*3rd POV, outskirts of Vacuo*

Winter, Elly, Willow, Whitley, Teams SSSN, CVFY, Qrow, and the Happy Huntresses stand before a memorial for Team RWBY, Team CRMS, and Jaune.

Winter: "I've finally accepted you aren't coming back..." Willow and Elly both stand behind her, tears escaping their eyes. "It should have been me" The shot turns to Nora, Ren, Oscar, Alice, and Emerald. Alice and Nora both cry. "Not you, not Penny... me. I was the one who stayed at Ironwood's side for far, far too long" Most of the crowd turns back towards Vacuo. "I was the one who let the staff fall into Salem's hands" The viewpoint at the gravestone listing those who fall.

'Ruby Rose

Weiss Schnee

Blake Belladonna

Yang Xiao Long

(Y/N) (L/N)

Ryze Matoi

Michael Mankanshoku

Samuel Kiryuin

Jaune Arc

May their memory live with us forever.'

Winter: "Because of me... Penny is gone. Forever. You were the one who believed in people. You had faith it could be good." In Vacuo, two citizens argue about food, while Qrow and Willow redistribute bread to others. "Whitley, Mother, they've worked hard to make amends. To fit in," Willow passes the bread to people. She notices a man taking a drink from his flask and sighs.

Qrow: "One step at the time" he pushes the cart further.

Winter: "But no amount of determination or hard work will change where we find ourselves now." Willow offers bread to two children when suddenly

Citizen: "Filthy Schnees! Not so high and mighty now, are you?! What's it like living at our level?" Some people try to restrain her while Willow gets up and looks in shame at the ground

Willow: "I-I'm sorry..." Elly and Qrow grab her shoulder

Qrow: "We're leaving, kay?"

Elly: "Try to appriciate someone is trying to help you" Qrow and Willow leave while Elly stays and glares at the woman. "I'll let you know, that SHE tries her hardest since all of this happened. Wait... I remember you, you were the one who was the loudest in the crater about living with Faunus." Elly just chuckled. "I will let you know something... her daughter.... my son, and their friends... sacrificed themself for your good being, so LEAST you can do is appriciate a mourning mother trying her best to help!" a tear escaped her eye.

Qrow: "Elly?" he gets back to her. "Come on, don't need to make a scene, we're leaving" He gets back to pushing the cart, while in the background, some citizens have enough.

Citizen: "How long are we supposed to live like this? Let's just leave!" Marrow and Fiona's uncle try to make them change their mind, but they leave no matter what

Winter: "What do you do when there is no hope left?" Fiona's uncle waves his hand and leaves while Winter and Marrow look at each other and later at leaving people. "*sigh* You would know what to do, sister. You were the true heir to the Schnee name. You, (Y/N), your friends, you did everything you could do to save the world. You would be so disappointed in us" The only ones left at the memorial are the Schnees and Elly. Elly walks to Winter and kneels down, leaving a single rose and one silver medallion with a skull.

Elly: "(Y/N)... Ruby... your friends... You knew, that it's what you have to do... you were always like your father, not listening to me..." she starts crying. "I told you to be careful."

Willow: "Elly... I'm so sorry..." She grabs Elly by her shoulders and helps her up

Elly: "Willow... let me stay here for a little longer, please. (Y/N)... he was" Willow silences her

Willow: "I know. Take your time, we're here for you. I, Winter, Qrow"

Elly: "I-I know" She looks at Whitley. "Whitley, you should cover yourself."

Whitley: "No. I won't hide forever, aunt Elly. " Sound of an engine gets louder as they look up, seeing Klein is one of the bullheads. "Klein!" he runs to the ship as the former butler waves and laughs. The Schnees leave, leaving Elly to herself.

Winter: "Maybe it's for the best you didn't have to see this" A little later, Elly puts 9 incense in the sand and fires them one by one, and get her hands together

Elly: "Please, I plead to Oum, bring them back to us safely, alive, and in one piece." she hears footsteps behind her and looks back to see Qrow. "Qrow?"

Qrow: "Elly. How long have you been here?"

Elly: "I don't know..." Qrow chuckles and hands her a bottle of water. "Thank you," she gently sips the water while Qrow walks to the memorial and wipes the dust.

Qrow: "Call me crazy, but I'm actually feeling a little optimistic about things."

Elly: "Huh? Optimistic? You?" she smiles; Qrow smiles at her too

Qrow: "Go figure. Come on, Elly." Both get up and walk back to the city. The two walk along, seeing people doing their best to survive. "In fact, it's probably never been worse. And yet, you can still see the good in small things" Klein checks on people's health; Willow walks with one of the injured people. "Acts of kindness, people trying to atone for past wrongs..." The two stumble across a kid with a broken toy robot. Elly smiles at him.

Elly: "Let me see what I can do, little one" She tinkers with it using her screwdriver, and soon, the toy sparks back alive "Here you go, good as new."

Kid: "Thank you, Mrs" He smiles and goes back to his group of friends

Qrow: "Like an oasis in the desert," a man loses his balance and nearly falls, but Qrow catches his hand in the last moment and helps him up "...it's up a matter of perspective. I guess an old friend taught me that" he touches a four-leaf clover medallion, the same one Clover always had. Elyy catches up to him

Elly: "Clover would be proud of your change, Qrow. I know I am, bird brain" She punches his shoulder, making Qrow chuckle

Qrow: "Yet, you're still the same as in Beacon, Elly" The two stumble to where Happy Huntresses are; Joanna lifts two kids in her arms while Fina plays with the others with a ball.

Fiona: "Ready... catch!" she throws the ball. It flies towards the two, but Qrow dodges to the side while Elly squats, resulting in a ball hitting Joanna. She looks confused as everyone laughs. Elly and Qrow make their way to where Robyn is.

Qrow: "What was so important that I needed to come all the way here?

Elly: "Yeah, what do you want from us Robyn?"

Robyn: "You can't spand all your time taking meetings in shame or in a lab creating stuff. Come on you two" She walks away while the two follow her to the alley.

Qrow: "Is this one of those, 'just wait it's a surprise' things? I'm not really-"

Elly: "Robyn, you know I'm busy-" Robyn quiets them both down

Robyn: "Shut up a second, you two. Here," she gestures to a mural. Both Elly and Qrow gasped. The painting shows both Ruby and (Y/N) holding hands and smiling. There is a description around them saying 'Remember Their Message.' Under it are some candles lit and some flowers, mainly roses. The two look speechless at the painting.

Qrow: "Things might be bad. But my biggest regret is that none of you are here to see the good that you started" He starts crying while Elly's eyes fill up with tears.

Elly: "I'm still hoping... that you two *sniff* and your friends are out there... just waiting out to be found" Robyn places a hand on both their shoulders while the sun starts to set. Later, Qrow stands on a balcony of one of the buildings, leaning on a railing, looking around.

Qrow: "Because you did start something" He sighs and turns around, wanting to get back inside, when suddenly, a portal appears. Qrow looks around, seeing his sister, who walks out first. Raven walks aside, sa Team RWBY, Team CRMS, and Jaune walk out of the portal. They all look up, still not believing in what's up in the sky. Meanwhile, Raven looks back at her brother and smiles. Qrow smiles too while the two teams get to the railing and still look at the sky. Ruby giggles

Ruby: "But... how?"

(Y/N): "It's just surreal... it's more than I though I saw at the outskirts! How?!"

Qrow: "You two sent a message..." the group looks back, spotting Qrow, their eyes wide "...and the world answered" Meanwhile, Oscar, Nora, Emerald, Ren, and Elly walk outside, looking for Qrow.

Nora: "Hey Qrow, are you coming to the meeting or-" She gasps and covers her mouth, trying not to cry. Elly meanwhile looks at her son, tears of joy escaping her eyes, while Ren, Em, and Oscar smile.

Elly: "(Y/N)..."

The newcomer group just smiles.

Ruby: "Hey everyone."

(Y/N): "We're finally here." he puts his arm around Ruby's shoulders and smiles, showing his teeth

A/N: 'Kinda early prequel, but I wanted to do it ever since seeing the cutout from Volume 9. See you in Volume 10.

"Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened"

As always, feel free to vote and comment.

Punkie and Vera out and over ;)

RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth and was created by Monty Oum

OCs belong to me.

(Y/N) belong to you (and to Ruby).