Chapter 10: Reunion

Disclaimer: I do not in any way or form own Gate: Thus the JSDF Fought There or RWBY. They belong to their respective owners, Takumi Yanai and RoosterTeeth Animations respectively.

After repeated requests, General Ironwood has finally allowed selected citizens of Falmart to enter Remnant to talk about their lives at Alnus village, as well as to provide insight on the workings of their world. In three days, they will arrive in Vale, more specifically, Beacon Academy. There, they will be asked questions in front of the camera to be broadcasted live around the world. Stay tuned!

Furthermore, General Ironwood has reported that several of our missing citizens have been rescued, and rescue teams have been sent to retrieve the many more that have been located. It seems that he has made good on his promise to recover these victims.

In other news, there is talk about restarting the canceled Vytal Festival tournament, which was interrupted by the opening of the Gate.

"Rory? Can I ask you something?"

Rory turned her head to look at Ruby, walking alongside her on their way back to the Formal mansion. After defeating the bandits, they were meeting back up with the others, back at the mansion. However, Ruby had seemed troubled the entire time.

"What is it?"

"We..." Ruby seemed hesitant, "We killed a lot of people back there. They were bad guys, but... don't you think there must be a better way?"

"Bandits do not deserve your mercy. They murder and pillage without end. The world is better without them," Rory replied.

Ruby seemed to get agitated, her hands fidgeting. "How are you so calm? So many died."

"Death is a part of life, Ruby," Rory replied. "As the Apostle of the God of Death, I have come to terms with death. Besides, after as long as I have lived, you get used to it."

"You don't look older than me," Ruby pointed out.

Rory smirked, "We Apostles are immortal, and our bodies stop aging once we are chosen. I may not look it, but I am 961 years old."

"Woah."

"I'll appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone else, though. Anyway, that's why slaying these mortals means little to me. For their crimes, they deserve to die."

"But... how can we just judge them like that? We are all human. Maybe there's something we don't know," Ruby protested.

Rory shrugged, unconcerned "I'm immortal," she reminded, "I get to decide their fate. And you, despite your age, are far more skilled than they." Noticing Ruby's concerned expression, Rory added, "If killing others bothers you so much, I'm afraid I cannot help. Just remember, death is a part of life."

Ruby gave a sad smile, "Thanks for the talk, anyway."

"Now, go find your friends," Rory told her. The two had arrived at the mansion. "I'll join you later; there's something I want to see first."

"Winter, I'm so happy to see you!" Weiss began excitedly, before remembering who she was talking to and collecting herself with an, "Oh." She said with a curtsey in a much calmer voice, "Your presence honors us."

Winter's black-gloved hands were held behind her back as she walked towards Weiss and Tai. A pair of Altesian Knights followed at a short distance behind her. "Weiss. What are you doing here?"

"One of my teammates, Blake, went missing during the initial opening of the Gate. We tracked her here," Weiss replied, with Tai nodding to confirm. "And you?"

"I am the leader of recon team three."

Noticing that the response told her nothing, Weiss waited for elaboration. When none came, she prompted, "And why are you here? In Italica?"

"Classified."

"Of course," Weiss accepted with a nod. She had long ago learned to adapt to her sister's slightly more formal and strict ways after she had joined the military.

Apparently done with talking to her sister, Winter turned to Tai, "You are the father of Weiss' teammate, yes?"

"I am. Ruby and Yang."

"I see. I would like you to bring the team back to Remnant. I will not have these students fall in battle."

Weiss looked up at her older sister in befuddlement. "But, we won!"

"Only a novice would refer to that as a victory," Winter corrected. "I counted at least three strikes missed." She turned to her robotic guard behind her as Weiss bowed her head in slight shame. "Leave us," Winter instructed the AK-200s, and the androids obeyed, stepping back to allow the sisters a more private conversation. Tai too stepped back. Winter sighed and frowned. "This place is dangerous."

"I know," Weiss replied, meeting her sister's gaze, "But I would conquer any challenge to rescue my teammate, and so would you."

For the first time since the start of the conversation, Winter smiled, "Perhaps."

"Sorry to interrupt, but we need to go. Vela's waiting for me before talking to the Princess," Tai called out.

The name drew a reaction from Winter. "Fauxen?"

"Yeah," Tai confirmed.

Winter seemed to acknowledge that, then followed up with, "Who is this Princess?"

"Princess Pina Co Lada of the Empire," Tai replied, smirking, "I'm assuming you'll want to see her as well."

"I do." Turning back to her sister, Winter said, "We shall talk later, Weiss. Mr. Xiao Long, bring me to this Pina."

Team RWBY was finally reunited in one of the guest rooms of the Formal mansion. For the first time in weeks, the four could come together.

Blake and Yang arrived first, the former immediately slumping onto one of the four beds prepared for them. Ruby burst into the room not much later, charging in with a burst of rose petals. Blake, having sat up when she heard her leader's approach, was once again slammed onto her back when Ruby barreled into her. Weiss followed, her expression stern but softening up as she saw that Blake was unharmed.

"Yeah! Team RWBY's back together!" Yang cheered as Weiss closed the door and sat down.

"Thanks for coming for me, guys," Blake said, struggling a little to breathe as Ruby tried to crush her ribs.

"What are friends for, right?" Yang cheerily replied. Then, in a more somber tone, "Everything alright?"

Blake smiled, "I'm fine, thanks for asking. Ruby, please let go. I can't breathe."

Reluctantly, Ruby released Blake from her grip and wiped at her eyes.

"Good to have you back, Blake," Weiss added.

"I'm sorry, Blake!" Ruby suddenly burst out. "All this is my fault."

"What? No, it's not," Blake replied.

"It totally is! I'm the leader! I should have prevented you from getting captured," Ruby whined.

"It's fine, Ruby," Blake reassured, "I overextended, not you. Besides, I'm back now, unhurt."

"Blake's right. No point assigning blame; she fine, that's all that matters," Weiss added, taking Ruby's hand in a reassuring manner.

"Alright!" Yang exclaimed, placing her arm around Blake, "So, what happened to you? Does anyone hurt you? Is there someone who needs to be punched in the face?"

Blake laughed for a moment before realizing, "Oh, yes. Art."

"Where is he? I'll punch him!"

"What? No, he helped me escape!" Blake frantically explained.

"Oh," Yang said, visibly calming down, "And did he escape?"

Blake shook her head, "No, he distracted them for me. We should find him. I must repay him."

"That shouldn't be a problem. We are supposed to looking for other survivors anyway. We'll just let Vela know," Weiss agreed.

"Vela?"

"Ozpin sent her with us. Retired Huntress, and our temporary leader," Ruby explained. "She talking to Pina now."

"But Blake, before you do this... Would you like to go home first?"

"I-" would like to go home, Blake almost said, but did she? In Italica, she had felt alone, and vulnerable, but she did no longer. Not because she was back within the safe walls of Beacon Academy, but because of those around her. Her team. "I'm already home."

"Aww, thanks Blakey," Yang cheered, pulling her into a hug. Ruby joined in immediately, shouting, "Team hug!"

The three looked at Weiss.

"Fine," she said, rolling her eyes, but she had a faint smile as the sisters pulled her in.

The bandits had been utterly destroyed, and the townspeople were happy to have won and survived. There was still mourning and rebuilding to be done, but now was a time for celebration. As they cheered and celebrated their survival, Pina and her aide were once again in the Formal mansion. This time, instead of the more experienced soldiers acting as her generals, she was facing just three people. Vela Fauxen and Taiyang Xiao Long, as they had introduced themselves, and the Apostle of Emroy, Rory Mercury herself.

The true winners of the Battle of Italica.

And she owed them payment.

"So," Pina cautiously began, "I would like to express my gratitude for your assistance in this battle. Without your help, Italica would surely have fallen." Taking a deep breath, Pina asked the question that had been eating away at her, "What compensation do you desire?"

Vela stepped forward to reply. "We want information. You are aware of the Empire's attempted invasion of Vale, correct?"

"The world beyond the Gate? I didn't know it had a name," Pina replied evenly. Mentally, she began to panic. Had these mercenaries already been hired by the Empire's enemy? That made them her enemy, but remembering their frightening display of power, Pina could only gulp in fear.

"So you have heard of it. Excellent. During that attack, many citizens were kidnapped and brought beyond the Gate, to Falmart. We are here to locate and rescue them."

So they were indeed sent by the enemies who had taken control of Alnus. Pina decided to get to the point, "So, what exactly do you want from me?"

"You are the princess of the Empire. Use your connections, find those taken. Return them if possible, or tell us where they are so that we can retrieve them ourselves."

That wasn't too bad, Pina mused. "Very well. It will be done," she nodded, "But how do we contact you when we do find someone?"

"Just send a messenger to Alnus. Shouldn't be a problem," Vela replied, "I'll give you a list of names and descriptions before we leave."

"Of course. If that is all, I have an offer for you."

"Oh?"

Pina explained, "As you can tell, the Empire is at war with this... Vale. Their power is far greater than our own. But with your help, I believe that we may stand a chance against them. So, what say you? I will pay any amount of gold to acquire your aid."

Vela raised a hand to request that Tai keep silent. "Who do you think we are, Princess?" she asked.

"You're mercenaries from a foreign land, yes?" Pina asked, confused, "And Vale hired you to recover their citizens."

Rory openly laughed as Vela gave an amused smile before replying, "Not quite. We're from Vale, Pina. Your armies attacked my home."

Pina buried her face in her hands and groaned. Meekly, she asked, "Did I just ask you to attack your own people?"

"Yes," Vela replied, promoting another groan from Pina, who was embarrassed beyond words. Taking advantage of Pina's state, Vela continued, "Do me a favor and we shall never speak of this again."

Pina shot up. "Yes. Anything."

"There is someone who wants to see you."

As if on cue, the doors opened up and Winter walked in, flanked by a pair of Atlesian Knights. "Greetings, Princess Pina. I am Atlas specialist Winter Schnee. I represent Atlas, an allied kingdom to Vale. On behalf of General Ironwood, I would like to invite-"

"You're with the 'Men in White'! Tell me, are the rumors true? Did you kill the flame dragon?" Pina exclaimed, noticing the white-armored robots.

Winter frowned at the interruption, but replied evenly, "We have been called that, yes. But we did not kill the dragon, we merely injured and drove it away."

Pina's ewes widened. Defeating a flame dragon was already an impossible feat, even if it wasn't killed.

"As I was saying, General Ironwood would like to invite you to Remnant, to talk about your Empire's attempted invasion of Vale," Winter concluded.

That topic again. "If I refuse?" Pina asked cautiously.

"That is up to you. Just note that, if we do not come to a compromise, we will not hold back." Winter ended ominously.

How could Pina refuse? The Men in White, who the Empire had made enemies of, were too powerful. These enemies, who had injured and driven the legendary flame dragon away. These enemies, who had taken control of Alnus, who wielded mastery over fire, who had exterminated in an instant those bandits that had troubled Italica. She had no choice.

"I accept."

"- and that's how I escaped," Blake concluded her story, her team sitting quietly around her.

"So you have no idea what happened to him? Unfortunate," Vela said. When she had heard that Blake had been with Art, she had demanded to know everything. As such, Blake had told her what she knew and showed her the knife that Art had entrusted to her.

Now, Vela was absentmindedly running her thumb over the engravings on the knife while she sat, deep in thought.

"So, you're in charge of FORT?" Blake asked.

"I am."

"Then I would like to ask that we go after him. I have a debt to repay," Blake said.

"No. You're going back to Remnant," Vela denied.

"But-"

"No arguments. The four of you are returning to Vale. I will not have you in my sight for any longer."

Balke frowned at that. It was as though Bela had something against her, personally. And as much as running back to Remnant seemed like a solid plan, she had had enough of that. "I will not abandon the person who saved me."

"I don't care. Return to Remnant at once," Vela ordered sternly. Then, more reassuringly, "I will personally go after Art, and see no rest until he is safe. Go home. Rest, recover, and allow me to bear this responsibility."

"Thank you," Blake began, "But-"

"You students should never have gotten involved in this. I have a daughter about your age, and I know what you are thinking. There will be no arguments," Vela thundered, "You return tomorrow morning with third recon. Prepare your belongings." With that, Vela turned and left.

As she did, three others entered the room. The first was Rory Mercury with her halberd, but the other two were female strangers to team RWBY. Both seemed about their age. One had blue hair and matching eyes. She wore a green dress, blue boots and wielded a staff with a blue wing on it. The other was blonde, with blue eyes. She wore a white short-sleeved shirt and thin blue jeans. Most interesting about the latter were her elongated ears.

Before anyone could introduce themselves, Rory began to speak in a sing-song voice, "Oh, Blake! Explain yourself! We do not take kindly to pretenders." Her voice faded to a threatening tone as use spoke, causing RWBY to tense up.

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh? Your deceit, of course. Why did you pretend to be the Apostle of Duncan, God of Blacksmithing?" Rory explained.

"I did what?"

Rory slammed her halberd on the ground, splintering the wood, "The men you fought with rallied behind the Apostle of Duncan, who claimed the blacksmith's swords and made them her own. Who infused the blades with divine power and made them unbreakable. Who happened to be a teenaged cat-eared beauty."

"I didn't know!" Blake protested.

Rory didn't seem to belive that, drawing her halberd towards Blake. Blake stared back ta her, and Rory seemed to see something within that gaze. "Wait, seriously?"

"How could she?" Yang stepped in, "Without a translator, Blake wouldn't even understand them."

"She's right. I just wanted to help defend the people. I guess they assumed that I was a... what, an Apostle? When they saw me fight," Blake deduced.

"Huh. Well then, if it wasn't intentional, I guess I could forgive you," Rory decided. "Just don't do it again."

With that situation over, the conversation turned to the two newcomers. They introduced themselves as Tuka and Lelei.

"Are you a faunus?" Blake asked, immediately noticing Tuka's ears, "I've never seen anyone with such ears."

Tuke seemed taken aback, but quickly realized that they were looking at her elongated ears. "No? I don't know what a faunus is, but I'm an elf," she replied.

"Elf?"

"Elves are one of the longest-lived species on Falmart," Lelei provided, as though reading from a book, "They are skilled archers and wield spirit magic. Tuka is also good with the harp."

"I'm not that good... I don't have enough practice," Tuka protested.

Emotionless, Lelei restated, "Tuka is good with the harp."

Before Tuka could continue, Ruby finally noticed what Lelei was holding. "Oh, you have a staff! Does it do anything?" she asked, leaning forward.

"This? My staff helps me channel my magic."

"What? Magic isn't real, silly," Ruby said.

Lelei didn't seem offended. In her calm tone, she explained, "Perhaps not in your world, but magic definitely exists in Falmart."

"Show us, then!" Yang suggested.

Lelei shrugged. Raising her staff, she closed her eyes and concentrated. A ball of fire formed in the air above the tip of her staff, whipping up a light wind within the room that caused her dress to flap.

"Looks like a semblance," Blake pointed out.

"There are no semblances here, on Falmart," Lelei said, her magic fireball vanishing. "To us, your semblances are magic. It makes me wonder what other everyday items you have that defy our knowledge of the world."

"Maybe you can show us around your world," Rory suggested, "It'll be fun. Maybe I'll see just what you can do."

"It would be our honor," Weiss replied, and the rest of RWBY eagerly agreed.

"They're coming to us? A week of trying to get past Atlas security and suddenly they're coming to us? What a waste of energy."

"Not like you did much, anyway."

"Calm down, you two. This is the perfect opportunity for us to find out more about this 'Falmart'. She will be pleased." As she spoke, an evil smirk appeared on her face, lit by the magical fire in her hand.

A/N: 'Yes, I know that when I'm with you I'm at home' - Home by Jeff Williams, RWBY Volume 4.

I'm sorry if the reunion scene was short. I'm not good at writing stuff like that.

Aura has been canonically confirmed to be able to shield weapons as well, making even low-quality swords relatively unbreakable in the hands of an aura user (like Blake). I chose her to be misunderstood as Duncan's Apostle because she doesn't come close to fitting any other god/ess, except for Hardy and Emroy, the two god/esses who have known Apostles. Which is awkward.

Also, for IRL reasons, updates will be slowing down.