After teleporting away, Kagami appeared mid air. She closed her eyes as she fell. Her clothes and hair fluttered in the wind. Forcing out an exhale, she opened her eyes and narrowed them. She was high up. Higher than she had ever been. With fear twisting her stomach into knots, she shook her head and braced herself.
Landing on the head of the Grimm, she skidded and slid down between its eyes. It's eyes were larger than her. Gulping, she twisted her body around and came to a stop on its snout. She pushed herself up while looking dead at the creature. "Hey!" She shouted.
It didn't even notice her as it shifted around to continue its rampage.
Struggling to keep her balance as it moved, she lowered her center of gravity and groaned. "Listen to me!" She reached back and drew her sword. With each breath the Grimm took she felt the air tremble around her. "I'm talking to you!" Her voice cracked from how loudly she called out. Dropping her sword into a reverse grip, she breathed in and used all her strength to drive it through its thick white armor.
This caught the Leviathan's attention. It stopped what it was doing and both it's ungodly large eyes narrowed at her.
With shaky breathing, Kagami gripped the handle of her sword with both hands to balance herself. "Do I have your attention now?!" She paused for a moment and she could have sworn it groaned back at her in recognition.
"I know I can't kill you. You know I can't kill you." That's the only reason she was still alive. She wasn't a threat and it knew it. "You know all of these people here couldn't kill you even if they all joined together. You're old. You're wise. You're smart. You've lived for who knows how long under the ocean and have been baptized in generations of anger and Dust!" She took a few deep breaths.
"So you know there's no way you're dying today. But do you want to know something that I know?" She stood up straight while pulling her weapon free. "I know you have seen humanity evolve. I know you've seen it grow into what it is now. And I know that you know that they will never forget this day. The people of Vytal will never forget you and what you've done. Even if you kill everyone on this island there is always someone who survives! And they will spend the rest of their days figuring out a way to kill you." Taking a deep breath, she sheathed her sword.
"They will be the reason Remnant will remember you. Their legacy might not kill you, but they will make sure someone has the power to do such. Even if it's not in their lifetime. You want to survive. That's why you've never surfaced before. You want to live just as much as everyone down there!" She gestured towards the city.
"So I'm going to tell you the truth. If you keep this up, you know someone will find a way to put an end to you. If you want to continue living and dwelling underneath Vytal in whatever cave that Dust rig dug into, you need to stop this rampage and leave right now. Turn back around and head right back into the ocean!"
With her teeth showing, she took a few steps closer towards its eyes. "I don't know if you understand me, but I sure as hell hope you do. Because I don't want to see anyone else die or lose everything just as much as you don't want to die."
Staring right at her for what felt like the longest minute of her life, the Alpha Leviathan let out a heavy huff that shook the air and she didn't even so much as flinch as she stared back.
Midori was confused by what she saw. She was walking towards her daughters and friends when she suddenly saw Kagami disappear. A moment later, she watched as Baren bolted away. Furrowing her brow, she approached the rest of the group. "What... what just happened?" She quickly asked. She could feel the anxious fear rising up from her core.
Looking at each other, the remaining members of team MACE were all silent in shock. It had been a long night and they were all at a loss.
Suddenly, Gurin snatched her mother's arm and pulled on it. "Kagami went to go talk to the Grimm and tell it to leave!" She shouted.
"What?" The former Huntress blinked rapidly. "What?!" She quickly looked around before crouching down in front of her daughter. "What do you mean she went to talk to the Grimm!?"
"She did the thing you do and copied my semblance." She took a deep breath and pointed to herself. "And she just went up there and I couldn't follow her and-" She stopped herself as her mother looked her in the eyes. There was a look in them that she had never seen before.
In a blink of an eye, the former Huntress vanished.
"M-Mom..." The little girl whimpered softly. She was so used to being the one who teleported away she had no idea how it felt to be on the other end. "Mom!" She twisted her body around to look at the giant Grimm once again.
Still standing tall and staring down the King of Grimm, Kagami hadn't even moved a centimeter. She wasn't going to back down from this and she knew the Leviathan was thinking everything over. She wasn't going to budge. That is until she heard a sound coming from above her.
Looking up, she raised both eyebrows as she saw her mother quickly descend towards her.
Landing on the snout of the creature, Midori tucked and rolled in front of her daughter. She drew both her katanas and twirled them once before rising to her feet. "Kagami. Get back to the others. Now."
"Mom..." She took a small step while holding up a hand. "Can you maybe-"
"Not now! You need to get back!" She gestured with one of her blades.
Exhaling, the young jadette slid her hands into her pockets. "Can you take two seconds an notice how it's not trying to murder the both of us? And is, you know, just watching us."
"What?" Her mother fully looked back at her before looking ahead at the enormous Grimm. Staring into its ungodly eyes, she lowered her arms slightly. "What?" She sounded more confused now. It wasn't attacking. It wasn't even moving. All it was doing was slowly breathing in and out and watching them. "What the... what did you..."
"I... talked to it..." She blinked. That sounded a lot crazier when she spoke it outloud.
"It's... not trying to kill us." Her shoulders fell. Though she kept a tight grip on her blades. "Grimm aren't..."
"Its not like any normal Grimm." She stepped up beside her. "It's probably older than all of humanity. I'm sure its learned a lot during that time."
"I still don't trust it." Midori let out rather bluntly and the Leviathan practically huffed back at her in annoyance.
"Well it doesn't like you either." Her daughter crossed her arms. "Now, if you would like to put your katanas away, we can leave and hopefully it will leave too."
After a moment of thinking, she slowly inhaled before reluctantly sliding her weapons away. "Fine..." She kept her eyes narrowed.
"See?" The younger jadette held out her arms. "Everything is fine." She smiled. Though it quickly vanished as she heard something from behind her. Whipping her head around, she looked across the Grimm's snout and over towards the city below. "What is..."
Suddenly jumping up through the air, Baren glared coldly at the two of them. Flashing her teeth, her body remained mid air for a moment. Her large mass of hair sprayed out all around her while the moon casted a shadow across her face.
Her toes just barely touched the Grimm's nose before she pushed forward. Reaching out with her left hand, she snatched Kagami by the neck followed by Midori in her right wooden hand. She then slammed them both down onto the white armor of the giant Leviathan and pinned them. "You're supposed to be better than this!" She snapped while glaring at Midori with flaring nostrils.
Tensing up, the former Huntress quickly closed her mouth. She wasn't even breathing as she kept herself as silent as possible.
With an animalistic growl, the pinkette turned her attention to Kagami and tightened her grip. "Your next sentence better be the single most enlightening one you've ever spoken." She leaned in while sharply inhaling.
Choking slightly, she squirmed a bit while reaching up to grab her wrist. "Its... not moving..." She barely managed out while closing one eye.
After a few breaths, Baren snapped her head up and narrowed her eyes directly into the Leviathan's. Slowly breathing out, she released both her current student and her former student.
Softly gasping. Kagami sat up and coughed a few times.
"Its not trying to kill us..." The old warrior spoke in disbelief. "It's just standing there." She took three steps forward before stopping and furrowing her brow. "That... that doesn't make any sense." She swallowed hard.
"No. It doesn't." The young jadette took a deep breath as she pushed herself up to her feet. "A lot of today hasn't made any sense. But I'm taking what I can get." She pointed towards the Grimm. "I don't know what it's considering, but we should leave. Calmly. Without angering it and sending it into another rampage."
"Tch." She shook her head slightly while taking a step back. "This is madness. We... we should..."
"We should leave it alone." She repeated.
Baren couldn't believe what was going on. Grimm hunted humans and Faunus for as long as anyone could remember. It was a Huntress' job to stop that from happening. But here she was, standing before the King of Grimm, not attacking and not retreating, just backing away to let it go freely. Grimm only knew how to kill.
All except for the one that didn't kill her when she lost her arm...
Maybe they were smarter than what Remnant knew.
Gritting her teeth, she balled her hands into fist and stepped back more. "Let's go th-" She cut herself off and blinked as she looked up.
Having just teleported, Gurin narrowed her eyes as she fell towards the giant creature. Stumbling as she landed, she ran towards the Leviathan's forehead. "I'm here to help kill it!" She brought her foot back before kicking its thick white armor.
Scrambling behind her, Kagami quickly snatched her up with wide eyes. "Sorry, sorry!" She quickly spoke while looking into one of its eyes. "She didn't mean that! Please ignore her!" She pulled her away.
Taking a very deep breath, the Leviathan let out a low groan before rolling its eyes. Suddenly, it shifted. Its movements made everyone standing on it lose their balance. Slowly, it turned around and began to head back towards the western shore of Vytal.
"Its... its actually leaving." Midori quietly scoffed in disbelief as she braced herself from its movements. "It's actually leaving!"
"And we need to now too!" Baren shouted while still keeping narrowed eyes on the Grimm. "Let's go!"
"Right." Kagami nodded while looking down at her sister. "Ready to go?"
"I'm... confused." The young girl blinked.
"It's fine. Don't worry." She smiled while grabbing her hand.
Sighing, Midori looked her youngest daughter in her eyes before holding out her hand for Baren. "Come on."
Slightly groaning in her direction, the old warrior harshly grabbed her hand. "I'm not done talking to all of you. Including you!" She pointed towards Gurin.
With a small yelp, the two sisters both disappeared followed by the other two. While Midori and Baren returned to the makeshift base along with the others, Gurin teleported her sister and herself somewhere else.
Feeling the sand under her shoes, Kagami blinked a little before looking up. She was standing on the coastline. "Why... are we here?" She asked while pulling her hand away from her sister. She then took a small step forward as she watched the Leviathan slowly step over rubble and make its way back to the water.
"My aura isn't strong enough for a big jump like that." The young girl placed both her hands on her knees while panting softly. Her green aura fizzled a bit from overuse and not having enough time to recharge fully. "I can't get us back... sorry."
"No, no it's fine." She waved her hand. "You've done great today." She smiled at her before looking back up at the Grimm. Its toes touched the water and sent large ripples throughout it.
Smiling to herself, Kagami crossed her arms and watched as the King of Grimm slowly descended back into the deep unknown depths of the ocean. The sun was finally rising across the wide open sea of Remnant as well. She didn't win an impossible battle, but she ended it. And that was good enough for her.
No one else was going to die.
Her home was safe.
That's all that mattered.
Didn't mean for it to take so long to write this. My plan was to have it done sometime in November but whoops.
I know we already had a "Godzilla" fight in RWBY but I've been wanting to do this for a long long time. I might have had a little too much fun with how long it ended being but it was fun to write. Plus it was a great reason for me to revisit all the classic Godzilla movies.