RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and created by the late Monty Oum.
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RWBY: Destiny of Remnant
Chapter 38: Nightmares Part I: Officer Down
Violet ran down the dark tunnels of Cadia's abandoned water treatment plant, away from the carnage she had unintentionally brought six other police officers into. There were four or five others on the outside but the way to that entrance had been blocked off by the thugs, leaving the Arc woman only one chance; run and hope to find a way out before one of these found her.
She had reported what she found out to her superior officers of the Cadia police force and she was placed on a small task force led by Captain Ganz with a warrant to search the old water treatment plant on the night her informant had told her the meeting between crime lord Ben Bressi and some others. What they had found what was most definitely a meeting between criminals but one of the guards had spotted them and a violent firefight started, but the perps had superior weapons and they tore her fellow officers, including the captain that led them in, apart within the span of three minutes. She had witnessed three of them get gunned down violently, with special bullets that devastated the organic beings they would hit, loaded up with enough Dust to blow entire limbs off and the body, draining aura as well so there would be no healing or comfort.
She didn't know how many of the others we still up and running but for now she could just hope the others got away, right now she needed to get out.
Just then her radio went off, the voice of the officer left in charge outside. "This is Hoffer, can anyone hear me? Captain? Arc? We've heard the gunshots, what's going on in there? Come in, anyone!"
Violet quickly grabbed her radio and said "Hoffer! This is Arc, we've been blitzed up bad, these guys are packing some serious firepower. It was dark but I know we've got at least three or four down, possibly even dead and that includes the captain! Call for backup now!"
"We already have and the E.T.A. is six minutes, hang on we're coming in to help."
"No! No, negative on that Hoffer, do not come in! If you do these S.O.B's will slaughter you guys too! I..."
Violet was interrupted by the sound of gunfire and furious yelling, probably between some thugs and one of the other cops. She whipped around and held out her pistol, ready to shoot at anyone she didn't recognize. She slowly walked backwards, occasionally looking over her shoulder as she down the hallway before saying into her radio "Okay, I saw one of the layout plans, there's an exit not to far away, I'll meet you outside, try to get in touch with one of the others, and once backup gets here tell them Bressi was here, along with... I don't know his name but I know he works at the nightclub down town and I think I recognized a few of these thugs of one of the others big guys, but I'll say more once I get outside. Over and out." she said as she quickly began to run forward, checking her corners to make sure she would have any nasty surprises.
She came to a large part of the hallway that had a highly raised ceiling with skylight windows before she heard a strange, wet clicking sound... coming from above her. Just then she noticed a shadow cast upon the floor, one that had eight limbs.
She looked up and gasped in shock and horror as she saw a man with glowing red eyes, a red hourglass mark on his forehead, slimy skin that while being a dark shade of brown still appeared to be pale with a few white splotches on his skin while his hands and feet seemed to be covered by a silky, white substance that kept him suspended t'o the ceiling, aided by the addition of four, long spider legs coming out of his back and hips.
"Hello there." he said menacingly before he jumped down at her. She opened fire on him but the first shot only grazed him as he kicked her in the chest, making her fall on her rear.
The spider thing landed on his feet and grinned down at her as his spider legs lifted him up to stand over her, but in the pale light Violet realized something.
"You're a Grimm Hybrid!"
"That's right, surprised you'd know about us, are we public knowledge yet? I'm Anansi, what's your name?" he asked with a dark smirk.
Violet yanked her gun up and fired at him but he easily sidestepped the bullet and used his unnatural legs to pin her down to the ground. "Hmm, feisty aren't you? Would you like to see my babies?" he asked as Violet just now noticed something was moving inside of his shirt. From out of his sleeves and some holes in his shirt came young Tarantula Widows which were the size of rats.
Violet screamed and brought her head up to bash him in the face, making him rear back. She held up her gun again and tried to shoot him before one of the young Tarantula Widows jumped onto her arm and bit her, making her cry out in pain. She threw the arachnid off and blasted it to the death only for the spider Grimm Commander slammed into her, his spider legs jabbing into her torso, one piercing her shoulder and another stabbing into her gut.
"Bitch!" he snarled as he barred his teeth and used the white spider silk on his hands to keep her arms stuck to the ground. "I'll enjoy this... wait a minute..." he said as he saw her name under her badge. "Arc?" He was obviously surprised at that... and then a sinister grin spread across his face, "Jackpot."
Just then an explosion went off from behind them and the Grimm Commander was thrown into the wall, Violet looked up to see one of the other cops that went in with them but she didn't know his name.
"Thanks man." she said as she placed a hand over her bleeding stomach that was currently glowing with aura.
"Damn it..." Anansi growled as he tried to get up before several bullets slammed into him, taking him out of commission for the time being.
Violet looked to her fellow cop only for him to drop down dead revealing someone standing behind him who had been holding the dead cop up. As he approached her she looked at him closely and said "I know you..."
"You don't know me, you just recognize me. I'll get you out of here, just tell your brother we're here and so is the new Grimm Hybrid." the man whispered to her as he used a knife to cut her free of the spider webs.
"You're a cop killer! Get awa... ugh!" she moaned in pain as her aura spiked up, trying to heal her fresh wounds.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you, no need to thank me." the man said sarcastically before leaning down to whisper "Tell your brother we're here, we leave tomorrow night." He followed that up by punching her in the face, knocking her unconscious and after he made sure Anansi was still out cold he picked violet up and ran down the hallway as he could hear police sirens in the distance.
He came to a side exit and placed her down on the ground and heard the footsteps of one of the cops who were trying to surround the building as the backup arrived, with over a dozen police cars and a SWAT van. "Looks like we're taking the sewer exit." he muttered as he took out a pistol and shot it into the air, getting the cop's attention.
"Freeze! Hands in the air now!" yelled the officer as she came around the corner only to see Violet on the ground out cold and the door closing with the sounds of footsteps echoing from inside the building. "Shit." the female officer muttered as she ran to Violet and took out her radio "Officer down! West side of the plant! It's Arc, she's hit in the stomach and shoulder, I think she's alive but we need to get her to a hospital!"
"Roger that, we're coming, just wake her up and keep her alive." said a voice over the radio.
The officer nodded and said "Roger that, over and out." She put her radio away and knelt down and cradled Violet's head gently. "Come on, stay with me..."
Jaune's hands were raised up and bound together, attached to the ceiling as he watched the horrific sight before him: Team RWBY, Ren, Nora, and the rest of Team Beacon standing before him and on the floor was a broken and bloodied Pyrrha, who was looking up and him and trying to say something.
"J-j-jaune..."
"Pyrrha! No! What the...?" he was silenced by a vicious punch from Yang.
"Quiet, freak-show!" she scolded, her eyes red with fury.
"What's going on? Why are you doing this?" he cried frantically
"We're Hunters, Jaune, you know what that entails." Ren stated with a dead monotone voice, "Ridding the world of all Grimm, and that includes hybrids like you, you pretender."
"You're both monsters now. We're doing you a favor, you're better off dead, especially you, you lying sack of crap." Nora snapped before slamming her hammer on Pyrrha's back, forcing the Spartan to spit up blood.
"No! Leave her alone!" Jaune screamed as he struggled to free himself. "We're not evil! We are trying to help you! I thought you were our friends!"
"How could anyone be friends with a pair of freaks like you?" Velvet said, an unnatural venom in her normally kind voice.
"Even if Pyrrha had some use to us you don't. You never did." Weiss said coldly as she gave Jaune an icy glare.
"And she won't cooperate unless we put up with you, and you're just not worth the effort so it's time to cut you both loose." Sun added as he slammed his bo-staff into Jaune's chest, making him cry out in pain.
"Right, who would ever want to put up with a whiny, pathetic little runt like you?" asked Blake as she slashed Gambol Shroud down on his leg.
"All you do is drag us down." Yatsuhashi stated as he slammed his fist into Jaune's chest.
"All you are is a burden." Fox said as he slammed down his blade into the blonde's hip.
"A waste of flesh." Neptune hissed and he shot Jaune in the back.
"An abomination." said Penny as she held Pyrrha up, revealing the girl he loved covered with cuts, bruises, and blood.
Jaune looked up to see his family standing nearby in the dark place they were in and called to them, "Mom! Dad! Bianca! Violet! Help us! PLEASE!"
They all looked at him with dead, emotionless expressions before turning around and walking away.
"No... no, please come back! Please! Don't leave me!" he yelled. He looked down to Pyrrha and said "Pyrrha, I'll save you, I promise!"
"J-jaune...?"
"I'm here... AH!" he cried as Coco slammed her purse into his head.
"Jaune, please help me! They're going to kill us! Please sa..."
She was silenced by Ruby slicing open her throat open, killing her.
"NO!" Jaune screamed in anger, sorrow and horror.
Ruby looked up to him, her bright eyes now a dull, sinister silver. She licked Pyrrha's blood off of her scythe and said "Don't worry Jaune, she's free now. She deserved to die, it was her destiny. And now you get to die to."
She swung her blade at him as he screamed.
Jaune screamed as he woke up, only to find himself in a camp site with Ruby, Nora, and Ren standing over him.
"Jaune? Jaune, wake up!" cried Ruby.
Jaune sat up and moaned "Holy crap, what a nightmare... where are we?"
"We just left Sion, remember?" Nora asked.
Jaune looked at his three friends and realized that they were wearing their newer outfits, something was wrong, very wrong.
"Sion? No, Ruby's in Vacuo with the others and we're in Vale with... Pyrrha..." he said.
The other three teens gave each other sad looks before Ruby said "Jaune, we all miss Pyrrha..."
"No, she's alive! We found her in Haven! With... Ashe and Cinder... and... what the hell is going on?" he asked, utterly dumbfounded.
"Jaune, who is Ashe? What are you talking about?" asked Nora, confused.
"Jaune, I know you miss Pyrrha, I miss her too. Heck, even I've been having dreams about her but you..." Ruby began before Jaune cut her off.
"No! No, this has to be a dream. There is no way everything I have went through in the last nine months was a dream!" he yelled as he ran away into the forest.
"Jaune! Wait..." Ruby's last word was slurred as she and the other two members of Team RNJR faded away.
Jaune looked back to see that his friends had vanished "What the hell is..." before he could finish that sentence he turned around and came face to face with Cinder Fall. He screamed out in shock and fell backwards, looking up to see Cinder with an 'x' shaped scar across her face and with shorter hair.
"I am going to destroy you, her destiny was to die by my hand, and you will share that fate." she said evilly as she took out her bow and arrow.
"No, no, no, wake up, wake, WAKE UP DAMN IT!" he yelled at himself as he crawled backwards, only to bump into a wall. He looked up to see a tall, seemingly endless wall reaching into the clouds. He looked back down to see that Cinder had vanished.
"This is crazy, I'm dreaming, I have to be." he said as he got up. He slapped himself in an attempt to wake up but he didn't feel any pain. "Great." he bemoaned.
Then he noticed something on the wall; a mirror, and the reflection that appeared to a Grimm Commander version of himself, as in what he could have looked like if Pyrrha hadn't sabotaged Giger's surgery.
"What the...?" he muttered as he got closer to the mirror, to get a better look at the white hair, crimson eyes, pale skin dotted by black marks.
Just then the Grimm-Jaune reached forward and its arm came out of the mirror and grabbed him. "Did you think it would ever end like this? Do you really think she can ever really come back?!" the dark version of the youngest Arc ranted as he pulled Jaune forward. "She's dead and you are a weak, pathetic failure! ACCEPT IT!"
Jaune cried out as he was pulled into the mirror, the glass shattering around him but before he could even try to do anything else he realized he was somehow pulled sideways and landed on his feet, small glass shards raining down from beside him. He looked up and screamed at the sight of Salem's face smiling down at him, then it screamed and began to shake rapidly. Jaune closed his eyes and covered his ears, and as he opened his eyes he saw that the giant head was gone.
After that Jaune remained silent, confused and scared before he felt a hand touch his shoulder. He whipped around only to be greeted by a kiss from the girl he loved. He quickly returned it and wrapped his arms around her waist.
"Pyrrha..."
"I'm sorry." she said sadly.
An arrow burst through her chest and she disintegrated into golden dust.
Jaune fell to his knees, tears flowing from his eyes as he tried to hold some of the dust. "No, NO! I..."
"Hello again." said her voice. Jaune looked up to see dozens of Pyrrhas standing around, all with warm eyes and kind smiles. Then their eyes went wide, their smiled died as arrows slammed through their chests and they all burned into nothingness.
"Jaune?" said her voice. He turned around to see her standing there behind him.
"Pyrrha..." he said as she came to him and knelt down to hug him.
"I'll always be here for you." she said as he hugged her back.
"I don't want to lose you, never again." he sobbed.
"... I'm sorry." she said before she went limp in his arms.
"Pyrrha? Pyrrha?!" he cried as he held her tight. She made no response, her emerald eyes dull and lifeless as her body began to glow. "No! NO! Stop it! Just stop it!" he yelled in complete misery as Pyrrha was incinerated again while tears fell uncontrollably from his eyes. He desperately tried to keep his hold on her body as it crumbled away, into nothingness.
Jaune's eyes, red and wet with tears, snapped open to see Pyrrha shaking him awake.
"Jaune! Jaune wake up! Please wake up!" she cried as kept shaking him.
"Pyrrha!" he cried before he surged toward her and captured her in a desperate hug, holding her to him tightly as he buried his teary face into her neck, sobbing wildly as he kept saying "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."
Pyrrha didn't know what Jaune had seen in his, obviously horrible, nightmare, but she knew that what he needed right now was someone to comfort him. That was a task she would always be up for.
She pulled Jaune close to her and hugged him back, rubbing his back soothingly as she whispered words of comfort to him as he wept, still muttering "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." over and over again like a mantra.
They had tried to sleep in separate beds, and despite her hesitations Jaune had insisted that they couldn't always sleep together, as there would be times they'd be separated so they would be prepared for times when they were alone on missions. While she had a peaceful slumber it was obvious that Jaune had not, as it had taken her nearly five minutes to wake him up from the nightmares he had been having, listening to his screams, sobs, and cries. It made her a little happy the the hotel's rooms were sound proofed for privacy, although there was a part that wished Ren and Nora were there to help.
It was nearly half an hour before Jaune finally calmed down and his sobs had lessened as Pyrrha held him close and planted gentle kisses on his face to let him know everything was okay.
Jaune, exhausted both physically and emotionally, was fading in and out of consciousness as he snuggled deeper into his partner.
"Pyrrha... I'm so sorry I..."
"Hush, you have nothing to be sorry for, my love. You just had a nightmare, a terrible nightmare. That's all. You'll be okay, I promise." she said to him as she tightened her grip and hoisted him up to lay him against the headboard of the bed so she could slink in, then she gently pulled him back to her and cuddled into him.
"Pyrrha..."
"No Jaune, we can talk about it in the morning. Right now you need to go to sleep." she said gently. She had a lot of questions about what he had seen in that terrible dream but she knew it could wait until morning.
Jaune, tired and afraid, looked her in the eyes and allowed himself a small smile before he kissed her. "Please tell me you're real. Tell me this isn't a dream and that we're together, tell me we're safe!" he said, his voice a bit shaky.
"We are safe, it was just a nightmare, we've both had too many of those. I'm here for you, I'll always be here for you and I will never leave you behind or send you away again, now go to sleep. I love you." she said as she hugged him closer still.
"And I love you." he said as he drifted off to sleep.
Pyrrha smiled but a soft vibrating sound got her attention. She glanced at the nightstand to see Jaune's scroll vibrating, she sighed and picked it up to see the caller I.D. read 'Mom'. "I'm sorry Mrs. Arc, but he needs some rest." she whispered to herself as she shut the scroll off.
With that the two lovers went back to sleep, feeling safe in each others arms.
When Pyrrha woke up the next morning she sat up and stretched her arms out as she yawned before realizing that Jaune was absent from the bed, but she soon heard the sounds of water hitting tiles and knew that he was in the shower. So apparently she had been more tired than she thought and Jaune was getting better at stealth for her not to notice him getting out of bed.
After a few minutes the shower shut off and Jaune came out of the bathroom wearing only sweatpants as he dried his hair off with a towel.
"Morning." she greeted.
"Good morning." he said back with a small smile.
"Jaune... I know you won't want to but we need to talk about last night." she said with a sigh, deciding to try and get it over with now.
"You're right, I don't want to talk about it. It was just a nightmare Pyrrha, a very weird, very disturbing nightmare but I can tell the difference between fantasy and reality." he said to her.
"That's rather hard to do in the world we live in." she mused with a smile of her own, which he returned. "Do you trust me?"
"Of course I trust you! I just don't want to burden you with... my own demons." he stated.
"Your demons are mine, Jaune. We've shared so much already, can't we share each other's dreams too?" she inquired.
"Maybe... look, I just don't want to talk about them right now, okay? Can you give me time to think the nightmares over?" he asked.
"Of course I can, but just remember we shouldn't hide things from each other. If we're going to be partners for the rest of our lives, if we are going to love each other in the future as we do now then we need to be honest with each other, understand?" she said to him gently as he sat down next to her.
"I understand." he voiced as he pulled her to him, taking in her scent as she took in his, enjoying the feeling of her skin against his freshly dried body. Thoughts of the nightmares crossed his mind and he remembered what the nightmare versions of Ren and Nora had said to him, which he continued with "I think I should tell Ren and Nora the truth."
"The truth?" she repeated.
"About how I faked my way into Beacon. Even after I lost you I didn't tell them, I told Ruby and Ashe but I never told them." he stated, which made Pyrrha wonder just how much they knew from each other from the Aura Crystal's ritual back in SSSN's warehouse as she knew Bianca had vocally confessed about the false documents but was it possible that the crystal had shrouded that information from those who didn't already know about it?
"You told Ashe but not them?" she asked, finding that to be strange.
"Yeah... he was there for me when I was vulnerable, I just spilled my guts out to him, even though I didn't even know him. It was a moment of weakness and he was there to listen." Jaune told her. "I told Ruby after a rough training session with Ashe, I was feeling really angry and depressed and she was there for me."
Pyrrha allowed herself a smile and said "She tends to be there when you need her."
'Most of the time.' thought Jaune to himself before quickly banishing that dark thought, mentally scolding himself for thinking that about Ruby, knowing it wasn't her fault Cinder had taken Pyrrha.
"But, I believe that you should tell Ren and Nora the truth about the transcripts, we've kept it hidden from them long enough." Pyrrha stated, to which Jaune nodded in agreement.
"Okay, we'll do it tonight." he said as she smiled and planted a kiss on his cheek before getting up to take a shower.
"Oh, and before we went back to sleep last night your mom called, so you should probably call her back." she said to him before she shut the bathroom door.
Jaune took up his scroll and turned it on only to see that he had over twenty missed calls from his mom, dad, and his sisters. There was a sinking feeling a dread deep in Jaune's gut as he quickly dialed his mom's number, hoping everything was okay back in Cadia.
Soon enough his mother answered the phone and right away he could tell something was off, as her voice made it sound like she had been crying.
"J-Jaune! Oh thank the gods! We've been trying to reach you for hours!" she said.
"I had a really bad nightmare last night and Pyrrha had to comfort me, she decided to shut off my scroll so I could get some rest after I calmed down. Mom, what's happening?" he asked.
"Jaune... it's Violet. Last n-night she was part of a police raid and... she was attacked..." Joanne said miserably.
"Oh no, is she...?"
"No, she's alive but she's in the hospital. I know it's asking a lot but could you please come, just in case something goes wrong?" she asked.
"I'll be there as soon as I can." he promised her.
Jaune looked out the window of Ross' ship as it made haste from Vale to Cadia, after Pyrrha's shower he told her and the others about what had happened to his sister and while it wasn't mandatory the other members of Team JNPR, Fox, and Sage all agreed to go with him. They talked to Ozpin and Goodwitch, the later of whom was a little hesitant to let them forgo Jaune's training but she knew it was important to Jaune and with his emotions being clouded by worry his Semblance would be affected so she agreed to let them go and Ozpin arranged for Ross to transport them to the city of Cadia as quickly as he could.
"Are you sure you don't mind coming?" Pyrrha asked Fox and Sage, the former was reading from his book while the later dozed off.
"Eh, it's way better than walking around looking for Grimm to kill." Sage said.
Fox nodded and added "It's best not to split the team up even further."
Pyrrha kept a comforting hand on his shoulder as they looked out the window at the villages and farms below, passing out of sight as the ship flew into the sky. Beside her was a case that contained the Aura Crystal she glanced at it before looking over to see Fox, then Sage, and then Nora who was playing a game on her scroll while Ren gave her advice.
"Do you want to tell them now?" asked asked him quietly. At the speed Ross was going it would be half an hour before they arrived at Cadia's hospital, which gave them time to talk it over.
Jaune looked at her, then glanced up to Ren and Nora, then his eyes went back to his girlfriend and whispered "Not now, I... I need time to think, okay? We can do it once all four of us are alone."
She nodded in understanding, knowing he needed time to think. For her part Pyrrha looked forward to seeing her parents while in Cadia, as the last time she had spoken to them they told her they had a gift for her. She didn't know what it was, but she looked forward to it, nonetheless, but she forced those thoughts out of her head she began to mentally pray for the safety of Violet Arc.
Ross landed the ship on the hospital's landing platform and Jaune quickly opened up the door and hopped out.
"Thanks for the ride!" he said as he darted towards the entrance where Shani and Azure were waiting to greet them.
"No problem." Ross said as Pyrrha and the others go out as well, while Sage carried the bag that contained their weapons. "Man, I used to be an air force pilot, now here I am shuttling around these crazy Hunters, young and old alike."
"If it's any consolation we need you, we wouldn't have made it here so fast without you." Pyrrha said to him.
"Where will you be Mr. Ross?" Nora asked.
"An air base on the other side of town to refuel and stock up, just call me when you need me." he told them as he handed Pyrrha a card with his scroll's number on it.
"We will, thank you." Pyrrha said to him before going after Jaune with the others Hunters and the Aura Crystal in tow.
As Ross started up his ship once again he smirked to himself and muttered "Better than dog-fighting for a livin', I guess."
Jaune hugged his two sisters, making Shani say "Wow, I remember when you could barley wrap your hands around my wrist."
"I grew up, what happened? Is Violet okay?" he asked.
"She's in surgery now, they started about half an hour ago." Azure told him as the others approached. "Hi Pyrrha, Nora, Ren, and... what are your names again?"
"Fox and Sage. Ruby and the others are off on a mission but they volunteered to come with us." Ren explained as they entered the hospital.
"So what exactly happened? Mom said she got hurt in a raid last night but that was it." Jaune said to his sisters.
"We don't know much, apparently she has an informant who found out something was going on with some criminals and they were meeting in that old water treatment plant on the edge of town. Apparently they had a lot of firepower and had bigger numbers than anticipated." Azure told him.
"So what happened? Was she shot?" Nora inquired.
"That's the weird part, it looks like she was stabbed in the stomach and shoulder but not with a knife or any type of blade since they couldn't pick up any traces of metal, and she kept whispering something about Grimm and spiders." Shani said.
The teens all looked at each other.
"A Tarantula Widow bite?" Sage suggested.
"Maybe, but those things are rather big and hard to miss, also they tend not to let their pray get away if the manage to bite them." Ren stated.
"But they didn't find any traces of venom, just a stab wound created without a blade." Azure reminded him.
"It is possible that it could have been made with the legs of a Tarantula Widow, I learned in Professor Port's class they will sometimes use their limbs to attack certain opponents." Fox informed them.
"Yes, but Tarantula Widows usually don't venture very close to cities." Ren pointed out.
"They're spiders Ren! They do whatever they want!" Nora exclaimed.
"We can figure out all that later once she's out of surgery, right now I just want my sister to be alright." Jaune said firmly.
They went up in an elevator and when the doors opened for them they were greeted by the sight of a little girl, no more than eight years old, with bright energetic eyes and black hair and her mother.
"Mom! It's her! It's Pyrrha Nikos!" said the little girl excitedly as he mother pulled her out of the way so the group could exit the lift.
"Oh man... I can see that honey. She's probably here to visit somebody, so let's not bother her." the mother said.
"Looks like an adoring fan..." Nora teased.
"Oh it's no trouble Ma'am. Hello, what's your name?" Pyrrha asked as she knelt down to look the girl in the eyes.
"Cassie." she answered. "I've been a fan of yours for a long time, I want to be like you when I get older."
"That's sweet, but I think you should do whatever you want." Pyrrha told her gently, "Would you like an autograph?"
"Heck yes!" Cassie said.
"We don't want to take up your time Miss Nikos..." said her mother but Pyrrha waved that off.
"It's no trouble Ma'am, I'd be happy to give her one, Azure, could you stay with me to show me the way?" she asked.
Azure nodded, "No problem, go on without us." she said to Jaune and the others.
She handed him the case with the Aura Crystal and he gave her a loving look and smiled at her and the girl before following Shani into a hallway that led to the waiting room where his family was, with Ren, Nora, Fox, and Sage in tow.
Pyrrha, Azure, Cassie, and her mother went to a nearby nurses station and took a small scrap of paper and a pen so she could write the autograph.
As she wrote it Cassie said "So I've seen you with that guy on TV, like at the Tournament and when you came back, is he your boyfriend?"
"Cassie!"
"No, it's quite alright. Yes, he is, and I love him very much." Pyrrha answered with a smile as she handed the young girl the paper which now read 'To Cassie, your friend Pyrrha Nikos.'
"Thank you!" Cassie cheered as she hugged Pyrrha.
"It was nothing, always happy to meet a fan." Pyrrha said as she hugged the girl back. She now noticed Cassie's mom was smiling at the sight.
"I'm really happy you're okay Pyrrha, everyone told me you were dead last year." Cassie said.
"I nearly was, but my friends saved me."
"Was your boyfriend one of them?" the child asked.
Pyrrha chuckled and said "Yes, he was practically my knight in shining armor."
After that Cassie and her mother went down in the elevator, with a small piece of paper that Cassie would boast about to her friends while Pyrrha and Azure went to the waiting room.
"You handled that pretty well." Azure stated.
"I've done it many times, but I think it's best when it's someone young and filled with hope like that." Pyrrha said.
"You'd like to have a kid like her someday, wouldn't you?" Azure asked.
Pyrrha blushed a bit but nodded. "It would be wonderful."
Soon they arrived to the waiting room where Joanne and Andre Arc awaited them along with Bianca, Indigo, and Olivia, who also had her husband, a man in his thirties named Justin, and their baby girl with her.
Currently all of them save Justin and the baby were crushing their son/brother in one big group hug.
"Okay, ow! A little too tight with all of you at once!" he cried.
His father chuckled as they let him go, "Sorry about that Jaune, it's just a big relief to have you here in case something goes wrong. It's been a rough night."
"Where's Sienna?" Jaune asked as his hugged his mom.
"On her way back from a cargo delivery in Mistral, she'll be here in a few hours." Indigo answered.
"The life of a pilot, but it's good to have you here." Olivia said as she kissed her little brother on the cheek. She turned to the others and said "I wasn't with the others last time, on account of my baby girl over there. I'm Olivia Arc-Nivil and that is my husband Justin Nivil with our baby Arabella."
Fox nodded while Sage said "Nice to meet you."
"Oh, what a cute little baby!" Nora cooed at the eight month old infant while Ren simply smiled at the scene.
Pyrrha approached Joanne and Andre and said "Mr. and Mrs. Arc, I must apologize, last night I shut off Jaune's scroll so he could get some sleep after a terrible nightmare he had. If I hadn't done that he could have gotten here sooner, so I am..."
"No need to apologize Pyrrha, you couldn't have known what had happened." Joanne said as she placed a reassuring hand on Pyrrha's. "Besides, given what kind of nightmares you two have been having ever since Haven it was probably for the best."
"Thank you for being so understanding." Pyrrha said before turning to Justin, who she had met before since she was now practically neighbors with the Arc family. "Hello again Justin, have you been well?"
"As well as a simple restaurant manager could be. Want to hold Arabella?" he asked.
"If that's alright with you." she said.
"Of course it's alright! After everything you've done for my brother you're practically family." Olivia said as Justin gently handed the baby to Pyrrha.
The baby girl in Pyrrha's arms had the eyes of an Arc, but her father's brown hair. Pyrrha smiled at the baby, whose eyes were still so bright and innocent. It made Pyrrha think of several things, making two thoughts go through her mind at once. The first was of her former 'master' Salem; this baby was innocent, she had no knowledge of the evil that lurked in the world and there were millions of others like her, like Cassie, human and Faunus... and Salem and her followers wanted to destroy them all in the name of evil, something Pyrrha was determined to never let happen. The second thought was of her future with Jaune, could a baby like this, with eyes of emerald or sapphire with hair of yellow or crimson, be in their future? She had a small blush at the thought. She looked up to Azure who gave her a look, which made her blush a bit harder to hide.
"So is she okay?" Jaune asked.
"The surgery is still going on, we won't know for another hour or so." his dad told him.
"What did the police find? Do they know what happened?" Ren inquired.
"Not entirely, apparently those scumbags had a way out via the underground and once Violet and the other cop who made it out are better they might be able to identify who was there, since apparently Violet recognized a few of them." Indigo elaborated.
"So what were your nightmares about?" Bianca asked Jaune as they sat down.
He was silent for a few seconds before saying "I... don't really want to talk about it right now, not in front of everyone else."
Everyone nodded understandingly before the eldest Arc sister asked "Jaune... I've been thinking..." she began to whisper. "...could the Aura Crystal heal Violet? I mean she's technically of your family so would it count her as a guardian too?"
Jaune and Pyrrha looked at each other before they both said "I don't really know."
They looked at each other, which made Nora giggle a bit as she held Arabella. "Aw, hi there! I'm your Aunt Nora and this is Uncle Ren!" she said as she pulled Ren into the baby's line of sight.
"Hello." he said gently.
Jaune continued "We haven't had any big breakthroughs with the crystal at all, barley even a glimpse. I don't know if that would work at all, and I have no idea how to even start something like that."
"It might take a while before we truly begin to understand the crystal, maybe even a year or two." Pyrrha added.
'Time we might not have.' Jaune thought darkly.
Bianca sighed and said "Well, it was worth mentioning I guess."
Jaune smiled at her and said "Yeah, it was. Don't feel bad sis, if Pyrrha and I don't understand this thing yet how could you? We just have to hope we'll get better with it in time."
Pyrrha smiled as she placed her hand atop Jaune's and said "That's the Jaune spirit I know and love."
An hour of waiting had gone by, and in that time Sienna had showed up, looking rather hassled and tired from her flight but happy she made it and overjoyed to know that her sister was still alive. Shortly after that Hera and Zeus Nikos had also come to meet up with Pyrrha and to wish the Arc family good luck.
Pyrrha looked at the large case her father carried and guessed that it must contain the gift they had for her, whatever it was, but she couldn't help but feel it was odd to bring it to a hospital.
Hera glanced over to Joanne who got up and made her way to the hallway, briefly saying that she needed to use the restroom. Once she was out of sight Hera got up and went to follow her.
"Dear..." Zeus began.
"I need to talk to her, this is something I know about." Hera said.
Zeus nodded, as did Andre, who said "Thank you, she could use some words from someone who's had experience with something like this."
Pyrrha and Jaune looked to each other, neither one of them needing to say anything. The looks in their eyes were enough.
"Go, we'll be here in case something happens." Pyrrha said to her mother, and with that Hera Nikos marched down the hallway.
She quickly found the restroom and sure enough Joanne stood alone in the room, in front of the mirror, crying.
"Are you alright?" Hera asked as she closed the door behind her, turning the little lock for privacy.
The older woman turned to face the redhead and said "My daughter is on the operating table and I don't know if she'll be okay! Do you think I'm alright?!"
"No, no mother would be if their child was hurt. How do you think I felt when I thought my child was dead for a third of a year?" Hera asked darkly.
Joanne's eyes softened and said "Oh... I'm sorry, times like these make me forget things, make me think my family is the only thing that matters."
"Everyone feels like that at some point. Most people, anyway. You're lucky you know? You have eight children, I honestly don't know how you managed to do that."
"There was a lot of love in our house." Joanne said with a ghost of a smile.
"Obviously. I only had one and that... well once was enough for me. I'm pretty sure Violet will be okay, I mean if she's a police officer and from what I've been told also fought in Haven then she's obviously a tough one. She'll make it." Hera assured the fellow mother.
"I hope so. Heh, Bianca and Shani first you know. Fraternal twins. It was rough the first time and I swore never again, but luck would have it the Arc family apparently breed like rabbits because that the next time it was just one, Olivia. I thought that was it but a little over a year later out children doubled, we had triplets; Violet, Sienna, and Indigo. We're lucky they weren't identical because it would have been hell telling them all apart. I was in such pain the day they were born but there was this happiness that overrode it." Joanne told her.
"Gods above, some women die from a single birth, but you survived so many! What is your Semblance?" Hera joked.
"Maybe it's being a mom. After that came little Azure, another girl. I was so blessed but I thought that was the end of it, but the gods had one more child for us, my little knight." Joanne said, sniffling a bit from the tears. She walked over and sat down against the wall, and Hera did so as well. "We nearly lost him, you know? Jaune. When he was born he was so little, so weak that the doctors said he wouldn't make it through the week. We were all heartbroken, so we prayed, we all prayed and in the end that baby boy made it, even though the doctors were sure he couldn't have. Maybe that was the big hint that Jaune was different, he was meant for great things." the Arc woman said as she wiped her eyes.
"He was indeed, he saved my daughter from death and from a lonely life. I owe him so much..." Hera said.
"Your girl is all he needs. He was always so awkward with girls, but with her he's... happy, and that is the best thing for him in the end. I tried to hold him back from being a Hunter you know? We argued over it so many times but I suppose that in the end I was just afraid of losing him to those monsters, and while I nearly did he beat them. He lived, just like he did when he was born." Joanne said with a proud, but sad smile on her face. "It was almost the same with Violet, I didn't want her to become a police officer but she was determined to become an officer of the law, she and Jaune are a lot alike in that regard. Oh gods... I don't know what I'll do if I lose her..."
"You won't." Hera assured her.
The two were silent for a few minutes before Joanne asked "What happened when you thought Pyrrha had been killed?"
Hera sighed and said "It was... horrible. When I was first told I just froze up, the world went dead around me as this... terrible feeling of dread in the bottom of my stomach surged around my body once I realized it wasn't a dream I just broke down crying. I just cried in my husband's arms for over an hour until I just began to crack. They had to give me a sedative to calm down and when I woke up in the morning I just walked to Pyrrha's room and for... just a short instant I thought I could see her, in her room watching television between training sessions, she turned to look at me and smiled. I blinked and it hit me; she was gone. I just went around the house, on some kind of biological autopilot, repeating that; 'she's gone, my baby is gone'. I thought I was going to die. For days I refused to eat or get out of the house, it was a big mess. No mother should ever have to lose her child."
"No. Never, and I don't want to lose mine now." Joanne stated.
"I'm sure she'll make it. In the end, mine did too, thanks to your son and the rest of their friends." Hera voiced.
"It must have been something to see her alive and well again." Joanne said.
Hera nodded, "Oh it was, I thought my mind had finally broken and I was seeing things but there she was, my baby girl alive again. And I have your son to thank for saving her from those monsters. Let me tell you right now; after everything he has done for Pyrrha I look forward to the day when he becomes my son-in-law."
Joanne smiled and said "And after everything Pyrrha's done for my boy I would be proud to call her my daughter-in-law."
Hera smiled back and said to the older woman "Trust me, Violet will be okay. Never give up hope, because sometimes that is all we have."
Just then there was a knock at the door.
Hera got up and unlocked the door to come face to face with a tearful Shani who said "Mom! The doctor came out, she made it! She's gonna be okay!"
With the surgery a success and Violet out of danger she was moved to a room of her own where she would remain in deep sleep for a few hours. After thanking the doctors for the efforts and moving to the room to wait for her awakening.
With a few hours to spare until she woke up Justin took Arabella home and Sage and Fox retreated to the main lobby while everyone else waited for Violet to stir.
Pyrrha looked at the case her parents had brought, and while there was that childlike curiosity to find out what was inside she decided it could wait for a while longer. All the while there was something else that needed to come out, a secret Jaune had kept from Nora and Ren for too long.
She nudged Jaune and whispered "It will probably be a few more hours until she wakes up, do you want to tell them now, while we have time?"
Jaune sighed, there was a part of him that didn't want to reveal the truth because he didn't really know how the two would react to both the secret and the fact that he kept it from them for so long. Yet he knew, deep down, that Pyrrha was right; he couldn't hide it forever.
"I don't know if this is the best place to do it." he whispered to her.
"I'll ask a nurse if there's a place we can go and talk in private. Do you want to do it?" the Spartan asked.
"... Yeah. Hey, Ren, Nora?" he said, waking up Nora who had dozed off while leaning against Ren while Pyrrha got up and left the room.
"Whu... huh?" she said groggily as she woke up.
"What is it Jaune?" Ren asked.
"I need talk to you guys, in private. Pyrrha's going to find someplace we can be alone." he said, elaborating to everyone, although Bianca and his parents gave him knowing looks, seeming to know what he was going to tell them.
"What about?" Nora asked with a yawn.
"It's kind of a secret, let's just say it's a private Team JNPR meeting. Are you two up for it?" he inquired.
"Of course." Ren stated simply.
"You bet." Nora said with a smile and a thumbs up.
Jaune smiled back at her, but secretly he was nervous and hoped that they wouldn't turn on him once they learned the truth.
A nurse had been generous enough to take them to a room not too far away that was empty for the time being and would give them the privacy they needed.
"Nice view." Nora commented, looking out at the pleasant landscape of Cadia in the afternoon.
"So Jaune, what do you wish to tell us? It must be serious if you only wanted us to hear it." Ren said as Pyrrha sat down.
Jaune nodded and said "Well... my family knows about it, and Pyrrha found out about a couple of weeks after we became a team. I told Ruby before we got captured, Cardin knew about it because he eavesdropped on me and Pyrrha, it's actually how he blackmailed me way back when, and I spilled my guts to Ashe in a moment of weakness so he knew too."
Ren and Nora looked at each other, both a bit confused. "So you told Ruby and Ashe, but not us? What was it?" Nora inquired.
"I... I only told them because I was feeling really lousy at the times and I never told you guys because... I was afraid of what you'd do or say if you knew the truth." the blonde admitted.
"What is it? What could be so bad that we'd ever get angry at you?" Nora asked.
"I..." Jaune stopped and looked at Pyrrha, who nodded and gave him a look of both comfort and encouragement. "I faked my way into Beacon. My transcripts were forged with some help from Bianca."
A long, heavy silence hung over the room. Jaune hung his head, not daring to look his teammates in the eye.
"Well, this does explain a few things." Ren said, beginning to understand a lot of the questions he had once had about Jaune, but it was what Nora said that utterly shocked Jaune.
"So what?"
Jaune's head jolted up to look at them, shocked to see that neither of them were as furious as he feared they'd be. Hell, they didn't even appear to be a bit annoyed.
"Y-you're not mad?" he asked.
"Wellll... maybe a little miffed that you told Ashe, of all people, before telling us but you still told the truth." Nora said.
"Better late than never." Ren stated dryly.
"B-but... you should be furious! I could have gotten you killed on multiple occasions! I'm a fraud!" Jaune cried.
"Yeah, but we survived. Heck a lot of seasoned Hunters couldn't have survived what you went through." Nora pointed out.
"And you are not a fraud Jaune. You may have been one at first, but over time you more than proved yourself worthy of being not just a Huntsman, but being our leader as well." Ren said reassuringly.
"So... you don't hate me? Even if I'm a..."
"Jaune, after all we've been through together: the breach, Vytal, losing Pyrrha, being Team RNJR, you getting captured, tortured, mind screwed, and turned into a hybrid, the battle of Haven, and nearly dying to save Pyrrha, among other things, we could never hate you! So what if your documents were phony? You made up for it with everything you did. You're not just our leader, you're part of this family! Transcripts or no transcripts! We love you Jaune, and I wouldn't have anyone else lead Team JNPR. But you still get a slug for keeping it from us for so long." Nora said before she playfully punched Jaune in the shoulder, which he took effortlessly. And then she grabbed the blonde and squeezing him in a tight hug.
Jaune began to tear up as he hugged the redhead back before he looked to Ren, someone he had seen as the brother he never had. "What about you, Ren? Are you...?"
Ren nodded, "Nora is absolutely right. You don't need transcripts or paperwork to be a Hunter or a hero, and that is exactly what you are. While this does explain a few things about you and while I did have my doubts back when we first became a team I think Nora's words are perfect. I see you as a brother Jaune, and I am proud to call you that. While it is irritating that you didn't tell us sooner, I can say without hesitation; I don't care if you faked your way in. You have earned my trust, respect, and friendship. This changes nothing."
More tears fell from Jaune's eyes as Nora reached over and pulled Ren into the hug before Pyrrha joined in as well.
"Team JNPR forever!" she cheered. "We can take anything on!"
"Be it fake transcripts." voiced Pyrrha.
"Or seemingly losing one of our own." Ren added.
"Or death itself." Jaune finished.
He felt a little better now, his team now knew about the fake transcripts, and they didn't hate him for it.
"So what are you gonna do about everyone else? I mean you'll have to tell 'em sooner or later." Nora pointed out.
"Let's make it later, I still gotta earn their trust." Jaune said, "For now, I'm just happy my team has my back."
"We always will." Pyrrha said before she kissed him on the cheek.
Violet moaned as she began to stir. Her eyes twitched open as her nose quickly picked up on familiar scents of hospitals, making her realize she was in one, further proved by the sound of beeping from a heart monitor and the conspicuous lack of her police uniform, which had been replaced by a hospital gown. Her eyes opened up fully only to be assaulted by the bright lights overhead.
"Ah!" she grunted as she quickly raised up her stiff arms to shield herself from the light.
"Violet!" cried the familiar voice of her mother.
Violet looked up to find herself in a nice hospital room surrounded by her parents, her sisters, her brother, his team, and his girlfriend's parents.
"M-mom? What happened?" she rasped out, her throat dry.
"Here Vi, drink up." Shani said as she handed her sister a bottle of water while Azure used the small controller to make the bed sit up.
Violet eagerly drank from the bottle and once her thirst was quenched she felt like talking a bit more.
"Oh honey I'm so happy you're awake." said Joanne with teary eyes.
"You had us worried Vi, please don't do it again." her dad said.
Violet nodded with a smirk before she she said to Pyrrha and the others "Wow, nice to see practically everyone here, even you guys."
"Oh, well we wanted to come, we couldn't let Jaune come alone." Pyrrha said.
Violet nodded absentmindedly as she began to remember what happened to her, the plant, the firefight, the spider hybrid... and that man. "Okay, so I remember what happened, but after I was knocked out it's pretty unclear. Mind filling that end for me?"
"Well, from what we've been told you were found outside of the planet out cold and injured, but no sign of anyone else except for some footsteps from inside. At least that's what was on the report." her father said.
"You had bad wounds in your gut and shoulder, you were in surgery for hours to seal 'em back up and get yourself patched up." Indigo added.
"And that was about three hours ago, you've been sleeping ever since." Olivia finished.
"Oum, no wonder I feel like crap." she said dryly before taking another sip from the bottle. "How long was I out? Did they catch anyone? Did anyone else make it out of there?"
"Slow down! You were out for about eighteen hours, one other cop made it out, I forget his name." Andre said, "And I'm sorry, but they didn't catch any suspects."
"Yeah, apparently they used those old sewer tunnels as a getaway once backup showed up." Indigo stated.
Violet grimaced as she sat up and said "Well, they're gonna question me tomorrow and see if I can I.D. somebody, and I can but by then some of them will be long gone and the few I know from here will probably have alibis. Jaune, we gotta talk."
"Uh, sure Vi, what is it?" he asked as he stepped forward.
Violet took a breath and asked "There are no other cops out there, right?"
"No, but security is pretty tight downstairs and as of a few hours ago they're guarding the elevators for this floor." Indigo informed her.
"Good, now listen close Jaune, you too Pyrrha." she said firmly. "I know what I was attacked by; it was another Grimm hybrid."
"What?!" cried Jaune and Pyrrha, before being hushed by a nurse who happened to be passing by.
"Are you sure? The doctors said it looked like a Tarantula Widow stab." Azure pointed out.
"That's because he's kinda like that winged girl, he had Tarantula Widow legs coming out of his back." Violet said.
Jaune looked to Pyrrha and asked "Anyone you know?"
Pyrrha shook her head and said "No, I only knew the other three."
"Then that means there could be more of them, and who knows how many." Ren voiced grimly.
"Well this one was a nasty creep, called himself Anansi, and that's not all; I saw the guy who stopped him from killing me, I recognized him, I knew his voice... it was Trooper." Violet revealed.
"Oh crud." Nora said.
"And if he's here, then you know who else is." Ren stated.
"I'm sorry, but who is Trooper?" asked Olivia.
"He's a mercenary, works for Damien Ante, a crime lord who works for Salem. He told us how Ashe won and he was one of the two thugs who didn't partake in my little torture sessions, maybe that's why he saved you." Jaune said.
"You think he wanted to do something good?" Hera asked.
"Or maybe he wanted to lay a trap; before he knocked me out he told me to tell you 'we're here'. Now either that could be tipping you off to them or, as I said, a trap." Violet said.
Jaune nodded and said "If they're somewhere in Cadia, that means we have a chance of catching them."
"But just the four of you? Against Ante, his thugs, and a new Grimm Hybrid?" asked Sienna.
"We have Fox and Sage downstairs, and now that we've got Pyrrha at full strength and the now that we're all more experienced we have a chance of taking them down." Jaune said, his voice filled with determination.
"That still won't be enough! You should call for backup, or let the police handle this." Joanne objected.
"No time mom, Trooper told me they're leaving tonight! Add to that the time it would take to get the search warrants the cops would need to search Bressi's nightclub it'll be too late. They need to try now." Violet said.
"Who's Bressi?" asked Nora.
"Local criminal scum, owns a nightclub downtown." Zeus said, remembering what he had read in the papers.
"Why would he be in contact with Ante?" asked Azure.
"Who knows, but knowing Ante it's probably not good. Ren, Nora, go get Fox and Sage, and maybe call up Ross. We're gonna need firepower." Jaune said firmly.
"Aye-aye!" Nora said with a salute before quickly dragging Ren out of the room.
"Whoa, since when did Jaune get like this?" Olivia asked.
"Since Haven." Bianca said, slightly amused.
"Pyrrha, if you don't want to..." Jaune began before she stopped him.
"No, we do this together or we don't do it at all. You need me." she said firmly.
Jaune smiled and said "More than you'll ever know." He looked to his sister and continued; "We'll kick this Anansi guy's butt for you, just do me a favor and get better."
"Can do." Violet said with a smirk.
"Jaune!" his mother said sternly, making him turn to look at her. "I know I can't stop you." She walked closer to him as she continued, "If I could some of us probably wouldn't be here right now. Just promise me you'll stay safe." She finished as she hugged him.
"I promise mom, trust me, I got one heck of a team taking care of me." he assured her as he hugged her back.
"Be careful out there, son." Andre said as he placed a firm hand on Jaune's shoulder and gave him and encouraging look. "Do your best."
"I'll try to." Jaune said.
Pyrrha smiled at the sight as her own mother stepped forward. "Pyrrha, before you go we'd like to give you something." she said.
"Here? Now?" Pyrrha asked.
Zeus smiled as he hoisted up the case and said "We had this made for you, for future missions and dangerous situations. I hope you like it, my little warrior princess."
Pyrrha blushed at the old nickname as he handed it to her.
She placed the large case on the table and opened it to reveal something so wonderful she could not help but grin in appreciation at what she saw: a brand new set of armor.
The armor itself was form fitting and light. Browns and gold dominated the decorative design with red highlights giving it just enough pop to stand out. Under the main plating was a black under shit which protected her torso and gave an extra layer of material between the plating and her skin. Touching the armor with her right hand she sought out the surprise emblem in the center near where her throat would be in the armor. That of a cross shaped scar built into the armor itself. Her grin grew into a smile, that emblem would be taunting her enemies with the mark they had made... seems fitting.
Jaune looked at her with a smile of his own as she headed into the bathroom to change clothes. She pulled the light material over herself gripping her curves nicely. With another motion of her arms the armor slid into place and found its place on the under garments. Doing some light stretching and motions with her torso she nodded in appreciation. The new armor would protect her nicely while not restricting her moments, far more so than her previous corset did in terms of protection anyway. The boots weren't high-heeled, which would make it easier to run and jump in dangerous situations, and there was room on the waist for her red sash.
It was utterly perfect.
She came out of the bathroom, now clad in her new armor, and nearly everyone looked at her with admiration, especially Jaune (who seemed to be awestruck) and her parents who looked on proudly.
"Lookin' good Pyrrha." Indigo complimented.
"Thank you." Pyrrha said before walking over to her parents and hugging them both. "Thank you! Thank you both so much! I love you!" she said as she hugged and kissed them.
"It's our pleasure." Hera said.
"You deserve it, make us proud like you always do." Zeus said with a slight tear in his eye.
Pyrrha forced down her own tears as she squeezed them one last time before letting go.
"So... how are you going to get there? I mean, I don't think you can just fly in." Azure pointed out to her brother.
"Huh... good point..." he said.
"Well, now that Violet is awake, I guess I could drive you guys there." Bianca volunteered.
"Okay, but once we get there you leave, okay? I don't want you around in case something goes wrong." Jaune said to her.
"Wow, since when were you the responsible one?" the eldest Arc child joked.
"Go get 'em, and if you see that spider creep, give him one for me right in the face." Violet said.
"You got it." Jaune agreed with a smirk.
A few minutes later they met up with Ren, Nora, Fox, and Sage in the lobby. "Whoa Pyrrha! Where'd you get that from?" Nora asked, very much impressed.
"It's what was in the case my parents had. This is my gift. Suffice to say I think it's going to do wonders for me." the Spartan said.
"You got our weapons Sage?" Jaune asked.
"Yeah, so Ren and Nora have told us what's going on and I guess I'm up for it." the dark skinned teen said as he hoisted up the bag.
"Count me in too, better than doing nothing all day." Fox agreed.
"What about Mr. Ross?" Nora asked.
"Don't worry, I've already called Ross and told him what's going on, he'll be in the sky for us and ready to strike at the first sign of a battle or if we call him." Pyrrha told her.
"Okay guys, it will be dangerous." Jaune warned, only for everyone to give him looks.
"Jaune, compared to what happened nearly half a year ago, this will be an average day for us." Fox deadpanned.
"Sad thing is he's not entirely wrong." voiced Sage.
"Then if no one objects, we're going to spend the night kicking butts and bringing some bad men to justice." Jaune said, and everyone nodded. He smiled at them, and deep down he knew he could always count on not just his team and his family, but the members of Team Beacon too, no matter what the nightmares said but he would have to earn their trust before he told them certain things. Which reminded him, once this was over he should probably talk to Pyrrha and the others about his nightmares, maybe then they wouldn't bother him as much. "Okay, then let's move out."
To Be Continued...
And now that Halloween is done we can carry on with Destiny of Remnant. Sorry this one's a bit slow but it sets up the next chapter, which will have some action, and offers up development for Mrs. Nikos and Mrs. Arc, introduces a new Grimm Commander, develops JNPR a bit more, and Pyrrha's armor! Originally the opening bit with Violet and Anansi was going to be the ending of last chapter, but I decided I'd save it for this one so I could end it sooner. Also, the name Anansi is a reference to African folklore. Also, I do believe this is the first time Olivia Arc has made a proper appearance.
Special thanks to my friend smstanton who helped out with designing Pyrrha's new outfit.
I want to say thank you to all of those who review, favorite, follow, whatever my story. I've been feeling really... off recently, just suffering from some depression I guess as I sometimes doubt myself and my ability to write as there's this nagging feeling that's telling me I can't write for crap and my story will never be successful and nothing I do matters... and I'm sorry to say that maybe Jaune's dream, a reflection of self-loathing, doubt, and guilt may have been inspired by the depressing things I feel sometimes... but you guys make that feeling go away, you all really make me feel better with your praise and kind words, when someone faves, follows, leaves a kudos, puts up a review or a comment I can't help but smile, you guys make me determined to keep writing and keep this story going, so thank you all so much. I owe it all to you guys.
Now that Volume 4 has begun I can say I'm not going to take anything from it, this story is obviously going to ignore everything from the show after Volume 3. Besides if I am to be honest... I'm not watching the show any more. Yeah, Pyrrha's death got to me that much and that should say something about how stupid it was as I usually have thicker skin than that but her death was such an offensive and idiotic misstep I've decided not to watch the show unless she is brought back (and not brought back just to kill her off again either, I wouldn't put it past them to do that). In fact what enforces this is the fact that they deleted the posts on their fourms made by my esteemed colleague smstanton, which were not hostile, scathing rants but calm critiques on how he was disappointed with the direction the show is going, so it's proof that they're stuffing their fingers in their ears and ignoring the criticism. I referenced the second chapter, to make it clear that in this universe the events of Volume 4 are nothing but a nightmare Jaune is having.
If you enjoyed this chapter on Fanfiction . Net then please review, follow, and favorite it you liked it and if you're on An Archive of Our Own then leave a kudos and comment and possibly even bookmark it. Please guys give me some feedback, as it keeps me and this story going and if possible at all mention this story on the RWBY Reddit. Please guys, help me out here, let me know if you enjoy this story, what's good and bad about it, I work really hard to make this story good so please give me some feedback.