Ren sat, hoping to any god that he and his friends would make it out okay. He doesn't know how he would handle it if the nuckaleeve took any of his friends. It had already stolen his parents from him, he wasn't planning on letting it steal anyone else. His only form of grounding was Nora who took his hand and gave it a firm squeeze. He looked over at her and her eyes were full of worry, "Ren, this hasn't happened yet, and will more than likely never happen because we're going to change a few things when we get back."
Hearing this gave Ren a sense of comfort. She was right, his friends were with him and these events were far enough in the future that they could do something about it. He took some breaths, same as everyone else, and thanked his partner. When Nora saw that he was more calm she sent him a reassuring smile. He gazed at all of his friends and felt more at ease.
"You ready to continue?" Yang asked. Ren silently nodded and the group took the confirmation in stride, quietly preparing themselves for what was likely going to be a shitstorm of a confrontation. But, they tried to tell themselves they were ready for whatever was going to be thrown at them. They've held themselves together for this long, not really, but what's another season finale gonna do?
They are all still yet to remember that this is Volume 4 out of many others.
(Volume 4 Intro)
Team RNJR are already in the midst of a battle with the large Grimm with gunfire reverberating and dust flying. The team stands afar as the nuckaleeve slowly walks towards them, its hooves clacking on the stone.
Ren's mind went back to that night, the same clicking began to ring in his head, distracting him from the now. Fortunately, it was only for a few seconds as he shook his head, gaining his bearings. Repeatedly, Ren kept telling himself that his friends were with him and that nothing bad has happened yet, none of these events have transpired. "Hey, Ren, are you sure you're gonna be okay?" Jaune whispered to him. Despite them all witnessing the night his parents died, and Ren slowly facing his past fears, the Grimm still holds a haunting mark over him.
Ren looked at the screen, his eyes landing on the nuckaleeve. A burning feeling filled him, he answered, "Yes, I know I will." A part of Jaune didn't feel convinced, but he trusted his friend, and if he told him he knew he was going to be okay, then he was going to be okay. Especially with how much will was behind the response.
Ren glared daggers at the Grimm. It released an enormous cry at them, focusing its eyes on them. Jaune sheathed Crocea Mors and started sprinting over to where Qrow was resting. The nuckaleeve extended one of its arms to crush Jaune but retracted it when it was unsuccessful.
"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby yelled and a spike of terror hit Yang. Praying her uncle would come out of this unscathed, he had no business being anywhere near the fight when he was in such horrible condition. Thankfully for the sisters, they were about to be exponentially relieved in the next couple of moments.
Jaune hooked Qrow's arm around his shoulders and gasped when he looked up to see the nuckaleeve heading straight for the two.
Pyrrha gasped, having the strong urge to look away but didn't as she trusted her friends.
Ren and Nora gave each other a look. Ren kneeled and placed his hand on the stone, using his semblance to travel through the ground and masked Jaune, making the Grimm confused.
Pyrrha smiled in relief, but she knew this was just the beginning. Everyone was in the same boat, getting the little moments of joy but they ceased when their minds came back to the reality that none of this was over yet.
Ren shouted for Jaune to get Qrow to safety as he was just standing there while the nuckaleeve looked around.
"Um, yeah, not to be that person, but what are you just standing around for?!" Yang called out in a frenzy. They all agreed, why wasn't he immediately running at the first sight that he wasn't going to be dead in the next second? This was not the time to be getting cold feet for Pete's sake!
Jaune gradually took Qrow away as Nora gave them more time by shooting her bombs. Ren's semblance slowly wore off on them and Jaune gently set Qrow down against a house. Jaune looked back at him one more time and was about to go help the others when Qrow grabbed hold of his hand, stopping him.
"Qrow, everything's going to be fine, probably," Jaune says, realizing a second later that that doesn't sound very comforting at the moment. So, he tried again, "No, Qrow, everything will be fine, we can take care of it!" That was much better.
Qrow rolled his eyes and then sighed. Jaune's expression morphed into one of resolve and rushed to join the others. Ruby was in the middle of using Crescent Rose to jump above the Grimm and go for its head but was taken down by one of its hands. Nora tried to charge it as well but its other arm threw her away.
"How are they gonna be able to do some damage to this thing if they barely can get close to it because of the arms?" Sun complained. An idea then began to form in all their heads. If its main source of attacking them was the nuckaleeve extending its arms, then they needed to come up with a way to get rid of them. The only question was 'How'. It was only a few minutes but it hit them.
They could use Crescent Rose, Crocea Mors, or either StormFlower to pin its arms into the ground! They all just hoped they could think of that before someone got seriously hurt, or worse…
The nuckaleeve screeches from Ren rapidly shooting at it from behind. Both of its hands grab hold of Ren when Jaune shouts for them all to keep moving in a circle. A single bomb explodes and Ren is let go.
The group became a little bit less tense when nothing extremely bad has been done to them so far. All of them knew that might change at any moment but like they've all been through many times before, they wanted to take the smallest scraps of enjoyment in breaks. From the back, Raider looks at all the kids and deems a break is necessary.
They've all learned and seen a lot so it would do some good for them to take a mental breather before they moved on to the next volume. It won't be a break like the RWBY Chibi, that would come after Volume 6.
All three of them proceed to do just that, running around to keep it moving and guessing. Sneakily, Jaune slices one of its legs and it retaliates by bucking him.
"Jaune!" They all yell but calm down when they see he's alright. They were all on edge and always seemed to fear the absolute worst would happen. They can't really be blamed after all they've witnessed, what's something that's happened that made them think otherwise?
"What are you doing?!" Ruby shouts when Jaune puts away Crocea Mors. Her grin grows when Crocea Mors's sheath attaches and becomes part of the weapon.
"Oh, hell yeah!" Yang exclaims, pumping a fist in the air. Now that's what she'd call a sword. Jaune felt excitement. So that's what the upgrades to his sword were.
Ruby shot one bullet after the next as Jaune ran toward the nuckaleeve. He swung his sword and sliced at its other back leg. The two had a short stare-off then the Grimm let out a scream and rotated its entire upper body.
"Well, that's not good," Jaune mutters to himself. There went their plan of running around the Grimm.
The nuckaleeve separates the four of them. It releases a wail when the spines on the upper half's back protrude. It then lets out a bloodcurdling scream, causing Ruby and Jaune to cover their ears.
Everyone does the same, especially Blake with her sensitive ears. She even grunts from the noise, her ears flattening atop her head as well as covering them with her hands. When it stops, she's hesitant to remove them. "Are they okay?" Yang whispers, just in case any loud noise might still hurt. Blake nods weakly.
Ren runs up the tree, shooting at the Grimm from its branches. The nuckaleeve manages to get a hold of Ren while he tries to escape but he's now pressed up against a building.
"Ren!" Everyone shouts when they see he's struggling to get unstuck.
Nora yells for Ruby and she quickly understands, swinging Crescent Rose and letting Nora propel herself just as the nuckaleeve stretches its other arm to kill Ren. Nora flew in front of him, right at the final second, and then everything was black.
"Nora!" Ren screams, his heart stopping when all there is is silence. The room is cold. She couldn't be…No, Nora, she isn't… All the students erupt into sobs.
Ren is okay and Nora is dangling onto the handle of Magnhild.
"Oh thank the Gods," Yang breaths out. That gave all of them a heart attack.
"Please, never do that again," Jaune huffs. He didn't know whether he was referring to the thought that his teammate was dead or the screen going black at a time like that.
Nora sees Ren looking up and tells him to stop, crossing her legs and averting her eyes. Ren makes a noise and looks away.
"This is just giving me a whiplash of emotions," Sun says, wanting to laugh but at a moment like that it didn't seem very appropriate.
Nora could feel the blush of embarrassment and avoided looking at Ren. The man did the same, his cheeks also turning a red color.
"Was this meant to be one of those moments where writers stick comedy at weird points?" Weiss wonders, "Because right now it is not a good one."
"That might be the case that this was made for an audience that isn't us, so they might find the humor in it?" Blake suggests.
"If that's true then they need to find better sources for their amusement because this isn't one of them," Weiss comments, crossing her arms. This is yet another example of otherworldly beings finding entertainment out of their own misfortune.
"Maybe that's the idea? To fit in the tiniest pieces of comedy in dark content?" Pyrrha inquires, throwing out the guess.
Whatever the case to them, it was honestly very horrendous.
The nuckaleeve tosses Magnhild around, using it to slam Nora to the ground, effectively breaking her aura.
Alright, joking feelings were gone now.
Ren, in retaliation, attempts to cut himself from the hand's grasp, but when that doesn't work he stabs the blades of StormFlower into the hand and fires. Jaune cuts away at the legs. It shrieks and Ren gets himself free. Out of anger, he rushes the Grimm, slicing at it, and when he's knocked he goes to do the same thing, yelling enraged.
"Ren, what are you doing? That isn't helping!" Nora shouts, looking at her partner, but he was too busy with the screen. She understood his feelings yet his emotions were only going to keep getting him hurt and, even worse, killed.
"Ren! That isn't going to do anything! Take it from me!" Yang says, turning back to face him. That caught Ren's attention, causing him to look at her right arm. His eyes darted from her arm to the screen, back and forth. The vision of Yang flying lifelessly through the air couldn't leave his mind.
"Ren, knock it off!" Jaune yells out.
"I know this isn't exactly my place," Oscar starts awkwardly, "But, I'd personally listen to my team leader. Considering that this could only lead to self-destruction." Ren sighs, taking a moment to pause and think. His friends were right, it was just a bit hard to see that when his mind is clouded with vengeance for his family all those years ago.
Ren doesn't listen and the result is one of the nuckaleeve's hands grabbing his leg and giving him the same treatment as Nora, making him land next to her. Nora watches Ren fight to get up and when he does he remains to be angry. Ren planned to continue the battle without his weapons until Nora shoved the both of them under a house. The nuckaleeve scraped one of its front feet and ran to finish the both of them and they both waited but nothing happened. It was quiet, confusing the two.
The group became excited, wondering if Ruby or Jaune had killed it. But, if that were true, they would have heard a fizzing noise as it dissolved or it would have let out a final cry. The group was now curious. They heard giddy clapping and turned to find Raider who looked very happy for some reason. Unbeknownst to all of them, this was one of her favorite moments.
She might have given them a little hint when she shouted, "Let's go Jaune!"
Ren crawled to see what happened and was shocked to see Jaune, who had halted the Grimm in its tracks. He was holding it off with Crocea Mors, using his bare strength alone to do it.
To say the room was flabbergasted would be the understatement of the century.
"HOLY SHIT, JAUNE!" Yang was the first one to speak before all hell broke loose in the theatre, "Where the fuck did this come from?!" Jaune couldn't give her an answer, his jaw had dropped to the floor.
"Oh my Gods, Jaune!" Ruby was the next to comment and then everyone else kept asking him questions when the answer was pretty self-explanatory. Blake was going to speak up and that this was the general cause of adrenaline, but she doubted anyone would have heard her. Jaune leaned over to ask Pyrrha if he could give him a hand but her head was looking away from the screen, her face redder than a tomato.
Inside, Pyrrha was internally screaming, her thoughts were best if they weren't said out loud. A small portion of them weren't that appropriate. Unaware to all of them, Raider was having her own type of field, watching all the chaos unfold with a massive grin on her face. Floating behind all of them with a large box of popcorn in her lap. To her, this was the real show. She also couldn't help but laugh as she could see that Weiss and Blake seriously wanted to tell all their friends to calm down as this was all just adrenaline.
Raider planned on giving it a few more minutes as she could consider this a small break for all of them and they really needed this kind of distraction from all the things they've had to endure and learn. Thinking about it, since it was the season finale, they all must be exhausted so she would tell them that it's time to rest for the night when this is all said and done. So, when another couple minutes passed by they all calmed down a bunch and they were ready to continue.
"Well, I don't know about all of you, but that was fun," Raider said as the episode began again, not giving anyone else a chance to speak.
The nuckaleeve threw Jaune down, but he was unharmed. Ruby grabbed its attention when she shot at it. Her eyes widened when an arm came for her and to avoid it she used Crescent Rose to send her in the air, perching herself on a rooftop. Ruby, again, avoided another one of its attacks. Under the house, Nora refused to let go of Ren when she took his hand as he tried to leave. "Nora, let go! Nora, they're going to get hurt if we don't–" He immediately went silent after she slapped him across the face.
Ren could feel that one. He gazed at Nora and noticed she still wasn't looking at him but this time a tear trickled down her cheek. Everything fell completely quiet now.
"Nora–" Ren was cut off and he looked annoyed as Raider whistled and the episode played.
"No…I won't let you kill yourself like this. After everything we've been through, I won't let it end." When Nora finished, through Ren's eyes, he saw the same scared, helpless girl all those years ago and when he blinked, Nora was in front of him in the same position.
"I'm sorry…" Ren whispered. He got no response and was going to accept it until Nora brought him into a bone-crushing hug.
"I don't want to lose you to…"
Ren felt frozen for a moment. He swiftly returned the hug and the two stayed like that for what felt like forever. When they broke apart their friends were smiling.
"Not like this," Nora says firmly. Ren's expression finally changed into something other than rage, he appeared remorseful. He sighed, taking out his father's dagger, and looked down at it. Nora took the handle in her grip, "We can do this."
"No more messing around!" Sun yells, the others following behind him.
Yang punched her fists together, "It's revenge time."
Ren nodded and the two of them crawled out. Ruby and Jaune grouped up and Ruby called out to Ren, "Jaune and I can take care of its arms." Nora would take care of the horse and Ren would deal with the rest.
"Gooooooo Team RNJR!" Ruby exclaimed enthusiastically.
"Team RNJR!" Ren, Nora, and Jaune echoed.
Having a plan, the four jumped into action. Nora flies herself onto the rooftops with Magnhild, and Ruby keeps one of its arms busy, shooting at it with Crescent Rose. Using the momentum from her bullets, she stabs the arm with Crescent Rose, pinning it.
Excite and hope began to rise in the room. Due to all the previous episodes and last volumes being nothing but tragedies, man were they getting high off the dopamine rush.
"That's my sister! Whoooooo!"
Ren's dagger soars through the air, lodging itself into the horse's upper thigh. The nuckaleeve cries out and goes after Jaune with its free hand, but Ren swoops in, trapping with Jaune's shield and giving Jaune enough time to stab the arm, pinning it as well. From atop a building, Nora smirks as she falls, using the force to absolutely slam Magnhild onto the horse's head.
The room erupts into cheers, anticipating the Grimm's inevitable demise. Ren has never felt so much satisfaction to see a Grimm fall more than this one. At this rate, he could not wait to get out there and make it pay for all the suffering it had caused. "Finish him!" Nora screams, feeling just as amped to see this nuckaleeve killed.
Words of 'Kill it' were chanted around the room, mainly from Sun, Yang, and Nora, but the others were thinking about it. They just weren't the ones to say it.
Ren slowly walked in front of the creature taking out the dagger, it screeched in his face but he paid it no heed. "For my mother," he thought, removing its right arm with the dagger. It released cries of pain, writhing, but Ren simply grabbed the horns on its head to stop it. "For my father." Its other arm was cut off.
"Badass Ren right here," Yang says excitedly.
All that's left was the upper half. "For all those that you've slain." Ren cut into its midsection. "For myself," Ren said out loud, finishing it off by taking its head.
Ren has never felt so at ease until this moment, seeing something that was the cause of all his grief be given the punishment it so justly deserves. He felt a sense of peace wash over him as Ren took a sadistic pleasure in each cry and scream of agony it let out. After so many years of haunting memories, it was finally over.
Well, not in his timeline it wasn't but he took great solace in the fact that out there in a different time, he was able to have that moment. Ren, now, was just graced to see it right now on the screen. Ren looked over towards Nora who looked like she felt the same way. Ren was glad that the two of them were able to face their past, together.
The Grimm began to dissolve as Ren took heavy breaths. He was then tackled to the ground by a very happy Nora. Once the battle was over, Ruby quickly ran off to her uncle Qrow. Ruby released a sigh of relief when she found out he had remained unharmed. "It's quiet, good job kiddo," Qrow congratulates.
"Pfft, it was a team effort," Ruby states, glancing behind her at very Jaune, Ren, and Nora.
Jaune calls their attention as some kind of signal is heard. Unexpectedly, two Mistral airships. They were all saved.
The kids were so happy that things were finally starting to turn around in their favor. That did leave a few questions for them: who sent the airships? How did that person know they all needed help? And how did they know where to look?
That didn't matter to them, they were heading to Mistral and Qrow was going to get the help he so desperately needed.
Qrow is placed on a stretcher and the ships take off. "How'd you find us out here?" Jaune asks one of the patrolers.
"We were out patrolling and saw the smoke. No one's been out here for years, thought something might be wrong."
That meant they were really close to Mistral if one of their patrol ships managed to find them on their grounds. Whatever the case, they were just so lucky that they happened to find them. In all honesty, they also wouldn't have minded if they had shown up a couple of minutes before, the help would have been great, but that was fine.
Ruby still has her doubts, wondering if they'll make it in time. Jaune grabs her attention, getting her to look up. In front of them are the mountains of Mistral with civilization everywhere.
"We did it!" Nora exclaimed, jumping up from her seat. Ruby joins her, making the couch under bounce when she lands.
Ruby was so happy, telling him that they made it. His response was a grunt and tightening his hold on her hand. Ren and Nora sit next to one another, both quiet. Ren smiles and startles Nora when he takes her hand in his. Nora returns his smile and rests her head on his shoulder.
A few silent 'awws' spread throughout the room. The two in question didn't hear them, but Nora copied the same motion as her counterpart on screen, placing her head on his shoulder. This only succeeded in encouraging the others.
Ruby steps into her current room, puts Screscent Rose on her bed and walks over to the other to look over Qrow, who was sleeping. She rests a hand on his head and then goes over to the desk, taking the pen that was on to write a letter to Yang.
"Hey sis, I hope my letters have been reaching you and dad. Handwritten stuff has never been super reliable."
Weiss and Blake would have really liked to object to that, but figured now isn't the right time to correct Ruby about that assumption.
"I guess it's all we've got these days. Anyway in case you haven't been getting them, I want to say I'm sorry for leaving the way I did."
Yang pulled her sister closer, "I've already forgiven you. But, when this time comes and you want to leave, in case I don't go with you after this, something other than a letter and no words said are much more preferable." Ruby giggled, thinking those were fair enough terms to agree with.
"I know you told me it was a reckless idea and…after everything I've been through, I can definitely say you were right. It's been hard, on all of us and I'm not just talking about the monsters we've fought out here."
The memory of Qrow getting grazed by Tyrian's stinger enters their mind.
"Okay, you can hide out back in the cargo hold, I'll take you as far as I can but if we get caught, you're on your own, understand?" A pilot says to Weiss, leaning up against an airship. The girl nods and makes her way onto the ship.
Weiss was ready to handle anything that was thrown at her, so long she was able to escape that prison. Weiss sighed, she just hoped she wouldn't have to go back.
"Every step we made, took us further and further away from the things we knew and every morning we woke up wondering if just over the next hill would be something good…or something terrible," Ruby's letter continued.
Yang brought her sister closer, bringing her into a side hug. Ruby nuzzled even closer, happy for her sister's presence.
"It's scary, not knowing what's going to happen next." Blake takes out a chest and sets it on her father's desk. She opens it and it's White Fang knick-knacks. She removes the current White Fang flag, holding it in her hands, frowning. "And the things we do know now, just how bad it can get, it almost makes it all worse."
In Yang's hand is a ferry card and the same old picture of Team STRQ. "You told me once that bad things just happen, you were angry when you said it, and I didn't want to listen."
Yang wasn't just angry then, she was also hurt, badly. Her partner and best friend had left them. Left her, and it felt like a repeat of her mom leaving all over again. So, in the heat of the moment Yang had said some things, though they were true, they were all still in the moment.
"But you were right." Tai holds a picture frame with the same photo Yang had. "Bad things do happen, all the time, every day. Which is why I'm out here to do whatever I can, wherever I can, and hopefully do some good." Tai looks up, taking in the picture of Team RWBY with the words 'New Friends' on the top left corner in red.
The girls remembered that photo and it might not have been long ago for them right now, but sure felt like it as they seemed to be growing alongside their counterparts. Despite experiencing and watching everything from a third-person perspective, it all felt so immersive like it was all happening in real time.
"We've all lost something." Jaune sits on the floor, staring intently at Crocea Mors, thinking about Pyrrha.
Pyrrha grabbed Jaune's hand, a silent way of telling him that she was still with them, she wasn't gone, and even when she takes the Maiden's powers if those same events occur, she knows she won't be alone. She'll be able to confide in her friends, share her feelings on the matter.
"And I've seen what loss can do to people." Nora and Ren enter the room. Jaune smiles when he sees his teammates and they go to join him. The dagger of Ren's father is placed next to Crocea Mors. "But if we gave up every time we lost, then we'd never be able to move forward." Weiss sits on one of the dust cargos, looking out the window at the beautiful sky. "We'd never have a chance to see what beautiful things the future might have waiting for us." Blake stares more intently at the flag and replaces it to put the old White Fang flag in her hands. "We'd never have the strength to change, whether it's ourselves or the world around us."
The kids were all starting to tear up, getting emotional from the letter and taking everything it was saying to heart. Listening in stride, this was a wonderful thing to hopefully end the volume with. They were sadly all unaware that half of the episode still remained. Whether they knew that or not, they wanted to enjoy this moment, hearing the rest of what Ruby's letter had to give them.
"You know I'm proud of you, right?" Yang asked. Ruby hummed acknowledgingly.
"I know." She closed her eyes, wanting this moment to stay like this forever. This had to be the most peaceful moments in the entire volume and they were more than thankful for it.
Blake looks over to Sun who's resting in the chair across the room. One of the ship's crewmembers, the same captain too from Blake's voyage, waved goodbye as Yang drove off. "And we'd never be there for other people who might one day be lost without us." On a train, Oscar rests, staring up at the ceiling. "This is what we were training for, Yang, to become huntresses, to be the ones to stand up and do something about all the bad in the world." A voice on the train rings, telling the passengers that they're approaching the city of Mistral.
"Dang, wish we had your easy journey," Ruby joked. A few others laughed, including Oscar.
"Yeah, I don't think I would have survived a day on you guys' expedition."
Nora let out a loud laugh, "HA! I think we can all agree that that might be more of a miracle." She's then elbowed by Ren. "What? I'm not wrong!"
"Because there are plenty of people out there who are still lost." Corsic and Fennic stand on one of Menagerie's rooftops. Ilia appears behind them. "And even more who will try to gain everything they can from their sorrow." She kneels for the two of them.
Blake eyes the screen intently. She was determined to help her friend and determined to help her onto the right path. She was devastated that she couldn't do that at this point in time but she was going to find a way.
Cinder snaps her fingers and multiple beowulves dissolve as Emerald and Mercury watch.
All their blood ran cold. If Cinder could take down Grimm with a snap of a finger, they were all terrified of what she could do if she controlled her powers completely.
"Believe me when I say, I know it can feel impossible." Emerald uses her semblance to create a hallucination of Ruby, down on her hands and knees before Cinder. "Like every single day is a struggle."
This caught their attention. Each line Ruby had said correlated was related to a person and this one… What did the world do to Cinder that made her so evil? What made her so cruel and spiteful to the things around her? It says she struggled every day, so what were those struggles?
"Against some unstoppable monster, we can never hope to beat." Hallucination Ruby raises a hand, pleading, as Cinder sends a burning fire to destroy her.
Ruby held on to her chest, starting to get scared. There were times when they watched this that they really felt in over their heads. All they assumed this was going to be was stopping an underground organization. They never expected it would turn into them basically walking right into some kind of war.
And another thing, 'Unstoppable monster'? What was that supposed to mean?
Salem smiles approvingly as the fire's glow dances across her face. "But we have to try, if not for us, then for the people we already…" Ruby paused in her writing, the voice in her head cracking. She crosses that sentence out in one motion and starts over, "Then for the people we haven't lost yet." From above, one of Ruby's tears falls onto the paper. She uses her arm to wipe her eyes and keeps going. "I miss you so much. I miss Weiss and Blake too, but I think you'd all be proud to know that I made it to Mistral, all of us did."
Yang ruffles her sister's hair, tears brimming her eyes. She has to give herself a second so her voice doesn't break, "You're damn right we're proud of you."
"And with how you've grown," Blake adds.
"And with how much you've learned," Weiss finishes.
Now all Ruby wanted to do right now was hug all of her friends forever, but that moment would be best for the end of the episode. Then she would be able to hug them for as long as she wants and she wouldn't let her friends escape for even a second.
"And we even ran into Uncle Qrow along the way." Qrow's grunts cause Ruby to stand up and walk over to check on him.
"It was more like he ran into us," Nora says. Well, really, he followed all of them so it wasn't necessarily a situation of who ran into who when the other was already always with them.
"Hey, aren't I normally the one saving you?" He asked. Qrow doesn't know how happy Ruby is to see him recovering.
"He's going to take us to see Professor Lionheart, the Headmaster of Haven Academy, and he told us some things you're gonna want to hear. Things I can't trust will make it to you in this letter. But maybe, if you joined us, he could tell you himself." Yang rides Bumblebee, coming to a similar crossroads. The right is Mistral and the left, once Kuroyuri, is spray-painted 'BANDITS'. "With Beacon gone, they'll need dad at Signal more than ever and I know you need to focus on yourself before I can expect you to come out with me. But it sure would be great to get Team RWBY back together again.
"How long has it been for that to happen? It seems like it was really recent," Jaune wonders. The others didn't have an answer, but all they got from this was that Yang was getting so much closer to Mistral. Ruby could barely contain her excitement, she could only imagine how many tears her other self was going to shed when they met again.
Yang sighs, "You are in so much trouble when I find you." She revs Bumblebee and drives off. "Until next time, your loving sister, Ruby Rose."
The group found that to be an amazing letter, but were a little surprised but not surprised that Ruby wanted to give an additional message.
There were a plethora of books in the headmaster's office. "Oh! P.S., I'll be sure to give you the address of where we'll be staying in Mistral. I'd love to hear back from you and dad, I can't wait to fill you in on whatever's going to happen next! Now that we've made it across Anima, I really think things are gonna start going our way."
The rest of them thought so too. "I think it will be a little later than you expected before I get that letter of yours," Yang joked. Ruby chuckled alongside her.
"Well, you got my letter a bit earlier than intended, but I was still able to get my point across." The sister's laughed, but it all stopped dead when they recognized a certain voice.
"Why thank you, professor, Salem always did say you were," Watts paused to take a sip of his tea, "Quite hospitable."
The screen went black and the credits of the volume began to roll. Raider knew it wasn't appropriate but she tried to stop her laughter as she viewed their expressions of shock and betrayal. Yang was the first to speak up, eyes blazing, "That fucking traitor! He's working for them?! Why?!" Once that was out, the room exploded in questions and opinions.
"You knew about this, why didn't you tell us?" Yang turned, directing the question at Raider.
"What is Headmaster Lionheart gaining from helping the enemy's side?"
"What's his reason for doing this?"
"Professor Ozpin sent Oscar to Haven for Professor Lionheart to help him, so he unknowingly placed Oscar to walk into the hands of Salem!" Ruby yelled. Oscar's face turned white upon hearing this. He was essentially sent off into the lion's den.
Everyone was worried about how their other halves were going to handle this knowledge.
When the end of the credits were over, inside a bar, Oscar walked up to Qrow. The man eyed him and informed him that he didn't think they allowed kids like him. Oscar stands there awkwardly for a moment then tells himself to be quiet, most likely telling that to Ozpin. He then speaks up, "Um, I'm supposed to tell you...I'd like my cane back?" He was confused by those words, but Qrow understood. Standing up and saying, "It's good to see you again, Oz." Qrow tosses the cane over to Oscar. It unfurls and all fades to black.
Qrow knew of Professor Ozpin's abilities? Since when?
They were about to ask Raider if she could play the next volume for them but she raised a commanding hand. "No, that's enough for today and you guys need to rest and take a break."
"But we can't take a break now! Not after what we've just seen and besides, we're all fine," Ruby yells.
Raider shook her head, "I can guarantee you're all mentally exhausted right now, and hungry. So no 'buts Ruby Rose, you guys need to restore your energy and I'm not going to send you into another volume without one." The group was not having but the entity stood her ground. A few also hated to admit it, but a break soundly heavenly at the moment.
Raider ushered them off into the kitchen to grab something to eat. When they were all inside she released a long sigh, "You ten need this because it's only going to get worse and worse. You don't understand, and you will in time, but there are some things you're to discover later on that will evidently break you."
As soon as they all finished, Raider might as well have forced them into their respective rooms because they still wanted to jump right into the next volume. Ruby even tried to make an argument about Raider going straight from Volume 1 into Volume 2. That was shot down quickly as those two volumes were the least eventful and less taking on their emotional and mental well-being.
When Raider knew for sure that they were all asleep, she went around to clean up the theatre for when they woke up. She reasoned with herself that they needed the rest as she thought over how they were going to take the events of Volume 5 and then later Volume 6.