A/N: So this was an idea I had and searched for on Fanfic, and found very little. So I'm walking into uncharted territory once more with this crossover. I present to all of my faithful readers and new readers, The Final Reaping.
Chapter 1: Far From Over
The Reaper War left its mark across the galaxy, leaving scars on every race, both aggressive and passive except the yahg of course. The race of sentient machines, built once to maintain order, which flew through the galaxy and harvested a species to build a new one had finally been stopped after countless 50,000 year cycles. Thanks to the bravery and intelligence of every race in the galaxy, the push against Reaper controlled Earth to reclaim the Citadel, key to the destruction of the Reapers was successful. The galactic armada pushed against the Reaper ranks and allowed the Crucible, the fabled weapon that would stop the Reapers, to combine with the Citadel. But, when the Crucible did connect with the Citadel, nothing happened.
Luckily for all life, the famed Commander Mira Shepard, hero of the Skalian Blitz and hero of the Citadel, was able to activate the Crucible. With the power stored inside of the Crucible, Commander Shepard sent out a signal that targeted Reaper code, obliterating the fear machines that had terrorized the galaxy. Once the beam fired, the Crucible detonated and sent pieces of the galactic project crashing into the Wards of the Citadel, the home of millions of sentient life. Aboard one of the major ships of the Alliance, the government of humanity, Admiral Hackett looked over at the ruins of the Citadel, the Reapers and the galactic armada. Hackett took a deep breath and sighed as he was approached by the asari councilor, the representative of the asari race and one of the four leaders that reside over Council controlled space.
She stood as tall as he did and shared human physical traits like body and head shape, but with blue skin and several tentacles that served as her "hair" and combed back to a point. She had no ears and maintained a very appealing look in her long red robes. "Admiral Hackett." The Asari Councilor called. Hackett drew a deep breath and sighed, tearing himself away from the carnage, answering in a deep grizzled voice that had seen far too many battles "Yes Councilor?"
"What is the news? Are the Reapers destroyed?"
"From what we can see, they are…"
Hackett stopped as he felt a headache coming on, images starting to rush into his head like something was broadcasting it there. Images of the Reaper known as Harbinger, the first Reaper, along with many others, approaching the massive construct known as a Mass Relay. A deep voice that chilled Hackett to the bone exclaimed "Harbinger has not fallen. He will wage his war." The images stopped and he returned to his senses, the asari councilor looked frightened and worried as she questioned "Are you alright?" Admiral Hackett forced himself to his feet and answered "I'm fine. Just the Leviathans telling me that this isn't over yet."
"What do you mean?"
"Harbinger and several of his Reapers, probably slaughter ships and more destroyers fled through a Mass Relay."
"But… the signal… it used the relays to transmit it."
"I know, but it looks this one didn't send the signal."
The asari councilor put her hand over her mouth and cursed "Goddess… can't we send our ships after them? Surely we outnumber the forces Harbinger has." Admiral Hackett shook his head and replied "Not with the Mass Relays in the condition they're in. The signal damaged the relays, but they can be repaired. But that might take months, maybe years and we still have other systems out there that need help."
"What about a recon team? We repair the relay Harbinger used and send in a ship to see where they are. We could send the Normandy! Its stealth tech can hide them from the Reapers."
Admiral Hackett put his hand over his mouth and sighed "Not with its captain missing in action. No one on the Normandy will act until they know about Shepard." The asari councilor looked out the massive window and questioned "Do you think she survived the explosion?"
"Shepard has proven hard to kill. The Collectors blew up her first ship and spaced her, and all that did was make her angry. If she's still breathing, we'll pull her out of the shit and put her back together."
Hackett activated his omni-tool, the tool kept on his right arm that could do nearly anything, and contacted the bridge, exclaiming "This is Admiral Hackett. All available ships head to the Citadel. We need to help those there and see if we can find Shepard, dead or alive." He deactivated his tool and watched as ship after ship headed to the Citadel, the Normandy being the first to try and find their Commander.
Nearly a year later…
The Normandy SR2 sat docked on the Citadel, helping in collecting ship remains and resource transport to the Mass Relays for repair. For now, the ship remained captain-less, no one wanting to step into the shoes of the great Commander Shepard. At best, their pilot, Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau, was the acting captain but only to help put the relays back together. All of the crew remained, even the non-human, mainly out of respect of their fallen captain, who had been declared KIA. All of the crew sat in the cargo hold, told to go there by their impromptu captain for some big announcement.
Joker walked out onto the catwalk that overlooked the cargo hold so everyone could have eyes on him. Joker was a normal looking man, wearing his usual flight suit and cap that covered his brown haired head. His walk was slightly bowlegged, since the bones in his legs were basically hollow thanks to his Vrolik Syndrome. He arrived at the center of the catwalk and announced "Exciting news everyone, Normandy is finally getting a captain." No one in the deck looked pleased about it, least of all the turian in the back known as Garrus Vakarian.
His species was decent sized, standing at least 6'6" with chitonous plates that covered his head, including three fringes that protruded from the back of his head. His mandibles that laid flat against his head moved as he spoke, revealing the pointed teeth that filled his mouth "Who exactly thinks they can step into Shepard's shoes? Thinks they can take her place?" Everyone knew that Garrus was romantically involved with Shepard, so a new captain coming in was definitely not something he wanted to deal with. Joker nodded and replied "Don't worry Garrus, no one is trying to replace Shepard." Garrus was about to argue when a female voice announced "No point trying to replace what isn't missing."
The elevator doors opened to reveal a woman, about 6'1" with short red hair wearing black body armor with red stripes going down the sides. Her green eyes sparkled as she looked over the flabbergasted crew, the woman stepping out of the elevator and walking until she stood in the center of the cargo bay. Garrus walked up to her, jaw and mandibles on the ground that Shepard was standing before him, alive and perfectly okay. He reached up and placed his three fingered hand on her cheek, gasping "Mira… is… is it really you?" Shepard reached up and wrapped her hand around his, pulling into his touch with a smile and answering "It is, Garrus. It's really me."
No one could hold their excitement any longer as Garrus wrapped his arms around Shepard and hoisted her into the air. Shepard barked "OW OW OW! Careful! Still not completely healed." Garrus gently put her down as everyone patted her back and shook her hand, letting her know how much everyone missed her. Once the moment was over, Shepard announced "That's right everyone, I am going to be coming back to the Normandy. It will still be a bit before I return to active duty, but I couldn't help myself to come say hi to everyone." Shepard turned to Garrus, who looked like he was about to cry and exclaimed "And come see my turian boyfriend again."
Engineer Adams questioned from somewhere in the middle "Why are we just now hearing that you're okay? Or the fact that you're even alive." Shepard blew some of her stray hair from her face and answered "The Alliance wanted to keep me secret, just in case the Reapers or Cerberus or whoever might want me dead. Technically, you guys shouldn't even know." Engineer Donnelly laughed "Breaking the rules just to give us peace of mind?" Engineer Gabby added "She's definitely the real Shepard." Shepard laughed, happy that she got to see her friends and crew again, and announced "Don't worry. We'll celebrate my return once I'm officially released from the hospital! Speaking of which…"
Shepard nearly dropped to her knees, but Garrus caught her as she groaned "I need you to get me back there." Garrus chuckled as he lifted her to her feet "Don't worry Mira, I've got you."
"I know you do Garrus. You always do."
Garrus assisted Shepard to the elevator, who announced before the doors closed "Don't worry everyone! We'll get back to the usual grind when I get back!" The doors closed and the elevator began to rise, Garrus questioning "So, did you hear the news?" Shepard sighed as she ran her fingers through her hair "Yeah, Harbinger escaped with a ton of his Reapers. This fight isn't over."
"Don't worry Shepard. We'll stop him and we'll finish this once and for all."
"I intend to, and with the help of my awesome crew, nothing will stand in our way."
O00000O00000O
Meanwhile, at the other end of the Mass Relay…
On the outskirts of a small town with a large wooden wall built up around it, gunfire and explosions broke the night silence along with the howls of beasts dying. By the wall, a small girl, no older than 16, wielded a massive red and black scythe that matched the gothic red and black long sleeved shirt and shirt she wore. She had short dark red hair along with sliver eyes and pale skin that showed through the darkness like a beacon. Before the girl were large werewolf like beasts that had midnight black fur with large bone spikes sticking out of its arms and back. A skull with red markings covered its head with furious red eyes glared the girl down as three more emerged from behind it.
The girl drove her scythe blade into the ground, the werewolf creatures now staring down the barrel of a large caliber gun. She charged the weapon and proceeded to blast the beasts with sniper rifle rounds, the bullets tearing through the beasts flesh as if it were paper. Two fell to the ground with massive holes in their bodies while the remaining two charged her with teeth and claws barred, ready to tear the small girl apart. She ripped her scythe from the ground and stood in a ready position with the scythe pulled behind her, just waiting for the beasts to get within striking range. As soon as the beasts were, the girl pulled the trigger on her weapon, a round firing and she used the recoil to bolster her swing and slice the two beasts in half.
The corpses flew past her and slammed into the wall, creating a dull thud as the girl scanned the tree line and listened for anything else that was coming after her. The girl pulled out a white cased device that had a glass screen and pressed on it, a contact list coming up. The girl called in a young voice "Yang, do you need any help? My section is clear." A more excited voice from a slightly older girl replied "I'm good, Ruby. Just cleared out my Beowolves. Grimm ran after I busted a few holes in the first wave." Ruby looked around at the Beowolf corpses that were at her feet, Ruby replying "Alright. Weiss? Do you need any help?"
A higher pitched, prissier voice replied "I'm fine, thank you. I can handle myself." Ruby looked down and muttered "I just want to make sure everyone is okay." Yang immediately barked "What's your problem Ice Queen!? She's just trying to help!" Ruby cut off, attempting to stabilize the situation "Blake? How are you doing?" A duller, almost monotone voice replied "I'm good Ruby. Thank you for asking."
"Okay, if everyone has everything wrapped up I say we call it a night."
Everyone agreed and headed for the entrance to the town, where Yang was waiting for everyone since it was her section. Yang stood about a head taller than Ruby, and had long golden blonde hair that reached the center of her back. She wore pretty revealing clothes, a low cut yellow top that displayed her prominent cleavage with a brown short sleeved jacket on top. She also wore black short shorts with a brown belt that hung loosely at her waist and brown boots that went up to the middle of her calf. Yang wore black fingerless gloves with her golden gauntlets, Ember Celica, that sat on her hips as she waited for everyone.
Yang turned her lilac eyes towards Ruby and cheered "Ruby! My little sister! Are you okay?" Ruby walked over to Yang, collapsing her massive scythe into a manageable position as her older sister wrapped her arms around her. Yang was 18 now, but the two were only half-sisters related by their father, Taiyang Xiao Long. Yang took their father's name while Ruby kept her fallen mother's name, Rose. Ruby groaned in Yang's embrace "I'm fine Yang. You can let go of me now."
The busty blonde brawler released Ruby and sighed "Sorry Ruby, you know I'll always worry about you, even if you are the leader of Team RWBY." Ruby was about to respond when Blake exclaimed "You really should have more faith in your sister, Yang." The two turned to see the third member of their team, Blake Belladonna. She was just as tall as Yang, but had long raven black hair that fell a bit past her shoulders. Blake wore a white button shirt that exposed her stomach with a black vest over that with a black ribbon tied around her left wrist.
She also wore black shorts, but she also wore dark purple leggings that went all the way to her black heeled shoes. A top her raven hair, she wore a small black bow that covered a pair of black cat ears, since Blake was a half animal half human species known as a Faunus. Her yellow eyes pierced the darkness as she joined the two sisters. "Of course I have faith in her, I just worry is all." Yang assured as she put a hand on Ruby's shoulder. Ruby crossed her arms and exclaimed "There's no need to worry about me Yang, I drink milk."
"We should worry if you try and contact us all in the middle of a fight!" Weiss scolded. Everyone turned to see the white haired heiress stomping towards them with her trademark scowl on her face. Weiss was just slightly taller than Ruby and had long white hair she kept in a ponytail that was slightly off to the side. She wore a light blue dress that dropped to her knees along with a white jacket she kept open, showing her nearly flat chest. Weiss also wore tall heeled boots that stopped just below her knees that did surprisingly well on the dirt around the wall.
Yang immediately stepped between Ruby and Weiss, Yang stating "Cool it, Ice Queen. We got the job done." Weiss immediately responded "She shouldn't be making a group call without knowing what the others are doing!" Ruby answered "That's why I called, to make sure everyone was okay. Let's just learn from this experience and move on." Blake flicked some of her hair back and stated "At least it's a beautiful night." Everyone looked up at the starry night sky, free from the pollution of the large cities, allowing them to see even more of the night sky.
All of them sat and watched as a few starts streaked across the sky, then a large number of them started to go. "Is that a meteor shower?!" Ruby questioned excitedly. Weiss stated "I don't recall hearing about a meteor shower in the news reports." Yang put her hands behind her head and exclaimed "Who cares? It's really pretty." The team watched the shower until it finally stopped, then decided to call it a night before they had to head back to the main city, Vale.
The four were students at a school called Beacon Academy, one of four schools dedicated to training young men and women to become protectors of humanity called Huntsman and Huntresses. Together, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long, made up Team RWBY, led by Ruby Rose. The four entered the town and went to the Inn they were staying at, getting ready for a good night's rest after a long day of fighting the creatures of Grimm, monsters made of pure darkness and evil that only focused on killing for the sake of killing. It was their jobs to protect humanity from both the Grimm and from the people themselves, but unknown to them… they were about to face a new evil, one that had existed long before humanity rose from the dust on their planet.
A/N: There you have it! The first chapter of my new idea, "The Final Reaping". Remember, the more popular story between the two will continue while the other will wait for another opening. PM or review with any thoughts comments or concerns. Until next time!
-Chief