Gamer4 in. Real quick, before we get started, I actually want to address a couple of the reviews we got last episode- I think this is my first time doing so. Definitely in this particular story. First, a concern I've seen popping up regarding the planning of this fic. I don't want to go into too many details, lest I spoil some things for the less initiated, but the concern centers on things that have been shown thus far that contradict how things are intended to turn out. (If you are initiated, or just don't mind potential spoilers, the concerns were outlined very well in Animan10's review.) I want to promise right here and now that I do have plans to address those concerns in the future- I believe I have an explanation for them that ties in well to the Xeno series's lore, world-building, and themes. This is my favorite series of all time, not just in video games, and I only want to do right by it.
Secondly, at least one reviewer has pondered over the idea of bringing in more reactors alongside Team RWBYJNPR. As to that, I... don't know. It would be lying to say the thought hadn't crossed my mind at all, and even in base YAM, there have been divided opinions on the subject. Some really wanted to see what other RWBY characters have to say about all this, while others feel that things are better balanced as they currently stand. There are four characters I have in mind- namely, Qrow, Winter, Whitley, and Ozpin, in that order of likelihood. Before committing, I'd like to see how you all feel about that idea- I'll leave it up in the air for now. Likely, they wouldn't appear regardless until we at least have all the worlds reintroduced. Okay, enough waffling, we've got a... a story to... to get to... oh, this part...
Episode VII
Chronicles of the Crescent Blade
The Battle of Colony 9
"MECHON ATTACK! MECHON ATTACK!" Ruby jumped up and down, sweating wildly. "This is bad, this is bad, this is bad!"
"I suppose we should have guessed your uncle didn't truly wipe them all out," Weiss fretted, chewing on a nail. "It seemed too much to hope such a prevalent threat would be wiped out so soon."
"I suddenly have a bad feeling..." Ren almost whispered.
Ten minutes earlier, as Yang was busy loading the transport cases, an alarm started blaring across Colony 9.
"Hey, this isn't the debris siren," commented a shopper in the Commercial District.
"No," agreed the shopkeeper with whom he'd just been haggling. "This is... siren 2?"
The two met each others' gazes, suddenly pale. "It... can't be!"
"Move! Move!" Ruby cried, wiggling in her seat. "They're coming right down on you and you haven't even started for shelter yet!"
"Part of them doesn't want to believe it," Blake speculated grimmly. "That after a year of peace, everything's about to go back to hell..."
Indeed, it was only when they finally looked up and saw the swarm descending that they finally seemed to accept it- and panic. "MECHON!"
The soldier manning one of the anti-air batteries grabbed a hand radio and yelled into it to Goodwitch: "One large mechon leading ten carriers- unknown number of mechon emerging from the carriers!"
If Glynda Goodwitch was scared, she was hiding it well beneath her anger. "YOU IDIOTS! HOW DID YOU MISS THEM UNTIL THEY WERE RIGHT ON TOP OF US!?"
"Ma'am, we thought the mechon had all been wiped-"
Her voice devolved into a scream as the leading mechon fired a cannon mounted on its back. A ball of energy crashed into the tower and destroyed it entirely.
"MAY! RESPOND!" Goodwitch yelled- when all she got back was static, she lowered her head, gritting her teeth.
"She never wanted them to die..." Ruby whispered, eyes shimmering.
"Ever the icon of tough love," Ren nodded in agreement.
She only hung her head for a second before changing the channel on her radio. "ANTI-AIR BATTERIES ONE AND TWO- WHY AREN'T MY TARGETING SYSTEMS ONLINE?! DON'T LET THOSE MONSTERS INTO THE COLONY!"
She spun around and grabbed a soldier running past by his shoulder. "ASSEMBLE EVERYONE WHO CAN FIGHT! EVACUATE CIVILIANS TO THE SHELTER! NOW!"
The man saluted and dashed off to fill her orders.
"It's going to be difficult getting this situation under control," Pyrrha pointed out. "Maybe if they'd had more warning..."
"FIRE AT WILL!" called the anti-air battery supervisors- the remaining batteries turned and opened fire into the sky, blasting away at the mechon being air-dropped towards them. They were making some headway, but for every one that fell, three more seemed to take its place.
Battery 1 took aim at the apparent leader of the attack- a mechon large even by their standards, the one who had taken out Battery 3- and fired. They hit their target- but when the smoke cleared, the mechon emerged, seemingly unharmed. From its other shoulder, it produced a sword almost as long as it was tall. It gripped the hilt with two hands and brought it down on the offending battery, slicing it nearly clean in two.
"This isn't a battle..." Blake stared in horror. "This... is a massacre."
"I wish Pyrrha was there," Nora growled. "Something tells me those scrap heaps wouldn't be doing so well then."
"Yes... I wish I was there too," Pyrrha agreed.
Goodwitch and her deputy saw it from their position in the Military District. "What kind of mechon is that?" the deputy fretted. "I've never seen one like that before!"
Goodwitch's hand was shaking, but that was the only sign of fear she showed as she shouted into the radio: "Battery 2, fire!"
They were firing, for all the good it did as countless mechon took advantage of the two fallen batteries to flood into the colony.
"I don't blame her," Yang admitted with a shudder. "I doubt even our Goodwitch could keep it completely together in a time like-"
"UNCLE QROW!" Ruby suddenly burst out. "Where is he? He only has one arm, he has to be in danger!"
"Oh, shit!" Yang's eyes widened.
Fortunately, the camera next focused on Qrow, who had already climbed out of his bed (with no small amount of difficulty) and witnessed the carnage through his window. His eyes narrowed, he gritted his teeth, and he made his way towards the stairs leading out from his house.
"Wait- he's going to get Crescent Rose!" Jaune realized.
"After everything it's already done to him?" Ruby cried.
"What choice has he?" Blake pointed out gravely.
Ruby, Jaune, and Yang emerged from the cave just in time to witness Battery 2 fall as well. "They're attacking!" Ruby cried.
"QROW!" Jaune realized, and without further adieu, dove directly off of the cliff towards the water below.
"Jaune!" Ruby cried, leaping after him.
"Ruby!" Yang shouted as she followed suit.
"You dunces!" Weiss shrieked. "What is killing yourselves going to acc-"
A moment later, the three emerged from the water, soaking and gasping for air, but seemingly none the worse for wear as they took off swimming towards the colony.
Weiss's eye twitched. "That is not how water works."
"I guess it is in this world," Ren shrugged simply.
"Hmm... I didn't see exactly how they landed," Blake offered her two cents, "but if they did it properly, it's entirely feasible for them to pull that off unharmed. Divers in the Vytal Games do it all the time."
"Divers in the games have years and years of practice doing it properly!"
"Well, the colony's surrounded by cliffs on all sides," Nora reminded them. "Maybe high-diving is something of a hobby for them?"
Team RWBY stared at her. "What?"
"You just said... something smart?" Blake finally said it out loud.
"It is a rare day, but it does happen," Ren shrugged.
The trio quickly made their way to the nearest beach and climbed out of the water and began sprinting towards the nearest entrance- near the Commercial District. What they saw when they arrived was not a pretty sight.
Mechon ravaged the streets, tearing down stalls and buildings as though they were made of cardboard. Any homs they encountered, they reached out with their claws and seemed to devour.
"They- they're eating people!" Ruby stared, looking sick.
"Machines... eating man?" Weiss looked a little green herself.
"Weird, you wouldn't think they'd need food," Nora pondered.
Ren sighed. "Nora, I think you're rather missing the point.
"Qrow!" Jaune called again, leading the charge into Qrow's house. Rube and Yang made to follow, but were cut off when a mechon landed in front of them. "Crap, out of our way, scrap heap!" Yang snarled. She made to punch it, but her attacks merely plinked off its armor.
"Yang! We have to topple it!" Ruby called, dashing forward with her scythe. It swung at her, but she dodged underneath and attacked at its legs. It managed to stay upright- until Yang launched a follow-up attack.
"Wild down!" she called as she landed another punch- this time, she managed to knock it to the ground. Working together, the two sisters grunted in effort as they knocked it over the nearby edge into the lake below.
"Yeah! Attack the Rose-Xiao Long sisters at your own risk!" Yang grinned, smashing her knuckles together.
"But that was only one- there must be at least a hundred more," Blake pointed out pessimistically.
Yang groaned. "I hate it when you're right..."
"What happened?" Jaune asked, returning through the door he'd just entered.
"Stupid mechon, nothing we couldn't handle," Yang grinned. "Where's Qrow?"
"Not here!" Jaune fretted. "He could be anywhere!"
"But there's only one place he would go at a time like this!" Ruby realized. "To get Crescent Rose- in the lab!"
The three looked into the colony. Yang grimaced. "I hate to say it, but sometimes, running away is a viable tactic. Let's go- we can't help them until we've got Crescent Rose anyhow."
The others nodded grimmly, and took off as fast as their legs could carry them, doing their best to ignore the screams surrounding them.
"I hate to imagine it," Pyrrha agreed. "But... Yang's right. Without a weapon that can cut through their armor, there's not much they can do."
Finally, they arrived at the center of the bridges that served as the colony's main nexus. From here, they could hear Goodwitch yelling as she entered into battle: "YOU BLASTED MECHON! YOU THINK YOU CAN DO WHATEVER YOU WANT IN OUR COLONY?!"
"Crap, nononono!" Yang growled as they picked up the pace.
Goodwitch's platoon was getting demolished by the marching mechon, an entire line wiped out with each swing. Several were running- to Goodwitch's anger. "DO NOT GIVE UP THIS POSITION!" she roared. "RUN, AND I'LL KILL YOU MYSELF!"
Just as she finished saying so, the large, leading mechon landed in front of her, at least four times as tall. Goodwitch, however, looked up without fear- into its... face?
""I... the other mechon didn't have faces, did they?" Ruby tilted her head at the red-eyed, mechanical-looking face.
"No... I don't think we've seen any such thing," Ren denied. "And judging by the look on Goodwitch's, neither has she."
Goodwitch did seem thrown off... for a moment. She quickly regained her composure and laughed a mirthless laugh. "And what are you supposed to be? A mechon with a face?"
The face did not change its expression, staring emptily at her.
She seemed to get even more angry at this. "Grin at me, will you?!"
She turned her cannon on it and opened fire- the backblast sent her flying away from the creature, landing on the ground. Still, she looked up, expecting to see the faced mechon blown away- but it hardly seemed fazed at all. "What- not even a dent?"
"It must be tough even by mechon standards!" Jaune gulped.
Another mechon extended a claw towards Goodwitch, who used her cannon to block, keeping it from closing on her. Behind her, another group of mechon were rading the military's own transporters. The faced mechon interrupted by picking the vehicle up single-handedly and throwing it at Goodwitch- the last thing they heard was her scream as the mechon above her was destroyed.
"No!" Ruby gasped. "We- we never got along, but I never thought she could be- be taken down like..."
"We know, Ruby," Weiss whispered, placing a hand on her shoulder. "We know."
The deed done, the mechon's wasplike tail lit up with a blue glow and it took off into the sky just as Ruby, Yang, and Jaune arrived, staring with horror at the carnage.
"The colonel... the guys!" Yang forced out. Her expression quickly shifted to anger. "I'm going to destroy every last one of those mechon!"
Ruby and Jaune, meanwhile, were staring with sinking hearts at the entrance to the lab- completely blocked off by rubble. "What... what do we do now?"
Ruby looked rapidly around, searching for anything that could help them. "There's... got to be..." Suddenly, it hit her. "The mobile artillery! The one they crashed in the Residential District! We have the cylinders to fix it! If we get it up and running, we can move the debris aside!"
"Not a bad plan, Rubes!" Yang grinned, thumping her sister on the back.
"Loathe as I am to admit it, she is good at thinking on her feet," Weiss sighed. "Perhaps another reason Ozpin chose her as leader."
"Please... stop..." Ruby begged.
"Sounds like a plan!" Yang agreed, hoisting the cylinder transport cases over her shoulder. "C'mon! Time to avenge the Colonel and the guys!"
They took off at a run across the bridge, but when they got to the nexus, they quickly found themselves surrounded by more mechon.
"Dammit!" Yang cursed. "Why don't you go bother someone else?!"
The three fell into formation, back-to-back, looking through the forest of metal for an exit point.
"C'mon! They were so close!" Nora whimpered.
Yang assessed the situation this time. "Jaune... I hate to admit it, but between us three, you have the best stamina." She moved her shoulder and slid the transport cases off. "Take these- Rubes and I will open a way for you to the Residential District- you get through, fill up the artillery, then come back to us."
Jaune didn't seem enthralled with this plan. "Are you kidding? You two can't do this alone!"
"Just get through- we'll be right behind you!" Ruby agreed.
"Ruby-"
Yang cut him off. "A year ago, Qrow and the Defence Force put their lives on the lines to protect the colony- and all of us homs! It's about time we repaid them!"
"I... I wouldn't want to leave either," Jaune admitted, "but..."
"But he hardly has any other choice," Pyrrha nodded her agreement.
Jaune bit his lip, clearly reluctant to, in his mind, abandon them.
"No need to be so worried!" Yang grinned bracingly. "C'mon, just hurry and get the artillery, then you get to be the big hero when you get back, rescuing these two lovely damsels in distress! You'd like that, wouldn't ya?"
"I... wish I could say I was surprised that that's how Yang chose to motivate him," Blake sighed.
Jaune still didn't look ecstatic, but he finally accepted the transport cases. "Yang... you take care, too." With that, he took off, ducking under a swinging mechon arm as he left the nexus.
Yang grinned at Ruby. "Hey, hey! Looks like he trusts me after all- LOOK OUT!"
She leapt forward, tackling Ruby out of the way just as the tower that marked the nexus collapsed from the mechon chipping at its foundations. It fell and destroyed the bridge Jaune had just crossed before collapsing into the lake.
"Well, there goes their plan!" Nora groaned. "Can anything go right?!"
Jaune seemed to be wondering the same thing, looking back in horror as he watched the bridge collapse into the water. He then turned towards the mobile artillery- and something went right. There were no mechon near it- indeed, this entire area of the district seemed to have already been evacuated. There was nobody and nothing to get in the way of repairing the artillery. A look of steely determination crossed his face as he got to work.
"Can't keep a good Jaune-Jaune down! Way to go, Fearless Leader!" Nora crowed, thumping him on the back.
"Oof- th-thanks... Nora..." Jaune gasped for breath.
Yang looked up from where she'd landed, and also saw the ruined bridge. "Well, if this is a joke, it's not funny," she growled. "You okay, Rubes?"
"I'm... I'm fine," Ruby gasped as she got back to her feet.
"You're a little out of breath to convince me," Yang laugbed as she clambered back to her feet as well.
"You're not exactly... at top speed... either," Ruby pointed out.
"Look at us," Yang grunted, diving out of the way of another mechon. "Couple of dumb kids trying to take on an entire mechon army on our own-"
A mechon attacked her with its claws, and she resorted to using her gauntlets to hold the claws apart. Ruby panicked, and began futilely bashing it with her scythe.
"Ruby- run for it!" Yang grunted as she struggled to keep the mechon away.
"Don't- be- stupid!" Ruby denied as she attacked again and again, each strike as ineffective as the last.
"Yang!" Ruby was hopping up and down in her seat out of panic.
A yell echoed over the nexus, but it was neither of the girls, nor was it of fright- this was a war cry as a blue blur roared down one of the remaining bridges, slicing apart every mechon it came into contact with. Before either girl knew what had happened, the mechon accosting Yang lay on the ground in pieces, and their savior stood near the railing, looking back with a warm smile. "Kept ya waitin', huh?"
"UNCLE QROW!" Ruby burst out. "Uncle Qrow and Crescent Rose to the rescue!"
"It's impressive he's managing to hold it in his damaged arm," Weiss observed. "...Is that a katana he has?"
"His scythe does turn into a sword," Yang recalled. "Maybe he brought it just in case?"
"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby and Yang cried as one, looks of hope filling both their faces.
"Now this is what I wanted to see!" Yang whooped.
"Figured that's where you were when you weren't home!" Ruby gushed.
Qrow looked around. "Where's Jaune? I figured he'd be with you."
"We sent him to the Residential District to get the mobile artillery!" Yang explained quickly.
"Hmm..." Qrow looked at the ruined bridge. "Well, doesn't look like we'll be going that way. C'mon, we'll have to go through Commercial and around the cliff."
"Right!" both girls agreed immediately.
They looked towards the Commercial District, the bridge swarming with mechon, but Qrow smirked and twirled Crescent Rose around- a blue fog seemed to come from it, which caused Ruby's scythe and Yang's gauntlets to pick up the glow. Both girls grinned as they realized what had happened.
"Ready, girls?"
"Let's rock!" Yang called as Qrow led the charge into the mechon- far from the struggle it had been before, Ruby's scythe and Yang's gauntlets were now tearing the machines apart with ease. And of Crescent Rose... little more need be said.
"So, that's the power Crescent Rose possesses in this world," Ren mused. "I know we saw it before, but that's before we had fights without it to compare."
"A truly powerful weapon," Weiss nodded. "Let's just hope that-"
It was as they were rushing across the bridge out of the colony that the scythe began acting up again, sending waves of electricity through Qrow's body- he let out a yell of pain and collapsed, Crescent Rose skittering across the bridge in front of him.
"...That doesn't happen," Weiss sighed heavily.
"Crescent Rose... why now?" Ruby whimpered.
"Qrow!" Yang yelped, rushing to help him. "Crap... your body can't take any more of Crescent Rose!"
Qrow fought to rise to his feet. "I... don't have a choice..."
He fell back to the ground, coughing up blood.
"Why would my baby do that to him!" Ruby cried.
"Wait... I think I just realized what's about to happen!" Blake's eyes widened.
"Of course!" Weiss smacked her own forehead. "How didn't we see it before?"
"See what?!" Yang demanded.
"No, Yang's right," Ruby whispered, looking ahead to where the scythe lay. "You can't go on like this."
She wasn't sure why she did it- she was barely conscious of deciding to do so- but she found herself sprinting down the bridge towards Crescent Rose.
"Ruby, no!" Yang called.
"It'll kill you!" Qrow cried at the same time.
Perhaps she didn't hear them, perhaps she didn't process their words properly- either way, within the next few seconds, she had Crescent Rose in her hands. It immediately unfolded into the brilliant blue blade they'd all come to expect. Electricity crackled through the blade, but did not continue on through her body as she rushed forward at the oncoming mechon.
"Wait... oh, I'm an idiot!" Yang facepalmed. "Rubes is the hero this time, of course she's gonna use Crescent Rose!"
"I mean... she is my baby, but..." Ruby looked hesitant.
"It doesn't seem to be damaging her so far?" Pyrrha pointed out hopefully.
As she charged at the mechon, something strange happened- her eyes flashed silver, and she was suddenly viewing the world in the same haze as when she'd briefly held it back at the lab. She saw the mechon ahead of her charge its cannon, and open fire. Before she could move, it had blown her clear off of the bridge.
The haze cleared, and she was still on top of the bridge, rushing towards the mechon. What- what was that?! she thought to herself. She looked ahead, and saw the mechon charging another shot- half on instinct, she dodged out of the way before the shot was truly fired.
"Um... what?" Nora tilted her head in confusion.
"No... no, that's ridiculous!" Weiss shook her head.
Qrow and Yang seemed just as stunned, watching as the shot travelled over their heads and towards an empty building behind them. "What the-" Qrow stared, wide-eyed.
Ruby took vengeance on the offending mechon, slicing through it with even more ease than her regular enchanted scythe. She then turned towards a bigger mechon, and... it happened again. Her eyes flashed, and she was rushing at the big mechon, which effortlessly swatted her away with one of its long claws.
The haze lifted, and she was nowhere near the mechon- but when it swung, she was able to duck under it with ease and dispatch it with a quick uppercut.
"Huh- my sis is pretty awesome!" Yang began to smile proudly.
"It's the future!" Blake realized. "Somehow, Crescent Rose is giving her visions of the future!"
"As I suspected," Ren agreed. "Back in the lab, when she was seeing all those things... they were glimpses of things to come."
"Which means Weiss and I will appear later?" Pyrrha asked.
"It would certainly seem so," Ren nodded.
"Doesn't sound like Qrow ever had visions like that," Jaune speculated. "You'd think he'd have mentioned them otherwise."
"How, though?" Qrow wondered aloud. "How is she using Crescent Rose?"
Ruby was looking around, still taken aback by whatever was happening to her, when two more mechon landed behind her. Recognizing the daze she was in, Yang and Qrow rushed in and protected her. "Rubes, wake up!" Yang demanded.
"Yang! Qrow!" Ruby blinked as she finally seemed to snap out of it. She swung Crescent Rose and quickly dispatched the offending mechon.
"Do you feel alright?" Qrow asked urgently.
"Yeah, just fine," Ruby nodded. "But... there was something strange. Just now... when I was dodging... it was like I could see into the future!"
"See... the future?" Yang tilted her head.
Qrow shook his head. "I never experienced anything like that... though, Tai was always saying Crescent Rose might have hidden abilities..."
"Huh?" Ruby asked- but they were both forced to dodge as more mechon attacked.
"Think later, fight now!" Nora ordered.
"No time to think about it now!" Qrow decided. "Believe what Crescent Rose showed you and fight!"
"How do I enchant?" Ruby asked quickly.
"The scythe is driven by your will- focus on granting us the ability to fight, and it will happen!"
Ruby nodded, and focused all her mind on bringing that blue glow to Yang's gauntlets, and the katana Qrow had drawn. The blue mist began to emerge from Crescent Rose. She spun it just as she'd seen Qrow do earlier, and the mist spread, allowing their weapons to take up the glow and begin cutting through the mechon armor.
"Fast learner!" Yang grinned, thumping her sister on the back. Her grin disappeared. "Now, if it starts acting up against you, too, I'm gonna be a lot less happy..."
The three continued with their plan, fighting across the rest of the bridge and around the cliffs surrounding the colony towards the entrance to the Residential District. The only thing that had changed was that Ruby was leading the charge. At last, they were rushing down the path towards where the mobile artillery had been... when the giant, faced mechon landed in front of them, already drawing its massive sword.
"Oh, this bitch!" Yang growled.
"This one's huge!" Yang gaped, taking a step backwards.
Qrow's brow furrowed as he took the mechon in. "A face? I've never seen a mechon with a face before!"
"Not that any of that means anything," Yang growled, returning to her look of determination.
"Right- we have Crescent Rose!" Ruby agreed. She leapt up and swung the scythe to cut off the machine's head...
Only for it to plink harmlessly off.
"What?!" everyone gasped.
"But... that should have worked!" Ruby stammered out.
As Ruby stumbled back in shock, the mechon actually raised a finger and wagged it tauntingly.
"Wait... is that thing thinking?" Yang stared.
"That would only make this massacre even less forgivable!" Pyrrha glared.
None of the fighters took notice of the action, however. "What the- how did that happen?!" Yang stared.
"Crescent Rose should be able to cut through mechon with ease!" Qrow agreed.
Ruby looked up at the mechanical behemoth, taking in every detail. Finally, she spotted several lines running around the chassis- lines filled with a flowing red light. "What's that? That red light- other mechon don't have that. Maybe... maybe it has something to do with that?"
The mechon raised its sword and brought it down towards the sisters- it took Qrow tackling them out of the way to spare them. "Stay back, I'll take it from here!" he ordered.
"But... but if Crescent Rose can't cut it..." Ruby stammered out hopelessly.
Yang seemed to agree. "No! You can't take any more!" she yelled as she rushed in after them- and indeed, the mechon was able to easily swat them away like pests. It then jumped towards Ruby, who raised Crescent Rose to defend herself- for all the good it did. She was sent flying back across the district.
"There... there's gotta be something they can do!" Jaune choked out, eyes raking across the screen for anything.
"Hey!" came a shout, as several rockets impacted the mechon from behind. It turned to see Jaune, loaded into the mobile artillery, circling the corner, the shoulder cannon smoking. "Why don't you pick on someone your own size?"
"Oh! Jaune to the rescue!" Pyrrha visibly brightened.
"Should have known that thing would come in handy!" Nora grinned.
"Everyone- get away!" Jaune called to his allies.
"Jaune?" Qrow blinked as he took in the sudden savior. Jaune let out a battle cry as he threw the artillery forward.
"Alright, VB, I'll give you this one, this is pretty cool," Yang admitted.
"Eheh... um... thanks?" Jaune accepted sheepishly.
Ruby grinned as well- until her eyes flashed again.
Jaune was charging forward, until a blast from the faced mechon destroyed one of the artillery's arms and sent it flying into the nearest building. The remainder collapsed as the mechon raised her sword for the kill.
"Crap- abort mission, abort mission!" Nora suddenly did a reversal on her feelings towards the attack.
"She was able to change those other visions, I'm sure she can change this one, too!" Jaune declared hopefully.
Ruby and Pyrrha sat frozen in their seats. "...Jaune?"
Ruby struggled to pull herself to her feet. "Jaune... Jaune! Get back!"
Jaune didn't seem to hear. "You're not gonna hurt anyone else!" he roared as he steered the artillery forward. "We will save Colony 9!" He activated a chain gun built into the artillery's shoulder, firing several bullets the size of a small child directly at his adversary- but they did no good against its armor.
In retaliation, it began charging up the massive cannon on its back, firing a large orb of energy at the oncoming artillery, knocking off an arm and sending it flying into the nearest building. The artillery was staggered, falling to the ground.
"Not good, not good!" Nora was biting her nails.
"Jaune, if ever there was a time for retreat, now is that time," Ren offered- unfortunately, only the Jaune that wasn't in danger at all could hear him.
The Jaune in the artillery maintained his expression of determination as he fired from the artillery's cannon again. The rockets, however, had no more effect than before.
"Jaune!" Ruby pleaded. "get out of here! Run!"
He still didn't seem to hear her- he was readying the cannon on the artillery's back. "Still want more? Take this!" He rushed forward at full speed, driving the cannon into the mechon's face almost like a lance, before firing. The artillery fell backwards, and Jaune was forced to fold over to protect himself. And when he unfolded and looked to check the damage...
Very little had been sustained. The face had been burned and blackened, exposing some of the underlying machinery, but it was still quite capable of rising back to its feet and storming towards him.
"Okay, hacks! I call hacks!" Yang roared in fury.
"When they said Crescent Rose is the only weapon that can pierce their armor... I didn't realize they were this serious..." Weiss stared, wide-eyed.
"How?!" Jaune stared in horror. He attempted to get the artillery to move, but it was simply too damaged by the backblast from its own attack.
As if out of spite, the mechon grabbed the artillery by the very cannon that had finally wounded it. It lifted it up, its four red, robotic eyes staring into Jaune's crystal blue, before turning and flinging it into the wall of the nearest building.
"Jaune!" Ruby cried, still struggling to rise to her feet.
"Kid!" Qrow agreed, unconsciously attempting to push himself up with his wounded arm, only sending himself back onto the ground.
Jaune was attempting to undo the straps holding him in the artillery, but they, too, were damaged, unwilling to undo properly.
"JAUNE!" Ruby cried as the mechon raised its sword and plunged it into the artillery. Jaune let out a loud, lingering scream that would haunt her for the rest of her life.
"JAUNE!" the entire audience- but especially Team NPR- cried.
"There's... I..." Jaune stammered, unable to put into words the feeling of watching his other suffer such a fate.
"K...Kid..." Even Qrow was at a loss for words as the mechon turned back towards them, raising its great blade, showing off the blood that stained it.
This last seemed to be what finally gave Ruby the ability to rise back to her feet. All fear had left her eyes- what replaced it went right past anger into a furious, boiling hatred. "I'LL KILL YOOOOOOOUUUUUUU!" she roared.
"Ruby?" Yang blinked. She'd seen her sister angry, but this surpassed every instance she'd witnessed combined.
Heedless that her backup was still on the ground, Ruby rushed forward and used Crescent Rose to block the mechon's blade. When the mechon pulled it back, Ruby managed to hop on to its other arm and climb up towards the face, where she plunged Crescent Rose's blade into the wound left by Jaune and the artillery. "DIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEE!"
The mechon seemed taken aback that she was at last able to do some harm, swinging around like a wounded animal until Ruby was sent rolling back onto the pavement.
"She lost all sense of reason... only anger..." Weiss stared, a chill going up her spine.
"Rubes!" Yang called, rushing to her sister's side.
The faced mechon turned to take them all in- it may have been his imagination, but Qrow thought its eyes lingered a little longer on him than the others- before shifting back into its more aerodynamic form and taking off into the sky.
"You get back here!" Yang futilely called after it.
"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" Ruby cried with a voice filled with rage. But it did no good. The faced mechon was gone... and so was Jaune.
"I... I certainly never expected... to see one of us die in these worlds... and certainly not so soon!" Pyrrha sniffed out through her tearing eyes.
"Jaune... I'm sorry I couldn't save you..." Ruby looked at the ground.
"You did everything you could," Jaune attempted to comfort her. "It's not your fault."
"It's that damn mechon's fault!" Yang growled.
"Ooohhh, if my Magnhild worked like Crescent Rose in that world, I'd break its legs! And then everything else! One... by... one," Nora agreed.
"I'd certainly do nothing to stop you," Ren nodded, only his ice-cold eyes revealed above his steepled fingers.
The next day seemed to drag on an eternity. So many residents of the colony were dead or missing- homs and nopon alike. The first thing to get up and running again was the medical center, to care for anyone who'd been injured. Ruby went in for a check-up only because Yang insisted, not because she felt any actual pain. Physically, at least.
When they met outside, the sisters spent a long time looking into the lake below. "We... protected the colony... lots of people survived who probably wouldn't have otherwise... but still..." Yang attempted to say.
"It doesn't really feel like we won," Ruby agreed. She looked away. "Yang, I... I wanna be alone for a bit."
Yang nodded. "Fair enough."
"Maybe you shouldn't," Blake suggested. "I think having your sister there would... oh, who am I kidding?" She sighed. "I'm really not the best fit for giving that lecture, am I?"
"Not at all," her team all agreed.
Ruby climbed her way back up to Outlook Park, one of the only places in the colony untouched by the battle. She sat down on her favorite bench, where she'd sat with Jaune not so long ago, talking about things that seemed so unimportant at the time.
"The breeze feels so good... I wish every day could be like this, always..."
"I guess that should have been another tip off," Yang sighed heavily. "Talk about doom flags..."
She looked out over the colony- very little had been done to actually begin its restoration. They had to attend to the people first and foremost. Eventually, though, all the rubble would be cleared, the buildings rebuilt... maybe one day, there would be no sign of what had happened last night. Of what had been lost.
The sun was descending towards the horizon when she became aware of someone sitting next to her. "Yang, I don't-" she started- and was caught off guard when she turned to see Qrow sitting next to her.
"Well, if anyone can talk to her right now, it'd be Uncle Qrow," Yang admitted.
She took him in, and immediately noticed that he was off-balance; his injured arm, it seemed, had been removed.
"Noticed already, huh?" Qrow gave a wan smile. "Yep, they said the arm was never gonna move again. They had some experimental treatments they were willing to try, but hell, it's been a liability since last year. I told 'em to just get rid of it."
"Oh, my!" Pyrrha raised her hands to her face.
"He just told 'em to... cut it off?" Yang stared. "I can't imagine doing that willingly!"
"He's always been a tough guy," Ruby shrugged halfheartedly. "If he really thought it was dragging him down... I can see him doing it."
With his remaining arm, Qrow produced his flask and took a drink. "They've set up a gravesite," he told her. "Not far from that clearing of yours, in fact. Setting it up as a memorial to everyone who... well. A lot of the graves aren't even filled. Including... I'm sure I don't have to say it..."
"No... I guess you don't," Jaune nodded forlornly.
"How do you feel?" he finally asked.
"Fine," Ruby said hollowly.
"Bullshit," Qrow shook his head. "There's no way you're feeling fine."
"I don't see you crying," Ruby pointed out hollowly.
"No... and I'm not going to," Qrow agreed quietly. "Listen... last year, I felt the same way I do now. That crushing horror... deep loss... deeper pain. Tai and I were the lucky ones- a lot of my friends didn't make it out of that battle alive. But while I was being carried home on a stretcher, I'd made a decision- that I wasn't going to cry."
He paused and took a drink from his flask, perhaps offering Ruby a chance to say something- she did not.
"Everyone who died in that battle," he continued, "had something they wanted to protect. Family... friends... loved ones... perhaps just their home. And in the end, protect them they did. We won. It's painful, yes, but there's joy to be had in that. They may not be here to see it, but they got what they wanted. That's the conclusion I came to."
Another pause, another silence from Ruby.
"Jaune didn't just die last night, Ruby... he sacrificed himself to protect you... all of us. And here we are, just as he wished. I think he'd say the same, if he could. He succeeded in his mission... so I won't cry for him."
"I... think I get what he's saying," Ruby said.
"He's right," Jaune agreed. "That's exactly what I'd say, if I were there."
"He's... wiser than I thought he was," Weiss admitted begrudgingly.
"Remember the gift of life that Jaune gave you," Qrow advised. "Treasure it."
"I... don't entirely understand," Ruby finally spoke. "I... hope I will, someday."
"Well, that's all of us, isn't it?" Qrow chuckled humorlessly, taking another drink. "All of us, caught in a rush, just trying to understand."
He patted her gently on the shoulder before rising to his feet. "If you need me... you know where I am."
Ruby continued staring down at the colony from above until the sky turned orange above her. Slowly, she rose to her feet and descended the steps back to the colony's level. It wasn't the colony she went to, however- instead, she started trekking towards her clearing. She hadn't even entered the ravine when she located the graves. Her heart sank when she saw Prettygirl the golden retriever crouched mournfully over one grave in particular. Kneeling next to her, she saw the name on the stone- Steve Henkel. She remembered the jolly old man she and Jaune had been speaking to just yesterday.
"Oh, not him, too!" Ruby whined.
"Him and who knows how many others?" Weiss looked down at the ground. "If anything, it's amazing his dog survived."
Just next to Uncle Steve's grave was the one she sought, labeled quite simply Jaune Arc. Kneeling here at his gravc, she finally felt heat in her eyes as the tears came at last. She didn't know how long she spent crying there, only that when she looked up, the sun had vanished, replaced by a brilliant moon. She looked around, and rose to her feet. Sorry, I couln't help it, Uncle Qrow. I had to get it out... but now I know what I'm going to do.
The cool night air hit her face as she dashed back to her own home in the Residential District. She hadn't known what to do with Crescent Rose when everything was over, and had thusly left it in a chest that she now opened and took it from. She grabbed a bag and stuffed it full of food and water before moving to the door, throwing one last look at her home before closing it. She took off out of the colony through the Commercial entrance, and into the ravine leading to Tephra Cave.
"Here she goes, off on another ill-thought-out plan," Weiss sighed, trying to conceal her concern.
"On her own? That's not like her," Yang frowned.
Not long after, Yang entered the house. "Ruby, I know that- Ruby?"
She scanned the room and quickly searched the house in its entirety. "Ruby?"
The gears turned in her head until she gasped, realizing what Ruby must have done- must be doing. She turned and sprinted out of the colony through the same exit.
Ruby was almost to Tephra Cave when she heard Yang's voice behind her. "RUBY!"
"Go home, Yang!" she called back, biting her lip. "I'm going to kill that faced mechon alone!"
"Of course you are!" Yang nodded. "And I'm coming with you!"
"Should have known, she'd be right on board," Jaune gave a small smile.
"And so should I..." Ruby frowned at her other.
Perhaps Yang's words were reaching her, or perhaps she realized how futile it would be to try to outrun her, but Ruby stopped until she caught up, panting. "I made a promise to him, Rubes- a promise! 'I won't let her get a scratch on her!' And I don't mean to- I don't mean to!"
Ruby looked up at her with watery eyes, and the sisters embraced, sharing comfort in each other.
"I do love tender moments like this!" Pyrrha sniffed again, blowing her nose on a handkerchief.
"Dunces..." Weiss grunted without any bite through watery eyes of her own.
Down below, Tai and Qrow were watching, their adoptive children just visible from the top of Qrow's house. "Go on, you two," he nodded his approval. "Once this heals, I'll be right behind you. Together, we'll seize our destiny."
When they'd finished their hug, the girls turned to look back on their colony. "Take a good look, Rubes," Yang instructed. "Last time you'll be seeing it for a while."
"I'm not coming back until I've killed that mechon," Ruby said through narrowed eyes- eyes that opened up again quickly. "When I say it like that, it makes me wonder if I'll ever see home again."
Yang clapped a hand onto her shoulder. "Of course we will!"
Ruby smiled sadly up at her. "Yang... I'm glad you're with me."
Together, the two set off into the darkness of the cave... and towards their destiny.
XXXX
Er... happy new year? I didn't really mean for this to be my traditional new year's update, but things just kinda worked out like that. So... happy new year! With this very happy episode! Next episode will be... well, we're actually tied up on the poll. Both Voyage Home/Xenosaga and Last Contact/Xenogears have two votes. I actually do have a tier list that will help me break a tie in the event one occurrs, but I'd rather the decision be all yours, so go vote if you haven't already! I'll probably give it a week or so before I just use the tier list to decide.
In other poll news, I expect this one to be the last for a while- at least as far as choosing the worlds goes. I'll probably put one up over potential new characters to include, once I figure out how I want to set that up. For now, just say in reviews or PM's if you want certain characters to show up as audience members- especially the four mentioned above. As far as story order goes, I'm probably going to defer to my tier list once all the worlds have been properly introduced- that's also when I'll explain what the list actually consists of. So, until next time, enjoy your new year, and don't you dare go hollow- Gamer4 out!