RWBY: Destiny of Remnant

by UGX7

In the wake of the fall Team RNJR sets out to bring Cinder Fall to justice while the new Fall Maiden overlooks her master's plan in Haven City. Meanwhile Weiss tries to help a friend, Yang struggles with the loss of her arm, and Blake deals with guilt over the White Fang. Meanwhile someone from Cinder's past returns and Salem's newest pawn rises. Arkos, WhiteRose, SunnyBees, Renora

20. The Battle of Haven Part V: Love

RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and created by the late and great Monty Oum.

Read, review, and tell me how I can improve, what you liked and what you didn't. Your feedback is appreciated, thank you! Thanks to all the reviewers, I appreciate all your kind words and thoughts. Seriously, you guys keep me going so share your thoughts.

Now important announcement: Let's all give a big thank you to smstanton, writer of the fantastic '4 Years of Beacon' story, who helped co-write this chapter. I couldn't have done it without his help. You're awesome man.

RWBY: Destiny of Remnant

Chapter 20: The Battle of Haven Part V: Love Never Dies

Jaune fell forward to the ground as Pyrrha threw herself forward and caught him.

"No, no, no, no, NO!" Pyrrha screamed as the shock began to subside. She held him gently and looked at the wound in his chest. Miraculously it was in the same spot where Cinder's arrow had pieced her chest months ago, the heat had cauterized the wounds but that didn't mean it wasn't any less devastating to Jaune's body. The arrow had burned down to nothing more than the head, turning into a sharp and deadly bullet that had gone right through Jaune's body and now lay on the ground, covered in his blood.

"Come on Jaune, stay with me, please!" she begged, tears streaming down her face.

"NO!" screamed Ruby as she, the rest of her team, Ren, Nora, Velvet, and Bianca all ran towards the two.

Cinder observed the scene with a small, serene smile on her face. She created a large ball of fire in the palm of her hand and said "Don't worry; you won't have to suffer any more." She threw the fireball at the two, its power was increased by her newly enhanced abilities, but before it could get to them Neo jumped in front of it and shielded them with her umbrella.

Neo glared up at Cinder with hatred and resentment and Cinder returned the look. So Neo was the traitor all along. She briefly glanced down to Emerald and regretted ever suspecting the thief of treachery. She looked around at the Atlas ships that now surrounded the factory and smiled. Well, subtlety had had its day. No point in hiding anymore.

Ruby and her friends made it to Jaune and Pyrrha, surrounding them.

"Is he dead?!" Nora asked frantically.

"No... no he's still breathing and has a pulse... Jaune why?!" Pyrrha shouted.

Jaune looked at her faintly and made an obvious attempt to speak but all that came out was a hissing sound at first before he finally managed to say "I... coul..."

Pyrrha opened her mouth but couldn't form a sentence. He couldn't? Couldn't what? Let her die again? Oh no no no no no...

"NO! No you... YOU STAY WITH ME!" Pyrrha screamed as Bianca held back a sob.

"It'll be okay Jaune, everything will be okay... you're going to make it, we have to get him onto the ship! It has some medical stuff." The eldest Arc sister said desperately.

It was no secret to any of them; Jaune was dying. His breathing came in troubled, painful gasps, blood continually spat out of his mouth as his aura, feebly trying to heal his body, dimmed. Despite all this the wounded knight was determined to share his dying thoughts.

"Too... weak... before... Worthless..."

"Don't talk like that! We're glad to have you as our friend!" objected Velvet.

"We don't care how strong or how weak you are! You're Jaune Arc, that's all we need!" cried Nora through tears.

"Don't do this, you can make it!" said Ren.

"Don't you dare die on us, Arc!" ordered Weiss.

Jaune closed his eyes, it was only with a shake and a desperate plea from his partner that he reopened them, though he was quickly fading.

"Jaune, please hang on! I know you're strong enough to survive this!" Ruby said.

"No..." he weakly said before he raised his arm, previously hanging limp in the air. Nobody could speak as he slowly brought it to Pyrrha's chest, over her heart and touched it briefly.

He gave them a weak smile, then he closed his eyes and his body went utterly limp again.

"Please Jaune, don't do this! We need you!" Pyrrha screamed.

Ruby heard a voice over a megaphone then an explosion. She turned to see the person she hated more than anything: Cinder Fall.

She had jumped down off the roof and landed gracefully in front of Ashe, Qrow, Glynda, and the others. She looked around at them as the remaining warriors got ready for the fight of their lives.

Just then a voice from one of the ships above made itself known. "This is Captain Samson of the Atlesian Military. Cinder Fall, in the name of the Four Kingdoms, their citizens, and all the Academies you are under arrest for your crimes. Stand down now or we will be forced to use lethal weapons on you."

Cinder looked up to them as her eyes began to glow white with light-brown leaf shapes around them.

"Try it." She said as she created another fireball and threw it at one of the ships, which exploded violently. Cinder used her powers to grab it and fling it over to one of the abandoned buildings, demolishing it in a bright explosion.

"Stop her!" yelled Glynda as she sent a blast of aura at the Fall Maiden which Cinder easily evaded. Cinder looked over to some police officers to the side, all of them aiming their guns at her.

Cinder grinned as she sent another blast of fire at the cops, it destroyed one of their vehicles and it went up into the air, the blast sending several officers flying.

"Kill the bitch!" yelled Sun as he used his weapons to fire at Cinder, aided by Coco, Neptune, Qrow, Scarlet, and Penny as they all began shooting at her.

The rest of the servants of Salem retreated into the building, not wanting to get anywhere near this battle.

"Nope, nuh-uh, no way! Let Cinder handle this one." Merrick said as he got safely inside the building, carrying the weapons of Lao and Tom-Tom, knowing full well the reactions from the two would annoy him for days if he left the mallet and sword behind.

"Normally I wound consider that cowardly, but in this case I find it very wise." Little Steve agreed as he carried Tom-Tom, Lao, and Douglas away.

"Took the words right out of my mouth." Zhan chimed in as he put a cigarette in between his lips..

"You cowards, she needs us!" Emerald yelled.

"Kid, I think something major went down upstairs. Cinder's probably got this." Ziz reasoned.

"Yeah, let's just sit back and watch the madness." Trooper said as he leaned against a wall.

"Ziz and I cannot fight; we're no match for that silver-eyed child if her eyes begin to shine. We don't understand what effect it would have on our bodies." Steppenwolffe reasoned as he sat down.

Emerald glared at them and said "You people are scum."

"Okay, if it'll calm you down we might as well give the Maiden an edge." Fireball said as he took out some fire crystals from his flamethrower. "Cinder, heads up!" the man yelled, straining his voice to be heard as he launched the crystals towards her.

Cinder was busy creating shields of aura, fire, and ice to protect herself from the blasts, but she had heard Fireball's call. She whipped around and grabbed the crystals with her wind powers and detonated them, creating a massive shape of fire that she quickly took control of.

She sent it at the Hunters, forcing them to retreat or take cover.

"You want a fight? Come and fight me, I will destroy each and every one of you and make it slow and painful and I will savor it." Cinder said as she slammed down the massive blob of fire down, only for it to be held back by Glynda, who was straining to create a shield powerful enough to keep the fire back.

Ruby watched Cinder and began to clench her fists; her breathing began quick and unfocused. All she could do right now was think about how much she and her friends had suffered because of this witch. Pyrrah was taken from them, mind raped, and turned into a Grimm hybrid, Jaune suffered a similar fate and was now dying to save the one he loved, her team back together but not because she did it herself, but because she needed saving.

Her eyes began to glow.

Ren, Nora, and Yang all carried Jaune to the ship where Ozpin was getting the medical equipment ready with a blanket spread out on the floor for Jaune to lay on. Velvet tried to comfort Pyrrha but to no avail as the redheaded amazon was sobbing uncontrollably.

Weiss noticed what Ruby was doing and her eyes widened. "The silver eyes..." she said, remembering what little she had been told about the legendary power that Ruby apparently possessed.

Up ahead Ashe slid under Glynda's shield and screamed "Haakskeekah!" at his sister. Cinder looked down at the attack as it edged closer, surprised her brother had that much power in him. The attack hit her and sent her flying into the building while Glynda gained control of the fire and sent it flying at the downed Cinder.

Cinder watched as the fire flew at her but she simply reached out and absorbed it, the flames going into her body as if it were nothing but a summer breeze.

"Go ahead and try to kill me." Cinder said as she jumped out of the building. Ashe ran towards her and blasted at her with his shotgun but she easily destroyed the Dust bullet before it could get within an inch of her. Cinder jumped forward and slammed her fist into Ashe's gut and spin-kicked him.

She looked over as Yatsuhashi sent Fox flying into the air and the white-eyed Huntsmen came down on the Maiden with his blades aimed to slice her apart but she quickly grabbed him out of the air and brought him to her. She smiled a bit as she froze his blades and slammed him down onto the ground, shattering them.

"Fox!" yelled Coco. She quickly opened fire on Cinder, who was forced to protect herself, which left her open to an attack from Fox who jumped up and began a series of swift, powerful kicks on her upper-body until she grabbed one of his legs and threw him into the crowd.

"You think you can beat me? You think you can win this battle? You are dead wrong." Cinder stated as she created a circle of fire around herself, expanding it to drive the others back. "There are no heroes in the end, no last minute rescues, no daring escapes, no romantic kiss, no happily ever after. In the end the only things left will be the darkness, death, my master, and me."

Cinder looked up as a loud scream of anger and grief got her attention and a silver, red, and black blur rocketed towards her and a fist slammed right into her face, knocking her down. Cinder looked up from the ground to see Ruby Rose, Crescent Rose out and ready to battle, looking down at the Fall Maiden with silver eyes glowing like beacons.

"You are going to die." Ruby said.

"Wha...?" Cinder began but was forced to recreate her swords to block a mighty strike of Ruby's scythe. She jumped up and parried another strike, then another. Ruby's attacks were quick and deadly, not to mention furious.

Cinder was backed up further and further as Ruby kicked up and scored a hit on Cinder's stomach, knocking her back. Ruby jutted one hand outwards and a beam of powerful silver aura slammed into Cinder, who screamed in pain.

The Fall Maiden forced herself up and sent a fireball at Ruby, but she destroyed with a blast of aura. "You will never hurt anyone else I care about EVER AGAIN!" Ruby screamed, the shining of her eyes intensified and the remaining Grimm all fell to the ground, still as statues.

Cinder fought back and a thought entered her head; maybe she wouldn't make it out of this. Back at the entrance of the factory both Ziz and Steppenwolffe felt vindicated for not engaging the battle.

"Help her out!" Coco ordered as she, Sun, Neptune, and Scarlet all began shooting at Cinder to give Ruby an advantage.

Weiss, Blake, Yang, and Velvet all ran forward to rejoin the fight while Pyrrha stood outside, hyperventilating and staring at the battle. Jaune had already been placed in the ship while Ozpin tried to use his limited medical knowledge to suppress Jaune's wounds.

"Pyrrha, come on, into the ship!" Nora said as she grabbed her friend's hand.

"No." Pyrrha said calmly as she ripped herself away from Nora.

"No?! Come on! Ozpin can..."

"Nora, Cinder has taken so much from me. She has ruined my life and made me into this thing and now she has hurt Jaune. I am going to make her pay." Pyrrha said as her red eyes began to glow. Tears fell from her eyes as she looked up to the ship and saw Jaune struggling in pain as Neo and Ozpin held him down to inject him with a painkiller.

"Brace yourself Jaune, I have treated similar wounds before." Ozpin said as he began to apply aura-based healing medicine to Jaune's upper body as he twitched and writhed in pain. The Headmaster spoke more out of habit than anything else, Jaune was not reacting to his words but he hoped his spirit could understand his meaning, but most of all Ozpin needed his pupil to fight.

"What are you going to do?" asked Ren as he and Bianca approached her.

A black aura enveloped Pyrrha's hand as she lifted up the crushed remains of a Grimm Knight. "I am going to bury her." Pyrrha answered, "But I will need time, go help the others distract her."

Nora and Ren glanced at each other and then took the hand of their respective partner.

"You got it." Nora promised as she ran forward, dragging Ren with her.

Bianca looked at Pyrrha and nodded "Make it hurt." She said as she ran off to help the others.

Pyrrha glared at Cinder and whispered "I intend to."

Ozpin had been carefully listening to Pyrrha and told Sage to lock the ship down. Her polarity Semblance could take them up too if they weren't attached to solid ground. Neo looked at her distraught friend and could only hope that at the end of this mess would end with a happy ending for her.

Pyrrha watched as Cinder fought on and she began to think. She thought of Jaune and how much he had suffered because of her; the loneliness, the self-loathing, the guilt, the anger, the lust for vengeance, the pain, the hopelessness, the sorrow... All of this was because of her own foolish belief in destiny; all of this was because she was too damn scared to let anyone down, all of this because she loved him. She shoved him into that locker without a second thought and betrayed him, depriving him of a chance to make a difference. She went up to her death bravely, no, not bravely, stupidly. She had hurt her friends, her teammates, her family, and the boy she loved, all because she had believed in a flawed concept like destiny. Part of her didn't regret it because she had protected him but in the end she only led him to a more painful death.

She remembered what Jaune had told her in his dream: 'Destiny is whatever you choose it to be, there is no destiny or fate except what we make for ourselves.'

Pyrrha once thought she didn't have a choice in her destiny, but now she knew that she did. And she had chosen poorly.

She let out a scream much like Ruby's; one of pain, anger, sorrow, and regret as the ruined bodies of destroyed Grimm Knights began to rise in the air.

---

Down below Keeper Callabreese continued to inject the Wyvern with tranquilizers, not enough to kill it but enough to keep it sedated until Mistress Salem had need of it. Just then the beast let out a powerful roar, one that forced the keeper to cover his ears.

The roar was so loud that Velvet and Blake could hear thanks to their animal attributes, and could hear the roar of anger and sorrow.

Callabreese quickly injected another heavy dose of tranquilizers into the Wyvern's neck as it struggled to get free of its bonds. The sedative went into the beast's body and it fell back to sleep, giving out a sorrowful moan.

Callabreese stared at the unconscious form of the Grimm Dragon and could only wonder what the hell was going on.

---

Above the battle Captain Samson watched in amazement as Cinder Fall took on all those Hunters at once. Then he noticed many of the robotic soldiers, whatever they were, were rising up into the air and were being crushed together by an invisible force.

"Sir! Come here! You need to see this!" called Brody, one of the ship's crew.

"What is it?" Samson asked, not paying attention to him.

"Sir, I think I see Pyrrha Nikos down there." Brody announced.

That got his attention. Samson looked to where Brody had been looking and saw Pyrrha Nikos, black aura around her hands as she was lifting up the robots.

"Sir! We're being pulled down by something!" called the ship's pilot.

"Get us away from the site! Tell our ships and the cops to get away for now! Get General Ironwood on the line, we need backup now! Start recording the battle, the General and the councils will want to see this!" Samson shouted.

---

Ruby slammed the blunt end of Crescent Rose into Cinder's face and then blasted her in the chest as Weiss created an escalating patch of ice which Yang launched herself off on.

Yang jumped into the air and came down, her prosthetic fist slamming into Cinder's face before the Fall Maiden kicked her off. Cinder created her bow and arrow and let one arrow sail at Yang who easily caught it with her metal hand and broke it in half.

"Get it through your thick head; you're not walking away from this one." Yang spat as Blake ran forward. Cinder fired another arrow at Blake and managed to pierce the raven-haired girl in the chest, only for her to explode.

"Damn..." Cinder muttered as Blake slammed her blade down and a purple arc of energy slammed into her and knocked her away. Cinder got back up only for two copies of Sun Wukong to slam into her from both sides and disorientate her.

She moaned as Sun came up from behind and slammed three quick punches into her lower back before he combined Ruyi and Jingu Bang together into bo-staff form and placed it in front of Cinder's neck and held her against him.

"You're goin' down, bitch." He snarled as Yang and Blake ran forward. The partners opened up a series of furious punches on the Fall Maiden's torso and face before she let out a powerful blast of energy to knock them both back and then snapped Sun's staff apart so she could turn around and slam heated fists into his face and chest. He staggered back as Cinder got behind him, grabbed his tail and used it to lift him up and throw him into Blake.

"I have had enough of..." Cinder began before ice encased her lower legs. She looked over to see Weiss and Ruby, the former with a recently created ice glyph. She attacked the three offenders anyway with a blast of fire, only for said blast to be snuffed out by Glynda.

"Blitz her!" yelled Qrow as he, Ruby, Coco, Neptune, Scarlet, Blake, Ren, Nora, Bianca, Ashe, Yang, Sun, Penny, and Velvet via a copy of Coco's purse, all opened fire on the Maiden of Autumn.

Cinder's body took over three dozen hits before she quickly created a ball of fire to protect herself and to melt the ice that had hampered her walking. It was no easy task as Nora's grenades were rather difficult to deal with but Cinder pressed on and began to gather up energy for a shockwave attack when she noticed a familiar voice from outside her flaming shell.

"Cinder!" cried Emerald as she opened fire on Weiss and Ruby. Velvet quickly created a photo-copy of Akouo to protect them but Emerald jumped over it and kicked Weiss in the face before she brought the blades of her guns down on Ruby who parried the attack.

"Give up Emerald! It's over!" Ruby yelled as her eyes shone.

Emerald glanced up to see the ships keeping their distance, but also could see many of the defeated Grimm Knights riding up into the air and merging into a large floating pile. She looked down to see what was happening only for Ruby to punch her in the face and keep her back with a wild swing of Crescent Rose as Weiss got back up.

Emerald shook her head and dropped down to the ground as Cinder detonated her shell of fire, blasting everyone and knocking them down. Cinder stood still and proud as she looked at her recovering enemies.

"Cinder... stay down!" yelled Ashe as he sent out another powerful Haakskeekah that Cinder easily withstood, only to be tied up by Scarlet's grappling hook.

"Ugh!" she cried as she ripped it apart and burned, only for Neptune to land in front of her and land a hit with his trident as he struck her across the face. "Ah!" she snarled as she created a flame in her hand and swept it towards Neptune who easily jumped over it and kicked her in the head.

Neptune's weapon transformed into guandao mode and slammed into the ground as Neptune kicked her in the chest, knocking her back as Yatsuhashi swung his greatsword at her but she rolled away only to get kicked in the face by Velvet. Yatsuhashi swung his sword again at her but Cinder ducked as Velvet jumped up and grabbed the blunt side of the blade. She nodded to her large partner who nodded in return and brought the sword back, Velvet kicking Cinder in the face once more. Nora slammed Magnhild into Cinder's waist as Ren blasted her in the back with both StormFlowers, no one talked at all. They all concentrated on killing Cinder Fall, that was the endgame.

Cinder jumped up and let out a frustrated scream as she blasted Yatsuhashi in the armored shoulder, taking both members of Team CFVY down. Yatsuhashi cried out in pain as he struggled to get his burning armor off. Cinder slammed a heavy shape of hardened Dust into Nora, knocking her away, naturally forcing Ren to run after her.

"Yatsu, it'll be okay." Velvet promised as she finished getting the smoldering metal off his body. She looked up to see Cinder glaring at them with glowing eyes and flaming hands, only for her to be knocked away by a mighty swing of Coco's purse.

"Velv! Get Yatsu to the ship, you too Fox!" Coco ordered.

"No, I can still fight." Yatsuhashi argued.

"The hell you can, on the ship now!" Coco barked as she began shooting at Cinder with some help from Neptune

Fox and Velvet both helped Yatsuhashi up and began to help him to the ship. "Come on big guy, you know better than to argue with her." Fox said, but in reality he was worried about how Coco could hold up against Cinder. He looked to the ship's turret port and said "Besides, we won't be totally useless."

Nearby Ren ran towards Nora who was getting up. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm good. All I need is another shot at..." Nora began before a laser blast grazer her hip "Ah!" she cried as Ren whipped around and blasted away a Grimm Knight. Sherizawa had ordered the remaining Grimm Knights to help Cinder in the fight and the two teenagers were the closest targets.

Ren slashed another Knight down with the blades of the StormFlowers as Nora smashed another two down. "Okay, let's hold these bucket-head's off." Nora sighed as she fired a grenade at one, blowing it up.

Coco helped them out a bit, shooting away three or four Knights before she joined Sun, Blake, Yang, Ashe, Glynda, Taiyang, Qrow, Penny, Neptune, and Bianca in attacking Cinder all at once.

As this had been happening Emerald had gotten back up to fight Ruby and Weiss again only for Scarlet to get in the way. Ruby watched as the older boy blocked, struck, and parried against Emerald as she tried to slash him with the sharp ends of her guns.

"Get going!" he called. Ruby nodded and she got up to go fight Cinder again when Weiss grabbed her combat skirt.

"Ruby... I'm going to try and create the Armor Knight again."

"Weiss, don't! It was too much the first time!" Ruby objected, her eyes dimming a bit.

"I'll be fine, I'll just be drained of aura for a while... help them fight her, you dolt!" Weiss yelled. Ruby nodded and looked to see Cinder had taken her father, Uncle Qrow, Ashe, Blake, Yang, and Penny down already and was slamming down her foot on Neptune as she used a shield of hardened Dust to deflect Bianca's shots.

Ruby ran towards Cinder, eyes glowing bright again, but stopped when she saw someone approach her. She saw Ashe going to Cinder, his sword out and ready to fight. Ruby didn't know what would happen, she knew that Ashe and Cinder were siblings but hadn't seen them fight before but then she noticed Penny getting up. She ran towards her robotic friend, a new idea forming in her head.

Cinder threw another ball of fire at Glynda who quickly created a shield to protect herself but the fire was more powerful than expected, forcing her shield to collapse. Glynda wouldn't give up so she forced herself back up only to receive an aura-filled punch to the face that took her out of the fight, the teacher fell to the ground as Cinder grabbed Sun and flipped him over, then threw him onto Neptune as she approached Glynda, ready to kill the blonde Huntress.

"Cinder!" Ashe yelled. Cinder looked at her brother who stood with his sword drawn out as Qrow, Taiyang, and the others recovered from her previous attacks.

"Ashe, I offered you a place among us and still you chose these children." Cinder hissed.

"Mom and Dad taught us that freedom is everyone's right, be they human or Faunus. If you have your way no one will be free, so I'd gladly choose these kids over you every time!" Ashe shouted as he ran towards her. Cinder created a Dust sword and parried Ashe's first strike as he slammed into her and punched her in the face.

"None of them will live, Ashe! I will kill them all." Cinder said.

"You'll have to kill me first!" Ashe yelled as he blocked a slash.

Cinder headbutted Ashe and then kicked him in the chest, wincing from the wound in her leg, then struck at him two times but he was just barely able to block them before Blake jumped up from behind with the blade of Gambol Shroud aiming to stab Cinder in the neck. Cinder whipped around and slashed upwards, clipping a small piece of Blake's cay ear off.

"AH!" screamed Blake as she fell, but Cinder used the wind to grab her and slammed her into Ashe.

Cinder held up her sword, ready to kill both Blake and Ashe in one stab but she was shot down with a powerful blow from Crescent Rose. Cinder screamed as she felt blood running down her leg and turned to see Ruby and Penny, both ready to fight.

"Cinder Fall, I am supposed to give you a chance to surrender, but I personally hope that you're too stupid to accept it." Penny said.

Cinder ignored Penny and looked at Ruby as she created a small, but powerful, ball of fire behind her back. "Ruby Rose, it seems I have taught you well." She said.

"You helped me know what my new powers can do, but don't expect a thank you." Ruby snapped as one of the Atlas ships got tired of doing nothing and fired some missiles at the factory, totaling a floor or two at the top.

Cinder glared at the ships before she looked back to Ruby and Penny as the latter's swords were drawn out and pulled back, ready to strike.

Cinder smirked and said "I won't kill you, but we do not need your little puppet friend." With that she flung the fireball at Penny.

"No!" Ruby yelled as she got in front of Penny and used her aura to take the blunt of the blast. The fire soon subsided to show a singed, but still up and ready to go Ruby in front of a stunned Penny.

"Damn you... are you too stubborn to quit or too stupid?" Cinder asked.

"Maybe a little bit of both. NOW!" Ruby yelled at Penny.

Penny stabbed her swords forward and intentionally missed Cinder, using the strings attached to the swords to tie Cinder up.

"What...?" Cinder cried as Penny directed her swords around to make Cinder move like a marionette.

"Now who's the puppet?" Penny asked with a small smile as she slammed her swords down around Cinder to keep her pinned down.

"Ruby! Are you alright?" Taiyang asked as he, Qrow, and Yang came back into play. Ruby nodded to her dad while she looked over to see Ren, Nora, and Coco were finishing off what was left of the Grimm Knights while some of the closer Atlas ships were being kept back by Trooper, Little Steve, and Merrick who were all shooting heavy artillery to keep them away.

"Got the bitch all nice and tied up, good work." Qrow said as he ruffled Ruby's hair, trying and failing to hide the sadness in his voice.

"Uncle Qrow, what's wrong?" Ruby asked, causing Yang and their father to remember Raven's absence.

"Where's mom?!" Yang demanded.

"Kid I..." Qrow began before he was cut off and knocked to the ground with the rest of them. Cinder had created another shockwave or fire and wind; she was not going to put up with this anymore. She lifted up Penny's swords, froze them and used the wind to lift them over the robotic girl and then stabbed down, pinning Penny's limbs to the ground and making her scream in pain, luckily she had only hit the lower or upper parts of the limbs, not the vital inner parts.

Cinder got up, and ignored the pain in her leg as she walked forward, forcing herself not to limp so as not to appear weak. "You little freak... you will die for this insolence!" Then Ruby slammed into her once again, slashing her across the unharmed leg with the sharp blade of Crescent Rose.

"Cinder, I already told you that you'd never hurt anyone I care about again. Are you deaf?" Ruby asked as she, Yang, Qrow, and Taiyang all attacked at once.

Ruby swung her scythe but Cinder ducked and had to jump away to avoid Qrow's attack as he slashed down at her. Cinder hit him with a roundhouse kick only for Yang to smash both her fists into the sides of Cinder's head with a clap attack, then kicked Cinder in the groin, blowing her into Taiyang who sucker-punched her and then tried to blast her with a flamethrower only for Cinder to repel it from her easily as she got away from another attack from Ruby.

"How does it feel Branwen? How does it feel to lose your sister?" Cinder demanded as she created the bow and arrows again and let them go. Ruby and Qrow sliced them down as Yang and Taiyang froze.

"What did she say?" Yang asked quietly, just barely evading an arrow Ruby had missed.

"Qrow... please tell me she's lying." Taiyang begged, as he sent a fire blast at Cinder, anger and sorrow filling his mind.

Qrow cut down another arrow before he looked to his brother-in-law and niece and sighed. "I'm so, so sorry. I wasn't good enough to save her." He admitted.

Yang's eyes turned red and her hair started to glow as she let out an unintelligible sound that was a mixture of a sob and a scream as she rocketed towards Cinder and smashed her fist right into the Fall Maiden's gut, and then one to the jaw followed up by a kick to the already hurting leg.

"I'M GONNA KILL YOU!" Yang screamed with pure rage as she missed hitting Cinder.

Cinder smirked as she jumped over Yang and smashed her fists rapidly into the girls back before she could turn around. Cinder jumped to avoid a slash from Crescent Rose and landed in front of Yang and smashed her in the face.

"Yes, that's right Xiao Long, I killed your mother." Yang tried to punch her again but Cinder easily caught the metal fist and used her might to crush it and burn it. "I'll take that as a 'thank you'."

Yang screamed in pain as he fell to her knees, clutching her new arm, it wasn't totally ruined but it'd definitely need fixing. Cinder ignored the pain as she kicked Yang between the shoulder blades, knocking her down.

"Maybe I should just purge this entire family." Cinder said as he eyes shone. She jumped up to avoid being shot by Ruby and Qrow. Taiyang stood and watched, too shocked to move, but he slowly regained control.

"You're not killing anyone else." Ruby snarled.

"Try and stop me." Cinder said as she ran towards them. She jumped up and landed behind them, Qrow jumped up a preformed a triple kick before Cinder managed to grab him, spin him around, smashed her burning fist into his back, blocked Ruby's attack with a fire blast, and finally smashed her head into Qrow's before she threw him into Ruby. "I am tired of you people..." Cinder said as she created another ball of fire only to get stabbed in the leg once again.

Cinder screamed in pain as a gauntlet covered fist slammed into her face. "Leave my family alone!" screamed Taiyang as he got his weapons ready, pulled a clawed gauntlet out of Cinder's upper thigh. He stabbed out both hands and activated the flamethrowers, trying to burn Cinder's face off but she was easily able to stop the flames and send them down to the ground.

"Pathetic." Cinder scolded as she grabbed Taiyang's arm, jumped over him and twisted it. A painful snapping sound could be heard from his arm as it broke, causing Taiyang to scream in pain. Cinder got in front of him and kicked him in the stomach, blowing him down as she began to charge up another fire blast.

"Please! Don't! I'll give myself up if you let my family live!" yelled a small voice. Cinder turned to see Ruby had gotten back up and had dropped her beloved weapon. Her eyes were shining on and off like a dying light as tears threatened to spill. Cinder smiled, now that she could easily kill Xiao Long with little effort she was now in a position to demand anything she wanted from Ruby

"Just let them go." Ruby pleaded, she didn't want anyone to die, hell not even Cinder after all she had done. Ruby hated killing and hated death, the two lives she had accidentally claimed would be the two mistakes that would likely haunt her for the rest of her life but right now all she wanted was to prevent anyone else from dying.

Cinder stared at Ruby and said one word: "No."

Just then Sun jumped on her from behind. "She said let 'em go!" the monkey Faunus yelled as he smashed both Ruyi and Jingu bang into her head.

"Get off of me!" Cinder screamed before she managed to grab Sun and smashed him into the ground. She kicked him in the gut and sent him crashing into Ruby, who had been charging at her, blowing them both down. Cinder looked up to see Neptune and Scarlet were helping the injured Penny up along with Velvet, who had disobeyed Coco's order to help her friends. She looked over to see Schnee doing something with a glyph but then noticed Emerald was weakly limping back to the entrance aided by Trooper.

"Maybe you're the only one I can trust, Emerald." Cinder muttered before she looked to their getaway ship. Better to take care of that little problem now before they could have a chance to escape. She threw a fireball at the ship but its shields easily defended it as the turret swung around and aimed at her. Cinder got ready for a fight when out of nowhere she was shot in the back. "AH!" she cried as she was blasted twice more by the charging Ashe.

"We're not done Cinder!" he yelled as he shot at her again, but this time she easily caught the Dust bullet with a blast of fire.

"No we're not, little brother." Cinder agreed as she ran forward with the Dust from her body forging a sword. They clashed into one another, one blade of Dust, the other of steel slammed into each other, sparks flying as Cinder kicked Ashe in the shin. "You can't comprehend it, can you Ashe? You have lost!" Cinder yelled.

"Not while I still live!" Ashe shouted as their swords slammed into each other again and again. They were both exhausted, sweaty, and yet they kept going at each other.

Cinder created a shield of Dust and held it up as Ashe unleashed a powerful volley of six strikes of his sword before he lunged forward, broke through the shield and cut her on the cheek. Cinder pressed forward and cut him across the abdomen as she punched him in the face and kicked him in the arm, forcing him to drop his sword.

"No!" cried Ashe as Cinder thrust her sword forward and rammed it through his shoulder. Ashe screamed in pain as Cinder yanked it put and slammed a small ball of fire into his chest, just enough to blow him down. He looked up at his sister and said one last time "Cinder, please don't do this." He didn't want to but it looked like he'd have to use the Ultimate Attack on her, question was could he do it?

"Goodbye, Ashe." She said as she created a powerful fireball and aimed it at his head.

Just then a powerful, giant foot kicked into her and she was sent flying to the other end of the lot.

Ashe looked up to see the giant Atlas Armor Knight with Weiss standing behind it.

"Don't just stand there! Get going!" Weiss scolded as the Armor Knight moved towards Cinder. Ashe looked at his sister and shook his head. There was no hope for her.

He forced himself up only to nearly fall back down, but was caught by Blake.

"Come on!" she said as she helped him get to the others.

"How's your ear?" Ashe asked weakly.

"Hurts like hell but I'll manage." The cat Faunus said as Ren, Nora, Coco, Sun, Neptune, Scarlet, Penny, Velvet, Glynda, and Bianca all stood back, watching the fight with the family of Ruby, Yang, Qrow, and Taiyang.

"Get to the ship..." Ashe said.

"Not yet, Pyrrha has a plan, just look up." Ren said. Ashe and Blake did so and they both gasped at the sight of a giant ball of metal scrap made from destroyed Grimm Knights.

"What does she plan to do?" Blake asked.

"She told me that once we're all clear we need to drive Cinder back then she'll smash that thing into her, hopefully taking her out for good." Velvet said.

"Sounds good, what about Weiss?" Blake asked as she glanced back at the fight between Cinder and the Armor Knight.

"Once she's clear we strike." Ruby said. She looked over to her sister and her father, both of whom had tears streaming down their faces due to the revelation of Raven's death. She wanted to say something but right now she couldn't think of anything to say other than "Yang, dad, I'm so sorry."

"It's okay Rubes... at least... at least..." Yang couldn't finish as she began to cry. Blake realized what must have happened and hugged her partner while Ashe seethed in pain over the wound in his shoulder.

"I'm sorry too." Taiyang said as he choked back tears and nursed his broken arm. Ruby took hold of her father's other arm and squeezed it comfortingly. She looked to Penny and smiled at the knowledge that her friend was okay and saw that Penny smiled back then she looked back to watch Cinder fight the Knight.

The Knight slammed its might blade down twice and Cinder rolled out of the way of the first and jumped over it the second swing. It swung its blade, aiming to decapitate her but she ducked down and spun away as it tried to slam the blade down on her again.

Cinder ran a short distance, and then stopped running to hold her ground as the Knight charged her. It slammed its sword down once more but this time Cinder jumped up and landed on its arm and ran up to its shoulder to launch herself in the air. She came down and slammed a powerful fire blast into the Knight's head, knocking the summon down on all fours as she jumped a distance away.

Weiss glared at Cinder who glanced back. "Come on; show me what your construct can do."

Weiss glared as she mentally instructed the Knight to charge at Cinder. The Knight obeyed and ran forward, the ground shaking a little under its power.

Cinder stood still as it came closer and closer, making Weiss wonder what she was doing but once the Armor was close enough she understood. Cinder slammed down her foot and created a massive blast of Dust, fire, wind, and even ice, blowing the Armor Knight down.

It fell to its hands and knees, weakened by the blast and Weiss could feel herself getting weaker as Cinder approached it. "Weak, pathetic child." She said as she slammed a glowing Dust sword into the Knight's head, destroying it.

Weiss gasped as the Armor Knight shattered like glass and faded away as Cinder stood victorious and whipped around with the bow and arrow aimed at Weiss.

"This fight is mine. You will all die." Cinder said as she pulled back the string. Weiss began to move but knew she was too weak to make it.

Cinder was about to let go when she could feel someone coming. She collapsed the bow and arrow and created a powerful hot fireball as Ruby Rose, eyes glowing brighter than ever, with Crescent Rose out and ready to slam into Cinder. Cinder waited until Ruby was a mere ten feet away before she threw the fireball at the teenage girl but Ruby began to rapidly spin her blade around and caught the fire with it then she jumped up and slammed the burning scythe down on Cinder's face.

Cinder clutched her face as she screamed in horrible, agonizing pain as Ruby landed in front of her with blood on the blade of Crescent Rose. A long, jagged scar, cauterized by the heat of the fire, ran down under Cinder's left eye, nose, over her lips and down her chin.

From the back everyone stood totally still in amazement.

"Holy shit." Muttered Sun.

"D-did she just...?" Velvet tried to ask.

"She did." Ren confirmed.

"Tai, I think it's safe to say we raised a couple of badasses." Qrow stated.

Cinder uncovered her face and looked at Ruby, feeling nothing but hatred.

"You little BITCH!" screamed Cinder as she flew forward and smashed a fist into Ruby's face. Ruby tried to fight back with Crescent Rose but Cinder kicked her down and took the beautiful, deadly weapon from her.

"You have insulted me, Ruby. Everything you do insults me, everything about you insults me, your very existence insults me!" Cinder ranted, exerting a considerable force on the hand-crafted weapon, which strained and flexed, but it could not last. Cinder tore Crescent Rose in half and threw it to the ground. She glared down at Ruby with her now horrifically scarred face and roared "You want to fight evil, Ruby? Well here I am! Try and kill me!" She created a massive fireball and prepared to slam it down on Ruby.

"No!" cried Weiss as she threw herself in front of her partner, but that didn't stop Cinder.

A Haakskeekah did. Cinder was blasted away from the two teenage girls as gunfire began to surround her.

"Come on you dolt! Let's go!" Weiss yelled as she helped Ruby up. Ruby nodded and used her Semblance to speed them up as they ran towards the others.

Cinder got up and saw that everyone with a gun was aiming them at her.

"Kill her." Glynda ordered.

Cinder ran for her life. Qrow, Ashe, Yang, Blake, Ren, Sun, Neptune, Scarlet, Coco, Velvet, and Bianca along with Fox from the ship's turret and Sage from the cockpit, all opened fire as Cinder ran for the entrance, blasting all around her while some shots managed to hit her as she ran for it.

"Come on!" Ziz called from the entrance as Nora began firing grenades at her. One landed a mere foot behind Cinder and went off, throwing the Fall Maiden into a wall close to the entrance.

"Get her inside!" Trooper yelled as he and Ziz jumped down to help her. They helped her up and saw just how injured she really was, if it wasn't for the power she had taken from Raven she'd be dead. They got into the entrance just as something got their attention.

"CINDER!" screamed the familiar voice of Pyrrha Nikos. Cinder looked up and saw the massive, shapeless form of two thousand Grimm Knights crushed together. She looked right at Pyrrha whose eyes glowed blood red, filled with pure hatred for the Fall Maiden. "Die." Pyrrha finished as she brought her hands down.

The smashed together forms of the thousands of Grimm Knights flew towards them. Trooper and Ziz both got out of the way as the Knights slammed into the building and into Cinder. Thousands of pounds of metal came upon the factory, some of the more not completely destroyed Knights even exploding on impact. The explosions from beneath the factory escalated and the building began to crumble, torn apart by the heavy metal barrage. Bits of shrapnel was sent flying into the surrounding buildings or onto the ground, dim glowing lights from the wreckage of the robots shone but soon died down, fires from explosions spread wildly, and the sound of metal crashing against metal reigned supreme.

Pyrrha watched as she finished bringing the Knights down on the building. She had taken her revenge on Cinder Fall and the horrible place she had been kept in for months. Now all there was to worry about was Jaune.

"Pyrrha, come on! We gotta get Jaune to a doctor now!" Nora cried as she took Pyrrha's hand. Pyrrha nodded and quickly followed them into the ship.

Everyone ran into the ship, with Ruby, Yang, Taiyang, Qrow, and Ashe all looked back at the devastated factory.

"Goodbye..." Taiyang whispered so quietly no one else could hear him.

'Mom, I'm so sorry. I love you.' Yang thought, keeping her emotions as pent up as she could for now.

'Stupid bitch... why did you have to save me?' Qrow muttered.

Ashe looked at the ruined building and turned away with a sad sigh.

Ruby said nothing; she just hopped onto the ship as Fox slammed the door shut behind her. She looked down on the floor and saw Pyrrha, Nora, Ren, Bianca, Ashe, and Ozpin all gathered around the mortally wounded Jaune who was barely breathing.

From inside the cockpit Sage spoke on the radio to Samson. "Go for it! We're going to Haven Academy, don't let them get away." He said as the ship began to lift off.

"We hear you, good luck." Samson said as the ships began to descent upon the ruined building. The ship's engines blasted off, rocketing into the city.

Ozpin looked up at the fearful expression on Pyrrha's face, the pure fear at the thought that she may lose Jaune here and now. Bianca held his hand as Ozpin overlooked the wound; due to the heat of the arrow the wound was mostly cauterized save for some mild bleeding, but even so it was still quite a lot of blood. The tip had miraculously missed the heart and had only scratched the lung and the spine on the way in but had burst right through the bones and muscles of the front chest when it came out. Jaune's hoodie had been taken off so Ozpin would have a better chance of working, leaving Jaune shirtless on the floor of the ship as everyone gathered around him. Qrow, Ruby, Yang, Blake, Weiss, Sun, Taiyang, Neptune, and Penny all sat on the seats of the side while Coco and Fox watched nervously from the entryway to the turret with Velvet, Yatsuhashi, Scarlet, and Neo all sat on the other side of the ship, watching the heart wrenching scene and Glynda standing near the entrance to the cockpit.

"Hang in there kid, you'll be okay, I know you can survive this." Ashe said, trying to comfort Jaune as he moaned in pain.

"The pulse is slowing; the pain and the blood loss are overwhelming him. We need to get to a healer right now." Ozpin said urgently.

"Hospital?" asked Sage from the cockpit.

"I see no other alternative." Glynda said with a nod as the ship kept flying through the giant city.

"Hold on Jaune, we'll make it, you'll be okay you can do it!" said Pyrrha through tears before she noticed a horrified look on Ozpin's face.

"His blood pressure is fading quickly and he cannot get enough oxygen, we need to do something now. Everyone who is not helping get clear now, we need space and speed for efficiency. Miss Valkyrie I need you to help me with this." Ozpin said as he took a pair of defibrillators.

"What? I..."

"Just do it!" yelled Pyrrha, startling her teammate. Nora looked hurt at first but recovered and nodded. She could see that Jaune wasn't even aware of what was going on, he seemed to be fading in and out of consciousness.

"Come on buddy, don't give up on us." Neptune said quietly, covering his eyes with his goggles to hide the tears. Nora used her Semblance to power up the defibrillators, charging them up all the way.

"Excellent, now hold on. We need to keep him conscious or he could die or at least almost die." Ozpin said before he slammed them. There was a short, soft buzzing sound followed by a 'thump' as Jaune's torso shot up a bit before it fell back down. "It's not working, I'll try again." The oldest man there voiced before he preformed it once more, but with the same result: Jaune's life was fading.

He coughed violently, blood spurting out of his mouth, the scratch against the lung causing blood to flow into his mouth.

"No! NO!" Pyrrha screamed as Ren held her back.

"Come on Jaune, stay with us, stay awake!" Bianca said as she lightly tapped Jaune's face to keep him awake. His eyes lazily glanced at her and he seemed to smile.

Jaune managed to open his dimming eyes and tried to speak, his sister evidently guessing what he was trying to say.

"We know it hurts Jaune just stay awake." Bianca said, wiping tears from her eyes.

He was not content yet.

"P-Py-Pyr-ha sa-fe...?" He rasped out before he started to cough. Bianca put a towel under his chin to soak up the blood

"That's right, kid, we got your girl back, she's right here, now stay awake or I'll kick your ass to keep you alive." Ashe said.

Jaune looked up to see his teammates and Ashe, tears staining all of their faces.

"I'm... gl-ad... I... di-d... on-e... thing... right." His breathing slowed even more. Pyrrha scooted closer to him.

"Jaune, please stay awake! If you fall asleep now you may never wake up again so please stay awake for us, for me!" She begged as Jaune's eyes dimmed as did the glow of the aura in his chest.

"Da-rk... ti-red..." his voice nearly a whisper. .

"No, NO!" Pyrrha began to scream as she grabbed Jaune and hoisted him up. "You can't die! YOU CAN'T!" she ranted hysterically.

"Let go of him!" yelled Bianca as Nora and Ren ripped Pyrrha away from Jaune and Bianca caught her brother and gently laid him down.

"Sage, how much further to the hospital?" Sun called as he hugged Blake to him.

"Only about ten minutes!" his teammate called.

"Make it three! Speed it up!" Sun barked.

Jaune clearly wanted to use whatever strength remained in his body to speak but his friends begged him to save it.

"Jaune, please don't talk." Ren pleaded as he and Nora released Pyrrha.

The Spartan couldn't stop herself from moving closer even if she was in full control herself, right now her emotions were taking over and her body was on auto-pilot. She got so close to Jaune that her face was less than an inch away from his.

He seemed to feel her breath on his skin and he found the strength to perform one last act he knew he had to do. It was weak and nobody could classify it as a kiss but it was obvious it was all the strength he had left in him. He lifted his head the little space he needed and nearly brought his lips to Pyrrha's. Her eyes widened a little but she returned the kiss, ignored the taste of his blood, and followed his lips back down as he no longer had the strength to keep his head raised, she continued the kiss for several seconds before she realized he wasn't kissing her back.

He shut his eyes, his breathing was slow and shallow, his eyes were glazing over, his heartbeat and pulse nearly gone.

"No kid, you gotta live through this! I made a promise to your sister here that I'd get you back." Ashe said, not bothering to hide his own tears.

Jaune could only wheeze in pain before he coughed up some more blood. Pyrrha cried out in surprise and horror as Nora buried her face into Ren's chest. Taiyang continued nursing his broken arm but managed to quietly say some feeble attempts at comforting words to his daughters but knew it was useless. Ruby hugged Weiss like she was a teddy bear and Weiss, despite how utterly drained she was, hugged her partner back, crying her eyes out as Yang hugged them both to her, trying to quell their tears over the inevitable death of their friend as Qrow took a long, long drink from his flask.

Velvet hugged Yatsuhashi as tightly as she could and he hugged her back, not crying himself but sympathetic and saddened by what was happening before him. Coco took off her shades and wiped her tears away as Fox put a comforting hand on her shoulder, not just for her but for himself as well.

It was quiet for a minute as Ozpin, joined by Glynda, desperately tried to keep Jaune alive but it didn't look like they would make a difference.

"We can't allow him to die like this, not while we can help it." Glynda said trying to clean the blood out of Jaune's wound.

Pyrrha didn't know what to do. Her entire body was shaking and tears were pouring out her eyes, which had a dead, emotionless look to them as she stared at Jaune's barely moving body. She nearly collapsed but caught herself with her hands and she weakly whispered "Please don't leave us, Jaune... don't leave me. I love you..."

Bianca and Ashe looked at the miserable girl and then back to the dying boy. "Jaune, mom, dad, and the rest of our sisters are counting on you to come back! You have to fight it!" Bianca said.

Jaune's breathing slowed, his moans of pain got quieter, his body was very pale and was barely moving, his eyes were pale and unfocused. The situation seemed to have no hope.

Ozpin and Glynda looked at each other, defeat evident in Ozpin's eyes. "No, we still have a..." she began to say before Ozpin shook his head.

"Glynda, it's over. We can do no more." he said sadly.

"Wh-what are you saying?!" Bianca demanded as she suppressed a sob.

"I'm saying that Jaune won't last long enough to get him to a healer. The damage is simply too much. It's a miracle he held on as long as he did." Ozpin explained.

"There has to be a chance. There's always a chance." Blake voice quietly.

"I... I don't know if there is." Glynda stated.

"Sometimes there is no chance. Things just happen, things we can't stop no matter how hard we try. Death has always been one of those things." Qrow said darkly.

Pyrrha kept staring at Jaune as his breathing got slower, his body still. She couldn't take it anymore.

"NO! No, he wants to live so he will! He can do it! He has a strong heart, I know it! Come on Jaune! Please come back to us! Please!" she pleaded, sobbing hysterically, her facial expressions that of a broken and desperate soul as she lunged forward and began pressing on Jaune's chest.

"Pyrrha, don't..." Ruby said weakly behind sobs.

"He can make it! He can live!" Pyrrha ranted as Ren and Nora helpless watched the terrible scene in front of them. "Please come back to me Jaune! I don't want to lose you again! Don't die for me! PLEASE!" In her overwhelming grief her Semblance activated and the ship began to shudder.

"Stop her, she'll tear us apart!" Ozpin ordered.

Glynda nodded and gently pulled Pyrrha away from Jaune. "Pyrrha, I'm so, so sorry, but it's over. There's nothing we can do now." She said as she hugged the grieving girl to her, joined by Ren and Nora in an attempt to comfort Pyrrha.

Ashe screamed in anger as he smashed his fist into the wall.

"ENOUGH! Enough of pain, enough of sadness, enough of death! I'm not going to lose anyone else damn it! No more!" he yelled as he slapped Jaune in the face, forcing him awake and shocking everyone. "Damn you, you little shithead you are not going to die! You are going to survive this because just like her video said; you're stronger, smarter, and braver than you know and all that crap! You don't get to die yet! I promised I'd get you back safe and sound and I intend to keep that promise, so you are going to fucking live! I know what you've done top get this far! You've never backed down from anything no matter how hard it was so fight! You are going to live! Fight damn it! There are no alternatives!" He screamed as he shook Jaune violently, managing to wake him up and become desperate to stay conscious.

"Get away from him!" yelled Pyrrha as she ripped herself away from the holds of Glynda, Ren, and Nora and slammed into Ashe, knocking him down.

"I'm trying to save him! Pain let's you know you're alive so as long as he's alive we gotta chance!" Ashe yelled as he pushed the emotional wreck of a girl off of him.

Yatsuhashi let go of Velvet and got ready for some sort of physical confrontation with Ashe when Velvet got an idea. "Wait a minute Ashe; do you remember what happened earlier today with Penny? You said that the Aura Crystal had healing abilities that usually work in dire times and when someone is on the verge of death! The crystal can save Jaune!" the rabbit Faunus cried.

Everyone looked to her, amazed.

"You brilliant, beautiful bunny-girl, I could kiss you." Ashe muttered with a grin.

"There's a chance to save him?!" asked Pyrrha.

"Now there is." Glynda answered as she looked up to the cockpit, "Sage!"

"I hear ya! I'm turning us around and heading back to the warehouse now, three minutes tops! You sure he can last that long?" Sage called.

"Not really, but we can try to make him last that long. Ashe, are you sure the Aura Crystal will heal him?" Glynda asked.

"Only if he and Pyrrha agree to do something rather drastic, something they will have to live with for the rest of their lives. I do not object to it as right now it's the best option we have." Ozpin said.

"What is it?" Ren inquired as Team RWBY got down on the floor with them to help tend to Jaune.

"You'll find out... Wait a minute; Chloris put some syringes with aura infused adrenaline in those medical kits, right?" Ashe asked. Glynda looked at him as if he were insane but looked to the medical kit and nodded.

"Yes, please tell me you aren't thinking of..." she began before Ashe cut her off.

"I am, if we inject his heart with adrenaline it may be enough to keep him going long enough to get him to the crystal, get it out now. Coco, you got some lipstick?" Ashe asked.

"Of course, why?" Coco asked as she quickly got out a tube of lipstick.

"I need it, Yatsu we'll need your strength for this to work, I'd ask Yang but her hand looks too damaged to pull it off." Ashe said.

"Pull what off?" Yang demanded.

"He wants to inject a dose of adrenaline directly into Jaune's heart to give him the strength to make it. It's an incredibly outdated and dangerous medical treatment that is only used as a dead last resort." Glynda elaborated. Everyone looked at Ashe as if he were insane for wanting to do this, nearly everyone knowing how risky of a move it was.

"Hell yeah it's risky but it worked on me once back in training, kept me alive just enough for them to get me to a professional healer. It's gonna hurt him like hell but it'll work if he's strong enough and I know for a fact that he is." Ashe said as he stared at Glynda.

"Not gonna lie, Goodwitch, that old stunt once kept me alive on a mission for Ozpin, we're outta options." Qrow voiced as he sat still, barely moving after the emotional overload of the loss of his sister.

Glynda sighed and quickly grabbed a syringe filled with a transparent liquid. Coco got down and uncovered the lipstick tube.

"Dot the heart right?" she asked as she marked the spot directly over his heart, right on the exact spot.

"Yeah, okay Yatsu you're gonna have to stab the needle right into Jaune's heart..." Ashe began to say before Pyrrha screamed out in protest. "Relax! We need to stab the needle through the breastplate bones to inject the heart, once it's in the adrenaline will spread through his body so that should be enough to keep him alive until we can pull this off." He assured her. This seemed to calm the Spartan down as Ashe looked to the other members of Team JNPR. "Ren and Nora please try to calm her down... Pyrrha, after I do this I need to talk to you about something important, Jaune's life could depend on it. Blake, Sun, you two get behind Jaune and get ready to hold him still."

"Why?" Sun asked as he and Blake got behind Jaune as Ozpin moved out of their way, only to find themselves joined by Bianca.

"Because when you're pumped up with adrenaline you go ballistic for a few minutes so the kid has to be held down." Qrow stated.

"Right, once he's calmed down Ruby, Weiss, Yang, Bianca, Velvet, hell everyone I need you all to talk to him and keep him awake while I speak to Pyrrha."

"His pulse is slowing, do it now!" Blake ordered as she could feel Jaune's heartbeat getting weaker.

"Okay, get ready 'cause this is gonna be scary. Yatsu get ready." Ashe instructed. Glynda handed the syringe to Yatsuhashi and the largest person in the ship gently took it and slowly placed it on the dot that labeled Jaune's heart for him.

"Stab it, right?" Yatsuhashi asked as he lifted it up, preparing to jab it in. Pyrrha, Nora, Ren, and everyone else were all on edge, fearing what would happen once the injection was preformed.

"Yeah, okay you got this... okay do it." Ashe ordered.

Yatsuhashi slammed the needle down into Jaune's chest and pressed down on the top with his thumb forcing the fluid into Jaune's heart.

Everyone winced as Jaune screamed and struggled to move as he tried to jolt up, only to be held down by Blake, Sun, and Bianca. His entire body shook wildly as if he was having a seizure, making deranged grunts and shouts of pain as he struggled in their grip. Pyrrha, Ruby, Weiss, Neptune, Velvet, all jumped back in shock, overwhelmingly disturbed at the sight of what was happening to their friend as he screamed in pain.

"Gods above..." muttered Taiyang as he winced, looking away from the gruesome sight.

Jaune was held back by the three as he struggled as hard as he could, crying out in pain. Ruby and Weiss decided to help out as they grabbed Jaune's legs to prevent him from kicking up as he grunted and cried out in pain. Pyrrha couldn't bare the sight of it but forced herself to watch as Ashe approached her.

"Okay Pyrrha, listen to me because how you answer my questions is going to be very important, you need to think about them." He said as he took hold of her shoulders, motioning to Ren and Nora to go help the others with Jaune.

"Okay, look at me and be a hundred percent honest and sure about how you will answer these questions." Ashe began.

"Dude, this is the worst possible time for asking her to clear her mind!" Neptune called from behind them.

"She has to try! Okay Pyrrha, do you truly love Jaune?" he asked.

Pyrrha looked him right in the eyes and said "Yes, with all my heart, of course I do!" There was no doubt within her eyes; there was only a desperate love and affection for the blonde.

"Good, okay, now are you willing to do anything for him? Are you willing to be with him forever until you both die?"

Pyrrha sighed and answered "Yes, I am. He has done so much for me, he was the first one in years to treat me like I was a normal person... I do want to be with him."

Ashe smiled and said "Good, that's good, now think about this one carefully: are you willing to die for him?"

Pyrrha didn't even hesitate to say "I already have and he has just proven he would do the same."

"Outstanding, now what are you willing to do to keep him alive?" Ashe inquired seriously.

"Anything." She answered firmly, not even a hint of hesitation or doubt in her words or facial expressions. She wanted to save Jaune no matter what.

Ashe looked at her, as if trying to get a better grip on her character, then grinned and said "Okay then now I'm sure this will work, but you have to promise something."

"Anything for him, what is it?" she demanded.

"That you will never stop loving him, no matter what; even when's he's the most oblivious dork in the world you have to love him deep down. I've only known him for a brief time but I know he'd do anything for you and now I'm positive you'd do the same, so you gotta promise me that you two will work out any issues you may have in the future no matter what. You have to do this for him, Pyrrha." Ashe said, his voice grave and dead serious.

Pyrrha eyed him but answered confidently as she ignored a sudden outburst from Nora. "I will never stop loving him after all he has done for me, it's my fault he's hurt right now, it's my fault he was in that terrible place to begin with. He has done so much for me the least I can do is love him. I promise that no matter what I will always be there for him."

"Okay, perfect. Now all we gotta do is get to the warehouse. Sage, how much longer?" he called.

"ETA is one minute! I can see the waterfront from here!" Sage answered.

"Just hurry!" Ashe said as Pyrrha returned to Jaune.

As Ashe and Pyrrha had conversed Ruby and the others had been talking to Jaune to try and calm him down.

"Jaune, Jaune, listen! It's me Ruby, remember? Just calm down, I promise you'll be okay." Ruby said as she reached up to grab his face and made him look at her. "Remember... uh, remember when we first met? After I blew up Weiss' Dust?"

He was still twitching rather violently but he answered "Y-y-yeah... I h-helped you up a-and then you re-remembered seeing me throw up on the bullhead. Y-y-you called me V-v-vomit boy s-so I c-c-alled you Crater F-face." He smiled a bit.

"That's right, and I said I liked your sword even though it was pretty old fashioned and that not many people appreciate the classics or something like that." She said as tears kept falling out, she tried to choke back a sob and failed miserably.

"That's right..." Jaune whispered.

"Don't speak too much; it'll put strain on your body but you can whisper is you put little energy into it." Blake said to him.

Weiss looked at her partner and friend and said "Jaune, remember all those times you tied to hit on me? I remember you introduced yourself to me as 'Jaune Arc, short, sweet, rolls off the tongue and the ladies love it' and you developed that stupid Snow Angel nickname for me."

"Yeah, m-man I was obnoxious." Jaune said darkly.

"Well... it really did get on my nerves a lot and I couldn't stand you most of the times but now I know just how desperate you were for companionship, I remember how you showed up outside our door with that instrument to ask me to the dance and I still shot you down and I..." Weiss stopped herself as Neptune spoke up.

"Okay Jaune, remember at the dance where you confronted me about not dancing with Weiss and I admitted I couldn't dance?"

"Yeah... w-weirded me out how a guy as co-ah-ol as you would be worried about something like t-that." Jaune stated, still occasionally crying out in pain.

"Okay, and you told me that I don't have to look cool all the time, and that you'd even appreciate if I were a little less cool." Neptune finished, ignoring a small smirk on Sun's face and the somewhat shocked look on Weiss'.

Now it was Ren's turn. "Jaune, remember before the dance when I was wearing only a towel and you wanted to ask me advice on how to ask Weiss out? That day you told me you considered me the brother you never had and I told you I felt similarly. I was lying because I didn't know what else to say but now I'm truly do feel like we are brothers, if it wasn't for Nora and the others I don't think I could handle losing you." The green-clad ninja said honestly as Nora squeezed his hand as tightly as she could, inadvertently hurting him a little.

"Th-thanks Ren... nice to know... if I don't make it..."

"You will!" yelled Nora.

"B-but if I don't, Ren, I want you and Nora to take care of each other, and don't name a son after me." Jaune said with a small, bitter smile.

Nora's tears didn't stop but she did smile at his little joke as she looked lovingly at Ren. "No promises about the last part." She said.

"Okay Jaune, just stay awake, are you okay?" Bianca asked.

"No, it really hurts; I don't think I've ever been in this much pain..." Jaune said before he moaned again.

"Hey little bro, come on I know you can make it. Remember how when you were little you wanted to be a hero so badly, how you'd run around and pretend to slay Grimm and... and... come on Jaune, you have to make it! I can't lose you!" his eldest sister cried as tears openly streamed down her face. She had already lost the love of her life years ago in an accident; she couldn't bear to lose her little brother. "Come on, don't give up Jaune. Remember the painting?"

"The o-one you made f-for you and Tobias...?" Jaune asked weakly.

"Yes, I never finished it because I realized that when Tobias died the day he was waiting for, the day he'd see our painting finished would never come so I locked it away and never finished it, but then that disaster at Vytal festival happened and you were so depressed over Pyrrha that I showed it to you and you told me neither Toby nor Pyrrha would want us to lock tomorrow away so after you left to avenge Pyrrha I finished the painting and I want to show it to you but only if you make it out of this!" Bianca said, now noticing Pyrrha had joined them.

Velvet smiled at her rediscovered friend and said "Jaune, Pyrrha's here, you want to talk to her?"

"Yeah..." Jaune whispered.

Velvet took hold of Pyrrha's hand and gave her a comforting squeeze. "You can do this." She whispered. Pyrrha nodded back and looked to Jaune. She knelt down and looked him right in the eyes.

"Jaune, why did you do that for me?" she asked.

"Push you out of the way?" he sounded quiet, the adrenaline buying him precious moments as she answered with a nod.

His voice got low so the act of speaking wouldn't hurt as much. "Well, mainly because I just got you back, no way was I gonna lose you again but... I think it's because I wanted to do what you did back at Beacon... how you shoved me in that locker so I wouldn't get killed by Cinder... you sacrificed yourself for me so I wouldn't die. I know you're angry, confused, you feel guilty, you feel useless because I had to save you... but that's how I felt when you sent me away... I wanted to make a difference in the world Pyr, and the biggest difference of all is getting you back safe and sound. If I die tonight at least I can die knowing what its like to be a hero."

Pyrrha sobbed as she got closer to him. "You were always a hero to me, ever since I unlocked your aura I knew you were worth so much more than anyone thought, I knew how great of a warrior you could be if you tried hard enough Jaune and you are a great hero, you never had to sacrifice yourself to prove that."

Jaune was about to speak when Sage shouted out "We're here! I just gotta land this thing..."

"No time." Ashe said as he pulled the door open.

"What the hell are you doing?!" cried Coco.

"Getting things ready, once you've landed get him inside so we can begin." Ashe said before he jumped out of the ship.

"Okay, I will lift Mr. Arc up, everyone else get just stand by in case we need to do something drastic." Glynda ordered.

"Like what?" questioned Scarlet.

"If Ashe's 'cure' doesn't work we may have to do something horrible." The teacher answered vaguely.

Ashe landed on the ground and rolled to make his rough landing a little easier on his battered body. He jumped back up and charged towards the warehouse and quickly opened the door.

'Gotta hurry, have to save him.' He thought as he raced inside towards the case where the Aura Crystal was kept. He opened the case and quickly took the crystal in his hands.

"Okay, listen up; for twenty damn years I've guarded you, for twenty years I wandered the world of Remnant not even knowing if you were really as powerful as mom told me you were but now that I know you are you are going to do something for me. You owe it to me for all these years of service and in return you get two new guardians. Just help me out one last time." He pleaded to the relic.

It began to glow as the voice of the crystal's avatar spoke to him. "You wish to end your bloodline's service to us?"

"Yes, and in return give you to two kids who can do a way better job of it than I ever could, but one of them is seriously hurt, he's dying and we need your power to save him." Ashe explained.

"We shall see... we are open to the possibilities, but someone wishes to speak to you, Ashe Kasai." the voice said as it faded.

"What? Who wants to...?" Ashe muttered, but he brushed the question away as he laid the Aura Crystal back down and activated the force field, levitating it up into the air again as Glynda entered, using her Semblance to carry Jaune with Pyrrha, Nora, Ren, Teams RWBY, CFVY, and SSSN, Penny, Qrow, Taiyang, Neo, Ozpin, and Bianca all close behind.

"Gently lay him down, the Aura Crystal is open to helping us but these two" Ashe said as he gestured to Jaune and Pyrrha "are going to have to allow themselves to be 'scanned' so the crystal can judge them to be worthy."

"Worthy? Worthy?! What does that stupid rock mean by 'if they're worthy'?!" Nora demanded angrily.

"Because when I told you guys about the Crystal's healing powers I didn't tell you the whole thing; you see it can only heal you if you're a guardian or related to a guardian." Ashe elaborated.

"What?" was the reaction from most present, save for Ozpin who wasn't surprised at all.

"So what are we gonna do then?" Yang questioned.

"Simple, we switch places, I make these two the new guardians of the Crystal and I quit."

"That's insane, there has to be another way." Glynda objected, only for a light to get everyone's attention. Everyone in the building looked to see the Aura Crystal was beginning to glow brighter than most of them had ever seen, a magnificent light of every color imaginable, ever combination of any possible colors and even colors that none of them had ever seen before.

Then, out of nowhere a white shining light appeared beside the crystal and began to take human form, a form that Ashe and Ozpin recognized all too well and some of them mistook for someone else. Even Jaune looked up to try and see what was happening.

A woman who appeared to be in her mid-thirties with long raven black hair, yellow eyes, and wearing a red and white kimono took physical form and looked almost exactly like Cinder, but her face was much kinder and her eyes softer and loving.

"Is it me or is that Cinder?" asked Neptune.

The woman looked at Neptune sadly. "No, I am not my daughter. Hello Ashe, it's been too long." The woman said with a proud and loving look in her eyes.

"Mom?" Ashe gasped, nearly falling over from shock. He had realized who it was the moment she appeared but it was just now sinking in. Ember smiled sadly and nodded. That was all Ashe needed, he ran into her and hugged her as tightly as he could, which she returned without the slightest hesitation.

"Wait, what the heck is going on?" Ruby asked.

"I... I have no freaking idea, mom, what the hell?" Ashe asked, totally stumped as he pulled away from his mom.

Ember's form chuckled and said "Language, young man, I know you're almost my age when I was killed but you should set an example for the younger people around you. Now, before you ask, no I am not the avatar taking another form, I am a fragment of my soul I left behind before Cinder killed me and the only reason I haven't spoken to you in all these years is because I am forbidden, when a guardian of the Aura Crystal is about to die or relinquishes their duty they are to leave a small piece of their soul behind within the crystal. The only reason I am here is because the crystal's collective aura wants to know if this is really what you want Ashe, they are letting us speak so you can be sure about your decision."

"Yes, it's what I want. I no longer want the burden of being a guardian, it was too much for me alone but these two kids, apart they're better than me but together... they're something amazing." Ashe said.

"Have you seen them in action together?" Ember asked, the look on Ashe's face answering her. "Very well then, but we know enough of Jaune Arc's plight to consider him, but what of the girl, the one who seems to be of the Grimm?"

Ashe looked to Pyrrha who stepped forward, constantly taking glances at Jaune.

"My name is Pyrrha Nikos." She announced.

"I thought you had died, is that not why those four children came all this way? To avenge your death at the hands of my daughter Cinder?" Ember asked, visibly wincing when she mentioned Cinder. Ashe was a little confused as to how his mother knew this, but since she was in the crystal and he communicated with the crystal it was reasonable to assume that she knew everything he did about the situation.

"It was, but Cinder did not kill me, she transported me to Salem's palace where they healed me, brainwashed me into thinking I was someone named Fotia Drakos, then turned me into a Grimm Hybrid. My partner and best friend, the one I love, Jaune Arc saved me and restored my memories then he took an arrow from Cinder meant for me and is now dying, please save him." Pyrrha pleaded as she got on her knees.

Ruby looked at Jaune whose eyes were now closed but his breathing was barley recovering, his skin was pale to the point where it was nearly gray, and his body was still shaking like a leaf in a storm. 'Please hurry.' she thought.

Ember looked at Pyrrha with sympathy and said "The essence of the Grimm within you shall be an issue, but I think we can get past that. Hold still and clear your mind of all emotions."

Pyrrha was about to ask why when a beam of light shout out from the crystal and into her eyes. Pyrrha cried out in surprise but unlike the beams that entered Ashe this one didn't hurt so she took a deep breath and relaxed herself. The crystal read Pyrrha's mind, her memories, her own body; it saw her past, her personality, her talents, and her relationships with Jaune, Nora, Ren and the others. It saw what she had been through and what she had been forced to do since Cinder defeated her, it saw fights she had been through and her many victories. It saw that her personality was kind, loving, strong, compassionate, shy, nervous, a little lonely, a yearning for friendship and understanding, and the love she had for her friends.

The beam died down, which was a signal for Ember's form to place a hand on the crystal.

She nodded, looked at Pyrrha with a smile and announced "The crystal has read your being and it has deemed you, Pyrrha Nikos, to be worthy of being its new guardian."

Pyrrha nodded and said "I don't truly care about the crystal right now; I just want it to save Jaune."

Ember looked to Jaune and said "I think we may have a problem, he doesn't look like he can last much longer."

"Then heal him!" shouted Weiss.

"It just doesn't work that way..." Ember said.

"Well hurry up and judge him! Come on!" Sun barked.

Ember nodded, understanding the young group's stress as another beam of light shot out of the crystal and into Jaune but Ember's face looked worried as she took hold of the crystal. "He's fading, he is valiantly struggling to hold onto life but in his struggles his mind is clouded therefore the crystal cannot fully judge him."

"Oh give him a break!" Shouted Yang angrily.

"There has to be someway we can prove he's worthy ourselves." Blake stated.

Ember and Ashe looked to each other.

"Would the memory spell work? Like if eight of them took my right hand while my left connected to the crystal, all of their memories of him would flow in at once." Ashe suggested.

"Why only eight?" asked Velvet quickly.

"There are limits, but I do think it will work. Who shall be the eight?" Ember asked.

"The three other members of his team, of course." Ren said as he and Nora walked up besides Pyrrha, who smiled at them, grateful to have them once again.

"And us." Ruby said as she led her team forward. "We're his friends too, we can help."

"And me, I'm his sister and I was there when he was born for Oum's sake." Bianca added as she joined them.

"Very well, are you ready to do this, Ashe?" Ember asked.

"As I'll ever be. Goodwitch, this shouldn't take long but make sure nothing goes wrong with Jaune. Now let's do this shit." Ashe said as he placed his left hand on the crystal and reached out to the others with his right. Naturally Pyrrha's hand was the first to touch Ashe's, then Ruby's, Bianca's, and so forth. Soon all eight of them were holding Ashe's hand in a big bundle of fingers and hands..

"Okay, now just focus on your memories with Jaune, focus on the good times and even some of the bad ones as we need to be totally honest. Hang on this is gonna be trippy." Ashe finished before he muttered the words of the memory spell so quietly no one else could hear them.

Everyone began to focus their thoughts on their collective experiences with Jaune, the things they had done with him and for him as the things he had done for them and with them. They all felt weird as they could feel their memories going into Ashe and into the Aura Crystal, while it was strange it was not unpleasant, it was more of a feeling of numbness, a strange feeling that something was leaving their bodies and then returning.

They could all see flashes of Jaune and their experiences with him as bright, beautiful lights filled their collective vision.

It was odd to say the least to hear eight thoughts all at once and yet retain your sense of self. None the less the crystal obviously has some conscious aspect to it. It was able to replicate the act of speaking more naturally to the eight friends via Ember as a representative. Thus as it was as they opened their eyes as if from a daydream that they were standing around a gentle fire. Jaune's body, or maybe even his spirit, seemed to be floating in the middle of them all. He appeared asleep, it despite having a transparent aspect it was obvious the boy was dying and… yet somehow held on to life. Dark spots mired his body centering around the various wounds he had received that day most notably his chest.

'Yes, his life is in your hands literally I suggest we hurry.' Ember stated.

'Then hurry up and start!' Pyrrha implored.

Ember nodded her head as if amused, since in actuality this was taking no time at all but nonetheless appeared in front of Nora.

The passing of thoughts into the crystal for judgment happened at the speed of thought despite the conversational setting. Naturally that was somewhat difficult for Nora.

'Ms. Valkyrie organize your thoughts better or we will not be able to accept your memories'

Nora frowned but tried again. It was hard for her to focus her thoughts given she struggled with that all her life. It took was a glance at her friends dying body to understand how serious the situation was.

'Jaune… is the bravest person I know. He was untrained yet he came to Beacon. He felt unqualified to be a leader, yet he did the best he could and put forth enough of an effort to try. He was the one who organized the attempt to avenge our school. He is a friend. He asked for nothing, except a chance in line to make a difference. You should give him a chance to do that.'

The memories were deemed satisfactory that time as Ember seemed able to comprehend the thoughts and feelings. From there her focus seemed drawn to Ren.

Ren poured multiple thoughts into the crystal yet they were clear. He thought of their first encounter with a Deathstalker. That it was his quick study and decision making to allow them all to survive the encounter. He spoke of his selflessness to defend all life not just those who treat him well. He showed the Crystal the actions of Cardin and his acts of bullying against the smaller untrained man. That he saved this same man by risking himself in the process.

'You respect him, in short?' Ember asked simply.

'It goes beyond respect. I respect life and those who deserve it. Jaune has never asked for anything from us or demanded anything as our team leader. Instead he tried to earn our respect and friendship. I truly do see him as a brother now.'

Ember nodded 'Very well.' She claimed and turned her attention to the next volunteer.

Embers thoughts seemed to run around Blake's mind in a way that she was unable to do with the previous two.

'For a cautious one, you seem to have a great deal of regret in you. You feel…. shame for something regarding this young man.'

Blake previously might have shied away from the contact… but she had to address the speaker.

'I do regret my actions, or inactions, as the case may be.' She claimed

'You feel your actions make up for your previous inaction?' Ember challenged.

'I… do. I have seen mistrust and prejudice across the world. Jaune at first… did not impress me. He could not fight, he could not study, he could do nothing correct as a Huntsman, so I dismissed him as one doomed to fail. Those were my thoughts.' She admitted.

'Yet here you stand.' Ember supplied.

'Those things… what I held against him. Can be taught… can be learned. Jaune had something that I could not see. It's something that if more people had, would result in a better world for all.' She claimed determined to see this through.

'And what is that, girl?' The essence asked.

Blake smiled in her thought 'Heart. The ability to not just to know right from wrong, but to do right. I knew that Cardin was bullying and blackmailing him, although I don't know with what exactly. I could have gotten involved and maybe stopped it, I did not for reasons I supplied. Jaune's heart never changed. He still put himself on the line for others… include Faunus like myself. I remember when I first showed my ears to he and his team, he looked a little put off by them and at first I thought he was another bigot... but then he told me he saw me as being no different. He told me that he understood what it was like to hide who you truly are. A heart like his should be preserved. More people need to follow his example. The world needs him, it needs more like him for sure.' She said confidently.

The essence seemed to pull its focus out of Blake, and move on to Yang.

'His friends speak well of him… however I wonder if they will continue to speak so. Yet I can tell that you are not known for your words girl. Yet you would speak on his behalf?'

Yang did not need to think about it at all. She was not insulted the essence obviously understood some of her character and how she was as a person; however that did not mean the fiery girl did not have something to say.

'Some people even think I know how to talk until I do.' Yang stated dryly, her mind falling back on trying to be comedic.

'Interesting you can try to joke even at a time of crisis. Tell me girl what does this man mean to you?'

'Hope' Was Yang's answer.

'Hope? One boy represents Hope to you? Somebody you ever have a colorful nickname for?' Ember challenged

Yang smiled 'Ember... nobody, save Pyrrha, ever appreciated Jaune or what he did for them until it was too late. He failed, all the time and nearly every day at everything. That is what people see of him. He would say he failed miserably, at least in his mind, during the Battle of Beacon previously. He would not deny that. But the thing is it did not stop him. When I… failed, when I lost my arm, I nearly gave up, I couldn't move, I couldn't fight, I couldn't help, I couldn't… I became dead weight. I … became depressed and was of no benefit to anybody. Even at his worst, Jaune was still able to pick others up and try to make them keep going. He has many good qualities, many I've never had and envy a bit. Nothing was ever supposed to get me down. Nothing ever did or could get me down… right up until I failed. To him, failure just meant he needed to try harder the next time. If I had followed his example my sister might not have been captured. We need him alive. That is what it comes down too. The world needs him alive.'

'You should speak more often young Xiao Long, it may yet been a weapon in your arsenal.' Ember praised.

Yang smiled but felt the focus shift off of her to her teammate.

The essence of the crystal searched through Weiss briefly, before it seemed to run into difficulties.

'Weiss Schnee. You would speak for this man? You? You had not a single kind word to say about him for how long?" It demanded, remembering the memories of their interactions from the others.

Weiss almost smiled. 'Jaune… has flaws. He didn't take no for an answer, but I suppose his never give up attitude can sometimes be a bad thing.'

'Yet you smile at the memories?" Ember asked.

'I do… I can tell you why. No it is not about how he helped Neptune talk to me or because it amused me to see him fail, it is… more personal than that.' The short be determined girl claimed.

'Oh? Do tell.' Ember stated amused.

'I owe Jaune a debt I can never repay.' Weiss stated simply.

That, the crystal did not expect, and it did not speak further allowing the Heiress a chance to elaborate.

'Jaune took my place. Regardless of how he had grown, it was my partner who was risking her life. I called her dunce… dolt… child… and worse words more than once. Yet it was she who was doing her duty as a huntress to the world. Jaune Arc; the helpless idiot was with her. Not me. Not her partner. He was risking his life for Remnant in my place willingly or not. He protected Ruby… for that I owe him a debt. He would deny that it exists… that does not mean I am grateful for his trying.' She claimed.

'Do you not think at all about your treatment of him at Beacon?' The voice challenged.

'I … did not lie to him… I might not have been kind. But I did not lie. In the end Jaune found somebody else as did I. It worked out in the end.' She answered.

'He earned your respect?' Ember queried.

'Yes… my only regret is making him work so hard for it.' Weiss answered.

Ember seemed satisfied by Weiss' thoughts, and moved down the line.

'You are the sister of this wounded man. I am unsure if your opinions are valid.' She stated.

'Why would my opinions be invalid?' Bianca demanded, glaring at the woman.

'He is your brother, you would do anything to save him. Including lie.' Ember claimed, knowing she had to be as thorough as possible for the crystal, whether she liked it or not but this needed to be challenged.

Bianca could see his challenge and accepted it without a second thought.

'My brother means much to me. I was there for his birth, I saw the little baby live despite the doctors saying he wouldn't survive the week, but you are wrong if you think I am doing this only to save his life. The world needs him. Without him… more loss of life will follow.'

'Interesting… do tell.' Ember almost smiled.

'My brother… he always had big dreams. We played huntsman and Grimm when he was younger. It… is one of my most fond and … most regretful memories. I always regretted not convincing mom and dad to let him get an education in learning how to fight. He did not give up ever… even with everyone saying he couldn't do it or with Tobias' death. He might not be the best warrior now but even someone like me can tell he has the potential to be amongst the best. I encouraged him to go to Beacon despite not being trained and prepared. I helped him forge those enrollment documents, I knew what the consequences might be due to that; arrested and tried, or worse he'd die on a mission or hell maybe someone with a combat education got robbed of their future for all I know but I helped put my brother on this path. The time and effort of his friends and loved ones HAS to mean something. So he needs to live. To keep doing his best and ensuring he makes as big of an impact as possible.'

'Bianca… does not that mean if he were to die, somebody better might take his place? Somebody prone to less mistakes?' Ember asked solemnly.

Bianca wanted to be angry… but instead replied with 'It takes somebody special to do inspire people in all they do. A mark of a leader is not just inspiring those as they live, but inspiring those as they might fall. Jaune makes others better period. We need him. It is that simple.'

Ember smiled as if satisfied, and directed her attention to the youngest of those gathered.

'A young silver eyed girl. I never knew if I truly did believe the stories of silver eyed warriors and I see now I probably should have.' Ember stated simply.

'I would be happy to discuss them with you when my best friend isn't dying.' Ruby answered sternly.

Ember laughed 'You assume that discussing it isn't also doing the same thing. Time does not flow normally for you all now I would have assumed you could guess that.'

Ruby just crossed her arms and huffed.

'Your memories seem conflicted girl. You do wish to save your friend do you not?' Ember asked.

'Of course I want to save him!' She responded.

'Then why not speak your mind?'

'You cannot take the actions of a person and sum them up into simple conversation Ember. My feelings are stronger than the words available to me. They were always my partner's thing.'

Weiss scoffed and might have even said 'dolt' at that juncture.

'None the less you must do your best or he will die. In trust the crystal might not be able to save him already.' Ember claimed.

'I said I would give my best. My best is to let you look through my mind. You cannot hear what Jaune means to me and why he should live. You must experience it.' Ruby claimed confidently.

'You would let me into your mind freely? You're a very trusting girl.' Ember smiled.

'My friend is dying. We all must make sacrifices.' She claimed sternly.

Ember grinned.

Ruby just stood still as Ember entered her consciousness and played through her various memories regarding Jaune Arc. Ember nearly recoiled at the images of the torture and manipulation they endured.

'He stayed true to himself, despite it all, he is still Jaune.' Ruby claimed confidently just letting the spirits of the crystal search through her mind.

'He was nice to you that first day huh?' Ember queried.

'No, he wasn't nice at all.' Ruby answered.

That was met with obvious confusion.

'Well don't be confused read my thoughts you know what I think.' Ruby stated amused.

Ember scowled, but reexamined the memory.

'If not nice he was what then?' The Aura Crystal still did not understand Ruby's meaning.

'Nice guys would struggle to work up the nerve. He did it because it was right. Not nice. You have to make that distinction. The nice thing to do is not always the right thing to do. That is why he has to live. He is more than just a nice guy to us all. A nice guy would not organize the search for Cinder, a nice guy would not have fought so hard to save Pyrrha, a nice guy wouldn't have blood on his hands because he wanted to protect me. A nice guy would not have done any of those things. Jaune is nice, but he is so much more than nice. He is an example of the way people should be. We need him... Mrs. Ashe's mom.'

Ember almost seemed amused as she exited from Ruby's body and floated over towards Pyrrha.

'I feel like anything you tell me will be biased girl.' Ember stated sadly.

Pyrrha did not seem to care.

'Bias exists in this world, spirit. If it didn't and everybody would act as the boy I love did, we would not have a world torn apart by your own daughter. Salem would never have had the strength to attack Beacon. Your own bias towards your daughter could be swaying your thoughts. I would suggest not using semantics against me.'

Despite sharing thoughts and minds everybody felt they had to look at the redheaded girl at that declaration.

'You pick an odd time to bring Cinder into the discussion Pyrrha. I do not believe discussing my daughter will help the one you love.' Ember said, sounding a little hurt and even a little regretful.

'That is where you are wrong; we all love Jaune. It might be for different reasons and to different degrees but to feel so strongly about somebody that I no longer feel love is powerful enough is how I feel for him. I am sure you already know my reasoning given that you are already in our minds. I want him healed Ember. Tell me what you need to hear to make that happen.'

'I feel you would be better served doing as I ask and telling me your feelings.' Ember challenged.

'My feelings are greater than I can explain. You know our actions and my feelings, you were already in my mind when you deemed me worthy to be a guardian of the crystal.' Pyrrha put forth sure of herself.

Ember nearly smiled 'I accepted you as a fit. That does not mean you and he are a fit match for the crystal. The crystal has power, if evil took managed to possess it. It would be like having a entire legion of my daughter loose. You I have already accepted but am unsure about him.'

Pyrrha smiled.

'We were not at Beacon long thanks to your daughter and the people she has on her side. But I learned something in the short time we were there.' She started.

'Yes? And that is?'

'There is no price on happiness. I have always fought my battles, Cinder was the first person I was truly defeated by. I guess I was a bit outmatched against her but for me life was always one person at a time. One battle at a time. Jaune… he makes me more than that. We are stronger together than we could ever be apart. If you want to keep the crystal safe, you can do no better than both of us, together. That is the best I can do beyond what you already know.'

Ember nearly smiled 'You have spirit to you girl… never lose it. Do you truly, truly love him?'

Pyrrha answered 'Yes' without any hesitation whatsoever.

The Aura Crystal had judged Jaune to be worthy.

Time returned to normally as everybody was pulled back to their own bodies.

Pyrrha gasped and looked at Jaune unsure about the results of what they just experienced.

The Aura Crystal shone like a beacon as Ashe released the seven teenagers and one adult from his grip, some of them staggering back to recover from what they had just seen as well as the bright flashes.

Ashe and Pyrrha both looked to the Aura Crystal as its glowing light began to shimmer and shake as it spread outwards, creating beams of light that forced the others in the warehouse to shield their eyes.

Ashe looked to the manifestation of his mother's soul and asked "What going on?"

"I've never seen it but I did read about it, this is the Changing of the Guard, it has accepted Jaune." She said, smiling at the relived look on Pyrrha's face.

"So it'll heal him right?" Ruby asked hopefully.

"Yes it will, we need all of you except for Pyrrha to get back, this will be... something she and Jaune will need to do together. Pyrrha, take Jaune in your arms and bring him before us." Ember said.

Pyrrha nodded and went over to collect Jaune, Glynda and Velvet helping her to pick him up.

As this happened Ember took time to speak to Ashe.

"Ashe, I want you to know that no matter what I am proud of you."

"Even after all I've done? The things I've been forced to do to survive, the lives I've taken, the damage I've caused..."

"Is nothing compared to the lives you have saved and the good you have done. I am so sorry I wasn't there for you when you needed someone. I can remember when you tried meditating with the crystal after your love was taken from you, I tried so hard to speak but you couldn't hear me. It was torture to see you suffer like that." Ember said as she looked at her son sadly.

"It would have been nice to have you as some kind of spiritual guide. I... I was really lost mom, there were times I nearly took my own life." He said guiltily.

"And yet you are still here, you had the courage to keep going, that is why no matter what anyone says of you, you have been a worthy guardian." Ember said as she used her new physical form to hug her son for the first time in two decades and he eagerly returned it.

"We're ready." Announced Pyrrha, the mother and son looked to see the young champion carrying the dying Jaune in her arms, bridal style.

"Good, sit down, hold him to you." Ember said. Pyrrha obeyed and got on her knees, holding Jaune's torso close to hers as Ashe and Ember approached her.

"I have sensed what the crystal has sensed, and what I now know of my daughter fills me with regret and shame. I do not hate my daughter but I do hate what she has become and the things she has done in her arrogance, delusion, and lust for power. Hopefully this will make it right. Ashe can tell you the story later; we must act now if Jaune is to live." Ember said.

Pyrrha nodded and looked down to Jaune who was deathly pale and barely moving in her arms, his eyes dim and nearly lifeless.

"Hold him to you, feel the love you have for him and his love for you. Love and happiness are the things that keep us as warriors and as people going, without then we become motivated by hatred and lust for revenge and power. You must never give into any such thing. The Aura Crystal has deemed you both worthy for the love you possess for each other, your families and friends and the lives you wish to protect. Such good hearts are uncommon after the horrible events this world has suffered through but yet there will always be someone whose heart is worthy of being a savior." Ember said as she glanced at Ruby and the teams around her. "Now hold him close Pyrrha Nikos." she instructed.

Pyrrha did so, holding Jaune closer, both tightly but gently so as not to hurt him.

Ember reached out to Ashe and he nodded as he took her hand. Ember looked up to the Aura Crystal. "Kai." She said. Two more beams of light shot into Ashe and Ember's heads and their eyes became pure white.

They put their hands on Pyrrha and Jaune and began chanting in voices that were not their own, not just two voices but what sounded like thousands, possibly even millions of voices all quietly chanting some bizarre and alien language that no one, not even Ozpin, had ever heard before as Pyrrha and Jaune's bodies and eyes began to glow white as well.

"Eior echtolam ota hamarkaru. Malan torlucha kiademai. Larsokaw su marcilnova. Kyati myvaso hatisopacha. Tiha. Nogh tisiva iicheofla noflejo harinnoqu. Usha kai!" the mother and son chanted.

As they droned on Pyrrha held Jaune's head to hers and gently kissed him, only to feel him kissing her back. She opened her eyes to see his, shining blue and white as the incredibly bright light enveloped them. She began to cry tears of joy as she hugged him to her, feeling him wrap his arms around her body and hug her back.

A voice, belonging not only to Ashe and Ember, but to hundreds of other guardians long gone, spoke to them.

"Hold her to you, Jaune, for she is a part of you. Hold him to you, Pyrrha, for he is a part of you. You are now bound together until your deaths or until you surrender your guardianship. You are part of one another now, as are we all part of each other in some strange way. When you form a bond with someone it never truly dies, this is proof of that. Love has reunited you; do not take that for granted. All of you who have witnessed this union on this night must remember its lesson, that in the end, the light will prevail over the darkness, because love, the strongest light of all, will ignite the stars."

The light began to die down as Pyrrha still held Jaune to her, both of them looking at Ashe and Ember who stood up, possessed by the Aura Crystal with two beams still shooting into their heads.

Teams RWBY, SSSN, CFVY, Penny, Ren, Nora, Neo, Bianca, Qrow, Taiyang, Glynda, and Ozpin all stared at the sight in amazement, none of them dared to move or speak.

Ember and Ashe looked down at the two reunited partners.

"We now leave you with the Aura Crystal. May you be the ones to discover its purpose and have peaceful lives in the future." The voices said.

The beam going into Ember died down but Ashe's did not, instead it slowly retracted back into the crystal, taking something with it. Ashe moaned as he clutched his head he had given the crystal a small fragment of his soul, joining the ranks of guardians long dead.

Jaune looked down to see his body was healed and the spot where the arrow had hit him now sealed but marked by a scar but he quickly noticed something else... his skin color was back to normal. He looked to Pyrrha and saw that her skin color was no longer milky white, but the restored to its original color as were her beautiful emerald eyes.

"Jaune! You're skin and eyes!" Pyrrha exclaimed as Ren, Nora, Ruby and some of the others ran forward.

"Yours too..." Jaune said. Pyrrha gasped as Ashe spoke up.

"The prophecy came true...

What was sundered and undone

Shall behold two warriors made one

By Guardian hand or else by none

The wound will be closed and love will shine like the sun!

We did it, we really did it!" he said with a wide smile.

"We sure did!" Nora cheered as she grabbed Pyrrha and Jaune from behind and hugged them both as Ren joined in.

"I suppose this means Team JNPR is together again." He said.

"Is does." Pyrrha confirmed as she and Jaune leaned into their teammates hugs as Team RWBY joined in.

"I'm so happy you're both okay!" Ruby exclaimed as she dived into the hug, landing between Nora and Ren, managing to wrap her arms around the two partners, joined by her sister, Weiss, and Blake in the hug.

"Please, don't scare us like that again." Weiss said

Neo smiled happily for her friend getting what was without a doubt a happy ending to this mess.

Velvet took hold of Yatsuhashi's hand and squeezed it as she smiled at the sight and could only blush when he squeezed back. Coco put her arm around Fox's shoulders and pulled his close, happy that he didn't resist as she could see him smile at her.

Sun and Neptune walked forward with Sun putting a hand on Blake's shoulder, smiled, and said to Jaune and Pyrrha "Welcome back you guys."

"You really had us worried there." Neptune said.

"Sorry." Jaune and Pyrrha both said at once, before they realized it, they looked at each other and smiled.

"Oh please don't be one of those couples that finish each other's sentences." Yang joked.

"We'll try no to... are we a couple?" asked Jaune.

"I think that's rather obvious." Pyrrha stated as she kissed his cheek.

Jaune smiled and looked over to Velvet past the crowd around him, and called "Hey Velvet, is my backpack still here?"

Velvet nodded, looking over to Jaune's backpack she had spotted the other day. "Yeah." She said.

"I have something of Pyrrha's in there, could you please get it for me?" he asked.

Velvet smiled and said "It would be my pleasure." She made her way to the backpack as the rest of her team, Penny, Neo, Sage, and Scarlet all converged on the rest of the group to take part in the reunion as well while Ozpin, Glynda, Taiyang, and Qrow all watched, happy that the young Hunters got a happy resolution.

"So what happened to them? Did the crystal purge the Grimm essence from them?" asked Neo.

"No, I am afraid not. The essence within them is that of an alpha Grimm and it is too deeply rooted, they will most likely always have a part of the Grimm inside of their beings. We were however able to restore their original physical appearances." Ember elaborated.

Pyrrha and Jaune looked at each other. "Are you okay with that? I mean, we're still..."

Pyrrha interrupted Jaune and said "As long as we're back with our friends I don't care if I'm fully human or not anymore."

Ashe looked to his mother and noticed a sad smile on her face. "Mom?"

"Ashe, I love you." She said as she approached him.

"I love you too, what's...?"

"Tell Cinder I am sorry for what she has become. We will meet in another life, but not again in this one." She stated before she kissed him on the forehead. Ashe was confused by her actions until she dissolved into pieces of light, falling apart and fading away.

The group watched Ashe as he stood alone, his mother gone again. Ren, Nora, and Team RWBY released Jaune and Pyrrha from their grips, however the two warriors did not let each other go.

"Are you going to be alright?" Penny was the first to speak up.

Ashe gave the robotic girl a smile and answered "I'll be just fine."

"Are you sure? I mean technically you're out of a job." Sun pointed out.

"I got replaced by better people." Ashe said as he smiled at Pyrrha and the shirtless Jaune.

"Uh... guys, can I have my hoodie back?" Jaune asked, feeling cold with his muscles exposed.

"It's back on the ship..." Bianca said, crying.

"What's wrong?" Jaune questioned.

"Nothing, just happy I got my baby brother back for good." Bianca said before she looked to Ashe and added "And happy that he has friends who keep their promises."

Velvet approached Jaune and Pyrrha and held out Pyrrha's circlet. "Pyrrha, I believe this belongs to you." She announced as she handed it to the Spartan who gratefully accepted it. Jaune took it from her and gently placed it on her head before she leaned into his neck, smiling in bliss.

Ashe walked over to the table where he had left four precious things; his mother's whistle, the engagement ring he had proposed to Mila with, and the two photographs; one of his family from many years ago and the other of he and Mila in each other's arms.

He smiled as he tucked the pictures into his pocket and then placed the necklaces back where he belonged.

"Well, now that that little crisis is taken care of I believe that we should make our way to Haven Academy. The Atlas forces will have no doubt sent some men there and we should probably start explaining things." Glynda voiced, earning a nod from Qrow.

"Yeah, plus we should probably get there and explain that Jimmy's being controlled before Ironwood orders an arrest warrant on us all." Qrow said.

"Wonderful idea." Ozpin said.

Sage made his way towards the ship along with Qrow, Taiyang, and Ozpin.

"So what happens now?" Weiss asked.

"I believe that we are going to Haven Academy, explaining the situation to the Headmaster as well as the Atlesians, Qrow and I will most likely spend the night helping the law enforcement officers, both of Atlas and this city, search the wreckage of the factory. All of you on the other hand will have a well deserve rest at the Academy." Glynda said.

"Sounds good to me." Blake voiced, receiving many sounds of agreement in return.

"What about Neo?" Ruby asked.

Glynda eyed the girl and said "I think we can grant her amnesty for at least a few days until we get this mess all sorted out."

"Good, now let's get out of here." Coco said as she led her team back outside, with Neo and Scarlet following them.

Bianca watched as Ren helped Jaune stand while Nora helped Pyrrha, the two partners exhausted from the insane ordeal they had just undergone so they were too worn out to make it back to the ship on their own.

"Come on, Penny, let's go." Ruby said as her team and the robotic girl made their way to the exit.

"Let's get moving." Ashe said as he packed the Aura Crystal back into the case.

"Can you still handle that?" Bianca asked, not too sure about the Aura Crystal's smaller details.

"I think I can keep it until tomorrow, those two kids deserve a good night's sleep, they can worry about this old relic later." Ashe said as he and Bianca left the building, Sun and Neptune closing the doors as they left.

---

As Weiss' ship departed and the Alteisan Forces began to land and surround the complex Emerald, Trooper, Ziz, and Steppenwolffe helped the gravely wounded Cinder up, digging her out of the demolished Grimm Knights she had been crushed under.

"Holy shit, those kids fucked you up." Ziz stated as she eyed the horrific scar across Cinder's once perfect face, the blood, scratches, wounds, and bruises that riddled her body made it clear to even the simplest of individuals that the Fall Maiden was not in any shape to stand, let alone escape on her own. Cinder tried to answer but could not as she fell unconscious with a slight moan of pain.

Trooper looked up as dust and small bits of stone fell from the ceiling, the explosions were rocking the building and he knew it wouldn't last long at all. "Is there a fast way to this ship?" he asked Emerald, who nodded.

"Yeah, I know the quickest way to it. Let's go." Emerald said as she and Sherizawa left Cinder in the care of the Grimm Commanders as she ran ahead. Trooper led the Grimm Commanders, the wounded Fall Maiden, and his fellow enforcers, with Merrick collecting the weapons of his wounded comrades and Little Steve carrying the unconscious enforcers, with the few remaining guards trailing behind but the former Atlas soldier could hear that outside of the factory they were utterly surrounded and outnumbered.

"Surrender yourselves and we guarantee your survival as our prisoners, if you try to oppose us we will be forced to kill you." Called the voice of Samson via a voice amplifier on the ship..

"Crap, we isn't this a fine position to be in." Trooper muttered.

"Tell me about it, it's like being struck with a rock behind you, a madman with a gun in front of you, a fire to your left and a shear cliff-side drop on the right. All in all I'd say we're screwed." Ziz joked as they made their way into the factory, explosions still making the place shake every now and then.

They soon caught up with Emerald and the scientist who stood at the large doors of a freight elevator.

"Come, this is one of the many elevators we had built in case of an emergency just like this. It will be enough to hold us and it will get to the underground tunnels that will lead us to the ship." Sherizawa exposited as the group scrambled inside.

"You sure this thing is safe with all those explosions going off?" Zhan asked.

"Not entirely but we have little alternatives." Sherizawa stated as he closed the door and the lift began to descent to the tunnels, made faster by Emerald cutting power to the grips on the wall railings, now all that holding them up was the cable.

Emerald got out her scroll and called West, who quickly answered.

"Commander Emerald, it's good to hear from you, how goes the battle?" West asked.

"It went horribly, we lost." Emerald answered bluntly.

"What? What happened, who did we lose?" West inquired.

"Cinder is seriously injured and will need immediate medical attention so get ready to put that Semblance of yours to good use, three of the enforcers are out cold and injured, and we lost a ton of guards and Grimm but we're now making our way down to the tunnels." Emerald informed.

"Hopefully the right ones, the explosions began in the left tunnels and have escalated drastically. From what we've gathered Ashe Kasai was the cause of this, the flight crew was informed by Jude that he was using our small supply of Hau Bakuhatsu to ignite a devastating chain reaction. Luckily Jude warned the flight crew in time and they were able to seal off the left tunnel network segment by segment, sadly trapping most of our workers and guards down there, but we must make sure their sacrifice will not be in vain." West stated.

Emerald was a little shocked, Cinder's brother was willing to murder all of those people to beat them? Maybe Cinder was right about him having a dark side. "What about Jude?" she asked.

"I've no idea, his status is unknown but given he was in the hangar at the time he warned them and given how that and nearly everything in that area has been reduced to a burning wreck I think it is safe to assume he's gone. Hopefully taking that fool Ashe with him." West voiced angrily.

"Sorry to disappoint but he got away with the others." Emerald reported.

"Damn... well on the bright side we've managed to load up most of the inactive Grimm Knights, our Grimm cargo and we have recaptured the Chimera." West revealed.

"What? How?" Emerald demanded.

"From what I can gather it either escaped from the labs after killing those interlopers..." West began before the thief stopped him.

"Wrong, Rose, Arc, Nikos, and the others all got away; the only one who didn't make it out was Winchester and Cinder managed to get Arc with an arrow." Emerald said.

"Hmm... so I suppose if they escaped without Giger as a hostage then Dr. Giger must have met his demise at the teeth and claws of his own creation. Well we have it caged and heavily sedated so it won't be a threat for the foreseeable future. Ante has already gotten on the radio to his top lieutenants as well as all of the gang leaders in Haven, he's been instructing them to begin moving all vital operations and activities out of the city as quickly as possible and the rest shall lay low in the slums and underground." West said.

Emerald looked to the unconscious Cinder as she returned with "Good, at least Ante isn't a complete idiot. Anything else?"

"Yes, actually, we managed to find Norvik, half dead and currently dying. I'm somewhat surprised he isn't dead yet given his old age and the blood loss, but anyway if you get here as quickly as you can we can take off and get to safety before the Atlesians even realize we have abandoned the facility." West finished.

"We'll be there soon; we're only a few floors away from the tunnel level. How's Mercury doing?" she inquired.

"Currently on my to do list, right now he's still out of it and rather low on my priorities for the moment. Hurry, we only have a small amount of time before our window of opportunity has closed." West said as he ended the call.

Emerald put her scroll away and felt the elevator come to a halt on the bottom of the shaft, coming down roughly as the lift jolted. Emerald and Trooper got the door open and led the way down the tunnels with the rest following them.

"So... how exactly are we gonna explain this massive FUBAR to Salem and not die while doing it?" Trooper asked.

"Honestly? I say we blame it on Ante." Emerald stated simply.

"Not a bad idea but Salem will see through it without much effort and holy crap will she be pissed." Ziz groaned as she helped Cinder along.

"Indeed, this entire night has been one big disaster after another; Drakos' memory is restored and she has escaped, most of our workers, Grimm, and Knights have been destroyed, Giger is dead, most of us wounded, and Cinder in this condition, I doubt any of us will walk away from her wrath unscathed." Steppenwolffe said.

"At the very least the Arc boy will die, the arrow went right through him so he has little hope." Sherizawa said as he deactivated his Dark Armor suit, making it peel off of his body and converge on his back.

As they walked down the curved tunnel they could hear the explosions booming through the massive building and the sounds of the structures above collapsing.

"Really feel bad for anyone stuck up there." Merrick muttered as a noise sounded off from up ahead. One of the side doors burst open, a smoking figure stumbling out and collapsing face down with a hard groan of pain. Whoever it was must have just escaped from the inferno, as the smell of burning metal and even flesh was hanging in the air.

"A survivor?" Steppenwolffe asked.

"I'll check him out." Trooper said before he ran up. He grabbed the burned boy and turned it around, only to gasp and jump back. "Good god..." he whispered.

"What? What's wrong?" Emerald called as they caught up with him.

"It's Jude..." Trooper answered as the others looked down to see the agent, half burned with the flesh of his face peeled scorched off to reveal a charred metal skull mixed with faint traces of bone. His eyes, one mechanical, looked at the group in relief as he struggled to get up, disturbing some of them with the dried blood covering his organic-robotic body. The fake skin that had covered his cyborg half has been totally burned away by the flames, revealing what he had become underneath, the metal skull marked with scorches and dried blood.

"Oh my lord..." Zhan gasped, his mouth dropping open, allowing his cigarette to fall.

"What in the name of the Four Kingdoms..." Little Steve, struggling not to drop his three out cold companions.

"That's nasty, even considering what happened to me." Fireball stated, wincing as he remembered the accident that scarred his body.

"How the hell is he still alive?" Merrick pondered as Jude weakly looked up and coughed.

"He's not fully human, Mistress Salem wanted him to be one of the Grimm Hybrids once he proved himself worthy but the way she found him made things kinda complicated." Ziz answered.

"Let me guess, his body was so ruined that the only way was to turn him into a cyborg?" Trooper proposed.

"Correct, that's why he's not a Grimm Commander, Giger wasn't sure what the Grimm Essence would do inside of a partially mechanical body." Steppenwolffe continued.

"Get me out of here, I won't die yet." Jude rasped out.

"Sure thing. Zhan, get up here and help me!" Trooper ordered.

"Of course." The illusionist said as he helped the former soldier prop Jude up.

Emerald took the lead and muttered "Man, no wonder you wanted to kill that Ashe guy." She wondered how anyone could survive what Jude had been through before Salem had found him.

Soon enough they made it to the underground docking-bay, which housed the massive airship/submarine vessel that had been created from various parts of Atlas Attack Ship models and war submarines, crafted together by Sherizawa and his engineers.

"Are you sure that thing is safe? I mean I don't want to be deep underwater with a Wyvern and the Chimera, sedated or no." Merrick voiced

"You got any better suggestions?" Trooper barked.

Merrick said nothing in return, as he knew he didn't.

Kaller stood outside to greet them, waving them towards the ship. "Let's go, the main right tunnel network doors won't last much longer the way the explosions are escalating." He said before he noticed how badly wounded Cinder was. "Oh no... get her to West ASAP. Dr. Sherizawa, with Lady Cinder incapacitated you and the Grimm Commanders have control, what are your orders?"

"Once everyone already here is inside we open the bay and flood it, then we shall just sail out, activate the cloaking device, and finally lift off and fly to safety unseen." The engineer said as he followed Emerald into the craft, the others following.

"What about the others? Surely there are more survivors above." Little Steve pointed out.

"If they aren't dead they're dying, plus if they do get captured they now what awaits them if they talk." Steppenwolffe said coldly. The large man said nothing in return, he just handed his comrades to some medical attendants.

Soon enough everyone was inside of the ship, with West and a few other medics tending to Cinder right away, creating healing glyphs and pouring aura into her wounds to close them.

"This does not bode well, I'm afraid the scar across her face can be healed but it will take time." West announced as Sherizawa headed to the bridge.

"Seal off the ship and prepare to submerge, open the bay doors and flood this entire area." He ordered.

"Yes sir." Said the ship's supervisor as he began pressing buttons on the consoles around him.

The ships doors, windows, and air-vents were all sealed off as the cables holding them in the water detached and drew back into the ship, only to shoot out again into the walls to brace the ship for the rush of water that would soon come.

"Prepare to submerge, open the bay door in thirty seconds." The supervisor ordered an underling. He turned to see Sherizawa, Ziz, and Steppenwolffe entering the bridge of the ship. "Further orders?"

"Yeah, don't take us up in the sky until we're at least an hour away from Haven, the less resistance we face the better." Ziz commanded.

"Concurred, I shall contact Mistress Salem myself; she will doubtlessly want to hear about what has transpired." Sherizawa said as he left the bridge, making his way to the communications room.

Down the docking bay, at the end of the tunnel the heavy metal doors parted open and the water poured in dozens of gallons at once, utterly flooding the tunnel and would have crushed anyone unfortunate enough not to be inside the ship.

"Prepare to move the ship." Steppenwolffe ordered as he gripped a railing tightly.

Emerald had followed West and the medics to the med-bay where she saw Mercury laying on a bed, his bodily wounds being tended to by a female medic while Ante sat on a chair talking on his scroll as his right arm continued to grow back.

"I don't give a shit if it's an inconvenience! Just get those Dust containers out of town tonight, or you'll have to answer to me and my boys." Ante barked before he saw Cinder, Lao, Tom-Tom, and Douglas all being carried into the med-bay. "Call you back, just do it, spread the word for all the street punks to start laying low in the underground, if not they'll answer to me or the Atlas soldiers and right now I cannot tell which is worse!" he shouted before he cut the call off. "Okay, pickpocket, what we miss?"

Emerald sighed and said "As you can see three of your men were injured in the battle and we took heavy causalities regarding the Grimm and the Knights, we also believe that Giger is dead."

"And the brats?" Ante prodded as Trooper and Zhan helped the charred Jude onto a table. He tried to get a look at Cinder but the medics were crowding around her, blocking her from view.

"Escaped, with Nikos, but Arc took a nasty hit from one of Cinder's arrows, went right through him so I doubt he'll survive." She elaborated, shivering in disgust at the sight of the sick smirk on Damien's face.

"Too bad I wasn't the one to kill him."

Emerald said nothing as she looked over to see the dying Norvik, struggling to breathe as medics tended to him. "What happened?"

"He mentioned Ozpin, so I can assume Salem will not too happy with us." He stated.

"No duh. At least we're not dead yet." Emerald said as the ship's intercom came on.

"Brace for impact, we are now submerging. The impact of the water from Haven Bay will be rather hard so brace yourselves." The voice of the supervisor said over the intercom.

Emerald grabbed onto a table and the medics moved quickly to strap the injured to the beds before quickly grabbing onto something attached to the floor or the wall. The ship buckled and shook as the water collided into it, the cables holding it still as much as it could.

The water slammed into the tunnel, flooding the entire thing as the ship was now fully submerged. On the bridge Ziz and Steppenwolffe watched as the ship settled with the water around it, holding the tons of pressure back with ease.

"Detach cables and take us out." Steppenwolffe ordered the supervisor.

"Yes sir, detaching cables." The supervisor said as he pressed several buttons, releasing the ship from its hold on the walls. It sagged down into the water as the engines fired up and the massive vessel began moving out of the tunnel and into the sea. The water engines were separate from the jet engines which propelled the ship forward and upwards during flight, the only connection being a small energy conduit which was sealed off at the moment, and only used when it was time to transfer from mode to mode.

As the ship sailed beneath the sea and out towards the open ocean Sherizawa prepared himself for some sign of rage from his Mistress over the video-screen, but she showed none. On the way to the elevator Emerald had told him as much as she could about what had transpired in Giger's lab so he knew of Ante's foolish actions.

She sighed and said "So the injured are Cinder, Jude, Norvik, Mercury, Ante, and three of his enforcers with Giger and untold amounts of guards, workers, Grimm, Knights, and the like dead. Not to mention Neo betraying us, therefore allowing Ozpin, Rose, Nikos, and Arc to escape. This is most unsatisfying."

"I understand Mistress Salem, what do you wish me to tell the others?" Sherizawa inquired.

"Nothing other than to gather in the ship's assembly hall in half an hour, I need to address my subjects and survey the damage and, if necessary, deal out punishments. Do you have the bomb I asked you to make?" she asked.

"I believe so, it is most likely among my equipment transported here." He confirmed.

"Good, he needs to be... taught a lesson and if what you told me about Cinder is true it seems she needs to be taught as well. I shall have to air my grievances with them. Make sure she is healed enough to regain consciousness but leave the scar across her face, I wish to see it as I may need it to make an example. Dismissed." She finished.

Sherizawa bowed his head as he shut off the screen and took out his scroll. "Yes, Fontane? Go look among my equipment they managed to get aboard and look for the bomb Mistress Salem asked me to create, you know the one."

About twenty-four minutes later Cinder woke up, slightly groaning in pain as she could feel the scar across her face. The rest of her body had been significantly healed, bruises, cuts, and wounds from her battles healed up quickly but it was rather curious as to why the scar on her face, the most obvious of any wound, was left unattended..

"Cinder, are you okay?" Emerald asked. Cinder looked up to see her student in front of her, a concerned look on her face.

"Emerald I... what happened? The last thing I remember was Nikos..." Cinder said as looked over to the other injured.

"She used her Semblance to lift up those Knights and slammed them down on you. The reason those other idiots kept fighting us was to keep us distracted so she could make her move. We got hit pretty bad." Emerald admitted.

"Obviously, why didn't they heal this gash?" she asked.

"I was curious about that myself, apparently from what Sherizawa said Salem wants it to remain for the time being." The thief explained.

"We're on the ship, obliviously, so I can assume we have been defeated." Cinder speculated.

"We have. We lost Giger and a lot of Grimm Knights, plus a ton of workers, not to mention the wounded." Emerald said as she looked over to Mercury.

"What happened to him?" Cinder inquired.

"Xiao Long, man was she ticked. Ante's arm got blown off, three of the enforcers are down for the count, Jude was nearly burned alive, and we found Norvik but he probably won't make it. All in all we're in a pretty bad way." Emerald reported.

"I can see that. So Sherizawa has contacted my master?" Cinder asked, getting a nod of confirmation from the thief. "I see, this does not bode well." The Fall Maiden stated as she got up, clutching at her face.

"Don't expect me to stop you, Lady Cinder, from what I have been told Mistress Salem want you, your thief, Jude, and Norvik in the assembly hall shortly. I shall inform the Grimm Commanders that you have awoken so we can get this meeting over with." West said from the back as he tried to heal Norvik.

"What happened to..." Cinder began before she saw Jude rise up from the cot he had been placed on. "...you?" she finished.

"Your brother started those explosions and dropped me down an elevator shaft as the fires rose up. I will not let this go unpunished. I will destroy your brother like the insect he is. I must have another shot at him!" Jude ranted before Cinder used her powers to slam him into the wall.

"Enough with your pathetic obsession with my brother!" she shouted.

"I can't, no more than you can get over your obsession with those children." Jude shot back as he dropped to the floor.

"You don't exactly look shocked by his robotic half." Emerald said.

"I have known about that for some time, turning him into a cyborg was the only way to save his life after the Grimm brought him to us after nearly mauling him to death. The fact that it was my brother never came up until recently... my gods Jude he made you look pathetic." Cider mocked.

"He did not escape unscathed, I hope." Jude prodded.

"He is gravely injured, but will live for now." Cinder said as she looked over to the medics who were tending to Norvik. "Prepare to move him, if my master wants to see us all she shall see us. Emerald, go tell Sherizawa and the Grimm Commanders I have recovered for the time being." She ordered.

"What about your face?" Emerald asked.

"If my master ordered it to be left she will tell me why soon enough. Where are Ante and his thugs?" Cinder inquired as Emerald left.

"Already in the assembly hall, Ante's still getting the word about the evacuation to his men in the city; he shall depart for the city tomorrow on the shuttle so he can make sure things go smoothly." West elaborated.

Cinder nodded, "Just as planned. We shall take our leave, West. Come us to continue healing Norvik as best you can." She instructed.

"As you wish." West said obediently as the underling medics began to wheel the dying Norvik out of the room, trailing behind Cinder and Emerald who led the way.

West and Jude trailed behind as West spoke to the fellow servant of Salem. "Are you sure you don't want a pain killer? At least let me heal you, the pain must be unbearable."

"Oh trust me, Dr. West, pain is something I have come to appreciate over the years. It is something I shall live with until Ashe dies by my hands." Jude stated as he followed the others.

---

Jaune and Pyrrha leaned against each other as the ship sailed across the sky of Haven City. Jaune's hoodie had been returned to him to cover up his torso to keep him warm, even though it had noticeable blood stains and a hole where the arrow has torn through. Pyrrha also lightly gripped Milo and Akouo to her side, her weapons returned to their rightful owner. Nora and Ren sat next to them, happy that their team had been reunited once again against all odds. Next to them Team CFVY all of them totally beat while on the other end of Team JNPR was Team RWBY along with Taiyang leaning against the wall, with Penny, three members of Team SSSN, and Bianca across from them. Up ahead towards the front of the ship Qrow, Glynda, Ashe, and Ozpin talked amongst themselves about their situation.

"So what exactly are we gonna do when we get to the academy? Doubtlessly the Atlas boys will want some answers not to mention to arrest me, Schnee, CFVY, robo-girl, and the other two kids from Atlas. I don't think these kids can take another fight after the shit-storm they've been through tonight." Qrow stated.

Glynda nodded, "Agreed, I think the mere sight of Ozpin and our word about James being controlled will make them second guess themselves. At the very least the confirmation of Cinder's presence in Haven after going unnoticed for all this time will make them consider a truce, even if Ozpin has lost favor among the councils."

"I may be able to prove myself in the future, if given the chance, but for now regrouping with the others and explaining the situation to Jason." Ozpin said, briefly thinking about Jason Argo, the Headmaster of Haven Academy, an old friend who had chosen to respectfully decline any involvement with the Maidens or anything involving the government unless he had no other choice.

"Right, Jason will likely stand with us if they try to arrest the children or attack Qrow but given the battle their forces have knowledge of will at least give us until tomorrow and let the children have the rest they deserve." Glynda agreed.

"Rest I need, the academy is in sight so we can land soon." Sage called from the cockpit.

"Good, you see any Atlas soldiers?" Ashe asked.

"Not that I can see... wait, no, there's a small shuttle on the edge of the courtyard and a small crowd." The green-haired teenager reported as he piloted the ship towards the academy which stood among the city like a wide and misshapen monolith with several various buildings and towers atop the giant tower. Sure enough there was an Atlas shuttle on the landing platform near the courtyard with a crowd of young Hunters in training acting as spectators while Flynt and Neon stood behind several Haven professors as well as Oobleck, Brawnz, Nebula, May, Ross, and all five Arc sisters stood between them and several Atlas soldiers.

"Things don't look too good." Sage said as a voice came over the radio.

"Are you the other ship we were told was coming?" asked what had to be the air traffic control that worked for the academy.

"Yes, we've gotten away from the battle but we had to take a detour, do we have permission to land?" Sage inquired.

"You have the permission of Professor Argo, by the way, he wants an explanation for what's going on as the Atlas guys aren't telling him jack. Go ahead and land on platform five." The controller said.

"Will do." Sage said.

Qrow and Glynda looked at one another before Qrow said "This is gonna be a long night."

Ashe nodded and turned back to the others, "Okay kids, one last ordeal and you can all go to sleep."

"Ugh, what now?" Fox asked.

"There are some Atlas soldiers in the courtyard along with a few of your friends, looks like we got to get the Academy guys on our side if we're gonna get this thing straightened out." Ashe said as Sage began to land the ship and Ruby, Jaune, Ren, and Nora retrieved their bags.

Glynda and Ozpin looked at each other. "Ozpin, if we have to fight to keep these children with us I will gladly do so." She said.

"I do not believe that we will have to fight, let words win this battle for once." Ozpin stated as the ship came closer and closer to the platform.

Qrow nodded as he gripped Reaper, "Sure, but if they so much as aim a gun at these kids I'm kicking the shit out of 'em."

Glynda sighed and said "In that case I shall disembark first."

The ship finally landed on the platform and Glynda pulled the door open, she looked out to see the Atlas soldiers and the others looking at her as she stepped out of the ship.

"Come on out." Glynda beckoned to the students. Ruby looked to her team and her father who nodded as he got up. Taiyang led his daughters out of the ship with their teammates following them, the worry on Weiss' face was evident as she knew full well she and the others involved with rescuing Penny could be arrested, not to mention what could happen to the robot girl herself.

Qrow followed the team out, his grip on Reaper tight and his face dark, if these soldiers made so much as a tried to shoot at his nieces he'd do something overtly drastic, he was in no mood to lose anyone else.

Team JNPR followed next, Jaune and Pyrrha continued to hold each other's hands, tightening. They know full well the reaction to her still being alive would be one of shock and many demands for questions, but they looked into each others eyes and knew that no matter what they would face in the not too distant future was nothing compared to what they had just left behind them. Whatever the men of Atlas tried to do to them they would face it together. Nora and Ren followed them, both ready to fight for their friends; they were not going to let them get hurt after saving them both after the insane mess they had just escaped from. Nora shook Magnhild a little and Ren nodded and he wrapped his fingers around the StormFlowers. They could hear the gasps of shock from the students of Haven, all of whom thought Pyrrha had been killed months ago and yet here she was, leaning against her partner.

Penny looked hesitant to disembark from the ship but felt Velvet's hand on her shoulder. Coco walked up alongside her and said "We got your back, Pen."

"Don't worry; we will not let them take you." Yatsuhashi said.

Penny smiled as she followed the others out of the ship, seeing the smile Ruby was giving her as she gestured for Penny to come on. As Team CFVY made their way out of the ship with Team SSSN following after them, Sun keeping his eyes on the Atlas soldiers, he looked to his team and nodded, making a gesture to get ready for a battle.

Bianca jumped out of the ship and held out her hand for Ozpin to grab onto, helping him onto solid ground. She looked to her brother and his partner and smiled, happy that her brother would be okay now. She noticed the serious look on Ozpin's face and looked ahead to the gathering of soldiers, students, and teachers.

The Lieutenant of the group of soldiers called to them "Professor Goodwitch, I am Lieutenant Ellis of the Atlas Military and given what I have heard over the radio from Captain Samson and the battle that went down out in the slums I'm being forced to question my orders."

"How so?" Glynda asked.

"Well first of all we have been told time and again our agent who was looking for Cinder Fall never found her in the city and even confirmed that Damien Ante wasn't working for her and yet Samson reports that several of Ante's top men were spotted taking part in the battle at that factory. Second; we were given explicit orders to arrest anyone involved with the theft of Penny Polendina, that includes Weiss Schnee, Qrow Branwen, two of the students over there, and one of the teams behind you but given what has been going on I think I'd prefer some answers from you before I do so. Also, I can see that Samson was not delusional when he was saying that Pyrrha Nikos was somehow back from the dead." The officer said as he eyed Pyrrha suspiciously.

"We indeed do have a lot to go over, but right now these children need to rest as they have been through so much tonight. I must warn you, however, that if you try to arrest any one of us we will resist, violently if necessary." Glynda said, her voice laced with a small hint of a threat.

"I'm sorry, Professor Goodwitch but I have my orders and I have orders to arrest Qrow Branwen, Weiss Schnee, Team CFVY, Flynt Coal, Neon Katt, and Penny Polendina if I can and right now all of them are within reach." The officer stated.

Blake got Gambol Shroud ready and could her ears easily picked up the sounds of the others getting ready for a fight.

Ozpin made his way through the group and revealed himself. "Excuse me lieutenant, but I believe that you need to be in full possession of the facts before you make any hasty decisions."

Ellis gaped and said "Ozpin?! What..."

He was cut off by Professor Argo rushing forward. He was a man in his early fifties but seemed to be much younger; his body was in excellent shape, hinting at the various missions and battles he had won over the course of the years. "William! We thought you dead, old friend." He said as he grabbed Ozpin's hand and shook it.

"Not yet, Jason. Now, I trust we have you on our side, given that you and several members of your staff were protecting Mr. Coal and Miss Katt." Ozpin surmised with a smile.

"Correct, I'm not going to let anyone be arrested on my school's grounds until I hear the whole story and from what Dr. Oobleck has told me it is a long story." Argo said.

"Indeed it is, but these children are tired and weary after a chaotic battle, so I would like for them to be given the opportunity to have a good night's rest before anything else happens, as it can wait. Trust us, we're not going anywhere for the time being." Ozpin said.

"I have several rooms not being used at the moment, I would be more than happy to help them." The headmaster said before Ellis spoke up.

"May I remind you that some of them are criminals? They are wanted escapees from Atlas for assault on military personnel, destruction of military property, and theft of military property which is standing right there!" Ellis barked as he gestured to Penny who hid behind Ruby.

"Hey! She is not military property!" Ruby snapped.

"Ruby..." Taiyang began before his daughter stopped him.

"No dad, I need to say this." Ruby said defiantly as she walked up to three adults. "Listen, we have been through heck and back tonight, my friends have nearly died to stop Cinder Fall and we're lucky to be alive and I am not going to let you take them." She said, her eyes subtly glowing. "So if you want to arrest Weiss, my uncle, or any of my friends, you'll have to go through me."

"And me." Blake said as she made her way forward. Yang even stepped forward, despite her damaged arm she was still willing to fight if need be.

"Us too." Sun said as he and his teammates stepped up, their weapons drawn, ignoring the sound of confusion from Argo as to the reappearance of some missing students.

"We're exhausted but we will not stand by and let you take them." Pyrrha said as she held Milo in spear form.

"Trust me man, it's not worth it." Ashe stated as he held out his sword.

"They have our support and I for one will not let you arrest any of them." Glynda agreed as gripped her wand.

"And you will have to deal with us as well." Oobleck declared from the back.

"I will stand by them and I know my staff will support that decision." Argo said firmly.

Ellis sighed as he looked at the smirk on Qrow's face, the fearful look on Penny's, the various looks of nervousness, determination, and preparation for another fight on the faces of Weiss and Team CFVY.

He looked at Ruby and said "Well Miss Rose, it seems that if I even try to take action against them I will have you and your little... family to answer to. Very well, we can sort it out later."

Nearly everyone breathed a sigh of relief as the soldiers lowered their weapons, a sign for the Hunters to lower theirs.

"Okay William, Glynda, now I think that my staff, these soldiers, and I would like to have an explanation for how Pyrrha Nikos and Penny Polendina are still alive as well as what Cinder Fall was doing in our city." Argo voiced.

"All in due time, as for now would you be so kind as to arrange some rooms for these students as well as updating us to the injured we brought you?" Ozpin asked kindly.

"Do not fear Headmaster." Oobleck said as he, the Arc sisters, and the other members of the combat team made their way forward. "I am happy to report all of the wounded are stable and alive. Port, Violet Arc, Miss Ember, Mr. Stallion and Mr. Porfirio are all injured but they have been stabilized thanks to Dr. Chloris and the medical team here. Mr. Shiko is undergoing treatment for his devastating injury now to lessen the blood loss and make it easier for a robotic appendage to be added at a later date but Mr. Bronzewing is still unconscious, possibly slipping into a coma. All in all we are out but not down." The green-haired teacher reported.

"Could be better, but it could be much worse." Ozpin stated as he and the rest of the group followed Argo and the other teachers of Haven into the school.

"What happened to Nadir?" Ren asked.

"A serious injury but one he will survive, you will know more in the morning, get rest while you can." Oobleck said quickly.

As Oobleck had been speaking to Ozpin the four Arc sisters quickly surrounded Jaune and smothered him with hugs and cries of "Are you okay?! What happened? How is Pyrrha back?!"

"Girls, calm down! Give him some room to breathe." Bianca said, laughing as Jaune tried to return the hugs to the best of his abilities.

"Hey, hey, I'm really happy to see you're all okay too... Violet why are you out here? Shouldn't you be resting." he asked.

"Always the concerned one, ain't ya Jaune? I'm fine, Chloris fixed me right up." Violet assured him.

"So you're a Grimm hybrid now? You don't look any different." Whispered Indigo.

"We took care of that." Pyrrha whispered back with a smile. Indigo nodded, happy that her brother was back.

"Nice to see you're okay little bro, but how exactly is she here?" Shani asked as she hugged Jaune to her.

"Shani, that's a story for tomorrow, trust us when we say we're too tired to tell it tonight." Nora said. Now that must have meant something if Nora of all people was tired out.

"You don't look so bad kiddo, I'm just happy you're okay." Sienna said, planting a kiss on her little brother's cheek.

Argo continued speaking with Ozpin and Glynda, nodding as he said "I'll do what I can for your students, I'm sure my own will be more than willing to donate some clothes and I believe that nearly all of our guest rooms are empty, plenty of room for you." Argo said as he gestured to a female teacher named Natalia Echo, a brunette woman armed with what appeared to be a gun/sound amplifier weapon, who nodded.

"Come with me to the guest dorms, I will have some of our students go back to the infirmary to inform Dr. Chloris and the others of your arrival, I must warm you though that some of the guest rooms can only take one or two people." She said.

"A room meant for two is fine with us." Jaune said as he smiled softly at Pyrrha. His sisters looked at each other and most of them resisted the urge to coo at their little brother's interactions with his partner.

"Can you take our dad to the infirmary? I think his arm was broken." Yang said.

Professor Echo nodded and said "Mr. Xiao Long, correct? Can you hold out until the students are all settled in?"

"Yeah, trust me when I say I have had way worse injuries in the past." The blonde Huntsman said with a bitter grin as he followed his daughters and their friends into the school.

Qrow looked back the soldiers, none of whom gave him any hint that they were okay with letting him go after his attack on Ironwood. He ran to catch up with Argo, Glynda, and Ozpin and said "Look, I think as soon as we get the kids settled in some of us need to go out there with the military to shift through the wreckage. No doubt those morons have already called Jimmy up and he'll be here sometime tomorrow so we better get ready to free him."

"Free him?" Argo repeated.

"We believe that James Ironwood has been placed under mind control by a traitor amongst his men, working for our enemies." Glynda revealed, getting a grunt of agreement from Ozpin, who had been informed about the situation on the way.

"Dear gods... this is a serious accusation but given tonight I'm not inclined to dismiss it. Do you have a plan to free him?" Argo asked.

"Yes, I've known James for years and though we have had our differences we both work for the same ends. I know him well enough to help him." Ozpin said confidently.

Qrow shook his head and said "I'm gonna need some coffee, 'cause it's gonna be one hell of a night."

"I don't expect either of us will be getting any sleep, Qrow. Do... you wish to go with me?" Glynda asked.

"Yes. I need to go back for the body." He said darkly.

"Body? Who died?" Argo inquired.

"We lost two good people, Jason. They may not have been the best people in the world, but in the end they truly proved their worth." Ozpin answered as they walked further into the school.

---

Cinder, Emerald, and the others soon arrived to the assembly hall of the ship, a massive room that was three floors big and served as the meeting place for the ship. Three floors surrounded it on all sides in a circle with little fire escape-like staircases as ways down. There was one large wall at the bottom of it with a small makeshift throne in front of it that was to serve as a chair for the commander of the vessel, and Cinder knew it would be her once her master was finished. Or would it? It depended on how her master would react to tonight's failures.

Ante, Trooper, Little Steve, Zhan, Merrick, and Fireball sat off to the side as Ante, whose arm had not regenerated down to the elbow, was still talking on his scroll to someone.

"No! Move the trains out tonight, use our leverage on the signalmen to switch off to the old branch lines, those aren't even used anymore. We can use those lines to transport both the Dust and the weapons to Sygars where we can store them. Just do it as fast as you can and get our men to their new bases, I want the cops and the Atlesians to think this city has been cleared out in forty-eight hours at the least." Ante barked at the man he was talking to.

He glanced up at Cinder and hung up. "Holy shit, you got fucked up royally. Didn't think Rose had it in her. They told me it was bad but, man, your face..."

Cinder gave him a glare that instantly shut him up.

Trooper and the other enforcers looked at Jude who stood still and silent, ignoring the stares the lesser crew members were giving him. He didn't care about his true physical appearance being revealed to them, all he could think about now was a how to make Ashe pay for this.

"Lady Cinder, are you sure you're in shape to deal with Mistress Salem?" Steppenwolffe asked from above where he stood with Ziz, who was sitting on the railings and sitting against a steal support beam.

"It would be better if we were to speak with her now..." Cinder began before one of the side doors opened to reveal Keeper Matilda, Lt. Kaller, and the caged Chimera. "Why have you brought that thing in here?" she demanded.

"Mistress Salem's orders, my Lady." Matilda answered respectfully as the Chimera lazily moved in its sleep.

Cinder nodded and looked to Norvik, who was staring at the Chimera with his hand lazily pointing towards it. This confused her at first but before she could think anymore about it Sherizawa entered the chamber.

"Now that all of the necessary individuals have arrived I think it's safe to say that Mistress Salem can address her subjects." He said as he pushed a button on his scroll.

A black portal opened up in front of the throne, making some of them jump back as the Mistress of Grimm gracefully exited the vortex, closing it behind her. She looked down at them all, her eyes unreadable but everyone feared her true reaction to this disastrous battle.

"Doctor, have you compiled what our servants managed to save yet or our losses for that matter?" Salem asked calmly.

"Indeed I have; all Grimm sent out into battle have been killed, the two thousand Grimm Knights sent out to ward off our enemies were all destroyed, and we are speculating at least thirty-one percent of our equipment was destroyed in the explosions caused by Ashe Kasai, as well as another thousand inactive Grimm Knights and several dozen more that were assisting in the transportation of Knights, Dust, Grimm, and equipment. As for the Grimm we have in captivity, they were mostly successfully transported to this ship, including the Wyvern and the Chimera, all in all Keeper Matilda has surmised a mere eight percent loss." Sherizawa reported.

Salem looked to the head Grimm Keeper who nodded in confirmation. Salem looked back to Sherizawa and asked "And what of our workers and guards?"

"We are reporting a sixty-two percent loss on those fronts; most of the guards were defeated in battle or killed in the explosions, which also claimed a high number of our workers but we have yet to make an official count." He added.

Salem glared down at her various servants. "So, if I recall what I was told earlier Victor Giger is dead, Norvik lays dying, Cinder, Mercury, Jude, Ante and three enforcers are injured, and Neo has betrayed us. Not to mention the loss of Nikos, Ozpin, Rose, and Arc. Tell me, did they at least have any casualties?"

"Yes Mistress." Trooper announced as he stood up. "From what we've gathered at least six or seven of them were injured, but we do not know how badly, but the injured does include Jaune Arc, who was shot with an arrowhead that went clean through, if my eyes didn't lie to me, so chances are he's not feeling too good right now. According to Emerald the one known as Cardin Winchester was killed by the Chimera..."

"And Raven Branwen is dead, by my hand." Cinder announced. "Quite literally, as I absorbed her powers before I ended her."

Everyone looked at her, shocked.

"So I guess that's why you were able to fight them all the way you did, no wonder you kept going." Ziz said.

Salem eyed Cinder and voiced "The Scarab drained her powers?"

"Yes, my master, she didn't stand a chance. I would have killed her brother but she intervened so that wouldn't happen and her death only enraged the drunken Qrow. He forced me outside where I fought the remnants of the attack group, mostly alone." She said as she glared at those around her, but gave Emerald a thankful look. "I nearly killed Ashe, broke the arm of Rose's father, destroyed Schnee's summon, and I have mortally wounded Arc, but..."

"But in the end you were defeated by Pyrrha Nikos and your face scarred by Ruby Rose. You have failed me, Cinder." Salem said, glaring down at her disciple.

Cinder sighed in defeat and gave in. "Yes, in the end I failed to stop them. I... I am willing to accept whatever punishment you see fit, master."

Salem gave her a small smile. "Very well."

She held out her arm and a powerful blast of black and white aura shot out and slammed into Cinder's head, blowing her down to her back, screaming in pain and clutching her face as small, thin clouds of smoke trailed off her head. Emerald ran to Cinder and knelt down as her teacher writhed in agony, the scar burning deeper into her face.

Emerald looked up to Salem and exclaimed "Why did you do that?!"

"Because, child, she has failed me and I cannot allow that to go unabated. The scar shall now be burned into her face by my powers; it shall only be lifted from her face when she has redeemed herself, no sooner." The Mistress of Grimm said, glaring down at Emerald who gave in and shyly backed down. Ziz and Steppenwolffe glanced at each other, not sure what to think of their comrade's punishment, even Ante looked horrified at what was happening to her.

Trooper tried to approach Cinder to help her up only for her to scream out for him to get away, which he complied, looking away from the thin jagged line burned across her face. Cinder calmed herself down, silencing her moans of pain as well as attempting to stop the tremors of agony that were raging through her body. She rose up to her hands and knees to bow down to her master, her body still trembling.

"Thank you for sparing my life, master. I will try to redeem myself for my failures in the future. I won't fail you again." She said as she forced herself to look Salem in the eyes. Their eyes met, ember to blood red, and Salem smiled.

"You will have a chance to redeem yourself in the future, sooner than you'd think. So now that Nikos is back on the side of our enemies we must consider something else; Matilda, what of the Wyvern?" she inquired.

"Now that I know what was going on with Drakos I think I understand what was happening with the beast; somehow, against all odds, it bonded with her. It felt her pain and anger during the battles; therefore it wanted to breakout and help her. I didn't know it was possible but a Grimm wanted to help somebody. Though I must admit it seems more possible when you consider the fact that she's a hybrid." Matilda reported.

Salem nodded, "I shall calm it down myself once it awakens. Damien, how goes the evacuation of your cargo, men, and operations?"

"Given how fast they have to act it's going pretty smoothly. Once my arm's grown back and my boys are healed up we'll head back to the city to speed things up." Damien said, not noticing a female assistant of Sherizawa's walking behind him.

"Good work, Damien, but Emerald has informed Sherizawa that you were the one who unleashed the Chimera, costing us not only several guards but Victor Giger as well, ripping away one of my best minds far too soon. This idiotic act will not go unpunished either." Salem hissed.

"What? No! Wait a minute... Mistress I..." Ante tried to say before the assistant stabbed a small needle into the base of his skull. "OW! What the fuck?! What the hell did you do to me?!" he demanded.

"Miss Fontane has injected you with a microscopic explosive device. If you do anything that idiotic or even remotely fail me in such a way again, Damien, I'll have it detonated." Salem said with a smirk.

Ante's eyes widened in terror as he looked to Sherizawa who simply nodded so he looked back to Salem. The horrible reality of his head exploding whenever he did anything to even slightly piss Salem off sunk in. "My Semblance..."

"Will only get you so far. I have encountered ones like it before in my life and they tend to have similar weaknesses such as massive aura drainage, the fact that the brain and the heart cannot be regenerated, and of course the fact that incineration will be a permanent kill switch for you. And be warned Damien Ante, if you try to have it removed I will know." Salem promised him

He nodded and asked "What do I have to do to get this thing removed?"

"Why, act competently, of course. I trust your men such as Trooper and Lao will be useful in running your operations should you disappoint me again." She said as Ante nodded, his body shaking in fear a little.

"I-I won't fail you again." He said nervously.

"See that you don't." Salem said dryly before West spoke up.

"Forgive my interruption Mistress, but Norvik is dying, he will not last much longer. If you're going to do anything with him now would be the time." He said as the old man began to desperately gasp for air.

Salem nodded and said "If he wants a new body he shall receive one." She stepped over to them and spoke to the dying old man. "Norvik, my faithful servant, would you like to get your new body now?"

He looked up at her and weakly nodded, his shaking hand gesturing over to the Chimera's cage as he whispered "Make me one of them..."

"Very well. Bring the Chimera's cage over here." Salem instructed Matilda.

"Wait, what? Mistress Salem what are you...?" Matilda tried to say before a glare from Salem silenced her. She and some other Keepers wheeled over the Chimera's cage to them as Salem's hands began to glow white.

"What is she...?" Fireball whispered to his cohorts before Cinder placed one hand inside of the cage upon the Chimera and the other atop Norvik's.

"You gotta be kidding me." Trooper said as Steppenwolffe and Ziz jumped down as two a light surged out of Norvik's body, through Salem's and into the Chimera, which jolted and shook as Salem removed her hand from it.

She took a moment to recover herself and then smiled as she said "Behold, the sixth Grimm Hybrid; Norvik the Chimera. A hybrid of different Grimm body parts spliced with human DNA merged with this man's dark soul."

The Chimera's red eyes opened up and it mouth curved into a smile as its four limbs lifted its body up.

And it talked.

"New body? Don't mind if I do." The beast said as it made an unnerving sound that was some disgusting and butchered attempt at a laugh. He stretched his body out in its quadruped form as he looked up to the other two hybrids in the room and said "Hello brother and sister."

Ziz got her ax-gun ready for a potential fight and muttered "Oh fuck no."

"That's just... wrong." Steppenwolffe said quietly.

"It will take him a while to for him to adjust and he will need some conditioning, but I do need to compensate for the Grimm Commander I have just lost in Nikos. Now Norvik, if you attempt to do harm to any of my servants without reason or my explicit permission you should know what fate awaits you." Salem threatened.

Norvik nodded his head and answered "I do, death or something worse."

"Indeed. What would you like to become of your previous body?" she inquired.

"I wish to consume it." Norvik said, getting disgusted reactions from nearly everyone present, but Salem just nodded.

"It will be so. Now Jude, it is thanks to you that we were able to recover what we could and it came a great cost to you. I shall have Sherizawa repair you body." She said before Jude stopped her.

"Only the mechanical parts, no more false skin, I feel that it is time for the world to see me as I truly am. My Mistress, I wish to accompany Ante and his men back to the city. I want one last shot at Ashe." Jude said from the ground as he bowed to her on his knees.

"Ashe has defeated you twice thus far, what makes you think you'd stand a chance a third time, and so soon after tonight?" she inquired.

"I... have a plan, Mistress, a plan that will give Ashe no choice but to surrender to me and allow me to take my revenge." Jude said evilly before Cinder spoke up.

"Master, ignore this fool. He failed to kill my brother five years ago and he failed to stop him from destroying the factory tonight. Do you not realize that your obsession with my brother is dangerous?" the Fall Maiden asked.

"No more dangerous than your obsession with power, Fall." Jude shot back.

Trooper shook his head and said his piece. "Okay bud, listen up; I don't know if you've been paying attention tonight but we just got our asses handed to us. Once our operations in Haven are out we're probably going far away from that place and not looking back. If your brain or motherboard or whatever you have in that head of yours isn't fried then is sure as hell needs examined, because he kicked your ass and blew the factory to hell, you really want to annoy him again?"

Jude glared at the former soldier and answered with "Ashe dropped me down an elevator shaft before it went up; he probably thinks I am dead which gives me the advantage of surprise."

Salem nodded and said "I approve of this plan, our defeat tonight cannot go without comeuppance, and one of our enemies must pay for it with their life. It is better that it'd be the guardian of the Aura Crystal. Sherizawa, repair Jude's weapons and do what you can to heal his robotic body. What exactly do you have in mind?"

"I plan to use twenty of Ante's men and take over a public building with little security. I will use those inside as hostages and demand that Ashe hand himself and the crystal over to me. I will murder him and present you with crystal as a gift, Mistress." Jude swore.

Salem smiled and said "This plan does not displease me, so you have my permission to proceed. Once you are ready I shall transport you to me as I will have some eyes watching the newsfeed of Haven for the next few days, therefore I will be watching you, Jude."

Jude nodded and said "Understood."

Cinder looked up to Salem and asked "And what of the traitorous Neoplitan?"

"Dead or alive, neither matters to me in the end." Salem answered as she opened another portal. Before departing she looked at Cinder and reminded her "Contact Taurus and the White Fang, have them move operations out of their current bases, as my informant within Atlas tells me they have gotten their hands on some radio frequencies that could be used against us. Do not fail me again; the power I helped you gain can be taken away quite easily." And with that she went through the portal and it closed behind her.

As Jude began to walk out of the room he was stopped by Cinder calling his name, making the cyborg look at her. "If you fail to kill my brother, which I know you will, I will be the one to end him." She said with a scowl.

Jude smiled darkly and nodded as he said "Fair enough."

Emerald looked at Cinder with concern as her mentor looked down, her index finger gently tracing the scar that marked her face.

"Cinder, are you alright?" she asked.

Cinder looked up at her, her golden eyes glowing as she answered "No."

---

Ruby yawned as she laid her body down on the bed in the room Team RWBY had been given, a standard size dorm room used for Hunters in training teams from other schools. No bunk beds but it would do. Weiss had already fallen asleep on the bed that lay horizontally across from her, the Schnee heiress had practically passed out due to aura exhaustion but Ruby knew her partner had earned this rest ten times over.

Yang sat on the bed across from them, fidgeting with her charred arm, which doubtlessly would need a repair from this Dr. Kimball her older sister had told her about. Ruby had been a little worried that Yang's arm being heavily damaged again would push the blonde brawler into another depression, but the cheerful and determined looks Yang gave her proved that would not be the case, but Ruby could tell something was wrong with her sister.

At the door Blake stood speaking with Sun whose teammates had already returned to their own room. Ruby smiled at the Faunus couple, happy that they were finally together. It had been obvious to her that they'd be a good couple for quite some time, maybe even since they had first seen Sun running away from the cops back in Vale. She looked down to Zwei who was cuddled up alongside her and gave him a scratch on the side of his cheek, which he eagerly leaned into.

Ren and Nora were sharing a two-bedroom room down the hall while Jaune and Pyrrha were sleeping in the same bed, neither one of them wanted to be apart from each other after the events of the night, while Goodwitch had opposed this at first Ashe had claimed that if separated too soon the Guardians of the Aura Crystal would endure subtle but distracting pains from within, so they needed to stay together for the night, so Glynda relented.

Team CFVY was in another room down the hall with Flynt and Neon sharing their room across from them with Penny while the Arc sisters were splitting rooms and other teams such as BRNZ, NDGO, and CRDL were scattered with some in their appointed rooms but others electing to stay in the infirmary to look after their injured teammates as had ABRN who had been torn between staying with Nadir or going back to their room to get some well deserved rest. Taiyang would spend the night in the infirmary while Qrow, Glynda, Oobleck, and Ozpin would work with the Atlas forces and the teachers of Haven Academy would spend the night trying to sort out the mess before General Ironwood or anyone else that could be a threat would show up.

"Hey, monkey-boy, split, will ya? Bed time." Qrow said as he pushed Sun out of the way.

"Hey...! Ugh, night Blake, see you in the morning." Sun said with a wink as he began to make his way down the halls, Blake bid him goodbye as Qrow entered the room.

"You girls settled in yet?" he asked as Ruby nodded.

"Yup, it's great to be on a real bed for the first time in days." Ruby said as she leaned her head back against the pillow.

"I know that feeling." Qrow said with a smirk.

Ruby looked up at Qrow and added "Hey Uncle Qrow, try and look for Crescent Rose when you go back, please?"

Qrow smiled and said "Sure thing, can't let a little problem like being snapped in half stop it, can we?" He then walked over to Yang and sat on her bed. "Hey Blondie, your hand okay?"

"Believe it or not it's been worse." Yang said sarcastically.

Qrow nodded and said "Yang, listen... when your mom died to save me she told me to tell you that despite everything, despite all those years apart, she always loved you and Taiyang."

"Don't. I... she was gone my whole life Uncle Qrow and just when I think I'm finally coming to terms with what she did and why she... she..." Yang couldn't continue.

"Yang, I'm not gonna tell you that you don't have any right to resent my sister for what she did, hell you and your dad have every right but you can't hold on to that grudge. My sister truly did love you, she loved our family, that's why she died for me. So please Yang, let it go. You said back at Patch that you forgave her but did you really forgive her?" Qrow inquired.

Yang didn't answer; she just looked down to the floor.

Blake looked to Ruby who was watching the scene as well, not knowing what to do.

"Uncle Qrow, the last time I saw mom alive I... I couldn't say 'I love you' back. How am I supposed to live with myself now?" Yang asked.

"She would have forgiven you, trust me when I say that she understood your emotions and why you didn't return the sentiment. At times she could be a hard person, someone with a dark, even nihilistic view of the world but other times she could be that big sister that always looked out for me the same way you look out for Ruby. She was proud of you, Yang, and I know that in the end, deep down, you loved her too." Qrow finished.

That was it.

Yang broke down crying into her uncle's arms. "I did! I did love her! Why?! Why didn't I tell her that when I had the chance?!" she cried.

Ruby quickly jumped out of her bed and hugged her big sister from the side with Blake joining in, trying to quell the blonde's sobs.

"Let it all out kid, I'll miss her too." Qrow said, refusing to let the girls see him cry as Ruby and Blake tried to smooth Yang with comforting words. It would take some time before Yang got over this one.

"Yang, I'm so, so sorry." Blake said sadly.

"Me too, sis. Hey, come on, your mom knew you loved her deep down, she had to." Ruby added.

"Did she? Or did she die not knowing it because I was still angry over her leaving? When am I ever gonna freaking learn?!" Yang sobbed.

Qrow waited until Yang fell asleep, crying all the way over the death of her mother. The day had taken a toll on all of them, but it seemed that their family had taken a good number of the hits. He watched as Ruby and Zwei got into Yang's bed to comfort her for the night while Blake settled into the bed Ruby had been in.

"Ruby, Yang needs to know that no matter what Raven did know that Yang loved her. Can I trust you and your friends to help her understand that?" he asked.

Ruby gave him a small smile and said "You bet we can."

Qrow returned the smile and shut off the light before he exited the room, shutting the door behind him. He decided that before he joined Glynda and the others he needed to get something off his chest. He found a restroom that was out of the way and totally empty. He closed the door behind him and walked over to the far end, only to slam his fist deep into the wall, shattering the tiles and creating a large hole, injuring his hand a little in the process.

"DAMN IT!" he shouted furiously.

Why? Why the hell did she do that for him? Why didn't she just run like anyone else would? She could have lived, she could have gotten back with Taiyang and her daughter and made up for her actions and...

And nothing.

His sister died to save him and there was nothing he could do about it. This wasn't like the Nikos girl where the body had been teleported; he felt her die in his arms. There was no coming back from that.

Maybe he should have died instead, and then she could have a shot at a real life, not the violent, bloody one she claimed to prefer. But then again could both of the girls suffer losing him?

Total fucking no-win scenario.

He fell down to the floor and did something he had not done in years: he cried. He had held it in because he didn't want Cinder to have the pleasure, then he had to hold back the tears because he didn't want Ruby, Yang or anyone else to see him like this.

Years ago, on a particularly dark day in their lives when their father died Raven had refused to cry saying that "Tears are for the weak."

He felt pretty weak right now.

---

Ashe sat down on the bed in the small room he had been given, looking at the two photos. He looked at the one of his family and traced his finger gently around the young Cinder.

"I'm sorry sis, I wish I could have done more for you, maybe then..." he stopped himself with a sigh as he put the photo on the nightstand and then took up the picture of he and Mila.

"Well Mila, for better or for worse it's done. The Aura Crystal will finally be out of my hands tomorrow and... and now that son of a bitch is dead for good. I... I hope that you're somewhere up there, waiting for me and I can only hope that they'll let a fuckup like me in. Well, now what? Should I take Ruby's offer and live on the island like everything's okay? Or do I just go on being some wandering warrior? Maybe I should be an official Huntsman, if they'll have me." He placed the picture on the nightstand with the other, then he took off the two items around his neck.

He placed the whistle down, smiling at it, now knowing that despite all the hard times his mom still loved him. He looked at the ring and said "What to do with you? Maybe... I think there's someone else in need of a ring like you."

He wasn't lying, as he and Mila had forgotten to mention one little fact to Jaune, Pyrrha, and the others, the ceremony they had preformed had one little catch; Jaune and Pyrrha were now technically married.

Oh well, they can figure their lives out later. Hopefully they can just go home and be with each other forever. That's what those kids deserved.

The multiple Haakskeekahs had taken quite the toll on his aura, luckily not a dangerous toll as the energy the Aura Crystal had given him had owerfed him up enough to make all of those aura blasts, but he still felt dead tired.

He placed the ring down, turned off the light and gently hummed Mila's song to himself as he went to sleep before saying one last thing.

"We did it."

And for the first time in years, Ashe had a good dream.

---

Jaune lay on the bed Headmaster Argo had provided them, a wonderfully comfy queen-sized bed that had that odd feeling of being cool, yet cozy at the same time. Jaune had always liked that sensation and wondered if it had anything to do with how utterly worn out he was.

His clothes had been changed for light-gray shorts and a blue sleeveless shirt, which felt rather nice after being forced to wear the same clothes for days.

Jaune lifted up the shirt to look at his two new scars: one on the side where Ante had stabbed him and the other where Cinder's arrow tore through.

He was lucky, more than lucky really, his friends had saved him against all odds; he knew he could never find a way to repay them but at the same time he knew he wouldn't have to.

The sound of the bathroom door opening got his attention and he looked up to see Pyrrha clad in a brown t-shirt and black shorts, blushing a little bit as she approached him.

"Ready to go to sleep?" she asked.

"You bet. I feel like I could sleep for days." Jaune said with a smile.

"Me too, and I know we've all earned it." Pyrrha agreed as she walked around to the other side of the bed.

Jaune looked down as she laid back on the bed and said "Pyr... I... can we be together? Could we really work? I feel... I feel like I'm so..."

He was silenced by Pyrrha grabbing him and forcing him down with an incredibly passionate kiss, wrapping her legs around his waist and her hands caressing his head, her fingers massaging his scalp through his messy hair. Jaune was surprised at first but eagerly returned the kiss as he wrapped his arms around her midriff. The kiss continued for over a minute before they parted for air, they looked into each other's eyes and saw nothing but love for one another.

"I think we'll be okay." Pyrrha said with a smile.

They lay down next to each other with their legs intertwined, their arms hugging each other's bodies, and their faces just inches apart.

Pyrrha kissed Jaune one last time and said "I love you."

Jaune kissed her back and said "And I love you."

The two fell asleep with their bodies meshed together. They didn't know what the future would bring, but they knew that would never face it alone.

Soundtrack for the end: Can't Rain All the Time by Jane Siberry

Don't worry, we are most certainly not done. Another three or four chapters and then this part of the story will be over, and then I'll move on to the next story arc. Sorry if I scared you with that last cliffhanger.

Holy crap this was the longest chapter in the story.

Now important note: I have absolutely no idea how accurate any of the medical knowledge I used for Jaune's resuscitation is at all collected from limited knowledge and research, plus RWBY is fantasy so do not take this as legit medical guidelines, especially since the whole adrenaline shot bit was inspired by the 'Out of Gas' episode of Firefly and the scene from Pulp Fiction.

Okay, for Jason Argo, headmaster of Haven Academy, I think I named his something different in one of the earlier chapters but I cannot remember what it was nor can I find the name in the fic right now.

Sorry for the delay, blame Captain America Civil War and my little tradition of marathoning the Marvel CU movies before I go see the newest one and before you ask, yes it was awesome.

How about that letter from Shane Newville? Big freaking drama-bomb. Honestly, I kinda see a lot of good points and it doesn't at all feel like he's making it up. Apparently we were supposed to get JNPR vs. Raven, a bigger Blake and Yang vs. Adam fight, Ruby vs. Torchwick and Neo wasn't supposed to be on the airship, and we were supposed to get Pyrrha AND Jaune fighting Cinder, Pyrrha was still going to die but without that out of character sending Jaune away bit it may have been a little better but honestly it still would have been a very bad and insulting idea, stuffing her in the fridge for Jaune's development is a terrible idea, period. Plus I guess if it had been done the original way Jaune would have become a flat-out despised character instead of the love him or hate him one he is now. RT has really been acting up lately and as much as I love the first two Volumes of RWBY and all of RvB Pyrrha's death cost them a lot of my faith and this enforces it. Of course if they bring her back all will be forgiven but sadly it seems like they'll do whatever they please even if it's a bad idea.

I need all the feedback and encouragement I need so if you're reading this on fave, follow and leave a review and if you're on AO3 leave a kudos and a comment. Seriously, I need as much coverage as possible and every little bit helps me, lifts my spirit and keeps this story going.

And once again, big thanks to smstanton for helping me out, check out his fic 4 Years of Beacon if you're an Arkos shipper, it's an essential story to check out.