Once again
Ruby went and sat next to Jaune, both watching their friends laughing together, it reminded her of Beacon.
"Hey Jaune." She smiled at him, and he returned it.
A strange feeling came back to her.
When she went out with Jaune, she didn't expect what he would tell her.
Yes, he felt weird ever since Haven, taking more charge alongside her, while also making sure everyone was alright.
She thought it was because of Cinder and him wanting revenge, but it turned out different.
"I'm from the future."
She would have laughed it off, but the way he looked told her how serious he was.
Then he proceeded to tell her how bad the future was, it wasn't even that far, a few months away, few months away from Atlas destruction, Vale's fall, and Vacuo last stand.
She gritted her teeth, she couldn't have believed all of that without evidence, so he told her what gonna happen tomorrow.
"Are you ok?" He asked, his tired concern looking through her.
"I'm not sure, after what you told me, I'm not sure what to think." He nodded understandingly.
"So, tomorrow is the big day?"
"Yes, in my timeline, we prepared to steal the bullhead, we ran into a giant mech-suit, we fought it off, then a Leviathan Grimm showed up, and you killed it with your eyes." He told her again.
"This time, we will wait until the Grimm show up, and help fight it off. In that time, Adam would go and lure Blake to fight her, but this time, she's gonna have me, Yang and Weiss."
"Why can't I go with my team? She's my friend too." She complained.
"Because of your eyes Ruby, we couldn't defeat that Grimm last time without you, Yang and Blake were fine last time, Weiss and I are just to make sure he survived so we can go to Atlas." She nodded, understanding the logic.
He clearly thought of this more than she did.
"What your... our long plan?" he looked away, embarrassed.
"You do have one, right?" She looked at him with disbelief.
"Well, I have the important notes down, just need to iron out the rest." He scratched the back of his head, embarrassed.
"At least we know what not to do. Any idea when to use your… magic tea?" Jaune winced at that, she didn't know why, he only told her that the leaves can make people Ascend.
"W- Well yeah, I have something in mind, but it's better to keep it for later, it won't change much right now." She nodded, going back to her friends and laughing together.
"How the hell am I suppose to tell her she used it to Ascend." He thought, touching the heartlock necklace, where he placed the leaves, and where Pyrrha was.
"I can do it."
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Jaune wanted to say things were going to plan, Ruby wanted too.
They expected the grimm attack, and thanks to that, they managed to stop a lot of them.
Who would have thought the death of Cinder would bring twice as much grimm, certainly not Jaune, and definitely not Ruby.
"Ma'am, we have a situation at the communication tower, there's an ambush." One of the Atlesian soldier informed their general.
"I don't have time for this, you kids, go check it out, while the others hold the line with me." She commanded.
It was tempting to ignore her and do his plan, but he decided not to cause more trouble than they already had.
"Yang, use Bumblebee and check it out, take Blake, Jaune and Weiss with you." Ruby shouted to be heard over the gun fire, they all nodded and moved.
"Be safe." He told them, Ruby smiled and nodded, while Ren and Nora were too busy fighting off grimm.
The leviathan gathered grimm around it, helping it protect itself from the mech attacks. While Ruby should be able to take care of it, the amount of other grimm made it difficult to get close. Thankfully, Ruby won't need Weiss's summon to fly, her maiden power is enough.
"I need to focus on my end now, Adam Taurus is a dangerous man." He jumped into the carriage that Bumblebee had, then gave Weiss a hand to get in too, while Blake sat behind Yang.
"Let's see what's happening, so we can go back as fast as possible." Yang said, revving Bumblebee's engine and going as fast as she could.
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When they reached the tower, it was a gruesome scene.
White fang soldiers were everywhere, alongside Atlas's, all on the ground, motionless.
"What happened here?" Weiss asked from beside him, a grimace on her face.
"They must've been the last of the rogue White fang, my parents should have them under control by now." Blake said, looking around the area, making sure she didn't step on any of the dead people.
Her cat ears twitched to the side, which gave her the chance to dodge the bullet coming her way.
She looked at the source, her eyes narrowing in a mixture of anger and fear.
"Adam." She used Gambol shroud and shot at him, not hesitating for a second. He blocked the bullets, his crimson blade glowing red.
"Blake, nice of you to finally show up, I started to think you had already left to Atlas." He said.
Adam looked awful. His clothes were tattered and worn, as if they hadn't been washed in weeks, and his sword saw better days too.
"How did you know about that?" Blake screamed, still shooting at him.
It was a good question for Jaune. How did Adam know about it? He worked with Cinder, maybe he works with Salem too.
"Doesn't matter, my love, you will pay for what you did to me, to what you did to the white fang, I'll make you suffer." He lunged at Blake, his blade reflecting the sun, blocking Blake's vision.
"You Bastard." A punch came from the side, he blocked it, but was pushed back.
"Yang, what a surprise, are you that eager to lose your second?" He taunted, which worked, seeing how Yang hand started to shake.
"No, I won't allow you." Blake dashed forward, Adam blocked the attack with ease, then delivered his own with multiple slashes.
Yang launched herself to help her partner, throwing punches with explosive Ammunition.
Adam blocked most of them, the last punch being a faint that allowed Blake to take it to kick him away.
Kick him right into the glyph Weiss made, and Jaune locked blades with him.
It was the first time seeing him in person, and he was somewhat handsome, with a blindfold covering his eyes.
He grunted, kicking him away, but Jaune had more experience, blocking it with his shield, which left him open for more Yang, while Weiss kept him in place with her glyph.
Yang was pressuring him, he could only block her attacks, until Blake screamed.
"His semblance is the same as yours Yang, but to his blade." Yang's eyes widen, stepping back in front of Jaune and Weiss and preparing herself for the red slash.
It never came.
"Schnee." He spat the word, like it was venomous poison. Weiss recoiled at the sudden change from Blake, while said person froze.
"Adam, Wait." Blake screamed, Jaune and Yang tensed, and Weiss could only watch in horror as she saw it.
/-/
Adam felt the cold air on his scar, it stung, which is why he had the blindfold on it in the first place.
But seeing her reaction was worth it.
The Schnee gasped, acting horrified at the sight of her family's actions.
"Don't act innocent, Schnee, or do you not realize the meaning of this?" He took pleasure seeing her eyes widen even more, realization finally striking.
"You monster." His lover didn't show the sympathy she had the last time she saw it.
Good, he felt disgusted by that pity look, like he was a small child, he needed to abandon that child so he could fight against who wronged him.
She came to him, slashing her weapon. He simply stepped back, avoiding the slash, she locked blades with him, holding for a fraction of a second before her fake partner came in with a flurry of punches. He moved his blade to match her speed, blocking each strike, storing the power for a final move, some of them hit, taking down his aura to dangerously low levels.
He saw an opening, stepped to the side then forward, passing the two attacking and going to the weakest link, the Schnee.
"No." He heard her scream, but it was too late, the Schnee was on the ground, hands holding her head, not even aware of the battle anymore.
He felt a sudden pressure, like an animal about to strike its prey. He threw himself to the side, dodging, and at the last second, a slash that was about to break his aura, along with his body, missed him.
He eyed the man worriedly, he didn't recognize him, and he didn't even feel his presence, yet he stood in front of the Schnee protectively.
"Surrender now, Adam, or we'll use force." Adam laughed at him.
"You expect me to surrender? What image would that leave to the white fang if their leader surrender." He said, spreading his arm wide.
"You're not the leader of the white fang Adam, my parents are, and you led those who are still loyal to you to their death, is that what leaders do." Blake countered, pointing at his falling allies.
"Their sacrifice will be remembered." He said it simply.
"You're not protecting Faunus Adam, you're making it worse. Please Adam, just move on." He stilled, something in her words struck something deep in him.
"Move on? Are you serious Blake? Do you know how much I sacrificed, do you know how much I suffered, and for what? You leaving me alone, my comrade questioning me after I let you be, then you replace me." She was shocked. Good, he suffered enough as it is.
"I needed to start over, you became too violent, I couldn't-"
"And do you think I wanted that." He cut her off.
"You think I just woke up and decided to start murdering people? I had to do it, because nothing else has worked. Tell me, Blake, do you know how much it hurt, looking those human children looking for their dead parents, and seeing myself in them."
"I had to do it, for faunus, for equality, I had to Kill Adam Taurus and replace him with someone who's ready to make the sacrifice needed." He snapped, he felt his aura was low from all the attacks, but he still had enough for one last attack.
He sheathed his sword and prepared himself. Yang caught on quickly, moving forward to attack him before he unleashed his attack.
He made to draw his sword, only for his vision to suddenly change to one from the past.
A faunus child was crying while blood dripped from his eye, then a woman with white hair bandaged the child's eye with a grim expression on her face.
The blade returned to the Sheath, he closed his eye and waited for the hit, accepting his fate.
The fist didn't connect, he heard the sound of the fist hitting metal. He opened his eye only to see the Schnee standing in front of him.
/-/
"Weiss." Yang said through gritted teeth.
"What are you doing?" Weiss held her blade horizontally, blocking Yang's punch, which held way more force than it needed.
"What'm doing? What are you doing, he clearly gave up." She spared a glance to the man behind her.
He fell to the ground, blood and bruises littered his body, she tried not to look at his scar, but his eye was empty.
"His aura is broken, we just need to take him-" Yang's second punch met Weiss's stomach unexpectedly, and she fell to one knee.
"The fuck do you mean, he's dangerous, we need to finish him off." Her eyes were blood-red, she didn't look at Weiss, her eyes fixed on the faunus.
She lunged at him. Adam didn't move, he looked around, seeing all of his comrades dead bodies, dead because of his actions. He closed his eye, ready for what's coming, yet, another person jumped in.
"Yang, stop." His voice was firm, and Adam opened his eye to see the blonde huntsman standing.
"JAUNE." Yang shouted, launching a flurry of punches against the shield, knocking it away, and then he decided to catch her fists.
"Yang, listen to me, it's not worth it. I know how you feel, believe me, it won't change anything." He tried to reason, but she would have none of it.
"Not worth it? This bastard cut my hand, and tried to kill us multiple times, he deserves to die."
"Yes, he does, but you're not the judge of that, and neither am I, he needs to face justice for his actions, we still need him to go back to Atlas."
"It says dead or alive, and don't you dare take the moral high ground, you already killed your enemy, you don't have the right to stop me." Jaune froze at that, and she felt his hands start shaking.
She freed her hands, then locked eyes with her target, only for a glyph to appear under her.
"Dammit Weiss." Yang glared at her.
"Yang is right, he must die for everything he has done." A sound like a whisper came from Blake, Weiss snapped her head towards her, only to find her already at the top of Adam.
He looked at her, his love, or previous love, he saw the fear and hate in her eyes and smiled.
"You're beautiful." He simply said, seeing the tears in her eyes, her blade inching closer, she closed her eyes and stabbed.
"No." Jaune and Weiss screamed, and then a sound of shattered glass filled the void left.
Neo's face was set in a Scowl, her hand gripping Gambol Shroud's blade, preventing it from digging deeper.
Blake's eyes widen, and Jaune tackled her away, so she won't do something she will regret later.
"You." Yang screamed, finally breaking the glyph.
"She's with us Yang." Jaune shouted, and Neo took the opportunity to gesture to them.
"What the actual Fuck are you doing."
"None of your business ." Weiss replied coldly.
"Oh really." She turned to Jaune.
"You need to go back now, Red is down and the grimm still coming. I came to tell you and found you like this, you're not impressing anyone."
"What." The shout came from Jaune and Weiss, while the other looked in confusion, Weiss quickly explained while Jaune stood there.
"Why, is it because I told her the truth? Is it because I did something wrong." He questioned himself, while the rest stood up, ready to go.
"Jaune, he's bleeding." Weiss snapped him to reality, and he immediately rushed to check on their prisoner, finding blood pouring out.
"Stay calm." He's hand went above the wound, and white light started pouring into Adam.
"We'll discuss this later, now let's move." Weiss helped him carry Adam to Bumblebee, while Yang and Blake stayed quiet.
"Why? Why did you stop her?" Adam asked Weiss, and she hesitated to answer.
"Your scar, I actually know about it, or more like heard, I couldn't even stand the idea of it, and neither did my mother, when she cared at least." She sighed.
"I don't know how it feels like, but it's not an excuse to do what you did, but for what it is worth, I'm sorry." She said, bowing her head, it took him by surprise.
"I never imagined a Schnee apologizing." He sighed, feeling the wound closing and his aura returning. He remembered that he still had a full charge.
/-/
Nothing was OK.
Well, Nora was charged, jumping from grimm to grimm instantly killing them, while the rest tried to keep up.
They arrived at the Atlas base, it was the last line of defense against the grimm before they reached the city of Argus.
And to Jaune despair, he saw Ren holding Ruby's unconscious body.
"What happened?" He asked the moment they stopped.
Yang rushed to her sister, checking her for injuries, while Weiss made sure to restrain Adam, and Blake took his weapon.
"She tried to use her silver eyes against the leviathan, it worked, her eyes were glowing, but it suddenly stopped, and the grimm slapped her away knocking her down, she threw lighting at Nora to boost her, but it's running out." Ren explained.
Jaune's mind was racing, why did this happen, why did it fail? It worked last time, why not now? She had the Relic, she should have used it to stop time…
"She didn't know Jin." The realization finally struck him.
Ruby used the Relic to give herself time to use her power, but now, she didn't know that, she didn't know Jin could do that, and he failed to tell her.
"What now? We need to take this down, where's Uncle Qrow?" Yang asked.
"He went to save Atlas soldiers who were in the mech, I'm not sure if we can take this." Ren said, he carried Ruby on his back.
"Jaune, any idea? We need to stop this." Everyone looked at him, he was a leader after all, he should have a plan for this, but for the life of his, he didn't expect this to happen.
"I can take it down." Everyone turned to the voice. Adam was not bothered by the glares that were sent his, way his blue eyes met his.
"And how would you do that? You couldn't even beat us." Yang said.
"I still have my moonslice charged, and if you boost me, I can take it down."
"And you think will do that? The moment he charges your aura you would kill us and flee." Blake snarled.
Adam glanced behind him, seeing the panic of the humans, running for their lives. He felt little pleasure in it, only for it to disappear when he saw faunus children also running away.
"You can either let us all die, or agree to this, I'll even surrender to you after I kill it." Some of them started to complain, and others started to think.
"It's a gamble, I don't know much about him, I can't trust him, but what other choice do we have." He gritted his teeth.
"How about you just die? We don't need your hel-" Jaune cut Yang off.
"How long do you need to charge your attack?" He asked, walking past Yang. He tried to take the blade from Blake, but she stared at him.
"Don't trust him." She whispered.
"We don't have a choice, Blake, trust me, please." She looked into his eyes and sighed, surrendering the weapon.
"Not much, I already charged it in our fight, I just need concentration." He gave him the weapon with a nod.
"Alright everyone, Ren, keep Ruby away from trouble, Weiss, try and hold Leviathan in one place, the rest, keep the grimm away from civilians." Each of them nodded, while Blake and Yang spared him one last glare before running off.
"You made a gamble." Adam remarked as Jaune went behind him and started amplifying him.
"I did."
"They don't like your decision."
"They don't."
"You're a good leader, better than me." Adam said with a resigned voice.
"That's not as high of a bar as you think, and no, I'm not a good leader, she is, I'm just fixing the problem I created."
He hummed, closing his eye and taking a fighting stand.
Suddenly, Jaune felt the pressure from Adam. Slowly the surrounding colors turned to black and red, and Jaune wondered for a second if this was an effect of Adam's semblance.
The leviathan felt the danger, roaring and speeding towards them.
"I need more time." Adam yelled, and at that time, Nora jumped on with her hammer, pink lightning all around her.
She smashed the hammer against the grimm, it stumbled back, but then it brought its claws to get rid of her.
Weiss glyph appeared, holding the grimm arm, she gave Nora a small nod, and Neo appeared, taking a hold of Nora's hand, then they shattered to glass, getting Nora out of the way.
Jaune glanced at the Blade, the red light coming out of it was blinding, and the red energy barely contained in it.
Adam took a deep breath, then slashed the air in front of him. All the red in the world was sucked back into the blade, yet nothing happened.
A low rumbling echoed, then suddenly turned into a thunderous roar as a black slash cut down the leviathan, with half of the flying grimm, and the defenses behind it.
A thud sound came out of the defenses, while the leviathan body fell in front of the Atlas base.
A long silence fell on them, then the sound of cheering roared all around them in approval. They all looked at each other.
More than half of them fell to the ground in naked relief, and Jaune could only sigh, as he walked towards Ruby and pushed as much aura as he could.
It didn't help to wake her up, it didn't help much as her aura was already near full.
But it helped to calm him down.
"We did it, Ruby, now to the hard part."
Note: I hope you like this chapter, ik some of the action here may not make sense right now, but it will be explained later on. And no, I'm not turning Adam to be a good guy, maybe he is, but he needs to answer for his crimes, so don't expect anything from him after this.
And this was a good plot twist in my opinion, I did show how time stops when using the Relic, and Ruby did use that against Leviathan, and because she didn't here, it cost here.
Anyway, the next chapter would be the end of Argus and the star of Atlas, which is a big thing, because Penny, let me say this, their arrival to Atlas won't be a quiet one.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter, please leave a review and tell me if you like it or not so I can improve.
Free Palestine.
And goodbye.