Chapter 11. Part 2: The Long Journey Ends
Using a combination of Ruby and Blake's semblances and the power of Weiss's glyphs, the three managed to get atop the flying beast. Once up there, it was open season on the Corrupted Grimm. Blake and Ruby both set about dealing as much damage to the thing as they could, while Weiss concentrated on keeping everyone on and occasionally throwing out some dust of her own.
Down below, Steven, Yang and Garnet were hard at work beating the living daylights of every Grimm that fell from above. The impact of the fall seemed to stun them (as would be expected since this is basically the same as a newborn baby being tossed off a building), meaning there was a window of time for someone to strike it down before it got its bearings and began attacking.
Opal took to shooting at any Grimm who were able to pose a threat after landing. She needed to ensure the ground forces wouldn't get overwhelmed. When it looked like she had a moment, she aimed her mighty bow at the sky and shot both at the Grimm as they fell, as well as the Corrupted Grimm itself.
All of this took much longer than Ruby initially thought. She began to feel worn down. Crescent Rose felt heavy in her arms, and each swing sent a wave of soreness through her body. Weiss noticed Ruby's fatigue and gave her partner's shoulder a reassuring squeeze.
"Don't let all my hard work go to waste," Weiss smiled. "Or I might try to take that leadership position from you again."
"I'd like to see you try!" Ruby beamed.
With a renewed vigour, Ruby doubled down and slashed at the Grimm with everything she had, Eventually they whittled down the monster to where it was barely able to keep its body together, let alone stay airborne. It slowly spiralled out of the sky. Ruby raised Crescent Rose and, with one last effort, slashed with such might that the body disappeared completely, leaving only a lone gemstone.
With nothing to support them, the three began to fall. Before any semblances could be activated however, an enormous pink bubble surrounded them and cushioned their fall. They landed with a soft bounce. The bubble popped and Steven ran over. He picked up the gemstone and bubbled it before handing it to Garnet, who sent it off back home.
"Did...did we do it?" Yang panted heavily from smashing so many heads in.
"We did it," Peal said, her voice a little shaky as if she couldn't believe what she was saying.
"WE DID IT!" Ruby and Steven cheered together.
"BANZAI!"
The group cheered, before remembering that Beacon was currently a large pile of rubble. There was still a lot of work to do before everything was in order and celebrations could be had.
Of course the gems stayed around to help get things back in order. With their unmatched abilities, combined with the forces of Vale, Beacon was restored to a state where school could resume. A few structures were still in ruins, but they could be dealt with at a later date. Perhaps at a time when no one was reading, as it probably wouldn't be very interesting.
The only difficult thing was explaining who the Crystal Gems were to everyone who saw them and their incredible feats. Ruby assured people that they were merely transfer students from that one island in bottom centre of Remnant's map that no one knows anything about. Weiss rolled her eyes listening to Ruby's fib, and then stared in disbelief as it apparently worked.
When all was said and done, Team RWBY and the Crystal Gems stood on the outskirts of Beacon's campus grounds, looking down on it with a sense of pride. With the last of the carnage was cleaned, there was nothing more for the teams to do but say their good-byes to one another. No one was enthusiastic to leave, but they knew they all had their own duties to attend to. Everyone was still tired from all the fighting, especially the push at the end which for some reason felt like it took around 8 years to wrap up.
"I wish I could keep you on as part of my staff," Weiss told Pearl. "Your knowledge and execution of cleanliness is second to none, not to mention your combat capabilities."
"That's a nice offer," Pearl laughed. "But there's only one who I serve, no matter what. Given the fine young woman you are, I'm certain you'll be able to handle anything that gets thrown at you. Be it a spear or a sports car."
The both of them shared a laugh, as did Amethyst and Yang.
"Then we're definitely having a food fight next time we see each other," smiled Yang.
"Bring. It. ON!" Amethyst roared. "I'll eat anything you throw at me!"
They laughed again. Next to them were Blake and Garnet exchanging some words.
"I really admire your strength," said Blake. "I've never seen a strong love before. It's honestly beautiful. I hope to someday match even half its strength."
She looked down at the ground. Her ribbon twitched and drooped a bit.
"I believe you can do it," Garnet replied. "You are who you are, what you are, and that's all you have to be. Stay true to that, and don't worry about whoever says otherwise. That's only jealousy of your strength."
Blake perked back up again and smiled. Ruby and Steven watched over their friends, enjoying the moment, before eventually turning to face one another. Steven extended his hand. Ruby nodded and took it.
"I'm glad we met you guys," Steven said as they shook. "This might have been my favourite of all the Crystal Gems crazy adventures."
"Same here," Ruby agreed. "Although, it does make me a little worried about the future."
"How so?" Steven asked as they separated.
"Well, if something this crazy can happen in Remnant, what's next? What else could the future hold for Team RWBY? I'm sure we'll face it together, whatever it is, but it still makes me wonder."
"You'll be alright," Garnet said as she turned to Ruby.
"You can trust her and her future sight," Steven smiled.
"Really? We'll all be okay?" Ruby asked.
"It's not that simple," Garnet replied. "There will be bad times. Times of loss, times of despair, times where it may feel like the entire world is against you. But there's something you should always remember: you're never alone. Your friends will be there for you, and not just them either. Whether you know them or not, see them or not, people from all around will support you. Even if you suffer a loss that feels like the sun's gone out, or you feel like you've been kicked out into the cold with nowhere to go or call home, there will still be people who love you and support you. I hope knowing that will give you the strength to Keep Moving Forward, no matter what."
Ruby smiled and wiped a tear from her eye.
"We'll give it our all," she grinned.
And so the teams parted ways and returned to where they belong. True to Garnet's word, both of them would have many insurmountable obstacles to overcome in the future, but that was a worry for another day. For now it was time to just rest as their adventure was, at last, concluded.
Author's Note: Hi! Been a minute, hasn't it? Truth be told, I'd completely forgotten I'd written this story, or even had a Fan Fiction account until recently when I received an email about something. Even if it has been so long, I felt bad that I never finished the story, especially given how the previous chapter ended, so I figured I might as well finish it now. To be honest, in the 8 years since the last chapter, I've somewhat fallen out of love with both RWBY and SU. I don't dislike them by any means, but all the previous chapters were written when I was at my peak love for both series, and I feel a little guilty that I can't recapture that same enthusiasm I had back then for this final chapter. I mean, I doubt very many people are still discovering this story, and probably even fewer people who read it when it came out probably still care, but even so I'm happy to finally give it an ending. This was actually the first long piece of fiction I ever wrote, and since then I've self-published two of my own novels, so it was fun coming back to where my writing journey started. Despite how I may feel about the story now, I'll always be grateful for it.
To anyone who's still reading this, and to anyone who has read RWBY the Crystal Gem in the past, thank you very much for reading! I hope you enjoyed it, I hope your lives have been wonderful since the previous chapter, and I hope you can shape the future you want. Keep moving forward, and I'm sure you can. For one last time, Stay Fabulous!