Ruby remained completely still as she stared at the door of the Xiao Long/Belladonna residence, it had not taken more than a call to her sister to be able to locate her easily, Ruby forgot where she lived, perhaps she sounded like a bad sister and aunt at times, but it was only a result of the almost non-existent amount of sleep she has lately.
The silence began to turn into a high-pitched screech in the woman's ears, without the ability to think much, she grabbed the doorknob firmly and turned it to the side, opening the wooden door and pushing it forward with a moderate force, some foreign object blocked the door at that moment, forcing Ruby to poke her head inside.
It was Kirina, completely calm and hovering on the ground.
Ruby felt a fairly deep panic fill her body, in an instant she turned into a cloud of petals and scooped her niece up in her arms, giving her a couple more analytical glances now that she was half awake, she didn't look hurt, it seems like the blow had not bothered her.
"Ruby, is that you?" Yang's voice unconsciously forced Ruby to take her niece harder and place her on her chest, the little girl made a shallow moan and patted Ruby's breasts, her tiny hands barely doing anything to the legendary Huntress.
Yang looked out from the door frame that must have led to the basement if Ruby remembered correctly, the blonde woman smiled happily when she saw her sister, the box she was carrying ended up on the floor as she moved forward, catching her in a warm hug.
"Just look at you, Vacuo didn't burn your skin completely" Yang laughed softly, patting her sister on the shoulder a couple of times, then looking at her daughter with some surprise "Did she finish drinking her milk?"
Ruby looked over her sister's shoulder, there was a half-full baby bottle placed on the table, Kirina must have snuck around with agility to end up on the floor so easily, maybe Yang was too busy to keep an eye on her all the time.
"Yes, I wanted to hold her for a bit" Ruby lied, beginning to rock her niece somewhat lazily "Is Blake here?"
"There is a faunus protest on the other side of the city right now, she is the one in charge, I decided to stay and take care of Kirina" Yang explained, giving her daughter a gentle caress on her left ear, who moaned sweetly and closed her eyes, enjoying the touch.
"That's great" Ruby responded, her tired and somewhat low voice causing her sister to raise an eyebrow in confusion "I thought you'd be in Beacon"
"...What are you talking about?" Yang showed a half smile as she retrieved Kirina from Ruby's arms, still caressing her cat ears "I haven't been a teacher for a year and a half"
"It was because of your pregnancy, Waylon, Bryan, Roy and Neithan are having their initiation ceremony right now" Ruby looked around, trying to refresh her memory for future interactions "You haven't returned to Beacon?"
Yang frowned in confusion. "Uh, no, Rubes, you already knew that"
Ruby sighed in defeat, shuffling her feet to the couch and plopping down with a thud, Yang joining her sister shortly after, still holding her daughter.
"I've been really busy lately" Ruby murmured, almost as if she didn't want her voice to be heard "Vacuo, Mistral, Phimisal, Atlas and even Ishaiba, I barely have time to relax and sleep..."
"You can always take a long break from duty, look at me and Blake, we're busy with other things" Yang smiled in a friendly way, trying to reassure her sister "There are a lot of Huntsmen around Remnant, you don't have to do it all yourself"
"It's my duty" Ruby complained, banging the back of her head against the couch cushion "It's been my duty since I was 15...the wells of Grimm are dangerous, and the containment process isn't exactly quick, Yang, I need to be alert"
Yang nodded, completely understanding her sister's words, it had become quite normal for Ruby to disappear for days, weeks, even entire months somewhere in Remnant doing some long and exhaustive mission, whenever she returned to Vale she was asleep or resting, which worried her older sister to some extent.
"...Anyway, Yang, you should go back to Beacon" Ruby decided to change the subject, reaching out and caressing Kirina's cheek "Your son is going to need a decent teacher for Grimm, you know?"
"Uuh, Neil can take care of that" Yang shrugged, hugging her daughter instinctively "Someone needs to take care of Kirina in this house"
Ruby frowned, burying her body further into the increasingly comfortable couch "I'm sure you can...hire a babysitter for Kirina, I mean, Bryan had something similar with uncle-"
"I know Qrow would be more than happy to take care of Kirina like he did with Bryan...but he's old, Rubes" Yang commented, her serious expression causing a series of shivers to run down her sister's spine "Only I can protect Kirina"
"...I know someone, she's a friend of mine" Ruby activated her Neo-Scroll with some impatience, beginning to search through all her contacts, practically thousands "Give it a shot"
"Ruby, I really appreciate it but-" Yang tried to stop her sister right where she was, only to receive a growl from Ruby.
"Yang, I know I forget things from time to time, but I remember perfectly well that you have more debts than you can count" Ruby's tone of voice had certainly become loud and harsh, Yang's expression changed to one of surprise at that moment, she had already seen her sister like that, but it wasn't exactly frequent.
"...I know" Yang stroked her daughter's hair, smiling at her with motherly love "I know I'm a few months late on my rent, and I might have a couple of unpaid loans in the bank, but, hey, I always find a way fix it, right?"
Ruby's expression didn't soften one bit, in fact, it only hardened more "You can't live a lifetime off the donations the White Fang receives from time to time, you refuse to accept my money, or Weiss's, or practically anyone, Yang, you must return to Beacon"
"I'm just trying to protect my daughter, okay? I didn't have much time for myself when I had to raise you either" Yang now sounded upset, looking at her sister in frustration "Ruby, please, just forget about the bills and let's focus on having a good time, like sisters"
Ruby shook her head, continuing to search through her phone's contacts, finally stopping her finger when she found the name she needed, Aphra Camble.
"Aphra Camble" Ruby anticipated any type of objection her sister had, she simply sent her the contact information in one simple movement "She's a friend of mine who works as a babysitter, I trust her, a lot, try to contact her and try a single day when neither you nor Blake are home...please"
Yang closed her eyes and covered her face with her robotic hand, feeling the metal rub against her skin comfortingly, Ruby sounded determined to put an end to her older sister's self-imposed vacation, and she didn't seem to want to put it into gear back to her plan to put her back in an office at Beacon.
"...I'll go see which team Bryan ends up on" Yang muttered, staring at the -call- symbol on Aphra's contact "It'll take a while, and I'll have to tell Blake, if it doesn't work, I'll make you be you're the one who takes care of Kirina while I go out on a date with my kitten, understand?"
"Loud and clear" Ruby couldn't stop a smile from settling on her lips, without thinking much she wrapped her arms around her sister's neck, pulling her into a tight hug "I'll call Aphra and wait for her to arrive, I'll take care of Kirina and I'll leave later, everybody wins"
Yang let out a snort of irritation, even if she couldn't give her sister a smile, it didn't take her long to get ready to leave, she grabbed the keys to her motorcycle and her teacher ID card, she hoped Oscar hadn't canceled it, even If the entire faculty at Beacon knew her, it would be genuinely exhausting to have to explain to the guards.
Yang turned back, looking at Ruby fussing over Kirina in a tired but cheerful way, the blonde smiled one last time and closed the door to her house, ready to get to Beacon in no time.
...
Waylon looked in complete silence at the enormous gap that separated the rise of land in front of him and some abandoned ruins of stone and marble, the red-eyed looked to the sides in an attempt to look for the Nevermore that he had used as an air transport, it did not seem to be close.
"How are we going to get up?" Bryan asked, looking up with some excitement "Come on, I want to see who will be the leader"
"Creating a glyph ladder sounds like a good idea, I'll just need a hand" Waylon looked at Roy as he spoke, trying to read his cousin's calm expression "Roy, can you help me?"
"...Sure" Roy murmured, almost inaudibly, standing next to his cousin and raising his right hand slightly inclined upwards "We must be quick, maintaining the glyphs for a long time can be exhausting, even more so those who act as platform"
"Don't worry" Waylon put his hand on his cousin's shoulder, the blue-eyed boy moved in the opposite direction slightly, sending a clear signal to the red-eyed, who simply stopped the gesture "...Well, I think we can-"
An audible scream broke the calm that the emerald forest was presenting, Waylon and the rest turned around to identify the origin of such a cry of pain, only to find a boy with red hair and green eyes next to a golden armor, behind him, a lion faunus, a girl with black hair and another with purple hair.
"Myrian, are you still here?" Waylon commented, looking at the group of teenagers with some interest "...Telsius, I don't know who the other two are"
"Samuel Lionheart and Riana Ren" Samuel introduced himself, pointing at the dark-haired girl with his thumb, Riana smiled, showing her brilliantly white teeth "We grabbed a couple of pieces from back there, we thought that we could help each other"
"This part of the ceremony is intended to evaluate how much ingenuity a Huntsmen candidate has to be able to overcome obstacles in an ingenuous way" Waylon explained with a tone between neutral and contemptuous "...You should find a way to climb."
"Waylon" Myrian called to the white-haired boy, giving him a look that was both pleading and amused "I can make it up to you later, just help us get up there"
"Make up for?" Telsius muttered, receiving a hard look from the purple-haired girl.
Waylon parted his lips to be able to respond sharply and concisely, however, he was silenced before even beginning by the loud flapping of a giant beast's wings, the one-eyed Nevermore flew through the air with agility, fixing it's gaze on the group of teenagers as it growled, carrying it's entire body towards them, crashing against the half-destroyed ruins.
Everyone was forced to throw themselves backwards to avoid falling into the cliff in a tragic way, the piece of land that supported the ruins detached itself from the rest of the terrain aggressively, huge rocks and some pillars fell into the void in a matter of seconds, Waylon pushed himself back with a glyph, his feet planted on the forest grass, glaring angrily at the Nevermore.
Waylon watched as Riana stumbled clumsily down the cliff, without thinking much he created a glyph with Dust of gravity beneath her, anchoring her firmly to the ground, he quickly approached and pulled her arm, taking her away from certain death.
"Thank you" Riana smiled and a soft blush settled on her cheeks, Waylon nodded and placed an arm in front of her, making sure she didn't accidentally fall forward.
"I don't think he'll let us pass" Neithan got up from the ground, using his scythe as support "We must kill him, there must be some way to force him to stay on the ground"
Samuel clutched the side of his abdomen in some pain, his faunus-enhanced eyesight groping for some kind of quick route in the endless abyss adorned with dense fog, luck seemed to smile on the chestnut when a bridge made of wooden planks and just four squares was present at a considerable distance from its current location.
"There's a bridge" Samuel gasped, pointing fervently toward his new discovery "We can cross there and finish the test."
"The Nevermore doesn't seem to want its guests to leave so quickly" Bryan commented, thinking of a strategy quickly "You guys should go over there and secure that thing, it doesn't look like it's going to withstand a hit from that bird"
Waylon did not make any kind of complaint, he simply watched as Samuel, Telsius, Riana and Myrian headed towards the wobbly bridge, after losing sight of them he turned his attention to his new teammates.
"What's the plan?" Neithan asked, starting to walk as he saw Waylon suddenly walk away.
"Finish the damn test" Waylon growled, summoning an exact replica of Harbinger and fixing his gaze on the flying Grimm.
...
Ruby sighed tiredly as she held her niece in her fingers, her silver eyes began to evaluate the physical appearance of the barely 2-year-old girl, her cat ears looked healthy, her eyes with purple irises did not have any type of eye infection, and she hadn't made any kind of mess in her diaper, which was a relief considering the terrible luck that the black-haired girl has from time to time.
She couldn't remember very well the last time she held a baby for a long time, when Neithan was born she barely had a couple of months off to care for and spend as much time as possible with her new son, when her vacation was over she was already moving towards Atlas for a new long-term mission.
It had been practically a miracle that Ruby finally finished all the missions that she had imposed on herself for 2 months, it involved several things, clearing entire lands of Grimm, neutralizing wells of dark molasses effectively, or also putting an end to one or another large-scale criminal operation, practically what was a simple monday morning for her.
Fortunately for her, she would no longer need to be so busy for the next few months, now she can focus fully on Vale and the problem that the Branwen tribe means for her home kingdom, her apprentice is already experienced and old enough to be able to take care of a couple of missions for a while.
Ruby tightened her grip on Kirina a little as she thought about the tribe, the research she had carried out on Branwen was almost endless, they had multiple bases on the outskirts of the kingdoms, villages and kingdoms in the making were destroyed and turned to ashes before they could prosper correctly, they were a kind of plague which did not have a specific origin, at least it was not the same as before.
She had tried to get some valuable information from her uncle, Qrow, even if he was old and retired his experience was still unique in all of Remnant, he spent practically his entire childhood, adolescence and began his adulthood in the tribe, before defecting after murdering his father, Scav Branwen, Raven Branwen would take the title as leader and begin a new era for the tribe, one certainly less glorious and dangerous than before.
Ruby had read a couple of files, some diaries that she found in those torn up villages, the tribe suffered from a time in which it was quite difficult to be able to properly loot a village of medium size and medium power, multiple lootings had ended in failures and in losses for the tribe, which was curious, under Scav's rule it was more dangerous to encounter a bandit than a Beowolf.
But something had happened, 17 years ago the tribe once again suffered a structural change, since Raven was no longer the only leader, two more had joined, who were still unknown to Ruby.
At 42 years of age, it had become difficult for her to keep up as a high-level Huntress, she always needed a rest of at least 1 day to partially recover her energy, she knew perfectly well the reason for this, but she preferred to not think about it.
She did not want to think about it.
The door of the house was knocked three times, Ruby quickly got up from the couch with her niece in her hands, approaching the door and opening it in a quick movement, finding a woman barely older than her, her black hair was held above her head in a tomato-shaped bun, her piercing red eyes softening as she recognized Ruby.
"Ruby" Aphra Camble said with a smile, extending her arms and wrapping her friend in a quick hug "Is that really you, when did you get back to Vale?"
"Yesterday" Ruby said, blinking a few times in an attempt to keep the tiredness away from her "I called you to take care of this little kitten while I rest at home, I haven't slept in 2 days"
"Please" Aphra laughed softly, stealing Kirina from Ruby's arms "Let me take care of her, I guess her mother is Yang Xiao Long, your teammate"
"Yes..." Ruby made an effort to stay standing, she was really tired "Blake is her other mother, she might get there first, if she tries to kill you tell her to call me and I'll explain everything to her, okay?"
"Okay" Aphra nodded, patting Ruby on the shoulder "I won't take up any more of your time, go home and sleep for a while"
Ruby nodded gratefully, stretching her arms and legs to try to fully recover her motor skills, it didn't take long for her to transform into a cloud of petals and disappear from the door, leaving Aphra and Kirina completely alone.
"Kirina, Xiao Long or Belladonna?" Aphra whispered, caressing the little girl's cheek, who only laughed adorably at the pleasant treatment "Let's make you something to eat, you must be hungry...do you like fish?"
...
"The plan is simple, Neithan, you will burn the wings of that Nevermore to force it to lower a little, me and Roy can immobilize it with large glyphs loaded with Gravity Dust" Waylon indicated to his cousins, still keeping an eye on the Grimm who continued flying through the skies "Bryan, rip off that thing's beak, we'll go up with the guy with the lion's tail and the others"
Roy looked at Waylon for a few seconds, still feeling uncomfortable and uncooperative with implementing the new plan they had in hand, even so, he had to obey, he couldn't come up with a better way to get the Nevermore out of his way, his rapier wouldn't tickle him.
"He can't see out of his right eye" Neithan pointed out "I can put myself in his blind spot so he doesn't see me..."
"It seems that you do have a brain" Waylon said sarcastically, grabbing Roy by the shoulder and beginning to walk away from Bryan and Neithan, stopping a dozen meters away from them, he raised his sword so he could calculate where the Nevermore would fall if Neithan really managed to carry out his part of the plan without ruining everything.
Neithan sighed, his fingers began to tremble as he squeezed the Red Reaper's handle tightly, he couldn't ruin it now, he couldn't disappoint his father, or his mother, or Bryan, Roy, not even Waylon, he should show what he was made of.
He opened his eyes with determination, although still somewhat nervous, his silver irises had a flash of fire for a single moment, the Nevermore's right wing caught fire as if it were gasoline, the bird-shaped monster let out a dark scream as it began to descend towards the ground.
Waylon and Roy summoned two glyphs of enormous size, perhaps they could have been 5 meters high and wide, both whitish disks acquired a dark tone when the gravity Dust did its work, the Nevermore crashed squarely into both glyphs, moaning with pain.
The Nevermore tried to get up, its right wing was still releasing flames, it raised its limb and began to wave it aggressively in the air, extinguishing the burning fire little by little, Bryan approached quickly, jumping with force and falling on the back of the Nevermore, descending quickly to it's face.
Bryan looked at the confused Grimm with a smile, without thinking much he raised his right arm in the air, letting it fall at an impressive speed to the empty socket where the Nevermore's right eye should be, his fist crashed in a bisque noise, destroying part of the beast's face and driving it crazy at that very moment.
The Nevermore shook violently, dropping Bryan at that moment, the Grimm's right wing had finally stopped burning, revealing a grotesquely enormous bone, the bird growled angrily and charged its wing towards the blonde.
Bryan crossed his X-shaped arms, his gauntlets began to release purple and yellow sparks, the impact of the Grimm's wing was repelled by his semblance, counterattack, now pushing the Nevermore back and leaving it stunned.
"Kill that thing!" Waylon grabbed his sword tightly and charged towards the stunned Nevermore, nailing Harbinger squarely into the monster's left eye, Roy used a glyph to jump over him and stand on top of the Grimm's skull, nailing Myrtenaster squarely into the monster's head.
Neithan stood next to the Grimm, put his scythe under it and waited patiently for Bryan, the blonde laughed proudly and grabbed the Grimm's enormous beak with his hands, lifting it up and slamming it down again, completely severing its neck upon receiving the Red Reaper's cut squarely.
"WE DID IT!" Neithan shouted into the air, jumping happily and lunging at Bryan, hitting him hard in the chest "DID YOU SEE THAT?!"
"I saw it" Bryan smiled, ruffling his cousin's hair and tossing it to the side "Have the others finished with the bridge?"
"I want to believe that" Waylon muttered, turning around and looking at the other side of the cliff, trying to see any trace of Myrian or someone else.
...
Samuel raised his black gauntlets and grabbed a Ronin's neck firmly, squeezing his fingers and digging his nails into the Grimm's neck, The humanoid monster moved it's katana distractedly, forcing the lion faunus to move away.
The Ronin was a type of unique Grimm, it's body had the shape of a tall man and with a somewhat broad and muscular complexion, it's face was completely covered by a mask with two holes, the light of it's eyes was reddish, similar to the others Grimm, However, it most dangerous characteristic was the completely real and functional katana, which was able to cut meat easily.
The bridge was not in the best possible condition, in fact, it was incredibly bad, the connection between one edge and the other was only supported by one rope, while the other three ropes were connected to the rocky part of the other valley, that is , the bridge was leaning to one side.
It was practically suicide to cross it without being careful.
Things had gotten even more complicated with the sudden appearance of Grimm to stop Samuel and the others, apparently the Nevermore crashing into the ruins had drawn more attention than necessary, so they were in a bind.
Riana stuck her blade in the Ronin's back, forcing it to turn around, trying to grab the girl to neutralize her, the blue-eyed girl ducked easily, dodging the edge of the katana and managing to land a kick on the Grimm's ankle, managing to put it on its knees.
Samuel grabbed the Grimm's neck tightly, this time on his back, squeezing him tightly to keep him immobilized, Riana nailed multiple blades throughout the Ronin's torso in an attempt to kill it quickly, apparently without a positive result.
Samuel let out a gasp when someone grabbed him from the back, the lion faunus forcefully pushed his elbows back, managing to push away Major Ursa who had tried to attack him, the Bear-shaped monster let out a rapid roar, opening its mouth and capturing in his teeth on Samuel's head, beginning to move him in the air like a rag.
"Uh oh" Riana laughed nervously, the Ronin raised its sword in the air and hit her hard in the face, throwing the girl across the ground and almost leaving her on the edge of the precipice, Riana managed to turn around in time, putting her blades in front of her to defend herself from another attack.
Riana raised her legs and pushed the Grimm hard in the stomach, turning it completely around and pulling it precisely backwards, letting it fall into the void.
Riana smiled, quickly getting up and firing her blades in the direction of Major Ursa who was still using Samuel as a bite toy, the sharp blades hitting the Grimm's skull squarely, killing it in an instant.
Samuel gasped for air, staying on the ground while closing his eyes, Riana approached him slowly, noticing his expression between nervous and relieved, the girl couldn't help but smile and extended her right hand towards the boy's face, giving him a little touch on the nose along with a soft Boop.
"Thank you" Samuel whispered, opening his eyes at the sudden contact "Where are Telsius and Myrian?"
"They were taken by a Manticore" Riana mentioned without a hint of concern or surprise, she simply helped her new friend to his feet "They will be fine, you better help me stabilize the bridge, with my telekinesis I can put some blades on the other side so I can connect the strings manually, but I'll need you to help me hold the bridge, okay?"
Samuel was ready to decline and look for Myrian and Telsius, facing a Manticore was quite dangerous even for fourth year students, in fact, he didn't even know for sure how the hell there was one in the emerald forest.
However, the bridge was wobbly and about to fall into the void, so he reluctantly took the rope that held it and held it tightly, allowing Riana to begin cutting the ropes that connected to the valley directly.
"I hope they are okay..." Samuel whispered, still with that strong desire to go in search of Myrian and Telsius.
...
Yang grabbed her hair with some impatience as she waited for the door to the academy to open, she forgot what happened once the initiation for future new students began, the rest of the student body would have to access the auditorium to observe all the candidates through a system of very well hidden cameras, which helped Oscar and Nora to correctly assign the teams.
The process was certainly long, there were initiations that could take up to 10 hours depending on how slow or fast some young people were, Yang had even assigned a couple of teams when she had started being a teacher a few years ago, in fact, her last team formed by herself had been EVLV.
Yang looked a little nervously at the completely empty campus, it didn't take long to finally find a person nearby, brown hair and dark blue eyes, quite tall and stocky, he was absentmindedly looking at something in a notebook, she was able to quickly recognize him.
"Cardin!" Yang shouted loudly, Cardin Winchester turned his head to see the origin of the voice, his eyes widened as he recognized Yang Xiao Long, Grimm's teacher at Beacon, or at least that was what it had been 2 years ago.
"Blondie" Cardin called, approaching her and closing the notebook he had in his hand "I definitely didn't expect to see you here"
"The guard said he'd open the door for me after checking with Oscar, as if I wasn't still working here," Yang quickly complained, sounding clearly annoyed by the treatment she was receiving "...I'm still working here legally, right?" "
"Your office is still up there" Cardin pointed towards the third floor, Yang turned her head up in an attempt to look for the window that was supposed to lead to her old office, finding it shortly after "Didn't you bring your daughter here?"
"No, she's with a babysitter" Yang gave the huge wooden door one more knock, trying to open it without having to use brute force "Damn...hey, do me a favor and open this, we'll go get a drink later"
"...Sure, I want one that's freshly exported from Atlas, those are the best" Cardin smiled at his friend and activated his Neo-Scroll, starting to touch the holographic screen.
Yang sighed with relief when she saw that she was finally saved, she had been friends with Cardin for more or less an entire decade, they met by chance on a mission in the desert area of Menagerie, the racist bully had become a much more noble Huntsman and certainly not racist (Yang swears she saw him kissing a panther faunus), they formed a friendship pretty quickly now that they are more mature and open people.
They both taught the same class at Beacon, Grimm's anatomy and its in-depth study, they were even in charge of teaching that class in the same third year area, although of course, from what Yang had heard from Ren, Cardin was working more than usual due to her absence.
"Pyrrha" Cardin said into the air, making a miniature hologram of the redhead appear in his Neo-Scroll "Open the main door of the entrance near the airship port, also, renew Yang Xiao Long's teaching credential, code 8702"
"Was my credential expired?" Yang asked, she forgot that she needed that in the first place so that the alarms in her office wouldn't start deafening all of Beacon "Ugh, I guess I can catch up later, where are the others?"
"Ren, Neil and your father are in the auditorium watching the initiation, I had to go out to attend to some personal matters, from what I know, there are only 8 candidates left to be approved and start the team formation ceremony right after" Cardin explained with calm and serene voice, it had definitely changed a lot over the years.
"Perfect! Maybe I can talk to Bryan" Yang said, watching with excitement as the huge wooden door separated in two and gave the view of the completely desolate main hallway "Thank you Pyrrha"
"No problem, Miss Xiao Long" The AI responded with a smile, disappearing after a simple command from Cardin.
Yang took a step and entered Beacon, after two long years, she finally returned.
...
Myrian fired a couple of times with her weapon in the direction of the fearsome Manticore in front of her, the gun shaped like a dryer with a heart stamped on the side roared and released a pair of pellets made of Fire Dust, impacting the skin of the Manticore and doing it minuscule damage.
The purple-haired girl grunted in irritation and moved to the side quickly, the Manticore moved ahead and connected its claws to the girl's chest, pushing her back and managing to immobilize her on the ground, while she only moaned from the impact.
The Manticore was impaled by a golden metal spear with reddish details, its lion head turned accompanied with a warning growl, meeting Telsius Nikos, with an annoyed and determined look.
Telsius' spear called Arondite made a noise of gears inside it, two extremely sharp half-arrow-shaped plates, the red-haired boy raised the weapon with force and slammed it squarely into the Manticore's neck, knocking it away from Myrian.
"Get up!" Telsius ordered, standing in front of the girl and returning the spear to its original form "Can your semblance be useful against him?"
"I don't think so" Myrian admitted, looking clearly irritated "It only works on humans and faunus, I don't think I can do anything to that thing"
Telsius nodded, preparing his spear and throwing it hard towards the Grimm's skull, the Manticore rose with its wings in the air, propelled itself forward with a simple flap of its wings and dropped on top of the green-eyed, giving it a powerful bite on the left arm.
The boy groaned at the sudden attack, Myrian raised her pistol and loaded some Gravity Dust into the weapon, firing multiple bullets into the Grimm's wings, managing to partially slow down its movement, the purple-eyed girl took a special cartridge from a secret compartment of the weapon, loading it quickly and once again firing another series of pellets, this time made of light in its purest state.
The Manticore moaned in pain and moved away from Telsius, charging towards Myrian and hitting her directly, slamming its entire body against a tree and knocking it down, the Grimm opened its mouth in a gloomy manner, showing its many sharp teeth.
Telsius raised his spear from the ground and threw it at the Grimm again, this time managing to cut off one of its wings, the Manticore seemed to withstand the impact of pure anger, opened its mouth again and bit down hard on Myrian's shoulder, making her aura flicker.
The girl moaned in pain, her hands hit the sides of the Grimm's abdomen uselessly, Telsius gritted his teeth and quickly retrieved his spear, preparing a powerful thrust that ended up hitting the Grimm's neck, killing it.
Telsius watched the Manticore slowly disappear, he quickly knelt in front of Myrian and helped her up, allowing himself to be used as support for her "Does it hurt a lot?"
"I'll be fine" Myrian murmured, clutching her right shoulder as she trembled "We should get back to the bridge, I don't want to run into another one of those things around here"
"Okay" Telsius nodded, dragging himself and Myrian for a few minutes throughout the forest, there was no presence of more noise around, so he could assume that the other group of future students had already get rid of the Nevermore, Samuel and Riana had been left fighting for a while against some Grimm of lower rank, even so, the Manticore was a very unpleasant surprise, adding also the fact that it grabbed both himself and Myrian and took them away from their future teammates.
Telsius hoped that the way they met would have been a little more exciting or similar, but no, they simply greeted each other, introduced themselves and took the chess pieces that still remained, the white pawns.
Finally they managed to cross all the trees, being greeted by the image of the same quartet from before and Samuel and Riana, the wobbly bridge had been successfully stabilized, the ropes were held by the handle of some blades located on the other side of the precipice, which already seemed to be safe to cross the bridge.
"Myrian!" Samuel approached Telsius and the aforementioned, who simply rolled her eyes at the clear concern in the lion faunus's voice "Are you hurt?!"
"Nothing serious, cowardly lion" Myrian downplayed it, moving her hand from side to side "You should worry more about crossing the bridge, I think we took too long already"
"I heard you were fighting a Manticore...it looks like you managed to do something" Waylon suddenly commented, giving the purple-haired girl a half smile "Anyway, we should cross the bridge"
Everyone nodded without thinking much more, beginning to cross the bridge with some difficulty, one of the wooden planks ended up detaching and fell into the void, but the rest seemed to remain stable for a moment, allowing the 8 teenagers to reach the bridge and the other side.
Oscar and Nora looked at the group with divided emotions, Oscar had been impressed by how quickly Waylon was able to formulate his plan and put it into action, while the Manticore that the director of Beacon himself had put in place ended up succumbing against a pair of young teenagers with no semblance of combat related to fighting the Grimm, which only spoke more wonders about their remarkable potential.
Nora, on the other hand, could feel from afar how Waylon, Bryan, Roy and Neithan worked perfectly as a team, even so, she could also notice a strange feeling between the 4 teenagers, especially between both Schnee, who did not seem get along completely.
"It seems we have a new team RWBY" Oscar said suddenly, surprising Nora at that moment "...Maybe they can be useful for future projects, don't you think?"
"We have to be careful, Oscar, they are still a bunch of children" Nora commented neutrally, staring as her daughter stretched into the distance "You and I know better than anyone the consequences of using these kids as soldiers"
Oscar nodded, completely understanding, he knew perfectly well the entire journey of team RWBY and JNR throughout Remnant, it was definitely a journey with too many bumps and peaks, peaks that took more than one friend along the way, Penny Polendina, James Ironwood, Leonardo Lionheart, many people died due to the inexperience of both teams, but that did not mean that everything had been bad.
If it wasn't team RWBY or JNR, no one else would have done what they did, they managed to obtain the relics and called the creator gods a second and last time, humanity had been saved by them and their initiative to want to do the right thing, the mistakes throughout the course were painful and terrible, but the final result was more than gratifying.
Oscar knows very well that there are still things to do in Remnant, evil is never asleep, it will always wreak havoc in the human world, and even humans themselves can condemn their species.
The man laughed, holding his cane with a somewhat loose grip "We can prepare them for what is to come, Nora, we can save them from making our mistakes"
"...Sometimes you talk like Ozpin" Nora smiled, punching her friend in the stomach, forcing the Headmaster of Beacon to kneel on the ground "We must move quickly, Ren will assign the teams"
Oscar grunted in affirmation, standing up with the help of his cane and heading back to the academy with a somewhat slow step.
He would definitely take this from Nora's salary.
...
Yang and Cardin finally arrived at the auditorium through the back door exclusively for teachers, the blonde parted her lips slightly in surprise at seeing a countless number of students watching a series of huge screens in a spiral shape around the entire auditorium, the applicants future Huntsmen were also on the right side of the huge place, waiting to be summoned.
"Hawk Kogan, Almethia Harrow, Rybol Cauldfield and Monica Kogan, you obtained the dark knight piece, you will be called from now on as team HARM, led by Hawk Kogan" Lie Ren announced into a microphone to the entire auditorium, a series of applause assaulted the place from the rest of the students from other years, perhaps they applauded out of obligation or out of a genuine feeling of curiosity to see new students as new challenges for the future.
"Look at that..." Yang whispered with a smile, receiving a breathy laugh from Cardin.
"You missed this, I know" Cardin stated, looking proudly at all the rows of students in front of him "They haven't mentioned your son, it seems his team was one of the last to be formed"
"I don't know whether to feel nervous or relieved" Yang commented with a pitiful laugh, looking expectantly at Ren.
"Sara Shew, Sapphire Sustrai, Tara Luvik and Rayla Winchester, you obtained the pieces of the red pawn, from now on you will be known as the SSTR team, led by Sarah Shew" Again a series of applause left Yang almost deaf, Sapphire Sustrai and Rayla Winchester, if she guessed correctly, should be Emerald's daughter and Cardin's niece, it would be interesting to see the outcome of their team in the near future.
"Yang!" A male voice forced the blonde to turn around, Taiyang Xiao Long had retained most of his features over the years, his previously blonde hair now had a grayer tone, his face was a little more wrinkled than before, age definitely had consumed him.
"Dad" Yang wrapped her arms around the man in a gentle hug, not wanting to break his spine or any other similar physical harm "I'm sorry I didn't call, Ruby practically made me come here and see the new kids, does Neithan have a team yet?"
Tai shook his head, still not completely believing that his eldest daughter is really here "No, Ren haven't mentioned him, he must be in the last teams, probably"
Yang nodded, standing next to her father as Cardin moved subtly next to her, not wanting to miss his chance to drink the best alcohol Atlas has to offer.
"Samuel Lionheart, Telsius Nikos, Riana Ren and Myrian Val, you have taken the white rook piece, you will now be known as the STRM team, led by Samuel Lionheart" Ren's calm voice had a small sign of excitement when he saw the team, in which his daughter ended up, Yang raised an eyebrow at the mention of a Nikos, she didn't remember Pyrrha having any kind of nephew or similar.
"Telsius Nikos, I heard about him" Cardin mentioned, drawing Yang and Tai's attention "He graduated from Sanctum, he didn't manage to win anything at Pyrrha's level, but he's still a promising future, I've seen some of his fights online, He is very good with his spear"
"Lionheart must be Leonardo's relative" Tai commented, crossing his arms and staring at the lion faunus in the distance "Team leader, huh, where is Waylon?"
"He doesn't have a team?" Yang asked with surprise more than marked in her voice, she had not had direct contact with her cousin in a few years, but she knew for a fact from Qrow that his training had been exhausting and very efficient, so he must currently be one of the most valuable promises that Beacon could have, the best that Pharos had been able to give in all its history now belonged to them, they had to appreciate it.
"No" Tai shook his head "I think there's only one team left...the one that took the black queen"
Ren looked at the last card that the last team assigned had just an hour ago, the black-haired man opened his eyes in shock, looking around in search of someone, his gaze fell on Yang, who raised an eyebrow.
"I don't see it right for me to present this team, I would like to announce the return of Yang Xiao Long as a teacher to this academy" Ren announced into the microphone, Cardin pushed Yang towards the stage, the blonde woman quickly straightened up, noticing how the Students had now begun to shout and applaud harder, the smile was present on each one's face, apparently, they had missed her more than she thought.
Yang raised her arms in greeting, genuinely happy for the attention she was receiving, Ren stood next to her and handed her the microphone, smiling at her in a friendly manner and giving her a simple pat on the shoulder while whispering "They miss you"
Ren walked away from Yang, but not before leaving her the letter with the last equipment, Yang did not look at the piece of cardboard immediately, but instead placed the microphone on her lips so she could start talking.
"Do you want to know something funny? I wasn't planning on coming here today, but my little sister Ruby Rose made me do it" Yang said with a smile, the students once again showed their affection with applause and praise, causing Yang to simply feel more confident about what she was going to say "and after seeing how much you miss me, I'm going to make it official, I'm coming back as a Beacon teacher"
They could practically deaf her from the amount of screams that her beloved students directed at her.
Yang laughed, pushing the microphone away from her face and yelling back at her students, without having much else to do, she picked up the letter and began reading the names, still clouded by the excitement of returning to work.
"Waylon Branwen, Bryan Xiao Long, Roy Schnee and Neithan Rose...you...have obtained the...pieces of the black queen and will be...known from now on as team WBRN" Yang's happiness It turned into surprise as she read the series of names terrifyingly familiar to her, Qrow's son, her own son, Weiss's and Ruby's, were they on the same team?
"...Led by Waylon Branwen" Yang concluded the presentation, still genuinely impressed by how fucking rare it was to see a match of this level, her eyes quickly searched for her son, finding him accompanied by his now new teammates.
Bryan's eyes had turned into blazing stars
"MOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!"
...
Qrow Branwen rubbed the rag in his hand vigorously against the metal surface of the sports car in front of him, carbon black in color, the ability to reach 200 kilometers per hour, an incredibly versatile convertible and very pleasant to look at, it had definitely been a good wedding gift.
The name of the car was Winter's Howl, as the name said it was his wife's car, Winter, even if she didn't spend as much time at home as he wanted, she still spent time here from time to time, once every two weeks or when there is an important event, yesterday he was able to spend some time with her when she came to pick up Waylon and left him in this same vehicle, he quite liked taking care of the car, it was an interesting way to spend time.
Qrow was no longer busy every day like before, his retirement from the world of the Huntsmen was something that many people already expected, he was married, had a son and age did not help him much, his previously almost eternal appearance had been lost a bit in the abyss, his gray hair now had a much lighter tone, almost as if it were a gloomy white, even if his face remained wrinkle-free, he was no longer capable of throwing swords like a psychopath, no, he was already old for that.
Qrow took one last look at the car before leaving the garage, he was greeted with the darkness of the night and the sound of some crickets as a sign of welcome, he raised his head to see his house, made of marble and refined stone, it had a rustic and even somewhat gothic appearance, Winter's own request when building it in the middle of the forest.
Qrow enjoyed this, spending most of his time in the forest meant a quiet that he had needed for more years than he could remember, the house was big and spacious, some rooms were empty for days on end, Waylon often stayed outside training, and Winter working, this was not the home life he wanted.
But it was much better than going around doing secret missions.
Qrow's lips curved into a half smile, he turned around and looked towards a tree darkened by night "Get down from there, Raven"
A black crow with red eyes fluttered out of one of the tree branches, before falling it completely transformed until it showed the imposing figure of Raven Branwen, her hair was still impressively in a blackish tone, her skin did not show wrinkles due to old age, Qrow knew the reason for his sister's apparent eternal youth.
She stole experimental medications from Schnee Corporations that artificially rejuvenate people, something his sister would definitely do.
"Lonely night?" Raven asked neutrally, looking at her brother without noticeable emotion "I thought you would be with your wife"
"Funny" Qrow responded "I thought you would be in the tribe, leading them with your new partners...it's been years since you came to see me"
"I want to catch up with my family" Raven shrugged, approaching her brother until she was in front of him, her red eyes fixed on a glass of lemonade, which she took and began to drink "...Sweet"
"Winter makes lemonade in a strange way, I learned how to make it" Qrow downplayed the matter, almost as if he didn't want to talk much to his sister "Raven, what are you doing here?"
"...I was watching Waylon, he killer a giant Nevermore in the initiation ceremony" Raven began to speak, Qrow simply frowned in frustration "His potential is enormous, he reminds me of you at your age, otherwise better"
"Your interest in your nephew would be more acceptable if it were merely family, but you see him as another weapon for the tribe, I'm not an idiot" Qrow complained, looking hard at his sister "He's not cut out for that life, and he will never be, stay away from him"
"I understand your concerns, brother, but I have no desire to take your son from you" Raven explained, tapping the perfectly cut grass with the sheath of her katana "I came to ask you kindly to remove Ruby Rose from this kingdom"
"Felicia should have told you about her little altercation a couple of days ago" Qrow put the rim of the glass to his lips and drank some of the liquid, sighing audibly at the perfectly sweet taste "Your plans now have a setback...tough luck, sister"
"I don't have any kind of affection for Summer's daughter, she's getting into something she doesn't know about" Raven explained, sounding a little threatening, even if Qrow couldn't care less about his sister's empty threats "I won't have remorse when her blood is on my hands, Qrow, you have been warned"
"It's ironic that you think you can defeat her, the same woman who took down Salem" Qrow said with no concern in his voice, half turning to see his sister from the corner of his eye "You have the power of the Spring Maiden, but you lack the heart to use its power correctly, you are not worthy"
Raven did not respond, Qrow continued drinking his lemonade while listening to the new sound of a bird's wings, which was his sister moving away to the horizon, the man finally turned around, encountering nothingness itself, he was alone again.
Qrow entered his house after appreciating the starry sky, he couldn't care less about his sister's threat towards his niece, he knew the result of a hypothetical fight between Ruby Rose and Raven Branwen.
There is no more powerful Huntress on Remnant than his niece, Ruby Rose.
Quick Note : This is for the two users that left a comment about the tags in the last chapter, im totally sorry if i gave a really simple summary about this story and confused some people about the nature of it, its the fist time that i use fanfiction and i am more used to AO3, so i really aprecciate your comments, if you have anything more to say i will be very happy to read anyone.