RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and created by the late Monty Oum.
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A big and happy shout-out to Kerlongsj Evert Orlejov and his fic Mercenary of No Kingdom, check it out, he helped me out in a big way so check out his story to repay him.
RWBY: Destiny of Remnant
Chapter 26: How the Time Flies By
Yang walked out onto the cliffside that overlooked the ocean. She shrugged off her beige jacket and sat down on the grass in front of the two small grave markers and she looked up to the blue, cloud dotted sky. She sighed as she forced herself to look at the two markers and said "Hi moms... it's uh... been a while, huh? Moms... that sounds a bit weird, should I go one at a time? I guess it's okay if I talk to both of you."
It had been nearly five months since the Battle of Haven, Ruby and Yang returned home accompanied by Patch's new residents; the Polendinas, while Jaune and his family returned to Cadia where Pyrrha and her parents moved to shortly after, Weiss returned to Atlas while Ren, Nora, and Blake went to Vale with Glynda and the rest of the teachers while Team SSSN remained at Haven and Team CFVY returning to the respective homes.
After they returned home from City of Haven they preformed a funeral ceremony, afterwards they cremated Raven's body and placed her ashes in a small hole next to Summer's grave. Yang originally was against the cremation but Taiyang and Qrow convinced her that it was what Raven wanted in case she died. Yang thought it a bit odd, did not complain any further.
"It's been... well I don't know how it works in the afterlife so maybe I'm just telling you stuff you already know but it's been okay for me ever since we got back, I mean I have a new and improved arm so who am I to complain, right?" she voiced aloud as she looked at her robotic hand. "A lot of people out there probably can't afford it so I'm pretty lucky all things considered. Ruby's okay, but I guess you both know that already, I mean she comes out here often enough."
She looked to Summer's grave and said "Moms, or should I call one Mom-A and the other Mom-B? Mom one and Mom two? Oh screw it, mom, I'm sorry I couldn't be there for Ruby when she left. I... I should have slapped myself out of the depression and went with her but no, Jaune of all people looked after her. That's a pretty big blow to the ego, I mean he's a nice guy, don't get me wrong, but the knowledge that he was there for her while I wasn't... man I suck. After you died I made a promise that I would always look after Ruby and I am so, so sorry I forgot it. I was feeling so sorry for myself that I neglected my little sister; I was supposed to take care of her but I... I just let her go. And she pulled through, that amazing little girl made it out of there, because... maybe Ruby is some big ole Chosen One or something like that or maybe she's just that awesome."
She allowed silence to reign for a few minutes as if waiting for a response even though she knew it wouldn't come.
"I hope you can forgive me for failing you, I promise I won't let her go again. I promise, for real this time, that as long as I can help it she'll never have to fight without me again or... I can't promise too much mom, she's just a pure Huntress, I couldn't stop her from charging into battle even if I chained her to the bed. I know I can't always look after her but I promise I will try, for you, for dad, and for Ruby." Yang finished as she placed a hand on Summer's grave.
She looked to the other grave marker and said "I know this is awkward, Ruby's been out here more than I have since we got back, it's just that I... I'm ashamed of how we parted ways. I should have said 'I love you' back, but I didn't because I was stupid, careless, and... confused. This is just so screwed up. I hope you can hear me because I want you to know just how sorry I am that I never let you know how much I love you when you were alive, I know it's too late but I can only hope that you're up there somewhere and that you can hear me. I hope you can forgive me for how I hurt you mom, because now I can say it; I love you mom."
Silence took over once again; the only sounds were the wind, the sea clashing with the rocks below the cliff, and the birds in the trees.
"I'll make you proud mom, both of you, I swear! I'll make Cinder pay for what she did to you, and Ashe, and Cardin, and..." Yang struggled with what to say. "She won't get away with it, I will avenge you."
Cardin...
Yang remembered Cardin's funeral she and the rest of her team attended in Atlas, in a town called Starkwane. They had to have a closed casket funeral because the body, or what was left of it, had been so horribly mangled that Cardin's family had no alternative. Teams JNPR, CFVY, SSSN, and what was left of Team CRDL all attended the wake, as well as many other teams from Beacon that Yang knew casually or by sight. She remembered Jaune had been hesitant about attending the services because he hadn't forgiven Cardin for what the rich teen had done to him until it was too late. Man did Yang know what that felt like.
Nevertheless Jaune attended the funeral and met with Cardin's parents and two younger brothers, who made it clear that despite their grief over Cardin's death they did not blame Jaune. In truth they were proud of Cardin for going out of his way to help someone who he had once tormented and blackmailed, proud that he sacrificed himself for others, proud that he helped foil the plans of some malevolent force unknown to them.
In the end Cardin had been an inspiration to his two little brothers to become the best Huntsmen they could be one day and help in the fight against the Grimm to honor the memory of their fallen brother. Jaune, happy that the Winchester family didn't hold a grudge against him for the death of their loved one, felt at ease and remained respectfully silent for the rest of the service.
Cardin's remains were cremated and the urn laid to rest in the Winchester mausoleum while his mace, recovered from the chamber, was proudly displayed in the Winchester home as a memorial to his heroic sacrifice. Velvet had added to the memorial by decorating it with flowers as a way of mourning her former tormentor and a way of thanking him for his change of heart and selfless act, making Cardin's mother even prouder that her son had overcame his old prejudice and befriended a Faunus before he died.
Yang knew that if anything Cardin's sacrifice made her even more determined, if someone like Cardin Winchester, a bully and all around jerk could change into a better person then surely she could change too. She promised to never let herself be overwhelmed by misery or depression again, which was easier with the friends she had.
She stood up and said "I'm sorry for the short visit but you know me, never one to stay too long, even though it's in my name, right? Heh... I gotta get going. Ruby and Penny are out hunting some Grimm so I should probably go and help 'em out."
Yet another awkward silence took over before Yang said "I love you both, goodbye."
And with that the blonde bombshell walked back into the forests of Patch Island, not noticing the raven watching her from above in a tree until it cawed at her. Yang looked up to the branch it was perched on and smiled. "A raven, oh that's just perfect... irony? No, that's not the word." She said as she shook her head and continued her trek back into the woods.
The bird continued to mournfully watch Yang as she walked away and once she was out of sight it flew off its perch into the blue sky.
The sixteen year old girl in a red and black hood and cape stood still in the meadow, seemingly enjoying the sunny sky and the pleasant day. Then she took out her weapon, Crescent Rose Mark 2 and it unfolded into its full, beautiful form, crimson and black, sleek, sharp, and deadly. Loaded with several different cartridge slots of Dust ammunition that were loaded up in an chamber that rotated to make the different types of Dust interchangeable.
"Come and get it, doggies." Ruby said as the pack of Beowolves slowly stalked out of the forest.
She heard the steps behind her and knew the ones before weren't alone. She gave a quick glance behind her and counted, then she looked back to see that the main pack was getting closer. All together they were twenty-five, maybe twenty-six strong. This was going to be too easy.
She looked to the back to see the Alpha Beowulf, the largest of them and clearly the oldest as its claws were long and its fur dirty and ragged, its eyes having this odd aura of wisdom to it.
It roared and the smaller Beowolves charged Ruby.
"Finally." Ruby muttered as she jumped forward and sliced two down with Crescent Rose's scythe blade. She fired a round into the ground and she went flying. She fired off the sniper rifle portion of the weapon in rapid succession, blasting four more, killing them and blasting off their limbs, causing dark ashes to fall to the ground as the bodies disintegrated. She landed effortlessly on her feet and quickly whirled around to cut a Beowulf in half lengthways as it tried to pounce on her from behind.
She began to wildly swing Crescent Rose around to keep them at bay, her Semblance aiding her and creating a wild cyclone of red, black, and rose petals. The Beowolves surrounded her, growling and snarling, ready to attack but knew to keep a distance for the time being, lest they be sliced apart by the sharp and deadly blade.
"Now!" Ruby yelled.
All of a sudden a shape launched out of the trees and into the sky. Penny came down with her swords rotating in a circle around her. She landed next to Ruby as the crimson reaper stopped spinning and the robotic girl's swords slammed down, all ten of them impaling a Beowulf, each sword hit its intended target easily and killed them instantly.
"Good job Penny! That's seventeen down already." Ruby praised as she got Crescent Rose ready.
"Thank you Ruby, this should be easy." Penny said as she used the strings to pull the swords out of the ground and bring them up behind her, using one to slash down a lone Beowulf who had tried to get around them. "Correction Ruby; eighteen down and there are only eight left."
"Then let's make this quick, we'll take the Alpha on together." Ruby said.
"Good strategy!" Penny chirped, and with that the two ran into battle.
Ruby blasted and cut down four Beowolves with quick and deadly swings of Crescent Rose's blade while Penny transformed her arm into its cannon form and blasted three more down in the legs and midsection for maximum efficiency.
The Alpha roared as it jumped out and tried to slam its large claws into Ruby, only for the small girl to jump out of the way and land on her back. She quickly transformed Crescent Rose to sniper rifle mode again and began blasting at the Alpha. She managed to hit it twice but due to its age it was much harder to kill than an average Grimm.
It let out a screaming roar and jumped up, its claws ready to stab into her body before Penny slammed her swords into the Alpha's back. It roared out in pain but did not die, even though black smoke began to wisp off its back. It whipped around, grabbed the strings and sent Penny flying into a tree a hundred meters away, which caused the strings to yank the swords out of the Alpha's back.
The Alpha turned to face Ruby just in time for its right arm to be blasted off by an explosive round of Dust.
"Oh yeah! Who's goin' down? You are!" Ruby cheered... before she was cut off by another Beowulf slamming into her from behind. "Ah!" she cried.
"Oh dear! I may have miscounted!" Penny called as the Alpha Beowulf roared as the subordinate continued to pin down the struggling Ruby. Penny quickly got up and began running towards them crying "My strategy may have been flawed but my wrath is without mercy!" but before she could reach her friend a bright, burning figure of yellow light rushed out of the forest and knocked the younger Beowulf off a Ruby with a punch so strong it was reduced to black dust in seconds.
Yang smiled at her little sister and said "Could you just for once stay out of trouble?"
"Nope." Ruby answered as she aimed Crescent Rose's gun barrel at the Alpha Grimm that was now attempting to retreat. She fired and the explosive round hit it in the back of head. The large Grimm roared out in pain for a split-second before its head exploded and showered the immediate area with black dust and smoke as it fell, its body disintegrating.
"Good job Ruby, took that overweight canine down like a pro." Yang said as she ruffled Ruby's hair with her remaining organic hand.
"Thanks Yang, how did you find us so fast?" Ruby asked.
"All I had to do was follow the sounds of chaos and destruction." The older sibling joked before she looked to Penny and said "I'm assuming you were pretty awesome too, but you might want to work on your battle cry, try to sound more threatening, okay?"
"What was wrong with it? Was I not threatening enough?" Penny asked with a tilt of the head.
"Just sound a little bit meaner, okay? No offense Pen, but sometimes you're just unintentionally adorable or awkward, sometimes both." Yang explained.
Penny looked sad for a short second but quickly recovered and gave her friends a confident smile and said "I'll do my best to improve."
"Good, it'll be dark in a few hours so we should head home. Another day, another Beowulf pack." Ruby said as she began walking back into the forest.
"How many packs have we taken out since we got back?" Yang asked.
"Eleven by my count." Penny answered.
"Man, if Jaune and Pyrrha want to practice controlling Grimm they should just come here, plenty of Beowolves to work on." Yang remarked as they continued their walk home.
Weiss stabbed her blade into a training robot before it could dodge her attack; the screen on the wall beeped and read out "Non-Fatal Area Hit."
"Good." She muttered, today's training session involved attacking non-fatal areas, so as to wound and incapacitate enemies, not kill them. That was something Weiss knew she would need a lot of practice in for the coming battles as she had no doubt in her mind that they would be fighting Salem and her minions in the future and taking one of them alive would be a good way to get more information about the so-called Mistress of Grimm.
As she continued her training exercises she became aware that she was no longer in the room. She looked over to the door to see her father observing her as she effortlessly dodged a lazy swing from a training robot's weapon.
Ever since she had returned home she had been quick to notice the cold distance between her older sister and their father, apparently her father had some rather cruel words for Winter when he believed her a traitor to Atlas. To say that Willow Schnee had been shocked when he learned that his eldest daughter was telling the truth would very much be an understatement, he apparently fell to his knees in shock when the truth about Ironwood reached him, for he then realized that Winter had been telling the truth, and he was prepared to let her rot in a cell for the rest of her life.
Willow had tried to make it up to his daughter; he apologizes constantly, he agreed with Weiss' demands to help pay for Nadir's operation so he could have a new arm, and most of all he tried everything he could to make amends with Winter but she would have none of it. Winter simply ignored every attempt at rekindling the relationship their father made.
Weiss still didn't know exactly what happened between the two while she was in Haven, but it obviously couldn't have been the happiest of encounters.
As she finished off the last training robot with a slash to the forearm she called "Computer, end training program."
"Acknowledged." The computer said as the training robots got back up and returned to their posts. Weiss walked back to her father who was now sitting down on a bench watching as his daughter approached him.
"You're doing marvelously, child. The way you move reminds me of your mother, graceful even in battle." He said with a sad smile.
Weiss closed her eyes as she sat down next to her father, knowing he rarely ever talked about her late mother, Gwyneth Schnee, so this had to have been hard for him but she knew this was a conversation very much long overdue.
"Father, I think it's time we..." she began before he interrupted her.
"Have you spoken to Winter recently?" he asked. The gap between he and his eldest daughter was obvious, despite every attempt he made to apologize to her she would have none of it.
"You know I have, she is doing well, earlier this week she led an attack on a large horde of Grimm several hundred miles to the north." Weiss said, knowing he was dancing around the topic of his late wife. He looked at her, right in her eyes and smiled.
"You look so much like your mother, both you and your sister. The eyes especially, you both have the same wonderful eyes I fell in love with so long ago." He said as tried, and failed, to hide his sadness.
"Father... you have avoided the topic of mother for years but for months you have also avoided what happened with you and Winter while I was in Haven. Winter will not tell me but I deserve to know, so please tell me." Weiss said.
Willow looked at his youngest child and said "Both of you are so direct and to the point, just like her. While you and your friends were on the run with the robot... Penny," he quickly corrected, "I said some rather harsh words to her; I called her a traitor to our country, I insinuated she was a fool for trusting Branwen, and I... I stated that your mind was poisoned by your friends from Beacon, and that is why, I thought, you helped free Penny."
Weiss said nothing; she remained silent as he continued. "I said derogatory things about the Faunus race and... I was cold to her, very cold and very distant. I didn't even try to help her or try to understand why either of you did what you did. I was blind and foolish not to see it until it was too late. Many of our corporate rivals, both major and minor, have called us cold, uncaring, and cruel, I always dismissed that as them being bitter and jealous but when I was told Winter was right about Ironwood..."
Weiss looked at her father and saw the look of misery and regret on his face and in his eyes. She placed her hands atop his and said "You were angry and didn't know the whole story, maybe we should have told you about our plan but we knew you wouldn't go along with it."
"No, I wouldn't have. I would have reported you to Ironwood as quickly as I could." Willow admitted bitterly. "I'm afraid my old ways have come back to bite me, you and Winter, you are the next generation, you leave mine in the dust."
"Father, you will have to try and mend your relationship sometime, you can't just let this go on." Weiss stated.
"I tried for a few weeks to speak to her but she rebuked me rather bluntly. The things I said to her... if you were there you'd probably refuse to speak to me as well." Willow voiced.
"Maybe so, but I know that eventually we'd have to get back in touch. I know you're set in your old ways, you are loyal to Atlas and blindly trust in its leaders, you look upon the Faunus race as sub-humans, but I think you can change for the better. I know I did." Weiss said with a gentle voice.
Willow Schnee looked at his youngest daughter with tears in his eyes and said "You truly are becoming more and more like your mother each day."
Weiss smiled with tears of her own as she hugged her father, all the while she knew she would have to formulate a plan to mend the relationship between her father and sister.
Blake sat on a stool reading a book in the small room she had been given at the Vale Grimm Resistance headquarters, it was a small room with only a bed, a table, a drawer, and a lamp but it was enough for her. Glynda was not in Vale at the moment, as she was with Ozpin at the council's headquarters at a city in the north of the kingdom so Oobleck led the operations for the time being.
The last few months had been a tedious cycle of fighting off Grimm from the city while construction crews and those with the rights Semblances worked to repair the city. It had been decided that Glynda and the others would need to make a big push into Beacon to truly drive the main Grimm population out, and then it would be an easy task of keeping them at bay for the school to be repaired and put back into commission.
She finished reading a chapter of her novel and placed a bookmark in between the pages for later. She got up and put on a white jacket and loaded up Gambol Shroud with some Dust cartridges as she exited the room, ready for her patrol duty on the eastern perimeter.
She walked down the hall, nodding to the occasional passerby until she reached the main hall of the building they were held up in and smiled at Ren and Nora who were coming back from their patrol. Both had grown out their hair, with Nora's looking, for lack of a better word fluffier, while Ren's hair had grown out quite a bit and he had taken to wearing an outer tailcoat in a darker shade of green.
Nora spotted Blake and quickly began waving enthusiastically to her. "Hey Blake! You'll never guess what kind of Grimm we ran into today!" she invited.
"What? Something unusual?" Blake asked.
"Oh yeah, I'll give you a hint: it could be considered part of your family." The orange-haired girl teased as she poked Blake's bow.
"Feline Grimm... Sabers?" she asked, her eyes widening in surprise.
"Bingo!" Nora confirmed.
"It's very odd, Sabers rarely ever appear outside of the Vacuo jungles, it's not unheard of but it is highly unusual." Ren stated as he confirmed what Nora was saying, knowing Blake would jump to the conclusion that the energetic hammer wielder would exaggerate things.
"This doesn't feel good, the longer we wait to move in on Beacon the more Grimm will move in, the tighter their grip will be on it." Blake said, considering the implications of Sabers being there.
Sabers were Grimm that resembled tigers, black with white stripes with spiked tails, sharp claws with adhesive gel on their paws that allowed them to scale building with ease and long, sharp fangs jutting out of the top of their jaw. It one got a strong enough grip on you with its mouth you'd be a goner for sure. Even if they merely scratched you with their long teeth you'd be infected by a venom that coated the fangs, which was easily cured with a antidote, which needed to be administered quickly so no permanent damage could stick but the venom's effects would still render the victim out of the fight for about a week.
"They weren't anywhere near your area, found em' on the west side. We only took down a few but most of the pride ran to Beacon." Nora explained.
"Making the numbers of the Grimm more of a problem." Ren added.
Blake nodded and replied "Well when the time comes to reclaim Beacon we will doubtlessly have the numbers to do it, I just hope we can do it without injury. See you later, I'm off for my patrol."
"Goodbye Blake, see you for dinner later." Ren said as she walked out.
"Feel free to drop by our room anytime, though if you hear weird noises just keep walking!" Nora joked.
Ren blushed profusely and cried "Nora!"
"I'm just joking Renny." She giggled as she playfully poked him.
Blake repressed a laugh as she shook her head and left the building, highly amused by the couple's antics. It was an odd match up, but they weren't unlike Sun and herself, though Sun was much more subdued than Nora could ever be.
Her relationship with the Monkey Faunus was overall a good one, while Sun and his team remained in Haven he kept in contact with Blake nearly every day, even if it was just to remind her he cared for her. There were days they weren't able to talk to one another; be it her being out or he studying for a test, but all in all their relationship was a healthy one.
Much healthier that her previous one ever was but she shook those thoughts away.
She went about her patrol route, a small part of the eastern area of the city among some old buildings and a park near the forests but one that had very little Grimm activity. During her time on the run she had stayed in Vale, taking out Grimm whenever she could, avoiding detection, and she knew the town better than most, due to her being able to freely move about without restrictions while it was abandoned.
As she went about her routines her mind kept wandering to Adam and Claudandus, it had been months since she had seen either of them and despite General Ironwood's best efforts there had been no major progress in finding the White Fang's base after the one in the Mistral Mountains had been abandoned. She pulled a few strings to get in contact with an old friend who was still part of the White Fang, but only out of fear of his life. Blake knew that after the murder of Tukson and several others a lot of good Faunus would be too afraid to even risk voicing the idea of leaving.
She remembered her fight with Adam in Beacon, the distant, but angry sound in his voice, the way he called her his 'love'... he didn't even hesitate in trying to murder her or Yang.
Blake shivered at the thought of the monster her old love had become.
She thought of Claudandus and prayed for his safety. She couldn't help but think if she had stayed then he'd be okay, he'd still live a life of solitude but at least he'd be free. She didn't even know if he was alive or dead at the moment.
She walked to the forest and came to the edge of a small cliff overlooking a creek and she looked up into the trees, hoping to spot a bird. Her ears stood at attention, hoping to catch a specific type of bird call and after a few minutes of waiting she heard it. She imitated the bird call in a specific manner and a bird flew down from the treetops and landed on a log behind her.
"Finally, I was getting worried about you, Swoop." She said to the bird as she sat on the log, placing her hand down so the bird could hop on. She saw the small note wrapped around the messenger bird's leg and carefully slipped it off. "Please have something about him." She said to herself as she unfolded the small piece of paper.
"Blake, haven't found him and I don't know where he is yet but from what I've heard and what I've asked Razor and the others Claudandus is still alive. I know he's not with Adam but I don't even come close to having the clearance to know where they put the old cat. I'll keep digging for info and send when I get something, send Swoop back to me with a reply. - J"
Blake sighed and knew this wasn't good, if her contact couldn't get a sure fix on his location then Claudandus' life was still on the line, but at least he was still alive for the time being.
At least she had hope for her old friend.
She took out a small piece of paper and a pen so she could quickly write down a note of her own.
"Thank you, this means a lot to me. Good luck and stay safe. - Blake."
She folded it up and tied it to the leg of the bird and said "Thank you for the message, go home." And with that the bird took off into the sky and flew away.
Blake went back to her patrol duty and made a silent prayer that everything would be okay. After they retook Beacon she would have to have a talk with Glynda and Ozpin about Claudandus and the potential of a rescue mission.
Seven and a Half Months Ago
Fotia silently followed Cinder into the deeper parts of the factory they currently resided in. She had only been here for a month and a half and after recovering from what she the Grimm hybridization process she entered into a strict training regime with Cinder, Steppenwolfe, Ziz, Sheer Kaa, and other servants of Mistress Salem. She had fought incredibly well in those weeks, her body homed to perfection but now it was time for her true purpose to be revealed.
She knew she was to be a Grimm Commander like Ziz and Steppenwolfe but thus far they had been keeping the type of her primary Grimm a secret. All they had told her was that it was something big. Was it a Goliath? A Nevermore? A King Taijitu? A Beringel? It could be anything.
Cinder apparently noticed the worried look on Fotia's face and said "Don't worry, this Grimm can be a bit unruly but I will be there if it tries anything."
Fotia smiled with a grateful look as they approached a large door that opened automatically. Fotia followed Cinder into to the giant underground chamber in which she would be training with this Grimm. She took a few moments to gaze around the cavern and appreciated how utterly huge it was before Cinder called out "Bring it in."
The large door on the other end of the cavern opened up and Fotia's jaw dropped at what she witness.
A Wyvern, a type of Grimm that was a little over the size of a car but when full grown it would be the size of several buildings was led out by over two dozen of the Grimm keepers with bands on its wings that would electrocute it if it tired to break free.
"Alright everybody, keep moving. Heads up!" barked Matilda as she lead the beast inside.
Cinder glanced and couldn't help but smirk at the overwhelmed look on the younger girl's face. "This will be your assigned Grimm, a Wyvern."
"B-but how?! I thought they were incredibly rare!" Fotia cried. She had been able to control Grimm before, Beowolves, Death Stalkers, Boarbatusks, but never anything like this. Sheer Kaa had praised her, saying she was gifted and could bond with them easily, but she didn't know if she was ready for this.
"Oh yes, they are indeed. You see, when we freed the last Wyvern during the attack at Beacon it laid an egg before it escaped from its prison within the mountain, just as Mistress Salem predicted it would. You see, when imprisoned for long periods of time Wyverns lay eggs and keep them warm, but the eggs cannot hatch without sunlight, when the Wyvern burst out of the mountain it felt my master's presence around me and did our bidding. Once it began rampaging through Vale it was only a simple task to quickly move in and take the egg. Mistress Salem did not predict losing the elder Wyvern but she knew about this egg. We will have more Wyverns in the future but with this one you shall lead them in the coming war." Cinder elaborated.
Fotia nodded and carefully began to approach the young Wyvern and asked "It's so small... I read that Wyverns were massive, why is it so small?"
"It's only a month old, it will grow very rapidly in the coming months and it won't obtain the ability to spawn minor Grimm for years but now is the time for you to... bond with the creature." Cinder explained before quickly warning "Be careful, even at this young age its fire breath can still disfigure you."
Fotia nodded and approached the young Grimm with care.
The Keepers got out of the way as the beast roared and noticed Fotia, sensing the fear within her.
"H-hello... I'm Fotia Drakos and I'm your... partner, I guess? Commander? Some would say master, but I don't really feel comfortable using that term. Mistress Salem is the only master after all, but... oh I'm babbling. I'm sorry, I'm rather..."
Fotia was cut off as the young Wyvern roared and unleashed a powerful barrage of fire upon her. She screamed and braced herself but despite the heat didn't feel the flame touch her. She opened her eyes to see the flames being repelled away from her by Cinder.
Cinder looked at her and stated "You have to be firm with these things." She took control of the fire and sent it right back at the Grimm, slamming it into the wall, injuring it, but not killing it. She looked down to Fotia and said "You have to be swift and firm and prepared for without a weapon..."
Without any warning Fotia was lifted up by Cinder's Maiden powers and thrown on to the back of the Wyvern which roared in defiance as it began to wildly rampage around the large cavern. The teenage Grimm hybrid was scared out of her wits and she knew the young Grimm could feel her anxiety, but she knew she had to try.
She climbed up towards it's head and straddled its neck as she placed her hands on its head. "Listen to me! Please! I can feel the anger and sorrow within you, the darkness, but if we cooperate with each other we can be a force for good!" she cried out as it continued roaring. She looked at the soft placement of skin beneath the 'mask' bone structure and got an idea. "Listen to me!" she screamed as she slammed a fist into the soft skin.
It roared in pain and screeched to a halt and fell over, forcing Fotia to clamber around it's neck, avoid it's wide mouth, and get up to its muzzle so it could stare it right in the eye.
"Fotia! Catch!" Cinder called as she tossed her a sword. Fotia caught it and held it up to the young Wyvern's eye.
She looked at the Grimm's blood red eye and could see into it, and it stared right back at her. She could see the darkness within it but there was something else, something she hadn't sensed in the other Grimm... fear.
"Please, I don't want to hurt you... I want to help you become strong. You can help me with that goal as well and together we will change the world. We can do great things, but only if you work with me." she pleaded. She gently pressed her hand against its snout to let it know her intentions. "Please, I... I can tell there's something about you, your kind aren't mindless beasts, are you?"
The Wyvern seem to calm down, but it was breathing roughly and a small flame burned at the back of its throat. It looked at this thing that smelled of human and of Grimm, it could understand her words and what she wanted. It looked into her eyes and saw pain, fear, and a desire to make a difference.
It moaned gently and made a choice as Fotia gently got off its snout and then it leaned its head towards her. She held out her unarmed hand and let the thing pressed up against her, like a cat or a dog would.
Fotia's red eyes were now wide with amazement and she said "I did it... I did it!" She turned to see Cinder who nodded with approval as the younger girl began to affectionately rub the dragon Grimm.
"Well done Fotia, I think this partnership will prove to be quite interesting."
Pyrrha was snapped out of her memories by the sound of the door opening and footsteps coming down the stairs.
"Sorry I took so long Pyr, I just needed that shower to wake me up." Jaune said as he came down, slightly wet, from the upstairs of the Nikos family's new home down to the training area in the basement. Because of the duty she now shared with Jaune her parents agreed to move from Mistral to Cadia in Vale so the two teenage Grimm Hybrids could be together and protect the Aura Crystal. The new Nikos house was a large and impressive three story, four if you counted the basement, home a block away from the Arc residence.
Ever since they moved in Pyrrha and Jaune had spent their days together as an official couple and would either tour the city or train and today was a training day. The problem, however, was that Jaune was suffering from drowsiness and as a result he was taking more hits from Pyrrha and wasn't putting up a good performance so he quickly took a shower in one of their guest bathrooms to wake himself up.
Pyrrha's hair had grown back to it's original length while Jaune had stayed the same, save for his hair being slightly longer and shaggier. Pyrrha looked into Jaune's eyes and could still see he was tired, not to be unexpected as they had been training for hours but she had noticed that he looked when he arrived earlier.
She took a brief moment to admire his body, while his body wasn't totally dry from the shower the sweat on his shirt made the developing wiry muscles of his attractive body stand out a bit and... he looked quite good.
"Ummm... Pyrrha?" he announced, snapping Pyrrha out of her gaze.
"Oh, I'm sorry Jaune I was... distracted." she said with a blush, which made him blush too.
"Okay, let's get back to the jabbing and blocking lessons, shall we?" he asked.
"Yes, let's." Pyrrha said as she went back into 'instructor mode' as Jaune affectionately dubbed it.
For ten minutes they traded blows with Pyrrha making quick jabs at Jaune's torso and Jaune sluggishly blocking or dodging them, but for the most part Pyrrha managed to land a hit, which made her concern for her boyfriend grow. He wasn't the best fighter, even after the vast improvements he had made in the last nine months or so but he was much better than this. Pyrrha unleashed a sequence of several fast jabs, Jaune avoided one, failed to block two and finally with the fourth he went down on his rear.
"Ow!" he cried.
"Oh! I'm sorry! Did I hurt you?" she asked as she got on her knees next to him.
"I'm okay Pyr, I'm sorry I'm so useless today, I didn't get much sleep last night and..." Jaune didn't bother to finish, he could see the look in Pyrrha's beautiful emerald eyes, a look of concern and of love.
"Jaune, love, please tell me what has been going on in your dreams." she said.
The nightmares. He had been suffering through them for months now. Once it got so bad he woke up screaming and called her in the middle of the night just to make sure his dream hadn't come to pass. He had been very reluctant to talk about them and would stubbornly withhold details from her, and this made Pyrrha worry even more.
"I... I can't okay. I don't want you to..." he tried to say before she cut him off with a kiss which he quickly returned.
"Nothing you could say would change the way I feel about you. You make me feel things I don't understand and have never felt before. I love you Jaune, so please trust me and tell me what your nightmares are about. Please." she said.
Jaune looked into her eyes and tears began to well within his.
"Pyrrha, I think the piece of Grimm that's still within me is making me worry, like what if it grows? In my nightmares I remember the night Ruby and I were captured. I can hear your voice but its far and is telling me something I can't understand. I see Ante's thugs rushing to attack an injured Ruby so I protect her and I... I kill some of them. Once I'm done I hear it; laughter. I look up and see her..."
"Cinder." Pyrrha guessed correctly.
Jaune nodded and continued "I see her, laughing at me, mocking me. Telling me..." he stopped and buried his head in his hands. "Telling me I'm just as bad as she is and I can see myself, I look like how you used to, Ziz, that wolf guy and I'm covered in blo..."
He was cut off by Pyrrha grabbing him and hugging him tightly against her body.
"Jaune, you are nothing like her! Whatever you did... it was because you had no other choice. Killing is a terrible thing, but it isn't our fault when we are forced to do it." she said as she repressed the memory of that innocent man she killed and the two dozen abducted people that were slaughtered by the Grimm Knights. She had told Professor Argo and Lieutenant Morse about those people and managed to successfully identify them before she left Haven. She didn't, however, admit to what happened to the man she had been forced to kill. "Jaune, I want you to know this right now; you are nothing like that monster Cinder Fall! Neither of us are! We beat her before Jaune and we will beat her again when she comes back. I promise Jaune, I won't let her hurt you again."
"And I won't let anything or anyone hurt you." Jaune said as he kissed Pyrrha.
They just stayed like that, holding each other on the floor for several minutes before Jaune said "I'm really tired."
"All the sparring today has worn me out as well... let's go over to the sofa." Pyrrha said.
About twenty-odd minutes later Hera came down the staircase and said "Pyrrha honey, Jaune? I was wondering if either of you would like something to eat... oh my..." she said quietly to herself as she saw an adorable sight.
Jaune was sitting on the sofa with Pyrrha sitting sideways in his lap with her back resting against the arm of the couch while Jaune's arms were wrapped lightly around her body while she had her head buried into his neck while his head rested against hers. It took every ounce of restraint Hera had not to made a sound to express how cute she found the scene.
She quickly did what most mothers would do in this situation and took a photo with her scroll and muttered "Hello new screensaver." She went to the closet in the side of the basement and got out a blanket and covered the couple up with it and it warmed her heart to see her daughter, safe and alive with the boy she loved.
Hera tried to hold back the tears of joy, but failed to do so. With that she quietly made her way back upstairs but silently vowed that if Cinder Fall were to ever harm either of these children again she would split open skull and tear out her heart.
No one was going to harm her baby again.
As she shut the door Pyrrha became slightly aware of the blanket so as she fell asleep again she sleepily murmured to Jaune "I love you." as she snuggled into him.
"I love you too." he whispered back, unaware of Mrs. Nikos had ever been in the room.
"Oh come on Yang! Give me some mercy!" Ruby whined.
"Let me think about that. No!" Yang said, without even a second's hesitation as she effortlessly outraced Ruby in the video game they were playing in the living room.
The game they were playing was currently on a racing level and Ruby, despite her speedy nature, was never good at racing games, but Yang on the other hand was very talented at it.
"Oh come on! I'm like twenty thousand miles behind you... you just past me! You already completed the lap?!" Ruby cried.
"You shouldn't even try Rubes." Yang said with a smirk.
"Oh just wait 'til we get back to the fighting stages, I am going to kick your butt!" Ruby declared with a fiery determination in her voice.
Yang smiled at that, she knew Ruby was a bit better at fighting games then she was but it was fun to have times like this. Zwei barked in excitement, rooting for no one in particular, just happy to be there
Taiyang smiled as he entered the living room and said "Now girls, don't try drive yourselves crazy trying to one up each other at a video game again. Save that for the real action."
"We know dad." They both said as they kept concentrating on the game.
Taiyang sighed and repressed a chuckle before he heard his scroll ring. He took it out of his pocket and retreated into the kitchen so he could speak to the caller.
"Hello?"
"Hey Tai, miss me?" said the voice of Qrow.
"Like I miss a scab." Taiyang said with a good natured smirk as his brother-in-paw appeared on the screen.
"How are the girls doing?" Qrow asked.
"Doing pretty good, that arm you got for Yang has been wonderful and Ruby... well no matter what Ruby will always be Ruby. What's up with you?" the blonde man asked.
"Same old, same old. I am so damn happy that Oz's trial will be over soon, hell next week as a matter of fact." Qrow revealed.
"Really? About time." Taiyang stated. The trial had been dragged out for months due to the conflicting schedules of the collective council members from the various kingdoms so it could only be held on days when all members were available, none of them could simply miss it and read reports on it later due to how big of a deal it was. Ozpin was one of the most important people in Remnant, so it went without saying that if his capabilities were to be put under scrutiny the trial was an important one. It had mostly been kept quiet, no members of the press or the general public were allowed to know what was going on until the trial was over, so Taiyang had been kept in the dark ever since it began. The only thing he knew about it was when Ruby and Yang were called in as witnesses to the events at Beacon and how Ruby and Ozpin had been reunited in the factory. They weren't the only one, Jaune and Pyrrha had also been called in.
"They threw out the traitor bullshit two weeks in..."
"Two weeks? It should have been thrown out in two minutes." Taiyang ranted.
"Hey, the councilors are just a bunch of politicians and bureaucrats. You know; assholes and morons." Qrow offered, getting a big laugh out of Taiyang. "Anyway Tai the trial will conclude next week and Ozpin spoke to me today, he wants you and the girls to be there."
"Sure thing." Taiyang agreed.
"Not just our family, their teammates, JNPR, CFVY, SSSN... I know that old teacher well enough to know when he has a scheme forming in his brain." Qrow said with a considering look on his face.
"What do you think he's up to?" Taiyang inquired.
"Whatever it is, I think I'll like it. So tell the girls about the end of the trial, they'll be eager to be there. See you later Tai." Qrow said as he cut the transmission.
"You too old buddy." Taiyang bid as he ended the call. The blonde man looked to the living room where Ruby and Yang still played against each other ferociously.
"Oh yeah! Kicked your butt, little sis!" Yang taunted.
"Just wait, next level is a fighting stage and I will destroy you at it!" Ruby promised.
"You're on!" Yang accepted as Zwei yipped happily.
Taiyang smiled as his daughters played together, way too caught up in their game at the moment. He decided to let them have their fun for now and tell them later. What was the harm of letting them have fun while they still could?
And we're back!
Ready for Season 2 of Destiny of Remnant, or Volume 5 of the series? Then you're in luck.
Sorry for the short chapter but I felt it'd be better to start out just seeing how our friends are doing since the last chapter.
Also updates may come out less frequently after a while and I will be changing the rating to M in the future for... certain things other than violence.
In my time away I have rewatched all of Avatar The Last Airbender and the various comics (I love them, hope they'll come out faster) and Legend of Korra and I have read nearly 300 Transformers comics. So I am more than happy to get back to writing.
Next time we'll take a look at how Ozpin's Trial went over but so far we've established some new storylines: Jaune and Pyrrha training, a search for Claundandus, the schism in the Schnee family, flashback to Pyrrha and the Wyvern, and more will all be part of this story arc, which will have the White Fang as major villains. Expect more of RWBY, JNPR, SSSN, CFVY, Penny, Qrow, Winter, Ozpin, Glynda, Ziz, Adam, and more in the future. And yeah a lot of them will have their V4 designs, as evidenced by Ren and Nora's changes.
Also, about the Wyvern being different from other Grimm... yeah I'll be developing that more as we go.
If you enjoyed this and you've read it on fanfiction. net then review, favorite and follow and if you're on AO3 then leave a kudos and a comment. Tell me what you liked and what you didn't, please! The more feedback I get the more I will make, thank you everyone!