A/N: Here it is: the final chapter of The Rose and the Candle. Sorry for the extremely late update, but life got in the way. Life and procrastination, but still. To be honest, at first, I didn't really have a good setting for this particular chapter, but fortunately that got fixed with the Yang character short prior to Volume 5. (If you haven't seen that short yet, go watch that first, as I did take a lot from it for this one). Now, fight scenes are not my specialty, so the quality of the fight might not be that great. Just a heads-up. Before I dump you guys off into the finale, I just want to say there are some things I want to mention at the end. I'll try not to make that note too long, but I'd appreciate it if you stuck around for that. Anyway, back to what you're actually here for…

The Rose and the Candle

Chapter 6: Finale

It was a bright sunny day on the island of Patch. Three figures were gathered in a forest clearing. Two of them were in the middle of the clearing, in the process of hand-to-hand training. The third was leaning against a nearby tree enjoying the spectacle.

Long bangs of his bright orange hair covered his right eye; black eyeliner was traced along his left eye, the only one visible of his pair of slanted dark-greens. On top of this head was a black bowler hat with a small feather tucked into its red band. The rest of his apparel consisted of a red-lined white suit with long black pants and black shoes. His accessories consisted of a small gray scarf tied around his neck and black gloves with buckled sleeves covering his hands. Resting on his arm was a gray and red cane.

Roman Torchwick had come a long way since his days as a street rat in Vale. He had found a family that helped get him out of that hole. He had spent the last several years preparing to be a Huntsman, and he had made significant progress. His Aura had been unlocked very early on, but he was still getting used to using his Semblance in combat. To be fair, he didn't truly need it. He was a good enough fighter with just his instincts. His instincts, and his specially made weapon-cane that was currently hanging from his arm, Melodic Cudgel. Part-melee-capable cane, part destructive flare gun, and part grappling hook. Roman was rather proud of it.

His adopted sisters also followed the path of becoming Huntresses. Yang, who was about the same age as Roman, had developed a reputation with her aggressive fighting style utilizing a pair of gauntlets capable of shooting explosive rounds that she named Ember Celica. Her preferred apparel consists of a tan jacket that bares her lower stomach with golden brown piping and short, puffy sleeves with black cuffs featuring two golden buttons; a low-cut yellow crop top with her chosen emblem on the left breast in black underneath the jacket; a brown belt covered by a pleated brown piece of material reaching from hip to hip around the back of her waist, with her emblem displayed once again, this time emblazoned in gold on the right-most pleat; a longer, white, asymmetrical piece of material reaching to her right knee in addition to black mini-shorts underneath the brown material; brown knee-high boots and orange over-the-knee socks, the right sock pushed down just below the knee; a lavender bandana tied around her left knee; an orange infinity scarf around her neck; and black fingerless gloves with her gauntlets acting as bracelets when not in use. Roman liked to think he had a great sense of style, but Yang took it a bit too far. He felt it too promiscuous.

Ruby had proven herself to be quite the fighter as well, her skills and abilities far surpassing her peers, if the staff at Signal were to be believed. Her weapon, which she was a little too attached too, was a scythe, a dangerous and rarely used weapon requiring strength, balance, and adaptability, which Ruby had mastered extremely well. Qrow had certainly taught her well. The scythe was bad enough for her opponents as is, but she also built it to act as a high-caliber, high-impact sniper rifle. Yep, she was a gun nut through and through. It was a good thing her opponents had their Auras unlocked. She may seem cute and innocent, but she was still a dangerous opponent. At least, as long as she had her scythe within reach. Hand-to-hand was a major weakness of Ruby's, hence the ongoing training session. Ruby's chosen apparel consisted of a long-sleeved thick black blouse with a high collar and red trim on the sleeves; a black waist cincher with red lacing up the front; a black skirt with red trim; a pair of thick black stockings; black combat boots with red laces, red trim around the top and red soles; and a large silver brooch in the shape of her rose emblem she pinned to a wide black belt slung around her hips on an angle in addition to bullets and a pouch. The whole ensemble was topped by Ruby's other favorite possession: a red hooded cloak fastened to her shoulders by cross-shaped pins. Needless to say, Ruby was more conservative in her choice of apparel compared to Yang, with practically nothing revealing in her look.

The two sisters were currently attempting to improve Ruby's hand-to-hand skills while Roman stayed on the sidelines to spectate.

"Oof."

With Ruby on the ground. Again.

"Ow…" Ruby groaned from her position in the dirt.

"Come on. You totally could have dodged that," Yang told her younger sister as she helped her back to her feet.

"Yang," Ruby whined. "I've already told you. I'm just not cut out for hand-to-hand. Why can't I just use my beautiful Crescent Rose?" She moved in admiration of her death-machine, bringing her hands to her cheeks.

"That's exactly why we wouldn't let you bring it," Yang responded.

"You're too attached and rely too much on that oversized gardening tool," Roman added.

"Don't call it that!" Ruby yelled in anger.

"Exactly my point!"

Ruby just gave her signature groan of annoyance.

"Ruby, Roman and I are gonna be leaving for Beacon soon. We wanna make sure our little sis can hold her own while we're gone, even if someone could be doing more to help." That last bit was directed at Roman.

"Hey, spectating allows me to observe and provide helpful tips. But I can't actually do that if no progress is being made," Roman argued as he motioned for them to continue.

"Fine," Ruby said as Yang readied her stance once more.

Ruby barely had time to block as her sister threw a punch, which Ruby blocked with her wrist. Roman watched on with a small grin as the two Huntresses-in-training duked it out, Ruby awkwardly trying to block and dodge Yang's attacks. Ruby eventually retaliated after sidestepping Yang's third right jab. Ruby attempted to deliver a right hook from behind, but missed as Yang moved her head to dodge casually. Yang tripped Ruby with a leg sweep, putting the falling redhead at the mercy of her right hook. Ruby successfully managed to escape with her speed Semblance, speeding away into the trees and dispersing into rose petals. Roman put a hand on his hat to keep it from flying off his head as Ruby zoomed past him.

"Nice one, sis!" Yang called out. "You're not always going to be able to run away from your problems, though. Sometimes, you just have to stand your ground and fight, no matter what."

Yang and Roman waited in the clearing for a few more seconds for Ruby to return. "Alright, enough rest! Get back out here," Yang finally called out. There was no answer. "Ruby?"

"I'm going to go look for her," Roman said, removing his cane from his arm and gripping the handle as he lowered the tip to the ground. "Stay here."

"Be careful. There could be Grimm out there."

"There's always Grimm out in the middle of nowhere," Roman responded as he moved deeper into the forest.

Roman walked through the forest foliage for any sign of his youngest adopted sister. She couldn't have landed very far from the clearing even with her Semblance pushing her forward. Pushing aside the brush in his search, he failed to find much evidence of where Ruby disappeared to. Following the rose petals she left behind in the wake of her speed Semblance was out of the question; they tended to disappear quickly. It took a few minutes to finally find her.

Ruby had landed on her stomach with her head laying on its right side in the middle of a small break in the foliage. Roman couldn't help but give a small smile. Ruby had a knack for ending up in odd situations like this.

Roman made his way over to the unconscious girl and sat down cross-legged on the ground. With his cane, he began gently prodding her to try and wake Ruby up.

"Ruby? Ruby…" he called softly.

Slowly, Ruby started to regain consciousness.

"Ugh…ow…" she groaned as she began to sit up.

"Rise and shine, Red!" Roman said cheerfully.

"I…have too much of a headache to scold you for using that name again," was her only response.

"The thought of you scolding anyone for whatever reason is actually kind of entertaining. Especially since it won't come across as angry as you think it would," Roman said as he stood up, offering his hand to help Ruby up.

Ruby grabbed his hand and slowly stood up, headache and pain starting to subside.

"Thanks," she said.

Just then, they heard the sounds of gunfire, a distinctive sound that both knew the source of.

"Yang!" they both exclaimed as they began to run back to the clearing.

They came back just in time to see Yang get thrown into the forest by a big and fearsome-looking Ursa. She landed in the dirt at the edge of the clearing, but the force of the throw caused her to slide further into the forest, digging a trench and uprooting a few trees as she slid.

Roman pushed Ruby behind a tree, motioning for her to stay there and be quiet. Ruby nodded in acknowledgement. She was no good in a fight without her scythe.

Roman quickly and quietly moved behind a fallen log at the edge of the clearing as the Ursa looked to where it had thrown Yang. Gripping the curved hilt of his cane, he poked it out over the log. The bottom flipped open to reveal that it was a reticule, with an opening at the bottom of the cane where the destructive flares of Melodic Cudgel were fired. Roman carefully aimed the reticule, lining it up with the Ursa's torso. He then launched a fiery and destructive round at the Ursa. The sound of Roman's flare gun firing alerted the Ursa to his presence, but not fast enough to avoid getting hit by the explosive. Popping out from his cover, Roman continued firing at the Grimm, unleashing round after round at the beast. The blasts were succeeding in staggering the Ursa, but they weren't causing significant damage to it.

Come on, Yang, get up!

Finally, Yang came back into the clearing. She kept looking between Roman and the Ursa, looking for a way back into the action. She got an idea when she saw the Ursa was unable to move forward thanks to Roman's ceaseless bombardment. Getting into her combat stance, she began launching her own explosive rounds.

The Ursa was beyond infuriated with being bombarded by two people. It put its arms up to its head to try to shield itself from the attacks. Yang realized it was waiting to charge at the two of them once they stopped.

"Roman, stop firing!" Yang yelled.

"Why?" Roman called back.

"I've got an idea!"

"Alright…" Roman responded with uncertainty.

Roman halted his fiery bombardment against the Ursa, running into the forest and disappearing into the brush. Yang continued to fire rounds from her gauntlets to draw the Ursa's attention. It worked, as the Ursa immediately began charging at Yang.

Yang dodged a swipe from the Ursa's paw, jumping around the Ursa as she delivered powerful, gauntlet-assisted punches to the creature. The Ursa caught Yang in the air and sent her flying through the air, her Aura flaring from the impact. Yang fired her gauntlets while airborne, launching herself forward to begin another relentless assault. However, the Ursa was learning. It managed to flank around Yang and catch her in its mouth as she flew toward where the creature once stood. Yang's Aura started to flicker, threatening to dissipate entirely. Ruby and Roman looked on in fear as the Ursa flung Yang aside like a ragdoll.

Suddenly, Yang's eyes flung open, a deep red instead of their usual lilac.

"She activated her Semblance. She'll win this," Roman commented quietly, resting his hand on Ruby's shoulder to reassure his younger sister.

Landing on a tree trunk, Yang once more launched herself forward at the Ursa, screaming as the distance between the two closed. The Ursa tried to swipe at Yang, but its palm met her fist. The resulting shockwave of power sent Roman and Ruby back a couple of feet, deeper into the brush. The Ursa roared in pain as the force of Yang's punch broke the bones in the Grimm's arm. Yang and the Ursa were sent flying from the pure force of the stalemate. The Ursa dissolved as it hit the ground. Yang bounced a few times before finally hitting the side of a tree, landing in a sitting position, fatigued from the fight.

"Yang!" Ruby called out as she and Roman ran over to check on their sister. "Yang, are you okay?"

"I'm okay," Yang said as she looked up at the two of them. "Looks like you were right Roman, there are always Grimm out in the middle of nowhere."

"Right. So, what was your idea, exactly?" came Roman's response. "Distract the Ursa long enough for you to get roughed up and use your Semblance?"

"Basically? Yes."

"Wow. You really do enjoy risking your life, don't you?"

"Just shut up and help me."

The three of them walked back to their house, where Taiyang waited for them, watering the sunflowers by the front door.

"So, how'd it go?" he asked as he noticed their approach.

"We got ambushed by an Ursa," Roman responded nonchalantly. "Don't worry, Yang killed it."

Tai did look worried at first, but he simply sighed and said, "Next time, make sure all of you have your weapons."

With that, the four of them entered the house and readied for a lazy rest of the day.

However, hidden in the tree line, was a figure who had watched the whole fight from the shadows.

"Hm. Interesting," he said in a whispering voice. "This is one to keep an eye on." Without another word, he disappeared into the shadows, moving on to observe others as their paths with the Rose-Xiao Long-Torchwick household came closer to intersecting.

A/N: So that's it! The Rose and the Candle is officially done! I wasn't planning on making this an overly long story, especially since this was based on some artwork I was introduced to via RWBY Nation on Facebook. Regrettably, I was not able to find that artwork recently. It was actually two bits that are part of the same arc and they were only incorporated into the first chapter. But, anyway, I feel satisfied with what I managed to put out. I did rely pretty heavily on the RWBY Wiki for this, especially with descriptions, as my thinking was if I was going to do this, I needed to get details as correct as possible. I basically just wanted certain things to match what has been established in the show. Anyway, I wanted to thank all of you for reading this story and for all the reviews that it's gotten (I really enjoyed reading them), and don't worry, I will be putting more stories up. I already have a few ideas in the works. With that said, I don't plan on doing a follow-up for The Rose and the Candle. I'd rather not have my creative energies devoted to one specific story when I have other ideas that they can be devoted to. So, unless I get bombarded with requests to continue this story in a separate sequel story, then this is officially the end. As for what's coming up in the future: There are two rather big and ambitious ideas that have been festering in my mind for a lot longer than this one, and that are going require quite the amount of research for what I have planned. And yes, they are both RWBY-related. However, those are still a good amount of time away, as I have another idea that I want to try and work on and have up here before I get to those. You can expect update times to be longer than they were with this one. And since I know I'm going to be asked about it, yes the random figure I threw in at the end will be making more appearances, but they won't be that many. He was actually a last-minute addition (sort of) that I thought I'd throw in as an interesting little bit. There is a reason for him being there and what he said at the end. It isn't completely random. Other than that, there's not much to say besides stay tuned! My next story may not be up for a good long while (there is a second opinion of sorts I need to reference with), but it will be coming in the future. Fröhliches Lesen!