At a forest clearing during the night, a Mistral airship was seen landing. The doors opened, revealing its occupant as Neopolitan, who dropped her disguise and was revealed to be wearing a new outfit.
She looked to see someone step out of the forest, revealed to be the person who murdered Pluto's sister Pyrrha, and the person who he wanted to kill to avenge her death, Cinder Fall. She was also sporting some new clothes, consisting of a cape which concealed her Grimm-ified left arm as well as an eyepatch that covered the left half of her scarred face. She stopped to inspect the airship, surmising that it should get her and Neo to Solitas.
Neo stepped out of the airship and held her hand out, then placed her hand on the airship and used her Semblance to transform it into an Atlesian Manta aircraft. Cinder smiled at this, as Neo then retracted the disguise and snapped her fingers with a smirk on her face.
"You know, Neo, someone once asked me if I believed in destiny." Cinder said, referring to Pyrrha, as the two of them boarded the airship. "And I'm happy to say I still do."
The two smiled evilly as the airship's door closed.
Back in Argus, multiple Manta aircraft engaged in dogfights against Manticores and Sphinxs above the ocean. The Leviathan itself slowly trudged through the water approaching the city. Some aircrafts flew by for a gun run on the towering Grimm. The Leviathan, however, simply dived below the ocean and swam forward.
"All units, be advised: Leviathan-class Grimm has submerged but is still on approach. Preparing hard-light shields, over!" Air-Control stated.
Elsewhere, Ruby and her friends overheard the radio chatter with looks of horror on their faces. Cordovin continued to struggle to get the Colossus' arm cannon out of the water with it being covered in ice and rock Dust.
"We're getting slammed by hostiles out here! Where is Cordovin?!" Manta Two-Two asked.
"This is your fault! Do you hear me?!" Cordovin yelled, pointing the blame on Ruby and the others.
"Ruby!" Yang called out as she and Blake ran out of the forest to rejoin the group.
"Yang! Blake! Are you okay?" Ruby asked in relief.
Yang and Blake's attention was diverted however, as they noticed the disabled mech.
"What happened?" Blake asked.
"Forget about us, what the heck happened to you guys?" Pluto asked in return.
"We had to take care of a problem." Blake answered, referring to their fight with Adam.
The group then heard the Leviathan roaring, getting their attention and causing Pluto to jump back in fright.
"Was that a giant Grimm?" Yang asked.
"Yes... and we just ruined the only thing capable of stopping it..." Weiss answered regretfully.
The group wasted no time boarding the aircraft, as it began to fly away. Ruby then watched with pity as Cordovin continued to struggle to move the mech.
"This is your fault! YOUR FAULT! This is..." Cordovin yelled out in anger before she gave up with her attempt.
"Ma'am, what's your status? We need an answer, over!" A soldier implored her over the radio.
"... your fault..." She said despondently, as she looked down sadly.
"I'm so sorry..." Blake said sadly from inside the ship.
"Don't be. This isn't on you." Yang replied.
"But-" Blake tried to explain.
"You're safe, that's all that matters." Ruby said reassuringly.
Blake smiled at her leader and the two hugged. Ruby then looked over to Yang and the two shared a smile.
"I suppose I have 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." Maria said. "We may not get another chance like this."
"No way!" Yang refused.
"We can't leave, not like this." Weiss agreed with Yang's statement.
"It's like you said, a Huntress is supposed to protect others to the bitter end." Blake added.
Maria looked to Ruby, who just shrugged and smiled. Maria smiled back and continued to fly.
"We need to head for the Leviathan." Ruby declared, before turning to Jaune. "Jaune, can you and Ren be ready to mask our ship?"
"I think we can manage." Ren accepted.
"Got a few ideas?" Jaune asked.
"I've got one." Ruby answered.
"Eyes up, everybody. It's back." Qrow warned the group.
The Leviathan swam for a bit before resurfacing above the water, letting out a terrifying roar.
"Argus Base, this is Manta 3-4! Leviathan has hit the shallows and resurfaced! We need those shields up now, over!" Manta Three-Four demanded.
From the city, a large crowd gathered as they looked out to the ocean with concern. Terra was seen making her way through the crowd, eventually reuniting with Saphron and Adrian, before looking out to the ocean again in concern. As the Leviathan approached Argus, a hard-light Dust barrier was erected, halting its progress.
"Target stopped! Engaging, over!" Mantra Two-Two said, as a pair of Manta aircraft began firing shots at the Leviathan.
Suddenly, the Leviathan unleashed an energy beam attack from its mouth. It shifted the beam over to one of the poles powering the hard-light Dust barrier, destroying it, as the Leviathan roared. Ruby and her friends watched in horror from their aircraft, shocked over the display.
"It tore straight through...!" Oscar said in disbelief.
"All squadrons, fall back to evacuation procedures. Disengage Leviathan! I repeat, disengage! Over!" Air Control ordered.
"No, wait!" Ruby called out, as she ran up to the radio.
"Ruby!" Qrow exclaimed.
"We can stop it!" Ruby stated.
"Who is this? Identify yourself!" Air Control demanded.
"I'm a Huntress. My team and I are heading to the Leviathan and can weaken it for you to attack!" Ruby explained.
Everyone looked at Ruby in shock.
"We can?" Jaune asked.
"No we can't!" Pluto added, a look of utter terror in his voice.
"I can." Ruby replied.
"Ruby, when I said trial by fire-" Maria tried to explain before she was interrupted.
"I did it at Beacon and at the farm." Ruby reminded everyone.
"You really think you can do it now?" Weiss asked.
"I don't have a choice." Ruby answered.
"Manta 5-1, your ship is currently flagged as hostile. You will receive no support, over." Air Control warned.
"Fine, we'll do it alone if we have to." Ruby retorted as she picked up the radio.
Meanwhile from her mech, Cordovin overheard Ruby's radio chatter.
"We can hit it while it's stopped at the next barrier. Ren, you're up!" Ruby told him.
Ren and Jaune proceeded to combine their Semblances, masking the airship as it weaved between the air battles between Grimm and Atlas forces. The Leviathan made its way to the next barrier and charged its energy breath again.
"We're too late! Pull up!" Qrow exclaimed.
The Manta aircraft pulled up out of the way as the Leviathan fired its breath, destroying the next barrier and toppling a cupola off one of the buildings in Argus. Ren and Jaune collapsed as their Auras were drained.
"Damn it...!" Jaune cursed.
"That's all I've got!" Ren added.
"It's on the move again! We need to stop it!" Weiss stated.
"What do we do?" Yang asked.
Ruby thought for a moment, before looking over to Weiss. However, everyone's attention was diverted, as they saw a completely terrified Pluto begin to freak out over the whole situation.
"Oh gosh, oh gosh!" He panicked.
"Alright, hey. Listen to me." Nora said.
"Dammit! No!" Pluto refused. It seemed like he didn't wanna do this anymore.
"Listen. Look at me." Nora continued, as she tried to calm him down.
"No! That thing's not real!" Pluto replied fearfully, referring to the Leviathan.
"This is real. That thing is real." Nora retorted, denying his scepticism.
"No! It's not real. None of this is real." Pluto insisted.
"Yes it is. Pluto, you need to calm down and let Ruby take this thing on." Jaune told him.
"It's the only way." Ren agreed.
Pluto closed his eyes and looked down at the ground.
"Oh crap, I'm gonna die." He whimpered.
"Pluto..." Ruby tried to explain the situation as she approached him.
"I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die." He continued to whimper.
"Look at me!" Ruby said sternly.
Finally shutting up, Pluto slowly opened his eyes and looked at Ruby face to face, staring directly at her silver eyes as the young girl gently put a hand on his shoulder.
"You're not gonna die." She told him reassuringly. "Let me save us."
Pluto meekly turned towards Jaune, Nora and Ren for clarification, and they all looked at him also with reassuring expressions on their faces. With that, Pluto calmed down and gently nodded to Ruby, allowing her to carry out her plan, as she smiled at him.
Meanwhile, the Leviathan continued to approach Argus, but suddenly, the aircraft carrying Ruby's group opened up its hatch doors.
"Eyes on us, ugly!" Nora called out to the beast, as she and Yang fired their respective weapons.
"Is it working?" Blake asked.
"Unfortunately, yes! Hang on!" Maria answered.
With the confirmation, Blake ran over to Weiss, who was maintaining a Glyph she activated, while Ruby was seen riding on the back of Weiss' Queen Lancer summoning.
"Okay, okay, you can do this... You have to do this!" Ruby told herself.
Eventually, Ruby stopped in front of the Leviathan. She closed her eyes and began to concentrate, the noises all around her slowly muting out.
"Ruby? Ruby, hurry, something-" Yang tried to warn her little sister, but Ruby took out her earpiece and tossed it into the water below.
She closed her eyes again to concentrate. As she concentrated, Ruby thought back on various memories.
She thought of her father and sister, when Zwei first arrived at Team RWBY's dorm room, when she and her team were about to start a food fight with Team JNPR, and when they got noodles after their victory in the Vital Tournament.
She then thought of her friend Penny Polendina, then to when she first saw Jaune, of Team JNPR, of Pyrrha...
Suddenly, Ruby started to frown as bad memories started to flood her mind, such as the night when Jaune trained alone with a recording of Pyrrha, when she saw her friends wounded as Beacon was being evacuated, when Yang sank into depression over the loss of her arm.
Ruby whimpered upon remembering the deaths of both Pyrrha and Penny...
Suddenly, Ruby opened her eyes again and noticed the Leviathan standing face to face with her.
"What?" Ruby asked in shock.
"Why'd it turn away?!" Yang exclaimed.
Ruby then remembered she had the Relic of Knowledge on her belt, which caused the Leviathan to have its attention on her.
"No, no, no, no!" Ruby panicked.
Suddenly, the Leviathan opened its maw and lunged toward Ruby...
"J-JINN!" Ruby called out, reeling back.
Suddenly, time stopped. Everything slowed down and froze, even Yang who called out her sister's name.
Ruby then breathed a sigh of relief as she heard the rattling chains of Jinn.
"I'm sorry... I don't have a question for you. I just... I just needed a little more time..." Ruby explained.
Ruby looked to Jinn, who had a stern look on her face.
"I know... and while you don't seek knowledge, just this once, I shall give it freely. I will not allow you to use me without a question again..." She said, now smiling. "Even if this was clever."
Ruby nodded at Jinn. She then turned to face the Leviathan again and closed her eyes to concentrate once more. Time slowly started to go back to normal as Ruby began thinking back to other memories.
She thought back to when Team RWBY decorated their dorm room, when Weiss gave her coffee, when Blake cheered for Weiss in Professor Port's class, when Yang was training her before leaving for Beacon, when Team RWBY celebrated their victory after saving Vale.
Ruby smiled as she thought back to the Beacon Dance and Team JNPR again, and then to when Qrow arrived at Beacon, to talking with Oscar, and then to Maria, and to Penny again, and then to when she just comforted Pluto before confronting the Leviathan.
And finally, Ruby thought back to her mother, Summer Rose, her white cloak blowing in the wind as she overlooked a cliff watching a sunset. She then turned around, offering a warm smile. Her own Silver Eyes reflected back to her daughter's...
Ruby's own eyes then began to shine bright, the brightest it had ever been. A massive white light engulfed the area, turning the Leviathan to stone. The citizens of Argus and the Atlas military cheered as the Grimm threat had been nullified. Ruby's friends gave proud smiles and Maria breathed a sigh of relief.
"That was...amazing." Pluto said in astonishment.
The light retracts back into Ruby's eyes, and she turns around to look at the city of Argus still standing. Suddenly, Ruby heard a stone crackling behind her. The Leviathan's head managed to move and tried to aim at Ruby.
"No..." Ruby said in horror.
"I'll take it from here!" The voice of Cordovin was soon heard.
Suddenly, Cordovin showed up in the Colossus, its arm cannon now detached. Everyone looked on in shock. Without the weight of the cannon, the Colossus begans to run toward the semi-petrified Leviathan.
"After all, I was sworn to protect the people!" Cordovin added, smiling.
The Colossus' left hand then transformed into a giant drill. Cordovin used the drill to destroy the Leviathan, causing it to dissipate. The people of Argus cheered while the Arc family looked on with stupefied expressions.
The Colossus then walked over to Ruby. Its cockpit opened up revealing Cordovin herself standing in a stern military manner.
"Thank you." Ruby said in gratitude. "And... I'm sorry."
"The Atlas military can handle the stragglers." Cordovin replied.
"What, uh... What are you saying?" Ruby wondered.
"I'm saying I don't think anyone would notice if one more ship went missing in my lengthy report." Cordovin smiled.
Ruby smiled back at Cordovin, who then turned the mech around and ran off to join her men in taking down the remaining Grimm. Ruby then returned to the airship, and it then flew through the night sky.
"We should have just enough fuel to make it." Maria said.
"Thanks, Miss Calavera." Ruby replied.
"Hey, Ruby. You did great out there today, kid. Just don't go giving me heart attacks like that again." Qrow told his niece.
He was about to take a drink from his flask, but ultimately decided not to, as Ruby hugged her uncle.
"I love you, too." She said.
Qrow smiled at his niece as she walked away to join her friends.
"You weren't half bad yourself today, Qrow." Maria told him.
Qrow smiled at this before sighing.
"I feel like they did all the heavy lifting." He admitted.
"But you were there to help when they asked for it, and you were there to catch them when they fell. Literally, if I recall." Maria pointed out.
"Thanks. You know, it was pretty incredible getting to see the Grimm Reaper in action." Qrow replied.
"Ha, you should have seen me when I was your age!" Maria retorted.
Qrow smiled as the two of them looked out the cockpit's window to the night sky.
In the back of the aircraft, Weiss, Blake and Yang sat together, discussing the fight with Adam.
"I'm sorry you went through that nightmare. But, I'm glad Yang was there for you in time." Weiss said to Blake.
Blake and Yang smiled before the latter took the cat Faunus' hand.
"We were there for each other." Yang added.
In another area of the ship, Pluto was seen sitting with Jaune, Nora and Ren, discussing Pluto's performance during the battle.
"So...how did I do out there?" Pluto asked.
"Well, seeing how the Leviathan's dead and you're not, I'd say that you did pretty good." Jaune answered.
"Took the words right out of my mouth." Nora agreed.
"Really?!" Pluto reacted in surprise.
"Yeah. You did try and help with the Colossus, and you helped me and Nora when we were in trouble." Jaune pointed out. "With the right training, I can definitely see you being a great huntsman in the future."
"Jaune's right. You're a good kid, Pluto. You've got a great future ahead of you." Ren added.
"But you've still got a lot to learn." Jaune explained. "When we get to Atlas, I'll be sure to teach you everything that Pyrrha taught me. Don't worry, Pluto. I'm gonna make a huntsman out of you if it kills me."
Tears began welling up in Pluto's eyes as he smiled at the members of Team JNR, who all smiled right back at him.
"Just don't try and act like a baby again, okay?" Nora teased.
"You guys, I never cry. I was just scared of the Leviathan, that's all. I mean, I never saw a Grimm before in my life until now." Pluto insisted, although he was lying about the crying part.
Jaune just chuckled at this, and the four pulled each other in for a group hug.
Ruby then approached the group and everyone then looked over towards her.
"Hey. You did amazing out there, Ruby. I've never seen a Silver-Eyed Warrior in person before." Pluto said to her.
"Hey, stop it!" Ruby replied, sounding embarrassed.
"He's right though. You petrified a Leviathan... after diving down the barrel of a cannon!" Ren pointed out.
"Don't act like you all haven't done crazy stuff before!" Ruby laughed. "I mean, Oscar made a successful crash landing! He's a fourteen-year-old farm hand!"
"That was seriously impressive." Jaune said to Oscar.
"We'd have been stranded without you." Blake agreed.
"I... thanks, but... I've been meaning to tell you guys... I didn't land the ship on my own." Oscar admitted.
He thought back to when the airship was about to crash land.
"We're gonna crash! We're gonna CRASH!" He panicked.
"Stay calm, it's going to be okay." The voice of Ozpin said.
"Ozpin took control?!" Nora asked in shock.
"No, he guided me... And then he was gone again..." Oscar explained.
"Does that mean he's been watching us this whole time?" Yang wondered.
"I don't know, but... it at least means he was looking out for us." Oscar assumed.
Everyone pondered this revelation before Qrow spoke up.
"Hey, if you've never seen Atlas in person before, you don't wanna miss this." He announced.
With the announcement, Ruby and her friends walked up to the cockpit window to get a look at the city.
"Is it weird that I'm sorta nervous?" Ruby asked.
"No, I'll believe we've made it to Atlas when I see it." Yang answered.
"Well... believe it." Weiss retorted.
The airship came out of the clouds, and the floating city of Atlas was seen coming into view.
"Wow!" Nora said in amazement.
"Oh my gosh..." Pluto added, full of awe.
"You know, you make the trip up to Atlas over and over, but you never get used to that view." Maria added, before her prosthetic eyes started to act up again, much to her frustration. "Oh, come on!"
Weiss leaned forward and had a nervous look on her face. Ruby noticed this and looked at her friend and teammate in concern.
"Weiss, what is it?" She asked.
Everyone looked up, and noticed above the city of Atlas many Atlas Airships.
"The Atlas air fleet... I knew all of our ships were called back, but..." Weiss stated.
"They're set up like they're expecting an attack..." Qrow added.
Suddenly, the radio turned on.
"Manta 5-1, welcome home..." Air Control said.
In the Land of Darkness, Mercury Black was seen looking out the window in the meeting room. Emerald Sustrai then walked in. Suddenly, she noticed Mercury's face had an expression of horror as he looked out the window. Emerald looked to where he was looking and found out why.
A Beringel was seen crawling out of one of the black, tar-like pits, with Salem herself standing close by. She then used her magic as Nevermore wings suddenly sprouted from the back of the Beringel. The Beringel got used to its new appendages, before flying up to join many other Beringels also grafted with wings. Emerald and Mercury continued to watch in horror.
"There's an old saying." Hazel Rainart said as he entered the room and stood next to Emerald and Mercury. "If you want something done right... do it yourself."
Salem looked up to the army of Grimm she had gathered, before turning around and using her magic on the black pools again, engulfing the entire scene...