Disclaimer: RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth. I only own the Goddess of Empty/Agatha Griseo

Chapter 9

An Indomitable Spirit

Jaune worked out his plan to steal the Atlas ship. Ruby and Qrow filled me in on the other details about Ozma and Salem.

The four relics hid in each of the schools. The sword in Vacuo, the staff in Atlas, the crown was somewhere at Beacon. However, it seems Ozma added other safeguards for that one as opposed to the others. Probably because he figured Salem would strike there first since he was the headmaster there. That one could wait until later, to spare us some time.

And apparently the lamp used to be under Heaven Acade- Whoa Whoa Whoa. Wait a minute.

The one with the answers to your world lies beneath the surface.

SHE MEANT THAT LITERALLY?!

Um, anyway, it seems only a specific woman can open their specific vault. A Maiden. According to legend, someone gifted four maidens powers beyond Semblances. Magic. Real magic, back with only four women. I'd heard the legend before- I thought it to be just that, a legend. A story the humans told to remember the old days of them having magic. But no. Instead, Ozma gifted four women magic after they helped him in his grief. When those women died, they gave their powers away to the young woman who was in their final thoughts. The cycle went on from there.

Okay, I understand wanting to show his thanks, but isn't that excessive? Granting four random women magical powers out of the blue. What's the point of all that?

Each maiden can open a specific vault. Summer for Vacuo. Winter for Atlas. Spring for Haven. And Fall for Beacon. And Salem has the current Fall Maiden right now. In that case, it's a good thing Ozma took extra precautions.

The current Spring Maiden (Qrow's twin sister apparently) went MIA after the Battle of Haven and they had opened the vault, hence why they needed to get the Lamp to Atlas.

By the time they finished explaining, Jaune had his plan all figured out. He somehow convinced his sisters into helping us out.

The next day Weiss made her way over to the airbase, seemingly by herself. She told them she wanted to go back home. Cordovin was all too happy to escort the middle child of Jacques Schnee back home. It's the rest of us that need sneaking in.

Maria was small enough to fit into one of Weiss' suitcases so she could stowaway on the airship and take control. Yang and Blake made their way to the relay tower on Bumblebee. There, Blake will disable the radar so they don't detect what we're doing.

The rest of us waited on the cliff side so that when Blake disables the radar, Weiss and Maria can swing around undetected and pick us up. These humans deserve some credit- sneaky little devils.

We all waited patiently as Weiss' scroll signal dropped.

"Alright, this is it," Ruby told us before reaching for her earpiece. "Blake you're up."

There was no response.

"Blake?" Ruby tried again before contacting her sister. "Yang, what's going on?"

"I'm not sure," Yang replied. "I'm going to check it out."

Weiss then spoke up. "Ruby, we're in trouble. Cordo's on to us, and Maria isn't helping!"

And to think this was such a brilliant plan. I hope Blake is okay.

Nora asked if we could see what's going on with Blake and Yang when Qrow started cursing himself. "Damn it! Cordo's going to scramble her fighters. We've got maybe ninety seconds before they're in the air, and all over Weiss and Maria. This is all my fault..."

"Qrow, not every bad thing that happens is because of you," I argued.

"Every choice I made has led me here," Qrow threw right back. "And I've dragged you along with me. Oz, myself, the others... we're responsible for the mess the world's in right now. I shouldn't have come. I shouldn't have let any of you come. What was I thinking?!"

I slapped him.

Qrow cupped his cheek. The skin was already bright red. I glared at him.

"Are you done?" I asked him. "Unless you purposely told Cordo anything, it's not on you."

Someone placed a hand on my shoulder. Looking back, I saw Ruby there. Her silver eyes were bright. Seeing what she wanted, I let her approach her uncle.

"We're all in this together." She reminded him. "And we're all going to do the best we can. That's all anyone can do. And I know it's what you've always aimed for. We would've come whether or not you'd let us, so stop talking like we're your responsibility! We're not! But we could still use Qrow Branwen on our side."

Qrow took a minute to ponder her words. Finally he asked "When did you grow up so fast?"

"I had good role models," Ruby answered, sharing a smile with Qrow.

See, that's why I hang around humans. I'm learning a thing or two about morale from this girl. Still feel justified giving Qrow that wake up slap though.

Weiss' voice then came over the comms. "Guys, she's not sending fighters..."

The rest of us ran over to the cliff side.

"Well then, what is she sending?" I asked.

Neither Weiss nor Maria answered, but I saw for myself as they flew the ship towards us. A giant robot follows close behind.

Is she serious?! I may have to reevaluate my opinion about old people. This one is crazy. This is why I gave them an age limit...

"It is time you ask yourselves, children... Do you truly wish to defy me?" Cordovin asked.

Instead of giving an answer, Ruby tapped her com. "Hurry back, Weiss. I need you on the ground if we're going to take this thing down."

"You're joking, right?" Weiss asked. "You want us to fight this thing?"

"We've fought giant monsters before," Ruby countered. "This is just a tiny old lady... with one very big robot."

My eyes wandered to the ocean Cordovin's robot was wading in. A smirk grew on my face as my magic hummed through my human body. If I can time it to where no one was looking, I could use the ocean to our advantage. Mother nature is a strange thing after all.

"You little spider-roaches thought you could creep your way to Atlas?!" Cordovin belittled.

Spider-roaches? This lady needs to come up with better insults.

"Well, let's see how your resolve holds out against the might of the Atlesian Military!" Cordo warned us.

She aimed the cannon arm at the airship where a slot popped out. It fired a single missile at Weiss and Maria. Ruby simply shot Crescent Rose at the missile, destroying it so that the airship could avoid it unscathed. I chuckled at the 'bitch please' look Ruby gave to the robot. The rest of us took out our weapons, ready to fight.

We heard Cordovin growl. "So be it."

She quickly shot a missile down on us. Maria quickly drove the airship right behind us. Weiss got out in time to create a rock wall that shielded us from Cordovin's ice dust attack.

"That was close," Oscar muttered.

"We need to figure out how to stop Cordovin and protect the airship until we do," Ruby said.

I turned to Jaune. "Okay Mr. Strategy, what have you got?" I asked him.

Jaune stumbled a little, blushing with the nickname I gave him, but quickly composed himself. "Let's give her more targets to focus on."

"You mean us, don't you," Nora asked, slightly annoyed.

"Look at that thing," Jaune said, peeking his head around the wall Weiss and Cordovin made. "It's not designed for small enemies. It's probably meant for giant Grimm that come from deeper waters."

Which is making me wonder why she's using this on us.

"Maria, can you keep the airship out of harm's way?" Ruby asked.

"They can take my driver's license. But I won't let them take this ship!" Maria declared.

Ren slumped his shoulders. "Very reassuring," he deadpanned.

I pumped my fist in the air. "You tell them Maria!" I cheered.

Oscar offered to go with her to help monitor things in the sky. Qrow pointed out that he could also get a bird's-eye view. I made a noise of confusion before Ruby explained. "Oh, Ozpin granted my uncle magic so now Qrow can turn into an actual crow."

I stood in silence for a few seconds before I screamed. "Any more surprises you want to tell me?"

"No, I think that's it," Nora said, getting Mingheald ready.

Weiss then turned to Ruby. "You said you needed me on the ground?"

Ruby nervously admitted that's not the case and quickly laid out her plan.

Weiss nodded and got into position.

Then we made our move. Jaune, Ren, Nora, and I dashed off to one side. Maria took the airship to the other. Weiss dove to the ocean, taking cover in the higher rocks. Ruby and Qrow jumped straight up. Ruby took a shot at the robot. In response, Cordovin fired back some rockets.

Check you out in your big metal shoe

Fighting so many kids don't know what to do

You've got some heavy metal, but big ain't bad

Ruby used her semblance to bypass the rockets. I watched in awe, impressed by her skill. Ruby landed on the now slightly frozen ocean where Weiss stood waiting. The two went ahead to strike low.

This little riding hoods just way too rad

Mirror mirror who will lose it all

Soundly whip those children or you're cradle's gonna fall

Nora and I quickly shot our weapons at Cordovin to take her attention off of them and on to us. "Hey over here!" Jaune called out, waving his arms. Cordovin turned the mech towards us and started wading over.

"And you said it wasn't beach season," Nora jokes to Ren as we took cover in some rocks nearby. Jaune laughed, but I didn't get it.

Cause I'm alive like a puppet with a heart beat

I'm on fire and I'm flying off the dope sheet

You're going to wind up like that robin at your last tweet

Once we got sheltered, Nora and I tried firing on Cordovin again. She just put a hand up and I saw hard light dust appear in a hexagonal shape that blocked our blows.

You're heading for a fall and you're nearing the end

Like a house made of straw no one is putting you together again

Cordovin laughed. "Surely you knew Atlas was the father of hard light dust? Or do you lesser kingdoms simply lack proper education?"

So normally I love humans to death, but if there's one thing I hate, it's when some humans get egos bigger than my brothers. Time to take this granny down a peg or two. Making sure the others weren't watching, I waved my hand out at the ocean. The waves followed my command. They knocked Cordovin off her feet and sprawled into the ocean.

I ran out from my cover to fire at her again. Jaune caught my arm and stopped me. "Wait, we can't make any rash decisions while Cordovin's got those shields up," he said.

"Jaune's right we need to figure out what's generating them first," Oscar agreed over the comms.

Ruby then piped up with an idea. "You know, in video games, the weak spot's usually on the back of the giant boss."

"Ruby, this isn't a game!" Weiss scolded.

"I don't know she might be onto-" I started. I paused when I saw Cordovin make her way to them. "Look out!" I cried. Keeping my movements to a minimum with Jaune right next to me, I moved the waves under the ice block. Weiss and Ruby stayed on top, my magic helping them to safety until Cordovin fired on them.

If they're curious about what happened, they say nothing. Jaune dragged me back to the rocks while Cordovin kept shouting at us before something interrupted her. I couldn't see what was going on, but I heard Qrow speak up. "Until the shield's down, we're going to have to get up close and personal with this thing."

"That's easier said than done!" Ren countered. Thankfully, Ruby and Weiss came to the rescue. Weiss created an ice attack to knock the robot off its feet for a moment. But then Cordovin turned the canon on to the two. I quickly tapped into my magic again and manipulated the waves to push the ice rock that is holding the girls to safety right as Cordovin fired.

Since the two were out of harm's way, Weiss used her semblance to summon a Queen Lancer. "Is it just me or is the ocean acting very weird?" Weiss asked.

"Well, I'm not looking a gift horse in the mouth," Ruby said.

I let out a breath. I've got to be more careful unless I want to give myself away.

Ruby then launched herself off the Lancer and embedded Crescent Rose onto the mech. The robot completely lost balance. It fell onto the cliff side. Causing the rest of us to be knocked on our feet for a moment.

Caught in the moment, I summoned some ice magic and cast it around the legs of the mech, locking it in place. "Weiss, that's a brilliant idea!" I heard Oscar call out.

"That wasn't me," Weiss said, confused.

Crap! This isn't what I meant when I said I needed to be more careful. I should probably lay off the magic for a while. Fortunately, with the mech being stuck to the cliff side now me, Jaune, Ren, and Nora can get close and do some damage.

Ren used Stormflower to climb up an arm. Jaune turned his weapon into a two-handed sword and struck at the hip joint. Nora fired upon the cannon arm. Scanning the back, I found what looked like a panel and fired lightning dust into it. That has to be where the shield generator is.

I couldn't shoot at it for long. Cordovin broke free from my ice and started walking away with Ren still hanging on. The three of us looked at each other, trying to figure out what to do.

A noise drew our attention back to the mech. There was a minor flash of light blue while Cordovin cried out in rage. That could only mean one thing. The shields were down.

Nora and I wasted no time firing more shots at the robot. Now it was taking damage.

"You get back here with my man!" Nora demanded. That made me laugh. I quickly stopped though when I noticed Nora was shaking her weapon, realizing it was out of ammo.

"I have had enough of you ingrates," Cordovin growled and out of my peripheral vision I saw her raise her arm up as if simply to swat us.

Nora didn't notice, too preoccupied with her weapon. I quickly moved to shove her out of the way. Jaune then came and covered both of us and I felt his semblance coat over me as all three of us got knocked to the side. I saw Jaune's and Nora's aura flicker, and I could feel my own about to collapse.

I quickly got up and went to check on them when I heard Cordovin firing her cannon arm again. Looking up, I saw Weiss, Qrow, and Ren fall to the cliff side. Ruby just fell short but thankfully could stab her scythe into the rock, stopping her fall. Cordovin aimed at the helpless Ruby. Maria flew the airship over to Cordovin.

Deciding to give Maria some cover, I manipulated the waves again. It sent a big splash in between Ruby and Cordovin giving Ruby time to climb up while Maria could get a shot from behind, damaging the mech some more before flying out of sight again.

"Okay, I'm with Weiss. What is going on with the ocean here?" Oscar asked.

"Maybe we have a guardian angel among us," Maria suggested. "Not that I'm complaining."

Okay, we need to wrap this up fast cause these guys will not buy into this coincidence much longer.

"Are you guys okay?" Oscar asked.

"We're fine, but what were you guys doing?" Ruby replied.

"I know you told us to lie low, but listen, I think I finally found a weakness," Oscar said.

I helped Nora get Jaune up. We walked over to the others. "Well, we're all ears," Nora said. Ren got excited to see that we were okay and ran over to us. I passed Jaune over to him and went over to Qrow and Ruby.

Oscar continued telling us how while the cannon locks dust in her missile launcher pops out. One well-placed shot from Ruby could disengage the whole weapon. But she'll only have one shot before Cordovin catches on. At least that's what we thought.

Ruby got into the airship (much to Qrow's worry) and they flew over to the mech. Maria pushed the right button on Cordovin to get her to unlock the missiles. However, Cordovin spotted Ruby and retracted the missiles just as Ruby fired her shot.

"You! You thought you could fool me!" She demanded as she fired a lightning shot at them.

Instead of using the ocean this time, I manipulated the wind to send Ruby and the others high into the air out of Cordovin's shot. That wound up being a slight mistake. Yeah, the others didn't get hit, but with the sudden shift in the wind Maria wound up losing control and the ship nearly crashed landed. I say nearly because Maria and Oscar regained enough control to where their landing was bumpy. I may have given them a hand in that as well.

I then noticed Qrow running to the edge of the cliff. "Qrow, where are you going?" I asked.

Qrow ignored me and jumped down the cliff before his corvid form flew over to where Ruby, Oscar, and Maria had landed.

Cordovin laughs. "Very clever, but even the smartest ape can't compete with the intelligence of man." And then a whirlpool appeared, trapping her leg. Like I said, I hate it when humans have egos bigger than my brothers.

Ruby walked over to the edge and Cordovin (over the struggle of the whirlpool) demanded Ruby to surrender. Ruby held her ground. I didn't hear what she said, but it looked like she was trying to talk down the situation. Cordovin didn't seem to want to listen though as she aimed her cannon point blank at the huntress.

We all rushed to her. I contemplated how I could use my powers to save her without bringing up any more suspicion. But Ruby might be even crazier than Cordovin. She used her semblance to jump into the freaking canon! We all stopped in surprise.

Nora took the words out of my mouth when she screamed "SHE'S NUTS!"

Jaune, however, caught on to Ruby's plan. "The missile launcher springs out. But the raw dust gets locked in."

Oh, my clever and brilliant little human. She is so smart!

Ruby got out of the cannon just in time as the cannon exploded inward and ice and stone started covering the outside, pinning the whole mech into the ocean. Cordovin could not lift it. Weiss used her glyphs to slow down Ruby's descent as her aura just broke. Qrow caught her in his arms. The rest of us caught up to them as our airship started hovering once more.

Cordovin started screaming as she tried to pull her ruined canon out of the ocean. "You're never getting to Atlas! Do you hear me? NEVER!" She then pressed another channel on her com, but we could still hear her. "All force coverage on my position and eliminate these pests!"

Maria called us on to the ship so we could make a break for it. A random soldier's response stopped us in our tracks.

"Ma'am, we've been trying to reach you! Argus is in danger!"

Oh crap! Don't tell me our fight somehow brought Grimm to the city?

The soldier continued to explain that a Leviathan of all things approached the base during our fight. More reports came through the channel about how the soldiers were getting slammed. Cordovin started screaming at us again. "This is your fault! Do you hear me?"

"YOU'RE THE ONE WHO CAME AFTER US WITH A GIANT ROBOT!" I screamed back, having enough of this woman.

"Ruby!" The rest of us looked to see Yang and Blake running toward us.

"Are you two okay?" Ruby asked as she embraced her sister.

"We're fine," Yang answered before she and Blake noticed the mech.

"What happened?" Blake asked.

None of us could answer. There was a giant roar right above us.

"Was that a giant Grimm?" Yang asked.

"Not only that, we just ruined the only thing capable of stopping it," Weiss replied.

We all boarded the airship and took off to Argus. Cordovin kept screaming at us. Ruby looked at her with pity. Nobody deserved to get torn apart by a Grimm. I used my powers to break away some of the earth and ice that covered her cannon arm. It would take some time, but Cordovin should be able to free it on her own, causing no more damage to the mech. However, I couldn't bring myself to break all of it off as I believe Cordovin could still chase after us as opposed to taking on the Grimm.

I then went over to Blake and Yang. They were explaining what had happened to them. Apparently, some ex-boyfriend of Blake's had been stalking us, trying to get her alone, and took the chance when she went to the tower. Talk about rotten timing. The two women didn't even need to tell me what they did to him. I could see the haunted expressions on their faces. I'll remember to help them through that at a later time. But first we need to take care of the Grimm.

Maria then spoke up. "I'd hate to be the bad guy and say it. Getting the lamp to Atlas is still our top priority, and right now we have the perfect opportunity to head straight for it. We may not get another chance like this."

I made a buzzing noise and crossed my arms in an x shape motion. "Our top priority is defending people from the Grimm. We can put everything else on the back burner."

Weiss nodded. "Agatha's right. We can't leave like this."

"It's like you said. A huntress is supposed to protect the others until the bitter end," Blake added. Maria smiled at us as if knowing this was what she wanted us to say. She continued to fly straight to the Grimm. Besides the Leviathan that was currently swimming in the water, there were tons more Manticores and Sphinxes flying around.

"Hey Agatha," I saw Jaune come to me. "Would it be possible for you to use your Void Sphere on the Leviathan?" he asked.

I shook my head. "Afraid not." Without another word, I went and opened the side door of the airship just as we approached the Grimm. Spotting a Sphinx, I threw a Void Sphere at it. The orb hit it. It kept growing and growing, but before it could fully encompass the Sphinx, the orb popped. The Sphinx flew away, not noticing us thanks to Ren's semblance.

I then looked back at the group. "My spheres have a size limit. The biggest I can do is a Manticore with its wings and tail folded in but that's about it." Jaune sighed in disappointment. I knew he understood.

"There is still a way," Ruby said, looking determined.

"Eyes up," Qrow then said, getting our attention. "It's back."

The Leviathan then surfaced closer to the city. The military got up two separate layers of shields, keeping the Leviathan at bay. This allowed the soldiers to take shots at it. But it wasn't enough. It fired an energy beam from its mouth and destroyed one pillar that kept the shield up. The first shield went down, and we heard over the airship radio the military was going to engage evacuation providers.

Ruby, hearing this, ran over to the radio. She picked up the microphone. "No, we can stop it."

"Who is this? Identify yourself!" The soldier at the other end ordered.

"I'm a huntress. My team and I are heading to the Leviathan and we can weaken it for you to attack," Ruby said.

"We can?" Jaune asked, confused.

Ruby looked back at him. "I can."

Her silver eyes! But she needed Maria's help back at the barn. Can she really do it this time?

I looked at the Leviathan, then back to Ruby. She seemed determined to do this, and I didn't want to stop her. This is one of the reasons I take on human forms when I interact with them. Also, why my brothers would leave them be. Humans need to overcome these kinds of challenges themselves. Who am I to rob them of such accomplishments? If we just did everything for them, then they never would have been able to grow as much as they have. I have to let her try.

The soldier then addressed us on the radio. "Manta 5-1, your ship is currently flagged as hostile. You will receive no support, over."

Ruby didn't seem to care, deciding to strike it herself when the Leviathan hit the next barrier. Ren and Jaune then combined their semblances like they did on the train to hide us so we could get closer. The Leviathan destroyed the second barrier before we could reach it. We were able to get close enough before it reached the city limits. Weiss activated her semblance, summoning a Queen Lancer for Ruby to ride on. Meanwhile Yang, Nora, and I fired on the beast with our weapons.

We got its attention for a little while and Ruby was able to get in front of it unseen. But then the Leviathan walked away from us.

"Why did it turn away?" Yang asked us.

That's when I remembered.

"Shit! Ruby still has the lamp with her!" I screamed.

The Leviathan looked like it was about to swallow her whole. Yang helplessly reached out to her. Qrow was ready to jump out of the airship, but Ren and Jaune held him back. I was about ready to jump out and take on my dragon form when I could faintly hear Ruby call out for Jinn. And then...

There's a light that shines

And it's power is mine

A massive silver light encompassed the entire area. I could feel Light's presence wash over me. Ruby did it.

Though our body's weak and breakable

The spirit is indomitable

The light faded. We could see the Leviathan now petrified as a statue. Everyone in the city cheered. The rest of us breathed a sigh of relief. Qrow practically collapsed on top of Ren and Jaune. Though our relief was short-lived. It turned out; the petrification was only a shell. Cracks already started appearing around the head. The rest of him struggled to break out as well.

"I'll take it from here," Cordovin's voice popped up.

The others saw she broke out. I wondered what took her so long after I helped. The cannon arm was still intact, but looked pretty damaged. Cordovin ran over to the Leviathan and turned the second hand into a drill.

"After all," she continued. "I was sworn to protect the people!"

So now you've become a decent person! Better late than never.

Cordovin drove the drill straight into the Leviathan and it disintegrated into dust. She then approached Ruby for a one on one. We could still hear them over the comms. Ruby thanked Cordovin and apologized for what happened between us.

Cordovin simply smiled. "The Atlas military can handle the stragglers."

Ruby looked confused. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that we will arrest you after we are finished with the Grimm. You lot are to stay right here until we are able to do so." Cordovin ordered and I could have sworn she gave a cheeky wink at Ruby before leaving to handle the other Grimm.

I tapped my comm. "I mean, she's joking, right?"

"Come on, we should leave before she changes her mind," Maria said. Ruby made her way back to the airship as Weiss disengaged her semblance.

We continued to Atlas with no extra problems. Maria even said we should have just enough fuel to make it.

As Ruby thanked her, Qrow spoke up. "You were great out there today, kid. Just don't give me any more heart attacks like that again." He made to take a drink from his flask, but then stopped.

Ruby gave him a hug while I threw my hands up in the air shouting "And he puts down the flask!"

Qrow laughed as he got out of his seat and approached me. "Look Agatha back on the farm. I'm sorry I snapped at you like that. It was uncalled for and..."

I waved him off. "Water under the bridge. You were going through a rough patch, I probably overstepped my bounds." I held out a hand in offering. "Friends?"

Qrow nodded and shook my hand. "Friends."

Maria then chimed in. "You both weren't half bad today either."

I gave Maria a warm smile. "Coming from someone like you? Definitely a compliment."

Qrow's smile was more sheepish. "I feel like they did more of the heavy lifting."

"But you were there to help them when they asked for it and you were there to catch them. Literally, if I recall," Maria reminded him. She then turned to me. "And you were very helpful in more ways than one."

I gave Maria a confused look while she gave me a knowing smile. She went back to piloting the ship. I just shrugged off my concern, sitting to enjoy the view of the night sky.

After a moment, we could see Atlas up ahead. Qrow called the kids over. We all looked on in amazement at just how beautiful the kingdom looked. The warm orange of Mantel on the bottom with the dazzling blue of Atlas floating above.

"You know, you make the trip up to Atlas over and over again, but you never quite get used to that view," Maria said.

"What about you, Weiss?" I asked the Atlas native. "I mean, you have lived there pretty much your whole life." Turning to her, Weiss' attention focused on something ahead, and not in a good way. "What is it?"

Ruby noticed and looked up as well. The rest of us all looked to where Weiss was looking at.

There, over Atlas, were dozens of Airships. The ships were flanked out all around the kingdom.

"I knew our ships were all called back but this…" Weiss told us.

"They're set up like they're expecting an attack," Qrow observed.

A fresh voice came over the radio. "Manta 5-1, welcome home."

I suppose this means we're not getting a warm welcome?