Silence fell heavy between the ex partners and Ilia who stood off to the side very confused.

"I didn't realize you were in town, I would've called and said hi," Blake said smiling weakly.

"What are you doing here anyways?" Yang asked with the barest hint of hostility in her voice.

Blake flinched at Yang's tone, "Just trying to help. We found out about Adam's plans and immediately came to help prepare for it but we weren't expecting it so soon."

"Guys, now's not really the time for this. Like I know it's been a while but there's kind of a war going on," Ilia said ushering the two of them into the hall.

"You're right. We'll talk later okay Yang?"

"Maybe I don't want to talk," Yang growled as they continued back towards the central buildings.

"Why not? It's been almost a year and a half, there's a lot to catch up on."

"Exactly. A year and a half. Not a few weeks, not a month or two, not even a year. A year and a half. No contact. No note. No letters. No calls. Nothing. You left without a single fucking word!" Yang spat.

"Yang, I..." Blake choked on her words, "I was afraid. Not of Adam. I was afraid of you, what you'd think of me if I came back after leaving you like that."

"You still left me! You left me when I needed you most," Yang had tears streaming from her eyes now.

"You didn't hear what he said! He said he was going to destroy everything. Starting with you. I couldn't let him come after you again so I went as far away as I could."

"Yeah, you ran! You said it yourself, you always run from your problems and I thought you were past it."

"I did too, but I'm here now aren't I? This is my problem now. The White Fang are my problem, Adam is my problem, and you are my problem."

"So that's what I am to you? A problem?"

"No, not like that. I didn't know how you'd react, I didn't know what you'd think of me. I still don't. I just want you to tell me, do you hate me? Do you hate me for leaving you?" Blake grabbed Yang by the shoulders and said this through watering eyes almost on the brink of tears herself.

"No. I don't hate you. But I sure as well wish I did because this would be a lot easier."

An explosion shook the building and took the two girls attention off of each other. A fireball covered the entrance courtyard and the dead and unconscious bodies of hunters and soldiers had been scattered everywhere by the blast.

"Time to run!" Ilia shouted rushing ahead down the hall towards the battle.

"This isn't over," Yang snarled at Blake before running off after the chameleon Faunus.

"I know it's not, it won't ever be."

Bullets ricocheted off of Neo's parasol as she twirled through the tumultuous ranks of Grimm and White Fang slashing with her rapier and firing Melodic Cudgel at meatier targets. Silently giggling in delight she thrusted her blade through a White Fang thug's throat and smashed the skull of another with the cane. Finally killing the last of the group that had surrounded her she sheathed her blade back into the parasol and walked towards the next scuffle twirling Melodic Cudgel as she walked. Numerous roars marked the arrival of the largest of the Grimm. An Alpha King Taijitu towered over the walls of the school, both of its heads hissing and searching for targets as other Grimm climbed the walls and went through the main entrance that had been blown completely open and part of the walls around it demolished. The roar of a bullhead's engines overhead took the view of one of the Taijitu's heads skyward giving Alton the perfect angle to land on the top of its skull and pierce straight through it with Abbysus Ignis in naginata form. Pulling the bladed staff out Alton launched into a set of summersaults and flips that made him look like a saw blade running the length of the giant snake Grimm before finally piercing the snout of the beast and using the momentum of his semblance to carry him and the snake's head over the wall as the rest of its body disintegrated with the death of its second head. A beringel stood waiting for Alton on the other side of the wall but was quickly dealt with as Nadia made her landing atop its head with Sanguis Fons.

"Incoming!" a scream cried out from above as Carla plummeted towards the ground even faster than they had as she had fired her grappling hook into the ground and was using it to accelerate her descent.

Twisting her arm Carla got the hook free of the ground and quickly fired it into a tower and used her momentum to swing through Grimm. She finally landed feet first on a giant deathstalkers face plowing the demonic arachnid into the ground and crushing its skull causing her cybernetic legs to be buried knee deep in gore that quickly disappeared.

"Come at me fuckers!" Carla roared charging straight into the fray, sweeping down Grimm left and right.

A glint of white armor through the turmoil drew the cyborg berserker through the crowd to where an Atlesian soldier was pinned beneath a White Fang thug. Carla tore the aggressor off of the soldier and pulverized a couple ribs as she backhanded him away with her mechanical arm. Turning back to the soldier she took his hand and helped him to his feet. Through the blood and grime plastering her face he saw the maniacal glee shining in her eyes and it infected him. He grabbed his gun from the ground and the machete the White Fang thug had discarded in favor of the grapple and charged with her into the fray. A dull orange glow began to emanate from Carla, spreading throughout the area and affecting every ally in the same way.

A synchronized battle cry rose through the defenders ranks as they pushed the advantage that a team of extremely powerful hunters gave them. The few remaining White Fang began to back off after seeing the ferocity that had overcome the soldiers and rag tag militia. Sparing them no mercy Carla continued to lead the charge and drove back Grimm and Faunus alike. Carla's smile grew wider as she looked to her right and saw a line of people beside her as they pushed their defensive line right back to the gates but the smile was wiped from her face as half of their right flank was cut clean in half. As bodies collapsed the orange glow faded and through the pooling blood stepped Adam Taurus.

"Back off Carla, I've got him handled."

Alton stepped in front of his teammate and transformed Abbysus Ignis into its dual wield mode.

"Ah. It's you. I honestly didn't expect to see you again after your attack on our fortress."

"Yeah well, your little pet monster? I was faster than it. And I'm even faster now!" Alton lunged forward in a blur and reappears inches from Adam's face with both blades of Abbysus Ignis pressed against his neck.

Adam barely flinched at the threat and merely looked past him at the carnage Haven had become. His eyes caught on a silhouette in the background and only then did he flinch.

"I don't have time for you. Not when my real target is here."

"You're not going anywhere fuckface."

"And who's this? Your partner?" Adam asked sarcastically as Nadia stepped toward the two of them.

"Yes as a matter of fact. I'm the partner who's going to make sure you're the first person to have a self prostate exam done with horns."

"Plucky isn't she?" Adam said coldly.

"You bet your Hot Topic looking ass I am!"

Nadia swum Sanguis Fons into the back of the bull Faunus's head and the hit connected with the base of his skull making him see stars.

"As I said I don't have time for this!" Adam snarled through gritted teeth as he fired Wilt into Alton's gut and pushed past while he was reeling.

Adam was making a run for it but their fourth teammate had other ideas and her thoughts were spoken through a five ounce metal slug going mach eight slamming straight into his forehead. The metal flattened and melted against his aura but he kept moving. Until another slug slammed into his forehead and he stopped. And then another into his knee causing him to fall. The last shot went into his right shoulder which made him cry out in pain despite his aura still being at least at half.

"Still haven't exactly healed from our last fight have you, edgelord?"

"You are truly insufferable aren't you?" Adam screamed as he unleashed his semblance on the building Tiphany had been shooting at him from.

The attack brought down the front half of the structure but Tiphany had already relocated. The echoing sound of his semblance rang out through the battleground over all other sounds of combat.

"He's here," Yang said.

"I expected as much. He wouldn't leave such an important attack unsupervised."

"So what are we going to do? Are we going to avoid him and hope for the best? Or are we going to do something about it?"

"We'll fight him. He's already weak and fighting someone else. We can help them."

"I'm not sure if I can fight him Blake."

"Of course you can. You're stronger than you were before. Even I can see it. Just follow my lead and everything will be fine," Blake took both of Yang's hands and tried to show confidence.

Yang smiled weakly and followed Blake towards where the two on one fight was taking place.

"Enough!" Adam roared in frustration as he unleashed his semblance in a downward strike directed at Alton who deflected it with a simple backhand.

Adam grunted as he brought the sword around for another semblance infused strike. The blade was caught between Alton's arms and the force of the impact threw up dust in a massive cloud around the fighters. Adam struggled to free his weapon and looked up as the dust cleared to see a glint of yellow through the cloud. Blake made out Adam's silhouette and swung Yang forwards at high speeds with Gambol Shroud. Yang screamed in fury as she soared through the smoke and drove her mechanical fist straight into Adam's nose sending the bull Faunus flying across the courtyard and into a wall. Adam coughed as he righted himself and pushed his nose back into place under his mask with a crunch. Blood streaked the mask that was now cracked down the middle.

"You again. You're only getting in the way."

"Getting in the way of what?" Blake said as she stepped up beside Yang.

"Blake. You know I can't let you get away this time."

"Adam. So naive. You really think I'm running this time?"

"Then you will both die. A victory for the Faunus. Another dead huntress, and another dead traitor."

Adam lunged forward and was intercepted by an ice clone courtesy of Blake. The ice shattered quickly but gave both Blake and Yang enough time to flank the unprepared bull. Hooking Gambol Shroud around a lamppost Blake swung herself at Adam who attempted to cut her out of the air but as he turned his back to Yang she launched herself towards him with Ember Celica and delivered a powerful hook to his gut and fired a shell on impact peppering his side with buckshot through an already failing aura. Adam stumbled from the heavy impact leaving him open to attack from Blake who took full advantage of it by swinging down and delivering a direct and swift kick to the throat sending their already wounded and disoriented foe reeling backwards into the blood soaked dirt. Adam scrambled backwards before managing to get back to his feet.

"Hey Taurus! Seeing enough red yet?" Nadia called causing Adam to turn just in time to see a red tipped incendiary rocket make impact with the ground directly in front of him.

Jumping out of the way of the flames Adam took a look around at the four hunters who were definitely in a lot better shape than he was. Managing to swallow his pride Adam activates his semblance and slashed Wilt into the ground throwing up rubble and creating a sizable crater between him and his opponents to cover his retreat.

"Who's running now?" Yang taunted.

A shudder escaped Blake causing Yang to look at her.

"What's wrong?"

"I can't believe we did it. We actually beat him. Not without help of course but we proved it can be done."

"Hold on, you're acting like you didnt think we could when you're the one who said we could do it."

"I was trying to be brave. I was doing it to help you when really I was terrified. I was afraid what happened last time would happen again, that he might kill you."

"I'm not dying anytime soon. If I can help it we're not getting separated for a while because you've got a lot of missed time to make up for," Yang forced a smile causing Blake to smile back.

"Hey Blake. Glad to see you followed up on my advice."

"Oh I recognize you, you're the chick from the bar fight!" Nadia realized, "So Alton, care to explain how you're already acquainted?"

"Well, I went back inside for that bottle of liquor and saw her out back and realized I recognized her from Weiss's picture of team RWBY and decided to have a little chat with her about returning to her team."

"Thanks for that. I probably wouldn't even be here right now if it weren't for that. I'd probably be down at the docks or something."

"You wouldn't be needed at the docks. Penny's handling that whole half of the city," Yang explained, "And why didn't you tell me she was already here?"

"Well, I wanted her to handle this herself, there's obviously still a big rift between you two and this personal victory will help mend that."

"Wait. Penny? As in the Penny we all watched get destroyed on live television?" Blake asked completely confused.

"The one and only, she died for a while but she's fine now and she's got some serious new firepower. And some countermeasures against such a bad encounter with magnets."

"I'll have to meet up with her after all of this. Meanwhile there's still Grimm all over the place here," Blake said looking back towards the gate that had become a no mans land after the White Fang had been pushed back and the Mistrali forces and the Pack militia had retreated to the central school grounds to better protect the civilians inside.

"Chief! We've got reinforcements!" Carla shouted out a window.

"Who?" Alton callee back.

"The Nikos Tribe!"

"Oh fuck yeah!"

"They're coming to evacuate civilians to the Nikos Manor, they've got enough room and supplies there for most of the injured and more than enough fighters to defend the place."

"Good, then we can focus on clearing out the rest of the city without worrying about defending civies until help from Atlas gets here."

"Atlas is sending more troops?"

"Just a carrier and her escorts. Not even close to an occupying force but enough to clean up this mess and get our own injured troops back home."

"Oh shit! Guys we need some more help over here, the bastards who took my eyes are back!"

"Fucking salamanders! They'll set fire to the whole place."

"Better make sure another building doesn't go up in flames on my watch," Blake said following Alton and Nadia back towards the fighting that was now heavily in the defenders favor with the majority of the White Fang out of the way.

"Wait another?" Yang sputtered as she ran to catch up.

"I might've set my house on fire during an assassination attempt on me and my parents."

"What the fuck?" Yang muttered to herself.

A fiery explosion from the far side of the campus urged the four to run faster

Waves crashed against the docks as the Pride was rocked by another bout of recoil from the main cannon. Grimm swarmed the berth, mostly beowolves and boarbatusks as the majority of stronger Grimm had gone inland towards Haven. The crew of the ship had locked themselves inside and could only look through the portholes in fear at the ever growing number of monsters just barely out of reach.

"Would you stop shooting for one minute? You're just making them angrier!" the captain pleaded his first mate who had taken it upon themselves to defend their ship.

"I stop shooting, we stop breathing! So shut up and be thankful I actually know how to operate this thing," the captain shrank back at their retort.

"They've got a point," a crewmate muttered in agreement earning him a glare from the captain.

Another shell was fired scattering the Grimm in its path and obliterating those that were even close to its impact. A bright green flash blinded the crew for a brief moment and when they looked back the Grimm had been almost wiped out, the few that remained had been cute cleanly in half.

"Did you do that Matte?" the captain asked.

"Nope, but it sure looked like Atlesian laser tech, never seen it in green before though."

A knock on the nearest hatch drew everyone's attention away from the quickly deteriorating Grimm.

"I've got it," Matte shoved past their crewmates who were still petrified.

Pulling the reinforced metal entrance open they revealed a short ginger haired woman waiting for them.

"Salutations! Is anybody injured?"

Matte was slightly taken aback by the girls strange way of speaking before responding.

"No, everybody is okay. What about you, you're uh, sparking," they pointed towards where an angular fin protruded from the girls back.

"Oh! I hadn't noticed my flight systems were damaged, thank you for informing me. Could you tell me how many people are still aboard while I repair this?"

"All thirty crew are aboard right now miss...?"

"You may call me Penny," Penny said as she concentrated on focusing her aura on repairing the damaged parts.

"Weren't you that Atlesian contestant at the actual festival?" Matte asked letting their curiosity get the better of them.

"Yes," Penny hesitated as she chose her next words carefully, "I died for a while but I got better."

"I'm not even going to ask about that. Are you going to get us out of here?"

"An airship is already en route. You look familiar, did you ever serve in the Atlesian Navy?"

"No."

"Yes you did. Ensign Skye, dishonorable discharge pre graduation of the Naval Academy. No information is available describing cause of discharge. Pending reinstatement at General Ironwoods request."

"Wait what?"

"After a personal investigation into your discharge and multiple other cases of similar origin the general discharged the officers responsible for them and issued formal apologies and reinstated all others affected but it appears you weren't available at the time. As the local contingent of Atlesian forces is in a state of emergency I'm obliged to ask if you'd like to be reinstated to full combat duty."

"You're not gonna leave us are you?" the captain asked from the hatch where he had been listening in.

"You bet your sorry asses I am! Find a new gunner! I'd like to be reinstated."

"Issuing formal reinstatement now. Welcome back Ensign Skye, Captain Winter Schnee is glad to have you."

"This day just keeps getting better."

"Oh well, they only settled for us, now they've got what they really want."

"Hell yeah I do! This dinky piece of shit would never be enough for me and if it hadn't been for me she would've sunk a long time ago."

"Evacuation airship is inbound. All civilians will be taken to Nikos Manor for the remainder of the conflict. Ensign Skye you will be dropped off with me at Haven to assist with its defense and the establishment of a proper forward base in the retaking of Mistral, I hope you haven't gotten rusty in the past two years."

"Give me a gun and a uniform and I'll be ready to go."

"A spare uniform in your size has already been retrieved from the logistics unit and you have your choice from the armory."

"It'll be good to back aboard a proper ship for once."

"Sadly you'll have to wait for that."

"What happened to the ship that was here earlier?"

"The Tödlich Flüstern went down after an encounter with an airborne Leviathan class Grimm at oh one hundred hours this morning, it's reactor was overloaded in an attempt to remove Grimm from the area, an attempt that partially succeeded at the cost of the first mates life."

"Damn. It was a beautiful ship too."

"Indeed, a shining example of engineering despite being outdated. Captain Winter has already been assigned a freshly refitted cruiser just back from the testing grounds. It has yet to even be named and is being flown in under its production designation of ACD 789."

"Love that new ship smell. Looks like our ride is here," Matte looked up at the small transport airship that was being used to transport the evacuated civilians.

"Indeed it is! Would you please ensure that everybody is here?"

"Already checked, everybody's up here."

"Sensational. Everybody aboard," Penny ushered the thirty one crew aboard the airship that had come to a hover right beside the Pride.

"So, you're a robot right?"

"To a degree yes. It may be more accurate to call me a cyborg or a vessel. I have an aura and soul that aren't artificial but my body is entirely mechanical though it does mimic many of a normal body's functions very well."

"So all of your weapons are built in right? During the Vytal Festival it looked like your swords just appeared out of nowhere."

"That was the previous model, considering it's failure I've had some significant upgrades done including having my swords being guided by electromagnets in my hands instead of wires to prevent an accident like before."

"But how are they powered? The lasers they fire have an extraordinary amount of energy for wireless weaponry."

"Wireless energy transfer, my aura is used as a medium to send energy from the central power core to other systems to prevent as much loss of function in case of damage. There are no wires. Everything is self contained."

"That's so cool! Do you think I could ever maybe do some work on you? Not like in a weird way but I'm just so interested to see how it all works. Your technology is incredible, it's impossible to tell you're mechanical from a glance but so much of you is while at the same time you're also a living thing with soul and personality like anyone else."

Penny blushed at the flattery.

"I'd have to ask my father but he's always happy to have a couple extra hands to help out around the lab."

"That would be great! I've always wanted to work on more advanced tech but after leaving the military I lost all my opportunities to do it. I've kept up to date on the latest developments though."

"Trust me, nothing you're going to end up seeing is public knowledge, I am in the most technical sense a top secret military weapon."

"Yeah, a top secret weapon that blushes when I talk about how well made she is," they teased.

"I'm starting to regret asking for that function."

"It's what makes you so believable, you react like a person, without all the physical evidence some might mistake you for an unsettingly good emotion emulator. Mostly just because of some of your speech patterns though."

"I have been working on that. Imitating my friends sometimes. It was hard learning how to talk again when I first got one of these bodies. That's even more of a secret though. I might tell you later however," Penny whispered as the airship came to land and medical personnel rushed to take the wounded aboard into one of the fully stocked medical buildings around Nikos Manor.

"Back to Haven now?"

"Indeed. But not by airship, this one is on a different course to pick up more stranded survivors. I'll be taking you."

"But, aren't your flight systems still damaged?"

"I didn't just shove them back inside, I have some manner of self repair," Penny said as the wings unfolded from her back, "See? Good as new!"

"How? There's no way a fully automated repair system could fit in such a small chassis."

"I have a full compliment of micro repair bots, mostly designed for internal damage but if anything external is damaged they can repair it from the outside by exiting through the wound itself or one of many access ports on my body, like this one."

Penny put her hand out and a small hatch in her palm popped open and a small crab like robot crawled out and wandered around on her skin causing her to laugh.

"You're ticklish?"

"Yes, I felt it was a necessary attribute to have."

"That seems counterproductive, it's a panic response that could be taken advantage of in combat."

"I have ways of disabling certain systems for power preservation and functionality. Just like the human body has ways of overpowering those instincts."

"Your dad thought of everything."

"Almost everything. There's a couple things still missing but they will come with time and new technology. Now we must be on our way, too many airships are damaged and we have need of good mechanics."

"And I'm nothing if not a good mechanic."

Penny nodded before taking hold of Matte underneath their arms.

"Ready?"

"As I'll ever be."

The whir of small engines filled the air as Penny warmed up the thrusters that allowed her to fly. Bending her legs in preparation Penny began to throttle up to get enough thrust for takeoff. She increased the throttle even more as she jumped and took to the air with ease.

"I hope you don't mind us flying low, it's difficult to gain altitude with cargo."

"It's fine. Just a little exhilarating."

"I've still yet to fully mimic the effects of adrenaline yet but I can feel excitement. I'm always excited to take to the air."

Penny increased her speed again to help get them above the tree line as they headed towards the city. One minute later they were on approach for Haven and Penny was beginning to slow down and angle upwards as she engaged the hover thrusters that helped her maintain forward movement while landing. She released Matte as they touched down and retracted her flight equipment.

"Ensign Skye. I knew I recognized your name somewhere, I remember the general discussing what potential you had after an inspection of the academy."

Penny and Matte turned and were at attention as they saw that Winter was waiting for them.

"With all due respect ma'am that potential didn't keep me from getting kicked out."

"The removal of you and others was a scandal and orchestrated by an officer with very... traditional views and felt the military should reflect those views. Now come, your new uniform is inside and you have almost free reign of what was salvaged from the armory."

"Lead the way then captain."

Matte followed her new captain into Haven which had now been secured after the all out attack that had been launched. Very few civilians remained in the area, the majority of those who did were assisting with repairs and medical treatment. Hunters and soldiers bustled about the corridors, the bright outfits of hunters standing out among the browns of Mistrals forces and the white armor of Atlas's.

"We've put our remaining armory stocks in Havens armory for functionality's sake. You'll be able to tell what's ours and what isn't."

Matte nodded and began to look over a cluster of weapon cases in the center of the room where hunters in training would normally keep theirs. Finally choosing a compact but powerful plasma cycler Matte holstered it and strapped it to their waist.

"I've got their uniform," a soldier from the logistics unit announced from the doorway.

"Excellent. Go ahead and get dressed, you're assigned to the repair team for now and we've got more grounded airships than I'd like."

"Understood."

Winter walked out of the armory and headed towards the now almost empty medical wing. The cots lining the walls were barren save for a few heavily wounded soldiers and some civilians who's condition was too severe to be moved. Heading towards where a nurse was tending one of her own men she nodded at the soldiers she passed along the way.

"If you're here to check on your men they're all stable," the nurse instinctively said as this was Winters fifth visit already.

"I'm not here to check on them. I need to get this bandage removed and I can't exactly do it with one hand."

"You're right, your aura handled that scratch nicely. No scarring. I'll get that off for you," the nurse unwrapped the tape keeping the bandage tight and then cut the bandage itself off before rolling down the captain's sleeve.

"Thank you."

"Just doing my job ma'am."

"Captain! News from the CCT, we've got a massive fleet of unnidentified airships on approach!"

"The hell? Get me a ride there and tell them to begin hailing, if there's no response all forces have full permission to open fire."

"Now hold on, let's not get ahead of ourselves."

"What are you doing here Qrow? I thought you were out clearing the perimeter."

"It's a quick job when you can turn into a bird. Give it a couple of seconds and you'll have an explanation."

The smell of ozone filled the air as a rift appeared between the two and Raven stepped out along with Vernal.

"Raven. You'd better have a good explanation for flying your fleet into a city that's under siege."

"I'm not here to attack, you know our tribes rules, no killing civilians. We're here to help. We can see you're lacking in firepower and manpower, the tribe has plenty of both and we've already handled your shelling problem, our men have retaken the defense guns and are shelling the Grimm before they get into the city. Now would be a good time to say thank you brother," Raven said with a smug grin.

"I'll thank you when this is over and done with. And when you apologize to Tai, he was difficult to deal with after you left. And you need to have a very long talk with your daughter, a talk that ends with you apologizing too."

"For fucks sake Qrow, I know I fucked up! I'm trying to fix this."

"Then get on it."

"Fine. Vernal, back to the ships, I'll be handling our less public affairs, you command in my absence."

"Yes Raven," Vernal said backing up through the portal Raven had created.

"So this is the infamous Raven Branwen. I have to say I expected you to be more intimidating."

"I can be plenty intimidating, right now I'm trying to be friendly though it's particularly difficult sometimes."

"I can see that. Your help is appreciated. You do realize I expect your tribe to follow laws while they're here."

"Trust me, if a single one of them does anything out of step I'll deal with them before you have to. And they're all perfectly aware of that."

"Good. We can trade embarrassing stories about your brother later."

"Wait hold on!" Qrow protested as the two women began walking.

"What?" Raven said giving her brother an annoyed look.

"We need to get to the relic. Cinder's already here, last sighting of her and her posse was at the CCT."

"Damnit, I was hoping they'd back off once we had the upper hand."

"Winter is anybody guarding the headmasters office, and speaking of where's Leo, I haven't seen the old bastard since the attack started."

"I'm... not sure actually. I know nobody was guarding his office but I definitely haven't seen him."

"Shit!" Qrow pulled out his scroll, "Ruby! Get everybody back here, Cinder's after the relic already."

Qrow hung up before his niece could respond and took off running in the direction of the headmasters office. Raven followed behind him with Winter in tow.

"What the hell is going on?" Winter asked as they ran.

"Ironwood's got you informed on our little conspiracy right?"

"To a degree. I'm aware of the maidens and the relics but I don't know where or who any of them are."

"Recap, Cinder is the fall maiden after she killed the last one and the next candidate during the attack on Vale, there's one relic in each kingdom, Mistrals is kept in a vault under Leo's office, if they get hold of it they'll have the advantage with one maiden and a relic to our one maiden and two relics."

"We still have more relics though."

"Not against the Relic of Knowledge we don't. They can ask it any question so long as it's about something that's already happened or is currently happening."

"Shit! They could know everything about our defenses."

"Yeah, and where the other relics are."

"Qrow! What happened to the other maiden and relic we had?"

"The summer maiden was taken out in Vacuo during the riots here along with Shades headmistress. The Vale relic is missing but we know Cinder doesn't have it. All we have now is the winter maiden and the relics of destruction and and creation. And we can't even get to destruction without the summer maiden."

"But they cant get the relic of knowledge without the spring maiden right?"

"Well you said you lost her so they could have her for all we know."

"That was a lie."

"What?"

"I know where the spring maiden is."

"Where?"

"Right here," Raven said as her eyes began to glow.

"For fucks sake Rae!"

"Sorry little brother, I had to protect my tribe."

"Damn it. You could have saved us a lot of trouble."

"Both of you stop it! The office is right here."

The three of them stopped in front of the heavy wooden doors. Heavy footsteps echoed from the other direction down the hall.

"Uncle Qrow! I got everyone I could find!"

"Good job kid."

Now gathered outside the door was team RWBY back together, Jaune, Oscar, Neo, and team ANCT.

"Where's Ren and Nora?" Qrow asked.

"Couldn't find them, last I saw they were using his semblance to hide civilians from Grimm while evacuating them," Jaune answered.

"This might be enough. Might," Qrow muttered as he kicked open the door and was greeted to the sight of the vault hidden in the floor wide open and the pitch black stone steps leading under the school.

"Fuck."

Qrows eyes sweeped the room and settled on a pool of blood spreading from behind the large desk across from the door. He stepped over to investigate and made a look of disgust before turning back to the door where everybody else waited.

"Leo's dead. We need to get down there before they can do anything."

"I'll lead the way," Raven said as she drew her sword and her eyes began to glow.

"Right behind you."

Raven looked at her daughter who had stepped forward to follow her down and nodded in affirmation. The group got into single file order with Yang and Raven leading as they descended into the darkness of the relic vault.

"So that's your partner?" Raven whispered.

"Was my partner. What are you doing here anyways?"

"There's a lot to say behind that but I'll keep it simple, I'm the spring maiden, I've got a lot of emotions pent up and quite a bit of self loathing I've been keeping at bay, and I've decided that now's as good a time as any to try and make up for everything."

"You've got your work cut out for you, I'm not going to make it easy."

"I know you won't, you don't need to accept my apology but I am sorry."

Yang sighed.

"So what do you mean was? Why aren't you partners anymore?"

"She left me. Just like you did. When I lost my arm, she left right afterwards."

"She probably had her reasons, they might not have been the best ones but they would've seemed justified to her at the time. If she's back now she might've come to a similar conclusion as I did. You're not someone to just be thrown away like that."

"Not exactly a vote of confidence from the mom that ditched me as soon as I was born."

"I didn't leave that early. I stuck around until you were two months old and then I left. Long enough to create an attachment for my portals. And I still checked in on you, Tai, and Summer for a while after that. I just needed to deal with some of my own issues for a while."

"And by for a while you mean almost nineteen years."

"I got caught up in tribe business. They needed someone to lead and my tribe first mentality was still very much intact after my years at Beacon."

"You could have written at least."

"I did. I wrote until Summer disappeared."

"Did her death mean anything to you? Because obviously not if you didn't even come back for that."

"Now's not the time for this. I promise I'll tell you later but now is not the time."

"Great. Already keeping stuff from me."

"Yang. Please. Just wait until this is over. And besides I think we're getting close to the bottom."

Raven was right and as everyone spread out at the bottom of the stairs gasps of wonder escaped almost everyone. The vault stood in the center of the room and was accessible by a broad bridge while a dark pit occupied the rest of the caverns space.

"Hey Rae, remember when Ozpin first brought us here on our tour of the academies to meet all the headmasters?"

"You almost fell off the platform."

"You tripped me."

"Children please now is not the time to bring up old grudges."

"And the creepy bastard returns. Nice new body Oz," Raven said looking at Oscar.

"Don't patronize me Raven, I didn't choose him."

"Whatever you say. Aren't Cinder and co supposed to be down here?"

"Right here Raven!"

Raven shot a panicked look in the direction of the central vault where Cinder, Emerald, Mercury, and Tyrian had come out of hiding.

"Isn't that the guy who attacked us on the way here?" Jaune asked Ruby who nodded at the sight of Tyrians wicked looking replacement tail.

"Qrow Branwen! You survived! What a shame, this will be harder than anticipated," Tyrian hissed.

"And how kind of you to deliver us the spring maiden Raven. I'm surprised that it's you of all people. Didn't peg you as one to kill defenseless children."

"What's she talking about?" Qrow asked his sister.

"I didn't kill her. She escaped from Leo when he found her and explained the situation. She didn't want the responsibility of being a maiden and begged for me to kill her. I couldn't do it. So she jumped off my ship. By the time I reached the ground she was already gone and the powers were already mine."

"A poor excuse. You're a murderer just like us Raven."

"We've all killed. It's an inevitable reality of this war," Ozpin said.

"And Ozpin! I didn't expect to hear you again so soon."

"It was a risk reincarnating so quickly, I can't just leave you to wreak havoc unopposed."

"Then we'll have to make sure you-" Cinder cut herself off as her eyes settled on Nadia, "Little sister. I told you it would be a mistake to stay behind. I might not be at the liberty to let you live this time. Our mistress would prefer it if none are left standing."

"The Mistress who's in control right now? You're volatile Cinder but it's been too short a time since you last lost control, there's no way she's released you already."

Cinder laughed quietly, "Clever one, isn't she? You're right, I am in control. She never told me her little sister was so perceptive. You can catch up with her once you're dead and just another thrall in dear Cinders mind."

"Not a chance you old hag, we're getting that relic and you can't do a damn about it. We outnumber you, we're stronger than you, and we've got a more experienced maiden."

"Very well, you will die ignorant at the hands of your own flesh and blood."

Tyrian was the first to attack as he lunged forward, his new tail glinting in the orange glow of the vault. Ruby jumped forward to meet him midair with Crescent Rose intercepting his tail and wrist mounted weapons. The rest of the hunters followed suit and intercepted their charging foes. Salem simply floated forward carried by her powers as she locked eyes with Raven in challenge.

"We'll take her together, alright?"

"Just like old times."

"Not quite," Winter said stepping forward as she readied a glyph.

Ravens eyes began to glow as her powers were released and she and Salem clashed midair. Ravens sword scraped against the jagged edge of Salems pair of conjured blades. Winter set up glyphs to restrict her movement and summoned nevermores and lancers to harass her. From below Qrow transformed and flew to just above and behind Salem before changing back and bringing Harbinger down onto her left arm that was unguarded by aura leaving a deep gouge in the unnatural flesh. Salem didn't even react to the wound but merely allowed the arm to act of its own volition. The limb thrashed in anger and lashed out at Qrow who had turned into a bird again. Barely avoiding the attack Qrow decided to get back to the ground and fend off the arm from there with Winters help.

On the other side of the battle Mercury and Emerald were keeping the others busy with illusions and surprise attacks.

"Neo, it's good to see you again shortstack, sucks that you're on their side though."

Neo shrugged in response as she deflected a kick from Mercury. Neo backstepped from an attack by Emerald using her semblance to distract her with a decoy that Alton jumped through delivering a flurry of blows.

"Thanks again for that knife," Emerald said lightheartedly to Nadia as the two traded blows after Mercury had stepped in against Alton.

"No problem, I've got plenty," Nadia grunted as Sanguis Fons struck Emerald in the chin.

As the mint haired illusionist stumbled away from the hit copies of herself appeared and surrounded Nadia.

"That's not gonna work" Nadia chided changing her weapon into its rocket pod form and fired a volley in a circle at the ring of Emeralds the final rocket actually impacting and throwing Emerald backwards as her aura absorbed the majority of the impact.

"Heads up!" Yang shouted as she launched herself through the fray and over Carla who had joined Alton in fighting off Mercury.

The sound of crunching metal was followed by Mercury screaming in pain. Yang had smashed both of Mercury's cybernetic feet leaving him on the ground completely incapacitated.

"That's for last time. Now your legs are broken for real."

"Thanks blondie, really appreciate it," Mercury hissed through gritted teeth as he clutched at his damaged limbs.

Ruby and Tyrian's fight had moved closer to the vault as Ruby had pressed her advantage of reach under Tiphany's cover. Tyrian's aura had already begun to flicker as he struggle more now to dodge and block Ruby's attacks.

"Quite formidable now aren't we?" Tyrian chuckled as he tried to mask his nervousness.

Ruby said nothing and continued her assault. Using her semblance to duck around and through Tyrian's new metal stinger and his wide sweeping slashes Ruby unloaded the last three shots in Crescent Rose into Tyrian's blind spots leaving his aura spent and a gushing bullet wound in his left side. Ruby pushed forward again causing Tyrian to stumble backwards in his already wounded state and slip over the lip of the bridge and barely cling to the edge with his right hand.

"Give up," Ruby said leveling the barrel of Crescent Rose at his face.

"An eye for an eye!" Tyrian almost pleaded.

"Leaves the whole world blind," Ruby muttered under breath as she pulled the trigger.

Tyrian had attempted to lunge up at Ruby but the bullet stopped his momentum and he plummeted to the bottom of the cavern and was dead before he had even hit the ground. Ruby felt something warm on her face and realized her own aura was down and he had barely scratched her before falling. The cut ran from her left cheek bone down to her chin and was bleeding lightly.

"I'll deal with it later," Ruby shrugged it off and used her semblance to get back to the main fighting.

Emerald was on the extreme defensive now, using her semblance as best she could to divert the eight hunters plus Neo she was fighting while dragging Mercury away. The group had created a line across the bridge ahead of where they'd last seen their foe to ensure she didn't slip past them. Ruby returned to her normal physical state right in front of where Emerald was hiding in plain sight. Emerald took her chance and grabbed Ruby from behind and with her unoccupied hand put her blade to her throat.

"You take another step I slit her throat. Just let us go and we'll leave you alone," Emerald tried to be intimidating but the shaking of her voice betrayed her.

"You know we can't let you just leave. You're wanted terrorists and murderers," Nadia said.

"We never wanted to kill anybody, we just wanted to live our lives."

"You don't have to do this. You don't have to follow Salem or Cinder. You can be good people," Ruby said causing Emerald to press the blades edge closer to skin.

"Em," Mercury pulled at her sleeve weakly, "Just let her go."

"You know I can't do that Merc."

"Please. She reminds me of my sister."

"Merc," Emerald said tentatively her hand beginning to tremble.

"Just do it. Cinder would rather us be in custody than dead."

Emerald sighed and released her hold on her weapon and sank to the ground beside her partner.

"Yeah, she would. For Cinder."

"Come on you two, Emerald help him. We've got a nice cell waiting on our new ship for you as soon as it gets here."

"Ah that new ship smell, don't you love it Merc?" Emerald said to Mercury who she was now carrying bridal style while Alton held her weapons.

"Ruby! What happened to your face?" Weiss said as she realized the entire left side of her partners face was coated in blood.

"Just a close call. Tyrian is, yeah Tyrian is dead. I shot him. Just like that."

"Just make sure you get that looked at once we're out of here, I don't want you getting an infection."

"Holy shit. Yang your mom is kicking some ass," Carla whistled.

Raven had just kicked Cinder into the stone wall with the force of a large truck while Winter and Qrow had taken a backseat and simply stood at the edge of the bridge watching the duel. Cinder hurled balls of fire at Raven who dodged and deflected them with her sword before flying forwards and bicycle kicking Cinder back onto the bridge before hurling a massive ice spike her way pinning her to the stone and destroying her aura at the same time.

"You ready to give up Salem?" Raven asked as she set herself down on the bridge.

"She's gone," Cinder sighed in exhaustion, "Probably gone for a while. Thanks for that," Cinder suddenly screamed in pain as the glow of her eyes extinguished suddenly and were replaced by a dim silver glow.

"Rae. Rae is that you?" Cinders voice had changed to a more caring tone.

"What are you doing?" Raven asked.

"Don't even recognize your own girlfriend when she's inhabiting the body of her murderer, some lover you are."

"Summer?"

"Look at the eyes, I don't have much time," Summer said as she broke Cinders right arm free and held it out towards Raven who took it.

"What's going on?"

"There's someone else in here who'd like to talk to someone before Cinder manages to get control back but I just wanted to say that I don't blame you. You were too late to save me. And it wasn't your fault. I still love you. I still love Tai. And I still love our little girls," Summer twisted Cinders head sideways as far as she could in the ice, "And there they are. Yang honey, Ruby dear over here!"

"Mom?" Ruby asked tentatively recognizing the voice she only barely recalled.

"Oh my little rosebud, you've grown so much. I'm so proud of you. And Yang, our sunny little dragon. You're so big and strong, I couldn't be prouder of the two of you. Mommy loves you both but I have to hand control over to somebody else you might recognize."

"Summer wait!" Raven protested as the silver faded and Cinders eyes closed, "I'm so sorry," Raven sobbed.

"Hello again!"

"What?" Ruby asked in surprise.

Bright green eyes now looked around from Cinders scarred face.

"It's Pyrrha, don't tell me you've forgotten already?"

"No, we haven't forgotten at all, we couldn't."

"Thank goodness, is Jaune here? Or Ren and Nora? There's something I'd like to tell them."

"Jaune is here, Ren and Nora are outside," Ruby said tearing up slightly.

"Could you get him for me?"

"Yeah. I can. JAUNE!"

"What?" Jaune called back from where he was helping get Mercury up the stairs.

"Get over here!"

Jaune ran over completely confused.

"What's going on?"

"Hello again Jaune," Pyrrha said.

"Wha- Pyrrha?" Jaune said immediately recognizing his former partners voice.

"Yes. It's me. I needed to talk to you before Cinder manages to regain control."

"What do you mean, why are you in Cinders body?"

"Your friend Nadia can explain it but right now I just really need to say something."

"O-okay," Jaune agreed almost sobbing outright.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I left you like that to fight Cinder, and I'm sorry for dying, and I'm sorry for not saying anything about liking you sooner. You're a good person Jaune, and an even better leader. I love you."

"No it's not your fault, you did what you could to stop her and it just wasn't possible. You still bought us all precious time and saved hundreds of people."

"Did I? That's good. I have to go now Jaune. Take care of Ren and Nora for me."

"Bye. Bye Pyrrha. I love you too," Jaune finally let the sob he'd been holding in out as the green faded from Cinders eyes and was replaced by orange once again before her eyes closed.

The sound of ice shattering roused Jaune from his sorrow to see that the ice holding Cinder had melted and been shattered as long tendril like arms made of Grimm matter ascended from the pit below them and dragged Cinders unconscious form back down with them.

"Cinder!" Emerald cried from the staircase as she saw the fall maiden get taken.

"Salem got her," Qrow growled, "What were you all blubbering about over here?"

"Did you know?"

"Did I know what?" Qrow answered his sisters question with another.

"That Summer is stuck in Cinders head? Because I sure fucking didn't and this would've been useful to know at some point!"

"Pyrrha too. Probably plenty of other people."

"Yep. That's her semblance. She absorbs the aura, soul, and body of those she kills to make herself stronger," Nadia said stepping forward.

"This is what you meant just before the attack started, isn't it?" Jaune asked her.

"Yeah, sorry I didn't say something sooner, I didn't know for sure."

"It's fine, at least I got to talk to her again."

"If anything that's good because the longer they go without being reminded of their life or having control they fade. The same happened to the rest of our tribes, our parents and everybody else. For your mom to have lasted this long is incredible," Nadia said looking at Ruby.

"Is there any way to get them out? Like if she absorbed their body and their soul then couldn't there be a way of bringing them back?" Yang asked.

"I really don't know, even she doesn't know exactly how her semblance works, I'd expect for everything she's built up to be released she'd have to die. Either that or we'd have to pull the plug that's keeping everything including Salem inside. That arm needs to come off."

"And I was so close a couple minutes ago," Qrow said.

"We still need to get the relic. It's not safe here anymore. Leave it with me. I need to go see someone and then I'm coming back," Raven said stepping towards the vault.

"I'll allow it, but if you don't come back we will track you down," Ozpin said.

"Yeah I know Oz, just get off my back would ya? There and back."

Raven opened the vault and stepped through the shimmering entrance and into the strange liminal space the relic resided in. Taking hold of the lamp Raven walked back out.

"You two want to come?" Raven asked Ruby and Yang.

"Where are we going?" Yang asked her mother.

"Home."

Raven opened a portal and stepped through beckoning the two girls as she went. Yang and Ruby hurries after her and emerged onto the dew coated lawn of their own home.

"I wonder if he's awake?" Raven mused.

"Signal is still in session and he's got to be there by seven and it's five right now so probably," Yang said.

Ruby ran up and knocked on the door as Raven and Yang approached.

"Yeah?" Tai muttered groggily as he opened the door.

"Dad!" Ruby shouted as she tackled him in a flurry of petals.

"What? Where did you come from?"

"Same place I did," Raven answered for her.

"Raven. What are you doing here?"

"She's alive Tai."

"Who?"

"Summer. Summer's alive."

"How, you said you saw her die in your last letter."

"She didn't die, she's just trapped. And we're going to get her back. Somehow."

"And you've finally gotten over your aversion to our daughter?"

"For the most part. She's growing on me," Raven said as she attempted to ruffle her daughters hair.

Tai sighed in relief, "And what about you Yang, not holding too much against her?"

"Oh there's still a lot to talk about. But maybe I could see myself forgiving her."

"Thank you," Raven said suddenly hugging Yang.

"Mom, just don't. Not yet at least."

"Sorry."

"Well come on in and rest a moment."

"Just get us some coffee, we've been fighting for the past ten hours," Raven casually said.

"What?"

"Yeah, Mistral got attacked, like Vale. But we handled it for the most part. Leo died but we captured a couple bad guys," Ruby explained, "I've got a new scar," Ruby traced the finally healing wound along her cheek.

"Well come on in, I've got some aura stimulants for you too if you'd like."

"Thanks Tai. Thanks for waiting for me."

"Maybe now we can actually be a family."

"Like we haven't been? A very spread out and dysfunctional one but a family still."

"Debatable," Tai said leading them into the kitchen.

"Very debatable," Yang added.

The four quickly shared some coffee mixed with the stimulants before saying their goodbyes to Tai, Raven hugging him tightly for a moment before passing back through a portal to Qrow.

"Visiting Tai?" Qrow asked as they appeared.

"Yeah. Just giving him the news."

"Don't break the poor guy, he's been through some shit."

"We all have."

"And we've got plenty more to trudge through before this is over, first we'll need to get Mistral back under control," Yang said looking around at the semi order that had retaken Haven but chaos still seemed to envelop the city itself.

"Won't be too hard with the Tiefer Schnitt here," Winter said gazing at the newly christened warship that had just arrived over the horizon.

Staring in awe as the massive airship that was almost twice the size of the Tödlich Flüstern made good time towards the city and within the minute had gone from a vague shape on the horizon to dominating Mistrals airspace. Freshly outfitted with heavy shielding the smaller vessel didn't have airborne Grimm attempted to attack the state of the art warship but were obliterated by the concentrated energy field or the plethora of anti air guns that spat tracers that lit up the early dawn sky.

"Captain Winter! She was shipped out with the most minimal crew possible, made it here on autopilot. Permission to take the helm once aboard?" Matte asked excitedly from the captain's side where she'd taken up position after being dismissed from repair duties where she'd excelled and finished the task quickly.

"I've seen your flight test scores, permission granted."

"Thank you!" Matte ran to the next bullhead on its way up to deliver supplies from the ship to the ground.

"Hmm, I've been looking at this ship for a while and I'm not really seeing a reason for the chunk missing from the bow."

"Prong mounted hangars, experimental layout for maximum space efficiency of vehicle storage while still remaining sheltered from direct assault," Nadia explained as she inspected the ship with her superior vision.

"Interesting, I wasn't aware this was a carrier."

"It's not. It's a hybrid strike cruiser designed for maximum effectiveness in all areas including troop and vehicle transport, ground support, air combat, and assault roles. Ground support and assault are covered by those theee rings around the center."

"I've never seen a superstructure like that before, what is it?"

"Hold on, there's a large horde of Grimm approaching from the north I think they'll use it on," as soon as the words had left Nadia's fanged mouth the three tiered rings began to spin and large deck guns resembling the standard ones carried on most warships emerged from the armor and spun with the rings.

After the rings reached optimal speed which was made evident by a low hum filling the air the guns attached to them let loose in a cacophony of noise. Shells flew in an odd pattern almost resembling a slightly offset spiral before pounding the many acres the approaching Grimm had stood on moments before, and afterwards nothing but dust and dirt remained in a mile radius.

"That does seem to fit those roles."

"Taking covering fire to a whole nother level. Just cover everything in fire," Carla chuckled.

"That's what they did to us," Alton said shrugging.

"Back to clearing Grimm, and there's still a lot of Grimm," Weiss groaned.

"Why don't you all take a break for now, the situation is mostly handled, civilians are out of the way and reinforcements have arrived, just head up to the ship and rest in the hunter suites," Winter suggested.

"I'm fine with that," Tiphany said as she yawned.

"And I need to shower, I've got a lot of blood on my feet."

"We could all use a break," Ruby said.

"And we could probably use locking up, you got distracted," Emerald said peeking out from behind Yang.

"And I could use some repairs, you can't expect to just leave me crippled," Mercury grumbled from the ground.

"A couple months and you get used to it."

"Hey I lost my legs before you were even a huntress!"

"What happened, did Cinder take them to get you to work for her?"

"No. They were smashed when my dad set fire to our house and left my little sister to die while I finally gave him a piece of my mind and a taste of my knuckles. I went back in after he was dead but I knew she was already gone."

"And you don't say shit about Cinder, she's dealing with more than you ever could."

"Really? Who knew being a heartless murderer would actually effect somebody?" Yang deadpanned.

"She doesn't want any of this, she realized the mistake of trusting Salem years ago. But it's not like she could even leave, Salem has her in the palm of her hand and it hurts her to no end."

"She murdered our family," Nadia said.

"She was forced. Do you really think she was in control when she killed your parents? When she killed his parents who had treated her as one of their own?" Emerald gestured at Alton with her shackled hands.

"Shut. The fuck. Up," Alton spat, "You have no right to say a single fucking thing about stuff you don't know. Yeah, she killed my parents, but did you see her do it? No. We did. We were there. There wasn't a single bit of remorse in her eyes when she shoved that piece of metal right through my mom and left her to burn even after she had approached her unarmed. She showed no emotion when she snapped my dad's neck like it was nothing. So don't you say a damn word about whether or not she felt that. Because she didn't."

"She's not a monster. She's like a dog on a chain. Get rid of the master and all hostility disappears."

"She'll be gone before Salem."

Emerald made to speak again but was interrupted by Neo putting the tip of her parasol to her lips.

"She's the reason Roman's dead, so I'm the reason she's going to be dead."

"Just get them to the ship. And you," Winter said turning to Qrow, "Don't die down here, we've almost gotten through the worst of it."

"Really? You're not even going to say it now?"

Winter turned away from him.

"Guess now's a good time to say it. I'm dating your sister!" Qrow said to Weiss.

"Seriously? Winter this better be a joke."

"It's no joke. Qrow Branwen, as annoying as he may be, is my boyfriend."

"And she still won't say it," Qrow pouted.

"I'm not saying the damned words you stupid bird!"

"Ah whatever, she'll say it eventually."

"Wait, if Qrow ends up marrying Winter, what would that make us?" Ruby asked Weiss.

"Considering we're not related by blood or law, absolutely nothing," Qrow answered for the heiress.

Alton chuckled as he walked away from the two very similar pairs with his team and handed Mercury and Emerald over to some atlesian soldiers ready to escort them to the Tiefer Schnitt.

"We're headed to our new home. Come on guys, I'd like to get a nap in before ten."

"Highly unlikely," Tiphany jabbed.

"Not if I knock him out," Nadia said.

"Did you just threaten your own boyfriend?"

"Yes, he's my boyfriend I can do what I want."

"She's got that right," Alton agreed.

"Whatever."

Cinder had finally regained consciousness and found herself on the shore of a small Grimm spawning pool at the bottom of the vault pit. Clutching at her wounded left arm in pain she let out a gasp of shock as she found that the Grimm substance that made up the limb now covered her entire shoulder and part of her back and side. Cinder scratched at the melded flesh in a vain attempt to remove it before giving up and pushed herself to her feet in an effort to make true on her promise to Emerald.

Authors notes:

Fuck where to begin.

I shared part of that little Bee talk in a couple discord servers so some people might have been expecting it. I'm really proud of that actually.

Yeah that was Carla's semblance, it allows her to influence people's emotions on a large scale though it's incredibly unreliable and innacurate.

Here's Adam!

There goes Adam!

I went through probably three different drafts of that fight and Yang and Blake's talks about it right after but I feel like this is the best one.

Winter Schnee is a human person with emotions, who woulda thought?

Meeting the in-laws part one.

I decided to keep Ren and Nora out of that just to keep the fight somewhat even but it was kind of decided to be heavily towards the good guys from the start. Because plot. And I'm an incompetent writer.

Oooh feels.

Yeah Summer, Raven, and Tai were poly before Raven left and Summer died.

I hope that didn't feel forced with Summer and Pyrrha, I tried my best.

Rip Cinder.

Not really, she's still too important to die like that.

Hasty portal, hasty apology, and coffee.

New ship! A lot better than the old ship. I based the ring cannons off of the ship in Harlock Space Pirate (good movie)

Yep, Snowbirds is official. Up to this point they've kinda been off and on but now that they've been within a few miles of each other for a couple months they've managed to steady out.

Yep there she is. Alive and still regretting joining Salem.

Thanks to Patasaurus, Tensazangitsu, abbydobbie, and darksilver reaper for favoriting!

Please leave a review if you liked the chapter, it's always nice to hear feedback from readers.

Also I'll be taking a break from this and my other fic for a while to write some shorter fics, most of them one shots and smut.