AUTHOR'S NOTES: Well, this is it-the last chapter of "On RWBY Wings VI." It's been a long, strange ride, but a generally enjoyable one. I hope everyone else feels the same way. More notes at the bottom.

North Carolina Highway 226

Near Patch, North Carolina, United States of Canada

4 October 2001

"A little hard to drive and threaten." Rissa Arashikaze had pulled the car onto a remote old logging road and parked it. Now she leaned back against the door. The pistol was held in a steady hand. Raven had her sword, stuck in the luggage that Tai had helpfully put in the back seat; it might as well have been on the moon that shone through the trees. She wondered if he had deliberately set her up to die. Qrow she would expect to, but not Tai. Not after the long nights of talking, of tears, and of forgiveness. He still knew that Arashikaze was driving the car, she thought. And he knows she wants me dead. Maybe Tai hadn't forgiven her, after all.

"If you were going to shoot me," Raven told her, "you would've already done it." While she spoke, Raven weighed her options. None of them were good. Her seatbelt was still on, and any move to disengage it, or attempt to grab Arashikaze—who didn't have hers on—or a desperate lunge out the door or towards the wheel would end in her being shot. Against a posturing simpleton like Cinder Fall, Raven considered, she might have a chance. Against a professional assassin, she didn't.

"That depends on what you have to say. Mind rolling down the window? It's going to get stuffy in here, and if I have to shoot you, I'd rather your brains be on the forest floor, rather than on the window." Arashikaze settled herself in a more comfortable position as Raven rolled down the window. "So, Raven Branwen, I think it's time we had a talk."

"What about?" Raven asked. She was mildly surprised to find that she wasn't all that afraid of the gun. She had made her peace with Tai, and with Summer's daughter. Qrow would always hate her; that would never change. Yang might come around or she might hate her biological mother forever, but Raven was oddly all right with that, as well.

"A list of things. First of all, the Spring Maiden."

Raven had figured on that. "You know that I have it."

"I do. And I know that you control it with your sword."

Raven raised an eyebrow. "How did you know that?"

Arashikaze smiled. "Powers of deduction. Most people don't carry swords around in this day and age, just like Ozpin didn't actually need his cane. That means you have the same means of controlling it that he did."

Raven nodded. "You're right, but you're an idiot if you think that's the only way the Spring Maiden can be controlled."

"Of course. You may be a moral coward, Raven, but you're not stupid. When the Spring Maiden failed to deploy, NASA picked up strange signals coming from Pasadena, California—the former site of Caltech. That was rather interesting, since Caltech was supposed to be a radioactive ruin. They couldn't pinpoint the signals, but we at CIA figured it out—no one had ever accounted for most of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's scientists after Los Angeles got nuked. Our guess was that the Branwen Tribe had those scientists for a reason. So I imagine that, right now, you've probably got some sort of tracking station in California, hidden from view, and if you don't come back within a certain time, they have orders to use the Spring Maiden."

That was not quite true, Raven reflected—the tracking team actually had orders to contact NASA at the Johnson Space Center to threaten to use the Spring Maiden; if Raven was dead, they were to put the Spring Maiden satellite into a terminal orbit to destroy it, though Raven doubted the scientists would actually do it. They knew the power at their fingertips, which is why she was the only one with the arming code. "That's about the size of it," Raven lied. "If I'm not back by October 10th, they'll use it on a target of their choosing—Charlottesville, Greenbrier, Chicago, whatever."

Arashikaze's smile widened. "Good one. And a lie. The Maiden can't hit any of those targets. It could, however, hit Phoenix, Arizona."

"So you're not going to kill me." Raven made it a statement.

"Bold of you to think that I care that much about Phoenix."

"If you knew," Raven said, "then why not shoot it down? The United States has antisatellite weapons."

"Because if you have it," Arashikaze answered, "then Salem doesn't. And given that you used it to destroy the Nuckalevee that attacked the Canadian frontier, you are using it for its intended purpose. Ozpin convinced the Joint Chiefs that you were no friend of Salem's, so you could be trusted with it, rather than risk losing thousands of people trying to take it back from you. The Israelis would be rather upset to find out that we kept that information from them, but Ozpin also felt that he owed you a debt. That's why you haven't had Mossad hit teams after you all these years. Of course, that can change." Arashikaze shrugged. "A lot can change. You know the President is looking for something that would erase the bad taste Poland left in America's mouth. Americans don't like to run. They don't like Presidents that preside over a retreat, even though that was on Ironwood, not the President."

"Let me guess. It wouldn't take too much to convince President Shawcross to invade California. He's already mobilizing to send those divisions to Europe; it wouldn't be too hard to turn a few west rather than east." Raven knew it wouldn't take more than two or three divisions, if that. The Branwen Tribe was the largest organized group in California; the rest were petty warlords like the Prince of San Francisco, or roving biker gangs, or the insane cannibals of the ruins of Los Angeles. It wouldn't take more than a few months. The only reason it hadn't already been done was that it was more trouble than it was worth, and the GRIMM were the bigger threat. Raven knew that might no longer be the case.

"No, not much at all."

Raven hung her head, a smile on her lips. "I get it. If I agree to cooperate, to be your little errand girl, you'll spare my life, and that of my Tribe. I'd be your vassal."

"Not so much that, Raven. I'll settle for you simply staying out of our way—and giving me your sword and the arming code for the Spring Maiden."

"Giving you the Spring Maiden?" Raven laughed. "Are you crazy? That's my only bargaining chip."

"Raven…" Arashikaze sighed elaborately. "You're a hell of a fighter pilot, and from what I understand, a great bandit queen. But you tend not to think ahead very well. I can simply shoot you in the head, right now, and take the sword at my leisure. Yes, I would be risking that your people will destroy Phoenix, and no, I would not have the arming code. But I'm guessing those old scientists don't have the balls to kill half a million people to save a dead woman, and I have the world's biggest computers at my disposal. And I will settle for no one having the Spring Maiden."

"I wonder if that wouldn't be the better option." Raven's left hand slowly went towards the seatbelt release. "Want me to grab the sword?"

"No. I want you to stay where you are. I'll get the sword whenever you get out the car." The pistol's barrel came up just a fraction. "So that's my proposal, Raven. Give me the sword—or just the hilt, if you're that attached to it—and the arming code, and I'll let you go—and I won't say a word about California to the President. If he thinks of it, then I'll tell him that Salem is the bigger threat, which she is. And he'll listen to me."

Raven laughed. "Rissa—since we're on first name basis now—are you the one who actually runs the United States government?"

"Sometimes," Arashikaze admitted. "When I need to. I'm not fond of doing so, but when you have military people more concerned about how they look in the history books, or politicians more intent on reelection than their own nation, or naval aviators-turned-spies who care more about their pregnant Russian girlfriend than the fate of the planet, then I have little choice."

"Is that what you tell yourself when you look in the mirror?" Raven said.

"Something like that. The arming code, please."

Raven told her. Arashikaze repeated it. "Aren't you going to write it down?" Raven asked.

"Yang's birthday? I can remember that. Surprised you chose such a simple code…but our analysts probably would've missed it. Forest for the trees, and all that."

Raven had to laugh a little at that, too. "Are we done here?"

"Maybe. There is one last small matter." Arashikaze paused. "Amber and Rick Tardor. Do you know the names?"

"Amber Tardor was the Fall Maiden controller. The other name is familiar, but I can't place it," Raven admitted. Actually, she knew exactly who he was, and her blood went cold.

"You shot Amber Tardor down over Nevada. Qrow Branwen saved her life—temporarily, until Cinder murdered her just before Beacon was destroyed. Rick Tardor was her brother. You murdered him on the shores of the Salton Sea. Of course, you didn't know who he was, then…just the pilot of a crashed transport, and an inconvenient wrinkle in taking Weiss Schnee hostage. Something tells me you know who he was now." There was no smile on the face now, Raven saw, just cold hatred.

"He was your nephew, which makes Amber your niece." Raven did not ask; she already knew. "Let me guess—you convinced her to take the Fall Maiden on."

"The biggest mistake of my life," Arashikaze said.

"You didn't care about the Spring Maiden at all." Raven swallowed involuntarily. "You're here for them."

"Not quite. The Spring Maiden was business. This is personal." Arashikaze once more raised the pistol just a fraction, so the bullet would enter Raven's skull just in front of the left ear and exit through the top of her head. "However," she sighed, "I did promise Taiyang that I would give you a chance for recompense. He's a damn fool, but a promise is a promise."

"What did you have in mind?" Raven wanted to know.

Arashikaze nodded towards the glove compartment. "Open that. Slowly." Raven did. Besides the usual insurance paperwork and instruction manual, there was a carving knife, resting on a pile of hankerchiefs. She took it out, and wondered if she shouldn't try to stab Arashikaze with it. A glance told her that the other woman's finger was firmly on the trigger, and the hammer on the Walther P.38 was a fraction back. "In Japan, the yakuza oyabuns punish those members of their gangs by forcing them to chop off a finger. It shows that they are willing to sacrifice a body part to not only avoid death, but show their loyalty to their clan. You've never shown loyalty to anyone, Raven, but you'll do it to spare your life." Arashikaze shrugged. "Or I can kill you. Taiyang will get over it."

Raven tested the knife's edge. It was razor sharp. She had seen old Japanese movies were yakuza gang members did that sort of thing. "Which finger?"

"The little one on your left hand. You don't need that one to fly, I'm told."

Raven reached into the glove compartment and set the hankerchief down on the dashboard. She swallowed again, knew her face was paler than usual, and looked at Arashikaze. The finger was still on the trigger. "I know what I did," Raven said. "And I'm sorry I did it. I was wrong."

"So Taiyang told me. I don't care. Start cutting or start dying." Arashikaze's voice was freezing. "You have ten seconds, then you meet God."

"All right." Raven rested her left pinky finger down on the dashboard, then placed the knife's blade on the first knuckle, holding the knife with her right hand.

"Two lives," Arashikaze snarled. "Two knuckles."

Raven gave her a nod and moved the blade down to the middle knuckle. She turned her head and met Arashikaze's eyes. Then she pressed down as hard as she could. The blade sliced through flesh and muscle easily. For a moment, it hung up on the bone, and Raven, breathing hard but still staring at Arashikaze, pressed down harder. The pain was blinding, and she couldn't fight down a gasp, or the tears that started from her eyes. Then, finally, she was through. "Fuck," she gritted out through clenched teeth.

"Good work," Arashikaze said humorlessly. "Throw the knife out the window." Raven did so. "Now you can bind up your finger, but leave what you cut off right where it is."

"Why…" Raven fought down a scream of agony. "Why…so you can keep it as a fucking trophy?"

"Proof to Taiyang that I didn't kill you." There was a pool of blood on the dashboard, and it began to trickle down, over the radio and air conditioning. Raven wrapped her finger in the hankerchiefs, which began to soak through with blood. "You can use the cigarette lighter to cauterize that," Arashikaze said idly. Raven told her what she could do with the lighter, which was anatomically impossible. Arashikaze reached over, wiped off a little blood that had ended up on the gear shift, then put it back in drive. The gun she set aside. "I'm guessing you're in too much pain right now to have a go at me," she said as she pulled back onto the highway, "but just in case you do, if we're not back in Patch by nine, I have a team waiting, led by my granddaughter. She will comb these woods and she will kill you. However, if you're smart, you'll get good medical care in town, and still make your flight. In either case, I consider the matter closed once you give me the Spring Maiden."

"You're a fucking goddamned bitch," Raven snarled, holding her hand, keeping pressure on.

"Yes," Arashikaze agreed. "I am, on all counts."

The Xiao Long-Rose House

The party was somehow holding on, though all of them knew it had to end eventually. It was only eleven in the evening, but the revelry was tempered by sorrow, and Ruby Flight was torn between trying to stave off the inevitable, or getting some sleep. Their orders called on them to report for duty by October 8. There were bags to pack, travel arrangements to make, and goodbyes to be said. No tears were shed; they had cried enough. Or so they hoped.

Taiyang was sitting on a lawn chair, next to Summer's grave. Qrow sat next to him. Though Tai hadn't wanted to drink in front of his brother-in-law, Qrow had told him to go ahead, and so Tai had a cold beer resting on his pants leg, while Qrow nursed yet another seltzer. The night was crisp enough that both men had jackets on, but not so cold that it was unpleasant. Golden and orange leaves rested on the ground around them. Both men were silent, thinking about better times as the moon rose over the Smoky Mountains.

"Excuse us? Major Xiao Long? Major Branwen?" Both turned at the sound of Pyrrha Nikos' voice. She stood about a pace away. Weiss was next to her. "Can we have a moment of your time?"

Tai drank some of the beer, then scooted back a little. "Yeah, of course. Have a seat, if you like."

"Thank you. I—oh." Pyrrha noticed the gravestone. "I'm sorry—perhaps this can wait—"

"It's empty," Tai said. "Just there to commemorate. And if Summer's spirit is here…she won't mind in the least." Both Pyrrha and Weiss sat down between Tai and Qrow. "What's up, ladies?"

"We need your advice," Weiss began. "Pyrrha and I…we're thinking about resigning our commissions."

"You want to quit?" Qrow asked incredulously.

"No," Pyrrha said firmly. "Not quit. Just…go somewhere where we are more...welcome, I guess is the word I would use."

"General Gale went to a lot of trouble to get you reinstated, Pyrrha," Qrow reminded her. "You took off your wings and threw them into Ironwood's face. Then you accepted a commission in the Happy Huntresses, from what Robyn told me when I saw her last. Gale could've had you right next to Ruby, Yang and Blake, and added a charge of desertion on top of it. He didn't."

"He didn't because I'm the Invincible Girl," Pyrrha said bitterly. "That's the only reason."

"That's one reason," Qrow corrected. "Another is that you're a damn good pilot—maybe the best we have."

"All the more reason to go somewhere where I'm wanted," Pyrrha answered.

"Gale wants you," Qrow countered. "Otherwise he would've just let you go, or court-martialed you. You also better remember that he could've had your butt for going after Ruby Flight even when you were ordered not to. You gave Ruby a red-ass because she wouldn't obey orders, but you did the same thing."

"Then maybe I'm better off away from—"

"Oh, knock it off!" Qrow shouted. "Pyrrha, for fuck's sake. Quit playing a goddamn martyr. Jaune Arc is dead. So is Clover Ebi. You can't bring either of them back." He lowered his voice. "Dammit, Pyrrha. You gave me some damn good advice back in Iran, after I fucked up and almost got everyone killed with my drinking. Allow me to do the same." He swigged back the seltzer. "Besides…I'm not supposed to tell you this, because she wanted to surprise you with it when you get back to Germany, but…" Qrow shrugged. "Fuck OPSEC. Tai ain't going to tell anyone, Weiss isn't either, and Summer damn sure ain't." He got up from the chair and toasted Summer's gravestone. "Sorry, Short Stack. Anyway, Pyrrha…Winter told me that she's being grounded—or at least banned from flying combat. She's the Winter Maiden holder now, and nobody wants a repeat of what happened to poor Penny. Ace Flight needs a commander. Your name came up."

"Me?" Pyrrha's eyes were wide. "Command? Ace Flight?"

"Yeah. You seem to be pretty good at it. And don't tell me you don't want to command—you took away my command in Iran, rightfully so, and you relieved Ruby in Moravia—rightfully so. You're good at command, Pyrrha. Marrow, Elm, and that little psycho Harriet are going to need a strong hand…and you're the strongest any of us know." Qrow grinned down at her. "Now you can hop up and punch me between the eyes, but I'm being straight with you. Knock off the martyr act, pull up your big girl panties, and take command. Marrow's a good man, or Faunus, whatever; Elm's solid. Harriet needs her ass bounced off the ground a few times, but at least she's loyal. Besides, a F-22 leading three F-35s? That's pretty badass, right there. Looks good too."

"Wonderful," Pyrrha groaned. "I'm being used for PR again."

"You're damn right," Qrow told her. "Because you're a symbol, Pyrrha. You're a symbol that we can beat Salem. Doesn't matter if you're a idol with feet of clay, or that you're pissed off and want to kill Cinder Fall or die in the process, or that you're afraid you're cursed by God to be alone—which I doubt, by the way. The world looks up to you. Women want to be you; men want to be around you—or fuck you; let's be honest—"

"Holy shit, Qrow." Tai shook his head. "You sure you haven't been drinking?"

"Well, just saying."

Pyrrha stared up at him like Qrow had sprouted horns, then her mouth split in a smile and she started laughing. She looked at Weiss, who started laughing too, and then Tai and Qrow joined in. "Thank you for the compliment," Pyrrha grinned, then let out a long breath. She glanced at Summer's gravestone. "All right. I'll do it. God help me, I'm a fool, but I'll do it."

"What about you, Weiss?"

Weiss was silent for a few moments, thinking. "Robyn offered me a spot in the Happy Huntresses…but isn't Ace Flight a five-person team?"

"Yeah," Qrow said. "Assuming they keep that. God only knows what's going to happen to the Huntsman/Huntress system now, with the fallout from the court-martial, but for now, it's staying in place until Congress and/or the EU says so."

Weiss looked at Summer's grave as well. That could easily be her fate, she knew—it almost was. Had it not been for Marrow, there was a good chance she might have learned Summer's fate, firsthand. The troops that captured Marrow might not have deserted with a Schnee ready to be delivered to Salem. For that matter, if Ruby hadn't found Little, then convinced Jinxy Peddler to come look for her, the radiation would have killed her. Her decaying body would've been found, someday, in an abandoned hunter's cabin in Poland. Here lies Weiss Schnee, she could see in her mind's eye, with the tombstone engraved with a Schnee snowflake, just as Summer's carried the flaming rose. There was no dishonor in accepting Robyn's offer—the Huntresses were good people too, determined to continue the fight for a nation that once more only existed in the hearts of its people.

But she was a Schnee, and would always be so. She might determine what that name meant, but Schnees, for good and bad, had always served the Fatherland. "Pyrrha," Weiss said, "if you'll take me, I'm in."

There was a yell from inside the house; naturally, it was Yang. "Weiss! Pyrrha! You two okay out there?"

"Of course we are, you dolt!" Weiss shot back. "What do you want?"

"Get your skinny ass in here so I can kick it in Goldeneye!"

"The gauntlet has been thrown," Tai said.

"And I'm picking it up." Weiss got to her feet, slapping off grass and leaves that had stuck to your pants. "Pyrrha? Would you like to join me and school the sisters?"

"I'll be in there in a moment." Weiss gave her a smile and jogged back towards the house. Pyrrha got up as well, but looked for quite awhile at Summer's gravestone. "Was she the best?" she asked quietly.

"She was one of them," Tai said.

"A good commander?"

"Yeah," Qrow confirmed. "Best I ever served under."

"Is Ruby like her?" Pyrrha turned to Tai for that question.

Tai stared at the mountains for a few moments. "A little too much, sometimes."

Pyrrha nodded. "Your daughter is reckless, Major…but she has the best heart in the world. She's a good person, and a good officer. She'll learn from all this, and come out the better." She smiled. "What was it that Winter said? We have touched the fire and come out the stronger for being burned."

Qrow chuckled. "Yeah, that sounds like Winter. Frustrated poet. Comes from reading too much Goethe."

"Thank you for speaking to us. Both of you." She pointed to Qrow. "Even if you're crude, uncouth, and say the worst possible thing at the worst possible times."

"Yeah, yeah…enough about my good points." Qrow thumbed back towards the house. "My advice is get the proximity mines, find yourself a good sniper perch, and watch everyone blow themselves up trying to get to you."

Pyrrha stared at him strangely, then it dawned on her that he was talking about the game. "I'll do my best. Thank you again." Then she was striding towards the house as well.

"She'll be okay." Qrow sat back in the lawn chair. "Best thing they can do right now."

"What's that?" Tai asked.

"Tire themselves out. I'd say get shithammered drunk, but with Willow there…" He winked at Tai. "Say, anything going on with you and the widow woman?"

"Willow's not a widow."

"She might as well be."

Tai laughed softly. "No, Qrow…I can't, and you know why."

"Yeah." The two of them were quiet for awhile. "She wouldn't mind, you know." At Tai's questioning look, Qrow motioned at the gravestone. "Summer wouldn't want you to spend your life alone."

"Like I told Arashikaze: I could never be so lucky a third time after being lucky twice." Qrow raised an eyebrow at that. "She was a good woman, Qrow. Your sister. Before she let her fears get the better of her."

"I guess. Sometimes I wonder." He leaned back in the chair. "You think Arashikaze killed her?"

"No. She promised not to."

"And you believe her?"

Tai shook his head with a smile. "Nope. But I can be rather persuasive." There was the sound of something breaking in the house, a loud curse from what sounded like Ruby, and an ironic cheer from everyone else. Tai sighed. "God, I hope that wasn't something expensive."

"By the way, Tai," Qrow said with that lopsided grin, "don't be surprised if Oscar asks for your approval to marry Ruby. He's nuts over her."

"Which is why I'm glad he's going to sea," Tai replied.

"C'mon, Tai. He's a good kid."

"He is," Tai agreed, "but they need to think about this. Raven and I rushed into things. Not saying Ruby would do what she did, but they need to think about it." He stared at his reflection in the beer bottle. Are you saying that because you believe it? Tai asked himself. Or because you don't want her to become Ruby Pine? Because you don't want your little girl to be grown up? Now it was his turn to look at Summer's grave, and wish she was here with advice. Tai knew that one day he would have to let Ruby be who she was going to be. "Speaking of marriage," Tai said, mainly to change the subject, "when are you marrying Winter Schnee?"

"Probably pretty soon." Qrow held up his fingers, though of course there was no wedding band on it. "I think that Lutheran upbringing of hers is starting to take effect; she keeps hinting that I need to pop the question. Either that or she's pregnant."

Tai snorted. "Good God, Qrow, tell me you're using protection."

"I am, but sometimes it doesn't work." And sometimes we forget, Qrow added to himself. They had a few times. He didn't think Winter was pregnant, but it was possible. She had told him that she had missed her last period, though that could have easily been stress from the thought that Weiss was dead. Qrow wasn't sure about being a father, but he knew he would never do what his sister had done.

There was another loud cheer from the house, and scattered ribald, good-natured curses, mostly directed Yang's way; apparently, the older daughter had triumphed over all. Qrow and Tai smiled at the noise, remembering wild nights in bars, Summer and Raven getting drunk together and the men having to put them to bed, as they sang Queen songs off-key. Tai wiped his eyes. "God, Qrow," he whispered, his voice heavy with emotion, "you think they're going to be okay?"

"Yeah," Qrow said at length, and remembered what Winter had told him at Ramstein, weeks ago-a quote from an old movie. "You can't kill a squadron."

Central Intelligence Agency Headquarters

Greenbrier, West Virginia, United States of Canada

5 October 2001

"So that's it?" Riana Arashikaze stared down at the katana.

"That's it," Rissa Arashikaze told her granddaughter. The sharkskin that had covered the katana's hilt was peeled back, and the hilt slid open to reveal a secret chamber. Inside was a tiny computer keyboard, and a blank screen. "Type in the coordinates, enter in the arming code, and anything from Capetown, South Africa to Anchorage, Alaska can go bye-bye."

Riana took a step back, as if from a hissing rattlesnake. "I don't know, Grandma…that's a lot of power for one person to have."

"Probably too much." Rissa snapped the hilt shut, replaced the sharkskin, then picked up the katana. In one corner of her office was a stand for two swords, flanked by fake cherry blossoms. The wakizashi on the lower stand had belonged to the family of Rissa's former husband. That katana was back at her apartment. Rissa put Raven's katana on the upper stand. "But better that I have it than Raven Branwen." She gave a shrug. "Of course, she can still control the trajectory of the Spring Maiden. She could still crash it into the atmosphere, and I wouldn't put it past her to have some way to take control of it again. As long as it stays out of Salem's hands, I'm satisfied."

"I'm surprised you're not giving it to the Israelis," Riana observed. "It was theirs."

"It wouldn't help them now. Their enemies are far from the Spring Maiden's current track. Besides, then there would be all sorts of awkward questions, Mossad would probably kill Raven, and for now, she's more valuable alive than dead."

"Even after what she did to Uncle Rick and Aunt Amber?"

"Sometimes, Riana, you must learn to cut cards with the devil." Rissa returned to her seat. For anyone that entered the room, Raven's katana looked just like Rissa's old one; only a closer inspection would reveal that the hilt was different. She had replaced the sheath with her husband's. "Speaking of devils, how's our little one doing?"

"Very well. Would you like to meet her?" Riana offered.

"I would. Bring her up."

Riana picked up her grandmother's phone and dialed a number. She spoke some instructions into it, then replaced the receiver in the cradle. "On her way. I'd be a little careful with what you say, Grandma—the conditioning may not have completely taken yet. I don't think you could trigger total recall, but talk about awkward questions…"

"I'll be careful. Thank you." Rissa drummed her fingers on her desk. "Were you able to track down her old identity?"

"We did," Riana told her. "Erased all traces of it. As far as she knows, she was born to a family in Riverside, Iowa. Her parents are buried there; they were real, and both died a decade ago. The birth certificate was altered—we did the usual, taking one from a child that died back in 1975. She grew up in Iowa City, attended high school and grade school there—we have faculty that will vouch for that. If she asks why she's not in a yearbook, the answer is that she missed picture day because she was attending a Boyz II Men concert in the Quad Cities. We even have reciepts. She doesn't remember much because of amnesia she received due to a gunshot wound to the head in Tehran, but she's gradually recovering her memories…or what she thinks is her memory." Riana sighed. "I suppose I should feel bad about my part in this, Grandma, but after knowing what she did…I can't say as I'm losing sleep over it."

"You shouldn't." Rissa stopped drumming her fingers. "Kerasine. Damn amateurs over there in Europe. We stopped using that years ago. Doesn't work long term without causing psychosis or brain damage, and kills too often. Glad we hired that woman from Chicago—this is much better work than anything that bitch the Herbalist or Cheshire could do."

"Do we know what happened to Cheshire?" Riana asked.

"No. He'll turn up someday, and we'll deal with him then…if we even need to. I wonder why he was so afraid I was after him? It was a transaction, nothing more—it was Adam Taurus that reneged on the contract, not Charles Tabey Jr." Rissa shook her head in wonder. "Curious."

There was a soft knock at the door, and Riana opened it. Rissa got to her feet and came around her desk as another woman entered, and stopped, putting out her hand. "Hello there. I'm Deputy Director of Intelligence Rissa Arashikaze."

The woman that took her hand wore a prim business suit. She was very short, her hair a soft shade of brown not unlike Riana's. The grip was cool but firm. Her face lit up in an attractive, sweet smile, not at all marred by her eyes—one pink, one brown. "Director Arashikaze." She stared at Rissa for a moment, confusion on her face. "Have we met before? I'm sorry…since the accident in Tehran, I just don't remember as much as I should."

"No," Rissa told her, "we've never met, though I've always wanted to meet you."

"I'm Trivia Vanille," the woman said. "Sorry if I seem a bit fuzzy…I'm still recovering my memory. The doctors say it shouldn't be much longer."

"That's all right," Rissa said with a smile. "Take all the time you need. We don't need you for awhile…yet."

AUTHOR'S ADDITIONAL NOTES: I know that ending might be a little disappointing to those of you who wanted never to see Neo again, but as RT may have plans for her, I need to keep her around for now. We'll see. As far as I'm concerned, however, Neo Politan is dead; Trivia Vanille has returned, but has no idea who she ever was, except what she is told she was. In some ways, that's an even more horrific death for Neo: the destruction of self, the same fate she had planned for Ruby. (Star Trek fans might recognize Trivia's "birthplace.")

I had two more small things planned-Blake and Yang would have another heart-to-heart, and so would Ruby and Oscar. However, I decided that Yang and Blake don't have that much to talk about just yet, as they're not lovers in ORW, and Ruby and Oscar can have more explained some other time. I then decided this was good enough for an ending. I also feel like Rissa Arashikaze had a little too much to say in this chapter, but that festering wound between her and Raven needed to be closed. Hopefully Rissa isn't too much of a Mary Sue-I just want her to come off as someone who will do anything to protect her country-or at least what she thinks protects it. We already know that she's murdered children, and that she's willing to risk losing an entire city just to kill Raven Branwen, if it was necessary...and now someone that ruthless finally has a Maiden of her own.

So is this end? Well, for now. I'm giving RT a few more months to confirm if we're getting V10 or not, and to recharge my batteries. I need a break from the RWBYverse, though I will finish up my other RWBY story, "Seven Nights in Atlas" (which I haven't posted here yet, but I will next week-it's based in the canon RWBY universe). I'll probably jump back into Battletech for awhile, but I have a ORW VII planned. One way or the other, that will get written, unless something happens to me personally. (I hope not!) Like Qrow said, you can't kill a squadron-a line I totally stole from "633 Squadron"-and Ruby Flight's adventures are far from over.

Until then, as the fighter pilots in the Hanoi Hilton used to say, GNGBU-Good Night, God Bless You.