Author's note: Now you get to see what's been going on with Ruby and Arthur.
Ruby sat on the road, looking at Arthur. Arthur got up and dusted off his clothes, which were still torn from the explosive shrapnel he was hit with. Ruby got up and put her right hand on Arthur's left shoulder, and used her copied Repair semblance to fix his clothes.
"There you go," Ruby said.
"What are you really planning?" Arthur asked, "Why are you being so nice to me?"
"I'm not planning anything," Ruby answered.
"So, you have no backup plan if I do this?" Arthur asked and shot Ruby, launching her across the street and depleting her aura. He walked over to her, and when she sat back up, Arthur pressed his gun to her forehead.
~o~
Sirena and Winter were sitting in Atlas. Winter used a summoned Seer to help Weiss and Whitley keep their own summons active, and offered additional support with her Manticore summons, while Sirena amplified her aura.
"Say, who are you really?" Sirena asked, confusing Winter a bit.
"What do you mean?" Winter asked, tilting her head a little.
"It's a literary construct," Sirena answered and asked, "What you are in the dark. Essentially, when noone can judge your actions, when there are no consequences, no expectations, no regulations, nothing like that, do you still act the same as you do when people are watching?"
"I… suppose so," Winter answered and asked, "Why do you ask?"
"I'm just curious," Sirena answered.
"What about you?" Winter asked.
"I protect people," Sirena answered, "That's all I've ever done."
"What about the murders?" Winter asked.
"Those were outliers," Sirena answered, "Also, my people have a method of finding a solution to any problem. We compare the ease of implementing a solution with how long it keeps the problem solved. The solution with the best compromise gets implemented. Plus, I only killed people who either have failed to be rehabilitated or worked for Salem."
"I don't think many of the people you killed were put in rehabilitation," Winter said.
"Didn't they go to prison?" Sirena asked.
"Yes, but the purpose of prisons isn't rehabilitation," Winter answered.
"That's just stupid," Sirena said, "Seriously, spending that much money on holding people and not trying to make them come out of it as better people is just stupid."
"That's how it has always been," Winter said.
"Then it has always been stupid," Sirena said and asked, "But back to you. What do you want?"
"I want to protect Atlas," Winter answered, "That's my duty, after all."
"But what about you as a person?" Sirena asked, "Not Winter Schnee the Atlas military special operative, not the former SDC heiress, but the woman that's sitting in front of me right now. No title, no rank, none of that. What is left if you ignore all that?"
"I don't know," Winter answered and asked, "Is that what you, Ruby and Maria have taught the others?"
"We just helped them figure it out," Sirena answered, "We helped them improve overall. They're better fighters, better huntsmen, better people, because of us."
"They definitely changed," Winter said, "I just don't know if for better or worse."
"Trust me, it is for the better," Sirena said, "They think about what they want, and use that to improve their teamwork."
"But they are more emotional," Winter said.
"True," Sirena said, "However, it is the good kind of emotional. They love the people they protect, which is why they have a personal interest in doing their job, rather than just following orders. Like the Invincible Squadron in the Mistral army during the great war."
"Do you really think a squadron can be invincible?" Winter asked, "I mean, I know the stories, but they must be exaggerated, right?"
"Not quite," Sirena answered, "Since the entire group was made up of lovers, and they fought side by side, they had a personal reason to fight well. Both to impress their partners, and to make sure that partner would survive. They didn't fight for themselves, they fought for others, and that is why they were so much stronger than other groups."
"I… think I made a mistake," Winter said, got up and asked, "Can you take care of things here until I get back? I need to fix something."
"Of course," Sirena said, "But, let me help you first." She used her copied Mentor semblance to teach Winter how to enter her soul core, then Winter walked away. Sirena took a deep breath and smiled as she got ready to use her favorite among the many support semblances she has copied for once.
~o~
Winter walked through the hospital, nodding to the guards as she passed. She knew what she had to do. Ironwood wouldn't like it. She didn't care. She never wanted that. She had a better idea in mind. She entered Fria's room and, after exchanging pleasantries, turned more serious.
"Fria, there is something you need to know," Winter said.
"What is it, dear?" Fria asked. Winter pulled out her scroll and showed the winter maiden a picture.
"This is Penny Polendina," Winter answered, "I want you to please focus on her when you feel that your time has come."
"Why?" Fria asked.
"Because she is a better person than I am," Winter answered, "I didn't choose to come here, up until now. You have been kept away from everyone so that I would inherit your powers. That is all there ever was to our relationship. It was all Ironwood's plan. He thinks he knows what he is doing, but he is wrong. Penny is younger than I am, and she is stronger, smarter, more compassionate, a better human overall." Fria took a moment to process this information.
"So, th- this was all a lie?" Fria asked, choking a bit.
"Yes, it was," Winter answered, "I'm sorry, I'll leave now." She got up, left the room, closed the door behind herself and walked away, never to come back again.
~o~
Ruby looked at Arthur. He cocked his gun again, and she smiled at him. The Grimm sirens fell silent around them, black smoke stopped rising to the sky, and the aircraft landed so the soldiers could make sure everyone was safe on the ground. Ruby tilted her head downward, forcing Arthur to tilt his hand upward so that she couldn't redirect the bullet and survive the shot. As soon as Arthur pulled the trigger, Ruby leaned backwards. Arthur's hand jerked up and the bullet went flying into a nearby building, the recoil forcing the weapon into his groin region. Ruby continued to lean backwards and performed a backflip. She kicked Arthur in the face, jumped onto her feet and drew Thief's Respite.
"Round two, doc," Ruby said with a smirk. She shot several shots at Arthur, who tried to block the bullets with a force field from his rings. The bullets passed right through the small force field. Arthur recovered from the hits and attacked. Ruby held up her hand and blocked the bullets before they even reached her. A red portal opened between the two and Sirena stepped out of it.
"What? How?" Arthur asked and said, "My semblance should have stopped people from helping you."
"Should, yes," Sirena said, "But nothing can stop me from protecting those I care about." She dashed towards Arthur with her bare hands. Arthur jumped aside and shot at her. Ruby grappled Arthur with one of her weapons and pulled him close. She kicked him in the face and sent him into a wall with an aura shockwave. Arthur sat up and looked at Ruby and Sirena approach him. They both smiled, and the environment suddenly began changing. His eyes and ears got overloaded with information and he passed out. Both women saw their reflection in the broken store front windows, and Emerald's red eyes looked back at them.
"Well done, Ruby," Emerald said to her clone, who had made Arthur hallucinate her as Sirena. The clone disappeared and Emerald contacted the others to come pick up Arthur.
~o~
Qrow and Clover just killed the last Grimm in the area, and the sirens across the entire town fell silent. They looked at each other, gave each other an approving smile, and put their weapons away again, preparing to get back to Atlas and relax. Walking back to the pickup point, someone contacted them.
"Hello? Can anyone hear me? This is Emerald Sustrai," Emerald said.
"Emerald? How? What happened to Ruby?" Weiss asked.
"She is out of commission for now," Emerald answered, "She really needed a break, and asked me to take over while she recovers."
"So, what's the situation?" Clover asked.
"I found Arthur," Emerald answered, "He's unconscious, thanks to me, and alive, thanks to Ruby. We need somewhere to put him. Preferably away from anything with more processing power than a brick."
"Wait, you can just take over Ruby's body?" Renora asked.
"Yes, Pyrrha taught me," Emerald answered.
"Good," Clover said and asked, "Where are you?"
"I'm at Soop," Emerald answered.
"Soop?" Qrow asked.
"A clothing store," Clover answered, "They're not really good, but they have low prices."
"I don't know," Emerald said, "Some of it looks pretty good."
"If you say so," Clover said, "I'll send someone over to pick up Arthur. Make sure he doesn't escape."
"Don't worry," Emerald said, "I have plenty of experience getting away from you Atlas types, so I can keep him under control until someone gets here."
"And how do you get away from us?" Clover asked.
"With some honeyed words," Emerald answered, "You guys get stuck in those far too easily. You're cocky, arrogant and get distracted. Just like Ironwood did when Roman infiltrated his airship back in Vale."
"The General captured him," Clover said.
"Sure, whatever you say," Emerald said sarcastically, "Just hurry up, I want to do something."
"Guys, I think we have a problem," Penny said. Suddenly, the sky was filled with Grimm and the Grimm warning sirens came on again. Everyone looked at the sky, but the Grimm didn't seem to attack Mantle.
"Why aren't they attacking?" Vine asked.
"They are," Emerald answered, "Just not Mantle." The Ace-Ops flew up to Atlas, Qrow turned into a bird and Renora sent their dragon ahead while heading to the nearest gunship to take them. Emerald stayed with Arthur, while Jaune, Weiss, and Maria made sure there really were no Grimm attacking Mantle.
~o~
When Vine and Elm approached Atlas, which already had its hard-light barrier activated, they saw something standing on the barrier. It was large, bipedal, and white with blue lines. The massive summon had tentacles on its back and was constantly oozing a milky white substance, spawning new Grimm whenever it hit the barrier. Summoned Sea Feilong attacked the Teryx, Sphinx and Manticore, and the massive Kaiju used its tentacles to swat several dozen Grimm out of the sky with each swing like it was nothing.
"Wh- what is that?" Clover asked.
"The Kaiju," Winter answered, "Sirena used one of her semblances to let me summon it."
"I've never heard of a Grimm like that," Marrow said.
"Encyclopedia Aquatica, page 104," Winter said, "It's among the most powerful aquatic Grimm, and a force to be reckoned with." The Kaiju let out a vicious roar, stunning every Grimm that heard it with its sheer dominant presence. The Kaiju and its minions killed the last Grimm attacking Atlas before they could recover, and the Sea Feilong swooped down to make sure Mantle was safe as well. The summon disappeared shortly after, and Winter let out an exhausted sigh over radio.
~o~
After handing Arthur over to the Atlas military, Emerald was walking through Mantle and looking at the rings she took from the doctor. A couple children and their mother looked at her, seemingly on the way back home, and she used her semblance to make them all see her with silver eyes, like she had with Arthur.
"Wait, hold on," Emerald thought after passing the people, "Those are three different people. And I used my semblance on all of them without problem. This is incredible. I'll have to tell Ruby about this." Just as she reached the wall, a large screen popped up on it. It showed Sirena's face, and she began speaking.
"People of Mantle, my name is Sirena Blue," Sirena said, "I am a huntress from the kingdom of Vale. During my time studying at Beacon, I discovered a group of anarchists who aim to destroy the kingdoms as we know them. I miscalculated the pace of their plans initially, allowing them to attack and destroy Vale. However, after that, I was able to adjust my plans and allow those who conspire against this kingdom to act as though they were safe, without endangering the good citizens of Mantle. Ironwood's promise of protecting this city may have been an empty one, one born from a misguided idea of what he was fighting, but my promise is true. The Kaiju that just defended Atlas was a creature of the depths. A Grimm that lurks beneath the ocean. I have vanquished it in the past. No Grimm on the surface can compare to its prowess, and no Grimm on the surface will harm those under my watch. I know that, by allowing those terrorists to infiltrate this kingdom, I have committed serious crimes, and I will face whatever punishment the court deems appropriate, but for as long as I have a body, I will never allow the innocent to be harmed by darkness. Sophie's swarm, which has been protecting this city for quite some time now, will now begin construction of a new line of defense. They will place orbs along the outside of the wall, ten meters apart, in a hexagonal pattern in five rows, which will be augmented with ice-dust to not only kill any Grimm that approach, but also create barriers upon doing so. Furthermore, Ruby Rose will aid the military in clearing out aquatic Grimm, so that the trade with other kingdoms may be resumed at the General's discretion. He had a good idea with closing the borders, attempting to keep the terrorists out, yet they were already within this kingdom. Over the course of this night, all their agents have either been removed from the kingdom's territory or apprehended, so there is no more reason to fear them, or suspect one's neighbors. And lastly, Sophie's swarm was able to predict the targets of these terrorists' assassinations, and prepared life-like dummies of them, in order to protect the people of Mantle." The message ended, the rats started running towards the wall, and the people had to be careful not to step on any. When they saw Emerald, they immediately swarmed her and she had to resist using her semblance to get away from them.
~o~
The next morning, when Ruby woke up, she spotted ten rings on her end table, right next to her shark tooth necklace, and entered her soul core to ask Emerald about them.
"Hey Emerald," Ruby said.
"Hi Ruby," Emerald said and asked, "Is it about the rings?"
"Yes, it is about the rings," Ruby answered and asked, "What did I tell you about stealing?"
"It's all I've ever done," Emerald said, "But on the bright side, since all I do is take, I won't give up."
"Alright, fine," Ruby said with a smile, turned more serious and said, "But only because he's our enemy and would've used them to hurt people." They went on to discuss what had happened after Ruby had given Emerald control of her body, and Ruby returned to the waking world.
~o~
The day after the Grimm attack on Mantle, Sirena was charged and tried for her actions against the kingdom of Atlas, and, on General Ironwood's request, sentenced to public service until the court deemed her debt paid. Jacques was also tried, and sentenced to work in the mines until he was deemed rehabilitated and able to integrate into society again, and Willow nullified her marriage with him.
~o~
The following evening, at half past ten, Ruby was sneaking around the Atlas harbor. She put her hands on the two cargo ships her team's fusion had created and used Emphatic Beacon on them to make Grimm want to protect them from deep sea animals. Using Kindred Link as conduit for Aura Amp, Sirena amplified her aura so she wouldn't run out, and Ruby pushed the semblance to its maximum. She then used Puppeteer to make the military's Grimm radars perform a routine check-up, turned the heat in Mantle half back on and rushed back to her dorm room with Petal Burst.
~o~
Cucurbita left her class to go to the playground, when a group of older children walked up to her and stopped around her. She got a bit nervous, but then remembered her training with Sirena and the toy taser she had in her pant pocket.
"Hello," Cucurbita said and asked, "Do you need something?"
"Yes," one of the kids answered, "I'm Loam, and my friends and I want to know how you killed that Sabyr the other day. And how you're not scared."
"That's easy," Cucurbita answered, "I'm not scared because we're safe. And we're safe as long as we're not scared."
"But how did you kill that Sabyr?" Loam asked and said, "The teachers said you used your semblance, and you moved like you knew what you were doing."
"I don't know. I just did, I guess," Cucurbita answered, got an idea and said, "But if you want, I can let you join my club."
"Your club?" Loam asked, and the children got curious. Other children, mostly around Cucurbita's age, also got curious and gathered around them.
"Yeah," Cucurbita answered, "The Mantle Protection Club. A club for people who want to help protect Mantle when they grow up and become adults."
"That sounds stupid," Loam said, "We can let the adults protect Mantle, they're doing that anyway."
"Bu- but we can do that when we grow up," Cucurbita said, "The adults were children once too, and back then there were other adults who protected them. And it's gonna be our turn soon, whether you like it or not."
"Grow up, Cucurbita," Loam said, "We're just kids, we can't fight Grimm or do anything to keep this city safe." The group of children dispersed and Cucurbita was left alone, until a few younger children came up to her and asked to join her club. Using the semblance she had copied at the harbor, she helped them use their aura and semblance, but disguised it as a formal acceptance into her club.
~o~
The next morning, after an early breakfast, Ruby and Weiss were walking along the Atlas harbor, when Yang, in her dragon form, landed in a couple barrels, transformed back and fell asleep. Blake was also with her, and the foreman had seen the whole thing.
"Well, Gods be damned," the walrus faunus said with his deep voice, "No more evening whiskey before an early shift." He looked around and the other men and women working at the docks nodded and mumbled in agreement, and the foreman gave Ruby and Weiss a reassuring smile.
"Thanks, sir," Ruby said.
"Just call me Marinus," Marinus said and asked, "What for?" He smiled at her, then went back to barking orders at the others. Ruby and Weiss walked to the edge of the docks, and Marinus informed General Ironwood that two huntresses were found asleep at the harbor when he had some time.
"You ready?" Ruby asked, looking at Weiss.
"Yes, let's go," Weiss answered. They both jumped into the water, braced themselves against the chilling cold and fused with their respective shark souls.
Author's note: The end of this chapter actually takes place during the same time as the events of V8 in the show.
Yes, there is a clothing store called Soop.
Sirena could've gotten away with her crimes. She just confessed to give a full explanation, and to show the people that she'll accept the consequences of her actions. She may also do this to highlight how Ironwood decidedly does not accept responsibility when he messes up.