Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or RWBY.

A/N: Not going to apologize for how long this took, as after uploading the Detentionaire story, a friend and uncle passed so I took time off to mourn. Now, for most of my stories, I was ahead except for this one, KP, and the One Piece stories so I'll upload the others a day or two after each other.

REMEMBER TO VOTE IN THE POLL IF YOU HAVEN'T!

Beta: ANUBIS the god king.

Chapter XL.

Last Time.

Taunting Blake, Adam continues to pursue her until he launches Wilt to shoot down Gambol Shroud mid-air, throwing Blake off as he leaps into the air, attempting to strike her down. However, Adam only manages to destroy her tailcoat, which Blake takes off before kicking Adam off of her and shooting him several times once she lands.

Eventually, the two leap out of the forest and take the battle on a stone bridge near a waterfall. As they clash again, Blake uses the sheath of her weapon to steal Wilt away, at which point Adam is briefly forced to rely on Blush and attempts to shoot her down while Blake tries to drive him back. Once he catches Blake's wrist and locks Blush with Gambol Shroud, Adam continues to belittle Blake as he retrieves Wilt while throwing Blake's sheath away before knocking her down with its hilt.

As Adam throws more insults at Blake, he continues striking her down and knocking her away, not giving her the chance to evade his attacks. Blake calls him delusional in response, and Adam approaches Blake and points his sword near her scar, preparing to kill her once again. As Blake raises Gambol Shroud to defend herself, Adam slices it in half using his Semblance and then takes off his blindfold, explaining the pain and anger he felt when he was abandoned on the train and revealing a scarred Schnee Dust Company brand mark across his left eye, which was bloodied with a gray iris and a singed eyebrow.

Blake's ears twitch as she hears engines and after throwing his blindfold away, Adam raises his sword and seemingly impales Blake in the abdomen, only for her to trick Adam once again using her Semblance. As Blake picks up her sheath, she proclaims she's not alone, just as Naruto Yang bursts from above on their bikes.

Now.

Atlas.

Cordovin controls the giant Atlesian mech, which trudges through the ocean and goes after the airship Maria and Weiss took before. "You're joking. You want to fight this thing?!"

"We've fought giant monsters before. This is just a tiny old lady... with one gigantic robot." Ruby said over the comms.

"You little spider-roaches thought you could creep your way to Atlas?! Well, let's see how your resolve holds out against the might of the Atlesian Military!"

Cordovin prepares to take down the airship with a missile that pops out from a slot on the arm cannon. The missile fires and tracks the airship, but suddenly, it explodes harmlessly just right behind it.

BOOM!

Cordovin turns to see Ruby with her Crescent Rose. Ruby lowers her weapon and glares at Cordovin while the others get ready to fight. "SO BE IT!"

Cordovin prepares to shoot the missile at Ruby and the others. Weiss and Maria see Cordovin doing so in shock. "Dive!"

Weiss unbuckles her seatbelt and gets off from her seat while Maria dives for the landing. As Maria heads to the others, Weiss approaches the airship door with Myrtenaster in her hand. She jumps off and raises her weapon creating a rock wall and protecting the group from Cordovin's ice Dust attack.

"That was close." Oscar sighs as Ruby looks back.

"We need to figure out how to stop Cordovin and protect the airship until we do."

Jaune nods at that. "Let's give her more targets to focus on."

"You mean us, don't you?" Nora asks him.

"Look at that thing. It's not designed for small enemies. It's probably meant for giant Grimm that come in from deeper waters. We can turn our size into an advantage. We have to be smart."

"Be a little hard seeing as it's giant." Pyrrha muses before bringing her spear out and putting it in its rifle form.

Ruby looks over at the ship. "Maria, can you keep the ship out of harm's way?"

"They can take my driver's license, but I won't let them take this ship!"

"Very reassuring…"

"Let me at her!"

Shiki and Haru held Natsu as fire seemed to come out of his mouth. "Calm down, we're close-range fighters, we can't help much here."

"I'll be more useful if I go with her. From up high, I can try to spot a weakness." Oscar says as he steps up.

"Well, he's not the only one who can grab a bird's eye view." Qrow smiles as he crosses his arms.

"You said you needed me on the ground?" Weiss asks Ruby who smiles nervously.

"Not exactly."

As the team strategizes, Cordovin keenly keeps an eye on their location. Suddenly, her eyes widen as the group splits into three Jaune, Pyrrha, Nora and Ren run down the left path along the cliff, Maria flies the airship to the right, and Ruby and Qrow fly straight up into the air using her Semblance and his corvid form, respectively. Ruby reforms from her Semblance and fires Crescent Rose, cracking the mech's windshield and causing Cordovin to growl. She fires a volley of missiles at Ruby's location.

Ruby lands on a tree branch and uses her Semblance to dodge the missiles. She eventually reforms and runs and jumps along the missiles before free-falling down to the ocean. Weiss freezes an incoming wave as Ruby slides along it. "Let's go!"

Ruby yells as Weiss also slides off the frozen wave before using Myrtenaster to freeze small patches of ice for her and Ruby to leap on toward the mech. As Cordovin keeps her attention on them, her mech is suddenly struck by a volley of pink grenades. "Hey! Over here!"

"What?!"

Cordovin looks over to Jaune's group as they keep running. "And you said it wasn't beach season!" Nora grins at Ren.

The four then take cover behind a boulder for each of them. Nora fires off more grenades from Magnhild, but suddenly, a hexagonal shield pattern appears protecting Cordovin's mech, doing no damage to her. "Ha-Ha-Ha! Surely you knew Atlas was the father of hard-light Dust, or do lesser kingdoms simply lack proper education?"

Cordovin charges up her mech's arm cannon again, this time firing rock Dust, forcing Jaune's team to abandon their cover. "Cordo just activated shields!" Jaune yells before Oscar speaks.

"I saw that. We need to find whatever's generating it."

"You know, in video games, the weak spot's usually on the back of the giant boss!" Ruby muses as Weiss looks at her.

"Ruby, this isn't a game!"

"I'm just trying to LOOK OUT!"

Cordovin's mech is stomping at a part of the ocean. Unbeknownst to her, Qrow flies around in his avian form. "You are ants! You are lower than ants!" Cordovin yells as Qrow flies through the clouds, he transforms back into his human form and takes out Harbinger's scythe form. He propels himself forward and grapples with the giant mech. "Ah! What was that?!"

"Until the shield's down, we're gonna have to get up close and personal with this thing." row says to the others.

Qrow starts to fire at the scratch he just made. Suddenly, he notices the mech's giant hand start to reach for him. Qrow dodges out of the way, transforming back into his avian form. "That's easier said than done!" Ren yells back at him.

"Weiss and I are on it!" Ruby and Weiss land on a patch of ice on the ocean together.

"Hold on!" Weiss stabs Myrtenaster into the ground, creating an ice attack that knocks Cordovin's mech off balance for a bit. Cordovin lets out a frustrated yell. As the airship flies by, Oscar realizes something.

"Wait, that's it. When she…" Qrow trails off as Cordovin aims her cannon at Ruby and Weiss.

"RUBY, MOVE!"

Cordovin fires a volley of missiles at Ruby and Weiss, creating a large plume of water. From it, Weiss and Ruby emerge unharmed as they ride Weiss' Queen Lancer summon. Ruby leaps off and uses Crescent Rose to propel herself onto Cordovin's mech, embedding the scythe's blade into it while Maria cheers Ruby on. The force of Ruby's strike knocks the mech back into the cliffside, and the citizens in Argus feel the tremors. Cordovin lets out an enraged scream.

"Go!" Pyrrha yells as Jaune, Ren, and Nora proceed forward.

Ren leaps onto the mech's arm and runs along it, while also using the blades of StormFlower to hang on. Jaune uses the two-handler form of Crocea Mors to slash at the mech's hip joint, while Nora uses the hammer form of Magnhild to smash at the arm cannon. Cordovin manages to stand the mech back up, causing Ruby to be lowered down into her view on the windshield. Ruby hangs on to Crescent Rose as she nervously smiles and waves at Cordovin.

"Get off of me!" Cordovin tries to grab Ruby with the mech's left hand, forcing Ruby to let go as she uses her Semblance to fly downward.

Luckily, Weiss flies by on her Queen Lancer summon and catches Ruby. "Heh."

"What if I hadn't caught you?" Weiss asks as Ruby grins.

"I knew you would."

Weiss just groans as they fly around the mech, Ren lowers himself down along the mech's back. He notices a panel with a humming machine sound coming from it. Ren uses one of his blades to pry the panel off but almost falls as the mech keeps moving around. Fortunately, Qrow appears and catches his wrist. "Gotcha. What'd ya find?"

Qrow tosses Ren back up as the both of them look at the panel he just opened. They see a whirring machine with the label "AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY, SHIELD GENERATOR" written on top of it. "Well, all right then."

Qrow and Ren draw their weapons and shoot at the machinery, disabling the mech's shields. Cordovin watches her screen as the shields are reduced to zero. "No, no, no, no!" Cordovin then feels a tremor as Nora fires a volley of grenades at her.

As Nora continues firing at Cordovin, Weiss and Ruby fly by to Ren and Qrow. "Jump on!"

The two men do so as Nora continues to fire until she runs out of ammo. Suddenly, Jaune notices Cordovin lifting the mech's arm and runs over to Nora. "I've had enough of you ingrates!"

Cordovin slams the mech's arm into both Jaune and Nora, knocking them back and breaking their Auras. The two struggle to get back up. Suddenly, Weiss gasps as Cordovin fires the mech cannon at her group at point-blank range, destroying the Queen Lancer summon and knocking herself, Ren, Qrow, and Ruby back over to the cliff. Ruby uses her Semblance to fly back over to the cliff but falls short.

Ruby embeds the blade of Crescent Rose into the cliffside and holds on for dear life. She notices Cordovin approaching her. "This is what happens when you think you know better than those rightfully in charge!"

From the airship, Oscar notices Ruby in trouble and runs over to Maria. "We gotta do something!"

Maria flicks some switches on the controls and flies back over to the mech. Just as Cordovin is about to fire her arm cannon at Ruby, Maria flies by and fires a missile. Suddenly, the mech grabs the missile with its hand, causing Cordovin to turn the mech around in Maria's direction. Everyone watches helplessly as Cordovin fires the missile in the airship's direction. The missile explodes in front of the airship, causing it to rattle.

Adam, Vs Naruto, Blake, And Yang.

Yang fires a shot at Adam, which he blocks. Yang then activates the shotgun in her weapons as Naruto has his pistols turn into their knife forms. Suddenly, Blake falls to her knee as she holds her stomach in pain. "It's OK. Catch your breath for a second. We can hold him off."

The combatants stare each other down. Adam makes the first move, delivering a series of quick slashes and Semblance arcs that knock Yang back a short distance. Eventually, Yang starts to strike back, managing to land some hits on Adam that he wasn't able to block.

Yang knocks Adam back a good distance before firing at him. He blocks and absorbs the shots with his sword. Adam then quickly runs in circles around Yang before letting out another Semblance attack that causes Yang to slide back a short distance.

"His semblance is like yours, Yang! He absorbs energy through his sword, stores it up, and then sends it back when he's ready."

"He gets to dish out damage without having to feel it? (Sigh) That's just cheap..."

Naruto dashed and proceeded to trade blows with Adam. Yang jumps over and lands a series of punches and kicks on Adam, but he manages to send her back when she punches his sword. Naruto looks back to make sure she's OK and shares a look with Blake. Adam notices this and lets out an angered and readies his Semblance once again.

With a loud yell, Adam lets out a devastating attack with his Semblance. When the smoke cleared, Naruto had Fox Bolt in its trident form with scratch marks on it before looking up at Adam. "Give this up. This is your last chance."

Adam stares back as he grips the hilt of his sword again. "Heh, do you believe that? Or are you just trying to scare me away so you won't have to die trying to protect her?"

Naruto grinned at that. "No… I was sparing her seeing someone she once loved from dying."

Naruto then dashed forward and tossed the trident having Adam turn to dodge it. And dodged a swipe from Naruto's knife. Only to wince as he felt a burning on his cheek. Blood dripped from a curt as he saw blue energy on Naruto's knife creating another couple of inches on the blade.

Argus Base Fight.

At the Argus base, the Atlesian guards watch the screen as Cordovin's Colossus is seen trying to swipe at the airship Maria and Oscar are in. "You just couldn't keep this rivalry between us, could you, Calavera?! You had to rope in children to fail with you!"

The guards cheer on their boss as she fires another shot from the mech's arm cannon. Unbeknownst to them, a red dot appears on one of the radar's screens approaching Argus.

Back at the cliffside, Ruby Rose is still holding onto Crescent Rose for dear life. Oscar notices this from the airship. "Ruby!"

Ruby eventually makes her back up to the top of the cliff by using Crescent Rose's blade to climb back up. She regroups with Weiss, Ren, and Qrow. "Are we OK?!"

"I know, we were supposed to lay low, but listen! I think I finally found a weakness!" Oscar explains as Nora looks up at the ship with Pyrrha.

"Well, we're all ears."

"The cylinder on Cordo's cannon rotates and locks in a giant Dust cartridge every time she changes attack styles."

Weiss nodded at that. "We noticed."

"Right, but her missile launcher doesn't lock in, it pops out! Without her shields, one well-placed shot could detonate the missiles while they're still in the launcher!" Oscar finishes as Jaune looks down

"We could destroy the entire cannon... Oscar, that's brilliant!"

"Can you... make that kind of shot?" Nora asks Ruby before Pyrrha walks up.

"We have better chances if I take a shot after you in case you miss."

"We'll only get one chance before she catches on. I'd have to be practically staring down the barrel of her cannon." Ruby says as they nod as Maria speaks.

"Well, I've got a way to guarantee that."

Maria flies the airship back over to Ruby's group. She stops with the hatch doors open. Ruby runs forward with Pyrrha.

"Ruby, what are you doing?!"

The two hop into the airship and head off. The others watch the airship heading towards Cordo's mech. Ruby smiles at Maria and Oscar.

In the mech, one of the screens has a popup message saying "ARGUS BASE INCOMING CALL". Cordovin notices this, but her attention is then drawn away. "Hey, Cordo! I've got one missile left and I know exactly where I'm gonna stick it!"

"One missile you say? That's a shame, Maria, because I have plenty!" Cordovin has the missile launcher pop out from the mech's arm cannon while Maria continues flying toward her.

"ARE YOU TWO CRAZY?!" Oscar yells as Maria smiles.

"Sometimes the best approach is simply the most direct!"

As the airship moves closer, Ruby and Pyrrha get into position and Ruby aims at Cordovin's mech cannon. Cordovin gasps as she pulls up a screen, noticing Ruby and catching on to her plan. Ruby pulls the trigger, but suddenly, the missile launcher retracts back into the arm cannon, and the bullet is deflected. Everyone gasps in shock.

"You thought you could fool me?!" She readies the arm cannon again, this time about to fire a lightning Dust attack.

"Pull up!"

Maria pulls up the airship, but it still gets partially caught in the blast. The rest of the group on the cliff move out of the way. The airship is affected by the electricity, and Maria screams in pain as her prosthetic eyes close shut.

"I can't see! My eyes!"

Pyrrha who was getting ready, ran over and grabbed the joystick. "We're gonna crash! We're gonna CRASH!"

The rest of the group emerge from the smoke on the cliffside, coughing. The group watches as the airship crash lands into the forest. As Weiss gasps, Qrow runs and transforms into his avian form and flies over to the crash site.

Over at the site, Oscar coughs before speaking. "We're... we're still in one piece!"

Suddenly, Oscar hears the stomping of Cordovin's mech. Ruby stumbles out of the airship before collapsing to her knees. "Very clever, but even the smartest apes can't compete with the intellect of man.

Ruby uses Crescent Rose to stand herself back up. She looks over to the airship to see Maria repairing her prosthetic eyes as Oscar watches in concern. "Come on, come on!"

Ruby then looks toward Cordovin with a determined expression and walks forward. Suddenly, Qrow appears and takes his niece's hand. "Ruby, stop!"

Ruby looks back to her uncle, still bearing her determined expression. "I need you to trust me."

Qrow closes his eyes and ultimately relents as Ruby pulls her hand away. She walks to the edge of the cliff and stands face-to-face with Cordovin's mech. "Surrender for your crimes, and accept your punishment."

"No!" Ruby yells as Cordovin gasps in shock as Ruby's friends look at her. "We're going to Atlas. Bigger people than you have tried to stop us and failed, but we're supposed to be on the same side! We're supposed to use our power to protect people, but you just use yours to look down on everyone! We didn't want to steal from you. We did it because you gave us no other choice! Now I'm giving you one last chance to stand down and hear us out."

"I've heard enough…" Cordovin then aims her arm cannon at Ruby. Ruby's friends run over to her in panic.

"Ruby!"

Qrow gains a look of horror on his face as Cordovin fires up the arm cannon. Suddenly Ruby uses her Semblance and flies into the arm cannon. "WHAT?!"

Nora looked up as they ran over. "She's NUTS!"

Ruby continues flying into the arm cannon. "The missile launcher springs out... but the raw dust gets locked in!" Jaune explains to them.

Inside the arm cannon, Ruby plants Crescent Rose into the ground and aims the buildup of Dust. She fires and uses her Semblance to quickly get out of the arm cannon. Suddenly, the arm cannon explodes, covering it in ice and stone.

BOOM!

"What?! No! NO!"

As Ruby flies backward, her Aura runs out, and falls unconscious. Her fall is slowed down by black Glyphs from Weiss, and Qrow catches his niece in his arms. Weiss collapses in exhaustion as Jaune, Ren, Pyrrha, and Nora run over to her. "Ruby? Ruby!"

Ruby opens her eyes and smiles at her uncle. "Told ya."

The Atlesian airship's engines can be heard coming back on as it hovers lightly above the ground. Maria managed to fix her eyes. "Oh, don't tell me I missed it!"

Naruto Vs Adam.

"You knew you couldn't win two-on-one at Haven. What makes you so sure you can win now?"

Adam said to them as Naruto gripped his knives. "I wasn't there… And I heard you got beat by my teammates."

The two combatants then take defensive stances as they resume their battle. Naruto rushed forward to strike at Adam with a series of back-and-forth blows and slashes. "Do you think you're faster than me?" Adam asks as Naruto smiles.

"Yeah, but if not I just need a lucky shot."

Adam rushes forward unsheathing his sword. Naruto manages to dodge the swing, then rolls away for a second. Adam lands two kicks before Naruto dodges a slash, followed up by another. Then Adam brings the sword down diagonally while Naruto backs away. But then Adam rams him and she is knocked to the ground. "Your Aura's bound to be running low."

"I'm just getting started… But what about you? What's your endgame? Showing everyone was right about their Faunus hatred? Killing, stealing… All that does is just show those that are neutral to you to hate you... And maybe turn those that are with you against you."

"What do you know?!"

"I know exactly what you went through! I was hated from the moment I was born… Know what I did? I showed them that I deserved their respect! To not be hated! To show them that they were wrong about me!" Naruto explained as he panted while he stood. "And you know what? It worked! I went on to be the most loved leader in my village, something I was told constantly I could never achieve!"

"So show those that hate you that they're wrong!" Adam roars as he dashes to Naruto who leans back, grabs him by the shirt then flips him over the edge of the cliff. Naruto rolled over onto his feet and ran over to see Adam was gone. "Damn." Naruto sighs about before Blake crashed into his back and hugged him.

He smiles and places his hands on hers.

Atlas Fight.

"No! No, no, no, NO! You! You're never getting to Atlas! Do you hear me?! NEVER! All forces converge on my position and eliminate these pests at once!"

"Everyone on board! We're making a run for it!" Maria yells out at them.

"What about Yang? Naruto, and Blake?" Jaune asks her.

At the Argus base, various Atlas personnel all rush to their battle stations. A pair of guards are seen looking out at the ocean. In the distance, a towering Grimm is stomping in the water towards Argus. It lets out a terrifying roar.

(ROAR!)

It's a gigantic, bipedal, aquatic sea Grimm with four humanoid limbs and a long tail. It has four gills on each side of its neck and a collection of dorsal plates protruding from its back, with red webbing between each plate. It has a dolphin-like head with a mouth filled with sharp teeth and three yellow eyes on each side of the head. Like many other Grimm, it has external ribs.

The Atlas guards then turn around and notice a massive legion of Manticores and Sphinxs in the air over the city of Argus. "It's a Leviathan! It began its approach during your battle! We need you!"

Ruby looks back to her friends in horror, who all share equally concerned expressions. They look to Cordovin's mech, still struggling to lift its arm cannon. Multiple Manta aircraft engage in dogfights against Manticores and Sphinxs above the ocean. The Leviathan itself slowly trudges through the water approaching the city. Some aircraft fly by for a gun run on the towering Grimm. The Leviathan, however, simply dives below the ocean and swims.

Elsewhere, Ruby Rose and her friends overhear the radio chatter with looks of horror on their faces. Cordovin continues to struggle to get the Colossus' arm cannon out of the water with it being covered in ice and rock Dust.

"This is your fault! Do you hear me?!"

"Ruby!"

They see Naruto, and the others at the cliff. "Are you OK?"

Naruto, Yang, and Blake notice the disabled mech. What the hell happened?"

(ROAR!)

The group wastes no time boarding the aircraft. It begins to fly away. Ruby watches with pity as Cordovin continues to struggle to move the mech. Cordovin herself yells out in anger. "This is your fault! YOUR FAULT! This is…" Cordovin trails off at that.

"I suppose I have to be the bad guy and say it, getting the lamp to Atlas is still our top priority, and right now we have the perfect opportunity to head straight for it. We may not get another chance like this." Maria says as Yang shakes her head.

"No way!"

"We can't leave, not like this." Weiss sais as Blake nods.

"It's like you said, a Huntress is supposed to protect others to the bitter end."

Maria looks to Ruby, who just shrugs and smiles. Maria smiles back and continues to fly. "We need to head for the Leviathan. Jaune, can you and Ren be ready to mask our ship?"

"I think we can manage." Ren nods.

From the city, a large crowd gathers as they look out to the ocean with concern. Terra Cotta-Arc is seen making her way through the crowd, eventually reuniting with her wife Saphron and their son Adrian, before looking out to the ocean again in concern. As the Leviathan approaches Argus, a hard-light Dust barrier is erected, halting its progress.

A pair of Manta aircraft are seen firing shots at the Leviathan. Suddenly, the Leviathan unleashes an energy beam attack from its mouth. It shifts the beam over to one of the poles powering the hard-light Dust barrier, destroying it as Ruby and her friends watch in horror from their aircraft.

Ren and Jaune proceed to combine their Semblances, masking the airship as it weaves between the air battles between Grimm and Atlas forces. The Leviathan makes its way to the next barrier and charges its energy breath again.

The Manta aircraft pulls up out of the way as the Leviathan fires its breath, destroying the next barrier and toppling a cupola off one of the buildings in Argus. Ren and Jaune collapse as their Auras are drained. The Leviathan continues to approach Argus, but suddenly, the aircraft carrying Ruby's group opens up its hatch doors.

"Eyes on us, ugly!"

Nora and Yang fire their respective weapons at the Leviathan. Blake runs over to Weiss, who is maintaining a Glyph she activated as Ruby is riding on the back of Weiss' Queen Lancer summoning. "Okay, OK, you can do this... You have to do this!" She looks to see Naruto smiling and giving her the thumbs up.

Eventually, Ruby stops in front of the Leviathan. She closes her eyes and begins to concentrate, the noises all around her slowly muting out. Ruby takes out her earpiece and tosses it into the water below. She closes her eyes again to concentrate. As she concentrates, Ruby thinks back on various memories.

She thinks of her father and sister, when Zwei first arrives at Team RWBY's dorm room, when she and her team are about to start a food fight, and when they get noodles after their victory in the tournament. She then thinks of Penny, then to when she first saw Jaune, of Team JNPR, SHNN.

Suddenly, Ruby starts to frown as bad memories start to flood her mind the night when she saw her friends wounded as Beacon was being evacuated. Ruby whimpers upon remembering the death of Penny… Suddenly, Ruby opens her eyes again and notices the Leviathan standing face-to-face with her. Ruby then remembers she has the Relic of Knowledge on her belt, which caused the Leviathan to have its attention on her.

Suddenly, the Leviathan opens its maw and lunges toward Ruby. "J-JINN!" Suddenly, time stops. Everything slows down and freezes, even Yang who calls out her sister's name. Ruby then breathes a sigh of relief as she hears the rattling chains of Jinn. "I'm sorry... I don't have a question for you. I just... I just needed a little more time..."

Ruby looks to Jinn, who has a stern look on her face. "I know... and while you don't seek knowledge, just this once, I shall give it freely. I will not allow you to use me without a question again... Even if this was clever."

Ruby nods at Jinn. She then turns to face the Leviathan again and closes her eyes to concentrate once more. Time slowly starts to go back to normal. She thinks back to when Team RWBY decorated their dorm room, when Weiss gave her coffee, when Blake cheered for Weiss in Professor Port's class when Yang was training her before leaving for Beacon, and when Team RWBY celebrated their victory after saving Vale.

Ruby smiles as she thinks back to the Beacon Dance and Team JNPR again, and then to when Qrow arrived at Beacon, to talking with Oscar, and then to Maria, and Penny again... Then thoughts of Naruto holding her after she started dating him and ending with their time at the beach.

And finally, Ruby thinks back to her mother, her white cloak blowing in the wind as she overlooks a cliff watching a sunset. She then turns around, offering a warm smile. Her own Silver Eyes reflect back to her daughter's...

Ruby's own eyes then shine bright, the brightest it has ever been. A massive white light engulfs the area, turning the Leviathan to stone. The citizens of Argus and the Atlas military cheer as the Grimm threat has been nullified. Ruby's friends give proud smiles and Maria breathes a sigh of relief.

The light retracts back into Ruby's eyes, and she turns around to look at the city of Argus still standing. Suddenly, Ruby hears a stone crackling behind her. The Leviathan's head manages to move and tries to aim at Ruby. "No…"

"I'll take it from here!"

Suddenly, Cordovin shows up in the Colossus, its arm cannon now detached. Everyone looks in shock. Without the weight of the cannon, the Colossus begins to run toward the semi-petrified Leviathan. "After all, I was sworn to protect the people!"

The Colossus' left hand then transforms into a giant drill. Cordovin uses the drill to destroy the Leviathan, causing it to dissipate. The people of Argus cheer while the Arc family looks on with stupefied expressions. The Colossus then walks over to Ruby. Its cockpit opens up revealing Cordovin herself standing in a stern military manner. "Thank you. And... I'm sorry."

"The Atlas military can handle the stragglers." She says as Ruby blinks.

"What, uh... What are you saying?"

"I'm saying I don't think anyone would notice if one more ship went missing in my lengthy report."

Ruby smiles back at Cordovin, who then turns the mech around and runs off to join her men in taking down the remaining Grimm.

The airship Ruby and her friends are in flies through the night sky. "We should have just enough fuel to make it," Maris states to them.

"Thanks, Miss Calavera."

"Hey, Ruby. You did great out there today, kid. Just don't go giving me heart attacks like that again." Qrow is about to take a drink from his flask but ultimately decides not to before Ruby hugs her uncle.

"I love you, too."

Qrow smiles at his niece as she walks away to join her friends before hugging Naruto who hugs her back. "You weren't half bad yourself today, Qrow.

Qrow smiles before sighing after Maria spoke. "I feel like they did all the heavy lifting."

"But you were there to help when they asked for it, and you were there to catch them when they fell. If I recall."

"Thanks. You know, it was pretty incredible getting to see the Grimm Reaper in action."

Maria laughs at that. "Ha, you should have seen me when I was your age!"

Qrow smiles as the two of them look out the cockpit's window to the night sky.

In the back of the aircraft, Weiss, Blake, and Yang sit together before everyone then looks at Ruby. "Hey, stop it!"

"You petrified a Leviathan... after diving down the barrel of a cannon!" Ren states to her.

"Don't act like you all haven't done crazy stuff before!"

The airship comes out of the clouds, and the floating city of Atlas is seen coming into view. "Wow!"

"You know, you make the trip up to Atlas over and over, but you never get used to that view," Maria states before her prosthetic eyes start to act up again. "Oh, come on!"

Weiss leaned forward and had a nervous look on her face before Naruto grabbed her hand in his. "What's up?"

Everyone looks up, and notices above the city of Atlas many Atlas Airships. "The Atlas air fleet... I knew all of our ships were called back, but..."

"They're set up like they're expecting an attack…" Qrow states as they all look forward as suddenly, the radio turns on.

"Air Control Manta 5-1, welcome home…"

Salem's Hideout Land Of Darkness.

In the Land of Darkness, Mercury Black is seen looking out the window in the meeting room as Emerald then walks in. "Mercury, I wanted to…" Suddenly, she notices Mercury's face has an expression of horror as he looks out the window before Emerald looks to where he's looking. "What is she doing?"

Outside, a Beringel is crawling out of one of the black, tar-like pits, with Salem herself standing close by. She then uses her magic as Nevermore's wings suddenly sprout from the back of the Beringel. The Beringel gets used to its new appendages, before flying up to join many other Beringels also grafted with wings as Emerald and Mercury continue to watch in horror.

"There's an old saying."

The two notice Hazel enter the room and stand next to them. "If you want something done right... do it yourself."

Salem looks up to the army of Grimm she has gathered, before turning around and using her magic on the black pools again.

To Be Continued.

A/N: Thanks for reading and let me know of any mistakes.

Beta: ANUBIS the god king.

Not going to apologize for how long this took, as after uploading the Detentionaire story, a friend and uncle passed so I took time off to mourn. Now, for most of my stories, I was ahead except for this one, KP, and the One Piece stories so I'll upload the others a day or two after each other.

REMEMBER TO VOTE IN THE POLL IF YOU HAVEN'T!

The next to be updated will be A Fox In Middleton tomorrow or the next day.

Nothing else to say.

Talk To You Later,

Lone Wolf Out.🐺