Ruby
Ruby sits at the fire, shocked from what she has just learned about the Four Knights of Grimm...knowing that these monsters are out there and they will take everything from them if they do not stop them. Everyone else is also in awe, after Qrow explained the Fall Maidens, the Tale of the Two Brothers, the Silver Eyed Warriors...everything that has happened.
But Ruby's attention now turns to the mysterious Oscar Pine. He has not said a word since he told them that Ozpin is connected to him somehow. Ruby may have been informed ahead of time, but she is still curious of how the whole thing works. Oscar sits there, looking at the fire with his hazel eyes. He never asked to be put in this situation, to be this person with so much responsibility. "Oscar?" Ruby gently asks, his head turns after she speaks and he looks at her, seeing the silver eyes. "What was it like? When you and Ozpin became linked, was it instant?" She asks him. Oscar looks back at his gloved hands and he sighs, sometimes thinking that his hands do not belong to him.
Like he is seeing Ozpin's hands instead from the crossed memories in his head.
"I don't know...I started waking up in my sleep, hearing a voice calling to me. Then he started speaking to me outside of my sleep." Oscar explains to her, Ruby does not say it but her thoughts lead to the nightmares she has had in the past about Pyrrha and what she saw on Beacon Tower. "He only said that now his soul and my soul are combined, he wasn't very clear about the rest. What I said to you was merely his memories with mine, even I don't really understand all of them." Oscar says, and it is ironic because he even is starting to speak like Ozpin now.
"How can I believe you?" Ruby asks him, still a little baffled by it all. Clearly she wants some more proof that he is telling the truth, something more personal than everything else Ozpin has done to prove it to her.
"But I already did..." Oscar stammers with confusion, so Ruby clarifies.
"Ozpin was the headmaster of Beacon Academy – if your memories are merged, then see if you can remember something I did back at school." Ruby suggests curiously, tilting her round head as she looks at the young man. He ponders and ponders, when he begins to hear Ozpin's voice in the back of his mind.
Acting as a guide for him.
"Ask her this simple question, Oscar: How did you kill the Nevermore in the Emerald Forest during your Initiation?" Ozpin advises, Oscar looks to the side a little whilst Ruby quizzes him, since he would never know that himself. But with the combined memories of Ozpin and him, he does know the answer. But it is showing that that Ozpin is really in there.
"What?" Oscar questions with widened eyes in the back of his mind, Ruby only sees his eyes widen slightly.
"Trust me." Ozpin requests, but Oscar's question was more from awe of the fact that someone his age managed to take down a Nevermore by herself.
Well she didn't, but still.
So Oscar sighs, looking at her as he asks the question.
"How did you kill the Nevermore in the Emerald Forest during your Initiation?" Oscar asks her, and the question clearly works like a charm.
"Huh?" Ruby questions, her head tilting like a confused puppy. But Ruby searches through her memories to remember how she killed in, and then it is like she saw it again. But before she can answer.
"You ran up the cliff with Weiss' help, hooking its neck and you beheaded it." Oscar says, and the expression on her face shows that she really does seem to believe him now, because how could he have known that if he was never there?
Oscar now turns to Yang and she looks at him with her lilac coloured irises. "You have been searching for your mother, Raven Branwen, for answers." Oscar says to her. Yang looks at him, then her big eyes look down at the floor, thinking about Raven.
He then looks at Weiss. "You are afraid of failing your family name, and you would do anything to make sure that it does not fall apart." Oscar says, remembering memories that do not even belong to him. Weiss looks at him with surprised eyes and then she looks at Neptune who has also heard this information. She too is amazed by this.
And then Oscar looks at Blake, the one who still feels alienated by Yang. "And you would fight so hard for the cause you believe in, not what it has become." Oscar says, almost like the talk that Blake and Ozpin had nearly a year ago at this point. Blake's feline ears bend downwards with her eyes as they look at the floor.
Oscar looks down at his hands, staring at the many calluses he has collected as a Farm Hand. "I don't know what I am...why I am..." Oscar mutters as he sighs, since he is also in the dark just as much as everyone else."I don't know why Ozpin has connected himself with me...or how...but I promise that I will do what has to be done to help you stop Salem." Oscar says to them all, and they all can admire the bravery that this young man has.
"Salem..." Yang repeats in a fearful voice, a tone well deserved of that name, the name of a weapon that could kill millions. "What do we know about her?" Yang asks her Uncle. Qrow grumbles a little in his gravelly voice, swivelling one of the silver rings slid onto his right index finger.
"Not much." He says, leaning forward and clasping his hands together.
"You said once that it didn't matter...what about now?" Ruby asks him.
"Well...since there are things that I guess even old Oz didn't know...then maybe it is important. The few things we do know is that she is some sort of humanoid Grimm, some think that she is the leader of them, or the first Grimm ever created. No one is really certain, but what we do know is that she wants the four Relics. For what purpose, is uncertain." Qrow explains to them all. Ruby can picture the many different variations of what she could look like, seeing a Grimm Reaper at one point and literally a human with white skin and red eyes. Her second picture is closer to the truth, but the personality of their enemy is not far from that of the Grimm Reaper. Weiss rolls a dust crystal through her fingers, her eyes turning over to the Uncle of Ruby and Yang.
"Can we kill her?" She asks, clenching her hand around the dust crystal.
"Again...no one has ever challenged her because no one has ever met her and survived." Qrow says to Weiss. "But...at the moment, the case is still the same. We need to protect Haven Academy at all costs. It is the most important mission, Cinder is going to make another play again, soon." Qrow says. "I think we should be ready for them before we have a repeat of Beacon. We can't lose another School. I only just managed to get Ozpin's cane with the Relic in it and get Ruby out of there after..." He stops, his eyes looking over at Jaune who is just looking at the fire. They all look at Jaune, concerned for him.
"Jaune?" Sun says to him, putting his hand on his shoulder. Jaune closes his eyes.
"What's the point anymore?" He mumbles. Qrow stares right at him, his eyes narrowing and he sighs.
"You not backing out on us, are you kid?" Qrow asks him. Team RWBY all look at him, and Ruby looks bewildered by this change in personality in him. But they all know what it is. Ren and Nora look at him, and Nora puts her hand on his to make him feel better, but it does not seem to help very much.
"This was hard enough with the Grimm...now we have to worry about Four Unstoppable Knights? A Goddess? Mercenaries..." He lists, looking straight at Qrow. Qrow leans back into his chair as he says that, crossing one leg over the other. "Come on, guys...we can't win this...we're outmatched, outgunned, outsmarted..." He lists again, hovering his finger above each of his other digits as he lists them all, and his statements are not wrong.
They have so many enemies now.
"We can't just give up, Jaune. We have to try." Neptune states.
"Yeah, we didn't come this far just to give in." Weiss says in agreement. Jaune looks at her and then at the others, letting out a big sigh.
"Jaune..." Kassius says, looking at him. Jaune looks back at the new member of their group who he has never met, but he has learned so much about already. "I know it feels hopeless...losing someone you love. But my girlfriend once told me something very important that has kept me going." Kassius affirms with the astute tone of a Veteran Huntsman, despite the fact that he is only a couple months older than them.
Jaune looks at him, listening for what Vetra told him. "In the darkest of times, whenever you feel alone, whenever it all seems like hope is lost...remember...it's not over...not yet." He recites to Jaune, something that would mean a lot to the blonde haired boy considering what he lost on that tower.
Jaune looks back at the flames, exhaling. "Alright..." He says with a sigh, it does not heal the wound that he has been dealt, but it does sooth it. Killing the bacteria of negative thoughts that pulsated through his mind like that.
"Your fear is understandable." Kassius says.
"Trust me, I know."
Jaune then feels the sudden urge to change the subject to something else, in view of the fact that talking about his dead crush would be a hell of a soul degenerating conversation to have with friends. "So what's the next step?" He asks, snapping back to the Jaune Arc that they all know so well, thanks to Kassius' little push he gave him to get him back onto the saddle.
"We need to find out how secure the Relic is here. Make sure that the Vault it is being held in has not been compromised. I'm hoping Ol' Lionheart has made sure that the Vault is constantly secured." Qrow says to them all, taking out his flask filled with whiskey. He pops the cap off, his lips caressing around it as he takes a swig, then tightening the cap back onto it. "Then we can make a plan to defend it. This place has Legendary Warriors, it's not like Beacon. Imagine a thousand Pyrrha's but are actually more skilled." Qrow suggests. Ruby giggles a little.
"Surely this place doesn't need us if that's the case." Ruby says, bringing a happier side to remember Pyrrha by, her skill and how she meant business when she fought. Even Jaune smiles a little when she says that, the entire room laughs a little at it, at least that is a victory in itself. They won't be cursed to always remember Pyrrha as the person they loved, failed and lost from the efforts from the forces of evil at Beacon. At least they can still remember her by the fond memories.
"Well, at least we are all back together. I think that is at least a good reason to drink." He says, drinking more whiskey from his flask. They all sit there, around the fireplace, but Blake is still hurt from what happened. Yang is looking at her, she still feels hurt from when Blake left her – but after what Sun had told her about what happened, her thoughts have changed drastically. And she can see the agony in her feline amber eyes, the anguish on her expression, that urge to get revenge.
Because she has seen it on herself whenever she looked in the mirror, when thinking about Adam Taurus and Cinder Fall after everything that happened at Beacon Academy. "So what's the first order of business?" Qrow asks.
Weiss looks at him, a thought travelling into her head. "My sister." Weiss suggests, getting all their attentions drawn to the Former Heiress. Qrow nearly coughs out an entire lung when he inhales some of the whiskey, he covers his mouth with his wrist when Weiss brings her up.
His eyes widen. "Winter?" He asks in a grating, raspy voice from breathing in Whiskey. He coughs a couple of times as well to breathe, and everyone thinks back to the last time those two were in close proximity with each other.
"I know, you two haven't always seen eye-to-eye..." Weiss says, using quotations around the phrase.
"That's one hell of an understatement." Qrow comments, pointing right at the Ice Queen.
"But...I heard Ironwood speaking to my father when I left. He said that she knows something, about enemy movements here in Mistral. And from the short time I have been here...it seems to be correct. With this: Acolytes of Lien bunch wandering, now these Knights and Salem...things are going down here." Weiss explains to him. "If we find her, then she could help us." She points out. Blake looks at them, trying to help as best as she can despite what she lost back on Menagerie.
And her information will come in handy as well, after the attack they launched on that White Fang Facility back on Menagerie.
A battle that seemed worthless now, after what happened to Kuo Kuana.
"Adam is here as well." Blake reveals to them all. Qrow pauses mid sip of his flask, then his eyes turn to Yang as he sees her anger form at the sound of his name coming to her ear. Weiss and Yang both look at her, Yang's metal hand twitching at the very mention of his name.
"Adam?" Yang snarls in resentment, her pearly white teeth gritted and her eyes glow red suddenly from her anger filling up in her body. Her fists clench tight. Blake almost looks afraid of her, but Kassius gently touches Yang's arm with his hand.
"Hey...firefly calm down. He's not here right now." He gently reassures. She looks at him and she breathes in and out, closing her eyes. When she opens them, they return to their adorable lilac state, and she smiles toothlessly at him, the fiery rage extinguishing inside of her and her hair recedes to glow.
"Sorry, Blake..." She apologises with a kind smile, Sun looks at her and he nods softly, hoping that they can become friends once more.
"It's okay." Blake says back, her large cat-like amber eyes compassionately looking at Yang.
"How do you know that he is here?" Scarlet asks her, sat on the arm of one of the red sofas, his arm resting on his knee. He scratches his cheek with is other hand to get the itch he felt. Sage stood against the wall behind him with his huge sword leant against the rendered wall as well, as tall as Ruby.
"Because we found a file that said that he would be here, and we heard Adam talking to that Lieutenant you guys faced on the train." Sun answers for her, since he was there too. The status of the White Fang Lieutenant is still uncertain, whether or not Fury had killed him or not. He was still in the Kuo Kuanan Prison when the Grimm made their attack, he could have escaped though, he managed to survive and escape the Train Crash in Vale after all. It would not be crazy to assume he escaped that.
"The Big Guy?" Weiss asks with widened eyes, remembering when she fought him, mostly remembering the roar of his Chainsword that he used against her, and the fact he almost killed her is quite terrifying as well.
"He's in way over his head." Neptune says, looking at them all.
"He wouldn't know about the Knights, do you think he could change sides?" Oscar suggests, but he doesn't know Adam Taurus as well as they do. Blake sighs, pressing her fingers to her forehead.
"I don't know...he will support his cause no matter what the cost." Blake points out, clearly knowing the man better than any of them do.
"Even if there is a world ending group of Grimm?" Sage asks, referencing the Knights of Grimm.
"Maybe...maybe he could change. I don't know though, Humanity has not treated him well." Blake states. "He lost his family when he was very young and Sienna Khan took him in, pretty much raised him. When he and I were...together...he was better, he knew what he was doing. But the closer we got to a full Revolution, it consumed him." Blake explains.
Yang clearly doesn't like hearing this conversation but she stays by Kassius and Ruby. "But I don't know..." Blake sighs heavily after concluding her explanation of Adam.
"We can't worry about that right now." Qrow reminds, leaning back into the conversation with the new group that has been formed. The remains of the teams from Beacon. Qrow looks at Blake. "I'm sorry, Blake. I truly am for what happened to your parents. If you ever need to talk, you know where to find us. To find me." He reassures, which makes her smile again. "Get some rest, you too, Sun. We can look for Winter in the morning." Qrow says to them all, standing up and stretching out his back. Now he no longer has the bandage round his torso from the wound he suffered from Tyrian.
Qrow turns and he leaves them to rest. Team S.S.S.N and J.N.R leave the fireplace meeting and Oscar finds his room that he has rented. Carrying the conscience of Ozpin inside of that head of his. Kassius is the last to leave, patting Yang's shoulder and leaving them to find his room to rest as Qrow advised them to. Leaving only Team R.W.B.Y left at the fireplace. The four of them all sit around the fire, looking at each other.
This is the first piece of time that they have had together, alone.
Ruby looks at them all, and a solemn silence fills the room. Only the crackles from the dancing flames that light the room. "I never thought I would ever see you guys again..." Ruby says to the three of them. Their eyes all look up at the silver eyed girl, and only now do they all understand how important Ruby has become after everything that Qrow has told them.
"I missed you." Blake says to her. "All of you." She continues, turning to them all. Yang and Weiss look at Blake and they smile gently.
"Blake..." Weiss says, reaching out to her to be kind to her.
Blake recoils slightly. "Please...I'm trying not to...think about it." Blake conveys to her, her hand holding her forearm, similar to how Weiss does when around her father. Their reunion is not as happy and beautiful as they hoped, it is a dark room with only a fire in the room to light it, filled with the silence of the night.
Yang looks at her Cybernetic Arm, the firelight reflecting off the metal components, she flexes the fingers around as she looks at it. Yang is the one that speaks up first, she looks over at her with saddened, and somewhat guilt filled eyes. "I – uh – I'm sorry, Blake." Yang softly says, in which Blake raises her eyebrow.
"Sorry? For what?" Blake asks her.
"Not just for what happened...but because I wasn't there for you when you were at the door...I was selfish and I'm sorry." She apologises, clearly thinking on what Sun had told her. He used some harsh words, but with Yang sometimes that is the easiest way to get through to her, to get her to listen up.
"No, I should be the one that is sorry. I left you...left all of you..." Blake sighs.
"To find your family." Ruby states, understanding her reasons as always, but she sighs.
"Not like it mattered in the end." She says.
"You still have the memories of them, they were there for you, weren't they?" Weiss asks her with her hands on her lap. Blake lifts her head to look at Weiss with her large eyes.
"Yes..." Blake sadly agrees, her eyes glassy with tears.
"Then it was worth it – trust me, I wish my father and mother was like that." She sighs, thinking of the monster her father is and the sad shell that her mother has become.
"You have every reason to be mad at me, Yang...and I deserve it." Blake sadly says.
"No...I was selfish. I didn't bother thinking about what you wanted, what you were going through." Yang sighs, and looks at her cybernetic hand. "I lost a part of me but got a replacement...but you can never replace what you lost. I am so sorry, Blake." She says, and Blake looks down at the floor sadly.
"Thank you." She sniffles.
They all sit there, and can feel the bond between the two rebuilding slowly over time.
Blake looks at Yang's black and yellow cybernetic arm and she gasps in amazement, only catching on right now to the fact she has a replacement arm. "Who made that for you?" She asks her, since the last time that Blake ever saw Yang, she was without an arm. And she blamed herself for what happened because of what Adam did.
Yang looks at her with a smile, then she looks at the metal arm yet again, opening and closing her palm as she looks at it. She moves each finger independently with ease. Every piece of metal moves intricately with the inner fibres. Yang looks to her Faunus partner. "Ironwood." Yang answers. "He had his best scientists make it for me, as a thank you apparently. And...I never did get a chance it to say it...but...thank you." Yang says to Blake.
Blake looks at Yang, looking pretty clueless, even shy. "Why?" Blake requests, tilting her head.
Yang sighs. "I never did thank you for getting me out of there. Adam could have killed me...I still don't know how he did what he did...cutting through my aura." Yang says, trying to remember as much as she can from that moment at Beacon.
"Moonslice." Blake answers.
"Huh?" Yang replies.
"That's what he did, it's his Semblance. He absorbs attacks through his sword and then attacks back with force." Blake explains. "I knew he did it to you when you jumped." Blake explains. Yang looks at her. "And...you're welcome, and I'd do it again. We're a team, like you said." Blake says, looking at Ruby. Ruby smiles at Blake. There is a short silence between them all as they sit before the flames. Weiss smiles as she sits there.
"I've missed you guys so much." Weiss says to them all. "And you were all right." Weiss admits. Ruby and Yang look at each other with a surprised look, even Blake's cat ears on her head perk up when she hears Weiss say that.
"I'm sorry did I hear that right?" Ruby asks. "Did you just admit you were wrong about something?" Ruby asks her with a surprised expression. Weiss pulls an expression that makes Ruby and Yang, even Blake, laugh a little. Weiss suddenly launches a cushion at the giggling girl, making her yelp playfully.
"Oh, don't be a pest!" Weiss snaps, which normally would be considered rude around most, but amongst Team R.W.B.Y, that is seen as one the best things she could say, because that is the real Weiss that they know and love. Weiss even realises that, a small smile growing on her face. She pushes some of her white hair from her eye, the light from the flames reveals her scar down her eye. Ruby eventually stops laughing and she looks at Weiss.
"Sorry, Weiss...continue." She says, wiping a tear from her eye from laughing so hard.
"Anyway... Weiss says, smiling a little. "You were right about Atlas, all of you were." Weiss says.
Blake lifts her head and raises an eyebrow with disbelief. "You?" Blake questions.
"Oh yeah." Weiss agrees.
"You told us about the ball and your dad, what else could be worse?" Ruby asks her.
"Plenty." Weiss assures with raised brows.
"How so?" Yang investigates, tilting her blonde head. Weiss looks up a little, gently biting her bottom lip as she thinks.
"Hmm, where to start?" She mumbles. "Let's start with the fact that they find the smallest problems huge. Like their hair, their money, their drinks, whether the cake is in fashion or not." Weiss lists one at a time, like she is listing things off that she hates about Atlas. She lets out a groan of antipathy, throwing her long white hair back as she shudders at the thought. "Don't tell me I was like that..." She gyrates.
"Need I remind you of our Cake-Butler dilemma?" Ruby asks her with a raised eyebrow. Weiss looks at her.
"Okay, except for that. Klein always made the best cakes." Weiss says, revealing that Klein was the infamous Cake-Butler all along. She defends herself and realises that she has just proven their point. "Oh god...I sound like one of them!" She realises, pressing her hands against her cheeks.
Blake giggles at her reaction.
It makes Ruby happy to see Blake able to giggle let alone crack a smile after everything, but that is what friends do.
"You were a little bit like that when we first met. Especially around us." Yang says.
"I can't believe how horrible I was to you, Ruby. I never did say sorry." Weiss says. But Ruby just responds with a smile.
"And you'll never have to." Ruby says to her. Weiss happily smiles.
"What else happened when you were at Atlas?" Blake curiously asks her. Weiss holds her hands out to the flames, warming herself up, she might not be as ice cold as her father is, but she is still the Ice Queen.
"Let me think about that." Weiss says to herself. She looks up with her eyes and then she remembers something immediately. "Oh god...my father did this Charity Ball for Beacon, it seemed like he cared but he really didn't, it was a way to keep his name in check." Weiss says in disgust as she talks about him.
"Ooh, this is a great story." Yang builds up with a smile, intriguing Blake further, whilst Weiss continues the story.
"But, I was looking at the painting that people could donate money to, of Beacon. And this guy came up to me...what was his name? Um...oh yeah, Henry Marigold." Weiss remembers, snapping her fingers as the name returns to her. Henry Marigold, the man who approached Weiss at the ball in an attempt to win her over for a night as he probably attempts to with every attractive woman he meets. Long blueish hair combed over to the side and he wouldn't stop drinking. Weiss always nicknamed him Douchebag Neptune. "He wouldn't quit trying to woo me." Weiss says, rolling her large blue eyes as she remembers some of his cheesy lines. "They were worse than some of Jaune's."
"Someone tried to woo...you?" Yang asks, pointing at her with her finger with a laugh, clearly she never told them about this part of the story, opposed to the Boarbatusk Summoning Story.
"Yep." Weiss agrees.
"Is he still alive?" Yang asks.
"God I hope not." Weiss scoffs. "The guy stood there and thought I was going to buy the painting, and he didn't even know why there was a ball, he just came for the drinks and for the exceptional company." Weiss recalls, quoting his speech as she remembers what he said. She lets out yet another sickened scoff at him. The people who died there don't deserve some ass like him showing up and not paying his respects. "None of them paid their respects, all they cared about was their drinks." Weiss scoffs.
"Damn...and I used to think that you were cold as ice." Yang says with a scoff.
"Horrible, no respect." Blake says, shaking her head.
"Pyrrha deserved better, Penny deserved better." Ruby says, remembering them like it was yesterday. They sit there, showing more respect for the dead than any of those people in Atlas ever did. They sit there and then Weiss leans back into the chair, breathing out.
"Anyway, enough about me!" Weiss says, looking at Ruby. "I want to hear more about you." She says, leaning forward again.
"Yes!" Yang says, copying Weiss' action. Even Blake looks excited to hear about what she was doing out here as well, and that is not just a surprise because of what happened at Menagerie, it is a surprise for Blake to ever be excited about anything. "You've only told me in bits, let's really get into the nitty gritty." Yang says.
"I told you about the Nuck." Ruby says, using a shortened version of its complicated name.
"Yeah but...I mean, I've heard some stories." Yang says with an excited smirk on her face.
"From who?" Ruby asks.
"Nora." Yang answers.
"Oh gods...how exaggerated did she get?" Ruby asks.
"Well...there's only one way to find out." Yang says with a smile.
"Yeah, I'd like to hear about them." Blake agrees with a gentle smile.
"Let's not go there..." Ruby sighs, since she is humble and hates to sound like she is bragging.
"Come on!" Yang begs, on her knees, which makes Blake laugh at her humour which has not changed a bit.
"Yeah, I mean I've heard some stuff as well. Rescuing villages from Giant Monsters, cutting a crazy Scorpion Faunus' tail off, and killing the Nuckelavee? You've gotta fill us in fully, it was mostly Ren and Nora telling stories last time, I wanna hear your side of the story." Weiss begs like an excited little girl. Ruby's silver eyes look around as she thinks of what story to start off with.
The Geist Battle?
The Fight against Tyrian?
The Nuckelavee?
Well I already told them about the Nuckelavee, I guess I could save that story for last so then Blake can hear it.
Which one? She finally chooses one and then she gets comfortable, so do the others. Blake leans across the arm of the chair, good to see that with her friends she is able to step out of that world of misery and return to some form of normality...
Ruby begins to tell the story. "Okay...remember the story of the Petra Gigas? The um...oh what's it called?" Ruby struggles.
"Yarn of the Giant Hunters?" Blake asks, obviously she would have read it since she loves books so much. Petra Gigas is the scientific given to the Rock Giant form that the Geist took when they encountered it.
"That's it!" Ruby squeaks, pointing to Blake for how she reminded her. These two have always been friends because of how they both enjoyed reading books. "Well, we found a village and they told us that something was destroying their livestock." Ruby explains.
"You found the Geist of Anima?" Blake asks in amazement, showing how this Geist was more famous than they initially thought.
"Yep, we fought it together, took a while to bring him down, but we did it. Thanks to Nora." Ruby says with a laugh.
"No surprise." Weiss giggles.
"We also learned something else." Ruby whispers, making the other three lean in above the fire. "I saw what Jaune's hoodie is."
"You did?" Yang questions with pure disbelief in her voice.
"Yep, it's Pumpkin Pete!" She says, beginning to laugh.
"Wait...don't they have to send out boxes to get those hoodies?" Yang asks, remembering back when she was younger and eating that cereal.
"Yeah, he sent like fifty!" Ruby laughs. Team R.W.B.Y burst into laughter over this, one of the few moments of happiness that the four of them have had since before Beacon fell. They wish that this happiness could last forever as they continue to share stories all night about their own individual adventures and things that happened with them.
In the skylight, the Fractured Moon glows in the night sky, a constant reminder of how fragile their future truly is.
Hours later...
Still awake and sharing stories between one another, with Ruby concluding one of hers along the way. "So what can I say? Another Giant Grimm destroyed and made it out alive, by the skin of our teeth as always." Ruby concludes with the shrug of her shoulders, and they all look amazed at her stories, Yang chuckling.
"Incredible." She sighs with awe.
"Yeah...wish you all could have been there." Ruby says, looking between Weiss, Blake and Yang with a gentle smile. Yang even starts to notice that the end of this sharing stories session is very similar to the one she had with Kassius after they were reunited. So she says something similar to what he said.
"No really, it's absolutely incredible. You mean to tell me you take down yet another incredible Grimm and somehow you manage to walk away without a single mark on you?" Yang asks her with awe and smiling away, making Ruby laugh as well.
"Yeah well, I guess that's the story of my life." Ruby shrugs with a smile on her face. "But hey, we all learned a few things along the way. Nora and I learned a team attack, Jaune improved Crocea Mors. And Ren let his hair down." Ruby adds.
"I noticed, wouldn't have thought it would look good on him. But it does." She admits.
"Don't let Nora hear you saying that, she might get jealous." Blake warns with a smile.
Team R.W.B.Y finally reunited, and they continue to talk for much longer before deciding to rest a little bit.
Adam
Ash...
It is the remnants of everything that has been destroyed throughout time, and yet over time, life returns because of it. But that does not feel like the case here, at what remains of Menagerie. The next Mt Glenn or Oniyuri...the Fractured Moon watches the smoke trailing from the cleansed island in the dark night sky.
Wilt and Blush scrapes through the sand behind him as he walks across the dirt path, past completely destroyed homes that were once places for families to be raised. Bodies are scattered everywhere. Ash batters against his black trousers and his black shoes, the red under-layer covered with the ashes of the dead and the sand under his feet.
His trench coat blows around as he walks, the red accents glow along with the red rose insignia on his back shoulder combined with a tulip. His mask covers his face and is red hair glows faintly, the horns of the Faunus stick out above the Grimm-Styled Mask, scratches engraved against it from war.
Adam Taurus...
He looks around, awe on his face, his eyes may be obscured from the mask, but the emotion is there from the expression on his mouth. He continues to walk, however. The Bullhead lands down behind him, more White Fang Militants being dropped off behind him, aiming their rifles high for any Grimm that remain.
A Creep stands there, roaring at him and charging at him. Adam doesn't even look at the Grimm as he beheads it with a single swing of the red dust charged blade. The head of the Creep lands on the floor, disintegrating away into smoke, along with the body, red glowing from where it was cut.
He continues to walk, anger filling in him as he sees more and more dead Faunus around him where the Grimm had slaughtered them. Ahead, he sees a Grimm Beowulf Alpha roaring aggressively as it sees him, preparing to charge. Until the blade of a chainsaw erupts from its chest, cutting directly upwards, cutting its head in half and killing it. As the body turns to smoke, the White Fang Lieutenant walks through the smoke, still wearing his damaged mask as he approaches, holding the chainsaw in one hand. Adam holds his hand out to him. "Commander." The Lieutenant greets, grabbing his hand, shaking it firmly.
"Good to see you made it, what happened?" Adam asks with a scared tone of voice, one that few people have actually heard from him, smelling the destruction through his nose.
"I don't know, sir. I was captured by Belladonna's rebellion, but then there was chaos. Grimm swarmed in, smashed through their defences and they started slaughtering people. The Grimm were lead by something I have never seen before...like some kind of...devil." The Lieutenant explains. Adam looks around, fearful of what managed to do this by itself.
"What of Blake?" Adam asks.
"She got away, along with the monkey-kid." The Lieutenant says. A surprising form of relief comes upon Adam, revealing that there is some sort of love for her still in there, but the idea of the Revolution has consumed him, turning him into the monster that hurt her, helped destroy Beacon and also removed Yang's arm from her body. Perhaps Adam is just happy to know that his love is not dead.
He turns, seeing three people approaching them, the White Fang soldiers with Adam aim their rifles, but he holds the blade of Wilt and Blush in front of them, leading to them standing down. Three people walk toward them. In the middle is a young woman with a reptilian like manner to her, in her hair and her personality. She looks at Adam, holding her chest in pain with scratches and bruises on her face.
Ilia Amitola, and with her are the two hooded men: Fennec and Corsac Albain, the two brothers who serve him. Fennec bleeds from his lip, coughing in pain.
Corsac wears a red hood that functions partially as a cloak, made of two pieces held together by yellow buttons and string. He wears a black tunic with two sections extending farther down than the rest at his front, and a hole is cut out for his tail. Both the hood and tunic have white trimming. He also wears detached white sleeves, bound at the mid-bicep and the wrists. Black gloves serve that function and attach to his middle fingers. His white pants are pleated. He wears black open-toed sandals with fabric extending up to his knees.
Similar to his brother, Fennec wears a red hood that functions partially as a cloak, made of two pieces held together by buttons and string. Holes cut in the top for his fox ears. He wears a black tunic with two sections extending farther down than the rest at his front. White trimming defines the shape of the hood and tunic. He also wears detached white sleeves, bound at the mid-bicep and the wrists. Black gloves serves that function and are attached to his middle fingers. His white pants are pleated. He wears black open-toed sandals with fabric extending up to his knees.
"Brother Adam..." Corsac greets, blood leaking from his wounds.
"Heal them." Adam orders to his men. The soldiers nod, taking out a pair of medkits and they run up to the Albain Brothers. "Any survivors?" Adam asks them.
Ilia shakes her head.
"We're it." Ilia says to him.
Adam turns to his Lieutenant and he simply nods to the Bull Faunus. Adam looks at the town in awe, and then he sees the damaged Belladonna Residence down the path. He walks down the road towards the Residence, still holding Wilt and Blush tight as he approaches it. He grits his teeth in anger, seeing how many innocent Faunus have lost their lives from the very monsters that Cinder promised would not attack him or his men anymore.
And yet here they are, dead before him. Ilia and the others follow him to the house. He turns a corner, and he stops. He gasps, nearly dropping Wilt and Blush onto the floor when he sees his body. Ghira Belladonna's body on the floor. It has now become cold and pale from the time he has been laying there, his blood has become a stain on the soil, a constant mark of his failure to help the Faunus of this beautiful island, that is now a ruin.
Adam looks at his body and Ilia stands beside him, dwarfed by his height...she gasps in horror. The two people who knew the family the best, an Ex-Boyfriend and an old best friend. "Ghira..." Ilia gasps. Adam kneels down beside the body of Ghira and he lowers his head.
"Rest in peace, Ghira Belladonna." Adam respectfully speaks. The Lieutenant stands there, his muscular arms crossed as he looks at him.
"We need to leave while we still can." The Lieutenant warns.
"We will bury him." Adam says.
"There's no time." The Lieutenant argues, his argument leads to Adam spinning round, swinging Wilt and Blush at his neck, stopping it before it killed him.
"We. Will. Bury. Him." Adam repeats, slowly and coldly. The Lieutenant looks at him through the mask and he just nods, making a wise choice. Time passes as they bury Ghira, creating a cross from the pieces of wood that they find from the destroyed buildings. The Lieutenant found a shovel, digging a respectful hole for Ghira and they gently put him into his home. They bury his body into the ground in front of his house. They place the cross at the top of the grave, placing a plaque of wood with charcoal words written on it. Marking the grave.
In loving memory of:
Ghira Belladonna, loving husband and father,
Kali Belladonna, loving wife and mother,
Rest In Peace.
Adam and Ilia stand there, paying their respects to someone who was once an old friend. Adam pushes the red blade of Wilt and Blush into the soul, his hands rested together on the hilt like a Knight as he pays his respects. Ilia holds her hands together in front of her waist, looking down at the grave that they have made for Blake's parents.
Ilia completes her eulogy, turning to leave the grave. Adam pulls the blade from the soil turning to walk away, but he stops. He looks back at the grave and then he reaches into one of the interior pockets of his black trench coat. He pulls out a beautiful red rose, holding it by the emerald stem as he places it down on top of the grave. He looks at the grave. "Goodbye, old friend." Adam says respectfully. He turns and walks away from the grave, sliding Wilt and Blush into the sheath strapped to his belt.
"What now?" The Lieutenant asks.
"Now? We return to Mistral and wait for Cinder to meet with us. And I think we are owed some answers for what has happened here, this was never part of the deal." Adam says with a snarl, walking away.
He leaves the rose on the grave of Ghira and Kali Belladonna, letting the wind flutter the red petals of the beautiful plant.
Letting them finally rest.