Author's note: Trigger warning at the bottom, again.
When Ruby returned to her body, and to the waking world, she was immediately overwhelmed with pain whenever she tried to move. She even had to force her eyelids open, and her eyes screamed as she made them look around to scan her surroundings. She was half lying in the Manta they had stolen, leaning against Yang and the wall. Her friends were talking about something, but even hearing was too much effort for her. As Ruby started to drift off to sleep again, she felt a foul darkness creep up on her. She let her eyes fall shut and focused on it, and heard an eerie screech as her soul detached from her body again.
"These Teryxes won't stop coming," a woman shouted over the sound of gunfire, Grimm screaming and jet engines howling. Ruby looked around and found herself in another Manta airship, with two Atlas military members fighting the aerial Grimm to both sides of the ship. Both had black hair and blue eyes, and similar facial features, indicating that they were likely siblings.
"We have our orders," the man shouted back and shot another volley of bullets into the Grimm.
"I know," the woman shouted, "But that doesn't change the fact that there's too many of those things!" Ruby knew she had to do something. She walked up to the woman, put her right hand on the woman's shoulder and focused on her newly copied semblance. She didn't know what she was trying initially, but Ruby suddenly found herself in control of the woman's body. Ruby switched the assault rifle into single shot mode and shot the nearest Teryx. Using Cinder's semblance, she made the bullet explode, tearing off the Grimm's head. She repeated the process with the remaining Grimm, emptying roughly two magazines into the monsters.
"How… did you do that?" the man asked. Ruby turned around, aimed her rifle past him, and shot the Teryx that was trying to attack while he was distracted.
"I'm sorry," Ruby said, "I… had to borrow her for a bit."
"Dusk, Dawn, we have a problem," a medic called over from the back of the Manta. Ruby looked over and saw a young man with white hair, unusually formal clothing, and three large wounds across his torso.
"What happened?" Ruby asked, and in a blur of rose petals, sat in front of the boy and started to heal him with Jaune's semblance.
"Did you seriously forget our mission, Dawn?" Dusk asked.
"I told you, I had to borrow this body to help you," Ruby answered, "Dawn is still there, but I'm in charge right now. Now, tell me what happened."
"I… tried to… get stronger…," the boy said as his wounds began to heal, and tried to get up when he heard the pilot telling them of another pack approaching.
"Mr. Schnee, Sir, please stay down," the medic said, "I know your sister's death hit you hard, but you are in no condition to fight those things." Ruby was shocked by the revelation that Winter had died, and the fact that she was looking at Weiss' brother, but kept healing him regardless. She had to focus on healing Whitley now, and would deal with the rest later. Slowly but surely, Whitley's wounds closed, until only his torn and bloodstained clothes remained as proof of his injuries.
"I am very well capable of defending my kingdom," Whitley said. He got up, grabbed his sword and walked over to one of the Manta's doors. His sword was a rather classic war-era weapon, a double-edged one-handed sword with the user's name engraved in the fuller, but it also had a semi-automatic gun built into the handle, giving it similar ranged capabilities to Ren's Stormflower. Ruby felt another dark presence from where they were headed, got up and walked over to Whitley.
"Yeah, maybe you can talk some sense into him, whoever you are," Dusk said.
"I don't care what either of you have to say," Whitley said, "These monsters threaten the Schnee Dust Company, and as its heir, it is my duty to respond to such acts of aggression."
"It's crazy," Dusk said, "You'll get yourself killed."
"He's right, you know," Ruby said, looking at Whitley, "That's why I'll go with you."
"Then you're both crazy," Dusk said, "Fighting those things head-on, by yourselves, is a suicide mission. We'll radio HQ and ask for backup, and evade them in the meantime."
"We don't have time," Ruby said.
"Don't be stupid!" Dusk shouted, clearly worried for Dawn, "You'll get yourselves killed!"
"Really?" Ruby asked, "And who decided that?" Whitley created a summoning glyph under the Manta. A Sea Feilong rose from below the Manta, Whitley stepped onto its head and took its beard-like tendrils as if they were reigns. The summon flew straight towards the Teryxes, opened its mouth and shot a lightning at the Grimm, taking down several in one hit. Many more Grimm approached, and Ruby saw that Whitley was outmatched. She burst into a cluster of rose petals, appeared in front of him and focused on the people of Atlas. Those Grimm would not reach the city. She thought of Neon, Flynt, and Winter, and even though she didn't know either of them too well, the fact that Weiss cared a lot about her late sister was enough to trigger Ruby's silver eyes.
~o~
After turning the Grimm to stone, Ruby found herself back in her own body. Her head was spinning, she felt like she was bobbing up and down, and heard all sorts of noises, including footsteps. She looked around and realized that she was being carried by Yang, and that they were walking through some sort of dark alleyway. Ruby brought her left hand to her temple and groaned.
"My head…," Ruby said, and the entire group stopped immediately.
"Ruby, you're awake!" Yang exclaimed, swung her sister around and hugged her. The rest of her team, as well as Jaune, Ren and Nora, joined in on the group hug.
"How do you feel?" Jaune asked after they stopped hugging.
"I'm fine, just a bit very dizzy," Ruby answered.
"Can you stand?" Yang asked.
"Yeah, I think so," Ruby answered and asked, "So, what did I miss?" Yang let her down, and Ruby got used to standing on her own legs again after not using them for the past few days.
"We had to ditch the Manta," Maria answered, "And we need to find someone to help us get in touch with Ironwood. Luckily, I know just the guy."
"You forgot the part where people thought I was dead," Weiss said, earning quite a few unhappy looks from her friends.
"There were a lot of ways you could've been more tactful," Yang said, "But yeah, for some reason people think Weiss died."
"I… kind of knew already, actually," Ruby said, much to everyone's surprise.
"What?" Weiss asked, "How?"
"Back in Argus, I apparently copied a new semblance," Ruby answered, "It lets me teach people how to do stuff, and when I astral projected into another Manta, I possessed a woman and saved your brother. He hasn't taken the news all too well, but now he kicks Grimm butt. Well, he tries." Blake snickered a little, and Weiss gave her a slightly sour look.
"Sorry," Blake said, "It's just, the Whitley Schnee, daddy's little yes-man, fighting Grimm. That's a bit hard to imagine."
"Not if you know what he went through," Weiss said coldly, leaving no room for further questions on the matter.
"Wait, didn't people try to kill you?" Nora asked, looked at Ruby and said, "Maybe they got that mixed up. I mean, the official story states that Weiss died in a fire when assassins were hired to kill her."
"I honestly doubt they were after Ruby," Blake said, "They wore the emblem of the King of Shadows, and he's very meticulous about both his missions, and protecting his clients. He's the deadliest assassin in Remnant, but also the highest-paying assassination target."
"I thought my dad was the highest-paying," Weiss said nonchalantly.
"Your dad is easy," Blake said, "Sure, he has enemies, but with the King of Shadows, there's also all sorts of hazard bonuses involved. Noone has ever survived trying to kill him. It's a bit like offering a mission to huntsmen. Sure, the more people want the mission to be completed, the more money there is to be had, but if it's dangerous, you have to pay them more."
"Can we prove he tried to kill me?" Weiss asked.
"In theory," Blake answered.
"Then let's go," Weiss said, pumping her fist and smiling.
"Just… one problem," Blake said.
"What is it?" Weiss asked.
"I could tell law enforcement that he did it, and how," Blake answered, "But aside from being a threat to the deadliest assassin in the world, which is very obviously a very bad idea in and of itself, I'd also have to reveal a few things I'd rather not admit in front of law enforcement officers."
"Can we please get going now?" Maria asked impatiently. Without waiting for an answer, she got going again. The rest of the group followed her, silently agreeing to further pursue the matter later. She led the group out of the alleyway and shuffled around a bit, pretending to be a weak elderly woman. When she saw that the coast was clear, she picked up her cane and walked normally.
"It landed over there, let's go!" One of several Atlas soldiers shouted as the small group ran down the street towards where Ruby's group had come from.
~o~
In the morning, Ilia got up, had breakfast and went right back to work. Over the past five days, she had managed to make four trees irresistible to a certain type of fungus, and each tree attracted a different fungus. She looked at a blanket of green sludge on the water, drew her whip and shot a lightning into the mass, using Guardian's Gambit to make it come to life. A viscous creature rose to easily three meters high, and Ilia's stomach immediately let her know just how much it disagreed with the new minion's smell. The sentient pile of sludge fell back into itself, spread across the water and drifted away, laying dormant until it encountered a Grimm.
"Why am I even doing this?" Ilia thought, "I mean, yeah, this new semblance helps keep an area safe from Grimm, but this is crazy. I somehow thought I should repay nature for helping me, even though it's just dead organic matter I make fight Grimm for me. Whatever, I should just finish what I started and get this over with." She used her semblance to mark one of the trees for later, making it irresistible to a certain type of symbiotic fungus. She then used a hatch in the bottom of the camp site to get into her little dome, which had heated up quite a bit due to her simply living there. The hard-light dome had allowed her to create a layer of branches, sticks and leaves over it, trapping the heat inside even without the hard-light dome, and allowing her to absorb more ambient aura. Her aura regenerated faster every day, mostly because she kept getting better at absorbing ambient aura while it was warm enough.
At noon, Ilia's aura was fully recharged and she used her semblance on the same tree from before, this time setting the duration for which it would be irresistible to that particular type of symbiotic fungus. After her aura dropped to 1%, she returned to her dome and waited another three hours for her aura to regenerate, then set the degree of effect, and set the radius in the evening before bed.
"I'm getting really good at this," Ilia thought proudly as she watched the sun hover above the treetops. She went to bed and was about to drift off to sleep, when she heard her scroll ring.
"Weiss?" Ilia thought as she checked the number, "What does she want?" She opened the message.
"Ilia, there is something I need to tell you," the message read.
"What is it?" Ilia replied, "Also, where are you?"
"Atlas, and have been for a few days," Weiss answered, "Anyway, be careful when using someone else's semblance. It can really mess with your head, because you're literally forcing your soul to behave like someone else's. You can remedy this by using your own semblance, but be careful."
"Thanks," Ilia wrote, "Also, Atlas? Just so you know, I'm in Mistral. Anyway, could you maybe do me a little favor? If it's not too much trouble, that is."
"Mistral? This system is amazing," Weiss replied, "And sure, what is it?"
"Could you maybe look for someone for me?" Ilia wrote, "An old classmate of mine, Zohar."
"Sure," Weiss replied, "Do you want me to tell her something?"
"Yes," Ilia wrote, "Tell her… I'm sorry." She turned off her scroll, put it away and crawled into her sleeping bag. She knew she wouldn't get any sleep. Not because Guardian's Gambit had been brainwashing her, but because she couldn't get to Atlas herself to tell that girl how she felt. She wanted to, but with Argent's training, and the increased weakness to low temperatures, she couldn't survive there for long. She probably couldn't even get to the city before she turned into a pop-sickle.
~o~
As Ruby and her friends walked through Mantle, they saw Atlas soldiers on almost every corner, people complaining about their presence, and Atlesian Knight 200s on every sidewalk. A child put up a poster of a white-haired woman on a street lamp, and a holographic board displayed news on recent affairs.
"Missing journalist found slain."
"New invasive plant discovered."
"Election Imminent. Mantle home-town hero vs. Atlesian Tycoon."
"Embargo: The right call?"
"Outer wall damaged. Resources stalled."
Maria noticed that the rest of the group had stopped to look at the articles, walked back to them and cleared her throat to get their attention.
"Come on now, it shouldn't be much of a walk," Maria said. The group kept walking through the depressing streets.
"Is this many soldiers normal?" Jaune asked.
"No," Weiss answered, "At least, I don't think so." Yang noticed a whirring sound behind her and stopped to take a look. She saw a small camera drone, but as it wanted to take a picture of her, a pigeon landed on it, blocking its lens with its rear end and knocking it onto the street. The pigeon flew away again and the drone stumbled to get back up, but was hit by a truck driving past. Yang noticed that her friends had stopped to watch the spectacle, and turned to face Qrow.
"A friend of yours?" Yang asked with a sheepish smile.
"Very funny," Qrow answered, "Let's keep moving." He turned around and gestured Maria to take the lead again, and the group continued walking.
~o~
After Ruby's group had walked a bit more, Maria began explaining the city's history to improve everyone's mood, seeing how the situation in Mantle was doing the exact opposite.
"You have to understand, Mantle had just lost the Great War," Maria said, "And the people needed a promise of a brighter future. Atlas was that promise. After all, a city in the clouds is as bright as it gets." A truck drove past, with several faunus workers sitting in the bed. They were covered in soot and looked defeated and miserable.
"Unless you're the one having to look up at it," Nora said, crossed her arms and looked away.
"This whole city, it just seems awful," Blake said.
"Yeah?" A drunken man sitting on a porch asked, "You don't like it here? There's plenty of space out in the tundra." Blake just sighed.
"I'm sorry, I didn't-" Blake said, but was cut off by the man.
"Atlas is the greatest kingdom in the world, alright?!" The man shouted.
"Hey," Ruby said, stepping next to Blake, upset that the guy ignored her like that. Blake put her hand on Ruby's shoulder.
"We can't cause a scene," Blake said in a lowered voice.
"The embargo," the man's drinking buddy said, "The embargo's got us in a rough patch. But it'll blow over, you'll see."
"I apologize," Blake said, "I didn't mean to insult you." The first man spat on the ground, right in front of Blake.
"Stupid faunus like you wouldn't understand-" the man began, but a pigeon's call interrupted him, shortly before one flew overhead and dropped a present in his mouth. It landed on a nearby lamp post, next to another pigeon, and both looked around the area. Ruby and her friends turned away in disgust as the man tried to scrape the horrid taste off his tongue, and kept walking. Only now did Ruby pay attention to the lamp posts, and realized that the entire city was full of the birds, who seemed to look for something from their vantage points.
~o~
Talia was wandering through the deserted streets of Vale, looking for some more materials to use for Project Alpha. She was happily skipping along, whistling a cheery tune. Cardin and his team were out on a special mission to nearby villages and towns, to let people know that the city was inhabitable enough again to support experienced fighters who could live on the bare minimum of commodities. She turned a corner and came face to face with a pack of Beowolves. Just as Talia got ready to fight, she felt a strange presence in the back of her head. She clasped her head, closed her eyes and stumbled backwards a bit, as the presence rapidly grew stronger, until it pushed back her consciousness and took over her body. Talia's silver aura flared up, yellow holes formed in it and expanded until the yellow aura completely replaced her silver one. Her tail withered away as the new aura rejected her faunus form, and the new person opened her eyes.
"I am Sulfis, and this is your lucky day, you freaks," Sulfis said, "Because today, you'll lose your virginity." One of the Beowolves charged at her. She hit it with a punch to the chest. Just before her fist made contact, a transparent yellow claw formed around her right fist, tearing through the Grimm. A second claw formed around her left fist. Sulfis punched with her left fist, impaling another Grimm. She tore through her enemies like a hot knife through butter. Just as she killed the last Beowolf, a Geist charged at her, using various metal objects as body, including trash cans, car parts and garbage containers. The massive enemy hit her with its right arm. She crashed in a dust shop and smashed through a display case. A couple dust crystals rolled over the floor. She picked up two lightning-dust crystals, holding one in each hand. The Geist walked over to her, and she turned off her semblance before activating it again, this time creating electric claws. Sulfis ran past the Geist, slipping through between its legs. It turned around and followed her. On a crossing, she was surrounded by Beowolves on all sides. She turned counter clockwise, jumped and swung her left claw upwards. A powerful electric arc shot towards the Geist and stunned it. Sulfis slammed her right claw into the ground. The electric shockwave killed the surrounding Beowolves. She pulled her right claw from the ground. The Geist started moving again. Sulfis attacked it with a series of blows from both her claws while keeping on her feet to evade its attacks. The Geist blocked the attacks, but its metallic body conducted the electricity into the Grimm. The massive pile of metal collapsed over Sulfis as the Geist left its body.
"Cheating bastard," Sulfis said as she climbed out of the pile. She looked around and realized that the Geist had escaped.
~o~
Ruby's group arrived at a small clinic with a green plus above the door, and a female faunus came out, happily looking at her prosthetic arm. A deep, male voice came out of the door.
"And no heavy-lifting, ya hear?" The voice called, and Maria entered the clinic. The rest of the group followed her inside, where they saw an old man sitting behind a desk.
"It's good to see you again, old friend," Maria said. The man shuffled around in one of the drawers of his desk, and Maria cleared her throat to get his attention. The man noticed Maria, closed his drawer and looked at her.
"Well, this is off to a fantastic start," Ren said as neither of the elderly said anything.
"Ah, yes, yes," the man said and asked, "Have we met?"
"Cybernetic optical implants," Maria said, pointing at her eyes, "You adjust them, every ten years or so." The man looked at her for a few seconds, then cheerfully threw his hands in the air.
"Maria," the man exclaimed, and his robotic chair walked around his desk, "With the cybernetic optical implants. I adjust them every ten years or so." He walked towards an examination table and helped Maria onto it. Ruby stopped listening to their conversation, and instead looked at the posters all over the clinic's walls, many of which depicted something oddly familiar. She could swear she had seen it somewhere before, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. A ceiling tile fell to the floor, startling Ruby and bringing her back to the conversation.
"He likes to keep a low profile," Maria said, "Something I've come to find none of you know anything about."
"You can call me Pietro," Pietro said, and Ruby was glad she hadn't missed that part of their conversation. She suddenly felt a dark and menacing presence.
"Grimm are coming," Ruby said under her breath.
"What?" Blake asked, "Ruby, are you sure?"
"Yes," Ruby answered, "I don't know how, but since Argus, I can sense them."
"No offense," Weiss said, "But if Grimm entered the city, the sirens would go off and every nearby Atlesian Knight would be alerted of their location."
"Wait, did you say Ruby?" Pietro asked, looked at the group and exclaimed, "You're Team RWBY!"
"You… know us?" Ruby asked, getting a bit nervous.
"Oh, my girl, I most certainly do," Pietro answered, "My daughter's told me so much about all of you."
"Your… daughter?" Ruby asked, looked around and asked, "What was your name again? You full name, I mean."
"Pietro Polendina," Pietro answered, and everyone froze in shock for a moment.
"So… you are..." Ruby said, not knowing what to say.
"Penny's father, yes," Pietro said, sadly looking down, looked up and said, "But don't worry, once Amity gets back here, I can get my hands on her core and get her back on her feet, better than ever."
"Speaking of Amity, where is it?" Weiss asked, "Shouldn't it be back by now?"
"Yes, it should," Pietro answered, "But, I fear that something has happened to keep it in Vale. The General has tried sending ships to see what is wrong, but Vale has banned air travel, and nothing gets out of Atlas by sea, even with his permission."
"Let me guess, Grimm?" Qrow asked.
"Yes," Pietro answered, "Over the past three years, there have been more and more of them in the waters, and noone knows why. Any ship that leaves the kingdom's harbor gets sunk almost immediately, and there are rarely any survivors." Suddenly, sirens started blaring in the streets.
"See?" Weiss asked, "That's what happens when Grimm attack."
"And I knew they'd come," Ruby said, "Now let's show them whose city this is."
"Don't worry," Pietro said, "The rats and bears will deal with them."
"I get why Ironwood would name a unit Bears," Nora said and asked, "But why Rats?"
"We can question Ironwood's sanity later," Ruby said, "But right now we have to kill some Grimm." Ruby burst into a cluster of rose petals and rushed outside, with her friends following her and drawing their weapons.
~o~
Sulfis made her way through Vale, looking for the Geist. The lightning-dust crystals in her hands had shrunk considerably, but she had found more dust in the pockets of her clothes. Glynda came flying backwards onto a crossing, and two massive, rubbery feet walked up to her. Sulfis ran up to her and saw the Geist, now using a body made from truck tires.
"What's wrong?" Sulfis asked.
"It's those tires," Glynda answered, "They were made to resist semblances like my Telekinesis, for safety reasons, and they're too durable for me to deal damage by throwing things at them. It just absorbs whatever damage I try to deal and keeps moving."
"Not very safe now, are you?" Sulfis asked. She reached into her pockets and pulled out two ice-dust crystals.
"Who are you, anyway?" Glynda asked and said, "You seem familiar." Sulfis activated her semblance and shot two arcs of ice at the Geist, freezing its legs to the ground.
"I'm Sulfis," Sulfis answered, "Talia created me to protect her, and now I'm strong enough to do it properly." She ran up to the Grimm, sending several ice waves at it. The Geist tried to hit her with its right arm. She jumped aside and froze its arm to the ground. Sulfis ran up the Grimm's arm. It threw itself into a building to crush her. Glynda pulled Sulfis away, and the Geist broke free of the ice.
"Talia created you?!" Glynda asked, staring wide-eyed, "How?"
"By looking at the best huntsmen across history," Sulfis answered, "The Grimm Reaper, for example. But also more recent heroes, like Summer Rose. Anyway, I have an idea how we can stop this thing."
"And what?" Glynda asked.
"Throw me," Sulfis answered. The Grimm broke out of the collapsing building and stared at the two huntresses.
"Are you sure?" Glynda asked.
"Yes," Sulfis answered, "My semblance deals more damage the faster I hit the target. Get me above it and slam me into it."
"Alright," Glynda said. The Geist ran up to the two of them, and Glynda launched Sulfis into the air before bringing her back down. Sulfis' claws dug into the Grimm's body, instantly bringing its temperature down to near absolute zero and reducing its body into a fine mist. Glynda looked around to find Sulfis, and saw that the entire area was covered in a waist-high blanket of snow and ice. Just as she was getting worried, Sulfis jumped up from under the snow.
"Take that, you son of a bitch!" Sulfis called out and said, "Anyway, I'll take a nap now. Tell Talia she can always count on me to keep her safe." Sulfis' aura flared up again, she closed her eyes, and silver spots formed in her yellow aura. The silver spots spread out until they completely replaced the yellow aura, Talia's mouse tail grew back within seconds, and she opened her light blue eyes.
"Talia?" Glynda asked.
"Yes, that's me," Talia answered, looked around and asked, "What did you do to the place? Also… what happened?"
"It's complicated," Glynda answered, "But I think you need to see a specialist."
"What kind?" Talia asked.
"A mental one," Glynda answered, "Apparently, your different personas are their own people now."
"Really?" Talia asked, "Did you see what happened? What were they like? Did my body change? What about their semblances? Do you know their names?" Glynda nervously took a step back, but then composed herself again.
"I met one named Sulfis," Glynda answered, "She said you created her to protect you."
"Yep," Talia said, "I needed some way to handle all the martial arts knowledge I copied into my mind when I went to Beacon, so I started only accessing that information when I acted in certain ways based on famous and successful huntsmen and huntresses."
"I see," Glynda said, "Just, one more thing."
"What is it?" Talia asked.
"Why did she have silver eyes?" Glynda asked.
"I don't know," Talia answered, "From what I know, you need a speck of light from the god of light for those, and if I had that, I'd have silver eyes now. Anyway, we should probably get out of this stuff." She created a magical lens from sickly green energy and looked at the snow.
"Why?" Glynda asked.
"Because the snow isn't made from water," Talia answered, "Somehow, you managed to force oxygen into a crystalline structure, effectively creating something that's cold enough to do this." She pointed at a Beowolf that carefully touched the white powder, and both huntresses saw its entire body instantly freeze and shatter. Glynda used her semblance to move the snow away from the two of them.
"Except I didn't do this," Glynda said.
"Then who did?" Talia asked.
"Sulfis," Glynda answered, "Her semblance lets her make some kind of claws on her hands, and they deal more damage the faster she hits the enemy. She augmented it with ice-dust, I threw her at the Geist as fast as I could, and it was pulverized in an instant."
Trigger: Language.
Author's note: Originally I had planned to have Ruby contact Ironwood from the Manta she astral projected into, and tell him that her friends were in one that was marked as stolen, and that he'd have to discuss it with Sirena if he tried to shoot them down. But then I changed my mind.
Sulfis has silver eyes due to the light from Sirena's semblance. She always acted like a silver-eyed warrior anyway, so once she got that last bit, she was complete. Her semblance, Claws, multiplies the damage she deals based on how fast she moves in km/h. But since she's not very strong, and lacks the aura manipulation that allows Talia to deal so much damage, it's more of an equal chance thing than a big advantage. Unless someone helps her out.
If Blake stopped being a huntress and tried getting a different job, I'd imagine her having to dodge the question about that 5 year gap in her resume before she enrolled at Beacon with "If I told you that, you'd call the police."