King: Here we go again.

Knox: I was wondering when we were going to do this.

King: Right. It was a long time coming at this point. As always, hope you enjoy. I'll keep this one short so as to not spoil too much.

Inspiration: Destiny 2

/\

Time to get back to business.

The scene opened on a strange device resting on a bright planet, surrounded by a forcefield of some kind. The device in question was sleek and well designed, though its purpose was not clear. The camera showed the spinning blades overhead with someone standing below. The camera then moved to the ground level to show a woman dressed in a long, feathered coat. Her collar was ringed by these feathers over her shoulders. Her head was covered by a hood resembling the head of a hawk and a mask covering the lower half of her face. She looked up toward the device as her Ghost appeared and floated next to her. The shell of the device was disconnected and floated around the body like rays from the sun.

This made everyone uneasy. The last time they'd seen that kind of device had been the infamous tale of the Ace of Spades. They wondered what else there was to add, but also hoped it wasn't as emotional.

Oh you poor, poor things.

The ghost turned to the woman, "So… you think it'll work?"

Yang was shocked for a moment, "Wait! That's me?"

The woman turned her eyes away and toward a doorway to ramp on the outside, "Time to find out."

Blake raised an eyebrow, "And I'm the one in the coat."

Nora tapped her chin in thought, "What do you think they're talking about?"

The camera moved over Blake's shoulder to show a new person running up the ramp. It was hard to tell more than the general body shape through the pale, electric blue armor. Soon, she walked up to Blake and removed her helmet, revealing orange hair and her light blue eyes.

Nora laughed in triumph, "I'm back baby!"

Nora waved, "Hey Blake. Been a while."

"Time is immaterial once you set foot in the Infinite Forest." Yang made a sound of clearing her throat, forcing Blake to continue, "But it is good to see you again."

Nora looked up toward the device, "So, what's this thing?"

Blake sighed, looking back up to the device. "This is the Sundial. It is… my greatest failure. I attempted to recreate the effects of the Infinite Forest. That perhaps I could tap into that power and use it to actually walk through time."

"Wait! Seriously!" Nora looked back to Blake and then back to the device.

The viewers had similar reactions.

Oobleck was going off on the possibilities to observe the past directly. He then went on a philosophical rant about whether he should and what it would change.

"Quite. And it's why I called you here." Blake turned back to Nora, grabbing the titan's attention again, "You have a knack for doing the impossible." The elder warlock started listing off Nora's achievements, "You defeated Dominus Gaul, killed the Worm God Xol, broke the Vex Mind Panoptes in the Forest, and shattered the Crimson Keep's hold on the Moon. I'd say this is exactly what you're good at. So, I called you here to do what I never could."

The tense moment was welling up, making it nigh impossible to comment.

Yang floated between them for a moment, "This is a big moment. She's finally admitting she can't do something."

Blake batted the Ghost away and back over her shoulder, "Quiet you."

That gave them an out from the tension and let them speak again.

Yang couldn't help but laugh. "Oh wow. Did not expect Blake to be that guy."

Penny turned to the blonde brawler, "I am confused. I thought Blake was female."

Yang was still grinning, but her laughing was coming down, "It's an expression. In this case, it means someone who's arrogant and can't admit that they're wrong about anything."

Nora looked between them, still confused. "I don't get it. If we have the Forest under control now, why would you need this?"

"Because the Forest truly is infinite. A super computer running every possible outcome. Yet even with the power to run these simulations of the past and futures, they are just that. Simulations. We can break the Vex's calculations, but we can't use them to change the present. That's why I built this, in the hopes of fixing my greatest regret in life." Blake placed a hand on the Sundial and walked around it in a circle, hand sliding along the device. "I'd tried to step into the past, but I could never find a variation where I succeed. So many projections, all going mad. Some went so far as to kill themselves in grief or through bouts of insanity. I've experienced my own death so many times on this mission alone."

Cue another heavy pause in the crowd. It was hard to say anything after hearing something like that!

Nora watched as Blake rounded back to where she started, "And you want me to try?"

"Like I said, you seem to have a knack for doing the impossible."

"I appreciate the sentiment, but you still haven't told me what is the impossible thing."

Blake's hand on the Sundial curled before clenching into a fist. "To save my old fireteam partner. My friend."

Nora's eyes went wide. Blake was once the lead Warlock of the Vanguard. She'd worked with some of the most powerful figures in Vanguard history, but one had a clear connection on this planet.

The scene changed to show an old corridor, mechanical formations jutting out along the walls. The camera moved in a way that suggested it was from a person's point of view. Mechanical beings strewn across the ground in pieces. These are the Vex, a biomechanical race of creatures setting out to terraform everything they can to fit their own outlook for the perfect, mechanical existence void of all life but their own.

Gira growled, particularly angry about people or creatures with outlooks like that. He still hated that dalek thing they'd seen before for a similar reason. His wife had a similar reaction, but on a more subdued level.

The person walked along the corridor until they found a person, floating as though lying on a bed of some kind. Wrapped in the wires of the Vex at his feet, he was adorned in faded, cracking white armor. His helmet was broken, revealing half of his face set in a calm end. This was the greatest Titan to have ever lived. The man once called Saint-XIV, Jaune Arc.

Jaune looked up toward his counterpart, amazed at such a description. He hoped one day he could be so influential and powerful that he could be remembered as a hero like that.

The scene returned to the present as Nora lurched forward toward Blake, "Are you serious?! To bring back Saint-XIV is… But we…" Nora, in particular, was having a hard time articulating herself. Saint-XIV, Jaune Arc, was her greatest inspiration as a Titan. He was the reason she stood firm and charged into battle for others. The ideas that he exemplified were everything she tried to live. "Can we really do that?"

Blake looked toward her, sullen, "I don't know. But I'm willing to find out if you are."

The camera moved up to the spinning blades as they started to pick up speed. Electricity erupted from the structure and the screen went white. After a moment, things started to fade in again, showing a large, mechanical hallway. Nora stepped out onto the ground and started to walk through the hall. Her ghost appeared soon after, sounding a lot like Ruby, "This is incredible." Ruby's Ghost shell was a bright red and seemed to give off a rose-like projection with petals falling away before disappearing.

Yang snickered a bit, "Some things never change."

Ruby wasn't complaining about her Ghost form. She wasn't exactly as happy about the lack of cape, but that was neither here nor there.

Nora walked through the hallway, bringing a hand to her head, "I can't help but feel we missed something. Like there was this whole battle I can't remember."

Ruby floated around, scanning the area, "Must be an effect of traveling through time," she said distractedly. "This is insane! According to my internals, we're still on the planet Mercury, but before the Fall!"

This got Mercury's attention. "A planet named Mercury? Now I'm invested."

As they continued, static reached Nora's communications, "... -aint- … -Fall- … -cape- … !" Nora looked toward her Ghost before running down the rest of the hall. As she ran, Jaune's voice came through the radio more effectively as she got closer, "I repeat!This is Titan Saint-XIV! I am surrounded by Fallen forces! The settlers…" He paused, "The settlers are all gone. I don't know if there are any other survivors. Retreat! Escape while you can!"

Those who lived through it found stark reminders of Mountain Glenn.

Nora's fist clenched and she picked up speed, "Hold strong, Titan!"

"What? Who is this? What are you doing here?! Get out of here! There's too many of them!"

"Not happening!" Nora finally reached the end of the hall as it opened to an overlook platform.

Creatures of many arms and hellish visage were swarming the area. One of the strange creatures was a dark, metallic being resembling something of a giant purple eye. A massive tank resembling a six legged spider with a cannon on its back lurched forward on top of an outcropping, looking down toward the platform. Its cannon lowered and fired a heavy shell onto the ground, kicking up a massive amount of dirt. As the dirt fell, the viewers, and the Nora on screen, saw a bright purple bubble in the center of the platform. Within was a man in breaking armor, cracked and dirty from a grueling battle. Everything, however, looked far too similar to the body of Jaune Arc they'd seen in the flashback. He had fallen to a knee, arms out and straining to keep his shield up as best he can. Another shell rocked through his shield, shaking his body from the effort to keep it up.

Jaune strained to stand again as best he could, shouting to the Fallen, "What are you waiting for? Last words? Finish me, you cowards!"

"Come on me! Get in there and save the fearless leader!" Nora shouted, taking a dramatic position with a foot resting on the back of the chair in front of her.

Nora moved quickly, taking a heavy grenade launcher off her back and fired four shots into the group of Fallen grunts, killing most and scattering the rest. As Nora ran in, she looked toward the Servitor (the eye) and the tank. The grounded Fallen were easy enough for her to handle, but those things would be a problem. She needed to break one of them at least, so she turned her gaze to the tank to start. Between the two, it was the easiest to knock down with what she had to hand. She swapped her launcher for a shotgun and ran around the incoming fire. The viewers could see an odd glow around her body as she ran closer to the tank.

"Go NORA!" Nora shouted to the screen. Anyone else and anywhere else, that would have sounded positively insane. But here we are.

As Nora approached the tank she leapt forward, the glow gathering in a now open hand, forming into a short war hammer. A heavy uppercut of solid flame caused the leg of the tank to give out from under it and force the main unit to overheat from strain. The front of the tank extended and revealed some very important looking machinery. Nora took the opportunity to jump up onto the tank's side and fired a series of shotgun shells into machinery. Unfortunately, she couldn't knock it down that easily and it knocked her off and into a nearby wall. A heavy shell soon followed and tore the ground to pieces.

"NO!" Nora cried, about to go on a tirade.

Ren had to calm her down and point her back toward the screen.

Ruby floated out quickly and dragged the dead body to safety before imbuing her with the Travelers Light. So long as her Ghost lived, Nora could be brought back no matter what kind of punishment she took.

Nora's gasp worried her friends that she would need to breathe, "I forgot all about that!" But that then reminded her about the story of Jaune-6 and bummed her out a bit. At the very least, she had calmed down.

Nora shook off her death and looked back up toward the now limping tank. She cracked her neck and the light appeared around her again. Fire licked at her body and pooled in her hands. She made a motion as though taking hold of something. The fire burst out from her hands and connected between them. The flames pooled on one side and solidified into a massive maul of fire and sunlight.

Nora was practically drooling, wishing she could do that with lightning.

Nora jumped up and onto the platform with the tank. One heavy swing took out another leg. This time, however, when the machinery was forced open, she slammed the hammer against the ground and sent an explosive wave of solar energy, erupting into an inferno of destruction and tore the tank apart from the inside. The body of the tan exploded and pushed Nora back onto the main surface.

Her breathing was heavy and her muscles were screaming. She was immortal, but dying still hurt like hell. She looked back up toward the Servitor, getting ready for its attack. However, she found it hovering over the tank, draining excess energy from the broen husk. "Crap."

The Servitor is a powerful device used by the Fallen to gather, desperce, and fight using their preferred source of power, Ether. Mainly a support unit, the larger versions like this one are almost revered as gods. The Servitor's eye began to glow bright purple before unleashing a burst of energy toward Nora and knocked her back into the sectioned wall again. If not for her Ghost, an impact like that on the outcropping of the wall, as she had, would have broken her spine in two.

A fact that caused many in the audience to recoil from sympathy. Most of them, obviously. Cinder really didn't care, only here for ideas and because returning would just freeze her in time. Raven may have her issues, but she could recognize and sympathize with the pain and impact on screen. She just didn't show it.

Nora stood up again, firing more grenades into the automaton's eye. This angered the creature and made it fire another burst toward Nora and cracking the wall behind her from the impact, remaining solid only because it was the ground beneath them. Nora twitched and pulled herself out of the wall, refusing to let this beat her.

Nora stood triumphantly again, "Now show it who's boss!"

The Servitor was having none of it and pooled a great amount of Ether into its eye. This attack would make the others pale in comparison. Ruby didn't have enough time to fix all of Nora's injuries before that blast would go off. Nora sighed, knowing this would likely kill her again. "Oh, this is going to hurt."

The Servitor finished its charge and unleashed a powerful energy bolt toward Nora, flying just fast enough to keep her off guard. The ground burst and erupted around her as dust and chunks of rock flew into the air.

Nora growled, "No! I know that Ghost of yours can get you back up! Stand up and finish that thing!"

The dust started to fall around Nora, but she felt no pain. Infact, she felt rejuvenated, like the Light was welling up inside her more than it ever had before. She couldn't help but look around, finding herself inside a purple bubble shield. "What? When did…?"

"Why are you still here?" The camera moved from Nora to show Jaune had picked up and moved his shield to block the attack. Jaune's body was shaking from the impact and keeping the bubble in place around them. "The settlers are all gone. Everyone is dead. The Vanguard is meant to protect the people, but there's no one left!" Another burst rocked his shield, creating a series of small orbs of Light power.

Nora didn't even realize she was absorbing the Light, eyes fixed on Jaune. This was the mighty Saint-XIV, but he sounded… broken. Then she remembered when and where she was. This was the Dark Age, the fall of humanity and their greatest loss in the galaxy. It was this event that ended the Golden Age and killed most of the civilian population. This was the worst era for humanity to have ever found itself in. It was no wonder that Jaune sounded the way he did.

Oscar gripped his chair as memories of past lives flooded into his mind. Ancient peoples living their lives until the Grimm would flood over them and bring what little they had to an abrupt and swift end.

Jaune shook as another blast hit his shield. He groaned from strain and moved his arms a bit further forward rather than to either side, focusing his power toward the Servitor. "Listen, you are clearly powerful, but this isn't worth you dying for. I can hold the shield for a bit longer. Get out of here and get back to Earth. With the Fallen's attacks, they'll need someone like you back at home."

Nora looked up toward the man, her eyes going wide at what he was saying. Pain welled up in her heart and she grit her teeth. This was Saint-XIV, her inspiration, telling her to save herself. As Ruby finished healing Nora, the Titan stood up again. "No."

Jaune glanced back toward her, his iconic helmet cracked over the left side of his face. "I said get out of here! It isn't worth it if we both die! Get out of here and warn them about the Fallen's attack!"

"I refuse!" Nora clenched her fist as the Light surrounded her again. This time, instead of the orange flame of the sun, blue sparks flew off her body. "I'm not going to let anyone else die if I can help it! As long as I can breathe, I'll never give up on anyone! I'm not going to die here, and neither are you!" Nora ran out of the shield as the electricity sparked at greater volumes around her. As the Servitor tracked her and charged another blast, Nora leapt off the ground with the power surrounding her and fist reared back. She seemed to fly toward the Servitor for a big punch. On impact, the camera moved away from the scene, showing the planet's surface from a distance. Suddenly, a massive bolt of lightning ripped the sky apart.

If Nora threatened to drool at how cool the maul was, she was unrepentantly drooling at the beautiful display of lightning-fueled power on display this time.

Everyone else was just concerned to ever see their Nora show that kind of power. She had enough of that as it is.

The camera returned to Nora as she flew up into the sky like a bullet. The combined power of her attack and the stored Ether sent her upward from the impact. She glanced down toward the ground and sighed. From this height, she would die again and she'd feel it in her bones for the rest of the month. She sighed and chose to accept this coming death, knowing it would not be her final death. She just repositioned herself so that, when she hit the ground, it would be across her back to minimize the impact force across her body. It would still kill her and likely pop every organ in her body from sheer impact force, but it was better than nothing. She closed her eyes behind her helmet, waiting to hit the ground.

"I don't know how I feel about someone being so callus with the idea of death." Salem sighed. Being an interdimensional variation, she wasn't the immortal witch from a world long passed. Instead, she was just a normal human, just with some less than human features in her white skin and black veins. As a mother of eight with a famous huntsman for a husband, she was naturally afraid of death. Both for herself and for her family.

As Nora accepted what was to come, she found an odd weight adding to her own, pushing her up just slightly. She opened her eyes and found herself in the arms of the Saint as they fell to the ground. Jaune hit the side of an inclined wall and slid down the surface to the ground. At the last moment, he jumped off the rocks and landed against the ground again, running and decelerating to a walk to further decrease force over time.

Port nodded, "An excellent landing strategy, but heavy on impact force. Without Aura, that would no doubt hurt like nothing else."

Jaune looked down to a surprised, and honestly star stuck, Nora. "A Titan should never let her back hit the ground." He returned her to her feet and grunted as his legs finally gave out. After hours of holding his shield against the Fallen and the, not exactly smooth, landing, he needed to stop standing. True to his word, however, he fell to a sitting position, keeping himself propped up with his arms as he leaned backward.

Nora chuckled, "I like that. Never let your back hit the ground!"

Nora stood as her Ghost attended to her injuries. "See? We're both still alive."

Jaune took heavy breaths as he tried to stop his ears from ringing and his muscles from screaming. "We are…" He stood as best he could and looked out over the planet. "But we are alone. Was my one life worth everyone elses?"

Nora shook her head, "You can't think like that. Every life is priceless. Every death is painful." Nora absentmindedly brought her hand to a handcannon on her side. A black and white cannon with a spade set in on the grip and another just in front of the cylinder.

This got everyone to seize up again. It was hard not to recognize the Ace of Spades after what they saw.

Nora continued, "But we need to keep moving forward. For their sakes if not our own. I arrived in time to get your message. Everyone else was already gone. I couldn't save them. But you were still alive. I could save you." She tried to sound collected, almost like a hero. Truth be told, she was speaking in a way she always imagined Saint-XIV would have.

Yang snickered a bit at that one. But it didn't last. Yeah, Nora had this star struck style and tried to emulate her hero, but said hero was also a broken man after a painful experience.

Ruby looked toward Nora for a moment before floating over to Jaune. "Saint. Can I call you Saint? Big fan. We have something for you." She released a shotgun from her storage and 'handed' it to Jaune.

Jaune took the weapon, having lost his own during the first attacks. It was sleek, white and gold with his symbol [XIV] etched into the side.

Ruby's turn to drool. "That thing is so well designed. It's obviously powerful, but with a controlled recoil!"

Jaune looked at Nora and Ruby, nodding slightly. "A fine weapon, but I question if one weapon will be enough. I can tell by your stance, you haven't been home in a while. Humans huddled against walls, never knowing if that day would be their last. We live with painful reminders that everyone we know could die. We are immortal through our Ghosts, but they are not."

Ruby turned to her Guardian, waiting for her nod. With it, the Ghost moved over to Jaune again, "This is going to break a bunch of rules, but I think you deserve to know." Ruby's eye started to glow and projected a hologram of a massive city around Jaune. "This is the Last City. Humanity survives into the future. They sleep on beds, warm and happy as the Vanguard protects them. They go about their days with smiles. All because of people like you, Saint."

Jaune looked at the city, amazed but skeptical. After everything he'd just seen, it was hard to imagine a world so safe and secure. "You have given me much to think about." With that last line, the screen went white.

Ruby looked up toward the screen, "Is it over?"

Weiss shrugged, "It doesn't feel over. If it was, the screen would be black, right?"

The screen faded back in and showed Nora running across a dark ground of stone. She had reappeared on Mercury after a series of trials and time travel. This was a time just before her first revival, only months before Ruby found her in the outskirts of Vostok. Nora jumped over a large rock formation and reared a fist back before slamming down onto a Vex Goblin. Kicking off, she ran toward another, only for its head to shatter apart from a shotgun blast. Nora slowed to find Jaune kicking the robotic creature to the side.

Jaune turned to Nora, his armor showing clear ware and tear, "Now this is a surprise." He sounded more jovial, almost happy again. "It has been far too long, my friend!"

Nora chuckled a bit to herself. Thanks to the Sundial, it was only a few hours, but to him it was decades. "Hey Saint."

Jaune walked to her and slammed his hand against the back of her shoulder, a gesture that could knock lesser Guardians to the ground from force. "It is great to see you again!"

"You seem better."

"I've had plenty of time. Not only to think, but to act. You were right. As long as we stand, we need to save as many people as we can. I have fought many battles, but I have asked many more questions to myself. On the off hand, I still have a question for you." Before he could ask, a large Vex hand came crashing down over them.

"Come on!" Yang really found these interruptions really annoying.

Nora huffed, having a similar reaction.

Jaune dipped away and looked up toward the large Vex Hobgoblin looking down toward him. Jaune just laughed, though. "Agioktis, the Martyr Mind. A Vex built specifically to destroy me. I heard about their little project, but didn't think they'd ever actually finish it." Jaune laughed, seemingly unfazed by the giant killer robot in front of him. "Should I feel flattered?"

Jaune shook his head, "I wouldn't."

Yang disagreed, "Think about it, though. You're so awesome people need to focus on just trying to take you down. Pretty flattering in a way."

Agioktis raised a hand and Jaune was surrounded by an odd distortion effect before disappearing. The Vex mastered portal and teleportation technology, sending him to a pillar nearby. Once in place he was surrounded again by a bright hologram. Said hologram was a hard light structure meant to hold him down and drain his Light. Jaune tried to overpower the effect, but found it effectively impossible. "Damn it! I can't move!"

Agioktis turned to Nora, its single eye/faceplate glowing a bright red. Nora didn't take the time to wait and ran around the creature, firing the Ace of Spades into the large Vex, focusing on the joint regions in the hopes to exploit a weakness. However, Agioktis was built to fight off the infamous Saint-XIV if it needed to. If Nora was going to beat this thing, she'd need to get creative. Unfortunately, she was going to have company. More, normal sized, Vex swarmed from nearby, ensuring Nora would have her hands full. The younger Titan didn't have the luxury of planning so she had to run and gun, literally.

She ducked under a melee attack from a shielded Minotaur and kicked off the ground to slam her fist into a set of Goblins. After a roll to keep her momentum, she fired a series of shotgun shells into the grunts as she made her way toward Agioktis. The larger Vex leveled its gun toward her, charging the energy bolt within. Once it fired, Nora leapt over it and used the impact force to propel herself over the rest of the grunts toward the Martyr Mind. Using the force and her own Light abilities, her body surrounded by lightning and she flew down to slam her fist into its face. It was weaker than what she showed before, but it was enough to knock the Mind off balance.

Nora cheered again, shouting about showing that 'big robot jerk' who's boss.

One would imagine Penny would have issues with what was happening and being said. But she really wasn't. For one thing, the Vex on screen were non-humanoid, giving off an almost demon/Grimm like vibe. For another, they didn't seem to be entirely robotic. Whatever that weird, electrified liquid was, it seemed almost organic. Like turbocharged milk or something. It just made her ask more questions than anything.

Nora fell to the ground again and ran between the Mind's legs, peppering its legs and back with her shotgun. As the Mind lurched forward, falling to a knee, Nora jumped onto its head and started to beat it down with her fists. The Martyr Mind, having had enough of this girl, used its ability to trap her in the light pillar instead.

Nora swung her arms in fury, "No! No! Come on! Break out of it!"

Pyrrha thought for a moment, "Hold on. If the hologram is holding Nora now, does that mean…?"

"AGIOKTIS!" Jaune was freed from the light, purple energy flowing around him. As the Mind turned to face its new opponent, Jaune jumped into the air and created his Void shield. He bashed the Mind with the edge of his shield, flying past the Mind and landing in front of Nora. He turned with a hand still reaching out toward the Mind. As Agioktis turned, the viewers could see the glowing shield stuck between the Vex's body plates.

Jaune thought for a moment and played back events they'd seen in his mind. "Hold on. Isn't the effect a bubble shield?"

Jaune smirked behind his helmet and brought both hands together before snapping them both to the side. The shield lodged inside the Vex expanded in an instant and tore the Martyr Mind apart from within. Agiokktis's limbs went flying in separate directions and its torso crushed into each limb like paper. Its head fell to the ground and its faceplate cracked in half.

Nora, without the will of the Martyr Mind to hold her, fell back to her feet and looked on in amazement. She had done damage, sure, but that was insane. She'd never imagined using the Ward of Dawn like a bomb. This was the ingenuity of a seasoned veteran like Saint-XIV.

This accomplished three major things in the audience. The students thought over their own abilities and the skills of the huntsmen around them. They had never seen any of them actually exert themselves. Sure, team RWBY had seen Oobleck fight on the train. They'd seen Goodwitch's powers in action first hand. The breech gave them a look at their teacher's abilities. But they'd never seen any of their teachers seem tired in battle. They never seemed out of control or struggling against their opponents. It really put their own abilities into perspective. They were good, they all knew that (most of them, anyway). But the huntsmen they see everyday were the best. Even if it was proxy, it was humbling to think about.

Jaune laughed in triumph. "They sent everything to try to take me down! Yet I'm still standing!" With another, laugh, he slapped Nora's shoulder again, "Thanks to you!"

Nora smiled behind her own helmet. "I'm just glad it all worked out. Now we can get out of here and head back home."

A pulse of energy washed over them as more, smaller Vex walked through portals to join the fight.

Jaune nodded with a small chuckle. "Go on ahead. Someone should stay behind to keep these bots in check." Before Nora could argue, he continued, "Like I said, they sent everything to kill me and they failed. I've waited a century on this planet. What's a few more years?"

Ozpin, having many memories of many centuries could see the logic. A few years seem like nothing compared to everything he and his past lives had been through. He could also recognize a similar look across the boy's face, but it was clear it was more distant. Almost as if he was hearing it from someone else.

With that, everything went white again. This time, when things faded back in, Nora was running across the surface of present day Mercury. She gunned down the Vex around a massive triangular portal. She slowed as the last of the alien bots fell to pieces on the ground. She looked up toward the portal, half tempted to walk through herself.

Suddenly, a Vex Goblin flew out from the portal, missing the lower half of its body. As it sparked, a shadow appeared through the portal, dragging the lower half of a Vex against the ground. His armor showed signs of going through hell, breaking in some places. The faceplate of his helmet had shattered open to reveal his face, showing Jaune was an Exo with purple light effects behind his plating, gold paint on the top of his head and ornamenting, and bright blue mechanical eyes.

Viewers were starting to see a pattern with Jaune in these realities, constantly ending up as this robic figure. Granted, each had been different. The first was a Warlock, Jaune-6 was a Hunter, and this version was a Titan.

Nora looked up toward the man before her. She'd met him twice now, this champion of humanity and a legend made flesh (so to speak). She'd seen the man broken by grief and pain. She'd seen him captured by a beast designed for his death. But now? Now she saw the legend. The man called Saint-XIV. The light effect from behind didn't help make him seem less superhuman.

Jaune saw her standing there and grinned. "My friend! It is excellent to see you again." He tossed the Vex legs to the side and started to walk closer to the stairway. As he did, a Minotaur stormed through the gate to try to finish Jaune off while his guard was down. Jaune just sighed and turned to the incoming robot. Jaune leapt up to meet the bot and grab it on either side of its head before slamming his head into the robot. A series of headbutts followed, breaking more and more pieces off of the creature's body. As it twitched from the onslaught, Jaune dropped what was left and turned around like nothing happened.

Coco stifled a laugh as best she could. "Damn. I knew he was thickheaded, but that's nuts."

Jaune turned to her, confused, but felt that would prove whatever point she was trying to make.

Jaune met Nora at the bottom of the stairs. "You still owe me an answer from a few years ago. I deserve to know the name of the woman that seems to show up right when I needed it most."

Nora, after grounding herself again, nodded. "I'm Nora Valkyrie."

"They call me Saint-XIV. You," he reached his hand toward her, "may call me Jaune."

Nora met her hand to his and shook. It was a great moment for her, really meeting the man she'd looked up to for so long.

Nora giggled in her own Nora way, "Yeah! I saved the fearless leader!"

Jaune didn't seem too impressed anymore, looking from her hand and back toward her.

This made Nora a little nervous. "Wait, what's going on?"

Jaune scoffed, "What are you, a Warlock?! Try again like you mean it!"

Nora jumped a bit, but soon found her footing again. She practically beamed with energy as she repositioned her hand. Now, it was as they were going to arm wrestle in the air. Bright blue sparks and a purple vortex surrounded their hands as they squeezed down on one another's hand. This was a Titan's handshake.

"Oh!" Nora smiled, "I get it now. Much better!"

"Nice to see you finally have someone willing to get their hands crushed." Blake was walking up to meet the two.

Jaune laughed, "Osiris! Blake! How long has it been?"

"Too long, Jaune. But what's important is that you're back now. We can finally… what are you doing?"

Jaune had his arms open toward her, "Come on! Bring it in!"

Blake felt a chill run up her spine. "What? No. I'm not going to…"

"Not happening! I've been away for over a hundred years! I said, bring it in!" Jaune jumped to Blake and picked her up in a crushing hug.

Blake writhed in his grip. She wasn't a Titan, so her body didn't have the same power within. "Let me go! I can feel my spine being crushed!"

It was on this that the world faded to an end. That day, on the closest planet to the Sun, a legend stood amongst the living once more.

Yang started laughing, "Oh man! That's just funny. Think I can get someone to squirm like that?"

Nora jumped up again, "I know I can!"

"Nora, no!" Ren had to try to calm her down again before she hurt someone. Worst part was, because it wasn't an outright attack, she still could according to the theater's rules.

It took some wrangling from everyone involved, but things calmed down eventually.