash-steps behind one Beringel and throws a hard few punches into its spine, breaking it, before he finishes it with a hard left uppercut to send it into the trees. He then looks around to see that the rest of the Grimm have been dealt with by the others. With the battle over things calm down, and the gang looks around to see that only a few of the bandits were injured in the melee. Raven sheathes her sword and sees her daughter's group regroup and start walking towards her.
"Looks like it's over. Now then, I believe we had a deal," Yang tells her.
Raven glares at her daughter for a moment, but then sighs, "Fine. I'll send you to your sister. However, there's one thing we need to do first," Raven says.
"And what would that be?" Weiss retorts.
"If you're really going after Ruby, then you all need to know the truth. Come with me into my tent," Raven says and heads back inside the camp to her tent.
The group stare at each other a bit before they follow her and enter the tent as well. While the bandits outside focus on repairs, the group focus on Raven, who is sitting on one side of a table while Vernal pours her some tea. Yang, Weiss, and Eleanor sit on the other side while Eizen and Zaveid stand behind them.
Raven looks to Vernal, "You can wait outside. Thank you," she says.
Vernal nods and takes her leave.
"So, what's the 'truth'?" Yang asks, glaring at Raven.
Raven sips her tea, "You know, it's better when it's hot," she notes obnoxiously.
"You know, you're really obnoxious," Weiss says with disdain.
"The truth is that 'truth' is hard to come by. A story of victory for one person is a story of defeat for someone else. By now, your uncle has surely told Ruby and her friends plenty of stories," Raven says.
"Well, he's never given me a reason to doubt him before," Yang retorts.
"Is this going anywhere important?" Zaveid asks.
"That doesn't mean there aren't reasons that would make you doubt them. You know, you and your friends might as well be the poster children for the Huntsman academies. Your motives vary, but you all enrolled to try and make the world a better place. It's adorable," Raven smirks.
"It's the huntsmen and huntresses duty to protect the innocent, just like mine is as the Sheperd," Eleanor notes.
"Sheperd? Pfft, whatever. The thing is, not every huntsmen and huntress enroll at the academies for noble reasons. Some people are just in it for the money and the fame, but there's even more that are just looking to grow stronger. Your Uncle Qrow and I didn't attend Beacon to become Huntsmen, we did it to learn how to kill Huntsmen," Raven admits, making Yang and Weiss gasps while the others glance at each other. "Daddy and Uncle left that part out, hm?" Raven says before pouring herself some more tea. "Aside from the Grimm, Huntsmen were the only ones capable of ruining our raids and hunting us down. Our tribe needed a counterforce. And Qrow and I were the perfect age," she explains and stands up. "The entrance exams were child's play compared to what we'd already been through. We were good. So good, that we caught the attention of Beacon's very own headmaster, Professor Ozpin. Even after we were put on a team, I could tell he was keeping his eye on us. Back then, I thought it was because he knew, but it was Team STRQ he was interested in," Raven says as she turns her back on them.
"What do you mean?" Eizen asks.
"Constant attention, extra training missions, turning a blind eye whenever we happened to break the rules and get into more trouble than we should've. Sound familiar?" Raven asks as she glances back at them.
Yang and Weiss share another glance at each other. Weiss gestures Yang to keep going.
"What's your point?" Yang asks.
Raven turns back to them "How much do you know about Professor Ozpin? About his past?"
"I read that he was... a prodigy. One of the youngest headmasters to be appointed to a school. Not to mention being a very skilled huntsman," Weiss says.
"Because that's how he planned it. Because the man you know as Ozpin designed those schools and has followers inside every academy on Remnant that are loyal to him and no one else," Raven says.
"You mean, like a secret organization?" Eleanor asks.
"That doesn't make any sense! How could he have...? No. Why would someone even do that?" Yang asks.
"Because old man Oz has a great and terrible secret. One that could spread fear across the world. One that he eventually entrusted to our team, and once I knew, there was no going back. I needed to know more, but with every new discovery I made, the more horrifying the world became," Raven explains.
"Alright, so what's the big secret?" Eizen asks. "Even though we actually already know some of what's going on."
"The Creatures of Grimm... have a master named Salem. She can't be stopped, she can't be reasoned with, and she will not rest until humanity crumbles at her feet," Raven admits.
Hearing this makes Weiss and Yang widen their eyes in shock at learning such a revelation. Meanwhile, the others just glance at each other, a little surprised, but not as much as Weiss and Yang.
"What?" Weiss asks, still shocked.
"You know, you guys haven't even touched your tea," Raven notes as she turns back to them before taking another sip of her tea while Yang stands up.
"Why should we believe any of this?" Yang asks.
"Now you're catching on. So far, you've done nothing but accept what others tell you..." Raven begins as she walks up to Yang and puts her cup down on the table. "But you need to question everything," Raven says as Yang stares her down in the eyes defiantly. Raven then turns around. "Otherwise you'll end up just as blind as Qrow... and your fool of a father," Raven says as she glances back at them.
A shot from Ember Celica is heard, destroying the table. Raven's empty teacup clatters across the floor, stopping when it hits the heel of her boot. Raven looks toward Yang, faintly smiling, seeing that Yang's eyes have turned red now.
"Don't you DARE talk about my family like that!" Yang threatens her, making Weiss stare wide-eyed at her and winch as she raises her voice.
Just then, a weapon is heard being cocked from behind and they look back to see Vernal, aiming her weapon at Yang's head.
"You need to calm down," Vernal warns her.
However, something knocks her weapon out of her hand and she sees Zaveid catch it and aim it back at her, retracting one of his pendulums. She then sees Eizen and Eleanor brandishing their weapons at her.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Zaveid taunts her.
"Guys, please, calm down," Weiss asks them.
They glance at her for a moment before Zaveid tosses Vernal back her weapon and she catches it. However, they keep their weapons out.
Weiss then turns to her girlfriend and reaches up to hold Yang's hand, "Yang, please," she tries to calm her down.
"Listen to your friend, Yang. Your teammates never let you down before," Raven notes.
"You don't know the first thing about my teammates! About me! You were never there! You LEFT US!" Yang shouts, and then her eyes turn back to normal. "Why?!" she asks as she calms down and hangs her head.
"Geez, first it was your friend Velvet, and now you're giving me the riot act," Raven mutters, but Yang still hears and looks up.
"Velvet?! She's alive?! And she was here?!" Yang asks.
"Yes. She came to me looking for Ruby just like you are. I refused to help her because she wouldn't join me, and she left. I don't know where she went or if she's already found your sister. A fool's errand if you ask me," Raven notes.
"If Velvet's alive, then she's looking for Ruby because she cares about her. Like I said before, you don't know my teammates," Yang retorts.
"I know more than you realize. Not just about you or your teammates, and not just what I've been told, but things I've seen with my own eyes. I know the Grimm have a leader, I know people and beings who can come back from the dead, I know that magic is real, and I can prove it," Raven says, and then Weiss stands up to join with Yang. "You said Tai told you all about my semblance," she begins and then makes for the back exit of the tent. "Well, I doubt he ever told you what Oz did to my brother and me," she says and then leaves the tent, leaving the four confused.
"Go see for yourself," Vernal says and then leaves herself.
The five stare at each other before nodding and leave to follow Raven, only to find the back of the camp empty.
"Mom?" Yang calls out.
"Yang, are you okay?" Weiss asks, worried about her friend.
"I'll be fine once we can get her to take us to Ruby," Yang says as she looks around for her mother.
"Calm yourself, Yang. We still need her to take us there," Eizen notes.
"You guys don't believe what she said, right?" Yang asks them.
"Well, honestly, it's kind of hard not to. I mean, look what we've seen with Velvet and her old friends. I mean, it's not too far-fetched to believe that magic exists, don't you think?" Weiss replies.
"I... guess you have a point there," Yang mutters.
Just then, they hear a bird caw and look up to see a raven flying above them.
"A raven?" Weiss mutters.
"I've... seen that bird before," Yang notes.
"Maybe it belongs to your mom?" Weiss asks.
The four continue to watch the raven fly in the dusk-colored sky. It descends, flying and weaving between the trees, before shapeshifting into Raven herself. Raven lands back on the ground on her feet. Yang and Weiss are surprised by this, but the others, not so much, though they are a little bit.
"How... did you do that?" Yang slowly asks.
Raven smirks, "Well, I could explain it to you..." she trails off and then draws her sword, slashing behind her, and creating a portal with her semblance. "... or you could ask your uncle," she says.
"You're letting us go?" Yang asks, surprised.
"I'm giving you a choice," Raven begins while sheathing her sword. "Stay here, with me, and I'll answer all your questions and more. We can have a fresh start. Or... you can go back to Qrow and join Ozpin's impossible war against Salem, and meet the same fate as so many others. But can you really go back to trusting someone that's kept so much from you?" Raven asks as she stands aside from the portal.
Weiss is a little timid, while Eleanor, Eizen, and Zaveid just stare at her. However, Yang remains with a defiant glare.
"All I care about is making sure my sister is safe," Yang declares.
"Ugh...," Raven groans, disappointed that Yang chose her sister over her.
A moment later, Yang and Weiss are seen riding on Bumblebee, with Eizen, Eleanor, and Zaveid walking beside them towards the portal. However, before they can enter the portal, Yang looks to her mother.
"Yang. If you side with your uncle, I may not be as kind the next time we meet..." Raven tells her.
Weiss just rolls her eyes and looks ahead while Yang glares at her mother one more time.
"You weren't kind this time either," Yang says.
Yang and Weiss proceed through the portal on Bumblebee.
"I know...," Raven mutters before looking to the rest. "And you, why are you helping them?" she asks.
Eizen is the one to answer, "...Because that's how we live. That's OUR creed," he says and then they leave through the portal before it closes.
…
Back in Mistral, Qrow is seen leaning against a stone railing after searching for more huntsmen to join them... and coming up with no one available.
"This isn't right. I get one or two of them, but... all of them? What the Hell happened here?" Qrow wonders. He sighs and hangs his head. Suddenly, he hears the sound of Raven's portal behind him. "Raven?" he says. The sound of a motorcycle is heard coming from the portal. "...Oh," he mutters in surprise.
…
Back at the house, the rest of Ruby's group are preparing dinner. At one area, Velvet is stirring a pot full of noodles while Ruby watches.
"Aw, come on, why can't I help?" Ruby pouts a little.
"Ruby, you know I love you... But when you tried baking cookies one time, they were as hard as rocks," Velvet deadpans.
"That was one time!" Ruby pouts.
"So, how many people do you think are coming to this little party?" Magilou asks, eating a carrot.
"Who knows? Hopefully, enough to make a difference," Velvet notes.
A door is heard being opened, "I'm back!" they hear Qrow call out.
"Be right there!" Ruby yells back.
"Maybe you should go see how many mouths we'll have to feed," Velvet says.
"But what about the food?" Ruby asks.
"Ren and I got it covered. You, take the tea tray," Velvet says.
"Hey, uh, Ruby?" Qrow calls out again.
Ruby looks at the tray and sighs, "Okay..." she says and takes the tray. Ruby looks at the tray as she walks into the living room, "So, we didn't know how many people were coming, so we just cooked all of it," she says and then looks up, only to gasp and drop the tray, breaking all its contents. Standing before her is Qrow, but also three people she didn't recognize and her teammate Weiss, but most of all, her sister Yang, who slowly approaches Ruby. Ruby's voice starts to crack, "Yang, I... I'm so sorry! I-I should've stayed, and I should've talked to you more! I'd- I just... I wasn't sure if you wanted me around and-," she says, tears beginning to form in her eyes, until she stops when Yang suddenly wraps her sister in a big, warm hug.
Tears form in her eyes as Yang holds her sister closer, "...I love you," she says.
Ruby sobs as she leans into her sister's hug, "I love you too," she says, hugging her back.
Magilou, Jaune, Ren and Nora enter the room, smiling at the sight of the two sisters embracing each other. Qrow smiles as well. Eizen, Eleanor, and Zaveid smile at the scene. Oscar Pine enters the room and smiles a bit. Weiss smiles as she wipes a tear from her eye, before she starts frowning and looks away.
"Weiss," Ruby says, gaining her attention.
Weiss looks up, and sees the two sisters open their arms up for her. She smiles and eagerly joins them in their hug.
"Took you two long enough," they hear and separate, only for Yang and Weiss to widen their eyes when they see Velvet in front of them. "Been a while, eh guys," she notes, smiling.
Yang and Weiss say nothing, still in shock, before both walk up to Velvet and surprise her with a big hug, which she returns, and one that Ruby joins in as everyone watches the touching reunion of most of Team RVWBY.
And that's the chapter. Now, most of our players are reunited, with only Blake and Rokurou's group left out of the picture. Next chapter goes back to them. What will Yang and Weiss think when they learn what Ruby's group has to tell them? Until then, please Read and Review.
