p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"On Our Way … Still … or Again/span/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;" /span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"A somewhat disappointed Team RWBY and others look back at Season 6./span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"[Author's note: this piece does not connect with any other Darkpenn RWBY stories.]/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;""Well," said Weiss, staring through the airship window at the sea passing beneath them, "all that was pretty much a waste of everyone's time. At the start we were on our way to Atlas and now, here we are, on our way to Atlas … still."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;""Actually, I think that it's 'on our way to Atlas, em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"again/em," said Nora./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;""A somewhat technical distinction," said Ren. Nora shot him a look. "But valid," he added./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;""Not a totally wasted time," said Blake. "We killed Adam."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;""Are you sure?" said Ruby./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;""Stabbed him – twice – and watched him go over a cliff into a raging torrent, hitting a big rock on the way down," said Yang. "So, yeah, pretty sure. span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanIf he comes back, it would be a sign of real desperation in the ideas department."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;""By the way, I have some very important news," said Blake. "Actually, two things. First, I lost my coat. As you can see. Second, Yang and I … we are … she and I … are going to be … how can I put this … er, an item. Going forward. span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanA, you know, a thing. span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanA … together … thing."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;""Ta-dah!" said Yang./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"Everyone looked at them./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;""What do you mean 'going forward'?" said Jaune./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;""Uh, well, I … we … mean … from now. Sort of. Soon. Est," said Blake./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;""Oh," said Ren. "I thought you already were."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;""Me too," said Weiss. "Had been for ages. span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanSeemed kind of obvious."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"There was a general chorus of mumbling./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;""Let's save some time here," said Nora. "Is there anyone who thought that they em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"weren't/em together? Hands up."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"No hands./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"Blake sighed. Her cat ears sagged. "And to think," she said, "that I spent all that time worrying about what people might say."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"Yang leaned over and kissed her on the cheek, making Blake's ears rise a little. "My sweet country kitten," she said./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;""There were a few other things that happened over the past few weeks," said Ruby. "We learned more about Salem. Although generally the lamp thing was a pretty tangled-up mess. I mean, three questions every hundred years? Who thought that one up? It's hardly worth saving the damn thing at all."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;""At least I got some new clothes," said Oscar. "About time, if you ask me."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;""Hmm," said Weiss. "All that is true, but it doesn't really justify freezing our butts off tramping through the snow and the peculiar side-story at the farm. Well, maybe Cinder had a better time."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;""I thought she was dead," said Yang./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;""Oh no, she is far too interesting for that," said Weiss. "And far too cool. And no, I have not forgotten that she skewered me with a spear made of fire."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"Yang nodded. "You know who else is cool?" she said. "Neo. Yes, I know she wiped the floor with me on the train, way back when. But that just shows how cool she is."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"Everyone looked at her./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;""I'm just saying it," said Yang. "We've all thought it."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;""Oh yeah," said Blake. "Neo is so cool she's hot. And the fact that she doesn't talk just makes her … hotter."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;""Down, girl," said Yang./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;""Yes, Cinder and Neo teaming up would definitely be a show-stealer," said Ruby. "Could be a worry. As if Salem doing a Darth Vader thing isn't bad enough."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;""So, do we have anything to look forward to, if and when we finally get to Atlas?" said Weiss./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"Yang and Blake glanced at each other. "Hope so," they said together./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;""Aside, from that, maybe," said Nora./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;""We can but wait and see," said Ren./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"Qrow had been listening to the group. He was unsure whether he was supposed to feel afraid, surprised or bored. He took his flask out. But it was empty. Well, that's just about the most interesting thing that I've done lately, he thought./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;""What do you hope for in Atlas, Uncle Qrow?" said Ruby./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;""I hope," he said, "that they have a lot of booze there."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"END/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;" /span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"A somewhat disappointed Team RWBY and others look back at Season 6./span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"[Author's note: this piece does not connect with any other Darkpenn RWBY stories.]/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;""Well," said Weiss, staring through the airship window at the sea passing beneath them, "all that was pretty much a waste of everyone's time. At the start we were on our way to Atlas and now, here we are, on our way to Atlas … still."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;""Actually, I think that it's 'on our way to Atlas, em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"again/em," said Nora./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;""A somewhat technical distinction," said Ren. Nora shot him a look. "But valid," he added./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;""Not a totally wasted time," said Blake. "We killed Adam."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;""Are you sure?" said Ruby./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;""Stabbed him – twice – and watched him go over a cliff into a raging torrent, hitting a big rock on the way down," said Yang. "So, yeah, pretty sure. span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanIf he comes back, it would be a sign of real desperation in the ideas department."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;""By the way, I have some very important news," said Blake. "Actually, two things. First, I lost my coat. As you can see. Second, Yang and I … we are … she and I … are going to be … how can I put this … er, an item. Going forward. span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanA, you know, a thing. span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanA … together … thing."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;""Ta-dah!" said Yang./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"Everyone looked at them./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;""What do you mean 'going forward'?" said Jaune./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;""Uh, well, I … we … mean … from now. Sort of. Soon. Est," said Blake./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;""Oh," said Ren. "I thought you already were."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;""Me too," said Weiss. "Had been for ages. span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanSeemed kind of obvious."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"There was a general chorus of mumbling./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;""Let's save some time here," said Nora. "Is there anyone who thought that they em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"weren't/em together? Hands up."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"No hands./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"Blake sighed. Her cat ears sagged. "And to think," she said, "that I spent all that time worrying about what people might say."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"Yang leaned over and kissed her on the cheek, making Blake's ears rise a little. "My sweet country kitten," she said./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;""There were a few other things that happened over the past few weeks," said Ruby. "We learned more about Salem. Although generally the lamp thing was a pretty tangled-up mess. I mean, three questions every hundred years? Who thought that one up? It's hardly worth saving the damn thing at all."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;""At least I got some new clothes," said Oscar. "About time, if you ask me."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;""Hmm," said Weiss. "All that is true, but it doesn't really justify freezing our butts off tramping through the snow and the peculiar side-story at the farm. Well, maybe Cinder had a better time."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;""I thought she was dead," said Yang./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;""Oh no, she is far too interesting for that," said Weiss. "And far too cool. And no, I have not forgotten that she skewered me with a spear made of fire."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"Yang nodded. "You know who else is cool?" she said. "Neo. Yes, I know she wiped the floor with me on the train, way back when. But that just shows how cool she is."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"Everyone looked at her./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;""I'm just saying it," said Yang. "We've all thought it."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;""Oh yeah," said Blake. "Neo is so cool she's hot. And the fact that she doesn't talk just makes her … hotter."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;""Down, girl," said Yang./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;""Yes, Cinder and Neo teaming up would definitely be a show-stealer," said Ruby. "Could be a worry. As if Salem doing a Darth Vader thing isn't bad enough."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;""So, do we have anything to look forward to, if and when we finally get to Atlas?" said Weiss./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"Yang and Blake glanced at each other. "Hope so," they said together./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;""Aside, from that, maybe," said Nora./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;""We can but wait and see," said Ren./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"Qrow had been listening to the group. He was unsure whether he was supposed to feel afraid, surprised or bored. He took his flask out. But it was empty. Well, that's just about the most interesting thing that I've done lately, he thought./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;""What do you hope for in Atlas, Uncle Qrow?" said Ruby./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;""I hope," he said, "that they have a lot of booze there."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"END/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;" /span/p