[RWBY] The Great Temporal Step-Sibling War!

[AndrewJTalon]

Glimpses Into Another Time: Many Partings

- - -
Maharaja Palace, Kingdom of Pandu, Southern Mistral, Animus: One Month after the Defeat of Salem

- - -

Crown Princess Maia Sarkara, also known as May Zedong, stared at the beautiful woman in the mirror before her. She was dressed in a pure white sari, inlaid with gold and Ice Dust, and necklaces that dripped with pearls and gems. A simple headscarf went over her dark red hair, white silk with embroidered sapphires. Her makeup was flawless, red lipstick, blush, and a single red dot in the center of her forehead.

The sheer amount of wealth on her was staggering to the girl who thought she was the orphaned child of two nobodies in Vacuo. The fine quarters she sat in were done in marble and seawood, and opened out onto a balcony that gave her a beautiful view of Pandu City itself. The spiraling, almost organic architecture done mostly in tans with pointed-dumpling like rooftops, cut by dozens of canals with bridges and tropical trees lining the thoroughfares and roads.

She sat as the maids did their finishing touches on her, adjusting her clothing ties or adding more mascara. They both wore red and blue saris, and as soon as they were done they stepped back expectantly. May stood up, giving herself a once over in the mirror again.

"Are you pleased, Your Highness?" The maids asked together. May nodded stiffly.

"Yes. Thank you," she said with a small nod. She didn't want to ruin any of their work. "Um, can you... I need to be alone, please?"

The maids smiled and bowed.

"Of course, Your Majesty," they spoke in unison, before they turned and walked out the door. They slid it shut behind them. May waited a moment or two, before she slid back down on the circular couch she'd been sitting patiently on all this time. She sighed, and resisted the urge to grab at her hair and groan.

"Hey May."

May jumped. She looked at the balcony, where a familiar blond was sitting on the railing. He smiled warmly at her, despite the scars on his face and chin.

"Jaune!" She cried in joy and alarm. She rushed over to him, only just remembering to lift up her skirts, and then hugged him tightly. She pulled back with a scowl.

"You should still be in bed," she admonished him, "You almost died to that assassin-"

"I know," Jaune sighed, "My mom and Ruby are gonna give me hell. But..." He took her hands in his, "I had to see you before... Y-You know... The coronation, and all."

May sighed and nodded slowly.

"Y-Yeah," she managed. Jaune looked at her in concern.

"You okay?"

An exasperated look was his first response.

"You almost died and you're asking if I'm okay?"

Jaune shrugged.

"Yeah."

May worried her lower lip. She'd have to fix her lipstick.

"I just... Um... Well..."

She sighed deeply.

"I'm terrified," she admitted.

"Why?" Jaune asked with a smile, "Uncle Arjun and Aunt Saia wouldn't hand you the throne if they didn't think you could do it! Hell, if not for you, we wouldn't have gotten all the Kingdoms to unite against Salem and-"

"I know! I know..." Maya shut her eyes, "I just... I did what I could as Crown Princess. Now? Now I'm... I'm gonna be Queen. I'm going to have to lead my country, and-and this alliance and..."

She shook her head. She pressed her face lightly against his chest.

"I'm scared I'll screw everything up," she mumbled, "I didn't even know I was a princess until a few years ago... We won the war but the nobility is already skeptical of me, despite everything... I... What if I ruin everything we did?"

Jaune hugged her back tightly, and made soothing circles on her back.

"Anyone in your position is afraid of ruining everything. You'd have to be crazy to not be scared," Jaune said soothingly, "But I know you can do it, May. Besides... You've always been so scared, but you still did what was needed. That's real courage... Being scared and still doing what needs to be done."

May blushed, and smiled warmly up at him.

"I... Thank you, Jaune," she murmured.

Jaune nodded slowly. May held onto him. The silence stretched on. Jaune coughed.

"Uh... I um... I had better get to the main courtyard," he managed.

"R-Right," May said with a faint nod.

He slowly, reluctantly, pulled away. He hesitated a moment, before he turned and jumped off the balcony. May watched him go with a small, longing sigh.

"You know, you should have kissed him."

"Eep!" May jumped. She turned back. Her father, Arjun Sarkara, smirked a bit. Despite having only one leg and one arm left from the final battle, the older man had still snuck into the bedroom on a walking stick without detection.

She pouted at her father.

"He... I mean..." She sighed. "I'm going to be the Queen, Father. I... I don't know if I can or should..."

Arjun laughed. He limped over to his daughter, and patted her on the shoulder.

"Sweetie," he said gently, "Your mother was my maid."

"You were the King! You could do anything!" May insisted. "I... I have to think about the future!"

Arjun sighed and shook his head. He squeezed her shoulder.

"Honestly May... It's a brand new world. Free of the menace of Salem. Yes, you have responsibilities. Very big ones... But they won't be worth anything if you aren't happy."

May bowed her head again. Arjun smiled softly, and tilted her chin up.

"And all any father wants for their daughter is that they be happy," he said softly. He shrugged. "Besides... He's one of the heroes who helped saved the world. What fool would oppose you marrying him?"

"... Me, I guess," May sighed. She then smiled at her father, and then hugged him.

"Thank you, Father..."

"No, thank you," Arjun chuckled, hugging her tightly, "Now I'll get to hang out with Nick all I like in my retirement."

"Father!"

- - -

The Maharaja Palace's main courtyard was on the second level of the palace. A beautiful rooftop garden, filled with trees and crisscrossed with marble tiled paths. In the center was a great fountain, where a statue of Shiva, the first King of Pandu, stood solemnly.

Hundreds of people were gathered in the great courtyard, all around the statue. In front of it stood Oscar Pine, the new host of the wizard Ozma. Before him knelt May, and in his hands was an ornate crown and headdress. It radiated outward, like a crown of golden stars, as he lowered it onto May's head. Satisfied with its placement, May looked up to the wizard with a nervous smile. He smiled back, then looked out at the large crowd of dignitaries, warriors, and normal citizens from across Remnant. His eyes lingered on Dr. Weena Nebogipfel, who gave him a warm smile back. He cleared his throat.

"Now come the days of the Queen of Pandu!" He boomed, his voice carrying out across the courtyard. He turned his warm smile back onto May.

"May they be blessed."

May stood up slowly. She took a deep breath, nodded, and then turned to face the crowd. Oscar moved off to the side, giving her the full spotlight of attention.

"This day does not belong to any one person," she spoke, "Man or Faunus, we have all stood on the brink of destruction, united... And we have triumphed. Let us all stay united and work together to rebuild this world... So that all may share in the days of peace."

Applause followed. From General Ironwood's polite but genuine applause, to Chieftainess Kali's tearfilled smile. May walked through the crowds, smiling, waving, shaking hands and accepting gracious bows...

Until she came across her dearest friends in the whole world. Jaune, Nora, Ren, Ruby, Yang, Blake, Weiss, Nolan, Roy, and Brawnz. They were a riot of emotions, from Roy and Nolan's manly sobbing, to Yang's happy grin, to Ruby's tearfilled beam and Jaune's gentle smile.

They all made to bow... But May laughed and shook her head.

"My friends... You bow to no one."

She dropped down and bowed her head to them. She sensed every other person in the courtyard do the same. Ruby tittered nervously. Nora waved. Ren remained stoic as ever, holding Nora's hand. Yang and Blake looked a bit embarrassed. Roy and Brawnz tried to look macho, while Nolan tried to look cool. Weiss bore it with a stoic expression.

Jaune... Knelt before her. She stood up, and shook her head.

"Jaune... I said you bow to no one."

Jaune laughed nervously, and held up a small velvet box. Her eyes widened.

"I-I know... I'm not bowing. I'm... I'm asking..." He looked up into her eyes, determined.

"I'm asking the woman I love to marry me... So um... Will you?"

May yanked him up and kissed him, absolutely ruining her lipstick. But as she heard cheers and whoops... She found her usual nervousness gone.

In its place was nothing but joy... And hope for the future.

- - -

Obviously a reference to "Return of the King" but hey, I was in an LOTR kind of mood.

Sift Green

 

[JiggieP]

Agh, that's too sweet. Call a doctor, and a dentist too, cause I'm getting diabeetus and cavities at the same time.

 

[AndrewJTalon]

Raven didn't expect her first lunge to land a killing blow. Not while Qrow was right there ready to block her first strike with Harbinger in its' sword form. Tai also possessed good enough reflexes to try dodging her strikes and move within her guard, so the fact he was unarmed wasn't what put him at a disadvantage in this fight. Isabel was similar to Tai with the added bonus that even a solid hit wouldn't guarantee real damage to her body or aura, as evidenced by the sword that was now harmlessly imbedded in her body. Raven mentally cursed the fact that she hadn't had the opportunity to restock Omen's dust blades before this job, for if she had Isabel's stunt could have taken her out of the fight. That said all three of them were opponents that she would have to take seriously in a one on one fight so facing all three of them without using the power of the Maiden was foolish, especially since the odds of Isabel being here without her husband Nick was low, meaning Raven only had a few moments before this became a four verses one.

In times past poetic duelists would compare fights to strategic games like chess, with the fighters planning out their moves multiple steps ahead of their opponent. Real fights are messier than chess, and the farther away you get from the formally regulated one on one duel the messier the fight is going to be. With the chaotic way things shift in the heat of the moment a step-by-step plan would never work, but broad ideas can often get the job done.

Idea/Plan A was simple: acquire a human shield to reduce the angles her opponents could use to attack her. With that goal in mind she angled her first lunge in Qrow's direction and used his deflection of her strike to move around the trio opposing her. As a result of the first clash of their blades, she had repositioned herself so that Qrow was between her, Tai and Isabel, and with the second clash of their blades she was in a position where she could grab one of the Schnee's.

And so with the third clash of blades Raven leapt away from her brother and spun through the air, fully intending to slide around Willow Schnee and grab the Atasian woman from behind. That didn't happen, for the mountain of a man known as Nick Arc landed between Raven and her target and caught her magically shaped odachi in a bind with his ridiculous railgun sword.

"Hi Wills!" Nick called back to Willow as he forced Raven back a step, the Atasian woman blushing deeply at the nickname. With that avenue closed off to her Raven leaped towards the redheaded actress Athena Nikos. Tai was already there flaring his aura and activating his semblance to give him the strength and reflexes to bat aside her blade.

Bat aside her blade he did, before lunging forward to grab Raven around the neck. Raven barely limbo-ducked under his grab, feeling the heat of his burning aura scrape against her nose. Yet while his hand missed, his knee didn't; it connected with her chin imparting enough force to send Raven sprawling on the ground.

Raven might have laid there prone if it wasn't for the power of the Maiden. She flexed her mystical might and made the ground beneath her erupt, launching herself into the air and away from her ex-husband. Twisting around in search of another potential hostage Raven found herself disappointed; the wealthy civilians were all making a hasty yet well-organized retreat thanks to the efforts of their hired help, with Athena wailing dramatically as her butler/bodyguard carted her off in a fireman carry. The Belladonnas were standing protectively between her and the others, moving backward at speed to keep an eye on her as they withdrew from the battlefield. Excellent. Raven just needed to slightly alter her landing trajectory and...

A railgun round from Nick's blade boomed through the air right in front of her, only missing her by a few inches. Despite the miss, the sheer force it exuded and the thunderclap it produced as it tore through the air made her aura flare in defense and forced her to adjust her fall away from the potential hostages. As soon as her feet hit the ground Qrow was there doing his best to take her head off with Harbinger. Raven ducked under his swing and thrust forward with her own blade, only for him to rotate around her thrust and try to hit her with the spin. She back-stepped from Qrow's attack only for Nick to suddenly be on her left swinging his sword up from a low guard that cut a furrow in the ground, spraying gravel towards her face even as his blade threatened to bisect her.

She blocked his blade with her own even as she ducked beneath Qrow's next strike. For the next ten seconds, the three sword wielders were locked in a deadly dance that pushed Raven to the natural limits of her flexibility, forcing her to rely on the unnatural limits the Spring Maiden's power provided her. As the space the three of them occupied became a whirlwind of sharpened metal Raven knew two facts: her human shield plan was kaput and her targets were getting away.

Time for a new plan.

Nick and Qrow suddenly jumped back disrupting Raven's rhythm and causing her to overextend. This left her vulnerable to Isabell rushing in from behind with a leg sweep while Taiyang charged forward and hit her with a clothesline. Raven hit the ground hard but kept her momentum going to create distance between herself and her opponents. As a result, she sprung to her feet a few yards away from her foes and regarded them with a baleful eye.

Qrow shifted Harbinger into its' scythe mode. Taiyang flared his aura to greater heights, his eyes glowing red while his hair wavered like flame and small sparks of electricity crackled across his skin. Nick held his sword with one hand in a middle guard as he used his free hand to load it with lightning dust ammo. Isabel grabbed the sword she was impaled with and pulled it from her body like she was drawing it from its' natural sheath.

To top it all off they were between her and her targets, who were still getting away. It was time for Idea/Plan B: divide and conquer.

Taiyang and Qrow made a good duo. Isabel and Nick made a good duo. That didn't mean they were a good quartet. Teams STRQ and SANI might have worked closely together on multiple different occasions, but they were still very different teams with very different game plans. Qrow and Tai would want to zig while Nick and Isabel would want to zag. She just needed to get them to a zig-zag moment and use the resulting confusion to destroy them.

"Raven!" Tai called out, "This is your only chance! Stand Down!"

Allowing her actions to speak for her Raven stretched out her empty hand towards a nearby airship and flexed the powers of the Maiden once more, ripping out a stretch of metal that flew to her hand and shaped itself into a second sword. The instant her fingers wrapped around it she shot forward towards the quartet swinging her blades in wide arcs.

One blade deflected Qrow's scythe strike. The other forced Nick to block. Isabel tried to stab with her stolen sword, and to answer that Raven tapped into the Maiden's power and blew a stream of flame from her mouth. Raven found the look of surprise on Isabel's face when those flames melted the sword to slag quite amusing. It was less amusing when Isabel flicked some of that slag onto Raven's face.

The burning slag was just enough of a distraction that Raven didn't notice Tai's punch before it landed squarely in her sternum, knocking her back a good yard or two and putting her on the defensive as Qrow and Nick rushed forward with whirling blades.

She blocked a strike from Qrow and ducked under a swing from Nick... Why was Nick only swinging? The man had only fired a single railgun round several moments ago to get her out of the air. The bearded swordsman had passed up other opportunities to shoot at her, and he only did something like that if he was concerned about collateral. They were fighting in a mostly open airfield with heavily insured airships and the civilians were safely behind him; the man should be shooting at her like a maniac.

She leaped over another swing from Qrow, twisted around another thrust from Nick, ducked under a hunk of rubble thrown by Isabel, and blocked a kick from Tai as she wracked her brain to find a reason for that oddity. As she swung her blades in a manner that forced Nick and Tai to leap back Raven glanced beyond their little skirmish further afield to the still retreating forms of her targets.

It was at that moment she saw it: a hail of arrows tipped with ice dust landing on the tarmac between the fight and the fleeing civilians. The dust in the arrows reacted at the moment of impact, and within the blink of an eye a tall and thick wall of ice separated the battle from her prey.

Raven limbo ducked beneath Qrows next swing and took the opportunity to look at what was going on behind her. Her eyes then confirmed her suspicions: Arjun Sarkara stood there a decent distance off, firing dust tipped arrows in carefully calculated arcs to create a perimeter around the battlefield. Slightly behind him was his wife Saia, who was actively channeling her semblance to create the orbs she could infuse with dust. Saia was already sat upon a large orb infused with gravity dust that would allow her to zip around the battlefield with ease.

At that moment several unpleasant realizations raced through Raven's mind. She wasn't fighting two half teams used to radically different methodologies. She was fighting the entirety of Team SANI with Qrow and Taiyang acting in support. That meant the two of them would defer to the completed team when it was time to choose between zigging or zagging, and the moment she was looking to take advantage of wasn't going to happen.

Nick wasn't firing his railgun sword because he didn't want to destroy the walls Arjun was making. Walls meant to cut off her paths of retreat and to make it easier for the quartet she was actively fighting to herd her into a kill box where Saia could blast her with a fully charged dust infused laser beam!

Idea/Plan B was dead, and Raven was at a fork in the road. Either she created a portal to Vernal and retreated, or she moved on to Idea/Plan C: Harnessing the full power of the Spring Maiden to bulldoze everything around her and hope she could kill her targets before The Wizard sensed her presence and came out to confront her in person.

Plan C was workable. Raven grit her teeth and committed.

She slammed a foot into the ground and channeled the power of the Maiden into the action, making the solid earth roll like a wave of the sea. Surprised by this Nick and Isabel were caught off balance just long enough for Raven to make a break from the scrimmage before shooting off like an antelope with Tai and Qrow in hot pursuit. Beyond sending a wall of flame in their direction she ignored the pair, her most immediate priority was now Saia.

The woman was a glass canon. Insanely powerful and dangerous at a distance but easily dealt with up close. The problem most of Saia's foes faced was actually getting to her. Her gravity Dust-infused orb allowed her to fly beyond the reach of any grounded foe, while her husband's bow and arrows would shoot down anyone who could follow her into the air. Insurmountable challenges to the common man, trivialities to a Maiden like Raven.

She picked up speed and threw more flames behind her to slow her pursuers down. Kicking off the ground and pulling on the Maiden's power Raven shed the shackles of gravity and lifted into the air with good speed. Even at this distance, she could see the looks of surprise on Arjun and Saia's faces on top of how they tried to react. Saia was already in the air rising rapidly on her gravity dust-infused orb and the Queen of Pandu increased the speed of her ascent in the hopes of gaining more distance, yet her concentration on charging more dust-infused orbs did not stop.

Arjun redirected his aim, firing arrows directly at Raven in the hopes of slowing the dark haired woman down. The speed and power of these arrows would have felled some of the world's mightiest Nevermores with singular hits, but Raven was pulling on the full power of the Maiden now. Her eyes were now sharper than any eagle's, her reflexes faster than sound and her mind moved at a speed that took full advantage of those facts. She deflected the first two fire dust arrows with her swords, tilted her head out of the way of the lighting dust arrow that followed, and then she shaped her offhand sword into a spear and threw it at Arjun.

The King of Pandu stepped to the side and caught the spear as it passed him before flipping it around and firing back at her as if it were just an oversized arrow. Rather than let it reach her Raven let mystical lighting loose from her hand and knocked the projectile off course. Then a railgun round narrowly missed on her left, fired from Nick's sword, and an engine block narrowly missed her on her right, hurled into the air with Isabel's monstrous strength.

The projectiles were going to be a problem if she wanted to reach Saia before the Queen finished charging up her attack. Raven needed to find a way to weave through the intensifying anti-air fire from below and she needed that solution fast. Another railgun round narrowly missed. Another boulder narrowly dodged. Another volley of arrows deflected with her sword. Now how should she...

...The anti-air fire abruptly stopped, just in time for the crow that had flown above Raven to change back into Qrow and hit her with a gravity-assisted scythe strike.

Raven felt her aura dip for a brief moment before the vast reserves of the Spring Maiden replenished the loss, and she only lost a minimal amount of altitude from the hit. She then managed to deflect Qrow's next strike with her blade, and then the next one, and the next one. For a moment Raven found herself honestly impressed as her brother used shotgun shots from Harbinger to both keep himself in the air and spin himself around for another slash with his scythe.

How was he keeping this up? Each shotgun blast was like him pushing off of solid air to keep himself aloft, but he couldn't manipulate the air like that...

She could. With a wave of her free hand a powerful gust blew Qrow away from his intended trajectory, and with her brother gone Raven kept the gust going.

She spun the air around her faster and faster. Arjun's arrows and Isabel's improvised projectiles were now naturally deflected away from her as the people on the ground opened fire again. The wind wasn't fast enough to deflect Nick's railgun, but in a few moments it wouldn't matter. With a grand gesture the swirling air continued to pick up speed and started to reach down to the ground below and the sky above. Dust and debris were lifted from the ground below, while the clouds above gathered and were pulled down to touch the ground.

Raven was now the eye of a category one tornado. Still the winds spun faster. Category two. Raven turned her focus to Team SANI's flying member. Category three. Raven moved forward, the tornado moving with her. Category four. Queen Saia was pulled into it. Category five.

To Saia's credit, the Queen did not lose her seat on her gravity dust orb, and the rest of the orbs she was charging were still with her. The noblewoman balefully glared at the bandit queen as the two of them circled about in the tornado's inner vortex, completely cut off from anyone who could interfere. Raven smirked and flexed her hand, considering what kind of magic she should use to neutralize the woman across from her.

That smirk was replaced by panic as Saia brought her last fully charged orb into place and fired.

The beam the dust-infused orbs shot out was a blinding mix of all common kinds of dust. The raw power of the beam was enough to turn mountains into plateaus, and Team SANI had used it to slay many ancient Grimm in the past. The strength of the now self sustaining tornado meant Raven couldn't dodge in any direction, and opening a portal would just result in her destination getting flattened with her. With a spike of true fear coursing through her heart Raven pushed as much raw magic from her hands as she could and put that magic between herself and her impending doom.

Saia's beam impacted against the raw magic of the Spring Maiden, and to Raven's relief, it held the giant death beam back about a foot away from her. Yet it was too close. Way too close. Raven pushed with her magic. She pushed back with all she had. Within seconds her impromptu magic barrier was turned into a beam of her own, and as she pushed more and more of herself into it her beam pushed Saia's back.

First a yard. Then two. Then three. Then their beams were meeting at the center of the vortex that was spinning them. Then Raven's beam crossed the midpoint, and Saia face contorted in concentration as she tried to push more power into her beam.

It was no use! A savage grin split Raven's face. The power of the Spring Maiden would outlast the Queen of Pandu's aura reserves and the woman would die here alone because nobody could interfere with the strength of the tornado! Once that was done Raven would-

An impossibility occurred. Taiyang was just suddenly there with his aura burning brighter than she had ever seen it burn. His hair shimmered like flame and lighting danced across his body while his eyes blazed red. He grabbed her wrist and hooked his legs around hers, pulling himself behind her and grappling the two of them into a full nelson.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" Raven screeched as she tried to maintain her beam with Tai pressed against her back doing his best to point her hands away from Saia, "ARE YOU TRYING TO GET YOURSELF KILLED?!?!?"

"WE'RE GRANDPARENTS NOW!" Taiyang yelled back, "SO I GUESS I WANNA DO SOMETHING CRAZY!"

"WE'RE GRAND-WHAT?!?" and that was all the distraction Tai needed to headbutt Raven, breaking her concentration and completely dissipating her bream.

Saia's giant death beam slammed into Raven while Tai did his best to hide behind her. The raw elemental effects of over a dozen different kinds of dust battered against Raven's aura and sent her reserves plummeting lower and lower. The two of them were pushed back by the raw power of the beam and the two of them were sent hurtling out of the tornado. As the two of them tumbled through the air Raven found herself unable to resist her ex-husband flipping her around and rode her to the ground like a bobsled. Raven's back hit the ground and she left a wide furrow in the dirt all while Tai did his best to steer her towards something she couldn't see. Then the two of them came to an abrupt stop as Raven's head collided into the bottom stair of Beacon's main entrance.

The last thing Raven saw before she drifted into unconsciousness was her ex-husband getting off of her and Professor Ozpin rushing down the stairs in some kind of hurry.

--------------------

Nick knelt there with his sword stuck in the ground as an anchor, his wife clinging to him on his right and his brother in arms Arjun clamped onto his left. Nick was immovable, keeping the other two from being picked up by the raging winds of the vortex that swirled in place at the center of Beacon's airfield. A determined grimace was on his face as he wracked his brains for a way to fight a tornado.

It was then that he saw Headmaster Ozpin running up from the corner of his eye. The grey haired man clad in green raised his staff and yelled words in a language Nick had never heard before in an unhinged chant while moving his free hand in absurd gestures that were honestly indescribable. As Oz finished his sentence he pointed his staff at the tornado and struck it with a beam of emerald light.

Just like that the tornado was gone. The skies were clear and all the debris the tornado had picked up were just sitting there on the ground.

Saia and her gravity dust infused orb were also on the ground. The Queen got off her orb on shaky legs before slowly sinking down to her knees and throwing up. Arjun ran from Nick's side to his wife.

Isabel and Nick slowly got up and turned to the Professor.

"Ozpin." Isabel began, "What. The. Hell."

The headmaster sighed and adjusted his glasses, "I'm a reincarnating Wizard older than civilization itself, and Raven has a chunk of what used to be my magic. If you're willing to help me secure her I'll be willing to explain more once we're away from any potential eavesdroppers."

At that point Qrow stumbled up to them and a smile graced Ozpin's face.

"Oh good," Oz addressed his agent, "Qrow, if you could gather the other VIPs and lead them to an appropriate waiting room while we lock up your sister I would appreciate it."

"Sure, I could manage that," Qrow shrugged as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his flask and took a drink.

 

[ThunderBasilisk]

I know he probably has prosthetics but the image of him managing to sneak hop around sounds hilarious

 

[ThunderBasilisk]

Gotta love a good beam struggle.

 

[Stormfury]

Oh good, shitty Raven can be stuck in the aura machine and have her powers taken from her.

Literal mass murderer criminal leaders don't deserve sympathy, especially when they actively make death worlds worse : /

 

[Adalino51298]

Realny? Just kill this bitch
She's just a crazy murderous thug, she doesn't deserve mercy or a second chance

 

[GrimmKenway8646]

Holy shit. That fight was amazing. Very consistent with the fight scenes in the series my guy. Keep up the good work. Also Raven getting railroaded to eating concrete is hilarious.

 

[CILinkz]

lob her head off while shes unconcious. good riddance to disgusting animals like her.

yeah or stuck her into the machine that sucks the soul out.

i think if i was in Yangs shoes growing up or an Si or anything like that the first thing i would do with my savings would be issuing a bounty for Raven "Dead or Alive". preferrably Dead.

 

[mgl1206]

Raven didn't expect her first lunge to land a killing blow. Not while Qrow was right there ready to block her first strike with Harbinger in its' sword form. Tai also possessed good enough reflexes to try dodging her strikes and move within her guard, so the fact he was unarmed wasn't what put him at a disadvantage in this fight. Isabel was similar to Tai with the added bonus that even a solid hit wouldn't guarantee real damage to her body or aura, as evidenced by the sword that was now harmlessly imbedded in her body. Raven mentally cursed the fact that she hadn't had the opportunity to restock Omen's dust blades before this job, for if she had Isabel's stunt could have taken her out of the fight. That said all three of them were opponents that she would have to take seriously in a one on one fight so facing all three of them without using the power of the Maiden was foolish, especially since the odds of Isabel being here without her husband Nick was low, meaning Raven only had a few moments before this became a four verses one.

In times past poetic duelists would compare fights to strategic games like chess, with the fighters planning out their moves multiple steps ahead of their opponent. Real fights are messier than chess, and the farther away you get from the formally regulated one on one duel the messier the fight is going to be. With the chaotic way things shift in the heat of the moment a step-by-step plan would never work, but broad ideas can often get the job done.

Idea/Plan A was simple: acquire a human shield to reduce the angles her opponents could use to attack her. With that goal in mind she angled her first lunge in Qrow's direction and used his deflection of her strike to move around the trio opposing her. As a result of the first clash of their blades, she had repositioned herself so that Qrow was between her, Tai and Isabel, and with the second clash of their blades she was in a position where she could grab one of the Schnee's.

And so with the third clash of blades Raven leapt away from her brother and spun through the air, fully intending to slide around Willow Schnee and grab the Atasian woman from behind. That didn't happen, for the mountain of a man known as Nick Arc landed between Raven and her target and caught her magically shaped odachi in a bind with his ridiculous railgun sword.

"Hi Wills!" Nick called back to Willow as he forced Raven back a step, the Atasian woman blushing deeply at the nickname. With that avenue closed off to her Raven leaped towards the redheaded actress Athena Nikos. Tai was already there flaring his aura and activating his semblance to give him the strength and reflexes to bat aside her blade.

Bat aside her blade he did, before lunging forward to grab Raven around the neck. Raven barely limbo-ducked under his grab, feeling the heat of his burning aura scrape against her nose. Yet while his hand missed, his knee didn't; it connected with her chin imparting enough force to send Raven sprawling on the ground.

Raven might have laid there prone if it wasn't for the power of the Maiden. She flexed her mystical might and made the ground beneath her erupt, launching herself into the air and away from her ex-husband. Twisting around in search of another potential hostage Raven found herself disappointed; the wealthy civilians were all making a hasty yet well-organized retreat thanks to the efforts of their hired help, with Athena wailing dramatically as her butler/bodyguard carted her off in a fireman carry. The Belladonnas were standing protectively between her and the others, moving backward at speed to keep an eye on her as they withdrew from the battlefield. Excellent. Raven just needed to slightly alter her landing trajectory and...

A railgun round from Nick's blade boomed through the air right in front of her, only missing her by a few inches. Despite the miss, the sheer force it exuded and the thunderclap it produced as it tore through the air made her aura flare in defense and forced her to adjust her fall away from the potential hostages. As soon as her feet hit the ground Qrow was there doing his best to take her head off with Harbinger. Raven ducked under his swing and thrust forward with her own blade, only for him to rotate around her thrust and try to hit her with the spin. She back-stepped from Qrow's attack only for Nick to suddenly be on her left swinging his sword up from a low guard that cut a furrow in the ground, spraying gravel towards her face even as his blade threatened to bisect her.

She blocked his blade with her own even as she ducked beneath Qrow's next strike. For the next ten seconds, the three sword wielders were locked in a deadly dance that pushed Raven to the natural limits of her flexibility, forcing her to rely on the unnatural limits the Spring Maiden's power provided her. As the space the three of them occupied became a whirlwind of sharpened metal Raven knew two facts: her human shield plan was kaput and her targets were getting away.

Time for a new plan.

Nick and Qrow suddenly jumped back disrupting Raven's rhythm and causing her to overextend. This left her vulnerable to Isabell rushing in from behind with a leg sweep while Taiyang charged forward and hit her with a clothesline. Raven hit the ground hard but kept her momentum going to create distance between herself and her opponents. As a result, she sprung to her feet a few yards away from her foes and regarded them with a baleful eye.

Qrow shifted Harbinger into its' scythe mode. Taiyang flared his aura to greater heights, his eyes glowing red while his hair wavered like flame and small sparks of electricity crackled across his skin. Nick held his sword with one hand in a middle guard as he used his free hand to load it with lightning dust ammo. Isabel grabbed the sword she was impaled with and pulled it from her body like she was drawing it from its' natural sheath.

To top it all off they were between her and her targets, who were still getting away. It was time for Idea/Plan B: divide and conquer.

Taiyang and Qrow made a good duo. Isabel and Nick made a good duo. That didn't mean they were a good quartet. Teams STRQ and SANI might have worked closely together on multiple different occasions, but they were still very different teams with very different game plans. Qrow and Tai would want to zig while Nick and Isabel would want to zag. She just needed to get them to a zig-zag moment and use the resulting confusion to destroy them.

"Raven!" Tai called out, "This is your only chance! Stand Down!"

Allowing her actions to speak for her Raven stretched out her empty hand towards a nearby airship and flexed the powers of the Maiden once more, ripping out a stretch of metal that flew to her hand and shaped itself into a second sword. The instant her fingers wrapped around it she shot forward towards the quartet swinging her blades in wide arcs.

One blade deflected Qrow's scythe strike. The other forced Nick to block. Isabel tried to stab with her stolen sword, and to answer that Raven tapped into the Maiden's power and blew a stream of flame from her mouth. Raven found the look of surprise on Isabel's face when those flames melted the sword to slag quite amusing. It was less amusing when Isabel flicked some of that slag onto Raven's face.

The burning slag was just enough of a distraction that Raven didn't notice Tai's punch before it landed squarely in her sternum, knocking her back a good yard or two and putting her on the defensive as Qrow and Nick rushed forward with whirling blades.

She blocked a strike from Qrow and ducked under a swing from Nick... Why was Nick only swinging? The man had only fired a single railgun round several moments ago to get her out of the air. The bearded swordsman had passed up other opportunities to shoot at her, and he only did something like that if he was concerned about collateral. They were fighting in a mostly open airfield with heavily insured airships and the civilians were safely behind him; the man should be shooting at her like a maniac.

She leaped over another swing from Qrow, twisted around another thrust from Nick, ducked under a hunk of rubble thrown by Isabel, and blocked a kick from Tai as she wracked her brain to find a reason for that oddity. As she swung her blades in a manner that forced Nick and Tai to leap back Raven glanced beyond their little skirmish further afield to the still retreating forms of her targets.

It was at that moment she saw it: a hail of arrows tipped with ice dust landing on the tarmac between the fight and the fleeing civilians. The dust in the arrows reacted at the moment of impact, and within the blink of an eye a tall and thick wall of ice separated the battle from her prey.

Raven limbo ducked beneath Qrows next swing and took the opportunity to look at what was going on behind her. Her eyes then confirmed her suspicions: Arjun Sarkara stood there a decent distance off, firing dust tipped arrows in carefully calculated arcs to create a perimeter around the battlefield. Slightly behind him was his wife Saia, who was actively channeling her semblance to create the orbs she could infuse with dust. Saia was already sat upon a large orb infused with gravity dust that would allow her to zip around the battlefield with ease.

At that moment several unpleasant realizations raced through Raven's mind. She wasn't fighting two half teams used to radically different methodologies. She was fighting the entirety of Team SANI with Qrow and Taiyang acting in support. That meant the two of them would defer to the completed team when it was time to choose between zigging or zagging, and the moment she was looking to take advantage of wasn't going to happen.

Nick wasn't firing his railgun sword because he didn't want to destroy the walls Arjun was making. Walls meant to cut off her paths of retreat and to make it easier for the quartet she was actively fighting to herd her into a kill box where Saia could blast her with a fully charged dust infused laser beam!

Idea/Plan B was dead, and Raven was at a fork in the road. Either she created a portal to Vernal and retreated, or she moved on to Idea/Plan C: Harnessing the full power of the Spring Maiden to bulldoze everything around her and hope she could kill her targets before The Wizard sensed her presence and came out to confront her in person.

Plan C was workable. Raven grit her teeth and committed.

She slammed a foot into the ground and channeled the power of the Maiden into the action, making the solid earth roll like a wave of the sea. Surprised by this Nick and Isabel were caught off balance just long enough for Raven to make a break from the scrimmage before shooting off like an antelope with Tai and Qrow in hot pursuit. Beyond sending a wall of flame in their direction she ignored the pair, her most immediate priority was now Saia.

The woman was a glass canon. Insanely powerful and dangerous at a distance but easily dealt with up close. The problem most of Saia's foes faced was actually getting to her. Her gravity Dust-infused orb allowed her to fly beyond the reach of any grounded foe, while her husband's bow and arrows would shoot down anyone who could follow her into the air. Insurmountable challenges to the common man, trivialities to a Maiden like Raven.

She picked up speed and threw more flames behind her to slow her pursuers down. Kicking off the ground and pulling on the Maiden's power Raven shed the shackles of gravity and lifted into the air with good speed. Even at this distance, she could see the looks of surprise on Arjun and Saia's faces on top of how they tried to react. Saia was already in the air rising rapidly on her gravity dust-infused orb and the Queen of Pandu increased the speed of her ascent in the hopes of gaining more distance, yet her concentration on charging more dust-infused orbs did not stop.

Arjun redirected his aim, firing arrows directly at Raven in the hopes of slowing the dark haired woman down. The speed and power of these arrows would have felled some of the world's mightiest Nevermores with singular hits, but Raven was pulling on the full power of the Maiden now. Her eyes were now sharper than any eagle's, her reflexes faster than sound and her mind moved at a speed that took full advantage of those facts. She deflected the first two fire dust arrows with her swords, tilted her head out of the way of the lighting dust arrow that followed, and then she shaped her offhand sword into a spear and threw it at Arjun.

The King of Pandu stepped to the side and caught the spear as it passed him before flipping it around and firing back at her as if it were just an oversized arrow. Rather than let it reach her Raven let mystical lighting loose from her hand and knocked the projectile off course. Then a railgun round narrowly missed on her left, fired from Nick's sword, and an engine block narrowly missed her on her right, hurled into the air with Isabel's monstrous strength.

The projectiles were going to be a problem if she wanted to reach Saia before the Queen finished charging up her attack. Raven needed to find a way to weave through the intensifying anti-air fire from below and she needed that solution fast. Another railgun round narrowly missed. Another boulder narrowly dodged. Another volley of arrows deflected with her sword. Now how should she...

...The anti-air fire abruptly stopped, just in time for the crow that had flown above Raven to change back into Qrow and hit her with a gravity-assisted scythe strike.

Raven felt her aura dip for a brief moment before the vast reserves of the Spring Maiden replenished the loss, and she only lost a minimal amount of altitude from the hit. She then managed to deflect Qrow's next strike with her blade, and then the next one, and the next one. For a moment Raven found herself honestly impressed as her brother used shotgun shots from Harbinger to both keep himself in the air and spin himself around for another slash with his scythe.

How was he keeping this up? Each shotgun blast was like him pushing off of solid air to keep himself aloft, but he couldn't manipulate the air like that...

She could. With a wave of her free hand a powerful gust blew Qrow away from his intended trajectory, and with her brother gone Raven kept the gust going.

She spun the air around her faster and faster. Arjun's arrows and Isabel's improvised projectiles were now naturally deflected away from her as the people on the ground opened fire again. The wind wasn't fast enough to deflect Nick's railgun, but in a few moments it wouldn't matter. With a grand gesture the swirling air continued to pick up speed and started to reach down to the ground below and the sky above. Dust and debris were lifted from the ground below, while the clouds above gathered and were pulled down to touch the ground.

Raven was now the eye of a category one tornado. Still the winds spun faster. Category two. Raven turned her focus to Team SANI's flying member. Category three. Raven moved forward, the tornado moving with her. Category four. Queen Saia was pulled into it. Category five.

To Saia's credit, the Queen did not lose her seat on her gravity dust orb, and the rest of the orbs she was charging were still with her. The noblewoman balefully glared at the bandit queen as the two of them circled about in the tornado's inner vortex, completely cut off from anyone who could interfere. Raven smirked and flexed her hand, considering what kind of magic she should use to neutralize the woman across from her.

That smirk was replaced by panic as Saia brought her last fully charged orb into place and fired.

The beam the dust-infused orbs shot out was a blinding mix of all common kinds of dust. The raw power of the beam was enough to turn mountains into plateaus, and Team SANI had used it to slay many ancient Grimm in the past. The strength of the now self sustaining tornado meant Raven couldn't dodge in any direction, and opening a portal would just result in her destination getting flattened with her. With a spike of true fear coursing through her heart Raven pushed as much raw magic from her hands as she could and put that magic between herself and her impending doom.

Saia's beam impacted against the raw magic of the Spring Maiden, and to Raven's relief, it held the giant death beam back about a foot away from her. Yet it was too close. Way too close. Raven pushed with her magic. She pushed back with all she had. Within seconds her impromptu magic barrier was turned into a beam of her own, and as she pushed more and more of herself into it her beam pushed Saia's back.

First a yard. Then two. Then three. Then their beams were meeting at the center of the vortex that was spinning them. Then Raven's beam crossed the midpoint, and Saia face contorted in concentration as she tried to push more power into her beam.

It was no use! A savage grin split Raven's face. The power of the Spring Maiden would outlast the Queen of Pandu's aura reserves and the woman would die here alone because nobody could interfere with the strength of the tornado! Once that was done Raven would-

An impossibility occurred. Taiyang was just suddenly there with his aura burning brighter than she had ever seen it burn. His hair shimmered like flame and lighting danced across his body while his eyes blazed red. He grabbed her wrist and hooked his legs around hers, pulling himself behind her and grappling the two of them into a full nelson.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" Raven screeched as she tried to maintain her beam with Tai pressed against her back doing his best to point her hands away from Saia, "ARE YOU TRYING TO GET YOURSELF KILLED?!?!?"

"WE'RE GRANDPARENTS NOW!" Taiyang yelled back, "SO I GUESS I WANNA DO SOMETHING CRAZY!"

"WE'RE GRAND-WHAT?!?" and that was all the distraction Tai needed to headbutt Raven, breaking her concentration and completely dissipating her bream.

Saia's giant death beam slammed into Raven while Tai did his best to hide behind her. The raw elemental effects of over a dozen different kinds of dust battered against Raven's aura and sent her reserves plummeting lower and lower. The two of them were pushed back by the raw power of the beam and the two of them were sent hurtling out of the tornado. As the two of them tumbled through the air Raven found herself unable to resist her ex-husband flipping her around and rode her to the ground like a bobsled. Raven's back hit the ground and she left a wide furrow in the dirt all while Tai did his best to steer her towards something she couldn't see. Then the two of them came to an abrupt stop as Raven's head collided into the bottom stair of Beacon's main entrance.

The last thing Raven saw before she drifted into unconsciousness was her ex-husband getting off of her and Professor Ozpin rushing down the stairs in some kind of hurry.

--------------------

Nick knelt there with his sword stuck in the ground as an anchor, his wife clinging to him on his right and his brother in arms Arjun clamped onto his left. Nick was immovable, keeping the other two from being picked up by the raging winds of the vortex that swirled in place at the center of Beacon's airfield. A determined grimace was on his face as he wracked his brains for a way to fight a tornado.

It was then that he saw Headmaster Ozpin running up from the corner of his eye. The grey haired man clad in green raised his staff and yelled words in a language Nick had never heard before in an unhinged chant while moving his free hand in absurd gestures that were honestly indescribable. As Oz finished his sentence he pointed his staff at the tornado and struck it with a beam of emerald light.

Just like that the tornado was gone. The skies were clear and all the debris the tornado had picked up were just sitting there on the ground.

Saia and her gravity dust infused orb were also on the ground. The Queen got off her orb on shaky legs before slowly sinking down to her knees and throwing up. Arjun ran from Nick's side to his wife.

Isabel and Nick slowly got up and turned to the Professor.

"Ozpin." Isabel began, "What. The. Hell."

The headmaster sighed and adjusted his glasses, "I'm a reincarnating Wizard older than civilization itself, and Raven has a chunk of what used to be my magic. If you're willing to help me secure her I'll be willing to explain more once we're away from any potential eavesdroppers."

At that point Qrow stumbled up to them and a smile graced Ozpin's face.

"Oh good," Oz addressed his agent, "Qrow, if you could gather the other VIPs and lead them to an appropriate waiting room while we lock up your sister I would appreciate it."

"Sure, I could manage that," Qrow shrugged as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his flask and took a drink.

Click to shrink...

I think you're Raven giving WAYYY too much credit before she used her maiden magic. She should have fallen onto it way earlier. I get that she's the only one who has been consistently training but that's still 4 veteran Hunters against 1.

good fight otherwise

 

[Jao]

The woman was a glass canon. Insanely powerful and dangerous at a distance but easily dealt with up close. The problem most of Saia's foes faced was actually getting to her. Her gravity Dust-infused orb allowed her to fly beyond the reach of any grounded foe, while her husband's bow and arrows would shoot down anyone who could follow her into the air. Insurmountable challenges to the common man, trivialities to a Maiden like Raven

Click to shrink...

cannon*

 

[Frakir's brother]

Quick, delimb her before she can recover enough to portal away

 

[Gur40]

Ozpin is living his best life right now, he can beat Salem multiple ways, is back in the dating game with an emotionally mature woman, has a time traveled son that he can talk about all his trauma's and fear and get answers on how to over come them and a literal army of allies that will never betray him

 

[FinalFormer]

Cross-Posted From the SpaceBattles Thread.

Glimpses Into Another Time: Bloom

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Atlas Academy, Above The City Of Mantle. 2 Years After the Fall of Beacon.


Atlas Academy is the most technologically advanced Kingdoms. That was one of the many things Ruby Rose learned during her short time at Beacon. Of course, she kinda already knew that. They had to be if they were able to build something as advanced as Penny. But, boy howdy, were they underselling it.

When Penny showed her the workshop her father ran, it was an engineer's dream. But seeing the one's in the Academy's? It was like stepping into an engineer's holy land! There were mechshift frames! And Dust adapters! And doohickys she'd never even heard of! And--

"OW!" Ruby squeaked. She lost focus... Again. She had been working on a special project and it required her full attention. But it was so hard to focus what with all the cool stuff around her.

"Well, the plating doesn't look welded incorrectly. Thank goodness," she began to inspect the project, her engineering eye giving her work a once over. "Hmm... The palm paneling looks good. Shell eject is smooth. SMG attachment could use a little more work but overall; She's complete! Jaune's gonna love this!!"

"I'm gonna love what?" Suddenly, her boyfriend, Jaune Arc, was behind her, as if she summoned him.

"Only my grea... My SECOND greatest creation!!" Ruby proudly exclaimed. While this was probably one of her best works, nothing was ever going to beat Crescent Rose.

"Is it that new weapon you said you'd make for me," Jaune guessed. "I already told; I'm getting used to fighting with pistol you gave me."

"That's just a peashooter! Besides, you'll think twice once you see it!" Ruby countered. She moved aside to show Jaune. "TA-DA!! IT'S YOUR NEW PROSTHETIC ARM!!"

Jaune looked in awe. It looked like a knight's gauntlet but it had a flair to it that can only be described as 'Ruby'. He knew she was a tech wiz, but being able to make a prosthetic with only the bare minimum of knowledge on how they work from Penny? It solidified her status as a prodigy.

Ever since he lost his arm after that fight with Tyrion, Jaune has been using a cheap prosthetic provided by Leo Lionhart. He's pretty sure it might be on its last legs.

"Can I try it out?" Jaune asked.

"Go ahead," Ruby encouraged. She began to help Jaune detach his old arm. "I call it 'The Iron Claw'. I still need to apply the paint, but it should be good to go. BUT! I should warn you, this is a little heavier than the old one."

Click

'Heavy' was a bit of an overstatement. It weighed about it as much as his old sword. Actually, now that he looks at it...

"I used what was left of your sword and for some parts. I hope you don't mind." Ruby admitted.

"Not at all. It turned out great," Jaune flexed his fingers. Until his palm opened up, revealing a barrel within. "Uh, Ruby? What's this?"

"I'M GLAD YOU ASKED!," Ruby shouted, excited to talk about her favorite hobby. "I built a miniaturized artillery Dust cannon and put it in your arm! And don't worry about the recoil! I put a stabilizer in the elbow! Plus, Penny said that your strong to handle it!"

Jaune flexed his fingers again and the cannon tucked itself away. He then closed his hand into a fist.

"Groovy."

"You're such a dork." Ruby snorted.

"Oh, come on. It looks like the metal arm from Legion of Darkness. I had to make that reference," Jaune defended himself. Though, it actually looked more like the Rusted Knight's arm from The Rusted Knight and The Red Reaper. Maybe she used that as a reference. "Besides, didn't you say that was part of my charm?"

Ruby rolled her eyes. She knew darn well that Jaune didn't have any charm. She was the one who asked him out! If anything she was the one had who charm...

Ok, so maybe she was super nervous when she asked him out, but who isn't! She had never like-liked a boy before! That was new territory for her! Her only saving grace was Jaune being just as nervous as her.

"I also made you this," Ruby pointed towards another workbench. "It's a railgun sword! I call it 'Crocea Mors II'! It's not done yet but I was thinking--"

Jaune watched as Ruby gushed about her newest 'baby'. She always looks so cute when she gets so passionate about weapons specs. The way her eyes shine, her smile gets wider, her energy gets higher.

"Jaune? You're staring at me. Do I have grease on my face?" Ruby snapped him back to reality.

"No. I was just admiring you when you're in your element," Jaune teased. "You look cute when you're passionate."

Ruby began to blush. Since when did he start acting like a smooth operator!?

"Speaking of sweet things," Jaune reached into one of his pouches and pulled out a small bag. "One of the mothers in Mantle baked me some cookies! I saved you some."

"You did tell them you have a girlfriend, right?" Ruby asked. When Jaune had brought them food provided from one of those moms, Yang had slipped the idea into her head that a guy like Jaune was like catnip to those lonely moms. She told Ruby that she needs to 'assert her dominance' and go with him on his next escort job.

"I did. But I don't think they believe me." Jaune grabbed a cookie and took a bite. "Maybe you should come with me tomorrow. I'm sure the kids will love you."

"That's a great idea! Plus, after we drop off those kids, we can go see a movie." Ruby started getting excited once again.

"Sounds like a date," Jaune walked up to Ruby. "I know things have been... hectic. But, it feels good to have some breathing room. I promise, I'll try to make our date the best it can be."

"You don't have to try so hard, Jaune. As long as we're together, I'll have fun no matter what we do," Ruby paused. She wanted to say these next words when he joined her on her mission to save the world, but she never found the right time. But right here? Right now? This was the perfect time. "I love you, Jaune."

It was Jaune's turn to blush. He inched closer to his girlfriend. "I... I love you too, Ruby." He never felt this way about a girl before. But deep down, he knew that Ruby was the one. Call him cheesy or old fashioned, but that's just how his heart works. He was kind of like his Dad in that way.

Jaune leaned down. And Ruby stood up on her tippy toes. Their lips connecting in a tender, loving kiss. Why the heck does he keep getting taller!

A notification chime went off on both of their scrolls. Ruby took hers out and was greeted to Penny's voice.

"Friend Ruby! Friend Jaune! There's Grimm activity in Mantle! Sector 8!"

"We're on our way, Penny!" Ruby replied. She rushed over to Crescent Rose, while Jaune grads Crocea Mors II.

"Wait, Jaune. It's not done!" Ruby was still trying to figure out how to make the railgun function work. If only Jaune's Dad let her take his apart!

"It doesn't matter. As long as it can slice and stab things, it should be good for now," Jaune says with determination. He then lifts his cannon hand. "Besides, I'm packing heat."

Ugh. If Yang heard that... No. Even she would think that was terrible!

"Let's go, Vomit Boy!"

"Right behind you, Crater Face!"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I based Jaune's metal arm on Gut's iron arm from Berserk

 

[Gur40]

Cross-Posted From the SpaceBattles Thread.

Glimpses Into Another Time: Bloom

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Atlas Academy, Above The City Of Mantle. 2 Years After the Fall of Beacon.



Ruby rolled her eyes. She knew darn well that Jaune didn't have any charm. She was the one who asked him out! If anything she was the one had who charm...

Ok, so maybe she was super nervous when she asked him out, but who isn't! She had never like-liked a boy before! That was new territory for her! Her only saving grace was Jaune being just as nervous as her.

Click to shrink...

Love this but now i want to know how did Jaune introduce Ruby to Saphron and Terra

 

[FinalFormer]

Love this but now i want to know how did Jaune introduce Ruby to Saphron and Terra

Click to shrink...

Saphron: "Oh my God, she's as cute as a button!"

Ruby: "G-geez. You're embarrassing me."

Jaune: "Don't worry.... It gets worse."

 

[AndrewJTalon]

Glimpses into Another Time: Spring

- - -

Northern Solitas, Mantle/Atlas, Five Years after Salem's Defeat

- - -

There were many days Winter Arc nee Schnee asked herself why she had opted to take her mentor's old job. Granted, he had been grooming her for the role: He had said she was always his first choice for a successor. That trust in her had inspired her to new heights, to push herself harder and further than she knew she was capable of.

Yet the sheer amount of time and stress it imposed on her life was horrendous. Honestly, sometimes she wondered why her father had wanted so much power in the first place. There was the intoxication of it at times, but mostly it was just a massive headache.

"We're touching down now, General," Harriet Bree reported from the pilot's chair of the Bullhead. Winter nodded, trying not to look anxious. She was already late, after all.

Yet it meant so much to him... To her.

Finally, the Bullhead landed with a gentle rocking motion. Winter released her harness as the rear hatch opened up. Elm looked up with a smile.

"It's fine, General. He's not gonna be upset," she consoled her superior officer, "Especially not with the news you have-"

"Thanks, but I'll deal with that myself," Winter said, leaping out of the Bullhead and landing on the tundra grass.

It was a misconception that Solitas was covered in ice year around. While it was a harsh continent, no doubt, it did have seasons. They were at the height of spring, and the snow was melting across the continent. Green grass grew even north of Mantle, speckled with tundra flowers and the occasional pine tree. This area in particular was on a hill overlooking the rebuilt Mantle. On top of it was a marble wall, encircling a great garden kept warm year round with Fire and Lightning Dust.

Winter hurried up the hill, through the arched gateway into the garden. Her eyes scanned through the gardens, past so many familiar statues. Each was life sized, depicting so many people... So many who had made the ultimate sacrifice for Atlas. For Remnant.

For them all.

Her feet took her down a familiar marble pathway, deep into the memorial garden. Her eyes locked onto two statues near the center. A marble path lay between them, and their poses were night and day. Fitting, in a way, given how different the two people being honored were.

One was of a curvaceous, beautiful woman. She was sitting on a marble bench, a kindly smile on her stone face despite the fatigue in her eyes. Her hands rested in her lap, yet there was a certain tension to the woman: As though her statue would spring into action to help at a moment's notice.

The other was of a tall, grave man in his Atlasian military coat. A beard was on his face, along with deep lines born of worry and burdens taken on. His face was grave and determined. He stood at military attention, ever vigilant and ever unbowed.

Between these statues, Jaune Arc, her husband, sat with their four month old son in his arms. She heard him speaking as she approached.

"... And she just tossed your granddad out the window! She was so fed up with him and his tractor! Of course, so was I. But I didn't want to laugh at Dad. Not unless he was laughing. She appreciated that, and only grounded me for a week..."

Jaune looked up as their baby fussed. He smiled warmly.

"Hey Winter."

"Hey," she said, walking up to him. He stood up, and pulled her into a deep kiss. The baby whined, and tried to wiggle between them. Jaune laughed a little as he broke the kiss, and playfully scowled at their son.

"Come on, Theodore. You get most of her attention," he scolded, "Can't I have some?"

Theo mewled, unrepentant. Winter laughed, her heart immediately lighter. She pulled her son into her arms, and he cuddled against her.

"I'm sorry I'm late," she apologized, "Queen Maia's proposals are causing a massive uproar in the Council, and the authorizations for the fleet rebuild are a nightmare..."

Jaune hugged her more tightly, and smiled.

"It's okay. I wasn't going to do the important bits until you were here," he said kindly. Winter nodded. They both turned to the statue of the kindly smiling woman.

Jaune took a deep breath.

"Mom? This is Winter. She... You knew she was my girlfriend before..."

He trailed off. Winter knew exactly where his mind went: A dark day.

Her hand reached up to rest on his chest. Despite the surgeries, the scars would never fade. Not that it mattered, given that underneath his clothes was a black and silver artificial heart right in the center of his chest.

Cinder Fall had torn out his heart, and left him to die while laughing. Winter had jumped in to protect him... To avenge him. Isabel, Jaune's mother, had leaped in and done emergency surgery right then and there. Penny had yanked out some spare components, and Isabel had fashioned an artificial heart and gotten it into Jaune just in time for his Aura to heal him.

It had cost her almost all of her Aura to do it... But she'd saved him.

And then Cinder Fall had put five arrows through her chest.

Winter could still see the horror and grief on Jaune's face. She still saw the shock, then grim acceptance on Isabel Arc's face.

She still remembered Cinder's laugh... A laugh cut short as Isabel threw herself at the Maiden, and fought her back with her dying strength.

She still remembered the look of desperate love Isabel had shot back, just before the bridge broke underneath them... And her final words.

"I love you, son. Don't give up. Please."

Jaune sucked in another deep breath. Winter rubbed a gentle circle over his chest. He nodded slowly.

"She's... She's my wife now," Jaune explained. "And this is Theodore James, our son."

Jaune turned his son's head towards the statue. The four month old stared, almost enraptured, as his father continued to talk.

"That's your grandmother, Theo. Her name was Isabel. And she was one of the bravest people who ever lived."

Theodore was quiet, his wide blue eyes staring intently at the statue. Jaune smiled.

"Anyway... W-We're doing well," he said, "Everyone's rebuilding. Weiss met this nice Dust prospector named Miguel, and they hit it off. Whitley, Winter and Weiss' little brother? He's dating Ruby, who is doing great. Ren and Nora are on their second baby. Yang is off exploring Remnant with Pyrrha. We hear from them sometimes. Blake and Sun are married, expecting kids in Menagerie. Tanya and Mercury are having kids, Lilac and Primo are doing great. The Twins are still raising hell. Saphron and Terra moved to Vale for the rebuilding. Aqua and Kazuma are on baby... Six I think? Orchid and Penny are great friends... Or so they say."

He chuckled a bit... Before he became more somber.

"Dad... Dad's doing okay. He kind of threw himself into work, but Uncle Arjun is with him. Helping him. He and Aunt Saia retired, and Maia is Queen of Pandu now. They're having fun."

Jaune sighed quietly.

"I really wish you could see everything we've done," he said quietly, "I... I want to think you'd be proud of us... Proud of me."

Silence fell for a bit. The wind made the sunflowers around Isabel's statue wave a bit. A small smile came onto Winter's face.

"I think she would be," Winter said with a nod.

Jaune nodded back. They then turned to the statue of the grave man behind them. It was Winter's turn, and she also steeled herself.

"Hello sir. I... I've been doing the best I can in your position," she said. She shook her head. "It's been hectic. I get away whenever I can. I'm... I'm trying to avoid becoming a workaholic. Jaune helps me with that."

She affectionately bumped her head against Jaune's. He smiled. Winter smiled back faintly, then turned back to the statue. She held up Theodore.

"This is my son, Theodore James. We... I know you weren't the most sentimental kind of man, but... I hope you approve. He's very healthy and very active."

Theodore whined a bit, but focused on the big statue. He reached out his hands to grasp. Jaune chuckled.

"I... I didn't know him as well. But he was a good man. A brave man. He... Like your grandma, he died to save everyone," Jaune said softly.

Again Winter's mind went back to that terrible day. How the General had given her command before he fought his way right into the heart of Salem's Leviathan. How he had fought her himself, all alone... All in a desperate attempt to distract her, to buy time for the evacuation.

He had been knocked down, battered, broken... Yet he just kept getting back up to try again and again. Until finally, he couldn't move any longer. The Grimm Queen had stood over him, contemptuous. The view from his body cam still remained in her memory, burned there like a brand.

Yet even at the end... He had never backed down. Never pleaded for mercy. She could imagine the grim expression on his face as Salem killed him. The stubborn nobility...

They hugged Theodore between them. Winter sucked in a breath.

"It's... I know you don't understand right now, Theo," she said to her son, "But one day, you will. You'll understand how wonderful these people were. How terrible it is that they're not here... And how much we owe to them."

Winter smiled almost shyly at Jaune. Jaune nodded back, his own smile sad but hopeful.

"And next year," she said, "We'll bring you... And your new sibling to see them, too."

Jaune gaped. Winter smiled shyly, and shrugged.

"Surprise?"

Jaune grinned, hugged his wife and son, and spun them around with a happy laugh. Theo giggled in joy, and Winter echoed the sound. Jaune set them down, and kissed his wife deeply.

"Mmm... It's a great one," Jaune said earnestly. Winter laughed.

"Absolutely... The best kind!"

"So um... How-?"

"One month," Winter said, smiling knowingly, "It looks healthy, and... And if it's a girl?" She looked over at Isabel. "I'd like to name her after your mother."

Jaune beamed and tightened the hug. Theo whined a bit more, waving his chubby arms around.

"I think she'd like that..."

The small family paid some final respects, before turning and heading for the exit. It was a sad, solemn place... But as Theodore laughed innocently, it was also a place of hope.

Winter prayed it would remain so... Yet steeled her resolve to do all she could to keep it that way.

It was what her mother-in-law and the General would have wanted.

She was sure of it.

- - -

 

[Kiyan Tribe]

I am not crying. You are! Fking onion cutting ninjas!

 

[ThunderBasilisk]

Honestly if Cinder died from that I hope when she inevitably tries to taunt Jaune over it he breaks her.

 

[Chaos enjoyer]

This story is so well written,however something i noticed is that jaune REALLY goes throught in all those timelines like damn.
Also that line about how he never saw his son withh pyrhha with his own eyes is very powerful.

 

[FinalFormer]

Cross-Posted From the SpaceBattles Thread

Glimpses Into Another Time: The Rusted Knight and The Wise Lion.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The Jungle Acre, The Ever After. 2 Years After The Fall of Beacon. (Or 13 Years Before The Fall of Beacon.)

Impossible.

That was the only word that Arslan Altan could use to describe the current predicament she and her boyfriend, Jaune Arc, were in. The Ever After, the magical wonderland from the fairy tale 'The Rusted Knight and The Wise Lion' was real.

It all began when they were evacuating the citizens of Atlas to the Kingdom of Vacuo. Cinder Fall had attacked their teams in an attempt to kill Penny, the Winter Maiden. While they were successful in stopping her plan, Cinder had blasted Team RWBY, Jaune and Arslan into the dark miasma below the bridges.

When they awoke, Arslan and Jaune began to survey their surroundings until Jaune had picked a clock out of a tree. The clock began to reverse the flow of time, sending them into the Ever After's past. With no way of reversing the clocks effects, their only plan was to wait until the others arrived.

Currently, Arslan sat on the porch of the house she and Jaune had built. She had been using the breathing technique taught to her by the Temple. She seemed to be doing that a lot these days. According to the makeshift calendar she made, it has been 7 years since they were flung backwards in time. However, it was starting to feel useless as the days go by. Time in the Ever After didn't make sense. That was made very apparent when a year ago, they met Alyx, the protagonist of 'The Girl Who Fell Through The World', and her brother, Lewis. That story was written during the Great War, so either the clock had sent them 200 years into the past or the Ever After was simply beyond the concept of time. Every day that passes by, she hopes that it's the latter.

"Wise Lion! Oh, Wise Lion!" Jaune called out. Another shocking revelation in the Ever After. One that all of her learnings at the Temple had never prepared her for: She and Jaune were The Rusted Knight and The Wise Lion. Which made things a bit more confusing. Were they always destined to come to the Ever After? It was something she and Jaune had been reflecting on these few years. There wasn't much things to do but reflect.

Arslan opened her eyes and sighed. "You know, that's still hard to get used to."

"Yeah? How do you think I feel?" Jaune says. Despite his sunny disposition, Jaune was frustrated. This stupid place has been testing his patience for the last 7 years. Especially that damn Cat. But right now, he needed to be patient. Their friends should come here...

Eventually.

"What troubles you, Jaune?" Arslan asks. She had learned what Jaune's tells even before falling into the Ever After. He was surprisingly hard to read at times.

"That obvious, huh?"

Arslan nods in response. Jaune then sighs.

"Everything, I guess. I'm starting to look more like my Dad," Jaune chuckled at that. The resemblance was actually uncanny. Arslan mentally agreed. She was starting to look like her mother in her film 'The Argus Experiment'. "My leg is in desperate need of a tune-up. The roof needs to be fixed--"

"Jaune," Arslan stops him. Oh, she was using her "I am not in the mood for Yang's teasing" voice. "You can tell me if you're feeling frustrated. I know I don't show it, but I'm also feeling a bit stir crazy."

Arslan pats the empty spot next to her, inviting Jaune to sit next to her. He obliges and takes a deep breath.
From where they were sitting, they could see the sun begin to set... Well, the sun was actually going in reverse. But the moon was coming out... Nothing here made any damn sense.

"I miss them," Arslan began to speak. "My team. My family. Our friends. Just as much as you do, Jaune."

"How are you so calm?" Jaune asks.

"You're here," Arslan then rested her head on Jaune's shoulder. "You are my anchor. And I am yours. Never forget that."

She took Jaune's hand in her own. "Don't let the quirks of this place get to you. Or that Cat." There was a particular venom when Arslan said that last part.

"He's getting to you too, huh?" Jaune asks worried.

"He vexes me when you're off in the markets. I think he's getting desperate." The Cat's curiosity has been well documented in the book, but after becoming acquainted with it, the Cat was more unhinged. "It's not like we can do anything, although I suspect that it'll try to make it's move when team RWBY arrives."

"Let's focus on some else," Jaune decided to switch topics. Maybe try to bring their spirits up. "What's the first thing you want to do once we get back to Remnant?"

Arslan pondered for a moment. There were plenty of things she wanted to do: Give her team a great big hug, eat a proper meal (The food in the Ever After left much to be desired), have her long-awaited rematch with Pyrrha. But, truthfully, what Arslam wanted most was:

"I want to see if I can call my family. I... I know they are worried about me." Arslan says wistfully. She hoped that General Ironwood's sacrifice to reconnect Remnant was no in vain. "What about you, Jaune?"

This was it. This was his moment.

"I want to marry you." Jaune says with conviction.

"What!?" Arslan looked at him. Jaune looked back, a small on his face.

"Arslan Altan," Jaune continued. "We've been dating for roughly 9 years. In 7 of those years, I've given it a lot of thought; Once we find a way home, after we save the world, I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

Arslan began to blush. All of her stoic aura was gone in an instant.

"Y-You don't have to give me an answer now or anything," Jaune began to blush too. "I just wanted to say that--"

"Yes," Arslan answered. "Although, you would have to get my mother's blessing first."

Jaune smiled. A real smile. One he hasn't done in years. "You got yourself a deal."

The two sealed their pact with a kiss.

"Let's head inside," Jaune yawns. It's been a long day. "I have to feed Juniper."

"You go on ahead," Arslan said warmly. "I have to pray."

Jaune nods. This was something Arslan did daily as a way to ground herself if she lost her way here in the Ever After.

Arslan held her hands together and prayed to the Table Breaker, asking him to watch over their friends and to guide them all back to Remnant.

And while she was never asked for anything personal in her life, Arslan's prayer ended with her asking the Table Breaker for a selfish request: To make sure Jaune keeps his promise to her.

She had something to look forward to.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I didn't watch all of Vol. 9. Only some bits and pieces. So, I had to do a little bit of research on the Ever After and how long Jaune was stuck in the Ever After and now I'm pretty sure I have an aneurysm.

 

[Gur40]

So Ruby, Arslan, Pyrrha and Yang are gonna be with Jaune in the Ever After? Just checking from SB

 

[AndrewJTalon]

Sunrise on a Sunday is normally a quiet time for Beacon, as only the most dedicated to certain routines pass up the chance to sleep in under normal circumstances.



These are not normal circumstances. As such a group of women who would normally be using their day of rest to… Well… rest, gathered in a small and intimate courtyard known as the Lynessa Garden to discuss the matter that concerned them all.



The nine of them sat around a circular stone table that had been placed in the center of a gazebo built with an excellent view of the reflecting pond that captured the symmetry of the carefully planted trees. As a gentle breeze rustled the leaves the nine women regarded one another with cautious eyes, all of them quiet as the morning light slowly grew. Eventually the silence was broken by the eldest of the gathered women.



"I believe we've waited long enough for Arslan," Glynda began with a frown. "Someone will need to inform her about the decisions made in her absence."



"I'll talk with her," Pyrrha volunteered as she looked towards the garden's entrance once more. The redheaded spartan knit her brow as she tried to fathom the chocolate skinned nun's truancy. Had Arslan not gotten the message? Was she still asleep? Did she get lost on her way to this garden? Was she trying to seduce Jaune-NO! No, she couldn't think that way about her (recently discovered) oldest friend/rival!



Regardless of the reason the meeting would go on without her.



"Thank you Ms. Nikos." Glynda nodded her appreciation to the redhead before she continued, "Ladies, I don't need to lecture you on how serious this situation is. We know definitely that the choices we're making right now are going to have profound impacts on the future. All of us have reasons to seize this moment to make our own personal futures happen. However, the fact that we are in this situation means that none of our futures are set in stone, and the actions we might take to make our futures happen could prevent them from happening altogether."



Light and groggy murmuring of reluctant agreement rippled through the air. Ruby was still rubbing sleep from her eyes. Blake was subtly pinching her own thighs to keep herself focused. Emerald had deliberately crossed her legs in a manner she found uncomfortable to keep herself form dozing. The failed late night meeting with Jaune most of them had attempted had disrupted their sleep cycle enough that even the morning people among them were having a hard time shaking off the last vestiges of dreamland.



Glynda sighed heavily as she went on, "And so In the interest of reducing the risk to all of our known futures we need to lay down some ground rules. First is something I hope we can all agree on: no more violence. Division at this point simply means that none of our futures can happen, so we need to find a way to work together if we're going to make any of our futures happen."



"How could we possibly work together?" Weiss objected, "All of our futures are mutually exclusive." Hushed grumbles of agreement came from the other young women.



"Well to start we shouldn't be trying to sabotage one another," Glynda answered as she glanced around the table to look all the younger women in the eye, "Because if we try to get in each other's way we'll all lose, and none of us want that outcome. That's half of the reason why we need this meeting: to brainstorm ways we can move forward without actively stepping on each other's toes. For instance, is there a way to guarantee we all spend an equal amount of time with Jaune Arc so we all have the same chance to bond with him?"



A brief moment of contemplation was spent before Winter spoke up, "I don't think that's possible from a logistical standpoint. The standard workload of a school week makes it impossible for the girls who aren't already in close proximity to Jaune to increase the amount of time they can spend with him; meaning the girls who are normally in close proximity to him would have to keep their distance to make that work. I also can't see anyone agreeing to reduce their time to the small allotment it would take to make things fair, as it would be based off of the amount of time you can realistically spend with a student, Glynda."



"It would be based off of me, not you?" Glynda raised an eyebrow at Winter.



"I've been given direct orders to make myself a part of Jaune's life," Winter somehow managed to sit up straighter. "As a result General Ironwood has reduced my duties to the minimum possible. The bulk of my days will be my own until this crisis has been resolved, and I fully intend to speed that time with Jaune Arc."



Most of the other women at the table glowered at Winter's stated intentions, with her younger sister becoming particularly agitated.



"You. You! You," Weiss sputtered with growing anger, "You're turning dating Jaune into your full time JOB! How is that fair!"



"What else am I supposed to do? One does not simply refuse orders to date a cute boy!" Winter met her sister's accusation head on, "Of course I'm going to do everything to support my son's future! Just as I expect you to support yours! Our only other option would be to figure out which child comes from the best possible future and then we agree to support them for the greater good! Is anyone here willing to do that?"



Silence hung over the garden as Winter's question echoed in the minds of those present. Looks of defiance and guilt mixed across many faces as all of them knew how they would answer.



"The future my twins showed me is almost utopian," Blake began with a trembling voice. "All the world's at peace, the Grimm are in retreat, the barriers between humankind and faunusdom are practically gone." She began to physically shake as she continued, "If someone else has a better future than theirs, I might be able to consider it for the sake of the greater good, but I don't think I'd be able to follow through. I… I won't betray my family. Not again."



"August's future is just as wonderful," May asserted with a strength she hadn't felt before the words left her mouth. "The world's truly united in a singular grand alliance that's reclaiming the world from the Grimm, and the criminal underbelly of society is the smallest it's ever been." The unexpected confidence that had compelled her to speak started to peter out, but she managed to keep speaking, "Th-that being said I don't think any of our children came from a genuinely bad timeline, so appeals to something like the greater good aren't really valid here and shouldn't influence our reasons for getting close to Jaune."



With the specter of The Greater Good dismissed from the discussion the girls were free to voice their real convictions, and Pyrrha seized upon the opportunity with gusto.



"I've been in love with Jaune since the day we first met," The Invincible Girl staked her claim, "Long before any of you looked his way."



"That doesn't matter," Yang scowled at the redheaded spartan. "For one thing we aren't playing by 'I saw him first' rules, and if we were then I saw him before you did and thought he was cute. Heck, when I saw how light he was on his feet I thought about taking him to a club for dancing! Only reason I didn't scoop him up back then was because I knew you and Ruby were sweet on him and I was willing to let you shoot your shot first!"



"Was this before or after he threw up on your boots?" Weiss asked sardonically.



The blonde boxer shifted her scowl to the heiress and sneered, "You do know the way you treated Jaune is the reason the whole school calls you Ice Queen, right? The whole school's gonna call you tsundere now since you changed your tune at the drop of a hat."



"At least I'm being honest with myself now," Weiss grit her teeth. "And while I admit the circumstances that helped me come around are exceptional, what about you? Would you have held off on admitting you liked him until Pyrrha or Ruby married him? Leaving you with only a cat to go home to?"



Blake felt offended and wasn't entirely sure why.



Yang cracked her knuckles and shifted in her seat, threatening to get up. "You're treading on thin ice, Weiss."



"Don't you threaten my sister," Winter's eyes narrowed as she also shifted in her seat.



"YOU STAY OUT OF THIS TRAITOR!" Weiss snapped while pointing dramatically at her sister.



"Tra-tra-Traitor?" Winter recoiled as if she had been struck. "How am I a traitor?"



"You, you," Weiss sputtered as she tried to articulate why she was upset with her sister. While the root of the issue didn't find words another problem did. "You didn't even meet Jaune properly until yesterday! Why are you diving into this headfirst?"



"He's a good man that cares and is willing to put the work in, what other reasons do I need?" Winter answered. "You don't seem confused by the thief going all in on Jaune," She gestured in Emerald's direction, "And she was part of a conspiracy that could have killed him not even twenty-four hours ago! Why aren't you being suspicious of her? She could still be part of that conspiracy for all we know!"



Emerald slammed both of her hands on the table and stood with passion in her voice, "Jaune Arc has shown me more genuine kindness and common decency over the last day than anyone I've ever met in my life! Don't you dare insinuate that my interest in him isn't real." Emerald glared fire in Winter's direction before realizing that all eyes were upon her. She shrank back into her seat under the collective glares of all those present, but the rage in her eyes remained.



"Al-Alright," May spoke up again with a shaky voice that was supposed to be calming. She hoped she was leading the conversation to less confrontational waters. "So we can all say that we all gain something precious from our future relationship with Jaune. Before all this I had no family, no direction, no goals beyond simple survival. Now? Now I have all the things I lacked and it's all thanks to him. We know the future is good, it would be a shame if we tore each other apart before we get there."



"We know the futures our children came from are good, but we don't really know how time travel works." Pyrrha pointed out. "Destiny might be in our hands right now and pliable to our wills. Destiny might have already slipped through our fingers and is unbendable. There are too many unknowns. But what I do know is that Jaune is the first person I've formed a real connection with since I won my first tournament; and after spending my whole life denying my own desires for the sake of my mother, my career, and my sponsors I know I can't deny what my heart wants any longer. I won't go out of my way to try and erase any of your futures... but if destiny is in our hands right now I will bend it towards my future with Jaune."



The other women tensed at Pyrrha's declaration.



"Not if I bend you over it first," Yang growled.



And with that the dam burst and all the aggression that had slowly built up on the back burner spilled forth in a cacophony of incomprehensible noise. Yang and Pyrrha yelled at each other making threatening gestures with their fists. Blake hissed at Emerald while Weiss shouted at Winter, who answered in hurt and confused rejoinders. Glynda's calls for order went unheeded, while May shrank in on herself at a loss.



Ruby pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. The diminutive reaper thought about the conversations she had with her son the day before about some of the secrets of their silver eyes, how they could produce a light that could harm the Grimm while being harmless to everything else...



...Well, technically harmless.



She focused her aura and her feelings and built more and more energy behind her eyelids in the way Julian had showed her. As the arguments around her reached a fever pitch and threatened to become physical, Ruby Rose stood with the grace of a leader and opened her eyes and mouth in unison.



"QUIET!" Her voice carried as her eyes flashed with the intensity of a silver sun. Though the flash only lasted a second or two it's brightness forced everyone else at the table to shut their own eyes and wince lest they be temporarily blinded, and even then they were blinking away nonexistent spots from their vision. Silence reigned. Satisfied that her first ever Silver Flare had given her everyone's undivided attention Ruby began with the unvarnished truth:



"Jaune would be disappointed if he was here," And Ruby's own disappointment was evident in her voice. "Especially since this is the time where we need to be united the most. Cinder is still out there, and she's undoubtedly told her boss Salem about everything that's happened here. A great and ancient evil now knows that time travel is possible through Moses' semblance, and if she's anything like the stories Julian knows about her, then she has regrets of her own that she'd want to erase. That means she's going to come here at some point to try and take Moses' power, and if she succeeds she'll erase the world as we know it. It isn't just our futures on the line. Everyone's future is on the line as long as Moses can't get back to his time."



Ruby turned and began to circle the table as she continued talking, trying not to outwardly fidget at their intense stares.



"So none of us are going to fight over Jaune. Not just because Professor Ozpin forbade any more fighting, but-but because we can't afford to while Salem is still a threat. Until that threat is gone all we can do is follow Ozpin's orders to get along with our kids, get along with each other's kids, and until we can figure something better out we'll just have to share our time with Jaune and our kids."



She returned to her seat and sat down with a commanding presence, though inside she felt scared enough to throw up.



"No more fighting," Ruby reiterated, "And-And we all share. You got it?"



There was a lot of staring at Ruby, before shamed murmurs of agreement came from the others sitting at the table.



"I can't hear you!" Ruby glared as her eyes glowed again.



"We got it," the other girls replied slightly out of sync.



"Very well said Miss Rose," Glynda commended her student.



Ruby blushed deeply. May actually gave her a warm, relieved smile. Pyrrha did too, after a bit of contemplation. Weiss shared a rare look of respect with her, as Blake nodded in agreement. Yang grinned in some pride, though it was mixed with a stuck out tongue in true sibling-like fashion. Something Ruby returned with a relieved smile. Emerald nodded obediently, perhaps out of instinct. She was used to following someone's orders, after all. Winter assessed her with a poker face. The quiet stretched on.



Everyone looked around, not quite looking each other in the eyes as they all mulled over Ruby's words. Silence filled the garden as none of them knew what to say after that.



Fortunately, before things could become too awkward one of the doorways to the garden opened up. Everyone turned to see who had arrived, and they saw with a small amount of surprise and shock Jaune and Arslan walking side by side with all of Jaune's children and Penny following close behind.



"Oh good, you're all here," Jaune smiled cautiously at them, "That makes this easier. Arslan and I are taking the kids to church after breakfast. Do any of you want to come along?"



Glances were quickly shared around the table. Ruby answered for the group with a bright though nervous smile.



"Yeah we'd love to come with you guys!"



"Great," Jaune's smile became relieved. "Ren and Nora spent the last hour whipping up a breakfast for all of us, so let's not dawdle and test Nora's patience; she's already drinking syrup."



The nine women got up from the table and exited the gazebo, mingling with their children as they made their way to the dining hall. They were halfway there when Ruby suddenly grabbed Yang's shoulder in a panicked vice grip.



"What is it?" Yang whispered to her sister.



"Yang, I just realized something terrible."



"What?"



Ruby looked at her sister with wide eyes, "I left my Sunday dress back home in Patch!"

 

[ThunderBasilisk]

Damn Ruby just laid down the law. Also hilarious if this ends with Salem seduced. Its probably impossible but it would be funny. Wonder if the kids know the specifics on the various ways shes defeated?

 

[Electrotechman]

I'm posting an idea I had on SB here because I think the idea is even better discussion fodder on this forum.

I had a hilarious idea for a scene involving the girls parents.

They're commiserating about the strange situation they're in with time traveling grandchildren when one of them snarks about how they're surprised that Jaune got with so and so considering [insert lacking physical or personality attribute].

This in turn causes the parent of that girl to get angry and defensive, like say, Tai Yang making a joke about Weiss' lacking bust or bottom, and Willow angrily defends her daughter while at the same time commenting on Ruby and snipping on a perceived lacking trait of the girl.

This spreads with other parents doing the same and this builds until they compete with each other to help their daughter(s) progress the most with Jaune.

They go too far and their insults are a bit vicious at the argument's climax.

As an example shenanigan for after the argument, Willow uses her wealth to try to aid Weiss in impressing Jaune somehow, but she doesn't consult Weiss very much.

Thoughts?

 

[AndrewJTalon]

- - -

Coco Adel loved to sleep in, but certainly not every day. A creative mind like hers was a restless one, and as a result her sleep schedule was all over the place. Managing this and training her team, homework, and combat training was a challenge: But Coco Adel thrived on challenges. It made her who she was.

Her team was understanding of this, at least. It helped that Fox too was a bit of a nightowl: Being blind meant he had a different idea of a sleep cycle than most people. Yatsuhashi had grown up in a life of quiet meditation, training and contemplation, and so his serenity let him roll with the punches. Velvet was an energetic, nervous little thing but she was able to keep up-She and Coco had been friends since middle school, after all.

So it was that Coco Adel and her team were all more or less awake and more or less conscious that Sunday morning. Coco was already drinking her cappuccino from the custom machine her mother had sent her. Yatsuhashi was meditating on the floor nearby. Fox was reading something via Braille. Velvet was fretting, though that was nothing new.

"You know," Coco said, "You're going to tell us what happened at the mall eventually."

"N-No I won't!" Velvet protested, shaking her head as she tried to eat her oatmeal with mixed fruit, "It's not that big a deal!"

"Oh? It isn't?" Coco asked with a smirk.

"Um, well..." Velvet mumbled something. "I uh... I met someone. For... A few hours. A little... Social outing."

"A date?" Coco asked with a grin. "Why, who with?"

"It wasn't a date!" Velvet protested with a huff, "J-Just... You know... An outing! F-For fun!"

"Who with?" Coco asked, leaning forward over the breakfast table. Velvet flushed and looked at the walls and ceiling with great intensity.

"I uh... Just... Someone we know. No big deal it wasn't any-!"

"It was Cardin Winchester," Fox deadpanned. Velvet blushed.

"FOX! WHY?!"

"I was winding her up, damnit!" Coco protested.

"You made me wear spandex," Fox stated flatly.

"But you looked so good in it!" Coco countered.

"I have to take your word for that," Fox continued, "It was itchy and unpleasant."

"Oh fine," Coco scoffed. She looked over at Velvet with a shrug.

"You can't blame us for keeping an eye on you, given he is a bully."

"Was! Was!" Velvet protested. "And if you spied on our date, you know he was a good guy the whole time!"

"True," Coco said, waiting for Velvet to take a sip of juice. Velvet stared at her. Coco stared back. Velvet slowly sipped the juice.

"Though you certainly were quite bad when you kissed him like that."

Velvet spewed her juice out and coughed. She glared at Coco who smirked.

"COCO!"

Coco laughed, and scooted around to hug her best friend.

"There there, Bun-Bun. We were just having some fun," she consoled her. "And keeping an eye on you. Well, ear in Fox's case."

"Haven't heard that one before," Fox muttered. Yatsuhashi turned a concerned look towards Velvet.

"He really isn't hurting you? Or blackmailing you? Or using a mind control semblance?"

"No! Of course not! You and Fox would be able to tell!" Velvet insisted. "So would Coco!"

"I don't have a mental Semblance," Coco deadpanned.

"No, but you're super nosy and obsessed with controlling my life," Velvet said in slight irritation. Coco sniffed.

"It is not being 'nosy' or 'obsessed with controlling your life'. It is 'being informed' and 'making sure you're doing well.'" She sighed. "And if you really think he's reformed-"

"He's doing better! Really!" Velvet insisted.

"And if you actually like him, then we won't stand in your way," Fox stated, flipping the page on his book. Velvet went bright red.

"I-I DIDN'T SAY I DID!"

Yatsuhashi allowed himself a rare smile, and resumed his meditation.

"You did kiss him though," Coco observed, now much more relaxed. She grinned devilishly. "You kiss everyone you like with tongue? Can I get some sugar, Bun-Bun?"

"UGH! Why do I tell you things?" Velvet moaned, sitting down and putting her head in her hands. Coco patted her best friend on the shoulder.

"Because we're your friends, and all the weirdness in our lives should be shared," she chuckled. She hummed.

"Though of course, if he tries anything bad, we'll kill him."

"Yup," Fox intoned, reading his book.

"Without mercy," Yatsuhashi added.

Velvet scowled.

"I could kill him if I wanted to!" She pouted.

"Yes yes, Bun-Bun," Coco said, patting her on the shoulder, "But thank you for the juicy bit of gossip."

She got some more cappuccino and hummed as she sipped it.

"Speaking of, shame the party got canceled. What happened? All we saw when we got back was the wrecked courtyard. The Scroll network has been down since we got here, too. Come on guys! You're my Gossip Gerties!"

"I hate it when she calls us that," Yatsuhashi muttered. Velvet and Fox nodded. Coco turned her formidable glare onto Yatsuhashi. The big Mistralian swordsman winced, then cleared his throat.

"Amaranthe from Team BALT saw Pyrrha Nikos, Arslan Altan, Ruby Rose, Yang Xiao-Long, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, Emerald Sustrai and Cinder Fall all fighting with a bunch of transfer students in the courtyard before she had to run. Apparently Arslan declared something about... Jaune Arc?"

"Oh?" Coco asked, leaning forward in interest.

"I um, I also heard they all got called into meetings with the Headmaster," Velvet volunteered, "And after that they kind of kept to themselves."

Coco hummed.

"So... A giant battle royale with several suitors for Jaune Arc?"

"There were a few boys involved, too," Yatsuhashi added. Coco giggled.

"Even better! Oh, this is great! I can't wait to find out more!"

"It won't be easy with the network still having issues," Fox pointed out.

"Not like a ready source of information is going to drop by-" Yatsuhashi added... Before there was a knock at the door.

Coco raised an eyebrow at Yatsuhashi. The big swordsman stared back.

"It could just be a coincidence," he offered.

Coco turned and walked to the door. She opened it. There stood Ruby Rose, looking very anxious indeed.

"Coco!" She cried. "I need a sexy dress to get Jaune's attention, ASAP! Before anyone else gets the same idea!"

Coco slowly looked back over at Yatsuhashi with a smug grin. Fox facepalmed. Velvet flushed and gaped.

"... I must use this power responsibly," he muttered, shutting his eyes tightly as he tried to resume meditation.

"Of course, Ruby! Why don't you tell me all about it~?" Coco asked with a cheshire cat grin.

- - -

Jaune, his children, his potential future wives, and Penny all stood at the Bullhead pad. He grimaced as he looked at the airship he was going to ride with his... His family, really. He rubbed his stomach.

"Here," Nicholas said, handing over a bottle of pills, "These work great."

"Oh, you get airsick too huh?" Jaune asked. Nicholas grimaced.

"I mean... Sometimes? If it's a big airship, I'm fine. The small ones just make me throw up."

"Oh man, that happened to me too!" Leander said.

"Heh, you told me you first met Mom when you were airsick," Xia chuckled, "So uh, hey! It's not all bad, right?"

"You ruined her boots," Blake deadpanned. Jaune flushed. Yang laughed and boldly scooted up to pat Jaune on the back.

"Sorry about giving you hell over that."

"Sorry about your boots," Jaune admitted. "Uh, I mean, I could replace them?"

"Oh?" Yang asked, leaning in, "That'd be great! We could go off to this place I know-"

"We're going to the church service and then returning," Glynda stated firmly. "We can work out any 'trips' later."

Many scowls were directed at Glynda. Jaune sweated a bit.

Geez. Before all this I would have begged for one girl's attention. Now all this? Jaune shook his head. No no no, come on. They're all still your friends... Or becoming friends. We're gonna sort this out. Nobody's gonna act crazy. Not after the fight.

"We will be late if we don't get moving soon," Arslan said, looking around, "Where is Ruby Rose?"

"Here! Sorry I'm late!"

Ruby appeared in a burst of petals in front of Jaune. She grinned as his jaw dropped.

"Needed to get my Sunday best~!" She said, posing in a very elaborate red and black gothic lolita dress. The hem was high to show off her cute legs, the neckline low, the corset tight, and she had an umbrella to complete the ensemble.

Jaune blushed deeply.

Oh geez... Yup. Ruby is definitely a girl. No doubt about it now...

"So, what do you think?" Ruby asked.

Jaune's female companions had varying levels of disappointment, disgust, and (in Yang's case) scandal.

"RUBY!" Yang squawked.

"After that speech and everything," Emerald growled.

"Honestly?" May sighed.

"Hypocrite!" Weiss shouted.

Ruby flushed.

"Wh-What?! I'm just dressing up! I'm not going back on our agreement!"

"Friend Ruby, I believe you are 'lying'," Penny said, "Though it is much harder to tell than with I due to my autonomous response-Which is perfectly normal as I am a normal girl!"

"I'm not lying! I wore stuff like this for church all the time on Patch!" Ruby further lied.

Julian covered his face in mortification over his mother as Xia grimaced in disgust at her aunt. Theodore raised an eyebrow. Nicholas looked anywhere but directly at her with a blush on his pale cheeks, an action Xander copied. Amethyst was scandalized. Petra covered her face. Dorothy giggled a bit, but stopped when her mother glared at her. Ash and Ashley rolled their eyes. August sighed, and Leandra and Leander... Took pictures?

"Hey!" Blake cried.

"But she's so cute like this!" Leandra protested.

Blake hummed and looked Ruby over.

"True."

Yang took a deep breath, her eyes glowing red. When she spoke, her voice was even but promised doom. She had not had to mother Ruby in a while, but meeting Xia had brought that part of her back to the forefront.

Mom!Yang was in charge.

"Ruby? Go back and change. You have two minutes."

Ruby scowled.

"But Yang-"

"GO CHANGE!"

Ruby stomped her boots and huffed.

"Fine!"

Jaune rubbed his temples and sighed.

Well. Guess I can see the future. Because things are definitely going to get more complicated...

 

[GrimmKenway8646]

Ruby looked at her sister with wide eyes, "I left my Sunday dress back home in Patch!"

Click to shrink...

*dramatic gasp*
Oh the horror!!!

 

[Gur40]

- - -
Ruby appeared in a burst of petals in front of Jaune. She grinned as his jaw dropped.

"Needed to get my Sunday best~!" She said, posing in a very elaborate red and black gothic lolita dress. The hem was high to show off her cute legs, the neckline low, the corset tight, and she had an umbrella to complete the ensemble.
----

Julian covered his face in mortification over his mother as Xia grimaced in disgust at her aunt. Theodore raised an eyebrow. Nicholas looked anywhere but directly at her with a blush on his pale cheeks, an action Xander copied. Amethyst was scandalized. Petra covered her face. Dorothy giggled a bit, but stopped when her mother glared at her. Ash and Ashley rolled their eyes. August sighed, and Leandra and Leander... Took pictures?

----

Yang took a deep breath, her eyes glowing red. When she spoke, her voice was even but promised doom. She had not had to mother Ruby in a while, but meeting Xia had brought that part of her back to the forefront.

Mom!Yang was in charge.

Click to shrink...

Is Ruby in a combo of her V7 outfit with her V4 outfit?

the children learn embracement on a level unheard ... except Blakes kids this is just par for the coarse for them

Ruby re-awakened Mom!Yang ... run!

 

[ThunderBasilisk]

Honestly situations like this make me really wonder what would realistically happen if one of the other girls was team Leader.

 

[CILinkz]

Honestly situations like this make me really wonder what would realistically happen if one of the other girls was team Leader.

Click to shrink...

probably implode. Ruby is so bad at beeing teamleader that it turns around to being good enough for RWBY as they are so volatile and wouldnt accept actual leadership with authority. or actual Blake is the problem most of the time as she is the one dragging them into illegal stuff. the others would feel responsible and snitch on her or "forbid" her from going which she would ignore and do it anyway.

reminds me of the first episodes where Ruby was having doubts and they all say "it is only your first day" try it and grow with it etc. and then later on someone like Jaune picks that up again and says to her "now that you have experience and time to lead your team to see if your any good at it, i decided you really are not cut out for this so yeah you where right, you are bad at this" *rubies jaw drop as Jaune walks away*