AN: Hoo boy, it's been a minute, hasn't it? Sorry about that. For some reason, finishing this chapter was the one thing I couldn't get myself motivated to work on, until I just decided to sit down and force myself to.

A lot's happened since last time I uploaded. I got COVID at the beginning of the year, the TV adaptation of the Last of Us premiered and is almost finished, what else am I missing? Oh, right.

RWBY V9 premiered! After 2 long years, we finally have the new season, and even better? It's good! Hallelujah!

Now, of course I have some criticisms of the new volume so far, which is only 3 episodes in as of now, but I also need to say: I'm pretty certain Rooster Teeth is planning to sell this show to another studio. It's the reason why it's on Crunchyroll.

In other news, someone else has decided to adopt my old Bleach story. It was adopted by LordXanxus, and it's called "The Dragon, the Cat, the Champion, and the Shinigami". Go check it out. And my Final Fantasy 7/RWBY story while you're at it. It hasn't been getting enough love.

Thank you very much for your patience.

Now what say we finish Volume 6?

Chapter 131

"I wonder if you've gotten any faster since Beacon," Adam said, gripping his sword tighter.

"It doesn't matter," Yang said, her eyes ablaze from her Maiden Powers. "I'm smarter." She held her hand out in front of her, palm up, and blew into it. A strong wind like a blizzard blew towards Adam, obscuring his view. She charged at him, throwing wild punches into the blizzard. Astonishingly, despite being blindfolded and in the middle of a blizzard, Adam still managed to use his scabbard to block her punches and kick her back into the prison cell. Yang flipped backwards to recover, and launched several fireballs at Adam. He partially unsheathed his sword, and used the blade to absorb the fireballs. He smirked as he re-sheathed it.

"What?" Yang asked.

"His Semblance is like yours," Blake said, having shuffled over to sit up against the wall. "He can absorb energy from his enemies' attacks and store it in his sword. Whenever he wants to, he can let it go. But he has to block the attack with his sword for it to work."

"So he gets powered up, but he doesn't have to take a hit?" Yang asked. "That's not fair."

"Having someone else fight your battles for you," Adam said derisively. "You haven't changed at all, my dear."

"Like it's her fault that you attacked a girl that's tied up and can't fight back," Yang countered.

"I'm just taking advantage of an enemy's weakness. A lesson Blake was always too soft to learn."

"Not wanting to kill doesn't make her weak," Yang said.

"Not wanting to kill?" Adam asked incredulously. "Maybe you don't know Blake as well as you think you do."

"Yeah, cuz you're such an expert on the girl that dumped your ass 2 years ago," Yang said sarcastically. "No matter what she's done in the past, she's different now. She moved on. Maybe you should, too."

Adam growled in frustration. "She only changed because you humans poisoned her mind and turned her against her own kind."

"How many Faunus died at Beacon?!" Yang demanded. "And you think Blake turned against her own kind?!"

"Shut up!" Adam yelled angrily. "You know nothing about what we've been through!"

"If you want me to shut up, then why don't you come over here and make me?!" Yang yelled. Adam charged at her, and Yang summoned a burst of wind to press against him and slow him down. He pushed through, eventually swinging his sword down. Yang rolled out of the way, engulfing her fist in flames and threw a punch at him. Adam raised his sword to block it, but Yang suddenly stopped her punch and used her other hand to shoot a lightning spell at his chest, stunning him and allowing her to kick him backwards.

Adam quickly recovered, gathering the power of darkness in his hand before launching it at Yang in the form of three small purple fireballs. Yang countered by launching her own fireballs to collide with his, filling the area with smoke. Yang heard heavy footfalls approaching her through the smoke, and quickly erected a wall of ice in front of her.

Just in time, as the wall trapped Adam's sword mid-swing. Adam growled in frustration before releasing a burst of energy from his sword, shattering the ice. Yang quickly backed up and used her Maiden powers to reform the ice particles into several small ice spears, launching them at Adam. He swung his blade all around him quickly, shattering the ice spears.

He sheathed his sword, and his hair began to glow.

"Yang, look out!" Blake yelled. Yang's eyes widened as Adam slashed his sword straight from his sheath, just like at Beacon. Yang launched fire from her feet to propel her into the air, and the energy slash passed under her, slicing through the back wall of the prison cell. Yang kicked her feet behind her, launching herself at Adam and punching him back into the hallway.

I need to not let that happen again, Yang thought, before a glisten caught her eye. She looked down, and on the floor a few feet away from her, was a charm depicting the image of a lion. She looked back up and Adam, and gestured for him to bring it on.

He was more than happy to do so, charging at her with his sword raised. As he approached her, she dove towards Simba's summon charm. She grabbed hold of it, and felt the power surging through her.

"Simba!" she called out, and the mighty lion appeared in a flash of light and pounced on Adam. The red-headed man stopped his charge and caught Simba's jaws with his sword, wrestling against the lion king. Eventually he was able to throw Simba off, and the lion landed next to his summoner. "Good to have you back, big guy."

"Good to be back," Simba said. "Are you okay?"

"I've been better."

"How are we dealing with this man?"

"I need you to get the others free," Yang said. Simba looked at her questioningly. "You can bite through the straps on their suits. I'll keep him busy. Then come help me."

"Got it," Simba said. Adam growled and charged again.

"Go!" Yang yelled, and Simba bolted towards Blake while Yang coated her arms in flames and raised them to block Adam's downward strike, her robotic arm in front.

"Do you really think your little friends can save you from me?" Adam asked.

"Sure as hell beats being alone," Yang retorted. Adam grunted in frustration when a red-gloved fist slammed into his face, sending him flying back into the hall. Yang looked and saw that Tifa was the one that punched Adam, while Blake was running to get her summon charm back. Like Yang, her original jacket had been removed, leaving her in just the black crop top she wore underneath it. Simba had just finished freeing Uncle Qrow, who was still looking like he was violently ill. "Tifa, get my uncle out of here," Yang said. Tifa turned around to look at her.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"Look at him," Yang said. "He's in no shape to fight."

"Genie!" Blake called out, and the blue man appeared in a puff of smoke.

"I'M BAAAAAAACK!" Genie shouted happily as he flexed his muscles. Tifa ran over to Uncle Qrow, while Blake formed up next to Yang, her empty fists raised defensively.

Adam frowned when he saw Genie. "You again."

"Oh, you remember little old me?" Genie asked, his voice feigning gratitude. "Oh, you really shouldn't have."

"You really should have just left us alone," Blake said. "You remember what happened last time you encountered Genie."

"I'm afraid his parlor tricks aren't going to work this time," Adam said, his body beginning to glow with the power of darkness.

"Petalga!" a very familiar voice shouted, and Adam was suddenly engulfed in a massive wave of razor-sharp rose petals. After a few seconds, Adam started spinning his sword, cutting through the rose petals and clearing the hallway. Yang and Blake looked down the hall and saw Ruby and Weiss running towards them, Ember Celica and Gambol Shroud held in their hands. They quickly tossed the weapons back to their teammates. Yang caught her gauntlet and slipped into onto her left wrist and loaded some shells into the slot in her mechanical arm. Blake caught her sword and unsheathed it.

"Are you okay?" Weiss asked.

"Yeah, we're fine," Blake said.

"Who's that?" Ruby asked, gesturing towards Adam, who was glaring fiercely at Weiss. Weiss returned the glare.

"That's Adam Taurus," she said.

"I'm surprised a Schnee would even bother to learn the name of a lowly Faunus like me," Adam said.

Ruby stepped forward, pointing her Keyblades at him. "You're the one that took my sister's arm."

"And you're the one that's been making my partner's life a living hell," Weiss said, pointing Myrtenaster at him.

"…Partner?" Adam asked. "You're Blake's partner?"

"Yes," Weiss said.

"Adam…" Blake said worryingly.

"I knew my beloved was on a team with a Schnee, but you're her partner?! You just couldn't help yourself, could you, Blake?! You had to complete your betrayal by replacing me with a Schnee?!"

"My deadbeat of an ex-boyfriend would be an improvement over you, honestly," Yang muttered.

"After everything they did to me?!" Adam continued ranting.

"And what did the Schnee family do to you?" Weiss asked challengingly.

"Wait…" Blake said with apprehension.

"You don't know?" Adam asked, reaching for his blindfold. "Then let me show you!"

"Adam, don't!" Blake yelled, but it was too late. Adam ripped the blindfold off his face, and Ruby, Weiss, and Yang gasped at what they saw, while Blake looked down shamefully.

One of his eyes was a deep blue. The other was burned shut, the flesh on the left side of his face branded with a horrifyingly familiar three letters.

SDC

"W-What?" Weiss asked in shock.

"Wait, stop," Qrow said, as Tifa was guiding him through the base. They had stopped in a break room, and the Huntsman leaned up against a table for support. "I need a minute."

"Are you okay?" Tifa asked.

"Do I look okay?" Qrow snapped, before quickly looking down sheepishly. "Sorry."

"It's okay," Tifa said. "It was a stupid question. Is there anything I can do to help?"

"I don't… wait…" Qrow said, suddenly noticing a small flask on the table. He pointed to it. "Can you hand me that? I need to smell what's in it."

"Okay," Tifa said, picking up the flask and tossing it to him. He opened it as fast as he could, and took a whiff of the liquid inside.

It was whiskey.

Oh thank goodness.

He put the spout to his lips and took a nice big swig. He felt the burning sensation ease its way down his throat, and gradually, his shaking calmed down. Just to be safe, he took another sip, and he felt the nausea die down, only to be replaced by the increasingly-familiar buzz.

"Alright, let's go," he said, slipping the flask and whatever liquid remained in it into his pocket.

"Is trying to fight drunk a good idea?" Tifa asked.

"Probably not," Qrow said. "But it sure as hell beats puking my guts out. Now, let's go save my nieces."

"You don't think they can handle themselves?" Tifa asked.

"I don't want to take any chances," Qrow said, before the sound of gunfire outside reached their ears.

"I think I know a way we can be more helpful," Tifa said. Qrow looked at her questioningly. "We're going to need a ride out of here when this is over. What do you saw we get ourselves a ship?"

"What about the others?" Qrow asked.

"I'm certain that Team RWBY can deal with Adam," Tifa said. "And the Heartless are no match for the others. But if we're still here when we've dealt with all those monsters, we'll just get arrested again."

"…Fine."

The giant Heartless swung its sword down, forcing everyone in its path to dive out of the way, barely avoiding the shockwave it caused. Riku quickly recovered, throwing his Keyblade at a group of Shadows that were jumping at him. Nora launched some grenades at the giant, prompting it to swing its leg at her. Jaune dove forward and grabbed onto her, using his Semblance to boost their Auras. The kick connected, launching them backwards, but because of Jaune, they were relatively unharmed. Ariel launched a wave of water at a group of Heartless while Pyrrha shot at them with her rifle. Cloud slashed through scores of Heartless with a single swing of his sword, and Ren fired his machine pistols at the monsters.

Oscar looked on in awe at the others' fighting prowess. It was one thing to watch them train. It was something else entirely to see them really let loose against the Heartless. Especially Riku and Pyrrha, since they weren't at Haven. It really highlighted just how much more progress he needed to make to catch up to them. To be useful. He held Long Memory in both hands, uncertainty causing him to hesitate. He had also never trained how to fight the Heartless. He wasn't sure if he could do this. Especially with Ozpin MIA.

A small group of Shadows spawned around him, and he clutched his cane tighter, taking a frightened step back.

"Concentrate," a familiar voice in his head said.

"Ozpin?" Oscar asked.

"My magic is your magic," Ozpin said. "All you need to do is call out to it."

"What?"

"I know you don't trust me, but you need to trust that my desire for you to stay alive is as strong as yours. Now call out."

Oscar took a deep breath, and one of the Shadows jumped at him. He quickly thrust his hand out, and a blast of magical energy burst from his palm, destroying the Heartless on contact. "Whoa," he said. "Ozpin?" he called out to the old wizard, but he could no longer feel his presence. It seemed Ozpin had come back to help, and had just gone back to hiding. He really did just want Oscar to stay alive. Oscar swung his cane at the remaining Heartless, and then, with a newfound sense of confidence, joined his friends in fighting off the others.

"What's wrong, Schnee?" Adam asked derisively. "Can't handle the weight of your sins staring you in the face?"

"I… I don't…" Weiss said, her face turning green and her knees visibly starting to shake.

"Go on, Blake," Adam said, smiling viciously at Weiss's obvious distress. "Tell her all about what her family did to me."

Weiss slowly turned to look at her partner. "Blake?"

Blake looked down shamefully and let out a regretful sigh. "He worked in the Schnee Mines when he was a kid. One day, he collapsed from exhaustion, and the foreman branded him, to remind him that the SDC owned him."

"…Owned?" Weiss asked. "You knew about this?" Blake nodded. "But, back at Beacon, why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I knew it wasn't your fault," Blake said. "I didn't want to hurt you."

"But… my family's company has been branding Faunus and I didn't know?!" Weiss yelled. "You just let me wonder why the Faunus hated my family so much, when that's the reason?!"

"…I'm sorry," Blake said, looking down at the floor, her cat ears drooping in shame and sadness.

"How does it feel, Schnee?" Adam asked. "To know your partner hid such things from you?"

Weiss clenched her fists tightly for a second, and then let out a deep breath. "I know what you're doing, and it's not going to work."

"What?" Adam asked.

"I trust Blake," Weiss said, making Blake perk up. "I know she had her reasons, which will be discussed later, but I'm not going to let you try and drive a wedge between us."

"Weiss…" Blake said happily.

"And yes, while the SDC has apparently been far worse than even I thought, that doesn't change the fact that right now, you're threatening my friends," Weiss said, pointing Myrtenaster at him. "So we're going to stop you."

"Fine, then," Adam said, getting back into his combat stance. "It'll be good to finally kill one of you Schnees."

"I'd love to see you try," Weiss said, before the charm around her neck began glowing. "Mushu!"

"Oh, yeah!" the little red dragon shouted, breathing a burst of for at Adam. The bull Faunus launched a blast of Darkness to block it, but Weiss was ready for him. A large glyph appeared on the ground, and several white Neoshadows appeared and charged at him. He quickly cut down each of the summoned Heartless, before using his sword to block a magic blast sent by Genie. He ducked under a swipe of Simba's claws, and Blake and Yang chose that moment to charge in.

The girls launched a flurry of blows, with Adam doing an impressive job of blocking them. After a few seconds, Adam quickly sheathed his sword, and pulled the trigger on the scabbard. The hilt of his sword launched rapidly at Blake, hitting her in the stomach and knocking her backwards. He caught the sword and swung it at Yang. She raised her arms, using her prosthetic to block the attack. A burst of wind exploded from her body, making Adam stumble. She shot a blast of flames at him, forcing him to raise his arms to cover his face. With a roar, he launched a shockwave of dark energy out, dissipating the flames and knocking Yang back, revealing that some of the fabric from the sleeves of his coat had burned away. He raised his sword in time to deflect several icicles sent his way by Weiss. Ruby charged in using her Semblance, swinging both Keyblades like a woman possessed.

Adam did surprisingly well at blocking the absolute onslaught of strikes from the young Keybearer, and Weiss took advantage of the situation to slash Adam across the back. He staggered, and Ruby slammed both of her weapons into his chest, knocking him against the wall. He stumbled forward, a look of fury on his scarred face. Weiss used her glyphs to charge at him and attempted to stab him with Myrntenaster. He scowled at her, deflected her attack with his sword, and grabbed her face. He lifted her off the ground, and a small explosion of dark energy emanated from his palm, knocking Weiss away.

Adam sheathed his sword, and his hair began to glow. He quickly swung his sword, a massive wave of red energy flying towards Ruby. She raised both of her Keyblades and swung, catching the energy fired from Adam's Semblance. After a few seconds, her weapons finally won out, cutting the energy wave in two, leaving the halves to slice through the wall behind her.

Unfortunately, she missed the spears of darkness heading her way.

The three dark attacks passed right through her, her Aura blunting much of the damage, but she was still sent to her knees with a cry of pain.

"Ruby!" Yang cried out in fear.

Adam capitalized on Ruby's injury to charge at her with his sword raised. "You see my love?" he asked as he charged. "This girl is only going to be the beginning of your suffering!" He raised his katana, and swung down.

Suddenly, a metal hand caught the blade. Ruby and Adam looked up and saw Yang, her hair and crimson eyes ablaze, holding the blood-red blade of Adam's sword in her prosthetic fist.

"STAY AWAY FROM MY SISTER!" Yang roared. She clenched her metal fist, snapping the blade in half, gathered flames into her left hand, and slammed her fist into his face. Semblance and Maiden powers combined to absolutely obliterate Adam's Aura, sending him flying down the hallway, where Blake and Weiss were waiting with their swords raised. The speed that Adam was propelled through the air meant that he had no chance to try to save himself.

With a disgusting squelch, he was impaled through the back by both swords, one on each side of his torso. He gasped in pain, but made surprisingly little noise.

The two girls pulled their swords out of his back, allowing him to stumble forward, gasping for breath.

"B-Blake…" he gasped. "W-Why?"

"You know damn well why!" Blake yelled, tears of fury and despair welling up in her eyes. "I didn't want it to go this way, either, Adam, but you didn't leave me any other choice!"

"The…" he coughed up blood. "The only thing I wanted was you, Blake. But…if I can't have your love… No one will!" His body began to glow again, his form becoming covered in purple flames.

Suddenly, in a flash of light, Ruby dashed past him, Keyblades raised. The flames disappeared, and with one final grunt of agony, Adam slumped to the ground in a heap.

No one had to check on him to know that he was dead.

After several seconds of silence, Ruby collapsed to her knees. Her Keyblades disappeared and she just stared at her hands, tears welling up in her eyes.

"I…" she said, her voice breaking. "I…"

Ruby was pulled into a hug by Blake, tears flowing freely down her eyes as well. She was followed very quickly by Yang, and then Weiss.

For several minutes the girls just sat there, letting all of their emotions out.

For all, relief.

For some, sadness.

For one, horror.

The iron giant swung its massive sword down at the group of warriors beneath it.

Out of the way!" Riku shouted, raising his Keyblade. Much to the astonishment of most people watching, he effortlessly stopped the giant blade, holding the attack at bay. Cloud took the opportunity to jump up and slice the Heartless's sword arm off. The weapon fell to the ground with a shudder, and Riku engulfed his Keyblade in light and flew into the air.

With a mighty swing, he cleaved the giant Heartless in half, and watched as it dissipated into nothing.

"Whoa, that was awesome!" Nora cheered.

"It was really quite impressive," Pyrrha said as Ariel disappeared.

"W-What are you?" Cordovin asked in fear, reminding everyone that she existed. "What are you people?!"

"We're just people trying to do the right thing," Riku said, looking at her sadly. "Just like you."

Cordovin looked at the group, an indecipherable look on her face. Riku didn't miss that the soldiers were slowly starting to surround the group.

"Guys—woah!" Yang called out them, Team RWBY emerging from within the base, only for the nearest soldiers to immediately aim their rifles at them and stop them in their tracks. Cordovin nodded, and the other soldiers all followed suit, taking aim.

"This changes nothing," Cordovin said. "Regardless of the circumstances, you still attacked a ember of the Atlesian military and brandished weapons without authorization. By the power afforded to me by the great General Ironwood and the Kingdom of Atlas, I hereby place all of you under arrest. Again."

"Oh, for the love of…" Maria said with a sigh. Riku and the others took combat stances.

"We're not going to let you stop us this time," Riku said. "We have something important to deliver to the general, and we don't want to fight you. But if you insist on getting in our way, we will."

"Don't underestimate the might of Atlas, fool."

"Don't underestimate the power of the Keyblade," Riku retorted.

Suddenly a loud roar could be heard, and the group turned and saw a massive Grimm approaching from the ocean. It looked like a giant lizard that stood on its hind legs, and was accompanied by a small army of flying Grimm.

"Oh, no," Pyrrha said.

"They must have been attracted by us battling the Heartless," Oscar said.

"Ma'am, the defense protocol is ready!" a soldier said as bay doors opened on the base and the group could see a giant mech.

"Very good," Cordovin said. "Escort these criminals back to their cells." The group readied for a fight, but an engine caught their attention. One of Atlas's airships landed, and the doors opened, revealing Tifa inside.

"Come on, everyone aboard!" Tifa called out. Without hesitation, the group ran towards the airship, while Pyrrha stopping to gingerly retrieve Achilles from the soldier that was holding him.

"Wait!" Cordovin called out.

"I think you have more important things to worry about!" Yang said, pointing to the Leviathan.

"We'll make sure to tell General Ironwood how brave you are!" Weiss said, as the last of their group hopped into the airship.

"Those kids," the Master of Masters said, watching as their stolen airship quickly fled the Argus base. Ultimately, Cordovin made the right call and decided that defending the city was more important than stopping some runaway teens in a stolen airship, and the mech engaged the Leviathan. It would likely not be a long fight.

A Corridor of Darkness opened next to him, and Xigbar emerge from it, joining the Master.

"So, how goes it in the Realm of Light?" the Master asked. "Has Xehanort been able to advance his plan?"

"As if," Xigbar said. "Now that Sora brat disappeared, too."

"Sora's here," the Master said. Xigbar scoffed.

"Figures."

"And his back-up plan? I assume with so many Guardians missing, he's moved on to collecting the Princesses."

"Yeah," Xigbar said. "We already captured two of them. Their names are Tiana and Moana. The Guardians didn't know who they were yet, so we got the leg-up on them. We're still trying to locate where they hid Kairi, and in the meantime, we've got people going to get three more. One of them is named Rapunzel, and then there are the two sisters, Anna and Elsa. But even then, we've hit a snag."

"Oh?" the Master raised an eyebrow at him.

"That's only 6 of them. We have no idea where the seventh is."

"Well, I can help you with that little problem."

"What, do you know who it is?" Xigbar asked.

The Master pointed up at the rapidly-retreating form of the stolen airship.

"She's right there."

"Is everybody okay?" Tifa asked, checking on the group while Uncle Qrow piloted the stolen airship.

"Man, that was intense," Jaune said, he and Pyrrha doing their best to try to calm down Achilles after all that excitement.

"Yeah, I'll say," Nora said, sitting on one the benches, Oscar's head resting in her lap. The boy was clearly out of breath, so no one questioned it.

Ruby knew they should be celebrating escaping, but she wasn't feeling up to it. She felt too guilty. Her team were comforting her, which she was grateful for, but there was only so much they could do.

After all, how do you comfort someone after they took a life?

"Hey, you okay there, pipsqueak?" Uncle Qrow asked, noticing her distress. The rest of her team gave uncertain looks.

"Well, we fought Adam, and uh… something happened…" Weiss said, trying to be delicate.

"What does that mean?" Uncle Qrow asked, growing concerned at how she phrased it. "What did he do?"

"He didn't do something, exactly," Blake said. "It's just that… um…"

"I killed him," Ruby said.

"Oh…" Uncle Qrow said, a hush falling over the airship. "I'm sorry."

"Hey, don't beat yourself up over it," Yang said. "All of us played a part in what happened. Don't feel like you acted by yourself and took a life."

"We all fought him, and we all knew where it could go," Weiss said.

"And for what it's worth, I'm glad you guys were there," Blake said. "My nightmare is finally over."

Her nightmares, sure.

But Ruby had a feeling hers were just beginning.

"It's a part of the territory," Miss Calavera said. "Every Huntress will have to take a life at some point. It's unfortunate that your first one happened so young. But you steel yourself, and you move on. Accept that death is a part of life, and that taking a life is sometime unavoidable."

"He would have killed me if you hadn't stopped him, Ruby," Blake said. "If you ask me, that's a very good thing."

"…I guess," Ruby said, her voice absolutely unconvincing. It fit, since she didn't believe what she was saying.

An awkward silence fell over the group.

"So, Oscar, you held yourself pretty well out there," Riku said, finally changing the subject.

"Uh, about that…" Oscar said, sitting up. "Ozpin actually came back."

"He took control?!" Nora asked, alarmed at her boyfriend's body getting snatched again.

"No, he just showed me how to tap into our power… and then was gone again…" Oscar said.

"Does that mean he's been watching us this whole time?" Yang asked.

"I don't know, but… it at least means he was looking out for us."

The rest of the group didn't quite know what to make of this information. There was a silence before Uncle Qrow spoke up.

"Hey, if you've never seen Atlas in person before, you don't wanna miss this," he said. They all walked up to cockpit, Ruby included, figuring she could use the distraction.

"I'll believe we've made it to Atlas when I see it," Yang said.

"Well, believe it," Weiss said, sounding just as unhappy about the idea of being back in Atlas as she was the last time they brough it up.

The airship came out of the clouds, and they all got a clear view of the city of Atlas.

Ruby had to admit, it was a pretty incredible sight. An entire city, floating in the air, hovering over the undercity of Mantle.

"Wow!" Nora exclaimed.

"That's pretty impressive," Riku said, which probably meant a lot from a guy that's seen other worlds.

"How does it stay floating like that?" Tifa asked.

"Gravity Dust," Ren answered. "Lots and lots of Gravity Dust."

Pyrrha and Jaune were pointing at the sights to Achilles, who looked absolutely enthralled by what he was seeing.

"You know, you make the trip up to Atlas over and over, but you never get used to that view," Miss Calavera said before her prosthetic eyes started glitching. "Oh, come on!"

Weiss leaned forward, looking a little nervous. Well, more than she already was.

"Weiss, what is it?" Ruby asked. Weiss pointed, and the group finally noticed the massive amount of Atlesian airships surrounding the city.

"The Atlas air fleet…" Weiss said. "I knew all of our ships were called back, but…"

"They're set up like they're expecting an attack…" Uncle Qrow said. The atmosphere in the airship suddenly became a lot more tense.

And then the radio turned on.

"Manta 5-1, welcome home…"

AN: And with that, we've finished Volume 6. I'm not entirely sure I'm satisfied, but that's what happens when you spend like 4 months working on the same chapter.

The important thing is that I knew going in that Adam's death would happen after a fight against all of Team RWBY, not just Blake and Yang. One of the biggest missed opportunities from the show was not having Weiss see that brand. I knew I needed to correct that.

And ZeroTheOne was the one who gave me the idea to have Ruby be the one to deal the killing blow.

So now, I plan. I'm going to try to get an outline made for all of Volume 7 and 8 at once before I start, since those volumes need to lead into each other. I also need to figure out how to incorporate Arrowfell, and think about Volume 9 as I'm watching it. The rough idea that I have for where Volume 8 is going to end might mean I don't cover the Ever After at all, since I've been thinking about it for like 2 years now, but we'll see. But before we get to Volume 7, we're going to spend one chapter, maybe 2, in the Realm of Light.

I want to remind everyone once again that this story has a TvTropes page!

And don't forget to check out my Final Fantasy 7/RWBY story!

As always, thank you very much for reading, and I'll see you all next time!