Hey. Ahamkara's Eye here. I apologize to everyone about how long it's been. To those of you who are still around, thank you for waiting patiently. I'm not dead, and nothing terrible happened to me or anything, I just really didn't feel like writing this thing for quite a while. But I do want to give this one more shot, or at least finish out the next bit I had planned out, which should be this plus 1-3 more chapters. Even if I don't get to finish the whole thing, I feel like I should finish the first arc out, through the end of the impending battle at Haven.
Feel free to reread past chapters if you've forgotten over the past couple of years, of course, but if you just need a basic refresher then suffice it to say that Crow's immortality was just revealed to the rest of the Menagerie group, consisting of Blake, Sun, and Yang, and they're on their way to Haven Academy on the tail of Adam, which is where the rest of our protagonists (Guardian Ruby, Weiss, Talos, JNR, Oscar/Ozpin, and Qrow) will also end up soon. Also, Raven and Talos faced off a few chapters back, which will be relevant here.
Let me know if I've gotten rusty in my writing at all. Hopefully not.
More notes at the end of the chapter.
Talos watched as the students trained with Qrow's and Oscar's supervision, or, Ozpin-in-Oscar's-body's supervision. That concept was weird to him even with his centuries of experience with paracausal power.
The blonde-haired boy was sparring against the red-haired girl, mostly hiding behind his shield as she swung that massive hammer around as if she were a Sunbreaker with a Burning Maul. He couldn't blame the boy.
He poked out with his sword a few times, but the girl was too fast, even despite her brute strength. He got what seemed to be one decent hit in, slicing across her aura, before she jumped back and shifter her hammer into some sort of grenade launcher, lobbing pink projectiles at her sparring partner.
This universe's fixation on changing, or "mecha-shifting" weapons, was strange and likely impractical, but not entirely useless. Though Talos preferred to just carry multiple weapons, He saw the appeal in theory of using one weapon for many purposes.
The boy charged towards her then, closing the gap and dodging some of the explosions, hoping to get in close before the girl could shift her weapon back to its melee form. It almost worked, too - but the hammer appeared in her hands just in time for her to block the swing with its shaft.
Talos approached Qrow, who was observing the fight with his arms crossed, and tapped him on the shoulder. "Those two- what are their names again?"
"Nora and Jaune".
"Nora and Jaune. What are their semblances? Their powers? And why haven't they used them against each other here?"
"Ah. Well, Jaune hasn't discovered his yet, and Nora's is a bit too… specific, and dangerous, to use in a friendly spar." Qrow uncrossed his arms and yelled out at the sparring partners. "Jaune, aim your strikes farther forward! Are you TRYING to hit her hammer?"
Ozpin chuckled. "The boy has a good head for tactics, but his actual fighting could use some work. He was one of the weakest in a one-on one back at the school, and though he's improved greatly, this fight is still something of a forgone conclusion."
Talos could see that. The girl, Nora, was steadily driving him toward the defense now, chipping away at his aura with her strength even when he blocked with his shield.
"So what is her semblance?" Talos asked the headmaster.
"When hit by Lightning or other electrical discharge, she re-channels that energy into her attacks."
"Huh," Talos said, "We actually have a weapon that does something like that back where i'm from. It superconducts electrical hazards back out the barrel and chains electric charge to your targets." Talos smiled at that. "One of my friends swears by it. Says its saved her life dozens of times."
"Indeed. Specific, but quite useful in the right circumstance."
"One I can leverage. One of my weapons makes great use of electric flow. How much can she take safely?" The boy was on the floor now, his sword knocked away desperately, blocking with his shield
"We don't know," Ozpin commented, "But it seems to be a fair amount. There almost certainly is some upper limit though."
Noa was helping Jaune up now, the match over. "You're doing better every time we spar, fearless leader! My aura's even below half this time."
Jaune laughed. "Well, you didn't start at full this time, Nora. You went easy on me."
"95% is close enough to full, Jauney-boy! Come on, let's go rest a bit."
"So," Qrow said, turning back to Talos, "What do you think?"
Esper materialized over Talos's shoulder. "They're decent enough fighters, for children. What are they, seventeen years old?" Her shell twirled. "Actually, wait a moment. How long are the years on this world?"
"They should both be eighteen by now, if my memory holds. And years on remnant are 365.1 days of 24 hour length" Ozpin recited.
"Hmmm. So almost exactly the same as Earth's year."
Talos spoke up then. "So, what exactly are your plans for the coming days? I have to stay on the trail of Eramis, that enemy of mine from my world, as much as I can, so if you're staying in this house for too long then I'm not sure how long I can stay with you."
"Well," Qrow said slowly, "We had a meeting scheduled with the headmaster of Haven this weekend. But given what information we have now, it might be wise to go sooner. Huntsmen in the area being dead, you two immortal super-soldiers showing up, and my sister being the maiden… My sister…" Qrow took a swig from his flask at that.
"Yes. I've asked to move the meeting up to tomorrow." Ozpin sighed. "THis new information has really changed the game, I'm afraid. And it's impossible to see how things will unfold from here."
"Okay." Talos nodded. "Well, seeing as our goals could align more generally, I think I'll stay with you guys a bit longer. Here, give me your scrolls - I need to patch you guys into the tower comms frequencies." They handed the devices over, and Esper scanned them briefly, inputting the necessary information.
"Should be good!" she said after a moment. "If you ever need us, give us a holler. We'll come if we aren't tied up."
"Much appreciated," Ozpin bowed his head. "I'm glad to find such powerful warriors aligned with our goals rather than against us."
"Don't worry about it," Esper said, "The pleasure's all ours, headmaster. Protecting and guarding the innocents among humanity is kind of our whole job description."
"I'll drink to that!" Qrow said, holding up his flask again.
"I'm beginning to think you'll drink to just about anything," Talos muttered as he walked away.
"What was that?"
"Nothing!"
/-/
Guardian Ruby… Rose? Ruby Rose? … the New Light, sat alone on the balcony of the house, alone with her thoughts… and with Harmony, of course. The Ghost never truly left her, and she was grateful for that companionship.
The past few days had been very confusing for her. She had no idea who she truly was, or who she should try to be. Harmony had offered her as much support as she needed, of course, but she would still need time.
The girl they'd first run into - Weiss, supposedly her former partner, had been by far the most confusing part of her new life. The white-haired girl had practically clung to her every moment that they were together, as if to make sure she was real, and that she wouldn't disappear. She clung both in an emotional sense, asking questions and fishing for responses, and physically holding onto her Risen partner. Harmony had explained that it was an understandable reaction to seeing a close friend alive again after watching them die, and while it made sense, it didn't make it feel any less strange from the perspective of someone without the old memories that had clearly made them close in the first place.
Even though the New Light still wasn't entirely sure of her identity, she'd let Weiss refer to her as Ruby, and talk as if they were friends. Both to learn more about the person she once was, and to make her former friend feel more comfortable. Despite not having the memories attached to the face, it still felt terrible to see how sad Weiss was at the loss of her partner. In the moments Weiss seemed to think nobody was watching, she had broken down in tears a few times, lamenting what had been lost despite her old friend ruby seemingly being right in front of her.
It was hard on her. And that made it hard on Rose too, knowing that someone was suffering because of her. She never wanted to make anyone feel that way - and much less because f something that she had no control over, like ehr memories.
Rose -Ruby?- heard the balcony door open behind her, and turned around to see the blonde-haired boy from before walking out towards her. She held up her hands defensively and backed away a bit, remembering how he had reacted to the details of her resurrection.
"Hey, uh, I was just gonna lea-"
"No. Please, stay. I wanted to talk to you." The boy gestured back to her. "I wanted to.. to apologize."
"Hey … Jaune, was it? It's really okay, I promise I understand if you'd rather me have been someone else. I don't remember how we knew each other, but it's okay if you feel disappointed with Harmony's choice."
The boy's eyes lit up indignantly at that. "No! Of course not. I think she made the best choice she could have. I was just reacting emotionally." He looked down then. "Ruby… can I still call you Ruby?"
She nodded. "Whatever makes you feel most comfortable, that's what you can call me."
Jaune stared for a moment, looking like he was going to say something about that, but decided against it.
"Look, Ruby, it's just that…. the other girl on that tower… she… she was really…" The words were hard for him to push out, even now. "We were in love, okay? B-but she didn't act, and I was too stupid to see that she liked me in that way, and we were just too young and too dumb to see what we had. We missed out on what could have been something great until it was too late." He let out a sigh. "I loved her, and she's not ever coming back. But I shouldn't have taken that out on you."
"It's okay, I understand. You can't have that kind of close relationship with everyone -"
"But Ruby, I loved you too." Seeing her eyes widen, he shook his head and corrected himself frantically. "I - I mean no, not like that, not like her. I wasn't in love with you. But Ruby, you really were something special. You were so much better of a huntress than anyone your age had any right to be. An amazing leader after skipping ahead two years. Your attitude was a light in the darkness for anyone who looked to you." He was tearing up a bit now. "And… and you were my first friend. My first real friend anyways, and the only one outside of my team who I would say I was truly close with. We were two socially awkward kids with shared interests. You helped me through some rough times, helped me lead my team the best I could. I didn't deserve a friend like you." He shook his head. "You really were amazing, Ruby. If your Ghost brought back even half the girl the Ruby Rose I knew was, then she couldn't have made a better choice."
The silver-eyed girl looked shocked for a moment, then, tears starting to form in her eyes, she slowly wrapped her arms around Jaune. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for your loss. I really hope I can live up to the girl in your memories and expectations, Jaune."
She felt his hands on her shoulders, then looked up at him as he pushed her away slightly. "Hey, no. Ruby, I didn't mean it like that," He sighed, looking at the tears welling up in her eyes. "Damn. I thought about what to say for so long and I still messed up. Same old me."
He looked away. "Let's just start over." The blonde boy held out his hand. "Hey. The name's Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue, the ladies love it."
The girl in front of him wiped away a tear, chuckling softly. "Do they?"
He smiled, as if remembering something that she couldn't quite bring to mind. "When you figure out who you want to be, I'd really like to be your friend again."
Hope welled up in the New Light's heart. "Thank you, Jaune." She reached out and took his hand, shaking it.
/-/
"Who are you, really?"
Crow looked around frantically for something, anything that the group could use to give chase after the terrorists who had slipped through their fingers.
"Hey! Don't ignore me!" A small explosion sounded from Yang's direction, her anger and confusion apparent.
"Yang, I'm not ignoring you, we just really need to find something to help us out here!" Crow dashed towards a nearby aircraft, a bullhead of some kind that had been left behind undamaged.
Blake shook her head while Sun just continued to stand there, his mouth hanging slightly open. "Whoever and whatever he is, he's right, Yang. WIll that thing work?"
Crow peeked back out after looking inside then beckoned. "It should do. Come on! We've gotta go now!" With that, Blake darted towards the vehicle, the other two following slower, but close behind. Crow sat in the pilot's seat and keyed some of the controls under Glint's direction, and the engines whirred to life.
The other three stumbled into the cockpit just as the thing tok off, flying towards Adam's group that had gotten away. "We're slower than he is, unfortunately," Glint said, physically manifested so everyone could see and hear him, "And he had a bit of a head-start, so we'll probably arrive a few hours after him. Enough time for him to set some things up," the drone said somberly.
"Great, yeah. Get to the part where you explain. Now!" Yang's eyes were red.
Crow glanced back as the bullhead cleared the treeline and sighed. "Oh, where to begin…"
"Somewhere, anywhere, I don't care. Get going!"
Crow turned his head forward again. "You're never going to believe me-"
"And why should we?! You clearly haven't exactly been truthful and straightforward with us." Blake's ears were practically flat on the top of her head as she spoke.
"We're from another world! That's why everything is so strange." Crow's strange drone
The craft was silent for a moment, then was filled with the sound of Sun Wukong's laughter. "And you just expect us to believe that?"
"You'd better have some damn good evidence for that, Crow. And… and even if that's true, how can we trust you? How much have you lied about?"
"Listen, Glint and I will explain what we can here. I don't care if you believe me or not, but if you want to catch up to those crazies, then we need to keep flying this thing." Crow cursed as the bullhead lurched slightly. "Okay, so that's different from the Accipiter back home…"
Glint's shell spun over Crow's shoulder. "Okay. Uh. Hi. I'm Glint, and I'm a Ghost. Not the spooky spirit kind, but the… well, I guess you don't have anything like us here. Where we come from, us ghosts search through old battlefields and disaster sites for the remains of long-dead people to resurrect."
Silence and stares.
"Yeah. So, all ghosts were created by a being called the Traveler. Nobody really knows as much about it as we'd like, but basically the situation is that it was discovered by the humans in our world, and granted a whole bunch of gifts and abilities to do things nobody had ever thought possible. But a few hundred years after it arrived, another force we know very little about came and caused everything to Collapse. In response, the Traveler created Ghosts, like me, to raise people killed in that apocalyptic event and defend the remnants of humanity."
"So then what exactly in this absolutely bonkers story leads to you being here with us? If this is true, then shouldn't you be, I dunno, fighting scary demonic entities trying to destroy your world or something?"
"Well… yes. But nobody there will exactly miss me…" Crow sighed "Look, the important thing that Glint forgot to mention is that when a Ghost brings someone back, they don't remember anything. Well, no actual memories- they remember like, how to speak and walk and such."
"And that's important to this discussion… why, exactly?"
"Because I - whoever I was before - apparently did some bad things that I can't remember doing. So everyone hates me for what feels like no reason."
Yang snorted at that. "So even in this fake delusion people are mad at you? Can't imagine why."
"Look, this is exactly why we can't just tell everyone about this! You'd react just like you are now, like he's crazy at best and some kind of pathological liar at worst." Glint was up in her face now, sounding indignant.
"Well I'm beginning to think it's both," Yang said, turning away.
"Sun, Yang, I think we should go talk about this," Blake said, "Alone." She gestured to the back compartment of the ship, away from the cockpit.
Crow owed them that much. He'd just focus on flying the damn bullhead.
Just like that, he'd screwed up even the twisted wish those bones had given him. And the worst part was, he couldn't even blame this one on the dragon. He had only himself to blame.
/-/
"So… who the hell is he, exactly?" Sun asked, looking between the two girls.
"I have no clue. Hell, maybe even he doesn't know." Blake shrugged her shoulders.
"Come on, Blake. You can't seriously be considering that what he said is the truth? Especially when he admits he's been lying about so much already?"
Blake scoffed. "Of course it's not true. I just think he might be crazy. Or maybe he's just some kind of con man. Or maybe his mind is being altered by that crazy Atlesian drone, 'Glint' or whatever. Who am I to say what's true?" Blake paused for a moment, then said, "We just don't know a thing about him. Why has he done anything he's done? And why have we let him?"
"And why did we get IN A BULLHEAD WITH HIM?!" Yang punched the side of the craft as she spoke, making a brief clang. "I mean, how bad of an idea was this? He could be leading us into a trap, or not even flying us in the right direction."
"Well unless there's part of your semblance that lets you punch a hole back through time, there isn't much we can do about it now," Sun said sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.
"Let's just calm down, guys. Even if this is a trap, what else would you have us do, just wait around for Adam to blow up another academy? And plus, if Crow, if that is his real name, wanted us dead, he would just crash this thing into the ground at several hundred miles an hour and walk away with that drone thing he did." The craft lurched a bit as Blake spoke, startling the group, but it was clear after a moment that it was just some turbulence.
"Well whatever his intentions, it doesn't matter to me. I'm not letting him stick around with me after all of this bullshit. Hell, I have no idea why I thought it was a good idea to even let him tag along in the first place," Yang said, shaking her head.
"Listen, the point is that we have to stick with him until we get off the ship, and then if he wants to help us fight, I won't stop him. But after that - well, assuming there IS an 'after that' for us and that we aren't all dead- we can hand him over to the local authorities and they can decide whether he belongs in jail, a mental institution, an Atlesian lab, or somewhere else entirely," Blake said.
"Fine by me," Sun responded.
So with that, the group was in agreement. If they were still alive in a day, they'd part ways with Crow for good.
/-/
Cinder stopped outside the outskirts of the Branwen Tribe's camp, her scroll buzzing. It was Adam.
Though the attack on Vale's CCT had left the global network down, one of Salem's other servants, Watts, had created systems to let the important members of the grand conspiracy speak with each other across pretty long distances. She hated his type, but he clearly had his uses.
Adam, on the other hand, may be about to wear out his own worth as a tool.
She held the scroll up to her mouth. "What is it?"
"Something's come up," Adam's familiar voice sounded from the device in her hand. "Something unavoidable. We've launched toward haven. It has to be sooner than originally planned."
Cinder snarled. "You w- hmm." She calmed herself for a moment. "Yes. We can still work with this. But Make sure you don't screw it up. Haven falls tomorrow."
"Of course. We're still fully able t-" Adam said, before being cut off. This was no longer worth Cinder's time. Time which Cinder now had a lot less of thanks to the mistake of that buffoon and his useless pack of animals.
With no time to waste, Cinder strolled straight through the gates and into the center of the Branwen camp, Emerald and Mercury flanking her.
It didn't take long for them to be surrounded by Raven's group of second-rate thugs. Emerald unsheathed her weapons, and Mercury took a fighting stance, but Cinder held out a hand, cautioning them.
Raven, the leader of the bandit tribe, strode out of a large tent near the center of the camp, hand on her sword's hilt. A smaller, younger woman stood next to her.
"Raven Branwen," Cinder said loudly "I bring an offer on behalf of Salem. One you will not want to refuse."
"Leave. I don't want to deal with more of Salem's agents."
MORE of Her agents? "Salem and her people will leave you alone for the rest of your life after completion of this deal."
"And I should trust your lot, why, exactly?" The bandit queen's sword slid out of its revolving holster slightly, preparing for a confrontation.
Cinder floated off the ground, her eyes glowing. "Because if you don't, I'll just kill everyone in this camp and take what I need for myself. I'm sure it's with one of your tribe's members, is it not?"
Raven seemed to pause at that. Good.
"Hmm. Seems you might need a hand from me and mine more than even you would know." Raven released her sword, which slid back down the sheath. Her hand went to her mask, and she slowly removed it. "Fine. I already know what you want. We'll open the vault for you, under one condition. I get one use of the relic. After that, I'll give it to you, and then I never want to see you again."
"You aren't exactly in a position to make demands, Branwen."
The woman laughed. "Oh, if you truly think that, then you're even less informed than I thought. Your mistress might even be keeping some secrets from you, little one. Do yourself a favor, girl - after you're done here, go ask her if she knows how a male could ever get ahold of powers like a Maiden's."
Cinder ground her teeth. The bandit was almost certainly just trying to get into her head. "Fine. I accept."
Of course, Cinder didn't trust Raven in the slightest. She didn't intend to let the woman live anyways. But it wouldn't hurt to do her own digging anyways.
Salem, or worse, Ozpin, might have had some tricks up their sleeve that she hadn't accounted for.
/-/
Story-wise, not too much action in this one, mostly talking and setup. Next one should be a lot more action though, as might be apparent.
Obviously, though, Cinder doesn't actually know what's got Raven acting the way she is. Though she may be finding out soon enough.
Let me first apologize again, and then clarify a few things/make a few announcements.
First, Aperture has his own story out now that he's writing solo. It has a similar-ish premise to this one, but is set after the events of Final Shape instead of concurrent to Beyond Light. Go check it out If you're interested, it's called Guarding the Remnants. Because of this, he probably won't be as heavily involved with this story anymore, if at all. We may throw ideas and advice each other's way, but that's about it for the time being.
Now with that said, I need to ask - If I ever just lose interest in writing again, What do you guys want me to do? I can try to hand the story off for Aperture or even someone else to adopt and do with as they please, or I can let you know my idea of how the general course of the story would go, I could try to tie it up faster than planned, or I could just leave it here unfinished for you all to make up your own ideas about how it should have continued/ended. Let me know if you have an opinion of any kind.
I hope to get back to updating this for at least a little while more yet, but I really shouldn't guarantee it, considering how life and inspiration (or lack thereof) tend to just get in the way. I'll take whatever is said in reviews into account. I'll try to go as far as i can regardless, this is just in case that turns out to not actually be that far.
Anyways, for what it's worth, thank you all for reading this little thing I thought up years ago. I know the future of Destiny, Rwby, and this story are all a bit uncertain at the moment, but I hope you all had a good time here while it lasted. Until next time, all. I'll do what I can to make sure there is a next time.
Again, any comments, advice, or anything else would be greatly appreciated, as I'm kind of re-learning this.