Oobleck's reassuring words barely drowned out the chaotic scene as Ciri struggled through the flickering white portal. What emerged scarred her to the core-Geralt's mangled body and Nora desperately clinging to Weiss, leaving a gruesome trail of blood on Beacon's pristine floors. Geralt, miraculously holding on to life, opened his one good eye, a shattered visage marking the end of his battle.
Ciri rushed to cradle Geralt's broken form, tears flowing as memories of Vesimir's death flooded back. In his last moments, Geralt managed a haunting smile, muttering, "Look whose turn it is to hold whom now...ay, Lil' swallow?" before peacefully letting go, shedding the weight of his weary existence.
As Ciri stood, her hiccupping sobs, she vanished, reappearing in Salem's throne room. Salem, a mother from a bygone era, recognized the anguish in Ciri's eyes and simply asked, "Where is he?" Without words, Ciri brought Geralt through another portal, her cries echoing through Salem's domain.
In a fit of grief, Ciri struggled to voice her demands for an alliance. Salem, understanding the unspoken plea, used Grimm tendrils to cocoon the white wolf on the blood-stained floor, embedding it as a testament to a newfound pact above her throne. "I can preserve his body, but repairing him is next to impossible. Keep your expectations deathly low, child," Salem warned.
As Ciri prepared to teleport back to Beacon's vault with Salem, the queen of darkness intervened. "I'll be sending someone in my place," Salem revealed, mentioning a mutual acquaintance-the Crimson Bull, Adam Taurus, ranked Major in the reformed White Fang.
Adam, despite past animosities, stood a few dozen feet away. "It's an honor to meet the daughter of the best swordsman in Remnant," he acknowledged, expressing his commitment to help against Reaper and find Cole. Sensing skepticism, he added, "Can we go to your friends before I change my mind?"
Ciri nodded, returning to Beacon only to face a dozen drawn weapons aimed at her and Adam. Salem's subtle influence quelled the tension as Adam, realizing the situation, chuckled softly at the display of control.
Standing over Geralt's pool of blood, Ciri used Grimm to collect his life essence, instructing the sludgy mixture to restore him. With a nod, she took Salem to Beacon's vaults for a private conversation.
Returning to the waiting group, Ciri's piercing green eyes silenced any potential challenges. Placing a comforting hand on her shoulder, Salem spoke, "In honor of the white wolf, we won't mourn him. He'll live another day, I swear." Turning to Weiss, she asked delicately, "Where do we start in taking down Baron and his armies?" The stage was set for a formidable alliance, born from grief and a shared purpose.
This question left everyone baffled and unable to speak so she simply held out her hands in front of her "sate your fears and restrict my hands with those cuffs of yours if you feel the need" which made no one any more eager to do so. Adam had glared at Weiss the second those cuffs hit his wrists as well but Weiss matched his glare and slammed on top of him glowing a vibrantly icy blue Aura.
"Listen, major Taurus, I just spent unspoken months away from the closest thing to a family I have, kidnapped by a psycho, nearly gutted by one, and am now free of it so I'd recommend you just swallow that pride and stomach your ego or I'll end your life here and now."
Adam smiled at her and with as much mirth and respect he could muster said "Cole chose a good and respectable companion; the armor suits you by the way"
Weiss raised an eyebrow at him and looked at herself in the reflection of the floor and saw she'd used -for that moment- her Arma Gigas summon to cover it's armor and helmet over herself, in her hand was its sword but skinnier and smaller.
"noted" she replied as her armor dissolved and turned around "it's a pleasure to finally meet the man that lightning bug called brother, prove to me why he does"
"allies and all that" he replied dropping the cuffs to the floor smirking at her Flipping him the bird.
Seeing that nothing more would negatively happen salem sank into the shadows and said "meet me in the top office with the clock in your tower and we'll get started"
Everyone looked to ciri and surprisingly, yang was the one to ask, "guys, are we really gonna trust the woman we've all been fighting to kill?"
Weiss turned to ciri and slipped her an address and whispered "bring the baby in this house to my mother; I owe the couple my life and...that baby is the reason I'm even alive"
"I'll be back in a day; go rest and recover," she said hugging her "you weren't supposed to be in this kind of hell, but ill bring you a piece of heaven back with me"
Weiss hugged her back watching her favorite teacher leave before she made her way toward the elevator and pressed ground level. It didn't take very long for the adrenaline to disappear from her frame, Unfortunately. Adam and yang had caught her and together held her up by her arms. Adam noticed the distrust immediately after he'd touched Weiss, so he handed her fully to yang, who held her in her arms as if she were a mother holding her kid and gave a respectful nod to him.
"your...Adam right?" Ruby inquired.
"And you're the ruby rose that cole told me about" he replied with his left hand hovering over his choto defensively.
"Are you my brother or is that bold fyre brand dye in your hair?" she asked like it was nothing.
"It's a side effect of my semblance staining my hair red" he lied blushing hard enough to make his ears burn pink and red.
They all snickered at the exchange that had just happened but no one spoke after the doors opened to the floor.
Glynda, witnessing the distressing scene unfolding at Beacon's vault, couldn't contain her frustration. "This is madness! Bringing Salem into the mix? Are we so desperate that we forget the dangers she poses?" she exclaimed, her voice stern and imploring.
Her pleas, however, seemed to fall on deaf ears. The group remained resolute, Ciri and Salem locked in their alliance, and Adam Taurus standing as an unexpected ally. Tensions hung thick in the air, and Glynda's unease was palpable as she surveyed the room, her gaze pleading for someone to reconsider.
But the decision had been made, and Glynda's concerns were seemingly brushed aside. The group, driven by grief and determination, appeared unmoved by her warnings. As Ciri and Salem teleported away, and the others prepared for the impending battle, Glynda couldn't shake the feeling of impending doom.
In the face of her objections, the alliance forged in the crucible of loss marched forward, leaving Glynda standing there.
Everyone but ciri had stepped inside and rode slowly up to the top floor, while they did so weiss looked up to Adam and said "Blake talked about you a few times"
Without batting an eye he looked down at her and smiled "she was my best student and a dear friend"
Yang glared at him holding weiss but handed her to nora. "If you held her so dearly as you claimed, then why would she have told us how monstrous you were?!" she screamed shoving him into port and oobleck.
Adam clenched his teeth and grumbled, red aura blazing around him like a kindling flame. "I'm. Not. Your. Enemy." Growling like a feral beast he took a deep breath and looked into everyone's eyes for a single second each and finally spoke "I didn't kill my friends; white fang general siena Kahn did, I tried-"
stopping mid-sentence he composed himself and held weiss' gaze and said "I'm Cole's brother-in-arms and you're his mate, so I vowed in his name to protect what he loved and your leader and you were all he had. So from one equal to another I'm sorry for taking your life and turning it into a living hell"
Ruby and Weiss stared at him wide eyed while yang stood there glaring holes in Adam but made zero moves towards him. Port and oobleck felt the need to speak or just ask a question, hell even Ironwood wanted to talk to adam but couldn't say anything, even if he wanted to the doors opened up to glynda's office.
High hopes were not weiss' strong suit these days so seeing the office that once had just a desk showed a few desks for books, a coffee and tea pot for drinks and even a small mound or two of fruit.
Looking to Adam she asked with blushing cheeks, "could you help me get some fruit please?"
Yang grabbed her protectively and took her to a couch with peaches, oranges and other soft fruits in bowls "I got you weiss, don't talk to Mr. Killing-humans-for-fun"
"maybe next time" Ironwood smirked as everyone went in past Adam.
As if on cue for more annoying crap, Adam got a baby shoved into his arms by ciri and surprisingly, it was penny that took the infant and told him cheerily "I hold nothing against you friend Adam; I have a caregiver protocol so my instructions dictate I take this little one."
"No offense taken, I can't stand babies or even children in anyway" he replied grabbing a chair and sat down and ate a bowl of grapes and hummed.
With help from Ruby and nora, Weiss had gotten to cole's old room and went to sleep -much to the doctors and nurses chagrin- while penny took care of the infant with no name.
Jaune, Ren, yang and the ace ops decided to grab dinner at the rebuilt mess hall while the headmistress and professors talked over plans and how to fight the white fang, grimm, and baron with his 'saviors' backing him.
Weiss lay in bed like a dead woman but couldn't really sleep so she sat up and dragged herself to the bathroom and asked "will the faucet wake the baby penny?"
The android looked up at Weiss and beamed but whispered back "of course not friend Weiss, I can make sure she won't wake"
Weiss deflated in relief as she thanked penny and shut the door. First thing she did in there Weiss covered the mirrors and turned on the hot water, after plugging the drain. It wasn't like her to not take a change of clothes in there with her but cole had always kept a robe hung on the hook inside a closet and knew her robe still hung there in all its white splendor.
"I don't want the huntress life anymore I don't even want this life" Weiss couldn't hold it in, she had endured too much. Her life had swallowed her in an abyss so hollowing that she had gotten fed up with it all. After the tub was full she plopped a bath foam bomb scented a sweet and citrus mango lime, she watched it bubble and hiss away in the water turning it a warm orange and green hue reminding her of the sunset cole had slept in her lap while Ruby and her braiding his white hair happy and at peace. It took seconds to strip out of the torn clothes she wore and threw them away, she almost felt happy to toss them out and climbed into the hot tub.
Shivering and moaning Weiss barely held back how pleasurable her body felt at the inch by inch decent into heaven from the neck down. The time it took for her friends to check on her had only taken minutes until they all showed up. The men stayed in the room with penny caring for the baby while the women talked to Weiss.
None of her smiling felt real, her laughter was a fallacy and unfortunately, her turmoil and blatant façade broke apart like a wall made of cotton candy bricks. Yang, nora and ruby were laughing about their first days at beacon when weiss broke down harder than ever.
She hugged her knees and cried silent and hoped they didn't notice but of course Ruby had and all three had their attention on her.
"Weiss, Are you okay?"
"What's the matter?"
"Do you want some coffee pancakes?
They all had great intentions and wanted to help any way they could but she wanted to be alone, so she quietly said "get out"
"What?" they all said in unison.
"If I repeat myself the baby in penny's hands will cry so I beg of you...just go please." She didn't give room for argument when she'd summoned her -of all things- cole wearing her grimm armor suit, in all his terrifying glory. it looked lifeless like a statue but more threatening than any grimm imaginable.
They left as asked and ruby made sure Weiss was given her solitude asking penny to take the unnamed baby with them while Weiss cried hard and loud. An hour after she started crying she'd stopped crying but felt heavy and unable to leave the tub.
Glynda had been smart enough to give weiss a button to press in case she needed someone and understandably yang showed up. She gave no jokes, no quips for forced humor, she simply grabbed a towel to wrap around Weiss and wiped off all the suds from her body like a mother drying their child.
"what about your hair?" She asked getting her underwear on and helped her to cole's personally built bed and she sat down on the edge.
"who do you know of that is as close to a hairdresser as we can get?" She sounded empty and depressed so it made sense that she was skeptical.
The silence was awkward and stifling but an answer came when -surprisingly- yang called ren for a favor and to get weiss the best hair day of her life. It took only fifteen minutes to see ren walk in wheeling a cart inside and said "I'll need to soak and massage your scalp before washing and to make sure no damage is left I'll need to cut it about halfway up your back worst-case scenario."
Smiling, Weiss handed him two glass bottles of water and fire dust with 80% purity. Ren nodded with a soft smile, as he dumped the dust into a tall bucket, yang spilled some conditioner from her personal stash inside the container before leaving.
"Call us when you finish ren, we're all having a sleepover in your team's room so please message me after your done."
Ren gave a nod as he grabbed a metal toothed brush from his bag and went to work gently tugging it through her hair from inside the water and left it to soak. Weiss sighed with enjoyment to ren scalp massaging her and even happy cried at the hot towel on her face.
"your hair will soak till the water is cooler, I'll dry it off slowly to ensure the conditioner sets in your scalp to rehydrate."
"thank you ren" she said happy the towel soaked up her tears.
After Ren had finished, Weiss had asked him to make her straight hair curly and wavy to add volume to her beautiful hair. He indulged her and left the room to let her get dressed for the sleepover.
Weiss had fallen asleep rather quickly that night, better part of it wasn't the food they cooked her, the good old days relived nor even the comedy show she came to love...Her favorite part of that night was that no one touched her after she'd fallen asleep, yang made sure of that, she saw her feeling cold so merely putting a blanket on her was all she'd done to cover her cold pale body. Yang smirked as she walked over to grab her scroll and took a picture then sent to everyone in her friend's group.
Finally, the family Weiss always needed was her gift that kept giving, just needed cole with her and it would be complete.
In the solitude of the black bullhead's cockpit, Lilac sank into the pilot's seat, the hum of the engines providing a backdrop to the storm brewing within her. As the night sky stretched above, she couldn't escape the conflicting emotions coursing through her. Gratitude for Weiss's safety warred with the urgency to confront Baron and Reaper.
The metal poker card, now embedded near Weiss' head, stood as a silent reminder of the imminent danger. Lilac clenched her fists, her mind racing with thoughts of the unfolding situation. Her scroll, still buzzing with calls she chose to decline, seemed to echo the gravity of the choices ahead.
With a heavy sigh, she mused aloud, "Cole... alive and active in Remnant for months. Baron's lies and Reaper's deceit-how deep does this darkness go?" Hope and frustration mingled as Lilac contemplated the chance to reunite with her son, yet the tangled web of deception threatened to overshadow the joy.
Baron's voice crackled through the radio once more, his tired tones cutting through the stillness. "Lilac, I need you in my office tomorrow to talk about Reaper. I promise you'll get your answers, but this is more important... understand?" Baron's weariness hinted at burdens beyond Lilac's current comprehension.
Responding in kind, Lilac assured him, "Grid three clear for future infiltration, but time's running out." Her words carried a weight of inevitability, the countdown to an undisclosed deadline tightening the grip of urgency.
Baron's sigh, laden with weariness, foretold a change in plans. Reaper's actions had taken a toll, especially on the fallen white wolf. "His mind is deteriorating fast," Baron admitted, revealing a vulnerability in his usually stern demeanor. "I can't guarantee he'll survive without a donor or a miracle."
Lilac's measured response betrayed neither sympathy nor concern. "If he dies, then he dies. Like any rabid dog, he needs to be put down, or he'll die slower. Just let him decompose, Baron." Her words, delivered with a chilling resolve, hung in the air, a stark acknowledgment of the harsh realities she faced.
The ensuing silence on the radio spoke volumes. Lilac knew that Baron, embodying a self-proclaimed rage, would unleash his fury in person. As she navigated the night sky, a storm brewed not only in the physical realm but also in the intricate threads of loyalty, deception, and the quest for answers. The cockpit, once a sanctuary, now felt like the calm before a tempest that threatened to engulf them all.