Before getting into the finale of RvBvRWBY: Incursion, I'd like to address the recent news we've surely all seen by now. Rooster Teeth as a corporate entity is shutting down after 21 years. This news was hard to hear. I've been an avid fan of RT's productions for over a decade of my life, especially RWBY, Red vs Blue and Death Battle. While we don't actually know what will happen to these series, as they are technically owned by Warner Bros., it still is something sad to see. I hope that we still get see especially Red vs Blue and RWBY to the end, but this is an end of an era for a company that defined internet-based entertainment as we know it today.
Without further ado, though, enjoy the finale of RvBvRWBY: Incursion, and as Monty always said, Keep Moving Forward.
- Shad
Ruby: Previously, on RvBvRWBY: Incursion...
"Yeah, so they wanna make Junior fulfill that prophecy and have O'Malley infect him. Then they can use him to enslave all the aliens by corrupting their religion from the inside," Tucker said.
"Yeah, well good luck. I'm pretty sure the Grimm would backstab you, and your plan failed. Now that we have you, all we need to do is stop the other two, and Tex will be more than happy to do that," Church said.
"Oh, on the contrary, my friend… now that she knows our plan, not only will she not stop us; our dear Tex is going to help us."
"Oh yeah, I'm sure she'd be happy to help O'malley," Church said sarcastically. "Ain't that right, Tex?" No immediate response came. "Tex?"
"He's right," Tex said.
"What?!" Weiss exclaimed.
Tex immediately clicked on her radio. "This is Freelancer Tex, broadcasting on an open channel!"
"Short version: Tex is trying to help the bad guys kidnap Junior and enslave an alien race. She just hopped into Caboose's head, so I need to follow her. Do me a favor, if I'm not back in ten minutes, disable the ship. If Tex gets out of here with O'Malley and that kid, there's no one that's going to be able to stop her."
"Alright. Let's go blow up that ship," The Red commander said as he hopped into the jeep.
"Wait! Church said to wait until he gets out!' Tucker said.
"He's right! We need to give him a chance, Sarge!" Ruby agreed.
"That's nice and all, youngin', but blowin' stuff up ain't a democracy.
You know how our Dust has been working off and on?"
"Yeah?"
"The natural properties of Dust disappear when it leaves Remnant's atmosphere," Blake explained.
"Then why could I still use my Dust? I haven't had that problem at all," Ruby said.
"Because you're the only one of us who always had a bag of the Cosmic Dust with them at all times," Yang said. "Think about it, that stuff is the only Dust that works fine no matter what."
"Church was right. Omega won't stop at just the aliens. If he has his way, he'll conquer your entire universe," Weiss warned.
"That's a chance I have to take! You wouldn't understand!"
"What dont' we understand? You're doing something beyond crazy, and we gotta keep you from doing it," Tucker said.
"Give me the sword, Tucker," Tex ordered.
"We have to stop her, right now!"
"No problemo, Blue," Sarge replied. "Andy, you there?"
"I'm here, coach!" Andy replied over the radio.
"What's going on?!" Church asked.
"Tex is hooking up Wyoming's helmet to the computer," Andy informed.
"Ready for your job, soldier?" Sarge asked.
"You bet!"
"Alright then, son - do what you were born to do- detonate," Sarge ordered.
You're supposed to some kind of badass heroes, but you were there when Sarge put a fucking bomb on the ship! But did you stop him? No! So guess what? It's not only him that killed her, you killed her!"
Ruby stepped back with a few stutter steps, tears forming at the ends of her eyes. "I… I-I…"
"I…. I know…" Ruby stammered.
"Know what?" Weiss asked.
"I know those eyes…. I know who the Grimm is…"
Taskmaster… Anthony…" Ruby shivered, fear beginning to crawl up her spine now. "Enough of this. No one else has to die."
"Is that what you thought when you fed me to a pack of Grimm? Left me in Mount Glenn to be torn apart?"
"I'll get back to Remnant, give Salem her dues. But first, I'll do what those idiots Wyoming and Omega couldn't, and deal with you." The crystal then began to glow, just as the Dust had done when they'd been transported in the first place.
"No!" Ruby moved to try to take the Dust away, but then her vision was all white.
"Oh! Morning, sweetie!" The woman smiled gleefully at Ruby.
Ruby's eyes rounded. Her grip loosened and Crescent Rose clattered onto the floor. She didn't want to believe her eyes. She could barely form anything beyond a single word:
"M-...Mom…?"
RvBvRWBY: Incursion
Series Finale
Chapter 20: Why We're Here
The Reds and Blues had fallen behind. Ruby was across the canyon in an instant, and her teammates weren't far behind her. They were far faster than the soldiers of Blood Gulch, who were only just now reaching the outskirts of Red Base.
"If it's not one thing, it's another!" Church growled.
"We get it, you're mad. You sound like a broken record!" Grif groaned.
"Fuck off, Red! You blew up my girlfriend!" Church snapped. The entire group stopped as the arguments broke out.
"Oh really? I thought you were blaming the children for that," Sarge remarked, making his stance on Church's previous outburst clear.
"Well at least they weren't the ones to actually put the fucking bomb on the ship!" Tucker defended his leader. "Seriously, are you insane?!"
"Actually I can answer that one for you, and the answer is yes," Grif remarked.
"How would you feel if I put your sister on a ship and blew it to kingdom come, huh? How about that?!" Church screamed. "On top of that, you all are still breathing with actual bodies! I'm a fucking ghost!"
"I thought that was Caboose's fault," Donut said.
"Most of our bodies," Simmons corrected. "I had to give Grif my organs because of you guys!"
"Which reminds me, I hope you have another liver. I think I've already killed this one," Grif said.
"God dammit, Grif!" Simmons cursed. "I told you to take proper care of my organs!"
"Oh, so I'm at fault now?" Grif responded.
The entire group broke out into a senseless storm of accusations and arguments, leaving the entire group forgetting what they were doing in the first place. Caboose was the first and only to notice as the pale, disheveled man stepped out of the base, with Ruby's bag of Dust strapped on his back. Normally, Caboose was friendly and trusting from the start, but even he knew something was immediately wrong with the man he saw. He aimed his rifle up at the man as the man turned to soldiers with an almost entertained smirk, watching them still argue and fight amongst one another. He began clapping loudly and slowly, eventually ending the fight as the Reds and Blues all turned to face their adversary.
"Who the hell is this guy?" Sarge questioned.
"I've gotta say, I'm impressed. No matter the situation, you all somehow manage to turn it into a battle amongst each other," the man said. "It's quite entertaining, but it's also gotten progressively dull."
"And who the fuck are you?" Church questioned harshly.
"Who am I?" He chuckled again. "Well, I guess I have had many names now. Taskmaster. The Grimm. Mercenary. Monster. But to you… I am the Grimmaster."
"Hold on a second… you were that thing? Big, black, furry dog from hell? That's you?" Tucker asked.
"The one and only," Grimmaster smirked.
Sarge aimed his shotgun at Grimmaster. "Then where are the girls, dirtbag? Fess up or eat lead!" The rest of the Reds and Blues quickly aimed their weapons as well.
"Oh, you mean Team RWBY? That's right! Let them come out, shall we?" He then bared his right hand. Embedded in the back of his hand was the corrupted Cosmic Dust crystal, it let out a sickened black glow, and the members of Team RWBY filed out of Red Base one by one.
"Thank god you guys are alright!" Sarge said. "I was worried…. you'd…" The red commander slowed as soon as they all got a clear look at the huntresses, though. They took stances at Grimmaster's sides, with Ruby and Weiss on his right, and Yang and Blake on his left. Their eyes were flat, lifeless, as if they weren't even awake, but their bodies stood on their own two feet. Their veins faintly glowed the same shade as the corrupted crystal.
"What's wrong, Sarge? Cat got your tongue?" Grimmaster cackled.
"What have you done to them?" Church questioned.
"The Cosmic Dust warps reality on small levels. It's not powerful enough to, say, shatter a moon. But if it can open tears in reality and ignore causality, it's more than capable of taking, at the very least temporary, control of the minds of a few little girls with the help of a little Grimm matter. They're still conscious in there somewhere. But their bodies are mine to treat as my puppets for the next few minutes. Inside their heads, they're living in their own little fantasy worlds. Who doesn't love a good fairy tale?"
"What do you want with them? What do you want with us?" Church asked.
"Oh, what I have with them is personal. Only Wyoming really cared about you morons. To me, you're just collateral," Grimmaster shrugged.
"Collateral?" Tucker repeated.
"Oh, did I forget to mention? I'm going to have them kill you brutally. Then, when they eventually come out of this little mind control, they'll realize the horror of what they've done. Then I'll leave them abandoned here with your corpses while I skip along happily back to Remnant, kill a witch, and get my girl. I'm sure you can relate to that last bit, right Church?" Church let out a growl. Grimmaster laughed heartily. "Oh, right, you can't! Your girl's mixed in with piles of flaming shrapnel that are probably still falling from the sky like little snowflakes. Because… of… me."
"Motherfucker!" Church cursed before immediately aiming to kill him with his sniper rifle. Before he could even look through the scope, a bullet tore through his possessed robotic body's shoulder. He stumbled backwards, and Caboose quickly caught him before he fell over. The Barrel of Gambol Shroud was smoking, Blake having taken the shot.
"Before they tear you to little pieces, do you want to know something, Leonard Church? All of you, really. These four little girls, they've been through things. Things you could only imagine. And even after a victorious day almost two months ago now, they feel a part of them is missing without their precious superhero friends. Boo-fucking-hoo, right? But get this: they actually started to feel like it was getting better with you idiots. Imagine that? They actually think you're their friends." Grimmaster let that information sink in before continuing. The soldiers traded brief glances amongst one another. "Especially this one." He walked over to Ruby and firmly gripped her skull. Caboose stepped forward suddenly, but Church grabbed his arm. "See? Right there. Let's start there. The dumbest of you all, the problem causer, the dipshit that kicked off all your problems. At best, he's a pet to you, one you wanna go back and put down like Old Yeller. But this little hero, bless her; little best friends with him instantly."
"And she is one of my best friends!' Caboose proclaimed before aiming his gun up again. "So let her go!"
"Hm… no," Grimmaster replied.
"Are we gonna be here listening to your bullshit monologue all day so you can keep fueling your ego? You're putting me to sleep," Grif remarked. "And that's not hard to do."
"Tucker," Church whispered to his teammate, not moving at all as to not give any sign he spoke at all. Tucker picked up on it and did the same.
"What?" He whispered back.
"We've got to break the girls free from whatever mind control he's got. But if it's anything like O'Malley, I can get into his head as a ghost to try and fix this. When I do that, the girls might attack you guys. Think you can live long enough for me to get us all out of this?" Church asked.
"I don't think we have much choice," Tucker replied.
"Hmph. Alright fine," Grimmaster said. "I have things to do after all." He glanced at the huntresses at his sides. "Kill them." He then strode back to Red Base, and the possessed huntresses all readied their weapons.
"Hey, Church, now would be a good time for your plan," Tucker said. Church didn't respond immediately, and kept staring ahead. "Church?... You've already left your body, haven't you?" Church's body then tipped over and fell onto the ground, kicking up a dirt cloud. "Figures." He then looked back forward at the four controlled warriors before them all, who bore battle ready looks, ready to kill. "Oh, fuckberries…"
Ruby stared wide-eyed ahead, her vision fixed on the woman in front of her. She looked like Summer Rose, but she couldn't be. Ruby's mother was gone, dead so soon in her life she was barely even a memory to her own daughter, and yet here she stood right in front of her.
"Ruby!" She heard Yang exclaim behind her. Her sister rejoined her, having come out of her own room down the hall. "What's going… on…?" Then Yang saw her too. Summer. Yang quickly adopted the same look as Ruby.
"Oh! Good morning, Yang!' Summer said sweetly. Then as she noticed her daughters' shocked looks in unison, she raised a confused eyebrow. "Are you two alright? You look like you've seen a ghost."
"M-Mom…?" Ruby stammered meekly.
"That's me! Your mother!" Summer chuckled confusingly, a small smile growing on her face. "Seriously, you two alright? It's not like it's the first time I've walked through the front door." Summer then crossed the living room where she set her weapon Sundered Rose, a wood and golden axe-rifle hybrid, onto two hooks nailed into the wall, turning her back to them.
"Yang… this… this can't be real…" Ruby whispered to her elder sister.
"I know… I know…" Yang repeated herself, seemingly more for her own benefit than Ruby's. Summer Rose had been dead most of their lives, and yet here she stood. But how?
"This… this has to be Taskmaster, or Grimmaster, or whatever, right?" Ruby asked. "The Dust… he had the Dust. It has to have something to do with this!"
"It could," Yang said. "We still don't know the first thing about the stuff. But that still begs the question, what exactly is this?"
"I don't know…" Ruby said, her eyes constantly drifting over to the woman who seemed to be her mother. Seeing the face and form of her in the flesh made it hard for Ruby to focus on anything else. Summer had gone over to the kitchen and embraced their father, wide smiles on both of their faces. The two parents would then look lovingly into each other's eyes, as if their family hadn't been missing an important piece nearly all of Ruby's life.
Ruby wondered, no she wished, that this reality could be true. But deep down, she knew it couldn't be. Right?
Weiss's head was pulsing, making her feel off-balance and dizzy, as if the world itself was spinning like a top threatening to tip over. She didn't even realize there was ground below her until she slammed down onto it. Her entire body now felt sore, and the side of her face stung. She felt a liquid running down the side of her face. Even as she lay on the ground, she gently touched her temple, feeling a cut running vertically down just to the left of her eye and brow. Her own touch made it sting. She inhaled sharply and pulled her hand away to see blood staining her fingertips.
My scar… how did…? She wondered to herself, then heard a harsh metal screech behind her. She rolled over onto her back to find she was in a large, ornate arena-like hall, and towering over her was a massive suit of armor holding a longsword in its hands. The Arma Gigas. This is… my test?! How am I here?! Weiss groaned and forced herself up, propping herself up by driving Myrtenaster into the ground and holding herself up with her own upper body strength. She glanced up to see a higher walkway above the arena, and found four silhouettes watching her from above. She knew them instantly; her older sister Winter, her younger brother Whitley, and her parents, Jacques and Willow. But… Mother wasn't watching me that day…
She glanced back at the Arma Gigas, which stood ready for their battle to continue. She furrowed her brow and steeled herself, returning to her full height and pointing the tip of Myrtenaster forward. Blood dripped off her chin and splashed onto the floor and her scar hurt like hell, but she ignored it. She had won this battle before, she would do it again.
The Arma Gigas roared and raised its long blade above its head, breaking out into a sprint across the arena. Weiss quickly raised her own weapon above her head before driving it into the ground and shooting ice Dust, quickly sending a tidal wave of sharp ice towards the walking suit of armor. The ice quickly enveloped the lower part of its legs, trapping it into a single position. Weiss pulled her blade from the ground with her right hand, then brought the pommel of her weapon up to her left shoulder. She switched cylinders and activated her fire Dust, which quickly creating a shield of flame around her rapier. She then leapt forward.
The Arma Gigas was quick to respond, cutting itself free from the ice, then using the backswing to aim for Weiss. Instead of avoiding the attack, Weiss leapt onto the flat edge of the massive sword as it passed by her, then dashed toward the Arma's wrist. She leapt up, flipped and slashed its metal palm, sending the oversized weapon out of its owners hands and into the back wall of the arena. As Weiss landed gracefully and skid to a stop, the Arma's hand quickly became consumed by flame. The Arma howled, then stared down at the much smaller Huntress. It began another rush, but as it took its first steps, one of Weiss glyphs, albeit a much larger one, blinked into existence beneath its feet, and the Arma Gigis was suddenly launched high into the air.
Before it had even begun to descend, Weiss created several normal-sized glyphs that fired torrents of ice into the Arma's body, weakening it even further. She then launched herself up into the air as well with another glyph. She flipped gracefully into the open air until she was above her falling opponent. Time slowed to a crawl, as if the world itself was in slow motion. Weiss formed another glyph at her feet and aimed her rapier forward. In half an instant, she was shot forward like a human bullet. She blasted through the Arma Gigas's torso and landed firmly on the ground. The Arma's chestplate turned to shrapnel, and the rest of its body burst into blue-white flames. Before long, only icy-like crystals remained of the armor, raining from above onto the ground below like shining snowflakes.
Weiss stood tall as the last crystals hit the ground, blood still dripping from the gash on her head. But she was numb to the pain of it now. She glanced up at her family, watching down on her. "So, Father, now that I've finished this foolish test, will you let me go to Beacon?"
Weiss remembered this day clearly. Her father never liked the idea of Weiss being a huntress. Her father liked to be in control. Winter had already left him to be in the Atlas military on her own, and Weiss doing the same for Beacon meant he would not have a hold on them, or at the very least not as strong of one. He didn't care about being a caring parent or husband; he married into the family for the wealth and power that came with being the head of the Schnee Dust Company, grooming Whitley into being an heir exactly like him and often abusing his wife. A cruel, self absorbed man with no emotional attachments to the family he had made.
On this day, he had had a frustrated look, his brow and mustache curling up in anger at Weiss's victory. Have it your way, he had growled.
That's why it surprised Weiss when her father stepped out of the shadows, arm linked with Willow's, and they both wore smiles on their faces. When her father replied, it wasn't with contempt or venom, but warmth and pride.
"Of course we will, Weiss. You've proven yourself to us," He said. Weiss's eyebrows shot up in surprise, but also confusion.
"I-I'm sorry… w-what…?" Weiss stammered.
"The Arma Gigas was the best way we could test your combat skills, ensure that you really were strong enough to go out into the world and fight its greatest dangers," Her mother Willow said. "If you bested that, we have no doubt in our minds you will bring pride to our family name, just as your grandfather wished."
"G-Grandfather?"
"Your sister took the same test before she joined the military. You both passed with flying colors," Jacques smiled.
"Congratulations, sister," Whitley said.
"I'm sure General Ironwood will be watching you with great interest once you start term at Beacon," Winter said.
"We are so proud of you, Weiss," Willow said, wearing a loving look on her face, leaning slightly into Jacques' side. The rest of her family wore proud smiles as well. Deep down, she knew this wasn't right, that this was wrong, warped. But right now, she didn't care. She felt elevated, and her own smile grew on her face. This was a reality she could get lost in.
Church snuck into Red Base carefully, though his corporeal feet never made a sound. He came to an end of the hall and peered around the corner into a small room that had to be Simmons' lab, where the Grimmaster was working on something just out of sight, scraps of metal and machinery splayed everywhere leftover from Simmons and Weiss's experiments. Church slowly entered the room and began to sneak up on the villain.
"Why do you care, Church?" Grimmaster suddenly asked.
Church stopped dead in his tracks. "What?"
"Why do you care about their well being?" Grimmaster asked, still keeping his back to the Blue Leader as he kept working. "You said it yourself, they ruined everything. Sure, they're here because of me, but they keep pulling you into trouble, and they didn't save Tex."
"You're the reason she's gone in the first place," Church replied.
"Am I?" Grimmaster questioned. "That was all Omega's plan. I wasn't involved."
"I don't believe you," Church said.
"Think about it, Church. Remove Team RWBY and I from today's events, and what changes? Wyoming and Omega still enact their plan, you still defeat Wyoming, who then informs Tex of their goal. That was her choice. She chose to help enact a plan that would endanger your entire universe. The Reds planted the bomb and killed her. What part did we play in that?"
Church didn't have a response for that. He lowered his head slightly as the realization dawned on him. Ruby, Weiss, none of them were at fault. And he had lashed out at a girl who only wanted to do right.
"That's the truth of us as humans. We are violent, feral creatures. Push us into a corner, we will lash out. The Grimm are nothing compared to us. The greatest monster of all… is man."
"Yeah, and you're a prime example," Church replied.
"You're not wrong," Grimmaster smirked. "And soon, many will remember that."
"We're not letting you out of our world," Church said sternly.
"You're not letting me?" Grimmaster laughed heartily. "Church, Church, and how are you gonna stop- Hrk!" Church didn't wait another second before phasing into his body, breaking into his mind.
"Y'know, you egomaniacs talk too much," Church remarked.
"Get… out!" Grimmaster growled.
"Let.. the girls… go!"
"They'll be let go… rrrg, when I'm done and your friends are dead!" Grimmaster snarled.
"Not happening!" Church exclaimed. He pushed further into Grimmaster's mind, then a flash of white hit him, stunning him. The white took a while to reside, but as it did and Church's vision cleared, he found himself somewhere completely different from Blood Gulch. He was suddenly on a beach of some kind, a shoreline hugging the edge of a massive, vast ocean before him. "Huh…? Where the hell am I?"
He began to hear bustling activity behind him, and spun around to see a large port city packed full of people, stretching across the island. What struck him as even stranger, though, was the people themselves. Seemingly human at first, but they each had an animal attribute. Extra pairs of ears, tails, fins, scales, claws, fur, wings, the list continued. It put Church into a surprised shock for a few stunned moments before he could mutter anything else. "Okay…" He took a few more glances around. "I must be in one of those fantasies that douchebag mentioned… which means one of the girls is here. But where? There's so many people, I wouldn't know where to start…" He then sighed heavily. "This is gonna take a while…"
After stopping random citizens, which Church learned were called Faunus, who didn't seem to at all mind he was dressed and equipped for combat, and asking about each member of Team RWBY individually, he finally got directions from a woman with bat-ears and large wings. She pointed him towards the center of the city, where a large compound sat for the Belladonnas.
So this is Blake's mind, Church thought. I have questions at the end of this. He thanked the woman and quickly started off to the compound, quickly making his way across the island, which he also learned was called Menagerie. After only a few minutes, he found himself just outside the compound, waiting at the base of a staircase that led up to two ornately decorated doors .
"Well, Blake, time to wake up," Church said to himself before ascending the staircase. Before he even made it halfway up, the doors above swung open. He stopped short on one of the landings between sets of stairs and looked up. He saw Blake and a young man about her age, perhaps slightly older, exiting the compound together with interlocked arms and smiles. The young man had short red hair, bright blue eyes, and wore a black suit jacket and dress pants. His Faunus trait seemed to be dark horns that sprouted from his head and curved backwards with the swipe of his hair. Church noticed something different with Blake, too. Instead of wearing her bow, atop her head were a pair of black-furred feline ears.
So I'm not crazy for seeing her bow move from time to time, Church thought.
"Do you have to leave so soon, Adam?" Blake asked the young man.
Adam reluctantly nodded. "Unfortunately. Lord Ghira is sending me as Sienna's bodyguard during the hearing in Vacuo. We have the equality we've always wanted, Blake. There's just some ironing out to do. But I'll be back soon, my love. I promise." Adam squeezed Blake's hand tenderly, and she brought the hand up to the side of his face. For some reason, she had some memory of Adam having a horrid, stamped in mark scarring his face, but that's not what she saw right now. Adam had barely a blemish, his sky blue eyes untouched.
"See you soon, then?" Blake asked. Adam nodded with a small smile. The two started to lean closer to each other.
"Blake!" Church exclaimed. The two young faunus pulled away from one another and turned to the soldier.
"One of your human friends?" Adam asked.
"I-I…" Blake stammered. She then furrowed her brow and rubbed her head, a small headache overtaking her, her thoughts becoming scrambled. "Ch-Church…?"
"Blake, I need you to come around," Church said. "What we're seeing right now isn't real. That Grimm guy is using the Dust to control your minds until he finds a way out of Blood Gulch. If you don't break out of this, he'll have you kill all of us and leave you without a way back home!"
"I don't know who you are, but this is her home," Adam said defensively, furrowing his brow and placing a hand on the hilt of his sheathed sword.
Church ignored the bull faunus and kept trying to get through to Blake. "I know this is probably the happiest possible world you could live in, but that's just what he wants! So you won't want to break free. C'mon, Blake, hasn't anything felt wrong about this world?"
Blake seemed to think about it, and the fog that filled her mind began to clear. This world was wrong. She hadn't been to Menagerie in a long time. And she certainly wasn't still with Adam. But this was her perfect world. A world where Faunus had achieved equality, where she had never run away from home, where those close to her weren't twisted by the unjust evils of the world.
But that didn't happen. She had left her parents behind in Menagerie. She had joined the radicalized terrorists the White Fang had become. She had done so at Adam's side, and became intimately close with him. And Adam had turned twisted and cruel, becoming the bloodthirsty beast many believed the Faunus to be, because they hadn't achieved equality. That was the harsh reality, one that now returned to her.
"This isn't real…" she said.
"Blake?" Adam said. She turned to her former lover and saw that his face now had the familiar scarring stamp burned onto his skin, the letters SDC in a rectangular box like a tag imprinted on him forever, and the whitened damaged eye dead center. Blake stepped back from Adam and gripped her weapon firmly.
"I'm sorry, Adam. But we haven't been like this for a while. Because of you," Blake said.
"But we could be," Adam said.
Blake shook her head. "The White Fang, my family, you… it's all in the past. I have to keep moving forward..." Adam frowned, and suddenly the mask of the White Fang appeared on his face, covering his scars. He then quickly reached for his own weapon, but Blake was faster. In the same instant Adam gripped the hilt of his own weapon. Blake had already moved and cleaved his right arm free at the joint. He cried out and dropped to his knees as he fruitlessly cradled his bleeding joint, blood running between his fingers and dripping onto the stone below them.
"... while you're trapped by the past," Blake finished, sheathing Gambol Shroud with a determined look on her face.
"Well, that was easier than I thought," Church remarked. "Sooo…. Cat ears, huh?"
"You won't say a word of this to anyone," Blake said threateningly.
"Nope, not at all. I'm cool, I'm cool," Church said quickly. "So, uh, you'll probably come out of this in a minute, so I'm just gonna hop on over to the next angry teenager trying to kill all my friends. Bye."
Church then simply popped out of existence in front of her. After a few moments, the shorelines of Menagerie turned to a harsh white light, then once that receded, the dirt covered Blood Gulch. She rubbed her head painfully as her true senses came to her. She let out a groan before realizing she was holding her blade to the neck of Simmons, who was quivering with fear.
"Uh… please don't kill me…?" He whimpered.
"S-Simmons…?" She quickly pulled her weapon away and stumbled back. "Ugh, my head is killing me…"
"Oh thank God… I take it that means Church got you out?" Simmons asked with a relieved tone.
"Yeah… ugh, what did I miss?" Blake asked.
"See for yourself," Simmons said. Blake saw her three teammates battling the Reds and Blues, the latter just barely surviving. "We don't have a chance!"
"You do now," Blake said, rushing to protect the residents of Blood Gulch from her crazed teammates.
As Menagerie disappeared from around Church, the environment shifted and changed until he found himself somewhere new, somewhere completely different. The sand turned to tile, the open sky changed to chandelier-filled ceilings, and the faunus changed to humans in fancy suits and dresses. Suddenly the stairwell he stood on leading up to Blake's family compound changed to a staircase in the entry hall of a mansion. He still stood halfway up it. He looked down at the ground floor and at the next floor above to see the suits and decorated dresses walking back and forth with wine glasses in their hands, letting out privileged laughs among their small talk.
"Let's see; fancy mansion, rich snobs, and the smell of cologne only Donut would wear. This is Weiss's mind alright," Church remarked. "Now where is the bitchy little princess?"
Jacques repeatedly tapped the rim of his glass with a spoon as if it were a bell, trying to gather the attention of his guests. "Everyone, everyone! Please, a moment!" he called out. The dozens of conversations amongst his droves of rich spectators went silent. Jacques smiled and placed his hand on Weiss's shoulder, who stood next to him proudly with hands behind her back, a confident smirk on her face. "First of all, thank you all for coming tonight. It's been quite the turnout. But let us not forget that tonight is a celebration for my daughter, Weiss! Beacon's top Huntress in just a single year, who fought valiantly against the White Fang, who helped to bring about victory during the Battle of Beacon! This is her celebration!"
The crowd broke out into cheers as they raised their glasses, and those without drinks clapped for the Schnee heiress. Jacques did the same as the others who had drinks, holding his small wine glass gently above his head in a gesture of support. He gave Weiss's shoulder a squeeze as well, and flashed her a warm smile. Weiss smiled in return and felt herself relax.
"Enjoy tonight, Weiss. This is all for you," Jacques said.
"Thank you, Father," Weiss happily replied. Jacques patted her shoulder, then left her to speak with a few waiting nobles eager to speak with the SDC CEO. Weiss placed her own hand on her shoulder, feeling the warmth left by her father's. It almost made her smile wider. She was so distracted by it, she didn't notice the blue-armored soldier until he was right in front of her.
"Hey, Weiss!" Church exclaimed, startling her and snapping her from her stupor. "Good, you're here! Alright, I'll make this quick. I know you probably think this is real, but it's not. It's an illusion created by-"
"-created by him, I am well aware," Weiss cut him off.
"Wait, what? You are? Then why aren't you trying to get out of here, get your body back? It's kinda out there tearing us to shreds as we speak!" Church said. "What are you doing here, twiddling your thumbs?"
Weiss sighed. "You wouldn't understand…"
"Look, I get this is supposed to be a world where you get what you want, but it's a lie! You can't stay here forever! What is so important that makes you want to stay here and knowingly be lied to?" Church questioned.
Weiss sighed again and looked over to her father, who now had her mother at his arm, both happily engaging in conversation with the other rich folk over drinks. "My family…" Weiss said softly.
"Your family?" Church repeated.
"Back home, back in reality… my family isn't so picturesque. My father married my mother simply to gain our inheritance. She was merely a trophy wife to him. Property. My sister and I were no different to him. We were his to control. It's my younger brother he molded to be his heir. That's all he wanted. Our money, our power, our Dust, our entire inheritance and empire. He didn't care about the rest of us." Church stayed quiet, listening intently as Weiss began to pour out her misery. "The only time he laid a hand on us was to strike us. Never a hug or even a pat on the head. He left my mother broken and alone, leaving her with just her drinks and pointless parties. That left me and my sister on our own. All we had was each other."
"So… that's you became a huntress?" Church asked.
"Somewhat…" Weiss frowned. "I could die here, or any other world out there, and my father wouldn't notice, let alone care. We are only family by name. I always envied Ruby and Yang for having a loving father that cared for and raised them. It's something I could never know… I know this place is all an illusion, Church, but… but there's one thing my wealth couldn't buy: a loving family. I guess… I guess I just want to live this white lie a little longer…"
Her words weighed on Church, leaving him speechless for a short time. Weiss looked away from him, taking a moment to attempt to compose herself. She held herself tightly, unable to stop her body from quivering from built-up emotion that threatened to burst through the surface. Church was used to seeing her either being cool and collected to the point of apathy, or being overly angry and annoyed at almost everything. But now he was seeing the real Weiss for the first time. She wasn't a privileged brat, she wasn't an outright horrible person. Who he saw was just a kid, yearning for the paternal attachment she never had, even though she knew completely that what she was seeing was a fantasy. But it was her fantasy.
Church broke out of his thoughts as the shimmer of a single tear ran down Weiss's cheek, then dripped off her chin onto her collarbone. At first, his feeling of regret for how he treated her was all that was there. But then he noticed something missing from Weiss's pale neck. "Yeah, this world is great for you and all. But if it's so perfect here, where's your team? And where's that necklace you always keep around your neck?" He asked.
"H-Huh?" She quickly felt around her collarbone and looked frantically, but her precious snowflake necklace was nowhere to be found.
"Look, family can be rough. I get it. I get that you want to feel 'normal'. But you already have people who care about you. You got your team, and whoever gave you that necklace. Don't focus on what you lost, focus on what you have. And if you don't get out of this dream that guy's made for you, you could lose that too," Church said. "You and I might not get along very well, Weiss, but we both know we can't let this guy get away with what he's done. He's already taken away something… someone important to me. Don't let him do the same to you."
Weiss swallowed hard and wiped the tears from her face, then furrowed her brow and steeled herself. "I will make him hurt for this," She frowned.
"Do it for the both of us, 'kay? You'll be outta here in a sec, and I still need to get Ruby and Yang out of their own heads. See ya in a minute," Church said before suddenly popping out of Weiss's make-believe world. After Church was gone, her parents approached her with concerned looks.
"Weiss? What's wrong, dear?" Willow asked. She looked at her parents, the temptation to still stay gnawing at her, and took a deep breath.
"I'm sorry. I wish this could be us, but… but it isn't. If we were, I may have never become a huntress. And a huntress is what I am," Weiss said, stepping away from the imaginary recreations of her parents. She took Myrtenaster from her hip, held it above her head, then drove it into the ground, pulling the trigger to fire ice dust, using it to form a thick shield of ice around her. As she did, everything around her flashed white for a moment, then it faded back in. She had still made an ice shield around her, but it was much larger, and around her were Tucker, Caboose, Grif and Sarge.
"Weiss? That really you, youngin'?" Sarge asked. Weiss smirked and nodded.
"Everyone alright?" She asked.
"Uh, depends. Do you define getting ready to be torn apart by a pissed off blonde 'alright'?" Tucker asked. As if on cue, Yang's fist burst through the thick ice wall. She then grabbed the barrier itself and tore a large hole through it, pushing through with ease. She wore an infuriated, but possessed, look on her face as she stomped inside. Weiss moved to defend the soldiers, but Yang backhanded her to the side, sending her flying until she slammed into her own ice barrier. Then the blonde turned her gaze back to the soldiers.
Without skipping a beat, Sarge blasted her with a shotgun slug, keeping her at bay for the briefest of moments. Before he could pull the trigger a second time, Yang lunged forward and struck Sarge in his gut, sending him stumbling back. Yang primed a follow up blow when Caboose grabbed her arm and actually held her back, then pulled her into a headlock.
"No! We are your friends!" He exclaimed. Yang bashed the back of her head into his, stunning him long enough to get free of his grip, then roundhouse kicked him away from her. Suddenly, several ice shards struck her. She cried out and snapped around to see Weiss on her feet, glyphs in the air behind her and Tucker and Grif at her sides, weapons aimed up at Yang.
"C'mon, Yang, snap out of this!" Weiss exclaimed. "If you can hear me in there, whatever you're seeing, you have to know it's not real! Come to your senses and see what you're doing!" Yang, however, was unresponsive, showing no signs that Weiss's words were getting through. Yang simply emptied the empty shells from her gauntlets and loaded more ammo in, then entered a combat stance with both fists up. The heiress furrowed her brow.
"You will let her go… " Weiss twirled her blade and drove it into the ground again. A larger glyph blinked into existence right behind her and the other two. Rising from it came a familiar set of armor, kneeling down one one knee with a hand on the pommel of its sword. The helmeted head glanced up, then the Arma Gigas rose to its full towering height, pulling its weapon from the ground. "... or I will make you."
"Holy shit…" Tucker marveled.
Church's world changed from Weiss's manor to something starkly different; he found himself outside a small forest homestead, a truck parked out front and lights on inside the main house. "Well, process of elimination, this has gotta be Ruby or Yang. Maybe both. Is this their home?"
"Uh, hey there!" A voice said.
"Huh?" Church glanced to see a man with blond hair come out the front door of the house.
"Can I help you with something?" Tai asked.
"Uh… yeah, yeah, uh… you wouldn't happen to know where Ruby and Yang are, would you?" Church asked.
"Are you a friend of theirs?"
"Uh…" Church sighed. "I-I guess I am. But I messed up, and they need my help."
"Well, they should be back any minute with their mom. They were out gathering a couple apples for dessert tonight. Summer's gonna make pie. You're welcome to stay if you like," Tai offered.
"Thanks, but I'm kind of on a timetable here," Church replied. "You sound really familiar by the way."
"Yeah, you do too. But I can't place it," Tai said, holding his chin thoughtfully. "Have we met before?"
"Eh, maybe in another world," Church replied.
"Church?" Church turned to see Ruby and Yang staring at him, each with small baskets of shiny red apples in hand.
"Huh. That was unrealistically fast. Not that I'm complaining," Church thought aloud.
"Church, what are you doing here?" Yang asked as she and Ruby approached, setting their baskets down.
"I'm here to get you out of your own heads. While you're trapped in this fantasy, that lunatic has control of your bodies. The guys are doing their best to survive, but I've already freed Weiss and Blake. Once I get you out of here, we can finish taking care of this mess," Church said.
Yang momentarily held her head, a sudden ache squeezing her skull, but her mind became clearer, as if a mental fog had been swept away. "You're… you're right. We need to get back out there," She agreed.
"Ruby, you with us?" Church asked. Ruby was looking away, silent. "Ruby?" For the briefest moment, Church could see a tear roll down her cheek, then she was gone in a cloud of rose petals. "Ruby, wait! Oh come on! Is everyone's perfect world related to some kind of childhood trauma?!" Church exclaimed.
"I… I can't blame her…" Yang sighed.
"What's your guys' deal?" Church questioned.
"Summer, Ruby's mom, the woman who raised us both… she's, uh… she's been gone a long time back home. Ruby never really got to know her. Now she's in a world where Mom never died, and she doesn't want to let it go…" Yang said.
"Jesus, I… I can't imagine that. Losing a parent and not knowing them… but how come you're not torn up about this?" Church asked.
"Summer's just one of the things eating me up… My mom being one of them. I guess I never fully bought into this fantasy because there's still enough wrong with it for me. If it was just my fantasy, my mom would be here too. But she isn't. Whatever he did to us, he lumped us together. But I can't leave without Ruby. I won't," Yang said.
"I'll, uh… I'll go talk to her."
Ruby stood on a cliff edge overlooking the sea around Patch, looking down at a small piece of land. This was where her mother's grave was supposed to be, sitting here against the horizon where the sun sets, the words Thus Kindly I Scatter engraved on her tombstone under a carved emblem of a rosebud. But it was gone. The land was unused, the soil unmarked. Her mother was still alive here, in the flesh. She knew it was a lie, that she's only living her greatest fantasy, but she had fallen into it. She had let the fairy tale take over, and now she couldn't let it go.
"Ruby?"
Her mother's voice both warmed her heart and sent a chill down her spine. Ruby hugged herself firmly.
"Ruby, what's wrong?" Summer asked, slowly approaching her daughter. No, not her daughter. This wasn't real. She wasn't real. Even though Ruby wanted it to be. She felt Summer's hand gently grip her shoulder. "Ruby. You know you can talk to me…"
Ruby had to force words from her mouth, her throat tightening, her own sorrow and anxiety threatening to choke her. "This… isn't… real…." She quivered.
"But you want it to be?" Summer asked, seemingly unfazed by Ruby's words, echoing the young huntress's own thoughts. Ruby weakly nodded, clutching herself even tighter with tears welling up in her eyes, threatening to drip down at any moment.
"I want… I-I want to be a family again… I want my mom…" It didn't take long, but she couldn't keep her tears from running. She began to sob and furiously wipe her eyes. Summer gently pulled Ruby into her embrace, wrapping her arms around her daughter lovingly. Ruby clung to her mother as if her life depended on it, squeezing Summer's waist with all her strength. Summer slowly caressed Ruby's head as Ruby wept into her chest. "I don't want to let go…" Ruby cried.
"I know…" Summer said softly. She sat down in the grass, pulling Ruby down with her. She set Ruby's head against her shoulder, then wrapped her white cloak around her child, holding her close with her arm under the cloth. Ruby accepted her embrace. The two looked forward as the sun was beginning to come down, moments from touching the horizon. "... but you must know you have to go."
Ruby didn't say anything. She didn't have any words to speak as her heart was sinking to the ground. Summer, though, bore a small smile. "Have you ever wondered why we're here, Ruby?"
Ruby weakly chuckled a bit. "I hear it's one of life's great mysteries…"
Summer giggled. "Yes it is. But it's not because it's an answer out of our reach. It's because everyone has a different answer, and none of them are wrong. Life is what we make it. Our reason for being here isn't predetermined by something out there greater than ourselves, it's something we choose. We forge our own paths, and you chose the same as me: a huntress, a hero. A protector. We've chosen to use our lives to ensure others will continue. Our stories are about ensuring more stories can be written. It's our badge, and our burden."
"But… but you're gone… you didn't get to finish your story," Ruby said.
"Every story, every fairy tale, has an ending, Ruby. And I had mine. But the highlight of my story isn't my life as a huntress, or my death away on a mission. The best part of my story was the start of yours," Summer said. Ruby looked up at her mother. "You've done so much already, and I am so proud of you, Ruby. But you have to keep writing your story. It's ok to look behind you, to remember your beginnings, but you can't let the past become your future. You have to keep moving forward, and be happy that you don't have to do it alone. You've made friends, grown your family beyond me, each with their own stories, stories you are a part of too. And right now, you all have a chapter to finish." Summer stood up, pulling Ruby back to her feet as well and wiping her face clean of tears with her thumb gently.
"That is why we are here: to ensure our stories are written and told to the end," Summer said.
"And I still have some writing to do," Ruby sniffled. She wiped her nose and eyes quickly, then looked back up at her mother. This would likely be the last time she ever saw her mother outside of a picture frame or fuzzy memories. She frowned a bit and then hugged her mother again tightly. Summer returned the embrace with a tenderness only a parent could. "I love you, Mom…"
"I love you too, Ruby," Summer replied. She rubbed Ruby's back lovingly, then leaned down and planted a kiss on her forehead before pulling away. "Now, move forward." Ruby smiled, but the moment was bittersweet. But she knew what she had to do.
"Ruby!" Church called as he approached. Ruby snapped around to see the blue leader running towards her. He quickly joined her and began to speak. "Ruby, look, I'm sorry for what I said. I was an asshole. Tex wasn't your fault, and I shouldn't have-"
"It's ok, Church," Ruby smiled. "I'm ok. And I'm ready to go."
"I-uh… a-alright then," Church said. "You okay?"
"I am now," Ruby nodded.
"Alright. You should be coming out then. I'll meet you out there, okay?"
"You got it," Ruby replied. Church popped from existence, and then Ruby could see the horizon start to become pure white, the illusion destroying itself. Ruby glanced back to where her mother had stood, but only white rose petals remained, going up into the wind gusts, floating away. Kindly, she had scattered.
Ruby let out a breath and closed her eyes just as the rest of Patch became nothing.
After a few moments, she opened her eyes, and she was back in Blood Gulch, sitting on the ground with both her teammates and the Reds and Blue surrounding her, all of whom were worse for wear. "H-Hey, guys," She weakly said.
"How do you feel?" Doc asked.
"Weird," Ruby said simply. "But I'm myself at least." Church approached and put a hand out to her. She gladly took it and was pulled to her feet.
"Are you ready to finish this?" Church asked her. Ruby nodded and gripped Crescent Rose tightly.
"I'm afraid it's too late for that." Everyone looked towards Blue Base, where Grimmaster had stepped out, the spare bag of Cosmic Dust strapped on and a gauntlet-like machine equipped to his right hand, and attached to the backhand of the gauntlet was the corrupted Cosmic Dust crystal. "I must say, I'm a little disappointed none of you are dead. But it doesn't matter."
"It's over, Masters," Blake said.
"Yes, it is. Just not the way you think," Grimmaster said. "I watched as you created prototype after prototype, attempting to craft a way home. Thankfully, with a few ideas from the late Gamma A.I, I have my own." He pressed a button on the gauntlet, and the attached Cosmic Dust glowed. After a few seconds, with a loud SNAP! sound, a tear in reality appeared, creating a rift with a white interior and a faint but pulsing orange glowing outline. Everyone quickly aimed their weapons.
"Don't even think about it, asshole," Church threatened.
"Or what? You'll shoot me? You couldn't hit the broadside of a-"
BANG! A sniper round tore through Grimmaster's torso, making him stumble back a few steps. He held the wound out of pain at first, then pulled his hand back to reveal a gaping hole in his torso from where the bullet blasted through.
"How's that for my aim, bitch?!" Church remarked. "Suck on that!"
Grimmaster gritted his teeth, almost snarling as black matter inside his body filled the wound and sealed his skin. "Just enough Grimm matter left for that…" he groaned. Ruby dashed forward, closing the distance between them in an instant. Grimmaster was actually caught off guard, and quickly called upon the Dust to create an energy barrier between him and her, but the blade of Crescent Rose broke through, getting stuck halfway.
Ruby narrowed her eyes. "You said a name before, like they were behind everything. Salem," She said. "Who is Salem?"
Grimmaster smirked and snickered. "You'll find out soon enough. See ya later, Little Red." He then let go of the barrier and fell back through the rift, which promptly closed behind him. He had escaped.
Ruby sighed, then shifted her weapon down before attaching it to the back of her belt.
"So… that's it?" Yang said. "We're stuck here? We can never go home?"
"Not necessarily," Weiss said.
"What do you mean? He took all the Dust, didn't he?" Tucker asked.
"Not all of it," Weiss said, then emptied the tumbler of Myrtenaster to reveal a single Cosmic Dust crystal. "He didn't take the crystals we put into our weapons to make our other Dust work."
"So we still have a way home!" Ruby smiled.
"Hey Simmons," Church said, getting the Red lieutenant's attention. "Think you can get our portal up and running again?"
"With a bit of time and tools, yeah, I could," Simmons replied.
"Well then hop to it, Simmons! We're burnin' daylight!" Sarge ordered.
"Yes sir!" Simmons replied.
"Let's get to work then," Blake said.
It took about a full day's work, but after hard labor and plenty of crossed wires, the group were able to reconstruct the Cosmic Dust machine and reconnect it back to the Blue's teleporter.
"We learned from what happened last time. Now we have more makeshift dampeners to keep the energy conduits from overloading. Now, we shouldn't lose control of the portal when it turns into a rift," Simmons explained.
"So we shouldn't have another horde of Grimm come through," Weiss added.
"'Shouldn't'?" Grif repeated.
"Hey, let's take the small victories, alright?" Church said. "Fire it up, let's see it."
Weiss nodded and brought the machine to life. Just as before, the energy from the crystal began to mix with the energy from the teleporter.
"Please don't blow up, please don't blow up-" Simmons began to repeat.
"Sssh!" Yang snapped.
The energy kept mixing, and the base itself began to vibrate as the energy built up. But just as it felt like a burst of energy was imminent, it subsided, and the green energy of the teleporter mixed with the white energy of the Dust, creating a contained rift within the portal's frame.
"It… it worked! We actually created a multiversal rift! I'm a genius!" Simmons exclaimed.
"We're geniuses, you mean," Weiss raised an eyebrow.
"Er, yeah! That's what I meant!" Simmons corrected himself.
"So this is it, huh? You're going home?" Church asked.
"Yeah. Yeah, I guess so," Ruby said.
"It's, uh… I'd definitely gotten used to having you guys around. Good and bad, I guess… I guess maybe things won't be the same without you guys," Church admitted.
Ruby smiled. "We'll miss you too, Church." She quickly gave him a hug, which caught him off guard. He wanted to protest, but instead he patted her head.
Weiss glanced towards Simmons. "I guess this is goodbye then," She said.
"I guess so," Simmons said awkwardly. "It was kinda nice having someone else with a brain to talk to."
"Likewise," Weiss replied. "You have your quirks, but you certainly do have a talented mind."
"Maybe if you guys are ever in the neighborhood again, we could come up with something else this revolutionary," Simmons said.
"I'll write down some ideas," Weiss smiled.
"Looking forward to it," Simmons said.
"Well, I guess this is it, Grif," Yang said. "It's been fun."
"Ah, don't sweat it," Grif said. "With all of our luck, chances are you guys'll be back with more monsters on your tail."
"Think you'll be too lazy to join?" Yang asked.
"Like I said, nobody can know I actually care," Grif replied, chuckling a bit.
"Bring it in, big guy," Yang said before pulling Grif into a hug.
"You just had to get the fat joke in there, huh?" grif deadpanned.
"Of course," Yang deviously snickered before pulling away.
"Will you bring Firefly with you?" Grif asked, gesturing to the painted alien speeder parked in the dirt just outside Blue base.
"I don't think she'll fit through the portal," Yang sighed. "But hey, picking her up means I have a reason to come back."
"I'll be waiting," Grif said.
"Welp, youngin's, this is goodbye. You'll forever be remembered in the Red army hall of fame!" Sarge said.
"I refuse to believe that's a real thing," Blake said.
"Blake, don't be so mean," Ruby said.
"'Course it's real. It consists of me, me, another me, and then you! Leaders take the charge," Sarge said.
"I'm sure," Blake said with a small smile. "Besides the vengeful Grimm monster and evil A.I, it really was fun with you guys."
"Feel free to come back through the neighborhood sometime. Just maybe without the big bad guy baggage," Tucker said.
"Well, once we figure out a way to use the Dust safely, we'll make the trip," Ruby said.
"Do you really have to go?" Caboose asked sadly.
"Yeah, we do, Caboose," Ruby replied softly. "But hey, cheer up! We'll be back eventually!"
"Do you promise?" Caboose asked.
Ruby smiled and leapt up, hugging Caboose tightly, albeit awkwardly. "I promise." Caboose hugged back, and the two split.
"I will miss my friends."
"We'll miss you too," Blake smiled, Caboose's sincerity warming her heart a bit. "But we have a home to get back to."
"And we should be getting back to it promptly," Weiss said as she and Yang joined their teammates. "There's no telling how long the energy will remain stable."
"Which kinda brings me to something important," Ruby said before turning to all the Reds and Blues. "We saw what Wyoming and Masters were trying to do, the kind of danger both this Dust and the multiverse brings. No one else in this universe can know about us or the Dust."
"You want us to keep things under wraps if we can," Church said.
"We know that's asking a lot, considering what's happened, but-" Ruby started.
"Done," Sarge cut her off.
"Really?" Ruby questioned.
"Ruby, consider the past month or so we've just lived through. If the best way to keep that from happenin' again is to keep things quiet, consider it done," Sarge said.
"Yeah, the last thing we need is another Omega or 'Grimmaster' running around," Church said. "We'll keep things quiet. As far as our world is concerned, you were never here."
"You guys should get going. I really don't wanna risk this thing exploding," Simmons warned. Ruby glanced up at Church for a brief moment, who ushered her on.
"Get going. I'll feel better knowing you guys make it home alright," Church said. Ruby gave him a smile, and the team filed through the portal. First Blake, then Weiss, then Yang, their forms phasing through the energy as they left Blood Gulch behind.
When Ruby reached the teleporter frame, though, she paused, and took one last look back at the Reds and Blues, who were looking at her as she was passing through. It stung a bit, having to leave them behind after making friends. But now she understood why another of her friends had to do the same. Their stories are their own, and hers was no different. She smiled, although bittersweetly, and stepped through the portal. Her vision was overtaken by white for a few moments, then before she knew it she was stumbling onto clean patches of grass, not the brownish vegetation of Blood Gulch, but the familiar dark green of Patch's plantlife.
"Guess they really meant it about going back home," Yang remarked. "Dad's gonna be so pissed…"
"You think that's bad?" Weiss question. "General Ironwood and my sister will be a whole different level of lividity."
"Guys, I think we should just be glad we made it back to Remnant in one piece," Blake said.
"Girls…?" They all turned to see Tai and Ben in the doorway of the Xiao Long household, shocked expressions on their faces.
"Oh, uh… hey, Dad…" Ruby said awkwardly. Within seconds, Tai crossed the distance between them and hauled his two daughters into his arms.
"I'm so glad you're alright!" he exclaimed in relief.
Meanwhile, Ben went to Weiss and Blake. "You guys okay?"
"It's… been a strenuous few weeks," Weiss said.
"We're fine, but… it's not all good news," Blake said.
"Yeah, we need to talk about that," Ruby said, pulling herself out of her father's arms. She then looked at Ben cautiously. "Ben… he's back. He's alive."
Without even saying a name, Ben seemed to understand. It could've been the look in her eyes or the tone in her voice, but he just understood. His relief washed away, replaced by concern and fear. He stumbled back a bit as the revelation hit him. Weiss quickly grabbed his arm to try and keep him steady. Ruby frowned as the weight of what Ben was told seemed to instantly crush him.
"This is… troubling to say the least," Ironwood said, pacing the Xiao Long living room back and forth as he processed what Team RWBY told him. They omitted most of their exploits in Blood Gulch, believing that they should do as the soldiers were asked to do: keep quiet about what had happened there. Mostly. They told Ironwood about Grimmister's survival, and that most of the Cosmic Dust was destroyed, save for the bag that Masters took with him. But everything else like Wyoming, Omega, the aliens; they kept that to themselves. "If Masters is alive, then the threat is far more real and far closer than we expected."
"I'm sorry we weren't able to stop him," Ruby apologized.
"No, it's alright. You four did the best you could, I imagine," Ironwood replied. "Just as we must now as well. And you're certain there was no X-636 remaining?"
"Most of the shipment was destroyed or lost in the crash," Blake said. "What we did have with us was either destroyed or taken by Masters."
"I see…" Ironwood replied. "In that case, X-636 shipments will from now on be supervised by me or my specialists personally. No more of you will be put at risk for Atlas's endeavors."
"There's something else, General," Weiss said.
"Yes, Miss Schnee?" Ironwood said.
"When Masters was back, he mentioned a name: Salem. Who is Salem?" Weiss asked. The four huntresses all looked to the Atlesian leader for an answer. Clearly, it wasn't a question he was expecting. His eyes widened momentarily, then quickly narrowed.
"I figured he was working for Salem. The motives lined up too well," ironwood said.
"But who is Salem?" Yang asked.
Ironwood sighed, then moved to take a seat across from the team. "I take it there's no point in trying to lie to you. But let me make myself clear: what I'm about to tell you cannot leave this room. If you so wish, I will inform Team JNPR of this information on my way back through Argus, but that will be the end of it. Do you swear it?"
"Yes, General," Ruby nodded.
"Very well then," Ironwood sighed. "Salem is an immortal being who would wish nothing more than to see humanity wiped from the face of the planet. She is the witch that created the Grimm, and she's the one who orchestrated both the hunt of the maidens and the attack on Beacon."
The eyebrows of all four huntresses shot up in surprise. "She's behind… all of it?" Yang asked.
"All of it," Ironwood said evenly. "We win every day we keep the maidens out of her grasp. So that has been our mission all this time. The initiative to create things like X-636 is in the hopes of not only winning our stalemate with her, but to prevent other threats like Masters from ever harming Remnant again." The members of team RWBy were trading concerned glances among one another.
Ironwood sighed. "I've left you with much to think about. I will go. I hope to see you on my next visit when Beacon is in session." Ironwood stood up and left the house, leaving only Team RWBY there to ponder.
"Salem created the Grimm?" Yang said.
"There's an actual woman behind the slaughter," Blake said.
"What are we supposed to think after we learn something like that?" Weiss questioned.
"I don't know…" Ruby admitted. "But if there's one thing we do know, it's that the General is working to beat her. Ruby pulled three Cosmic Dust crystals from her pocket, holding them in her palm. "We've seen what these can do on their own. If Ironwood is making defenses like this, we just might turn the tide against Salem." The team smiled a bit and looked at the Dust crystals. No, their fight, their story certainly wasn't over. But with what they've learned and what they now have, it is the end of one chapter, and the beginning of the next.
It had been days since Team RWBY had returned to Remnant. Things had gotten quiet around Blood Gulch. No freelancers, aliens, or monsters to disturb the peace. The Reds and Blues hadn't even begun fighting again. There was just too much on their minds. The Reds were back at their base, doing God knows what, while Tucker, Doc and Sister were below inside Blue Base. Church and Caboose stood atop it, hanging around silently as the day wore on.
"Church?" Caboose said suddenly.
"Yeah?" Church replied.
"You ever wonder why we're here?" Caboose asked.
"You know, Caboose, I used to not care. I just went along with orders and hoped that everything would work out for me. But after all that's happened, you know what I've learned? It's not about hating the guy on the other side because someone told you to. I mean - you should hate someone because they're an asshole, or a pervert, or a brat, or a snob, or they're lazy, or arrogant, or an idiot, or a know it all, or too nice for their own good. Those are reasons to dislike somebody. You don't hate someone because someone told you to, you have to learn to despise people on a personal level. Not because they're Red, or because they're Blue, or something else entirely, but because you know them," Church said. Then he paused for a moment. "Then when you know them, you know there's more to it. You see some of the reasons why they are the way they are. And maybe, just maybe… they aren't entirely insufferable douchebags."
"..."
"..."
Caboose stared at Church awkwardly in silence before speaking again. "I meant why are we up here in the sun when we could be standing down there in the shade." He gestured to the large shadow cast by the base in the harsh sunlight of the gulch, which would get them out of said harsh sunlight.
"Oh…" Church said. "Yeah, okay, let's go stand in the shade." Church walked down the ramp off the roof. Caboose didn't follow him at first, instead quickly reaching into his pocket and retrieving a singular white crystal that gave off a faint glow. It was the same crystal they used to send Team RWBY home. And it would be the same one he would try to use to see them again.
"Caboose, you comin', man?" Church asked.
"Oh, uh, coming, Church!" Caboose replied. Caboose quickly pocketed the crystal again and joined his leader. One day he would see them again. He'd make sure of it.
The End
The Reds and Blues will return...
... in RvBvRWBY: Reunion