Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or RWBY.
A/N: Updates might be slow for the time being as no email/alerts make it harder to get ahold of my betas.
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Beta: ANUBIS the god king
Chapter XXVI.
Last Time.
Salem's Castle.
Inside Salem's meeting room, Cinder Fall and Salem sit alone at the table. Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai wait by the door. Cinder is breathing heavily with effort while Salem has her right hand casually held out. "Do you feel it? Don't fight it, girl. It can sense your trepidation. You must make it dread you."
A soft clicking sound makes Cinder turn toward the door. All is blackness but for a slowly moving forward yellow glow. It is revealed to be inside a jellyfish-based Grimm with long red tentacles and a black and white body.
Emerald and Mercury react fearfully to it and pull back as it enters. It glides its way over to Salem at the head of the table. Once the Seer Grimm reaches her side, she leans closer to it. After a moment, she puts her hands together. "Cinder, I am going to ask you this one more time, and I expect a clear answer.
"Did you kill Ozpin?" Cinder holds her arm out, about to call Emerald over to speak for her. Salem slams both hands onto the table, eyes glowing as she speaks. "No! I want to hear you say it.
Cinder rasping a few times first before speaking hoarsely. "Yes."
Salem looks at her for a long moment before speaking. to the Seer Grimm. "Reinforce our numbers at Beacon. The Relic is there."
The Seer Grimm glides away. At the door, Emerald and Mercury draw away from it just as they did before. Salem turns her head thoughtfully, looking in the direction away from Cinder and bringing her fingers to her chin. "What are you planning?"
Now.
Naruto's House.
In the bathroom, Neo was taking a shower washing her hair as the bowler hat was on the sink.
Downstairs, Naruto was talking to Pyrrha. "Are you sure you can trust her?"
"Yep," Naruto said as they sat at the kitchen table. "Besides, from that attack, we can use all the help we can get."
"Wasn't she a part of it?"
"I also saved her so she owed me. Besides, that Roman prick is dead and she seems to be loyal to him and not the White Fang." Naruto replied as he stood before Neo walked down the steps. "Welp. we gotta meet up with Coco then head out to Haven if you wanna help."
Neo nodded before speaking in a raspy voice. "O…K…"
Naruto smiled at her getting her to blush before they walked outside and got on the motorcycle. "Oh, so I don't forget…" Naruto handed her a paper with an odd seal on it. "As soon as I get my powers trained, that'll have me come to you… I gotta meet a blacksmith to make kunai so you can call me if you're in trouble."
She smiled at him before he took off as she looked to see a carport at the house with another motorcycle on it.
A Few Days Later, Vale Train Station.
"You're going that far?"
Naruto asked Coco who nodded. "Yeah, I still wanna finish school."
"With what's goin' on, that'd be a little hard," Naruto spoke before Coco leaned against him to give a peck on his lips. "Why not Haven?"
"No openings." She replied before Naruto reached around to squeeze her cheeks.
"Well, I got a way to get to you and help get you back if we need the help." He reached up with his right hand and gave her the paper. "Maybe you can even help me with my clothes. Incorporate my favorite color in them."
"Gladly." She smiled as Naruto walked to Velvet who looked away from him.
"Oh come on, Velvet… I don't blame you for what happened."
"But-" He silenced her with a kiss and a grope of her ass.
"It's OK, you and Blake have too nice of an ass to be mad at." She blushed at that before he walked back as the train came to the platform.
Oscar.
(A/N: This is canon, feel free to skip.)
Oscar finishes his work on the farm and walks back into the barn with his tools when he notices something in the mirror. Looking at his reflection, he nervously calls out. "Hello?"
"Hello! I'm Professor Ozpi-!" Ozpin stopped as Oscar jumped back before hearing a woman call him outside.
Later, Oscar is reading a book until his aunt calls him to dinner. Just as he gets up to leave his room, Ozpin's voice tells him that they have to leave. Oscar argues with Ozpin about his situation and tries to rationalize Ozpin's presence as him losing his mind, but Ozpin tells him that he is sane. Ozpin continues to talk about how Oscar's and his souls are linked and the importance of getting to Haven Academy.
Yang.
Hearing noises from downstairs, Yang heads to the kitchen to find Doctor Oobleck and Professor Port enjoying a drink with Taiyang. Joining them, she learns that Glynda Goodwitch is still performing repairs on Vale and that Oobleck and Port are taking a brief rest.
Relaxing after laughing with her father and the professors, Yang returns to her room. Looking out her window, she sees her father saying goodbye to Port and Oobleck. The professors ask Taiyang if he plans to go after Ruby, who has not contacted her father since she left. Taiyang replies, glancing up at Yang's room, stating that he has some things to look after.
The next morning, the two start training and working on her arm which still acts up from the injury.
Team RNJR.
Team RNJR is on the road, approaching the village of Higanbana, which is well-protected and has an inn they can stay at. They comment on how they have not encountered many Grimm on their trip, deciding they have a lot of luck. Unbeknownst to them, Qrow Branwen is watching from a cliff-face above, having killed several Grimm that were stalking the team. He turns to notice a raven staring at him. After a moment, it flies off after Team RNJR.
Later.
In Higanbana, Qrow stays at a bar across the street from the inn. He is served a drink he did not order, which the waitress explains is from a lady upstairs with "red eyes". He goes up the stairs and is met by Raven Branwen, his sister, and Yang's mother. Raven wants to find out if Salem has Ozpin's relic, but Qrow is more interested in criticizing her for not being there for her daughter, as well as her leading the tribe of bandits that attacked Shion.
Raven, in turn, chastises him for leaving the tribe behind, their "family", a term Qrow objects to her using to describe "killers and thieves." Not giving her an answer she likes, Qrow asks if she can tell him where the Spring Maiden is. Raven refuses to answer and exits through one of her portals, leaving an annoyed Qrow and a startled waitress. Noticing the waitress' presence, Qrow asks her to make his drink a double.
Blake And Sun.
Blake and Sun arrive at Menagerie, where Sun is noticeably surprised by how crowded it is. The two make their way to the largest visible building and knock on the door, resulting in Blake being reunited with Kali and Ghira Belladonna, her mother and father, respectively. The four share tea while the Belladonna family catches up on what Blake has been doing, during which Blake's parents express great relief at her return, but have mixed feelings toward Sun, who is noticeably nervous.
Their conversation is cut short by the arrival of Corsac and Fennec Albain, two representatives of the White Fang, who reveal that Ghira is the former leader of the organization. Their conversation is quickly interrupted by Blake and Sun, who are distressed at Ghira talking to members of the organization who contributed to Beacon's fall.
Ghira demands the truth from the White Fang representatives, who pass the actions off as those of a splinter group led by Adam Taurus. They offer to show him their plans to take action against the Vale branch, but Ghira sends them away to spend time with his daughter instead. Before the two leave, they also offer Blake an opportunity to return to the White Fang, mentioning the possible delight of another member named Ilia Amitola as they do so.
The Albains, as they walk away, comment on Blake's presence as an interesting development and decide to tell Adam Taurus about her, revealing that they are not actually at odds with him.
Higanbana.
The waitress was cleaning up before Tyrian walked up to her with a grin. "Excuse me. I was hoping you could... help me find someone."
Team RNJR.
Team RNJR came to an abandoned town and Ren explained the town was trying to become its own Mountain Glenn as the richest of Minstrel didn't like the way it was run and tried to create their town. As well as his parents were there before just one Grimm wiped the town out. As they walked, they suddenly tensed and pulled their weapons out as Tyrian jumped in.
He immediately takes out his weapons in a seamless motion and, laughing eagerly, moves to attack Ruby. Ren intervenes, StormFlower clashing with Tyrian's claw blades. Ren attempts to both kick and shoot Tyrian, but he dodges. The two have a couple more attacks and parries until Tyrian kicks Ren several feet away.
Tyrian turns to go after Ruby again, who rushes forward with Crescent Rose to meet him. Tyrian uses his blades to block the scythe and kicks Ruby backward. She easily remains upright and they clash again. Tyrian manages to land a strike on Ruby's right arm, causing her to cry out at the pain and him to laugh.
She doesn't break stride however and leaps back to take a swing at him with her scythe. He dodges and then lands a moving blow against the body of Crescent Rose, causing a red shimmer to cross her Aura in the area of the strike. Jaune steps in at that moment and Tyrian climbs onto his shield and grins at him.
Nora rushes in with Magnhild, but Tyrian just leaps from Jaune's shield to her hammer and up through the top story of a narrow, rectangular building. Holding himself up with his feet on wooden frames to either side of him, Tyrian looks down at Team RNJR as Jaune yells up. "We're not looking for a fight!"
"Who are you?" Ren asks as Tyrian leans forward, drops from the tower, does a front flip, and lands on his feet in front of them.
"Who I am matters not to you. Or you. Or... Well... you do interest me." He said pointing to Jaune who gasps nervously. "No, I only matter to you." He points to Ruby, and the rest of RNJR turns to look at her. She tilts her head in confusion.
"Me?"
Tyrian breaks down into laughter. "You, you haven't the slightest clue, do you? Oh, how exciting this must be."
"What do you want?" Ruby asks as Tyrian begins acting dramatically in response to her tone of voice.
"Oh, the rose has thorns! My little flower, I'm here to whisk you away with me!"
"Well, what if she doesn't want to go with you?" Nora yelled gripping her weapon.
He stares for a moment with his lips scrunched up before answering. "Well, I'll take her."
Jaune walks over and stands between him and Ruby, his shield held in front of him. "We're not going to let you do that."
Tyrian closes his eyes and inhales through his teeth. His eyes slowly open, and he happily growls a single word with a dark grin. "Good."
Delighted that they're willing to fight, Tyrian moves fast to attack Jaune from behind before Ren yells shooting. "Jaune!
Ren deliberately shoots Jaune's shield so that the ricochet hits Tyrian. Tyrian covers his eyes with his arm and then cartwheels onto Jaune's shield, using his claw blades to spin in the air against it. Ruby steps in to face Tyrian on his descent, but he just kicks her to the side. She regains her ground by using Crescent Rose to steady herself.
Jaune takes a swing with his sword at Tyrian, but he simply dodges and kicks him away as well. His next move is to run toward Nora. From across the way, Ruby grins and shoots Nora with lightning Dust. It passes just over Tyrian's left shoulder, and he turns as he senses it. Nora gets knocked down when the bolt makes contact, dropping Magnhild in the process.
Mistaking the move for an error on Ruby's part, Tyrian gives Nora a baffled stare and laughs while Ren, Jaune, and Ruby simply watch and wait before speaking. "Well, if that isn't ironic."
He senses something is up and loses his mirth. With a determined, satisfied grin, a now upright and supercharged Nora rushes Tyrian from behind, moving over his right shoulder and coming before him just in time to hit him with Magnhild. The blast from the contact has the other three covering their eyes from the backwash of dust and air, Jaune taking cover behind his shield.
The air clears to reveal a perfectly fine Tyrian in a crouch, using his now unveiled scorpion tail to block Magnhild. He giggles and curls his fingers at Nora. "Surprise."
He kicks Nora twice in the face before leaping backward and upward onto a roof, leaving his coat behind. "He's... a Faunus," Ren said seeing Tyrian's tail.
"What is this about? The White Fang? Roman Torchwick?" Ruby asked the man.
"Plastic soldiers and pawns. My heart and body belong only to our goddess!"
"Cinder..."
"Hmph, only in her wildest dreams," Tyrian said with a roll of his eyes.
Tyrian leaps back into the fray. He uses his tail to knock Crescent Rose down. Though surprised, Ruby doesn't lose her grip on it. The two both attack each other and miss until Tyrian kicks Ruby backward again. Tyrian uses his tail to go after Ren before finally kicking him away and attacking Jaune next. A crow flies determinedly toward the fray while Tyrian kicks Jaune back and then Nora, and then Ren returns for more only to leap away again.
Without missing a beat, Tyrian lets Ren be and goes after Ruby again. In quick succession, he delivers a right hook to her face and a left blow to her torso, causing red shimmers on her Aura on her head and chest respectively. He turns and swings his tail to knock her back into the air. She flies back several feet and he rushes forward to meet her before she lands.
While Ruby's still in midair, he kicks her right in the abdomen, causing a large red shimmer over her abdomen and hips. The incoming crow turns into Qrow Branwen who keeps running forward after landing. Tyrian approaches Ruby on the ground and raises his stinger, his eyes turning dark purple. Nora, who is comforting a fallen Ren, and Jaune both look on in horror.
Laughing, Tyrian is about to strike with his scorpion tail when Qrow bursts through a building and inserts himself between them, holding his weapon behind his back. He lets out a nervous giggle of surprise while Ruby and Qrow make eye contact and smile at each other. "Hey."
Tyrian pulls his tail back as Qrow turns around, swinging his weapon and holding it at the ready by his side before Tyrian mock bowed. "As I live and breathe, Qrow Branwen. A true Huntsman has entered the fray!"
Ruby gets up and sets Crescent Rose on its end while Qrow glances back at her. "I don't know, this guy's weird."
Qrow turned to look at Tyrian. "Look, pal, I'm not sure who you are, but you need to leave my niece alone."
"Why, friend, my name is Tyrian. And I'm afraid that is not possible. My assignment from Her Grace was to retrieve this young girl. So, that is what I must do. One does not upset the Queen."
"Queen?" Ruby asked with a confused look.
"Salem."
"Who?"
"Hmm, I think we've had enough talk now, don't you?"
Tyrian assumes a crouching position as Qrow narrows his eyes. "You took the words right out of-"
Tyrian rushes Qrow before he can finish voicing the thought and the two begin fighting. Qrow blocks two strikes with Harbinger, then slashes at Tyrian who jumps trying to pierce Qrow as he lands. Qrow dodges then swings but Tyrian back-flips away and rushes back in. The two clash as Tyrian goes flying, he comes to a stop digging his weapons into the ground.
He ducks to avoid a slash from Qrow then leaps aside to dodge a horizontal strike. He follows up with a slash, using the force to transition into a kick that Tyrian slides under, then the Faunus tries to strike his back but it is stopped. Tyrian attacks again as Qrow parries several thrusts of his tail. As Tyrian blocks a downward strike pinning him on his knees a roof gets damaged by the shock-wave and Tyrian uses The Queen's Servant built-in guns to get free.
As Qrow blocks the shots with Harbinger Tyrian circles him firing a steady barrage, Ren and Nora join in, but Tyrian catches their sneak attack and dodges then easily knocks them away. He moves to chase them as the two land back near Jaune and Ruby, but Qrow intervenes to hold him back. "Don't come closer!" Qrow warned as he dashed to fight again.
"Fine!" Ruby yelled as she took Crescent Rose to the top of a building and waited for an opening to shoot Tyrian.
However, both he and Qrow move too fast for her to get a clear shot. Ruby grimaces in frustration. Qrow blocks a jab from Tyrian"s tail then counters, Tyrian parries before retaliating with a slash followed by a kick. Qrow ducks before swinging three times as the Faunus avoids them all, before using his tail as a spring to gain altitude as he opens fire again.
Qrow blocks the attack fires a shot of his own then dodges another thrust. Tyrian manages to use his tail to disarm Qrow flinging the sword away as he rubs his wrist. This slows things down enough for Ruby to repeatedly shoot at him from the roof, but after the first shot misses an amused Tyrian just deflects each with his tail.
Qrow curls his hand into a fist then switches to punching Tyrian in the face. He groans in pain backing up before Qrow lands a few more hits. With a final kick, he manages to send Tyrian flying and casually moves to retrieve Harbinger from where it is embedded in a wall. A frustrated Tyrian waits crouched until Qrow has his back turned before striking, but Qrow merely leaps on top of his weapon and partially changes it to scythe mode.
Using the gun barrels he propels himself to a rooftop, Tyrian follows as their battle continues. They appear evenly matched until Qrow notices a damaged beam. He tricks Tyrian into landing on it and the Faunus descends into the building and uses his tail to drag Qrow down, too. As the two lands, the remaining roof collapses inward.
This is enough to make Ruby decide to no longer stay back. Staring at the dust cloud in concern she descends to street level. Just as she reaches the building, Qrow comes crashing out through a wall, his body bouncing. He tosses Harbinger which lands with its blade in the ground, and Qrow perches atop it. Red flickers of damaged Aura move over his body twice.
Tyrian comes out of the floating dust and grime inside the building, purple flickers moving across his body. As the two begin to strike again, Ruby jumps in between and deflects Tyrian's blades with Crescent Rose. "Ruby!"
Ren held Jaune back from moving forward as Tyrian looked over. "Do you wish to be taken?"
"No! But I won't stand by and watch someone get hurt!"
Both Qrow and Ruby move in to attack Tyrian who parries both weapons and the three clash. He kicks Qrow away then shoots and jabs at Ruby with his tail, she blocks and tries to counter but the blow is knocked aside. His eyes are purple again, Tyrian closes in and almost gets her with his stinger, but Qrow blocks it. "Ruby! What did I say?! Get back!"
"This is my fight, too!"
"She attacks Tyrian while he's still locked blade-to-blade with Qrow, but his legs arch away from the swing of Crescent Rose. "No, it's not that. It's-" Qrow stopped as Ruby attacked again, and Tyrian moved to her.
He flips and sends her back with a two-footed kick. She slides closer to the building and gains her ground, but the wooden beams near the roof have been shaken up too much and a heavy one breaks and descends upon her. Qrow slices it in half so it falls in pieces to either side of Ruby without touching her. She smiles at him in gratitude and affection, and he raises his head from his stance to look at her, only to gasp in pain as he is immediately cut in the abdomen by Tyrian's stinger.
Tyrian chuckles while everyone but Ruby pauses in shock. She, however, immediately cuts off the stinger from the rest of Tyrian's tail. It bounces, spurting purple liquid, to the ground. Tyrian reels back and cries out from the pain. Standing, he whirls to face Ruby, infuriated. "You bitch!"
He takes a couple of steps forward but is off balance. Nora, Ren, and Jaune all move to block his path to Ruby and Qrow. Tyrian takes a few awkward steps, not engaging before whispering to himself. "She'll forgive you."
He runs away as Qrow, who had still been upright with his weapon at the ready, collapses to one knee and clutches at the wound, panting heavily before Ruby runs over. "Uncle Qrow! Are you OK?"
"I'll be fine. He just grazed me."
"He pulls his shaking hand away to show the blood on it. The other three arrive at his side.
"Who was that guy?"
"How did you get here?"
"Why are people after Ruby?"
"Uncle Qrow? What's going on?" Ruby asked as Qrow, breathing heavily and clutching his abdomen again, looked at her. "What's your favorite fairy tale?"
Later that night, at a campfire, Qrow explained the true story of the Maidens. While they try to comprehend the things said, Jaune Arc is noticeably upset at the realization that they tried to force Pyrrha Nikos to become a Maiden. Qrow rebuts by stating that Pyrrha made the choice herself.
With the topic seemingly dropped, Ruby decides to ask Qrow questions on why Tyrian was after her, which escalates into Jaune asking how that was connected to the attack on Beacon and everything else. With a heavy sigh, Qrow tells an ancient tale about one of Remnant's religions.
According to what Ozpin told him, there were once two brothers. During the day the older sibling created life, while during the night the younger sibling attempted to destroy everything his brother had made. The younger brother's action proved ineffective at first, though in time, he created the creatures of Grimm.
The two brothers eventually decided to make peace with one another, by creating together the Human race, beings that could choose to do good or evil. The Human race was bestowed with knowledge, choice, creation, and destruction. These were not gifted merely metaphorically, but physically as well in the form of four Relics. Each of the four Huntsman Academies was tasked with keeping safe one of the four powers, and Salem's goal was to possess all of them.
Team RNJR expresses uncertainty about the things they were told and confusion about what to do next. Deciding after some advice from Qrow that the best course of action was to continue on their path, Ruby is left to ask Qrow a final question. Why did he follow them in secret instead of just joining them? After some pushing for an answer by Ruby and Nora, Qrow reveals the nature of his Semblance: misfortune to those around him.
He walks away from the group, ending the long discussion, but not before noticing a raven landing in a tree nearby.
Blake.
Blake can be seen on the balcony outside of her father's office being approached by Kali carrying a set of tea. Her mother picks up on Blake's nervousness to go chat with her father and gives her the tray before seeking out Sun Wukong to hear more stories about Team RWBY that her daughter most likely would have described in less detail.
Blake does manage to muster the courage to approach her father, during which they share several moments of awkward small talk before Blake reveals the reason for her nervousness. When her parents decided to leave the White Fang, she called them cowards, among other things and stayed with the faction.
Ghira comforts his daughter, reassuring her that everything is fine neither he nor Kali held any ill will for her and that they are both so proud of her for her strength in not going down the wrong path. When Ghira asks why she left her team behind, they are interrupted by Sun crashing through the balcony door.
Later, Blake repeatedly slaps Sun in the face for his earlier interruption and invasion of privacy. He tries several times to warn her that he saw a masked White Fang member after Kali informs him the masks were not part of the attire worn by the Menagerie branch. Sun attempts to show her an image from his Scroll, but in her anger, Blake throws Sun's Scroll into the trees.
The Scroll hits a lurking female Faunus, dressed in black and wearing a white mask. She flees and is quickly chased by Blake, who is outraged at being spied upon. Sun follows quickly, giving a worried Kali a very hurried explanation before departing.
Blake and Sun chase the spy as Sun uses his clones to hold her down while Blake retrieves the spy's Scroll, breaking her mask in the process. The spy is revealed to be Ilia Amitola, a Faunus from Blake's past. Ilia wounds Sun and informs Blake that she should never have returned. After Ilia disappears, Blake races to Sun, who is unconscious and bleeding. She covers the wound with her hand and cries out for help.
RNJR Qrow Morning.
"(Cough-Cough!)"
Team RNJR woke up to a coughing Qrow, where they all realized with horror that Tyrian's tail, much like his animal counterpart, was venomous. Qrow's abdomen is leaking purple fluid and he is coughing it up. "Well… That's unfortunate." He joked before leaning back against the tree.
Yang.
Taiyang and Yang spar with Zwei watching. Tai gains the upper hand and gives his daughter a speech about how her Semblance is a temper tantrum that she has been using without considering how much it can exhaust her. He accuses her of always trying to brute force her way through problems, which puts her at a disadvantage.
He also opens up about Raven, revealing the traits he admired about her that he also sees in Yang. Tai mentions that her flaws were what broke up Team STRQ. The two spar again, this time Yang using the same balance trick on Tai that he had pulled on her, and he smiles in approval.
Team RNJR.
Ruby and Jaune are carrying Qrow on a stretcher with Ren leading the way and Nora guarding the rear of the party. They come to a fork in the road and have to choose between the easier path that leads to a destroyed village, or the mountainous route that goes to Mistral. They reluctantly decide to split up to increase their chances of finding aid for Qrow. Ren and Nora take the mountain path while Jaune and Ruby carry Qrow toward the reportedly destroyed town of Kuroyuri.
Oscar.
Oscar, now wearing a backpack, is walking along a dirt road away from the farm he was at. He stops and looks over his shoulder, then faces forward, adjusts the backpack, and resumes walking. "I'm sorry." He heard Ozpin's voice making him sigh.
"You know... The weirdest part is how it feels. Leaving home is crazy. Going to the city is crazy. Everything you've told me is completely crazy. But it doesn't feel crazy anymore. It feels like I'm doing the right thing."
"Well... I suppose that's good."
"No. It's scary." Oscar bows his head as he speaks, then lifts his head and looks nervously at the sky as thunder crackles in the distance. He quickens his pace down the road.
Later, at a train station in a storm, Oscar hurries to the covered platform, holding his hands over his head. When he gets there, he walks up to a large machine with a screen on it, which reads:
"Welcome! Scan Lien to begin."
He rests a Lien card against a scanner. The screen then displays an error message
ERROR Unable to complete the request. REASON GIVEN: Insufficient Funds (Code: 726)
"Stupid thing. I'm assuming whatever weird magic this is doesn't come with an infinite supply of money?"
"I'm afraid you'll have to solve this one on your own," Ozpin said as Oscar suddenly became more alert.
"Huh?"
"Be on your guard," Ozpin whispered as Oscar blinked.
"What do you mean?"
Suddenly, Hazel Rainart is walking toward Oscar. "Here."
Oscar turns his attention to Hazel, who continues to approach him. Hazel stops near the machine and raises his fist. In response, Oscar flinches away and widens his eyes, uttering a small noise. Hazel then slams his fist down on the machine, which beeps and makes the sound of dispensing paper, while Oscar straightens up and stares.
As Hazel moves his fist, the machine spits out a small ticket. While Hazel walks away, Oscar picks the ticket up and then looks at him. Hazel then stops and looks back at him. "Don't let such a small obstacle block your path." He resumes his way, while Oscar watches.
"That man. I felt... Who is he?" Oscar asks as a train whistle goes off.
"Someone from my past. Someone who should not be taken lightly."
On the other side of the train tracks, the silver-gray train arrives. Its engine has glowing cyan markings, each in the form of two parallel lines with a series of evenly-spaced diagonal lines connecting them.
Team RNJR.
Jaune and Ruby arrive in Kuroyuri, carrying Qrow. The village is desolate, and they comment about Ren's unwillingness to be there. Jaune and Ruby do not find medicine and return to where they left Qrow propped against a tree. The ominous cry of a Grimm in the distance causes them to react, though there is no current threat.
Ruby feels the burden of having brought so many people into this situation but Jaune refuses to accept her apology, telling her that she gave all of them courage by doing what she is doing despite so much loss.
Up with Ren and Nora, they happen upon a cave in the mountains after a Shion flag hits Ren in the face. Inside it are the scattered weapons from battles and dried-black blood, as well as the hoof-print of the Nuckelavee. Among the weapons, Ren finds one of his father's arrows. Through the other side of the cave, they can see movement in the trees below.
Land Of Darkness.
In the Land of Darkness, Cinder Fall trains under Salem's guidance in using her Maiden powers. Tyrian returns, fearful of displeasing Salem by not returning with Ruby Rose. He defends his failure by informing her that he poisoned Qrow. Salem tells him that he disappointed her, and Tyrian takes out his grief on a Beowolf, much to Cinder's horror.
Blake.
Sun Wukong wakes up on a couch in Ghira Belladonna's study. Blake Belladonna is there, greatly upset about his injury and extolling about this exact thing being why she left the rest of Team RWBY behind. She had learned to love them, now missing them every day and hoping they hate her for leaving, accepting the consequences.
Sun points out that she is not being selfless like she thinks, saying that shutting her caring friends out hurts more than any enemy-inflicted injury. He overexerts his arm and then winces in pain, which manages to get a laugh out of Blake. Kali Belladonna falls into the room, clearly having just been eavesdropping.
Ghira delivers the news learned from Ilia's Scroll that Adam is planning a repeat of the Fall of Beacon at Haven Academy after overthrowing Sienna Khan. Blake declares that the best course of action is to take the White Fang back into their leadership.
Yang.
Yang gets ready to leave on her motorcycle. Taiyang Xiao Long arrives to wish her well in person, and ask if she is going to see Raven Branwen, or go after her sister in Mistral.
RNJR.
Ren and Nora run I the town and see that Ruby and Jaune are alright before hearing a screech as a Grimm comes inside.
It's a horse-like creature with an equine main body and a skinless humanoid creature that was fused with it. Its forelegs are shaped like claws and it has hooved hind legs. The humanoid body has long curved horns on its head, a mouth that looks almost sewn shut, and two long elastic arms each with two clawed fingers. On the back of the human torso are bony spikes along its spine and a variety of weapons stuck in it.
All four teenagers have their weapons out, Ruby having fired at the Grimm repeatedly with Crescent Rose. They end up falling back near the dead cherry tree and regaining their footing. The Nuckelavee comes closer, lifts its torso upright, and lets out a roar that sends out a sound wave. All four flinch from it.
While the Grimm straightens its head, Jaune sheaths his sword and runs to retrieve Qrow from the tree. The creature lashes out its arm, which can stretch much further than its apparent arm size would suggest, and Jaune has to dive and roll to avoid being grabbed. He manages to get Qrow upright, but the Nuckelavee is galloping right toward them.
Ren uses his Semblance, pressing his palm to the ground, to hide Jaune and Qrow from its sight, creating a shimmering desaturation effect. The Nuckelavee stops and looks around, trying to find where its prey went. At Ren's urging, Jaune walks away with Qrow. Nora distracts the creature by firing at it from Magnhild.
The creature roars, the horse rears and it goes after Nora. Battle noises can be heard while Jaune hides Qrow. Jaune rejoins the fight to see Ruby shooting at the creature and getting slapped into the ground by one of its extended hands. Nora is grabbed next. The Nuckelavee lets them both go and turns around when Ren fires at it from its other side with StormFlower.
It uses both hands to grab both of Ren's and prevent more shots as Jaune calls out advice for them all to move in a circle around it. Easily distracted, the Nuckelavee lets go of Ren when Nora fires at him. The team follows Jaune's advice and they circle their enemy, those with firepower firing and Jaune coming in to slash at the foreleg with his sword.
The Nuckelavee uses its hind hooves to kick Jaune back, and he lands near Ruby. He sheathes his sword and releases the side blades out of the shield, wielding Crocea Mors as a single weapon. Ruby fires as Jaune runs in, and he lands a successful slash on one of the hindlegs. The horse portion of the beast roars while the torso uprights and its head cocks to look at Jaune a bit stunned
It extends both its arms and swings them around, creating a rotary attack that knocks aside Jaune, Ren, Nora, and Ruby in that order. When it pulls back its arms, the torso curls in on itself, and the spines on its back extend several inches further out. The Nuckelavee roars into the sky, causing Jaune and Ruby to cover their ears.
Ren runs up the cherry tree and fires from one of the heavier branches. He is immediately pushed against a building wall by one of the creature's hands. Nora calls to Ruby for an assist and running toward her, she jumps onto the flat side of the scythe on Crescent Rose. Ruby spins and uses the momentum and the recoil of a fired shot to send Nora outward in time for her to prevent the Nuckelavee's secondhand killing of Ren.
Nora ends up dangling by her grip on Magnhild, which is pressed into the wall of the same building, slightly higher up than Ren. The creature twitches and jerks, flinging Nora about by Magnhild until she crashes into the ground, the impact enough to reduce her Aura. Ren slashes the blades of StormFlower at the wrist of the hand holding him to the wall.
He follows by sinking them into the Grimm's flesh and firing repeatedly at the arm. Jaune comes up from behind the creature and slashes at its hindleg again. It roars but does not release Ren. Ren digs in with his blade again and uses the leverage to shove the hand off of him. He lands on his back but quickly bounces onto his feet and runs in slashing at the arms.
It knocks him back, but Ren does not relent, running in yet again despite Jaune's caution not to. The Nuckelavee grabs Ren, slaps him on the ground, causing him to lose his grip on StormFlower, and flings him to land next to Nora. Ren's Aura also depletes, and he collapses next to her. Nora pushes herself up, and after a moment so does Ren.
His intent is entirely on the creature but Nora tackles him before he can do more and drags him under the nearby building. Jaune uses Crocea Mors to block the Nuckelavee's front hooves from its forward gallop toward Ren and Nora. It pushes him down and follows by extending its arm out behind him to Ruby, attempting to snatch her.
She evades by jumping onto a roof and firing at it and has to jump out of the way again as it makes a second attempt to snatch her. Nora holds Ren back when he attempts to rejoin the fight. She slaps him to make him listen to her about recklessness and the two of them working together. He heeds her words and takes out the knife his father gave him as a child from where it hid in his boot.
They emerge from under the building together, Nora picking up Magnhild. Jaune and Ruby are soon by their side. Ruby initiates a plan for each to attack different parts of the Grimm. Nora jumps to a roof and Ruby shoots from other rooftops, baiting the Nuckelavee into using its arms to try to snatch her. She succeeds in maneuvering it so that she uses the tip of her scythe to pin one of its arms into the ground.
While the creature flinches and rages, Ren's knife boomerangs into its flank. It turns and attempts to snatch Jaune. However, using Jaune's shield, Ren launches from the roof to force the limb to the ground before it can touch him. Jaune runs in and uses his sword to stab through the arm and hold it to the ground.
From the roof, Nora free falls and spins to smash Magnhild into the horse's head and eliminate that portion of the creature. Restrained and half-destroyed, the Nuckelavee's roars of anguish continue but weaken. Ren walks up to it and takes his knife back, slashing more at the flesh in the motion. He stands before it and its humanoid head looks back at him.
It roars into Ren's face, but the roar is too weak and does not even cause Ren to flinch. Ren detaches the arm held in place by Jaune. He grabs the Nuckelavee's right horn to hold it off as he spins to detach the arm held in place by Ruby. He follows with a slash to the body of the flailing torso and finally finishes by decapitating it as the Grimm dies in a large pillar of black smoke.
Ruby runs into the alley where Qrow was left during the fight. She breathes a sigh of relief that he is still alive. "It's quiet. Good job, kiddo."
"Guys! I think I hear something!" Jaune yelled as they saw airships landing in the courtyard. A man in a brown flight suit with an air tank on his back carries Qrow on a green stretcher with Ruby walking alongside them, her hand on Qrow's shoulder. The two rescue ships take off with everyone on board. "How did you find us out here?"
"We were on patrol and saw the smoke. Nobody's been out here for years, thought something might be wrong."
Ruby crouched by Qrow and held his hand. "What if we don't make it in time?"
"Ruby," Jaune spoke as she looked up and saw the flourishing city before them.
"We made it, Uncle Qrow."
Nora and Ren sit on the edge of the open rescue airship, their legs dangling. Nora is looking out at the city, feeling happy. Ren is watching her and begins smiling.
City.
Ruby walks into a double bed accommodation room. It has barren furnishings: two beds, a large desk, and a nightstand. Qrow sleeps under the blankets of one of the beds. Ruby sets the collapsed Crescent Rose on the empty bed and walks over to Qrow, putting her hand on his head. She walks over and sits at the desk, picking up the pen and writing on the notepad.
Later, Bar.
Qrow fully healed sat at a bar holding Ozpin's cane.
"Excuse me?"
Qrow turns around to face Oscar. "You know, I don't think they allow kids in here, pipsqueak."
Oscar looks at his left arm as it moves. "Shut up, I'm getting there." Qrow gives him a questioning look at that. "Um, I'm supposed to tell you, I'd like my cane back?"
Qrow's eyes widen for a moment in surprise. "It's good to see you again, Oz."
Qrow withdraws Ozpin's Cane in its compact mode and tosses it to Oscar, who presses a button on the hilt, extending the baton. Oscar grasps the baton with the other hand, surprised, before looking at Qrow with a determined face.
To Be Continued.
A/N: Thanks for reading and let me know of any mistakes.
Beta: ANUBIS the god king.
Sorry for the long canon exposition, just wanted to show where we're at story wise.
Updates might be slow for the time being as no email/alerts make it harder to get ahold of my betas.
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Next to be updated will be A Fox in Middleton.
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Lone Wolf Out.🐺