Chapter 26: After the Fall
"So…let's just see if we have gotten this straight…" Ness spoke in a very…annoyed tone, almost completely out of character for him as he, and the rest of the smash council looked at Team MESS, alongside Weiss through the holographic screen.
"Firstly, Beacon academy was completely destroyed from the inside by a woman named Cinder, with a few cronies named Emerald and Mercury. Alongside the likes of the now dead Criminal Mastermind Torchwick, and his henchwoman Neo, who is currently MIA." Palutena started, reading the transcript from Team MESS.
"Vale was overrun by Grimm, but was subdued with the help of the White Fang and the various students of the four hunters academies. There were pretty extensive casualties, including the likes of Team RWBY's Sister Team, Team JNPR, alongside Beacon's headmaster, Professor Ozpin, at the hands of Pokey." Byleth continued.
"In addition, Yang had her arm cut off by…a currently unknown source. While Ruby let out a blast of silver light from her eyes that wiped Cinder and Pokey into a retreat, but also knocked her out in the process." Cloud read on.
"And, to add onto all of that, none of you have heard from Ozpin's inner circle such as General Ironwood, Glynda Goodwitch, Qrow Branwen, or Weiss' sister, Winter Schnee. Despite none of them being killed as far as you are aware?" Meta Knight finished.
"Well…I just got word from my sister…" Weiss hesitated. "She and General Ironwood have helped secure the border walls around Vale, and have pulled their remaining forces out of Vale; apparently, the world believes Atlas was responsible according to Cinder's…vague speech."
That answer did not satisfy the Super Smash Brothers.
"Now that we've got this all sorted…" Palutena continued, her tone becoming sharper. "Give us ONE good reason that you did not call ANY of us for backup."
Moon felt the eyes of his teammates, and Weiss looked at him.
"First of all, I seem to recall you all stating you wanted to stay out of this nonsense." Moon started. "Ozpin also wanted nothing to do with you all either, he specifically asked me to keep you all out of it. His reasoning was that the powers the majority of you all have would cause more panic in Remnant."
"Not to mention," Weiss continued. "But the stories you all have are video games here in Remnant, I can't imagine the world's reaction to knowing someone like…Ganondorf…actually exists and could just wander into Remnant…no offense."
"None taken." Ganondorf replied smugly.
"Secondly," Moon continued. "Even if you all did come, we would be risking the capture of one of you, we still don't know what…" He paused for a moment, thinking about Weiss' knowledge, also, judging the warning looks from the majority of the council.
"Pokey and Rhea are planning here." He finished. "Even if most of you would be fine against the Grimm, your powers might end up being neutralized or much weaker due to many different factors that could make Remnant different from your homeworlds. Our PSI powers might be fine…but some of you probably won't be finding your standard powerups, healing items, or your magic might be more limited."
The smash council each seemed to look at each other through the screens.
"Very well then," Ness finished…putting his hands together. "Do your best to figure out what is going on, and get back in touch with us."
The holographic screen shut off and the communication orb stopped flashing. Moon just sighed and put it into his backpack. He was just thankful Ruby's father was willing to give them privacy while his daughters were recovering at their house. The other hospitals at Vale were all packed with injured huntsmen and civilians. Though, thankfully, it seemed as though fatal casualties were minimal.
A knock at the door had the five of them quickly look over as they heard muffled responses. The five of them opened the door and were greeted with Taiyang and Qrow talking with another man in the living area of his house. Blake was also there, looking absolutely not pleased with the man. Team MESS also heard Weiss' breath hitch.
The man had an eerie similarity to Weiss, he had a more professional white coat and pants. A neatly combed set of white hair and a nicely trimmed mustache. He had a blue polo undershirt and…hilariously…a white clip-on tie. The man walked in a way of prideful arrogance, and his neutral face just had a smug look that made you want to punch the shit out of him.
"Mr. Schnee…" Taiyang said. Moon had to give Ruby's father credit, for a man that seemed rather polite to anyone, he sure sounded quite annoyed at the sight of Jacques.
"I must thank you for making my traveling expenses out here so expensive." Jacques sneered. "It was very rude of you to house my daughter here when I was coming to pick her up from Beacon Academy. I already gave the General a firm talking too about not escorting her back with the rest of his students. But I guess we can't all have nice things. Can't say I'm too surprised that your mannerisms are quite poor." His eyesight was directed at Blake, who was just shyly cowardly back.
"Your daughter's teammates happen to also be MY daughter's as well." Taiyang replied. "I'm sorry that she felt some sympathy and wanted to make sure they were okay."
"Oh I've seen." Jacques replied. "The grade skipper and the raging blonde lunatic who injured that poor boy from Mistral who just wanted to congratulate her on a victory. Yes I know, very nice, you really did a number on my PR and stock revenue. Had this been Atlas I would've had your daughter thrown out. The Grimm that tore her arm off did the world a big favor if you ask me, less people for her to injure in an outburst of rage."
"I'd punch you and arrest you for trespassing if I didn't worry about my license getting revoked. You're lucky Oz is dead." Qrow grumbled, taking a swig from his flask. "You know damn well he doesn't approve of you and your meddling. My nieces wouldn't hurt that boy on purpose."
Jacques cobalt blue eyes narrowed at Qrow, before finally spotting Weiss and Team MESS.
"Weiss, darling." The man pushed past Qrow and walked over to her. "I'm glad to see you're alright, I was quite concerned about you. I couldn't possibly bear to lose you after what happened to your mothe-"
"Don't…use…her name." Weiss snapped at him. "I know you didn't care about her…"
Jacques' mustache quivered as he looked between her, and the rest of Moon's team. His eyes brushed past Sapphire, him, and Sarah, but leveled with Erick for a good long while. Before pretending to adjust his tie as he backed up.
"Well, Weiss…and whichever of you three boys is Erick." the man continued. "Get your things packed up…you're coming back to Atlas with me."
"That's not what we agreed on." Weiss replied, crossing her arms. "You said all of Erick's team would come with us."
"Circumstances…changed that." Jacques replied, narrowing his eyes. "General Ironwood has closed the borders to the Atlesian kingdom. He is only allowing me to bring one of them back."
"Then she's not going with you." Erick piped up, "If you won't bring my friends with her, then we'll keep her here."
"We're a package deal." Sarah replied firmly. "All of us, or none of us."
"Oh?!" Jacques' eyebrow raised. "Your friend and my daughter both don't actually get a choice." He sneered. He reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. "Which one of you is Erick's leader?" When Moon outstretched his hand, the man handed it to him.
Atlas Arranged Marriage Law
Under section five, in the event of an arranged marriage to a party who's family ends up deceased before the marriage can commence. If the former party wishes to continue said arranged marriage, the soon to be step-family is hereby given parental authority over the other party until the arranged marriage happens. If the arranged fiance declines, the marriage is hereby called off under the pretense of the suitors own violation. This law must be presented as an option that the party is aware of at all times.
"Surely this can't apply, he's not an Atlas citizen." Moon replied bluntly.
Jacques, clearly frustrated, took out his scroll and tapped around for a bit, scrolled for a while, then turned it to face Moon.
Exceptions section
Should the consenting party's family not have Atlesian Citizenship prior to their unfortunate passing. The arranged suitor is to be treated as an Atlesian Citizen under the law as the marriage would've given said suitor citizenship to begin with. Should the suitor opt out of the marriage, their citizenship is revoked.
"Dammit." he grumbled.
"Now that I have presented Erick's rights to him." Jacques said, closing the scroll. "He must make the choice here. Weiss is coming with me no matter what. As her Fiance, you must make the choice to either marry my daughter and return to Atlas with me and her, or abandon her and stay here with your friends."
Moon watched as Erick looked between Weiss, and his teammates nervously.
"Give us a bit to talk about this." Moon spoke up. "I promise he'll make his decision quickly."
Jacques nodded his head before looking over at Weiss, he then followed Qrow and Taiyang towards a different room.
Blake walked over to Weiss and Team MESS with a bit of disgust in her yellow eyes.
"You and Erick…huh?" She asked, crossing her arms at Weiss. "Were you ever going to tell us?"
"Don't be so rude about it." Sapphire replied. "You're the one who tells Moon to leave your privacy alone by not reading your thoughts."
"I'm not trying to be rude about it, your love life is your choice." Blake replied, narrowing her yellow eyes. "I just can't believe you're going to leave Ruby and Yang when they need us the most! Neither of them have woken up yet, and the doctors say they likely won't for a while longer."
"IT'S NOT LIKE I WANT TO GO!" Weiss snapped at her faunus teammate. "I could've just waited at Beacon for him to pick me up, but I chose to come with you because I wanted to make sure they'd wake up. You heard my dad, I don't get a choice in this matter!"
"I'm sure Ruby and Yang will understand when they eventually wake up. But don't blame me if we reunite and they don't." Blake said, in a tone Moon couldn't quite tell if it was sincere or not. The faunus then walked down the opposite hall towards Yang's room.
Weiss sighed and turned to Team MESS. "I'm sorry for this…I meant to tell you my father wanted to schedule an arranged marriage between me and Erick…but then…you know…"
"We would've had to do it eventually." Moon replied calmly. "Your heartbound to Erick is permanent and we still don't know the full side effects it'll have on you. He'll be returning to Atlas with you."
His three teammates looked surprised at his response to Weiss.
"Moon…are you sure that this is a good idea?" Sapphire asked. "I thought your three darksides each share a connected soul with each other. So if you 3 are separated for long periods of time, you'll be in pain…will you not?"
"The heartbound is stronger." Moon replied. "Now that Erick has a keeper like me and Sarah. The pain should now be split four ways…but with us being close to our bounded heart, the pain should be overridden. Not to mention, if Erick ever needs to communicate with us, we have the mindscape. Pokey and Seiros will likely pose no issue to you either unless they capture me and Sarah."
"But…what about you guys…" Erick asked. "We can't be separated forever."
"We'll find a way to get to Atlas." Sarah replied, giving him a smile. "But Weiss will need you more than us. If you decline, your Hearbound will make her life, and our lives worse if she returns without you."
"Well…is there any chance we could smuggle you all to Atlas?"
"Not a chance." Weiss replied. "Winter told me they're doing searches of every SDC cargo ship after I told her about the Drug Dust used by that Bartender, even my father's ship was checked on the way out…by Winter herself."
"Well shit." Erick grumbled.
"Look, Erick…you'll be fine in Atlas…" Sapphire replied. "Do you know the closest place to take a ship to Atlas, Weiss?"
"Probably…you'd have to walk all the way to Mistral and take a train to the colony of Argus. You'd be able to take a train to Mistral…but unfortunately, Cinder's destruction of Beacon destroyed all of Vale's communication and transports…all resources are being used to scramble together any type of reconstruction for the walls and school."
"Yeah…no offense…but the four of us walking out in the open would probably be a bad idea. Pokey and Seiros…and Cinder…can't complete whatever they plan on doing without the 3 of us." Sarah continued. "It might actually be safer for you to go with Weiss. In addition…if Pokey and Serios learn that you two are heartbound…we'll be putting Team RWBY in…well….more danger."
Erick just nodded his head. "If…if you three insist…then…I'll go to Atlas with Weiss."
"Are you sure the three of you will be alright?" Weiss asked. "When we last saw Cinder she came in and nearly got you."
"Yeah…we're more prepared…and plus…Cinder said she's from Mistral. Which means she had to have approval from Mistral's academy to come to the tournament. Maybe we can figure out how she, along with Emerald and Mercury, managed to slip past the headmaster's eyes." Moon replied.
"That's a good point…we'll take off for Mistral tomorrow after Jacques leaves then." Sapphire finished. "That'll be our best bet."
Salem peered into the seer grimm glass as she watched Erick and Weiss leave Taiyang's home in Vale.
"I'll give Ironwood credit." She said, placing a pale white finger on her chin. "He made sure to make me brute forcing my way to Atlas next…and since Cinder was unable to locate the Relic of Choice in Vale…and the Relic of Creation will be strictly off limits. And with our precious children split up currently…I won't be able to get my way with them."
Rhea landed next to her after swooping in through the balcony. The saint's white wings retracted and shrunk down as she crossed her scaly hands.
"Well…I guess you know, Pokey failed to take Team MESS with him…and lost Cinder in the process." She grunted.
"I've heard…Ozpin's little grade skipper has Silver eyes…another annoying wrench in our side." Salem hissed. "I'll just deal with her the same way I've dealt with everyone else like her. I'm sure Tyrian can do what he's been doing for the past decade for me."
"And what about Cinder?" Rhea grunted. "Are you not concerned about the girl's Silver eyes destroying your Maiden Sucker?"
"Cinder is fine…the girl has no control over her powers." Salem shot back at the saint. "If Oz was smarter he would've trained her the second he noticed those silver eyes. But he's incompetent as he's always been. I'm glad my children picked up on that quickly. It will make convincing them a bit easier than it should be."
"You'll make excuses to make sure I do nothing."
"Like I said…Seiros…" Salem hissed, her red eyes flashing a little. "Pokey can get away with walking around with a bit of makeup and…forceful hiding of his psychopathic tendencies. You draw way too much attention to yourself than an average Faunus, you decide to let out your dragon traits. Now you look too animalistic. Your white wings, scaly claws, and green alien veins draw too much attention."
Rhea grumbled as Salem looked over at her.
"Go be useful and fetch Arthur Watts, tell him he's got some stuff to do in Atlas." Salem grunted. "I have business to attend to. Maybe if you shut up I'll be willing to let you go get Moon and Sarah with Tyrian."
Rhea sighed and simply jumped off the Balcony, Salem waited for the distance wing flapping to disappear.
"Emerald and Mercury should be back soon with Cinder, Tyrian and Hazel should be here soon. And if Pokey knows what's best for him, he'll be back too."
Salem watched Moon, Sarah, and Sapphire wave goodbye to Erick and Weiss, who both looked more or less depressed to be heading home with Jacques.
"One of these days, you will see what's best for you all," Salem replied. "I helped create you three and want you all to be the best you could possibly be. The others see you as weapons…but I know you just want to be seen as human. Hopefully, I can use my resources to make you finally see that."
Watching the little Mr. Saturn pop out of Sarah's backpack simply had the woman chuckle a little to herself. "I'll see you all off to Mistral…I'll need that Relic of Knowledge in either mine…or your possession. Hopefully Lionheart will be less…annoying…than he was last time."
She watched Moon and Sarah look into each other's eyes as Sapphire walked back inside, saying things that the Seer Grimm unfortunately couldn't pick up on, but she had a pretty good idea that it would be about her.
"My sweet little children…soon you'll finally be happy."
Moon, Sarah, and Sapphire each woke up the next day and, after eating breakfast with Taiyang, Blake, and Ruby. Who had finally woken up. Yang had been awake for a long time, but had refused to come out of her room. Any attempt Ruby or Blake had made to go talk to her had them be pushed out instantly. The two girls didn't say much to them as it was a relatively quiet breakfast. As did Taiyang…who eventually stood up and left to go take Yang her food.
"So…you three are heading out?" Blake asked, after a moment of silence.
"That was the intention…" Moon replied. "We've got a lot of walking on our table."
"Why don't we come with you?" Ruby asked. The three teammates looked at the little girl in shock. Blake did too.
"That seems illogical." Moon replied flatly. "Would you rather not wait here with your sister? No offense, but don't you think it would be terrible to leave her after her arm got sliced off."
"Yeah…but…you guys want answers to how Cinder and Pokey got past Lionheart's security…right?! It'd probably be best for you all to have us come with you." Ruby replied. "I want to know what Cinder is up to as well."
"Ruby…you're our leader!" Blake replied, Moon wasn't quite sure if Blake's tone was angry, or upset. "You can't just abandon a team member like that."
"I agree with Blake…" Sarah replied to Ruby. "Maybe it's better for you to stay here. You'll probably be…safer."
"We can hold our own just fine. Plus…what if Cinder and Pokey come back for you all?! She already proved she could hold your own against you three. If it weren't for my weird Eye nuke thing…she and Pokey would've gotten both of you."
"You don't know how that power works. It could've been a one time thing! Even worse! Now that Cinder knows you can cripple her with that power! She'll want you and Team MESS as well!" Blake replied.
Moon and Sarah looked over at Sapphire, the blue haired boy rubbed his head. "She has a point you guys. Whatever Cinder is…she could be a perfect counter to you all…maybe that's why Pokey and S…" Moon shot Sapphire a look. "Seiros…Employed her help. Ruby could be all we have."
Moon saw Sarah look at him with concern. Sapphire made a good point: they weren't sure what Salem had done with Cinder to make her ready for them. But it would be a terrible day if Cinder was trained…Emerald's semblance blocked him from reading Cinder's mind by giving him visions…even though he was partially to blame for never reading Cinder's mind out of trust. But he wouldn't be making that mistake again.
"I guess…if you want to come with us…you can." He mumbled. "On one condition, you take orders from me. I don't want Yang throwing a hissy fit if you get yourself injured on my watch. So you must always listen to me…understood?" Ruby nodded in agreement.
"Blake…are you going to come?" Sarah asked.
Blake's cat ears folded back a bit, as she looked down the hall to Yang's room.
"I uh…I can't…" She replied. "I'm sorry Ruby…but I left a teammate's side before…even though she asked me to go…and I regret doing that every single day…I don't want to see what happened to Yang happen to her as well."
"You're a good friend, Blake." Sapphire replied.
Blake blushed a little…thanks…but Yang does need someone to be by her side…I'll try and get her out of her mood and hopefully we can catch up with you all. Though…considering what happened to her arm…I doubt that'll be happening anytime soon."
"Speaking of her arm…what happened?" Moon asked her. "It looks like she took a bad beating from whatever did that to her. Were you two attacked by Seiros? Because it looks to me like the arm was sliced off rather than torn off…"
He could sense Blake's hesitation…though he imagined she had no reason to lie to him about whatever would happen.
"No…it was a Grimm. Some humanoid looking grimm creature attacked us from behind, she got her arm sliced off trying to protect me."
"A…humanoid Grimm?" Sapphire questioned. "Like…a Grimm that looked human?"
"Yes…" Blake replied. Moon caught her yellow eyes, and, to him at least…her story sounded and her face looked believable enough. Even if she was lying…there wasn't really much that could be important by what exactly was responsible. Maybe she was covering up Yang doing exactly what he had cautioned her against about acting first without thinking. Respectable if that was the case."
"Well…thanks for letting us know about that." Moon replied. "Ruby, get whatever you'll need, and we'll be heading out."
"Got it!" Ruby replied, the girl then took off using her semblance.
Blake then excused herself and walked away as Sarah, Sapphire, and Astro turned to face their leader.
"Alright then…" Moon mumbled. "Let's get going. We've got a long…long time ahead of us without Ozpin."
That's all for today's chapter, I know it's been a month for a short chapter, but they'll probably be a bit short during our runtime for Volume 4.
So, Weiss and Erick are in Atlas, Blake stays behind with Yang, and Ruby goes with Moon, Sarah, and Sapphire. Looking back, I never understood why Ruby left without her dad, Qrow, or even Jaune, Nora, and Ren initially. So, I figured I'd give her some excuse to tag along for directions or something. She needs to come with them anyway, so I probably could've given a better excuse for her to come.
Oh yeah...Blake's Volume 4 arc. Listen, I'll be blunt, I do not like what Blake's volume 4 and 5 story was. Not because of any destroyed headcanons and stuff, but just because of how...disconnected...it felt to her character. Which is weird, as volume 4 is about her going back to her parents (who you all may be disappointed to know that I've elected to fully ignore and probably won't include in this story). I like Ghira and Kali, I understand why they were brought in, but there's always been a nagging feeling that Blake's character was better suited as an orphan than it was a...I guess princess of the Faunus would be the best way to put it? If I ever do elect to fully comment on Blake's parents, expect it to be sometime during Volume 4 while she's with Yang.
A lot of people say Volume 4 started to turn Blake into a more unlikable character for them, and that's completely warranted in my opinion, Blake does some pretty questionable things and the writing just kind of...ignores or downplays it. So I figured I'd try and give her a bit of redemption here by actually sticking by one of her teammate's sides after such a tragic event. I know Volume 4 is about the girls being separated...but again...it just doesn't feel right for Blake to just not be present.
I initially was just going to do Yang and Blake's volume 4 arcs offscreen and just kind of have them show up again...but then I realized I'd probably forget all about them, so I'll keep them together and see what I can do while they stick behind.
Anyway, that's all for this month's chapter, I hope you all enjoyed it! If you have any thoughts, feel free to let me know, I'll always respond to them!
See you all, next time!