A/N Hello after the month of hiatus! We're getting back with Vol 8! Hope you guys didn't miss this book so much. Anyway...

Let's get started!

Happy birthday, Blake!

*(Y/N) POV*

I'm after the ride in those tubes, still awaiting for Ruby to arrive. Sam and Weiss are currently delivering punishment to Nora. Weiss tugs her ear while Sam gives Nora a noodige.

Nora: "Ow, ow, ow! C'mon, that was a once in a lifetime experience!"

Sam: "You could at least give Weiss some time to get ready, Nora"

Nora: "Ow. Okay, I get it" Weiss releases her ear and Sam stops his doing too"

(Y/N): "Okay, who is still missing? Ruby..." The sound of something going up the tube stops and the tube's entrance opens up, with Ruby inside "Petals, you good?"

Ruby: "Ugh, I think I'm gonna be sick..." I help her stand

Y/N: "So, the only one left is Blake" Again, the sound of something coming up the tubes stops and Blake comes from the entrance, with her hair all messy

Blake: "I for sure would NEVER want to do that again" she fixes her hair

(Y/N): "Okay, everyone is here. We can go" I get in front and lead our group through the compound

May: "Alright, Robo-girl, you're up. Which way to the terminal?" Penny looks up and scans the building

Penny: "We'll cross the bridge, then go left, straight, right, straight, left, up, up, right, straight, right, right, straight, left, left" she pointed every direction while saying this. We all look stunned at her "And my name... is Penny" I smirk and Ruby crosses her arm, smiling slyly at May

Ruby: "Heh"

(Y/N): "Penny one, May zero" May clicks her tongue

May: "Tsk..." she activates her semblance, creating an invisible bubble hiding us all. We move through the room and after a few minutes, we board the elevator. Nothing happens most of our way up, just us eight, standing and listening to elevator music. That's until it stops on one floor. We gasp and step back as two Atlas soldiers enter the elevator. Even if they can't see us, they still can hear us

Soldier #1: "I don't think even the squad captain knows what's going on up there. They can't get close to that storm without getting shocked right out of the air"

Soldier #2: "It's creepy, all those Grimm just... waiting. Worse than if they'd attacked-"

Soldier #1: "Hey, don't say that! You'll jinx us"

Soldier #2: "Well, hopefully, the C.O. will have some answers for us soon before something happens. We just have to be patient, ready, and wait for our next orders"

We take this opportunity to sneak by while the doors are still open. Nora being Nora just had to hit all the floor buttons on our way out. One soldier notices this, but can't do anything before the doors close on them. We move through the corridor towards the next door. This one requires a security clearance. Thankfully, Penny pops out a plug from her index finger, much to Ruby's surprise, and using Pietro's security clearance codes, opens the door for us to move on

Sam: "Alright, we've made it this far. Where to go next, Penny?" Penny points to the right

Penny: "We go right through the central command"

The doors to the central command open to reveal a shitton of Atlas soldiers and personnel

Weiss: "Of course"

May: "I can't move us through all of that"

(Y/N): "And sneaking in smaller groups is out of the picture too. Hmm"

Penny: "It is no problem. Ruby can help us with that. She can travel at an extreme velocity from one point to another by breaking her body down to its molecular level. This negates her mass, and she is able to reassemble herself at the destination without any harm to herself or others. Ruby is thus capable of transporting all of us in the same way since mass no longer matters to her" Sam looks at me

Sam: "(Y/N), you're the mind of our team. Did you follow any of this?"

(Y/N): "Partially. Penny, mass just doesn't disappear. Ruby using her Semblance turns into a high velocity rose petals cloud in which case so lightly that with the speed she runs, mass is so small it allows her to fly. Those 'molecules' are nothing more than rose petals. And when she transports another person, let it be me, Weiss, or Nora, our bodies also turn into rose petals of the color of our Aura. Also breaking into molecules would be kinda too dangerous, not like with petals. I think there is a little more to that but we don't have time to study Semblances now" Everyone looks at me and Penny confused

Ruby: "Um, can either of you explain that again?"

(Y/N) and Penny: "You can use our Semblance on all of us" Ruby is still confused

(Y/N): "Petals, you transported one person before. Now you can do it with more people. Like" I gesture to our group "Our entire group" Ruby still don't understand "*sigh* Ruby moves fast, turns other people into rose petals while running, can transport up to eight people in petals' cloud" Blake leans closer to her

Blake: "Did Penny and (Y/N) just figure out your Semblance before you did?" Ruby looks annoyed

Ruby: "Blake, she figured out you're a Faunus before I did. And (Y/N) is an egghead"

(Y/N): "Hey!" I clear my throat "Alright, we got our transport figured, but there are still a lot of people there. And a petal cloud is not something you see every day. We need some distraction, otherwise, we can't get to the terminal"

However, before I can come up with anything, Ironwood's voice comes over the comms

Ironwood: "A security threat has been detected in the compound. Status level 3 - red. Lockdown initiated. Authorization granted to handle any threats with lethal force"

(Y/N): "Just great... Ironwood is starting to piss me off" I crack my knuckles "Seems like they know we're here"

Penny: "The pneumatic tubes have all been closed off"

Blake: "But, that means we're trapped"

May: "Hold on. I remember that we passed a hangar on the way here. I can hijack a ship and get us off this floating rock" But Penny thinks otherwise

Penny: "Wait, we still have a chance here. We can't just give up now. We have to keep going"

(Y/N): "You're right, sis. We're already here and we can't go back without anything" I look around, seeing one of the employees walking with a coffee mug, approaching a console. I smirk "And there is our distraction. Petals, get ready" Ruby nods and I get my hand forward. I send a small fireball under the man's legs, scarring him. He throws the cup in the air, ending up with coffee splashing all over his colleague and his monitor, causing it to short out, and the colleague to freak out

Coworker: "For Pete sakes, Bill, for once will you just read the sign! Why don't you ever just pay attention?! You're in here late all the time, your coworkers" The poor guy runs off the room, while the rest of the workers are busy screaming at Bill. This gives Ruby the opening to use her Semblance on all of us and fly us right through the room to the security terminal. She releases everyone, with Weiss, Nora, and Penny looking amazed, me and Sam kinda shocked and Blake looking like she just had a heart attack"

Blake: "Another thing I don't wanna do EVER AGAIN" We continue down the bridge over a pretty deep fall to the room with the security terminal. We reach the door, seeing an electric forcefield in our way

Penny: "Please, leave this to me" she uses her finger port again to deactivate the field and unlock the door. We all get ready to fight, only to find out the room is empty. There are several terminals to the side and one at the end of our room.

Sam: "Well" he looks around "This is not what I was expecting. I thought we were going to have to fight our way in. Shouldn't there be some personnel here?" We walk inside

Penny: "This is a highly classified area. Only General Ironwood and a few other military officers are allowed in here" she takes a seat at the terminal in the back. The doors behind us close and the electric field starts again. Ruby goes with Penny while Sam, Weiss, Nora, and Blake go to the side to rest up. I meanwhile look around at the terminals, thinking of possible future use of them

Penny: "Hey, Dad? I'm ready" Pietro takes control of Penny

Ruby: "What?"

Pietro: "Ahem, this process is a little complicated, so I'm remoting into Penny from the Amity coliseum"

(Y/N): "Is it secure, Pietro? Can't someone, I don't know, hack into Penny?"

Pietro: "Unless they can crack about a 20 million sign length password in less than a week, nothing's gonna happen, (Y/N). Your mom's work after all"

(Y/N): "It put me at ease" I smile and turn to the girls and Sam "How're you holding up?"

Sam: "I just hope it won't take long. I don't want to be here any longer than we have to"

Blake: "I hope the others are okay... (Y/N), you kept Yang's attention on you to keep her from fighting Ruby, right?"

(Y/N): "That I did. They're sisters. Yeah, they have different opinions on some things but family is a family after all. It's funny coming from a single child" I chuckle

Blake: "I remember you saying this before you propose to Ruby. That you feel like we're your brothers and sisters. We feel like that too. We're one big family, and we stick together"

(Y/N): "Heh, I would never have suspected those words from antisocial and quiet Blake. It's good to see everyone's growing up"

Nora: "Besides, we all know they'll be fine. Mako is practically unkillable with his new ability to turn his body into metal. Ryze is as strong as you, (Y/N), and has new abilities with the wind. Jaune's become a great leader, Yang can keep all of them safe and Oscar is really coming into his own" We look at her, as she clearly forgot about one person from Yang's group "Oh, um, uh, and Ren, of course, is... Ren is..." she gets depressed "I don't know what he is anymore... Every time I think we're making progress together, he just... We've been together our whole lives. I was already an orphan when we first met, so before Beacon, he was the only person I could turn to. And yet, now, I feel like I know less of him than before we first met, and I don't know if it's his fault or mine"

Blake: "When you've been at someone's side for so long, they become a part of you. But, that's just it. They're only a part of you. You can't forget about the rest" Nora chuckles bitterly

Nora: "I don't actually know who I am... without Ren. Pretty sad, huh?" I get near her and put a hand on her shoulder

(Y/N): "Nora. Each of us can do things others can't. There are things I can do but Weiss can't. There are things Sam can't do but Blake can. You need to focus on what only you can do. What Nora Valkyrie can do" However, this not cheer up Nora too much

Nora: "And what would that be? Be strong and hit stuff?" Weiss tries to say something to her, but the beeping coming from the terminal gains our attention. We walk over there to see if everything is going a good way

Pietro: "Hmm, I just have to... ah, there we go. Downloading the cloned imprint now. When Penny gets to Amity, we'll run the launch sequence. Amity's computer will try to connect to General Ironwood's terminal, but get Penny instead" Penny download the data and Pietro gives her back control of her body

Penny: "And after the launch, I'll return to help you with the evacuation"

Pietro: "*ekhm, ekhm* About that Penny, when Amity goes up, I think you should be up here with Maria and me" we look concerned at Penny

Penny: "But, the others need me..." she turns to us "Right?"

Ruby: "Well... If you stay far out of Salem's reach, she can't open the vault. She can't get to the relic. So..." Penny looks down and later at me

Penny: "(Y/N)...?"

(Y/N): "Penny, my little sister, it's hard for me, but it's for the best. Without you, Salem can't win"

Weiss: "Maybe it IS for the best?"

Blake: "Um, we should probably head to the hangar" We walk back to the doors

Penny: "I guess... we all have to do some things... we would rather not..."

Sam: "Unfortunately, that happens, Penny" The doors open and we find the Ace Ops minus Clover on the other side

Harriet: "Hello, kids" she greets us with an angry expression as does Elm. Vine looks normal and Marrow looks saddened by this situation "Time to come home now, Penny. You too, (Y/N) and Samuel" We draw our weapons

(Y/N): "And wonder why I need to go? Does Ironwood need Fall's and Spring's Guardians too?"

Vine: "(Y/N), be rational. Salem is here and we need-"

(Y/N): "All you need is to get your ass kicked the second time" I aim Mortem's blade at them

Marrow: "We were holding back" Vine tries to reason between our sides

Vine: "We have all said things that we regret, but please hear me out first. I know you were only doing what you thought was right when you left with the Maiden power, but Salem is here. Things have changed"

Sam: "So you regret leaving Mantle to die?"

Vine: "Listen, this is a war, and our enemy is here now-"

(Y/N): "And? You were ready to leave masses of innocent people to die just because things got too difficult for you. You choose your own destiny, and that's being Ironwood's mindless puppets. If he still hasn't changed his mind about Mantle, then we have nothing to talk about" Vine sighs

Vine: "I thought your duty was to protect the people, not hurt them" Penny is taken aback

Penny: "I would never hurt them"

Elm: "Well, Winter is in critical condition...because of you"

Harriet: "And you repaid her by stealing the power that should have been hers"

(Y/N): "Maiden's powers do not have an owner. They weren't Winter's, to begin with. She would just use them for Ironwood, not for a kingdom, but one man. And one man should not have so much power. Maiden, Relic, the military, and the academy. He is counting that me, Sam, Ryze, and Mako will go with you, so he'd have Guardians too? No way. He is lustful for power, making him no better than Salem"

Harriet: "Ironwood is doing what he has to in order to save Remnant. Because of you, people in Atlas and Mantle are going to die" Marrow tries to calm things down

Marrow: "Please, Penny, you can still fix this. Just open the vault, hand over the relic and you can save Atlas"

Ruby: "But it won't save Atlas. Salem will find her way to the relic no matter where you go. She is immortal. She has nothing but time on her side. If she can't get to you directly, then she'll just isolate you by destroying the rest of Remnant, claim the other relics and other Maidens, leaving Atlas alone. And then she will reach out and break yo-"

Harriet: "One more word, and I'm throwing you in jail right next to your uncle, runt" Ruby wants to lung at her, but Penny stop her

Penny: "Leave. Her. Alone" Me and Penny steps forth

(Y/N): "One more word and I will cut off your tongue, Hare" Harriet hits a switch, locking the doors separating us from the rest of our group. We look back and later at the Ace Ops. Penny activates her Maiden's powers while I get my Guardian's powers on "You want to get your asses handed to you again so bad? Fine, this time I'm not holding back. Ignition!" A red flame envelopes around my body and my scythe "Burn in hell"

*3rd POV*

(Y/N) swings Mortem wide, sending a flame wave at the Ace Ops. They dodge it, but when Vine looks up, (Y/N) sucker punches him in the face with a fire powered right upper hook. Vine flies behind his allies, using his semblance to grab onto the railing to stop him from going any further. Penny uses her powers to create a strong gust of wind to push them back, and (Y/N) charges up fireballs in his left hand. He throws them at Ace Ops. Elm swings her hammer around to block a few of them, same as Marrow with his boomerang, but Harriet gets hit by a few of them when she tries to run for it. Vine jumps high, using his semblance arms to swing over the pair and land behind them, causing Penny to stop her attack. With the wind gone, Harriet uses her Semblance to zoom right at the pair. She tries to go for (Y/N)'s exposed back and makes a punch... only to get blocked by (Y/N) scythe at the last second. (Y/N) smirks and pushes Harried back with his scythe before going after her. Elm fires a rocket at him, but Penny shoots it down with her swords

Harriet throws a few punches at (Y/N), but he blocks them all with his scythe and then spins around for a wide swing at her. Harriet flips over the swings and tries to land another punch on (Y/N), but he catches the punch in his hand and throws her at the electric door. Vine uses his Semblance to catch her and Harriet then uses her semblance and his hand as a springboard to fire herself at (Y/N). (Y/N) manages to block the attack, but the force makes him slide back. Marrow comes in at Penny, who twirls her swords around. Marrow jumps over them and gets a hit in on her back with his boomerang. Penny counters by creating a hail storm that distracts him and then gets a kick in on his face. Meanwhile, Vine jumps at (Y/N), brandishing a bladed disk-shaped weapon in his left hand. (Y/N) blocks the strike, interlocking the disk with his scythe, and then grabs Vine's arm. He kicks him in the stomach, pushing all the air from Vine's lungs before swinging his scythe at his torso, throwing him over the railing. Vine however uses his Semblance to grab onto the edge and swing under the bridge, coming around to the other side to try kick (Y/N). (Y/N) ducks under the flying kick, but then gets hit in the side by Harriet as she zips by. The two Ace Ops make a cross strike at (Y/N), but a sudden burst of flames from him stops their advance. Meanwhile, Elm spins her hammer around at Penny when she shoots her swords at her, knocking the swords back. Marrow throws his boomerang at her rear, but Penny jumps over the attack and sends some swords at him. His boomerang returns just in time to block the flying swords. Elm swings her hammer down on Penny, but Penny rolls out of the way and then blocks another swing with her swords before having a few blast Elm away with one shot

Inside the room, the rest of the group tries to break through with Weiss' Arma Gigas and Sam's vine golems, but the field destroys them each time they touch it

Weiss: "Four versus two? Cowards"

Ruby: "Penny is the Winter Maiden and (Y/N) is Fall's Maiden Guardian. I'm sure they can stand their ground against them"

Sam: "I don't think (Y/N) is giving his all. Ironwood's watching. He wants both Maidens and their Guardians. He's observing what he can do. Either way we need to get out of here, fast" Nora steps up to the door

Nora: "We have to get out there... Be strong... and hit stuff" she takes out her hammer

Weiss: "Nora, wait!" She tries to stop her, but it's too late. Nora already hit the door with her hammer

The electricity moves from the hammer to her, and she uses her Semblance to charge up her strength. The power of the field is so strong, that it pushes her beyond her limits. The electricity leaves scars reaching all across her body. On the other side of the door, (Y/N) and Penny pushes Ace Ops back, but then (Y/N) looks back. Nora screams as she swings her supercharged hammer around and smashes the door in a huge explosion

(Y/N): "Sis, get down!" (Y/N) grabs Penny and hits the ground in the same moment as the doors blast forth and collide with the Ace Ops, just barely missing the siblings. They look back at Nora

Nora: "That was... pretty awesome..." her Aura gives out and she collapses on the ground, passed out

(Y/N) and Penny: "Nora!" they run to her side as the rest of the group join them

(Y/N): "She's alive, but she needs medical help" They regroup "Petals, you girls protect Nora. I, Sam, and Penny will take care of them" Ruby nods, and the members of her team stand back while the others face the Ace Ops. Harriet then gets a call

Harriet: "Sir... But, General, we-"

Marrow: "We understand, sir"

(Y/N), Sam and Penny charge at them. Penny flies past them all to fight Harriet. Sam is sending his vine golems to fight against Marrow and Vine while (Y/N) swings his scythe at Elm. Ace Ops members block or deflect the attacks. Vine then uses his semblance to swing his arms around to try and nail them off of the walkway, getting only Sam while (Y/N) jumps over it. Sam uses one of his vines to swing back on the bridge. (Y/N) sends a Flamethrower to force the Ace Ops back. Meanwhile, Penny twirls her swords around at Harriet, but Harriet uses her semblance to race around Penny and grabs onto one of her swords and its string. She pulls hard and snaps the string off of Penny. (Y/N) gets ready for the second round but then

Elm: "*tsk* Let's go"

*(Y/N) POV*

Elm: "*tsk* Let's go" the Ace Ops retreat by jumping off of the bridge. Marrow looks back at us, hesitating

(Y/N): "Marrow" he looks at me "Listen, is this what you really want? You need to put a stop to listening to orders and start making your own decisions" Marrow doesn't answer me and leaves with the others

Ruby: "Did that seem weird to you guys?" Penny and Sam check on Nora

Sam: "We can worry about that later, Rosie. We need to leave, now" I get near Penny and grab Nora up. When I try to get her hammer it zapped me

(Y/N): "Sis, can you get her weapon?" Penny nods and we make a run for it. We make it to the hangar only to find it empty. Then a whistle rings out

???: "You coming or what?" we hear May's voice. We move to find her hiding herself and the airship

May: "Alright, you guys ready to-" she stops when she sees Nora

Blake: "She's in bad shape. We need to find somewhere safe for her"

(Y/N): "Stand back" I create a rather large fireball in my hand and throw it at the wall, blasting a hole in it. We board the airship and fly out of the base

Penny: "I'm so, so sorry" she helps me lie Nora gently on the floor of the ship. "It is time for me to go, isn't it?" Ruby hugs her

Ruby: "Don't worry. We'll see each other really soon. I promise" Penny looks at us, giving her supportive smiles. May opens the cockpit door and Penny gets ready to leave. She turns back the last time and gives us a salute before flying away

(Y/N): "Be safe there, little sister" I hung my head down, before feeling a hand on my shoulder. I turn around to see Ruby

Ruby: "She'll be safe, Cookie. Don't worry"

(Y/N): "I know" Ruby puts a hand over mine and we interlace our fingers. With smiles on both of our faces, we look forward "So, where to next? We need a place to treat Nora and for it to be quite safe"

Blake: "How about your house (Y/N)?"

(Y/N): "Nope. It's observed 24/7 by the military. My mom was one of the trusted Atlesian scientists and knows some top secret info. Ironwood will do anything to not let them get into the public. But how about?" I look at Weiss

Weiss: "If it's the only option then we have no choice" I nod

(Y/N): "May, we're going to Schnee manor"

May: "Roger that kid"

*Ryze POV, tundra outside the Mantle*

We're still following this dog like Grimm. I'm flying right behind it while Yang, Jaune, Ren, and Mako are driving their hoverbikes on the ground. We get near the mountains

Jaune: "It's going to lose us in these mountains! We can't keep up!" Ren's bike have some troubles while revving

Ren: "I don't know how much longer these bikes can stand the cold" Mako have similar problems

Mako: "Come on you piece of junk!"

Yang: "Honey! Try to grab that thing and pin it down!"

Ryze: "I'm trying but I can't do this alone!"

Jaune: "Hold on Ryze! I have an idea!" he slows down to Ren and deploys his shield "Ren, I'm going to get you up there!"

Jaune gets his shield up and Ren jumps on it. He then charges gravity dust in his shield and blasts Ren past me towards the Grimm. Ren launches one of his SMG's blades cables and wraps it around Grimm's hind leg

Yang: "Nice!"

Ryze: "We will try to slow it down! Ren, try to climb the cable and later cut its hind legs!" Ren nods, but before we can get our plan to reality, the dog Grimm begins flying more erratically, slamming Ren against the cliffs and nearly taking me from the sky "Great..."

Yang: "Okay, not as nice" I speed up, catching up to the monstrosity and stabbing one of my blades into it. It shrieks and starts flying kinda slower but more extremely

Jaune: "Hold on, guys!"

Ryze: "We're trying!"

Ren: "We don't have much of a choice!" I try my best to climb up the Grimm and grab Oscar, but it rolls around, nearly throwing me off it

Ryze: "Oi you fucking overgrown mutt!"

Ren meanwhile shoots his other blade, wrapping it around a rock to further slow down the Grimm. However, it suddenly pulls up, causing the cable to come loose and the blade to zip past Yang and Mako. I try another time this time getting to this mutt's shoulders but he shakes me off and I fell off. Grabbing both my blades in the process I continue my flight after it as it still has Ren tied to his leg. I again stab both blades into Grimm's body and try to reach Oscar while Yang shoots at it from a nearby incline. It then puts Oscar out of his jaw and into its hands before emitting a roar and starting flying faster. I look back to see a horde of Centinels emerging from the ground, cliffs, and arches

Ryze: "Fucking shit!" I look back to see Mako's hoover bike get hit by acid. He uses his semblance to keep the bike running but falls behind. "Ren, it's now or never!" he nods and we begin climbing up the Grimm.

We were nearly there but then we saw Jaune, Yang, and Mako falling off the cliff. Ren lets go of the cable and fires both of his weapon's blades. One gets around my ankle and the second around Jaune's, who holds the rest of our group. Noticing a Teryx coming our way, Ren activates his Semblance, hiding our group. It passes us by centimeters. When it's got safe he deactivates it and we look at that dog Grimm flying towards Salem's whale

Ryze: "Well this is just fucking great..." I fly up the cliff

*(Y/N) POV*

We get to Schnee manor. Weiss knocks on the doors and they open. On the other side is Whitley

Whitley: "Oh, it's you. You picked a fine time to-" I point my scythe at his neck

(Y/N): "Listen you brat. Either you get out of our way or I will make you. Don't mind us" I lead our group inside with Blake holding unconscious Nora and Sam holding her hammer through some vine gloves not to get zapped

Whitley: "Things are already bad enough after what you did to father, now you want us to harbor fugitives too? Our family has a reputation" I look at Weiss and she nods. I get near Whitley and grab him by the collar of his shirt, hosting him off his feet and scaring him

(Y/N): "You were always playing on my nerves but now it's time you listen. People are either dead or dying. There is an army of Grimm outside the kingdom and the only thing you're worried about is the Schnee family's reputation?! News flash, shrimp, no one gives a damn about your name anymore. Not when they have their lives to take care of. Your father killed my friend's sister's biological parents and he helped Arthur Watts to tear this kingdom apart for a stupid seat in the stupid council. Weiss and Winter are trying to save Atlas because that is more important than your family's damn reputation. The same reputation your father dragged through the mud with his greed and sick mind. Get a grip and think for ONCE in your damn life what's truly important" I drop him on his butt. Whitley gets up. Ruby meanwhile steps between us

Ruby: "Look, our friend is hurt. We just need a place to lie low for a little while so she can rest, and then we'll leave"

Whitley: "And why would I-"

Ruby: "Look, either you deal with me and my idea or you can deal with (Y/N)" she points her thumb at me as I get the fire around my eyes

(Y/N): "So, what's gonna be? Will you listen to my fiance or not?"

Whitley: "Fine. But, just what am I supposed to do?" Weiss points up the stairs

Weiss: "Go to your room" Whitley leaves with a heavy sigh "Come with me" Sam picks up Nora and follows Weiss with May right behind him to treat Nora's wounds. That leaves me, Blake, and Ruby in the main hall. My Rose is looking out the front door

Blake: "Ruby, is everything alright?" Ruby sighs

Ruby: "I hope everyone's okay"

(Y/N): "If you're worried about Yang, why don't you call her?"

Ruby: "But that's the thing" she turns to us "I did" she shows up her scroll with an outgoing call to Yang, but she gets no answer

(Y/N): "Let me try calling Ryze or Mako" I try to get to both of them, but I also get no answer "Dammit"

*Ryze POV*

I lean our last hoverbike on the rocks while Yang grabs the parts that fell out of it. Jaune tries to contact anyone, but we're on a total ice desert with minimum to no signal

Jaune: "I repeat if anybody can hear me. *sigh* We need transport back to Mantle"

Ryze: "Mako, can we repair it?"

Mako: "I'm not (Y/N) but I will see what I can do. Yang, you got all the parts?" Yang nods "Then let's go before we freeze to death" We start walking through the tundra, Ren is leading and Jaune and Mako push the hoverbike. I meanwhile try to search for something from the air "Ryze! Get down! Your Aura is at 30%! You need it to keep yourself warm"

I land next to Yang. On her scroll are all our Aura levels, with mine at 30% and in red, Mako's at 33 but drops to 32% and also goes red. Jaune's is at 41% but then lowers to 39%. Yang's drops from 34% to 32% and jumps into red, the same as Ren's goes from 33% to 31%

Yang: "We need to get out of this weather before the cold drops our Auras completely. How much farther to the outpost?" Ren remains silent "Ren, how much-"

Ren: "I don't know" Yang looks at me as I have no clue what's with him. She looks back at Jaune who just shrugs. Yang gets next to Ren while I back away to Jaune and Mako

Yang: "I thought you said you saw it when you were up in the air"

Ren: "I did before I and Ryze had to cut ourselves loose to help you guys" Yang uncomfortably brings her hand to the back of her head

Yang: "Yeah, you've brought that up a couple of times now. Something you need to say?"

Ren: "Not really. Wouldn't want to waste any more time" Ren walks ahead while Yang stops with a small gasp. Getting annoyed she catches up with him

Yang: "Hey! What is your deal?" she stops in front of Ren

Ren: "Don't worry about it"

Yang: "Well, I'm sorry things aren't going smoothly enough for you"

We stop

Jaune: "Guys"

Mako: "Don't say something you can't take back"

Ryze: "Sunny Dragon, plea-"

Ren: "They're not going smoothly at all"

Yang: "I hate to break it to you, but that's a part of being a Huntsman"

Ren: "Are you kidding?! We don't know the first thing about being a Huntsman. We clearly weren't ready"

Jaune: "Guys, stop it" I put a hand on his shoulder

Ryze: "I will take care of it" Jaune nods "But not right now, Ren needs to learn something. Just be quiet, Jaune"

Yang: "Were we not ready when we saved Haven? When we took down a Leviathan? We got the Lamp to Atlas"

Ren: "And then we lost it! And after that, when we had to make real decisions, we got every single one wrong"

Yang: "I'm not going to pretend like we did everything perfectly, but if we'd done nothing, things would be even worse than they are now"

Ren: "How could they possibly be worse? We are stuck out here while Salem has the Lamp and Oscar. We've got no plan, no army"

Yang: "We've got the Maiden and all four Guardians"

Ren: "Guardians who are not having control over their powers!" I snap. Wind around the arena starts picking up

Ryze: "That's where you're wrong, Ren" he and Yang look at me "People are going to die. They always were. I think that's enough of your little fit" I calm down as the wind stops for a while "And what we're doing is to keep the casualties in check. Oscar... he still has Ozpin with him. As for Penny, we can't let Ironwood get Atlas away. He will only put away the inevitable. Sooner or later Salem will get to them. And they would be alone if we let Ironwood do his thing. Do you think that Atlas will float away to safety now that this bitch is here?"

Ren: "I don't know. But these aren't the kinds of decisions we should be making because we have no idea what we're doing"

Ryze: "You may have no idea what you're doing. But we know. I'm saving this God-damned world. And if you think that this is out of your league, then you have all the right to quit and go to prison" I get near him "Something else to say?"

Ren: "I'm just saying things everyone's afraid of. We're in way over our heads, Ruby is barely more than a kid, I'm just an orphan from the middle of nowhere-"

Jaune: "Ren, I-" Ren turns to him

Ren: "You cheated your way into Beacon!" My eyes widen at Ren using this argument against Jaune. Mako is covering his mouth with his hand, shocked like me and Yang, whose eyes are wide and mouth open. We stay like that for a moment until Ren relaxes and gains a regretful expression. He looks away from Jaune. The man in question stares wide-eyed, then lowers his gaze with a frown

Jaune: "You don't think we should be Huntsmen, fine. But I'm getting out of the cold"

Mako: "You hit the rock bottom Ren. I would never expect something like that from you" He looks away from Ren and helps Jaune push the hoverbike past us

Jaune: "We've still got a job to do" Yang turns to Ren

Yang: "Seriously, is your goal just to push everyone away? Ryze, come on"

Ryze: "You fucked up, Ren. Let me tell you. Ruby maybe is two years younger than us but she's not a kid. She's a leader. Jaune may have cheated his way into Beacon, but he is a Huntsman, with resolve and heart. And you" I look at him with pity "You may be an orphan, but you have someone you care about and want to protect. Nora. Do you want to give up? Fine by me but she needs you" I walk after Yang and the rest of our group

*timeskip, nighttime*

Outside, Mako and Yang are searching and creating the parts for the hoover bike. I, Ren, and Jaune meanwhile sit inside, where Jaune hits the furnace, trying to light it up

Ryze: "Let me try, Jaune" I hit the furnace, and soon it starts glowing

Jaune: "Thanks" we start heating our hands *sigh* You're right, Ren. I... I did cheat my way into Beacon" He stands up and walks over to Ren "And I'm glad that I had people around me to help me see that I was bigger than that mistake" he turns to me and I nod

Ryze: "No problem, Jaune"

Jaune: "You've got people around you, too, Ren. You don't have to force yourself to be strong. The more you hide from what you're feeling, the more alone you're going to feel. Trust me" Ren walks away and through the door where Mako and Yang stands

Yang: "If anyone cares, we found some parts to fix the bike"

Ryze: "Good job, Sunny Dragon, Mako"

Mako: "I will go to the repairs. Care to help, Yang?"

Yang: "Sure" they get near the desk and Mako starts opening the part. Yang turns to Jaune "For what it's worth, I'm sorry he said that to you. I know you've had to work hard to get here, Jaune"

Jaune: "We're all under a lot of stress right now. I used to push people away too"

Ryze: "Don't go there Jaune, past is the past. You can do nothing to change it, but you can make sure to remember" Jaune nods

Jaune: "I have to ask, Ryze. Why did (Y/N) intervene back then?"

Yang: "Yeah, he had no business in it"

Mako: "He did it to keep you and Ruby from fighting, Yang"

Yang: "But why?"

Ryze: "Because you two are sisters. There is no need to fight over some stupid things. It wouldn't help either her or your mental state. Think about it that way, you may get angry at Ruby at the start, but later you would regret and worry about her" I look at Yang "Or may I remind you how you threatened (Y/N) before he and Ruby got together?"

Yang: "Okay, okay. I'm worried about Ruby. She is my little sister, it doesn't matter if she is seventeen or fifteen. I still love her... But do you guys think she still thinks of me as an older sister... after not helping with Amity?"

Jaune: "Yang, Ruby will always love you even if you disagree with each other" Yang cheers up a little

Yang: "Thanks guys" she and Mako work on the part

Jaune: "I need to get some sleep, but I can't stop thinking about Oscar"

Ryze: "Go on. Yang, Mako, try to get our bike together. I will make sure Ren doesn't freeze himself to death out in the cold" I look out the window

Jaune: "Thanks. I just have a bad feeling. Things always seem to get worse before they get better"

A/N Things are going serious with Teams RWBY, CRMS, and JNR. Oscar gets kidnapped by mommy Salami and acts as Hazel's punching bag. Nora will probably die somewhere along the way (I hope not, but Rooster Teeth said Volume 8 will be much darker than Volume 3). What's next, oh. Penny and (Y/N)'s fight against Ace Ops with siblings being victorious. Meanwhile, Dr. Polendina gets stuff ready to launch Amity Tower and send the Message to the World. Next, we have Ren's outburst, Yang worrying about her sister and vice versa. We also get to know how Ruby's semblance works (I get my own version with rose petals. It sounds more logical than the whole 'breaking into molecules' bullshit RT served us) Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter. Feel free to vote and comment. Stay safe and I will see you in the next chapter!

Punkie out!

RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth and was created by Monty Oum

OCs belongs to me

(Y/N) belongs to you (and to Ruby)