The Hunters: Remnants Mightiest Heroes

by th3g1ng3rn1nja

There was an idea, to bring together a group of remarkable people, so that when we needed them, they could fight the battles, that we never could. That day has come, and it is unlike any other. Remnant needs something more than just the agents of BEACON, they need heroes... Avengers AU follow up to Good in to Great, but can be read separate.

14. Queen of the Castle

Chapter fourteen

Queen of the castle.

The moment that she had used the binding spell in reverse and all the millions of little threads she had summoned to pull the Realm stone apart Weiss had her vision taken over in her normal eye, the one that had survived the injury, had been blinded momentarily by the sheer whiteness of light. Meanwhile her magically healed eye had seen everything, and Weiss meant everything, the flutter of a butterflies wings, the inside of the ship that had the Tree and little Raccoon they had met, the dark dimension where that all powerful being lurked still on the throne as he seemed to look into her eyes and narrow them in suspicion, she saw the past as she watched Jaune in an older armour tumble down into the icy waters of Atlas, she saw the birth of a silver eyed girl, she saw again how Robin had sacrificed her life and her eyes had also locked onto her own eye as she peered into time.

The one thing that Weiss did not see was the future and she concluded that it was for the best; tomorrow was a secret best kept. Now though, she could see all around her as her other eye caught up to her and she was able to take in her surroundings, she expected to be in a village of strange happenings, children casting spells, items floating around, expected to feel the very core of magic in the air as she was greeted by a wise old magician who knew instantly why she was here because it was foretold in a prophecy.

Instead all she saw was the same street that she had been battling Cinder above, the same people that were either fleeing or had stopped to try and record what was going on, the sights, sounds and smells of the busy streets of Mistral bombarded her senses all at once and she could instantly tell that this was no illusion, she was still in Remnant and perhaps her friends were still here as well.

"Ruby can you hear me?" She spoke cleanly into the communication as she touched her ear once, hoping that it would go through to the leader, but when all she got back was static she tried someone else.

"Captain Arc can you hear me?" Surely the military man would respond, he was hardwired to protect people, she had seen that about him but there was a silence as nobody responded.

"Yang? Blake? Can either of you hear me?" She tried hard to keep the small break in her voice out of the sentence but she couldn't help the slight fear that crept into her as the silence stretched on, she was sure that one of those 2 would respond, they were always together and Yang especially always had something to say.

"Ren tell me you are there?" Surely the archer would not miss the chance to respond right?

"Nora? Please?" Blinking out a tear as she thought the worst of her friends she tried for the last time.

"P-Pyrrha… can anyone hear me?" Silence had never been so loud as Weiss was now so scared for her friends as she began to think they had all died even fear for Pyrrha struck into her heart, casting a quick locator spell she could not find a trace of them on Remnant and then she tried to extend the spell out further from the planet, going past the shattered moon and still nothing, she searched for a physical trace, she searched for a spiritual trace and still came up with nothing.

It made no sense, even if they had all been killed by the Realm stones being destroyed then surely that meant that Weiss also would have been killed by the stone as well? And no object no matter how powerful could hide a soul, not even Robin could hide one and Weiss knew that she was the greatest magician of all time. There was no spell to remove a soul from the plains of existence, only to transfer them to the afterlife, and even a disintegration would still leave a slight physical presence surely? The lack of evidence that they were alive was what meant to Weiss that her friends were still alive! They had to be!

"Ugh, you little bitch!" Screamed a voice from under a small tiny mountain of rubble as Weiss watched the tarmac all melt under intense heat and she very quickly cast a wide net heat protection spell on the surrounding area so nobody was harmed by the rapid rise in temperature, and then the fire witch herself emerged with each hand ablaze, her dress was slightly torn… provocatively and Weiss averted her gaze at the display, it was a bit much for her.

"I'm going to burn you alive, and then there will be nobody to stop me, now that your friends have been taken." She cried at her with an evil and maniacal grin on her face, this then sent the wheels turning in Weiss' head.

Cinder had said taken and not killed, but where could they have been taken? The other Realms seemed like the best bet, and something in Weiss' head made her think that her spell had gone wrong, perhaps it had been tampered with slightly? She had summoned the location for the people but maybe at the last second they had been switched by someone equal or more skilled in magic… someone like Roman!

Although if he wanted to rule the Realms why would he not just keep them all on Remnant and simple send Nora to another while he tried to conquer Valkyrie? Maybe the Realm stones them self's had intervened and sent them to the other Realms, and while Weiss would have loved to see the primordial home of magic, she was far stronger when close to the source of her magic and that was here on Remnant, she drew her power from the Sanctums.

As a fire bolt flew at her; Weiss took in a deep breath, if Cinder wanted to play with the elements then Weiss would oblige her and she stepped back and brought her hands up as a faint green over took them, keeping her stance low and strong, firm in her conviction, she would not budge.

An explosion of rock flew before her as a pillar of stone rose before her and the fire slammed against it and was stopped easily without harming her, then Weiss forced the ground back to how it was and spinning around in her ballet moves she remembered from her childhood with her feet taking on a white glow she swept Cinder off her own feet with a strike coming in from the wind, just as she moved her hands gracefully down as well with a subtly blue glow across them and water from the gutters and the drains in the street smacked into her with a strong stream, the added effect of causing damage and also just ruining her near perfect hair and makeup, although how she found eye shadow that was that heat proof Weiss did not know.

Finally while Cinder was trying to cough out the dirty water that had gotten in her face and mouth Weiss moved her hand in a similar Kata she had seen Ren doing every morning, when asked about it he called it Tai Chi and she slightly speed up one of the movements thrusting both her palms out and blasting a distracted Cinder with balls of fire that sent her reeling, while she was then dazed Weiss flew in with her sword and charging it with energy she slashed it through her in a bright and blinding energy swipe taking her out of the fight.

She wasn't dead, Weiss was after all a doctor and she would never kill anyone, she was however going to be unconscious for an hour or 2 at this rate, but this would stand as a lesson for her, while she might be strong enough to give Yang and Nora a run for her money, while she could take on Ruby and her energy beams, when met with a match of elements and magic greater than hers; Weiss would win every time.

"When it comes to playing with fire… ugh I can't do it, how does everyone else come up with these one liners so quickly." Weiss groaned as she looked at her trusty sword that only flew around her and again seemed to shrug, at least Mynaster got her. "Either way I should probably drop this one off at Beacon with Agent Goodwitch, she will make sure she is properly restrained."

One quick portal later and she was stood in the main hall with an unconscious super villain and a lot of agents were startled, then another few minutes and there was Agent Goodwitch looking over the 2 of them and then glancing around at the lack of other members, as though expecting a mess to suddenly appear. "And where are the other members of your team? Miss Xiao-Long? Miss Valkyrie?" They were both said through gritted teeth and with a slight sigh at the end and Weiss could understand how the 2 heavy hitters of the team could get this reaction from a disciplined agent.

"I'm not so sure Ma'am." Weiss said honestly as she watched several other agents bring restraints and then take Cinder away on a trolly, no doubt they had a cell ready for her that Ruby had probably designed.

"Not even Captain Arc?" She didn't grit her teeth for this one, if anything she seemed a little bashful and shy saying his name, Weiss would like to point out that these emotions were coming from her energy and not from her face as that was as hard to read as Blake's face on a good day.

"I don't know where any of them are." Weiss admitted in a small voice, she didn't want to head back to the mansion, she had spent to many days in a lonely home with nobody else there for her… she didn't want to re-live that in someone else's house.

"Would this have anything to do with the energy surges that happened around Remnant?" Came the voice of the Director as he walked towards them, his cane tapping along the floor as he walked.

"If you went to investigate them and the disturbances managed to kill your teammates-" Began Goodwitch as Weiss then cut her off before she could finish the sentence.

"Yes the Realm stones, they are most likely the cause of this, I can't be certain they have killed them though." Weiss said strongly looking deep into the directors eyes as though daring him to challenge her on it.

"Hmmm, I know Miss Rose and Mr Ren both quite well and I can be certain that if they have a way to survive they would take it, Captain Arc as well if the stories my father told are anything to go by, can you speak to the rest of your team having the ability to do everything to survive? If indeed they are still alive?" He asked, an honest question with a weighted answer.

Weiss thought about Blake, the proud queen that had a nation and a people to protect and return to, who was always right behind the leader when charging into a fight and placed aside her own ego to follow because she recognised others had skills she did not.

Yang who would punch your lights out if you so much as had a bad thought about any of her friends, who would take the punishment if it meant that nobody else would every get hurt… who would hold up the very sky if it meant that her friends would be happy.

Nora who just wanted everyone to laugh, Nora who just wanted to have friends that she could trust, who despite being the most powerful of the group was happy listening to a mere mortal with no powers because she recognised that he was kind to her and honest.

Now while Weiss could not say she knew much about Pyrrha she believed in Jaune, and if Jaune believed in Pyrrha then Weiss would believe in Pyrrha, she would fight because it was what she did best, Weiss had her answer and she gave it with firm conviction.

"Yes I do, and I pity anyone that would try to stop them."

---

Blake was really not doing so good right now and if anyone out there would like to give her a helping hand then she would accept it, if it was out of pity it did not matter she would take it right now!

FWOOM

A massive club of pure rock smashed into the ground next to her as a giant slammed it into the ground where she had been stood not a few second previously, that was a close one and she really did not want to test the limits of her armours integrity, it might be an unbreakable substance, but she was not an unbreakable person.

It had all happened in a flash of blinding light as Blake thought back to it, somehow Mercury had known about the count down and when he saw Blake go to stab the rock he himself had leaped off the mountain top and down far away, this struck a little bit of fear into her heart but if she was going to die saving her kingdom and by extension the planet, then it was all worth it in the end for her, she would gladly give her life if it meant that the sun would rise upon her people again and once the dagger plunged into the stone her vision had turned white and she had woken still on top of a mountain, although now it was the lowest in a range of them and there were giants around her, specifically 3 of them that were trying to bludgeon her to death, they spoke in a completely different language to any she had ever heard before and she was far too focused on moving and not getting squished to really try and decipher her words.

Landing on top of the next club that came down Blake realised that while she might not be strong enough to hurt them, she was probably fast enough to make them hurt each other and she then jumped onto the back of one's head as the club was raised to knock her off, then all she had to do was slide down the giants back as another swung their club and struck the back of the current giants head, as she landed on a little ledge on the side of another mountain she looked back to see 2 of the giants then swinging at each other and the third one stuck in the middle as it took a club to the mouth knocking out a few teeth that looked to be about 3 Ren's high and at least 6 Yangs wide.

Yang… she hoped her friend was safe, she hoped all of her friends were safe really, but the growling that she had heard over the communicator from Yang was painful, like she was hurting herself as she fought, Blake would check up on her later when she found her again, because she would find her.

Taking a more detailed look around now she was not being attacked Blake could certainly work out that she was not on Remnant anymore, the massive mountains, the giants and also the large and monstrous snake in the back ground that she could see looming there were very clear factors that told her she was in a completely different place and since she destroyed a Realm stone she could only guess she was in the Realm of the giants.

Turning when she could hear a foot fall she stood face to face with a young boy, he held a bow and an arrow and they were nocked and aimed at her, the young boy looked very confused and also a little scared as well.

"W-who are you?" He asked in a voice that could only belong to a young boy, the 'who' breaking slightly but that happened with age after all.

Blake raised both of her hands up showing she was unarmed and then took a small step towards him. "I mean you no harm child, I simply wish to find my way back to my friends."

The arrow remained pointed at her and so she tried for a different tactic. "My name is Blake, what is your name?"

Just as the boy was about to answer another voice rung out from the little cave that Blake saw the opening to. "Ah there you are." It was soft, warm and had the tone of a mother, instantly reminding Blake of her own mother and the warmth she held in her voice for her whenever she found her hiding around the kingdom.

As the woman stepped out into the light Blake noticed that she was tall, about as tall maybe as Jaune and while she wore only a simple tunic top and a skirt of some material Blake could tell that she had just as much if not more muscle on her than Yang possibly did, her hair was also just as long and beautiful as Yang's, but this mystery woman had a fair colour to it, and then there was the axe that she carried in her grip, it might have been a relaxed grip but just one look at it and Blake was certain not even her armour would protect her if that was swung at her.

"I was wondering when you would arrive." She said with a beautiful smile on her face, her eyes gazing right into Blake's and she thought about removing her mask to properly look into the beautiful orbs this woman had, she was magical, sure Blake had seen some beautiful people but this woman was-

"Sorry, I often forget, it calms down my husband and I assumed you would need it as well, being in a new place like this can be daunting for many, but you are made of stronger stuff." Suddenly she was not as stunning as beforehand, while she was still beautiful she now wasn't so striking, so magical – that was it she had used a spell of some description to make her appear more beautiful, it was an illusion as her sent had not changed in the slightest, oh Yang would never let her hear the end of it with jokes and crude comments if she could see her now.

"Now then, shall we get started?" She asked in a pleasant voice, placing the axe she held on her back where she heard a click hold it in place.

"Mother who is this?"

"This is a friend my child, one who will only be with us for a moment before she needs to go help her friends." The woman explained as she placed a hand on her sons bow and lowered it to the ground, the boy looking slightly confused and then he put the arrow back in his quiver.

"Should we tell father?"

"I'm sure he will work it out for himself when we return home. Come Blake, it is not too long a walk, I imagine you have questions yes?"

Yes she did. "How did you know I was going to arrive?"

"It was foretold in a prophecy, I had the vision a long time ago and you were there."

"So does this mean that I will get back to my friends then?"

"Prophecies are strange things Blake." Was all she said as they walked then in silence through the cave and then out into a little wooded area where they past a tree with a golden hand print on it, then they saw a wooden hut, it looked big like a house and Blake thought it did seem quite homely indeed, outside of the hut and sitting near a fire was a man, it was difficult to make out how tall he probably was but Blake could see the muscles in his body, he gave Blake an intense look and then returned to gazing back at the fire, sorrow in his movements.

The woman sat down next to him and placed a hand over his own, the young boy then sat on a seat on the other side of the man, taking off his bow and quiver, showing the man the rabbits he had managed to catch. The man grunted in recognition but the boy seemed to think that was good enough as he nodded and then began to skin them while the man took another and a knife from his belt to skin a different rabbit.

"Why don't you start from the beginning Blake? And tell me why you thought it a good idea to destroy the Realm stones." The woman said as she watched her husband and son skin the animals.

"They were hurting Weiss and Nora-"

"The goddess of thunder Nora?! The future queen of Valkyrie was getting hurt?!" The boy cried out suddenly as the man then gripped his knife tightly and then resumed his skinning of the animal.

"Son, let her speak."

"Yes mother."

"The energy coming from them was causing them both pain, they both were saying that the Realms then could all be brought together and merge into one and that doing so would be disastrous for the world tree? I'm not so sure about that but I will admit it is making more sense now that I think about it."

"I suppose she wasn't aware of the other reason for the stones." The woman muttered to herself as Blake looked at her curiously. "I cannot send you back to your Realm, but I can send you to another where a friend of yours currently is in a much more fortunate position than your others are, especially more fortunate than what Nora Valkyrie is in."

Blake nodded, if there was any chance that she could get back to Yang, to her friends then she would take it. "Yes please, anything to help my friends."

"Very well." The woman approached a pile of rocks and then she waved her hand and they fixed together into a doorway which glowed in a bright light. "Simply step through the doorway and you will be reunited with one member of your team, it will then be up to you to find the others."

"Is that not part of the prophecy?" Blake could not help the curiosity, hearing that she was a part of prophecy was an interesting thing, the woman simply smiled as she then gestured to her husband.

"What did you tell me dear?"

He grunted slightly and then looked at Blake again and then said in a deep voice that Blake could just feel the regret and pain through. "Fate only binds you if you let it."

And with those words now floating in her head she turned back to the woman and held out a hand as a thank you, the woman then gripped her arm tightly and smiled again at her, a beautiful smile full of so much warmth, she really did look like her mother when she smiled like that. "I wish you the best Blake Belladonna, and know that your ancestors are proud of you."

Then she felt the rush of something pash through her as she stepped into the light and it was so powerful it knocked the very wind out of her and she fell down on to all fours and sucked in a deep breath to replace the air in her lungs, that was when she heard her name being called out.

"-Ke? Blake?" And when she looked up she saw armoured legs and a shapely figure with long red hair and emerald eyes looking at her with a concerned look on her face as she then saw a hand enter he vision and she took it, allowing Pyrrha to pull her up to her feet, the woman was taller than her and she also smelt quite sweaty, although Blake imagined that was half because of a fight and then half because they were in a kind of jungle right now, surrounded by elves.

They were surrounded by elves all of who were looking at the new comer with level gazes, some didn't even give her a second look and instead went back to what they were doing like this happened far too often for them to give it more than one look. "Blake are you okay?" her concern was quite touching considering this would be the first time they would actually be talking to each other.

"Yes, it would seem your visit to a different Realm went a little better than mine." She observed as Pyrrha didn't have any arrows sticking out of her and Blake doubted she had to avoid giants trying to play wack-a-Blake.

"Um yes, although I did appear with Cardin as well, but they locked him up and after I explained I knew Nora they treated me like an ally, have you seen any of the others?" Pyrrha asked nervously as she steadied Blake who nodded her off and she stood on her own.

"I was about to ask you the same thing, I arrived and was attacked by giants and since Ren was the one that asked for elves, I think perhaps our magician might have gotten the spell wrong." Blake explained as she followed Pyrrha to a seat.

"Yes indeed, the elves here offered to help us find the others and they are talking across the other Realms they can, just to the dwarfs and strangely to the fire Realm as well, they say they don't mind the heat, but they lost contact with Valkyrie after a group of their people were half locked up and half kicked out, apparently the prince is in control? I don't know who that is."

"Nora's brother, we've tangled with him before, he's a tricky one. God of tricks actually, always appeared to be a step ahead of us, even if we beat him it seems like we don't actually win-win, just managed to not lose yet… this must have been his plan but I have no idea how it is a plan, it just seems like a bit of a mess." Blake admitted as she removed her mask, shaking out her hair as Pyrrha glanced around and then her green eyes locked on to her yellow ones.

"Blake I'm worried about the others. I-I know I only just joined but Jaune – he put so much trust in me and he-"

"He spoke a lot about you while you were out, I must confess I was not on your side at first but Jaune believes in you, and if he does then I believe in you." Blake admitted honestly as Pyrrha seemed to relax a bit more.

"Oh thank you, a-a-and I am sorry about the whole attacking you thing before." Pyrrha winced as she said it like she was quite ashamed of it all, but she did say sorry so Blake couldn't stay to mad at her and it was not in her nature to hold a grudge for fighting for the wrong side if it was not you in control.

"Don't mention it, its behind us now and you are making amends." Blake waved off the concern as she took a drink of the water that one of the elves brought over, they also looked like they wanted to say something.

"Remnants, we have contact with the fire Realm, they have 2 of your kind there." He said with an air of authority and then Blake and Pyrrha were up quickly out of their seats and racing behind him a quick as they could, spotting the portal which lead to the Realm of fire and seeing several monsters throwing fire around at a figure that was artfully dodging and returning fire.

"Is that Ren?" Pyrrha asked as she watched for a second and then saw him just about duck behind a rock to avoid some lava swept at him. Blake didn't respond as she launched herself through the portal with Pyrrha right on her heels, it was then that Blake realised as fast as she might have been on land, Pyrrha was faster in the air and Blake and Ren both stared in awe as she rocketed through the lava beast that was about to squish him and then exploded it in a black energy blast.

"Ugh!" She cried out as she hit the floor and took a deep breath. "That was painful, I didn't expect it to be that hot." She admitted, Ren then picked himself up and walked over to a boulder and dragged a man out from behind it, he was messy and his jacket had burn marks on it but he looked alive, and he was coming around to consciousness.

"I know not where we are Doctor Merlot, but I do know this, your beast is down, you are beaten; surrender." Ren said as he stood above the so called doctor. "I can help you, please just let me."

"You have your mothers heart don't you boy, you might be the spitting image of your father, move like him, fight like him, carry his legacy but you have her heart… you know the last words she said to me before I killed her were that she hoped I would find peace, do you know how crazy she was to think that?"

Ren's knuckles went white around the grip of his bow as he stared down at the man and Blake had just made it over to see him stood there all tensed up, Pyrrha had just gotten to her feet and was coming over as well.

"Well I'll tell you this I found peace when she died, and I found it a few seconds after when I saw the murder in your father's eyes, knowing that he was just like me, that deep down he was nothing more than a murderous - agh!"

He was cut off by Ren grabbing him around the throat and squeezing as he glared down at him, applying more pressure.

"Ren?!" Blake called out beside him reaching to grab his arm, she would pull him off if she needed to but this right here need to be his choice completely.

"DO – GUH – IT!" Merlot croaked out as the choking continued.

"Ren this isn't who you are, your parents wouldn't want you to kill him and you don't either, think of what Nora would think of you right now." Blake tried desperately, she didn't want to force her friend to stop but she would if needed to.

It was at that moment however that Rens eyes then widened in surprise and he released his grip staring in horror at his hands and then with a tremble going through his body he stepped off of Merlot.

"Agh, don't have the guts do you boy? Same as your father, even after I killed your mother he backed out when he thought about how she would look at him as well, so weak the both of you, when I have the girl in my grasp after Roman is done with her I will make her scream so loud that you will-"

THWACK

Merlots head hit the ground as he was once again knocked unconscious, this time not by the Realm stone exploding in his face but by an arrow impacting between his eyes as Ren glared at him and then looked ashamed before turning to Blake and then Pyrrha and then back to Blake, giving her a small smile as the queen stepped forward and took him in a short hug and then with an arm resting on his shoulder he spoke to them.

"Thought you were fast?"

"Thought you could handle a massive walking target, what took you?"

"Kept melting my arrows, you?"

"I had giants, Pyrrha here got it easy with the elves."

"I'm sorry!"

Ren and Blake shared a look. "You don't need to be sorry, but can you perhaps carry him, I don't think it is wise for me to do so."

"Of course, this way to the elves, the portal stayed open." And then Pyrrha flew above them while holding Merlot as Ren and Blake walked back and she patted him on the back.

"You did the right thing."

Ren gave her a level look and then broke the eye contact as he looked down at his feet, shame crawling up his spine at the thoughts he had, but he knew speaking them would do him some good. "Despite my words, I did want to kill him just then, I wanted to rid the world of him."

"But he would never leave you though, that's what you told me remember?" Blake spoke the words that he had said to her as she contemplated killing Adam, it seemed like a lifetime ago that day and yet she felt all the better that she had not gone through with it.

Ren remembered those words, he even had a small smile on his face as he next addressed Blake, who then looked relieved behind her mask that he was okay. "Yeah, I guess I'm right."

"Don't you mean 'I guess you're right'?" She asked back with a teasingly irritated tone, but one of understanding.

"No, but I do mean thank you Blake, you are a good friend, and if you need me for anything you have it." He offered to her honestly and genuinely.

Blake nodded and patted his back once more before dropping her hand and then speeding up the walk to catch up to Pyrrha who was stood next to the portal with Merlot in her arms, no chance of him breaking out of her hold. "Same here, we got to keep the powerhouses in check don't we?"

"A burden to bare." Ren said

"With patience to spare." Blake finished, not the first time they had said that and it surely would not be the last time either.

Once they passed through the portal Pyrrha asked if Merlot could be kept in a similar place as Cardin and the elves were very quick to take him, with Pyrrha promising that once this was all over they would be taking them both back to Remnant with them and not burdening the elves any longer with their problems. Meanwhile Ren was twirling around and taking in the sounds and the sights of the elven village, it was a hunters paradise and an archers dream, there were targets everywhere and every single one of the elves carried a bow on their back, arrows were sticking out of pretty much every wooden structure and Ren could smell the smoke of campfires and burning meat, it was amazing.

"Okay so that is 3 of us together again, and if we can now say that Roman is behind this then we know he will have taken Nora as his personal prisoner." Blake began as they all sat back down at a group of tree stumps and Ren nodded in agreement as Pyrrha looked between the 2.

"But where could the others possibly be and how are we going to find them?" She asked with worry, thinking about Jaune and how nice he was to her, the first person to be nice unconditionally.

"We have to trust in their abilities and if they know what we do then I can only imagine that they are thinking the same thing right now; get to Nora. Because if we can get to her, then she can get to the rest of us, she can travel between the Realms and then she can get the others." Ren explained as he played with an arrow head. "So our mission is what I imagine will be the others; get to Valkyrie and save our friend."

Blake and Pyrrha then both nodded, each silently worried about a different blond member of the team.

---

CRASH

Yang's fist shattered the little woman's face as she landed a beautiful left hook that would have floored any professional boxer (or in her case sent them halfway across the kingdom), instead the tricky little woman was shattered into a million tiny pieces, leaving behind nothing but the umbrella she was carrying.

Yang had been fighting her for ages now, she had heard the countdown and destroyed the Realm stone and there was an explosion of white that blinded her and then she felt herself being tackled and saw the umbrella with a blade about to strike and she had resumed the fight, and it had been going on for a while, this chick had a good kick on her and excellent head movement as well.

So that punch Yang landed made her feel very good about herself, and now it was just her in the snowy tundra of Atlas, she would hope that Weiss would open up a portal in a second so she could get home and have a nice shower to get the snow out of her hair, the cold didn't bother her but it did weird things to her hair like making it stick up at odd ends and that just didn't look good.

Climbing out of the crater with the umbrella in one hand, perhaps Nora would want it or Weiss could lock it away in her magical kingdom, either way it was a trophy that she had won through battle, hell maybe she would put it on her wall, she had collected a few trinkets of a few fights, a robot eye, one of Emeralds guns that Ren had managed to grab and even a mask from that chainsaw guy that tried to saw her in half.

Brought out of her thoughts Yang looked around and saw that she was not in the Atlas tundra any more, because where she had originally come out of the portal she recognised the crater and could also see both the bunker where she was experimented on and also see the edges of the city.

Yet now all Yang could see was white snowy peaks, a lake frozen into ice, glaciers sticking up from it, snow blanketing the ground as far as she could see and there were no kingdoms in any direction. Taking a quick spin around and then blinking a few times and even slapping herself to make sure it wasn't a dream she then started to panic a little and set off into a run and then leaped into the air and launched herself towards one of the peaks in the hopes of maybe being able to see something from that height, and when she landed she gazed around and saw nothing but the snow laying around her.

"IS THERE ANYBODY OUT HERE!" Yang bellowed into the tundra, only hearing the rumble of her voice echoing through the distance, not seeing any movement at all… she was alone.

"RUBY!" She yelled out into the distance, hoping that her sister would hear her but nothing came back to her other than her own desperate voice.

"BLAKE!" Her voice broke a little at saying her name, emotion getting the better of her as she realised that she could be trapped here for the rest of her life without seeing her ever again.

"WEISS! NORA! JAUNE! REN! PYRRHA!" Yelling the others names into the distance her heart broke a little more with each person that she said, the first friends that she had in ages that didn't want her for her looks, her strength, that valued her opinions, that listened to her and respected her, that didn't fear her and instead treated her like an equal.

In her sadness at never again being able to see them, the emotion inside her quickly turned into rage and she roared out and threw the umbrella towards the frozen lake, watching as it flew and then her mind cleared as she watched a glow appear at the tip where the blade came out and then she had a moment of thought, if this was a magical item then it was possible that it could help her get through to Weiss. So Yang quickly launched herself off the mountain after the umbrella she had foolishly throw and landed with a heavy impact at the shoreline of the frozen lake, seeing the hole that it had made when she launched it.

Without a second though Yang took a deep breath and dived in after it, the cold would not bother her, she had the ability to heat herself up after all so it was a fruitless effort, however the lack of air might get to her after a while, but she spied her prize slowly sinking as she swam towards it and then she grasped it firmly in her grip and began to swim upwards, the hole she had made had frozen over and she had to make a new one.

Simple for the strongest one there is and she took a deep breath, the freezing air making it a little hard on her lungs but it was better than the water at the very least so there was that, now all Yang had to do was figure out a magical object and use it expertly… simple stuff obviously, she saw Weiss do magic and it was all about doing cool hand signs and waving them around in weird and complicated patterns, but maybe it was about slashing the umbrella and swinging it around in cool ways instead.

Yang decided to try that and was for the first time pleased that she was alone because she thought she looked a little dumb doing all of this, if Blake saw her doing this stuff then the queen would never let her live it down, she would be teased mercilessly, not that Yang couldn't take it, in-fact she would say she gave back just as good as she got so it was all fair in her eyes.

Making a particularly long slash downwards with the umbrella Yang noticed that the glow at the tip was greater this way and she saw that as progress, doing it a few more times the glow was the same, not growing but neither shrinking, perhaps she needed to think of someone?

Yang cast her thoughts to Blake and slashed downwards again, while the glow did not disappear Yang could tell it did not grow, so she did this for each of her friends and found that Weiss and Nora got the larger glows, but while she did love them she felt like the love she had for Ruby would have been the strongest and then Blake, their friendship was a strange one but it worked for them and it was very comfortable and natural as well.

Perhaps instead of a person it was focused more on a place, and so she thought about her home, the mansion that her parents had and now that she and her new family all lived in and then the glowing brightened up a slight bit more which could only mean that Yang was getting closer to figuring it all out, this was most likely a tool that was used to travel to all of the different places, she just really need to think of the place was all.

Deciding to yell out loud Yang slashed down just as soon as she said. "MY HOME IN REMNANT!" The force that she said it with and the energy she put behind it made the umbrella glow the brightest Yang had seen it and also left a trail behind it as well, but this wasn't a thin trail, it widened out into a portal like what Weiss could make and it gave Yang a look at the mansion, she could finally go home and so Yang cast one last look around the cold and then jumped through and landed on the soft grass in the garden, a nice warm breeze touching her skin and the sound of birds chirping out.

She had made it back, and now it was time to find her friends as Yang sprinted into the house and called out for Penny. "Penny you there?"

"Of course best girl, how can I help?" Came the cheerful voice of Ruby's A.I, always so happy, Yang really admired that about her.

"Do you know where the others are, can you find their communication units?" Yang asked as she moved towards the meeting room where the world map of Remnant instantly booted up.

"I can only find Ice Queens, the others are not on Remnant, which is quite concerning and I do hope that Ruby is okay… you will find her won't you?"

Yang was touched at the sentiment shown by Penny, for someone that was just code she had more heart than a lot of people. "Yeah I will, where is Ice Queen right now can you contact her? I think that pint sized woman knocked mine out in the fight."

"Of course, bringing up the line now."

"Hello? Penny is that you?" Came the posh voice of Weiss over the speakers and Yang let out a little sigh of relief at the sound, she never thought that she would have been so happy to hear it in her life after the short fear of maybe stranded on a planet of nothing but ice.

"Hey there Weissy it's Yang, I made my way back home."

"Yang! You're okay, oh thank the maidens, where are you right now?"

"I'm at the meeting room." No sooner had she finished the sentence than a portal opened up and Weiss was stood on the other side and Yang observed her, slightly dirt dress, hair a little messy but Yang doubted she looked much better, however that didn't matter as the moment Weiss made eye contact she rushed through and gave her a big hug and Yang wrapped her own arm around her and brushed her hair slightly, leaning into the hug. "Hey there."

"I thought I was alone again." Weiss admitted as she pulled away and then took a seat at the table, Yang taking the chair next to her and giving her a warm smile to share in her thoughts.

"Me too, I thought I was going to be alone in that ice Realm forever. Also what happened to your spell? You know Ruby is going to have a lot to say about that don't you?" Yang half teased as she relaxed a little after being in the presence of her friend.

"I don't know, I did the incantation and the signs correctly, the only thing that could have gone wrong is if someone tampered with it, someone like Roman, but I don't know why, how we were set up was already slightly random, we had no idea that there would be his group there trying to stop us, so it makes no sense to me."

"Maybe he just wanted to put us off our game? Besides I doubt he changed Nora's portal, she is the only one he is bothered about, and we don't know that he changed all of us, he could have just done it to some of us." Yang reasoned as she played with the umbrella a little, drawing Weiss' attention to it.

"Well at least you have an umbrella, that will help us." She said sarcastically as she rolled her eyes and Yang looked at her confused.

"Do you not know what it is?"

"It keeps you dry obviously Yang, you know I come from a rich family but even I was not that removed from society."

"No – well yeah maybe it does that, but it allowed me to travel back here, through the Realms."

"What?" The look of shock and surprise on Weiss' face was a funny one and any other situation Yang would have burst out laughing.

"I know you heard me." She responded, not going to repeat herself since Weiss was now sputtering and trying to string some words together.

"Why didn't you say that before?"

"Because it only worked after I thought of a place that I had been before and I have never been to Nora's home Realm… but I have been to one of the other Realms! This was before you joined, Nora got a message from her dad that some frost giants had forced people from their villages, I thought for sure we were going to be in the cold, but we ended up in the elven Realm and the people had to seek refuge in Valkyrie." Yang explained as she came to a startling realisation jumping up in excitement.

"And you saw the elven Realm!" Weiss then matched the energy that she put out, although she would probably deny it and say that it was a dignified level of excitement.

"And I saw the elven Realm." Yang confirmed and then winced slightly as she remembered something else, or rather didn't remember some stuff. "I don't remember it very well though so it might take me a few times."

"I can clean up your memory, bring it to the forefront of your mind and allow you to think on it clearer." Weiss the calmed her worries as she spoke confidently and firmly, sure of herself that this spell would work flawlessly.

"Brilliant, maybe the elves can help us and maybe we can find whoever got caught up in that Realm, now how does this spell work?"

---

A soft thud of footsteps was what managed to wake Ruby as she was being carried along by 2 people, their hushed voices were the next thing to come to her senses but then as she slowly blinked the unconsciousness out of her eyes and noticed that she was not wearing her helmet. When Ruby noticed this she flexed her fingers and moved her arms and legs and found that not only was she on a make shift stretcher but also she was without her armour, although she was still wrapped up in her cape and also her right hand had a gauntlet on it still which was fortunate for her, while the others had combat skills to fall back on Ruby was not so lucky, although she wondered to herself if Weiss knew how to fight without her magic.

"Aye, we just need to get a little bit further is all."

"But what if-"

"No they won't be able to find us, we are still very well hidden after all." Ruby rolled herself over and could not see the people that were carrying her and then when she looked under the stretcher she saw 2 dwarfs holding it at either end above their heads, the one at the back saw her looking and then gave a panicked look.

"Brother, the Remnant is awake." He whispered to the one at the front.

"Good, maybe she can walk and we can get there quicker." The stretcher was then placed down and Ruby stood up on shaky legs, the last thing she remembered was a blinding white light and then all her systems shutting down as she passed out from the blast. "Greetings Remnant; I am Dugror and this is my brother Thoron, we are dwarfs, and we really need to get moving, so this way." And then the stretcher was tossed to the side as the dwarfs set off with a faster pace as Ruby walked next to them, it was quite refreshing to her to be taller than someone, although they were short by nature so it might not count overall but Ruby still considered it a victory in a way.

"Why do we need to hurry? And my name is Ruby." She asked as she took in the surroundings, she was still in an underground cave system, except this time there were no Atlas equipment laying around there was instead tracks of minecarts, pickaxes discarded and other more basic and primitive mining tools; she even saw a group of oil lamps, no powerlines to power up the lights and she thought that was curious, perhaps she was no longer in Atlas.

"Ah well that is a little more difficult to explain right now Ruby, but first of all welcome to the Realm of the dwarfs and second things are not all that great here, word travels fast in these caves and we should be travelling quicker." Dugror explained as he stopped at a cross roads section of the cave and then led them down the right path, before continuing with his explanation. "You have heard of Roman right? The disgraced prince of Valkyrie?"

"We have met a few times now."

"And you survived? See brother I told you she was going to be of some help!"

"Yeah, yeah, anyway, ol Roman very recently stage a takeover of the kingdom and booted the dwarfs and others from the Realm, and to make sure we are kept on our toes he sent a few of his hunter beasts to keep us from trying to rise up against him and cut off our communication with the other Realms, we are trying to build a way around it but it's not as easy as you would think it is."

Ruby nodded her head slightly, it made sense to her that Roman would move quickly, Nora had said to her before when the topic of her brother came up that he liked to make up plans and schemes that played into each other like this. "I know a thing or 2 about building so I could help y-"

"Quiet!" And Ruby instantly shut her mouth and then placed a hand over it, although even if she was still talking she would have both heard and felt the heavy impact of movement as a large figure made its way through the caves towards them, and then a large being appeared from the darkness, about the size of that Hazel guy they had fought in Mistral, but the big difference was that this guy had the head of a lion and also his entire body was covered in fur as well, and he held in his hand a massive mace.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't you 2, you been causing all sorts of ruckus and the big boss ain't to happy with that." The lion guy growled out as he bared his fangs at the 3 of them, Ruby looking down at her new companions to figure out how they were going to play this, or if she needed to come up with a quick plan.

"ARRRRR!" Okay no plan then as Ruby watch Thoron charge at the new comer and leap through the air at him, only to get swatted to the side and smacked into the cave's hard rock wall, where a dwarf shaped indent now remained as Ruby's eyes widened at the boldness of the man, she then looked at Dugror and he drew a short sword and he himself charged getting swiftly kicked back along the ground and ending up at Ruby's feet where she then looked around to see if there was going to be anyone else coming to fight the lion man.

"Nope, just me." She said under her breath while the lion man laughed to himself and then pointed at the dwarf he had kicked.

"HAHAHA! Is that the best you have master builder? A pitiful display – oh and what do we have here then runt?" Ruby at this point had wondered closer to him and was looking up at him curiously.

"I'm going to have to ask that you stop hurting my new friends here."

"Oh? Are you now runt and how do you plan to stop me?" He had lowered his face down so that it was now level with hers, and he had also shown off his fangs, the teeth looked as long as her arm and would surely be able to tear through skin in an instant and that somehow seemed to be just one of his endless weapons as he also had those razor sharp claws on his hands and feet that he also showed off, but he had fallen into Ruby's trap instantly; underestimating her.

"With this." And Ruby held her hand up below his chin with the palm of her gauntlet glowing a bright silver.

"What? A little torc-"

BLIRTZZZZZZZZZ

As a pure powerful beam of silver Arc energy blasted from the palm, now usually Ruby could regulate the power output from her systems in her helmet, but since she was without it she had to do it manually and while she had been walking up to him she had fiddled with it behind her back and adjusted the beam to be at its full power output, he could probably take it after all and Ruby was a little annoyed as he had thrown those 2 around like they were nothing and they had been nice to her.

She held her footing as the beam basted the lion man into the roof of the cave and then she focused it so it blasted him across it and then back down the way that he came, the pain in her chest made her have to shut it off but she heard a loud thud in the distance down the cave and also after the beam died she could not hear any signs that he would be getting up any time soon, although Ruby then fell down to her knees as she clutched her chest, removing the gauntlet as the palm was now burnt out, not built to handle that much power output… next time though it would be.

"And the name is Iron Reaper." She managed to give out in a pained gasp, she got the one liner out, now she just needed to work on looking cool afterwards like Blake and Ren, they were the real cool ones of the group, Yang and Jaune were just massive dorks she had realised, they might cut an impressive figure and stand with all that muscle but if Jaune wasn't giving an inspiring speech or tactical advice he was a dork and Yang… bless her she was such a dork around Blake especially recently.

Nora was cool though, and Weiss could be a bit cool at times, she just needed to relax a little more is all. Ruby did suspect that maybe Pyrrha would prove to be as cool as Blake and Ren, although she just didn't know much about her, she really wanted to know about her though as it would be another cool friend to have.

"H-hey, you good Rem-, uh Ruby?" The voice of Dugror brought her back to the present. "You look like you were lost in the mines there for a moment."

"Yeah I get in my head sometimes, lots to think about all the time, but I'm here. Just tell me we are close, I need to lie down." Draining that much power from her Arc reactor took a lot out of her sometimes and after a good lie down and some milk then Ruby was always ready to rock and roll again, she should still probably check on the lion guy though. "Is he going to be okay, I hit him quite hard."

"We are actually here right now, just need to open up the forge entrance." Said Thoron as he limped over to the stone wall and then pressed a series of stones to open up a secret lair. "And trust me it will take a lot more than that to put down one of Roman's constructs, but it will take him out for at least enough time for us to rest up."

Ruby nodded in understanding and then followed him through the secret door. "The forge?" Ruby observed around the supposed forge and saw everything you could imagine in a fantasy blacksmith location, swords, axes, hammers, a fire burning, buckets of lava, benches with weapons littered upon them, anvils with hammers atop them and they even had a goat there as well.

"Yes we are dwarfs! Builders, miners and inventors, the finest in all the Realms, we made a Hammer fit for a daughter of Valkyrie!" Dugror spread his arms wide and then winced slightly as the secret door closed and the 3 of them sat down at a nearby table, already Ruby felt better off her legs and when she was passed a mug of white liquid she glanced at Thoron who then told her. "It's just milk."

Taking a sip and finding out that it was, was the greatest treat in the world and Ruby had almost forgotten the other discovery she had just found out and quickly back tracked to that. "You made the Hammer?"

"That would be me and my brother, still got some of the material lying around as well, figured it could be used to get the gateway working to go to Valkyrie, say are you going to help us fight? Your magic hand could be quite a good asset to have." Dugror leaned over the table and then gave her a wise old man look, she had seen Ozpin do this several times and it was now what she decided to call it whenever she saw someone else do it, it was going to stick she was sure of it.

"Uh it's not magic, but yes, I need to get to Nora, she is my friend and if she is in trouble then I have to help her." Looking around more at the materials in the corner a plan had formed in her mind, these 2 were clearly masters of their craft and combined with her knowledge and own skills they were about to be a force to be reckoned with and maybe together the 3 of them were about to do some serious science, it might actually be called magic by the others if they could see her now, Ruby could not stop the large smile that appeared on her face as she envisioned what she and her new friends could do; even if all they had was a cave and a few scraps.

"Okay, well if your friends with the princess anything we can do to help you then we will."

She turned the smile to the 2 dwarfs and they found themselves smiling right back at her, the honest joy and cheerfulness being infectious to them. "There is one thing actually; you guys ever made a suit of armour before?"

---

Jaune's shield returned to him as he then rolled out of the way of the swipe from the next Grimm and punched it with his shield to damage its eye, a few more hard punches and the monster disintegrated into dust. In all his years Jaune had never thought that he would be in a completely different Realm battling Grimm, he wasn't even sure what had happened to the Grimm that plagued Remnant for years and years before he was put into the ice, all he knew was that the moment he was brought back he expected to spend the rest of his days fighting them only to find out they didn't exist anymore.

Yet here they were, once more a plague on Jaune's life as he battled his way through the ranks of monsters, at times like this he regrated taking a more defensive stance on his fighting style, but at least he will always stay standing. Although speaking of swords it would seem that Adam was managing to hold his own quite well against the tide of monsters and was swiftly cutting through them with violent movements and aggressive tactics, however Jaune could see him eventually being overrun and without working together they were not going to survive.

"ADAM, WE NEED TO REGROUP AND FOCUS ON GETTING TO A SAFE LOCATION!" He yelled across the battlefield as he launched his shield over to knock a flying Grimm out of the air, he remembered that several of those took out numerous pilots during the war, and had it not been for the flying of Qrow it would have grounded them more often than not.

"FUCK OFF HUMIE! I DON'T NEED YOUR SUPPORT!" Just as he said this a Beowulf swept him across the battle ground and he was pounced on by several creeps as Jaune charged and knocked them all off and extended his hand to Adam while he blocked the downwards swipe of an Ursa.

"Come on, we need to help each other to survive." Jaune groaned out under the strain, he might be strong enough to push a car over but he was nowhere near the strength of Pyrrha, Nora and certainly Yang.

"I do not need you." Adam spat as he decapitated a different Ursa and then moved to run away when all of the Grimm suddenly stopped moving and began to crawl away, he took a moment and then turned back to Jaune who took a few deep breaths.

"Well that's a good sign." Jaune then just about managed to block a sword slash and then a kick but took the punch around the face due to how long he had been fighting now, it felt like he had been fighting for days but it must have been only an hour at the most.

"While they feast on your corpse I can escape." As he raised his sword over Jaune's heart but a dark tendril stopped him from stabbing, and then he was being held up in the air as he struggled valiantly to get out.

"Enough mortals, your attempts to escape are as pathetic as your posturing." Came a soft voice as a woman stepped forward from the darkness and Jaune was slightly taken back, she looked a lot like an older Nora and he almost thought that this was her mother, but from the way Nora talked Jaune could only guess that this was another relative as she spoke of her mother as a bright woman and this one was the opposite.

She was beautiful, long white hair with bleached white skin and dark veins spreading all across her skin with blood red eyes, she carried herself in a confident air and looked down her nose at both Adam and Jaune, although it was more directed at the noises of struggle Adam briefly made before she wrapped another tendril around his mouth to silence him, she looked just like the witch in the woods that his mother used to describe to him from the fairy tale story books, Jaune always thought she was quite pretty as well.

"Hello there, I'm sorry we seemed to have ended up in this place by accident, if you could help us find the exit then we will happily leave." Jaune tried as he stood up straight and put on an easy smile, shield still on his arm but he opened his body language up to appear non-threatening.

The woman tilted her head at Jaune and a small smile of her own crossed her face and she seemed to glide across the ground towards him as she stopped just a little away from him and then she spoke. "And you think I shall let you leave without taking anything in return do you?" Jaune swallowed the lump in his throat as he looked over at Adam and then back at her, he hoped the others would understand.

"Me, take me, not him, let him return home and do whatever you need with me so long as you make sure no harm comes to him." Jaune offered firmly, he really hoped his team would understand his decision.

"How strange, dressed as a soldier and yet will not leave his enemy, perhaps you are not a soldier but merely a boy playing one?" The small laughter held no actually amusement behind it, not for Jaune at the least but it served to amuse her and as she trailed around Jaune she brushed her finger along the edges of his armour, her dark nails making a scraping sound and as she then peered over his shoulder she tried to see what emotion he had on his face, she pouted when it revealed that he remained passive.

"I am a soldier, but I am also someone who can't leave another behind, he might not be my friend… but I don't think of him as my enemy." Jaune explained to the mythical woman as she then glided around to the front of him and placed a hand on her chin, then she flicked her wrist and Adam was gone in a shadow and when the shadow disappeared Adam was nowhere to be found, causing Jaune to panic a little. "Where is he? Is he okay?"

Now the woman looked very amused and there was another emotion in her eyes as well. "I looked into his heart and soul you know, if I gave him the offer he would have left you without a second thought… but you didn't, in-fact you never do, when the choice is given to you in so many different ways you always guarantee everyone else's safety but your own; why?"

Jaune had been asked this question all his life his old friends, other soldiers, civilians he saved, Ruby asked him, Yang asked him, Blake asked him, Weiss asked him and even Ren asked him yesterday because he was curious, the only one who never asked him was Nora, she said she knew the reason and when she guessed she was right, so Jaune gave the answer, the honest answer he always gave. "Stand up for what you believe in, and I believe in making sure people are protected, I don't like bullies, I never have so I stop them… but I don't kill them, I never kill. My mum used to tell me that you always stand up for what you believe in, so I do and I promise you I can do it all day, and an Arc never goes back on his promise."

The woman waved her hand again and this time Jaune felt his stomach tug and he fell to his knees as he clutched his stomach in pain, when he looked up he noticed the woman was sitting on a dark throne and 3 items were floating behind her, a golden crown, a golden lamp and… a golden sword, it looked so familiar, so, so familiar…

"How noble, I once knew a young man who though as you do Jaune Arc, but that was another lifetime ago… now I offer you something, the chance to rest amongst your friends." The mystery woman waved her hand and suddenly there were the forms of his old friends, Ozpin, Tai, Summer and Qrow, they didn't look any different to the last time that he saw them and it took him back for a moment.

"Hey Cap, the fight is done, you did your part. Now it's time to come home buddy." Ozpin said as he held out his hand with the knowing smile he always had on his face.

"My friends." He whispered as they each smiled at him, smiles he had not seen in a very long time. "I'm sorry, I'm going to have to say no, I love these guys, but my new friends still need me… and if this is the land of the dead – where is Raven? Where is Tuckson? And if you think for one second that old Ozpin would tell me that the fight is done then you know nothing about my friends Ma'am." Jaune said with a bitter sweet smile as he gave the form of his old friends a salute and then slashed his shield right through their ghostly forms as they all turned into smoke.

"Hmmm, many have taken the offer for rest, oh well it's not like you can just leave after all, not without a price." The woman said as she placed her chin in her hands and peered down at him with a testing gaze. "You wish to go and fight Roman Torchwick then I can tell you how to beat him, but If you fall in battle, if you die in a fight, if another kills you… then your soul is mine for all eternity, you will have no rest, you will be my soldier for the rest of your days. Do we have a deal Captain Jaune Arc of Vale?"

---

Roman chuckled to himself as he watched his older sister thrash about on the floor as the very demons of her mind tortured her, he would not need the enchantment over her hammer now, she would be wracked with far too much self-guilt to ever properly pick it up again, well at least for the next 1000 years or so. Looking to his side he smiled fondly at Neo, despite her not being able to keep her umbrella he was still able to drag her back from that Realm, now that he had the power of the kingdom everything was practically effortless for him, things were just easy for him to do now.

A distant explosion drew his attention from the sights of his daughter and he stood and made his was over to the balcony in the throne room, it was quite a distance but he could just about make out some fighting going on, on the Rainbow bridge when a communication came through on the astral table, it was one of his Orc warriors.

"MY KING WE ARE UNDER ATTACK BY REMNANTS THEY AR-" He was punched away by the blond one that had only just beaten Neo and Roman narrowed his eyes at her in fury, they would never make it past his archers on the wall, those skeletons would overwhelm them with sheer numbers.

"Hey Roman! Just thought we should let you know we are coming for you, so you should probably give up now!" The insufferable blond said with a grin on her face and then she jumped away from the astral table and Roman slammed his fist down in fury destroying it, all these years of planning to make sure that he could rule, getting those so called heroes sent and stranded onto the other Realms so they would not be a problem and then they turn out to be a problem, damn them to Hel and back.

Meanwhile down on the Rainbow bridge Yang ducked and weaved through a series of axe slashed from a powerful Orc and then she struck with an uppercut knocking him into the air when Blake leaped over her head and drop kicked the Orc off the bridge into the water below, it was only over a lake so they could get to the shore easily enough.

"That's 13 now Ren!" Blake called out as she flipped over another and while he was distracted Yang suplexed him and then kicked him into another to trip them over, when she caught back up to Blake she was avoiding the club of another and Yang gave her an opening by destroying the weapon allowing Blake to strike his throat and then knees making him buckle over in pain, Yang gave her a smile and Blake seemed to smile back although it was hard to tell with her mask on, but Yang felt the appreciation all the same.

Pyrrha flew past her and blasted and punched through 6 of them in a row and Weiss followed her on a pair of ice skates waving her sword to freeze them in place, when the four of them made it to the end of the bridge after barrelling through the forces they all looked back as they watched Ren run towards them. "Well I think I ended up on 20." Yang opened up as Blake tilted her head.

"Well thanks to your set ups I got 26." Weiss then shook her head at the antics of her friends.

"Not that it is a contest, but I was freezing all of the ones that you were all knocking down and I was also making sure that the ones you knocked off were all sent back on to the bridge."

"Congratulations for playing support so your score is 0 then." Yang says cheerfully as Blake lets out a little snort as Weiss' face turns slightly red and she humps to herself as Ren finally makes it to them, panting as the bridge is quite long and none of them offered to give him a lift.

"You know, I don't like it when you throw me, but if you were to offer to carry me, then I wouldn't say no." Ren said between deep breaths. "My score was 18." He finished as he stood and stretched for a second.

"Blake wins then." Yang says proudly but then the quiet voice of Pyrrha spoke up from a step outside of the group.

"33." She says as they all turn to look at her, noticing how shy she seems about saying it, when Yang and Weiss came through the Realm portal made by the umbrella the others were all quick to greet each other with Yang and Blake sharing a hug, and Weiss and Ren both acknowledging each other deeply as they spoke, but Pyrrha just gave a wave as the others all moved on with the next stage of their plan, not leaving her out but Pyrrha just felt like she wasn't really part of the team yet.

"Well then looks like we have a winner." Ren then announced as Yang gave a quick clap for her and Blake inclined her head in respect, Weiss was about to when Pyrrha put a hand on her shoulder. "And I couldn't have done it without knowing you were watching my back."

"Alright P-Money, you're milking it there. Let's go in, everyone ready for round 2?" Yang asked as Pyrrha said a quick 'sorry!' and the others all readied themselves and Yang then kicked down the massive doors, only to get a hailstorm of arrows shot at her, Weiss then quickly threw up a shield spell and they all hit it and bounced off, but it was straining for her, magic away from Remnant was proving to use more energy than she had available and she could already feel herself start to get tired.

"Can I shoot back through the shield?" Asked Ren as he noticed the skeleton archers moving some heavy ballista to aim at the group.

"YES!" Weiss shouted as she closed her eyes in concentration and Ren nocked 2 arrows and shot through the shield, he had been borrowing some materials from the elves and he hoped they would not mind not getting them back, as the arrows hit their mark they transformed into bulls made of metal and they began charging through the groups up on one side of the wall, he shot another that was green and had scales along it and a dragon the size of a house shot out and began to attack the skeletons, with the top walls taken care of it was just the army that was in-front of them.

"Those don't count!" Yang yelled as she launched herself at a group with their swords out and Ren let out a little smirk, him and Pyrrha staying in the shield spell and each taking shots out, him with his arrows and her using her black blasts of energy, Blake decided to follow Yang out and was watching her back as she powered through the forces, slashing with her claws and sweeping them off their bone-y feet.

Roman was observing all of this with an angry expression on his face, he couldn't send Neo down there as she was still injured from the fight with that blonde one, she was stronger than he realised and he would not put her through that pain, it was only a matter of time he then knew before they burst into the throne room and tried to challenge him. Storming over he grabbed Nora and dispelled his little charm on her, stopping her twitching and shaking as she was brought out of her own head and into the room.

"Ugh." She moaned weakly as she felt like there was no strength left in her body, she had been tormented with her past mistakes, the choices she had made in battle that got her people killed, the victims of her blood lust, her deepest insecurities that she was not actually worthy of her hammer, of the throne when the time came, of her new friends, she was not worthy to be a hero.

"Look down there 'dear sister', the pathetic mortals are here, trying to save you, but not because they like you or anything, but because they think they need you to travel to get their other friends. To them you are just a tool, nothing more than that, you have always been a tool; to me, to mother, to father and to the mortals."

"Ngh." Was all that Nora could manage to get out as she tried to focus in on the fight that was happening down there but it was pointless, her vision was to blurry and she was far too tired to even try to see properly.

"In the end they will realise as I do, you are not worthy of attention, you are not even worthy of thought, you are no god or hero, you are simply… expendable." Roman said as he sat back down on his throne leaving Nora out of the trance, he quite liked the way she was weakly trying to crawl across the floor towards her hammer in an attempt to free herself.

"Oh yes please lift it. The greatest gift the former rulers could give, and they took it from – ah I probably shouldn't say, it will only hurt you when you find out it was a second hand gift after all." Roman taunted, by now Nora had shuffled over to the hammer, in her bindings it would be very difficult to break free but she reached for the handle, it was never heavy to her but at this moment it was too much.

She couldn't lift the hammer.

The crushing realisation slammed down upon her in that terrible moment, her brother was right, she was not worthy, she was not anything special, all her supposed power had been given to her and she had not earned anything for herself… she was no goddess.

Nora then curled up in on herself and felt the tears fall down her cheeks as she kept whispering to herself about how she was not worthy, and it was at that moment when the heavy doors were kicked in by Yang and Pyrrha and the group of Hunters charged in to see the sights of Roman stood above the small and crying form of their friend as he laughed and twirled around his cane.

"NORA!" Ren yelled across the room and shot an arrow that Roman effortlessly caught and even managed to catch the explosive part so only a small puff of smoke appeared from his hand and not the large blast that Ren was hoping for.

"Take him down!" Yang cried as she launched herself at him and threw a series of punches that he just used his cane to deflect and then caught one of her fists and using her own momentum threw her across the large room and through several pillars.

"I meant to redecorate." He said slyly as Blake and Pyrrha were upon him, Pyrrha opening with a blast and Blake dashing in with a claw swipe which Roman seemed to teleport through and then hook his cane around Pyrrha's leg to pull her down to the ground so he could punch her in the face. Dazing her as he swiftly moved under Blakes next claw swipe where she had to stop before she caught Pyrrha, but Roman took advantage of that and pointed his cane as the 2 of them and shot an explosive bolt of energy which sent then flying away and in a tangle of limbs as they were sprawled on the floor.

Yang then came charging back and Weiss cast a spell to multiply her in an illusion and as they all lunged from different direction Roman dodged the correct one with a smug smile on his face and wacked her with his cane as she came back at him, he even managed to grip her hair and slam her down into the floor and then he seemed to vanish into smoke as he appeared next to Weiss and lifted her by the throat. "Tricks? Illusions? Magic? Oh Ice Queen do you not know who you challenge?"

Pyrrha flew towards them quickly ready to tackle Roman but he moved Weiss in-front and at the last second she had to stop and catch the magician as she was thrown at her, then she was struck around the face again but she managed to get her own strike back in and then a few more as she moved around him while he swung. "Hmm, you're good." Roman admitted but then smiled as he ducked under Yang's punch as she tried to sneak up on him but sent her punching into Pyrrha who was smashed through the floor as a result.

"Heh, she can't fight with others yet." Roman observed as Yang looked worried and then swung back at Roman who blocked and then started to drain her energy. "You have a lot of energy, a strange energy, no matter you don't seem to get it. I'm the ruler of this place, the power that holds the Realms is mine to command, my 'parents' gave it up to me and it means I am unbeatable." He was then headbutted by Yang and she winced in pain, and then he returned the head but and sent her through the floor with Pyrrha just as he caught another arrow and tossed it at Blake who had punced from the ceiling at his, this was an electric one and it sparked through her suit and made her flail around on the ground.

"Not very clever are you archer? And you struck me as so observant." He tapped his cane to the floor and Ren was knocked away as the ground slammed up at him and he tumbled away from Roman who chuckled at the sight and was then stood over him in an instant. "You are simply beaten boy, it wasn't difficult as there is nothing spectacular about you, about any of you."

Weiss sent a blast of fire at him and then 2 rock tendrils attached themselves to his wrists and held him there as she blasted an energy bold that knocked him into a pillar in a cloud of dust and she breathed a slight sigh of relief and slumped on her sword slightly, that had taken a bit out of her and she could do with spending some time in her Sanctum to recuperate her reserves of magic.

"Do you think you got him?" Roman asked from beside her as she twisted in shock and slashed her sword at him but he effortlessly blocked and slapped her away, her unconscious body sliding up next to Ren. Roman then collected the electricity that was binding Blake up into his hand and shot it at Yang who was thrown by Pyrrha, Yang cried out in pain and was stopped in mid-air as Pyrrha over took her and she attacked Roman again, this time going faster in her attacks, some managing to slip through his guard as she focused more on speed instead of strength-

SMACK

-Pyrrha's body was knocked aside as Roman swung his cane at her, to everyone else she had simply flow right in-front of him and then stopped still as though waiting for something and then she was battered to the side, Pyrrha then groaned as she tried to get up under the rubble but found that she was a bit to hurt right now.

"Please, I can get in any of your heads in a second, I am so far above you all it is impossible for you to comprehend it." Roman spread his hands wide as he presented himself to the beaten up Hunters. "I am the greatest there is!"

A shield flew through the air and smacked the back of his head sending him toppling off his throne and down the steps leading up to it and a silence took over the room before all eyes followed the shield back to where it came from and there in his white armour stood Jaune, catching the shield and then fitting it back onto his arm, the double crescent shape and the appearance of the Captain making Yang laugh as she stood, Blake smile beneath her mask, Ren let out a relaxed sigh and Pyrrha managed to push some rubble off her to see him stood there looking determined and focused, he quickly moved over to her and gave her a hand up as she smiled at him and he gave her one back in return while Roman picked himself up from the ground, not hurt more surprised than anything else.

"H-How did you – she has never let anyone – what could you have offered her mortal?" Roman was shocked as he stared at the armoured blonde who looked him hard in the eyes and instead chose to say something else.

"Whenever someone stands above people and proclaims they are the better it always means people get hurt, so we offer you this one opportunity; stand down." Jaune ordered as the others then moved around to his side Pyrrha and Ren on his right and Yang and Blake on his left, the unconscious form of Weiss was far behind Roman at the other end of the room and Nora was near the first step of the throne where her hammer was, although Jaune noted that in her current state she would not be fighting any time soon.

Roman comprehended the order and then thought about what the mortal must have offered to escape and then he laughed as it was the appropriate reaction and while he was laughing the others watching him had a silent conversation.

"Where's Ruby?" Yang was first to ask.

"I do not know, but I know this; she will be fine. What do we know about his abilities Ren?" Jaune answered and then asked of the trusted eyes of the group.

"I-uh, I'm not sure, but Nora-" Ren tried to say as he looked from Roman to her and Jaune understood instantly.

"You're right, we worry about our friends first, Ren go snap Nora out of it, if anyone can break through to her it's you. Blake check on Weiss, make sure she is okay and move her over to Nora then join back in on the dance." The 2 of them darted off in the different directions, with Ren shooting a grateful look at Jaune as he passed him and Jaune and understanding one back at him, they didn't need words to speak between them.

"Pyrrha talk to me."

"Fast, strong, good reflexes, can move around the battlefield instantly and that cane hits harder than Yang." She answered instantly, she had been asked for combat assessments for a long time, either in the collective or in the Atlas military, but when asked by Jaune it felt the most natural and easiest to respond.

"Step 1 is distraction." Jaune nodded in acknowledgement as Roman chuckled still and then was speaking to himself about how he would offer 'her' more and how he was not afraid of 'her'.

"What step means I can punch his lights out?" Yang asked as she readied herself, a plan of Jaune's hadn't failed yet after all.

"Step 3, but step 2 is for Blake, so work on that distraction, keep to range and move in a circle." Jaune then ran right and launched his shield at Roman by bouncing it off the floor so it hit him in the chin, Pyrrha then flew up the other way and blasted the ground around him as Yang cracked the stairs and threw that chunk at him and then threw the smashed Pillar that Pyrrha had pushed herself out of from. Roman in the meant time was ducking and moving between all of them and then sending back blasts with his cane and a frustrated look on his face.

Ren watched all of this happen as he slide next to Nora and knelt down, unsure where to start. "Nora?" Her eyes locked on to his and the beautiful bright blue were surrounded by red as they were puffy from crying. "Nora it's okay, I'm here for you, I'm always here for you."

"Nononono, you're dead, I killed you, it was an accident, I hurt my Renny, I hurt my friends, I broke it all… I'm not worthy, I just break everything." She moaned as more tears fell and she looked away from Ren, staring instead at the Hammer in shame.

"No that's not who you are Nora, you are brave, you are strong, you put your heart into everything you do and you give your all to people, you are the greatest friend I could have ever asked for and you will always be worthy to me because you are so much more to me than someone who tells bad jokes and smashes things." Ren told her, making sure to gently cup her cheek and lift her eyes to his as he tried to convey how much she meant to him and the truth he was speaking and it looked like she wanted to believe him as she sniffed back a tear.

"Even if you are real, even if all of this is real, I can't lift the Hammer, it's always been me and the Hammer… I don't know who I am without it." Nora admitted in fear as she gazed into those gorgeous pink eyes, she could of sworn she saw flowers and since this wasn't real, or was it? She didn't know anymore and she just wanted her Ren here to help her, but he was wasn't he?

"Without the Hammer you are Nora, you are the goddess of thunder, you are the queen of the castle, you are a member of the Hunters, without the Hammer you are my friend, without the Hammer you are the most worthy person in the world, and I will be right by your side if you want to find out who you are." Ren said, he hoped he was getting through to her, forget about the fight and what might happen in the future he just wanted her to be okay.

"How do I know you are real?" She whispered as another tear was held back and Ren leaned in close to her and raised a finger and then lightly pressed it to her nose.

"Boop." He breathed out as the sounds around them fell away and Nora looked deeply into his eyes and he into hers, safe in each other's company.

…And Weiss who was passed out next to them after Blake had moved her there somewhere during the speech and who was now ready for Step 2 of Jaune's plan as he signalled for Pyrrha and Yang to move on his mark, each of them taking quick action, Jaune throwing his shield so it would ricochet high and Blake leaping towards where it would end up, Yang counting to 6, why not 5 was slightly irritating to her as she had to be patient in a wanting to smash Roman's face in, meanwhile Pyrrha blasted the ground around the trickster extremely quickly throwing up as much smoke as she could to obscure his vision.

Catching the shield in the air after it swung up from the ground Blake then threw it again and this time Roman trapped it beneath his foot and stabbed his can down upon it and the shield shattered into several different pieces and Jaune was stunned for a second, so many emotions swirling through him but he pushed passed them and focused on the rest of the plan and threw one of Ren's blinding arrows at the same time Blake slashed the back of Roman's hand causing him to drop the cane which she then stole.

"NO!" Roman shouted out as he reached for it to get it back-

"Got ya."

SMACK

Yang was there in-front of him as he turned and she was so happy that Jaune managed to deliver on step 3 as her fist sunk into his face and sent him reeling backwards, she felt his strength before and knew that she didn't need to hold back any force right now, she could let the fists fly freely now and she was, the first punch was the opening salvo for several more heavy punches which Yang was happy to bring and use to keep Roman occupied, Pyrrha then flew down next to Yang and as Yang finished with a left into his stomach and he was bent over Pyrrha stepped in with a right kick to knock his face back up and Yang without missing a beat stepped to the right and punched across with her right hand and Pyrrha the brilliant, beautiful cereal girl swung around the back of her and kicked him around the face in a gorgeous combo and Yang couldn't help but laugh out loud and then leap in with a front kick and the 2 went at it again with Roman trying to block the attacks of the 2 very strong women.

Jaune ran around to Blake who was still holding the cane but with a strained look on her face. "Blake you okay?"

"It's very painful to hold this thing." She says as Nora then holds out her hand and Blake passes it to her and after a quick look at Ren, Nora then snaps the cane in half and there is a burst of power that flies out as the cane is suddenly transformed into a large ornate looking staff for a moment, then it is in 2 pieces, and everyone in the room is knocked off their feet and Nora's bonds are broken in half.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" Roman screams at Nora and then charges towards her and lifts her by the throat. "DO YOU EVEN HAVE ANY THOUGHTS IN THAT EMPTY SKULL OF YOURS? OR IS IT ALL JUST ABOUT BREAKING THINGS?"

Nora manages a small smile as she is getting choked. "I might not be worthy, but you shouldn't be king." She manages to speak out as the others are all dazed from the power burst from the cane, Roman got lucky by managing to use Yang and Pyrrha as a shield.

"After I squeeze the life out of you I am going to rip your friends apart piece by piec-"

"NOPE!"

BLIRTZZZZZZZZZZZZ

A beam of pure silver energy of blasted at him and Nora is dropped to the ground when she and all of the others manage to look up they see Ruby stood there in an iron armour, the exact same colour shading as the Hammer and with the same lightning coursing around it, it would be an intimidating sight for them, if only Ruby wasn't currently waving at them and it didn't have her cape swishing behind her.

"DID YOU GUYS SEE THAT?!" Ruby cheered from where she was stood, even with her new mask on you could see just how excited she was, it practically rolled off her in waves and Jaune let out a big grin.

"Ruby take him down!" Jaune then yelled across at her and she blitzed over to where Roman was pulling himself out of the floor and she blasted him to the floor below and flew down after him with laughter following her as well as the stunned looks of all the others save for Jaune who looked like he knew this would happen, something Yang called him out on while she dusted herself off.

"Why do you look like you knew this would happen?"

Jaune gave Yang a confident look. "You know her even better than I do; she was sent to a place where she likely didn't know anything about it, and as the smartest person there is that must of got at her, she wouldn't leave without making sure the place was completely understood.. and if she happens to build something there, you just know it's going to be awesome."

Ruby was practically dancing around Roman right now as she flew alongside his body that was being rag-dolled by her blasts, at one point she even grabbed his leg and swung him around into the air and then blasted him up higher and then rocketed after him. Seeing him then steady out as he began to fly there Ruby floated in-front of him.

"So you plan on surrendering right now, I think you should, this armour has all kinds of tricks I haven't even tried out yet, but I should give you the chance." She offered as she looked at the one particular toy she really wanted to use, the bright symbol on her screen really calling out to her.

"You insignificant speck of dust!" Roman then drew out his back up weapon which was a long sword from out of nowhere, but Ruby knew it wasn't magic it must have just been nano machines or something similar to achieve the look of coming out of thin air. "You will die like the rest."

So it looks like Ruby got to try out the new toy after all and she smiled in glee after she selected the weapon on screen, her right arm extending outwards and then the compartments shifting to place something in her grip which extended in either direction and then a blade came from the front of it and after a flourishing twirl, Ruby was staring down the villain with a large scythe ready to battle, this weapon was only meant to be used on the monsters, robots and other reanimated dead things, never on people but Ruby could make an exception about Roman as he pulled out a sword.

The charged each other in the air with an almighty

CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANGCLANG CLANGGGGGGG

There blades danced around throwing the light from the sun in different directions, down below all throughout the city skeletons and Orcs were doing battle with Elves and Dwarfs as the Rebellion had entered the kingdom shortly after the Hunters had managed to make a path for them, they were moving through and many people of the kingdom were also fighting against Romans forces.

A brief pause in their clash and Ruby decided to point this out to him. "Wow, looks like your rule might go down as the shortest in history, well at least you will be remembered for something right?"

Roman offered only a growl of anger at that and flew forward and slashed away at where she was only to have Ruby rocket away and lead him on a merry chase back towards the throne room, as he caught up with her and was about to stab her a blast of black energy knocked him off course and into an exploding arrow.

He tumbled along the ground, his suit torn, his face both bruised and bleeding, overall he did not look at all like a king and instead looked like a mad man desperate for revenge, and it showed as he took one look at Nora who had managed to stand and had her back to him but was staring at the throne, she then turned and sat down upon it. "I release my parents from their prison."

"NOOO!"

Brilliant and bright light exploded in the centre of the Room and white ethereal chains bound across Roman's arms and legs, holding him to the ground as he struggled against them with fury first in his eyes and then fear.

In the place of the light were 2 figures a man and a woman, the man was maybe shorter than Ren and had an old an weathered face with a short grey beard and a shaved head with a blue stripe tattoo going from the back over his left eye, but you could clearly see smile lines below his eyes more than you could see the age of it, his blue eyes twinkled with a hidden mischief even as he looked somewhat sad to look upon his son right now, it was clear this was where Nora got her personality from even from the brief look the others got.

The woman stood tall, taller than even Jaune by a head and even though she was most likely 20,000 or 50,000 years old she didn't look a day over 40, she had muscular… everything Yang even let out a low whistle as Blake shot her a glare and elbowed her in the ribs to quite her down, she had short cascading red hair and a sharp red eye with an eye patch over the other, it was fixed in a glare at her son who shivered but met the look with one of his own, everyone could see why Nora listened when her mother spoke and it was her who first spoke to the silence that blanketed the room, even the sounds of battle were drowned out by the silence in the room.

"My son, you have caused great pain this day." She said, her voice was steady yet had great force behind it.

"Chaos, death, pain; all parts of the family business yes?" Roman replied as he gave an easy smile that did not match his current situation.

"Son please don't-" The father tried to say but was cut off.

"Oh now you speak? Found a back bone have you finally old man? This truly is a day for miracles." Roman mocked as his father then grew quiet and gripped the walking stick he held a little tighter, turning away from his boy and moving to the throne where Nora was sitting, he helped her up and pulled her into a hug and then the 2 of them walked over to stand beside her mother.

"Well I always thought we could do more family time right? Shall we count how many people we have killed? I would still only come third after all." Roman teased as his mother waved her hand and his mouth was bound and gagged.

"You have crossed the final line, your crimes are to be paid back equally, you sought to bound the Realms in your hold; you shall be bound in their hold, suspended in the world tree for all eternity alone-" She was cut off by her husband who place a hand over hers and gave her a look that she instantly understood. "-you have to much heart."

The old man gave her a soft sad smile. "He is our son still."

She relented. "Very well then, you and your daughter will be bound in the dungeons for the rest of your days, you will not be released… this is my mercy." Then with a wave of her hand Roman glowed white and disappeared, the space next to him also glowed white and then Neo was made visible as she was then she to vanished as quickly as she appeared, and the room was left with just the royal family and the Hunters, so naturally the most social awkward and smartest woman alive broke the silence.

"Soooooo, that was a thing, like it was a big thing right guys? We just saved the worlds!" Ruby was visibly excited at the prospect, saving her own world was one thing but saving others as well as her own, that was some awesome stuff, Weiss then chose that moment to wake up as though her 'correct Ruby at all cost' senses were tingling.

"Ugh, its Realms Ruby, Realms." She groaned as she rubbed her cheek, already she felt the bruise and multiple other ones along her body, not to mention the cuts and the torn dress she was wearing, this most certainly was not her best day with her friends.

"Yes we thank you mortals, even though you were split up and vastly outmatched you still somehow managed to prevail." The queen says as she takes her seat on her throne, her husband walking over to Weiss and holding out his hand, a green glow taking over her and healing the injuries she had.

"Sounds like a complement from a beautiful queen, wonder what that's like." Yang said as she side eyed Blake who rolled her eyes again and huffed in irritation at Yang's blatant staring.

"You do have some uses mortals I will give you that." Nora looked like she wanted to say something but a sharp look from her mother and it died on her tongue, Ren noticed this instantly and narrowed his eyes. "You managed to overcome each of your challenges and then you had to help my daughter through hers, something that should not have been needed."

"You would just ignore how she feels right now?" And then there was silence again throughout the room and Ren wondered who said that, only to realise that the queens gaze was solely locked on to his and all of his friends were looking at him in shock and Nora in terror.

"I will forgive the rush of battle ending mortal, it can be a trying time and you have indeed aided in saving the Realms so I forgive you this once." The queen said, Ren could feel the warning but still pushed past it, this was for Nora so nothing would stop him.

"You would not even ask how Nora is? You would not even worry about your daughter at all?" Ren was angry right now and it was showing in the clenched fists, he could see the varying reactions from his friends, Jaune and Ruby had their heads like a swivel and were switching between them on the fly, Yang looked ready to back Ren up, Pyrrha and Weiss had their mouths open and he could see Blake shaking her head at him telling him to pull it back.

"I will make this clear to you mortal; I am the queen of the Realms, I am in-charge of everything and everyone, I am the All-mother and I have a duty to that." She had stood up now and was towering above Ren, granted she was on the steps leading up to the throne, but Ren was the weakest guy on a team of superheroes so he didn't care about that, he knew his value now.

"No, first and foremost you are a mother to your daughter, now maybe I haven't known her as long as you do but I care for her, and the fact you haven't even asked, looked or given a hand in comfort is wrong." Ren hoped that when the others remembered him they thought fondly of him, because the queen looked like she could bench press a planet and then rip it in half afterwards.

"You must be Lie Ren then." She walked down the steps towards him and they stood in-front of each other. "I thank you Master Ren, Nora speaks highly of her friends and she tells tale of you being the bravest and most honourable she has ever met, do not cloud that vision she has of you right now."

"And what vision do you have of your daughter: do you not see she is needing your comfort right now, not your indifference, she thinks herself unworthy, it is your responsibility to make her realise otherwise." Ren protested as the queen made to turn back to her throne but then faced Ren with fire in her eye.

"You forget mortal my daughter is not like everyone else, she is supposed to be greater than you, supposed to be fearless and she is supposed to not fail."

"Everyone fails at who they're supposed to be. The measure of a person, of a hero, is how well they succeed at being who they are, and your daughter is allowed to make these mistakes, are you telling me you have no mistakes?" Ren argued with a strong look upon his face as the queen gave an evil looking smile.

"You wish to challenge me on how to treat my daughter mortal?" her question was light but the tone was firm, she would tear him apart to prove a point but Ren was not backing down.

"He wouldn't be the only one." Came the voice of Jaune as he moved next to Ren, Yang then flanking the other side as the Hunters then backed up behind Ren with Ruby knocking down her visor and the energy building up across her armour, but even at the sight of that powerful weapon the queen didn't look to put off she only laughed and then turned to her daughter.

"Your friends are courageous, brave and also dumb my dear."

Nora swallowed as she looked at them all standing up to her mother, the most terrifying person in all the Realms for her and she felt a small tear fall down her cheek at how happy she was to have them and then she locked eyes with Ren. "Then they are perfect for me."

"I agree with you my daughter." There was a silence that stretched and then the queen spoke again. "You think yourself unworthy of the Hammer? Unworthy of the throne perhaps?"

"Yes I do."

"Are you the goddess of hammers? No, that does not define your worth, your friends can't lift it and do you think them to be unworthy in any aspect, because I do not. They are some of the greatest heroes of time, songs shall be sung of what they have done here for years to come; and you my daughter, never a day goes by where I do not consider you unworthy." A warm smile stretches across her face as she cups her daughter by the cheek and then kisses the top of her head and a warmth spreads through Nora. "Now say goodbye to them, there is much for us to do here and I suspect they would quite like to rest."

"Wait you're not coming with us Nora?" Ruby asked as her visor opened up and she looked around at her team and they all looked quite uneasy at the thought of not having their friend around.

"I need to figure out who I am without the Hammer, I need to work on being just Nora. I hope you guys understand."

Everyone was quick to instantly understand and they all moved forward into hugging her and telling her that they would be there for them; Pyrrha said that when they next meet she would love to wrestle and work out with her and Nora agreed, Blake hugged her tightly and whispered words of encouragement about how she was always worthy to rule, Weiss got a gentle hug and made Nora promise her to allow her to visit this magical Realm one day properly.

When Nora hugged Jaune she said "Sorry about your shield Jaune-Jaune."

"You are okay and that matters to me more than my shield, I can live with that being broken, but never a friend."

Yang pushed him out of the way and wrapped her tightly with several hearty backslaps. "When you come back we are going monster kicking, you can't leave me as the only muscle on the team, I mean maybe P-money might be alright at wrestling but it won't be my Thunder Thigh girl, but looking at your mum I can see where you get it from."

"I know just the Realm to go to, there is a great challenge bout in the Fire Realm, you me and Pyrrha can hit it for Thunder Thighs girls night." Nora promised with a sad smile on her face with Yang looking just as sad, Weiss asked why she was not going to be invited and Yang and Nora just looked at her legs and spoke together. "Need more squats."

Rest assured when Weiss got back she would begin the squats, everyday would be leg day and she would train with Pyrrha and Yang… never again with Jaune or Blake, that was something that nobody should do.

Ruby stepped up and smiled as Nora brought her in tight and whispered into her ear. "Look after him please."

"I will, and you make sure you do what you need to do here, just know you will always be welcome with us, no matter what happens; you are a Hunter." Ruby whispered in return and then the queen spoke up before Nora could move to Ren.

"I actually must request that armour back from you Ruby Rose, you might have found a way to get around the enchantment and I salute that inventive thinking, but I am going to ask that it remains with the dwarfs, as for your prisoners, I have already transported them back to your Realm and they are currently in the custody of the one named Ozpin."

"Oh… yeah, no problem. Um I might need a bit of privacy because it kind of burnt my clothes when I was making it-"

"Your friends will huddle around you and cover you, other than you young man, you should pick up your shield pieces… a fine weapon for a fine man." Her voice seemed to purr at the end as she watched Jaune bend over to pick up the pieces, Pyrrha very quickly moving to stand in the line of vision and block the view from the queen.

"MUM!" Nora said as she then turned to Ren who raised an eyebrow.

"So that's your mum."

"Yeah, she does care-"

"-She should show it more, you are important Nora and you deserve to be told that by someone you look up to and love, and it's clear that your mum is your hero-"

"-Not any more, I mean she was because she is cool and I look like her and she is awesome in battle and she trained me and we workout together sometimes and she is really a good person at times and all that but I have a new hero, someone new who is also really cool, handsome, caring, handsome, funny, kind, honourable, handsome and brave enough to stand up to my mum for me, and that's you, you are my hero now… and, and I want to make sure you know that, so while I'm finding myself just know I will be thinking; what would Ren do?" Ren in this moment was speechless at the thought of being someone's hero, especially someone who was so incredible as Nora and he couldn't help the smile in his face. "I'm sorry I need this time to figure out who I am on my own, but after all these years I need it, the chance to search for myself and not have people expect things of me… and I'm a little jealous that your pretty head is handling it so much better, well for a mortal after all." Nora joked as Ren chuckled and then reached up to wipe the tear rolling down her cheek.

"Like I already said Nora, take all the time you need, I am already going to be amazed and proud of you no matter what happens." He moved his finger to her nose and she lifted hers to his.

"Boop."

A brilliant rainbow of light surrounded the Hunters and they then found themselves toppled all over each other in a tumble, the only one who wasn't was Ren as the others all struggled out of the pile of people with grunting and shoving and of course.

"I'm sorry!" From Pyrrha as she ended up at the top of the pile and then rolled off to make sure the others could get up, it was then that they noticed they were not actually at the mansion but instead they were in Deputy Director Agent Goodwitch's office and she was there working late doing paper work and staring at them all.

Ruby gave a weak wave in a massive shirt that Nora's dad had materialised for her. "Uh hi."

Goodwitch sat still and sucked in a breath, very tense as she closed her eyes. "Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out."

"So how much did you miss us then huh Goodwitch? I didn't think we were gone for XIAO-LONG, huh, huh, get it?" Yang asked as she opened her desk draw and pulled out the headache pills, no doubt Ozpin was already on his way to talk to them and this was going to be another wacky adventure with multiple shenanigans she did not have the patience to listen to.