Author's note: And now, the finale of the Atlas arc, which I had planned since we learned that the gang would head to Atlas next.
That kind of messed up my plans, to be honest, since I had expected the gang to go to Vacuo next. After all, Ironwood is a military leader, and was aware of Salem's existence, so it only made sense to me that he had built his military to counter her every tactic, effectively making Atlas a powerhouse Salem couldn't just get through with her normal tricks. I knew she'd show up herself, but I figured that was more a Series Finale thing.
Anyway, trigger warning at the bottom.
Ruby was standing on the wall around Mantle, shooting ice-goo bullets at the aerial Grimm trying to attack, coating them in ice and dragging them to the ground. Maria was waiting on the ground, using her silver eyes to petrify the Grimm, then turning them into steel for later. There were multiple military snipers positioned beside her, which were clearly happy about the chance to fight side by side with a real huntress, and a national hero no less.
"Can you try to down them, instead of killing them?" Ruby asked and said, "We need the materials later."
"We can try," one of the snipers answered, and they all readjusted their aim. One of them suddenly glowed green, and her shots became much more accurate. Elm walked up to the hole in the wall, carrying Sophie's new super weapon, which was mounted to a support structure to make it work like a mobile turret, and put it down, facing the Grimm.
"Hey guys," Elm said, "I figured I'd help you out a little." A pack of Sabyr broke past Maria, and just as a sniper tried to kill them, the weapon sprung to life. It formed a disk of silver-white energy from both the ambient aura and Harald's aura, and the disk began spinning rapidly. When it was ready, the locking mechanism opened with a click that was completely overshadowed by the buzzing disk, and the projectile shot towards the Grimm in an arc. As it came down on the enemies, the disk split into multiple smaller ones, and each took out one of the Grimm. Suddenly, Ruby felt a dark presence encroaching on the kingdom and put her weapon away.
"Sorry, gotta go," Ruby said, got up and started running south.
"Where are you going?" Elm asked.
"The ocean," Ruby answered and contacted everyone over communicator, "Attention everyone. A large group of aquatic Grimm has appeared and is on its way to the shore. Anyone who can fly or swim, move to the coastline immediately." She used Petal Burst to get onto an airship and drew her weapon again as the fully automated aircraft headed towards where the Grimm would soon be.
"Soldiers, withdraw from the wall," General Ironwood said over communicator, and his soldiers fell back immediately. As the Grimm advanced, the trap Nora had set suddenly sprung, annihilating thousands of enemies in a circle of raw electricity, creating countless healing orbs.
~o~
Penny was on her way to the shore, which was a bit of a trip, considering she had been fighting on the exact opposite side of the city, but she was needed by the ocean to keep Grimm away. Just as she passed Atlas Academy, she got a private message from Ruby. She stopped, hovering in mid-air, and answered the call.
"Hello Ruby," Penny said and asked, "What is it?"
"Penny, can you do me a favor?" Ruby asked.
"Sure, what is it?" Penny answered.
"I need you to ask Ambrosius for something," Ruby answered, "Tell him to line the wall around Mantle with the kind of weapon Sophie has developed. It will help us push back the Grimm, and it's a bit of a waste to not use the staff for something good for once."
"On it," Penny answered and angled downwards, heading towards the academy.
"Thanks," Ruby said.
"You're very welcome," Penny said. She picked up a scroll on the way and transferred the schematics of the weapon to it, then opened the vault and summoned Ambrosius. The large blue spirit of creation manifested in front of her and looked around, a bit displeased by whom he saw.
"Hello again," Ambrosius said, "You still haven't introduced me to whoever built you."
"And I am very sorry about that," Penny answered, "But I need your help protecting this city."
"What if I don't want to help you?" Ambrosius asked, crossed his arms and huffed.
"You have to," Penny answered, "Because, by refusing to help, you would take a direct action that would result in the destruction of countless lives. And you cannot destroy things." Hearing that, Ambrosius paused for a moment.
"Well, I suppose you can put it that way," Ambrosius said and asked, "So, what do you need?"
"This," Penny answered and showed him the blueprint, "It's a device to collect ambient aura into a tangible form, and then launch it at a target. I have also written a target algorithm that makes sure only Grimm are targeted by these, so you wouldn't destroy any lives by making these, just preserve them. I'd need them all around the wall, spaced five meters apart."
"Well, it looks certainly better than a floating rock," Ambrosius said, "Alright then. Now, witness my artistry!" He moved several glowing threads around and formed a construct resembling the turret form of the weapon, then released a blue wave of energy out of the vault. It rushed around the wall, leaving turrets in front of it every five meters, and they quickly began collecting ambient aura.
"Thanks," Penny said. Ambrosius returned to the staff, Penny put it away again and left the vault, closing the door behind herself. She then left the academy, returning the scroll on the way, and flew towards the shore, preparing to fight any Grimm that she saw.
~o~
Ruby hid herself from the Grimm with Tranquility and used Tentacles to hold Thief's Respite, shooting Grimm in three directions at once and dealing double damage due to Ambush. Just as Ruby was about to reload Thief's Respite, Maria contacted her.
"Ruby, I think we have enough materials," Maria said, "You can take out the Wyverns now."
"On it," Ruby said and asked, "Yang, how about we see how well our fusion works?"
"Isn't that a bit risky?" Yang asked, "What if it goes wrong?"
"Come on, it'll be fine," Ruby answered, "We've known each other my whole life, after all."
"Well, alright," Yang said and asked, "Which one do we take first?"
"The closest, I'd say," Ruby answered. She put her weapons away and used Petal Burst to get to the ground under where the Wyvern was headed. Yang released a powerful burst of flames to scorch any nearby Grimm, and headed to where Ruby was headed. Ruby began circling her in flight and got closer, until they could take each other's hands, and then they fused as they came down onto the snow.
"Check me out," their fusion said as she looked at herself, quickly deciding on the name Fireblossom. She had Yang's stature in pretty much all aspects, long hair that began white, then turned yellow, red and finally black at the tips, and silver eyes. She wore dark brown leather boots with red soles, black bike shorts under a light orange short skirt with dark orange rim, and an open, light brown leather jacket with black edges and golden buttons over a red crop top with a burning rose emblem made of transparent black mesh in the center. Lastly, she wore a red scarf, with a cross pin holding it together by her left shoulder, which resembled Ruby's cape. She looked at her hands, which were both covered with heavy gold-plated gauntlets that would no doubt hurt whoever was on the receiving end.
"How do you feel?" Weiss asked, walking up to the fusion, with her summons taking out Grimm as they tried to approach.
"Like an extra large serving of kick-ass," Fireblossom answered, "By the way sweetheart, I'm Fireblossom."
"That's good to know," Weiss said, a bit shook by the nickname, and asked, "Do you need any help getting up there?" She pointed her sword at the approaching Wyvern, and had her summons go to confront the Grimm it spawned.
"Just hit me," Fireblossom answered.
"Excuse me?" Weiss asked.
"Hit me," Fireblossom answered, "I need to take hits to build up energy, like Yang, but I can use it for more than just hitting harder."
"I don't think I can hit you," Weiss said, and Fireblossom sighed.
"You want to save this kingdom or not?" Fireblossom asked, getting upset, "Because if yes, then you better go and hit me right the f-" She began floating upwards and slammed into the ground repeatedly, due to Weiss' gravity glyphs. After several hits, Fireblossom got back up.
"Enough?" Weiss asked, unsure if this was really such a good idea, "And can I go now? There's Grimm everywhere."
"Yes, thanks," Fireblossom answered, "And yeah, sure you can." With that, Fireblossom jumped up, spinning counter clockwise and making Weiss stumble backwards with the shockwave from pushing off the ground. She uppercut the Wyvern with her right fist and kicked in the chin, stunning it. Both the fusion and the Wyvern tumbled to the ground and crashed into the snow, right in front of dozens of soldiers.
"Now kill it," one of the nearby soldiers shouted over the cheers of the other soldiers as they slowly realized the fight may not be so hopeless.
"Well, I wasn't going to take it on a date," Fireblossom said, looking at the soldiers. She unleashed the light of her silver eyes, petrifying the Wyvern and the Beowolves and Sabyr it had spawned, and copying the soldiers' semblances. However, just as it died, it flicked its tail and flung one last drop of goop out of the light's range, and into the ocean.
"Guys, a little help," Ren said over communicator, and Fireblossom started running towards where he was fighting Grimm. A light orange energy field formed in front of her, and she felt the pressure from the wind disappear, letting her run much faster than normal.
~o~
Ren was fighting Grimm, shooting them with fire-dust bullets and relying on Spectral Healing to keep his aura up while he hid the soldiers helping him with Tranquility, when he realized he was heavily outmatched.
"Guys, a little help," Ren said over communicator when he had the time to spare, but had to get out of the way of another Grimm attacking him. He killed another pack of Sabyr and reloaded his weapons, when an Alpha Megoliath charged at the group. Despite not seeing them, it was old, and intelligent enough to know that something must be there, since that was where all the Grimm died.
"Hey fatty, try me for a change," Fireblossom said as she charged the Grimm, punching them with indiscriminate and ruthless aggression. She let them hit her for a bit, building up energy for later, and the Alpha Megoliath focused entirely on her. A Sabyr bit her arm, but was set ablaze by her aura. A Teryx came down and grabbed her with its mouth, then threw her against a Big Ursa before it died to the flames of her wrath.
"Who… are you?" Ren asked and shot a volley of air-dust bullets at nearby Grimm, recharging his aura somewhat.
"Fireblossom," the fusion answered, "Ruby and Yang. Now please excuse me." She elbowed the Big Ursa in the gut with her right arm, grabbed its head with her left hand, and threw it into a pack of Sabyr and Beowolves.
"What about that thing?" One of the soldiers asked, and pointed her rocket launcher at the Alpha Megoliath, which was still chasing Fireblossom. She suddenly burst into a cluster of ashes and reassembled some distance away from the Grimm trying to stomp on her.
"Not really my type," Fireblossom answered and focused a bit, "But I'm starting to get the hang of my semblance, so that's good, even if it is a lot more complex than either Petal Burst or Burn." She burst into ashes again and rushed towards the Alpha Megoliath. After slamming into its head and stopping its charge, Fireblossom focused her built-up energy on her right heel and kicked through one of the Grimm's tusks. She caught the tusk, still glowing red from the energy, and hit the Grimm's right front leg with it, eventually breaking the leg and causing the Grimm to fall. Seeing this, the soldiers cheered again.
"Amazing," one of the soldiers said, remembering how it took them several dozen rockets to stop one of those things, let alone kill it.
"Guess I won't be needing this any more," Fireblossom said and threw the tusk away like a boomerang, killing several dozen Teryxes. As the soldiers stared in awe, she used her silver eyes to petrify the surrounding Grimm, most of which were called as support by the Alpha Megoliath to try and let it get away from another fight.
"Thank you, Fireblossom," one of the soldiers said after the light had faded again and the soldiers looked around and inspected the stone Grimm.
"It's nothing, really," Fireblossom said, "Anyway, Ren, maybe leave some healing orbs for the others. Many of them have their aura unlocked, but they're pretty low right now."
"I know," Ren said, "But I have to keep them safe with my semblance, and I'm fighting on the front, so any healing orbs immediately go to me."
"Let's see," Fireblossom said, and turned awkwardly thoughtful, "You're too squishy to take advantage of my Energy Burst semblance, so that's no good. I mean, it is good that you're squishy, but only outside the battlefield. Ladies love a man who's not afraid to be vulnerable."
"Can you please focus?" Ren asked.
"Right, sorry," Fireblossom answered, but paused and turned around when she sensed a large Grimm move up the glacier.
"What's wrong?" Ren asked.
"I don't know," Fireblossom answered, used her communicator and said, "There's something going on at the glacier, south-west of Mantle. Someone get some info on that, please."
"On it," Whitley answered and sent his Sea Feilong to investigate, then gasped when he learned what it was.
"What is it?" Weiss asked.
"It's… a Geist," Whitley answered, "Its body is made up of a typhoon-class aircraft carrier as main body, and swimming gun towers as arms and legs. I'm trying to stop it, but it has the best that war-era Mantle had to offer in terms of defense, and it's covered in corals and seaweed, so it's not easy."
"A new guest?" Fireblossom asked and said, "Time to break the ice, then." She punched her right fist into her left hand and cracked her knuckles, then did the same with her left fist, her shoulders, and neck. Her flirty playfulness disappeared from her face, and was replaced with a seriousness that instinctively made everyone seeing it back away from her. She started running towards the glacier wall, slowly breaking into embers and ash, and exploded in a shower of embers.
~o~
Winter was busy fighting Grimm when she felt the ground shake as the massive enemy dug the hook-like ends of its arms into the ice, slowly making its way up the wall. She saw its head poke out over the distant edge and thought about which gods to pray to, when Fireblossom manifested next to her in a cluster of embers, running full speed towards the edge. Despite being fully formed, additional embers still trailed behind her.
"Eat this!" Fireblossom shouted as she jumped off of an Ursa, kicking its head down and forcing it onto a rock, killing it. She raised her hands above her head as if she was holding a weapon, and the embers collected into a staff-like form in her hands, until they finally took the shape of a large, orange glowing, double-bladed battleaxe with a black emblem of a burning rose in the middle of its head.
"I have a bad feeling about this," Blake said to herself when Fireblossom started running towards the glacier wall. When the fusion appeared about two hundred meters away from the glacier, weapon in hand, she knew what was going to happen and flew down to the ocean underneath the Geist. Fireblossom slammed her axe into the frozen ground with full force, creating a shockwave that flung any nearby Grimm, Winter, her summons, and the two Paladins helping her around like toys.
"Watch it," Winter said after she got back up and looked at the destruction the fusion had caused.
"Just watch," Fireblossom said, ignoring the complaint and acting like Winter had asked what the point of that attack was. Suddenly, the ice began to make an ominous sound that definitely wasn't a good sign. Several small ice splinters burst out of the ground, and Fireblossom grinned victoriously.
"I knew it," Blake said and prepared her ice magic, while the warships started to move away from the wall. More and bigger ice splinters burst from the ground, forming a series of lines, starting at Fireblossom's axe and heading towards the cliff. The Grimm put its giant right hand on top of the cliff, when the cracks reached the edge and the entire chunk it was climbing on broke off. The Grimm struggled to grab new areas to hold on to, but hundreds of tons of ice pushed it away and into the icy sea below. Its main body's flat backside hit the water and offered too much resistance, and the body crumpled under the force of the ice. The Geist left its body, but was almost instantly killed by the cascade of ice.
"Victory!" Fireblossom said with a wide smile, showing a V sign to no one in particular, just now realizing what happens when so much water is displaced at once. A massive wave threatened to capsize and sink half a dozen warships, each with a crew in the thousand. Blake flew around the circular wave and froze all the parts that would endanger the ships, leaving a gigantic chunk of ice floating in the water. She let out an exhausted sigh and flew up to the fusion.
"What was that?" Blake asked with a raised voice as she landed in front of Fireblossom. Winter, seeing the maiden approach such a powerful fusion, slowly backed away, as did the Grimm and the people piloting the Paladins.
"We needed to kill it somehow," Fireblossom answered, still unsure why she forgot the people.
"Yes, but not by endangering countless lives!" Blake shouted, "People could've died because of you!" Hearing that, Fireblossom split up again, with both Ruby and Yang looking down with guilt in their eyes. Seeing the situation somewhat under control, and the thing keeping the Grimm from attacking gone, the Paladins and Winter began killing the Grimm.
"I guess we're not as good as we thought," Yang said.
"I promised myself that Salem wouldn't kill anyone ever again," Ruby said, "But… I almost killed thousands myself."
"Don't beat yourself up over that now," Blake said, now much calmer, "You tried your best, and nobody got hurt. Fireblossom is your strengths and weaknesses combined. And you both don't hesitate to jump into action and save people."
"Yeah but, is that really a good thing?" Yang asked.
"It's a good thing, and a bad thing," Blake answered, "You respond at the first sign of danger, so if something is building up, you can stop it before it gets too serious. But you tend to forget the people around you, which can put them in danger. But in the grand scheme of things, I'd rather have someone who acts too quickly and sometimes messes up than someone who thinks too long and never gets to a problem in time."
"So from now on, Fireblossom is just for when we're alone," Ruby said.
"Agreed," Yang said, and both cheered up again.
"What do we do now?" Ruby asked and said, "There's still two Wyverns left."
"We could try Ladybug again," Blake suggested, "I know it's difficult, but there's Grimm everywhere, so we won't have any trouble coming back this time."
"Alright," Ruby said and hugged Blake, and both fused almost immediately. Yang felt a bit jealous at the two for pulling it off so easily, and was also a bit worried about possible side effects, since they had stayed fused for days at one point. Ladybug disappeared into her shadow and was gone, leaving Yang to help Winter and the Paladins with the Grimm.
~o~
Team FNKI was airdropped onto one of the Wyvern to try and force it to land, or at least get closer to the ground, so that the Paladins could take it out. Neon's roller skates immediately got stuck in the black goo covering the entire Grimm, but she hit it with her nunchucks anyway, freezing the massive Grimm bit by bit. Flynt created three clones of himself, and all four of him began shooting ice-infused sound waves across the Grimm. Kobalt and Ivori made their way to the ice and wanted to start hitting the massive Grimm as well, but Beowolves and Sabyr started emerging from the black goo covering it.
"Need some help?" Ladybug asked as she jumped out of Ivori's shadow, and before anyone could react, she unleashed the light of her silver eyes, turning the Grimm to stone.
"That's great, really," Neon said as her hair started to float up, and asked, "But, how do we get down safely now?" Ladybug used her guns to break the stone around Neon's roller skates, freeing her.
"Just focus," Ladybug answered, "There are Grimm all over the place, and it's your job to kill them. Focus on that, and you'll be there."
"Wait, what? How?" Ivori asked.
"That light was my soul," Ladybug answered, "It left a mark on yours when you looked into it, which can be used to make your aura behave like mine, and achieve the same effect as my semblance."
"Really?" Kobalt asked and said, "That sounds pretty crazy."
"Yes, really," Ladybug answered.
"Well, alright then," Flynt said and closed his eyes, and his team did the same.
"Just, one more thing," Ladybug said, but the four students were gone before she could tell them about the drawbacks. She created a small tornado to lift herself up, and focused Qrow's semblance on the Grimm below, making the petrified Wyvern drift sideways and plow right through a pack of Megoliath. She then used Shadowstep to get to an airship before she split up again.
"Alright, I'm off," Blake said and flew away to continue striking down Grimm with lightning. There was still one Wyvern left, but the people could handle the Grimm it spawned for long enough, at least until Ruby had helped ward off all the aquatic ones.
"Yang, how's everyone looking?" Ruby asked over communicator, and Yang took a break from incinerating Grimm to check her augmented vision.
"Jaune's low," Yang answered.
"On it," Ren and Nora said in unison, and both hurried over to Jaune. When they reached him, they created a combat drone and put it next to him. Both of their drones attacked any Grimm that got close, creating healing orbs that immediately homed in on one of the three.
"It's not going fast enough," Jaune said, struggling to recharge his aura fast enough to keep up with Whitley maintaining both his and his sisters' summons.
"Alright, I'll help," Ruby said and used Aura Amp through the communicators to recharge Jaune's aura. However, due to the immense strain of fusing twice in rapid succession, and bearing most of the burden, her aura broke as soon as she tried sending any of it to Jaune, leaving her unusually exhausted.
"Ruby, are you alright?" Jaune asked and said, "I don't feel my aura recharging any faster."
"Yeah, I'm fine," Ruby answered, "I just… misjudged my limits a bit. Don't worry about me, I've got this."
"Are you sure?" Jaune asked.
"We can help y-" Ren said, but was cut off by Ruby.
"Help Mantle first!" Ruby shouted, calmed down and said, "We're huntsmen. We chose to put our lives on the line, so others don't have to. Never forget that." She took out her communicator and threw it off the airship, stuck her scythe into the metal and took aim, shooting at any Grimm in sight. The cold was already eating away at her, burning in her entire body, and the painful recoil from firing her weapon only got worse with each shot she took. But the people mattered more.
~o~
Niob was flying around above the ocean, shooting down any Grimm he saw and resisting the urge to just use his semblance and unleash hell on everything around him. This dark horde was nothing compared to the evil he had within himself, and the time of reckoning drew ever closer.
"Help Mantle first!" Ruby's voice cut into his thoughts and pulled him back into the present. He was a huntsman, a protector of the people. It didn't matter how he was born, he chose what to do with it. He sunk his short swords into a Giant Nevermore and cut its head off, then jumped off the Grimm's back and unleashed a series of aura waves at the Teryxes. In the corner of his eye, he spotted several Sea Feilong preparing to attack Ruby with their lightning breaths from various directions, and fired multiple lightning-dust rounds into their mouths. The rounds exploded, as did the electricity built up, and all the Grimm died. Except for one.
"Impossible," Niob said under his breath as he realized he had run out of ammo, and simply dropped his guns as he dashed towards Ruby. Just as Ruby noticed the Grimm behind her, it was ready to attack. In the last moment, Niob slammed into its mouth and forced it shut with a palm thrust and aura shockwave. The Grimm's head exploded, breaking Niob's aura and sending him flying through several Atlesian Knights.
"Niob!" Ruby called out and ran over to him, stumbling as her legs gave in from the cold. She knelt down beside him and wanted to call reinforcements, but realized she had thrown her communicator over board.
"Cry not for me, boss," Niob said, and coughed a bit, "I have lived my life, and I have no regrets."
"No, don't say that," Ruby said, tears in her eyes, "You'll make it, I'll make sure of that."
"I have always… envied the likes of you," Niob said weakly, "Those born with good semblances. Mine… can only destroy. My life… was filled with death and pain. Yet I still tried my hardest… to be a hero."
"You are a hero," Ruby cried, "You are, and you'll continue to be one. Just don't die now. Keep fighting. Please." She fell over forward and cried into Niob's shoulder.
"All my life, I ran from death," Niob said and stroked Ruby's head, "I'm out of breath… and all my muscles ache. It… feels like spikes, with every step I take."
"Please don't die," Ruby cried, hugging Niob as tightly as her burning muscles would allow it.
"Death surrounds," Niob said softly, "My heart beat is slowing down."
"No, you won't die," Ruby cried, trying to conjure up any ounce of determination she could, "I won't let Salem win. Not again. Never again."
"I have but one final request," Niob said, "One thing, I never got to see. Please, if I have earned it, let me ask to see your light before I move on."
"Of course you can ask that," Ruby said, sniffled, sat up and wiped her tears, "And if that is your only wish, then I'll grant it." She looked around and saw the Grimm circling the airship. In a flash of light, she petrified them all.
"Thank you," Niob said as his last breath escaped his lungs. The petrified Grimm fell to the ground, and when Ruby looked down, she saw that Niob laid there, with his eyes half open and empty, and a contempt smile on his lips. She went to get her scythe, pulled it from the steel, and took aim.
"Never again," Ruby said with newfound determination, and her aura recharged immediately, this time staying visible, as a silver glow emanated from her eyes. She took one last look at Niob, and noticed that he held a wrist band made of dark blue fabric out to her, with what appeared to be glass pearls woven into it. She took it as a memorabilia, loaded a Hellrazer Mk. 3 bullet and used Homing on it, then shot it at the remaining Wyvern. As the bullet flew, Ruby put Crescent Rose away, spinning it around herself in a circle beforehand and creating a time-dilation glyph. As time slowed down around her, several big Grimm hit the airship and tilted it, dooming it to fall. The bullet hit the Wyvern on the other side of Atlas and exploded, and the shrapnel headed back to sink into its skin around its wing, before exploding again due to Cinder's semblance. Ruby drew Thief's Respite and dashed back to the mainland to kill as many Grimm as possible.
~o~
Moving through the world, with time at a near standstill, Ruby quickly cut up any Grimm threatening anyone. The turrets Penny had Ambrosius create had already fired, and their disks seemed frozen in the air, so Ruby used Homing to make them target any Grimm that were too big for her to kill alone.
"Wait… No!" Ruby thought when she saw Weiss in the distance, her weapon stuck in a Nuckelavee's back and her upper torso about a meter away from her hip and legs. She sped up as much as possible, until suddenly, things started to move again. The Grimm's arm, with its fingers outstretched, struck the ground between Weiss' halves, and her blood flowed into her body. The arm retracted, and Weiss moved towards the Grimm, healing from her fatal injury. A rock assembled itself behind Weiss and she ended up holding onto her weapon as the Nuckelavee spun around. The Grimm came to a stop, and Weiss stood on its rump. Ruby recharged Weiss' aura and slid by underneath the Nuckelavee, cutting its horse head with one weapon, and swinging the other to cut off the rider's head, then she shot all the smaller Grimm in their heads and moved on.
"Wait, what?" Weiss asked as a golden trail of energy flashed up around her for a split second, seemingly causing all the Grimm's heads to explode, her aura to fully recharge, and the Nuckelavee to die. The disks all homed in on the bigger Grimm, leaving her safe, but confused. Ruby found Jaune, Ren, Nora and Whitley about to be attacked by dozens of Manticore and Sphinx, dismembered all the Grimm, and recharged her friends' auras. After making sure they were safe, she moved on to the next stop.
"What was that?" Jaune asked after a golden energy flashed up around him, and all the Grimm lost their limbs. Ruby rushed around Mantle and killed any Grimm she could find, while also recharging her friends' auras, and then used Petal Burst to get in front of the last Wyvern, just as time dilation wore off. The disks killed the bigger Grimm, and many homed in on the ones above the ocean. Ruby extended the chains on Thief's Respite and used it to hook into the Grimm's eyes, which had already started drifting off towards the city, due to its wing on that side being gone. She used gravity glyphs to anchor her feet in the air, and swung the massive Grimm around. As soon as the chain sickles sunk into the bone mask, blue flames erupted from the point of contact. Ruby turned around, screaming in both pain and rage, and threw the colossal enemy into a mountainside.
"Now, to end this," Ruby said, put Thief's Respite away and used Petal Burst to catch up with the Grimm.
"What is she doing?" Clover asked in disbelief.
"Her duty," Sirena answered over communicator, "And right now, nothing can stop her." Ruby landed in front of the Wyvern, which struggled to get up, and looked at it with cold, bright silver eyes.
"Let me speak with Salem," Ruby said, but the Wyvern just roared in her face, so she drew Crescent Rose, hooked it into its remaining right eye, pulled it close and said, "Salem. Now." Ruby's silver eyes flashed up briefly, hurting the Wyvern without killing it. The black goo the Wyvern had spat onto her disintegrated, and even the approaching Grimm that Ruby had overlooked earlier couldn't convince her to take her eyes off the Wyvern. They stared each other in the eyes, and she wouldn't back down.
"Was that Sirena?" Yang asked.
"Hold on, I have her position," Penny said, "Harriet, go." She sent the location to Harriet's scroll, but when she arrived there half a second later, she only found an ear piece. After a few tense moments, the Grimm's look changed, turning from dominance into fear. Ruby let go of it and put her weapon away, it reared its head back and dropped a ball of black goop. It formed a puddle on the ground, and a Seer rose from the puddle. The Seer tried to grab Ruby's neck, but she caught its tentacle in her right hand, slowly scorching it. She grabbed the tentacle with her left hand, this time closer to the body, and pulled it close enough to grab all the tentacles with her right hand.
"You were created so I can speak with Salem," Ruby said, "Nothing more, nothing less. Now, do your job." The parts where Ruby had grabbed the tentacles were burnt and crumpled, and the tentacles went limp under where Ruby grabbed them.
"Nothing," Harriet said and headed back to fight Grimm.
"Salem. Now!" Ruby demanded. After some defiant clicking from the Seer, it finally gave in, and the smoke in its spherical body cleared up, showing Salem walking through her castle.
"What was she doing here?" Qrow asked.
"No idea," Jaune answered.
"Let's see if she's really immortal," Ruby said and gave the Seer another squeeze. The Seer following Salem impaled her chest from behind with its tentacles, lifted her up and tossed her to the side.
"What is the meaning of this?" Salem asked as she regenerated, and angrily faced the Seer.
"Hello, Salem," Ruby said, and Salem composed herself.
"You must be Ruby Rose," Salem said and asked, "How did you manage to control my Grimm like that?"
"None of your business," Ruby answered, "Now listen, you've had your fun, but you're going down."
"How naive," Salem said, "I cannot be killed. I cannot be stopped. No matter what you do, I will always return, until I have what I want."
"That's why Sirena has a plan, and you're falling for it," Ruby said with a smug grin, "Before graduation, she had Talia steal the crown from Beacon, and has since kept it in her kingdom. You attacked the wrong kingdom, and didn't even realize it. We also used Haven to lure out the majority of your forces on Anima, take them down at once, and establish the kingdom as an impenetrable fortress. And now, with the soldiers using the semblances of silver-eyed warriors, we'll soon have an army that can put an end to your reign."
"And why are you telling me all this?" Salem asked.
"Because you can't change it anyway," Ruby answered, "You're still the same as that spoiled brat Ozma saved from the tower. You just can't accept when things don't go your way, and throw a tantrum instead of stopping to think about it and realizing that maybe you are the problem."
"I've had enough of this," Salem said, "I was trying to talk with you, but now I will send all my forces after you-"
"I'm waiting," Ruby said, cutting her off. Salem quickly regained her composure, and smiled.
"Why don't we discuss the terms of surrender now, to save time?" Salem asked.
"Sorry, but I'll have to decline," Ruby answered, "We don't have the capacity to hold all of your minions."
"Then I will show no mercy," Salem said.
"Finally something we can agree on," Ruby said.
"You best prepare yourself," Salem said with an arrogant smile.
"And you go fuck yourself," Ruby said. Before Salem could respond, Ruby unleashed her silver eyes and petrified all of the surrounding Grimm. Unbeknownst to her, Raven just stepped out of a portal, not wearing her Grimm mask, and looked into the light.
~o~
Taiyang was at home, and about ready to leave for Vale again, when a portal opened beside him and Raven stepped out, holding Ruby over her shoulder. Zwei welcomed them both, and while Taiyang stared in disbelief and confusion, Raven put Ruby down on the couch.
"R- Raven? What are you doing here?" Taiyang asked, "And what happened with Ruby?"
"She can explain everything when she wakes up," Raven answered, "But now, Atlas needs all the help it can get." She opened another portal and disappeared, leaving Taiyang confused for a moment. He then realized that Ruby might be hurt, and went to get his first aid kit.
~o~
Qrow fought off the hordes of Grimm surrounding him, which didn't get much better, despite probably tens of thousands being killed already. It felt like every single Grimm in the world was attacking this one city all at once. Just as he pulled Harbinger from a Sphinx and took a breath, a Teryx attacked him from behind. Before he could turn around and kill it, Raven jumped out of a portal above him and killed it mid-flight.
"Raven? What are you doing here?" Qrow asked, then continued killing Grimm.
"Can't a sister look out for her brother?" Raven asked and started killing Grimm so Qrow could take a break.
"Not if that sister is you," Qrow answered, then continued killing Grimm.
"Look I… I made mistakes," Raven answered and stopped killing Grimm, "I got scared, I hated myself for what happened to Summer, and I thought that, if I admit that, I'd just make things worse. My rule was wrong, and I knew it, but I made that rule, and I didn't want to admit that I made a mistake."
"That's nice and all," Qrow said, "But we've got bigger problems right now." He killed a pack of Sabyr with an aura arc.
"Good," Raven said, "Let's see if we've still got it." The twins stood back to back and attacked any Grimm that attacked them, perfectly covering each other's blind spot and making short work of the Grimm.
Triggers: Blood, death, swearing.
Author's note: And so ends the Atlas arc of my fanfiction. Kinda. The characters are still in Atlas, but there's nothing left for them to do.
Niob quoted two songs from his personal playlist when he died. The first is No Fear The Setting Sun by Amon Amarth. It's about a warrior who, after a lifetime of fighting, knows he's about to die and accepts his fate.
The second one is Not Gonna Die by Skillet.
He is based on vampires, after all.
And yes, Ruby dropped the first proper F-bomb in this fanfiction. Though, to be fair, she was cold, tired, super pissed, and had been fused with Yang.
Finally, the glacier breaker scene. Holy cow, have I waited for this. Along with Penny coming back, this was one of 3 things I wanted to do with this fanfiction, which were planned from the start. Originally, Sirena was supposed to summon a Kaiju and have it lift the ships to keep them safe, but then Yang and Blake became maidens.
That's how long ago I had decided on that.
I got the idea from my brother's own pen and paper game, which he told me about before I even got into RWBY (maybe even before the show began, I don't know). It's a no-fantasy game, where religion and magic and stuff are just superstition. There's one guy, Rogar Glacier-breaker, who earned his people's respect by kicking all the ass in a war, and became the ruler over various tribes and stuff. Some didn't like him, so there was new war.
One day, he sent his men to fight the enemies, but they snuck up behind him by sea. He was so pissed at that cowardly tactic that he took his axe, broke off a chunk of the glacier his castle was on, and sunk several of their ships. They decided not to mess with crazy, and fled.
For reference, I am writing this on the 15th of November 2021, and the chapter itself is even older. I just upload chapters X0-X9 when I have them all done, and uploaded the latest batch, 60-69, today.
Seriously, this single scene is so important to me, for so many reasons. My brother introduced me to TTRPG, for example. Not only has playing those kinds of games, especially The Dark Eye, helped me understand how character flaws can influence decisions, but it also introduced a bunch of cool abilities to me. And my brother's game, and Rogar's absolute mad-lad energy, started all of that.