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The Kingdom of Vacuo...

A harsh realm, featuring vast deserts and powerful sandstorms. Also the last intact Kingdom in all of Remnant. During the Fall of Atlas, everyone from the floating city were forced to take refuge here, and prepare to confront Salem and her forces.

Stepping though the Portal – Ruby, Yang, Blake, Weiss, and Jaune blinked as their eyes tried to adjust to the glare of the sun. They had escaped the Fairy Tale world known as Ever After, and the experiences they went through made them more determined to save Remnant from the onslaught of Salem and her minions – human and Grimm alike.

Ruby, the last one through the Portal, bumped into Yang before her eyes could adjust. "What's going on? Why did you stop?" she asked her sister, rubbing her nose where it had rammed against the taller girls' back. Silently, Yang simply grabbed Ruby's head and tilted it upwards – Ruby gaped at the sight...

The sky was full of ships – ships from every Kingdom. Atlean clippers, Mistralean transports, she even picked out a couple of ships from Menagerie within the vast fleet before her. And hovering above them all was Amity Colosseum, modified by Atlas to serve as the most powerful communications tower ever conceived.

"It looks like everybody in Remnant is here," Yang noted softly.

"They... they got our message," Weiss whispered, a smile slowly forming on her lips.

Ruby could not speak. She had hoped that her message would get through to people, but she hadn't imagined that it would reach as many as it did... as quickly as it did. She wiped a tear from the edge of her eye as she continued to stare at the spectacle before her. "We did it," she muttered, "we really did it."

Jaune stepped over to her side and placed a hand on her shoulder. "No, Ruby," he corrected, "YOU did it. Without you, none of this would be possible."

"Jaune is right," Blake added, taking Yang's hand as she did, "your message brought everyone here. You inspired people to stand together."

Yang looked at her sister. "Together," she said hopefully, "we have a shot at beating Salem, once and for all."

Ruby smiled at them. "Thanks, guys," she said quietly, "Back there," she twisted her head back to where the Portal had been, "I was beginning to lose hope. This has given it back to me."

"Ummm... it looks like the sun is going down," Weiss pointed out. "We should probably get going, before it gets dark."

"Not yet," Ruby stated, before pulling Weiss into a surprise hug. Blake, Yang, and Jaune joined in for a group-hug. With one quick squeeze, Ruby opened her eyes and said "Okay – now let's go."

In a burst of rose-petals, the group sped off towards the edge of town...

Another burst of petals, and the five find themselves standing before the Gate of Vacuo. Not surprisingly, it was closed. They all looked up at the huge door, doubting that they could push it open using every bit of Aura they possessed.

Weiss broke the silence. "Well," she commented sarcastically, "what are we supposed to do, go up and knock?"

No sooner had she finished her comment, when the great doors opened with a great groaning sound. "EEP!" a startled Weiss cried, leaping sideways into Jaune's arms. Her action caused Blake and Yang to snicker, Ruby to stare open-mouthed, and Jaune to blush bright red. The door finished its swing with a great THUD, and they all gazed upon the streets of the city. Weiss looked up at Jaune and, realizing what she had done, dropped to her feet with a blush of her own.

"YAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

The cry startled all of them, Weiss jumping back into Jaune's arms at the sound. They looked around for the source, and soon saw Nora poised to strike. "You're ALIVE!" she shrieked, dashing towards the group with a speed they had never witnessed her reach before. She reached the group in less than a second, grabbing Ruby in a powerful bear-hug. "What happened to you guys? Where did you go? What did you do?" The questions came rapid-fire, as was typical for Nora. Then she glanced over at Weiss, still being carried by Jaune. "What have YOU been doing?" she asked pointedly, a sly grin forming on her lips as she gripped her chin in her hand.

"NOTHING!" Jaune exclaimed, dropping Weiss to the ground in a heap. "OW!" she cried, rubbing her backside as she stood up. "Warn a girl next time, will you?" she scolded.

"Ah – sorry," Jaune quickly apologized.

"It's... a long story," Ruby answered with a shrug.

"Well – we have time," a rough voice told them.

Ruby looked around, trying to locate the source of the familiar voice. When she spotted it, she beamed with joy. "Uncle Qrow!" she shrieked, racing towards him and grabbing his arm. "You won't BELIEVE where we've been!" Noticing something different about him, she gave a quick sniff. "You're not drunk!" she observed.

"And hello to you, too, squirt," Qrow said to her with a grin. "Yeah – I've been on the wagon since Atlas. I had the good fortune of meeting someone who set me straight." He tucked his hands in his pockets and looked at the ground, memories of Clover welling up in his mind. He thought of the irony in his situation – someone blessed with good fortune helped someone cursed with bad fortune... but at a terrible cost to the one of good fortune. He was going to do his absolute best to make sure that he lived up to that sacrifice.

Ruby shifted her feet so she could look up into his eyes. "I'm happy for you," she told him softly.

"Thanks, kiddo," Qrow answered just as softly. "But, as I was saying – we'll have time for stories once we get back to the Inn." He waved at the group. "C`mon – there are people anxious to see you again."

The group sat around a table in their room, catching up on what happened.

"I gotta say, that's quite the story," Qrow admitted. "A whole world, based on a Fairy Tale?"

"More like a Fairy Tale based on a whole world," Ruby corrected him.

"To think that OUR Jaune is the Rusted Knight." Nora mused.

"That always was my favourite character in the story," Ren confessed.

"The Cat was different, though," Oscar noted.

"The Cat had his heart broken by Alyx," Weiss explained. "He couldn't get over that, until we came along."

"And you two got your feelings for each other sorted out," Qrow went on to say, looking at Blake and Yang. "It's about time you admitted it to each other."

"Yeah," Yang simply said, squeezing her partner's hand slightly tighter. Blake smiled and squeezed back. Their bond had grown so much deeper that words weren't even necessary anymore.

"But what happened HERE?" Weiss said, interrupting Blake and Yang's moment. "Jaune told us that everyone made it to Vacuo, and that my sister is now the Winter Maiden... but what happened after he fell?"

A knock on the door interrupted Qrow's response. "One moment," he suggested as he got up to see who was there. Opening the door, he met two tall women. "Robyn, Winter," he greeted them, "Come join the party – we're playing catch-up."

"Catch-up," Winter asked, confused, "who do you need to catch up with? I thought that everyone..." she stopped as her eyes fell on Weiss, tears forming at the edges. "Weiss..." she whispered, unable to say anything else.

Weiss stood up and turned towards Winter. "Ummm... Hi, sis," she offered. "How have you..."

She was unable to finish, as Winter dashed towards her and wrapped her arms around the startled girl. "I thought I'd lost you," Winter sobbed. "I saw you fall, and... and..."

Weiss gently patted her sister on the back. "It's okay, Winter, I'm back now." She gently pulled her sister away and gave her a wide smile. "So – how are Mother and Whitley, are they...?"

"Ahem," Robyn coughed, causing all heads to turn her way. "While this family reunion is quite touching," she started, "this is not the reason we're here." She looked at Qrow, a serious look on her face. "Something's come up."

"What is it now?" Qrow asked with a sigh, "Is Raven making trouble again?" Raven, Qrow's sister and the Fall Maiden, had become a thorn in his side ever since she teamed up with Cinder Fall and tried to both kill him and steal the Relic of Knowledge from Mistral Academy. He had no idea what Yang had done to prevent her from walking away with the Relic, but she had been reasonably quiet since then.

"No, it's not about Raven," Robyn admitted. "We have a mission for you."

"Yes!" Yang exclaimed, "Something to get us back to normal."

"I would hardly say that this is something normal," Winter explained. "Something strange is going on near Mistral."

"Strange? There's a lot of that going around lately," Qrow commented. "Are we talking Ruby strange..."

"HEY!"

"... or Salem strange?"

"We're not sure," Winter admitted. "Stories have been making their way to us, about something that is making the Grimm run away."

"But... Grimm NEVER run away," Ruby said, missing the looks that Jaune, Yang, and Ren shared. There were no other Grimm around when the Grimm-hound attacked her.

"Well... something is causing them to run," Robyn told the group. "The people who have talked about it have no idea what it is, or how it can do that."

"All we know for sure, is that it's heading this way..."