Once again
Blood dripped on the side of her head, tracing down on her scarred eye.
She could taste it too, but she didn't care as she dodged the grimm attack at the last second. She was in a bad situation, grimm surrounding her from all places.
She could see the blur of green in the distance, trying to fight its way to her, but she knew it was no use.
Weiss Schnee was out of options, she ran out of aura, she was bleeding, yet she stood ready for the fight.
An Arma Gigas grimm approached her, the world challenging her yet again, she raised her rapier up ready for a fight.
The grimm launched forward with a sword that was made of some kind of dark metal, she barely escaped it and attacked his legs.
The armor grimm fell to It knees as a result, Weiss took the opportunity to strike it on the back of the helmet, but it was blocked by the sword.
The grimm swung the sword her way, she cursed, jumping back to avoid the fatal blow. She managed to avoid it and dish out her own attack.
Her strike landed, and fell to her knees, panting for air as the grimm disappeared. The first time she defeated this type of grimm, she needed to use everything she had, yet now, she defeated it with nothing.
A small smile barely had time to form before a deathstalker attacked her. She used her rapier to block it, but was too weak to avoid the damage.
"So, this is how it's going to end, huh?" she thought as the grimm got closer and closer to her.
" W~ s, get d~ n." She heard static noises coming from her scroll, the voice was familiar, but she was too tired to recognize it. Nonetheless, she understood the meaning and ducked down.
As soon as she did, the deathstalker stinger was cut off in one motion, leading the grimm to use its pincers. Weiss heard a quick two shots, then the sound of something hitting the ground.
"Flake is safe, move to Penny." Weiss opened her eyes to see a knight standing in front of her, one hand held a familiar crimson blade, the other held the Sheath.
"Weiss." The knight looked back at her, his face full of concern. Concern for her, she realized with a blush, which was overtaken by the sense of relief she felt.
"Y- you're alive." She whispered, his hands came to help her stand up, but she dismissed them as her arms took him in.
"You're alive." She didn't know if the liquid going down her face was tears or blood, she didn't care, though.
"I- I'm sorry Weiss." He managed, she noticed how he barely managed to get those words out.
He carried her and took her to safety, he didn't try to avoid the grimm, but sliced them when they came their way.
She noticed it wasn't his iconic sword and shield, but Adam's blade, Wilt and Blush.
"Oh no, Jaune, I'm so sorry, Neo and Adam stole Crocea Mors and escaped Atlas." She noticed the spilt second of shock on his face, then the small smile that formed. His hand went to his ear and took something off.
"Well, I am the one who gave Neo my weapon, but I didn't expect to give it to Adam." Weiss stared at him, expressionless.
"What?"
"Yeah, it may be my fault, but look at the bright side, no one died."
"Watts was killed by Adam." She deadpan.
"What? I thought Neo would be the one doing it." She stared at him longer and he blushed.
"The important thing is that you're safe now." He conceded after a while.
"What about the others?"
"Don't worry, each of them have their own rescue team. They took too long because of another mission they had."
"Qrow went to Ruby and just reported in, Raven went to Yang and Blake, and Nora-" before he could finish, a huge yellow explosion in the distance sent waves across the battlefield.
"Is that…?"
"And here I thought Yang was a hothead, her father is no joke." He saw Weiss confused look and explained. "His semblance, much like Yang, get stronger the more you hit it, but instead of giving him a boost in stamina and strength, it gives him… more explosive reaction."
Weiss noticed they arrived at General Ironwood flagship, if you could even call it that anymore. The ship looked in ruin, most of the Internal components were out, while the cockpit glass was broken.
Legions of soldiers worked around them, they fought and even pushed back grimm, which she has been struggling with for the last three days.
"The Penny is safe." She heard the faint sound from Jaune's earpiece and sighed in relief.
"Good job Winter. Taiyang, what's the situation with team RNNC?" Weiss noticed the General at the centre, surrounded by screens that displayed the battle at hand.
"Yeah, sorry, they are safe, we're making our way back now, Ray?"
"Yellow dragon is safe, although she does need another arm."
Weiss tensed, fear enveloping her heart, she was about to leap out of Jaune's hand, but the General spoke first.
"I am aware of miss Xiao-Long breaking her robotic arm, we'll get her a replacement in no time."
Weiss, who was in the middle of jumping off Jaune and decided to go back, fell to the ground with a huff, dragging Jaune with her.
"Mr Arc, I'm happy that you're this excited to meet your friend again, but I don't think this is a good time on your part." They both went red on the General remarks, while the soldiers were dead silent.
Weiss found that a little weird, she looked around, only to find all the soldiers were robots.
"I apologize for taking so long, we had to remove Watt's virus since Beacon, then run it to make sure we haven't missed anything." The General knelt down beside her, offering her a hand.
"Thank you." She took it with a smile.
"Your sister will be happy to see you well, Weiss." Jaune said, which made Weiss realize she was on top of him the whole time.
/-/
"You really know how to pick a fight, Yang." Raven remarked from behind her mask, Yang didn't know what to think about the situation.
When she first arrived with her dad, she didn't know if she should feel betrayed or hurt by that. She left them for years, and suddenly she's back with the man who she hurt the most.
But her mind was taking by more important matters at that time, Ozpin turning against them. Jaune revealing he's from the future, then telling her what happens to her sister.
She didn't have time to think about Raven, which made her happy, she didn't need Raven, she didn't want her deadbeat mother, she already had a family.
"Took you long enough, when you guys were drinking, we were fighting." Yang complained, she saw Raven offering her a hand to help her up, she didn't think much of it and took it.
Only to find herself falling back on the ground, her eyes immediately turned red.
"You piece of shit, if this some kind of trust exercise, I'll kill-" she opened her eyes to see Raven in the same position with a deadpan expression.
Yang was confused for a moment, until she looked at her right hand.
"I guess you do need a hand." Yang couldn't miss the shit eating grin Raven had on her face.
Which quickly turned serious when they heard more grimm coming.
"You and your cat get ready, after I deal with the grimm here, we'll head back." Raven eyes light up with fire, as she moved into combat, slicing through grimm without any effort.
"I Guess even a deadbeat can be useful sometimes." She mumbled, standing up, Blake was on the other side helping human soldiers as the robot ones took their places.
It took Raven ten minutes to come back, her right hand traveled to her ear as she spoke.
"Yellow dragon is safe, although missing an arm, the area is clear too." She looked bored doing it, and Yang had a sinking suspicion that either her dad or uncle forced her to do that.
"Alright, move along, we don't have all day." Raven opened a portal to the side, ushering to the soldiers to move inside.
"You can go, I need to talk with my daughter." She spoke to Blake, who looked between Raven and Yang. Fully prepared to stay if her partner asked.
She only moved after Yang gave her an assuring look, which left her alone with Raven.
"What do you want, I don't have all day, and I do want my rest." She looked back at Raven with an irritated look.
"I wanted to apologize." That took Yang off guard, making her stumble back in shock.
"W- What?"
"After I discovered Ozpin's secret, I was furious, this whole thing was meaningless. I couldn't convince your father and uncle to back down, to stay low because we'll never win-"
"What about mom?" Yang interrupted.
"You discovered the information about Salem from that future boy, Summer and I got it in a different way." Yang waited for Raven to continue, but she took her time, drinking from a flask that looked similar to her uncle's
"Summer and I wanted to end this, to protect you and your idiot sister, the reason I left was because of a mission to the grimmland, only me and Ozpin knew about it. I sacrificed my relationship with everyone because of how important that mission was."
"What was it?" Yang started to feel how important the conversation started to get, after all, she always wanted to know why her deadbeat mother left.
"I was tasked to find Salem's tower, to locate it. I thought we were going to finally strike back at them, finally bring peace." Yang noticed Raven hand clutching the hilt of her weapon.
"When I brought that back, he did nothing, he decided it was useful information, but won't act on it. At that point I lost my team, I tried to reconnect but failed, and I told Summer. And she immediately took my side and wanted me to fight Salem with her." Yang eyes widened.
"We faced Salem and her agents, she let us fight her alone. After a couple of minutes, I realized she did that to toy with us. Nothing worked, Silver eyes, portal to a volcano, we did everything and we lost. It was the day Summer died." Raven ignored the tears in her eyes and continued.
"Ozpin put the blame on me and I left for good, only to run into the spring maiden, young, foolish, and wanted answer. as did I, as did Laionheart. We opened the Vault and asked the question about how to kill Salem, but spring asked what's Ozpin is hiding."
"Turns out a lot, Laionheart broke down, Spring wanted to give Salem the power in exchange for her own life. Even at that point, I knew this would end humanity faster, I tried to stop her, but she decided to be a little bitch and end it herself."
"That's why you have the power." Raven nodded.
"Why are you telling me all of this, it won't make me forgive you."
"I just wanted to tell you it, soon the fight will end, either we win or lose, I wanted you to know that I cared in my own way." Raven opened a portal behind her, she wore her grimm mask and glanced at Yang.
"At her final moment, she was thinking about you two."
/-/
Nora leaned her head on Ren's shoulder for support. She was tired after countless hours fighting grimm.
Even though she usually liked killing grimm and fighting in general, this was something else, knowing an entire kingdom, the entirety of Remnant rest on them made her more nervous than anything.
After Mr Xiao-Long, who's basically Jaune, but more like Yang, came to help them, they got on an Airship and were sent back to Atlas academy, where they'll need to make a plan to finish this once and for all.
"Ren?" she didn't change her position to face him, her gaze was locked on the battlefield, she saw the machs and Android soldiers fight back the grimm.
Ren didn't answer her, but his slight movement told her he was listening, so she continued.
"Are we good friends?" her voice was quiet and steady, and a silent grew anticipating Ren's reply.
"I thought we are dating now?" he asked, confused.
"No, that's not what I meant. Us, me and you, are we good friends to our friends." She moved to face him, and when he gave an oh, she leaned back.
"I feel like we are just sanding there, watching team JNPR tear itself apart. We lost Pyrrha which was hard, then we got Oscar, then he was gone too, then Pyrrha came back. And now we have to fight them to the death." She rambled on, moving her hand exaggeratedly
"It's like watching our family fall apart." His hand held hers instinctively, comforting her. He could see her emotions, drowning blue and black color emanating from her.
"I'm also not sure what to do, but I know one thing. No matter what happens next, I'll fight to protect my family. You, Jaune, team RWBY and even Oscar." He squeezed her hand.
"No matter what happens next, I'm glad I got to meet and spend time with you and everyone." Nora hummed, finally closing her eyes and giving in to her sleep.
It didn't take long for the Airship to reach Atlas, when the ship landed, he tried to move Nora, but someone came in and helped him.
"I don't think you're allowed to move, let alone carry someone else." Ren gave him a small smile.
"Yeah sorry to worry you Ren, I'm OK now, besides, we don't have much time." Jaune replied, carrying a sleeping Nora in his arms and exiting the Airship.
They made their way to their room, passing by Yang, Blake and Weiss. Ren asked about Ruby and Penny, both were suffering from exhaustion and needed their rest.
Nora wasn't quite the same, but she did exhaust herself in the fighting, and keeping their spirit up.
"Here we go." Jaune placed Nora on her bed gently, Ren covering her in a blanket. They both sighed and sat down at the couch nearby.
"How're you feeling Jaune?" Ren asked, the last time he saw his leader was in pretty bad shape, and they had to leave him alone to keep Atlas safe.
"I'm better, good work with the grimm out there, I know it was tough for you two." Jaune gave Nora a warm smile, then his gaze return to Ren with cold determination.
"Ren, can I trust you with something."
/-/
Ruby woke up with a headache, her eyes couldn't focus with so much light around her.
She brought her hand up to cover her eyes, only to hear a surprise sound from her side.
"You're awake." Ruby looked to her side to find Yang sitting crossed legged beside her, her usually robotic yellow hand was now white and gray, she held a book in her hand too.
"Y- Yang?" she questioned.
"Duh, who else would be waiting for you sleepy head. How're you feeling?"
"Tired, I don't feel pain, just exhaustion." She answered.
"Well, I'm glad you're okay, now. Are you fucking insane?" the sudden shout caught Ruby off guard, and she leaned away from her sister.
"W- What?"
"You went to battle alone and fought to death instead of holding the fucking line Ruby, did you lose it?" her sister pointed a finger to her face, her eyes crimson.
"Y- Yang, language." She stammered.
"Language? Really? Listen here Ruby, never, ever do that again, do you hear? Or team RWBY will make you pay."
"Hey, it's my team."
"Which is precisely why we are mad at you, Ruby. Do you have any idea what we will do if something happens to you?" the voice from the door said, she turned only to find an ice-cold glare leveled at her.
"We need our leader with us Ruby. Not alone fighting to protect us, we are a team for a reason." Blake said, walking past Weiss and placed a hand on Ruby's shoulder.
"We do trust your call Ruby, but you also need to trust in us that we'll have your back no matter what."
She couldn't find words to respond, her team, her second family, all stood concern about her, about her recklessness.
Ever since the fall if Beacon, she held a responsibility. A responsibility to help people, to be there for her friends, to stop Cinder and her evil plans.
Yet her burden kept getting larger and larger, her friends started to put her on a pedestal, looking to her for answers.
She started to feel if she messed up, bad things will happen to them. But then he stood beside her.
Jaune came and stood beside her, helping her with the responsibility, helping her make the right choice, and she found out it was OK to mess up.
Her friends were there to help her pick herself up again and fight.
She couldn't stop the tears falling, her hand tried to wipe it, yet more came faster than the last.
She found herself in Yang's arm, then Blake, and finally Weiss. All here to comfort her, to help her.
Her team stood by her side.
Jaune looked from the door, none of them noticed him, and he didn't want to intrude on a special moment between team RWBY, he just smiled and walked the other way.
"Thanks to Yang, what happened in the everafter won't happen again." He thought as he made his way to the General Ironwood's office.
Everyone will be called shortly, they would discuss the plan and enact it.
They would end this fruitless war once and for all.
Note: Yeah idk what happened there, I kinda put this chapter off a lot.
But now that I ended it, there should be another two to three chapters left, which would have (SPOILER ALERT) Jaune vs Pyrrha. Ren and Nora vs Ozpin. RWBY vs Salem. And Adam Neo vs Emerald mercury and Tyrian.
The fights would be kinda short, the main one is Jaune vs Pyrrha which is the thing I wanted from the start, while the rest just to end their Arcs.
Thanks for reading, and please leave a review, tell me what do you think about the story.
Free Palestine.
And goodbye.